(Credit:
Autocar.co.uk)
Having spent time behind the steering wheels of the BMW X6 M, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, the Infiniti FX50S, and the Range Rover Sport, I was fairly certain that I could predict the outcome of Autocar's drag race between the four sporty SUVs (is that a bit redundant?). And for the most part, I was right. I won't spoil the ending for you, but I can't help but to think that the outcome would be decidedly different and much more interesting if this race where held off-road! I mean, these are SUVs after all.
Place your bets and check the video below to see how the contenders stack up in what may be the world's heaviest drag race:
BMW's M Power app is actually quite useful.
(Credit: BMW)BMW has launched the M Power iPhone app, the Bavarian automaker's second free application to promote its brand. However, unlike its previous offering, this app is actually sort of useful.
The M Power app measures vehicle acceleration using your iPhone's (or iPod Touch's) built-in accelerometer. After securing the iPhone (via a windshield mount or just tossing it in a cup holder), the app will measure 0-60 mph times other user-customizable speeds in mph or kph. The app will also measure forward and lateral G-forces for users who want to take a spin on a skidpad. Users can also unlock different skins on BMW's Web site to customize the look and feel of the app.
Although branded with the BMW M badge, the M Power app will work for any car that you can fit an iPhone into. Unlike my favorite paid iPhone accelerometer-based speed computer, Dynolicious, BMW's app doesn't look like it will calculate your vehicle's horsepower or torque. But at the low cost of "free," the M Power app is a hard bargain to turn down.
Check out the BMW M Power app in the iTunes App Store.
I've focused this week's blogs on the newest hybrid vehicles on the market for the 2010 automotive year, and today is no exception. Today's Web clip features the 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML 450 Hybrid; but fear not, as there are no boring narrators or bad techno music on this video to pull attention away from the car. In fact, the only sounds you'll hear are those of the vehicle against the wind.
The M-class rocks a 3.5-liter V-6 engine that produces 335 horsepower and starts about $55,000. The 450 ML gets about 22.5 miles per gallon between city driving and highway miles.
Space-age design: The mPower Emergency Illuminator is set to hit stores in March, 2010.
(Credit: mPower)Flashlights are becoming more and more sophisticated, as well as rather expensive. Case in point: the upcoming mPower Emergency Illuminator, which made its press debut this week at an event in New York. Designed by the Porsche Design Studio to be "a stylish product with emergency utility, it will cost somewhere between $250 and $300 when it comes out in March of 2010.
Aside from the fetching design, the mPower Emergency Illuminator boasts some innovative battery technology. One battery "tube" stores two CR123 batteries, while the other has what's called an OnCommand Reserve Battery that the company says has a minimum 20-year shelf life and will deliver "power on command when and where you need it."
While the special reserve battery isn't rechargeable and will wear down if you use the flashlight a lot, it will never degrade just sitting around in its tube. In other words, you could never turn this torch on for years, and it would still work the moment you need it--according to mPower. Replacing the backup battery will cost you around $25, though that price may go up with inflation over the years.
It's also worth noting that the flashlight has a built-in USB port for charging cell phones and other gadgets. If there's juice available from the CR123 batteries, your device will draw power from them; if not, it will charge up via the backup battery.
Comments? Would you rather have this model or the battery-free LED quick charging flashlight from 5.11 Tactical?
The Oshkosh M-ATV will be replacing up-armored Humvees in Afghanistan.
(Credit: Oshkosh Defense)U.S. troops in Afghanistan are now starting to receive the first of thousands of a new vehicle intended for treacherous mountain roads and tight urban lanes.
The Defense Department said Wednesday that it had loaded seven M-ATVs (for "mine-resistant, ambush-protected all-terrain vehicles") onto a pair of aircraft for deployment to Afghanistan. Over the course of the next year, the military expects to field more than 6,600 of the vehicles (Click for a PDF of the M-ATV's brochure).
The M-ATV fits into a middle ground between up-armored Humvees, which it will be replacing in Afghanistan, and the hulking MRAP mine-resistant vehicles that the Pentagon has been sending in large numbers to Iraq over the last couple of years. While MRAPs have proved effective in protecting passengers against improvised explosive devices, they are often too large and too heavy for the roadways soldiers often need to patrol. And they're not exactly designed for off-roading.
