Over in sunny LA, Tesla has taken the covers off of its third car model - the Tesla Model X.

Following the original electric vehicle from the Silicon Valley startup - the Tesla Roadster - and the Model S, the Model X is an SUV that is designed to give soccer moms an alternative to the usual array of gas-guzzling cars of the same size.

Featuring "Falcon Wings", we think it looks a bit like the bastard offspring of a Ford Focus and the DeLorean DMC-12 from Back to the Future but there's no mention of time-travel in the press-release.

What it does mention is the optional Dual Motor All-Wheel Drive. This is a second motor that will give you a smoother ride in bad weather and on bumpy rides. It also increases torque by 50 per cent and power a 0-60mph time of less than 4.5 seconds. Not bad for a family motor.

There's three rows of seats on offer so you can stuff in plenty of kids and the dashboard looks more like the control panel from the USS Enterprise. It packs a tablet-like device labelled the Tesla Touchscreen; a 17-inch device that gives you full control (with Google Voice integration) over all of the non-driving aspects of the car.

It boasts plenty of media and connectivity options and even packs a full WebKit browser.

There's no official price info yet (guesses are coming in around the $50-60,000 mark) but we do know that shipping will begin in late 2013 to early 2014.

Read

Tags: Cars Tesla Tesla Model X Electric cars

Tesla Model X SUV goes back to the future originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:38:00 +0000

A Cadillac on Pocket-Lint? Half the team has gone to Detroit and Las Vegas this week, so we figured you'd forgive us if we indulged our inner American, donned a Stetson and put some country and Western on the stereo. But it's just that kind of cheesy, hackneyed image of America - and its cars - that Cadillac would very much like us European buyers to forget when it comes to the new ATS.

Banish the image you currently have of Cadillacs - probably squidgy, over-sized American barges - and start to take the brand seriously as a competitor to BMW, say Cadillac's people. But should you, based on what we see here?

You probably won't have noticed, but you've been able to buy a Cadillac in Europe for some time: Cadillac is now on its third relaunch in Europe. Last time we looked at the figures, it had sold about five cars in the UK - we jest, of course, but not enormously. Why? Well, if we tell you that to-date its cars cost about the same as an equivalent BMW or Mercedes, that there were just a handful of dealers, that the quality and design wasn't anywhere near as good as anything made in Germany and that they didn't offer a diesel or hybrid, we suspect you might start to guess why.

So it's time to start again, and this time, Cadillac's gunning for the Germans with this - the ATS. In the UK, we might know that acronym better as a budget tyre-fitting establishment, but get beyond its name and this looks like it might actually be a car that's worth taking note of.

And if you are thinking it looks a little bit like a Mercedes C-class then you'd be right. Sit them side-by-side and they're almost identical, proportionally. That diving crease in the body side is very Benz-like too. Yet the whole look is edgier, and chiselled. Thank Cadillac's "Art and Science" design language, which for nearly 15 years now has been throwing out cars with so many creases and sharp edges that you feared you might cut your finger open.

Inside, there's CUE - Cadillac's new user interface - which is capacitive touchscreen-based and comes with haptic feedback. Here in the Cobo Hall at Detroit, the phone reception and 3G blackhole meant it wasn't fully operational or easy to judge. But it responded both super-quickly to inputs and with a lovely series of thunks, clunks and nudges as you worked through functions, thanks to those haptics.

We'll try and get a dedicated hands-on with the system on GM's stand at CES over the next few days, where we're promised we can test out its full range of capabilities. But until then we're more than giving it the benefit of the doubt.

Expect prices when the ATS goes on sale here later in the year to mirror BMW's new 3-Series and the aforementioned Merc. It'll come with diesel engines too, which means it might make sense as a company car purchase. Otherwise, until a "V" performance version turns up (around 2014) we'll make do with turbo-charged four- and six-cylinder petrol engines.

Our bet is that, put back-to-back and given the choice, most people would still rather have that 3-Series. But from mid-year, if you're bored sick of the predictability of the BMW/Audi/Mercedes triumvirate, or have always fancied owning a little bit of Americana, this Cadillac should provide a genuine and credible alternative to the German premium brands.

