Author: kurt

Ever wonder what would happen if you drove a Lincoln LS into a rockslide at speed? Thanks to one Tennessee driver, you don’t need to wonder anymore.

Distracted by the television news crews that were dispatched to cover the rockslide, the man apparently didn’t notice the six foot tall pile of carnage blocking the highway in front of him. I’m not sure why the police didn’t have the road blocked, but maybe that will help his case with the insurance company. Backing into a mailbox and claiming that you didn’t see it is one thing. Hitting a few hundred tons of rocks head on, at speed, is a little harder to explain.

Source: KSDK TV

Oil prices have once again topped $80.00 per barrel, so if history is a good indicator, we’ll soon be paying $3.00 per gallon at the pump. Despite what the tiny ads in the back of Popular Mechanics claim, you can’t double your fuel mileage by magnetizing your fuel line. You can’t ‘grow your manhood’ by taking pills, either, but that’s a topic for a different blog.

Money’s tight for all of us these days, and you can only cut back on your driving by so much. Want to keep a little bit more green in your pocket? Follow the advice below, after the jump, and you’ll see a noticeable reduction in your weekly fuel bill.

Inflate your tires

Tires are the most overlooked part of any car. Unless one is flat, most drivers ignore them until it’s time for new ones. Want to get better mileage? Make sure your tires are inflated to the pressure recommended by the manufacturer. This info is in the owner’s manual, and it’s also located on the door frame or inside the fuel door. If you don’t mind a harsher ride, it’s OK to inflate tires a little more than manufacturer’s recommend, but don’t go more than 2 psi higher per wheel.

Tires will lose air over time, so check them monthly. We’ve told you how before, but here’s a friendly reminder – always check tires cold, before you’ve driven on them. If you forget, wait three hours for the tires to cool before setting the pressure.

Change your air cleaner

Air cleaners are another often overlooked part, since today’s cars can go much longer between tuneup intervals. I change my air cleaner every 10,000 miles; if you can’t remember the last time you changed yours, it’s probably overdue.

Change your oil to a synthetic and run the thinnest grade you can

Manufacturers are very careful to specify what oils can be used in your vehicle, and typically there is more than one choice. Unless you’re towing a boat or a trailer, or driving at wide open throttle across the desert, you can squeeze out a few more mpg by opting for a lower viscosity oil (choosing 0w20 over 5w30, for example).

Synthetic oil is more expensive than the cheaper petroleum based stuff, but it lasts longer between oil changes and does give you a slight increase in mpg. Don’t want to spring for the good stuff? At least make sure you change your oil at factory recommended intervals.

A few words of caution here: if you manufacturer specifies synthetic oil, use it. Don’t cheap out and try to get by with petroleum based oils, because there’s a reason the manufacturer’s engineers want you to use the good stuff. Also, make sure you follow the owner’s manual for you car. If it doesn’t say that 0w20 oil is safe to use, then don’t use it.

Shut your engine off at long traffic lights

Here in Jacksonville, we’re cursed with more traffic lights than any other city I’ve ever seen. Some of these, especially at off hours, are ridiculously long, in excess of three minutes per cycle. A five mile cross-town trip can take you thirty minutes if you hit the lights wrong, and that’s a lot of time for your engine to be idling. Assuming you have a good battery, put you car in park (with an automatic transmission) and turn it off at traffic lights that have cycles longer than two minutes. When you see the light in the opposite direction go from green to yellow, start up your car again. It takes less fuel to start a car than it does to keep it running.

Short shift

With a manual transmission or a shiftable automatic, you can shift gears at a lower RPM to save fuel. Don’t shift too soon, since lugging the engine can cause premature wear on expensive parts. As a general rule, shift at 3,000 RPM. If your car accelerates smoothly in the next gear, you’re fine. If it bucks or strains to accelerate, shift at 3,500 RPM next time.

Also, avoid downshifting where possible. Keeping the car in the highest usable gear will save fuel.

Avoid using A/C and electronics

Tough call on this, since a car with the windows down will get worse mileage than one with the windows up and the A/C on, especially at high speeds. Lowered windows change a cars aerodynamic profile and create drag, which reduces fuel mileage. At low speeds, this is less of an issue.

Use your A/C sparingly, and try to limit the use of plug in chargers for phones, laptops, DVD players, etc. Any device that draws current (including the radio, vent fan, defroster, headlights, etc.) will put additional demand on the motor and reduce fuel mileage by a fraction of a percent. Every little bit helps though, right?

