Automakers Loving Obama Again

This is a bit of a turn around, isn’t it.

Just a short while ago, automakers were up in arms with the new, more stringent fuel efficiency standards that were going to come into play in 2016. Some thought they were too short on time to develop the technology necessary to meet the new standards, while others even asked to be exempted from the new standards.

However, with newly announced mileage requirements for light trucks and vehicles running through 2018 to 2025, automakers are breathing a sigh of relief as the pressure is relieved slightly with the extension. On top of it all, the new standards will be national which means manufacturers won’t need to abide by different state laws. For instance, California has the strictest emission laws in Amurrica and they have long been a thorn in the side of automakers.

This is an interesting move. Something definitely needs to be done with how much gas our cars use, but time is rapidly running out for a solution, especially considering how much oil is being lost as you read this post from the leak of the States shoreline. Is it better to force automakers into coming up with fuel efficient cars in a short period of time and risking unforeseen problems because they were rushed? Or is it better to give them time to develop good technology while we suck up more and more of the earth’s non-renewable resources?

What do you think?

[Autoblog Green]

Porsche 918 Spyder: 0-100 in 3.2 Seconds + 3 l/100 kms!

Granted there is likely some catch to the effect of it not being able to achieve 3l/100kms while it’s doing 0-100 in 3.2 seconds, but still, it is quite impressive nevertheless.

This plug-in concept will feature a V8 producing 500 horsepower matched to an electric motor that produces 218 horsepower for a combined horsepower rating of 718. The 918 Spyder concept operates like any other parallel hybrid where the gas and electric motor can work in conjunction with each other or indepentendly depending on the driving conditions. The car also features electric drive (E-Drive) which means it can travel up to 25 kilometres on the electric motor alone.

On the environmental end, Porsche claims a CO2 raiting of just 70 grams per kilometer.

Except to see many more supercars attempting to acheive performance yet efficiency as BMW is hoping to pull off a similar trick with its production version of its Vision EfficientDynamics concept and with Ferrari expecting to introduce a hybrid version of its 599 at Geneva very shortly.

Oh Hi: 2011 Lotus Elise, Lowest CO2 Emitter For a High Performance Car

Congrats to the 2011 Lotus Elise where the big news is that it is the the best performance car for CO2 emissions.

It’s able to achieve this mostly by its light weight (just under 2,000 ounds) and it’s new small 1.6 litre efficient engine borrowed from Toyota. 134 horsepower is generated from this 4 cylinder and it cuts its emissions by 13% over the 1.8 litre engine, producing only 155 g ofC02 per kilometre.

The new Elise will now sport a toned down front end with design cues borrowed from the awesome Evora.

Now for the bad news. We won’t be getting this new environmentally friendly Elise in Canada due to it being an extremely low volume selling vehicle.

But the 1.8 litre version will still stick around and it can hold its own for efficiency with a 9L/100 kms rating.

How Are Car Makers Doing With CO2, Anyway?

Overall they’ve improved…slightly.

While most car companies have been focusing on fuel efficiency and pushing money savings as the main benefit to the public, the reality is they are all being forced to make better vehicles to cut back on Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions as well.

The overall improvement is 2.8% over the 2008-2009 year for the U.S. The study was performed by British Consulting Firm JATO Dynamics.

Any improvement is all well and good, but there needs to be significantly more change in this area.

Can you guess the car company that improved its CO2 the most? Find out which one after the jump.

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Test Drive: 2010 Volkswagen Touareg TDI

By Kevin Harrison

A few days ago, I was on my way to Halifax from Dartmouth via Metro Transit’s superb bus services. It was around lunch time and I expected it to be quite busy. It was. However I was able to get myself a seat near the front of the bus which is typically reserved for the elderly, people who are disabled or have  young children. At one point a woman got on the bus and sat down next to me. This annoyed me because at no point during her time on the bus did she do anything remotely surprising. I had her ‘type’ pinned down as soon as the bus pulled up. She was clearly a crazy woman. Now, normally I don’t tend to judge books by their covers, but there seems to be a law in the universe that anyone that is remotely ‘loony tunes’ will interact with me, no matter what the circumstances.

I knew that this woman would choose to sit next to me rather than take the empty seats across from me. I knew that she would hit me in the face a few times with her bags as she attempted to sit down. I knew that she would ask me to hold her travel mug while she composed herself, then once settled in, act like the mug wasn’t hers. I knew that she would spend the majority of the trip talking to me about her dog “Jack” who may or may not exist. Seriously, the way she spoke about him made me question whether he was all in her head. It was at this point when I had started to pray that an elderly woman would get on the bus so I could give up my seat and get a break from hearing about how she once met a man with the same name as Tom Cruise, but wasn’t Tom Cruise, yet she still asked for his autograph anyway.

Sometimes you can nail down the personality of a car before driving it too, which is also irritating. For instance before you get into a Toyota Corolla (it does not matter what year) you know you will be in for a rather boring ride, but at least nothing will go wrong the gas pedal you’ll be able to save some gas. Before you get behind the wheel of a Ferrari 599 you know you’ll be in for one of the most thrilling adrenaline inducing rides of your life, but only if you can get it started first without jumper cables.

I thought I had the Touareg nailed down too. Turns out, I didn’t.

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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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