2010 TopCar Porsche Panamera Stingray

TopCar recently released the Stingray set of enhancements to augment the already tremendous performance and eye-popping looks of the 2010 Porsche Panamera.

First off, the appearance of the newly refitted 2010 Porsche Panamera Stingray by TopCar exemplifies astounding form filled with elegance and poise.

The entire body kit of the car has been constructed with lightweight and stylish carbon fiber. A front mounted chin spoiler is positioned above the front apron, which in turn has wide air intakes. Complementing this design is a sleek and smooth carbon fiber hood with built-in air inlets. Side skirts expand the width of the rear apron, adding to the overall striking appearance of the car. Forged R21 light alloy rims give the car an imposing appearance without sacrificing efficient weight distribution. Moreover, the new Panamera Stingray gets a harmonious finish to its new look from a new rear spoiler, and it fits perfectly over the retractable original.

2010 Mansory Bugatti Veyron Linea

German tuning company Mansory just did a 'blinged out' version of the French automobile company Bugatti's Veyron 16.4 LL d'Oro. It is a bejeweled modification, with the gold-colored wheels, restyled front end, stylized LED running lights and an artsy 'V' (for Vincero) in the radiator grille. The 2010 Mansory Bugatti Veyron Linea Vincero d'Oro is a crowned glory, a gold-and-black sports coupe.
For improved cooling, the 2010 Mansory Bugatti Veyron Linea Vincero d'Oro has new side skirts and larger side/rear air outlets. The rear diffuser is luxuriously redesigned. The gold-colored parts of this Bugatti Veyron are: turbine alloy wheels, door handle, fuel filler cap, radiator surround, and headlamp washer nozzles. The 2010 Mansory Bugatti Veyron Linea Vincero d'Oro's interior are also 'blinged out'; the leather and trim, door trims, dashboard, details in carbon fiber parts and LEDs placed in car seats. The 'd'Oro' in this sports coupe is literal.

RZ Ultima Concept 2010

The Ultima GTR was introduced a decade ago in the year 2000. It could run up a strip at full speed in below ten seconds. It had the fastest response rates with the quickest acceleration and deceleration from 0 to 100 mph and vice versa. Any production car would trail behind this sort of performance.
Now, a new concept has been released based on the Ultima GTR. Enthusiasts of the original GTR will appreciate all of its performance re-integrated into a modern, more refined look. The new RZ Ultima concept is still in its design phase, but once put into production it can be the greatest supercar.
The guiding principle in developing the 2010 RZ Ultima GTR is that the chassis and transmission of the original 2000 Ultima GTR would remain unchanged. Racer X Design highly valued the frame of the vehicle, since they believed that the original frame of the GTR epitomized the essential qualities of a supercar: tremendously fast, tasteful, elegant and exclusive. The RZ Ultima GTR ensures supercar quality to enthusiasts and more.

DeltaWing IndyCar Concept 2010

he design of the 2010 Deltawing IndyCar Concept is a departure from traditional vehicles we see every day. DeltaWing LLC Indianapolis introduced this concept as a test-bed for technological advancement in the automotive industry, directed primarily at a younger group of enthusiasts.
The form of the vehicle is unlike anything we have seen on the road to date. The design follows an ultra slim front track contour, meant to reduce weight and diminish aerodynamic drag. Fairings for the Firestone Firehawk tires avert wheel interlocking. Airflow remains undisturbed even during high velocity laps on the track, producing efficient downforce with negligible wake to guarantee the smallest loss in aerodynamic potential.
The prototype car is planned to rely on a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder turbocharged engine. This is estimated to produce around 300 horsepower at 7000 rpm. True to racecar tradition, the car will use a 6-speed oval transmission with paddle shift controls, or a 5-speed transmission with reverse. The focus of the concept is primarily on eliminating aerodynamic drag and epitomizing lighter mass and weight. The anticipated weight of the vehicle will be 1030 lbs including the driver.

New BMW Z4

We watched the Stig race a 2009 BMW Z4 around the track on "Top Gear," but we didn't realize how truly good this car is until we did our own racing around Northern California in one. The model we had in for review was loaded with the twin turbo engine, making it the sDrive35i trim, twin-clutch gearbox, and M suspension, which has three modes. It's an expensive car, but as we crushed turn after turn, it seemed worth every penny. And that's not even going into the cabin tech, which BMW also liberally loaded into this car. The audio system alone is phenomenal, using 16 speakers to fill the small cabin. Everybody on the CNET Car Tech staff lusted after this car after spending time behind the wheel.