Reduce your speed

For me, that’s just crazy talk. If you can resist the temptation to launch your car from traffic light to traffic light and accelerate gently, you’ll boost your mpg. Or so I’m told.

Add lightness

Colin Chapman was right – adding lightness makes a car go faster and boosts your mpg. It never ceases to amaze me how much unnecessary crap people haul around in their vehicles. That portable jump starter that you got as a Christmas gift two years ago and haven’t ever needed? Pull it out. That rear cover that hides the contents of your SUV or station wagon? Unless you’re shopping for Christmas or birthdays, pull it out.

The more you can reduce the weight of your vehicle (and its driver), the more fuel you’ll save.

Use cruise control

If you’re driving on the highway (in dry weather), use cruise control as much as possible. Cruise control does a much better job of maintaining a constant throttle setting than the average driver can. Constant throttle, with little acceleration or deceleration, produces the best mileage.

Never use cruise control in the rain or on slippery surfaces, as it can lead to a loss of control if one wheel loses traction.

Advanced drivers only: big rigs are your friend

I’m not advocating tailgating, especially not for the untrained driver. However, following a semi at the closest possible safe distance will reduce your fuel consumption. Try this: approach a tractor trailer on the highway. At a few hundred feet behind them, you’ll feel buffeting caused by “dirty” air coming off the back of the trailer. As you continue to drive closer, the buffeting will be reduced. The trick is finding the pocket where you’re getting as little buffeting as possible while maintaining a safe following distance from the truck.

DO NOT attempt this while texting, talking on the cell phone, programming your GPS, checking email, eating breakfast / lunch / dinner, shaving, applying makeup, reading the paper or milking the one-eyed gopher. If you can’t give your full and undivided attention to driving, just back off and join the rest of the lemmings.

In the “things are tough all over” department, the Bugatti Type 35C I told you about on Sunday failed to reach the pre-auction estimate of $1.4 million, selling instead for a disappointing $900,000. It’s hard to imagine that the car will ever lose money; despite the sky high purchase price, I’d label that one “well purchased”. Full article after the jump.

Another tasty nugget at the Gooding & Company auction was this 1928 Bugatti 35C GP (for Gran Prix) racer. The Bugatti Type 35 was the car to beat in its day, and Type 35s amassed over 1,000 race wins. At the height of their popularity, Bugatti Type 35s were earning an average of 14 race wins per week, a feat that has not been repeated since.

The Type 35 pioneered Bugatti’s horseshoe shaped grille and was the first production car to utilize a three valve cylinder head. The Type 35C used a supercharger on the 2 liter straight 8 engine, and produced about 128 horsepower to move the Type 35C’s 1,650 pounds. Bugatti Type 35Cs won the French Gran Prix in both 1928 and 1930.

Fifty Type 35Cs were built, but it is unknown how many are still in existence today. In 2006, Gooding & Company sold a Bugatti 35C with a well documented history for $2.585 million, a feat unlikely to be repeated this year. Pre auction estimate for this Bugatti 35C is $1.4 million.

Based on the Porsche 718, the successor to the legendary Porsche 550 Spyder, the RS60, 61 and W-RS were campaigned in a variety of racing series throughout the 1960s. In 1960, Porsche RS 60s won the 12 Hours of Sebring, the Targa Florio and the European Hill Climb Championship.

The 1961 RS61 Spyder used a 1.6 liter Type 547/3 boxer motor, good for 160 horsepower. The car also featured a revised double wishbone rear suspension to improve handling.

The Gooding & Company pre auction estimate for the car pictured was $1.2 to $1.5 million, but buyers clearly felt the car was worth more. By the time the hammer dropped, the RS61 Spyder had been bid up to $1.705 million.

I love the lines of the early 1970s GM pickups, probably because my dad had a 1972 GMC for a shop truck. I learned to drive a column shifter on that beast, and mastered the art of retrieving customer’s broken down cars with a push bumper mounted on the front.

Sam Rankin sent in pics of his ride, a 1970 Chevy C10 pickup with a blown 355 small block between the front wheels. The motor features Brodix aluminum heads, an MSD ignition with a Boots Timing Master, roller rockers, J&E pistons and Oliver rods. Sam is running the blower to make 10 pounds of boost at 3000 RPM. There’s no dyno sheet included with the pics, but my guess is somewhere north of 500 horsepower. That should get the crops to market on time.

