Volvo Car Australia unveils a performance version of its S60 flagship sedan. If you think the S60 T6 is already a uber cool and amazing car based on design and performance, think again. Volvo has raised the bar with its new project, called the S60 Performance Project.

More on the S60 Performance Project details after the jump.

The show car is based on the S60 T6 R Design. It is an Australian initiative and utilises two partnerships within the Volvo family – Polestar and Heico.

The engine software upgrade comes from Volvo’s racing arm, Polestar. Power increases by 18kW to 242kW while torque is increased by 40Nm to 480Nm with up to 22 per cent gains in power and torque at various parts of the rev range.

The S60 Performance Project sits on unique 19-inch Heico wheels and the German tuning house has also provided an exhaust system to further accentuate the S60’s great engine note. The Heico wheels are shod with Pirelli tyres.

Polestar was founded in 1996 in collaboration with Volvo in order to drive forward Volvo’s investment in racing. Since then, Polestar has competed with the 850, S40, S60 and2 now the C30 Volvo models. The company’s core business is focused on development and competition in racing.

Volvo and Heico also have a long standing partnership. It all began in 1989 with the grand opening of the Hedtke Volvo dealership in Weiterstadt, Germany. “Volvo is not traditionally recognized for performance in Australia but that is changing,” says Volvo Car Australia Managing Director Matt Braid.

Car manufacturer SUBARU has unveiled the new Subaru Impreza 2012 at New York Auto Show. The new Subaru model features a number of enhancements and qualities that set it apart from the rest of the competition. Some of these features include better interior space quality and refinement, new engines and transmission, AWD chassis refined for even better ride and handling, and WRX STI continues as stand-alone model.

Read more on the specific details of the new Subaru Impreza 2012 from the press release after the jump.

New interior features, infotainment technology and higher grade interior materials promise a more rewarding driving and ownership experience for customers of the 2012 Impreza.

For the UK market, a new 1.6 litre Boxer engine will be teamed with a five-speed manual transmission or the second generation Lineartronic CVT (continuously variable transmission). Every new Impreza is equipped as standard with Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive, Subaru’s invaluable performance and safety enhancing system.

Built on a longer wheelbase but with shorter overhangs, the new Impreza provides a roomier interior in the same external footprint as the outgoing model. The new passenger cabin not only yields more room, but crucially a greater feeling of spaciousness and better visibility than before.

Bold Design Statement Also Enhances Functionality

The all new Subaru Impreza conveys a bolder, more confident design that emphasises its sporty roots and standard All-Wheel Drive system. In profile, the 2012 Impreza draws focus to its wheels with powerful arches, a theme that debuted on the 2010 Subaru Legacy.

From the front, the Subaru badge centres the new hexagonal grille, a keystone of all new Subaru designs. The new Impreza sports characteristic Subaru hawk-eye headlights and a range of new 15-inch wheel cover and 16- and 17-inch alloy wheel designs.

Numerous design elements combine to give the Impreza a sportier exterior stance while also offering the driver and passengers a more commanding view of the road. The windscreen is more raked than in the previous model, with the bottom of the A-pillar moved 7.9 inches forward. This allows for a front door opening that is nearly five inches longer for easier entry/exit, abetted by lower doorsills. Rear doors are also larger on both 4 and 5-door body styles.

Driver visibility has been greatly improved through the use of thinner A-pillars and partitioned front door side glass. Where the door trim meets the window has also been lowered, helping visibility further. The instrument panel is lower and flatter than the outgoing model to give a wider field of view and a feeling of greater spaciousness. New exterior wing mirrors have greater surface area to enhance visibility while relocating them from the A-pillars to the doors contributes to improved sight lines.

Improved Room and Refinement

The new Impreza’s wheelbase grows to 104.1 inches (compared to 103.2 in the outgoing model), while length and width measurements remain the same.

The combination of a longer wheelbase with re-designed interior trim and front seats has led to gains in passenger and cargo room. Rear seat passengers gain nearly two inches of legroom, thanks to both the longer wheelbase and a new, scalloped-style front seat backrest redesign. The 5-door hatchback will benefit from increased luggage space and now provides a completely flat load floor with the standard 60/40 split rear seatbacks folded.

It is now easier to load and unload heavy objects, thanks to the removal of a stepped section under the opening. The cargo area cover can now be stored under the cargo floor, as in the Forester.

Subaru has paid a great deal of attention to improving refinement. Richer looking interior appointments and details abound, including soft-touch materials for the dashboard, door trim and centre console armrest.

