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Click here for 4car’s impression of first Hybrid based on a car that’s not fundementally flawed.

UPDATE: Now Britian’s What Car? has driven it too; here’s an excerpt from their overview

Ride & Handling: 2 stars – All that electrical gubbins in the hybrid system adds weight to the Civic, and the car leans quite a lot in corners. This model is based on the US-spec Civic saloon, and the soft suspension makes the car float over crests. It doesn’t ride that well over bad surfaces, either, and the brakes tend to snatch.

Britian’s 4Car reports that Dodge will have a 2 door concept study of the Challenger ready in time for the Detroit Auto show.

it will be built on a shortened version of the Chrysler 300/Dodge Magnum platform, but it’s set to be a two-door, just like the Challenger of the 70s. It will be fitted with a 6.1-litre HEMI V8 and six-speed manual transmission.

Car and Driver:

The SS was quick, particularly in the midrange, handled well, and generally felt like a coherent, well-assembled package.

Automobile:

The surprise disappointment in the Impala lineup is the SS, a car seemingly geared toward the NASCAR-watching family man who needs some space and craves the sound of a traditional V-8 but demands little ride or handling refinement. The V-8 is too powerful for the chassis – spirited stabs of the throttle yank at the steering wheel even at highway speeds-and the heavy engine hanging out ahead of the front axle wreaks havoc on the handling dynamics when you attempt to drive the SS quickly. All of this is further exacerbated by the steering’s lack of on-center feel, a problem that plagues all Impala models.

(We’ll simply say that we have yet to agree with C&D’s Fred M.H. Gregory or to drive a large-engined front-drive car that we’ve liked).

related post: 1

Many writers have come from their first drives of the Corvette Z06 so full of adrenaline and so stupefied by the ferocity of the experience that they’ve started calling it ‘the best Corvette ever’.

As much as we admire the modifications made to the standard Vette, we get the sense that it’s less than the sum of its parts. The Z06 lacks the dialed in chassis of the last iteration – it’s more about the motor than the handling this time around.

From Car and Driver’s December issue:

...the gas pedal is the trigger of the gun that’s pointed to your head. Squeeze the gas a little too much at corner exit, and you’ll find yourself instantly in trouble. On our first drive of the Z06 in Europe, we noticed the Vette’s chassis didn’t make the driver feel confident, but on smooth racetracks, the chassis was more or less benign. But Grattan’s track gave the Z06 fits. It never felt comfortable or sure of itself and gave us all disconnected, spooky feelings that were only exasperated by that booster rocket waiting to be unleashed. “Only qualified drivers should be handed the keys,” warned Phillips. If the Z06 encountered any kind of bump or lump in the pavement as it was exiting a corner, the result was a nearly instantaneous outward snap of the tail. It was so sensitive to bumps that the Vette uncovered lumps in the pavement we never knew were there—even though we’ve done hundreds of laps at Grattan in stiffly sprung race cars. For our first few laps, we wisely set the Delphi stability-control system to its competition mode. That allows some sliding but can save the driver. Had we shut it off, we probably would have stuffed it. Not yet aware of the sensitivity to bumps and the throttle, we were saved by the system numerous times. ... to establish a lap time we turned it off and did five laps. ...the faster we went, the sweatier our palms got. ... our knees were audibly knocking and we parked it… our sense is there was too much consideration paid to a cushy ride and perhaps that’s why it’s such a handful.

This edginess has been present in each C6 Vette we’ve driven, which is why every time we’re offered the keys to a Vette at a GM driving event we opt for a CTS-V or GTO instead. We blame the overly sensitive throttle, sudden electric steering assist, and tires with little slip angle designed in. (A soft suspension seems softer if you can’t make smooth inputs and the tires break away suddenly).

The Viper C&D editors preferred the handling of is ordinarily considered a handful, but its new fixed roof eradicates the slop in the chassis and its Michelin Pilot Sports have a lot of slip angle engineered in. This causes it to be less snappy both front and rear than the Z06 and “a real sweetheart on the track.”

Given the Corvette’s balky shifter and annoying skip-shift feature, we’re more excited about the new 6 speed automatic (past autos have had a maximum of 4 ratios). Given the way most Corvettes are driven, the torquey engine and the surplus of power, will the new Corvette Automatic be the best Corvette ever?

Remember the Easy Spirit commercial with the ladies in heels playing basketball?

We get the same sense of absurdity when we think about the tires that most Americans are on as they head into another winter. Ever notice how the first cars in the ditch are SUVs and AWD cars followed by the occasional FWD car? Here’s why:

Ironically, many light trucks and SUVs come on tires that are ill suited in the snow. Their rubber compounds must be hard to withstand the weight of your average SUV when loaded and not fall to shreds at the first sign of rough pavement. In addition, SUV tires are wide for better traction in sand and mud and to give them that butch look mom’s prefer. Unfortunately this is the opposite of what you want for ice and snow traction; narrower is better. When you combine this with the fact that most SUVs have lots of torque and are rear wheel drive without traction control until 4 wheel drive is engaged, it’s easy to understand why they become so unweildy in the winter and are eager to exit the roadweay backwards.

