Category: Cars

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From Autoblog: Video: Watch Top Gear complete a world record double loop

Top Gear double-loop attempt

The Top Gear team has made a bit of history at the Top Gear Festival in Durban, South Africa, as a stunt driver pulled off a double loop in front of a crowd of over 15,000. The event involved a 26-foot tall double loop track that looks to have come right out of a Hot Wheels box, except that it weighs over eight tons. The stunt vehicle of choice was a custom-made buggy with a throttle lock that could travel at a constant 24-26 mile per hour speed that the math geeks said was necessary for a successful “Deadly 720.”

Scroll below to watch a nearly two-minute video that starts with cheering crowds and the trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammondand ends with the buggy stunt. We’re thinking the best part of the video was the in-buggy view of the double loop.

from Autoblog

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From Morning Edition: ‘Car Talk’ Brothers To Close Up Shop

Sniff… I’m gonna miss my all-time favorite radio show…  🙁

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Tom and Ray Magliozzi, aka Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, the comedian mechanics who host NPR’s Car Talk, are retiring this fall. Their weekly call-in series will continue to be distributed by NPR, drawing on material from their 25 years of show archives.

 

from Morning Edition

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From Autoblog: Subaru Legacy that spent 3 months at bottom of Finnish lake starts on first try

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subaru legacy wagon in lake

“Ja, that ice’ll hold ya.” Until it didn’t, and suddenly a man’s 1996 Legacy wagon was at the bottom of a shallow lake in Finland. Three months later, the Subaru wagon was dragged from its freshwater slumber, and while most people would just write the car off or at most turn it into a parts donor, curiosity got the better of the rescue squad.

Would it run? Just how bad was the damage? Before plunging below the surface, the owner did have time to shut the engine down and get his dogs out, so the boxer four didn’t aspirate any water and electrons weren’t coursing through the various circuits, two details that likely saved a bunch of damage. After removing a live fish from the engine bay, draining a lot of water from the fuel tank and crankcase, and a fresh fill of fluids and spark plugs, lo and behold, the SCUBA-ru chugged to life on the first try.

It’s not perfect; until the residual water works its way through the fuel system it’s going to feel a little low on power, and oxidation may start to fiercely assert itself. The smell is probably epic, too, but this is one funkbox with a great story.

from Autoblog

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From Autoblog: Video: 2013 Toyota Prius C doesn’t get much love from Consumer Reports

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Consumer Reports' 2012 Toyota Prius C road test - screencap

Consumer Reports has panned the 2012 Toyota Prius C in a new video review that urges car shoppers to get a used regular Prius over the new baby model, “it’s a much better car overall,” said Mike Quincy in the review.

The problems Toyota ran into in creating the Prius C appear to be in making it cheaper, according to Consumer Reports. The list of adjectives during the video review included: “lackluster,” “hard plastic,” “cheap materials,” “dead steering” and “slow.”

Toyota may see those words as misplaced modifiers compared to the glowing recommendations the larger mainstream Prius has received in its decade-long Synergy drive to becoming the eco-poster child for hypermiling greenies out to save the Earth and ride in California HOV lanes with a single person aboard. (HOV access for most gas-electric hybrids has been discontinued in the Golden State.)

While the Prius C may start at $18,995, its price climbs quickly and its value does not, Consumer Reports said. A new regular Prius starts at $24,000.

However, the bad news from Consumer Reports hasn’t hurt Prius C sales, which began in April. During its first month, Toyota sold 4,782 Prius C models, outpacing the other Prius variant, the family-minded Prius V, as well as the subcompact Yaris, which donates its platform for the Prius C.

Scroll down to watch Consumer Reports’full Prius C video review or read more at the source link.

Continue reading 2013 Toyota Prius C doesn’t get much love from Consumer Reports

from Autoblog

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From Autoblog: Video: Scamander is the go-anywhere, swim-across-anything RV from England

Scamander

When Evo magazine’s founder and Editorial Director Harry Metcalfe says a machine is “the most amazing vehicle you’ve ever seen,” you know you’re in for a treat. After all, Metcalfe has been at the head of the British magazine since its first issue in 1998 and has owned or driven nearly every vehicle you can imagine.

The amazing machine that’s netted such admiration from Metcalfe? The Scamander, a truly all-terrain vehicle designed and built by Peter Wheeler, the man who owned British boutique automaker TVR for 23 years. With its 300-horsepower V6 engine, the Scamander is reportedly capable of hitting 60 miles per hour in about eight seconds and can hit a top speed of 120 mph.

On land, that is…

You see, there’s also a impeller out back, meaning this crazy floating contraption can also take to the water. Sadly, Wheeler died before seeing this project to completion, but his wife and a team of engineers made sure that the Scamander finally saw the light of day in fully finished form. Scroll down belowto see Metcalfe take the Scamander over land and sea.

from Autoblog

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From Technology Review RSS Feeds: Engine Could Boost Fuel Economy by Half

Delphi says its diesel-like engine runs cleanly on gasoline.

Delphi, a major parts supplier to automakers, is developing an engine technology that could improve the fuel economy of gas-powered cars by 50 percent, potentially rivaling the performance of hybrid vehicles while costing less. A test engine based on the technology is similar in some ways to a highly efficient diesel engine, but runs on gasoline.




from Technology Review RSS Feeds

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From Droid Life: Nevada Gives Google License to Test Driverless Cars in Their State

Google isn’t giving up on their vision of seeing cars driving themselves and passengers in the near future. After Nevada passed legislation regarding the requirements for driverless cars, Google has been granted a license to test their new pet project out in the desert. There are a few rules however, to make sure that these Priuses (Prii, Prioria, Priores?) don’t go rogue and cause some major damage.

Nevada has said that if you want to test these cars you need to have an insurance bond of $1 million and that the testing time and area for these cars must be laid out thoroughly. Don’t expect to be driving down the highway and seeing one next to you in rush hour anytime soon. The cars even get their own license plate, featuring a red back with an infinity symbol on it. Nevada DMV Director Bruce Breslow says, ”I felt using the infinity symbol was the best way to represent the ‘car of the future.’” Anyone ready to give up their lead foot to let the car drive itself?

Via: Arstechnica

from Droid Life