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Monday, June 9, 2008
Texas Truck Mama smiled as she pulled into the driveway in her little Mini Cooper. Parked in front of her was a considerably different vehicle, a 2008 Jeep Liberty Limited sport-utility vehicle. It was about two feet longer than her Mini Cooper, several inches taller and nearly 900 pounds heavier.
The four-wheel-drive Jeep Liberty, of course, had a bigger engine -- a 3.7-liter, 210-horsepower V-6, compared with the 1.6-liter, 118-horsepower in-line four-cylinder engine in her front-wheel-drive Mini.
The Jeep Liberty, wearing all-new sheet metal for 2008, looking rugged the way a Jeep should look, barely got 21 miles per gallon on the highway, drinking regular unleaded gasoline. Texas Truck Mama's Mini got 36 mpg on the highway. And with her behind the wheel, driving like the mild-mannered elementary school teacher she is, squeezing 37 or 38 mpg out of her Mini was not uncommon, although she frequently complained about the Mini's requirement for premium unleaded fuel.
The Hummer H3T, the US firm’s first-ever pick-up truck Based around the H3 – the smallest model in the maker’s range – there’s nothing diminutive about this newcomer’s dimensions. The H3T has been stretched to 5.3 metres in length, and includes a spacious cab with room for five adults.
The pick-up bed is 1.5 metres long, which is big enough to carry two off-road motorbikes.
Standard kit includes air-con, central locking with remote keyless entry, tyre pressure monitoring and electric windows. Inside, the rear bench splits 60:40 and also folds to increase carrying capacity. The firm claims its newcomer will live up to Hummer’s reputation for excellent off-road ability, as it has full-time four-wheel drive and locking front and rear differentials.
The H3T hits US showrooms later this year and is powered by either a 3.7-litre five-cylinder petrol engine or a thirsty 5.3-litre V8. There’s no word yet on whether the pick-up will arrive in the UK, but if it does, it’s likely that only the entry-level unit will be offered. Engineering the H3T for British roads shouldn’t be a problem, as the H3 is already sold here in right-hand drive.
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. today announced the sales launch of the newTiida 5-door hatchback and Tiida Latio 4-door sedan at dealers acrossJapan. Since their debut in 2004, the Tiida and Tiida Latio have exceededcustomer expectations for compact vehicles offering apremium-quality, roomy interior and outstanding fuel economy andperformance. For 2008, both vehicles have been enhanced inside and out.Key changes include new exterior and interior designs, retuned electricpower steering, powertrain enhancements and a new "Plus navi HDD"package, among other improvements.
Both Tiidaand Tiida Latio feature all-new front-end designs, with new grilles,front bumpers and headlights, which impart a feeling of dynamic modernperformance. Tiida also features new taillights and a rear bumper for amore substantial look, and all Tiidas and Tiida Latios feature newwheel cover designs.
Eight exterior colors are available on Tiida, including titaniummetallic Silky Beige, metallic Brilliant Silver, metallic ChampagneGold, and pearl metallic Pacific Blue. Tiida Latio offers seven colorchoices, including titanium metallic Silky Beige and metallic BrilliantSilver.more
Saturday, June 7, 2008
The Toyota Camry and Corolla sedans each outsold the traditionally top-selling Ford F-series truck in May, a sign of the rapid shift in customers' preferences from trucks and SUVs to small cars that is forcing painful production cuts and plant closures at General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co.
GM said today that its U.S. sales fell 28 percent in May compared with a year earlier, while Ford's sales fell 16 percent and Toyota sales slipped 4 percent.
GM's decline was in part because of strikes at supplier American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings Inc. and several GM plants. GM's truck and SUV sales fell 37 percent, while car sales fell 14 percent. The rapid decline in truck and SUV sales caused GM to announce today that it plans to close four truck and SUV plants by 2010, costing 10,000 jobs.
Ford's U.S. car sales were up 3 percent compared with last May, and it sold more than 30,000 Ford Focus small cars for only the second time in the car's nine-year history. But pickup and SUV sales dropped 26 percent.
more on post-gazette.com
In 2008 Audi continues by introducing a mid-sized "coupe" model for the very first time. According to those familiar with the program the debut will take place at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show with the vehicle – to be named the Audi A7 – going on sale for model year 2009 in Europe and shortly thereafter in calendar 2009 in North America.
The Audi A7 will initially be offered as a four-door "coupe". Today only one manufacturer has an offering in the luxury four-door coupe segment: Mercedes-Benz with its CLS.
The Audi A7 will not readily compete with BMW’s 6-series as previously speculated by other publications. The vehicle has been designed specifically with rear occupant comfort in mind – a noteworthy differentiator from the traditional luxury coupe. The wheelbase, while very close to the Audi A6’s, will be an all new design. This so-called “large car wheelbase” will not only ensure the aforementioned rear passenger comfort, but will make the car look bigger than the A6. Expect to also see less front overhang than in the A6 range.
