BMW seems determined to create niches where none existed. The latest example is the X4, a sportier variation – but also less practical – based on the X3.
If you like, the new X4 is to the X3 what the X6 is to the X5. Just don’t mention the 3-Series Touring, which surely covers the same territory.
Despite the similarity in concept and price, BMW is heroically committed to covering every possible niche. The X4 therefore becomes Munich’s fifth dedicated SUV.
From the front, the X4 looks virtually identical to the X3, but in profile the changes are more obvious: a sloping roofline that ends abruptly in a tight tail with short overhang. Three separate swage lines crease the side panels, compared with the X3’s two.
Driver and passengers sit lower in the X4 than the X3, in part because the fastback roof cuts into headroom; without a low cushion, tall passengers would final headroom limited.
While BMW likes to think of the X4 as a coupe, it’s hardly that.
The wheelbase is identical to the X3’s and the roofline is 38mm lower, the sloping tail guaranteeing less cargo space than the X3.
In the US, the X4 is sold with the 2.0-litre N20 four-cylinder and 3.0-litre N55 six, both in turbocharged forms.
Australian cars, due in the third quarter, are expected to include at least one diesel variant at launch.
Nissan is poised to re-enter the off-road SUV market with a wagon version of the 2015 Navara to fill the hole left by the Pathfinder.
Likely to be built at the company’s new Thai plant that will also manufacture the fourth-generation one-tonne pick-up, the 4WD wagon will utilise a body-on-frame construction to give it maximum toughness and off-road capability.
The all-new fourth-generation Navara is set to be unveiled in the next few weeks.
Though no arrival date has yet been flagged for the 4×4 SUV version, it will compete against the Toyota Prado, Holden Colorado and upcoming Ford Everest now that the latest Pathfinder has become a family-focussed crossover with monocoque construction.
The Pathfinder was previously based on the Navara from 1986 to 2004.
Speaking to the Australian media at the New York International Auto Show this week, Nissan Motor Company executive vice-president Andy Palmer hinted at the likelihood of an expanded Navara range.
“It would be logical, wouldn’t it?” Palmer said.
“I think undoubtedly something like a one-tonne pick-up starts with its ability to work.
“I came from the light commercial business (and) pick-ups define their genesis at the work sites. You build on top of that in terms of the more luxury segments, then go back to that basis of good durability, good quality and good reliability.”
Mazda has released some details of its next-generation MX-5 and revealed the car’s underpinnings ahead of this week’s New York Auto Show, revealing its two-seater sports car will be smaller and lighter than ever.
As expected, rather than showing the whole car, Mazda has unveiled a rolling chassis comprising suspension, engine, drivetrain and subframes.
So, while the new design still remains a mystery, Mazda claims that shrink-wrapping panels over the new mechanical package will deliver even more exceptional driving thrills.
The MX-5 will lose 100kg in weight, largely by reducing front and rear overhangs for a shorter overall length, while actually having its wheelbase increased.
Extensive use of aluminium castings and a painstaking component-by-component analysis of each part already employed in the current car has reduced weight while maintaining crashworthiness.
Given that the current manual-equipped roadster is hardly a fatty at 1167kg, the next-gen MX-5 promises better straight-line performance from a SkyActiv 2.0-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine.
The rolling chassis also shows that effort has been put into moving the engine further back to improve handling balance, although the current car’s 50/50 front/rear balance will remain.
The engine has also been mounted lower to further reduce the MX-5’s centre of gravity.
Mazda has indicated that the driving position will be pushed rearwards, which together with a shorter rear overhang may compromise boot space.
The new MX-5 is being launched next year and will be followed by either a Fiat or Alfa Romeo version using the same mechanical package but with different styling.
Jaguar Land Rover believes it has secret, ground breaking new technology to produce vehicles that will never get bogged or stuck off road.
Wheels can reveal the company has created a revolutionary type of traction control that means its upcoming vehicles can never get stuck. Ever.
The new technology, unveiled as part of the ground-breaking tech found in the new Discovery Vision concept that you can read about here, works with the car’s traction control system to free vehicles from any type of terrain, even if completely beached.
“You cannot get stuck, you just cannot,” JLR product boss Bob Joyce told us.
“Essentially, it’s a very clever algorithm and one that works for both four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive.
“The system brakes and sends torque to single wheels, but it’s not in big movements. It actually pulses the wheels individually.
“It makes a hell of a noise, but it works on every type of terrain – snow, ice, sand and mud.
“And trust me, it works every time. It’s never failed.”
Joyce said his team of engineers even beached a long-wheelbase Jaguar XJ sedan to test the system’s effectiveness.
“Spades, tow ropes and those planks you put under the wheels for traction? You can throw them all away,” he said.
