Video: Volkswagen puts subway riders in the fastlane
Filed under: Etc. , Marketing/Advertising , Videos , Volkswagen , Humor VW brings the fast lane to the subway - Click above to watch video after the jump In the manner of its Fun Theory videos from last year, Volkswagen is up to old viral hijinks again. The Fun Theory experiments were about seeing whether you could encourage people to do the right thing if you made doing the right thing fun. This time, there’s no right or wrong involved, just a racy bit of red, a lot of speeding and a little bit of tsk-tsking at the Alexanderplatz subway station. Follow the jump to see what they’ve done this time. [Source: Volkswagen via YouTube ] Continue reading Video: Volkswagen puts subway riders in the fastlane Video: Volkswagen puts subway riders in the fastlane originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read
Has Porsche accidently revealed the next 928?
Filed under: Etc., Porsche, Rumormill, Design/Style
This is not a Porsche 928. It’s just an interesting sketch, found posted on the internet at Porsche Consulting’s website. There are some new rumors about a 2-door GT in the same vein of the Porsche 928, and this sketch is similar to some of the renderings that have been floating around. Of course, you toss a bunch of Porsche design elements in a blender, and it wouldn’t be hard to come up with this vehicle.
The takeaway here is that there are likely hundreds, even thousands of drawings floating about in Stuttgart that show cars with no true bearing on production reality. Despite rumors that Porsche is working on a new “928″ that may be a Panamera variant, it’d be a stretch to believe that this sketch represents anything about that project, barring specific knowledge. If it helps you sleep at night, go ahead and ascribe undue importance to it, but until anyone knows more, remember that this is just a cool picture on a website. Thanks for the tip, Ian!
[Source: Porsche Consulting]
Has Porsche accidently revealed the next 928? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 17:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
eBay Find of the Day: 1957 BMW 507 is a black beauty
Filed under: Classics, Convertible, BMW
1957 BMW 507 – Click above for high-res image gallery
The BMW 507 is arguably the most beautiful and certainly among the rarest production models ever to emerge from Munich, with only 253 produced between 1956 and 1959. The 507 was the first BMW built with a V8 engine and remained the only model to use one until the 740i debuted in 1992. The 3.2-liter pushrod V8 under the 507’s bonnet was rated at either 150 or 160 horsepower.
Unfortunately, as attractive as the 507 was, its $10,000 price tag made it a bigger commercial failure than the more recent Z8. Following the 507’s demise, BMW didn’t build another roadster until the 1989 Z1.
This particular example appears to be in very good condition aside from its slightly foggy rear window. It spent a good part of its life at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas, where it was purported to be one of two owned by Elvis Presley. As this is written, the $400,000 top bid has not cleared the reserve price, so you still have a chance to remortgage the house and get in on this action.
Reeder for iPad – App Review
Reeder for iPad was released about a week ago (see preview here), and the app instantly became a success – it became the top paid app for the iPad within days, and still enjoys a comfortable 15th position in our Apps Tracker.
So what is so great about Reeder for iPad? One word immediately comes to mind: simplicity. The app automatically fetches, federates, and keeps up-to-date all your Google Reader feeds, and organizes them in a very simple, clean and convenient way. Your RSS feeds are presented into individual folders, all you need to do is tap on a specific feed to start browsing through it. The app also lets you preview the topics contained in a specific feed by simply pinching the feed folder.
Once you open a feed, the app gives you a summary of all the latest available topics. Simply browse the feed until you find something interesting, tap on the topic you want to read, and you are set. The app keeps track of what you have already read, and notifies you when new topics are available.
Reeder for iPad also lets you bookmark your favorite topics, and allows you to send them to your favorite “Read Later” site, or share them over various social networks (Instapaper, ReadItLater, Delicious, Pinbard, Twitter, email, Instapaper, Google Mobilizer).
