Categories
Cars

Who wants a front wheel drive, 97 horse power Aston Martin?

I pretty sure that, many people will say yes this questions. But I have bad news; as published on NYTimes.com, Cygnet the very small Toyota iQ based Aston Martin is reserved for Aston Martin owners :(
And micro Aston Martin’s engine will not remmaped or increase its power! Why don’t you say more basically we don’t want to invest on new engine, we will try to see with Toyota engine. Very nice decision.
I really want to see how the Russian billionaires and petrol riched Gulf people will comment on this car!
And the price is very reasonable, around £20,000 – £30,000. I cannot deny the interior is very made and it has the Aston Martin design clues but that’s all.
If you want to a buy an Aston Martin based on Toyota with 1.3lt 100 horsepower engine and top speed of 170 km/h and front wheel drive; go for it!
If you buy this car, you won’t have any pleasure like other Aston Martin!

Do you really want to be seriously COOL with ICON ????

If you started reading this, you have some desire deep inside your body to be Cool!! And here is the solution ;)
People are buying expensive yachts, watches from Patek Philippe or being dressed up by Chanel or buying very very privately manufactured Rolls Royce. But does anyone could fly? Of course no. Whatever you buy, you cannot use it like a car. And these tragic problems came to and end :)
You want to be cool, you want to be remembered by everyone, you want to have the coolest on earth, you want to ruin air traffic and you want to hit to ground very quickly. Here it is; ICON A5 Aircraft. Sorry for hitting the ground, it has even parachute! So you will hit the ground even in stylish way ;)
This new gadget is from James Bond movie, Mr. Bond here is your new plane which could do 180 km/h and has 100 horsepower engine. Unfortunately this cool thing does not take off stylish, you have to find a 225 meters place to take off and land.
Basically; this is very cool looking, compact airplane for casual style.
However, I have some concerns! We all know that, people tend to repair their cars by their self, I don’t know why. And they cannot fix it proper and hit to a tree (time to time). Now the same guy will buy this plane and will repair at home and hit your house.
This is very good product but how could we trust people who don’t have advanced level pilot experience. What about novice pilots? This is not like car, pull the hand brake and car will stop. When it stops in air, it does not stay in air, it will drop to somewhere! And also the busy air traffic will be annoyed by some new pilot who wants to show off their new air plane to their friends!
There 450 orders are made, so we should be careful ;)
By the way, it looks very cool. And practical and has innovative design :)
Picture are from;
Icon Website
Categories
Fashion

Driving Shoes in Pink, recommended by GQ

There are plenty of different types of driving shoes on market. And they have typical style and typical colours which are not shocking! Now there is something different from Kurt Geiger’s Florio shoes and listed as 27. Best Thing in the World by GQ Magazine. And probably lots of people will rush into those shoes. But there is a small problem, their colours. It is starting from blue, brown, grey, navy, orange, pink, purple, red, yellow. Yes, they offer pink and puprle driving shoes!
The scenary will be very interesting, someone is coming out from Mercedes CL65 AMG which has lots of power to move the world and the driver has pink shoes by Kurt Geiger!
They should recommend the colours with cars. Pink for Nissan Micra drivers, Yellow for Yellow Ferrari owners ;)

Kurt Geiger Florio
Kurt Geiger Website
Mercedes CL 65 AMG
Mercedes AMG Website
Categories
Cars

Proper Car Watch?

A watch is complementary of a luxury car. I am not making this suggestion, you can find this clue in Brand Management books. Also nobody denies this ;) As you cannot carry your car to a restaurant or a club or sport centre, you could carry your watch to show what you have outside ;)
Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre, TAG Heuer and Breitling share something in common. They all produce watches for cars brands. Panerai offers Ferrari, Jaeger-LeCoultre offers Aston Martin, TAG Heuer offers SLR and Breitling offers Breitling for Bentley watches. Most of them have some design inspirations from the car brand which they offer and some of them just reflect their price and luxury.
The point which I cannot understand or I should say; I am expecting to see is a reflection of that car in that watch. For example; when we look at Breitling for Bentley we cannot see a serious very significant different from other Breitlings. Watch experts could say the differences, but at least the number or dials should be same with Mulsane or Continental GT. There should be more than a small Bentley label in that watch. TAG Heuer is better but still, it is not reflecting the SLR properly. Panerai’s Ferrari collection has Ferrari design inspiration and similar number which are used on Ferrari cars. That is very nice, I really wish to carry some Ferrari in my watch which could diversify the watch from the other Panerais. I kept the best bit in the end; Jaeger-LeCoultre is also official Aston Martin watch and does not have any Aston Martin style design in that watch. AMVOX2 DBS Transponder model which has very bad model name AMVOX2. Just imagine, you are talking with your friend; “I bought a new watch, what is it? Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX2, what ?” Of course this conversation will end up with “what”. Model name is terrible! But the watch has something very interesting. Like James Bond, you just touch a button and your Aston Martin DBS’s doors open and close ;) That’s what a call a proper car watch :)

