Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 vs. Audi R8 5.2 FSI V10. And the winner is...
Just as the leaked photos and spy video portended, the 2011 BMW 5 Series now looks like a 7 Series and has grown closer to the 7er in size and weight as well. The F10, as it's called internally, also has a more potent and fuel-efficient engine lineup. It goes on sale in Europe this January and will reach the United States in June 2010. "Pricing still hasn't been finalized," BMW officials tell us, "but we may see little or no price hike at all on the 535i." So that puts it around $51,925 to start.
Contributing to the enhanced size of the new 5 Series is a longer, 116.9-inch wheelbase, a stretch of 3.2 inches. The sedan also measures 192.9 inches from tip to tail (2.3 inches longer), 73.2 inches wide (0.5 inches wider) and 57.6 inches high (0.2 inches shorter). The new 535i weighs about 3,900 pounds, while the 2011 550i weighs about 4,200 pounds -- an increase of roughly 250 pounds on both.
In the U.S., said engines will initially include BMW's new N55 inline six, which uses a single, twin-scroll turbocharger (instead of two turbos) to develop 306 hp at 5,800 rpm, plus 295 lb-ft of torque from 1,200 rpm to 5,000 rpm. This will of course be the engine in the 2011 BMW 535i, and BMW claims a 0-to-100-km/h (62 mph) time of 6 seconds flat.
The 2010 BMW 550i will feature the recently introduced, twin-turbo, intercooled, direct-injection 4.4-lite V8, which features its turbos tucked into the valley between the cylinder banks. It develops 407 hp between 5,500 rpm and 6,400 rpm, plus 442 pound-feet of torque between 1,750 and 4,500 rpm. BMW claims the BMW 550i will accelerate to 100 km/h from a standstill in 5.0 seconds.
For transmissions, there's the excellent new eight-speed automatic that we've sampled in the 5 Series Gran Turismo, and for a very small percentage of 535i buyers, a new six-speed manual gearbox with dry-sump oiling. The manual gearbox take rate among 5 Series buyers in the U.S. was only 5 percent, you see.
More photos after the jump.
IL News: 2011 BMW 5 Series Debuts in Grand Munich Presentation
IL News: 2011 BMW 5 Series Sedan: Power and Performance
Continue reading 2011 BMW 5 Series Goes on Sale in June 2010, Gets New Engines.
Updated
With a worldwide production run of only 500 for the Lexus LFA -- of which only 150 will come to the U.S. -- the possibility of speculators attempting to buy up a coveted few for the $375,000 retail price and flip them for a big profit is high. Dare we say, ridiculously high.
To head that off, Toyota will only do leases on the 2011 Lexus LFA, which starts production in December 2010. That's right. Lease a supercar for two years, and when that's up, you'll have an option to buy.
"If someone buys it the first month and then decides to sell it, that could be damaging for the ownership experience," Brian Smith, vice president of sales and dealer development for Lexus, told Automotive News reporter, Kathy Jackson. "If it is not controlled and hits the speculation market, all bets are off."
Interestingly, this lease-only program appears to apply just to the U.S. for now. The Lexus Europe communications division reports that LFAs will be sold, not leased, in Europe.
There have been whispers around Toyota's headquarters in Nagoya, Japan, that a certain branch of the automotive division has been in touch with Italian designers, namely Carrozzeria and Italdesign. What's noteworthy about this rumor is that the one allegedly reaching out to Italy is Toyota's hybrid team.
So what does the Toyota's hybrid division want with these first-rate designers? Simple. It wants help in styling a sporty two-door version of the Prius.
We hear that the Prius Coupe will make its debut as early as January, at the 2010 Tokyo Auto Salon, which is essentially Japan's version of the SEMA show.
More details on the project after the jump.
Continue reading Toyota Prius Coupe Rumored to Be in the Works -- with Styling by Italian Firm Carrozzeria.
Buick already sells a car called the Buick Excelle in China, but up until now it has been a Korean-built car based on the Suzuki Forenza/Chevrolet Lacetti siblings. However, General Motors has been testing a Chevy Cruze-derived Excelle for about a year now.
Over the weekend, our shooters caught some photos of a prototype almost completely undisguised. Built on GM's Delta II platform, this new small Buick looks to be in development primarily for the Chinese market -- just like the first Excelle.
