Great EVs Available in Australia

Ever wanted to bite the bullet and go over to electric?  Driving electric is getting a little more popular, particularly as EV technology has moved on since the electric postie mobile, electric milk float or electric ice cream van.  EVs are appealing in that they offer zero emissions (once built) and offer much lower running costs.  The other thing about EVs is that they are rather fast; delivering a strong surge of power that is immediate – and the acceleration is unlike anything seen in the present and past world of combustion engines.

Here are some EVs you can buy in Australia:

Audi e-Tron (approx $120k at least)

The e-tron is a high-end EV with Audi’s enviable build quality and interior finish being part of the e-tron lifestyle.  This is a nice German EV which uses a dual-motor setup with a choice of two battery sizes and power outputs: the e-tron 50 with a 71 kWh battery and 225 kW, or the e-tron 55 with its 95 kWh battery and 300 kW output. The driving range is between 300 and 480 km, all of which are refined and relaxed.

If you are doing bigger mileage and longer stints behind the wheel, then the e-tron is a great place to spend time.  Passenger and luggage space are excellent, and this is a fine EV from Audi.

BMW i3 (approx $70k)

The BMW i3 was BMW’s first electric car, and it brought a quality edge to the compact EV world.  The car is efficient and even uses recycled materials inside the cabin. There’s lots of space in the front seats.

A new i3 is made from carbon-fibre, boasts a 42.2 kWh lithium-ion battery, and has a 300 km range.  The more powerful i3 gets a 134 kW motor that can send this little car from 0 – 100 km/h in 6.9 seconds.

Hyundai Ioniq Electric (approx $50k)

The Hyundai Ioniq EV had a facelift last year which gave the car a new lease of life in the form of a 100 kW motor linked to a 38 kWh battery, which has upped the car’s official driving range to over 300 km.You also get a 50 kW fast-charger that will replenish a flat battery to 80% in less than an hour.  At home on the standard 7 kW wallbox you can fully charge the Ioniq in just over six hours.

Hyundai Ioniq cars boast a decent boot size and excellent infotainment systems.

Hyundai Kona Electric (approx $60k)

Hyundai’s electric SUV is going to be a good choice for those wanting EV in SUV styling.  This small electric SUV comes with a 64 kWh battery and has a range of over 400 km on a full charge.  With its 150 kW motor the Hyundai Kona scampers from a standstill to 100 km/h in around 7.6 seconds, which is very smart – quicker than most small SUVs.  It comes with an instant hit of power when you push the accelerator.  The interior is roomy, the infotainment excellent, and there’s a 332-litre boot space.  It’s got to be liked.

Jaguar I-Pace (approx $123k)

This all-electric SUV is incredibly impressive. It combines a 90 kWh battery with an AWD electric motor that delivers close to 225 kW. Even though heavy, it’s still incredibly rapid, managing the 0-100 km/h sprint in just 4.5 seconds.  A 350 km driving range is very achievable in the real world.  The new I-Pace is luxurious, comfortable, roomy, and delivers on boot space, too.

On the road, the car deliver’s razor-sharp handling and rides smoothly.  The Jaguar I-Pace is an award winner, too: It was crowned 2019 World Car of the Year at the New York Motor Show.

Kia e-Niro (approx $60k)

A new Kia e-Niro has a great driving range, with as much as 450 km available on a full charge.  This compact SUV is comfortable, practical and great value for money, making it one of the best all-round packages on the electric car market today.  The car features a 64 kWh battery and a 150 kW electric motor.  Boasting plenty of decent features, the e-Niro is a well-equipped small SUV with an 8-inch touchscreen, sat nav, heated leather seats, adaptive cruise control, a reversing camera and many other goodies besides. You also get the use of 451-litres of boot space and a 7-year/160,000 km warranty.  The buy new price is very competitive, and it’s little wonder that it is one of the best on the market and liked by many.

