Private Fleet Car Review: 2016 Audi A3 e-tron

Hybrid technology has come along in leaps and bounds in recent years, but more so in the integration of the electronics. Battery technology, except in the case, seemingly, of the product from Tesla, has pretty much stalled. For the time being, mainstream makers are using a petrol and battery powered engine combination and A Wheel Thing took to the roads in the new A3 e-tron from Audi.There’s nothing really obvious that has the e-tron version stand out more than the standard, nicely rounded, A3, until you get up close. There’s the lower case e-tron badge and,more subtly, the plastic lock hidden in the four ringed badge in the grille. Twist that and, with a gentle nudge sometimes, it reveals the charging point for the battery pack. There’s 75 kW on offer and a fantastic 330 Nm of torque. That’s hooked up to “the generator”, a 1.4L TSFI petrol engine, with 110 kilowatts (5000 to 6000 rpm) and 250 torques between 1600 and 3500 revs.

That’s enough combined moombah to see the e-tron do the ton in a lick over seven and a half seconds, while consuming just 1.6L of unleaded go-go juice per 100 klicks. That’s using a six speed auto, a smooth changing unit with the now almost mandatory paddle shifts. Left to itself, the gearbox slurs through nicely and with the manualshift in operation is noticeably, but not by a huge amount, crisper.

Steering is rapid, direct, with enough weight and heft to involve you in the decision making, unlike the over assisted Q3. Ride quality is soft, in a luxurious way, but there’s some hard absorption of smaller bumps straight up. A measure of body roll is also noticeable in the 1615 kg e-tron, but, again, by not a huge amount. Rubber and wheels were Pirelli P7s, at 225/45 on 17 inch alloys. Body style is the five door hatch, with the familiar LED style tail lights and a high tech looking front.What is truly noticeable is the silence of the e-tron in purely electric drive, boorish road noise not withstanding. Because electric vehicles are still so rare, it’s natural to expect something that says the car is ready to go. Slip in, strap in, press Start and……nothing. The dash has lit up, the excellent sounding digital radio is on and…nothing. Select Drive or Reverse and the e-tron silently gets underway.

Plant the welly and there’s that never ending wave of go go go go go as you watch the charge display change in response (Audi quotes zero to sixty in under five seconds and a top speed in electric mode of 130 kmh). Although it’s not lightning quick (see what I did there?) it’s more than quick enough and did manage to chirp the tyres a couple of times. Range from full? Umm…next question.

There’s four different drive modes, including using the petrol engine to help keep the battery level where it is or, more importantly, top the charge up and that is an important part of where this car survives or fails.

The e-tron come with a front mounted port, located behind a swing out badge, as mentioned and has a 10 amp compatible charging cable and control unit in the boot. Charging time at home is around five hours or, using an industrial 3 phase, half that.The car itself has a charging program in the computer; once plugged in and turned on, a green light will flash to indicate charging is underway and glows steady when done. There’s a kinetic energy recovery system as well, pulling charge into the batteries under brakes. A Wheel Thing managed a best of under 40 kilometres from full charge.

The traditional dash display is there, bar a swap of the tacho for the aforementioned charge dial, which also gives you an indication of engine efficiency. It brackets a monochrome info screen with the speedo with the rest of the dash housing funky airvents, the larger jog dial linked and operated screen and the brightly coloured aircon controls. Audio wise, there’s DAB+ on top of the AM/FM/Auxiliary choices.

The test car came fitted with some options: there’s the Assistance Package, at $1990, featuring adaptive cruise control (with the sensor clearly visible in the front bumper and subject to being covered in dirt), pre-sense including autonomous emergency braking, active lane and side assist and high beam assist. Safety wise, there’s the full array of airbags including driver’s knee, stabilisation control electronics, rear parking camera as standard and the steering column is adjustable for tilt and reach. The metallic Monsoon grey paint was a $1050 option and the Comfort Package (electric and heated front seats, LED interior lighting, electric mirrors, dimming rear vision mirror and driver’s mirror) was $1990. The clear sounding B&O audio was a somewhat eye watering $1750 option, with the car testing out at $69270 plus ORC’s.

