Jaguar XKR-S

As I promised, I am writing about the cars from the Jaguar Land Rover event. And I would like to start with Jaguar XKR-S. XKR-S is the lunatic version of the Jaguar XK! The extra two letters R-S may not seem like a big difference but these two words make the difference between day and night.

XK is a very nice GT car, you can drive for long journeys. It will always responses to your demands, everything is nicely packed, good handling and you know the rest. However, the XKR-S does the same things but in a more lunatic way. Because, it has a supercharged 5-lt petrol engine produces 550 PS of power and 680 nm of torque. And it is only 1,7 tonnes! With more basic words, this car accelerates and drives like crazy! Even if you are passenger, you can feel the power of the acceleration momentum in your whole body. Also, this car never shifts up the gears until you wish. In manual mode, gears not shifted automatically and sticks to desired one!

When I first saw this car, I never expected this level of engagement with the driver and exposure of power. It looks a bit over styled by the spoiler and a bit funny looking air intakes. You may be thinking, this car is just an over styled version of normal XK. But this is totally wrong! These entire design bits precisely explain the lunatic character of the car. Nothing is exaggerated, actually what you see is nothing.

And it is not limited with the engine, the gearbox, steering wheel, suspension. Everything is so well design, works with harmony with each other. It may not be as accurate as a Porsche 911, or delivers the Formula 1 technology like Ferrari. But, it is definitely a car that can blow you mind off. The engine is so powerful that you need to train your foot to avoid spinning the wheels even the traction is on. This is the only car that you should drive it in winter mode in daily basis, still winter mode does not make this car a domestic pet; it is still a lion!

The surprising thing with XKR-S is the engagement of the car with the driver. This is a real driver’s car and you would love to drive more and more. It may not look like an Aston Martin but it is way better than an Aston Martin.

In my opinion for this price tag, you cannot get something better! Of course, there are some minor issues with the car. The navigation screen is slow acting and blur, they have to replace the screen with a better resolution one. And the electric windows’ control buttons look cheap for this car. However, you won’t be interested on these thing while you driving.

For more photos: Cars & Life Facebook Page

2012 MY XKR-S 550PS SUPERCHARGED

OTR £97,000

Two Door Coupe

Exterior Colour: FRENCH RACING BLUE

Interior Trim:  WARM CHARCOAL

Interior veneer: PIANO BLACK

Wheels: 20 inch VULCAN SATIN DARK GREY

 Technical Information

·          Acceleration 0-to-60 mph ·          Acceleration 0-to-100 kph ·          Maximum speed – mph / kph ·          Maximum power – PS @ rpm / min ·          Torque – (EEC Nm) @rpm / min ·          Driven wheels ·          Engine

4.2 secs 4.4 secs 186 / 300 550 / 405 6000 - 6500 680 / 502 2500 / 5500 Rear AJ-V8 Gen III 5.0L

·          Emissions Class ·          Transmission ·          Combined Fuel Economy (mpg) ·          Fuel Tank Capacity (litres) ·          Kerb Vehicle Weight (kg) ·          CO2 g/km

Euro 5 6-speed auto 23.0 70.6 1,753 292

 Safety and Security

·          Remote control central locking with dead locking and drive-away locking ·          Microwave intrusion sensing ·          Engine immobiliser ·          Valet mode ·          Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) ·          Emergency Brake Assist (EBA) ·          Roll-over Protection System (Convertible only) ·          Airbags front and side (driver and front passenger) ·          Adaptive Restraint Technology System (A.R.T.S.TM)

·          Front and rear seat belt pre-tensioners ·          Front seat whiplash reduction system ·          Belt minder system (front seats only) ·          ISOFIX ·          Pedestrian Contact SensingTM – Automatically deployable bonnet system ·          Warning triangle ·          First aid kit ·          Jaguar Tyre Repair System

 Powertrain and Driving Dynamics

·           6-speed electronic automatic transmission with Jaguar Sequential ShiftTM ·          JaguarDrive SelectorTM ·          JaguarDrive ControlTM with Winter Mode and Dynamic Mode ·          Adaptive Dynamics ·          Cruise Control with Automatic Speed Limiter (ASL)

·          Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD) ·          Electric Parking Brake (EPB) – drive-away release ·          Dynamic Stability Control (with Trac DSC mode

 Exterior Features

·          Bi-function HID Xenon headlamps with LED daytime running lights, integrated cornering lights, ·          and automatic levelling ·          LED tail lamps ·          Automatic headlamps ·          Automatic headlamp washers ·          Rain sensing windscreen wipers

