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Archive for February, 2017

2017 Peugeot 2008 Lands On Aussie Roads.

The French Revolution continues, with Peugeot unveiling its revamped 2008 SUV. There’s been a streamlining of the range, a change to a sole engine/transmission combination, and some trim changes. Here’s the way the range shakes down.

The engine is a turbocharged three cylinder, at 1.2 litres of capacity. That’s bolted to a Japanese sourced six speed auto and it’s this combination that will be the only engine and transmission available in a three model range. The names will be Active, Allure, and GT-Line, with the latter replacing the Outdoor that also offered a diesel and manual.peugeot-2008-suv-allure-4peugeot_2008_suv_gt_line-3The undersquare 12 valve engine will produce a peak power of 81 kilowatts at 5500 rpm, and peak torque is a healthy 205 Nm at 1500 rpm. That’s good enough to see a 0-100 kph time of 11.3 seconds for the near 1200 kilogram vehicle. Peugeot rate the fuel consumption and tested in the real world as 4.8L/100 km for the combined cycle from a 50L tank using 95RON. There’s also an adaptable drive system, with Normal, Snow, Mud etc available via a dial in the centre console.peugeot-2008-suv-allure-24peugeot-2008-suv-active-18The facelift isn’t extensive but side by side it’d be noticeable compared to the outgoing models. There’s a new grille which will be a signature look for future models. Peugeot’s design team have imbued the headlights with a feline look, with a black and chrome finish. The tail lights have been slightly revamped, with a more noticeable claw look. All cars will be fitted with roofrails, adding some extra height and topping out at 1556 mm. Ending the roof on the 4159 mm long 2008 is a roof spoiler and the range will be enhanced by a new colour, Ultimate Red.peugeot-2008-suv-active-5peugeot-2008-suv-allure-3Standard equipment will cover items such as reverse camera, parking sensors, Stop/Start, MirrorLink and Apple CarPlay. The Allure and GT-Line will also be equipped with Active City Brake and City Park, a self parking system, plus auto head lights and rain sensing wipers. The Active will roll on 16 inch alloys, with 195/60 rubber, whereas the other two go up an inch and slightly wider at 205/50/17. There’s a full sized spare but at odds with the others in 185/65/15 profile.peugeot-2008-suv-active-16peugeot-2008-suv-allure-20peugeot-2008-suv-active-21At the time of writing, the GT-Line will be made available some time after the release of the Active and Allure. What the two cars at launch will offer is comprehensive. Hill Start Assist, Emergency Brake Assist, all power windows are one touch, heated and folding door mirrors, and seven inch touchscreen. The Active dips out on satnav as standard but can option it in. Leather trim for the tiller is common but on the park brake in the Allure only. A panoramic glass roof is also an option for the Allure as are heated seats (no ventilation for the Aussie market is an oversight.) Cargo is reasonable, with 410L which increases to 917L with the seats down.peugeot-2008-suv-active-21peugeot-2008-suv-allure-21Pricing remains, understandably, sharp, at $26490 for the Active, an increase of $1000 but with extra equipment. The Allure remains the same price at $30990 and gains extra kit, and the GT-Line is slated to come in at $32990, with all prices at a Recommended Retail Price. Head to www.peugeot.com.au for details and to book a test drive.peugeot_2008_suv_gt_line-4 peugeot_2008_suv_gt_line-3 http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/creditter-srochnye-zaymi-online.html

Fact Or Fiction: Headrests Were Designed To Be Detachable

A number of you may have seen that meme buzzing around Facebook and other social media platforms letting you know that headrests were deliberately designed to be detachable so that if you are trapped inside the car and need to break a window to get out, you have a useful tool for smashing the glass.  As we’re interested in quirky facts, great designs and safety features here at Private Fleet, I thought we’d check this one out.  Is it, in fact, true that this is what the designers were thinking when they designed headrests?

