2012 Archives | Page 4 of 30

Pics Aplenty: 2012 Volkswagen Golf Cabrio gets flirty with its top

Filed under: Convertible, Volkswagen

2012 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet

2012 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet – Click above for high-res image gallery

Have you been dying to pour through images of the all-new 2012 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet? Good news, ~~everyone~~ Volkswagen fans! The automaker has just released this mega-gallery of its all-new drop-top.

It’s certainly a handsome little convertible, this Golf, but right now there’s only enough room in the United States for one redesigned Volkswagen with a disappearing roof. The U.S. has been designated an Eos-only country for the time being, meaning our high-res image gallery is the closest you’ll get to ever seeing one of these cuties in person.

Gallery: 2012 Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet

Continue reading Pics Aplenty: 2012 Volkswagen Golf Cabrio gets flirty with its top

Pics Aplenty: 2012 Volkswagen Golf Cabrio gets flirty with its top originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 May 2011 21:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lamborghini Aventador Roadster coming in late 2012?

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Lamborghini, Rumormill

2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 – Click above for high-res image gallery

There’s been no shortage of new Italian exotics hitting the streets lately. Recent additions to the stable have included the Pagani Huayra, the Ferrari 458 Italia and the Lamborghini Aventador. But do you notice something missing? That’s right: roadsters. Not one among these three are currently available with the wind-in-your-tupée experience, but that should change in due course.

Reports of convertible versions of both the 458 and the Huayra have already surfaced, and now we can begin looking forward to the Aventador Roadster – at least, that’s what reports coming in from Italy would have us believe. With little indication of where it’s getting the information information, Autoblog.it and its English-language counterpart EuroCarBlog.com are anticipating that the successor to the Murcielago Roadster and the Diablo VT Roadster before it will arrive sometime next year.

Considering that the Aventador is already sold out for the next 18 months, it would probably have to be quite late in 2012. But one way or another, you can bet it’s coming at some point.

Gallery: 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4: First Drive

2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

Lamborghini Aventador Roadster coming in late 2012? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 May 2011 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 [w/video]

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Lamborghini, First Drive

Sant’Agata’s V12 At Its Best Yet

2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 – Click above for high-res image gallery

In yet another happy chapter of our lives, we’ve been among the first to hop in the year’s most hotly anticipated exotic, the 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4. After the super sport’s debut at this year’s Geneva Motor Show in March, plus some previous prototype drives while still in camouflage, all that remained was the tell-all day behind its wheel on a hot circuit. We survived. And the seat of our pants is permanently creased by the Aventador’s electrifying, world-conquering performance.

It’s about time that Lamborghini put its V12 model front-and-center again, and this is what the four-year development of the Aventador has been all about. Only at the very start of its life did the Murciélago ever garner this type of attention. Once its Gallardo V10 sibling was launched, the poor old Murc didn’t take it so well and lived deep in the shadows of Lambo’s popstar “people’s car.” Continue reading…

Gallery: 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4: First Drive

2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4

Continue reading 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 [w/video]

2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Subaru predicts 50% sales hike for 2012 Impreza

Filed under: Car Buying, Sedan, Hatchback, Subaru

2012 Subaru Impreza

2012 Subaru Impreza – Click above for high-res image gallery

According to Ward’s Auto, Subaru brass are expecting the 2012 Impreza to sell around 60,000 units a year, or half again as many as the car’s current 40,000-unit total. Subaru executive vice president of North America Tom Doll says the car fills gaps in the company’s lineup that prevented it from being as competitive as it could have been.

Subaru claims the new Impreza will return 36 miles per gallon on the highway, a figure that would put the car on the top of the all-wheel-drive pile for fuel economy. The gas mileage figures come courtesy of a new-for-2012 2.0-liter boxer four-cylinder reigning in 148 horsepower. The upcoming Impreza will also be lighter than the outgoing model, making fuel-sipping a little easier.

With all the new tweaks, Subaru is hoping Impreza sales can push the brand’s overall total from 264,000 vehicles last year to closer to 300,000. That’s a heady goal to be sure, but the company is confident enough in the new car’s appeal to make a bold prediction. Only time will tell if such hopefulness is well founded.

Gallery: 2012 Subaru Impreza Five-Door: New York 2011

2012 Subaru Impreza Five-Door: New York 2011

Gallery: 2012 Subaru Impreza: New York 2011

2012 Subaru Impreza: New York 2011

[Source: Ward’s Auto – sub. req.]

Subaru predicts 50% sales hike for 2012 Impreza originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autoblog checks out Toyota Entune inside the 2012 Prius V

Filed under: Hybrid, Technology, Videos, Toyota

Toyota Entune

Toyota Entune inside the 2012 Prius V – Click above to watch the video after the jump

Toyota will be launching its new Entune infotainment system later this year – a product that pairs with a customer’s Internet- and Bluetooth-equipped smartphone to bring a host of applications right into the car’s navigation screen. Entune is the Japanese automaker’s answer to Ford’s SYNC system, and we recently had the chance to get a first-hand look at Toyota’s latest creation inside of the upcoming 2012 Prius V.

