My thoughts on all things motoring, press releases, reviews & techie stuff, from around the world.
Please note that the pictures of vehicles within this blog are used as examples of the specific press releases, on occasions, due to the lack of available official pictures, examples are re-produced.
ANY AND ALL PROFANITIES WILL BE REMOVED AND THE PERSON/S RESPONSIBLE WILL BE BANNED, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Purpose
I will try my best to provide detailed info on various cars and what is like to live with them, I have already produced a few for Jaguar-car-forums, I will do my best to be unbiased, but it will be hard for some cars. I will re-produce press releases and copy from other motoring news.
Dacia Duster Commercial 4x4 wins ‘Best 4x4 Car-derived Van’ for the second consecutive year
Robust commercial SUV praised for its grip, ruggedness and affordability
Priced from £10,095 (excl. VAT) – Duster is the most affordable new commercial SUV in the UK
The Dacia Duster Commercial 4x4 has been named ‘Best 4x4 Car-derived Van’ for the second consecutive year at the VansA2Z Awards 2017, held yesterday at Twickenham Stadium.
Based on the popular Dacia Duster compact SUV, and launched at the Commercial Vehicle Show 2015, the Duster Duster Commercial 4x4 was praised by judges for its off-road capability, driving style and value for money.
The Duster Commercial offers the perfect package for many tradesmen – based on the passenger car version of the vehicle yet with a 1,604-litre maximum load capacity and cost benefits thanks to its classification as an LCV.
Neil McIntee, Editor, VansA2Z.com, said: “Dacia has made an excellent return to the UK light commercial market and the 4x4 version of its Duster Commercial is so good we had to make it our 4x4 Car-derived Van of the Year for the second consecutive time. It feels well put together with on-road ride and handling that far exceed expectations, and is much more capable off-road than it appears on paper; all at a very appealing price point.”
Louise O’Sullivan, Head of Dacia UK said: “We’re very proud to see the Duster Commercial 4x4 adding another trophy to its collection. The Duster Commercial 4x4 applies the Dacia philosophy to LCVs – providing a no-nonsense solution to businesses looking for an affordable and reliable vehicle that’s also capable of heading off-road when needed.”
The Dacia Duster Commercial 4x4 has a flat load area in lieu of rear seats and a payload of 550kg. Available in two different trim levels – Ambiance and Lauréate – the Duster Commercial 4x4 receives Bluetooth connectivity, electric front windows and a heated rear screen even on entry-level versions. The Lauréate version adds features such as cruise control, leather steering wheel, alloy wheels, air conditioning and electric heated door mirrors.
The Duster Commercial is offered with one business-oriented diesel engine – the dCi 110 unit, the best-selling Groupe Renault diesel powertrain, either as a 4x2 or a robust, go-anywhere 4x4. The 4x2 dCi 110 returns up to 64.2mpg (NEDC Combined), with CO2 emissions as low as 115 g/km and is available from £10,095 (excluding VAT) for the Ambiance entry-level trim.
Meanwhile, the 4x4 dCi 110 returns up to 60.1mpg (NEDC Combined), with CO2 emissions as low as 123 g/km and is available from £11,795 (excluding VAT) for the Ambiance trim.
Dacia offers a comprehensive selection of low-priced option packs to help owners secure payloads and protect their vehicle during a life of hard work.
There is a choice of steel or mesh bulkheads between the passenger and cargo areas; privacy film for the tailgate window and mudguards.
The VansA2Z Awards are decided by the expert editorial team at the independent commercial vehicle website VansA2Z.com. VansA2Z provides essential information for anyone looking to buy and kit-out a light commercial vehicle.
The VansA2Z Awards seek to reward the best products, companies and services in the industry for their ability to make life easier, cleaner, safer and more efficient for light commercial vehicle operators in the UK.
The 2016 Mitsubishi Shogun is a tale of two cars, firstly the general car then the off road vehicle, the off road car is one that most fail to emulate, it has the power and low down grunt to keep the car going in the most difficult of terrains, the car is set on two wheel drive, but you can easily change that to other wheel combinations upto a full four wheel drive car.
Off road is something that i would like to try out at some point in this car, as i am sure that it would just demolish all styles of driving from deep ruts and deep water to steep inclines/declines and side inclines as well, but that will have to wait to another day and event.
