German tuner ABT Sportsline has announced its new performance upgrades for the Volkswagen Golf VI GTI, which includes new bodykit alongside with a series of engine and other mechanical upgrades. Under the hood, by using optimized engine management (ABT POWER) ABT has managed to squeeze 50 more hp from the engine, taking it from 210 hp (154 kW) up to 260 hp (191 kW). And that’s not all, because ABT also offers the ABT POWER S package, which includes a turbocharger and takes the Golf VI GTI up to 300 hp (221 kW). With the POWER S kit, the car accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in around six seconds. To ensure a more sporty and safe driving, the German tuner also fitted the GTI with ABT chassis springs (the car’s center of gravity is lowered by 30 mm) and a powerful ABT braking system.
Another highlight of the package is the body kit, which makes the car’s look a lot more aggressive and also improves its aerodynamics. It includes new front apron, front lip, front grille and ABT daytime running lamps, new rear spoiler and rear apron and diagonal 4-pipe exhaust system. The final touch is given by the carbon steel grey metallic paintwork, which looks very, very good. Of course, ABT also offers a range of interior upgrades which further improve the car’s sporty feeling.
Everytime we see something like this, we can’t help feeling sad seeing supercars going up in flames like this. It happened about a month ago when we reported about the McLaren F1 catching fire in California and it happened now, when we saw this £75,000 Lamborghini Gallardo burning on a street in Peterborough, UK. According to eyewitnesses, the orange Gallardo “pulled up with smoke billowing from its engine. Two men were seen to jump out of the vehicle.” As you can see the fire is quite spectacular, firemen saying it was amplified by the car’s carbon fibre and alloy construction.
Last night, at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, London, the 2010 Jaguar XJ was officially revealed, during an event hosted by Jay Leno. And oh boy, it looks amazing. Following the acclaimed XF, Jaguar’s new flagship’s design is a mixture of sporty and elegance, with a very aggressive front part and a very stylish rear part. Jaguar Cars Managing Director, Mike O’Driscoll, commented: “These are truly exciting times for us at Jaguar. The new XJ is truly beautiful, exhilarating to drive, and with its bold, enlightened approach to design, it meets the challenges of our fast-changing world. It re-imagines the ultimate sporting luxury car.”
Beside an innovative panoramic roof which enhances the feeling of light and space inside, the new XJ’s interior features a choice of colors, veneers and leathers which the British carmaker says it has never been seen before in a Jaguar. Customers will be able to choose between five trim levels, Luxury, Premium Luxury, Portfolio, Supercharged and top-of-the-line Supersport, which includes leather roof-lining, , semi-aniline leather seats and veneers with laser inlays. Interior highlights include 1200W Bowers&Wilkins audio system, 12.3 inch high-definition Virtual Instruments and Dual-View technology 8-inch touchscreen that can project DVD movies or TV programmes to the passenger while the driver views vehicle info or the satellite navigation.
Under the hood, the 2010 Jaguar XJ will come with the company’s ultra-efficient Gen III petrol and diesel engines, including the 3.0-litre V6 diesel, the 5.0-litre naturally aspirated V8, the 5.0-litre supercharged V8 and a 470 horsepower version of the latter one. According to Jaguar, the diesel-powered XJ returns combined economy figures of 40.1 mpg and CO2 emissions of 184g/km.
The all-new XJ is available to order now (dependent on market), with the first customers due to receive their cars in early 2010. Prices start at £52,500 for the standard wheelbase 3.0-litre V6 Diesel Luxury and go all the way up to £88,000 for the long wheelbase 5.0 s/c V8 Petrol Supersport.
So, what do you think, will the new XJ be able to compete its German rivals from BMW, Mercedes or Audi? It’s too early to say, but judding from what we have so far, it will probably be a tough competitor in the market.
Hi, guys! How you’ve been? Missed us? I didn’t get the chance to tell you, but last Thursday it was my birthday (yes, I’m older and wiser now) so I took this opportunity and went on a small unscheduled vacation with a couple of friends (our cars too, of course). So after almost two weeks of fishing and barbeques in the mountains we’re almost back with our batteries recharged and ready for work. I’m saying ‘almost’ back because tomorrow we’ll be getting a BMW 3 Series Touring for a test drive and we’ve decided to head for the beach and have some fun. It’s good to be back to work! So even though I’m sure a lot have happened in the auto industry in the last weeks, we’ll probably be back with a fresh set of posts on Tuesday.
