Car Club Blog

Our spy photographers have caught a glimpse of what looks to be the next Acura NSX testing near Germany’s Nürburgring.

The spied car bears a striking resemblance to the Acura Advanced Sports Car concept that we’ve seen at several auto shows. But Honda claimed the ASCC was just a design study, and rumor was that its icy reception necessitated a return to the drawing table. This spied car looks ready for production, though, having missed its original 2008 target.

Honda has already confirmed that the new NSX will be a front-engine supercar. The first-generation NSX, sold in the U.S. until 2005, had a mid-mounted 3.2-liter V-6.

Given their visual similarity, we expect the new NSX will use the same powertrain as the ASCC, which would mean a 5.0-liter V-10 engine paired with the automaker’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive system. That could put the NSX on par with the likes of the Nissan GT-R.

Although it shares the same basic shape as the concept car, the NSX sports a higher roofline to allow more space in the cockpit, as well as smoother lines over the rear. The tiny headlamp slits from the concept have given way to real, normal-size headlights and there’s an extra center grille to help feed air to the engine.

At the rear, a pronounced trunklid spoiler and rear splitter look set to keep the NSX planted. LED taillights that spanned the entire rear of the concept car have been replaced by more conservative, production-ready LED housings. The concept’s dual stacked exhaust tips remain.

All this adds up to a car that doesn’t appear to be far from production while looking far more aggressive and track-ready than the concept car. We can’t wait to get our hands—and test gear—on one.

As we predicted when the Aston Martin V-12 Vantage RS concept debuted prior to the 2008 Detroit auto show, the green light has been given for a small production run. Aston announced last week that it will begin building the lightweight V-12 coupe in the first quarter of 2009, and the presence of cars on the road already suggests there was never any doubt in Aston’s mind that this car would happen.

Bigger engines and smaller cars are no-brainers to us, but the execution is not so simple. Kudos to Aston for making this combo work. The Vantage RS takes the V-12 from Aston’s flagship DBS and shoehorns it under the hood of the company’s smallest and lightest car.

Although the engine’s 510 horsepower would be an increase of 130 over the V-8 already in place in the Vantage, someone at Aston HQ fortunately subscribes as we do to the philosophy that too much is only a good start. Internals modified using knowledge gained from Aston’s racing program boosted horsepower to 600 in the concept, but sources report that the production car will likely see only 550 in the interest of durability. Aston predicts 0-to-62 mph in four seconds flat, but we think we’ll be able to do a little better.

When you’ve already shown the world a concept of your car that is nearly identical to the production version, there’s no need to hide details under heavy camouflage, so Aston wasted no effort disguising this prototype, captured in the vicinity of the Nürburgring. The only tape anywhere on the car is over the trunklid badge, although the louvered hood and the lower front fascia broadcast loud and clear what badging that tape might be hiding.

Put out a swear jar and invite the navy over for dinner, because the V-12 Vantage RS will not be cheap, nor will it be plentiful. We don’t know yet how limited the production run will be, but early guesses at price put the sticker as high as $350,000, or nearly 100 grand higher than the current Aston flagship, the DBS. Even at that price, we imagine the Vantage RS will sell nearly as quickly as it will accelerate.

As a writer, I have to admit that I love when holidays roll around, especially holidays with a tradition of gift giving.

When the holiday targets men, shoppers have an especially difficult challenge. I enjoy watching the infomercials that pop up around Father’s Day. So far this season, I’ve seen the usual Omaha Steaks, ties, and electronic gizmos.

However, one product caught my attention, the Grill Daddy.

The Grill Daddy is a grill brush with a water-holding compartment. The idea is that you heat up the grill, release water on it to create steam, brush the grill, and thereby save on the time and effort needed to clean the grill.

What a disappointment.

With a name like the Grill Daddy, I hoping for something a little more spectacular, something that would automatically flip your steaks, keep your side dishes warm, and keep your beer chilled.

Now that’s a Father’s Day gift.

If you are shopping for a Dad who has a sports car in the garage or wishes that he did – here is a can’t-miss Father’s Day gift. Something much better than a shirt and tie or coffee mug.

How about sending Dad on an exotic car driving tour? What Dad wouldn’t kill to experience the thrill of driving five supercars in a single day?

“Many car lovers have always dreamed about what it would be like to drive a Ferrari or Lamborghini Gallardo, but few get the chance to do it,” says DFW Drive Your Dream owner Ron Sturgeon.