The question remains as to whether it has a chance to make it to the U.S. market. The pending arrival of the Opel Insignia-based Buick Regal, with only four-cylinder engines and an available manual transmission, could conceivably pave the way for an even less traditional Cruze-based model. But is that a trip too far downmarket for a Buick model in the U.S?
There's another photo after the jump.
2009 LA Auto Show: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze
Continue reading Spy Photos: Buick Excelle Based on Chevy Cruze.
Updated -- More Photos, 11/23/09
We're told there won't be a press conference for the 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe at the 2009 LA Auto Show, but if you're in Los Angeles for the show, you should take some time with it at the Cadillac stand. The most remarkable thing about this coupe is how little it's changed from the original CTS Coupe Concept unveiled at the 2008 Detroit show. It goes on sale in the spring of 2010.
The production CTS coupe still has the slantier windshield, frameless windows, handle-less doors (touchpad sensors as on the XLR) of the concept. It still doesn't have B-pillars and its C-pillars are so fat, it almost looks like a hatchback. Get over it, we say.
The center-exit exhaust that wasn't fully resolved on the concept is a done deal here with two "dihedral" tips. Though the CTS coupe shares its platform architecture and 113.4-inch wheelbase with the CTS sedan, its rear track (63 inches) is an inch wider. Body panels are of course unique, and the two share their headlamps, grille and front fenders on the outside and their instrument panel and console on the inside.
Only the direct-injected 3.6-liter V6 will be offered on the coupe (though there will be a CTS-V coupe), and it will be rated at 304 horsepower at 6,400 rpm and 273 pound-feet at 5,200 rpm. You can get either the Aisin six-speed manual or GM's six-speed automatic. With the autobox, there's a choice of rear-drive or all-wheel-drive. We'll take the manual gearbox driving the rear wheels, thank you. A limited-slip differential is standard.
More photos and details after the jump.
Continue reading 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe Will Come Standard With Six-Speed Manual.
Not to be outdone by BMW in teasing department, Audi has released this short preview of its upcoming 2011 A8 sedan. Scheduled for an official debut in Miami on the 30th of this month, we've been told that this new A8 is an evolution of the current model, not a dramatic redesign. Click through for Audi's preview video.
Continue reading 2011 Audi A8 Teased Ahead of Miami Debut.
The official debut of the 2011 BMW 5 Series is scheduled for tomorrow, but it looks like BMW couldn't quite contain itself as these teaser shots leaked out onto the net recently.
If anything, they confirm what we''ve suspected all along. The new 5 Series will look much like the latest 7 Series and the new 5 Series GT. Look for full specifications and more pictures comes tomorrow at 2:00 EST.
If you're into cars, Cars and Coffee is the ultimate place to hang out on a Saturday morning in Southern California and today the ultimate Toyota, the 2011 Lexus LFA, rolled in just after sunrise. We'd heard the supercar might be trucked in, but sure enough, it was driven up under its own power and parked in a reserved space.
If you think this flat black car looks familiar, you're right. It's the same prototype we drove for our recent feature story. It now has 4,000+ miles on it -- a big chunk of these at the hands of journalists and engineers driving it on the track. But according to one Toyota engineer, "all we've had to replace so far are brakes and tires."
We didn't get to drive or ride in the LFA today, but we did make videos of 4.8-liter V10 engine starting and revving (and revving), plus the neat adjustable tach face in the cockpit. Those are all after the jump, along with many fine photos of the Lexus LFA just hanging out at Cars and Coffee.
2011 Lexus LFA: 10 Thing You Don't Know About the Supercar
Continue reading 2011 Lexus LFA Shows Up at Cars and Coffee.
We reported in September that the redesigned 2011 Hyundai Sonata will have a direct-injected 2.4-liter inline four-cylinder gasoline engine.
Today, we learned that this engine is an advancement on the company's current Theta architecture and, with the addition of direct injection, it will have an 11.3:1 compression ratio (up from 10.5:1 on the port-injected version). It also has a three-stage intake and variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust side.
In the Sonata, this 2.4-liter will be rated at 201 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque.
In the current market, this ties it with the Acura TSX's 2.4-liter for most horsepower from a normally aspirated four-cylinder engine. And Hyundai has the advantage in torque -- Acura only gets 172 hp out of its 2.4-liter.
And, remember, this is the only the beginning: Hyundai also plans to offer a turbocharged version of this engine on the Sonata making about 240-250 hp.
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