Mercedes Benz has officially previewed the AMG version of the recently launched C-Class Coupe. The car, officially called the Mercedes Benz C63 AMG Coupe is the C-Class coupe on steroids (engine as well as a slightly more aggressive bodykit) and it comes with a normally aspirated 6.2liter much like the one found in the SL63, CLK63 previously and not the latest 5.5liter V8 twin turbocharged AMG lump found in some other Mercedes Benz AMG cars like the latest CLS63 AMG. I am surprised, I thought th
The other day, my car's stereo/radio (or whatever it's called these days) decided to throw a tantrum, and "ate" my newly-bought CD when I wanted to try it out.
Being an in-built unit, there didn't seem to be an easy way to remove the set to retrive the CD. It looked like a job best left to the professionals.
So, I brought the car to the dealer, thinking that they probably knew best what to do.
What I didn't expect, however, was to have to drive without a radio.
Unfortunately, for
The Euro NCAP system has now been applied to electric vehicles as well, and that meant a bashing for the Mitsubishi's i-MiEV. All the 'I's in the names of these electric vehicles are getting a little irritating though. Ipod.. well yes, i-MiEV? That's quite a handful to say let alone type. Who knows, the NCAP system for electric vehicles can become the iNCAP test. Anyway...
The Mitsubishi was the first electric car to be tested and it scored a respectable 4 stars which equaled its rivals
The longtime Car & Driver editor and Automobile Magazine founder, David E. Davis, Jr., has passed on at the age of 80. The man with his fingerprints all over this great business of automotive journalism passed away unexpectedly after complications from bladder surgery at 5:15pm Eastern, 27 March 2011. Davis stands among the founding fathers of modern automotive journalism and is known to refine talent in those working around him.
Davis
When it comes to tuning an Audi, most would think of ABT Sportline. The performance tuner has been tuning Audis since the 1980s and is pretty well regarded amongst Audi/VW enthusiasts. ABT Sportline has had one of its cars, an Audi 200 Wagon driven by James Bond around Bratislavia in The Living Daylights. The Audi 100/200 evolved into the A6, and now, years later we have ABT Sportline tuning the latest C7 Audi A6. Not one of my best opening statements but it does tell you that ABT have been tuni
Audi shows that it is a company with rings of love and compassion. The German carmaker and its workforce will donate one million euros for victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The money will be made available to charities aiding in the humanitarian relief effort. The donation is part of a joint initiative by the Volkswagen Group.
There seems to be a constant stream of news these days about premium carmakers, most notably the Germans, reporting record increases in sales and profits.
The latest one is Porsche, which recently announced that its net operating profits for 2010 tripled over the figures reported in 2009.
The figures were for the short fiscal year from between August to December, but they were impressive nonetheless. Sales were up 59 per cent over the same period, and as a result, Porsche also created mo
The ongoing disaster in Japan caused by the massive earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011 is forcing many automakers to extend production halts on domestic plants well into next week. On 16 March 2011, Toyota announced that it has decided to continue the production halt started on March 14 at all of its plants in Japan, including all subsidiary vehicle manufacturers through 22 March. According to reports, the suspension of production has already cost Toyota some 40,000 vehicles up until now.
This is the new 2011 Aston Martin Virage. According to Aston Martin, the Virage sits in between the Aston Martin DB9 and the Aston Martin DBS. Now the only difference I can tell between the three cars mentioned above is that the new Virage gets the slender lines of the DB9 but it has a bigger rear like the DBS. In short, it is a less aggressive DBS or a more aggressive DB9.
Whatever it is the Virage could be a case of milking the current vehicle architecture for all its worth. Being a small
I've only just posted about how BMW's sales have gone up worldwide, and now comes the news that the Bavarian carmaker are the top selling make in Singapore for February! Wow!
While Mercedes-Benz has topped the charts here before, I believe that this is the first time BMW has become number 1 in Singapore.
BMW sold a total of 378 cars in February to snatch the monthly top spot from Toyota, and by over 140 units too. Quite an impressive feat really.
Despite that, Toyota still remains th
It seemed like only yesterday that we saw Sebastian Vettel clinch the 2010 F1 Championship in Abu Dhabi, but in the blink of an eye, here we are, ready for the new season.
By the time you read this, proceedings for the season-opening 2011 Australian Grand Prix would probably have gotten underway.
I've always been a bit of a fan of Formula One, following the likes of Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen when they battled for the title in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
I know, you mig
Volkswagen has released a new set of accessories for its best selling model, the Golf. Of more interest to most Golf aficionados is a new aerodynamic package, which includes slightly redesigned bumpers, side skirts and a larger roof spoiler. In addition to making the Golf look sportier, VW claims that these new components improve the car's aerodynamics.
