Click above for new high-res gallery of our GT500KR First Drive
Our initial drive of the Shelby GT500KR on public roads revealed that Ford, SVT and Shelby had addressed many of the issues that we had with the standard GT500. The KR's revised suspension is better balanced and more capable of handling the excessive amounts of horsepower and torque that the blown 5.4L generates, and a new short-throw Hurst shifter makes changing gears a joy instead of a chore. To top it all off, a Ford Racing cold air intake, new exhaust system, and 3.73 gears give the KR an extra kick in the pants. The changes were so spot-on that we wondered why Ford didn't build the GT500 this way in the first place.
With a ride like the GT500KR, however, only so much of the car can be experienced on public roads. At 540 horsepower and 510 lb-ft torque, the KR quickly reaches posted speed limits and the car stays well under its limits around corners. Fortunately, Ford let us loose to run hot laps around Miller Motorsports Park. Follow the jump to see how the "King of the Road" fared at the track.
Click above for a high resolution gallery of the 2008 Shelby GT500KR
I have to admit, the Shelby GT500 was somewhat of a letdown. I have no complaints about the 500 horsepower or the muscular lines, but at nearly 4,000 pounds, it's got a serious weight problem. The iron block, 5.4-liter V8 and the addition of a supercharger puts much the weight in the worst possible place -- the front -- so the GT500 feels unmotivated around the corners compared to a regular Mustang GT. Other complaints include a suspension that doesn't seem up to snuff to handle the prodigious power, as well as a vague and rubbery shifter. Despite its shortcomings, the GT500 is one of the world's best performance bargains. Never before has such a powerful car been available for so little cash (although the Ford dealers did a pretty good job of ruining its value with markups). Still, one couldn't help but think that the GT500 could have been better.
You've heard it all before. "People watch car racing for the crashes," has been a familiar refrain for what seems like forever. While that stereotype surely applies to a portion of the viewers who tune in, most fans watch motorsports because they like motorsports. (How novel, we know.) That said, there's no denying that some crashes are hard not to watch, regardless of your level of interest in racing.
One these occurrences took place yesterday at the Texas Motor Speedway during qualifying for tomorrow's Samsung 500 Sprint Cup race. Michael McDowell was piloting his #00 Aaron's Toyota Camry when the rear end got loose coming out of a turn. Things then got very bad, very quickly, and McDowell went into the wall at around 180 miles per hour. The engine bay burst into flames and the car went into a slide on its roof that led to several barrel rolls before it finally came to rest. Track officials helped McDowell out of the burning car and with a wave to the fans, he walked away.
It's got a silly name, it's not much to look at, and it further homogenizes the field, but the NASCAR Car of Tomorrow seems able to take some very serious punishment while keeping its driver safe. Ultimately, that trumps everything else. We're glad to see that McDowell's okay. Bummer about your car, though, dude.
Imagine making the purchase of your dreams - a brand new 2008 Dodge Viper with only five miles on the odometer. It's sitting safely in the showroom without a scratch just waiting for you to drive it off the lot. The only thing it needs is a tank of gas, which of course the dealership offers to pay for. Here's where the story goes terribly wrong. A member of SRTForums.com and employee of a Southern California Dodge dealership says that the Viper was headed back from the gas station and only about 1/8 of a mile from the dealership (!) when the driver lost control of the 600-horsepower beast and crashed into four parked cars. The result is one severely smashed up snake. We'll be watching eBay Motors for a low miles, slightly scratched 2008 Dodge Viper with a full tank of gas. Thanks for the tip, Ian!
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Honda Civic Si sedan.
We've avoided glossy-eyed retrospectives of 2007, but if you were in the market for a practical, affordable and entertaining ride in the last year, there were a handful of vehicles to be had for under $25 large. The Mazdaspeed3, R56 MINI Cooper S and VW GTI have set the fun-to-drive quotient relatively high, but one vehicle that's been left out of the Autoblog Garage is the Honda Civic Si. While the coupe has garnered its fair share of praise, we understand that your average Joe and Jane have people and stuff to schlep; thankfully, so does Honda. So with little fanfare last year, it released the Civic Si Sedan to the masses and in the process created yet another entertaining steer for those of us unable or unwilling to break the $30,000 ceiling.
If there were ever a fail-safe formula for a press conference, Hyundai nailed it. While we're normally forced to endure lengthy tomes about an automaker's past achievements and the blatherings of egomaniacal execs, Hyundai comes out with two Genesis coupes doing burnouts, e-brake turns and powerslides, then caps it all off with enough pyrotechnics to make North Korea nervous. It was unequivocally badass, and not only does Hyundai have the recipe for a kicking press conference, they know how to cook up exactly what enthusiasts have been asking for.