Carrying space and utility has been improved throughout; larger door pockets can hold plastic drink bottles and large maps and numerous compartments located in and around the centre console hold all manner of personal items, such as phones, USB drives and MP3 players.

Greater comfort is assured with Impreza’s new front seats with their higher seatbacks, increased lumbar support and cushions that more effectively distribute pressure. As in the 2010 Legacy, the seats are optimized for a rear-end collision. A tilt/telescoping steering wheel is standard on all 2012 Impreza models.

High levels of standard equipment

Levels of standard equipment have been increased across the range. All models are set to feature electric windows and mirrors, a 60/40-split fold-down rear seat, outside temperature gauge, a multi-function display, engine immobilizer, and tilt/telescopic steering wheel. .

Higher spec models will add more kit including 16 or 17 inch alloy wheels, steering wheel audio and Bluetooth® controls, heated front seats and mirrors, climate control, upgraded instruments and auto lights. Impreza’s new optional navigation system includes a 6.1-inch touch screen LCD display with voice control.

All new gearbox and Boxer engine

UK versions of the Impreza will be powered by an all new 4-cylinder 1.6 litre Boxer petrol engine and will be available with either a new five-speed manual transmission or Subaru’s Lineartronic CVT. With either transmission choice, the 2012 Impreza delivers significantly improved fuel economy over the car it replaces.

Subaru has further refined its CVT so that for the new Impreza a lighter and more compact unit delivers smooth, linear acceleration, closer to a conventional automatic transmission while still delivering the efficiency benefits of a CVT. Higher specification Impreza models will feature CVT with a 6-speed manual, operated by steering wheel paddle shifters.

New Impreza will benefit from improved ride and handling courtesy of strengthened suspension components in front and rear and new hydraulic engine mounts to damp out vibration. The new model keeps its double-wishbone rear suspension which now features new components to improve ride quality and stability. A stiffer body structure, when combined with the new suspension, have also reduced levels of noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH).

Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive: key to Subaru’s Brand identity

Subaru will offer two different Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive systems in the new Impreza. In models equipped with the five-speed manual, the Continuous AWD system uses a viscous-coupling to distribute power 50/50 front to rear, while any slippage will send more power to the opposite set.

Impreza models equipped with the Lineartronic CVT feature the Active Torque Split AWD version that uses a continuously variable transfer clutch to actively control power distribution in response to driving conditions.

Complementing the safety benefits of the AWD system, the new Impreza will also come as standard with Subaru’s Vehicle Dynamics Control (SVDC) – a system which combines stability and traction control functions – while all models are equipped with ABS, Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD) and the Brake Assist safety system.

Subaru’s high performance WRX STI, which was launched last Autumn and is now sold and marketed as a stand-alone model, is not affected in any way by the introduction of a new Impreza 5-door.

The WRX STI will continue unchanged in the UK for the foreseeable future.

You may already have a car that you would like to trade-in in order to lower the price of the car.

A car trade-in can confuse negotiations, however, as it adds another element to what may already be very confusing car negotiations. You might also be able to get a better price if you sell the car in a separate deal to a private purchaser or to the dealership you bought the car from.

A good way to make sure you will get full value from your trade in or sale is to present a very clean car to the potential purchaser.

If you are buying a used car, it is important to do a complete visual inspection to ensure that you are not looking at and wasting your time on a car that is a complete lemon. Just kicking the tires is not enough.

Look for signs of odometer tampering, or for signs the car has been in an accident and had bodywork done.

Check for rust under the wheel well, and anywhere else on the car. Make sure the tires are still in good condition, and will last until you can afford to replace them, at least. Sit in the car, and check for wear and tear on the upholstery, as well as for signs that someone smoked in the car.

You should buy a car before you desperately need one. This gives you time to research different makes and models, as well as allowing you to wait for incentive periods at the dealership. The internet may be an excellent resource for research.

If you are buying a new car, or a car from a dealership, it can be good to go car shopping around when the new models are coming into the dealership. The next year’s models often come into the dealership any time between August and November, and dealers will be trying to clear this year’s models.

On a regular basis, it can be best to head to the dealership on a day when you have a lot of time. The negotiations can take a lot of time, and you don’t want to feel rushed. A day in the middle of the week will be quieter at the dealership, and a salesperson may feel more pressure to get your sale, because they have fewer customers available.

You may also want to head out to the dealership towards the end of the month. Dealers keep track of their monthly sales, and often have monthly goals and targets. A salesperson may be willing to make less of a profit on a car in order to meet a certain target of sales.

