pow

The wheels, combined with the awesome gray paint, make it look absolutely gorgeous. The add-ons are not at all uncouth, and the details make it surprisingly elegant and sophisticated, almost European. It's the Corvette Superleggera Stradale! 599 GTB Fiorano - eat your heart out!

Great news. The reign of OnStar on product planning is dying.

But once you've done that, you can't "resume."

Judging by all the past winners, it's usually based on "significance" or "game-changer" status.

Farmers will never be the new sheiks, 'cause they can't even set their own prices. It's done by the CME, which reflects the interests of big ag lobbyists and have no correlation with the actual prices needed to sustain farming. Corn is sold at a loss, and it's only our tax dollars - subsidies - that keep farmers from losing money each year; 84% of household income is earned off-farm. Meanwhile agribusiness saved $35 million at the expense of taxpayers, as a result of this below-cost cattle feed. Sure it's great to innovate, find a magical fuel that has no consequences, so that we never have to conserve, but that's as realistic as a $25K Escalade that gets 100 MPG. Even with cellulosic ethanol, we don't have enough land to replace our import fuel at our current rates of consumption. You can spend billions of dollars on an alternative fuel infrastructure, only to see those gains completely overshadowed by growth after a few years. Fuel efficient technologies seem cheap by comparison...

Looks like a Peugeot 607. The CLS was very popular when it first came out, but once everyone had one, it stopped being "exclusive" and sales plummeted. This sort of thing, a "coachbuilt" version of an existing car, becomes yesterday's news after a year or two.

The Tiguan is worth looking at when it comes out. It was the most surprising vehicle at LAIAS... much better looking than I expected it to be. It has typical German car build quality -- thicker sheetmetal than Toyota, solid "thunk" door slam, etc -- and the interior is great for under $23K. Standard powertrain is a 200 hp direct-injected 2.0T, which is a nice compromise between performance and fuel economy, and it's supposed to be decent off road with 4MOTION. It can get pricey loaded up with leather, panoramic roof, nav, dual auto A/C, self parking, and 18s, but the base model has the same "bones" at a much lower price. It'll have the Jetta's Bin 5 140 hp/236 lb-ft TDI and six-speed DSG optional.

The Tiguan is 10x better looking.

The Celica, the Supra, the MR2... proof that at one time Toyotas could be fun. Too bad they've switched to vanilla in the interest of taking over the world. I especially like that red Celica in the first ad. It's like a Quattro, only more reliable and arguably better looking.

Perhaps it'll be something like Audi R8's "sideblade," except transparent and in a different location. Instead of an outer door skin made entirely out of sheetmetal, maybe the upper 1/4 piece will be frosted, textured, smoked, or clear plastic, allowing you peer into some of the door components. Think old "see-thru" Nokia phone, old Volvo S40, or Apple G5. Maybe it can be lit and "glow" from within. Maybe by 2020 it'll be interactive... What I'd really like to see in the Volt is an iPhone-like graphics/interface, adapted for car use. Apple + Volt > Microsoft + Ford SYNC

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/12/12/vo...tudio-and-gm-w/ Scroll down to watch the YouTube video... http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/12/12/vo...tudio-and-gm-w/

Come to think of it, I'd certainly hope that adding two turbos would add more than 40 hp to a big V8. I finished reading the press release, and the X6 is shoved full of hi-tech electrogizmery that's surely to break after 75K miles. It has the latest version of Active Steering, so in addition to a 1:1 ratio below 55 mph and counter-steering to mitigate crosswinds, it can "[counter-steer] discreetly but firmly to prevent the car from swerving out of control" when braking on different surfaces left and right. There are "anti-roll bar swivel motors and ... electromagnetic valves in the dampers [that vary] body roll and the damping effect appropriately at all times and in all situations." The V8, which is actually a 4.4, not 4.8, hits peak torque at 1800 rpm all the way to 4500 rpm, and peak horsepower from 5500-6400 rpm. The drive belt for the A/C compressor comes with an automatically disengaging clutch, saving gas, which makes this 2.5 ton twin-turboed truck "green." Sort of. The Active Cruise Control does not have the "Stop & Go" function found on the 5-series, meaning it isn't autonomous in traffic. If the X6 begins to "understeer ... Dynamic Performance Control will dynamically shift torque to the outside rear wheel ... to counteract the understeer. On the other hand, if the vehicle threatens to over-steer, xDrive reduces the transmission of power to the rear wheels then the Dynamic Performance Control transfers torque and drive forces from the outer rear wheel and diverts these forces to the inner rear wheel." This is to minimize stability control brake intervention. "The system is able within a fraction of a second to vary the distribution of drive forces, with BMW xDrive -- unlike conventional all-wheel-drive systems -- anticipating the upcoming situation and not just responding once a wheel has started to spin. This serves to stabilize the vehicle even before the driver notices any need for action." Like SH-AWD, it can vary torque between left and right rear wheels, but even better, it works in overrun (i.e. when lifting off the gas). "This is made possible by the addition of a planetary gear set and a multiple-plate clutch operated by an electric motor on both output sides of the rear differential. With this configuration Dynamic Performance Control is able to vary the distribution of drive power also when the driver takes his foot off the accelerator."

