I came across an article from TopGear pitting the Nissan GT-R against the Mitsubishi Evolution X. At first, this seems like David vs. Goliath. The GT-R being the monster (a.k.a. Godzilla) of the two and the Evolution X, still a powerful car built on an econobox platform. Although both really qualify as icons in terms of Japanese automotive excellence ... Enjoy the ride (read about it here).
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Icon vs. Icon
I came across an article from TopGear pitting the Nissan GT-R against the Mitsubishi Evolution X. At first, this seems like David vs. Goliath. The GT-R being the monster (a.k.a. Godzilla) of the two and the Evolution X, still a powerful car built on an econobox platform. Although both really qualify as icons in terms of Japanese automotive excellence ... Enjoy the ride (read about it here).
Monday, April 28, 2008
The 2.0L turbo four is not an abomination
Hello all. General Motors has begun testing turbo fours in their large cars (reference here). This is not an abomination. Actually, VW has been doing the same thing for years. They have their own turbo four used in their GTI, Jetta GLI, Passat, EOS and the upcoming Tiguan. That's pretty much their whole stable. So what's wrong with that?
GM has used their Ecotec turbo in RWD applications for the Solstice GXP and Sky RedLine. They've also used the Ecotec turbo in FWD applications for the HHR SS and Cobalt SS turbo. The engineering work is done. It is possible.
What remains to be seen is how to market these cars ("impression management" as some say). What is the image projected by these specific applications. A turbo four in a cushy sedan? A turbo four in a pony car? Am I insane? Definitely not.
The Ecotec base was already tested in a race engine application with up to 1000 hp. That's not chump change to me. The tunability of this engine is what draws people in, just like the VW 1.8L and 2.0L turbo fours. Oh, and in case you didn't know, the Ariel Atom 2 kit car importable to the United States can be had with ... that's right, an Ecotec turbo four.
The marketing guys have their work cut out for them, but they just have to know how to present it. They'd have to show the pedigree of that family of engines, then it won't look so strange in big cars.
Well, what do you think?
GM has used their Ecotec turbo in RWD applications for the Solstice GXP and Sky RedLine. They've also used the Ecotec turbo in FWD applications for the HHR SS and Cobalt SS turbo. The engineering work is done. It is possible.
What remains to be seen is how to market these cars ("impression management" as some say). What is the image projected by these specific applications. A turbo four in a cushy sedan? A turbo four in a pony car? Am I insane? Definitely not.
The Ecotec base was already tested in a race engine application with up to 1000 hp. That's not chump change to me. The tunability of this engine is what draws people in, just like the VW 1.8L and 2.0L turbo fours. Oh, and in case you didn't know, the Ariel Atom 2 kit car importable to the United States can be had with ... that's right, an Ecotec turbo four.
The marketing guys have their work cut out for them, but they just have to know how to present it. They'd have to show the pedigree of that family of engines, then it won't look so strange in big cars.
Well, what do you think?
Sunday, April 27, 2008
CarEvo backgrounder
Hello all. This being my first post, I thought I'd give some relevant background about myself.
When I was young, I wanted to be a car designer. I just thought it would be so cool. Well, I found out not too long afterward that I had no artistic skill whatsoever, so that dream died very early. Nevertheless, I was remained an avid observer of the automotive industry in general.
I'm a voracious reader of automotive news ever since the internet became widely available starting from my college years. I would say on average, I would read about car rumors and spy reports and almost anything and everything related to cars 5 days a week.
I also own a 2001 Honda Prelude so some of my perspectives are from the import aspect. My dad has also owned some domestics: GM sedans and Chrysler minivans, so I can also see things from the perspective of domestic automakers.
So I'll end this post here. There's no sense in boring you with my mundane life but hopefully, dear readers, you will find my bite-sized posts, opinions and rants on everything automotive quite interesting. Come along for the drive ...
When I was young, I wanted to be a car designer. I just thought it would be so cool. Well, I found out not too long afterward that I had no artistic skill whatsoever, so that dream died very early. Nevertheless, I was remained an avid observer of the automotive industry in general.
I'm a voracious reader of automotive news ever since the internet became widely available starting from my college years. I would say on average, I would read about car rumors and spy reports and almost anything and everything related to cars 5 days a week.
I also own a 2001 Honda Prelude so some of my perspectives are from the import aspect. My dad has also owned some domestics: GM sedans and Chrysler minivans, so I can also see things from the perspective of domestic automakers.
So I'll end this post here. There's no sense in boring you with my mundane life but hopefully, dear readers, you will find my bite-sized posts, opinions and rants on everything automotive quite interesting. Come along for the drive ...
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