Christopher Diken - Autoblog

Now you too can give roadway snarls the finger while flying overhead in your very own AirScooter II, the Ultralight Recreational Vehicle with vertical takeoff and landing abilities, handlebar controls, and a high level of in-flight stability. The engine, custom made for this ASII application, produces 65-hp at 4,200 rpm, and weighs less 90 pounds. According the AS website the URV can hit 55 knots, which seems really fast to me, and costs about $50,000, which seems like a total bargain con

The diesel-electric people-movin' hybrid will be a joint venture featuring the efforts of the Chinese bus maker Sunwin, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC), and the General himself. The one bus initially manufactured will be put to the test in the Michelin Challenge Bidendum, an annual competition for alternative-fuel vehicles and summit for alterna-fuel experts usually held in Europe or California. 17,000 buses operate in Shanghai, each traveling 155 miles per day. GM thinks they c

Not that anyone cares anymore, but there are some high-quality photos of what seems to be a production version of the new Hummer H3 over at www.h3source.com. The photos were taken in Miami way back in May during focus group testing (mustachioed dudes with semi-mullets being the obvious audience), but they have just recently appeared on the information superhighway commonly called the World Wide Web. You can even see the Chevy Colorado-sourced five cyl

Actually, yeah, it is. However, this is absolutely not the reason Hyundai is gunning for a post-2007 US-market hybrid launch. Rather they're doing it because Toyota has been so overwhelmingly successful in their own hybrid endeavor. And whatever Toyota can do, Hyundai can do it for slightly less money, at least that's been the plan so far. The automaker aims to roll out gas-electric 'brids in Korea by the end of 2006, although they've already given 50 Click hybrids to the South K

To be plain, the SRX and LR3 have different purposes in life. The SRX is all about putting the sport back into Sport Utility Vehicle, and LR3 about providing the utility. The SRX is not roomy or cheap, but when optioned out it's well-equipped, agile, and actually fun to drive. This makes sense, since it's 1500 pounds lighter than the LR3 and built on a sports sedan chassis. The LR3 is a vast improvement over the Discovery, but it still feels "like a brick on wheels." It can cart you and y

Car and Driver spent 14 months and 40,000 miles with a Mini Cooper S, driving the British racing Green sparkplug with enthusiasm through all seasons and recording its failures and successes along the way. Minis are equipped with computerized service programs that tell their owners when they need attention, and the test car's service message only popped up twice over 40K miles, once at about 13K and again at 30K, both times yielding no-charge oil changes and inspections. Some cracked trim

Some might say that like Sammy Hagar's career, the M5 has already peaked. Due to BMW's insistence on a gizmo-heavy future, each M5 model, despite gaining power, seems to offer a more diluted driving experience. The new BMW M5's story, like the story of many performance cars, seems to focus on the numbers associated with the engine, because, if I may generalize, people, especially car people, love to toss numbers around. What they're tossing around with the M5: 507-hp, V10,  8250-rpm

JDAWG from Cali has $40K-$50K to blow on a new or slightly used (I do believe they call it "pre-enjoyed") sports car. He wants options, so we're going to break it down for him in the grandest Autoblog tradition. Since we're dealing with the term "sports car," I'm going to assume that practicality is not an issue, so that we can toss any need for four seats or decent storage. I'm also going to go out on a sturdy limb and assume that JDAWG thinks automatic transmissions in sports

And as such they're scrapping their plan to move 200,000 vehicles a year, which has been a target since 1997. They currently top out at 125,000 annually. The head of Ford's Premier Auto Group said Jaguar is "going to be a more focused and smaller company than we were a few years back." So does this mean fewer models or just making less cars? No one knows for sure, but whatever they've been doing lately has certainly entailed making less money: Jag lost almost $800 million in the

In South Africa, of course. In case you didn't know, RSA still produces new MkI Golfs and sells them with semi-updated interiors and motors. VWVortex has a profile on one owner who has already replaced the dash with one from a Skoda Fabia and plans to swap a turbo engine into his Black Magic four-door hatch. His Citi Golf Life 1.6i looks very sharp with a minimum of exterior mods, proving the classic design's longevity, and I'm sure it's one big old hootenanny to drive, especially compare

You can insert another generically whiny "why don't we get this car in America" routine here.  One would think that after having asked so many times, Ford would just give in and bring its cool cars here for my personal enjoyment. But no. They aren't listening— they're too busy building the industry's most fuel efficient trucks, apparently. The nasty new Ford Performance Vehicle named the F6 Typhoon is the perfect example of a car I could really use. A turbo six making 360-hp an

