Oh Hi: Jaguar C-X75

Jaguar has been hinting at a new supercar for a long time now and this is what they came up with.

The C-X75 is obviously a concept but it does give us a sneak peak into what future product from Jaguar will look like as the C-X75 clearly has a new design language under Tata owned Jaguar.

The C-X75 actually has an electric range extender for a bit of added efficiency. There are actually two micro gas turbines that develop 96 horsepower each that power the li-ion battery pack. There are actually four (!) 195 horsepower electric motors as well which brings the grand total to 780 horsepower and 1,187 pound feet of torque!!!! This helps get the sub 3 tonne vehicle get from 0-100 in 3.5 seconds. It also has a top speed of 328 km/hour!

Sounds pretty impressive but it also sounds like a lot of technology that can and will go wrong too. That’s probably why it’s still on concept form. Expect the production version to be a little more mainstream.

Still cool though!

[Jaguar]

Volkwagen Passat Dead To Us?

Volkswagen released the new Passat in Paris today and it seems to bare a striking resemblance to the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta, only a bit more upscale looking. Actually the only thing that doesn’t look quite upscale looking is the rear end where the tail lights have too much of a resemblance to the Canada-only VW Jetta City. Still, the design is clean and classy.

But none of that matters because apparently Volkswagen is done with selling the Passat in our market. Whaa?!

Volkswagen confirmed that it would continue to sell the Passat in its current form here for another year, then it will get pulled. So we won’t even get to try this new Passat? What gives?

Volkswagen hasn’t exactly abandoned the mid-size market in North America. VW plans to offer a replacement to the Passat here called the NMS. Hmm… not sure how I feel about this. Usually cars designed specifically for North Americans means that you get a softer, bigger, less wagon or hatchback kind of ride. Mazda did it with their Mazda6 by offering a fatter, slower and uglier version just for us from the rest of the world and now it appears VW is going down the same road.

Let’s hope the NMS isn’t quite as much of a disappointment as I’m setting it up to be. I’ll be the first to eat my words should a test drive of the NMS proves to be impressive.

[Autoblog]

Oh Hi Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept

After releasing about six teaser images, of which I did not blog about because I’m so sick and tired of stupid teaser images, Lamborghini finally revealed the mystery concept ahead of Paris.

It’s called the Sesto Elemento Concept, originally thought to be called the Jota. And thank God it isn’t. Jota doesn’t sound Italian enough. Sesta Elemento, however, sounds molto meglio!

Okay, now onto the good stuff. Meant to be a successor to the Murcielago LP-640, the Sesto Elemento packs a lot of punch. It uses a tuned version of the Gallardo’s V10 which produces 570 horsepower. Sounds a bit underwhelming? Well the other piece of the puzzle is that Lamborghini is getting into the weight loss business as they have just discovered that light weight is an important piece of the performance puzzle. As a result, the Sesto Elemento weighs just 2,200 pounds! To give you an idea of just how light that is, it’s roughly the same weight as a Lotus Elise.

The power-weight ratio means the Sesto Elemento can fo from 0-100 in just 2.5 seconds! That’s insanely fast!

Stephan Winklemann, CEO of Lamborghini, says that the Sesto Elemento signifies the end of horsepower wars saying:

“With less weight, it will change direction in a way that you won’t believe unless you drive it. There will be no play in the suspension, no flexing, no inaccuracy at all. You ask it to do it and that’s exactly what it will do, down to the width of a hair”

Watch out for a Car Driven test drive of the Sesto Elemento in 2030.

[Inside Line]

Sneak Peak: Saab 9-4X

Set to officially debut at the Los Angeles Motor Show in November, a Saab nut over at Saabs United was actually able to snag a pic of the production version.

Now under the ownership of Spyker, it seemsthings are chugging along quite nicely for Saab after being dangerously close to death. Spyker seems to be respecting the overall Saab design philosophy that makes Saab such quirky loveable cars.

Since this Saab was planned and developped under General Motors, it actually shares the same platform as the Cadillac SRX. It is expected to get possibly the same 2.8 litre turbocharged V6, however the 2.0 litre turbocarged inline four found in the 2010 9-5 is also a possibility, what with efficiency being on the mind of everyone. As the ‘X’ in the name suggests, AWD will be standard.

