Toyota Ups The Safety For Corolla.
Toyota has further boosted the safety technology for its Corolla hatch with three new leading-edge technologies available across the range.
The package – pre-collision safety system with forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking, lane departure alert and automatic high beam – is now standard equipment on the top-of-the range $30,0201 ZR hatch.
2017 Holden Colorado LTZ: A Private Fleet Car Review.
As Holden, the Australian arm of global giant General Motors, winds down in respect to local manufacturing, there’ll be a simultaneous increase in the vehicles being sourced from outside the island continent. The Colorado, a name with a definitive nod to the Americas, is and has been for some years, one of those vehicles. There’s a three model range, built around the cab chassis, space cab and crew cab, with various trim levels and a mix of two and four wheel drive.
We normally spends a week with a car, however due to the Christmas break for 2016, had the Holden Colorado LTZ with 2.8L Duramax diesel for just under three. This included a return trip to the cheese capital of south eastern Australia, Bega, via both the coastal and inland routes.
Immediately noticeable is the sheer size of the Colorado; at five point three metres long, it offers plenty of leg room for humans in both front and rear cabin sections (1072 mm front, 872 mm in the rear) thanks to a huge 3096 mm wheelbase and 1800 mm overall height, enough shoulder room for three adults in reasonable comfort in the rear with 1472 mm, and a good sized tray complete with a simple to operate tonneau cover. The test car was coated in dirt and scratch highlighting metallic black.
A redesigned front end graces the 2017 spec models, removing the droopy eye look that tied the Colorado to the Malibu and, to a lesser extent, the Commodore. A smaller headlight cluster raises the nose visually, with the heavier two bar grille also replaced with a simpler, slimmer, and more elegant design. Slimline LED daytime running lights complete the picture. From the rear and in profile, there’s little to differentiate between this and the previous, excepting the sensors front and rear.
Inside, it’s a mix of standard Holden switchgear, reasonably comfortable seats (the powered fronts could use more side support and can be optioned for heating in the LTZ but, stupidly, not cooling), some questionable locations for a couple of essential pull tabs, an eight inch MyLink touchscreen (models below have seven inches) of good design with Android and Apple Carplay, a multifunction monochrome driver’s display, and, surprisingly, a forward collision alert system. Holden’s website says there’s DAB fitted as well. Rear seat passengers get their own 12V socket and you can count on Bluetooth streaming for sounds. There’s even pressure equalising windows, in that they drop automatically when you open the door and raise by themselves when closing.
Up front is the Isuzu sourced 2.8 litre Duramax diesel, coupled to a wide ratio six speed auto and electronic four wheel drive system. That’s operated via a centre console mounted dial. When bolted to the auto, there’s a peak torque figure of 500. That’s reduced to 440 Nm when the six speed manual is added in and both figures come in at just 2000 rpm. Peak power is a healthy 147 kilowatts and that’s at 3600 revs.
After something close to 1700 kilometres of driving, the economy was 8.8 litres of dinosaur juice being consumed for every 100 kilometres covered, with Holden quoting one litre below that for the combined cycle from the 76 litre tank. That’s some good figures to look at, given the 2100+ kg weight of the LTZ before you insert people and cargo.
Kia Stinger To Come Down Under & Kia Picanto Gets A Facelift.
A talking point of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit event before the doors have been thrown open, the new Kia Stinger has been confirmed for Australia.
The sleek, powerful rear-wheel drive GT fastback sports sedan is expected to make it into Australian showrooms by the end of the third quarter this year.
Speed’s Not Always A Factor: Why Not All Crashes At The Nürburgring Are Serious
Well, happy New Year to all you readers out there! I hope you’ve had a good break away from work and didn’t have any close encounters on the road. It’s a shame that they always spoil holidays by announcing the road toll for the season in just about every news snippet. Guess it’s horrible for the relatives of those involved in the crashes but the rest of us don’t really need to be reminded continually.
They’re fond of telling us that speed was a factor in those crashes. However, thanks to something that I spent time watching with the family online during quiet bits of the holiday period, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not just speed per se that causes serious injuries and the like. OK, it is a factor and most of us who did high school physics remember that the forces involved in something travelling at 30 km/h are lower than the forces involved in something travelling at 100 km/h. But there must be other things at play.
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