Automotive News

Filed under: Frankfurt Auto Show, Etc.

click the above image to view more random, funny and cool stuff from Frankfurt

We’re still not finished with our posts from Frankfurt, but thought we would end this weekend with a collection of our most random, funny and cool shots from the show floor. We call it the Huffenpuff Edition, named after Frankfurt’s central train station, or Hauptbahnhof in German, past which we rode on our way to the show every day and whose name we could never pronounce.

We’ve got a nice sized gallery chock full of the back of Bob Lutz’s head, a pewter Lexus LS460, the world’s biggest Fiat 500, a Mercedes CLS Wagon, smart car rollerskates, and more. Check out all the Huffenpuff Edition pics in our gallery below, complete with captions to help explain the insanity.

 

Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

Create Instant Buzz

Filed under: Coupes, Marketing/Advertising, Pontiac

Pontiac is betting hardcore Halo fans just can’t wait to own a copy of Halo 3 when it goes on sale Sept. 25. So to help relieve some of that tension, the carmaker is giving away 1,000 copies of the game in a contest that ends today.

With only a few hours left to play, hurry to Pontiac’s special Halo-related site, solve a simple word puzzle and find out if you’re a winner instantly. As you can see, we didn’t win.

The Halo tie-in is part of Pontiac’s attempt to woo young males into their showrooms. A previous Halo-related tie-in featured a Halo-themed G5 at events in San Francisco and New York where lucky gamers could try H3 before most everyone else. This second phase of the campaign seems to feature the G6 GXP, at least on the ‘ screen. I wonder if winners see a G8. Hmmm. We’ll try again today to find out for you. Hey, it’s the least we can do, right?

[Source: Ad Age]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

Buy any word or phrase on this site and thousands of others using Phrase Links™

Filed under: Etc., Green, Safety

Any bike that can do zero-to-60 in 1 second and tackle the quarter mile in eight seconds deserves quite a bit of respect. Nobody knows this better than the owner of the KillaCycle, Bill Dube, who recently crashed his electric-powered two-wheeler. Mr. Dube was trying for a burnout, but ended up having a close encounter with a soccer mom-mobile. The 619-lb. extra-long cycle utilizes A123 Lithium batteries, and was developed by Dube in his spare time. One would think that someone smart enough to make a 400 HP motorcycle powered by batteries would also have excellent judgment, but then again, maybe not. Dube dropped the hammer on his two-wheeled bullet without a helmet, and only 200 yards from that parked minivan. We’re very happy to let you know that Dube is relatively OK, and that nobody else was injured in the crack-up. Check out the Dube interview and subsequent crash video after the jump.

[Source: Autoblog Green]

Continue reading VIDEO: Killa electric motorcycle almost kills maker in demo

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

Create Instant Buzz

Filed under: Motorsports, Sedans/Saloons, Sports/GTs, Japan, Honda

Japan has its fair share of one-make race series. For well under $20,000 you can buy a stripped out Vitz (Yaris) from Toyota, a March (Micra) from Nissan, a Swift (Ignis) from Suzuki or a Roadster (MX-5, Miata, whatever…) from Mazda specifically prepared to do battle with identical machinery six or so times a year around Tsukuba, Fuji and Suzuka. But the undisputed leading feeder race into Japanese formula racing is Honda’s Type R series.

Wannabe Honda F1 drivers have been contesting Integras for the past seven years, but next year’s championship sees a return of the Civic Type R to Japan’s tracks. The race going version sports the standard R’s 225PS KA20 motor and six speed ‘box, but has no need for the road-going car’s helical LSD, aircon, seats, interior trim, underseal and expensive HID lights, which knocks off not only several kilos its curb weight, but a whopping 40% off the road car’s sticker price, bringing it under $15,000 at 1,690,500Yen.

Pity that the entry fee, roll cage, racing seat and harness plus a season’s worth of tires and parts will come to at least as much again.

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

Click here to advertise on the Worlds largest Blog Advertising Network

Filed under: Coupes, Etc., BMW, Driving

BMW is serious about its M3 coupe, so much so that the German automaker is willing to invest big bucks to show potential buyers just how great the M driving experience is. To give you control of the M3, BMW created a video game where you get to dance around the Nürburgring. The file is a mega-load at 345 MB, and BMW suggests having a steering controller for the PC to get the best possible experience. We didn’t have the wheel, so we stuck with the keyboard controls. The interface seems like it was designed by the architects of iDrive, and trying to exit the game almost crashed our fortified quad-core gamer machine, but the graphics were pretty sweet. That said, if the M3 handles as poorly as it did for us in this video game, most of us would rather have a Crown Victoria rolling on DUBs (Readers, be advised: “Most of us” refers to Chris and the other voices in his head. Just a clarification. - Ed). It took us 20 minutes to get to the point where we could keep the virtual 414 HP on the track, and steering was too sensitive on pavement and flat-lined on anything else. Let us know how you do if you take the time to try it. Heck, it’s a time waster, but it’s free.