Audi’s servicing now offers a Genuine Care plan, covering your Audi for three years or 45000 kilometres, whichever comes first, which works by prepaying for your services (15000 k’s or twelve months) in the first year of buying your new Audi, plus you’ll get 24/365 roadside assist and the Audi magazine. The warranty is three years and unlimited kilometres, offering plenty of piece of mind.

The Wrap.
Until fuel cell cars and a network of high rate of charge power stations for cars are more commonplace, hybrids such as the e-tron will be the stop gap in regards to decreasing fuel consumption. Audi’s level of computer integration which allows the driver just that much more flexibility of how the petrol engine synchronises with the battery system is a winner, the relative lack of battery range isn’t.

For details, head across to the Audi Australia website and follow the links or click here: Audi Australia A3 e-tron http://credit-n.ru/calc.html

Lamborghini Automobili Adds More Value To The Huracán.

Lamborghini has released a number of updates to the Huracán LP 610-4, yet has kept the price of Au$428,000 plus onroads. The car is now available for order with the updates for delivery in 2016.

What’s New: the naturally aspirated V10 is now available with cylinder deactivation, the first time this been provided for the engine. In normal driving, when not all cylinders are required, one cylinder bank is deactivated until the computer registers a change in throttle and then changes back to full cylinder mode instantly.
As a result, fuel consumption is decreased, as are emissions, to 283 grams per kilometre. Cruise Control is also now available as an option.

The acclaimed four wheeldrive system has been fettled, to provide an improved handling sensation whilst inside the Huracán, choices for interior trim have been improved, along with the addition of leather as standard to the upper console and door handles. Air vents are now an exclusive and classy matt black. A travel pack is now able to be sourced, featuring additional storage nets and cupholders and an additional 12V socket.

Lamborghini’s in-house personalisation package, Ad Personam, has added extra interior personalisation and exterior options, with owners able to tailor their car with matt paints and heritage colours.

Not that you need a sound system, with that sonorous V10 soundtrack behind the driver’s left ear, Lamborghini now offer their 390W Sensonum audio package, with ten speakers fitted inside hexagonal shaped mounts powered by a ten channel amplifier. For engine sound, there’s now available in all markets world wide, the optional sports exhaust system, complete with gloss black tail pipes.

Finally, LED lighting for the engine bay is available, with the optional transparent engine bay cover and carbon fibre engine compartment.

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A.

Founded in 1963, Automobili Lamborghini is headquartered in Sant’Agata Bolognese, in North-eastern Italy. The Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4, which made its world debut at the Geneva Motor Show in 2014, is the successor to the iconic Gallardo and, with its innovative technology and exceptional performance, it redefines the driving experience of luxury super sports cars. The Coupé and Roadster versions of the Aventador LP 700-4 and the Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce are the new benchmark in the world of luxury super sports cars with the V12 engine. With 135 dealerships throughout the world, Automobili Lamborghini, in half a century, has created a continuous series of dream cars, including the 350 GT, Miura, Espada, Countach, Diablo, Murciélago, and limited series including Reventón, Sesto Elemento and Aventador J. The Veneno Coupé, Egoista and Veneno Roadster were produced to celebrate the 50th birthday of the company in 2013.

For other photos and video material, please visit our websites:
www.media.lamborghini.com and www.thenewsmarket.com/lamborghini

For further information on Automobili Lamborghini, please visit our website: www.lamborghini.com http://credit-n.ru/informacija.html

Private Fleet Car Review: 2015 Renault Clio R.S. Cup

A Wheel Thing has completed a French trifecta, with Renault now on board and supplying a Clio R.S. Cup. There was a week with the hot hatch, complete with dual clutch gearbox, licorice thin rubber and spine bending performance, coupled with a metallic soundtrack.

