We've all watched the video of Mr. Mero's fantastic ride around the Nurburgring in the Corvette ZR1; not even the horrid compression that YouTube serves up could ruin the sound of a force-fed LS-series V8. Rides are nice, and we'd hop right on in for adrenaline therapy, but what we want to do is drive the Super-'Vette. 0-60 Magazine shares our thinking, so they stuck their own shoe, Thomas Lyman, behind the wheel and sent him off around Milford. It looks like it was awesome, but everybody's keeping mum until the embargo lifts on August 20th. The video does a pretty good job of speaking for itself. Putting words in our future-mouths, our first impression is likely to go something like "holy mother of pearl!" repeated several times while breathing into a paper bag.
Click above for high-res gallery of the Ford Focus SVT
All the current clamor for the Euro Focus is reminiscent of the happenings nearly a decade ago. Ford's Escort had quite run its course with a third and final design refreshing having hit the streets in 1997. The very next year, an actual small-car contender wearing the Blue Oval launched in Europe. It was capable, well turned out, and wore Ford's sharp New Edge sheetmetal. American customers took one look at the Escort ZX2, which was supposed to fill the shoes of the Escort GT and kick it against the GTI, Civic Si, and others, and decided that it just wouldn't do, decent performance or not. Much like the current U.S.-Focus versus Euro C1 Focus debate, buyers set their gaze across the Atlantic and decreed the grass greener than the warmed over Mazda B platform ZX2.
Click above for a high-res gallery of the VW Touareg North Sails
Volkswagen has treaded carefully down the path first blazed by the largely ignored Mercury Villager Nautica with a sailing-themed Touareg concept that has debuted at the famous Travemünder Woche, which we're told is the second largest annual race week for sailing in Germany. Teaming up with a company called North Sails, which actually sells boat sails unlike Mercury's branding partner, Nautica, which sells polo shirts, VW has added a new ground effects kit, a yellow rub strip, watery-blue reflectors, and 19-inch wheels. Stepping aboard, occupants will find a cabin decked out with teak flooring, LED lighting accents, white leather seats with aquamarine stitching, and an alcantara headliner. We think we've seen that window tint color on our beloved Matchbox SuperFast cars from the early 1980s, too. North Sails branding shows up in the form of logos on the B-pillar and stainless steel sill plates. The instrument panel gets a compass, and there's also a pair of binoculars in the center console so you can make sure that it's your team rounding the pin and raising the chute for the long run to the finish line. Once docked, there's even a North Sails bicycle so you can cruise the marina in style. Spiffy, but we doubt it'd float, unlike the original Beetle.
Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2008 Mercedes SLK55 AMG
It sits there, all tension and sinew, ready to pounce on lesser cars. Start it up and it barks with a clear V8 voice that thumps off the neighbor's house, setting them discreetly peeking from behind their lace curtains. This is an SLK? Oh yeah. No longer a blocky Benz with dwarfism, the SLK55 AMG ripples with muscle and delivers speed like a spin kick to the temple. A bad-ass Mercedes, indeed.
Audi is using American supercharging muscle to give its new 3.0 liter TFSI V6 the desired wallop. Eaton Corporation has been enlisted by Ingolstadt to supply positive-displacement, Roots-type blowers that will work with direct injection to deliver 290 horsepower and fat, responsive torque down low on the tach. Roots blowers aren't anything new, but Eaton has refined the design with its latest Twin Vortices Series units. The TVS units add a fourth lobe to the rotors, and crank up the twist to 160 degrees for maximizing the amount of atmosphere the blower can pump out. Jettisonning turbochargers may help packaging when the V6 is crammed into the S4's engine bay, as well as reducing complexity by simplifying intake plumbing. 310 lb/ft of torque at 2,500 rpm will put a grin on anyone's face, and we'd expect to see this engine proliferate into many Audi engine bays. Press Release after the jump.
Just because there's been new life breathed into small cars doesn't mean buyers are going to clamor for dour, joyless, fun-free clunkers. Ford's well aware of that, so its readying a soft-top version of its lauded new Fiesta. The fabric-roofed little party on wheels will make its debut at next week's British Motor Show and should be on the road by early 2010. The sharp looking little cabrio forgoes the popular folding hardtop trend to save weight and maintain usefulness with a small-folding top stack. Competition is heating up in Europe, with plenty of smartly styled, diminutive 'verts hitting the market. We hope that when the Fiesta takes its boat ride across the Atlantic, some of these are tossed in the cargo hold.