“It’s not a quick process unsticking these cars; sometimes it can take up to two minutes, but it always works. You just push a button, a ‘get out of jail’ button, take your hands and feet away and the car does the rest.”
The system works at speeds up to 16km/h and is yet to receive an official name, according the Joyce.
And when will we see it in production?
“Oh, it’s not very far away,” he said. “Not far at all. We’ll see it well before the next Discovery, which is due in 2015.”
Plans are afoot for a Jaguar F-Type with just four cylinders, using a high-output, forced-induction variant of the company’s new 2.0-litre Ingenium engine architecture.
Speaking exclusively to Wheels in New York this week, Jaguar Land Rover product creation director Bob Joyce revealed that a four-pot F-Type, possibly using twin-charge technology, is under consideration.
“Look, it’s very possible,” he said. “We’ll have high-output versions of both the petrol and the diesel four-cylinder engines and I think it’d make sense in the F-Type. These engines are highly boosted and more efficient, with good levels of performance, so why not?”
Production of the new four-cylinder diesel is already underway in Wolverhampton in the UK, with work to begin on the petrol version next year.
“And yes, it could be twin-charged,” Joyce told us. “We’ll do as many variants of these engines as we can, using both turbo and supercharger technology.
“I drove a car not dissimilar to the F-Type with one of the new engines recently and it was fantastic.
“These engines are much lighter, too, which is a positive.
“We’ll look at anything to improve performance and we’re obviously keen to continue the F-Type’s success.”
Interestingly, Joyce also referenced Porsche’s recent confirmation that it will use four-cylinder engines in the next-generation Cayman/Boxster.
While Porsche expects to screw as much as 300kW from its four-pot, Joyce remained tight-lipped as to how much grunt a four-cylinder F-Type would produce.
He did, however, shed some more light on Jaguar’s plan to build a lightweight ‘clubsport’ version of the F-Type.
“I have to be careful what I say here, but yes, there is potential for the F-Type to lose some weight,” he said.
“Obviously losing weight has big benefits when it comes to performance and efficiency, so it’s something we’re looking at.”
Have a listen to this video footage of an F-Type in testing at the Nürburgring. Is that a four-cylinder under there?
Mercedes-AMG has revealed the interior of its forthcoming GT sports car ahead of the New York Auto Show.
The two-seater, only the second complete car after the SLS to be designed by Mercedes-Benz’s performance arm, is one of the most anticipated launches scheduled for 2014.
While Mercedes-AMG executives and engineers have leaked little hard information about the GT and its new twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8, we now know the car’s interior design reflects its engine’s layout and orientation.
Two rows of four circular controls flank the GT’s centre console, mimicking the arrangement of cylinders in a V8. The array includes the starter button and switches for the car’s idle-stop system, variable dampers and chassis control electronics.
The Mercedes-AMG GT’s cabin is snug but classy.
The ‘aircraft wing’ dash, with face-level vents reminiscent of jet engines, is intended to emphasise the interior’s width.
Deeply bolstered seats indicate the GT is engineered to generate high G forces when cornering, while drilled pedals and a thick-rimmed steering wheel with paddle shifters are further indications of sporting intent.
“The new Mercedes-AMG GT shows that we will be positioning AMG more vehemently and aggressively than to date as a dynamic sports car brand,” Mercedes-AMG boss Tobias Moers says in the official release accompanying the interior photographs.
Those images contain some not-so-obvious evidence that Mercedes-AMG’s engineers have created a super-stiff body structure, always a great foundation for excellent handling.
The GT’s side sills are obviously deep and the windscreen header has a hefty cross-section; both are good for overall body rigidity.
Ever wondered how much the stereo in your car is actually worth? $10? $2000? Well, if you own a Jaguar or Land Rover, it’s much more than that – $160,000 more.
JLR has revealed that to replicate its high-end Meridian signature sound system in your home, you’d have to fork out at least six figures. Ouch.
But select the system in your car – with 29 speakers, unique DSP (digital signal processing) technology and 1700 watts of power – and you only have to part with $7790.
Clearly the world of high-end car hi-fi is an expensive one, but seemingly with good reason.
Jaguar and Meridian take car audio so seriously that Meridian is involved with all new JLR models from conception.
Design sketches, early concepts and pre-production models are constantly shipped between the two brands, with JLR dedicating 15 engineers solely to audio.
Meridian has three full-time car techs that, since teaming up with JLR three years ago, have logged more than 10,000 hours of development.
The result is audio systems so complicated they can even detect what road surface the car is travelling on (tarmac, cement, dirt) and adjust the volume and frequencies accordingly.
But why all the fuss? Well, despite the fact that car occupants have fixed seats, providing top-end audio is challenging. Cars have lots of different surfaces for sound to bounce off, some don’t even have roofs and each occupant is closer to certain speakers than others.
