If you’ve looked into purchasing a new car recently, we likely don’t need to tell you prices are plenty lofty. According to TrueCar.com’s data, the average selling price of a new car sold here in the U.S. last month was $30,748, marking an all-time record (last year’s figure was just $28,771). While buyers are currently looking toward smaller, less expensive and more fuel-efficient models, overall vehicle sales have jumped ahead of the rest of the slowly recovering economy. In addition, manufacturers are keeping production more in line with demand, resulting in significantly scaled-back incentives.
As a result, the average transaction price has inched skyward even in the face of an uncertain economy and escalating fuel prices. In addition, small cars now carry significantly more content than before and prices to match, and crossovers just keep getting more and more popular. Buyers have proven none too wary of optioning B and C-segment vehicles well above MSRPs typically seen on mid-sized fare, and used car fleets are thin, raising prices and pushing buyers toward new cars instead. According to CNW Marketing, consumers now routinely option a vehicle to within 86 percent of the fully loaded cost.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The next year and a half will be an interesting period for . The automaker has announced that it will launch five new models over the course of 15 months, starting with the that at the last week. What’s next? Take a close look at the image above and those mysterious shapes under the white sheets aren’t exactly tough to decipher.
Left to right, first up is clearly the hatchback, the five-door follower of the not-so-highly regarded sedan that launched late last year. Want another glimpse of what could be in store for the large-rumped Versa? Have a glance at its overseas cousin, the . The North American model will no doubt be different, but the Tiida indeed previews what could be in store.
The next two models aren’t really a surprise – that big crossover is the that we’ve already seen in , and the middle car is the midsize Altima sedan. Moving one more space to the right, there’s a smaller CUV that is, without question, the next-generation . Lastly, that’s the new hanging out at the far right. The next Sentra has already been tipped to receive an Altima-like front fascia, and that’s immediately noticeable even under the white sheet.
The 2013 Pathfinder will go on sale later this year, following the launch of the new Altima. As for what’s next, your guess is as good as ours. As Car and Driver reports, the fact that Nissan has confirmed that one of these cars is the new Sentra makes us think it’ll be the next one to arrive, not to mention the fact that it’s the one most desperately in need of replacement.
Stand at the business end of a doing a smokey burnout and you’re bound to get a lung or two full of all kinds of noxious chemicals. But if a showboating isn’t at your disposal, soon you’ll be able to light up a Lamborghini cigarette.
The Raging Bull smokes are reportedly being launched by South Korean tobacco giant KT&G on April 18 in collaboration with (read: under license from) Tonino Lamborghini. The brand already offers an of high-end cigarette lighters (like the one pictured at right), cases, ashtrays and other smoking paraphernalia.
Tonino Lamborghini, we should note, is a merchandising brand that – while founded by supercar and tractor guru Ferruccio Lamborghini’s son and bearing a similar logo – has nothing more to do these days with the automaker than that. So if you find the correlation a bit too commercial, you’ll just have to look to the models standing next to the company’s supercars at any given auto show, the ones stepping out of them onto the curbs outside any city’s hottest clubs or the temperature of their engine’s cam covers for your official dose of Lamborghini-grade smokin’ hotness.
The Mythbusters have finally tackled the long-unanswered question, “Why don’t cars have square wheels?”
What’s that? You’ve never wondered why? Neither have we, because it’s freaking obvious. But equally obvious is how awesome it would be to test out a square-wheeled vehicle anyway, which is exactly what the Mythbusters guys did, using an older pickup.
While the full episode is not available online, you can get the gist of the segment by watching the eight clips Discovery has posted, which we’ve conveniently organized for your viewing pleasure .
If you fancy a new but are looking for some added muscle, few places will give you what you want and what you need like Roush. The veteran tuning house has just released its latest range of customized pony cars, and at the top of the line sits its most powerful model yet.
In full-fat spec, the Stage 3 Roush Mustang supercharges the 5.0-liter V8 up to a whopping 565 horsepower and 505 pound-feet of torque. But the Roush kit isn’t all about power: it also features an upgraded suspension riding on 18-inch cast aluminum wheels with Cooper rubber that help it pull a full g on the skid pad, an enhanced aero kit and a choice of four different brake packages.
There’s also plenty of optional equipment to make the Roush Mustang your own – all covered under Roush’s bumper-to-bumper warranty – but if the Stage 3 model proves too much car, buyers can also opt for the Stage 1 body kit or the Stage 2 suspension upgrade without the supercharged engine. to read the press release.
Traxxas has done a smart job of establishing itself as a toymaker for grownups. With radio-controlled iterations of and , the company has something for everyone.
Or at least it does now. Traxxas is now producing R/C funny cars for straight-line antics. The cars are capable of over 70 miles per hour, come with an adjustable wheelie bar and a TQi 2.4GHz controller with all sorts of fun modes. Launch control, race, burnout and staging mode are all part of the programming. A 1/8th scale Christmas tree is also available.
So far, there are only four funny car models. Buyers may choose between Courtney Force’s , John Force’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, Mike Neff’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang or Robert Hight’s AAA Auto Club Ford Mustang. to see a quick video of the cars in action.
