Latest
News
31 Oct,
2007
|
| AutoZine update |
- Recently
I have been very busy in my job, so there won't be a lot of update to
AutoZine until probably December.
- There is
a new style for our new car reports – larger photos and neater layout.
I hope you like it !
|
31 Oct,
2007
|
| Volkswagen Space Up! |
Volkswagen unveiled its
rear-engined mini car Up in Frankfurt show. Now in Tokyo motor show it
releases the sister car Space Up. As implied by its name, this car is
the more spacious version of the original. It adds a pair of rear doors
and an extra 230mm to the wheelbase (now 2560mm) to guarantee good rear
passenger space. It is also 40mm taller than the 3-door Up. However, at
just 3680mm, the Space Up is still a very compact small car. |
31 Oct,
2007
|
| Mercedes SLR 722 GT |
Mercedes worked with British
motorsport specialist RML to develop a racing version of SLR called SLR
722 GT. Only 21 cars will be made for its customers to compete in a
special-make series like Ferrari FXX. Also like the Ferrari, this car
will not be homologated for road use. The SLR 722 GT weighs just 1390
kg, versus the standard car's 1693 kg, thanks to deleting all luxury
equipment and other de-legalized conversion. The bare cockpit has
racing buckets, racing instruments and roll cage installed. The
5.5-liter supercharged V8 is boosted to 680 hp (up from 650hp of 722)
and 612 lbft (up from 604) thanks to racing air filter and exhaust
system. Outside, massive rear spoiler and skirts generate massive
downforce. Top speed drops from 209 mph to 196 mph as a result of
higher drag, but 0-62 mph is shortened from 3.6 to 3.3 seconds. |
31 Oct,
2007
|
| Ferrari FXX Evoluzione |
Interestingly, just when
Mercedes announced the racing SLR 722 GT, Ferrari unveiled details
about its FXX Evoluzione. The original FXX program was planned to last
2 years. Now Ferrari will extend the program by revising the cars to
FXX Evoluzione, which has the 6.2-liter V12 boosted from 800hp at 8500
rpm to 860hp at 9500 rpm ! The F1 transmission will also have its shift
time reduced from 80ms to 60ms. New traction control has 9 levels of
driver settings, or completely switch off. Suspensions and brakes are
also modified.
|
31 Oct,
2007
|
| Hyundai i10 |
 
Hyundai i10 is the sister car of Kia Picanto, with which it shares
platform and many mechanical components - the relationship is evident
from the similar design around C-pillar. The i10 is the successor of
the outgoing Atoz. It measures 3.6m long, 1.6m wide and has a 2380mm
wheelbase. Suspension is conventional MacPherson struts front and
torsion beam at the rear. 2 engines are available: 65hp 1.1-liter
petrol 4-pot and 75hp 1.1-liter turbo diesel 3-pot. The cheap car will
be produced in Hyundai's factory in India to justify its low price.
|
31 Oct, 2007
|
| Industry News |
EU emission limit
changed to 125g/km
European Parliament has voted in favour of a
new CO2 emission limit of 125g/km by 2015, instead of the
previous 130g/km by 2012. Manufacturers demanded for 130g/km by 2015
but not successful. Under the request of German premium car makers, the
parliament also recommended a system base on the car's footprint (the
distance between its 4 wheels) to calculate the CO2 emission
limits.
|
19 Oct,
2007
|
| New Citroen C5 |
Since BX, Citroen has yet to
produce a commercially successful mid-size car - both Xantia and the
outgoing C5 were slow sellers. However, it still aims to sell some
150,000 units of the new C5 annually, which will marginally exceed the
best year of the outgoing car. How can it do that ? The answer is a
stylish exterior. While the double-chevron nose, irregular-shape
headlamps and the convex rear window are clearly the trademarks of
Citroen, the body profile with high shoulder and swoopy roofline looks
similar to Volkswagen Passat and the tail is simply Audi-like. Coupling
to the very aggresesive wheels shown here in the first set of official
pictures, the new C5 looks upmarket.
