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Quick Spin: 2011 Ford Flex Titanium

Filed under: Wagon, Crossover, Ford, Quick Spin

Where Useful Crossover Meets Luxury Sport Wagon

2011 Ford Flex Titanium

2011 Ford Flex Titanium – Click above for high-res image gallery

Ford has been hard at work building the finest arsenal of in-cabin technologies in the auto industry, and our recent reviews of its products suggest the effort is paying off. But offering a huge collection of amenities means the customer must choose from a laundry list of options that can make the car-buying process overly complicated. Some options aren’t available on some trim levels, while those same options come standard on others. Ford also uses “Rapid Spec” packages that can range in price from $1,000 to well over $4,000, depending on how much luxury and technology you care to pile on. And, of course, there’s nothing worse than checking a box with an asterisk, a bit of punctuation that means you have to add another option before earning the right to check the box you wanted in the first place.

Ordering a new vehicle gets a lot easier when you use the “I’ll take everything” approach. This is the simplest way to shop, but it’s also the priciest. And what happens if “everything” isn’t enough? Ford thinks it has the answer to that question: a Titanium model that bungees on every conceivable extra to already loaded-up Limited models. Already a hit in Europe, Ford’s Titanium trim level is chugging across The Pond this year with a maiden voyage aboard the S.S. Flex. We just spent a week with the 2011 Flex Titanium to see if the Blue Oval’s ultimate trim level is worth its premium price.

Gallery: 2011 Ford Flex Titanium: Quick Spin

2011 Ford Flex Titanium

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Quick Spin: 2011 Ford Flex Titanium originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quick Spin: 2011 Dodge Avenger

Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Dodge, Quick Spin

An Old Dog Learns A Few New Tricks

2011 Dodge Avenger

2011 Dodge Avenger – Click above for high-res image gallery

Chrysler has chosen vastly different fates for its Sebring and the Dodge Avenger, despite the two essentially being identical vehicles. While the Sebring underwent a complete personality makeover for 2011 and emerged with new sheetmetal and a new nameplate to match, the Avenger was left to soldier on with more conservative tweaks. The Dodge version of Chrysler’s midsize sedan still wears the same basic body lines as before, masking over the significant adjustments to the vehicle’s interior, drivetrain and suspension. While the Chrysler 200 may be stealing (okay, borrowing) the show, the 2011 Avenger is no less improved, at least when equipped with the company’s new 3.6-liter V6 engine.

With 283 horsepower and respectable fuel economy, the new six-cylinder turns the Avenger into a vehicle that no longer takes its driving cues from capital punishment, though lower-rung trim levels don’t fare as well. Buyers who opt for the old 2.4-liter four-cylinder will be met with visions from the vehicle’s less-than-award-winning past, including plenty of engine vibration and fuel economy that’s not on par with new hardware coming out from the competition. All this begs the question: Is there room for both the Dodge Avenger and the Chrysler 200 under the new company tent?

Gallery: 2011 Dodge Avenger: Quick Spin

2011 Dodge Avenger

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Quick Spin: 2011 Dodge Avenger originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quick Spin: Audi Quattro Concept

Filed under: Concept Cars, Coupe, Performance, Audi, Specialty, Quick Spin

Thirty Years After The Original, Audi Wants To Build Another Masterpiece

Audi Quattro Concept

Audi Quattro Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery

Blue and red flashing lights filling the mirror after a spirited canyon run are never welcomed. Yet this time, I’ve fully embraced them. Why?

I’m driving down California’s Pacific Coast Highway in Audi’s one-of-a-kind Quattro Concept with a full police escort. In front, law enforcement is clearing the road ahead as if sweeping for mines, pushing civilian traffic off to the side. I’ve got another unit behind me, shooing the restless natives off my flanks. The parade is impressive, but I’m wary of the pageantry. Are the cops there to solely maintain a generous cushion around the multi-million dollar concept, or has Audi paid them to keep me from rocketing off into the sunset off with their turbocharged 190-mph sports coupe?

I’m tempted to floor it and find out.

Gallery: Audi Quattro Concept: Quick Spin

Audi Quattro Concept

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Quick Spin: Audi Quattro Concept originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quick Spin: 2011 Dodge Journey

Filed under: Crossover, Dodge, Quick Spin

An Also-Ran Matures Into A Real Competitor

2011 Dodge Journey

2011 Dodge Journey – Click above for high-res image gallery

With all of the Chrysler models receiving updates both significant and otherwise, it’s understandable if you’ve gotten a little lost in the fray. Here’s what you need to know: One of the most surprising bright lights to come out of the company’s refresh bender is the 2011 Dodge Journey. While the 2011 Dodge Charger and Durango may have stolen the spotlight with their new sheetmetal, the Journey has transmogrified into a small family hauler that offers plenty of horsepower, acceptable fuel economy and a massively updated interior. There’s even one of the quickest and largest touchscreens of any vehicle we’ve come across nestled in the dash.

Given Chrysler’s recently discovered love of installing much-improved interiors in its vehicles, the newfound goodies indoors should come as no surprise. But the company’s engineers seem to have spent just as much time tweaking the crossover’s driving character, resulting in a complete package that has turned it from being a washed-up never-was into a competitor almost overnight.

Gallery: 2011 Dodge Journey: Quick Spin

2011 Dodge Journey

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Quick Spin: 2011 Dodge Journey originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: ABC News gets taken for a spin in Google’s self-driving Toyota Prius

Filed under: Etc., Technology, Videos, Toyota

Testing Google's driverless car

ABC News goes for a spin with one of Google’s driverless cars – Click above to watch video after the jump

Google’s autonomous fleet has been clandestinely racking up the computer-driven miles, and so far, their autonomous autos have been fault-free. One minor incident happened when a car was rear-ended, but the ~~Skynet~~ Google cars have yet to incur any points on their virtual licenses. Earlier this week, ABC News got the chance to go for a spin in one of the tech company’s automated cars, riding shotgun in a computer-controlled Toyota Prius.

