Home / Posts tagged 'Super Sedan'

• Set Phasers to “Fun”: Spocks Old and New Ham It up in Audi Advert [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 7 May 2013

  

  For a television series that only ran for three seasons and garnered rather lukewarm ratings, Star Trek has proven quite profitable for creator Gene Roddenberry and his heirs. This is due in no small part to the fact that the franchise enjoys one of the sci-fi community’s largest and most vocal fanboy and fangirl armies. But we reckon it also stems from a long line of iconic characters and the gifted actors who portray them.

  One of those characters is, of course, Spock. The mostly logical and emotionally-distant half-Vulcan, half-human chap has only been played by two men throughout his existence: Leonard Nimoy and, beginning with the 2009 J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie, Zachary Quinto. Audi of America has brought both actors together in this quite hilarious spot that showcases the Audi S7 and its principal competitor, the Mercedes-Benz CLS. Normally we consumer goods company/upcoming movie cross promotions (Star Trek Into Darkness hits theaters May 17^th.) as cynical, forced-looking-and-sounding cash grabs. But this? This. Is. Gold. Bravo Audi and Misters Nimoy and Quinto.

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• Snowball Effect: Guido Tschugg Wrings out His Mitsubishi Evo [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 1 May 2013

  

  Let’s say, hypothetically, that you’re a Red Bull sponsored athlete. A professional BMX rider, to be specific. You get to travel the world, defying gravity and conventional wisdom as it relates to human endurance and/or the laws of physics, earning yourself fame, fortune and a multinational kaleidoscope of fans. Nice, huh?

  Well, that’s reality for Germany’s Guido Tschugg. But what does Guido do when he’s not launching over jumps and jockeying for position? Well, if this video is any indication, he likes to spend at least part of the winter off-season thrashing an old Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII through the snow. And when we say “through the snow” we truly mean through the snow. Probably not the sort of shenanigans the Mitsubishi engineers had in mind when they designed it, but the roughly decade-old road registered rally car seems to hold up pretty well.

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• A Girl and Her 5er: Ashley Rodriguez Dishes on Her BMW E28 Addiction [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 2 April 2013

  

  Most of us car geeks harbor affections for multiple makes (or at least multiple models) of cars. Sure, we have our favorites, but rarely do we limit the objects of our automotive affections. After all, you wouldn’t eat the same thing for dinner every night for the rest of your life, would you?

  Well, railroad photographer Ashley Rodriguez might not have a supper menu of just one item, but she is rather picky when it comes to the cars she owns. Specifically, she is devoted to the second generation BMW 5 Series (chassis code E28). How devoted are we talking? This gray market M535i is the 15^th example of the quintessentially ‘80s midsize Bimmer she has owned, and she says she has owned every variation except the diesel-powered 524td. Hey, if she’s happy sticking with what she knows, who are we to judge?

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• Hamann Mi5Sion BMW M5 Has a Flare for the Dramatic

  In Tuning / By Tom Anderson / 6 March 2013

  

  With all the megafast, megabuck supercars – both regular and hybrid – premiering at the Geneva Motor Show, it’s easy to forget that there’s a bumper crop of tuner vehicles at this year’s show. And that’s saying something, because Geneva has for years been a venue favored by one-stop aftermarket shops looking to show off their newest creations. It is neutral soil, after all.

  Hamann chose Geneva to debut its latest take on the current F10-chassis BMW M5. It’s called the Mi5Sion, and while it may be stock under the hood, it definitely isn’t stock on the outside.

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• 2014 Chevrolet SS is a Handsome High-Po Sedan…with One Glaring Omission

  In Auto News / By Tom Anderson / 17 February 2013

  

  We were huge fans of the Pontiac G8 during its tragically-short life. And we were especially fond of the G8 GXP, with its 415hp LS3 V8 and choice of a 6-speed automatic or 6-speed manual transmission. In fact, if we had our druthers (and by “our druthers” we mean the money and garage space) we’d have both a G8 GXP and the Holden-supplied Poncho that came before it, the last generation GTO.

  Chevrolet, however, wants to lure us away from its late sister brand with its own Australian immigrant, the 2014 Chevrolet SS. It’s the nameplate’s new representative in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and its new four-door performance leader. In fact, the folks at Chevrolet have, more than once, proclaimed it to be a “four-door Corvette.” So…is it?

