Tag Archive for: Car Technology

What Drives A Man’s Love For His Car?

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What is it about men and their cars? 

 

You see them on a Sunday morning, spending hours cleaning, waxing, and probably caressing their vehicles on the driveway. 

 

You see them salivating over car ads online, planning their next purchase (even if it’s only an imaginary pipe dream of a purchase), looking at luxury sports cars akin to the Ferrari 488 showcased on Wavertree Car Centre’s classified pages. 

 

You see them deliberating over each and every motor at the showroom, desperately trying to reason with themselves that yes, they can afford the latest and greatest car, even if it means taking on a second or even third job to justify the purchase. 

 

But why? What drives a man’s love for his car?

 

Is it a status-symbol thing? Driving down the road in the Lexus-LX, windows rolled down so passersby can see the driver at the wheel; it’s almost as if the guy behind the wheel is shouting ‘look at me.’ The bigger and more expensive the car, the better. A man’s car can signify that he has made it in the world. It can give the guy a sense of coolness that he might not achieve in other aspects of his life. A car can grant him kudos from his peers, and quite possibly, it can elevate his self-esteem, even if it does become more inflated than his newly-purchased tyres.

 

Is it a tech thing? Not only do guys love their cars, but many of them are tech-heads as well. And because today’s cars are stocked with the latest technologies, getting behind the wheel of a gadget-laden car must be akin to every guy’s wet dream. From the latest in sound system technology to more practical features, such as dashcams and digital assistants, it’s little wonder that men spend a lot of time behind the wheel. There is a lot to play and fiddle with! 

 

Is it a freedom thing? Life is stressful, right? Perhaps then, a guy loves nothing more than getting behind the wheel of his car to escape those aspects of his life that are getting him down. With nothing but the open road ahead of him, he has the freedom to escape life’s trials and tribulations. He is in control of the drive, with nobody telling him what to do or where to go. And if his car does elevate his self-esteem, and if it is laden with the latest and greatest in-car accessories, then he will instantly feel better about his life within the safe confines of his motor. He is free to be himself as he takes the freedom of the open road, without the pressures or criticisms of others. 

 

Are these the factors that drive a man’s love for his car? Maybe, and perhaps you can relate to what we have suggested. Or maybe there are other reasons why you spend a lot of time with your car, be that behind the wheel or caressing it on a Sunday morning with a loving wax and polish. We don’t know how you feel about your motor, but we do know this. Men do love their cars, and if you can shed any further light on why, please feel free to share in the comments section below. 

How To Kill An Hour 2019

Planning A Roadtrip? Check These Things Before You Go

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Taking a trip can be really exciting, but if you are out and about, midway into a journey and your car breaks down, things can take a turn for the worst, the fun can be lost, and you can spend a lot of time and money sorting things out. In order to minimise the chances of this happening it is essential to check your car is road trip ready before you even set out.

Check the basics

Before you plan to take a more extended trip, you should always check your air, oil and water. These three tasks can quickly be learned, and you should ensure that for the oil and water checks you have parked on a flat hard standing rather than on a slope as this could give a false reading. Your handbook should tell you what tyre pressures you should be running, and most garages have access to airlines for about twenty pence.

Get your car serviced

Make sure you have been keeping up with servicing on your car, and if you are planning an unusually long journey consider booking a service anyway. This gives you peace of mind that your vehicle has been checked by a professional and if you are unsure about things like oil and water they can check this for you. Failure to serve a car regularly can mean a minor issue is not spotted and over time it deteriorates into a costly job that could have been avoided.

Tyres: Fittings, repair and maintenance

As well as checking the air in your tyres you should also be keeping an eye on the overall quality. Treads have a legal minimum limit, after which the tyre becomes dangerous and could fail to react when braking, or steering sharply. It also means that the rubber has worn away and this can leave the tyre more at risk of punctures or worse, a blowout, which can leave the car uncontrollable and cause an accident. Tyres should be regularly checked for nails, stones and other debris in the treads, and it is vital you have a spare tyre on board, the spare wheel is often only suitable to get you back to proper help, but some vehicles carry a full road legal spare. Even if you’re road-tripping to Scotland and need an emergency repair or replacement, you can get good quality servicing and repairs at places such as C.H. Render.

