Renault has been hard at work on the replacement for the current Megane. Following the new Clio, which came out three years ago, the Megane is an important model for the French automaker, designed to face off against volume leaders like the Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit and Ford Focus. French magazine Auto Plus has managed to obtain some undisguised shots of the car, presumably obtained from a Renault employee in exchange for a case of wine, a carton of Gauloise and/or a joke about Americans.
As promised, the new Megane will be substantially more subdued in its styling than the love-it-or-hate-it current model, with its curved upright rear window. The front end borrows heavily from the new Laguna, hinting at a common design language for the company. There's certainly some similarity between the production version and the Megane Coupe Concept unveiled at the Geneva show this year. Although the production Megane will predictably be considerably more conservative than the show car, the three-door appears further differentiated from its five-door stablemate with more sporting lines. See for yourself in the scanned magazine pages in the gallery below. The car looks just about ready to hit the market, so a debut at Renault's home-turf Paris Auto Salon this fall would be a good bet.
A new site called Riceboy TV has hit the world wide web. It is brought to us by a couple of guys who jumped ship from Super Street Magazine shortly before Primedia sold off all its enthusiast titles. The website content is aimed at the same tuner market as Super Street, only delivered more speedily and a lot more animated. With founders known by such names as Nads and Rik Daddy, one can imagine that this site is not intended for the serious, uptight automotive consumer. Instead, it caters to those who could use video instruction on how to install their first cold air intake or brake caliper upgrade. It also offers event and feature car video coverage with commentary by folks with in-depth market knowledge. For those who might have perused the tuner magazines for more than just the vehicular content, don't worry, they didn't forget the silicone, either.
As more and more artists' impressions of the anticipated Mazda RX-9 surface online, images have leaked showing us what the interim facelifted version of the current RX-8 will look like. The image, as you can see, comes from a scanned Japanese magazine.
The changes appear to be exclusively cosmetic. Up front, the grille has been revised to feature higher-mounted fog lamps under new, wider headlights. Around back the taillamps have been updated with four round LED rings. That's pretty much the extent of it, although the car pictured is a new RS version featuring 19" wheels, Recaro racing buckets and Bilstein shocks.
The facelift is reportedly targeted mainly towards American customers, and may not even make it to other markets. We'll bring you more from the updated RX-8's anticipated launch at the fast-approaching Detroit auto show.
click above for more high-res images of the gorgeous Audi R8
It's that time of year where everyone's prognosticating like Nostradamus about what the coming year will hold. The authoritative ink slingers at Automobile magazine have decided that Audi's R8 deserves the dual honors of 2008 Automobile Of The Year and Design Of The Year, as well. While infused with the generous spirit, Automobile named General Motor's Two-Mode Hybrid rig Technology Of The Year.
The R8 is Audi's sports/GT that looks like a supercar and radiates a glow across the entire Audi model line. Not only does it have neck-snapping visual presence, with a 420 horsepower V8 between the axles, there's a deep well of accelerative force to go along with a finely-tuned AWD chassis that doesn't scramble the occupants. Park the R8 next to some rosso italiano, and the lithe German with its metal side blades, straked vents front and rear, and muscular stance might just steal all the thunder.
Big trucks that return 20mpg in the city have been about as realistic as Tinkerbell, until now. General Motors partnered with BMW and the artist formerly known as DaimlerChrysler to develop a flexible hybrid architecture for a wide variety of applications. The second-generation system, with lots more transmission trickery added to the bag of fuel-saving techniques, is allowing the GMT900 platform to post city EPA mileage numbers not far behind four-cylinder midsizers. Because of the system's joint development, we should start seeing this hardware popping up in a variety of different vehicles soon. We're sure that not everyone will agree with Automobile's picks, so fire away with your own suggestions.
McLaren is one of the most successful race teams in Formula One, but unlike rival Ferrari, it doesn't make many road cars. Its current supercar, the Mercedes SLR McLaren, was a relative disappointment, particularly when judged against the impossibly high yardstick of its predecessor, the McLaren F1, which remains one of the quickest, fastest and all-around best-performing supercars of all time. So when the Woking, England-based firm announced the development of the P11, potential customers began calling the factory, which has already taken dozens of orders long before the car has even been unveiled.
British magazine CAR claims to have the inside line on the supercar, having spoken with some of the engineers working on the project – McLaren is said to be in the process of hiring more –and have put together an educated guess on the car's spec sheet. While the F1 diced it with the likes of the Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959, and the SLR took on the Enzo and Carrera GT, the car tentatively code-named P11 is expected to go down-market (that being a relative term, of course) to target the likes of the 430 Scuderia and 911 GT2. Power is anticipated to come from sibling-company AMG's 6.3-liter V8, putting some 500 horsepower down through the rear wheels for a sub-4-second run to sixty and a top speed over 200 mph. Expect carbon-ceramic brakes to figure into an aluminum and carbon-fiber package sized in between Audi's TT and R8.
CAR claims its renderings are fairly close to the mark for the supercar that will launch in 2010 and be produced in annual runs of less than 5,000. Don't expect the car to be dipped in chrome like its grand prix stable-mates, though.
