BMW X1: first look

X finally marks the spot ... for the BMW X1.

The wraps are finally off the German carmaker’s latest on-road and off-road weapon.

The X1 is due to arrive here around February with prices starting at $55,000.

It will be the fourth wagon in the X lineup, joining the bigger X3, X5 and X6.

The newcomer will share much with its larger siblings, including BMW's intelligent xDrive all-wheel drive technology and borrows its platform architecture from the 3-Series.

However, BMW is expected to offer both all-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive versions to help expand the brand's crossover appeal.

BMW's ‘efficient dynamics' technology will also feature in the vehicle, including brake energy regeneration, auto start-stop and a gearshift point indicator.

The X1 will be offered in Europe with a choice of one six-cylinder petrol engine and three four-cylinder diesels.

The European range will kick off with the 105kW/320Nm 2.0-litre sDrive18d turbo-diesel with rear-wheel drive.

Three all-wheel drive models will be available: the 130kW/350Nm 2.0-litre turbo-diesel xDrive20d; the 150kW/400Nm 2.0-litre turbo-diesel xDrive23d; and the range topping xDrive28i with a 3.0-litre petrol six cylinder developing 190kW/310Nm.

The sDrive18d has an average fuel economy figure of 5.2 litres/100km and a CO2 rating of just 136gkm.

The xDrive28i hits 100km/h in 6.8 seconds and has a top speed of 205km/h.

Visually, the X1 retains typical BMW X features, with a three-eye-look and elevated foglights.

The kidney grille is upright, the short bonnet is deeply sculpted and the tail lights are a reinterpretation of the typical BMW L-shape.

The wheel arches are squared and the rear window is steeply raked.

BMW's trademark Hofmeister kick is also evident at the base of the C-pillar.

Inside the cabin is generously appointed.

The rear seatbacks can be folded in a 40/20/40 splits and the rear seat backrest can be reclined. Luggage capacity can be increased from 420 litres to 1350 litres.

The X1 measures 4450mm in length and sits on a wheelbase of 2760mm. It is just 19mm shorter than an X3 and has a 45mm shorter wheelbase.

The wagon will be built at BMW’s Leipzig plant in Germany.

Best electric cars

Electrification of the automobile is underway?.

….and Carsguide has driven the current heroes and hopefuls.

The Nissan Leaf tops the lot, and comes to Australia next year, but the hydrogen-powered Honda Clarity is a game changer and the range- extended GM Volt is also impressive.

What makes the Leaf so good is that it drives like a real car, not a science experiment. It has a workable Corolla-sized cabin, rides and handles well, and is quite spritely in traffic. Now we have to wait for the showroom price and the essential detail on charging a battery car.

The Clarity is still only in limited trials, but it's a workable fuel cell car intended to show that hydrogen can be a genuine energy source for transport.

Fuel cells were originally developed by NASA during the moon shot program to generate electricity and, although still costly, they are coming.

The Volt will become a Holden and takes a fresh approach to motoring, using an onboard petrol engine to help charge its batteries. It's genuinely electric and good to drive, although likely to be expensive and with a cramped cabin.

After sampling a range of future cars, this is the current Carsguide pecking order:

1. Nissan Leaf - electric production car

Gran Turismo 6 free demo download announced

Sony set to release a free demo version of GT 6 for Playstation3.

Sony has confirmed that a demo version of its upcoming Gran Turismo 6 racing simulator will be available for download from the PlayStation Store from July 2 onwards. The demo is completely free and will be downloadable up until August 31 for PS3 users.

It will include a range of Nissan cars, including the Leaf, 370Z and GT-R, and will allow players to drive at the Silverstone circuit. The full version will be available for purchase in the fourth quarter of the year and include 33 tracks and 1,200 cars to choose from.

There is additional significance surrounding the availability of the new demo. As previously reported, contestants in 2013’s Nissan GT Academy will be competing against one another via the demo for their chance to win a seat in a real-life Nissan race car.

The 2013 Nissan GT Academy, which is open to contestants from a record 19 countries, will also commence on July 2 and end on July 28 at 3:59 p.m. PST. The demo will allow contestants to set and submit qualifying times in the first round of the competition.

Like previous years, contestants will start with slower cars like the Leaf and Juke, and then make their way up to the 370Z and GT-R. The U.S., Russia and Germany will each have their own standalone qualifying competitions while the remaining countries will be grouped in a single competition.

