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MINI Radical Maneuver Commercial
2009-04-21 16:25:00
MINI has had some uniquely innovative and fun advertising since the line was relaunched earlier this decade. This time around it's gravity-defying stunts in a MINI Cabrio, along with a "making of" featurette. We've been tracking MINI commercials for several years and have many of them saved in our MINI Cooper Blog category: http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-blog /categories/miniCooper/posts.html The most radical remains the Mini of Canada bondage website: http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-blog /categories/miniCooper/2006/01/20.html#a1 189 - unfortunately Mini has taken the ad down but we've got one remaining image from that website.
More About: Commercial , Radical

Edmunds installs 370Z oil cooler
2009-04-16 17:21:00
As Edmunds has reported, the new 370Z requires an oil cooler to get around the VQ engine's propensity to run too hot - which in turn causes the engine control computer to fail to "limp home" mode (exactly what the term implies). This won't just ruin your track weekend, it will kill it.  Edmunds installed one on their long-term 370Z at a total cost (including installation) of $1240. That's the going rate for this kind of thing (although obviously installation is not at all difficult). A differential cooler, which Nissan also believes to be a necessity, will cost around $1600 more or less since since the cooler also requires a heavy duty pump and wiring. Installation is more difficult here, and of course you will have a cooler hanging down underneath the car which could cause issues in normal driving. These two items are necessary to make the 370Z into a track car that can be driven to the fullest extent. These are just two of the costs of making the...
More About: Nissan Z , Cooler

Just the thing: a pop-up parking garage space
2009-04-15 13:21:00
Just what everybody needs: a pop-up underground garage space. Only 42-50k pounds in Britain (US availability unknown), installation not included. More info: Original article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ar ticle-1164367/Park-hide-Sales-double-Thun derbirds-style-pop-garage-sinks-drive.htm l Manufacturer: http://www.cardok.co.uk/ Hide the car with the engine in the wrong place! Shall we take the Audi or the Aston today?  Video:
More About: Garage , Space , Parking , Thing

GM demos the Voltec Electric Propulsion System Drive
2009-04-14 23:11:00
There is no doubt that alternative powerplants are a fact of life for our future. This is a good thing and alternative propulsion technologies don't necessarily mean that it's "1984" for driving enthusiasts, but we do need to get smart about them so that we can be better prepared to exploit them for our purposes. The first alternative powerplant cars have had nothing to offer driving enthusiasts - the Prius, for example, has terrible handling dynamics. But, like any new technology, things will change. Port fuel injection is one technology that was not initially welcomed by enthusiasts - it was complicated, costly, and more involved to repair. Despite this poor initial reception, everybody had to admit that emissions and drivability improved significantly and the performance potential of the engine improved. We're going thru this same thing now with Direct Injection. Aftermarket direct injectors are currently not at all widely available - but there w...
More About: System , Drive , Demos , Electric

Are we fans of the 370Z?
2009-04-14 19:02:00
A suggestion has been made by a reader comment on a previous posting that we may not be a fan of the 370Z. That needs an explanation from us. You'll note in the history of our Nissan Z postings that we were really looking forward to the arrival of the Z. In this blog, we've provided and reported on: an analysis of the first clear spy pics: http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-blog /categories/nissanZ/2007/06/21.html#a2128 ; our own first drive: http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-blog /categories/nissanZ/2009/02/15.html#a2586 ; various track tests of the car, including:  http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/se c-blog/categories/nissanZ/2008/12/14.html #a2553 and http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-blog /2009/02/16.html#a2587 (Keiichi Tsuchiya at Fuji Speedway). We want to like this car! But why the reserved opinion? Because we've been driving in track events for 29 years. Our first event was in May of 1980 with the Corvette Club of Cleveland at Nelson Ledges. We've take...
More About: Fans

