Paris Motor Show Line-Up 2012

On the 29^th of September 2012 the Paris Motor Show 2012 will open its doors to the public and we will finally get to see what exciting new models are revealed for the next year. The Paris Motor show is one of the biggest events of the year for any car lover and this year will not disappoint.

We have picked out our top five most highly anticipated cars to be revealed at the show. First we have the new 2013 Volkswagen Golf MK7. The Golf MK7 is the seventh generation of the model. It has been made more efficient and lighter than its predecessor. The changes to the new Golf are quite subtle, but they definitely improve the overall look and efficiency of the model. The edge of the new bonnet is a little bit lower than the previous model and the front wheels have moved forward slightly.

The C02 emissions have been reduced by around 13.9%, this brings the CO2 for the entry level in at 113g/km.  The entry level engine will be an 84bhp 1.2 TSI petrol that averages 57.7mpg. The VK Golf MK7 is on sale in October and the price starts at £16,200.

 The next car in our top five is the 2013 Toyota Auris. The Auris design is now longer and lower as well as being a lot lighter than the previous model. The Auris is set to be a strong rival for the 2013 Volkswagen Golf MK7. The rear windows now extend past the back doors and the new design gives the car a more angular look. As well as the hybrid, engine options consist of a 1.33-litre Dual VVT-i and 1.6-litre ‘Valvematic’ petrol engine, and a 1.4-litre D-4D diesel engine. The starting price for the Auris is around £14,495.

 

The 2013 Audi A3 Sportback makes it onto our list and into the Paris Motor Show. The A3 looks very similar to the previous model; the new A3 is built to be longer and a little lighter than before. The wheel base has been extended by 35mm which gives more interior space and you get about 10 litres more boot space than the predecessor. The entry level engine is a 104bhp 1.2 TSI petrol engine. The starting price for the A3 will be around £19,825.

The new 2013 Hyundai i30 3dr will feature at the Paris Motor show this year. The main difference between the new i30 and the previous model is that the new version has been design to have a sportier look. The bumpers, grille and fog lamps have been re-designed for this purpose. The price of the new i30 has not yet been confirmed but it is set to be around £300 less than the i30 5dr model.

The final car in our list is the 2014 BMW Concept Active Tourer. The production version will be at the motor show which is likely to be called the 1 Series Gran Turismo which is set to go on sale in 2014.  The Concept Active Tourer is a practical hatchback with a tall body. At 435cm long and 156cm high it is very similar to the size of a Mercedes B-Class; it’s 3cm shorter than the current BMW 1 Series and 10cm taller.

All of these five cars deserve to be at the Paris Motor Show, but which one is the top car?

New Jaguar F-Type 2013

The first official pictures of the long awaited Jaguar F-type have been released. The new Jag will make its first proper appearance at the Paris Motor Show this year.

The new F-type brings back pleasant memories for Jaguar fans as a reincarnation of the Jaguar E-type, this shows on the F-type's sculpted rear flank and the central twin exhaust. At the front of the F-type, it incorporates the design cues on the C-X16, this includes a square front grille and 'sabre tooth' air intakes on both sides.

The F-type also has a pop-up spoiler at the back to ensure the performance and profile remain uncompromisable. When the F-type is first released it will be available with a soft-top roof, this will be early 2013. The prices will start at around £55,000. A new coupe version will follow one year later, which will be ahead of a likely 'R' model with supercharged V8 to take up the mantle as the new Jaguar flagship.

All three of the petrol engine choices will send power to the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic gearbox. Stop-start technology will also be included as standard.

As the successor, it is clear that it will be quite heavily based around the E-type, but we have to ask just how much the design and features will be influenced by the E-type.

The size is set to be in-between the Porsche 911 and the Porsche Boxster. Look out for the new E-type at the 2012 Paris Motor show.

Shell to Open UK’s Largest Filling Station

Shell provides filling stations to motorists all around the country, but Shell has now opened up the largest filling station in the UK. The filling station has been opened on the M25 near to Cobham in Surrey. The station has the largest number of pumps and highest amount of fuel available out of all filling stations in the country.

This station is part of a new service area in Cobham; the new service area even has its own junction. The service area is located between junctions 9 and 10 on the M25 and is between Heathrow and Gatwick airports. The station can be accessed from either side of the M25.

