As an American living in Italy, there are often entire month-long stretches where I drive nothing but European cars that will sadly never come out to play on American soil. Such is the case for the abundantly adored Audi A6 Allroad Quattro seen here. I was initially of the assumption that since the had already been confirmed for the U.S. that the A6 Allroad would be coming as well, but I am dismayed to report otherwise.
Such a pity, too. The business case for giving North America the whole range of Audi models that Germany offers apparently just doesn’t pan out financially – and for some of us, it’s the old predictable story of unrequited love across the chilly Atlantic.
Team Ingolstadt brought me into their home in Neckarsulm just north of hilly Stuttgart for this drive through the area’s precisely cultivated fields of hops. The aroma of beer is everywhere here, which may go some way toward explaining just why the new A6 Allroad felt so good under and around me as we freight-trained along the Swabian two-lanes.
High gas prices burning through your checking account faster than a through premium? At least one analyst the pressure might drop soon. , senior analyst for thinks fuel prices have peaked for the year, with the national average sitting at $3.92 for the last week. According to USA Today, DeHaan expects average national gas price to fall to $3.70 before May.
If you’re the type to send Thank You cards, keep in mind all those owners who have sacrificed driving pleasure for greater fuel economy, and the leadership in who have kept things kind of quiet over there for a few days. Depending on your political bent, you can also thank either the and/or for fostering a slow economy. All those elements contributed to lower oil prices and, in turn, lower gas prices. In contrast, the Federal Energy Administration is still predicting a $4.01/gal peak next month.
Either way, don’t rush out and buy that gas-guzzling supercar just yet. Any number of factors could send fuel prices flaring. Meanwhile, enjoy your cheap, $3.92/gal regular while it lasts.
A few years ago, we brought you on the speculative values of Pagani supercars. Whether as investments or frivolous purchases, those with the means, it seemed, were paying well above list price to get their hands on one of the rarest supercars on (or off) the market. But that was just as the world was on the brink of financial collapse. Surely with the global economy still in the drink years later, nobody’s paying those kinds of figures for something as extravagant as an exotic supercar… right?
Wrong. In fact, it seems, the value for Pagani models has only gone up. According to Evo magazine editor-in-chief (and Zonda owner) Harry Metcalfe, buyers with the means are paying as much as double the already grandiose list price to get their hands on a Zonda or Huayra. Apparently the white Huayra that Pagani displayed at the never reached the Middle Eastern buyer who ordered it a year prior and was supposed to take delivery after the show, having flipped it to another buyer who was willing to pay him an astounding 1.8 million euros for the car. That’s $2.35 million in American greenbacks, or twice the 900,000 euro ($1.18m) list price.
Think that was an isolated incident? Hardly. A Zonda F Roadster (said to be the last ever made), a 2008 Zonda F coupe and a used Zonda C12S were all, according to Metcalfe’s sources, recently sold for double their MSRPs. So if you’ve been scrimping and saving every dime to get your hands on a Pagani, better keep saving.
According to a report from Car and Driver, documents submitted to the California Air Resources Board and to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration both point to a new arrival in the line: a turbocharged hatch called the 500T Sport. The NHTSA document was a key for decoding a car’s VIN, the “500T Sport” moniker appearing in the Series classification. The CARB paperwork approved California’s certification of a boosted 1.4-liter engine for an unnamed product, along with the the Dodge Dart and , which use the same engine.
There is currently a 59-horsepower spread between the 500 and the 500 Abarth, as well as a $6,500 difference in MSRP, which is a chasm offering plenty of space to mine a middle model.
C/D figures the 500T Sport will put out something around 130 hp and debut sometime over the next year, and a fan site, Fiat500USA, has found the car we’ll get.
History has a way of aggrandizing the fallen, but few drivers have been as dearly missed as Gilles Villeneuve. Renowned for his ability to wrestle blistering lap times – often sideways – out of some of the most difficult cars to handle, the French Canadian driver remains a fan favorite to legions of Formula 1 fans and tifosi the world over.
Tragically, Gilles died in a crash while qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix in 1982. With the thirtieth anniversary of his death coming up, is planning a tribute event at its Fiorano test track in Maranello that will reunite the Villeneuve name with the Scuderia to which he gave his life.
On May 8, Gilles’ son Jacques Villeneuve will pilot the Ferrari 312 T4 that his father drove to three victories and four second-place finishes to help Ferrari secure the constructors’ title and his teammate Jody Scheckter the drivers’ title.
