The 2010 LA Auto Show is currently in full swing; and just in case you didn’t get a chance to attend the show yourself, I should clue you in on the hot topic that all the manufacturers seem to be extremely excited about – hybrid technology and electric cars.
While not all of the hybrids and electrics looked extremely exciting, there were some manufacturers that had project cars that caught my eye. Let’s have a look!
For most people in attendance, the new car models were certainly intriguing. There were quite a few people giving attention to GM’s new Volt; the electric 4-door hatchback seemed to be drawing interest from random groups of drivers that I don’t normally see taking interest in GM products… for example, I spotted this stylish young lady shooting a photo of the Volt with her camera. Five points to anyone who can guess what kind of camera she’s holding!
This might be something we’ll all have to get used to pretty soon. This is the charger plug for the GM Volt. I spotted quite a few other vehicles at the show with similar recharging plugs. I wonder… is this the beginning of the end for the fuel consuming, impractical, high performance vehicles that we all seem to be drawn to as performance-minded car owners?
On one hand, I think it’s extremely exciting to witness big changes and technological breakthroughs. It’s hard to believe how far technology has come sometimes. There are many aspects of the “future” that we’re living in right now that I would have never imagined as a young kid – just think… with products like iPhones, you can actually see the person you’re talking to on the phone now… and if your phone is jailbroken, you can have a video chat session with that special someone while you’re riding in a car that’s completely powered by electricity. Cars nowadays have air conditioned and heated seats with massagers, touch screen monitors, and some can even brake and parallel park themselves now. Who woulda thunk it?
One of the more interesting vehicles at the Cadillac booth was their new ULC (Urban Luxury Concept); it was quite the attention getter. Some people may or may not like the ultra angular lines on the wedge-shaped vehicle, but I think it looks crazy, which makes it pretty interesting in my eyes. It looks sort of like a real life toy car in my opinion – I like it. I could personally do without the Lambo-style doors, but I’m sure there are people out there that would find them pretty cool.
The Cadillac ULC looks pretty good from the rear. The rear hatch and taillights look very Cadillac-esque to me, which I like. I also dig the vertically oriented exhaust tips that are integrated into the rear bumper, too.
For a more in-depth look at the ULC, check out this video that Cadillac uploaded onto their YouTube page. It’s pretty interesting! If only companies would produce real production cars that would live up to the hype of their concept cars…
There was a 2011 Camaro RS convertible in the GM booth also, but to be honest, I was more excited about the full size, full-scale Hot Wheels slot car track in the background! What an awesome usage of collaborative co-branding – cool display!
It’s cool to see this Camaro RS finally released to the public. I think the very first time I laid eyes on a Camaro convertible (concept) was back in 2007, when I was doing a special photo shoot for GM. It was a privilege to see a car so many years in advance of its actual release date!
In the BMW booth, the widebody ALMS E92 BMW M3 from Rahal Letterman Racing was making jaws drop. I wish more car companies brought their race cars out for display next to the new cars they were trying to sell. It goes back to the old racing slogan from the 1960s… “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.”
One of the more impressive aspects of Rahal Letterman’s IMSA GT2 E92 M3 would have to be its wheel and brake combo. Check out the massive AP Racing brake calipers filling the inside of the single-lug Rays Forged Mag wheels, which are wrapped in Dunlop slicks. AWESOME.
Next to the BMW booth was one of my favorite car brands… Lexus. VIP Auto Salon brought out this modified Lexus LS460h for display at the show. I like the metallic brown color. I know that a car like this might have people debating on whether or not they like the aftermarket pieces like the fenders and aero kit. I wonder what some of our readers would prefer if they owned an LS460 – aero kit or stock body?
Reinforcing the fact that the Lexus GS is sportier than the LS models, Lexus worked with Orange County based fabrication shop Design Craft to create this GS Time Attack version. It’s super hard not to notice the huge front chin spoiler and massive canards. Apparently the car also has a headlight upgrade from PIAA, Tein suspension, GReddy performance items, huge Brembo brakes, Sparco seats, and Rays TE37 wheels wrapped in Continental Tires. I haven’t seen much Continental involvement in aftermarket modified demo vehicles, but they do make some really high end tires. I wonder if we’ll be seeing more of a push from Conti in the near future?
