MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Brazilian industrial output contracted for a second straight month in April
Brazil’s industrial output unexpectedly contracted for a second straight month in April even as the government steps up measures to boost economic growth. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesIncrease in GDP and quality of life do not go together. Brazil must eradicate their slums or will end up being like china.... Lot s of money in te hands of a few and an starving population
Jun 01st, 2012 - 07:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So it seems that Economic woes are not the monopoly of Europe.
Jun 01st, 2012 - 08:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But the Brits will get the blame!
Jun 02nd, 2012 - 04:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Mind you, I have a new VW Gol i-Motion, made in Brasil and it's not bad at all.
I have seen the Gol and it looks nice. So does the Fox. When I lived in west Texas I used to see some cars that are manufactured in south America like the Clio or Corsa.
Jun 02nd, 2012 - 07:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0We don't have those here.hatchbacks are not big here. I also noticed that there aren't many automatics or a/c equipped vehicles there.
4 AmericanLight
Jun 03rd, 2012 - 12:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The i-Motion is VW's world-wide fitment, made in Argentina. It is an automated manual transmission: a layshaft gearbox fitted with an hydraulic, computer controlled shift mechanism - no clutch pedal. These transmissions offer manual fuel economy with the convenience of an automatic.
Most new cars in Uruguay that I looked at, even the Chinese ones, had A/C, as does mine.
Things are getting better down there I see....I haven't purchased a car there( or lived there) since the late 90s ...I remember paying then what I pay now here to fill up the tank of mine . I had a Clio and it cost me $50 to fill up...not sure how many gallons/liters it fitted... My daily vehicle holds 18 gallons and it costs around $55. Of course fuel prices where $0.99 a gallon 12 years ago and now they are $3.3
Jun 03rd, 2012 - 03:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Do you stil have to shift gears with that type of transmission or you can leave it on Drive and it will do the things (like VW s DSG?)
& 4 / & 6
Jun 04th, 2012 - 08:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0first , write honest comments here ...
Neither Clio nor Corsa importing to USA..
There are used “ litre ” not “ gallon”” in Latin America/Asia/Europe.
6 AmericanLight
Jun 04th, 2012 - 11:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0Imagine a manual transmission where the driver has no clutch pedal and the gearshift does not move when the gears are changed to suit the circumstances: pedal pressure, engine speed, gradient of the road (transducer in gearbox detects torque / speed demand), overun (the gears change down as required and removing pedal pressure completely allows engine braking).
That is what the AMT does without driver input.
Yes, the driver can 'change' gears but only if the perameters are within specified limits set in the ECU, otherwise the 'AMT takes over' and shifts the gear anyway. So it is impossible to damage things ONCE THE CLUTCH HAS BEEN ENGAGED.
Pulling away involves the driver just pressing the accelerator sufficiently for the circumstances / how he or she wants to drive and the computer will feed the clutch in correctly for any of the choices the driver has made.
Reversing out the garage is easier with the AMT than a manual transmission because the AMT takes care of clutch drag / heat growth.
These is one thing to watch about any AMT however: they allow the car to roll back on hills and the handbrake or footbrake needs to be used for safety. Torque converter autos will, as you probably know, hold the car and can be set to creep for slow speed parking etc.
Parking is not a problem with the AMT, you just have to remember the rollback.
Gentle pressure on the accelerator gives the best results whilst still beating most vehicles away from a start due to the change gear speed being consistent. This needs watching if the car in front, having revved the engine, etc at the traffic lights, then does not have any real power / the driver allows the engine to bog down. This just comes naturally once you realise that the car is quicker than the manual car when driven by an inadequate driver.
Gear changes are very smooth and in most case are done without the clutch being disengaged, so there is very little / no wear on the clutch.
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