The new Audi R8 V10

Sneak preview of the new Audi R8 V10.

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BMW i3 Concept Coupe Revealed

BMW i manager Oliver Walter introduces the concept i3 coupe at the LA Auto Show

BMW surprised a lot of people at the LA Auto Show and introduced a new variation of the i3, a 2 door coupe to compliment the 4 door hatchback that will launch towards the end of 2013. This new coupe is currently only a concept, but if BMW feels enough people would buy this variant, it could easily go into production.

It shares the same drive platform as the 4 door i3, so most of the engineering is already done. All BMW would have to do is make the different passenger cell and attach it to the same drive platform that the 4 door will be using. Now Im sure its not exactly that simple, but I am also confident most of the drive platform would be exactly the same.

The i3s life-drive platform

In fact, Oliver Walter referred to the "i3 family of vehicles" when addressing the crowd of ActiveE drivers at the LA Auto Show. I interpreted this as a sign BMW may use the i3s drive platform to make multiple different offerings.  Since the CFRP passenger cell is literally glued to the aluminum frame which houses the entire drivetrain and batteries, it wouldnt seem to be very difficult at all to offer multiple passenger configurations, provided there was a demand for different offerings.


Many of the people I spoke to were very excited about the coupe, even more so than for the 4 door which is going to be the initial i3 offering. While I liked the look of the coupe, Personally Im more interested in the utility of the 4 door. The access to the rear seating area is so much better with the coach(suicide) doors on the 4 door. Getting in and out as well as loading and unloading cargo from the rear seats will be infinitely easier with the coach doors and I dont think it takes away from the styling at all, especially since there are no outside door handles for the rear doors. I also think another reason why many others were so excited about the coupe was because looked closer to a production car than the four door i3 does. Lets face it, the 4 door concept car is getting a little long in the tooth and people are getting tired of looking at the glass doors and roof. It was introduced about a year and a half ago and other than a different color interior there has been no changes to it. I get a lot of inquiries about when will BMW show us the production version. The concept coupe has a new, refreshed interior that quite honestly looks stunning and ready for production. I suspect this is very close to what the production i3 interior will look like and I hope BMW doesnt change much because it looks awesome as it currently is.

BMW North American manager of sales and strategy Jacob Harb was also at the event and he spoke for a while and then fielded questions from the ActiveE group. There really wasnt any new news offered. We talked a lot about the range extender option as well as DC quick charge. There was also a lot of discussion on the tires BMW seem to be using on the i3. They are tall and thin and dont look like they would be good for aggressive driving. The concept coupe at the show had 175/60 R20s on the rear wheels and 155/60 R20s on the front. No doubt the different tire sizes were a concept-only feature but the tall and thin nature of them had people wondering if too much road holding will be sacrificed in the name of efficiency. We also talked a lot about the use of run-flat tires. I can say with certainty the ActiveE drivers there, and many others that I have spoken to do not want run flat tires on the i3. I hope BMW got the message and decides not to use them. They are loud, harsh and heavy and we do not want them. Can I be any clearer?

The openness of the i3 is hard to capture in pictures. Although it is a small car, the interior is spacious. During the presentation Walter said the i3 will have roughly the same interior volume as a three series. Thats considerably more space than our ActiveEs have now even though the i3 is much smaller. Because of the life-drive architecture and the elimination of the transmission tunnel needed on front engine internal combustion engine cars, the i3s passenger compartment is much more spacious than a comparable gas car of its size would be.

So while Im really happy to see BMW thinking about expanding the i3s line to offer different variations, what Im really looking forward to is finally seeing what the production i3 will look like. We are tantalizingly close now after nearly four years of waiting. Im figuring Ill get my wish in about three months in Geneva? Anyone else care to guess when and where BMW will show off the real i3?

Heres some more pictures from the LA Auto show:

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New MINI Paceman ads

Here are the ads of the new MINI Paceman.



Here are the 2 exclusive alternate endings which have not been released to the general public.

Alternate ending 1.



Alternate ending 2.

