As I’ve claimed over and over again in this blog, the Toyota iQ has definitely be one of the most interesting concepts in this whole small city car circus. With the concept OK’ed for production, we’ll just have to wait for these small cars to roll out of factories into dealerships and on the road. Sadly for Toyota, debuting the concept meant that the iQ can readily be targeted by other auto makers. Like Mitsubishi for example.

Mitsu has confirmed that it is, indeed, working on a kei car competitor for the iQ. Kei meaning that it will be no longer than 3.4 m and 1.48 m. To give you an idea, that is small. Take a Yaris and imagine something smaller.

Mitsu’s car will be a rear-wheel drive with a rear-mounted engine with a 660cc displacement engine producing 63 bhp, again, just within Kei car limits. Export versions, however, will get a variant with a 1000cc.

Now this is a development I’d like to observe.

Britain’s Autocar magazine featured a print-only article claiming that the third-generation Toyota Prius will get more oomph. With a reputation of being a super silent slowpoke, Toyota might just give the Prius some upgrades to change this perception. While it will gain a few inches in length and width, it will also get some added displacement.

From the current 1.5L engine, the gas engine will get a bump of 0.3L, the new Prius will sport a 1.8L engine that would generate 100 hp. Decent enough to match non-hybrid Toyota models like the Matrix and Corolla. If you think that displacement will take its toll on efficiency, Toyota is gunning for a 12% improvement on efficiency.

It will be an interesting development to watch out for, especially with announcements of other car companies like Honda who will also be putting in more effort on developing hybrids in their fleets. Probably this next Prius may help secure Toyota’s spot as the king of the green hill.

Source: Autocar via Winding Road

So will the Hyundai Genesis really give the luxury sedan market a shakedown? Probably. With a sub-$40k price range, it will surely be worth considering if you have the extra cash to burn. So how would it fare against some of the mainstay lines in the market, say a BMW, for example.

Well here’s a (crude) video of a drag race between a Korean-spec Hyundai Genesis BH330 (with a 3.3L V6 rated at 25 hp) versus a BMW 530i. Thank the heavens for these street racers who get to post their exploits on YouTube. Sure, the BMW seems to have had the jump on the Genesis but according to the blurb, the Hyundai won.

The first caveat of doing car repairs on your own is basically, can you really do repairs on your car? If you aren’t too sure, then you just might have to consider doing the pre-driving checks and maintenance yourself but leave all the repair work to the pros. However, I’ve learned long ago that some routine repairs can be easily done in one’s own garage without having to shell out money for service and that there are certain repairs that you can safely do without risking f*cking up your car. But before you do work on your car, observe these few safety rules.

Make sure that you have plenty of working and breathing space in you garage. You should be able to maneuver freely without having to worry about banging your elbows. Some of the car fluids can release fumes so be sure that you also get enough ventilation.

Wear protective clothing. No need for super sanitary gear, though some overalls would. Grease and dirt usually gets everywhere so it’s usually a shame to get some on your new jeans. Take off all jewelry, watches, and accessories. If you have long hair, tie it up or keep it in a bun. You don’t want your lovely locks get tangled somewhere in there.

Also, make sure that you work on a level surface. Ever had those nuts and bolts roll to some nook and cranny you won’t be able to reach? Now how about having your car roll somewhere? Be sure that wheels are blocked before jacking the car up.

Read the rest of this entry »

Inside Line has been gracious to share more information about the Toyota- Subaru tie-up on the rumored replacement to a line of Toyota RWDs (one of which would be the Corolla GT/AE 86). But you have to ask about the branding impact and direction this project is taking. Will it really be a Toyota - Subaru thing?

So far, the car is shaping up to be an Impreza that would go through Toyota’s process. The platform will be Subie. The engine will be Subie. The transmission will be Subie. And don’t those gold rims scream Impreza at yoy? So why not just get a WRX STi and slap on a Toyota badge? Not that it would matter since both companies will offer their own stylings on the car.

Uhm, okay. So the Impreza is a 4WD car and this one will definitely be a RWD. A slight modification on the powertrain will be done to accomplish that. A joint effort will be put into creating a modified version of the 2.0L boxer engine for it to generate 220 hps at 6,500 rpm.

The car is slated to be debuted in 2011 and will be priced at sub-$20,000. Still, it’s a tie-up between two of my favorite automakers. I might just have to save up for one. And I have 3 years to do it.

Hyundai’s flagship sedan will be ready for the market and it seems like the market will be ready for it. Some new car buyers might just be able to skip a lot of other car choices and spring for this luxury sedan instead of just settling for just any family car.

The Hyundai Genesis would come in two variants - a 3.8L V6 priced at $33,000 and a 4.6L V8 at $38,000. Sure, those prices are still double of what you’d pay for a Corolla or a Lancer or a Civic but hey, at these prices, you won’t be able to buy a BMW or a Lexus. With the Genesis, you get to have the bells and whistles of a luxury sedan for almost half the price.

