The Garage: Your daily dose of automotive news, reviews and motorsports coverage
Mercedes-AMG is offering significant performance packages for select AMG models whose owners want a more serious track day car. Working on the premise that these cars already have more than enough power, the packages focus on upgrading brakes and suspension. Of course no track pack would be complete without new rims and tires. Packages are available for the SLK 55 AMG, CLS 63 AMG and SL 55 AMG models.
DaimlerChrysler press release and more pics after the break
It’s hard to believe that over the last few years they have built and sold over 750,000 of the Smart Fortwo. Really, it is actually more like 8 years, but we’ve only had them here in Canada for 2 or 3 years. Smart designers are seeing red at the end of the current model’s production run and have decided to offer the Edition Red.
Set to be released at next month’s Paris Motor Show, the Edition Red offers a bunch of upgrades, available in any colour you like, as long as it’s red. The interior is treated to Leather and Alcantara with some fancy stitching, air conditioning and an mp3 interface and aluminum pedals.
On the performance side, this micro is a veritable beast. The stock engine has been replaced with a 75 bhp BRABUS unit coupled to a sport exhaust.
DaimlerChrysler press release and lots of pics after the break
An eagle eyed young enthusiast has found these first pics of the 2008 Nissan Qashqai. I think the mini Murano looks great, I just hope the name is changed before it comes to North America or they’ll only sell 3 of them.
Source Fancy Cars? via Autospies
Another pic after the break
A 21 year old and his Dad set out to conquer the Mongol Rally in a 16 year old Daihatsu Charade that they picked up on e-bay for only 150 pounds. The charity road rally covered 6,635 miles over some of the worst roads in the world. While in Kazakhstan, one pothole was so big it swallowed a Mini whole.
A couple of weeks ago at the Quail Lodge Motorsports Gathering, Porsche super tuner Ruf released their newest creation, the RK Coupe. Based on the Porsche Cayman, the RK Coupe blends the power and reliability that Ruf cars are known for with some Italian styling from StudioTorino.
Those car crazy folks over at Kelly Blue Book have released their list of the top cars for back to school. Reading parents and kids were surveyed as to which of 15 cars they would like to see their kids driving to school. The average price of each car was in the neighbourhood of 10 grand. The college age drivers chose the 2001 Mustang as their ride of choice, while parents chose the 2001 Honda Civic as the best ride for their spawn. Interestingly, the Civic was also number 3 on the college driver’s list, so perhaps it could be crowned the overall winner.
What I want to know is where were these parents when I was in High School. Most of us drove beaters or worn out old grandparents cars and they suited us just fine. I’d love to have my ’69 Fury back again!
read the press release after the break
The Formula 1 schedule has been released for 2007. Not that I’ve been since 1991, but it’s good to see that Canada is still on the roster. Missing from the list are the European GP and San Marino.
The full line-up is as follows:
Australia, March 18
Malaysia, April 08
Bahrain, April 15
Spain, May 13
Monaco, May 27
Canada, June 10
United States, June 17
France, July 01
United Kingdom, July 08
Germany, July 22
Hungary, August 05
Turkey, August 26
Italy, September 09
Belgium, September 16
China, September 30
Japan, October 07
Brazil, October 21
For more info, visit the Official Formula 1 web site
One day last week, the crew over at Jalponik burnt our eyes with a pretty disturbing Maverick pic, so when I saw some Mav’s at AutoFest I just had to snap some pics for them. Who woulda thought you’d see 3 Mavericks in one day anywhere, let alone at a carshow!
more pics after the break
Aston Martin has confirmed that James Bond will once again drive an Aston in the upcoming film Casino Royale. As agent 007’s rides have traditionally been kept secret before a new movie release, we are only getting little tidbits of info. The car is a new model called the Aston Martin DBS. The new Bond, actor Daniel Craig had the opportunity to get some seat time in his character’s new ride last week at Aston Martin headquarters.
The movie is set to open in November 2006, so it can’t be too long before spy shots of the newest Q machine appear.
Full press release after the break
A few weeks ago, Ed over at The Car Blog wrote a piece on Why Wagons Rock, detailing why the practicality of wagons has won him over. Well, here in The Garage, we couldn’t agree more. In fact I’m a little surprised that it’s taken so long for so many folks to come to the realization that wagons (or some SUVs by extension) are indeed cool. As one who spent years working for Volvo, with all their boxy, turbo monster wagons I figured this out way back in the early Eighties. There is no reason why a wagon can’t be practical and a blast to drive at the same time.
Enter the Mazda 6 Sport Wagon. Over the past couple of months we’ve racked up about 9,000 km on a pair of these haulers. The first was equipped with the 3.0 l V6 and a 5 speed manual transmission, while the second utilized the same engine coupled to the optional 6 speed automatic. The automatic is tuned for the sporting driver and has a manual shift option. Personally, I’ve never been excited by manumatics so this feature didn’t get much use but it did seem to work smoothly. Just not my thing.
This engine is rated for 212 hp and 197 ft/lb of torque which was more than enough to turn the front tires to smoke off the line when the driver’s inner hooligan is released and sometimes when you’ve got your jacket and tie on too. Everyone who drove the car while in our stable commented that the front tires will squeel when leaving a light, even under moderate throttle. Odd, considering the big sticky boots the Sport Wagon wears.
