Emanuele Pirro has spent the last 17 years as an works driver, so it’s safe to say he knows his way around Quattro-equipped iron. Not only has Pirro had the pleasure of first crack at the latest gems from Audi in that time, he’s also had the pleasure of winning three LeMans victories behind the four rings.
During the course of over four videos produced last week for Audi’s social media outlets in the United States, Pirro details the limited-edition . Starting with the car’s 560-horsepower, V10-motivated 3.6 second 0-60 time, Pirro takes four episodes to explain why you wantneed an R8 GT, as if you didn’t already know. Included in that long list of reasons are the carbon fiber spoiler and front splitter. Did we mention this beast is 180 pounds lighter than the regular car?
For Pirro’s full impressions of the baddest R8 available, .
The idea of a maxi- runs counter to everything we love about the brand. But despite our misgivings, our own Steven J. Ewing came away suitably impressed with the . How much did he like it? He insisted we add one to the .
And here it is.
Coated in two-tone True Blue Metallic (as ) and tricked out in Cooper S ALL4 guise, our long-term tester is as maxed out as they come – with the exception of an automatic transmission, natch. We think we ticked all the right boxes, including Sport and Premium packs, Xenons, Sport suspension and Mini Connected with Navigation, to get the full Countryman experience. And to kick things off, I headed north for a two-day, 500-mile trek up the coast to put our newest family member through its paces.
The good news: Mini’s made one of the most entertaining cute ‘utes in the world. The bad: You’ve got to shell out a heap of coin to enjoy it.
Mini Cooper S Countryman All4 joins Autoblog’s Long-Term Garage
may be busy promoting its stylish new urban-crossover, the , but the automaker hasn’t forgotten about its most iconic vehicle of all, the . Just last week, we reported that the next-generation Range Rover would , and this latest set of spy photos gives us a glimpse as to what we can expect when the all-new Land Rover debuts.
Look very closely and you’ll notice a more sloping roofline, combined with a more raked rear window. As of now, that’s about all we can tell on the styling front, so we’ll have to wait until the camouflage is peeled back to see the final shape. (Nice 8-bit, low-resolution cam, Land Rover.)
Rumors suggest that the next-gen Range Rover will wide on a modified version of the platform, enhanced – obviously – for off-road prowess. Land Rover is also looking to lighten things up a bit, and the new Range Rover will likely use more aluminum in the chassis and body than ever before.
Powertrain options will likely carry over with only minor upgrades, though two hybrid versions are rumored to be in the works, including a diesel hybrid. We’ll know more when the Range Rover officially launches in late 2012 or early 2013.
Maserati is recalling and vehicles from the 2009 model year over poorly machined rear tie-rods that could fail. The loss of rear tie-rods is not something to be taken lightly – nothing like rear suspension destruction to soil your luxurious driving experience. The recall should begin next month and affects a total of 763 cars.
The affected cars were built between July and September of 2008. Maserati dealers will replace the shoddy tie-rods, install a tie-rod kit and do a wheel alignment. Of course, the repairs won’t cost Maserati owners a cent.
Over the past half-century, James Bond has driven a wide variety of vehicles. (Okay, so most of them have been . The point is there’s been a lot of them.) And while the occasional former Bond vehicle may pop up at auction every now and then, seeing more than one or two in the same place is a rare occasion indeed.
Next year, however, the Bond franchise is turning 50, and to celebrate, a number of parties are teaming up to put together the largest display of Bond cars ever. The exhibition will take place at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, England, and is being orchestrated with help from Empire (the world’s foremost movie magazine) and EON Productions (which puts together every Bond movie ever filmed).
The display will be part of the Big Screen exhibition there, which already includes the DBS from Quantum of Solace, the DB5 from Goldeneye, the XKR from Die Another Day, and the 1937 Phantom lll from Goldfinger. All told, some 50 cars from various Bond movies will be on display from January through December 2012. for the full press release and scope out the quartet of high-resolution images of the four aforementioned vehicles in the gallery.
Ford’s Vista Roof option has been selling well recently, and the automaker says this is, in part, to the little shot of Vitamin D it gives to drivers’ everyday commutes. The split glass roof also has UV protection comparable to SPF-50 sunscreen, which should satisfy even the fairest-skinned buyers. So far this year, the Vista Roof option is checked on 48 percent of sales, 56 percent of sales and 32 percent of all sales.
The numbers are staggering when you consider that the Vista Roof is a standalone option in most cases, and an expensive one at that. It costs $1,595 to let the sun shine in on the Edge and Explorer, and $1,495 on the Flex. The available all-glass roof on the is the most expensive at $1,995.
The Vista Roof is certainly a great way to work on your tan before you ever hit the beach, but it ain’t exactly your dad’s . for Ford’s official press blast.
There was good news and bad news out of the camp last month. The good: The company . The bad: Reservations are now .
