Car Chute

QUEENSLAND motorists will pay more to register their cars next year despite the State Government’s promise to freeze registration fees for family vehicles.

The Motor Accident Insurance Commission will announce next Friday an increase in compulsory third party insurance premiums for the first time since 2009.

Although the size of the increase will be kept quiet until then, industry sources indicate it will be substantial.

The “traffic improvement fee” component of car registration will also rise by a small amount in line with inflation leaving only the “registration fee” of $280.05 for a four-cylinder car the same.

Before the March 26 state election, the LNP Opposition promised its freeze on “family car registration fees” would save families $15 to $20 a year in its first term.

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But it now appears motorists will have to shell out at least that much extra and possibly more to cover increases in CTP and the traffic improvement fee.

Greg Milne from the Motor Trades Association of Queensland said the State Government should absorb any increase in CTP so there was a “true freeze on registration fees”.

“We would say there’s an expectation among motorists that they won’t be paying any more for their car registration because of the commitment made by the LNP during the election campaign,” he said.

“Any increase to registration fees will just confirm that politicians are playing word games again.”

He said motorists tended only to look “at the bottom line” of their registration bill.

“It’s the way ordinary people think. When you hear ‘we’re going to freeze family car registration’ you don’t expect the cost to then rise, for whatever reason.”

The MAIC reviews CTP annually following submissions from various industry bodies including insurers who have been lobbying for an increase to meet the rising cost of payouts.

Paul Turner from peak motoring body RACQ, which doubles as an insurance company, said they would be concerned about any increase in CTP premiums.

“It would add to the cost of motoring in Queensland which is already the most expensive state to own and

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If you were one of the 18 billion people who went to see “The Avengers”recently, you probably noticed the film concludes with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark getting into a dark red Acura convertible and driving off with Bruce Banner. (Calm down, that’s no spoiler).

But unlike the other Acuras making cameos throughout the film (the automaker having stolen the product placement mantle from Audi, whose R8 supercar was Stark’s ride in the two Iron Man films), this model doesn’t currently exist.

Yet.

Photos: ‘The Avengers’ Acura NSX

It’s a concept of the forthcoming Acura NSX, due out as a coupe around 2015, about the time the just-announced sequel to “The Avengers” will hit theaters. You may also recognize the coupe from the funny, yet controversial Super Bowl commercial featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno.

Details on the powertrain of the NSX haven’t been released, though Acura has said it will have a mid-mounted V-6 VTEC engine with direct-injection and a dual-clutch transmission routing power to the rear wheels while a pair of electric motors power the front wheels.

Sadly, the car you see here has none of that. But unlike other concept mockups that are as functional as a foam chainsaw, this one is a working, drivable model. And the car it’s based on may surprise you.

“It’s bitchin’,” says Dave Marek as he looks at the concept.

We’re in a vacant parking lot in Torrance on the sprawling campus of the North American headquarters for Honda, Acura’s parent company. Steps away is one of the company’s key RD centers, a fortress holding the future products for both brands that not even Iron Man could break into.

A bit of an institution at Honda, Marek has been designing Hondas and Acuras for well over two decades. His work includes the original Honda Accord station wagon, the Honda Ridgeline and Acura MDX. He’s now the director of design at the company and was integral in bringing the NSX concept to life for its silver screen debut.

Marek says the project began in June 2011, when he was handed the final pages of “The Avengers” script and told that

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Question: I hate brake dust. I replaced the front pads and rotors about a month ago on my ’98 Saab with Brembo rotors and EBC Red pads, which I have on another Saab and never notice a buildup of dust between washings. On the ’98, I have to wash the front wheels every two or three days after about 50 miles of driving. The amount of dust does not seem to be decreasing with use. Any suggestions?

Answer: My only suggestion would be to check the finish pattern on the rotors. Some pads seem to like a certain type of finish pattern on a rotor. Check with the pad manufacturer to see if they have a specific recommendation. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, you could try scuffing the pads with a non-symmetrical finish pattern using a 400-grit sanding disc on your electric drill.

