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Wayne Hemmingway is a green innovator of this decade, as he concentrates on housing materials and is hard at work on the vintage festival. For this reason he is featured in the Chevy Volt promotional video set, well, that and the fact that he is one of the leading proponents of electric cars. He believes that sustainable cars are now being created because creative people think about where they came from and it’s natural to want to leave the world behind the way that they found it. He explained that electric cars are one way to do this, and some car manufacturers are now considering how they can help the environment as well. The Chevrolet Volt is the newest electrical car offering from Chevrolet, and is a spacey and normal looking vehicle that resembles a regular car perfectly; except when you get down to the fact that it does not use any gas while out on the roads. The interior of the car is regular, with enough space to comfortably fit five people in the vehicle, and unlike electric cars of the past, is still a full sized standard instead of some miniature model of what a car should be. According to Hemmingway, this is the result of creative minds that are motivated to make the dream of an electric car real, and a little less like something that you would read out of a science fiction magazine. It is easy to see just how comfortable the ride is in the video as the duo travel along, and really, if you did now know that the Volt was an e-car there is no real sign that it is. With petrol prices continuing to increase and CO2 a large concern, it may just be time to check out what Hemmingway is promoting. Have Mercedes gone to the top of the premium SUV class with the latest M-class SUV? It was updated in 2011 and, yes, they have a fresh look and notably-downsized powertrains, but what about the rest of it? The four-cylinder diesel model of the ML250 Bluetec Sport was evaluated by Anthony French-Constant. The first impressions of the Mercedes M take L250 are that maybe it has too many gadgets: Active Blind Spot Assist; Active Lane Keeping Assist; Attention Assist; Intelligent Light System; Night View Assist; Seed Limit Assist. Come off it! This makes it difficult to actually assess the engineering. The Mercedes is simply loaded with new technology and additional safety aspects, however this is now the given with new Mercedes. The car virtually tells you when you need to take a break from driving, however the diverse NannyTronics are mostly optional and could be switched off. Sadly, one feature which is not fitted is the Active Curve System. This system compliments the adaptive damping of an optional air suspension, it uses active rear and front anti-roll bars, allowing perfect cornering on bends and maximising comfort on the straights. One system which the driver can not switch off is the Presafe Brake, not its technical name, I hasten to add. This feature, which is unable to be switched off, warns the driver if they are too close to the car in front with warning lights before the automatic braking is engaged. This system is not necessarily ideal when you are pulling out to overtake. Having no control over the brake is certainly daunting. This is also available on the new C-Class Coupe, CLS and M-Class. Watching the ML250 on its road test, at the hands of Ellen Lohr, ex-DTM and Dakar pilot, was awe inspiring. The two or three quick laps, where one may have been tempted to lose their lunch, suggest that the system works well. There was certainly no gently perceptible, pre-activation lurching on the car, which appears to have marred the technology to date To tell you the brutal truth, the handling of the new Mercedes ML250 BlueTec Sport has dramatically improved, even though the active anti-roll bars are not present. Only in the most strenuous of circumstances is body roll not well shackled, and then there is only minimal loss of comfort in a straight line ride. The comfort is almost certainly assisted by the fact that this car has the most comfortable seat in any 4×4 to date, however the centre console and the door armrests are very slightly off set, which is irritating to the driver. Making its debut appearance in the M-Class is the 250 BlueTEC unit. This is a 4-cylinder, 2.2 litre twin-stage turbo diesel which develops almost 370lb of torque through a 7-speed automatic gearbox and 201bhp. The car’s generated excitement has more to do with the fact that the M-Class is the only posh 4×4 which has low CO2 emissions, at less that 160g/km. The excitement has little to do with the experience of driving it. There is some unwarranted vibration when the engine hits about 1800rpm; however the engine is adequately refined and smooth apart from this. The engine will quite skillfully pull more than two tons of car round in cruise. However, it does seem somewhat sluggish in overtaking and does not respond to kick-down quickly enough. Lamborghini have recently announced a new concept car called the Urus and anyone familiar with Lamborghini’s will easily be able identify it as a car made by the manufacturer. Despite this, the car is still very different from any Lamborghini currently on the market, because it is a SUV. The car is going to be competing with Maserati and Porsche, who already have vehicles in the luxury SUV market. The car is going to be marketed to the UK, USA, Russia, Germany, China and the Middle East. The car has four seats and it has been described as a vehicle that is perfect for leisure pursuits, or using everyday with your family. The car is five metres long and has a relatively low height of just 1.7 metres. The car does have a certain amount of practical appeal however because it has a good ground clearance and all wheel drive. No announcement has been made about how much power the car is going to have just yet but it is expected that it will be around 600 horsepower. The car is also going to have good carbon dioxide emissions and its fuel consumption is going to be relatively low for an SUV. This means that the car is going to be very light and this is something very in-line with the philosophy of Lamborghini. Much