Showing posts with label Buick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buick. Show all posts

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Buick Enclave


In another, the sixth year Buick Enclave comes with the changes that have lead to the maintenance of a very good sales of this car. As often happens, not experimented much with the figure, which was well received, but decided to change the details to Buick Enclave still looks fashionable.

Modified front and rear lamps. Of course, they are equipped with a diode. Buick also received a new grill covered with a dark chrome.

More attention was devoted designers interior. Buick Enclave from the beginning not enthused materials and styling of the board. After the change is a more modern and most importantly - finishes are high-end. Forms part of the glorious trend that we see more or less than 2 years - the U.S. car definitely catching up in terms of quality design in relation to European and Japanese cars.

Buick Enclave after lifting also provides better comfort than before. Vehicle suspension settings are improved, thus managed to reduce the shock to overcome inequality. For passengers there is also less noise than the working suspension. What's more, auto no longer so expensive mirrors propped in the corners - Enclave provides more fun in the fast lane - although to a level similar European cars still give it a little lacking.

Under the hood is well-known V6 engine with a capacity of 3.6 liters and an output power of 280 hp. Get along well with him proven machine with 6 gears. Just like brothers - Buick Enclave is available with four-wheel drive or front-wheel only.

Buick Enclave seems to be well prepared to fight the competition. Predecessor's weak points are eliminated while not eliminating the existing advantages. But remember that this car is already 7 years in the automotive industry which is almost an eternity.







Thursday, February 23, 2012

The most interesting news on cars in 2011


Combustion of 2 liters per 100 - Engine Ecomotors the Rock

Founded by Peter Hofbauer, former engineer employed at Volkswagen, specializes in producing unique engine with opposed cylinders, in which they work oppositely arranged to each other pistons (OPOCE). OPOCE in each unit has two cylinders, each with two pistons. The advantage of this configuration is the ability to twofold increase in power while reducing weight by 30% compared with the most powerful diesel engines that are currently on the market. It is estimated that a small car with such a body will be satisfied with just over 2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers.

In 2010, Bill Gates and Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems Corporation, invested $ 23 million in the company EcoMotors :-)

Mazda SKYACTIV Technology

Mazda also focuses on internal combustion engines, presenting Skyactive technology, through which the year 2015 all models in the range of the manufacturer are 30% more fuel efficient. The new generation of petrol engines, the manufacturer has applied such high compression ratio, variable valve timing actuator inlet and exhaust valves, and torque increased by 15% at low and medium engine speeds. Diesel units are in turn a low compression ratio, variable exhaust valve lift, dual-stage turbo engine and an active ceramic diesel particulate filter. Added to this are optimized and automated manual transmissions and lightweight body.

Ferrari FF

Much confusion this year caused a new Ferrari FF wheel drive. Under the hood came V12 engine with direct injection engine with 651 hp. This power is achieved at eight thousand. rev. / min. Top speed is 334 km / h and sprint to the hundreds of takes 3.7 seconds. Drive unit 4 × 4 used in this model is much lighter than the classic 4WD. The unit PTU (Power Transfer Unit) is connected directly to the crankshaft. Two separate multi-clutch drive front axles independently of each other, and the torque to the rear axle gearbox distributes the E-Diff. As a result, Ferrari FF 4RM system excels in all conditions, and provides an excellent start on a slippery surface. The price of this unique Ferrari is 295 000 dollars.

Navigation - Audi Connect

Audi connect feature allows the use of interesting services - from the search targets using Google browser by navigating to pictures taken from Google Earth to the WLAN hotspot, through which passengers can freely surf the Internet and send emails. The first car in the world to the request in the factory can be equipped with wireless internet access to the Audi A8. Passengers can also benefit from up to eight devices like laptop, Apple iPad or a netbook connected to the Internet through WLAN module fitted to the car and through UMTS. Another service - Audi online traffic information - just inform the driver to keep the traffic on your route. To use these features need a SIM card with data option.

