Thursday, April 9, 2009

GALLERY - TERRIBLE ACURA ZDX CONCEPT - 23 PICTURES


Acura chose one of The Good Car Guy's most unloved automobiles as a jumping off point for their ZDX concept. Acura managed to bellyflop this one.

Perspective then, please. Of late, Acura design has been on a nosedive. The TL's grille is outlandish. The RL is an amazingly dull car that's been sprayed with a facelift only the TL could love. At the bottom rung, the TSX is a TL-lite; but not in any good way. As for the SUV/CUVs, the RDX is a relatively loveable awkward duckling and the MDX has luxury presence, albeit with a nasty nose.

In amongst these vehicles, Acura wishes to give us the ZDX. See, one assumes Acura loves the thought of the BMW X6; a completely unnecessary and terribly ugly high-performance tall wagon. When you could choose between the BMW X5 and BMW 5-Series Wagon, BMW thinks it might be able to rip off its stupid customers by offering the X6 at a higher price point. It must be noted, the BMW X6 found its way into the inaugural Bad 8 Supersize.

From the front 3/4 view, the front end of the ZDX has something very Pontiac Sunfire about it. That's a shame. Look straight at the front of the Acura ZDX and you'll not miss the TL's shield grille. Yikes. The back end looks like a Nissan 370Z competitor, if only it could be lowered to sports car levels. Compliment with the backhand. From the rear 3/4 view, the front end looks like it's falling in on itself. From above, the rear wheelarches look bloated and the car/wagon/CUV/whatever appears to be a rejected Renault design for the second-generation Avantime. No wonder the preliminary photos Acura's been releasing over recent weeks were shrouded in darkness - even Acura itself was reluctant to actually reveal the ZDX.

A 6-speed automatic, SH-AWD, and the probable use of the TL's 3.7L 305-bhp V6 would make this a production automobile. For good news, look inside. Recent Acura's have not been the ergonomic charmers the brand was once known for, but the ZDX guts sure do look good.

It's shocking that Acura released a gorgeous TL in 2004 and even improved the RSX in 2005. Check out all 23 pictures of the ungainly Acura ZDX Concept below.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

FUEL ECONOMY IN CAR AND DRIVER MAY 2009

How unfortunate that the men and women with the most money are the ones who manage to spend the least amount of fuel per vehicle. How do they do it? Well, buying automobiles as museum pieces to park in a 10-car garage helps, for starters. Car & Driver, however, drives the cars they're given to test. While testing, C/D figures out the fuel economy of these vehicles. The results from the May/09 issue are below. For the 0-60 results of these same cars, click here. For more about Fuel, click here.

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2010 Ford Mustang GT: 15 miles per gallon
Caterham 7 Superlight R400: 15 miles per gallon
Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8: 21 miles per gallon
BMW 750Li: 16 miles per gallon
Mercedes-Benz S550: 17 miles per gallon
Nissan Cube S: 22 miles per gallon

Stop by AmericanMuscle.com and check out
their large selection of 2006 Mustang Parts
Monday, April 6, 2009

SPEED AT ANY COST? NISSAN 370Z VALUE ASSESSMENT WITH HYUNDAI GENESIS IN THE SHADOW


One could make the case that March 25th "Speed At Any Cost" comparison between the Nissan GT-R and the Nissan 370Z revealed the very high-value GT-R to be a rotten deal. Now, that was neither the post's purpose or the truth. However, one all-too-true outcome was the representation of the 370Z as a very good deal.

Still, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe's natural rivals, Acura's RSX/Integra line and the Honda Prelude, were put out to pasture years ago. Importantly, the Hyundai's rear-wheel drive setup pits it against the Nissan 370Z in a way we can't ignore despite the more in line pricetags of the Mitsubishi Eclipse and even the Pontiac Solstice Coupe. And if the Nissan GT-R helps make the Nissan 370Z look like a high-value sports car, what will the 370Z do for the Hyundai Genesis Coupe? Keep reading.

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22,000 - price, in USD, of the most inexpensive Hyundai Genesis Coupe, the 2.0T

210 - horsepower received in exchange for handing Hyundai $22,000

104.76 - price paid for each horse found under the hood of the Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T

29,930 - price, in USD, of the most inexpensive Nissan 370Z, the, er.... Nissan 370Z

332 - horsepower received in exchange for handing Nissan $29,930

90.15 - price paid for each horse found under the hood of the Nissan 370Z

25,000 - price, in USD, of the most inexpensive V6-engined Hyundai Genesis Coupe, the 3.8

306 - horsepower received in exchange for handing Hyundai $25,000

81.70 - price paid for each horse found under the hood of the Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8

29,500 - price, in USD, for the base version of the fanciest Hyundai Genesis Coupe, the 3.8 Track

96.41 - price paid for each horse found under the hood of the Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track, which also comes standard with 19" wheels and Brembo brakes

37,460 - price, in USD, for the base version of the fanciest Nissan 370Z, the Touring with Sport Package

112.83 - price paid for each horse found under the hood of the Nissan 370Z Touring Sport, which also feautures 19" Rays forged alloy wheels, a viscous slippy-diff, and leather-appointed seating with suede inserts

547.78 - extra price paid by the owner of a Nissan 370Z, a car capable of hitting 60mph in 4.8 seconds, for every tenth of a second saved, under and beneath the Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8's 5.7 second result in the 0-60mph test

