Autoblog

Episode #86 of the Autoblog Podcast is well-caffeineated. We spend a good bit of time talking about the excitement that's filled the Autoblog garage lately. Damon used a handily available Audi R8 as a chase car when we went to drive the Tesla Roadster, and Alex has been sampling the Subaru Tribeca and STI, as well as a rogue Volvo S80. John has been having a blissful month rocking the 1999 Oldsmobile Alero Coupe, too.

There's lots of good car talk, and we take a detour into cupholder minutiae before getting to actual news. A few embargoes fell in front of the upcoming Chicago Auto Show. Car and Driver's blatant cover poll opened the door for Challenger images. Subterfuge aside, the Challenger's a knockout, despite its interior that's granted refugee status to the Sebring's trappings. Trucks will make some news at the Chicago show, and Truck Trend showed us the Hummer H3T and Suzuki Equator, and compact pickups are where we leave it. Until next time, thanks for listening!

SUBSCRIBE to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes
LISTEN to the show now
ADD the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator

We tried to get it going for last week, but John had violence visited upon his mouth which reduced him to saying "Spibit?" We're back on the podcast horse this week for Autoblog Podcast #82, though. We start off proceedings with the teaser pic of the Chevy Volt, which then takes us to a wider-ranging split-grille vs. three bar smackdown. Speaking of teasing pictures, the 2009 Dodge Ram showed up on the internets, and it turns out that Chrysler broke their own embargo by mistake. Whoops. Official pictures of an upcoming Mopar were also released, this time on purpose. Some minimally informative macro shots of the Challenger SRT-8 were released by Chrysler, much to our delight. Moving on, we touch on the looming cage match between the Hyundai Genesis coupe (and how quickly the tuner world is going to adopt and rock that platform) and the neo-ponycars. Speaking of a newcomer challenging the old guard, Hummer's HX made its mug known, and the concept is pretty much what you'll see when the H4 goes gunning at the Wrangler. Wrapping it up, we discuss some recent visitors to the Autoblog Garage, thoroughly eviscerating the Lancer ES before calling it a show. Since we took a week off, we give you the extra-value duration of 53:30. Enjoy!

SUBSCRIBE to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes
LISTEN to the show now
ADD the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator

In a move that can only be deemed as stupid, lazy or incredibly devious, Car & Driver published images and information on Scion's redesigned xB and all-new xD more than a day and a half before the car's are scheduled to be debuted here in Chicago. The info went live last night but wasn't discovered until an industrious member of the ScionLife forum messed with the URL and found it.

First up is the new xB, which has grown in size thanks to leaving the platform it shared with the now defunct xA. Gone is the toaster-esque styling as well, replaced with a design that's still a box, though one with fender flares, a little more character in the front end and a thick C/D-pillar. It's also reported that the interior has been upgraded along with losing the not-loved center-mounted gauge pod. The xB will also share its powerplant with the tC now, which means a 2.4L four-cylinder generating 158 hp and 162 ft-lbs. of torque will be on tap to send power through a five-speed manual or four-seed automatic.

The xD is the new kid in the Scion camp, replacing the less well-received xA. It rides on the same platform as the Yaris, but is powered by the 128-hp, 1.8L four-cylinder found in the Corolla and Matrix. The xD will feature the same transmission choices as the new xB and send power to the front wheels only. The xD's styling shares the same thick C/D-pillar seen on the new xB, which appears to be a new Scion trademark styling cue. We'll leave judgment of the car's overall design to you, but will just say that it looks like a cross between a Camry and a JDM-market Mazda Verisa.

[Source: ScionLife]

click on image above to view high resolution gallery with 12 pics

A kudos goes out to the Chrysler Group PR team, which has been trying to plug these leaks since early yesterday morning, but at this time what was once a leak is now a deluge of images revealing the 2008 Chrysler Town and Country minivan all over the internet. According to CarScoop, today's new images and info can again be traced back to a Spanish site, this one named KM77.

More info can be found after the jump, and click here to view the gallery of images showing the pics that have already been seen on the internet so far.

[Source: KM77 via CarScoop]

UPDATE: Automotive News has published more specific information on the DCX vans. The rotating second-row captain's chairs are officially called Swivel 'n Go. The MyGIG entertainment system with dash-bound hard drive that debuted on the Sebring Sedan is available as an option, which, while great for playing music like an iPod would, cannot play digital video on the optional dual flip-down LCD screens (fix that, Chrysler). Finally, the new 4.0-liter V6 produces 240 hp and 253 ft-lbs of torque and is mated to a six-speed auto. A 3.8-liter V6/six-speed auto and 3.3-liter V6/four-speed auto will also be available.

I've decided we're officially tired about talking about embargo breaks, so let me say I recognize that by posting on this Detroit News article about breaking embargoes that I'm being a hypocrite. But it mentions us by name, and we're a sucker for our name in print.

Apparently the pair of leaked pics that popped up on a Spanish forum yesterday showing the still-embargoed DCX minivans caused a big enough stir that a "legitimate" news outlet picked up on it. David Shepardson of the Detroit News spent his afternoon yesterday penning a piece on not only the specifics of yesterday's embargo break, but also the details involved in all the premature pixelation that's been going on the past few weeks. All the players in this silly game get quoted, including representatives from the manufacturers, our colleague Ray "former aide to Gov. Granholm" Wert from Jalopnik, and editor/publisher of Car and Driver, Csaba Csere.