[Source: BMW]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

Create Instant Buzz

Filed under: Earnings/Financials, Australia

Before you start sweating, rest assured Holden’s VE Commodore will be heading Stateside as the Pontiac G8, but as for other models such as the two-door Ute, things are looking in doubt. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz is a key backer of bringing the Ute to the U.S. but revealed at this week’s Frankfurt Auto Show that the export program could be in doubt because of the strong Australian dollar. Either the car-based pickup would be priced out of the market or GM would have to subsidize it, something that’s not going to happen, Lutz informed.

Plans to import roughly 50,000 Pontiac G8s are unchanged but the margins made on the car will be very slim, meaning there’s no room to add a variant priced below it. This will come as a major blow to Holden staffers. Almost half of its annual production of 147,000 cars is exported and gaining a foothold in the lucrative U.S. markets has been one of its key goals over the past decade.

[Source: Drive.com.au]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

Blog advertising

Filed under: Spy Photos, Sedans/Saloons, Euro, Hatchbacks, BMW

Hot on the heels of the BMW X6 introduction at the Frankfurt Motor Show last week comes word of a yet another variation from Munich. The V5 is not a new engine configuration, it’s a new body style for BMW. Looking like a pretty standard five door hatchback, the rear roofline is higher than the more coupe-like X6, allowing for more headroom.

The V5 is thought to be built on the same platform as both the X5 and X6, which means that it will probably by built alongside the X models in South Carolina. CAR is reporting that the new machine is targeted at the US market, which would be an odd choice by BMW. Unlike Europe, Americans have never really taken to hatchback styles — especially in premium segments.

[Source: CAR]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

Buy any word or phrase on this site and thousands of others using Phrase Links™

Filed under: Etc., Lifestyle

Russia sure has a knack for offering up the most offbeat automotive news. For even more proof of this, look no further than Zolotye Klyuchi 2 (Golden Keys) housing complex. This complex caters to the well-off in Moscow, and has banned Russian-made cars from its community. Management at the Golden Keys has issued the decree because Russian cars pose “a significant danger to the environment, creating high noise levels.” Not only that, but because of their unreliability, they are also responsible for “traffic jams on the territory of the complex.” What if your friend, who drives a Lada, wants to visit? Better rent a different car! The only Russian-made vehicles allowed are for deliveries or for emergency services. A casual nod is granted to residents who happen to own Russian cars, but they aren’t allowed to be seen. “Don’t park such vehicles in the street, put them in the underground parking.”

What is the punishment for breaking the anti-Russian-car rule? Ridicule in the form of of a picture of your mistakenly parked car on their website, under the title “transgressors”. As if having to drive a Lada weren’t bad enough!

[Source: AFP via Yahoo]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

Click here to advertise on the Worlds largest Blog Advertising Network

Filed under: Gadgets, Maintenance, Etc., Tech

I need this. My back isn’t what it used to be, so when it’s time to fiddle with the undercarriage, I start thinking wistfully about lifts or pits. It’d also make it easier to hang off the end of the breaker bar for those monster-torque suspension fasteners. Exhaust work? No more lying on your back, rust crispies falling into your mouth, embers from that bolt you’re torching out ending up who knows where. Of course, it’s always a plus to make sure there are no fluids in the car, or they’ll remind you of their presence once you get the car on its side.

Eastwood’s catalog is chock-full of tools that look awesome, and yet, I have no idea how to use them. Their Tilt-A-Car unit is pretty self-evident. It attaches with the lugs and one side has a radius. You pop your 3/8″ driver drill on the lift screw, and it’s bottoms up. This unit would have made repairing the rust-tastic rockers and rear quarters on my Volvo 245 a cinch. It’s about half the price of a lift - not counting the installation cost, and it seems more useful on a fully assembled car than a rotisserie is.

Thanks for the tip, Keith!

[Source: bbgadgets]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

Buy any word or phrase on this site and thousands of others using Phrase Links™

Filed under: Coupes, Sports/GTs, Ford, Shelby

Click image for photo gallery

When Ford first announced the Shelby GT500, the horsepower rating the automaker gave SVT’s delicious new creation was 475. As we’re all well aware, the car’s actual rating wound up being 500, and the rest, as they say, is history. Fast-forward to April 2007 in New York and the introduction of the further-Shelbyfied GT500KR, a hi-po version of the already monstrous GT500 that reaches into history and borrows the classic “KR” moniker. The GT500KR was announced as having 540 horses underneath its double-scooped, pinned-shut, carbon-composite hood, meaning it would be more adept at immolating tires than the GT500, whose talent in this department is unassailable.

Last week, Carroll Shelby paid a visit to Ford’s proving grounds in Dearborn, where the GT500KR prototype was among the cars being flogged and photographed. According to Mustang fansite StangsUnleashed, it was there that Ford announced that the KR would receive an additional 10 horsepower over what had already been confirmed, giving the car a grand total of 550. And then, enthusiasts and tire manufacturers wept with joy.

[Source: StangsUnleashed]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

Create Instant Buzz