Entune made its official debut at CES back in January, combining functional apps like Bing search and real-time XM information (traffic, weather, fuel prices, sports and stocks) with entertainment features like Pandora and iHeartRadio. What’s more, Entune adds restaurant booking capability via OpenTable and allows you to research movie times through MovieTickets.com. Of course, there’s a slate of safety features like collision notification and roadside assistance, similar to those found in Lexus’ Enform system.

We sat down inside the 2012 Prius V with Toyota’s corporate manager for advanced technology, Jim Pisz, to see exactly how Entune works. Pisz tells us that the Prius V will be the first Toyota vehicle to feature Entune, but that we will likely see it spread to higher-volume models like the Camry and Tacoma by the end of the year.

In all, Entune looks to be a pretty slick system. The touch-screen display is easy to navigate, though it isn’t as visually appealing as the Blue Oval’s MyFord Touch. See a full walk-through of Entune for yourself in the video after the jump. As an added bonus, click here to see an Entune hands-on from our friends at Engadget, as well.

Editor’s Note: Because Entune pairs to a smartphone, if there’s a lengthy loss of signal at any time, that will cause Entune to become temporarily unresponsive. This happened during our preview outside of New York’s Plaza Hotel, and thus, the video begins after Pisz restarted the system.

Gallery: Toyota Entune

[Lead image: Steven J. Ewing/AOL]

Continue reading Autoblog checks out Toyota Entune inside the 2012 Prius V

Autoblog checks out Toyota Entune inside the 2012 Prius V originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK350 to start at $55,675*

Filed under: Car Buying, Convertible, Performance, Mercedes-Benz

2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK top-down

2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK – Click above for high-res image gallery

The Mercedes-Benz SLK roadster has received a substantial makeover for 2012, with reworked powertrains and more masculine sheetmetal. The SLK350’s new 3.5-liter V6 helps back up that fresh dose of manliness with 302 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque, thanks to the addition of direct injection. Having driven the roadster, we found the upgrades help make the car more entertaining to drive, and now we can put a price tag on these refinements.

Mercedes-Benz has announced that the 2012 SLK350 will start at $55,675 (*including $875 in destination charges). That’s a $1,500 increase over the 2011 model – a fair shake considering the updates. For comparison’s sake, the folding hardtop SLK350 carries an MSRP that’s $4,800 more than the Audi TTS Roadster and $950 more than the BMW Z4 sDrive35i. It does, however, continue to price out lower than the similarly powered Porsche Boxster S, which starts at $58,600. The SLK350 goes on sale on June 1.

If $55,675 is too rich or too powerful for your blood, you can opt to wait until February for the SLK250. Unfortunately, Mercedes hasn’t announced pricing for the SLK250, but we do know that it will feature a 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with 201 horsepower and 229 lb-ft of torque. Now, about that AMG…

Gallery: 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK

2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK 350 front 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK 350 top

[Source: Mercedes-Benz]

2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK350 to start at $55,675* originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New York 2011: Jeep says point of 2012 Grand Cherokee SRT8 was better, not faster

Filed under: New York Auto Show, Performance, SUV, Jeep, Luxury, Off-Road

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 – Click above for high-res image gallery

At the 2011 New York Auto Show, we asked Joseph Grace, vehicle line executive for the SRT line, about the specs on the new 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 – specifically, why didn’t they make it… more. The previous Grand Cherokee SRT8 was said to reach 60 miles per hour “in under five seconds” while the new one is pegged at 4.8 seconds. While that’s an improvement of, at most, one-nineteenth of a second, it puts it right about square with the Mercedes ML63 AMG and at least three-tenths of a second adrift of the BMW X5 M.

But Grace said that wasn’t really the point. “The major issues customers had that we wanted to address,” he said, “were the ride, the exhaust, and fuel economy and range.” This wasn’t about making a faster SUV, it was about filling in the gaps of the previous model.

The center-mounted exhaust was swapped for dual pipes at the corners. The engine technologies – “it’s the first time we’ve coupled all-out performance with cylinder deactivation and active exhaust,” Grace said – have yielded better gas mileage and longer range.

The adaptive ride suspension developed in conjunction with Bilstein addresses the handling issues with five settings. On the matter of having a Track setting in such serious tonnage, Grace said “It was an application we had available with the adaptive damping.” It shunts a little more torque to the rear wheels, going to a 60/40 front-to-rear split instead of 65/35, but Grace says “The track setting will keep the tires on the ground and makes [the ride] stiff but it can still be used on the road.”

As for those German rivals, Grace said “We haven’t announced pricing, but in comparison to the others it will be a benchmark in performance-for-value in a super-equipped vehicle.”

