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Showing posts with label automático. Show all posts
Showing posts with label automático. Show all posts

Hyundai HB20X

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Hyundai HB20XTalvez você lembre da intenção principal que a Hyundai teve ao iniciar toda esta empreitada que atende pelo nome de HB20. Para alcançar uma participação de mercado pelo menos no nível de Citroën, Renault e Peugeot, por exemplo, a coreana manteve a excelente fama iniciada com os modelos mais caros mas agora a estende às categorias de volumes maiores. Em outras palavras, depois de criar um compacto exclusivo para o Brasil, quem poderia duvidar que o próximo passo seria competir entre os aventureiros urbanos?

Como era de se esperar, as imagens oficiais e a publicidade da marca dão a ideia de que este carro consegue transpor trilhas que na realidade pertencem ao naipe de legítimos jipes. Os fatos, no entanto, são que o HB20X traz alterações de monta bem menor, porque sua intenção na verdade não é tão grande assim. A Hyundai brasileira acaba de colocar em prática o que os concorrentes da novidade com certeza farão assim que os seus modelos chegarem à época das novas gerações: aproveitar as vantagens de prever estas versões desde o começo do projeto. Carros como 207 SW, Fox e a própria Palio Weekend surgiram todos antes de este gosto virar uma moda tão forte, de forma que quando ela chegou os fabricantes precisaram recorrer a adaptações. Já o HB20 é um dos primeiros a contar com tal variação de nascença, o que lhe permite resultado visual bem melhor: ele troca o excesso de apliques de plástico, por exemplo, por parachoques exclusivos. Seu ar mais agressivo se faz com aspecto mais volumoso e itens como a grade dianteira bem maior, combinando com o bom gosto dos demais acessórios como o rack de teto e as rodas de liga leve exclusivas. É nada mais que repetir em escala de menor preço o que fabricantes como Audi e BMW fazem há alguns anos com os pacotes esportivos: projetá-los em paralelo com o desenho padrão do carro permite a esses kits complementar o estilo do mesmo, em vez de bifurcar as atenções.

Hyundai HB20XAlém disso, a ausência de mudanças mais extremas como o estepe direcionado à tampa traseira só volta a confirmar que a Hyundai deixou os extremos para seu crossover compacto, que terá a base do HB20 mas chegará nos próximos anos. As únicas mudanças da cabine foram os bancos com dupla costura, pedaleiras em alumínio e o volante revestido em couro na versão Premium, o que tem seu lado bom e ruim: trata-se de ter mantido um interior cuja qualidade já tem ótima aceitação do público, mas simples mudanças como cores de revestimentos e de luzes teriam dado ar muito mais condizente com a proposta da versão nova. O carro sempre usa o 1.6 16v flex de 128 cv, e a versão Style (R$ 48.755) traz de série airbag duplo, ar-condicionado, computador de bordo, Bluetooth, direção hidráulica, farois de neblina, rodas de liga leve aro 15”, sistema de som multimídia (sem CD player) com comandos no volante, trio elétrico e cabine com bancos em azul e console em preto. A Premium (R$ 51.255) soma ar-condicionado mais sofisticado, banco traseiro bipartido, chave multifuncional, palhetas Aeroblade, sensores de estacionamento e crepuscular, vidros com função one-touch e a curiosa opção de trocar o sistema de som por um que traz CD/MP3 player mas perde a conexão Bluetooth, esta opção sem custo extra. É uma pena que os preços sejam salgados já usando o câmbio manual: a caixa automática de quatro marchas passa as versões respectivamente a R$ 51.955 e a R$ 54.455.

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Audi A6 Allroad

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Clique para ver em alta resoluçãoSe você acompanha as novidades automotivas do mercado brasileiro com certa frequência, com certeza lembrará que o ano passado foi muito importante para a Audi no país. Tivemos toda uma ampliação de sua linha, com modelos de todos os tamanhos e preços chegando sem tanto atraso e até acompanhados de outros até pouco tempo atrás improváveis. As novidades de 2013 também têm enorme importância, mas cada uma pelos próprios motivos. A primeira é esta perua, que segue uma tendência muito famosa no Brasil.

Suspensão elevada, revestimentos externos em plástico preto, detalhes como rack de teto e estribos laterais, cabine um tanto mais “rústica”… A receita dos chamados “aventureiros urbanos” começou em meados dos anos 1990 com duas peruas, uma na Europa e outra no Brasil. Volvo V70 Cross Country e Fiat Palio Adventure deram duas interpretações diferentes ao nicho de mercado que de início fez fama por representar a união entre a vocação familiar de uma station wagon com toques mais aventureiros vindos dos SUVs. A questão é que em poucos anos esse conceito convergiu aos crossovers, de forma que hoje em dia essas peruas têm um público bem mais restrito e precisam de maiores esforços para continuar agradando. Em outras palavras, é necessário que estejam em perfeita sintonia com o que seus clientes desejam. A faixa de V70 e A6 Allroad tem enormes diferenças da de Palio Adventure e VW Space Cross, mas todas vêm apenas em decorrência das faixas de preço – o conceito, no entanto, é o mesmo. O segundo batalhão é bem mais conhecido pelo brasileiro, em que as peruas compactas focam numa profusão de acessórios maiores e menores mas sempre em especial no exterior, para conseguir um visual bem diferenciado das versões comuns. O interior até recebe mudanças, mas ali a regra é oferecer o pacote de itens mais completo. Ou seja, o resultado é uma versão de topo com visual exclusivo e algum preparo para o off-road leve, mas sem investir demais.

Audi A6 AllroadJá quem faz parte do mercado de luxo e decide levar uma perua do segmento que também inclui a Peugeot 508 RXH tem outros objetivos. Eles também gostam da ideia de jovialidade trazida pelos acessórios exclusivos, mas não perdem o gosto pela discrição. E os que precisam se afastar dos centros urbanos ainda apreciam os equipamentos que trazem real aptidão para o fora-de-estrada, como a tração integral. No caso da Allroad, os vários protetores em preto e prata com revestimento em aço inoxidável dão um destaque interessante por não destoar do carro e nem tentar fazê-lo parecer outro. A jovialidade implícita pelas belas rodas é continuada no interior, em que os detalhes cromados fazem um par de ótimo gosto com os revestimentos em couro marrom. Os itens de série incluem ar-condicionado bizona, central de entretenimento com GPS e tela retrátil, teto solar panorâmico e volante esportivo. Já a segurança vem com os vários tipos de airbags, câmera de ré e indicador de pressão de pneus, entre outros. Vale observar a suspensão a ar adaptativa, que em terrenos acidentados eleva o veículo em 35 mm, mas em altas velocidades privilegia a performance e o rebaixa em 15 mm. Ele traz o motor 3.0 V6 TFSI, que gera 310 cv e acelera de 0 a 100 km/h em 5s9, e que ficou 20% mais econômico: a marca informa média de 8,93 km/l, sempre usando tração integral quattro e câmbio S-Tronic de sete marchas e dupla embreagem. Foi confirmado o preço de R$ 354.900.

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Audi RS7

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Click to see in high resolutionDo you remember what Audi used to do with its sporty line until the early 2000s? The only odd-numbered vehicle was A3 which, in turn, was also one of the Germans’ three “exceptions”: A2 never achieved success and TT seemed to be enough among the sports cars, so the several S-number were only sedans and wagons and there was only one RS at a time. The current market has brought enormous changes to this brand’s showroom, though, and one way of illustrating this event is presenting this article’s vehicle.

