Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG DR 520 – Click above for high-res image gallery
With 460 horsepower on tap, nobody was accusing the Mercedes-Benz of being a slouch. But when you’re winning the horsepower wars, do you lay down your arms? Of course not. That’s why ‘ Specialist Products Division, headquartered at the legendary Brooklands race track in England, has released the new limited-production DR 520.
Why the name? Because it’s dyno-rated at 520 horsepower, meaning that the Benz studio has given it a 60-horse boost over stock. The result is a 0-60 sprint in 4.1 seconds for the sedan, or one tick more for the wagon, with the special edition available in either body style. The AMG Performance Pack Plus – complete with upgraded brakes and engine internals – is also fitted as standard. Buyers can choose between white or black matte-finish vinyl wraps, offset by titanium-finish brightwork and the requisite special badges.
Additional upgrades have been carried out on the interior, but unfortunately only 20 examples of this bahn-stormer will be made available exclusively in the UK. Full details and pricing in the press release after the jump.
Audi R8 5.2 FSI tears up an airforce base – Click above to watch video
We all like a good car video. Whether it’s a high-dollar commercial worked up just for the or one of pieces of cinematic glory, it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t mind watching a slick piece of sheetmetal get sideways. But it’s easy to underestimate the amount of work that can go into even the shortest pieces of footage. Take, for instance, this latest spot worked up by the crew at WebRidesTV for the 5.2 FSI. The guys shot from dawn till dusk, hired none other than Nathan Swartzbaugh of fame to pilot the mid-engined terror and even rolled out a slick camera car just for the action – all 30 seconds of it.
Now, if you’re like us, you’re probably wondering where the “” part comes from in the title. We honestly have no idea. As far as we can tell, there’s no sort of predetermined course, active timing or even meandering Segways – just Swartzbaugh getting sideways in a car that’s worth more than all of our worldly possessions. Still, not a bad way to blow five minutes of your day. to see the action.
Gallery:
Photos by Drew Phillips / Copyright (C)2009, Weblogs, Inc.
2011 Kia Sportage – click above for high-res image gallery
The crossover is the high-fructose corn syrup of the automotive world. Think about it: Rather than using real sugar, Pepsi opts for a cheaper, highly refined and processed sweetener. Which, according to lots of studies, is pretty bad for us. Why would they do that? Higher profits, pure and simple. Likewise, CUVs offer all of the space of a comparably long station wagon or hatchback, get inferior mileage, don’t handle as well, take longer to stop and in most cases offer none of the utility of a true off-roader. But guess what? They pull in fistfuls of greenbacks for auto companies.
Like high-fructose corn syrup then, car experts (”Hi, Mom!”) can scream out their lungs until they’re blue about the benefits of a more sensible, safer, smarter product (again, wagons). Yet consumers simply don’t listen. The fastest growing automotive segment is – of course – the small CUV. Like the Snickers bar, the Twinkie and a twenty-piece Chicken McNuggets meal with BBQ sauce (all of which is mostly corn syrup), they are here to stay, forever. Buyers just seem to like the looks and the perceived safety that a high-riding vehicle affords them. Plus, for those with infant children, not having to stoop down to strap Junior into his car seat is the most luxurious feature on earth. With all that in mind, some CUVs are better than others – and not only in terms of looks, but also handling, packaging, content and value. Is the new one of them? Read on to find out.
Gallery:
Photos by Jonny Lieberman / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
Tesla Roadster 2.5 – Click above for high-res image gallery
In conjunction with the opening of its two newest stores in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Newport Beach, California, has unveiled the fourth major production iteration of its only current product, the . Dubbed the Roadster 2.5, in proper Southern California fashion, the revised electric sports car gets a nose job and fanny lift.
Up front, the latest Roadster gets a reshaped grille similar to the one found on the Model S that reflects Tesla’s design language going forward. At the back, a new rear bumper now incorporates a diffuser element, although it’s not known if it actually generates any downforce. Inside, the seats have again been reworked to improve comfort, and the finish of surfaces has been improved to better reflect the car’s price tag. A seven-inch touchscreen display with a backup camera is available as an option, and it should viewed as a welcome addition for Roadster drivers to protect that new rear end.
There don’t appear to be any powertrain changes to the 2.5 and no information about pricing has been revealed. Some of the upgrades will apparently be available to current owners that want to retrofit their cars, however. Want to learn more? Pour over our high-res gallery below and then head past the jump for the official press release.
After running around the , has finally confirmed it will offer a 4.2-liter V8 powered version of the , in addition to the V10 model. Thankfully, the R8 Spyder 4.2 is available with a six-speed manual in addition to the R-Tronic semi-automatic gearbox.
