Overdrive

Sometimes cars do things for you that are meant to be helpful but they're not what you want. I stopped on the side of the road the other day because I thought I saw something suspicious. It was at night and I thought I might just observe.

The car was the new Mini Cooper. I pulled over and turned the engine off. As soon as I did that the interior lights came on. I was lit up like a Christmas tree. That's not what I wanted. I interviewed my motoring colleague Rob Fraser and we began to compile a list which includes:

• Warning chimes that don’t tell you exactly what is wrong

• The volume on the radio always coming on when you turn the car on even when you have turned it off the night before.

• Navigation instructions that stop showing or telling you where to go when someone rings in on the phone.

• Cars that lock all the doors when you start travelling to pick up some passengers and then hide the “unlock” from easy access.

• Buttons on the key fob to unlock the rear hatch door that don’t work unless the car is turned off/doors locked etc.

Send other examples of things that annoy you to [email protected]

Welcome to Overdrive, a program where we look at the wide and wonderful world of motoring and transport.

I’m David Brown

In this week’s program, we have news stories with David Campbell

1. 50% target for electric car sales by 2030 under a Labor Government (1:43)

2. Aston Martin boss says autonomous cars will result in mergers (2:48)

3. GM Ford and Toyota establish Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium (3:29)

4. EU believes BMW, Daimler and VW colluded over clean emissions tech (4:32)

5. Tesla shares sink on poor deliveries (5:16)

6. Genesis Finally confirms Genesis Launch Date (5:59)

We talk to Subaru Rally team driver Molly Taylor who has just competed in the first round of the Australian Rally Championship held in Western Australia. (6:47)

We catch up with Joel Helmes to discuss the latest truck from Hino which is showing the freight industry the way in standard road safety features and it has some wonderful technology for communication information to drivers with minimal distraction. (12:58)

And we continue our talk with Brian Smith on the April Fool’s day pranks played by car companies. (19:14)

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

Originally broadcast 13 April 2019

Welcome to Overdrive, a program about all sorts of things to do with motoring and transport.

I’m David Brown

In this week’s program, we have news stories with David Campbell

1. Car sales outlook weakens as intenders stay away

2. Australia’s Largest Sport Sponsor

3. Europe will require carmakers to install speed limiters from 2022

4. Hyundai Australia to expand its Electric Vehicle Dealership

5. Toyota & Suzuki Partnership

6. Toyota to generate hydrogen from rooftop solar for vehicle fuel

We a range of motoring minutes with Rob Fraser and myself on some new cars, political statements about banning petrol and diesel cars and pollution with trucks.

I also have a longer conversation with Rob about the Hybrid Camry. He didn’t think much of hybrids when they first came out but now he is a changed man.

And Brian Smith and I discuss April fools jokes from the car industry.

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

So, let’s start with the news

Originally broadcast 6 April 2019

Joel Docker has received two undergraduate degrees from Monash University one in civil engineering and one in science. Joel co-authored a paper "Safe roads for cyclists: an investigation of Australian and Dutch approaches". It was accepted for presentation at the Australasian Transport Research Forum in Auckland in November 2017. Through the ITE Worldwide Learning Opportunity Program, with funding from Austraffic he travelled to New Zealand to present the paper at that conference.

A year and more after delivering the paper, Joel was interviewed about the experience and what it has meant to his career ads part of his on-going development with the help of organisations such as the ITE.

Hello and welcome to Overdrive, where we experiment with ideas and experiences to do with cars and transport.

I’m David Brown

In this week’s program news stories with David Campbell

1. VFACTS: 2019 downturn continues with slow February

2. Aussie company works to turn plastics, old tyres and waste into diesel fuel for trucks

3. Mazda Unveils all new SUV

4. Volkswagen's electric plans:

5. BMW & Mercedes Benz Working together

6. Goodbye Optima

We look closely at why the top three selling cars in February were utes with Rob Fraser

Alan Zurvas goes for a ride to a mid-north coast holiday location in a $218,000 Lexus

And Brian Smith and finish off a discussion we had last week on building car models from lego.