Follow Winding Road on Twitter
2009-04-14 17:43:00
Winding Road is now tweeting on Twitter : Twitter: Winding Road Magazine Follow the link and sign into your Twitter account to follow this site. Winding Road is a new type of online magazine (much more than a simple print magazine or a blog). It's unique in the industry and we follow it regularly. In fact, it's one of the core 12-15 sites that we follow on a daily basis. We're finding more and more Twitter accounts of interest, and of course the Driving Enthusiast network is here too as "DrivEnthusiast" (Twitter has a limit on the length of a name). If you follow the link to the "Automotive Twitter Sites" category in our blog, you'll find lists of other Twitter accounts of interest to driving enthusiasts. We're also finding Twitter accounts for online stores, automotive dealers, and parts houses. We'll consider adding those to our lists too - and would invite those folks to reciprocate by adding ours to theirs.
More About: Winding

300 RWHP 370Z now possible with Stillen
2009-04-14 13:04:00
It's now possible to get more than 300 rear wheel HP from a 370Z or G37 thanks to avid aftermarket support.  Taking a look at Stillen, we see these parts available: Dual cold air intake $549 +17 RWHP. Dyno: http://www.stillen.com/product_files/4028 52~dyno.pdf Equal-length headers $523 +14.5 RWHP. Dyno: http://www.stillen.com/product_files/5083 87C~dyno.1.pdf Exhaust system $1260 +18 RWHP. Dyno: http://www.stillen.com/product_files/5043 55~dyno.pdf The combination of all three won't be the sum total of 49.5 HP. Stillen needs to provide a dyno with all three items. But it still demonstrates that there is considerable HP locked up in the new 3.7 liter engine.
More About: Nissan Z

Edmunds long-term 370Z - things you won't find in a car magazine
2009-04-13 20:40:00
With car magazines receiving the largest part of their revenue from manufacturer advertising, there are certain things you won't find out in their articles. When something new comes out that stands out in the marketplace, it's rare that they say anything bad about it - we have to wait several months for the truths finally surface. Cases in point: Hyundai Genesis coupe: dud dynamics new Camaro: poor steering feel and lousy vision around the gigantic a-pillar Evo MR: lousy mileage and slow shifting STI: lousy ride, cheap plastic bits, crappy interior. It takes an experienced consumer - a driving enthusiast - to see beyond the initial marketing hype and truly understand whether the car in question is livable on a daily basis, what it's quality in the long run might be, or whether it will fulfill whatever mission you have in mind for it (such as track car for high speed HPDE events). This is where Edmunds comes in. In their long term roadtests, they put a couple of ...
More About: Magazine , Find , Things , Long , Nissan Z

Honda S2000 sales for March 2009
2009-04-12 14:16:00
It's the last year of S2000 sales, and they are still showing their seasonal trends - although numbers are way down. The data Honda provides shows only sales, not numbers of cars sitting on lots. So if you plan on getting an S2000 while the are still available, it's best to buy now while they are still available. The dedicated assembly line at the factory will shut down for good in only a few months.
More About: Sales , March

USA Today starts Open Road online community
2009-04-08 16:57:00
USA Today has started an online community named Open Road : http://openroad.usatoday.com News, online forums, discussion. Registration required. RSS feed available: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/o penroad/rss Twitter feed not available.  
More About: Community , Online

How GM Crushed Saturn
2009-04-08 14:31:00
Excellent article in the current Newsweek: http://www.newsweek.com/id/192458. GM's management initially had a great idea, but then failed to follow thru with basic engineering and produced a car with terrible quality. Then they let it languish for years while fighting internal political battles. And then the UAW got involved and wrecked the original concept, and broke their original agreement. That was the end of Saturn . Saturn, as it was originally conceived, has been dead for many years. The Saturn we have now is pointless and will soon be gone - either into bankruptcy, simply closed down, or (with slim odds) switching to some other brand of product (Chinese?). Read the article to find out how it all happened.

