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Today, I drove Ford's 200-mph miracle Mustang. I can't say much, but here's a peek.
Have you ever heard the word "embargo" as it relates to a new car? Until I entered this business, I hadn't. As you may know, many carmakers invite journalists to drive and review their new models before those cars officially go on sale to the public. These drives usually take place at organized launch events -- a racetrack, a country road, an auto show and so on.
In an attempt to regulate the flow of information about a given model, a lot of manufacturers enter into an embargo agreement with the journalists who drive their cars. In exchange for getting early access to a vehicle, journalists will agree to hold publication of their review or driving impressions until a certain date.
I mention this for a reason. Today, I drove the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 -- a 662-horsepower, 200-mph supercharged Mustang -- at a press event at Road Atlanta. Like everyone else at the event, I agreed to not publish my thoughts on the car's performance until Monday morning. That said, I also sat through an engineering presentation on the car and had a chance to discuss its capabilities with the engineers who designed it.
I can't talk about what the GT500 is like to drive, but I can share a few cool facts about it. Some of what I learned is below the jump.
Strange vehicles, gaudy paint, wrecked supercars — 'rich kids rally' is officially under way.
The 2013 edition of the Gumball 3000 rally didn’t even make it through the first day before claiming its first supercar casualty.
The world’s most controversial 3,000-mile get-together of wealthy auto enthusiasts, now in its 15th year, was barely hours old last weekend when a young man, apparently dressed in a tiger-themed "onesie," wrecked a rare Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 Superveloce.
We’ll repeat: A guy dressed as a tiger crashed one of just 186 Murcielago SVs ever built. If that doesn’t pique your interest, just stop reading now.
The 2013 Gumball rally began in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Saturday and will finish in Monte Carlo on May 24. A total of 115 cars started the journey, ranging from ultra-rare exclusives like the unfortunate Murcielago SV to classic Volkswagen Beetles and American muscle cars to one-off oddities such as the Batman-inspired Tumbler and the GT-R-based TG1 from Saudi Arabia’s Team Galag. Other fun entries this year include an Aston Martin DBS wrapped with a pink-and-chrome color scheme and a Local Motors Rally Fighter.
Picture a Ford Excursion as a lifted off-roader with up to 600 horsepower, and you'll get the idea.
From the folks who brought you the Venom GT and countless other cars and trucks capable of putting up ridiculous numbers, Hennessey Performance is back with another concoction, the VelociRaptor SUV.
Based on the standard Ford F-150 Raptor, the truck is converted to a full-size SUV (think Ford Excursion) with seating for up to eight people. Though it's based on the Raptor, don't expect to go extreme off-roading with it, as Hennessey states that this car is intended for on-road use, as well as light to moderate off-roading.
Equipped with the same 6.2-liter 411-bhp Ford V8 as seen in the Raptor, buyers can opt for the VelociRaptor 600 Supercharged (600-bhp) package for an additional cost. Other optional goodies include Brembo front-brake upgrades, larger wheels and tires, LED lighting upgrades, security armoring systems and more.
Tie rods on Quattroporte, GranTurismo and all 84 Alfa Romeo 8C coupes can rust and possibly fail.
Maserati is recalling 7,438 cars for tie rods that can rust and cause a loss of driver control, according to filings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.The 2005-2008 Quattroporte sedan, 2008 GranTurismo coupe and the ultrarare 2008 Alfa Romeo 8C (of which only 84 were imported into the United States) are affected. It's an especially large number for Maserati, which sells a little more than 2,000 cars per year in the States.
The left and right rear tie rods, which set the wheel toe alignment, may not have enough rustproofing material and can eventually corrode, leading to a noisy suspension or failure, Maserati said. The company said it was aware of five claims of rusted tie rods, possibly due to the rustproofing material coming off the tie rod's thread when wheels and tires get swapped and refastened. No related accidents have been reported.
Maserati dealers will replace the tie rods and realign the wheels starting in late June. Owners can contact the company at 1-877-696-2737.
Alfa Romeo, owned by Fiat Group along with Maserati and Ferrari, was imported for one model year and has no existing dealerships after pulling out of the U.S. market in 1995. A new sports car, the Alfa Romeo 4C, may come as early as 2014.
[Source: NHTSA]
As racing homages go, this open Aston Martin couldn't be truer to its company bloodline.
