Gadgetory

Lamborghini Huracan exploring the intersection of livable and super cars is there something more than 12 volts coming to your next car and top five car technologies we need Apple and Google to fix it's time to check the tech PC cars differently we love them on the road and under the hood but also check the tech and are known for telling it like it is ugly is included at no extra cost the good the bad the bottom line this is C net on cars welcome to C net on cars the show all about high tech cars and modern driving i'm brian coulis when i mention super cars to you you probably think about some kind of a hand-built bauble that costs a fortune purchased by rich folks who almost never drive them the garage Queen and you'd basically be right but then we get to cars like the Lamborghini Huracan that exemplify an interesting trend I've noticed in a supercar business lately to make these things more liveable day to day and that also brings in a lot of new technology let's drive the Huracan and check the champion this is what replaces the Guyardo the best-selling Lamborghini ever and it replaces it with a major leap forward in technology and demeanor when Lamborghini set out to replace the Guyardo they wielded a lot of new and improved technology adaptive electronic steering magnetic fluid adaptive suspension blessedly now a dual clutch instead of single clutch automated gearbox an Audi Quattro related all-wheel drive system a dramatically new LCD instrument panel and a body with clean subtle aerodynamics not obnoxious cutouts or powered rear wings now as Lamborghinis go and I actually find this vehicle understated and elegant the old structure of this car is a composite of some carbon pieces some aluminum pieces a lot of sandwiches and blending of the two it's not a true carbon tub with aluminum subframe instead it's a glued and riveted sandwich of the two materials especially at the cowl and down the spine Lamborghini calls this a carbon hybrid blessedly conventional doors do you really need this and then you've got the glass cover on the engine which is beautiful and clean but no that's an option normally you'd have a busier set of louvers there that's the best $7000 you'll ever spend now inside the Huracan things are decidedly more modern than the Guyardo it replaced look at that instrument panel it's a 12 inch side to side all LCD driven by an NVIDIA Tegra processor you've also got another LCD over here that's a fixed set of engine gauges now back to the main one interesting behavior here you can have sort of a split screen where you have instrumentation on the left and you've got your infotainment interface on the right hold a button here on the wheel and then you go into a full screen of your Audi inspired MMI you'll recognise and have seen that before hold the button again and now you go to a full instrumentation layout hold another button and that can go between full tach and full speedo there's no other interface quite like this it's also nice when you go in Reverse you get your reverse camera right there in front you in fact everything's in front of you this is an interesting vision of moving things away from the glance away centre head stack - right in front of the driver and of course related to all that stuff in the - is a pretty familiar kind of last generation Audi MMI interface now onto the drive controls this vehicles not like any other in that respect either here on the wheel everything is going kind of motorcycle like notice there are no stalks around the column only a couple of properly mounted stock based shift paddles left is down shift right is up shift instead things that used to be on stalks are here here's my high beam switch here is my left right turn signal switch wipers are over here and then down here on the bottom here's where my drive personality controls our sport strata Corsa we'll talk more about those on the road back here on the backbone you've got a locked-down start/stop button that's just a great Hollywood theater there and of course what would a supercar be without cool titles to play with and here's a rack of those for things like windows hazards and most importantly on this guy the optional nose lifter under glass is the heart of the Beast the 5.2 liter v10 naturally aspirated no turbos no supercharger they do it the old-fashioned way 0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds that's what happens when you got 602 horse notably though only 413 pound-feet of torque this guys are ever not a puller now while this engine breathes conventionally it drinks via two technologies both port and direct injection something a number of automakers are doing more of lately to optimize fuel delivery across the entire rpm and load range 7-speed dual-clutch automated manual gearbox is very different than that Guyardo we had which had a single clutch automated manual and was on the bulky side this promises to be much more refined oh by the way if you care the mpg is 14 20 on this guy that's actually not bad the days of single-digit mpg supercars are just about over almost immediately I notice how this cars got a really nice transmission because it's a dual-clutch we don't have all that jerkiness of the single clutch automated needles are known for instead the shifts are super smooth plenty quick of course it depends if you're in strata sport or Gore so when you move those drive modes on the wheel you affect a lot of things you're going to change your throttle mapping so you get more power sooner you change your steering ratio if you have the adaptive steering option you're going to change the way the adaptive suspension operates you're also going to change the way the instability control is going to dial in you're going to change the shift points and how aggressive and quick those happen it really transforms a lot of things about the car now this cars also got an interesting set of sensors the accelerometers and the gyros are three-dimensional so you've got X Y and C which Lamborghini says is really helping them get some real dimension and real-world flavor into how they modify all of those drive systems you know my favorite compliment for any car it feels like tena it feels like and when you feel like you feel best a lot of the things you're also hearing about this car is the exhaust that changes when you go into sport or Corsa they open up some baffles and you get this nice back crackle beautiful sound now there are some lamborghini quirks that make this car that