Archive for Automotive Videos

The Kia Forte is one of the best looking Korean cars to ever be unveiled and sports Kia’s new corporate nose (now also found on the Kia Optima facelift and soon the upcoming Sorento). The Forte was first unveiled as a concept 2-door coupe called the Kia Koup. Chief design Peter Schreyer talks about the Kia Forte’s design in a video after the jump. He isn’t as good a presenter on video as Chris Bangle and may seem a little kayu at first, but it’s interesting to see his take on the Kia Forte and Kia’s new design language.

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: Peter Schreyer and the new Kia Forte

This is a TV Commercial for the BMW 1-Series Coupe in the USA. No Kermit the Frog this time as it seems Kermit likes the hatch better, but you’ll get to see a random guy who sneaked onto the assembly line admiring the 1 Coupe. The 125i Coupe costs RM323,800 while the “junior M” 135i goes for RM423,800 OTR without insurance.

Related Stories:
BMW 130i M Sport Test Drive Review

Click here to read the rest of BMW 1-Series Coupe TVC in the US

The Fast and the Furious is back again with a fourth installment, and judging from the trailer it’s just like old times with everything we love from the original movie - highway robberies on the move, Vin Diesel, hot cars and hot babes.

The fourth installment is called just simply Fast and Furious and is set in between the second and third installment.

Watch the trailer after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Fast and Furious Movie Trailer

According to Wikipedia, The Transporter writer Luc Besson was originally inspired by BMW’s The Hire series of short films. The movie featured luxury German cars like the E38 BMW 7-Series and the Mercedes-Benz W140 S-Class.

The Transporter 2 featured another German luxury saloon - the Audi A8. You got to see ridiculous unbelievably timed stunts such as the A8 swirling around mid-air to knock off a bomb. The movie also featured a girl that somehow prefers to fight wearing the bare minimum of clothes. Cars and babes, a perfect formula?

For the 3rd installment we’re getting the A8 again and another “two-wheeler” thats in the spirit of today’s high fuel prices. Look after the jump for the trailer.

Click here to read the rest of Audi A8 in The Transporter 3 Movie Trailer

We’ve all drooled at the MEM Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 Rally Car built by Mellors Elliot Motorsport according to FIA Super 2000 rally specifications. The Satria Neo S2000 car uses a 280 horsepower 2.0 liter normally aspirated engine based on the 1.8 liter Renault engine in the Waja 1.8X.

Look after the jump to watch a video of a young driver trying the car out and listen to the 280 horses and 271Nm of torque being unleashed through the 6-speed Xtrac sequential transmission. Hopefully more videos of the S2000 Neo will make its way onto the web for our enjoyment soon. Thanks to reader IsaacVky for the pointer.

Related Story:
MEM Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 - Specifications and Photos

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: MEM Proton Satria Neo Super 2000

BMW’s Director of Functional Integration Dirk Hacker talks about the various technologies and driver aids in the new F01 BMW 7-Series such as the Integral Active Steering (rear wheel steering), Driving Dynamic Control, Integrated Chassis Management and other technologies. An apt job for someone with a surname Hacker.

Look at the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Technologies in the new BMW 7-Series

The Kia Forte is the successor to the Kia Spectra sedan. It’s basically a sedan version of the Kia cee’d, with a coupe body expected to come later as well. A rather good looking car, I must say. Kia’s designers have come very far in the past few years, getting better and better with each generation.

Look after the jump for a TV commercial of the Kia Forte showing it eat up a luxury car. Is it supposed to say the Forte is luxurious inside?

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: The Kia Forte is hungry, very hungry

The BMW E32 was the first 7-Series with a V12 engine. The BMW 750i featured the M70, a 5.0 liter V12 that was also installed in the E31 8-Series. It had a 4,988cc displacement, 2 valves per cylinder, one camshaft per cylinder bank, a bore and stroke of 75 x 84 and a compression ratio of 8.8:1. Peak horsepower was 300 PS at 5,200rpm while peak torque was 450Nm at 4,100rpm. 0 to 100km/h took 7.4 seconds.

The latest F01 7-Series was introduced with only three engines, with the largest being a twin turbocharged V8. As impressive as those sedans may be, I am still waiting for a 760i V12 to be unveiled, perhaps with that 8-speed ZF automatic that was rumoured to be installed to the entire F01 range.

Watch a video by BMW Web TV on the E32 V12 after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of E32 BMW 750i: the first V12 powered 7-Series

Like the Quattroporte S, the Maserati Granturismo S is a more powerful version of the “base” model, featuring a 4.7 liter V8 engine producing 440hp at 7,000rpm and an impressive peak torque of 490Nm at 4,750rpm. The gearbox is located at the rear transaxle and is a 6-speed manual with an electronically-actuated clutch which can shift at up to 100ms when required. Normal gear changes are slower and smoother, but if you are in the manual sport mode with at least 80% throttle and you shift above 5,500rpm, the fast 100ms shifting mode is activated.

Look after the jump for two videos and a hi-res gallery of this beautiful machine.

Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: Maserati Granturismo S

Electric cars or hybrid cars running on fully electric mode can pose a risk to pedestrians as there could be some people, especially those with hearing impairments or the blind, who are not aware of an approaching vehicle because they are just so silent. In fact, there was a bill in the US recently to require a minimum level of sound for vehicles sold in the US.

As an engineering consulting company and component designer/supplier, Lotus is tackling this issue with its new “Safe and Sound” Hybrid demo car. Lotus used a Toyota Prius as a demonstrator vehicle and applied its new Sound Synthesis system to it. The new technology combines Active Road Noise Cancellation, Engine Order Cancellation and Sound Synthesis.

A road speed signal is obtained from the vehicle and a waterproof speaker is positioned near the radiator to emit a realistic sound based on the throttle and speed of the car, projected towards the front of the car. The sound was designed to be instantly recognisable by the human brain, allowing it taking into account pitch and frequency and process it to enable us to identify vehicle speed and distance. The synthesized sound automatically stops if the hybrid car’s combustion engine kicks in.

The sound can be configured to sound like various types of engines. For example, you could drive a fully electric Tesla Roadster and enjoy the lovely rumbling sound of a flat-6 or a V8. Look after the jump for a video of the new technology.

Click here to read the rest of Lotus Sound Synthesis technology can give electric cars the rumble of a V8