There’s no argument that Audi can create really good cars, but this one can also be seen as a very accurate example of how the automakers are always getting divided into two groups: it starts when someone comes up with some kind of innovation, whether in luxury, mechanics or even a whole car concept. If it obtains good acceptation, this brand can enjoy some months of excellent sales exclusively for itself, but soon all its competitors start to release their versions of the same idea. Some better than the original and some worse, but all with the same essence, which leads to divide the customers once again. This is what Audi has been doing with its cars for some years, in fact. They’ve followed BMW and Porsche with a luxury crossover and later with creating smaller sizes of it, and also Mercedes-Benz with both the four-door coupes and its own supersports line. Besides, after A7 received the always-expected S7 trim, now it’s time to copy every single urban Audi but A8 and release a RS7. Sports versions are always great, but the problem with this one is that Audi is decharacterizing it. The original strategy was always to give huge powertrain upgrades with slightly visual changes to its urban cars but as the S version, leaving RS as one single very special car like RS2, the very first of them. However, since today almost every Audi offers both sporty versions, they both seem pointless.

Audi RS7After all, the customers who look for high performance cars at Audi’s price range wouldn’t take the “second best” trim only to avoid the price difference in favor of S. On the other side, there are so many RS cars that they’ve lost that uniqueness which in 1994 made that wagon worldwide famous. In other words, it would make much more sense to go back to offering only one line… just like BMW M or Mercedes AMG, by the way. Strategy issues aside, RS7 is the very latest Audi to receive the best performance upgrades these Germans offer. This aggressive design packed with beautiful 20” wheels really go much better with the casual very-high-end Audi than with its sedan sibling A8, also because now there’s a competitor for CLS 63 AMG and the recent M6 Gran Coupé. The driving can be customized with optional air suspension, sports rear differential and variable-ratio steering, stability control with sport option and “off” button and many others, making an already indefectible driving more suitable to each driver’s style. The common item is the twin-turbo V8 4.0L shared with RS6 Avant, delivering here 560-hp power and 516-lb-ft torque commanded by ZF’s eight-speed automatic transmission and quattro AWD system – this car goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3s9. The top speed, in turn, varies with the optional item packages which bring several improvements in style, handling and aerodynamics… and take the car from the 155-mph top speed to 174 mph or 190 mph.

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Mercedes-Benz CLA

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Click to see in high resolutionWhen in Rome, do as the Romans do. Like many other pieces of popular culture, this phrase has proven itself an excellent advice millions of times. Mercedes has already shown several cars which two decades ago would be seen as an apocalypse prediction, but most of them were experiments, to find out what the market would want for the near future. Only some turned successful, but the overall result was excellent. The car you’re about to meet is the best prove that these Germans did find the right track to follow, once again.

Like many specialized texts have already stated, if the Mercedes cars were people with some sort of family relations, CLA would surely be a son whose both parents were the current generations of A-Class and CLS – this last one, in turn, could even be thought as a result of E-Class with CL. But before thinking of very unusual ways to use the family concept, the Germans deserve the bigger applauses for obtaining that mentioned knowledge concerning the car market in nowadays. In other words, since CLS’s concept has proven itself successful in sales and harmless to E-Class, later they started to think of reducing this formula’s scale. On the other hand, it’s easy to see they’ve finally found how to make A-Class prosper, so it would be very nice to take more advantage of that. So the sedan showed at these pictures is another result of the very concept that in Renault has just generated Captur. Examples like these are highly unlikely to bring conceptual revolutions because they’re the mere merge of other concepts, but once again this doesn’t come as a complaint at all. The truly meaning here is that Mercedes realized that cars like CLA are the right track to follow, so from now on it’ll be very hard to see this automaker releasing another “experimental” car. It is true that they needed to forget some of the old rules, but the final result is the much wider propagation of the image they’ve built through all these years.

Mercedes-Benz CLAThere’s no doubt that image includes their particular standards for comfort, design, quality and performance, but what would those forgotten rules be? One of them is the front-wheel-drive, so far only used by the hatchback CLA shares platform with. But these cars are much more related than that: the newcomer is its sedan version, which is confirmed by the very similar front and side sections. But their biggest difference is conceptual, rather than at the measures: the hatchback is clearly much more sporty, designed to attract younger buyers while CLA still seek this public but using a more elegant style, with a less obvious way of expressing A-Class casuality. The specifications list will lead to notice that this car isn’t bigger than North-American compact sedans – Dodge Dart, for example, is 0.6 inch longer and has a 0.1 inch longer wheelbase – but offers very much from Mercedes’ equipments portfolio, of course. However, there’s an optionals list including panoramic sunroof, aluminum or wood internal details and item packages: Sport, Premium and Multimedia. Other specs concern the engine options: 120-hp 1.6L for CLA 180, 150-hp 1.6L for CLA 200, 210-hp turbo 2.0L for CLA 250 and 170-hp diesel 2.1 for CLA 220 CDI, always with a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and the optional 4Matic all-wheel-drive. But while you wait for the AMG version, here’s an interesting tidbit: even the urban versions have a 0.23 drag coefficient. This is one of the best numbers of the current production cars.

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Infiniti Q50

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Click to see in high resolutionHave you ever noticed that some automakers can become really confusing with the alphanumeric codes used to name their cars? BMW and Mercedes-Benz at least stick to numbers no longer according to the car’s engines, but other strategies seem to be understood only by their own creators. A few days ago Infiniti has announced some changes to theirs in order to simplify it, but also showed some very interesting small teasers. So what could be a better way to release that new naming method than with a whole new car using it?

There are many cases of cars which couldn’t succeed marketwise mostly because of a bad name choice, even when they were good on everything else – you might want to check out what caused Alfa Romeo 164 to fail in China, Buick LaCrosse in Canada and even Mitsubishi Pajero in Spanish-speaking markets. But even though Infiniti’s nomenclature hasn’t such deep problems, the brand needed some struggle time before prospering. It was founded in 1989 with the exact same goal as Acura and Lexus: escape of dealing with Nissan’s lower-cost image to have better chances at the competition with the German luxury cars. Whether for the not-so-inspired design, bad publicity or neglecting some of the customers’ preferences, the 1990s ended with Infiniti very close to extinction, but they didn’t give up. There was adopted a whole new strategy, with several all-new vehicles focusing at sporty luxury including SUVs. At that moment there were FX35, G35 and a new Q45, not to mention the cars which have followed them. It were still the mid-2000s, but Infiniti was starting to discover what in nowadays is some sort of a “success recipe”: an automaker needs to give what the customers are used to expect from luxury cars, but treating this as a standard: it’s also important to combine that with any “extra features” that make it worth for them to give up other brands.

Infiniti Q50Q50 was chosen for this new turning point because it’ll fill a very important spot for this brand. After all, it’s intended to replace G37, which was an upgraded G35, which in turn was nothing but the very first Infiniti to become successful. They really wanted big changes once again, so Q50 presents a much more modern style. It’s very nice to see that the success of crossovers such as FX have made their influence at items such as the sedan’s long, round front section and the overall shape of all the items. This car carries the classic touch wanted by most of the luxury buyers but without looking old-fashioned at all. Besides these organic shapes could fit very well at most of the European cars, it’s nice to observe some very creative points such as the rear window cut – details like that denote a high-quality project, just like everyone wants to buy. The interior pictures show a huge level of sophistication wrapped in a very attractive design, crafted with high-quality materials and plenty of technology; the Infiniti InTouch system, for example, brings not one but two big touchscreens. This car will start with two V6 engines, a 3.7L with 328 hp and the hybrid 3.5L, which will be paired to the electric unit to result at 350 hp, but diesel options are expected for later. Besides, it’ll always use automatic seven-speed gearbox and rear-wheel-drive, with optional AWD.

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Hyundai HB20 2013

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Clique para ver em alta resoluçãoEm quatro meses ele já muda para a linha 13/13. Os sistemas de som ganharam Bluetooth, com a versão Comfort 1.6 diferindo das mais caras por vir com tela menor, entrada USB no som (as outras a têm no console) e sem CD player. Seus volantes somaram as teclas de ligações, e os vidros elétricos agora são um-toque e se acionam pela chave. As luzes do painel ficaram todas em azul, vieram palhetas do limpador tipo flat-blade e novos detalhes internos cromados para Comfort Style e Premium e prateados quando com 1.0, entre outros.

