Category: Cars

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From Autoblog: New York: Delorean Electric surprises in New York, will cost $95,000 in 2013

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First announced last October, the reborn, all-electric Delorean has made a surprise appearance at the New York Auto Show this year. It’s a surprise because not even Delorean Motor Company president Stephen Wynne knew he was going to be here until a few weeks ago, when show organizers called with an invite.

With a prime spot near the EV ride along track – the DMCev is sadly not involved – Wynne said he’s been getting good attention, even though said track is in the basement. We asked Wynne what’s been going on with the car since last fall’s announcement and the short answer is that this is one EV concept that’s going into production.

The target date for fans to buy the DMCev is early 2013, but a lot has to happen between now and then. Right now, all the company has is the converted DMC-12 to show off the technology. To create this, the designers had to add 200 pounds of stuff, and the production version is going to be either the same weight as the gas version, or a few pounds less, in order to improve both performance and range. The car is powered by a 32-kWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack and has a 125 mile per hour top speed with a range of 100 miles. Published specs claim a 0-60 time of 4.9 seconds, but Wynne said the target is now under six seconds. Price for all this fun? $95,000.

DMC will assemble the car in Houston, TX with a lot of help from Louisiana’s Epic EV, the company working on the Torq and Amp vehicles (not the Amp conversions). These two companies are testing different motor/inverter combinations for the electric Delorean, and Wynne said they are looking for a “proven product” from a company that has at least “several hundred” units on the road. The current prototype also uses a DC motor, but the production will use AC for better range, performance and regenerative braking ability. The old-school dashboard is also due for an upgrade

Those are the details we could glean in New York. Can you believe we made it through this entire post without a Back To The Future reference? The DMCev can’t do it, though, with a license plate that reads “Gas? Where we’re going we don’t need gas” and a battery that carries the “Flux Power” nickname. For more, you can watch a video of Translogic going for a ride in the DMCev down below, where you’ll also find a related press release.

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From Engadget: Terrafugia Transition production prototype completes first flight, set to land at NY Auto Show this Friday

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Terrafugia’s Transition could finally be making its way to the production line. The “flying car” has journeyed far beyond the concept phase, achieving its compulsory nod from the DOTlast summer, and now reaching production prototype status. On March 23rd, the latest Transition flew past one more hurdle, completing its first airborne trial. The hybrid vehicle rolled down the runway at Plattsburgh International Airport in New York before ascending to 1400 feet — the entire flight lasted a mere eight minutes, and marks the first of six planned phases of flight testing during the aircraft’s voyage past experimental stage. There’s still no word on when the Light Sport Aircraft will be making its way to soon-to-be Transition owners, but those hankering for a preview can catch a glimpse of the craft at the New York Auto Show from April 6th through the 15th. You can also taxi past the break for a tail-level view of the test plane’s trek to takeoff.

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From Autoblog: New York: 2013 Nissan Altima debuts, does 38 MPG HWY and priced from $21,500*

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It boasts the best highway fuel economy for any non-hybrid midsize sedan: 38 miles per gallon.

Perhaps more than most people realize, the Nissan Altima is a hugely important car here in the United States. In 2011, it was the second best-selling car in the country (trailing its classmate, the Toyota Camry), and with the launch of this fifth-generation Altima, Nissan appears to simply be going for an evolutionary enhancement rather than completely reinventing its successful midsize sedan formula.

That said, this step forward for the Altima should make it more competitive than ever in one of the most highly shopped segments of North America’s automotive marketplace. Nissan has not only been able to shed enough weight to make the Altima the lightest car in its class, it now boasts the best highway fuel economy for any non-hybrid midsize sedan: 38 miles per gallon when paired with the 182-horsepower 2.5-liter inline-four. Combine that with a new rear suspension setup, class-exclusive driving aids such as Active Understeer Control and a slew of new infotainment functionality, and Nissan’s midsizer looks to have what it takes to keep running with the segment’s best.

Scroll down for an in-depth look at what’s in store for the 2013 Altima.

