Cars

2011 Nissan Leaf

Remember the good ole’ days when all the best Christmas gifts came with batteries? For most readers that probably ended when game consoles went mainstream and replaced handhelds, notably the Game Boy. For 2010 Nissan’s going to bring back that great feeling of rechargability (yeah yeah) although this year batteries ARE included. The 2011 Nissan Leaf has 660 lb’s of batteries, making unwrapping quite difficult but is arguably the first EV  to be sold to the mass public in a very long time. Or as Inside Line puts it, it’s a “brand-new, purpose-built, mass-produced, battery-powered family car and, as such, the very first of its kind in the world.”

Lets get the trivia  out of the way: five-door, five-passenger city car wrapped in a modern Nissan Juke-like love-it or hate-it body style, (USA Today nails it with “Ugggggly”). Leaf has a front mounted engine, 107 hp, 208 lb-ft, top speed of 90 mph and a claimed 0-60 run under 10 seconds.  Overall, Nissan lists the Leaf at an MSRP of $32,780, $18K of which reportedly belong to the battery alone. None of these figures sound remarkable for any car until you realize you’re driving an EV in 2010. Considering it’s a city car one of the most remarkable figures belongs to the top speed and the range of 100 miles proving the Nissan Leaf to not just be another electric Smart or Ranger EV.

One hurdle in purchasing the leaf is of course, range anxiety, considering the range of 100 miles to be a third that of a conventional car. However, Nissan claims their special home charger (purchase and installation costs can be rolled into monthly payments) can turn a 220-volt outlet into a full charged car in under 8 hours. If you’re looking for a quicker charge, commercial 440-volt stations can have the job done in 30 minutes but consider the savings “at the pump” when running costs average about 70% less than a conventional gasoline car.

Most driving impressions are positive giving acclaim to the airy cabin, snappy response, and supremely quiet ride. “This quiet creates an adverse effect of making wind noise and road noise more noticeable at highway speeds…” Edmunds writes.  USA Today dismisses steering feedback as too slow: “Turn the wheel a lot for a little reaction.”

Set for a limited launch here in the States and Japan now (December 2010), followed by Portugal in January 2011, Ireland in February, the UK in March, with global availability set for 2012.  Range anxiety and slow steering aside, government rebates start at $7,500 here in the states and nearly everywhere it’s going to be on sale in the world will feature some kind of rebate. The kicker? For local customers its built right here in the beautiful sprawling metropolis of Smyrna, TN.

• Inside Line (First Drive)
• USA Today (Test Drive)
• Edmunds (Review)
• Wikipedia (wiki)
• AutoBlog (blog, First Drive)
• Jalopnik (blog, First Drive)
• The Telegraph (UK, Review)
• Car and Driver (Feature)
• Kelly Blue Book (Review)

2012 Audi A7 Sportback

What’s that you say? Audi’s A8 luxo-barge too big for ya? Poor thing. And the A4 is too small and the A6 is too hum-drum for such a stylistic person? Audi’s hoping to fix that with a new addition to their lineup: the 2012 Audi A7 Sportback, a 5-door hatchback based on the Audi A6 with many of the gadgets from the A8 plus colossal trunk space.

When it hits the shores later this year as a 2012 model, the A7 Sportback will be in very rare company. Initially only offered with the companies superb 3.0 “TFSI” supercharged V6 (300HP, 324LB/FT’s) it will be powerful enough to compete with the Porsche Panamera V6 (296 HP, 294LB/FT’s) but with the addition of Quattro all-wheel-drive. It will have higher seating capacity than Mercedes’ CLS with 3-abreast the back though only two seat belts, the capability exists. The A7 Sportback will have massively more trunk space than the Jaguar XF sedan and yet won’t be nearly as much a eyesore as BMW’s Gran Turismo monstrosity.

When the A7 Sportback arrives in America later this year, it will be in rare company. Its single engine offering will be plenty for most and efficient enough for everyone. Audi has a history of making a splash with each example and the 2012 Audi A7 Sportback will prove no different. Or just wait for the S7 version to debut in Paris this fall.