Panerai Scuderia Automatic
Panerai Website
TAG Heuer SLR
TAG Heuer Website
Breitling for Bentley, Bentley GT
Bentley Website
Jaeger-LeCoultre AMVOX2 DBS Transponder
Jaeger-LeCoultre Website
Categories
Cars

Want to be snob quickly? Here the chance! Mini First

Unlike Fiat 500, Mini turn into a snob icon as soon as it revealed to market again. Since it was first revealed with its “over priced” price tag, people rush into Mini. Some said, Madonna drives one; this is a cool car. So Madonna is doing yoga every day, are you doing it? Of course no! And Mini obsession spread to whole world. Especially in Turkey, East Asian countries, China, Gulf Countries; Mini turned into something which you must buy when you have a lot of money. Mini became a status symbol. I drive Mini, I have style. Matter of fact, you don’t have a style, you just copy someone else and try create an impression “I have a style”.
Of course, Mini is very good British German car. Drives well, good equipment, equivalent of go-kart, etc. As Mini became more popular than public buses on earth, its image started to be eroded. As a luxury good, or exiquiste brand we shouldn’t see Mini in every corner in everywhere on earth. And a typical Mini stereotype emerged; rich (or trying to look rich), young (sometimes old), stylish (relatively) and some of the have the impression of Alexander the Great when they go out of the car. And BMW understood this fact very well and expanded the model range, which I totally agree with them. If people love it, give it more ;)
And the Mini is First. When you don’t order with tech or design or salt package, what you will get is chilly Mini or raw Mini. As you could see from the picture below, it has plastic wheel covers like in Ford Transit. But I still salute BMW. There is a huge demand, they created a Minilogy and they are making money ;)
With the help of Mini First, people who desire to be snob has a cheaper alternative ;)
Honestly I like Mini, it offers really good technology and features and safety but it is very expensive for that car. I would rather go for Alfa Romeo MiTo which does not have the same quality with Mini but it has more passion. I know, you will say Alfa Romeo will break down, it won’t have the same quality, etc but it look better ;) We are not rational always in our decision!
Mini.com
Categories
Fashion

Iconic Mercedes

When we remember the old Mercedes models from 1920s to 1960s. We could see that exquisite design and engineered beyond their era. Mercedes also know this very well and in every five years they reveal a “new” model which is exactly based on old iconic model. And sometimes they ruin that iconic models, they did it once with Maybach and once with SLR. I have better expectations from SLS Gullwing!

For me there are three great Mercedes models; first one is SSK, second one is 600 Pullman and the last one is 300SLR. I think the Pullman is more famous than its owner whole over the world. Nearly every well known politician, rock star, fashion designer, very very rich people owned one of them. The fascinating thing about the 600 Pullman was; when you push a button to close the window you don’t hear any electric motor noise, because it was controlled by hydraulic! Like an airplane, Pullman’s every single detail was moving by hydraulic. And it was built in 1963.
300SLR was also fascinating car; its design, reliability, ground breaking engine technology (direct injection, which is now available with VW’s FSi engines) and its performance. I don’t want to mention about economy and environmental side effects. When it was built in 1955, no one on earth had been to moon. Phone was a very luxury device, there was no fast food and also no starbucks! And Mercedes built that car in that era.
The SSK is one of the best looking cars. And producing nearly 300 horsepower from 7.3 lt engine in 1928. There is no need to say more!
And let’s come today; last one decade did Mercedes revealed something iconic? I am sure some of you will say, Maybach, my uncle’s S Class, my father’s S Class, my classmate’s uncle’s brother’s son’s S Class. Unfortunately, neither your relatives S Class nor Russian billionaires Maybach is not iconic. S Class is a contemporary car which satisfies the needs of customers. I am not a fan of S Class, I would rather choose CL or SL. Maybach was disaster, nobody denies this! It was based on old S Class and which looks like old S Class. And after new S Class it even looks older! Maybach was great brand in 1940s but they could not manage do it again.
The last and the best Mercedes is the G Wagon! For thirty years; it is still the best off roader, looking seriously cool, extremely robust in any terrain, Range Rover looks like Paris Hilton’s small dogs when you put beside G Wagon. But it is hard to drive as a result of being a proper off roader.

