The Kia Pro_Cee’D GT - The Most Powerful Kia EVER!

The Kia Pro_Cee'D GT - lots of angryness. 

Behold, the Kia Pro Underscore Cee Apostrophie D GT. There’s no denying, it has a stupid name, but it’s not a stupid car, mainly because it’s Kia’s most powerful car ever. Kia is finally having a go at the whole hot hatch thing, with THIS, a 1.6 liter turbocharged 201hp, 195lb ft.  version of the Pro Underscore Cee Apostrophe D. That whizzing little engine is hooked up to a six speed manual gearbox and power goes to the front as you’d imagine. 

Kia Pro_Cee'D GT - Nice wheels! Nice side profile in general actually.

It looks pretty fast, too. Look at that front end filled with honeycomb effect air intakes, a horizontal red stripe, red brake calipers and general aggression. It’s got big wheels too, and a blurry scenery, so it must be realllyyy fast to make the scenery go blurry, right? Er, no. It’s not exactly slow, 0-60mph takes 7.9 seconds, but pretty much all of its less aggressively styled competitors would absolutely trounce it. It’s about on par with the Astra GTC SRi.

This is the only interior shot we have. Er, so we know it has a steering
wheel and gear stick. Good. Good.

However, I do think Kia is onto a winner with this one. If it’s priced competitively – we all know it will be, it’s Kia remember – and the thing doesn’t fall over going around corners, it’ll probably sell on looks alone. It’s a mean looking thing.

Pricing is yet to be released but expect it to undercut the Golf GTi by a few thousand dollars. It’ll be in showrooms by the end of the year, just not Australian showrooms because we don’t get the Cee Apostrohe D. Shame. 

                                                                                                    

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"My Word, What A Big Mouth You Have" - New Aston Martin Rapide S

If you haven't already, watch this;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-pJ2XaKu2o

I don’t think anyone has ever accused the Aston Martin Rapide of being a particularly unpleasant looking car. Ok, perhaps if a Porsche Panamera were to block the view of the Rapide you might accuse it of being a bit ugly and a bit fat. So it’s a good looking car, that bit is pretty clear, which begs the question; why has Aston gone and given it an enormous, almost Peugeot-esque grille for the updated 2014 model? Perhaps Aston Martin were excited about their 100^th birthday and so decided that their cars should look equally excited too. Or maybe the front was modeled on the Dubai-ian’s faces as they watched the new Vanquish make its way to the top of that famous ‘sail’ shaped building via helicopter – all wide mouthed and excited. Who knows what they were thinking. I personally don’t like the look, but who am I to judge what looks good and doesn’t. 

See? There's actually FOUR doors!

But, the update is much more than some mild, slightly gone wrong, cosmetic surgery. The 6.0 liter V12 has been updated so that it now produces 555hp and 457lb ft of torque for starters, and it’s been sunk deeper into the chassis, lowering the cars center of gravity and helping it turn in more sharply and more, er, Rapidely – Ha, see what I did there? A dad joke. The new Rapide is hence faster than before both through the bends and on the straight, it’ll hit 62mph in 4.9 seconds and top out at 190mph, which means it’s pretty fast, but not quite as fast as it’s less expensive and more roomy rivals. 

There it is in all it's glory. It is enormous. 

Despite the increase in power and gob area, this new Rapide is more efficient than the previous car. It’s now capable of delivering 19.9 mpg and polluting the environment at the rate of just 332g per kilometer, it truly is a hippies worst nightmare. To make things worse – or better, depending if you like tie dye clothing, or you’re normal – the Rapide has the requisite ‘normal’, ‘sport’ and ‘track’ driving modes. Even better is the fact that the modes designed for more exuberant driving turn up the exhaust noise to eleven, and what that does, essentially, is turn more carbon dioxide into more noise! What a brilliant idea. 

