Saturday, November 22, 2014
200 Tons of Oppo: Mike Ryan drifts a mining truck
2015 Ford F-150 Gets 26 MPG with 2.7 EcoBoost Engine
The official numbers were announced and the 2015 Ford F-150 gets the highest EPA-estimated fuel economy ratings of any full-size gasoline pickup on the market.
According to Ford, “When equipped with available 2.7-liter EcoBoost engine, new F-150 4×2 has EPA-estimated 19 mpg City, 26 mpg Highway and 22 mpg Combined fuel economy ratings.”
The “2015 F-150 can tow as much as 1,110 pounds more, haul as much as 530 pounds more, has a 5 percent to 16 percent better power-to-weight ratio and new F-150 EPA fuel economy ratings are 5 to 29 percent better than current models, depending on engine.”
“Ford advances to the next level in providing customers with more fuel-efficient vehicles, as the new 2015 F-150 lineup includes the highest EPA-estimated fuel economy ratings of any gasoline-powered full-size pickup sold in America.”
Here’s a chart that compares the 2015 2.7-liter EcoBoost 4×2 F-150 to the 2008 4.6-liter V8 4×2 F-150, and to its current major competitors provided by Ford below:
The all-new standard 3.5-liter Ti-VCT V6 offers performance customers expect from a full-size pickup truck, while offering unsurpassed EPA-estimated ratings of 18 mpg City, 25 mpg Highway and 20 mpg Combined for 4×2 models.
The 3.5-liter Ti-VCT V6 can tow an unsurpassed 7,600 pounds among light-duty trucks with standard V6 engines. The chart below provides details compared with the 2008 4.2-liter V6 4×2 F-150 and current major competitors:
The 5.0-liter Ti-VCT V8 provides customers with robust capability for frequent towing and hauling with a best-in-class maximum payload of 3,300 pounds and maximum tow rating of 11,100 pounds, which is an improvement of up to 3,900 pounds over the 2008 4.6-liter V8 F-150.
In the 4×2 configuration, the 5.0-liter has EPA-estimated fuel economy ratings of 15 mpg City, 22 mpg Highway and 18 mpg Combined. The chart below provides details compared with the 2008 4.6-liter V8 4×2 F-150 and current major competitors:
The available 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost engine provides customers a strong combination of gas fuel economy and capability, with best-in-class 12,200 pounds of maximum towing and EPA-estimated ratings of 17 mpg City, 24 mpg Highway and 20 mpg Combined for 4×2 models. The chart below provides details compared with the 2008 5.4-liter 4×2 F-150 and current major competitors:
Equipped with 2.7-liter EcoBoost, the all-new F-150 is a better value than even diesel-powered pickups. For instance, the $495 option on the Ford is significantly less than the $4,470 3.0-liter Ram EcoDiesel option.
In addition, with diesel prices currently 76 cents per gallon more *6 at the pump, each 3.0-liter Ram EcoDiesel fill-up costs over $24 more than the new 2.7-liter F-150 *7. That means at today’s fuel prices Ram EcoDiesel owners are not able to offset the additional cost of their EcoDiesel engines with fuel savings *8.
New F-150 Lineup EPA-Estimated Fuel Economy Ratings
- *2 Unsurpassed EPA-estimated City and Highway ratings for light-duty 4×2 V6 pickup trucks
- *3 Unsurpassed standard V6 engine maximum towing rating
- *4 Best-in-class light-duty pickup truck maximum payload rating
- *5 Best-in-class light-duty pickup truck maximum towing rating
- *6 AAA Fuel Gauge Report fuel economy figures as of Nov. 21, 2014 – $2.84 regular gasoline, $3.60 diesel price
- *7 32 gallon fuel tank
- AAA fuel economy figures
- *8 Based on EPA estimated combined fuel economy ratings of 2.7 liter EcoBoost 4×2 (22 mpg) vs. Ram EcoDiesel (23 mpg)
Epic World-Record Truck Jump by EMC and Lotus F1 Team
Cadillac has changed, and Uwe Ellinghaus wants you to get over it
Cadillac chief marketing officer Uwe Ellinghaus is an energetic guy—the kind who taps the tabletop for emphasis in conversation—and he doesn’t mince words. We sat down with the man at the L.A. show and got his lively, spirited take on Cadillac’s plans to match the German marques’ sales volumes—with new small sedans, more crossovers, and, yes, a passionless alphanumeric naming convention—as well as the importance of the high-performance V line and how Cadillac can succeed against what he calls “cold, soulless, sterile” competition.
RS: How much of your strategy is focused on the V series of high-performance Cadillacs?
