BMW's new six cylinder motorcycles

When BMW dropped its stunning Concept 6 out of the blue last year, the intention to revive the inline six was clear… and here it is. The new K 1600 GT and K 1600 GTL touring motorcycles are being offered with the company's 6-cylinder in-line engine – a 118 kW (160 bhp) unit producing maximum torque of 175 Nm which, at 102.6 kg, is billed as the lightest and most compact serial production 6-cylinder in-line engine in a motorcycle over 1000 cc to date.

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The engine size is a result of using a 72 mm cylinder bore with just 5 mm between the cylinder the cylinder sleeves, a design that squeezes the 6 cylinders into a 555 mm wide block. Peak power of 118 kW (160 bhp) is achieved at 7,750 rpm and maximum torque 175 Nm at 5,250 rpm, but being a six, over 70 per cent of the maximum torque is already available from 1,500 rpm... which suggests some very comfy touring is in order when you throw a leg over one of these.

As per the 4-cylinder in-line K 1300 series, the cylinder axis is tilted forwards by 55 degrees to achieve a low center of gravity and balanced weight distribution, as well as allow for better cooling intake directly above the engine. engine position

Overall, the K 1600 GT weighs in at 319 kg (without panniers) and the GTL tips the scales at 348 kg – still hefty, but we are talking touring bikes here, and it's in the lower range of the segment.

The new tourers also pack some top-shelf tech. Aside from the adaptive headlight control option which significantly enhances safety while cornering at night (see our previous article for more detail), the bikes are fitted with a ride-by-wire system (or e-gas as BMW calls it) and feature three engine modes – "Rain", "Road" and "Dynamic" – which combine with Dynamic Traction Control to suit riding conditions.

An Electronic Suspension Adjustment II (ESA II) option gives riders push button control over the rebound damping properties of the front and rear spring strut and the preload of the rear spring strut.

The bikes feature an electrically adjustable windshield with a memory function, USB/MP3 and iPod compatibility, a 5.7-inch TFT color display as part of the instrument panel (which automatically adapts to environmental brightness) and BWM's handlebar mounted Multi-Controller for accessing all these systems without taking your eyes off the road.

There's also an option of central locking for storage compartments, panniers and topcase and the topcase on the K 1600 GTL has interior lighting and two gas-filled dampers which support opening.-gizmag

Specs: BMW K 1600 GT and K 1600 GTL

Lotus City Car Concept Details

You are probably still admiring Lotus for what they did at the Paris Motor Show this year, taking the stage by storm with five new and amazing car. This new Lotus as we saw it is great, but it actually cost their parent company the Malaysian Proton, nearly a billion dollar! And it’s not all about GTs and supercars either, there’s also tiny city cars in future of Lotus. And it all starts with this concept you see here.

It is simply called the Lotus City Car Concept, and they believe that with their ingenuity  and clever engineering methods, they can even turn a boring urban commuter into something fun and interesting.

The Lotus City Car concept provides a showcase for Lotus Engineering’s Electrical and Electronic Integration and Efficient Performance competencies, featuring an advanced series hybrid drivetrain with the Lotus Range Extender engine. The drivetrain, which consists of a single speed transmission, provides the vehicle with an EV range of 60 km, enough for city transportation, with the Range Extender engine enabling longer trips and alleviating “range anxiety”.

So they reckon a total range of 500 km, with batteries fully charged and the range extenderworking all along. The range extender engine is a 1.2 liter 3-cylinder ethanol-capable unit which only acts as a generator and never actually powers the wheels.

With a total vehicle weight of less than 1400 kg and 240 Nm of torque instantly available, the Lotus City Car concept has class leading acceleration; 0 – 50 km/h in only 4.5 seconds and 0 – 100 km/h in 9 seconds, when operating as an EV under battery power. The top speed of the Lotus City Car concept is 170 km/h, with a charge sustaining top speed of 120 km/h and all this performance is achieved by a drivetrain that returns CO2 emissions of 60 g/km on the ECE-R101 test schedule.