Aston reckon that by tweaking the transmission, upping the power, and improving the braking capability they’ve created “a sports car of unerring quality and excitement”. And the previous Rapide was already brilliant t drive so I don’t doubt for a second that this new version will be absolutely spectacular.

Among the mechanical changes to the Rapide are a few minor tweaks inside which bring a new ‘Piano Black’ trim package which includes darker instrument surrounds and finer headlining. The new Rapide should now be slightly more comfortable as well thanks to reduced noise and vibration levels.

The classic Aston interior still remains. Gorgeous. 

There are some small new styling details around the rear of the car, as well as new paint and wheel options but you don’t care about those, you’ll be too busy trying to figure out that front end. Has the Rapide lost some class and some elegance with this new agro excitable face? 

Pricing details are yet to be announced, however we can expect it to be priced very similarly to the current model.

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Bob Lutz - What's He Been Up To? V8 Fisker, Electric Chevy Silverado, Pretty Standard.

Bob Lutz - Cheers Wikipedia. 

Bob Lutz is the kind of crazy whacko genius that created the original Dodge Viper back in his hay day. In my hay day I scribbled things and fell over lots. But now Bob’s getting a bit long in the tooth, a bit frail, a bit elderly. He’s eighty years old for goodness sake! But Bob’s not one to sit around in a nursing home in a puddle of his own dribble confused and playing bingo, he’s no typical dowdy old caravanist either. Oh no sir. Bob much prefers to spend his spare time flying about in his ex-communist-bloc Aero L-39 Albatros fighter jet and MD500 Helicopter. Not to say the man has a great deal of spare time.  

Bob’s a busy man, he’s got a finger in just about every kind of pie there is. He was the Vice Chairman of General Motors up until two years ago where he more recently brought back the Chevrolet Camaro and introduced the Volt, he’s head of his communications firm Lutz Communications, he's also Chairman of The New Common Schools Foundation, member of the Board of Trustees for the U.S. Marine Corps University Foundation, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen, Texas. He’s no doubt a busy man.

Apparently this is Bob's business card. Nice.

All you have to do is have a walk around the Detroit Auto Show and you’re surrounded by his work. The Chevrolet Camaro, the Cadillac ELR, the Cadillac CTS, even the new C7 Corvette, Lutz had influence over all of these cars. But now that it’s been over two years since he retired from his position at General Motors don’t go thinking his run in the motor industry is over. Because there were some more, very different cars indeed branded with the Lutz stamp of approval hiding in the shadowy recesses of the Cobo Centre (that’s what the Detroit show building’s called. Weird, I know), think 800hp electric pick up trucks, and V8 powered Fisker Karma’s. That might seem a bit odd given that traditionally the Fisker Karma has been an all electric planet saving green machine, and the pick up has been exactly the opposite of that – very un-polar-bear-friendly. But this is the crazy lunacy of Bob Lutz’ world, his vehicles might sound insane, and they definitely do in this case, but people will buy them, and they will be brilliant, because that’s just what Bob does.  

V8 Fisker Karma gets a pretty new face. 

So a little more information about Bobs new creations then, starting with the V8 Fisker Karma. It’s called the VL Automotive Destino and is the product of collaboration between Bob Lutz and an ‘industrialist’ who goes by the name of Gilbert Villereal. Lutz said that the aim was to create “an American designed, engineered and manufactured four door performance car that rivals such models as the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide”. To create this luxury performance sedan, Lutz took the gorgeous Fisker Karma body that was designed by the handy bloke who penned the Aston Martin V8 Vantage and BMW Z8, ripped out all the electric motory gubbins and the wheezy 4 cylinder petrol motor and installed a ruddy great big American V8, the same LT1 6.2 liter V8 from the new Corvette actually, so you get 450hp and 450lb ft of torque. This is the base model. Yes, there’s more. At a relatively large fee, you can have the same LS9 6.2 liter supercharged V8 from the C6 Corvette ZR1, which means you get 638hp and 604lb ft of torque. No matter how you look at it, is quite a lot. 

