new Volvo XC90

The name Volvo has always been synonymous with safety and safe cars. The pioneered the firs 3 point seat belt and have arguably the safest car in the world. They have been working on this principal for decades but their cars were never all that exciting. they tried to pitch their Polestar version (a hot version) of their S60 against the BMW M3 and fell far short of the performance that the M3 offered. this aside Volvo struggled with sales as their models were raging in the 1990s and early 2000s which saw them lose money.
Subsequently one of China's big car companies decided to buy Volvo seeing that Volvo had technology and good R&D. China could do with the technology Volvo had and Volvo could also have a larger slice of the China market. It appeared to be a good win-win solution for both companies and since the acquisition Volvo really has grown from strength to strength. New models soon came out creating more interest in the brand globally and the cars looked better than before. Dropping away from the traditionally boxy design the new models were sleeker and sportier and also handle better than previous models.

The biggest surprise was their flag ship SUV XC90 which was in service for a very long time and a new model was due. Volvo with their new financial backing went to work to literally kit out the new model with everything you could possibly think of. The new model was launched earlier this year and it came with: 2 litre supercharge and turbo charge engine with a plug-in hybrid system! The car pushed out over 400hp (combined with the hybrid power) and 640Nm with capacity to hit a 100km/h in 5.6 seconds (when both engine and electric power is combined)! this is very impressive for a car that weighs 2300kg!! the best part of it was the claimed fuel consumption of 2.1 litre per 100km.
Volvo was really going all out with technology available now. The new car is big but yet has a sporty look. the interior is also completely new with a nice modern flare to it and it came with the new massive LCD touch screen display that is similar to the one found in the Tesla P85.
The instrument cluster is a mixture of analogue dials and the large LCD display between the speedometer and tachometer.

It still remains to be seen if this car can steal BMW, Mercedes, Audi or Posche customers. It is may even ruffle some feathers in Land Rover. 

Die hard Volvo fans will be happy to see this new model and it may worry some competitors. Good job Volvo to make things interesting again.

strut braces and other supporting braces for chassis strengthening

When a car company talks about car chassis strengthening they refer to spot welding to improve rigidity but when an uninformed person talks about chassis strengthening they refer to strut braces and other pieces of metal that they bolt-on the chassis in the aim of strengthening the chassis.

Race cars only use roll cages to strengthen the chassis to keep the driver's cabin as strong as possible to protect the driver in the event of an accident. the aim is safety rather than anything else. On the layman side buy fancy braces to make their cars look cool like a race car but they forgot that race cars seldom use such strut braces or other types of support braces apart from the roll cage. Buying and fitting the right support braces can help the car's handling slight but will not make a huge difference. BMW and some car companies do fit strut braces on the front suspension to improve rigidity and reduce flexing but the strut braces used are specifically designed and tested to break away in a specific way during an accident to prevent injury to the driver. However for aftermarket strut braces or other chassis support braces are usually not properly tested especially those made in developing countries where motorsport is still not a huge industry. the factories that product such products do not have the funds to invest in vigorous testing, load testing, stress testing or even crash testing. This raises a lot of questions when it comes to safety and how the braces will really perform during an accident.

I have personally seen a 4 point engine bay brace that is connect to the suspension towers and also the front of the chassis (just in front of the radiator), this is a very dangerous design especially during an accident. This brace will reinforce the engine bay and will force the engine into the driver's cabin during an accident and since the cars usually don't have a roll cage the driver's cabin is not reinforced. the engine will be pushed into the driver's cabin and will very likely kill or seriously injure the driver and front passenger!

There has been some false reports that were used by the factories that make these products claiming that their product saved a customer during an accident but the information was very misleading. The car hit a guard rail on the side of the highway and the car rolled over and barrel rolled down a hill. The car was only fitted with a strut brace, front fender brace and a rear suspension brace. When a car barrel rolls down a hill all these braces do nothing to save the driver. the only thing keeping the driver alive is the strength of the A, B and C pillar which has nothing to do with the braces installed in the car.

Before you go out and buy a chassis strengthening brace for your car, think about the application and whether it is going to do your car more good or more harm! Adding braces will increase weight and if you over stiffen the front it will cause the car to understeer more. If you want better handling, get a good suspension kit and have it setup properly and maybe change to thicker or stiffer anti roll bars that suit your car.