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Q: I have excessive play in the steering wheel of my 1998 Dodge four-wheel-drive pickup truck with 150,000 miles. The steering gear seems to be the prime suspect because a mechanic said the steering linkage and suspension components are tight. When replacing the unit, how do I make sure the steering wheel stays straight in relation to the wheels? Will marking the steering coupler to its shaft and pitman arm apply to a new unit?

A: With the hood open, watch the pitman arm, the steering gearbox input shaft and steering coupler closely as someone moves the steering wheel back and forth an inch or two. If the play is in the coupler, replace it. Scribe or mark the coupler orientation with the front wheels straight in order to install it correctly. If the play is in the recirculating ball steering gearbox, it may be possible to adjust the worm gear bearing preload and the front thrust bearing. Chrysler recommends making these adjustments with the steering gearbox removed from the vehicle. Mark or scribe the pitman arm at the sector shaft master spline to reinstall the pitman arm in the correct position.

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Q: There are four cars in my family, and it seems I can never get a pair of windshield wipers to do their job. I always end up with a streak or a spot where the wiper completely misses. Is there a secret to getting a pair of wipers to do a better job?

A: Start by making sure the windshield is clean. Automotive glass cleaner and wadded-up newspaper do a good job, but for really stubborn road film, polish the glass with a metal polish like Brasso, then clean the residue with glass cleaner. Also, don’t forget to clean the wiper blade edges every time you clean the windshield.

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Q: I have a

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Europe has tons of cities which aren’t planned like that

When London, Beijing, Cairo, and most other ancient cities were first laid out, their main roads connected little groups of buildings, in whatever way was convenient at the time. Maps didn’t exist commonly, let alone a postal service, so the only important measure of efficiency was transit time on foot. With nothing else around them, those roads could be made straight, bending only around geographic features. This is clearly evident in rural Africa, where the roads between farms are generally straight, but run at odd angles.

Newer cities (including all the ones in America, which were all built in the last 500 years) were designed for people and postmen. Cities were expected to have a high population density, so their roads are designed to make the biggest buildings possible: rectangles. Their addressing was designed for efficiency, to the extent where cities like Salt Lake City, Utah have primarily numbered streets, with names being used only for main routes. There are still many odd angles, but they’re generally old major routes that the city has grown around. Even landscape is getting ignored in favor of efficiency, with roads often stopping at a river’s edge and continuing on the other side.

All of this means that outside America, Google Car has little use.

Conveniently, modern routing algorithms have absolutely no problem with any of these designs. Modern algorithms treat the city as a graph of intersections, knowing what intersections connect to what other intersections, how far apart they are (by time, distance, and even traffic density) and knowing what building numbers are between what intersections. The actual placement of those intersections doesn’t matter when planning a route, but only when actually making a map for humans to follow.

In fact they would be fatal to others on the road.

As I’m sure has been pointed out by others by now, this is ridiculous. An automated car can be just as sensitive as any human-driven car, and often moreso. An automated car has cameras and laser sensors on it, that can poll thousands of points each second to construct a map of the world. Unlike humans, the sensors don’t suffer from blindness, distraction, or optical illusions. If there’s an elephant in front of the car, the car will know that there’s an elephant-shaped object in front of it, and it will recognize the turning lights on its ass. the moment they come on.

Also unlike humans, an automated car is capable of communicating with other automated cars on the road. Despite what the summary says, they can tailgate, and they can cut each other off. The difference is that they’ll be in

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10 May 2012
Last updated at 06:49 ET

By Daniel Nasaw
BBC News Magazine, Washington

There are plenty of distractions in Las Vegas, but not for this driver

Nevada has licensed Google to test its prototype driverless car on public roads. Assuming the technology eventually becomes commercially viable, how would a car that drives itself change the way we drive – and what might stay the same?

After tests on the famous Las Vegas Strip, driverless cars will soon be a reality on the roads of Nevada.

