First Drive: 2011 BMW M3 with Competition Package
Our eyebrows arched when we read BMW‘s introductory press pamphlet. One line in particular warranted another read: “The M3 with Competition Package is the best-handling production M car ever built.” Now that’s a bold statement.
A run-of-the-mill BMW M3 crafted by M GmbH is a machine that’ll have you drawing up plans for an expanded dream car garage. It holds the underlying pavement with falcon-like grip, pushes like a Caterpillar hopped up on NOS, and brakes as if it has a pair of General Electric reverse thrusters perched atop its sculpted trunk.
Two years ago we put the sedan against its top rivals, the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and the Lexus IS F. After driving each, executive editor Ed Loh opined that the “Lexus and Mercedes are great hot-rod sedans. The M3 is a race car with four doors.” MT testing mastermind Kim Reynolds said, “The Lexus and the Mercedes feel like performance versions created out of something else. The M3 feels like it was born this way.”
Categories: Auto Review, BMW, Car Review Tags: BMW
Officially Official: 2011 Ford Fiesta rated at 40 mpg highway
The EPA has finished calculating the fuel economy of the 2011 Ford Fiesta and, as the automaker projected, its new baby has hit 40 miles per gallon. The official numbers from the Feds are 29 mpg in the city and 40 mpg on the highway for Fiestas with the new 6-speed dual clutch Powershift gearbox. Those highway numbers top the ratings for the Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit by four and five mpg, respectively.
Fiestas with the base five-speed manual gearbox get a good-but-not-as-good rating of 28 mpg city and 37 mpg highway. All North American Fiestas, for now, are equipped with a 120 horsepower 1.6-liter inline four, regardless of which gearbox is selected. The first batches of Fiestas should be on their way to dealers in the coming weeks now that production has started.
2011 Audi A8 available with factory-installed wireless internet hotspot
One day, we’ll be able to have wireless internet access from nearly every point on the globe. And while many cities and towns are making efforts to offer free wireless service across a broad range, automakers are now looking to bring WiFi connectivity to cars. Audi is on board, and it has just announced that the 2011 Audi A8 will be available with factory-installed in-car wireless hotspot.
The WLAN hotspot is located within the rooftop antenna, and passengers can connect to the internet via any laptop, netbook or new-age tablet, like the Apple iPad. Audi says that the network is capable of speeds up to 7.2 Mbit/sec and that WAP2 encryption is on hand in order to securely transfer data. Audi claims that this is the first such factory-installed system, although other automakers offer WiFi connectivity with dealer installed accessories.
Categories: Audi, Sedans/Saloons Tags: Audi
First Drive: 2010 Ford SVT Raptor 6.2 is born to fly
Unless you’re a died-in-the-burlap save-the-planet kind of person, you probably think the 2010 Ford SVT Raptor is freakin’ cool. There’s not a factory truck on the planet that can wing across the desert floor with equal ease, grace and unmitigated speed.
The 2010 Raptor genuinely has no competition In the world of production trucks, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. If you bent the ear of the right Ford engineer, he would admit that the 2010 Ford SVT Raptor was supposed to launch with the 6.2-liter SOHC V8 we’re testing today. The aging 310-horsepower 5.4-liter Triton mill included at launch was never the perfect fit for the radical Raptor. Too tame.
From the truck’s introduction last Fall, everyone knew the all-new iron-block/aluminum-head 6.2-liter engine would be better. But no one knew how much better until now. Read about our wild test drive (and brief flight) after the ummm… jump.
Categories: Auto Review, Car Review, Ford Tags: Ford
First Drive: 2011 Aston Martin V12 Vantage
There’s an irony in the fact that when the Aston Martin V12 Vantage was launched last year, it was barred from sale in the USA. The irony being that with this car, Aston was following a time-honored American concept. Take your most compact bodyshell, and ram under the hood your most beef-fed, honkin’ engine. It’s called the musclecar. Of course, Aston’s interpretation of the musclecar theme is rather more suave, sophisticated and aristocratic than, say, a ’70 Chevy Chevelle SS454, but the thinking behind it ain’t so very far removed.
So why didn’t it come here? Because as originally engineered for the rest of the world, the front end of the car was so densely packed with engine that there wasn’t the space for the structures needed to meet US crash regulations. At the required barrier impact speed, the dummy’s chest recorded a borderline deceleration figure.
But customers worldwide were meanwhile chomping to get at the car, so the engineers got to thinking. Analysis of the computer models and turned up a location where some extra aluminum longitudinal members could be installed to change the load path and soften the deceleration. It tested well, and this car is the result. The extra weight is insignificant. And the performance, handling and styling are unaffected by the crash mods.
Categories: Aston Martin, Auto Review, Car Review Tags: Aston Martin
