As seen on:

SMH Logo News Logo

Call 1300 303 181

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

Archive for September, 2013

Men and Women Drivers: Does The Gender Gap Actually Exist?

From time to time – but less often than we did in the past – you hear people making snarky comments about “women drivers”.  This has always puzzled me. Do women really drive differently from men? Is there are gender difference in the way that people treat their cars?

This is far from being scientific research, but I reckon that the answer is no, not really.  Sometimes, it seems as if everything I’ve read about gender differences in driving conflicts with what I’ve actually experienced or seen.

What I’ve read: Men are more aggressive and competitive when they drive.

What I’ve experienced: The majority of guys driving aren’t all that competitive or aggressive.  The majority of drivers aren’t aggressive and competitive. Yes, you get the odd berk who overtakes everything in sight just to get to the traffic lights two seconds in front of you, but as far as I can see, these people can be either gender.  I’ve even given in to the odd competitive urge myself… like that time that I was waiting at the lights and noticed that the car beside me was an orange HSV. I have a soft spot for Fords, and orange is my least favourite colour, so if the road hadn’t been so busy, I probably would have turned the green light into a chance for the great rivalry to continue between the blue oval and the lion.

What I’ve read: Women have more of an emotional attachment to their cars and treat them more like pets, while for a man, a car is a glorified power tool.

What I’ve also read: Men have more of an emotional attachment to their cars – “boys and their toys” – while women just want something that goes from A to B.

These two statements are mutually exclusive, so it’s probably best to say that some people have an emotional attachment to their cars while others do not.  It also depends on the car itself and memories associated with the car.

What I’ve read: Women get distracted more easily because they are more likely to text while driving and because they use the mirror to check their appearance and/or apply makeup.

What I’ve experienced: If you can see your face in the rear view mirror while you’re driving, it’s in the wrong position. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of my woman friends applying any sort of cosmetic while driving and I certainly haven’t done it myself. Not even at the traffic lights when I know from experience that I’ve got at least a minute to wait.  Idiots who text and drive are just as likely to be male as female, judging by the ones I’ve had to dodge recently. And as for women being more distracted in general, well, those billboards featuring bikini babes we see all over the show aren’t going to be much of a distraction for a straight woman, are they?

What I’ve read (quite recently, in fact): Men are more likely to honk the horn at other drivers when ticked off, while women are more likely to swear or give the one-fingered salute.

What I’ve experienced: If you’re dodging some idiot who has decided that the give way laws don’t apply to them at the moment, then your main focus is going to be on avoiding a collision rather than using your hands to give someone the big finger or to find the horn (I always end up hitting one of the cruise control buttons by mistake). Applies to either gender.  You might give some exclamation along the lines of “Oh, crap!” to give a printable example.  Again, applies to both genders.  By the time you’re out of the situation, it’s too late for either the horn or the hand, as the twit who forced you to jam on the brakes has vanished, so muttering comments about him/her is the only option left.

What I’ve read: Men are more mechanically adept than women and are more likely to take care of their cars.

What I’ve experienced: This is probably more a matter of training than actual ability. Most of us considering buying a new car today grew up when the “girls can do anything” movement was just getting underway and girls just weren’t taught mechanical bits and pieces, same as guys weren’t taught how to sew on a button.  The reasons for this are obscure, as people from the World War 2 generation knew perfectly well that women could fix and make machinery.  It’s changing again, with more and more girls and women being taught the basics of car maintenance and DIY.

What I’ve read (and this would have to be the stupidest claim of all): Men invented cars in the first place, so they’re necessarily more interested in them, are better drivers, etc.

What I’ve also read: While Herr Benz invented the horseless carriage and the internal combustion engine, it was his wife (no, she wasn’t called Mercedes Benz – her name was Bertha) that actually took the invention out on the road to show the world how easy this invention was to drive. And she did her own repairs on the road, inventing brake linings on the way.

In my opinion, there aren’t gender differences when it comes to driving. Personality differences, yes.

P7160099 http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/moneyman-srochnye-zaimy-online.html

Ship Out Or Else: Holden Told To Increase Exports

holden_logo_01New Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has given Holden a blunt piece of advice: export more if you want more support. With the red lion brand finding public support dwindling thanks to its near sighted attitude, it’s advice Holden itself are probably well aware of.