Ahhh… remember this car? Ah yes, who can forget the Lexus LF-A? When I saw this car at the CEC Wheels booth at SEMA, I was told that this was the same exact car that I had the pleasure of manhandling in the Lexus warehouse about a year ago when we first started the MotorMavens site… it was just completely taken apart and repainted, with an all new interior as well. It’s always nice to see old friends at Auto Shows.
Another new vehicle in the Lexus hybrid lineup… the Lexus CT200h. This new hybrid boasts 42 miles per gallon, but other than that, I don’t have much experience with this new car. Maybe we should do a test drive and check it out sometime?
Right next to the Lexus booth was none other than Mercedes Benz. While there were certainly a lot of good looking cars and attractive women floating around the Mercedes booth, I was particularly attracted to this satin black AMG SL63 roadster. Damn, now that is one good looking car! Just imagine how bad ass it would look if Mercedes decided to up it’s cool image with younger people and work with the legendary Nakai-san of Rauh Welt to build one? Can you just imagine a satin black AMG SL63 slammed to the ground with flat bronze Work wheels filling the fenders?! Rauh Welt x AMG = OMG!
Another Mercedes vehicle that drew quite a crowd was this brown Mercedes Sprinter van. These are very common in Europe, but not seen as much in the United States, unfortunately. I think the good people at Mercedes might get upset at me for saying this, but it seems as if they expanded on an idea that the Scion marketing folks introduced – teaming up with gourmet food trucks (Scion/Kogi bbq tacos, anyone?) on a customized vehicle, which would attract cool points to both brands.
In this case, Mercedes teamed up with Sprinkles Cupcakes, which is obviously extremely popular with young ladies! (Gents, buy your special lady some Sprinkles Cupcakes for extra points!) Since I was extremely busy working on other projects, I was only able to spend about an hour TOTAL at the LA Auto Show, so I didn’t have time to wait in the super long line to try out Sprinkles for myself. I probably don’t need any cupcakes as part of my diet anyway, but if I had more time, I certainly would have waited, as there were quite a few lovely looking ladies in line that looked like they were interested some cupcakin…
There were certainly a lot of cool looking vehicles at the Audi booth this year… they introduced the new Audi R8 GT 5.2 quattro, which obviously looked incredibly gorgeous. I have more photos from the LA Auto Show, but I’ll have to stop here for now, and publish those in another post later!
Keep your browsers locked to MotorMavens.com, and make sure to register for the MotorMavens Mass Appeal Show coming up on December 4th in conjunction with the Ken Block Gymkhana Grid Invitational!
:: Antonio Alvendia
geez
good stuff Antonio
i wouldn’t count on seein g electric cars sooon. since subsidies are given now and in spain SIXTEEN have benn sold even with the spanish goverment giving people money. Plus “futuristic” electic cars motorrs lack speed at high rpms and burn out easily. Can motormavens please stick to “impractical” petrol cars that have been around for going on nearly a hundred years now.
Pingback : Tweets that mention COVERAGE> Cars of The LA Auto Show – MotorMavens | Car Culture x Motorsports Photography Blog -- Topsy.com
That plugin charger thing-a-ma-bob looks sick. Pretty cool how you got all these slick shots within in hour! Mega props dude.
I would direct my friend efcivicman to check out the Tesla Roadster which goes 0-60 in 3.7 seconds (which is right there near the top end of most high-end sportscars) and it goes 245 miles on one charge – and does not burn out easily. Sure, it doesn’t have the satisfying growl of a powerful internal combustion engine but it also doesn’t have any emissions and it only costs about 5$ to fully charge as opposed to $35 – $50 to fill up our gas guzzlers – while taking us nearly the same distance. Not so terrible.
