Jake Lingeman
The 2013 Buick Enclave SUV will sticker for $39,270 including $825 for destination and handling. For the new year, the Enclave gets a gentle styling redesign, more standard equipment and more safety technologies.
The 2013 Enclave will have three equipment groups: “convenience,” “leather” and “premium.” All three will come with a good selection of Buick standard features, including a touch-screen radio, HID headlights, parking sensors, backup camera, remote start and a few other features. The leather group adds leather, heated front seats, power passenger seat and side blind-zone alert with cross-traffic alert for $43,285. Cross-traffic alert is a system that senses when a car is approaching as you're backing out of a parking spot.
A new survey shows $1,000 is the magic number for some drivers -- far less than the price differential for most hybrids.
Drivers are so motivated to save money on fuel these days they're using gas-saving tactics like driving slower, drafting behind larger vehicles and coasting to stops. But according to a new survey commissioned by Ford, there's a limit to how much they'd spend on a car that gets better fuel efficiency.By by Nick Kurczewski
Images of the Mini Paceman crossover have been leaked on the web ahead of the new crossover-coupe’s debut later this month at the 2012 Paris Auto Show. We got our first glimpse of the Paceman back in January 2011, when it appeared in concept form at that year’s Detroit Auto Show.
Judging from the images released by Mini aficionado site Motoringfile.com, the production model is almost identical to the version show in the Motor City.
Flooring a 510-horsepower Jaguar around a track is exactly as fun as it sounds -- except most owners don't know the half of it.
It’s nice to see people who work hard getting rewarded.
On Tuesday, a 40-something Italian guy from Long Island, donning a leather jacket and big aviator shades, sped off in his Jaguar XKR convertible. He wasn’t obnoxious. As part-owner of a beverage distributor with 150 employees -- a business he built by breaking his back hauling water coolers to offices -- he was just enjoying himself in an empty parking lot.
“As soon as my lawyer told me my ex-wife couldn’t get any more money from me, that was it,” he said earlier between bites of penne and chicken. “It was time for me to go back to the Jaguar dealer.”
This man, one of eight Jaguar owners invited to a Jaguar-sponsored driving school at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn., is able to spend nearly $1,000 a month leasing a brand-new car. It’s this kind of privilege that opens up an overwhelming array of luxury car choices. Yet despite finicky electronics and a history of high repair costs, Jaguar owners love their cars -- and keep buying them. Another man at the school has two XKRs -- one for the waterfront home in Florida; another for upstate – and has owned eight Jags.
However, most of the owners at Lime Rock Park, a 1.5-mile rural course, had never been on a racetrack before.
Camera in the passenger-side mirror shows a wide-angle view of the driver’s blind spot on an in-dash display.
According to a recent survey commissioned by Ford, almost six in 10 respondents blame blind spots for accidents or near collisions. So it’s easy to see why blind-spot warning systems have proliferated on vehicles in recent years. The LaneWatch feature on the all-new 2013 Honda Accord goes a step further by allowing drivers to better see what’s in their passenger-side blind spot before switching lanes.
LaneWatch uses a camera embedded in the passenger-side mirror to show a wide-angle view of the adjacent road on an 8-inch display in the dash. The camera image automatically appears when the right-turn signal is activated; it can be activated manually by pressing a button on the end of the turn-signal stalk. Although LaneWatch provides a clear view of what’s in your passenger-side blind spot and beyond, it has a few disadvantages compared with a typical blind-spot warning system.
While the car isn't a true R version, this appearance package should soon be available for U.S. buyers at a modest cost.
Pay more, look sportier, go no quicker. That's the idea behind Volkswagen's R-Line packages, a new series of cosmetic options borrowing the letter from the company's racing division. After the CC R-Line in May, Volkswagen announced the Beetle would get R'ed -- excuse us, R-Lined -- beginning this fall in Europe. This isn't to be confused with actual "R" models, such as the seriously quick 256-horsepower Golf R sold here. While a real Beetle R would be a hoot, the Beetle R-Line -- which Volkswagen has not yet confirmed for the U.S. -- offers no powertrain or suspension upgrades.
