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TMZ reports: "We've just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50."
At the time of this writing, popstar Michael Jackson is known to have suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home. Paramedics were unable to revive him. (Details at TMZ)
The LA Times has a chronological account of what is known to have happened so far.
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The design features of the 2009 Seat Ibiza Bocanegra include completely black double headlights, a central grille with honeycomb mesh and black surround including innovative air vents at the base. The fog lights are built into the bumper, which is bigger at the bottom and over the wheel arches. At the back, the Bocanegra features honeycomb mesh on the side grids, an impressive spoiler, chunky wheel arches and a tinted rear window. Other elements that add a more aggresive look ti the new Seat Ibiza Bocanegra are the black door mirror housings, a dark tinted sunroof and 17-inch ‘Sira’ alloy wheels.
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Cadillac CTS-V
Coming in great style and power, Cadillac CTS-V is one of the best cars of 2009. A great car on the roads, Cadillac CTS-V is laser fine and has a powerful V8 engine which displays a hose power of 556 hp. It runs 0-60 in 3.9 seconds. The genteel look and a super engine make it a top class car of 2009.
Honda Fit
When talking about the best cars of 2009, one cannot miss Honda Fit, which comes in great fuel efficiency. A car of the new generation, Honda Fit gives a comfortable travelling. You can take the car for long drives with all your family members and the luggage, as the Honda Fit is so spacious. Very reasonably priced, the Honda Fit is equipped with a quite powerful engine that gives back fuel economy.
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If you're the kind of person who loves to be the center of attention, the Aptera 2e is the car for you. The three-wheel, two-seat electric car draws a crowd everywhere it goes.
We discovered this Tuesday as we drove the 2e around downtown San Francisco, where the car literally stopped traffic. People pointed. They snapped pictures. They asked "What is it?" and "How much?" One person asked, in all seriousness, if you can drive it under water. Another asked, perhaps inevitably, "Can it fly?"
"It flies right past gas stations," replied Paul Wilbur, president and CEO of Aptera Motors. The line came out so quickly you get the impression he's used it before.
But as odd as the 2e looks -- and we'll get to that in a moment -- it's a real car that rolls silently into driveways by the end of the year.
The 2e is about the size of a Honda Civic on the outside and a Honda CRX on the inside. It seats two people in relative comfort and has enough room to haul three sets of golf clubs or 22 bags of groceries. Wilbur knows this because he loaded that many in there himself.
Read More at Wired.com
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With Tesla struggling to make ends meet -- let alone become a thriving, profitable automaker during a time when all people want are non-gas-powered vehicles -- we have to say that Sigma Motorworks has its work cut out for it here.
Read MORE
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The Octavia is a central character in the story of Skoda's revival - helping rid the Czech motor manufacturer of the ridicule that dogged it prior to the link up with Volkswagen in 1991.
The car has landed a raft of awards over the years putting Skoda back in the spotlight for the right reasons - and after a recent revamp it looks set to continue the good work.
The vRS Estate benefits from an interior facelift that enhances an already successful package.
The entertainment systems are stripped out with all but the entry level S trim getting the high-tech Bolero music system. No, it has nothing to do with Winter Olympic ice dancing legends Torvill and Dean and that gold medal-winning routine, but is instead a neat offering operated via a touch-screen colour display that provides access to a radio and integrated CD player with capacity for six discs.
Read More at Motors-Merseyside
DAWS concept - Click above for gallery |
The village of Schaumburg, Ill., installed a camera at Woodfield Mall last November to film cars that were running red lights, then used the footage to issue citations. Results were astonishing. The town issued $1 million in fines in just three months.
But drivers caught by the unforgiving enforcement -- which mainly snared those who didn't come to a full stop before turning right on red -- exploded in anger. Many vowed to stop shopping at the mall unless the camera was turned off. The village stopped monitoring right turns at the intersection in January.
