Malibu Hybrid challenges segment’s best
August 12, 2008
The all-new 2008 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid delivers great performance, fuel economy and refinement, wrapped in a clean, tailored design that carries the global 2008 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid face of Chevrolet. Read more
New Tahoe improves fuel economy
August 12, 2008
Chevy Tahoe’s next generation of the industry’s bestselling full-size SUV is comprehensively redesigned and delivers a sharper, more precise driving feel, more power with improved, segment-leading fuel economy, increased interior refinement and improved quietness. Read more
The 350Z Coupe takes its cues from the original 1970 Datsun 240Z
August 12, 2008
The 350Z Coupe takes its cues from the original 1970 Datsun 240Z - a front engine/rearwheel-drive configuration, two-seat interior, a powerful six 2008 Nissan 350Z Coupe cylinder engine and features a true hatchback body. Read more
General Motors best effort, Buick Enclave
August 12, 2008
The General Motor’s Enclave features a 3.6-liter V-6 engine with 275 horsepower mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. It offers excellent build quality, outstanding handling traits, decent gas mileage, real-world room for six or seven passengers, all-wheel drive bad-weather capability and upscale interiors. Enclave has a stylish body that includes a large signature Buick waterfall grille, huge wheels, a wide stance, beautifully designed dashboard, soft leather seating and library-quiet interior. Read more
New Corvette brings joy
August 12, 2008
Get comfortable. There’s so much that’s new and exciting with the 2008 Corvette including an all-new, larger and more powerful V-8 engine to refinements in driving characteristics that solidify the Corvette’s position as the preeminent American sports car. There are also a host of exterior and interior refinements that raise the Corvette’s luxury status and enhance the feeling of craftsmanship. Read more
2008 Subaru Impreza
August 12, 2008
ALL-NEW IMPREZA® brings more refined interior
The 2008 Subaru Impreza is built on an all-new platform featuring a 3.7-inch longer wheelbase (now 103.1 inches) that improves ride, interior space and utility. A new double-wishbone rear suspension replaces the previous strut-type configuration to provide improved ride and increased cargo room. Read more
2008 Infiniti M receives major upgrades
August 12, 2008
Just two years after its highly successful introduction, the Infiniti M receives major upgrades for 2008 that include the first-ever availability of Infiniti’s intelligent ATTESATM E-TS all-wheel drive system on the 4.5-liter V-8 powered M45.
Other enhancements include revised interior and exterior styling and added luxury amenities and technologies, including the production debut of Infiniti’s newest safety technology, the Lane Departure Prevention system.
The M45 continues to offer a powerful DOHC 4.5-liter V-8, shared with the premium FX45. It is rated at 325 horsepower and 336 pound-feet of torque. The M also utilizes standard four-wheel power-assisted vented disc brakes with anti-lock braking system and Electronic Brake force Distribution and Brake Assist. The steering system is an electronically controlled vehicle-speed-sensitive power-assisted rack-and-pinion.
2008 Infiniti M45
MSRP: $50,250
Mileage: 16 mpg city/ 21 mpg highway
Warranty: two years/60,000 miles
G8 delivers ‘wow’ in all categories
August 12, 2008
If you want to get a feel for the highly anticipated Chevrolet Camaro expected this fall, head to a Pontiac showroom and drive the all-new Australian-built Pontiac G8, which entered the market this spring as a 2008 model. The G8 is based on the General Motors’ global Zeta platform just as the Camaro will be. But don’t be surprised if you come away from your test drive the proud owner of a new Pontiac. It could happen. The Camaro, still just pie in the sky, may have to be put off for a few years. Read more
Cadillac CTS’ Fine Automobile
June 30, 2008
| VIDEO: Click here for the video…by Casey Williams - www.car-data.com
May 2008 Few people thought the first-generation CTS’ far-out interior was up to either the visual or tactile standards set by Lexus and Mercedes. Just sitting inside the newest model brings waves of ecstasy. Where the old car was clothed in cheap hard plastic and vinyl, the new version features French stitching - on the dash, doors, and center console. Sapele wood (the real kind) beautifully panels the doors, upper dash, console sides, and steering wheel. Heated leather sport seats, a relatively large back seat, thick carpeting, and V-related design details make this sport sedan a Cadillac. A power twin-panel sunroof lets in plenty of light, but can be covered to keep it out. Lighting glows from slits in the dash and doors at night. Sad as it may be, I just bought my first iPOD - after buying a stack of old records for my 1958-vintage console record player and converting them to