It may prove the first time in Jacques’ career that he’ll drive a Ferrari F1 car. A former world champion himself, Jacques had reportedly been offered a seat at Ferrari after winning the title in 1997, but turned it down to pursue the opportunity to build up the British American Racing team that would later be taken over by , win the title as Brawn GP and rebrand itself under the banner under which it races today.
It’s not much of a stretch to imagine plonking down the six figures it would take to drive home in a , assuming your pocketbook were so well endowed. After all, when it comes to boulevard cruisers, it doesn’t get much more luxurious. That’s what most might do, but Roland Hall is not most people. Instead of simply dropping by the local Rolls dealer and ordering his DHC, he commissioned Pininfarina to build him something more unique.
The result was the the Hyperion – a one-off convertible penned by no less regarded a talent than Jason Castriota. The car was rumored to be up for sale off and on, but has now popped up at a showroom in Abu Dhabi where it is for sale at an undisclosed price. Previous reports put its MSRP at around $6 million, and if anyone has that kind of scrap to blow on the ultimate status symbol, they probably live nearby.
If you’re anything like us, you likely have more than a few remote controlled cars collecting dust in the basement. Instructables.com has taken the time to show us just what can be accomplished with a little time and motivation using those machines and some low-buck electronics. Namely, your own battery-powered autonomous machine.
Randy Sarafan has worked up a step-by step instruction manual for creating a basic robot capable of sensing and avoiding obstacles of its own accord. While basic, the platform allows for greater customization, including more complex logic and the addition of an array of sensors.
Sounds like a good time to us. You can click to check out a video of Sarafan’s machine or head over to for the full briefing. If you get crazy with your own R/C collection, be sure to drop us a line and show us what you came up with.
By the early 1950s, Alfa Romeo had grown tired of dominating (and spending huge sums of money on) grand prix racing, and shut down its program. Along with it, a program to develop a small-displacement two-liter V8 was aborted. But Alfa couldn’t keep away from racing altogether for very long, and by the early 60s the factory noticed that its customers were competing in endurance sportscar races and set about fielding its own works effort.
Development of the high-revving 2.0-liter V8 picked up again, finding its way into a variety of prototypes and GTs, but this was arguably the most alluring. Shortly after its debut in 1967, the T33/2 scored an impressive 1-2-3 class finish (and 5-6-7 overall) in the 24 Hours of Daytona, giving the car its nickname. And while Alfa and its racing partner Autodelta kept notoriously sketchy historical records on their racing cars, chassis 75033.029 is believed to be one of the most successful.
The extensive history of the vehicle you see here – regarded as one of the most desirable of racing Alfas of an era that stretches from the 1960s through the 70s – includes victory at the 500 km of Imola in 1968, punctuating a series of races campaigned by the works Alfa/Autodelta team and various privateers that followed. You can read more about the Tipo 33/2 Daytona in the text after the jump ahead of its consignment to the RM Auctions event in Monaco next month, or you could let the pictures in the high-res image gallery speak for themselves.
Episode #277 of the is here, and this week, Chris, Dan, and Executive Editor Chris Paukert are joined by to chat about the . Your questions and comments power the end of the ‘cast, and for those of you who hung with us live on our , thanks for taking the time. We’ve embedded our Q&A module for you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #276:
In the Autoblog Garage
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Runtime: 01:26:42
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While we’ve already reported that BMW’s from is , this footage all but confirms it. Britain’s Car magazine has over a minute of video showing a rather sporting three-door testing at the Nürburgring.
Of course, this latest bit of news only for us North American lovers. We’ve yet to see a 1 Series hatchback of any sort for sale on our shores, and whether the new F20 hatch is headed our way is entirely up in the air. Outside of the bizarre , BMW has been reticent to sell a hatch here since the E36 318ti, which has been out of production for a solid decade now.
While we loved the , now that its one-and-done model year is over, it would be dandy if BMW would throw us a bone and ship the M135i here. With rumors of all-wheel-drive availability and 300-plus horsepower coming from BMW’s TwinTurbo, three-liter inline-six, it looks to be one heck of a car.
Back in February, announced a to its entry-level model – the – for European markets, and subsequently it to the public at the . Of course, we knew it would only be a matter of time until the updated Vantage would find its way Stateside, and that time has now come.
Many of the updates are borrowed from the slightly up-market Vantage S, including some mild cosmetic changes and the optional seven-speed Sportshift II sequential transmission replacing the clunkier six-speed version that preceded it. The suspension and brakes have also been upgraded on the new model, but the 4.7-liter V8 and its 420 horsepower carry over unchanged.