Under the expert direction of a duo of bombshell drivers (one of which is Angelina Jolie's stunt driver, and both of which can be seen in the gallery), the two coupes made their way around the makeshift track in a smoky haze that was only partially caused by the copious amount of rubber put down on the faux tarmac (the rest was from the fireworks). Both models were present – the 310-hp, 3.8-liter V6 and the 223-hp (217 on swill-fuel) turbocharged 2.0-liter four. While there was a lot of talk about giving the people what they've yearned for, there was no word on price. We're guessing that the V6 will be somewhere around $25,000, while the turbo'd 2.0-liter will just crest the $20k mark.
Any of you who consider hating on Consumer Reports a personal hobby, get ready to indulge yourself. The consumer advocate mag has just released its list of American Top Picks for 2008, and it ain't pretty. The criteria to be named a Top Pick in general by CR is steep, and the American auto industry failed to produce a single candidate for five out of ten categories, including Small sedan, Small SUV, Minivan, Fun to drive and Green car. To be named a Top Pick, a vehicle has to score well in tests performed by CR, be trouble-free to own and relatively safe. That's not all. A vehicle must also have Electronic Stability Control available, decent crash test results and have been around long enough that there's reliability data to back up its durability. That last one's the knock-out blow for many viable new vehicles.
The Chevy Malibu, for instance, is too new to have an archive of reliability data. Not eligible. The Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan don't offer ESC, so they're not eligible. The Cadillac CTS is too new and the Lincoln MKZ lacks ESC, both not eligible. The list of ineligibility goes on, and what remains is five empty categories and a few strange Top Picks. The Buick Lucerne CXS as Top Pick for an Upscale sedan? It is when the Cadillac CTS and Lincoln MKZ aren't considered. The slow-selling Ford Taurus takes the Family sedan category? Yup, when the Chevy Malibu's not around to fight.
While the idea of an American Top Picks list may sound helpful for super patriots who insist on buying American, the domestic automakers are smack dab in the middle of replacing their disappointing products from yesteryear with new ones that should be on this list. We'll just have to wait a few years for proof that they're reliable before this list becomes useful.
Check out the full list of American Top Picks after the jump, and click the source to read more about the reasoning behind each choice.
Click above for a gallery of the Webasto LiGHT concept.
Webasto's LiGHT concept isn't due to be unveiled for another week, but the convertible and sunroof manufacturer from Deutschland has released the first image of its drop-top, two-seater.
Webasto tasked IED Automotive, associated with Istituto Europeo di Design, to create the concept and its pseudo-Italian flare is supposed to be inspired by the Fiat 124 Spider. While the design is attractive enough, the major party piece of the LiGHT concept is its frameless soft-top that features a heated glass rear window and is made from a polyurethane material that's both strong and lightweight. From an aesthetic point of view, when the roof is stowed away, it sits flush with the LiGHT's haunches, something that maintains the concept's lines while reducing wind disturbance and not detracting from boot space.
Check the gallery below for more angles of the LiGHT concept.
Click above for a high-res gallery of the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics X5.
Every auto show nowadays has to have its fair share of "green" concepts, and Geneva won't be any different. Over at the BMW stand, the automaker will be showing off its Vision EfficientDynamics Concept that's packing a twin-turbo, 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel that's mated to a hybrid motor. The diesel mill alone is making 204 hp and 295 lb.-ft. of torque, but the addition of a compact generator increases power by another 20 hp and 154 lb.-ft. of torque. Power is sent through an eight-speed gearbox developed by ZF that features longer ratios to make the most of the miserly mill. BMW cites mpg figures in the 43.5-range, with 172 g/km of CO2 being shot on the tailpipe. Additionally, BMW has fitted a regenerative braking system to the X5, along with roof-mounted solar panels and aerodynamically enhanced 19-inch wheels.
All the details are available after the jump in BMW's press release.
click above for more interesting pics from the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona
The 46th running of the 24 Hours of Daytona is now in the books. The annual endurance event kicked off the 2008 season of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series this past weekend, with Daytona Prototype class and production-based GT class cars rounding Daytona International Speedway's road course for 24 hours straight. The event not only attracted the usual Grand-Am drivers, but it also pulled ranks from the likes of Indy Car, NASCAR and ALMS. For the third straight year, Chip Ganassi Racing proved that it had the best driver depth to nab the overall win. Dario Franchitti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas paired up to take the 2008 title and DP class win with their Lexus-powered Riley chassis. Nick Ham, David Haskell, Raphael Matos and Sylvain Tremblay piloted their SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 to a GT class win and ninth place finish overall. The next event on the calendar for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series doesn't happen until March 27th through 29th at Homestead Miami Speedway.
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In the Autoblog Garage: 2008 Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang
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_thumbnail.jpg "Lamborghini Reventon unboxed in Las Vegas")
