Aussie Motoring

It’s been a long time since I had to put up with a backseat driver and that’s just as well because I tend to arc up fairly quickly when someone tries to tell me how to drive.

However if I was a member of the United Kingdom’s armed forces otherwise I might have to keep a lid on my temper because backseat drivers are about to be fitted to 200 vehicles belonging to their Navy Army and Air Force vehicles in an effort to improve road safety.

Not only will these automated pests provide instant feedback to the driver but they’ll also provide data for motor pool managers … and if you’ve ever been in the services you’ll understand why many military drivers would shudder at that thought.

You can read the full story here.

I still remember the response when I returned a rather bent truck to the base motor pool one day years ago. The Warrant Officer didn’t care that all the bent bits were on the back of the truck and had been caused by some dopey woman who thought that she could drive a Land Cruiser and do her makeup at the same time … or that I had been stationary at the end of a line of traffic for several minutes before she hit me … or that there was a little matter of rank involved here.

He wanted blood and by God he was going to get it and seeing that the vehicle had been booked out to me so it was my blood he wanted. And if he couldn’t have blood he was going to watch me suffocate in paperwork.

At last there’s some good news for Holden and the motor industry in South Australia. Holden has announced that it will soon be exporting two new cars for the American market from their plant in Adelaide.

Both vehicles will be marketed in America under the Pontiac brand and one of the two will be an Americanised Aussie sports ute. It seems that our poor American cousins have never really been exposed to anything quite like our Aussie sports utes so Pontiac sees it as a “niche” market.

Pontiac will be displaying both vehicles on their stand at the New York International Auto Show that starts next Wednesday.

You can read more about these two vehicles here

Sales in both January and February have set records for those months, building on a record annual total of more than one million new cars in 2007.

“The February sales result is very pleasing for the automotive industry and shows that underlying demand from private buyers and business remains very robust, reflecting continued outstanding levels of vehicle affordability,” said FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar.

The diversity of market trends was shown by the fact that small cars and large Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) were once again the main drivers of market growth in February.

Light car sales rose by 2,236 or 22.5 per cent, the Small car segment rose by 1,645 or 8.6 per cent and the SUV market grew by 3,365 vehicles or 22.6 per cent.

These gains were partially countered by declines in the Large car (down 2,488 or 19.9 per cent) and Medium car (down 383 or 5.1 per cent) segments.

“The volumes in the Large and Medium segments have been affected by the run-out of several key models. As new models become available in the coming months we would expect to see some turn-around,” said Andrew McKellar.

Mr McKellar said a notable facet of the motor vehicle market last month was the large volume of vehicles being bought by businesses.

Sales of tool-of-trade Pick-up/cab-chassis 4×2 utilities rose by 1,184 or 22.0 per cent, while the Van segment rose by 602 or 39.1 per cent.

Toyota was the top-selling brand in February with 23.0 per cent of the market, ahead of Holden with 13.8 per cent and Ford with 10.5 per cent.

Year-to-date Toyota now leads Holden by 15,916 sales.

… not happy Jan!

The JD Power Group are well-known in the United States for their annual surveys of car buyer satisfaction. Big brand-names like Mercedes have not faired well when consumers are asked to comment on how satisfied they might, or might not be, with the car they’ve purchased and the service they have received.

Now JD Power is doing their surveys here in Australia and Holden and Ford have not faired well. In fact they have done so poorly in the survey they’re at the bottom of the list … in positions nine and ten.

The response by both manufacturers is pretty much what you would expect and you can read more about it here

Yes there is one and there could be another if you happen to have just over $A1.62 million and an urge to own a truly unique car. An urge to travel up to 10 metres below the surface in a car that swims like a fish is optional.

You can find more about the sQuba and a photo here.

Mitsubishi has announced that they will close their South Australian plant in March with the lost of 930 employees.

In a statement released a short time ago Mitsubishi stated that the ” … decision has been made because Australian consumers are moving towards smaller, more economic, and environmentally friendlier cars like those in the rest of the Mitsubishi range.”

Of course the closure of the plant means the end of production for the 380 - the car that very few people seemed to want.

Now if the reasons given for closing the plant are correct then I wonder what’s in store for Ford when they release the new Falcon. Have Australian consumers really moved on from the big 6 cylinder cars?

The ABC is reporting that Mitsubishi will make a decision later today on whether or not to close their assembly line in South Australia. The money is on the plant closing and production moving to plants in either Russia or China.

You can read the full report here

If you happen to live in America then there’s a Smart car coming to a dealer near you. But you just have to wonder about a company that can’t cope with the concept of using capital letters for the names of its products.