The state has approved the US’s first self-driven vehicle licence, meaning that a Toyota Prius modified by search firm Google will be the first to hit the highway.

So what would a world of driverless cars look like?

Safer roads

More than 1.2 million people across the world die every year in road crashes, and as many as 50 million more are injured, according to the World Health Organization.

The cars – like that in Google’s prototype – will process more information faster than a human driver

In the US, driver error – weaving out of the lane, drink driving and distracted driving, for example – is a factor in at least 60% of fatal crashes, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Your automated car isn’t sitting around getting distracted, making a phone call, looking at something it shouldn’t be looking at or simply not keeping track of things,” says Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of MarketingLand.com, who took a two-minute ride in Google’s car on a closed course at a technology convention last year.

“It’s not looking down to change the radio and looking up and noticing all the cars have stopped.”

Google’s car adheres strictly to the speed limit and follows the rules of the road, says Tom Jacobs, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, who has also ridden in the Google car.

“When the car is on self-driving mode, it doesn’t speed, it doesn’t cut you off, it doesn’t tailgate.”

And in the future, autonomous cars will be able to communicate with one another, allowing them to negotiate lane changes and overtaking, analysts predict.

A more productive commute

“If you truly trust the intelligence of the vehicle, then you get in the vehicle and you do our work while you’re

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Meanwhile Cardiff motorists were 70 per cent more likely than drivers
elsewhere in the UK to see their cars fail the MoT for inadequate tyre
tread. Bradford, meanwhile emerged as the worst place in Britain for
lighting and signalling problems.

However there was a little bit of good news for owners of the classic British
Triumph marque in the car’s home city of Coventry, with the classic cars
boasting a pass rate 20 per cent higher than the national average.

Detailed information is available on honestjohn.co.uk. It is being published
as The MoT Files at honestjohn.co.uk/mot – the first time this information
has ever been available to the public in such detail.

“This is information that has been kept from car owners for many years,” said
Daniel Harrison, the website’s editor.

“Hard-pressed families can take this information and use it to ensure that
they’re not failing a MoT on something that can be easily fixed beforehand.”

Overall the figures showed that 352,000, 20 per cent of the total, failed
their first MoT with lighting and signalling the biggest cause, accounting
for 164,837 of the total.

European manufacturers fared worst, with Renault emerging as the manufacturer
producing cars most likely to fail the MoT, with the Megane performing
particularly badly with only 71 per cent passing their first test.

At the other end of the scale, the Japanese emerged as the most reliable with
the top three places being taken by Lexus, Suzuki and Honda.

A Renault spokesman defended the company’s reputation saying that its quality
was “among the best in the industry”

Top 10 pass rates by manufacturer

1. Lexus

2. Suzuki

3. Honda

4. Saab

5. Toyota

6. Audi

7. Smart

8. Mercedes Benz

9. Landrover

10. SEAT

Bottom 10 pass rates by manufacturer

1. Renault

2. Mini

3. Citroen

4. Chevrolet

5. Peugeot

6. Fiat

7. Volvo

8. Vauxhall

9. Mitsubishi

10. Jaguar

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Saturday 5th May saw doors open at London’s ExCeL to Ecovelocity, the low carbon motor show, which showcases the latest in eco technology from both mainstream and specialist automotive manufacturers.

Motorists looking to change their car for a greener cleaner vehicle can test drive the latest eco cars from Vauxhall, Peugeot, Mia, Honda, Nissan, Citroën and Chevrolet.

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The show provides visitors with the opportunity to view the current and future options for more environmentally responsible motoring, gain an understanding of the technology and processes involved in developing low carbon vehicles and an insight into the benefits of owning one.

Unique to Ecovelocity is the chance for motorists to actually get behind the wheel.

Giles Brown, organiser of EcoVelocity commented:

“Visitors to EcoVelocity this year are able to test drive numerous  low carbon vehicles, including hybrids, electric vehicles and range extenders on the 3.5 mile test route in and around ExCeL.  Test drives when taken in isolation can be time consuming, our unique offering and facility allows visitors to take almost back to back test drives, giving motorists the opportunity to make direct comparisons and work out which vehicle best fits their requirements.”