Macfarlane has said he’d like to see Holden with an export rate of around 30%; currently the numbers are 17% against Toyota’s 72% which begs the question: are Toyota making a better product or have a better export market situation? The local arm of General Motors has tried exports before and currently has the Caprice being sold into the US as a Caprice policepolice vehicle.  It was also sold into the Middle East successfully yet doesn’t appear to have been continued as a market, with the exchange rate a telling indicator. In 2005 Holden shipped out over 60, 000 vehicles to the US and Middle East, about 38% of its production. Aiding that was having the dollar buying just 71c US. Now it’s more in the region of 95c…. Counting against Holden currently is the economic value of the dollar, plus the expectation that, from 2016 onwards, the two vehicles it will build here in Australia will also be built for and by overseas markets, further cruelling a long term export market.Toyota loses around $2500 on each Camry exported but, crucially, with such a high number of imported Toyotas sold, makes that back on those imported sales. MacFarlane says: “I know (Toyota is) doing it at a loss, I’d like to stop that happening,” said Mr Macfarlane.“But that shows real dedication to me to Australia. That’s what Toyota are about.” Toyota has also just completed its one millionth export Camry.

Holden is also copping flak for importing wheels from the US for its high end Redline models whilst ROH Wheels, once a major supplier and Export Toyota Camrylocated just 25 kilometres from Holden in Adelaide sits waiting. Toyota sources all of its rolling stock from ROH; Holden insists it’s to do with the higher than expected demand for their new VF Commodore and, in particular, the Redline, as there’s now a three month waiting list. It’s also better news for the struggling company, with demand for the Commodore firmly placing the range into the top five sellers in Australia.

Another issue with Holden is the increasing non local componentry in the Commodore; the Falcon is 70 percent locally supplied whilst Toyota is 65%…the Commodore is around fifty percent whilst the success story that is Cruze is even lower, at just 30%. In just the last week, a number of staff from Holden’s purchasing and admin sections were let go and this is on top of a number of design and engineering staff at about the same time. Coming into play is the new government’s forthright attitude and its confirmation of restructuring car industry funding. Says Mr Macfarlane:  it will make good on its pre-election promise to cut $500 million from the $5.4 billion set aside for car manufacturing industry assistance.“We’re not giving back the $500 million, so I’ve got to come up with a solution there,” said Mr Macfarlane. “And then we’ve got to have a long term plan which will be ‘The End’, in capital letters, in black, six feet high, ‘This is all we’re ever going to give you’. That’ll be the end. I won’t be seeing car companies after that.”

It’s not shaping up to be a smooth road for the red lion. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/moneza-online-zaym.html

Tasmanian Sojourn: How Does The Southern Isle Drive?

Constitution Dock, HobartMy spouse works for a university and has a role which requires her to attend interstate conferences. Last week it was a ride to Hobart; three days of work then a bit of down time.

Day one: arrival on a cloudless Sunday and hotel right next to Constitution Dock (finish line for the Sydney to Hobart yacht race). Do the basics of unpacking and walk around the immediate harbour precinct; some wonderful fish and chips (bad luck if you’re a vegetarian seeking anything other than fried potatoes though, as my partner is) and a topless double decker bus ride around to Wrest Point, to the base of Mt Wellington and the Cascade Brewery, through town and back to the harbour. What becomes increasingly obvious is Hobart is a living museum, locked in a time bubble with regulations forbidding development and buildings of a residential nature past a double storey. Being Australia’s second oldest city is one thing, making it look like a time traveller’s paradox is another.

An odd piece of road design has the main north western entrance streaming past Constitution Dock, leading to Hobartian gridlock morning and afternoon. I say odd as it is right next door to what is the town’s main tourist attraction, in real terms and having to wait for traffic that should be a block or two away isn’t tourist friendly. Having said that, at least the delay between greens and reds and turns is minimal to NSW’s laughably titled “world class system”. Sadly, Hobart is even more infected by colour blind drivers than the rest of the country, with eight of ten drivers having no idea what an amber or red light stands for, to the detriment of pedestrians that thought they were safe to cross….

