4 March 2010
After all the gritting and salting to roads to keep traffic moving during this winter’s unprecedented bad weather, the wheel arches and undersides of UK vehicles are now caked in corrosive debris. Whilst every effort should be made to clean it off, motorists may be causing unseen but terminal damage to their car’s tyres by using pressure washers incorrectly. In a bid to limit the possibility of damage, mytyres.co.uk, part of Europe’s largest web-based tyre retailer, is advising motorists of the dangers pressure washers can pose to the sidewall of a tyre.

According to the respected German safety and testing organisation, DEKRA, if a pressure washer nozzle is held too close to the sidewall of a tyre at high pressure, serious damage can result in as little as five seconds! Even tyres that appear to be unaffected after being exposed to a pressure washer may have microscopic perforations which can weaken the tyre sidewall and cause deflation, leading to a possible blow-out.

Other factors, says mytyres.co.uk, that may cause deterioration or damage to tyres include some soaps and detergents. These can remove protective chemicals that are embedded in the sidewall – they can sometimes be identified visually on the tyre as brown watermarks –resulting in a significant reduction in durability.

mytyres.co.uk advises motorists considering using a pressure washer on their cars to adhere to the following tips:

• Ideally, use a light to medium duty pressure washer (110 bar or less)
• Keep the washer nozzle at least 20cm from the tyre surface
• Always use a fan nozzle to clean tyres, rather than a circular nozzle
• Avoid prolonged jet washing of any one area of the tyre
• Avoid aiming the water jet at the join between the tyre and wheel rim

RICHARD BLACKBURN
October 16, 2009

If four-wheel-drives weren’t politically incorrect enough, a Russian car maker is offering one with whale penis leather trim. By RICHARD BLACKBURN.

A Russian armoured-car builder is boasting that its latest vehicle has seats covered with “whale-penis leather”.

The €1 million ($1.6 million) Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition armoured car has been developed by the same company, RussoBaltique, that built armoured vehicles for Tsar Nicholas, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky.

On its official website, the company says the whale-penis leather is the same as that used by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis on the yacht Christina O.

Onassis is rumoured to have had some of the barstools on the yacht, the world’s most expensive at the time, covered in the controversial leather.

The leather is not the only tacky accessory on the Prombron, which Dartz claims is the world’s most expensive SUV.

The bulletproof windows are gold-plated, the exhaust is made of tungsten, the gauges are encrusted with diamonds and rubies and the exterior has a Kevlar coating.

The car also comes with three bottles of the world’s most expensive Vodka, RussoBaltique, although the website does warn prospective buyers not to drink and drive.

The vehicle is being specially prepared for the ultra-exclusive Top Marques luxury motor show in Monaco next year.

Dartz’s armoured vehicles weigh roughly 4 tonnes, are powered by V8s putting out between 300kW and 400kW and are “rocket grenade-proof” according to the website.

For those wondering just how may whales may need to be harvested to outfit the special edition, the answer is not many. The penis of the Blue Whale, for example, can grow up to 2.4 metres.

One week out from their Geneva Motor Show debut, Nissan has revealed the full details of the updated Nissan Pathfinder and Nissan Navara ranges.

Headlining the mid-life upgrade is an all-new direct injection V6 turbodiesel.

Developed by the Renault Nissan Alliance, the unique power plant sits at the unusual vee angle of 65 degrees and its block is made of Carbon Graphite Iron, which Nissan says offers all the stiffness and noise absorption benefits of cast iron without the weight penalty.

Power output peaks at 170kW and torque is a class-leading 550Nm between 1700 and 2500rpm. All of this is achieved while complying with Euro 5 standards, thanks to Exhaust Gas Recirculation which reduces NOx emissions and a metallic oxidation catalytic converter, exothermic catalyst and a catalytic diesel particulate filter.

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It’s getting on in years and is one of the cheapest new 4×4s that money can buy. But, as Paul Guinness discovers, the latest-spec Jimny still has plenty going for it

By any standards, the diminutive Suzuki Jimny is a bit of an old soldier, having originally been launched way back in 1998 before going on sale in the UK early the following year. And that makes it the second oldest 4×4 currently on sale in Britain, beaten only by Land Rover’s evergreen Defender.

Looking at the 2010-spec Jimny now, it’s obvious that the model has been altered remarkably little over the years. Okay, a new 1.3-litre 16-valve petrol engine – complete with variable valve timing – was introduced a while back, along with a freshened-up dashboard and minor trim updates. But, in essence, the latest Jimny is very much the same vehicle that first saw the light of day a full twelve years ago.

So does that automatically make the Jimny hopelessly outclassed and not worthy of consideration nowadays? No. Far from it, in fact – as we’ve just discovered after a week at the wheel of the latest (and most expensive) SZ4 version.

THE ‘POSH’ JIMNY

This doesn’t mean the Jimny has been moved needlessly upmarket, of course. You can still buy the entry-level 1.3 JLX for a very reasonable £10,715 – or considerably less once your nearest dealer has agreed to the kind of generous discount we’ve come to expect in Suzuki showrooms. And when you consider that at that price you’re getting a ‘proper’ 4×4 (complete with body-on-frame construction, part-time Drive Select four-wheel drive, a dual-range transfer box, free-wheeling front hubs and coil-sprung suspension), less than £11k is surely a small price to pay?

Read more here…

Secondhand SUVs are suddenly back in fashion, with values of even the larger, more upmarket models – including the Range Rover – on the rise over the last few months. But that tends to apply only to diesel-engined models, leaving the petrol-guzzling derivatives still struggling to find buyers in many cases.

So we figured that now was a good time to compare two obvious used rivals: the 4.6-litre V8 version of the second-generation Range Rover versus the 4.7-litre V8 derivative of the Jeep Grand Cherokee – the 1999-2004 version that now offers spectacular value on the used scene. And it’s an interesting combination, because even with a budget of no more than £3000, there’s quite a choice of decent examples out there.

IN WITH THE NEW

The P38-model (Mk II) Range Rover was launched back in 1994 and was instantly acclaimed as a worthy successor to the original legend – the model that had been around for a remarkable 24 years by then. So along came this all-new version, featuring plenty of British engineering brilliance and a whole raft of advanced electronics. For your money you got air suspension, traction control, airbags, ABS, climate control and a whole lot more, all wrapped up in aluminium panelwork that, even today, still looks surprisingly fresh. Sure, it wasn’t cheap; but the newcomer helped to ensure the Range Rover was once again the best vehicle in its class.

The new-generation Range Rover certainly made ripples on the other side of the Atlantic. But clearly, the Americans liked the sound of the challenge – and in 1997, that good ol’ Yank, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, was launched over here. It sold on image rather than sophistication, although any lingering sniggers were stifled in 1999 when an all-new Grand Cherokee range was launched. Here, at last, was the premium rival to the Range Rover: almost as able off-road, just as revered on it. Things were truly set for a battle royal.

HIGH-END HEDONISM

The Grand Cherokee shown here is very much the ‘top of the tree’ model. The 4.7-litre V8-engined Overland would have cost its original owner over £37,000 back in 2003, the Overland version sitting above the old Limited line, and came equipped with absolutely everything; you name it, the Jeep had it. Happily though, there were plenty of well-heeled customers out there clamouring for such a highly equipped Grand Cherokee.

Read more here…