Toyo chez le Mondial de l’Automobile

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Toyota

Toyota is bringing one new face to the Paris Motor Show and that is the all new Toyota Avensis. It’s still going to be produced at the Burnaston plant in Derbyshire and we know so far, besides the revamped design (thank God) is that it will have more powerful yet less polluting engines. And that it will go on sale in early 2009. I can’t say I’m very excited, but I’ll keep an eye on it just in case my grandfather will want to change his car.

Also at the Toyota stand in Paris you’ll find the ready-for-production iQ and Urban Cruiser - a small four-seater and a very small SUV or a slightly larger hatchback. Of the two, I would place my interest on the iQ, which is basically the smallest four-seater in the world with its under 3 meters length. The Urban Cruiser… well, I guess it had to happen, given that the people secretly still want to drive an SUV but they don’t want to be pointed at.

Twingo RenaultSport 133

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Renault

The guys at Renault have promised since the beginning a sporty version of the new Twingo, and now they have delivered. It’s called 133 and I’ll leave you to guess what that stands for. I’ll only say it’s got nothing to do with the age of the great grandmother of the guy who made it nor with the number of girls he has slept with.

It’s got a 1.6 litre non-turbo engine with 133bhp, which should be more than enough for such a small car to deliver thrilling sensations. Of course, it depends on how many elephants you squeeze in, yourself included. The car comes with RenaultSport seats which won’t let you bang your head to the side of the car, leather steering wheel and aluminium pedals.

The best part is that if you get out of your pyjamas and head to a Renault Dealer quickly enough and place an order for this car during the first 133 days since ordering had started, you’ll get a voucher for a free place on a RenaultSport trackday in 2009 complete with driver tuition. Just so you don’t spoil such a nice car with your over-zealous driving.

BMW X5 - not just the looks of a Bulldog.

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under BMW

This X5 Security here is the kind of car you would like to be caught in during the Apocalypse. Not because it would actually save you, but because it will make you think it will and thus you will die happy, and frankly that’s all that matters.

It’s an armoured X5 which can stop bullets from virtually all handguns, even .44 Magnums. It’s got a 4.8 litre V8 which develops 351bhp and enough torque to pull this monster from standstill to 62mph in 7.5 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 130mph.

The CO2 emissions are not stated, mainly because not even all that armour would prove enough to save you from the hands of the ecologists. But who cares - come Apocalypse and you’ll die happy and they won’t.

Cruze cruising towards Paris

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Chevrolet

I’m not really a sucker for Chevrolets, to say the least, but I really like the new Cruze. Good color choice for the photo shoot, too, it sits really well with the Motor Play color scheme. It looks good and I would only have one thing to comment about it: the rear lights look too much like the ones on the Honda Civic Sedan, which is not a bad thing, but it just makes me raise an eyebrow and keep it there for a few long seconds. Other than that, everything sounds good and it might sound even better when they’ll announce the prices. Engines-wise, there will be three on offer for now, two petrols and one diesel: 1,6 111bhp, 1,8 139bhp running on gasoline and a 2,0 litre turbodiesel developing 148bhp. Sounds good enough.

Water. You’re full of it.

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Entertainment, News

Big things are usually mean, like a tank or a Hummer, but this unique Volvo truck manages somehow to seem friendly and purposeful. That’s maybe because it has a very clear purpose, indeed. That is to blast water at very high pressure, capable of removing thermoplastic road markings or rubber residues off the tarmac. This makes it really useful on an airport and, at the same time, pretty environment friendly. I told you it couldn’t hurt a fly, unless that fly was stuck on the tarmac, of course.

Another one bites the tarmac

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under News

Yet another British sportscar manufacturer is set to launch a performance lightweight two-seater with little more than the clothes you wear standing between you and the elements. And talking about Britain, what elements there are… This time it’s a new one. Jetstream is the name and SC250 is the car.

