Archive for August, 2012
Volkswagen XL1 Concept
A new round of spy photos confirms that Volkswagen’s radical XL1 plug-in hybrid coupe is on track for its promised debut sometime in 2013. VW had announced that timing in unveiling a concept preview at the January 2011 Qatar Motor Show. Test prototypes, since spied in various global venues—including wintertime Arctic locales and most recently in Europe—appear virtually unchanged from the low-slung 2-seat concept with its semi-teardrop shape and dramatic beetle-wing doors.
Jim has a thing for matching cars and guitars of the same model year. Here, he poses with his 1955 Gibson and ’55 Chevy.
Unless you’re a serious rock ’n’ roll aficionado, the name Jim Peterik might not ring a bell. Remember the Survivor song “Eye of the Tiger”? Of course you do . . . and now you’re probably humming it. Well, Jim cowrote that song as a founding member of Survivor. And prior to the success of “Eye of the Tiger,” Jim penned another memorable hit with his first band The Ides of March—the rollicking 1970 tune “Vehicle.” He’s had a hand in many other Top 40 hits over the years as well, working with artists such as .38 Special and Sammy Hagar. These days, Jim remains incredibly active as a musician, songwriter, and producer. He performs regularly with a handful of bands and enjoys working with new talent on his own label, World Stage International.
Ball State students show off one of the cars they’ll be profiling: a 1935 Auburn 851 Cabriolet.
The names fall reverentially from the lips of automotive historians and enthusiasts: Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg. Now, a team of students from an Indiana university is creating a documentary film about the history and ongoing mystique of these great marques that emanated from the Hoosier State.
Dodge Dart Design
2013 Dodge Dart
Recently, I went on a small diatribe about how Hyundai messed up the styling of the 2013 Genesis Coupe so badly that it overshadows the very meaningful improvements under its skin. Now I’d like to turn the table a bit and talk about a car that has a few faults but whose overall design and execution are so good that I am more than willing to open my wallet to put one in my driveway.
The 2012 Mitsubishi: looks a lot like a washing machine.
I was dining in a noisy Italian restaurant with friends on Saturday when my wife shouted across the table: “Kathy wants to see your eye.”
“My what?”
“Your eye. Kathy wants to see your eye.”
This 2013 Ram 1500 Sport shows off some of the styling changes, including new headlight units, a larger grille, and a reworked front bumper. The emblems on the grille have been redesigned to leave additional space for business logos.
I recently returned home from Nashville, where I attended the press preview of the 2013 Ram 1500 pickups and was able to drive several different variants of the new truck.
Five Cars With Dark Secrets
2002 Jeep Wrangler Sport
You can’t trust cars. Nice as they may seem on the surface, many automobiles these days harbor secrets—dark secrets. We’re not talking about bizarre late-night rituals or crazy relatives locked in the attic kind of secrets, but the kind of things that you, the car driver and buyer, should know but might not. By design or oversight, these are things that have been kept hidden from you . . . until now.
2013 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 convertible
Also read Consumer Guide Automotive’s full report, including analysis and pricing, on the 2013 Chevrolet Camaro.
The way Chevrolet sees it, America can’t get enough of the Camaro. Neither, then, can Chevrolet, which for 2013 is adding an additional model and an option package—both targeting the high-performance market—in hopes of maintaining the car’s sales lead over the Ford Mustang in the sporty GT field.
I’m a vegetarian. I’ve been meat-free for almost 25 years. I’m not militant about it, and I’m not the kind of vegetarian PETA approves of; I still eat dairy products, and I’m not as active as I should be in ridding my life of leather. I mention all this because, occasionally, I need to visit the drive-through in order to make it to work for an early meeting.
The styling of the M1 supercar will likely be evolved from that of the BMW M1 Homage concept coupe (pictured).
BMW may be the world’s top-selling premium vehicle brand, but it doesn’t have a supercar like German archrivals Audi (R8) and Mercedes-Benz (SLS AMG). That should change in 2016, when BMW is tipped to premiere a successor to its iconic mid-engine M1 of the late 1970s. One key difference: The new version will be sold as a convertible, not just a racy coupe.
