Cars Tips: January 2013

Thursday, January 31, 2013

There's Something Reversely Wrong with this Driver

You could say that this driver is pretty good with his hands behind the wheel, or completely senseless, or perhaps better yet, both.

How else can you explain his actions after the car lost traction due to the icy conditions of the road, spinning around itself and narrowly missing an oncoming vehicle?

It's hard to believe just by looking at well-preserved examples, but next year, the BMW 8-Series coupe will be a quarter of a century old as it debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) in September of 1989, remaining in production for a decade.

It's also hard to believe that someone would spend time, effort and money to transform a 1993 850i into an odd-looking caricature (and that's a huge understatement) like the one pictured here.

All eyes will be on the conceptual GT 86 (Scion FR-S) convertible at Toyota's Geneva Motor Show stand, but the Japanese carmaker has a few more new models up its sleeve, including the world premieres of the i-Road concept and the final production version of the Auris Touring Sport, along with the European debut of the RAV4. Read more »

Toyota Teases New FT-86 (Scion FR-S) Open Concept Ahead of Geneva Salon World Premiere

Ever since the launch of the Toyota 86 and GT 86, and its Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ twins, there have been many rumors swirling around about a convertible version(s) of the successful coupe series.

As it turns out, Toyota is indeed considering such a model and will actually display a concept version at next month's Geneva Motor Show.

Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne revealed on Wednesday, January 30, a revised version of the company's product plan for its seven of its mainstream brands in North America, including Chrysler, Jeep, RAM, Dodge, SRT, Fiat and Alfa Romeo.

Under the new schedule, the four small cars previously planned for Chrysler and Dodge, two for each brand, which would have been assembled by Fiat and be launched this year, are now dead.

No one likes to see their car clamped down, regardless if they deserve it or not, but once it happens, the only other thing you can really do besides paying the ticket is to complain about it.

Well, at least these are the options for someone rational, because you could always defy logic and attempt something stupid like drive away with one of your wheels locked in the clamp, which is precisely what an elderly man from Dublin, Ireland, tried to do in a BMW 5-Series Touring (E39).

Even though the dust has yet to settle from the presentation of the new 2014 Corvette Stingray and we won't be seeing the car in showrooms until the end of summer the earliest, some fans of the series have been complaining about the switch from circle to the more Camaro-esque square taillights.

While it's true that the C2, C3, C5 and C6 did indeed have round or oval rear lights, it wasn't always like that as the C4 came with four square-shaped tail lamps and the first Corvette had single lights from 1951 to 1960, with the four-light treatment appearing on the 1961 and 1962 models of the C1 lineup.

It's a fact that Nürburgring lap times have become something of a standard when it comes to comparing sports cars’ performance. Car & Driver magazine decided that it was impractical to conduct its annual Lightning Lap event in Germany as they had 20 cars to test, so its editors chose the Virginia International Raceway (VIR) as the U.S. equivalent of the ‘Ring.

While the 4.1-mile long track is one-third of the Nordschleife, it features more than 30 turns and elevation changes and, according to C&D, it makes for a demanding venue in which to test each car to its limits.

Maybe we're just not seeing it in these pictures, but we expected something a little bit different, a little bit more attractive from SsangYong when it released the first teaser sketches of its redesigned Rodius minivan on Wednesday, in advance of its world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Read more »

McLaren P1 Shows Up Alongside MP4-12C Spider in 2013 Formula 1 Car Launch [w/Video]

We can safely say that McLaren is showing off its upcoming P1 hypercar quite a lot lately – not that we’re complaining, of course. Barely a week after releasing a new video and a set of images of an “XP” (for “experimental”) test car with a black and white camouflage that did nothing to hide its lines, the company chose its 2013 Formula 1 contender’s launch to flaunt the P1 again. Read more »

2014 BMW M4 Coupe Specs Allegedly Revealed Through VIN Check

Just because carmakers don't publicize specifications of future models, doesn't mean that they're not obliged by law to register prototype vehicles created for development purposes if they intend to use them on public roads.