If it's anything like the twin-turboed six, BMW could be underrating it, for fear of being too close in power to the M V10. On the dyno, the 3.0 TT puts out 275 hp at the wheels, or ~330 at the crank, which is close to what the old M3 had. That's why the 335i is so much quicker than similarly powerful G35s, IS350s, or S4s. And now's probably the time to point out a fact I've always found interesting... all their recent engines (3.0, 3.0TT, 4.8, 4.8TT, 5.0) have horsepower ratings that end suspiciously with "0s" (230-260, 300, 360, 400, 500). It seems like they're rounding down.

Btw, the review isn't "dripping in negativity", IMO, or at least not at the HHR. They made fun of the SRT-4, but overall they were positive overall on the SS.

Daniel Pund was Car and Driver before he went "to help launch a new magazine that is said to blend cars, bimbos, and male lifestyle (MPH)," Csere. "Coming from the company that puts out the National Enquirer, this crossbreeding of subjects certainly promises to be unique if nothing else. Both Frank and Dan depart on the best of terms, and we wish them luck, for they shall surely need it." Daniel Pund, Executive Editor MPH Picked at random from a pool of over a hundred out-of-work journalists, Dan's role at the magazine is more symbolic than, well, necessary. His inability to type might seem like a major setback, but in Dan's case, it's actually a blessing in disguise. His stories, while ostensibly about cars, often turn into long-winded right-wing rants on such touchy subjects as gun control, abortion, and the overregulation of the FDA. His presence is tolerated mostly because of the incriminating information he has on the rest of the staff. As you can see, it doesn't seem like it went too well... so he went to Edmunds, back to Senior Editor. By the way, he's the one that wrote that overwhelmingly positive Malibu review. http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drive...rticleId=123277

Merde. I'm just back since the outage and thought this board would have been empty..

They stopped offering them in the X5 since 2007.

