Jim Kenzie's The Driver's Seat

Ben the Antipodean Navigator - Update

I have had some more time in the new Mazda6 (nice car, BTW...).

And, some more time with its TomTom-based SatNav system.

Turns out I was misinformed. The voice I was told was 'Ben' from New Zealand, whose advice upon reaching your destination was, "Windows up, grab those sunnies and don't let the seagulls steal your chips!" was actually 'James' from Australia.

You can listen to it again here:

Download TomTom_message_2013-02-17-151139

(My apologies if this link takes you away from the main page of this blog and forces you to go back one page to return. Seems to be how this blogging software works with audio clips.)

Now, there are two places in the Mazda6 SatNav system where you can select the voice you want to give you directions.

Why there are two perhaps only Mazda and TomTom know. Wasted about half an hour figuring that out...

In one place you can't get either Ben or James, but if you go to 'Settings' on the main SatNav menu they are both available.

To hear how Ben tells you you have arrived, click here;

Download Ben_the_kiwi_2013-02-24-185000

Now, my time in New Zealand - by all accounts, the most beautiful place on earth - has so far been limited to a two-hour layover in the Aukland airport on my way to Australia some years ago.

So my ear has never really become attuned to the Kiwi accent.

Hence, I can barely make out a syllable of what 'Ben' is saying here.

OK, I get the '300 yards', 'you have reached your destination', and 'Cheers for the ride, mate!'

But what is he asking us to grab?

Sounds like 'jandals, togs and chil-e-van.'

Anybody got a clue?

Please let me know...

Two Hot British Models

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two doors.

Four wheels.

Famed British brand with a massive motorsport history.

And exactly 616 force-inducted horsepower.

Those details aside, it's hard to imagine two more-different cars than the Bentley Continental Speed GT (above left, as if I had to point that out) and the McLaren 12C Spider (the red one).

Hardtop / convertible.

Four seats / two seats.

Front-engine / mid-engine.

Four-wheel drive / rear-wheel drive.

Turbocharged W12 / supercharged V6.

Oh yeah, another similarity - they're both really, really fast.

I drove these two cars more-or-less back-to-back - well, same week, in different countries in Europe, a while ago.

I confess, I've been a bit slow getting the details to you.

But that is being resolved as we type - we'll have full reports on each in the coming week or so.

I'm not really giving too much away when I say you should be looking forward to both.

 

Still Think You Don't Need Winter Tires?

Judging from the chaos on the roads today, a lot of people still don't.

I was in a big four-wheel drive SUV which only had no-season tires on it (a sharply-worded e-mail is in the works...) and even that got stuck a couple of times.

I know there's no point in whining to you people (my audience) about all the stupid drivers out there - you know this, and (I hope...) you aren't among them.

But so many people spinning out, everywhere!

I heard from one reader that several ramps off the 407 were blocked this morning because drivers who were presumably still doing the usual buck-forty on that road despite the obviously limited traction and visibility found out when they hit the off-ramp that - hmm-mm, my brakes and steering don't seem to be working as well this morning...

No s__t, Sherlock.

On Highway 25 heading up the Escarpment towards my house this 'prevening', to use Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper's term, there are two lanes northbound, to accommodate the big trucks climbing the hill. But the Jim-Only lane was not being travelled in, hence was still snow-covered, so only the left lane was clear enough for traffic.

That didn't stop several cars - a red four-door Jeep Wrangler, a black Ram pick-up and a black Infiniti EX Crossover among those I personally witnessed - from diving out into the on-coming downhill lane to pass me and several other vehicles, including an eighteen-wheeler which was struggling to, literally, make the grade.

Yeah yeah, brave guys - we all got four-wheel drive too. Remember; mostly what that does is let you have your crash at a higher speed.

Seriously; what is SO important that you have to save four seconds getting home? At the risk of a very serious head-on crash? For which you would be 100 percent at fault?

The best us sane people can do is to back off, and let them go have their crash with somebody else.

Or a guard rail.

Oh yes, one more thing, one more time - just because your dash lights are on doesn't mean your taillights are on. With most Daytime Running Lights systems, they aren't.

So nobody coming from behind can see you. Particularly critical in inclement weather like today's.

Not sure about your car? How about doing a walk-around before leaving home tomorrow morning and find out?

Better still, just develop the proper habit - fire up your car, then fire up your full headlights.

All the lights on, all the time.

Simple.

Safe.

No-brainer...

