Chicago Auto Show 2010

The folks over at AOLAutos and Translogic have just released the best video review to date of the upcoming Chevrolet Volt. Host Bradley Hasemeyer spent a day driving the Volt at General Motors' Milford Proving Ground. The video review is quite entertaining and reveals a few bits of information about the Volt that haven't been made public yet.

For one, there's a Mountain mode. Those familiar with hybrids know all about Sport and Eco mode, but the Volt's Mountain mode is unique. It allows Volt to climb any grade in the country by pre-charging the battery with the range-extending engine gasoline engine. This allows the Volt's drive system to draw more power than normal from the battery packs. If the battery packs are drained and the generator's already on, Mountain Mode will then increase the engine's RPM to make up the difference.

Bradley also performed an impromptu 0-60 mph test, running from a stop to 60 in about 8.53 seconds. Not blisteringly fast, but quicker than the Toyota Prius by a wide margin. During the test, Bradley drove the Volt nearly 60 miles, 16.1 of which occurred with the gas-powered range-extending on. During his run, 0.59 gallons of gas were consumed, meaning the Volt averaged about 100 mpg for the day and 27.3 mpg while the engine was operating.

Click for the video . . .

Looking for a racing fix this weekend, why not head north to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin? It's only about a three hour drive from Chicago, and this weekend the American Le Mans Series is the headliner. Also on track are Patron GT3, IMSA Lites, F2000, VW TDI Cup, Star Mazda and Skip Barber.

Honestly, the weather looks perfect and there's no better place for an automotive enthusiast to be than sitting above turn five with a brat in one hand and a beer in the other watching the powerful AMLS cars battle on one of the premier road courses in North America.

The ALMS feature takes place on Sunday at 2 PM, but there's racing ALL weekend long and general admission tickets are just $50 on Saturday and $75 on Sunday. Road America even offers discounts if you buy a weekend pass.

For more information and directions, visit www.RoadAmerica.com.

Arriving right now in Chicagoland Mazda showrooms is the new Mazda 2. It gives Mazda an entry in the hot subcompact car market, where it faces competitors like the Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit, Nissan Versa and Toyota Yaris.

Mazda is confident that the market for subcompact or "B" cars will double in the next three years. Though most would expect most of this growth to come from Generation Y, the current 22-30 set, Mazda is also fairly certain a lot of small-car sales will come from baby boomers who are flying the coop from large cars into something more practical.

The new 2 is available only as a five-passenger four-door hatchback. Two trim levels are offered, Sport and Touring. Both are powered by a 100 horsepower 1.5-liter four cylinder engine. Prices start at $13,900 and range up to $17,000 for a fully equipped Touring model.

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Ford gave the green light like this only once before: In 1968, management approved a special Mustang – a car that sacrificed nothing in its quest to be the best all-around road-going performance machine ever created by Ford Motor Company. That car became the 1969 Mustang Boss 302, and it remains one of the world’s most sought-after examples of American performance. Forty-two years later, Ford has given the green light again.

Here's some video of the new 2012 Boss Mustang... and we like it even before we've turned the key to the "on" position. What wouldn't be to like?! Nostalgia keeps cresting over the hood for guys my age, as we used to salivate over the unique liveries of the Boss.

Gobs of horsepower.  Gobs of torque. Gobs of curb appeal. It's a gobber!  Here's some video to hold you over until we get some seat time of our own. In the meantime, we'll have Ford peeps on Saturday morning to talk Boss from where it was introduced, at Laguna Seca raceway in California.

Nice...  stay tuned!

There's no arguing that today's vehicles are extremely safe. Technology has made sure of that, what with antilock brakes, airbags, blind-spot alert, lane-departure warning, back-up cameras . . . the list goes on and on. One oft-forgotten safety feature that not only helps keep occupants safe but also helps keep pedestrians safe is night vision.

Pioneered by General Motors and Raytheon and first seen in the 2000 Cadillac deVille and Concours, NightVision utilizes an infrared camera and a dashboard display to paint a fairly well-detailed black & white picture the road ahead. Because it utilizes differences in temperature to define objects, people and animals appear as bright shapes and trees and houses are somewhat subdued.

From behind the wheel, night vision can initially be a little overwhelming. However, drivers quickly learn to process the additional information and night vision then provides a driver with valuable information about the path ahead well in front of the headlamps' illumination range. Cadillac owners raved about the system, but we're put off by the high cost.

Click for the rest of the story . . .

From the Chevrolet Volt to the Nissan Leaf to the Mitsubishi MiEV, there's been a lot of talk about electric vehicles in the news lately. The reporting ranges from insightful to ridiculous and everything in between. So, I thought I'd take time out to set the story straight on electric vehicles.

