Stereotypes: The Granny Hatch
Usually seen: In driveways or garages of little cottages or units, supermarket carparks in the middle of the day, outside charity shops.
Typical examples: Suzuki Swift , Fiat Uno, Honda Jazz .
Jaguar Sharpens Its Claws: The 2016 XE Is Released For Australia.
Jaguar Australia has hosted the local launch of possibly its most important model of recent times, the XE. Replacing the largely unloved X-Type and S-Type range, the aluminuim chassised, rear wheel driven, saloon will feature ground breaking levels of technology as the classic British brand prepares to take on, head on, its German based rivals.
In its class, the XE will be the only vehicle to use aluminuim, predominantly, in its monocoque chassis design, with large, single stamped, panels offering increased torsional stiffness and reducing weight simultaneously. This engineering puts the XE into first place as the lightest and stiffest Jaguar released, along with being the slipperiest. Jaguar quotes a drag coefficient of just 0.26 cD.
Windscreen Washing Fluid DIY
One of the many signs on the dashboard of my Volvo is flickering on and off at the moment, but I probably don’t need to worry about it. This is because I do know the real meaning (rather than the silly meanings ) of my dashboard lights and the thing that’s showing is the one for the windscreen wiper fluid. It’s only showing when I go up or down slopes, suggesting that the liquid is slopping up and down, leaving the sensor high and dry momentarily.
Of course, no light on your dashboard should be ignored indefinitely and all the fluids need to be kept topped up. The last thing I want is to have my vision obscured by a lot of moth residue or a collection of marks created by (1) a bird sitting on or just above the car, (2) the cat sneaking up on said bird by way of the car roof and (3) the mess left by the bird as it takes off with the cat leaping at it. So it’s going to be top-up time very soon. The choice then will be what to use to fill the tank of window washing fluid up. And there are a lot of options!
Private Fleet Car Review: 2015 Hyundai i40 Tourer Series 2.
A Wheel Thing has spent three weeks with three almost completely different Hyundai models and wraps up the trio with the Series 2 i40 Tourer with Active specification, complete with a 340 Nm, 1.7L, diesel and stylish nosejob.
Straight up, the front end of the i40 Tourer brings it into line with the new family face that Hyundai are presenting to the world; there’s a definite resemblance to the sibling Sonata and forthcoming Elantra with the handsome, angular,headlights with LED driving lights and hexagonal grille. The rear, when seen directly from the rear, is also pleasing enough but in profile the rear looks heavy, too low to the ground, rather than matching the sleekness of the new front.
There’s 16 inch alloys all round, with eco look tyres (the sidewalls are festooned with flowers) and they’re high profile tyres too, at 205/60. Somehow, they still manage to not look as if they fill the wheel arches. It’s an unusual look overall and reminiscent of the XF Falcon. In profile, the swage lines joining front to rear and the tapering of the windows front and rear, stand out. Overall length is 4775 mm, with height and width 1470 mm and 1815 mm.
The engine,as mentioned, rolls out 340 torques, from 1750 rpm through to Hyundai’s customary 2500 rev point. It’s an astounding amount of torque and wonderfully economic. When picked up and the70L tank brimmed, the onboard computer was offering a range of over 1050 kilometres and that number barely changed, from distance covered to expected range, throughout the week, with a final economy reading of six litres per hundred. That part is simply sensational. Hyundai’s own figures are 5.1/5.9/4.7L per hundred (combined/urban/highway) .
What isn’t sensational is the seven speed dual clutch transmission that has been fitted and calibrated for the i40 Tourer. Bluntly, if it were a horse, it should have been taken to the back paddock and shot. A huge gap between Reverse and Drive, an insistence on finding third and holding it on the slightest slope (requiring manual changes to give the engine the appropriate gear plus lower the din from forward of the driver), an unwillingness to offer smooth and unnoticeable changes, an ever persistent feeling that the clutches were given too much time to think about when to engage, a millennium between removing the foot from the brake and feeling forward motion…the love experienced on day one dissipated rapidly.
Level 2, 9 Help Street