Chevrolet Volt - impressive figures

GM's upcoming plugin-hybrid, the Chevrolet Volt, just keeps getting more interesting. In fact, I believe this car could help turn GM around, leaving Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and Lexus RX400h in the dust.

According to this article in the swedish Auto Motor & Sport, the fuel consumption for the Volt is incredibly low, 1,6 liter/100 km, measured using the standard ECE R101 cycle. Plus, it looks a heck of a lot better than the Prius and Insight.

Personally, I can't wait to see this car on the road.

Bentley goes biofuel

Luxury car manufacturer Bentley plan to unveil a new supercar on the Geneva motor show in March. Nothing peculiar about that. Except... This will be a bio-fuel car, and it will be Bentley's "fastest and most powerful production car ever". This could mean that it will feature the 6-liter W12 engine found in the Continental GTC Speed, only modified for E85, and as a result of that with an even higher effect than the 610 hp and 750 Nm it produces today. Nice!

Have my prayers been heard? Saab 9-4X

The new small-size SUV from Saab, the 9-4X, has been observed in the northern parts of Sweden, and it looks pretty promising from what the pictures in this article reveal. The most interesting part, though, is the information that it will be equipped with a 3-liter V6 petrol engine (262 horsepower and 300 Nm) capable of running on E85 as well - in other words a perfect candidate for a 9-4X 3,0 BioPower.Oh, it'll be thirsty, but at least it'll be drinking cheaper, environmentally friendlier fuel.

So, in regards to my previous post, "All I want for Christmas...", could the Saab 9-4X actually be what I'm looking for? Let's see:

• 4WD - Yes, the very same Haldex 4WD that's available in the 9-3 XWD, hopefully even with the eLSD differential.
• Large and luxurious - Well, it's not a full-size SUV, but perhaps it's good enough. Luxury-wise I'm not so sure, judging from the interior pics. I guess only time will tell.
• A desirable design - Hard to tell through all the camouflage, but if it looks similar to the concept car, it should be pretty good looking (see below for a pic of the concept).
• Nice performance - 3-liter V6 engine with 262 horsepower should definitly be enough for most people, including me.
• Running on some kind of renewable energy - Check. Although, I would love it if Saab/GM would create an engine that is optimized for E85, so the fuel consumption would be a bit more reasonable. This baby will probably drink around 1,5 liters of E85 per kilometer. At least.

Nevertheless, this is definitly the car that comes closest to my late Christmas wish.

All I want for Christmas...

I know, Christmas is over. And chances anyone from the car manufacturing industry will read this tiny and very personal blog are slim, to say the least. Nevertheless, if anyone out there with any influence at at all can hear my desperate cry, this is the car I want to buy:

• 4WD
• Large and luxurious
• A desirable design
  
• Nice performance (not your average "green" car 0-100 in 10,5 seconds crap, we need numbers below 8 seconds, at least)
• Running on some kind of renewable energy, or a combination of several, for instance: A plugin-hybrid that runs on battery power or a combination of battery power and ethanol (or biogas).
  

Is this really too much to ask for? Is it???

Thumbs up, Sweden!

Swedes love rules and regulation, and I have to say I was a little surprised to read that, contrary to the Great Britain, they seem to have scrapped their plans of a Orwellian nightmare of monitoring all motorist all the time.

In fact, it was announced on a conference in the city of Linköping today that the speed cameras used today are effective enough, and that heavier surveillance would cause a lack of respect for the cameras, and would be considered too intrusive.

Two thumbs up for Sweden on this one.

Honda Insightzzzzzzzzzzzz......

Well, apparently the specs for the new Honda Insight hybrid car have leaked, and I have to say I'm really not impressed. Not that I had expected any kind of revolution, but Insight is basically just a smaller, cheaper version of the retiring Toyota Prius, with practically the same power (1,3 liter 88 hp + 13,6 hp 103 Nm electric enigne) and fuel consumption (4,4 liter/100km).

In other words, if you really want a hybrid you're probably better off waiting for the new Toyota Prius, which will hopefully have improved fuel efficiency.

Oh, and by the way, the fuel consumption figures for the Prius are virtually impossible to achieve in real life, so if a cheap and environmentally friendly ride is top priority, do a test drive before deciding.

The oil-mafia plans increase in fuel-prices

The oil-mafia, OPEC, are having a meeting in Vienna on the 24th of October, discussing the "critical decline" in oil price (oh no, it's only increased by 45% over the last 1,5 years - from 50 to 70 dollars!!!), and how to cut production to stabilize the price at 90-100 dollars/barrel, the presumed sweet-spot where the demand will remain high, and we will still have to pay through our nose for the petrol.

This is just another brilliant example of why this kind of cartel should be illegal, like it is in every other business on this planet. It's also a reminder that although the prices are down to 70 dollars/barrel, half of what they were at their peak only months ago, the problems with price and supply will remain, and we should focus all our energy (literally) on finding replacements for oil. We simply can't be held hostage by corrupt, instable regimes, dictators, dirty oil companies and such any more.

So, car-manufacturers, where are those damn biogas-cars? Ethanol-cars? Electric cars? Hydrogen? Air?

UK goes Big Brother

The UK is getting ready to subject all car drivers in the country to a surveillance of proportions that would make George Orwell shit in his pants: Cameras will track each and every car on all primary roads in the UK - 24/7. It's basically a nightmare you can't escape, and it's all in the name of money. Personal integrity is, apparently, not worth a thing.

The commission estimated that new SPECS3 cameras could monitor every driver on 31,136 miles of principal rural and urban roads at a cost of £443,687,656 (US $769,693,415). While the initial investment appears substantial, the commission noted that "enforcing the 70 MPH limit using SPECS would pay for itself within around two years."

