I was stuck in traffic today (as i generally am), and found it quite amusing that there is a common similarity between the shapes of taillights of the ‘new’ generation BMW 7-series and the Chevy Cruze!
Category Archives: business
wrapping.
I’m still not sure what to think of vinyl wraps people are doing on cars—–mainly because the ‘matte’ look is such a played out, cliche look these days—–and although i was fascinated by it a couple of years ago, now i generally see either cheesy supercars with it OR rubbish 1990s japanese cars whose owners were too cheap to get a paint job, so they used grille paint to create it!
But either way I find it an interesting solution. I have never really encountered a ‘wrapped’ car in person close enough to inspect, but i’d be interested to watch them wrap a car to see how they do it. Also what happens if a car gets hit? does the wrap rip up/shred a bit and expose the original car underneath?
Lancia logos.
I love automotive logos, and the following is the original sketch sheet of logo proposals for the Lancia marque. As you can see, the 1st one in the 2nd row is closest to the current logo, however until at least 1929, the 2nd one in the 1st row was used as the logo. This original sketch sheet was drawn by Count Biscaretti of Ruffia, who was involved with early Lancias and Vincenzo Lancia
drawings by Count Biscaretti, from 1911:
source of original sketch: http://www.currypotproductions.com/LanciaHistory-100.htm
Ford’s freaky visions of the future.
I don’t think it is exclusively Ford who is imagining this “cloud” of information, however they seem to be one of the first to actually make a short video explaining what they mean. Ford’s new Evos concept (pictured above) is a pretty good looking el-cheapo-Aston-Martin clone, however it’s the conceptual stuff they are really excited about.
My reaction? errr…..i’m not sure what I think. As someone who has recently updated myself with a ‘technologically updated” automobile—-I do respect and love some of the things that make our life easier; like bluetooth connections, navigation, digital media, etc.
That being said, I *think* I still want to make some decisions myself, which is why the “cloud” confuses me. Watch the video for yourself, and lemme know what you think.
neu Audi S8.
the best luxury sedan in the world just got quite a bit quicker.
520hp. 4.0L Turbo V8. 0-60 in 4.2 seconds. Do you know how it feels to be in a car this heavy and do 0-60 in 4.2 seconds? I still remember riding in an older S55 AMG a few years ago and feeling what a 0-60 time in the 5.5 second range and feeling like I was in hyperspeed orbit around the streets. 4.2s is a big notch faster. Looks great too, lots of presence.
When I was picking up my A3, I was waiting for some of the paperwork to get prepped—-and found myself dwelling in the showroom A8 they had, just wafting away in one of the most beautiful interiors i’ve ever sat in. It was like sitting inside of a relaxed lounge, just pass me a scotch and a cigarette and let me instruct the driver where to go.
2012/2013 Audi S8
source: Audi
joined at the hip/evolution.
Mercedes-Benz 220S Coupe:
Mercedes Benz E-Class Coupe (2011)
R8 facelift spotted!
IEDEI’s friends at Fourtitude have spotted a possible first view of the ‘facelifted’ Audi R8, which should launch in 2012 sometime. More interestingly, they have also discussed that R8s have been testing with 2.5L 5 Cylinder Turbo engines (!!!!!). Bring it Audi!!!
VW Up!
I am a huge fan of small euro hatchbacks. They are fun to drive, practical, and get the job done! Since the original Beetle and Golf, VW have struggled to come up with a cheap, useable, attractive car that can be used by the masses. I have to say that my experiences with the euro VW Polo were impressive, and i think the Polo is a great car—–but still not ‘common’ enough to make a global impact. I am gonna hope that the new Up! gets the job done. Why? It is a 3-cylinder rear-engined 4-seat hatchback. Back to the glory days of VW, innit? It doesn’t look ‘charming’ like the original Beetle, but times have changed—-i stand corrected—-it is not rear-engined any more! However this Up! does come with a nice, clean, minimalist design. It remains to be seen if this car makes it over here. At a starting price of 8500 Euros, the Up! will surely make an impact IMO.