Like other R8s – with the exception of the – the 4.2 Spyder is packing standard Quattro all-wheel drive and the top mechanism remains the same fully-powered fabric unit found in the V10 model. Those who opt for the lesser engine will have to make do with conventional dampers and 18-inch wheels, although the magnetic ride dampers and 19-inch rolling stock that are standard on the V10 are available at a “slight” increase in cost. The eight-piston (front) and four-piston (rear) calipers remain standard issue with the optional carbon ceramic rotors and pads still available as an option in Europe. Since Audi has not issued any new images of the Spyder 4.2 yet, there are probably no visual differences aside from the wheels and badging.
The V8 Spyder goes on sale in Europe in the third quarter, but no announcement has been made about U.S. availability… yet.
2011 BMW M Sport 5 Series – Click above for high-res image gallery
We got an early peek at the new for the not too long ago via a handful of leaked brochure images. But shady pictures of renderings aren’t quite the same as seeing the car in the flesh. Fortunately for everyone on the interwebs, the good folk over at the 5Post forum have managed to get their paws on what looks to be a trove of legitimate photos of the body kit on a 2011 5 Series. The shots show the new front bumper, complete with its aggressive new lower air inlets borrowed from the M-Sport program on the , side skirts and a glossy rear valance.
The kit also throws in a tiny lip spoiler for the rear trunk lid and a more aggressive suspension setup for a slightly more sporty feel. The photos also confirm that the smaller, three-spoke M steering wheel will show up as well as a set of unique seats. Fancy. From what we can tell, buyers opting for the sport package will also be able to choose between two new wheel programs that include 18-inch and 19-inch options.
In 20 years, odds are few people will remember that 2010 was one of the worst years for in terms of recalls, but for now, it seems like the company just can’t win for losing. The company has announced that it is currently preparing to recall a total of 270,000 Toyota Crown and , GS and IS models worldwide. As it turns out, some of the company’s 4.6-liter V8 and 3.5-liter V6 engines were built using faulty valve springs that may cause the car to stall while driving. Around 180,000 of the faulty powerplants were sold outside of Japan.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the company says that some Toyota Crown, Lexus LS460, Lexus LS600h, Lexus LS600hL, Lexus GS350, Lexus GS450h, Lexus GS460 and Lexus IS350 models will be affected by the recall, and that it will initiate a procedure to fix the problem as soon as it can figure out a way to do so with the least amount of inconvenience to its customers.
The news comes as Toyota continues to try to put this year’s bevy of behind it, including paying a $16.4 million fine to the U.S. government for delaying certain recalls. Thanks for the tip, everyone!
Gallery:
Photos by Frank Filipponio / Copyright (C)2009, Weblogs, Inc.
2009 Chevrolet Orlando concept – Click above for high-res gallery
During a marathon presentation on Tuesday, Vice Chairman Tom Stephens showed off slides of a new family van based on the company’s compact car platform. The van and other vehicles were shown as part of the session detailing a new Chevrolet SUV, a compact car concept and a . The images shown were not released to journalists.
While executives were intentionally vague about the new van, the production version of the immediately springs to mind, as it would seem to fit that description. Based on product-man Stephens’ assertion that the van will launch soon in multiple markets around the world, the -based Orlando seems a logical assumption. The Cruze is already on sale in Europe and Asia, so production kinks have been smoothed, and a platform variant seems like the most likely step. Worldwide markets have plenty of MPV options, and the Orlando slots right in. GM’s moves have defied logic in the past, but CEO Ed Whitacre characterized yesterday’s presentation as an introduction of a new GM. We’ve heard talk like this before, of course, but maybe this time they mean it.
Citroën DS3 – Click above for high-res image gallery
French motorists sure do love them some cabriolets, but while Renault and Peugeot each offer an assortment of convertibles, Citroën has largely stayed out of the sun-worshiping game. Until now, that is, according to reports from across the Atlantic.
A drop-top version of the DS3 premium hatchback is said to be in the works, although details at this point are scarce. No word on what sort of mechanism – fabric or metal – will be employed, or which engines will carry over from the fixed-roof model, but sources state that the hot version won’t go topless. The DS3 cabrio isn’t expected before 2012 at the earliest, at which point it will likely fetch a £2000 premium, or about €2500/$3000.
Fiat 500 Ferrari Dealers Edition by Pogea Racing – Click above for high-res image gallery
Soon enough, we Americans will be able to feast upon the Forbidden Fruit that is the . Will we get the hotted-up models? That remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure, we’re super duper jealous of the hotter hatch that the folks at Pogea Racing have created – the 500 Ferrari Dealers Edition which boasts more power (a lot more power, actually) all wrapped in a too-cute (but still somehow menacing) package.