Low mileage Diablo. Original owner, needs some paint and body work. $5k OBO.

Source: That Will Buff Out

The Voisin C20 I told you about on Saturday? The 2009 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance “Best In Show” winner sold for a world record $2.75 million dollars. More after the jump.

Up for sale at the inaugural Gooding & Company auction on Amelia Island is this 1931 Voisin C20. Considered a hallmark of Gabriel Voisin’s design and engineering talents, the car is powered by one of five 12 cylinder Voisin sleeve-vale engines built. Voisin’s early career was spent designing aircraft; after World War 1, Voisin was convinced that both military and civilian demand for aircraft would wane. He focused his attention on the luxury automobile market, applying lessons learned from building aircraft. His automobiles were among the first to utilize aluminum and other lightweight alloys in their construction, and his vehicles typically included far more instrumentation than other high end automobiles.

A 2009 Best of Show winner at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, the Voisin is one of a kind and immaculate in every sense of the word. Pre-auction estimates are that the car will sell “in excess of $2 million”, and there seemed to be quite a bit of interest in the Voisin while I was in the Gooding tent. The downturn in the economy has not impacted the level of buyers seen at the Amelia Island auctions.

Sunday, March 14, was the 15th annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, which yours truly attended for the third year. The event has grown from a regional show to one of international merit, and the cars seem to get better every single year. No matter what era or type of car you’re into, you’ll find the best examples at Amelia Island; it’s become the Eastern U.S. equivalent to Pebble Beach.

I’ll be putting up articles about some of the cars featured over the next few weeks, but here are a few teaser shots. Ever wondered what a party with 18,000 of your closest gear head friends would look like? How about if they brought 275 of the finest classic, street and race cars ever produced. Well, it would look something like these pics, after the jump:

There’s so much creamy automotive goodness that I don’t know where to start. The immaculate 1967 427 Corvette? The cleanest 300 SL I’ve ever seen, finished in a stunning slate gray? Richard Petty’s Superbird? A DeSoto Powered Kurtis roadster? All of these and more in the coming weeks, just as soon as I sort through an entire memory card full of images.

It was a bizarre weekend for the IRL in Brazil. Saturday’s qualifying session had to be rescheduled when a concrete section of the street course proved too slick for safety. Series champion Dario Frachitti took the pole in Sunday’s rescheduled qualifying session, but could not produce a victory as rain produced multiple delays and accidents.

Will Power, driving for Penske Racing, started from the fifth position but used tire strategy to his advantage by gambling on slicks before the track was fully dry. Ryan Hunter Reay, driving for Andretti Autosport also opted for slicks at the last pit stop and was able to hang on for second. Vitor Meira, driving for A.J. Foyt Enterprises, took third.

Fernando Alonso made the best of his new job driving for Ferrari by taking the win in Bahrain. The two time world champion appeared unable to hang with polesitter Sebastian Vettel in the early stages of the race, but got lucky when Vettel experienced an exhaust problem following the final pit stop. Vettel’s misfortune proved to be an opportunity for Alonso as well as his teammate Felipe Massa, who took second. Lewis Hamilton, driving a McLaren Mercedes finished third.

Massa’s second place finish was particularly remarkable in light of his crash in qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian Gran Prix. Massa was hit in the helmet by a spring from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn and received serious head trauma. His return to racing was in doubt, let alone his ability to return and compete at the top levels of the sport.

Seven time champion Michael Schumacher finished in sixth and complained that the car, “was not to his liking”. Schumacher’s teamate, Nico Rosberg, apparently liked his car much better, finishing in fifth spot some four seconds ahead of Schumacher.

The Crown Vic may be headed to the great scrapheap in the sky, but Ford has an ace up their sleeve to replace it for law enforcement use. Based on the 2010 Ford Taurus, the 2012 Ford Police Interceptor is not your dad’s FWD police car.

Ford listened to input from agencies all across the country, who were reluctant to purchase unibody, front wheel drive cruisers due to durability concerns. Ford beefed up the unibody on the Police Interceptor so much that it now meets a durability standard twice that of the outgoing Crown Vic. How strong is it? Strong enough to take a 75 mile per hour rear collision.

The base model will come with the 3.5 liter V6 used in the Taurus, which is good for 263 horsepower. Agencies can order this version in either FWD or AWD, and it’s likely that the FWD configuration will produce the bulk of the orders. Departments that demand more scoot from their pursuit vehicles can order the high performance version, which comes with AWD and the 365 horsepower twin turbo EcoBoost V6 motor found in the new SHO. All versions get larger brakes and recalibrated stability control to mimic the handling characteristics of rear wheel drive (less understeer).

