Automotive Reporter/Biz News for Wk of 7-6-15

Can you believe it—it’s been 20-years since Congress repealed the 55-mph National Maximum Speed Law. For you kids born since 1995, way back in the olden days, the Guvment thought it best to keep throttles reined-in to 55 on the highway—you know, to save gas, and for safety reasons. They imposed the double-nickel in the 1970’s in the midst of an oil embargo crisis.

I know few people who drove 55. Sammy Hagar had a hit record about that in the ‘80’s, “I Can’t Drive 55.” Now, an assistant Transportation Professor at the University of Texas is suggesting better-engineered cars and roads are sufficient justification for raising the speed limit even higher.

Pro. Stephen Boyles’ research indicates few drivers adhere to posted speed limits, and says, "in fact, the greater discrepancy between slower and faster drivers is often more dangerous."  Boyles points to data from the Federal Highway Administration, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program and the Institute of Transportation Engineers which indicates speed limits should be set at the 85th percentile of traffic speed. In other words, only about 1 out of 7 cars should be driving faster than the speed limit. 

“Any more than that and the speed limit should be raised,” Boyles says. “Speed limits should conform to drivers, not the other way around,” he says.

You can get from Houston to Dallas in record time with the posted 75-mph speed limit that kicks in from just north of Huntsville to the Ennis. My experience has seen drivers typically exceed the posted limit by at least 10-mph. The trip is about 240-miles, with 130-miles with the higher speed zone.That’s about the distance from Franklin to Memphis, Tennessee.  

The 28^th Annual International Z-Car Convention, or Z-con, is slated for Friday, July 17, and Nissan wants to know how many of you want to drive the NISMO Road Trip to get there. Nissan Employees and VIP’s are making the trek from company HQ in Franklin to a Beale Street suarez in downtown Memphis. Sounds like a perfect excuse for a three-day weekend, starting Friday morning at 8am, the road rally…er, trip, commences at 9am. 

Nissan promises lots of tantalizing revelations in Memphis, including the entire NISMO product lineup, a 2009 40th anniversary Z-car, an original 240Z, plus the all-new 2016 Nissan Maxima and 2016 Nissan TITAN XD. The feature car of the drive will be the late Yutaka Katayama's ("Mr. K's") last-ever U.S. Nissan lease vehicle, a 1974 260Z 2+2, customized by the factory with a full-metal, retractable sunroof.
Eau my.

Wanna go? To RSVP, participants are asked to tweet the hashtag  #NISMORoadTrip to help organizers provide an estimate of the number attending. And I know what you’re thinking…It’s about 775-miles from Houston to Franklin. Some of that at more than 70-mph (wink, wink).

Best way to create value: Limit Production. Dodge’s factory-built Challenger Drag Pak is only going to run about 60-units. Subaru is using a similar tactic with a Hyper Blue edition of its popular WRX STI and BRZ high performance cars. 

The Hyper Blue WRX STI will boast a 305-hp 2.5-liter turbocharged and intercooled Boxer engine, with Symmetrical All-wheel Drive. Brembo brakes lurk behind 18-inch BBS black-alloy rims. Subaru says it’s only going to make 700 of these special edition WRX’s.

The BRZ is powered by a 200-hp 2.0-liter Boxer engine, allowing it to retain its ultra-low profile. The Hyper Blue motif includes the exclusive paint scheme, with color-keyed leather seat bolsters and head restraints. Blue stitching accents the seats and the blue and black leather-wrapped steering wheel, as well as the shift lever boot and leather-wrapped parking brake handle. 

The blue theme also carries to the center console kneepads and door trim, accented by an embroidered silver BRZ logo on the front seatbacks. Carpeted floor mats also pick up the BRZ logo and blue stitching. BRZ gets a rear view camera as a standard item this year. Subaru is going to build only 500 of the Hyper Blue BRZ’s.
Pricing on both vehicles will be released later this year.

Mazda’s ugly little secret about its fourth-gen Miata is out: There will be no Mazdaspeed version of the MX-5.
Dry your eyes. 

MX-5 Program Manager, Nohiro Yamamoto, tells Top Gear.com the newest edition of the drop top two seater doesn’t need any performance boost.

"It's important not to get hung up on numbers," Yamamoto-san told Top Gear. "Not on power, or torque,” he said. “No, what is more important is the feeling. The driving experience and feeling is more important than power. In my mind it just has to be fun to drive," Yamamoto said.

When asked whether his team had ever—or ever would consider adding a turbo to the Miata, Yamamoto responded that it went against the spirit of the roadster. "I never considered using a turbo," he told Top Gear, "because naturally aspirated engines are just nice, especially for this kind of car.”

The newest edition ND Miata will be smaller and lighter than its NC and NB brethren, and closer in size to the original NA Miata. 

