zoomvroom Car Reviews, New car info

Been Pulled Over by Officer Chevy Caprice PPV?

Over this holiday season I was so dazzled by cars in la-la land that I forgot to post.  I’m back on track.  Are you ready for some more interesting posts?

As you know the traditional donut-carrier is the Ford Crown Vic.  Some of you who’ve been pulled over for speeding might know this…  And I’m NOT talking to you Schmooey…

15 years ago, the only true Ford Crown Vic competitor from Chevy, the Caprice, was phased out.  Since 1996, we’ve been terrorized by donut-eating cops in Ford Crown Vics and Dodge Chargers.  True, the Charger is a great car, it’s just not meant for much except pursuit…  Now, Chevy is a player in the game… Since the Pontiac G8 (we all should have good feelings for it!  RIP Pontiac…) was killed along with the rest of the brand in 2010, there’s been no cop car (definitely NOT the Impala!) to compete with the Charger and Crown Vic.  Behold the all-new, all-cool Chevy Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV)! With a mighty 385 horsepower, 355 lb-ft of torque, 6.2 liter V8 (a de-tuned Corvette engine), fast-shifting six-speed automatic with overdrive and sport mode, traction control, 2,000 lb towing capacity (up 550 lbs from the Crown Vic!), stability control, optional light bar, standard titanium push bar (bye-bye UPS truck…), and special wheels forged out of steel.  Inside, there’s a MacBook Pro laptop computer (no more PC’s in cruisers!), column shift, plastic rear seat, a trunk big enough to fit a dirt bike, navigation, alarm system, CB radio (we can’t seem to get rid of these things!), a special nook in the driver’s and passenger’s front seats for cops to have much less lower back pain (stop eating donuts!!). Really it’s so they can drive without having to worry about jamming their guns. It also has an automatic parking brake, and front leather seats!  Now I’m wanting one…Hint, Officer…

According to GM chairman, Rick Wagoner, “we’re hoping to start getting these cars’ keys into police officers’ hands by 2012.  If we can do this, what’ll Ford do?  We’re also thinking of selling them as fleet cars to rental companies.”  Don’t start selling them to rental companies just yet!  Wait until next year, and use this car as the next-generation Impala!  What I just said is my hope, and previous GM chairman, Bob Lutz’ dream. Just so y’all know, this car isn’t all American.  It’s based on the Australian-market Holden Commodore (which is SOOO popular for road racing).  If this does become the next-generation Impala (or better yet, Chevelle!), then it looks like I know what my new Baby is!  Oh, and it’s got a 155 mph GOVERNED top speed.  Theoretically, without the governor, think closer to 190 mph!  VROOOOOOOOOM!! If you’d like to know even more, please visit: gmfleet.com

And Ford is trying to sell the Taurus SHO as a pursuit car!  Good luck with that, Ford…

http://www.chevroletcapriceppv.com/

zoomvroom Car Reviews, Field Trips, New car info

Even MORE Live Coverage from the San Francisco International Auto Show!

So, I’m sure that most of you know that the San Francisco International Auto Show ended  sometime last week.  But, I CAN give you the inside scoop on a few cars…  At the Toyota stand, there were two Camry Daytona 500 Pace Cars that were unlocked!  Toyota did a great paint job on their Camry Pace Cars, so I just HAD to snap a photo of the Daytona 500 logo.  

This was the Camry I was able to get into.  Even though Toyota put a five-point harness in, beefed up the airbags, and put an awesome paint job on, this Camry is totally stock.  It’s the newest generation (9th), an XLE model (V6, six-speed automatic, cool rims, leather interior, navigation system, Toyota Entune entertainment system, HID headlights, and it makes 268 horsepower!  WHEW!  That was a long sentence.  

