Published on April 20, 2008 by Quan Vo
Ever since the Supra, Celica, and MR-2 were canceled Toyota has pretty much abandoned performance for bland cars like the Camry, Corolla, and Prius. Well by the end of the decade that should be set to change as Toyota officially confirmed that they are currently jointly developing a RWD sportscar with Subaru on April 10, 2008. Each brand would be set to get its own version of the car, set to be powered by one of Subaru’s boxer engines. So far all we have is the above sketch courtesy of Autocar, but Read more »
Published on April 20, 2008 by Quan Vo
The unveiling of a new Lamborghini is always a huge event, especially to me. And this one is no different. Much like the Murcielago was transformed into the LP640, the Gallardo is now the Gallardo LP 560-4. LP for longitudinale posteriore, the engine’s positioning in the car, 560 for 560 PS/ 552 HP, and 4 for its four-wheel-drive system. The redesigned new front end adds some angles reminiscent of the new Reventon. The profile remains largely the same but the rear end is completely redesigned. The taillights are wider and no longer travel up rear deck of the car. Below them a black grille stretches across the entire rear end of the car and a pair of dual exhausts are visible exiting from a black housing above a new rear diffuser. Tons more pics (including the interior) after the jump and some pics of the old Gallardo for comparison. Read more »
Published on March 3, 2008 by Quan Vo
Porsche and Wolkswagen have always had a very close relationship, with parts sharing dating back to their beginnings. This relationship is further emphasized when considering that Ferdinand Porsche also designed the iconic people’s car Volkswagen Beetle. In March of 2007 Porsche upped its stakes in VW to 31% officially triggering rumors of an eventual takeover. Well according the the Detroit News the VW Auto Group Supervisory Board has just given its approval for Porsche to take majority ownership of the company moving to 51% to VW’s 49% at a cost of approximately $20 billion from Porsche’s pocketbooks. The move has been anticipated for some time now, and with it finally going through parts sharing between the two automakers will probably be even greater.
Published on March 2, 2008 by Quan Vo
It’s been a while since I’ve been excited about any SUV - what with the 3.00 dollar-a-gallon gas and just the poor handling and bland styling.That may be about to change, however, with the unveiling of the new Land Rover LRX concept - in black this time. The new truck is a sexy mini-ute - and looks even better than the plain white one at the Detroit Auto Show. Deets and more pics after this Read more »
Published on February 8, 2008 by Quan Vo
Earlier we brought you leaked pictures of the new Mercedes-Benz SL class. Well, now the top of the line AMG models have been revealed and we felt compelled to bring it straight to you. It features most of the changes of the standard SL, but with one MAJOR difference. It comes with AMG’s 6.3 liter with The SL63 AMG is new and comes with AMG’s naturally aspirated 6.2 litre engine cranking out 538 hp and 465 lb-ft or torque. And if that’s not enough for you the SL65 AMG has the renowned twin turbo V12 pushing out 604 hp and a tire-shredding 738 lb-ft of torque. Pricing hasn’t been announced but if you’re hankering for one of these babies, be prepared to spend about $120,000 or more for the SL63 and around $200,000 for the SL65. AMG specific features include a new hood, complete new aero kit, wheels jacked from a Porsche 911 Turbo, plus the obligatory AMG badging. Inside you still get all the luxury expected from a Mercedes-Benz featuring seas of dead cow everywhere accented by carbon fibre. I’ll take a 63 in black, please. More pics after the jump. Read more »
Published on January 31, 2008 by Quan Vo
So We’ve long extolled the virtues of the upcoming Nissan GT-R. Namely being that with permanent awd and a turbocharged V6 good for 480 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque all at a msrp of only $69,000, it offers an amazing bang-for-the-buck proposal. Now when we heard there would only be 1,500 GT-R’s coming to the red, white, and blue land we figured the majority of dealers would be upmarking enthusiast drivers. However, we expected it to be about 80 grand or so. WRONG! Read more »
Published on January 27, 2008 by Quan Vo
So one of my favorite cars has always been the Mercedes-Benz SL Class. It offers pretty much the perfect combination of style, sport, and luxury. With models ranging from the “homely” SL550 with its 5.5 litre V8 engine offering 382 horsepower and 391 lb-ft of torque to the monster that is the Sl65 AMG with a twin-turbo 6.0 litre V12, 604 horsepower and an earth-moving 738 lb-ft of torque, the hardtop roadster has always provided the pinnacle of Mercedes sport and luxury at any price (as long as it’s more than $100,000). Well, Mercedes-Benz felt the current SL(pictured immediately after the jump) was getting a little raggedy-looking so in the midst of a mid-life crisis they took it under the knife to get a little work done. The changes and pics after the break. Read more »
Published on January 7, 2008 by Quan Vo
So in bit of sad news for today, the brilliant 2008 Nissan GT-R has seen the first crash of one of its production cars. This amazing car, with 480 horsepower, 430 lb-ft of torque, a 0-60 mph time of 3.7 seconds, and a top speed of 193 mph, is apparently still very difficult to handle as shown here. The AWD system on the car was apparently not enough to prevent this particular driver from ramming his probably 100 thousand dollar, 2 month-old car head on into a barrier. The crumple zones, however, appear to work well as the driver escaped relatively unharmed. One more picture of the damage after the jump. Read more »
Published on December 31, 2007 by Quan Vo
With the new year fast approaching it’s as good a time as any to go ahead and look back on the year 2007 for the auto industry. The auto industry grew overall with the number of cars sold worldwide totaling 53 million. While GM continued to hold the lead in sales over Toyota with 9.1 million in sales there is no doubt Toyota is definitely closing in. It sold 8.5 million cars in 2007 and it’s probably only a matter of time before they become the world leader in car sales. US automakers continued to stagnate, suffering from perceptions of poor quality, or in the case of most Chrysler vehicles, very real poor quality.
Japanese automakers continued to cement their position as the producer of “green” cars, with Toyota’s Prius continuing to
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