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Chevrolet Corvette C7

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Click to see in high resolutionHere it is. After several months of spied prototypes, leaked pictures of external parts and related material, some official teasers and dozens of computer projections, this is the real deal. Corvette has become one of the most famous symbols of North-American vehicle performance of all times, so its fiftieth birthday deserved that Chevrolet once again faced the task of not only improving this car in every possible way but also of finding the right way to do it. The meaning of this expression is what you’ll discover with this article.

Chevrolet’s task is even harder than Ferrari’s, for instance, because the traditions it maintains are heavier. Some of the sports cars automakers have built their reputation around several vehicles, like the mentioned Italian one, but there are others which prefer to dedicate themselves to improving one single car over the years. These are exactly opposite strategies, but the chances of success and failure are the same for both – it only depends on their execution. Corvette is an undeniable example of the second one, just like 911 is for Porsche. And also like with the German coupe, dealing with such a huge tradition became a true challenge for its brand because whenever it’s time to perform changes the same question appears: “Would it be better if it looks like the previous generations, or is it time to create a whole new car?”. Nevertheless, the last years showed that while the European sports cars started to focus at the future, with new design languages and even new car categories, the North-Americans decided to work looking back. The 2000s were full of past-inspired cars like Chevrolet SSR and Plymouth Prowler, and some of them resist until now: once again it’s possible to decide between Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Challenger and Ford Mustang and notice that all of them expose retro designs. So it turns very surprising to observe that Corvette wants to break this “rule”, like Dodge has recently done with their own super sports car, SRT Viper.

Chevrolet Corvette C7 1Some people won’t take long to claim the seventh Corvette looks too much like the new Viper. Others will go further by remembering that since Viper received some criticism of becoming too European, Corvette would have become an US-made Ferrari. But the fact is Chevrolet decided to express this car’s big traditions in a less obvious way. Investing so hard at resembling forty, fifty years old cars reduces the designing freedom, therefore avoiding to improve the car’s performance – which is an extremely important aspect for a sports car. So the new Vette became more aggressive, with plenty of strong creases and a beautiful selection of acute-angled shapes, which all contribute to a very modern look, much different from the smooth lines seen until C6. But the mentioned past references are still easy to observe: the front is elevated at the center but even more at the extremes as in C3, but with the headlights far from the center, as from C4. And the rear windshield creates a triangular shape that ends at an abruptly cut rear only reminds what’s seen since C2. The tail lights, however, brought a fascinating combination: they still use double units like in every Corvette, but lost the round shapes in favor of rectangles, to go better with the overall style and resemble Camaro. Even the front grille’s chrome line could give a hint of Chevrolet’s current design language for this item.

Chevrolet Corvette C7 2Looking to this car’s roof is another interesting ambiguity, in fact. Although the black spot here means a removable roof, having it next these black-painted A-pillars makes it impossible not to remember the 1990s futurism of Lumina APV. The other meaning is that roof represents the cutting-edge technologies received by this car. The console uses a modern interpretation of Corvette’s typical driver-centered interior design, now filled with some aluminum and carbon fiber details and several coating options. The big touchscreen summarizes that this car now brings all the current trend items, like multimedia sound system, and it’ll be possible to choose between comfortable daily-use seats or competition ones. Even the quickest glimpse at the tech specs sheet will reveal enormous structural improvements, which managed to improve aspects like body stiffness and weight, Brembo braking system, suspension, wheels (with specific tires) and efficiency. C7 Vette proves it deserves using the Stingray name also with the powertrain: the naturally-aspirated small-block V8 6.2L hasn’t left the front section, and produces 450 hp and 450 lb-ft of power and torque. It’ll also features cylinder deactivation with active exhausts system as a standard item – using an automatic six-speed transmission or the manual seven-speed gearbox, the result of all that is a 0-60 mph done in about four seconds and better emissions and consumption rates than C6’s. Pretty good use for those four exhaust pipes, right?

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Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 and E 63 AMG

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Click to see E63 AMG Sedan and EstateSports car fans have been delighted with high-performance versions of conventional cars for decades. Audi S and RS, BMW M, Chevrolet SS, Dodge SRT and R/T, Fiat Abarth, Ford ST, Volkswagen GTI… There are lots of examples around the world, but they’re only different ways of achieving the always impressive balance between all the sportiness of coupes and convertibles and the particular features of each car which receives them. So how about meeting not one but four of the best sporty versions of the entire world?

Although there are lots of enthusiasts that cheer with each and every car release of nowadays because they know the quality level involved, there are lots of people that still ask themselves “Why do they have to create so many vehicles? Why can’t they only stick to improve what they already have?” and other similar questions. On the other side, this blog and the entire specialized press have written so many times about the increasing need to find new markets in order to keep offering competitive products that it won’t take too long for us to run out of different ways of rewriting the same information. Nevertheless, this blog doesn’t even think of stating that as criticism because it recognizes that it doesn’t take more than a moment spent thinking as a “car fan-but-not-freak” to realize that it is really hard to notice all of this conceptual information delivered at these texts. There are many pictures of the article’s car, but also many paragraphs referring to lots of other cars, turning it very difficult to only imagine all that. Since this blog always tries to go beyond one more plain repetition of each release’s features, these four cars have been referred in this single article in order to receive also a brief illustrative comparison. The first animated picture displays the new CLS 63 AMG at its Coupé and Shooting Brake versions, while the second one shows the facelifted E-Class Sedan and Estate now as E63 AMG.

Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG Coupé and Shooting BrakeIf you were guessing the first mentioned aspect would be the external design, you’re right. There’s no way to avoid it, in fact. The main guideline that inspire these cars’ differences is the ability of each one taking a particular customer, reducing the internal competition to its minimum. E-Class has always gone after the more traditional public, which has preferred the same things for decades, while CLS receives who goes to a Mercedes dealer for the absolute quality but would really prefer something different, more casual. The shared platform enables those cars to share lots of internal parts, not to mention the engines, but stays far from being a barrier against their breathtaking conceptual differences. CLS’s four-door rear is only the first symbol of the opposition to E-Class’s three well-divided volumes. And since they both have SW versions, CLS’s interpretation resulted at the Shooting Brake body. E-Class’s sides use more horizontal creases, bringing a solid, classy impression while CLS makes a contrast between the narrow but long lines dying at the rear doors right where the very imponent fender starts, reminding the North-American muscle cars idea of movement. E-Class’s elements take most space of one only side of the car, probably to remind its several previous generations: most cars from the 1970s to the 1990s used a “folded-paper design”, where you couldn’t see much of the headlights, for example, if you were looking to the hood or the sides – CLS’s shapes are much more tridimensional. And since the lights were mentioned, it would be impossible to skip them.

Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Sedan and EstateE-Class can join them or split them at the front or redesign them at the back in any way, but they will always remind even the 1960s ancestor – so yes, you must’ve already guessed that right: at least until now, CLS preferred to make big changes from its previous generation. Fortunately, both cabins agree at delivering fascinating quantities of sophistication and safety, but this is one of the few truces here. CLS’s cabin is more fluidic, reducing the idea of a rectangular space while E-Class is much more likely to be driven by a chauffeur. The sedans even differ at the seating: E-Class sticks to five seats, but CLS dedicates itself to four. The wagons, in turn, diverge at the trunk: if E-Class is much more focused at the families, its sister’s space is bigger in length and smaller in height, privileging cargo such as golf clubs and hunting guns. Besides the bigger wheels and the more aggressive aerodynamic kit, the AMG version brings the same “heart” for these cars: the final (and most important) truce is the twin-turbo V8 5.5L, with that performance package from before the facelift now offered as a standard item. This means this engine now produces 550 hp of power and 531 lb-ft of torque, always using the AMG SpeedShift transmission: there are double clutch, seven speeds and four driving modes. Besides, these cars use rear-wheel drive or the 4Matic AWD system, but the (even more) special feature is the S package: this new performance kit uses 4Matic and boosts these cars to 577 hp and push the speed limit to 186 mph, with average 0-60 mph times of 3.6 seconds.