V8 Fisker gets full body kit and quad exhausts. Nice.

You can have the big V8 motor connected to a 4-Speed automatic – yes four, sigh – or a 6-Speed manual box. There are big Brembo brakes for stopping, a 10.2” touch screen for controlling all manner of different things, and a strictly green (not literally) interior to, er, save the planet some more... Prototypes of the Destino are currently being tested and VL Automotive hopes to get customer cars on the road in the second half of 2013.

This WAS a Chevy Silverado, now it gets 100mpg.

Now, onto that 800hp electric pick up truck. It comes from another company that Lutz is backing and it’s called the VIA Motors X-Truck, and it is very big, very un-aerodynamic and very truck like, nothing unusual there. But what’s beneath the ordinary looking sheet metal is a bit different. There are two 402hp electric motors delivering a total of 804hp, obviously. Because there’s two.. And they both have the same output. It uses a liquid cooled lithium-ion battery pack to power the electric motors and there’s a 5.3 liter V8 to top up said batteries once their charge falls below 20%. The hybrid powertrain allows this Chevy Silverado based pick up truck to achieve 100mpg, which is mighty impressive. Especially given how boxy the thing looks. 

So what will Bob build next? A hydrogen powered hover car? That might seem a bit outlandish but Bob’s reinvented the car before, he’ll do it again. Plus he likes aeroplanes and flying. 

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The Driving Dogs Are Here! Be Afraid Fellow Australians.

If you're an avid reader of my blog, and lets be honest, you probably are, then you would've read something about crazy Kiwi's teaching schnauzer's how to drive Mini Countryman's in soggy fields a month or so ago. Refresh your mind by reading this -> http://rawdriving.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/theyre-dogs-and-they-are-driving-cars.html?m=1
Ok, now that you know all about the super intelligent dogs and their Mini antics, you are prepared to brace yourselves for some slightly terrifying news. The dogs, are driving cars, IN AUSTRALIA. ON THE ROAD. Well in Woolworth's car parks at least. Last Friday I spotted this Pit Bull Terrier at the helm of a Nissan Navara in the Woolworth's car park. Be afraid fellow Australians. They're here.

All the important* stuff from the Detroit show *(some completely irrelevant information included)

The Cadillac ELR is based on the Chevrolet/Holden Volt but promises to have more "sporting credentials" with increased power from the electric motor and more sophisticated suspension design. Won't come to Australia - irrelevant then.

The 552HP twin turbo V8 Audi RS7 can hit 60mph in 3.9 seconds and will top out at 189mph. Looks marvelous, has glorious oval exhaust tips. 

The Bentley Continental GT SPEED convertible is the fastest four seat drop top in the world, capable of reaching 202mph this 616hp W12 monster is sure to be a favorite among the wealthy and the kind of person who aspires to be a Kardashian. 

The BMW 3 Series Coupe is no more, instead we have this rather gorgeous looking 4 Series, expect it to use the same powerplants as the 3 series (sedan) and be really quite good.   

There's definitely something in the water at Toyota HQ because this is a preview of what a speedy Corolla sedan could look like, it's called the Furia, and it's orange. This is good. 

No 2013 Detroit Motor Show photo gallery would be complete without the C7 Corvette, arguably the star of the show, it was unveiled to the world via country and western guitar solo, some burgers, and an 'American Woman' soundtrack. How American is that!. It's got a 6.2liter 450hp V8 too, which is also very American.  

What this is, is a Honda Urban SUV, and it's quite small. Like Honda Jazz small. It's only a concept at the moment, but expect a production version sometime in the near future based on the next generation Jazz small car. I quite like it. 

This ones a bit pointless but it gives us a good idea of what Hyundai's new design boss has been up to. He used to work for Audi, can you tell? It's called the Hyundai HCD-14 and it looks like an Audi A7 that's been whacked in the face to make it's grille less shapely and more flat.  