Electric Motorcycle - Brammo Empulse

Brammo Empulse 10.0 is the fastest electric motorcycle in the market. It reaches 160 km / h and can travel up to 160 kilometers on a single charge. Power source is 57-horsepower electric motor assisted lithium-ion battery 10 kWh. A full charge takes 10 hours (110 volts AC outlet). The manufacturer also offers two less expensive versions of this bike with smaller batteries.

The combination of diesel power at 374 hp - Porsche Cayenne S Hybrid

Porsche shows that the performance and efficiency can go hand in hand. The Cayenne S Hybrid run two engines - petrol and electric - to reach a total maximum output of 374 hp and 550 Nm of torque at 1 500 rev. / Min. Acceleration to 100 km / h in 6.8 seconds, which puts the hybrid model on a par with the V8 version. Average fuel consumption is maintained at less than nine liters per 100 kilometers.

McLaren MP4-12C

The heart design is a V8 twin turbo 3.8-liter capacity. Motor revs up to 7 700 rev. / Min. and a maximum power of 592 hp. Interestingly, after exceeding this value, the motor turns on, up to 8 500 rev. / Min. Torque is 599 Nm, 479 Nm, but is no longer available after exceeding 2 000 r / min. The sprint to 100 km / h takes about 3 seconds and a top speed exceeding 300 km / h 7-speed transmission works in Normal mode, Sport and Track. The driver can choose between the mode of P and H. The former enhances the sound of the engine, accelerates the reaction gas and the gearbox, the latter is responsible for stiffening the suspension and power steering. McLaren MP4-12C also simplify the production cycle of the vehicle body made from carbon fiber, making price the car is only 229 000 dollars.

Ford Focus

The American Ford Focus is not only one of the most elegant cars on the market, but also represents a new approach to the automotive industry in the United States. The renewed the Ford factory in Detroit on the same production line will be created versions of the Focus with combustion engines and electric, as well as hybrids and plug-in. All this will make the compact Ford in the future will be able to compete with the biggest "green" players in the market.

Four-cylinder engine with BMW TwinPower Turbo

Due to rising fuel prices, manufacturers replace the six-cylinder engines wysilonymi four-cylinder units, which are at comparable performance satisfied with less fuel. Motor BMW, with twin-scroll turbocharger and electronically controlled wtryskiwaczom, produces 245 hp from two liters of displacement. BMW 528i equipped with this engine accelerates to 100 km / h in 6.2 seconds (automatic: 6.3 seconds) and can travel a maximum speed of 250 km / h Combustion is maintained at a satisfactory level of 6.8 - 7.1 l/100 km.

Buick eAssist

Hybrid cars are expensive compared to their traditional counterparts, and therefore constitute only 3% of total sales of all new cars. Buick rid of this barrier, pricing model with the 2012 LaCrosse e-Assist at the same level as the conventional unit version with the V6. S-Assist System uses a small battery 0.5 kWh, which increases fuel efficiency by 25% when driving out of town. Buick has not applied, or an additional electric motor and gearbox complicated, so that the car costs 29 $ 960.

Note pedestrian on the road - Mercedes Spotlight

Night driving assistance systems using infrared cameras for data collection and detecting pedestrians or other obstacles. Most systems, however, transmit the image from night vision to a set of indicators, which the driver is not focused their attention on the road, and on the small screen in the dashboard. Mercedes developed the Spotlight feature included in the system Night View Assist Plus, which uses a camera to scan road ahead. When detecting a pedestrian circuit runs four beams of light signals and alerts the driver of potential danger. Mercedes claims that the system detects pedestrians by 1.3 seconds faster than the driver.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Bernie's Top and Bottom Picks from the NAIAS


NAIAS or the most important auto show- the North American International Auto Show is currently taking place in Detroit, Michigan. Despite Detroit being the home of the "Big Three", almost all automakers use this show to show off what they've been working on in hopes to have the next great automobile.

I wasn't fortunate enough to attend the NAIAS this year (I'm currently back in school), however, in true Bernie fashion, I bring to you my top picks from the North American International Auto Show.


