83% of British drivers 'misled' by sat navs
Faulty directions from GPS sat navs have caused over £200 million in vehicle damage according to a new survey from confused.com.
83 per cent of British drivers had been 'misled' by GPS satellite navigation devices with 31 per cent described as being left "red faced" after suffering car damage. Interestingly men tended to blame the sat nav for car damage while women more readily admitted that the navigation aids had lead them astray.
Drivers in the East Midlands apparently fared the worst with half of them 'frustrated' behind the wheel due to poor performance of their sat nav systems while in Scotland, as much as 80 per cent of drivers said their devices provided misleading directions.
"Our research has shown that the Sat Nav is not always the blessing it was once hailed to be and increasingly, motorists appear to be sighting the device as a source of frustration and danger," said Confused.com's Gareth Kloet.
The company provides a 'sat nav blackspot" map which the firm suggests could "help reduce risk" and enable drivers to be a "little happier."
Audi A7 proves style can still be versatile
Audi has joined the growing list of automakers introducing family cars that are disguised as sporty coupes, combining fun and utility in one great package.
In Audi’s case, it’s the all-new A7, five-door sloped-roof vehicle with a rear hatch rather than a trunk (the hatch counts as the fifth door). But it has a really sleek look to it, nothing like what one might imagine from what essentially is a versatile crossover.
The rear hatch and the two rear passenger doors give this car considerably more utility than a coupe when it comes to loading passengers or cargo.
Among other current offerings in this new vehicle class are premium models such as the BMW X6 and Acura ZDX, and all of these can run upwards of $50,000, depending on how you equip them.
Our 2012 A7 3.0 TFSI quattro tester had a base price of $59,250 (plus $875 freight), and a final sticker of $68,830, including freight and options.
There are some more-affordable entries in this sporty-coupe-turned-crossover class, however, such as the Honda Crosstour and Toyota Venza, which both start under $30,000.
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