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Hyundai i30 2

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Clique para ver em alta resoluçãoVocê lembra de quando o i30 fez sua estreia no Brasil? Enquanto o Sonata começava a revolução de estilo que deu importância mundial à Hyundai, o hatch médio focou no custo/benefício para tentar firmar a marca entre nós, que até então era representada apenas pela importadora Caoa. Mas mesmo com aquelas propagandas de ufanismo cômico, o fato é que aos poucos ele conseguiu prosperar no país, ganhando uma aceitação tão grande que sua segunda geração agora chega em um contexto totalmente diferente.

Além do fato de o modelo destas imagens ser uma geração completamente nova, as diferenças entre ele e o i30 antigo têm outra razão muito importante: elas correspondem a diferentes fases da Hyundai. Lançado em 2007, o primeiro não fugia da sina que acometeu os carros coreanos nessa época: eles usavam construção moderna e já não pareciam tão antiquados como na década anterior, mas não havia inspiração. Eles eram bem diferentes entre si e não haviam muitos desenhos extravagantes ou desequilibrados, mas não chamavam atenção. Careciam de destaque, de algo que fizesse o cliente olhar para um Hyundai, Kia ou SsangYong buscando algo além de um simples meio de transporte. A fase atual do Sonata e a chegada do Kia Soul provocaram enormes mudanças nessa reputação porque as marcas aproveitaram a oportunidade para passar por uma completa melhoria. Pouco a pouco renovaram todos os modelos à venda e criaram novos e melhoraram a qualidade de construção e apostaram em projetos modernos. Isso tornou sua presença cada vez mais importante mesmo nos mercados mais exigentes, a ponto de exercer ameaça até ao mercado das marcas mais tradicionais. Hoje em dia se considera um Hyundai ou um Kia pelas mesmas razões que um Honda, Peugeot ou VW, por exemplo.

Hyundai i30Com isso, depois de se estabilizar nessa posição muito mais confortável, o começo da presente década permitiu certo relaxamento para os coreanos. Nunca no sentido de deixar seus produtos ao sabor do passar do tempo, mas sim sem a necessidade de inventar outra revolução estilística a médio prazo. Isso culmina com a nova geração do i30 porque seu lançamento mundial feito no ano passado mais uma vez comprova que a Hyundai agora se dedica a aperfeiçoar o que criou. O hatchback das fotos passa a ser uma versão dois-volumes do Elantra, para aproveitar a excelente aceitação que ele já garantiu mundo agora – aqui os nomes diferentes se mantiveram, mas nos Estados Unidos o i30 é chamado Elantra GT. Claro que nada disso impediu o i30 de ter suas particularidades de estilo, muito pelo contrário. Enquanto o irmão aposta numa profusão de cortes com formas mais arredondadas, o estilo do hatchback é mais retilíneo. Talvez para agradar os homens, a esportividade do novo i30 começa com os arcos cromados que dão uma nova interpretação à famosa grade hexagonal bipartida. Os farois esguios ainda estão lá, mas trazem um esquema interno em duas cores que combina muito bem com os vistosos farois de neblina. As laterais sugerem imponência com a linha de cintura bem elevada e em subida, e contam com muito bom gosto no recorte das janelas e na escolha de vincos. Já a traseira conta com a elegância das lanternas não tão esguias como no sedã e formas sem excesso de volume.

A cabine evoluiu muito em todos os aspectos, não só no belo desenho que mistura as cores preto e prata combinando à iluminação azul já característica da Hyundai. Até o momento o novo i30 está sendo oferecido apenas em pré-venda na rede de concessionárias, por enquanto em versão única. Ele traz airbag duplo, ar-condicionado digital, freios com ABS e EBD, navegador GPS, rodas de liga leve aro 17”, sistema de som multimídia com controles no volante e sistemas de abertura das portas e partida do motor sem chave, entre outros itens – apenas o teto solar será um opcional. Já o trem-de-força teve mudanças dos dois tipos: a transmissão automática agora tem seis marchas, mas o motor passou a ser o 1.6 16v flex de 128 cv de potência e 16,5 kgfm de torque, que equipa o Veloster e até mesmo o HB20. Ainda se pode esperar por opções com câmbio manual e motor 2.0, esta para daqui a mais tempo, mas o maior problema do novo i30 é o preço: cobrar R$ 75.000 pela versão citada só se explica ao considerar argumentos supérfluos como o veículo ser a última novidade da marca ou mesmo que terá demanda muito grande. Sem contar que outra vez a importadora Caoa restringe a paleta de cores ao preto e ao prata. A estratégia usada nas revendas até agora é de o cliente assegurar sua unidade com adiantamento de 10% do valor, para receber o carro 30 dias depois e finalizar a transação.

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Lexus IS 3

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Click to see in high resolutionDo you know what does “L-finesse” stand for? This is Lexus’ latest design language, like Ford’s Kinetic or Hyundai’s Fluidic Sculpture. Toyota’s luxury brand is starting to succeed at the long-term desire of creating a more inspired style for their cars, an initiative that has recently received great help from LFA’s production. They’ve already renewed the bigger brother GS and facelifted the even bigger LS, but the entry-level became much more different. This article will show a little more about this “entry-luxury” sedan.

As it has been mentioned several times by the specialized press, each automaker has created their own visual identity in order to distinguish their cars from the competitors. Besides, this came in handy for the Eastern brands because of their own design issues of that time: those cars were excessively alike until the 1990s, all of them with too classic lines and plain shapes. The Japanese started to change that around the early 2000s, but the Korean took some more years. Lexus’ problem, in turn, wasn’t creating good-looking designs but more appropriate ones. The bigger complaints went to the fact that they didn’t look like the upscale vehicles they are, which led many people to mistake them for cheaper cars. Acura and Infiniti faced the same problems at some time, too, but neither took too long to solve it: Honda’s brand decided to follow the North-American luxury cars, with smoother volumes and straighter lines, while Nissan’s division tries to follow the Europeans: the organic shapes contrast with stronger creases and very well divided volumes, which helps to give a high-performance impression. And now Lexus seems to have found the path to follow by looking at its own homeland. The new IS proves that Lexus is investing on acute angles and strong creases, which have all been the Japanese recipe for sportiness for decades.

Lexus IS F-SportThat’s what explains this front design which will certainly turn each and every neck from which this car passes near. Whether for the tuning-like aggressive air intakes, the headlights with separate-but-visually-connected LED part or the most imponent spindle-shaped grille you’ve ever seen, taking inspiration from the LF-CC concept car has worked very well for what’s Lexus’ sports sedan now more than ever. The sides preserved the elegance of few creases and taller windows, but with a hint of sportiness that will be finished with the rear section: that elevated rear window cut without following the door handles line comes from the very first IS, taking the memory back to 1999. The second generation made it more visible and imponent, giving a very nice look with the chrome contour. Now there weren’t big changes to its shape, but it became paired to a very strong line born beneath the B column: it rises in the exact same proportion as the rear windows, creating the very nice impression that the car is always moving – it’s a complete change from the first IS, where all those horizontal lines made it too bulky. And the Grand Finale is made by these tail lights which seem to take more space from the sides than the rear. Paired to the absence of many lines, they give the last section a slim look which could easily be found at many current sporty coupes. This is definitely the right car for who doesn’t appreciate “limousine-like” sedans.