2010 Volkswagen GTI

Front-Drive Follies
It's a simple matter of physics — in particular, the change in the center of gravity location during acceleration. When you lay into the gas, the sprung mass rotates around the geometric axis and effectively shifts the weight rearward. So under acceleration, more of a car's weight transfers onto the rear wheels and off the front wheels. Therefore, the front wheels get less traction and the rear wheels get more.

2010 Audi

What that means, burnout-wise, is that with less traction a powerful front-driver's front wheels will spin, but won't produce the friction against the pavement necessary to produce the billowy clouds of magnificent smoke that are what burnouts are all about.

More importantly, since Inside Line's scientifically somewhat precise method of judging a burnout is to measure the visible rubber stripe left by a car on the pavement during a burnout, the stripes left by a front-driver are fainter than a rear-driver's and therefore more difficult to measure. So there's more subjective evaluation in this still-stupendous contest than there was in our previous two.

2010 Volkswagen GTI

Front-Drive Follies
It's a simple matter of physics — in particular, the change in the center of gravity location during acceleration. When you lay into the gas, the sprung mass rotates around the geometric axis and effectively shifts the weight rearward. So under acceleration, more of a car's weight transfers onto the rear wheels and off the front wheels. Therefore, the front wheels get less traction and the rear wheels get more.

2010 Audi

What that means, burnout-wise, is that with less traction a powerful front-driver's front wheels will spin, but won't produce the friction against the pavement necessary to produce the billowy clouds of magnificent smoke that are what burnouts are all about.

More importantly, since Inside Line's scientifically somewhat precise method of judging a burnout is to measure the visible rubber stripe left by a car on the pavement during a burnout, the stripes left by a front-driver are fainter than a rear-driver's and therefore more difficult to measure. So there's more subjective evaluation in this still-stupendous contest than there was in our previous two.

Porsche Gulf-JWA

Taking a look at the sales from this past weekend’s Bonhams & Butterfields auction, one would never be able to tell that we are currently in a financial crisis throughout the world. For example, a 1970 Gulf-JWA Le Mans 917K Coupe was sold for a record amount of $3,965,000.

The auction consisted of an astounding 102 cars as well as one airplane and one boat from the three collections of Michael Amalfitano. Out of the 104 pieces up for sale, 74% of them were sold during the auction which was a much better percentage than originally expected from the auctioneers. In total, the Bonhams & Butterfields auction raised a total of $18.6 million of which about $4 million was attributed to the Porsche 917.

"We are very honored to have been selected to offer these incredible motorcars at auction," says Mark Osborne, head of Bonhams’ Motoring Department. "We are very pleased with the results and the satisfaction of having met or exceeded the expectations of our discerning and growing clientele."

Dodge Avenger SXT

The Dodge Avenger is certainly a vehicle that makes you reevaluate the entry level car market. Starting out at $21,500 the four door mini Charger may seem like a good deal, however after checking enough option boxes to make it a V6 powered Official Passenger Car of NASCAR complete with navigation and a set of stylish 18 inch wheels just like our fully loaded 2009 Avenger SXT, the price creeps up pretty close to the $30,000 mark. The Dodge Avenger is the smallest sedan in the Chrysler lineup and because of that it carries a few styling cues from its larger four door brother, the bold faced Charger, with touches like a squared off front end and bulging fender flares and a solid looking rear end.

Covered in a beautiful coat of Deep Water Blue Pearl paint our Avenger SXT came equipped with stain resistant cloth seats and a 2.7 Liter six cylinder engine mated to a four speed automatic transmission that made 187 HP while returning an estimated 19 MPG around town and as much as 27 MPG on the highway. Heavily optioned with features like a power everything including a sunroof, Chrysler’s Uconnect GPS with Sirius satellite radio, remote start and a cup holder that can either cool or warm its contents depending on what you wish, not to mention the $740 destination charge; a well equipped Avenger like this one will set you back a total of $27,955. Quite a bit more then you would expect to pay for Dodge’s smallest offering.

Supercar Concept by Matthew Hockham

We know that the name Wally whispered in the ears of yacht enthusiasts everywhere will send goosebumps up and down their arms in response to the sheer pleasure that name conjures up. And as we can respect the Wally name in terms of yachts, we have to wrinkle up our nose in distaste for the supercar modeled after the specific yacht design.