The very best thing about it though, is the design. It is still tiny, but unlike other cars of this sort it does not look like a hideous creature suffering from a horrible disease (take the G-Wizz as a prime example!). This car is designed with the same language that created the new Elise, Elan, Espirit and Elite.-motorward.com

Lotus City Car Concept Specification

Layout	3 door, 4 seater, rear wheel drive
Drivetrain	Series hybrid drivetrain
Range Extender engine	35 kW, 1.2 litre, 3 cylinder engine
Engine fuel	Flex-fuel (methanol, ethanol and petrol)
Battery Capacity	14.8 kWh
Power/Torque	162 kW peak (54 kW continuous)/ 240 Nm
0-50 km/h	4.5 seconds
0-100 km/h	9.0 seconds
Top speed	170 km/h
Range	500 km
EV range 60 km
CO2 emissions	60 g/km on the ECE-R101 cycle
Weight	Less than 1,400 kg
Transmission	Single speed transmission

Top 5 Freshest Designs From the Paris Auto Show

This year’s Paris auto show, which is open to the public until Oct. 17, showcases the design freedom that comes from working with micro-turbines, electric motors and ultra-lightweight materials.

Of course, not every head-turning car in Paris is equipped with some form of high-tech trickery. For several vehicles, a totally fresh take on a well-proven design formula proved the key to its success.

Jerry Garrett for The New York TimesJaguar C-X75

Jaguar C-X75 – The curvaceous and streamlined shape of the mid-engine Jaguar C-X75 was always going make this gorgeous two-seater a star. What makes it arguably the best concept in Paris are the in-wheel electric motors and micro-turbine technology lurking within the seductive design.

Jerry Garrett for The New York TimesRenault DeZir

Renault DeZir – The Renault DeZir is the French automaker’s take on an electric-powered sports car. Remember when any vehicle with the ‘e-word’ in its name brought to mind some awkward-looking and ponderously slow contraption? If the future of automobiles is electric — and Renault seems to believe it is — the DeZir concept is a sign of great things to come.

Jerry Garrett for The New York TimesLamborghini Sesto Elemento.

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento – The Lamborghini Sesto Elemento is so intensely aggressive and edgy, you half expect it to get a nose ring and start picking a fight on the show-stand in Paris. Designed to showcase the Italian company’s patented “carbon-fiber forged composite,” a lightweight material that forms the car’s chassis, the Sesto Elemento weighs only 2,200 pounds and has a 570-horsepower V-10 mounted behind the passenger compartment.

Francois Mori/Associated PressLotus Esprit.

Lotus Esprit – This is the “Pretty Woman” car for the iPad generation. Lotus unveiled several sublime-looking vehicles in Paris, but the Esprit is the future flagship of the range. About the only downside is that it will be several years until the Lotus Esprit arrives in the United States market — most likely in 2013.

Jerry Garrett for The New York TimesThe Audi Quattro Concept.

Audi Quattro Concept – The Audi Quattro Concept borrows a page from the automaker’s past. Inspired by the potent 1980s race and road-going Quattro models, the new Quattro Concept begins with the compact and chunky Pac-Man-era silhouette of the original. Added to this are fine finishing touches and clever details –- not to mention a 400-horsepower turbocharged engine –- that create a totally modern take on a classic four-wheel-drive sports machine.-nytimes.com

Top 5 Green Cars at the Paris Auto Show

More than 100 electric vehicles, hybrid electrics and vehicles sporting future-forward, environmentally friendly technologies are on display at this month’s sprawling Paris auto show. It is a veritable feast for the green car enthusiast.

Yet when considering the most impressive green cars at the Paris show, the list winnows itself down quickly and sharply.

For instance, the Citroën Survolt is impressively and dramatically staged at the Paris Expo, but does this concept racing vehicle — which is not new, having been unveiled at the Geneva auto show last March — have relevance for everyday motoring? Time, as they say, will tell, but Survolt was merely chopped sirloin here.

Neither did the Honda Jazz Hybrid, the green-car equivalent of elevator Muzak (not jazz) place well in the hybrid gas-electric hit parade. The Jazz seems to be merely a European market-only placeholder until Honda ramps up its promised new direction in hybrid technologies.

So what did resonate?

Kia describes the Pop concept as a zero-emissions city car.

