Here We Go Again…

A while back Hennessey decided to take a stock Cadillac CTS-V wagon and tuned it to make it even faster – nothing wrong with that at all. However I was unimpressed because they took it to a drag strip to take on a previous generation Porsche 911 Turbo. Again, nothing wrong with that, but there was a real sense of bragging and I didn’t understand why anyone would pit a tuned car against a previous generation stock car. What exactly does that prove?

Well apparently Hennessey didn’t read my rant because they went and did the same thing again. They pitted their hotted up Caddy wagon against a previous generation Nissan GT-R. That’s right, the 485 (give or take) horsepower version. Why didn’t they try to take on the 2012 GT-R which has 530 horsepower? Considering their CTS-V wagon churns out 650 horsepower, that would’ve seemed like a bit more of a fair fight.

But apparently that didn’t matter much since Hennessey only beat the previous gen GT-R by a hair. 0.1 seconds to be exact. And to me that’s more embarrassing. Their car can barely beat an older GT-R? Well done.

[Youtube]

Oh Hi: 2012 BMW 6-Series*

Ladies and gentlemen say hello to the third generation 6-series coupe.

BMW, in a bit of an odd move, showcased the production 6-series cabriolet a few months back but this is the first time we’ve seen official pics of the coupe.

There are no real surprises considering we’ve already seen the cabriolet, but my goodness is it ever nice to look at.

So far the only engine choice is BMW’s superb 4.4 litre V8 which makes 400 horsepower and 450 pound feet of torque which is good enough for a 4.8 second 0-100 sprint time. BMW’s eight speed automatic is available, but don’t worry a proper six-speed manual is also in the cards for us to prefer to row our own gears. Thanks for that BMW!

A host of luxury and tech features are available including a 10 inch high res screen, lane departure warning, rear on top view cameras and a 3D heads up display.

But I’m willing to guess you won’t care about any of that stuff when you take this thing out for a weekend cruise. The 6-series really is the ultimate GT car!

Pricing has yet to be announce but expect it in the $90,000 range. Also expect an M6 to follow, likely after the 2012 M5 bows its brow to the world.

For more pics click here.

*UPDATE: Hit the jump to see a video of the 650i in action.

[Cardotcom]

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Speed: Love it, or Hate it?

Have you ever decided to see if the 0-100 time of your car is accurate but you had a squirmy passenger with you whose screams and pleads for you to stop made you wonder what the hell is wrong with them? Well, it turns out it’s all about how our brains respond to speed.

The BBC recently did a study and came up with some very interesting results. If you frequent this blog and call yourself an auto enthusiast chances are you’re the type of person that gets a permanent grin and a desirable response from your genitals when you stomp on the accelerator. That means that your body pumps out mass levels of dopomine when faced with speed. Dopomine gives you feelings of gratification.

If, on the other hand, you’re the type of person whose body freezes and the only noise you can make is a yell similar to that of a hyena when faced with speed, that means your body expenses generous amounts of serotonin. If the levels of serotonin get high enough, it can literally make your body freeze.

To help illustrate the BBC’s point, the always entertaining Jeremy Clarkson took his mother out on a rollercoster to show a real world difference between the two chemicals at work. Check it out the funny clip above.

You learn something knew every day.

[Youtube]

Well, This is a Bit Awkward…

At the Geneva auto show this year, a revived Saab decided to show off a concept car called the PhoeniX concept. It’s a beautiful looking car that shows just what Saab is capable of making if it puts its mind to it.

The man responsible for the design of the PhoeniX, Jason Castriota, was on hand at the show to talk about the concept, the delivery and the inspiration of the design.

Chris Bangle, on the other hand, was also at the show and came over to have a look at what Saab designers are up to these days. By the way, if you didn’t know, Bangle used to work for BMW as their Chief Designer and is responsible for the more controversial designs that BMW became  known for for the past decade such as the previous generation 5-series, 6-series, 7-series and Z4. Those were definitely love it or hate it designs.

Anyway, since Chris Bangle is Chris Bangle, he had the opportunity to talk to Castriota one on one about his design. And boy, did it ever get awkward.

Bangle is known as being a bit of an instigator of sorts and that’s clear in the video above. Bangle challenged Castriota on what exactly makes the PhoeniX a Saab.

The conversation is full of awkard silences, fake smiles/laughs and, surely, lots of restraint. Check it out above.