This is how you make a cool subcompact, Fiat—-not an overpriced, overstyled piece of crap! I just wish VW would have stuck to the rear-engined format.
source: Autocar
Kia (K9) RWD concept.
Peter Schreyer heads up the Kia design team at the moment, and he is of course the person who led Audi out of the dark days and into the light with designs such as the 8N MK1 Audi TT, B5 A4, C5 A6, and many other great designs. This is Schreyer’s latest design for Kia.
This is Kia’s foray into the wide world of luxury sedans, and supposedly going to be named the “K9” which, I have to say is a completely juvenile choice in name—reminds me of a clumsy police unit on an old TV show. But the design? It looks fantastic. Sure there are cues of the ‘coupe-sedan’ trend that’s going on, and Schreyer has always added Audi bits into his Kia designs (in this case, a healthy bit of A7 swooping)—but this looks fresh and edgy, almost making me think that if Lamborghini introduced a sub-$100k sedan—it would probably look like this. I hope they build it.
Oh, and Jaguar need to pull their heads out of their asses and hire a guy like Schreyer to design stuff like this for them…i could definitely see this car with a Jaguar badge more than a Kia badge.
and look at the side-view mirrors…they are video cameras! SWEET!
source: Road & Track
the best thing to ever come out of Ferrari…
Yeah I don’t give a crap about Ferrari—it’s a vulgar company who have built the most overrated, cheesy, and overhyped cars of my lifetime. They’re like the ‘jocks’ of the automotive world…ready to strangle automotive journalists with their sweaty, annoying jockstraps.
BUT TODAY I read a statement by Luca Di Montezemelo (CEO of Ferrari) which made my heart turn all fuzzy and warm—although the statement involves Ferrari’s future plans, what warmed my heart is their resistance to join the overwhelming surge of electric cars. My favourite marques Audi and Porsche have also recently joined into the electric car frenzy with their own projects; which has caused me a certain amount of interest to see what they’ve come up with, but a certain amount of disappointment at them selling out to the frenzy.
What did Mr. Di Montezemelo say?
“You will never see a Ferrari electric because I don’t believe in electric cars, because I don’t think they represent an important step forward for pollution or C02 or the environment.”
Very cool. I’m glad someone had the balls to say it. Too bad his next line was “But we are working very, very hard on a Hybrid Ferrari”…..oh well, i didn’t expect them to completely stray off the beaten path.
source: Left Lane News
too tall, Tony….
the ‘new’ Fiat 500 is one ugly car……super tall, oddly out of proportion, and decorated like a child’s toy. I only like the fact that it has a ‘Fiat’ badge on it; otherwise it sucks. I parked next to one earlier today, and was appalled by the comparison of size.
video of the day. C111
i find the Mercedes C111 to be one of the more fascinating lost concept cars which never made it to production, mainly because MB evolved this car constantly, and used it to test their new technologies—-and then aborted the car completely after several years of evolution.
the lost: BMW Z29 prototype.
I love prototypes which have been lost or aborted during their development—-they have a curious aura of mystery surrounding them, and blistering questions of “what may have been” and “where are they now”. in 2001, BMW was working on a lightweight (2500+ pound) coupe with 300+ HP capable of 0-60 times of under 5 seconds. Judging by the Toyota-like styling, and not-so-BMW-like design features and its MK1 Audi TT inspired minimalist interior—-it is very possible this car was merely a test bed for new technologies. I don’t think the world will have a breakdown because it was never produced, however it can definitely be added to the list of mysterious prototypes which were tested and then dissappeared. I’m guessing this car eventually morphed into the Z4 Coupe in 2006 and maybe used the carbon fiber technologies towards their M3 CSL.
Autocar article: http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/BMW-Concepts/248500/
BMW themselves eventually released photos of the car in 2010, as part of their 25th anniversary celebration of BMW Technik GmBH.
The two-seater sportscar was designed to be as light as possible through the use of high-tech materials.