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From Engadget: Clarion’s Android-running Mirage IVI: a head unit that can play Angry Birds

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Remember the Clarion Malaysia IVI that was teased back in December? The company’s just unveiled the finished product, which you can call Mr. Clarion Mirage. The Android-running car stereo, head unit, erm, In-Vehicle Infotainment system is a hefty Double DIN unit, with a 6.5-inch display up front and plenty of tech packed inside. Intel’s embedded systems division Wind River supplied the customized version of Froyo, Navigon offered up a navigation engine and industrial designers Plextex helped design the hardware. The Clarion Mirage has USB and AV-out ports, an SD card slot and is designed to be as flexible as a smartphone: capable of playing back music and video, running apps from Google Play or working as a display repeater with consoles. There’s no official word on pricing or availability, but the scuttlebutt says it’ll arrive in Q4 of this year. We’ve reached out and will update if we learn more.

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From Autoblog: Opinion: How autonomous cars are about to change our future

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The biggest hurdles to autonomous cars will be legal, not technical.

Most car enthusiasts hate the idea of cars that can drive themselves. But autonomous cars will get here faster than most people realize. Slowly but surely, automobiles are doing more of our driving for us. It’s only a matter of time before they take over completely.

Just look at how much control we’ve already ceded to the computers under the hood. Anti-lock brakes, which are consistently better at threshold braking than mere mortals, are pretty much standard equipment. So are traction control and stability control. We now have blind spot detection, lane departure warning, active lane control, and even self-parking.

Now comes the next step. Mercedes-Benz and Audi recently demonstrated Traffic Jam Assist, which uses adaptive cruise control and automatic steering to completely take control of a car up to 60 kilometers an hour (about 37 mph). Google has racked up tens of thousands of miles on its fleet of fully autonomous Toyota Prius hybrids on California roads. The technology will be showroom ready before the end of the decade.

The biggest hurdles will be legal, not technical. For example, who’s at fault when one of these cars gets in an accident? And how will the police pull over an autonomous car if they need to? But we’ll resolve those issues, and when we do, autonomous cars will have a bigger impact on society than when the first horseless carriages appeared over a century ago.

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From Autoblog: Video: Lada emergency is no mere fire drill

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Exploding Lada in Russia

We imagine that many a Russian Lada has been compared to a ticking time bomb – which is not to say that there aren’t any good Ladas out in the wild, of course – but the example you’ll see in the video pasted below takes the cake. It is, quite literally, an Improvised Explosive Device.

If an exploding Lada alone isn’t enough reason for you to watch, perhaps the reaction of the passengers is more of a draw. Their reaction to the impending doom is so quick that it’s almost as if the two occupants were just waiting for the engine of this poor machine to reach its glorious and destructive demise.

See what we’re talking about in the video pasted below.

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From Autoblog: Official: 2013 Chevy Malibu’s turbo four rated at 269 HP, 0-60 in 6.3 seconds

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2013 Chevrolet Malibu

We weren’t exactly smitten with the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco when we got the chance to tae one out for a spin, thanks in part to the eAssist wizardry aimed at improving the vehicle’s fuel economy. With a lackluster drivetrain, regenerative brakes and low rolling resistance tries, the Malibu Eco simply isn’t capable of keeping its head high among the competition. Even so, we were told to wait for the Ecotec 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder set to debut this year. Now we know why. According to General Motors, the engine is good for 269 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. More importantly, all that torque comes on at a very low 1,700 rpm.

The direct-injection engine helps the Malibu hit 60 mph in a scant 6.3 seconds. Trust us when we say that’s an improvement over the Eco model. While there’s no word on fuel economy, we would expect the engine to return well better than the 17 mpg city and 26 mpg highway supplied by the outgoing 3.6-liter V6, an engine that was only good for 252 horsepower.

This isn’t the first time GM has dabbled with a turbocharged four-cylinder. The company supplied buyers with a 2.0-liter Ecotec in vehicles like the Pontiac Solstice GXP, HHR SS and Cobalt SS that put out 260 horsepower. See belowfor the full press release.

Continue reading 2013 Chevy Malibu’s turbo four rated at 269 HP, 0-60 in 6.3 seconds

2013 Chevy Malibu’s turbo four rated at 269 HP, 0-60 in 6.3 seconds originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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