Car of the Day

October 16th, 1959 the original El Camino was born.  At Car of the Day we don’t spend a lot of time looking all the way to the 50s for topics.  The El Camino is about to be reborn.  And not simply reborn as half-car and half-truck.  It will be reincarnated as sports car — er — sports truck.

Can you call an El Camino a sports car?  In 2010 the Pontiac G8 ST will hit the market.  It will be powered by the same 361hp 6.0 V8 found the G8 sedan.  And it will be a sports car.

Pontiac is publishing a 0-60 time of 5.4 seconds and be able to tow 3500 pounds and carry 1300 pounds of payload.  There is a possibility that this Pontiac could end up with the El Camino name, but that is still being worked out.  

If the G8 ST ends up with the 6.2 LS3 engine from the Corvette it could be the best sport truck ever.  Faster and better handling than any truck to come from a factory.  An El Camino revival may not make sense to you, but it will some and to those people, this is a very special car.  Stay tuned for more sport truck news.  Jalopnik has more G8 ST details for those who are interested.

As the El Camino celebrates its 50th year, Car of the Day also celebrates a minor milestone of its 100th post.

Hyundai has quietly been making better and better cars over the last few years.  Quality cars that are best know for good build quality and great feature sets.  The same way Acura did back in the 80s and 90s.  Hyundai is now bringing an honest to goodness luxury car to the American market.  When Toyota did this, they did it with Lexus.  When Nissan did it they used Infiniti.  When Hyundai is doing it, they chose not to incur the cost of launching a luxury brand and pass the savings on to you.  

The Genesis has been getting great press and is an impressive offering from the Korean car maker.  Hyundai isn’t just following the Japanese playbook on how to be a successful automotive company, they have some original moves too.  

Chief among the original moves is to launch a coupe version of their flagship sedan.  A luxury sport coupe along the lines of a S5 or a BMW 6 Series.  The coupe will feature the same 310hp V6 from the sedan.  

Keep your eye open during the Super Bowl this year for the Genesis Coupe. Apparently, Hyundai has picked up some General Motors’ ad time during the big game.  $27,000 for a luxo/performance coupe, not too shabby.

I was going to entitle this “Sleepers!”  However, I didn’t think it was proper to use an exclamation point after “sleeper”.  By their very nature sleeper cars are understated and very much anti-exclamation point.  

Cars that fast without advertising to world that they are fast. Motor Trend’s WOT says this:

Cars like this have many names (sleepers, stealth cars, Q-ships) but they all serve the same purpose — to allow you to drive at a (responsibly) high speed without instantly getting in a Dukes of Hazzard-style showdown with the fuzz. Sure, they may not be the hottest looking vehicles on the planet, but what’s the use of having a sleek sports coupe when you’re tooling along in the slow lane, afraid of getting points on your license? 

The guys at Motor Trends WOT blog have a great article entitled The Top 10 Cars for Driving Fast (Without Getting Caught).

Sleepers are some of the funnest cars on the road.  Car of the Day has chronicled some of the great sleepers in times past cars like:

• Cobalt SS Sedan
• Contour SVT
• Civic Si Sedan
• Infiniti M45
• Jaguar S-Type R
• Altima SE-R
• Saab Turbo X
• Volvo S60R

The greatness of the turbo-charged Cobalt SS is being extoled all over the automotive press.  It is a quick, slick handling, enconomy, and legitimate sports car.  The 4-door version is now available.  

Autoblog.com says about the SS Coupe and a recent comparsion by C&D:

Fortunately, the latest issue of Car and Driver includes a massive comparison test called the Lightning Lap in which 22 cars ranging in price from the $22,995 Cobalt SS to the $282,306 Ferrari 430 Scuderia are raced around Virginia International Raceway. The list of cars slower than the Cobalt SS around VIR tells the whole story:

• Mitsubishi Lancer EVO MR
• Lexus IS-F
• Audi S5
• Honda S2000 CR
• Dodge Challenger SRT-8
• Lotus Elise SC
• Subaru Impreza WRX STI
• Dodge Caliber SRT-4
• Volkswagen R32
• Honda Civic Mugen Si

 

(Click here for each car’s actual lap time at CARandDRIVER.com, look for the “Results Chart” link in the lower-right corner.)

