CarForums.com: Car and Automotive News
Solstice coupe due next year?
Merely minutes after the Pontiac Solstice roadster was launched, members of the media and the public alike were asking if General Motors had planned to build a hardtop version. Last year, GM’s head car guy, Bob Lutz, said that a coupe was an almost sure thing, and now the automaker is rumored to have the coupe ready at some point in 2008, sooner than was previously expected.
According to Automotive News, the hardtop Solstice will usher in boosted performance expected to be carried into the roadster. Pontiac will stick with four-cylinder engines; any development on a V6 for the cars has been shelved. The V6 engines GM was developing would have been too heavy for the car’s balance, according to insiders familiar with the program.
The Solstice will carry on Pontiac’s performance line, as the GTO is officially off of the tables for at least the short term.
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Spied: 2008 Audi Q5
After May’s spotting of a covered and heavily disguised Audi Q5 crossover, spy photographers today have snapped great shots of an almost fully-exposed Q5.
Audi is believed to have previewed the Q5 with its Cross Coupe Quattro concept vehicle, unveiled in May. The production Q5 will have a less coupe-like roofline than the concept, as we can now clearly see from the photos.
Nearly a year ago, Audi announced it would build the Q5 as a 2008 model, following a 300 million euro investment in the Ingolstadt production facility. The Q5 will be Audi’s answer to the X3 from BMW and Mercedes’ upcoming GLK.
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Spied: 2009 Mercedes GLK SUV
Spy photographers hiding in the desert have captured some very clear shots of the forthcoming Mercedes-Benz GLK SUV, which is designed to compete against the BMW X3 and the Acura RDX, among others. The GLK is due for the ‘09 model year and could be premiered as early as September’s Frankfurt show.
The GLK uses mechanical components from the new Mercedes C-Class, including its basic architecture and running gear. We can see that the GLK really looks like a scaled-down GL-Class SUV. This isn’t surprising as the ‘K’ in GLK stands for kurz, German for “short.”
The GLK might debut as a 2008 model at the IAA car show in Frankfurt in September, however Geneva in 2008 sounds more likely. Yearly production is expected to be 40,000 units with starting prices of about 35,000 Euros.
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On Film: Subaru Outback Sport
We hadn’t seen the new version of Subaru’s Outback Sport - a butch Impreza five-door - until one lucky Subaru enthusiast caught a whole batch of new Imprezas out for a dealer event at the Baltimore Ravens’ stadium in Maryland.
A member at the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club spotted and posted a picture of the new car. From the photo, we can see what looks like painted two-tone styling, a modified front bumper, unique alloy wheels and a more purposeful roof rack. It seems as though Subaru has really watered down the Outback Sport with the introduction of the all-new car.
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BMW 1-Series brochure leaked
The BMW 1-Series Coupe was unveiled just weeks ago, but already a member of an enthusiast forum has gained access to the European version brochure. From the brochure, we can get an idea of some of the new coupe’s details, including exterior measurements and more.
Scanned pages from the brochure are available here
Spied: We don’t know what! Mystery Car in SoCal
Driving around in Southern California can be a chore no matter where you live. On a rare occasion you are rewarded with some speed (over 45 miles an hour is considered rare on some highways during rush hour). Today while driving on the 405 we spotted something special on the road… a test car with full out camo. What’s behind that camo, we don’t know! All we knew at the time though was that we had a camera handy and we snapped all the shots we could.
If you happen to know what this is let us know! We briefy poked around the internet and found nothing. It’s clearly an unreleased SUV or truck and the grill up front looks oddly familiar. Stop by our discussion here and join in the speculation. We have several great photos from all angles for those who are curious!
Australian Ford Falcon leaked
If Ford is thinking anything like General Motors is, the blue oval might be considering importation of the Australian-market Ford Falcon into the United States. Photos of the latest high-performance Falcon were leaked to an Australian website.
Ford has been tight-lipped on whether the Falcon will see its steering wheel move over to the left for U.S. roads, like the Pontiac G8 that GM created from Holden’s VE Commodore. The seventh-generation Falcon shown in these photos, codenamed “Orion,” has reportedly been developed in both right- and left-hand drive variants.
These photos were apparently published in The Herald Sun in Australia, but they were found by one of the newspaper’s readers after a Ford meeting. The Falcon in the photos is likely the production version, which will be shown in March at the Melbourne Motor Show.
The orange car is the FPV-6 Typhoon, the blue is the FPV-GT and the white is the FPV-GT-P. While we don’t know detailed specifications for any of those models yet, at least we have an indication of the model lineups. FPV is Ford’s Australian performance group, similar to the now-defunct SVT in the U.S.
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Subaru simplifies Outback, Legacy lineups
Subaru has decided to drop its Outback sedan and Legacy wagon for 2008. The redesigned models, which go on sale this fall, will be more differentiated than they were in the past.
Subaru figures that dropping its slower selling versions of the car - which share essentially the same platform - will make the choices easier for consumers, as well as more profitable in the long run. The Outback sedan was never a huge seller and most people who wanted a large Subaru wagon chose the Outback, not the Legacy.
Forbes names “Most Affordable Luxury Cars”
One of our favorite non-auto-publications-laughably-doing-car-stories, Forbes has just issued its list of the most affordable luxury cars available today. Sound like an oxymoron? Well, it is, sort of, but their point is a logical one. Even the entry-level models from most luxury players are getting the toys from their bigger siblings. And even in cars that don’t necessarily have more expensive siblings, they have had to adopt those features to stay competitive.
The idea behind the article is to show us the most luxury you can get on a budget. And most of the choices are pretty sound. The trouble comes in where they start to make suggestions like, “Preparing to plunk down $61,715 on a brand-new Lexus LS460? Save your money. Instead, buy a $30,000 IS 250.” The implication that the IS is somehow as good as the LS at a much lower price is ludicrous. They just tend to focus on features rather than performance or room or style, but it makes a decent buyers guide overall. These are solid choices in the near-luxury segment for the most part. Click through the read link to see photos of each along with some of the reasons it was selected.
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Lexus LF-A
The LF-A hasn’t yet been confirmed for production, but the sustained testing of prototypes like this suggest that it’s a definite contender
Toyota officials let slip in Tokyo that the production car, likely to be called the LF-A, too, is going to have a V10 engine, developed from the engines in Toyota’s F1 cars, which is thought to develop over 500bhp and give 280km/h-plus capability. Although the engine is front- rather than mid-mounted, the LF-A will be rear-wheel drive, and Lexus has promised “the ultimate weight balance”, “extravagant comfort” and “precision operation.”
While we’ve now snapped the coupe with only minimal disguising, word is that the LF-A could as well come with the option of a metal folding roof, as Lexus aims to take on the likes of the Mercedes SL65 AMG as well as the Porsche 911 Turbo, Ferrari F430 and Aston Martin DB9 coupes and their drop-top counterparts.
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