So how much will a new V8 Vantage set you back with all these updates? $118,370 for the coupe, or $132,870 for the Roadster – which actually represents a slight discount over the previous coupe model and a negligible increase on the convertible. Like what you see? You’re invited to dive into the full press release and specifications , along with the high-resolution images in the gallery above.
While we normally don’t care whether or not Justin Beiber wakes up and takes a breath each morning, it is unfortunate news when the teen pop idol is produced by one of the world’s best designers, and then proceeds to wrap it in chrome, stick on some fuscia LEDs and drive it around on giant black wheels.
Celebrity-stalking site TMZ caught the Beiber taking his one true love, the also-famous-for-reasons-beyond-our-comprehension Selena Gomez, to Chick-fil-A in the reflective Karma. The editors at TMZ seem to agree with us that Bieber’s treatment of his Karma is criminal, but were surprised to discover that chroming one’s car is well within the rule of law.
That doesn’t mean the Bieb’s daily driver is entirely copacetic, as the tiny strip of fuscia LEDs installed under the front grille violate California law. It also violates the laws of good taste, but that’s just our opinion.
How’d you like to go see Metallica at this summer’s Orion music fest? Sounds good to us, but this makes it even better; the cost: Free.
Yes, that’s right, if you’re into the hot rod and custom scene and you want to display your car or bike there, the band will comp you two passes to the weekend’s festivities. It turns out that besides being the lead singer of Metallica, James Hetfield (that’s him in the picture above) is a big car guy. One who wants to share his automotive passion with his legions of fans, hence the Custom Car and Motorcycle Show planned as part of the two-day Orion festival, scheduled for June 23-24 in Atlantic City, NJ.
To stock the 300-plus field of cars and bikes Metallica has planned, they’re looking for entries and dangling the aforementioned free tickets as bait. Entry is restricted to 1972 and earlier American models and the deadline is May 15. (Full details are available at the Orion .) It won’t be Pebble Beach, but hey, we’re pretty sure there’s more fun to be had headbanging to “Metallica” (a.k.a. The Black Album) and “Ride The Lightning,” which the band will be performing in their entirety on consecutive nights, than standing around on a golf course in a blue blazer anyway. If Metallica isn’t your bag, the Orion festival will also feature performances from acts like the Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, Modest Mouse and comedian Jim Breuer.
to watch a video of Hetfield talking about his love of classic cars.
These days, most models are about as likely to get your pulse up as the latest hardware from Frigidaire. But it wasn’t always so. There was a time when Toyota counted itself among the world’s sports car manufacturers with vehicles like the Supra, Celica All Trac and MR-2. Those two-doors helped forge generations of enthusiasts before the company shuttered its go-fast ambitions, a door that is only now starting to open again thanks to the new GT 86/ codeveloped with . Now, according to Automotive News, the company has unveiled a new development and manufacturing framework designed to aid in producing more exciting vehicles. According to CEO Akio Toyoda, the revamped system will allow the company to design multiple models at the same time to reduce costs.
It will also cut the number of executives tied to the design review process to streamline decisionmaking. The company says that with too many people involved, vehicles have been built by “eliminating negatives” instead of focusing on their strengths. Added cooperation between the automaker’s planning and design units may foster more innovative styling, including models with lower centers of gravity and better aerodynamics. Think .
The Toyota New Global Architecture will first be applied to front-wheel drive models.
The is the new face of the brand, and as it turns out, that spindle-grilled mug can take a serious punch. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has named the GS a Top Safety Pick after the reshaped Lexus sedan held strong in front, side and rollover crash testing.
To earn a Top Safety Pick designation, a car, truck or utility vehicle must achieve a top score of “Good” in front, side and rear impact crash tests. The IIHS test features taller cement crash barriers to simulate a collision with a larger vehicle and the front impact test is conducted at a speed of 40 miles per hour. The vehicle must also feature stability control and a roof that maintains integrity even at a weight equal to or greater than four times that of the vehicle. The IIHS reports that the GS could withstand 4.88 times its 3,715 pound weight.
The GS joins the and the as the third Lexus model to net a Top Safety Pick.
Former General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz went bicep-to-bicep with “America’s ballsiest pundit,” Stephen Colbert, last night – and came out ahead. Ostensibly, Lutz was on Colbert to talk about his new book, Car Guys Vs. Bean Counters, but as one might expect, the discussion veered into Mitt Romney vs. President Obama territory pretty quickly.
