M3 enthusiast site

M3Post.com has snagged what are easily the best spyshots yet of Bimmer’s upcoming 4-door hot rod. They don’t come from any of the spy photo big guns, either. Instead, they’re sourced from within their own ranks, as site member Larry Blunk was clicking the shutter as the silver M3 sedan prototype lapped the Nürburgring and then spent quality time with the car as it sat parked out in the open afterwards. Appearance-wise, think of an E90 3-series sedan with the new M3 coupe’s front and rear end treatments, bulging, vented hood,side extractors, and wheels. It’s looking good so far, and we’re sure there’ll be no shortage of takers for the slightly more practical version of the M-enhanced speed merchant. We’re guessing it’ll debut on its home turf at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
sources; m3post and autoblog

Silverstone Circuit England-It was an unusual traffic jam on the Silverstone circuit that triggered more pride than road rage. And the pictures — a massive gathering of mainly red Ferraris and owners wearing baseball caps with the Prancing Horse logo — says it all. A breathtaking group of 385 Ferraris on Saturday set a new Guinness World Record for the “largest parade of Ferrari cars.”

Ferrari said the event more than tripled the previous record and calculated that the value of the assembled Ferraris would “be in excess of £60 million [$118.4 million] — a perfect number to mark the company’s anniversary year.”

Guiness World Record!-The cars in the impressive field included a 250 California Spider, a 275GTB/C, FXX, F40, F50 and Enzo. The rules were straightforward: The cars had to travel over a minimum 2-mile course, no more than two car lengths apart, and had to be counted at the beginning and end of the parade. An official from the Guinness World Record organization confirmed the count and presented Ferrari officials with a certificate.
source: edmunds

Aston Martins, Bentleys, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Lotuses, and Maseratis… Dream cars on the roads. The AIADA newsletter reported that auto makers are turning out a new breed of supremely fast sports cars that sell for upwards of $250,000 and share many characteristics of purebred racecars.

Unfortunately, a growing number are ending up wrapped around trees.

The California Highway Patrol reports that the total number of accidents involving Aston Martins, Bentleys, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Lotuses, and Maseratis rose to 141 last year, an 81% increase from 2002.

A story in the Wall Street Journal illustrates the point; in March, a 39-year-old driver caused an international stir by crashing a Bugatti Veyron — an extremely rare $1.5 million turbocharged missile with a top speed of 253 miles per hour.

On the way to an M.B.A. class near San Diego one recent morning, Nasar Aboubakare lost control of his new 550-horsepower Ford GT and wrenched it over a lane divider. “The car is like a wild animal,” he says.

To compound matters, people notice when you damage a $150,000 automobile. After Mr. Aboubakare’s accident, several passing motorists snapped pictures while one leaned out the window of his pickup truck and shouted: “What an idiot!”

source: autochannel

Toyota Motor Corp. all but danced on the grave of the Honda Accord hybrid Thursday, announcing the sale of its millionth hybrid and issuing a rosy forecast for its gas-sipping lineup in North America.

Honda Motor Co. said earlier this week it will no longer build its Accord hybrid. The midsize sedan missed the mark because it offered a mix of fuel economy and performance at a time when hybrid shoppers seem focused primarily on miles per gallon to inform their buying decisions.

Prius sales tripled from a year ago to 24,009 vehicles according last month’s numbers.Stiff sales declines suffered by the Accord stand in stark contrast to Toyota’s flagship Prius, which accounts for more than half of all hybrid sales in the U.S., according to Edmunds.com data compiled at the end of May.

Honda (HMC) , Toyota’s chief rival in the hybrid game, still offers the No. 2 best-selling hybrid on the market. Its Civic compact sedan has garnered 16.5% of the market since the technology first came to the U.S. in the form of the Honda Insight back in 1999.

Prius, with an EPA estimated 46 combined mpg, hit the U.S. in 2000, three years after it was launched in Japan. Since then, more than 400,000 have rolled off dealers’ lots.

Other Toyota hybrids include the Highlander, the Camry and the Lexus RX 400h and GS 450h. The Lexus brand will also launch the 2008 LS 600h luxury sedan later this summer.

Of the 1 million sold to date, Toyota (TM) said more than half have come from the United States — a market long known for its seemingly unquenchable thirst for big SUVs and trucks.

