Category: Auto Industry

First Drive: 2012 Fiat 500C

Filed under: Convertible, First Drive, Fiat

Pop-top Cinquecento Makes For A Sunny Disposition

2012 Fiat 500C

2012 Fiat 500C – Click above for high-res image gallery

What price the sun? That’s the question Fiat is asking potential buyers of its new 500C. All else remaining (mostly) equal, would $4,000 come between you and the chance to have bright, unfiltered Helios riding shotgun? Or, using forty Benjamins to mark your steps, would you gladly throw the money down and do a Tarantella from the $15,500 Fiat 500 to the $19,500 Fiat 500C?

While logic doesn’t own a car in this segment, we can say this: Having spent an afternoon whooping it up in the 500C through the winding lanes of upstate New York, wallet aside, when compared to the hardtop model, the 500C is all gain and just a pinprick of pain.

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2012 Fiat 500C originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 May 2011 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official: EPA, DOT unveil updated window stickers [w/video]

Filed under: Car Buying, Government/Legal

Electric vehicle label

Electric vehicle label – Click above for more labels

Updated United States fuel economy labeling, unveiled on Wednesday, includes additional information on plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, and highlights other advanced technologies aimed at reducing gasoline consumption and tailpipe emissions.

The redesigned window stickers, required on all 2013 models, enables consumers to quickly compare fuel savings for different types of vehicles, whether they rely on gasoline or some type of alternative fuel. For example, the labels display estimates of how much fuel or electricity would be required to drive 100 miles and how much time is needed to charge a plug-in vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf.

Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), says the reason for the redesigned labels is to give consumers, “the best possible information about which cars on the lot offer the greatest fuel economy and the best environmental performance.” The EPA developed the updated labels with assistance from the Department of Transportation.

Click here (pdf) for a detailed look at all of the revised fuel economy labels and follow the jump to view video on the labels’ Smartphone “QR Code.” Let us know your thoughts on the updated labels by voicing your opinion in the Comments, as well.

Continue reading EPA, DOT unveil updated window stickers [w/video]

EPA, DOT unveil updated window stickers [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 May 2011 11:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Saudi woman’s “right to drive” protest video circulates online despite gov’t. efforts

Filed under: Government/Legal, Videos, Middle East

Women's right to drive bumper sticker in Saudi Arabia

Manal al-Sharif’s campaign for women’s right to drive – Click above to watch video after the jump

The Arab Spring has brought a wave of change and reform to the Middle East, but that tide has seemingly stopped at Saudi Arabia. According to The New York Times, the Saudi government has effectively squelched a movement championed by Manal al-Sharif. The woman wasn’t campaigning for the overthrow of the government or the death of the country’s leaders. Instead, she was simply demonstrating for women’s right to drive in her country. Sharif posted videos of herself driving on YouTube and started Facebook and Twitter accounts that prompted other Saudi women to do the same.

That’s when the Saudi government stepped in. Sharif was arrested for her transgressions and her videos were removed from YouTube. Later, a Facebook page she had set up to instruct other women about how to get involved was deleted and a duplicate of her Twitter account began posting messages indicating that she had stopped her efforts.

But this is the internet, and nothing is gone forever. Copies of Sharif’s original message have reappeared on YouTube and an Al Jazeera report on her campaign is still available. You can check out the full report at The New York Times and watch the videos after the break.

Continue reading Saudi woman’s “right to drive” protest video circulates online despite gov’t. efforts

Saudi woman’s “right to drive” protest video circulates online despite gov’t. efforts originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 May 2011 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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P4/5 Competizione gets 800 tires for 24-hours Nürburgring, street edition possible

Filed under: Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Europe, Ferrari, Racing

Ferrari P4/5 Competizione

Ferrari P4/5 Competizione – Click above for high-res image gallery

He hints they may create a very limited-edition street-going run of the sexy beast.

An awful lot of cars have made themselves famous while using just four tires. Formula 1 teams’ tire total per race is around 140 – i.e. 35 sets of Pirellis.

With Jim Glickenhaus’ featherweight Ferrari F430 GT2-based 470-horsepower P4/5 Competizione about to tackle the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring at the end of June in the new EXP1 class, the car’s tire sponsor Pirelli is bringing, according to Glickenhaus, 800 tires along, using the occasion to test like mad whether it be daytime heat sets, night sets, wet sets, semi-slick sets, you name it.