And based on what we can see in Detroit, you're no longer going to have to be mad to consider it.

Tags: Car And GPS Cadillac Cars

Cadillac ATS pictures and hands-on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:46:00 +0000

Other than the Lexus LF-LC, the car that has caused the greatest excitement here in Detroit is the Acura NSX. If you're not familiar with Acura, it's Honda's premium brand - relating to it in the same way Lexus does to Toyota. But worry not about that, because if this car comes to Europe, and there will be a riot if it doesn't, it will be badged as a Honda.

Those of you with long memories might remember the original NSX – launched in 1989, it defined the modern, usable supercar. The late, great Ayrton Senna had a hand in its development. It used aluminium in its structure years before anyone at Audi thought it might be a good idea and - a novelty for supercars at the time - it could be relied upon to start, first time, every time, come rain or shine, 365 days of the year.

Without the NSX, modern supercars such as the Audi R8 might not exist, so it's amusing to see how much similarity there is between the two from the front. But other than that, this is a handsome, impressive design. If you're thinking it's a little underwhelming, be assured it looks better in the metal than in photos. It looks light and fast and is small, and we think that's a very good set of attributes for a supercar to have - it should mean it's quick and handles well.

And while it's a concept, we're assured that a production, road-going NSX is coming within 3 years and that it won't be too far away from this in terms of looks. Hopefully, at a motor show between now and then we might be able to tell you what the interior and tech spec list is like, too - because right now this is just an exterior study. A shame, but consider our appetite whetted.

Post-Detroit, it seems that Acura is stepping up publicity of this car too. And there's now a Seinfeld advert which will air during the Superbowl, which we've included below:

Tags: Car And GPS Honda Honda NSX Cars

Acura NSX concept pictures originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:31:00 +0000

With the influx of electric cars, the Toyota and Lexus environmentally-friendly image halo - built up thanks to its leadership in hybrid cars - is under threat. So it’s no surprise to see this "NS4" concept appear in Detroit, and be badged with some suspiciously Prius-like livery proclaiming "Plug-In hybrid". Is this a preview of the next generation Prius? Well it’s certainly not a bad place to start if you’re looking for clues.

The number four in the name refers to the fact that it has four doors, but our favourite fact was one discovered by a colleague, who was told by the car’s project leader that the "NS" in the name stands for "New Splendid" – making this the "New Splendid 4-door Toyota" (hat tip to Guy).

It’s much longer than the existing Prius, and obviously adopts a more conventional four-door saloon form compared to the past two generations, which employed what’s known as a "kamm-tail" hatchback, which helps it to be very aerodynamic. So it’s quite a departure from Toyota’s current hybrid.

Inside, there are some very contoured seats with an interesting gloss inner pattern cut out, and a very new dashboard, which employs a large, tablet-like touchscreen in the centre. There’s also a huge new full colour display at the base of the windscreen, which shows the hybrid drivetrain powerflow, just as in the current Prius, but also the images projected from the side cameras, which replace the mirrors for better aerodynamics.

Our favourite part of all of the interior tech is the small, conical display behind the wheel, which shows a speed-readout in hologram form, and then uses a T-OLED display overlay in front, to provide the driver with further information when needed.

We reckon this is the most "concept-y" of all the cars we’ve covered in Detroit, but we’d still bet that some of what you see here - our money would be on that large display at the base of the windscreen - seems likely to make it into Toyota’s next generation of hybrid and electric car.

Tags: Car And GPS Toyota Eco Eco cars Cars

Toyota NS4 pictures and hands-on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:13:00 +0000

Qualcomm, alongside augmented reality experts Vuforia, has demoed a series of new AR adverts at CES that continue to show what is possible with the technology and how it plans to change advertising not in the distance future, but right now.

New examples we've spotted include an advert for Scandinavian shoe company Viking that sees an advert of a footprint in the mud.

That's pretty mundane, but by downloading the accompanying app from Vuforia from the Android Market users can then scroll through the company's entire shoe catalogue with the shoes appearing in 3D when looked through the user's smartphone.

