Archive for 2013
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).
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.
Mooted FBT Changes: More Fallout…
Not unexpectedly, the proposed changes for fleet vehicle Fringe Benefit Tax has had more fallout, with Kevin Rudd stating that the current Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, will kill the flailing Australian car manufacturing industry by allegedly cutting government funding whereas Mr Abbott claims that his propos
ed tax cut policy will actually help: http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor-news/coalition-rules-out-further-funding-for-car-industry-20130822-2sdgb.html and http://finance.ninemsn.com.au/newsbusiness/8711026/abbott-will-kill-car-industry-says-rudd
It’s a sad offset of our current pre-election situation that neither side really actually appear to be truly interested in helping Holden and Toyota continue whilst also easing Ford’s slide into full importation. There’s already automotive unrest with one major Sydney based dealer advertising cars once intended for fleet buyers being made available for the private buyer at fleet prices while the Australian Salary Packaging Industry Association is also hitting out with online ads asking “who’s next”. There are some that claim the changes are good for the industry, which may be all well and good but the effects are tangible already with real and confirmed job cuts. With our economy at a standstill, pretty much pending the result of September 7, Aussie families don’t need this extra burden.
On a lighter note somewhat, a couple of Holden designers have been beavering away behind the scenes on what could be a new Monaro. Based on a combination of VE and VF smarts, it’s a design study, at this stage and highly unlikely to see real world production.
What do you think?
Where You Don’t Want To Fill The Tank
So there you are, stopping off at the petrol station to top up the tank of your good old family Toyota . Like most people, you’ll roll your eyes at the amount that whizzes up on the bowser and remember back in the Good Old Days (I must be getting near middle age if I’m starting to use that phrase) when filling up the tank didn’t cost nearly as much as half a week’s groceries… which is only a slight exaggeration.
And it’s certainly a fact that Australia is a pricey part of the world to buy petrol in, especially premium petrol. In the OECD countries, it’s in the top ten most expensive places to fill the tank with premium. At the end of the December 2012 quarter, the countries in the world where you don’t want to fill up were:
- Spain
- The Netherlands (no wonder bikes are so popular over there)
- Hungary
- Luxembourg
- Slovak Republic
- Australia
- Sweden
- Germany
- Ireland
- Canada
(This list doesn’t take taxes and levies into account – these vary from country to country and make true comparisons a bit harder. It just looks at the actual stuff your car burns.)
What about regular or non-premium? Things look a little bit different for Australia here, thankfully. In fact, we’re the country with the third biggest gap between the price of regular and premium, with Canada and Mexico having bigger gaps (the smallest gaps between premium and regular are in Germany and New Zealand). A lot of countries don’t have regular petrol, either, and are stuck with premium – and this includes the poor old Spanish and Dutch. The worst places for regular petrol are:
- Denmark
- Germany
- Czech Republic
- Austria
- New Zealand
There’s always diesel, of course. Again considering the plain price of the fuel rather than anything with any taxes or levies shoved onto it, Australia comes out very well indeed. Here’s where you can get the fourth cheapest diesel prices in the OECD – only beaten by New Zealand, the USA and Mexico. The places where diesel was priciest were:
- Turkey
- Norway
- The UK
- Italy
- Sweden
- Ireland
- Finland
- Hungary
- Germany
- Denmark
You might ask where the cheapest places are in the OECD are. Well, the graphs I found with these fascinating figures only had room for 24 countries so they went for the most expensive 24 in each category. However, the following seem to be good places to fill your tank:
Premium petrol: USA, UK, Austria
Regular petrol: Mexico, USA, Canada
Diesel: Mexico, USA, New Zealand (although the Kiwis clap a whopping big tax on diesel).
The moral here seems to be that driving the way they do in American movies is a really bad idea.
And spare a wee thought for our trans-Tasman rivals. At one point this year, their government was considering increasing the per-litre tax clapped on petrol on the grounds that the public had changed their fuel consumption habits (buying cars with smaller engines like Suzuki Swifts or looking out for hybrid vehicles like the Nissan LEAF, etc.) and The Powers That Be weren’t getting enough revenue from petrol tax as a result. Not sure if this bit of lunacy went through or not in the end – lobby groups didn’t half kick up a stink – but here’s hoping that our government won’t get funny ideas as well.