We just got word that the bad news is stacking up: Aptera is refunding deposits for the ultra-aerodynamic, three-wheeled electric vehicle (or planned hybrid version). In an e-mail to supporters, Aptera says it is returning every deposit made thus far, according to Green Car Reports. The e-mail reads, in part:
Our path to production has been longer than anticipated, which has complicated our reservation administration to the point that we have decided to return your deposit. … [Our credit-card processing system] is designed for transactions to be completed in a six-month window. Since most of Aptera’s deposits have been in reserve for more than six months, maintenance of the account has become problematic for our credit card processor and administratively cumbersome for Aptera.
Apparently, anyone who put in a deposit will now be added to a “newly created VIP database” and that, “As our production date approaches, we will use the database to direct you to your local retailer so you can be among the first to own an Aptera vehicle.” The Aptera website doesn’t have any of this news update, but it does still say “Reserve yours today!” without a working link. So…
The upcoming , the Bavarians’ all-new rear-wheel-drive EV hatchback, was out in Chicago recently, evidently for a promotional video. The car was fully undisguised, rolling silently down Chicago’s Wacker Drive.
The i3 will be the first model of the new i brand when it arrives in 2012, and will be powered by a 170-horsepower, all-electric motor mounted over the rear axle. Juice comes from a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack, also mounted beneath the floor.
The drive set up gives the car a flat floor, meaning there’s more than enough room in the small package for passengers and cargo. There are bench seats front and rear, which each accommodate four people. There’s also room for just over seven cubic feet of cargo. Click to see the i3 in motion.
Sometimes we lament the loss of four-door convertible “parade cars.” Then we see something like this and we don’t miss ‘em one bit. Woof.
Based on the (the long-wheelbase XJ L, to be specific), Newport Convertible Engineering has produced this four-door cabriolet to some questionable results. Sure, the divisive rear quarters of the sedan have been minimized, if not eliminated, but cutting off the roof in favor of folding soft top is hardly an aesthetic improvement.
Inside Line recently and seemed to have enjoyed the experience, but while NCE’s transformation was reportedly the most difficult they’ve pulled off to date, we’d just as soon keep the roof on and take our iced tea in a . Especially when the XJ convertible starts out around $130,000.
Though its product range these days is restricted to automobiles and motorcycles, is no stranger to aviation. After all, that’s how it got its start. But that was a long time ago.
More recently, however, the Bavarian automaker’s design consultancy division has gotten its parent company back into the air, styling the cabins on Embraer and Falcon business jets. So what’s the next step? Well, we might not have seen it coming, but the answer is the aviation headset you see here.
DesignWorksUSA designed the S1 headset for Sennheiser, placing an emphasis on safety and quality of sound. Pilots can easily adjust the fit, the ear cushions are designed to accommodate sunglasses (Top Gun-style mirrored aviators or otherwise), it packs active noise cancellation and Bluetooth connectivity, and the whole thing is controlled with an LED interface.
All in all a slick unit with details that pilots will undoubtedly appreciate. And if the performance from BMW’s own M cars gets any more astronomic, drivers just might come to appreciate them as well. Details in the press release .
Our friends at PickupTrucks.com have just completed their “HD Hurt Locker” comparison test, in which the , and were put through quite a series of tests. PickupTrucks.com editor Mike Levine called it a “grueling showdown among industry heavyweights that included towing 19,000-pound fifth-wheel trailers up and over some of the most demanding grades in the United States.”
After seven days of testing, Levine and the rest of the PickupTrucks.com crew found that ‘ offering, the Sierra HD, was the most capable in this test, outperforming the and trucks.
At 23,000 pounds, the Sierra 3500HD boasts the maximum fifth-wheel towing capacity in the group, as well as the greatest conventional towing capacity at 18,000 pounds. for GM’s official statement about the results, and head over to PickupTrucks.com to .
Lego will pay tribute to the Westfalia camper with a new kit that goes on sale in October. The model is based on a 1962 Volkswagen Bus with the sought-after pop-top camper option. The interior even features a sink and dinette, along with the all important bench seat-cum-double bed.
Lego’s hippie hooptie features the classic tri-color V paint scheme up front, a lava lamp inside, and a “Make LEGO models not war” T-shirt hanging in the window. In back, there’s even a replica of the the van’s flat four engine wedged between the rear axle and the floor.
According to the model’s designer, the hardest thing was translating the VW’s curves to brick form, but it looks like they got as close as possible, given the medium. to check out a video of Lego’s assembly-required homage to the Volkswagen Bus. Brick builders can pick it up for $99.99 when it hits U.S. toy shelves.
Having a stuffed with a 426-horsepower V8, six gears and the rear wheels doing the pushing is reason enough for anyone to want to get a little sideways. Trouble is, letting the tail hang in your 5th-gen Camaro could get pretty uncomfortable.
During a in a parking lot at Michigan’s Milan Raceway, Paul Beiswenger of Lopez Tire and A&D Autosport managed to deploy the car’s side curtain airbags, apparently spontaneously. Beiswenger was fine, but his female passenger suffered minor burns on her right arm. The solution? Cut the airbags down and keep going. We love it.
