Have dreams of launching a boutique auto firm? Startup Trexa may have a way for you to get into the biz. The company has created an open-source electric car platform that can be used to develop unique rides. Before you scoff, check out the specs:

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who drives a Toyota Prius, recently told a group of people of an unexpected and unintentional acceleration problem he experienced. Remember the Prius is not currently under recall. This makes Wozniak believe that, “This is software. It’s not a bad accelerator pedal.”  Now Wozniak is not the first person to bring up the idea of the possible software problem. Two former administrators for the NHTSA, Ricardo Martinez and Joan Claybrook, believe that there is some electronic glitch causing all of Toyota’s problems. Many other independent saftey experts are also saying the same things. But its Wozniak’s expertise in software and programming that packs the  biggest punch in this claim. The computer guru has also stated that he can duplicate the acceleration problem over and over at a certain speed while in cruise control. Its important to take into account that cars in the Toyota fleet  have a gas pedal that isn’t actually connected to the engine mechanically, but the engine actually relies on software input from the gas pedal to relay acceleration information. This makes the possibility of an electrical or computer error much more likely. So whether Toyota is trying to cover some bigger problem by doing a quick and easy “fix” we will soon find out, but for the time being, it makes us think.

So you’re stuck with a Civic, but you pine for a 454 V-8. Well, now you can have both. Sorta. The SoundRacer V8 is a gizmo that pumps the glorious sounds of a V-8 through your car stereo. Just plug it into the cigarette lighter (or auxiliary power port) in your car and it’ll monitor your car’s revs and transmit the roar of a V-8 to your stereo via an FM signal. It does a pretty good job, too. Check out this video from Gizmag.

The SoundRacer V8 is currently available at LatestBuy.

Hop on over to the SoundRacer site to see and hear more.

Via: Gizmag

It’s two-stroke, is direct-injected, has variable valve timing, doesn’t need a spark plug, and has a variable compression ratio that maxes out at an incredible 40:1. Oh, and it’s also at least 10 percent more efficient than a conventional gasoline engine and can run on virtually any liquid fuel. It’s the Omnivore, a super-efficient prototype engine by Group Lotus, and now you can see how it works in real time thanks to a slick Flash animation.

Group Lotus has been working on the Omnivore for a while, but now they’re really gaining momentum. In recent testing they proved that the two-stroke mill is 10 percent more efficient than similar-sized direct-injeciton gasoline engines, and it burns cleaner to boot. That’s thanks to a free-floating “puck” that slides up and down at the top of the combustion chamber to vary compression ratio based on engine load and type of fuel. It also has a Trapping Valve on the exhaust side that varies duration.

Check out Group Lotus to see for yourself how it works. It’s an incredible design that could eventually lead to 500cc auto engines cranking out 150 horsepower while returning 50-plus miles to the gallon.

Sources: Jalopnik, Autoblog

CT&T, a car manufacturer coming out of Korea, debut their four-passenger Multi Amphibious Vehicle(MAV) at the Detroit Auto Show. This car is suitable to traverse on both land and water, and what’s this???? It’s electric. Sounds about as safe as taking a bath with a toaster or hair dryer. However this six wheeled machine is powered by the electric motor when on the road and that same motor powers the propellers when in water. The electri  motor can get the MAV up to speeds of 40 mph on land and a reported top speed of 10 mph in water. The performance from this vehicle can not be considered out of this world, or even James Bondish, but for a family vacation this might be the type of enterainment we are all looking for. What this vehicle does not have is a roof, something usefull on a rainy day, or high sides/doors to keep the younger part of the family in the vehicle. There hasn’t been a price tag put on the MAV yet, but one of its sister vehicles that was introduced at the same time, the C Square, an electric sports car, was priced at $50,000. Expect a similar price for the Multi Amphibious Vehicle.