New CR-V spearheads Honda model roll-out

The nearing launch of the fourth generation CR-V will be followed by a hybrid Jazz and new Accord.

This mid-sized SUV has been one of the mainstays of the Honda range ever since its release here in 1997. Along with the Toyota RAV4, CR-V was one of the trailblazers in what was then a new class of vehicles – one that has since grown dramatically as more and more buyers appreciate their practical benefits.

Where CR-V has lagged behind many of its competitors is in offering the option of a two-wheel drive variant. Ever since the tariff anomaly which, illogically, favoured the importation of 4WD vehicles over 2WDs was dropped in January 2010 Honda’s rivals have progressively added 2WDs to their SUV range. A very sensible move given that most buyers in this segment are urban-based and appreciate the lower price and running costs by deleting a feature that most didn’t need or want in the first place.

The lack of a 2WD variant, together with an ageing model and, more recently, production delays because of the Thailand floods, have seen CR-V’s sales numbers drop significantly in the past couple of years from its heyday when it was consistently among the top three or four sellers in the market segment. The upcoming fourth-generation CR-V will help correct this situation and will become the first to be offered with the choice of two or four-wheel drive. We’ll be attending the CR-V launch in mid-November and will give full details, including our drive impressions, of the new model then.

Next cab off the Honda rank, in the first quarter of 2013, will be a hybrid version of the company’s popular Jazz hatch. Honda was the first company to bring a mass-produced petrol/electric hybrid car on to the Australian market in March 2001, about six months ahead of the Toyota Prius. The Jazz Hybrid will be Honda’s fourth hybrid vehicle, joining the Insight, Civic Hybrid and CR-Z.

The first half of 2013 will also see the upgrade of another Honda staple, with the arrival of the ninth-generation Accord. The new model went on sale recently in the United States in both sedan and coupe form with a number of powertrains including a conventional hybrid. A plug-in hybrid version will be released in the US in early 2013.

Both the Accord Hybrid and Accord Plug-In Hybrid are under consideration for Australia however Mr Satoshi Matsuzawa advised there is currently no time frame.

The customer is king at the show

Real people rule at the motor show.

Despite tasty hero cars led by the F-Type Jaguar and Aston Martin One-77, it's the real world cars that are of most interest.

The return of the Nissan Pulsar, the unveiling of the Toyota Corolla and the first Sydney appearance of the Mazda6 and Mitsubishi Mirage are all proof that ordinary customers now rule the roost. As car sales track strongly towards an all-time record, it's real people spending their own money who are the real target for carmakers.

"If you get the product right, everything else follows," the top Aussie at Toyota Australia, Dave Buttner, tells Carsguide. "All the growth in sales this year is with private buyers, as government departments have been winding back and fleet sales are also down. Private buyers are confident and they are spending on the second-biggest purchase after their house."

Nissan confirmed its commitment to the new-age PUlsar with a $19,990 starting price and a SSS under lights. "Pulsar is back and we have big plans," Bill Peffer, managing director of Nissan Australia, tells Carsguide.

For Mazda, the new 6 is its first all-new arrival since the GFC and a pointer to the replacement for the top selling Mazda3. "You can see now where we're going," Doug Dickson, MD of Mazda Australia, says. And the baby Mirage? "It's something new for us, and it's going to bring a lot of people to the brand. I reckon we'll sell heaps," Mitsubishi marketing chief Paul Unerkov laughs.

W Motors Lykan Hypersport will cost $3.7m

A new supercar is brewing in the Middle East, one that will set some hard to beat benchmarks, not only in terms of performance and technology but also in price and exclusivity. We are, of course, talking about the upcoming Lykan Hypersport from supercar startup W Motors.

Today, the company announced that the Lykan Hypersport, which will retail for a staggering $3.69 million and be built in an exclusive run of just seven units, will feature rear-opening ‘suicide’ doors.

These latest renderings show how the doors will look when fully extended and reveal a design not seen on any other supercar currently in production. Rolls-Royce’s Phantom Coupe features a similar door design but these don’t angle upwards like on the Lykan Hypersport.

W Motors has also confirmed that the production version of the Lykan Hypersport will be shown for the first time at the 2013 Dubai Motor Show in November. A concept version was shown earlier this year at the 2013 Qatar Motor Show.