Tesla Motors has 15 stores worldwide and 800 employees. And they’re not having much trouble selling their cars. Check out the website. http://www.teslamotors.com/roadster. Don’t be so quick to count out electric cars – awareness and interest is expanding with each new iteration of battery technology and they’re not the same cars they were back in the day. Electric cars are not going away and trying to ignore them would be short-sighted. And we MotorMavens are anything but shortsighted.
we need like buttons, avon, i would ‘like’ the hell out of your comment haha
@efcivicman and @Avon:
Actually, there’s a guy with a Tesla roadster who lives down the street from me. I don’t know EXACTLY where, but I’ve seen him driving it several times in my neighborhood. I thought it was a Lotus at first, but when I got closer, I was like, “OH! A Tesla!” It’s pretty cool. I think I’d like to check it out and test drive one for a week or two…
but don’t worry efcivicman. I LOVE the hell out of gas guzzling, gotta-pay-extra-for-an-illegal-smog-check high performance cars. Even though only two of my cars (oh wait… three) fit THAT bill, I still love them to death.
I <3 carburetors and stuff like that. MotorMavens won’t be turning into ElectricCarMavens anytime soon… but I agree with Avon… it’s something we should definitely keep our eyes on!
@Michael Cabuco: Thanks a lot man! Most of those exhibits were pretty close to each other, and I didn’t really know too many people there, so I didn’t need to stop at EVERY booth to say hello to people. Helped me get the job done much faster! LOL
damn those cars are hot Audi R8 GT is the best car
I think cars like the Honda Clarity are the way forward – cars that use Hydrogen.
@patrick mccullagh bingo! thats the way forward so i’m not being short sighted by any means. Afeter all i also believe these are also the way forward:
HCCI
biobutonal
bioethanol
biodiesel
miller engine cycle(see mazda 2)
but i’m glad motor mavens is not going to become letswankoverelectriccarmavens
and i’ll raise your teslas 3.7 with the veyrons and mclaren f1 3.2 secs to 60. And even if the tesla did 1 second to sixty i’d still want to burn the car and punch the owner./rant off
LOL @ efcivicman! Tell us how you really feel, bro! BTW, there’s absolutely no comparison between the Tesla and the Veyron or Mclaren – the veyron actually goes to 60 in 2.4 secs! But, then again, what other gas-powered sports car (in Tesla’s 70K-80K range) could you compare to those cars (except for my favorite – the Nissan GT-R)? But, I have to give Tesla credit for at least trying to approach the problem with style and performance that’s right there in the respectable range. Given an equal chance at getting the Tesla or the GT-R, though – yours truly would be burning gas for a bit longer.
Personally, I have no animosity toward any automotive technology that’s effective – electric, HHO, diesel, whatever. But I do wonder why you feel so strongly negative about electric as opposed to hydrogen which requires the development of a previously non-existent technology that will allow others to completely control your access to power for your vehicle in a manner that will make the pricing wars of a few years ago look like a game of checkers? I mean, you think gas is high – wait til they introduce fuel cells.
That’s why, when I’m really feeling paranoid, I prefer diesel. It allows for people to much more easily go “off grid” and make their own fuel if things get crazy with pricing. Electric has the same possibilities. Hydrogen makes that option so much more difficult based on the delivery system they’re proposing. Plus – it’s way more dangerous than gas. Hydrogen is RIDICULOUSLY more of a risk for out of control explosions than gas – especially with a delivery system that pools the hydrogen all in one place. After all, space shuttles run on hydrogen, and we’ve never heard any problems involving those, have we? Imagine that every car on the road is as safe as a space shuttle and then imagine all the little idiots behind the wheels of a large portion of those cars waiting to crash into you and create a pretty little ball of hot water vapor. No thanks.
If electric car makers answer all of the problems that have been associated with the technology in the past: range, charge time, stupendous butt ugliness, etc – what’s the reason for continuing to hate them? No disrespect bro – I’m really interested in your answer because I would actually like to see valid commentary on this subject on both sides and even let MotorMavens show all sides of the issue.
@ avon bellamy
the reason i am so against the electic cars and not against any other alternative fuels is four fold so i’ll explain
1. celebritys: the minute i hear a newsreader or miley cyrus buying a electirc car or putting telas or leafs in their videos instantly damages their credability of them and the car and makes electric cars a fad which too me they are.Plus if you’ve ever been to the west end(london) and seen tonnes of g-wiz’s you’ll understand why 1/2 of britain hates them too.