The original SPECS cameras were found to be quite successful. Between 2000 and 2005, a single camera in Nottinghamshire generated 76,000 tickets worth £4.2 million (US $7.2 million). London's entire SPECS network generated as many citations in just three weeks. London camera officials did admit, however, that 5600 tickets were sent to motorists who were completely innocent.

There you go. If you're a motorist and want to continue being one without being subjected to these kinds of horrific assaults on your personal integrity, get off this bizarre island. Now.

A Porsche for the future

Porsche tuner RUF have presented a concept car based on the 997. This is not your ordinary tuned Porshce though, but a battery powered, zero emission one! The 0-100 acceleration of 7 seconds is ok, the top-speed of 225 km/h is decent but not impressive, however the range of 250-300 kilometers is promising indeed.

Let's hope this is a glimpse of what the future holds for sports cars: Politically correct, environmentally friendly, yet fun and good looking.

Lexus IS 250C - where's the H?

Yes, the new Lexus IS 250 convertible is a nice looking car. But what on earth happened to Lexus' ambitions as a hybrid car manufacturer? In this day and age you would expect a company that already has hybrid-versions of most of their cars (unfortunately not the IS-series) would equip any new models with the same technology.

Instead, the IS 250C is powered by a 2,5 liter V6 petrol engine producing 208 hp. We can only hope that Lexus will come to their senses and offer an IS 250Ch at one point, with more power and less fuel-consumtion.

Volkswagen BlueTDI - too little too late

Volkswagen will be displaying a new Passat Variant BlueTDI on the Paris exhibit next week. The engine is a commonrail diesel 2-liter, with 143 hp. This car will have a fuel consumption of 5,5 l/100 km (CO2: 144g/km). The numbers for the sedan version is 5,2 l/100 km (CO2: 139g/km).

Am I the only one not at all impressed by these numbers? BMW 520d, which has been available for a while now, gives you more power (177 hp) and lower fuel consumption (5,1 l/100km) and CO2-emissions (136g/km).

The small SUV segment - Will Volvo make it?

We've got some really interesting small SUV's coming this fall, all competing within the same "premium" segment: Audi Q5, Mercedes GLK and Volvo XC60. I've already expressed my frustration with the Volvo and its hopelessly outdated engines. This frustration isn't getting any better after looking up some numbers:

Audi Q5 2.0 TDI (170 hp/350 Nm) - Fuel consumption: 6,7 l/100km CO2: 175 g/km
BMW X3 2.0d(177 hp/350 Nm) - Fuel consumption: 6,5 l/100km CO2: 172 g/km
Mercedes GLK 220 (170 hp/400 Nm) - Fuel consumption: 6,9 l/100km CO2: n/a
Volvo XC60 D5 (185 hp/400 Nm) - Fuel consumption: 7,5 l/100km CO2: 199 g/km

All these cars are equipped with four wheel drive, and have comparable engine specs and prices, although the Volvo is a bit on the slow side when it comes to acceleration, and a bit expensive (comparable to the Merc and BMW, and more expensive than the Audi). And if you want an XC60 with fuel consumtion on par with the other competitors, you'll have to wait until the spring, and buy a 2,4D with 163 hp and front wheel drive only (consumption: 6,5 l/100km). Now, who will buy that, instead of a proper four wheel drive from Audi, BMW or Mercedes? And why on earth didn't Volvo keep the brilliant ethanol-enigine from the prototype, that could have given it an advantage amongst its competitors? I don't know. I just don't know.

Way to go, Hummer!

Old news, maybe, but the 2009 Hummer H2 will be available with a flexfuel (E85) engine, and the plan is to have all Hummer models biofuel-capable by 2010. As opposed to Ford, Hummer gets it (bleeding red numbers for quite a while might have been an eye-opener). We still want to drive large 4-wheel-drive cars, but we want to do so in an environmentally friendly fashion, and without handing our hard earned money over to the oil cartel OPEC.

One question remains, though... Seeing as the conventional H2 guzzles over 2 liters of fuel/100 km, what kind of numbers can we expect when driven on ethanol? Will the car break the 3 liter barrier? If so, it had better come with a 200 liter fuel tank, so I don't have to stop by the gas station on my way to and from work every day.

Ford Kuga - what a big mistake

Well, not the car itself. It actually looks decent, and hopefully drives decent as well. The big mistake is the new engine option available from early 2009: The 2.5 liter, 5-cylinder old fart that's available in several Volvos and Fords. Looking at the numbers , no one will be impressed:

Combined fuel economy: 9,9 l/100 km (10,3 l/100 km with automatic transmission)
Top speed: 208 km/h.

The sad part is that the engine itself is actually available as a flex-fuel (E85 and gasoline), that can be found in the Volvo V70, for instance. Why Ford didn't just go for that one is a mystery to me. Have they failed to see the massive demand for clean and cheap fuel? Oil is not the future.

No one buys new cars - and here's why

Apparently the new car sales in Germany have dropped by 10,4% in August compared to August last year. The situation is more or less the same in the rest of Europe, and the US. The car manufacturers seem to be blaming the world economy, but the answer is probably more simple than that:

After the oil price surge this spring, and promises from the infamous oil cartel to keep the prices on a ridiculously high level of over $100 a barrel by reducing production when necessary, what people want is as much independence from the oil as possible. In other words, we're all sitting and waiting for all the interesting new car models that are just being postponed over and over again: The electric vehicles, the plug-in hybrids, the cars that run on alternative fuels. As an example, Volkswagen appear to have postponed their Golf plug-in hybrid until 2012. That will definitly cut into the Golf sales up until then.

So, in short: Give us the cars we want, and we'll buy them. Keep postponing them, and we'll keep postponing our car purchases.