Nissan Leaf (approx $50k)

A new Nissan Leaf looks cool and is available in two forms: one version has a 40 kWh battery that gives an official range of 270 km, while the top-of-the-range new Leaf e+ features a larger 62 kWh battery returning up to 380 km travel range. Real world range will likely be less, but still this is very good for the most part and many will be very happy with it.  You’ll be able to recharge that battery to 80% in 40 minutes from a rapid charger, and in 7.5 hours from a home wallbox.

A 0-100 km/h sprint takes 8 seconds.  A roomy, stylish interior is a Nissan Leaf strong point.  They drive very nicely and offer 435-litres of boot space.  Safety is very strong, especially with features like the advanced semi-autonomous Pro Pilot driving technology available on higher spec models.  The car’s infotainment system is good and it boasts Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Renault Zoe (approx $50k)

The Renault ZOE is one of the best electric cars on sale in Australia right now.  The car has had a recent facelift in 2019 that gave it more range, more power and faster charging at home and abroad.  The new Renault ZOE contains a 52 kWh battery that returns a close to 300 km range on a full charge.  Two power ratings are available: you can opt for either the 80 kW or 100 kW motor, with the 0-100 km/h sprint times being 11.4 and 9.6 seconds respectively.  These motors are both nippy, particularly about town and city environments.

Plug your little ZOE into a home wallbox delivering 7 kW of power, and the it will be fully charged from flat in under nine hours, while a 50kW fast-charger will see a 20-80% charge in less than an hour.  The new Renault ZOE, though small, is also good value for money and it’s a great way to get into EV travel.

Tesla Model S (approx $150k)

The US firm Tesla created its premium electric car in the form of the Tesla Model S saloon. Packing over 380 kW from a pair of electric motors (one driving the front wheels and one driving the rear wheels), the Tesla Model S is quick, dynamic and capable of seeing off the 0-100 km/h sprint in 4.1 seconds.  A higher performance model is available that will do the same dash in just 2.4 seconds!

The premium Tesla Model S is a premium car with loads of nice features – including a whopping 17-inch infotainment screen that can be split-screened accordingly for various functions.

You may also want to look at the cheaper Tesla Model 3 (from approx $74k), and the SUV version Tesla Model X (from approx$165k). http://credit-n.ru/microzaymi-blog-single.html

New Protocols for Euro NCAP Crash Testing

‘Euro NCAP’; so what do all these letters mean?  Euro, obviously, means ‘European’, and NCAP means ‘New Car Assessment Programme’.  So what this team at Euro NCAP does is test out new cars by putting put them through a stringent crash test to see how they perform.  New cars need to meet a set of standards in order to get marked as having a certain level of crash safety.  This is really handy for the likes of you and me because it provides new car, and second-hand car, buyers a good informative test standard whereby we can satisfy ourselves that a car we’re about to buy meets levels of crash-test safety that we’re happy with.

This crash test safety rating, given by authorities like Euro NCAP and ANCAP (but not restricted to), stands up well in the real world, where cars involved in a crash keep the occupants safe according to the rating given in tests.  When a car is involved in a severe crash, the higher the car’s safety rating (approved through testing) is seen to offer a better chance of survival for its occupants.  The opposite is also true, where the lower the safety rating the higher the chance of severe injury to the car’s occupants.

Every two years, Euro NCAP updates and toughens its test protocols.  Recently, the crash testing bar at Euro NCAP headquarters has been raised for any new cars that get tested.  This is always a good thing because it drives new car manufacturers to improve their cars safety capability.  This year sees Euro NCAP  addressing some issues in occupant protection, providing an improved post-crash protection test and delivering a push for the new cars to have the latest advanced driver assistance technology.

Leading the new protocols is one major change in the offset crash test; and that is the introduction of a new moving barrier to moving car frontal crash test.  This replaces the current moderate offset-deformable barrier test, which has been used by Euro NCAP for the last twenty three years. The barrier will now move at around 50 km/h toward the car to better replicate what happens in the real world.  Even the thought of it suggests that manufacturers will have to strengthen their car’s safety cell to score highly!

