Archive for Cars

At first sight you’ll recognise the wheel above as the Michelin Tweel. The Tweel was a concept wheel which used flexible spokes which deform to absorb shock. It does not need air pressure. It also had the ability to be “tuned” to have different vertical and lateral stiffness. This way, vertical stiffness can be reduced to improve ride comfort while lateral stiffness can be increased to improve handling and cornering ability. This allows one tweel to have the best of both worlds!

The Tweel has undergone more R&D and will in the future be used as a lunar wheel for NASA moon rovers. Michelin already supplies NASA with tyres for its space shuttles for more than 20 years now. According to Michelin, the new Tweel-based lunar wheel maintains flexibility and constant ground contact pressure even at very low temperatures to enable moon rovers to navigate loose soil and lunar craters with ease. It has a lower mass with a higher load capacity that is 3.3 times more efficient than the original Apollo Lunar Rover wheels.

German tuner Hamann recommends you ponk out a whole 5-digit load of cash and purchase these wheels for your new F01 BMW 7-Series, when it gets arrives on our shores of course. The multi-spoke-ish design of both wheels were probably designed to match the huge grill at the front. Look after the jump for 4 shots of the wheels fitted onto a short wheelbase BMW 730d.

Click here to read the rest of Hamann wheels for the F01 BMW 7-Series

Toyota launched a minor facelifted version of the Toyota Rush in Japan on the 13th of November 2008. The version of the Rush sold in the Japanese market is the short wheelbase version of course, which is sold here as the Perodua Nautica while the Toyota Rush that UMW Toyota Motor sells is a long wheelbase 7-seater version.

The new Toyota Rush features a new front bumper, new tail lamps, and a new alloy wheel design for the G trim level. The 2WD automatic model also scores 15.4km/l on the Japan 10-15 mode fuel economy test, which is a 5% improvement over the original Rush.

The Toyota Rush is also known as the Daihatsu Be-Go, Daihatsu Terios in different markets, and the Perodua Nautica in Malaysia. It is available in both short wheelbase and long wheelbase versions with the option of 7 seats, depending on the market it is sold in.

Daihatsu also unveiled its facelifted Be-Go in Japan on the same day, as they are parallel products - the same thing sold under different badges in the same market.

Look after the jump for more shots of the new Toyota Rush.

Click here to read the rest of 2009 Toyota Rush Facelift unveiled in Japan

While a select group of the world’s rich and famous are looking forward to delivery of their custom Aston Martin One-77, race teams can now look forward to purchasing the new Aston Martin Vantage GT4 racecar, based on the new 4.7 liter V8 Vantage. This model succeeds the previous 4.3L Vantage N24 car.

The new Aston Martin Vantage GT4 is built to FIA GT4 specs and can compete in the following races: the FIA GT4 European Cup; British GT4 Championship; Britcar Endurance Series; German GT4 Championship; Dutch Supercar Challenge; Dutch GT4 Championship; VLN Endurance Championship at the Nurburgring; Australian Endurance Championship; the American SCCA Championship; and the Aston Martin Owners Club Race Series.

Other than the obviously larger engine, the car also gets larger front brake discs with revised cooling design and modified front uprights to give increased camber. The larger 4.7 liter V8 engine has had its ECU tuned for race use, and gets a free-flow exhaust system to let the V8 breathe and exhale without restriction. As the standard engine already has a dry-sump lubrication system to prevent oil surge during sideways motions, that is retained. Either a 6-speed manual or a Sportshift transmission can be specified.

At 1,330kg, the GT4 car is about 300 kilos lighter than the standard car, thanks to a range of weight reduction procedures which include stripping the interior bare of trim except for the fascia mounting which is rewrapped with Alcantara. The door and console casings have been replaced with new lightweight mouldings. Further race preparation include a high-strength steel rollcage, a Sabelt 6-point safety harness with a push-button release, a Lifeline Zero 360 gas fire extinguisher, and Recaro competition seats.

Also, all active safety systems are carried over from the road car - dynamic stability control, traction control, ABS and electronic brakeforce distribution, so that should help to keep the car out of trouble though like the road car, you can switch some of them off.

More images of the car available after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of New Aston Martin Vantage GT4 racecar

This is a more powerful version of Bentley’s answer to the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe - the Bentley Azure T. The letter T in the name means power is up from the Azure’s 450 horses to a more potent 500 horsepower, and torque is also up from 875Nm to a wholesome tyre-shredding 1000Nm! Thanks to the more powerful engine (a 6.75 liter twin-turbo V8), this huge beast goes to 100km/h in 5.5 seconds.

