Autoblog

Norris Cadiere and his family were among the thousands who evacuated their New Orleans-area homes ahead of Hurricane Gustav last week. The Cadieres, who waited out the storm in Georgia, decided to stop at the Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis, MS on the way back to their home in Marrero, which is around 10 miles outside New Orleans. Norris was playing the maximum bet on one of the casino's nickel slots when he got lucky, and the slot machine started going berserk. Cadiere thought he had won himself a thousand bucks or so, but he soon learned that, in fact, he had won a $30,000 2008 Mustang convertible (we're assuming it's a GT, given that price). All too often, violent storms like this result in a loss of some kind for those affected by them. In the Cadieres' case, not only did they wind up with a brand new car, but their house escaped the storm unscathed as well. Little did they know that when they took their unplanned (and almost certainly unwanted) road trip last week, Lady Luck would be riding shotgun the whole time.


[Source: SunHerald.com]

Click above for high-res gallery of the G-Power M6 Hurricane

We were highly impressed with G-Power's M5 Hurricane. After all, it's twin-supercharged V10 produced nearly 50% more power than stock and it had a top speed of 211 mph, which G-Power claims to be faster than any other street legal Bimmer. With the BMW M6 packing the same 5.0-liter V10, it was only a matter of time before it received the same treatment. Behold the G-Power M6 Hurricane! While the twin blowers are set for lower boost, only 6 psi compared to the M5's 10 psi, the M6 still produces a healthy 635 bhp @ 7300 rpm and 469 lb-ft torque @ 6300 rpm. This is good for a 4.5 second sprint to 60 mph and a top speed of nearly 200 mph. Not one to forget that appearance matters, G-Power also provides a new front and rear fascia, rocker panels, and carbon fiber rear diffuser along with 21-inch wheels that make room for a 15-inch brake system up front. M6 owners can drop off their car at G-Power's German headquarters or can order a fully assembled car starting at a mere 183,000 Euros. Full details can be found in the press release after the jump.

[Source: G-Power]

Click above for a high-res gallery of the G-Power Hurricane.

No, the G-Power Hurricane isn't one of Fifty-Cent's Smart concoctions; it's the new record holder for the fastest, street-legal BMW on the globe. The modified E60 M5 was clocked doing 225 mph (360 km/h) at Germany's Papenburg speed bowl this past weekend, taking the title from the AC Schnitzer Tension M6.

The M5's V10, which normally produces 507 hp, was tweaked to the tune of 730 hp through the use of the firm's Evo II twin-supercharger setup. The duo of belt-driven compressors huff around seven pounds of boost into each one of the cylinder banks, and partnered with a higher differential, the G-Power crew maintains the Hurricane could have reached 250 mph if rain and light snow hadn't caused traction issues.

[Source: World Car Fans]

click above to view more high-res images o fhte G-Power Hurricane M5

Coaxing more power from an engine as finely-tuned as BMW M-division's 500-horsepower V10 is no easy task. But that didn't stop German aftermarket tuner G-Power, which managed to get total power output up to a staggering 730 hp for its Hurricane M5, claiming the hotly-contested mantle of the world's fastest and most powerful street-legal Bimmer.

To extract that kind of juice, G-Power fitted not one, but two superchargers – one for each cylinder bank – with stratospheric spooling redlines of 100,000 rpm. They've also fitted an overhead intercooler, swapped in a bigger oil cooler and tinkered with the M5's notoriously intricate electronics. The result: half a second off the M5's already supercar-like 0-60 time, now down to just 4.2 seconds. With all that extra power and the electronic limiter removed, the aptly-named Hurricane is claimed to hit a top speed of 340 km/h – that's over 211 miles per Autobahn-storming hour.

More after the jump, including all the specs and G-Power's official press release, and be sure to scope out the photos in the gallery below.

[Source: G-Power]

As a child who was a car geek since he was a knee-high to a back bumper, I coveted a Power Wheels electric vehicle over all the other toys in the JC Penny Christmas Catalogue. Power Wheels were magically self-propelled by something called ewectwicitee and cost hundreds of dollars ($8 bajillion in kid money). I never got one and am emotionally scarred because of it, but am waiting for the day I have my own mini-me and can spoil him on his fifth birthday with his very first car.

