Eideard

Click on the image twice – to bring up the whole disaster.

VW Jetta TDI, 2.0L 140-hp turbodiesel, 3rd consecutive award winner

The auto industry is embracing the age of electrification, and so too is the Ward’s 10 Best Engines list.

Both the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle and Chevrolet Volt extended-range EV earn their way onto the 2011 list, as selected by Ward’s editors after evaluating 38 vehicles with new or significantly improved engines for the ’11 model year.

But fuel efficiency and environmental friendliness are not the most important criteria for eligibility this year, as seen by recognition of the new 5.0L V-8 in the Ford Mustang GT, 5.0L V-8 in the Hyundai Genesis and the 3.0L supercharged V-6 in the Audi S4.

“We have something for everybody on this year’s Ward’s 10 Best Engines list,” says Drew Winter, editor-in-chief of Ward’s AutoWorld magazine. “It’s the most diverse mix we’ve ever had, as well as the most technologically advanced.”

This year’s winners and the applications tested:

3.0L TFSI Supercharged DOHC V-6 (Audi S4)
3.0L N55 Turbocharged DOHC I-6 (BMW 335i)
1.6L Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Mini Cooper S)
3.6L Pentastar DOHC V-6 (Dodge Avenger)
5.0L DOHC V-8 (Ford Mustang GT)
1.4L DOHC I-4/111kW Drive Motor (Chevrolet Volt)
5.0L Tau DOHC V-8 (Hyundai Genesis)
80kW AC Synchronous Electric Motor (Nissan Leaf)
2.0L DOHC I-4 Turbodiesel (Volkswagen Jetta TDI)
3.0L Turbocharged DOHC I-6 (Volvo S60)

Now in its 17th year, the Ward’s 10 Best Engines competition is designed to recognize powertrains that set new benchmarks in their respective vehicle segments.

“The one thing they have in common is they all are stand-out performers in their own way and sell the value proposition of the vehicles they power,” Winter says.

RTFA. The editors delve into each award and why. Just a paragraph or two; but, gives you a taste of the breadth of modern prize-winning design coming from auto engineers around the world.

Detailed analysis of each is in the upcoming issue of Ward’s Autoworld magazine and will be online, next week.

The distinctive “Flying B” that adorns the bonnet of Bentley cars has prompted a recall of almost 1,500 top of the range vehicles over fears it could impale pedestrians during an collision.

The metal motif is designed to retract in the event of an accident but a flaw has been found that in some models can cause the mechanism to fail. The fault has prompted the company, which was created in 1919, to recall 1,426 cars across the world including 298 in Britain…

Millionaire owners of the vehicles…have been told to bring in their cars for a one hour repair.

The Flying B badge at the centre of the recall dates back to the late 1920s, when W O Bentley was operating out of Cricklewood in north London.

It survived until the 1970s, when it was withdrawn for safety reasons…posing the risk of pedestrians being impaled on the badge although, according to Bentley, there have been no reports of any such accidents or injuries ever happening..

The probability of an event occurring is equal to the number of times the event has occurred in the past divided by the total number of opportunities for it to occur.

Zero divided by any rational number = less than zero.

The interview was recorded just before the start of CES. I thought I’d poke it out here on the site for a couple of reasons:

1. The North American Auto Show opens today in Detroit and Ford swept both Car of the Year – the Fusion Hybrid – and Truck of the Year – the Transit Connect. While I’m not ever likely to buy the former, the latter is in the running – though I’d prefer a pickup truck on the same platform.

2. That’s a good start to the show. There will be lots more – including coverage from the “fringe” counter-show which skipped the creaky Cobo Hall venue and is using nearby casinos [Uncle Dave will appreciate the difference].

3. Mulally is a geek.

4. Disclaimer – I own a little Ford stock. Not that they’d notice.

In Europe, hundreds of thousands of car owners have taken advantage of government subsidies to get rid of their old vehicles and trade up to new ones. Car sales in Germany are up about 40 percent from a year ago.

But a similar so-called cash-for-clunkers program that starts in July in the United States is not expected to have nearly the same impact.

While the program, which President Obama signed into law this week, gives consumers a credit that is in line with the payments in Europe — up to $4,500 — what qualifies as a “clunker” in the United States is far more limited.

Further, the American program has $1 billion in financing, enough for about 250,000 consumers to use it, and ends Nov. 1, or sooner if the money runs out. Germany, on the other hand, originally expected to spend 1.5 billion euros to get 600,000 old cars off the road. But the program proved so popular, the government this spring raised the budget to 5 billion euros for two million cars and extended the deadline to the end of 2009…

“It’s better than nothing, that’s for sure,” said George Pipas, the Ford Motor Company’s chief sales analyst. “Anything to get consumers off the couch and give them a reason to go to the dealership.”

Perish the thought the overpaid politicians in Congress should do something that might help out working folks!

They’d rather continue to feather their nest, play kissy-kissy with lobbyists, whine about overspending our tax dollars – as if they hadn’t been doing that for the past eight years. 2010 is becoming more and more a target year to shove another couple dozen corporate lawyer-politicians out the door. Send them looking for an honest job.

China’s automobile sales will “definitely break the 10-million-unit barrier” in 2009, the China Passenger Car Association said, raising its forecast for the automobile industry this week on the back of a robust growth in vehicle sales in May, the fifth consecutive month it has climbed this year.

The association said “automobiles sales in China will touch 11 million units this year, on the basis of the total number of vehicles sold across the country in the first five months.”

Data released by the association showed that China sold 812,178 units of passenger vehicles, including minivans, sports utility vehicles, and multipurpose vehicles, in May, another monthly high…

Total passenger car sales in the first five months jumped 29.6 percent, to 3.64 million units from the same period last year, said the association.

China also has, for the fifth consecutive month, beaten the US as the world’s largest automobile market. “The growth in the passenger car segment will probably continue in June to hit a new monthly record, which will boost the whole-year sales to the 11-million-unit mark,” said Rao Da, secretary-general of the association.

This is a growth market that refuses to be halted by America’s effect on the global economy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Click on photo to see a series around the Western world

Thanks, Mr. Justin

Canada has announced a $3.3 billion bail-out plan to aid two US car manufacturers with operations there. The offer of emergency loans follows the US government’s decision on Friday to provide $17.4bn in loans to help General Motors and Chrysler survive.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said it was “a regrettable but necessary step to protect the Canadian economy”.

The amount promised represented the 20% share Canada has in the North American automobile industry, he said.

Mr Harper said there were “hundreds of thousands if not millions” of families in Canada potentially affected by the ongoing difficulties in the car industry.

Nice to see that Harper noticed. Bush must have sent him the memo.

Lafayette, Indiana– Two Lafayette men avoided serious injuries overnight when their car rolled over after swerving to avoid a squirrel.

According to Lafayette Police Sgt. Jay Rosen, Dylan T. Prosser, 21, Lafayette, was driving his blue Chevrolet Aveo west on Greenbush Street about 3:30 a.m. approaching 18th Street when he swerved to avoid a squirrel in his path.

The car hit the right side curb, struck a tree, rolled over and landed upside down in the 18th Street intersection, Rosen said.

Uh.. what kinds of squirrels are up at 3:30 a.m. in Indiana? I’ve sent many a squirrel to bed as darkness falls, and greeted many a squirrel at dawn, but I ain’t seen a single one on my midnight walks, ever. Enquiring minds want to know more.