The smart fortwo is manufactured by the Mercedes Car Group. This technologically advanced vehicle has been designed to achieve 40-plus mpg under normal driving conditions. The vehicle is 2.64 metres long, 1.55 metres tall and 1.55 metres wide and comes equipped with many standard functional and safety features such as electronic stability program, anti-lock brakes and four air bags.

smart is currently sold in 36 countries, and over 800,000 smart fortwos have been sold since 1998.

The smart fortwo will be available in three trim levels. The entry-level pure coupe will start at $US11,590 with standard features such as a 5-speed transmission that allows drivers to switch between automatic and manual driving modes with the push of a button, central remote locking system, 2-spoke leather steering wheel, and a radio-ready console.

The passion coupe, starting at $US13,590 includes a panorama roof, alloy wheels, air conditioning with climate control, 3-spoke leather sports steering wheel with gear shift paddles, power windows, electric and heated side mirrors, and an AM/FM radio with CD player, all standard.

Those seeking top-down excitement can choose the passion cabriolet, starting at $16,590 featuring a fully automatic soft top that can be easily adjusted with a push of a button, and in addition to the standard equipment of the passion coupe, a premium sound system with an in-dash mp3 compatible 6-CD changer. The value-priced cabrioletlet model is believed to debut as the lowest priced convertible offered in the United States.

All models are equipped with a 1-liter, 3-cylinder, 71-horsepower engine.

Now I can see that a car like the smart fortwo would be popular in Europe but how many do you think they’re going to sell in the US market were BIG is still considered beautiful?

There are plenty of new models due out in Australia this year. Perhaps the one that will arouse the most interest is the new Ford Falcon model scheduled for release in May. Of course there are some photos of the new model already out there on the Net thanks to Ford who decided to release a few themselves.

Holden seem intent on stealing some of Falcon’s thunder by releasing a new station wagon during May. The new wagon will be smaller than the Commodore wagon which will be phased out when the new wagon arrives.

We can also expect a new Peugot 308 hatch during February. Nissan will also be releasing a 4 cylinder SUV during February but it won’t be coming from Japan. Instead the Dualis will be manufactured in Great Britain.

A new Subaru Imprezza and a Lancer Evo are also due with the Imprezza coming in February and the Evo in March. And if we didn’t have enough big cars of our own and more coming in from Europe then the Cadillac CTS may find a few buyers when it arrives sometime towards the end of the year.

And if big gas guzzling American monsters and smaller but just as thirsty SUVs aren’t your style then you only have to wait until March when a new version of the Fiat 500 arrives. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this Fiat 500 will be cheap … the starting price is expected to be well over the $20k mark.

And you can find more information on the new cars arriving in Australia here.

With the release of the BMW V8 M3 convertible also came the release of BMW’s new M double-clutch transmission with Drivelogic.

BMW claims that the new transmission providces faster and smoother shifting and even more fuel economy and when you see the figures released for the V8 M3 then it’s hard not to believe those claims.

The new transmission offers as many as eleven driver-selectable electronically controlled driving program choices. These include five shift programs in the fully automatic mode and six in manual mode, and are supplemented by a selectable Launch Control program that provides blistering off-the-line acceleration where the power from the 309 kW, 4.0-litre V8 M3 engine is transferred with maximum effect to the road.

The heart of the new BMW transmission is the double clutch system that acts to smooth out gearshifts to the point that they are often only discernible by watching the rise and fall of engine rpm on the M3’s tachometer.
Each oil-cooled wet clutch activates its own set of ratios - one is used for first, third, fifth and seventh gears, as well as reverse, while the other looks after second, fourth and sixth gears.

Gearshifts are effected by the disengagement of one clutch and the engagement of the other, moving seamlessly from the ratio in use to the next, preselected ratio. The fact that the next ratio is preselected and engaged merely by activation of the clutch is the secret behind the smooth and efficient transition from gear to gear.

The new M double-clutch transmission also incorporates a Low Speed Assistant mode that operates when manoeuvring at speeds less than 5 km/h to significantly increase the smoothness and degree of accelerator control available to the driver.

Gradient detection also means that the new M double-clutch transmission with Drivelogic is able to determine the appropriate ratios when travelling up or down hills.

This avoids the “hunting” between gears so often experienced in regular automatics when travelling on undulating roads, while the appropriate selection of lower gears on downhill gradients helps maintain road speed by using the braking power of the engine.

In fully automatic D mode, the driver can select from five Drivelogic programmes that regulate both the gearshift speeds and the change points right through to the D5 mode where the engine is stretched close to its maximum rpm - depending on throttle position - on upshifts. In D1 mode, the M3 with M double-clutch transmission is able to start off in second gear to help avoid wheelspin in slippery conditions.

In manual mode, six different Drivelogic programmes allow a similar range of characteristics, with the added driver control provided by the ability to choose shift points manually. In S6 mode, the drive can also activate launch control by holding the shift lever in the forward position.