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

So, let’s start with the news

Originally broadcast 16 March 2019

Hello and welcome to Overdrive, where we mull over issues to do with cars and transport.

I’m David Brown

In this week’s program news stories with David Campbell

1. Tesla Cuts the price of Model 3 but increases Australian Charging Prices

2. Holden Hopes to rebound after several bad sales years

3. Volkswagen’s Jetta becomes a brand – but only in China

4. Maserati Cuts Prices

5. Melbourne Formula 1

6. Whitsundays Festival of Motoring

With a NSW state and a federal election coming up we will be bombarded with transport projects that political parties will be promoting as their transport policy.

Brian Smith and I discuss the six things that should be at the basis of all political transport policies.

Brian and I look also look at the success or otherwise of building cars models from lego. Now they are going life size.

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

So, let’s start with the news

Tesla Cuts the price of Model 3 but increases Australian Charging Prices

When Tesla first launched the Model S Elon Musk said that, over time, he hoped to get the price down to US$35,000. Now he has finally delivered on his promise of an electric vehicle for the masses, confirming the reduced pricing.

Specs for the Standard Range start at US$35,000 (or around A$49,000) before US Government incentives.

The Standard Model 3 offers a range of 355km, a top speed of 210km/h and a 0-60mph (97km/h) time of 5.6 seconds, while, for an additional $2,000, the Standard Range Plus has a 386km range, will hit 60mph in 5.3 seconds and tops out at 225km/h.

Holden Hopes to rebound after several bad sales years

HOLDEN has forecast at least 9% growth in its combined SUV and ute sales this year, forecasting that 70% of its overall sales volume will come from these two major categories.

Holden is attempting to turn around its fortunes after its sales slumped 33 per cent last year in the wake of its exit from local car manufacturing in October 2017.

Volkswagen’s Jetta becomes a brand – but only in China

The Jetta name has made the leap from a Volkswagen model - to the Volkswagen Group’s latest all-new brand.

The long-running nameplate has been established as a brand in its

One of the reasons for the Jetta brand’s birth is that it allows the Volkswagen brand itself to position itself as the more premium class that it holds in Europe.

BMW fined for swapping ECUs

Prosecutors in Germany have hit BMW with an €8.5 million fine for fitting almost 8000 cars with the wrong engine management software.

The fine relates to an admission by BMW that it had inadvertently fitted a diesel-engine software upgrade for the X5 and X6 into 5 Series and 7 Series electronic control units or ECUs.

Prosecutors accepted that BMW had done nothing intentional, but was guilty of “oversight lapses”.

Maserati Cuts Prices

A DEPRESSED new-vehicle market outlook, and dealer and customer feedback on pricing, is behind Maserati Australia cutting the prices of its models by up to $46,000, - following similar changing price points for some BMW and Mercedes-Benz models.

Termed “realignment” by Maserati Australia, the new price scale is aimed at maintaining sales and market share in a very competitive high end market.

BMW last year reduced 7 Series pricing by up to almost $50,000, which put the model under the $200,000 mark for its entry-level models.

Similarly, in August last year Mercedes-Benz reduced its S Class pricing by up to $44,000.

Hello and welcome to Overdrive a program that bounces across issues of cars and transport

I’m David Brown

In this week’s news stories

1. Teaching self-driving cars to predict pedestrian movement

2. INRIX 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard

3. Hero Holdens tops Shannons Melbourne Auction

4. New York gov: introduce Manhattan road pricing ‘or face 30% fare rise’

5. Lyft Green Mode option allows riders to request electric and hybrid vehicles

6. California Now Prohibits Use of Gender in Determining Auto Insurance Rates

We have a few motoring minutes

1. Nissan x Opus concept camper uses second-life EV batteries to power ‘off-grid’ adventures

2. New Range Rover Evoque recreates iconic road signs to showcase all terrain capability and smart tech

And Brian Smith, Errol Smith give the second installment of a review of the Motoring ads that appeared during this year’s Super Bowl. We finally get to one we like.