230.77 - extra price paid by the owner of a Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8, a car capable of hitting 60mph in 5.7 seconds, for every tenth of a second saved, under and beneath the Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T's 7.0 second result in the 0-60mph test

311.82 - extra price paid by the owner of a Nissan 370Z Sport, a car capable of .98 g on the skidpad, for every extra tenth of a g over and above the .87 g of the Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track

Sunday, April 5, 2009

GALLERY - 2010 MERCEDES-BENZ E63 AMG - 21 PHOTOS

Ever so slightly restrained aggression seems to be the sedan design mantra at AMG, in-house tuners of Mercedes-Benz. Thank goodness. Of recent, AMG has managed to turn some very fuddy-duddy machinery into monsters... and that's before we get to the engine.

True, the new E-Class isn't exactly "fuddy-duddy", but she's no beauty. Modern midsize luxury is split between handsome (Audi A6 & Jaguar XF) and odd (BMW 5-Series & Mercedes-Benz E-Class) with some offensive (Acura TL) and dull (Lexus GS) thrown in for good measure. In AMG form, as the E63 AMG, the E-Class is just so mean that one can't manage to complain about its unnecessarily edgy headlamps, excessively rectangular taillamps, or its same-as-always profile. Oh, that does sound somewhat like a backhanded compliment, doesn't it?

Regardless, the 6.2L powermaker sits under the hood and sends 525 horsepower and 465 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels by way of a 7-speed AMG Speedshift automatic tranny. Fun.

And frugal.... relatively speaking. The new E63 AMG travels and approximately 2.6 more miles for every gallon of premium fuel. Check out all 21 photos of the new E63 AMG in the Gallery below.

GALLERY - 2010 SUBARU LEGACY - 23 PICTURES

GoodCarBadCar.net is a biased operation. That's the beauty of it rather than something to lay blame on. For example, Audi and Subaru and Lamborghini can almost-sort-of-kinda do no wrong. Well, they can do wrong, but an explanation and excuse will be provided by The Good Car Guy. Up until now.

In the 23 pictures below, you can see the new face of the new-for-2010 Subaru Legacy. What will undoubtedly be a very good sedan and wagon and Outback is seriously let down by a face that no mother could love. The 2010 Subaru Legacy's headlights are inspired by the nostrils of a hippopotamus. Its grille is a bit smirky but would be otherwise unoffensive were it not for the hippo nostril headlights. In fact, one would never assume that the front end of the 2010 Subaru Legacy could be so disturbing had they only seen the absolute dullness of the rear end. The taillights and rear fascia appear heavily influenced by the box they came in.

170-bhp 2.5L boxer engines are standard. Power is up in the turbocharged 2.5s of the 2.5GT to 265-bhp. Strangely, a new 3.6L boxer six-cylinder makes just 256 horsepower and is only slightly torquier than the 2.5L four-cylinder turbo. Transmissions are now 6-speed manual or, optionally, a CVT. By the way, the 3.6L is paired with a 5-speed auto.

GALLERY - BMW X5 M & BMW X6 M - 90 PICTURES

Crazy, isn't it, that when BMW first introduced the X5 "SAV" - which we all knew was an SUV - there was an uproar from purists. Such purists had to be put at ease as BMW made very clear that the M badge didn't belong on vehicles that lacked a low centre of gravity and for which performance wasn't a major characteristic.

BMW gave X5 lovers hi-po versions anyway. The German automaker simply called them something else. The BMW X5 from last generation was available as the astounding 4.6iS. The current availability of 350 horsepower in the X5 xDrive48i isn't shabby either. The drearily ugly and Bad 8 Supersize-winning BMW X6 can be optioned up to hold a twin-turbocharged 4.4L V8 producing 400 horsepower.


Apparently, that's not enough. Besides, BMW's M badge; like Mercedes AMG and Audi RS; is a cash cow. Supply customers with a better engine and sportier suspension and they'll pay ridiculously high markups. At the cost of diluting the brand? It seems BMW doesn't believe that's an issue anymore. Now we have the BMW X5 M and BMW X6 M. Powered by a twin-turbocharged 4.4L V8, the power monsters produce 555 ponies and 501 lb-ft of torque. Being the only BMW M models with all-wheel drive, configuring that system to allow a natural M-like flow of power was a challenge.

These are also the only BMW M models with a strict automatic transmission. Even the 7-speed SMG is really a clutchless manual and the direct-shift gearbox more recently found in the M3 is a dual-clutch automatic. Acceleration is identical, another figure which calls into question the need for an X6 that is less capacious and ten times uglier than anything in the BMW lineup. Regardless, the Gallery for each model is seen here. Confusingly, BMW mentioned that "the truly outstanding potential of both models comes out clearly in their looks and design", whatever that means.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

WATCH TESLA MODEL S IN MOTION

Tesla boss Elon Musk takes the concept version of the 2011 Tesla Model S out for a spin. Yes, the commentary can be a bit annoying, but the excitement is palpable. Forgive.

Tesla's new sedan is a 7-seater capable of 0-60mph in under 6 seconds with a fill-up price of under $7.00 and a range of about 300 miles. For more on the car, click here. In order to listen to the electric whir, click play below.