OK, in a nutshell, here’s the results after a quick bit of research:

  • Yes, head rests tend to be detachable.
  • Yes, head rests are a safety feature.
  • Yes, you can use a detached head rest to break glass if you need to exit via a window.
  • No, this was not a deliberate part of the design.

(Thanks to Snopes.com  and Truth Or Fiction  for doing some of the hard yards of research here).

The primary purpose of a head rest is to protect the occupant of the seat in question from whiplash injuries, as they prevent the head from lashing back suddenly during a collision or if the car is rear-ended. Your head is quite heavy, after all, and the momentum and G-forces involved in a whiplash inducing collision puts one heck of a strain on your neck vertebrae and muscles.  It’s the weight of the head and the strain on neck muscles that has been the primary concern of designers right from the beginning.  The first US patent for head rests in vehicles was issued in 1921, although the designer’s main concern was driver fatigue.  It wasn’t until 1969 that they became mandatory in the US.

If we have a quick look at the original patent issued to Benjamin Katz of Oakland, California (another inventor a lot of people ought to be grateful to), there’s no mention anywhere of the importance of being detachable so that occupants are able to use the headrest supports as a tool for breaking glass.  The patent is more concerned with reducing driver fatigue and hopes to provide something that allows the driver to “rest his head, relax the tired neck muscles, and still maintain his alert vigil.” Of breaking glass and even of whiplash, there is no mention.

The new, improved patent from 1930, issued to Sverre Quisling of Wisconsin, mentions the ability to use a head rest as a hanger for jackets and the like.  The 1950 patent granted to Lawrence Schott of Detroit certainly mentions detachability but has no mention of using the headrest to break glass.  The designer had folding seats in mind, as removing the headrest made it easier to fold the seat.  Various other designs were developed and put forward over the years between 1950 and 1969, all aiming to either prevent whiplash or to reduce driver fatigue. The patent that I can find that resembles the modern head rest design most closely was issued to Rachel L Rising in 1958.  One could spend quite a while trawling through all the different designs and all the different patents (somebody’s written a whole book on the topic – fact!), but you’re not going to find a mention anywhere of using the supports of the headrest to smash glass for an emergency exit.

Fast forward to today and car designers are still working on head rest design. They’re height and tilt adjustable, they’re provided in rear seats as well as front seats and they come in special active whiplash-preventing designs.  Saab was the first to come out with an active whiplash protecting headrest, with marques from the upper and lower end of the prestige spectrum following suit, from Toyota and Subaru through to Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar.  It’s passive safety and protection of the occupants that are the key concerns of the designers.

So why are head rests removable?  In the case of rear seat headrests, they’re removable for better visibility – if the driver wants to and there’s nobody in the back, the head rests can come out to allow the driver a clearer view of what’s behind.  In the case of front seats, they’re detachable so you can fold the seats flat should you want to sleep in it, or so you can put a car seat cover on easily.  Removability also had the possibility of making sure that all seats were compatible with child safety seats. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standards on the topic  make it clear that if head rests are removable, you can only remove them deliberately with two hands to prevent idiots monkeying about and whipping the head rest out if they don’t like them.  Not a word about using them as a tool for breaking glass.

So where did the idea of using a head rest to break the glass if you get your car into deep water come from?  According to Snopes.com, it goes back to a Japanese TV show that demonstrated this survival tip:

Using a head rest to break a window is a fine example of human ingenuity and quick thinking in an emergency.  Certainly the person who first thought of doing this is something of a genius. If you are unlucky enough to drive your car into deep water and the car is sinking, you are going to have to exit via the window, and modern fast-glass cars with electric windows make this a problem, as the water shorts out the system if the car goes underwater – but it won’t do so straight away, so this should always be your first move, along with taking off your seat belt.  Car glass is also very tough, especially on the windscreen (don’t; bother smashing this – go for the door windows).  Other tools can be used if you can’t get the window open in time: special tools bought for the purpose, stiletto heels, spark plugs, hammers, etc.  Certainly, the detachable headrests are handy but this is an added and unintended bonus rather than an integral part of the design.

