Month: March 2018

Dashboard cameras are fast becoming a common purchase among motorists, offering an unbiased and clear eyewitness account of incidents and accidents on the roads.

The market for these cameras has boomed in recent years, meaning there’s many to choose from – which can be intimidating if you’re unsure what to look for. We’ve picked seven of the best on the market today to help you find the right dash cam.

Nextbase 312GW

Quite possibly the best all-round option on the dash cam market is the Nextbase 312GW, thanks to a generous helping of features for its price.

It records footage in full HD 1080p at 30fps which can be streamed directly to a mobile device thanks to on-board WiFi. There’s also GPS and a G force recorder built into the compact camera, providing extensive data in the event of an accident.

Price: £99 (Halfords)

RoadHawk Vision

The RoadHawk Vision is a discreet way to have a dash cam in your car, thanks to a small cylinder design.

Despite this, it still offers plenty of bang for your buck. It can record 1296p ‘SuperHD’ resolution at 30fps, and also features a HDR sensor that optimises the image based on real-time lighting.

Price: £136.18 (Amazon.co.uk)

Z-Edge Z3

If you’re on a budget, the Z-Edge Z3 is one of the best ways to fit your car with a video recorded without breaking the bank.

It offers all the basics – 1080p recording, a built-in rechargeable battery and a 145-degree field of view to give a clear view of the road ahead. It even comes with a 32gb SD card, ensuring you’ve got plenty of room for footage out of the box.

Price: £79.99 (Amazon.co.uk)

Nextbase 612GW

Money no object? Then the feature-crammed Nextbase 612GW is the ultimate choice of dash cam currently on the market.

It boasts 4k video recording with a 150-degree wide viewing angle for the best possible footage, which can then be downloaded to mobile devices thanks to built in WiFi. There’s also ‘Intelligent Parking Mode’, which automatically begins recording when motion is detected, so you won’t have to worry about forgetting to switch it on.

Price: £249.99 (Halfords)

Blackvue DR750S-2CH

Looking to cover both the front and rear of your car? The Blackvue DR750S-2CH offers just that.

Both lenses on the unit record in smooth 1080p, 60fps and are paired to a Sony STARVIS sensor which optimises lighting. Along with GPS logging and WiFi streaming, the camera also comes with free cloud storage – meaning videos uploaded to Blackvue’s service can be viewed anytime, anywhere.

Price: £349.95 (Halfords)

Garmin Dash Cam 55

The inconspicuous Garmin Dash Cam 55 boasts plenty of quirks and features to stand out on the market.

As well as 1440p recording, it offers voice control which allows you take a picture, record audio and save any particular moments without lifting your hands from the wheel. Plus, there’s even forward collision and lane departure warning technology – a bonus for any car not fitted with the systems.

Price: £149.99 (buy.garmin.com)

Roadeyes recSMART

Despite lacking a screen, the recSMART might just be one of the best buys on the market with no gimmicks, simply offering a way to record clear footage on the road.

The clear 2k resolution footage can be viewed from a mobile device using WiFi, which comes time-stamped and geotagged to provide an extremely accurate account of events. There’s also a wireless button bundled, so you can save notable events on the move.

Price: £139.90 (Amazon.co.uk)

McLaren has revealed a number of people have bought TWO Senna supercars – one to drive hard and one to stash away for the future.

The British firm’s latest hypercar, capable of reaching 211mph and hitting 60mph in 2.6 seconds, made its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show alongside details of a track-focused GTR ‘concept’.

The £750,000 limited-run supercar – of which all 500 have already been sold – is powered by McLaren’s 789bhp 4.0-litre, twin-turbocharged V8. This is the most powerful engine McLaren has ever put in a road car and also produces 800Nm of torque.

At the show, we chatted to Jolyon Nash, executive director of global sales and marketing for McLaren Automotive, who told us about the Senna, its buyers and how many of them already look at the brand’s cars as investments.

Our customers

‘It’s hard to make generalisations, but most of our customers are self-made individuals. A vast majority will be male, entrepreneurs and aged in their 40s to 50s. They are obviously successful, demanding people. But I think one of the things that differentiates us from other cars in the market we operate in is that our research indicates that people generally buy the car for how it drives. It’s the intricacies of the car that is important to buyers.’

The Senna name

‘There was a lot of debate in the company when we were thinking about what we should name this car. We decided with the Ultimate Series cars we should focus on having a name that you can easily attach emotion to. That is our strategy now. With Ultimate Series cars, we would like to have more of a nameplate than letters and numbers. With this car, since it is so hardcore and track-focused, we thought it would be the perfect car to pay homage to Ayrton Senna. He was probably the most uncompromising race driver, and legendary. It kind of fitted.’

