Sports Cars
Making A Good Impression
November 7, 2011 | 
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:: There are all sorts of circumstances in which it’s important to make a good impression from chatting up the guy or girl at the bar to putting your best foot forward at a job interview, from meeting a potential new client to standing up to make an important presentation. However, the psychological fact of the matter is that, generally speaking, we are simply incapable of making the kind of impression we would wish to make because we’re not all there! That’s right, years of psychological research confirm that the subconscious mind – the part of our mind that controls our behaviour, our body language, our tone of voice – is missing in action. While your eyes are looking out upon an expectant audience, your mind is fiddling around looking at old photos.
I need to explain! The subconscious is preoccupied with the psychological snapshots that it took during your formative years. It uses them as the reference point for your current behaviour. Let’s look at a concrete example of how this works – sticking with the example of someone looking out over an audience about to make an important presentation. Many years ago, I met a guy, who subsequently became a good friend and client, who had a major fear of public speaking. He was a very able guy and held down an important job but, oh he was a God awful speaker! He’d been to all sorts of seminars, workshops and courses on how to make the perfect presentation – but he still kept making a perfect fool of himself.
During a day-long session with me he recounted a story that had ‘stuck in his mind’ from his childhood. It had been a Spring morning, the first sunny and warm day of the year (this was in Dublin so it’s quite possible that it was going to be the only sunny and warm day of the year!) and his mother had decided that he should wear his short pants. At school that morning he was asked to stand up in front of the class to give a talk on the project that he and a mate were working on. But, as he spoke, two tough guys in the front row of desks started sniggering and pointing at what he described to me as his “white knobbly knees”! He felt awful and, as a result, his subconscious mind took a psychological snapshot of what was going on and how it made him feel.
The upshot of all this is that, nowadays, decades later, when he looks out across a waiting audience, his subconscious mind sees two guys in the front row laughing at his knobbly knees – and it’s all downhill from there. That is why, when it’s most important to make a good impression, we often mess things up.
Someone recently told me that he was worried about making the right impression at an interview for a CEO position. I told him “If you’re worried about making a good impression, you’re not!” It’s that simple. The worry factor comes from some subconscious baggage that you’re carrying and, if you allow that to create worry, then your mind is split and you’re not all there. Didn’t you realize that, in order to make a good impression, you have to actually mentally turn up for the occasion! And, as I’ve already said, the problem is that we don’t bother to turn up – sure enough the body’s there but the mind is all over the place. Indeed, it is estimated that the normal person is only 1% present – 99% of them is off, as I said, looking at old photographs.
To make a good impression you have to be present – that’s why we think of people who do make a good impression as having what we call ‘presence’. All this means is that those impressive people are a little more present than all the other idiots whose minds are missing in action – all the so-called normal people. If you want to make any kind of impression you’re going to have to stop trying and start doing. You’re going to have to be bothered enough to turn up to your own life!
Presence doesn’t come naturally to the normal adult mind – but it does come naturally with a little practice and cultivation. Obviously, you don’t start practicing when you most need to be present – you train in advance, just as you would if you were going to run a marathon or play an important football match. Your mental training is simplicity itself – all you have to do is learn how to pay attention to the reality of the moment to the extent that there’s not enough of your subconscious mind’s attention left to amuse itself with those old snapshots. This ‘paying attention’ is what we call ‘focus’ – another hallmark of impressive and successive people, along with presence.
In order to become focused, you should spend a little time every day developing your ability to pay attention to what your five senses are telling you. You could use some form of formal meditation – because meditation will discipline your mind to be attentive. Or you could just sit down for a few minutes, close your eyes and focus on what you’re feeling and hearing. You could, alternatively, close your eyes and focus on your breathing for a few moments. Indeed, if you watch the world’s top sportspeople on your TV you’ll see that that’s exactly what they do to focus their minds.
There are a million and one things that you can do to divert your subconscious mind’s attention onto the one and only thing that matters in this life – the absolute reality of the present moment. It’s in the present moment that your life is lived (maybe that’s why you feel you’re not living life to the full – because your mind is idling in the past). It’s in the present moment that you will find real reality – and it’s only in the present moment that you’ll make the best possible impression.
Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Willie-Horton-5028/Make-a-Good-Impression-185622.php
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First UK drive: Audi A6 3.0 TDi Quattro SE
The seventh generation A6 has to be Audi’s most serious contender in the executive car stakes when compared to BMW and Mercedes rivals.
David got to drive the 2.0-litre TDi diesel and 3.0-litre TFSi petrol versions at the international launch earlier this year and came back impressed with the new cars abilities. So I was keen to drive both of these and another of the key engines – the 3.0-litre TDi at the A6′s UK launch.