·          Heated exterior mirrors with electric adjustment, power-folding with auto-powerfold on locking vehicle, auto-dimming and memory function with integrated LED side repeaters and approach lamps ·          Front and rear parking aid with Touch-screen visual indicator ·          Rear spoiler

 Interior Features                                                                                                                                      

·          Dual zone automatic climate control ·          Auto-dimming interior rear view mirror ·          Auxiliary power socket (centre console) ·          Twin cup holders ·          Front electric windows with one touch open/close and anti-trap ·          Trip computer with message centre ·          Jaguar Smart Key SystemTM with Keyless start

·          Front ashtray and lighter ·          Phosphor blue halo illumination and interior mood lighting ·          Clock in Touch-screen ·          Memory function for driver’s and passenger seat, exterior mirrors            and steering column

Main Features of XKR-S

·          Jaguar High Performance Braking System with Red calipers ·          Revised springs, revised dampers and forged and fully machined            front knuckle ·          Uprated Active Differential ·          Uprated Adaptive Dynamics ·          10mm ride height reduction ·          Performance Active Exhaust with quad tailpipes ·          Unique front bumper with twin nacelles, broad vertical side intakes            and carbon fibre splitter

·          Extended side sills ·          Rear apron featuring carbon fibre diffuser ·          Unique rear wing with carbon fibre inlay ·          Performance seats with carbon and soft grain leather (16/16 way) ·          Bright stainless steel pedals ·          XKR-S tread plates

 Multimedia                                                                                                                            Optional Features – retail prices include VAT

·          Front Media Interface with AUX socket, USB and iPod connectivity ·          Windows Media Audio (WMA) and MP3 compatibility ·          Bluetooth® telephone connectivity ·          Navigation system with DVD mapping ·          7 inch colour Touch-screen display

·          Tyre pressure monitoring system - £410 ·          DAB - £360

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New Mercedes-Benz GL

Here is the new Mercedes-Benz GL! Thanks to world of Twitter, I found the leaked pictures of the upcoming new GL. As you can see, Mercedes kept the main lines of the vehicle and did not go for a radical change. This shows that, Mercedes does not wish to lose the present customers with a radical new design. And they created a Bentley atmosphere in interior, you can clearly see this by the cross stitching in leather! 

However, the rear end of the vehicle looks similar to BMW X3. A bad coincident! Based on the pictures, this new model will offer lots of LEDs light and less muscular looking.

Unfortunately, I could not find any information about the engine options but I can assume that Mercedes will stick to present range. And I don’t think they will offer the 2,2-lt diesel engine. Most probably Mercedes will be offering 3,0-lt petrol (306 PS), 5,0-lt petrol (408 PS) and diesel (258 PS).

We will know more about the new GL in following motor shows. Most probably in New York, as the GL is quite popular there!

Today Mercedes revealed the new Mercedes GL in New York Motor Show. And some of my predictions were right, such as the engine options. The new GL will be offered with two engines; one petrol GL 500 (408 PS) and one diesel GL 350 (258 PS). After the vehicle will be offered more engine options will be available! This time Mercedes improved the interior quality of the GL, however I was expecting to see a S-Class interior but, it still looks luxury and exquisite. On the contrary, it shares the same interior with the ML, which I found it as a downside.

Anyway, this time Mercedes placed the GL as the S-Class of the SUVs. I can understand this by their press release related with air suspension (Air Matic), steering wheel and driving dynamics. Probably Mercedes designed the GL to act like a S-Class. That's really good! So, it could be a real good alternative to Range Rover.

New GL offers some new technologies such as; Steer Control as steering assistance and to avoid over-steering due to steering torque, Collision Prevent Assist, 360 Degree Camera view and Active Parking Assist (auto parking system) are the new feature. Auto parking feature will be very useful for a vehicle at this size.

Similar Range Rover's Terrain Response system, GL offers six different types of on-road and off-road programmes with low range transmission and a locking centre differential. Unfortunately, they are not offering locking rear differential. It was a bit interesting. They removed the rear differential lock from ML and  GL. I was expecting to see rear differential lock in GL, because that's the feature that defines a real off-roader or not! And Mercedes claims on the press release that, new GL is a real off-roader, without rear differential lock !?!

Also, the interior space is bigger, more boot space, more luxury, better fuel economy, start-stop function 7-speed automatic gearbox (7G-Tronic Plus). And similar to Aston Martin, GL has the Bang & Olufsen BeoSound sound system with woofer mounted on the A-pillars! Looks really nice.