If you can’t get the technique right for busting the window, the recommendation is to wait until there’s enough water in the car to equalise the pressure inside and out (try not to panic), take a deep breath and open the door as soon as you can.

Of course, if you have an older car with older windows that wind down manually, you are probably feeling smug at this point, as the issue of window mechanisms shorting out isn’t a problem. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/denga-zaimy-nalichnimi.html

2017 Jaguar F-Pace R-Sport: A Private Fleet Car Review

If one were to hop into the fabled time machine of H.G. Wells and travel back to the early part of the 21st century, you’d find that the letters S, U, V, were part of the alphabet and hardly seen in each other’s company. You’d also find that many luxury car makers would sniff at the idea of an all wheel drive capable vehicle being part of their stable. Note “all wheel drive”, not “four wheel drive”. Flash back to 2017 and there’s hardly a car maker of any decent size that doesn’t have an SUV. One such maker, a British brand known more for the slogan of “Grace, Pace, and Space”, has joined the SUV party albeit one with a slightly odd name.Built around the basic looks of their two seater sports car, the Jaguar F-Pace has the leaping cat well and truly poised to make a serious indentation on the SUV market share. With four standard models and one limited edition run (as of early 2017), a range of engines, and a list of options almost too big to comprehend, the Jaguar F-Pace R-Sport was the vehicle supplied to Private Fleet in February 2017.There’s a lot to like, up front, about the R-Sport. Captain of the team of likes is the monstrous 700 torques being twisted out by the diesel fuelled 3.0 litre twin turbo V6 fitted. There’s a 2.0 litre diesel as the standard with 132 kW and a not indecent 430 torques, or a supercharged 3.0 litre petrol, with 250 kW/450 Nm. Sir will take the 700 Nm, thank you. Along with the torque that’s enough to rip the cape from Superman’s shoulders, you get a surprisingly good fuel economy. Surprising because although the F-Pace looks a mid sizer, there’s a gross vehicle weight of 2570 kilograms. Jaguar quotes a combined figure of 6.0L of dino juice for every 100 kilometres driven from the 66 litre tank, 5.6L/100 km on the highway and a still better than impressive 6.9L/100 around town.Private Fleet’s time with the F-Pave R-Sport coincided with a visit to the central west NSW town of Dubbo. Some 340 kilometres from AWT HQ, a country drive with four aboard and luggage seemed an ideal way to test the mettle of the Jaguar metal. The return was 7.3L per 100 kilometres, a fair result considering the cargo inside. That also involved some necessary overtaking and it’s here where that torque comes into its own. It kicks in, as a peak figure, at just 2000 rpm, with something like ninety percent available at around 1600 rpm, and that’s about where legal highway speeds sees the engine’s revs. However, there’s some conditions here. The starting point is the eight speed auto the F-Pace has, then factor in choosing either Drive or Sports via the vertically rising dial in the centre console. THEN you have four drive modes including Dynamic Plus, accessed via two console toggle switches. Not only does it tighten up the suspension, the gearbox and engine settings are changed to provide a quicker response, a sharper response, a surge of warp speed response. It’s exhilarating and breath taking and makes for a far safer driving experience than a leisurely “I think I can” move.It’s a well packaged car, the F-Pace, with an overall length of 4731 mm, with a wheelbase of 2874 mm. Front and rear track sit well inside the overall width of 2070 mm with 1641 mm and 1654 mm. Inside there’s plenty of usable room with front headroom at 1007 mm and rear heads get 977 mm. That cargo space has a nifty trick, with the floor on one said the standard interior carpet, but when rotated 180 degrees has a firm plastic surface for items such as scooters or bike.The F-Pace also techs up with Adaptive Dynamics, which measures up to 500 times a second the driving style and body movement of the car You can then option up the Configurable Dynamics system, allowing a deeper measure of personalisation for gearbox changes, throttle mapping and steering feedback. Technology is a hallmark of