No longer be-Holden to the petrol bowser

Greg Tyus, Exec Director Engineering of Holden, at the Holden charging station / Pic: Chris Scott Source: The Daily Telegraph PETROL pump pain could soon be a thing of the past, with motorists simply plugging their automobile into a power socket. Holden yesterday unveiled the petrol pump of the future in the form of its first electric automobile charging station. The charger outside its Port Melbourne head office is the first of many that will grant owners of its Volt ...

Submited at Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 at 6:59 pm by ethan

Driving the Fisker Karma

February 24, 2012, 7:05 pm By THE NEW YORK TIMES In Sunday’s Automobiles section, Jerry Garrett takes a first drive in the Karma sedan, the first automobile from Fisker Automotive, a start-up company founded by Henrik Fisker, a former designer for Aston Martin, BMW and Ford. The road to market for the Karma, a luxury plug-in hybrid, has not been without its bumps and detours, as Mr. Garrett writes. A $20,000 increase over the company’s initial price projection, a rather ...

Submited at Saturday, February 25th, 2012 at 7:00 am by samantha

Reviewing the 2012 Honda CR-V

January 27, 2012, 7:59 pm By THE NEW YORK TIMES In his first automobile evaluation for The Times, Csaba Csere (pronounced CHUB-uh CHED-uh) reviews the 2012 Honda CR-V in Sunday’s Automobiles Section. Mr. Csere, an M.I.T.-trained automotive engineer, was on the staff of Car and Driver magazine for 28 years and served as editor in chief from 1993 to 2008. He previously wrote for the Automobiles section about the search for a fast-charger plug that would be compatible with all ...

Submited at Saturday, January 28th, 2012 at 7:00 am by madison

Nascar and Ford Unveil Fusion Sprint Cup Car

January 24, 2012, 2:44 pm By JONATHAN SCHULTZ Wearing the automaker’s new corporate face, the Ford Fusion Nascar Sprint Cup racecar was unveiled at a news conference by Ford and Nascar Tuesday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The automobile will be campaigned in 2013, making its race debut at the Daytona 500 in February of next year. Ford tried Tuesday to set the Fusion apart from other factory-team racecars in the series, which tend not to resemble the production vehicles ...

Submited at Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 7:00 am by ethan

Reviewing the Volkswagen Beetle

January 20, 2012, 6:23 pm By THE NEW YORK TIMES In Sunday’s Automobiles section, Phil Patton reviews the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle, the German automaker’s sleeker, sportier and, above all, more masculine bug. Volkswagen has not been coy about its desire to bring more men under the Beetle’s canopy. To that end, the bubble top of the previous car, known as the New Beetle, has been squashed and elongated, and the fenders made more muscular. As Mr. Patton writes, Volkswagen’s designers ...

Submited at Saturday, January 21st, 2012 at 8:00 am by jessica

Prewar Sports Cars Valued at $12.4 Million to Be Auctioned at Goodwood

Collectors who favor prewar sports and competition vehicles would rarely be mistaken for poseurs. Cars of that type are rare, visceral, demanding to own and drive, and prohibitively costly to buy. Add to these the challenge of weeding out the vehicles that may not be what they seem, and it’s simple to see a giant “keep out” sign for casual collectors. Bonhams has announced one of the more significant collections of these vehicles to hit the market in quite some ...

Submited at Thursday, December 15th, 2011 at 7:00 am by chuck

Reviewing the Volkswagen Passat

December 2, 2011, 7:30 pm By THE NEW YORK TIMES In Sunday’s Automobiles section, Lawrence Ulrich reviews the 2012 Volkswagen Passat, the first automobile to be produced at the German automaker’s new $1 billion facility in Chattanooga, Tenn. The base model, powered by what Mr. Ulrich calls a “droning, obsolescent lump of a 5-cylinder engine,” is nevertheless a remarkable $7,100 cheaper than its predecessor. Costs may have been saved in the exterior department, as he writes: The VW resembles an ...

Submited at Saturday, December 3rd, 2011 at 7:00 am by samantha

With an Asterisk, Chevrolet Volt Tops Consumer Reports Owner Satisfaction Survey

December 1, 2011, 4:40 pm By CHERYL JENSEN The Chevrolet Volt received the top score in the annual owner satisfaction survey by Consumer Reports. The rating was determined by asking 314,000 subscribers who owned vehicles from the model years 2009-12 whether they would purchase the same automobile again. Among Volt owners, 93 percent stated they would, giving the automobile a sufficient margin to beat the Dodge Challenger muscle automobile and the Porsche 911 sports coupe, both of which had owner-satisfaction ...

Submited at Friday, December 2nd, 2011 at 7:00 am by samantha

Electric automobile is going wireless

Nissan’s wireless charging station for its Leaf electric car. Source: Supplied THE sight of electric vehicles umbilically attached to their charging stations hasn’t yet become commonplace. But already the technology is about to be superseded. Nissan in Japan has given a glimpse of the very near future in the form of a wireless charging station for its Leaf electric car. Present electric automobile charging technology requires the connection of a cable to the automobile to recharge its battery via mains ...

Submited at Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 at 10:00 pm by jessica

Drunk, naked driver smashes 17 vehicles in Moscow

A drunk and naked driver lost control during driving in Moscow and smashed a total of 17 cars, including four police vehicles, the Moscow police stated on Sunday. “On Sunday, an unknown man who was drunk and driving a Renault Megan automobile lost control during driving and damaged several cars. He did not respond to a police demand to stop, after which the police started to chase him,” a police spokesman said. During the chase, the offender damaged 17 vehicles, ...

Submited at Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 at 9:00 pm by hilman