The company provides full and half day exotic car tours that include full instruction on the finer points of driving each of five supercars and the chance to drive them all back-to-back on some of the most scenic and deserted roads in Texas.

The 2000 HP Tour gives lucky dads a chance to experience driving a Ferrari 360 Spider, Lamborghini Gallardo, Dodge Viper SRT/10, Corvette Z06, and Porsche 911 Cabriolet.
Sturgeon’s exotic car tour company offers both a full-day exotic car tour and a half-day exotic car tour.

“Giving dad a gift certificate for a 2000HP Tours is sure to make you a hero on Father’s Day,” says DFW Drive Your Dream General Manager Tom Warren. For complete information on booking a full or half-day exotic car tour, visit http://www.dfwdriveyourdream.com.

Written by G.D. Gregory. If you are interested in having me write stories for you or seeing my portfolio, please contact me at ggpsu@yahoo.com.

Kelsey Grammer, known to millions of viewers as Frasier Crane from NBC’s hit shows “Cheers” and “Frasier,” suffered a mild heart attack Saturday morning and was transported to a hospital near his home in Hawaii.

Grammer, 53, an exotic car enthusiast and winner of five Emmy Awards, is resting comfortably in the hospital.

A representative for the star told the Boston Globe, “Grammer experienced symptoms Saturday morning after paddle boarding with his wife Camille at their home in Hawaii. He was immediately taken to a hospital where it was determined that he had a mild heart attack.” Camille, a former Playboy model, is Grammer’s third wife. They have two children.

Grammer turned his life around after he flipped his red covertible Dodge Viper in 1996. He checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic for treatment of alcoholism. Clean and sober he has foresaken the edgy Viper for a more refined Bentley GT.

According to his spokesperson, Kelsey Grammer does not have a history of heart problems. Grammer is expected to recover fully and to leave the hospital by next week.

Although Grammer’s newsroom-themed Fox sitcom Back to You was recently cancelled by the network, the actor is reportedly planning to start work on a new television show this fall.

We certainly wish a speedy and full recovery to the talented television actor.

Kate Miller-Wilson is a freelance writer living in the Twin Cities. Visit her website or email her for information about her freelance writing services.

Conceptually, the irony was comical: “Welcome to Ibiza. Here’s your station wagon.”

Wagon? Really? Thanks, Audi, for bringing us to the world’s preeminent party destination on an island in the Mediterranean Sea and then sticking us in a wagon. Come on, shouldn’t we be driving something like, say, the TT-S convertible? Or maybe an RS 4? Better yet, where’s that lightweight R8 Sport we had just been talking about a couple of days before in Neckarsulm, Germany?

So much for hittin’ Space, Amnesia, or DC-10. There’s something just not right about club hopping in a “stay way.” Maybe we could get away with it in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but Ibiza?

Well, as it turns out, the new 2009 Audi A4 Avant is about as party hearty as a wagon could ever hope to be. And we’re not just talking about tailgate beer busts before the Bruins take on the Trojans. This car has style worthy of the Hollywood glitterati and moves that would make Justin Timberlake step back. Fabulous-looking, well dressed, quick on its feet, and with a damn good optional stereo—maybe Ibiza isn’t such a wrong match for the A4 Avant. Besides, this would be the first time we’d get a chance to sample the next generation of the 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine, and nothing says it’s party time like a turbo, right?

Ibiza? Bring it! Anyone know who’s spinning at Pacha tonight?

Wagon the Dog

To most people, the thought of Audi’s sending us so far from home just to drive the wagon version of its 2009 A4 sedan, which we’ve already driven (and loved), is a bit excessive. But globally speaking, the Avant is an equally significant vehicle; even though the A4 sedan far outsells the Avant by a ratio of 10 to one here in the States, the Avant outsells the sedan in the rest of the global market. And since the A4 is easily Audi’s single most important (read “bestselling”) model worldwide, suddenly such a big shebang for the wagon starts to make sense.

So yes, the wagon is a big deal. And it’s a better deal, too, for 2009. For starters, the new Avant benefits from the same architectural changes that made the ’09 A4 sedan so much better than its predecessor. Now, in case you’ve been under a log since the wraps came off the A4’s sexy two-door platform-mates, the A5 and the S5, the changes started with the shuffling of its longitudinal engine compartment, which resulted in the engine and several drivetrain components essentially switching places. This turned out to be a wonderful thing for two reasons: (1) It cleaned up the previous A4’s handling (more on that later), and (2) it took it from handsome to somewhere near gorgeous.

