Month: September 2014

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Hyundai i40 Tourer – Why Losing Your Car Key Is No Longer The Hassle It Used To Be

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September 6 Why is it we still have to mess about with car keys? Pretty much every vehicle Car Couture test these days either has keyless ignition – which means the little fob usually just stays in my pocket, or stashed in the centre console.

The downside is that it’s much easier to lose the bloody thing. Putting a key in the ignition means you know exactly where to find it, every time.

So when I couldn’t find the key to the i40 yesterday, there was the usual moment of headless chicken panic. You only discover a missing key when you actually need it after all.

i40 has keyless recognition, so at least I knew it wasn’t in the vicinity of the car. I’d worn three coats on Friday, so instead of searching through the pockets, all I had to do was bundle them all out to the car and see if the Hyundai ‘recognised’ them hidden in a pocket.

Nope. Thins were getting pretty desperate when I carried he kitchen bin out to the driveway, just in case the key had been accidentally lost in there. The Hyundai didn’t register a thing. Finally, having taken the dog tot he vet earlier, I hauled his basket out to the i40 et voila!

Tucked down inside was the key. Relief. Still, it can’t be long before we have fingerprint sensor pads or voice recognition to make it even easier…

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Hyundai i40 Tourer – More Stylish Than A BMW 3 Series Touring?

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September 5 My favourite estates are built by BMW. I’ve owned a string of 3 and 5 Series, brilliant cars that combine decent load space with great performance. They are sports cars with a large boot.

Yep, if it’s all about luggage capacity, go buy a Volvo. However, if you have children and still want to cut loose when they’re not in the car, there’s very little to rival the Beemer.

The i40 has just arrived at Car Couture and it looks every inch as good as the pictures. Better perhaps, because the interior is seriously cool. Imagine that – a Hyundai with a funky dashboard!

Looking at the spec sheet, it appears to have plenty of standard equipment as well. Even the entry model features alloys, Bluetooth, air con and auto lights and wipers. The Premium adds leather, panoramic sunroof and keyless entry.

The question is, will it drive anywhere near as good as the BMW – or is the i40 just a cheaper, poor imitation?

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Infiniti QX70 – Is It As Good As A Range Rover Sport Or BMW X5?

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Last day with the QX70 and I think it’s going to be a split decision. On the one hand, the bold looks and sumptuous interior make it feel every inch as good as the Range Rover Sport cabin.

On the other, the Infiniti has twitchy handling on all but the smoothest of road surfaces, the diesel engine lacks punch and the rest of the petrol range is incredibly expensive to run.

The steering is sharp and responsive but I think the majority of people will find the firm ride not to their liking. You have the option of ‘sport’ or ‘normal’ suspension settings but the adjustment feels minimal.

So, if you like the fearsome looks and exclusivity of the QX70, I think it would be easy to overlook the other issues. However, I imagine many people will compare it with a BMW X5 and realise the German car is a cut above in every respect…

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Infiniti QX70 – Looks Like The Devil’s Own Chariot

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My neighbour, the Land Rover specialist, has just put a new exhaust on my ancient Series III. A die-hard Range Rover fan through and through, even he was impressed with the sinister face of the QX70.

He’s right – the SUV looks like the Devil’s own chariot when it appears in your rear view mirror. That huge front grille and squat stance are a monster presence.

A cross between a Porsche Cayenne and the old Hyundai Santa Fe, the curvy, bulbous shape is easy on the eye, if slightly dated by modern standards.

The styling of the Infiniti has grown on me. It certainly turns heads – just what you’d expect for a car costing almost £50k…

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Infiniti QX70 – Self-Healing Paint Could Mean No More Sunday polishing Your Paintwork

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The days of washing you car on the driveway every Sunday have (fortunately!) long gone. A friend of mine recently told me she had no idea that you were supposed to wash and polish cars on a regular basis to protect the paintwork – her BMW hadn’t seen soap for nine months!

Perhaps Infiniti’s self-repairing paint was designed especially for people like her. It was developed by scientists at parent company Nissan about eight years ago.

A special top layer of highly elastic resin is applied to the bodywork that gives the paintwork flexibility – allegedly ‘healing’ 80 per cent of surface marks.

Now this doesn’t mean that if your Infiniti is keyed by an oik during the night that it will miraculously look perfect again in the morning. However, it does should like the Scratch Shield technology could be another nail in the coffin of car car products – and Sunday mornings polishing on the driveway…

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Infiniti QX70 – The SUV With Bleeping Boot Madness

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Every car – and I mean every car – has an Achilles’ Heel. It’s the annoying lack of high grade fuel pumps if you own a Ferrari, the tyre noise on a Porsche 911, or the poor side support in the seats of the Mercedes SLK.

The Infiniti has one very painful feature and UK buyers will cringe every time they use it. The tailgate beeps like a reversing lorry when you press the remote opening button!

Yep, it’s a nanny state and the QX – targeted at accident prone/I’ll sue you in the morning Americans – suffers more than most. I can’t seem to override the auto opening feature either and it’s driving me mad.

WHY do I need to be told my boot is opening when I have pressed the button? It opens at about 1mph and is hardly going to give you a serious head injury? Can somebody please tell me the bloody point?