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GREEN is the new black this weekend on the Gold Coast as the RACV and RACQ, in association with Future Climate Australia, present a fourday event from Friday where the car curious can sample the latest advanced low-emission and zero-emission cars at the RACV Royal Pines resort at Ashmore.
It will be the fourth event of its kind since 2010, following the success of two events in Melbourne and one in Adelaide.
The Gold Coast event will also have the largest representation of electric and hybrid vehicles, with up to five different brands providing EVs or hybrids, including yet-to-be-released models, for the public to experience. Motorists are embracing a cleaner, greener motoring future with more hybrid cars being sold in Queensland than ever before.
In the first six months of the year, Queensland private and fleet buyers snapped up 1047 hybrid vehicles, according to new figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
RACQ’s Genevieve Graves said it wasn’t surprising to see a 33.5 per cent increase in hybrid car sales in Queensland in the last year financial year.
‘‘Hybrids not only have lower exhaust emissions, but they can save you a lot of hard-earned money when it comes to fuel consumption,’’ Mrs Graves said.
GreenZone Drive aims to show people considering a new vehicle how easy it is to switch to a low or zero-emission car that suits their lifestyle, while con- tributing t o reduced Australian greenhouse gas emissions. Lowemission vehicles by definition use less fuel, while zero-emission electric vehicles generate none at the tailpipe.
The very latest in green motoring options from Audi, BMW, Honda, Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Volvo will be available to drive with the event offering the first opportunity for the public to drive BMW’s new ActiveHybrid 5 Series and the Renault Fluence EV, both of which have yet to be released to the market.
They will join the recently released Nissan Leaf EV, a range of petrolelectric hybrids from Honda and Toyota, including the new Prius c and the 2011 Wheels Car of Year Honda CR-Z. The just-released Audi A1 Sportback and new Audi A4 will join the Volvo V60 D3 and Volvo C30 DRIVe, offering the chance to try ultra-lowconsumption luxury motoring.
At a recent Audi launch I tested the efficiency and performance of two models appearing this weekend: the diesel A1 Sportback and petrol A4.
The A1 is the German manufacturer’s most efficient model and with a combined fuel figure of 4.2l/100km it is a natural choice to represent them at Green Zone.
The A4 has the most advanced TFSI technology in the range and is the most efficient petrol engine car in the medium luxury class.
I t s f i g u r e s a r e an impressive 5.7l/100km. On the drive day I managed to get 6l/100km over 40 minutes in city traffic and motorway cruising.
The new A4 is a product improvement on the original and you can notice slight styling differences at the