Russ Bond’s calling and he wants me to explain how the Veloster won best new sports performance car under $50,000 in AJAC’s 2012 Car of the Year competition. As if I had something to do with it.
It’s not that the Hyundai isn’t a good choice. It has a fuel efficient engine and six-speed manual transmission. For $22,499, it looks great, has a nice, functional interior and sports plenty of value. All nice qualities, none of which make it a sports car.
Following a particularly enthusiastic lapping session driving the fast and agile BMW 1M coupe on our airport runway test track during TestFest, it feels barely faster than a Prius out here on the autocross-style cone course.
Sure, it’s nicely balanced and turns well (slowly, of course) but, after a single lap, the 280 mm (11 in.) front brakes prove just how inferior they are compared to those on a real performance car such as the 1M. The Veloster can’t match the stopping power of the 360 mm (14.2 in.) front discs and four-piston calipers, and plows wide through the last turn, taking out a family of cones. One is so badly wedged into the undercarriage I’m forced to pull over so the PR rep sitting in the passenger seat can get out and extricate it for me.
The $54,000 BMW handily won the sports performance over 50 class and rightly so. It might even be the best car at TestFest. However, almost all 200 allotted for Canada are already spoken for, so buying one might be next to impossible since it’s only available in a single model year. It’s still in the running, though unlikely to be named car of the year.
Comparing the 138-hp Hyundai to a 335-hp 1M is like comparing a small handgun to an assault rifle, but you don’t need a PR rep to tell you the ECU is calibrated for fuel economy and not performance. It’s obvious. Continue →
The 2012 Prius V is the latest version of Toyota’s mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle. It utilizes the latest Hybrid Synergy Drive system, which pairs a 1.8-litre four-cylinder gasoline engine with a 60 kW electric motor and 27 kW battery to send 134 hp through a continuously variable transmission (CVT). Toyota engineers have reduced smog-forming emissions by 66% when compared to the average new vehicle.
Under optimal conditions, Toyota claims the Prius V attains a combined fuel economy of 4.6 L/100 km. Over 165 km of real world driving in urban and rural Quebec, I manage 5.95 L/100km. Continue reading my review of the 2012 Toyota Prius V on Autonet.ca.
As an eight-year voting member of the Automobile Journalist’s Association of Canada, I get to participate in the annual TestFest event, which helps decide the Canadian Car and Utility Vehicle of the Year.
The 2012 CCOTY field gets whittled down from 57 vehicles across 11 categories. There are too many to drive them all and I’m only interested in a fraction of them for my readers anyhow. As has been the case for the past several years now, my assignments included road and track testing the Sports Performance Car (under 50K) as well as the Luxury Car categories.
It’s also a very busy week as more than 70 journalists compete for keys to this automotive buffet that contains everything from the $17,000 Hyundai Accent to the $142,000 Jaguar XKR-S and lots in between, so time for photos is scarce. That said, of the 80 or so shots I did take, I’ve posted a small gallery of sorts for your viewing pleasure.
Visit the gallery here and leave your comments at the bottom of this post.
Subaru’s worst kept secret over the past couple of years has finally been confirmed.
Subaru will unveil this RWD performance concept at the 2011 L.A. Auto Show
Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI) today announced the world premiere of the “Subaru BRZ Concept – STI” will happen at the L.A. Auto Show in mid November, ending years of speculation that Subaru would build a rear-wheel drive performance car.
The Subaru BRZ Concept STI is a concept car based on the Subaru BRZ, an all-new RWD compact sports car developed from an ongoing joint project between Subaru and Toyota Motor Corporation. Built with Subaru’s core technology of the horizontally-opposed boxer engine, this model has a low centre of gravity that realizes a “Pure Handling Delight” driving experience. Combined with motifs of Subaru’s iconic performance brand “STI,” the concept car embodies ultimate performance.
Subaru will unveil this RWD performance concept at the 2011 L.A. Auto Show
Subaru will unveil this RWD performance concept at the 2011 L.A. Auto Show
Journauto recording his scores for the 2012 Kia Optima SX at TestFest.
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON – More than 70 of Canada’s top automotive journalists spent last week in the Niagara-on-the-Lake to determine the “Best New” cars and SUV/CUVs in 11 different vehicle categories, as part of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada’s (AJAC) annual Canadian Car of the Year Awards program.
Journalist members spent four days intensively road and track testing the field of nearly 60 entries at “TestFest,” which has been held at the Niagara Drive Centre, located at the Niagara District Airport, for the past six years.
The results of the AJAC journalists’ rigorous test driving and evaluations throughout TestFest were revealed during a press conference wherein the category winners were announced. Continue →
Each year alongside the Automobile Journalist’s Association of Canada’s annual TestFest, AJAC hosts an awards banquet to reward its members in a host of different writing, photography and layout categories.
This year, I entered six photos into the 2011 Pirelli Photography contest and skipped the other award categories altogether. I didn’t win anything with these shots but I sure enjoyed taking them.
As one of the losers, my photos aren’t seen by those in attendance at the event in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, so I’ve once again decided to post them here for your enjoyment and viewing pleasure. Without further a do, here are my submissions in both published and unpublished categories for this year’s competition.
Please enjoy and your constructive comments are welcome.
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TO maple #leafs are contstantly victimized by shoddy officiating! Case in point disallowed goal on @Bozie24 and terrible call on Brown #18 3 days ago
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A classic Best Motoring togue pitting the almighty Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 against a pair of souped-up Toyota AE86s. No fair, right? Watch and find out!
Destroy this page!
This retro space shooter game is inspired by Atari's original 1979 Asteroids arcade video game and will destroy my web page in seconds.
Instructions:
* Steer with the arrow keys
* Shoot with spacebar
* Can't see your remaining enemies? Then press and hold B
Tips: Great for vaporizing annoying ads! Press [Esc] key to exit the game mode after eliminating strategic targets. Refresh or reload the page to play again.
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