Posted by Peter on
November 29, 2008
Quickie Review: Lexus IS250 AWD (Vanilla now comes in AWD, let the winter hoonage begin)
I have a confession to make and I’m not Catholic, so this won’t be easy but, please bear with me. I don’t have the most complex and refined taste buds in the world. I prefer my foods to be simple and not mixed with one another. Think of what a child in kindergarten might like to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and you’ll have a pretty clear idea of my entire diet: chicken fingers, pasta, peanut butter and jam sandwiches, hamburgers, pizza, fries, and cereal. So what? I’m a picky eater because I don’t like surprises. Add to this an attempt to follow kashrut, and you can see why my diet is so narrowly focused and why I’m clinically malnourished. Not the healthiest diet, I’ll admit that much, but it is reliable and I always know how things will taste before I eat them. There’s a great degree of comfort in knowing that your next meal won’t offend your mouth. My girlfriend, who loves all kinds of foods, can’t understand what’s wrong with me. Did my tongue stop growing at age 6? Who knows. But I don’t fight it, I accept it. This is the way I like my food. This is not the way I like my cars.
Posted by Peter on
November 28, 2008
News: Mini Cooper Convertible (2009, not 2005)
Check out the “new” Mini Cooper Convertible (aka Cabrio)! Not only does it look exactly like the old one, but it’s 10% more expensive too! So what kind of changes has Mini employed to justify the price increase? A slight increase in horsepower, the use of a turbocharger instead of a supercharger, a 22lb weight reduction, a new rollbar, a top that can be lowered when driving at speeds up to 20 mph, and slightly larger cargo space. Most of these changes were on the regular Mini last year, and now it’s the Cabrio’s turn.
Seeing as how Mini had no problem selling its vehicles before the ultra-mild refresh, we suspect that the price increase is designed to milk the consumer. I mean, if they were going to buy in anyways, why not make a little more money?
Follow the jump for a full gallery of new pics.
Posted by Peter on
November 26, 2008
News: First “real” Rapide pic hits InterWeb (can’t get here rapide-ly enough)
Well here you have it folks. The first “real” (but clearly computer-generated) picture of the Aston Martin Rapide. The only real differences between this and the concept shown last year appear to be functional side mirrors and door handles for all four doors. Are you reading this Lexus?! This is how you go from concept to production! Deep breaths…
Set to go up against the Porsche Panamera for coupe-sedan-luxo-barge supremacy, the Rapide is expected to employ Aston’s ubiquitous V-12, as seen in the DB9 and DBS. If you read our previous article on the Panamera, you probably have two thoughts running through your head. First, that luxo-coupe-barges are hideous monstrosities that answer a question no one asked in the first place, and therefore deserve a special place in hell next to the BMW X6. Second, that we here at CarEnvy seem particularly infatuated with the segment or maybe can’t seem to find anything else to write about. While both may be true, our goal is to bring you, our dear Canadian reader(s), the latest information from around the automotive world, so when a new niche of car becomes de riguer in the media, that’s what we share with you. But trust us, we don’t just bring you any old crap, only the finest of the finest.
Which brings me neatly to the Aston Martin Rapide. While I will probably never see one on the snowy streets of Edmonton, I will still drift off to sleep every night thinking of those gorgeous lines, the sonorous V12, and the sweet, sweet space for my golf clubs. Grat, now my kyboard is stckig. Mor aftr th jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Peter on
November 24, 2008
Editorial: SNL hits the nail on the head
Saturday Night Live is a weekly program that you’ve all heard of. I used to watch it from time to time when I was at an age where I thought that staying up until 12:30am to watch a TV show was pretty bad ass. Needless to say, when I was old enough to stay up as late as I pleased, I found that SNL no longer held the same cachet. It just wasn’t as funny. Had SNL lost its touch or had I just become less frenzied about the prospect of turning into a pumkin? Hard do say. Either way, SNL is now home to some excellent comedy and they seem to have summarized some of our feelings about the current going-ons between Washington and Detroit. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the current situtaion that the “Big 3″ are in, allow me to explain. Last week the CEOs of Ford, GM, and Chrysler went to Washington DC to beg for $25 billion dollars. But didn’t the Detroit automakers already get approved for $25 billion? Yes, but they don’t get that until the new year and now they want another $25 billion so that they can remain solvent long enough to see the rest of the bailout/support/whatever you want to call it. So you would think that the CEOs of the automakers would be heading to Congress with their tails between their legs and a tin cup in their hands. Instead, each CEO took a private jet from Detroit to DC to be at the meeting. No economy class flights, no business class flights, no sharing jets, just frivolous spending like it’s the good ol’ days (without the days actually being old or good). SNL obviously saw an opportunity for parody. Check out the video to see what I mean.
Posted by Peter on
November 24, 2008
Editorial: Why is creativity being squandered?
