Autos

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

Porsche recently updated their 911 line of cars and now they’ve focused their attention on the Boxster.  The 2013 Porsche Boxster is code named 981 and will be available in April 2012.  In typical Porsche fashion the 981 Boxster’s design is more of an evolution of the previous generation rather than an all-new design.  A quick glance at the picture above, the 2013 Boxster reminds me of the Toyota MR-S for a second. 

We got our first look at the all-new 2013 Mercedes SL Roadster late last year; to say we were disappointed with the car’s styling would be understatement of the year.  Now we get our first look at the 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG and unfortunately this one is as hideous as its less powerful sibling.  I guess the SL is one of those cars that are beautiful on the inside.

And by “beautiful on the inside” I don’t mean just the interior but also the engine that motivates this beast.  The 2013 SL65 AMG is powered by a 6.0 liter turbocharged V12 engine that pumps out 621 horsepower and a diesel truck-like

Some of my favorite cars in the past have come from the Datsun, Nissan, and Infinity family and that continues to be the case to date with vehicles such as the Maxima, 370Z, G Series, M Series, and Infiniti FX Series. Just yesterday, Infinity and Austrian manufacturer, Magna Steyr, announced the details of a new Infiniti premium compact model.

The new entry-level Infinity is to hit the showrooms in 2014 and will be available in key markets around the world including Western Europe. No word yet on whether it will be available in North America but I would consider this part of the world as a ‘key market’.