Balancing out the acoustics to ensure every passenger enjoys crystal clear sound is an art, which is why brands like Meridian, Bang & Olufsen and Bose can charge through the nose.
Still, with JLR models boasting $160,000 worth of hi-fi jammed around the cabin, you’re really getting the car for free.
A Land Rover in space? You’d better believe it. Land Rover has teamed up with fellow British brand Virgin to become a commercial partner on Richard Branson’s SpaceShipTwo – the world’s first commercial spaceship.
So we won’t actually see a Discovery rocketing into the stratosphere, but rather see Land Rover’s name stencilled on the side of Virgin’s cool-looking space jet.
The new deal was announced in New York today, just minutes after Land Rover ripped the covers off its Discovery Vision Concept vehicle, which you can read about by clicking here.
Under this new commercial relationship, apart from the usual marketing and advertising spin, Land Rover plans to base a fleet of vehicles at Virgin’s Galactic test centre in the Mojave Desert and at its New Mexico base, where “future astronauts” will drive them every day during training.
Another benefit, says Land Rover, is the scope for SpaceShipTwo to encourage youngsters to pursue a future in science, technology and engineering, and then for the car company to potentially snaffle them up after they complete university.
As for the chances of any technology transfer between the spaceship and Land Rover, we doubt it.
Hyundai is set to launch the all-new LF Sonata in August/September, just a couple of months after the arrival of the lookalike Genesis premium sedan.
Both models share the brand’s new and more conservative Fluidic Sculpture 2.0 design language with its prominent hexagonal grille.
Sonata, which will be positioned just above the i40, gives Hyundai two contenders in the mid-size segment.
Marginally longer and wider than the i45 it replaces, the Sonata is built on a 10mm-longer wheelbase (now 2895mm) and boosts a 41 percent increase in torsional rigidity.
At launch, the sedan will come with either a 2.0-litre petrol turbo or a 2.4-litre normally aspirated engine, tied to a six-speed manual or, surprisingly given Hyundai’s new eight-speed auto, a six-speed automatic.
Hyundai says 51 percent of the new model’s steel will be high-strength.
Equipment levels are rumoured to set a new standard in the class.
The cabin abandons the previous symmetrical dashboard layout in favour or a more driver-oriented design with clear round instruments and a larger central monitor for the entertainment system, and a new navigation system.
Local development of a specific Australian suspension (strut front/multi-link rear) and (now electric) steering tune is now underway and is expected to take full advantage of the LF’s greater body strength.
Hyundai does not want a repeat of the press criticism that followed the launch of the old i45, which was withdrawn from the market in early 2013 and replaced by the i40 sedan and wagon.
Audi’s second-generation R8 has been sprung stripped of almost all its camouflage while testing in Germany ahead of its expected launch in Australia in 2016.
Looking more like the sleek and futuristic R8 etron prototype launched at the Frankfurt motor show in 2009, we can already tell that this test mule features a similar slammed glasshouse and dropped nose that featured on the battery-powered show car.
Once again, the R8 is expected to gulp air via a deep front air dam framed on either side by squared intakes feeding air to the front brakes.
The show car’s distinctive “blades” also remain, channelling air into the engine bay via sharply creased channels cut into the R8’s door skins.
While the last R8 featured an all-aluminium body, this generation of the $270,000-plus supercar is expected to also make higher use of lightweight carbon fibre, hidden inside plastic forms, to strip performance-sapping heft from the current generation’s almost 1700kg kerb weight.
However, it’s what will end up under the glass-panelled engine bay sitting behind the driver’s shoulder that holds the most interest.
Despite strong suggestions that the R8 will continue to use a 300kW-plus mid-mounted twin-turbocharged V8 and Lamborghini-sourced atmo V10 spitting out more than 400kW, Audi will also need to hedge against the geekiest kid on the supercar block – BMW’s hybrid i8.
We’re also told to not rule out the possibility of Audi using a 300kW-plus twin-turbo V6 that, if it makes it to production, will be shared with the first V6-engined RS4 in more than a decade.
Speculation is rife that the new R8 will also spawn a plug-in hybrid similar to the 1.5-litre three-cylinder, electric-drive i8 that arrives in Australia in early 2015, and priced to go head-to-head with the Audi.
In terms of the interior, the R8 is expected to take cues from Audi’s recently revealed third-generation TT coupe.
That’s likely to mean a much cleaner look, with a slender instrument cluster and a much smaller hub on the now trademark square-bottomed steering wheel thanks to an advance in airbag packaging that reduces its size without reducing its effectiveness.
Audi’s current R8 was facelifted last year, suggesting the current version of the sports car still has a couple of years to run before its Australian run will end and the new model arrives.
