RideLust

Japanese Inventor Designs Common Gas, Brake Pedal. Disaster Looms.

Masuyuki Naruse always believed that the two pedal arrangement for the accelerator and brake pedals was a bad idea. In his eyes, it’s human nature to stomp downward in a panic situation, which led him to develop an innovative gas and brake pedal combination some 20 years ago. With Naruse’s design, there’s no way a driver can confuse the gas for the brake; in a conventional layout, this happens with some regularity, usually with disasterous results. You could ask the NHTSA for details about this, but don’t expect a straight answer since it might vindicate Toyota.

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I could look the other way when Mr. Norm’s used the new Dodge Challenger as the basis for their Sox & Martin Hemi ‘Cuda tribute car. The ‘Cuda and the Challenger were siblings, after all, and the Plymouth brand has since gone to the great scrap yard in the sky. I just can’t do the same thing with Heide Performance Products, who have recently announced kits to convert your new Dodge Challenger into a Dodge Daytona or Plymouth Superbird. This is wrong on so many levels that I don’t even know where to begin.

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Maryland-based Genovation Inc. is rolling out their “new” “PHEV” car, the G1. I wish i didn’t have to use so many quotation marks, but there’s a reason for that. First of all, the G1 isn’t a new car – it’s a conversion based on the old Ford Focus. That’s not a bad thing, but it ain’t “new” by any stretch of the imagination – plus you’re supplying the accident-free Focus, and THEN forking over $22,000 for the conversion! Then there’s the issue of the PHEV – Genovation says that you’ll have a choice between a purely electric drivetrain or a hybrid gas-electric setup that’ll use your choice of fuels. Of course, no details are available as to what those auxiliary engine choices are, which to this skeptical car nut raises some red flags. Namely, if they aren’t talking specifics, it likely doesn’t exist yet and your pre-purchase deposit is probably being counted on to fund the R&D And we haven’t even gotten to the vaporware G2 yet … make the jump for more.

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You all might remember the rumors that circulated about the Pontiac G8 coming back stateside for police duty. Sadly for police recruiters nationwide, it’s not to be, and GM’s entrant into the field remains the painfully boring 2010 Chevy Impala 9C1 and 9C3 packages. No matter how much acclaim the Impala gets for being a halfway decent American midsize car, in cop trim it’s wrong-wheel drive and two cylinders short of a full interceptor deck. This is partially because you can’t equip the Impala SS’s excellent LS4 V8, which pumps out 303 HP. Instead, they’re stuck with the the current 3900-series V6, the LZG, which only makes 233 HP. Hey, at least it’s flex-fuel, right? Read More…

Really, what car doesn’t look better with a hood blister full of Cibies? The Fiat 500′s rally-prepped Abarth R3T version certainly does, and would look even more appropriate blasting down a snowy mountain road with all of them blazing. That being said, it’s unfortunately not street legal and destined to take part in a “promotional rally series” – essentially a one-make affair entirely on Fiat’s tab, as a sort of exhibition publicity stunt. I’m not really complaining, ‘cuz if Abarth can do it then anyone with access to the various bits and pieces can as well. Read More…

Classic Porsche 911s have been in the midst of a retro-mod renaissance lately, with lots of money going into taking fuzzy, sentimental visions of grainy oversaturated ’70s awesomeness and transforming it into a real-world rolling art. R-Gruppe cars, love ‘em or hate ‘em, are the ultimate Porkers in this genre. However, Singer Vehicle Design of Los Angeles has jumped into the fray, seriously reworking an air-cooled long-wheelbase 911 into a modern performance car, doing what Porsche couldn’t (as they switched to water-cooling with the 996). As Singer puts it, “… have the evolved water-cooled 911’s proven more enjoyable? Is the drive more fulfilling? What of the magic behind the wheel?” It’s inarguable that the package Singer has put together answers all of those questions. Click through for a HUGE gallery of pics and more info.

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About a week ago, we brought you the first photos of the new 2010 ROUSH STAGE 3 and what little details we could scrounge together. Now, we’ve got the full scoop:

ROUSH unveiled two new models recently, the aforementioned STAGE 3, and a new model dubbed the 540RH.

