Like the existing but not such a fan of its incredibly boxy styling? Or like the styling just fine but just wish it had a diesel? Well we’ve got good news for you, friends, because has just taken the wraps off a revised model that aims to remedy both.
Not only does the 2013 GLK-Class get the familiar new family face, but what’s behind it has been replaced as well. That means a direct-injection 3.5-liter V6 for the GLK350 that’s more powerful and more efficient than the powerplant it replaces, and also a 2.1-liter turbodiesel that joins the family wearing GLK250 BlueTEC badging.
The interior has been updated as well, all of which Mercedes surely hopes will help it fend off advances from the , the , and the rumored baby from . Take a closer look at the updated GLK in our high-res gallery of live images from the floor above and the stock shots in the gallery below for a closer look.
The wait is finally over. … excuse us, has officially pulled the wraps off the 2013 , and it’s everything we were hoping it would be. Let’s discuss numbers: 640 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque from a front/mid-mounted 8.4-liter V10 and the best power-to-weight ratio of any Viper ever built.
Two models will be available, the standard high-performance SRT and GTS.
In fact, the 2013 SRT Viper’s 4.9 pounds per horsepower puts it just behind the and and ahead of such performance stalwarts as the and . What’s more, this engine has no turbocharger or supercharger, and those 600 lb-ft make this V10 the most torque-rich naturally aspirated production engine in the world.
Two models will be available, the standard high-performance SRT and GTS. The SRT is meant to “offer a perfect blend of extreme performance and a deliberate preservation of what has become the iconic DNA of the Viper,” says Ralph Gilles, President and CEO of the Street and Racing Technology Brand and Motorsports. Buyers looking for a little more technology can opt for the GTS, which adds such niceties as a two-mode active suspension and interior creature comforts not normally associated with the Viper.
The 2013 Viper isn’t just about power, either. Chassis updates are plentiful and include a beautiful X-brace up front that helps the new platform boast a 50-percent increase in rigidity over the last Viper. To help the driver maintain control, the 2013 Viper is fitted with stability and traction control (both fully defeatable, says Gilles) along with Pirelli P Zero Z-rated tires that were designed specifically for the Viper in massive 355 sizes in back and 295 up front. Three different wheels will be available, with five or six spokes in polished, matte black or gloss black finishes, along with a special lightweight set as part of the SRT Track Package.
Inside, the Viper is more luxurious than ever before, with seats from Sabelt (the same supplier used by ) and a seven-inch LCD screen directly in front of the driver that’s configurable with a whole slew of custom operations. Chrysler’s stellar 8.4-inch Uconnect Media Center is also included, as is a Harmon Kardon sound system. Oh, and for the first time ever, cruise control is standard.
For the first time ever, cruise control is standard.
Though first and foremost a street car, SRT fully intends to establish the 2013 Viper’s racing credentials early and often. Viper will return to the American Le Mans Series in 2012, fielding a two-car team driven by Dominik Farnbacher, Marc Goossens, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Kuno Wittmer. And gaming fans aren’t left out, either – SRT has worked with the Forza Motorsport 4 crew to make sure the 2013 SRT Viper is available soon as DLC.
There’s lots more information in the press release and videos , but we suggest you check out our high-res image galleries first, as this Viper is one beautiful machine.
The has made its long-awaited debut at the 2012 New York Auto Show. In an effort to further distance the model from the very successful , the MKZ now wears a more aerodynamic and distinctive shape, complete with a new interpretation of the family’s split wing grille. Max Wolff, the design director, says the grille is supposed to invoke the image of an eagle descending on its prey, though we see more splattered butterfly in the fascia. Still, the smallish, adaptive headlight arrays and contoured hood are a huge step forward for this luxury sedan.
Out back, massive C pillars dominate the design’s posterior, though the clipped tail and handsome trunk deck give the vehicle plenty of identity. Inside, the 2013 MKZ is beautifully executed as well, with attractive interiors and a clean center stack design made possible by the lack of a traditional gear selector.
