Garmin Nuvi 57LM 5 inch Sat Nav - Review

Having now had two Garmin Sat Nav's, the above one most recently, I have found them to be reliable from a navigation point of view and have the features that I need. The only reason that I purchased the 57LM really, was because the previous version that I had didn't come with free lifetime updates. The small difference in cost between paying for the updated maps and getting a new unit was so small that I went for the new one as that came with the free lifetime updates. It's also the number 1 best seller on Amazon, which is another indication that it was a good purchase to make.

The Garmin Nuvi 57LM has a 5" touch screen which is quite responsive, an improvement over my previous version where you needed to press hard on the screen sometimes. Along with preloaded maps, in this case for UK and Ireland and the free lifetime map updates and voice guidance, the other things that I specifically look for in a Sat Nav unit are speed camera alerts and lane guidance, both of which this unit has.

When the lane guidance activates, it gives a clear view of which lane you need to be in at junctions along with road sign visibility too, as you can see above. Also displayed as you drive are any speed limits in force where you are driving, your current speed and if you are using navigation, your time of arrival. The 57LM also has the Garmin "Up Ahead" feature, which is customisable, showing you places coming up in the direction of travel such as petrol stations or restaurants. As I mentioned this feature is customisable to your own preferences (I always include restaurants, but that's just me!). Similarly it also includes data from Foursquare so there are millions of locations, such as restaurants and other points of interest.

Input to find locations or what you may need at the time is easy as you can see from the above picture.

Access to input where you want to navigate to is also really easy and also allows navigation using postcodes along with being able to use the Garmin direct access feature or data from Fourquare for example to go to specific locations. This is really useful if you need to go to somewhere such as a shopping centre or another point of interest.

Using Garmin Express software on your computer, you can manage and update your maps etc. When you buy the unit is comes with a USB cable to connect to your computer, along with a power cable for the car, a suction cup bracket to fit in your car, pictured above and a quick start manual to get you up and running.

Compared to the previous unit that I had, the 57LM is greatly improved in terms of the usability and features, although it doesn't have Bluetooth connectivity for connection to your phone for handsfree calling as my previous model did. The wasn't essential for me however, as Bluetooth is fitted in my car. This is a great value for money Sat Nav with lots of useful features and is easy to use.

Currently you can save £20.99 on this unit giving a selling price of just £79.00, with free UK delivery via Amazon, so just click here to buy. This is also available via our Car Care website where you can view and buy other motor accessories.

Lifting Your Car For Maintenance

If you spend a lot of time working on your car or even if you need to change a tyre in an emergency, then making sure that your car is raised in a safe way is essential. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it's easy to rush things especially in an emergency. This article, hopefully spells out some tips to help you stay safe!

When you need to lift the car, the first thing that you need to make sure of is that you are on level ground. If you try and lift your car with a jack and the ground isn't level, you risk the jack slipping and you don't want that, especially whilst working on the car! The handbrake (parking brake) should always be on when needing to lift a car and ideally the wheels chocked so that the car isn't likely to roll. You need to find the jacking points either at the front, rear or sides of the car, if you try and engage the jack in the wrong area, you risk damage to the car and also risk your safety. Which points you need depend on where you are working, if it's underneath the car then front or rear, if your changing a tyre or wheel, then the sides.

If you are changing a wheel, then once the jack is in place and wound up so that it starts to take the pressure of the car, it may be necessary to slightly loosen the wheel nuts, this can sometimes be difficult especially if the wheel hasn't been removed for some time. The car should then be ready to lift. If you are working under the car, then once it has been lifted you can put either the front or rear on jack stands and you should be ready to go. Give the car a shake first however, just to double check that it's not going anywhere. As an extra safety precaution you could always also put a car tyre under the raised wheels, just in case there is a problem with a stand. The more you do, the safer the job becomes!

Good quality jacks and jack stands are available from good retailers. There is a great 2 ton hydraulic jack and stand set currently available via our motor care website, click here to visit the site and to purchase.

Great Value Bluetooth Digital Media Receiver With GPS Navigation

Further to my previous post on the brilliant Pioneer AVH-X8800BT with Apple Car Play, available from Amazon, if you don't quite have that sort of budget or as importantly only have a single DIN slot on your car, you could do a lot worse than investing in this unit.

This in dash receiver with 7" touch screen supports hands free calling via it's built in microphone and Bluetooth music streaming and is steering wheel remote ready. The unit also plays DVD's so that you can watch your favourite shows and films while you are out and about. With built in GPS navigation with voice function and preloaded maps with lifetime updates, this really is worth considering.

For more information, or to purchase this unit, click here.

I find that with any purchase of audio visual equipment, the quality of the output depends not just on the equipment itself but also on equipment connected e.g. speakers, amps etc. If the speakers are not particularly high rated, this can adversely affect the quality of what is being listened to and can sometimes sound as if there is not much bass present for example. Generally you can find details of the speakers that are fitted as standard to a car online or via the dealer. Replacement speakers are generally easy to fit should you want to upgrade in this area, although always worth checking if there are any limitations dimensionally that you need to consider.

Either way, if like me, you like your car tech, upgrading the factory fitted audio system is a great place to start.

Finali Mondiali

This annual event has been held for the first time in the US at the Daytona International Speedway. As part of the event and for the first time ever an F1 car hit the famous track. The Ferrari F1 cars that took part were all part of a program where loyal Ferrari customer's can purchase F1 cars no longer in use. There are events for these all around the world.

The famous track has 31 degree banks, but the F1 car drivers took this in there stride.

Click here for a link to a video that gives a teaser of what the event was like.

