Today is the day that racing fans have been looking forward to. The cars have been unveiled, the drivers announced, the calendar confirmed and everything is in place. Today is race day.
After an off season that saw two teams resolve their naming-rights dispute, one driver sued by a team owner over a brawl in a Shanghai night-club, and the much-anticipated return of a former world champion, the 2012 Formula One World Championship got underway today in Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix.
We won’t press it yet, but let’s just say our hand is hovering over the big red “Vaporware!” button we keep armed for just such announcements. DiMora Motorcars still owes us – – the $2-million SLS 2 sedan with its 1,200-horsepower Volcano V16 engine, and .
While we wait for it, DiMora has seen fit to announce not just a new car, but a new division with two new cars said to be “nearing completion.” The Neoclassic Automobiles Subsidiary will, depending on your credulity, be producing the Adina Sportster and Vicci 6.2 Super-Coupe. The Adina is a Morgan-like roadster powered by a General Motors LS3 V8 with 431 horsepower.
The Vicci (pictured) gets either the LS3 or the Corvette ZR1’s LS9 with 638 running through a six-speed manual, six-speed automatic or – prepare to step in your Wayback Machine – a four-speed auto. Its faux Talbot-Lago lines hide a carbon fiber dash, paddle-shifters and a stereo that displays engine diagnostics. Assuming it gets made.
for the press release with info on two possible, but unlikely, limited-edition future cars.
If you live in a city where parking is scarce, you won’t like hearing this. MIT Professor Eran Ben-Joseph has written a book titled Rethinking a Lot: The Design and Culture of Parking, and the gist is that the U.S. has far too many parking spaces.
Ben-Joseph estimates that there are 800 million parking spots across the U.S., taking up enough space to cover Puerto Rico in asphalt. In fact, Ben-Joseph says that many large cities have up to one third of their overall space dedicated to parking.
So what’s wrong with a glut of parking lots? For starters, they’re made of asphalt, which absorbs energy from the sun, which warms the ambient temperature. The lots also lead to faster water runoff, which hurts the ability of plants to remove toxins from the air.
The book doesn’t paint parking lots in a positive light, but we’re guessing there isn’t much that will be done to change the issue, at least in the short term. We are, after all, a country of auto owners, and we need a place to park our four-wheeled friends. And it’s not like we’re going to replace open lots with a glut of parking structures, since those can cost four times as much money to build.
Samuel Hübinette, two-time Formula D champion, will not return for the 2012 Formula Drift pro championship season. “Two of our main sponsors changed their marketing direction, so we decided that the best thing to do with the SHR drift car is to focus on doing demos,” said Hübinette, driver and team owner of Team Samuel Hübinette Racing. But don’t think team SHR has lost its competitiveness. While drifting has been put on the back burner, Hübinette (the “Crazy Swede”) has refocused his team on rallycross and off-road truck competitions.
Born in Sweden, Hübinette earned an early reputation for pushing motorcycles, cars and snowmobiles to the limit. He worked for Volvo Cars as a test driver in product development and was on the company’s Touring Car racing team from 1997 through 2000. Since moving to the United States 2004, he has secured a bronze medal in the X Games, won two Formula Drift championships, and driven in the Baja 1000. He is also a working stunt driver in Hollywood productions.
Not only has Hübinette been one of the top names in drifting, but he maintains the record for most Formula D victories. “We will miss having a competitor like Samuel this season,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula Drift.
An automotive enthusiast and a vehicle specialist have endeavored to create a modern interpretation of a storied 1930s sports car. Neil Watson introduced the original Atalanta Sports Tourer 75 years ago, and to mark the occasion, Martyn Corfield and Trevor Farrington crafted a new version of the vehicle that combines modern engineering with the classic lines of the first Sports Tourer.
Details are worryingly scarce about the vehicle’s driveline, but we’re told that 85 percent of the vehicle is unique to the Atalanta brand, including certain castings, the axles, and the steering system, among other components. That also means the revival vehicle is likely to carry a price tag as stunning as the vehicle’s exterior. Unsurprisingly, the company has yet to say a word regarding the MSRP.
Atalanta is now accepting orders for the Sports Tourer, and buyers can custom tailor each car to their tastes. Whether that extends beyond the typical interior appointments wheel-and-color options to include driveline options remains to be seen. Hit the jump for the full press release.
The wowed us at the with its handsome styling and luxe interior fitment, so much so that we wondered aloud if this is the new family of small cars that Daimler has promised the U.S. market for 2013. According to a firsthand tip, the A-Class has already made a trip to Hollywood for a close-up. Taking advantage of the well-established motion picture industry, Mercedes-Benz sent its small wonder to Los Angeles for a 5-day working vacation to shoot a commercial.