The sedan will debut with a total of three driveline options, including a 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder good for 240 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque as the base engine. A 3.7-liter V6 is also available with 300 horsepower, while fuel-economy minded buyers can turn toward the MKZ Hybrid with its 188 horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and electric motor. So far, no EPA estimates are available for the hybrid, though the four-cylinder is expected to fetch 22 mpg city and 33 mpg on premium fuel. Expect to find front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive variants, with both non-hybrid models relying on a six-speed automatic gearbox to put power to the wheels, while the electrified four-door makes use of a CVT. for the full press release.
Once announced the SRT-built in the U.S. season of Global RallyCross Championship with ESPN, the only logical thing to do next was hand it over to Travis Pastrana for brutal treatment around Chrysler’s Chelsea Proving Grounds.
Sadly, the performance of the Dart you’ll be able to buy soon is just a tiny bit down on the 600-horsepower, all-wheel-drive sedan in the . But knowing such a beast lurks inside the Dart is – kind of – entertaining enough.
Dart Rallycross stars in first Ken Block-style vid
Attendees at the are getting their first hands-on look at the all-new , the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission’s choice to replace much of its taxi fleet beginning in late 2013. “The NV 200 unveiled today will be the safest, most comfortable and most convenient taxi the City has ever had,” said New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at a pre-show event last night. “New York City cabs have always been iconic, and now they will set a new standard. The 600,000 passengers who use taxis to get around every day deserve the cutting-edge technology and top-of-the-line safety features that this model delivers.”
The compact front-wheel drive yellow vans, fitted with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder for fuel efficiency, are loaded with features designed to keep four passengers and the driver on the other side of the partition smiling. Grab handles and sliding doors ease entry while a transparent roof panel and independently controlled rear air conditioning allows paying fares a comfortable, panoramic view of the city. Throw in mobile charging stations, antimicrobial upholstery and active carbon headliner to absorb odors, and an amusingly named “low annoyance horn” and Nissan just may have a winner on its hands – assuming cab companies and their fares embrace the rather frumpy looking things.
Nissan will build its 2014 NV200 Taxi in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Base price, with all planned standard features, will be approximately $29,700.
The isn’t the only grandiose crossover from General Motors to get the refresh treatment at the 2012 New York Auto Show. also unveiled a face-lifted version of its today.
Though the tweaks appear slight at first blush, the vehicle boasts an all-new front fascia with a redesigned grille and black-chrome accents, contoured headlamps and a more aggressive hood up front. LED daytime running lights are standard equipment, as are the LED tail lamps out back. A revised rear fascia wraps up the changes out back.
Indoors, designers threw in LED ambient lighting as well as a smattering of soft-touch materials across the dash and door panels. The cabin can be swaddled in a total of four interior combinations with associated “complimenting” wood tones. The center stack has also been reworked with touch-capacitive controls. Here’s hoping GM has better luck with the technology than what’s found on various Ford vehicles. for the full press release.
If you’ve been saving your spare change to pick up one of these new models later this year, well, now you can more accurately estimate how many wheelbarrows full of nickels you’ll need to dump into the Coinstar machine at your local grocery store.
We’ll start with the . While we already knew the six-cylinder 640i Gran Coupe would , prices on the V8 models have now been set. The 650i will sell for $87,395, while the 650i xDrive model will command $90,395. Both are powered by a twin-turbo, 445-horsepower, 4.4-liter V8, which BMW says can propel the all-wheel-drive version from 0-62 miles per hour in 4.5 seconds. (The rear-wheel-drive model is a tick slower at 4.6 seconds.) The 640i goes on sale in late June, with the V8 models coming towards the end of summer.
The M series cars will command substantially more, with the 2012 Convertible commanding all of $113,995 when it goes on sale in June. The M6 Coupe and will go on sale in late summer as 2013 models, with the M6 carrying a $106,995 MSRP and the M5 listing at $90,695. All three models will share a twin-turbo, 560-horsepower, 4.4-liter V8.