Lexus is billing the IS-F as "Everything you thought we weren't," and the potential is certainly there. The engine bay is filled with 5 liters of 4-valve V8 putting out 416 horsepower and 371 pound-feet of torque. The Minilite-esque wheels hide a Brembo braking system with six piston front calipers and cross-drilled rotors 14.2 inches in diameter. The sill extensions wrap up the front fenders to form a styling detail reminiscent of extractor vents, and the rest of the body has been tweaked in the wind tunnel to improve high speed aerodynamics. It all sounds good when you read the spec sheet, and the car does at least look aggressive . What everyone's dying to know, though, is "has Lexus done it this time?" Automobile magazine had the same burning curiosity, and they just also happened to have an IS-F sitting in their lot.
In no time, they headed over to their local Dynojet. The result? Well, they're a little disappointed, and they're calling the torque delivery peaky. Looking at the dyno graph, we're not sure we'd agree entirely with that assessment. There's at least 225 lb-feet at the wheels from 1,800 rpm, topping out at 318 lb-ft. First, let's point out that 15 percent torque loss through a drivetrain including an eight speed automatic is pretty phenomenal. Secondly, the torque curve is pretty fat below the peak. What is surprising to everyone, though, is the way the power drops off precipitously on the other side of the 5,200 rpm peak. You'd think an engine with 4-cams and Yamaha-designed cylinder heads would be a revver. Of course, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics and these dyno results are sure to kick up some debate. What still remains to be seen is how the entire package works when pitted against its bogeyed competition. For that, we must still wait.
It's no newsflash that Jeeps are fun, and that's the new angle the brand is taking to move iron at a pace faster than crawling the Rubicon. Jeep's most recent figures show a 15-percent gain in June from last year, so it's not like they're sitting on their thumbs, but Jeep's been listening to feedback from their often-rabid owner base, and the new tag line will read thusly: "Have fun out there. Jeep." Previous advertising campaigns have pointed up the exclusive club you join by being a Jeeper. "There's Only One," and "Only In A Jeep" send the message that Jeeps can do things that no other vehicle can do (besides, perhaps, Land Rovers, Hummer H1s, maybe even a gingerly piloted H2.) We tend to agree that no other vehicle offers the capability of a Wrangler for the money, nor the vast and supportive owner and fan base. Never before has Jeep offered so many models at one time than now, with their seven different flavors. There's the format that started it all, in the form of the Wrangler, and the line has been fleshed out to include larger and more luxurious models as well as smaller entry-level Jeeps.
In the ongoing struggle between magazines and websites, it should be immediately clear to anyone where we stand. With websites like ours getting constantly updated as the news emerges, magazines are increasingly becoming an outdated relic for delivering automotive news to enthusiasts (like yourself, reading this post).
There are, however, a few redeeming publications out there that deliver the kind of features that are best enjoyed in print, despite the stale news that precedes the juicy articles. Some of our favorite magazines come from across the pond, where members of the motoring press seem to have a better grasp of what makes for a quality publication. Among them are evo and Octane, two small-time magazines that consistently deliver quality content that rivals, if not exceeds, the offerings from the more established car mags on the news stand. (Check them out at your local magazine rack and you'll see what we mean.) evo consistently puts the most exciting cars through the paces while forgoing the boring minivan group tests, with a long-term test fleet that includes track cars and exotics. Octane, meanwhile, is a favorite of classic car enthusiasts and features regular columns from the likes of Jay Leno and Carroll Shelby alongside retrospectives and buying guides on the most iconic cars ever to grace asphalt.
Now these two quality publications will be coming under the same roof, as evo's parent Dennis Publishing has announced the acquisition of Octane Media. Dennis is an independent publishing house, where Octane joins its motoring division along with evo and Auto Express. The new synergy between these two top-drawer magazines should only help both continue to elevate the level of quality that will keep us reading even during those sad moments when we have to step away from our monitors.
"We all know the great drivers – they're the ones who win the world titles – but what about the truly quick ones?" That's the question F1 Racing magazine asked, and answered with a study published in the January issue. They surveyed the insiders – from team leaders to former world champions – and compared driver's stats to the performance of their team-mates to arrive at a list of the Top 50 quickest drivers of all time.
The late, great Ayrton Senna took the top honors, followed by the recently retired Michael Schumacher in second place. Reigning world champion Fernando Alonso took eighth place, but more importantly was the top-ranked driver currently racing, coming ahead of Kimi Raikkonen (13th) and well ahead of Jarno Truli (42nd), Mark Webber (43rd) and Jenson Button (49th). Shockingly, Alonso also finished ahead of some of history's greatest like Gilles Villeneuve (11th), Alain Prost (14th) and Niki Lauda (18th).
Will Alonso continue to live up to the rank F1 Racing attributed to him? We'll enjoy finding out.
This month MINI is running ads in five magazines, the copy of which will only be known to current MINI owners. All 150,000-plus MINI owners have received a black box in the mail containing special glasses that will allow them to read the covert advertising. After the message is revealed, the ad instructs owners to asweseefit.com where they can enter their VIN number and get some sort of reward. MINI has always been known for making the most of its relatively small ad budget, and it plans to leverage the promoting power of the brand's current owners with this campaign in the hopes of scaring up some more.
Of course, we're not going to let MINI owners have all the fun, so you can check out the revealed ad after the jump.
2010 Nissan Cube breaks cover in Japan
Officially Official: 2010 Ford Mustang!
2010 Ford Mustang revealed early on Ford's own website!
2009 Nissan 370Z rolls out early in So. Cal
VIDEO: 2009 Nissan 370Z revealed early in So. Cal.
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 HUMMER H3T Alpha
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 Mercedes Benz C63 AMG
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 Hyundai Genesis
In the Autoblog Garage: 2009 Chevrolet Traverse LT
