Autoblog

The 2008 New York Auto Show press preview is in the books, and now it's the public's turn to roam the floor in the Javits Center. After thinking things over, we thought we'd put together a video of our top five most significant introductions from the show. New York served as a launching pad for exciting new vehicles like the Hyundai Genesis Coupe and Saleen S5S Raptor, so there were some winners to choose from. Click play on the video above to see our picks for the most significant debuts, and follow the jump to check out the high-res shots from the show floor and place your vote for which ride you think deserves the number one spot.

Furiosa. That's what the new hatchback from Alfa Romeo will be called, by virtue of an international competition to choose the car's name.

The Italian automaker is getting farther away from the Alfa-numeric (pun intended) nomenclature and giving its models more emotive nameplates instead. The web contest offered online voters a choice of twelve names, and Furiosa got the most votes, beating out Agea, Enos, Everson, Fira, Milo, Mod, Nevo, Solea, Sparvo, Velvetta and Ventura. While some proposals had merit, some of the rejected names were a little cheesy (try to figure out which).

So we can stop calling it the Alfa Junior. The Furiosa is anticipated to make its debut at the Geneva show in March. We're so there.

[Source: Motor Authority]

Three days ago we scoffed at an EU official's suggestion that a speed limit should be applied to the remaining sections of Germany's famous Autobahn that remain free to speed. While reports indicated that speed-loving Germans were up in arms over the idea, a recent poll shows that two in three believe a speed limit should be instituted. Whaa? Conducted by ZDF television, the poll showed that 54% of those surveyed favor an 80 mph speed limit, while 10% would like a limit even lower. There were still around 35% of the respondents, which would thankfully include German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee if he were polled, who don't want a speed limit at all.

The controversy over speed limits on the Autobahn stems from suggestions that an over excited right foot leads to lots of wasted energy, which obviously ain't too good for the environment. Interestingly, the survey also showed that 56% of those polled think flights should be taxed more because of their negative impact on the environment. Yeah, that's right! Cap our cars, we'll tax your planes!

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

Click photo to enlarge

Sure, this week's all about Geneva, but there are still some stragglers left over from Melbourne that we want to make mention of. Take the above, for example -- it's Ford Australia's Falcon XR Ute Rip Curl Edition. As you might surmise, the neo-Ranchero is adorned with Rip Curl decals, advertising the tie-in with the surf gear manufacturer. It's also equipped with options like Rip Curl-logoed waterproof seat covers, an uplevel audio system, Momo steering wheel, and nice-looking 18" wheels. Engine choices include gasoline inline-6es both NA and turbocharged, a V8, and even an LPG six.

Now, in case you missed it the first time around, this isn't the only Rip Curl-branded ride we've written about in recent weeks. Back on Feb 12th, we showed you Renault's Rip Curl Clio, a similar branding exercise for the European market.

This, of course, begs the question: if you had to pick one, which would it be? We've set up a poll in which you can vote for your fave. Don't surf? Who cares! It's all in non-scientific good fun, as many of you likely reside in North America, where the closest we'll get to either car is the enclosed photos. One thing's for sure: we're all armed with opinions. Clio or Falconchero? Make your voices heard! We'll post the results tomorrow.

Which Rip Curl-edition vehicle would you rather drive to the beach?
	Ford Australia's Falcon XR Ute Rip Curl Edition
	Renault's Rip Curl Clio

[Source: Ford Australia]

Seems like more than a few automakers still believe that little tweaks can have a big impact. Consider all the hoopla over Ford reviving the Taurus and Sable names. Likewise, Pontiac actually unveiled a new concept logo at the Chicago Auto Show last week that could be found between the nostril-like grilles of the new G8 sedan. Unlike the current logo that's been around for as long as we can remember, the new one is monochromatic with a bezel of chrome that surrounds a textured silver inlay. Pontiac says the logo on the G8 is technically a concept, and that reaction to it by the public will be gauged to determine whether or not a change is called for. No doubt some will decry the lack of that passtionate red in the logo's center that has been Pontiac's unofficial-official color. Unfortunately, the red never made Pontiac any more passionate of a brand, so perhaps clinging to it for sentimental reasons is a bit silly. So we want to know (and we're sure Pontiac does, too) whether or not you like the new logo.

Do you dig Pontiac's concept logo?
	Yeah, it's time for a change!
	No, where's the red?

What we're hearing from the masses is that of those who participated in our totally unscientific poll, the vast majority either hate Car and Driver's new redesign or couldn't even tell the book had been redesigned anyway. Sounds like Mission Accomplished, if you ask us. There are a few peeps that do like the new design, about 12%, but considering that Car and Driver paid "big bucks" for this, we imagine they were hoping like 88% of people would love it, instead.