[Saabs United]

Crazy Motorcyclist in Russia

This is just crazy. Like, bat-shit insane.

I hate motorcycles. I don’t really understand the point. Yes, you can go much faster than you could in a car, but they are obnoxiously loud, ridiculously impractical and if you were to ever hit anything or fall off, that’s pretty much it.  Jeremy Clarkson said it best: Motorcyclists are not human beings.

This video would seem to prove that. I don’t know how anyone could go that fast, in sucha  large traffic congestion knowing that at any moment a driver who is not paying attention or isn’t expecting someone to be going that fast could pull out in front of you. Or a slight driver’s error could be disasterous. Like I said, not human.

Check out out the video above to see what I mean. In case you were wondering, that’s in Moscow. To the crazy motorcylce dude:  save that crazy driving for video games. Not cool to play with peoples lives like that.

[noob.us]

Oh Hi: 2014 Lotus Elite

Lotus has unveiled a pic of the 2014 Elite Concept (though it looks production ready to me) ahead of the official unveiling in Paris.

Along with a pic came more details on the specifications and they are quite impressive. The Elite will come with a 5.0 litre V8 which makes 611 horsepower and 531 pound feet of torque. Wowsa! Combine that engine with typical Lotus lightness and you’ll be able to get from 0-100 in just 3.5 seconds in the Elite.

On top of that, though, Lotus will apparently work with Toyota in incorporating hybrid technology into the Elite as an option. With a big V8 you can almost certainly bet that fuel efficiency will be dismal so the hybrid technology isn’t a bad idea – so long it doesn’t upset the handling.

Toyota’s got its PR game in full swing with this announcement claiming it doesn’t mind sharing it’s hybrid technology with other manufacturers “because we would like to see environmental technologies adopted and used as widely as possible.” Right. It’s not because you can make sick amounts of profit by licencing out the technology. No, it’s because you really care for the environment that badly. I don’t know who you think you’re fooling with statements like that, Toyota.

[Autoblog Green]

Top Gear Caught Filming for Season 16 in New York!

Jezza, Hamster and Captain Slow were recently caught filming in New York for season 16 of Top gear. And by the looks of it, season 16 won’t be a disappointment (not that any episode of Top Gear is ever a disappointment).

The cameras caught what looks to be a supercar challenge. Having a self proclaimed Benz bias, Jeremy naturally chose the Mercedes-Benz SLS. Richard, also admitting a fond admiration of Porsches, unsurprisingly took a Porsche 911 GT3 RS to the party while James got the keys for the boner inducing Ferrari 458 Italia.

The boys can be seen attempting to manoeuver through a construction zone – no doubt highlight the impracticalities of actually owning a supercar. At one point Jeremy actually had to open the gullwing door to see where he was going. I can only imagine the hilarious/amazing moments they had on the trip.

I’ve been pumped for new Top Gear for a while, but this video makes me 10 times more exciting.

[Youtube]

American Cars Are Apparently Appealing

You know you’re a car nut when the first thing you notice about a celebrity sighting is the car they’re driving and not the celebrity themselves.

Case in point, this particular photo caught my eye. The driver is David Beckham known for having a ridiculous $250 million contract to play soccer in the US and also for having a wife that used to be part of the biggest girl groups of all time (aka Victoria Beckham).

Anyway, I don’t really care about David or his kid, but I do care about what he drives and that apparently is a Jeep Wrangler. Isn’t that a bit odd? You have $250 million to your name and you choose a Wrangler? I’m not knocking the Wrangler, it’s actually a capable vehicle and one of the VERY few American vehicles I like. I just don’t understant why anyone with oodles of money would want one.

But apparently American cars are appealing to people who aren’t American. Richard Hammond has an unusual fascination with muscle cars afterall (which Jeremy Clarkson endlessly makes fun of him for..and rightfully so) and Richard Brand apparently is quite fond of American cars as well. Wait, I see a trend here. They’re all British!

Actually this isn’t the first filthy rich person to buy a Wrangler. Jay-Z actually has one as well. No doubt it’s just one of many vehicles he owns. I suspect it’s the same deal with fancy soccer pants boy too.