I’ll take two

‘We’ve had a couple of customers who wanted to buy two. Sometimes it’s because they have two residences, and they want here and one there. Others it’s because they want to take one car and really work it hard, while they want to keep the other pristine and hardly used. We have a very strong demand for this car, and had sold out all 500 before we even announced it. We have to satisfy as many customers as we can.’

Choosing buyers

‘We did not specify things like how many of our cars customers must own before they get a Senna. We’re not quite formulaic. We like to be accessible. On the one hand, it’s a balancing act between rewarding your most loyal customers, who have been with us from the beginning. Those who, when the MP4-12C came out, were willing to invest in a totally new supercar brand, and have been with us ever since. We want to reward those customers, but also, since we are very much a growing brand, we also want to get new people in. We don’t want to be a case where to buy a special McLaren it’s dead man’s shoes.’

Numbers game

‘The car costs £750,000, but I think we’ve specced more than 60 cars now, and I’d hazard a guess that they probably cost about £840,000 on average. But there are obviously some extremes. It’s very easy to put on a visual carbon-fibre body like the one on display in Geneva and that’s about a £160,000 option. The total price for the car on display here is over £1m.’

Want it all

‘Some customers want to make the car special for them. And for them that may well mean they want things like visual carbon fibre. Others want to be more understated. They’ll just be unique about the colour and a few other bits and pieces. With this car, there are very few standard options. It’s the glass in the bottom doors, the glass in the roof and some stuff with the hi-fi system. Other than that, the sky’s the limit. Some people are much more conservative.’

Investment opportunity

‘The vast majority of customers, when they see a car like this, they just want to have it, it’s all desire. But also they see it as an investment. I think this car’s going to be another iconic McLaren. I really do think this will be a bit like the P1. A P1 is roughly £1.5m now. It has appreciated. I think the market, at the moment, has hit a bit of a plateau. I think things like a LaFerrari have come down a bit, so the market is flat, but they’re still worth considerably more than anyone would have paid for them new.’

The GTR

‘We haven’t started taking deposits, but we’re revealing a concept car. It isn’t finished, but it’s very close to what the finished article is going to be. Even before we started the process, we had a good number of expressions of interest – not formal, but “if you’re doing a GTR I’m interested” conversations. From the beginning we thought we’d do a GTR version, so we’re pretty comfortable that having shown the concept we will sell out very quickly – but we haven’t even agreed a price yet.

Caravanning is one of the most popular leisure activities in the UK, with thousands of people hitching up and heading out on to the open road each year.

However, towing a caravan requires a tow car which is fit for the job – and that’s why we’ve picked out 10 of the best that are on sale right now.

Land Rover Discovery

This one’s a bit of a no-brainer. The Discovery makes for one of the best tow cars on sale today, and that’s down to a few crucial factors. It’s got space for seven, which means you can bring the whole family along for the ride, and it’s available with a variety of torquey engines that are ideal for pulling a caravan.

In addition, the Discovery is available with towing-specific assistance systems, and it can even be fitted with technology that will autonomously reverse and park the car and caravan together.

Skoda Kodiaq

The Skoda Kodiaq follows a similar format to the Discovery. It’s available with seven seats, can be equipped with four-wheel-drive and has a range of strong diesel and petrol engines well-suited to towing life. However, it does this for a considerably lower price.

It’s also very spacious inside, and has a solid feel to it – though lacks the more expensive materials used in premium rivals.

Kia Sorento

The Kia Sorento has recently been updated, with an aim to bring it more into line with premium rivals. This sees better in-car technology, as well as better interior plastics and materials. It’s also grown over the older model, meaning more space in the cabin.

However, there are some features here which makes the Sorento an ideal tow car choice. It’s rated to be able to tow 2.5 tonnes on a braked trailer, while a self-levelling rear-end has been fitted as standard, too.

Ssangyong Rexton

The Ssanyong Rexton may be at the more budget end of the tow car spectrum, but that makes it no less able to do the job than other cars on this list. Its utilitarian design will appeal to those who prefer their four-wheel-drives a little more rough-and-ready, while plenty of standard equipment will please eager button-pushers.

A Mercedes-sourced 2.2-litre diesel engine provides more than enough grunt for towing duties, though the ladder-frame chassis does mean it falls behind rivals in terms of overall ride comfort.

Jaguar I-Pace

This may not be the most conventional of choices – but hear us out. The new I-Pace is available with a tow bar, and thanks to 395bhp and a healthy 696Nm of instantly available torque, it could prove to be an exceptionally good tow car. Power is sent to all four wheels too, meaning plenty of traction.

