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Click here for Jeremy Clarkson’s seasoned view on the effort it takes to get footage for an automotive TV show.

Click here to watch ‘em duke it out around a race circuit.

(Note the how grounded and composed the flat, mid-mounted engine makes the Boxster . What you can’t see – and what the commenators fail to mention – is the Porsche’s ineffably superior steering).

the Aveo’s manual gearbox isn’t very good, as road test author Dan Kahn wrote, “GM/Daewoo engineers apparently decided to use very wide ratios in the transmission in an effort to cut shifting to a minimum around town. While this would have worked in an application with a little more horsepower, the Aveo was severely underpowered going up most hills and inclines, causing us to run in third gear on the freeway on more than a few occasions. Therefore, the fuel mileage suffered greatly and we only managed to achieve an average of 23 mpg.”

However, the four-speed automatic in my rental Aveo worked just fine for a car in this price range. It downshifted when I needed it to, and compared to the manual, the gears are much better spaced to take advantage of what power the engine does have. And it has a decent amount for a car in this class, even though its 103-horsepower rating is on the low side. I was passing cars at 80 mph with no problem, although Illinois is very flat, so it probably wouldn’t have been so easy on the mountain passes near my home in Southern California. The engine was smooth and quiet when crusing at 80 . I did a little better on fuel economy, 26 mpg, but still not great for a car this small. – Edmunds blogs

According to a recent survey by Progressive, fuel economy doesn’t matter much to most people.

Click here for an article in The Detroit News…

A video has been posted by the good people at MotoringFile...

(If you like the supercharger whine, buy a MINI now – the next car will have a rpm-independent turbo whistle).

related posts: [1,2]

I wish it had fewer badges. I wish there were fewer spoiler add-ons, too, and I wish the four exhausts were better hidden. The whole point of an M5 is that no one knows about the power. But this one shouts a bit too loudly… Mind you, this pales into insignificance alongside my gripes with all the electronic brouhaha. I mean, why could they not just sell the damn thing already set-up, for all of time… Why make it all so bloody complicated? ...What this car needs, badly, is a dose of Stalinism. A bit of dictatorship. It needs to be less of a village fête with something for everyone and more of a fait accompli. A car that does only one thing, very well, for those in the know.

source: Top Gear

UPDATE: You can see a video version here. (Thanks, Google!)

There is just one final question mark hanging over this S-class: the critical area of refinement… on even slightly coarse surfaces there is surprising road noise, at least on the optional rubber fitted to the test car. It’s not enough to spoil the car but… it’s more than enough to suggest very strongly that, unless looks and grip are paramount, you’d be better off with the standard rims. – Autocar

The steering doesn’t like you mixing acceleration with cornering – if you do, the self-centring goes all wobbly and it hunts cambers. To be fair, though, it’s night-and-day better than the appallingly mannered, old C70. ...it’s too stand-offish for any intimate bond to form. Besides the jellification of the ride caused by the shimmies of the bodywork – something that every saloon-based cabrio suffers and this one suffers less than most – the C70’s suspension has the rubbery feeling that characterises every Volvo. It’s not hard, the ride, but it never settles. Turbulent might be the best word. Volvo engineers must like it this way, because they’re sharing the same fundamental hardware as several Fords, cars with superbly judged suspensions. Well, the Swedish engineers might like it, and for all I know their customers might like it too, but I don’t. It’s not just a comfort thing, it’s that the car never feels entirely precise. It’s blurred, out of sync with itself. – Top Gear’s Paul Horrell

As covered in a post in our archives, BMW - like Honda – has taken a ‘if you can’t beat ‘em in power, join ‘em in turbocharging’ philosophy. (Luckily today’s engine managment allows higher compression ratios for less lag).

BMW will unveil its first turbocharged, direct-injection gasoline engine. The engine is based on BMW’s 265-hp, 3.0-liter inline-six. However, with gasoline direct injection and two turbochargers each feeding three cylinders, the engine produces 306 hp; torque is boosted 30 percent over the inline-six. BMW said performance is comparable to that of the automaker’s 4.0-liter V-8, yet the engine emits lower exhaust emissions and produces a 10 percent increase in fuel economy over the V-8. – Automotive News

The 3 series will be the first car to get this engine here in the U.S. – expect it to be badged the 335i and 335Ci. (330Ti and 330iT would have made more sense but when you think about it a turbo does effectively increase displacement. Besides – the Ti label had already been used for 3 series hatches and the iT moniker by dealers to denote wagon versions).

In years past there was a direct relationship between how much you spent and the impression your money bought you a quality product.

For me, two essential perceived quality cues are the feel of the door pull (both the material and the crispness of the mechanism) and the feel of the steering wheel (the one control you have contact with every moment you’re in motion).

Despite clear gains in some areas (e.g. emissions, crash safety, required maintenance), today’s cars have regressed in a number of areas, this tactile response being one of them.

I can count on one hand cars produced today with precise door releases (the sub-$20K MINI Cooper being one of them), and it’s increasingly rare to get a leather wrapped wheel unless you get a leather interior – even in cars as expensive as the Mercedes ML or as well loaded as the Civic EX with Navigation or Jetta with Package 1.

If the carmakers are cutting corners on things you touch each time you use the car and each minute you’re driving it respectively, you have to wonder where else corners have been cut.

(The good news: Ford in Europe has decided to make leather wheels standard).

Perhaps if we as consumers raise our voices, carmakers will give back what they’ve quietly taken from us.

UPDATE: Those who feel I’m making much ado about nothing might want to read this.