You do not necessarily have to buy a car during a sale in order to get the sale price. If you go after the sale, you can still ask for the sale price.

When you set out to buy a car, the first thing you want to do is research. Determine what kind of car you want, starting from whether you want a car, a minivan, or an SUV. Do you want a hybrid or electric car? A hybrid car has an electric motor as well as a gas motor, which definitely makes them more fuel efficient than a regular gas car. An electric car runs off a fuel cell- there are many new buses that run off fuel cells.

In choosing a car, you want to think about reliability, prestige, cargo space, and perhaps color. It really depends on what is important to you and what you need.

When you go to the dealership keep in mind the kind of car you want. A dealer might try to steer you towards a more expensive version of the car, or even a different car altogether if you are not specific about what you want. Dealers do not always have your best interests in mind, but they do want you to be happy, so if you stay firm, you will get what you want.

You may want to consider whether you want to lease or buy a car, a decision which really depends on how often you buy a new car. A used car may also be the best choice for you, especially considering how quickly cars depreciate. A car that has been leased for 6 months can be worth considerably less than the same model year car that has been sitting on the lot. A two year old car can be much less expensive, while still being under warranty, as well as having many of the kinks worked out and any recalls having been done.

The intention of the GPS machine tracker is especially galvanizing for parents of immature drivers. With this bitty little opus of equipment, parents cognize where their children are, and can swan where they change been. They bed if they get been move, passionate out the tires, or doing anything else that strength be construed as idle dynamic behavior. Of teaching, teenagers might not like the purpose of GPS motorcar tracker because they can no thirster “move the wool” over their parents’ eyes as to where they are effort or where they bonk been, but it sure can take time of care to worried parents.

GPS automobile tracker is also cooperative for transaction car fleets as surface as motor truck fleets and regularize car lots. Since the GPS auto tracker knows where a container is at all times, it could effectively contact out the job of stolen cars. Handcart drivers can be placed wherever they are which can amend with pinpointing conveyance times, and car lots can e’er say where a container is during a prove journey. Essentially, what GPS motorcar trackers can do for enterprise is ameliorate fecundity, accountability, dispatching efficiency, routing and such writer.

All GPS motorcar tracker devices are run as orbiter supported pilotage systems. They utilize the field of different satellites we get dispatched into space for various uses and applications. With these satellites, we get orbiter telecasting, can rail withstand, and still find vehicles on the agency with the halal equipment and software. In umpteen states, you can also prepare for lour automobile contract rates when you person a GPS motorcar tracker installed on your car. That incomparable can be a extraordinary asset.

A saving GPS auto tracker can run in value anywhere from two hundred fifty USD to five hundred UDS and can easily be installed in a container. Any of them uprise equip with the noises to road the vehicle’s advancement online which is an added plus. For peacefulness of knowledge and commerce module, effort a GPS auto tracker really is a cracking intent.

An automobile GPS system installation is fundamentally a GPS receiving system that is affixed on the to portion dashboard in any car. Then, you input into it’s database the address you are going to. The apparatus will generate for you gradually instructions to your – oftentimes audio frequency directions. Gone are the days of inconvenient paper maps and debating over to or not to inquire for directions at passersby. Nowadays, everything you require to have is an automobile GPS system set up and you are totally geared up to move around wherever you please.

The car GPS scheme acquires its signal from 4 out of 24 potential orbiters that are perpetually revolving the globe. The receiving system deciphers the location’s data onto map data file stored active in the unit, to present an up-to-the-minute locations on the map likewise past trails. The receiving programming system over and over again computes position, generating actual time location. A distinctive car GPS system carries:

• A receiver of 12-channel – the caliber of the receiver influences how lengthy it simulates for the gadget to gain a 3 dimensional fix.
• Transmitting aerial to seize orbiter signals – placed to fetch a clear sight of the sky.
• Central processing unit to work on the data and decrypt map locations DVD disk drive – maps on videodisk or useable internet software then uploaded and stored. All but more low-priced units don’t upload the maps, simply cite them forward to the CD or DVD .
• Showing Screen – generally in color on portable units employing black-and-white
• Voice user interface – more innovative units

The initial time you commence your car GPS system, its information memory is empty. So it involves accumulating satellite data to regulate your spot. This represents for a cold kickoff. A few units simply adopt thirty to forty-five seconds to gain a three-D set up on a cold kickoff, although for some may take more minutes. Consequent location updates alone calls for three to four seconds. Whenever you leave from range by falling behind line of sight, much when passing down a colossal construction or direct into a tunnel, a dependable receiver shall at once regain, whereas less effective units involves additional time to retrieve a 3D touch on.

