13 safest cars for 2013

The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) has released its list of 13 safest cars for 2013. 117 cars were given the Top Safety Pick award.  13 cars were given the even higher Tops Safety Pick+ award.

Honda Accord 2 Door


Honda Accord 4 Door


Chrysler 200 4-Door



Dodge Avenger




Ford Fusion (built after Dec 2012)


Kia Optima


Nissan Altima 4-Door (built after Nov 2012)



Suzuki Kizashi



Subaru Legacy (built after Aug 2012)


Subaru Outback (built after Aug 2012)


Acura TL


Volvo S60


Volkswagen Passat (Built after Oct 2012)


Japanese manufacturers bagged most places out of the top 13 (7 in total) , with US following (3 in total) along with Germany, Sweden and Korea with 1 each.

Source: IIHS

World's fastest 4 seater convertibl by Bentley , at NAIAS 2013

 
On January 14, the Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible makes its international debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Boasting a six-liter twin-turbocharged 48-valve W12 engine, improved suspension, all-wheel drive and a top speed of 202 mph (325 km/h), Bentley claims it is the world’s fastest four-seat convertible.

Getting performance out of a convertible is always tricky. Cars rely on the roof for structural integrity and chopping it off means adding a lot of reinforcement to make up for the loss. The Continental GT Speed Convertible weighs in at 2,900 kilograms (6,393 lb) as opposed to the Speed coupé’s 2,750 kilograms (6,063 lb), yet despite the extra weight it manages to lag behind the coupé by only 5 km/h (3 mph).
From the outside, the Continental GT Speed Convertible is definitely a Bentley with its subdued lines and the boxy profile of its exceptionally rigid body shell. It tries to be a bit more sporty than its fellow Bentleys with its 21-inch alloy wheels, dark-tint matrix grilles, “rifled” elliptical exhaust tailpipes, and front wings in superformed aluminum, but you get the feeling that it’s fighting with itself about what sort of car it wants to be. Is it “creating an impression of tension and muscularity” as Bentley claims, or is it still the car your bank manager drives?
Inside, the Speed Convertible has the same powertrain as the GT Speed coupé. The six-liter twin-turbocharged 48-valve W12 punches out 616 bhp (460 kW, 625 PS) and 800 Nm (590 lb/ft) of torque – all held in check by the ME17 engine management system. This crunches 180 million calculations per second as it enhances the turbocharger control and torque management. As with other W12-engined models, there is an energy recuperation system. Fuel consumption is 14.9 liters/100km (19.0 mpg) – 15 percent better than the Speed coupé.

Backing up the engine is a flappy-paddle ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox with Quickshift, Block Shifting and permanent all-wheel drive with a 40:60 rear bias that Bentley claims provides optimum traction and power in all road conditions. According to Bentley, the upshot of all this is sharper throttle response, gear-shifting at higher engine speeds and faster “block shifting.”
Bentley has re-tuned the rack and pinion, power assisted, speed-sensitive ZF servotronic steering for the Speed Convertible and uprated and lowered the suspension. The front suspension consists of four link aluminum double-wishbones, computer controlled self-leveling air suspension with anti-roll bar, while the rear boasts trapezoidal multi-link, computer-controlled self-leveling air suspension. These have Continuous Damping Control tuned for dynamic performance. Standard brakes are 405 mm ventilated discs in front and in the back are 335 mm ventilated discs. Cross-drilled Carbon silicon carbide versions are available as an option.

The Speed Convertible’s top speed of 325 km/h (202 mph) is matched by a respectable bit of acceleration that sees it going from 0-96.5 km/h (60 mph) in 4.1 seconds, 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in 4.4 seconds and 0-160 km/h (100 mph) in 9.7 seconds. Despite this burst of speed, Bentley says that spoilers are unnecessary because the lip on the bootlid generates enough downforce to keep the Speed Convertible on the tarmac even when going flat out.
One interesting touch that Bentley is keen to point out is that “the enhanced performance is accentuated by a glorious baritone snarl from the free-breathing exhaust.” It’s not exactly what you expect from a Bentley. No doubt it’s very cool, but given Bentley’s stately reputation, it’s also a bit like finding out your aunt Agatha has taken up free-base jumping.

Things quiet down a bit in the Speed Convertible’s interior with diamond-quilted hide upholstery and a finish inspired by the Le Mans-winning Bentleys of the 1920s. On a more modern note, there’s an infotainment system with 15 GB of available storage space which can be expanded via an SD card, connectivity for an iPod or MP3 player, and a built-in six-disc CD changer. For those worried about the weather, Bentley says that the hood can take on a monsoon (presumably when up) and when it’s down, there’s a neck warmer to keep the chill off.
No price has been set, but with the coupé enjoying a starting price of US$217,725, this one is not in the econocar bracket.
Source; Bentley, Gizmag

Dogs hit the road in a specially modified MINI

A cute canine is something that shouldn't need much marketing – it pretty much sells itself. Or so you'd think. According to the ASPCA, around two million dogs are euthanized each year after finding their way into shelters. People simply don't adopt these abandoned and lost dogs at the same rate they find their way into shelters. For this reason, the SPCA in Auckland, New Zealand, which estimates it alone has anywhere from 50 to 100 dogs eagerly awaiting new owners each week, decided it was time to advertise with the launch of an advertising campaign that put the dogs back on the streets ... behind the wheel of a specially modified car.