Kia Pop – Now here is an up-tempo hit, with a beat you can dance to. A peppy, torquey electric motor, with juice from lithium polymer gel batteries, will propel this three-meter-long mighty mite up to 87 miles per hour; it has a projected range of 100 miles. The Pop makes a styling statement that a fossil-fuel-free city car doesn’t have to affect onlookers like Novocaine on wheels.

Jerry Garrett for The New York TimesLamborghini Sesto Elemento.

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento – Sacrilege to put a gasoline-swigging supercar on the list of top green cars in Paris? Au contraire! This exquisitely styled, feather-light, carbon-fiber road rocket suggests exactly the type of lap band surgery needed for all those grossly porky products clogging today’s roadways — you know, the sporty wannabes whose crash-test scores are padded just by adding tons of body armor, instead of solving the crisis of automotive obesity with engineering ingenuity and a sensible diet.

Jerry Garrett for The New York TimesFisker Karma

Fisker Karma – Giving Fisker Automotive the benefit of the doubt here, despite its missed deadlines and broken promises; the oft-delayed hybrid-electric Karma is apparently moving with glacial speed toward production. The on-sale date keeps moving back, the performance promises become less and less grand, and the price inches up — but perhaps Fisker is guilty of no more than Tesla-caliber birthing complications. It may never grow up to be anything notable, but so far it looks good in the incubator.

Jerry Garrett for The New York TimesVenturi Fetish.

Venturi Fetish/America – These all-electric fraternal twins evince clever styling, and promise innovative technologies. But their maker, the tiny manufacturer from Monaco, is falling behind on its production promises too. (Whither goest its 2008 Paris debutante, the Volage?) But an all-electric Bonneville Salt Flats streamliner that Venturi fielded last summer, as a demonstration vehicle for its technical prowess, hit an impressive 308 miles per hour.

Jaguar C-X75 concept car.

Jaguar C-X75 – Arguably the star of the entire show, in both design and technology, the C-X75 concept offers the promise of real beef, not just an attractive bun. This car really does run, and the range-extending hybrid technology is an out-growth of sincere and well-funded research among several automakers (including Jaguar, Lotus and Nissan) to find how to make viable yet compelling emissions-free transportation possible. The C-X75 has two small gas turbines — jet engines, actually — for quick recharging of the car’s battery packs. In-wheel electric motors provide power up to a claimed top speed of 205 miles per hour. The C-X75’s all-electric range is a promised 70 miles. The smiles per gallon, however, are incalculable.-nytimes.com

LATEST! Telephone number search, Junction view and 3D Buildings are now available for Lokatoo

Navigation Software version 4.0 and Map version 3.23
Dear Lokatoo customers,We are pleased to announce that an improved navigation software version 4.0 is now available for download at our website. This version is currently available for all GPS navigators with Atlas IV processor. To know whether your navigator is able to support this new Software, go to http://www.lokatoo.com/downloads-software-activation-step-1.asp to check it out. We trust that it will enhance your navigation experience with newly added features such as Telephone number search, Junction view and 3D building. Please note that we have over 6000 Telephone numbers data available nationwide, however Junction view and 3D Buildings are currently only available for Klang Valley area.

We believe that the Telephone Number Search which allows Users to search location via input of phone numbers and Junction View pictures that will aid drivers to recognize directions when approaching junctions will be extremely useful and these data will increase significantly over the next few months. Apart from these key functions, there are also several other improvements and new features available. We hope that these new Navigation Software will significantly improve your Lokatoo user experience.

For your information, the latest map version 3.23 is also available for downloading from our website for Navigation Software 2.07 and Navigation Software 3.10 and above. Majority of the road updates in this version covers Klang Valley and Terengganu.


Atlas 4 = click HERE
Atlas 3 = not available

Happy navigating! 

Sincerely yours,
The Management of Amtel Cellular Sdn Bhd

Spy Shots: 2012 Lexus GS Test-Mule

The current Lexus GS luxury sedan has been on the market since the 2006 model year so it’s not surprising the first development test-mules for the next-generation model, due late next year, have been spotted. And the new car can’t come soon enough given the recent launch of the new Mercedes-Benz E-Classand BMW 5-Series, and the next-generation Audi A6 is just around the corner.

