Car News & Updates

In fact, Tiptronic gearboxes are being used by other manufacturers but they use different terms to refer to it. So generally drivers has the option to leave the gearbox in a way that it shift the gears or driver change it like a sequential manual gearbox.

Anyway it never performs as smooth as a manual gearbox and it's not as that fast. Specially in cheaper version after push the stick backward or forward there is a delay time which is annoying. The reason which this delay exist is that gearbox still changes the gear based on the torque and if the engine is not in the right torque it needs time to go to next gear.

Ferrari introduced it's latest sport car called 458. This car is defiantly a new concept in Ferrari products. Except the tail lights, all other exterior design looks brand news. Front lights look as they never seen before in a Ferrari. Lines on body specially around rear part all looks new and innovate and difficult and expensive to build.

Unlike design and other features, name supposed to follow a Ferrari tradition which 45 at the beginning stands for engine capacity which 4500 CC and 8 stands for number of cylinders which is 8. And again in development of this car Michael Schumacher had great assistant since beginning of project.

This famous luxury car which has been introduced by BMW is not something new to write about. Anyway, latest 7 series still looks ugly and still has high quality. Shininess of paint shows amount of work and quality of ceramic paint which has been used to keep it avoiding any scratch.

Manual transmissions possibly are best known type of gearboxes in the world. Still so many manufacturers(mostly cheap ones) produce their cars with only one gear option and that's manual one. In so many countries to pass driving license test you must be able to drive a manual gearbox car.

Generally, manual gearboxes are combination of a clutch which connect and disconnect the power from engine and a stick which changes gears based on driver decision. So it means when drivers keep half-clutch only 50% of chosen gear is engaged with engine. Anyway, the ability to connect and disconnect the power from engine gives incredible performance and flexibility to drivers.

Another usage of manual transmissions are in off-road vehicles. Generally, it's too difficult to build an automatic gearbox which can detect all of kind of road and situations and can choose right gear based on. So combination of two manual gearboxes makes it quite easy to drive to choose the best transmission based on situation.

Some of late Lamborghini models were coming up with a 6-speeds manual transmission (such as Lamborghini Reventon), but these transmissions are going to be retired on super sport cars because of delay which exist between changing gears (Ferrari F430 semi-automatic gearbox can change gears in 150 milliseconds or 0.15 seconds).

Although manual gearboxes are going to be retired slowly but still there are so many things about these gearboxes which couldn't be replaced by any other. Possibly one of the best known is ability to have circle 360 degree turn (I mean those acrobatic ones!).

Anyway, manual gearboxes are cheap to design and manufacture and still gives best flexibility. Photos below show a very simple and clear scheme of a manual gearbox which makes it clear how these gearboxes are working.

Specification clearly shows how strong is this car but it's interesting that maybe one of most shining specification is on weight. Generally reducing weight needs too much of Carbon Fiber works and strong metal logy technology. Manufacturing carbon fiber is not easy and not cheap either. Anyway results are quite significant and acceleration of 0-60 or 0-96 KM is really great and i think that's why Lamborghini Murcielego is well known. Also a 6-speed Automatic ( or technically semi-automatic) is another interesting point in this Lamborghini.

Automatic Transmission:
This is possibly most popular type of gearbox you will find on cars. Generally these kind of gearboxes give a few option to driver before car start to move and after that gearbox will change the gears based on driver choice. Gears would usually placed in sequence of:
P(Park)
R(Reverse)
N(Neutral or No gear)
D(Drive)
A few numbers in sequence, may come after this order which shows that only specific gears will engaged or some specific option like snow or dirt may be seen.

Generally when car is moving gearbox will choose the right gear based on engine torque which higher torque would brings higher gear.

Choosing the right gear and best gear ratio based on torque is key element in designing and developing Automatic Transmission. In order to achieve this, gearboxes nowadays are more engaged with Mechatronic. For example, Peugeot 206 and Citroen Xsara have same kind of gearbox which gearbox choose the right gearbox based on driver driving habits which it means it always suit driver needs no matter how he drives. For developing this, developers need to use of one of the most advance technologies in Computer Sciences which is called Fuzzy Logic.

Depend on the manufacturer these gearboxes may come with Overdrive option, which in case of urge, driver can active it by pushing acceleration pedal to the end. Overdrive would instantly change gear changing ratios and this will result in lowest possible gear for current speed or simply fastest acceleration possible.

Advantage of Automatic Transmissions is that they are highly fuel efficient and very easy to use but drawback is that they are not bringing as good performance as Manual or Semi-Automatic gearboxes bring.

One of the most common questions about these gearboxes is that why some of them has stair-like scheme to change option. Well the reason is that in this kind of stair sequence (which replaced the straight line sequence)aim is to remove changing button on gear and makes it more user-friendly. Also it helps to keep gear in right position so during driving it has less chance of sudden change.