Users will be able to then move around the shoe as if was there in real life, seeing the different designs.

It is very clever.

But it isn't just shoes getting the AR experience. Another example on display was from Mercedes-Benz.

Again the advert isn't exciting at all - merely some tarmac, but once you load up the accompanying app and show the phone the advert, the company's latest car appears in 3D allowing you a number of options to customise what you see.

Moving your smartphone around lets you take in all angles of the car as if it was a 3D model in front of you, rather than just a piece of paper.

Others on display included showing the trailer for a movie just by showing your phone the advert.

Vuforia says that more and more companies are starting to embrace the technology and that what we are seeing today is just the start.?

Tags: CES2012 Augmented Reality Qualcomm Advertising Cars and GPS Cars Mercedes

The Augmented Reality adverts that are leaping off the page originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:39:00 +0000

There is one car's name on everybody's lips in Detroit: the Lexus LF-LC. This stunning, lipstick red super-sports car is sadly not bound for production anytime soon, but it does give us several clues to a Lexus-flavoured future. And we - along with about 10,000 motoring journalists, designers and auto industry execs - very much like what we see.

You'll no doubt be aware of Lexus' existing LF-A. The V10-powered supercar, of only a handful of which are being produced, cost a quarter of a million quid (or thereabouts) and sounds like rolling thunder. It's also the clearest signal we had that Lexus is serious about changing its image, and becoming a proper sports car maker.

So what's the LF-LC? While it's similar in size to the LF-A, it isn't intended as a replacement for that car. It's more a vision of what Lexus sports cars and coup?s could be like in the future and what kind of design language they might have.

If anything like this does ever make production, we'll quickly have to rename what Alan Partridge famously called "The Japanese Mercedes" to something more akin to a Japanese Ferrari. Because everything about this car is "wild" and exotic – the proportions, stance, detailing - it's all extreme, but the result is that it looks like it's doing 100 mph while standing still.

Step inside and it gets even better. We've not been huge fans of Lexus interiors to date - they lack the class and material integrity of the German premium brands, or the flair of what some of the French - Citroen's DS brand for instance - are capable of. This however, is on a different planet. And while Leather, light brown suede, grey maple wood, aluminium and plastic might sound like a dogs dinner of a material palette, we suspect you'll agree that it looks awesome - and perhaps more importantly, deeply special.

That light brown suede door card wraps behind the back of the dashboard and then down into a centre tunnel. At its centre, behind a beautifully detailed steering wheel, sits a small gauge cluster that uses the same kind of Transparent-OLED technology we first saw in the Kia GT at the September Frankfurt auto show. It produces a hologram effect when the car's turned on, but in the Lexus it's embellished by some physical watch-like bezels that sit behind the glass, to give read outs for things like fuel and temperature.

To its right emerges a long, slim, tablet-like surface, where climate, infotainment and navigation controls are displayed. Rounding off the tech-fest, is a small device that's larger than a phone and smaller than a tablet, which sits at the front of the centre armrest and acts as an input device that falls easily to hand. We love the attention to detail and the whole tech strategy on display here - even the electric window controls are tiny, technological works of art.

Cars like the LF-LC might seem like the ultimate concept car tease. They're the kind of thing you're desperate just to jump in and drive off the stand, so it's frustrating that they're destined never to make production. But with the LF-A, Lexus showed its intent to compete with the best of the supercar big boys. The LF-LC suggests that the brand as a whole now plans to move up a gear, in terms of design, technology and driving performance. That's got to be a good thing, and if the next Lexus production cars can take even 20 per cent of the spirit of this concept into the showroom and onto the road, then Lexus has the ability to become a very exciting brand indeed.

Tags: Car And GPS Lexus concept cars Cars

Lexus LF-LC concept pictures and hands-on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:16:00 +0000

You’re looking at the new Mondeo. So why is it called Fusion? It might have a name that in Europe we know in the Ford lexicon as belonging to granny’s shopping hatch, but in America, Ford’s mid-large car is known as Fusion. Under the company’s new strategy of creating "world" cars that’ll be sold across the Americas, Europe and Asia, this car is therefore badged as a Fusion in America, Mondeo in Europe. Rest assured though, they will be virtually indistinguishable in terms of looks.

