It's not the way you probably think it's done. There's no driving, except on a dyno in a lab, and the tests don't really match the way people actually drive (at least in Canada; the U.S. tries a bit harder). Find out more in my Sympatico Autos story by clicking here.
Lexus has just released the performance figures and fuel-economy ratings for its upcoming 2013 ES 350 and ES 300h models.
“Since its introduction in 1989, the ES has been the benchmark luxury sedan for quality, reliability, ride comfort and value,” said Mark Templin, Lexus group vice president and general manager. “The new ES 350 and the first ever ES hybrid raise the bar once again.”
Starting with the ES 350, the model is rated at 21mpg in the city and 31mpg on the highway, wit…
The 2013 Ford Shelby GT500. Image: Ford Motor Company
Last November we told you that Ford would launch a revised Shelby GT500 for 2013, complete with a 650-horsepower supercharged V-8. It turns out we were a bit wrong about the Shelby’s horsepower; according to the latest information from Ford, the new Shelby GT500 will actually produce 662 horsepower and 631 pound-feet of torque, which makes the car’s 5.8-liter V-8 the most powerful production V-8 in the world.
Think about that last fact for a sec…
It has gotten a bit hard to refer to the Scion FR-S, because it has different names all over the world. Here in the U.S at least, it will be sold as the Scion FR-S and Subaru BR-Z. They are both nearly identical. In this instance though, we think we’re content to let Toyota get a pass for rebadging. If this all turns out well in terms of sales, we think the development of this car will be a significant event in the history of Toyota.As has been reported (to death over the course of the past few ye…
A BMW spokesperson has confirmed to us that the manufacturer will have to lower its fuel-economy estimates for the 2012 328i automatic. The numbers drop from 24 mpg in the city and 36 on the highway to 23/33. Why the new figures all of a sudden? It has to do with the EPA’s fuel-economy validation process.To get a car rated, Automakers run it through the EPA’s testing procedures and then submit their own fuel-economy numbers to the government agency. (For a full explanation of the EPA’s tes…
A 2012 BMW 3-Series with 36 mpg? Does it get much better than that in the sports sedan category? From an efficiency standpoint, probably not – the 3-Series is far ahead of any of the competition by that metric. If any car will pose a serious threat to the 3-Series crown, the Cadillac ATS looks like the one to do it.And the ATS just got an opening in the mileage wars thanks to this news from BMW. When the 2012 3-Series first surfaced, there was a lot of speculation about the mileage. The new car is…
The people in Dearborn continued their increasing trend in sales, posting increased numbers in year-over-year sales for July: Ford Motor Company sales are up 11.8 percent year to date and 8.9 percent for the month of July.
Ford sold 173,051 of its cars and trucks last month, up 12.7 percent from July 2010. While sales of Focus slid 3.4 percent over last year to 14,889, sales of the Fiesta are up 58.1 percent from last year to 5,296. Ford claims that most of the increase comes from increasing sales on th…
The station wagon may be currently going the way of the dodo bird, but it looks like economy car buyers are taking delivery of more and more hatchbacks. Ford announced today that buyers shopping the Fiesta and Focus models are buying the hatchback models at increasing rates, a trend that could be extending to the rest of the industry.
Ford claims that roughly half of Fiesta buyers are opting for the five-door hatchback and 41 percent are opting for the Focus hatchback, with the latter figure on the rise…