Enjoy!

Pioneer AVH-X8800BT With Apple Car Play

I believe that Pioneer are pretty hard to beat when it comes to audio, whether that's home cinema tech or in car. The AVH-X8800BT combines high quality audio and video. It features Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, AppRadio Mode, Bluetooth so your driving experience can be totally connected.

It also features large fully detachable 7-inch Clear Type Resistive multi-touch screen. Connectivity is excellent so you can connect additional amplifiers and speakers. Easily available from Amazon currently at £509.95 with free UK delivery, it really is a unit worth considering.

I personally have a number of pieces of Pioneer equipment, including my home cinema AV amp and Blu-ray player and for me they are really difficult to beat in terms of performance and output quality. We also have a Pioneer in car system similar to this and the quality is just what I would expect from Pioneer.

A New Development In Car Construction?

A US firm has come up with a new concept for assembling vehicles based on direct metal laser sintered aluminium joints and carbon-fibre-composite rods that form the chassis. The firm believes its concept can radically reduce the overall carbon footprint of vehicles from cradle to grave, meaning petrol and diesel fuelled cars do less harm to the environment over their lifetimes.

This could be interesting technology, if it can be adopted by motor manufacturers. Time will tell.

Expect Development In F1 To Be Ongoing Throughout Next Season

The changes in F1 technical regulations next season look like meaning hard work for all of the teams all through the season. Aerodynamic regulation changes mean that changes in design will need to be made to front and rear spoilers on the cars, making them wider. There will also need to be wider tyres fitted to the cars meaning more re-design.

Due to when the regulations were agreed, it doesn't give the teams much development time, before the start of the season, so that's one of the main reasons why the teams will be working on developments on an on-going basis. Another issue to deal with will be making sure that as development continues, there are enough spares of the newly designed parts to get them through the races, especially as some teams will have relatively in-experienced F1 drivers.

I for one am looking forward to what next season brings in terms of performance changes and what it may mean in terms of team dominance. Lets' wait and see!

2016 Autosports Awards

The 2016 Autosports Awards being held on December 4th in London will be broadcast live online and TV for the first time. Attendees to the annual event come from all over the world of Motorsport. Awards to be presented include the Racing Driver Of The Year Award.

The awards will be a available to watch on Motorsport.com, Motor1.com and Autosport.com. It will also be available to watch on the MotorsTV channel.

2017 Goodwood Festival Of Speed

As just announced on our Twitter feed, the dates for next year's Goodwood Festival Of Speed have now been confirmed as 29th June to 2nd July. The dates differ from the originally published provisional dates due to this week's FIA announcement over next year's F1 Calendar. As per one of our previous posts, this was changed so as not to clash with the Le Mans 24 hour.

This also means that F1 drivers should be available to appear at the Festival without interfering with any F1 commitments.

 So, looking forward to next June!

The Awesome Aston Martin DB11

I was watching an episode of Jay Leno's Garage yesterday, and one of the items was a visit to an Aston Martin dealership in the states. The reason was, they had locked away in their vault, the prototype DB11 for 2017! The head guy from the dealership looked remarkably like the owner of the custom car shop on Pimp My Ride, but anyway, also there was the car designer from Aston Martin.

He explained a few things about the car, apparently they nearly couldn't go ahead with the design of the bonnet (that's hood for any of my US visitors!) as they couldn't initially find a supplier for such a large sheet of aluminium, but luckily they finally managed to find one, phew! Surprisingly for a 600bhp car, there was no rear wing. This is because they have designed rear air intakes that force air in and then our of a slot, which you can just see on the picture below, in the boot which forces air up as far as 1 meter to provide the stability at speed. This is because they didn't want a rear wing to spoil the look of the car, typical Aston Martin.

They actually allowed him to take the prototype to a track. There he met Ben Collins (ex Stig from Top Gear) who was in the new 2017 Aston Martin Vantage S, another superb looking car. They naturally had to race, and although the Vantage S is slightly down on bhp at 568 compared to the 600 of the DB11, Ben obviously won!

A few stats:

DB11

Bhp - 600

Engine - V12 Turbo

Gearbox - 8 Speed Auto

Vantage S

Bhp - 568

Engine - V12 Normally Aspirated

Gearbox - 7 Speed Manual

Both cars are beautiful in design, but the DB11 for me, looks the best, and although it didn't win the race against the Vantage S, I think 600bhp is enough to be going along with!

The Formula 3 European Championship Returns To GB In 2017

Another announcement from the FIA World Council meeting in Vienna this week was that F3 would be back in the UK next year.

The first race will be held in the UK, although I believe that the actual date is to be confirmed.

Full calendar as it stands at the moment below:

TBC Great Britain
April TBC Monza, Italy
May 21 Pau, France
June 4 Zandvoort, Netherlands
June 25 Norisring, Germany
July 29 Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
August 20 Hungaroring, Hungary
September 10 Nurburgring, Germany
TBC Red Bull Ring, Austria
October 15 Hockenheim, Germany

Nextbase 312GW Full 1080p HD In Car Dash Cam

The Nextbase 312GW Full 1080p HD In Car Dash Cam Camera DVR Digital Driving Video Recorder with Built-In Wi-Fi  is the number 1 best seller on Amazon for driving recorders, with excellent reviews.

With built in Wi-Fi, you can download footage directly to your smartphone and with the Nextbase app you can keep and share footage on social media or directly to your insurer should you need to. With inbuilt GPS you can track journey's and pin point exact locations of any incidents.

To get full details and to buy now, click here, or any of the above links. At £82.95, your saving £17.04 (17%) and with free UK delivery this really is a great deal!