A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird:
Audi gives drivers the green light
As anyone who's made the cross-town dash along Hornby street can tell you: timing is everything. Get it right, and you'll be through to Georgia and girding your loins for battle over Lions Gate Bridge in no time.
Get it wrong, and you'll hit every dang light on the street. Not to worry though, because here comes Audi to take the guesswork out of the equation.
While it would ordinarily be quite hard to get excited over the proposition of Yet Another Driving Aid, this one's really quite clever. Using localized traffic information beamed directly into the car's on-board navigation, the so-equipped Audi A6 monitors the progression of traffic lights in the area, and will tell you exactly what speed to go at in order to hit the green.
That's pretty neat, although you know the system won't tell you to creep even one kilometre per hour more than the speed limit for liability reasons. It's probably a good thing to keep some limitations up though, as one wonders if this sort of setup attached to something like an RS7 wouldn't just suggest hitting 300 km/h and holding it there.
What's more, if you are going to miss the light, the prototype A6's start-stop system is keyed into the change from green to red. Thus, your car stops on the red, shuts down, and then fires up just before the light changes to green, and off you go.
Start-stop systems are getting better all the time, but this new tech might mark huge new fuel and time savings for the modern car. While everyone argues about the potential legislative issues with an entirely self-driving car, the march to make the automobile much easier to drive continues.
Jaguar XK slinks into the past
There are three questions that immediately arise when piloting one of the supercharged versions of Jag's stately XK grand touring coupe.
Number 1: Are we sure this is legal?
Number 2: Really?
Number 3: Wouldn't you rather have that new F-Type instead? As it turns out, most people would.
The gorgeous F-Type is doing gangbusters in sales figures, particularly for a small roadster, and now with an even better-looking coupe on the way it is the sleek new banner-carrier for Jaguar. As you can get it with the same incredible supercharged V-8 as the XK-R, why go for the big cat?
Space, for one thing. The F-Type is a tight fit, and the XK is much better as a grand tourer. The bigger car's rear seats are mostly useless, but the trunk is very large, the cabin space is considerably better, and the ride and handling are both tuned for the sweeping highway rather than the twisting back road.
Even so, Jaguar is phasing out their XK after the 2015 model year run. Efforts are focused on a new smaller sports sedan to take on the likes of the BMW 3-Series, and the upcoming inevitable crossover. It may be some time before the XK returns in new duds. Pity.
Online petition to bring Civic Type-R to North America hits V-TEC
Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb - the masses are angry, and their mumbles are growing in volume. Recently shown off at this year's Geneva Motor Show, the new Civic Type-R looks great, and we want one.
In an effort to bend Honda and government importation laws to their will, Honda enthusiasts have set up an online petition that's just crested 9,000 signatures. Will that do any good? Well, probably not.
As great as it is to see enthusiasm for the return of a small, hot hatchback from Honda, the business case for actually bringing it over and trying to sell it is pretty weak. The car shares little with the Civic we can all buy here, and will likely carry a pricetag not far off that of a Subaru STI or Mitsubishi EVO - both pricey halo cars.
Nine thousand signatures is all well and good, but if fewer than a hundred cars sell, that's not going to cut the mustard. Honda rarely brings any of its Type-R hardcore stuff to this side of the pond, having only released the Integra Type-R briefly. And that was a decade and a half ago.
Better to hope that some of the lessons learned in crafting this 280 horsepower turbo trackterror can be translated into something in the Acura range. While the upcoming NSX looks great, a hot Acura in the sub-supercar bracket would be great to see again.
Jeep dusts off Renegade nameplate, plots Wagoneer
With the introduction of the teensy Renegade at the Geneva Motor Show, Jeep seems to have again found its compass. And by that I mean, they're finally turfing the Compass.
The new car is super-cute, and is essentially a Fiat Panda 4x4 underneath, with a happy little 1.4-litre turbo, available manual transmission, and clever Jeep surefootedness. There'll likely be a trailrated version too. Anyone out there with a beat-up Geo Tracker take notice: your next backwoods fishing rig just arrived.
Along with this neat little box on wheels, Jeep is also reportedly planning a return for the stately Wagoneer. Sadly, we probably won't see the wood-panelling making a comeback, but with the high demand for crossovers, a sevenseater would surely fit well into Jeep's lineup. Could we possibly see an SRT version? That'd be a scorched earth policy on the Oregon Trail.
Watch this space for the best and worst of automotive news, or submit your own auto oddities to [email protected]. Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendan_mcaleer.