And given how it looks, we’d say that’s a very good thing indeed. Given some of Ford’s recent history, when they told us that the face of the EVOS concept from Frankfurt was a clue to the next Mondeo, we weren’t quite sure whether to believe them. But it seems they weren’t telling porkies. The Fusion/Mondeo face is very much like the EVOS. And if you’re thinking Aston Martin too, no one at Ford will be unhappy with you for saying so.

This car is all about pushing the brand upmarket. From its heyday of selling c.300,000 Mondeos a year at the time a certain Mr Blair came to power - supposedly thanks to "Mondeo man" - Mondeo sales have dwindled to around 50,000 per year. In part, people have moved into crossovers and MPVs instead, but mostly, they moved into the BMW 3-Series.

The new Mondeo has therefore been designed to stand comparison with the BMW in quality terms. And it’s so good that we suspect if you put this and the new 3-Series side by side, and took the badges off, most people would struggle to tell you which was the more expensive car. It’s a deeply impressive piece of kit, the quality is utterly first rate - with an interior standard of fit and finish, material and use and soft-feel that’s really knocking on the door of Audi’s quality.

Inside, you’ll also get MyFord Touch - Ford’s touchscreen-based multimedia system that’s employed in its current US range, but which has been getting a rocky-ride from customers in the US for its complexity and (lack of) ease of use. We weren’t able to use the system in this Fusion fully but it’s supposedly received a serious upgrade, and certainly looks very smart. It employs a large centre screen and the ability for the driver to then choose what information is displayed on the two TFT screens that flank the speedo.

Our only concern is about size. This is a vast car. Ford didn’t release dimensions, but it’s clearly knocking on the door of five meters long (for comparison a BMW 3-Series is 4.65m long). That’ll be great for American customers of the Fusion who want and expect space and the comfort that goes with it in their cars, and whose roads are designed for it. But for those of us confined to "old Europe’s" cities, designed around the horse and cart, we suspect the first time you try to slip your new Mondeo into a parking space, everyone on board will be breathing in for dear life.

The Mondeo should go on sale at the end of the year. Expect the usual array of Ford engines, including the powerful but frugal "Ecoboost" options, plus a hybrid option this time. The Mondeo version of this car appears at March’s Geneva motor show, and we’ll be sure to bring you a driving hands on as soon as Ford allow us to get behind the wheel.

Tags: Car And GPS Ford Ford Fusion Ford Mondeo Cars

Ford Fusion pictures and hands-on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:20:00 +0000

It tells you everything you need to know about where the car industry is at, that Audi chose to show its new A3 interior here in CES, rather than at Detroit earlier in the week.

And, in a word, it is stunning. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment, but this interior is far beyond anything that’s currently available in the competitive class - including the new 1-Series - or, to our knowledge, from the class above too. Besides the unbelievable depth of quality, with soft touch plastics, beautiful switch gear and etched aluminium, there’s some of the most advanced, well-integrated technology we’ve ever seen in a car.

Here at CES last year, we saw Audi’s latest version of its MultiMedia Interface. Now it’s launching in the A3, which goes on sale in spring in Europe. It features a redesigned MMI interface on the centre console, and the big news here is a massively enlarged, raised click-wheel, topped by a touch surface, which allows you to scrawl letters with your finger in order to enter address inputs into the Nav.

The Nav screen itself is new, retracts and is impressively thin for an in-car system. It’s 480 x 800 in resolution and has a deep lustre and vivid colours. That navigation system itself is Google-Earth based and features street view, pulling its data via your phone SIM in the glovebox. There are two SD card slots alongside the phone SIM slot for you to put your media into the system too.

Also featuring in the new MMI is a refreshed version of Audi’s vehicle set up system. If you’re wondering what the new A3’s exterior is actually going to look like, this gives a good clue, because the system zooms around a little digital rendering of the car as you change the light, window, door setting etc.