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

So, let’s start with the news

Originally broadcast 23 February 2019

Overdrive: Nissan and Renault move on; Scooters under pressure,Super Bowl ads by David Brown

Hello and welcome to Overdrive a program that looks at cars and transport from a variety of angles .

I’m David Brown

And in this week’s news stories

Nissan chooses Japan over UK to build new X-Trail car

Nissan has confirmed that the new X-Trail originally planned for its Sunderland plant near Newcastle in the UK will instead be made in Japan.

It said continued Brexit uncertainty is not helping firms to "plan for the future".

Nissan has made cars at Sunderland since 1986 and employs almost 7,000 people.

The government said Nissan's decision was "a blow to the sector" but that no jobs would go as a result, which suggests they will continue to build cars there but not expand with the new model.

Tesla lost $976M in 2018 despite 4Q profit

First the good news for Tesla

They made a profit in the last quarter of 2018 of $139 million which was the on revenue of $7.2 billion, and this was the second consecutive quarter of profitability.

But now the bad news – for the whole year they lost nearly $1 billion

That’s better though than 2017 where they lost $1.9-billion

Dongle lets you see how your car is performing

Cars are now collecting a huge amount of information about how they are operating which can be of great help or just interest to the owner.

But much of the information is hidden and would be distracting to view while you are driving and cumbersome to look at if you have to stay seated in the car.

Almost every car made after 1996 has a connection port under the dashboard to connect diagnostic systems. This port is called the OBD-II port (on-board diagnostics).

Scantool now makes a product the ODBLink MX+ ($140 Australian Dollars) which uses a wireless dongle to connect your car to your smartphone, tablet or Windows PC via Bluetooth.

Super bowl car ads

The super Bowl has been and gone for another year and some car companies showed they were prepared to produce specific ads and then pay $5.2 million for a 30 second slot during the game.

In America it is a great offense for some, if you do not stand for the national anthem but it is quite acceptable to involve the national song in two critical activities, gambling and making profits.

There were huge bets on how long Gladys Knight would take to sing the anthem and then Jeep used it as the background music to their ad that used iconic features as the famous 1945 picture of six marines raising the flag on atop Mount Suribachi, during the Battle of Iwo Jima, in World War II.

Canadian union airs Super Bowl ad despite GM lawsuit threats

Not all Super Bowl ads were aimed at patriotism, humour or sentimentality.

Canada’s union for car workers aired its General Motors boycott campaign ad during the super bowl ignoring lawsuit threats if it went to air.

The ad called for a boycott of Mexican-built General Motors Co. vehicles in an effort to save the Oshawa Assembly Plant, set to close at the end of this year.

GM's Oshawa plant, which builds the Chevrolet and Impala and Cadillac XTS, is one of five North American plants GM is planning to indefinitely idle this year as the slow-selling products built at those plants are discontinued.

Maserati Track Day

We went to a Maserati track day and fanged around in cars with a total value of at least $2mill worth. Maserati COO tells us why that is a good thing. I like the guy.

Suzuki Jimny

We have a chat with Paul Murrell about the new Suzuki Jimny

Quirky News

And Brian Smith, Errol Smith and I discuss a range of topics including

• AV displays the direction it is going to take (BS)

• Oscar Mayer will pay you to drive the Wienermobile for a year (ES)

• 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser Heritage Edition looks back, seats just five (BS)

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

Hello and welcome to Overdrive our first program of 2019 after the holiday period of highlights from 2018.

I’m David Brown

And in this week’s news stories

1. Drivers issued no-deal Brexit warnings

2. Road safety seminar: 44% of road crashes occur in Asia Pacific region

3. McLaren 2050 F1 race car: 300-mph EV that can shape-shift

4. F1 in 2019: Teams to pay at least $546K to enter

5. Left to the elements, Packard plant's bridge collapses

We discuss why the worlds worse bus stop is a lesson to us all

We road test the Kia Picanto GT

And Brian Smith, Errol Smith and I discuss a range of topics including

• AV displays the direction it is going to take (BS)

• Oscar Mayer will pay you to drive the Wienermobile for a year (ES)

• 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser Heritage Edition looks back, seats just five (BS)

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

So, let’s start with the news