The Paris Motor Show has been pretty slow this year, without any major new cars or technology being showcased. However, Aston Martin decided to put its new supercar, the One-77, on display… at least some of it. While it seems like the car was completed and ready to be unveiled, they decided to put the car under a striped car cover with only the front headlight, grille, front fender, and a wheel sticking out. Read the rest of this entry »

It looks exactly as everyone expected it to look - a shorter IS250 with a retractable hardtop. Simplicity is good and it looks like Lexus did a fine job of removing the roof and rear doors off one of their best selling models. Read the rest of this entry »

Lamborghini’s plan to unveil their four door sedan was hampered by an over excited French website, which has leaked information and pictures of the new Lamborghini concept - The Estoque. This Lambo sedan looks like it will be competing with other “practical” exotic cars such as the Bentley Continental, Maserati Quattroporte, or the upcoming Porsche sedan. Read the rest of this entry »

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I’ll admit that I’ve been pulled over a couple times and I’ve also had a couple parking tickets, but my record is heavenly in comparison to a Brazilian speedster who’s garnered a whopping $1.9M in traffic fines. For that amount of money you could buy a Bugatti Veyron and have enough money leftover to buy an Aston Martin DBS and a Ferrari F430.

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Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here for this weeks installment of Foreign Fridays! This week, we’ll take a look at essentially the only new car I would seriously consider purchasing off the lot. The combination of power, aesthetics, and straight shooting performance at a reasonable price get me all goosepimply. Feast your eyes on the 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback by Ralliart! Read the rest of this entry »

Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here with this week’s edition of Foreign Fridays! As 2008 comes to a close (relatively), we’re beginning to see the final production photographs for many models. Today we’re going to talk about two cars that will not be making it to our shores, but were interesting enough to warrant discussion. One is definitely a sexy little hatch that I WISH would be brought over to America, and the other is well… an abortion that somehow made it through to production that I can only hope will never be brought here for any reason. Hit the jump to check em out. Read the rest of this entry »

My mother has always had a passion for Volvos, so when I suggested we drive down to our local dealership to check out the spunky Volvo C30 she was more than enthused. Upon arrival, I quickly pointed out the unique styling of the 4-seater C30, which churns out an impressive 227 horsepower with its 5-cylinder 2.5L turbo engine. Unfortunately, the fuel economy of 19 city and 27 highway wasn’t up to par for such a small vehicle. If it’s supposed to compare to the smaller Mini Cooper, then Volvo should refine the C30 to get at least 31mpg highway.

My experience test driving the C30 came back extremely positive. What stood out to me the most was the C30’s acceleration from 40mph to 80mph. There was absolutely no lack of power whatsoever. Acceleration from a standstill could use some improvement, but you can definitely feel the power under the hood. The interior of the C30 has a very unique control panel that offers storage space behind it. Check out the C30 profiled by WebRidesTV to get a clear view of the body. Volvo offers the C30 as a base trim or an R trim, which sports 2-tone leather seats, metal-accented interior, and a sweet underbody kit which would otherwise be plastic on the base trim.

After testing out the C30, my mother spotted the mid-size Volvo S60 2.5T and immediately fell in love with the classic Volvo styling. The S80 is a bit too long, and the S40 doesn’t look classy at all. It seems almost chubby. The biggest knock on the S60 is its rear legroom. The fuel economy of 19/27 is exactly like the C30, but it has a bigger cabin and larger trunk. Though the S60 only had 208 horsepower, the acceleration from a complete stop was better than the C30’s acceleration. Puzzling, isn’t it? The seats of the S60 were far more comfortable than those in the C30. Volvo is known for its ergonomic seats that really provide an extremely comfortable ride for all passengers and the S60 did not disappoint.

One question that I have yet to solve is: What are the S60’s competitors? The ES350 starts in the same price range, but the two cars are entirely different. The S60 has a sleek and more compact design while the ES350 is bulkier and not as sporty. A 3-Series is an orange if the S60 is an apple. Sure, both are European, but a 3-series is more luxurious and is definitely more sporty. Volvo doesn’t strive to be the most luxurious brand out there the way Lexus and BMW do. Comparing the S60 to a Mazda5 would be insulting. Perhaps a Volkswagen Passat can put up a good fight, but I’d pick a Volvo over a VW any day of the week.

Overall, I learned this weekend as to why my mother is so passionate about Volvo. The C30 and S60 are very sturdy, fun to drive, affordable, and designed to satisfy the customer. You might argue that all automakers are out to satisfy their customers, but  Vovlo does so by putting passenger safety first.

We’ve been hearing news about the Chevrolet Volt for almost two years now and today we finally get to see real pictures of the car! Along with some more concept photos (updated), a close to production version of the Volt was shown to the public. It certainly doesn’t look anything like the concept pictures that we’ve all been looking at, but it doesn’t look too shabby at all. Many have commented on its resemblance to the Acura TSX, which may not be such a bad thing. Read the rest of this entry »

Ford has just released some more info on its upcoming hot hatch, the 2009 Ford Focus RS. It will back up its super agressive looks with a Duratec 2.5 liter turbocharged engine. This motor will produce 300 horsepower and 325 ft-lbs of twist. This should propell the Focus to 60 MPH in less than six seconds. Top speed has been set at 162. Read the rest of this entry »

In this article from the NY Times, writer Kent Sepkowitz presents the simple idea of stopping chronic speeders in their tracks by building vehicles that simply don’t go faster than 75 MPH. Some statistics on speeding are presented on how the act of speeding may be correlated with accidents… but calling for all production cars to be gimped to 75 MPH is going too far. Then again… if this were to be fleshed out, Toyota Corollas eventually outrunning new Ferraris in a drag race would be common. Read the rest of this entry »