Check our videos for more, and to also see the first offerings from "Audi Connect" - the firm’s apps store, which includes an Audi-fied version of facebook, allowing you access to your wall on the move, reading you things out via the voice recognition system.

The videos and pictures will give you some clue, but believe us when we say that this interior looks set to shake up the small, premium car landscape. We suspect that for anyone keen on their in-car tech or who just wants brilliantly thought-out connectivity, the new A3 ought to go straight to the top of your shopping list. Need something bigger? Fear not, because Audi’s bringing this system across the entire "A" and "Q" car ranges over the next 18 months.

Tags: Car And GPS CES2012 Audi Audi A3 Cars

Audi A3 interior pictures and hands-on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:03:00 +0000

Our time with the Range Rover Evoque on the UK launch in Scotland gave us the impression that it is quite a special car. But many cars that impress in isolation lose their shine when subjected to the mundane chores of everyday family life.

This is, without doubt, one of the most exciting cars on the market right now, so it seemed only fair for us to pinch one off Range Rover for a week to see how we got on with it.

Does this posh new SUV cut it in the real world? Is it worth the premium over the Freelander it’s based on, or competitors such as the Audi Q3 and BMW X3?

If only we could keep it

The delivery driver parks our coupe (read 3-door), Prestige trim, "Fuji White" Evoque head-to-head with my neighbour’s Range Rover Sport, which sets the curtains twitching. Parked together, the larger car dwarfs the Evoque, which is odd as there’s not a lot more room inside it.

For fun, we decide to conduct a highly unscientific experiment to see if the Evoque has got true Range Rover DNA. Some friends have a toddler who’s nearly two. Harry’s got quite advanced speech for his age, but has also developed an ability, alarmingly early in life, to recognise various types of car. His current favourite? Range Rovers. But he’s not seen an Evoque before.

Sure enough, the minute he opens the door and spies it, he points and shouts excitedly “Range Rover”, before jumping inside and doing the same again as the little white Evoque graphic appears on the centre display of the gauges. Brand DNA test, passed.

Keyless entry, and some lighting gimmicks

Working at home during the day means it’s night time only use for the Evoque so far – but this gives the car an opportunity to show off all its lighting party tricks.

It comes with keyless entry – you can just tug the door handles to get in so long as the key’s in your pocket. But it’s worth ‘plipping’ it with the key as you approach, to see the beautiful and distinctive LED bars in the headlamps illuminate.

Inside you can choose from 5 lighting colours, which bathe the headlining, doors and footwells in oranges, reds or blues. Those of you who think that sounds like a gimmick will be pleased to hear you can also just turn this function off. Nice in the front, poor view from the back

We take our dad to the Football and the motorway trip proceeds mostly with him laughing incredulously at the fact he can watch TV and play with the five on-board cameras while the driver follows the Navigation. This is thanks to the car’s clever 8-inch touchscreen which can show the passenger one thing and the driver another.

There are complaints from the back seat though, as my mum who’s come along for the ride finds it claustrophobic. She has enough space, but the narrow side window restricts the view out, and she says the chunky front seats block much of the view forward for adults too. Regularly carry people in the back? You’ll be needing the optional panoramic roof then.

Good in small spaces?

Surely the typical SUV’s toughest test is in the supermarket car park? In white and with that dashing window and roof line, the Evoque’s impossible to lose in a sea of me-too boxes, which for those of us who can never remember where we’ve parked, is handy. And thanks to special adaptive dampers, the ride over speedhumps on the way in and out means those carefully picked over eggs remain unbroken.

But despite being the smallest Range Rover ever, the Evoque still needs care in those seemingly shrinking supermarket parking spaces. Specifically, the chunky doors on our 3-door model make getting in and out when you’ve driven into the space a real challenge. Back out of the space, and that tiny rear window means you’re reliant on the rear camera for reversing. That's fine, until it gets dirty, which it does very easily.