Two versions of the car are being developed: the range-topping Lykan Hypersport you see here and a slightly tamer Lykan Supersport. Both will be built on a bespoke platform and feature a turbocharged flat-six engine developed by famous Porsche tuner RUF. The Lykan Hypersport will develop as much as 560 kilowatts and is said to be capable of accelerating to 100km/h in approximately 2.8 seconds and reaching a top speed of 394km/h.

To justify its lofty pricetag, the Lykan Hypersport has been designed to incorporate jewels and precious metals in its construction and advanced technologies, including an interactive holographic display system, in its cabin.

If you were just itching to drop $3.69 million on one of the seven examples W Motors will be building, we hear all the cars have already been accounted for. Fortunately, given that success, we’re sure the company will launch a followup.

All in Accord

The imminent departure of Mitsubishi's 380 could prove a blessing in disguise for competitor Honda.

That’s because Honda’s new, larger Accord, released this week (not the Euro), is a stronger, more convincing offering than the previous model – one that could well fill the void left by 380 in the large car segment.

In V6 form, at least, it offers something the others don’t – fuel-saving, cylinder shutdown technology that allows the car to run on as little as three cylinders when full power is not required.

There’s also a gutsy four-cylinder model that promises even more fuel savings.

It’s no secret the large car segment has shrunk significantly in the last couple of years as buyers drift towards smaller more economical vehicles.

According to sales figures for 2007, Holden’s Commodore dominated the segment with 57,000 sales, followed by the Ford Falcon (34,000) and Toyota Aurion (22,000).

Despite a string of awards, the poor old 380 trailed a poor fourth with just under 11,000 sales for the year followed by the Accord (7200).

As sales of the 380 trickle to a stop and eventually dry up, those sales have to go somewhere and Honda is quietly confident of picking up a fair chunk of them, as much as 10 per cent of the segment total over time.

And, after driving the new Accord in Victoria last week, we reckon Honda is in with a big chance.

Four Accords are offered – a 3.5-litre V6 and a 2.4-litre in-line four, with standard and luxury versions of each.

All of them get a revised, five-speed auto with wheel mounted change paddles.

With 202kW of power, the V6 trumps the lot (but not by much) – producing more power than all of its competitors _ even the yet to be released new Falcon.

The 2.4-litre also eclipses its competitors with 133kW, way ahead of the Ford Mondeo with 118kW.

In the “mine’s bigger than yours” stakes, that counts for a lot!

The four cylinder model’s entry level price of $29,990 should also turn a few heads, particularly as it includes an auto, climate air, electronic stability control and four airbags _ not to mention six stacker CD sound and full-size alloy spare wheel.

We were able to drive the base model 2.4-litre Accord and top of the line V6 Luxury at the launch of the car outside Melbourne.

With a larger more prominent front grille, the car has a much a stronger road presence than its predecessor and feels bigger inside, bigger in fact than Honda’s flagship Legend.

The four with 222Nm of torque available from 4300rpm pulls strongly and the car feels lighter and more agile than the V6, nothing like the floaty model that it replaces.

We pushed it hard through some demanding mountain roads with pleasing results.

The stability control system, called Vehicle Stability assist in Honda-speak, intrudes only when absolutely necessary and that wasn’t very often.

The engine is a little harsh under hard acceleration and the Michelin tyres generate some noticeable road noise, but apart from that it’s all good.

Fuel economy for the four using standard unleaded is rated at 8.8 litres/100km.

The V6 with 339Nm of torque available from 5000rpm feels softer and cruisier than the four.

The VSA works noticeably harder to keep the car on the road, but still lets the driver have plenty of fun.

V6 and Luxury models add curtain airbags and the top of the line V6 Luxury also gets a reversing camera.

Unfortunately, the camera is not available even as an option on other models _ something that we believe is an oversight.

Fuel economy for the V6 using standard unleaded 10.0 litres/100km on the knocker, but it is able to achieve four cylinder-like economy on longer runs.

The change from six, to four or three cylinders is imperceptible.

The car measures 4945mm and rear legroom is generous even for taller passengers, with a back seat that folds down to accommodate longer loads.

The luggage area itself is good without being remarkable, compromised by the addition of the full-size spare that required the boot floor to be raised several centimetres.

You can’t have everything.

The tow rating of the car is 1200kg.

All in all, the Accord looks every inch the winner, particularly the four-cylinder model at $29,990 with its generous equipment list.

The lineup could do with the addition of a sports model, but there’s plenty of add-ons to get you there.