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If you are looking to buy a new car, any new car, and are based in Australia, then we can help!
Our buying power means smaller buyers (individuals, small businesses etc) can tap into discounts that are not normally available to the public. Plus, you save all the hassle, haggle and running around.
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Car Makes By State!
Thanks to some collaborative work with our friends at Progressive Insurance, we’ve got the results of some very interesting analysis on the distribution of car makes by state or territory using the data from the 2012 Survey of Motor Vehicles by the ABS.
Simply select the car make you are interested in and the map will show you the total number of vehicles registered in each state and the penetration – the number of that model of car against total vehicle registrations.
Here are a few interesting examples:
South Australia is the hotspot for Holden ownership. In fact there are nearly 50% more Holdens per head of population, than you would find in Queensland. Loyalty to local manufacturing perhaps?
Are the British expats in Western Australia responsible for the high penetration of Land Rovers?
And if you own a Citroen and live in the Northern Territory… well you’re one of only 35!
It’s an interactive map so please have a play around with the figures and see . Choose a make on the left-hand-side, check out the numbers of vehicles registered then hover over each state to see the percentages.
Pop back here and let us know what you found!
Should Petrol Cars be Banned?
Should petrol cars be banned?
The UK’s Liberal Democrats have recently proposed that petrol and diesel cars be banned from the country’s roads by 2040. The idea that any nation could be using vehicles fuelled by alternative fuels by 2040 seems like a very remote possibility and Australia is no exception. As of 2011, there were almost 12.5 million passenger cars, with New South Wales and Victoria making up around two thirds of that figure. The environmental necessity of replacing these vehicles has seen many potential solutions offered, from the sensible (better public transport) to the weird (dolphin-shaped cars) so we asked ourselves the following questions: what are the possible alternatives to petrol and diesel cars; and will they be any better for the environment?
Electric Cars
The electric car has some way to go if it is ever to usurp the petrol car. But Evans Electric in Australia has come close to perfecting the electric car. The problem with the idea of running on electric cars is that recharging batteries the raft of batteries will be so much more time-consuming than just filling up at the pump. Evans Electric has designed more energy efficient in-wheel engines which bypasses the need for gears and transmission and deploys energy into each wheel as required. They also generate a nifty 800-horsepower and 1250nm of torque.
Ammonia Engines
New Scientist recently published an article discussing whether ammonia is the future of clean fuel? When burned it produces nothing but water and nitrogen, the most prevalent gas in the atmosphere. However, production of ammonia itself is highly energy-intensive to produce and involves burning a fossil fuel to produce the hydrogen necessary to react with nitrogen. It accounts for the somewhere between 2 and 3 per cent of the world’s energy budget. Ammonia has been used as a fuel during World War II and as one component fuel of the X-15 supersonic aircraft, however it is much less powerful than petrol or diesel and would not work in standard, Otto cycle engines on the market.
More hybrids
This is a much more realistic vision of the future. As if to quash the dreams of the Liberal Democrat party, Exxon Mobil, the world’s richest company, has predicted that by 2040 half of all new cars will be hybrids. The batteries for hybrids, much like for full-on electric cars, add a significant amount of weight to the cars. This is where the experts come in: nine European manufacturers are developing energy-storing body panels which will charge faster than conventional batteries and reduced the weight of car by around 15%. Toyota is also researching body panels that would harness solar energy and store it.
The big question is what will happen to all the current vehicles if petrol is banned in the future. Will governments have to subsidise the retrofitting of electric or ammonia engines to petrol cars? And unless these measures were employed in China and the US it’s doubtful we’d see a dramatic change in the environmental impact of motoring. For now we’ll just have to make do with our petrol cars.
What do those lights mean…?
Do you know what those dashboard warning lights mean?
There are currently more than 15.5 million drivers on Australia’s roads. While a growing population expects to see an increase in motorists, it doesn’t necessarily expect to see an increase in traffic accidents. But that’s what has happened. Research shows that by June 2013 19.6% of motorists had been involved in at least one accident, a figure up from 18.7% in 2008.
Another recent survey conducted in the UK has found that 98 per cent of motorists don’t know what all the dashboard warning lights mean. With most of the accidents coming from new and old drivers, we ask whether being unfamiliar with or forgetting the signals your car gives you can lead to more accidents.
It shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise that people don’t pay much attention to their dashboard. After all, when was the last time you picked up your car’s manual? And, if memory serves, it’s not as though driving instructors are required to take learner drivers through the meaning of dashboard indicators. Most of us simply pay attention to the fuel level indicator and, it seems, rarely wonder what the other symbols represent, assuming that it’ll be self-evident.
The problem has been compounded by a lack of consistency among car manufacturers, with only 12 dashboard warning symbols being the same across 15 of the most popular, recent models. The Mercedes E Class has the most warning/information lights, with 41, and the least was the Volvo S40’s 21. Many of these correspond to newer functions from air-conditioning options to sat-navs.
In another survey conducted by the British Car Auctions (BCA) it turned out that over 20 per cent of drivers had ignored warning lights and decided to address the problem later in the journey. Five per cent admitted to hoping it would eventually switch off of its own accord and six per cent of motorists had gone more than a month without checking a warning light.
Clearly, for the well-being of your vehicle and your safety on the road it’s a good idea to know the most common symbols. Check that you’re aware of the following problems and their corresponding symbols and you’ll be a good deal safer on the road:
Brake System – This is usually indicated by an exclamation mark within a circle. It will automatically illuminate when the handbrake is engaged but should disappear when it is released. If not, it could indicate low brake fluid level or something more serious. Any issues with the braking system should be checked out immediately.
Battery – This is usually indicated by a square with a positive and minus signs. If the light illuminates, it means your car will not be able to travel much further as the battery is no longer being charged. The reasons for this are usually a broken alternator belt, a failed alternator or a faulty battery terminal.
Tyre Pressure – Very few people can recognize this symbol: it resembles a bulging tyre with tread at the bottom. Lit-up, it indicates low pressure which can be dangerous, especially when travelling at high speeds. You should stop at the nearest services to put air in your tyres.
Coolant temperature – Indicated by a symbol that resembles a thermometer sitting in a liquid. If you see this warning light illuminate, your engine could be in danger of overheating. This is a problem that requires stopping straight way as overheating an engine can cause irreparable damage.
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