Expect envy

At the petrol station a man in a BMW 3-Series wonders over to ask what the Evoque is like, then the man at the cash register gets highly excited at it being the first one he’s had in. This car catches people’s attention – but be warned, not all of it’s positive – overtaking a Vauxhall Vectra on the ring road we’re flipped the bird by the guy behind the wheel. Clearly, for some people, driving an SUV – and a Range Rover at that – will always raise heckles.

A car for all the family

Deadlines are imminent, so rather than leave the Range Rover outside the house for another day, we tell Mrs Pocket-lint to take the Evoque to work. She currently drives an Audi TT, a car Range Rover’s marketing people say they expect to attract people out of and in to an Evoque, so we're interested to hear what she thinks.

“I’d definitely have one, but it needs more power. The girls at work love it, but the men now view me as some power-crazed career-ladder-climber. And no one would let me out of side roads.”

It all rings true. This 190bhp diesel version seems just about fast enough, but fails to match the blend of speed and economy some of the BMW- and Audi-badged competition offers. That said, fuel consumption, which has averaged 31mpg so far, doesn’t seem too bad considering we’ve driven it quite hard.

We pop out for something to eat, and on the way home amuse ourselves watching TV from the passenger seat - even in a built up area, and at speed, the digital TV picture’s crystal clear, and the sound (courtesy of the included wireless headphones) is great - and allows the missus to continue listening to her dreadful pop trash on the stereo at the same time.

Given you can extend this system, as an option, for the rear seats too, it could be the answer to many parents’ long-journey-with-kids dreams. And if TVs and headphones aren’t enough, you’ve still got two 12v sockets free in the front, and two USB ports in the centre bin, plus Bluetooth for music and phone calls.

Regardless of the combo of iPhones, iPads, TomToms, BlackBerrys and PSPs you’re using and charging up, we reckon the Evoque will have you covered.

Morning glory

A 7 AM flight to Munich means a wake up call that starts at 4 AM. In such scenarios, you need a car that you can operate while you're virtually brain dead, which has a great heater and which is going to get you there quickly but in one piece.

The Evoque passes with flying colours. The heated seats warm up almost instantly and while the user interface is similar to the one we recently slated in the Jaguar XF, it’s tons easier to use because the heating and radio controls aren’t accessed through the touchscreen and there’s a wider range of buttons on the steering wheel - which, by the way, can have a heated option - through which to control things.

It’s also on this trip that we discover the Evoque is a surprisingly good drive. At 5am, with nothing on the road, it responds to being driven hard way better than you’d believe when you first see its jacked up ride height and Tonka-toy wheels.

It’s quiet on the motorway too and despite our previous assertion that it’s not outright fast, it’s easy to pile on speed and then maintain it. I get to the airport well before 6am.

A proper off-roader too

On the day that the Evoque goes home, it snows. Driving along a few cars behind the gritter, with snow being blown sideways by a gale so fierce it’s uprooting trees, the Evoque is rock solid and gives us a warm, comforting feeling that suddenly makes us realise why people buy SUVs.

When the weather calms down I head-out to take some pictures and decide to see if the Evoque will go up a steep muddy bank, in order to try and get some better shots. I half expect it to struggle with the mud/ice/steepness combo. Instead it sails straight up without the slightest hint of wheel spin or fuss.

Verdict:

It’s fair to say the Evoque impresses everyone who sees and rides in it. During our week with it, and the day it gets picked up, there’s suddenly a big hole in our lives.

Faults? There’s not a massive amount of room in the boot and if you want to carry people (particularly kids) in the back regularly, then buy the five door.

Also, if you’re the sensitive type, bear in mind not everyone else on the road is going to like you, and it’s not cheap to buy in the first place. But we reckon it is worth the extra over that Freelander it’s based on, and the German opposition.

Our advice? Spec a Prestige or Dynamic Evoque with the Lux pack and you get a gadget lover’s dream car with that panoramic roof, a 16 speaker stereo that sounds out of this world, a split view touchscreen with navigation and digital TV and a system of surround cameras. That lot will not only keep you entertained for hours, but enhance a car which does that rare - and quite brilliant thing - of making you feel like king of the road day in day out.

In a week and 800 miles of very varied driving, there was nothing we asked this car to do with which it struggled, and at no point did it do anything to annoy us. It sounds like feint praise, but in a way, that’s the greatest compliment you can pay a car.

