The Completest And Latest Car Review And Update
Some days we struggle a bit to think of a solid question of the day, but we thought that this morning’s Max Mosley shocker made the choice simple. Should Mosley resign his position with the FIA? Does the scandalous behavior have anything to do with his ability to lead Formula One? Give us your take on the surprising news, in comments.
If you’ve got an idea for Question of the Day, a funny photo for Caption It, or just want to share a news tip, let us know at windingroadtips@gmail.com
When Gerald Wiegert first conceived of his all-American super car the Vector, he hoped to bring together the genius of the aerospace industry with the glam of exotic sports cars. After failing to succeed with models from the W2 to the W8, Vector’s last real grasp at production success was this wild M12 coupe.
In the mid-1990s Vector teamed with Lamborghini to produce the M12, which was based in part on Vector’s earlier WX-3, but with power from the Diablo’s V-12 engine. Vector brought two examples of the M12 to the 1996 Detroit Auto Show, but by 1999 less than twenty examples of the M12 had been produced.
That kind of rarity means that we don’t often see Vectors listed for sale on eBay Motors, and get a little bit excited when one appears. This 1999 M12 seems to be in first-rate condition and has only covered about 3,500 miles from new. The scarcity and exotic pedigree of the Vector may warrant the opening price of $100,000, but we don’t doubt that it will take a special collector, with deep pockets, to pull the trigger on this one. A much better value proposition is a trip through our M12 gallery below.
+ eBay Motors: 1999 Other Makes Other Vector M12
If you’ve got an idea for Question of the Day, a funny photo for Caption It, or just want to share a news tip, let us know at windingroadtips@gmail.com
Popularized by Michel Gondry’s recent film Be Kind Rewind, “sweding” is the process of amateur filmmakers remaking movie classics. The technique can lead to results that range from the painful to the sublime, and in cases like this Tron redux by French filmmaker Freres-Hueon; they may even surpass the original. The stop-motion version of the eighties sci-fi hit is pretty unbelievable, and stacks up favorably to the relatively dated special effects in the real thing.
+ Wired: Tron’s Classic Light Cycle Scene ‘Sweded’
If you’ve got an idea for Question of the Day, a funny photo for Caption It, or just want to share a news tip, let us know at windingroadtips@gmail.com
Filed under: Tech, Videos, Ford, Lincoln, Mercury
Autoblog talks EcoBoost with Ford Powertrain Direc
Turbocharging has long been associated with performance, but the 103-year-old technology is also very efficient. A small displacement gasoline engine with a turbocharger can equal or out-perform similarly sized naturally aspirated motors while also saving fuel. Europe is all over turbo engines for everything from high-performance Porsches to family wagons, but here in the States, force-fed engines are mainly sold in low volume sports cars.
Ford intends to jump into the turbocharging arena in a big way with “EcoBoost“, and is planning to move up to 500,000 vehicles in the U.S. annually with twin-spool technology. Ford claims its EcoBoost suite of engine technoloies will give customers fuel savings of up to 20% versus a like-powered naturally aspirated engine, and the first samples are scheduled to go on sale in about a year. We wanted to learn more about Ford’s plan, so we accepted an invitation to speak with Ford’s director of Advanced Powertrain, Dan Kapp. Click play on the video above to see what Dan has to say about EcoBoost.
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Fog, rain, mud and the hostile terrain around Cordoba, Argentina, what more could a rally fan ask for? Despite the foul conditions the crowds were there at every stage to watch the action. In the first stage Mikko Hirvonen ignored the fog and pulled out a lead on the field and his BP Ford team mate Jari-Matti Latvala, until a large rock intervened and ended his run by taking out his suspension. Citroen Total WRT’s Sebastien Loeb then grabbed the lead and never let go. Latvala, never wanting for aggressive driving, rolled his BP Ford, ending his run for the day. He was back the following day but finished out of the points.
Citroen took three of the top four spots with the Subaru of World Rally Team pilot Chris Atkinson a little over two and half minutes back in second. This was Frenchman Sebastien Loeb’s fourth consecutive win in Argentina and he leads the WRC series by five points over Mikko Hirvonen of Finland.
The top five finishers were: 1. Sebastian Loeb, Citroen Total WRT, 2. Chris Atkinson, Subaru World Rally Team, 3. Daniel Sordo, Citroen Total WRT, 4. Conrad Rautenbach, Citroen WRC, 5. Mikko Hirvonen, BP Ford.
If you’ve got an idea for Question of the Day, a funny photo for Caption It, or just want to share a news tip, let us know at windingroadtips@gmail.com
Filed under: Car Buying, Gadgets, Tech, Aston Martin
Aston is working with its agency, Splendid, to create the DBS of car configurators, and by the looks of it, the site must have cost a lot more to build than a DBS does. Splendid started off by creating a 3D render of the car that actually looks photorealistic and not like a virtual representation that gets lost somewhere in the uncanny valley. When you change the color — to any of 2.5 billion combinations, according to the DBS designer — you aren’t simply tinting a model of a car, you’re looking at a car in that color.
