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The first generation Volkswagen Polo had a sedan variant called the Derby and this tradition has continued even until the version before the recently unveiled new model, where the sedan version was called the Volkswagen Polo Classic. The Polo Classic is sold in countries like Brazil, South Africa, China and even Australia. Thus it would only make sense for the Polo Classic sedan to be updated following the release of the new Polo hatchback. Anyway the point of this post is the image above, Theophilus Chin’s artist’s impression of what a new Polo Classic sedan could look like. Not hard to make it look decent since the base car was already such a looker!

Bologna-based sports car maker; Lamborghini has released the more powerful and lighter Murcielago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce. As the name suggests, this latest Murcielago features a 670HP 60 degrees, longitudinally mounted 6.5 liter V12 power plant (dry sump lubrication) with 660Nm of torque that is able to catapult the “bull” to the 100 km/h mark in 3.2 seconds and to a top speed of 342 km/h. The power plant with 12 cylinders, 48 valves and 8,000 eagerly awaiting revs is coupled with a 6 speed manual transmission.

Power is transmitted to all four wheel via Lamborghini’s permanent all wheel drive system to ensure effective traction and subsequently, excellent handling. The Murcielago is fitted with a double wishbone suspension system all round, with a lifting system that enables the front end of the car to be raised by 45 mm to ease garage entries and so on. Stopping power is provided by Carbon Ceramic (CCB) brakes with ABS.

These high performance brakes are nestled behind exclusive “Ares” alloy-forged wheels, bearing the exclusive five twin-spoke design and wrapped with high-grip Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires. The Italian sports car maker has also added a new exhaust system that, apart from the obvious help in terms of performance, it also offers a beautiful acoustic experience.


On the inside, Alcantara and carbon fiber make up most of the interior which is finished in, among others; light weight bucket seats as well as light weight cockpit and roof lining. Offered in a number of body colours including; Giallo Orion, Arancio Atlas, Bianco Isis, Grigio Telesto and Nero Aldebaran (with matt white and matt black offered as an option), the exterior is treated to a slightly modified front end with a matt black finish as well as slightly larger air intakes. The lower end of the side features air scoops for the oil cooler which are also finished in matt black.

The rear end is mostly taken up by a single flat and extremely wide exhaust tailpipe, a two-level diffuser system finished entirely in carbon fiber and a transparent engine cover. A larger, fixed carbon fiber wing mounted on two carbon-fiber brackets which help offer better aerodynamic grip at high speeds is also available as an option. Overall, the light weight construction utilized on the Murcielago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce accounts for 100 kilograms in terms weight savings, over Murciélago LP 640.

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Italian-based sports car maker Lamborghini has released the Murcielago LP 670-4 SuperVeloce at the Geneva Motor Show which is actually a more powerful, and lighter Murcielago. With 670HP and 660Nm of torque produced by its 6.5 liter V12 power plant, and with an overall weight that is 100 kilograms lighter than the Murcielago LP 640, it does not seem difficult for the LP 640-4 SuperVeloce to take the credit.

With certain design cues carried over from the Reventon, this all wheel drive super car with a two-level diffuser and a fixed carbon fiber rear wing looks the part as well. Other features include a lifting system which enables the front end of the car to be raised by 45 mm to ease garage entries, Carbon Ceramic (CCB) brakes with ABS and more.Read More

Audi says the success of the Audi Sportback started with the Audi A3 Sportback. Sales of the 5-door wagonish model outperformed the 3-door hatchback version. They consider this a market trend so Audi wants to expand this Sportback brand with both a larger and a smaller model. We’ve previously seen the smaller model, the Audi A1 Sportback showed in concept form sometime last year. Now it’s time to take a look at the bigger car, the new Audi Sportback Concept which previews the future Audi A7 four-door.

Most of the styling elements have been derived from the A5 coupe, but the wavy shoulderline that made the A5 unique is missing. The front end has a new interpretation of Audi’s single frame grille which eliminates the vertical struts, leaving only the horizontal lines which like their counterparts on shirts make the car look wider. The outer countour of the single-frame grille is also an evolution of the one shown on the Audi A1 Sportback concept car.

The new Audi Sportback measures 4,950mm long, 1,930mm wide and 1,400mm tall, compared to the Audi A6 sedan’s 4,916mm length, 2,012mm width and 1,461mm height. So this vehicle is longer, wider but sits lower. It’s so long that it even exceeds the Audi A6 Avant’s 4,933mm length. But it is shorter than the Audi A8 SWB’s 5,051mm length. It’s quite a porker too, but understandable based on its size, weighing in at a massive 1,800kg.

Under the hood, and pretty unusual for an American debut until recently is the use of a 3.0 liter TDI V6 engine that is equipped with an AdBlue catalytic converter. AdBlue is an additive thats added to the exhaust stream to reduce harmful content in emissions. This engine makes 225 horsepower and 550Nm of torque, mated to a 7-speed S-Tronic transmission. The car also has quattro all-wheel drive to channel all that torque to four wheels effectively. The S-Tronic gearbox has a new feature in this concept car, it has transmission oil heating which helps it reach the optimum internal operating tempreature earlier for a lower level of internal friction.

More features that help it sip fuel include brake energy regeneration, low roll resistance tyres, an automatic start-stop system, and an electric power steering that only uses energy when cornering and not when the car is driven in a straight line. This helps it achieve an ECE fuel economy of 5.9 liters per 100km and 156g/km of emissions.

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First hi-res images of the Audi A7 Sportback Concept (the nameplate on the car seems to say Audi Sportback Concept) set to be displayed at the Detroit Auto Show tomorrow have been unveiled on the internet. The front-end looks alot like the ones shown on the Audi metroproject quattro and its evolution, the Audi A1 Sportback Concept, except the front grille loses the vertical slats, leaving only the horizontal ones.