In our view, assuming you have only the need, space, or cash, for one car in your life, there’s little else on the road that covers all bases so well. That it will make you feel so special in the process of getting to wherever you’re going, and works more seamlessly with more tech than just about any other car we’ve tried this year, is the icing on the cake. It comes highly recommended.

Tags: Car And GPS Range Rover Range Rover Evoque Cars

Range Rover Evoque Coupe Prestige SD4 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:35:00 +0000

Boris Johnson, fresh from the cold brutal slaying of the bendy bus, has unleashed an alternative for the capital, a "21st century bus" described as the "most environmentally friendly of its kind".

It's the first time in 50 years that London has had a new bus designed specifically for it and it has been 2 years in the making. It was designed by the London-based Heatherwick Studio, engineered and built by Wrightbus in Northern Ireland and will be operated by Arriva.

It is one of eight of the new designs that will hit London's roads next year, entering service in February and serving the 38 route from Victoria to Hackney. Its "cutting-edge technology" includes a hybrid setup that, in testing, proved to have a fuel economy more than twice that of a standard diesel bus at 11.6mpg.?

In tests it emitted only 640 grams per kilometre (g/km) of carbon dioxide and 3.96 g/km of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) - less than half of the carbon dioxide emitted by a current diesel bus (1295g/km) and under half of the NOx emitted by a current diesel bus (9.3g/km).?

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: "Christmas has arrived early in the form of this revolutionary new bus whose gleaming coat of red paint and sinuous curves will brighten the day of all who see it humming along our great city's streets.?

"It is the latest, greatest masterpiece of British engineering and design, and I am certain it will become a much-loved and iconic vehicle akin to the legendary Routemaster from which it draws so much inspiration."

OTT from Boris as per usual, but we have to admit it does look great and the eco-credentials are certainly impressive. All aboard.....

Read

Tags: London Cars Car And GPS Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson unveils cutting-edge tech bus for London originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:10:00 +0000

For many people, the idea of driving a Jaguar - as opposed to the alternatives from BMW, Audi and Mercedes - is very appealing indeed.

Jaguars are supposed to stir the soul. But since Jag launched the XF back in 2006, fewer have made it onto our roads than the company might have hoped, because for most of the people who buy this kind of car - management-level company car drivers - the XF didn’t make sense.

That’s because Jag has never offered a smaller capacity diesel with low emissions, so the average 40 percent tax payer was looking at a daft bill compared to the ubiquitous BMW 520d. So for company car drivers who’ve always wanted a Jag, this is the answer to your prayers, the 2.2 diesel auto XF. Question is, should you really be jumping out of your 5-Series, A6 or E-class for one of these?

Design

It’s a commonly held view by many I’ve spoken to that the XF looks better than its German competitors, and the recent facelift makes it better still, ridding it of those surprised-looking lamps which have always looked a bit odd on the car.

Yet there’s a lot of Lexus GS in that side profile – and the car looks a little heavy, particularly in white. It needs bigger wheels than these 18 inches too, and we’re not sure how that would affect the ride.

If you’re a fan of the looks, doubtless you now think we're blind - but the Jag’s premium brand connotations, as communicated by its design, are behind the German competition. You’d never find the black soft-touch locking buttons, which stand out like sore thumbs against the white paint, on a BMW, for instance. Nor stitching and seam lines inside that don’t line up. And those new LED running lights use technology that is a generation old. You can see the bulb sources, whereas Audi’s moved to stunning, diffuse glowing light pipes.

Inside though, there’s a real sense of theatre. Get in and the starter button glows red with an off-beat pulse. Hit it and the milled metal gear selector knob rises out of the centre console, while the air vents turn open through 90 degrees. It’s cosy, rather than cavernous in here though, particularly in the back.

Tech

The dash employs a minimalist, clean theme, which means the tech is mostly hidden. Two USB connectors live in the centre bin, Bluetooth works a treat for calls and music, optional DAB radio sounds crisp and clean, while a back-up camera and nav all came as standard on our second from top-of-the-range Premium Luxury. In fact, we’d recommend you drop down just to Premium trim level if buying one, as you lose little of the stuff you’ll really want (keeping nav importantly) and save a good chunk of cash.

