The Bull

     The new Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 is as every Lambo should be, a poster-worthy amazing feat of engineering prowess. These cars have always been the "stuff that dreams are made of", and this Lambo is no different. 

Miles Davis and his Miura 

     From the beginning of the Lamborghini saga, with the Lamborghini P400 GT Miura, they have defined super cars. They have, since then, been the perfect model for poster and dream material. If you have never dreamed of owning or driving a Lamborghini then you need to put a mirror in front of your face, you might not be alive. 

Countach

Diablo

Murcielago

     Since 1966 this super car maker has kept raising the bar of what you might think a car should or could be. The Countach, Diablo and Murcielago were the predecessors of the Aventador and each model added to the next. True evolution has been in operation with these vehicles. These cars are amazingly fast and not very practical for every day use but, WOW. The Aventador is the next installment in this line of greats and it is marked but the guillotine doors, all wheel drive and the ridiculous power. Seven hundred break horsepower and over 500 pound-feet of torque in the Aventador. This is a beast in every sense of the word, save the interior, it is supple as you would expect a three and three quarter million dollar car would be, while the ride is said to be the most compliant of any Lambo to date. A major part of this vehicle is made from carbon fiber and this greatly reduces weight while improving over all performance. Zero to sixty times under three seconds! With a top speed over 210-mph, this is one "super" car. 
     I much prefer the interior of this Lambo to previous but I believe that is, in large part, due to the design influences coming from Audi. We must have some luxury in a $400,000 car. But there is not an Audi model to match this one, unlike the Gallardo which is just a body switch with the A8. The A8 seems to have much greater luxury and finish. Having the choice, my recommendation is to go for the Aventador. If not, make it the Audi A8, because it's a better all around small super car then the Gallardo. 

Aventador

    Bottom line, Aventador is a marvelous feat of Italian invention. But no one expects any less from Lamborghini, everyone will always expect the best. That will justify the premium price.






 "If you have the means....I highly recommend picking on up. The ride is so choice." Ferris Bueller

BMW's Badger

1 Series M Coupe

     The New 1 Series M coupe is a fabulous looking vehicle. It is powered by a twin turbo inline six and has numbers which suggest spirited track times. This car is great because BMW performance has been put out of reach for many buyers and this gives the "average" driver a chance to own an M car. With pricing in the low to mid forties, it's not cheap yet it is a 340 horsepower six speed "pocket rocket" and this kind of performance is never cheap. Yet compare performance numbers and engine output, you will find this car to be a bargain. The engineers at BMW have been using a twin scroll turbo set up and this all but eliminates turbo lag. Translation, Power, lots and lots of sumptuous, continuous power. The staggered wheel set up, 245/35 19's on the front and 265/35 19's on the rear, make for superb handling characteristics and really make this car look mean coming down the road. Small and mean, like a badger. Quick, agile and vicious, with zero to sixty times well under five-seconds, this thing should be a heap of fun to drive. I also like the three and five door offerings of the 1 series. These configurations are more highly regarded in the european nations because they are much more utilitarian, read...…sensible, they like fun and utility. Practicality should, but not always is, a factor in car buying . If you are just looking for pure fun? This M car or perhaps the 128i convertible would be my suggestion. They look like fun just sitting still. FYI, don't confuse the Series 1 M with the M1 concept car, visually impossible but easily confused in writing.

M1 Concept

      Speaking of concept vehicles, the latest offering from BMW is simply amazing.
The i8 hybrid, it has a 3 liter six cylinder gas motor mated to an electric motor that produces a combined 349 horsepower and about 400 lb-ft of torque. A top speed well over 150-mph and zero to sixty times under 5 second are great. Magnificent when you consider the 78mpg this car also will provide. Ground breaking usage of carbon fiber in its design make this the car the one to look for in the future.
The Ultimate Driving Machine now sounds like the Ultimate Understatement. 

BMW I8 Hybrid

Do you "need" a nice car?

Do you “need” a fine automobile? If you are a daily commuter then the answer, in your mind, may be no. But I challenge you to think about the ramifications of driving a boring vehicle even if you are only driving to work daily.
Consider this, today you drive to work and it takes 30 to 50 minuets to arrive. You drive a 93 Toyota Corolla and it is a thrifty and fugal car to drive. Nothing is wrong with seeking gas mileage and reliability as a driving force for purchasing a vehicle. You are thinking, it only has to get me back and forth to work and this is true. But try the same commute in the luxury of a Jaguar XJ or with your foot on the accelerator peddle in a Corvette Grand Sport. Things change in your commute, not just the rate at which you arrive but the way your mind works changes. You have “feelings” when you get into your car and you work through those feelings on the way in to work. Personally, I get exited about a great driving car and every time I ride a motorcycle I feel great when I get off. Years ago I had the opportunity to drive a NASCAR on the track and the only thing I could think when I got out was, “I can’t believe they pay people to do that!”. Millions of dollars, no less. I would gladly do it for free. I think the old saying, “it’s the journey and not the destination that counts, is true. Apply the same thought process to life. Your destination is not what you are looking forward too. Is it? Journey is all we really have. Push forward towards your journey. The daily commute may be metaphorical for your life’s journey. I could be reading too much into it but the principle still “holds water”.

