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Archive for April, 2013

Racetrack or road and an introduction.

DTSHello there everyone, I’m Dave. Although new to Private Fleet, my background when it comes to the automotive area is pretty reasonable; I’m a freelance car reviewer with my own website (www.awheelthing.com), work as a motorsports commentator, interviewed some household names in Aussie motorsport, have sold cars and present a weekly wrapup on www.torqueradio.com.au. As such, I’ll be providing some reader friendly industry news & reviews on cars and invite you along for the ride.

Megan’s spot on post about indicating leads me to my first contribution. Around the age of 16 or 17, we learn, supposedly, how to drive a combination of metal, plastic and rubber that weighs over 1000 kilograms at speeds up to 90 kilometres per hour. Or, if you like, move at 25 metres per second (if we use 90 kmh) whilst, generally, gripping the steering wheel intently and looking straight ahead. It’s an increasing concern to those that work in the driver safety area that our new P Plated drivers haven’t really been taught to “drive”, they’ve merely been shown how to steer, select D and…..well, that’s about it.

Once you’ve been granted a license to drive, you’re not retested, as a rule, for potentially another half a century. Yet, in so many other disciplines, people have to undergo a mandatory test every 12 months. There’s generally constant Learner and P platestraining, updates and so on to take on board. Not with driving a car.

Some manufacturers offer, as part of their sales package, driver training and club days. Some dealers will entice a new buyer with a day’s worth of driver training. Frighteningly, all too often this offer is declined because “I already know how to drive” or “the car’s for the wife, it’s just to pick up the kids from school”. Invariably, the vehicle they were looking at was a people mover or mid sized SUV…..current car was generally a small hatchback.

Why is this relevant? Different classes of vehicle have different ways they need to be driven; a small hatchback sits lower to the ground and doesn’t have a lot of ground clearance. This means they have a lower centre of gravity than a SUV. Most of the time they’re not particularly a quick accelerator either. Most SUVs of a reasonable size have a diesel or V6 petrol engine. They’ll accelerate to 100 kmh a lot quicker. They ride higher, meaning their centre of gravity will be at a point most people coming from a small car will forget about when cornering. They’ll weigh more meaning they’ll require more braking effort or to be braked further back from the car in front if you don’t want to rear end them.

Driver training, driver education provides this sort of clear and easy to understand information. As driver training centres are few and far between, these courses are held at the safest venue possible. A motorsport racetrack. In Sydney, there are only, currently, two venues: Sydney Motorsport Park (Eastern Creek) and the Sydney Dragway. Unfortunately there are politicians, some police and some so called road safety campaigners that believe driver training is detrimental, that it will encourage people to exceed their driving ability. These calls are easily countered with one simple, unassailable, incontrovertible fact. The excessively overwhelming majority of crashes on Sydney roads are nose to tail and under the speed limit.

Driver training helps you understand what you can and can’t do; more importantly it helps you understand what your car can or can’t do. Knowing how your car will accelerate and get across an intersection can make all the difference between holding up traffic behind you or not, it can make the difference between getting across safely and in plenty of SMP Driver Trainingtime as opposed to being hit amidships. Driver training will help you make your car more visible when it’s raining or dark because you’re now more aware your dark metallic grey car is near invisible to other drivers. Driver training will help you learn that the hammering from beneath your feet when you hit the brakes is merely the ABS (anti lock braking system) working rather than something wrong and then you take your foot off and you don’t stop and you crash……And yes, it will help you know when to use your indicators correctly.

Finally, the best way to prove that you’re not as good a driver as you think you are? Go do a driver training course. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/otlnal-microzaimi.html

Targa: Showcasing Tasmania

I have just returned from Tasmania, host of what is billed as ‘The World’s Ultimate Tarmac Rally’- Targa Tasmania.

In its 22nd year, the ‘Targa’ takes in roads across the breadth of The Apple Isle, over six days of intense competition. There was an eclectic mix of cars, with around 220 entries in this year’s instalment ranging from $500,000-plus Lamborghinis to a 1938 Dodge, the oldest vehicle in the event.

White Lambo

As much as it’s about the cars, Targa Tasmania does something else very well: It involves remote communities. Driving into George Town, I could see kids rushing from their school playground to the fence line as the competitors drove past. There was smiling, cheering, waving…some had even made signs up to support their favourite car or driver.