That is a pretty powerful list of cars that the humble Cobalt SS beat around the Car and Driver Lightning Lap.  I am surprised that a car that you can realistic purchase for right around $20k beat an Evo, a Lexus IS-F and a Lotus Elise SC around a road course.  That is very impressive!  

If your next car needs to be economic, stealthy and have serious dose of horsepower and sport then look into the Cobalt SS.  I need to talk a friend into buying this car so I can enjoy it vicariously through them.

Dodge has a new pickup for 2009.  Well it’s the same Ram, but the new body-style.  

The 5.7 liter Hemi has been tweaked for more power.  390hp and 400lb-ft of torque.  The regular cab short bed version can get to 60mph in 5.7 seconds and pass the quarter mile mark in 14.4 seconds.  That is serious speed for a truck.  This isn’t a sport truck.  There isn’t any real pretenses of sport.  It is just a powerful V8.  This truck is going to win a lot of stop light drag races.

Well its time for an another run down of some interesting autmotive posts for the week.

• http://jalopnik.com/5061772/new-transporter-3-trailer-offers-up-tasty-audi-a8-footage – A Transporter 3 preview looks like Transporter meets Speed meets Crank. I’m in.
• http://www.mpgomatic.com/2008/10/09/pontiac-g5-xfe-mpg-review/ – 38mpg and fun?
• http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-fi-neil10-2008oct10,0,1847780.story?track=rss – The LA Times reviews a real Diesel sports sedan the BMW 335d with 425lb-ft of torque.
• http://blog.cardomain.com/blog/2008/10/m5-ute.html – How about an El Camino M5-style?
• http://www.mota.com/Blog/2008/10/honda-insight-ahead-of-its-time.html– A little insight on the Honda Insight.
• http://www.caroftheday.org/2008/06/03/the-official-car-of-funkytown-–-how-nissan-killed-their-best-altima/ – I really liked the Altima SE-R, I hated this commercial.

This week Police cars have been making the news.

One of the big stories is the new and improved Dodge Charger police car.  The Dodge Charger is still a fairly new car when it comes to seeing duty for the boys in blue.   This is the first major refresh of the police package.  If I was in acquisitions for a police department I would opt for the 5.7 liter hemis with 390hp and yet it only gets 1mpg less than the V6.  This would give police the power they need to give hot pursuit to all the bad guys out there.

An interesting fact about police cars is that no police car is built to be a police car.  Each police car is a conversion from a mainstream production sedan.  One company is looking to change that buy building a purpose built police car.  That company is Carbon Motors.

It is an interesting undertaking to make a purpose built police car.  

GM and Chrysler merger?

This has been a rough season in the automotive industry.  Sales are way down across the board.  A person doesn’t have to go far to find negative news about the car industry.

The New York Times is reporting that GM and Chrysler are exploring a merger.  A merger that would radically change the face of the American made car.  

The reality is that our domestic car industry has already changed, this is some of the first proof.

You can read more at the New York Times.

What do you do with 10,000 pens and a Mercedes that needs a paint job? Obviously, you glue the pens all over the Mercedes and create a Mercedes Pens.  

The Mercedes Pens is something of a celebrity at Art Shows and at Car Shows, however it is at Art Car Shows that this vehicle has really left its mark. 

There is community where artists and automotive enthusiasts meet and that is in Art Car world.  The man behind the Mercedes Pens is the same person behind ArtCarCentral that was referenced in the General Lees article.

Costas Shuler is a self described inspirational speaker and comedian that lives in California.  He took a 1981 Mercedes Benz 300SD and covered it in pens.  His current dream is to make it on the Jay Leno show.  I think he is a perfect fit as a minor guest on the show.  Jay loves cars and Jay loves funny; so he should love the Mercedes Pens. 

You can follow the adventures of the Mercedes Pens at http://pen-guy.blogspot.com.

One of my favorite cars of all time was the BMW M Coupe.  I lusted after, shopped for and test drove this ultra rare BMW.

This car was only made for 4 short years and less than 3000 came to the US.  Only 690 got the newer M3’s engine rated at 315hp.  That is a ton of go for 3000lbs of Bavarian steel.  The car you see here is the result of engineers designing a car.  It was almost a rogue development.  If I ever get my warehouse for my car collection, this would be one car worth locating.  

