The Texas Auto Writers Association has awarded the a slew of honors. The pickup took home the Truck of Texas title by beating out its competitors at the annual Truck Rodeo. The award is the association’s most prestigious honor, but Ford also picked up a few other nods. TAWA named the company’s EcoBoost engine technology its best vehicle feature, and the took home the CUV of Texas badge. Finally, the entire pickup line was named the Truck Line of Texas by the association, making for a pretty clean sweep of the truck competition.
This year, manufacturers entered 48 vehicles into the TAWA Truck Rodeo, and 57 automotive writers turned out to evaluate the trucks and SUVs. When the dust settled, Ford had earned seven awards total, including the best heavy-duty, luxury and full-size pickup trucks.
For its part, saw its products fare well in the competition, too. The went home carrying SUV of Texas trophy, while TAWA awarded its sister, the , the mid-sized SUV of Texas title. Finally, the writers in attendance named the the full-size SUV of Texas.
When announced that the ad agency in charge of was up for review, the speculation was that its “” ad campaign could be after only one year. Critics say “Runs Deep” doesn’t have the impact of previous campaigns like “See the USA in Your Chevrolet,” “Heartbeat of America” and “Like a Rock,” but GM apparently doesn’t doesn’t see it that way.
The General has reportedly informed Advertising Age that the creative review of Goodby Silverstein & Partners is all about reducing complexity and cutting costs. GM spokesman Tom Henderson is quoted as saying that the review “is consistent with GM’s push to reduce complexities across the business.” Henderson reportedly added that GM hopes to “make a decision on a way forward, concurrent with a decision on our media-buying and planning review, by the end of this year.”
The new year at GM may or may not come without Goodby Silverstein & Partners, but it looks like we can expect the “Runs Deep” campaign in 2012 and beyond.
There is a lot to love about the . It’s a compact roadster with a torque-happy, twin-turbo diesel V6 mated to two electric motors capable of more instant twist. When we , we were limited to just 40 miles per hour, but the Four-Ringed automaker tells us that a trip to 62 takes only 4.4 seconds.
And because this Spyder is a green monster, it can travel up to 30 miles on electric power alone. Using a mixture of the diesel and its lithium ion battery, it will consume on average a scant 2.2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers.
That sounds like a lot of “too good to be true,” but Audi promises to be the leader in luxury electric cars by 2020, and a production version of this vehicle is expected for 2014. to watch new footage of the e-tron Spyder in motion. It might not be ready to go on sale, but it at least looks mighty fine on the roads of Malibu, California, near where we drove it.
For over a year, I’ve been looking for a way to get into an electric vehicle, but my options have been decidedly limited. I’m either lacking the funds () or the alternatives have lacked character (, Focus Electric).
But now there’s this: The 2012 BMW ActiveE. It’s the next step for in electrification – a bridge between the Mini E and the forthcoming i3 – that takes a standard and adds a brace of batteries and electric motor to create a rear-wheel-drive sports coupe with a 100-mile range. Even better, the price is right.
Unlike the Mini E that required owners to plunk down a hefty chunk of change each month, the ActiveE’s outlay is far more palatable: $2,250 down and $499 a month for a 24-month lease – well below what you’d drop on a new (or even used) gas-powered 1 Series.
Now , but could it be worth my hard-earned Blogger Bucks to become a beta tester for BMW’s electrification efforts? I flew 5,800 miles to Munich to find out.
The is a massive improvement over the last-generation model, and the Blue Oval’s sales tally supports this claim. Ford tells us that the the Explorer is flying off store shelves, with 100,000 units sold so far in 2011. Those numbers are up 290 percent compared to 2010 totals, making the Explorer the fastest-growing mid-size utility vehicle in the country. This is the first time the Explorer has hit the 100,000 mark since 2007, and there are still over two months left in the year.