Car paint protection coatings

The current craze for car owner is the car paint protection coatings. there are several types of coatings, glass, ceramic, titanium and carbon. The most popular being the glass type because it gives off a bright shiny effect like glass but it is a short term solution that requires regular maintenance to maintain the shine or gloss. Many of the glass coatings originate from Japan, Korea or China. Despite the hype and over selling that goes on at more car coating shops, the owners of the shops fail to tell the customers that the glass coating is not as durable as one thinks.

here are some of the pit falls of glass coating:-
- the extreme hardness of the glass coating claimed by the vendors are not durable and being extremely hard means that it is not soft enough to move with the surface since the painted car body will expand and contract slightly due to heat and cold. In tropical climate the extreme heat and sudden rain in the afternoon will cause the glass coating to crack and flake off over time.
- not all glass coating can repel water or is resistant to acid rain which results in staining.
- the shine does not last as long as claimed, many merely last 3-6 months rather than the 3-5 years as claimed (you can call it extreme exaggeration during the sales pitch).
- glass coating is old technology and the difference in grade is enormous since you can get glass coatings from as much as $100 per car to $1000 per car!
- all claims to be scratch, stain and dirt resistant but this appears not to be true since many of the low grade glass coatings have a lot of stains build up on the car.

Ceramic coating:-
- is newer in technology compared to Glass and is meant to be more durable as ceramic is known to be but is more expensive than glass
- claims to be scratch resistant but the jury is out on this one!
- heat resistant but not proven yet
- some vendors claims to be selling ceramic coating but it cracks like glass coating over time so no one really knows if the vendors are selling real ceramic coating or glass coating.

Titanium coating:
- no real test was done to prove that it is truly titanium!
- similar claims to ceramic and glass but suppose to be more durable
- not as easy to apply as glass coating

Carbon coating:
- still relatively unknown and could be a fancy name slapped on glass coating and sold at inflated prices.
- durability is still unknown since only very few vendors are selling this type of coating.

The simple advise here is to do thorough checks before investing your money on such coatings. Many are making wild claims just to sell their products. Be ware of their 5 years warranty program which require you to bring your car back to check annually. The "check" is really to top up the coating which you already paid for. The danger is that the company that is selling the coating may close down before your 5 years warranty is over leaving you with a patchy looking car. It is better to pay less for a shorter so called warranty period and pay to top up the coating if necessary. this way you are not in danger of over paying and potentially not getting what you paid for.

In all fairness if the coating is good you will be able to see a good level of gloss, is truly stain resistant (meaning it is very easy to clean with minimal use of chemicals or can easily be wiped off with water and a cloth), will not crack, looks cleaner than other cars despite not washing for 2-3 weeks and will not look dull under the sun.

new Honda NSX

Honda is finally back after so many years with their brand spanking new NSX! it is loaded with a whole load of technology from torque vectoring, 4WD, electric motors hybrid and turbo charging! wow! They literally packed in all the technology they could get their hands on. The car looks good, current era design and also has the nice view from the driver's seat like all typical Hondas.

All is great with the exception of a few things:-
- the price! it is more expensive than many of the super cars it is competing against such as the Audi R8, the Porsche 911 Turbo and the BMW i8. this itself may put off some buyers.
- they are very late to the game! Took Honda far too long to develop this car and it was so highly anticipated for so long.
- The torque vectoring system on the front wheels dumbs down the feel of the steering.
- all the advanced electronics took away the meaning of the original NSX concept which was to be a pure driver's car that had a lot of driver involvement and was rewarding to drive.

It seemed like Honda was trying to show the world that they can compete with the best by add all the gadgets and latest tech into the NSX but purists are complaining that it is no longer the real NSX that they know and love. the original NSX changed the way sports cars were made and made Ferrari rethink how sports cars should be made. The new NSX is like playing catch up and it not really with the original plot.

Yes! the tech in the car is impressive but it is still slower than a Nissan GT-R and does not have the Porsche branding behind it and it is not a driver's car. There is simply far too many advanced electronics doing the driving taking away the driver involvement.

Mazda stuck to their guns and made the MX-5 fun and they have been doing it generation after generation. They also made other car companies realise that you don't need massive power to have fun and kept true to their motto of making a car fun to drive. I don't see why Honda couldn't do that. The NSX was legendary but the new one is just not on the same page as the original!

Racing electric vehicles

Put a man in 2 or 4 wheels and he will race it regardless if it is fossil fuel powered or electric powered. The main difference is the sound which is part and parcel of racing. The absence of engine sound or exhaust notes makes it feel strange. it is as if one is driving a remote control car running on batteries. I watched Formula E which is formula cars driven by electric motors. The concept is different from Formula One where the Formula E cars have a certain amount of electrical charge and can have a limited driving range, the driver will stop mid race to swap cars with fresh batteries instead of refuelling in F1 (used to have refuelling stops).