I just realized that this post was kind of pointless but I already wrote it, so whatever.

[X17Online.com]

I Can’t Lie – This Looks Good

The idea of a lowered two door Cayenne is stupid right? I mean why not just get a 911 if you want a quick coupe from Porsche? Normally I would rip into something like this, but damn does it ever look good.

This is the Merdad Porsche 902 and in addition to losing the rear doors, it is also rumoured to come with 750 horsepower (!) which is good enough for a 0-100 sprint in 4.4 seconds.

Considering the Cayenne can actually hang with a 911 around the track, I assume this modded version will do even better. Consider me intrigued. No word yet on what this beast will cost, but you can be assured that it will be in the six figure range.

[Carscoop]

Volvo Releases S60 R-Design Image

Remember the old S60 R? It was quite the sleeper. Douchebags in their Cobalt SS’s didn’t know what hit them when they got schooled by an S60 R. It came with 300 horsepower, 300 pound foot torque, AWD, an advanced suspension altering system and a six speed manual. Oh and it looked damn good too. Yet, despite that delicious combination, Volvo didn’t sell too many S60 R’s. Why? I think it’s because Volvo marketed it to be an ‘M3 killer’. Which it really wasn’t. The S60 R was good, yes, but not nearly as capable as the E46 M3 which it was pitted against.

Volvo then dropped the S60 R from its lineup, which was quite unfortunate. Since then, Volvo has offered ‘R-design’ packages on the C30, XC90 and XC60. While they made the appearance of those models look spectacular, unfortunately that’s all the R-design package was – purely cosmetic.

Now, though, Volvo is offering the R-design package on the redesigned S60 and it’s a bit more than just side skirts and nice alloys. The R-Design will now also get you an upgraded suspension including firmer bushings all the way around, a strut-tower brace, and stiffer coils on all four corners.

You’ll also get torque vectoring. What’s torque vectoring? Well it basically allows for enhanced cornering abilities by sending and appropriate amount of torque to each individual wheel depending on the speed and aggressiveness the driver has in taking the corner.

Sadly, there will be no boost in power from the engine. With the standard S60 T6 making 300 horsepower and 325 pound foot torque however, Volvo probably figured that would be adequate. Um, not if you wanna take on the M3 again Volvo. However, those numbers do put it right in line with the 335i and the Volvo is also significantly cheaper.

Good to see the re-incarnation of the S60 R.

[Volvo]

R.I.P Ford Ranger

I’ve never been a pick-up truck guy. When I was about 5 years old I thought they were pretty cool, but back then I also thought tucking your sweater into your pants was cool too.  Now that I’m older and out in public without my sweater tucked into my pants, I can appreciate a good pick-up truck, but they still don’t do a whole lot for me. I’m really more of a performance enthusiast.

But there was always one truck that strangely intrigued me and that was the Ford Ranger. I guess I found it interesting because Ford pretty much has deemed the Ranger to be the black sheep of the family for a long time now. They neglected to do any upgrades or updates to the truck at all. As a result, the Ranger has gone essentially unchanged since 1993. And yet, Ford still sells 75,000 Rangers in North America every year. What?! How are people still buying an almost 20 year old design? That’s what intrigues me. There must be something special about that truck for it to continually sell so well.

And now comes word that Ford has finally decided to kill it off. The Ranger has one more year left, then the production cycle will end in 2011. There is no replacement planned either, at least not for North America. There will be a new Ranger debuting for the rest of the world quite soon, but we will be the only land mass that won’t be able to buy it. Why?

According to Ford, three reasons. 1) The new global Ranger will be too close in size to its big brother the F-150. It’s about 90% the size of the big full-sizer. Ford is afraid the new Ranger would canabalize F-150 sales. 2) The compact pick-up truck has been on a steady decline for years in our market, down to only 2% sales. Since North Americans are a bunch of fools, we still are of the mindset that bigger is better. The Ranger is really the only true compact pick-up truck that you can buy today. 3) According to Ford, most interested buyers don’t buy the Ranger because it’s a truck. They actually buy it because it’s one of the least expensive fuel efficient vehicles in the showroom. Since the arrival of the new Fiesta, that is no longer true.  Um, did they forget about the Focus?