2. charge time: As you mentioned while it be cheaper to “fill” up an electric car as jeremy clarkson proved on top gear it takes a minimum of TWO hours to charge compared to 10 minutes of so to fill up my honda civic or honda clarity(which i will get too in a minute).
3. Infastructure:The infastructure for biodiesel ,biobutanol and bioethonal already exists and can be made in some cases by the DIY ethusiast.Hydrogen car infastructure is being experimented in california with the clarity and hopefully should soon be rolled across the world,plus as previosly mentioned you fill up a hydrogrn car Exactly the same way as a petrol or diesel one.
4.electric cars=dull+dangerous: Avon whats your favorite car sound? v8? v10? honda k20/k24/h22a/b16? do you honestly think that tesla will ever sound that good? No because its quiet, how useful is a quiet car when you’re crossing the road for a coffee when it knocks you down? Even a hcci you can hear coming.
so there are my answers to your questions by all means motormavens can showcase electric cars but don’t expect everyone reading to think “awesome” especially the next post contains a sick honda the bisi ezediera built( which to be honest a few more bisimoto features on here wouldn’t be a bad thing)
ef
Thanks for that well thought out response man. I truly respect it and I’ll give a respectful answer that I hope is worthy of your time – that means this will be long. Sorry.
First, let me start my reply by saying that I’m not a warm and fuzzy, half starved, vegan “environmentalist” who thinks we’ll save the world from self-destruction by changing the worldwide diet of cattle to lower cow flatulence thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions and averting global warming. I do, however, think that it’s a good idea to search for forms of energy that are abundant/unlimited, cheap, clean, and don’t involve giving exorbitant amounts of money to countries who feel it is their sacred duty to wipe me from the face of the earth (or to major multinational companies who pretty much agree but only after first taking everything that makes life worth living). When it came to electric cars, a few years back, I felt the exact same way you do about the things you mentioned. Starting with:
1) “Celebrity endorsement” – it’s completely insulting when someone attempts to sell me something by telling me that some “activist”, eco-friendly 14 year old who just happens to have a large Disney Channel following, thinks that it’s somehow best for me to use this thing rather than that other thing. It gets progressively worse as the actor or singer becomes older and increasingly more useless and less relevant within my personal frame of reference – for example, a dude who has been voted the “sexiest man alive.” That alone predisposes me to ignore every.single.word.he.has.to.say. On just about any and every topic imaginable. I feel that this is generally a sensible approach to celebrity endorsements. Ignore them. Act as if they do not exist – completely. Try not to take a positive or negative approach to anything they put their silly little hands on. Check for oneself. However, I’m relatively sure you’ve heard that even a broken clock is right twice a day. Of course, even when they’re right – it’s often for all the wrong reasons. My point? It is that, whether a celebrity agrees or disagrees is not the point. The point remains: is this thing true or false? Is it a possible answer or isn’t it? The nitwits don’t change that nor do they impact it in any way except to obscure it from otherwise sensible folk.
2) Charging Time – I agree that this is an issue. I mentioned it. But electric cars do have the advantage of making it possible to “fill up” practically anywhere as the technology of the electric outlet is practically everywhere. So, if you plug it in while you’re sleeping (presumably you get two or more hours of sleep every night?), the fill up is seamless – you never notice the time it takes. The drawback of this lies in the emergency situation – if you run out of “gas” during the day. This brings us to the issue of range per full charge. If the range is 50 miles or so, then you’re always running the risk of being stranded or having to wait to “fill up”. However, if it’s 300 miles or more, the average person will never have to worry about the possibility of running out within a 24 hour (or even 48-72 hour) period of driving. If someone forgets to plug it in for three days then, yes, now they have a minor emergency. I wouldn’t blame that on the car though. Just as I don’t blame the car when I see someone walking along the side of the road with petrol can in hand after driving past innumerable gas stations while ignoring that big, glowing orange gas pump on the dash. Running out of charge and having to fill up at an electric “filling station” only becomes an issue on long drives. Which is a valid issue. The closer they come to solving these issues, the more seriously I take the technology because it becomes more practical and cheaper – it is inherently cheaper and cleaner than the others. Before the guys at Tesla seriously addressed most of these issues – to me, the most efficient, practical, and respectable electric car was…the golf cart.