We've all seen how Lamborghini celebrated its 50th birthday with the "selfish" single-seat Egoista. Aston Martin has been around for twice as long, and with that age and the English automaker's gentlemanly restraint comes a new celebratory concept that's actually believable. The CC100 Speedster pokes large holes in each door and has neither windows nor a windscreen. Yet that's where the extremism ends on this two-seat racer, a hat tip to the company's famous DBR1 race cars of the 1950s. The carbon fiber body is based on the same aluminum chassis used for all of Aston's production sports cars, and includes the 6.0-liter V12 engine that delivers between 510 and 565 horsepower, depending on whether it's fitted to the V12 Vantage, Rapide or the top-of-the-line Vanquish.
A racing-style electrohydrualic semi-automatic 6-speed gearbox, similar to that in the first Vanquish, enables the CC100 to reach 60 mph in four seconds and hit a 180-mph top speed.
While still in a 'Wild West' phase, data from connected cars brings both serious privacy concerns and a potential breadth of new – and free – services.
Privacy concerns, as we've seen with our computer software and mobile devices for the past 20 years, are now affecting car owners.
New cars equipped with cellular and satellite connections are posing some controversial questions, particularly as owners are asked to submit personal info such as their location and driving habits.
As we reported last week, a recent survey by Cisco found that 65 percent of respondents would be either "somewhat willing" or "very willing" to share their driving habits for auto insurance or maintenance discounts. Sixty percent responded similarly when asked if they would share biometric data in order to "personalize security for a vehicle," meaning the ability to access and start a vehicle using fingerprint-scanning, for example.
While consumers have gotten used to sharing personal data – allowing a grocery store to analyze their shopping habits or social media services tracking locations and interests, as just two examples – the car represents a new and powerful attraction to marketers.
But who will own the data, and who stands to benefit?
Sports-car brand’s hybrid-electric push is part of a broader focus on fuel efficiency.
Most automakers have dipped a toe into the slowly emerging and extremely limited plug-in hybrid electric market by producing just a single model. According to British magazine Autocar, Porsche plans to introduce plug-in versions of all of its models based on technology developed for the 2014 Panamera S E-Hybrid introduced at the 2013 Shanghai Auto Show.
A Porsche representative revealed that new hybrid platforms that combine an electric motor and clutches in one unit has been adapted to fit into all of the company’s future cars, including the 911 and Cayman. It uses the same electric motor and clutch assembly slotted between the engine and transmission in the current Panamera and Cayenne hybrids, but adds a more powerful motor and battery.
The new hybrid technology is a step beyond the unit used in the Panamera S E-Hybrid and will be more powerful than its 94-horsepower hybrid-electric motor. The next-generation system will also be supported by a more energy-dense battery pack and more lightweight wire looms that use aluminum instead of copper.
Our semiregular roundup of the latest automotive news and musings from around the Web.
Welcome to Exhaust Notes, our self-titled, semiregular roundup of automotive bits and pieces from around the Web. Unlike other posts on this blog, these are truly notes, but they're worth a few moments of your precious time.
Capping off this week, we take a look at proposed changes to blood alcohol limits, Tesla's latest court battle over a North Carolina dealership and Acura's plan to build the next NSX in Ohio.
Meet the BMW 2 Series, aka the new BMW 1 Series – wait, what?
After the 2014 BMW 2-Series was spotted in camouflage lapping the Nurburgring racetrack in Germany earlier this year, the first uncovered images of the new model were released this week. Specifically, the pictures (see them at Car and Driver) show the 235i in M Sport trim. As opposed to the 1-Series, which had distinctive, squared-off front- and rear-end treatments, the 2-Series more closely echoes the current 3- and coming 4-Series BMWs.
The M235i, as it's likely to be known, will have a 3.0-liter turbocharged straight-six engine producing around 320 horsepower and will sit above a base 228i with a 2.0-liter 240-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder. An M2 follow-up to the well-received 1M coupe could top 360 horsepower. An official reveal of the 2-Series is expected to occur near the end of this year, with production beginning as we head into 2014.
The creation and coming debut of the 2-Series is a major step in BMW’s overhaul of its lineup. With the end goal of creating a line of easy-to-distinguish models offering something for everyone – sound familiar, MINI fans? – BMW is coding coupes as even-numbered models and sedans under odd numbers.
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Cars are cool, and here at MSN Autos we love everything about them, but we also know they're more than simply speed and style: a car is an essential tool, a much-needed accessory to help you get through your day-to-day life. What you drive is also one of the most important investments you can make, so we'll help you navigate your way through the car buying and ownership experiences. We strive to be your daily destination for news, notes, tips and tricks from across the automotive world. So whether it's through original content from our world-class journalists or the latest buzz from the far corners of the Web, Exhaust Notes helps you make sense of your automotive world.
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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