UE: I’m of the opinion that, to a certain extent, V could really create a halo effect for the brand, because it shows our engineering capabilities better than any other car. [Those cars] cannot just rival Germany’s best, they will simply beat them, and they’ve already started doing that. These cars show how serious we are in transforming the brand, and that we are really serious when we say we build the cars that the German competitors no longer build. Not that they have unlearned the capabilities, but their volume aspirations are such that they can no longer afford to build the driver’s cars that are so nimble, quick, and fun as the ATS and CTS.
What about the competition’s performance cars?
I really think we have a unique advantage [over M, AMG, and Audi RS] to build an alternative for high-performance drivers who pay more consideration to the design of the car. We want to be a little bolder than the Germans, we want to be a little more unapologetic than they can be. The CTS-V, believe it or not, has significantly younger and far wealthier customers than the [regular] CTS. Wealthy you would expect, given the price tag, younger you probably wouldn’t because of the price tag. This is a clientele who so far do not really fully get behind Cadillac, because they still have a little bit of the legacy of a grandfather’s car.
So you’re totally abandoning the old luxury ideal?
Yes. Absolutely. Completely. There was no way forward with the positioning that Cadillac had, because nobody wants a couch potato [car] any longer. Everybody wants good-looking and good-driving cars that have a certain responsiveness, and that aren’t arousing the sensation that you are sitting on a cushion.
There is no denying Cadillac needed to change, and I think this territory that the Germans left and we are just about to conquer is very promising because of the ubiquity of the Germans in suburbia. And I think the more cars they sell, the more people will think twice if they want the same brand that a third of the neighborhood already has. That’s why I think the best time for Cadillac is yet to come.
But we also learned on the sales front that our cars need to earn their way in. Because we haven’t made performance-oriented cars in the past, they are smaller than Cadillacs used to be, they have this new design line that is still distinctive, but is no longer as bulky or massive, people need to get their heads around it, and see that this [Ellinghaus points at the newly unveiled ATS-V nearby] is the new Cadillac.
What about the Escalade?
The Escalade is a terrific car, and I love it to pieces. It is an icon. But it’s not the pinnacle of Cadillac. Yes, in terms of the price point, but not in terms of image, the car that people aspire to. It is simply a little too polarizing to do this job. You either love SUVs or you hate SUVs. So I think from a product point of view, we need nothing more than a top-of-the-range sedan to show that our aspirations are not ending with the CTS here. And of course the CT6 that we already announced will do this job. SUVs resonate more naturally with the brand perception of Cadillac, whereas people still need to understand that when it comes to sedans, [there is a] new Cadillac. It takes time.
What makes the CT6 the flagship for Cadillac?
Dimensionally, it’s a significantly bigger car than the CTS, but the great thing about it is that due to lightweight technologies that our engineers use, the weight of this car is about the same weight as a CTS. Just imagine a car that has the driving characteristic of a 5 Series but the dimensions of a 7 Series. That is what the CT6 will be.
Who is your ideal Cadillac customer?
I don’t care. I want the brand to appeal to everybody who likes the values, appreciates the products, and has the means to buy them. You do not gain appreciation by overtly signaling who you appeal to. So I absolutely struggle with any segmentation of our customers, saying to me “your ideal customer is Mr. X, 35 years old, living there, having this hobby and this job.” Forget it. You simply need to like it, and of course in luxury you need to have the financial means to buy it.
I also don’t buy that younger customers are by definition better than older customers. Because age and wealth correlate highly—too bad for us younger people. And I want to appeal to young customers, but I don’t want to lose our old customers. I have no issue with the average age of an XTS customer because they stay healthy, they have the means, and they keep buying cars. And it makes money! So who am I to say, “no, we need to focus on a certain target customer”?
How do you change Cadillac significantly without alienating legacy customers?
We do alienate some customers. But to a certain extent you cannot have it all. And we must simply accept that we are currently in a situation—and it explains our sales results in the U.S.—that we lose our previous customers because they, to a certain extent, wonder why Cadillac has changed direction. And as much as they like the cars they are driving, they realize how different the new cars are.
And if you take the CTS as an example, not all but some [previous CTS buyers] cannot make the price walk to the new CTS, which is about $8000 more. But do we want to be a luxury brand at eye-level with BMW, Mercedes, and Audi? If so, we simply need to accept that we will lose customers on our way. Once we conquer more customers who like the new Cadillac, who cares about those that have left the brand? I am very optimistic that, over time, people will get their heads around that this is the new Cadillac, not just the cold, soulless, sterile German perfection.