Nissan announces the 2009 Nissan NISMO 370Z
2009-04-08 03:06:00
Nissan announced the new Nismo version of the 370Z this evening just before the New York Auto Show begins later this week. With 350 horsepower and serious suspension  modifications, you'd think the Z would be going racing. Except that the Z engine is well known to overheat in tough conditions... so coolers are needed to keep the engine out of limp-home mode. Nevermind though because the press fleet cars will all have them (as they did for the "regular" Z's introduction) and the magazine articles will all be figuratively glowing. Any of the rest of us that try to take one of these to the track would find out the hard way that won't work as-delivered. Very dissappointing, because otherwise the car has what it takes to make a great track car. At least it isn't saddled with the GT-R's warrenty, where if you take your car to the track or dyno your warrenty is cancelled. Wonderful! Nissan Press Release follows: 04.07.2009   All-New 2009 Nissan ...
More About: Nissan , Nissan Z

Fast & Furious kills the competition
2009-04-07 00:13:00
USA Today reports that the opening weekend of Fast & Furious 4 achieved the biggest spring debut of all time, generating $72.5 million. This is for any film ever made - and it also set a record for the highest opening of the first 4 months of the year. This was around $30M more than industry analysts had predicted.  And it's also more in it's first weekend than Fast & Furious 3 (Tokyo Drift) made during it's entire run. We stand on what we've said about this not being a car enthusiast's movie. Judging from the print reviews, it opened at about $70M than the reviewers thought it was worth. We contributed our $9.00 to that grand total. So it's pretty clear that while a decision hasn't yet been made on a Fast & Furious 5, the studio execs and franchise owners will decide to make another one very soon. Lets hope it's a better film than this thing was.  
More About: Movies , Media , Competition

Rumors of Fast & Furious 5
2009-04-05 17:34:00
After this mess there surely can't be another one... but talks are already underway: http://www.moviehole.net/200918429-fast-f urious-5-in-the-works  Note the reference to Vin Diesel's huge ego... he wanted the 4th installment to be just about him. Lets hope he comes to his senses (does he have any?) and stays out of the way during development. He has already pretty much killed off his career with this kind of heavy-handedness - without F&F what does he have left? We predict that once the studios see the poor returns on #4 that this idea will be shelved. More: Paul Walker on-board: http://www.filmofilia.com/2009/03/16/paul -walker-confirms-fast-furious-5/  Vin Diesel ego-fest: http://www.filmstalker.co.uk/archives/200 9/03/diesel_talks_fast_and_furious.html Reading the above, we'd guess that Vin Diesel will require the director's seat before he'll agree to appear in #5. This reminds us what happened to Star Trek V when William Shatner di...
More About: Movies , Media , Rumors , Fast , Furious

Fast & Furious 2 - the parody
2009-04-05 17:12:00
Here's one more Fast and Furious parody - this time of F&F2.   ... not that there is anything wrong with that...
More About: Movies , Media , Parody

Fast and Furious 4 parody - The Fast and the Bi-Curious.
2009-04-05 17:09:00
Saturday Night Live: April 4, 2009. “The Fast and the Bi-Curious ” Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg (SNL Video). Unfortunately, this shockwave thing steadfastly refuses to be embedded in a blog, so visit this page: From: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/vi deo/clips/fast-and-furious/1081305/  - you won't believe this.
More About: Parody , Furious

Even more Automotive Twitters
2009-04-05 16:02:00
Even more users of Twitter. Keep in mind that if you are having these sent to your cell phone, you may (will!) incur significant extra SMS charges. <right click> and <open in new tab> for each of these. Magazines (Web/Print): Car & Driver: http://twitter.com/CARandDRIVER The Car Connection: http://twitter.com/CarConnection Edmunds Inside Line: http://twitter.com/insideline_com The Truth About Cars: http://twitter.com/ttac  Top Gear: http://twitter.com/tg_news  Manufacturers: Acura: http://twitter.com/Acura_Insider  Ford Customer Servive: http://twitter.com/FordCustService  GM Blogs: http://twitter.com/GMblogs  Tesla: (invalid link removed - no entries since last November) Toyota Newsroom: http://twitter.com/toyotanewsroom  Adam Denison - GM's PR lead for Camaro and Corvette: http://twitter.com/AdamDenison Alicia At Honda - Honda PR person: http://twitter.com/Alicia_at_Honda 
More About: Automotive

