Hot Cars

The Lexus Symphony Orchestra

Lexus has created the world’s first classical music ensemble composed entirely of cars. The Lexus Symphony Orchestra, a group of 12 LS 460 limousines, will perform for the first time this summer at two major open air concerts, presenting a programme of popular classics and original works.

The orchestra has been created by Lexus GB to demonstrate the quality of the LS 460’s sound system, designed specially for the car by international audio specialist Mark Levinson. With an array of 19 custom-engineered speakers and a 15-channel 450-watt amplifier, it gives ‘reference’ sound reproduction that matches the results from a professional music studio monitoring desk.

To reveal this quality to a larger audience, Lexus brought together the London Symphony Orchestra and the Bach Choir in a recording session with conductor Alastair King at Sir George Martin’s world-famous AIR Studios in London. The musicians performed the celebrated classical pieces Pavane for a Dead Princess by Ravel and Satie’s Gymnopédie No1, and two new commissions written specially for the Lexus auto-orchestra: Summon the Hero and Karma Nirvana, composed by Chesney Hawkes and Chris Nicolaides and orchestrated by Alastair King.

The results will be presented for the first time at the Proms Spectacular at Castle Howard on 18 and 19 August and at the Last Night of the Summer Proms at Crystal Palace Park on 25 and 26 August.

The Lexus Symphony Orchestra will be providing interval entertainment on its own stage, with guests invited to sit inside the cars to hear the music and watch a video of how the performance was created.

There will then be a full scale performance involving all 12 cars, each one representing a different section of the orchestra, co-ordinated through a central digital sound desk. Each vehicle will be precisely positioned, with doors open, to produce the ideal orchestral effect.

You can sample the orchestra’s music making on-line by visiting www.lexus.co.uk and clicking on the Lexus Symphony Orchestra track links.

Hyundai Introduces Santa Fe Limited

The highly acclaimed Hyundai Santa Fe range is joined in the showroom this August by a limited edition model, Hyundai Santa Fe Limited, offering £900-£1,100 worth of additional equipment over the usual CDX model.

Diesel powered, the Hyundai Santa Fe Limited is available as either a 5 seater for £23,795 or a 7 seater for £24,895; automatic versions are priced at £25,195 and £26,295 respectively. Metallic and Mica paint are an additional £375.00.

This strictly limited edition model includes integrated running boards and wheel arch trims, privacy glass, reversing sensors, sports mesh grille, limited badges and a choice of four colours – Ebony Black, Sleek Silver, Gun Metal and Black Pearl. The highly visual special equipment package would usually cost consumers £1200 for the 5 seater and £900 for the 7 seater.

The Santa Fe range is still receiving plaudits from the media. In July Santa Fe CRTD CDX won a group test in Auto Express beating the newly introduced Chevrolet Captiva and the well established Honda CR-V. In addition What Car? placed the Santa Fe CRTD CDX ahead of the Chevrolet Captiva and Mitsubishi Outlander, praising its spacious cabin, practicality, refinement, comfort and warranty package.

Specification levels for the Hyundai Santa Fe Limited include high levels of safety equipment such as an Electronic Stability Program, ISOfix child seat fittings, side impact bars, traction control, active head restraints, multiple airbags and adjustable head restraints all round.

Inside the new highly specified Santa Fe Limited standard fittings include leather seats, seven speaker audio system with MP3 compatibility, air conditioning, electric driver’s seat and much more.

Fuel consumption is 38.7 mpg on the Combined Cycle, delivering a potential range of over 600 miles.

The new Santa Fe Limited comes with the famous Hyundai warranty package that includes 5 year unlimited mileage warranty, 6 year anti-perforation warranty as well as 3 year Hyundai RAC assistance.

Enhance Your Image With Vauxhall Styling Accessories

New styling accessories to help discerning Vauxhall drivers stand out from the crowd are now available from participating Vauxhall retailers throughout the country. Owners of Vectra and Signum models can make a strong visual impact with exclusive mesh grilles just launched by Irmscher, the Vauxhall styling experts.

Manufactured in stainless steel woven wire mesh, the upper and lower grilles are designed specifically for Vectra and Signum cars from the 2006 model year onwards. They can be dealer fitted in less than 20 minutes.

Substantial discounts are available until the end of September on selected alloy wheels from Irmscher for the new Corsa range. The special offer covers Softstar and Gamma 14 inch and Stila 15 inch wheel sets.

They are suitable for Expression, Life and Club models fitted with 14 and 15 inch steel wheels. The original tyres can be transferred directly to these alloys wheel sets, saving existing owners additional expense.

Details of all styling accessory offers are available from participating Vauxhall retailers.