Anyway, for those reasons, we will not be getting the Ranger replacement in our market and the current version will be killed off. I think I may try to get a test drive done on the current Ranger to see what all the fuss was about for the past 20 years.

Until then, R.I.P Ranger. Your demise is the unfortunate result of backwards North American thinking.

[Autoblog]

Oh Hi: 2012 BMW 6-Series*

Okay, technically this is still a concept, but clearly it’s 95% ready for production. I’m not quite sure why BMW has decided to start doing this of late – calling a car that’s obviously ready for production a concept (remember the Gran Coupe Concept?), but it seems to be BMW’s new theme so we’ll just ride with it. The production version of the 6-series will apparently be slightly lowered and slightly wider, which is fine with me.

The new 6-series is very much done with the Bangle era. There is an array of LED’s up front and behind, with the 6-series taking on more of a family resemblance.

Expect power to come from different naturally aspirated and turbocharged inline sixes. When the M6 comes out, it will likely have the same V8 that the new M5 is going to get.

More pics, plus interior shot after the jump.

UPDATE: Video now added after the jump. Don’t get too excited though, the 6-series isn’t in motion in the video or anything.

[Autoblog]

Read the rest of this entry »

New Details Emerge On My Next Car

Once the day comes to get rid of my 128i (which will be a very sad day indeed), there is little doubt in my mind that it will be replaced by another 1-series. I’m definitely hooked.

After experiencing the orgasm of an amazing car that is the M3, I can only imagine what a smaller, tighter and more nimble version would be like. BMW is making my dream a reality by producing an M version of the 1-series.

A BMW salesman named David Aviles from Maryland won a sales competition where the prize was being invited to an event called The Power of M. At the event, a few details of the 1-series M were revealed. Luckily for bloggers and perspective buyers like me, Aviles decided to spill the beans.

A bit of bad news to start, the 1-series M will be a limited production model. That means BMW will probably not budge on the price and getting a car spec’d perfectly to your liking will be increasingly difficult. However the good part is that not every Tom Dick and Harry will have the same car as you.

Secondly, along with limited production will be limited colour choices. Alpine White, Jet Black and Valencia Orange Metallic are the only colours to choose from. That’s fine with me, I’ll take Jet Black with those delicious gunmetal CSL-style wheels. Oh and black quad exhaust tips please.

But probably the best news, and albeit the most surprising news, is that the 1-series M will come with manual transmission only! Yes! I don’t care how good the DSG transmission is, it will never replace the pure joy and driver involvement of a true manual transmission and I’m happy that BMW is catering to that market (aka me).

No word on enigne specs, but the new rumour is 350 horsepwer from a turbocharged inline six.

God, I need this car. Badly.

[Bimmerpost]

Audi S4 Wins Esquire Car of the Year

Esquire magazine has just named its Car of the Year and this year it goes to the Audi S4. No arguments here, the S4 is a brilliant if often forgotten sports sedan. Since the introduction of the RS4, the S4 has sort of taken a back seat to its bigger brother. Which is a shame because the original S4 was something to be desired and with the new one even more so.

The male-centric magazine listed the following reason for the S4′s win:

Numbers and stats are starting points, but we believe that the Esquire Car of the Year should make you feel something deep in your gut. You should lust for it and dream about it, but it shouldn’t be an impossible goal. It must be attainable for the average man. It should sit in front of your house or office without drawing attention to itself and tackle four seasons of day-to-day transportation with ease. Yet crucially, sometimes, without warning, it must make you snatch the keys off the wall, haul off to the country and just drive.

Well said. Basically it does everything a good sports sedan should do. Congrats Audi!

[Esquire]

2012 BMW M5 Takes on the ‘Ring Again

The 2012 BMW M5 is back in the Nurburgring again after a rather embarrassing show last time. BMW has apparently fixed whatever problem knocked it out of commission the last time and we now have some great video spy shots!

The M5 can be seen in the vid taking the apexes with ease and looking damn good in the process. No word on the lap time yet.

Can’t wait to see official pics and specs!

[Youtube]