In my research on this car I found that Johnny Lieberman at Jalopnik had already written a fantanstic article, I knew it would be a great read when Johnny claimed that the M Coupe could possibly be the official car of Jalopnik.  I feel the same way, this car has been a regular in my own “car of the day” daydreams.

Read more about the great BMW M Coupe at Jalopnik.

 The Spugly Car of the Day is the Pontiac G6 GXP Street Edition.

I’m actually a fan of all things GXP even the G6 GXP.  GXP represents the best Pontiac has to offer in each model.  The G6 GXP features a 3.6 liter V6 good for 252hp, not the most powerful V6 on the market, but the best you can get in a G6.

The crime of the spugly car is more “show” than “go”.  

The Street Edition is guilty of being spugly.  

(The G6 GXP sedan non-Street Edition however is not guilty)

Here’s an interesting Autotrader find.  A 2002 Maserati Coupe with 49k miles for $27k miles.

It looks like the current economic environment isn’t just hitting the SUVs, but is also causing some deals to show up in the used exotic car market.   The Maserati Coupe has 4.2 liter V8 with 385hp for more details you can read about the 2002 Maserati on Edmunds.

Well its time for an another run down of my favorite autmotive posts for the week.

• http://www.ridestory.com/content/2009-pontiac-g8-gt – Ridestory begins its real world review of the Pontiac G8 GT.  Ridestories’ reviews are like reading the review of your friend who loves cars.
• http://www.manualgear.com/en/driven-170-Aston+Martin+DBS.html – Do you like James Bond’s car? Here is a quick write up and a ton of high quality pics of the DBS.
• http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008/10/04/horrified-fascination-mustangcycle/ – Mustangcycle? Wow.
• http://www.egmcartech.com/2008/10/03/2010-chevrolet-camaro-standard-and-optional-equipment-guide-hits-the-web/ – Chevy will begin taking orders for the new Camaro 10/13, more details here.
• http://blogs.automobilemag.com/6305403/car-news/lamborghini-examines-feasibility-of-the-estoque/index.html – From the Paris Auto show; the 4 door Lamborghini.
• http://www.caroftheday.org/category/movie-cars/ironman/ – Iron Man came out on DVD this week, here’s some classic CTOD Iron Man posts

Last week Porsche and Nissan have been bickering over the Nissan’s GT-R Nurburgring lap times.  Porsche actually purchased a US spec Nissan GT-R to run around the famed German track. 

When the dust had settled Porsche run the Nissan around the track with time of 25 seconds slower than Nissan was able to run their own car.  This caused the folks at Porsche to speculate that Nissan brought in a “ringer”. (pun intended) Perhaps a car set up for track duty, with tweaked suspension and sticky track tires.  

Now Nissan has responded by standing by their claims that thier car was production spec and ran on actual street tires.  

The crux of the matter is the 25 second difference in the lap times for the Nissan.  Those 25 seconds represent the difference in which car is faster the 911 or the GT-R.  Either way Nissan wins, they have a car that legitimately competes with one of the great sports cars of all time.

NBC’s Life has been featuring some great cars for its lead character Detective Crews.  This week we got to see Charlie Crews’ newest ride a Maserati Quattroporte GT S.  

The Quattroporte S gets a Ferrari developed 4.7 liter V8 with 430 hp motivating this six-figure sedan.  

You can read more about the Quattroporte S in Autoblog’s first drive report.

Charlie’s Quattroporte is a black-on-black or nero-on-nero version of this Italian super-sedan.  The Quattroporte S already blacks a lot of the Quattroporte trim, the car used also has blacked out wheels.  

When we see the Quattroporte S for the first time, the stealth undercover red and blue police lights are lit up and flashing.  Cool cars, make cool police cars and this third one of Charlie Crews doesn’t disappoint.  

I wonder cars we will see Detective Charlie Crews driving in the future and what demise this car will see?

I know this, his car will be rare, desirable and fast.  With his history of his Bentley, a Buick Grand National and now this Quattroporte I’m sure it will be a great car.  Perhaps the next car will be a another classic car.  Or it could be an exotic, it will be expensive and probably have a backseat.   

For the next several episodes I’ll just enjoy seeing the Maserati Quattroporte GT S in action on Life.