Automotive News

I’ll admit I have an admiration for car companies that aren’t afraid to do things their own way. For a long time, Audi was one of them as one of the pioneers of the 5-cylinder engine. When it was first introduced, a lot of people thought Ingolstadt was off its collective rocker to build and sell such an unconventional engine. For many years, the 5 was the staple engine of Audi’s lineup.

Originally Syndicated via RSS from The Car Blog

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Filed under: Time Warp, Chrysler, RR of the Day

Holy Bejeezus, Batman. There are some cars you just don”t expect to elicit a visceral reaction, no matter what the mod. The Toyota Echo, Suzuki Sidekick and Geo Storm come to mind. We used to count the Chrysler 5th Avenue in that group, having only seen them in the last two decades being used as church chariots for little old ladies with blue hair. Flickr member patrickgrossman has changed our worldview today, however, with his 1986 5th Avenue that looks like it just ate a Mustang for lunch and stole its wheels. Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised to hear that Patrick tells us he”s a friend of our own Eric Bryant, who happens to own an Impala SS that likes to snack on transmissions. Patrick was attempting to build something comparable to Eric”s Impala SS, and we”d say he has succeeded. He did all the work himself with the help of his father and a few friends, except for the bodywork that was handled by a local shop. The list of mods is long (see it after the jump), but suffice it to say this car is now unholy cool and can no longer deliver elders to a house of God. If you”d like to see your own ride featured here, simply upload photos of your ride into our Flickr group. We select one image to highlight each week day, and on the weekend let you vote for the RR of the Week. Detailed instructions can be found after the jump. In his own words… My modded “86 5th avenue, all work done by me, with help from my dad and a few friends, except for the body which was done by a local body shop. a list of mods:

• “79 360 w/edelbrock carb, RPM air gap intake, hedman headers and comp XE262 cam
• “93 dakota 42RH tranny w/2300 RPM stall converter and trans-go shift kit
• “68 satellite 8.75″ rear w/3.55 gears and limited slip
• F&R suspension fully rebuilt to Dodge diplomat police car specs, all poly bushings and KYB shocks
• Front brakes upgraded to 11.75″ rotors, rear are 12″ wilwood discs
• Custom exhaust which is 2.5″ off the headers, to a 3″ flowmaster Y
• Tires are 255/50R17 BFGoodrich KDWS”s, wheels are “01-04 mustang bullits
• Paint is chrysler “88 twilight blue pearl under the original bright silver metallic.
• Interior has been completely redone

I built it to have something comparable to my friend Eric Bryant”s impala SS (until he put the stroker in it…) How to submit to RR of the Day: Create a Flickr account if you don”t already have one. Search for and join the group called “Autoblog RR of the Day“. Upload up to three photos of your ride to your own account at a size no larger than 450 pixels wide if possible and include as much information about it and yourself as possible. Even if your ride is sweet, it will not be chosen if there”s not a lot of info accompanying it. Click on each photo and just above the picture it will say “Send to group”. Click that and select the Autoblog group. You”re done, that”s it!

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Autoblog

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Filed under: Economy, Sedans/Saloons, Japan, Nissan

Kicking Tire”s Joe Wiesenfelder recently had a chance to drive the new 2007 Nissan Sentra and was kind enough to blog about it for all the world to see. Wasn”t that generous of him? Anyway, the 2007 Sentra was first shown at the Detroit Auto Show way back in January. It had been so long since the last Sentra makeover that it was the only sedan left in the lineup that didn”t look like an Altima. Well, they fixed that. The Maxima, Altima, Sentima Sentra now look like the same car in three different sizes. Not that there”s anything wrong with that, unless you dislike the look of one of them in which case you”ll probably dislike all three. Looks aside, this seems to be a huge improvement for Nissan going up against the Corolla and Civic. The new C-platform promised a larger, more refined and quieter package, and it appears Nissan has delivered. In fact, the new one is “so much better than the outgoing model, comparisons are pointless,” according to Joe. As we”ve come to expect with all-new vehicle introductions, the new Sentra offers a bigger cabin and there is added sophistication showing itself in a “church quiet” cabin, among other things. A new, larger 2.0-liter four should provide around 135 hp and 140 pounds of torque, and your choice of 6-speed manual or CVT transmissions put the power to the pavement. While not perfect, the manual seemed to be better than the CVT when it came to smoothness and noise. But not on gas mileage. The CVT is rated 29/36 mpg (city/highway), while the manual rates 28/34. Brakes were adequate if a bit disappointing in Nissan”s choice of rear drums. Surprisingly quiet with a good ride, decent handling, fairly smooth power and a good set of standard features should all help the Sentra gain some ground against the competition, especially with pricing that starts around $15,000. Personally, we”ll wait for the SE-R variant to be introduced. [Source: Kicking Tires]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Originally Syndicated via RSS from Autoblog

Click Here to Advertise on my Blog and Thousands of Other Blogs