 

Lamborghini Races a Jet Plane

At Homestead in Miami helping to achieve the long-term objective of all professional automotive journalists - pushing forward the advent of hydrogen as a fuel by burning up petroleum as fast as we can.

The Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 Roadster is a willing and able assistant. More details soon on wheels.ca and in Wheels.

To see a video of the public reveal video of the car in Miami, click here.

If it doesn't work as a hot link, cut-and-paste the following URL into your browser:

 

http://www.thenewsmarket.com/lamborghini-aventador-lp-700-4-roadster-high-speed-demonstration-on-closed-miami-international-airport-runway/s/48b54b59-aafa-42a2-8b25-ccc0a69d259d#

 

Click on the little video camera icon with (1) beside it, then on the little red arrow just above the HD logo. This will give you a demo of this video.

Assuming you have seen it and have come back here, think about it: who in their right mind would even think about asking an American airport for permission to use a runway for a car unveiling?

They are so paranoid - perhaps justifiably - about security down here.

And we're not talking good ol' Amurrican cars like Corvette or Mustang here; we're talking an Italian super-car company.

Turns out Lamborghini's PR folks had spoken with the city of Miami about how they could use this 'lifestyle' city to show off their car, and give Miami some coverage too.

The parade through the city - and the closed freeways - were arranged.

Lamborghini then asked the airport if it would be possible to have a separate customs inspection line for the media and other VIPs.

Turns out that was not on.

But the airport authorities suggested that maybe Lamborghini might like to use the runway for a photo shoot of some sort? Turns out there's a local reality TV show based on the Miami airport, and it would also provide fodder for that.

Um, sure...

They could only spare 20 minutes, and if an airplane had to land in an emergency or whatever, the FAA would insist on it being scrubbed.

No worries - it was an opportunity too good to pass up.

American Airlines tossed in the Boeing Triple 7, and the rest you can see for yourself.

 

Road Signs for my Present, Your Future

I don't wear these Coke-bottle-bottom lenses on my face for decoration.

Sure, my 'corrected' eyesight is easily good enough for a Driver's Licence.

Even for a Racing Licence.

But do I see as well as I'd like to be able to see?

No.

I'd love to be able to read a newspaper from across the room, as someone once (I think incorrectly) said English racing great Stirling Moss could do.

And I'm too chicken, too astigmatic (and too cheap) for LASER treatment.

I'm obviously not alone here either. As our population ages (beating the only available alternative), our vision is collectively going to get worse before it gets better.

Which makes me wonder why municipalities don't make it easier for drivers to find out where they are going.

One thing they could do is be a whole lot smarter about where they position road- and street-naming signs.

Let's say, for example, you're headed south on Erin Mills Parkway in Mississauga. You see a major intersection way up ahead.

Is that Eglinton Avenue?

Can YOU tell from this photo?

If you can then YOU'RE Stirling Moss - fifty years ago.

Because the sign indicating it IS Eglinton Avenue is located only on the far side of the intersection itself.

By the time you get close enough to realise this, and if you want to turn left, then (assuming of course you're in the right lane where logic, courtesy and the law require you to be) you've got three lanes plus (in this case) two left-turn lanes to negotiate, all in about a hundred meters of 60 km/h road.

Not good.

Why isn't there a sign a few hundred metres back up the road, indicating that this up-coming intersection is in fact Eglinton? You'd have plenty of time to react.

Not everybody can afford a car with SatNav, with Doris of the Dashboard telling you where you are at every moment.

Sure, you'd still want the sign at the intersection itself.

But more advance warning?

It would make a huge difference.

I'm not picking on Mississauga here. Every municipality in the GTA - frankly, almost everywhere in the world - is guilty of this to some degree.

What makes it particularly frustrating is that not half a klick away, just around that left-hand turn, they have done exactly that. If you're headed west on Eglinton approaching Credit Valley Road, here's what you see:

Could hardly be clearer.

Well, they could put a sign on a pole in the centre median too, as they do in some instances.

Here, they've even put the house number range on the sign, so if you know the exact address you're looking for, you know which way you have to turn.

It is clear then that somebody within the Mississauga transportation department (road sign division...) knows how this is supposed to be done.

My question: why aren't they consistently doing it correctly?

Of course, if they'd just eliminate these stupid, sprawling, horribly dangerous, traffic-light-controlled multi-lane intersections altogether and replace them with roundabouts, the problem (and dozens of others) would cease to exist.

But no municipality within the GTA is smart enough to figure that out; I admit, I'm aiming low here, hoping that a few more properly-positioned road signs can at least alleviate the danger.

