BMW 7-Series Celebrates its 30th Birthday

We have been savoring the goodness of BMW cars over years and this time they are celebrating the 30th birthday of their super famous original 7-Series. Years ago, it was released under the codename E23 and that was back in 1977. The new name was also made to replace the outgoing 6-Series which comes with four doors and smaller features. The upgrade to the 7-Series was made to set a new line that could compete with its long time competitor Mercedes-Benz.

Since it was released on that date, the 7-Series had been the most sought after car in the auto market. They put a friendly competition with the also famous the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Lexus LS and the Audi A8. And because the car model is celebrating its 30th year on the car market, BMW is giving it a new face on its retunes. If you compare the first 7-Series model to the up-to-date model, the buyers would see a huge change. The new version of the 7-Series will be given more car installations like the insanely complex iDrive system, more styling and more car parts.

Personally, we congratulate BMW for being able to stay this long on the business. And for us, the followers of their models, we wish them more years to come and more models to make. We are looking forward for more updated versions of the 7-Series and before they reveal the new face of it, we should all sit here and wish BMW for more success.

Don’t Get Distracted While Driving!

Don’t let anyone or anything get you distracted while you’re behind the wheel on the highway! Don’t be so stupid and act so irresponsible while driving because it may cost you your precious life! Oh yes, my friends, according to the survey from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), a lot of car crashes and road accidents are caused by distracted driving.

According to the latest survey published in autochannel.com, nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involve a few types of driver’s inattentiveness or distracting behavior within three seconds before the worst scenario takes place. Also, the American Automobile Association (AAA) approximates that between 4,000 and 8,000 crashes related to distracted driving happens daily in the United States. Brrr… gruesome.

The survey revealed that respondents admitted that they do extreme behavior while behind the wheel. Here are some examples:

• A driver talking on a Bluetooth headset
• Putting on makeup
• Eating a fast-food breakfast and looking at a piece of paper in the seat next to her while driving
• The respondent indicated that occasionally the driver did not have any hands on the wheel and was perhaps steering with her knees.
• Respondent recalls witnessing a doctor looking at one of his patient’s x-rays while he was driving

“These examples, along with hundreds of others we all see on a regular basis, highlight how important of an issue distracted driving really is. The steel safety cage in a car is the last line of defense for vehicle occupants in the event of a crash, but we as an industry advocate safe, non-aggressive driving and an extra dose of common sense to avoid a crash from even occurring. Everyday we are hearing about more and more accidents caused by distracted driving, so it’s time that this issue becomes front and center in our everyday conversations. It is important for drivers to be aware of the consequences that come with being distracted behind the wheel. It only takes a second of being distracted for an accident to occur,” said Bill Heenan, the president of the Steel Recycling Institute (SRI).

Some tips to avoid distracted driving, courtesy of Loyola University Health System and Insurance Bureau of Canada:

1. Request your passengers to minimize their conversation to help you concentrate in driving.
2. Know and Study the possible distractions before you drive, such as eating, putting on make-up, combing your hair, reading and checking messages.
3. Make sure you’re all conditioned and rested before getting behind the wheel.
4. Make sure you have clear directions and double-check the map before you hit the road.
5. Familiarize yourself with your dashboard controls before you go. 6. Deal with your music ahead of time. Pre-program your car radio, and adjust your channels, CDs or iPOD only managed when the car is stopped.

Range Rover makes a Change

Land Rover is now on sale according to some news on the net. But while they are wearing the bargain tag, they are still doing good jobs in its car line ups – just like the upgrades they give to the ongoing Range Rover. Last year’s Range Rover handles a V8 4.4L engine which is capable of running on 305 horsepower. The supercharged V8 4.2L is propelling on a huge 400 horsepower but now, the new car model received a minimum set of upgrades from Land Rover.

The interior parts have been given new looks. The storage cabin was given more space than the previous version. It added air-conditioning devices as well as switchgear, a new trim and airbags for safer driving. The front seats are even made safer by giving new head restraints used to minimize whiplash. It also received a new air-cooling system.

An all-new Land Rover Terrain Response system is also installed on the new Rover model. An electronic rear is also given as a standard car part for the supercharged models. The electronic brake also is installed on the new vehicle to automatically disengage the car when you start driving.

Need more? Well, take those aluminum replacements on the car as a plan according to the makers of the new Land Rover. The new car will stand as competition between Porsche and Mercedes-Benz but the company is promising more unique features when they reveal the new Range Rover soon enough.

Toyota Cars on the SEMA show

 

Toyota will not only reveal one car model on the upcoming show, but they are going to send out three. Three gorgeous cars will make the 2007 SEMA car show the hottest car show of the season. SEMA will be happening three more months from now and I guess Toyota has had too much time to prepare. The more excited they become, the more the car maker is doing its best to bring us three of the newest car models in its line up.

 

The Toyota Corolla is one among the famous car models of Toyota. For years, we’ve seen it change but still it is actively running on the streets. Now, Toyota is bringing the latest version of the car. The SEMA show is blessed that the all-new 2009 Toyota Corolla will be one among those that will reveal itself at the car show. The Corolla will be relaunched with a sedan version and will make a comeback as a hatchback or a coupe. We all hope to see the TRD on the show but I guess we have to keep out fingers crossed on that one.