The price of a fourth M vehicle, the revised 2013 , has also been announced. It will sell for $93,795, a $2,600 increase from this year’s model. For more details, to check out the official release.
Giving the keynote speech at the today, the president and CEO of said that he stands behind his prediction that in the places they are available. He also said that he expects Nissan to sell 1.5 million zero emission cars by 2016.
Ghosh brushed off a question about by pointing out that the Leaf is still constrained by supply, given the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last year as well as the strong yen. Leaf production in the UK and U.S. that will start in the near future (later this year for , early 2013 for ) will make the car more available to more people. “I don’t want you to take a one-month or two-month sales result in one particular market to try to make your opinion about the evolution of a very important technology for the industry,” he said. “I think the electric car will hold its promises. All the stars are lining up to make it a very important segment. … I am not at all changing my bullish approach.”
Ghosn has reason to be bullish. Nissan has sold 27,000 Leafs worldwide since introducing the car in late 2010, and 11,000 of those sales were in the U.S. And, he added, “The Nissan Leaf has had no quality problems.”
Looking forward, Ghosn also said that the challenge is to reduce the cost, size and weight of the battery and “we have to do it fast” because government incentives will not last forever. Luckily, the industry has changed enough in the last half-decade to make this possible. He said:
One of the biggest evolutions we are seeing in our industry is the battery. As you know, when we started our electric car goals, it was in 2006, there were not a lot of battery makers in the world. Fortunately, with our drive and with the drive of other carmakers, the number of battery makers and companies investing in batteries has really been impressive. Today, you can find very good batteries, extremely competitive, in Korea, in Japan, in the United States. The Chinese are investing in batteries. … The life of the battery is going to be longer than the life of the car.
has finally pulled the sheets back on its . The convertible counterpart to the hardtop that debuted at the Geneva Motor Show bows with the same vicious turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 under the hood. Good for 560 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque and mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, the convertible should be able to launch to 62 mph in around 4.1 seconds. BMW hasn’t mentioned the weight difference between the hardtop and the convertible, though the automaker stressed the 2013 model has shed significant weight over its predecessor. The “base” 2013 BMW M6 Convertible will leave the showroom with 19-inch M-designed wheels, though larger 20-inch alloys are also available.
The vehicle will land on U.S. shores this summer ahead of its hardtop brethren. The big question is whether or not BMW will offer the convertible with an honest manual gearbox. So far, BMW hasn’t said much in that direction beyond saying the possibility is “under consideration.” Given the M6 Convertible target demographic, we’d say that we doubt it, but you never know – BMW has had a noteworthy habit of building America-only manual transmissions models as of late. for the full press release.
Everything has been thrown at the 2013 to make it not only the largest SUV Mercedes offers, but the equivalent of a jacked-up . It grows by an inch in length and gets fractionally wider and taller, with the extra size providing more head, shoulder and elbow room for all three rows of passengers. It is also loaded with new standard features like a “photo quality” color instrument display, self-leveling air suspension, Collision Prevention Assist and Crosswind Stabilization.
Three flavors are available: the V6 GL350 BlueTec, and the two twin-turbo V8s in the GL450 and GL550, each with more power than before. The GL350 gets 240 horsepower and 455 pound-feet, up 30 hp and 55 lb-ft; the GL450 returns 362 hp and 406 lb-ft, a raise of 27 hp and 67 lb-ft; the kingly GL550 turns out 429 hp and 516 lb-ft, up by 47 hp and a not-inconsequential 127 lb-ft.
Of course, being Mercedes, the options list has expanded, too, with details such as the On- and Off-Road Package and Active Curve System to help you maintain steady control of the beast no matter the surroundings. for all the details, and take a glance at it in the gallery of high-res photos above.