It would be a start.

 

Clever licence plate on a Tesla Roadster

Spotted in a parking lot in Napa Valley California:

Look closely - that's an electric Tesla Roadster. See? It's plugged in.

Sorry about the quality of the photo - Piece of Crap iPhone shot, taken in the rain.

The licence plate indicates that the owner has a sense of humour, if not much of a sense of where the electricity to recharge his car probably comes from.

I wonder if some day there's going to be OLEC - Organization of Lithium-Exporting Countries...

 

 

Targa Newfoundland 2012 - That's a Wrap

It's all over but the shouting, the stories, and the memories.

The eleventh Targa Newfoundland finished up last Friday - results are available on www.targanewfoundland.com, and podcasts about each day's events can be seen on www.targanewfoundlandnews.com.

This (left) was our mount for the week, a Kia Optima Turbo.

Like the picture? You got rock, you got fog, you got fishing boats. Does it get any more Newfoundland than that?

The car was fast, the 276 horsepower 2.0 litre four-cylinder turbo allowing it to nudge (and occcasionally break...) the event speed limit of 200 km/h.

We felt the suspension was too low and too hard - there aren't many competition suspension options for this car yet.

The brakes (stock rotors; competition pads) were tested severely - we were on our third set of front rotors by Friday.

Not a complaint - no road-going car short of something like a Ferrari could withstand the rigours of driving like this.

The automatic transmission's computer wasn't really set up for this sort of thing either. We thought if we could find some 14-year old cell-phone-breaking kid to hack into it and make it shift when I wanted it to instead of when IT wanted to...

But my co-driver Brian Bourbonniere and myself did manage to finish sixth in the Modern Division, which we thought wasn't too bad for a first outing for this car.

We did win two sub-classes - the automatic transmission class, and the Back-Up Camera class.

OK, so we were the only car in Modern which had either feature, and there really weren't awards for this, but we'll take whatever we can get.

The toughest thing about Targa - other than finishing it - is trying to describe to people what it's really like, and to get them to come and participate.

I've been telling people for eleven years that it's the most fun you can have in a car with your clothes on.

The police close the roads and tell you to drive faster; what else does a car freak need to know?

He (or she) also needs to know where to find a lot of money. The entry fee is five grand, give or take, and you're probably looking at a minimum of ten grand more to get the car here, bring crew, etc.

And that of course assumes you've already got a race-ready car.

I'll describe three rookie teams from this year to try and express what this event is like.

Jennifer and Steve Morris from Glencoe Ontario bought an old Toyota Supra, rebuilt the engine, installed a roll cage, and entered the Grand Touring Division.

They couldn't stop talking about what an amazing time they had. The driving, sure - they sort of expected that. But the scenery, the hospitality, the camaraderie? Permanent smiles on both their faces.

They did violate one of rallying's most basic rules - never rally with anyone you're planning on sleeping with. But they celebrated their wedding anniversary on the Sunday after the event ended, so that seemed to work out OK too.

Ben Gill and David Didcock from England built up a beautiful 1979 Ford Escort to be an exact replica of a contemporary World Rally Championship car. They are endurance racers in England, and had only done one rally ever before. They finished second in the Classic Division for older cars, and David said the event was the "best racing days of their entire lives."

If we had been able to take a litre of Ben's blood after the Gander town stage and distilled it, we'd put the cocaine dealers out of business in a heartbeat.

And Tom Martin Jr. and Tom Martin III - pere et fils - from Dallas Texas and Los Angeles respectively, originally prepped their spectacular orange BMW E30 M3 for Targa Tasmania, the granddaddy of Targa events. They had never even heard of Targa Newfoundland; when someone pointed out that Newfoundland is a lot closer to the south-western US than Tasmania, they came up here, and simply couldn't believe it.

They could tell you better than I whether it's worth it.

Obviously, if you don't have this kind of coin to spend on a hobby/vacation, 'worth' is not an issue.

But I know golfers, horseback riders, regional car racers, dog breeders, all sorts of people, who spend way more than that on their hobbies. Or their vacations.

If you have any interest whatsoever in automotive competition, you simply have to try Targa.

Daria Khachi shared a BMW 325 with an M3 engine stuffed in it with Alan Morris. Daria brought his wife and son along for the last couple of days, combining the hobby/vacation thing perfectly. Daria called his organization "Bucket List Racing".

Couldn't have said it better myself...

 

2013 Chevrolet Malibu

Cape Breton is beautiful, and the Cabot Trail is one of the world's great oceanside roads.

