06-16 FastNews.indd - Automobile Association of Singapore

Sport on!
BMW’s 6 Series
gets a scheduled
second quarter
2011 debut
HIGHWAY 16 FAST NEWS
BMW will debut its new two-door 6 Series
in the second quarter of 2011 in Singapore.
Production on its main production line
has already started in Dingolfi ng, Germany,
and the 6 Series will be manufactured
alongside the 5 big sedan and 7 Series
limousine — both of which the 6 Series
shares common basic architecture with.
The folding fabric roof will be a first for
the 6 Series cabriolet. (The coupe will follow
in the fourth quarter, although no official
photographs of it have been released, as
the car is in the design concept stages.)
Its basic form takes cues from the rest
of BMW’s lineup. For instance, there’s a
prominent oversized and upright double
kidney grille. The rest of its design is
inspired by boats moving through water.
It will handle like a boat too, or at least
in terms of how a speedboat accelerates.
Engine options available at its launch will
include a 320bhp 3.0-litre six-cylinder and a
407bhp 4.4-litre V8. Both powerplants will
be turbocharged and will be linked to eightspeed
automatic transmissions.
Naturally, the car will come with an
optional active body roll control system
to keep things fl at and pointed through
corners. It will also inherit the clever four
wheel-steering system first seen on the 7,
then 5 Series. At low speeds, it works to
decrease the car’s turning radius and at
higher speeds, allows for more deft turn-in.
Other innovations include a full-colour
heads-up display with three-dimensional
graphics, a first for BMW’s cars.
Honda’s hybrid hatchback takes on Toyota’s Prius
One of the first commercially-available
hybrid vehicles on the modern market was
the first-generation Honda Insight back in
1999. Most people know the Prius, thanks
to its fame as the world’s best-selling
hybrid car.
Now however, the Insight has a bigger
hill to climb, as the Prius is currently Japan’s
most popular car in terms of monthly sales.
Honda’s strategy with the Insight is to offer
a cheaper package overall, even if it doesn’t
perform as well in terms of fuel economy.
Honda is also trumping up the fact that it’s
been tuned for drivability too.
The Insight features the same
“Integrated Motor Assist” hybrid system as
the Civic hybrid (which is being phased out,
coincidentally), but that system is now in its
fifth iteration and, Honda claims, is smaller
and lighter, and even better at fuel-saving
than before. The system is a parallel hybrid,
meaning the engine cannot be totally
disconnected. Neither can it run entirely on
electric power.
It consists of a 1.3-litre inline fourcylinder
engine with 88bhp mated to
a 16bhp, 78Nm electric motor, both
driven through a continuously-variable
transmission.
Fuel efficiency is quoted as 21.7km/L,
compared to 25.6km/L for the Prius. The
battery pack is a nickel metal-hydride pack
located beneath the boot and in between
the wheels. 0-100km/h should take around
12 seconds, with a maximum speed of
about 180km/h.
A major new feature of the Insight is
the “Eco Assist” mode. Unlike regular “eco”
buttons, the changes it enforces to minimise
fuel consumption are not limited to the
drivetrain. Not only is total system output
limited, but the system also smoothens out
the CVT shift pattern, as well as the throttle
inputs, thanks to drive-by-wire tech. The
air-conditioning pattern is also modified, as
is the Start-Stop function.
The Insight’s trump card is pricing,
though. At last count, it retails for $116,900
with COE, compared with the higher-priced
Prius at $139,488 with COE. Bookings for the
Insight are being collected by official dealer
Kah Motors, with the offi cial launch and
first deliveries in January.