Luxury Cars | Luxury Sports Cars

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Volkswagen Passat

The new Passat has a new handling system that offers active-return steering and straight-ahead driving correction assistance. Its safety features now include advanced power steering systems, electronic stabilization and anti-slip features. Meanwhile, the Passat was also awarded the â€˜Double Best Pickâ€™ designation by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety because of its outstanding performance in front and side tests.

New Passat R36 equipped with a naturally-aspirated 3.6-litre V6 engine developing 300 PS and 258 lbs ft of torque. Drive is channelled via a six-speed DSG gearbox through a 4MOTION all-wheel drive system capable of diverting torque to either axle depending on the grip available. As a result the saloon is capable of accelerating from rest to 62 mph in 5.6 seconds while the estate takes 5.8 seconds. Both models have limiters in place to restrict the top speed to 155 mph.

As with the Golf R32 and Touareg R50 the Passat R36 was designed, engineered and developed by Volkswagen Individual. The new Volkswagen Passat is completely revamped version both inside and out.

Toyota Prius

Toyota has dominated the hybrid market since introducing the Prius to America eight years ago, and Carter made it clear the automaker doesn't view the all-new, dirt-cheap Honda Insight as much of a threat. "Prius is more than a hybrid," Toyota vice president Bob Carter said during the car's worldwide premiere. "It's a solution. No longer is it a second car or a passing fad. In many households, it has become the primary family car."

Although the new Prius looks a lot like the old Prius, 90 percent of its gas-electric drivetrain was redesigned or re-engineered and packaged in a more aerodynamic body. The changes brought a 22 percent increase in power and a 9 percent boost in fuel economy over the current model, which is the most fuel-efficient car sold in America. Under the hood, Toyota increased engine displacement from 1.5 liters to 1.8 and bumped the output to 98 horsepower. Coupled with the electric motor, total power rises from 110 horsepower to 134. The increased oomph is enough to shave about half a second off the car's zero to 60 time, which Carter said now stands at 9.5 seconds. Not that anyone buys a Prius for its speed.

One of the coolest features is the rooftop solar panel, which Carter said provides juice to the ventilation system to keep the interior cool when the car is parked. The system keeps fresh air circulating in the vehicle so the A/C doesn't have to work so hard, conserving the battery — still a nickel-metal hydride unit. Carter said the new Prius is the first production car to have an air conditioning compressor powered by the battery instead of an engine drive belt, and the water pump also is electric to cut parasitic drag on the engine and improve fuel efficiency. Toyota expects the new Prius to strengthen the company's position as the world's leader in hybrid technology. The company sold 160,000 Prius hybrids in America last year, and there are now almost 700,000 of them on the road in the United States — and more than 1 million worldwide. "No other vehicle has had this kind of growth in sales and production," Carter said.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Toyota Venza

Toyota venza launched at the 2008 Detroit Motor Show, the new Venza, a 'crossover sedan' powerful by 4- and 6-cylinder powerplants.

The Venza has been designed solely for the left-hand drive market of North America, so don't be surprised if your local dealer looks at you with puzzlement if you ask about it here in Australia.

The overall design is fairly modern, but not especially daring. There seems to be a Corolla sedan influence in the front end, and the vehicles silhouette is fairly sporty for a Toyota. The rear end features perhaps the most daring design element of the car - the brake lights - which have a touch of Volvo to them as they wrap around the rear pillars.

Venza engine power comes from either a 2.7-litre 4-cylinder engine or a 3.5-litre V6 engine, that Aurion drivers will be very familiar with.

The show version of the Toyota Venza sits on large 20-inch alloy wheels, and the vehicle will offered to American buyers in either front- or four-wheel drive, a trend that looks to be adopted on more and more of Toyota's new vehicles.

Volkswagen Jetta

The Volkswagen Jetta car is an automobile produced by German automaker Volkswagen since 1979. Positioned to fill an upscale saloon/sedan niche above the firm's compact/small family car Golf offering, it has been known over its five generations variously as the Atlantic, Bora, City Jetta, Fox, GLI, Sagitar, or Vento. The name Jetta was derived from the Jet stream, continuing Volkswagen's tradition of naming cars for various winds. The model's sedan body style was developed in partial response to Volkswagen's observation that the North American market preferred that traditional configuration over the Golf's then unconventional hatchback layout. The new saloon was marketed as a somewhat more luxurious car than its tailgated brethren, with nicer interior trim and a higher price. This proved to be wise on Volkswagen's part, as the Jetta became the best-selling European car in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Over the years, the car has been offered in two and four-door sedan and five-door station wagon variants. As of 2005, over 6.6 million cars have been sold worldwide, over one-third in the United States alone. Since the original version in 1980, the car has grown in size and power with each successive generation.