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• Misha Design Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG by Couture Customs is a Blanco Bruiser

  In Tuning / By Tom Anderson / 7 February 2013

  

  The new Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG is plenty potent and plenty stylish right off the dealer’s lot, but Mercedes-Benz only offers so many variables and deviations from the norm to configure one that is truly unique. If you really want to make your new high-po four-door coupe stand out from the crowd, you have to turn to the aftermarket. And one firm that offers ways to stand out from the crowd is Misha Design.

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• Anibal Automotive Design Porsche Panamera Prestige Channels the 911 Turbo and 959

  In Tuning / By Tom Anderson / 6 February 2013

  

  The Porsche Panamera may be stupefyingly fast for a heavy German sedan. And it may be an incredibly popular platform for tuners. But not even most tuned Panameras can legitimately be called things of beauty. The unnatural application of 911 design tropes and the bulbous rear ¾ view may provide brand identity and rear seat headroom, respectively, but they don’t do Zuffenhausen’s first saloon any favors from an aesthetics perspective.

  However, it looks like someone forgot to pass that memo along to Anibal Automotive Design. What makes us say that? Well, all you have to do is take a look at these renderings of its take on Porsche’s portliest passenger car, dubbed the Prestige. Do so and you will notice not only splashes of 997 Turbo and 959 styling, but an overall design that looks considerably less clumsy and bloated.

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• Pontiac G8 Becomes a Sick Holden Commodore SSV Replica [Video]

  In Fast Forward / By Tom Anderson / 1 February 2013

  

  Like the 2004 to ’06 GTO that came before it, the Pontiac G8 was a lefthand drive Holden brought to North America for a tragically brief time. And like the last gen GTO, which some enterprising Yanks have turned into Monaros using ADM bumpers, grilles and badges, some of these final big Pontiacs have been converted into the VE-series Holden Commodores on which they were based. Doing so is sure to get the attention of car people (who know what you did) and non-car people (who have never heard of Holden or seen the Lion badge in their lives) alike.

  Seattleite Tony Husted performed a Commodore conversion on his G8 GT (with help from his mate in Oz, “Crazy Paul”), but didn’t stop at swapping the fascias and emblems. As Tony explains in this video from Speedline Film Werks, he wanted to make his Commodore clone badder than any real Commodore SSV (or any Commodore-based HSV product, for that matter). We’re inclined to think he succeeded.

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• HSV 25th Anniversary GTS is an Extra Hot Holden

  In Tuning / By Tom Anderson / 2 October 2012

  

  In 1987, GM’s Australian division, Holden, and Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) got together and formed a new quasi-in-house tuner of cars wearing the red lion badge. In the quarter century since, Holden Special Vehicles (more popularly known as HSV) has built over 70,000 extra muscular Commodores, Caprices, Utes, Monaros and other Holden models and sold them to excited owners throughout Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.

  So considering a 25^th anniversary for anything is one of the biggies (It is, after all, called the silver anniversary.), it should be no surprise that HSV is making a big deal about it. Such a big deal, in fact, that it’s releasing a special model to commemorate the occasion. But if you think the HSV 25^th Anniversary GTS is just a decals-and-numbered-dash-plaque job, you’d be wrong.

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• Wheelsandmore Cranks the Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG up to Seven-11

  In Tuning / By Tom Anderson / 20 August 2012

  

  While we mourn the ongoing phasing out of hairy-chested, large displacement naturally aspirated V8s in favor of smaller, turbocharged and supercharged V6s and V8s, there’s no denying these downsized boosted engines have oodles of power potential. An ECU reflash here, a smaller supercharger pulley or stiffer wastegate spring there, and suddenly you’ve got an extra 25-30% more power than stock. Pretty compelling argument for forced induction as a replacement for displacement, don’t you think?

  Regardless of your stance on the trend, Mercedes-Benz’s AMG division has created one of the best force-fed performance engines on the market with its M157 V8. This 5.5L twin-turbo V8 belts out more than 500hp, and makes AMG models like the new CLS63 AMG go as fast as they look.  But tuner Wheelsandmore has figured out how to make the CLS63 AMG go and look even faster.

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