PT Cruiser This! By Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit Date posted: 12-14-2007 The 2008 Chevrolet HHR SS does not want to kill you. This cannot be said of all its competitors. We don't want to name names here, so let's just say that the HHR SS has really only one direct competitor, the Dodge Caliber SRT-4. This competitor acts like a drug-addled co-driver who grabs the steering wheel and saws wildly if you dare to use more than a feather's touch of throttle. What the hell are we talking about? Why our old buddy torque steer, of course — that troublesome houseguest of powerful front-drive cars. But the HHR SS badly wants to be your friend. And despite a few rough edges, it's a pretty genial companion. Power to the (Less Old) People With a turbocharged 2.0-liter pumping a healthy 260 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque into its bones, the 2008 Chevrolet HHR SS promised to be a fair amount more raucous than it turned out to be. Certainly there are moments at full whack when the steering starts thinking about its independence. And you will feel some unwanted reticence through the little wagon's little steering wheel. But that's it. It's a good thing, too, because the engineers at GM's Performance Division who tinkered with this PT Cruiser clone didn't intend for the HHR SS to be an all-out tuner car. They'll save that for the next Cobalt SS, which will also be powered by this same 2.0-liter turbo. In contrast, Chevrolet expects that the average HHR SS buyer will be in his 40s, pretty much like the buyers of the Chrysler PT Cruiser. And unlike SRT-4 or the Mazdaspeed Mazda3 (another competitor, Chevy says), the HHR is available with an automatic transmission. In fact, the company says it expects 70 percent of SS buyers to opt for the slushbox instead of the Saab-supplied five-speed manual. Once you combine all this with quasi-retro styling and a dramatically larger cargo hold than these competitors, you quickly realize the HHR SS is a pretty unique proposition. That its standard 18-inch wheels are available only in a glinting high polish must mean something as well. Driven The downside to the SS's relative docility is that it doesn't feel as fast as the 285-hp Caliber, which explodes with that characteristic turbo rush shortly before trying to steer you clear off the road. Chevrolet estimates that the 3,280-pound (with manual transmission) SS will get to 60 mph in 6.3 seconds. If we can achieve this number when we strap our test gear to the car, it will only be a tenth of a second off the Caliber's pace. And, according to Chevy, the HHR SS will only be a couple of tenths behind the SRT-4 through the quarter-mile — 14.8 seconds vs. the 14.6 seconds we got from the Dodge. The HHR SS's standard traction and stability control system has four settings: everything on (the default mode); traction control off; traction and stability control off; and competitive driving mode. The competitive driving mode is accessed by two stabs at the traction control button on the center stack, and it backs off the threshold at which the stability control intervenes and also initiates a launch control program. At a stop with the clutch and gas pedals fully depressed, the engine revs to 4,100 rpm and holds steady. Release the clutch and the system allows some wheelspin, yet retards the engine spark to prevent overpowering the front tires. All you need to do to make speed is keep your right foot planted. The system works pretty well, although it isn't foolproof. Dump the clutch too quickly and the engine bogs for a second. Ease off the pedal too gingerly and the cabin will fill with vaporized clutch lining. The system can't tell how grippy the pavement is either, so 4,100 rpm is the compromise because it covers as many situations as possible. The SS also incorporates what racers call no-lift shift, as in don't lift off the gas while shifting. If you can retrain your right leg to stay planted, the system works smoothly. The turbo never gets a chance to rest, so there's no waiting for the power to come back on in your new, taller gear. Chevy reckons this system saves a bit of time on each shift — something on the order of a couple flaps of a hummingbird's wings, we imagine. Driving Around Corners Chevy makes a big deal of the HHR SS's somewhat unlikely pedigree as a veteran of the Nürburgring Nordschleife, noting that the trucklet holds the class record around the tortured north loop (8:43.52 minutes). The idea that there's really a defined class into which the HHR SS fits is, um, tenuous. But the SS's development on that most famous of test tracks does indicate Chevy's lofty goals. We drove the HHR SS on one of the road courses at the compound of the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving at Firebird International Raceway in Arizona and, well, the thing handles pretty nicely. This is still a tall front-driver that carries 59 percent of its weight over the front axle, so it's no Formula Ford. But given these caveats and the pedestrian nature of its strut-type front suspension and torsion-beam rear axle, the thing is really capable around the track. The development team added bigger antiroll bars front and rear and stiffer springs and shocks all around, and the SS is more willing to rotate into the corners than the vast majority of front-drive cars. It's also genuinely fun. Driving around town or even on snaking mountain roads, the HHR feels handy enough and seems to ride well. But despite the bigger bars, the car still rolls a fair amount in corners. And the HHR's pseudo-SUV high seating position exaggerates this impression. Steering and Other Matters of Significance The HHR SS's steering ratio is 14.8:1, much quicker than the standard HHR and quicker than the SRT-4, too. And commanded through the smaller-than-standard steering wheel, the SS feels lively, although GM's electric-boosted unit still feels artificial and not entirely progressive. The shift linkage for the five-speed manual transmission has also gotten a taste of the performance pie. Its throws are shorter than the standard unit and the shift lever has been moved forward and upward on the center console. It's not the slickest shifter, but the throws are very short and its synchros are up to quick shifting. The tachometer, which looks smaller than some Panerai wristwatches we've seen, is not easily read. The SS's four-wheel disc brakes are