Compact is an apt word for the Clio, with just 4090 millimetres between the front and rear, 1448 mm from top to bottom and a not indecent 1732 mm side to side. Don’t go hunting for big speedbumps however, as ground clearance is a measly 118 mm…you can go hunting for other hatches though, with a rorty 1.6L turbo four up front, passing through 147 kW (6000 revs) and a very handy 240 torques at a very handy 1750 rpm through to the front wheels via a six speed dual clutch auto.

It’ll drain the 45 litre tank at a reasonable clip when pushed hard, with official figures quoted at 6.3L of Premium 98 per 100 kilometres on the combined cycle, with highway and urban ranging from 5.1 to 8.1. A Wheel Thing managed to get to just on 600 kilometres before a top up, with a high proportion of highway driving. Weighing just 1217 kilograms helps.

That engine is hooked up to a six speed dual clutch auto and this suffers from the same “too much between connected and not” between gears when at low speeds, such as moving from a driveway. There is a Sports Mode, not unsurprisingly, activated via a push button, located in the storage locker free centre console nestled between the front seats. Hitting that whilst under way has the same effect as being shoved, hard, between the shoulder blades, when the command to go is given. Launch Control is also included.Gear shifts sharpen up, the horizon turns into a picture of a starfield as you hit warp one, there’s the “phut, phut, phut” from the exhaust and the metallised screech from up front. The steering is razor sharp anyway, buoyed by the short wheelbase, turning in so quick it feels as if it’s just a few inches in length, instead of the corner pushing 2589 mm that it really has. A rapid 2.67 turns lock to lock adds to the keeness of the handling.

What wasn’t keen was the ride; the tyres were Dunlop SportMaxx and at 205/40 on stylish black painted ten spoke alloys of 18 inches in diameter (called Radicale), transmitted both noise and every ripple, lump, bump and five cent piece on the road through to the driver. Suspension give? A brick would be more amenable.

It’ll follow the road’s surface as if each corner is glued to the tarmac, and there’s benefits to that. The tightest of corners, the off camberest of off camber turns, the grip is stupendous. Just don’t find any bumps bigger than a pimple…

There’s more than a scent of French chic about the R.S. Cup, with svelte lines, trim curves and a set of hips that would give Bardot pause. The somewhat goggle eye headlights are the only design feature that jibes with the rest, sitting atop a design feature not unlike a curved Gallic moustache, with the rear end seeing trim tail lights integrated into both the hips and the rear hatch door and there’s twin exhausts integrated into the lower valance.The interior is a mix of hard plastics, no centre console, boy racer labelled speaker grilles (is there REALLY a need to have Bass Reflex printed on them?), red stitching on the steering wheel at the twelve o’clock, with the wheel itself virtually devoid of any buttons bar a couple for cruise control, whilst there’s no mistaking the paddle shifts due to size and alloy colour against the black background. Seats? Snug,wrap around, supportive and imbue a full sense of sports and safety.

The driver sees a very basic display, with a dial for the tacho, fuel and a centre screen with speedometer. Aircon controls are unconfusing dials, set below the centre console stack airvents and touchscreen navitainment, surrounded by fingerprint grabbing gloss black plastic. To the right of the screen were the inputs for auxiliary sounds, being the 3.5 mm plug and a USB. One presumes this is for a charging cable, not an easily broken USB stick, whilst a cable would get in the way as the port is some eight or nine inches above a small tray just ahead of the gear selector.The cargo space is 300 L with the split fold seats up, growing to 1146 L when flattened out. Due to sheer size of the Clio, don’t expect to be able to slide your new 55 inch flatscreen tv in there though. The aforementioned centre console-less section does offer three spaces for cups or bottles, but lacking a storage locker also means no elbow support for driver and passenger.

