BMW Announce 2.0 Liter Four Cylinder Turbo For U.S.
BMW has been teasing their market with some factoids here and there about their new 2.0 liter turbocharged foud cylinder engine. Finally, they are officially confirming that it will be coming to the United States in maybe later this year.
The new four cylinder engine will use the same twin scroll turbo technology which is found in the larger N55 3.0 liter engine. The maximum power rate is at 240 horsepower in 5,000 rpm, while the peak torque is delivered at 1,250 rpm. With the switch to a smaller displacement, direct injected, turbocharged engine, we can expect that this new 2.0 liter four cylinder engine will make the car get a healthy bump in fuel economy than the current six cylinder models.
BMW still hasn’t pointing out on which models will this new 2.0 liter turbo being planted. But while the carmaker specifically mentions that it will offers more power and torque than the current 3.0 liter inline six, we might expect that all cars with a 28i or 30i at the end of the name will be powered with this new engine. The earlier reports suggested Z4 sDrive30i will use four cylinder power, and I thinkg both 1 and 3 Series will get the turbo four.
BMW Announce 2.0 Liter Four Cylinder Turbo For U.S. is a post from: Automotive News and Review
BMW Considering New M3 Wagon
Previously we have already seen BMW build the limited edition runs of the M3 version in many markets. From this M3 edition, to the Tiger edition in China, up to the matte grey version for the U.S.. With this condition, they think that they will also build a Sportwagon M3. Some floating rumors saying that BMW may be walking with this idea and they had build the tester early in the E9X development, so this is a real possibility.
If you are thinking that there would be too much work for it, it would just be the rear quarters of the sheet metal, while the rest would be bolt ons. The question is if the car would sell with the limited run of less than a hundred for worldwide, BMW would need to break even on the car. It means that it would have a significant price premium over the other models.
Naturally, the M3 wagon will be a small volume proposition, and it means that it would likely carry a fairly large price for it. It will also be hard for the automaker to justify. A report from Bimmerfile estimates that the base price will be around $ 65,000. Beside that, other competitor such as Mercedes Benz, Audi, and the latest one is Cadillac, have put the performance minded wagons into the market.
BMW Considering New M3 Wagon is a post from: Automotive News and Review
Lamborghini LP 550-2 Is Gallardo’S Entry Level
To honor the career of the long serving test driver for the company, Valentino Balboni, Lamborghini has rolled out the purist’s version of their Lamborghini Gallardo that did away with the all wheel drive system in favor of the rear drive only vehicle. It dropped 10 horsepower and was available with a classic manual transmission in the place of the e-gear gearbox.
The Balboni edition which is carrying the LP 550-2 designation to mark the metric horsepower output and traction configuration, will be the only rear drive Gallardo vehicle that available, until Lamborghini later announced the Bicolore edition just the other day. Although it was sold overseas with the all wheel drive, the American version was announced as the first LP 550-2 rear drive to follow Balboni.
According to some reports from Italy, Lamborghini is currently preparing the LP 550-2 as a kind of ‘entry level’ Gallardo, undercutting the price of the other versions while offering a more direct drivetrain set up. Lamborghini seems to be ready to sold some number of the LP 550-2 to the Asian continent who missed the Balboni’s limited production run, but now will able to bring this Gallardo for their family.
Lamborghini LP 550-2 Is Gallardo’S Entry Level is a post from: Automotive News and Review
2011 Honda Odyssey Has Five Star Crash Safety
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a new testing methodology that has proven to be remarkably tougher than the old version. Previously, NHTSA gave out a five star rating just like they were spreading their pamphlets on the Vegas strip, but the new regulation have make it to only 11 five star Overall Vehicle Scores from 50 vehicles. With this fact, it is obviously big news for Honda that their all new 2011 Odyssey has earned that five star.
The five star are including for all three crash tests, test category, and overall. Actually, the Odyssey only has four star came in rollover testing. Honda stated that their new Advanced Compability Engineering (ACE) body structure is the reason why the Odyssey fared so well for this NHTSA testing. ACE will distributes crash energy throughout the front end of this car, making the front end collissions less dangerous.
The big win for Odyssey from NHTSA comes after this popular minivan managed the top score of Good from Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Unfortunately the Odyssey isn’t yet eligible for Top Safety Pick designation because the roof strength hasn’t been tested yet.
2011 Honda Odyssey Has Five Star Crash Safety is a post from: Automotive News and Review
Gulf-Fiat Team Up For Special Edition 500th Abarth
There are some iconic racing liveries from the motorsport history. Name it Martini, Marlboro, JPS, and more. But none carry the classic Gulf color combo. Maybe it is just because of Steve McQueen’s cult classic Le Mans, or maybe it is the irony of the pastel colors on the brutal racing machines. Whatever it is, it’s still an all time favorite. But would you be okay to paint your daily driver in baby blue and orange scheme?
For some people, it is not a though decision, except that they are driving an Aston Martin at Le Mans, or they buy a custom Hummer. But the customers in Luxembourg now have the rare opportunity to have an officially sanctioned Gulf liveried hot hatch.
The special edition of Fiat 500 Abarth EsseEsse was initially planned as one contest giveaway. It was created to celebrate the Golf oil’s 10th anniversary in the principality. They are in the end only making a limited run of ten examples which are available from Fiat’s importer for BeNeLux for about EUR 25,000 or around $ 35k. It has the Gulf livery both inside and out, and even the Sabelt buckets painted in the classic scheme.
Gulf-Fiat Team Up For Special Edition 500th Abarth is a post from: Automotive News and Review