Issue 33.0 is live and ready for your rabid consumption. We’ve got an unusual post-split/alphanumeric soup showdown between the Chrysler 300C and the Mercedes-Benz C300; performance crossover love with the BMW X6, Infiniti FX50, and MTM Audi Q7; And a little thing we like to call theV12 TDI Audi R8 rocking Miami. Read.
Happy Easter from your friends at WINDING ROAD.
Be safe out there!
The average American citizen is more aware than ever that we live in a world filled with Chinese produced items. From home electronics, to clothing, to the much-publicized children’s toys, “Made in China” stickers are ubiquitous in almost every walk of life.
And though Chinese made parts have been found in the transportation industry for sometime, Americans as a whole are just starting to awaken to the idea of whole Chinese vehicles coming to our country. Which is why we were particularly interested when we discovered a small company selling Chinese-built, and all-electrically-powered, mopeds, right in our backyard of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
John Harding (pictured) is the owner and proprietor of Revolution Electric Vehicles here in Ann Arbor. His operation is about as small as sales ventures go, primarily utilizing his web site to connect potential customers to the “home office” of X-Treme scooters. Though his sales volumes may be tiny, Harding is a self-avowed EV “geek,” and was ebulliently informative when we visited with him to test out his XM-2000 Electric Moped.
Some days are just better than others in the world of automotive journalism. Though we like to think that we have some of the best jobs going here at WINDING ROAD, there are certain occasions where things get ramped up to damn near perfect.
For example, tomorrow morning we’ve been granted permission to stop by the General Motors Design HQ and have a poke around two of the hottest new products on the planet, the Corvette ZR-1 and Hummer’s still unseen HX Concept.
So in addition to shooting some video and taking several thousand pictures, we’d thought we’d pass along the opportunity for our readers to get involved in the process. So we ask you, what questions do you have about the super Vette and the newest Hummer? Something you’d like to see? A fact that you just can’t ferret out?
Let us know what questions you have of us or GM in comments, and we’ll do our best to answer them in an upcoming post.
We’ve compiled our most popular road tests from the past twenty-seven issues and threw in some of our editors’ favorites for good measure.
Our 278-page Greatest Hits issue is full of our best reviews, features, and videos from the entire back issue collection of WINDING ROAD. Don’t miss this collection of our best stories, including road tests of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4, Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 Roadster, and Cadillac CTS.
The fine people of the Ford Motor Company delivered a 2008 F-150 Lariat to us this morning for a one-week stay in the WINDING ROAD fleet. Fresh off the line, this F-150 is about as fully loaded as anyone could want. Upon entering the F-150 for the first time, we found a fresh box of Froot Loops cereal in the passenger seat and were curious about this seemingly random finding. However, a dive into Ford’s media site revealed the answer.
(Click the images below to open a high-resolution gallery, and click through the jump to find out why this F-150 included a box of cereal.)
Best wishes for a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from all of us at WINDING ROAD!
We generally take for granted that we’ll be safe when we get behind the wheel. Most of us will be; others won’t. Take Porsche racing driver, Rick Bye. On January 29, 1998, he was transporting his race-car hauler to the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. Rick was behind the wheel of his Ford F-350 pickup. As he crested a hill on Interstate 77 in North Carolina, he saw the back ends of two tractor-trailer rigs that were stopped and waiting for traffic to clear. There was no way he could stop in time. The cab of Rick’s truck plowed into one of the trailers, and his tragedy began. Fortunately, one of his race crew, Rob, walked away with only a few bumps and scratches. Another one of those strange instances when one person walks away from a horrific accident and the other needs to be cut out of the vehicle and airlifted to the hospital. Rick was given a two percent chance to live and Crash Test tells the story of what it took to beat those odds – from the phone call about the accident to the day Rick left the rehab center.
(Click through to read more about Crash Test.)
We’re happy to announce that WINDING ROAD is serving up full posts in the RSS feed. This change actually took place a few weeks ago, but with our coverage of the Tokyo Motor Show and the SEMA show, the announcement got lost in our inbox. Subscribe to our feed and you’ll never miss a post.
To subscribe to our RSS feed, simply add this link to your reader of choice: http://news.windingroad.com/?feed=rss2
Once or twice every six months since the reveal of the Volkswagen Ragster concept at the January 2005 North American International Auto Show, an accomplished sketch artist has been commissioned by an accomplished car magazine to create the New Beetle 2 that VW will bring us as a 2010 model, and perhaps will show us in near-final form as early as the November 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show. Rumors abound, too, of a design prototype being shown early next year. There have been a few interesting takes on this sacred mission to date, some based reportedly on the infamous river of “leaked sketches” from VW design offices in Wolfsburg or Santa Monica.
(Note: WINDING ROAD is now open to read, with no registration required)
Press days for the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show are right around the corner. As you’re reading this, the WINDING ROAD crew is en route to Tokyo to start live coverage of the show. In case you’ve forgotten what we’ll be checking out while we’re there, there’s a comprehensive list of the major debuts for the Tokyo Motor Show after the jump.
(Follow the jump for a quick recap of planned Tokyo debuts.) continued →
Correspondant-For-A-Day David Porter filed this report from this weekend’s big Formula SAE Toronto Shootout, where the No. 72 car Cornell University entrant (sponsored by our humble publication) took home the overall victory:
Formula SAE teams from fourteen universities gathered this weekend at Mosport Park to compete in the annual Toronto Shootout. Formula SAE is a collegiate competition where students design, build and drive small formula-style race cars that compete in competitions around the world. The students are encouraged to innovate within the rules, furthering their education and developing new technologies for the auto industry.
As the full Mosport track was too large for the FSAE cars, the course was set up on the Mosport kart track. The teams got sets of two autocross laps, with only a short break in between. To win overall, each team had to field at least three drivers, with the average of each of the three driver’s fastest times being the team score. In addition, awards were given to the fastest drivers from each team.
An overcast day with chilly temperatures kept lap times in check, but the competition for fastest time was still fierce. Cornell University, the University Of Toronto and Michigan State University traded fast lap times throughout the day. Cornell struck first, posting a 55.3 early in the morning. This lasted until midday, when Toronto and Michigan State both beat the time, posting a 54.6 and a 54.4, respectively. However, Cornell’s David Porter finished the day with the overall fastest time award, lapping at 54.17 seconds.
The overall team award was difficult to gauge throughout the day, as the team times were not released until the end of the day. When the dust settled the WINDING ROAD-sponsored Cornell University team emerged victorious, claiming the overall team title. David Porter, Mike Rooks and Erik Shewan contributed to this team effort. Saginaw Valley State University had a strong showing as a rookie school at the shootout, coming in second. Annual contender Michigan State finished out the podium in third.
Diesel with Attitude: The Audi A3 TDI Clubsport Quattro
Report: Volkswagen Working on Driverless Self-Parking System for Production
More Spied Images of New Camaro Interior
Early Scoop on Volkswagen Tiguan's U.S. Launch, Diesel Delayed? Not Coming? 
Report: Mercedes-Benz to Leverage Aluminum for Next E-class
