Показаны сообщения с ярлыком cars. Показать все сообщения

Ten Cars And The Type Of Women They Attract [Top Ten]

The primary concern of many males purchasing a vehicle (not us of course) is what type of member of the opposite sex it may lure. Here's ten cars and the corresponding women they attract.

Many guys hope their new car purchase will allow them to roll up to the line standing in the cold at their corner club on a Saturday night, and have the hottest woman waiting decide the car running its engine is the coziest place on earth for them. We here at Jalopnik know better. We know unless you're driving up in the hottest of hot supercars, the car you drive has less to do with attracting the girl you really want and more to do with attracting — well — other types of women. So instead of snagging Hottest Woman of 2008 Jennifer Connelly (seen to the left), you'll probably be swingin' with the following. Depending on which car you're driving, of course.

Click On The Photo To See The Woman Each Car Attracts

10.) 80's Era Muscle Car

9.) Late Model Euro Tuner

8.) Jacked-Up Offroader

7.) Rare Italian Exotic

6.) Clapped-Out Rice Rocket

5.) Classic VW Microbus

4.) Mack Daddy Pimp Cadillac

3.) NASCAR

2.) Old School Hot Rod

1.) Sensible Japanese Import

[via Motive]

Read More!

GM Plans Chevy Orlando Concept All-In-One Utility Vehicle, Apparently Unfamiliar With Idiom: “Jack of All Trades, Master of None”

Beating the Ford Kuga to the American punch, Chevy has announced plans to unveil their new crossover SUV, the Chevy Orlando, at the Paris auto show next month. The 7-seater multi-purpose vehicle is part of Chevy’s attempt at shifting with the growing trend, namely, growing young families who need the space, but resist buying a minivan like a cat avoids water. Chevy spokeswoman Nancy Libby explained to Auto News, “Chevrolet is looking at all its options to meet the needs of buyers…We’re looking at what works in markets around the world.”

Apparently, what buyers around the world want is a family wagon/van/SUV crossover that is just ambiguous enough to convey either “I’m a single guy who mountain bikes on the weekends” or “We’re late for soccer practice.” For the ambitious single father whose going for both, however, the Orlando’s rear tinted windows provide the perfect cover for the dual car seats you’ve got riding in the back while you lay your best mack down on the knockout sitting next to you at the red light.

Read More!

Junkies Love Catalytic Converters: Scrap Prices are Up

A Catalytic Converter, cut from a car

Working at an auto salvage yard, you see a lot strange things. The auto scrap business has been tied to scoundrels, freaks, and weirdos for most of it’s history. In fact, the term Junkie actually comes from the fact that heroin addicts used to collect (read:steal) all sorts of scrap metal and turn it in for the few dollars they needed for their next fix. That led to heroin being called junk.

At our business, we had people willing to sneak in, steal 50 dollar aluminum rims, and scrap them just for the metal, which is worth about 7 dollars to them. The worst were catalytic converters (called cats), which contain small amounts of precious metals. Most people don’t realize this, but some of the bigger ones can contain upwards of 200 dollars worth of metal. A bin filled with cats is a big target for thieves.

That high price is because of a recent spike in the metal market; precious metals have gone through the roof and catalytic converters have gone with them. One of the common metals, Rhodium, went up above $10k an ounce recently. Because of that rise in prices, police have seen an equal rise is people stealing cats right from under cars parked in the street. Apparently, even 50 dollars a cat is reward enough for the those maniac thieves to set loose on the honest citizens of the city with their wrenches and their reciprocating saws.

How catalytic converters work:

A Diagram of a Catalytic Converter

A catalytic converter interacts with the fumes from your engine, turning them from dangerous and deadly to cute and cuddly. Actually, it just makes them mostly inert. More specifically, it has 3 main functions, it turns the hydrocarbons into water and carbon dioxide; the nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and oxygen; and the carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide.

It does this using a catalyst, almost always one of three precious metals, platinum, palladium, or rhodium; or a combination of them. It’s those precious metals that make the cats so expensive, even though theres only a sprinkling of the metal in there.

Inside the converter, there is usually a very tight honeycomb structure made of ceramic that’s coated with the precious metals, the fumes pass through the honeycomb and come out the other side as inert gases. About 90% of the badness in your exhaust is converted as it passes though.

Most converters are welded on to the exhaust system, but some cars, especially some SUVs, have bolt on converters. This allows homeless junkies to slip right under the car with an adjustable wrench and a can of WD-40 and be done in no time at all. Even if they’re not bolted on, 2 minutes with a reciprocating saw, and a thief could have your cat and be halfway to the dealers house.

Read More!

The Shuanghuan CEO: Showdown At The EU Corral

The Shuanghuan CEO has been put on official notice.

The uproar started at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year when Hebei, the Beijing-based parent company of Shuanghuan, introduced their new SUV, the CEO, to the public. The Shuanghuan, a 4-wheel drive, 5-passenger, 5-door wagon, features a 5-speed manual transmission, and a DOHC 16-valve, 4-cylinder in-line engine.

Oh yeah, and approximately 120-horsepower.

Regardless of the glaring mechanical differences between the CEO and the X5, the CEO apparently bore enough of a resemblance to the BMW X5 at the Frankfurt Auto Show so as to cause the Bavarian auto company’s skin to prickle. Essentially crying highway robbery, BMW filed a lawsuit against Shuanghuan in September 2007 for blatant design and copyright infringement; ultimately seeking to ban the sale of Shuanghuan CEO’s in Germany. In June of 2008, a Munich court sided with BMW and ordered the production and distribution of Shuanghuan CEO’s in Germany to halt immediately. Additionally, all current models of the CEO are to be destroyed and/or permanently removed from German roads. In response to the ruling, Shaunghuan officials assured the public that they would be appealing the decision to the European Union.