Number 5... The Dodge Dart. This particular car, I'm not looking at it from whether or not I would buy one, but I'm looking at it from Dodge's standpoint. Dodge hasn't had a strong compact car/economy car/clown car/funsize car since the Neon, and that was awhile ago. During that era, Dodge dominated it so maybe the Dart would be a solid move on Dodge's part. Let's be real, if you combine the Avenger and the Caliber together, it still didn't make the noise that the Neon made.


Number 4... The Chevy Tru 140S. This looks better than the Chevy Cruze, but sadly, according to Autoblog, it would perform just like the Cruze. *sad face* That means the Tru 140S will have the same 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and it'll put out 150 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque to the front wheels via either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. Which means it'll look better than it performs.


Number 3... Acura NSX. I've never described a vehicle as being sexy and I'm not a fan of vehicles that barely clear the ground, nor have I been a fan of exotic cars. However, if Acura gives the thumbs up and I had the money to purchase this, believe me, I would snatch this up in a heart beat. But if it suffers from the "Chevy Tru" disease (I look fast, but my performance sucks), then I would leave it on the lot.

Apparently because of NAIAS, Acura gave the green light to the NSX which will be produced in 2015. Acura, call me to test drive, I'm available. But if it has less than 300 horsepower, then lose my number.


Number 2... The Bentley Continental GT V8. I Love Bentley. They took their best selling vehicle and figured out how to make it better. They reduced the engine power from the W12 to a V8, lowered the horsepower, thus increasing the MPG. I'm huge on horsepower but Bentley hasn't been stingy with it. Bentley kept the design but made the Continental a stronger vehicle. The difference is- it's roughly $10,000+ less than the W12, you lose about 60 horsepower, but the 0-60 is still the same, plus it gets better gas milage to over 20 mpg. Let me stop, because I'm starting to sound like a car salesman.


Number 1... Of course it's the Ford Shelby 50th Anniversary Edition. But I hear that Carroll Shelby wants to back away from creating the Shelby Mustangs as a whole vehicle, and focus on making the parts to convert a Mustang into a Shelby Mustang. That means he wants to make more money. Either way, I love the car and I'm still working on getting one... or being perfectly content with a Mustang 5.0 GT.



I do have one honorable mention, and it goes to Mercedes Benz. Mercedes Benz has been paying attention to "what's hot in the streets" so to speak and everyone knows that all trends start in the streets. One trend is matte painting a vehicle, and Mercedes picked up on it. Offering high end vehicles in white, flat silver, dark grey, and black and possibly expanding the color palette down the line. It's a great idea, and I commend them being ahead of the curve, but... As a person who has been in the streets (a.k.a. car shows around the country), I've seen many matte vehicles. BMWs have been the most popular, followed by other imports, and I've seen a matte black Lamborghini, plus Jim Jones does have a matte black Audi. I don't think a matte Mercedes Benz will go over well. If they sell more than 9, I will be surprised. I'll give Mercedes an A for effort, but BMW should have came up with that idea since they would have profited more.


Now for my bottom picks...


The Cadillac ATS that everyone was wetting their pants over. Why? It looks just like the Cadillac CTS and usually Cadillac can crank out different designs in their models. I hope Cadillac isn't turning into Nissan. Which brings me to my next bottom pick...


The "Newly Modeled" Nissan Pathfinder. It's newly modeled all right. It looks just like the Murano and Rogue. What's the difference? I won't find out for myself until I can corner Nissan at an auto show in March and April.


Chevy Node 130R. Remember when the present design of the Chevy Camaro was just a concept? Again, that's what this looks like to me, but it probably won't perform like the Camaro.


Lexus LF-LC. That grille... That grille... That grille...


And finally, the Buick Encave. Normally I'm sympathetic towards the Encave because Buick's clientele are folks over 50 and the Encave was the shred of hope for a younger audience. However, the length seems squished and the bumper looks off.


I hope that the vehicles I listed above will strut their stuff at the 2012 New York Auto Show, because I'm going this year...

Photos: AB and NAIAS