The Explorer appears to be selling quite well in spite of mixed reviews. While the vehicle came in for 2011 North American Truck Of The Year laurels, it hasn’t fared as well in a number of comparison tests. Cars.com the Explorer sixth in its $37,000 SUV Shootout, and earlier in the year, Consumer Reports ranked the Explorer as the utility vehicle out of 19 models, with complaints centering on the CUV’s MyFordTouch infotainment system.
Ford would likely counter that the company is more concerned with what CUV buyers think, and those customers appear to be giving their vote of approval with their pocketbooks, and they might also note that the Explorer’s model is only hitting the market as a 2012 model now (though it’s already claiming about 15 percent of the model mix). Hit the jump to read Ford’s official press release.
Want to give yourself a headache? Go out and shop for a new compact sedan with the stipulation that it must have seating for up to five passengers and a highway EPA fuel economy rating in the high-30-mpg range or better. You won’t have to look hard, because it seems nearly every automaker is jumping into an already crowded segment and delivering this type of vehicle. Without much effort, we can alphabetically list the , , , , and . Spend a bit more time, and the list opens up even wider.
Sticker prices, fuel economy numbers and warranty terms are objective and indubitable. Driving dynamics, styling and passenger comfort, in sharp contrast, are subjective. To differentiate itself from the crowd, and win consumers over on both fronts, has worked hard to deliver a competitive compact that is objectively frugal and subjectively stylish and fun to drive.
Enter the new .
Fitted with a new high-compression engine and offered with two new transmissions, the latest of the Mazda’s energy-efficient variants sounds impressive on paper – but so do most redesigned cars at first glance. We recently spent a day in Southern California putting the updated Mazda3 Skyactiv through its paces to determine if the Japanese automaker has really provided us with something revolutionary, or just another round of marketing hype.
Tesla’s against was dealt a crushing blow with London’s court ruling that no Top Gear viewer would have reasonably assumed the relates to its real-world capabilities.
As you might recall, Top Gear’s review of the concluded by claiming that, “In the real world, it doesn’t seem to work” (). But that’s just Top Gear being, well, Top Gear, implies Justice Tugendhat:
In my judgment, the words complained of are wholly incapable of conveying any meaning at all to the effect that the claimant misled anyone. This is because the contrast between the style of driving and the nature of the track as compared with the conditions on a public road are so great that no reasonable person could understand that the performance on the track is capable of a direct comparison with a public road.
The ruling was handed down verbally by Justice Tugendhat before lunch on Wednesday, October 19th. The versus Top Gear trial will continue as the automaker is suing BBC for five malicious statements made during the Top Gear’s 2008 review of the electric Roadster. Tugendhat is expected to return a complete verdict within weeks.
has made it clear that it’s only a matter of time before we finally get the chance to enjoy a wider slice of the company’s RS offerings in the United States. The German automaker has that next year will see the arrival of the RS5, and additional models are presently being discussed for U.S. introductions.
But Audi has already fired the first shot in its effort to redefine what the RS badge means to American consumers with its 2012 TT RS. With 360 horsepower squeezed from a turbocharged 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine and just 3,300 pounds to sling around the track, the coupe isn’t just the best TT ever made, it’s possibly the most desirable steed in the Audi stable at the moment.
We can already hear the clattering of a thousand keyboards banging out something along the lines of, “OMG STFU,” but allow us to elaborate. With a power-to-weight ratio of 9.2 pounds per horsepower, a top speed of 174 mph and a conservative 0-60 mph time of 4.1 seconds, the TT-RS is a pitch-perfect weapon. So perfect, in fact, that Audi officials admit that the meanest of the TT clan can outpace its R8 brethren on most tracks unless the eight cylinder gets a straight long enough to properly stretch its legs.
Do we have your attention? Did we mention that the 2012 TT RS is only available with a manual transmission? How about now?
