BOASTS EYESIGHT DRIVER-ASSIST
July 2017 THE CANBERRA REPORTER | 7
Edited by ARNALDO DE LEON
MOTORING | TECHNOLOGY
NEW CARS
It’ s a lot of fun with a Subaru XV
BOASTS EYESIGHT DRIVER-ASSIST
By ARNALDO DE LEON
THE all-new Subaru XV, Australia’ s compact SUV that gives you maximum fun with that legendary Subaru Symmetrical All Wheel Drive, much bigger 8-inch touch screen, upgraded technology for increased fuel efficiency, X-Mode, 5 star ANCAP safety and a roomier experience. The heart of the XV is the FB20 DOHC Dual AVCS engine with 115kW @ 6000rpm power and 196Nm @ 4000rpm of torque. It boasts a smaller diameter steering wheel for that greater feel and comes with Yokohama tyres so ensure grip on the road. Apple Carplay and Android Auto will read your text message out loud along with other information so you can focus on the road ahead.
The highlight of the XV must be Subaru’ s world renowned technology EyeSight Driver Assist System that works like an extra set of eyes to watch the road ahead vastly improving safety though collision avoidance. This system warns you audibly if it sees anything of danger through the cameras on the front windscreen and automatically applies the brakes if you don’ t. This feature is a must for our very own Canberra roads since most of our local accidents are caused by fatigued drivers driving a monotonous road setup blurring any oncoming hazards. Previously unique to the bigger Forester, the all-new XV now as X-Mode in which the driver can be automatically assisted on off road conditions. This modern machine with show-stopping value starts at $ 32,564 RDP that goes up to $ 40,033 RDP for the high end model Subaru SV 2.0i-S. •
Airbag giant files for bankruptcy
AFTER pleading guilty earlier this year to a felony charge in a United States court, Japanese airbag giant Takada has announced it was filing for bankruptcy. This decision followed millions of faulty airbag recalls with associated deaths of at least 16 people all over the world. Takata’ s operations tried their best to fix the faults with recalls in every affected country involving at least two million vehicles and 30 different models. However, with this problem proving to be too large for the Takata to solve, Key Safety Systems, a Chinese-owned company based in the United States is now expected to acquire Takata’ s asset base and operations. •
PHONES
Smart move, Nokia
RIDING the launch of the classic 3310 Nokia phone, the new owners of Nokia announced three new Android Nougat equipped smartphones for this year starting at $ 249. This relaunch has been long awaited by fans of the brand who made mobile phones popular back in 1999. Nokia as a brand has the reputation of long battery life and solid build quality, with these new models reflecting the same qualities using Gorilla Glass 5 screens and changing the operating system from Microsoft Windows Mobile to Android Nougat to make the phones an easy fit with today’ s popular applications be it personal or business use. The three options( pictured below) are the Nokia 3 with a 5 inch display, Nokia 5 with a slighty larger 5.2 inch and the top dog Nokia 6 sporting a 5.5 inch display. The winner here is clearly the consumer, with pricing set at close proximity with each other despite the obvious gap in technology. •