Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

In gear

The hassle-free Toyota Avensis gets a test drive while Jaguar launches its spacious and sporty new XJ

Text Lisa Curtiss, James Kevin Mac Goris
Image Getty Images

Top of the class

Jaguar reveals the highly anticipated new XJ

Probably the most eagerly anticipated car to be launched this year is the Jaguar XJ. Sleek, luxurious, spacious and sporty, it’s already being heralded as the best in its class.

On sale soon for early 2010 delivery and priced around €50,00 to €80,000, it certainly looks like its worth the money. Created by Bond car designer Ian Callum, it bears little resemblance to the previous XJ, being far more sporty and muscular.

Inside, the XJ takes sumptuous style to another level, blending natural materials with space-age composites. Features include a 31.2cm high-definition Virtual Instruments panel and Dual View 20.3cm touchscreen that projects DVDs to passengers while the driver sees vehicle functions and satellite navigation. Three spec levels are available – Luxury, Premium Luxury and Portfolio – as well as a choice of colours, veneers and leathers.

Engine-wise, the XJ is available with the most advanced, powerful and efficient powertrains Jaguar says it has created, coupled with a six-speed transmission controlled by JaguarDrive selector or steering wheel paddles. The 3.0-litre 275PS AJ-V6D Gen III diesel with twin sequential turbochargers delivers torque where its most needed, and there are three 5.0-litre V8s – a 385PS naturally aspirated, 470PS supercharged and a range-topping 510PS supercharged. The car is also available in standard and long-wheelbase models, the latter perfect for limo use.

Lean, mean, green machine

Feast your eyes on the new Audi TT RS – fast and with a green heart

Audi lovers rejoice. A super TT – the TT RS – has just been unleashed. The first compact coupé in the RS family, it was developed by Quattro GmbH as a “pure no-holds-barred driving machine.”

According to Audi, the car – powered by a 2.5-litre, five-cylinder engine delivering 340PS – is the fastest in its class when de-restricted and more than equipped to take on rivals such as the Mercedes SLK 55 AMG, Porsche Cayman 3.4S and BMW Z4 sDrive 35i. Despite its blistering performance, it’s also the most economical and boasts the lowest CO2 emissions.

Available now, it’s priced at around €40,000 for the coupé and €42,000 for the roadster.

In the news…

Räikkönen to rally?

One of the latest rumours from the F1 pit lane is that former world champion Kimi Räikkönen is to quit F1 to launch a rallying career in 2010. He has competed in Italy and Finland with some success and is said to have told friends rallying is where his real passion lies.

Apparently, Ferrari isn’t likely to block him, despite such pursuits often being banned, as it’s keen to recruit Fernando Alonso next year.

SEPTEMBER DIARY DATES

11 Le Mans Series, Silverstone, United Kingdom;
13 Formula One, Monza, Italy;
15-27 Frankfurt International Motor Show, Germany

The Toyota Avensis – a European car that’s dependably Swiss

James Kevin Mac Goris tries hard to like the new Toyota Avensis which, just like the Swiss Army knife, is both useful and reliable

Amongst child psychology staples, the appeal of the Swiss Army knife must rank amongst the most telling and yet least studied metaphors of the genre. There’s hardly a (male) person I know whose growing up wasn’t in some measure marked by the ongoing discovery of increasingly complicated Swiss Army knives, each capable of yet more and more things that one could show off to one’s friends.

Graduation to the 21-uses version in secondary school brought things more down to earth with useful additions such as a ruler and saw. But with the onset of serious adolescence the multitude of features offered by our Swiss Army knives left us a little blasé - the fascination they previously afforded steadily losing ground to a growing interest in girls and music. Of little or no practical use in pursuing this new market, they invariably ended up collecting dust in the corner of a drawer amongst a group of other similarly cherished relics.

The new Toyota Avensis is a bit like rediscovering your Swiss Army knife as an adult… even if you’ve never driven one (as I hadn’t) it’s still a car that you greet as you would an old friend. Totally unsurprising, extremely useful and 100% reliable are the brand values that the Avensis marketing guys should be pushing, because this car embodies all 3. In spades.

Anybody who expected something radical from the new Avensis when it came out earlier this year was, I’m afraid, disappointed. The car that was once voted across the channel as ‘Britain’s most boring car’ has tried, it really has, to spice itself up with both design and technology improvements - but if anything these have simply served to reinforce its complete and utter dependability and reliability.

New shiny black bamboo styling on the interior trim, sharp front lights that hint at a latent sportiness, a beautifully-designed instruments display and a steering wheel that lifts up when you enter and exit the car… Just like the Swiss Army knife, it has all sorts of useful features that you wouldn’t expect to find in a car at this level – but once you’ve discovered them, their novelty ceases to surprise you. But then again, constant improvement is what you’d expect from Toyota.

For anyone who’s having trouble deciding what car to go for in this extremely competitive sector, my recommendation would be to buy one of these. Just like it says on the box, the Toyota Avensis does everything you’d expect from it and more, and it does it efficiently and well. Just don’t expect any surprises – after all, the car’s a bestseller in Switzerland.

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