The first official pictures show only the F-Sport version, so the ones who didn’t like the scarlet seats shouldn’t worry. However, it’s hard not to notice the beautiful interior, with plenty of black and chrome as most of the sportier cars. But Lexus states there’s much more to observe: the bigger wheelbase improves the internal comfort, while the whole cabin became more ergonomic. The luxury extremes were restricted to IS’s bigger siblings, but the F-Sport version brings aluminum pedals, perforated leather steering wheels and even metal details with 3-D effects. This car will be officially presented at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show at all its versions: IS 250, IS 350 and IS 300h – the hybrid one being the first one to bring the Lexus Hybrid Drive. The respective engine options will be a V6 2.5L with 200 hp, a V6 3.5L with 300 hp and a four-cylinder 2.5.

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Audi SQ5

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Click to see in high resolutionThat unmistakable dark blue was first chosen for the concept car exposed at the Paris Motor Show, and now the same unmistakable dark blue will be hitting the streets right before you know. But it was realized that not everyone appreciates moving a sports car with diesel. So Audi decided to stop being so cruel… and decided to make their new crossover use two types of fuel. And if you’re wondering what this car will bring to be the best, it’s time to click this article’s title and enjoy SQ5’s complete text.

It’s very strange to see Audi releasing such an important version of this crossover when it’s about to turn five years old worldwide, because at that age most of the automakers are used to wait the car’s half-age facelift or at least using the new version to give bigger importance to that facelift, like Ford has recently done with Fiesta ST. Nevertheless, it’s always exciting to remember the unusual letter combination at this car’s name reminds this is Audi’s very first sports crossover. This is an important moment because represents when the S versions’ tradition meets the recently created Q family – Audi has been releasing sports versions for decades, but their first crossover came only in 2005. Besides, it represents one more example of the luxury brands’ most recent practice: in order to increase sales, they’re investing more than ever at entering new categories and, whenever it’s possible, creating them. There are luxury minivans and hatchbacks, four-door coupes, sporty crossovers… And they never take too long to receive their sports varieties: there are sports versions (like Audi S, BMW M and Dodge R/T), even sportier versions (like Audi RS and Dodge SRT) and only the accessories kits (usually referred with the previous labels but followed by “Package” or “Line”). Of course, it’s always nice to see a company working for please its customers, but this easily leads to wondering if some limit will be ever achieved.

Audi SQ5 1However, if there was some kind of restriction about joining crossovers to very-high-performance versions, BMW has broken it years ago with X5 M and X6 M and now became followed by Audi. It consists at nothing more than applying the widely known Audi S formula to this slightly taller and tougher vehicle. There’s an aerodynamical kit including new bumpers, side and rear spoilers, bigger wheels and chrome details, as always, but it’s interesting to notice the effect it was produced at this particular car. There are many specialized texts stating that the luxury crossovers may look like a true SUV but never worry about copying their off-road characteristics. Audi Q family confirms this with only looking to its cars: Q7 has a big family car look, while Q3 never denies it’s a tougher A3. The middle sibling, in turn, manages to stand out by a bigger SUV look. Q5’s capacities at the hardest tracks aren’t compared to a Land Rover’s, but it does have bigger size than Q3 along with a nimbler impression than Q7’s, making it the best Audi option for the ones who doesn’t like an excessively urban crossover. With that considered, it becomes impossible to forget the thought that a sporty version erases this Q5’s potential. Sports car demand smoother surfaces, more painted exterior items and lower ride height, being the perfect opposite of the off-roads. In other words, this is the Audi for who prefers Q3 and Q7’s proposal but couldn’t decide the size to take.

Audi SQ5 2That engine matter mentioned at this article’s beginning is also important because it’s related with the fact that SQ5 is also the first Audi S to use a diesel engine – in this case, the concept car was first shown with a twin-turbo V6 3.0L of 314 hp. But, as it was mentioned, most of the important markets outside Europe would prefer gasoline engines, which made Audi give it a TFSI propeller. More specifically, the twin-turbo V6 3.0L with 354 hp used in S5, but here paired to quattro traction system and eight-speed automatic gearbox. They end up delivering similar performances because if the TFSI brings more power, the diesel engine delivers more torque and at lower RPM rates, giving it the best acceleration time among them – 5s1 for it and 5s3 with gasoline, both with the electronically-limited 115 mph top speed. Not to mention the better average consumption rate of 30.6 mpg against 25.9 mpg. Entering this car reveals a very well-equipped cabin, with the best trim level available for Q5 in a 1.2 inch lowered ride height. The owner can choose aluminum, carbon fiber or wood details, sport seats in Alcantara or Nappa and the lots of standard technology and safety items. This car will use 20” wheels with an optional 21” set, but the dark blue won’t be the only option: it’ll also come in black. Audi is already projecting new crossovers and therefore new sporty versions, so you’ll might be seeing an R added to their names soon. Or expect they come up with better solutions than showing cars which could be easily mistaken for an “Audi répondez s’il vous plaît”.

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Honda Civic 2.0 16v

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Clique para ver em alta resoluçãoUm ano em oito dias. A Honda já havia aproveitado o último Salão do Automóvel paulista para anunciar as novidades de seu sedã médio esperadas para o presente mês, mas ainda não se tinha idéia de que elas também fariam o novo ano/modelo do Civic chegar tão cedo. Se é difícil afastar o pensamento de que manter este ritmo levaria os japoneses a chegar ao próximo réveillon na metade de uma linha 2058, as melhorias aplicadas ao seu carro-chefe têm tudo para fazê-lo merecer a atenção (e a garagem) de muita gente.

Sedãs médios já foram o objeto de desejo de muito brasileiro. A reabertura das importações abriu os olhos do país às vitrines do exterior de um modo geral, mas aqueles anos 1990 ainda viam marcas como Nissan, Peugeot, Renault e Toyota lidar com uma presença de mercado deficiente e as consequências que isso trouxe. Por outro lado, as marcas de luxo começavam a tentar a sorte entre nós, mas enquanto elas ainda se restringiam aos sedãs, peruas e cupês de alto luxo os japoneses davam a volta por cima nos anos 2000. Fizeram suas fábricas brasileiras e nos contagiaram com sua fama mundial de qualidade e resistência, mas merecem elogios ainda maiores porque o fizeram com veículos médios. Claro que os escalados foram veteranos como Ciivic e Corolla pelo carisma que acumulam há décadas, mas começar a atuar no Brasil daqueles tempos sem um carro popular não deixava de ser uma jogada arriscada. Contudo, seja pelo estilo moderno, cabine luxuosa ou motores eficientes, os japoneses não só prosperaram como começaram a incomodar as nossas montadoras mais tradicionais, porque expuseram a defasagem de seus equivalentes – elas ainda produziam resquícios do que foram suas linhas de luxo de outrora, cujos argumentos de venda convenciam cada vez menos clientes a não olhar para aqueles novatos mais modernos e de preço bem parecido.

Tudo isso fez essa década chegar à segunda metade ostentando uma frota de sedãs médios com nível maior do que nunca. Câmbio automático, computador de bordo, teto solar... Vários desses itens começaram a se tornar frequentes no Brasil graças ao sucesso desses carros, que ofereciam o máximo de requinte antes de se fazer o enorme salto de preço à seara de BMW ou Mercedes-Benz - era uma época em que marcas como a Ford não se aventuravam a subir com carros como o Fusion, e as do nível da Audi não cogitavam brigar no segmento do A1. Ou seja, o “luxo acessível” do Brasil se formava com nomes como Bora, Focus, Marea, Vectra e as gerações contemporâneas dos japoneses mencionados. Isso lhes deu a adoração de uma clientela sóbria, feita por empresários de meia-idade e em geral de situação financeira confortável, dando aos tais sedãs a reputação de "carros de patrão" ou, como satirizava a antiga campanha do Nissan Sentra, "carros de tiozão". E como toda clientela fiel, agradá-lá demandou que as montadoras respeitassem certas preferências. Você lembra, por exemplo, de quando nossos carros só emplacavam no mercado usando duas portas? Situação parecida é o que começou com os motores há uns vinte anos.