The Pogea team starts with a , which in standard form produces 160 horsepower and 169 pound-feet of torque. From there, a new turbocharger, exhaust system, downpipe and catalytic converter have been added, meaning that the tiny Fiat now cranks out a whopping 264 hp and 243 lb-ft. Staggering numbers for a car that’s smaller than a . To tame all of that extra grunt, larger brakes have been added that reduce braking distance by about six feet, though the new stoppers are identical in weight to the standard Abarth setup.
Yes, we want one. In fact, we’ll take two. Scroll through the gallery below to see dozens of high-resolution photos, and follow the jump to read Pogea Racing’s (translated) press release.
Toyota Ractis – Click above for high-res image gallery
Subaru sees a demand for 1.3- and 1.5-liter cars in Japan at the same time as it sees a void in its lineup of vehicles with that displacement. To plug that hole, is turning to for a supply of its subcompact, a five-door, five-seater that offers both of the relevant engine sizes and comes in two-wheel and all-wheel drive.
Toyota will ship roughly 10,000 models to Subaru every year, to begin once the Ractis, on sale since 2005, comes in for thorough revision. It’s the first time Toyota has agreed to supply a Japanese carmaker with finished products, perhaps aided in this case by the fact that Toyota owns 16.5% of Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru’s parent company.
Cummins: the largest independent diesel engine manufacturer. The QSK78: the largest engine they make. Mini: one of the smallest cars on the road. Oh dear, this could get messy.
The unfathomably large QSK78 was recently unveiled with 78 liters of displacement, eighteen cylinders (that’s 4.3 liters per cylinder!), a dozen turbochargers, 3,500 horsepower and over 10,000 lb-ft of torque. It’s used to power those enormous dump trucks seen schlepping heavy loads (try 360 metric tons on for size) around quarries and mines. And now it’s been installed in a vintage Austin Mini.
The Frankenstein-ain’t-got-nothin’-on-me monstrosity was, according to Cummins, commissioned by a customer, but we can hardly image it being actually drivable, let alone certified for street use anywhere this side of the Persian Gulf. It’ll be unveiled this week at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it’s sure to be the most powerful – not to mention the strangest – vehicle on display. Press release after the jump.
2010 SuzukiKizashi – Click above for high-res image gallery
Bad news for the loveable : the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has issued a recall on the Japanese sedan. Evidently, the lower glove box door can pop open during an accident, possibly coming in contact with the front passenger’s body at the same time. For those interested in such things, the news means that the Kizashi doesn’t conform to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 201. The standard deals with passenger protection from impact on pieces of the car’s interior, fittingly enough.
According to the NHTSA, will replace the offending door with a new piece free of charge on all 5,107 Kizashi models covered by the recall. There’s no word on how long the fix should take. For more information, owners can check out the or contact their local Suzuki dealer.
Gallery:
[Source: ] Photos by John Neff / Copyright (C)2009, Weblogs, Inc.
Pagani Zonda R – Click above for high-res image gallery
If you were blown away a couple of months ago when at the Nürburgring, then hold on to your hat, dear friend, because the Prancing Horse has just been bested by its own next-door neighbor.
Reports from the Old World indicate that a new Nordschleife record has been taken by the Pagani Zonda R. And by some margin, too: After lapped the ring in 6:58, its cross-town rival reportedly scrubbed over ten seconds off that time with a 6:47.
Now before you protest that the Zonda R isn’t road legal, we’ll point out that the 599XX with which Ferrari scored its time isn’t, either. Both these Modenese supercars belong to a new category of vehicle known as the track car, bridging the gap between street-legal and race cars with production-based forms. And the Zonda R, it would seem, is the new king.
Land Rover LRX spy shots – Click above for high-res image gallery
Even though ’s baby won’t make its public debut until this year’s , the automaker will be giving the world an early sneak peek at the production model during a web unveiling tomorrow at 19:30 GMT (that’s 3:30 PM for all of you in the Eastern time zone).
We’ll have the full raft of details at that time, but right now, we understand that both front- and all-wheel drive versions of the LRX will be available, as well as a forthcoming . What’s more, while the original LRX spy shots stayed true to the two-door configuration of the concept, we’ve also spotted a running around – an additional bodystyle that will doubtlessly expand the crossover’s attractiveness to potential shoppers.
We’ll know exactly what Land Rover has up its sleeve tomorrow afternoon, so stay tuned.
is no stranger to being first – Japanese luxury vehicles and hybrids chief among them. Although may have launched earlier, remains the only Japanese luxury marque to market in Japan. And having launched in Europe shortly after America, Lexus was also the first to challenge the European heavyweights on their home turf, and with its and , it remains the only non-European marque to compete at the top level.