General Motors has just unveiled its facelifted at the today. The big crossover has abandoned the company’s corporate grille in favor of a new design that’s expected to eventually make its way to the rest of the utility vehicle stable. With three chrome-finish bars across the upper grille inlet, more expressive headlamp arrays and a new foglight design, the 2013 Traverse looks a bit more conservative and polished than it did before, at least from up front. Move past the A-pillar, however, and the vehicle looks plenty familiar. Even with a new hatch, redesigned taillamps and a modestly massaged rear valance, the 2013 Traverse hasn’t strayed too far from its family-minded original recipe.
Likewise, the 2013 model’s drivetrain remains untouched as well. The same 3.6-liter V6 puts down 288 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque through either the front wheels or an all-wheel drive system and the six-speed automatic has been reworked for quicker shifting.
Buyers will be able to opt for Chevrolet’s new MyLink system, complete with Internet-based applications like Stitcher and Pandora as well as Bluetooth voice and audio capability. Like its fellow Lambda-platform sibling, the reworked , the Traverse will also be available with a new center airbag that bisects driver and front-seat passenger. for the full press release and peruse our live shots for more views of this Chevy staple.
Harmless as it may seem, the new-for-2013 actually packs quite a punch. Rated at an estimated 38 miles per gallon, it boasts the best four-cylinder fuel economy of any midsize sedan, and that’s without the use of any electric motors, turbochargers or even direct injection. Impressive stuff, and considering that the sleek new Altima starts at a cool $21,500 (not including $760 for destination), it should prove to be a worthy opponent for rivals like the and .
The engines – a 2.5-liter inline-four and 3.5-liter V6 – carry over without many changes, but the big powertrain news is that the Continuously Variable Transmission has been heavily massaged. It’s the smoother-running transmission’s revised gear ratio spread that is largely what allows for that huge fuel economy win. The fact that the Altima is 79 pounds lighter than its predecessor – the lightest car in its class, actually – certainly helps, as well.
With the Altima, also debuts its new infotainment platform, Nissan Connected, which seems to be like, well, just like every other new infotainment system that’s come to market lately. The Altima is also available equipped with lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring and moving obstacle detection that’s all wrapped in to one single wide-angle camera mounted on the car’s rump.
Check out our live shots of the Altima direct from the show floor, and to read our in-depth deep-dive of Nissan’s new midsizer.
General Motors has officially unveiled the at this year’s New York Auto Show. Riding on the same bones as the , the next-generation Impala boasts a considerably more attractive exterior with plenty of personality. Borrowing the best elements of design from the GM stable, we see more than a little and in the sedan’s front fascia and stylized hips. Buyers can look forward to either standard 18-inch wheels or a slew of larger options, including massive 20-inch rollers. Under the hood, GM has graced the 2014 Impala with a range efficient direct-injection engines, including a 2.4-liter four-cylinder paired with the automaker’s eAssist hybrid system.
With 182 horsepower and 172 pound-feet of torque, the drivetrain falls well short of the 288 horsepower offered up by the , though it does so while returning significantly better fuel economy. GM Says the four-cylinder Impala will return 35 mpg highway, six mpg better than the full-size .
Those who need a little extra grunt can step up to the company’s tried-and-true 3.6-liter V6 with 303 horsepower and 234 lb-ft of torque, and there’s also a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder available that produces 195 horsepower, while all three engines are mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox. for the official press release from Chevrolet, and check our galleries of live and official images while you’re at it.
Interested in purchasing a ? Heck, why not just buy the whole company? If you’re in the market, you’ve got until April 10 to put in a bid, and at present, the only rival you have is China’s .
Chances are, according to the administrators in charge of Saab’s liquidation, the sale of Saab assets – which includes Saab Automobile, Saab Automobile Powertrain and Saab Automobile Tools, among others – won’t cover the automaker’s debt of somewhere between $1.8 and $2 billion (12-13 billion kronor).
Rumor has it that there are a few more potential suitors waiting in the wings, such as India’s , but none have come out expressing public interest in the bankrupt Swedish brand. Seems everyone is waiting until the last minute, eBay style.
is hard at work on the newest interpretation of the Cooper S John Cooper Works GP we recently . Speaking just ahead of the New York Auto Show, Kay Segler, the senior vice president of the Mini brand, said the vehicle will debut in around five weeks time at the Circuit Paul Ricard F1 track in Le Castellet, France during a Mini community event.