The Formula E car only emitted a whining type of sound which was very strange and it did not create a sensation of speed and excitement. the cars are on level playing field where all are using same chassis and power units. The teams are permitted to change the suspension setup to suit their drivers and they need to manage the use of the power in the batteries to balance speed and range.

We are very likely to see many more races using electric vehicles but the lack of sound really does make it a bit dull.

VW's problems

In their quest to be the number 1 car maker in the world VW took bold steps to push for more sales but by doing so their reputation took a massive hit when countless number of problems surfaced due to the lack of focus on quality and reliability. Firstly the transmission problem for the dry DSG gearboxes, then the cylinder malfunction in the 1.4 TSI engines and now the diesel gate scandal. I am not sure who should be blamed but the CEO at the time was very driven by sales figures.

Naturally making a car is never easy since there are so many components that make up a car. For a car maker that has so much history and experience one would expect them to be more professional in their approach to quality and reliability. Like Toyota, their cars are rather conservative but undeniably reliable and this made for rock solid residual values and dependability that all consumers like. Toyota don't make the most exciting cars but they make by far the most reliable cars on the planet. VW obviously forgot about this point and furthermore, they forgot about the critical value of after sales service.
If a customer had a problem with the car and the car maker was very willing to fix the problem at no cost to the customer, naturally the customer would feel good and willing to come back to buy another car in the future knowing that the car maker is responsible and will assist or support in the event of a problem. The knowledge of this assurance in the minds of the customer will keep the customer loyal. Customer loyalty is more powerful than trying to sell a car to a new customer. It was obvious that VW forgot about this as well.

Having heard stories from VW senior managers in Beijing who had to endure the ordeal of hiding in their office until 4 am because of the angry customers protesting outside their office is incredible. You would think that VW Germany would do the right thing to step in and fix their problems firstly by recalling faulty cars or immediately rectifying the problems faced by customers. the lack of responsibility by senior management really goes to show their lack of leadership and direction for the company.

I seriously wonder if VW will ever regain the respect they once commanded. the confidence in the brand has been seriously tarnished by the foolish and irresponsibility of the VW senior management in Germany. The problems was not isolated to several countries but worldwide. VW management was very slow to react and practically did nothing to help angry customers. the problems that they face now will not go away for a long time to come.

Mahendra buys Pininfarina

The surprise news of the week has to be Indian company Mahendra buying Pininfarina. This is definitely interesting since more and more European automotive companies are being bought by Asian companies. The trend is definitely not letting up and it is clear to see that the Asian companies regardless if they are from India or China, they have the funds and also the desire to move forward with their car development. Jaguar LandRover after being bought by Tata several years ago have gone from strength to strength unlike when it was under Ford. The company was floundering and only introduced very few models that made any impact to the company's profitability. Since Tata took over Jaguar LandRover we have seen a flurry of new exciting models and new technology that made a difference to the company.

I believe Pininfarina will see a turn for the better and Mahendra will utilise Pininfarina's design expertise to the max. Better looking Mahendra models will definitely be coming soon and don't be surprised to see Pininfarina doing more business in Asia. For a company like Mahendra having Pininfarina in their group will be advantageous since Mahindra is not known for their good looking cars. It may also help Mahindra enter the European market via Pinanfarina's connetion in Europe.

No more gasoline or diesel cars by 2050 in selected countries

Yes you read it right, several countries in Europe and 5 states in US have declared that they will stop the sales of fossil fuel powered cars by 2050. This is serious news for automakers and they would have to shift their focus on developing electric or alternative energy cars. This basically will play into the hands of Tesla and other early adopters of electric cars.

It was a matter of time before the Green movement will create enough influence to make Governments sit up and change the law.  this being said the battery technology is still not quite there yet with the demands of consumers since only Tesla currently possess the technology to provide a driving range of 400km per full charge of the battery. To be viable any electric car needs to have a driving range of at least 400km to make it sensible to drive daily with the flexibility to drive in between cities. the car must also have a quick charge system that will allow 80% charge of the battery within 20 minutes.

Porsche has jumped on the bandwagon and announced that they will put into production their new electric sports concept that boasts 80% charge in 15 minutes with a driving range of 310 miles or 496km. this definitely good news but Porsche being Porsche the car won't be cheap and will be out of reach for most ordinary folk.  Nissan's Leaf and Renault's E-Fluence seem to be too out of date to be competitive since their driving range is barely 200km despite their claims of 250km or more!

Toyota has introduced their hydrogen powered car which is butt ugly but seems to be a workable concept since it is not running on fossil fuel.

Lets see what other car makers can come up with. With the impending commercialisation of Graphene battery technology we may see many more electric cars in the years to come.