Not familiar with fledgling electric automaker Fisker? No worries -- here are some quick impressions of the California-based upstart's first vehicle.
The Fisker Karma luxury EV debuted in concept form at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The following year, Fisker Automotive was approved for a $528.7 million loan from the Energy Department's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan program, and in 2011 the first production Karma hit the road.
The Karma has two electric motors that can drive more than 400 horsepower to the rear wheels. At the front of the vehicle sits a 260-horsepower turbocharged engine that runs a generator, recharging the batteries when the car nears the end of its EV range.
Karma has two different drive modes: stealth and sport. In stealth mode, the gas engine does not turn on until the batteries need recharging. Stealth mode allows about 50 miles of silent driving. After that drivers have two choices: starting up the engine to recharge the batteries on the go, or stopping to plug in the car and replenish power from the grid.
Total output in stealth mode is 255 horsepower; however, in sport mode the generator sends power directly to the electric motors, supplementing the batteries and increasing total possible output to 403 horsepower.
Certain 2004 through 2006 models can leak steering fluid onto hot engine components.
Lamborghini is recalling 1,491 Gallardo Coupe and Spyder models to fix pipes that could leak power-steering fluid onto a hot engine and cause a fire.Under hard driving, high-pressure pipes near the hydraulic steering pump can emit chlorine, which can then react with water to eat away part of the metal pipe, according to filings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Leaking fluid could then result in a fire. Gallardo models from 2004, the first model year, through 2006 are affected. In its filings, Lamborghini included Gallardo models built through April 2008, but for some reason it did not specify models from the 2007, 2008 or 2009 model years in the recall.
Lamborghini did not say specifically what it would fix, only that it would "update" the power-steering system. Affected owners have already been notified.
Over the Gallardo's entire nine-year production run, NHTSA has collected four owner complaints, three of which resulted in fires on 2004 and 2006 model-year cars when refueling or driving. Problems with many more Gallardos have been documented on owner forums and in media reports, which show photos and video of the cars either engulfed in flames on the roadside or their frames burnt to the ground.
Lamborghini, which could not be reached for comment, told NHTSA that "there have been no claim of fires, accidents or injury" related to this current recall.
It is rare, but not uncommon, for hand-built Italian supercars to spontaneously catch fire; there are just as many photos of Ferraris on the roadside with massive flames, including the company's new FF. In 2010, Ferrari had to recall its 458 Italia for glue underneath the rear fenders that could ignite from the engine's excessive heat.
[Source: NHTSA]
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Bloggers
Clifford Atiyeh has spent his entire life driving and riding in cars he doesn't own. He was raised in Volvos and has grown to love fast, irresponsible vehicles of all kinds. He lives in Boston, is a member of the New England Motor Press Association, and has reported for The Boston Globe, Car and Driver, Popular Mechanics, and The Times of London.
Claire Martin is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor whose work has appeared in many leading publications. She learned to drive at age 12 on the back roads of Barbados, and then she really learned to drive (20 years later) on the severely rutted-out roads of Argentinean Patagonia. Like all Angelenos, she begins every cocktail-party conversation by kvetching about traffic.
Doug Newcomb has been covering car technology for over 20 years for outlets ranging from Rolling Stone to Edmunds.com. In 2008, he published his first book, "Car Audio for Dummies" (Wiley). He lives and drives in Hood River, Ore., with his wife and two kids, who share his passion for cars and car technology, especially driving and listening to music.
Chuck Tannert is the contributing editor for MSN Autos. During his 20-plus-year journalism career he has covered nearly everything men desire, from automobiles and electronics to style and women, plus a whole lot more. His work has appeared in Cargo, CNET.com, Men's Journal, Wired and many other magazines and websites.