An increasing number of cars – especially sport sedans- come from the factory on ‘3-season’ tires. Such tires are designed under the assumption that the car will not be driven in the snow or even at temperatures below about 40 degrees F (below that temperature the rubber becomes hard and slippery). In the case of a car that’s available with front wheel drive as standard and all wheel drive as an option, testing shows that the all wheel drive increases the chances that the tail will side out and reduces cornering and braking grip. (Click here for proof).

The so-called ‘all-season’ tires on most cars are not designed to be driven through deep snow or ice (in fact in most cases they’re particularly bad on ice). To be called an all season, a tire simply must exceed a 25:75 ratio of channels:blocks. Arranging these blocks for long wear, hydroplaning resistance or low noise reduces traction in the snow, and using a rubber that last upwards of 30,000 miles severly reduces grip on ice. (Click here for more on the shortcomings of ‘all-seasons’ during the winter season).

Regardless of what you drive, if you encounter snow or ice we suggest a tire with the ‘mountain with snowflake’ symbol signifying the tire has been tested in winter conditions and meets certain minimum standards. (And in fact testing as shown that you’re best chance for avoiding an accident is to drive a rear wheel drive car with traction and stability control and these ‘mountain on snowflake’ tires).

Don’t see yourself changing from summer to winter tires? Don’t sweat it – unless you take your car to the track or regularly drive your cars til the tires cry out for mercy, an H or V rated ‘European winter’ tire will be suitable for use throughout the year. (The BMW CCA’s technical advisor also advocates this). Such tires give up less than 10% in the dry to other tires but gain you about 30% in the winter – a worthwhile tradeoff in our eyes. In fact there has been a recent trend towards so called ‘dual season’ winter tires or ‘performance’ winter tires that offer as more grip in the dry than an all season. We’ve been runnning these year round on a half dozen cars and the drivers can’t tell there’s anything different about the cars until it turns snowy or icy.

So as we see it there are 4 basic categories of tires:

no M&S logo on the tire means it’s unsafe below 40 degrees

a M&S logo means it might be capable in light snow but not on ice

a mountain on snowflake symbol with an H or V rating can be used year round if you encounter heavier snowfall or icy conditions

a mountain on snowflake symbol with a Q or S rating – particularly Multicells such as most Bridgestone Bizzaks or a tire with a name ending in ‘Ice’ – should be used in the winter only; they wear quicky and grip poorly on dry or warm days.

Feel free to contact us for a list of suggested tires based on your specific car, budget, driving style, and road/weather conditions.

NOTE: Just because your car passes safety inspection doesn’t mean its ready for winter. In fact most mechanics don’t suggest replacing tires until they’ve reached the legal minimum – 1/3rd what is required by safety and tire experts. Click here for more information.

When we first learned Bugatti was laboring to produce a 1000hp supercar, we dismissed it as a pointless excercise, a proud boast that was fueled by even more pride, much like the VW Phaeton.

But now that it has been completed it’s not the 1000hp, the sustainable 253mph top speed, or the sub 3-second to 60 time that impresses us most. It’s the aerodynamics, suspension, steering and braking systems that make all this power relatively usable that has us thinking the $1,250,000 asking price is almost reasonable… (Besides – they’re not planning to making any money on the car – this one is simply to build the brand; profitable cars are in the pipeline).

Here are some excerpts from Csasba Csere (say ‘Chubba Chedda’)’s dispatch in the November issue of C&D:

One reason it felt so secure is that when you hit 137 mph, the Bugatti hunkers down, lowering its normal ride height of 4.9 inches to 3.1 in front and 3.7 in the rear. At the same time a small spoiler deploys from the rear bodywork and a wing extends about a foot, perched at a six-degree angle. Two underbody flaps ahead of the front tires also open up. This configuration produces substantial downforce—about 330 pounds in front and 440 in the rear at 230 mph… But 230 mph is about as fast as the Veyron will go until you put the car into top-speed mode. This involves coming to a stop and, while the car is idling, turning a key in a lock on the floor to the left of the driver’s seat. When you do that, the car sinks down even lower on its suspension, until ground clearance has been reduced to a mere 2.6 inches in front and 2.8 in the rear. This setup also causes the front underbody flaps to close and the rear spoiler and wing to retract, although the wing remains tilted out of the body at a slight two-degree angle. These changes reduce the car’s drag coefficient from 0.41 to 0.36, and they reduce the peak downforce from 770 to 120 pounds. Once the Veyron exceeds 35 mph, if you turn the steering wheel more than 90 degrees, or so much as touch the brakes, the car’s configuration reverts to the handling mode…

Developing tires [special Michelin PAX System Pilot Sports] that could withstand 250-plus mph while supporting up to 4800 pounds of car, occupants, and downforce was one of the major technical challenges of the Veyron

Fortunately, the Veyron’s steering is ideally set up for such fast running. There’s absolutely no slack on-center, and the steering responds with a gentleness that makes it easy to feed in the delicate corrections needed to keep the Veyron between the center lane’s dotted lines without overcorrecting…

...You could not only hold a cell-phone conversation at 185 but also dial a cell phone at that pace. Allocate some money to keep an attorney on retainer if you get one of these cars, because double and triple the speed limit will quickly feel comfortable and normal.