After the George Town stage, cars and crews assembled in the coastal town’s centre, where spectators thronged, music played and food was served. The camaraderie, not only between crews and crowds, but between rival crews themselves, is what sets this event apart.

In recent years the route has taken competitors for a second day of stages on the remote west coast. The stunning sea-side town of Strahan hosts the crews, and is overflowed with personality. It’s wonderful tourism for Strahan and the surrounding regions, which struggle to sustain themselves given their vast distance from major town centres.

While in Strahan it was sad to hear news of the Wilderness Railway possibly being closed down, simply via a lack of profitability. Sad, because its route reveals scenery so breath-taking in parts that it could rival anything in New Zealand or Switzerland.

Heading out towards Lake St. Clair on Targa’s final day, I was awe-struck by the perfect tranquillity of the landscape between the old mining centre of Queenstown and Derwent Bridge (seriously, try the steak at the pub). The barrenness of Queenstown is quickly replaced by deep, clear lakes, imposing mountain ranges and thick, lush forest, with 360 degree views interrupted only by birdsong. It’s truly idyllic; I haven’t been so moved by Planet Earth since I saw Lake Como in Italy, and it’s lucky that the most beautiful sections are not part of the closed road sections of Targa…as I’d bet someone would end up driving clean into a lake.

It’s an epic undertaking but if you can manage the logistics and love the outdoors, the west coast of Tassie- indeed, pretty much Tassie in general- is a wonderful place for a driving holiday. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/platiza-mgnovenniy-zaim-online.html

Names For New Cars: What Will Work And What Won’t

Let’s imagine that we have been contracted to some new Asian car manufacturer who wants to get it right when it comes to car names and not come up with something ridiculous like the perfectly genuine Mitsubishi Mini Active Urban Sandal. What is going to work and what definitely won’t?

Of course, we could always go with the tried-and-true method beloved of European car manufacturers: that of using a combination of numbers and letters that tell you the engine size, the general class or type of car, and maybe the fuel type. This method works perfectly well for BMW, Mercedes and Volvo, with Lexus also getting on board.

look_it_up_TBut that’s so boring, even if it is safe. What’s more, those alphanumeric things don’t stick in the mind and the imagination in the same way, so from an advertiser’s point of view, something that isn’t just a combination of random letters and numbers works better.

The big thing when it comes to picking a name for a car is to find something that suits the image of the car and the sort of target market. The name ought to say something about the car and what it does. It should be memorable – but for the right reasons, not for the wrong ones.

Car type: 4x4s
Image and atmosphere needed: Things to do with the wilderness, the great outdoors, exploration, adventure, rough and toughness… Wild places on the earth, people who discovered them.
Names that have worked: Nissan Safari, Nissan Pathfinder , Landrover Discovery, Ford Ranger, VW Tourareg .
Names that could work: Locator, Granite, Tundra, Pampas, Trek, Prospector, Quest, Colombus, Shackleton, Amundsen, Livingstone, Viking, Magellan.
Names that won’t work: Anything that overplays the dangerous bit or is named after an explorer with a name that can sound odd or wimpy: Risk, Hazard, Stanley, Cook, Eric.

Car type: Eco-friendly small car, preferably a hybrid or electric. Usually a hatchback but not always.
Image and atmosphere needed: Something from the natural world that’s pretty to give the right sort of fun, green image, preferably something that moves quickly.
Names that have worked: Nissan Leaf, VW Beetle, Suzuki Swift, Nissan Bluebird, Datsun Sunny
Names that could work: Dolphin, Sparrow, Marten, Aspen, Maple, Arroyo, Spark.
Names that won’t work: Swallow, Fish, Frog, Whale, Lizard, Toad, Puddle, Banana, Platypus.

 
Car type: Fast sports car.
Image and atmosphere needed: Something dangerous and aggressive, or possibly high temperature.
Names that have worked: Jaguar, Alfa Romeo Spider, FPV F6 Tornado, Porsche Cayenne, Hyundai Tiburon.
Names that could work: Mako, Barracuda, Mamba, Redback, Brumby, Piranha, Tabasco, Fever.
Names that won’t work: T-Rex, Brontosaurus, Hammerhead, Rhino, Explode, Muscle, Poison. Anything that’s just too try-hard.