I feel he has to live with I don't quite fit I'm lead way back if my knees are all fun stuff the other thing is when you get a windshield this rakish and cheeky you also end up with some great big a pillars that really get in the way of tackling corners okay let's get you all budgeted to buy your Huracan two hundred forty-one thousand dollars is your entry point with destination now we got to add a handful of things to get it seen that style adaptive steering is 2400 the adaptive suspensions 3400 navigation is an awfully steep $3,200 rear cam you're gonna need it that includes backup sensors nearly 4,000 the nose lifter will save you twice its price the first time you find a curve that's sixty nine hundred dollars and the glass engine lid I love it seven thousand all inward about two sixty eight but who's counting this is a very liveable approachable car that is also extreme when you want it to be but not when you don't it's a very interesting story and I see it bubbling up all over the supercar market and perhaps nowhere expressed better than right here by the way if you want more Lamborghini head over to CNN on cars calm and just search Lamborghini you'll find my takes on the Aventador and the Guyardo which preceded the Huracan $100 Rolex will at most damage your ego when it's found out but fake car parts raise the stakes considerably higher coming up spotting counterfeit car parts when CA Town Cars continues you're not fooling anybody when a counterfeit brake caliper cracks during a hard stop or an airbag doesn't deploy or does like a bond instead of a pillar one of the most ominous things about poorly made counterfeit parts posing as genuine is that they likely evaded all testing by posing as an original that was tested and basically getting a pass even legit low-cost alternative parts are tested now of course automakers and even junkyards have a vested interest in you buying genuine parts because that's what they sell in one form or another this is a Honda airbag and this is not but the government agencies that intercept and monitor these things are ringing alarm bells going so far as to suggest you contact the FBI if you suspect you've been sold counterfeit car parts you don't need to be a shade-tree mechanic to spot them be wary of too-good-to-be-true prices it's one thing to get a seventeen dollar Maxwell Charger this is different steer away from that guy who approaches you in a parking lot to fix your car it shouldn't need to tell you that be wary of parts purchased online that ship from distant countries especially countries that aren't really in the car business and look for typos on the box motor craft and Delphi never misspell their own names it pays to do a quick double check on the likelihood that you're buying a cheap fake that will damage more than your ego when it reveals itself welcome back to CNN on cars coming to you from our home at the mountain Motor Club just north of a Golden Gate Bridge thanks to increasing amounts of electronic tech and electrically driven components of your car there's been a lot of research and movements toward a higher voltage system in your vehicle let's take a look at that now in a future looking car tech 101 today your car almost certainly uses exclusively 12 volts direct current to do just about everything you know it this is the stuff that comes out of the cigarette lighter we call the power port now in your console but it flows all over your vehicle from taillights to ignition system sometimes it's converted to higher voltage for things like high intensity discharge headlamps but for the most part this car is a 12-volt world and that dates back over 60 years before that it was a six volt world in many instances but now we're cutting the other way to higher voltage namely 48 now just as 12 volts is a big increase in the ability to get things done and do it efficiently over 6 4 48 volts is multifold improvement over the current standard yet it remains notably below the 50 volt DC line that is generally considered the beginning of substantial shock risk to humans now the main motivation for higher voltage is coming largely from the engine bay things that used to be driven by the sloppy parasitic belts off the engine are now being driven by integral electric motors I'm talking about things like power steering pumps air conditioning compressors and water pumps that move coolant around the engine you can drive those by electricity and only when they're needed as opposed to constantly tethered to a belt you get nice efficiencies and you also can package things a little more tightly in the engine bay and speaking of electrifying things several automakers are considering using new electric turbochargers which are spun up by an integral 48 volt motor instead of bypassing exhaust gases which should reduce lag make the plumbing more compact and lower fuel consumption while creating that additional power it goes without saying that Eevee's already use high-voltage like the 375 volt system that powers a Tesla and you've seen those orange wire housings inside electric cars and strong hybrids those call out the high voltage runs but those are currently limited to systems that turn the wheels not much else but even if you don't look at a future with strong hybrids plug-in hybrids and electric cars the move to 48 volts seems like it's ready to happen because it grants so much more efficiency to even conventional Sinjin cars allows packaging to be much more flexible which designers love and takes components that SAP the engines rotational energy all the time and convert them to devices that tax mostly the electrical system just part of the time in a moment wheel worries and the things that Apple and Google could best improve inside your coffee with CNET on cars returns the the thing that I think we've had the most fun with is we've given if the new sound of electric vehicles most of the feedback we've gotten from the performance or car enthusiasts say oh the cars are too quiet we've given it in my opinion the right touch of sound so when you accelerate or decelerate you get that adrenaline flowing and it adds a whole different dimension to driving electric vehicles buy more from the ex car team of seen at UK at cnet.com slash welcome back to CNN on cars I'm Brian coolie it's that part of the show we take some your email got a twofer this time from Jose oh and Chad s who both asked about wheels Jose writes in how about doing a wheels 101 about the different manufacturing