The obvious failure in the German market aside, the Shuanghuan has been met with mild success in the rest of the European market and is rumored to be currently evaluating the merits of a North American launch. I say, Hi-Ho Shuanghuan, we Americans love a little bit of scandal.

Read More!

The 2009 Honda Fit and the New American Way

Can I admit I want a Honda Fit and not be a RideLust outcast?

Admittedly, there’s something bizarre in my brain. A Liberty Bell shaped gland that fuels my thirst for bigness, speed, and loud noises. That’s the part of me saying “No, forget the Fit, its queer. You want horsepower and smoke from spinning wheels, you want danger and difficult to pronounce Italian cars with long hoods”, and its true, I do; I think? But there is something about the Honda Fit. It’s got charm.

2009 will be the first year Americans have the privilege of driving the second generation Honda Fit. Its perfect timing too because oil is up over $140 a barrel and I’m sick of swallowing gas every time I try to siphon it out of my neighbors cars. It’s disgusting.

We’re a bit behind the times though; this 2^nd gen version was released in Japan back in late 2007, and was even named Japan’s Car of the Year in 2008 (just like the first generation was in 2002), beating out the new Impreza and Infiniti G37, among others. That’s some heavy competition.

Honda can win those awards because they’re constantly trying to improve. They’ve addressed just about every issue the first model had. More glass all around for better visibility, better quality interior trim and seats, a stretched out wheelbase for better legroom. And it’s more than just styling. Underneath, there’s a completely reengineered chassis, and an improvement in overall structural rigidity by 164 percent, making for a really solid feel and the added benefit of making the ride a lot less harsh than its predecessor’s. They even upgraded the engine. All that plus 34 mpg, and it starts out at around $14,000. Now you see the appeal.

That’s $14,000 for a stripped down base model. A well equipped model will run you a little more, and a super cool Sport model (with 16 inch alloys, paddle shifters, and a couple rad gadgets) can get you up past 17k if you really try.

Generally, I like Corvettes and Mangustas and zero to 60 in less than 5 seconds. But I also like to zip around like a nimble little auto ninja and not pay 100 dollars to fill up my tank. And I’m not the only one with shifting attitudes.

It’s a changing social landscape out there. Look at video games: instead of the high level technology and menacing façade of the Playstation 3, we’re cartoon bowling on the Nintendo Wii.

Did you know they use Playstation 3 chips in supercomputers? It’s true. Plus it was a Blu-Ray player. And still, the Wii outsold the PS3 by almost 6 million units.

What’s this have to do with the Honda Fit?

It’s the same principle: it’s inexpensive, well made, and fun. I have a feeling Honda is going to sell more than the 70,000 Fit’s they have on hand in the US. Fun is fun, it’s undeniable.

Read More!

The Road Less Traveled is growing in appeal with Slow Road Drivers

Route 66 In a country embroiled with fast cars, fast food, microwave-ovens and express ways, there is a growing number of people who are looking to step back and slow down. While we often brag about how making the trip from South Carolina to West Virginia was accomplished in 9 hours there are certain times where the adventure should be in the travel and the scenes along the way and not about just the speed with which we reached our destination. The slow road as it is called is where some bring the humanity back into the travel and remove themselves from the impersonal blur that is the Fast Food Nation.

The are a number of scenic routes of Historic significance here in the United States and many of them are finding a resurgence in popularity. Route 66 is one of The premiere Historic highways that has finally been seeing a bit of a revival. Not only is there federal money coming in to maintain and preserve the old highway, but even some of the old motels have been restored and reopened along the route.
(more…)

Read More!

Massachusetts Legislature looking to Muffle Modified Exhaust Systems

Tailpipe

If you just bought that new Mustang or Civic you have been dreaming of and you are thinking of mounting up a bit more rumble to your exhaust system you might want to think twice about it if you live in Massachusetts. After enduring much stalling from Sema a law that would ban modified exhausts on cars or trucks “which will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the exhaust” has just been introduced in the Massachusets Legislature.
(more…)

As victim, you may be able to secure a copy of the report faster that ...

Read More!

Latest Cars Reviews Blog

Ten Cars And The Type Of Women They Attract [Top Ten]

Click On The Photo To See The Woman Each Car Attracts

10.) 80's Era Muscle Car

9.) Late Model Euro Tuner

8.) Jacked-Up Offroader

7.) Rare Italian Exotic

6.) Clapped-Out Rice Rocket

5.) Classic VW Microbus

4.) Mack Daddy Pimp Cadillac

3.) NASCAR

2.) Old School Hot Rod

1.) Sensible Japanese Import

Related posts:

Related posts:

GM Plans Chevy Orlando Concept All-In-One Utility Vehicle, Apparently Unfamiliar With Idiom: “Jack of All Trades, Master of None”

Related posts:

Related posts:

Junkies Love Catalytic Converters: Scrap Prices are Up

How catalytic converters work:

Related posts:

Related posts:

The Shuanghuan CEO: Showdown At The EU Corral

Related posts:

Related posts:

The 2009 Honda Fit and the New American Way

Related posts:

Related posts:

The Road Less Traveled is growing in appeal with Slow Road Drivers

Related posts:

Related posts:

Massachusetts Legislature looking to Muffle Modified Exhaust Systems

Related posts:

Related posts:

Archives