This Is Not A Dinky Toy
There’s been a bit of trend towards downsizing for a lot of folks, especially given petrol prices, concerns about peak oil and attempts to reduce carbon footprints. Small cars are no longer the preserve of little old ladies but are often the choice of the smart commuter, with hatchbacks being seen as fun, zippy and classy. However, how small is too small?
It’s not a stupid question, as an American designer has come up with an extremely small commuter vehicle known as the Elio. It’s an attempt to keep the prices down, both of buying a car and of running a car. And, given the diminutive size of the vehicle, it’s probably going to keep the cost of parking down, too.
Big Space: Toyota Kluger GXL AWD
Toyota has built its name on reliability and offering a car for the right segment. The Land Cruiser, Corolla and, lately, the 86. Some time ago it created a new market by releasing the RAV4. There’s now 4 models in Toyota’s SUV range: Land Cruiser, Prado, RAV 4 and Kluger, a range released just over ten years ago. It’s gone from being a medium sized vehicle to one almost as large, in all dimensions, as the Land Cruiser. With four distinct vehicles to choose from across quite a few variations, just WHERE does the Kluger fit in, especially the GXL AWD A Wheel Thing tested for a week? Updated and released to the Aussie market in March of 2014, it’s an evolution of the previous model yet it’d be hard pressed to be recognised as the great grandchild of the original.
The Donk.
Toyota have thrown a 3.5L petrol powered V6 under the acre sized bonnet of the current model Kluger. There’s 201kW and 337 Nm of torque on 
offer; 
however it’s got to move a 2020kg (sans passengers and fuel) vehicle that’s 4.8 metres long, just over 1.9 metres in total width and 1.73 metres in height. As a result, fuel economy is not great, call it 12L/100 kilometres from a 72 litre tank as an average. Around town it slurped harder than a shearer on a beer after a hard day in the paddock. The issue is not the torque, it’s WHERE that maximum figure comes in, a stupidly high 4700 revs. This means the engine is working harder at lower revs to get and keep the bulk moving. There’s no diesel offered for the Kluger either, consider that when you’re shopping for a people moving SUV…it’s mated to a six speed auto, the only transmission available, plus the GXL comes with either a two wheel drive (front driven) or, in this case, an all wheel drive setup that is part time but can be locked. There’s descent control fitted as well, which all works well enough however the Kluger seems to slot into the rarely and barely used for off roading segment. The auto is smooth, silky smooth; with low throttle applications the change is barely perceptible and it’s only by the flick of the rev counter’s needle that you know something’s changed.
JOSS Sticks Around: An Aussie Supercar.
In a supercar world populated by names such as Lamborghini, Bentley, Pagani etc, it’s notable that the countries these wonderful car brands come from don’t include Australia. However, since 1998, there’s one bloke that’s been trying to change this; Matt Thomas. What’s important about this, though, is that Matt’s journey is not a pipedream, it’s one that’s involved people that have the highest level of experience in Formula 1, Le Mans, V8 Supercars and more. Matt, himself, has a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Design and started his working life as an automotive design modeller. His clients include Bentley, Jaguar, Aston Martin and the Stewart Grand Prix F1 team.
The project? The JOSS JP1 Track Car. There’s some powerful specifications to go with it: 5.0L all alloy V8 engine, with the aim of extracting 420 kilowatts and 520 Newton Metres of torque plus a maximum rev limit of 8000 rpm, Albins transaxle, carbon composite body with a kerb weight of just 900kg, with an anticipated zero to one hundred kilometre per hour time of 2.8 seconds before reaching a top speed of 340 km/h. Added to the recipe are the design elements of a slippery body, mid mounted engine behind a two seat configurtion, a smaller frontal area than Bugatti’s Veyron, lesser CO2 emissions plus better fuel economy and potential G forces of 1.2G laterally. The car itself is a development of the JT1, the test “mule” from 2004. Launched to great fanfare at the Melbourne Motor Show, the accolades soon rolled in:
More Ideas For Cooking On Your Car Engine
OK, so in my last post, I mentioned how one goes about harnessing the waste heat from your car engine to cook your dinner. While just mentioning the how-tos is enough for some cooks, other folk might need more than just a bit of inspiration. Some people prefer to have it down in black in white in front of them. So, without further ado, here are a handful of recipes for cooking on your car engine. Just don’t forget the golden rules of wrapping everything very thoroughly in tinfoil and making sure that the wire you use to strap your tinfoil packets in place on your engine block doesn’t interfere with any moving parts.
I haven’t given cooking times in these recipes, as individual results will depend on (a) your car engine, (b) how fast you’re driving and (c) how hot a day it is.
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