Automotive sites on Twitter
2009-04-05 15:35:00
Twitter is a relatively new social networking service on the internet that allows users to get connected in near real time. Users type in messages known as Tweets and those are posted to their "profile". Profiles can be public or private: public being ones that anybody can follow and private being ones that the owner has to grant permission to view. The Tweets can then be followed by a variety of means including a web page or even a cell phone SMS  service. You'll note that some private individuals use their cell phone to create sometimes minute-by-minute entries detailing their lives.   If you are browsing a site and see a "bird tweeting" icon similar to the right, that site or author also has a Twitter profile. Click the button to go to their site and signup to follow them. Corporations are starting to use Twitter as a marketing tool. Tweets are created to announce news items, events, articles of interest, and more - very similar to blogging except t...
More About: Automotive , Sites , Twitter

Fast & Furious 4 review *spoilers inside*
2009-04-04 17:58:00
Saw it last night at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin TX (and where else would you want to see a film on a Friday night?). Folks, it’s not a car film. Cars are very much secondary. We're disappointed. In F&F3, in Tokyo, you had a blending of storyline with cars. Cars were the priority, and the storyline was developed enough to support it. We were in a strange place and a different culture, there were a lot of great cars everywhere, there was underground racing (drifting), there was Keiichi Tsuchiya (granted, only a few of us would recognize him – but what a treat for his fans). There was the subplot about Lucas Black having to decide what to do with his life – but cars would straighten it out and provide the way forward for him.  Now in F&F4, we have the original cast and a large set of cars (the makers of the film claim the largest set of cars ever assembled for a F&F – but that is clearly not true). In the press tour, ...
More About: Movies , Media , Review , Inside , Fast

Road & Track says goodbye to the Honda S2000
2009-04-03 23:55:00
Road & Track takes the S2000 out for one last spin - at Laguna Seca ! Follow the link: http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?s ection_id=10&article_id=7918 Lots of photos and video!
More About: Honda , Road , Goodbye

Surprise move - Ford establishes a technology alliance
2009-04-01 17:30:00
In a surprise response to these troubled times, Ford has established a technology alliance of it's own. The full press release and images follow: Ford Press Release:   FORD INNOVATION TAKES NEW DIRECTION Contact(s): Gan-san Honda OEM Technology 011-81-3-555-3278 Dearborn, Michigan. April 1, 2009 - Ford Motor Company has a long history of turning to outside technology when the company’s own engineering and research requirements have been impacted by the latest economic blow. By partnering in the worldwide market instead of innovating at home, the net result will be better products all around. Today, Ford announces a new partner: Honda OEM Technology (HOT). HOT will supply Ford with i-VTEC (Intelligent Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control) technology for use on selected Ford engines beginning in the 2010 model year.  “Ford performance vehicles, particularly SVT products, from a technology standpoint, ha...
More About: Move , Alliance

Follow Chrysler on Twitter
2009-03-30 20:10:00
Interested in following Chrysler  using Twitter ?  http://twitter.com/Chrysler  Chrsler is very active on Twitter, and will certainly be keeping us closely informed over the next few critical weeks.
More About: Dodge Challenger

The countdown starts for GM and Chrysler
2009-03-30 17:25:00
The US Government has determined that the plans submitted by GM and Chrysler were totally inadequate and must be re-done. Therefore, Chrysler has 30 days to partner or it will be allowed to collapse. GM has 60 days to meet the required goals (including more concessions from debt holders and other stakeholders) or it will face a "controlled bankruptcy". There will be additional aid for both companies, but only for this short period. Meanwhile, CEO Rick Wagoner was told by the administration to resign and he did so immediately. And GM will announce on Tuesday the future of the Hummer brand - we know it's dead, and will know Tuesday if another company will buy the brand from GM.
More About: Countdown , Dodge Challenger

