Bristol Cars is a small speciality manufacturing company based in the UK, which until recently had two offerings - the Bristol Fighter and the Bristol Fighter S. Both cars use a 8 liter V10 sourced from Chrysler, and is based on the Dodge Viper’s engine. The Fighter makes 525hp at 5,600rpm and 698Nm of torque at 4,200rpm, and the S variant makes 628hp, which increases to 660hp at high speed due to ram air, something like a mild forced induction. The coupe has a slightly retro look to it, and has gullwing doors.

Now, the 8 liter V10 has two turbochargers slapped onto it, resulting in a monster that makes 1012hp and 1400Nm of torque - this paired together with it’s roughly 1,400kg weight and a 0.28Cd drag coefficient gives you a 0-100km/h acceleration time of less than 3.5 seconds, and an amazing top speed of 435km/h.

No more than 20 Bristol Fighters variants are built every year, so if you have ALOT of money (over 230,000 Pounds I think, that’s 1.6 million ringgit without tax), you might want to consider this for the max power and the extra exclusivity!

Click here to read the rest of Bristol Fighter - 1012hp, 1400Nm

I apologise for using this site to post this, but I have the following item for sale:

AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED

It’s an SLR lense for the Nikon F-mount, naturally. It’s a DX lense so I don’t think it can be used with film SLRs. This is the new kit lense that comes with the Nikon D80 kit. About a month old, got it with my Nikon D80 kit.

Use the contact form if you’re interested!

Alot of manufacturers have been building soft-roader versions of their normal road going cars, seeing that there is a market for rugged looking vehicles that will never ever be taken off the tarmac in their lifetime. This works out to be alot cheaper than developing a small off-road vehicle from scratch. Hyundai has done it with the Getz Cross, and you also have cars like the Fiat Panda 4X4 running around.

The Peugeot 206 has many variants, a 5-door, 3-door, station wagon, coupe cabriolet and even a sedan! Now you can add a soft-roader to the mix - the Peugeot 206 Escapade, which as far as I know is being sold in Brazil. It’s basically the 206 SW station wagon with the bodykit tailored to give it a rugged offroader look. You also have a higher suspension by 25mm to be exact, but those wheel arches are filled up with 14 inch wheels wrapped with 175/70/R14 tyres. The Peugeot 206 Escapade is powered by Peugeot’s 1.6 liter 16V engine making 113hp, and is Flexi-Fuel ready, this means the car can run both on gasoline or alcohol.

Photos and video after the jump.

Related Posts:
The original Peugeot 206 Escapade Concept

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Suzuki Malaysia Automobile Sdn Bhd intends to go forward with it’s Suzuki Swift local CKD assembly plans, expected to begin in Quarter 1 2007. Also in store for the local car market in 2007 is the Suzuki Swift Sport (which is supposed to have a tuned up 1.6 liter engine) and a 4X2 version of the Vitara, which will appeal to those who do not need all four wheels to be driven - there are obvious cost and fuel economy advantages with a two wheel drive system instead. I’m also hoping that the upcoming Suzuki SX4 sedan might somehow find it’s way here to give us an alternative to the City and the Vios.

Talks of Suzuki Motor Corp Japan taking over a controlling stake in the local distributor have also been ongoing, and while nothing is confirmed, it’s been agreed upon from the beginning that a stake transfer will be involved. Though the exact percentage has not been decided on yet, at least a 51% stake is expected.

Along with the recently launched TT Coupe comes it’s open top brother - the 2007 Audi TT Roadster! Using the same advanced Audi Space Frame (ASF) comprising of 58 percent aluminium and 42 percent steel to minimize weight, the new TT Roadster is 100 percent more rigid than it’s predecessor, and there are a choice of two engines to propel it’s 1,295kg of weight forward.

Despite most manufacturers steering towards hard top convertibles, the Audi TT Roadster retains a cloth top built around a steel and aluminium support framework, which opens and closes in 12 seconds using a Z-fold system and can be operated at speeds up to 50km/h. The soft top hood also incorporates a heated glass rear window.

Engine options are the same as it’s hard top brother - a 2.0 liter Turbo FSI engine making 200PS put down through the front wheels, or a 3.2 liter V6 normally aspirated engine putting out 250PS with Quattro all wheel drive. Both variants come stock with a 6-speed manual transmission, but can be upgraded to a 6-speed S-Tronic gearbox, which is what Audi calls it’s DSG transmission.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Audi TT Roadster unveiled

Blogger Peter Tan might be very interested in this. While the rest of the automotive industry is focusing on applying fuel cell technology on cars, Suzuki is applying the technology in the powered wheelchair market - and its latest prototype, the MIO, features a fuel cell that uses methanol as a fuel source to generate hydrogen and therefore electricity, which is then stored in a Li-ion battery which also acts as a backup power storage.

The Suzuki MIO has a 4 litre tank that gives it a range of approximately 25 miles. Theres also an LCD display showing fuel level and power sources. Therefore, unlike wheelchairs that rely solely on mains charging of the battery, it addresses users fears of being stranded at some distance from their home.

Toyota’s 2005 concept model, the Toyota Endo, might find it’s way into the production lines as a city car competitor to the Smart fortwo, which unlike the fortwo features four seats, making it alot more feasible for purchase. AutoExpress reports that disguised versions of the car has already been spotted being tested in Japan.

Hyundai has kitted out their new Hyundai Sonata NF for public viewing at the Australian Motor Show 2006, which gives us a preview of a possible future high performance Hyundai Sonata model. The Hyundai Sonata SXi Concept is powered by a V6 engine driving the front wheels through a 5-speed automatic transmission.

Hyundai Australia put the concept together to gauge public response to the model, of which if favourable, could mean we could see a high performance Hyundai going on sale perhaps sometime in 2007.

Rear view after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Hyundai Sonata SXi Concept

Toyota Racing Development (TRD) has released a Sportivo bodykit for the Toyota Auris, complete with other enhancements like a new suspension spring kit, antiroll bar, and 17 inch TRD wheels. There’s also a more sporty TRD exhaust.

No enhancements to the engine though. I’m kind of dreaming of a performance oriented Toyota Auris with the Lexus IS250’s 2.5 liter V6 with 205 horsepower under the hood, if it can be turned into a front wheel drive powertrain.

One more photo after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Toyota Auris Sportivo by TRD

Euromobil Sdn Bhd has revised the pricelist for Audi cars in Malaysia once again. After the NAP was announced earlier this year, prices for Audi cars generally went up, as listed in my previous post. This is the latest revision, the second time this year, effective from October 2006 onwards. As you can see, after prices going up abit in September, it has dropped again for the Audi A4, perhaps to stay competitive against it’s CKD German competitors. A pity for those who bought the A4 in September then, you’ll be losing some money. The prices for the A6 remain the same, while the A8 has gone up abit since the post-NAP prices. New on this pricelist are prices for the Audi Q7 SUV, launched recently in Malaysia.

Click here to read the rest of New Audi CBU Pricelist, 2nd revision