Now everyone has pondered the idea of traveling to work like George Jetson.  Avoid the morning rush hour and traffic congestion prevalent in our modern cities. There have been many attempts at the flying car, some more plausible than others, but we are now almost there.  Its name, the Terrafugia Transition, as it can travel in both the air as well as on land. Now it’s not exactly as advanced as the Jetson’s car, but it is as advanced as we can ask for. It can switch between a car and a plane within 30 seconds, and can amazingly fit in any standard sized garage. On land it averages 30 mpg, not bad for a car/plane hybrid. In the air it maintains 115 mph and has a range of over 400 miles. Now the Terrafugia is not even considered to be a prototype yet but its developers plan on doing some additional testing to improve its performance and hopefully plan to get it into production. The real question we have to ask ourselves is if we really want to be flying around in the air thousands of feet above the ground with the same people who cut us off on our daily commutes and flip us the bird as if we did something wrong. Obvioulsy this flying car will not solve the traffic congestion problems in the city because there is no place to land, but if you were trying to avoid the traffic you may encounter between point A and point B, and you have the space to take off and land, the Terrafugia may be for you.

Kia has just introduced their own “infotainment” system to rival Ford’s SYNC.  The Kia UVO (Your Voice) will be extremely similar to the SYNC system as they both run off of Windows software and share many of the same high-tech features, some of which include the voice commands and ipod compatability. The big difference? UVO uses Microsoft’s latest and greatest software available, which can decifer intricate speech patterns and words that, which with previous versions such as SYNC, proved to be an annoyance.  No more screaming at a voice recognition system that only gets more confused we scream louder. However UVO was not only developed for its convenience but also for its safety aspect. Drivers will have the ability to answer phone calls verbally through UVO, allowing them to keep their eyes on the road instead of being distracted by searching for their phone.

The Red Green Show officially went off the air in 2006, but the indelible legacy it left on DIY gearheads lives on and to this day, duct tape is second only to Bondo as the destitute crowd’s favorite repair tool. Among those most heavily influenced by Red Green’s jury rigging is a member of RideLust’s own staff (who shall remain nameless) that attempted a half-assed repair job of their own on an aging Volvo. Hilarity later ensued at the inspection station (followed immediately by a rejection sticker) and in honor of the laughs they elicited we’ve assembled an assortment of our favorite moments in Possum Lodge engineering.

Regardless of how legitimate the global push towards green may or may not be, there’s no escaping the impact the rapid shift in consumer demand has had on the automotive industry. Ward’s 2010 10 Best Engines list reads like an Al Gore-scripted porno and in the 16 years they’ve been objectively evaluating engines, this year marks the first time only one V8 unit (from Hyundai, ironically enough) has made the cut. The rest of the selections are smaller, more fuel-efficient units including the frustratingly underpowered 1.8L DOHC I-4 Hybrid from the Toyota Prius.

Fortunately, the rest of Ward’s choices aren’t nearly as boring and include the 3.5L Ecoboost turbocharged V6 from the comeback kid himself (herself?), the Taurus SHO, and the snarling 3.0L supercharged V6 from the Audi S4. The 2.4L DOHC I-4 from the Chevy Equinox also made the list, purportedly thanks to its “groundbreaking” performance and segment-leading efficiency, though it’s reasonable to suspect that pity might have played a small role too.

Hit the jump for the full list of Ward’s 2010 picks.

The accelerator pedal, right, in a 2010 Toyota Avalon is seen on the show room floor of Bobby Rahal Toyota in Mechanicsburg, Pa. , Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009.

When the news of Toyota’s spontaneously accelerating vehicles first broke, it was in the form of a grisly accident in Texas involving a Lexus, a jammed accelerator pedal, and 3 unfortunate fatalities. In response to the outcry immediately following the accident Toyota released a 3.8 million vehicle recall, pinning the primary source of the problem on improperly secured floor mats. Suspecting something significantly more sinister at play, a class-action lawsuit sprung up in California alleging that the problem was not with wayward accessories but rather an intrinsic, and fatal, design flaw.

Today, just a few short weeks after the lawsuit was filed, Toyota has recalled the same group of vehicles affected by the flighty floor mats for a different issue: misshapen accelerator pedals. Apparently, Toyota reached the conclusion that jerry-rigging the floor mats was not enough to eliminate the problem entirely and although they have not admitted to any faulty engineering, they do appear to be treating the issue with considerably more severity. In addition to reconfiguring the shape of the accelerator pedal in all vehicles recalled (which includes the bulk of the current line-up), Toyota will also install a brake override system in Camry, Avalon, and Lexus ES 350, IS 350 and IS 250 models.