The centre section of the car – from the front bulkhead to the rear bulkhead was a monocoque made from carbon-fibre reinforced plastics. The front and rear subframes were made of aluminium. The final prototype weighed just 1166kgs.
The Z29 was powered by the then-current 336bhp straight-six engine used in the M3, which gave the car a 0-62mph sprint time of just 4.4 seconds.
The Z29’s unusual scissor doors never made it onto a production car, but the Z29 is said to have influenced the 2006 M Roadster.
However the project had its biggest influence on the 2004 M3 CSL, which used carbon-fibre, reinforced plastics for the roof panel, as well as various other body mouldings including the front bumper.
BMW founded the Technik GmbH division in 1985, with the intention of using as a think-tank to ‘develop and innovative, future-oriented and original overall vehicle concepts and sub-concepts away from the constraints of a specific series workflow schedule’. However, the board added that Technik’s objective should ‘always be to develop solutions that have the potential for series development.”
Audi S5 (and A5) gets cosmetic facelift…
and i think they just ruined the front end a little bit. That being said, i’ll have to see one on the road to cast my final judgements—-because as i recall when the original A5 was introduced—pictures never really do the car justice. For me, the front end looks less aggressive now, and a bit too busy…
The big news here though, is that the S5 will now get the 3.0 Supercharged V6 that is currently in the S4—-a lighter, more fuel economical engine with plenty of useability as compared to the old lump that was the 4.2L V8 previously.
original:
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IEDEI Car Shopping. Review #1.
Yes that’s right IEDEI is shopping for a car! It has been 8 years since I last went ‘real’ car shopping, and how I have missed it. Yes you have to deal with misinformed salespeople, plenty of fluff, weird business tactics, temptations on the used car lots, and pricing shock after adding a couple of choice options—-however I, for one, believe that car shopping should be the next big thing sporting event.
I want to give the TT a break and I will be keeping it. I have had the TT for 8 years now and the car now has 115k miles. It has done its job and I want it to relax and stay as my “fun car”. My wife and I have plans to ‘expand the family’ in the next year or so, as well as my new job which is why I am shopping cars.
So you would think that car shopping for me would be quite easy—-as I would just head over to the nearest Audi dealer and buy up the whole facking place——however I do have budget constraints, and I do have a very open mind when it comes to buying. The last time I went car shopping, I drove many, many cars and the whole experience was very satisfying. That being said, my choice last time was MUCH easier because a long story short—-i was obsessed with the TT. This time? YES there is a top contender, however it is not an obsession—-just a top contender. More about that car at a later time.
So today I drove a 2011 BMW 335i X-drive (why can’t they just call it iX or Xi like they used to? weirdos…)
Styling
As a child, i grew up wanting an E30 M3. As an adult, I find modern BMW styling to be more boring than watching a baby elephant drool into a lake. I didn’t feel exactly compelled by the dated design of the aging 3-series sedan (E90), however I felt the car met several key preferences I have in a long distance commuter family sedan (AWD capabilities, sporting performance, solid, small size, preferably german). The front of the car has sort of a “japanese” look to it—-i don’t find it very interesting, in fact i find it very scattered and haphazard. Too many shapes with incoherence. The rear end is far better than the front, but seems a bit “scrunched” together. The side profile was nice, sometimes…The sculpted hood is overstyled, like a monster’s face in a cheap horror film—-and overall, the looks just don’t work for me. There isn’t much classic about this E90.
Interior
Amongst the things I evaluate cars for, interior is amongst the highest of importance. Why? Because as a driver, the interior is really THE interface for us when spending time with the car. The TT has quite simply one of the finest interiors of any production car in the past 50 years—-it was also one of the most expensive production interiors and it shows. On the downside, this has given me a very high standard to evaluate other cars’ interiors with. In the 80s/90s, BMW had it all going right—with minimalist, functional interiors which got the job done and had bags of integrity. In specific, i’m going to point out that terrible rubber piece located above the steering wheel like a sideways clitoris connecting the dash cluster area to the top base of the wheel. What was that!? The seats were pretty lousy as well—-you can see the lack of good bolster on the sides….the leather felt thick and grainy like it was taken from a dinosaur….worst of all, things felt cheaper than they should feel. I also found the “double bubble” navigation screen area to be very awkward, although it did keep the display in level with the driver’s vision. The MMI/iDrive system was actually pretty nice, much nicer than any of the Audis I have used with similar features. The gauge cluster was well made and one of the high points of the interior, with one of the low points being the controls and handles on the door–which were woefully planned and placed. All in all, a very schizophrenic interior, not a particular nice place to be.