The interior of the car is brilliant, loads of room, and lots of glass so that you never feel like you are hemmed in, unlike similar cars that take fashion over functionality, however, the interior is a great place to be, the great feeling switches and knobs are all damped to make them feel like quality switches, not many can do that, make something out to be better than what it actually is, and the rest of the interior follows suit.
Leather upholstery and leather covered door cards give you the feeling of quality, along with electric movement and heated front seating, you are at least comfortable, well, I say comfortable, you sit on the seats, and not cossetted in them, for a car this expensive, the comfort is a little left wanting, however, i did manage to fall asleep whilst being driven, and i dont do that in every car.
The satellite Navigation is great, once you get it set up, it is precise, direct and instructions are clear and concise, again, i have been in cars that are not that good, so another plus point, the steering wheel has reach and rake, so, along with the electric seats, getting into a position of reasonable comfort for driving is easy.
Once on the highway, things change a little, the 3.2 litre diesel engine struggles, and you have to give yourself plenty of room to pull out of a junction or roundabout, there is some lean on sharp corners, which is more fun than not, the steering is more heavy than not, but it makes for precise driving, rather than the flakey steering that a lot of cars have these days, you can tell where the car is actually going to go, and with some of the over powered cars, that can be difficult.
On the road you will be more than aware of the noise, the big tyres give a lot of road roar, then you have the oversized wing mirrors, again, they cause wind noise, a slight redesign might make that noise less intrusive, but you can not get away from the size of the car, it is a big box, so again, this will cause some wind noise, especially once you get the car upto motorway speeds, at least the radio can drown this out.
The Fuel consumption is one thing you dont talk about, if you can afford to buy one of these, then you should be able to afford the fuel, but for the sake of being open and honest, the claimed fuel consumption is :-
Urban - 26.9mpg
Extra Urban - 32.8mpg
Combined - 30.4mpg
We managed to get, via the cars info, just shy of 28mpg over the course of the 10 days we had the Shogun, added to which the first year taxation of £885 and £500 per year thereafter (for the moment-Tax rates change on 1st April) makes the initial outlay high, but you do know you are getting a really well made, and reliable car, one that can do all you ask of it, both on and off road.
The car is well specified, with lots of toys gadgets to play with, some of the items that come as standard are:-
Leather Upholstery
Leather Door Facings
Electric Sunroof
Carpet Mats All Round inc Boot
Premium HD Sat Nav
DAB Radio
Stainless Steel Front Door Entry Guards
Front Power Seats
Front Heated Seats
Rear Parking Sensors
Rear View Camera
Mood Lighting
Climate Control
Bonnet Badge
Twin USB Ports
Hidden CD Slot
LED Daytime Running Lights
HiD Xenon With Auto Levelling Headlamps
And this is just a small amount of the standard fit items that you will find on this car, however, no amount of toys and gadgets can disguise the fact that this car needs to be updated, its very good, dont get me wrong, but it cant compete with the Range Rover or Discovery, which is the market the Shogun is competing in.
CONCLUSION
Give the car some more comfy seats, a better cleaner engine, try and reduce wind noise and make it less agricultural, and you will have the perfect car, as it stands, you are getting a very good car, let down by some small defects, is it good enough ? Well, yes, it really is a great car to be in, you feel like your lording it over all and sundry.
it can take all the luggage you could need, and even some really large items can be taken without having to adjust the rear seats, and talking of rear seats, there is acres of room for your passengers, another plus point, keeping the kids or family happy.
The five year/62,500 mile warranty is another plus point, where you get only three years elsewhere you get five here, which shows that they have confidence in the product, you even get a 12 year anti perforation warranty and three year pan european roadside assistance including home start, would i have one, well, if i could afford to pay for fuel then yes i would, it really is a good car, and if they sorted out the other bits and pieces it would become unbeatable.
Pick Up trucks in the United Kingdom reached their peak a few years ago, with the tax advantages that they, then, had, however, when that was all changed the sales of all pick ups dropped, to a plateau level where they are now, but it is today, that this segment is ripe for a huge sales surge, following on from the MPV, then the SUV, its now time for the Pick Ups to take the flame and run with it for a while.
The car we have here is the base model Mitsubishi L200 Club Cab 4Life, The model is not a double cab, with rear doors, but you do get rear seats and small rear doors that are only openable from inside the car, these doors are a handy alternative from just folding the front seats forward and gaining access this way.
