From 1968 until 1976, BMW produced what is probably considered the very first sport compact vehicle – the 2002. Based on the 1600 chassis and a follow up to the successful and popular 1500, the 2002 was powered by a 120bhp engine, later upgraded to a 170bhp engine in the 2002 Turbo. I drove one a number of years ago and it was compact, nimble and handled well. I’ve even seen a custom variant of this thing, with an E36 M3 engine swapped in for good measure. These cars had character, something cars nowadays seem to lack in droves.
In recent times, BMW has been producing some ugly cars – thanks to Chris Bangle – and letting the design philosophy permeate up and down the entire lineup. The 3-series looks like the 5-series looks like 6-series looks like the 7-series. BORING. And the beltline of these cars have been getting bigger and bigger. The ultimate driving machine they are not, as there are equally spirited options available from the likes of Audi, Cadillac and Lexus. And frankly, when you see ten 3-series roaming around town every day, the exclusivity level just went straight down the toilet.
Howdy everybody! It’s me again, Dr. VW. As promised in the first part of this series, here is the second installment of our Auto Adventure! Last time we left off with a list of cars that everyone and their brother salivates over, but I’m choosing to ignore. Today I’m going to award my first Best of Show pick, but you have to hit the jump to find out what it is! Read More >>
User Turbine submitted this pretty bitchin’ video (for a farmer to watch) the other day on the main site. It’s a single horsepower drift and it serves as the highlight of this holiday weekend for me… Enjoy the snow, folks! I couldn’t be happier that I’m back in Culver City after spending a snowy Holiday in Denver.
Howdy everyone! It’s Dr. VW checking in for the first Auto Adventures, the San Diego Auto Show. This little adventure is going to be presented in 6 parts, my 5 top picks of the show and 1 little summary of who didn’t make the cut. Hit the jump for the scoop…
Variety magazine reported in September that there will be a new Knight Rider pilot airing on NBC soon. Doug Liman (yes, the guy that ruined Transformers) will be the “mastermind” behind the concept of the show, and they will most likely air this two-hour pilot in place of a rerun of Heroes or Bionic Woman.
Is the 2009 Nissan GT-R the second coming of Christ? I think not! It is, however, a very capable sports car when you’re looking at the lap times from Nurburgring. A stripped version in the spirit of the R34 N1 would be a step in the right direction when describing the car.
Putting the 2009 GT-R on a diet of 300 plus pounds would work wonders for it’s super car performance, why mess around?
It seems that it was just yesterday when AC was an “option” on cars. Nowadays, it’s practically impossible to find a car without it. It is also common knowledge that just about every car is controlled by computers in some fashion. It started off with EFI, and has led to complex adaptive suspensions and multimode traction control that varies depending on weather conditions or your preset mode.
An often forgotten upgrade for most enthusiasts is chassis tuning. Sure, more power is added through forced induction, intake this, header that and so on. But with increased speed comes increased demand for chassis tuning. Although unseen, a vehicle’s chassis is twisted and bent in minute increments every time the chassis takes a load from braking, acceleration, cornering and so on. During cornering, for example, the chassis is twisted in different directions and there’s a kinetic energy transfer from the compression of the tire sidewalls, lateral load and suspension compression to the suspension mounting point. This kinetic energy is then converted into mechanical energy, twisting the chassis as a result.
To prevent this kinetic energy transfer and keep the wheels glued to the ground as much as possible, chassis tuning is necessary. Obviously, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution is a pretty stout vehicle from the factory – one look under the car at the suspension arms, for example, would give a huge clue as to the overengineered and overbuilt nature of this vehicle. But any vehicle will benefit from the addition of a myriad of chassis tuning parts that are available in the marketplace.
We called up WORKS in San Rafael, CA, for their delicious and track-tested chassis tuning components. Considering that they are US-based, have several real engineers on staff and have a development facility right on the grounds of the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, we were sold. Also worth mentioning is that all of their product installation instructions included torque specs of every bolt and nut that need to be tightened / retightened after the installs. THAT is some thinking from a manufacturer’s standpoint. Major props go out for taking this extra step for their customers.
For the past century, men have been dreaming of flying cars. Many attempts have been made to make the complexity of flight simple and user friendly. Cell Craft thinks that it may hold the answer with its G440.
As it stands, the FAA requires at least $6000 and 40 combined hours of instruction and solo flights in various conditions before issuing a private pilot license which will allow a person to take passengers in single prop aircraft. These requirements put flight out of reach or just make it undesirable for many people. So the drive to make a flying car which is accessible to the normal person has been the dream of many and there have been some very notable attempts. Hit the jump to find out what I’m talking about. Read More >>
