Vespa releases new, more fuel efficient 150cc engines
Filed under: MPG, On Two Wheels
2011 Vespa LX 150 – Click above for high-res image gallery
An engine displacing just 150 cubic centimeters is bound to be pretty fuel efficient, right? Still, improvements can always be found in the good old internal combustion engine, and we have to hand it to classic Italian scooter maker Vespa for finding a way to squeeze a but more mileage from its single cylinder, four-stroke mill.
Vespa’s new Eco-Smart fuel injected engine will be standard in the company’s 2011 S, LX and LXV 150 models, using 15 percent less fuel than the 2010 editions. In addition to providing 85 miles per gallon, Vespa says that its new powerplant offers a smoother powerband for stop-and-go riding. Fortunately, the increase in efficiency hasn’t had an adverse effect on performance. Vespa’s 2011 150cc models can each hit a top speed of about 60 miles per hour, just like before. Hit the jump for the complete press release.
Gallery: 2011 Vespa LX 150
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Exclusive! Victor Muller Shows Us New Saab 92 Sketch, Calls it “Top Priority”
Spyker Saab Automobiles CEO Victor Muller (pictured above) has a design proposal for a modern Saab 92 on his Blackberry. And the car is stunning. It’s retro-futurist, as J Mays would call it, an interpretation of early Saabs drawing obvious comparisons between Mays’ Volkswagen New Beetle, the new Minis and Fiat 500. In the best tradition of Saab, it’s a polarizing design — you will love it if you’re a Saabanista. Or you will hate it. There will be no middle ground.
The renderings I saw combine cues from the raindrop-shaped 92 that launched Saab in 1949 (the 1953 Saab 92B is pictured in red) and the slightly more conventional-looking 93 (tan car) to 96 (in the snow) from the ’50s and ’60s. If Saab hadn’t stopped building its small Beetle-fighter, it would look like the car on Muller’s Blackberry.
Specifically, it exaggerates the wraparound backlight of the 96 (the 92 had a tiny split rear window) with a 92-like extremely fast roof, and the curvaceous, fuselage-style rear quarter panels. The roofline is so rakish that any back seat would be about as spacious as that in the VW New Beetle, or Hondas CRX and CR-Z. The rear quarter-panels flow into organically contoured doors, with a fairly low roofline. The 92′s nose looks like other current Saabs.
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Crashgate Keeps Gate Crashing: Piquets reportedly suing Briatore for libel
Filed under: Motorsports, Government/Legal, Renault
You didn’t actually think we’d heard the last of Crashgate, did you? The scandal that rocked the Formula One racing world last season and well into the post-season involved the Renault F1 team, its driver Nelson Piquet, Jr. and its top executives Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds.
For allegedly directing Piquet to crash on purpose during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, thereby handing the advantage to teammate Fernando Alonso, Briatore and Symonds were banned – permanently and temporarily, respectively – from the sport. Briatore eventually had the sentence overturned in French courts, and whistleblower/culprit Piquet found nothing but cold shoulders when it came time to find a new race seat.
As part of the ongoing debacle, the Renault team under Briatore’s direction issued a statement in September 2009 claiming that Piquet’s assertions were entirely fabricated. As a result, according to ESPN, Piquet and his three-time World Champion father are now suing the disavowed Briatore for slander, with punitive damages sought to the tune of £200,000 (about $300k). Considering how many millions the Piquet and Briatore estates must be worth, the six-figure sum seems like a drop in the bucket, but that’s still more than we could say for Nelsinho’s flash-in-the-pan career in F1 that didn’t even last two seasons.
[Source: ESPN]
Crashgate Keeps Gate Crashing: Piquets reportedly suing Briatore for libel originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Rumormill: All-new Passat debuting in Paris?
Filed under: Sedan, Wagon, Paris Motor Show, Volkswagen, Rumormill
According to Auto International, Volkswagen is set to release the latest update its Passat mid-size sedan at the upcoming Paris Motor Show. Further, the German automaker could have both the sedan and wagon versions already in European dealerships before the end of the year.
If there’s any truth to the rumor, the next Passat will get new bodywork but will share it basic structure with the current car, with major elements such as the roof going completely unchanged. In keeping with VW’s upscale theme for the Passat, the next-gen model is expected to offer such luxuries as reversing cameras, active cruise control and intelligent lighting.
Power will surely come from a number of gasoline and diesel engines, most employing some form of forced induction and displacing between 1.2 and 2.0 liters. In what appears to be a growing industry trend, larger V6 engines are said to be gone from the specifications list, although a hybrid and full electric model are supposedly planned for the next full redesign for the 2015 model year.
[Source: Auto International]
Rumormill: All-new Passat debuting in Paris? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The most expensive crossover in the world – Spyker Peking-to-Paris
The Dutch company Spyker, which recently became the owner of Saab, still will produce the fastest crossover in the world by the name – Peking-to-Paris. This became known after the presentation, which held the Spyker, transmits magazine AutoWeek. Spyker invented the world’s first all-wheel drive car with a 6-cylinder engine and brakes on all four wheels (model called Spyker 60 HP). A Spyker 18/22 HP participated in the rally Peking to Paris in 1907 and won the second place (in honor of the famous race and will be named the new car).
Peking-to-Paris, as we are assured the representatives themselves Spyker, will open an entirely new class of cars. It would not be familiar to all SUV, this is SSUV (Super Sport Utility Vehicle). Or, simply, supercrossover. The car was very elegant interior decoration, and under its hood will be 6,2-liter V8 engine with a compressor from the Chevrolet Corvette Z06. At this Corvette engine gives out 647 hp, however, engineers Spyker promise to modernize the power plant and to bring the power up to 700-750 hp
Via Cool Cars
Video: Chevrolet Cruze WTTC entry gets the time-lapse build treatment
Filed under: Motorsports, Budget, Sedan, Europe, Videos, Chevrolet
Chevrolet Cruze WTCC Build – Click above to watch the time-lapse video
Ah, the World Touring Car Championship. Whereas we Americans are led to believe that 35 identical cars with different sticker packages, all running around in circles for 500 miles somehow constitutes “stock car” racing, our cousins in Europe treat themselves to something entirely different. They pit production-based cars from just about every automaker out there against each other on a slew of very demanding road courses. As you might expect, carnage ensues, but so does some of the best fender-to-fender action found anywhere.
The crew from Ray Mallock, Ltd. have released a time-lapse video showing exactly what goes into turning a body-in-white Chevrolet Cruze into something fit for competition. Weeks of hard work gets distilled into a little under two minutes worth of entertainment. Who doesn’t love technology? Make the jump to see the video.
[Source: YouTube]
Continue reading Video: Chevrolet Cruze WTTC entry gets the time-lapse build treatment
Video: Chevrolet Cruze WTTC entry gets the time-lapse build treatment originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Maruti Suzuki Swift Specifications
Price: Rs 3,99,990/- to Rs 5,31,790/- (ex-showroom New Delhi)
Variants: LXi,VXi,ZXi (P) / LDi,VDi (D)
Dimensions
Length: 3695 mm
Width: 1690 mm
Height: 1530 mm
Wheel Base: 2390 mm
Front Track: 1470 mm
Rear Track: 1480 mm
Ground Clearence: 170 mm
Kreb Weight: 980 kgs (LXi), 1000 kgs (VXi), 1010 kgs (ZXi)
Gross Weight: 1415 kgs
No. of Doors: 5
Seating Capacity: 5 persons
Fuel Tank Capacity: 43 litres
Engine