Episode #252 of the is here, with Chris, Zach, Dan, and Executive Editor Chris Paukert serving as this week’s crew. Topics include the tragic crash at the Las Vegas Indy 300, the 2012 BMW 3 Series, the Chevrolet Spark EV and a discussion about whether or not the Tata Nano has succeeded. Your questions and comments power the last 33% 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 #252:
In the Autoblog Garage
2011 Infiniti G37S Journey Special Edition
2012 Audi TT RS
2011 BMW 135i
2012 Nissan Versa SV
Hosts: , , , Runtime: 01:19:50
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In Which We Fight The Urge To Name It “World’s Best Car”
When looking for exotic sports car thrills on public roads in the summer, it simply doesn’t get any better than the . How nice, too, that Italy’s summer has gone on and on this year – it thoughtfully didn’t end until the evening after our epic drive through the Apennine mountains. Our mostly sun-drenched route started at around 500 feet above sea level in Maranello, climbing to near 3,200 feet over Passo della Cisa, finishing the outbound portion on a deserted sandy beach in northernmost Tuscany. Then, instead of taking the suggested direct route back along the three-lane autostrade, we chose to retrace our steps over Passo della Cisa on the amazing S 62 two-lane highway where Enzo Ferrari competed in his very first road race back in 1919. It was a very appropriate 300 miles in paradise.
The all-aluminum 2012 Ferrari 458 Spider is built primarily at the Scaglietti facility in Modena, and the rakish drophead is scheduled to arrive in North America by mid-February carrying a base price of $257,000. Rather surprisingly, our mountain hop reveals that the Spider possesses perhaps an even better sum of its parts than does the . Certainly, either body configuration fairly thrashes anything the old F430 lineup was ever capable of.
To be fair, when compared side by side with the coupe, the Spider weighs some 110 pounds more at 3,384 lbs., and its overall structure is said to be 30 percent less rigid. Regardless, just as we have shamed the Italia’s estimated 3.3-second run from 0-60 by recording our own 3.0-second zap, the Spider loses practically nothing to the coupe, and we’re quite sure of being able to punch through to a 3.1-second time despite cheeky estimates of “<3.3″.
Cars.com recently lined up seven new vehicles for a $37,000 SUV shootout. The , , , , , and all squared off against one another in a range of evaluations, including a one-day highway drive and family testing.
If you happen to be the deductive type, you may have noticed that the list above includes a fair number of genuine crossovers. Vehicles like the Chevrolet Traverse and Mazda CX-9 bear little resemblance to the body-on-frame bruisers of old, and even models like the 2012 Explorer and 2012 Durango have evolved out of their traditional shells.
But when the dust settled, it was Honda’s 2012 Pilot that took top honors thanks to its high level of amenities, spacious interior and clever storage solutions, despite the fact that reviewers found issue with road noise and exterior styling. Perhaps most surprising is the fact that the 2012 Explorer tied for sixth place with the 2012 Sorento. Ouch. Head over to to see the full evaluation, and vote for your favorite in our poll.
At last September’s , we were thrilled to see this very concept car, the . The crisp lines of its carbon composite exterior, its tapering side windows, its airflow vents cut in the hood, its almost impossibly clean and sleek interior treatment… all of it spoke strongly without trying too hard.
After the September 2009 debut of the , we then got the surprise of seeing – also called “e-tron” (perhaps to confuse and/or not give too much away regarding the design’s important future) at last January’s . This second electric car, a hardtop, carried two electric motors pushing the rear wheels (versus the four motors of the R8 e-tron’s all-wheel drive, an ongoing programming challenge referred to within Audi as e-Quattro).
The e-tron Spyder, however, is not just a roofless version of that stunning Detroit e-tron coupe, as the model we’re driving here comes with an all-new plug-in diesel hybrid-electric drivetrain, and it’s 5.1 inches longer with more wheelbase, along with being 1.2 inches wider. On the other hand, the current is 4.7 inches longer than the e-tron Spyder, so we’re still operating on a very small scale here.