EDO Competition converts five-year-old Aston Martin DB9 into DBS
Filed under: Coupe , Performance , Aston Martin , Luxury Edo Competition Aston Martin DB9/DBS - Click above for high-res image gallery You’d think that someone who can afford to have their Aston Martin DB9 transformed into a DBS could probably afford to simply buy a new DBS. We can’t really speak to the motivations of one Russian DB9 owner, but Edo Competition wasn’t about to argue with a paying customer. After the five-year old DB9 was brought to Edo for conversion, the tuner replaced the original metal body panels with the carbon fiber parts used on Aston’s flagship DB. In addition to the external appearance, the interior of the car has been customized with a mix of leather, alcantara, carbon fiber and metal. The DB9’s 5.9-liter V12 has also been upgraded from 470 horsepower to 550 hp, taking it beyond the 510 hp output of the factory-built DBS. A car that goes faster needs to be able to stop as well, so the binders have been enlarged, though Edo oddly stuck with steel brakes instead of upgrading them to carbon. No cost has been disclosed for the conversion, but we can’t help but wonder whether the net expenditure was greater than the cost of a new car minus the trade-in. Gallery: Edo Competition Aston Martin DB9/DBS [Source:
Lincoln to offer free maintenance on all summer 2010 sales
Filed under: Marketing/Advertising , Lincoln , Autoline on Autoblog , Luxury Lincoln MKS Ecoboost - Click above for high-res image gallery With Mercury vehicles set to disappear from showrooms in the next few months, Ford hopes to jump-start Lincoln sales with a free maintenance deal from now until labor day. Anyone who buys or leases a Lincoln this summer won’t have to pay for any regularly scheduled maintenance during the first three years or 45,000 miles of ownership. The promotion applies to all 2010 and 2011 model year Lincolns and follows similar moves in recent years from brands like BMW and Volkswagen . At many Lincoln-Mercury dealers in the United States, Mercury accounts for a significant percentage of store sales. Those dealers will need programs like this to boost volumes until two new Lincoln models arrive in the next couple of years. So far, Lincoln has only confirmed that a compact is forthcoming. The seventh member of the Lincoln family remains a mystery. Gallery: Review: 2009 Lincoln MKS Ecoboost [Source: Lincoln] Continue reading Lincoln to offer free maintenance on all summer 2010 sales Lincoln to offer free maintenance on all summer 2010 sales originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 11:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Rumormill: Honda to update S2000 and Beat in one fell swoop
Filed under: Coupe, Honda, Rumormill
There was a time in the not too distant past when Honda had a slew of fun-to-drive tuner specials ranging from tiny JDM Beat kei-car to the razor-sharp S2000. Both of those vehicles are dead and gone now, but a report from Motor Trend posits that Honda could be working on a way to replace both vehicles in one tidy (and presumably, fun-to-drive) little package.
The rumored roadster, which reportedly wouldn’t be production-ready until 2014, would utilize a subframe with a mid-engine layout for optimum weight distribution. If this exciting-sounding ride is indeed in utero, the big question would surround the avenue Honda would choose for propulsion. Options include a small, possibly boosted gasoline motor, a CR-Z-like hybrid and possibly even an electric-only solution. All three options would likely be relatively efficient due to the roadster’s small stature, but MT points out that a gas-only option could limit the vehicle’s international appeal.
A mixture between a Beat and an S2000 sounds great to us, but is there any proof that such a vehicle is under development? The magazine did some digging and discovered a Honda patent pending in Japan for a subframe vehicle with an “engine being fitted to a center frame.” Add to that the fact that last year we heard rumblings of a next-generation Beat that looks a lot like the rendering above, and we could finally be looking at a fun new Honda by mid-decade. Click on the photo above to check out Motor Trend’s hot-looking rendering.
[Source: Motor Trend]
Rumormill: Honda to update S2000 and Beat in one fell swoop originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Paging Captain Obvious: Survey says men like car interiors cooler than women
Filed under: Etc. , UK A new survey from the UK’s Kwik-Fit chain of repair shops apparently proves once and for all that men like it cooler in the car than women. Astonishing, we know. What’s more, men and women - drum roll, please - argue over the temperature inside the car. Knock us over with a feather. In fact, nearly half of all survey respondents admit to fighting over the HVAC knobs in their cars. One final “shocker” - Women are usually the winners in these battles. In somewhat related news, water’s wet and fire burns. If you’re as flabbergasted as we are over these new revelations, there’s more in Kwik-Fit’s press release after the break. You might also want to consider a car with dual-zone climate controls. [Source: Kwik-Fit] Continue reading Paging Captain Obvious: Survey says men like car interiors cooler than women Paging Captain Obvious: Survey says men like car interiors cooler than women originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 19 Jun 2010 09:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