Credit Toyota, as well, for popularizing hybrid technology, as it launched the domestically as the first mass-produced gas-electric, whereupon it has dominated the market with successive generations. But where the Japanese auto giant has really stood apart is in the combination of both luxury and hybrid technology.
Recognizing the technology’s popularity with upscale buyers, Lexus has carved out a niche in producing luxury hybrids. In fact, its lineup in many European markets is comprised exclusively of hybrids. The launched late last year as the world’s first dedicated luxury hybrid model and now Lexus is branching out again by electrifying territory previously uncharted by Japanese automakers: the premium hatchback segment. We flew out to Toyota’s European headquarters to see how development of the new CT 200h has been coming along. Follow the jump to see what we found.
Gallery:
Photos by Noah Joseph / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
Top Gear magazine spent some getting-to-know-you time with the at the Bugatti factory in Molsheim, and scribe Jason Barlow was all kinds of smitten. The Galibier he crawled all over was painted black, a “Bugatti insider” avowing that the two-tone hue previously on show was “a distraction.”
But get this for a real distraction: Bugatti wants to build it and a “top VW engineer” claims the chances are better than 50% that such a thing will occur. A production car would swap the Veyron’s four turbos and DSG for two superchargers and a torque converter, because you want your 16-cylinder sedan a little more… sedate, you know? It will take the vote of a man named Piëch to truly make this happen, but we’ll have no problem dreaming in black in the meantime. Top tip, Brandon!
Patent drawings for a small Chevy pickup – Click above for high-res image gallery
designers have had some fun with the company Etch-a-Sketch and came up with this, then filed the drawings with the patent office. Any details identifying its place in the Chevy lineup or in the automaker’s global marketplace were sadly left out of the filing.
Carscoop theorizes that it could be an update for the South American market, or a long-shot replacement for the Colorado. At right is a single-cab Chevy Colorado, whose door handles and greenhouse are close to the patent drawing.
However, beneath that is a Brazilian-market 2009 Chevy S10 Colina, whose taillights are a much better match for the patent drawing. Swapping its front end for the Cruze-ish grille in the filing might be more reasonable than performing the same swap on a Colorado, or maybe not. What’s really got us wondering are those exposed bed-rail tie-downs, which look like something from an early eighties Toyota. Or a . What truck and what market are looking for those?
Have a look at the high-res filings yourself and feel free to make all the guesses you want.
BMW M5 N635S 5.8 Hans Nowack Edition – Click above for high-res image gallery
With its award-winning V10, ’s M division hasn’t left us with much not to love. Save, of course, for the fact that it’s not long for this world, pushed out as it will be in the next by the company’s growing environmental conscience. But before the twin-turbo V8 spells its demise, Nowack Motors is giving it a suitable farewell in the form of the N635S 5.8 Hans Nowack Edition.
Having ruled out forced induction, the BMW tuning house has fitted the 5.0-liter V10 with a pair of new intake air collectors, a remapped ECU and retooled engine components. The result boosts the stock 507-horsepower motor up to a mind-boggling 708, dedicated by Oliver Nowack to his father Hans. The modifications are warrantied for a full year and can be retrofitted to any existing M5, and since the upgrades have been carried out principally on the engine itself, can also be fitted to its two-door counterpart, the M6. Details in the press release after the jump and photos in the gallery below.
As we see it, there’s one major problem with the 2011 Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible. No, not the $280,000 asking price, or even the give-us-a-break curb weight of 5,269 pounds. We also aren’t talking about the fact that this basic chassis has been around since 2003. Nor are we concerned that there exist very few places on earth where you can even maybe-kinda-sorta properly experience the thrust of the Supersport’s twin-turbo 6.0-liter W12’s profligate output. Get this: 621 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 590 pound-feet of torque available between 2,000-4,500 rpm. Did we mention this one’s a convertible?
Furthermore, the topless Supersports’ problem does not involve the fact that there are very, very few people in its target demographic. You know, the guy that wants to take three members of his family for a ride at 197 mph with the top down ( would like us to point out that with the top up, the Supersports Convertible will hit 202 mph). Thing is, out of the earth’s 6.7 billion inhabitants, there will surely be around 400 folks that fit the bill, coincidentally about the same number of these topless Supersports Bentley intends to build. No, the problem with the Bentley Supersports Convertible is that the preposterously humongous carbon-ceramic brakes feel a bit squishy coming down from 165 mph. Mind you, at 130 mph, the stoppers work like anchors.
designers have had some fun with the company Etch-a-Sketch and came up with this, then filed the drawings with the patent office. Any details identifying its place in the Chevy lineup or in the automaker’s global marketplace were sadly left out of the filing.