This is the new Infiniti Q50, its the replacement for the G37 sedan, and will join the same crowded marketplace as the BMW 3 series. Tough gig, but this has a very original and appealing design. It'll come in a few different specification levels, there'll some diesels, hybrids and petrol motors when it arrives in Oz later this year. 

Another new Japanese 3 Series competitor, the new Lexus IS Sedan. It's got a big gaping grille, Nike tick LED day time lights, and a TFT electronic instrument panel. I like it. You'll see it on our roads later this year.

This is the Lincoln MKC Concept. It's a small soft roader based on the Ford Kuga, and it looks absolutely magnificent. It'll enter production next year with most of the concepts style in tact. It wont come to Australia unfortunately. It'd destroy the Holden Captiva in sale numbers. 

It's the M version of the sedan version of the coupe version of the 5 series sedan. It looks magnificent and is very fast. Will be here later in the year. 

BMW M6 Gran Coupe for those confused...

It's the Mercedes CLS' little brother the CLA, based on the A Class hatch it'll come in either front drive or optional all wheel drive. Priced from around $30,000 in the US it will undercut similarly priced C Class models by a few thousand dollars. An exciting and brilliant AMG version is on its way.

This is the Volkswagen CrossBlue. And it's er, blue. This is a LHD car for the US. It's slightly bigger than a Toureg because Americans like big cars, but weirdly, it's much cheaper than the Toureg because Americans think the Toureg is too expensive. It's also blue and pointless. Expect a cheaper Skoda version too. 

And that's it! All the important stuff from Detroit that you need to know! 

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Mercedes-Benz CLA

Mercedes CLA

Have you ever looked at the Mercedes-Benz CLS and thought ‘my word that’s a gorgeous looking car’ and then been reduced to tiers by looking at the $130k plus price tag? Well weep no more because in a cloud of dry ice and pop music in Detroit this morning the lovely new Mercedes CLA emerged. It’s just like the enormous luxury land yacht CLS except it’s smaller and most importantly much cheaper, around half the price in fact. In America – the land of opportunity and cheap cars – the CLA is going to cost as little as $30,000 and will undercut similarly equipped C Class models by a few thousand dollars. 

Mercedes CLA at Detroit show. Pop music and dry ice essential.

Mercedes has done quite a good job with the design of the CLA. They haven’t muddled up all the proportions when shrinking the CLS to fit the A Class chassis, unlike BMW who has done for the past seven years with the almost perfect X5 and weird looking X3.  

The only model variant that we currently know of is the CLA250 which will make use of a 2.0 liter turbocharged 4 cylinder engine which produces 155kw. The engine is mated to a 7 speed dual clutch transmission which sends power to the front wheels or through an optional 4MATIC all wheel drive system. The top speed will be somewhere in the vicinity of 150mph and 0-60 sprint times are currently unknown but are expected to be close to those Mercedes quotes for the A250 which the CLA is based on. The interior is an almost identical design to the A Class hatchback which makes use of a more sporting interior than those fitted in the C and E Class as Mercedes attempts to ditch the beret and beige elbow padded blazer wearing old man image and attract a younger audience with these smaller and more affordable models. 

Mercedes CLA Interior

A CLA45 AMG model is also expected to eventually join the CLA line up and will boast the same 2.0 liter turbocharged engine and 4MATIC all wheel drive system as the upcoming A45 AMG hatch. The 2.0 liter AMG engine is said to be the most powerful 4 cylinder production engine in the world producing around 250kw and making the A45 capable of hitting 60mph in under 5 seconds.  

We can expect to see the Mercedes CLA in Australia by the end of this year priced from around $50,000. And at that price they’ll sell better than the new One Direction CD. 