That’s exciting, but not nearly as much as news that the new machine is plenty quick. As you may recall, our spy photographers spotted the Cooper S JCW GP just outside of the infamous Nürburgring. Segler says he’s personally driven the machine, and that he knows for a fact that the vehicle is a full 20 seconds faster around the road course than its predecessor. Segler declined to announce the exact time.
Twenty seconds is a huge amount of time in any form of motorsports, and that’s doubly true for ‘Ring times. The original Cooper S JCW GP boasted just 215 horsepower but shed an impressive amount of weight to stay quick. The new model is expected to bring around 220 hp to the party along with significant weight reductions of its own. Still, a 5-hp nudge hardly explains a 20-second improvement around the Nürburgring. Stay tuned.
To hear tell the story, the is super popular with the public. True, it was one of the ten best-selling cars the U.S. last year, but take away sales to rental, government and commercial fleets, and we’d bet our last dollar that the Impala is no more popular than its competitors, probably less so considering its age. That’s why Chevrolet is hoping its all-new Impala for 2013 will do what the last model couldn’t: attract folks who don’t buy their large sedans in bulk.
The 2013 Chevrolet Impala clearly looks considerably better and more modern than the car it replaces, which hadn’t received a thorough redesign since 2005. The face up front is the Bowtie brand’s new corporate visage, which can also be seen on the refreshed . It’s an attractive mug with clean lines, little-to-no clutter and a full suite of high-tech HID and LED lighting elements. At least in pictures, the rest of the new Impala looks brawny and muscular compared to the last model’s antiseptic lines. Its wheels, meanwhile, will range in size from a large 18 inches in diameter to a super-sized 20 inches.
We also universally approve of the Impala’s new interior design, which sports a dual-cockpit concept, as well as a 4.2-inch information screen between the gauges and an eight-inch screen atop the center stack. However, we’re having a hard time with that steering wheel, which doesn’t live up to the rest of the cabin’s aesthetic standards.
Power for the new Impala will come from a range of three engines, all featuring direct injection: a 2.4-liter four-cylinder with eAssist producing 182 horsepower/172 pound-feet and achieving an estimated 35 mpg highway, a 2.5-liter four-cylinder producing 195 hp/187 lb-ft and a 3.6-liter V6 producing 303 hp/264 lb-ft. All will mate to a six-speed automatic and drive the front wheels only.
The Impala has also received a slew of new available active and passive safety systems, including Full-Speed-Range Adaptive Cruise Control, Collision Mitigation Braking, Forward Collision Alert, Lane Departure Warning, Side Blind Zone Alert and Rear Cross Traffic Alert.
We’ve included the official press release from Chevrolet below and will update the gallery will more official images as soon as they’re available. And later today we’ll show you what the Impala looks like in person from the floor of the .
Overheard at the reveal event for the this evening: This is the car you buy your secretary.
Yes, the altogether good-looking Atlantic sets a new high for plug-inhybrid looks, and even though is tight-lipped about things like all-electric range, cost or an estimated delivery date, for now the car speaks for itself. All anyone would tell us is that the Atlantic will come in at “a much lower price point than the Karma,” as Fisker executive chairman Henrik Fisker put it, suggesting something in the range of the or “the upper end of the .” So, $45,000? In any case, Fisker seems to have learned its lesson with the Karma situation/delay, and is keeping mum about its future plans.
One thing Fisker was very happy to talk about was that the Atlantic is a car that will be built and will go into production. It is “a promise we are going to deliver,” he said.
Whenever the Atlantic arrives, it is most likely going to be incredibly similar to what we see in the pictures here (and in ). Fisker said that his company does not do concepts – see how little the Karma changed between auto show reveal and showroom. And that’s fine by us. The lines and angles of the little Karma might be too busy for some, but in person they most certainly work. One thing to note is that in person the headlights have a frozen/frosted look that offers an ‘eagle eye’ with a strength of strong character not seen on a production car before,” the Fisker press release says.