Jaguar nowadays, with (optional) configurable mood lighting, keyless entry which includes waving a foot under the rear bumper to raise the powered tail gate leading to 508 litres of cargo, adaptive headlights, InControl Touch Pro (as fitted) which is a pair of widescreen oriented LCD screens at 12.3 inches for the multifunction driver’s screen and 10.2 inch console touchscreen which includes smartphone/tablet style pinch and move for the navigation.There’s famed British audiomaker Meridian onboard, with 825 watts of thumping audio along with digital radio, a CD/DVD drive, and 10 gb hard drive space for your tunes. Ahead of the driver is the (optionable) super clear, laser lit, Head Up Display, showing speed, speed zones, driven gear and even navigation. The laser tech makes it both easier to read and easier on the eye. Aircon is controlled either via the touchscreen or, smartly (and something a few other makers should take note of) via soft press tabs which are clear and beautifully legible.There’s a downside, though: the rear seat passengers get their own controls which, in the test car, seemed to control the front seats…and a major bugbear in that the superbly comfortable and looking sports style seats DON’T. HAVE. COOLING. Any and all Australian spec cars with leather seats should have ventilation. Even Renault’s Koleos Intens has ventilation. Also, the door, dash, and centre console plastics are hard, with nary a touch of give. Then there’s locating the seat’s memory buttons where, logically, the power window switches should go, and vice versa.The touchscreen has icons laid out across the bottom, allowing a quick access to a certain function, unlike manufacturers that have everything hidden inside a primary folder. It makes using the screen far easier. There’s also a screen for when you’re in full Dynamic, offering extra information such as a G-Force sensor and allows for more personalisation.Where the F-Pace R-Sport will win your heart is on the road. Let’s start with that number, 700. That torque figure makes driving in all dry conditions an absolute pleasure. Even with a light foot the torque simply reaches out and grabs the eight ratios by the neck, bending them to its need. It’s almost effortless, and wonderfully quiet inside the cabin, as the tacho swings around as does the speedometer. That’s in Eco and Normal modes. Gently push the selector down and clockwise into S, tap the drive mode button into Dynamic, sit back, press the go pedal, and feel your soul compress into a neutrino as the F-Pace gathers its thoughts for a nano-second before launching itself towards the horizon. Dynamic also firms up the steering and suspension, which has the effect of providing even more feedback and flattening the road further.Under normal conditions, the R-Sport is sure footed, adept, with each corner riding over road irregularities with minimal bodily intrusion. Sure, you’ll know what each wheel and tyre is doing, and you’ll feel the movement of the suspension as each corner works alone. Dynamic ups that feeling, with shorter travel yet an unexpected decrease in bumps and thumps. On the twisted and bent road surfaces west of Bathurst, this quality became invaluable and has an unexpected but very welcome side effect: it decreases the tiredness level of the driver. These same roads showed how well tuned the engineers have the car. Although sitting up high, as you do in an SUV, there’s no feeling of that, and you’ll feel confident in the way the car hangs on in long sweepers, unsettled and corrugated surfaces, and when the need is called for, how effective and quick the brake pedal tells you the pads are on the disc. All round, the F-Pace R-Sport stamps itself as a driver’s car.At The End Of The Drive.
The F-Pace has garnered acclaim and plaudits world wide, and with good reason. It’s a heavy-ish car, but superbly agile; the diesel is mutely powerful and will hasten the F-Pace along at indecent speed; and it’s beautiful to look at both inside and out. The technology on board is user friendly and non-confrontational, which is both appealing and amps the safety factor by not having eyes off the road for longer than neccessary.
What niggles there are, are just that. Niggles. It’s a comprehensive package and in R-Sport trim, provides a balance between economy, luxury, and room. The modern equivalent of Jaguar’s old calling phrase, perhaps?

