Mazda gives Japan a few more gadgets

There once was a time when the US got only a small percentage of the really great cars from Japan. Any americans who ever lusted after a Nissan Silva, an R33 Skyline or toyota badged Altezza know what I am talking about.

While things might have gotten better recently, Japanese carmakers can still sometimes withhold some stuff from us.

In Japan. the Mazda3 (or as it is known there, the Axela) is getting what is known as the Navi Edition.

This special edition allows Axela buyers to have some of the options which are usually only available on higher-end models.

This includes a navigation system with an integrated terrestrial TV tuner and rear view monitor.

Of course, a rearview monitor on a compact car with a big back window might be a bit unnecessary I think, but Mazda has added their Adaptive Front Lighting system, something that is nice to have on a car of any size.

BMW 3.0d Boosted by Superchips

Superchips is launching yet another performance specially for BMW. This time, they have done a new ECU remap of the wonderful 3.0 liter straight-six diesel, which is offered on the 3,5,7, GT, X5 and X6.

The 3.0, depending on which model, usually produces in the neighborhood of 240hp with 520 lb-ft of torque.

With the remap, power is increased to 285 hp and 610 lb-ft of torque.

Coincidently, this is basically the same power as the 35d engine. Think of it as a 3.0 liter twin turbo diesel.

This power boost makes the engine more responsive and more pleasant to drive due to all of the extra torque at low revs.

Superchips even provides a full customer service guarantee with a 12 month/30,000 mile supplementary vehicle warranty.

Perhaps the best part-in addition to the extra torque-is the price. Unlike countless other performance tuner kits and various add-ons, this one is extremely affordable at just $695, including installation and VAT.

DuPont recently came out with its annual report about what colors are the most popular in the world. This study involves 11 different regions including includes North America, China, Russia, Europe, and India.

The most popular colors globally are:

1. Silver

2. Black

3. Grey and white tie at 16% of global sales.

The most popular colors in North America are:

1. White

2. Black

3. Silver

So congratulations to the world were about as exciting overall as a black and white movie.

I personally love cars that have some color to them (my own is blue and white). But in some cases you have to go with one of the more neutral colors. For example, when purchasing an Audi A8, S-class Mercedes, and BMW 7 series, black and white are the way to go. You can get silver to and maybe a midnight blue, but those don’t take the classy elegance of the cars very seriously. A red A8 would look silly, and can you really imagine a blue S-class?

So up to a certain point I can understand why the color choices would be dull. But for the average car? I guess people are just dull. I shouldn’t be that harsh though because most cars simply look best in those colors. Take a popular car like the Honda civic. Any other color besides black and silver look to outlandish for most people, or to some simply badass. To go with a color such as blue is making a statement instead of just blending as well. I don’t have the time or degree to say why people choose what color (they might not even care) but I think the world would be a little more fun if we spruced it up a bit.

2012 Mustang Cobra Jet specs revealed

A Puerto Rican Ford dealer has released the first specs of the upcoming 2012 Mustang Cobra Jet. This reveal is well before ford has intended. Nonetheless, we are treated with a great throwback to 1960's drag racing.

The Cobra Jet has a revised 430 hp 5.4 liter supercharged aluminium engine with a 2.3 liter TVS supercharger with twin 65mm dual bore throttle body linked to a three-speed C4 auto race transmission.

Try saying all of the above in one breath.

Technically speaking, this setup includes a double keyed crankshaft snout, Manley H-beam rods, improved low-drag racing brakes upgraded rear suspension with a revised rear upper control arm, lower control arm mounts, and revised and optimized springs in both front and rear.

There are also new black anodized Cobra Jet wheels with Goodyear Cobra Jet branded tires. Color choices include Race Red, Grabber Blue and Winner White.

The 2012 Audi A6

The new Audi A6, going on sale in Germany in early 2011, is finally released after months of teasers. America will get the car in 2012.

The new car is same proportionally to the old one and is only shorter by a fraction of an inch, but that is where all the comparisons must come to an end.

The car rests on the A7’s platform giving it much of the same dimensions with none of the look. The lines on this car are much deeper and pronounced, and since the A7 fills the coupe movement the A6 will cover the executive sedan model, with the A8 leading the pack.

The detailing on this car is rich. The wood wraps all the way around the cabin and flows through the car. The interior is changed slightly and detailed more, with a pop up screen on top of the center console. The screen has what they call an MMI, Multi Media Interface, and depending on the level of your MMI your screen can be 6.5 to 8 inches respectively. There is also a hand writing screen which wirelessly links up to the screen.

Aside from the aesthetics and goodies of the car there is also the base structure and body. Although the A7 ad the A6 share the same frame, they share none of the same body panels which are about 20% forged from aluminum. Aluminum parts also consist of the engine bay struts, trunk lid, front bumper, and hood. They cut about 15% of weight as apposed to steel.

Most Audi’s share the same power train (A4, A5, A7, and Q7), so the A6 will start at base with the 2.8 liter V-6 with Multitronic CVT cranking out 204 hp and a declared 0-62 of 7.7 seconds. Upgrade a little and that number is slashed using the 300 supercharged TFSI V-6, quattro drive, the seven speed S-tronic dual clutch transmission and you get to 62 in 5.5 seconds. Of course that one sill cost just a bit more. For the eco friend-lies out there a hybrid will also be available using a 2.0 liter TFSI V-4 with 211 hp, and a 33Kw 45 hp eclectic motor in front of the eight speed transmission.