In our eyes, the article is somewhat agnostic on the question of who is to blame for these breaks: everyone comes out looking innocent with a finger pointed anywhere but inward. That's all fine and dandy, as we're all just doing our jobs, but when Ford spokeswoman Sara Tatchio says, "We expect them (we think she means us and the like) to hold to our embargos..." even if another outlet breaks them, that just proves some folks at the OEMs stlll have a lot to learn about how things work out here on the interwebs.

Where's our quote in the article? We didn't get asked, so let us provide one here: Our readers (that's you) just want information and pictures on new cars and concepts as fast as we can get them, and we'll get them as fast as we legitimately can... end quote.

click on image for full high-resolution gallery with 25 pics

Thanks to the worst case of embargo breaking in the history of automotive journalism, you're all well aware that Lincoln will be showing the MKR Concept at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. You know about the MKR's signature Lincoln design cues, including the double-wing grille, thin taillamps and dynamic beltline, all of which we're assured will find their way on future production models. You also already know the MKR is powered by a twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6 that runs on ethanol E85 called the TwinForce engine. Based on the Mustang's platform, much like Ford's Interceptor Concept, the MKR is a rear-wheel drive, four-door coupe.

Lincoln, however, still had some material on the MKR up its sleeve, so we've got the brand's full press release after the jump, as well as an entire gallery full of high-resolution images that haven't been seen before. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

click images to enlarge

This past week has been absolutely crazy with all the embargoes that have been broken. The result has been a flood of concepts meant to be kept secret until their debut in Detroit being introduced to the public way ahead of schedule. The one that's caused the biggest stir so far is the Lincoln MKR Concept, which appears on the cover of Car and Driver's February issue. That issue somehow found its way into the hands of subscribers and on newsstand shelves last Friday, 12/22/06, a full ten days before 1/1/07 when Ford's embargo on the concept was to be lifted.

Now that C&D has broken the embargo, every website across this great internet of ours is releasing all the info it has on the Lincoln MKR Concept. The heavyweight trade journal Automotive News has just posted what it's got, which includes a video that was taken at the Showroom of the Future event a few weeks ago. The video, which requires Windows Media Player, shows you what we saw in person that day, which is a dynamic concept for a brand that's been as boring as can be for years.

The MKR is a rear-wheel drive sedan based on the Mustang's platform that features a twin-turbo V6 generating 415 horsepower on E85 ethanol. The double-wing grille, retro Lincoln taillights and tall beltlines are all going to be part of future Lincoln designs, so study this concept well if you want to know what the Lincoln brand has in store for us.

Click here to watch the video (Warning: should automatically open Windows Media Player) or click the Read link to wind up at the link on Automotive News.

[Source: Automotive News]

Though Honda did have an embargo on the release of the CR-V until September 1st, some have made the valid point that Motor Trend technically broke the embargo first when copies of its October 2006 issue featuring an article on the 2007 Honda CR-V hit mailboxes this past week. At that point, AutoWeek needed only to "bend the rules" in order to justify publishing photos and information on the web that had already reached the eyes of readers thanks to Motor Trend.

Motor Trend, however, didn't intentionally release its October issue early to get the scoop on the rest of us. The magazine likely has had Honda's press material in hand for weeks and weeks. It produced the October issue, which technically is supposed to be released on September 1st, and sent it out. Having worked for a print mag, I can tell you that once your issue has been sent out you have no control over when it arrives. Would Motor Trend have sent out its October issue early just to be the first with news of the new CR-V? Doubtful. We're sure the CR-V's nice and all, but it didn't even get a mention on MT's cover so why would the magazine advance its production schedule for it?

Also, MT didn't publish any material on the 2007 Acura MD-X, nor did any other outlet of which we're aware, yet AutoWeek published material on that vehicle, too. We're assuming that the MD-X was, indeed, part of Honda's embargo along with the new CR-V and Civic Si sedan. If so, while AutoWeek might be able to argue it wasn't the first (nor the third) to publish embargoed material on the new CR-V, it can't make the same argument for the new MDX. So what justification did AutoWeek have for breaking the embargo on the MD-X if it hadn't yet appeared anywhere else first?

AutoWeek decided to pull back the curtain early on the 2007 Honda CR-V and publish pictures and details of the new CUV that the automaker had placed on embargo until September 1st. We've seen this happen so many times before, and not just by small blogs and websites who don't know any better, but by big media outlets like AutoWeek, that at this point we find it hard to believe they did it without permission directly from Honda. Automakers are getting more and more savvy about building buzz that it just wouldn't surprise us, that's all. We had a call into Honda this afternoon as well, and we weren't that surprised when no one called back.

Anyway, official shots of the CR-V had already been leaked onto the internet about five days ago, and undisguised spy shots have been floating around for even longer, so the new CR-V's skin is anything but surprising at this point. The gaping void below the front grille and the severely sloping outline of the rear side windows are still polarizing design elements whose acceptance will now be at the mercy of the market.

What we do know now that we didn't before is that the CR-V will have a base price of $21,400 when it goes on sale in October. Option up the CR-V with a satellite navigation system and 270-watt stereo and the sticker will approach $28,000. The sole powerplant remains Honda's 2.4-liter inline four-cylinder, albeit upgraded for 2007 to produce an additional 10 horsepower (now 166 horsepower/161 ft-lbs. of torque), and no manual will be offered this time around, just a five-speed automatic.

Though the CR-V's styling hasn't made the best first impression on us, we will say that Honda could be making a very shrewd move by not following the trend of dropping a powerful V6 into its tiniest of utes. The CR-V's 2.4-liter four will no doubt produce commendable gas mileage and operate at the typical level of Honda four-cylinder refinement. That combination could lead to big sales for the CR-V in these lean and green times.

(Interior shot can be found after the jump)

[Source: AutoWeek]