Backseat room was very nice, and i was surprised by how much room there was for a compact sedan—-trunk size was not as nice as i’ve seen in the C-Class and the A4.
Driving.
Having driven a fair number of modern BMWs in my life—I do know one thing: that they are often much better to drive than you think they will be based on other criteria. This was true today as well. The engine is a 300hp Turbocharged 3.0L straight-6. A couple of things surprised me about this engine: (A) there isn’t much turbo lag, and (B) it sounds pretty decent. The power is instant and with a surge of turbocharged boost. To me, this is the essence of BMW, as we often forget that BMW originally launched the first mass produced turbocharged automobile to the mass market in 1974 with the BMW 2002 Turbo.
They didn’t have any manual transmission cars to drive, so I drove one with a ‘Steptronic” automatic transmission. It is very dissappointing that BMW does not offer a dual-clutch optional gearbox in their non-M car lineup. The Steptronic did not have paddle shifters, and to be honest the gearbox was slow and a bit cumbersome to use. I felt better driving the car in fully automatic mode rather than “pseudo-manual”. The brakes were excellent and felt good under hard braking and panic stops.
The steering is one of the major high points on most BMWs, and it felt pretty good on the 335i. It felt accurate and communicative like a bullet fired by a sniper. Coming from a small coupe, i thought the car did feel large—however most family size sedans would feel that way. The 335i did feel agile though, and was most definitely able to handle aggressive steering exercises with relative ease and composure. Fortunately i had a sales person who urged me to test the car hard, which i did. Since the 335i is RWD all the time, until it detects slip—-the car handles great in everyday normal driving—with the steering free from powertrain expenditure.
All in all, the driving experience was a good one. The car feels solid as any BMW should, and it feels alive like a lizard who is being chased by a cat. The car instills a sense of confidence in it as any good german car should, and I give credit to BMW for mass producing their mainstream compact executive sedan without comprimising the driving characteristics which have made them desirable.
Overall.
I like the BMW 335i “x-drive” for what it is; a solid german sedan with all-weather capabilities and RWD useability. Do i think it is something special? NO. Do i think it is overpriced? YES. I sat with the salesperson and equipped the car with a ‘sports package’, leather (why in the world is leather optional on this!?), heated seats, and a couple other small things—–and the price of the car was $48k+. Would i pay $48k for this car? NO. Then the truth hit me—the lease price they were offering me on the car was WAY less than the finance price on the car—-together with the facts the dealer was telling me about 90% of their customer base leasing their BMWs over buying it—the car suddenly made a lot more sense. That being said, 335i is a very good car, lacking the attention to detail which would make it special. You can tell that this car is built for one reason; for corporate leases for corporate people climbing the ladder who want to aim for a 5-series the next time, and a 7-series after that. I have friends who have leased 3-series sedans repeatedly one after another—-and this really does seem like the dynamic BMW are aiming for. That’s what the car is made for. I walked away with a little more respect for the car after driving it, however I walked away not wanting it as well.
NEXT TIME FOR REVIEW: 2011 Mitsubishi Evolution 10
F1 4-cylinder Turbo vs. V6 Turbo…and how Audi influenced the FIA.
(rendering below, via Speed Arena–not actual car!)
By now i’m sure you have heard the debates about Formula One switching to a V6 Turbos OR 4-cylinder Turbos by 2013/2014. The latest news being reported by ESPN is saying that Audi was one of the primary reasons why F1 had initially agreed to switch to 4 cylinder turbos. Apparently Audi had originally said they would join, and the FIA obliged by accepting the idea of the 4 cylinder turbo. After the decision was made, Audi then flipped and decided the finances weren’t working out for them to join F1—and changed their mind. Following Audi’s uncertainty about joining F1, the FIA has recently decided that it is going back to the original idea of V6 Turbos.