MP3s for convenience. Even for people who sometimes disagree with technology, the iPOD controls are easier than ordering a cheeseburger at McDonald’s. Cadillac offers a cool feature on the CTS that allows you to hook your iPod directly to the car and control it through the audio/navigation control panel. The NAV screen becomes a touch pad that mimics the standard iPOD screen. Very cool. Frank Sinatra, Ricky Nelson, Della Reese, and Eddie Fisher never sounded so good as when played through the 10-speaker Bose 5.1 cabin surround sound. For many drivers, the CTS’ real artistry can be found under its body. You could buy a CTS with the base 263 hp 3.6-litre V6 engine, but I wouldn’t. For a couple of thousand more, you get a direct-injection version that produces 304 horsepower - about 30 hp more than early Northstar V8s, or slightly more than a V8-powered Cadillac DTS. For fun, choose the Aisin-built six-speed manual transmission, but for one of the smoothest drives going, check the option sheet for the 6-speed auto with driver shift control. Fuel economy for an auto-equipped, direct-injected edition is rated 17/26 mpg city/highway. If reading the numbers is exciting, then driving is to wet oneself. Even over rough pavement, the CTS’ stiffer suspension soaked up bumps like an accomplished luxury car, but goes through corners with control and balance. I love the new Cadillac steering wheels that feel perfect in the hand - all the better through which to feel the car’s smooth moves. Stabilitrak slide control, electronic traction control, and four-wheel antilock disc brakes stood at the ready in case the suspension, performance tires, and rear-driven wheels took leave of duty. Engineers refined every detail and it shows most on the highway. The Cadillac CTS hints at the past, lives in the current, but has much room to evolve into the future. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine a diesel or turbo-four under the hood to squeeze pennies from gallons. Those lucky enough to own and drive a CTS already know it is one fine automobile. With an as tested price of $45,200, competition includes the Mercedes C-Class, Infiniti G35, Lexus IS, BMW 3 Series, and Volvo S80. |
A truly fine automobile makes you want to drive to the next universe and back, only to do it again. It’s about taking an extended tour just to enjoy the car’s interior, turning up the radio, revving a powerful engine, and reveling in all of the technology that makes it happen. People knowing you’ve arrived and the style to carry it off is the cherry topper. By that measure, the 2008 Cadillac CTS is one scrumptious cherry. It looks absolutely stunning. Chief GM designer, Ed Wellburn, and his team performed an incredible piece of artistry by combining the best of Cadillac’s heritage with the current age. A large eggcrate grille is detailed with subtle mesh and chrome strips, elegant chrome fender vents hint at power, and vertical taillamps with a subtle raised and extended profile give the hint of a tailfin. Projector beams and LEDs shine the roadway; light tube taillamps appear so thin at night that fellow roadgoers know from two miles back they are chasing a Cadillac. That’s the way it was and is again. Coming, passing, going, day, or night, you know the CTS is a Cadillac.Yet, nothing about the CTS looks like the dated fluff wagons many people associate with GM’s premium car brand. What looks deceptively simple is quite intricate. Complex curves flow out and around the wheel openings, which contain 17″ machined alloys and all season touring tires. A little chrome fender vent is made possible by an intricate body stamping that carves the space. High windowsills make passengers feel protected. Even chrome under the third brake lens was not left to amateurs. You could stare at the grille for hours and not see all of its bits of bright pieces.VIDEO - New Infinity G37 Coupe Test Drive
May 29, 2008
Drive along with Randy Fieur, Regional Product Manager for Infinity Product Planning. While test driving with www.Car-Data.com Randy explains the new Infinity G models, North American market plans, and this particular test drive.
Infiniti’s Grand Tourer, the G37 Sby Chris Jackson - www.car-data.com
I’m too young to have ever met any of the original “grand touring” cars - those four-place two-doors made legendary by Ferrari, Aston Martin and Maserati in the 1960s. I’ve never even sat in an Aston DB5 or a Ferrari Daytona. Even so, I’m astute enough to recognize the concept when I see it, and the new Infiniti G37 is as powerful an embodiment of this respected market niche as anything available today.The G37 certainly matches the description of a grand touring car: it’s a longer, lower and wider four-seat, two-door coupe. Add to that equation an ultra-responsive, great-sounding V6 engine with over 330 horsepower and a comfortable yet athletic suspension, and you just might have road-trip magic. To check it out, we took the G37 on a quick, 2000-mile road trip.
