July 23: Planning for the trip

Having an EV with a range of 50-70 miles sometimes requires innovation. It certainly requires some planning. Today I had to drive 83.7 miles for, of all things, a ride in the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.

Jaguar XF gets a few tweaks for 2014 MY

The Jaguar XF gets a new engine and tweaks for 2014 In many ways the Jaguar XF is Jaguar’s most complete car, and significant updates since it launched in 2008 have kept it fresh and appealing. But the tweaks Jaguar has wrought for 2014 are relatively minor as the XF gets towards the end of its current cycle, the most significant of which is an upgrade to the 2.2 litre diesel engine. The 2.2 litre ECO2 engine is a replacement for the 161bhp entry-level diesel in the 2013 XF and gets revised cooling and bigger EGR valves which have conspired to improve official economy, and therefore reduce emissions (to 128g/km) handily putting the 2.2 XF in to a lower BIK band (down from 21 to 19 per cent).

Alfa Romeo Giulietta – teaser video

Alfa Romeo has released a teaser / promo video for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta (below) After all the messing around trying to decide what to call the Alfa 147 replacement, Alfa Romeo finally decided it was to be the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Having made that decision – and released a few photos of the Giulietta last month – Alfa has decided to ramp up the interest in their new baby ahead of the debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March. So we get a teaser promo video.