It might be a diesel, but you can barely hear the V6 engine at idle or at speed. The 241 bhp engine is a wonderfully unstressed, refined partner that has a pleasing mid-range shove when needed for accelerating or overtaking. This is helped by being mated to Audi’s slick seven-speed “S-Tronic” twin clutch gearbox.
The new A6 might be 80kg lighter and with its 0.26 shape more slippery, but don’t expect this to result in an agile driver’s car. The steering is precise and the body control commendable, but this A6 just doesn’t feel that involving.
One of the reasons why this A6 didn’t gel that well with me was probably down to the set up, as our car was fitted with regular 18-inch alloy wheels and no sports mode. However, more composed and comfortable than sporting, this is echoed in the A6′s beautifully finished, well-equipped interior which feels spacious.
So should you buy the 3.0 TDi version of the A6? Well if you’re in the market for a new executive car, then yes it should be on your list but the BMW 530d and Jaguar XF are more fun to drive.
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2009 Toyota Venza – Road Test – Auto Reviews – Car and Driver
Behold Toyota’s latest effort to pull another kitten from mama . The Venza is seductively and beguilingly styled unlike any other Toyota, and it is exactly as seductive and beguiling to drive as the term “Camry station wagon” implies. Wake us for the redesign.
Like California “octomom” Nadya Suleman, the Camry lays claim to a sizable clan of offspring. It already donates DNA to the Sienna minivan, the
, and the Lexus RX350. The Sienna seats up to eight, the Highlander seven, and the RX350 just five. Respectively, they intimate, “bigger family,” “smaller family,” and “If we had a family, we’d shop at Baby Dior.”
Wedged into the thinnest of hairline seams in this crowded lineup, the Venza—front-drive or all-wheel drive, four-cylinder or V-6—is basically an RX350 Light. This audience wants a five-door wagon that doesn’t look like a galleon for slaves to diapers and nose drip.
is a conjugation of the Spanish verb vencer, which means to overcome, win, make trumps, et cetera. The base price, $25,740, shadows the more upright Highlander’s almost to the dollar. The basic 2.7-liter, four-cylinder front-drive Venza such as the one tested here is decently geared up. Locks, windows, and the driver’s seat are electrified at no extra cost. A six-CD changer with an auxiliary jack is standard, stability control comes with, and the rear seats—which split and fold in one fluid articulation—have three-position recline. Tilt and telescope the steering wheel until comfort is achieved. Our one option, the expansive twin-panel window up top known as the “panoramic roof,” cost $1050.
Toyota is chasing the Nissan Murano/Mazda CX-7/Ford Edge/Dodge Journey demographic—mainly comprised of cosmopolitan women, mostly with one or fewer children. The Venza has the prerequisites: a lofty driving position, optional all-wheel drive, two rows of adult-size seats (the Venza’s vast rear bench has leg-stretching room not found in many front seats), and I’m-not-a-mom styling. The Murano in particular has struck gold mining these hills, and Toyota wants in.
_______________________________________________________________ _ The Venza’s 52-cubic-foot rear seat is more spacious than many front seats.
_______________________________________________________________ _ The Venza shows how challenging it is to extract cool from a big form. It’s a tall box, with the roof 5.5 inches higher than a Camry’s. It’s also 3.3 inches wider. But Toyota trims the side glass narrow in pursuit of a flattened, Hot Wheels look. That leaves about 10 to 15 acres of naked sheetmetal hanging below. Slab siding won’t fly, so the vast flanks are toned up with bulges and broken up with creases and dugouts.
Despite this visual massaging, a Venza on normal-size wheels would look like a manatee, so even the base car rolls on 19-inchers. Remember when 19s were a shout-out on a Viper? Well, the Venza V-6 gets 20s. With a bull nose made intriguing by its Daliesque grille, the Venza is an adventurous design for Toyota. It certainly beats—venza!—the funeral hearse Toyota passed off as the 1992–96 Camry wagon.
Thus far, mission accomplished.
And innovation halted. The rest of the Venza is no more provocative than a Camry with a Twinkie habit.
The steering and brakes are just as innocuous as a Camry’s, as is the understeer and general lack of enthusiasm for fast driving. When to-ing and fro-ing around town, the brain almost immediately switches to autopilot in the cabin’s hushed tranquillity. Perhaps to keep the big Toyo tires from bounding around, the ride is edgy. The Venza bucks and bumps a bit too actively over all but the most groomed surfaces. So does the more expensive, V-6–only Murano, but Nissan also pays back with athletic handling.
_______________________________________________________________ _ The cargo area ably supports a busy equine lifestyle _______________________________________________________________ _ We wouldn’t predict fireworks from a vehicle packing 21 pounds for each horsepower, so call us satisfied with an 8.4-second bolt to 60 mph. A V-6–equipped Hyundai Sante Fe Limited AWD is no quicker. The Venza’s double-overdrive six-speed isn’t shy about downshifting to preserve momentum, so the quiet, efficient four-cylinder works hard to make you forget it’s a four-cylinder. With stern use, the Venza still returned 26-mpg fuel economy, unexpectedly thrifty considering the 2.7’s busy life. No V-6 competitor except the CVT-equipped Murano (23 mpg in our last test) comes close.