Once a rarity, traffic cameras are filming away across the country. And they're not just focusing their sights on red-light runners. The latest technology includes cameras that keep tabs on highways to catch speeders in the act and infrared license-plate readers that nab ticket and tax scofflaws.
Drivers -- many accusing law enforcement of using spy tactics to trap unsuspecting citizens -- are fighting back with everything from pick axes to camera-blocking Santa Clauses
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This is the Vulca S. You probably won't ever see one, let alone drive one, because it's more exclusive than a VIP room at the Pink Elephant and you need an AIG bonus to afford one.
The Vulca S is the first car entirely designed and built by Italian coachbuilders Faralli & Mazzanti. Just ten - that's right, ten - will be built, every one of them by hand over the course of 11 months. During that time, customers will stay at the coachbuilder's private villa in Tuscany so as to oversee every aspect of construction.
You know a car that rare will have some impressive hardware, and the Vulca - named for the Etruscan sculptor - does not disappoint.
According to F&M, the Vulca gets a 5.8-liter V10 producing 630 horsepower. F&M doesn't say who's making the engine, but BMW and Lamborghini make a ten-cylinder, though both displace less than 5.8 liters and so would have to be modified. Dodge makes one for the Viper, but it's a massive 8.4 liters. Motor Authority says the Vulca also could come with a V12 producing between 445 and 630 horsepower, depending upon how big an engine the customer orders.
Read More at Wired.com
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If you thought typing a text message while dodging traffic at 65 mph was dangerous (it is), consider the perils of shaving your legs, reading a book or lifting weights while driving — all of which (and more) are happening on America's roads — every day.
odie Feigler was driving south on Interstate 405, heading from Santa Barbara, Calif., to San Diego for the weekend, when she got stuck in Friday rush-hour traffic near the Los Angeles International Airport. "The freeway was one big parking lot that inched along collectively," Feigler recollects. While this is nothing special (bumper-to-bumper traffic is a typical Southern California scene), what happened next is: "I glanced to my right and there was a woman with her left foot sticking out the driver's window painting her toe nails." Feigler couldn't believe it.
While this might seem like careless behavior, judging from the results of several recent studies on driving behavior, a self-administered pedicure behind the wheel may not be as unusual as you'd expect. Multitasking is on the rise and, increasingly, the car presents an opportunity to get things done — especially in cities where long commutes are common...Continued
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Think you’ve seen it all when it comes to race cars and race tracks? If you’ve never witnessed full-size cars tearing it up on a tight, banked go kart track, you haven’t.
Yesterday, March 24th, I saw that. Actually, I even participated in the driving action myself. More on my racing adventures and impressions in a bit, but the main thing though is driving a sports car on such a small track isn’t hardly as comical or awkward as it sounds. It was quite fun and challenging in fact (and no one went off or wrecked their cars that evening, which is even better).
The go kart venue hosting these innovative events is Adams Motosport Park in Riverside, California. Originally, they catered to the drift crowd by simply letting drivers loose on their track at night to master the art of getting (and staying) sideways in their 240s and other rear-drive cars, but as of yesterday, have started doing “time-attack”-style grip driving events as well.
The Lowdown
Drifting is held every Thursday night from 6:00 to 9:00+ pm, and grip events every Tuesday, at the same time. Racers arrive an hour or so early to register and tech, and proceed to line-up in the pits. The general entry fee is $3.00 for all, and $20 per driver for each hour-long session (ride-along is $10) A driver can register for as many sessions as they want. Each session/run group has 20 or so cars, and are lead out by a pace car for two parade laps to familiarize drivers with the course. Once the racing is underway, one can expect 2 to 3 runs within a session, each of which consists of 3 laps. The laps are timed (on grip events), and there’s even a Japanese drift-style announcer who offers praise and the occasional snide remark on the action. (Yeah, in case you were wondering, there are plenty of spectators eyeing the action, so the pressure’s on.)