Sticking with the Japanese, the REALLY small Mitsubishi IMEIV took up almost as much space as a SMART fortwo!  The IMEIV looks a bit bigger than it is…  So, I went to the SFIAS (San Francisco International Auto Show) with my good friend Joshua Valentino.  While at the Hyundai stand, we met another car nut; Greg.  Since the Mitsubishi stand was right next to the Hyundai stand, we decided to take a look at the IMEIV.  Greg decided to try hitting the backseat with his elbow.  The backseat was so flimsy that it flipped BACKWARDS, taking Greg with it!  Joshua and I thought it was REALLY funny!  So, I’ll give you the inside scoop on the IMEIV.  It is all electric, built for eco-weenees who only have $10,000, want a car with 50 horsepower and 177 lb-ft of torque, and only drive 100 miles a day…

Over at the Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram stand, there was once a mighty Jeep Wrangler with lots of chrome…  Okay, I’ll stop with the bad poems…  This Jeep Wrangler has the all-new Pentastar V6, a six-speed automatic, chrome, beefy tires, and a leather interior.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that it has RUNNING BOARDS!!  Just 30 years ago, you had to weld running boards onto your surplus Jeep, there was no chrome, no Pentastar V6, no six-speed automatic, and no leather interior!  This Jeep is part of Jeep’s new way to attract buyers who want looks, power, off-road capability, and be comfy inside.  The Pentastar V6 makes 283 horsepower and 290 lb-ft of torque hooked up to a six-speed manual or automatic.  It has the option of rear-wheel drive, or four-wheel drive .  

Staying American, we head over to the Fisker stand.  With their brand-new (good) Karma, Henrik Fisker, the man who penned the: BMW Z8, Aston Marton V8 Vantage, and Jaguar XJ220 believes he can sell 2000 Karma’s a year.  Priced at $81,300, the Fisker Karma is the working person’s cool car.  The Karma has a total of 403 horsepower and 960 lb-ft of torque, mated to a 1-speed automatic transmission.  It has a 3.73:1 rear axle ratio that helps propel it to a top speed of 125 mph!  

Straying back to Asia, the small SUV, the Hyundai Tuscon was a star attraction over at the Hyundai stand.  With it’s 176 horsepwer, 155 lb-ft of torque engine that’s mated to a six-speed automatic and in this case, four-wheel-drive, it can tow up to 2,000 pounds, haul 1880 pounds, go mildly off-roading, and go to a maximum speed of 112 mph.  Plus, it gets 20/28 mpg for city and highway, as tested by the EPA.

Thanks for putting up with my HORRIBLE poems and okay pictures (I promise better ones next year)!  Even though the show has ended (only five days ago…), I was thougthful enough to attach the website for you to look at sfautoshow.com

I hope to see some of you next year…

zoomvroom Car Reviews, New car info

The Beginning of the Big Bucks!

Hi there, I am truly sorry that I haven’t posted this last week.  I’ve been loaded down with more than mountains of homework.  So I figured I’d try and make this exciting as compensation for the week off.

I know that the holidays won’t start for a while, but it’s time to start thinking of buying presents.  So, I found a present that y’all can pool your money together so I can have this as a present.  Think that you could get one for me?  Pretty Please?  Newell P2000i RV

This fine example of the Newell P2000i RV.  It is a very expensive, large apartment, amd it happens to be on wheels (as you can see).  This pristine 2011 model belongs to PGA golfer Rory Sabbatini.  All of the options on this bus amounted to a mere $314,950!  I guess when you have that much money, a few hundred thousand isn’t even a dent in your yearly income.

The buses are built in Mickey Mantle’s hometown; Miami, Oklahoma.  The factory is a 120,000 square foot warehouse smack-dab in downtown Miami.  There are 11 stations where the hand built buses are assembled.  The 60-foot paint booth will paint your bus however you like it, as long as it doesn’t involve a color mural of a naked woman.  If you look closely at this picture, you will see that there is a small mural of mountains (it reminds Sabbatini about his hunting hall up in Oregon.