There are many names you could associate with tuning, but few are as iconic as Steve Saleen. The American tuner extraordinaire made a name for himself tweaking the muscle coupe under the Saleen brand until he left his own company to start SMS Supercars. But now that the two have been , word has it that Saleen is moving ahead with plans to produce a new mid-engine exotic to follow in the footsteps of the famed S7.
Saleen, as you may recall, branched out of tuning pony cars with the S7 in 2000. The car packed a 7.0-liter V8 that was later twin-turbocharged up to 750 horsepower to make it good for a 0-60 run in under three seconds and a top speed of nearly 250 mph. The car endures as an American performance icon, but while an S5S Raptor concept (pictured above) was showcased four years ago at the , the schism between the two Saleen companies kept it from ever seeing the light of day.
With that ugliness now behind us, however, Autoweek reports that Steve Saleen is intent on picking up where the S7 and S5S left off. Getting to that point is expected to take Saleen a while, but in the meantime, he’s working at integrating the two operations. The SMS facility in California will continue building the cars – White Label for mild upgrades, Yellow Label for supercharged models and Black Label for the works – while his Saleen facility in Michigan will distribute the parts. Look for a tuned to come rumbling around the corner in the near future.
You don’t build a chassis as superbly balanced and capable as that which underpins the , Toyota GT 86 and without taking it racing. Fortunately the Japanese auto marques involved have plenty of competition spirit coursing through their veins, and are already gearing up to take the nimble little sportscar racing at events around the world.
recently unveiled the which it will be fielding in Japan’s SuperGT series, and now is following suit with the announcement that it will be bringing not one, but two examples of its GT 86 to the Nürburgring to compete in the grueling 24-hour race there next month. The pair of cars – whose level of modification remains unclear – will be fielded by the company’s own Gazoo Racing team alongside one .
Toyota’s racing plans for the GT 86 extend beyond the ‘Ring, however, as it has revealed a program to support privateer teams fielding the car domestically in both the Super Taikyu Endurance Series and All-Japan Rally Championship. The latter announcement crucially comes at a time when rumors have resurfaced of Toyota preparing to re-enter the World Rally Championship – a series which the Japanese automaker dominated in the 1990s with four Drivers’ Championships and three Constructors’ Championships.
The company shut down its WRC operation to branch into Formula One, but now that its F1 program is long gone, could the time be right for Toyota’s return to the pinnacle of rallying? Only time will tell, but for now you can scope out the press release and video footage to see what Toyota has in store in the short run.
and got you excited? Well, it appears the new Toyobaru twins might be moving the needle at other automakers, too. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the pair may have challenged Nissan to once again reinvestigate its on-again, off-again plans for an affordable, lightweight sports coupe of its own. Nissan’s Chief Creative Officer, Shiro Nakamura, says his employer is looking at downsizing its Z sports car, though it isn’t clear if that would mean the Japanese automaker would field two separate Z models or just replace the current 370Z with a smaller, less costly model.
“I much prefer smaller sports car,” Nakamura tells the Herald. “It is the time to look at that. With 370Z, we still don’t know next generation will have a larger or smaller engine.”
If Nissan were to reduce the size of the 370’s powerplant, it would be the first time that model’s displacement has dropped. Since the Z gets its model designation from the size of its engine (3.7 liter V6), Nissan could have a problem marketing a smaller Z called the 300Z, since the last time a new 300Z was sold in the States was way back in 1986.
More likely would be the revival of long-forgotten nameplates like 200SX or 240SX. Either would almost certainly be direct competition for the and rear-drive coupes.
Nakamura reminded fans that even if the 370Z loses some cubic inches, Nissan will still have the young but already legendary . When asked if Nissan would be willing to support three sports cars, Nakamura says, “If there is a market, we will do it.”
How much do hybrid drivers really, truly like their cars? According to R.L. Polk, not all that much – at least not in 2011.
Polk has released a new hybrid loyalty analysis that concludes that only 35 percent of people who bought a hybrid bought another one last year. The data comes from car purchases made in 2011, and Polk found that drivers are the most loyal, both to the gas-electric technology and to itself. Sixty percent of Toyota hybrid owners bought another vehicle from the automaker, even if it wasn’t a hybrid. A recent J.D. Power Customer Retention Study found that the was 49 percent, but that doesn’t take powertrains into account.
According to Polk, forty-one percent of Toyota hybrid drivers choose to buy another hybrid (from any brand). Interestingly, when Polk took out these Toyota buyers from their results, hybrid loyalty rates dropped to “under 25 percent. However, in our book that’s kind of skewing the numbers, since most hybrids sold in the U.S. are built by Toyota. When looking only at hybrid drivers, for example, 52 percent bought another Honda and “just under 20 percent” purchased another hybrid (from any brand). The in-brand loyalty, says Brad Smith, director of Polk’s Loyalty Management Practice, shows that hybrids “can certainly give a brand a competitive edge when it comes to attracting new customers.”
What’s perhaps most interesting is that changes in gas prices, “had little impact on hybrid segment loyalty,” according to Polk. In the company’s quarterly hybrid analysis from 2008 through 2011, loyalty rates ranged from 26.4 to 41.8 percent, but spent most of the time in the 30s. See more details of the study in the official Polk press release by .
