Is it sexist that some men pay higher premiums for car insurance than women?
The European Union’s highest court drew judgement on this issue in March, ruling that it’s now illegal for the insurance industry in the EU to charge different rates based on a driver’s gender.In Australia, however, there is no such ruling about gender-based discrimination in regards to car insurance and as a result some premiums for men and women can be vastly different.Take, for example, two identical applications for car insurance made online through the RateCity comparison tool.A 37 year-old female who has been driving for 18 years, with a V8, 4.0 litre four-door sedan, would be offered a best quote that is $50 cheaper than a 37 year-old male with the same car and motoring history.It’s worse if you’re younger. Look at two identical drivers in their early 20s and the difference for men and women can run into the hundreds of dollars.Is it fair? Statistically one reason for the discrepancy in costs is that men are more likely to have an accident while driving than women, particularly in the case of younger drivers. According to one British insurance provider, AA, young male drivers are twice as costly to insure as young female drives on average.Should Australian courts implement a similar law to the recent EU insurance ruling, some say that women are likely to see their premiums rise as providers rebalance the books.That is likely to be the case in the UK, where researchers found that young male drivers in England would have their car insurance premiums cut by around 25 percent as a result of the new legislation. Young women, however, were likely to see up to a 50 percent hike in their premiums. Therefore safer women drivers could end up subsidising the lower costs for men, who are more likely to have accidents and therefore claim.Other ways to reduce your insurance bill We think Australian courts would be unlikely to follow in the EU’s footsteps – but the data makes it clear that some female drivers could save even more by shopping around for a better deal each time you renew.By comparing car insurance online at RateCity, you could potentially save up to $400 if you’re a female driver in your late 20s. So clearly, it pays to do your homework!Find best car loan interest rates and no ongoing fees at RateCity.
The Lexus LFA has been seen as a one-off demonstration of Toyota’s ability to build with the best of them, rather than the first in a new line of L-badged supercars.
So far, Lexus has confirmed plans for only 500 cars, including 50 track-prepped Special Edition variants.Despite being less than two years old however, the LFA is quickly becoming yesterday’s news. That’s how it is in the car industry. Now, reports out of Japan suggest Toyota is planning something more.Details are thin on the ground, but according to Japanese magazine Best Car, the carmaker is working on a so-called ‘LFA II’.Whether the secret car is an update of the existing LFA or an all-new successor is unclear. We would think it unlikely that a brand-new model would be on the drawing-board soon after the LFA’s debut.With no sources quoted, the report may simply be a fiction of the rumour mill. But now that it has begun, Toyota may find it hard to resist the call of battle.After all, there are ever-newer Lamborghinis, Ferraris and McLarens out there, waiting to be challenged.
Tesla has released the first new images of its nearly production-ready Model S electric sedan, known as the Model S Alpha during these last development stages.
The styling of the Model S Alpha appears largely unchanged, the concept’s sleek four-door-coupe proportions carrying over into production. The front end sees a restyled bumper, while the XF-like rear lights get a new lens design.It will be Tesla’s first new model since the groundbreaking Roadster debuted in 2008, with left-hand-drive production expected to begin in 2012.The first Australian right-hand-drive models are expected to hit local roads sometime around the middle of 2013.The Model S also represents Tesla’s push toward becoming a volume-selling brand, with its initial 12-month and 5000-unit production schedule expected to grow to 20,000 per year.By comparison, the company has built just 1500 of its Roadster cars since its launch in 2008.
BMW has unveiled its all-new second-generation 1 Series, ahead of its Australian launch in November.
The new F20 replaces the original E87 model’s Chris-Bangle-influenced flame-surfaced styling direction with new design chief Adrian van Hooydonk’s softer, more conservative ‘layering’ theme.This 1 Series remains rear-wheel-drive-only, with new 1.6-litre turbo petrol and 2.0-litre turbo diesel engines hooking up to six-speed manual or (first in class) eight-speed auto transmissions.Although longer and wider than the original, the new One is no taller. To improve handling, its front and rear track has been widened considerably – by 51mm/72mm front-rear, despite only 17mm extra body width.New tech gear includes web/Facebook apps for the optional iDrive, the availability of vario-ratio steering (but not adaptive dampers) and a standard engine/throttle-altering ‘performance control’ switch, with Eco Pro, Comfort, Sport, and Sport+ settings.Expect prices to remain in the $40-60K bracket. The all-new 1 Series will feature in Wheels, July issue, out Wednesday July 15th, with full details of BMW’s planned high-performance variants. Stay tuned.
BMW has released its first official images of the forthcoming Mini Coupe, along with full details on the new two-door bodystyle and available drivetrains.
Designed as a premium compact coupe, the two-seat three-box Mini is 20mm longer than the hatch (at 3734mm) with an identical 2467mm wheelbase. It is the same width, but 29mm lower (1384mm). Its track (both front and rear) is pushed out by 4mm.
The Mini Coupe’s styling features include a flat silhouette, “helmet roof”, integral roof spoiler and an active rear spoiler that extends automatically at 80km/h.Although the Coupe is strictly a two-seater, a large, high-opening tailgate and a wide through-loading system that can be opened from the driver’s or passenger’s seat, is standard.Powertrains available internationally include 90kW atmo 1.6 (Cooper), 135kW turbo 1.6 (Cooper S) and 155kW turbo 1.6 (Cooper JCW) petrols, and a 105kW/305Nm 2.0-litre turbo diesel. All hook up to a six-speed manual or (with the exception of JCW) six-speed automatic gearbox.BMW Australia is yet to announce which of these variants will arrive here when the Mini Coupe launches locally in November.
