The good oil: Lexus tries a new type of beat

The Lexus CT200h. Photo / Supplied

Lexus reckons its new CT200h hatchback is good for town-and-around fuel economy of 4.1 litres/100km (68.9mpg) and a CO2 exhaust emissions rating of 96g per km. The car goes on sale in New Zealand early next year. It has been designed to offer a sporty drive, with the heavy hybrid mechanicals mounted as low to the ground as possible. Meantime, Lexus has launched an ear-catching advertisement for its facelifted IS 250 sedan. It's called Music Track and features a blue IS250 drifting through an empty warehouse and a gauntlet of drums. The car triggers each drum as it goes by, creating a perfectly timed riff and a backbeat for the ad. The ad's on You Tube, along with production staff explaining how it was made.

Music about to end for CDs

The CD is going the way of the car cassette player, in the US at least. Ford will stop putting CD changers in its vehicles from next year, before phasing out single-slot CD players. It's a sign of rapid changes in the in-car entertainment world, with carmakers picking up on networks like iTunes. The move would free up space in the middle of the dash - "Manhattan real estate," said Ford's director of electronics engineering, Jim Buczkowski - in favour of other features, SUCH AS LCD screens.

Fort Collins is safest place to be

Fort Collins, Colorado, is the US's safest driving city, says insurance company Allstate. Every year, it looks at the frequency of collisions in the US's 200 largest cities. Those who live in Fort Collins will on average be involved in a collision once every 14.5 years. Philadelphia residents, however, will be in a crash once every 6.5 years. Runners-up for the safest city include Chattanooga, Tennessee, Boise, Idaho, Colorado Springs and Knoxville, Tennessee. Among big cities, Phoenix drivers were safest. Drivers in Los Angeles and Dallas were not.

Try, try, try again ... 960 times

A 69-year-old grandmother in South Korea has just got her driver's licence - after 960 tries. Cha-Sa-soon had been taking the driving test once a day, five days a week, since April 2005. It wasn't the driving test that kept throwing her, but the written exam. On the 961st try, Mrs Cha walked away with her licence, hugs and flowers from her many driving instructors, and a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. "Cha" is apparently Korean for "vehicle" and Mrs Cha's new-found status has earned her a new Hyundai and a TV commercial appearance on behalf of the country's largest carmaker.

We are the world

* Joseph Wheeler filed a $16.5 million lawsuit against a hospital in the US state of Maryland over its treatment of him after a car accident. He was admitted with serious injuries, but hospital staff mistakenly marked him for next-day cancer surgery, and when he protested and tried to leave, two security staff restrained him. The next day Wheeler talked his way out and over to another hospital, where he was treated for four broken ribs, a sprained shoulder, a ruptured spleen and a concussion.

* Veteran criminal Nathan Pugh, 49, walked into a Wells Fargo bank in Dallas and handed a teller a hold-up note. It said he had a "bom" and wanted money, reports the Dallas Morning News. The teller told Pugh she could not release large amounts of money without proper ID. Pugh handed over his Texas state ID card and his Wells Fargo debit card, both in his own name. Police arrived just as Pugh was leaving with the money. He grabbed a hostage - a woman carrying a child on her hip. She threw him to a floor, using the other hip, judo style. Police pinned him there.