Monday, 17 March 2014

Toyota Aygo (2014) first official pictures | Automotive ... - Car Magazine

Toyota Aygo (2014) first official <b>pictures</b> | Automotive <b>...</b> - <b>Car</b> Magazine

Toyota Aygo (2014) first official <b>pictures</b> | Automotive <b>...</b> - <b>Car</b> Magazine

Posted: 03 Mar 2014 11:45 PM PST

By Ollie Kew

First Official Pictures

04 March 2014 07:45

The new Toyota Aygo is chasing a new level of customization, like the Peugeot 108 and the Citroen C1 that it shares it platform and mechanicals with.

Like it? The bold face of the Aygo is shows off the brash new hatch that’s chasing a younger audience that its French counterparts, with an interchangeable ‘X’ face that, side strakes and rear diffuser. The intention, says Toyota, is to give the Aygo a wide strong stance, a level of personalization all while maintaining its lithe, city friendly dimensions â€" what it calls ‘evolution of Aygoness’. Yup.

Why has Toyota put so much effort into the look of the Aygo?

This is a crucial car for Toyota â€" 65% of Aygo buyers go on to purchase another Toyota, so it’s an entrée to what the brand can offer. And of course, it has to entice buyers not just from the C1 and 108, but cars like the VW Up. ‘Astro Boy was one of the main inspirations in the design concept of the new the Aygo,’ says chief designer, Nakamura-san. ‘He is drawn in a simple way but is very recognisable.’

You won’t mistake the Aygo for the C1 or 108. The Aygo’s newfound level of customisation starts with that in-ya-face X, which dominates the nose and crosses the A-pillar to give the Aygo a wider stance. At the rear, there’s an interchangable diffuser-type panel, too, with high vertical lights adding to that muscled-up, larger presence. Interchangeable side strakes are on offered, as well, combined with contrasting paint for the alloy wheels and unique colour combos for your own, um, Aygoness.

Looks slightly bigger

The new Aygo is a mere 25mm longer than before, but it’s still only 3455mm long. ‘We don’t want to just keep growing the car,’ says Aygo’s UK product manager, Alan Barratt. There’s still an emphasis on passenger space, though. Instead of the fold-back roof on the 108 and C1, Toyota’s added some muscle: spot that double-bubble roof. ‘The idea of the double bubble is to allow the roof lining to follow the roof and give the maximum interior space with a small exterior dimensions,' Aygo chief designer, Nakamura. The overall theme is of a geometric exterior being pressured by an organic interior â€" think of an egg pushing out of a tissue box, and that’s what Nakamura means.

What about the interior?

Inside, then, the cabin’s been decluttered for a more spacious feeling. ‘We reexamined the basic proportions of the interior, and tried to keep the number of components to a minimum,’ Nakamura says, with the centre cluster, for instance, moved inward by 50mm for a greater sense of openness. You can also customise the inside, too, with the smartphone-like ease of clicking on and clicking off the dash garnish, the gear lever surrounds and more of the ‘playfulness’ Toyota says is part of the Aygo theme in the graphics: for instance, Nakamura points out that the digital temp gauge will ice up when its cold, or show steam in hot weather. Cute.

Haven’t we heard all of this before, from the Mini and the Vauxhall Adam?

Sure, says Toyota, but there’s a crucial difference: the execution. With rivals, says Toyota, customers rarely get their first choice. ‘Our retailers are telling is that people are coming in and wanting to customize their cars,’ says Barratt. ‘The issue is price and the issue is availability. If you can fix those things… the right products, the right choices and it’s affordable, we think we’ve cracked it.’

To ‘crack it’, Toyota will offer customization in only one trim line, called ‘X-play’, and keep up to 15,000 cars in an inventory once they’ve left the Czech factory in which they’re built. Peugeot and Citroen won’t do the same for 108 and C1. Further Aygo customization can be done at the dealer, suggests Barratt.

What about under all that colour and bravado?

Two three-cylinder 1.0-litre engines will be offered at launch, in 68bhp guise, with a five-speed manual or five-speed auto transmission. Toyota hasn’t release mpg figures, but based on the French cars’ there should be an Aygo that claims better-than 65.7mpg and around 82g/km of CO2.

The Aygo is expected to have a slightly higher list price than the C1 and 108, yet that’s will still only around £9000 when it hits showrooms in mid 2014.

Nissan Juke facelift (2014) first official <b>pictures</b> <b>...</b> - <b>Car</b> Magazine

Posted: 03 Mar 2014 10:30 PM PST

By Ollie Kew

First Official Pictures

04 March 2014 06:30

This is the facelifted Nissan Juke. Chief among the visual changes to Nissan’s divisive-looking but best-selling crossover are reshaped LED running lights inspired by 2013’s Extrem concept car, a revised front bumper that look less like a wine rack, and revised tail lights.

There are also new alloy wheels and, as you can see, garish paint schemes, but the real headlines here lurk under Quasimodo’s skin.

What’s really new about the 2014 Nissan Juke?

The thirsty old 1.6-litre atmospheric engine has been binned. In its place, you now have a 1.2-litre turbo engine. Sounds like a raw deal, but this Renault-Nissan-developed engine is a much better ownership bet on paper.

It’s 2bhp down on the 1.6 (114bhp plays 116bhp), but torque is actually up from 116lb ft to 140lb ft. That should make the 1.2 feel stronger in the mid-range, and save fuel when cruising.