The problem is the touchscreen through which you access most of this stuff. The screen has recently been upgraded but it’s still a little slow to respond to prods and in an effort to make the interior clean and largely button-free, most of the major cabin functions are operated through the screen.

So if you want to, say, direct air at your feet rather than your face, while on the move and using Nav, you’ll first you need to press the physical ‘home’ button for the main touchscreen menu. Then hit the ‘climate’ box on the home screen, and then another part of the touchscreen for the virtual button to direct air. Timing myself on the A1, my eyes were off the road for about four seconds trying to do this. And this is just the start of things, I’m not even going to mention the ridiculous switch-on procedure for the heated seats.

The Jag’s an example of how car designers and engineers need to realize that doing stuff on a touchscreen at 70mph isn’t - or shouldn’t be - the same as when you’re wondering around your living room looking at a phone.

But, once everything’s actually connected and working as you want it, the quality of what you get is phenomenal. We sustained a phone conversation for 20 minutes on the motorway and call quality on both ends was very impressive. The Jaguar 600W premium hi-fi system sounds utterly brilliantly - and wasn’t the full-on, optional Bowers and Wilkins system, which must be something else.

It’s just a pity about the clunky graphics of the screen between the gauges, and the fact you’re stuck with the digitally represented analogue clock staring back at you from this screen, unless you’re in sport mode. Remember what we said about those little design elements being half-a-step behind the Germans?

Driving

Stop fighting the touchscreen, just drive, and the XF’s a rather lovely thing to lope around in. It makes sense on the motorway where the combination of the diesel engine and eight-speed (yes, eight) gearbox deliver impressive economy - 42mpg over 300 miles of motorway at realistic UK speeds.

The ride is among the best in any car on sale to day, and the XF has beautifully linear, well-weighted steering and brakes. It’s also surprisingly fast for a four-cylinder diesel, when you need to get a move on. Most importantly, other people on the road don’t seem to hate you – as they appear to when you’re driving some of the German opposition.

We're not 100 percent convinced about that eight-speed gearbox though. Tuned for economy, it selects as high a gear as possible in normal driving, in order to use less fuel. The only problem is that from the driver’s seat it often feels like it’s puts itself into one gear too high, making the engine labour and causing some unpleasant vibrations pulse through the cabin.

Still, this gearing means the car’s eerily quiet on the motorway. And flick that silver gearbox roundel a notch round to sport mode and it’ll typically hold one gear lower, which works much better on A and B roads.

Verdict:

Impressive though it is in large parts, we’re not convinced the XF will suit the sensibilities of a typical Pocket-lint reader as well as the equivalent Audi or BMW will. And we simply can’t overlook those user interface issues.

In the final reckoning, we have perhaps a surprising suggestion. If you’re set on an XF - and particularly if you’re spending your own and not the company’s money - then we’d highly recommend plumping for the Premium spec which is one trim level below this, but upgrading to the higher powered V6 diesel. That car will cost almost exactly the same as this Premium Luxury 2.2D but shouldn’t return significantly worse fuel economy. Its engine though, is altogether more suited to the car’s character.

And if you’re a company car user watching your car tax bill, then yes a 4-cyl diesel Jag, with Co2 emissions of 149g/km now means it could be on your list if you’re company caps options at 160g/km, as many do. But the game’s moved on while Jag was catching up. The BMW 520ED drives as well as this, has better interface design and is just about as fast. But its Co2 emissions of just 119g/km mean that a 40% tax-payer should be paying at least ?100 less in tax each month driving the Beemer than this Jag.

And in these penny-watching times, that’s not to be sniffed at in anyone’s book. Better interface and more competitive Co2 would have meant more stars. As it is, it’s a good car, but we think you can do better.

Tags: Car And GPS Cars Jaguar Jaguar XF

Jaguar XF 2.2D Premium Luxury originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:30:28 +0000