Archive for announcement
Pushrods in Perpetuity
Posted by: | CommentsPushrods in Perpetuity The eternal small-block. Will pushrod engines last forever? Probably not, but in April, General Motors announced that it’s investing $890 million in a new, fifth-generation small-block V-8.
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Pushrods in Perpetuity
Kia to upgrade 2011 Sorento shock absorbers to soften ride
Posted by: | CommentsFiled under: Crossover , Kia 2011 Kia Sorento SX – Click above for high-res image gallery Back in March , Kia debuted a new top-shelf version of its most popular vehicle, the Sorento crossover , dubbed the ‘SX.’ The announcement included word of a redesigned front clip and more equipment, but we were most interested in the SX’s lower ride height and Dual Flow Damper shocks, which Kia says deliver sporty handling without undue ride harshness. As we would discover after spending a week traversing the Midwest’s broken roads with a lesser Sorento EX model, that last bit about ride harshness is particularly important, because while the Sorento had a pleasant highway demeanor and tracked well, it was surprisingly stiff and brittle on potholed roads, acquitting itself more like a body-on-frame vehicle than the unibody CUV that it is. Fortunately, Kia noticed this ride quality issue and decided to take the costlier DFD dampers and employ them not just on the new SX model, but across the model’s entire range beginning in the fourth quarter. While Kia officials we spoke with at an Atlanta press event this week stopped short of admitting that the Sorento’s ride quality has been an issue, they did note that once engineers sampled the DFD setup on the SX, they liked the ride so much they decided to institute the new units on all Sorentos.
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Kia to upgrade 2011 Sorento shock absorbers to soften ride
Ben Spies moves to Yamaha MotoGP Factory Team
Posted by: | CommentsFiled under: Motorsports , Motorcycle , Racing Shocking, we know. What’s been called the second-worst kept secret in MotoGP has officially been confirmed. MotoGP rookie and current World Superbike champion Ben Spies (shown at right, with Yamaha’s Lin Jarvis) will be saddling up with the factory Yamaha crew starting next year. Rumors to that effect have been buzzing around the inteweb for some time and were recently fueled by Valentino Rossi’s departure from the Fiat-Yamaha stable in favor of the Ducati Corse team.
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Ben Spies moves to Yamaha MotoGP Factory Team
Why the sub-30 MPG claim for Chevrolet Volt is misleading [w/video]
Posted by: | CommentsTranslogic Episode 5.4 – Click above to watch video after the jump One of the last big technical questions about the 2011 Chevrolet Volt is how much gasoline it will consume when the engine starts up to sustain the charge of the battery. Since the beginning of the development program back in 2007, General Motors has remained extremely reluctant to discuss details about the Volt’s fuel efficiency, but a few days ago, the world got its first hint from an outsider. Previous media drives with the Volt were done with 65 percent calibration level prototypes and we didn’t get to see any of the mileage data on the displays. A team from our sister publication, Translogic , recently tried out a newer pilot production car at GM’s Milford Proving Ground during a video shoot
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Why the sub-30 MPG claim for Chevrolet Volt is misleading [w/video]
2012 Saab 9-4X confirmed for LA debut in November
Posted by: | CommentsFiled under: LA Auto Show , Crossover , Saab , Luxury Saab 9-4X Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery We’ve been expecting this announcement to come sooner or later, though we didn’t exactly count on it coming from the LA Auto Show’s own Twitter page . But there it is anyway, straight from the horse’s mouth: ” Saab has confirmed that the 9-4X Crossover will make its world debut at the LA Auto Show this Nov.” We’re also expecting some sort of official word that the new crossover ‘ute, which will share its Theta Premium underpinnings with the Cadillac SRX , should hit the market sometime in the spring of 2011… perhaps around April. While we’re on the subject of expectations, we’d also imagine that Saab will offer its premium crossover with the same powerplants as the recently released 9-5 , which means we could see a 2.0-liter turbocharged four and a 2.8-liter turbocharged six, both likely mated with a six-speed automatic transmission and available all-wheel drive.
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2012 Saab 9-4X confirmed for LA debut in November