Look towards having a better life going back and forth to work. Some days, that may be your only release and or fun. Seek out those pleasures, when you can.
You may say, you would love to drive a great car but you can’t afford it. The Corolla is the best you can do. Not so, if you are willing to search pre owned cars and or rent on occasion.
The excitement of driving is a great stress reliever even while doing the speed limit. All of the latest automatic breaking and adaptive controls worry me. I think there is a demographic that is looking towards a “Minority Report” style existence where we just get in our cars and tell them where we want to go and that is it. No more shifting gears or steering for that matter. Boring.
I don’t even like paddle shifting because I am a traditionalist who enjoys the feel of  depressing  a clutch and shifting a stick . Old fashioned, I know but I am talking about hitting the twisties on North Carolina back roads, not the track. Agreed, the paddles are faster shifting but not nearly as fun. If you are going to use paddles I believe they should just come up with a quicker shifting CVT smooth shifting system like Nissan’s. Skip shifting altogether…………which brings us closer to the driver less state stated previously , IE Minority Report, and that is what I would rather avoid in my lifetime. Call me old fashioned but I want to enjoy the ride. Tell me which interior you would enjoy more on a daily basis? Corolla on the left, Jag on the right. No Brainer.  Dig it?

Follow the Bounce

US Recall News Reports:

Ba Da Bing! Volt crash test

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has formally opened a safety defect investigation into the Chevy Volt after several crash tests revealed a fire risk involving the electric cars’ batteries.

Although, as of the date of this article, they have not yet received any confirmed “real-world” reports of this problem resulting in a fire, the NHTSA is concerned because a Chevrolet Volt caught fire in the parking lot three weeks after a side-impact crash test.

Chevy Volt

         I believe that in their haste to bring a "green" vehicle to market, the technology was not fully tested. Granted, there are many electric vehicle behaviors that we will not recognize until they have been in service for some time. We have not used them in place of regular gas motors yet, so there is bound to be a learning curve. Face facts, the power delivery system should have been gone through with a "fine toothed" comb. If for no other reason than the technology's longevity had not been tested. But come on! Three weeks worth of testing should have been done by the battery manufacturer to catch this defect. Now this creates a blemish on the face of the vehicle that was supposed to save and grow GM, like the K car to Chrysler. No worries though, GM will bounce back quickly if the marketing team puts a positive spin on it and the design team fixes the problem permanently and quickly. If you remember the Ford and Firestone fiasco from 2000, you know a car company can come back from anything, As quoted by CNN Money in September of 2000:

 Federal safety officials say up to 88 deaths in the United States may have been caused by tread separation on some versions of the Firestone Wilderness tires, as well as its ATX and ATX II models. Most of the 6.5 million tires involved in an Aug. 9 recall are on Ford Motor Co. light trucks and sport/utility vehicles, such as its best-selling Explorer. Officials in Venezuela are also investigating whether the tires led to 46 deaths there.

If Ford can come back from that to become the number one selling car brand 

and to develop a car like the GT40, then GM can do the same.

Lest we forget that Toyota just went through the stuck accelerator debacle and they are back to selling cars hand over fist, in a recession. Also, you may not remember, but Audi had problems with unexpected acceleration, too, in the 80's.

• In Canton, Ohio, a mother shifted the automatic transmission in her 1985 Audi 5000 from park to drive while waiting for her 6-year-old son to open the garage door. The car unexpectedly accelerated. The mother hit the brakes but was unable to stop the rapid acceleration. The car sped into her son, dragging him through the garage and fatally crushing him against the back wall.
• A Swedish woman in a 1983 Audi shifted from park to drive and the car suddenly accelerated into nearby pedestrians. Before the car could be stopped it had killed one person and injured another.

In 1989, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued their report on Audi’s “sudden unintended acceleration problem.” NHTA’s findings fully exonerated Audi and some other implicated foreign makers.”

The report concluded that the Audi’s pedal placement was different enough from American cars’ normal set-up (closer to each other) to cause some drivers to mistakenly press the gas instead of the brake. 

 Audi and many other manufacturers quickly added an automatic transmission interlock, making it impossible to shift into drive or reverse without a foot on the brake. This changed the industry standard and now all automatic vehicles sold in the US have this feature.