But cell service throughout (on Rogers anyway...) and WiFi access at some of the quaint hotels we stayed at are iffy at best.

So while I did drive this 2013 Chevrolet Malibu yesterday, I couldn't blog/Facebook/Twitter about it until now.

My preview test is or soon will be on-line at wheels.ca, and in the dead-tree edition of Wheels this Saturday.

To save you the suspense, the new Malibu is handsome (you can see that for yourself), is significantly upgraded inside, and offers a quiet, comfortable, reasonably nimble driving experience.

It's an all-four cylinder power train line-up: new 197-horse 2.5 litre; existing 182-horse 2.4 litre with 15 extra electric ponies for passing in the ECO variant (from the same mild-hybrid system used in Buick's eAssist models); 269 horsepower 2.0 litre direct injection turbo (delayed availability - order now; you'll get it maybe mid-October).

So, pick your performance/fuel consumption trade-off.

Starting at $24,995, Malibu appears to offer good value for money in what is an increasingly tough market segment.

Tough?

With Honda Accord, Mazda6, Nissan Altima, Toyota Camry and Volkswagen Passat all new or substantially upgraded within the past twelve months (or next three weeks), that leaves the still-stylish Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima corporate cousins as the oldest major players in this field - they date way back to 2011!

No duds there.

Determining how well Malibu does against this All-Star crowd will be at least partially answered at next month's Automobile Journalists Association of Canada Car of the Year Test Fest, when several of them will be competing for Best New Family Sedan.

Meanwhile, I can tell you that Malibu at the very least belongs in that conversation, on that radar screen, in that swim lane.

 

A Pox on All Transponder Ignition Systems

I'm not sure which car to blame, the Honda S2000 or the Bentley Turbo R.

But I'm pretty sure one of those was the first to do away with the oh-so-clever 'old-fashioned' ignition switch - push in the key, one click to the right for ignition, one more for 'run', and one more against a spring-load to work the starter.

If we didn't have that and someone invented it, they'd give him a Nobel Prize.

It has been a short step from there to these damned transponder key systems.

And therein hangs yet another tale...

I did a little TSD (Time Speed Distance) car rally last Sunday, the 'Mini-Monte', organized by three different car clubs. Each started from its own home base, and joined together for the final leg to Pinehurst Conservation Area south of Cambridge.

I drove it in a new Chrysler 300S, a very nice vehicle which has one of these transponder systems.

I parked the car, and for whatever reason (can't remember), tried to re-start it with the door part-way open.

“No Key Detected”.

WHAT? Where the hell is the 'key'?

I had it when we left Georgetown - couldn't have left without it. We never shut the car off between then and here; did it maybe fall out of my pocket as I ran back to get our checkpoint time verified?

In which case, it might be anywhere.

Soon, several people were searching the car. But that was pointless because if it WAS in the car, it would have been detected!

Great. Do I have to get this thing flat-bedded back to Chrysler? Where's my CAA card again?

Then the amazingly awesome (her own description, with which I concur...) Lorraine Sommerfeld, ex of this very newspaper, started rummaging around in the driver's door map pocket.

There it was.

I of course had done a 'man-look' for it in that very spot; it seems it was actually buried underneath something else!

Who knew...

But the question then became - why didn't the car detect it?

Turns out IF the door is open to the first 'detente' - where the door stays open by itself - AND the transponder is either in the cup holder or the very front part of the map pocket (below), it is close enough to one of the five antennae in the car to be recognized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two, maybe three cm away (below), and no...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Ending as it turned out, but Major Angst too.

We had a similar problem some years ago when editor Mark Richardson was turning over a Prius to Gerry Malloy. As I recall the story, Mark drove Gerry and himself to his house in Milton, and Gerry took the car on to his house in Orono, half-way to Peterborough.

He shut the car off - but of course couldn't start it again because the transponder was in Mark's pocket in Milton...

Yeah yeah, most cars (now, anyway, if not then...) beep at you if you drive away without the transponder.

But cars beep at you all the time these days - who pays attention to all those beeps?

And I gather that some cars now will allow ONE re-start without the transponder present, but that surely represents a security risk.

Seriously; what was SO wrong about needing to have the key in the friggin' dashboard, so you ALWAYS knew where it was?

I'm all for new technology, but this makes no sense to me. What does this system offer that forcing you to actually put the key somewhere does not?

Comments as always welcome...

 

Hawaii Highway Sign

You Facebook fans could have a field day with the name of this highway, just outside Honolulu: