The journey has been arduous and fraught with disappointment, but it appears we’ve finally reached our destination. Welcome to The Golden Age of Compact Motoring. Gone are the days of mostly cheap and poorly executed C-segment entries. Ye Olde “It’s the , and everybody else” mindset is finally history, too. All of a sudden, new car buyers can choose from a bumper crop of smart new motors, including the all-new Civic, the , the , the larger and more affordable and the always entertaining . And that’s not all – there’s also a new wildcard in the compact segment, the .
While entries like the Cruze and Focus have garnered lots of attention, the Elantra has quietly established itself as a worthy alternative in this suddenly competitive segment. The redesigned Hyundai caught our attention with its expressive styling, an improved cabin and 40 miles per gallon highway rating. It sounds like a winning game plan to us, but does this revitalized Hyundai live up to its impressive stat sheet? We spent a week with an Elantra Limited to find out for ourselves.
has managed to squeeze a little extra fuel economy from the . According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the model now gets up to 17 mpg city and 21 mpg highway, good for 18 mpg combined when saddled with a five-speed automatic or a six-speed manual transmission. That’s a thirteen-percent improvement over the 2011 model’s 15 mpg city and an 11 percent boost over the old bruiser’s 19 mpg highway. Not surprisingly, the increases come from the fact that the Wrangler now boasts the Pentastar 3.6-liter V6 engine.
The better fuel economy doesn’t come at the cost of horsepower, either. In fact, the new V6 rocks 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. The old 3.8-liter V6 was only good for a comparatively asthmatic 202 horsepower and 237 lb-ft of twist.
The four-door Wrangler Unlimited shown above has also benefited from the Pentastar engine – its fuel economy has increased to 16 mpg city and 21 mpg highway when equipped with a six-speed manual transmission.
loves long strings of characters that somehow swirl together to create the name of a specific vehicle in its lineup. We don’t, however, and would love to see names like the give way to easier-to-understand nomenclature, alphanumeric or no. To that end, our spy photographers have managed to snap some shots of a new hatchback/wagon that could help restore a bit of naming sanity, and it goes by the nickname FAST.
Those four letters are the shortened version of Family Active Sports Tourer. We’d prefer to call it a wagon, but FAST (the model’s internal designation according to AutoExpress), is far better than BMW 1 Series Family Active Sports Tourer Fdrive30iT… or whatever the company’s marketers would prefer to call it.
Speculation is that the , which itself will soon graduate to become 2 Series. This new wagon will utilize a front-wheel-drive platform that’s shared with the next crop of vehicles. Rumor has it that an all-wheel-drive version will also be made available. We’re not counting on it keeping the FAST designation when it reaches showrooms, but either way, look for this creature to arrive by 2013.
The likelihood that you’ll ever get your hands on an original is slim, to put it mildly. The iconic early 60s sports cars are rare as hen’s teeth and priced accordingly. While the originals may be all but unattainable, replicas can be fairly readily had, though they still aren’t what you’d call cheap.
This week, there are two models on eBay Motors, one a convertible and one in coupe form. Not originals and not really replicas, these cars are about as authentic as one can hope to get without winning the lottery. In the spirit of their original roots, both sport Chevrolet V8 power, rear-wheel drive and four-speed manual transmissions. The convertible, titled as a 1965, sports a 502-inch big-block Chevrolet mill, which only has 1,700 pounds of 4130-chromoly steel and fiberglass to push around. In case that weren’t enough, the Cheetah’s wheelbase is a scant 90 inches. Sounds good to us. Buy-It-Now on the red ‘vert is a reasonable sounding $34,000.
The hardtop was built in 2008, but sports a 1964 title. It’s a bit tamer, sporting a 383 stroker that the seller says is good for 350 horsepower. Not quite as hairy-chested, but more than enough to make you pretty uneasy. It also sports heat and noise insulation and a “period correct” air conditioner, apparently to compensate for the fixed windows. The frame is powder-coated, the headers are wrapped and the bodywork sports three coats of Mercedes silver. The price? How does $89k sound? Click the main image for a gallery of both cars.
When a news report begins with the line, “If you’ve ever wondered how many strippers you can fit on the hood of an official City of Denver vehicle,” you know it’s going to be good. The still above is taken from said news report.
It seems some Denver city works employees decided to take their workhorse machine out for a bath. At a car wash hosted by a local gentlemans club. Staffed by strippers.
Of course, the city took a dim view of the situation and is looking into disciplining the employees involved in the caper. We’d just like to offer a tip of the hat to the city workers, who no doubt had the best lunch break ever. to check out the video.
What good is an automaker without an automobile? is getting darn close to finding out, now that its solitary product – the all-conquering – is nearing the end of its production cycle. So what will the Alsatian marque do next?
Rumors have been circulating of a production four-door luxury super-sedan ever since Bugatti pulled the suede-lined tarp off the Galibier concept nearly two years ago. But company execs have remained pretty tight-lipped about it since then, leaving us all to speculate.
Now, however, the German car-mag of record Auto Motor und Sport claims to have Bugatti/ chief Wolfgang Dürheimer on record confirming the Galibier’s production for sometime late next year.
The super-sedan is expected to use a version of the Veyron’s W16 engine, though it could be detuned to “only” 800 horsepower for more civilized motoring. Don’t expect the price to drop from the Veyron’s perch, however, with the tag still expected to top the million-euro mark. Even at those prices, however, Dürheimer reportedly expects to sell 1,000 to 1,500 examples of the Galibier (or it might be called) – significantly more than the 300 Veyrons the company has built.
The recall bug has struck , but fortunately it appears the Japanese automaker caught the problem early on. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says on its website that Nissan is recalling 20,000 copies of the 2011 and 2012 built between April 25 and June 10 due to a suspension bolt that may not have been torqued to specification.
If the transverse link bolt isn’t properly tightened, it may loosen while the vehicle is being driven, which could lead to a rattling noise and vibration. A vibrating vehicle is usually little more than an annoyance, but if the bolt comes out completely, NHTSA says the driver could have trouble controlling their Altima.
To fix the problem, owners of the affected vehicles will need to take their vehicle to a Nissan dealer for a free-of-charge repair. A technician will replace the transverse link bolts and nuts and tighten them to the proper torque specification. to read over the NHTSA press release.
According to a new study by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, will deprive federal highway projects of more than $65 billion in revenues.
That estimation is based on the fact that at-the-pump taxes levied on fuel are by law funneled to transportation projects. With mandatory CAFE fuel mileage increases, the amount of revenue collected from gas taxes will go down, which will cut into road revenues, the report says.
Of course, there are ways of circumventing that lost income, but all that will surely play out in the coming few years. In the meantime, click to see the report for yourself. Naturally, it’s worth noting that the ARTBA, based in Washington, DC, is a group that represents the interests of road and construction workers.
A shock announcement in the commercial world of Formula One racing has British fans up in arms. The deal involves the Sky network and the BBC sharing the rights to F1 broadcasts in the UK.
Sky is part of News Corp, whose owner Rupert Murdoch, as you may recall, a few months ago that expressed interest in acquiring the commercial rights to the sport. That was before Murdoch found himself in hot water when his News of the World tabloid was shut down and investigated over allegations of phone tapping, and even then, speculation was that the bid for the broader rights was a cover for an attempt to acquire just the broadcasting rights.
The deal will reportedly see the BBC, which currently holds the rights to broadcast grands prix in the UK, scaling back its coverage to only half the races in the season. Meanwhile Sky Sports will air all the races, including the practice sessions and qualifying sessions, on its paid service.
In addition to the outraged fans who’ve become accustomed to catching all the races live and for free on the BBC, F1 team principals have expressed some concern over the deal, which could violate certain terms of the Concorde Agreement by which the sport’s commercial aspect is governed.
With stepping up to become , the Blue Oval is putting its money where its mouth is by dropping the price of its Sync system from $395 to $295.
The updated pricing will extend first to the 2012 and , and will be available on all trim levels of the Edge, with the SEL, Limited and Sport models coming standard with the system and the SE now available with Sync as an option. The pricing will later extend to the 2013 , , and .
In addition to the standard infotainment and navigation functions, Ford is touting the hands-free capabilities of Sync as a safety feature, along with 911 Assist and the Sync Services subscription plan which includes turn-by-turn directions, traffic reports and business searches, all of which can be performed without ever taking your eyes off the road.
Ford plans to make Sync and the new pricing strategy available on every North American model by 2014, and expect a host of upgrades and refinements to happen in the process. for the full details.
Mark Arcenal is the man behind the empire. He has a strong passion for sneakers, clothing, music and cars. Josh Clason and his Depth of Speed cameras paid Arcenal a visit at the Fatlace paddock in San Mateo, California to get a closer look at the man’s rides. They also got some insight into why he picked these particular automobiles.
Arcenal owns a classic Skyline and drift-ready Nissan 240SX, but it appears his true love may be his old Volkswagen van. for the latest Depth of Speed: Tale of Three Cars.
You read the title right, we’re talking about the Beaver XR-7. No, Mercury never officially built a car called the beaver. This is the brainchild of upstate New Yorker Chip Beam, who owns and operates Beaver Energy, LLC. It runs on gases created by wood pellets fermented in a 2,400-degree furnace and fed to a supercharged 4.6-liter V8.
By all accounts, it gets down the road just fine, and has pretty close to full power. The best part is, you can grow the fuel yourself and avoid patronizing big oil, if that’s your thing. The only drawback that we can see to the Mercury Beaver XR-7 is the PVC pipe jungle occupying the space that would be the trunk under normal circumstances.
Still, if you’re willing to smell like a mountain man and look like a bad Back to the Future knockoff, this ride is right up your alley. Click to see Translogic’s take on this modified Merc.
It’s hard to make a car as sinister-looking as the even more so. Maserati itself managed to do that with the GranTurismo MC Stradale, and now Anderson Germany has taken a crack at it with this new blacked-out GranTurismo S.
The aptly named Superior Black Edition swaps elements like the stock hood and mirrors in favor of carbon-fiber replacements, has an interior dressed in ample helpings of carbon and Alcantara, and is wrapped in matte black vinyl that contrasts the glossy 21-inch wheels. A lowered suspension contributeBacking up the evil looks is a massaged version of the GranTurismo’s Ferrari-sourced 4.7-liter V8, which now belts out 492 horsepower.
Scope it out in the attached image gallery and read all the details the press release after the jump.