of the car is going to be constructed out of carbon fibre and reinforced polymers, in order to save on weight. As this is only a concept car, the dashboard, and on-board computer are still rather limited. It is not known what sort of functions Lamborghini are going to include in the car, but it is expected that it will have a computer that can certainly compete with some of the top of the range SUV’s. Black Book Live is the first ever fully researched and independent system of valuating used cars, and will be publishing the changes in trade prices as soon as they are identified. Black Book Live comes to us courtesy of CAP, and solves the age old problem of the uncertainty that surrounds the changes in the value of vehicles that occur between the dates that traditional monthly price guides are published. CAP believe that users of the Black Bool Live guide will be more confident when it comes to making trading decisions on a daily basis, and the wait and see caution will be removed that usually rears its head a few days prior to the date monthly publication hits the shelves. It is also intended to help traders and car retailers to improve their per unit profits and also enable the disposers of fleets to fine tune this activity and maximise potential returns. Black Book Live is researched by a team of expert editors, each specialising in their own vehicle sectors. This granular focus on the market will enable CAP’s editors to maintain the greatest possible accuracy. As soon as an editor is satisfied that sufficient evidence is available to justify a price alteration, the new value is published – together with a brief editorial commentary explaining the rationale behind the price change. The monthly version of Black Book continues in all its current formats. However, accuracy and relevance will be enhanced for monthly Black Book customers due to a later production deadline. This has been enabled by new database systems and more efficient processes introduced to create Black Book Live. CAP Chief Editor Chris Crow said: “We have introduced Black Book Live because today’s market demands the most accurate and timely valuation information possible. The elephant in the room for the traditional monthly guides is that they are inevitably out of date as soon as the market moves in either direction and Black Book Live solves that problem. “Analysis of ‘real world’ trading conditions reveals that even where values change little on a month to month basis, the real time dynamic of the market can see variations in values of several percentage points at different stages in a given month. This can amount to several hundred pounds. Black Book Live offers genuine insight into those subtleties in a way which will enable dealers to improve their profit per unit and fleet disposers to maximise their returns. “Real-time access to dynamic business-critical data is not a new experience for CAP customers. We have long recognised the importance of timeliness as well as accuracy, breadth and depth. That is why we moved several years ago to daily updates in New Vehicle Data. The principle is the same for pricing information. “Nonetheless, it is necessary to also recognise that a fully independent monthly pricing benchmark will remain important to many operators across the automotive sector. The good news for those customers is that our launch of Black Book Live will enable a much later ‘snapshot’ of the market to be taken for the regular Black Book publication than our previous deadlining process allowed.” Customers can register their interest in Black Book Live by visiting http://www.cap.co.uk/BBlive/
The new car from Vauxhall the Ampera has been described by the company as a revolutionary vehicle and this is putting a great deal of pressure on the company for the vehicle to be a success. This new car is a hybrid vehicle but it is quite a deal more sophisticated than Toyota’s offering, the Prius. Beneath the floor of the vehicle is a battery pack and there are two electric motors inside the vehicle. There is also a petrol engine inside which works with the electric engines to power the car. If you choose to run the car in just electric mode, it is capable of getting a range of 50 miles after six hours of charging. When the batteries are depleted, the petrol engine can kick in in order to deliver the power when necessary. This means that the car is very suited for commuters who only drive 50 miles a day. When you use the vehicle in its purely electric mode, there are no emissions from it and no cost for petrol. However the amount of mileage does mean that most people who purchased this car will need to use the petrol engine as well. Unlike some other hybrid vehicles on the market, the car is capable of functioning in purely petrol mode, which means that it has technically unlimited mileage. This should make the car appealing to some people who have been put off by previous hybrid vehicles. The fuel economy figures for the car are not very impressive if you’re simply running it on the engine mode, but when you consider the fact that it is completely capable of running on batteries for 50 miles, mpg really doesn’t become much of an issue. The car is customisable and there are several ways it can be specified. Any motorist who has a car will know about MOT’s. Short for Ministry of Transport testing, are yearly checks that are effectively a full ‘service’ that ensures your car is fit to be on the road, and gives you that all important certificate that allows you to get your car insurance. No certificate, no insurance, as simple as that, and driving without either is illegal, dangerous and can lead to a hefty fine and your car being seized. Maintaining your car is vital for the safety of you and your passengers, as well as extending the lifespan of the vehicle. While there are many ways to make sure your car is well maintained, an MOT is a legal obligation that every motorist has to comply with. Currently, every car that is over three years of age has to have an annual MOT Test, and if you have looked after your car through the preceding year it should pass without too many problems. The tests carried out