The 1.2 DIG-T engine is lighter than the 1.6 it pensions off, and has stop-start as standard. So, it wins the CO2 battle (126g/km beats 139g/km) and claimed fuel economy is better: 36.7mpg is well and truly trumped by the 1.2’s 51.4mpg official figure. The 1.5-litre diesel engine survives the facelift unchanged.

Anything else?

You can now spec a glass roof to brighten the cabin, and there’s updated tech in the form of moving object detection, blind-spot warning and lane-departure warning systems. Two-wheel drive Jukes now have a bigger boot: space is up 40% to 354 litres.

So, while the Juke’s facelift isn’t radical, the price changes for the British-built crossover shouldn’t sky-rocket either. And with 420,000 Jukes sold so far (almost 99,000 of which live in the UK), chances are the Juke didn’t need to change. What’s popular with buyers is good news for the British car industry â€" the Juke is built in Sunderland.

Tell us if you think the tweaks for the Juke went just far enough â€" or otherwise â€" in the article comments below.

Koenigsegg One:1 (2014) first official <b>pictures</b> <b>...</b> - <b>Car</b> Magazine

Posted: 28 Feb 2014 06:00 AM PST

By Ollie Kew

First Official Pictures

28 February 2014 14:00

Stand well back. This is the Koengisegg One:1, and it may well need a team of lion-tamers to restrain it from leaping clean off its Geneva motor show stand and picking a fight with the McLaren P1, LaFerrari and Porsche 918. You’re looking at, according to Koenigsegg, the new fastest road car in the world.

Pull the other one. How fast is this Koenigsegg?

The Swedish supercar maker, which is celebrating its 20th birthday this year, calculates the One:1 will achieve 273mph flat out. The really terrifying bit is that the top speed is dictated by the limits of the Michelin tyres, not the drivetrain. Flipping, and indeed, heck.

What does the weird ‘One:1’ name mean?

It’s the car’s power to weight ratio: something of a holy grail for car engineers. The all-carbonfibre One:1 weighs 1341kg â€" around 50kg less than a ‘dry’ McLaren P1, and about the same as a fuelled LaFerrari.

Yet it develops a faintly ludicrous 1329bhp â€" or 1341PS, in new money. That’s right: this car has one horsepower per one kilogram. Hence the One:1 name, and the fact it’s not far off being of capable of time travel.

I bet it’s a part-electric hybrid to get that sort of power

Not so. Unlike McLaren, Ferrari and Porsche’s latest supercars, the Koenigsegg One:1 is no hybrid. All of its power is developed by a mid-mounted 5.0-litre V8, boosted by two variable geometry turbochargers. That’s an engine half the size of a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport’s W16, with half the turbo count, producing an extra 143bhp.

The engine has been bored out slightly from its application in the 1124bhp Koenigsegg Agera R (which weighs 70kg more than the One:1), and boost has been wound up by 0.4bar, to 1.8bar. The engine is happy to burn regular super-unleaded, FIA-certified race fuel, or (in a cheeky nod to the new-found eco-consciousness of modern supercars) E85 bioethanol, says Koenigsegg.

Power is sent to the rear wheels only, via a seven-speed paddleshift gearbox and an electronic rear differential.

Give me some more performance figures!

To get your head around just how fast the Koenigsegg One:1 is, consider that instead of quoting a 0-62mph time for the car, Koenigsegg has only revealed one acceleration stat: the car’s 0-250mph time. It’s 20 seconds â€" three seconds faster than a Porsche 918 Spyder can crawl to 186mph. Impressed yet?

No? Then take note of the One:1’s unmissable aero package. Amusingly, Koenigsegg claims that top speed was not the main pursuit with the One:1 (then why did you give it over 1300bhp, guys?) Instead, like the McLaren P1, the One:1 is designed to be the ultimate track weapon.

You’d have to be mad to drive this thing on track!

We agree, but Koenigsegg’s engineers don’t. The standard One:1’s Agera R body has sprouted new canard winglets up front, and a huge adaptive rear wing, which flattens itself under hard acceleration for less drag, and pops up when you brake or corner for more downforce.

Koengisegg reckons the entire car conjures up 610kg of downforce at 273mph. McLaren will no doubt smugly remind you that its own P1 needs only a pedestrian 150mph to be showing on its speedo before it creates 650kg of extra mass. Nevertheless, the One:1 still generates a purported 2G in a fast bend.

Enhancing the One:1’s racetrack credentials are carbon-ceramic disc brakes measuring 397mm up front (and 40mm in width!), gripped by six-piston calipers. The rears are 380mm across, and have four-pot grabbers.

They live behind lightweight carbonfibre wheels, and can haul the One:1 from 248mph to rest in 10 seconds. Or pull you up from 62mph in a scant 28 metres â€" 45m less than the UK Highway Code requires.

Wow. Can I buy one?

No, you’re too late, even if you’ve got the requisite $2m lying around. Only six One:1s will be produced by Koenigsegg, and all are spoken for, with four reportedly snapped up by Chinese enthusiasts.

With LaFerrari and McLaren P1 sold out as well, it’s over to the 270mph Hennessey Venom GT or Porsche 918 Spyder super-hybrid if you’re a lottery winner in need of modern hypercar kicks.


 
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