Anyone that's ever owned a dog (at least an obedient one) knows that they're smart animals open to training. But most probably didn't think they could be trained to operate a vehicle.

To show it's possible, SPCA Auckland outfitted a MINI Countryman specially for canine drivers. It moved the accelerator and brake pedals up where the dog could reach them, added paw-friendly handles to the steering wheel, and made the ignition start button easier to activate.

Three dogs – Ginny, Monty and Porter – worked with four trainers over the course of two months to develop their driving skills. Similar to how some first-time human drivers learn on a simulator, the dogs learned the basics of the controls on a training set-up. Recently, Porter got behind the real wheel and became the world's first driving dog.

MINI wasn't simply chosen because of its small cars; the automaker made it happen. Simonne Mearns, MINI's New Zealand brand manager, asked its advertising agency DraftFCB to develop a campaign for the SPCA. DraftFCB responded in a big way, coming up with something that has turned the world's attention toward the topic of animal adoption – the YouTube video "Meet Porter. The World's First Driving Dog" received more than three million views in less than a week.

Seeing-eye dogs aren't likely to be replaced by driving-eye dogs anytime soon, but it sure is interesting to know that dogs can be trained to drive an automobile. It's also fun to watch – check out the videos below for some driving footage of the three dogs along with a video showing the modifications that were made to the vehicle to make it dog-friendly.

Source: MINI New Zealand , Gizmag

Acura ILX gets racing and street special editions

The 2013 ILX sedan has developed a bit of a chip on its shoulder ... Acura recently showed its entry-level four-door in two powerful tunes for its first trip to the SEMA Show in more than half a decade. Both tunes juice and streamline the ILX, one for endurance racing and one for the street.
The ILX Endurance Racer was prepared by Team Honda Research-West to meet the U.S. Touring Car specifications of the National Auto Sport Association (that's a different NASA than the one we're used to). The THR-W team focused mostly on cutting weight while also upgrading the car's safety, performance and aerodynamics.
The Endurance Racer is upgraded with an AEM cold air intake, an HPD-lightened flywheel and racing clutch package, a custom-built racing exhaust, H&R suspension, and Enkei RPF1 wheels dressed in BFGoodrich R1 race tires, among other parts. It also includes a full roll cage, race seat, competition steering wheel, LED lighting system and rear spoiler.
The ILX will make its racing debut at next month's 25 Hours of Thunderhill endurance race.

Moving off the race circuit and onto the street, the 2013 ILX "Street Build" is designed to navigate neighborhood and highway with a bit more performance and flair.
The tune was performed by Evasive Motorsports. With the help of an ECU tune, a CT Engineering supercharger kit lets 250 horses out of their 2.4-liter four-cylinder stable. A prototype exhaust from Greddy gives the car the appropriate grumble. The aero-upgraded body sits on top of 19-inch Volk G25 wheels suspended by Tein Street Advance coilovers and covered in Pirelli P Zero tires.
Source: Honda News , Gizmag

Nissan's new leather seats feel like human skin

Nissan's new upholstery aims to replicate the texture and softness of human skin (Photo: Shutterstock)

Nissan is working on a material for its car seats that will replicate the texture and softness of human skin. The project called Premium-fEEL interior concept (PEEL) has seen engineers carry out detailed studies of what provides the sense of touch with a comfortable sensation. They discovered that nothing matches the comfort and tranquility associated with the feel of human fingers against the body. Being enveloped in the softness, the warmth, and the texture associated with a pattern of fingerprints is uniquely satisfying to people, who subconsciously interpret these sensations as a gentle caress.

The leather upholstery of the new Infinity QX56 (Photo: Nissan)

Most surfaces of an automobile cabin are experienced through pressure, sliding contact, or both. Nissan's studied both of these interactions as a function of perceived comfort, and the results appear below:

Nissan's research findings on comfort. The upper half of the figure describes comfort in terms of the compressibility of a surface, while the bottom half does the same in terms of the roughness of a surface (Image: Nissan)

The graphs indicate that the situation of maximum comfort occurs when a leather surface is only slightly less compressible than a human finger pad, and when the roughness of the surface is about that of a human fingerprint. Their overall conclusion is that the texture and yielding nature of baby skin is very nearly ideal.
Nissan is aiming to achieve this using semi-aniline leather with a textured and lightly pigmented protective coating which contains the fingerprint patterns.
One could argue that the best way to replicate an original is to use the original itself, but – aside from the serious creepy factor – with the cost of lab-grown human skin currently around US$250,000 per square meter, it's not likely to end up in car upholstery any time soon.
Source: Nissan Motor Company, Gizmag