Audi has kicked off production this week of its new Q3 compact SUV, ahead of its Australian launch in the first quarter of 2012.
Unveiled at April’s Shanghai Auto Show, the Q3 shares its platform with the Volkswagen Tiguan and enters the Audi line-up beneath the mid-size Q5 and the larger Q7 SUV.In a first for Audi, the Q3 is produced at Volkswagen’s Seat plant in Spain, where some AU$450million was spent upgrading the facility in preparation for the Q3 and other luxury models.Australian specifications for the Q3 have yet to be revealed. In Europe, the compact SUV will be offered with three engines: one diesel and two petrol, each turbo-charged and direct-injected.Brake-energy recovery and start/stop systems will also be used to keep fuel consumption and emissions to a minimum.Power outputs range from 103kW to 155 kW. The entry-level Q3 2.0 TDI will launch after the petrol engines, bringing a front-wheel-drive layout and a six-speed manual transmission and averaging “less than” 5.2 l/100km for fuel consumption.The two petrol engines will be equipped with Audi’s quattro all-wheel-drive system and will be mated to a S tronic seven-speed automatic transmission.
Electric cars are seen by some as a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil suppliers located in volatile areas such as the Middle East, the ex-Soviet bloc and South America.But for many Australians, the perceived cost to own a “hybrid” or electric vehicle still outweighs the potential savings at the petrol pump.Evidently, this year hybrid vehicles are expected to account for only about 0.5 percent of all new car sales, which equates to about 5000 cars, according to car insurance provider NRMA.Considering Australians purchased almost 85,000 new cars in February alone, hybrid models hold a relatively insignificant market share.However, with petrol price soaring to new highs in recent months, combined with the launch of a string of more affordable hybrids onto the market and some very low interest , car loans, electric cars are once again a talking point.Electric v hybrid An electric car is a plug-in, battery-powered vehicle, propelled by an electric motor. Hybrid technology, on the other hand, uses a conventional petrol engine supplemented by an electric motor and battery pack.The idea is that you can have a smaller petrol engine, offering lower fuel consumption and when you need the extra power or torque to accelerate or climb a hill, the electric motor kicks in.By using hybrid technology, manufacturers aim to get the best of both worlds, where you can have a larger car and lower fuel consumption, without sacrificing performance.Economical luxury Most recently British luxury automotive company Rolls-Royce refuelled the electric car discussion when it unveiled a one-off prototype fully electric car — the 102EX or Phantom Experimental Electric — at the Geneva Motor show last month.While the BMW-owned company has no plans yet to develop a production version, it released the economical model in an attempt to gauge market response.It wants to ascertain how long the car can drive between re-charges, how long it operates in extreme weather conditions and whether or not the vehicle will provide an authentic “Rolls-Royce experience”.In the hybrid market, Toyota-owned Lexus has offered luxury hybrids since 2004 and it is rumoured that Porsche is set to launch a hybrid version of its Cayenne four-wheel drive and a plug-in hybrid sports car.Affordable economy With affordable hybrid vehicles from Honda, Toyota and Ford also on the market, you don’t have to be part of the wealthy elite to drive an electric-powered car.Even if the hybrid’s price tag is slightly higher than other petrol-guzzling cars, saving money at the pump will help to ease the cost of repaying your car loan.And with interest rates as low as 5.99 percent for , new car loans, and 6.69 percent for used cars (less than two years old) available through RateCity, an electric car may be more affordable than you think.Find best interest rates and no ongoing fees at RateCity.
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Mercedes’ all-new ML-Class will be the most fuel efficient large SUV when it launches here in 2012.This third-gen model, codenamed W166, will offer a 2.1-litre twin-turbo diesel rated at just 5.0L/100km, despite healthy 500Nm/150kW outputs. A seven-speed automatic transmission is standard, and teams with stop-start and brake energy regeneration tech to help the ML250 Bluetec variant achieve the class-leading fuel figure.
Other ML models set to launch include a 3.0-litre V6 ML350 Bluetec and 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 ML63 AMG (the latter understandably without a ‘Bluetec’ tag). Later next year a diesel-electric ML300 Hybrid will debut, teaming the ML250’s turbo-diesel with a 15kW electric motor.While the ML’s exterior and interior are all-new – with a CL-style wide-mouthed front grille and deeper, more prominent side character creases – it retains the basic proportion of the current generation. The Merc SUV’s platform is shared with the new-gen Jeep Grand Cherokee, however the ML remains a five-seat-only proposition.
Three years after its last assault Chevrolet has returned to Germany’s famous Nurburgring with the 476kW supercharged Corvette ZR1 to record one of the fastest lap times ever posted by a production car.Driven by GM engineer and ace wheel man Jim Mero, the ‘Vette blasted around the 20.8km circuit in 7:19.63. According to Chevrolet the car was a full production model with no performance modifications, although it was shod with optional ‘competition-oriented’ Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tyres.This time is 4.6sec faster than that recorded by Nissan’s GT-R in 2010 (in the hands of Toshio Suzuki) and just 1.6sec behind the Porsche 911 GT2 RS’s time of 7:18 set by Timo Kluck.
