Drive your car like a professional and help reduce climate change

Here is an interesting and fun way to check your driving style and the effect it is having on the environment. The Fiat 'EcoDrive' system,first announced last year at the Frankfurt Motor Show, caused a stir at the recent Geneva Car Show.

From this month certain Fiat models,including the 500,will be delivered with the Blue & Me gate enabling through a USB key driving data to be collected.So as you drive away you plug in the USB key. Then when you leave your car you take away the USB key and connect it to your PC. You can then access charts and reports presented in a clear and easily understandable way about your driving,with tips and solutions to improve your performance.

This system helps you achieve the optimum performance for your car which you probably would never get near otherwise. Why is this so? Well, the published consumption and CO2 emission figures are ,for consistency, derived from road tests by professional drivers under 'control' conditions i.e. certain test track road surfaces, with ancillary car equipment switched-off like the heater,radio,air conditioning. In normal conditions, you may travel on rural,urban and motor ways at different times, and in varying weather conditions. There is also your own individual driving style which may throw-in another variable when comparison is made with the manufacturer's published performance for a car.

Fiat collaborated with Microsoft on this piece of technological wizardry,a driving aid which in similar form may be soon common in most new cars.

If you can stand a simple cartoon from 'Franco' and friends which fully explains the 'from car to PC in a USB' EcoDrive system now available in some new Fiat models do Click Here! for a free presentation.