As the P4/5 Competizione has proven itself durable so far, looks like it may last the whole 24 hours, being hampered perhaps only by the plethora of pit stops it’ll be constrained to effect while Pirelli tests the various quartets of rubber.

Continue reading for more P4/5 Competizione news…

Continue reading P4/5 Competizione gets 800 tires for 24-hours Nürburgring, street edition possible

P4/5 Competizione gets 800 tires for 24-hours Nürburgring, street edition possible originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 May 2011 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What you missed on 5.24.11

First Drive: 2012 Volkswagen Passat

Volkswagen has wasted no chance to tell the world that the company’s newest sedan will be custom-tailored to the American market, with styling and packaging tweaks designed to set the vehicle apart from its European counterpart. But is that a good thing?

Video: Ferrari 458 Challenge demonstrates evolution of the breed on Laguna Seca’s Corkscrew

Progress: 458 Challenge cars were turning in times more than three seconds quicker than the top 430 Challenge cars.

Video: Tour the LAPD’s new Chevrolet Caprice PPV with Translogic

It pays to know your police cruisers…

Also of interest:

  • Ferrari Racing Days at Laguna Seca: A closer look at the 458 Challenge
  • BMW 1 Series M to be one year and done?
  • Report: Lamborghini CEO Winkelmann confirms new “everyday” model line
  • Report: NHTSA expected to mandate black boxes in all cars next month
  • Breaking: Chrysler repays the rest of its federal loans… are SUVs to thank?
  • Report: Watchdog group blasts report that exonerates Toyota

Browse our archive of Daily U-Turn posts or subscribe to the RSS feed

What you missed on 5.24.11 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 May 2011 19:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Forget kicking tires, VW dealer shows off GTI durability with enthusiasm

Filed under: Car Buying, Etc., Videos, Hatchback, Volkswagen, Humor

Dealer abusing a Volkswagen Golf GTI

Larry Roesch Volkswagen puts a GTI through its paces – Click above to watch video after the jump

Buying a used vehicle can be a scary experience. You just never know what kind of abuse the car has been subjected to by the hands of a previous owner, which is why plenty of people knowingly take the depreciation hit and buy new. After all, what kind of harm can a vehicle endure from the time it leaves the production facility until you sign on the dotted line? Quite a bit, according to the video after the jump. One very overzealous Volkswagen dealer set about taking to the YouTubes to demonstrate the sturdiness of his wares.

An innocent GTI was subjected to a few full-force door slams. That’s cringe-worthy enough in our book, but the wayward salesman wasn’t quite done. He then proceeded to use the full force of his body weight to jump up and down on the open driver’s door. While we appreciate a dealer’s desire to prove how well the vehicles he sells are built, we wouldn’t want that done to our own cars… and we’d hate to see what these guys do to the vehicles when the camera isn’t rolling.

Hit the jump to see the mayhem for yourself. Thanks for the tip, Mateusz!

Continue reading Forget kicking tires, VW dealer shows off GTI durability with enthusiasm

Forget kicking tires, VW dealer shows off GTI durability with enthusiasm originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 May 2011 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Robert Kubica not expected to return to F1 before season’s end

Filed under: Motorsports, Lotus, Renault

Robert Kubica

If you’ve been counting down the days until Robert Kubica returns to the Formula One grid, you may want to stop counting for now. The latest reports suggest that the Polish driver is not likely to return before the end of the season, if at all.

Kubica, for those who may not recall, suffered a terrible accident during the off-season while contesting a rally in Italy some four months ago. His car was impaled by a dislodged guardrail and Kubica sustained extensive injuries to his right-side limbs. Now released from hospital and recovering at home, Kubica’s boss – Lotus Renault GP chief Gerard Lopez – reportedly says it is not likely the star driver will be back by season’s end.

Renault may give Kubica the opportunity to test drive during a Friday test session on a grand prix weekend at some point, but that should not, Lopez warns, indicate that he’d be ready to relieve Nick Heidfeld and take on a full race. Whether Kubica ever gets back into racing form remains to be seen – his doctors are reserving judgment until the summer – but we wish him the best for a suitably speedy recovery.

Robert Kubica not expected to return to F1 before season’s end originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 May 2011 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: McLaren crashes MP4 12C on the ‘Ring… is a record attempt in the cards?

