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Archive for August, 2013

i30 SR Is here

The i30 SR was designed exclusively for the Australian market.

The i30 SR was designed exclusively for the Australian market.

Hyundai Motor Company Australia have lifted the lid on their new addition to the i30 line up.
The i30 SR hatch was first previewed at last years Sydney International Motor Show as a concept. Featuring a larger 125kw 2.0L petrol engine (the regular i30 houses a 1.6L), exclusively tuned sports suspension, and a host of other features, the Australian developed – Korean Hot Hatch has sparked interest in other markets including the UK.

Hyundai Australia seem to be throwing the Motorsport muscle behind the branding of the SR name plate with Aussie WRC competitor Chris Atkinson (the test driver for Hyundai’s return to the WRC In the i20) posting live pictures to Instagram from the i30 SR launch in Byron Bay.
Rumoured to be priced under $30,000 (+ORC) the SR will sit between the mid range Elite and luxury Premium models.
The SR nameplate is rumoured to expand past the i30 SR and Veloster SR Turbo to include the addition of a i30 SR Turbo to compete directly with the Golf GTi and upcoming hot hatches from sister company Kia.

The rumoured i30SR Turbo will use 1.6l turbo used in the Hyundai Veloster and  Kia Cee'd GT (pictured)

The rumoured i30SR Turbo will use 1.6l turbo used in the Hyundai Veloster and Kia Cee’d GT (pictured)

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Keeping Left Unless Overtaking Part 2

A couple of years ago, I had a good whinge on this blog –

http://blog.privatefleet.com.au/home/keep-left-unless-overtaking/

The crux of it was complaining about how Australians seem to ignore the ‘Keep Left Unless Overtaking’ law.  The law seems to be observed in countries overseas but not in Australia and I just couldn’t understand why…

Well, the reason became apparent to me last week.  I was gobsmacked to find out that I have been completely wrong for all these years.   It appears that in Australia on a 3-lane freeway, despite the signs, one is perfectly entitled to sit in the middle lane!!  The signs ‘Keep Left Unless Overtaking’ really means ‘Don’t use the Right Lane Unless Overtaking’.

Here’s the simplified rule as per the motoring authorities:

On multi-lane roads with a speed limit of more than 80km/h, motorists
must not drive in the right-hand lane unless they are:
• overtaking
• turning right or making a U-turn
• avoiding an obstacle
• driving in congested traffic
• driving in a special purpose lane or if there is a Left Lane Must Turn Left sign or a left traffic arrow and the driver is not turning left.

So, I’ve been wrong all these years.  All this wasted anger and frustration directed to these ignorant law-breakers who it turns out were doing the right thing all along (in a legal sense)!  So let me hold my hand up and humbly apologise to all those who have been the subject of my angry feelings and/or glares.  I’m sorry.

Meekly, I will make a defence that I learned how to drive in the UK and have driven extensively in Europe where ‘middle lane hogging’ is clearly outlawed.  Further I will add that the signs used in Australia contributed to my mistake – why refer to the left lane at all when it is the right lane that the law refers to?

However, saying all that, I am now even more astounded.  It’s not ill-informed motorists doing the wrong thing but the government!  What on earth were they thinking?  Many road rules in Australia have been adapted from overseas so why take this one and then snip off an important part for no apparent reason.  Why on earth did they do it?

Let me put forth an objective list of reasons why I think the European model works better:

2-lane
3-lane freeways become 2-lane freeways

 

  • Traffic Flow. The rate of traffic (cars per hour) is increased reducing congestion. Of course, once it hits a point where all 3-lanes are crawling, you’re stuffed but it takes longer to hit that level if ‘left lane discipline’ is observed. If drivers stick steadfastly in the middle lane, it tends to turn 3-lane freeways into 2-lane motorways. In general drivers will (sensibly) prefer to overtake on the right fearing meeting some particurlarly slow traffic in the inside lane and getting ‘boxed in’. So the left lane gets under-utilised – the only users being the most diverse groups – the very slow and the very fast and impatient.
  • If everyone keeps to the very left, there’s no need for undertaking (passing a driver in the left lane).  This increases safety for all drivers as there’s now only one side that you need to anticipate drivers passing you rather than two (notwithstanding the facat that a good driver should anticipate hazards from all angles and situations but you get my drift)

 

 

 

keep-left-undertake

 

  • Speed Differential.  This is the big one in my opinion.  Think about any accident and you’ll see that two objects travelling at different speeds is what caused the accident.  The bigger this difference the more dangerous it is (eg a car at 80km/hr hitting a tree at 0km/hr).

We’ve all had the experience of coming up to the crest a hill and having to brake relatively hard as a heavy vehicle crawls up the hill at snails pace.  Traffic entering main roads from side roads is often a high risk accident zone for example as the car entering may not always attain the prevailing speed fo the main road in time.

 

So when you allow middle lane hogging, and left lane overtaking, you combine some of the fastest speeds with some of the slowest!  You have speed freaks mixing with flat-capped, caravan pulling Sunday drivers in the same lane!

 

Look at the example of the right to see what I’m talking about – as the speeding car passes the truck, there’s a needlessly dangerous 20km/h speed differential.