I, personally, am a big fan of 4 cylinder turbos and feel they would have enhanced development of road going 4 cylinder turbos in street cars—-and am dissappointed that Audi retracted their original idea of joining F1. I think it would have been great if they had joined—possibly filling the void that BMW had left when they retreated from F1 a few years ago. Here’s hoping they change their minds again and decide to enter!
http://en.espnf1.com/fia/motorsport/story/52832.html?CMP=OTC-RSS
(thanks to Stampchez for the tip!)
ad of the day. 911.
Tagged ad, advertisement, magazine, marketing, old, porsche 911, vintage
BMW have a seizure and unleash the Mini Coupe.
the title Kings of Automotive Ugly was held by Nissan until a couple of months ago, when BMW swiftly stole the crown with their horrendous string of terrible designs; the fact that they own Mini has now authorized them to spread their design gonorrhea to another unsuspecting victim; the Mini Coupe.
I have tried to understand this roof, however it is beyond my grasp. At times, it resembles a cock from a small deformed animal—-at other times, a turtle with a broken shell—-and finally, it sort of reminds me of a rabbit with a pancake on top of it (see below).
i can’t really get myself to post more photos of it—-however if you need more info on this $22k Mini Coupe, head over to BMW for more official information (login may be required).
Hey BMW….What are you doing!?
what in the world have you done to the 1-series? Those headlights look like the eyes of a strange animal. RIP BMW design—–you need to be resurrected. Badly. What is that shape?
source: Autoblog
IEDEI Investigation! Pantera?
So back in 2007 and 2008, there was a mystery supercar being spotted around the UK——people thought it was a Lotus or a McLaren prototype. I remember reading that it was the next generation Esprit, the early working prototype of the MP12, and even heard Noble being thrown around.
speculation:
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/05/mystery-supercar-may-be-all-new-lotus-codenamed-project-eagle/
Eventually, some people decided that it was some obscure, unknown supercar known as the “MCE MC1”, which has since dissappeared into nowhereland. Here’s the original article Car published on the matter:
http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/News/Search-Results/First-Official-Pictures/MCE-MC1-supercar/
pics from that time:
So i had forgotten about this car—–even though they ‘claimed’ it was something called the “Spectre” or “MCE”.
Yesterday, my friend Ron Southern, who is a fellow Audi TT owner and a De Tomaso Pantera owner and enthusiast, showed me this. THE SAME car exiting the grounds of the De Tomaso factory! Could it be that this is after all the ‘new’ De Tomaso Pantera? It certainly looks 100% the same as the 2007 car which was mysteriously being spotted around town. This video was uploaded on YouTube May 2nd, 2011.
Video:
So it seems that either that is a new Pantera OR a car that is being evaluated by the newly resurrected De Tomaso as a possible base for a Pantera.
iPad: motoring stuff.
My lovely wife bought me an iPad last weekend. It’s an amazing device—-beautiful to use and full of utility. I am currently in the process of comprehensively reviewing a monumental amount of scientific knowledge for an upcoming examination—-and the iPad is like a saint that has come to help me out. It is brilliant. That being said—-there are tons of e-magazines available for the iPad related to cars—and i downloaded a few of the ‘free’ apps namely by BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche. I have to say that each one is entertaining and beautifully put together, especially for free. Apparently they will supply new issues as they are made….very cool. Here are some screencaps I took with the iPad of these 4 apps. BTW, the Mercedes application is just amazing—-it goes through their entire automotive history with photos and 2 minute audio summaries. Very cool, again.
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window sticker of the day. 911sc
A window sticker from a 1979 Porsche 911 SC Coupe. In case you are interested, the original price of $28,660 turns into $87,365 when adjusted for 2011 with inflation over the years. That’s just about the price of an equivelant 911 today!
IEDEI 
