As
if a Pagani Zonda on its own wasn't enough exclusivity, an English
customer by the name of Peter Saywell had himself this exclusive
example specially designed. Saywell is apparently a supercar nut who
owns exotics such as the Koenigsegg CCX, the Lamborghini LP640, the
Porsche Carrera GT and a Techart GTStreet. And these are not all the
cars in his garages either [...]
It would take a really impressive supercar to make the Ferrari F430
Scuderia look infantile, but German carmaker Veritas – lost in
obscurity for so long – has returned with a car that may have
accomplished just that. The legendary car manufacturer, responsible for
some of the fastest racing cars back in the 40's and 50's has risen
from the ashes to return with a vengeance. Their latest supercar,
Veritas RS III, which they produced under the Volkswagen flagship and
in partnership with (...)
Hyundai
will continue their successful value escalation strategy in the car
sales wars, now offering to lock down a year of gas at $1.49 per gallon
for a year for buyers of new vehicles purchased between now and August
31st.
We're just digesting the press release below so
give us a few minutes to analyze it and give you some more details. But
we do have to say — $1.49 a gallon sounds a lot better than the
$2.99-per-gallon price-lock guarantee Chrysler offered last year! more at the source...
They're called owner "give-ups," and their rise is a sign of the tough economic times. Despondent over being financially strapped and unable to cover car payments, vehicle owners are ditching, sinking, or torching their vehicles and reporting the loss to collect insurance payoffs. According to authorities, most of the titleholders aren't seasoned criminals. In fact, many of the false claims are filed by first-time offenders -- people who normally wouldn't steal a piece of candy from a store. However, the desperate owners see insurance companies as "rich and fat," says James Quiggle, a spokesman for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. Many think the insurance companies won't miss a few dollars.
Well, of course they will. Owner "give-up" cases result in felony charges of insurance fraud, making false statements to police and insurance providers, and arson if the car was burned. A better solution for cash-strapped owners, say experts, is to attempt to renegotiate payments, sell the car, or trade it in for a less expensive model. While you generally won't come out ahead, those transactions are legal and they'll keep you out of the slammer.
Just last week we profiled the Camaro's rise to above-sticker sales
prices due to huge enthusiast demand, including 14,000 pre-orders
placed before the car even entered production. But now the new
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie is helping to push the 2010
Chevrolet Camaro fan base out into the mainstream.
That's a powerful claim, but with $201.2 million in revenue in the
first five days on screen, Transformers is a powerful franchise.
Prominent placement of the Camaro and other General Motors products
could prove to be one of the best ad values of the year.
While GM trudges through bankruptcy court, the Oshawa plant producing
the Camaro is working flat out to keep pace with demand, but they'd
better get ready for even more orders [...]
"The fifty-five-year-old electrical foreman from Jackson,
Michigan, had longed for a jet-powered truck for decades. Two years
ago, Lentz discovered a way to realize his dream when he met a pilot
from New York who imported used turbojet engines. After watching an
example run on a test stand, Lentz paid $10,000 for one. Obtaining a
rolling platform for his new toy was a bit easier. Lentz bought a used 2005 Ford F-150 STX on eBay for $12,000.
To
install the jet in the truck, Lentz fabricated a sturdy mounting stand,
a twenty-gallon kerosene tank, and a control console from aluminum and
stainless steel. His decorative touches include a red, white, and blue
nose cone and a 2700 HP badge (not divulged is the 516-mph velocity
needed to achieve that power level).
So what's that mean for performance? Automobile claims:
"Without jet assist, Lentz's 231-hp V-8 accelerated its
6600-pound burden (truck, jet engine, two occupants) to 60 mph in a
sluggish 14.5 seconds. We recorded a quarter-mile speed of 73 mph and a
top speed of 85 mph.
The best of three runs in hybrid mode - exploiting both piston and
jet propulsion - trimmed six seconds from the sprint to 60 mph. The
quarter-mile speed jumped 30 mph and we achieved 140 mph after 45
seconds of acceleration."
Whoa! That seems pretty slow to us. Maybe it's because of that whole 6600 lb thing. Meh, still pretty damn cool!
