Coming Soon(ish) To Australia – The Cheaper Tesla Model 3
For quite a few years now, the really big name in electric cars has been Tesla. Named after the scientist who did a lot of pioneering work in the field of electricity (and, according to popular legend, tried to invent a death ray just like a mad scientist from a cheesy thriller), Tesla vehicles have been considered the crème de la crème of sustainable motoring, the electrical equivalent of Koenigsegg or Lamborghini. By and large, they’ve mostly been something for the very wealthy and mostly those overseas as well.
It could be that this is about to change. Last year, Tesla decided to produce a cheaper variety – cheaper being a relative term, of course; it’s got a US$35,000 price tag at the very basic level. This Model 3 will begin production this year and will probably be fully released in 2018, joining the Model S and the Model X that a select few are already driving.
2017 Volvo S90 D5 Inscription: Private Fleet Car Review.
The Swedish car company renaissance continues with the Volvo S90 being released in late 2016. A long, lithe, well proportioned machine, it places the S90 firmly in the large luxury saloon mix, and has both the British and German based manufacturers clearly in its sights. Private Fleet reviews the Volvo S90 D5 Inscription.
The range kicks off at $79990; the car tested, the D5 Inscription has a manufacturer’s list price of $96900 and with options fitted tops out at $118555 (plus on roads). The options include heated front seats (again, ventilation for Australian spec cars should be a must) at $650, Head Up Display at $1900, and the superb B & W sound system at $4500. Oddly, Apple CarPlay is also listed as an option ($300) when seen as standard fitment in cars a quarter of the price. Also, it’s said elsewhere that DAB (digital radio) is fitted as standard yet the the test car does not have it.
The exterior is a mix of desireable influences; at one angle the view forward of the windscreen is very much BMW 7 series, the grille nods towards Maserati, there’s hints of Jaguar XF in the profile and rear pillar. There’s bendy LED headlights and indicators plus the Hammer of Thor inserts for the headlights. At the rear…well, it’s here things go squiffy. 
The tail light design is square, angular, blocky, and in Private Fleet’s opinion, just not pretty and at odds with the lithe look anywhere forward. A smoother curved style would, in this reviewer’s humble opinion, be more suitable and balance the rear to the front. But by no means is the S90 an unattractive car, far from it.
It’s a big car, with a length of 4963 mm and wheelbase of 2941 mm offering plenty of leg room straight up with 1071 mm and 911 mm front and rear . Width, sans mirrors, is 1879 mm, providing 1423 mm and 1416 mm in hip room, and an overall height of 1443 mm sees head room of 1027 mm and 961 mm.
Are Electric Vehicles Losing Traction in the Market
In a year where new car sales catapulted to new heights, surely it would be reasonable to expect that ‘green’ vehicles with alternative fuel technology shared in this growth? If anything, starting from a low base, one might even expect that their year-on-year growth significantly outperformed petrol and diesel vehicles. After all, Australian motorists are supposedly becoming more environmentally conscious and converting to green technology, no?
Imagine the surprise then, reviewing the recent sales figures for electric vehicles and hybrids in Australia throughout 2016. Electric vehicles in the private passenger segment decreased from 220 sales in 2015, to a dismal 65. That’s right. Not only did electric vehicles in this segment fail to make any meaningful progression, but a mere 65 were sold right around the country over the course of 366 days – lucky to have that extra day too.
Tyres for Dummies
Tyre durability and performance are really important factors in how a car handles and steers. Many of us are happy to just jump inside our cars, turn the key and drive away with little thought given to tyre performance, science and design. On the side of your tyre are a whole lot of numbers that mean lots of different things. Let’s take a look at the most important ones.
When it comes to a tyre, size really is significant. Ultimately, you want the right size tyre for your car. The car’s designer engineers have tested and proven the right size tyre for you particular car’s design. So getting it wrong here really makes a huge difference to the way your car handles safely. What do the numbers mean? Using an example of a 235/45/17 tyre, these numbers tell us that the tyre’s width is 235 mm. The next number to consider is 45; and this figure is a percentage figure that tells us the height of the tyre wall. So the height of the tyre wall is 45% of the width of the tyre. The width of the tyre in this example is 235 mm, so the height of the tyre’s side wall is 45% of 235 mm which equates to 105.75 mm.
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