Hey, Your Top Automobile News for 02 October, 2020

Your Daily Automobile updates From Around The World [img]  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [img]( [The Automobile News]( [Review update: 2020 Chevy Corvette excels on the road, too]( he 2020 Chevrolet Corvette is quicker, faster, and better on the track in almost every metric than the C7. Yet the mid-engine C8 is also shorter, heavier, and more fuel efficient. It carries a more European supercar style yet is the beating heart of American automotive gumption. It’s a bundle of beautiful contradictions, so here’s another one: The track star makes for a pretty comfortable road tripper, all things considered. I drove the 2020 Corvette 2LT with the Z51 Performance package more than 800 miles roundtrip over two days, with three-quarters of it on the Interstate. I would’ve preferred Ohio’s undulating county highways, but with deadlines looming as heavy as the clouds overhead it was time to shake a leg. The key takeaways from my time in the Vette have nothing to do with taking it on a racetrack: There’s no way you’re fitting two golf bags, it’s quieter than the C7 despite the engine being over your shoulder, its packed tight but not uncomfortably, and it has adoring fans everywhere. As a grand tourer, the hits added up like thumbs up from so many passersby. With the exception of a 1967 Volkswagen Type 2 Bus Samba I drove this summer, no other vehicle came close to garnering the kind of positive attention the C8 Corvette in Sebring Orange received; not a half-million dollar Rolls-Royce, not a three-wheeled Slingshot, not even the Velocity Yellow C7 Stingray convertible I drove to cover Corvette culture when the sinkhole opened in the National Corvette Museum in 2014. The fraternal bond of ‘Vette owners spans nearly 70 improbable years as America’s only affordable supercar. This trip elicited happy honks from semi drivers, goofy selfies from tweens, and more in-motion thumbs up than Siskel and Ebert gave in “At the Movies.” I’m not convinced all the gawking passersby knew it was a Corvette until they saw the formidable rear end and unmistakable checkered flag logo. The stunning design of the mid-engine C8 features a decadent European supercar profile, a low, short nose, and cues of pure Corvette Americana throughout. Nearly everything in the cabin is controlled by a thumb except for the paddle shifters. A thumb opens the doors from inside and out. A thumb is best to press icons on the narrow 8.0-inch touchscreen because resting your fingers on top of the screen provides better accuracy. A thumb works best to run up the climate control wall that separates the driver from the passenger. And, with hands on the wheel, thumbs are easiest for steering wheel controls. Yes, I enjoyed the hexagonal steering wheel and how it let me rest my wrists in various ways during the long highway drive. In more spirited driving, the unfamiliar contours gave it four points of reference, like a compass. The C8 Corvette is more than 5 inches longer and 2 inches wider than the C7, with a slightly longer wheelbase, though it’s narrower inside. The cabin is cramped but comfortable, as long as you’re not a large human. My tester came with the GT2 bucket seats ($1,495) that were snug but never too tight. Heated, cooled and wrapped in nappa leather with the 2LT package, the seats have large side bolsters and 8-way power adjustments in addition to four-way lumbar adjustments. That was key over 800 miles. It was comfortable enough to walk away with no lower back pain, but no matter how much I adjusted the seats, the seat belt chaffed my collar bone by the end of the day. It can be removed from the snap-in seat belt threader on the top of the seat, which should add variability to the position, but I didn’t realize that until afterward. While the mid-engine layout affords a front trunk that can accommodate two carry-on bags, in no way can the trunk space behind the engine fit two sets of golf clubs, unless there are no bags. It’s long enough to fit drivers and woods, but not deep enough for two actual golf bags, unless they’re both really slender and not chunked with balls, tees, cooler bags, and that tattered golden scoresheet from the one time you almost shot par. I’d rather not golf than not ’Vette. [Read more…]( The post [Review update: 2020 Chevy Corvette excels on the road, too]( first appeared on [TheAutomobileNews.com](. [Read Full Story]( [The Top 5 CNG Cars To Buy In 2020]( Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai are the only manufacturers that are currently offering company-fitted CNG cars in India, and here’s a list of the top 5 cars you can buy today. Despite the government and manufacturers’ shifting their focus towards electric cars, the fact remains that we are still far from achieving complete electrification. While the country has shifted to the more stringent BS6 emission norms, the older BS4 vehicles already on the road will still remain there and the carbon emission caused by these cars is ever increasing. Today the most affordable way of owning a vehicle that