Nowadays, auto GPS schemes are not every bit as pricey as you imagine they could cost. A lot of the automobile GPS systems could be obtained for below two hundred bucks and the several jazzed up devices will lead you as more than as a thousand bucks. Only there is without doubt that owning a car GPS system could sure enough progress to living smoother for everybody.

With GPS tracker motorcar satellite images, anyone who has installed one of these copy electronic gadgets to a vehicle can take note where it is at all times.

Is this justifiable or is this a high-risk happening? I make bold it embodies a double-edged sword when you really reflect on it. There are advantages and disadvantages.

To statesman with, it is not much suitable word for criminals. If all cars were armed with these devices, then sight the GPS tracker auto satellite images can excerpt eat taken cars within proceedings with meet a few keystrokes on the machine, which would certainly bare defense officers spouting. For deceitful spouses, it is also an abominable phrase.

Forerunner, to the creativity of these younger gizmos, you could track your car anywhere. And as lengthened that even your better half will not iffy wherever you trail him/her and his/her concubine were hooking up at. You could observe and expose the truth at seeing a shocking reality tantamount to a theatrical performance.

Furthermore, exhilarating news around GPS auto tracker field of study is that it can virtually be ill-used onto a vehicle within proceedings and that container can be detected most straight off.

It’s almost similar Crook Bond, wouldn’t you say? But GPS tracker machine satellite images can be seen exclusive through two substance: special equipment geared toward the instrumentation or a machine. Of pedagogy, with laptop bailiwick, that means that people a container is casual with GPS tracker machine satellite images.

It is same a scene from a film: esoteric officer sneaks up to a container, slaps a attractable box to the side of a car and then returns to his or her own vehicle. Formerly the hazard vehicle leaves, the PI retributive sits and waits – perhaps tailing slow behind the car. With retributory a few keystrokes, the GPS tracker auto satellite images happen on the laptop display and the culprit is caught without incident. Breathless or alarming? You judge!

Or, so you thought! Well, it just did! We modern day global citizens now have access to the best, most advanced technology for GPS systems thanks to the initial experimentation by the US military services that used the first GPS systems for tracking vehicles for the purpose of national security and later developed a prototype suitable for the general public, which would act as a driver’s navigational aid based on the information it received from the satellite orbiting space. A fast developing field of communication technology, the GPS system is based on the principle of reliable information provided in flexible communication channels that are accurate and up to date, thanks to constant navigation, surveillance and data capturing provided by GIS.

Conventionally known as the GPS NAVSTAR (Navigation Satellite timing and Ranging Global Positioning System), the GPS system is a satellite-based navigation, timing and positioning device that provides constant, multi-dimensional positioning round the clock to all parts of the world. Not only is the data accurate within a range of 100 meters of navigating from the GPS system, but it also allows for exact meter level of mapping (right down to the millimeter level), which is essential for knowing geodetic positioning.

This cutting-edge traveler’s best tool and mate affords immense scope for application of GPS technology through the compact and magnetic box that is the receiver device for a large world community of GPS users: it works on the principle of ending a signal to space (to the satellite, which points the location of the vehicle back to the receiver) and thus providing directions to locating vehicle or destination point on a given radius/region.

When a GPS system is mainly used for tracking automobiles, the purpose is limited and so is the scope of the device, which allows for the signal to be transmitted from the GPS device to a computer with a software program that will show the exact location of the vehicle on its monitor.

Such is the craze for the convenience of a GPS system that many top auto manufacturers are offering their latest models of cars equipped with the device that has changed the way the world travels today; GPS is easy, efficient and accurate and gets one out of a blind spot sooner than a wink with a simple click of the button, especially useful in unknown terrains – or so find drivers with little time to lose and lots of ground to cover!

Car manufacturer Fiat introduces American customers to an efficiently designed 2012 Fiat 500 Cabrio with open-air driving features and innovative technology.

The new 2012 Fiat 500c features a premium dual-layer power-operated cloth top that is designed to deliver all-season driving pleasure with the top up or down. With just the push of a button, the Fiat 500c’s power-operated cloth top retracts up to the rear spoiler during speeds up to 60 mph.

More on 2012 Fiat 500 Cabrio after the jump.

The Fiat 500c offers comfort for four passengers, three exterior soft-top colors, 14 exterior colors, 12 unique seat colors and material combinations plus a choice of two interior environments to allow customers to personalize “their own” Fiat 500c.