As seen on:

SMH Logo News Logo

Call 1300 303 181

Australia’s Best New Car News, Reviews and Buying Advice

Archive for April, 2012

It’s A Record: Some 2012 Chart-Toppers

Managed to get hold of the 2012 Guinness Book of Records from my local library, and motoring enthusiasts everywhere are probably going to be quite pleased with the number of entries that tie in with our interests. Not only do you have the usual two-page spread with all the record-breaking or record-holding cars, but in this latest edition, you’ve also got a special “Petrolhead” category and an alternative energy category. Given what we know about (a) the dicey nature of Middle Eastern politics and (b) the fact that the world’s got only so much crude oil in its crust and when it’s gone, it’s gone, that page featuring alternative energy is probably likely to become more and more important.

 
Anyway, philosophical maunderings about energy sources, aside, what’s some of the great facts and records this year for the world of motoring? Take notes now – you never know when these facts might come in handy for a pub quiz trivia night.

 
Fastest electric car: This record is held by the Buckeye Bullet 2, which, unfortunately, isn’t a production car but a project by some engineering students studying at the Ohio State University. Its top speed is a very impressive 487.672 km/h, which is more than four times the legal road speed – is that fast enough for you?

 
Fastest solar-powered car: This record’s one that Australians can be proud of: it’s held by the Sunswift IV, and it can get up to 88.73 km/h. The Sunswift was made by the NSW Solar Racing Team.
Longest journey by coffee-powered car: This isn’t a nutty idea from the USA but one from the eccentric Brits instead: they managed to get from London to Manchester in an adapted VW Scirocco that has a way to convert coffee granules into carbon monoxide (not so eco-friendly) and hydrogen, and the hydrogen fires the engine. The journey covered 337 km and did it at a fuel economy of 1 km per 35 expressos.

 
Best selling-hybrid car: No surprises here: the record’s held by the Toyota Prius, which has sold over two million units since its launch in 1997.

 
Best selling production car: This is held by the Toyota Corolla, which was the first car to achieve 30 million sales. The first car to reach 20 million sales, however, was the VW Beetle. The first car to achieve 10 million sales isn’t one you’ll find in our car reviews page: it was the Model T Ford. To get a little more specialised, the best-selling sports car is the Mazda MX-5.

 
Greatest fuel range: Hold your head up high, Volkswagen: the Passat 1.6 TDI managed to get 2456.88 km on just one tank of fuel.

 
Largest vehicle producing country: this is held by China, which also holds the record for the country with the larges vehicle sales (it’s just managed to beat the USA for this latter record).

 
Vehicle with the largest mileage: a 1966 Volvo P-1800S managed to get over 4.5 million kilometres on the clock and it’s still going strong. Another record-holding Volvo is the XC60, which can proudly wear the title of the first car with a crash avoidance system.

 
Smallest roadworthy car: This is a home-made job knows as the Wind Up, and it measures 104 cm high by 66.04 cm wide by 132.08 cm long. This is not a suitable family vehicle…

 
Fastest caravan tow: a person driving a Mercedes Benz S600 in South Africa managed to clock 223.88 km/h while towing a caravan – on an Air Force runway. Cops tend to get a bit grumpy if you try doing this on the roads.

 
Fastest production car: This is still held by the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport with a top speed of 431.072 km/h.

 
Most expensive car: Held by a Ferrari 205 GTO. The most expensive production car is the Mercedes-Benx CLK/LM.

 

http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/srochnodengi-online-zaymi.html

Dodgy roads? How about this dodgy path…

Remember the blog post from a couple of years ago where we featured the infamous ‘Bolivian Highway’?  Well that’s nothing compared the the footpath featured below and filmed with a handycam.

Yes I know this is a car blog and it is, I admit it’s a tenuous automotive link but it’s well worth a share … unless you don’t like heights.


