Rolls Royce Phantom Drifting In the Snow

This can only be described as people with too much money and time on their hands.

Admittedly, that sentence we just wrote above can only be described as jealousy.

Check out this video of a Rolls Royce Phantom drifting in the snow (yes, it’s apparently possible) along with a pair of pretty Porsches.

Prayers = Answered. BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Going Into Production!

2013 is going to be a very good year.

Possibly the most innovative concept to come out in a while, BMW attempts the difficult task of combining power with efficiency. Also, BMW obviously couldn’t just stand by while their main rival Audi releases their all-electric E-tron.

The production version will obviously be a lot tamer than the concept you see, still, expect a shapely supercar like body.

What’s under the hood? Well, not what you’d might expect. It will reportedly feature a 3-cylinder diesel with a range extender and two electric motors. Sound underwhelming? Well the complicated hybrid set up will produce around 356 horsepower and a ridiculously insane 590 pound feet of torque!

There’s more good news. Vision EfficientDynamics will not be the name of the production version. BMW may be considering reviving the M1 moniker for it.  But really, they could call it pig-farter and we’d still buy it.
Check out more pics over at autoblog.

Honda’s Turn: Fit Recalled

646,000 Fits recalled world wide? Could be worse.

Arguably one of the best in the segment, the Fit is getting recalled due to a defective master switch.

“Only” 140,000 of those Fits are located in North America, (35,000 in Canada) the rest are distributed throughout South America, Europe, Japan, and South Africa

With the defective switch, the affected Fits could catch fire due to water seeping in through the power window mechanism.

GM Kicks Toyota While They’re Down

To say the automotive business is a tough business is quite an understatement. No one knows this better than GM.

Things got so bad that they had to run to the government, with promises of change,to ask for money or else the entire company would go bankrupt. And both American and Canadian governments gave the A-OK to the loan, despite lots of public outrage at the mere notion of a bailout.

But now that GM is semi-back on its feet, and paying back those loans, it seems that they have all but forgotten what it’s like to be down on your luck as they are aiming at taking advantage of Toyota’s misfortune.

GM is offering Toyota owners some incentives if they jump ship. From now until the end of February, if you take in your Toyota and buy a Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet or GMC vehicle you can choose from three different incentives.

Find out what they are after the jump

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The Bad News Continues: Toyota expands recall, loses ‘Recommended’ Accolades

By now, you’ve likely heard about saga surrounding Toyota’s recall woes. The latest on the recall is that Toyota has expanded it to certain vehicles in Europe. There are no reports as to how many vehicles are affected in Europe or even if they are the same models affected in North America.

An easy way to tell if your Toyota is one of the models affected is to check on the gas pedal to see who made it. If it says Denso, then you can sleep easier at night. If it says CTS – we’ve got some bad news for you. Your model needs to be recalled.

Being known as among the best brands for reliability and safety, Toyota has generally topped many quality surveys. Obviously this new recall is causing second thoughts in potential buyers, owners and even loyal owners.

Consumer Reports tends to agree that doubting Toyota’s quality at this point is reasonable and as a result, it has suspended its coveted ‘Recommended’ status against all recalled Toyotas.  No doubt, their credibility (which is quite high among buyers) would be at stake if they keep their ‘recommended’ status on said Toyotas, but count this as another significant blow to the Japanese automaker.

Lamborghini’s Weight Loss = Best of Both Worlds

In the performance world, horsepower isn’t everything even though most American manufacturers seem to think so. Slapping 500 brake horse power into a car is useless if it can’t deal with taking a corner when the road gets twisty. In fact, horsepower is only one small piece of the puzzle. Tires, brakes and suspension all play a role in making a truly exquisite performance car. Like many human beings, more weight means more misery and this is true in the performance car world as well.

That’s why in most true performance cars, there is no sat nav, no heated seats and sometimes even no radio. Every little bit counts.

But there is another reason to lose weight.

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Toyota Suspends Sale of New Models

How the mighty have fallen.

Eight of Toyota’s new models will be suspended for sale due to an impending problem with sticking gas pedals.

The voluntary recall takes effect immediately and also includes a few older model years as well.

“Helping ensure the safety of our customers and restoring confidence in Toyota are very important to our company,” said General Manager Bob Carter, playing damage control. “This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized. We’re making every effort to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible.”

Check out the list of vehicles affected by the recall after the jump…

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Canadian Car of the Year Finalists Revealed! We Make Our Picks!

Those lucky ducks that have coveted AJAC (Automobile Journalists Association of Canada) memberships all recently got together to rate the best new car of the year from the Canadian perspective for 2010. They tested them, rated them, and broke down the finalists into five categories.

Since Car Driven is literally only hours old as we write this, it seems a bit premature to have our own COTY awards. So instead, we’ll just use AJAC’s finalists and make our own picks.

Find out the finalists and our picks after the jump!

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Volvo to be Sold to Geely for $1.8 billion?

Just as soon as reports came in of the sale of Saab,  reports came in just as quickly for a sale of Saab’s rival, Volvo.

Chinese brand Geely has been rumoured to be the preferred bidder of Volvo for quite some time now and it looks as though they are closer to acquiring the premium brand from Ford. And all it will cost them is $1.8 billion -a bargain!

You see, Ford purchased Volvo just over a decade ago to the tune of $6.25 billion. That’s over $4 billion lost in just eleven years. In all that time, it has been said that Volvo failed to be profitable to Ford, hence the reason of the sale.

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Next-Gen Porsche 911 Caught Cold Weather Testing – Don’t get too excited

The good folks over at Autoblog have obtained some spy shots of the next generation Porsche 911. The biggest news? It’s going to get LED turn indicators. Seriously, that’s it. There is also going to be some (very) subtle tweaks to the body such as some Panamara inspired mirrors and a slightly reworked front facia. Looks like we’ll have to wait a bit longer to hear about the engine specs.

This generation 911 is estimated to make it’s uncamouflaged debut at this year’s Geneva Auto show. Check out more pics over at Autoblog.

Saab Escapes Death Courtesy of Spyker Motors

After a torturous few months of indecision, GM has reportedly reached an agreement to sell Saab’s auto division to Dutch supercar company Spyker.

The deal reportedly gives GM $74 million up front, while it pockets $326 million in preferred shares from Saab’s new parent company. Also rumoured to be part of the deal is a guarantee that the Swedish government (who fought intently to keep the country’s second biggest car company afloat) is able to secure a 400 million euro loan.

Perhaps one of GM’s oddest requests in order to seal the deal was the insistence of removal of Spyker’s Chairman, Vladamir Antonov. Antonov is of Russian decent (his name really gives it away, doesn’t it?) and GM is quite adamant that their technology be kept out of the Russians proverbial hands. This was reportedly a condition in the now dead Opel-Magna deal as well. American pride is great, isn’t it? In any event, Antonov has agreed to step down in order for the deal to carry through.

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