However Brown did also stipulate the importance of bringing along your license if you want to take part in the test drives. “It’s a legal requirement and we don’t want anyone disappointed that they can’t drive if they forget their licence.”

Key cars at the show include the Nissan Leaf and Vauxhall Ampera.

The Nissan leaf has been at the centre of the green car revolution and rightly so. The world’s first purpose-built, family-sized 100% electric car was launched to great acclaim with industry experts voting it European Car of the Year and World Car of the Year 2011. Since deliveries started last March, Nissan has expanded the LEAF dealer network from 26 to 32 dealerships and plans are underway to increase this to 150 by the end of 2012.  Nissan is currently working with partners to create a ‘charging pathway’ across the UK motorway network using quick chargers that the company is donating. These chargers can charge the advanced lithium ion batteries in Nissan LEAF from 0 to 80% capacity in 30 minutes.

Prominently located in the middle of the show and featuring a rather snazzy power charging mock-up display, is the Vauxhall Ampera, which was recently crowned World Green Car of the Year.  Demolishing the issue of ‘range anxiety’ altogether, the Ampera’s clever Voltec system helps it achieve an incredible *175mpg and combined emissions of below 40g/km, according to official R(EC) 715/2007 regulations for measuring fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

For those more interested in electric thrills, there’s the

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Silverstone To Host World’s Biggest Motoring Festival – The Silverstone Classic 2012

Sir Patrick Stewart and Chemmy Alcott who will be in driving in the celebrity challenge at the opening yesterday
 
This year’s Silverstone Classic powered by the AA (20-22 July) will be the most entertaining and action-packed yet. Staged at the world famous Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire just two weeks after the Santander Formula 1 British Grand Prix, the Silverstone Classic is already established as the world’s biggest classic motor racing festival – and this summer’s event is all set to break yet more records.
 
Once again both Silverstone’s National and new International Wing pits and paddock complexes will be maximised to house more than 800 of the world’s finest historic racing cars with a packed schedule of races all staged on the full Grand Prix circuit. Adding to the spectacle more than 7,000 classic cars will be displayed over the weekend on the infield with many hallowed marques celebrating important milestones in their evocative histories.
 
Other highlights include live rock concerts, a special star-studded celebrity race, air displays, a vintage fun fair, a host of retail opportunities and rally car rides plus the exciting new interactive AA World automotive theme park. With so much to experience at the Silverstone Classic, it’s no surprise that advance ticket sales are 31 per cent up on the same period last year – itself a record.
 
“The Silverstone Classic just gets bigger and better every year with even more for all ages to see and do,” confirmed Event Director Nick Wigley at today’s (Wednesday 9 May) media preview at Silverstone. “The quality and quantity of our grids and car club displays is second to none while our new partnership with the AA is playing a significant role in extending the event’s massive appeal to an even wider family audience. We thought last year’s blockbuster was going to be hard to match but, with so many unmissable highlights already confirmed, it’s clear that this summer’s festival is going to be the best yet.”
 
2011: A RECORD BREAKER
With a total of 1,104 race entries the 2011 Silverstone Classic is believed to have been the biggest race meeting ever staged anywhere in the world, while the 80,000 attendance was unprecedented in the event’s recent history. Last year’s Classic also established a new Guinness World Record for the ‘largest parade of Jaguar cars’ when 767 E-types took to the track to celebrate the iconic British sportscar’s 50th birthday.
 
NON-STOP ON-TRACK ACTION
The 2012 Silverstone Classic will witness no fewer than 24 races, many boasting full 58-car grids. The impressive

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Despite our variable weather the UK is ideal for open-top motoring. It seldom gets too hot and although it frequently rains there are plenty of dry spells in between. Anyway, if you keep moving, most of the rain stays out. We also have the roads for it. Miles and miles of winding country lanes that are begging to be enjoyed in a convertible car. For those vain souls who like to be seen, they make a fine statement in London too.