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Fire up the Land Rover Defender X Tech

NEVER meet your heroes, the saying goes. Thats why I approached the latest version of whats an off-roading icon with just more than a touch of trepidation.

The Land Rover Defender needs little introduction because everyone in Britain is familiar with its boxy shape; it has, after all, been with us since the days of Spandau Ballet and Michael Foot vying to be Prime Minister.

Despite a series of calls to replace it with something a bit more modern and friendlier to the environment its soldiered on regardless, doing useful duties for people like farmers and the British Army. Its also at this point I have to declare an interest; not only am I faithful follower of all things Solihull and a longstanding 4X4 fan, but my parents, for the best part of a decade, owned a Defender.

This X-Tech is Land Rovers attempt to give that old recipe a bit of 2012 street cred, which explains the snazzy silver paintwork, the black alloy wheels and the mean grille. Its not a paintjob youd particularly want to scratch if you actually went off road, but I suspect most of the X-Techs buyers will be more swayed by the style than a burning desire to utilise its reputation as motorings mountain goat. Which I can understand because the X-Tech is a seriously mean looking bit of kit.

I know that not venturing into the undergrowth in a Defender is a bit like slipping on a set of stout walking boots to pop to the shops but I did get to try the X-Tech in its more likely natural environment; on the road, where its rubbish. I know its a high rise off-roader thats been around for nearly 30 years but if youre more used to modern 4X4s then youll find the roly-poly handling, the wind noise, the noisy but not especially fast performance, the lack of elbow room and the dated switchgear hard work. Its also, at £27,000, not especially cheap either.

But without venturing off-road to see how the X-Tech performs as Land Rover intended this is only the half the story - consider it unfinished business. If, however, youre like most 4X4 owners and dont intend on scaling anything tougher than a kerb in a supermarket car park then its a bit of a mixed bag. Its a seriously cool, no-nonsense machine that doesnt pretend to be anything it isnt, but its not for everyone.

The X-Techs far from perfect but I couldnt help but enjoy it.

As published in The Champion on November 14, 2012

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2013 Ford Explorer Sport Price Starts at 40 720

From September, the 2013 Ford Explorer Sport is available at U.S. dealerships, its exercise price is $40,720.

The sporty and luxurious top model of Explorer - series uses a 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost engine, which has an output of 365 hp. Compared to the V8 engines of the competition, the new Ford engine consumes substantially less for the same driving pleasure.

In addition to the lively engine, the Explorer Sport also extensive standard equipment from the factory, which includes, among other things, a 2-zone climate control, electrically adjustable front seats with heating, a rearview camera and a Sony premium audio system with HD radio and 12 speakers.

At the request of the Ford Explorer Sport can also still with BLIS, front seat cooling, Remote Start System, Keyless Entry & Drive, a panoramic sunroof and a navigation system are equipped. The first models of the Ford Explorer sport will be on display from September in U.S. showrooms.

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2014 Cadillac ELR

2014 Cadillac ELR

So pretty, so tame.

Cadillac’s new 2014 ELR looks astonishing. Low, chiseled, aggressive, provocative, and uncompromised by any concession to practicality, it seems to have been time-warped out of some Gene Roddenberry–spec, 23rd-century future onto today’s roads. It’s the most ambitious application of Caddy’s “Art & Science” design theme yet—razor sharp art and science transmogrified into science fiction.

But underneath that sculptural brilliance and the $75,995 base price lies a platform based on the humble bones of the Chevrolet Volt. Like the Chevy, the Caddy runs on electricity virtually all the time and has a conventional internal-combustion engine aboard that churns a generator to keep the car’s lithium-ion battery pack charged up. And that means, like the Volt, that the ELR is eligible for a federal bribe—er, tax credit—of up to $7500.