So exactly how big is this filling station? Well it has a grand total of 141 fuel pumps and also provides autogas (Automotive Liquefied Petroleum Gas), which is not sold anywhere else on the M25. In addition to these pumps it also offers 6 High Speed Heavy Goods (HGV) Lanes and 3 Adblue pumps which help to reduce exhaust emissions from diesel engines. The Adblue pumps are not widely available in most other locations in the UK at this point.

The filling station was built for the needs of the large amount of motorists using the M25 every single day, which, at last count was around 150,000 people.  

A regular filling station can cater to around 700 vehicles every day, but the new Shell station can serve around 3,400 vehicles each day, which is quite an improvement. The service area is expected to see around 10,000 motorists visit each day for all its different services.

The station will see around four fuel tankers making deliveries each day and the fuel tanks that are on site are able to store over a million litres of fuel, this should be just about enough!

Shell is expecting to open 250 sites by the end of the year.

So you know where to go if you are running low!

Demand for Improvement to Bus Services

Bus services in the UK are one of the highest used travel services in the country. They are essential for getting people around, but many feel that the services being provided by many bus companies are not a good enough standard.

Over three times as many people travel by bus than by train, but bus passenger still feel that they are not given as good service as someone travelling by train.

Louise Ellman MP, who is the chair of the Transport Committee, has said that;

“More than five billion journeys are made by bus in Great Britain each year, to workplaces, schools, shops and hospitals. While some bus services are good, too often passengers are dissatisfied with the reliability of the service, the level of fares and the need to buy another ticket if the trip involves two bus companies.

“More competition among bus operators may improve services in some areas but many routes simply cannot sustain more than one operator. It is worrying that the Traffic Commissioners who are responsible for bus safety and punctuality monitoring appear to have insufficient resources to carry out these crucial roles as effectively as they would wish.

“Outside London, the quality of bus services depends on partnerships between local authorities and the bus operators. Some partnerships, such as we saw in Oxford, are working well but effective partnership working needs to be developed more widely.”

The Transport Committee have also said that local authorities are given the right tools and resources they need to improve the local bus services. In some areas rail has taken priority over the bus services and in these cases some improvements may need to be made. The improvements would need financial assistance and the support of the government.  

They feel that different local authorities should be allowed to choose the areas, partnership and franchise options. The government should have readily available funds for the local authorities wishing to improve the bus service for the area.

The bus service industry has five main companies who should take a strong leadership and aim to resolve any issues passengers have with the service provided. They have also noted that easier ways to pay should be introduced such as smartcards and services information should be widely available to customers. They need to create a more stable service for everyone to use.

So what do you think the bus services are like in your area? How do you think they could be improved?

Top 5 Best Cars of 2012

2012 has been a big year; we have seen so many exciting events take place across the country. It has also been a great year for motoring; so we are going to take a look at the top 5 cars on sale in the UK this year.

We are going to start with the Audi A3. The Audi A3 looks similar to its predecessor on the outside, which is probably a safe move as it was one of Audi’s best sellers in the UK. Although the looks are similar it does appear to have received a bit of a face lift, the A3 looks slimmer and has slightly smaller headlights.

Although not much has changed with appearance of the A3, much has changed on the inside. The A3’s cabin has been upgraded with no expense spared, the quality has improved greatly and looks like that of executive saloon.
You get a screen which comes out from the dashboard which acts as the multi media controls for the car, you also get Bluetooth, Voice Control and Air-con as standard. The A3 gives you a generous amount of leg room and importantly much larger boot space which can take up to 365 litres.

It looks great; you get up to 74.7mpg and lower CO2 emissions at 99g/km for £19,205. What more could you ask for?

Next in our list we have the Ford Focus ST, the original ST was very popular and Ford seems to be sticking to a similar formula as before. The Focus looks good and performs well, although it does seem to inherit a problem from the old ST, when you really put your foot down the steering wheel will pull left and then right, making handling a little difficult. But the handling in other ways is good; you get good grip and nice handling through the corners.

The ST features a great driving position but a smaller cabin. You get 39.2 mpg and CO2 levels of 169g/km. The price is good for the amount of car you get at £21,995, we think it is a good choice, but is it the best car in our top 5?

The next car to make it on to our list is the Hyundai Veloster. First of all we have to say that the price is the best we have had so far at £17.995. But is it worth that money? Well the Veloster has a quirky look to it with the unique door design; you get a single rear door on the passenger side, giving it practicality and an unusual look. The Veloster is slightly limited though as it does only have one engine choice, a 138bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine.