3) Infrastructure – In many ways, the infrastructure for electric already exists – just not in the traditional way that we think of when we think of “filling up”. As I mentioned above, practically nothing is more common than the electrical outlet – it just doesn’t “feel” like filling up. I already expressed my opposition to hydrogen as an in-car fuel simply due to the dangerous aspects of hydrogen storage – far more dangerous than any other fuel we use today. An infrastructure has to be built for it from the ground up (far moreso than for electric) and that’s just more of it pooled in one place waiting to erase municipalities from the map. I think biodiesel is great and I saw some promising research on microbes which are being genetically re-engineered to consume trash and release biodiesel as a byproduct. Plus, as you said, it’s very DIY friendly and the infrastructure is already there but that might mean nothing once the multi-nationals get through with the pricing – so we’re back to DIY. At least it’s a good option. Bioethanol (and the like) are actually more expensive to produce and they impact human food stores which causes the price of food to rise due to scarcity – plus it gets less miles to the gallon and releases more environmental toxins in burning than petrol or diesel. I’ve heard that they’re coming up with better ways to produce it but it doesn’t look like an answer to me. Electric also allows for DIY ways to produce it such as wind and solar – both of which are being used by some Tesla owners already to run their cars…for free. Doesn’t get much cheaper or cleaner than that.
4) Dull/Dangerous – To me, this one’s the easiest to solve – just in a very strange, off-kilter way that looks to me a lot like what the future would look like to people before it actually happens. I’m sure you know the saying “truth is stranger than fiction”. For example, imagine you live back in 1945 and someone tells you that telephones will be electronic with no real mechanical parts and people will be able to walk around with them and make calls with no telephone wires attached. Someone might say “Well how will they ring then?” If you were to answer, “by copying the waveform of the ringing sound from a mechanical phone and playing that waveform when the computer chip in the phone recognizes the electrical impulse from an incoming call – a simulated ringtone”, not many in 1945 would have taken the idea seriously. I mean, why do that when you can have a real ringing phone?
At SEMA this year, I had the pleasure of visiting the GMP Diecast booth (http://www.gmpdiecast.com). And at the booth, on display, they had a 1:6 scale replica of the 1971 Ferrari 312 PB engine – a 3 litre, 12 cylinder 460 bhp engine. GMP is known for exquisite detail in everything they produce and this replica was no different – they had an actual working shifter attached and a sound chip with the exact sound of that engine in each gear so that it completely replicated the sound of the Ferrari shifting through all of its gears. It was incredible to see and hear from a 1:6 scale replica. I think that electric cars will eventually be like cellphones – giving us the ability to download the sound of any car we’d like and piping it out as a combination safety warning device/”personalization accessory”. We do it with car horns now. Sounds weird and “artificial” to us now – but much weirder has been known to happen. So, your car now plays the soundtrack of a Bugatti Veyron even though it looks like a VW Beetle. People will definitely hear you coming!
Now, I know this all sounds like disgusting, Brave New World stuff but could that feeling have anything to do with the fact that we’re just set in our ways and overly accustomed to “things as they are”? Could be. I think the advances that an automaker like Tesla is making are at least forcing me to take a second look. I can’t really say the car is ugly. It’s not slow. It has a respectable range. It feels incredible when it accelerates from full stop to full speed – I mean incredible. It doesn’t fulfill all the “viscerals” like engine sound, smell of petrol, etc but does that invalidate it as an option? For some, maybe. For me, it merits attention. And yet, I totally agree with you that we should have more features on Bisi and his incredible work!
@ Avon bellamy
Thank you for your well thought outrepost.And i can understand your not a spokesperson for greenpeace or whatever but i do believe there is one way to skin a cat whern it comes to alternative fuels. So i’ll answer your points the same way you answered mine.