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Automotive Reporter/Biz News for Wk of 4-13-15

Those acid trips of the '60's could be coming back to haunt you.
Or you may be just viewing the world through Mini's newest innovation, "MINI Augmented Vision," which is being debuted at the 2015 Shanghai Autoshow. At a first glance, however, I must admit I thought I was trippin'.

The concept is described as "intelligent connectivity" between some pretty snappy eyewear and the next-generation of Mini automobiles.

Dr. Jörg Preißinger, project-manager MINI Augmented Vision, BMW Group research and technology, says the company has been working with several Qualcomm divisions on the project. "We have created an interlinked system and Augmented Reality eyewear with a characteristic MINI design that revolutionise the experience both in and outside the vehicle," the good Doctor says.


So where did the psychedelic dog on the surfboard come from? Using see-through technology, the AR Eyewear shows relevant information in your direct field of vision, but without concealing other road users. The main idea is increasing safety and comfort while driving. 

Among the nifty things the system will let you do:

• Create destination entry for navigation and transfer to vehicle.

Huh?  Select destination points when outside the vehicle, then transferring them to the vehicle. Sort of like programming your GPS by remote control.

• First Mile/Last Mile: Navigation display from the current location to the vehicle or from the vehicle to the final destination. 
• Heads-up display functions: Display of speed, speed limits etc. in the eyewear, so the information is your primary field of view, with data always shown in same place above steering wheel to make sure that no road users are concealed from sight. This is like wearing a Corvette heads up display on your head.
• Contact-analogue navigation and points of interest: Reality is enhanced by contact-analogue navigation arrows “on” the road, as well as display of points of interest along the route, such as open parking spaces.  
• CMessaging: A small icon is shown in the eyewear when a message is received. The SMS/message can then be read out by the car while driving for safety.
• X-Ray View / transparent vehicle parts: A virtual view through parts of the vehicle (such as A-pillars and doors) serves to render external areas or objects concealed by the car visible. You might want to disable this on a first-date.
• Augmented Parking: This facilitates parking by projecting the images from a camera housed in the (farside) mirror into the eyewear. In this way, the distance from the curb can be clearly and easily ascertained.

I think that's all well and good.
But do you think they could include a prompt to let you know when your turn signal is left on, say, for the past 5-miles?

Toyota continues its teaser campaign with glimpses of its new stable of products with this fetching photo of the new Lexus ES luxury sedan. The latest Lexus will make its global debut at Auto Shanghai 2015 on April 20.

The new Lexus ES maintains its classical elegance "while conveying a more dynamic experience and luxurious craftsmanship," so saith the release.

 
After a protracted period of ugly-ducklingness, the new 2016 Honda Pilot has achieved puberty and grown some sensual curves. The third generation Pilot will go on sale this summer, and Honda says it's ready to take the mid-size SUV segment by storm.

A beefier 3.5-liter SOHC i-VTEC Earth Dreams Technology engine will produce 280-horsepower, and be mated to new 6- and 9-speed transmissions. The 2016 edition also gets a new Intelligent Variable Torque Management AWD System--including a selectable Intelligent Management system featuring four modes.

The 2016 Pilot is available in a new top-of-the-line Elite trim that will include a panoramic glass roof, heated and ventilated front seats, second-row heated captain's chairs, and LED headlights, in addition to a long list of standard features throughout the Pilot trim range.

In an answer to many prayers, Honda finally has produced a Civic SI model with wings.
Not.

Honda Aircraft Company's HondaJet will begin a world tour in late April with the advanced light jet making its first appearances in Japan and Europe. The HondaJet will travel more than 26,000 nautical miles during the tour and stop in 13 countries along its flight route. I have no idea what that carbon footprint will look like, but I'd sure like a ticket to ride.

"The HondaJet world tour is a tribute to Honda's challenging spirit to bring something truly innovative to business aviation," said Honda Aircraft Company President and CEO Michimasa Fujino. The HondaJet is currently offered for sale in North America and Europe through the HondaJet dealer network.  

Speaking of sweet dreams, if you've been coveting the new 2016 Nissan 370Z line-up, and were wondering how much the Coupe, NISMO or  Roadster might set you back, Nissan has released its new pricing grid for the sinfully fast cars. 

There are eight Coupes, four NISMO's and five Roadster configurations...aaand they'll all cost the same this year as last year.  You can't blame inflation on the price of a Z-car.

The starting Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (M.S.R.P.) for the 370Z Coupe with manual transmission is $29,990, while the 2016 370Z NISMO has a starting MSRP of $41,990 USD with a manual transmission. The 2016 370Z Roadster starts at $41,820 USD.

Complete details on all 2016 370Z models are available here. All prices plus $825 Destination and Handling ...but I'd do it for half.

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