High-performance cars will get a nod at the North American International Auto Show next week, but electrics and hybrids will get the buzz.
Volkswagen and Toyota will show hybrid concepts; Audi, BMW, and Fiat will unveil electric concepts. Honda will show the production version of the CR-Z hybrid hatchback.
The Detroit auto show will put together many electric cars and technology in one area called Electric Avenue.
Meanwhile, the high-performance crowd will get their due with the CTS-V coupe from Cadillac and a performance sedan concept from Buick.
Mercedes-Benz will take the wraps off of the fourth variant of its new E class--a production convertible that replaces the CLK.
... Read MoreTop tech cars of the year remembered, a look at the state of the art in concept car design, and a ride in the all new 2010 Cadillac SRX.
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EPISODE 150
SHOW NOTES• Vote for Tech Car of the Year
• CNET review of the 2010 Cadillac SRX
• Car tech will be big at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in January
The SRX name may not be new at Cadillac, but the car wearing it certainly is. The 2010 SRX is radically redesigned from earlier versions, opting for a more carlike suspension, while retaining a five-passenger SUV-like body. Borrowing much from the CTS sedan, the SRX has angular design cues around its body, and a very modern cabin tech suite, anchored by a very good navigation system. Power comes from a direct injection 3-liter V-6.
One of the first albums I owned was a Chuck Berry greatest hits compilation wherein the very first song, "Maybelline," name checked the Cadillac Coupe De Ville as the ride of choice of Berry's muse within the song. "Maybelline" was a hit in 1955, so even at a preteen age I became interested in Caddys from the '50s, especially the 1955 model that I imagine Maybelline in while sitting "at the top of the hill." I've never had the fortune of owning or even driving a 1955 Cadillac Coupe De Ville, so Santa if you're reading this, feel free to deliver this red-hot Christmas present to my humble abode. In the meantime, I guess this Web video will have to make do in satiating my desire for a classic Cadillac to call my own.
This video is a slideshow montage of several 1955 Cadillac Coupe De Villes, and that, my friends, is definitely not a bad thing. It begins with a brief look at the stats and specs of a typical '55, and otherwise it consists of mostly exterior views, but we get an occasional glimpse of the interiors of this bona fide classic make and model as well. So many pretty Caddys, so little time; I wish they were all mine. May Santa continue to bring good tidings to Cadillac, and hopefully he'll even leave Chuck Berry something nice in his stocking for making this car that much more legendary.
The 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe debuts at the LA Auto Show.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
The CTS has proven to be one of Cadillac's most versatile cars, and a favorite of the company's designers. The CTS Sedan launched with an extreme example of Cadillac's modern Art and Science design language, giving it a very individual look. Since then, Cadillac has added a Sport Wagon version and the high performance CTS-V. Cadillac further modifies the body with the CTS Coupe, taking the design to even more extreme lengths.
At once shorter and flatter than the CTS Sedan, the Coupe looks almost like a hatchback with the high rise of the trunk lid. Inside seating is in a 2+2 arrangement. Although the front of the car is the same as the CTS Sedan, the sides and rear are new. Along with taking off the rear doors, Cadillac made other design changes, such as taking off the door handles, replacing them with electronic touchpads, and changing the configuration of the exhaust tips.
Inside, the Coupe has the same cabin tech as the Sedan, with hard drive-based navigation with live traffic, onboard music storage, iPod integration, Bose stereo system, and Bluetooth.
The hot topic that's being discussed all over the 'Net and at water coolers all over the world is how Tiger Woods ended up crashing his 2009 Cadillac Escalade into a now-famous tree in Florida after what is being rumored as a fight with his wife over reports that he'd been steppin' out with another woman. I'll leave all the gossip and speculation on the why's and how's of that situation to TMZ or the National Enquirer. But I'm the type of person who tries to find light and humor in all situations, so I thought I should poke a little fun at this incident with a web video of a Cadillac Escalade that would definitely not be an underdog against a suburban tree, and here 'tis - the Cadillac Escalade monster truck!
