Tomorrow’s safety equipment

By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 18 June 2007 08:48 The next generation of safety systems will take even more control away from the driver, read road signs – and even slam the brakes on for you in an emergency stop. Forget science fiction, this is science fact. CAR Online is reporting from Bosch’s annual technology seminar all week – and we’ve had the lowdown from the world’s biggest components supplier on what safety innovations are around the corner.

First look at the redesigned BMW 3-series wagon

BMW has revealed the wagon version of the fifth-generation 3-series. The company says that the new 3-series Sports Wagon, known as the 3-series Touring in Europe, will reach U.S. showrooms about a year from now.

Porsche buyers put the brakes on stop-start technology

By Chris Chilton Motor Industry 23 June 2008 18:56 Direct injection and a clever new PDK dual-clutch gearbox have cemented the new 911’s reputation as the greenest performance car around, but Porsche engineers are being hampered from making the iconic sports car even cleaner by the public’s reluctance to accept further green technology Engineers at the launch of the facelifted 911 told CAR that fitting a BMW-style start-stop system could chop a further 10g/km from the Carrera’s 225g/km CO2 rating but that performance car buyers weren’t keen on having such overtly planet-conscious tech on their cars. Start-stop works by cutting the engine when the car’s stationary in traffic, and restarting automatically when you touch the pedals to move off again. Every manual transmission-equipped BMW 1-series comes with the technology, excepting the truly high performance versions.