History. Remade. Jaguar's New F-Type
Moments in history happen once. Invariably the huge majority slide on by with no impact on humanity but occasionally they leave an indelible mark. In 1961, just as the “Swinging 60s” was just getting into stride, a British automobile manufacturer released upon an unsuspecting motoring public a gem called “the most beautiful car in the world”, by Enzo Ferrari, no less. 13 years and 70 odd thousand builds later the E-Type Jaguar is still regarded as one of the most beautiful cars ever made, leaving its imprint upon history. Powered, initially, by a 3.8L straight six and from 1964 the snarling 4.2L, the E-Type shocked other makers and remains a sought after item.
Come 2012 and Jaguar, after a few years under the ownership of Indian based conglomerate Tata, release the much anticipated successor at the Paris Motor Show. Immediately the F-Type stirs emotions, has Jaguarphiles prostrating themselves in ecstasy and rattles the cages of Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche. In August of 2013, Jaguar Australia hosts the launch of this spiritually moving car.
Three engines: There’s two supercharged V6, both of three litres capacity. A snorting, angry, growling supercharged five litre V8 is your other choice and aurally, it’s hard to decide; banshee scream or basso profundo. An interior that’s for two and two only. Seats that are for drivers, drivers of a certain size as they’re hip hugging snug. Looks that would put Jennifer Hawkins into a tizzy and frighten mirrors for not being able to live up to what they see. A folding roof that goes up quicker than a bank’s interest rate and down quicker than a farmer’s beer on a hot day. This is the Jaguar F-Type.
The Australian launch was in Sydney, starting with a product overview on a Thursday night. Friday was drive day; heading north from Sydney, looping through some tight and twisty roads before directions took us to Cessnock then back south for some private tuition before a return to the big smoke.
It was impressed upon us to listen to the exhaust; a deliberate effort from the design and engineering teams to give the ears something delightful and they succeeded. A rasping crackle comes from the centrally mounted pipes as the eight speed auto blips its way through the gears; a down shift and a foot off the go pedal elicits a smile as the snarling, raspy sound reverberates off tunnel walls. An upshift is completed in less time it takes to think about it, a computer instructs the engine to match revs on both the up and downwards journey through the gears and with eight closely stacked ratios it provides flexibility and exquisite driveability. Another computer reads the driver’s style, conversing with the gearbox to decide which one of 25 programmes to use to ensure the right gear is right to go. The S models utilise more smarts, with sensors measuring steering wheel input, body movement, pitch and roll, tuning each suspension damper to give that razor sharp precision such a car deserves.
On the road it’s breathtaking to look at, inside and out; breathtaking to drive and awesomely beautiful to look at. The aluminuim construction reduces weight (a maximum of 1665kg for the V8S), provides stiffness and adds strength to the F-Type. The suspension is taut, talkative, communicating the road to the driver. Acceleration is rapid, as you’d expect from three powerful (250/280kW or 364kW) Jaguar engines and braking is inspiring, in the weight of the pedal and lack of squirm from the car.This is partly down to the breadth of the F-Type, with 1597mm and 1649mm 
track for the V6 twins and slightly narrower (1585/1627) for the V8S. Fat rubber across the board on the 18/19/20 inch rims provides superlative searching grip, allowing the F-Type to power into tight turns, off camber corners as if attached on velcro, all the time caressing the ears with that superb soundtrack as a wing arises majestically from the rear deck at around 90 kilometres per hour.
The interior of the F-Type is akin to pulling on well fitted boots, with wrap around, snug seating holding the driver and passenger like a lover’s embrace, facing minimalistic yet effective switchgear and a cabin inspired by a Typhoon fighter jet. Unlike its brethren, there’s no rising from the console of a gear selector, instead there’s a multipurpose gear lever; aircon vents rise from the dash with a monolithic grace. The dash dials are LCD based, with rapid response and glowing good looks. There’s a Meridian sound system on board, superfluous thanks to that 
awesome exhaust note. Seating is low down yet never lacks for 360 degree vision, whilst those on the outside see what Jaguar is all about: grace, space and pace. Ranging from $139K to $208K, the Jaguar F-Type takes the fight up to its rivals from Germany while simultaneously becoming part of history. Remade.
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