Mercedes SSK, 1928
Wikipedia
Mercedes 300 SLR, 1995
Wikipedia
Mercedes 600 Pullman, 1963
Wikipedia
Mercedes G Wagon, Since 1979
Mercedes

Five Stars Hotel in Crash Test

During last ten years cars’ safety significantly improved. The first generation Ford Mondeo had only two stars and after ten years it turned into rock solid. Actually this story is similar with every other brand, after ten years most of the cars on market have four or five stars from EuroNCAP (Independent road safety organization).
For ten years; front impact, side impact, child protection was enough for the cars. Usual crashing which we are very familiar on TV, hit the car to something. However as they becoming more solid they tend to resist every kind of shock! And their stars are rising, like hotels. But after some point all hotels have five stars but which has the real five stars? It is similar with the cars also, Ford and Mercedes has five stars.!
But there is significant gap with some brands and competitors. Mercedes introduced Pre-Safe technology in 2002, which could detect a possible crash and stretches the seat belt, closes windows and prepares for crash; may be an ejection seat in near future. And they also developed this technology further and now; under the brand of BAS Plus, car could able to detect the traffic in front of the car. If the traffic is not moving and also driver is not moving, car automatically brakes up to %40 and even if there will a crash, the exposure will be lower. So these kinds of systems, even if the drivers is willing to crash somewhere is protecting passengers more than the equivalent vehicles.
So why EuroNCAP does not rate these systems? Yes, they start to rate them! Does it have ESP? Does it have beeping for seat belt? One car is stopping by itself and the other one is just beeping. Very rational! They should focus more on rating active safety systems. The important point; is not to crash!
Also why do the cars have always front impact crash? In whole world; cars only hit by front? Of course not, the car which hits something from the front is directly hits to others car’s back. What a coincidence! Therefore, EuroNCAP should start different crash tests to change their rating.

Please click for more information about EuroNCAP and your car’s rating.
http://www.euroncap.com/

EuroNCAP, Mercedes E Class (W212) Crash
Categories
Cars

Der Phaëton und Aristoteles by VW

VW Phaëton is the icon for VW’s new era for higher comfort, better technology, more luxury. It was on market in 2002 and as everyone expected it never sold enough. However, it had the state of art technologies like; air condition which never makes you sick. Despite the technologies, name derived from Greek mythology and better than Audi A8 (My opinion) never helped to boost the sales. And everyone know the rest of the story, Phaëton’s platform and technology is used for Bentley Continental Family. But this is the reason why I am writing about Phaëton.
As you can see very clearly from the picture below, Der Phaëton has wheel option which was named as “Aristoteles”. Yes; that Aristoteles who is the most important figure for Western philosophy; and has writings on these subjects physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. And much more to tell about him. Thanks to Volkwagen, he will also be remembered as optional 225/45 R18 sized wheel for VW Phaëton but also light weight wheel ;)
Nothing more to say! An idea, why didn’t you name the car Aristoteles and name the wheel Phaëton?

www.volkwagen.de
Categories
Cars

Contemporary art in navigation holder design: Fiat Punto EVO

Nowadays we read lots of news from Italy and we watch MediaSet. However there are some other thing happened!

Fiat Punto EVO is the new product in Fiat range. I didn’t have the chance to try the new multi air engine or experience with its driving characteristics. However one caught my attention, the TOMTOM navigation on the centre. I don’t have any problem with TOMTOM, I also own one. But this one inside the EVO is piece of art.

As you could see the picture below, one Italian designer forget that, there would be navigation inside the car. And as soon as he may be she remembered this, immediately put the navigation with the worst design elegance. What is the column under the navigation? You are Italian car company, not Asian. You suppose design every bit with passion. However they ran out of passion as you can see. If the rest of the car was rubbish, I wouldn’t mind to write here. The rest is great, navigation is piece of art. I am pretty sure, that upcoming navigation will disappear and they will find a different way to put navigation with more style.

And here is the impression when they realized it; “quello che è successo alla navigazione” VW Touareg did something similar to this. When they first revealed the Touareg, the place to put your mobile was ten centimetres away from your eyes. They vergessen sorry forget to find a place for mobile and they just put it on somewhere. Later, they marvellous mobile phone holder disappeared.

And what is that picture in aircraft carrier with helicopter? You are not selling Hummer! The impression, when you buy Fiat Punto EVO, you will feel like in aircraft carrier?! Take pictures in Como Lake with girls from MediaSet ;)

Categories
Cars

Taking Back My Love with two coloured Maserati

This summer’s one of the most popular video was from Enrique Iglesias Ft. Ciara’s Taking Back My Love. As we could see from the video clip, they were breaking and throwing every object in their home as they had some problems.
Ciara throw paints to swimming pool, Enrique clear the fridge and so on. But the final shot comes from Ciara! When we look at the video clip at 3:18, we could clearly see that Enrique’s grey Maserati Quattroporte turns into black and grey Quattroporte. The goods side, car has two colours ;) However the this new colouring style may not be welcomed by Enrique.
I think Guggenheim will be happy to accept this post modern art which reflect the anger of lady expressed contemporary transportation object.
However, as the EU and some other countries apply regulations to paints and chemicals inside them. Most of the paint are based on water. So Enrique may clean that paint before it turns into solid. And he will be thankful, Ciara did not throw brake fluid ;) Brake fluid doesn’t have mercy on any kind of paint!