General Motors’ take? The incident is an indication that the system is working as it should. GM spokesman Alan Adler said the car is designed to “predict” an imminent rollover and deploy the curtain airbags proactively. That’s a brilliant feature if you’re indeed on your way through the spin cycle, but as you can see, it isn’t exactly conducive to hooning. Video’s posted .
In 1988, Citation Motors, a Dealership in Ontario, shut its doors with little explanation. The simple answer seems to be that the dealership had its concession license revoked, but nobody seems to be able to track down why exactly. Endras BMW, another Toronto-based Bimmer peddler, did some digging, but didn’t come up with too much.
Whatever the case, the dealership moved to Toronto, switched its name to Downtown BMW, and went under in 2002. The owner of both places seems to be eccentric at best, as he left Citation where it sat, untouched, with a then-brand new 635csi and E28 5 Series abandoned inside. The business is reportedly well cared for, and the cars have not succumbed to the elements the way they would have were they truly left to rot.
The owner of the establishment apparently has little interest in selling the business or his wares. To make things more interesting, there’s apparently an as-yet unopened underground storage facility and a back lot packed with junked Bimmers.
New pictures of the 2012 BMW 3 Series have surfaced, showing the car without camouflage. There is possibly no more important sedan for BMW than the 3 Series. It’s the car with a burnished reputation, and the 2012 3 Series will be here soon. Because of its monumental importance to both BMW and every other manufacturer that benchmarks it, an entire corner of the automotive industry is on tenterhooks waiting to see what comes out of the Black Forest.
And here it (apparently) is. Not surprisingly, the 2012 3 Series looks a lot like the 2011 5 Series, only smaller. The resemblance is especially strong in the taillights, the shape of the hood and the strong character line down the flanks. , from Spanish site , are the clearest view we’ve yet gotten of the new 3 Series, and while it may not be any more surprising, it’s still a lot more interesting than the that’s been leaking out.
It’s one thing to quietly anticipate the arrival of something exciting. It’s quite another when you can actually see it coming, so here’s a batch of spy shots showing the next-generation under development.
Don’t get too excited, though, because there’s little to see from this early test mule. It’s largely wearing the bodywork from the last Viper, and what’s new is heavily disguised. What we can tell is that the headlights stretch back farther over the hood than the previous model, above the updated crosshair grille now in use across the Dodge model range. The placement of the air scoops and hood louvers appear different, and from what we can see at least, the front end seems to be more refined than its brutish predecessors.
Of course, it’s what’s behind that new front end that counts. It may be too early to say if the V10 will return of whether regulatory restrictions will force to go with something slightly more “responsible,” but you can bet it’ll have in place, and if the rapidly-integrating /Chrysler empire plays its cards right, Dodge’s Italian sisters could bring some experience to bear. And that can’t be a bad thing.
has more NASCAR fans per capita than any other state in the nation.
Fitting, then, that The Mountain State was chosen by the Journal of Applied Social Psychology for a study on what connection, if any, exists between watching crash-filled races on television and how viewers then drive in the real world.
The study’s conclusion? Five days after a televised race, aggressive driving-related accidents in West Virginia, a state with no NASCAR tracks of its own, rose significantly, with over 23 accidents recorded versus 19 on other days, according to , reporting on the findings.
The study, which covered years 2003 to 2006, noted that bad weather had an effect on the number of wrecks, but maintains that the 156 televised NASCAR events in that time span also correlated with an uptick in crashes.
has more NASCAR fans per capita than any other state in the nation.
Fitting, then, that The Mountain State was chosen by the Journal of Applied Social Psychology for a study on that what connection, if any, exists between watching crash-filled races on television and how viewers then drive in the real world.
The study’s conclusion? Five days after a televised race, aggressive driving-related accidents in West Virginia, a state with no NASCAR tracks of its own, rose sharply. The study, which covered years 2003 to 2006, noted that bad weather had an effect on the number of wrecks, but maintains that the 156 televised NASCAR events in that time span also correlated with an uptick in crashes.
What’s the best way for to highlight its ConnectedDrive system? Thievery, of course.
BMW’s latest online spot features the from this year’s and details how the system’s connected functionality can help out in your next jewelry heist. It’s easier to highlight in motion, so to check it out.
Plug your ears and keep your eyes glued to the screen. What we present here is rare footage of a and a side-by-side on a picturesque, chicane-filled road. The music, in typical fashion, drowns out any automotive noise, including the wondrous whirring that emanates from these magnificent machines as they whiz on down the road.
So, here’s what we’d suggest: plug your ears and imagine those sounds echoing off the nearby hills as the Roadster and Model S strut their electric stuff. Realize, too, that these electric machines are pricey and that the cost of owning one, at least for most of us, is beyond reach. At least the video if free (if, perhaps, not yet supposed to be viewable, says ). to check out the dreamy duo of Teslas in their side-by-side brilliance out on the open road.