Camera department pro Nic Restrepo tells Autoblog:
“This is such an awesome car! WAY nicer and better looking than its competition (A3…). This AMG-badged model had all the big Benz amenities; Self Park assist, lane departure, blind spot warning, Alcantara covered racing seats, dual clutch trans etc. The interior on this thing is head and shoulders above ANY compact I’ve ever worked with. The dash has this beautiful carbon fiber cloth that’s soft to the touch like suede, and it’s layed on like a fabric, feels like a pillow…a carbon fiber pillow.”
It looked great while being chased around by the , and the A-Class made a good impression with the French Rallycross driver hired to fling the car around for the shoot. All who laid eyes upon the car seem to agree with our impression from the show floor, that there’s a lot of big-Benz nice packed into an exciting small package. Disappointingly, though, the little Benz’s corporate minders told the crew that the car is not headed to the U.S. Whether that’s a ruse or the truth, we’ll soon find out as Mercedes still has a couple tricks up its sleeve as the auto show season winds down.
Trickle-down technology is how four-wheel anti-lock braking systems went from their production debut on a 1978 to being standard equipment across the board for all vehicles on the road today. It also explains how advanced technologies like adaptive cruise control, pre-collision auto-braking and, to a lesser extent, lane departure warning, has made its way down the funnel to Subaru’s mainstream sedans, the and .
Beginning with the 2013 model year, both models will be available with the new Subaru EyeSight driver assistance system that consists of a pair of charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras mounted at the top of the windshield on either side of the rearview mirror. This is different from most car-based camera systems on the market today that use a radar-based system mounted somewhere in the front of the car, usually in the grille or front bumper. says the placement of its EyeSight cameras should help reduce the potential for damage – and likely very expensive repairs – from minor collisions.
What can EyeSight do exactly? For one, it takes stereo images of the view ahead and can detect obstacles, including pedestrians. Under 19 miles per hour, a Pre-Collision Braking System can slow the vehicle or stop it completely if an obstacle is detected and the driver doesn’t act. Above 19 mph, EyeSight can still detect objects and slow the car to mitigate damage from a collision. Likewise, the system can see when you wander outside of a lane without using your turn signal and issue an alert. Finally, EyeSight allows for Adaptive Cruise Control that’s functional between a wide range of speeds: from 1-87 mph.
Pricing for this option isn’t known yet, but EyeSight will officially debut at the on the 2013 Subaru Legacy and Outback, though buyers interested in the brand’s other products won’t have to wait long for it to trickle down to the rest of the lineup.
Police forces didn’t care much about fuel economy back in the early days of the Ford Crown Victoria, but these days, efficiency is front and center for cash-strapped municipalities. The cost of fuel keeps rising and cities continue to cut their budgets, so one or two miles per gallon might make the difference for a city deciding between a fleet of Ford’s new Taurus-based Interceptor, the Chevrolet Caprice PPV and Dodge Charger Pursuit.
And so it is with great interest we read the news today that has released official EPA-certified fuel economy figures for the new Interceptor. The base model equipped with a 3.5-liter V6 is rated at 18 miles per gallon city / 26 highway, while the twin-turbo 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 is rated at 16 mpg city / 23 highway. Finally, the Interceptor Utility (read: cop-spec ) powered by a 3.7-liter V6 returns 16 mpg city / 22 highway.
We scoured through official specs and data from Ford, and to produce the comparison table above. As you can see, the new Police Interceptor from Ford is not the precinct captain of fuel economy, not even when comparing the V6 EcoBoost model against its V8-powered competitors. The acceleration numbers, meanwhile, were all taken from the . Based on their results and the official EPA numbers that we found, the Chevrolet Caprice PPV V6 looks like the best combination of both quickness and thriftness. One thing, though, is for certain: No matter which model they choose, police forces everywhere should be saving lots of fuel compared to the aged Crown Vics in their fleets now. Learn more in Ford’s official press release .
We all tend to get a bit overzealous at times – we’ll call it part of human nature – and as many times as not, our tendencies to show off manifest themselves most when we’re behind the wheel of a hot new sports car. Like, say the brand new , also known as the here in the States, or, in form, the .
Such is the case with the unlucky fellow you’ll see in the video embedded below. During what appears to be a drive event for Toyota’s new coupe, taking place on a wet track in what we believe is Japan, one driver exceeded his talent level in a bright red GT 86, sending it careening into a makeshift wall.
The good news is that it was a low-speed mishap, which means nobody was injured and the car will need little more than a decent buffing. Or maybe a new fascia… either way, no big deal. See the video clip .
We’ve been expecting for some time that would choose to grace its stand with a variant on its new A-Class family as part of a push to bring a new range of small cars to North America. However, it now seems more likely that Los Angeles audiences will get a vision of Mercedes’ entry-level future, not New York. That’s because Mercedes has officially confirmed that it will show something called the “Concept Style Coupe” at an art, music, film and food festival in LA curated by none other than Mike D of the Beastie Boys.