In photos, the Venza’s interior looks platinum class, the shifter rising like a chairlift pole out of a slope of steel-gray and funky tobacco-hued trim. Oversize gauges and a center digital screen clearly deliver the mechanical news. With 34 cubic feet behind the back seats, 70 with them folded, the Venza’s cargo figures are on the high side of its peer group.
Up close, the Venza’s bargain price manifests itself in some hard plastic; also, the cup holders proved too shallow to hold a water bottle upright in a turn (better ones are in the doors). A “cell phone/iPod holder” (we had to confirm its purpose with Toyota PR because it’s not obvious) hides behind a door near the shifter.
An icebreaker for Toyota styling, the Venza’s daring look isn’t matched by its Camry-calibrated dynamics. Is that also a deal breaker? Probably not for many in the intended audience who will be happy with its low-stress demeanor, curbside allure, friendly price, and comfortable if gee-whiz–free interior. The Camry is pleased to announce the birth of another chip off the old block.
Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/09q2/2009_toyota_venza-road_test
2003 Infiniti G35 – First Drive Review – Auto Reviews – Car and Driver
Infiniti swaggered out of Nissan’s daydreams and onto our pages in 1989 with a daring luxury concept: big horsepower under the hood, a face so pretty it could just say no to the usual chrome makeup others apply as a "grille statement," and a supple leather interior refreshingly free of "I’m a fancy four-door so I got wood" paneling. We loved the Q45 at first sight.
Then, for the rest of the ’90s, Infiniti backpedaled at Olympic speed until its three-model lineup for 2001 was as anonymous as the
anycars airbrushed up for insurance advertising. Potential buyers yawned.
So, in the closing minutes of last year, a repentant Infiniti invited a few of the most ardent auto mags to a private showing at which it swore it will never again take its eyes off BMW. It will specialize in powerful, rear-drive machines that will bring boundless joy to drivers. We yawned; another distressed automaker was taking the Bimmer pledge. Then we were turned loose in preproduction samples of a new 3-series combatant called the G35, promised for stores near you in March.
Oh! These guys are serious. The G35 is a radical reach into Nissan’s Le Mans experience for tire-loading and airflow concepts that could be baked into a roadgoing sports sedan. The G35′s unusual proportions are a direct result. This is a long-wheelbase design, 112.2 inches, almost five inches longer than the target 3-series. The front wheels are pushed forward—slightly ahead of the engine’s center of gravity, thereby easing front weight to just 52 percent—and the rear wheels are pulled back out of rear-seat territory. Placing the wheels at the far corners of the body makes a roomy space inside, and it also reduces the
change in tire loading for any given maneuver, which should make handling more forgiving.
This is a long car for the Bimmer class, stretching out to 186.2 inches overall, roughly 10 inches longer than the 3-series and the Lexus IS300, seven more than the Audi A4. The extra length allows smoother body lines for airflow management and, at the same time, much more passenger space. The G35 encloses 101 cubic feet of interior volume, 10 percent more than the 3-series and its followers. Trunk space is significantly larger, too.
Airflow was clearly a priority. The long hood ramps down in front. The windshield angle is steep for this class. Underneath, the shapes
really get interesting. A belly pan starts at the nose and continues back just past the engine, creating a zone of high-speed airflow at the front wheels. After an expansion chamber under the front seat, the flat-bottom fuel tank under the rear seat and a specially shaped muffler under the prop shaft work together to resume the flat-pan effect, speeding up airflow as it passes under the rear suspension before exhausting to a diffuser section under the trunk.
The result? Drag coefficient is just 0.27—very good for a small car—with zero lift in front. An optional Aero package brings a wing and a pair of plastic fairings under the floor to ease flow around the rear suspension and tires, lowering drag to 0.26 and total lift to zero.
The G35 has no powertrain options. A 3.5-liter all-alloy V-6 with variable timing on the intake cams is standard. Output is 260 lusty horses. Counting up, that’s 35 more than in the 330i, for a sedan that weighs less than 50 more pounds on Infiniti’s scale. A five-speed automatic with a slick manumatic shifter is
the transmission, with an optional six-speed manual promised for late in the year.
The suspension is unusual in this class. No struts. Instead, multilink at all corners, with many alloy links and an aluminum rear crossmember to save weight. Also, there are big hollow anti-roll bars at both ends. Compared with struts, this approach enables better management of camber and steer angles, and the coils can be located farther outboard where they intrude less into spaces that might be better used for, say, trunk space, to name one.
Article source: http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/02q1/2003_infiniti_g35-first_drive_review