Mini Clubman - astoundingly recoverable at speed
2009-03-27 21:43:00
We wouldn't have believed how stable the Mini Clubman is if we hadn't seen it here on the internet!         ;-)
More About: Speed

Evo disaster from hailstorm in Austin TX
2009-03-26 23:58:00
Central Texas, including the city of Austin and the surrounding suburbs, was hit by a sudden and massive hailstorm late in the day Wednesday the 25th. Thousands of cars were damaged across this broad area, particularly in parking lots and car dealers. One such dealer is the local Mitsubishi dealer, which after the storm looked like ground zero after an airburst. A nice line of Evos and a Ralliart parked in front were all but destroyed: aluminum roofs, hoods, and front fenders were all trashed. Steel fenders and trunklids all dented. Windows were blown out. Some of the optional add-on aero trim was laying on the ground. One of our favorites, that we'd had our eye on, is pictured below. It appeared to us that everything else in the dealer's lot was also in bad shape: from what we could see across the lot nearly all the Eclipses had lost their big rear windows. The Lincoln Mercury dealer next door didn't escape either - but it does appear that they managed to get some cars ...
More About: Disaster

Featurette of the cars of Fast & Furious 4
2009-03-24 14:27:00
We're only two weeks out from the North American premier of Fast & Furious 4. To get us ready, the producers have released a featurette covering the cars of the film, and why both import and muscle cars and both important to the car culture. Follow this link to FilmoFilia for the video: http://www.filmofilia.com/2009/03/20/fast -furious-muscle-cars-featurette/ 
More About: Cars , The Cars

The Cars of Fast and Furious 4
2009-03-22 12:40:00
We're only two weeks out from the North American premier of Fast & Furious 4. To get us ready, the producers have released a featurette covering the cars of the film, and why they are important to the car culture.
More About: Movies , Media , Cars

Barrett-Jackson to sell the Mustang GT Concepts
2009-03-21 16:39:00
The Ford Mustang GT Concepts were built by Ford in 2003 to preview the all-new 2005 Mustang. Both cars were based on the off-the-shelf Thunderbird chassis of that time. The silver coupe was powered by a 4.6 4V DOHC 4.6 liter V-8 with a supercharger, taken from the 2003/4 Cobra (tidbit: that engine was going to be offered in the 20057 Mustang GT but was canceled during product review - perhaps because of excessive warranty claims as a result of severe quality issues), and used the stock 6-speed Tremac manual transmisison. The red convertible was powered by a standard Thunderbird 3.9 liter V-8 and 5-speed automatic transmission. Both cars are shown below at their unveiling at the 2003 Detroit show. As this posting is written, 6 years later, it's even more clear then ever that these are the cars Ford should have built. The 2005 Mustang, and it's 2010 freshening, look ancient compared to these. And the T-Bird chassis (with it's all aluminum independent SLA s...
More About: Jackson , Sell

Motor Trend tests the Genesis, Mustang GT, and 370Z
2009-03-20 19:25:00
Here's an interesting video from Motor Trend with the latest comparison of the Genesis coupe, 2010 Mustang GT, and the new 370Z. The Z comes out on top in every classification, except for it's lack of a back seat. Keep in mind that the base prices of these cars make for a nearly linear progression across a range of several thousand dollars, so potential buyers may have price as their first order of business. This is a drag race test, and a drag race is only 1 indication of overall performance and dynamics - and is certainly not the most important test for true driving enthusiasts. However, the results here do line up with the results we've seen to date on the other performance aspects of these cars. No surprise on the Genesis: it's dynamics are lousy. It's hard to see good in this car, other than as a first attempt. When will it be updated? Is continuous improvement too much to hope for? The Mustang is little different from the 2005/up model: the interior is i...
More About: Ford , Nissan Z

No - you cant make this stuff up
2009-03-16 17:33:00
In the best Jay Leno "Headlines" tradition, here's a couple of clippings people have found in the papers recently. 1) Make sure you speak clearly when calling the newspaper to run an ad. 2) Be glad we have them on duty... unless you are the postman.
More About: Stuff