The massive Cummins Diesel engine is 15,948 (16 liters) CC, and puts out 650 horsepower and 1950 foot-pounds of torque.  Yes, you heard that right: 1950 foot-pounds of torque!  The engine alone weighs 1349 pounds and is rear-mounted.

The interior is custom-built however you like it.  The normal entertainment options are a flat-screen HD TV, Sony DVD/MP3 player, and Bang & Olufsen audio system.  And that’s just standard!

A normal galley has an oven, sink, garbage compactor, and two-burner stove.  Should you wish for a larger galley, a four-burner stove is available, but at the expense of cabinet space.

The laundry area has a standard Whirlpool Cabrio washing machine/dryer combo.  There are cabinets to store laundry supplies and laundry.

The living area.  The living area is in the entertainment room, but you can move it wherever you like it.  The standard bed is a king-size bed, with folding cots.  There is also a Murphy bed floor plan! Look out!   I knew that I shouldn’t have asked for one of those stupid Murphy bed floor plans!  They always hit you on the head when you turn!

Newell makes 24 coaches annually.  20 for customers, 4 for demonstrations.  Recently, the Sultan of Brunei had a customized Newell coach built with carbon-fiber flooring, movie-screen size HD TV, an altar, a full bathroom, and a Wii, XBox 360, Mac Pro, and two king-size Murphy beds!  His coach cost $2.76 million!

Ready for my dream Newell?  I CAN dream, right?  Ready?  I thought you might not be…

My Newell coach would have the floor plan F4, 45-foot length, optional Three-TV entertainment system (one small TV in the bathroom, one large TV in the entertainment room, and one large TV in the bedroom, all HD TVs), carbon-fiber countertops, wood-burning stove in the entertainment room, and, since most owners tow a car, a custom-built trailer by Featherlite Trailers, and a very good navigation system (when you’ve got something 45 feet long, you really DON’T want to have to do a u-turn!).  The car that I would tow on my Featherlite trailer would be a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport!  VROOM! Oh, and I would LOVE to have a Mac Pro in the galley!  You just never know when you might need it…

So you can have a house, or this beauty.  I choose this!

The website for Newell coaches is:  http://www.newellcoach.com/flash.html

zoomvroom Car Culture, New car info

New Cars!

Hello and Welcome Back!  Now don’t you go bein’ downhearted and downcast ‘cuz my promise from my last post didn’t work out!  Construction pictures to come!  Patience is a virtue.  Good things come to those who wait.  “All human wisdom is summed up in two words – wait and hope.”  Alexandre Dumas.  “Patience is the companion of wisdom” St. Augustine’s priest.  You have the idea, be extremely patient, otherwise “nothing of importance happened today.”  King George III, July 4th 1776.   

Two years ago, the economy was tanking and the auto industry took a major hit.  Last year, the economy (briefly) improved, and better cars started pouring out from the factories.  Many cars debuted at auto shows (Ford Mustang 5.0, Honda CR-Z, Caddy CTS-V Coupe and Wagon…).  There was a lot of buzz at all the auto shows last year.  Many cars also met their demise (fortunately), such as the: Chevy Aveo, previous generation Ford Focus, Ford Mustang 4.6 & 4.0, and Bentley Arnage.  Many more also didn’t see the new light.  There were substantial updates on the: Honda CR-V, Subaru Impreza WRX and WRX STI, and the Ford F150 SVT Raptor.  Many others are worth mentioning, but I’ll spare you the boredom. 

This year, many performance cars (Pagani Huayra, Scion FR-S, Ford Mustang Boss 302, Chevy Camaro ZL-1, etc) made their debut.  All the major (and minor) auto mags like these cars.  Other vehicles (Ford F-Series Super Duty, Chevy 2500 Silverado, GMC 2500 Sierra, Ford F150 [with new engines], Huyndai Equus, and Genesis R-Spec) have been revamped. 

More and more vehicles are being imported (Fiat 500, Scion iQ…) from foreign countries (Japan, Germany, England, Italy, and North Korea).  The Indian Tata Nano won’t be imported here unless you want to see the inside of a Federal Prison. 