1 celebrity endorsement: I agree with everything you said on the point it is incredebily annoying especially when some one like john travolta wades in who has 2 planes and then tells you to drive a tesla.Plus again only celebritys are buying them in europe at the moment
2. charging time: I agree along as you remember to charge the tesla/volt/g wiz yes it haS s good range and is fairly cheap if you can do it yourself. the problem being that in europe the only charging points to be seen are in london and one or two in manchester at best. Other than that your carrying round a extension lead.
3.Infastructure: In response to hydrogen infastructure comment.Honda(which if i was buying any eco car i’d buy from them) has just developed a solar powered hydrogen filling station and has designed a portable one for home for both hydrogen and cng for the civic gx( which i’m annoyed we don’t get in europe because i wouldn’t mind one of them as a daily,plus its the same chassis as the fd2 and the usdm civic si coupe)which measns your civic gx on;y has the problem of the tesla man (remember to fill it up). Plus honda and arnie have thoughrt about this since the fcx clarity is only sold in dealers near hydrogen filling stations so the onece honda filling stations become more commonplace the more civic gx and fcx will be sold. As for biofuels i really do see this as a solution especially biobutanol and biodiesel because research i have read suggests wer could produce as much of as we like plus will have noeffect on food stocks and plus refineries making bioethanol can be converted to produce biobutanol. And as biodiesel, both you and i avon could produce our own tomorrow there are that many kits and courses showing you how to do it and it costs 60p a litre!60p! thats less than a bag a sweets a litre.Plus one of the products of biodiesel is methanol which means you get two fuels for the price of one all of which the multinationals don’t profit one bit.Yeah! for the little man.
4. dull/dangerous: Fine i agree that your tesla/leaf owner could download a ferrari sound but don’t consider that sort of lying? you hear the sound of a f430 when turns out to be a leaf wouldn’t you be annoyed and think the owner was a douche? As far of the “visceral” aspect of electric cars that to me at least puts me of them the most. I want to get into a car and feel its alive, after all watch a video of bisimotos f22a insight and watch the camera shake at idle and tell me that doesn’t get your blood pumping.Plus i feel a car isn’t like a mobile phone to me you can take it to a track, drift it and in some cars they are a extension of you,like my civic it pulls my kart trailer(i race karts btw)takes me to work,marshalling etc,etc.And i don’t think anybody will get that connection with a tesla, in other words i think electric car owners see the cars as an appliance(such as a mobile phone) instead of a loyal companion who you can take to a gymkhana or track day.
OK. Keeping it simple.
1) celebrity endorsement – agreed. We don’t really care.
2) charging time – agreed…mostly. It’s not really necessary to put up a bunch of “charging stations” to make electric work. They made the Tesla to plug into any home’s regular outlets. An extension cord and you’re in business. That might seem wrong at a visceral level (which I understand) but it doesn’t invalidate the technology.
3) Infrastructure – again, no need to build a new one. It’s already there. The only thing required is a change in the way we view cars. It’s an emotional roadblock and thus valid at a certain level but not scientifically or even pragmatically.
Hydrogen – they’re building a new infrastructure but I don’t care for a technology that pools hydrogen in one place because that’s super dangerous and the more cars that are running around with the equivalent of a nuke in the tank, the less I’m feeling the idea because it multiplies the probability of very bad things happening. I don’t care how user-friendly they make it look on the surface.
Biodiesel – I already said this is a very valid alternative and one that I really see the potential of – for many reasons including the ones you’ve stated here. Far better option than ethanol, hydrogen, and such, imo.
4) dull/dangerous – agreed. But lying, man? When’s the last time looking like a douche kept most people from buying anything? I can name a whole slew of rich people who made their money selling things that make others look like douches – starting with ringtones.
And I understand your love and passion for real cars. It’s valid to me and to everyone who shares that love and passion (which I do). But, keeping it real, I can not deny the merit of the technology behind electric cars (especially the Tesla) on a scientific, rubber meets the road level. Too many pros and they’re working out a lot of the cons.
