Articles by CarsGuide team

General Motors is pulling an ad which refers to China as the land where people say "ching-ching, chop suey", saying it contains "offensive content".

Here’s a great game kids can play from a very young age. It’s easy for them to recognise the items in the pictures and tick them off with a crayon or pencil – or they can even poke their finger through the picture on the sheet. Print out the Spotto sheet from the RACV website and give a sheet to each child every time you want to play the game. Every time they see something on the sheet, the first person to see it gets to tick it on their sheet. Even a single child can play the game, by trying to fill in all the items as they see them during the journey – and perhaps trying to do it within a set time span. Download the Spotto sheet from here. http://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/7c60c8004da9a81a8d09dd54a1b45993/1.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=7c60c8004da9a81a8d09dd54a1b45993  

Children are rarely entertained by the passing scenery as much as Mum and Dad up front, so here are some handy tips to keep all passengers smiling:Pack a fun bag – Pack a bag of your child’s favourite pacifiers, like books, handheld games, paper and crayons, dolls or small toys. Just be careful to avoid any dangerous projectiles that might find their way to the driver’s head. Get musical – Don’t forget some music. With luck, you might find something that both front and back seat passengers can enjoy. You’ll need to be lucky, so MP3 players with headphones can help bridge this divide.‘I Spy’ – If you forget to pack the above, there’s always the quintessential ‘I Spy’, which can involve all passengers – hopefully mending any rifts at the same time. Simply take turns at choosing something visible to all players, then announce what letter the object begins with.“I spy with my little eye, something beginning with ??.” Then the other participants take turns at guessing what that object might be. It is VERY important to be careful of choosing stationary objects that may disappear quickly though!The alphabet game – Similar to ‘I Spy’, the alphabet game is where all passengers compete to spot something beginning with each letter of the alphabet. Once Z is reached, all passengers are likely to be well satisfied.‘I went down to the shops and I bought’ – This memory game will challenge all aboard.  Working in a pre-determined order around the vehicle, each passenger takes turn to say the phrase ‘I went down to the shops and I bought’, then adds an item to the list. Each successive turn repeats the entire list in order.Participants are eliminated when items are forgotten, eventually leaving a winner.  This game is more lively and long-lasting when unconventional items are added to the list. For example: ‘I went down to the shops and I bought an elephant.’General conversation starters – Use the time to get to know your passengers better. Questions like: ‘If you had three wishes, what would they be?’, ‘How would you spend one million dollars?’, ‘Which superpower would you like to have most?’, ‘Who is your hero?’, and ‘If you could be a colour/an animal/ a car, what would you be?’

Some insight could be provided by Nissan which has released its first ever detailed report into the modern-day professional driver. The official launch of the Nissan Van Report comes as Nissan debuts the widely anticipated 100 per cent electric eNV200  in the UK. Some of the interesting facts to emerge include how drivers are better drivers when their van is clean and they are tuned to their favourite radio station. A packed lunch is their food of choice and some take a nap when they are stuck in a traffic jam. The majority of van drivers are over 45 years old. For fleet managers, the Van Report shows managing rising fuel prices, vehicle purchase and running costs, and protecting vans from future regulation are all key priorities. The survey also shattered some van driver stereotypes. How many motorists have seen vans with `clean me' etched into the dirt and grime? The research shows van cleanliness is not a laughing matter with 92 per cent of drivers saying they feel better when driving a clean vehicle and three out of four (72 per cent) believe it actually makes them a better driver. Nearly half of drivers questioned (48 per cent) cover 160km miles or less per day which Nissan says shows they could successfully make the transition to a Nissan eNV200 van without having to compromise their daily routines. Spending longer behind the wheel are the 26 per cent of drivers who said they drove more than 320km every day. More than one third of van drivers (39 per cent) are over 45 years of age, but only 3 per cent of respondents were aged between 16-24, reinforcing that companies will have to start recruiting young blood to replace an ageing workforce. Van drivers are a loyal bunch with 45 per cent of respondents saying they had been with their employer for six years or more.