The engineers from Google explain that the Prius utilizes a series of cameras and a roof-mounted, spinning laser to see what is going on around it. The result is a vehicle which might just be safer than one with a human behind the wheel. However, according to the report, the goal of the system is not to completely remove the driver from the equation, the system is pitched as more of a “super cruise-control” than a full auto-drive system. The theory is that it would be useful for traffic-filled commutes to and from work, and it might be a nice solution to eliminate or reduce distracted-driving. Get a phone call? Hit the Google button and let the car have the wheel while you take your call.

Becky Worley, the news correspondent in the video clip, even gets up the guts to give the Google car a real-life brake test. She steps in front of it as it’s motoring down the road. What happens? The car “sees” her and slams on the binders. Check it all out in the video after the jump.

[Source: ABC News]

Continue reading Video: ABC News gets taken for a spin in Google’s self-driving Toyota Prius

Video: ABC News gets taken for a spin in Google’s self-driving Toyota Prius originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Retro Spin: 1988 BMW M5

Filed under: Classics, Sedan, Performance, BMW, Quick Spin

25 Years After Launch, Original M5 Still Stirs The Soul

1988 BMW M5

1988 BMW M5 – Click above for high-res image gallery

“How would you like to drive a 1988 M5 up Highway 1?”

That wasn’t a call I was expecting, especially in the late summer of 2010. As far as I was concerned, any car from the 1980s still on the road was sure to be showing a few hundred thousand miles, springs coming through the seats and air conditioning blowing warm.

We all have a short list of favorite vehicles that most will never see, let alone drive.

However, BMW North America was on the other end of the phone, and the vehicle we were discussing had been pulled out of a factory museum on the East Coast and shipped to California in a covered truck. Not only did it have low miles, but this unique model was in near-mint condition.

The 1988 BMW M5 is special in more ways than one. In addition to being the first-generation M5, its production was extremely limited and each and every copy sold in North America was jet black with blacked-out trim. And there was the powerplant… BMW had essentially dropped the M1’s 24-valve 3.5-liter racing engine under the hood.

You can guess what my answer was.

Gallery: 1988 BMW M5: Retro Spin

1988 BMW M5

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Retro Spin: 1988 BMW M5 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quick Spin: FireBreather Camaro

Filed under: Concept Cars, Coupe, Performance, Chevrolet, Specialty, Design/Style, Quick Spin

FireBreather Camaro

FireBreather Camaro – Click above for high-res image gallery

Hollywood movies are chock full of kick-ass superhero cars. There are radical vehicles, like the Batmobile and Mach 5, and then there are the gussied-up street cars like Eleanor, Greased Lightning and Austin Powers’ Shaguar. Aside from the extreme styling, most of the mechanized celebrities from Hollywood are only capable of conjuring their supernatural performance on-screen. Step aside Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and make room for FireBreather.

Getting a jump on Jinn, a film due to be released next year by Exxodus Pictures, Classic Design Concepts is introducing its own superhero car. Unlike the aforementioned movie props, relegated to static displays in museums or car shows, the satin-black hero in the upcoming supernatural thriller will make it into limited production and offer enough performance to back up its enhanced persona.

Autoblog caught up with the wickedly-styled Camaro coupe at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance a couple weeks ago. While the venue is hardly an ideal setting for putting any car through its paces, there was plenty of time to take in the FireBreather aura and persuade its supercharged 600-horsepower engine to remove more than a few layers of rubber from the rear tires.

As expected, there were many questions in need of answering. How was it transformed? Who’s behind the styling and what’s the logic behind the name? Most importantly, what’s it like to drive this real-life superhero car? These answers and more, after the jump.

Gallery: FireBreather Camaro: Quick Spin

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Quick Spin: FireBreather Camaro originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quick Spin: Hurst Hemi Challenger Series 5

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Dodge, Quick Spin

Like a Viper With Rear Seats and a Proper Trunk

Hurst Hemi Challenger

Hurst Hemi Challenger – Click above for high-res image gallery

We’ve seen how Hurst Hemi Challengers are put together, but the last time we tried to drive one we couldn’t get above 25 mph because of the prototype wheels. To correct that hideous oversight, Hurst slapped a couple of production wheels on a black and a white version of their Challenger, and we took both out for their yearly physicals. Just like the song went, it was ebony and ivory living in perfect harmony. Like King Kong and the Abominable Snowman. Follow the jump for the story.

Gallery: Quick Spin: Hurst Hemi Challenger

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Quick Spin: Hurst Hemi Challenger Series 5 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Reverse spin should be a standardized performance test

Filed under: Etc., Videos

Oldsmobile Cutlass dicing it up – Click above to watch video after the jump

From the file marked “When Men Were Men,” we have this Car & Track review of the 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442. Sure Clarkson can work his way around a 458, but let’s see him handle this baby: 455 cubic inches with a four-barrel carb, 225 horsepower, 0-to-50 in 5.5 seconds, 198 feet to stop from 70 mph and more body roll than a Carnival cruise ship in a Category 5. And check out the reverse spin test to gauge body roll – that’s how you review a car. Follow the jump for a rollicking look at car history.

[Source: YouTube via Jalopnik]

Continue reading Video: Reverse spin should be a standardized performance test

Video: Reverse spin should be a standardized performance test originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:24:00 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

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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