Car type: Luxury executive saloon.
Image and atmosphere needed: Something classy and sophisticated with an overtone of prestige, wealth and opulence. Some European marques tend to use classy women’s names.
Names that have worked: Holden Statesman, Holden Commodore, HSV Senator, Renault Megane,  Subaru Legacy.
Names that could work: Platinum, Kaiser, Marquis, Baron, Tiara, Imperator, Viscount, Heritage, Catriona, Sabine.
Names that won’t work: Anything that’s just too in-your-face ostentatious. Precious, Autocrat, Aristocrat, Dictator, General, Pope, Archbishop, Pontiff, Caesar, Prince, Rex, Jenny, Maria.

Anything involving adjectives can get on shaky ground, especially if the adjective is the sort of thing people naturally call a car if they’re giving it a rave review. So Wonderful, Awesome, Brilliant, Amazing, Marvellous, Incredible and Fantastic just aren’t going to work. They’re just asking for trouble and mockery. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/turbozaim-zaimy-online-bez-otkazov.html

More Than 2.5 Children?

Those with large families – and even those with average families with the standard 2.5 children – often go in for big MPVs with six or seven seats so everyone can sit in the car comfortably without squishing poor little Two Point Five who has to sit in the middle seat that’s been designed for 0.5 of a person in the average sedan (although I’m pleased to note that in larger sedans such as the Ford Fairlane  sitting in my garage, there’s room for three kids over the age of ten plus the dog in the back seat, and nobody’s got knees in the driver’s kidneys).

Anyway, the MPV is the car of choice for a lot of families, especially if they do have larger than average families. The MPV is certainly a lot more stylish for getting about in than the standard thing you saw large families driving back in the 1990s: the van. In some circles, you occasionally heard about the “white van brigade” as a term to refer to families that (a) had more than three kids, (b) were usually somewhat religious in their outlook on life and/or quasi-hippy types and (c) homeschooled their many children. They all had white vans, such as the good old Mitsubishi Express  or its earlier incarnations, the Mazda Bongo, etc, and you’d see a right row of these lined up in the car parks of some churches on Sunday mornings. They were good vehicles but they tended to be a bit bland and boring, even though they were practical. The MPV has changed all that, adding style and colour as options for big families.

a-portrait-of-sir-william-young-and-his-large-family-johann-zoffany

However, if you are a parent of one of those larger families, don’t just rush out and buy the first MPV you see in the car yard or read about on our car reviews page. Always test drive the car first – and don’t just test-drive the engine. See how the car goes with the various family members in it, booster seats, car seats and all.

This is where I need to mention the cautionary tale that happened to a woman I know – let’s call her Catherine (not her real name). Baby number three had just arrived and, of course, the baby had to go in a proper rear-facing car seat in the back. Catherine’s MPV was of the type that had a sliding panel type of back door, with a seat that folded up to allow access to the back row. Child number one could go in a booster seat in the front without any problems, but Number Two had a problem. There wasn’t any room for the booster seat and the baby seat in the middle row, unless you had ultra-thin hands to reach down and operate the seat belt plugs. So Number Two had to go in the very back seat. However, the only place that the baby seat could go and still be reached was that fold-down seat, as Catherine’s arms weren’t long enough to reach the other side of the car – the sliding panel was the only way in to the back bit, apart from the hatch into the cargo area. Just as well the hatch into the boot was there, as this was how number two had to get into the car. I have no idea what Catherine is going to do if Number Two throws a hissy fit and refuses to get in the car.

If a lot of your children are quite large, then hop into the very rear seat to check out the legroom. One teenager of my acquaintance was recently riding in the rear row of a Volvo XC90  (which contained a horde of other teenagers) reported that the rear seat hasn’t got a lot of room for long legs, and this tall young man and his friend had to be pretty flexible to fit in. This wasn’t the latest sort of Volvo XC90, and later versions may have corrected this issue – but do check out what the space is like in the very back and ask yourself how you’d like to go on a long distance trip inside it.

As always, the test drive is a must – and take the whole family with you, no matter how much they moan. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/viva-dengi-credit.html