The story for inside is not so good - the dashboard design seems fuzzy,
while the materials used look no match with Renault Laguna. On the
positive side, the narrow A-pillars enable good visibility, while the
signature fixed hub steering wheel places most frequently used
functions closer to the hands.
The new C5 is considerably larger than before (see table below). Its
2.82 meters wheelbase is far longer than Laguna (2.76 m) and almost all
other rivals bar Ford Mondeo (2.85 m). Unless it uses space especially
inefficiently, we expect there will be ample room for 5 passengers. The
car weighs about 70 kg more than the outgoing car. Two body styles will
be offered: Sedan and Estate, which means Citroen no longer favours
hatchback for its mid-size car.
The car is derived from the same platform as C6 and Peugeot 407 - they
are also produced at the same plant in France. Therefore the
suspensions are double-wishbones up front and multi-link setup at the
rear. Cheaper versions ride on conventional steel springs, while
upmarket models again employ Citroen's unique hydropneumatic
suspensions with adaptive damping and springing functions, which is
called "Hydraulic 3 Plus".
The engine range comprises of 3 petrol (211hp 3.0 V6, 140hp 2.0 16V and
125hp 1.8 16V) and 4 turbo diesel (204hp 2.7 V6, 170hp 2.2, 136hp 2.0
and 110hp 1.6). Transmission includes 5-speed and 6-speed manual,
6-speed auto and a 6-speed sequential manual.
Comparision
|
New C5
|
Old C5
|
Length
|
4780 mm
|
4618 mm
|
Width
|
1860 mm
|
1770
mm
|
Height
|
1450 mm
|
1476 mm
|
Wheelbase
|
2820 mm |
2750 mm
|
|
19 Oct,
2007
|
| Audi A1 Metroproject Concept |
Many people know Audi is
developing a rival to BMW's Mini. This is finally shown as the A1
concept car. Apparently, the A1 will sit at the bottom of Audi's model
range, being its smallest and cheapest model. By using conventional
steel monocoque chassis and many off-the-shelf components from
Volkswagen, hopefully it will be more cost effective to build than the
late A2.
The A1 has a wheelbase as long as Mini, but its extra-long front
overhang makes it 200 mm longer overall. It is also wider, though both
car are low by supermini standard. Its exterior design is quite retro,
sacrificing modern monospace proportion for a traditional 2-box design
with a long bonnet. Highlight of the styling includes a clamp shell
bonnet, oversize single-frame grille and aluminum-color roof rails. The
frameless doors and B-pillarless design are unlikely to make into
production.
Unlike the production car, the concept showcases a hybrid power system
with a petrol engine driving the front wheels and an electric motor
driving the rear wheels like Nissan's E-4WD system. The electric motor
is installed under the boot floor and supplied by a lithium-ion
battery. It produces 40 hp and 148 lbft of torque. When only the
electric motor is used, the A1 is basically a rear-wheel-drive zero
emission vehicle with top speed 100 km/h and a range of 100 km. The
battery can be charged by either the engine or by a domestic AC socket.
The engine is Volkswagen group's new 1.4-liter TFSI unit, with direct
injection and turbocharger to produce 150 hp and 177 lbft of torque. It
is coupled to a S-Tronic (DSG) gearbox. Audi said the concept car is
capable of 126 mph and 0-62 mph in 7.8 seconds. The hybrid system and
automatic start-stop facility contributes to 57.7 mpg and only 112 g/km
of CO2 emission.
Comparision
|
A1 concept
|
Mini Cooper S
|
Length
|
3910 mm
|
3714 mm
|
Width
|
1750 mm
|
1683
mm
|
Height
|
1400 mm
|
1407 mm
|
Wheelbase
|
2460 mm |
2467 mm
|
|
19 Oct, 2007
|
| Industry News |
Zonda F Clubsport
broke Nurburgring record
Pagani Zonda F Clubsport has broken the
Nurburgring Nordschleife lap record for production car at 7 min 27.8
sec. The old record was held by Porsche Carrera GT at 7 min 32.4 sec.