20130918_144539Come Wednesday lunchtime (whilst the boss was at work, the kids and I had visited the Cadbury factory, overrun with American OH&S laws and a trip to a wildlife refuge), after solid rain since Monday and no chance to visit the 1200+ metre peak of Mt Wellington as a result, it’s a lazy 90 minute drive to Port Arthur. The one thing about maps, which brings to mind the old stories about tourists visiting the mainland and going “it was only this far on the map (spreading finger and thumb)” is that everything really isn’t that far away. Cold, wet and grey skies dominate the landscape and here is another sign that the insiduous desease of bad driving has clearly spread to our southern cousins; no one, but no one uses headlights if they are locals. Our hire car, a Nissan X-Trail (thankfully upgraded from a what would have been too small i20, with petrol and CVT box), with a West Aussie trained driver at the wheel, has lights ablaze, only to be greeted by confused Tasmanian faces.

Port Arthur itself, a marvel of convict construction, is probably best seen when it’s not being covered in Niagara Falls….sadly, poignantly, there’s  no apparent acknowledgement of those that lost their lives during the mass shooting in 1996 with that absence overshadowing what we should have felt. The roads themselves are generally well built and maintained, plus there’s a welcome reliance on the driver to be more aware of road conditions on hillside roads in some areas by having only the vertical reflector posts rather than the crash barriers automatically expected.

20130919_155126Thursday morning, still wet and the schedule is to drive to Cradle Mountain. Due to a minor navigational hiccup we end up heading north on the highway to Launceston rather than the planned route through the mid western coast. Again, the roads are easy to drive, causing the X-Trail no issues although I had switched it into torque-sensing 4WD for the expected wet roads. The highway to Launceston is not particularly engaging until we head west, south of Devonport, with the spectacular bluffs of the Mt Roland and Gog Ranges in view. Unfortunately the route taken takes us north and out of view of the beautiful Lake St Clair but leads into some tight and steep roads through the quaintly named Mole Creek before finally arriving in 5degree air temps and Cradle Mountain.20130920_090014 The X-Trail has performed well; two adults, two kids and probably 70kg of luggage for around 570kms from the unleaded fuel. Cars passed: not that many. Cars with headlights on: not that many. Cars of a dark colour: just about every one. Safety factor:….ummmmmmmmm…..

Friday morning; it’s back down to the Cradle Mountain view point at Dove Lake as it’s a clear and almost cloudless day; it’s a spectacular sight but the wind chill precludes a planned walk. To drive to the lake, the authorities have put in place a 40kmh limit along a 8km long road most of one lane. It’s smart, simple and effective but surprisingly not to do with traffic control, as a night time animal spotting tour the evening before confirms. It’s solely to do with minimising animal fatalities, with wallabies, possums and “paddy melons” (a almost kangaroo version of a quokka) plus the declining Tasmanian Devil population finding their lives ended by vehicles. A quick visit to the Tasmanian Devil refuge just up the road, an effort to help stem the shocking facial tumour disease that’s decimated a terrible 80+ percent of the island’s devil population shows them as they are; a surprisingly cute, almost puppy like creature curled up in the morning sun.20130920_100616

Most of the state limit is either 100 or 110 kmh; that’s most comfortable enough with the roads generally not straight enough on the western side to offer a higher velocity, whilst the highway north to Launceston clearly had room to increase. From Cradle Mountain, to Burnie, across to Devonport and finally Launceston (with a diversion to the cataract chair lift ride on the western fringes, plus a Devon Tea shared with the 20130920_153700_LLSnumerous peacocks and peahens) was a leisurely drive, along some quality surfaces. For the most part, Tasmanian roads are smooth, maintained and ask the driver to be aware of the conditions and take responsibility for their safety. A noticeable not quite downside is having a sign, say 300m before a turnoff alerting you to a potential sight to see….yet no sign AT the actual point you were meant to turn and the distances certainly weren’t always accurate….Another noticeable lack was police or highway patrol cars. I genuinely don’t recall seeing one until Friday evening coming into the airport at Launceston where JetStar lived up to their reputation with another two hour delay….

