Tag: car

Car Town turns Facebook gamers into car people

Filed under: Etc.

Car Town Facebook game by Cie Games – Click above for high-res image gallery

For those of you who partake in the world of Facebook games, you’ve probably noticed a dearth of auto-related fun. That’s about to change with the introduction of Car Town, a new Facebook app set to launch this week.

Since the bulk of the truly entertaining Facebook games focus on mobster training or channeling your inner Old McDonald, it’s about time that gearheads had their own way to get lost in the social media gaming space. Then again, we already waste spend entirely too much time in the online auto world, so the release of Car Town will inevitably lead to more late nights and sleep deprived mornings. Find out why after the jump.

Gallery: Car Town Facebook App

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Car Town turns Facebook gamers into car people originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: The ridiculous heights automakers like VW go to launch a new car

Filed under: Sedan, Marketing/Advertising, Volkswagen

2011 Volkswagen Jetta being hoisted into launch position – Click above to watch video after the jump

It’s said, by America’s postmen at least, that nothing will stop them from delivering your mail. Comparable dedication is found in carmakers, who will do everything that time, city permits and bagfuls of money will allow in order to put on a good show for the press.

Case in point: The 2011 Jetta launch is still going on in San Francisco right now, and to create the right impact, Volkswagen put a Jetta on the fourth floor of the St. Regis hotel. It took halting a few lanes of traffic and a ol’ big crane to make it happen, but nothing succeeds like excess, right? Maybe next time the can do like Porsche did with the Panamera and just use the elevator… Follow the jump for the video.

Gallery: 2011 Volkswagen Jetta: First Drive

Photos by Damon Lavrinc / Copyright (C)2010 AOL

[Source: YouTube]

Continue reading Video: The ridiculous heights automakers like VW go to launch a new car

Video: The ridiculous heights automakers like VW go to launch a new car originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quick Spin: 2011 Tata Nano CX – Driving the world’s cheapest car

Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Hatchback, India, Quick Spin

2011 Tata Nano CX – Click above for high-res image gallery

People love the idea of super-cheap transportation. Two generations ago, Volkswagen captured the world’s attention with the Beetle (known originally as “The People’s Car”), but when people finally drove the rear-engined VW, they realized it was more than just a cheap car – it was remarkably fun to drive.

India’s Tata Motors picked up on the people’s car idea several years ago. Motorbikes and pedal bikes are the go-to transportation options for millions in India, which presented an opportunity. But with the average price of a new car in the U.S. hovering around $30,000, an inconceivable sum in the developing world, Tata would have to do something very different. The tiny Nano was the result. It’s currently on sale in India starting at around $2,500. That sound you hear is over a billion people cheering because they can now envision themselves owning transportation with a roof that they don’t have to pedal.

The pint-sized sedan wowed crowds at its New Delhi introduction in 2008 and Tata began exporting the Nano throughout the developing world. Speculation swirled that the company would eventually target the U.S. after the car was put on display at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, but do we really want it here?

Gallery: 2011 Tata Nano CX: Quick Spin

Text and photos by Rex Roy / Copyright (C)2010 AOL

Continue reading Quick Spin: 2011 Tata Nano CX – Driving the world’s cheapest car

Quick Spin: 2011 Tata Nano CX – Driving the world’s cheapest car originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Teen car sales drop as jobs remain scarce

Filed under: Car Buying

We all remember our first car. There’s nothing quite like the memory of seeing your parents hand you the keys to a vehicle you can call your own, and the experience has historically happened somewhere between a child’s 16th and 18th year. Right?

Perhaps not. It seems that the time-honored act of buying your first new-to-you car in your teenage years is waning in popularity. And the same is also true of vehicles purchased from well-meaning parents for their children. According to CNW Marketing Research, in calendar year 2005, there were 7.5 million vehicles purchased by or for teens. In 2010, that number is expected to dwindle all the way down to 4.2 million.

Tellingly, this statistic is falling right alongside the flickering teen job market. CNW reports that 27 percent of all American teens have not worked full- or part-time so far this year, which is up dramatically from 2005. Not surprisingly, only 16 percent of teenagers that do happen to have their own set of wheels pay the full monthly payment themselves (that’s down from 21 percent).

Transaction prices are also down, which has led to another intriguing bullet point: 57 percent of cars purchased by or for teens are from domestic automakers, due largely to the fact that American cars tend to be less expensive on the used market.

[CNW Marketing Research | Image: Getty]

Report: Teen car sales drop as jobs remain scarce originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz to be the stars in Top Gear‘s Reasonably Price Car

Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Etc., Kia, UK, Celebrities

According to The Sun, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz will take to the infamous Top Gear track in an attempt to topple the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car leader board. Evidently, Cruise contacted the show about a stint behind the wheel of the infamous Kia c’eed while in the UK. Both he and Diaz were in country for the debut of their new film “Knight and Day.”

So far, we don’t know how either of the two stars did on track, but we’re betting Cruise managed to hold his own. It’s no secret that the guy has a penchant for sports cars of just about every flavor. Besides, he starred in Days of Thunder.

The crew at Top Gear hasn’t said exactly when we can expect to see the two go around the track, but we’re betting it won’t be too long before the segments air, possibly this Sunday.

[Source: The Sun]

Report: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz to be the stars in Top Gear‘s Reasonably Price Car originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bloodhound Gang: Full-scale model of supersonic car unveiled in UK [w/video]

Filed under: Motorsports, Performance, UK, Specialty, Racing

Bloodhound SSC show car – Click above for high-res image gallery

It looks like the Bloodhound project has reemerged from the ether of the internet, this time with a full-scale model of the team’s actual world land speed-record hopeful. If you dust off the way-back synapses, you might recollect that the Bloodhound Education Program is a ploy to get school-aged kids into the sciences by showing them exactly what Algebra can do. You know, like launch a hunk of metal to 1,000 miles per hour on land. As a show of progress, the team has unveiled a 42-foot-long life-size replica of the machine that it hopes to use to obliterate the standing world land-speed record of a little over 763 mph.