The Clubsport version has its 7.3 V12 producing 650 horsepower, compare
to 602 hp of the regular Zonda F. For more information read here.
Ford's Richard
Parry-Jones to retire
Ford's chief technical officer Richard Parry-Jones is to retire at the
end of this year. It is suspicious to be another victim under the
management of new CEO Alan Mulally. Parry-Jones has been renowned for
building the driver-oriented image of Ford Europe. He served the
company for 30 years and was responsible for the development of Sierra,
Mondeo, Focus, Puma, Cougar and Ka etc. All these cars were famous for
driver appeal. He named the 1993 Mondeo and 1998 Focus to be
his greatest achievements.
|
17 Oct,
2007 (updated on 18
Oct, 2007)
|
| Nissan GT-R finally arrives ! |
There are two disgusting things
in the world of automotive journalism: 1) Car makers release teaser
images of their new cars every few weeks without any official
information, keep using journalists to help promoting the cars for free
until their official debuts some months later. 2) Some journalists
break their confidential agreements with car makers, releasing images
and/or partial info of the new cars a few days in prior to the official
release. Then everybody else follow suit and the web is flooded with
incomplete information.
This is exactly the case for Nissan GT-R. Although Nissan is going to
unveil the car in Tokyo motor show next week, the guys at Motor Trend,
Insideline and Auto Week broke the confidential agreement and release
pictures and some technical specifications of the car. But do they have
the complete details ? No. They force everybody else - including
AutoZine - to push forward the reporting of the new car even without
gathering enough information. As a result, I can't write a complete
report and you will waste time to read about the same car for at least
twice. Actually, no one cares whether the car is released on the 17th
or the 24th. After all, we have been waiting for it for many years.
So here below is the incomplete info of the new GT-R:
The last Skyline GT-R went into history in 2002. Although Nissan first
shown a new generation GT-R in the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show, it took a
time-consuming process to get the blessing from Mr. Carlos Ghosn (who
insisted every Nissan model line should be profitable) and then it
entered a slow development phase by a small team of dedicated
engineers. The styling was finalized in 2005 and it was shown in that
year's Tokyo show. Following that was an extensive testing program in
Japan and Nurburgring. Today, 6 years after the appearance of the first
concept car, GT-R is finally released as a production model.
Name-wise, the new GT-R is no longer a Skyline as the latter has became
a premium sedan. Losing the old family name, it is simply called
"GT-R". Mechanical-wise, it is built on the new PM platform (Prime
Midship), which is a development from the FM platform of 350Z.
Two-third of the engine locates behind the front axle while the clutch,
gearbox and center differential are mounted at the rear axle to improve
weight distribution. The engine and the transaxle is linked by a
carbon-fiber prop shaft.
The chassis is
steel monocoque but with aluminum front subframe for mounting the
suspensions and doors. The front bumper is made of lightweight
polypropylene while the radiator support is even carbon-fiber, as is
the rear diffuser. Many body panels are made of aluminum sheets, such
as bonnet, front fenders, doors and boot lid. Aluminum suspensions
complete the lightweight package. Ridiculously, the whole car actually
tips the scale at a hefty 1740 kg !!!
The engine is derived from the VQ-series V6 but with a new codename of
VR38. Capacity increased to 3.8 liters, while twin-IHI turbochargers
and intercoolers are added. It
pumps out 473 horsepower at 6400 rpm and 433 lb-ft from 3200 to 5200
rpm. That make it very close to Porsche 911 Turbo (see comparison
table below). The gearbox is a dual-clutch 6-speed automated manual
supplied by BorgWarner (the same supplier to Volkswagen's DSG). Drive
is sent to all four wheels via an active 4WD system. Normal torque
split is 40:60 above 25 mph or 50:50 below that speed. Depending on
need, up to 98 percent of torque can be sent to the rear wheels.