In some cases, depending on the country and local rules, they have to provide specific details. If we are to believe a report from the BMW loving crew over at the F30Posts, one of their members discovered a registration document for an M4 Coupe test car through a VIN check (there no mention on how and where).

It's a question asked by many automobile owners living in a number of regions around the world with harsh winters and lots of snow; would you be better off with a front-wheel drive (FWD) model fitted with winter tires that you can swap once the weather warms up, or an all-wheel drive (AWD) vehicle with regular rubber? Read more »

Hyundai in Shock as Toyota Camry Wins 2013 "Korea Car of the Year" Award

Until recently, South Korea had a taxing policy that made importing cars nigh impossible. It was a means to protect its homegrown automakers, of course, i.e. Hyundai and Kia, from foreign competition. Now, though, it has opened its doors to foreigners, which is fair, as the Koreans face no such restrictions in regions such as North America, Europe or Asia.

Toyota, for one, only entered the South Korean market in 2010. In 2011, it managed to shift 5,020 vehicles. Last year, it more than doubled that number, to 10,795 and, despite the strong competition from German rivals, increased its market share from 4.78 to 8.25 percent.

If you make it out alive and unhurt from one accident, you can consider yourself lucky, but if you do the same twice in the same instance, it's nothing short of a miracle.

This driver was travelling on the road (in Russia, according to the poster and one of the car's license plates) minding his own business when a Mitsubishi Lancer sedan coming from the opposite side lost traction and swerved into his lane.

With a voracious appetite for all kinds of supercars and plenty of wealth to sustain it thanks to its oil-rich real estate, it shouldn't come to as a surprise that the Arab world has finally managed to produce its own hypercar in the guise of W Motors's Lykan Hypersport, which was introduced at this week's Qatar Motor Show.

While many questions remain unanswered, what we do know about the Beirut-based company's edgy-looking (some may say, Lamborghini-esque) Lykan Hypersport is that only seven cars will be produced, each carrying a base sticker price of $3.4 million (about €2.4 million at today's exchange rates), which includes a $200,000 limited edition Cyrus Klepcy watch.

It’s almost time for yet another installment of the Fast and Furious franchise to hit the silver screen. The sixth film of the series is scheduled for a cinematic release on May 24, 2013, but its creators will give us the opportunity to see the first official trailer during Super Bowl XLVII on Sunday, February 3.

Fast & Furious 6 will join several other movie trailers that will air during the big game including "Iron Man 3", "Star Trek Into Darkness", "The Lone Ranger", "Oz: The Great And Powerful" and "World War Z".

If you answered 'Dart' to the question we posed in regards to a teaser picture of a new Mopar 13' model released by Chrysler earlier this week, then you may look at the mirror and give yourself a big thumbs-up.

The limited edition Mopar '13 Dart is the fourth model in the Mopar special series since the company partnered with Fiat in 2009 and follows the Mopar '10 Challenger, Mopar '11 Charger and Mopar '12 Chrysler 300. It will make its first public appearance at next week's Chicago Auto Show and go on sale this spring in a limited run of 500 units.

Volkswagen's light commercial vehicle, the Caddy, turns 30 this year and to celebrate the event, the German automaker has released a new special variant named the Edition 30, of which only 117 examples will be offered in Britain. Read more »

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Consumer Reports Takes the New 2014 Mazda6 and 2013 Lexus LS for a Spin

The two latest arrivals in the garage of Consumer Reports is an early production version of the all-new 2014 Mazda6 sedan and Lexus' revised 2013 LS flagship, both of which were taken out for a first drive by the magazine's auto engineer, Tom Mutchler.

Beginning with the new generation of the Mazda6, Mutchler gives it praise for its "sleek" design calling it one of the sexiest models together with Ford's latest Fusion in the (mainstream) mid-size sedan segment, its modern amenities and tech gadgets, while his first driving impression of the early production model is that it's "quite agile and light on its feet".

Rest assured, if the scooter rider featured in this clip had not been able to back up a couple of feet before the container truck tipped over, we wouldn't be showing you this video footage shot from a nearby security camera.