Transmission LA: AV Club, a “multi-disciplinary festival,” runs from April 20 to May 6, and sponsor Mercedes promises an “artistic staging” of the concept car (expected to be a sedan), the production version of which is rumored to be dubbed CLC. The 17-day festival will be held at the Geffen Contemporary at LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art.
All of which begs the question: With the New York Auto Show staged earlier (press days are April 4 and 5), what will Mercedes show in the Empire State? It’s too significant of a market to the Three-Pointed Star to let the show pass without debuting something significant. See the complete press release for more.
What do you do to celebrate the ‘Vette’s 60th? Well, if you’re , you crank out one more model year of the C6 before showing off your . And apparently, you make cute YouTube videos.
This one features the special blowing out its candles in a fashion that’s entirely apropos. And while we’re making wishes, here’s to hoping the next Corvette gets the interior overhaul it’s deserved for about 15 years.
Finally. It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for ever since and jointly announced their compact rear-wheel-drive sports car: production is now underway.
With an official ceremony at Subaru’s Gunma Main Plant, attended by Toyota president Akio Toyoda, Subaru pushed the Big Red Button (quite literally, in case you were wondering) that sent and Toyota GT 86 coupes down the assembly line. And the event was captured in both still images and video for our viewing pleasure.
Check out our high-res image gallery above, and for the video and official press release. Oh, and if you’re one of the lucky ones with a deposit down for either the Subaru or the Toyota’s twin (America won’t get one with an interlocking rings badge), it’s officially time to consider making room in your garage.
There was a point in time where if we read one more lede that started with “ sure is on a roll these days,” we would have clawed our eyes out. Fact of the matter, though, is that those words were absolutely true. Hyundai has really come a long way here in the United States, especially in the past couple of years. And the only reason people have stopped writing about Hyundai’s forward momentum is because, frankly, we expect nothing less now. Every new product blows the doors off of the one that came before it, and brand-new ventures like the line or funky-fresh are nothing short of impressive.
But every family has its black sheep, and unfortunately for Hyundai, that might be the largest one in its herd. You see, while Hyundai has worked hard to create a unique brand identity here in the United States by offering cars that are designed specifically with our market in mind, the was simply a vehicle hauled over from Korea with a few minor Americanized tweaks. Don’t get us wrong, the Equus is a plenty good car, and through its faults, we praised it in both our and as being a tremendous value that’s pretty darn up to snuff with its competitive set. But over time, can something that’s simply a good value work in the highly competitive full-size luxury set?
That in mind, we ordered a White Satin Pearl for our in order to see if after one year of day-to-day use, the big flagship would be able to stand tall with the rest of its Modern Hyundai kin, or simply be another budget-minded also-ran from the days of Old Hyundai. 52 weeks and 22,638 miles later, all we can say is, man, what a difference a year makes.
General Motors has gone on record to oppose a Washington State bill that would .
GM Regional Director Howard Lenox, Jr. wrote a letter on March 6 to Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire stating that the automaker, which makes the extended-range plug-inhybrid, is against such a bill. The state is proposing the fee as a way for EV drivers to compensate for the gas taxes that they otherwise wouldn’t be paying. The letter was on GM’s The Future Is Electric blog.
“A fee which singles out electric vehicles will be a disincentive to the growth of the electric vehicle market in Washington State,” Lenox wrote in the letter. “As a practical matter, there are so few vehicles on Washington’s roads today that their impact in replacing fuel tax revenues will, for now, be negligible.”
While drivers of the Volt actually wouldn’t be subject to such a fee because its onboard generator is gas-powered, GM appears to be looking ahead as the automaker looks to electrify more of its fleet to meet more stringent greenhouse-gas emissions requirements.
Last month, , which was introduced by Mary Haugen, the Senate’s transportation committee chairwoman. The fee, which is subject to a vote by the state’s House of Representatives, is estimated to add as much as $1.9 million to the state’s coffers by 2017. , Oregon and Kansas are among other states looking at instituting fees that specifically target electric vehicle drivers.
What do you think, should states enact taxes on EVs to recover lost gas tax revenue? Vote in our poll below, then have your say in Comments.
Heather Peters really, really doesn’t . Peters is the woman who went her own way earlier this year, suing in small claims court in Torrance, CA instead of joining a class-action lawsuit against the automaker over allegations that the company promoted misleading fuel economy numbers for the , model years 2003 to 2009. She was recently , significantly more than the $100-$200 the 200,000 Civic Hybrid owners involved in the class action suit are expected to net (their lawyers stand to make $8.5 million). Because of that perceived unfairness, Peters is going in front of Superior Judge Timothy Taylor in San Diego today to ask that the class-action settlement be cancelled.