AutoWeek is a fan of the open-top SRT-6ified Crossfire in every respect except one: no freaking stickshift. Which is really too bad, since the car has almost everything else working in its favor: a supercharged 330-hp V6 that whisks the Art Deco-ish chariot to 60 mph in five seconds, very competent brakes, and handling that exceeds the coupe's on account of how it can manage crisp maneuvering without sparing a comfort. The entry fee is also kind of unfortunate, as a $49,120 hit will get y

The Blue Ovality scored a double victory in the federal government's model year 2005 fuel economy survey by bringing the 31 mpg Escape Hybrid and 29 mpg Ranger pickup to the party, both segment leaders. While these vehicles may elicit maniacal resounding laughter from the vehicle named most efficient overall, the 60+ mpg Honda Insight, the high placing of the Escape and Ranger are significant for Ford's public perception, since they are best known for their mammoth road-hogging pickups th

The new 2006 Dodge Neon will be one of the first Dodges sold in Europe, riding on the platform shared with the '06 Mitsubishi Lancer. Chrysler's executive vice prez of product development says, "Dodge is known in the US for its visually striking trucks, so Dodge cars will be bold and expressive too." I know the thing at right is a test mule, but all this particular example seems to boldly express is "I am trying my best to hurt your eyes." In other news, the 300C is now being fitted with

A British Rover driver thought he had merely hit a rock, and therefore just kept on going. Once he got to work, someone pointed out that it was in fact a small muntjac deer that had been lodged in his bumper, and still alive. According to RSPCA officials, the deer suffered no injuries besides cuts and bruises, and a scraped antler. The driver did not want to be interviewed for fear of having to entertain the question, "So, how is it exactly that you mistook a deer for a stone?"

Granted, it's packing a 3.6 liter engine helped out by a serious twin-turbo setup, a very menacing stance complemented by 20-inch wheels, and so-called "nu luxury" features like LED lighting effects and a BlueToothed infotainment flat panel— but what cannot be overlooked even for a nanosecond is the hot pink exterior, dubbed "ManGenta," and the white leather interior. I'll repeat myself. Pink outside. White inside. Keep in mind, Holden did this on purpose. And while it's doubtful th

Yesterday Volkswagen announced that they have settled on terms with Wolfgang Bernhard, the DC boss recently passed over for the top Mercedes job, and famous for his strong cost-cutting techniques. He will become part of the VW managing board in February, and is expected to take over as big cheese no later than January 2006. Bernhard is expected to help fend off the Asian imports threatening the market space that VW formerly dominated. The news comes shortly after VW declared the demise of

Inspired in the sense of "I'm going to steal all of your good parts." But even though you may have heard that stealing is bad (mmmkay?), the Frontier benefits greatly from it. It's now a contender in the mid-size pickup arena (it was formerly a compact), going up against the Chevy Colorado, Toyota Tacoma and Dodge Dakota. The Frontier uses a Titan chassis that's been hit with a shrink ray, numerous Titan suspension bits, plus the Titan's brash styling. Besides the standard-issue two-door,

I think those of you most willing to imagine the secret lives of cars can easily fathom a so-called "threesome" involving a VW Touareg, a Kia Sportage, and a Toyota Echo. If that kind of sheer moral bankruptcy could somehow yield offspring, here it is, the VW Crossfox. The crossover is based on the South American market Fox (which we did have here some decades ago, at least in name), that will probably replace the Lupo. However, to make it look more rugged, the Crossfox has been given thi

Yes, yes, we know, we know, BMW is dominating the headlines lately. But we couldn't pass up this story hot off the Baghdad newswire: Iraqi police have taken to stopping many BMW drivers, especially those with dark-colored cars, after intelligence reports which claim that insurgents are using them to perpetrate drive-bys, kidnappings and other acts of badness. The problem, according to news agency driver Mohammed Sulaibi, is that "Everyone in Iraq has a BMW." Wow, everyone? The beloved Bim

After breaking out the H2R concept at the Paris show, BMW is ready to put its hydrogen tech into a more practical package with a hybrid 7 that, like the H2R, uses the 6.0 liter 12 cylinder engine from the 760Li. BMW claims that since the H2R can hit 60 in less than six seconds and top 174 mph, it is the "fastest hydrogen-powered car in the world," not that there's a lot of competition. Changing the 760 engine mostly entails modifying the fuel injection system and altering intake valves. B