Amateurs Film The 2008 Mercedes C63 AMG

Sometimes, being in the right place at the right time pays off. Then again, my internal devil’s advocate says that these guys could have been stalking Mercedes-Benz’s testers, but in the end who cares! All that counts is that thanks to this amateur video we get a chance to see the 2008 C63 AMG up close and in action. Of course, we would have preferred a bit of silence on the amateurs behalf so as to focus our attention on the brutal 6.3-litre V8 melody rather than listen to their namby-pamby babbling, but we can’t have it all.

Via: blog.worldcarfans

BMW 350i: E30 3 Series With A 350Hp BMW V12 Engine!

The definition of a “Q” car or just profound insanity? Who cares, either way, my inner child just discovered a new imaginary dream-toy in the form of a humble looking late 80’s BMW 3-Series Coupe with a V12 powerhouse! Created in Germany the 350i E30 is equipped with a BMW 7-Series /8-Series derived 5.0-litre V12 engine tuned to deliver 350Hp @ 6.000 rpm and a maximum torque of 470Nm to the rear wheels via a 6speed manual gearbox form the 850CSi. And yes, we’re still trying to figure out how the heck the mechanic managed to squeeze a 5.0-litre V12 powertrain in that teeny-weeny engine bay. Amazing.

According to the magician -sorry, tuner, this one of a kind E30 V12 features several other goodies like a BMW Z3 M Roadster rear axle, E34 M5 rims and some other stuff from the E36 M3 which unfortunately, couldn’t be translates from the German-only site. What could be translated though are the 350i’s performance figures: 0 - 100 km/h (62mph) in 4.0 sec, 0 - 160 km/h (100mph) in 9,4 sec and 0 – 200 km/h (124mph) in 15,5 sec! -Continued: Click "Read More..." below

Via: Autoblog.nl , Source: BMW-power

Binz E-Class Limos & Hearses Available With Mercedes CLS Fascia

Sometime ago –actually, ages in internet years, we showed you the Binz CLS Hearse which was nothing more than an E-Class SW with a CLS fascia and a boot larger than life –knock on wood… Well Binz now announced that it’s bringing the “CLS flavor” to all its E-Class extended-chassis range as an extra cost option which means you can have a 6door E-Class limousine with a CLS front-end. According to the German owned procrustean coachbuilder, the cars fitted with this fascia get front wings manufactured from advanced composites and more importantly, they preserve the base E-Class collision performance characteristics. -Full press release after the jump

BINZ Unveils Coupé de Grace

It’s not enough these days to operate the best engineered cars in the world. They have to look good too. Nowhere is this truer than in the exalted world of the top class European coachbuilders, where luxury saloons are hand-crafted into the 6-door limousines that waft government ministers, top executives, and their entourages from A to B. To cater for this growing awareness of style,.

This new ‘face’ of Binz is so-far only to be made available as an extra cost option on its existing E-Class limousine and hearse line-up. Kevin Smith, sales director of the company explains the thinking behind the : “It really comes down to the saying that your fleet is your best marketing asset, and that means having something that is instantly recognisable. In a sense the E-Class has been the victim of its own success. We are not the only coachbuilder using this platform as a base, and operators are increasingly seeing in the Mercedes-Benz brand a quick way of lifting their businesses onto a different plane.

“Though we can boast a myriad of technical innovations and full manufacturer engineering approval, these are all features that in the main only become apparent to the passenger once they have ridden in a Binz vehicle. So by offering our customers this CLS styling option, they now have yet another way of differentiating their service from that of the competition”.

Far from being a simple cosmetic makeover, Binz had to surmount a number of technical challenges when developing this option. Entirely new wings were required, manufactured not from steel – or even aluminium, the traditional coachbuilder’s medium – but from advanced composites. Care also needed to be taken to preserve the base E-Class collision performance characteristics, as well as ensuring that the curves that are so much of the CLS appeal, were to blend seamlessly into the E-Class’ flanks.

Underneath the skin, the CLS version of Binz’s 6-door limousine retains the magic carpet ride of the company’s ‘standard’ model, with AirMATIC suspension and active ride technology recalibrated in concert with Mercedes-Benz to take into account the vehicle’s increases in wheelbase and kerbweight.