You’ve said before that you want Cadillac to be proudly American, yet you were not a fan of how the controversial “Poolside” commercial portrayed that identity. [Note: While this commercial aired after Ellinghaus took over as CMO, the decision to run it predated him.] How do you emphasize Cadillac’s American roots without rehashing “Poolside”?
“Poolside” will not see a repetition, for sure. We will not poke at other nations. That’s not the way forward in building a global brand. What I do want to keep, though, is the point of view. Whether you liked “Poolside” or not, it had a point of view. I want distinctive communication. I do not want car porn. I do not want to just show beautiful product shots of cars. I want to capture people’s imaginations. I always say, I want to build the first luxury brand that just happens to sell cars. Luxury brands don’t sell products, they sell dreams.
How will I deal with the Americana? I will not use the words “American Luxury” anymore. What is the difference to European luxury? It’s not meaningful, and if you need to say that you are luxury, you are not luxury. Only the worst real-estate people that need to get rid of totally shabby rental flats put signs out that say “luxury rental.” That’s about where luxury ended as a word.
What I think is universal in its appeal is the American spirit. This optimism. This belief that the future is better than the past. And that has appeal in China as well as in Europe. So we will have American backdrops that are recognizable as American in our communications, but we will avoid clichés. So no Route 66. Don’t expect an Empire State Building.
Yet the new alphanumeric naming convention seems so European, so German.
Yes, I know, I know, and everybody is accusing me of lip service when I say we are not German and that’s a good thing, and how I want to reinforce the Americana. But honestly it is not [lip service]. My issue is that we need to give our cars proper mental places in our own hierarchy and across the competition. And ATS, CTS, XTS, you need to be in the car industry to figure out where they are size-wise. When you say A4, A6, A8, 3 Series, 5 Series, 7 Series, you immediately realize. My argument is simple: BMW, Audi, Mercedes have a clearer nomenclature than we do. Many others as well. We need to play within the laws of the brands that make 80 percent of the volume of luxury cars. And our customers come to our showrooms and—whether we like it or not—they say stupid things like, “Cadillac, what’s your 5 Series? Cadillac, what’s your A4?” Hierarchy is not a German invention, they just adhere better to it.
But you have such a rich history of evocative names—Seville, DeVille, Eldorado...
Yes, DeVille was far more exciting, Eldorado was far more exciting. But I don’t want nameplates to be exciting, because I want to build a Cadillac brand. The brand must be the driver of passion, and the cars and nomenclature should just sort themselves out. So I take all the blame—oh boy, and I have tons of it, on my desk, on all the blogs—and I fully accept it, but there’s no way around it. Don’t forget, we will expand our product portfolio, and if we keep the three letters, we will definitely confuse customers.
So I know [the nomenclature] sounds German, although it isn’t—it’s just logical and hierarchical. People outside of car nuts and automotive journalists have a hard time memorizing all the names Cadillac used in the past anyway. They are no longer meaningful. Let’s face it, those cars weren’t anywhere near as good as today’s cars are, so those names are not arousing for those that still remember them.
Among luxury brands, who else is doing the kind of branding you want for Cadillac?
I will deliberately shy away from the example that everybody gives in this case: “Everybody wants to be Apple.” No. We want to remain Cadillac. But Apple teaches us one thing: The convergence of design and technology. And that’s something that’s highly relevant for Cadillac. Expect our future appearance to be, let’s say, more human than the Germans are—light, a look and feel that is definitely contemporary American. There is a cool America out there, and this is what I want.
Kia Sorento Wolverine Car Revealed
Kia has revealed their new Kia Sorento Wolverine, a car based on Wolverine from the X-Menmovies (via Motorward). The car is a promotional device intended to drum up hype for the Blu-ray release of X-Men: Days of Future Past.
The Kia Sorento Wolverine is based on the 2016 model Sorento, with a black paint job, and Wolverine’s signature claws in the front and back.
With Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman being Australian, Kia will be showing the car off at the Australian Open, which they are the primary sponsor of.
5 Things You Need to Know About the 2016 Mustang Shelby GT350’s Flat-Crank V-8
Ford finally unveiled its new Mustang Shelby GT350 track scalpel this week, and the car is packed with tons of interesting details—but none as tantalizing as the Blue Oval’s first-ever flat-plane-crankshaft engine, a 5.2-liter screamer of a V-8.
We still don’t know some of the most important details, like exact output or how much the car will cost, nor do we even have photos of the engine or its internals. But that doesn’t mean we weren’t able to squeeze some of the Ford personnel involved with the GT350 for more information about the heart that beats under this monster’s hood.
