New Audi A6 Hybrid Made Available

A new hybrid version of the Audi A6 has now been released and is available to order now, this new hybrid A6 will offer a lower tax alternative to the original.

 Prices start from £43,480; the price of this A6 hybrid is a good match for other rivals such as the BMW ActiveHybrid5 priced at £46,865 Lexus GS450h priced at£44,995 and the Infiniti M35h which is priced £42,020.

CO2 emissions are looking very good for this A6 hybrid at 145g/km which is lower than the 159g/km Infinity M35H, the 141g/km Lexus GS450h and the 149g/km ActiveHybrid5.

The difference between the A6 and the rival’s powerful six-cylinder petrol engines combined with an electric motor, is a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the 211bhp 2.0 TFSI, with an electric motor which offers 245bhp.

This means that the A6 does have a little less power than some of the competition, but at 1,770kg it weighs quite a bit less which results in 0-62 time of 7.3 seconds, it may be a little slower than some of the rivals, but it still packs a powerful punch!

The A6 hybrid is capable of running on the electric motor alone for around two miles before the petrol engine has to kick in. Another bonus of the A6.

The price and low CO2 emissions mean that company car drivers of the Audi A6 Hybrid would face much lower tax liability than a company car driver in the equivalent 245bhp A6 3.0 TDI Quattro, good news for company car drivers!

Does Playing Music While Driving Distract You?

Music is something that we all enjoy, whether you listen to it a little or a lot; we all like a good tune to sing along to. But does music cause problems in the car? 

Everyday most people travelling by car will put on the radio or put in their favourite CD, but does this music distract us from driving? Is it dangerous? And why do so many people choose to listen to music while they travel?

The average driver will listen to around 7 hours of music in their car every week. This amounts to around 12 billion hours of noise pollution each year in the UK.

 We also have to look at how this affects other people, if you have your music very loud in your car; it may not only be a distraction to you, but also to other drivers on the road. It has been revealed that around 63% become angry with other road users playing their music too loudly.

Drivers will play music around 72% of the time that they are in their car and around a quarter of these will listen to their music every single time they are in the car. Around 61% of people believe that listening to music makes the journey go by faster, people also find it relaxing and entertaining to sing along with the music, that’s even more noise pollution! 

These reasons explain why most road users choose to play music in their car while driving. But is it risky? Around 22% of men almost had an accident due to playing music in the car and around 12% of women also nearly experienced an accident as a result of listening to music in the car. There is not much in it but this does show that men are a little more likely to become distracted by their music.

It is not only music that causes distraction while driving, research shows that mobile phones, passengers and children can also be large distractions while driving. 

So do you feel like you are distracted by music in your car?

Olympic Games Lanes Make a Return For Paralympics

After a small break from hectic roads from the Olympics, the games lanes are being turned back on again for the start of the London 2012 Paralympic games. Traffic disrupted many journeys last time, but will we see the same sort of disruption this time round?

The Paralympic Route is smaller than the regular Olympic Route, which should make things a little easier for London’s motorists. There are about 8.7 miles of Olympic Games lanes along the Paralympic route. These lanes will be operated flexibly, when there is low demand for the lanes from the Olympic officials and high demand from the general public they will be opened up to everyone until they are needed again.

Although the Paralympic games are on a slightly smaller scale, disruption is still to be expected. During the games people are being advised to avoid the Paralympic Route Network as much as they possible can. Traffic will be particularly bad around the Olympic park, so this area should be avoided whenever possible.

It is also advised that some restrictions in central London roads will be in place today as the Olympic torch relay travels through London. There is expected to be a large amount of spectators watching the torch relay, so many areas in London will be unusually busy.

The A2, A12 and A13 routes into London are also expected to be unusually busy, particularly in the morning. If you are not able to avoid driving along these routes, allow plenty of time for your journey.

The Paralympic opening ceremony will be taking place tonight at the Olympic Park, so all of central London will be much busier than usual.

Overall the chaos caused should be much less than when the regular Olympic Games took place, planning your journey ahead will save time and unnecessary stress.

We hope that everyone enjoys the London 2012 Paralympic Games!