4-wheel-steering is no longer offered, but now the suspension gets
Bilstein adaptive
damping with 3 modes (Comfort, Sport and Race) to choose from.
 
Nissan claims a supercar-matching performance for the car: 0-62 mph in
3.5 seconds, 1/4 mile in 11.7 seconds and top speed 193 mph. It also
said Nurburgring lap time could be down to 7 min 38 sec. If so, it will
be as fast as 911 Turbo and Ferrari F430, or more accurately speaking,
slightly faster than both. A real giant killer.
Astonished ? Not exactly. The original Skyline GT-R R32 was faster than
contemporary Ferrari 348tb and 911 Turbo, so GT-R has always been a
giant killer. Now we are waiting for a full road test and pricing to
see how big the impact it will bring to the premium sports car
segment...
Nissan is going to produce 30-50 GT-Rs in Japan. Annual output will be
around 12,000 units.
 
Comparision
|
Nissan GT-R
|
Porsche 911 Turbo
|
Layout
|
Front-engined, active 4WD
|
Rear-engined, active 4WD
|
size (L / W / H / WB) mm
|
4650 / 1895 / 1372 / 2780
|
4450
/ 1852
/ 1300 / 2350
|
Drag coefficient
|
0.27
|
0.31
|
Engine
|
V6, dohc, 4v/cyl, VVT,
twin-turbo. |
Flat-6, dohc, 4v/cyl, VVT,
twin-VTG turbo.
|
Capacity
|
3800 cc
|
3600 cc
|
Power
|
473 hp / 6400 rpm
|
480 hp / 6000 rpm
|
Torque
|
433 lbft / 3200-5200 rpm
|
457 lbft / 1950-5000 rpm
(overboost 501 lbft)
|
Gearbox
|
6-speed dual-clutch
|
6M
|
Suspensions
|
F: double-wishbones
R: multi-links
adaptive damping
|
F: struts
R: multi-links
adaptive damping |
Tires (F/R)
|
255/40ZR20 / 285/35ZR20
|
235/35ZR19 / 305/30ZR19
|
Brakes
|
F: 380mm, 6-pot caliper
R: 380mm, 4-pot caliper
|
F: 350mm, 6-pot caliper
R: 350mm, 4-pot caliper |
Kerb weight
|
1740 kg
|
1585 kg
|
| Top speed |
193 mph (c) |
193 mph (c) |
0-60 mph
|
0-62: 3.5 sec (c)
|
3.6 sec*
|
1/4 mile
|
11.7 sec (c)
|
11.6 sec**
|
Nurburgring lap time
|
7 min 38 sec (c)
|
7 min 40 sec (c)
|
* Tested by Autocar; ** Tested by R&T
|
12 Oct, 2007
|
| Industry News |
Marcos: Game Over,
Again.
British sports car specialist Marcos has gone into receivership because
of financial problem. The company went out of business in 1998 and
resurrected by Canadian tycoon Tony Stelliga. Under Stelliga it
produced the new TSO sports car, but it seems that there were not
enough customers interested in the TVR-style sports car with a Corvette
engine. Stelliga found it impossible to stop bleeding thus decided to
pull the plug.
Renault Modus
facelift and Grand Modus
Renault has facelifted the slow-selling Modus and at the same time
introduced a longer version called Grand Modus (like Grand Scenic and
Grand Espace). The Grand Modus runs a 93 mm longer wheelbase to add
more rear legroom and luggage space.
Jaguar X-Type
facelift
Another facelift for another slow-selling car. Jaguar has given X-Type
its first (and probably the last) facelift. Unfortunately, the new
grille and front bumper design is not as successful as Renault Modus,
actually worsening the original design. There is no mentionable
mechanical revisions, with the exception of adding a 6-speed automatic
option to the 2.2-liter turbo diesel engine.
