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Cool car gear: Nifty items that will up your on-the-road ante

SINGAPORE — When it comes to the drive experience, sometimes a little tech goes a long way, whether it’s simple things like gadgets or apps or, well, a whole new system upgrade for your car. Here are a few new things out there that can help pimp your ride.

SINGAPORE — When it comes to the drive experience, sometimes a little tech goes a long way, whether it’s simple things like gadgets or apps or, well, a whole new system upgrade for your car. Here are a few new things out there that can help pimp your ride. 

THE NEW NISSAN LEAF

If you fumble at eco gear shifts, you have two options: Abandon hope and buy a Ferrari, or go all-out for the new-for-2018 Nissan Leaf. Equipped with a nippy 110kw electric drivetrain (equivalent to 148bhp), its biggest trick is one-pedal driving. Lace up your favourite shoe and let the e-Pedal do the work, using resistance from the car’s regenerative energy tech to do the slowing when you lift off. Besides giving your ankle a rest, it also maximises range by helping to deliver a respectable 378km from a single charge. Parking will be a cinch too, thanks to the fully autonomous ProPilot Park system.

THE WAYLENS SECURE360 CAR SECURITY CAM

Dashcams normally point in the direction of your windscreen, keeping an eye out for bad drivers, phone-obsessed pedestrians or alien invasions. But the thing about driving is that stuff goes on all around you, not just straight ahead. Enter the Waylens Secure360, which records what is going on inside the car as well. When you have parked, it can also function as a security camera for your motor, with either Wi-Fi (S$340) or 4G (S$480) onboard to send alerts to your phone if it spots something suspicious. The downside: It is not on the shelves yet, but you can back it on Kickstarter now for a big discount.

THE GARMIN EDGE 1030 ROUTE FINDER

When you climb aboard your bike for the short trundle to work, it is unlikely you need a GPS to tell you where to go. But when the weekend comes and you feel like hitting the trails, how do you know the best routes to ride? The Edge 1030 bike computer features new Trendline mapping, which uses Garmin’s Connect network to gauge the popularity of various routes, so you can find the newest trails that people are carving out. You’ll get turn-by-turn navigation for each one, plus alerts for any particularly sharp turns ahead. With a 3.5 inch screen and 20 hour battery life, it will set you back about S$875, or, for an extra S$90, you can get a bundle that includes speed and cadence sensors, plus a heart rate monitor. STUFF SINGAPORE

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