The car industry is stagnant due to the global economic downturn, in fact new car prices are set to rise despite the shortage in sales with Ford putting their new car prices up by 3.75 per cent, Seat by 3.5 per cent and Nissan by 3.4 per cent, and so the best way for prospective buyers to get value from the car market is to invest in a reliable used vehicle. And for ‘reliable used vehicle’ read: used Lexus!
It’s one of the most iconic cars in the world, but how did the Mini Cooper come to fruition? The inventor of the Mini, Sir Alec Issigonis, had always intended on the Mini being the car for the everyman, but his good friend John Cooper, who owned the Cooper Car Company specialising in Formula 1 and rally car design, had the foresight to see that the Mini would be suited to motorsport so Cooper approached Issigonis with his ideas, but Issigonis was reluctant as he had never intended his brain child for racing.
BMW has had their fair share of negative press of late after they laid off 850 agency workers at their MINI plant in Oxford with union leaders and politicians weighing in with their two pennies worth, but what has gone relatively unnoticed is the fact that BMW are one of the leaders in eco friendly engineering.
There are very few adverts that avoid being annoying, irritating or serve as a cue to flick over the channel these days, yet those that stick in the memory are the clever ones, the cool ones, the ones that you actually look forward to seeing during the commercial break and there is one particular company that fail to impress with their TV adverts: Honda.
The importance of the environment is finally being recognised by people and companies, more importantly car companies. So perhaps when deciding to purchase a new car you will consider the option of buying a used car, to do your part for the environment.
One company in particular that has looked at the environment and how it can help is Lexus. Lexus offers its customers the chance to buy used cars that are reasonably still new, cheaper than brand new models and are designed with the environment in mind. So if you do decide to go for the green used car option, perhaps a used Lexus will be in your choice.
I’m about to write an article on Used Mini’s and already I’m chastised for using the wrong term!
Apparently the term is ‘Mini Cherished’. What is the difference I ask myself?
Open any used car magazine and there will be used Minis for sale in various degrees of condition and age. Speak to any Mini owner and you will find that their vehicle has been cherished for many years. Many of them are given names by the owner to personalise them – strange but true.
In New York, Chicago and Miami owners of new and used Mini’s are signing up for a new gimmick of personalised billboard messages displayed at the road side.
A radio chip embedded within the key fob sends a coded signal to the billboard that you are approaching and messages will flag up, dependent on the information the driver has supplied in a questionnaire. Examples are ‘Hi Kate, nice day for your convertible’.
That pesky recession! Who does it think it is, coming over here, taking our jobs, hitting everyone in the pocket, grabbing all the headlines, making the lives of us Brits a misery? The best way for Britain to cope with the dire straits that is the recession, is to put on a brave face. Britain may not be the best in the world at many things these days, but one thing we are good at is having a laugh in the face of adversity.
Good things come to those that wait, as the saying goes, and since the 1989 launch of the LS 400, Lexus has gone from strength to strength, but it took the Japanese Toyota subsidiary six years research and development before going to production. And Toyota’s new line of luxury vehicles, branded Lexus, certainly were worth waiting for, with the LS series bursting onto the US market to critical acclaim.
Because of the way a BMW will hold its value, most used BMW’s are re-sold but, like anything, they do have a life span and at the end of that they’re on the scrapheap.
Or are they?
BMW are the most environmentally friendly car manufacturer in existence. Their South Carolina plant in the US has been named a charter member of the US Environmental Protection Agencys National Performance Track. They have recieved this prestigious accolade because of their recycling initiative when it comes to used BMW’s.
A new BMW is a treasure not to be touched. Built to perfection, there is nothing that can be done to improve it and neither should you try.
However, buy a used BMW from an approved dealership and the world is your oyster to customise and personalise with as much bling as your bank account sees fit.
Many BMW fans have started down the road of personalising their used BMW and, realising the attention it draws from onlookers, they become positively obssessed. Starting with replacing plastic interior trims for chrome trim is a relatively cheap way to start. Door handle covers, inside and out, trunk lid trim, gauge rings and light trims can all be replaced with chrome alternatives as well as gear knobs and tax disc holders.
The Stig is the unidentified test driver of vehicles on the favourite BBC Sunday night programme, Top Gear. So far unbeaten, The Stig’s laptimes are breathtaking.
However, he came very close to being beaten last Sunday by Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton performed a lap in 1 minute 44.6 seconds in wet, oily conditions. This came in at a mere .2 of a second behind The Stigs 1 minute and 44.4. And his performance was in dry conditions.
Lewis Hamilton has thrown down the gauntlet to The Stig with a challenge for both drivers to compete in the same weather conditions.
A special edition M3 coupe is set to be launched by BMW in the coming weeks. The Edition as it is named has been lowered for a lower centred driving position and for improved handling (oh and for aesthetic purposes also – if looks could kill, this M3 would be Carlos The Jackal).
The edition comes in three different colour schemes; BMW individual Monte Carlo blue, BMW individual Dakar yellow, and Alpine white and also features bespoke colour coded leather trim. Dark chrome adorns the grille, twin exhaust, wing mirrors, side and bonnet vents, with matching dark black gloss 19 inch alloys.