Car News – Car Reviews

Here’s a futuristic prototype hybrid from Porsche that is turning its share of heads at the Geneva Motor Show. Just one look at the open top –big-wheel Porsche 918 Spyder and it’s understood why. It is a monster in waiting. However, what is setting many to scratching at their skull is that this hybrid super sports car’s fuel economy is on parity with its high performance.

That’s saying a lot for a car with a top speed 198 mph and a zero-to-62 mph in 3.2 seconds. According to The Local, Porsche claims the 918 goes 100 kilometers (62 miles) on three liters (3.17 quarts) of gasoline. It also emits approximately one-fifth the CO2 emissions of comparable supercars.

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By James Rothaar

Fifteen years deep and its reputation as one of the nation’s most significant events in vintage and classic car circles continues to rise. The recently held four-day Concours d’Elegance showcased 275 extraordinary vehicles to more than 18,000 attendees.

Best of Show winners were a sliver 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K and a 1960 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage. The silver Mercedes took the Concours d’Elegance trophy, and the Maserati drove home with the Concours de Sport award.

NASCAR legend Richard Petty, the Concours’ honoree this year, revved up the festivities by bringing along nine of his “used” stock cars. This year’s show paid homage to the last Cuban Grand Prix held in 1960. The 1960 Maserati Tipo 61 Birdcage that won the Concours de Sport trophy is the car that was driven by the winner of the ’60 Cuban Grand Prix, Sir Stirling Moss. Carroll Shelby, drag racer Don “Big Daddy” Garlits, and racing driver Sam Posey also were special guests.

Sir Stirling Moss was going to be a featured guest at the show along with the Maserati. Unfortunately, he was injured at home, in his garage, and suffered two broken ankles, four broken bones to his foot, skin abrasions and four chipped vertebrae. He is now comfortable and recovering in a London hospital after surgery to both ankles, according to a recent post on Stirling Moss’ Web site.

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By James Mellon

The Japanese automaker Toyota has stopped the sales of a SUV Lexus GX 460 after the findings published by the Consumer Reports. The publication labeled the car as “Don’t buy: Safety Risk”. Consumer Reports conducts tests for every reviewed product. While doing a common test drive for SUVs, the experts found that when turning the car, the driver can’t regain stability control fast enough, which can cause the car to roll over.

To be more sure with the results, the test-drive was done for another car of the same model, which showed the same result. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was informed about the issue. Consumer Reports has informed Toyota as well. This resulted in an announcement from the company, which told Toyota takes the reports seriously. This later on resulted into a stop in sales.

The issue concerned only Lexus GX 460, though another car, Toyota 4Runner is built on the same platform. The overall buzz in the news has confused many customers, who thought they have bought a lemon. But actually, to be considered a lemon a car should meet the following points under the California Lemon law

• A reasonable number of repairs should have been done within the first 18 months or 18,000 miles.
• The manufacturer has had a reasonable number of attempts to repair the vehicle. This can be identified by:

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By Joshua Ferris

When I bought my 2008.5 Mazda3 the first thing I noticed was the huge horse whip style antenna jumping off the roof of the car. I’m not much of an AM/FM radio aficionado and with optional satellite radio or an iPod in tow there isn’t a whole lot of reason to be but for important traffic updates and local news it can’t be beat.

The shark fin works as a sleek, compact replacement for your stock horse whip antenna and is extremely easy to install. We did hit a few snags though so read on to see how we did it and what not to do.

What You’ll Need

1. Flat Head Screw Driver (Optional)
2. Painter’s Tape or Masking Tape
3. Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol (We used 70% and definitely recommend sticking at 70% rather than the more potent 98%)
4. For Waxed Cars Only – 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner or 3M Prep Solvent 70 or Dawn dish soap (liquid)
5. Hair Dryer (Heat Guns are too powerful and will damage your paint!)
6. A stool of some kind (Unless you are tall enough to reach over the Mazda3 and push down on the middle.)

1. The first thing you are going to do is unscrew the Elroy Jetson style antenna from its base. The antenna is all one piece so it should come right off. Continue Reading

By Shola Ogunlokun

On Monday the 4th of October 2010, the Driving Standards Agency (the government appointed body responsible for conducting driving tests in the UK) introduced a 10 minute independent element to all practical tests taken in Great Britain. Following the good feedback received from both candidates and instructors on this new change, and to further enhance the ‘independence’ of candidates in making safety decisions as new drivers, the DSA will be making some changes to the Driving theory test in 2011 and 2012.

The current UK driving theory test is a computer based multiple choice system, and if you are studying for the theory test in the UK, you can either buy books, CD or DVDs or visit online websites where you can practice using the actual question bank that you might get on the day of your test. The DSA has said that this is no longer a good way of testing candidate’s knowledge of the highway code and the theory needed to be a safe driver since it is possible to memorise the answers to questions without fully understanding the underlying principles, so there will be a 2 step change over 2011 and 2012. The DSA effectively will be withdrawing the act of publishing the questions and answers that are used on the actual theory test.

In September 2011 the DSA will publish new training materials for the theory test using typical questions similar to what a candidate might get, but none of the actual questions or their corresponding answers will be made available to the public. This change will coincide with the introduction of more challenging case study questions to the theory test. If you plan to take the theory test after the 1st of January 2012 then you should be using these new study materials.

The major change occurs on the 1st of January 2012 when a new theory test will be introduced in the UK, this will still be computer based, but none of the questions and the presented answers would have been available to the public, so candidates would need to have thoroughly studied the highway code and used the new study materials that were first published in September 2011 to prepare if they want to have a good chance of passing.

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