V7 Super Coupe: Sema Show To Spawn 1000Hp Mid-Engine Corvette Sting Ray

This is exactly why I love the Sema Show; it’s like going to a toyshop for grown kids. I mean, where else would you find a mid-engine car with a Corvette Sting Ray body that’s powered by a twin-turbocharged Chevrolet LS V8 unit delivering a whopping 1000Hp? Thanks to our blog-pals at Jalopnik we not only have the info but we also have the first images of the V7 Super Coupe that’s being readied by American Super Car for this year’s Sema Show in Las Vegas. Can’t wait to see how this monster comes out. -Continued after the jump

Via: Jalopnik

Volvo Promotion Treasure Hunters Discover A Real-Life $500m Spanish Shipwreck!

A treasure chest filled with $50,000 in gold doubloons and a key to a new Volvo? – Who needs it when there’s $500 million worth of priceless coins lying right next to it? In theory, Volvo’s treasure hunt adventure, which was designed to promote the latest chapter of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, was a good idea. The contest, which originally promised the winner a sea voyage to retrieve a pre-sunk chest full of cash goodies, was put on the backburner when Odyssey, the world leader in deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, found something better.

The “new” prize included a chest, which is thought to be from an old Spanish shipwreck, filled with $500 million in gold and silver coins. The area was immediately blocked off by the Spanish government hoping they could get a cut of the findings.Meanwhile, Volvo had to dig deep in their pockets and give the winner of the contest, 23-year-old Alena Zvereva of Russia the replacement $50,000 and the keys to a new Volvo. They are also wondering how they’ll retrieve the stranded chest of gold coins. The contest attracted more than 32,000 online contestants from 22 markets around the world. -Full press release and pics after the jump

Posted by Dani

Via: Motorpasion, Source Volvo

PRESS RELEASE: REAL-LIFE PIRATE ADVENTURE DELAYS VOLVO TREASURE RETRIEVAL

Controversy Sparked by $500 Million Real-Life Treasure Find
Adds New Mystery and Intrigue to Final Leg of Volvo's Online Hunt

In a twist worthy of any great pirate story, Volvo Car Corporation today upped anchor - at least temporarily - on the last crucial leg of its global online treasure hunt: the retrieval of a prize treasure chest filled with $50,000 in gold and a key to a new Volvo from the sea floor. The retrieval of the chest will hang in the balance until controversy dies down over the discovery of real life treasure by Volvo's Hunt partner, Odyssey Marine Exploration.

Earlier this year, Volvo selected Odyssey, the world leader in deep-ocean shipwreck exploration, to sink a treasure chest with one goal: to create an authentic, exciting treasure hunt to promote Disney's ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.' Veiled in secrecy, Odyssey scouted locations in the Western Mediterranean, finally zeroing in on a perfect spot off the coast of Gibraltar. They had planned to take the winner of The Hunt, 23-year-old Alena Zvereva from Ekaterinburg, Russia, out to retrieve the treasure from its secret location when the operation hit an unprecedented snag: Odyssey found real treasure. And a media storm ensued.

"We thought sinking a real treasure chest, filled with $50,000 in gold doubloons and a key to a new Volvo, and creating a global treasure hunt for 22 markets was challenging," said Linda Gangeri, national advertising manager, Volvo Cars of North America. "But that was, quite literally, a drop in the ocean compared to the storm our attempted retrieval process has stirred up."

While thousands of would-be treasure hunters from around the globe battled it out to find Volvo's prize booty, Odyssey struck gold and silver of their own in the Atlantic Ocean with the discovery of an estimated $500 million in coins from a deep ocean site the company has now code-named the ‘Black Swan.'

As soon as the discovery was made public, having been spotted depositing Volvo's treasure in an entirely different area, questions started circulating as to the real provenance of the ‘Black Swan.' Was it a Spanish shipwreck? Had Odyssey been working on shipwrecks in Spanish waters? Unable to reveal the exact location of the ‘Black Swan,' in the Atlantic Ocean because of obvious security reasons, and under a non-disclosure agreement with Volvo to protect the location of its treasure chest, Odyssey found itself in the eye of a media storm that has yet to abate. Reports have been widely circulated that a court in the Spanish coastal town of La Linea has issued an order for the Spanish Guardia Civil to detain any Odyssey vessel should it leave the port of Gibraltar, putting Volvo's retrieval plans on hold.

"When we discovered the ‘Black Swan,' international interest in the find was amazing," said Greg Stemm, real-life shipwreck explorer and co-founder of Odyssey. "Even though we have been very clear that it's in the Atlantic Ocean, outside any country's territorial waters, when Spanish authorities saw that we'd been out near Gibraltar in March, some unfortunately jumped to the wrong conclusion. Until very recently, we were contractually bound not to reveal our arrangement with Volvo, so without a real explanation of why we had deep-sea exploration equipment out there, it's easy to see how imaginations could run wild."

