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The Mazda MX-5, still popularly known as the Miata is a sleek and well-engineered convertible. It is a 2-door, 2-passenger convertible sports car, available in 8 trims, ranging from the SV to the Grand Touring Power Retractable Hardtop. It is released as a Special Edition MX-5 with an exclusive Saddle Brown folding top. According to the usnews.rankingsandreviews.com, this car ranks first out of ten Affordable Sports Cars.

“The SV is equipped with a standard 2.0-liter, I4, 166-horsepower engine that achieves 22-mpg in the city and 27-mpg on the highway. A 5-speed manual transmission with overdrive is standard. The Grand Touring Power Retractable Hardtop is equipped with a standard 2.0-liter, I4, 166-horsepower engine that achieves 21-mpg in the city and 28-mpg on the highway. A 6-speed manual transmission with overdrive is standard.” It is available with a choice of an automatic transmission with paddle shifters or a five-speed manual transmission.

Edmunds.com says that the new exterior as "a stronger face, more rakish lines and accentuated fender contours." Head and tail lamps are mounted inboard for better compactness. Great designs evolve over time but the door mirrors continue the elliptical theme used in the original MX-5 Miata.

Passenger-side airbags and standard drivers–side airbags provides safety without sacrificing the beauty of the interior. It features an ear-blasting entertainment system which is made up of a BOSE 7-speaker AM/FM/6-CD. Overall, interior quality and appearance are way better than any past MX-5 Miata. The hardtop opens or closes in 12 seconds, and consumes no luggage space.

Not that it comes to a surprise to anyone aware of the dramatic shift in consumer tastes in the U.S. combined with the knowledge of what the former Big Three have to offer, but just as they did in May, Japanese carmakers took the first four positions in Autodata’s U.S. top 20 best selling vehicles list.

The only difference compared to May is the order of the protagonists, as the Toyota Corolla/Matrix dethroned the Honda Civic that fell in third position, right after the Toyota Camry that took second place. Honda’s Accord managed to maintain the fourth position, followed by Ford’s F-Series that saw its sales shrink 40.5% compared to last year. Notably, Hyundai’s not so well received Sonata managed to make it in the top 10 list with an 11.9% gain over last June’s sales. Source: Autodata Corp

The maroon matt-finished Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 by “Delta4x4” that made its global debut at the Essen Motor Show features a series of mechanical and cosmetic upgrades. The standard 425 HP 6.1-litre V8 HEMI engine has been enhanced to 499 HP thanks to the new engine control unit, the sport exhaust system with performance manifold and the modified air-feed. Delta says that the 499 HP DUNE project accelerates from standstill to 100 km/h (62 mpg) in less than 5 seconds.
Delta4x4 has also fiddled around with the suspension (+100 mm ground clearance) and the tires as the DUNE sits on new custom light wheel elements IV with 11x23in mounted Continental Cross Contact tires in 305/40 R23. Finally, integrated into the new front spoiler is a Warn winch while the stainless steel roof-rack system and the fender extension contain filigree PIAA main-beam headlights that promise to turn night into day.

This Nismo model packs an off-road-spec Bilstein suspension, extra skid plates, trail-ready BFG rubber, locking rear differential and limited-slip differential. And while all that stuff is great on your local off-road trail, it worked surprisingly well on-road, too.

Zipping down the expressway at 80 is uneventful, the ride steady, with a relatively quiet cabin. It also feels pretty good rounding turns. The engine thrashes a bit in the lower gears, but there's no lack of motivation. The V6 is strong, and it's hooked up to a slick six-speed manual gearbox. The manual is pretty slick considering it's a truck--you won't mistake it for a sports car, it feels too stout for that--but it's nice to get in a vehicle like this that still has a clutch pedal. However, you'll quickly find out that the engine is a thirsty beast as the gas needle dips lower and lower during commutes.

The interior is straightforward, with a number of spots to tuck away items, and it's put together well. Its outward appearance is clean, with a particularly tough-looking front end, which is de rigueur for pickups these days, it seems.

This is a nice piece to drive, solidly built, plenty of power, good steering feel and handling, given what it is, even a really nice ride for an off-roadable truck. The Nismo folks have gotten their sums right.source : autoviewpoint.com

A brand new race car signals a new beginning for the No 10 SunTrust Pontiac Dallara team of Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) as it kicks off the second half of the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series season with Thursday night’s Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

The first seven stops on the 14-race campaign have been eventful, to say the least, for SunTrust Racing and WTR. They kicked things off on this very track with a star-studded two-car effort at the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. Regular co-driver Max Angelelli and team-owner Wayne Taylor introduced new full-time co-driver Michael Valiante to the SunTrust Racing family and Taylor’s 18-year-old son Ricky to the world of big-time racing, and the SunTrust quartet drove its way through various mechanical and electrical predicaments for a top-five finish.

Alongside the No. 10 SunTrust team for the Rolex 24 was the No. 9 Toshiba Pontiac Riley of Penske-Taylor Racing, featuring none other than Helio Castroneves, Kurt Busch and Ryan Briscoe behind the wheel. Under the tutelage of Roger Penske and Wayne Taylor, that high-profile driving trio brought home a podium finish despite overheating and other issues of their own.