should be the same wherever you go, and ensure you take your car somewhere that displays a blue sign with 3 white triangles, indicating that is has been approved by the Ministry of Transport to carry out MOT’s. The testing covers both safety and emission and will carry out specific tests on areas such as brakes, lights, fuel system, doors, seats, seatbelts, steering controls and even the horn. The high bills associated with MOT’s occur when it fails in one or more areas during the MOT check, and the garage tells you what needs fixing and how much it will cost. Now this is an area that confuses many people, as if your car fails the MOT check and you are presented with the list of repairs needed, you can take your car elsewhere to get the work done of you feel the price is over the top. You will then have to return it to the original MOT centre and have it retested to get your certificate. Many are under the impression that you have to get the work done at the centre where the test took place, this isn’t the case but you will more than likely have to pay for the retest. If you have managed to get a cheap MOT you may have to pay full price for the retest, and this is something you should find out in advance before booking your car in. There are also some garages that will give you a partial retest at a reduced price if you return it there within a set time period, say a week or 10 days for example. There is always the temptation to get it fixed on the cheap by buying a part from a scrap yard and getting the enthusiastic amateur down the road to fit it, but if they bodge it up and you have to keep getting it retested, you could end up well out of pocket. Ultimately it is your call, but if you carrying around such precious cargo as your family, you want to relax in the knowledge that your car is as safe to be on the road as is possible, and common sense should very much prevail. Guest Article by mottestcentres.co.uk
The Santa Fe 4×4 is a new car from Hyundai and it is going to be appreciated by people who enjoy how 4×4 cars look. Unlike many of the 4x4s currently on the market, it does have the proper strength and design that you would expect from a vehicle that is capable of going off-road. It is a no-nonsense vehicle that is very durable and has enough space for the sort of activities you might be doing out in the country, rather than in the city. As with all cars by Hyundai it also comes with the five-year warranty which does not expire no matter how many miles you travel. In 2012 there are going to be eight different versions of the car released, four of them have five seats available, and four of them have seven seats. There are two different specifications available on the car, Premium and Style. All of the vehicles come with the same 2.2 litre engine which has 194 brake horsepower from a turbodiesel engine. Those who buy the car will have a choice of whether to go for automatic or manual transmission. The price of the car starts at just under £24,000, and the top of the range model costs just over £28,000. The new models that are being released this year have a slightly different interior to those that have been seen before. The rearview mirror has had some design changes and the automatic transmission has undergone some significant improvements. Technically, the car now comes with something called brake control, which assists the driver when the vehicle is going down a steep hill. The car is also been fitted with speed sensitive door locks so that when you start driving all of the doors will lock automatically. It is almost certain that the most popular car is going to have automatic transmission as in this sort of vehicle they are becoming a standard for the industry. Some experts are quite surprised at the company have even given people the option of going for a manual gearbox. It is also likely that most people are not going to go for the more expensive, Premium option for the car as it doesn’t really add a great deal extra. The Style option has plenty of equipment and nice trim and it will make people think it would be a bit of a waste of money to pay the extra £2000 for a slight upgrade. From the outside the car does look a little bit boring and the restyle externally has made it lose some of its character. Before it looked rather distinctive from other SUVs on the market, but now it looks much more like one of the crowd. It is interesting that the manufacturer have decided to do this as one of the reasons it was probably so popular the first time around was because of its unusual looks. The car has all of the usual aspects you would expect on a 4×4 including mudflaps, a spoiler, two exhaust pipes, protective plates under the car, and large alloy wheels. Inside the car there are also plenty of great features including air conditioning, electronic door mirrors, a six speaker sound system and special places for anchoring child seats. The ride in the car is pretty comfortable and the suspension has clearly been set at a softer, rather than a harder setting. This makes the car feel a little unresponsive compared to the old version but the sacrifice for comfort seems to be worthwhile. For customers who want a sensible 4×4, this is going to be a great choice for them. People who are a fan of Ford cars are going to be pleased that the new Ranger Double Cab is going to be arriving in UK dealership soon. The car has recently been given a five-star safety rating by NCAP and this is largely because of a great deal of technological additions that have been made to the car which make it safer than ever. Some of these features include hill descent control, trailer sway control, an electronic stability programme, frontal impact airbags as well as a side curtain. The car starts from just over £15,000, excluding VAT, which will purchase you a 2.2 litre diesel version. The most expensive model in the range costs just over £25,000, excluding VAT, and this will buy you a 3.2 litre diesel automatic model. The specification of the car depends on which version you pay for and there are many things about it which can be customised. If you include VAT, the cheapest car can be picked up for