Who do you agree with?

[Youtube]

Do Automakers Think We’re Stupid?

Can someone explain to me why so many automakers are now investing time and money into comparisons that don’t make any sense?

First Chevrolet did it when they compared their new Cruze to a previous generation Hyundai Elantra, then Audi did it when they compared their new A8 to a Mercedes-Benz S-class that is a 6 year old design and now Hennessey has done it.

They basically took a stock CTS-V wagon (which can hold its own as it is) and gave it 650 horsepower. They then brought it to a drag strip to take on a Porsche 911 Turbo.

You can watch the video, but I’ll save you the trouble and just tell you that the hotted up Caddy wagon won. Shocker.

But here’s my problem with this comparison. Hennessey compared apples to oranges. The Porsche 911 that they used, according to them, had a tiptronic transmission. That, combined with the lack of LED tail lights, means they compared it to a previous generation 911 turbo.

What is the sense in doing that? Is it really all that cool to brag that your product is better than a product from a different era? That’s like me bragging that I could easily beat up a 10 year old. I mean, it’s true, but why would I ever do that? It just doesn’t make any sense. And on top of that, of course a tuned car would likely beat a stock car in a drag race. We’re talking close to a 200 horsepower difference between the two!

To all automakers: STOP DOING THESE STUPID COMPARISONS. By doing so you give the impression that you think we all somehow have the IQ of George W. Bush. And it really makes me want to not buy your product. If you’re going to do comparisons with your rivals, at least make them somewhat believable and fair.

[Youtube]

Nissan Targets Porsche in New Ad Campaign

Nissan is starting to become the Japanese Audi when it comes to attacking other car brands. You may remember a while back when they took on the three biggest performance brands from Germany: Audi, BMW and Porsche. They also threw in an extra jab at Audi for good measure.

Now it seems Porsche is the next one to be singled out of the three in a new ad campaign promoting the GT-R. For the campaign, Nissan got two fairly attractive women to drive around in a GT-R looking for Porsche’s in Porsche saturated Germany. They then got out and put a picture of the GT-R’s tail lights right on the windshield, insinuating that their car is slower than the GT-R.

According to Nissan, the campaign worked as they received an uptake of 23% for requests of a test drive of the GT-R.

But if it were me, that would make me want to buy a GT-R less. Firstly, I don’t care how good the GT-R is, don’t touch my car! I don’t know what Nissan used to put the ad on the windshield and I don’t know how careful they were in putting it on. Surely the risk of scrapes dents and dings is a factor when doing that, and if I came back top find that on my Porsche because Nissan was trying to be cheeky I’d be livid.

[Youtube]

Impotence Problems? BMW Has the Solution

Honestly, if you have erectile disfunction forget viagra. Just listen to the exhaust note of BMW’s new performance exhaust system offered exclusively on the M3 sedan, coupe and convertible.

The exhaust is about 20 pounds lighter than the stock exhaust and has perforated inner pipes, polished titanium tips and BMW M logos.

If you are not fortunate enough to actually own an M3, but still want to hear that symphony of sound everyday, don’t worry because BMW actually made it available as a ring tone. Just go to bmwusa.com/news. It’s a bit douchy, but my goodness does it every sound good!

[BMW]

Superbowl = Marketing Heaven for Auto Makers

I watched this year’s super bowl with faint interest. I don’t really follow football but the excuse to eat and drink with friends is usually good enough to get me to watch. This year, I added some good cheer near the end because the team I wanted to win actually won.

People also usually watch the super bowl for the half time show, but with the Black Eyed Peas as the headlining act, I would’ve been happier to have a rabid dog attack my genitals than to see these “musicians” perform.

I sat through it though in order to see the other attraction of  the super bowl: the commercials. Specifically, the car commercials.

Now, usually I don’t pay much attention to commercials and in general I tend to hate them, but a 30 second spot during the super bowl costs $3 million so naturally paying companies put in extra effort, therefore making them worth watching.

This year we got commercials from BMW, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Kia, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Volkswagen. If there were more than that I obviously was taking a large swig of beer when they were on and didn’t notice.

Anyway, these car companies not only paid big money for the air time, but also probably shelled over quite a bit of dough to have celebrety endorsements. This year we saw celeb appearances by: P Diddy, Eminem, Chris Pine and Kenny G to name a few.

If you missed the commercials or just plain didn’t care enough about the super bowl to watch, hit the jump to see them all.

