Autos

Toyota first unveiled the FT-86 Concept two years ago, and after a number of leaks, rumors, and concept teasers – the production version of this anticipated car has finally been revealed.  The European model is called the Toyota GT 86 while the Japanese model will named simply as Toyota 86.

The name, GT 86, is tribute to the company’s GT car heritage and especially the AE86 (Corolla GT). The GT 86 is the result of a joint project between Toyota and Subaru that will result in two more models, the Subaru BRZ which will debut in Tokyo next week in its production trim, and the Scion FR-S for the North American market.

Ever since the Acura NSX ceased production in 2005, there has been lots of speculation about the re-birth of the mid-engine Japanese supercar.  Acura/Honda has brought a few concept NSX cars to auto shows over the years but none of them made it to production models but that might change with the introduction of the all-new Acura NSX Concept, presented at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show.  Acura says this car will make it to production within the next three years, we have our fingers crossed.

I had the TV on the other night while a new car commercial was aired; there will always be good and bad car commercials, but what actually made me shake my head about this one was the new car’s name. It’s called a what?! What kind of weak names are out there these days? There is no dictionary meaning to many, and -even as a car guy- I failed to see how this name “connected” in any car context way. When muscle cars dominated the sixties street scene, it would have been so wrong to brand these tire melters with anything other than tough sounding monikers. So, what would Diamond Don pick as his top five favorite muscle car names? For your approval or opinions… let’s go do some bench racing!

The Aston Martin DBS supercar’s production is finally coming to an end soon but before production ceases, Aston Martin has decided to make a final farewell edition of the car called the DBS Ultimate Edition.

The limited edition Aston Martin DBS Ultimate will be powered by the standard V12 engine that produces 510 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque.  Aston Martin didn’t provide us with price or how many of these limited edition cars will be produced but we’ve heard unconfirmed reports of 100 units.

Seems everyone is always able to remember a lot about their first “real” job on a company payroll. Happens that a friend of mine worked as a gas jockey at a Shell gas station in 1971, and when the station was looking to hire another employee for the summer, he suggested that I should apply. I got the job and worked full time during the summer and continued to carry on as a part time employee until December. In this short period of time I racked up plenty of gas station/car wash memories and a supply of job related stories that I still chuckle about.

Volkswagen, never really been a fan of the vehicles they put out except for a special edition here and there or when a tuning company does a really nice job in making it stand out. And I can’t really picture myself buying a minivan, especially a Volkswagen. But the Volkswagen T5 done up by Hartmann is not so bad.

The Volkswagen T5 ‘Prime’ by Hartmann brings improvements to the exterior as well as performance enhancements to the midsize van. Changes to the ECU help the 2.0-liter TDI go from a 138 horsepower to a respectable 164 horsepower while torque is increased from 251 lb-ft to 291 lb-ft. And the same upgrade to the 2.0-liter BiTDI increase output from 177hp to 209hp while torque is increased from 295 lb-ft to 339 lb-ft. Those are some decent numbers there!

The 9^th generation Porsche 911 Carrera was introduced last year and like previous generations, Porsche has started to slowly release variations of the all-new model.  Today Porsche released pictures and information on the 2013 911 Carrera 4 and Carrera 4S.

The 2013 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 and 4S will be offered in coupe and cabriolet versions; the cars are aesthetically identical to the 2-wheel drive Carrera models, introduced last year.  The all-wheel drive versions do come with wider rear fenders which are 22 mm (0.87”) wider on each side compared to the 2-wheel drive models and there is a red reflector strip on the trunk, between the taillights, to differentiate the 4-wheel drive models.