Toronto Street Graced With Fiat Goodness

The good folks over at Auto North apparently got a quite a treat in the neighbourhood of Kings West, Toronto as they spotted a Fiat 500 parked on the street! Fiat is apparently hyping up the upcoming release of the lovable lil’ hatch in our market. If you live in Montreal you may see a similar sight as well as ciaofiat.ca is claiming some promotion there too. How about some promotion down in Halifax, Fiat!

Also spotted was a Nissan Micra which was filming scenes for a commercial for its UK market. It’s still up in the air whether the Micra will be offered in our market, but Autoblog Green is reporting that the next generation Micra will indeed come to the USA next year. And there’s no way Nissan would ever sell a small hatch in the U.S and not here in Canada where it’s likely to sell better anyway.

[Auto North]

Nissan vs Germany Round 2

Recently Nissan has been becoming quite cocky as they have released ads taking jabs at three German companies known as being among the best for performance: BMW, Audi and Porsche.

Porsche didn’t take too well to Nissan’s new marketing approach as they threatened legal action against Nissan of using their logo without permission. I, on the other hand, said that Porsche should shut Nissan up by going head to head on the track. But anyway, technical legalities is definitely not stopping Nissan from digging at Porsche heals. Audi is also targeted again in this new round of advertising.

Nissan actually went out and bought an Audi TT-S and a Porsche Cayman S and is driving them around London with special messages to the public written on the side of each car. For the Audi, the message reads “More expensive, slower and less powerful than a Nissan 370Z”. The Porsche got branded with “I dream of being as fast as a Nissan 370Z”. Ouch.

That certainly is a way to get around the legalities that Porsche set out. BMW was not targeted this round, but I’m sure Nissan has something special in mind for them.

[Nissan via Top Speed]

‘How to Beat the Germans’ Nissan Style

Nissan is taking jabs at the Germans claiming their performance cars can do anything the Germans can do and do it better.

In a new ad campaign in the UK, Nissan touts the abilities of the 370Z and the GT-R. Both make an excellent case for being among the best in the performance world, but Nissan really wants everyone to know it.

When people think of performance, they tend to think of the German makes such as BMW, Audi, and Porsche. Well they are exactly who Nissan is taking aim at. The billboard ads feature either the 370Z or the GT-R with BMW, Audi and Porsche logos on the side of the car. Next to that is the five bar gate scoring system etched into the paint which showed the number of racing victories against each brand in the famous Nurburgring. Then the ad says “How to beat the Germans” or “The Germans came off Wurst” or “Kaisers Chiefed”.

BMW and Audi are no strangers to taking jabs at each other through friendly ads, so they likely won’t care too much, however this ad seems to have hit a nerve with Porsche. Apparently lawyers for Porsche are threatening legal action for unauthorized use of their logo. Nissan reportedly will comply, but will continue on with the campaign nevertheless.

That’s a bit of a bitch move Porsche. I mean, really? Getting lawyers involved? How about shutting Nissan up by putting your cars against theirs on the track instead?

[The Guardian]

Can You Hear Me Now? Nissan Debuts LEAF Sounds

The Nissan LEAF is likely going to be the first mass produced all electric vehicle and initial reports have it pegged as being quite successful as pre-sales are all sold out.

There are undoubtedly lots of good things about the LEAF (using no gas at all and no emissions being the biggest), but like everything there are a few downsides. One in particular is that the Nissan LEAF makes no noise at all when in motion since it is all electric. If you’ve ever driven a hybrid on electric mode only, you know that it is eerily quiet and takes some getting used to.

This may not seem like such a big deal, but it probably is a big deal if you’re blind. The blind rely heavily on their other heightened senses (such as hearing) to know if they are in danger of being hit by a vehicle. Obviously they can’t get out of the way of something they can’t hear.

So to combat that, Nissan has added a fake sound track to the LEAF to help the blind. The sound kicks in a lower speeds. And it sounds like some sort of rocketship from the future. Odd, but kinda cool. The LEAF makes a different chiming sound when in reverse (hear it after the jump).

That is all fine and good, but the problem with fake sounds is that it doesn’t take long for them to get immensely irritating. You only need to be the owner of a cell phone to know what I’m on about. You eventually just turn everything to vibrate.

Well with the LEAF, you can apparently turn off the sounds as well, which I suspect most people will do once the novelty wears off. But what about the blind people?!

The Federation for the Blind has complained to Nissan about this. Nissan has since made it so that the sound re-enables for each trip. Not sure if that will work or not.

In any event, very interesting stuff.