A flood of lawsuits and bad publicity were already consuming the German automaker.

Lexus GSf interior

Audi Quattro Concept

 Audi sales collapsed, from 74k units in 1984 to 12k by 1991.  Sales fell during the same years that Lexus arrived to battle for the hearts and wallets of America’s upscale consumers. Lexus quickly became the hot and new symbol of prestige.

But, look at Audi now, quickly moving back into a controlling position in the luxury car market. 

So, can Chevy bounce back? They most certainly can and will. Car makers have bounced back from far worse. Nobody has been killed by this defect. Dig?

600+HP GTR and Aston Martin One 77

If you have not seen this GTR?!?! Dig it! The Aston is a work of art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXmOg4QuVCE&sns=em

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lXEIz06AFs&feature=related

Silence is Golden

I have a family member who lost her voice temporarily to laryngitis and it makes me think of the wonderful sounds that an engine makes. The sound from the exhaust of a Ferrari or a Harley Davidson are very different but they are like looking at a painting, both are beautiful sounds with different qualities and texture. I believe muscle cars and their melodious V8s still sound the best to me but you may prefer the sound of a European V12. All big bore engines sound amazing but what about an electric car? I rented a hybrid Lexus and at start up you can’t tell that thing is running. It’s a little unnerving to a person who can appreciate the sound of an internal combustion engine. This got me wondering about all electric powered cars.

All electric powered vehicles don’t make a sound and, I’ll say it, that’s creepy. Silence is golden, they say, but not when it comes to cars and motorcycles. There is a Ron Howard film called The Dilemma, staring Vince Vaughn and Kevin James(two of the best modern day comedic actors), and in the film they are working on a sound emitter for an all electric car. There invention would bring muscle car sounds to an all electric Mustang that would otherwise be silent. Although this was fictional it would not be a bad idea to explore this idea. If we are all going to go green than you have to have something for the car guys to hang on to,  Dig?

Everyone wants to talk about the amazing torque of an electric motor and its lack of lag. That all well an good if the only stimulation you get from driving is speed. I like to feel the motor and anticipate the necessity for my input to the transmission. This is why I still prefer a manual “three pedal and a stick” shifter to a paddle shift set up. Yes a double clutch set up is much quicker in responsiveness and acceleration but I don’t drive and F1 car and if I get a track day a month I consider myself lucky. So I need a transmission that feels good through the twisties and is responsive on the back roads.

 For example, there is a road in the mountains of North Carolina near the Tennessee boarder, they call it The Tail of the Dragon. This road is in Deals Gap North Carolina and it has 318 turns in 11 miles. Would you want a paddle shift set up on this road? Certainly not, motorcyclists love this road and, that would be like a motorcyclist riding a scooter or a Honda DN-01(an automatic motorcycle with the ability to “paddle” shift ) down the Tail of the Dragon. 

http://www.tailofthedragon.com/

http://powersports.honda.com/street/crossover.aspx

Part of the fun is the requirement of driver input. It gives me and many of you a greater connection to the road and, consequently, a better interface with the world around us. 

In short, a stick shift and a flowmaster  muffler should never go out of style. At lease until I’m gone, then you guys can do the “minority report, judge dread” boring, lifeless driving thing. Dig it? 

Maybe not totally lifeless...this car was in Minority Report...

Thanks!

Thanksgiving is upon us once again, a time for gluttony and over indulgence.  I, like many people, am thankful for my family an my faith. I know we all need to put things into perspective sometimes and this is just a thought about the important things in life. Because you are reading this blog, I can make several assumptions, I know you have access to a computer, consider that a blessing. There are many who don’t. You also have breath and either sight or hearing to perceive these words. Count all your blessing for each one allows you to be you. Every day above ground is a great day because if you don’t like your situation, you have a chance to change it.
I am also thankful for a crowd of great cars on the market. The new Lexus gsF 350 seems to be a great car and worth the long wait Lexus has put us through. Check it out:

Lexus GSF 350 Sport
I had the chance to go to the car show locally this weekend and it was great. Our local exotic car dealership, Foreign Cars Italia, had a very nice display of vehicles. The had a 458 Italia on the floor, along with a Maserati and an Aston Martin. These cars were works of art, simply great and the gentleman who represented FCI was good to talk to and generally knowledgeable.

http://www.foreigncarsitalia.com/

I did have a friend engage him with a question of decibel level in the cockpit of a 458. His reply was insufficient. FYI. I don’t know would have been sufficient, also the correct answer. No Smoking Please. (don’t blow smoke, dig it?)
All the car manufacturers had good offerings, some more than others, but that’s for another day. Happy Holidays!