According to the Associated Press, Peters is using her small claims winnings – which Honda said it will appeal – to prove that the settlement is unfair to the Civic Hybrid owners that had thus far agreed to the deal. Around 1,700 owners decided not to take part in the settlement and there is reason to believe Taylor is at least slightly sympathetic to their cause. He recently for state attorneys general – who – to respond to Peters’ winnings.
The original Civic Hybrid class action case arose out of the claims of , who sued Honda in 2007 because, he said, the automaker misled him about the car’s fuel economy. When , who knew the turns this story would take?
The 2013 has an appointment for some cosmetic surgery, according to a report in Car & Driver. The restyle will be minimal, with detail changes around the fascia going just far enough to let other 7 Series owners know that you have the latest model.
A more substantive change could occur under the skin of the ActiveHybrid 7, however. It’s nearly $13,000 more expensive than it’s non-hybrid counterparts but doesn’t make an equally hard-to-ignore case for efficiency: the ActiveHybrid 750i has 55 more horsepower than the standard car, but is rated at 17 city / 26 highway versus 15 city / 22 highway. Speculation is that the ActiveHybrid 7 could get the six-cylinder powertrain from the to improve its green credentials.
As we said when we first drove the Blue-e-motion, is . Given the tremendous ups and downs that electric vehicles and EV start-up companies are going through, maybe making sure you have a car where everything is working smoothly – to say nothing about - isn’t such a bad idea. And it now seems like VW is confident enough in its Golf EV, which is , to push up its estimated release date from 2014 to late 2013.
Sure, technically, that could be a difference of just one day, but we don’t think that’s what VW of America president Jonathan Browning meant when he confirmed next year’s U.S. release date with Automotive News. Late 2013 is also when the car will go on sale in Europe. A .
Even though VW is getting ready to move into electric vehicle territory, it is well behind other automakers. Perhaps that’s why it is also a bit less optimistic about the potential success of plug-ins. The automaker expects just three percent of its new vehicles to be EVs or hybrids by 2018. You can .
Rally racing, like virtually every other form of motorsport in the world, is a dangerous activity. As much as we love watching a talented driver negotiate a tricky off-road race course with skill and luck, crashing is no doubt part of the experience as well. And crashes happen rather often in the world of rallying.
During the 2012 Rally Mexico, which took place from March 8-11, 2012, there were two drivers who started the race but were forced to retire after crashing out. One of those was Evgeny Novikov, who ended his race in spectacular fashion after the roof vent of his Ford Fiesta RS WRC blew away, causing the cabin to fill with dust and debris. As the commentators point out, he was truly driving blind, at least until he veered off course and crashed.
When we say Noviko crashed, what we really mean is that he flipped, rolled and generally demolished his Fiesta rally car with a vengeance before ending up on the roof. See for yourself by watching the video .
In general, car dealers have reputations just below personal injury lawyers and politicians, so it’s no surprise that most consumers are naturally wary whenever they engage in the process of buying a new vehicle.
As part of an effort to restore consumers’ faith in the auto buying process, the Federal Trade Commission is intervening, five dealers from around the country for what it says argues is deceptive advertising. According to the FTC, the dealer ads in question promise to “pay off your car” and to “pay off your trade no matter what you owe” when, in fact, they either rolled the balance of customers’ trades into a new loan or just outright demand would-be buyers pay the difference out of pocket.
Tempting, yes, but anyone with a half-full brain cavity would almost certainly start asking questions before signing such paperwork, right? Well, maybe, but these sorts of tactics have spread among auto dealers, likely because they have proven effective.
The dealers named by the FTC include Billion Auto, Inc., in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Frank Myers AutoMaxx, LLC, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Key Hyundai of Manchester, LLC and Hyundai of Milford LLC, of Vernon and Milford, Connecticut and Ramey Motors, Inc., of Princeton, West Virginia.
The FTC’s wrist slap requires that for the next 20 years, the above dealers not run deceptive ads, keep copies of the ads they do run, and file reports with the FTC showing their compliance.
If they violate the FTC order, the dealers will be fined up to $16,000 for each infraction. Read all the details in the official press release , and while you’re there, check out an example of one of one of the dealers’ advertising handiwork as well.
A tornado with 130-mile-per-hour winds touched down in the tourist area of Branson, MO, in late February. Among the many damaged businesses was the Branson Auto Museum, which lost its roof, according to Old Cars Weekly. The majority of the 100-plus cars in the museum survived the disaster, though at least seven were damaged by debris.
manager Sue Uygun tells OCW that the museum plans to rebuild and reopen in the same location as soon as possible, but will be closed for at least a couple of months. The museum was launched on May 15, 2009 in a former crafts mall and had recently begun expanding its collection to include more antique tractors and farm implements.
for a press release on the tornado rebuilding efforts from the Branson/Lakes Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