Overall, it is a new nice but they did not change the design so dramatically, and lost its muscular look. In addition, I was expecting to something different. This shows that Mercedes does not wish to make existing American (Sold 27,000 GLs last year), Chinese and German customers upset with a new radical design. On the other, hand it will make harder for Mercedes to capture new customers! Interior looks really but we need to wait for the new Range Rover, in order to evaluate more precisely. Will I buy one? Hmmm, hard question. I am sure it would be nice to drive but buying is still a question mark for me when it comes to GL. The design is the main issue, sorry!

For more photos: Cars & Life Facebook Page

Model	Cyl.	cc	kW/hp at rpm	Nm from rpm	0-100 km/h (s)	Vmax km/h	l/100 km NEDC combined	CO2 g/km
GL 350 BlueTEC 4MATIC	6	2987	190/258 3800	620 1600-2400	7.9	220	7.4-8.0	192-209
GL 500 4MATIC BlueEFFICIENCY	8	4663	300/408 5000-5750	600 1600-4750	5.9	250	11.3-11.6	262-269

* Provisional figures for the international model range which may vary from country to country

Pictures' Copyrights

Mercedes

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Peugeot Mood Paint - Peinture Humeur

Peugeot introduced a new technology to automotive industry that will cause really nice trouble with the police and car registry documents :) Peugeot introduced a new technology called Mood Paint for the RCZ model, this technology precisely interprets your emotional state and alter the exterior colour of the vehicle, which suits best with your mood. Unfortunately, if you have this technology, you need to amend the document every time you change your mood; so try to carry correct pen all the time with you.

Peugeot said that, this technology psychochoromatic coating that can alter the molecular structure of the paint to emit light at varying wavelengths. So how this technology understand your mood, the sensors on the steering wheel read your pulse rate, body temperature and stress level. And computers analyse your emotions and alters the colour that suits your mood at that moment. A friendly advise, try not to get angry in traffic because other drivers can understand your mood very precisely and you may not end up with a friendly conversation :)

However, there is a question that I would like ask! If I am using the steering wheel heating, does the system still can read my mood or it will be manipulated?

I think from next year German car companies will also offer this technology with a very wide range of grey colours to reflect your mood :)

Pictures' and Video's Copyrights

Peugeot

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Interview with Kim L. Palmer: Discovery 4's Trip to Chernobyl

Last week I have attended the Jaguar Land Rover’s PR event and guess who I met? Kim Lawrence Palmer (Senior Press Office at Land Rover), one of the team members of Journey of Discovery from Birmingham to Beijing, however he attended to stage where they visited Chernobyl!

One day ago, I wrote about the 1.000.000thDiscovery 4’s journey to Chernobyl and I was thinking, is it possible to meet someone from the team? And it happened! So, I took this opportunity with Kim and did an interview.

We talked about the Chernobyl, what he saw, how he felt and details of the journey. Probably I will never have chance to meet with someone who visited the Chernobyl.

And thank you very much Kim to take time for the interview during the tight schedule.

Here is the interview!

Journey of Discovery is a fund raising project and here is the information.

The Journey of Discovery expedition aims to raise £1,000,000 (GBP) for Land Rover's Global Humanitarian Partner, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The money will be used to support a much needed water sanitation project in Uganda(www.landrover.com/million).

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Land Rover

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Jaguar Land Rover PR Event March 2012

Last week I had chance to attend Jaguar Land Rover's press event to see their vehicle range. I previously heard about this event but, never had chance to attend. Hopefully, last week I managed it!

It started quite well from beginning, while I was walking down to the event I saw the camouflaged new Range Rover. Unfortunately, I was sleepy and not prepared to take a photo. Anyway, there were 24 different Land Rover and Jaguar vehicles. They provided different engine sizes in the whole range. Some of the engine option may not be seen on the streets! Such as Range Rover Supercharged! People prefer to buy diesel, instead of this petrol burner.

Being in a place with lots of cars is like being a chocolate factory when you are kid! I arrived to event as early as possible to avoid any congestion, like a kid runs to chocolate factory. And hopefully it wasn't that crowded.

I will be writing more about the event and the car in following posts!

And I would like to thank all Land Rover and Jaguar PR team for their great hospitality.

Here is the list of the vehicles. Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover Discovery 4, Land Rover Defender, and Jaguar XF, XK, XKR, XKR-S, XJ, XJ L.

Next time, I will take better videos and more detailed photos.

For more photos: Cars & Life Facebook Page

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April's Fool: BMW

Driveless Running Coach, this technology is operated through the BMW ConnectedDrive system. The car will run behind you to increase your motivation and plays encouraging words.

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BMW

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