Category: Car Reviews (Page 29 of 43)

Sneak Peak: 2011 Lamborghini Gallardo LP550-2 Valentino Balboni Spyder

July 1, 2010 / Staff

Since it’s summer time we have to keep dreaming about those exotic cars that you seldom see on the road. Well in that tradition check out these pics of what is believed to be the a Lamborghini Gallardo LP550-2 Valentino Balboni Spyder prototype. Some have labeled this jewel the Superleggera Spyder and we say either way it is one beautiful machine from the people at Lamborghini. Look for the debut of this rear wheel drive sports dream at the Paris auto show.

From Inside Line:

This is the car everybody’s calling a Superleggera Spyder, but Inside Line has confirmed that this is actually a Lamborghini Gallardo LP550-2 Valentino Balboni Spyder prototype. That’s right, another rear-wheel-drive Lamborghini, courtesy of the Italian automaker’s esteemed test driver, Valentino Balboni, and this time it’s a drop top.

Although the all-wheel-drive Gallardo Superleggera and rear-drive Balboni have some similar design details, if you look closely at those gaping lower intakes, you’ll see they’re in the style of the Balboni hardtop.

Around back, you’ll see quad exhaust pipes that protrude beyond the back edge of the bumper. Both the Balboni and Superleggera have these, but as on the Balboni, the rear deck is blissfully wing-less. The superlight coupe, you’ll recall, has a big, fixed carbon-fiber piece.

Read the full article here.

Car Reviews, New Cars, News, Racing, Sports Cars

exotic cars Paris auto show Superleggera Spyder

Review of the new Mazda2

June 29, 2010 / Staff

Bullz-Eye.com reviews the new Mazda2 subcompact, and they are quite impressed.

When standing next to the new 2011 MAZDA2, you’ll immediately notice that it looks nothing like the quirky subcompacts introduced over the past several years by other car brands. It isn’t boxy, and it doesn’t look like the designers scrunched up a larger model to fit this smaller class. Rather, you’ll see a sporty design that evokes the “Zoom, Zoom” feel that Mazda has worked so hard to establish in recent years. In a crowded but growing segment, design is critical to attract potential buyers, and Mazda appears to have succeeded in providing an option to consumers who prefer a sporty vehicle as opposed to a more radical, quirky design.

We were invited by Mazda to drive the new car in Montreal, so we were able to put it through the paces on city streets and country roads as well. The results were impressive. The automatic version sports a 4-speed transmission and only 100 horsepower, but the car zips around nicely and you rarely lament the expected lack of power, as Mazda surgically removed unnecessary weight in a meticulous engineering process. Sure, you won’t get impressive acceleration as you’re darting onto the freeway, but the car performs adequately on those roads, and in city driving the car has plenty of power as you zoom through city streets and turn through the tight corners. The car grips the road and is just fun to drive. With the manual 5-speed you get some better acceleration as you’re ramping up to top speed, but we expect you’ll be satisfied with either option.

The subcompact area is growing rapidly in North America, and we expect to see fierce competition in this space as more brands like Fiat enter the mix, but Mazda seems to have a winner with this sporty option.

Car Reviews, New Cars

Mazda2 small cars subcompacts zoom zoom

2010 Nissan Maxima

June 29, 2010 / Staff

Learn more about the 2010 Nissan Maxima from a Nissan insider!

Car Reviews, New Cars, Video

2010 Nissan Maxima car videos

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Review

June 27, 2010 / Staff

We’re looking to get our hands on one of the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee’s but in the meantime we are relegated to reading other reviews. The WSJ appears to be very impressed with the new Grand Cherokee notably for it’s mature and rich execution of the interior and the price point of a loaded version comes in at $42,995. That is extremely competitive and almost dares other brands to offer what the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee offers for the price.

I daresay the following is the first time Cleanth Brooks and John Crowe Ransom have ever been name-checked in an auto review. These men were founding fathers of the New Criticism of literary study, which emphasized a close reading of the text, which is to say the literature itself. New Criticism excluded factors such as an author’s biographical details, historical circumstances and other so-called extratextual materials to arrive at an interpretation. At the time—say, the 1930s—this was a terribly good idea since criticism had reached a point where scholars were earnestly speculating about how Shakespeare’s bad breath might have influenced “Hamlet.” To New Critics, all that mattered was the text.