2009 New BMW 7 series

What a hard act to follow. The last all-new 7-series, the 2002 745Li, was welcomed into the automotive world with about as much warmth and adoration as a 41-pound newborn baby girl with sixteen middle fingers and a full beard. And it merited about as much media coverage. Incensed enthusiasts on Internet forums called for

BMW design director Chris Bangle's head. The BMW faithful stumbled around dealerships breathing into paper bags to allay attacks of hyperventilation. Somewhere, someone passed out at the mere sight of the bulbous trunk lid. OK, perhaps not. But even we shockproof editors at Automobile Magazine were perturbed by the styling.

European bureau chief Georg Kacher called the 745Li "a car that completely defies conventional thinking on interior and exterior design." Design editor Robert Cumberford chimed in, "Ugly? It certainly is not beautiful." BMW ignored us, and all the other critics of that 7-series (known within the company and by BMW geeks by its chassis code name, E65), and stood by the bold new look. "We felt that a radically different shape and a radically different ergonomic concept were compulsory to leapfrog the competition," said one BMW board member at the time.

How ironic. Back in 1994, in describing the then-new, third-generation 7-series, Cumberford maintained that he barely could tell it apart from its predecessor. "Apparently the middle-aged buyers," he wrote, "are thought not to want imaginative styling."

So who was right? BMW will happily point out that the ugly-duckling E65 matured into a beautiful white swan-becoming the best-selling 7-series of all time. Then again, BMW acknowledges that the 2006 face-lift, which diminished the E65's bizarre and polarizing looks, was the company's most successful midcycle freshening ever in generating additional sales. Read between the lines, and it looks like Cumberford's observation was correct.

Whether it was the face-lift or China's growing demand for premium large cars that was actually responsible for the E65's record sales, one thing is for sure: the 2009 750Li marks a return to a conservatively styled 7-series. The new 7 probably will never win any beauty pageants-at least not without a nose job to reduce those enormous nostrils-but it's not likely to invite the vehement criticism that the last one did. The styling is disappointing to those who expected BMW's new flagship sedan to look like the gorgeous, swoopy Concept CS that generated gasps at the 2007 Shanghai auto show. Worry not, CS fans-the 7's superconservative styling serves as a hint that a production CS is coming. In the meantime, let us say good-bye to the Bangle Butt and welcome back the handsome and understated 7-series.

Beginning this March, you'll have your choice of two 7s-the 750i and the long-wheelbase 750Li. Both cars, internally designated F01 and F02, respectively, are about an inch and a half longer and 80 pounds heavier than last year's 750i and 750Li. Although the numbers on the badge haven't changed, the V-8 under the hood has. Replacing last year's 360-hp, 4.8-liter V-8 is the 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged and direct-injected V-8 first seen in the X6. The force-fed V-8 produces 400 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque, making the 2009 750Li significantly more powerful than the 2008 750Li-and quicker than even the 6.0-liter, V-12-powered 760Li, which now has been dropped.

Source: automobilemag

Lotus ;Great Power And Great Price

The latest money saving advice comes from British sportscar maker Lotus, and is very simple – buy a Lotus and save money!

In the current financial climate the emphasis is on being smart with our money. A new breed of ‘Frugalists’ are turning to European price busting grocers Lidl and Aldi for their weekly shop in order to afford the annual pilgrimage to `the slopes’, and cash-smart homeowners are splashing out on expensive insulation or installing wood-burning stoves in order to make savings on their domestic energy costs. In every household across the country the message is evolving from a frantic ‘SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!’ to a more strategic ‘invest in cost efficient solutions’.

The Frugalist’s tip is, be smart with your money and preserve your lifestyle by spending more cleverly. With a cold winter ahead and a declining economic situation it’s easy to lose focus on the “living” part of life - imagine then, what a great revelation it is to learn that you could save money by driving a Lotus!

There’s no doubt about it, a Lotus is a prudent purchase in the sportscar market, but sometimes performance cars are subject to the criticism of society and have even been described as antisocial. However, it may help your conscience to learn that a Lotus is considered by most critics as a green choice. The efficient design of the Elise SC for example offers stunning looks and supercar performance, yet produces just 202 g/km of CO2, allowing the Lotus to remain in the standard £8.00 Congestion Charge bracket. Savings are not just limited to the confines of London though, with impressive fuel efficiency paying dividends in town and country, by focusing on light-weight technology Lotus has been able to use smaller, more efficient engines, whilst still achieving the sensational performance that Lotus customers expect.

Looking at the bigger picture of servicing and parts costs, Lotus uses tuned Toyota engines in its Elise range giving great reliability and avoiding costly repair bills that are associated with some exotic cars. Not surprisingly, economical running costs are one of the contributing factors to the continued demand for Lotus vehicles on the second-hand market. Figures from autotrader.co.uk for the entry-level Elise, the Elise S indicate that the model is retaining a fantastic 82% of its value after 12 months making it a better value proposition than its rivals the Honda S2000 GT and the Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

2009 Volvo XC60

We got our first glimpse of the XC60 in concept guise at the 2007 Detroit show just over a year ago. The S40-based utility will make its production debut in Geneva next month.

The 2009 XC60 will be the brand's first foray into the increasingly crowded small premium crossover segment - it will join other alphanumeric utes like the BMW X3,Acura RDX, Land Rover, and the upcoming Mercedes GLK. Volvo hopes to appeal to current customers with the XC60 and sees it as the next step up for C30 buyers.

U.S.-bound XC60s will get motivation from Volvo's turbocharged inline-six T6 engine, which produces 281 hp. All-wheel drive will be standard.

