blk posted:

I really don't care for the new Targa. The silver hoop breaks the rest of the color and shape for me and the top looks expensive to fix - retro for the sake of retro and overengineered for the sake of overengineered. I prefer the look and action of the glass tops.

Powershift posted:

edit 2: yup

Powershift posted:

Devyl posted:

We might even forgive you for the Raptor... Maybe

Devyl posted:

We might even forgive you for the Raptor... Maybe

Devyl posted:

Is every front-engined sports car going to have a clear window in the hood now?

Powershift posted:

edit 2: yup

ExplodingSims posted:

Since we're on Fordchat right now, has there been any news about the Bronco coming back? I was talking to my boss the other day and he mentioned seeing the concept for it, prompting me to look it up. I found lots of pictures, but no real information or anything of use.





I dunno, I think it looks kinda cool, in a throwback way.
Also found what I assume is not an offical image of a four door version, which I kinda like.


If they actually kept it true to the 60's/70's styling and make it kinda small, I'd really love it, but I'm sure it's going to be some kinda huge plastic-y bloatmonster of a truck. But a man can dream of small, boxy SUVs can't he?

Powershift posted:

ATS coupe!



Yeah, that's a red interior.

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/01/14/2015-cadillac-ats-coupe-favors-cleanliness-over-radical-lines/

Also, according to the press release, it's the lightest car in the segment.

OrganizedEntropy posted:

If only they made that car available with the 6.2L and the 7 speed manual....heck, even the new 5.3L. They'd have a very legit, higher end mustang competitor. I'm definitely a big fan of the styling, that is a very handsome coupe!

Powershift posted:

v8 is unlikely, but the 420hp/420ft/lb twin turbo 3.6 is likely coming for the ats-v

edit: it will never be a mustang competitor. The V6 ATS sedan starts at $42,020, you'd have to try pretty hard to option even a 5.0 stang up to $42k.

Snowdens Secret posted:

What would this offer that the FJ Cruiser didn't? (Other than visibility past the C-pillars.) That wasn't exactly a smashing sales success. I'd suspect the market for people willing to take the NVH hit for a detachable top is more than covered by the Wrangler.

OrganizedEntropy posted:

A 2014 5.0 GT In Canada starts at 41K, optioned out with all of the luxury bits it's very easy to hit mid 50's. I just priced one up on the Ford website for 53K.

Even if you factor in discounts, which the Cadillac will have available, there are within the same pricing realm. The problem is that we need a mature, V8, RWD coupe that is abit less retro than the Camaro. Hopefully the next Camaro will do the trick since it will be on the same platform as the ATS.

Powershift posted:

Yeah, but canada gets hosed on optioned up vehicles. The mustang GT starts at 40k before discounts in canada, the v6 ATS starts at 44. The ATS can be optioned up to $57k


And this is still a v6 vs v8. any performance version of the ATS will obviously be more expensive than the standard version. They aren't in the same realm, they will never be direct competitors.

ExplodingSims posted:

Since we're on Fordchat right now, has there been any news about the Bronco coming back?

Breakfast All Day posted:

The ATS is competing with things like the Q60. Cadillac saved itself by realizing it couldn't compete with the likes of MB because of badge cachet, so instead it's competing with markup badges like Acura, Infiniti and Lexus because that demo wants good appliance cars with the benefit of basic luxury fittings and a little excitement (well, except Acura) without caring too much what symbol is on the grill. Some people may still cross shop a CLK and an ATS, and while a V8 ATS-V could win a few over in a year or two, the CLK isn't that threatened. No one is cross shopping an ATS and a Mustang.

Snowdens Secret posted:

What would this offer that the FJ Cruiser didn't? (Other than visibility past the C-pillars.) That wasn't exactly a smashing sales success. I'd suspect the market for people willing to take the NVH hit for a detachable top is more than covered by the Wrangler.

Throatwarbler posted:

I wasn't terribly interested in the 911 Targa, am I the only one who just assumed it was a manual T-Top like a third gen F-body?

..because it's actually a power retractable hard top and the whole back end of the car is some kind of transformer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7kLL-9tj0

Full Circle posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flSx4mrFA7Q

ynotony posted:

My mind is blown by this. A neighbor had this car when I was growing up and I never knew that is how the roof operated.

Neo Duckberg posted:

Does anyone have any more information on the Z06 automatic transmission?

quote:

What customers really want is a very fast, very responsive transmission, and that's what we've provided. Our new internally designed 8 speed auto is far lighter than the previous 6 speed and any dct that could live behind this engine and we benchmarked the best DCTs in the world for shift speed and quality, and engineered this trans to match and better them.

quote:

It has five modes like the Stingray, the new trans let us do even more, making the modes different. Tour will be gentle, track will be super aggressive. I want to chirp the tires in a straight line.

quote:

The 8 speed is more than 8 pounds lighter than the 6 speed auto, which makes it closer to the mass of the manual transmission. I'm guessing the actual delta is about 20 kilos, but you don't count the clutch mass in the manual. If you count the clutch, the transmission weight just about the same.

quote:

Our original intent was to do an NA engine, we were unable to achieve all of our performance, durability, and regulatory (emissions) goals with NA. We weren't even close. You couldn't just do DI, VVT, no cylinder deactivation, 7.0 liter motor with the increase we would have wanted. New regs could have led to a horsepower decrease.