Mainland drivers should visit Tasmania, to experience a less restrictive, less “nanny state” way of doing things. For example, the road to/from Port Arthur and up to Cradle Mountain encompasses plenty of areas where there’s no speed advisory signs nor crash barriers. You, the driver, are expected to do what a driver SHOULD be doing: be aware, drive to the road and the conditions. The downside is the lack of genuine safety enforcement, not just in Tasmania but Australia wide, when it comes to wet road situations. Using headlights and indicators is a basic safety function, as is stopping for red lights. The argument for speeding as a revenue raising exercise is fair yet, mitigated somewhat, by the fact that there’s no police action on other safety aspects which WOULD also contribute to revenue. Currently, NSW’s stance on non-indication is 2 demerit points and $140 per infraction; if policed as a safety initiative it would be a massive contributor to the coffers, yet……

One final point of note: the Government provided indication signs with two markers; one each for a fatality or a crash, each clearly defined. Thankfully and welcomingly, we didn’t see many at all….so, perhaps, apart from the lack of regard for other drivers under dark skies, there may be safer drivers in Tasmania due to the lack of other over policing…. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/otlnal-microzaimi.html

Why The Motor Racing Industry Is Better Than The Yacht Racing Industry

I guess a few of our readers will have been taking at least a passing interest in what’s been happening with the America’s Cup yacht race and the attempts of Team New Zealand to get the Auld Mug down on the right side of the equator, even if it’s not coming back to Australia… yet. Back in the 1980s when the Americas Cup race was held in Fremantle, the yachts looked a lot different to those catamarans with hydrofoils they have today.

And that got me thinking about the motor racing industry. It’s time for a small rant.  You see, a lot of the things that designers and engineers tinker about with and fine-tune in racing cars eventually find their way into regular production cars driven by the average Joe and Jane Smith. More and more cars these days are tested on racing circuits to make sure that their handling’s perfect (the Holden VF Commodore and its recent feats on the Nürburgring circuit, for example).  Paddle-shifters and carb-fibre components were the sole preserve of racing machines, but now they’re everywhere. Even something as simple as a spoiler – back in the 1980s, you hardly ever saw a regular car on the road with them, even though you did see them on racing cars. Nowadays, lots of cars incorporate them into the design.

The racing industry has been good for drivers in general. It’s been a way for designers to make cars – all cars, not just race cars – lighter, stronger, safer, more fuel-efficient, more powerful and more responsive.

However… the yacht racing industry.  Most sailing boats I see look pretty much the same as they did back in the 1980s or even before. Now, with all the emphasis on being environmentally conscious and using renewable resources and all that, wouldn’t you think that somebody somewhere would be interested in making water transport more eco-friendly by going back to using wind power but with all the added technology they’ve developed for yacht racing?  Doesn’t somebody else want to use the sort of thing we see on the racing yachts put onto other craft?

Some people might question the demand for using this sort of technology on a yacht, as there’s no commercial need for sailing boats like there is for cars. However, there are water taxis, coastal patrols, tourism operators and light fishing boats – to say nothing of the pearl industry up in the north of Western Australia and Northern Territory. These still seem to use regular motor boats… but there’s no real reason why they couldn’t switch to eco-friendly wind power when you really come down to it.  I heard a commentator on the America’s Cup say the other day that they could generate 700 hp (that’s 512 kW) from cleverly designed sails in those racing boats. Your typical outboard motor gets about 150 hp, while larger ones as seen on water taxis might have two 250-hp engines. More powerful and much more fuel-efficient… sounds like a winning idea to me. Heck, if there was some means of getting a car’s engine from 250 hp to 700 hp without using any extra fuel, we’d all be demanding it and probably getting it, too.

One could argue that wind-powered means of transport are dependent on weather conditions. But aren’t we all? Ever slipped on ice while driving? Ever felt a strong wind buffet you or create a bit more drag?  Ever had to slow down because the rain was so strong that you could hardly see, in spite of the best efforts of your windscreen wipers? Cars are affected by weather conditions, too.

The motoring industry is doing its bit for the planet, playing around with alternative fuels, hybrid engines and electric vehicles, as well as making petrol-powered things work more efficiently, and what’s been learned on the race track has helped these efforts.  The airline industry is also getting on board with improved design features and even fuel types. But what about the marine industry?

I’ll close by saying that I’ll be overjoyed if I’m proved wrong and there are some operators who are using wind-powered boats on a commercial basis somewhere.  Let us know.

1980s corolla

 

 

 

2013_toyota_corolla

Toyota Corolla in the 1980s and from 2013: spot the little additions from the race circuit? http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/sms-finance-express-zaimy-na-kartu.html