The new Audi R8 Spyder, featured in Iron Man 2!

As in the first movie, Robert Downey Jr's character of Iron Man drives an Audi. This time around though he is in the sporting new Audi R8 Spyder.

Opel's new Ampera pre-production on schedule

The new Opel Ampera has been in production for a long time now and today marks an important day, as the first of the pre-production models has just rolled off the factory floor.

Ford's new Start Concept car revealed in Beijing

Ford chose the Beijing Auto Show to debut their new Ford Start concept car.

The World premier of Porsche's new Panamera 4

Porsche have chosen the Auto China Beijing 2010 motor show to debut their new Panamera 4. The Porsche Panamera 4 will be available this year in May. The Panamera 4 has been designed to be a cross-over between sportiness and practical every day driving.

It comes with a 3.6 litre V6 direct fuel injection engine capable of 300 hp. The Panamera 4 has active all-wheel drive and are somewhat economical at just 10 litres of fuel per 100km. It comes with many new advancements and technologies, including an auto start-stop function which will further reduce emissions and increase its economical running.

Source: Porsche

Recent Toyota Land Cruiser recall wont effect South Africa

Continuing from their previous car recall program, Toyota has now begun recalling additional vehicles. The Global recall program will effect the Toyota Prado, Toyota Land Cruiser and Lexus GX 460, as mentioned in a previous post.

This recall however will have no effect on South African Land Cruisers or Prado models, as they are right hand drive models and it is only the left hand drive models that are in need of the recall. The recall is to fix an issue with the left hand drive models, there is an issue with their Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) under certain conditions.

The reason the right hand drive models are not effected is because they have different weight distribution.

Source: Toyota

2010 Land Rover Range Rover is the Russian car of the year

At the recent 'Car of the year' awards held in Russia, the 2010 Land Rover Range Rover won the 'Best full size off-road vehicle'. These awards are the Russian variation of the the popular 'Car of the year' competition that happens in many different countries around the world.

The award is voted for by over 1.5 million Russian car owners after various models have been nominated as best in their category.

Look out for a full 'Car of the year' writeup coming in the next week, noting how the system works, as well as many of the previous winners.

Source: Land Rover

The new 2011 BMW X5 xDrive35i details released

The details have finally been released on BMW's new 2011 X5 xDrive35i. The 2011 X5 however is somewhat underwhelming in it's changes from the 2010 X5. There are obviously improvements but nothing to write home about, or even to make you feel bad for owning one of the older X5 models.

The X5 comes with an automatic 8 speed transmission as standard, as well as obviously being 4wheel-drive. There are a number of different engines variants available, including:

• xDrive50i - V8 Petrol engine with TwinPower turbo, 300kW
• xDrive35i - 6 cylinder petrol engine with TwinPower turbo, 225kW
• xDrive40d - 6 cylinder diesel engine with TwinPower turbo, 22kW
• xDrive30d - 6 cylinder diesel engine with Turbo charger, 180kW



The X535i drives 0-100km/h in just 6.8 seconds and a top speed of 235km/h. The average fuel consumption clocks in at just 10.1 litres/100km and a CO2 emissions level of just 236 grams/km.

Looks wise, the BMW X5 xDrive35i remains much the same as its 2010 predecessor, with only minor changes being made. These changes though are almost not noticeable, and all the major differences coming under the hood, as listed in the number of engine variants.

The 2011 BMW X5 xDrive35i goes on sale in May and has a starting price of $47 000.

Source: BMW

The new Audi A1 Iphone application game available

There seems to have been a trend of late where the big car brands have accompanied the release of one of their new models with an Iphone game. This was done previously by Volkswagen with their Scirocco game which was launched when the car came onto the market. These games provide great publicity for the brand and are impressive forward-thinking new channels of advertising.

Whats really nice about these kind of games is that they are free to download from the Itunes store. While there are a ton of free apps already available on the Itunes store, they are usually quite simple and have not had much development go into them. This is where the Big car brands games come in. They obviously have huge budgets for advertising and can supplement the development costs quite easily from the exposure these games generate.

The new Audi A1 game is no exception. The game comes with great soundtracks which change depending on the level. The driver needs to drive through these various levels, collecting extra points as they go. There will also be a highscore table accessible online and you will be able to share your scores through Facebook and Twitter. Also included in the game, as one would expect, is the option to subscribe to Audi's newsletter, to further increase their exposure.

Source Audi

Another car recall announced, this time its Lexus and their 2010 GX 460

Lexus seems to now be facing a similar situation to Toyota with their recent accelerator issues forcing them into a mass vehicle recall. Lexus, who are a division of Toyota, seem to have the issues on a much smaller scale though. And their car that is effected is only the 2010 version, so it should be a lot easier to handle and effect far fewer people.

The issue with the 2010 Lexus GX 460 is with the "Throttle-lift off" and as the problem was identified, the vehicle was taken out of the salesroom floor and intensive investigations conducted regarding the issue. The issue has now been identified and a solution created. Lexus has now started a voluntary recall program for all 2010 Lexus GX 460 models.

Anyone who brings their Lexus in for the recall program will be issued with a courtesy car during that period. Anyone who has any questions regarding this recall should contact their local Lexus dealership.

Source: Lexus

The new Ford Fiesta is the best selling car in Europe for March

Ford's impressive new Fiesta continues its great sales figures with another impressive month in Europe. The month of March proved to be a great one for Ford as their Fiesta became the best selling car in Europe, added to that was the news that the Fiesta is has been the best selling car in Europe for the first quarter of 2010.

Since the Ford Fiesta went on sale 18 months ago, Ford have sold 750 000 around the world. What is more impressive is how the Fiesta has shut out the Volkswagen Golf with greater sales figures in Europe. In March the Fiesta out-soled the Volkswagen Golf by almost 11 800 units. A truly impressive statistic based on just how popular the VW Golf and Polo models are around the world.

Source: Ford.