Lexus is not known for making particularly interesting vehicles to people who value driving involvment and aesthetics. Which isn’t to say that Lexuses have no value; their vehicles certainly appeal to people who value comfort, luxury, and status symbols, of that there is no question. Lexus teased us with the IS-F by showing the automotive public that they can make vehicles that stir the soul.
So when Lexus was set to redesign the popular RX model, they first showed us a rather staggering concept called the LF-Xh (pictured above). Looks good doesn’t it? I think it looks phenomenal actually, especially for an SUV. Very aggressive, very bold, very sleek. It looks like it was injected with straight testosterone. When was the last time I, or anyone else, said that about any Lexus product? Now compare this to the last gen RX, and you would think that there was hope for Lexus afterall. Errr… no. You only have to look at the final product of the redesign (that Lexus will actually sell to the public for 2010) to see how far they still have to come. See what I mean after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Peter on
November 21, 2008
Leaked: Porsche Panamera (now we wish they’d un-leak it)
**UPDATE: 2 new pics! One shows truck space, other shows very Ferrari-like front end!
A Porsche you say? Four doors you say? What does it look like under the camo?
I’ll get to that after the jump, but first, some background. Porsche has a long history of motor racing and a proud tradition of designing cars for people who enjoy the snap oversteer of ass-engined Nazi slot cars driving. But in 2002, Porsche opened its doors to a new kind of buyer with the Cayenne SUV. Porsche envisioned that this new buyer had a family, presumably with whom he or she lived with near the Arctic Circle where there were no roads and a high ride height was needed to avoid driving over polar bears. Not that Cayenne drivers actually cared about the lives of the polar bears (they do drive SUVs afterall), but polar bears are tougher to get out of your car’s grill than you could possibly imagine, just trust me.
What was at first considered to be sacrilegious to Porsche zealots enthusiasts, quickly became a mainstream hit. Porsche maybe didn’t anticipate that they were reaching the market just as luxury SUVs were taking off. Badge snobs Porsche connoisseurs took to it in droves and made Porsche hugely profitable in the process. So profitable in fact that Porsche now owns 74% of Volkswagen, Germany’s largest auto manufacturer. Quite the about-face from a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy just 10 years before the Cayenne. So the Cayenne turned out to be a very important vehicle for Stuttgart.
But why am I yabbering on about the Cayenne when the title of the article mentions nothing of the sort? Because the Cayenne set the stage for Porsche’s next eyesore/coupe-wannabe/profit margin-buffer vehicle: the Panamera. The first uncamouflaged shot of which we are showing you, our faithful readership. I really hope that both of you appreciate the lengths I’ve gone to get this shot. Follow the jump to check it out!
Posted by Peter on
November 18, 2008
Ford Watch 2008: Two Good Signs and Three Bad Ones
Well let’s start with the good news first because the world is already depressing enough as it is. We have the first new pics of the new 2010 Ford Fiesta and the 2010 Ford Mustang. Both are very promising vehicles for the Blue Oval brand as it attempts to return to profitability. Alan Mullaly, Ford’s CEO, has said that he wants to make the company profitable again by creating vehicles that people want instead of cutting and slashing price and products back (a la Chrysler and GM). This will be accomplished under the “One Ford” vision where vehicles will be designed to compete in multiple global markets as opposed to the current set-up where each market receives exclusive vehicles.
Posted by Peter on
November 13, 2008
Review: 2007ish Mercury Grand Marquis (1987 Ford Crown Victoria)
I spent a week this past summer on the water at Martin Lake in Northern Saskatchewan cruising around in a Campion 595. This isn’t to say that I know my boats, far from it. I just know what it is like to enjoy the open water with a beer in hand and to feel like I have Meniere’s disease afterwards. In the future, I will know to expect this sensation when boating and I will also know not to exasperate it with alcohol. What I didn’t expect was to feel the same vertigo-like symptoms again (and so soon) on a recent spur-of-the-moment trip to the World Golf Village and area in Northeastern Florida. I wasn’t even planning on seeing much water on the trip (other than the veritable ocean surrounding the 17th at the TPC at Sawgrass) so it was with great surprise that I felt an odd sensation of déjà vu when I took the first I-95 on-ramp with a little too much zest in the rental car.
Posted by Peter on
November 12, 2008
Quickie Review: Lexus GS350 AWD
So you’re a semi-retired professional/businessman and you’re looking for something to get you from the golf course to the office and back to your mortgage-less home. Oh, and the occasional trip down to your time share in Fairmont, BC. You want comfort, reasonable performance, all-weather capability, and a premium badge (you’ve earned it). So what do you buy?
Posted by Peter on
November 10, 2008
News: Ferrari 430 Scuderia Spider (Scud missile goes topless!)
Sure to keep dentists around the world happy, Ferrari has just announced a new poseurs car. No, the target market isn’t dentists (exclusively) but they stand to benefit the most from all the fillings poseurs are bound to lose as they use this track day special as a boulevard cruiser. So what exactly is this car?
Read the rest of this entry »