just shy of £17,800. Most of the variations of the car have four-wheel-drive as the standard option, but for those who go for the Super Cab or Regular versions of the car, they will be able to opt for a two wheel drive version. There are many different cab varieties but all other versions will come with four-wheel-drive. The car currently comes with the option of having automatic, or manual gearboxes. Both of these work on six individual speeds and they are all turbo diesel. The type of engine you have will depend on the body options that you choose. However, it is possible to opt for either manual or automatic and this is a choice that can be had on all of the cars, no matter what specifications you choose. It is expected that the 2.2 litre version of the car is going to be the most popular and this is retailing for just over £25,000 including VAT. The car is going to attract a road tax rate of over £200 a year, so potential buyers should bear this cost in mind. The car has dampers which are going to improve durability and strengthen the vehicle and this is just one of the many features that the car has which makes it a good buy over its competitors. In general, the specifications of the car and what you get for your money, make it a better buy than many of the other options currently available on the market. Of course, the most important factor is going to be the load area and this is the largest currently available for a car of its size. It is also capable of handling greater weight, and towing larger items than any other vehicle in its class. The car is certainly powerful and when driving it you really feel as if it will be able to cope with almost all tasks. Despite this seemingly enormous power, the car is still relatively friendly to your wallet at the petrol pump. The six speed manual car will allow you to get around 28 mpg and for a vehicle of its kind the carbon dioxide emissions are relatively low. The 2.2 litre version of the car is even more impressive when it comes to fuel efficiency and it is capable of getting around 31 mpg. The tax figure for this car is also the same as its larger companion. All of the cars offer a comfortable ride and the steering is generally very responsive. The handling of the car is also excellent, even when carrying a heavy load and all of this makes it a generally very impressive vehicle. SEAT have announced that international exports have enabled them to weather the storm that affected the Spanish market during 2011, and the have been able to forge ahead with their plans for both growth and profitability. In terms of revenue, SEAT passed the 5bn euro mark, 8.3% more that in the last financial year, thanks to the increase in exports and the success in the market of its products. The tough economic climate didn’t stop the Volkswagen Group from devoting 555m euros, 7% more than last year, to R&D and investment. Despite this, SEAT improved their operating account by almost 100m euros, 30%, and ended 2011 with a financial result that totalled -232m euros compared to -330m in the previous financial year. Earnings after tax also improved by 43m, 41.3%, to -61m euros. During the presentation of the company’s results for 2011 SEAT’s President James Muir said: “SEAT has delivered on its commitments. We have improved all our indicators and this year we want to continue in the same direction.” In 2011 SEAT delivered 3.1% more vehicles (350,009 units) worldwide, in spite of the Spanish market crisis, and at year’s end it was car registrations leader for the second year running in Spain. The company made up for the downturn in its home market by an 11.4% increase in exports, which now account for almost 80% of total deliveries. The upturn was particularly significant in Germany (+20.9%), France (+14.6%), the United Kingdom (+9.6%) and Italy (+6.5%). SEAT increased its market share in the European Union, and also sold 35.4% more in Mexico, plus 35.6% more in North Africa and the Middle East. Holger Kintscher, SEAT executive Vice-president for Finances and Organisation remarked on the improved profits, saying: “Our company is following the plan laid out to achieve profitability. We have continued to increase earnings and optimise costs, and this has enabled us to improve our results. We have also created more than 1,000 employees and invested 555 million euros to consolidate our future. We are on the right track.” In 2011 SEAT broadened and updated its product range with the launch onto the Spanish market of the Mii, the brand’s new city car, signalling its return to the city cars segment and greater market coverage. The Mii was joined by the revamped Exeo and the Alhambra 4, extending the range of SEAT’s award-winning MPV with a four-wheel drive version. Thanks to the success of SEAT products and the start-up of the Audi Q3, the company increased production at Martorell, its main production facility, by 5.5%, totalling 353,420 vehicles. Both elements enabled SEAT to become one of Spain’s major generators of employment. SEAT also finalized a new, more modern and flexible collective agreement, partially linking pay to company results, as well as paving the way for the creation of yet more jobs. The new city car Mii and the new Ibiza, the brand’s and Spain’s best-selling car, will be joined after the summer break by the new Toledo and the 5-door Leon. About SEAT: SEAT is the only company in its sector with the capacity to design, develop, manufacture and market cars and car accessories in Spain. A member of the Volkswagen Group, the multinational has its headquarters in Martorell, near Barcelona, and exports approximately 75% of its production to 72 countries. SEAT is the market leader in Spain and, in 2010, reached a turnover amounting to 4.7 billion euros, with total sales of 339,500 vehicles. All of SEAT’s new cars purchased from an authorised SEAT dealer in the United Kingdom qualify for a three-year car warranty consisting of a two-year unlimited mileage manufacturer’s warranty and a third year warranty with a 60,000 miles limitation. Warranties for used cars will depend on the dealership. |
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