Power Wheels have come a long way since I was a tike, however. Case in point is the new Jeep Hurricane produced by the Fisher Price division that features Ultimate Terrain Traction. Yeah, you're reading that right. The newest Power Wheels has traction control. The PR language says it all about this "high performance drive system" though skimps on the details:

• "It powers through places where other battery-powered ride-ons need a push"
• "Through lush lawns, wet grass, mud, gravel, rough terrain and more"
• "It's there when you need it – even when you think you don't"

We're not sure what comprises the Jeep Hurricane's Ultimate Terrain Traction, though it's probably not a complicated mess of electronic nannies varying power output to each individual wheel based on tire slip. It could be the simple fact that this Power Wheels has rubber tires instead of slippery plastic ones, but we won't tell the kids that.

The Jeep Hurricane also fixes some proportion issues of past Power Wheels by riding on a much longer wheelbase than past models. If that's not enough, there's also an on-board cup holder (sippy cup approved) and real working FM radio (what, no iPod jack?). The base MSRP for the Ultiamte Terrain Traction Jeep Hurricane is $400.00. There are no options to inflate the price further, but there's also no financing and certainly no incentives. That's a pretty steep price for a child's toy, but it's so cool we think dipping into junior's college fund for this is perfectly warranted.

[Source: Fisher-Price]

Last year Hurricanes Katrina and Rita knocked the wind right out of automakers' sails, who were enjoying three months of healthy summer sales fueled by big incentives and employee pricing. From August through October of last year, however, sales were down 21 percent at GM, 13 percent at Ford and up only 2.1 percent at DaimlerChrysler, the Detroit Free Press reports. Because of this extended period of sales depression, the results this year for the next few months may look rosy in comparison. At the same time, some analysts caution if sales remain flat in the coming months compared with last year that it will focus the spotlight even further on the poor sales performances of GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler.

We will know by the end of the week how each has fared, as automakers will be releasing their sales figures for August on Friday. We'll round them up for you, of course, in our By The Numbers series of posts.

[Source: The Detroit Free Press]

Cancelled last year for a variety of reasons, The Detroit News believes that the Blue Oval has renewed its "Hurricane" next-generation V8 engine program. Despite high gas prices, horsepower and torque continues to sell vehicles, and Ford has found itself falling behind competitors in the full-size SUV and pickup market. Add in healthy competition from Nissan and Toyota's upcoming Tundra, and there is little doubt that Ford would do well to act immediately.

At this point, it's not clear if Ford will stay with an overhead-cam multi-valve architecture, or follow GM and Chrysler down the pushrod 2-valve path. Either way, expect the new engine to utilize a significantly larger bore and shorter stroke than the current 5.4L Triton (pictured).

While the primary application for the Hurricane is Ford's full-size truck lineup, it would be surprising if it didn't make it into the Mustang as well, as we can expect the Camaro and Challenger to both show up packing significantly more than the GT's current rating of 300 HP.

Expect to see the new engine sometime around 2008.

[Source: The Detroit News]

The Jeep Compass, arguably the 2006 North American International Auto Show's leading whipping boy has been outed (along with company's upcoming Patriot twin) by James Healey at the USA Today as potentially damaging brand extensions. The two vehicles are based on the DaimlerChrysler's on-road-only Dodge Caliber, offering comparatively little of Jeep's trademark off-road prowess, thus calling into question the marque's direction and identity.

The question is: Will DaimlerChrysler's division to forsake the Rubicon Trail for the Primrose Path lead to a sales success, a tarnished image... or both?

This author went so far as to call the Compass the NAIAS' 'Worst In Show' within hours of the vehicle's introduction and has yet to see anything to change his mind. As a Dodge-branded vehicle unencumbered by Jeep's 'mountain man' aura, the Compass might have made for a reasonable offering. In fact, it likely will be a fine offering-- as a Caliber. But as it stands, the model's name takes on an unwelcome ironic sheen for a company clearly losing sight of who it is and where it's going. This is a particular shame given that Jeep has arguably long remained the most self-aware brand in the entire domestic auto industry.

(continue reading after the jump)