Last
year, the reality of $4 gallons of gasoline (and, of course, economic
uncertainly), caused a lot of changes in the auto industy in the U.S.,
from a drop in vehicle miles traveled to a decrease in big vehicle sales. Looks like that $4 level is the tipping point for any future changes in driver behavior as well, according to a new survey put out by Cars.com.
The
survey found that if gas were to shoot to over $4 a gallon again, 40
percent of car shoppers would "consider purchasing a new fuel-efficient
car right away." About the same amount, 41 percent, said that $4 gas
would make them choose a "more efficient car the next time they were
ready to buy a car." Even at $3.75, 29 percent of car shoppers thought
buying a more efficient car "right away" was the right move. Takeaway
point: when gas prices go up, people will want to have greener cars.
The question is what kinds of vehicles will be available then the
inevitable happens.
Calling it "the most disappointing Honda Consumer Reports has tested in a long time," America's most influential product testing magazine has given extremely poor marks to the Japanese automaker's new Insight hybrid.
In a verdict that reminds us of a certain Jeremy Clarkson review (albeit more kindly worded), Consumer Reports blasted the gas-electric hatchback for its "ride quality, handling, interior noise, acceleration, rear-seat, access, and visibility," consigning the hapless Honda to a 21 out of 22 ranking among other small hatchbacks and wagons. Tallying a road test score of 54 points, it was trailed only by the widely panned Dodge Caliber, which managed just 49 points.
Despite the fact that it won't receive a much-coveted CR "Recommended" nod, the Insight still managed to post a "Good" overall road test score (largely on the strength of its 38 miles-per-gallon as-tested fuel economy). Regardless, it was comprehensively beaten by both the Volkswagen Jetta Wagon and the Hyundai Elantra Touring, which scored 80 and 79 points, respectively [...]
An intense, all-night search of yesterday's collapsed Atlanta garage
thankfully revealed no injured or crushed people. The cars, on the
other hand, as you can see in the gallery below, didn't fare quite as
well.
Credit goes to the search-and-rescue crews who worked through
100-degree heat yesterday afternoon, the all through the night, in a
still-collapsing garage. In fact, while searching for individuals, they
were simultaneously propping up the four levels of the parking deck
that imploded in on itself. At the moment, as they're still in the
S&R portion of the recovery, they've yet to determine the cause of
the accident.
The
second-generation Hyundai Equus is apparently headed to the US sometime
in July 2010. A Hyundai insider says the Equus will be kept under
US$60,000 for the baseline model. The luxury sedan will compete with
the Lexus LS 460 on price. That car starts at about US$64,700 with
shipping.
Hyundai launched the first Equus in South Korea in 1999 and the new
generation car began selling there about three months ago. In Korea it
is priced at the equivalent of about US$50,000 minimum and it goes up
to US$81,000 [...]
Now that the Chevrolet Volt has progressed to the point where vehicles with near-production bodywork are running around, the time has come for the crew to begin ironing out details like the ride height and spring rates that will directly influence the plug-in hybrid's handling.
Regarding these points, chief engineer Andrew Farah has some interesting things to say about the Volt and the way GM will position it against its competitors. For instance, Farah notes (in reference to the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight), "Our chassis is much more sporty than either of the other vehicles."
Farah also comments on a couple of changes to the car's exterior design that eagle-eyed parties had noticed, such as the relocation of the plug from the front fender to under a flap in the traditional location for a gas cap. Other changes, such as the headlamps and taillights, may merely be present because the Volt is still early in its development cycle and there are some pre-production bits that aren't yet necessary for testing purposes.
Spy photographers take note: Farah also says the car is set to undergo some hot-weather endurance testing out west this summer.
The high end tuning house, Arden, has just revealed the very exclusive
Arden A-Type. This stylish feline is based on the previous generation
of the Jaguar XK and one of the many things that make it so special is
that only 5 kits will be made before the craftsmen at Arden break the
molds. What's interesting is that hose molds held a composite body that
was perfected in the wind tunnel, adding to the finished product's
purpose built look that is a prerequisite for any speed machine. The
(...)
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To
install the jet in the truck, Lentz fabricated a sturdy mounting stand,
a twenty-gallon kerosene tank, and a control console from aluminum and
stainless steel. His decorative touches include a red, white, and blue
nose cone and a 2700 HP badge (not divulged is the 516-mph velocity
needed to achieve that power level).