A razão pode ser a excelente fama de exemplos como o AP-2000 da Volkswagen, o Família I da Chevrolet ou os multiválvulas com e sem turbo da Fiat, ou mesmo o desejo de contraposição à fama de “carro barato” associada aos 1.0, mas o fato é que os motores 2.0 viraram o perfeito complemento à imagem de luxo que os modelos médios têm no Brasil, especialmente os três-volumes. Os benefícios do downsizing hoje já conseguem estender a boa aceitação aos 1.8, mas abaixo disso somente se tiverem algo de muito especial - é o caso dos 165 cv do 1.6 THP usado por Citroën e Peugeot. A Honda aplicou seu novo motor em estratégia parecida à do Corolla, com o 1.8 16v de agora restrito à versão LXS (R$ 66.690). Já a novidade se destina às duas superiores, que trocaram de nome para LXR (R$ 74.290) e EXR (R$ 83.890). Trata-se de um 2.0 16v i-VTEC flex de 155 cv de potência e 19,5 kgfm de torque (com etanol) com sistema para aquecer a gasolina em dias frios, dispensando o tanque secundário e sua tampa ao lado do capô. Ele também traz o modo Econ e seu botão verde no painel, e sempre estará associado ao câmbio automático de cinco marchas, cuja opção de trocas sequenciais se fará por borboletas atrás do volante. Além disso, a versão LXS ganhou um novo câmbio manual com seis marchas e mantém a opção do automático (R$ 69.900).

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Peugeot 2008

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Click to see the concept carAfter showing the concept car in Paris, the Geneva Auto Show has already been defined as where the official release will take place. But, as it’s becoming usual in the car industry, Peugeot decided to tease the public with the very first full pictures of their very first compact crossover. Besides of a very attractive design and a modern construction, this car follows several of the current trends and will be offered in many markets. This article will explain why 2008 will be a huge step for Peugeot’s future around the world.

Even when there’s no financial crisis, every automaker needs to constantly update its showroom at each market. Not only to prevent their vehicles from aging and therefore losing competitiveness among their rivals, but specially in order to keep giving their customers what they want. The current cars are offered in so many categories that it’s impossible to satisfy very much only with the conventional ones. This is why there are so many brands selling cars that would be unimaginable for themselves five, ten years ago. Some markets have recently earned huge importance and others have lost some, creating very big changes concerning to what a new car has to bring in order to achieve success. Peugeot, for instance, started selling crossovers five years ago, with 4007. This one was replaced last year with 4008, but both of them are actually Mitsubishi cars – the PSA Group had a joint-venture with the Japanese automaker which resulted first at Citroën C-Crosser and Peugeot 4007 coming from Mitsubishi Outlander, later replaced with C4 Aircross and 4008 coming from ASX. On the other side, Peugeot did create some crossovers of their own but they’re much more dedicated to the urban use, like 3008.

Peugeot 2008This dual strategy has seemed to work because Peugeot has always used the most appropriate one for each category, so they did nothing more than applying it to the compact one. Besides the fact that Mitsubishi doesn’t have a crossover this small, this public doesn’t really care for trophy-winning off-road characteristics. 2008 will have its biggest potential at markets such as Brazil and China, where people really pay more attention to more subjective features. They prefer spacious cabins, lots of technology items and modern engines rather than big inclination angles or ability to cross deep rivers or even to climb stairs. Not to mention nothing less than the best design it’s possible to create. That’s what sells thousands of these small crossovers each month, in a category whose biggest competitors are Ford EcoSport, Renault Duster and the upcoming Chevrolet Trax, Volkswagen Taigun and the French one which illustrates this article – there are also Citroën Aircross in Brazil, Buick Encore in USA and its “brother” Opel Mokka and the upcoming Renault Captur in Europe, but these ones’ trim levels give them slightly different proposals. Peugeot deserves big compliments because 2008 escaped from the looking-smaller-than-it-is trend, presenting an amazing interpretation of 208’s style, with whom it’ll share platform.

This car has managed to resemble the hatchback but also bringing own personality; it doesn’t give the idea of nothing more than a stretched, “tougher” 208 because it became classier. The front doesn’t have too big or too small items, but everything crafted to give a sporty, dynamic impression rather than an off-road toughness – some will prefer this grille design over EcoSport’s. The sides bring several typical Peugeot’s elements and some innovations, such as the chrome line above the rear doors which highlights the small roof extensions, but what gives that elegance sensation here is the windows’ design. Trax and EcoSport use only two of them to give a nimble look, while Duster is forced to use a third one due to the bigger length but visually disconnected from the others. 2008, in turn, uses the third one to give a bigger-size overall impression: it seems bigger specially than EcoSport and Trax because of that, although is actually smaller. Besides that, it’s also very nice to notice that this item creates a visual connection with 4007 (click to see a side photo), which is surprising because that one wasn’t a “true” Peugeot vehicle. Nevertheless, features like that are what gives 2008 a fascinating design, creating the perfect match with the high-quality construction.

This article will be updated when more official information is released, along with interior pictures. However, it’s highly expected that this car will use the naturally-aspirated 1.6L and 2.0L 16-valve and even the 1.6L THP, with automatic transmission and all-wheel-drive options. This car will be produced in France, China and Brazil.

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Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabrio and Coupé 2014

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Click to see in high resolutionSome weeks after the traditional-family versions’ release, now it’s time to get some renewed E-Class to that bachelor uncle, too. It would be a nonsense to hope this facelift would've been applied only to the sedan and the station wagon, but these first official pictures show that Mercedes hasn’t gone too further in some aspects. The bright side, however, becomes very easy to see when we remember their goals here. This article will show why doing this leaves everyone with a “mission accomplished” thought.

It’s very pleasant to see an automaker perform the true interpretation of a vehicle’s version. This consists basically in deciding how far the new option will go from the original one, in order to find a nice proportion of individual personality and physical and/or conceptual resemblance with its own line. In other words, in fact it is possible to visually stretch a hatchback’s lower rear section and create a sedan. Than stretch the upper one too and achieve a station wagon. Take off the rear windows to have a pick-up. Cut them all and the rear doors to obtain a convertible, and cover it all to end up with a coupé… but even the fairly acceptable projects from nowadays already invest much more in differentiation. Therefore, climbing to the Mercedes-Benz level leads to results such as what these pictures show. Okay, the updates have the exact same labels of the four-door versions, such as “new single-unit headlights with LEDs” or “redesigned bumpers”, but it’s interesting to notice how they match the slight visual differences brought by these two. For instance, they feature exclusive rear fenders, with a much more appealing design in order to highlight that these are the sporty E-Class options. Not to mention it enables bigger differentiation from the other Mercedes sports cars: they became more opulent than the two-door C-Class and, at the same time, more classical than CL or SL.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class CabrioThis means presenting more particular designs is only those last mentioned ones’ proposal, which is totally appropriate for them because each one is its entire own line. These Cabrio and Coupé, in turn, show a different interpretation of their E-Class genes: the headlights use the same basic structure but in a more casual design, with irregular shapes and a different LEDs drawing, while the front grille received a bigger and more aggressive design. These differences may seem small, but the fact is they are the true responsibles for achieving what was stated at the last paragraph’s start. It isn’t necessary to invest that much into a vehicle’s new version, but achieving this “new personality” is really useful to attract better sales. After all, if a given automaker sold the exact same car only with more or less doors and with or without roof (like the Opel Corsa or Renault Mégane families in the mid-1990s, for example) there wouldn’t be many reasons to sell a particular one, leading most customers to end up with the biggest or the cheapest one – this situation could be translated into one or two variations selling very well and the others having much smaller numbers. Following the opposite strategy allows the car family to divide their public more equally, because each member brings exclusive details to please only a specific part of those buyers.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class CoupéEntering these vehicles shows smaller updates, such as the redesigned dashboard with a central analog clock and the relocated gear selector, which went from the central console to the between the front seats. As what was seen in the four-door E-Class, there are much bigger improvements at the technical field: the power steering now uses an electromechanical system, which allows a self-parking function. The stereoscopic camera can monitor a much bigger surroundings’ area, the Collision Prevention system is now a standard item, and the optionals list brings a lot of similar technologies, such as lane-keeping, Pre-Safe, adaptative cruise control and the mentioned parking assist systems and 360°-camera. The only AMG-related information released so far is the item package, like what was seen at the new E-Class station wagon and now at the Coupé: exclusive bumpers and wheels are the responsibles of the more aggressive look, but the full-modified versions mustn’t take too long to appear. These cars won’t have lots of surprises about their engine options: they’ll surely maintain the E250, E350, E500 and E550 trim levels, each one with a different engine or a particular engine configuration but always using excellent transmissions, such as the seven-speed automatic gearbox. The complete E-Class will make its official debut at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show.