1. It’s Ford’s most powerful naturally aspirated engine ever—and revs to 8000-plus-rpm.
Ford has been all about forced induction lately, with turbocharged EcoBoosts finding their way into everything from the tiny Fiesta to the massive 2015 F-150. For the GT350, however, Ford skipped the turbos—and the supercharger of the GT500—and opted for the low inertia and high rpm of a naturally aspirated mill. To this formula, it added a flat-plane crankshaft, which optimizes breathing and evenly spaces exhaust pulses in both cylinder banks by having the crank pins attached at 180-degree intervals. The upshot is more power and the ability to rev to the high heavens. With more than 500 horses and maximum torque somewhere north of 400 lb-ft and an indicated redline of a staggering 8200 rpm, it’s certainly a Ford engine unlike any other.
2. Coyote foundation, but not a parts-bin build.
2. Coyote foundation, but not a parts-bin build.
The engine may have been birthed from the same architecture as the 435-hp Coyote 5.0 from the new Mustang GT, but nearly everything has been replaced. The new 5.2-liter engine has its own block casting, new crankshaft (duh), new pistons, new connecting rods, new heads, new cams, new intake, new oil pan, and a new harmonic balancer to smooth out the flat-plane’s inherently tricky vibrations. The only carry-overs from the Coyote 5.0 are hangers-on such as the alternator and starter and a few small components in the valvetrain. The 5.2 also utilizes plasma-transferred wire-arc cylinder coatings like the outgoing GT500.
3. It’s lighter than the Coyote 5.0-liter.
Ford’s folks steadfastly refused to divulge concrete numbers, but performance division chief engineer Kerry Baldori said the 5.2 “definitely has a weight advantage” over the 5.0. We already love the moves of the latest10Best-winning GT, so we’re completely stoked to find out what pulling a bit of weight off the nose—combined with the GT350’s myriad other chassis tweaks—does to a V-8 Mustang. Also saving weight: There won’t be a plastic engine cover.
4. It’ll kind of bolt right in to your 2015 Mustang GT.
Since it’s based on 5.0 architecture, the new engine—which was known as Voodoo in development—shouldbolt right in to the Mustang GT. You’ll have to swap the exhaust for the one meant for the flat-crank V-8, but otherwise all the necessary holes should line up. There’s no official word on whether a crate Voodoo will make its way to the Ford Racing catalog, although Baldori called it “a great opportunity.” Read what you will into that.
5. Finally, the flat-crank V-8 sounds like this (the good stuff comes in about 57 seconds in)
5. Finally, the flat-crank V-8 sounds like this (the good stuff comes in about 57 seconds in)
Friday, November 21, 2014
Henrik Fisker and Galpin Auto Sports launch an aggressive, powerful, and unique S550—the 2015 Mustang Rocket
Since the launch of the 2015 Mustang, we have already seen an astounding number of variations on the S550 theme. From a wide variety of custom Mustang at The SEMA Show to the recent unveiling of the Shelby GT350, these cars have made it clear that the Mustang is still the car to customize. However, the wildest variation yet is born of the partnership of Henrik Fisker and Galpin Autosports. It’s called theRocket.
Henrik is the man behind Fisker Automotive, builders of the Fisker Karma, and Galpin Auto Sports and GFMI Metalcrafters brought his take on the new Mustang to life. It features a unique fascia, hood, fender flares, and rear spoiler—all made from carbon fiber! Its scoops and vents are designed to improve cooling and reduce lift, while its splitter and rear spoiler are there to add downforce at high speeds.
“Mustang has been my favorite car for almost my entire life. I had the pleasure of working with Ford’s development team for the last few years, and I think they absolutely nailed it. So of course, I wanted to do something really special when the new Mustang came out,” Galpin’s President, Beau Boeckmann, said. “When Henrik showed me his ideas, I got chills—it’s literally the most beautiful Mustang I have ever seen. Considering it’s our top product for customizing and performance at GAS, it is a natural fit for us to try to make the performance stand out as much as the design does. Doing this project with my dear friend Henrik—who I consider one of the greatest designers of all time—is simply a dream come true!”
This car will also have the performance to back up its bold looks. A supercharged, 725-horsepower Coyote will launch the Rocket, and massive, 15-inch Brembo brakes will bring it in for a safe landing. The functional body work also serves to cool the rear brakes by ducting air from scoops on the fenders to the Brembos. In all, it looks to be a well-rounded package for someone that wants a unique Mustang.
“It’s a special moment when you get to work on a car like the Ford Mustang. This is a project born out of passion, it’s a dream come true, to have the opportunity to ‘touch’ a Mustang and apply my design ideas to it,” Henrik said. “I love the ’60s American muscle cars. They are more sculptured, with more radical proportions and bold details than European counterparts. My favorite Mustang is the 1968 Shelby GT500 that had this long hood and huge air intakes; it gave me butterflies the first time I saw it. We wanted to recreate that feeling with this car.”
