I've had this pictures of bad-ass black Subaru Impreza WRX Sti on my computer for a long time, don't know where I found them, but yesterday I accidentally found a heart breaking video on youtube of this Impreza. Another Subi gone.
Here's a video of that Subi before and after crash... Too bad
Amuse 2000 GT1 with GT1 wide bodykit, that was designed by Grand Turismo 4 producers. Amuse always tried to build the ultimate S2000 for touge racing and I haven't got a clue how much effort will they put in s2000 now, since last year's tragic death of Hideki Tanabe, the founder and president of Amuse Powerhouse. Enjoy old pictures by Dino Dalle Carbonare
No es la primera vez que hablamos de Tuning, y nos referimos a este país oriental. Anteriormente compartimos algunas imágenes de las excentricidades del tuning japones, e incluso, compartimos fotos de las hermosas chicas japonesas, que visitaron el blog.
Hoy, nos vamos a referir a otra forma de tunear un coche, la aerografía, es decir, los gráficos insertos sobre nuestro automóvil.
Como sabemos, en Japón, el anime está muy arraigado, y es por eso que no es raro ver tantos vehículos como estos por las calles niponas.
"The Chevy Aveo is a good car. It's worth a look, a test drive and possibly a place in your driveway or garage."
If they gave a "Most Improved Player" award to cars, the new Aveo would win it, hands-down.
I'll get to how good the '09 Aveo is in a second, but here's what it had to overcome: Raised on the somewhat snarky automotive writings of David E. Davis, Jr.,Jean (Lindamood) Jennings, John Phillips, P.J. O'Rourke and others, I've got a smart-aleck streak in me (okay, it was there before I ever picked up a car magazine).
After testing the first Aveo five years ago, someone asked me what I thought. I broke into song, using my best Harry Belafonte impression (to the tune of The Banana Boat Song [Day-O]):
A-Veo
A-Ve-e-e-o
A-Veo come and me wanna walk home
A-Veo
A-Ve-e-e-o
A-Veo come and me wanna walk home
Is piece of crap Korean car
A-Veo come and me wanna walk home
Is piece of crap Korean car
A-Veo come and me wanna walk home.
There may have been more. I really don't remember. But it was that bad. A bottom-line Daewoo freshly acquired by GM with no time to do anything but slap a couple of Chevy badges on it and ship it to the USA.
Well, time and development are wonderful things. Yes, the Aveo is still small, inexpensive and Korean-built, but now it's Korean as in "keeping up with Hyundai's growth curve".
You either like or don't like the shape of a subcompact hatchback. There's not much room to work with, so most look like the Aveo from the windshield back. Chevy's taken the step of adding what's becoming the family nose (the bold, split grille from the Malibu) to the Aveo...giving it a longer hood and making the entire car look quite a bit more substantial.
Inside, well...somebody's been inside a Volkswagen recently. Better-than decent plastics, the top half of the dash grained like VW, in a tasteful two-tone (the tester was the mid-range 1LT trim level). Every surface attractive to the eye and to the touch.
The $13,595 base price brings with it a year in OnStar's Safe & Sound plan, air conditioning, a rear window defogger, a tilt steering column, front and rear floor mats, and armrest, height and lumbar adjustments for the driver's seat, and a 180-watt premium audio system with six speakers, AM/FM/CD and iPod jack. GM's vehicle fleet folks loaded it from there...$425 for power windows, door locks and remote keyless entry, $925 for a 4-speed automatic transmission, $440 for anti-lock brakes and $250 for cruise control. Total tab: $16,295, including delivery.
That puts it in the reach of some tempting larger alternatives like Honda Civic. But the payoff is at the gas pump: The EPA says 25 city and 34 highway...both believeable figures based on how little the fuel tank needle moved during my week with the car.
Oh, and the safety statistics are impressive too: Five stars for driver and passenger in the frontal crash test, four stars for both in the side crash and rollover tests.
Like everything but the price? The base LS model starts at $12,625. If you can live with rolling up your own windows, locking your own doors, not having a remote and living with four instead of six speakers (and less wattage) for the audio system, you're set...especially if you live someplace where air conditioning isn't a must. If you need air, then it's a dealer-installed option, the price is likely to be at the dealer's discretion, and you're probably dead even or better off stepping up $900 to the 1LT and getting it standard from the factory.
Even without the grim first-gen Aveo to compare it to, the new Aveo is a solid pick for subcompact buyers.
UPDATE: Some mid-year changes have been made and they're not good. First, base price is up for the 1LT...it's now $14,100.
But more troubling is the smell in our second Aveo tester this year. There is a strict no-smoking rule in press vehicles...and like all strict rules...especially aimed at journalists...it occasionally gets ignored. Doesn't happen as much as it used to, really.
But the Aveo smelled like someone smoked a carton of the worst cigarettes on earth and then tried to cover it up with a can of air freshener.
I parked it after a day and a half. Couldn't stand to be in it.
The GM reps took the car in and had someone try to find the problem....was it in the HVAC ducts? In the compressor?
Nope.
It was in the seats. More accurately...the glue for the seats. When it gets hot...as it does in Phoenix in the summer...it smells like this.
Now, it's never exactly cold in Phoenix...a locked car in sunlight in January can get over 90 degrees inside...and the first car didn't smell like this, so I don't know what's up. Maybe some have it and some don't.