"It's the best of everything" - C7 Corvette Stingray

2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 

It’s a V8 muscle car that was unveiled to the world in Detroit with none of the usual fancy light shows or pop music concerts – Mercedes I’m looking at you – instead there was a country and western guitar solo, some burgers and 'American Woman' was playing. Does it get more American than that? “It’s the best of everything”, probably ever, is how General Motors chief designer described the new 2014 Corvette Stingray. Hmm, we’ll confirm the legitimacy of this big statement after some exuberant driving and tire slaying in the new Corvette.

But it does seem like the C7 Corvette has taken a big leap forward in terms of, well, everything. Lets take the design for starters, it’s not exactly revolutionary rather evolutionary, it’s clearly recognizable as a Corvette from the moment you see it. The cabin is set far back in the chassis, just ahead of the rear axle, there’s the requisite quad exhaust tips, a long carbon fiber (the engineers were obviously proud of this, constantly mentioning it) bonnet housing a big American V8 engine, and of course it’s still a hatchback or 'liftback'. But there’s definitely something new going on in the design, the side profile is almost Ferrari F12-esque in its design and the circular corvette tail lights have been ditched for some Camaroey type ones. And it looks quite good. 

LOOK! A Corvette with an actual interior! 2014 C7 Corvette.
This particular one interestingly has no roof...

Then there’s the interior which has never really been a strong point of Corvette design, the last generation was filled with more cheap plastic than an American news reader for example. But this time the designers have really put some effort into making the interior feel like a pleasant space to spend time rather than hoping the driver would be too distracted by loud noises and smoking tires to notice the plastic fantastic interior. And most Americans didn't notice mainly because they were so engrossed in their cheeseburgers and funny accents, but when the car was sent overseas to places where cars actually had interiors it didn't go too well.

2014 C7 Corvette rear. Requisite quad tail pipes? Check.

But with this new generation Corvette GM reckons “every customer who sees the interior will be awestruck”. I don’t know about them being “awestruck” but it’s certainly an improvement over the old C6 ‘Vette, for example the surfaces are no longer covered in cheap plastic, instead expensive plastics, leather, and carbon fiber are used. The instrument display has also been taken up a notch and into the 21^st century with a TFT display – similar to that on the Lexus LFA - which is really quite cool. 

But the big changes have been made under the metal, and carbon fiber  Can’t forget the carbon fiber. The chassis is now 57% stiffer and 44kg lighter than the previous generation Corvette thanks to extensive use of aluminium and carbon fibre. GM engineers say that the base model Corvette is now even faster around a track than the C6 GrandSport Corvette (the most track focused model), and is capable of pulling over 1G on the skid pan. The new ‘Vette will use a 6.2 liter LT1 V8 which produces over 335kw and 610nm of torque, the LT1 motor uses direct injection technology and continuous variable valve timing in order to produce these impressive power figures and according to some boffins it produces as much torque as the old 7.0 liter V8 between 1000 and 4000rpm. This means the engine is torquier in its lower rpms and is much more efficient in every day driving. The LT1 engines efficiency is further improved by a standard stop-start system and cylinder deactivation system which allows the motor to run on just 4 cylinders when the full eight aren't needed. The V8 is mated to a standard 7-speed manual transmission or an optional 6-speed automatic which is an option that no Corvette buyer will tick, ever. The new Corvette is capable of hitting 100kph in under 4 seconds in basic trim which is mighty impressive. 

2014 C7 Corvette at its Detroit reveal.

For the first time since, well, ever, the Corvette will “soon” be produced for right hand drive markets (everyone cheer). However “soon” in the GM CEO’s books is around 2015 or 2016, but he says it is happening which is awfully exciting. In the states the C7 Corvette will cost around $80,000 when it hits American showrooms in the third quarter of this year and when it (eventually) makes its way down under it could be priced from as little as $100,000 which would make it the performance bargain of the century. 

GM wants this to be an international car, and says the new Corvette has what it takes to battle it out with the best of the Europeans, but it’s American so how could it? Time will tell, but it certainly looks good on paper and in the metal. Oh sorry and carbon fiber. 