To match up with the Azure T’s sportier intentions (compared to the Azure), the convertible gets large 20 inch 5-spoke alloy wheels wrapped with grippy Pirelli P-Zero tyres in 255/40ZR20 size. There is an optional more powerful brake system made with carbon/silicon carbide. The uprated cross-drilled ventilated discs measure 420×40mm at the front and 356×28mm at the rear, gripped by 8-pot calipers.

Of course, if you’re ever sick of the V8’s soundtrack or the wind rustling past you when the top is down, you can just switch on the ‘Naim for Bentley’ premium audio system featuring 10 speakers, a dual channel sub-woofer and an 1100 Watt amplifier that has ight individual Digital Signal Processor (DSP) modes.

The Azure T will make its debut at the LA Motor Show sometime later this month. Look for a full photo gallery after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of New Bentley Azure T Convertible

Volkswagen has added a front wheel drive option to the Trend & Fun variant of its Volkswagen Tiguan in Germany, probably to improve emissions ratings across its product range as well as offer a more fuel efficient vehicle for those who do not require the extra weight of all-wheel drive equipment.

Word is that even the upcoming BMW X1 will have a two wheel drive option, which means an alternative for front wheel drive must be found for BMW’s “xDrive30i” etc naming system for its SUVs.

The new front wheel drive Tiguan is available with either a 1.4 liter TSI or a 2.0 liter TDI engine. We Malaysians get the top of the line Track & Field version with all-wheel drive, a higher ride height, an increased approach angle and offroader looks.

While we wait patiently for the even faster GT-R V-Spec to roll out of Nissan’s garages, they’ve gone ahead and performed a few minor updates on the “baseline” GT-R. New for the 2009 model year is an extra 5 PS from the engine, bringing the peak power up to 485 PS. It is however more economical, rated at 8.5km/l instead of the previous 8.2km/l. You can also go further per tank of fuel as the fuel tank size has been increased from 71 liters to 73.8 liters. The white paint is now a new shade called Storm White. Other minor changes include the Brembo brake calipers in front losing their Brembo logo and replaced with Nissan wordings, and the removal of the front license plate holder base.

Source

A lot of BMW 3-Series owners are probably waiting for this - a new BMW Performance range from BMW which joins the current line-up consisting of the tii-morphing 1-Series BMW Performance kit and the M6’s kit. With the amount of 3-Series and 3-Series M Sport models on Malaysian roads, especially with the 320i also getting the M Sport kit now, you may start to feel a little jaded with the 3, but now we have BMW Performance parts to spice it up!

I’m not sure how the set up will be in Malaysia, but in Europe all BMW Performance products are covered by BMW’s full warranty and are sold by BMW dealers. BMW has released a teaser video of what the 3-Series will get, and you can watch it after the jump.

From what we can see - a new front bumper with a really wide central air intake, an M3-ish diffuser-design rear bumper (tailpipe only one on side though), carbon fiber wing mirrors, and you can probably expect a carbon fiber rear lip as well as air intake, exhaust, seats, brake, struts and suspension upgrades that take the car one level above the kit you get with the M Sport.

The BMW Performance colour is yellow - so the BMW Performance springs and the lovely 6-pot brake calipers will be painted in that colour. The range even has its own alloy wheels which comes in either 18 inch or 19 inch sizes.

Watch the teaser video after the jump

Click here to read the rest of Teaser: BMW Performance kit for the 3-Series

A fuel cell concept version of the Kia Borrego SUV could be unveiled at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show at the end of this month. Called the Kia Borrego Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV), it is powered by a 154 horsepower fuel cell system that is capable of a range of just over 500km.

A large SUV like the Borrego should offer plenty of space for it to hide the fuel cell stack and the lithium ion battery (said to be a new lithium ion polymer one) required for a fuel cell electric motor setup.

Sources also say that the fuel cell Borrego will be capable of -30 degrees Celcius starts, which would make it suitable for green-conscious Russians who need a big SUV to tackle their snowy terrain in the winter.

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Suzuki Great Britain is now offering a Clarion 2-DIN multimedia system priced at £1,499 including VAT, excluding installation, which can be specified for the Suzuki Grand Vitara, the Suzuki Swift, Suzuki Swift Sport and the Suzuki SX4. Suzuki claims the unit has been developed specifically for Suzuki, but the wordings on the top right indicate its the MAX973HD, a model that been out since last year!

Features of the new 2-DIN head unit include GPS navigation, CD, DVD and iPod connectivity, and a touch-screen 7 inch LCD interface to select songs, playlists and artists. There is also a CD-ripping function that can store MP3 recorded from CDs onto its on-board 40GB hard drive.