But if you go shopping for an Aveo...spend some time in it before you let the salesman turn on the air, okay?
Mike Merryfield talking about ricers in stand-up comedy event. Hilarious jokes about down-force alu-wings, fart-cans, F&F inspirated:) Check his page out for more laugh:)
People at Clashproduction always make the best videos. Here's a drift video of JZX81 Toyota Chaser by Driftworks with in-board camera. Driver is Ben Broke-Smith aka Bon Bon, 2008 European Drift Champion.
Just can't get enough of DC5 Integra. Maybe because I haven't seen any of it live, not many DC5 in Europe because of standard JDM RHD, what a waste. DC5 on the picture with Mugen MF-10 rims.
Can't get enough of oldschool 1st generation Mugen Honda CR-X. Too bad not many of those left nowadays on streets. Most of those, who are still in one peace, are restored and only real enthusiasts know their true value, it's priceless. Actually it's much better have them restored, than seeing wannabe-racer kiddos with no respect outside, doing burnouts with old school CR-X Honda and destroying them.
Nissan-wallpaper has all you ever looked for: wallpapers and high-resolution background pictures of all the Nissan cars you can imagine. Here's Nissan R35 GT-R V-spec photoshoped picture, really looks awesome in that red combination.
I began my automotive journalism career 12 years ago this fall by testing a small Ford coupe that impressed me more than I expected. So it's kind of appropriate that this, the 150th TireKicker post (first anniversary is August 24), is also about a small Ford coupe that impressed me more than I expected.
The Ford Focus has been a bit of a disappointment simply because there's a better one being sold in Europe. But there are two bits of good news: We'll be getting the Euro Focus (or something very close to it) in a year or two...and the American version is being constantly improved and refined in the meantime.
The SES I drove had a 2 liter DOHC four, a 5-speed manual that's one of the best I've had from Ford and 17 inch wheels.
Inside, air, SYNC, and auxilary audio jacks are all standard.
Options on the tester included leather heated bucket seats, a moonroof and an upgrade to the audiophile sound system...as well as anti-lock brakes (which really, really should be standard).
Base price: $17.570. As tested: $20.615.
EPA estimates: 24 city/35 highway.
Now in that range, there's a lot of competition (it takes 26 city to make the TireKicker Top Ten Fuel Savers...and a lot of compacts are priced in that $17,000-$20,000 range), but the Focus is now good enough that it's able to run in that crowded pack.
Taken out from Hong-Kong news, police seems to have enough of night highway racers. Too sad nobody ever thinks this would end if they built private tracks for racing purposes... Police rather chases "bad guys".
Skyline KPGC10, a first coupe version of Skylines started production back in 1969. It had a 2.0L, straight 6, DOHC engine which produced for that time crazy 160 hp. No more words, enjoy the pictures.
Todos saben que los Emiratos Arabes, es el lugar donde viven muchas de las personas más ricas de mundo, y como no podía ser de otra manera, cada uno de estos millonarios, tienen coches lujosos y ostentosos que son la gran admiración de cualquier persona que visita el lugar.
Estas son fotos tomadas en las calles de los Emiratos Arabes, donde vemos el lujo de los automóviles allí presentes.
Hace tiempo que no teníamos la dulce presencia de las chicas más hermosas del mundo... y hoy están nuevamente con nosotros. Las mujeres que nos acompañan hoy, son las reinas del SITCA, hermosas como siempre se disponen a acompañarnos y deleitarnos con su presencia.
Is this the future of small business vehicles in America?
It is if enough florists, caterers, handymen, plumbers and electricians decide they don't really need full-size pickups and vans.
The Ford Transit Connect has sold 600,000 copies in 58 countries since 2003. Now, Ford brings it to the USA.
Selling points?
A low base price...starting at $20,780.
Fuel economy....EPA estimates are 22 city/25 highway.
Innovative technology....more on which later.
The interior is more Focus than F-150...but it's roomy and especially well put together.
In work vehicles, it's what's in back that counts...and thanks to a low load floor and tall roofline, the Transit Connect has a surprising amount of room for tools of whatever trade you're in.
The innovative tech? In-dash computing which allows internet access, scheduling, invoicing and more....right from the driver's seat with a wireless keyboard. It's a $1,395 option.
Add another $1,220 and you get Tool Link. Put radio frequency tracking tags on your tools and Tool Link keeps track of them. Leave the office or a work site without your full complement of stuff...and you get an alert on the in-dash display before you can drive away...saving the cost of return trips for forgotten items or replacements for things lost.
Ford is even offering a wagon version that seats five (base price $21,135) to sell to consumers who like the cargo space. There's also a strong possibility that these will become the next-gen taxicab as the Crown Victoria ends production.
Ford hosted a Transit Connect event for journalists, dealers and small business owners on Monday (7/13) at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix. And that's where we learned the other selling point: Maneuverability. The Transit Connect handled the slalom course like no E-Series van ever could (except, perhaps with Firebird's next-door neighbor Bob Bondurant at the wheel).
As we took the course, we noticed that one of the group had actually knocked over one...but only one...of the cones. Arizona Driver photographer Randall Bohl actually caught the culprit in the act:
But tinted glass and the driver's side A-pillar conceals the identity of the culprit. That is, until Arizona Driver publisher Joe Sage spent a little time with Photoshop:
The object in mid-air would be ABC15's $4,000 video camera.
Here's a video of that Subi before and after crash... Too bad