Gallery: 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8: New York 2011

2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 at the 2011 New York Auto Show

New York 2011: Jeep says point of 2012 Grand Cherokee SRT8 was better, not faster originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New York 2011: Jaguar makes the XF we always wanted and tweaks the XK for 2012

Filed under: New York Auto Show, Coupe, Sedan, Performance, Jaguar, Luxury

2012 Jaguar XF

The 2012 Jaguar XF – Click above to view high-res image gallery

The Jaguar XF only arrived in 2008, but in just three years, it has reset the course for a brand that was hobbled by the transgression of the X-Type and a beloved but aging XJ. In 2010, it received a new set of engines that delivered performance on par with the promise of the concept car, and now, for 2012, we have a car that delivers on the looks of that showstopper. Jaguar has revealed a refreshed XF at the New York Auto Show, and the renew isn’t ostentatious, but it is thorough, and rewarding.

Continue reading New York 2011: Jaguar makes the XF we always wanted and tweaks the XK for 2012…

Gallery: 2012 Jaguar XFR: New York 2011

Gallery: 2012 Jaguar XF

Gallery: 2012 Jaguar XKR: New York 2011

Gallery: 2012 Jaguar XK

Continue reading New York 2011: Jaguar makes the XF we always wanted and tweaks the XK for 2012

New York 2011: Jaguar makes the XF we always wanted and tweaks the XK for 2012 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New York 2011: Honda brings entire 2012 Civic family to New York

Filed under: New York Auto Show, Coupe, Hybrid, Sedan, Honda

2012 Honda Civic Si

2012 Honda Civic Si – Click above for high-res image gallery

Honda brought the whole family of 2012 Civics to the party at this year’s New York Auto Show. We’ve gotten to feast our eyes on the coupe, sedan, Si, hybrid and natural gas-drinking GX. That’s a lot of new sheetmetal to look at, so we decided to pack them all in one post to make it easy on you.

The 2012 Civic coupe, sedan and GX are all powered by a 1.8-liter inline four-cylinder engine that produces 140 horsepower. In uber-efficient HF guise, the same engines is capable of returning 41 miles per gallon fuel economy on the highway. The standard coupe and sedan are nearly as frugal at 39 mpg on the highway. We’ll have a separate report on the new Civic Hybrid soon, but in the meantime know that it will be rated at 44 mpg combined, an improvement of 4 mpg over last year’s model.

Were it our money on the line, however, we’d trade a few miles per gallon for a bit more driving excitement. The 2012 Honda Civic Si would be our choice, with its new 200-horsepower/170 pound-feet of torque 2.4-liter four-cylinder. Still, this is a compact Honda and, when paired with the six-speed manual gearbox, the Civic Si achieves 31 miles per gallon on the highway.

You can check out all of the new Civics in the galleries below. After that, take a dive into Honda’s official press release after the jump.

Gallery: 2012 Honda Civic Si: New York 2011

Gallery: 2012 Honda Civic Coupe: New York 2011

Gallery: 2012 Honda Civic Sedan: New York 2011

Gallery: 2012 Honda Civic GX: New York 2011

Gallery: 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid: New York 2011

Continue reading New York 2011: Honda brings entire 2012 Civic family to New York

New York 2011: Honda brings entire 2012 Civic family to New York originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New York 2011: Mazda’s refreshed 2012 Mazda3 looks to the sky

Filed under: New York Auto Show, Sedan, Hatchback, Mazda

2012 Mazda3 with SkyActiv

2012 Mazda3 – Click above for high-res image gallery

Mazda is betting big on its SkyActiv engine technology, and the first North American vehicle to carry the new motor is the 2012 Mazda3. Makes sense, since one out of every three Mazda vehicles sold around the globe wears a “3” on the back. Launching with the 2012 Mazda3 this fall, SkyActiv engines and transmissions will then wind-up in the upcoming CX-5 by next spring, and a year later we’ll get a diesel variant of the efficient engine.

mazda skyactiv-g engine First up, however, is the SkyActiv-G gasoline-burner, which is a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. The directly injected unit is rated at 40 miles per gallon on the highway in the Mazda3, and produces 155 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 148 pound-feet of torque at 4,100 rpm. That’s a horsepower increase of five percent and torque bump of 10 percent, all in a package that’s 4.4 pounds lighter than the currently available standard 2.0-liter.

The SkyActiv-equipped 2012 Mazda3 is offered with a choice between two transmissions: a six-speed manual or automatic, both of which are also part of the SkyActiv family. SkyActiv-Drive is the automatic of the group, and helps the Mazda3 achieve a range of 540 miles. While the auto is the transmission of choice for 40 mpg drives, the SkyActiv-MT also allows for efficient motoring. When equipped with the manual, the fuel economy rating dips to 39 mpg on the highway.

SkyActiv-G engines will be offered under the hood of both the sedan and hatchback versions of the Mazda3. Both have also received a minor exterior refresh, which comes in the form of a revised front fascia. SkyActiv-equipped models can also be distinguished by some subtle blue headlamp trim and SkyActiv badging.

See the updates for yourself in the galleries below, and be sure to head past the jump to learn more about the 2012 Mazda3 and its SkyActiv technology.

Gallery: 2012 Mazda3: New York 2011

2012 Mazda3: New York 2011

Gallery: 2012 Mazda3

Continue reading New York 2011: Mazda’s refreshed 2012 Mazda3 looks to the sky

New York 2011: Mazda’s refreshed 2012 Mazda3 looks to the sky originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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