So far, construction of the rear section of the machine is slated to begin in the second quarter of next year, and the team claims that it’s in talks with another organization to begin building the front half right now. That means we could be hearing reports of shakedown runs by the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012. From there, it’s a short hop to the Hakskeen Pan in South Africa for the real trial. Get excited, people. Hit the jump for a video of the car as well as the full press release. Thanks for the tips, Carlos and Mark!

Gallery: Bloodhound Supersonic Car

[Source: Bloodhound Project]

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Bloodhound Gang: Full-scale model of supersonic car unveiled in UK [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Seat touring car flips into crowd at Brands Hatch over weekend

Filed under: Motorsports, Videos, Hatchback, SEAT, UK, Racing

That’s not gonna buff out – Click above to watch video after the jump

If you’ve ever found yourself as a spectator at a race track, it’s easy to lull yourself into believing that you’ll be as safe as can be just so long as you keep a crash barrier between your brittle bones and the lightspeed chunks of metal blasting by. Thing is, that’s not always the case. The interwebs are full of videos of cars gone airborne, leaping guard rails and tire walls by leaps and bounds to come crashing down in the middle of a passel of spectators. We can officially add the video after the jump to that list of horrors.

According to our English cousins, Portugese driver Francisco Carvalho had a bit of a mishap at this weekend’s World Touring Car Championship event at Brands Hatch. Carvalho was competing in the Seat Leon Euro Cup Race when he received a nudge from a fellow racer. Instead of losing a position, Carvalho’s car was sent veering off of the course and into a crash barrier before bouncing end-over-end and vaulting back over the wall. The crash sent a crowd of race marshals fleeing before the car came to a stop, but amazingly enough, no one was injured. Not even Carvalho. Hit the jump to see the devastation for yourself.

[Source: YouTube via Autoblog UK]

Continue reading Video: Seat touring car flips into crowd at Brands Hatch over weekend

Video: Seat touring car flips into crowd at Brands Hatch over weekend originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: VW resurrects Lupo nameplate for the Up! city car

Filed under: Budget, Hatchback, Volkswagen, Electric

Volkswagen Up! minicar concept

We’d already heard that we wouldn’t be getting the conventionally-powered version of Volkswagen’s city car, the Up! Now we hear, per Autocar, that it won’t be called the Up!, it will be called Lupo. The Lupo, a nameplate known throughout Europe until it ceased production in 2005, was VW’s small, sub-Polo offering. In its new incarnation, the Lupo will replace the Fox, currently the smallest VW sold.

The conventional power of the Up!/Lupo will also come with a more conventional powertrain layout. The rear underfloor-mounted engine was innovative yet ultimately too complex for production. The Lupo that goes on sale next summer is expected to be offered with the choice of either a 1.0-liter three-cylinder gas engine putting out 75 horsepower or a 1.2-liter Bluemotion-branded diesel.

The E-Up that will supposedly hit our shores in 2013 might be coming as an Audi only. The VW Group plans to spread the Up!/Lupo gospel throughout its companies, but the electrified version is being worked on “in partnership with” Audi. Since Audi’s already getting all kinds of electric ink in the U.S. thanks to its sexy e-tron concepts, and with the price premium electric cars command, we wouldn’t be surprised if the electric Lupo initially comes to the U.S. wearing interlocking nose rings.

[Source: Autocar]

Report: VW resurrects Lupo nameplate for the Up! city car originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2011 Subaru Outback adds in-car Wi-Fi

Filed under: Car Buying, SUV, Technology, Subaru

Subaru Outback

2010 Subaru Outback – Click above for high-res image gallery

Ford’s SYNC does 3G WiFi, and with the help of Autonet so do GM, Chrysler, Avis, some school buses and now Subaru. The Japanese automaker has put WiFi on the options list of the 2011 Subaru Outback for the pretty standard price of $499 as a dealer-installed option. That’ll get you an encrypted connection good within 150 feet of the car, and it can be used while the car is in motion. The subscription is $29 per month after that, and Subaru is gracious enough to pick up the first three months for you. Follow the jump for the full press release.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Subaru Outback

[Source: Subaru]

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2011 Subaru Outback adds in-car Wi-Fi originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Next-gen PT Cruiser imagined despite car’s demise

Filed under: Hatchback, Chrysler

Next-gen PT Cruiser idea

Rendering of a next generation Chrysler PT Cruiser – Click above for high-res image gallery

The end of production of the Chrysler PT Cruiser prompted a reader at the Cheers and Gears forum to try his hand at rendering what could have been a next-generation edition of the retro hatchback. It’s often been said that following up a retro design is particularly difficult, though admittedly, BMW has managed to do so with the Mini.

The artist, Andrew Currie, has taken his cue from Mini by retaining the original PT’s basic shape, with the biggest changes applied to the nose. A larger grille with four round, exposed headlamps still retains the flavor of the outgoing model. If the design were applied to a more modern platform with an up-to-date powertrain and better handling, it’s certainly possible it could have been successful. The problem is that such designs tend to be fashion statements, and you know what they say about “One day you’re in …” In part, Mini’s success has come by expanding the concept to different body styles including the Clubman, Countryman and the upcoming coupe and roadster. It’s not clear that a single PT variant could do the job.

What do you think, could a new PT Cruiser with modern running gear still succeed? Let us know in our poll after the jump.

[Source: Sector 329 Graphics/Andrew Currie via Cheers and Gears]

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Next-gen PT Cruiser imagined despite car’s demise originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 17 Jul 2010 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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