In NewYork 2009 Automotive show, Acura came with a prototype called ZDX and it was conditioned that depend on the market they will decide whether bring in production line or not.It seems that they made decision and decided to come up with this SUV.

It comes with 3.7 Liter SOHC which produce 300 HP and 270 lb torque and maybe the most innovative technology is panoramic roof. Other features are those common new technology which it can be found in Acura website.

But most interesting point about this car, is its exterior design which looks quite alike BMW X6. I'm not sure whether X6 was good in sell performance 0r not but using same kind of body style for a new car by Honda leave this question is this car as innovative as they claim or not.

Back to 2007, when first concept of this Peugeot with name of 308 RC Z has been lunched i was asking myself why Peugeot is not manufacturing this car for public. Concept had all of the features for a car to be lunched to public except managers will.

It seems that Peugeot finally answered to my question and introduce this car as real product which will be lunched in 2011 and is been called RCZ.

Like every other product of Peugeot, exterior design resemble an attacking cat. Maybe the most interesting design is rear spoiler. Instead of using traditional spoilers which are usually exist in market today, designers put an artistic gap on roof which cause rear become more stable and car get a unique design. Of course this feature will be quite expensive to produce.

Not much of specification has been released yet but i don't expect it comes with AWD feature or very powerful engine.

Pictures below shows first concept which has been lunched at 2007.

We are all familiar with these terms which usually been used to describe how car distribute engine torque on wheels. But sometimes we confuse these terms with each other so I would like to explain them a little.

FWD(Front Wheel Drive): This is most popular type which is use in so many cars. In these kind of vehicles, front wheel actively work with engine and spin all of the time. Rear wheels have no effect on car traction or movement. The reason which makes FWD so popular is that it's cheap to design and produce and less parts need to be used so as result it comes with economical solution. Worst thing about FWD is that when car trying to have heavy turn with high speed car respond weakly and does not stay in line properly. Majority of Asian and French cars are FWD. So when you see a FWD car you can be sure you economical car which has nothing to do with performance.

RWD(Rear Wheel Drive): Unlike FWD, RWD distribute torque on rear wheels. This has benefit that traction would be done by front wheel and straight line movement will be done by rear wheels which this gives more specific and precise handling in compare with FWD. Anyway depend on engine position there is possibility of loss force from engine to wheels which this happens when engine has been placed in front. That's one of the reason that sport rear wheel drive cars like Porsche or Ferrari put their engine at the back to minimise lost of torque to wheels. Generally German cars and American cars are produced RWD.

4WD(4-Wheel Drive): Engine torque will always send to rear wheels and depend on choice of driver it can be send to front wheel or not. This is gives a balance between fuel economy of the car and traction ability and mostly been used in SUV and 4X4 cars. Usually in these kind of cars driver has option to choose whether engage front wheel in movement or not but he can't choose only front wheel to have movement.

AWD(All Wheel Drive): Engine power would be distritbute to all wheels all the time. This is a little confusing as diffrent companies using diffrent strategies and methodes to distribute power on wheels. But no matter how power distributed on wheels, it's always come up with best traction possiblity for car and great stability. Many great quality cars Audi R8 or Lamborghini using this type of traction. Generally when you see a car is AWD you can count on the performance and handling of car.

It always been saying that for a prticular car weight distribution is 50-50 or maybe 49-51 but what does it mean actully?

Weight distribution is one of the most challenging and important task in developing a car which is targeted to be a sport car. Generally weight distribution is factor which has to be consider in developing airplanes and watercrafts. But in automotive industry it consider important when result is aiming on handling and performance.

Weight distribution is load of weight in front and rear part of a car. It means if you divide the car by a imaginary line to front and read part, there is a special ration of weight for fron and rear. If it is 50-50 it means that car weight has perfectly balanced between front and rear. Anyway 50-50 is too ideal and very difficult to achieve but even a result like 51-49 can be consider as very good results.

Benefit of weight distribution is mostly on handling but it also effect acceleration and it can be specificly targeted on acceleration which is not 50-50 anymore.

There are diffrent startegies to divide the weight but usually most common way is that after developing and designing the car, developers will play with parts and would shift them from front to rear to come with an ideal solution.

One of most popular example of 50-50 distribution is latest BMW Z4.

Youngest member of Porsche family will come to the market on late summer of 2010. Porsche Panamera 4S which has range of six to eight cylinders with 300 to 500 hourspower will be a serious word for Maserati Quatroporte and specially Jaguar XJ 2010. It has been rumored that Jaguar XJ 2010 has been designed to stand against Panamera.

Porsche which always been famous for it's high quality and according themselves their high safety follow usual Porsche concept design which makes Panamera look alike other porsche products and somehow boring.

Anyway what I expect is that in compare with other luxury sedans in this price range which is 130,000-140,000 US$ this perform a great performance and has more racing nature in compare with Jaguar or Maserati. I also love unique Porsche interior design which is always one of best in interior design.