It looks like Mercedes will continue changing it’s coupe lineup, because after the CLK was replaced with the E Class Coupe, now we have a fresh set of spy photos of the upcoming S Class Coupe, which will replace the current CL. The car was spied during testing in Germany and even though there is some camouflage covering it, we can get a pretty good idea of what the new S Coupe will be like. It doesn’t look like there will be some major changes like in the E Coupe, but we do see a redesigned front part with restyled bumper, updated grille and LED daytime running lights. The redesign is even less obvious at the rear, where the only thing we notice is a slightly restyled rear bumper. As for the mechanical part, there’s not much known about the car, but rumor has it that the engine lineup of the CL will be kept, the only new possible addition being an S Coupe 400 Hybrid, powered by a hybrid powertrain with a 279 hp 3.5-liter V6 and a 20 hp electric motor.
Stay tuned because we’ll definitely keep you updated on this. Meanwhile, you can check out more spy photos on Worldcarfans.
Yesterday I got invited by LG to a special premiere for bloggers of the new Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen movie. Though I wasn’t expecting it, the first movie was surprisingly entertaining so I had quite high expectations from this one too. And though the overall impression was that the movie could’ve been better (maybe because of the problems they faced), I really liked it. I mean we have cool cars (my heart started beating faster every time I saw the Camaro, it’s just an amazing car), we have Megan Fox, we have robots beating the s**t out of each other and we have some great special effects. What more can you ask from a movie. It’s not Oscar material, but it’s really, really entertaining.
Comparing it to the first one, the movie’s producers brought in several new funny robots, like the AutoboTwins Skids (Chevrolet Beat) and Mudflap (Chevrolet Trax) or Wheelie (a really funny toy car). Also, at the beginning of the movie there’s a Decepticon (for those of you who don’t know, these are the bad guys) which is an Audi R8 which is being cut in half by one of the Autobots. Like someone in the theatre said, it’s pretty ironic that the GMs always wins, but the company’s bankrupt.
Anyway, the conclusion is that if you feel like going to a movie that has some cool cars, great special effects and the smokin’ hot Megan Fox, you might really enjoy Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. If you haven’t seen it, you have the trailer after the jump. (more…)
According to Auto Express, Opel is currently working on a convertible version of the recently introduced Opel/Vauxhall Astra. However, unlike the current Astra TwinTop, the new cabrio will be more than an Astra without a roof. Actually less, because the car will have only two seats and Opel wants it to compete cars like the upcoming VW BlueSport or the Scirocco CC and also to be a cheaper alternative for the Mercedes Benz SLK or the Audi TT Roadster.
And judging by what we see in these photos, Opel has all the chances of achieving that. Because the car is simply beautiful, having a more aggressive look than the regular Astra with a more muscular silhouette, lowered side skirts, twin chrome exhaust pipes and a large brake light at the rear. The Astra roadster will have a folding metal roof and the interior will basically be a more sporty version of the Astra’s interior, including sports seats and a sporty steering wheel.
Under the hood, Opel will offer the roadster with a 150 hp 1.4-liter petrol engine, a 170 hp 2.0-liter CDTI turbodiesel, while the top of the range will be the turbocharged 2.0-liter petrol unit delivering 270 hp (0-60 in 6.0 seconds and a top speed of 150 mph). We have no idea what will be Astra roadster’s starting price tag, but we’ll probably find out closer to its debut, which is rumored to take place in 2011.
And the mistery’s over. Audi has been trying to hide the new Audi A5 Sportback from everyone’s eyes for some time. But in our days that’s proving to be a really, really difficult task for carmakers to hide their upcoming cars from us. Because here’s the Audi A5 Sportback, photographed by a student from the University of California, San Diego, where the car was brought by the folks from Audi for a photo shoot. The car’s completely undisguised and from what we can see, it’s one amazing vehicle. The silhouette, which kinda reminds me of the Jaguar XF, shows that the A4 and A5′s offspring turned out to be a great car.
If these rumors are true, I think we’re looking at one of the coolest cars ever to leave a production line. I’ve already said several times in the past that the Ford Kuga is definitely one of the best looking small SUVs out there and if a coupe version that looks like this will ever go into production, I think I’ll be their first customer. According to Auto Express, Ford is currently considering the Kuga coupe, especially after the BMW X6 showed that a combination between an SUV and a coupe is a great recipe for success. However, the Kuga won’t go anywhere near the X6 in what concerns its pricing or running costs and that’s what makes me almost sure it will be a big hit.
Auto Express also reports that the car will probably not get four wheel drive, in order to achieve better fuel economy and emissions figures and under the bonnet we’ll get the same range of EcoBoost petrol engines from the upcoming Focus and a range of diesel powerplants, including a range-topping 197 hp 2.0 liter unit.
So, when will we see this car making its debut. Well, it seems that after Ford will launch the new Focus and C-MAX next year, there’s a high probability the Kuga Coupe will be unveiled sometime in 2011.
Ferrari’s Chairman, Luca di Montezemolo, is putting his own 599 GTB Fiorano up for auction, in order to try and raise additional funds to sponsor young researchers working on projects dedicated to technological innovation. Not sure what exactly does that mean, but just because we see “sponsor young researchers” we respect Ferrari and its chairman very much. Also, this is the first time Ferrari organizes an official online auction for one of its vehicles.