The Scion iQ is expected to arrive on our shores shortly after Thanksgiving because of the disaster in Japan.  Toyota had made a lot of iQ’s for the Chicago Auto Show, when the tsunami and earthquake hit and over 200 iQ’s were destroyed.  It will be a competitor to the Smart ForTwo, MINI Cooper, and Fiat 500. 

We can also hope to see a Lamborghini sedan, and a Bugatti sedan called the Galibier.  A few months ago, a eulogy was delivered for the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (rest in peace).  Now the only available new Veyron is the Grand Sport convertible.  How about going 253 mph and getting a tan?  VROOM!

I can safely promise you that by the end of the month you’ll be glued to your chair and computer reading my blog!  There’ll be heavy machinery, MORE new car info, and best of all, a SURPRISE!  Yay!

zoomvroom Car Culture, New car info

My first (and possibly last) cars!

The Bijan Bugatti

You know the old saying “An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor away.”  Well, Here’s another saying: “A Bugatti Veyron a Day Keeps  Sadness away.”  Well, you shouldn’t buy one a day, as your house will be foreclosed on, but imagine if you COULD have one a day! Or how about one for a day?  I can…

But, I think I should get to the point.  When I was recently down in So Cal, I saw not one, but TWO Bugatti Veyron’s!  And, did I mention that I saw them both in 1 day!  Awesome!

One of them was on Rodeo Drive in front of the Bijan store.  Nice…  I couldn’t help but take pictures for you!  I was walking Rodeo Drive with my grandpa Jack, looking for something nice when I spotted the Veyron.  We went across the street and took some pictures.  Grandpa Jack knocked on the Bijan door, and we were beckoned in.  There was a small version of the Veyron inside a glass case.  We were told that it wasn’t for sale, but merely a display.  But, IF you buy a Veyron, Bijan will make a limited-edition Bijan Bugatti Veyron.  Are you Veyron owners listening out there?  I hope so.  I REALLY want a Bugatti like the Bijan one:  Yellow and Black on a black/carbon fiber interior.  Wow.  That car is positively the best-looking car ever!

 

Bijan's Bugatti Model

The other was at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.  I took pictures of that as well.  My mom spotted the one at the Peninsula.  Here’s a funny story that happened while she was taking pictures.  While she was taking pictures of the Bugatti on her phone, a young man came up to her and said “it’s so expensive, it should come with a girlfriend and cover her maintenance costs!”  He then proceeded to also take pictures!  That must have been a cool sight!  Two people next to each other, taking pictures of the second-fastest- and second-most expensive car in the world!  Wow!  The Veyron at the Peninsula is similarly amazing; it is Gray and Black, with the same interior (Bugatti only offers one interior design).

The valet’s don’t know who owns it, because the hotel manager parks it.  He parks it in a spot where you HAVE to look at it!  Nice, huh?  The valets aren’t allowed to tell anybody who owns the Veyron (if they knew).  All they know is that it’s somebody extremely wealthy (or somebody extremely in debt!).  My Grandpa and I went back to see it.  Awe inspiring!

Bugatti Veyron

Are you ready for the spectacular specifications for the Veyron?

– W16 engine:  1001-1200 horsepower, 922-1106 foot-pounds of torque.

– Ricardo 7-speed, dual-clutch automatic:  Shifts in sport mode: as short as 80 milliseconds.

– All-Wheel-Drive:  Torque-vectoring rear axle (only on Super Sport), 3.92:1 rear axle!

With all that horsepower and torque, can you imagine how hard it would be to drive with a six-speed manual transmission?  You’d have to be a Top Fuel Dragster driver (that is with a manual!)  Yikes!

One last picture to leave you with…..