If Willy Wonka made cars, this is what it would look like. The cold, hard reality is that automobiles are ground out like sausages in huge factories that ingest raw materials at one end and spit out shiny metal boxes filled with ticky-tacky at the other end. Marketing's a funny thing, though; building an emotional connection to your product can often lead to sales gold, so Ford's slathering its Fiesta marketing effort in pheromones to make it irresistible to buyers. It's all very trippy and fun, full of primary colors and smiling faces, but the thing is, we already love the Fiesta. They could put Orson Welles out there at his most cantankerous, and that'd be fine. We do dig the creativity, and since it's an entry level car, maybe the target market will be entirely comfortable with the campaign, having just recently graduated from Sesame Street, anyway.
The seller states he's not really sure what this car is worth. Here's our estimate: it's worth even less than a regular '89 Scirocco with 123,000 miles. Why? Because it's been molested into a Delorean imposter. Not just any Delorean, either, but the Back To The Future Delorean, which so many people feel compelled to recreate as a rolling manifestation of their overdeveloped love for a movie prop. Don't get us wrong, the BTTF DMC's masterful design has had astounding resonance with the public, becoming a real icon of its time. It's just that while the original design by Andrew Probert and Ron Cobb was something new, rehashing it endlessly for twenty-five years has gotten tiresome.
With that out of our system, let's go on to say that the seller has a sense of humor about this car. It was used to promote a primary school play, +1 for kickin' it with the kiddies, and there's obviously a lot of effort here. It's also heartwarming that the mods were perpetrated on a somewhat more common Scirocco, versus a rarer Delorean. The Flux capacitor and time circuits have not been tested, according to the seller, so caveat emptor. If it actually works, we'd love to go back and whisper in VW's ear to build more Sciroccos, and do likewise with Johnny Z, too. Bids currently stand at £156 with the reserve not met, so you're not yet OUTATIME. Thanks for the tip, Tim!
GM Daewoo has been forced to idle its plant in Bupyeong, South Korea due to strong-arm tactics by tire OEMs Hankook and Kumho. The Bupyeong plant produces the vehicle we know and ummm... tolerate as the Chevrolet Aveo, and possibly (unfortunately) soon as the Pontiac G3. Rather than pony up the 12% price increases that the tire suppliers want, GM wants a preliminary injunction to force them to end the supply cutoff. For their part, Hankook and Kumho cite higher raw materials costs for their increased monetary demands, even after ratcheting up prices by 5.5% in March. The work stoppage isn't expected to be protracted, so before long, we'll see these little carlets rolling off the line again. GM could always call the tiremakers' bluffs and switch suppliers. We're sure Goodyear or Bridgestone would be interested in talking.
Gas prices are up, which has led to increased interest in midsizers, more specifically, the midsize offerings from Chrysler's competition. The Sebring has taken a 30 percent sales whack this year, mostly due to reduced fleet sales. The Avenger's year has been a little brighter, posting a two-percent gain. Contrast that with everyone else; Malibu, Fusion, and Accord are up ten percent or more this year; and therein lies Chrysler's problem. Ditching Chrysler's outmoded V6 for the four-cylinder powertrain will deliver more competitive fuel economy, if you can stand the NVH increase.
Top heavy with trucks and taking fire over the Avenger and Sebring's interior quality and efficiency, Chrysler's seriously looking at re-jiggering the sedan twins, killing the top R/T and Limited trim levels and sliding some of the good stuff down to the SXT and Touring trim levels. The 3.5-liter V6 will be left out as standard equipment, though, as it doesn't post great fuel economy. The goodies that normally accompany the six, like heated leather power seats, dual exhausts, and 18 inch wheels, will end up as standard gear on the Sebring Touring and Avenger SXT. The prices of those models get bumped - 9.9 percent for the Dodge, now starting at $21,750, and 3.4 percent for the Sebring, offered for $21,670. What's up with the Avenger costing more than the Sebring? We don't know. The Journey is also being considered for this initiative, rumored to be called the "Fight Back" plan, and suppliers had until yesterday to give Chrysler a yes or no on feasibility.
Audi is using American supercharging muscle to give its new 
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