Overdrive

In our panel discussion with Brian Smith and Errol Smith we take a light-hearted look at stories including:

1. Court Orders Small Ohio Speed Trap Town To Refund $3 Million In Unconstitutional Speeding Tickets

2. US farmers downloading Ukrainian hacks to repair their John Deere tractors

3. German traffic light has been red for 15 years

4. Portland Anarchist Road Care will fix your potholes

Have a question or comment? Send it to [email protected]

Originally aired on 8 April 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit www.drivenmedia.com.au

Does the idea of a sport SUV seem like a contradiction in terms?

Well the sound you just heard was not a race car, traditional sports car or even a hot sedan. It was the Range Rover SVR with a super charged 5 litre V8 engine.

It seems even more of a contradiction when you realise that Land Rover has a long tradition of building sturdy and capable four wheel drives and has continued to develop some very advanced technology to let you take your car off road which remains as part of this vehicle.

Yet here is a beast with 405 kw of power (that’s 543hp in the old measure) and with 680 Nm of torque which is enough pulling power to tow a horse trailer even if you are carrying Clydesdales. All of which will take this 2.3 tonne vehicle from aero to 100 km/hr in 4.7 seconds (without the horse trailer).

Before we become too analytical about the vehicle, what sort of impact does it have from someone who drives normal practical vehicles. My mate Colin sat in the passenger seat as we went around the block.

We started out gently as we moved through the city but then we just had to accelerate quickly to get up to the open speed limit

Originally aired on 8 April 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit http://drivenmedia.com.au/wp/

Mercedes Benz in Australia has 26 models in its line-up, more than most other brands.

Market leader Toyota has 20.

I tend to think of the Mercedes range as being dominated by large luxury cars.

But their top seller is their small/medium sized C class. The second-best seller is their small A class but the one that surprised me coming in in third place was the grouping of the C Class coupe and convertible. Of course, they call the convertible a cabriolet.

I asked David McCarthy, Mercedes’ Senior Manager - Public Relations, Product and Corporate, and a good friend of the program why such a niche car should be selling so well.

Originally aired on 8 April2017. For past programs and individual segments visit www.drivenmedia.com.au

Hello and welcome to Overdrive a program that ponders the purpose of cars and transport

And in this program, we look at news stories including:

1. Australian certification body introduces telematics-based road charging solution

2. FCA Australia Response to Alleged Emission Investigation

3. South Australian government announces first round of autonomous technology funding

4. Technology for good

5. Two thousand people take part in Australia’s driverless bus trial

6. Jaguar I-Pace - The Future Of Electric Motoring Hits The Streets

7. GM, Buick to launch plug-ins, electric cars in China

In past programs, we mentioned that Ford has taken a very broad look at the future of transport as typified by their ad that was played during the telecast of this year’s super bowl. It was refreshingly honest and took at reality check on the future of transport.

We have just attended a forum Ford held in Melbourne titled “Future with Ford” which they described as “Conceptual Mobility Solutions for the Future”.

We interviewed some of the presenters and we have a feature item on some of the things they said.

And in our panel discussion with Brian Smith and Errol Smith we take a light-hearted look at stories including:

1. Singapore May Have Designed the World's Best Bus Stop

2. Ikea is now selling bikes (DB)

3. Are Tradies Next in Line to be Uber-fied?

4. Villager with bright yellow car gives in to critics and buys grey vehicle

Have a question or comment? Send it to [email protected]

You can listen to longer segments of the each of the features by going to our web site at drivenmedia.com.au or podcast the whole program on iTunes or your favourite podcast service.

Originally aired on 1 April 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit http://drivenmedia.com.au/wp/

And in our panel discussion with Brian Smith and Errol Smith we take a light-hearted look at stories including:

And in our panel discussion with Brian Smith and Errol Smith we take a light-hearted look at stories including:

1. Singapore May Have Designed the World's Best Bus Stop

2. Ikea is now selling bikes

3. Are Tradies Next in Line to be Uber-fied?

4. Villager with bright yellow car gives in to critics and buys grey vehicle

Have a question or comment? Send it to [email protected]

Originally aired on 25 February 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit www.drivenmedia.com.au

In past programs, we have mentioned that Ford has taken a very broad look at the future of transport as typified by their ad that was played during the telecast of this year’s super bowl. It was refreshingly honest and took at reality check on the future of transport.