[New York Times]

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FAIL: This is Why I Park Like A Jack-Ass

My friends usually make fun of me for where and how I park my car. I refuse to park next to anyone anywhere. Therefore, I park way at the other end of the lot where no one bothers to park because it’s too far from the doors of the store. Because you know, it’s not like North American’s could use the exercise that the extra walk from the car to the door provides. Anyway, even then I only park in corner spaces because there is always some cock bag who will park next to me regardless of how much out of my way I go to ensure that very situation does not happen. And then I park on the line closest to the corner of the space to ensure no dings can ever occur from people who apparently have enough sense to pass a driving test but not enough sense to know how to open a car door properly. People usually call me a jack-ass for purposely parking on the line, but whatever. I figure if I park far enough away, it doesn’t really affect anybody anyhow.

Now, the picture above is a perfect example of why I do this. I don’t think I could describe in words the amount of rage that would consume my body and soul if I was the owner of the Nissan 370Z (40th anniversary edition too!) pictured above while coming back to my car. I would likely bludgeon the owner of the white Honda Accord along their family with an axe. There’s no way the clot who owns the Honda Accord Hybrid didn’t notice how close they had parked to the 370Z. There’s no way there wasn’t any scraping. Judging by the condition of the Accord, the owner obviously doesn’t care about the car to begin with. If there were a car equivalent of child services, I would be tempted to call to save this poor Accord from its reckless owner.

In any event, FAIL FAIL FAIL to the Accord Hybrid owner. I’m going to print this picture and show it to the next person who makes fun of me for parking the way I do.

High Initial Demand For LEAF

Nissan has been officially taking orders for its new all-electric game changer, the LEAF, for the past few days. In 65 hours is has received 6,635 customers sign up to reserve one. A $99 refundable deposit is required to reserve a LEAF.

Demand was particularly high within the first three hours as 2,700 eager beavers couldn’t wait to reserve one.

So far people from Tennessee, Oregon, San Diego, Seattle and the Phoenix/Tucson region in Arizona are the ones mostly signing up – exactly Nissan’s targeted market.

Nissan also added that they have introduced six other colours for the LEAF, should the standard blue you see above all over the internets not tickle your fancy. Oddly enough, green is not an available colour. Perhaps Nissan figured that would be a bit too cliche?

Nissan Debuts Juke in New York

The Nissan Puke Juke made its official debut at this year’s New York Auto Show and Nissan is very excited to tell us more about it. Oh…did we say excited? We meant to say indifferent. Nissan didn’t even bother holding a press conference for the Juke. Could it be because it looks like it was beaten with an ugly stick?

Who knows.

But the folks over at Autoblog apparently had the opportunity to speak to Nissan about the Juke in the hopes of getting some deets.

They found out the the Juke will get a 1.6 litre  direct injection turbo four which will make somewhere around 180 horsepower and 170 pound feet of torque. Unlike some car companies, Nissan will make a manual transmission option available, but only for front drive models. AWD Jukes will get a CVT only.

Expect the Juke to be available for sale in 2011.

Canadian Black Book Announces Best Retained Value Winners

If you want to get the most back from your car when selling it after four years, Canadian Black book has made it a bit easier for you to decide what to buy in the first place.

They have compiled a list of cars that best retain their value from MSRP four years later into 17 categories.

Find out who got the honours after the jump.

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The Face Only a Mother Could Love: 2011 Nissan Juke

Get used to that face because you will be seeing it around your local neighbourhood this fall.

Nissan has confirmed that it’s new crossover, the Juke, will be arriving in Canada this September. Apparently, Nissan just couldn’t stand all the attention that the Pontiac Aztec was getting for its ugliness, so they just had to show them up.

The crossover will feature both 1.6 and 1.8 engines and will slot below the Rogue.

After the jump is more pics if you can stomach them.

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Bentley Continental Supersports vs. Nissan GT-R

Motor Trend had the opportunity to put these two rare breeds of sports cars against each other. If this seems like an odd comparo, well, it is. The Nissan GT-R has a starting price of around $80,000, while the Bentley will set you back $323,000. Seriously.

The Bentley is a whopping 1,000 pounds heavier than the GT-R, but it also retains the horsepower advantage with 631 bhp. On paper, it seems like they could be comparable.

Find out who won after the jump

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World Car of the Year 2010: Top Ten Entries Revealed

What is the best car in the world? It’s all relative and subjective and thus, impossible to determine. But that doesn’t stop automotive journalists from trying.

52 automotive journalists representing each continent in the world (except Antarctica – Penguins can’t legally drive yet) have gotten together and submitted their top ten choices for World Car of the Year in two categories: Car of the Year and Performance Car of the Year. There will then be three finalists chosen for both categories.

Find out what car made the top ten and what our pics are for the finalists after the jump!

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