pretty reasonable, but a Brembo brake package will be offered as an option sometime in the spring of 2008, which brings larger front rotors and calipers. Living the Dream Chevy has dressed up the inside a bit with two-tone interior trim, including a startling black-and-bright-red combination. The seats, while more supportive than the standard units, are no match for the sweet Recaros that were originally offered on the old Cobalt SS Supercharged. We want those back, bad. There's no hiding the HHR's proletarian origins, especially in interior materials that are a little cheap-looking. Then there's the wind and the road noise. And could somebody please mount a grab handle into this thing? We're not sure who is going to buy the 2008 Chevrolet HHR SS. It's not likely to be us. We'd trade the Chevy's big cargo hold and cushier ride for the locked-down, precision feel and high-quality interior of the Mazdaspeed 3 any day. At a starting price of $22,995 including destination, the SS is reasonably priced. Apparently Dodge thought that was a reasonable price for a turbocharged hot hatch, too, since the SRT-4 starts at exactly the same number of dollars. The Mazdaspeed 3 is cheaper by less than $100. Yet, somehow despite their similarities in price, power and configuration, these are three vastly different animals. Edmunds attended a manufacturer-sponsored event, to which selected members of the press were invited, to facilitate this report.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/autoshow...*#08bmwx6crg500 What is it? 2009 BMW X6 What's special about it? Coupelike agility combined with SUV utility? That's the promise of the 2009 BMW X6. It sounds like a stretch, but if any company can pull it off, BMW can. It already made its X5 SUV handle like a sedan, so making the similarly sized (although slightly lower) X6 feel like a coupe isn't impossible. A choice of two turbocharged engines should help. Base models, which will be known as the xDrive35i, will get the same twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-6 as the 3 and 5 Series sedans. It delivers 300 horsepower and 300 pound-feet of torque, so even the entry-level X6 should be plenty fast. The real news is the top-of-the-line model known as the xDrive50i. It's the first BMW to use the company's new twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V8. Like the smaller inline-6, the all-aluminum V8 uses direct injection to help deliver both efficiency and big power. Rated to produce 400 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque, the xDrive50i tops both the supercharged Range Rover Sport and the Porsche Cayenne S in both horsepower and torque. BMW says the xDrive50i will go from zero to 60 mph in 5.3 seconds. Top speed is electronically limited to 155 mph. All-wheel drive is standard on both trim levels of the X6 along with a six-speed automatic transmission. A new system called Dynamic Performance Control (DPC) has also been added to the xDrive all-wheel-drive system. In addition to modulating power between the front and rear wheels, DPC also has the ability to increase or decrease torque to each of the rear wheels to help steer the X6 through corners. Those wheels will be 19 inches in diameter on most X6s, although 20-inch wheels will be available as an option. With such advanced hardware, the coupelike qualities of the X6 don't seem like an exaggeration. It's the utility end of the equation that's a little harder to justify. Unlike the current X5, the X6 is designed for a driver and three passengers only. There are no third-row seats of any kind and the second row gets a center console between the seats. There are only 25.6 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats, and even with the seats folded, the maximum cargo space only goes up to 59.7 cubic feet. That's less than BMW's smaller X3 SUV on both counts. It looks as though BMW is counting on buyers who are more interested in the coupe side of the equation anyway, as everything about the interior is geared toward driving fast. All four seats feature oversize side bolsters and integrated headrests. There's also a standard sport steering wheel with integrated shift paddles, not to mention a set of knee pads on the center console to give the driver and front passenger something to lean on in fast turns. Production starts in the spring of 2008 at BMW's assembly plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, so expect to see the X6 in dealerships by June. BMW has yet to announce any pricing, but given its premium engine lineup, the X6 will most likely slot in slightly above the current X5. What's Edmunds' take? It's an interesting package of performance and utility. Too bad it comes in a shape that will send buyers flocking to the X5 instead. — Ed Hellwig, Senior Editor, Inside Line Personally, I kinda like how bizarre it looks. After all the complaints about "Bangle" styling, the new BMWs are almost too pleasing to look at. I can't imagine the X6 selling in great numbers, so it'll be very rare, individualistic, loved-or-hated.

The Sport version is pricey though... starts at $19,565.

By the way, I'm impressed by the 16-in "fascia spoke" wheels you get on the 2LT. They remind me of the alloys on the old Audi A4, and they look larger than they are. I prefer them to the optional machined 16s.

Not quite. If scientists found a way to implement the bacteria in kangaroos that give them methane-less farts (while still eating the same grasses) in cows, then maybe they'll forget. The world's livestock is a greater source of anthropogenic GHGs than all the cars and light trucks in the world combined.

The Lancer has "Tivo" too I agree the CTS's other features are great, but that was just the perfect opportunity to beat a dead horse. The lack of Bluetooth on a $35K car really annoys me, especially when you can get it on a $15K Focus. Clipping something on a visor or having exposed wires is just so inelegant.

The battery in the BMW lasted 7 years, and when it was about the die, it was slow to crank. It looked really nice, too -- shiiny iPod white. The battery in the Odyssey crapped out without warning in a parking lot at night after just 4 years. Even the power door locks wouldn't work. Wonder if it has anything to do with the capacity of the alternator, the quality of the battery, etc..

Glad to see GM making great cars again, and I'm glad to see them get credit for it again.