You wouldn’t know to look at it, but the G37 is packing over 330 horsepower. Like a proper grand tourer, it doesn’t shout its performance capabilities to the world like a muscle car. Hidden beneath its smooth lines is a 3.7 liter V6 - as if it weren’t evident by the name change, the G37 gets a larger engine than its four-door counterpart the G35, for the first time. The 3.7 features Infiniti’s Variable Valve Event and Lift (VVEL) system that changes valve timing and lift to improve performance and efficiency. Power’s immediate; drop the pedal at almost any engine speed and the G37 responds eagerly. Electronic throttle control only speeds the engine’s response. On surface streets, the G37 rips off impressive zero-to-the-speed-limit times with ease; on the freeway, it’s a relaxed cruiser that’s ready to accelerate with an instant’s notice, and it sounds great too. The G37 will roll with V8-powered cars easily, while beating their fuel economy numbers. Like in its sedan counterpart, the 3.7’s power comes on with a steadily building rush, and it never feels wound up or wrung out even at high revs. The six-speed manual transmission makes driving the G37 a heck of a lot of fun as well. A paddle-shifter-equipped five-speed automatic is available, as is a launch-enhancing limited-slip rear differential.
The straight-line performance is there, and the G37 lives up to the grand-touring designation on twisty roads as well. It’s too heavy to be an honest sports car, but with a double-wishbone suspension up front and a multi-link rear it was happy to demonstrate grin-inducing stability and grip on the on-ramps and backroads I found myself exploring. Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) stability control is standard equipment, and a new, exclusive-to-Infiniti four-wheel active steering system is available. This system can change the steering gear ratios and move the rear lower links to provide an additional measure of stability and responsiveness in the curves. The controls strike an excellent balance between comfort and communication; this car is easy to drive all day.
It’s not a proper grand tourer if it won’t impress the folks waiting in line at your favorite resort, of course. Here, the G37 doesn’t disappoint, with lines that look right at home parked next to any Jaguar or Lexus at two-thirds the price. The catlike silhouette dips handsomely at both ends, looking at a glance like a hatchback, but the G37 has a proper trunk. Angry-looking headlights are pulled back tight to the fenders, and large lower air intakes lurk beneath an Infiniti family grille. The Adaptive Front Lighting System, whose headlights turn with the front wheels, is available. The G37 looks finished and polished. The taillights are flush-mounted LED units, and large dual exhausts with air diffusers finish the rear end. It’s aerodynamically correct too; when equipped with the optional rear spoiler, the G37 has zero lift at the rear.
The G37’s handsome interior layout avoids the sin of too much plastic and also avoids looking too much like a sports car. Brushed aluminum is accented with polished trim on the dash and door panels, and the car feels modern and purposeful. If you want to go old-school, wood trim is also available. It’s not quite as inviting as it looks though, I had a hard time getting comfortable in the driver’s seat on my long drive, and the cabin is short on small-item space. Travel necessities like maps, notepads and cell phone had to be piled in the passenger seat once the tiny console and door pockets filled up.
Once on the road, the G37’s excellent driving dynamics and Bose sound system made these things seem less significant, however. Standard equipment includes Infiniti’s Intelligent Key with a pushbutton start. The available Intelligent Cruise Control, Bluetooth connectivity, backup camera and navigation system make road-tripping that much more effortless. The navigation system’s touch screen controls could be more intuitive, but overall the G37 is a pleasing travel companion.
Headroom in the back seat is less than optimal, but there is enough legroom for the G37 to be called a proper 2+2, and enough luggage space for it to really be a grand tourer. In fact, the only thing keeping the G37 from true grand tourer status may be the price. Unlike the Ferraris and Jaguars that have traditionally held the distinction, this slick Infiniti stickers for less than $50,000 - considerably less, in fact. Starting MSRP for the G37 is a comparatively reasonable $34,250, with the sportier 6MT manual transmission-equipped version coming in at $35,550.
Specifications:
All specs are for the 2008 Infiniti G37 S
Length: 183.1 in.
Width: 71.8 in.
Height: 54.8 in.
Wheelbase: 112.2 in.
Curb weight: 3668 lb.
Cargo space: 7.4 cu.ft.
Base price: $34,250
Engine: 3.7 liter DOHC 24-valve V6
Drivetrain: six-speed manual transmission, rear-wheel drive
Horsepower: 330 @ 7000
Torque: 270 @ 5200
Fuel capacity: 20.0 gal.
Est. mileage: 17/26