This video comes from a monster truck jam at Lebanon Valley Speedway, and we jump in right away with a Cadillac Escalade that's been made into friggin' huge monster truck ready for destruction. It's pretty much standard monster truck fare until about the halfway point when the Escalade takes a jump over some standard automobiles at an odd angle, and ends up flipping over on its side and catching fire for a moment. After determining that driver George Balhan is OK he gives a celebration speech and basks in the moment.
The Saab deal unravels: Is the Swedish tech innovator dead? What we're looking for at the L.A. auto show. The best time to buy a car may surprise you. BMW revamps the 5-Series and makes a run at the kind of diesel America never loved and Europe always has. And we take a ride in the GMC Terrain.
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EPISODE 146
SHOW NOTES• BMW launches new 5-series online
• BMW set to offer small, 4-cylinder diesels in U.S.
• Bad news for Saab: White knight turns and rides off
• Ferrari hybrid seems imminent according to what looks like a cocktail napkin sketch
• CNET Video: What you'll need to replace your factory car stereo
GM says yes to the Cadillac of Volts, eBay offers some free online car buying protection, electric cars you fill up--not charge up--and a ride in a car that has the Sport on it, but not really in it.
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EPISODE 144
SHOW NOTES• GM will build the Cadillac Converj
• TomTom iPhone app gets better--but not cheaper
• Europe envisions cars forming highway trains
Take a huge engine and drop it in a basic chassis. The VSR follows the classic hot rod formula to a tee.
(Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET)Cadillac and General Motors have unveiled the VSR Cadillac V-Series Powered Sports Rod Concept, or VSR for short, at the 2009 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. What's the VSR concept, you ask? Well, according to GM:
"This concept features a contemporary hand-sculpted body and unique blend of Cadillac styling cues, with proportions and form that evoke images of earlier days of race cars/sports cars and 'Hot Rodding.' Race car engineering, state-of-the-art electronics and technology express the modern supercar era."
That means that GM had taken a lightweight and stripped-down aluminum hot rod chassis and slapped a thoroughly modern 6-liter, 400-horsepower Cadillac V-8 engine under its clamshell hood. This engine is probably a close relative to the 6.2-liter mill that powers the CTS-V. It transmits its power and torque through an automatic transmission to a pair of meaty, 22-inch rear wheels shod in TOYO Proxes S/T tires.
Up front, a pair of 20-inch wheels is connected to an electric powered rack-and-pinion system to handle the VSR's steering duties. All four corners are independently suspended on Air-Ride Technology Shock Wave air struts. Halting the VSR to a stop are a quartet of disc brakes with six-piston calipers and 13-inch rotors.
Although on display in a single seating configuration, the VSR actually seats two with its passenger side tonneau cover removed. Both passengers sit in carbon fiber bucket seats, but only the driver gets to tickle the custom steering wheel and play with the Digital instrumentation by Medallion. Cabin tech comes in the form of an iPhone/iPod Touch compatible audio system and a rearview camera system by Peak.
We don't expect to see this baby on the road any time soon, but it's good to know that someone at GM still has an active imagination.
Most dialogue about the Car Allowance Rebate System tends to be wholly serious - especially by those who oppose the government-endorsed program. Not surprisingly, a lot of web video on the subject has been less than humorous. While any government-mandated policy deserves serious analysis and informed opinion, sometimes you gotta make light of such issues and have a little fun. With this in mind, today I present a fun little video where four traded-in "clunkers" have a literal race to the death.
This web video follows the fate of four old and purportedly useless automobiles as they are prepared for execution. The contestants include a Nissan Pathfinder, two Beamers and a Caddy (all cars, in my opinion, are typically fine automobiles, even in their twilight years) are drained of fluids and filled with the so-called "liquid glass".
Now that you know the contestants, stop the video before the 1:25 mark and make your bets on who wins, places, shows and outright loses in this motionless race to the end of their existence on God's gray earth. Drivers take their places inside each of the four vehicles and rev the engines at lightning speeds, and wait to see if your predictions pan out - one car will die before the others, and yet another will outlast the engine destruction longer than its cohorts. Unfortunately, in this contest there really isn't any true winner...they all lose as the liquid glass eventually works into the engine and the poor clunkers die a horrific death. More fun than Guitar Hero, baby!