Rules and regulations for the events are typical track day fare - any properly maintained car with working lights and decent tires is game. A SNELL certified M95 or SA95 or newer helmet is required (you can rent one at the registration desk), and convertibles require a roll bar. Full list of requirements and details here
My impressions
First of all, I was driving a Mazda Miata (surprisingly the only one there), which compared to other cars is essentially a go kart, so my experience and views may be favorably biased. Even so, I think any car can have fun here, especially AWDs which can 4-wheel drift and power-out from the tight turns and cut a lot off of lap times.
There are 14 turns in the configuration I drove the track in, and all are quite
challenging (they’re comparable to corners found on tight canyon roads), and many of them are either banked or have berms, unlike autocross. In regards to autocross, I will add that the chances of wrecking and hitting something here are greater than in autocross, but if you keep it under control, you should be fine. (Note to drifters who want to show off: you’re mileage may vary. There are hittable dirt and tires walls.) As for the track's speed, depending on your car, you can expect to hit around 60mph on the front and back straights, and minimum speeds of around 20 in the tight stuff. Braking? Not too demanding - stock pads should suffice.
*Note: that's a semi truck on the road in the upper right, so you can see the track isn't that small.
About lap timing: apparently they either simply tell you or print up the slips at the registration desk, but by the time I went up there around 10:00pm, they were long closed. Some said I was taking better lines than most and was entertaining to watch, but I have no idea how I fared against others – I was simply enjoying myself and trying new ways to hustle my slightly understeering car around the bends (and scrubbing-in my brand new tires at the same time), so I doubt I was anything too special.
If you’re still not convinced of spending $20 for this much fun, check out this YouTube video of some drifting action here: Inland Drift: Drift Riverside 1 (Please excuse the annoying, random girl at the beginning who professes her love for drifters).
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the company (I ran into quite a few people I knew from elsewhere) and the atmosphere was in general a nice blend of amped but laid-back. I’m looking forward to the next event, for sure. But that time, I’ll be driving competitively so watch out :).
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American boutique automaker Panoz Auto Development wants to return to the top tier of the American Le Mans Series in car powered by algal biofuel.
Founder Don Panoz said the company is "investigating concepts" that could it return to the premier LMP1 prototype category Panoz didn't offer many details when he made the announcement at a press conference before Saturday's 12 Hours of Sebring race, but Autoweek says "it is understood" that the car would use a Chevrolet engine and may burn butanol produced from algae.
"We are looking at something that has never been done before, something that would be good for sports car racing, good for Le Mans and good for us," Panoz said.
The ALMS has become an alt fuel test bed, with ethanol- and diesel-powered cars lining up alongside those running on gasoline. Panoz said development of its latest car is not contingent on ALMS officials approving the use of butanol, but it looks like the fuel will get a green light.
Read More at Wired.com
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These lists show the vehicles within each category that achieved the best or worst gas mileage in our real-world tests. We have selected mpg cutoffs that are relative to each category. For example, a vehicle that gets 19 mpg would not be a standout among wagons, but it would be among the highest in the midsized SUV or minivan categories.
BEST FUEL ECONOMY
Budget Cars Overall Mpg=30 or Higher (Overall/Average MPG)
1. Smart Fortwo Passion (39)
2. Scion xD MT (34)
3. Toyota Yaris Sedan (33)
4. Honda Fit Sport MT (33)
5. Toyota Yaris Hatchback (30)
6. Honda Fit base (30)
Small Cars Overall Mpg=28 or Higher
1. Honda Civic Hybrid (37)
2. Toyota Corolla LE (32)
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The radical new Jaguar XJ will be revealed in London this July ahead of its launch later this year, and Jaguar wants to reclaim some of its traditional executive customers with the car. Once the natural and patriotic choice for board directors everywhere in corporate Britain, the XJ has been replaced as the vehicle of choice by the Mercedes S-class. But with fresh styling, lightweight alloy construction, and new engines, the new XJ is designed to open up a new customer base.
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Buick tied Jaguar as the most dependable vehicle brands in an influential study released today by J.D. Power and Associates.