“Ford’s engineers and Moray Callum’s design team did an amazing job with the new Mustang,” he added. “So good in fact, I think the design additions and power upgrades we have made to the car help it play in a higher league, against much more expensive supercars!”
The cars begin production next month, and they should be available in the first quarter of 2015.You will be able to order one of these low-volume creations right from Galpin Ford or via a selection of hand-picked dealers across the globe.
The Mod List
• Handmade carbon-fiber body constructed by GFMI Metalcrafters, Inc.
• 725 hp V8 Engine
• 15-inch Brembo Grand Turismo Brakes
• Custom Silver Éminence Grise Body Color
• 21-inch ADV.1 Wheels w/Pirelli P-Zero Tires
• Front/Rear Fully-Adjustable Ind. Suspension
• Hexagonal Carbon Fiber Grill
• Integrated Rear Spoiler
• Custom Sculptured Flared Fenders
• Front Splitter
• Enlarged Rear Diffuser
• Polished Carbon Fiber Aero Skirts
• 725 hp V8 Engine
• 15-inch Brembo Grand Turismo Brakes
• Custom Silver Éminence Grise Body Color
• 21-inch ADV.1 Wheels w/Pirelli P-Zero Tires
• Front/Rear Fully-Adjustable Ind. Suspension
• Hexagonal Carbon Fiber Grill
• Integrated Rear Spoiler
• Custom Sculptured Flared Fenders
• Front Splitter
• Enlarged Rear Diffuser
• Polished Carbon Fiber Aero Skirts
Thursday, November 20, 2014
The Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 diesel concept is amazing
The 2015 Chevrolet Colorado has already, single-handedly, brought the smallish-sized pickup truck segment back from the dead. The Tacoma and Frontier have been the sole holdouts in the segment for years, and they are creaking and groaning under the weight of carrying water for the entire US medium truck market.
And then, Chevy shows off a segment-busting diesel-powered concept. The Colorado ZR2 Concept pairs a storied offroad trim package with the new-to-the-US 2.8-liter four cylinder diesel, branded as a Duramax. Other tweaks are a 4-inch wider stance front and rear, a 2-inch lift, a revised front fascia that eliminates some overhang, and integral skid plates. The combination is good for increased approach and departure angles (30.7 and 22.7 degrees respectively), and upgraded offroading capabilities thanks in part to monotube King coilovers with remote fluid reservoirs and electronic-locking differentials front and rear.
Those are pretty much all the goodies you'd want to bolt onto a stock Colorado to hit the dirt anyhow. And it looks a lot more aggressive than the handsome stock truck. That revised front end, the fender flares, the bead-lock wheels, the front tow-hook … it all looks great.
And that Duramax is what makes it all work. In case you don't recall, the 2.8-liter four puts out 181 hp at 3400 RPM and 369-lb-ft of torque at 2000 RPM, thanks in part to a variable-geometry turbocharger. All of that rock-crawling torque is pushed through a 6-speed auto in this concept.
If Chevy actually builds the Duramax-powered Colorado ZR2 Concept, it'll be completely unique in the segment, and it should have diesel-heads and offroad enthusiasts foaming at the mouth.
The Shelby GT350 will only be a coupe
If your reaction to the 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 unveiling this week included thoughts along the lines of, "Man, I cannot WAIT for the convertible," well, you will in fact be waiting a long time. Like, forever.
Unlike the GT500 that preceded it, don't look for Ford to pull the wraps off a ragtop at the Chicago Auto Show (where the GT500 verts usually made their debut). A convertible, we're told, was never in the product plan. And the reasoning is simple (and obvious): the GT350 is about maximum performance and carving up road circuits. Cutting the roof off would reduce stiffness so much, that the point of the GT350 would be negated. It's the same reason we didn't see a Z/28 convertible from Chevy.
That's not to say a max-perf convertible can't happen with the right chassis. For that, you need only look at the Corvette Z06, whose ragtop version is still a huge leap ahead of the old car. Frankly, I think GM should troll the universe and use a convertible automatic to set their undoubtedly fast Ring time, but I digress.
Also not in the cards for the GT350? An automatic—no surprise, as the GT500 never got one either. And sorry, Australia, while you guys are getting a right-hand-drive Mustang, the Shelby will only be built in a left-hand-drive configuration.
The best part of the GT350 story is that the car in LA isn't even the true Z/28 stalker. That'll be the still-behind-the-curtain GT350R (to put it in context, the R will be the Laguna Seca to the GT350's Boss 302), and it should be ultramega great. Look for that one—with better brakes, tweaked aero, stickier rubber, and more—in Detroit come January.