Mine-resistant vehicles are characterized in part by their intrinsic armoring and by a V-shaped hull that helps to deflect the force of explosions at ground level. Humvees, meanwhile, weren't originally designed with IEDs in mind and have had to use add-on armor to gain some measure of protection.
The Oshkosh M-ATV weighs in at about 11 tons, which is only half as heavy as the average MRAP, and 5 tons lighter than the lightest MRAP. (Humvees are in the range of 5 tons apiece.) It can carry four passengers plus a gunner, and can handle a payload of 4,000 pounds.
A pair of M-ATVs are strapped down in a C-17 aircraft on Wednesday, awaiting shipment to Afghanistan.
(Credit: U.S. Air Force photo/James M. Bowman)The new vehicle is powered by a 370-horsepower Caterpillar C7 engine, with an Allison 3500 SP transmission. It's built on Oshkosh's TAK-4 independent suspension system, which the company says has been used already on more than 10,000 Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacements (MTVRs) supplied to the Marines and Seabees.
In the field, the M-ATV is expected to support small-unit combat operations in challenging rural, mountainous, and urban environments.
Through the end of the year, when transport by sea is scheduled to begin, the U.S. Air Force expects to airlift between 300 and 500 M-ATVs per month from Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina. The 437th Aerial Port Squadron there has already dispatched more than 3,700 MRAPs overseas.
Oshkosh received its initial delivery order from the Pentagon at the end of June. The deal was valued at $1.05 billion for 2,244 of the M-ATVs.
Update, 1:18 p.m. PDT: Oshkosh said Thursday that to date it has received orders valued at $2.3 billion for 4,296 M-ATVs, including spare parts and support services.
After reviewing this last weekend's Classic Endurance Racing event at Silverstone, I went back to the CER website to read a little more about what they're all about. Problem is, the website is mostly written in French, a language that I'm only scarcely familiar with. Apparently, they have a special feature on the "Modele Unique" Ferrari 712 driven by Paul Knapfield at CER's final race at Silverstone. If only I could read French would I know what makes this vehicle "unique"...
Specific "modele" aside, any Ferrari is pretty bad assed. So in lieu of footage featuring Mr. Knapfield racing his Ferrari 712 over this past weekend (where he finished 42nd of 44 cars...not all that impressive for drivin' in a Ferrari), we get a web video clip that delivers three Ferraris in the same place at the same time. Not only is the 712 in action here, but we also get to see the 312PB and the 512M racing around the famed Spa-Francorchamps track (a place that incidentally is a regular host of classic sports car racing events). What a bargain!
Here's a look at the Noble M600. This 650 horsepower 2010 model looks promising as a supercar contender.
Clunkers ends with a bang, Toyota is either smarter--or dumber--than other car companies, we'll turn you on to an unintentional collectible car, and yes, FINALLY, we take a ride in the new Camaro!
Listen now: Download today's podcastSubscribe now: iTunes (audio) | RSS (audio)
SHOW NOTES
• CNET review of the 2010 Camaro
• Big, bad Infiniti M56 on the way
• Aha Mobile traffic app for iPhone is, er, interesting
Well, I'll be damned. I never thought I'd see this day, but after numerous delays, Garmin-Asus is finally releasing its Nuvifone models, starting with select Asian markets.
The Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60 will be the first out the door and will go on sale in Taiwan on July 27, and then in Singapore and Malaysia by the end of August. The Garmin-Asus Nuvifone M20 will also go on sale in August, shipping in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia.
As for us here in the States (and Europe), Garmin-Asus says the Nuvifone G60 is on schedule for delivery in the second half of the year. However, there was no mention of a North American release of the Windows Mobile-based Nuvifone M20. However, I have to wonder, does it even matter? Today's market is full of so many capable and proven smartphones and mobile GPS solutions; is anyone going to go for this?
Are you the kind of person who likes to go really fast in a really big vehicle? Well, the boys from Bavaria have just the thing for you: the BMW X6 M.
Powered by BMW's twin-turbocharge gasoline V-8, and putting power to the wheels through the xDrive all-wheel drive system, the X6 M and its sibling the X5 M will get you where you're going in a hurry.