Then again, if he wasn't in such a hurry to sprint through the traffic light in front of the cars waiting on the zebra crossing, he wouldn't have found himself in this life-threatening position, would he…

Touring variants (BMW talk for station wagons) of the M5 have been an on-off affair for the Bavarian carmaker, which to date, has only presented two such models in the vehicle's 28 year-long history.

The first M5 Touring came with the second-generation model (E34) in 1992 and the last, with the fourth generation E60 in 2007. BMW had also created a prototype for the third gen M5 (E39), which it kept a well-guarded secret until it finally showed the car to the public in 2009.

Vast as it may be, the Mojave Desert is a good place to begin your search for automotive engineers trialing camouflaged prototypes of future models. The scoopsters at KGP Photography know this all too well and were on hand to record a number of 2014 Range Rover Sport test cars. Read more »

Spy Shots: New Skoda Octavia Combi RS is a Family Man's Golf GTI

Don’t let those tiny wheels with the low-cost hub caps fool you; what you see here is the Combi variant of the new generation of the Skoda Octavia RS (labeled the vRS in Britain), the sedan, or rather liftback version of which, we saw through a series of leaked screenshots from an online car configurator in December. Read more »

The Latest Super Bowl Ads from Audi, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, Subaru, Toyota and VW

During the time we were offline, a number of carmakers released a whole new string of ads that will run prior to kickoff and during this Sunday's Super Bowl game between the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens in New Orleans.

There's a little something for everyone, from Mercedes-Benz's new CLA spot with Kate Upton and Kia's Space Babies, to the re-appearance of Big Bang star Kaley Cuoco in Toyota's 2014 RAV4 spot and Subaru's dog friendly commercial for the 2014 Forester crossover.

When a Chinese website dropped a flurry of images of a restyled Volvo XC60 last month, we weren't sure if the aesthetic changes would be applied to the local market model alone or if it would be offered on all versions sold around the world.

These scoops of a thinly disguised XC60 test car shot in Europe put that question to rest as it features the same styling treatment as the camouflage-free model from China.

It’s almost time for Alfa Romeo to unleash its first true rear-wheel drive sports car since the demise of the 8C Competizione coupe and roadster in 2010, the new 4C mid-engine coupe.

This week, our spies nabbed a pre-production prototype of the 4C testing in Europe. While Alfa Romeo's engineers had the car covered almost from top to bottom, we can still see all some of the styling modifications made over the impressive concept displayed at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show.

These include the addition of new exterior mirrors with a larger surface mounted on the doors, the visible door handles positioned right in front of the side air vents, the new circular tail lamp fixtures, and the redesigned (and dare we say, more impressive looking) diffuser at the rear end that also gains a set of auxiliary lights.

When Alfa presented the study two years ago, it told us that the 4C features a 1.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine coupled to a dual-clutch transmission driving the rear wheels. We still don’t know how strong the engine is, but the word on the street is could deliver 300 or more horses.

Ferrari has an old habit of showing off its future models to potential buyers (read extremely wealthy) behind locked doors well before it reveals the cars to the rest of the world.

One such private preview is rumored to have taken place on Wednesday, in Maranello, where Ferrari lifted the wraps off the F150 Project, which is the codename for the Enzo replacement that may or may not be called the F70 in production trim.

To prove that this event did indeed occur today in Ferrari's home town, one participant took a shot of a metal plate from the event, while at least two people have shared some very interesting details about the new mid-engine hypercar, though, keep in mind, there's no way of confirming the numbers (yet).

As it appears, Ferraris and Lamborghinis aren't the only mid-engine supercars to go up in flames. The same happened to an Audi R8 coupe that was trailing a phalanx of other supercars participating in the 'Parx Supercar Show 2013', in the city of Mumbai in India.

Predictably, many by-standers and passengers of other cars were filming the ride and were able to capture the moment when the Audi R8 started to smoke and the driver and his co-passenger jumped out to save themselves. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

If there's one thing German carmakers love more than premium pricing and over-complicated features, it is power. It wasn't always like this, but in past two decades, Germany's auto brands are constantly pushing the limits.