Just a reminder that the 2015 Corvette Z06 sounds amazing Seriously, just listen.
So yeah. This video...it's pretty great. The venue is Road Atlanta, where Chevy held the media launch for the 2015 Corvette Z06. As such, the track was full of Z06es doing Z06 things, namely moving with urgency and sounding the business. This week has been largely about the Shelby GT350 and how incredible its flat-plane 5.2L V8 sounds.
But let this serve as a reminder that the Corvette Z06's pushrod LT4 V8 gives it a run for its money in the audio department. This is ear sex writ large. Enjoy:
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
The Audi Prologue concept is the future of Audi design
How big is it? Imagine a really sexy A8, minus two doors—the Prologue is essentially as wide and long as the sedan, but the roofline is much lower than the A8's formal limousine profile. If you're rooting for this to get greelit for production, join the club. The concept car's power comes from a monster version of Audi's 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, whose wick is dialed up to 605 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque (553 lb-ft with overboost), channeled through an 8-speed auto to all four wheels via quattro. Audi saus 0–60 takes just 3.7 ticks. All-wheel sterering is part of the package, as are giant carbon-ceramic brakes behind the 22-inch wheels—the front rotors are 20 inches in diameter and squeezed by six-piston calipers. The whole car weighs in at 4365 pounds.
There's no mistaking this for an Audi, mind you, but the changes pull the design language forward. The shield grille is shorter, wider and mounted lower, making the front end look immediately sportier. The Eurofighter-style winglets under the air intakes are a nice touch. Move to the car's rear and gaze at the 3/4 view, and longtime Audi aficionados will see an nod to the beloved urQuattro in the form of a soft interpretation of that car's signature box-flared haunches. Up front, Audi's matrixed laser headlamps cut through the darkness,
Inside, we get a high-tech instrument panel that offers the necessary concept-car glitz, yet also reeks of feasibility. The Audi Virtual Cockpit, debuting in the new TT, is obviously in place, but in lieu of physical controls, well, anywhere, the car is loaded with high-resolution, touch-sensitive displays on the dash face itself. The areas on either side of the wheel let the driver control the essentials like lighting and media. The area in front of the passenger seat also lets that person control entertainment features and perform tasks like entering navigation info, which can then be swiped, tablet style, to the driver.
In lieu of the usual centrally mounted MMI screen, an OLED touch-sensitive panel lives in the transmission tunnel. When not in use, Audi says it's essentially invisible. Some of the aforementioned gee-whiz stuff may sound somewhat familiar, because BMW took a similar approach with the cabin of its Future Luxury concept last year. Clearly, this is the direction in which the luxury automakers are headed.
If this is how Audi sends us into its take on our luxury-car future, well, all the better.
2016 Mazda CX-3: The sportiest small crossover?
The reveal of an all-new subcompact crossover typically elicits reactions from us that border on comatose. We look up, shrug, and then pour a beer and fantasize about all the bolt-ons we want to buy for our track cars. Or that classic Ford Bronco we could totally bring back from the brink of death. To this bleak landscape comes Mazda, bursting in with its all-new CX-3, talking up a storm about driving pleasure and Jinba-Ittai at the 2014 L.A. auto show. Hold that beer a sec, will ya?
Miata fans will recognize the phrase, which in Japanese loosely translates to: “man, horse, one body.” Over the years, it has come to define Mazda’s philosophy for the MX-5 Miata and is a perfect distillation of the company’s efforts to entertain drivers. To Mazda, Jinba-Ittai represents the ideal mixture of handling, power, braking, and steering. No single element overpowers the other. They’re all balanced and easily exploited by the pilot, and the idea that Mazda even considered this when developing the CX-3 is cause for enthusiasts to stop and take notice.
It Looks Great
Sharing the attractive Kodo design language with the brand’s Mazda3, Mazda6, CX-5, and the upcoming Mazda2, the new SUV features a tight greenhouse perched atop flowing fender flares. In top-spec trims, the CX-3 wears 18-inch wheels that fill the cutouts nicely and impart an athletic stance. The front and rear end treatments are essentially scaled down versions of the CX-5’s. This is not a bad thing.
The passenger cabin is very similar to the 2016 Mazda 2’s, which should come as no surprise given that the two share a platform. In fact, the CX-3’s Italianate three-vent dashboard and neat center stack appear to be swiped directly from the 2. Style and substance abounds, with a high-resolution, seven-inch touchscreen center display, a McLaren-style three-pod gauge cluster, and an infotainment control knob that'd look at home in a BMW 7-series.