Bugatti Veyron
zoomvroom New car info, People's first car's and funny stories

Grandma’s new Nissan Maxima

My Grandma just got a brand-new Nissan Maxima 3.5 SV with the Premium Package.  She drove it home just last Thursday from the dealer.  As soon as the door is opened, that lovely new car smell wafts out like flowers on a spring breeze.  Oh that fleeting new car smell…  I wish I could have an air freshener that smelled like that.  I’d put it above my bed!  It would alleviate all the teen smells my mom says come out of my room.    

Sporty and luxurious, the Maxima meets Japanese efficiency.  To the average person, the Maxima looks extremely sporty.  Get a little closer, and you can see the rear fenders bulge.  A bit odd, considering it is a front wheel drive car.  Still, I like the looks.

My grandma’s car is gray on black leather.  THe 290 hp engine is strong feeling/sounding, with dual exhaust pipes.  The CVT (continuesly variable transmission) has sporty paddle shifters and 6 ‘ratios’ programmed into it.  The front-wheel-drive system uses a special system, so that there is only torque steer at full throttle!  Cruising at 60 mph, the engine barely revs higher than 2200 rpm.  When my grandpa  passed a truck, the engine only reached 2450 rpm in 2nd “gear.” Cruising along, the cabin is quiet and road noise is diluted.

 

Way back in the 1980’s, when the Maxima came out; Nissan called the Maxima the “4DSC (4-door-sports-car)”  It really was a 4DSC!  It had a powerful V6 and a standard five-speed manual transmission.  That fame kind of went to Nissan’s head, and the Maxima started to get less sporty:  It lost it’s manual tranny, it’s sporting nature got more luxurious and relaxed.  Now, with the new Maxima, Nissan is starting to change that luxurious lump into a better car.  Sure, the Maxima ain’t no 4DSC like the Porsche Panamera; but it’s gettin’ there!  Keep up the hard work, Nissan, and you just might have a riot of a car to drive!  VROOOOM! 

http://www.nissanusa.com/maxima/?next=header.vlp.postcard.picture.thumbnail.

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/oneyear/112_1005_2009_nissan_maxima_verdict/index.html

zoomvroom New car info

Vroom-vroom-vroom-zoom! Ferrari’s newest car: a hatchback!

This post is dedicated to the recently deceased editor-in-chief of Car and Driver, David E. Davis Jr.  I heard of the news when I received my June 2011 issue of Car and Driver.  David E. Davis Jr. died while recuperating from cancer surgery on March 27, 2011. 

What’s next from Ferrari?  A minivan with a V12? Most likely, no.  Darn! (It would look awesome though!)  If I worked at Ferrari, then I would design a Ferrari mini-van and get one for my mom!   

Ferrari’s newest kid on the block will probably be a target for the big competitors on the grand touring car block.  I can tell you one thing: it certainly isn’t an ugly duckling (or a slow one for that).  It will outrun many competitors, and out power them, too.  The new kid is named the Ferrari FF, which stands for Ferrari Ferrari Four!  The FF is the first Ferrari with four-wheel-drive!  If you can afford one, then you can go up to the ski resort, without having to buy a Jeep! Another cool gadget is an additional tachometer and speedometer.  As with all other Ferrari’s, the FF has a mannetino switch, which controls the stability and traction control systems.  The FF gets 25% better fuel economy than its predecessor, the 612 Scaglietti.  If you think that the engine may look like a double-headed vacuum cleaner, then think again, it doesn’t sound like one!  Sadly, all this awesomeness is held back by a Chrysler navigation system.  YUCK!  You can compare the FF with the Porsche Panamera, but that is kind of pointless.  The FF nearly matches the Panamera’s utility and passenger space.  Even with AWD, the FF is only eleven pounds heavier than the 612.  The FF’s cost is nearly double that of a very-well optioned Panamera Turbo.  If you want one, then you will have to wait for a bit, as the first year of production is sold out.  The FF succeeds in its mission to be one of the coolest-ever grand touring cars ever. 

I am attaching the link for the FF from Car and Driver’s website.  http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/11q1/2012_ferrari_ff-first_drive_review