The A6 carries features from the A8 such as the writing pad, but also the crash detection system which uses an array of sensors including the navigation (don’t ask me how it works but they use it) and applies the brakes as it feels necessary. The steering wheel is electromagnetic now, and that means it saves fuel and can have a fully automated parking assist. Depending on the market they will also have at least 4 of headlamp designs. These most notably include their LED headlight design, but they will also have Xenon, Adaptive Xenon, and regular halogens.

The cars base should be slightly north of 50,000 dollars.

Why we love Alfas

A not very good friend of mine recently described to me his father's experience in owning a 1991 Alfa Romeo spider.

"It spent more time at the shop than it did on the road. He sure loved that thing though."

That is basically how every Alfa Romeo ownership story I have ever heard goes; they rarely work, but when they do it's worth the wait.

Of course if you live in the US you cannot really own the Alfa. Sure they were sold in the US up until 1995, so in theory you could buy a used one, but all of them fell apart so you cannot.

Alfa Romeo's corporate owner, Fiat, has plans to bring Alfa( now more reliable, I really hope) back to the US.

This will happen in two different ways.

The first one will be in the form of a Giulietta based car that will wear a Dodge Caliber badge.

More importantly, we will see a return of the Alfa brand itself when the new Giulia is rolled out in 2012.

If you have never driven the Alfa like me, it might not be all that obvious why this is so important to us. To understand alfa Romeo it is important to understand the strength of the racing heritage.

There are other companies which really just build road cars as an excuse to race, but Ferraris are quite a bit more expensive than Alfas. There is nothing else in this price range which has as much soul in it, and none of them are as pretty either.

In fact, it was when he was racing Alfa Romeos that Enzo Ferrari first employed racing success, and even when he first started his own team, they raced Alfas.

So perhaps it would be best to think of Alfa Romeo as the company where Ferrari learned how to appreciate making cars.

That is saying quite a lot, but it all makes sense looking at the cars that came from the era when old Enzo was flogging them around.

It is scientific fact that it is impossible for anything in the world to be more beautiful than an Alfa 2900B; there have been probably been studies, I just have not looked them up.

Enzo Ferrari was not the only competing automaker to admire Alfas either.

Even Henry ford once famously said (during the last production year of the 2900B) " when I see an Alfa Romeo go by, I tip my hat"

Sure, he was a racist megalomaniac, but it is safe to say he knew a thing or two about cars.

It should be true that a great deal of Alfa Romeo sales in the US were owed to the 1967 film the Graduate.

The spider featured in that movie was so cool that even though it stopped working at a critical moment in the plot, people still bought them.

For those who do not plan on buying an Alfa Romeo when they come back, this information can still be useful to you. If you attend any parties in 2012, try to find the Alfa owners there. They will be the most interesting people you will talk to all night.

Top Gear has Made a Really “Stoopid” (Clarkson) Mistake

In episode 3 of this latest season (15 if you’ve lost track) of Top Gear they did a small comparison between the Camaro SS and Mercedes E63 AMG. Now that’s all fine and good but what they were trying to do was compare two different cars, in the same category.

They compared them to my surprise, as muscle cars.

Dictionary.com: muscle car

–noun

a flashy sports car with a large, powerful engine; a hot rod.

Dictionary.com: hot rod

–noun Slang .

an automobile specially built or altered for fast acceleration and increased speed.

Origin:
1940–45, Americanism

Urban Dictionary:

An American performance car from the early 60's to the early 70's. They were generally an upgraded varient of a less powerful family car. Companies such as Chevy, Ford, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Dodge, and Plymouth joined the game. They all followed the same basic rules. 1.there is no replacement for displacement 2. there is no subsatute for cubic inches 3.horsepower sells motors, but torque wins races. The basic idea was to get the biggest engine and stick it in the smallest car avaliable at the time. The muscle car era was killed by inflating gas prices, emissions, and the cracking down of insurance companys.

Buick GSX, Olds 442, Chevy Nova, Plymouth Cuda, Dodge Charger etc.

See my point? I even have sources relating to the fact that no where in anyone’s right mind should a Camaro and an AMG be compared as muscle cars. Its just plain stupid to be honest. That’s right gear heads I’m calling your gods out.

A show such as Top Gear with such a pedigree should know better than to call out a muscle car comparison such as this. I’m not sure how the British reactions were (I assume confused) but come on. The Camaro is going on sale in Britain this month so with the hype around it, why not show the car? The fans are all aware of it, the people are excited, so get it out there! Just not against an easily foreseeable better car such as the E63.

As angry and distraught as I may seem by this degrading of THE American car (muscle cars, see Urban Dictionary reference) I can see the point they are trying to make, barely.

Motor Trend for one example does call Mercedes AMG’s the muscle cars of Germany. Their big, have a strong profile, an even stronger engine, and are outright monsters. I believe Top Gear might have even made that claim to and based on these facts the blokes at BBC might have seen a gap to bridge. Being the outlandish show that it is and trying to stay ahead of the pack they might have wanted to make that comparison to claim that’s where it got started. We might see YouTube videos of Mercedes racing Camaros across the great rolling hills of London (does it have hills? Pardon my ignorance and laziness to look it up).

This might work and fine and dandy for the British but I don’t think it is even suitable for American standards. We know the true muscle cars: Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, Dart, Oldsmobile. That’s only to name a few of course. Mercedes? They don’t deserve or have the heritage to be in that circle of infamous teenage wet dreams. Mercedes is ze German high class car. It has its circle with Audi and BMW not with the low muscle tuned pony’s bred of sweat and grease. It’s a tuned machine already and that’s no real fun.

So Top Gear choose your words wisely, were watching and we’ll notice these slip ups.