Apparently, Mr. Matthew Hockham, a UK industrial designer, decided that transferring the Wally design concept over to a supercar would be a good idea. He was horribly, horribly wrong. Although on paper, the sharp edges, black glass surfaces, and hi-tech gray tones sound absolutely marvelous; on the supercar, they simply fall flat. Designed to include the concept of a shooting brake model and sidelines inspired from the 118 WallyPower yacht, the look was supposed to say futuristic and classy. Ummm, how about weird and unpractical? The only redeeming factor this supercar may have is that the interior is made of carbon fiber and teak, again following along the lines of the Wally brand. The only problem with that is the supercar sounded good on paper too, so we can’t be too confident that the interior won’t leave us disappointed as well.

Dodge Avenger SXT

The Dodge Avenger is certainly a vehicle that makes you reevaluate the entry level car market. Starting out at $21,500 the four door mini Charger may seem like a good deal, however after checking enough option boxes to make it a V6 powered Official Passenger Car of NASCAR complete with navigation and a set of stylish 18 inch wheels just like our fully loaded 2009 Avenger SXT, the price creeps up pretty close to the $30,000 mark. The Dodge Avenger is the smallest sedan in the Chrysler lineup and because of that it carries a few styling cues from its larger four door brother, the bold faced Charger, with touches like a squared off front end and bulging fender flares and a solid looking rear end.

Covered in a beautiful coat of Deep Water Blue Pearl paint our Avenger SXT came equipped with stain resistant cloth seats and a 2.7 Liter six cylinder engine mated to a four speed automatic transmission that made 187 HP while returning an estimated 19 MPG around town and as much as 27 MPG on the highway. Heavily optioned with features like a power everything including a sunroof, Chrysler’s Uconnect GPS with Sirius satellite radio, remote start and a cup holder that can either cool or warm its contents depending on what you wish, not to mention the $740 destination charge; a well equipped Avenger like this one will set you back a total of $27,955. Quite a bit more then you would expect to pay for Dodge’s smallest offering.

Scion tC 2011

Five Axis has modified the Scion tC to show the many ways this car can be customized using aftermarket parts and internal accessories. The Five Axis version has a four-inch wide-body conversion coated in a shade of red aptly called Bloodshot formulated by House of Color.
The interior of the car matches the exterior with one-of-a-kind trim and color palettes and materials. The seats are very comfortable, all leather and suede, and trimmed with custom leather. Additional accoutrements include color-coordinated floor mats and upholstery. The Scion tC is sleek and aggressive on the outside, but cozy and comfortable on the inside.
The Scion tC has huge wheels – 20 inches to be exact. The rear tires are 10.5 inches wide.

Honda Civic

Performance Experience a sense of rising expectations. Honda heightens your driving enjoyment with a rare combination of spirited engine response and exceptional fuel efficiency. This ideal balance is achieved by Honda's next-generation 1.8-liter SOHC i-VTEC engine - the first entirely new Civic power plant in 17 years. Through Honda's advanced i-VTEC (Intelligent Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control) system and DBW (Drive By Wire) technology, it performs like two types of engines in one compact unit. At high engine loads, such as when starting from a standstill or stepping on the accelerator, DBW fully opens the throttle while VTEC optimizes intake valve timing to generate 2.0-liter-equivalent power. At low engine loads, such as during high-speed cruising, DBW narrows the throttle opening while VTEC delays valve closing to achieve 1.5-liter-equivalent fuel efficiency. Settings are intelligently switched in a seamless manner to ensure smooth, linear response at all revolutions High-output mode rocker arm and fuel economy mode rocker arm are not inter-connected. Valves operated according to high-output cam profile. High-output mode rocker arm and fuel economy mode rocker arm connected via the synchro piston Valves operated according to fuel economy cam profile with delayed valve closing.

2011 Audi Q7 eight-speed transmission

The Q7 is the large Audi for the sporty individualist – the high-performance SUV for sport, leisure, family and business. Now Audi has made it even more powerful and efficient, with a choice of three new V6 engines and an 8-speed tiptronic transmission.

Engines: a new range

Even more power, even higher efficiency: Audi has revised the engine lineup for the Q7. The two gasoline engines, both V6 units but with different power outputs, are new, and so is the second-generation V6 TDI. A mighty V8 diesel completes the range. All the engines for the Q7 combine two technologies: forced induction and direct fuel injection. A high-performance recuperation system that recovers energy during braking is also a standard item with all six- and eight-cylinder engines.
The new 3.0 TFSI gasoline engine embodies Audi’s downsizing strategy: replacing engine displacement with supercharging. Within the 90-degree angle formed by its cylinder blocks there is an engine-driven supercharger that compresses the intake air. Two charge-air intercoolers prevent the air temperature from rising, so that the engine draws in more oxygen for the combustion process. Vigorous thrust and spontaneous throttle response make the 3.0 TFSI engine, with its sonorous note, an ideal source of power for the large high-performance SUV from Audi.