You will likely only experience this speed in short bursts, which is why the Veyron’s powerful brakes will come in handy. The car is equipped with huge carbon-ceramic brakes: 15.7 inches in front with eight-piston, four-pad calipers, and 15.0 inches in back with six-piston, two-pad calipers. When you step on the brakes at high speed, the rear wing tilts up to a 55-degree angle. At 230 mph, this increases rear downforce to 1100 pounds and adds as much as 2500 pounds of drag. A panic stop at that speed produces nearly 2.00 g of initial deceleration—at least 50 percent more retardation than a Porsche 911 can generate at any speed.

Not since the McLaren F1 (still our standard) has a car so impressed us with its engineering (and we’re including the Ferrari Enzo, the Porsche Carerra GT, and the Mercedes SLR here).

(Click here for AutoWeek’s coverage…)

UPDATE
These excerpts from 4Car are worth reading:

It is so easy to be critical of the Veyron. It’s size, its expense, its excess in all areas. But what cannot be denied, at least not by anyone who’s actually had the privilege of driving one, is the towering engineering achievement that it represents.

The claimed 987bhp was measured, as are all VW power outputs, at an ambient outside temperature of over 40° C, where the air is thin, starving the turbos of the oxygen they need to develop full boost. At a more normal temperature, say 20° C, its output is nearer 1035bhp.

When you accelerate, it is torque, not power that you feel. The Veyron has 922lb ft of the stuff: to put that into perspective, the only other car ever made to even approach the Veyron’s performance, the McLaren F1, had 479lb ft of torque. [but] with oil and fuel on board it weighs 1950kg. A McLaren F1, by very stark contrast, weighs less than 1200kg.

The Veyron, for all its speed, massive grip and crushing braking power, is as far from being a track car as a Formula One car is from being a road car.

The real scale of the Veyron’s achievement is not so much that it does things beyond the scope of any other road car, but that it does them without really trying.

UPDATE

Gordon Murray, designer of the McLaren F1, has this to say in the Jan. ‘06 issue of Road & Track:

In summing up the Bugatti Veyron, had I not driven it, I would have great difficulty in deciding just what it stands for and where it fits in. To be absolutely fair, the Veyron team did not set out to challenge the McLaren F1, enzo or Porsche GT as the ultimate driving machine. This it certainly doesn’t do at two tons with turbo lag. It also falls short of the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and the Mercedes SLR McLaren for high performance touring because of the outward vision problems and lack of lggage space. Where it absolutely succeeds is as a massive technical achievment – a statement for VW AG.

UPDATE

Murray also published a more expansive piece in this month’s Top Gear. Here’s an excerpt:

It’s not trying to be the ultimate driver’s car. Only the ultimate machine.

The gas cap on Fusion and other 2006 Fords says, “Ford recommends BP” gasoline. That’s not a technical recommendation. The vehicles run fine on any good brand, Ford acknowledges. It’s a marketing partnership, steering Ford owners to BP stations while letting Ford enjoy some image rub-off from BP’s pro-environment advertising. source: James Healey-USA Today

There are of course only so many ways to style an SUV, but this image on Top Gear’s website is food for thought…

to get the long-term car’s numbers, we had to use the SMG’s launch-control feature, which involves depressing the Dynamic Stability Control button for three seconds, flooring the gas pedal, pulling the paddle or gearshift lever into first gear, and letting the computer select the optimal clutch-engagement point for maximum acceleration. Most owners wouldn’t drive this way on a normal basis, and neither do we. – Car and Driver

Here’s an excerpt from Auto Express’s coverage:

power jumps 26bhp to 215bhp…The supercharger combines well with the unit’s variable valve timing, too, filling in the gaps in the powerband at low revs. It’s refined, but doesn’t sound sporty and some characteristic supercharger whine would liven things up

One catch: it’s only available in the European Corolla (for now).

UPDATE: Now that 4Car has sampled the engine, here’s what they have to say:

a supercharger… boosts the T-Sport’s power by around 15% to a heady 215bhp and maximum torque by 19% to 158lb ft. An added bonus of fitting the supercharger to the T-Sport variable valve timed 1.8-litre engine is that the sweet point in the rev range – where torque and power are at their peak – is lower, at 4,000rpm, meaning you don’t need to rev the engine all the way to the 8,000rpm limiter to make decent progress. You wouldn’t actually want to venture too high up the rev range though, as the aural accompaniment isn’t exactly tuneful…