Moving the front wheels forward, along with a 6.6-inch stretch in wheelbase and a two-inch-wider track, imparts the A4 Avant with nearly perfect proportions. Indeed, the A4 Avant is a truly beautiful car. The A4’s aggressive new front end, with its 14-LED eyeliner, butch intake apertures, and mini-Dagmars at the lower end of the bumper, looks particularly good on the wagon. And the new body-side lines and steep windshield lend a sense of sculpture that becomes a sense of speed as the eye is drawn back over the silver, snug-fitting roof rails and optional panoramic sunroof to the tight rear end, which looks much like that of the A6 Avant.

In our last road test of a Volvo sedan [May 2007], we likened a top-of-the-line S80 AWD’s appeal to eating particle board. Given that the V70 wagon is based on the S80, the outlook for Volvo’s new wagon is not good.

But hold on a minute. One reason for our lack of enthusiasm for the loaded S80 AWD V-8 was its $56,025 as-tested price tag, putting it in a segment with exemplary models from BMW, Audi, and Mercedes. The V70, available only in front drive with a 3.2-liter inline six-cylinder engine, rings up at a base price of $33,210. At that number, the V70 is an entirely different proposition. It’s even $6240 cheaper than the six-cylinder S80 and $4310 less that its all-wheel-drive sibling, the XC70. And despite the price break, the V70 rides on the same platform as the S80. That means the same crash structure and the same safety equipment: front, side, and curtain airbags; anti-whiplash headrests; and panic brake assist.

Things are looking better for the V70 than its sedan sibling. On a literal level, the V70’s looks are underwhelmingly pleasant. The old V70 went out of its way to define a new look for Volvo. The new wagon is a step backward from that boldness. Its character has been ironed out in the form of smoother, rounded sheetmetal. The new design retains the rear taillights that run from the bumper to the roof, now a Volvo wagon trademark. The V70 looks thoroughly modern, even classy, but it’s not going to shatter any preconceptions about the stylishness of wagons.

The previous V70 was based on the smaller S60 sedan, so it’s not surprising that the new car is longer (up 4.5 inches to 189.9), wider (73.3 inches, an increase of 2.3), and taller (by two inches, to 60.6) than before. The wheelbase has stretched 2.3 inches to 110.8. Compared with the V70 T5 we tested in July 2000, the ’08 V70 is 156 pounds heavier.

The V70’s only available engine is the 3.2-liter inline six-cylinder making 235 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque. It’s a big gain from the 157 horsepower that the old base engine produced and only 12 horsepower shy of the go-fast T5’s 247.

The inline-six has its appeal, even if it lacks the oomph of the old T5. It’s the same engine found in other Volvos, as well as in the Land Rover LR2, and it features variable intake-valve timing. It’s mated to a six-speed automatic. Smooth is the name of the game, and unlike in the old turbo, torque steer is nearly imperceptible.

The 0-to-60-mph sprint happens in a respectable 7.5 seconds. That’s only 0.3 second behind the T5 and more than a second quicker than the V70 Cross Country with the base engine that we tested in October 2000.

Respectable, yes, but perhaps not noteworthy. This seems to be a recurring theme. The V70, however, only comes across as a wallflower because it takes a while for its charm to sneak up on you. Generally, we’re not fans of a spongy brake pedal and muffled steering feel, but both reflect the V70’s serene nature. Of course, we would applaud a stopping distance shorter than 178 feet, grip greater than 0.83 g, or handling that would make us wish even more for a stability-control system that turned off completely. Sure, it doesn’t corner like a BMW, but it doesn’t seem like that’s what the V70 is going for, unlike the S80. If you’re looking for more sport in your wagon, you might find it in the Saab 9-5 SportCombi, Subaru Outback 2.5XT, or Volkswagen Passat 3.6 4MOTION. But only the Subaru is close on price—the VW and the Saab are nearly 40 grand—and none of those cars feels as solid and composed as the V70 going down the road. The quiet comfort that the V70 provides is the automotive equivalent of Grandma’s meatloaf. It makes you feel better after a long day.