This new crash test will evaluate the protection of the car’s occupants in the crash, as well as assessing how the cars’ front-end structures contribute, or not, to occupant injury in the collision. The new regulations also include the world’s most advanced mid-sized male crash test dummy called “THOR”.  Thor will provide lots of extra information on how well ‘he’ has been protected during the new crash testing regime.

Side impacts are never pretty, and they account for the second highest frequency of death or serious injuries. New adjustments to the near-side barrier test’s speed and mass has resulted in an increase in the severity of the test. Strengthening protection down the sides of new cars will have to be on the agenda if manufacturers want to score well in this side impact test.

Also, Euro NCAP will begin evaluating far-side impact protection that focuses on driver protection and the potential interaction between the driver and front-seat passenger during the collision. New protection offered by new-to-market countermeasures such as centre airbags between driver and passenger will be adequately scrutinised.

New driver-assist technologies will be looked at, and to score highly new cars will need to use competent accident emergency braking technology in the cars to protect vulnerable road users.  These would include road users behind the car in a reversing-back-over situation, as well as road users in the path of the car turning at a crossing. Also, evaluations on Driver Status Monitoring systems, designed to detect driver fatigue and distraction, will be part of the Safety Assist assessment run by Euro NCAP.

Manufacturers will be rewarded when any rescue information is accurate after a crash which has happened in the real world becomes easily available for scrutiny. Euro NCAP also checks ease of rescue after an accident has occurred, electric door handles, softness of materials in the cabin etc. and will endorse any technology that calls for help in an emergency situation.

These are some of the major changes we’ll see employed by Euro NCAP’s new 2020 protocols. Our local ANCAP testing will be sure to follow similar protocols so as to give the best information for us lot – the car buyers. http://credit-n.ru/about.html

A Legacy Of Luxury: Bentley Digital Design.

With a brand such as Bentley, and the history and heritage the brand has, embracing the digital age can be fraught with conflict. Just how does a design for something to go inside be compatible, will it suit the look and “feel” of a particular vehicle, will its intended purpose grow old gracefully or be out of date in a few years?

Design teams aim for a particular look and in the case of such a brand as Bentley, that look must tie in with what has come before. One key area is that of what the driver will look at every time they slide onto the sumptuously appointed seats of a Flying Spur. The dashboard dials and multimedia interfaces are an area that Graeme Smith and his team of Human Machine Interface (HMI) designers at Bentley have taken on with great success.Utilising what is called a “mood board”, Smith and the team lay out the images of what will appear on the digital screen for the Flying Spur. The colors, the icons, that will be seen are reviewed in conjunction with the main designers at Crewe, the home of Bentley. Critical to the look, says Smith, is choosing to go 2D or use what is called skeuomorphic design. “A Bentley isn’t a smartphone; it’s going to be used and cherished for generations. So we chose a skeuomorphic approach that will age with the car. Look at pure digital instrument graphics from ten years ago – they’ve dated faster than the car they were part of.”

It’s a tricky ethos to deal with, he says, as going to a clean, ultra-modern, look, would be at odds with the history of Bentley, and by using skeumorphic design, they can be in the digital age and still convey the message that fits with the Bentley presentation. There is also a requirement, says Smith, to provide a family relationship between the vehicles yet provide a difference. For example, the speedometer and rev counter dials in the Flying Spur have bronze rings, a different hue to those in the Continental GT.Then there’s the end purpose of the vehicle a design goes into. The dials in the Continental GT have a 3D look to the knurled appearance, echoing the look of that cars gear selector. the Flying Spur has the outer edges looking akin to a machined appearance, reflecting the Spur’s more luxury oriented drive, as opposed to the overtly sporting nature of the GT.

Road time is also considered, as in when the car is on the road and the driver’s interest is in simply driving. A reduction in potentially distracting information is provided, says Smith. In a form of digital detox, the driver can see dials that provide the sheer essentials; fuel gauge levels, the temperature of the engine, local time, the vehicle’s velocity, and the ambient outside temperature. Bentley refers to its own history here, by dimming the dials to the point only the needles are visible, and allowing a driver to consider the night time drives at Le Mans, or Woolf Barnato’s legendary night drive through France to beat the Blue Train.