 

 

Does the above sound right to you?  Or am I missing something?  The following pieces of evidence do seem to support this argument:

  1. Traffic seems to flow better overseas in developed countries.  It just does and anyone who has driver overseas will no doubt have noticed it.  Simply put it takes a lot more cars to clog a 3-lane motorway than it does here.
  2. Further illustrating the ‘speed differential’ argument.  If you are on a freeway and overtake a car doing 105km/h while you are doing 110km/h, it’s relatively straightforward.  You slowly move past them even though there may only be a metre or s0 between the wing mirrors of the two cars.  But would you be so comfortable cruising past a row of trees that close doing the same speed?

Now, how about an argument for the current rules.  Thinking hard, I can only come up with one… and that one is dubious too.

  1. There is less lane changing when drivers are allowed to sit in the niddle lane.  Yes, I can see that in low-traffic scenarios (remember those?) – a car driver for example may just sit in the middle lane avoiding slow trucks etc in the left hand lane.  However sooner or later, a faster driver will come up behind and be forced to change lanes tothe far right lane to overtake whereas with the strick keep left model, he may not have to.  Also, the dangerous practice impatient drivers are ‘forced’ into of darting to to the left to undertake and then quickly scoot two lanes to the right to overtake the next two vehicles may mean that this isn’t the case after all.

So, I’m still confused and still frustrated but should I be?  Is this even an issue worth talking about?  Let us know in the comments below if you agree or disagree. http://credit-n.ru

Car Industry Support: Who's Right?

It’s red face time at Holden, Toyota and Ford as it’s been revealed a secret report commissioned by Australia’s three remaining local car makers, intended to back their calls for extra funding, is contradicted by a report compiled by a company formed as a merger between the original company used and another. Allen Consulting Group was asked to look into how the automotive industry impacts here in Australia and found that a loss of $23 billion would hit the economy between 2018 and 2031 if all three closed shop, stating the loss would be far higher than the amount of funding supplied. Unfortunately for the companies, Allen Consulting merged with ACIL Tasman to form Allen ACIL and a report issued by them says that taxpayer backed funding should be withdrawn. It was stated that the support is effectively a tax on the rest of the economy whilst the more successful industries prop up the less successful.

Initially released in April of this year, the three car makers have had to commission a revised report, after benching the initial one at a cost of around $100, 000 dollars, with the findings now expected for later this year. So it begs the question; who is right? Are our car makers truly in need of continuing funding in such a competitive market (it’s said there’s over sixty manufacturers available in Australia) or would it be better to cut the losses and have them as mainly import only? http://credit-n.ru/potreb-kredit.html

Keep Calm In The Car

Next time you’re at the traffic lights, sneak a peek at your fellow drivers.  To judge by their actions, most people seem to forget that when they’re sitting behind the wheel of a car, they’re in a bubble of glass and are visible to everyone around them, tinted glass notwithstanding.  They behave as though they’re in solitude, blissful or otherwise. This has to be the reason why heaps of people decide that the traffic lights are the best place to practice a little nasal hygiene (i.e. pick their noses).keepcalm

And when you stop to think about it, most of us respect the privacy of other people and don’t go gawping in at the drivers around us, any more than we go peering through the neighbours windows. So maybe it’s best that we make the most of that little bit of semi-solitude in our days and find a way to make our commutes calmer.

There are some obvious benefits to driving calmly. Obviously, you avoid road rage problems. However, if you are less aggressive as you drive, you tend to use less petrol and create less wear and tear on all the moving parts. Not to mention what being aggressive and impatient does to you.

 

So, in the interests of keeping your daily commute a bit calmer and less stressful, here are a few ideas that you might like to try:

  • Don’t feel like you have to have the navigation system on all the time. Save it for when you need it. You probably know the way to work by now, don’t you? The fewer voices, beeps and buzzes you have in your environment competing for your attention, the better for you (and you’ll probably drive more safely into the bargain).
  • Keep a few healthy nibbles and drinks in your car. Cupholders don’t just fit coffee cups – they fit most hand-held receptacles. Instead of picking up yet another adrenaline-stimulating coffee, why not throw a bottle of fruit juice into the drink holder? Also have a selection of healthy nibbles to snack on as you drive, especially if you have a long commute at the end of the day and are likely to have flagging blood sugar levels in the evening. Chilled glove compartments or consoles are designed for storing chocolate on hot days, aren’t they?
  • Make the inside of your car attractive. It’s a pity more car manufacturers haven’t taken a leaf out of the VW Beetle and provided a little bud vase for flowers.
  • Pick your sounds with care. Sometimes, the radio with endless doom and gloom in the news is the last thing you want. Choose a playlist to suit your mood (e.g. energetic, lively music in the morning when you want to energize yourself; calm chill-out sounds in the evening). And don’t forget audio books, which can turn a long wait at the lights a chance to hear a bit more of the story.
  • Use essential oils – lavender is calming and antiseptic. Make your own car fragrance from lavender oil, white vinegar and water, or blend lavender oil with some regular oil and use it to wipe down the dashboard and steering wheel. If you use a strong enough concentration of oil (e.g. 20 drops to ½ a cup of oil), you’ll also disinfect the bits you touch at the same time.

P7160099

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