The actual car industry part of the discussion, though, revealed more potential good news for the , the car that Lutz is obviously trying to make his legacy and called “a huge success.” Sure, Colbert talked about , but Lutz responded by predicting that sales would be “about 3,000 a month from here on out.” This would not only set a new record (Volt sales for March 2012 , the highest so far) but would also put GM’s plug-in car into the 36,000-a-year range. That’s commendable, but still this year. Of course, Akerson’s 60,000 number could have included the Opel Ampera and its Vauxhall twin. In any case, things are looking up for the Volt, and that’s something Lutz is more than happy to tell Colbert or anyone else. Watch the video – including an impromptu push-up contest between the two – right now by .
The Most Fun You Can Have In A Full-Size, All-Weather American
The American full-size segment isn’t an overly welcoming place for those of us who worship at the altar of skinny-pedal antics. While European automakers are happy to deliver their customers a raft of monolithic luxury barges with Saturn V levels of thrust, We The People have been largely left with coma-inducing hardware like the , and . Meanwhile, bruisers like the , and all boast all-wheel drive capability with sports-car besting performance cocooned in the threads of a tailored three-piece suit. These days, if you want serious big-car, bad-weather go with a domestic badge on the hood, you have just a few options, including the .
So far, says it hasn’t had any trouble convincing buyers to abandon traditional big-boned performance vehicles for the SHO resurrection. Around 10 percent of all Taurus sales leave the showroom with a SHO badge on the fender, and half of the performance sedan’s sales have been conquest buyers sniped from brands like and . For 2013, this D-class athlete boasts a slew of mid-cycle changes to keep the model fresh. If, like us, you have a hard time imagining a buyer skipping the 5 Series for a Taurus, a few new exterior tweaks, a more aggressive brake system, a reworked version of MyFord Touch and a new track performance package are all designed to help change your mind.
The second coming is finally here, and it goes by the title of the 2013 Porsche Cayenne GTS. Porsche has put 20 more horses under the hood to bring matters to 420 horsepower, and to get more out of them it has lowered the chassis a further 20 mm and installed a lower final-drive ratio. The one unkind note: whereas the first GTS was available with a six-speed manual, this one is fitted exclusively with Porsche’s eight-speed Tiptronic S paddleshift gearbox.
In the search for improved fuel economy, stop-start is standard, and when things get underway, the extra go-fast means a 5.4-second roar from zero to 60 mph. Along with unique side skirts and wheel arches, features only on the GTS include new Peridot Metallic (as shown) and Carmine Red paint, unique 20-inch wheels and eight-way GTS seats inside. There’s an available Sport Chrono package to keep tabs on your 162-mph SUV, but that won’t be included in the $82,050 base price (which includes $975 in delivery fees).
The GTS will be revealed at the later this month, but you can find out more in the video and press release and get few choice glimpses in the gallery of high-res photos.
What is thought to be a band of thieves broke into eight cars at a park-and-ride lot in Salem, New Hampshire. Then it is thought they went next door to Cars, Inc. and stole a , a and a 2003 . The and getaway drivers reportedly went on about their business quietly. The driver, on the other hand, decided to flaunt what he got: at 2 a.m. he drove eight miles over the border to Methuen, Massachusetts, pulled into the local police station and did donuts in their front lot.
But wait, there’s more: he took off, entertained himself for two hours, then went back to the police station at 4 a.m. and whipped up a few more hot, rubbery circles. A police cruiser was on scene and gave chase, but the 911 pilot got away.
A little later in Lawrence, MA, two miles from Methuen, someone called police to report a rolled 911. The stolen wheels were recovered, the thief in question was not. We have no doubt the Methuen PD – once the screaming stops – is preparing to put that through a forensic and DNA investigation that would make CSI proud. for the news report from WHDH.
knows sound, and it wants its upcoming plug-in cars to have as distinctive a grumble as possible, just like its fossil-fuel-burning brethren. That’s why Audi engineers are working on “new sound signatures” for future models. You can tell how seriously Audi is taking this by the way it references the sounds a car makes to music and “emotional sound structures” in the press release .
The stated reason for all this e-sound work is so pedestrians will be able to hear the near-silent EVs, but you could just use any old beep to meet that requirement. Audi wants something a bit more refined, to stand out from the space-y blips that the puts out or the E-Golf’s .
to see a video of the Audi e-sound in progress. In its current form, the sound changes based on what the e-tron is doing. It comes out of a speaker blasting up to 40 watts that is attached to the bottom of the car.
Of course, the question from some blind-advocacy groups is whether having each EV make its own sound is reasonable, or if there should be one “EV sound” that all battery-powered cars are required to emit to tell those with limited sight “a car is nearby.” In the U.S., the laws governing EV sounds are not yet set, but some sort of low-speed warning requirement seems to be coming.