However, the story doesn’t finish there. The final part of the journey in the digital design of the dials is where the Flying Spur will live its life. Will it be in the United States? How about Dubai? Will it be used to chauffeur a Sheikh in Saudi Arabia? The central screen is also part of this equation, meaning that the team must consider something like 600 different icons and over 1,500 varying menu screens. The different languages (up to 27!) and idioms for the markets are considered, plus the varying market specific services such as satellite radio, apps such as Android Auto (with final sign-ff to be granted by the owners of the systems themselves), even the three different audio systems from Naim, Bang and Olufsen, and the brand’s own bespoke setup.It’s here that the HMI team divide the load. There are function owners, nine in total, that work with three graphic designers and focus on a specific area. This can be the climate control, audio settings, the interface that shows fuel consumption.To say Bentley says luxury, it says history, it says motorsport. It takes love and dedication to ensure that the history of Bentley is continued with eyes on the past, and eyes on the future. Graeme Smith and the Human Machine Interface team have those in mind and their eyes look forward with the past firmly in focus. http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/creditter-srochnye-zaymi-online.html

2020 SsangYong Korando ELX And Ultimate: Private Fleet Car Review.

This Car Review Is About: The mid and top level 2020 SsangYong Korando. The car has been given a complete makeover inside and out. No longer does it look like a poor cousin to the curvy Korean sourced and no longer available Captiva. Rather it’s now a vehicle of its own styling, and yet there’s a whiff of familiarity as well.How Much Does It Cost?: The three model range starts at $26,990 with the EX, $30,990 for the petrol ELX and $36,990 for the petrol Ultimate. All prices are driveaway. There is a diesel available for the ELX and Ultimate for a $3,000 extra cost.Under The Bonnet Is: A rorty and exuberant 1.5L turbo petrol engine. Power and torque are rated at 120kW and 280Nm from 1,500rpm through to 4,000rpm. It’s got a nature very much like an excited puppy, with a free revving nature, plenty of pull when it’s up and running, and will have the front wheels scrabbling for grip from a hard launch. But there’s a price to pay and that’s at the petrol pump. We didn’t see anything under 9.0L/100km at any time. Ssangyong quotes only a combined figure and that’s 7.7L/100km, an indicator the suburban drive is over 9.0L/100km. The fuel tank is just 47L, The transmission is a six speed auto and drives the front wheels. There is a transmission tunnel visible in the rear seat section, suggesting the Korando has been engineered for AWD later. And being a six-speeder also means it’s starting to be left behind considering the now virtually standard eight speeds found elsewhere. On The Outside It’s: Squarer, boxier, and more assertive looking than the original. There’s a hint of Suzuki Swift and Volvo XC40 at the rear with the fin-shaped pillar insert, a touch of Volkswagen at the front with the layered horizontal lines in the centre.A chromed strip runs across in a line just under the leading edge of the bonnet, dipping down under each self-leveling headlight. The Ultimate sports a triple-tiered driving light cluster underneath; the ELX has blacked out inserts. Both have a triple layered set of lines in the main air-intake which echoes the driving lights in the Ultimate. The rear lights mirror the front, with three chevrons either side and another chromed strip that runs under each cluster. Solid looking black polycarbonate finishes off each end whilst the sides and flanks have heavily sculpted lines to ease a slightly slabby look. The wing mirrors are folding and heated, a nice touch on those coolish, foggy days. Good looking tuning fork style 18 inch alloys on the ELX have Kumho Crugen 235/55 rubber. The Ultimate has double spiral alloys at 19 inches in diameter and rubber from Hankook at 235/50.Overall it’s compact in size; 4,450mm in total length is shorter than it appears. A wheelbase of 2,675mm sits inside that. It’s tall at 1,620mm and broad at 1,870mm. It’s not excessively heavy at 1,435kg dry. On The Inside It’s: Classy in the Ultimate, only a little less so in the ELX. The Ultimate has a full LCD display for the driver; on startup two spinning discs become the speed and rev counter displays. The look can