Renault Group sells Avtovaz

-
Image
  Audi’s new Digital Matrix LED headlights will revolutionise safety, greatly reduce fatigue and stress in driving at night and even be able to communicate with other drivers, according to the car maker. However, a number of  Audi 's more radical ideas - such as OLED tail-light clusters displaying warning symbols and the headlights projecting a variety of warning symbols onto the road surface - are held up by complex homologation laws across the globe. The most striking of the various new light technologies revealed at a technical presentation last week at the company’s Ingolstadt headquarters is already an option on the new  Audi A8 . Costing around €1800 (£1520) in Germany, the Digital Matrix Headlights (DMH) are based around a new Digital Micro Mirror device that houses 1.3 million micro-mirrors. These mirrors measure just a tenth of the width of a human hair and can be rapidly switched into two distinct positions.  Inside the headlight, the light f...
Post a Comment

Hyundai Kona Electric 39kWh Premium 2022 UK review

-


 So quickly has the world of electric cars moved on that you’d be forgiven for thinking the Hyundai Kona Electric was one of the elder statesmen of the class. Yet it’s little over four years since it arrived as a pioneer with 300 miles of range and a compelling price to match. Good to drive, too.

The electric car market has boomed since and we’ve had arrivals like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 even within the firm's own stable showing the exciting next evolution of the electric car.

Yet the Kona Electric remains a very strong contender in the class and was recently given a raft of updates in order to keep pace with the fast-improving field. Two versions continue in the line-up: an entry-level 134bhp version with a 39.2kWh battery giving 189 miles of range, as tested here, and a more powerful, 201bhp version with the 64kWh battery that’s good for 300 miles of range. 

The changes are minor to the Kona Electric we first got to know and mainly focus on the styling, giving it the ‘no grille’ look that many recent electric cars have adopted. Like many recent electric cars, too, it thus lacks a bit of character and a distinctive face of its own.

Not much has been done to the dynamics of the electric drivetrain, beyond some software tweaks, yet with this revised Kona Electric, we have the benefit of assessing it after the segment has evolved and indeed emerged at a fast pace. And it still holds its own very well indeed.

The more powerful, 201bhp Kona Electric had a tendency to spin its wheels up, such was the amount of torque (290lb ft) being sent through the front tyres, and their lack of grip. The less powerful model we’re testing was always less afflicted by that and it’s almost totally absent now after the recent changes. 

Power and torque delivery are far less sledgehammer; it’s still brisk, but much more drivable now. Only asking the tyres to do far more than is sensible, such as flooring it on a wet road with lock on, will break traction. And you’d be a bit silly to be doing that in the first place. 

The Kona Electric has three very distinctive driving modes: Eco, Normal and Sport. Power and responses noticeably increase between the three of them (Normal seems the best judged overall), as do the vibrancy of the graphics on the updated instrument display. Seeing the whole screen turn red when Sport mode is selected raises a smile and it’s a welcome dose of character into what is a functional rather than stylish cabin.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hyundai i30 Fastback 1.5 T-GDi N Line 2022 UK review

-
Image
  The idea is a simple one: make a more premium and desirable coupé body shape out of a hatchback. That’s what   Hyundai   set out to achieve in 2018 with the launch of the   i30 Fastback , a sleeker five-door liftback version of the   i30   hatchback that tried to replicate the success Mercedes-Benz has had in morphing an A-Class into a CLA. However sleek it might look and interesting the proposition might be, the idea hasn’t really set the world alight or prompted a whole raft of imitations from rival firms (when they all start making their own, you know you’re really onto something…). Yet it remains a stylish option and a welcome niche in a sea of family similar hatchbacks. The i30 Fastback was refreshed just over a year ago and the range simplified at the same time. The car is available in the sporty N Line trim only and with a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine available with either a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox...
Read more

Land Rover Defender 90 2022 long-term review

-
Image
  It’s no revelation to say that even this ‘baby’ Defender is a big car. It’s 4.3 metres long (before you factor in the spare wheel), 2.1 metres wide (mirrors out) and, give or take, two metres tall – enough to be at risk of a serious clonk in restricted car parks. What has taken me by surprise, though, is how quickly you get used to those dimensions. Every time I clap eyes on it, I think again how absurd such a large car is for outer-London life; yet bum on seat and threading around even the most congested spots, I’ve rarely had to give a second thought to any compromises on where I can go or what I can do. I’ve found the same phenomenon with other large Land Rovers. It takes about a week to adjust and then instinctively you start to know where the corners are, adjust to the steering and slightly laggy throttle and make use of what must be some of the best- adjusted brakes in the business – all from an imperious seating position just a bit higher than that of almost anything else ...
Read more