SKYACTIV-ate
Mazda’s full suite of Skyactiv engine, transmission, and chassis technologies is on display here. Essentially a strict weight-control regimen blended with efficient-but-powerful engines, the Skyactiv ethos is intended to keep fuel economy in check without murdering the driving experience. The wheelbase measures 101.2 inches, exactly the same as the 2016 Mazda 2. Other CX-3 dimensions are slightly bloated relative to the global Mazda2, including its 168.3-inch length (8.5 inches longer) to its 69.5-inch width (2.8 inches wider) to its 61.0-inch height (1.9 taller).
All US-market 2016 CX-3s will be powered by Mazda’s 2.0-liter Skyactiv four-cylinder paired with a six-speed automatic. Although we lament the unavailability of a manual transmission (Mazda is torturing us by having a global model with the stick on the show display), Mazda’s in-house automatic is among the better such gearboxes we’ve sampled. No further details have been provided for the CX-3’s engine, but the same unit produces 155 horsepower and 150 lb-ft of torque in the abundantly fun Mazda3, specifications we expect will carry over nearly—or totally—unchanged. If that’s the case, look out, as a2014 Mazda3 with the same powertrain that CAR and DRIVER tested hit 60 mph in 7.6 seconds.
Front-wheel drive is standard, and an all-wheel-drive system derived from the CX-5’s is optional. Choosing four driven wheels adds extra bracing for the body around the spare-tire well and behind the rear seats. On the safety front, Mazda’s i-Activsense bundle of technologies is promised; that means that blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning, rear cross-traffic alert, radar-based collision warning with automatic braking, and even adaptive cruise control should be offered on the CX-3.
Expect full specifications, features, and pricing to trickle out over the next several months as we approach the CX-3’s mid-2015 on-sale date. The most important missing detail, of course, is how the CX-3 lives up to its sporty promise. The most recent Mazdas are, frankly, a ball to drive, so we can't wait to get our hands on the CX-3.
Take a look at the Subaru Viziv GT Vision Gran Turismo
Subaru has fully revealed the fully-digital Viziv GT Vision Gran Turismo, which will find its way into Gran Turismo 6 when the next update happens. It took up the mantle from the Viziv 2 Concept that debuted at the Geneva show earlier this year, but this is clearly a much more extreme version of a vaguely similar idea.
A dried fish? Yes, but think of it more like the Japanese version of truffles, a savory delicacy. Andkatsuobushi is hard, like wood. The device to shave it looks like a woodworker's tool. It's a delicacy with an iconic shape. Very Japanese, right?
Leaving the katsuobushi aside, the virtual Viziv GT is powered (virtually) by a 2-liter boxer four featuring both direct injection and turbocharging to the tune of 591 imaginary horsepower.
The Viziv GT has one fun detail: little lights over each fender that light up when the axle is receiving torque vectoring courtesy of three electric motors, one up front and two in the rear, which provide AWD. Subaru compares it to their iconic "Symmetrical AWD" in an attempt to link it to their road-going cars, but this is a hybrid system unlike anything the company is doing now.
The Viziv GT has one fun detail: little lights over each fender that light up when the axle is receiving torque vectoring courtesy of three electric motors, one up front and two in the rear, which provide AWD. Subaru compares it to their iconic "Symmetrical AWD" in an attempt to link it to their road-going cars, but this is a hybrid system unlike anything the company is doing now.
Maybe it's where the company is headed? Mitsubishi is already going down that road. Enthusiasts will scream bloody murder, but this could be a sneak peek at a hybridized, CUV-like future for the iconic WRX and STI. Or it could just be a digital flight of fancy, which of course it is.
Patrick Dempsey is ready to do a LOT more racing in 2015
Actor, team owner and Porsche spokesman Patrick Dempsey is expected to announce an ambitious racing schedule that will see the 48-year-old contest a portion of the domestic TUDOR United SportsCar Championship rounds and as many international events with the World Endurance Championship that fit his calendar. Multiple sources have confirmed Dempsey will place most of his emphasis on the WEC as part of an expanded relationship with Porsche where he’ll return to contest his fourth 24 Hours of Le Mans in partnership with the German Proton Competition team.
Dempsey, Dempsey Racing co-owner Joe Foster, and Porsche factory driver Patrick Long piloted the No. 88 Dempsey Racing-Proton Porsche 911 RSR in the GTE-Am category this year at Le Mans, placing fifth in class, and will continue the relationship at La Sarthe and other WEC rounds with a driver lineup expected to feature another Porsche factory driver. Foster will concentrate on Dempsey Racing’s return to a series in North America, and will not be involved in Dempsey’s racing plans in the WEC or the TUDOR Championship.