Hidden under the sheet metal of the current GS seen in these latest spy shots is a brand new platform, expected to be sportier and more efficient. Overall length is expected to shrink slightly, although the wheelbase should remain at 112.2 inches. The modified wheel arches seen here also suggest that a slightly wider track will be present on the new Lexus GS.  

Fuel efficiency will be the name of the game for the 2012 Lexus GS, with a downsized V-6 engine expected to replace the current 3.5-liter mill as the entry-level option and the 3.5-liter engine going on to replace the current 4.6-liter V-8. Ahybrid model will also return, most likely based around the entry-level V-6 engine.

Performance fans shouldn’t be too saddened over plans to scrap the regular V-8 model as a high-performance GS-F model will be offered for the first time. This car won’t pick up the high-revving 4.8-liter V-10 of the LFA supercar as previously reported, however.

Instead, it would pick up an uprated version of the 5.0-liter V-8 from the IS-F, developing around 450 horsepower and set to go on sale in 2013. Special features would include a torque vectoring differential on the rear axle and plenty of carbon-fiber to reduce weight.-motorauthority.com

Ferrari HELE system adds a tinge of “green” to Ferrari red

There’s been a number of battery electric and hybrid supercar concepts on the stands at this year’s Paris Motor Show. While the impressive performance stats of vehicles such as the Jaguar C-X75, the Lotus Elite GT and the Exagon Furtive eGT, shows automakers are closing the gap between the performance of electric vehicles and those powered by internal combustion engines (ICE), there’s still a trade off in terms of performance. However, even supercar makers like Ferrari can’t ignore the change in attitudes so, in an effort to add a tinge of green to its iconic red, the company showed a Ferrari California in Paris that is fitted with a new HELE (High Emotion Low Emissions) system designed to reduce the environmental impact of its supercars, while in fact boosting their performance.

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At launch, the Ferrari California produced 299 g/km of CO2 on the combined ECE EUDC cycle but the addition of the HELE system sees that figure drop to 270 g/km. However, Ferrari says emissions fall by up to 23 percent in urban driving that better represents real-world driving.

HELE system

In addition to the California’s Stop&Start engine system unveiled at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show that restarts the car in just 230 milliseconds, the HELE system incorporates a number of new innovations and optimizations to existing technologies in the car to reduce its energy requirements and increase the amount of power generated by the engine.

The introduction of a brushless motor and continual fan speed control has allowed the Ferrari technicians to decrease current absorption and cut the system’s weight by over 2 kg (4.4 lb) as well as reduce aerodynamic drag by 5 per cent at high speeds.

To limit demands on the alternator, the fuel pump capacity is controlled constantly by the engine CPU, while intelligent air-conditioning compressor displacement control slashes the amount of torque absorbed by the system by 35 percent and makes for more efficient and rapid cabin cooling. Ferrari says these refinements result in a boost in responsiveness as, under normal running conditions, the engine is able to avail itself of an extra 25 Nm of torque.

In automatic mode, the gearbox CPU automatically identifies the driving style being used and adapts the gear shifts to match. For example, if it recognizes the moderate torque at low engine speeds typical of city driving it optimizes the gear shifts to cut fuel consumption. However, if a sportier driving style is adopted, then gear shifting becomes more high performance. There is also a pedal map for each gear to ensure maximum responsiveness to even small amounts of pressure on the accelerator and precise torque delivery.

Still some way to go

To put things in perspective, a study by automotive data provider JATO Dynamicsearlier this year found that the U.S. market’s average CO2 output for vehicles excluding pick-up trucks, full size vans and small commercial vehicles in the first quarter of 2010 was 255.6 g/km. That figure is even lower in other markets with Japan’s average in 2009 at 130.8 g/km and Europe’s five biggest markets averaging 140 g/km.

There will obviously be a difference in emissions between a Ferrari, which is designed primarily for performance, and the bulk of cars on the road, which are increasingly being designed for efficiency and lower emissions. But these figures show just how large this difference is. So, even though the California could in no way be considered a “green” vehicle, Ferrari’s efforts to reduce emissions are certainly welcome.-gizmag.