For further information on the Jaguar F-Pace, go here: 2017 Jaguar F-Pace http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/ekapusta-besplatniy-zaim.html

Tech Talk: How Power Torques.

When car makers advertise their products, apart from price you’ll probably notice or hear xxx kilowatts. Great. Wonderful. Fantastic.

Huh?

A kilowatt is, unsurprisingly, one thousand watts. You’re probably familiar with the term via your home theatre system or perhaps in kilowatt-hours for your power bill. But what does it mean in car talk, and, how does it relate to the more important yet ignored part of an engine output, torque?

Kilowatts and torque are produced by an engine spinning, be it electrical, petrol, or diesel powered. Kilowatts or horsepower are a measure of power, as defined here: It is the amount of energy consumed per unit time. Having no direction, it is a scalar quantity. In the SI system, the unit of power is the joule per second (J/s), known as the watt in honour of James Watt, the eighteenth-century developer of the steam engine.

A petrol and diesel engine work by ingesting fuel into cylinders and either igniting (petrol) or compressing (diesel) those fuels in the cylinders. Those explosions rotate a crankshaft which spins at so many times per second. By their very nature, petrol engines will spin to a higher rpm (revolutions per minute) than diesel, and it’s a high revolutions that petrol powered engines make their peak amount of kilowatts. Motorbike engines, in particular, make their power at well over ten thousand rpm, but are limited, in a sense, as to the outright capacity of the cylinders.

As a rule, bigger capacity engines are able to make more power however some aren’t physically able to rev as high as some smaller capacity engines. A great example is a car from Honda in the early part of the 21st century. The S2000 was initially powered by a two litre capacity engine, which was extended to a two point two litre size. Its peak power in Japan was quoted as 184 kilowatts. However, in order to produce that amount it had ro rev to 8300 rpm. Holden’s Chevrolet sourced V8, with a capacity in excess of six litres, produces 304 kilowatts, at between 5500 and 6000 rpm, somewhat less that the peak rpm of the smaller engine.

Torque is the forgotten part of the equation and is actually the part of driving that’s initially and constantly more important. To go back to the initial part of this, about how makers quote a kilowatt figure, it’s simple marketing to have those numbers in your headspace, but it’s torque that gets your car going and, especially in towing, becomes vital. Here’s the balance: torque is always produced at a lower rpm than power and it’s here that its useability is what you’ll notice.It’s been said that torque is what gets you going and power is what keeps you going. In acceleration tests as seen in a certain British car oriented TV program, it’s the torque that will launch the cars off the line, but it’s the power (leaving out the weight of cars and the gears in their gearboxes) that garners the attention as they cross the finish line.

One of the characteristics of diesel engines is where, in their rev range, the peak torque is made. Because the crank is spun by the reaction of fuel being compressed to explosion, there’s torque being produced far lower in the rev range than petrol. Torque is also a measure of force, a twisting force Think of loosening a stuck screw; by twisting the screwdriver you’re exerting force or torque to (hopefully) start twisting the screw, before power takes over to finish the job. Torque’s also visible in a physical form. We’ll presume you’ve seen a car do a “burnout”, where the tyres are spun to a point that they produce smoke. It’s torque that will eventually break the traction of the tyres.

Power is also a gradual climb before fading off, but torque can be found within a rev range as a constant number between two points on a rev range. Measured in either foot-pounds or Newton-metres, a flat torque delivery will make the sheer driveability of a car easier and safer. This graph shows one example of a “table top flat” toque delivery.

So when shopping for your next car, consider HOW the car will be used. Will you be towing, will it be a tradie’s ute, are you driving around town more than driving on freeways, are you driving the under 8’s netball team around? Although a peak power of 200 kilowatts might sound attractive, consider that in order to have that figure you’ll need to have your engine constantly at 6000 rpm…everywhere you go. Torque is what will get you going and is a real world more usable figure. Check out the information available on company websites for the car you’re looking at.

 

(Burnout figure thanks to Street Machine, info sourced from online sources).

 

 

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