CARSCOOP

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• The CS Diaries: We Ride Shotgun in a Radical SR3 Around the Ascari Track [w/Videos]
• We Take a Look at the Hyundai Equus' Mitsubishi-Based Predecessor
• BMW X4 Concept Unveiled, Enters Production with Minor Changes Next Year [w/Videos]
• Lada Saloon Slips on Ice and Takes a Turn for the Worse…
• Lincoln May Re-Launch 2013 MKZ After Embarrassing Production Delays
• 2013 Chevrolet Camaro Hot Wheels Edition Convertible to Debut at the Indy 500
• Cadillac Reportedly Considering Coupe Variant of All-New CTS
• Consumer Reports Talks 2013 New York Auto Show Premieres
• Skoda Pops Out New Fabia Monte Carlo Tech Edition
• Chris Harris Proves the Power of ECU Tweaks with Audi S4 vs RS4 Comparative Test
• New Lancia Delta S by MOMODESIGN Priced from €23,400 in Italy
• GM Mulls Plans to Move Workers, Production Out of South Korea Due to Tensions with North Korea
• Intoxicated Pedestrian is Both Extremely Dumb and Lucky at the Same Time
• Nissan Versa Note Gets Aggressive Makeover by Impul Tuning from Japan [w/Video]
• Nissan Compares 2014 GT-R Against 370Z Coupe and Infiniti FX on the Snow
• Smart Introduces Fortwo Edition21 in the UK, Available from £9,575 or £79 per Month
• Road Rage-Fuelled Marine Sgt Detained and Cited for Communicating a Threat
• Digital Gauge Clusters' Popularity Rising, Watch How the One on the Volvo V60 PHEV Works
• Tesla Asked Customers to Pay for Cars Early to Help Report Its First-Ever Quarterly Profit
• Lada Samara Hits a Wall -Literally- While Trying to Drift
• New Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk7 Priced from £25,845 in Britain
• New BMW X4 Concept: First Official Photos Surface Online
• Detroit Electric Reveals Lotus-Based SP:01 – First Model since 1939, Priced from $135,000

The CS Diaries: We Ride Shotgun in a Radical SR3 Around the Ascari Track [w/Videos] Posted: 04 Apr 2013 08:12 PM PDT Patience is not included in my (admittedly limited) repertoire of virtues so, being soaked to your underpants after spending the most part of a day exposed to rain in a race track would, in any other occasion, is too much to tolerate. Uncharacteristically, though, the cold wind that's making my body shiver cannot wipe the wide grin off my face. If anything, the past few minutes have erased my grumpy mood and, right now, I'm up for almost anything. I am at the Ascari race circuit in southern Spain for the launch of Bridgestone's new Adrenalin RE002 tire. The weather did, as mentioned, its best to throw off this nicely organized event and the cars brought along for us to sample topped off with an Audi TT 1.8 TFSI; hardly something to get truly excited about, right? Read more »

We Take a Look at the Hyundai Equus' Mitsubishi-Based Predecessor Posted: 04 Apr 2013 05:07 PM PDT Hyundai does not really have a history of making luxury cars, but the brand's current S-Class rival from South Korea, the Equus or Centennial, depending on the market, is not the first car of its kind from the manufacturer. It was actually preceded by a front-wheel drive car, which was developed by Mitsubishi, based on the latter's amusingly-named Proudia. Read more »

BMW X4 Concept Unveiled, Enters Production with Minor Changes Next Year [w/Videos] Posted: 04 Apr 2013 04:39 PM PDT If consumers want crossovers and SUVs (as all sales charts suggest), why should premium carmakers like BMW disagree? The brand with the roundel logo is keen to capitalize on the growth of this segment, something that is evident from the sales of its X-series models, which now account for one in every four new cars it delivers worldwide. BMW has split its SUVs into two basic categories, the more mainstream "Sports Activity Vehicles" (SAV), which include the X1, X3 and X5, and the "Sports Activity Coupé" (SAC), which up until now, was represented only by the larger X6. Today, the Bavarian carmaker previewed its second SAC model in the form of the X4 Concept, a couple of weeks ahead of its world premiere at the Shanghai Auto Show in China on April 21. Read more »

Lada Saloon Slips on Ice and Takes a Turn for the Worse… Posted: 04 Apr 2013 03:48 PM PDT The thing with ice and even worse, black ice is that you won't notice it until it's too late to do something about it, so when temperatures drop below the freezing point of water at 32° F or 0° C, the best you can do is slow down and be extremely careful – the opposite of what the driver of this classic Lada sedan did. Obviously travelling faster than what he should have in these conditions, the driver stepped on ice and lost control of the car that crossed over the road slamming into the metal guardrails before it tumbled and landed on its top. Read more »