Now, the STAGE 3 makes use of the same hand-built 4.6L V8 used in the P-51B, except this one finds an additional 30HP by way of a massive Roush-Eaton TVS intercooled supercharger, forged aluminum pistons with an increased dish to lower the compression ratio from 9.8 to 8.6, forged steel H-Beam connecting rods and a forged steel crankshaft, new fuel rails, fuel injectors, and a remapped ECU program for a grand total of 540 ground-pounding horses. And thanks to the forged bottom end, ROUSH can offer an impressive 3 year/36,000 mile warranty to owners. Read More…

Geiger, the long time tuning firm of German persuasion which specializes in refining coarse American cars for sophisticated European palettes, has offered up their G-treatment for the latest and greatest slice of pure Americana–the Corvette ZR-1. But all is not beer and skittles (if you didn’t know already). Geiger subjected the Corvette to some “diverse tuning measures” to the tune of some 72 additional horsepower, bringing the grand total to 710HP at the crank, meaning–in their own words–that “propulsion only ends at a speed of 342 kilometres per hour.” That’s 212 mph to us chili-doggers here in the colonies. But don’t go thinking all this tuning has resulted in some stellar sub 3-second 0-60 time. The Geiger GTS is actually .2 seconds slower to that mark than the stock version. And we’ll give you two tortured rubber reasons why.

The fact is, performance wise, Geiger is intruding into Brabus territory by producing an obscenely powerful version of a car that is already too strong for its own good. Most cars simply cannot apply 677 ft-lb of torque in a productive manner, unless your intent is to produce half a mile of gooey rubber stripes.

So then, what about that svelte Euro-styling? Meh we say. Out back, it’s all Modena. And up front, it’s sort of like a Sabertooth Tiger–intimidating up close, maybe, but from a distance it just looks silly. And a bit pretentious. Geiger says the styling is “reminiscent of the large Gran Turismos of the 60′s and 70′s,” but we’d rather they not turn quite possibly the world’s biggest supercar bargain buy into a Ferrari Daytona knock-off.

But tell me: Would you replace Daisy Duke’s cut-offs with a floor length evening gown so your out of town relatives would approve?

Those GT’s had style, but so does the ZR-1, oodles and oodles of it. And all the GTS does is steal that brawny American charm we all know, and sometimes even love.

For more info, a full hi-res gallery, and a taste of German-to-English translation goodies, check the press release after the jump:

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Looks almost stock!

Your neighbor’s candy apple red Tri-Five Chevy with a Corvette-derived smallblock might be a pretty sick way to update a tired, neglected jalopy, but not everyone wants to roll in such conspicuousness. And to be honest, as long as it’s a big-ass engine stuffed into an unlikely place, one really shouldn’t be picky. So if your tastes run more towards sleepers (or Q-ships, for you Bond aficionados), and especially if you have a thing for oil-burners, this Mercedes 190D might have your number. What it doesn’t have is it’s original mill, discarded by some mad-scientist types at Mercedes in favor of a modern OM651 diesel out of the current C-Class, good for 204 HP and 368 ft-lbs of torque. That’s torquier than a phalanx of tractors, so it’s no wonder it is swift. How swift? Make the jump to find out.

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Ascribing poetic hyperbole and terms of endearment to Audi’s R8 is pure cliche at this point. We know it’s good. The only thing that wasn’t just as spectacular as everything else about the car was the engine, a 4.2 liter V8 packing a diminutive 420hp, chicken feed compared with the likes of Ferrari’s 600 plus horsepower 599.

And then came the 5.2 FSI V10. “Oh, snap!” we thought. 525hp. The R8 is perfect.

Well, not to the likes of ABT Sportsline, who never listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd about being a simple kind of man.

Enter: the ABT RR8 5.2 FSI V10. Tuner alphabet soup at its finest. ABT treats the 5.2 V10 to the predictable buffet of carbon fiber cosmetic upgrades, as well as a 75hp boost in output. This means the new R8 can blast to 62mph in 3.8 seconds and hit a top speed is 322 km/h (that’s 200mph for non-metrics users).

Personally, we’re fans of the red accents on the aerodynamic accouterments. Because, when you’re not satisfied with the stock R8, any attempt at subtlety is pure pretense on your part.

For a hi-res gallery, a full list of parts, and the rhetoric from ABT too biased to be listed on Wikipedia, click the jump.

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