The 2010 Motorist Choice Awards.
Yesterday marked the fifth annual Motorist Choice awards, based on extensive consumer data compiled by IntelliChoice and AutoPacific.The awards are picked by active consumers and aim to honor vehicles that serve the real-world wants and needs of drivers. For the first time this year, "awards were broken up into popular lifestyle categories that shoppers easily identify with, rather than the alternatives based on vehicle size, price and other such factors" according to the Motorist Choice press release. The 15 categories are broken up into "popular" and "premium" brands, and include titles such as "country club" -- that is, which automobile would drivers most prefer to be seen in when they arrive at their country club -- "cute" car, "high tech," "performance" and "value hauler," among others.
Two interesting tidbits about this year's awards (you can get the full list after the jump): Toyota, including its luxury Lexus badge, walked away with 10 awards despite its recent safety woes; and the Hyundai Genesis took home the country club award in the "popular" category (the Audi A6 won on the "premium" side) signaling that the Korean automaker may indeed have a viable shot at entering the luxury and near-luxury marketplaces in consumers' consciousness.
By Mark Rechtin, Automotive News
Has engine performance gone as far as it can?
With horsepower per liter having long since broken the 100-1 mark, Lamborghini seems to think so. So do many European regulators who want to strangle carbon dioxide emissions.
As a result, the Italian supercar maker sees its future dictated not by raw horsepower but by power-to-weight ratio. That means lots of carbon fiber--so much so that Lamborghini has developed a carbon fiber research center.
Already the Gallardo and Murcielago have had midcycle improvements that replaced aluminum and high-strength steel with carbon fiber panels. Expect that to increase as vehicles are redesigned.
Today is world car-free day.
"But we do not want just one day of celebration and then a return to 'normal' life. When people get out of their cars, they should stay out of their cars. It is up to us, it is up to our cities and our governments to help create permanent change to benefit pedestrians, cyclists and other people who do not drive cars."
"Let World Carfree Day be a showcase for just how our cities might look like, feel like and sound like without cars … 365 days a year."
By Diana T. Kurylko, Automotive News
Now that it's owned by Volkswagen, Porsche reportedly is planning two small vehicles that the German sports car maker's previous management had nixed.
Porsche is expected to increase the size of its Boxster roadster, leaving room at the bottom of the range for a smaller midengine car engineered jointly with Volkswagen. A small SUV also is likely to be added.
Plug-in hybrid versions of the Panamera four-door sedan and Cayenne SUV also are part of a plan to increase Porsche's worldwide sales to 150,000 vehicles in the new few years.
Build great cars; stop obsessing over sales.
C’mon, Volkswagen, drop the charade. You're never going to sell 800,000 cars in America, not by 2018, probably not when our cars drive themselves, "Minority Report"-style. That’s especially true if your plans call for more warmed-over Chrysler minivans, Accord-sized family sedans and Jettas designed to compete with econoboxes from Detroit and Japan.
Volkswagen sold fewer than 220,000 cars here last year. It’s been left in the dust by Hyundai, which sold 435,000 and isn't looking back. And there’s a reason that goes beyond Hyundai’s ability to undercut Volkswagen’s prices: Hyundai understands what Americans want from a Hyundai. And Volkswagen, after all these decades, still doesn’t get what Americans want from a Volkswagen.
Motor Trend puts the 911 Turbo against the ZR1 in a quarter-mile race with suprising results.
Not so: The Porsche bests the 'Vette by about three car lengths. The Porsche's traction makes all the difference in the shorter race. Check out the video after the jump.
By Diana T. Kurylko, Automotive News
Bugatti, Volkswagen Group's exotic sports-car brand, is ending production of its Veyron and will replace it with the tamer but more luxurious Galibier.
16C Galibier: The four-seat sedan is expected to go on sale in 2013 for about $1.5 million. Only 300 will be produced.
The Galibier, which is made of carbon fiber and aluminum, will use the Veyron's 8.0-liter W16 engine but will employ superchargers rather than turbochargers--producing 800 hp.
Scott Speed in Red Bull's idea of a Chicago taxi
In other words: NASCAR taxi. Enjoy.
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Contributors
Clifford Atiyeh has spent his entire life driving cars he doesn't own. Raised in Volvos, he has grown to love fast, irresponsible vehicles of all kinds. He is the senior news editor at MSN Autos and also reports for Car and Driver, Road & Track, The Boston Globe and other publications.
In the garage: 21-speed Iron Horse, 2002 Jeep Wrangler X (not his)
Doug Newcomb has covered car technology for over 20 years for outlets ranging from Rolling Stone to Edmunds.com. In 2008, he published his first book, "Car Audio for Dummies" (Wiley). He lives and drives in Hood River, Ore., with his wife and two kids, who share his passion for cars and technology.
In the garage: 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS, two 1984 Chevrolet Blazers, 2008 Honda CR-V
James Tate learned to drive stick at age 13 in a 1988 Land Cruiser - in La Paz, Bolivia. He's since been a mechanic, on a pit crew and has wrenched on every car he's owned since his first 1989 Honda CRX Si (and won't stop until the car is a 1973 Porsche 911 RS). His work has appeared in Car and Driver, Popular Mechanics, Automobile and others.
In the garage: 1995 Porsche 911 Carrera, 1988 BMW M5
