Top marques for new technology

Drive through downtown Auckland and the city looms large in the Sat-Nav. Photo / Supplied

Drive through downtown Auckland and the city looms large in the Sat-Nav.

The soft top rides and handles like a dream.

Top-end cars these days draw attention more for the technology they bring to the market than how they look, or drive, or how much they cost.

Take the new 6-Series BMW coupe and convertible, for instance. The two-plus-two 650i soft-top arrived in New Zealand the other day and costs $248,500. The coupe will be here around June/July. Expect a price of about $240,000.

Both look sharp and elegant, inside and out. Both are longer, wider but lower than their predecessors. Both are at the cutting edge of dynamic design, blending a splendid ride/handling mix, on open roads or twisty bits.

Both cars have a powerful engine under the bonnet, a 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 delivering 300kW and 600Nm across a broader than ever rev range, thanks to the boosters and fancy-pants engine electronics.

The same capacity engine only a few years ago would have delivered its 300kW across a narrow band, say between 6000-6200rpm. Maximum torque would have been around 400Nm at 4500rpm - 600Nm would have been unthinkable then.

But new technology gives engines in general more breathing space (See story and chart on emissions below). The 6-Series V8 delivers its peak power between 5500-6400rpm and its torque between 1750-4500rpm. An eight-speed automatic gearbox manages power to the rear wheels.

All this means better acceleration, certainly at cruising speeds for overtaking. Better fuel economy, cleaner exhaust emissions.

BMW claims a town-and-around fuel figure for the 6-Series soft-top of 10.7 litres/100km (26mpg) and a CO2 exhaust emissions rating of 249g per kilometre. Again, the same-sized engine a few years ago would have spewed out 500g/100km and recorded a best of 19 litres/100km, or 15mpg.

Satellite-navigation has come a long way in a short time too. The 6-Series carries the latest from BMW's boffins, a three-dimensional mapping of New Zealand. Drive through downtown Auckland and the city's buildings tower above you on the 25cm screen, wider than pretty much anything else on the market.

Also as standard is electronic night-vision with pedestrian recognition and a heads-up display, which projects real-life traffic symbols on to the windscreen within the driver's direct field of view.

Enter a 50km/h zone and a circular traffic sign appears in front of your eyes - alongside your car's speed. All this technology will filter down across the industry over time.