Other accessories for the Golf's exterior include two new sets of 17 inch alloy wheels painted in different hues of silver - the 15-spoke
I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that petrol prices in Singapore seem to be constantly going in only one direction of late. So this week's news comes as no surprise.
As someone who utilises the car almost everyday, the rising prices can be quite disheartening, even with whatever discounts we can squeeze from whatever cards or offers we make use of.
That said, I actually came across an article a while back, comparing prices of petrol in the US and various European countries.
And
In an innovative marketing campaign, Chevrolet UK tried to capture the attention of the public with its life-size replica of the new Orlando MPV made from 1.5 tonnes of Play-Doh parked up in a London street.
The Chevrolet marketers came up with the idea after surveying 1,000 UK adults for their favorite nostalgic toy from their childhood. Play-Doh took the first place with 19 percent of the votes. This is followed closely by Legos with 17 percent and Kinder Egg with 15 percent. Crafted by a
Image courtesy of teddy-rised flickr
Its 10.23pm and the ERP gantry along the CTE is still 'In Operation', so what do you do; Pull along side on the road shoulder which is already packed with temporary red and white barriers for roadworks or pay 50 cents and continue your smooth journey home? From what I observed, there are still a few imbeciles who will pull along the shoulder and wait for 7 minutes before the ERP goes off.
Considering that these people pull over, leave their engines switc
The 2011 Geneva Motor Show also brought out concept cars that have a real chance of coming true. One of these cars is the Suzuki Swift S-Concept, a concept car based on the latest Suzuki Swift hatchback that had only made its debut at the end of last year in several markets around the world (but surprisingly not over at this part of the world). This little hot hatch concept is a preview to what the next Suzuki Swift Sport will look like. And it is pretty tasty, although it does look too similar
Volkswagen recently announced the arrival of the new Passat in Singapore with a glitzy launch at the very glamorous and sun-kissed island of Sentosa.
While I didn't attend the event in person (shame really), it seems like Volkswagen chose a very unique place to launch what would be their bread-and-butter executive sedan.
Let's face it, the Passat isn't exactly a model that sets our pulse racing. Unlike its smaller siblings the Golf GTI and the Scirocco, the Passat has always come across
The finalists for the 2011 World Car of the Year have been announced, with the winner to be revealed at the New York International Auto Show on April 21st.
Two very diverse cars, at the opposite end on the car spectrum, lead the nominations with two each.
The electric Nissan Leaf is in contention with for the main World Car of the Year Award, alongside two German sedans, the Audi A8 and the BMW 5-Series.
The Leaf has already won the prestegious European Car of the Year, so it remains
As fears of radiation from Japan's severely compromised Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant seemed to be growing by the minute, automakers have tried to assure car buyers that most of their products are produced far enough away from the crippled facility that fallout won't end up on their vehicles. However, Nissan USA wants to go a step further by performing a radiation inspection on all vehicles imported from Japan.
Nissan is the first Japanese automaker to monitor its vehicles for radio
Honda recalled more than 35,000 Civic hybrids in the United States recently to fix a problem with the electrical system that could cause the headlights to turn off or the engine to stall.
Honda Motor Co. told the US government its recall would cover 2006-2007 model year Civic hybrids. The company said the voltage converter that relays power from the motor assist system to the vehicle
I saw a first generation Honda City on the roads the other day, kinda like the one in the picture above. Judging from the license plate, it looks like it was registered around 1997 or 1998, there or thereabouts.
You may think, so what? And normally I would too. But it caught my eye that day because I suddenly realised that, in Singapore, cars of that era are rapidly disappearing from our streets now.
Lots of these cars, from the period of between 1996 to 1999, have ended up as the victim
The upcoming BMW 1 Series M Coupe (I wonder if they'll use the old M1 moniker or 1M so that we won't get confused with the M1 supercar from the early 80s) will be on duty as the Official Safety Car for the 2011 Motorcycle Road Racing World Championship or MotoGP in short. The specially built 1 Series M Coupe Safety Car will feature in all the races, when needed and is part of the BMW sponsored official cars and motorcycles for the 2011 MotoGP season.
The other official cars include two rese
Sometime in December last year the guys over at Sgcarmart.com had tested the Mazda MX-5 2.0. I happened to have a drive in one recently and I liked it. This car isn't the latest super smiley facelifted one that they tried but it is essentially the same car except this is the soft top 2.0 JDM roadster version with the earlier less-smiley nose that only had 10,000km on the clock. It had the optional hard top fitted when I drove it.
This car is very much the traditional British roadster. By t