At the same time, Jaguar announced it will stop selling the X-Type in
the US market after running out of the 2007 model year car. This mean
American customers will never see the facelifted car.
|
10 Oct, 2007
|
| Impreza WRX STi finally unveiled |
Here comes the official pictures
and details of the new generation Impreza WRX STI. As usual, the STI is
built by Subaru Technica International, the motorsport department of
Subaru, thus it sits at he top of the Impreza range. Compare with the
next hottest Impreza, S-GT, the STI has extensive upgrade in engine,
gearbox, 4WD system and chassis. First of all, you can see it has wider
fenders front and rear to house the 245/40ZR18 tires. The car measures
1795 mm wide, 55 mm more than the standard car. Larger front intakes
are used to improve cooling to the engine, while additional intakes are
opened at the front fenders to draw cold air towards the brakes. At the
rear, a larger spoiler is adopted to reduce aerodynamic lift.
Quad-tailpipes are used to lower back-pressure. However, the STI's
chassis does not sit lower than the regular car, a hint that it is
designed for rallying rather than smooth tarmac. As it is not supposed
to be an Autobahn express, there is no need to adopt a diffuser at its
tail.
Loyal fans of
Impreza might be displeased that Subaru this time only build the STI in
hatchback form. This mean it looks closer to those super hot hatches
like Volkswagen Golf R32, Audi S3 and Mazdaspeed 3 etc, losing its own
character. The 5-door configuration is a compromise with practicality,
as it won't be the best configuration for weight and chassis rigidity.
At 1480 kilograms, it is 20 kg heavier than the outgoing car. The
weight control is more successful than Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X (which
went up by 130 kg to 1540 kg), but it could have been better if it were
in sedan form or 3-door hatchback form.
Again, powering the STI is the 1994 cc boxer engine with dual-AVCS
variable valve timing and a single twin-scroll turbochager. Bigger
turbo, intercooler and high-performance pistons / con-rods etc. bring
308 Japanese horsepower at 6400 rpm and 311 lb-ft of torque at 4400
rpm. The former is 28 hp more than before (note: previous Imprezas were
limited to 280 hp). The peak torque is unchanged, but observing the
torque curve will find significantly more mid-range torque - some 90
percent of the max torque is available from 2400 rpm upwards.
 
The drivetrain is mostly the same as before. That means a 6-speed
manual gearbox, DCCD driver-controlled center differential (which
allows the driver to vary front-to-rear torque split via an
electromagnetic multi-plate clutch), front Helical LSD and rear Torsen
LSD. The new addition is VDC stability control and the Legacy's
SI-Drive control (which allows driver to alter throttle response).
Comparision
|
New WRX STI
|
S-GT
|
Old WRX STI
|
Length
|
4415 mm
|
4415 mm
|
4465 mm
|
Width
|
1795 mm
|
1740 mm
|
1740 mm
|
Height
|
1475 mm
|
1475 mm
|
1425 mm
|
Wheelbase
|
2625 mm
|
2620 mm
|
2540 mm
|
Engine
|
Flat-4, dohc, 4v/cyl, DVVT, turbo. |
Flat-4, dohc, 4v/cyl, DVVT, turbo.
|
Flat-4, dohc, 4v/cyl, VVT, turbo. |
Capacity
|
1994 cc
|
1994 cc
|
1994 cc
|
Power
|
308 hp / 6400 rpm
|
250 hp
|
280 hp / 6400 rpm
|
Torque
|
311 lbft / 4400 rpm
|
246 lbft
|
311 lbft / 4400 rpm
|
Gearbox
|
6M
|
5M
|
6M
|
Suspensions
|
inverted strut / double-wishbone
|
strut / double-wishbone |
inverted strut / inverted strut
|
Tires
|
245/40ZR18
|
205/50R17
|
225/45ZR17
|
Kerb weight
|
1480 kg
|
1360 kg
|
1460 kg
|
|
8 Oct, 2007
|
| BMW M3 Sedan |
 
Having skipped the sedan version of M3 in
the last generation E46, BMW reintroduced it in the latest E92. As we
have expected, everything is pretty much the same as the 2-door Coupe.