reduces your carbon footprint is to own a CNG car. While the most common way is to retrofit an existing petrol car with an aftermarket CNG kit, we do get company-fitted CNG models as well and here’s a list of the top 5 CNG cars in India right now. Maruti Suzuki S-Presso The Maruti Suzuki S-Presso is the smallest vehicle in the carmaker’s line-up that is built on the company’s Heartect platform. The SUV-inspired hatchback is offered in four CNG variants – LXI, LXI (O), VXI and VXI (O) and they are priced between ₹ 4.84 lakh and ₹ 5.13 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The car is powered by the tried and tested 1.0-litre K-Series petrol engine that is tuned to offer 58 bhp in CNG more and 67 bhp in petrol mode, while torque output stands at 78 Nm and 90 Nm, respectively. The motor comes mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard, and it comes with a 55-litre CNG tank and a fuel efficiency of 31.2 km/kg. Maruti Suzuki Wagon R Like the S-Presso, the new-gen Maruti Suzuki Wagon R is also built on the carmaker’s Heartect platform. Maruti Suzuki offers its S-CNG technology in two variants of the Wagon R – LXI and LXI (O), both share their features with the regular LXI and LXI (O) trims, and they are priced at ₹ 5.25 lakh and ₹ 5.32 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), respectively. The Wagon R gets the same 1.0-litre K-Series petrol engine as the S-Presso, churning out the same 58 bhp and 78 Nm of peak torque. The motor comes mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard, and it comes with a 60-litre CNG tank, offering a fuel efficiency of 32.52 km/kg. Maruti Suzuki Ertiga The Maruti Suzuki Ertiga is currently the only MPV in the country to come with a company fitted CNG tank. Like the other two Maruti Suzuki India cars in this list, the Ertiga too is built on the company Heartect platform, and CNG option is only offered in one variant, which is the mid-spec VXI trim. The Maruti Suzuki Ertiga CNG is priced at ₹ 8.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The Ertiga CNG is powered by the carmaker’s powerful 1.5-litre K-Series petrol engine that makes 91 bhp and 122 Nm of peak torque, while mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard. The Ertiga too comes with a 60-litre CNG tank and a fuel efficiency of 26.08 km/kg. [Read more…]( The post [The Top 5 CNG Cars To Buy In 2020]( first appeared on [TheAutomobileNews.com](. [Read Full Story]( [Nissan RE-LEAF brings emergency power supply to disaster zones]( Nissan has revealed a concept emergency response vehicle which it says can provide a mobile power supply in areas struck by natural disasters. The Re-Leaf concept, based on a regular Nissan Leaf, has been created to showcase how electric vehicles can provide instant energy solutions in areas where power supplies have been interrupted. Natural disasters are the biggest cause of power outages globally and a 2019 World Bank Report found natural shocks and climate change caused 37 per cent of outages in Europe between 2000 and 2017, and 44 per cent of outages in the US over the same period. Typically when a natural disaster cuts power it can take between one and two days for its to be restored. The Re-Leaf is designed to fill the gap while this happens, providing energy to power essential equipment such as jack hammers, floodlights and medical ventilators for up to several days using its 62kWh battery. It can do this via the Re-Leaf’s bi-directional charging ability, which means it can not only “pull” power to recharge the high-capacity battery, but also “push” it back to electric devices or the energy grid. To make it more useable in disaster zones, Nissan has also raised the Re-Leaf’s ride height with by 70mm to 225mm, widen the front and rear tracks, and fitted a custom sump guard, wheel arches, mud flaps and all-terrain tyres on 17-inch motorsport wheels. The rear seats have been removed to create a large cargo area and a bespoke pull-out desk extends from the boot with a 32-inch LED screen and dedicated power supply creating an operational hub. Helen Perry, head of electric passenger cars and infrastructure for Nissan in Europe, commented: “Electric vehicles are emerging as one of the technologies that can improve resilience in the power sector. By having thousands of EVs available on standby, either as disaster-support vehicles or plugged into the network through Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G), they’re uniquely capable of creating a virtual power plant to maintain a supply of energy during a major outage.” Dan Cooke, operations director at emergency search and rescue organisation Serve On, added: “Looking back to previous scenarios we’ve dealt with, this technology could have made a real difference. For example being able to power multiple filtration devices to produce thousands of litres of drinking water – essential in our line of work.” [Read more…]( The post [Nissan RE-LEAF brings emergency power supply to disaster zones]( first appeared on [TheAutomobileNews.com](. 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