Archive for the ‘New Cars’ Category

Filed under: Budget, Sedan, Chevrolet, First Drive

Until now, General Motors hasn’t exactly taken the small-car market seriously. While Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and Kia have built their empires on the hoods of pint-sized, fuel-efficient transportation, history has shown the captains of Detroit tend to offer up parts-bin afterthoughts. Cars like the Chevrolet Cavalier and Cobalt have left a sour taste in the mouths of buyers thanks to noisy and de-contented cabins, rough engines and build quality that would make a Yugo blush. As a result, Americans have developed a sort of Pavolovian retch when we hear the term “compact car.”

But a new dawn may be approaching – one heralded by a rash of new straw-weight fighters that aim to bring a global small car philosophy to the U.S. GM intends to be part of that party with the introduction of the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze, a sedan that, for all intents and purposes, is more of a landmark model for the company than the endlessly-hyped Chevrolet Volt. To get our meaning, you’ll need to throw all of your heinous memories about American-built small cars out the window beginning… now.

Photos by Zach Bowman / Copyright (C)2010 AOL

Continue reading First Drive: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze sails into new era of small cardom

First Drive: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze sails into new era of small cardom originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autoblog

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Videos, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Luxury

The Cadillac CTS-V Coupe has some serious performance chops. The potent angular coupe is loaded with a blown 6.2-liter V8 capable of 556-horsepower, 15-inch front and 14.7-inch rear Brembo brakes and a Magnetic Ride Control suspension setup. Impressive stats to be sure, but does Cadillac’s sleek two-seater have the goods to take on the BMW M3 coupe and Audi RS5?

Both Motor Trend and Car and Driver have obviously been pondering the same question, as the competing buff mags dusted off their camcorders and cut up a pair of comparison videos featuring the three super coupes doing a ménage à trois of the automotive kind.

Make the jump to experience both videos. In the first video, MT goes all-out with its comparison, bringing both Editor-in-Chief Angus McKenzie and the spanking new CTS-V Coupe to Germany to take on the pair of well-established Bavarian competitors. The second video shows the unique C/D approach, with no first, second or third place finishers and not a single word is uttered. C/D just let the hot coupes speak for themselves with beautiful pictures and heavenly exhaust notes.

[Sources: Car and Driver, Motor Trend]

Continue reading Video: Double Bill – C/D and MT pit Cadillac CTS-V Coupe vs. Audi RS5 vs. BMW M3

Video: Double Bill – C/D and MT pit Cadillac CTS-V Coupe vs. Audi RS5 vs. BMW M3 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Sedan, Lexus, Reviews, Luxury

The entry-level luxury sedan segment doesn’t command the enthusiast attention of, say, the ultra-premium luxury sports sedan. But if you ask automakers to choose between the two, we’d wager that most would rather have a best-in-class ,000 sedan than a world-beating ,000 sports tourer.

The reason? Very few fortunes are made selling a few thousand highfalutin’ rocket launchers, but bottom lines can easily be bolstered or crippled based on the success or failure of a plush, high-volume cruiser. Luxury marques from Acura to Volvo have experienced varied levels of success at the low end of the luxury market, but few have enjoyed the consistent sales dominance of the Lexus ES. In the past decade, Toyota has cranked out over 600,000 copies in the U.S. alone, with another 650,000 units shipped around the world. And those sales have traditionally been overwhelmingly of the retail variety with little or no incentives. Not bad for what many consider a glorified Toyota Camry.

Enthusiasts take note: Lexus didn’t reach such lofty sales levels with a rear-wheel-drive architecture or pavement-punishing quantities of horsepower. The road map to success for the ES has been simple: a soft, compliant ride; a pampering interior; and unmatched quality. The fifth-generation ES350 has built nicely on those attributes with smoother power, a quieter cabin and more technology. But the competition is still striving to overtake the ES in sales, so Lexus has gone and given its top-selling sedan a mid-cycle refresh for 2010. We spent a week in a Starfire Pearl ES350 to see if it still had the goods to remain a top option in the entry-level luxury segment.

Photos by Chris Shunk / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading Review: 2010 Lexus ES 350 is soft-riding royalty that’s lost its crown

Review: 2010 Lexus ES 350 is soft-riding royalty that’s lost its crown originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autoblog

Filed under: Spy Photos, Coupe, Europe, Japan, Nissan

Just when we thought the softer-riding Nissan GT-R SpecM had disappeared for good, the car shows up at the Nurburgring for a little abuse. The crew from Auto Motor und Sport managed to lay their hands on a lengthy video of a few barely-cloaked examples of the car scooting around Green Hell, and everyone’s best guess is that the vehicles are a peek at what we can expect out of the Nissan 2011 supercar lineup. As you likely recall, the SpecM is designed to be a more comfortable interpretation of the company’s no-holds barred bruiser. The suspension is tuned more for the street than busting around your favorite road course, and the interior is supposedly swaddled in more high-grade materials.

Judging from what we see in the video, we’re guessing that the new SpecM will wear aero additions borrowed from the mighty Spec-V, along with wheels swiped from the same car. Hit the jump to see the flick for yourself.

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport via Carscoop]

Continue reading Spy Video: Nissan GT-R SpecM gets wrung out at the ‘Ring

Spy Video: Nissan GT-R SpecM gets wrung out at the ‘Ring originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autoblog

Filed under: Motorsports, Budget, Sedan, Ford

Sure enough, the upcoming Sprint Cup Carfax 400 will be paced by none other than the Blue Oval’s tiny 2011 Fiesta Sedan. With less than a third of the displacement of the tube-frame beasts lapping Michigan International Speedway, we wouldn’t quite expect lightning-quick pace laps, but hey – safety first. While pace cars are typically some sort of performance product, manufacturers aren’t past parading less than muscular new hardware in front of the captive audiences of the raceway.

If Ford was looking for a way to bring its marketing for the Fiesta out of the social media realm and into a more mainstream American venue, they could have hardly done better than the Sprint Cup. On average, the series races net 7.9 million viewers. On Sunday, August 15, each and every one of those souls will get to watch a maroon four door fiesta lead the pack, complete with a massive Blue Oval decal down the side. Talk about cheap advertising. Check out the gallery for a few shots from the car’s unveiling.

[Source: Ford Racing via Facebook]

Unlikely Pacer: Ford Fiesta to lead the field at CarFax 400 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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