Autos

BYD F8 vs. Mercedes CLK
Yep, it’s true –  both of them look like a Mercedes at a quick glance. The trouble, is that the similarities stop the moment you take a closer look. Besides the front fascia and the fact that they are both convertibles, there is not much else to compare between the two cars.  The yellow car you see is the BYD F8. BYD (Build Your Dream) used to manufacture cell-phone batteries. The CLK is a rear wheel drive available in a V6 or V8 and prices range from $47,000 to $62,000. The F8 is a front wheel drive car powered by a four banger and priced at $27,000 to $29,000.

Shaunghaun CEO vs. BMW X5

About a week ago we wrote an article on the awesome and luxurious Land Rover Defender 90 Yachting Edition; that post turned out to be quite popular, which is understandable because of the awesomeness of the Defender.  Today we bring you the 2011 Land Rover Defender line-up.

The 2011 Land Rover Defender gets subtle styling updates, which will probably be only noticed by the die-hard Defender fans.  The 2011 Defender comes in 90 different variations with long and short wheelbase models.

This week Land Rover is debuting at Geneva Motor Show the most luxurious Range Rover ever. The new flagship vehicle is the very first vehicle to include super yacht inspired teak load-space floors, machined aluminum laptop table, drinks chiller, and two Apple iPads as standard equipment. Engine options include the LR-V8 5.0 Supercharged with a 0-60 in 5.9 seconds or if you’re feeling a bit green, there’s a new LR-TDV8 4.4L diesel engine making this the first Range Rover ever to do better than 30mpg. Only 500 units will be produced.

The Lexus CT 200h is the latest hybrid car in the ever increasing world of “Green Cars”.  Normally we don’t care too much about hybrid cars but the CT 200h is actually a pretty nice car, I spent some time in it at the auto show and it had as big of a crowd around it as the Lexus LF-A.  I was actually looking at the Lexus website building up one of these cars a few hours ago; it could be my next car.

Just because the CT 200h is a hybrid car doesn’t mean car tuning companies are simply going to ignore it.  The car tuning company in question is Fox Marketing and they made the CT200’s 1.8 liter engine really come to life.  They strapped on an Eaton supercharger with a Climax Racing intake manifold making the CT’s output jump from 134 to 300 horsepower!   This thing ain’t green no more!  The batteries were also upgraded but we’re not sure what exactly they did in that department.

Ever wanted to own a jet powered car? Don’t know about you guys but I totally would if I had an opportunity to own one or at least drive one. There are many Batmobile replicas out there and a lot of them have paid great attention to detail but at the same time, they are very limited when it comes to driving. And none of them have gone all out and installed a jet engine, until now. Meet Casey Putsch of Putsch Racing who put his skills to the test and made Hollywood fantasy into reality. Seriously, how awesome is that?

Casey Putsch opted to use a Boeing turbo shaft helicopter engine that burn jet fuel, diesel, or kerosene. This particular engine in the Batmobile puts out 365 horsepower giving it the same power to weight ratio as the Dodge Viper. The Putsch Racing Batmobile is currently registered and insured for the roads of the United States. When designing the car, Casey Putsch put functional racing engineering as the basic foundation of the vehicle and also kept in mind that the Batmobile needed to be fully serviceable and a functional vehicle.

Lexus unveiled the latest generation of the GS sedan at Pebble Beach back in August; the 2013 Lexus GS looks much more conservative compared to the previous models.  The previous models’ main selling point (at least to me) was their non-conventional looks; the new model reminds me of a Toyota Corolla for some reason.  Now Lexus has release pictures of a bit more aggressive GS called the GS F Sport, which will be unveiled in November at the SEMA show.

The 2013 Lexus GS 350 F Sport is not as aggressive as we’d like, but it does feature a sportier front fascia with an aggressive front bumper featuring large air-vents and a mesh grill.  The rear bumper gets a diffuser and a trunk mounted lip spoiler.  The car rides on 19” rims with 235/40 front and 265/35 rear tires, the biggest tires used on a Lexus sedan in factory trim, according to the company.

Let’s be honest, the factory Honda CR-Z doesn’t have much of a ‘wow’ factor. It’s a bit on the boring side, and I’d much rather be driving the new Hyundai Veloster, which has more power and is also more fuel efficient. But the CR-Z is about to get a little face lift thanks to Mugen’s European arm.

Honda has confirmed that a modified version of the CR-Z (known as the CR-Z iCF) will go on sale in Britain in the spring of 2012. The modifications done to the 1.5-liter hybrid engine by Mugen include the addition of a supercharger, upgraded inter-cooler, and