Despite the off-hand suggestion from the peanut gallery that this is a car for those with a bit of money to throw around, Fisker repeatedly emphasized the practicality of the Atlantic. For one thing, it will have the second-generation EVer (Electric Vehicle with extended range) powertrain that incorporates a BMW four-cylinder gasoline engine, because, Fisker said, “range equals freedom.” He also showed the gathered media how the rear seats fold down and called it “a pure family vehicle.” Must be nice to be in that family.
Your nitro-fueled R/C racer may look all badass and be really fast, but it’s got its limitations. Namely, walls. The Sand Flea robot shown above, developed by Boston Dynamics, won’t win any races or beauty contests, but it laughs at walls. More precisely, it just leaps over them.
The little bot, which scoots around like a regular all-terrain R/C car, is equipped with a CO2-powered piston that gives it the ability to leap 30 feet in the air. When presented with a challenge, the Sand Flea stops, tilts, and launches up and over the obstacle in front of it. The video showing it in action, , is simultaneously astonishing and hilarious (especially when you to each leap). On a full charge, the Flea can make 25 jumps. A gyroscope keeps it stabilized while airborne, and its wheels act as the cushion upon landing.
Funding for the project comes from , the , and the Army’s , and it’s meant to bolster the military’s ever-expanding arsenal of reconnaissance tools. As such, that the Sand Flea is headed to the for safety certification, after which several examples will head to Afghanistan for some real field testing.
Among the many exploits of Ken Block we’ve posted on over the years, we’ve always loved of his fitted with tracks at all four corners. So when we got a tip on an eBay Motors auction for a similarly equipped , we were tempted to head up I-75 to check out the car in person.
The is for sale in Chassell, MI, some 550 miles north of Detroit in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, way up in the Keweenaw Peninsula, which extends into the middle of Lake Superior. With apologies to our friends in Canada, it’s about as far north as you want to go when the snow flies. And the snow flies a lot in the Keweenaw, thanks to a wicked lake effect that dumps more than 200 inches of the white stuff every winter. Yes, that’s over 17 feet of snow, but it’s nothing compared to the winter of 1978-1979, when the area got almost 30. So if you’re wondering why anyone not named Ken Block would fit a track system to their , well, now you know.
Alas, this year Michigan has not seen much in the way of winter, even up in the frosty north country. With just 120 inches of snow through the end of February and temperatures that pushed into the upper 70s on St. Patrick’s Day, getting around the Keweenaw right now does not require tank-like traction – or even four-wheel-drive.
Whether that’s motivated the seller or not, we don’t know, but we do know what would motivate us to buy: The promise of next winter.
Click to see video of this eBay Motors find kicking up rooster tails, or check out all the pictures in our .
Electric vehicle owners like to think of themselves as green, but that color may be taking on a more glowing, radioactive hue in Japan.
The ecologically friendly reputation of electric cars in Japan is taking a hit since last year’s meltdowns of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant have made more people concerned about a primary source of electricity throughout the country, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.
The meltdown – caused my last March’s earthquake and ensuing tsunami – created a 12-mile radius around Fukushima where people are barred . Before last year’s disaster, the Japanese government planned on having nuclear power eventually supply half of the country’s electricity, up from a third, but those plans have been put on hold.
Nissan, which has said it expects to sell 1.5 million electric vehicles around the world by 2015, has sold just 12,000 battery-electric in Japan since launching the model in 2010, according to the report. There have been positive associations drawn between (, too) and Nissan even touted the way .
Rising gas prices make charging an EV in Japan about 90 percent less expensive than filling a tank. That said, electricity prices may spike expenses stemming from fixing the Fukushima plant increase. The higher cost might be the way EVs could get lumped together with nuclear energy in some consumers’ minds.
