Autos

Ah, memories… does anyone else besides me seem to have indelible memories from their teenage years imprinted on the brain? More so than childhood or middle age memories? Here’s my cherished, deeply ingrained memory of a shotgun test drive in a 1969 Z/28 Camaro, one of many Trans-AM muscle cars. I’d had my own muscle car for just one year, and was already searching the used car market for my next ride. I had been bitten by the horse power bug and wanted more than I already had. I liked the 69 Camaro; especially the Z/28, which I had been told would match and likely (depending on who you talked to) even out-run the 1970 Boss 302 Mustang that a buddy’s older brother had. Sweet! I could just taste it; after all, that big brother wouldn’t even let us ‘tool bit losers’ close enough to breathe on his pride and joy Mustang.

Most people have a love-hate relationship with the Hummer (especially the H2 and H3); they either love it or hate it.  Personally, I can’t stand the H2s and H3s, not because I’m some sort of an environmentalist, I just think they’re big, ugly, and useless!  So, the electric Hummers created by luxury car tuners Prindiville still look ugly and useless to me but they might please the environmental crowd.

The Prindiville Electric Hummer is an officially licensed design by General Motors and is a miniature and eco-friendly version of the big SUV.  The vehicles come in a 3-door configuration with room for two passengers and their cargo; the vehicles measure 9.8 feet (3 meters) in length, 4.6 feet (1.4 meters) in width, and 4.6 feet in height.

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a pretty luxurious car in stock form and the top of the line S600 is even more luxurious and packs a powerful V12 engine.  But for some people the standard S600 isn’t luxurious enough and they customize it to the extreme levels; a good example is the TopCar tuned Mercedes-Benz S600 Guard.

TopCar, a Russian car tuning firm, created a bespoke super-luxury edition car for one of their super-rich customers.  From the outside, the car looks like a standard S600 that has been armor plated and is equipped with thick bullet-proof glass; the interior is where the magic happens.

While we have some folks converting the Mercedes G-Glass SUV into a truck, there are other design engineers coming up with ways to freshen up the legendary Mercedes Geländewagen. For the 2012 LA Auto Show Design Challenge, organizers of the annual event asked automakers to create a patrol vehicle for the year 2025.

The North American Mercedes-Benz division and their Advanced Design Center California did their thing and created the ‘Ener-G-Force Concept’ off-road patrol vehicle. The team built a 1:1 scale model and it will be presented at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show later this month.

German tuner, Prior Design, has spiced up the look of the Audi R8 with a new aerodynamics package to give the vehicle an even more aggressive look. The Audi R8 may be a handsome car but I’ve personally always had mixed feelings about it. I’ll definitely take one if I had the opportunity but there are other vehicles I would consider before the R8.

The PD GT650 package by Prior Design is perfect for those R8 owners who want a vehicle to really stand out in the crowd. No doubt about it that the R8 is a head turner but this visual upgrade by the German tuner will take it to the next level.

Many car and Audi enthusiasts have been complaining about Audi not bringing the RS6 Avant to America, including yours truly.  I guess we’ll just have to settle for the 2014 Audi RS7 Sportback because Audi said it’s coming to North America.  Yay!

The Audi RS7 Sportback looks like it really means business and onlookers should be able to tell there is something special about this car.  The car backs up its looks with some serious muscle under the hood.  The RS7 is powered by a 4.0 liter TFSI V8 engine producing 560 horsepower (412 kW) and 516 pound-feet (700 Nm) of torque.  Power is sent to all four wheels with Audi’s Quattro AWD system via an 8-speed automatic transmission.

There’s nothing wrong with the looks of the stock Audi A3 Sportback but the S3 Sportback is much more sexy. If you’re an A3 Sportback owner and are looking to upgrade to a more agressive look like the S3 but don’t want to cough up the money, consider the package being offered by ABT Sportsline for the latest Audi A3 Sportback. And if you are looking to also get S3 power out of the A3 Sportback, this kit won’t be the solution…for now.

German tuners from ABT Sportsline have a number of modifications available in their kit which include both aesthetics and performance oriented. In the looks department, the Audi A3 Sportback receives a new front grill and lip spoiler integrated into the front bumper. As we go down the car, you will find fender insets, new side skirts, a roof spoiler, and changes to the rear bumper which now make room for a new quad tailpipe exhaust system.