It’s looks are edgier than a psycho-criminal on drugs and we like that. It’s got a 2.0 litre Ecotec Turbo Twin-Cam 16-valve powerplant and a six speed transmision that appears in the Vauxhall Astra VXR. The power output is up to 250bhp and 236lb.ft @ 2,400rpm, which is more than enough to take the 700kg thing from 0 to 62mph in less than 4 seconds. And to take your urine from your bladder on to the seat in even less than that.

I would really want one, in black, if it weren’t for that dodgy interior. I don’t need suede and alcantra, it’s just that a shiny metal surface on which to rest my feet, cold in the winter and frying like a Tefal pan during the summer is not my idea of everyday confort. I guess we’re looking at yet another car that wants to be driven on a daily basis but will still end up as a track-day vehicle only.

And… it’s Peugeot’s turn

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under News

It’s gotta be black and it’s gotta be fast and it’s gotta be fresh from the fight. That’s, by a margin, what Bonnie Tyler was singing quite a few years back and that seems to be the Bible of any new electric/hybrid concept. Do we need a hero? It seems we do, and it seems we need more than just one.

This Peugeot will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, together with it’s full name. Now, we only know it’s called `RC`, which can stand for lots of things, including Remote Controlled. I just hope, for their sake, Peugeot aren’t pulling a joke and come up with a remote controlled toy. Neah, they’re not in such a carefree position to allow themselves such stunts.

About the RC… well, it looks very good, very futuristic and very aggressive. If I were to pick on something, that would be the lights, both in front and at the rear. The headlights are too large in my view while the rear ones are… well, I simply don’t like them, OK? We’ll just have to wait and see how the real thing looks like.

Lincoln MKT

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under Lincoln

No, it’s not Lincoln Mortal Kombat Trilogy, as some of you might think, although seen from the front the MKT does look a little like Scorpion. Nope. It’s a crossover from Lincoln that will be based on the concept car revealed two years ago that will go into production sometime during 2009.

It looks good and all that, at least by US standards (sometimes I get the impression that the US is entirely populated by rock stars with bad taste and flashy gangstas) but what gets me is the `eco` V6 it comes equipped with. They’re actually calling a V6 eco, and not by comparison to a V12. Not to mention the 3,5 litre V6 EcoBoost, which will have you believe your car runs on air. Yeah, right.

Lexus No-aero

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under News

Gee, just look at it from a side. It looks like a cut-out; like a billboard. A nice and futuristic billboard, but still. And yet, somehow I like it. Maybe because it’s just so new and fresh, like nothing we’ve seen recently. Actually, it does look a little too much like that Honda model car made by Hotwheels, but that was a thing for kids and collectors, while this is something for a superhero nobody has even thought about yet. Somethink like the Alien Monster turned good.

So, if you see it from one side you start to think that somebody has misspelled the concept’s name from Noaero to Nuaero. You’ve never seen something so blocky that wasn’t made of Lego. But then you get to circle it (I mean to look at the other pictures) and it starts to make sense. Kind of. But that’s the point of a concept car, and Jon Rådbrink, the Swede who designed this, clearly knows it.

Will it ever make it into production? Well, probably not while you and I will still be breathing, but maybe Lexus will make a low, black, electric car and say it was inspired by this concept and everyone will be happy.

Ka. Ford Ka.

Posted by Car Magazine MotorPlay under News

What’s this? A Ford Ka in a Bond movie? What’s next? Milk & cereals for breakfast and no smoking? Luckily, it’s not Daniel Craig who’s doing the driving, wearing a pink tutu, but his female partner from Ukraine, Olga Kurylenko. Or Camille, as Bond may know her better.

This is some sort of partnership between Ford and Bond films, after the last Mondeo model also made a debut appearance in Casino Royale. Is it a bad thing? Well, not for Ford it isn’t, and I’m not so sure about the movie, either. I mean, look at all the cars out there, it could have been worse. It could have been a car from the NICE Car Company.