Should you find yourself in the back seat of the new Ford Police Interceptor, you’ll appreciate the roomier bench seat and wider opening doors (since the only thing worse than being put in the back of a cruiser is smashing your head on the way in).

You’ve got until late 2011 to look for the current Crown Vic cruisers in your rear view mirror. Deliveries of the new Ford Police Interceptor won’t begin before then.

I’m a pretty easygoing guy, and I’m generally not one to lecture on wrong versus right, especially when it comes to issues of style. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and nothing says that louder than the car you drive, how you treat it and how you customize it. There are a few sins I can’t forgive, because everytime I see them it’s like nails across a chalkboard inside my head. Please, people, for the love of God, don’t do any of the following to your car.

Cheap Tires On High End Sports Cars

Nothing says “I’m a poser who really wanted a Camry, but my wife insisted on this damn Corvette Z06” more than no-name tires on a late model sports car. If you’ve got the coin to drop on a ‘Vette, or a Porsche, or anything aimed at above average acceleration, braking and handling, don’t cheap out on tires. Buy name brand tires from a reputable manufacturer like Bridgestone, Yokohama, BF Goodrich, Goodyear, Pirelli, et cetera. Cheap tires not only limit the car’s performance; they positively identify you as someone who bought the car only to look cool. They’re a clear indication that you know nothing about driving and rarely exceed the speed limit.

Spinner Wheels

Here’s one automotive fashion statement that I was glad to see die an early death. Why would you possibly want to double the weight of a car’s wheels? Do you like increased stopping distances, slower acceleration and worse handling? Do you like driving a car whose wheels feel perpetually out of balance? Maybe if I was smoking chronic and sucking down a few 40s (or some gin & juice) I’d get it. Since I actually like driving, it just escapes me.

Regular Gas In ‘Premium Only’ Cars

There’s a reason, and a good one, that your manufacturer tells you what level of gasoline to use. Yes, you CAN use regular gasoline in a car designed for premium, but why would you want to? It reduces performance (since engine timing must be retarded to compensate for reduced octane levels), reduces MPG and risks engine damage if your knock sensor isn’t working. I want all the performance I can get out of a motor, and you can’t get that by reducing octane below what the manufacturer recommends. Don’t buy the car unless you can afford the gasoline it’s supposed to use; we’re only talking about fifty cents more per tankful, people.

Ignoring Oil Changes

Regular oil changes (at 3,000 mile or six month intervals) are the best way to ensure your motor lasts a long, long time. I’ve seen motors in new cars put a connecting rod through the block, because the owner didn’t know they still had to change the oil. This is basic stuff, people – if you can turn a wrench, you can change your own oil in an hour or less. Not comfortable doing it yourself? Take your car to a reputable garage instead of a “quick lube” place. There’s a reason that those guys are the cheapest in town.

Portholes, Fake Badges, And Other Farkles

Portholes were cool on vintage Buicks, just like STi badges are cool on real STis, Type R badges are cool on real Integra Type Rs, and BMW M badges are cool on real M series cars. If your car didn’t come with it from the factory, don’t add it.

On the other hand, I’m all for shaving badges and making your Dinan supercharged and nitrous injected M3 look like a simple 328i. Q ships (Google it if you don’t know the meaning) are inherently cool; poseur cars are not.

Steering Wheel Covers

Not to brag, but I’m a pretty confident guy. It takes quite a bit to get me rattled, and I’m pretty comfortable in my ability to deal with whatever fate has in store for me. Still, few things send chills up my spine and trigger my flight reflex quicker than a leopard skin or fleece steering wheel cover. Beware, folks, because it says the driver is unpredictable and is far more concerned with applying lip gloss, drinking their mochachino and eating their triple bacon cheeseburger than they are with driving. Like a springbok who spots a lion on the African plain, a steering wheel cover is your signal to get the hell out of Dodge, and do it quickly.

Rear Wings On FWD Cars

Mike already covered this, so I’ll keep it short: don’t do it. Less traction over your drive wheels, at high speed, in a corner is never a good thing. Trust me on this.

Bad Body Kits

Well designed body kits cost good money. They’re made to fit specific years, makes and models and offer tangible benefits such as increased downforce. Generally speaking, you won’t find them on eBay for $100.