Whatever happens, Zvereva will receive $50,000 and a new Volvo XC70. Volvo, however, is not giving up on its retrieval plans yet and is committed to exploring every avenue possible to reclaim the chest from its watery depths.

"We wanted an adventure, and we certainly got one," said Gangeri. "Real-life shipwreck exploration is uncharted waters for us, and Odyssey did warn us that you never know what will happen out on the high seas. They have been an excellent partner throughout all this, and they helped make this contest one of the most authentic, exciting promotions of the year. Now, pirate story or not, we're putting everything we have toward raising a thrilling - and happy - ending."

About the Hunt

The wildly popular Hunt, a month-long multi-media campaign developed as part of Volvo's promotion of the theatrical release of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, attracted more than 32,000 online contestants from 22 markets around the world. Participants solved a series of puzzles that led to a semi-final puzzle, Puzzle 21: World's End, posted May 31. The first contestant from each country to submit the correct answer then went on to compete in one final online puzzle to decide the winner. All participating markets were represented in the final with the exception of Italy, who didn't have a participant submit a correct semi-final answer within the time limit.

2009 Toyota Land Cruiser Spied Again

John Doe’s Lexus LX570, or in plain car-English, the 2009 Toyota Land Cruiser has been spotted again performing tests in the Arabian Peninsula and specifically, in Dubai (UAE). The only notable exterior difference between the ’09 Land Cruiser and the Lexus LX570 seem to concern the rear-light clusters and while you can’t see it in these pics, the redesigned front-end.

Inside, Toyota’s LX570 is equipped with a slightly redesigned and less luxurious version of the Lexus dashboard. Surprisingly, in comparison with the previous test car spotted in Oman, the’09 Land Cruiser in Dubai features a different instrument cluster with “3D” shaped gauges. As you might have guessed already, the new Land Cruiser will probably be equipped with the same 381Hp 5.7 V8 found in its ’08 Lexus counterpart. -Continued: Click “Read More…” below

Pics via: carspyshots

Survey Reveals That 9million British Motorists Don't Know Their Car

Nine million is the number of motorists in Britain that are utterly confused about their own vehicles. Well, that’s according to Green Flag break down specialists that conducted research regarded a driver’s knowledge about the car they drive. 30% of the country’s driving population admits they don’t know their way around their car, which is a basic skill that could reduce time waiting at the roadside if they ever broke down. The data collected was astonishing, yet sadly enough, sound about right.

Here were some of the findings:

• 2.5 million drivers have no idea where to find the spare tire
• One-in-six women drivers don’t know how to open their bonnet
• One-in-five men wouldn’t know where to find their spark plugs
• 13% don’t know how to fill up windscreen washers
• over two million motorists wouldn’t recognize the low oil light if it flicked on
• one million have no idea what the low fuel signal looks like (This must explain why the most common cause of breakdowns is NO FUEL!)
• 15 million (44 per cent) don’t know how to attach leads for a jump start
• Nearly ten million drivers don’t know their engine size

I decided to save the best for last, because just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, one-in-ten have no idea how old their car is. These stats are saddening not only because many of us spend so much time in our cars, but because most people just can’t tell their rear-end from their spark plugs. Green Flag should start an online tutorial. Link: Green Flag

Posted by Dani

2008 Mitsubishi Lancer European Edition - 5door Coming Next Year

With the Frankfurt Show only a couple of months away, car-makers have began showing off their 2008 merchandise. Mitsubishi on its behalf will unveil the European edition of the all-new Lancer Sports Sedan which doesn’t look any different from its US or Japanese spec counterparts. Under the hood though it’s another story -no 2.0-litre petrol engine here. Instead Europeans get the choice of two petrol units, an 110Hp 1.5-liter and a 144Hp 1.8-liter engine along with a VW Group derived, 140Hp 2.0-liter diesel engine. Of course the top-dog in the Lancer range is the Evolution, which may be introduced as well in Frankfurt.

Mitsubishi also announced that in 2008 an all-new 5-door Lancer Sportback (based on the 2005 Frankfurt Show Concept) will join the Lancer Sports Sedan and Lancer Evolution models. But what really caught our attention in Mitsubishi’s press release is that the Japanese carmaker talks about an “Upper-range version” details of which will be unveiled at a later stage. The “Upper-range version” will fit in between the 1.8-litre petrol/2.0 Diesel and the EVO in the Lancer’s range. If our inside info is correct, this could be the front wheel-drive MR version with a 2.0 turbo engine producing around 240Hp. -See the full press release after the jump

Mitsubishi Motors Europe - 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show

Preview # 2

- All-new Lancer Sports Sedan -

Mitsubishi has embarked upon its most ambitious automotive project ever through the launch of its first global platform.