The Audi RS6 Avant is a prime example of this love; it's a roomy and practical, mid-size station wagon model with all the comfort features you could wish for and then some more, which is motivated by a 4.2-liter twin-turbocharged V8 generating 552hp (560PS) and 516 lb-ft (700 Nm) of torque.

Whereas in the U.S., most gearheads are on the lookout for the 2014 Corvette Stingray, across the Atlantic, it's the new Mercedes-Benz CLA compact sports saloon that is garnering a lot of attention lately.

Mercedes, which seems to have a soft spot for Spain when it comes to filming, photographing and hosting media events for its latest cars, brought the CLA to Barcelona, and as luck would have it, YouTube channel owner "WillLillo", was in the right place at the right time with his camera set to record mode.

We've been telling you for some time now that the Citroën is working on the replacements for its C4-based five-seater Picasso and 7-seater Grand Picasso minivans in the popular compact segment in Europe.

We could in fact see one of the two models making their world premiere as early as the Geneva Auto Salon in March, with the Frankfurt motor show in September also being a possible venue for their presentation.

Someone put a leash on Kia… Only weeks after the presentation of the new North American market Cadenza mid-size sedan at the Detroit auto show, and days after it announced the new Cee'd and Pro_Cee'd GT sport hatchbacks, and the Urban Concept for the upcoming Geneva Salon in March, the South Korean automaker revealed plans for the world premiere of yet another study. Read more »

SRT Boss Does 5,000 Miles in a Viper GTS to Get to Jay Leno’s Garage

Jay Leno loves two things: jean shirts and cars. Being an American, he has a soft spot for homemade models, especially those with a powerful engine under their hood.

One of them is the Viper. Leno already owns two of Chrysler's flagship sports cars, having brought the original way back in 1992 and then, since he wanted a coupe, a GTS as well.

If you think the mid-1970s AMC Pacer was a design abomination, then you probably haven't laid eyes on the SsangYong Rodius, a large MPV that has been voted multiple times as one of the ugliest cars in production.

The funny thing about the Rodius (aside from its looks), is that it was penned by Ken Greenley, former head of the automotive design course at the Royal College of Art in London, which is one of the world's top automotive design schools.

The appearance of the first pre-production prototypes of the next generation A3 Cabriolet based on the longer platform of the upcoming sedan version of the series means that the current open-top model is breathing its last.

In Britain, Audi made it official that it will soon withdraw the A3 Cabriolet from its lineup as it prepares to make room for the new model, but not before it releases a limited run of the car.

Not that life is easier for pedestrians residing in Russia and its neighboring countries during warmer seasons, but understandably, it's far more dangerous to try to walk across any road in the harsh winter weather conditions.

Here were have two separate incidents involving pedestrians and cars, with a fortunate outcome, at least for the former.

About a fortnight ago, the internet was abuzz with a set of pictures of the convertible 2014 Corvette Stingray, with the word being that they could be renders of a future die-cast model from Maisto or leaked images from GM's design studio.

If a report from Autoweek is to be believed, then we may have the chance to verify their authenticity much sooner than we originally thought.

On Wednesday, Toyota announced two separate, voluntary recalls involving around 907,000 Corolla models for faulty air-bags and around 385,000 Lexus IS vehicles fitted with defective wipers, from a number of countries around the world.

Most of the affected cars are located in the U.S. where the recall concerns 752,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles from the 2003 and 2004MY, and 270,000 Lexus IS vehicles from the 2006-2012MY.

Top Gear Returns for 19th Season, Pagani Huayra Smashes Ariel Atom V8 Lap Record

Some say that it’s getting a bit old inserting the “some say” joke in Top Gear stories, so we’ll just get down to business. As you may probably have heard, the world’s most (in)famous TV car show is back for its 19th season.

Even though the three hosts teased us about what was about to come, and after watching them for so long, we’ve come to expect almost everything, the season premiere that aired on Sunday, 27 January on UK’s BBC Two managed to throw quite a surprise.