This is the ‘El Caminito del Rey’ (Kings Pathway) – an old abandoned walkway in Spain built in the early 1900’s to support workers activities at the nearby hydroelectric plant. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/vivus-potrebitelskie-zaymy-online.html

$1.5m Supercar abandoned in the desert.

Backpackers often abandon their old car when they’ve finished tripping around Australia and return for home, British backpackers amongt them. But they wouldn’t abandon it if it was a Ferrari, and not just any Ferrari either.

This hugeley rare Ferrari Enzo (only 399 made) and worth an expected $1.5 m was apparently abandoned by a British ‘backpacker’ in Dubai a while ago and now it’s coming up for auction. OK, he probably wasn’t a backpacker, but he was protective of his freedom. You see, being in debt is a jailable offence in Dubai, so it’s not that uncommon for foreign businessman to abandon their cars when they make ‘a rapid exit’ from this middle east nation. But abandon cars are usually fairly mundane machines, so this fleeing Brit must have incurred massive debts before his early departure 18 month ago..

The car, along with a over 100 others abandoned cars, will form part of a Police auction in Dubai today, and is expected to raise well in excess of a million dollars.

FOOTNOTE:- It seems that the Dubai police pulled the car from sale amid world wide publicity, claiming that it is still needed for evidence of crime. It may be re-listed as soon as their enquiries are complete. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/webbankir-online-zaim-na-kartu.html

The Cheaper Sort Of Lamborghini

So the speed you can get in a Porsche 911 or the Italian style of an Alfa Romeo aren’t quite enough for you and you want something exotic, fast and with plenty of style? Most people look to the big name Italian makers: Ferrari and Lamborghini. Well, most people look but only a handful are actually going to be able to buy one.

 
I heard on the radio the other day that Lamborghini had launched something a little cheaper than usual. A car? Nope. Turns out that although Lambo have put out a number of new cars recently (which you won’t find reviewed in our car reviews page – we’re into cars that the average Aussie and the average business is likely to actually buy!) and have also put out a bike – a limited edition bike.
This is not a motorbike, in spite of the Italian thing with little scooters like the Vespa. No, it’s a pushbike, so it’s up to you what the top speed is. To be sure, the bike is made from super-light carbon-fibre and has all the design features that help a bike go faster. And yes, it’s got the bull logo along with very aggressive styling designed to match the Lamborghini Aventador – and a Lambo-style price tag to match. Quite frankly, you can pick up a decent new car from a more everyday brand (e.g. Toyota) for the same price, so guess which one I’d rather spend the equivalent of €20,000 on!

 
Lambo aren’t alone in dabbling in the world of pushbikes, which are, after all, supposed to be the most efficient machines ever invented (amount of energy put out is about 99% of the energy put in, with minimal energy converted to heat and noise). According to one news website, BMW, Land Rover and Porsche have popped their characteristic badges onto top-end road bikes, with HSV and FPV also having a go with mountain bikes. It’s considered widely to be a bit of a branding exercise, although it could also be a recognition of the upswing in good quality road bikes as a form of zero-carbon transport, especially in Europe. Well, minimal carbon, anyway, as you still breathe when you’re biking, putting out CO2, to say nothing of the methane coming from other end if you’ve eaten a carb-rich breakfast to power your biking efforts.

 
The Lambo bikes (known as the BMC Impec Automobili Lamborghini Edition) are limited edition models and only 30 are going to be made, so we’re unlikely to see too many bull logos on the bikes in the racks around our cities. We’re unlikely to get any in Australia at all, so keen cyclists will have to just get Giants or the like.

 
Actually, if you are desperate for something with the Lamborghini brand on it and are based in a rural area, the way that you can get a cheap(ish!) Lamborghini for your business (assuming your business is in the agricultural area) is to get a farm tractor. Lamborghini started out making tractors, and they still do. Naturally, they’re top-of-the line machines with torque levels that make what you can get out of even the juiciest sports car: 820 Nm from one model. They’re very popular in Europe, where you’re more likely to see a Lamborghini in the fields beside the road rather than on the roads. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/zaymer-online-zaymi.html