New Zealand Autocar - 1-Aug-2010

• Audi A1 Small and Perfect Formed
• Exclusive NZ drive SEXIES Peugeot EVER is gunning for the Germans  cover car (long awaited Audi TT competitor the RCZ)
• Five Series vs E class vs Jag XF
• Nissan Navara & Qashqai

• Ford Fiesta 1.4 5 door Hatch 2004 (since when did NZ recieve NZ new a 3 door Zetec or 2.0 ST??)
• Mitsubishi Colt 1.5 5 door Hatch
• Honda Jazz 1.3 2002 5 door Hatch
• Suzuki Swift 1.3 5 door Hatch 2006 its a Jap Import

• Dave discusses TV Cars adds and mentions been involved in creation for an add for 1 car manufacturer but ended in diaster ; He then discusses Banned Adds a Ford Sport Ka (roadster version) in UK and of cause all famous here Hyundai Advert seen in Australia and NZ but banned in Australia Showing a baby boy in diapers rescuing a baby girl (it was temporary banned here Dave..and removed from Utube) more...qv qv by Dave Moore
• Rob is contacted to be co driver to a woman Rally driver for his first time Carol Liston who happens to be married to a former client Grant Liston -Carol says to Rob "Grant will tear your arms off if you happen to lay a sweaty paw on me" qv LOL  qv by Robb Scott
• Shaun discusses Hulme supercar "7 years of proving all those knockers round hit a snmag with company failing to attract sufficent investment through a public share offer I 've yet to see any bad press about project" qv car concept since 2004 and time good markety for supercars F1 style Wings BMW V8 power vs production version Chev V8 but no roof and rising costs ...(Shaun says says Buy the Caparo Road going F1 experience and a roof and 200k cheaper but Shaun you are knocking the Hulme the Caparo lets face it looks to have copied the design of the Hulme and debuted at same time in same shade of orange at the Goodwood Revivial!) Shaun Summerfield
• The former Copper who did a u turn and wiped out 2 motorcyclists  is tthe courts again this time for riding an electric scooter to the vinyard he now works in Blenheim it was Chinese sourced Ezi Rider  but questions remain is it bike or a moped  and ex Copper Dale Bridgeman defence "hinges on the 2 stored pedals beneaththe seat of Ezi Ride held in reserve in case battery runs out Those Pedals in his opinion define the scooter as a moped.." by Paul Owen

• Peugeot 308 RCZ 1.6

• Citroen C5 2.0 HDI Exclusive 4 door sedan 6Auto 120kw and 340nm  "Comfort Master" qv
• Nissan Qashqai Ti 2.0 CVT 5 door Hatch crossover "Life less ordinary" qv
• Subaru Impreza XV (the new one higher wheel clearance) 2.0 Flat 4 110kw 4Auto 5 door Wagon Suv "Outbacked Impreza" qv  

• Chrysler Caliber 2.0 CVT 5 door Wagon Suv with new refreshed intereior changes in trim etc and improvements in ride but still away to go "Higher Caliber" qv
• Toyota Yaris Edge 1.5 (sports version wears alloys and body kit) 5 door Hatch "On the Edge" qv

• Kyle Discusses Audi Strategy to be No 1 in the premium car makers is top here but still 3rd to BMW overseas , and now Audi has BMW Mini competitor the A1 ; Peugeot has the RCZ (finally)  Hulme unfornately fell through of its funding objective ; State of our roads comes up for assessment  as there NZ Road Assessment Programme in place give an assessment of road surface  of a rating out of 5 aim of report aim in theory "by re-designing roads to make them safer we can reduce both the number of crashes that happen and severity of those that occur"  Yeh right you going to do that but as Kyle points out this usually means "a few more road signs"qv

• Hightlights of what we might expect to see in Speed Show July 24-25 - now since gone by the time i reviewed this

• Alfa Romeo 159 GP car of the past "Fang it like Fangio" qv by Mark Walton  - Track test  

• Audi A1 1.4 TFSI 7 speed Twin Clutch 3 door Hatch  90kw 200nm 'One Step Beyond" Peter  goes to Germnany to drive one this is the car that will be sold in NZ - words by Peter Louisson  feature includes comprehensive tech specs of the vehicle
• Maserati Gran Cabrio 4.7V8 6Auto "One for the other half" qv by Kyle Cassidy

• Peter Naumann a Professor of Transport Design from University of Munich and an Industrial Designer who designed Sony Laptop ; The Eurocopter and number of radical Motorctcle designs including BMW C1 he was in Auckland recently and Paul Owen met him "At the Cutting Edge"  feature includes discussion and illustions of his designs

• Driver pinged at 116km/hr but the radar does not indicate a time (sureally there would be a case..) but on further inquiry police conviently deleted any eviden ce of time the offence took place
• Flat Earther still believes that Peak Oil has not passed must be an 'Investigate Magazine' Reader who are mainly made up of Creationists & Flat Earthers (get a brain!)
• High Cost to Elderly coupes RV motorhome due to the road authorites, Government departs and local bodies responsible for specifying a course surface with the "..excuse they can seal more kilometres using tar and chip and therefor its most cost effective..'
• Hyundai Ute - correctly advised a reader says Hyundai already developed one as reader owns 1987 1.4 (in Korea they were available from 1974..) although Ed replies he was talking 1 ton and 4x4

Looking Back (Past Master)