In the days, weeks and months since, SunTrust Racing has endured a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows that it’s doing everything in its power to smooth out considerably over the latter half of the 2008 Rolex Series season. Among the highs was the stellar debut of the all-new Dallara chassis, which sported a striking, new tangerine-based SunTrust paint scheme and which Valiante qualified on the front row at Homestead (Fla.) Miami Speedway. Even though the new-from-the-ground-up race car arrived on the scene with virtually no meaningful on-track testing, it showed its tremendous potential by leading laps at three of its first four events and starting from the pole in only its third race at Virginia International Speedway (VIR) near Alton. It seemed the only thing that could slow or stop the new car’s rapid emergence was an eerie series of on-track incidents, none of which were Angelelli’s or Valiante’s doing, at Homestead, Mexico City and VIR. source: theautochannel.com

Seat Toledo N ewgives life a new concept sedan combining sports style and innovative design SEAT functionality and striking spaciousness. The third generation of automobiles Seat Toledo New opens a new stage. This car offers quite an extraordinary freedom and opportunity to express your own style of life.


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The equipment in the so-called "Stylance" package is quite properly: fog lights, automatic climate control, electric windows, onboard computer, six airbags, ESP and many others are on board. True weaknesses, the Spaniard with VW-technology, but he holds many strengths.

Seat Toledo New Interior


Seat Toledo New

Space, safe and comfortable driving behaviour proper flexibility and not least the reasonable price (depending on the motorization and equipment package from 21,000 to 27,000 euros) make it an interesting offer. The design will continue the spirits divorced - but is it not also an argument for Toledo.

The United Kingdom's Environmental Transport Association (ETA) annual awards have named the Honda Civic Hybrid Britain's greenest car for the second straight year. Finishing ahead of the Vauxhall Corsa 13.CTDi and Toyota Yaris 1.4 Diesel, the Civic won out for its superior combination of engine size, fuel consumption, noise pollution and safety impact on pedestrians.
The award for Greenest Off-Roader went to the Toyota RAV4 diesel and the Greenest Luxury Car award went to the Jaguar XJ 2.7 diesel. The wrong end of the list was dominated by luxury brands including Lamborghini, Ferrari and Aston Martin, proving that making a car really fast still requires a lot of petrol.
Analysis: Small, light vehicles get great fuel economy and are unlikely to mow down pedestrians while large, fast sports cars are made to go even faster by using bigger engines that suck more fuel. That's why the Tesla Roadster is such a revelation - a fast, sporty vehicle that runs on electricity and has zero emissions. By the looks of this list, it will have the other sports cars beaten hands down for environmental performance for a while yet.

American Honda posted total June sales of 142,539, up 13.8 percent, setting a new record for the month, it noted. Total car sales at Honda set a new June record for the first time since 1990 at 97,639, up 34.2 percent compared with 2007. Honda said its Fit posted its best month ever with sales of 10,003, up 100.5 percent, while Civic hit a new June record, up 23.1 percent to 39,967.

"Our factories are doing everything they can to produce the fuel-efficient models consumers are desperately in need of," said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of American Honda.

At Acura, the redesigned TSX set a new June record with sales of 3,869 units, beating the previous record of 3,414 set in 2007. Year-to-date sales of the TSX reached 17,683, up 2.2 percent over 2007, Acura said in a statement. However, Acura said its year-to-date sales of 77,914 are down 14.3 percent versus 2007.

Honda's results stand in stark contrast to the otherwise negative sales news reported by the Detroit automakers, as consumers continued to be slammed by record high gas prices. U.S. auto sales declined sharply in June. The Ford Motor Co., which has based its fortunes on full-size trucks and SUVs — the polar opposite of Honda — reported that sales were down 29.5 percent in June versus June 2007.
source : edmund.com

When LA Audio File published its most recent Surveying the Best New Car Sound Systems report comparing the finest that car companies offer in the way of premium audio systems, a lot of familiar names rose to the challenge. In the end, it was a Volkswagen Phaeton with its obscure-sounding No. 9VE premium sound system option that ascended to the top.

The Phaeton system was an audio juggernaut. VW eschewed edge-of-the-art technology in favor of brute force. It lacked finesse, not to mention true, discrete multi-channel surround sound. It did have a surround mode, but it was signal processing derived from two-channel stereo. The system made everything sound good, if not entirely accurate. Still, it was the Raging Bull of the factory audio community, and it knocked out all of its competition at the last go around. That was then. VW of America has since retired the sound system as well as the car.

Several new systems have since appeared to go after the championship belt. Lexus has introduced a third-generation Mark Levinson system it calls the Reference Surround Audio system, Mercedes Benz teamed up with Harman/Kardon to design an impressive system for the latest S-Class sedan. Aston Martin teamed up with Linn Audio Systems (makers of the famed LP12 turntable) to design the sound system in the new V12 Vanquish sports car. read full review on : laaudiofile.com