Driving Resolutions For 2012
It’s not quite New Year yet, but before the party mood takes all of us over and we all spend a bit of time away from the computer or go away on holiday and actually do some driving instead of just thinking about and reading about driving, here’s ten New Year resolutions for drivers and car owners.
1. I will keep to the speed limit, in and out of the city. This will make sure that I won’t get any speeding tickets and it will also make sure that my petrol bill is a bit lower – the faster you go, the more fuel the car burns.
2. I will keep the fluids topped up – and that means the car as well as me. Brake fluid, window wiper fluid, oil for the engine and the transmission, water in the radiator – they all need topping up to make sure that the car runs without any hitches.
3. I will clean the car out properly. Sure, my big seven-seater Mazda has plenty of room for stowing all sorts of bits and pieces when I’m not taking six other people, but all those things create excess weight, which does contribute to more fuel burn. And having a messy car’s not a good look. It’ll probably be a chance to find all those odd sweatshirts and biros that keep getting left in the car. And while I’m at it, I’ll vacuum all the dog hair off the seats and the crumbs from off the floor.
4. I will check the maintenance history for my car to make sure that the belts don’t need changing this year. If they do need changing, then I’ll get this done BEFORE I head away on holiday. If you don’t have a maintenance history for your car, it’s easy to start one. All you need is a folder (or a large pizza box – they fit quite a lot of A4 paper) of some sort to put the receipts, etc. for any work done on your vehicle.
5. I will stop idling the engine unnecessarily. OK, a bit of idling is needed when I’m waiting at an intersection, but I will turn the engine off when I’m waiting for the kids to put shoes on, etc. before we go out. Sure, it hurries them up a bit, but it does waste petrol. Honking the horn instead should do the trick.
6. I will rotate the tyres the way I’m supposed to. Even if I only get this done on January 2nd and don’t do it again for the rest of the year, it’s still better than nothing and will make sure that the tyres wear more evenly. While I’m at it, I’ll check that the spare tyre still has a legal amount of tread and what’s sitting in there isn’t hopelessly worn.
7. I will check the tyre pressure regularly – fortnightly would be good. And if I’m towing anything, I’ll make sure that I adjust the pressure appropriately.
8. I will take the vehicle out and use the 4×4 the way it’s made to. If you’ve got AWD or 4×4 capacity on your vehicle, it pays to use it now and again so the mechanism doesn’t seize up from disuse. And who says that all New Year resolutions shouldn’t be fun?
9. I will review how I use my vehicle. It’s a big, thirsty beast, so if I can walk or bike for a short trip (the experts say 2 km trips should be walked and 5 km trips should be biked), I will. The exception is the weekly trip to the supermarket, as it’s a bit hard to carry the groceries to feed a family for a week home when you’re walking (the supermarket’s less than 2 km away) without pinching a shopping trolley.
10. I will learn how to do a few more things for vehicle maintenance myself rather than just going down to the local garage and looking like a dumb blonde. I should be able to change the oil and change the air filter myself without any bother.
Happy Christmas and have a great motoring year in 2012.
One in a Tractor, One in a Car, One in a Scooter…
At this time of year, if you have children, attend church or both, you are likely to see at least one nativity play – you know the sort of thing: kids (and sometimes adults) dressed up in bathrobes, sandals and tea towels all standing around a girl with a blue sheet holding a baby doll while a rather embarrassed boy stands nearby with a fake beard and another bathrobe-and-tea towel costume. If you’re lucky, you get something done by adults that usually involves a live donkey and a real baby. And you sometimes get people trying to freshen the traditional story up by adding a modern twist to it – I’ve seen at least two “Mary and Joseph use social media/the internet” YouTube clips.
One thing that hasn’t been done – probably because it’s a bit hard to organise – is an update of the transport options. What would be the modern day equivalent of the camel, the ox and the donkey? (Not that any of these are actually mentioned in the Biblical account. The presence of the ox and the donkey (formerly known as an ass) is deduced by the presence of an animal’s feed box complete with hay to make a makeshift baby’s bed, while the magi needed something for to make the trip from the Iran/Afghanistan/Pakistan sort of area to Israel. For all we know, Mary and Joseph may have made the trip on foot or taken an ox-cart.)
The Holden Recall – What’s It All About?
A couple of weeks ago, the radio and other new channels rang with the news that Holden had ordered a recall. Now there are a lot of Holden enthusiasts out there, and a few of them might have got a bit worried that their new pride and joy might be part of the recall. And now another one’s just been launched. What is going on?
A Varley Good Idea
A lot of people switch off when they read about electric cars. They’re all over in the USA, aren’t they? Or they’re just concept cars that turn up to make a manufacturer look good at a big motor show. We just can’t get straight electric cars over here in Australia at the moment, and those who are interested in sustainable motoring and alternative fuels have to make do with hybrid cars (and probably feel very grateful for their Toyota Prius and Honda Civic hybrids.
Well, that’s about to change. Varley is getting in on the act. Varley may be quite an old Australian company that was originally founded in 1886 and has been involved in all sorts of engineering projects (including marine, defence force, rail and more) for quite some time. However, now Varley is producing Australia’s first-ever all-electric supercar, the evR450.
The Varley evR450 first made a rather tentative appearance at the Electric Vehicle Conference held in Brisbane in mid-October 2011 and the makers have been surprised at how much interest has been shown in this vehicle. Maybe they shouldn’t have been so surprised – electric cars and hybrid cars are very sexy in automotive design (and this isn’t the only place that electric-powered transport is a hot topic: aviation is another area where the engineers are breaking new ground to get a battery-powered plane off the ground).
The Varley evR450 does quite well in the supercar stakes, as it can do the nought-to-100 sprint in a very, very respectable 3.8 seconds, which can beat the figures of some other Aussie-built supercars such as the HSV and FPV. Its top speed is a nippy 200 km/h, and it can do anything between 150 and 300 km to the battery pack, depending on the type of battery pack under the bonnet.
However, while the Varley evR450 is the first real passenger-style car to be launched on the Australian market, this isn’t the first electric vehicle that Varley have manufactured. Varley already make a number of small electric runabouts that you may well have seen in action. If you’ve seen some of those dinky tugs on wheels at airports pulling the baggage carts and the like, the chances are that it’s a Varley and it’s probably electric. Varley also make those little buses that take people on tours around parks and botanical gardens. Have a look on the back of one of those vehicles next time you see one to see if the Varley logo’s on the back. And have a listen and a sniff, too: can you smell fuel burning? And is the motor quiet?
The Varley evR450 will officially hit the roads in Queensland in January 2012, which isn’t far off. At the moment, they’re not sure how many units are going to produce for sale, and they’re going to wait and see what the demand’s like (which means that it won’t be listed in Private Fleet’s car reviews for the moment, and this post is the best you’re going to get for now). The Varley evR450 is aimed at the luxury car end of the market, and will cost about $200,000.
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