The same V8 engine still cranks out 420 horsepower. The extra rear
doors and the loss of carbon fiber roof (the steel roof shares with
regular 3-series sedan) add 25 kilograms to the kerb weight, or 1605 kg
(DIN) in total. This lengthens the official 0-60 mph time by 0.1
seconds. In return, the sedan gets roomier rear seats instead of the
two individual seats in the Coupe. Also, boot volume increases by 20
liters.
|
8 Oct, 2007
|
| Industry News |
Finalists of ECOTY
announced
European Car of the Year 2008 contest has announced the 7 finalists:
- Fiat 500
- Ford Mondeo
- Kia C'eed
- Mazda 2
- Mercedes C-class
- Nissan Qashqai
- Peugeot 308
Those didn't
make it to the final include: Fiat Bravo, Lexus LS600h, Subaru Impreza
and Audi A5 (surprise to some, but not so surprising to me).
To me, Fiat 500 is definitely the hottest favourite. The winner will be
announced on November 19.
BMW-PSA engine
venture not to end, but to strengthen
Rumours flowing through internet saying BMW and PSA would terminate
their 1.4 and 1.6-liter engines joint-venture proved to be, well, just
rumours. Both companies denied the reports and, on the contrary, said
they plan to increase production from today's 640,000 units per year to
1 million units per year by 2009. They will also continue improving the
engines.
The rumour followed the announcement that BMW and Mercedes were talking
about some kind of collaboration. It is believed that they discussed
about sharing engines between Mini and the next generation A-class.
However, can the partnership with arch-rival Mercedes provide more
benefits than PSA ? Considering PSA's purchasing volume would be at
least 3 times that of Mercedes', and it has relatively little market
overlapping with Mini, one can easily see changing to Mercedes won't
make too much sense. Now what about a three-way joint-venture
BMW-PSA-Mercedes ?
|
4 Oct, 2007
|
| Lexus IS F released in Japan |
Lexus has released the high
performance IS F in Japan. Note that there is no hyphen between IS and
F in its name, unlike what it was announced globally in this year's
Detroit motor show. The IS F's 5.0-liter V8 engine is derived from
Lexus LS600h, with displacement 4968 cc, 11.8:1 compression, dual mode
injection (port injection or direct injection depending on load) and
dual VVT-i (intake side is electric actuated). In Japanese form it
produces 423 ps at 6600 rpm and 372 lb-ft of torque at 5200 rpm. The
8-speed automatic transmission also comes from LS, but programmed to
shift quicker (taking as little as 100ms) and provides paddle shift.
The chassis is 85 mm longer and 20 mm wider than the regular IS. It
rides on 19-inch forged alloy wheels shod with 225/40ZR and 255/35ZR
tires front and rear. The front brakes employ 6-piston calipers and 360
mm ventilated discs, while the rear employ 2-pot caliper and 345mm
discs. VDIM stabilty control provides a "Sport" mode beside normal
mode.
Below is the specification of IS F compares with that of BMW M3 and
Mercedes C63 AMG:
|
Lexus IS F
|
BMW M3
|
Mercedes C63 AMG
|
Length
|
4660 mm
|
4615 mm
|
4725 mm
|
Width
|
1815 mm
|
1817 mm
|
1795 mm
|
Height
|
1415 mm
|
1418 mm
|
1438 mm
|
Wheelbase
|
2730 mm
|
2761 mm
|
2765 mm
|
Engine
|
V8, dohc, 4v/cyl,
DVVT, DI.
|
V8, dohc, 4v/cyl, DVVT.
|
V8, dohc, 4v/cyl, DVVT, var intake.
|
Capacity
|
4968 cc
|
3999 cc
|
6208 cc
|
Compression
|
11.8:1
|
12.0:1
|
11.3:1
|
Power
|
423 ps / 6600 rpm
|
420 hp / 8300 rpm
|
457 hp / 6800 rpm
|
Torque
|
372 lbft / 5200 rpm
|
295 lbft / 3900 rpm
|
443 lbft / 5000 rpm
|
| Gearbox< | | |