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| The 10 most stolen cars in the United States Posted: 15 Jul 2008 07:11 AM CDT  Here’s the full list of the 10 most stoled cars in the US in 2007: 1. 1995 Honda Civic And according to another report from the NICB, here’s are the ares with the highest theft rate: 1. Modesto, CA  |
| Dodge Challenger Drag Race Package unveiled Posted: 15 Jul 2008 06:13 AM CDT  Until that day comes, here are the drag cars for the Mopar Mile-High Nationals near Denver, Colorado. The starting point was the Dodge Challenger SRT8. However the cars are striped down to save weight. Dodge has removed the body sealer, sound deadener, undercoat, wipers, air bags, rear seats, power steering, exhaust and protection beams from side and rear. Looking at this list we understand why they are meant to run down only on a 1/4 mile track. More than that it might get kinda tiresome. In total the cars lost about 1000 pounds of weight. Also, the engine has a new position and stronger mounts. The engines are 6.1 or 5.7 HEMI or the 5.9 Magnum Wedge. Mopar will built about 100 cars. As far as pricing goes, brace yourselves. It is in the spirit of American affordability, starting at around $30,000. This has to be a part of the American dream!  |
| Jaguar XF-R shows up at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Posted: 14 Jul 2008 01:07 PM CDT  With the XF being a great car and selling really good, it looks like Jaguar has set their eyes on the BMW M5, Mercedes Benz C63 AMG and Audi RS6, because next year we’ll see the world debut of the Jaguar XF-R. Rumors say that he car, which made its first appearance at the Goodward Festival of Speed, will be powered by a 5.0 liter V8 developing around 500 hp. As we can see from these photos, the car has a new front spoiler, a discreet rear flap, four exhaust pipes and a set of 20-inch alloy wheels which will be available exclusively for the version R.  |
| 2009 Hummer H3T pricing revealed Posted: 14 Jul 2008 12:32 PM CDT  Hummer just announced the pricing for the pickup truck version of the H3, the smallest SUV from Hummer. This was confirmed by General Motors at Shreveport, Louisiana. The pickup will begin production in the third quarter of 2008 and the project is getting a $73 million investment. Does anyone care about this? GM has problems and not long ago told that wants to sell many of its brands, including Hummer. Not to mention that the current Hummer generation sucks. I mean, the first one was cool, the second one is ok, but this one…no thanks! The H3 has been revealed first time in 2004, at the Los Angeles Auto Show, as a concept. The president of GM Norts America described H3 as “the brand’s first true pickup”. This four-door H3T shares its midsize chassis with the Chevrolet Colorada and GMC Canyon and its been described as “larger than a midsize truck, smaller than a full-size”. H3T is basically a modified version of H3’s basic architecture with a 3.7L 5-cylinder or 5.3L V8 available. The H3T comes with 32″ tires, four-wheel drive, 5-speed manual or four-speed electronically controlled automatic, dual front airbags and side impact air bag, 5-year warranty starting at $31,495.  |
| The Nissan GT-R Touchdown in the USA Posted: 14 Jul 2008 11:43 AM CDT  The Nissan GT-R seems to become something of an urban mith. Everybody is talking about it, but few have seen it. Now some Americans can say for sure that they know it exists becuase Nissan has finally delivered the first car to an American customer. Daryl Alison was given the keys one minute after midnight. We hope he wasn’t too tired after all the waiting and the late hour to go around for a spin. There is a long line behind Daryl waiting to feast on the 480 horse power car. There are 1700 cars already ordered in the USA, and it seems not everyone is affected by the ever increasing price of gasoline. The GT-R gets to 100km/h in around 3.5 seconds and it is said to have gone around the Nurburgring in 7 minute and 29 seconds, one of the best times in history.  |
| Posted: 14 Jul 2008 11:39 AM CDT  Another week, another episode from our favorite TV Show, Top Gear. The high point of the show was the “Epic Race” between Jeremy, driving the superb Nissan GT-R, and Richard and James, using Japan’s flagship transportation method, the Bullet Train. It was a truly great race, filled with passion, frustration and fun times altogether, the team having a really hard time getting around Japan in their preffered ways of transportation. Jeremy because of the japanese only menu and GPS in the car, and the James & Richard because they had to commute between trains to get to their destination. The outcome is for you to watch, as I won’t spoil this great race. Another interesting part in this episode was the test-drive of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, a true Alfa as Jeremy said, a piece of art more than a car and behaving like one. This week’s stars in a reasonably price car were BBC news presenters Fiona Bruce and Kate Silverton. Also, as a recurring gag, the Dacia Sandero is again present in the news segment. Below is the video with the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, probably one of the most beautiful ever made. Enjoy!  |
