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Volkswagen Jetta price quietly increases by $500

Filed under: Sedan, Volkswagen

2011 volkswagen jetta

2011 Volkswagen Jetta – Click above for high-res image gallery

Volkswagen has made a big deal about the 2011 Jetta’s $15,995 starting price. After all, how many times have you seen those commercials that show a guy working hard to afford the new Jetta, only to find out that it’s starting price had been lowered. And then there’s the baby-holding dad that drops his cup as the baby drops his bottle after checking out the German sedan’s bargain-basement MSRP.

At any rate, you can pick up your cup and get back to work, because the starting price of the Jetta has now been increased by $500. The VW website clearly shows that the S model, which comes equipped with an anemic 2.0-liter four-cylinder with a scant 115 horsepower, now starts at $16,495.

This isn’t exactly great news for Jetta-loving budget shoppers, but we hear rising commodity costs is making it more expensive to build vehicles these days, so it isn’t totally unexpected. On the bright side, only the entry S model has been given a price bump. The rest of the Jetta lineup is unchanged.

Volkswagen Jetta price quietly increases by $500 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 May 2011 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Google quietly logs over 140k on autonomous cars in U.S. city traffic

Filed under: Technology

Sebastian Thrun, the man behind Google Streetview and work on Stanley, the autonomous vehicle from Stanford that’s won DARPA competitions, has teamed up with Google to create a fleet of self-piloting vehicles that have racked up over 140,000 unmanned miles. A handful of the vehicles have traveled 1,000 miles without any human intervention at all, and there’s been only one crash – when one of the autonomous vehicles was rear-ended by another car.

Of course, it will still be a long time before you’re popping down to the corner Ford dealer to pick up a Fiesta AI Edition. Still, to have seven cars plying California streets and highways making their own decisions puts us that much closer to concluding the first generation of data acquisition. One day the threat of car crashes could be virtually eliminated, if only we could get computers that didn’t crash.

[Source: Google, New York Times]

Report: Google quietly logs over 140k on autonomous cars in U.S. city traffic originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 10 Oct 2010 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Suzuki quietly updates 2011 GSX-R600 and GSX-R750

Filed under: Suzuki, Motorcycle

2011 Suzuki GSX-R600

2011 Suzuki GSX-R600 – Click above for high-res image gallery

You’d be forgiven if you forgot all about the brand spankin’ new motorcycles brought into the States by Suzuki last year… because there weren’t any. Purse strings were pulled so tightly during the global economic collapse that the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer decided not to bring in any new models for 2010.

However, all of that is set to change for 2011, and the first major announcement from Suzuki are updates to its GSX-R600 and GSX-R750. Interestingly enough, the engines are all new but there isn’t actually any more horsepower than before – 123 horses from the 600 and 148 from the 750.

Instead of more peak power, Suzuki focused all of its efforts on reducing weight, lopping off four pounds from the motor, three pounds from the exhaust and another three pounds from the aluminum frame. Add it all up and Suzuki has cut about 20 pounds from each model, with the 600 coming in at 413 pounds wet and the 750 tipping the scales at 416 pounds.

Another notable feature new for 2011 are the brakes: 310mm fully-floating front brake discs and radial-mount, four-piston Brembo monoblock calipers. Styling closely mimics that of the range-topping GSX-R1000, featuring new vertically stacked headlamps; see for yourself in our high-res image gallery below. Pricing comes in at $11,599 for the 600 and $11,999 for the 750, and full details can be found after the break.

Gallery: 2011 Suzuki GSX-R600

2011 Suzuki GSX-R600

Gallery: 2011 Suzuki GSX-R750

2011 Suzuki GSX-R750

[Source: Suzuki]

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Suzuki quietly updates 2011 GSX-R600 and GSX-R750 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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