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Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible

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Click to see in high resolutionHow about starting the new year reading about what’s claimed as the fastest four-seat convertible in the world? Bentley’s modesty must have expired with 2012, but the fact is this car really stimulates big expectations. The first ones were made some weeks ago, when the first official pictures were released with no technical information. But now the English automaker has finally given the remaining data about this stunning dark-pink cabriolet. That’s what you’re going to read at this blog’s very first 2013 article.

You surely must’ve read about the current trend of the visual identity. This consists in a particular brand applying some design rules to its upcoming vehicles in order to make them look more alike to each other, and therefore more different from their competitors. So if Ferrari decided to use some kind of futuristic shapes, Lamborghini sticks with the folded-paper volumes and Maserati dedicates itself to more organic designs, Bentley seems to bet at imponence. From every angle you look there’s a solidness impression, a big-car look brought by plenty of smooth surfaces and very clean lines. Some may point this design gives a mass impression which could be inappropriate for a sports car, but this big contrast is what makes this brand’s style. They offer the best trim levels and the best engines like every other competitor, but here this package receives a much more classical “wrapping”. Continental GT’s aerodynamics has been continuously improved, but it’ll never lose the simple shapes and the smooth design, completed with the round double headlights. It’s hard to notice, though, the little style updates this car received for this version: both bumpers were slightly redesigned, now using darker grilles and new exhaust tips.

Bentley Continental GT Speed ConvertibleHowever, this car makes up for the little design investment when its hood is opened. There’s a huge W-12 6.0L with two turbines, capable of producing 616 hp. Increasing 50 hp from the V-8 option’s power doesn’t exactly shower the bigger engine with efficiency trophies, but brings an even more solid performance. The torque is bigger and comes at a smallar rpm rate, helping this Continental to ignore the convertible body’s worse aerodynamics and allowing it to obtain a 0-60 mph in 4s1 and a 0-100 mph in 9s7, not to mention the 202-mph top speed achieved with its gorgeous engine sounds. This performance also gives a lot of credit to the ZF transmission, an automatic eight-speed gearbox who can even skip some gears upon driver’s request. When it comes to the handling, the all-wheel-drive gives traction priority to the rear axle, the suspension became lower and stiffer, the wheels now use 21” and high-performance tires, and the stability-control system was reprogrammed to become more permissive. Everything to match Bentley’s opulent way of ignoring the enormous weights and delivering an addictive performance, capable of match the opulent style which has characterizing Continental GT since its first phase, released ten years ago. This car will hit the streets in a few months.

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BMW Z4 2013

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Click to see in high resolutionAt this moment of December, most automakers have already finished their releases cycle for the year, in order to start preparing for the next one’s. However, since there’s the Detroit event already next month, it won’t take long for all that buzz start again. That must be why BMW decided to anticipate one more release to 2012. Z4 has changed so little that it couldn’t even be called a facelift. It’s better to define it as very slight improvements to a roadster which actually is many years far from needing any deeper changes.

Z4’s current generation has arrived in 2009, but it really doesn’t look old. Maybe also because BMW is still using the same design identity, but the fact is this roadster was very well designed. There was a big evolution from the previous generation, because the same controversial straight lines and very strong creases received a whole new interpretation. The car became more opulent without losing the initial concept. The volumes became more aggressive, with a change of size and proportions which did nothing but increase the pure, crude sportiness impression this line has transmitted for more than thirty years, since Z1. Since Z4 is one of the few BMW who aren’t part of an entire family (another one is 7-Series, for example), the designers had full freedom while working on it and really used it – it’s easy to observe that looking at this roadster reminds of all the BMWs in general, but not too much of any particular one. Besides that, since this generation is still young, there’s no need of performing big updates: the car received new LEDs daytime lights and new wheels designs, in 17” or 18”. In other words, it’s probable that only the biggest fans will manage to recognize a 2013 Z4 while in movement, but it still isn’t a reason to complaint: it would be so hard and expensive to perform partial changes to this design without losing the balance that it’s really better to only touch it when it’s time to give a whole new generation.

BMW Z4 2013Therefore, the Germans focused at improving the interior. Z4 received a new coating that joins Alcantara to the usual leather for the seats, along with some piano-black-painted details. It still brings very good trim levels, including the big touchscreen which controls the iDrive infotainment system. There are three new external colors, but only the option showed at these pictures brings the Hyper Orange pack: this is the responsible for the internal details using this same color, matched with white and piano-black ones to create a very creative cabin; Audi, for instance, never lets the black and aluminum-silver go away from its cars. These pictures’ roadster also received a whole new trim level with an also new engine: sDrive18i comes for the entry level with a 2.0L turbo, whose 150 hp can be paired with manual six-speed transmission or automatic eight-speed, in order to go from 0 to 60 mph in 7s9 and to the top speed of 137 mph. This car will hit the North-American streets in next March.

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GMC Sierra 1500

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Wallpaper GMC Sierra 1500

Click to see in high resolutionIf Silverado received a new generation, why wouldn’t Sierra? And since they’re twins, why one of them would have to wait more? GM has shown what could be named as good parenting skills, and gave the new generation to both pick-ups at the same time. Besides that, this mother has also realized that they’re no longer a pair of babies, so allowed them to get bigger differentiation – each one has a much more individual design than their previous generations. With all that in mind, how about meeting the second of these siblings?

Badge engineering is a very tricky concept, and you must’ve heard this a lot of times – even without leaving this blog. There are many variables to consider, so using the set A or the set B is the biggest responsible for the car’s success or failure. When it comes to these two pick-ups, this new generation turned Sierra fancier than its sister, not only because of what differences were applied but also for how. GMC’s truck also received the aluminum hood, improved chassis with hydroformed front section, doors which now don’t reach the roof and other items to reduce the weight and obtain better aerodynamics, but the style changes manage to produce great effects without being too extensive. The intention seems to be creating conceptual differences, rather than more explicit ones. The bumper, for instance, is as chrome as Silverado’s, but received a more complex design. The grille must have the same size, but received big frames in order to reduce the size impression. Besides that, there’s a bigger external-color-painted contour around the elements, which helps to visually disconnect the items and gives a solidness impression. But nothing says “this is GM’s fancier truck” better than the headlights: can you notice that they’re shared with Silverado? Well, if at Chevrolet they come in pairs, Sierra avoids the extravagance by bringing only two, and wraps them in elegance with LED daytime illumination.