We wonder what this means for the biggest car magazine in the world. Is that title in jeapordy now (or more so than it was before) and If subscriptions are falling, how fast? A few readers noticed they began giving subscriptions away today, which means if you're too cheap to pay $12, $10 or even $3.99 for a year's subscription, perhaps the magazine would be worth paying nothing for. That's 100% off the cover price! The free subscriptions were spotted on Slickdeals.net (great site!) and hosted through freebizmag.com, but their inventory has already been depleted, so don't bother filling out your info and the questionnaire.

So we read over this report by the Civil Society Institute that polled U.S. citizens on their support of a federally-mandated increase in fuel efficiency, so that vehicles in the U.S. would achieve over 40 MPG. A mind-boggling 78-percent answered "yes" when asked. However, the questions posed struck us as a little odd, so we though we'd enlist the help of our sage-like readership after you've come out of your tryptophanatic comas to give us your opinion.

The report also claimed that 45-percent of Americans would be more inclined to purchase either a "hybrid or other fuel-efficient vehicle" and that 76-percent believe that the Big-Two-Point-Five are to blame for their current financial and marketplace predicaments.

We're not saying that the information presented is flawed, but we were mighty surprised by the results. So we'll pose the question to you. The poll is below, vote away.

Polling is closed and the results as of 7:30 PM EST are below.

Despite a lopsided fight of four Subarus against one lonely Mitsubishi EVO in our latest RR of the Week poll, the lone EVO proved to be the better car, at least by our voters' standards. It could also be the case that Mitsubishi fans united in support the single EVO, whereas WRX faithful were split between their choices. We'll never know! Regardless, the race was extremely tight with the track tuned EVO attracting 576 votes (30%). The second place finisher in this race, the WRX Wagon, nearly caught the EVO but came up 32 votes short with a total of 544 votes (29%). My favorite, the blacked out Darth Subie, showed up to play with a respectable 360 votes (19%), while the old-school Impreza 2.5 RS was trailing the all-wheel drive Sith transport vehicle by 49 votes with 311 (16%). Last, and certainly not least (unless you go by votes), was the STi-ified bug-eyed WRX with 102 votes (5%).



This week we're going to choose a Camaro each day for the RR of the Day feature, and we need everyone who owns a Camaro to submit his or her ride. We want to make sure all five days are filled with interesting F-bodies, and to do that we need a great group of them from which to choose. Just follow the jump to find instructions on how to submit your ride.

click on any image for a refresher

This week we decided to narrow the focus of our RR of the Day selections to include just two cars that are natural born enemies: the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and the Subaru WRX/WRX STi. From the submissions that poured in we've been forced to conclude that Autoblog has more readers who drive a Subaru than a Mitsubishi, as four out of the five cars we chose to feature were of the Subie kind. Truth be told, however, the one Lancer EVO we featured is killer and comes complete with video of the car and owner tearing up Thunderhill Raceway. But we've also got every manner of WRX gunning for a shot at this week's title. Will the EVO win out? Will Darth Subie summon the Dark Side? Will the WRX Wagon haul away the win with room to spare? Don't forget to vote and we'll find out Monday.

The theme for next week is Camaros! Everyone with a Camaro of note should submit his or her ride to our Flickr pool. We have few Camaros in the pool right now, so we need to fill it up with enough submissions to cover all of next week. Just follow the instructions after the jump to submit.

RR of the Week
	Track tuned EVO
	Bug eyed WRX
	Darth Subie
	Impreza 2.5 RS
	WRX Wagon
Free polls from Pollhost.com

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We're totally in love with this week's group of reader rides. They each have their own unique qualities that make them special and interesting, and from the comments you showed that you all thought so, too. But now it's time to pick RR of the Week, a distinguished honor only one vehicle can drive away with. Will it be the Final 500 Oldsmobile Aurora, the Jeep Cherokee that won't ever call it quits, the Porsche 912 with a bigger motor out back, the Honda Civic and its autocrossing owner, or the monster Chyrsler 5th Avenue that eats Mustangs for breakfast? Decisions, decisions. Remember, if you don't vote you can't complain about who wins, and what's a blog without the ability to complain in the comments?

RR of the Week
	Final 500 2003 Oldsmobile Aurora
	1988 Jeep Cherokee "Blowby"
	1966 Porsche 912
	1999 Honda Civic EX Coupe
	1986 Chrysler 5th Avenue
Free polls from Pollhost.com