Email this page to your friend:
Long the purveyor of iconic cars (such as the 300 SLR Gullwing) that only the sickeningly rich can afford to purchase and maintain, today
Mercedes-Benz announces a new edition of the
SLR McLaren Roadster, the 722 S.
The big news is in the engine room, where 650 horsepower now moves the Roadster to 62 mph quicker (3.7 seconds) and on to a higher top speed (355 km/h, nearly 221 mph) than the standard
SLR McLaren Roadster. "More dynamic suspension tuning and improved aerodynamics," according to
Mercedes, round out the necessary changes to this new edition with frightening levels of performance.
In explaining the nomenclature of this new model,
Mercedes says it's hearking back to racing legend Stirling Moss' and co-driver Dennis Jenkinson's victory at the 1955 Mille Miglia in a
Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. In that particular event, the 300 SLR's start number was 722.
We wonder if a true gearhead would be OK with this new, limited-edition (150 units) roadster sharing both engine displacement and fundamental engine design with the
G55 AMG truck SUV. Or that it makes do with only an old-school, five-speed torque converter automatic transmission in the sparkling new world of dual-clutch automated manuals or Mercedes' own seven-speed torque converter automatic. Not that a beast this powerful needs lots of gears or even tech like direct injection to achieve its stunning performance numbers. But shouldn't the most money buy you the most tricked-out toy?
Image-first types like Donald Trump are surely the target market for
convertibles like this, but we doubt his comb-over would survive the the journey to 221 mph and back.--
Colin Mathews
Posted in : 2009, Convertibles, Enthusiasts, Exotics, Mercedes-Benz
Email this page to your friend:
Enlarge Photo
At first sight, Mitsubishi's MMR25 Rally Racer seems to have re-invented the wheel. The stunning concept, Mitsubishi's entry in this year's
Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge, replaces traditional wheels and tires with circular arrays of canted, rubberized rollers resembling something between your mom's hair curlers and a sinister member of the arachnid family.
The theme for the design challenge is "Motorsports in 2025."
Mitsubishi chief designer David O'Connell claims that it's "just the sort of assignment the designers at
Mitsubishi Motors dream of," claiming its depiction of motorsport in the year 2025 looks both back upon Mitsubishi's success in automotive competition as well as forward to what such events might be like in the future.
The L.A.
Auto Show Design Challenge urges Southern California-based studios to compete against each other for the claim of ultimate automotive design studio. Los Angeles is an appropriate backdrop for this competition, being the home of so many carmakers' North American design studios as well as the famed Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., which has produced some inspired automotive designs and designers. Mitsubishi's full rendering will be released at the L.A.
Auto Show this November.--
Colin Mathews
Enlarge Photo
Posted in : 2008, Concept Cars, Enthusiasts, Los Angeles Auto Show, Mitsubishi, Racing/Motorsports, Sportscars
Email this page to your friend:
Enlarge Photo
Sport sedan drivers who like to shift it themselves will have to wait until model year 2010 for an
Acura TL with a manual transmission. Judging by the six-speed, short-throw, aluminum-topped stick in its current
TSX, we have no doubt the upcoming TL manual will be a pleasure to row through the gears.
It's a shame
Acura isn't releasing this transmission alongside the intro of its new TL, perhaps lending it more credence as a true driver's car. That said, the U.S. market buys manual transmissions in barely a trickle, so
Acura folk probably figured they could take an extra year to make the new transmission perfect without really impacting sales. What's less forgivable, however, is that the manual will only be available on the pricier SH-AWD model.
"The new manual transmission equipped TL SH-AWD® really allows the enthusiast driver to take full advantage of the performance of Acura's SH-AWD® system," said Dick Colliver, executive vice president of sales. Yeah, but what about the drivers who just wants to enjoy the satisfying snick-snick of a
Honda manual transmission outside of the extreme performance driving where SH-AWD really comes alive?
The new transmission is more robust than earlier TL manuals, sports a new clutch, comes with stiffer engine mounts, and results in weight savings of 110 pounds compared to the six-speed auto currently available. It even has the cool hill-hold feature that quirky
Subaru has been doing since the '70s. We say, reduce the alphabet soup of the only model this transmission will come in (TL SH-AWD 6MT) and put it in the base TL, too.--
Colin Mathews
Posted in : 2010, Acura, Driving, Enthusiasts, Technology
Email this page to your friend:
Enlarge Photo
"Keyless Go" is an apt moniker in this age of multitasking, speed-passing, Easy-Fueling drivers. But 6,636 '08-'09
Dodge Challengers with automatics are in such a seeming hurry to get moving that they may do so even when their owners would rather they stay put.
Said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), pressing and holding the Challenger automatic's stop/start button will turn the vehicle's engine off regardless of gear selector lever position. Turn the engine off, forget to put it in park, release the brake, exit the car, and you might just watch in astonishment as your spunky Challenger traipses down the hill without you.
So that the engine may be shut off only after the transmission has been placed in Park,
Edmunds states that "
Chrysler dealers will reprogram the wireless ignition node module." For more information about the recall that is slated to begin this week, Challenger owners may dial 1-800-853-1403.--
Colin Mathews
Posted in : 2008, 2009, Dodge, Enthusiasts, Gadgets/Products, Industry News, Recalls, Sportscars, Technology
Email this page to your friend:
Japanese automakers have begun to focus seriously on diesel--even though diesels aren't all that popular in Japan, where the fuel oil isn't discounted like it is by most European governments. The latest diesel by a Japanese company comes from
Mazda, which is injecting a little oil-burning zoom-zoom into its European lineup.
The company that keeps you grinning with
MX-5 Miatas and
MazdaSpeed 3--and is bringing the Kiyora concept pictured here to the
Paris auto show next month--will match the new
Mercedes-Benz unit in both cylinder count and displacement. The
Mazda MZR-CD 2.2-liter turbocharged clean diesel four doesn't make as much power as the new knockout from Benz, but 182 horsepower and 295 lb-ft are both more horsepower, and
way more torque, than the frisky 2.0-liter unit in the Miata. And 42 U.S. mpg is positively
Prius-like.
A revision of its existing 2.0-liter diesel, the new engine meets Euro 5 emissions standards and is quieter and more refined. It also employs an industry-first (according to
Mazda) particulate filter that doubles time between soot burn-off cycles as well as speeding the burn-off process. However, you can't have one, at least yet, America: the release straight out of Hiroshima mentions neither North America nor the U.S.--
Colin Mathews
Posted in : 2008, Diesels, Enthusiasts, Green Machines, Mazda
RSS
Send Feedback!
