Top Gear
with
Richard Wiley
My letterbox is barely large enough to accommodate the regular flow of car magazines it receives and neither is my rather small abode large enough to store the accumulated paper.
Much to my wife's irritation, a lot of the mags live next to my bed until such time as I've totally exhausted their contents.
Among my favourite subjects are tyre reports, especially scientifically conducted multi-brand comparative tests.
Having recently devoted space to my recollections of earlier Michelin radials and to the imminent arrival of their new Primacy 3 tyre, I was fascinated to read a comparative test of performance tyres in the UK's evo magazine. The outright winner came from the stable responsible for producing South Africa's most popular brand, Continental.
For its third year, the evo performance tyre test highlighted exceptional performance across areas such as wet and dry handling, aquaplaning and braking. Seen within the motoring industry as a stamp of approval for the best performance tyre, evo described Continental's win as "an impressively complete performance". " "Masterful", they said of the Continental. "There were some great performances on the wet circuit but the Conti still stood out, setting the fastest lap time, recording the highest lateral G, and scoring the highest subjective mark, too - it wasn't bettered."
The title went on to heap further praise on the ContiSportContact3 and its breadth of abilities, adding: "Especially impressive was its stability - it barely acknowledged puddles that were registered by itsclosest rivals, and its traction was superb. Amazingly surefooted andgrippy; the limit is your nerve."
My own experience of Contis is that they are durable too so I'm doubly pleased to report that the factory-fit tyre on my personal car is the ContiSportContact3.
Europe's best-sellers
2011 was a difficult year for many manufacturers, Peugeot in particular, but not so for VW as the following full-year figures reveal, with percentage change from the previous year also shown:
1. VW Golf 484,547 -2
2. VW Polo 356,490 +1
3. Ford Fiesta 348,465 -13
4. Opel/Vauxhall Corsa 313,325 -2
5. Opel/Vauxhall Astra 287,249 -1
6. Renault Clio 284,172 -13
7. Ford Focus 280,209 +7
8. Renault Megane 239,329 -8
9. VW Passat 233,330 +47
10. Peugeot 207 232,385 -21
The GM combo of Corsa and Astra pretty well held its own yet the European operation is still clouded in uncertainty which is a shame as the current models, the Astra in particular, have much to commend them. Noteworthy too is the complete absence of any Japanese model.
Nissan branches out
Nissan this month announced the latest piece of must-have kit for the iPhone - a ground-breaking self-healing iPhone case. The Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone case features the brand's pioneering self-healing paint finish, a world first in paint technology developed in 2005 and already used on a number of Nissan and Infiniti models. Now this ground-breaking technology has been applied to a product that's prone to scratches through everyday use - the smartphone - with Nissan's new Scratch Shield case meaning iPhone-lovers can keep their phone looking at its best for longer.
Developed by Nissan in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and Advanced Softmaterials Inc., the unique Scratch Shield paint finish was initially designed for automotive use and is available on the Nissan Murano, 370Z and X-Trail along with the Infiniti range of products.
Now, thanks to Nissan's pioneering approach, this technology is being trialled for the first time on a non-automotiveproduct in Europe, with the Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone case. The Nissan Scratch Shield iPhone case has been designed using several automotive engineering innovations to deliver a more durable and long-lasting paint coat, and closely fitting, tight case.
The case has three key benefits: the highly flexible and elastic properties of Scratch Shield paint technology allows fine scratches to quickly mend themselves; its tactile, gel-like rather than glossy surface is more scratch-resistant than conventional paint and provides a better grip; and the case itself is made of ABS plastic - a high grade substance widely used in the automotive industry which is more rigid and robust than other plastics. The outer "paint" is made from polyrotaxane, which means that when damage occurs to the coating in the form of a fine scratch, the chemical structure is able to react to change back to its original shape and fill the gap - 'healing' the blemish.
2012 Cruiser details
I recently provided some broad-brush details of the upcoming 2102 Toyota Land Cruiser 200. I can now add some meat as the spec for UK models has been revealed ahead of its March 1 launch in that market.
Heading the list are an array of handling and driver assistance systems including: The world's first Turn Assist, reducing the vehicle's turning radius when driving through tight off-road bends Crawl Control, with five speed settings for tackling steep climbs or descents Multi-terrain Select, with five selectable modes to tailor vehicle performance to different off-road conditions Multi-terrain Monitor, providing a 360-degree view of the area immediately around the vehicle via four external cameras Tyre Angle Display, displayed together with the predicted tyre path guidelines on the Multi-terrain Monitor, showing changes in steering angle between zero and 45 degrees Variable Flow Control power steering, with a unique, dedicated off-road setting.
The Land Cruiser V8 retains its 4.5-litre V8 turbodiesel engine and six-speed automatic transmission, with adjustments to bring exhaust emissions in line with Euro 5 standards. In the UK, this includes fitment of a Diesel Particulate Filter which hopefully won't be part of the package if this model comes to Zim. I'm sure Toyota Zimbabwe.
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