鈥楲exus Is Finally Becoming Comfortable In Its Own Skin鈥?
These are interesting times at Lexus. For years, Toyota鈥檚 luxury brand has been an interesting left-field alternative to the established German premium manufacturers and Jaguar Land Rover, but no more than that. It nailed customer service from the start, of course, and our annual Driver Power poll indicates that Lexus hasn鈥檛 lost its touch in that area. But the company鈥檚 attempts to capture BMW and Jaguar customers by offering its interpretation of 鈥榙river involvement鈥?have, by and large, fallen flat. There are some signs, though, that Lexus is finally becoming comfortable in its own skin. The latest ES is not the last word in driver excitement. The final piece in the jigsaw for Lexus could be the seemingly relentless sway away from diesel engines. More of the firm鈥檚 rivals are moving towards electrification, but Lexus has bags of experience in not only developing hybrid tech, but also explaining it and selling it to customers. It isn鈥檛 likely to overtake BMW, Audi and Mercedes in European markets any time soon - not least because Lexus sees discounting as a dirty word when it鈥檚 an everyday reality, especially in fleet sales. But it鈥檚 fascinating to see how instead of scrabbling desperately to get closer to buyer trends, Lexus is suddenly able to allow them to come in its direction.
Better known as edutainment, education in games began in the mid-1980s. Games like Reader Rabbit and Math Blaster were some of the most successful educational games for K-12 students. With rapid improvement in technology, educational games have evolved considerably. The advent of advanced processors, graphics and the Internet revolution has encouraged entrepreneurs and developers to develop educational games that not only teach math, vocabulary, history and literature, but also help kids learn more about space and Earth science. Regarding edutainment in space science, NASA is in the lead. It has launched several interactive space exploration games for kids and teens, including the latest MoonBase Alpha, a 3-D multiplayer online game, which is a part of NASA鈥檚 Learning Technologies program. The sole aim is to raise interest in STEM education (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) among K-12 Students. Besides this immersive 3-D online game, NASA has several Flash and Shockwave browser-based games. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) website also has a variety of space exploration games to teach astronomy to kids.
The Land Rover is used by military forces throughout the world. The current generation of Land Rover used by British Army, the Snatch 2, have upgraded and strengthened chassis and suspension compared to civilian-specification vehicles. There is also the Land Rover WMIK (weapon mounted installation kit) used by British Army. Highly modified Land Rovers have competed in the Dakar Rally and won the Macmillan 4x4 UK Challenge almost every year, as well as having been the vehicle used for the Camel Trophy. Now, Land Rover has its own G4 challenge. Land Rover Experience was established in 1990, and consists of a network of centres throughout the world, set up to help customers get the most out of their vehicles' on and off-road capability. The flagship centres are Land Rover's bases at Solihull, Eastnor, Gaydon and Halewood. Courses offered include off-road driving, winching and trailer handling, along with a variety of corporate and individual 'Adventure Days'. The factory centres at Solihull and Halewood have manufacturing tours, while Gaydon has an engineering tour.
Land Rover taps a new turbo-4 engine for all Evoques. The base 246-horsepower version of the 2.0-liter turbo-4 hits 60 mph in 7.0 seconds and a 143-mph top speed, according to Land Rover, and it does it in considerably more hushed tones than the grouchy engine in last year鈥檚 model. A new 9-speed automatic handles shifts better, too, and the new all-wheel-drive system can disconnect its rear axle to conserve fuel. Turn up the same engine鈥檚 turbo wick and the 2020 Evoque presses out 296 hp, drops 0-60 mph times to 6.3 seconds, reaches 150 mph, and earns a more sporting suspension with adaptive dampers and adjustable steering weight. Passenger space hasn鈥檛 improved much, and neither has the Evoque鈥檚 footprint. The front seats would be great for slimmer builds, but bigger passengers might ride atop its narrowly bolstered bottom cushions. The back bench can tote two larger adults, but head room slights the talls again, and knee room is slim. The 2020 Evoque has 21.5 cubic feet of space behind the second row, fine for a couple of roll-aboards. No crash-test data exists, but every Evoque now has automatic emergency braking. Spendy models get a rear camera mirror鈥攁nd some sport a camera view that 鈥渄isappears鈥?the car鈥檚 front end, and shows road obstacles on the car鈥檚 central display. All 2020 Evoque crossover SUVs now have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, a 10.0-inch touchscreen, and LED headlights. The R-Dynamic models spool up more turbo power and can be fitted with adaptive dampers to go with their mild-hybrid drivetrain. 55,000 worth of bling. Fashion has its price鈥攁nd we鈥檙e sure the Evoque鈥檚 tag won鈥檛 stop there.