The Wrap.
It’s hard edged in the ride, razor sharp in the steering, has a lovely and rorty exhaust note, a split personality when you use the Renault Sports button but lacks real comfort both in ride and interior trim. Yes, the intent is to be kicked along harder than a brand new soccer ball but a car can still be balls and all manic without necessarily resorting to a minimalist approach.
With the smallish fuel tank and desire for more pricy but performance friendly 98 RON to consider, at around $34K driveaway, a buyer needs to consider just how their driving style can be enhanced or hobbled, as well.
For details of the range, go here: Renault Clio sports range http://credit-n.ru/business-kredit.html

The Golden Rules For Passengers

Usually, we write for drivers. However, as most of us have noticed at some point, the typical car has more than one door and more than one seat (with the exceptions of a few extreme race-inspired units such as the Abarth 695 Biposto . One of the main attractions of cars is that they can take the whole family or at least another person as well as the driver.

Plenty has been written about good behaviour when driving and how to be courteous to other drivers. Not much has been said about the way passengers ought to behave. Without further ado, then, here are the golden rules that all passengers ought to obey.

1. 1.       Do not tell the driver what to do or what he or she ought to be doing.  The obvious exception to this is if you are teaching someone else to drive. You are also allowed to speak up if the driver is exceeding the speed limit and making you feel frightened or if you have been asked to navigate using an old-fashioned map rather than a GPS. Otherwise, belt up in both senses of the word.
2. 2.       Inform the driver if you feel sick or need to pee in plenty of time. Please believe me when I say that we really don’t want to clean up the mess if you explode from either end. And do give the driver lots of warning so that he or she can pull over in a convenient spot where the car can be parked safely (for the driver’s benefit) and where there’s a decent large bush and/or a handy public lavatory (for your benefit). The only exception to this is if you are under the age of two.
3. 3.       Don’t kick the back of the driver’s seat. Lumbar support and lots of padding can only do so much and the driver can’t do all that much with a bony knee or toe pressing into his/her kidneys. If you are a tall lanky type and you like to ride in the rear on the driver’s side but the driver likes to have the seat well back, you may have to find a compromise.
4. 4.       Don’t touch the driver. You should even be cautious if you are the beloved of the driver and want to be in constant physical contact with him or her. Keep it to a light hand on the knee or shoulder.  Anything else is off limits. If you are too young to know not to pull at Mum or Dad’s sleeve for attention when Mum/Dad is driving, you are too young to be in the front seat.
5. 5.       Wear your seatbelt. No exceptions. Do it.
6. 6.       Assist the driver by holding coffee cups if no holder is available, adjusting temperature controls and similar dials. On cold days when the inside of the windscreen is fogged or if something has smeared across the inside of the windscreen, help out by applying tissues or cloths to help clear the driver’s vision.
7. 7.       Open the gates. If there’s a closed gate that needs to be opened, it’s the front passenger’s job to open it.
8. 8.       Don’t distract the driver at crucial moments. One of several reasons why the authorities don’t like the driver texting or phoning while driving is because the person on the other end of the phone can’t see what’s going on and won’t shut up during a tricky manoeuvre. You can. Negotiating heavy traffic in a multilane roundabout is a bad moment to show the driver your finished school project, the great photo your friend just posted on Facebook or the hilarious cartoon in the newspaper. Wait for a traffic jam.
9. 9.       On long drives at night, be prepared to slap the driver and scream if he/she starts drowsing at the wheel. Do your bit to help the driver stay alert by providing stimulating conversation or offering to help out.
10. 10.   If you’re in the rear seat of three rows in an MPV, don’t start screaming for the driver in the middle of Sydney Harbour Bridge. And if you’re the driver, (a) don’t put a child who’s likely to scream in some inaccessible place and (b) grit your teeth and try to endure the screams until you get to a suitable place.

Safe and happy driving and being driven,

Megan  http://credit-n.ru/electronica.html