If you opt for a cheap body kit, chances are good it was designed to fit more than one make, model or year. Chances are even better that all the Bondo your local auto parts store has in stock still won’t make it fit properly, or look good. Or eliminate that annoying whistle you get at any speed above 30 mph.

Put the money you would have wasted on a body kit into something that increases your car’s performance, like tires and wheels, stiffer springs, thicker sway bars, better struts or intake / exhaust parts. None of these require Bondo, and all of them make your car go faster (something a cheap body kit won’t do).

Grapefruit Launcher Exhausts

I’m not slamming aftermarket exhausts, as long as they produce tangible benefits without creating too much noise. Somewhere along the line, however, low buck tuners got the idea that “bigger is always better” and started producing exhausts with ridiculous diameters and obnoxious, bleating tones. There is a science behind creating horsepower, and an unrestricted exhaust will create top end power at the expense of low end and midrange power. This is fine for use on a racetrack, but not so good for use on the street.

Also, ask yourself this: If the exhaust pipe diameter is an inch and a quarter from the manifold through the (stock) catalyst and into your new exhaust with a six inch diameter tip, how much of a gain are you really going to see?

Gold Emblems

I don’t know why this trend, like vinyl roofs, refuses to die a quiet death. Nothing says “cheesy” quite as loudly or effectively as a gold emblem on a car. It screams, “I want you to notice that I’m driving a Cadillac / Camry / Geo Metro that’s DIFFERENT. Just like everybody elses.”

One of these days I’m going to start a campaign to rid the world of gold emblems once and for all. Under cover of night, our shock troops will set out with rolls of dental floss (to shave the emblems), cans of silver spray paint and bottles of contact cement to re-affix the properly colored emblems. I’m counting on an army of volunteers, because we have so much tackiness and so little time.

After a long winter without open wheel racing, the F1 and IRL seasons both kick off this weekend. The F1 season opens in Bahrain, and Sebastian Vettel (driving for Red Bull) has put his Renault powered car on the pole. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) has the outside of the front row, followed by Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) to round out the top five. Rosberg’s teammate, seven time world champion Michael Schumacher, qualified in seventh spot, followed by current world champion Jenson Button in eighth.

I’ve been saying for years that Michael Schumacher’s best talent was being in the right place at the right time, so it will be interesting to see how he fares against the new generation of star drivers like Hamilton and Vettel. My call? Hamilton takes the championship, followed by Massa and Vettel. If Schumacher completes the season, he’ll be lucky to crack the top five.

In the U.S. Market , the race airs on Speed TV at 7:30 A.M. ET.

I’m generally not a big fan of police pursuit videos, because I’ve seen about a million of them. Something about this one stands out. Maybe it’s the driver, who actually stops at one point to yell at police. I’m reasonably sure she’s insane, or tripping her face off. Or insane and tripping her face off.

Maybe it’s the car, because I sure as hell wouldn’t try to outrun anything in a Scion Xb. The driver does a fair job of it, though. Who knew a Scion Xb was so nimble?

Or it could just be that it’s Friday, and I was looking for any excuse to put off redesigning the cover sheet for my TPS report. The weekend’s here in a few hours, so enjoy the vid.

Buell Motorcycles closed its doors in 2009, a victim of declining sales and corporate indifference from parent company Harley Davidson. Buell may be out of business, but the motorcycles live on, both in AMA Racing and in the design study you see here.

Magpul Industries, maker of accessories for the AR-15 and other assault rifles, felt that many of their customers shared dual passions for shooting and for motorcycles. Originally conceived as a promotional tool, the bike you see here started life as a Buell 1125R. Magpul added their styling ideas and crafted parts to convert the 1125R into a futuristic, bad-ass streetfighter concept. It was christened “Ronin” after the demise of Buell Motorcycles; in Japanese history, a Ronin is a Samurai who’s lost his master.

The styling is certainly edgy, and borrows elements (like the rigid appearing forks) from the Confederate Wraith. I’m not sure about the front lighting, which looks more like a bug zapper than a headlight. It also appears to serve double duty as a radiator, which only contributes to the odd appearance of the front end.

Magpul is calling the Ronin an experimental project, and remains non-committal on sales of components or completed motorcycles. I’d certainly like to see Erik Buell’s innovative ideas live on, and the Ronin seems like a fitting platform for a limited production streetfighter. I say build it.