First off, mainstream electrics aren't coming to Chicagoland anytime soon. Though the Chevrolet Volt launches this fall, it's not coming to this market for at least another year. Ditto the Nissan Leaf, which will initially be sold only in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and Tennessee.

The reason for this is quite simple; batteries and Chicago's climate don't play nice. Most batteries like to be cool, but not cold. Extreme cold and extreme heat greatly reduce the capacity of a battery, and we have lots of cold and heat here in the Windy City. So an electric vehicle that has an ideal range of 100 miles in 60 degree weather might see practical range drop by 50% when the temperature dips below freezing.

Eventually, the electrics will come. The reason is simple--efficiency.  Even the most fuel frugal gasoline or diesel engine is only about 30% efficient. In other words, a piston engine transforms 30% of the energy in the fuel into forward motion. The other 70% is lost to heat and friction.

Click for the rest of the story . . .

Unless you live under a rock, you heard something about a new Ford Explorer yesterday. Ford pulled out all of the stops and introduced the 2011 model simultaneously in nine cities across North America. The media splash went from New York to Chicago to LA. While the events were flashy, they didn't feature a lot of substance (other than the Chicago event, where Ford announced the new Explorer would add 1500 jobs to the Torrence Avenue Assembly plant.

Ford added the meat to the potatoes today at an exclusive media luncheon with the Explorer Chief Nameplate Engineer, Jim Holland.

Despite its slippery new styling and all-wheel-drive system, the first thing Jim pointed out was that Explorer is still an SUV at heart. It has standard seating for seven and can tow up to 5000 pounds. Not only is the 2011 Explorer sleeker, it's also three inches longer and five inches wider than the model it replaces.

Another change is the switch from rear- or four-wheel drive with a transfer case to front- or all-wheel drive. Holland explained that traditional Explorer drivers value traction over extreme off-road capability. The switch to a front-drive-based system not only made Explorer lighter but opened up additional room for passenger and cargo space.

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At last year's Chicago Auto Show, you may have noticed an odd looking vehicle among the EVOs and Outlanders at the Mitsubishi display. The egg-shaped hatchback was called i-MiEV and it is poised to become one of the first all-electric vehicles to be offered for sale by a full-line automaker in the United States.

Mitsubishi just announced that the first i-MiEVs were delivered to its North American press fleet. In other words, you'll begin to start reading reviews of i-MiEV in automotive rags like Car and Driver and AutoWeek (and at DriveChicago.com). The i-MiEV went on sale in Japan in the summer of 2009 and is due in North America in the fall of 2011.

Like the Nissan Leaf, i-MiEV is a full electric vehicle, meaning there's no gas engine to extend range. A small fleet of i-MiEVs made a run from Sacramento to San Francisco to make use of the nation's first hi-speed electric charging station. Watch the video to find out more about i-MiEV and west-coast gauntlet.

Click to watch the i-MiEV in action . . .

Well, not exactly, but next Monday you'll have a chance to be a part of automotive history and be one of the first people to see the all-new 2011 Ford Explorer.

FoMoCo is hosting an unprecedented simultaneous nine-city reveal of its new midsize SUV. Seeing as the new Explorer is likely to be built in Ford's Torrence Avenue assembly plant, Chicago is a key market for one of the most-popular SUVs of all time.

The launch will take place on Monday, July 26, at 10:30 a.m. in Millennium Park, Chase Promenade South. In attendance will be Bill Ford, Ford executive chairman, Jim Farley, Ford group vice president and Pat Quinn, Governor of the State of Illinois.

If you can't be there, you can catch the launch on Facebook. Ford has created a Fan Page on Facebook for the 2011 Ford Explorer that includes images, contests, video and more. [Visit the official 2011 Ford Explorer Facebook Page]

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The folks at your local Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep or Ram Truck dealership recently announced a new pledge program that allows consumers to return a new vehicle within 60 days if they aren't happy with the purchase. In addition, the company will pick up the first two months payments (up to $500 per month, maximum of $1000) if the customer finances through GMAC.

The aptly-named 60-Day Regret Free Purchase Plan is available in lieu of additional customer discounts. In other words, the consumer must choose between cash back or the risk-free plan.

"We build great vehicles for just about any lifestyle and with this pledge, consumers will have the confidence to know they made the right purchase or they can return the vehicle no questions asked ," said Fred Diaz, President and Chief Executive Officer - Ram Truck Brand and Lead Executive for U.S. Sales. "Plus Chrysler Group will make the first two payments for the consumer."

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