The car is powered by the 6.0 liter V12 and features red Rosso Monza paint finish, carbon-ceramic brake system with aluminium calipers, 20 inch monolithic wheels and it only has 5,776 km on the odometer. The car has a charcoal leather interior trim with dark grey carpeting and stitching, carbon-fiber inserts in the driver area and the door panels. The auction’s winner will be handed the car in Maranello, together with a certificate of authenticity engraved with di Montezemolo’s signature.
Porsche has just released a new promotional video for their latest car, the Panamera four-door coupe. We’re not such big fans of what we’ve seen so far related to the Panamera, but somehow we’ve got a feeling this is will be a great vehicle. And this video, which tries to highlight some of the car’s features only strengthens this belief. Enjoy!
After we’ve waited for so long, our favorite TV show is finally back with Season 13 and Jeremy, James and Richard have prepared quite a thrilling season from what we saw in the trailer and in the first episode. The show started with Jeremy reading a letter from a fan, which asked them what would Top Gear have been like if they were making it 60 years ago. And the answer was pretty simple. Exactly the same. So, the guys started their regular challenge, this time racing in the best transportation 1949 had to offer. After a short draw, Richard got the Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle (the fastest motorcycle at that time), James got the Jaguar XK120 (the fastest car in production at that time) and Jeremy got…a steam locomotive. So, who won the 400 miles race? We’re not gonna spoil it so we’re gonna let you find out for yourselves.
After that, we had the news, where the guys barely talked about cars but they were pretty funny. After the news, we say Jeremy taking the Lotus Evora out for a spin on the Top Gear track and he was really impressed with it. And then we had the highlight of last night’s episode and that was the unveiling of The Stig. A question which has haunted millions of people finally got its answer:
I’m really curious to see the next episodes because this part has definitely put more mistery around The Stig than cleared it. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there (including me) who don’t buy this Michael Schumacher=The Stig thing. It looked staged (very well, but still staged) and it makes no sense in Top Gear unveiling the secret that has been one of the show’s greatest parts throughout the years. Who knows, maybe there’ll be one Stig unveiled per episode from now on, just to play with us. On the other hand, there’s also the option of Top Gear knowing no one will believe Schumi’s the Stig, which will make him the perfect Stig. Who knows…what do you think?
I’m really excited to see VW is really trying hard with the Phaeton, because I think it’s a great car, but on the other hand I don’t understand why they keep making it, when the group has the Audi A8 to fight the other luxury limousines like the Mercedes Benz S Class, the BMW 7 Series or the Lexus LS. I mean, ever since it was introduced back in 2002, the Phaeton was seen as a great car, but with small odds against its rivals, especially because of its lacking “brand cachet”. And that’s exactly what happened, poor sales forcing VW to drop it from its US range at the end of 2006.
Though the car received a facelift in 2007 which managed to boost sales a little bit, nothing really changed, the Phaeton still being seen as one of VW’s failures. But this brand new set of spy photographs shows that the German carmaker is determined to not leave the Phaeton ‘go silently into the night’ and is preparing another facelift. VW has confirmed in the past that it plans on bringing back the car to the US and even though people kinda doubted that, it looks like their plans are pretty serious.
There are no official details on the facelift so far, but rumor has it that we might see a few new engines available for the Phaeton, including Audi’s V12 TDI and quite possibly a hybrid. We’ll let you know more once we have it and meanwhile you can check more spy shots on Worldcarfans.
This morning I was trying to catch up with what some of the stuff I missed last week on Twitter and I came across this pretty funny repliy exchange between GM’s official Twitter stream (@gmblogs), GM’s director of social media (@cbarger) and Ford’s head of social media (@ScottMonty). It all started when GM announced CEO Fritz Henderson’s live Twitter session last Tuesday. (more…)
Randall Reed Ford is a network of Ford dealerships based in Texas and even though the offer of tuning programs for the new Ford Mustang is not small, they’ve decided to work on their own special edition of the Mustang. Developed in cooperation with Artisan Performance, the car we’re talking about is called the Reed Speed SSE and its highlight is definitely the power output, which goes up to 700 hp.
Upgrades include a modified engnie with forged rods, new pistons, Total Seal rings and a twin turbo pack, plus new 20-inch wheels, a better looking two-tone painted body kit which also widens the track by 1.5 inches up front and 3 inches at the rear and 14-inch brake rotors with six-piston calibers. The Reed Speed SSE will be offered with a manual gearbox and will be available through Randall Reed stores and select dealerships across the country. No word exactly when will this happen or what will be the car’s pricing, but they definitely got us excited about this, so stay tuned for updates.
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So even though I’m sure a lot have happened in the auto industry in the last weeks, we’ll probably be back with a fresh set of posts on Tuesday.