Our time in the driver’s seat of the e-tron Spyder was originally set for right after June’s 24-Hours of Le Mans, where the car successfully completed a parade lap for the almighty marketing department’s sake. Sadly, right as they were loading the car onto a transporter to get it on a plane and out here to SoCal, an incident occurred that left one of the rocker panels of the Spyder pretty beat up. Now that the summer holiday and big Frankfurt show push is done, we’ve been given another go.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released a list of 74 vehicles for the 2012 model year that it plans on crash testing. The vehicles include 42 passengers cars, 22 SUVs, eight trucks and two vans. NHTSA claims the list represents about 81 percent of the 2012 model year vehicles that will be on sold in the U.S., and further claims it will be performing rollover tests on 92 percent of the 2012 fleet.
You may remember that NHTSA released the from its in October 2010, and that first batch of vehicles didn’t fare too well. It’s been almost one year exactly, which has given automakers ample time to tweak their vehicles in the hopes of achieving that coveted overall score of five stars.
Of the 74 vehicles being tested this year, we’re particularly interested in a few like the (we expect a fun crash video from that one) and a number of EVs including the we just took for a Quick Spin, the Ford Focus BEV, little and . Other notable crash candidates are the , which as a 2011 model could only manage a best overall score of four stars after some mid-model year tweaks raised it from three stars, and the , which needs five stars to become the volume seller that hopes it will be after a complete redesign and significantly lower price.
The word floated around the room and landed gently on our notepad during the morning press conference. Initially, it seemed like a perfect fit. But the more we learned about the new all-electric 2012 Coda sedan, the more we realized that “simple” was nothing but a misunderstood first impression.
Strictly discussing physical appearances, the Coda four-door is easily the least interesting vehicle we have set our eyes on in years – “unassuming” is an understatement. Yet an in-depth look reveals the plain-Jane façade is deceiving. Hidden beneath the ho-hum sheetmetal, under the hard plastic dash and below the thin-pile carpet is an ingenious all-electric propulsion system. Not just forward thinking, it shows genuine promise and innovation.
We recently spent several hours with , visiting its , learning about the technology inside that uninspiring bodywork and taking an hour-long test drive in the Los Angeles Basin. Our visit answered a lot of questions. Who is behind Coda? What is the Chinese connection? How does the Coda sedan drive? Most importantly, how does newcomer Coda expect to compete against other EVs in the segment?
Turn 10 Studios sent us a copy of Forza Motorsport 4 to review, along with a special press kit that includes a key-shaped 2GB USB metal flash drive, a tire pressure gauge and press binder with Forza Motorsport 4 pad and pen. , so Autoblog is giving away the game plus press kit to one lucky commenter.
To enter, just leave a single comment on this post telling us which racing game you think is better, Forza Motorsport 4 or Gran Turismo 5.
HOW TO ENTER:
Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
To enter, post a comment on this article telling us which racing game you think is better, Forza Motorsport 4 or Gran Turismo 5.
The comment must be left before 12:30 PM Eastern Time, Friday, October 14.
You may enter one time (if you comment more than once, your entry is disqualified)
One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
The Grand Prize is a two-disc copy of Forza Motorsport 4 for the Xbox 360, a press kit, key-shaped 2GB metal flash drive, tire pressure gauge and press binder (valued at $100).
Twist the carbon-fiber key of the flagship and listen to its race-bred V10 wail. Within seconds of the sound reaching the eardrum, the adrenal glands initialize epinephrine production and endorphins are released from the pituitary. The result of the natural injection is a more rapid heartbeat, an increase in blood pressure, involuntary muscle relaxation/contraction and an overall feeling of well-being – the human body becomes more alert, physically stronger and has greater energy. In layman’s terms… the LFA makes its driver feel positively euphoric.
