Shop RadioShack for Great GiftsWe take a look at the coolest, and nutties cars from the LA Auto Show and give you the long and short of that Toyota gas pedal issue. Also, Audi wants drivers to scribble on their dashboard. Have you seen the latest in high tech auto seats? We also go for a ride in the Lincoln MKT.
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EPISODE 147
SHOW NOTES• CNET's L.A. auto show coverage
• Audi intros in-dash handwriting recognition
• CNET's review of the 2010 Mazda6
Mercedes-Benz new fuel cell research vehicle is built on its B-class platform.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)Instead of big, new vehicle launches at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Mercedes-Benz focused heavily on technology. The company brought out its next generation fuel cell vehicle, a car that lets passenger and driver view different content on the same screen, and an iPhone app that works with the company's new telematics service, Mbrace.
The 2011 Mercedes-Benz F-Cell is a fuel cell research vehicle, continuing the company's look into using hydrogen fuel cells to generate electricity to drive a car. The new model is based on the Mercedes-Benz B-class, a small vehicle with practical interior space. The fuel cells, lithium ion battery, and hydrogen tanks sit below the floorboards.
Mercedes-Benz owners can use this iPhone app to unlock their doors.
(Credit: Wayne Cunningham/CNET)The hydrogen tanks store 3.7 kilograms of hydrogen compressed at 10,000 psi, while the lithium ion battery produces 35 kilowatts. This vehicle's range is 248 miles, getting the equivalent of 86.6 mpg. The electric motor drives the wheels with 136 horsepower and 214 pound-feet of torque, getting the F-Cell to 60 mph in 11.3 seconds.
For its production cars, Mercedes-Benz introduced its new Mbrace service, powered by Hughes Telematics. Similar to competing services such as Onstar, Mbrace provides crash notification to the nearest authorities, concierge services for navigation, and emergency roadside assistance. Mbrace also offers traffic and weather features, but most of these are concierge-based, so you will have to talk to a real operator.
Mbrace includes a smart phone app, current available for the Blackberry and iPhone, that lets you lock and unlock your car from almost anywhere in the world. The app uses a graphic of a Mercedes-Benz key, with button areas matching the lock and unlock functions of the physical key. The app also has a car location feature, which can guide you to your car if you forgot where you parked it.
And finally, Mercedes-Benz will offer an optional split-view technology for the LCDs in its S- and CL-class cars. This technology lets the passenger watch a movie, while the driver uses the car's navigation. Check out Brian Cooley's video, in which he shows how it works.
The Porsche Boxster Spyder borrows design elements from a bygone era.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
Sport car companies enjoy the luxury of pushing design to the extreme, putting issues such as passenger comfort and cargo area aside. At the Los Angeles Auto Show we found a selection of new car designs that are as beautiful as they are impractical. Porsche showed up with a convertible that makes it more difficult to lower the top than in its other models. Lotus' newest car may be more accessible than its previous models, but you will still need the moves of a break-dancer to get inside. And the second generation of the Spyker C8 Aileron takes car design into the world of art.
Check out all these cars, and a special eco convertible, in our slideshow.
Mazda's midsize sedan enters a crowded market, and doesn't do much to distinguish itself. Beyond a couple of cool features, the Mazda6 generally stays behind the tech curve. Navigation is only available at the highest trim level, and real iPod integration isn't available at all. There's a little bit of Zoom in the tuning, but not the full Zoom Zoom promised by Mazda. The company is going to have to try harder to beat the likes of Nissan, Honda, and Toyota.
Fancy yourself the next Lewis Hamilton? Yeah, us too--that's why our ears perked up like little meerkats when Nissan and Sony started a competition to let gamers become real racing drivers.
The international GT Academy competition--the second since 2008--is split into four main stages. Stage one requires competitors to record flying laps on a time-trial-based track in Gran Turismo 5 via the PS3's PlayStation Network. The 20 fastest entrants in each country will qualify for stage two--a national final. In stage three, the 20 fastest entrants from stage two will battle it out to reach the next round--a five-day boot camp in which they'll have the chance to drive real-life sports cars, including the latest Nissans, around Silverstone.
Read more of "GT Academy: Become a real-life racing driver with Nissan and Sony PlayStation" at Crave UK.
Yesterday I was writing about the new Audi R8 sports car that's borrowed at least a few attributes from the Lamborghini Gallardo. I figured since I brought up the subject that I may as well present you with a video of that very car, and specifically in this case we are putting the spotlight on the 2010 Lambo Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder as it blazes through the Canary Islands.