Inside you get all the usual kit such as Bluetooth, Climate Control, Reversing Sensors and Alloy wheels. You also get a 7 inch touch screen which controls the multi media devices such as the Bluetooth. You get 38 mpg and CO2 levels of 137g/km. A Good car for the price, but its rivals offer a bit more variety.

The Jaguar XF Sportbrake had to make it onto our list. The first thing anyone notices about the XF is its looks; the XF is a very handsome car! On the outside it is very similar to the Saloon, but it has had a bit of a face-lift. The roof has been lengthened and the pillars have been blacked out to give it a more slimmed down longer look. The appearance of inside remains the same as the saloon with the blue lighting and rotary gear selector that pops up when the car has been started.

The Sportbrake will be available with diesel engines which the saloon does not offer. The XF focuses on practicality with large amounts of boot space and self-changing suspension for carrying heavier loads. It also features a ski hatch which lets you get longer items into the car. The XF gives you 52.3 mpg and 149g/km of CO2 emissions on the diesel engines. The XF Sportbrake is a really great car, but it is much more expensive than the others in the list at £31,940.

The Mercedes-Benz A-Class has a great new look that is appealing to a whole new audience. It is a contemporary and high quality car. You get the choice of 3 different petrol engines and 3 different diesel engines. The CO2 emissions for the A-Class are between 99 and 116g/km depending on which trim you choose.

The leg room inside the A-Class is generous and makes longer journeys much more bearable. Although you get plenty of leg room you don’t get as much boot space as some competitors at 341 litres. The Mercedes A-Class handles well, looks great and the price isn’t bad too at £18,945.

So which one of our top 5 2012 cars do you think should be number one?

If you found this article interesting, why not check out our articles on the Top 10 Most Economical Cars of 2012.

Work on the Olympic fleet Pays Off

The BMW Olympic fleet have served us and the Olympians well, but with the Paralympic games soon drawing to a close, they will soon be off the roads of London. The fleet of 4,000 vehicles have been through a lot over the Olympic period, but have come out of it mostly undamaged.

The BMW’s were driven around London by around 9,000 different volunteers. With the Paralympics being on a slightly smaller scale, the demand for the Olympic fleet has been reduced and so only about half of the fleet have been sent out.

The Paralympics finishes this Sunday, after this we can really asses how much of a success the fleet have been to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The fleet have done well but some of the vehicles have received some minor damage, the damage consists of scrapes, scratches, bumps and kerbed wheels. Any damaged fleets were sent back to BMW to be repaired. It’s not bad considering they had to drive around London in one of the busiest times in its History.

The volunteer drivers of the Olympic fleet had to go through the Games makers’ recruitment process, check and training, all of which took place around two years ago.

At any one time during the Olympic Games there were around 1,300 Olympic drivers on the roads of London; making this one of the largest and most complicated fleet operations ever.

Overall most people are very pleased with the way the fleet were handled and the service they provided to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

New Audi A6 Hybrid Made Available

A new hybrid version of the Audi A6 has now been released and is available to order now, this new hybrid A6 will offer a lower tax alternative to the original.

 Prices start from £43,480; the price of this A6 hybrid is a good match for other rivals such as the BMW ActiveHybrid5 priced at £46,865 Lexus GS450h priced at£44,995 and the Infiniti M35h which is priced £42,020.

CO2 emissions are looking very good for this A6 hybrid at 145g/km which is lower than the 159g/km Infinity M35H, the 141g/km Lexus GS450h and the 149g/km ActiveHybrid5.

The difference between the A6 and the rival’s powerful six-cylinder petrol engines combined with an electric motor, is a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the 211bhp 2.0 TFSI, with an electric motor which offers 245bhp.

This means that the A6 does have a little less power than some of the competition, but at 1,770kg it weighs quite a bit less which results in 0-62 time of 7.3 seconds, it may be a little slower than some of the rivals, but it still packs a powerful punch!

The A6 hybrid is capable of running on the electric motor alone for around two miles before the petrol engine has to kick in. Another bonus of the A6.

The price and low CO2 emissions mean that company car drivers of the Audi A6 Hybrid would face much lower tax liability than a company car driver in the equivalent 245bhp A6 3.0 TDI Quattro, good news for company car drivers!