MOTORISTS UNDER PRESSURE TO PUMP-UP FOR THE SUMMER

Dynamic Vehicle Solutions is urging motorists to adjust their tyre pressures if they plan to travel with a heavy load this summer, in a season which is expected to see more Briton’s pack their cars for a holiday on home shores than in previous years.

Family cars jammed with people, suitcases and pets are expected to peak in the last week of July, once schools break-up, with Dynamic Vehicle Solutions warning that few drivers are likely to have adjusted their tyre pressures to suit the additional weight their cars are carrying.

"If you are carrying a full load of passengers with luggage or will be towing a caravan or trailer, tyre pressures must be increased in line with the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations. It’s a simple five minute job, but from our experience, the majority of drivers don’t bother" said a Dynamic Vehicle Solutions spokesman

“Few people realise that it is the air inside a tyre which carries the weight of the vehicle and its load, not the tyre itself, hence nearly every car has two recommended pressure settings – one for ‘normal’ use and a higher figure for full loads. Driving a fully laden car on tyres inflated to the normal setting will severely compromise handling and mean stopping distances increase dramatically. It will also see tyre wear rise and punctures will be more likely,”

Adjusting tyre pressures is a simple job using your own pressure gauge and compressor. To find the correct pressure for your tyres, motorists should check the vehicle handbook – in some cars pressures are also displayed on a sticker inside the fuel filler flap or driver’s door. Pressures should be checked when the tyre is cold, such as when the vehicle has been driven less than a mile or at least an hour after driving. It is essential that pressures are re-set to the normal setting at the end of the trip.

New Vauxhall Astra Breaks Cover

These are the first official images of the new, British-built Vauxhall Astra, which will debut as a five-door hatchback at this September’s Frankfurt Show and will appear in UK showrooms at the end of the year.

Marking the sixth generation of Astra in 30 years, the new car’s design team was led by Mark Adams, the British designer responsible for last year’s European Car of the Year-winning Vauxhall Insignia.

With its strong, cab-forward silhouette, steeply-raked windscreen and sloping rear roofline, the new Astra makes ingenious use of many of the design features found in the Insignia, but in a fresh and innovative way. Also like the Insignia, it has spent over 600 hours in the wind tunnel, benefiting performance, economy and overall refinement.

“We’re continuing with the same premium design cues as the Insignia, inside and out of the car,” said Adams, Vice President of GM Europe Design. “However, the main design themes, like the wing-shaped light signatures and the blade, needed an individual execution to avoid ‘cloning’ the model ranges. This is why, for instance, you see twin wings in the rear lights and a reversed blade on its flanks.”

Underpinning the Astra’s rakish, 4.4 metre-length body, is an all-new chassis with a 71 millimetre-longer wheelbase, benefiting both passenger comfort and packaging. Wider tracks front and rear feature, as does a new rear axle design, which not only improves stability and agility, but takes the Astra’s ride comfort into a different league.

Enhancing the Astra’s dynamic performance still further is the option of Vauxhall’s clever FlexRide system, a rarity in this sector which offers drivers three unique damper settings – standard, sport and tour – while being fully adaptive to changes in driving style and cornering speed.

Pictures of the new Astra’s interior will be released soon, but in the meantime expect similar strides in quality to those found in the Insignia, combined with big improvements in packaging, seat design and in-cabin storage. Mark Adams’ unique wrap-round dash treatment will also appear in the Astra, but with a different take on that found in the Insignia.

Unique in this sector will be the Astra’s optional, latest generation AFL (Adaptive Forward Lighting), which features bi-xenon lighting that changes its intensity and reach to suit prevailing road conditions. A similar system was introduced on the Insignia, and is now recognised as one of the most advanced systems available.

The highlight of the new Astra’s powertrain line-up is the introduction of an all-new, 140PS turbocharged 1.4-litre petrol unit, which builds on Vauxhall’s commitment to engine downsizing and reduced emissions/fuel consumption, while retaining the performance of a larger capacity vehicle. The 1.4T joins three further petrol engines, which range from 100PS to 180PS, and four diesel engines ranging from 95PS to 160PS. All engines are Euro 5 compliant.