It is difficult to predict pricing for the Audi A7 this far in advance of its availability, but one need only look at the current premium between the Mercedes-Benz CLS and E-Class to get guidance that the Audi A7 will sell at a premium of 15-20% above the A6 range.
On display were a new Shelby Mustang, a new Dodge Challenger and a new Chevrolet Camaro. The last time all of those constellations aligned was a quarter-century plus 11 years ago.
But it appears the pony car era, created in the mid-1960s with the birth of the original Ford Mustang and then resurrected a couple of years ago with the rebirth of the '69 Mustang as a 2005 model, is galloping again. Not only did Chevrolet unveil its Camaro concept but the Chrysler Group unveiled a very retro Dodge Challenger concept.
While the smoothly curvaceous Challenger looked like it was simply reissued, though in a somewhat more modern size because of its Chrysler LX underpinnings, the Camaro concept had a more contemporary and angular appearance that looked cutting edge, and we mean that both literally and figuratively.
GM says the Camaro concept is a "thoroughly modern interpretation of the classic sport coupe" with "dramatic design" and "responsive performance."
It is speculated that Citroen will be following with the charming classic of the past, the 2CV model which is similar to the Fiat 500, VW Beetle and numerous other models.
The 2CV will follow of course have a host of new features and hybrid engines. It just happens to be that the 60th anniversary of this model, is of course this year, and the Paris Motor Show is coming soon, so lets hope Citroen have something to show.
The Italian designer Paolo Martin has put forth the proposal for the 2CV which will be combining the 2CV with aesthetics and modern technology. Paola Martin has described his concept as “a reinterpretation of an unattractive yet brilliant vehicle.”
more on autospy
Friday, June 6, 2008
Volkswagen was recalling certain of the 2008 Passat model and 2009 Tiguan passenger vehicles equipped with 2.0T FSI ULEV II engines. These vehicles have and engine control module (ECM) containing software that may not properly control engine idle with the air conditioning turned on. In rare cases, the ECM may unexpectedly increase engine RPM.An engine surge caused by a unexpected increase in engine RPM may suprise the vehicle operator and can result in a crash without warning.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Hazmat diving may be the worst job in science according to MSNBC, but perhaps a form of ultra-niche tourism could be developed out of it.
It will be marketed to extreme adventurers no longer thrilled by skydiving or free solo climbing or locking one's head in the clasp of a crocodile's jaws and, still craving that rush of adrenalin, may be attracted to the possibility of swimming “into clouds of waste, inside nuclear reactors and through toxic spills on America's coasts and inland waterways.” Or how about a lake “full of urine and liquid pig feces” and littered with “needles used to inject the pigs with antibiotics and hormones?” A sublime landscape that must surely terrify your soul, metaphorically and, if your suit gets punctured, literally.
After their adventures, they will be told that an hour or two in these high-risk-environments-turned-diving-parks have given them an understanding of the natural and built environment greater than what they would have gotten from spending a week camping at Yellowstone National Park.
Nodding in agreement, one of them will say, “It felt like Nature was going to digest me alive.”
Speaking of sewers, fantasizing about possible Illinoises was a lot of fun, so we've been imagining quite a few more, including an Illinois in which the Land of Lincoln has been converted into a giant eco-machine treating the nation's entire sewage output.
Gone are the cornfields and the wheatfields and the vegetable fields, and embedded into the Jeffersonian grid in their place are vast constructed wetlands recycling wastewater by natural means.
Moreover, they will double as parklands — the nation's largest national park.
Everyone's shit will be piped in from every state. Even the most toxic effluent from industries will be trucked in, for there are townships specially vegetated with super-bioremediating plants and bacterium to suck up heavy metals and render extremely carcinogenic chemicals inert. Of course, the required infrastructure may be expensive and incredibly carbon intensive, but the financial and environmental costs will be offset multiple folds by this alternative form of waste management.
There will be a lingering smell in the air, but it will never get any worse than a local pig farm during a hot, muggy August day.
Sewer Divers
Like the Audi RS4, it has 4.2 l V8 engine with FSI petrol direct injection and 414 horsepower. Audi R8 has a six-speed manual transmission best suited for the streets - estimated at $109 000 - and a R-Tronic paddle-shift gearbox designed for the track – estimated at $118 000. This 2-seat coupe is available in Europe and will also be available in the U.S. in the summer of 2008. Many reviewers have nominated the Audi R8 the best sports car, even though it has been placed in tight competition with Porsche Carrera 4S, regarding their performance, price and specification.