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Etc., Europe, Luxury

McLaren MP4-12C on track

McLaren MP4-12C – Click above for high-res image gallery

Word on the web is that McLaren binned a new MP4-12C at the Nürburgring recently. According to Pistonheads, one of the early prototypes of the vehicle got up close and personal with some barriers at the legendary circuit, though the damage apparently wasn’t severe enough to put the model out of commission for good. The driver, who remains anonymous, wasn’t injured in the kerfuffle. McLaren hasn’t come out and said whether the incident was a result of driver error, mechanical failure or some other factor.

Officially, he MP4-12C was only out for durability testing, but since the accident occurred at the very end of a scheduled test session, some minds have begun to wonder whether or not McLaren was attempting to set a ‘Ring record time with their new lightweight. According to Pistonheads, the company says that while it may pursue such an adventure at some point down the line, that’s not what was going on when the vehicle left the tarmac. Of course, that would seem to contradict reports from the scene where witnesses were said they saw the MP4-12C traveling flat-out just before the impact.

McLaren crashes MP4 12C on the ‘Ring… is a record attempt in the cards? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 May 2011 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autoblog Podcast #231: Next Camry, vehicle satisfaction, EPA letter grades, BMW’s 328 Hommage

Filed under: Podcasts

Click above for the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes, RSS or listen now!

Shunk, Bowman, Roth and (eventually) Paukert get together for Episode #231 of the Autoblog Podcast. We cover the talk of a new Toyota Camry by year’s end, the dropping of proposed EPA letter grades from window stickers, the BMW 328 Hommage, and Chrysler and Lincoln topping their categories in the recent AutoPacific Vehicle Satisfaction Awards. Your feedback and questions finish it off, and we’ve re-posted the Q&A at the bottom of this post so you can play along at home, too. Thanks for listening, we’ll see you next week!

Autoblog Podcast #231: Next Camry, vehicle satisfaction, EPA Letter Grades, BMW’s 328 Hommage

  • Letter grades dropped from window stickers; good or bad?
  • BMW 328 Hommage unveiled to celebrate 75th anniversary of original
  • New Camry coming this fall
  • Lincoln and Chrysler named top brands in Auto Pacific satisfaction survey

In the Autoblog Garage:

2011 Porsche Panamera
2011 Hyundai Equus
2011 Infiniti EX35


Hosts: Dan Roth, Chris Shunk, Zach Bowman, Chris Paukert
Runtime: 01:19:04

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes
[RSS] Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly

Feedback:
Email: Podcast at Autoblog dot com
Voicemail: 734-288-8POD (734-288-8763)

Review the show in iTunes and take our survey

Autoblog Podcast #231: Next Camry, vehicle satisfaction, EPA letter grades, BMW’s 328 Hommage originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 May 2011 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumormill: Mazda RX-9 to borrow hybrid tech from Toyota

Filed under: Coupe, Hybrid, Performance, Mazda, Rumormill

Mazda Kabura Concept

2006 Mazda Kabura Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery

The rotary rumormill continues to spin about as fast as a Renesis engine at redline (that’s 9,000 rpm, for those keeping track). Might the next rotary-powered RX from Mazda be a hybrid? It very well may, if you believe a report from Motor Trend.

Lending credence to the story is a 2010 agreement signed between Mazda and Toyota that would have the Zoom-Zoom company licensing the technology that makes the Prius tick. At the time, Mazda indicated that its first hybrid using Toyota technology would hit the market in 2013. Will it be in the form of an RX-9?

Motor Trend reports that the successor to the RX-8 will eschew reverse-opening rear doors for a standard coupe format with an architecture based on the platform of the next-gen Mazda MX-5. If true, we may be talking about the world’s first real rear-wheel-drive hybrid sportscar for the mass market.

It’s worth noting that a hybrid powertrain may very well cure what has forever ailed the rotary engine: low torque (electric motors make gobs of the stuff at low rpm) and high fuel consumption. We like the idea of Mazda forging forward with the rotary engine, especially one that’s tuned to make a ton of horsepower at stratospheric spinning speeds like a proper rotary should.

One potential weakness, though, is that Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive technology uses a complicated continuously variable automatic transmission, and those have typically failed to provide the excitement of a proper row-for-yourself manual gearbox, or even a dual-clutch. In any case, we’re content to adopt a wait-and-see attitude on this latest rumor.

Mazda RX-9 to borrow hybrid tech from Toyota originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 24 May 2011 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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