Based on the Converj concept car that debuted at the 2009 Detroit auto show, the production ELR manages the neat trick of looking better than the showpiece that inspired it. The ELR’s aluminum-hooded nose tapers down more dramatically than the Converj’s, reducing the impression of bulk. Meanwhile, the rear window is less radically raked, giving the ELR a more elegant roofline. The leading edges of the ELR’s headlights are more precisely crafted. Moving aft, the rear deck is more dramatically faceted than the Converj’s, and the ELR’s hockey stick-shaped LED taillights lightly suggest that greatest of all Cadillac styling fillips, the fin. Throw in a closed front grille—making it more of an ironic comment on the nature of grilles rather than a grille itself—and the ELR is mesmerizingly beautiful.Mesmerizing Flanks

While the ELR’s 106.1-inch wheelbase is a slight 0.4-inch longer than the Volt’s, this is a coupe and proportioned as such. The front passengers, although afforded generous legroom and perfectly shaped, well-crafted seats, sit in relatively narrow channels between the outside rockers and the thick center tunnel that houses the forward section of the huge lithium-ion battery pack. But the tiny rear seats are more suitable for handbags, lapdogs, and discarded pistachio shells than actual human beings with legs and such. In classic muscle-car terms, the ELR plays Camaro to the Volt’s Nova.

Spatial Delivery

Cadillac has fitted superlative materials throughout the cockpit, including a rich-looking micro-fiber headliner, hand-stitched leather elements, real matte-finished wood, brushed metal, and high-quality “piano black” plastics. But some of us feel that the interior design—as in other recent Cadillacs like the CTS and XTS—could benefit from some simpler shapes and fewer differing materials along the dash and door panels.

Settling into the ELR coupe, it’s easy to be comfortable. The spacial stuff takes some getting used to, however, as the base of the windshield seems to be about a block and a half away, and there’s a thick blind spot looking back at the five and seven o’clock positions.

After almost three years, the Chevy Volt’s mix of electric operation and extended range thanks to the small four-cylinder engine it also carries seems less magical. Some of that comes from the sheer familiarity of the system, but it’s also a result of newer products such as the all-electricTesla Model S that have advanced the art of zap-tastic motoring in ways that would have seemed farfetched in 2010.

Voltaic Efficiency

In fact, the Volt’s mechanical soul carries over mostly unchanged to the ELR. That includes an electric drive motor that propels the car’s front wheels with the equivalent of 157 horsepower in EV mode and 181 horses in extended-range mode, the large T-shaped battery array that runs down the car’s spine and across its rump, and the 84-hp, 1.4-liter internal-combustion four-banger. Updated programming for the electric-motor controller nets the ELR 58 more total system horsepower and 22 lb-ft of extra torque compared to the Volt, for a system total of 207 horsepower and 295 lb-ft.

Specifications>

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door coupe

BASE PRICE: $75,995

ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 16-valve 1.4-liter inline-4, 86 hp, 94 lb-ft; AC permanent magnet synchronous electric drive motor, 181 hp*, 295 lb-ft; combined power rating, 217 hp, 295 lb-ft; 16.5-kWh lithium-ion battery pack *157 hp in EV mode

TRANSMISSION: continuously variable automatic

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 106.1 in
Length: 186.0 in
Width: 72.7 in Height: 55.9 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 4050 lb

PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph (EV mode/Extended-range mode): 9.1/8.2 sec
Standing ¼-mile (EV mode/Extended-range mode): 17.1/16.6 sec
Top speed: 107 mph

FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST):
EPA city/highway driving: 34/38 mpg

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Fiat Cinquecento Sporting by Luciano Bove

Dear friends,

I know it is not as sexy as the new Fiat 500...but this version of the old Fiat Nuova Cinquecento Sporting has been my first project as exterior designer and team project leader. 1994 I was working for Fiat Design Center in Turin Italy and I was asked to manage the first Sporting Version Fiat car a : Nuova Cinquecento designed by Arch. Ermanno Cressoni some years earlier.

It was a restyling with a strong sporty identity (later used for Abarth version, too), very popular in England so true that a Sporting Club was born around the car, the orders were higher than expected.

So here one of the final rendering done on Vincent Vellum paper with markers chalk and white guache...the classical Art Center Pasadena technique.

Hope you like it!

- 

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