Autos

For our second official car review/test drive, we got a chance to play with the deliciously good Jaguar XFR.  This is no ordinary four door family sedan: it comes with more horses than the Calgary Stampede, and it constantly urges you to go hunting for BMW M5’s and Mercedes AMG’s, which I did.  I spent two and a half days looking for those German thoroughbreds, but I guess they migrated south for the winter.

Performance:

The Jaguar XFR is powered by a 5.0 liter supercharged V8 engine that produces a supercar-like 510 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 461 pound-feet of torque at 5,500 rpm.  That’s more horsepower than the all new Porsche 911 Turbo and the outgoing Ferrari F430; not too shabby for a “sedan”.  All that power is sent to the rear wheels via a 6-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifts.  The XFR sprints to 60 miles per hour in a very quick 4.5 seconds and can reach an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph, but it can actually go over 165 mph. I didn’t push it to that mark because I didn’t want to end up in jail and I didn’t have access to a track, but various magazines have taken it over its supposed limited top speed.

Mercedes-Benz just released quite a large number of pictures of the 3^rd generation M-Class luxury SUV; you guessed it, in response to some recently leaked magazine or brochure pictures.

The 3^rd generation Mercedes ML’s design stays true to the previous generation, with quite a bit refinement in the front and the back; from the side it looks very similar to the 2^nd generation M-Class.  The interior, however, sees a major upgrade and it looks like there is optional leather covered dashboard and other surfaces that are normally all plastic.  It’s about time Mercedes started to use softer materials on their dashboards, I was very disappointed with the Chrysler-esque hard plastic dashboards on the E and C-Class cars.

Jaguar is known for making some of the sexiest cars available in the industry and the Jaguar C-X16 Concept car doesn’t fall far from the tree; it’s one sexy little machine!  Unlike the C-X75 concept, this coupe looks more production ready and isn’t going to cost you an arm and a leg (among other body parts).

The C-X16 Concept is smaller than the XK and is meant to be more of a Porsche Cayman fighter.  The car is powered by a 3.0 liter V6 supercharged engine producing 376 horsepower and 332 pound-feet (450 Nm) of torque.  The car is also equipped with a 1.6 kWh battery pack mounted behind the seats, giving it a 50:50 weight ratio, that powers an electric motor that has been integrated into the 8-speed gearbox.  The electric motor provides an additional 92 HP and 173 lb-ft (235 Nm) of torque with the push of a button on the steering wheel, just like in Formula1 cars.

Land Rover would like to gauge customer interest in the concept DC100 by showing it at the Los Angeles Auto Show; the DC100 is speculated to replace the Defender in a few years.

Land Rover will be showcasing two versions of the concept SUV, the hardtop and the open top (DC100 Sport).  The Land Rover DC100 concept is powered by a turbocharged 2.0 liter 4-cylinder diesel engine while the DC100 Sport is powered by a 2.0 liter gasoline engine; no power figures were provided.

Tesla Motors, known for their electric Roadsters, has released the final pricing details for their new 2012 Model S electric sports sedan. The Model S will be a full-size sedan comparable to the BMW 5-Series in terms of size and available in two trims, basic and performance.

The basic model is being offered in three battery options which include a 40 kWh, 60 kWh, and 85 kWh, priced at $57,400, $67,400, and $77,400. The price may seem steep but the $7,500 federal tax credit available for purchasing an electric vehicle should help somewhat in reducing the price tag of the Tesla Model S. Standard goodies on the vehicle include Tesla’s 17-inch Touchscreen monitor, 19-inch alloy rims, and a Universal Mobile Connector with three different adapters.

The McLaren MP4-12C has been around for a while now and we’re finally starting to see the European tuners putting their own twist on the British supercar.

German car tuners Wheelsandmore have tuned a demonic McLaren MP4-12C, why do I call it demonic?  Because the 3.8 liter turbocharged V8 engine now produces 666 horsepower and 472 pound-feet of torque.  In stock form the engine pumps out “only” 592 HP and 442 lb-ft of torque, Wheelsandmore is working on a more powerful tune that will squeeze out 800 horsepower from the engine but that doesn’t sound as cool as 666.

I guess automakers are running out of design ideas and are now mashing up completely different cars into one. But then again, that has always been the strategy of Chinese automakers.  This time, it’s the S11 from JAC Motors (Jianghuai Automobile).

From the rear, it appears to be inspired by the Ferrari while the design cues on the side profile appear to be borrowed from the Audi R8. And the sharp angles on the front are a bit Lamborghini inspired. Not many details are available about the S11 but it will be presented at the 2012 Auto China Show in Beijing.