Known as “Project Global” within MMC, and already successfully previewed with the second generation Outlander, this new global platform will next be rolled out to the European public at the 2007 Frankfurt Show (IAA), underpinning the all-new 4-door Lancer Sports Sedan.

Global

Representing a multi-million dollar investment, the “Project Global” platform will support the launch of several new Mitsubishi vehicles over the next few years, including (as of now) the all-new Lancer family, the second generation Outlander or the recently unveiled – and very successful – Delica D:5 minivan / SUV crossover.

Designed from the outset for world markets to accommodate various regional needs and regulations as well as changing market trends and customer demands, “Project Global” generates economies of scale through built-in flexibility and synergies in design, engineering and manufacturing.

Credentials

Designed at Mitsubishi Motors’ European design studio in Trebur, near Frankfurt (Germany) for world markets, Lancer Sports Sedan shares its stunning design language with the much-acclaimed Concept-Sportback (2005 IAA) and Concept-X (2005 Tokyo) concept cars, also created in Europe.

Its low stance, long bonnet / short deck proportions, wide track, trademark “Jet Fighter” grille (with a chromed upper grille in this European market application) and distinctively deep set “eyes”, all bring a new meaning to the concept of sports sedans.

Very much in line with Mitsubishi’s inspiring “Japanese Modern” design philosophy, this theme is also evocative of Lancer’s peerless motor sports credentials covering 35 years of racing, from the original 1973 Lancer 1600 GSR winner of numerous long distance 70s rallies in Africa and Australia (East African Safari, Bandama, Southern Cross,…) to the very hot 1980 Lancer EX 2000 Turbo and today’s Lancer Evolution.

Family

To be launched progressively in Europe from the end of 2007, the (4,570 mm long x 1,760 mm wide) Lancer Sports Sedan will provide Mitsubishi Motors in Europe with a full family of offerings ranging from 1.5 litre petrol entry models to mid-range 1.8 litre petrol and 2.0 litre Diesel versions (availability according to markets), right up to the all-new Lancer Evolution – for the first time a member of the Lancer family. In the future, further variants will be made available as well:

• - Entry level: 110 ps – 1.5 l DOHC MIVEC petrol*
• - Mid-range: 140 ps – 2.0 l Pump Jet Diesel (VAG-supplied)*
• 144 ps – 1.8 l DOHC MIVEC petrol*
• - Upper-range: output & details to be unveiled at a later stage
• - Hero: 2.0 l Turbo DOHC MIVEC petrol (Lancer Evolution / output to be unveiled later)

* all data subject to homologation.

The above line-up will include 5-speed manual, 6-speed manual, CVT, 4-speed automatic and 6-speed automated manual, according to the engine.

Joining the Lancer Sports Sedan and Lancer Evolution during 2008, the all-new 5-door Lancer Sportback will further strengthen the Lancer family. With its coupé-like profile – modelled upon the exciting 2005 Frankfurt concept car of the same name – it will specifically target hatchback-minded European customers.

Beyond conventional segmentation, the all-new Lancer family will be in Europe a refreshing alternative for customers looking for timeless presence, sharp dynamics, reliability and value-for-money, all brought by heritage-proud, non-mainstream, right-brained, quality Brands.

2008 Kia Cee'd 3door Hatch Spied

Kia’s European built, designed and engineered C-Segment model will soon welcome a new member in its family, a 3door version which will also base next year’s 225Hp GTi –we don’t know the name yet. Spied here wearing more camo than a Paradoxophyla palmate (a narrow-headed frog native to Madagascar that’s a master of camouflage – don’t blame us, blame the Discovery Channel…), the 3door Cee’d has been designed by Peter Schreyer, the father of Audi’s iconic fist generation TT.

As Kia people pointed out to us last year at the Paris Show, the 3door Cee’d will closely resemble the pro cee’d Concept. Of course, we’ve heard that before so we’re not keeping our hopes up too high. Either way we’ll soon find out since as our Kia insider informed us, the 3door Cee’d will break cover at the Frankfurt Show this September. -Continued: Click “Read More…” below

Pics via: kiaworld