The V6 Genesis dishes out 290 hp and clocks in a semi-decent fuel mileage of 18/28 mpg city/highway. The V8 one, has 375 horses under the hood and will be good for 17/25 mpg city/highway. The price you have to pay for displacement. Still, the V8 one is as luxurious as the next steeper-priced luxury sedan with 18 inch rims, chrome moldings, trims, leather wrapped dash, rain-sensing wipers, and a sound system with 15-inch speakers.

Source: PR Newswire

A lot of street racer wannabees often forget the importance of tires. I’ve seen a lot of ricers out there who sport 18-inch rims on their Civics and yet sport the cheapest rubber there is. There’s a reason why you should get good tires for your car plainly because they take a lot of abuse from the forces acting on them. To avoid being Bill Nye here, let’s just focus on some of the key ideas here.

There are three main forces acting on your tires when driving - 1) transferring power to the ground, 2) stopping your car when braking, and 3) providing grip against forces when cornering.

These are awfully powerful forces. For the first one, the power from the engine is channeled by the transmission to your wheels. Not getting enough friction and contact between the wheels and the ground (and that’s through the tires) would greatly affect the efficiency of your acceleration. When speeding up, weight shifts to the rear so cars built for drag racing are usually rear wheel drive cars.

As for cornering, remember Newton’s Law of Inertia? Steering forces your car to deviate traveling from a straight line, and again, much of the force needed there is through your tires. Stopping, is well, stopping. Aside from having a decent brake system, if your tires would not be able to handle the friction, you’re likely to skid.

The technical term to the area where “the rubber meets the road” are contact patches. You have four wheels on your vehicle so that would mean, that you have 4 contact patches. Generally, your car would more or less distribute its weight evenly among the tires. However, modifications like weight distribution, tire pressure, aerodynamics, would alter the area of these contact patches affecting overall performance.

Not all cars on the roads have them and not all cars coming out of the factory can have them as standard. But there’s a reason why anti-lock braking systems or ABS has been around as a safety feature. If you’ve driven a car without an ABS, you might have experienced wheel-locking when braking one time or another. Slam too hard on the pedal at a certain speed and your liable to screech to a halt. ABS prevents that. In most four-wheel ABS systems, this allows you to maintain steering.

Without being too technical, ABS is basically a system of a computer and sensors monitoring the speed of each wheel. When you press down on the pedal, the system kicks in and it takes over how each wheel should slow down to prevent unnecessary skids. If you’re new to the whole ABS thing, you might not notice anything strange at all save for the occasional pulsing of the brake pedal when the system kicks in.

However, this isn’t a foolproof system that would guarantee that skids won’t ever happen. Definitely, you have to consider other factors like the condition and grip of your tires. The road surface will also be a factor. Oil and tar on the blacktop will definitely give you less grip than a paved concrete road. Your speed and direction would also play a factor. The ABS doesn’t necessarily shorten the stopping distance of your car too.

You might want to test the system out in an empty parking lot when you get the chance. You might notice that driving on wet surfaces would affect overall handling but you will notice a difference when the ABS is working. You ABS usually just continues to work silently (unless your car has some options to turn it off). Usually, when it fails, it means that the system is not active (and the amber ABS light on the dash lights up). Usually, your brakes would work just fine, it’s just that you won’t have the ABS to help you out. But take it to a qualified mechanic as soon as possible for repairs.

I love op-eds. Robert Farago over at The Truth About Cars explores the possibility that the Lexus LF-A will be nothing but a brand killer. So will the LF-A be just that for Lexus? Will it be the next lemon of the motoring world?

Let’s remember the reason for existence of the LF-A. Toyota wants to build its first proper supercar and marketing it under the Toyota badge seems to be off. So they decided that the car will sport their luxury badge - Lexus. But taking a good look at the current Lexus fleet, it still does seem to be a bit off.

Farago makes an excellent point. With a price tag of $225K, it still double the next car down the luxury line. And the car isn’t shaping up to be a real proper supercar. By the numbers, the Nissan GT-R still proves to be the better alternative for a “super” car from Japan. And the GT-R is almost a third of the LF-A’s price tag. But internally, what does the LF-A have to offer that would justify the doubling of the price for the IS-F?

Still, public reception will ultimately be the benchmark for the LF-A’s success. Will it bolster Lexus’ image? We’ll see.

Lowball country! Definitely, with the price that Tata wants to sell their Nano people car, you have to expect some concessions in terms of quality. You might not be able to expect that this car would sport some real fancy trims, even leather seats might be a problem.

An issue raised by many with regard to the Nano is safety - something that Hyundai has been bragging about their i10 as their Nano killer. The size and build quality of the Nano might prompt some to think twice about gambling their $2500 in exchange of getting steam rolled by an SUV.

Now news has it that Tata wants their supplier Autoliv to provide airbags that only cost $10 each. But running costs for airbag production run for $150. Is this even possible? If so, how will they do it? Swap plastic bags instead? Fact of the matter is, quality of materials does come with a price.

Source: The Economic Times India