PS make sure you check out the Mercedes-Benz commercial where the C-Class coupe gets an official reveal and the SLS roadster.

Who do you think had the best commercial?

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Audi Goes After Mercedes-Benz…Again

Audi is starting to act a lot like Stephen Harper. Just attack your competition rather than letting your product speak for itself.

Audi has taken several jabs at BMW over the past year to which BMW has responded to, but ultimately BMW has stopped responding to the prodding. Which is just as well. As entertaining as ad wars are, it does get old every now and then. Apparently Audi doesn’t know when to stop though.

They’ve also taken digs at Lexus and recently, they’ve turned their attention to Mercedes-Benz. Their last jab was in this ad.

But the latest jab targets Mercedes-Benz only insinuating that Benz’s are full of old non-innovative technologies, referring to the current S-Class. Audi is of course comparing it to their newly redesigned A8. Much like GM’s tig at an older Hyundai (posted below) this is a bit of an unfair fight. Of course the new A8 will have more new technology than an old S-Class design. When the redesigned S-Class comes out, then you can compare them, but until then this just seems like an unfair fight.

All these attack ads of late kind of make Audi seem like the bully of the sport luxury car world. You make great cars Audi. Let your products to the fighting for you.

[Youtube]

GM Says the Cruze is Better Than…

…a previous generation Hyundai Elantra.

Which is kind of like PC saying that Windows 7 is better than Mac OS 7.6. Of course it’s better!

I don’t know why GM wasted their time and money on this ad or why no one bothered to point out to them that they are comparing apples to oranges. Not only are they comparing their new product to an old product but they’re comparing the Cruze 1LT to the base Elantra.

I’m sure GM will argue that the comparison is still valid since there are probably remaining 2010 Elantras still for sale, but I’m fairly certain that there are also 2010 Chevy Cobalts still for sale. Comparing the Cobalt to the 2010 Elantra and the Cruze to the 2011 Elantra would be more fair.

So why didn’t GM do that? Because they know they would lose in both comparisons. Ha!

While I’m sure the Cruze is a fine step up from the Cobalt, I must say the 2011 Elantra looks way more impressive.

On another note, this is the first time GM has actually targeted Hyundai in their history. Usually they go after Honda and Toyota. That says something about the product now coming out from Hyundai. You have every reason to be scared, GM. The Koreans are coming!

[Youtube]

Ignorant Car Owner + Lack of Common Sense = FAIL

There was a study that came out a while back which said that 80% of BMW 1-series owners believed that their car was front wheel drive. Being a 128i owner myself, studies like that embarrass the crap out of me. In fact, I didn’t even believe the study. I didn’t think that many people could be so clueless and ignorant about their car…until I saw this video.

Judging by the accent of the guy recording and the fact that this is a 1-series hatchback, this video was likely taken somewhere in the U.K. Watch as the woman tries to clear the snow away from the front wheels of her rear wheel drive car. SMH. I guess that study has some merit.

I don’t understand how so many people spend so much money on something they no nothing about or don’t even bother to familiarize themselves with.

But that’s not even the worse part. Keep watching as she then leaves the car in gear then GETS OUT OF THE CAR. Obviously the 1-series then drove into the house of the guy that’s been recording her the whole time.

Darwin award winner for sure.

[Automotive Addicts]

Subaru WIN! Sti Pulls Truck From Snow

Whoa! Check out this video of a Subaru Impreza WRX STI pulling out a massive truck that somehow got stuck in Holland.

Makes quite the argument for AWD and huge amounts of power for winter. Oh and proper winter tires or course.

[Youtube]

Drool: 10 Minutes of BMW 1-Series M & E30 M3 Goodness

This is pretty much automotive porn. Enjoy.

[BMW via Youtube]

FAIL: Mitsubishi EVO Rolls Off Dyno

Man that  really sucks.

Check out the video above where some guys put an EVO VII on a dyno machine for testing and it went terribly wrong.

For some reason, the EVO started to tug on the restraint. The driver of the car instinctively starts to brake when the car starts to veer off the dyno, but that probably just made it worse.

He was okay after the incedent, but man that sucks for the owner.

Oh yeah, FAIL.

[Youtube]

Aww Yeeaah Top Gear Yeeah!

Check out the trailer for Top Gear’s latest shananigans above! That trip to the middle east is going to be hilariously awesome!