processes for function and aesthetics of wheels and Chad writes in I bent a wheel on my Civic ax and on my evo mor after hitting potholes thankfully I was able to get both of them repaired I'm curious to see how a bent wheel can affect the tire from taking and holding air well guys first of all I feel for anyone out there who's had a bent wheel you know the minute you do it you hit a pothole and it's harder than usual the car shakes in a different way and maybe even drives funny right afterwards and you know things just got expensive alloy wheels have less protection these days and they used to lower profile tires provide less cushioning above the circumference of the wheel not only are tires getting lower but maintenance budgets in just a matter of a municipality seem to be getting lower as well so the roads are pretty crappy out there I'll do a car tech 101 on how wheels are made soon but know that there are basically two divisions Jose in the kind of wheel you buy cast wheels or forged wheels cast wheels that's one where hot molten alloy is poured into a form and then cooled a machine that tends to be a mainstream wheel affordable not the highest performance in some cases then there's a forged wheel which is as the name implies forged out of a single in of alloy material under enormous mechanical pressure these tend to be very strong wheels they can be made particularly light they're often demanded in performance applications now in terms of bending a wheel and fixing it Chris this is an area where I recommend you go to a specialist ask around get recommendations from your car club or something because it's kind of an art to bring this thing back into its perfect shape in several ways what you want to achieve is three things first of all you want to get true back true means this bead here has to be dead straight to help the tire seal air as well as not lose its seating in the wheel if you spin it it shouldn't do this wander left and right that's not good for holding the tire in place or to have a good balance on the wheel secondly you want to have round you've got a perfect circle again when it's fixed and there's no divot here in the curvature the third thing and it's harder to eyeball this is metal fatigue as that metal is bent and then brought back into shape that fatigues the metal in many cases often beyond a point of where it's safely serviceable that can be dangerous couple easy ways to eyeball an alloy wheel if you're looking at it you can always roll it down a smooth surface and just watch how that bead might move if it's out of true take it and put the face or whatever part was damaged on a known flat surface and look for any significant gaps between it and daylight but in terms of that metallic damage from too much stress of being bent and bent back I've got no tips for you there after a lot of promises mostly broken in 2014 car makers really are putting apple carplay and android auto into new cars this year this isn't just another technology edition these two new entrants have the potential to take over some areas that car makers just can't seem to nail let's run down the top-5 now these are my picks based on spending a lot of time in a lot of cars that try my patience with their cabin tech and admittedly limited time poking around car playing android auto since they're very very new don't screw this up guys and make us both look bad here we go number five dashboard distraction I put this low because let's face it screwing around with infotainment while you drive is still screwing around with infotainment while you drive no matter who designed it however Apple and especially Google are expert at predictive knowledge their systems are built to try and know what you mean or want before you're even done inputting it nice on a phone critical in a car number four lousy user interface car makers are all over the road on their you is what their screens and displays look like all too often have a single thing in common they look like hell Google and especially Apple have a look and feel to their platforms that holds together across all screens and ideally across third-party apps it creates some badly needed consistency imagine if cars had a gas pedal on the left and sometimes on the right number three old media even Apple the folks who invented iTunes aren't so much in the mp3 game like they used to be and neither they nor Google were ever married to things like satellite radio HD radio CDs they have no problem quickly embracing the new and dumping the old things like streaming choices that come so fast car makers can often just hope to be two generations behind number two stale POS in your car's current navigation rig points of interest seldom are they are instead these stiff rigid outdated categories of things that take longer to page through than to drive to and almost never are they aware of what you like it's mostly collections of obvious things like national chain locations or overly broad categories like museums or cemeteries yeah kill me move over and let live search and my references and history flourish in the - before I get to number one some things that are certainly beyond the ability of Apple and Google to fix beyond infotainment like complicated touchscreens for temperature control why blind spot and Lane Departure warnings that all sound like the same bird chirping or absurd 180 miles pedometers that crush every increment down so small you can't tell if you're doing 50 or 70 without taking out a magnifying glass the number one thing that Apple and Google can know must improve in the dash is maddening voice command voice commands in cars used to be like magic until smartphones arrived and showed us it's actually more like a gallstone get out of the way car makers there's no technology better proven you shouldn't be involved in then voice commands add in the fact that voice envelops most of what happens in the dash and I can't wait to talk to Siri or say ok Google behind the wheel calling Peggy Jordan mobile by the way if you don't want to wait or buy a new car the after market has beaten car makers to the punch installing carplay and android auto systems as we speak into the cars people already own thanks for watching hope you enjoyed this episode and of course keep those emails coming it's on cars at cnet.com you're a big part of how we put this show together every episode and wherever you go for streaming video look for us we're probably there I'll see you next time we check the tech