Jaguar claims that the I-Pace will do up to 298 miles on a single charge and, while we’re unsure how much this would be affected by the added weight of a caravan, this could prove to be useful for low-cost holidaying.

Volvo XC90

The big Volvo XC90 is an ideal choice for those who want a reliable and stylish tow car option. Its interior is sleek and well-specified, while its exterior exhibits plenty of Scandinavian-inspired style. However, there’s more to the XC90 than looks alone.

It’s available with a hybrid powertrain, which is ideal for caravan owners thanks to its impressively brisk performance and low running costs. That said, with prices reaching more than £50,000, it’s certainly not one of the cheapest options on this list.

Skoda Octavia Scout

The award for the first estate car on this list goes to the Skoda Octavia Scout. Thanks to a powerful 2.0-litre diesel engine coupled to a full four-wheel-drive system, the Scout makes for an ideal tow car.

In addition, when you come to unhitch the trailer, you’re left with an estate car that will happily and comfortably eat up the motorway miles, too.

Volkswagen Amarok

Any pick-up makes for a decent tow car, but the Amarok is certainly one of the best. It’s rated to tow up to 3.1 tonnes – so there’s little that this Volkswagen won’t be able to pull along. Its large size also means it remains impressively stable during poor conditions and high winds, too.

The large load bed at the rear is ideal for bigger items, and there’s an optional cover for this should need to store them overnight.

Suzuki SX4 S-Cross

The little Suzuki SX4 certainly punches well above its weight, particularly considering the competitors it has on this list. A 1.6-litre diesel engine is the go-to choice for caravanners, as this offers the performance required while towing.

In addition, you can get the SX4 with Suzuki’s clever AllGrip all-wheel-drive technology, affording it with much better traction and stability than you’d expect for a car of this size.

Ford S-Max

Though MPVs are falling out of fashion somewhat with the increase in popularity of crossovers, there’s still a space for a quality people mover. That’s where the Ford S-Max comes in. With seven dedicated seats, it’s a comfortable people carrier, while optional all-wheel-drive makes it a solid choice from this list.

The S-Max makes sense if you’re looking to take the family away in comfort, while also being able to tow safely and effectively at the same time.

Advance orders are now being taken for the Polestar 1 hybrid performance car – the first to come from the Volvo spin-off brand.

Potential UK buyers of the electrified machine can secure a place in the production queue with a €2,500 (circa £2,220) deposit, which is fully refundable should any minds change. Applications to buy a Polestar 1 can be made online, with those successful then able to use a configurator to spec the car to their liking before ordering.

Final pricing hasn’t been revealed for the Swedish performance machine, but Polestar has confirmed that the car will only be available on subscription, requiring monthly payments. As well as the cost of the car, the payments will also cover servicing and give customers the option to rent Volvo vehicles plus other future Polestar models.

Thomas Ingenlath, chief executive of Polestar, said: “With over 7,000 people interested in owning a Polestar 1 since its reveal, we are extremely encouraged by the passion shown for our product. We will now take the next steps towards delivering this beautiful car to our first customers.”

Set to arrive in mid-2019, the Polestar 1 features an electric drivetrain supported by a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine, producing 592bhp and 1,000Nm of torque. It’s also capable of travelling 90 miles on battery power alone.

This is the first car to come from the Volvo-owned brand, which was revealed as a spin-off in 2017. The Polestar 1 will be produced in China at a purpose-built facility in Chengdu that will finish construction later this year. Polestar plans to produce just 500 examples of the 1 annually.

Tyres of the future could help in the fight against air pollution – if this moss-filled concept becomes a reality.

Developed by American tyre manufacturer Goodyear, the Oxygene concept has been revealed at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. It collects moisture from the road through its tread as well as carbon dioxide from the air, allowing photosynthesis to take place that results in clean oxygen being fed back into the atmosphere.

Your first chance to see our solution to a sustainable future @GimsSwiss. Welcome to the Goodyear family, Oxygene #GimsSwiss pic.twitter.com/u2vezMms6U

— Goodyear Tyres (@goodyear_uk) March 6, 2018

The firm claims that if the tyres were fitted to 2.5 million vehicles in Paris, almost 3,000 tons of oxygen would be created while more than 4,000 tons of carbon dioxide would be absorbed every year.

Not only does the tyre help air fight pollution, it also recycles some of the energy created during photosynthesis to power its on-board Li-Fi (light fidelity) technology. This uses LEDs to transmit data to communicate with other vehicles on the road, which Goodyear says “is critical to smart mobility management systems”.