Lincoln May Re-Launch 2013 MKZ After Embarrassing Production Delays Posted: 04 Apr 2013 03:07 PM PDT The Lincoln MKZ launch fiasco has prompted Ford to consider a re-launch of its luxury mid-size sedan, as production of the Ford Fusion-based car is finally nearing normal levels. Ford is now analyzing how big of a re-launch is needed to make potential buyers once again aware of its new model. Ford decided to curb production of the MKZ just as the first units began reaching dealerships late last year, fearing that the new Lincoln could be affected by the same quality issues as the 2013 Ford Fusion sedan and Escape crossover. Read more »

2013 Chevrolet Camaro Hot Wheels Edition Convertible to Debut at the Indy 500 Posted: 04 Apr 2013 02:41 PM PDT The "Festival car" of this year's Indianapolis 500 race will be the 2013 Chevrolet Camaro Hot Wheels Edition convertible, a limited edition model that will add to the similar coupe version revealed late last year. A total of 33 cars will be driven by the directors of the 500 Festival, who received their Indianapolis 500 Chevrolet Camaros in a ceremony held on Wednesday at the "Brickyard." Read more »

Cadillac Reportedly Considering Coupe Variant of All-New CTS Posted: 04 Apr 2013 02:04 PM PDT While outdated in some aspects, the Cadillac CTS Coupe remains a good looking and potent model especially in CTS-V form. Now just imagine the same kind of design idea being applied to the imposing all-new CTS, and visualize it. Read more »

Consumer Reports Talks 2013 New York Auto Show Premieres Posted: 04 Apr 2013 01:50 PM PDT Following the pilot episode of its new "Cars" talk show, Consumer Reports has released a new video shot on location at the 2013 New York International Auto Show. As you've probably guessed by now, the two hosts, automotive engineers Gabe Shenhar and Tom Mutchler, shared their views on the most important cars revealed at the event. Read more »

Skoda Pops Out New Fabia Monte Carlo Tech Edition Posted: 04 Apr 2013 01:14 PM PDT Automakers love special editions, some, in fact, like them so much that they release special editions of…special editions. The new UK-market Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo Tech, is one such example, as the Czech company added the Tech edition to the Monte Carlo trim with enhanced specification. Read more »

Chris Harris Proves the Power of ECU Tweaks with Audi S4 vs RS4 Comparative Test Posted: 04 Apr 2013 12:43 PM PDT Software remaps are an extremely popular way to easily increase the horsepower and torque ratings of your car. The operation takes no more than a few minutes, and the moment you start up the engine for the first time, your car has more power – just like that. As Chris Harris says in this latest video by Drive, it used to take so much physical work to extract more power from an engine, now it takes mere seconds. Read more »

New Lancia Delta S by MOMODESIGN Priced from €23,400 in Italy Posted: 04 Apr 2013 12:20 PM PDT Following the official presentation at the Geneva auto show last month, Lancia has opened order books for its special edition Delta S by MOMODESIGN. Priced from €23,400 ($30,070) in Italy for the entry-level 120 HP 1.4 Turbo Jet version-, the limited series Delta is aimed at "a male metropolitan customer looking for distinctive style," according to Lancia's press blurb. Read more »

GM Mulls Plans to Move Workers, Production Out of South Korea Due to Tensions with North Korea Posted: 04 Apr 2013 11:58 AM PDT The tense situation from North Korea is not only causing people all around the world to have unpleasant feelings of insecurity, as if there weren't enough other things for them to think about, but it is also causing major corporations present in South Korea to consider the possibility of moving workers and shifting production out of the country. The point was made by GM, as the American giant has officially expressed its concern on the matter, through the voice of its CEO, Dan Akerson, who was interviewed this morning on CNBC's Squawk Box. Read more »

Intoxicated Pedestrian is Both Extremely Dumb and Lucky at the Same Time Posted: 04 Apr 2013 10:47 AM PDT Some people keep a straight head and take every precaution possible, yet still fall victims to accidents, while others, are complete and utter fools, tempting their fate in stupendous ways, but somehow make it out alive and without a scratch. In this video, we see an example of the former. A clearly intoxicated pedestrian is caught on a dash-cam having taken off her shoes and changing words with some traffic officers, purportedly in the Ukrainian city of Karlivka. Read more »

Nissan Versa Note Gets Aggressive Makeover by Impul Tuning from Japan [w/Video] Posted: 04 Apr 2013 10:06 AM PDT The kindest words I could attribute to the first generation Nissan Note would be to call it "very boxy-looking" and "quite unattractive." Now, with the new generation car, which keeps its name in Europe while being sold in North America as the 2014 Versa Note, we are treated to curves and modern-looking swoopy shapes, and a generally more aggressive looking package. However, if you want to take your Note one note higher (pun intended), then Japanese tuner Impul's comprehensive list of modifications should satisfy your desire. Read more »