The series 5 car has been about for a few years now, and has undergone frequent upgrades each year to keep it to the front of the pack, this model and the Single Cab 4Life are new models within the range for the 2016 model year, but there is no disguising the fact the car is now heading towards its dotage, and is in need of an all new model which is coming sooner rather than later.
The interior of the the base model is spartan, but then if it is used as a daily work horse, most will be happy with this, in order to keep it clean and tidy, there are a number of cubby holes, deep door pockets, and of course the glove box to keep things secure, however, a few more might not be turned down, maybe one in the huge expanse of black plastic of the dash board, just a popup on the top, maybe have it as a chilled box, which again would be ideal for a work vehicle, but this may or may not come with the next, sixth generation model.
All the buttons, switchgear and so on are easy to reach, and operate, no fiddly buttons here, just proper decent sized ones that can be easily found and operated, the volume and telephone buttons on the steering where are again, easy to locate and operate, and are clearly marked so that you can see what they are for, which is something other brands fail to put fully, so you end up fiddling about until you eventually work it out.
The only "toy" to play with is the air conditioning, which is very good, and works quickly and once up to full steam, the cold air can feel more like a winter's days, so in the summer months you will never feel over hot, the auto start /stop works really well to help the cost conscious owner to save a penny or two in fuel, added to the Euro 6b complaint engine and you have a really good powerplant, but more of that in a bit.
The steering is well weighted, with it being a little firmer with an unladen load bed, once you get a load of weight in the pick up bed, and the steering becomes a little lighter, but never enough to make it feel so vague, you always have more than enough feedback through the wheel to keep you aware of where the car is at all times.
The plastics within the cab are hard, the scratchy type, this has a dual role in 1) keeping it clean easily 2) saving teh brand some money, after all, it is a commercial vehicle, so fripperies and expensive touches are not really necessary, the back seats, are accessed via the front ones, like in the a three door car, you pull a lever and the back of the front seat folds forward so you get easy access to the back seats, or you can pull a lever on the inside of the rear door to open this for easier access, the back seats are, as already mentioned, not the best, the back rests are very thin and are fixed bolt upright with no movement, the squab is slightly more padded and only slightly more comfortable, but no way would you want to go far in these seats.
The load bed was open on our test car, but you can get get alternative accessories to make it a fully covered in unit, the load flap is not lockable on this model, but then as it is open to the elements whats the point of a lockable flap ?
The front of the car is well designed and looks, well, quite nice, it flows nicely from one side to the other and the oversized headlights fit in nicely to the chrome grill, and wrap around the side like the rear ones which also wrap around the side, giving a modern look to the car.
The 2.4 litre diesel engine is seriously potent, it has 151bhp and 380Nm of Torque, this is more than enough to make this car shift along at motorway speeds with ease, one thing i would have liked would have been cruise control, as a number of times i found the car drifting towards and past 80mph, without knowing, it really is that fast, and not at all noisy, i have had noisier cars, the six speed gearbox is well geared, too well, which is why it just wanted to go.
It has been a long while since i have been in a car that went at that speed and still had more to give, without actually doing anything, which is why cruise would have been ideal, set it and just allow it to keep to that speed, and not lose control of the speed without knowing.
The brands claimed fuel figures are
Urban - 34.4mpg
Extra Urban - 46.3mpg
Combined - 40.9mpg
CO2 Emmisions 180g/km
The 4 cylinder DOHC common rail with intercooler and turbocharger will no doubt get you these figures with an unladen weight, get a few sacks of cement, or bricks etc in the back and that will drop, the road holding of the car without any weight in the back is really very good, and it corners like a train on tracks, i never felt once, that it was getting wayward in any way at all, far from it, the steering was precise and went exactly where you directed it to go.
The car has changeable 2x4 to 4x4 capability and it does this without any fuss, or noise, along with the dual wheel drive system the car comes with, as standard,
Heavy Duty Suspension
Rear Diff Lock
16" Alloy Wheels
2 SRS Airbags
Hill Start Assist (HSA)
Trailer Stability Assist (TSA)
Active Stability and Traction Control (M-ASTC)
Bluetooth
Remote Central Door Locking
External Temperature Display
Front Electric Windows
Leather Steering WHeel and Gear Knob
Storage Box between Driver and Passenger Seats
Drivers Seat Height Adjuster
Just a selection of the items that come with this model, it also comes with a 12,500 mile service interval or one year and a 62,500 miles five year warranty, again, which ever comes first.