Dempsey Racing entered two Porsche GT Americas in the inaugural TUDOR Championship’s GT Daytona class, with Dempsey, Foster, and Andrew Davis sharing the No. 27 while Madison Snow, Jan Heylen, and others shared the No. 58 that was run in a partnership with Wright Motorsports that began in Detroit. Dempsey’s TUDOR Championship plans are said to include at least the first two rounds of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Championship at Daytona and Sebring in a Wright Motorsports Porsche featuring Snow and at least one factory driver. It’s believed the season finale at Petit Le Mans is also a high probability, and compared to the costly season of GTD incurred by Dempsey Racing, the blended WEC/IMSA arrangement is said to offer a friendlier rate due to the Porsche factory’s increased commitment to Dempsey’s racing activities.
The full measure of Dempsey’s plans is expected to be revealed this week during the LA Auto Show.
Four reasons Ford should race the Mustang at Le Mans
There’s a lot of backchannel chatter about Ford and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We hear a P2 proposal is out there, just waiting to be approved. For a number of reasons, it makes sense. We also heard that someone inside floated the idea of a GT campaign, timed to to coincide with the Mustang’s 50thanniversary, but got shut down. But minds can be changed. Here’s why we think a Ford Mustang needs to run against the world’s best GT cars at the world’s greatest endurance race.1. The car would be spectacular
Sure, the spaceships in P1 are cool, and the insectine P2 cars have their appeal, but the GT cars evoke an entirely different sort of passion. It’s easy to see why—they’re based on real production sports cars. You know them. You see them on the street. And if you have the means, you can buy them.
They’re also wicked-looking in all the right ways. A GTE-class Mustang would be no different. The drawing above, created for us by the immensely talented Andy Blackmore, shows what a proper factory Le Mans Mustang might look like—wide, mean, and confident. With the impending arrival of the new Shelby GT350, Ford has a legitimate halo car on which to base the racer, too. 
The Marshall Pruett Archives
The Marshall Pruett Archives2. From a marketing perspective, it’s a no-brainer
We’re in the midst of the Mustang’s 50th anniversary celebration, with the brand-new car landing in showrooms later this year. Interest is at a fever pitch, and the announcement of a Le Mans program would ramp it up even further.
Also remember that the 2015 Mustang finally goes global. Ford’s pony car will be sold in Europe, meaning a competition version at Le Mans wouldn’t just be an American-market novelty act. Race attendees would be able to buy their own. Ford knows that as well as anyone. Win on Sunday …
Also remember that the 2015 Mustang finally goes global. Ford’s pony car will be sold in Europe, meaning a competition version at Le Mans wouldn’t just be an American-market novelty act. Race attendees would be able to buy their own. Ford knows that as well as anyone. Win on Sunday …
Meanwhile, stateside race fans would get to see it run against the GT big guns in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. Don’t think IMSA wouldn’t love to have Mustang in the mix on that race calendar.
3. Ford vs. Chevy (and Ferrari, and Porsche, and Aston Martin)
Look past P1 with its insane lunar-mission budgets and bleeding-edge technology, and it’s undeniable: The next most attractive class is GTE, thanks to the heavy manufacturer involvement. You'd have instant, juicy rivalries.
Corvette, Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin all have factory-backed teams in the GTE slugfest. It only gets better if Dodge returns with its works Vipers after taking a sabbatical this year.
There’d be no shortage of “villains” for the Mustang faithful to root against and gloat over if Ford were to pull off a win.
There’d be no shortage of “villains” for the Mustang faithful to root against and gloat over if Ford were to pull off a win.
Ford in P2 should be great, but it's not the same. A Ford-engined prototype vs. Honda, Nissan, and Judd power just doesn’t have the same cachet as, say, Mustang vs. Corvette.
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The Marshall Pruett Archives4. The history is waiting to be written
There’s great Le Mans history tied to Ford and Carroll Shelby, but it’s not about the Mustang. We all know about the GT40’s incredible run from ’66 to ‘69 and about the legendary 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe.
The Mustang? No success.
In 1967, a Shelby GT350 driven by the Belgian team of Claude Dubois and Chris Tuerlinckx completed just 58 laps. 30 years later, Steve Saleen went to Le Mans and fielded a pair of his Saleen-Allen Speedlab Mustang RRR race cars. Both were DNFs.
Ford has had great success with the Mustang in sports-car racing—think of the legendary Trans-Am cars as well as the wild IMSA GTO and GTP monsters—but it’s got no history on the sport’s grandest stage.
It’s time to change that.
Send the Mustang to Le Mans, and race to win.