How to save money

The best way to save money when it comes to cars and road trips is to have breakdown cover should the worst happen. It can be really expensive to get your vehicle towed or repaired at the side of the road if you are not a member of a breakdown service. Check the level of cover and compare it with the journey you are going to make.

The bottom line is that being prepared for road trips is a case of being proactive, not reactive. If you carry out a range of checks and ensure that your vehicle is maintained all year round, you are less likely to have problems when heading out for a longer trip. Being reactive is not only disruptive it can also be hard on the wallet so keeping on top of basic maintenance makes a lot of sense.

 

Lexus UX

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Volvo XC40

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Volvo XC40

No Space? No problem Check out what types of techy tricks Volvo Cars XC40 – has up it’s sleeve!

Posted by How To Kill an Hour on Tuesday, 23 April 2019

 

The Volvo XC40 is an award winning SUV, it’s small but BIG in technology. The Volvo XC40 has an impressive design and has storage in places you wouldn’t believe. Plus it has something we love here at How To Kill An Hour, smart technology.

Share you car

First up in this amazing car is the fact that you can share your car. Remotely. That’s right. Remotely. The XC40 has an innovative system that allows you, for a set time period, share your car remotely. This way you can allow a friend, a family member or a colleague access to your car. Wherever you are in the world and wherever your car is.

Easy Living

The Volvo XC40 is crammed full of tech and it’s designed to make your life a lot easier. Firstly the car has a 360 degree camera on it. It uses several cameras to create a view of the car as if it seen from above. Therefore allowingyou to clearly see where your vehicle is in relation to what’s around you.

While there is also wireless charging capabilities beneath the touch screen of the car. Allowing you access to your phone once you are parked and a place to charge your phone on your trip. Furthermore the XC40 has Apple CarPlay and Android auto. Allowing smartphone functionality on the centre touch screen. It even has Siri or Google Assistant.

Safe Tech

That’s not all the tech that’s inside the Volvo XC40 either. It has plenty of safety focused tech as well! It will act as your co-pilot so to speak. Helping you to avoid accidents and alert you if someone is about to crash into you.

Firstly, Crash Safety will monitor what is in front of you, it will identify a whole manner of things. Such as vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists even large animals. Warning you if a collision is imminent. If you don’t react in time, the car will even brake for you!

If there is crossing traffic when you reverse out of a space, the Cross Traffic Alert System will give you audible warnings. From the left or right side of the car and by displaying graphics on the centre display.

Plus Pilot Assist, with adaptive cruise control will help give you gentle steering support to keep you in the centre of lanes, at a set speed or distance from the vehicles in front.

Always Connected

You are always connected to your car with the companion app. You are able to find out where you are parked, control the cabin temperatures temperature. Furthermore you can lock and unlock remotely! Plus if you were to be involved in an accident a Volvo On Call operator will automatically contact you to help.

What is very impressive is once you get into the car in the morning, the car is heated or cooled depending on the ambient temperature. The car will tell you how much fuel you’ve got in correlation to how far it will take you, so no more guessing!

Where available, In Car delivery allows online shops to deliver to the boot of your car where it’s parked too!

Non-Tech impressive features

The Volvo XC40 has a gorgeous, beautiful panoramic windscreen allowing you to enjoy the view and the sunshine whilst driving. Plus the design of the car is just something to behold! The inside is made from 100% sustainable materials and has Harmon Kardon premier sound, sound systems installed.

Storage space is what sets this SUV apart. It has storage space in the door which will hold a laptop and 3 large water bottles. Under the centre armrest there’s an area for your things of course, but it also comes with a handy little bin. Plus if you like a takeaway there’s a hook on the glove compartment to hold it! The luggage compartment even features a folding floor which is lockable and allows for much more space to carry things. Even fold the backrest with a simple touch of a button.

This compact SUV may be small but it definitely impressed us, the tech side of this car is very very good. We love everything about it. The most innovative and impressive is the fact that you can SHARE your car. How cool is that?!

See the video above for our more!

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