morph into a couple of other looks depending on information required.For The ELX it’s traditional analogue yet still good looking. There are options to change the dial lighting and for both daytime and night time running in choice. Sadly the centre dash touchscreen is severely lacking in comparison. No DAB, no satnav, no real menu structure…It’s worse than basic, looks as dull as dishwater, and frankly detracts strongly from the Korando’s otherwise quite enjoyable ambience. The centre stack is piano black, the aircon controls are laid out cleanly, and in the case of the Ultimate are soft touch rocker-switch style tabs. A slightly odd touch is the size of the door handles inside. Very slimline and the kind a slippery finger would easily slide over and off.The manually adjusted for reach and rake steering wheel is on the larger side to hold. That’s not entirely a bad thing as it makes for easier push-pull driving. The Ultimate has it as heated as well, along with the leather seats being heated and vented. For the ELX the cloth clad seats do the job, and nicely thank you, with perhaps both needing a little more under thigh support.Both have a drive mode selector dial in the centre console, with Sport and Winter modes available. The buttons around the gear selector for the Ultimate look burrowed from the brand’s Korean cousins. The tiller is also familiar in look, if not heft.Room isn’t a major issue all round. The boot is 551L and grows to 1,248L. Headroom is 1,011mm and 987mm.On The Road It’s: A bit of fun. The steering and ride quality are twitchy; the steering requires constant input, the Lane Keeping Assist is, like its Korean counterparts, over-eager, and the ride is a little on the firm side. The front suspension crashes through at times, rather than providing initial compliance before dialing out impacts. But the steering is just light enough that you can feel a little bit sporty hustling the Korando through switchbacks and adjust for the slight oversteer and medium range velocities. Actual engine engagement is solid. As mentioned it’s an eager thing and will happily chirp the front rubber. Once hooked up, there’s decent acceleration from a smallish turbo engine in a decent small-mid sized SUV. The auto, for “all” of its a six-speeder, is slick, changes well up and down through the cogs, and only occasionally felt as if it was in the wrong place. It also engine brakes downhills nicely, and a gentle tap of the paddle shifters at the bottom brings everything back into line. The brakes are a touch on the soft side. There’s some space between the touch and push before engagement is felt and it’s a soft press still from there. But they do grab and haul up the Korando well enough, and stopping distance can be judged once some time with the car has been taken. Suspension wise, the Ultimate had a “feel” that it was more aligned with the sporting driver. What About Safety?: AEB or Autonomous Emergency Braking is standard across the range, along with Forward Collision Warning. Lane Keep Assist is standard for all three, whereas Lane Change Assist isn’t for the EX. The Ultimate is the one to receive Adaptive Cruise Control, all three also get Lane Departure Warning, Driver Alert Warning, and seven airbags including driver’s knee. The EX dips out on Blind Spot Warning and Rear Cross Traffic Alert. Ultimate also gets Tyre Pressure Monitoring. What About Warranty and Service?: Warranty is class equaling; seven years and unlimited kilometres. Service intervals are 12 months or 15,000 kilometres and are capped at $295 per service across the seven years for the Korando petrol. Roadside assistance is available for those seven years. At The End Of The Drive. SsangYong have delivered a pretty decent vehicle in the form of the Korando ELX and Ultimate with petrol power. Sure, there’s some utterly unnecessary quirks but the lack of DAB and satnav is bordering on unforgivable. The poor user interface for the touchscreen makes accessing the apps on smart phones virtually impossible. The upside is the really cool driver’s display in the Ultimate, a ride quality and handling package that isn’t terribly unenjoyable, decent room, and good looks outside. Some dollars by their marketing arm wouldn’t go astray as the car, and the brand, are invisible to the daily driver. That’s a shame as, aside from the quirks, the vehicles in the range are viable alternatives….or is it the quirks that stop the sale? Dive into the Korando here.       http://credit-n.ru/offers-zaim/platiza-mgnovenniy-zaim-online.html