Nissan Compares 2014 GT-R Against 370Z Coupe and Infiniti FX on the Snow Posted: 04 Apr 2013 09:21 AM PDT That the GT-R is a high-performance sports car you can potentially use all year round and in a variety of weather conditions (just as long as you can afford the upkeep…), is a well-known and accepted fact, but how good is it really in snow and how does it compare to other vehicles? Well, that's a question that would be better answered by someone not related to the company itself for apparent reasons, but that doesn't mean we're not interested in what Nissan has to say about it in a new video it has released. Read more »

Smart Introduces Fortwo Edition21 in the UK, Available from £9,575 or £79 per Month Posted: 04 Apr 2013 08:35 AM PDT Smart has launched a new special edition of the Fortwo for the UK market, called Edition21, which can be leased from £79 (€93) per month (for a 36-month agreement) or bought from £9,575 (€11,330). It is most likely one of the final special edition Fortwos before the all-new model debuts, possibly as early as this autumn's Frankfurt Motor Show. Read more »

Road Rage-Fuelled Marine Sgt Detained and Cited for Communicating a Threat Posted: 04 Apr 2013 08:05 AM PDT The Camp Pendleton Marine Sergeant (Sgt) who captured our attention after we discovered a video of him in a road-rage incident swearing and threatening a driver and his disabled female passenger, a former Marine herself, on Tuesday, has been detained and cited for communicating a threat. According to an ABC 10News report that contacted the Public Affairs Office at Camp Pendleton after viewing the video shot by the vehicle's passengers, the Sgt is a Purple Heart recipient, which is an award given to military personnel wounded in combat, but his identity will not be released until he is formally charged. Read more »

Digital Gauge Clusters' Popularity Rising, Watch How the One on the Volvo V60 PHEV Works Posted: 04 Apr 2013 07:37 AM PDT One of the perks of writing many stories from the automotive world, and especially those about all-new cars, is that you get to see patterns which all manufacturers follow. In recent times, we had autonomous braking and lane departure warning (LDW) systems, which are slowly becoming standard, and now it's digital gauge clusters. While covering the NY motor show, it struck me just how many manufacturers have started offering the technology that is no longer limited to high-end cars. Read more »

Tesla Asked Customers to Pay for Cars Early to Help Report Its First-Ever Quarterly Profit Posted: 04 Apr 2013 07:10 AM PDT Tesla Motors recently announced that it recorded its first-ever quarterly profit, a very important step for the company that took government loans to develop an relatively affordable electric saloon. Whether the Model S is a truly affordable EV is another question, especially now that Tesla has pulled the plug on the 40 kWh-battery variant of the Model S – which was also the cheapest. Coming back to the profit reported by Tesla for the first quarter of this year, it seems that the company pulled a few strings to make it happen. According to a report from Bloomberg, Tesla urged customers who had reserved cars, but had not yet made their payments, to do so. Read more »

Lada Samara Hits a Wall -Literally- While Trying to Drift Posted: 04 Apr 2013 06:29 AM PDT Getting together with your pals at night at a local supermarket's parking lot to film your drifting efforts sounds like a very cool idea until you mess up and find yourself the star on YouTube. The young driver tries to turn around the (front-wheel drive) Lada Samara hatchback's tail a couple of times using the small pools of water on the lot as a skid pad. Read more »

New Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk7 Priced from £25,845 in Britain Posted: 04 Apr 2013 05:47 AM PDT Volkswagen has just opened the order books for the seventh-generation version of the Golf GTI, which was first introduced at the Geneva International Motor Show in March, before it headed to North America for the ongoing New York Auto Show, in the UK where prices start at £25,845 on the road, or £195 more than the previous model. Read more »

New BMW X4 Concept: First Official Photos Surface Online Posted: 04 Apr 2013 05:12 AM PDT This is it; the pre-production version of BMW's next crossover model, the X4, seen in these official photos wearing a concept moniker, which it justifies through the use of some chrome bits, huge alloy wheels and uniquely trimmed bumpers, but other than that, what you see is what you will get when it goes on sale in 2014. There's no information accompanying the leaked images, but the timing and the fact that the only major international car show coming up this month is the Auto China 2013 in Shanghai from April 21 to 29, means it's our best bet for the world premiere of the new BMW X4 Concept. Read more »

Detroit Electric Reveals Lotus-Based SP:01 – First Model since 1939, Priced from $135,000 Posted: 04 Apr 2013 06:01 AM PDT After having announced their return, Detroit Electric has finally revealed its first car, and it's a sporty Lotus Exige-based EV with impressive performance figures and a manual gearbox – the SP:01. You could also say that it marks the return of the Tesla Roadster… They say it is the fastest all-electric production car on the market, reaching 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.7 seconds, before topping out at 155 mph (248 km/h) - we think Croatia's Rimac might have something to say about that, though. The acceleration is the same as that of the Tesla Roadster, but the SP:01 does have a higher top speed. Read more »

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