Autos

It has been a year since the updated Jaguar XKR has been in production and now Jaguar has decided to spice things up even more by leaking a few details about the all-new 2012 XKR-S which is to debut at the Geneva Auto Show in March, 2011.

The new XKR-S will be fitted with an upgraded version of the supercharged 5.0 liter V8 capable of putting down 550 horsepower and 501 pound-feet of torque. That’s an extra 40 horsepower over the standard XKR and enough power to give the XKR-S a top speed of 186 mph while being able to complete the 0 – 60 mph dash in only 4.2 seconds. Other upgrades include aggressive aerodynamic changes to the bumper, side skirts, air vents on the hood, quad tail pipes, and a rear wing giving it a bold “in your face” appearance.

2011 marks another milestone for Volkwagen as it has been 35 years since the original Golf GTI was introduced to the world back in 1976. To celebrate, the German automaker has released a special version of the GTI, dubbed “Edition 35”. Not 35^th Edition but “Edition 35” so this has to be pretty good.

So what’s so special about the anniversary edition Golf GTI? For starters, the GTI’s 2.0 liter turbo engine is tuned to perfection and helps in putting down an extra 25 horsepower over the standard VW GTI. The Golf GTI Edition 35 now delivers a total of 235 horsepower. Other mechanical updates are unknown at the time as Volkswagen has not revealed official figures. But as with “Edition 30” back in 2006, expect changes to the suspension and exhaust system.

The Chevrolet Corvette is one of the most popular American sports cars in the world; it’s affordable, comes with lots of power, and is a pretty sleek looking car.  Because of these attributes, there have been various supercars that use the Corvette’s chassis for inspiration, the Bertone Mantide and Anteros coupe and convertible are examples of such cars.  Now it’s the German’s turn to build a supercar around the Corvette’s chassis.

A company called Endora is building a Corvette based supercar called the SC-1.  The SC-1’s design keeps the lines of the C6 Corvette but puts a new front face and rear end on the car.  From the rendered images provided, the front of the car looks a bit cartoonish and reminds me of the late model NSX.  The rear fascia has a more retro look to it and would feel right at home on American muscle cars; the rear quarter panel and wheel well have a drag car look to it with really wide looking tires.

I love project cars, and I’m always checking out on-line tuner communities where people discuss the projects that they are working on. It’s a great way to meet locals with similar interests, as well as getting cool ideas for your own project. Every car forum out there seems to have one person or a small car shop who takes things to the extreme and pulls off a project that seems… ridiculous.

A perfect example of this would be this 1000HP Fiat Coupe from the 1990s that has been tricked out to the max by a Russian tuner, Totalcar. They took the tiny Fiat Coupe and decided that it would be a great idea to stick a 3.0 liter turbo V6 from a Mitsubishi 3000GT. Sure, sticking a 320hp engine in a tiny car should be more than enough and it would be considered a pretty good “sleeper”.

BMW has finally joined the “four door coupe” party which was started by Mercedes-Benz with the CLS back in 2004.  The Bavarian manufacturer’s four door coupe is called the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe and is based on the 6 Series coupe that has been stretched and gets an added pair of doors.

From the front and back, the Gran Coupe looks identical to the 6 Series coupe. Obviously the side profile is different and looks a lot better than the coupe in my opinion.  The Gran Coupe is 4.4 inches longer than its 2-door sibling; most of the added length benefits the rear passengers.  BMW classifies the 6 Series Gran Coupe as “4 + 1”, I’m assuming this means the car can seat four people comfortably and an extra person can be seated in “emergency” situations.

So far, the Fiat 500 has been a major disappointment in the North American market with its sluggish sales. I wonder if Fiat using Jennifer Lopez for their marketing campaigns has anything to do with it?  The Fiat 500L is an all-new sub-compact model to the 500 range which also includes the three-door hatchback, 500C (Cabriolet), and the Abarth model.

I guess the Fiat 500L is for those people who want a small-big car. Mini did the same thing with the Cooper and the Cooper Clubman (which is absolutely hideous by the way). These people can’t make up their minds. They want a small car but then realize it’s too small so they decide to make it a little bit bigger but still not as big as a compact car. Really?

The “green movement” has fully taken hold of the automotive industry with most car makers producing some sort of a hybrid vehicle nowadays and lately we’ve seen quite a few sports cars that are all-electric (Infiniti Emerg-E) or use hybrid technology.

Not to be left behind, BMW joined the green car movement with the i8 Coupe which was showcased last year and now they’ve introduced the BMW i8 Spyder concept.  Unlike the Infiniti, the i8 Spyder is a plug-in hybrid, based on the i8 Coupe, with an electric and a gasoline engine.