cars

Placing a great deal of trust in a bunch of automotive journalists, Honda let about 20 of us loose today in their next-generation hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles on the Laguna Seca racetrack in California. Only two models of the Honda FCX Concept exist, and we got a chance to put the futuristic sedans through their paces while admiring the sleek styling and high-tech drive train components that enabled us to blast around at 80mph with no emissions besides water.

The FCX Concept runs entirely on hydrogen, has a range of 270 miles per tank, and represents a significant advancement for Honda'… Read more

For the Juan Manuel Fangio wannabe or the parents who fear their daughter wants to be the next Danica Patrick, the ScanGauge II gives insight into what your car is up to.

The ScanGauge II from Linear Logic is a painless-to-install car diagnostics reader for $170 and, according to the company, it will soon be getting an add-on to make it even more useful. Currently, the ScanGauge II reads and displays 12 different parameters in real-time.

The recorded parameters track things like fuel usage, average speed, maximum speed, driving time, maximum rpm, distance to empty, and time to empty. The … Read more

If you ignore the estimates that all the farmland in the U.S. couldn't produce enough biodiesel to make a big dent in our petro-appetite, biodiesel is pretty exciting--when you can find it. All the tired jokes about pulling up to your favorite Chinese restaurant aren't very funnny when the needle is on "E" and you want to stay green.

Nearbio.com is a free site that tells you where the nearest biodiesel vendor is located and how to get there. It's really optimized for use on a web-enabled cell phone (nearbio.mobi) where its … Read more

Following yesterday's Los Angeles Times article on GM's development of a new kind of gasoline-electric hybrid, Reuters is reporting this morning that the plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) car is likely to make its first appearance at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit next January. The unveiling will come exactly 10 years after the launch of the ill-fated EV1 electric car (pictured), which GM discontinued in 2002 citing lack of public interest. Since then, GM has taken a hammering at the hands of overseas automakers who have been early adopters of hybrid technology.

Recent initiatives such … Read more

Is Sophia Loren really the only woman deserving of a gullwing coupe?

Thankfully, Bristol Cars is among the few car manufacturers that still make cars with wings. In fact, it has just introduced an even faster model.

"Supremely elegant but with a steely hint of aggression," Bristol says of its new car. The Bristol Fighter T, available starting in September 2007, is the next generation to the Fighter S.

It has a twin turbocharged and inter-cooled 8-litre V10 engine. Bristol claims the car has the potential to do a maximum speed of 270 mph, but that it has &… Read more

This is a perfect stocking stuffer, especially in preparation for late-night holiday festivities. The "Drive Alert Master" from Maplin Electronics is an over-the-ear device that's designed to keep you awake no matter how much cheap champagne was served at your company party.

It works like this: If your head suddenly drops forward while you're behind the wheel, the Alert Master sounds a loud beep just to make sure you're not nodding off. The contraption seems a little bulky for the ear, but it's not meant to be a fashion statement, and Shiny Shiny says … Read more

General Motors is has developed an alternative alternative vehicle. The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that GM has developed a prototype of a new kind of electric car that uses an internal combustion engine solely as an electric generator. Scheduled to be unveiled early next year, the car will run on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that will be supplemented by electricity generated from an onboard gasoline- or diesel-powered motor when the charge runs low.

According to the Times, the car would require charging on a daily basis with each charge delivering a range of 20 to 30 miles, after which … Read more

"I worked hard. And if you work hard, you get the goodies."

The gentleman who famously said that, the star of The Great Escape, Bullitt and Le Mans, was possibly referring to his extensive collection of cars and bikes.

Steve McQueen's widow is auctioning off several of those goodies Saturday at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, Calif., via Bonhams & Butterfields. Rumor has it that several collectors and celebrities are going to "fight like hell" to get them.

Among the collection from the "king of cool" are a circa 1920 Indian … Read more

Following our reviews of DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes R350 and Chrysler Pacifica, we just got hold of Cadillac's offering in the SUV/station wagon/minivan segment, the SRX. We just took receipt of a gleaming, fully-loaded silver review model this afternoon, and lost no time taking it for a quick spin around the sunny streets of San Francisco. Inside, the SRX has many of the upscale appointments of the 2007 Cadillac Escalade we reviewed earlier this year: leather and burled-wood trim; touch-screen navigation; and CD/MP3/WMA/DVD in-dash multimedia head unit with auxiliary input jack. A couple of the … Read more