The expected host of Volvo safety features is joined on the XC60 by a system called City Safe. When driving at low speeds the car will automatically apply the brakes if it senses an imminent collision. Volvo claims this is the first vehicle to offer such anti-rear-ending technology as standard. President and CEO Fredrik Arp even went as far as saying that this is "the safest Volvo ever."

The styling is a toned-down version of what we saw on the concept with a profile that Volvo describes as coupe-like (a la BMW's X6). The interior has the same Swedish cleanliness we're used to.

The XC60 should arrive in the U.S. in early 2009 and we'll give you more details once Volvo officially announces the vehicle in Geneva.

Source: automobilemag

Greencar Award Goes To....

Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, Frank Langella and Leonardo Di Caprio may be sitting on the edge of their seats after the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations for best actor but here at thegreencarwebsite.co.uk, it’s the race to be named ‘world green car of the year’ that has our attention.

In case you are feeling a sense of déjà vu, then yes, it is only one month since the last ‘green car of the year’ was announced - on that occasion it was the Volkswagen Jetta TDI that scooped the award at the LA Auto Show. This prize however, a sub-award of the annual World Car of the Year competition, is handed out by a juror of journalists around the world.

In 2006 the inaugural award went to the Honda Civic Hybrid, with the Mercedes-Benz E320 BlueTec and the BMW 118d winning in 2007 and 2008 respectively. In 2009 there are 20 cars up for the award, but one thing is for certain - it won’t be a double for the VW Jetta.

Yes the Jetta has been left off the list, as has the Toyota Prius. However, the misery for Toyota and VW is outweighed by the joy for Volvo, which has five potential winners included.

Here is a list of the nominees in full:

Audi Q7 3.0 TDI
BMW 335d BluePerformance
Chevrolet Tahoe / GMC Yukon Hybrid
Citroën C1
Fiat Palio Weekend Electric
Fiat Siena Tetrafuel model
Honda FCX Clarity
Mazda Hydrogen Rotary RX8
Mercedes-Benz ML/R/GL 320 BlueTEC
MINI Cooper D
MINI E
Mitsubishi iMiEV
Nissan X-Trail 20 GT
smart ed
Subaru Legacy/Outback PZEV
Tesla Electric Roadster
Toyota iQ
Volvo C30 1.6D DRIVe
Volvo S40 1.6D DRIVe
Volvo S80 2.5 FT (Flexifuel)
Volvo V50 1.6D DRIVe
Volvo V70 2.5 FT (Flexifuel)

source: thegreencarwebsite

Electric Car From Mitsubishi

During the past decade, development of alternative ways to move cars accelerated and this decade is seeing production models either going on sale or in the final phase of testing. Different manufacturers have focused on different approaches although some have also chosen a range of options since no one is sure which will actually be the right one.

For Mitsubishi Motor Corporation (MMC), electric vehicles or EVs have been a strong focus since the 1970s (although it has also explored other solutions), initially in response to air pollution. In fact, in 1971, the company already made its first EVs - around 150 electrically-powered variants of its Minicab and Minicar that were supplied to government agencies and power companies.

The early Mitsubishi EVs used lead-acid batteries (the same as what you have in your car’s engine bay) which were the only high-capacity storage batteries available then. However, lead and acid are poisonous so the future of such batteries for EVs was not there and when lithium-ion battery technology became available in the 1990s, this became the choice of most EV manufacturers.

MMC has positioned EVs as the pinnacle of its environmental technology and the culmination of its almost 40 years of development is the i-MiEV (or ‘i-meef’, as it is referred to), an electric variant of the innovative Mitsubishi i car. The i-car, which was displayed at the last KL International Motorshow, has a radical design and compact size that lead many to think it was an EV but it actually has a petrol engine.

The unique construction of the i-car, which has its engine mounted towards the back of the cabin and the fuel tank under the middle, was ideal for switching to an electric powertrain. In place of the 35-litre fuel tank, a flat lithium-ion 330V battery pack with a capacity of 16 kWh is under the floor and the hardware for the permanent magnet synchronous electric motor goes under and behind the rear seat. The battery pack is a heavy item and positioning it low and in the middle also benefits vehicle dynamics.

The electric motor may be small and light and produce only 47 kW but when it comes to torque, it sure packs a punch! As the chart show, 180 Nm is available from start to what would be the equivalent of a third of the rpm range of the 660 cc turbocharged engine of the i-car. In comparison, the petrol engine’s torque curve starts much lower down and never gets anywhere near 180 Nm. But that’s a normal characteristic for a petrol engine and a small one can only deliver so much torque.

Driving range on a full charge is the big issue for EVs and one which has been of concern to consumers. If you have to keep recharging to drive long distances, then it’s not going to be much fun and furthermore, will there be recharging stations available? Extending the range has been a major challenge but as battery technology has advanced, this has slowly improved and the i-MiEV has a claimed 160 kms using the Japanese 10-15 mode (an industry standard for fuel consumption measurement) at an average speed of 22.7 km/h. That suggests the car is pretty much an urban commuter rather than for intercity travel. A top speed of 130 km/h is possible but that also means the battery ‘juice’ will drain faster and range will be reduced. There is regenerative charging which captures ‘wasted' energy during braking and coasting to recharge the battery but this is not significant.

Until recent years, EVs have required special charging stations, a fact that was very discouraging since consumer acceptance of such vehicles would be dependent on the assurance of an extensive network of stations – an infrastructure which would be costly and take a long time to establish. The i-MiEV eliminates this issue by having a plug-in recharging system where the car can be hooked up to a household power socket (like the one you have powering your computer) and fully charged within 7 to 14 hours, depending on whether it’s a 200V or 100V supply. There’s also the option of a quick-charging system (which requires a 3-phase 50 kW/200V supply) that will have the battery pack 80% charged within 30 minutes.

Source:Motor trader