“The only part of the Astra which isn’t new is its name,” said Andy Gilson, Vauxhall’s Marketing Director. “And that name currently accounts for around 30 per cent of all Vauxhall’s car sales, with the five-door hatch taking 60 per cent of those sales alone – so it’s important to lead with this body style. Not only is the Astra a crucial new model for Vauxhall, but we’re confident that its blend of dynamic design, new-to-class technology and immense driver appeal will attract an even broader spectrum of buyers in this sector.”


For further information on the New Astra or on any model in the Vauxhall range please contact one of the sales team at Dynamic Vehicle Solutions on 0845 40 80 321 or visit http://www.dynamicvehiclesolutions.co.uk/

Car scrappage scheme 'unpopular'

There is growing evidence that the government's forthcoming scheme to scrap hundreds of thousands of old cars is not that popular with motorists.

A new survey suggests most people who have studied the scrappage scheme have decided not to take advantage of it.

Researchers from car price guide Parker's questioned 600 people online.

It found that 70% of respondents said the scheme was not generous enough, and overall 81% said they would not be taking advantage of it.

The scrappage scheme starts on 18 May. If your car is at least 10 years old you can scrap it, in return for a substantial discount on a new car.

The government will provide a £1,000 subsidy for each car purchased, and manufacturers will provide at least a similar amount.

But Kieren Puffet, the editor of Parker's Guide, said many motorists have managed to find much larger discounts under existing deals.

"They're massively disappointed," he said. "They were hoping for a lot more from the government."

Julia Smith, who lives in Basingstoke in Hampshire, is one of those who initially thought the scheme would be useful, but has since decided against it. She was going to scrap her 13-year-old Volvo, and buy a new one instead.

With the scrappage scheme discounts, a brand new Volvo would have cost her in the region of £21,000. But she then found exactly the same model with less than 10,000 miles on the clock for £17,000. A saving of £4,000 proved irresistible.

"In practice this scheme is just not working," she says. "I think it just hasn't been thought through terribly well."

The car industry had lobbied the government to pay a subsidy of £2,000 per car, rather than just £1,000. A similar scheme in Germany was launched back in December, and the government there pays the larger amount. Unlike the British plan, it also includes cars up to one year old.

Paul Everitt, of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, is lukewarm about the UK scheme.

"We've been dealt the cards that we have," he said. "Our job now is to make the best of it."

But the government says motorists still stand to make savings through the scheme.

Gareth Thomas, the consumer affairs minister, said: "I don't think this will be a flop. But you're right to say there are good deals in the market already."

Motorists are already able to save £'000s on new vehicle leasing costs by using one of the UK's fastest growing contract hire and leasing companies, Dynamic Vehicle Solutions. For details of all their latest offers visit www.dynamicvehiclesolutions.co.uk

New regulations for PSV's

Automatic speed limiters could be fitted to hundreds of taxis, buses and council vehicles to prevent them from breaking the speed limit.

A major trial by Transport for London will see the technology, which is called Intelligent Speed Asaptation (ISA), tested throughout London this summer.

The device works using satellite tracking and a digital road map to detect the road's speed limit. It then prevents the driver from being able to accelerate once the speed limit has been reached, and automatically slows the vehicle if the driver fails to slow down on entering a lower limit zone.

As well as the automatic limiting, the device also features an advisory setting, which is less intrusive and simply uses audio warnings to inform the driver of the speed limits and whether the they are keeping within them.

If successful, the technology could become available for private motorists as early as next year, a move which has concerned motoring organisations.

Transport for London's six-month trial will include a London bus, taxi and 20 cars from road engineers, traffic managers and highway maintenance. They claim that if two-thirds of London's drivers used the devices, the number of road casualties in the capital could be reduced by up to 10 percent.