Ford and Porsche aren’t usually compared in car blogs or performance tests. Nor do I know of anyone who has ever been in the market for a 911 but ended up buying a Mustang instead.
Still, though, both companies are coming off a year of updating their top-of-the-line thoroughbreds and getting ready for 2011 by updating them again.
On the Ford side, we’ve got the 2011 Mustang Shelby GT500. From Porsche, we have the 2011 911 Turbo S. How can we possibly compare a $50,000 car to a $160,000 car?
Read on to find out.
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Here’s a little change of pace from all the bungled PR and confusion from Toyota we’ve been reporting. Also (no offense, tgriffith), enough already with the Super Bowl and its ads (except for the Kia Sorento sock monkeys in Vegas). Here in Mexico, the game was carried by Fox Sports, and all commercials were locally oriented, for the most part very ordinary, and looked to be locally produced. So we didn’t get to see the high-concept stuff.
Anyhow, here comes Cyclone Power Technologies in Florida, announcing its first completed model heat-regenerative external-combustion (that is, steam) engine. Designed for biomass or most any fuel, the LSR engine powers the U.S. car that will attempt to break the land speed record now held by the U.K.’s Charles Burnett III (above). So if you’re at Bonneville in August, prepare to see the 200-mph barrier broken amid clouds of steam.
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Which was better yesterday: Super Bowl XXLIV or the commercials? I think the ad agencies mostly let us down this year, with the exception of a few nuggets here and there, most notably when David Letterman and Jay Leno shared the couch with Oprah in the “worst Super Bowl party ever” spot.
But what about the car ads? Brett Favre stole the show here for Hyundai as he pondered retirement in 2020 (which is also how long your new Hyundai’s warranty will last).
Honda was the worst, featuring a commercial that was actually uglier than the Crosstour it was trying to sell.
Which car ad was your favorite? Continue reading to watch ‘em all, then vote for your favorite (or tear apart your least fave) in the comment section.
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Come Monday, there could be just as many people talking about the Super Bowl ads as there are talking about the actual game.
According to CNNMoney.com, Chrysler is the only domestic automaker to take part this year, spending some serious dough (ads cost about $3 million per 30 seconds) on a one minute ad. I think Chrysler should have followed the lead of its Detroit neighbors by sitting this one out and investing the money in products worth advertising. Especially considering Chrysler’s vehicle of choice is the outdated Dodge Charger.
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Even though we wrote what seemed a perfectly adequate speech for him, Akio Toyoda chose to fumble his way through a hastily-called press conference this morning instead. We want to be on this guy’s side, but he is doing nothing more than providing fodder for comedians. As Bartel Schmitt of TTAC put it, he said basically nothing, other than offering “a heartfelt apology for causing so much trouble to many of our customers.”
So what is the company going to do? Why, they’re setting up a committee on quality control. I mean, Jay Leno would be hard-pressed to come up with a better answer. To add to the farce, we heard straight-faced Jim Lentz, Toyota’s U.S. sales boss, serving up whoppers to NBC’s Matt Lauer—among them that the company first heard about unintended acceleration in October of last year.
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Take a Lambo to the mountain!
The groundhog says we’ll have six more weeks of winter. That might upset some people, but to plenty of others, it means six more weeks to hit the mountains for winter fun.
Skiers, boarders, sledders, and snowshoers may not agree on the best way to get down a mountain, but they all have one thing in common: They need a way to get up it.
So, my snow-loving friends, here are the 10 best vehicles to take to the slopes:
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Good morning, all.
I know you have been waiting to hear from me on the crisis facing our company. I haven’t spoken out previously because I wanted to be sure of my facts. Yet, my not speaking has caused many to think we at Toyota were hiding something, fearful of the press, or just plain stonewalling.
My hesitation has caused our stock price to fall and our credibility to crumble. For that, I am more than sorry; I am ashamed.
The truth is we Japanese are good at making apologies. We are good at being sensitive to public opinion. Maybe we are not so good at being open.
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2011 Kia Sportage
Cars Coming Soon has a special treat for you this week: A little bit of sexiness.
Regular readers know that I’m a big fan of power. In fact, the more horsepower a car can throw down, the sexier I think it is. The only thing unsexy about power is the sacrifice in fuel economy that goes with it.
Considering the state of our economy, I’m also starting to find things that save money pretty attractive, too… so when automakers start talking about turbocharged direct-injection four-cylinder engines, I get a little excited.
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Late yesterday, the New York Times reported that two Congressmen (Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak of the House Energy and Commerce Committee) asked Toyota to provide documents proving their cars’ electronic throttle systems were not faulty—as the company has maintained. Put up or shut up, and do it by Friday!
More insult upon injury: Ray LaHood, Transportation secretary (right), said, “We’re not finished with Toyota yet,” regarding the electronic issue, and this morning advised people to stop driving affected Toyota cars and take them to a dealer. However, the Detroit News correctly pointed out that this
conflicts with previous advice from the government and from Toyota, which has said drivers can keep driving their recalled vehicles until they receive a recall notice inviting them to visit a dealer to get a fix.
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While in Switzerland for an economic summit, Toyota CEO Akido Toyoda apologized for the problems his company is facing, saying he is “deeply sorry.”
Then, according to ABC News, he got into a black Audi and drove away.
There is a potential excuse for why that happened, but first let’s discuss the effects of this major lapse of vehicular judgment.
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