@ avon
not to change the subject or anything but whats your feelings on hybrids?
Intitiallly i was against them but i like the crz now that superchargers are available for them.
And i’m glad yor behind biodiesel. I think its brilliant a fuel you can make YOURSELF.
And what cars do you own Avon?
I’m not as stoked on hybrids as an answer but they make a decent pause – a bridge from one thing to another. My problem with them has always been that the premium pricing to get them never allows one to come out on top when you factor in the savings over five years. For example, the CR-Z looks great to me (in fact, Fortune’s version from Tjin Edition is super hot!) but the mpg is listed as 31 mpg city 37 mpg hwy for the manual version and 35 city 39 hwy for the cvt trannie. The 88 CR-X got 41 city and 49 hwy even after the revised 2008 standards. So, you’re telling me that with all of our technology, we can’t make a hybrid (which is specifically designed to get better mileage) that gets better gas mileage than a 22 year old, simple gas-powered car? What’s the purpose? I think that they could have just skipped the whole “hybrid” thing and lowered the price.
Always been a fan of biodiesel. I’m especially interested in some new genetic research they’re doing that turns regular microbes into re-engineered trash eaters that excrete biodiesel. Germs that crap fuel. Nice.
My main car now is a 98 Acura 2.5 TL with the Inline 5 cylinder engine.
@avon
I think your right about hybrids in a way as a stop gap while thw world decides which way it should go in ways of fueling the future. And i agree motormavens shouldn’t be short sighted and cover all off the options.But in saying that does that mean antonio will be posting a more in depth look at biomethanol 350z that took part in the ken block invitational?(which unfortunately i couldn’t go to even though i would have liked to go and see gymkhana up close)And do you know if ken is planning any more gymkhan events next year and will there be more mass appeal shows?
As for biofuels including biodiesel i believe its awesome we’ve stumbled on a fuel that is a) sustainableB) in most cases makes your car quicker or makes your engine last longer C)can be found in most countries,.Although if i was going to invest in either type it would be biodiesel and algae based fuels.
And Avon is your acura standard or modified?
@ef
1) Only time will tell as far as in depth coverage of the biometh 350Z. I’ll throw that one in the suggestion box for you.
2) Plans are definitely being made for more Gymkhana and Mass Appeal events for next year.
3) My present Acura is standard but the one before this was a 92 Integra RS with HP Racing wheels (17 X 7.5 I think), new shift knob, slightly lowered – not enough by 2010 standards. I was going to do more (planning) when it got totaled. Three kids and a wife later, I’m being more selective about what I’ll be doing.
@ avon
Thanks for putting the suggestion box for me. And where is it the most likely the next mass appeal shows are going to be held? east coast? west coast? in the uk?europe? because the closer it is to the uk the cheaper the flight for me to get there is and less holidays off i have to book.Plus if the next ones held near seattle i could crash with family i have in that area.
And i know it feels About losig a car you’ve had for years because i ccrashed my ec8 civic gl into a fence which i had big plans for. And has only just been repllaced witha a mb2 civic which is fairly well supported on the aftermarket.Compared to your acura which seems to have virtually nothjing on thae aftermarket apart from a few bodykits and some dump valves.And avon are your kids into cars?
As for Mass Appeal, we’re working on finalizing locations but you will surely know as soon as we do.
As for my kids, so far no. They’re all super artistic – my oldest son sings and acts, my middle girl draws and sculpts and the baby girl is only four. They all play the “punch buggy” game in the car when we’re driving around everytime they spot a VW Beetle and they’re all convinced that the PT Cruiser is the butt ugliest car on the planet. So, they’re on their way to having good taste, at least. LOL!
@ avon
cool i look forward to hearing where it is.
And brother and sister used to play puch when the saw a certain car used to annoy and tell them to stop it.And i agree with your kids with the pt cruiser comments.And avon that bozouko alley idea was brilliant that mx32 was awesome.Your daughter by the sounds of it could go into automotive design because we all jnow all cars involve a clay modeling stage.
What was your favorite car of the show avon? I liked those odyvias.