While many of us might not understand why anyone would buy a real sports car like the Acura NSX (sold as a Honda outside of North America) and keep it parked in a warehouse for most of its life, we guess that you will appreciate the fact that someone did and you now have the opportunity to acquire it.

The eBay find is a one-owner, unmolested, 1991 NSX with only 4,882 miles (7,855 kilometers) on the odometer and no accidents. That's pretty rare in our book, at least in North America.

Money can’t buy you love or happiness, but it sure can get you in a Lamborghini, and if you’re the kind of person who wants and can afford the greatest and latest, an Aventador LP 700-4 Roadster at just US$300,000, may bring a ray of light or two (pun intended) in your life.

Even more so if you happen to live somewhere warm and sunny to enjoy open-top motoring. Like Miami, for example, where Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann unveiled the open-top version of the Aventador on Monday, January 28.

So far, and leaving aside GM's own press photography, we have seen the brand-new 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray on the floors of the Detroit Auto Show, at the recent Barrett-Jackson auction and parked at Jay Leno's Garage.

If that's not enough, then you may want to thank some very lucky (?) members from the Corvette7 forums including Vette_85, who were able to photograph and capture some footage of the seventh generation of GM's halo sports car out in the streets.

For quite some time, Lamborghini has not officially engaged in motorsport except for the one-make Super Trofeo series. Now, the Sant’ Agata-based supercar maker has announced a new racer and a five-year long motorsport program.

The Gallardo GT3 FL2 is based on the recently revamped MY2013 Gallardo and has been created in cooperation with Reiter Engineering, the German outfit that has developed its own racing versions of Lamborghini models since 2000 netting 199 victories and 350 podium finishes.

For almost a year now, Opel and its sister company from Britain, Vauxhall, have been testing camouflaged prototypes of the Insignia series, which in sedan form, is sold as the Buick Regal in North America.

In a first, the European model scooped here affords us a clear look at the restyled Insignia's new headlamp fixtures that will work together with a sharper front grille, new front and rear bumpers, and a different set of tail lamps featuring a chrome stripe from side to side, just like on the new Cascada convertible.

Ford Motor Company, Mercedes-Benz's parent company Daimler AG and the Renault-Nissan Alliance announced on Monday that they signed a three-way agreement concerning the joint development of a common fuel cell electric vehicle system.

The deal, which was signed in Yokohama, Japan, by Tomas Weber (Daimler), Raj Nair (Ford) and Mitshuhiko Yamashita (Nissan), aims to accelerate the development time of fuel cell technology, maximize design commonality and reduce costs through economies of scale.

Come on, just admit it, there's no reason to be ashamed; you missed watching all those whacky videos from Russia on CarScoop while we were fighting against Google's devious bureaucratic operations the past few days.

So, to make up for it, we plunged into the depths of YouTube dodging the expected and looking for the unexpected – fear not, you'll soon see for yourself what we mean by that.

Usually agencies such as the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) find out about vehicle issues when the manufacturer or owners who have experienced trouble report to them.

Now, an agency spokeswoman acknowledged that Twitter, Facebook, other social media websites, and even fan sites, online forums and bulletin boards are searched by the NHTSA regularly in order to discover information about possible issues that may warrant an investigation.

A large-scale study published last year by the Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business about online forums showed that they are a new source of information and surveillance for defects in vehicles.

South Korean carmaker Kia is expanding its offerings for the Picanto city car in the United Kingdom with the addition of a "girly colour", as described by the company itself, and a new special edition version. Read more »

Yippee Ki-Yay, Munich Rivals: Mercedes Stars in New Die Hard Film, BMWs Get Blown Up

Has it really been 25 years since officer John McClane saved the day, or rather Christmas Eve and the hostages, including his wife at the Nakatomi Plaza? Oh yes, but that didn’t stop Bruce Willis from reprising the role thrice in the intervening years – or rather four times, since he’s also starring in the fifth Die Hard installment that’s coming out on Valentine’s Day.

In “A Good Day to Die Hard”, McClane travels to Moscow, meets his estranged son Jack and, as usual, accidentally gets involved in a terrorist scheme that he has to avert.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

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