GMC Sierra 1500GMC also updated Sierra with Silverado’s new safety package, including the camera-based system to prevent forward collisions and lane-keeping system with sound and seat vibration alerts. There’s also electric steering for all versions, in a redesigned cabin whose biggest differences from Chevrolet’s truck are the red details, to contrast with the black and silver of the internal coatings. Sierra also received the latest version of IntelliLink in an 8” touchscreen: it isn’t hard to guess this is nothing more than GMC’s version of MyLink. The bed options depend on the cabin type: extended cab is paired only with the 6.5-feet one, while the regular cab adds only the 8-feet and the crew cab adds only the 5.8-feet, 8-inch option. There are two or four-driven wheels options, and three engines: like what’s seen on Silverado, Sierra now uses a 4.3L V6, a 5.3L V8 or a 6.2L V8, always with a six-speed automatic transmission. Those engines have several technologies to improve the efficiency, such as direct injection and cylinder-deactivation: when riding with light loads, the V6 turns off two and the V8 four of them. In other words, the biggest difference between Sierra and its Chevrolet twin sister is purely conceptual, like two more separate trim levels of the same vehicle. They will hit the streets early next year, but until now there’s no information about the price lists.

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Chevrolet Silverado 3

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Wallpaper Chevrolet Silverado 3

Click to see in high resolutionIt’s nice to observe that each country has a very strong connection with a particular car category. The Europeans love hatchbacks, the Australians are crazy about sedan-based pickups, the Brazilians are very fond of sedans… and the North-Americans can’t resist a big, powerful pick-up truck. Their biggest competition is among the mid-sized ones, such as Ford F-150 and RAM 1500. While those needed only slight restyles, it was time for Silverado to receive a whole new generation. And what a great one it is!

These trucks’ sales are so big and stable that they don’t really need to perform big visual changes, since they seem to already have found what their public wants. That’s why, like its competitors, Silverado didn’t make a design revolution from its previous phase. It’s nice to see that it managed to become more modern along with becoming more imponent: the increased fenders are just the right addition to the cleanly-shaped sides, while the rear directs the attention only to the big tail lights and the brand’s logo. But the front is what surely deserves the bigger compliments: not only became tougher with the big grille and the chrome details, as also features a very stylish interpretation of the brand’s classical trucks design: the headlights are also divided in two, just like the 1998 model. But pick-up trucks doesn’t attract clients only with good looks. Silverado’s aerodynamics became much better not only because of the softened design but also because of the new doors, which were improved at fixation and size in order to reduce the internal noise. Besides that, the redesigned chassis uses hydroformed front section and lots of high-resistance steel at the cabin, resulting at a much bigger collision resistance. All of that is offered in Crew Cab and Extended Cab, whose box options go from 5’8” feet to 8’, depending on the cab option.

Chevrolet Silverado 3Another nice feature of the most recent pick-ups is the cabin. Since the 1990s they’ve been receiving so many luxury and comfort improvements that in nowadays it wouldn’t be very hard to mistake them with sedans or minivans. There are several contrasts in this cabin, which are actually very nice to observe: the new dashboard still brings many gauges like any big pick-up demands, but right next to it there’s the new console with a huge touchscreen signing that this car also has the new MyLink entertainment system, packed with multiple USB ports, Bluetooth connection and additional commands at the steering wheel – all the pick-ups have a very wide central armrest, right? Well, Silverado’s is a cover to this very big storage space, divided for fitting smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices. However, none of that has distracted Chevrolet that this is a pick-up truck: the box has LED lights beneath the rails, its corners have built-in steps for easier access and a great safety pack: there are electric steering, four-wheel disc ABS brakes, forward-collision-warning system with cameras and lane-keeping system with seat vibration and audible alert. All of that moves with the Ecotec3 engine family: direct injection and variable valve timing are some of the components used in the three available options. There’s a 4.3L V6, 5.3L V8 and 6.2L V8, all of them with cylinder deactivation when with light load.

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Mercedes-Benz E-Class 2014

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Wallpaper Mercedes-Benz E-Class 2014

Click to see in high resolutionWhen it comes to selling cars, building traditions can be as tricky as not having them. Some brands decide to keep a successful concept over the years only performing updates, while others prefer fresh starts for each time they have to replace a vehicle. These strategies are equally capable of leading both to success or failure, so each case must be considered individually. Mercedes-Benz has decided to follow the first path decades ago, so each time it becomes more impressive to see how they manage to keep this success.

Creating an entire new idea for each generation of a given car allows the brand to adapt it with the current times much easier, such as what Fiat has done with their medium-sized hatchbacks: Tipo’s straight lines were very common at the late 1980s, but when the following decade’s trends became to appear they had to respond. This reaction came with not one, but two cars: using two names enabled Brava and Bravo to give much better interpretations of two-door and four-door hatchbacks separately, but both with very creative designs. Later, if the 2000s brought the straight lines back but with more imponent shapes, creating Stilo was much better than discharacterizing the previous cars. And when the car world associated organic lines to a nostalgic trend, Fiat showed a modern reinterpretation of Bravo. Meanwhile, one of the opposite examples can be given with Golf: straight lines, round lines, bigger shapes, organic shapes… Volkswagen did their best to follow each and every trend along with keeping traditions such as the overall shape and iconic details like the “C column”’s big width. Sometimes they did it better and sometimes worse, but it’s undeniable that those years built a very strong image to its customers. Like BMW, Mercedes-Benz follows the traditional path even more strictly – cars like CLS and B-Class are much more younger than E-Class, for example.

Mercedes-Benz E-ClassHowever, the last years have seen some conceptual changes even at this brand’s most classical cars. C-Class used to act as a miniature of the other Mercedes, but it was noticed that there were many possible buyers that didn’t take one because of the high prices and the “too classical” style. So the Germans decided to create cheaper versions, but along with a “cooler” design, much more casual than the previous generations. On the other side, S-Class now needs to fill the late Maybach’s gap at the very high luxury market, so what’s left for the middle brother? This facelift proves that the answer must be to stick to the tradition: apply the best current technologies to improve an already well-stabilished car. The new headlights could be a nice example of that: they’ve turned into an only piece for the first time in eighteen years in order to receive LEDs illumination, but with a two-parts shape that clearly reminds the previous design. There are several other elements which connect Mercedes’ current cars with the older ones, such as the big front grille with the SLS-like shape or the tail lights with horizontal components. This is only a half-age facelift, so the Germans wanted only to rejuvenate it. It’s easy to see that this mission was accomplished because both sedan and Touring versions now give a more dynamical impression, obtained with slightly bigger elements and less lines.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class TouringNevertheless, a Mercedes would never be a Mercedes if there wasn’t the typical “limousine impression” that has earned so much admiration through the years. C-Class now follows a slightly different path, but E-Class doesn’t make any effort to hide that it is a typical “rich people’s car”. Not that this is a bad thing: there are no doubts that this is one of the most classy cars of its price range. This facelift came with a new dashboard and a new entertainment center which even includes Internet, and finishes to compose a really sophisticated interior, which will pamper its five occupants with lots of luxury items but also with an impressive safety system: there’s active cruise control, automatic lane-keeping, brake assistance and an optional stereoscopic camera on the windshield, that can recognize three-dimensional shapes and movements in order to improve collision preventions. As usual, Mercedes will offer a big variety of engines paired with an even bigger of versions, but no single market will have all of them. Using gasoline, there will be a 2.0 turbo for E200 and E250, a 3.5 V6 with direct injection for E300 and E350 and together with an electric one for E400 Hybrid and a 4.7 V8 twin-turbo for E550, not to mention the also double-turbined 5.5 V8 for E63 AMG – the diesel options must be E250 and E300 BlueTec. Some of those will offer the 4Matic all-wheel drive, but all of them will bring start/stop system.

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