The head of Toyota Motor Sales: Jim Lentz, said in the company’s press release: “The cost benefit of hybrids is becoming more apparent with climbing gas prices.” Indeed, the cost premium for a hybrid engine now pays for itself in about nine months, Toyota spokesman Bill Kwong explained. Average gas prices reached an all-time high of $3.23 for a gallon of regular in late May.

Toyota also said it expects to sell 250,000 hybrids in the U.S. this year en route to its goal of selling 1 million hybrids a year by early in the next decade.

source: smartmoney

Ford Explorer Sport Trac has spotted by KGP Photography. The neither fish-nor-fowl SUV/pickup/thing looks like it will receive a modest freshening that includes a new mesh grille in place of the current truck’s chrome bar setup. Our shooter indicates that the front bumper appears to be lower, which ought to add a measure of visual aggression and perhaps point to improved crash compatibility.

Out back, the exhaust has been rerouted subtly, with the twin chrome pipes exiting straight back (the old one poked out on the left side). Engineers have camouflaged the mule’s rear bumper as well, which means that we can probably expect a subtle redesign there, too. Interestingly, Ford doesn’t appear to have touched the vehicle’s light clusters in either front or rear, a traditionally easy (but very expensive) change for refreshes.

No word yet on any potential running gear changes, but Ford is doubtlessly hoping to renew interest in its flagging Explorer franchise with this mid-cycle refresh. Will these changes be effected on its more traditional Explorer SUV stablemate? Will they be enough to revive the model’s sagging sales? We’ll have to wait and see.
source: windingroad

2008 Honda Accord coupe showed, dressed only in light camouflage. This prototype Accord coupe isn’t far from the production models that will arrive later this year.

It’s easy to see that these prototypes have roughly the same overall size and shape as the Accord concept coupe shown at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. Up front, the airdam has a particularly aggressive shape for a Honda. It has a more squared-off shape than before and flares out slightly at each corner. The center intake remains substantial, although much the same size as before, and there are decent-size openings for a pair of useful foglights.

Compared to the current model, the new Accord coupe’s most distinctive design cue up front is its trapezoidal grille. Acura has been using this look recently, so maybe it’s not surprising to see it migrate over to the Honda side.

These test prototypes also reveal a new character line that runs from the front wheel arch all the way to the taillights. It breaks up the slab-sided look of the current coupe without being too obvious at first glance. The rear-end styling isn’t drastically different from the current car, apart from the less triangular taillights and more steeply angled tail section.

In traditional Honda fashion, the engines for the Accord coupe will produce more power while emitting less pollutants and using less gas. An enhanced version of Honda’s VTEC valve-timing system aided by cylinder activation is expected to give V6 models as much as 270 horsepower, while four-cylinder models will get only minor changes. No word yet about whether Honda plans to continue with a manual transmission for this car.

With sales expected to start this fall, official specifications and photos should arrive by the end of the summer.

source:edmunds insideline

Brad Pitt arrived in a BMW Hydrogen 7 to the Warner Bros. premiere of the film “Ocean’s 13″ at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre yesterday in Hollywood, California.

The Hydrogen BMW 7 is a production-ready prototype unveiled by BMW last year. Unlike many hydrogen-powered cars, the H7 does not use fuel cells and electric motors, but instead burns hydrogen in a typical internal combustion fashion.

BMW has apparently come through on its promise of building a limited number of Hydrogen 7s for use by celebrities and government officials.

The cruising range in the hydrogen mode is more than 125 miles, with another 300 miles in the gasoline mode. If there was no gasoline storage, hydrogen mode range could be significantly greater.

Although the H7 could be produced in a few years, the lack of a hydrogen infrastructure means most people probably won’t get their hands on one for quite some time.

source: leftlane

CSM Worldwide released a new report shows that size still matters to Americans.

MSNBC reports that persistently high gasoline price have spurred automakers to make plans to introduce tiny cars into the U.S. market, beginning early next year, when Mercedes Car Group plans to begin selling Smart models.

American consumers are not sold on small, fuel efficient cars. Dave Terebessy, an automotive analyst at CSM, said American buyers are likely to avoid cars that are smaller than the subcompact vehicles already on the U.S. market such as the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris.

American consumers, he said, will forfeit a few miles per gallon rather than buy a car less than 150 inches in length, about the size of the Mini Cooper.

Fewer than 100,000 minicars will be sold annually through 2013, according to CSM, while annual sales of subcompacts like the Fit and Yaris are expected to rise from an estimated 300,000 in 2007 to over 550,000 by 2013.

source: The AIADA newsletter