Source: Magpul

Jim Sikes, the man now famous for surviving the “runaway” Prius incident in California, is in deep financial kimchee. Jim and his wife declared bankruptcy in 2008, and listed a combined liability of over $700k. Toyota is, of course, listed as a creditor.

Sikes refutes the relevance of his bankruptcy and told Jalopnik’s Matt Hardigree that he wasn’t considering litigation against Toyota. He is, however, seeking a replacement vehicle for his demonically possessed Prius.

So, in other words, if Toyota gives you a free new car, you’ll shut up and go away? Why am I having a hard time believing this is anything more than an attempted theft by deception?

There’s an important lesson here, boys and girls: don’t believe everything you see on the news. You are being lied to.

Source: Jalopnik

Magpul Industries builds upgraded parts and accessories for assault rifles. When they decided to build an off-road vehicle for promotional purposes, it was a pretty safe bet that they’d opt for the baddest ORV on the planet as a starting point. Working with Couch Off Road Engineering in Denver, CO, Magpul commissioned the custom Unimog you see here. Powered by a turbo diesel motor, this ‘Mog features 15,000 pound hydraulic winches on the front and rear, 8mm thick sliders and skid plates, a super-duty bull bar, a custom 27 gallon fuel tank and a spare tire carrier that doubles as a wheelie bar for climbing particularly steep grades.

In case you had any doubt on my choice of the Unimog as a zombie apocalypse vehicle of choice, this video should convince you. I’d sure love to take this beast for a drive across the Switzerland Trail.

Source: BangShift

There’s good news and bad news for the upcoming 2010 IRL season. First the good news: Sarah Fisher Racing has signed Graham Rahal to drive for the team in two races, the street course event in St. Petersburg and the road course event at Barbour Motorsport Park. Rahal had been without a ride since Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing lost sponsorship from McDonald’s at the end of last season. Rahal finished the 2009 season in seventh place in the points, and captured 2 poles during the season. Sarah Fisher Racing will run a total of 15 events in the 2010 season, relying on drivers Sarah Fisher and Jay Howard for the remaining events.

Now the bad news: Dale Coyne Racing has signed Milka Duno for the full 2010 IRL season, sending a clear message that sponsorship dollars are more important than driver ability. Duno has a bad reputation in the series as an unpredictable backmarker, incapable of driving on pace. Dale Coyne Racing is expected to announce their second driver sometime this week, as Jusin Wilson (who scored Dale Coyne Racing’s first IRL win last year) has moved to Dreyer and Reinbold Racing.

The IRL season kicks off in Sao Paulo, Brazil on March 14.

If you need a full size pickup, statistics show that consumers shop Ford, then Chevy, then Dodge. Way down on the List is the Toyota Tundra or the Nissan Titan; despite the Japanese companies’ best efforts to market full size pickups, Americans just don’t think of shopping for full size trucks at Toyota or Nissan.

Now let’s say you need a work van. If the Ford Transit is too small, their E Series will likely fit the bill. Not a Ford guy? How about a Chevy Express or its sibling, the GMC Savanna? Want something with a turbo diesel? How about a Dodge Sprinter? How about a Nissan NV?

Chances are good that you won’t think of shopping for a work van at Nissan. Despite being late to a market already saturated with options, Nissan is launching a range of full sized vans, called the NV (for Nissan Van) series. Built in the same U.S. plant as the Nissan Titan, the NVs feature body on ladder frame construction, V6 or V8 engine options (both with a five speed automatic as the only transmission) and come in Standard or High Roof models. Cabins are designed to feel more like an upscale pickup than an entry level work truck, so expect switch gear and seating borrowed from the Titan and Armada line. Sadly, no diesel engine options will be available.

Pricing will be announced closer to launch, but I’d expect the NV series to be priced below the domestic competition.

We’ve been telling you all along that stopping a car with unintended acceleration isn’t a big deal, despite the horror stories you hear on the media. The above video demonstrates two things: first, how to shift a Prius into neutral, which automatically returns the engine to idle; and second, that a Prius can be stopped with the brakes, even under full throttle acceleration. The only question is whether or not the ECU was reflashed prior to the demo to give the 2008 Prius brake override capability.

I’m about ready to hit the bullshit buzzer on claims of runaway Prius models. Unless your car is possessed by Satan (who probably wouldn’t be caught dead in a Prius), the only valid explanation for unintended acceleration in this model is driver error.

Source: Left Lane News