Throatwarbler posted:

I wasn't terribly interested in the 911 Targa, am I the only one who just assumed it was a manual T-Top like a third gen F-body?

..because it's actually a power retractable hard top and the whole back end of the car is some kind of transformer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7kLL-9tj0

Ziploc posted:

The roof is still fabric.

Guinness posted:

This is what I don't get about the new Targa. All this fancy overengineering that looks amazing, and yet they use a fabric roof rather than a glass or aluminum panel?

I'd still drive it.

AutoCar posted:

The new Mazda MX-5 will have “very clean and simple” styling to be what a company veteran calls “our best-looking car ever”.

On sale in 2015, the new MX-5 is tipped to appear early that year at February’s Chicago show, where the original MX-5 was launched in 1989.

The engineering and styling details of the eagerly awaited two-seater are understood to centre on new, more muscular proportions in which the front axle is pushed forward to give a long-bonnet look to emphasise the rear-drive powertrain.

“It is such a good-looking car — recognisable as an MX-5, but with very clean styling,” said an insider.

Design chief Ikuo Maeda and his team have developed a new and unique styling theme for both the MX-5 and its platform twin, the RX-7 coupé. The look is different from that used on Mazda’s hatches and saloons.

During an interview at the Tokyo show last November, Maeda told Autocar that the MX-5 would have its own interpretation of the firm’s ‘Kodo’ design language.

“It won’t be like the Mazda 3 or 6,” Maeda said. “Kodo can express our range in different ways. My intent is to make it tighter looking visually, but still to have a strong presence.”

Maeda also emphasised that the design will not be retro, a reference interpreted to mean distancing the new car from the soft and rounded styling of the original 1989 MX-5.

In practice, the next-gen MX-5 is understood to feature simple body surfaces without the pronounced wheel arch bulges and intersecting styling lines that give the 3 and 6 their unique character.

A significant detail will be a simple face built around a smooth front nosecone and lower air intake — the basic stylistic building blocks that have characterised all three MX-5 models since 1989.

That is likely to mean a lower air intake with a little more angular shaping, rather than the ovoid look of past models.The MX-5 definitely won’t feature the brash, five-point grille of the 3 and 6.

An important new feature of the MX-5 will be a relatively long wheelbase inside dimensions that grow slightly and closer to an overall length of four metres. Today’s model is 3975mm long.

Prototypes of the new MX-5 snapped recently at the Nürburgring can now be seen to show off this extended dimension. Multiple layers of disguise between the scuttle and front axle are intended to disguise it.

The longer bonnet is partly necessary to accommodate Mazda’s new SkyActiv petrol engines, which employ a 4-2-1 exhaust manifold that takes up a relatively long space to encourage free-flowing air out of the combustion chambers to improve efficiency.

The same 4-2-1 exhaust manifold has resulted in the ‘long bonnet’ dimensions of the new 3, whose bulkhead and cabin are pushed back by 100mm compared with rivals.

A new generation of stratified-charge HCCI versions of this engine — tipped to be on sale during the new MX-5’s life cycle — might need an even longer exhaust manifold.

The engines will be naturally aspirated versions of the SkyActiv petrol engine, most likely in 1.5-litre and 2.0-litre capacities, but some markets might take only a single variant.

Early reports suggested that the MX-5 would feature a turbocharged 1.5-litre engine, but Mazda has since decided to concentrate on naturally aspirated engines.

Engineers are confident that Mazda can hit Europe’s fleet average figure of 95g/km of CO2 by 2021 without using forced induction.

The new MX-5 is likely to be launched with much-improved fuel economy figures as Mazda targets efficiency gains of 30 per cent by 2015.

Power outputs for the MX-5 have yet to be confirmed, but expect typically conservative horsepower figures matched to a low kerb weight to deliver a rewarding driving experience.

A kerb weight of just over 1100kg will make the MX-5 lighter than its rivals and Mazda has proven adept at making its recent models the lightest in their class.

Insiders are pulling back from an earlier commitment to hit 1000kg. “That’s a very, very difficult figure to achieve in practice,” said one insider.

Given the competitive price of the MX-5, it is engineered around conventional steel construction, although detailed attention to individual componentry is contributing to weight reduction.

Just like today’s MX-5, the new model is being engineered with two roof mechanisms: a folding metal hard-top and conventional soft-top.

The hard-top will be focused on the European and Japanese markets, the multi-layer canvas top on the US market.

High demand in the UK — Europe’s biggest market for the MX-5 — for the folding hard-top has largely been responsible for keeping the two different roofs in production.

The second generation of the folding hard-top is said to be lighter and packaged more efficiently, delivering slightly improved boot volume.

Nonsense posted:

Hello Miata.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/new-mazda-mx-5-2015-launch




This sounds more interesting to me now than a used BRZ. I just really like the way it looks, even the squinting headlamps.