Autoblog - “Audi has made much of its headway over the last few years by being a design leader, and that torch has clearly been passed to the A7, a car that boldly presumes to challenge the long-held stereotype that Americans don’t buy hatchbacks – especially one with a premium price point. ”

Car and Driver – “This is clearly a luxury car with sportiness playing second fiddle”

Popular Mechanics – “While Audi has Mercedes-Benz firmly in its sights with this new five-door hatchback, it’s also making a style statement. But it’s doing so in the understated way that Audi has adopted as a trademark. Not as ostentatious as the newly updated Mercedes CLS”

Car Magazine (UK) – “So what exactly is the new Audi A7? It’s Audi’s answer to the Mercedes CLS, a luxury saloon that thinks it’s a coupé. Unlike the CLS… the Audi has an opening hatch instead of a saloon boot. Think A5 Sportback but on a bigger scale.”

What Car? (UK)- “The A7’s cabin is packed with as much treasure as a pirate ship. ”

Pistonheads.com – “There’s no doubt about it, getting behind the wheel of a well-spec’ed A7 is a definite ‘feel good’ experience.”

Autoexpress (UK, video) – “Besides the R8, we think it’s one of the best looking models in [Audi's] range.”

2010 Dodge Viper ACR rebuildable

Dodge’s Viper has always been a crude car. Some say its the evolution of the American Muscle car, a two-seater V10-powered American built supercar. That being the case, the Viper ACR is the ultimate Viper, evolution and revolution. American Club Racing’s nearly homologization model focuses on maximizing performance for the weekend track members of road racing and auto-crossing environments, though the Viper ACR is still street legal. Horsepower from the V10 engine is increased over the regular street model to 600 All-American-HP and its 80 lbs. lighter when the “Hardcore Package” option is ticked.

Today’s eBay find is a 2009 Dodge Viper ACR with a slightly damaged front-end classified as “rebuildable.” Items needed to be replaced include both front fenders, the hood, both headlight buckets, most of the cooling system, left tail light (front end damage?) and some simple frame repairs. This green Viper ACR “lot drives” (but not for long with no cooling!) quite quickly with 600HP on tap and no headlights. For a Buy-It-Now price of $53,900 this Viper ACR from New York City and a claimed replacement value of over $100,000 this salvage-titled green monster sounds like a steal!

[wordbay]dodge (rebuildable, salvage)[/wordbay]

2010 Aston Martin Rapide

Aston Martin’s Rapide is everything to everybody. A four-door coupe: check. A V12-powered sports car: check. The best-looking sedan, ever produced: check-check. But then again how long has it been since Aston Martin hasn’t produced an absolutely stunning product out of sheet metal? Quite some time, for sure.

Built to compete with the likes of Porsche’s Panamera, Mercedes’s CLS the upcoming Audi A7 and Lamborghini’s Estoque concept the Aston Martin Rapide had much leeway to create a “beautiful 4-place sports car” after the Panamera’s grilling by the press for its styling and the CLS’s redesign. Under the hood of the Rapide lays the naturally-aspirated 6L V12 found in the DB9 (essentially a carry-over) but pushing out 470HP through a standard 6-speed slushbox with electronic paddles making mere suggestions to the Touchtronic. Performance figures aren’t impressive (see the HP figure) and they’ll continue to disappoint those who shop-by-numbers; 0-60MPH takes just over five seconds (the same as a 2011 V6 Ford Mustang) and on to a top speed of 184MPH (less than all competitors lest electronic nannies).

But none of that’s important right now because the Aston Martin Rapide is a DB9 with two more doors and that’s just flat-out impressive. Today’s eBay find is the first Rapide available on eBay and is finished in Tungsten Silver (a carry-over corporate color for the Ford-era) with black leather and over 600 miles on the clock already. Located in Miami and listed for a smidge under 200K at $199,000 this fine piece of British engineering, er… an elongated DB9 built in Austia… can be in your driveway to proudly claim your position as the first one on the block.

32" Asanti's on Hummer H2

Hummer’s, at least in consumer form, have always been a symbol of excess. Whether they’re making the news for being banned in cities in California for supposedly breaking the asphault beneath them or for being the most likely vehicle targeted by police across the nation for the majority of tickets attributed to the high seating position of the drivers. Whatever the case, Asanti has decided the Hummer H2/H2T was the ideal showcase for its new 32″ bling.

Introduced at the 2008 SEMA show in Las Vegas, there are only a handful of vehicles that 32″ rims will fit on including the Hummer H2, Cadillac Escalade, Nissan Armada and the Infiniti QX56 to name a few. Today’s eBay find are a set of 32″ Asanti’s advertised for you to be “the first on the block with 32″ rims.” And customization of this level doesn’t come cheap, for you to be the first with such bling costs a one-time fee of $32,500.