UK sales of topless cars enjoyed a resurgence from the late 1990s and then shot skywards – as surely as an electrically-powered cabrio-top – from the early 2000s, in line with the economy. In 1996, only 30,628 convertible cars were sold, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, but by 2000 we had developed quite a taste for open-air motoring. Sales shot to 47,481, taking a 2.14 per cent share of the car market. The following year, sales rose to 59,820, rising to a heady 116,903 in 2004; a 4.55 per cent share, buoyed by sales of cars such as the Peugeot 206, BMW 3-Series and the then new Mini Convertible.

That was as good as it ever got. Bankers’ greed and the economic slide conspired to drive sales of convertibles into a nose-dive, from 106,153 in 2007 to only 56,028 last year. Their share of the market sank back to 2.89 per cent.

Even so, convertible sales are still stronger than they were 15 years ago, with cars such as the latest Mini Convertible (now joined by the dashing Mini Roadster) and Mercedes E-Class proving hugely popular.

Here’s our pick of some of the best cars for a topless British summer, ranging from the fast, sporty and expensive to the laid-back and fun.

Fiat 500C

It’s billed as “the world’s cutest car, now even cuter” by Fiat, and you can see why (main). It might be a little on the girlie side but heck, it makes you want to throw the roof back, head down to the beach and grab an ice cream. Unashamedly retro, it’s nevertheless lots of fun to drive and is – as the looks suggest – full of character, even if it’s not truly a full convertible, as the roof pillars remain in place. For some – especially in London where a “proper” convertible can leave you feeling exposed – that’s no bad thing. It’s no sports car (as indicated by the choice of 1.2, 1.3 or 875cc engines), but it has all the latest safety aids and features you would expect, and the cabin is nicely packaged too. From £12,960

Nissan 370Z Roadster

Not only does it look fantastic, in a

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By
Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED:

17:28 EST, 8 May 2012

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UPDATED:

01:45 EST, 9 May 2012

Thousands of motorists are driving potential death-traps because they have bought part-worn tyres.

More than four million second-hand tyres were sold last year, but many are unfit for the road, an investigation has discovered.

Researchers found rusty nails embedded in the rubber, botched repairs and hidden patches.

Cheap alternative: Thousands of motorists are using second-hand tyres, with many being unfit for the road

With new tyres costing up to £1,000 for four, cash-strapped motorists have been seeking ways to cut costs.

That has seen the development of a thriving black market in illegal and, in some cases lethal, second-hand tyres.

Motoring group TyreSafe bought a random sample of 50 part-worn tyres, half from web sites and half from high street retailers in the Midlands.

Ted Foreman, an independent tyre expert, said all but one was illegal.
More than a third had shoddy illegal repairs, tears or punctures.

Expensive: Cash-strapped motorists are refusing to have new tyres fitted because it can cost up to £1,000 for a set

One of the tyres was a potential death-trap as it had a rusty nail sticking two inches through the inside of its sidewall.

Mr Foreman said: ‘That could kill you – no doubt about it.’

Another had botched patches and one looked like it had been repaired with a bicycle puncture kit.

The UK has strict rules on the condition and sale of part-worn tyres under the Consumer Protection Act.

It dictates the acceptable repair, tread depth and overall condition of rubber. Second-hand tyres must also be stamped ‘part-worn’ on the sidewall to show the tyre has been checked and meets all legal requirements.

Only one of the 50 tyres tested by TyreSafe bore the seal of approval – a success rate of 2 per cent.

Mr Foreman said most motorists would not get a chance to inspect a part-worn tyre before it was fitted.

Stuart Jackson of TyreSafe said: ‘Although a number of clear regulations exist which permit the sale of part-worn tyres, our investigation makes it obvious these are not being adhered to.’

A Tyre Industry Federation spokesman said the probe was a wake-up call for rogue traders.

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