We have prepared a short video segment on the ad that can been seem at http://www.autonews.net.au/companyframes.php3?justGroup=ford

We have just attended a forum Ford held in Melbourne titled “Future with Ford” which they described as “Conceptual Mobility Solutions for the Future”.

Guest speakers at the forum included former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett and Ford’s Futurist Sheryl Connelly whose official title is Manager, Global Consumer Trends and Futuring, Ford Motor Company. Sheryl has, amongst many things, given a number of TED talks. One is titled “How we will get from A to B in 2026”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eCpM4TQsP0.

I caught up with Sheryl after the forum.

Originally aired on 1 April2017. For past programs and individual segments visit www.drivenmedia.com.au

In the Australian market, Nissan is the third largest seller of SUV vehicles but they say they are also the second largest in terms of a product range.

But in that range their Pathfinder is somewhat of a forgotten vehicle. It's been overlooked, they feel, for what it is or more particularly what it could be in terms of sales volume.

The Pathfinder is a large SUV 7-seater but it's not as big or as rough in the stuff as their Patrol which is often been their hero image vehicle. The market has moved strongly towards the crossover vehicle.

The traditional adventurous four-wheel drive hasn't grown in sales nearly as much as these crossover vehicles, serving a market not just for adventure but for families.

Nissan has just launched a new Pathfinder.

The biggest change in the new Pathfinder is that 50% of the 3.5 litre V6 engine components are new. For example, it now has a direct injection system.

Originally aired on 25 March 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit http://drivenmedia.com.au/wp/

In the one-tonneute market, there is a wide variety of customer needs.

Much publicity has been given to the ‘7 day a week’ segment that favours the dual cab where the ute tray might be used for carrying tools during the week but the vehicle has a specific function with the family and on weekends it is more likely to be carrying bikes or surf boards in the back.

When the all new Navara was launch nearly two years ago, Nissan proudly spoke of the 27 different model specifications that covered single cab, king cab and dual cab configurations with a chassis or pickup tray.

But no amount of internal review can guarantee the moving target that is customer desires.

Nissan has now released the series 2 version of the new Navara and have added another specification level across all their model configurations.

Originally aired on 25 March 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit http://drivenmedia.com.au/wp/

Hello and welcome to Overdrive, a program that practices what it preaches, most of the time, on the subject of cars and transport.

And in this program, we look at news stories including:

1. Mitsubishi Electric develops automated mapping technologies for autonomous driving

2. Ricardo launches real-world vehicle emissions monitoring service

3. Intel announces it will buy MobilEye for $15.3 billion

4. Funding to accelerate the take up of hydrogen vehicles and infrastructure.

5. Ikea is now selling bikes

We get the first impression on two upgraded Nissans that have just been launched on the market, The Navara and the Pathfinder.

And in our panel discussion,Brian Smith and Errol Smith are both interstate so we will have some light hearted stories recorded in the past but that have never gone to air. Most particular we will look at some 2017 car ads for the super bowl.

Have a question or comment? Send it to [email protected]

You can listen to longer segments of the each of the features by going to our web site at drivenmedia.com.au or podcast the whole program on iTunes or your favourite podcast service.

Now to begin the program let’s have the news.

Originally aired on 25 March 2017. For past programs and individual segments visit http://drivenmedia.com.au/wp/

Welcome to Overdrive, a program that proudly gives you the alternative facts to all aspects of motoring and transport.

And in this program, we look at news stories including:

1. iMOVE CRC

2. Some transport reflections on the Western Australia election

3. Will Uber survive?

4. A no-frills bike sharing scheme

5. Adding scent in buses to make a more pleasant ride

We have an interview with Ian Christensen who heads the new iMove Cooperative Research Centre which has just received some Federal Government funding to research was to make traffic flow faster.

And in our panel discussion with Brian Smith we take a light-hearted look at stories including:

1. The NSW Government releases some old road safety films. What do we learn from these about road safety and the values at the time.

2. Mercedes-Benz Concept X-Class

3. Ford wants your new car to pick a song – or tell a joke

Originally aired on 18 March 2017. For past programs and extended individual segments visit http://drivenmedia.com.au/wp/