Regrettably, as is the case with most “feel good” medicines, the LFA is also extremely habit-forming and highly addictive. But Lexus has addressed this issue by ensuring safeguards are in place to prevent abuse. First, a person has to be of legal driving age to get behind the wheel. Second, the automaker has limited production to just 500 units worldwide (there are only 46 in North America today). Lastly, and this will certainly keep the toxins from falling into the wrong hands, is that the base sticker price of the carbon-fiber, aluminum and titanium hallucinogenic is a nicely-rounded $375,000.
Yes, it is unlikely that your friends, neighbors or co-workers will overdose on LFA anytime soon.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the next-generation , and judging by this latest set of spy photos, there’s still quite a bit of work to be done before the new Silver Arrow flagship makes its debut.
Like the , the next-generation S-Class will likely use a larger, more upright grille design, previewed by the from a few years ago. Expect the Merc’s face to be chocked full of LED goodness, and under the hood, you can count on the standard range of gasoline, diesel and hybrid powertrains.
Inside, you can bet that the new S-Class will be as luxurious as ever, with as possible cabin materials. Sounds plush. Look for the all-new S-Class to debut sometime in 2012.
Yesterday, announced that (previewed by the above teaser image) will debut later this year, set to go on sale around the world starting in early 2012. Now, Inside Line reports that company spokespeople have said that there are no immediate plans to sell the new TrailBlazer SUV here in the United States.
The new TrailBlazer, confirmed as a 2013 model, will be a traditional body-on-frame SUV based on the new mid-size pickup truck. General Motors has confirmed that the new Colorado will be sold here in the U.S.
Even so, we won’t be shocked if GM does decide to bring the TrailBlazer to the U.S. in a few years. For now, however, the new SUV will be built and sold in South America and Asia, with Thailand slated to get the first vehicles.
Episode #251 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, with Chris, Zach and Dan making up this week’s crew. Topics include the next-generation Chevrolet Colorado being confirmed for the U.S. market, Mazda confirming via Twitter that there will be a new generation of the Rotary engine, Nissan’s troubles with the JD Power Initial Quality Study scores, Sergio Marchionne’s plan to axe the Dodge Grand Caravan and Avenger and the Volkswagen Golf R pricing information. Your questions and comments power the last third of the podcast, 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 #251:
In the Autoblog Garage
2011 Infiniti G37S Journey Special Edition
Hosts: , , Runtime: 01:04:48
Get the podcast
[] Listen live on Mondays at 10PM Eastern at UStream
[] Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes
[] Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator
[] Download the MP3 directly
Feedback
Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com
Voicemail: 734-288-8POD (734-288-8763)
Review the show in iTunes and take our
When the Indian conglomerate Tata announced the Nano in 2008, it promised an automotive revolution equivalent to the Model T. The $2,200 Nano would be priced at half the cost of its competition, and single-handedly make four-wheeled transportation ubiquitous in India. Well, that was the plan, anyway.
ForeignPolicy.com is reporting that some three years later the Nano hasn’t even begun to live up to its billing. While Tata projected monthly sales of 20,000-25,000 cars, in August the factory shipped a mere 1,200. Despite an annual production capacity of 250,000 Nanos, the company has only managed to sell about 129,000 to date.
While new product failures are a dime a dozen in the auto industry, the homegrown Nano seemed like such a slam dunk, its failure is shocking. Yet FP says the Nano’s biggest problem should have been easy to see: Nobody, not even those in developing countries, wants a car whose primary attribute is that it is cheap.
Nano sales have also been hurt by problems with Tata’s dealer network and safety concerns after . Tata told FP that it is addressing these issues, and a new advertising campaign for the car is airing on national television. A Tata spokesman also noted that over 90 percent of Nano owners have reported being satisfied with their cars.
So is the Nano a failure? Certainly it’s not the success that many predicted, but revolutions aren’t usually as neat and tidy as Steve Jobs liked to make them. And even if all that talk about Tata is looking like utter nonsense today, we found things to like about the Nano last year. We’re willing to concede that the final chapter on Tata’s people’s car has yet to be written.