Chris Delaney, president of Goodyear Europe, said: “Smarter, greener infrastructure and transport will be crucial in addressing the most pressing challenges of urban mobility and development. Oxygene is meant to challenge our thinking and help drive the debate around smart, safe and sustainable future mobility.

“By contributing in this way to cleaner air generation, the tyre could help enhance quality of life and health for city dwellers.”

Unless you’re an established name with heritage, you have to be innovative when you launch a supercar. The car has to look good, and it has to hit new heights of performance in exciting ways that differentiate it from the competition.

That, of course, is easier said than done, and even big manufacturers occasionally miss their targets when producing a supercar.

This list looks at six supercars that failed to deliver the features, figures – or perhaps even, any cars – that were promised to enthusiasts and customers alike.

Jaguar XJ220

The Jaguar XJ220 created buzz en mass when it was unveiled at the British International Motor Show in 1988. The press and the public were in unanimous approval, and several of the show’s elite visitors handed blank cheques to Jaguar, such was their excitement.

However, when the production version arrived in 1992, one critical element was missing; the 6.2-litre V12 engine showcased in the concept car. The motor was replaced by a twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre V6, which originally sat in the Metro 6R4 Group B rally car.

The car was still extremely quick for its day, but with the economy on the rocks at the time, and the car being different from what many early customers had seen in 1988, the XJ220 did not sell as Jaguar had hoped.

Consulier GTP

Believe it or not, this strange looking machine was one of America’s best performance car offerings in the early 90’s.

With less than 200bhp from a 2.2-Litre inline-four engine sourced from Chrysler, it was not a car for sheer, raw power. However, thanks to weighing just 998kg, it was surprisingly fast. In fact, company owner Warren Mosler decided to offer $25,000 to anyone who could perform a faster lap than the GTP in another road car, at any US racetrack in the country.

Car & Driver Magazine took up the challenge and beat it using a 1991 Chevrolet Corvette. However, Mosler claimed that the GTP used in the test was old and worn out from use at a racing school, and thus, he never paid up.

Ferrari F50

Why was the F50 a disappointment? In large part, because it had to follow on from the iconic F40.

On reflection, the shape of the F50 has become dated in rather short order. It is a very 90’s shape, and not the kind that has aged to perfection. The other issue was harping on about how much of the car was sourced from the 1990 Ferrari F1 racer – it set up aspirations of performance that the finished product simply could not live up to.

It was only going to be a car that failed to deliver the promise of a successor to the F40. The F50 really is a great supercar, but it’ll never be iconic.

Keating – all of them

Keating is the ultimate in supercar vapourware. Whether it’s the questionably stuck together Bolt, the new Berus (pictured), or the SKR/TKR/ZKR series of supercars shown in the late 2000’s, Keating has repeatedly shown willing, but never seems to get the job done. A majority of these cars have never been driven, and from what we can tell, very few if any have been sold.

Supercar vapourware is extremely common, but few are so consistently ambitious, with such consistently non-existent results.

MG XPower SV

The MG XPower SV was an odd beast. It looked insane, was rather more sedate than its styling would have you believe, and claimed to be a supercar when it was really more of a muscle car.

The car produced just 320bhp, though a later SV-R specification upped that figure to 385bhp. A factory-fitted nitrous kit was announced among a raft of ‘Club Sport’ specifications, though none of these go-faster options were ever made available before MG shut down in 2005, just two years after the XPower SV entered production.

Audi R8 TDI

The Audi R8 defied any and all sceptics when it was released in 2006, and did so even more when a V10 version debuted in 2008.

The ‘R8’ name is a nod to Audi’s Le Mans racing heritage. As the R8 road car was in its infancy, Audi were taking on Le Mans and winning, using a V12 diesel engine in the new R10. With this in mind, Audi also wanted to place a similar V12 into the R8 road car.

This idea entered development, but never made it to production due to the engineering challenges of fitting the engine into the R8. In light of today’s diesel climate, perhaps it’s for the best that this R8 variant never made it to production.

The Geneva Motor Show has thrown up some impressive pieces of technology that look certain to shape the future of the motoring industry – autonomous cars and even vehicles that can fly have appeared at this year’s show.

We’ve paced the halls and taken a look at some of the most interesting and high-tech concepts to come from the 2018 Geneva Motor Show. Here they are.

PAL-V Liberty Flying Car

The PAL-V Liberty Flying car features two engines – one for use on the road and one for the air.

It can switch between flying and driving mode in between five and 10 minutes, with prices starting at around $400,000 (around £287,000).

Audi – Italdesign pop.up next

We’ve seen autonomous cars and we’ve seen flying cars – but this has to be one of the first times that we’ve seen the two combined.