Inside, the configurator is detailed enough to let you zoom in to see individual stitches on various interior surfaces. And each part of the car is highlighted, so you can choose your wheels with full-screen images and get complete specs on the wheels alone. And when you need a break from deciding on the red brakes or silver, you can watch videos and create your own video channel.
After you’ve configured the car you want, the fun continues at the dealership. Dealers will be provided with Samsung UMPC’s that allow further configuration — even matching the color of an item you bring in for the paint job on your DBS. It’s a setup worthy of Q himself, although they didn’t mention whether you could install a defibrillator in the glovebox. Click the link to check out a demo of the keynote video that explains it. (Note: you need Silverlight to view it.) Thanks for the tip, Ben!
[Source: Mix]
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Filed under: Motorsports, Coupes, Sports/GTs, Ford
Click above for a high resolution gallery of the FR500S Mustang
If there’s anything better than racing on TV, it’s racing on HD TV. Just a few days after the first customers received their Mustang FR500S race cars, Discovery Channel’s HD Theater announced that it would be doing a three-part television series on the special Ford Mustang Challenge racing series that exclusively features these pony cars. The show will take a detailed look at the inaugural year of the series, from the first testing sessions this month all the way until the last race in September. Miniature in-car HD cameras will capture all of the action on track, and the identical specs of each Mustang ensure that there will be plenty of it. There’s no word on when the series will actually debut on HD Theater (we asked, they really don’t know), but the press release after the jump provides all the available details for now.
Gallery: Ford Racing Mustang FR500S
[Source: Ford]
Continue reading Ford Racing Mustang Challenge gets HD reality series
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It seems like Chinese automaker Geely is looking to make a big splash at its home auto show in Beijing this year. The company has already shown off sketches for a sultry GT concept, and our man in China tipped us to an upcoming Geely MPV as well.
Now it looks as if Geely is attempting to hit all market segments, by introducing a possible new hatchback called the Geely CE. While the CE looks a bit like a Mazda-designed Honda Fit, it doesn’t appear to be warmed over copy from another automaker, which is a positive step for the Chinese company. Taken strictly on its own merits, some might even be tempted to call the new five-door a handsome vehicle.
While there are no details available from Geely as yet, reports are that the CE could be close to a green-light for production. We’re sure we’ll hear more as the Beijing show draws nearer.
(Check out the other Geely’s headed to Beijing in the galleries below.)
+ Motor Authority: Geely CE concept headed for Beijing
If you’ve got an idea for Question of the Day, a funny photo for Caption It, or just want to share a news tip, let us know at windingroadtips@gmail.com
Filed under: Car Buying, Plants/Manufacturing, Chrysler, Ford, GM
If you’re in the market for a Focus sedan, the question is, exactly what kind of Focus will you buy? According to Ford’s option sheets, there are 100,000 different combinations you can create. Eighty percent of Focus sedan sales, however, are comprises of just 4,000 of those combos. This glut of choice has increasingly become an issue that translates into lost money, unhappy customers and overwhelmed dealers for the Big Three, and now they’re going to trim the options tree.
Ford’s new marketing chief Jim Farley has said, “Coming from Toyota, I can tell you that the opportunity is there to reduce the complexity of our line-up.” Toyota cars are not known for an obscene wealth of choice, although Nissan has found itself with too many choices on the Maxima and Altima, and has cut them down recently. Meanwhile, the domestics are working to figure out how to rationalize the choices they offer — and the money they spend on them — with the need to give people want they want.
Ford is doing it by shrinking the number of “buildable combinations of the 2008 Focus by 99 percent.” Chrysler has reduced its own complexity by a claimed 93-percent over the last two years by jettisoning options. And GM’s global platform strategy aims to severely curtail the expense of developing and building a car. Said marketer John Tulloch, the manufacturers can win this fight “if the savings are used to improve remaining models and reduce sticker prices.” We can only hope.
[Source: Yahoo]
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Filed under: Economy, Hybrids/Alternative, Green, Driving
These days it seems more common to overhear comments about a particular car’s appalling fuel economy than idle chatter about the weather, which makes sense when a gallon of gas costs as much as a cheap umbrella. For instance, just the other day there was some guy going on about how his car was getting 3 mpg less than just a few months ago and had no idea why. That is until it was pointed out to him that his car’s adjustable luggage rack was in its full, upright position, giving his car the aerodynamic efficiency of a cinder block.
That’s just one of the points Forbes includes on its list of things to do so you can drive green without buying a new car. Improving your gas-guzzling vehicle’s sleekness by losing that luggage rack, ditching that inefficient and egregiously ugly three-foot-tall spoiler and quit sticking your hand out the window are all little things that add up to an appreciable difference at the pump.
Most of the advice is common sense we’ve all heard before, but Sebastian Blanco, editor of AutoblogGreen, offered a novel suggestion for the list. Reduce your car’s weight by only filling up half the tank. One gallon of gasoline can weigh as much as 6.5 lbs. On a 2008 Ford Escape, a half a tank of gas weighs 53 pounds.
Like the Forbes article points out, there’s only so much you can do to curb a car’s drinking habit, especially if you’re driving something like an Escalade. But in smaller, lighter cars, even small steps like this can make a big difference in your fuel bill.
[Source: Forbes.com]
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