Lamborghini's Gallardo is numerically its biggest production car and is generally regarded the world over as one of the best performing and aesthetically pleasing modern sports cars. The Spyder edition of the Gallardo has been around for a few years and while it doesn't quite have the muscle of other Gallardo models, it's still a sleek European sports car. The environmental aspects of this Web video are great, showing this beaming yellow Lambo cruising the roads against a backdrop of misty skies and rocky terrain. We also get a look under the hood at the :17 mark and then hold onto your hats as shortly thereafter you're gonna get blasted with the roar of the Gallardo as its tires burn Australian pavement. You'll also get to check out both the interior and exterior features of this fine Italian sports car.
With all eyes in the auto world this week focused on the LA Auto Show, I thought I would take a look at what else was going on. Here's a car shaped like a cricket bat. It was built by the man who brought the world the soccer ball car and the toilet car.
Utility company NRG wants to sell charging plans for the Nissan Leaf.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
The CEO of one of America's biggest electric utility companies is putting his shoulder behind Nissan North America Inc.'s campaign to sell electric vehicles.
Among his ideas: sending marketing materials for the upcoming electric Nissan Leaf with customers' monthly electric bills.
"I think we can play a role in what Nissan is doing," said David Crane, CEO of NRG Energy Inc. of Princeton, N.J., which provides electricity in cities around the country.
"We send monthly statements out to 1.5 million customers in the Houston area," he told Automotive News. "That's a lot of marketing potential."
Houston is one of Nissan's biggest markets. NRG owns the Houston power company, Reliant Energy.
This month Reliant signed on to join a growing list of third-party partners helping Nissan launch Leaf sales in selected markets late next year. Nissan has been recruiting utilities, state governments, municipalities and others to help install highway recharging stations and address residential zoning rules to make home recharging easier.
Crane envisions doing more than that. He proposes that Reliant act as a Nissan retail service supplier in Houston. When customers buy an electric vehicle, they could buy a Reliant charger installation package from the Nissan dealer. The package, financed along with the car, would deploy Reliant staffers to do the necessary work on the customer's home.
Crane also wants to market recharging plans through Nissan dealerships, similar to cell phone plans. "We could have different plans available, depending on the customer's needs," he said. "It might guarantee you so many recharges a month at public stations or give you so many charges a month on a rapid-charge system."
Electric-vehicle chargers come primarily as a traditional 220-volt plug-in that takes up to six hours to recharge a vehicle's battery completely. A more expensive high-voltage charging system that takes less than an hour also will be installed around cities.
(Source: Automotive News)
The Sienna's Dual View display seems a bit wide for single source viewing, but dual source may be OK.
(Credit: Toyota)
Maybe they should call it a Van-za...
(Credit: Josh P. Miller/CNET)This week the 2011 Toyota Sienna debuted at the LA Auto Show and while the minivan's new Venza-esque aesthetic, 3.5- and 2.7-liter power trains, and available all-wheel drive are, well, kind of interesting, we're most intrigued by the new Dual View rear seat entertainment system.
Folding down from its hiding place in the Sienna's ceiling, the Dual View display appears to be a superwide 16.4-inch display. However, it is actually two smaller displays seamlessly butted against each other in one frame.
When watching a single source, the Dual View displays a single image. Choose two video sources (such as a DVD and the RCA inputs) and the two Dual View system switches to a split screen mode, displaying the two images side-by-side.
The rest of the Sienna's cabin tech package consists of the same DVD-based navigation system that Toyota's been using since forever, Bluetooth connectivity for calls and audio streaming, USB and iPod compatibility, and an 180-degree Panorama Camera rear monitor.
Check out our photos of the 2011 Sienna from the floor of the 2009 LA Auto Show.
The Honda P-NUT was the strangest thing on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
In a time when most automakers limit their new production, Honda showed the most creative flair at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show with its Personal-Neo Urban Transport (P-NUT) concept. The P-NUT explores new ideas for small city cars, using a 1+2 layout, with rear seats that can fold up, turning the car into a delivery cart. Honda has some interesting ideas for how the driver would interact with the car, and specifies a head-up display for the broad windshield.
Don't expect the P-NUT to ever hit production; it is pure concept. Honda merely suggests some ideas that would work for its powerplant, from a traditional internal combustion engine to an electric drive unit.