 

The powerful new Tundra will be one among the three cars that will show off on the SEMA show. The heavy duty diesel dual Tundra pickup is coming with a new engine. The truck was not criticized because of it Legacy parts but because the previous model‘s engine is a monster so much so that it was also bringing more weight to the truck. This is why Toyota brings a new smaller engine which would be powerful in performance. The engine will be a V8 4.5 L which is what Toyota is working on right now. The Tundra is much more exciting and I guess we all have to go to the SEMA show to see that. The truck will not be a hybrid car, by the way.

 

Another concept version will be revealed at the show. This time Toyota is going to prove that they can also make a convertible car. Toyota will reveal the FJ Cruiser Convertible concept – a hardtop convertible which is only going to come as a concept. The engineering department of Toyota had a hard time dealing with a removable hard top so Toyota will only reveal it as a concept vehicle. The Outback parts were not mentioned whether they are available on the new car.

Excited about the car show? Well, we still have few more months to wait. We have to look for more info at the net so we could know what else to expect at the coming show.

Toyota Prius Fought Back

We all know about how eco-friendly the Toyota Prius is, right? But when it enters the hybrid market, there are many speculations that the hybrid car, which is believed to the most famous hybrid car of all time, is not that environment-friendly – at least not the way they promised it to be. However, the US manager of Toyota’s Advanced Technologies Group, Bill Reinert, defended the hybrid car model.

Last year, CNW Marketing-Research conducted a study about the Toyota Prius and they revealed a note that tells us that there is almost $3.25 cost per mile over 100,000 miles. It was actually compared to the ongoing Hummer H2 which was found out to be using only $1.95 per mile on 300,000 miles.

 

Bill Reinert said, they had to question the methodology used on the studies done by the CNW Marketing-Research because the findings on the current Prius seems to be questionable. The CNW did not even release the strategy done on the study and on why they came up with the data. GoAuto also commented saying that Toyota Staffers claim that the data revealed have been refuted “by every top science group of the world,”

Among the hybrid cars of today, Toyota was not the only hybrid car that was criticized this way. Honda also had a share of it. Studies also show that the Japanese auto maker is not true about the information they give about their Civic Hybrid. According to the study, Honda does not come on the advertised mileage of 51mpg on the highway as well as of 49mpg in the city.

 

The Japanese car maker defended themselves. They said, their car can travel to a 650 mile distance using only a single tank. This only means that the driver has an average of 51mpg. But John True, a California man that sues Honda says, the car only has an average of 32mpg on a 6,000 miles drive.

 

Both Honda and Toyota are Japanese cars that brought the hybrid car technology to the US car market. Honda revealed its very own Insight in 1997 and the Toyota Prius followed. Prius remained in the market for more than ten years now while the Honda is developing the Civic Hybrid to be its car bearer of their hybrid line up.

Prepare for the French Grand Prix

I know everyone is excited about the upcoming French Grand Prix! Let’s all set aside those Volvo fan blades first and prepare and brace ourselves while we all wait for the big event which would commence just a few hours from now.

The F1 teams are all excited too – just as thrilled as we are. So I took the liberty of reading some of their thoughts about the French Grand Prix at the recent FIA press conference which had with Flavio Briatore (Renault managing director), John Howett (Toyota GmbH president), Colin Kolles (Spyker team principal) and Jean Todt (Ferrari team principal) answering questions.

Q: John, first of all, a couple of good times during Silverstone testing. Are you expecting those good times to be reflected here?
John Howett: We hope so. There’s still a gap, obviously, between us and the top teams, but we’re making steady progress and we hope to see that progress reflected this weekend.

Q: Was that a jump forward more than you expected, because obviously everybody else was developing and bringing out new bits?
John Howett: I still don’t think it’s a jump forward. Basically we’re evolving the car, we have a lot more to come for the rest of the season but we hope we’ll be back more to the competitive position of Barcelona here and at Silverstone.

Q: Colin, there’s a report that you’re not happy with the updates on the Super Aguri cars; or maybe just not happy with the Super Aguri cars full stop. What is the situation with customer cars at the moment?
Colin Kolles: Well, actually I already said everything in this respect. There is nothing new. Arbitration is on-going and there’s nothing more to say.

Q: So you haven’t said anything more on the recent updates on the Aguri Hondas?
Colin Kolles: It was just information to all the teams, informing them of what’s going on.

Q: Flavio, were you encouraged by testing at Silverstone last week?
Flavio Briatore: I don’t know. Testing is testing. It’s greater encouragement when you have a podium after a race. To be quick in the test I don’t think makes a big difference.

Q: So what about today, then?
Flavio Briatore: On Fridays everybody has different strategies. We are quite happy. If you see the numbers not (very good) but really we have some fuel (load) and we are quite happy. We have recovered a little bit in respect to the beginning of the season.

Q: Going back to Ferrari, there were reports after the last Grand Prix that there had been a breakage in your wind tunnel. How has that affected development over the last few races?
Jean Todt: Yes, that’s true, we had a problem with the carpet (moving road), the metallic carpet and we lost about two weeks’ development, but that’s not an excuse.

To view the complete transcript of the French GP FIA press conference, just visit this site.