• Peugeot 205GTI "sideways..in a hatch" qv

• Kawasaki releases a sketch of its 2011 release Ninja
• a little More

• Kawasaki ER-6n 'Naked road bike' 649cc liquid cooled 8v parallel port 53kw at 8500rpm via 6 speed chain final drive "Naked Ninja Star" qv by Peter Louisson
• Royal Enfield Bullet C5 Fuel Injected with its classic styling Indian remake of 500cc 1955 "Forward to the Past" 4 pages are devoted to this bike words by Paul Owen  bike here has 494cc air cooled single efi 20.2kw at 5750rpm  via 5spm chain drive

• Cars Alfa Romeo Mito to Volvo XC90 V8 R-Design
• There also seperate listing for bikes

• Audi Sales are growing fast determined to be #1 in Premium sector currentlt BMW and Mercedes-Benz are ahead of it  - While in NZ Audi NZ announces a limited release of lightweight R8 GTs but at $400,000 price tag!; RS5 will arive in August  R8 Spyder here in Sep 2011
• BMW X5 facelifted already improvements in engines and drivetains  new 40d version of 3.0TD and new 8 spped Auto are some of the highlights
• Ford Falcon 50th Anniversary Editions to celebrate 50 years with prices and specs announced
• Ford Mondeo after 3 years too gets a refesh  slight changes to grill new headlights include LED daytime running ; slight changes to interior
• New Vehicles Sales on the up comparing June 2010 to 2009 listing top 5 models in new car (Ahhh... that why Toyota RAv4 are up is because a certain rental company has brought 3/4 of them! I saw the same stats in Autotalk and i thought that it was odd so many were sold!)
• Great Wall releases new single Cab variant of its trucj the V240  price from $19990  and is well equipped a 4x4 version sells dfor $22990 and A220  while news that A220 is to be dropped due to slow sales
• Nissan Juke  its mini Suv has been a hit in Japan with 1300 sold in the first week  and vehicle coming here
• Toyota Corolla Edge (sports version offered) offering $4200 worth of extra goodies  available both sedan and hatch

• Aston Martin Refreshes AstonMartin DB9 for 2011 with major changes underneath one of changes is its new 2 stage Adaptive Damping System
• Engine awards announced with Fiat still #1 with Fiat Multi Air Engine standout Newbie  while VW taken top honours particularly 1.4TSI engine as of last year more...
• Eu plans new safety standards for electric vehicles
• Euro brands score low in Owner Survey except Porsche is US JD Power Initial Quality Study and US brands have scored first time over Euro players
• Fiat 500 shows its new TwinAir Engine which is basically 2 cylinders and 975cc  still good for 175km.hr in top says UK Auto Express magazine  economy 4L per 100kw
• Peugeot shows the new 407 and 607 replacement called the 508 that outwardly bigger car then 407 and borrowed stling cues from SR1 concept car at Geneva shown earlier this year  engines will start from a 1.6 Turbo!  (I do hope that make a wagon) but we are told there will be no coupe option
• Range Rover claims improved power for its diesel engine for 2011 new 4.4L LR/TDV8  with parallel seq turbocharging
• Saab promises a complete new model change before 2013 and yes finally a sUV will be developed (Pull your head out Saab ...you sold rights earlier design to China and they be out with the cars before you say 'How stupid was I')
• Spy Photos report Corvette Concept Spyder be driving aroundf Bevely Hills (no Photo) and this car will be featured in the Latest Transformer Movie
• Tesla plans a complete model range including a saloon
• More...phew

• Audi A8 (3rd Generation -I think you will find its 4th Gen 1 around 1996, Generation 2 around 2002 ; Generation 3 in 2007)  new car although it takes a trained to eye to see much a difference in the styling based around A7 concept sedan  European Distributors will helping sell more then 4 big sedans as they did last year! - A8 coming here will have 4.2TD Yep Diesel via ZF 8 speed
• Peugeot 3008 cross over 5 door hatch mix of SUV and MPV  based on 3008 platform and mechanics in 2 variants of EuroV 2.0HDI Diesel engine - highlights include 5 seater ; dynamic roll control and heads up display "Peugeots Revolutionary 3008" qv

• NavMan EZY30  3.5 inch screen  highlights include predictive text imputs ; New Landmark Guidance

• None this issue

• Ducati -the Story from 1926 to 2007 MotoGP World Championship  available from Ducati website

• BMW X5 XDrive 40d Sport SUV 3.0TD 8Auto AWD "again Excels  (replaces X5Drive 35D) facelift X5 "X5 Again Excels" qv by Peter Louisson  
• Nissan Navara Double Cab Ute 2.5TD ST-X 5Auto part time 4wd place test was Kimmys MotoXpark near Huntly (bit of profile of the park)  meeting 23 year old Nick Saunders a member of Kimmy Fly Team Green MX who attemped to jump over our truck in his Kawasaki  "Tough Torque" qv by Paul Owen
• See Cover Story on Pegeot 308 RCZ 1.6

• BMW 550i 4.3 Turbo V8 8Auto vs Jaguar XF 5.0 6Auto vs Mercedes-Benz E500  5.5V8 7Auto "Masterclass" qv by Kyle Cassidy
• Peugeot 308 RCZ 1.6 Auto 2+2 Coupe vs Volkswagen Scirocco 1.4TSI DSG "Runaway Stars hit the road" qv by Peter Louisson

• not in this issue

• Honda Accord Euro L 4 door sedab distance covered 3185km  takes out Gardening shopping to buy a Daphane Bush for the wife ..Shauns loves the heated leather seats "warn Buns are great in winter" qv by Shaun Summerfield

• What... Bmw has not ben giving you any lately :) ..

• None this issue