Ferrari 599 GTO

This red beast is derived from Ferrari’s 599XX race car and it represents the most outrageous version of the two-seater 599, being actually a toned-down racing car that’s been homologated for road use, hence why it has been given the classic Gran Turismo Omologata moniker.

By no coincidence, just 599 units wil be built, each powered by an uprated version of the Enzo-derived 6.0-litre V12 engine. Power is up from 612bhp to 661bhp, while weight goes down from 1,690kg to 1,605kg, allowing the GTO to sprint from 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds – 0.3 seconds faster than before – and hit a top speed in excess of 208mph. Absolute madness! Read the rest of this entry

Mercedes-Benz under the hood of Infiniti Gs

This will preety much translate into: you buy an Infiniti and on your engine will be written “Mercedes-Benz”. And it’s not a joke! Because of the alliance of Daimler AG and Renault-Nissan, Infiniti’s G series will be getting a Mercedes-Benz engine. This means that Romanian Dacia could get Nissan or Mercedes engines? Cool! (Dacia is owned by Renault).

The G series, which represents Infiniti’s highest-volume line, will use a Mercedes inline four-cylinder from Daimler to improve fuel economy and curb emissions, according to Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. Ghosn didn’t say when production of the engine will begin or at what extent this engine will replace Japanese-made four-cylinder and V-6 engines used in the G sedan and coupe. In some C-class cars in Europe, Mercedes uses a 1.8-liter four-liter engine. Presently, Mercedes uses nothing smaller than a V-6 in its North American products but it has mentioned that it might bring a smaller engine soon. Mercedes-Benz wants to start producing the C class in Alabama in 2014. At a conference call, Ghosn told reporters that data show there is actually little cross-shopping between Mercedes’ and Infiniti’s US customers. The development of this Mercedes engine is a small part of a diverse product-sharing and technology- sharing plan to be accomplished within five years. The 3 carmakers in this tie-up said that their involvement was egged on by impending stricter fuel-economy demands and the potential for cost savings to comply to them.

The New 2010 Buick LaCrosse

The 2010 Buick LaCrosse is receiving rave reviews. This elegant sedan is being compared to the Lexus ES 350, Acura TL and Toyota Avalon based on appearance, functionality and innovation. With sleek, rounded body lines, wide-set headlamps, LED tail lamps and stunning waterfall grille, it’s no wonder the LaCrosse is turning heads.

Currently the new Buick LaCrosse is available in a 3.0L and 3.6L Direct-Injection V6 engine. Direct injection increases compression, efficiency and horsepower significantly. The 3.0L engine delivers 255 hp and the 3.6L engine turns out 280 hp. Both models have 6 speed automatic, electronically controlled transmissions with Driver TAPShift Control. TAPShift allows the driver to shift gears manually by tapping the shifter up or down to adapt to road conditions. An ultra fuel efficient model, the LaCrosse CX is anticipated to join the lineup this spring. The CX model will be powered by an Ecotec 2.4L, 4 cylinder engine with 182 hp and an expected 30 mpg highway and 20 mpg city.

Inside the 2010 Buick LaCrosse cabin, drivers and passengers alike will enjoy the benefits of Quiet Tuning design, triple door seals and a laminated windshield create a peaceful ride with virtually no road noise. Soothing blue ambient lighting runs along the dash, flanks the dark poplar wood side panels and surrounds the poplar and chrome center console. Heated and ventilated, custom leather appointed, driver and passenger seats are embellished with French stitching for added luxury. An available panoramic sunroof allows for sunny or starlit views for driver, front and back row passengers. The LaCrosse has more standard features than other vehicles in the same class. A Radio Anti-theft System, Satellite Radio, Navigation System and plenty of OnStar Services including Automatic Crash Response, Emergency Services, Roadside Assistance, Stolen Vehicle Assistance, Hands-Free Calling are all on board.

Infiniti QX56

Until recently, the Infiniti QX56 was produced in Canton, Mississippi, using V-8 engines made in Decherd, Tennessee. This makes sense since the U.S. is largest market for luxury SUVs. But now Nissan is planning to move production of this low volume SUV to a plant in Japan.