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2014 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG - 0-100kph in 3.6 seconds. Not a typo, enough said.

Even the colors perfect, 2014 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG

What you see above, Internet, is quite possibly THE perfect car for any day, any conditions, and any opponent you might decide to put against it. It is the mighty new Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. And it is incredible to say the least.

It’s not an entirely new car, but a facelifted version of the current E63 to bring it its styling in line with the rest of the 2014 E-Class range. But AMG –being crazy and German - thought, hmm maybe we could use this as an opportunity to make the new E63 even more mental than it already is. So they did. And the results, quite frankly are scary. Now I’m going to bombard you with some rather large and small numbers. The 5.5 liter twin turbo V8 produces 410kw – 24kw more than before – and 720nm of torque which is quite a bit, that’s enough to propel this big executive sedan to 100kph in just 4.2 seconds – which is good. But this is just the ‘basic’ model. For the first time in an AMG product (besides the obvious off road AMG’s) you can have the 4-Matic all wheel drive system, which in typical AMG fashion sends most (67%) of its power to the rear wheels in normal conditions, so it’ll still do the obligatory big lairy powerslides and wreck its tires in just a couple of laps, BUT, what it does to the acceleration is truly phenomenal. Despite adding 70kg to the overall weight of the car, the 0-100kph time drops to a mind blowing 3.7 seconds. 

Requisite enormous air intakes. 2014 Mercedes E63 AMG

But wait, there’s more. There’s also a new S-Model variant of the E63 AMG which increases the power, obviously, and when equipped with the magical 4-Matic system it’ll put 430kw and 800nm down to the tarmac and catapult its passengers to 100kph in a Ferrari 458 rivaling 3.6 seconds. That’s right, 3.6 extremely frightening and aurally delicious seconds. If you want the more practical Estate variant the 0-100kph time is unfortunately increased by 0.1 seconds on all variants. So that means you can have an understated, family wagon that’ll worry most super cars. And the coolest thing is that to the uneducated it looks relatively similar to an E250 CDI diesel, well, as long as they don’t notice the big fat wheels, the snarling quad tail pipes and simply enormous front air intakes. But let’s be honest, sitting in their Camry’s cocoon of dreariness listening to Lionel Richie’s Greatest Hits, they probably won’t.

You even get a classy tech fest interior. 2014 E63 AMG

I don’t know about you, but I find the proposition of a family sedan (or wagon) that’s capable of hitting 100kph in 3.6 seconds incredibly exciting, because you can now have Ferrari performance without the poncy image, distasteful cap wearing, and without everyone hating you. Plus as a bonus, you get lots of space, lots of luxury, lots of boot to put things in, and lots of safety assists like Collision Prevention and Attention Assist – whatever that is. The AMG V8 is pretty efficient as well with its 7-Speed AMG dual clutch gearbox helping it sip just 9.8 liters per 100km. With fuel economy like that you could even afford to take your dog for a little joy ride, and let him experience 0-100kph in 3.6 seconds while hanging his head out the passenger window and dribbling down the side of your car – this sight would send Ferrari owners into cardiac arrest. 

However, it’s not all cheerful Spaniels and tyre smoke because there is a problem. It’s not something that bothers me, but it might bother the kind of person who has just forked out over $500k for an SLS Black Series, or if I were the marketing men at Mercedes. You see, the SLS Black series can only do 0-100 in 3.7 seconds, which isn't bad, but the new E63 takes just 3.6 seconds, which is better. But the real problem is the fact that the 4-Matic versions of the E-Class haven’t been engineered for right hand drive markets which is almost weep worthy. So we won’t get the S-Model E63 and hence won’t get a 3.6 second to 100kph monster family sedan here in Australia. 

The ultimate family car? E63 AMG S-Model Estate

We can expect the new E63 to be priced similarly to the current model, and the non 4-Matic, non S-Model, and comparatively slow version of the E63 should land in Australia towards the end of this year. 

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