| Plugged-in Opel/Vauxhall based on the Volt Posted: 14 Jul 2008 11:09 AM CDT  Although GM’s CEO said the much anticipated VOLT is not guaranteed to go into production, and that the massive resources put in motion for the technology were not enough, we find out that there will be an European restyled version. Opel and Vauxhall will both benefit from redesigned versions of the GM VOLT, however, it is expected that the prices will be steep, and we should expect price growth of around 10.000 Euros more than normal Opel/Vauxhall variants. That does not sound like a market hit to us, but it will be a good image booster for the company as this idea fits well within the current tendencies . Expect the Opel/Vauxhall VOLT to hit European shores around late 2012.  |
| Fernando Alonso impressed by The Stig Posted: 14 Jul 2008 11:09 AM CDT  As you all know, the British Formula 1 Grand Prix was held at the Silverstone Circuit two weeks ago. But what you might have not knew is that before the F1 cars took to the circuit, a charity auction was held, the winner having the priviledge of being driven by everybody’s favourite tame racing driver, Top Gear’s The Stig in a two seat F1 car. The winner, a man who previously won a lottery, offered £35,000 for the chance of being behind The Stig on the circuit. And it was well worth it, the 3 laps done by The Stig gained praise from even former F1 champion, Fernando Alonso, having declared that “Whoever’s in that car is a seriously good driver, I’ve no idea who he is, but he’s definitely ex-F1.”. Stig impressing him by having managed to control the difficult handling car in the rain and gaining applause after recovering from a step-out of the back wheels.  |
| Porsche Panamera Hybrid? Guilty as charged! Posted: 14 Jul 2008 11:02 AM CDT  As roumors fly around, Porsche is going to introduce its first hybrid. Weather it will be the Cayenne or the Panamera we’re yet to find out, but what we know for sure is that the company already registered Panamera Hybrid Logo with OHIM (The EU trade and design marks agency). There’s no surprise in the design, it uses the known Porsche font, and it does not emphasis in any way the “hybrid”. It is plain and conservatory design. Something you do expect from a car manufacturer that has not radically changed the design since their first product. The Cayenne Hybrid is going to use a VW V6 3.6 litre engine (after all, let’s not forget that Porsche does own important shares in VW, and making use of their engine and know-how is one of the reason they bought the shares in the first place) along with an electric engine. The fuel economy will be made by using the electric engine at steady speeds. We expect the same treatment for their hybrid sedan. We can hardly wait the expression on people’s faces after the double shock: A 4 door Porsche hybrid.  |
| How To Cut Your Gas Costs By 67.34% Posted: 14 Jul 2008 10:50 AM CDT  Gas prices are going to a new world record. It seems driving a car will become more and more expensive. However, there is a solution to that: HHO (two parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen) is a gas that provides heaps of energy and the end product is just water. In fact Mobile Magazine said: “HHO provides the atomic power of Hydrogen, while maintaining the chemical stability of water” HHO is already used for powering devices like electronics, mechanical tools and… cars. Engineer Thomas Greene has just released a guide called Simple Water Fuel where he reveals the exact blueprints that anyone can use to save tons of gas on his or her car. There are already tens of thousands of drivers who use systems based on HHO to save big and reduce the emissions. The most spectacular fact is that to assemble a system like this you will need only a few hours and some components that you can get from any hardware store. To put together the whole system it will cost you between $100 and $200. Of course, you will need a guide to tell you how to do it. For more info about this check out SimpleWaterFuel.com.  |
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