It has a fastback roofline, more like the Porsche Panamera rather than the Aston Martin Rapide, which might lead some to think its going to have a hatchback boot, but a look an image of the rear after the jump and you can see the bootlid’s lines do not really meet the rear glass in a way that a hatch would, but then again Audi could also be doing a hatchback-sedan dual bootlid combo much like Skoda’s new Superb.

The Audi A7 is said to be larger than the Audi A6 and built on the new Audi MLP platform, which is modular in terms of length and width to suit different sizes of cars while retaining many components in the interests of economies of scale.

4 more images after the jump!

The new Subaru Legacy has been previewed in concept form at the 2009 NAIAS, or the Detroit Auto Show as it is frequently referred to as. From what was previously a sleek luxury cruise with that ever subtle tinge of sportiness, the new Subaru Legacy has grown rather large and has a noticeably high roofline, which Subaru says is designed to improve headroom in the interior. The car even has a little Hoffmeister kink at the C-pillar, so the Accord isn’t the only one doing that now!

The new car is larger, with a 2,751mm wheelbase that is longer than its predecessor, and even slightly longer than the large Subaru Tribeca. Like all proper Subarus (as in those that are not Daihatsu supermini rebadges), the Subaru Legacy Concept has Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive thats hooked up to a 3.6 liter 6-cylinder boxer engine. Subaru did not quote any power figures for this concept’s engine but it’s probably safe to assume that it is similiar to the EZ36 boxer-6 in the Subaru Tribeca that can produce 256hp.

The concept car has a few characteristics that probably won’t make it into the production model, and some of these include the tiny aerodynamic wing mirrors that use cameras instead of a mirror, as well as the 4-seater seating position which is most likely to be traded with a more practical 5-seater that uses a bench at the rear. There is a very comprehensive in-car entertainment system there too, and while it’s not likely to become a standard feature (or even a feature at all), it shouldn’t be too hard for any experienced accessory shop to reproduce it.

Check out a whole hi-res gallery after the jump.

The 2010 Ford Mustang comes with either a 210 horsepower V6 or a 300 horsepower V8 engine, but for power freaks these options look rather anaemic compared to the 422hp 6.2 liter V8 in the new “Bumblebee” Camaro SS, or even the 375hp 3.7 liter HEMI V8 in the Dodge Challenger.

Here comes Ford’s SVT team to the rescue, with the new 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang that puts out 540 horsepower and 691Nm of torque, thanks to larger 5.4 liter V8 engine coupled with a supercharger and an intercooler. The classic Cobra snake badge has been moved from its traditional position to the other side of the grille in order to configure the cold air intake in its optimum position.

Whatever’s under the hood, it sure looks bloody fierce. Just look at the image above, and picture it coming up in your rear view mirror. Those large gaping air intakes could gobble a little Viva hogging the fast lane up anytime! There will surely be many who will pick this based on looks alone in markets where it’s offered.

There are other technical changes as well. The transmission’s final ratio has been changed from 3.31 to 3.55, and while gears 1 to 4 remain the same, the 5th and 6th gears have been changed from 0.80:1 to 0.74:1 and 0.63:1 to 0.50:1 respectively. This allows better performance in the first four gears thanks to the new final drive, but maintaining proper highway ratios for the last two gears for fuel economy. The gearbox’s twin-disc clutch has also been uprated (larger - 250mm vs 215mm diameter) for better driveability and NVH. Wheels are 19 inch forged aluminium alloys wrapped with 19 inch Goodyear F1 Supercar tyres.

BMW Web TV brings us a video featuring Timo Gobel, head of development for the new E89 BMW Z4 Roadster, and other members of the Z4’s development team. We get to see the first prototype of the new retractable hard top Z4 roadster that was made a full 2 years before production, and what kind of tests it goes through before the next stage of prototyping, and various other stages of the prototyping process.

Please enjoy the video after the jump.

A Youtube video seems to have surfaced on the internet with stills of a Japanese market Honda Insight brochure, revealing to us abit more of the production hybrid vehicle that Honda will be exhibiting at the 2009 Detroit Motor Show in January next year.

The shots also reveal that Honda has also gotten ready a Modulo kit for the Insight, for those who want to go green but still look stylish at the same time. Two choices of interior colour are available - something dark and the other is beige.

With the tax-exemption on hybrid cars in Malaysia right now, will Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd offer this here? It all depends on whether they see a market for it and whether they can get an allocation from Japan. Speaking of Honda hybrids, the Civic Hybrid has still not been priced properly yet!

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Click here to read the rest of JDM Honda Insight Hybrid brochures leaked in a YouTube video?

From the new year onwards, all passengers in a car whether sitting in the front or back have to buckle up or face a RM300 fine. This only applies if the passenger is over 17 years old, but if you are younger, the driver of the car is the one who will be punished as according to Road Transport Director-General Datuk Solah Mat Hassan, it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure the safety of the minors that they are driving.

This new seatbelt ruling includes the rear seatbelts, but excludes the following:

• Cars registered before 1st of January 1995
• Cars registered after the 1st of January 1995 but not equipped with rear seatbelt anchorage points
• Commercial vehicles such as taxis and rental cars
• Vehicles with more than 9 seats including the driver’s
• Transport vehicles with capacity above 3.5 tonnes

Wait, that’s not all. The RM300 fine will be in effect only within a “grace period” of between the 1st of January 2009 to the end of June 2009. From the 1st of July 2009 onwards, this fine will be upped to RM2,000 and you could even go to jail for up to 1 year. Yes, it may seem harsh… but if you buckle up, you won’t have to worry. It’s for your own safety anyway