Lexus, Toyota and Mercury brands also ranked in the top five of the 2009 Vehicle Dependability Study, which measures problems experienced by owners of 2006 model year vehicles.
Ford Motor Co. netted high marks with all three of its brands ranking above the industry average. Its Mercury Grand Marquis was the most dependable large car, and two Lincoln vehicles were top-rated in their segments, according to the study.
Chrysler LLC, however, only had its namesake brand score above the industry average, while Buick and Cadillac were alone among GM's eight brands to score better than the average of 170 problems per 100 vehicles. Buick, which improved from a sixth-place ranking last year, had 122 problems per 100 vehicles.
Read More in The Detroit News
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With all the downsizing and changes going on at GM, some brands, like Hummer, have been left out in the cold. Then there's Pontiac. GM doesn't seem quite sure what to do with the "excitement" divison, so we're asking you.
In today's Thread of the Day, forum member ytiradp asks: "left with a lackluster lineup with nothing remotely interesting except the G8 and the Solstice, I'm wondering should GM just kill them off or leave them as a niche brand?"
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The Corvette Action Center scored these photos showing the 2009 Corvette GT1 Championship Edition at the decal installation supplier located just down the street from the Corvette Assembly Plant. The decal supplier will be busy this spring as GM is producing 600 of these special editions that celebrate Corvette Racing's 10 year anniversary and the final year of the GT1 program.
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Yesterday a bunch of images of a new Acura Crossover Concept hit the web prior to the vehicle’s 2009 New York Auto Show debut.
According to the buzz over at Temple of VTEC and Acurazine (who originally leaked all the teasers to the Acura concept), the concept hints at the future production version of what is known as the 2011 Acura MSX. The MSX will be aimed directly at BMW’s X6 and Infiniti’s FX crossovers...Continued
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As we mentioned during the introduction to our beginner’s course, Road Rage 101: How To Piss Off Other Drivers, poor driving isn’t an obvious side effect of limited cerebral capacity, but rather the result of countless hours of feverish, committed practice. Although drivers in places like New Jersey make it look effortless, the fact remains that dangerous, often illegal driving habits require fastidious dedication to the craft, and we here at RideLust are determined to help. To begin, you must first honestly asses your personal ability. If you feel as though you’ve successfully mastered all of the lessons outlined in Road Rage 101, or you have at least 5 years experience regularly commuting in the Tri-State area, you might be ready to graduate to an intermediate level of douchebaggery. However, be forewarned: the upper tier of jackassedness is an elite circle open only to those who have demonstrated an unfailing dedication to inciting blind road rage. If you still feel truly prepared to assume the responsibility of serving as an ambassador of the asinine, please proceed to study the advanced tactics we’ve outlined below.
Top 10 Ways to Cause Proper Road Rage:
1. Always Use Fog Lights
2. Ride The Brake
3. Do Not Pass
4. Hog The Road
5. Insist On Yielding, ALWAYS
6. Refuse To Make A Left-Hand Turn Until The Second Coming Of The Christ
7. Fear The Police
8. Ignore The 3 Second Rule
9. Do Not Merge Until The Last Possible Moment
10. Drive Like A Teenager
Read More at RideLust.com
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There is no doubt that the 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe has been one of the most-anticipated cars to hit U.S. dealerships this year. The Hyundai Genesis Coupe is available with a 210-hp 2.0L turbocharged 4-cylinder and a 306-hp 3.8L V6 with prices starting at $22,000 and $25,000 respectively.
According to Hyundai USA CEO John Krafcik, sales of the Hyundai Genesis Coupe have been “simply smoking.” Krafcik told Motor Trend that initial sales of the Genesis Coupe are beating the Genesis sedan figures with “significantly less” advertising.
Dealers currently have many Genesis Coupe 2.0T models on hand. Since the 3.8L is still in transit, it’s hard to say which powertrain options customers will pick most. Nonetheless, word is that 50 percent of those showing interest in the Genesis Coupe are going for the Grand Touring model.
Read More at eGmcarTech.com
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