The pop.up next concept has been designed to transport people via both road and air, and features a two-seater ‘pod’, which can be attached to either a car or a flying module. It’s aim is to help solve congestion issues in urban areas.

Hyundai Nexo fuel cell

Hyundai’s Nexo fuel cell vehicle makes its European debut at Geneva, and comes as the world’s first dedicated hydrogen-powered SUV. Capable of travelling close to 500 miles on a single tank, it also features autonomous capabilities.

Volkswagen I.D. Vizzion

The fully autonomous Vizzion concept is the latest in Volkswagen’s I.D. range of cars, and is set to be available in 2022.

Though initially offered with conventional controls, the car is designed to be operated via augmented reality, gestures and voice commands.

Nissan IMx Kuro

The IMx Kuro is an evolution on the IMx concept showcased at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show. Now, it features a dark grey colour scheme but also, more importantly, a range of Nissan’s cutting-edge technologies, including Pro Pilot fully autonomous functionality.

It also gets Nissan’s brain-to-vehicle technology, which allows the car’s system to predict actions by monitoring the driver’s brainwaves.

Renault EZ-GO

Renault’s EZ-GO is another electric autonomous concept to feature at Geneva – but this one has been created with ridesharing in mind. Inside, there’s a wide open cabin with space for up to six passengers. As it’s capable of Level 4 autonomy, there’s no need for a driver – and this makes for a more spacious interior.

Jaguar I-Pace

Jaguar’s I-Pace is here to take on Tesla at its own game, offering up a close-to-300-mile all-electric range, as well as solid interior build quality. It’ll also hit 60mph in just 4.5 seconds.

It’s available to order now, with prices starting at £63,495.

Flying cars are no new idea, with companies for decades promising machinery that can take to both the skies and roads – but almost all fade away never to see the light of day. Well, thanks to Dutch company PAL-V, it looks like one may finally become reality.

This is the Liberty, the “world’s first flying car production model”, which has been unveiled at this year’s Geneva Motor Show. It’s been in development for a decade and is set to go on sale to the public in 2019.

Unlike most flying car concepts, which have fixed wings to create an aeroplane-like vehicle, the PAL-V Liberty adds a gyroplane engine and retractable propellers to a tilting sports car body – making it more akin to a helicopter.

This means it can take-off and land in a short distance – ideal for making this a practical vehicle both on the road and in the sky. Its Dutch manufacturer also claims this will allow it to fly in turbulent weather, when fixed-wing alternatives could not.

I give you… the HOMER MK2 pic.twitter.com/6CLvyvQ5Em

— James Baggott (@CarDealerEd) March 6, 2018

On the ground, the Liberty can achieve speeds of up to 106mph and, perhaps more impressively, 112mph while in the air. It can also cover 311 miles between fuel stops.

PAL-V is taking pre-orders now for interested customers, with first deliveries following next year. If you want one, now might be the time to start flying lessons as you’ll need a pilot’s licence to be able to take it to the sky.

Jaguar has pulled the covers off the hotly anticipated I-Pace – its first all-electric vehicle that it hopes will take the premium zero-emission fight to American giant Tesla.

The all-new crossover doesn’t use any of the firm’s existing car platforms – instead, it’s been made as an electric vehicle from the ground up. That means the aluminium structure has been built specifically for the twin electric motors and battery pack, improving weight distribution to improve handling.

This also means it can be roomier inside. Jaguar claims that cabin space is more comparable to a large SUV than the I-Pace’s crossover rivals – with the batteries in the floor and no large internal combustion engine up front, there’s more space for people and luggage.

Those motors produce a combined 395bhp and 696Nm of torque, propelling the car from zero to 60mph in just 4.5 seconds. Jaguar says the 90kWh lithium-ion battery offers a 298-mile range, while the sat nav system is designed to pick routes that will minimise battery use.

Rapid charging is also available, taking about 85 minutes to get to 80 per cent from empty using a 50kW DC charger. In addition, the I-Pace is compatible with 100kW chargers, which are being rolled out gradually across the public network and could chop the charge time in half.

To give the best range, Jaguar uses a battery pre-conditioning system, which can raise or lower the temperature of the battery. The British car maker says it’s also working on ways to prolong the battery life, with new recycling partnerships in the works.

The body has been designed with sports cars in mind to reflect the impressive performance on offer. The coupe-like silhouette is said to have been inspired by the firm’s C-X75 supercar concept, which was built for the James Bond movie Spectre. It features ‘active vanes’ in the grille that open when cooling is needed and close at all other times to redirect air through the bonnet scoop to minimise drag.

The new Jaguar I-Pace is available to order now, costing from £63,495.