OVERALL
This really is a great car, in bog standard trim, it does everything you ask of it, without any complaints and gripes, it is fast, sometimes, too fast, it grips the road very well, and has acres of space in the boot, interior room is adequate in the rear, the front, is very well appointed, it runs and drives like a car, and the braking system is up there with the best, at high speed, however, very heavy braking can make the back end wiggle about, SO BE CAREFUL.
If you are looking for a run about and you have no family to worry about, and dont cart tonnes of kit about, then this can be yours, the crew cab with teh extra doors and better seating in the back can take a family, and move up the levels to get more toys to play with and you will have a really good car, would i have one, yeah, i would, if i were in the market for a car like this and i was on my own, this would suit my needs, at £18,999+vat for the basic model it is not cheap, the top of the range is £25,699+vat, but forget that, you are getting a well made, decent product, either in basic or top of the range, you wont be disappointed with either.
And the most important thing, it has been awarded WhatVan? Pick Up of the year award 2016, beating everything else in the class, if that does not prove a point, then nothing does.
New TITAN XD and TITAN Single Cabs join currently available TITAN XD and TITAN Crew Cabs at Nissan dealerships in late fall
First single cab in TITAN history, offers Nissan durability and innovation in ideal fleet/work truck configuration
Equipped with choice of advanced Cummins® 5.0L V8 Turbo Diesel (XD) or Nissan's new 5.6-liter Endurance® V8 gasoline engines (XD and TITAN)
Available in two entry grade levels and choice of 4x2 and 4x4 drive
Integral part of Nissan's "Year of the Truck" – celebration of Nissan's new TITAN lineup, Armada, Pathfinder and more throughout 2016.
The next chapter of Nissan's "Year of the Truck" was unveiled today with a sneak peek of the latest members of the TITAN full-size pickup family – the 2017 TITAN XD and TITAN Single Cab models.
The first-ever single cab offering in TITAN history, the new trucks are designed to provide an affordable and rugged entry-point in the commercial fleet/work truck market.
The Single Cab is the second of three eventual TITAN body configurations, joining the current Crew Cab and future King Cab. The Single Cab models are scheduled to go on sale in late fall 2016.
"Once we complete the roll-out of all TITAN cab, bed, powertrain and grade level configurations, our all-new TITAN family will cover about 85 percent of the total light pickup marketplace," said Rich Miller, director of Product Planning for Trucks, SUVs and Commercial Vehicles, Nissan North America, Inc. and chief product specialist for TITAN and TITAN XD. "More importantly, the TITAN XD and TITAN single cabs will have the power, torque, heavy duty chassis and durability demanded by today's demanding worksites – including the highest towing capacities and payloads in the lineup."
TITAN will ultimately be available in a total of three cabs, three bed lengths, three engines, 4x4 and 4x2 drive and S, SV, SL, PRO-4X and Platinum Reserve trim levels. The new single cab will be offered in both TITAN XD and TITAN configurations, with both versions sharing the same cab dimensions and 8.0-foot pickup beds but completely separate fully boxed ladder frame chassis.
The TITAN XD Single Cab, like the TITAN XD Crew Cab, will be offered in a choice of two engines – the Cummins® 5.0L V8 Turbo Diesel, which is rated at 310 horsepower and 555 lb-ft of torque; and the 5.6-liter Endurance V8, rated at 390 horsepower and 394 lb-ft of torque. The TITAN Single Cab, with about a foot shorter wheelbase, will be offered initially with the new 5.6-liter Endurance V8 (a V6 engine will be available at a later date). Diesel equipped models feature an Aisin 6-speed automatic transmission and V8 gasoline engine equipped versions will utilize a 7-speed automatic transmission.
Along with a choice of 4x4 and 4x2 drive configurations, two grade levels will be available with both TITAN XD and TITAN Single Cabs – S and SV, along with a number of optional equipment packages.
"The new Single Cab takes TITAN into new territory, bringing the innovative design and bed utility that TITAN has been known for to a wider base of commercial use buyers," added Miller.
The new Single Cab models will be assembled in Canton, Mississippi with the 5.6-liter V8 gasoline engine assembled in Decherd, Tennessee. The 5.0-liter diesel engines are assembled by Cummins, Inc. in Columbus, Indiana.
