Ford decided to replace in the future the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor with an all-new model in 2011. Company meaning to fix everything that is erroneous with the present Crown Vic and promises the new sculpt will be sooner, more fuel-efficient, and safer.

While Ford has typically dominated the law enforcement segment in the US (with unevenly 75% of entirety sales), the redesigned Police Interceptor will face new competition from Carbon Motor’s E7 and the lately-announced Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV).

Read more (details and photos)!!

Look for more information to be released in early 2010, just in time for law enforcement agencies to begin budgeting for the new model.

First of all if you are the person who loves to drive fast I would consider a engine upgrade all some brakes for extra safety but not highly recommended in streets only highways, you might get a speeding ticket though. Second of all if you are the person who likes to be the main attention then get some better paint job or interior the stock ones aren’t going to do any good at attracting. Third if you are original and planned to be different or just want to stand out the stock ones aren’t making any good. It will look different if the car is imported from another country. Forth you car would not get lost, seriously your car could be in a line with the same models and your car would be the first the other drivers would see. Fifth advertisement would be easier but expensive, first reason its easier the car is on a road with 25 other cars and yours will be the brightest of all with all the colors and stuff.

These are the cars that have not keep their cars on stock

So there’s like a lead bus, driving by the road conductor, or whatever they’d call him,  and he takes over control for what ever cars want to get in on it.

It’s all environmentally friendly and shit.

So the driver  of the cars in the train can do other things and not have to worry about driving.  They’d run up and down highways like trains.  You could just like hop on a train,  get wasted, ass out while watching a movie, wake up in the morning, cook yourself breakfast on a cigarette lighter powered hot plate, make your self some coffee for the road, and get off the train when you reach your exit.

It’s the fucking future man.

Wired

Chiggity check these decked out Scion DJxBs by Five Axis on display at this year’s SEMA auto show in Vegas.  They’ve got TVs in the doors, a grill in the back with a sink, amps up the yin yang, slotted turn tables in the roof with dance floor and a whole bunch of stuff that truly does pop!

This car has a combination of  Beauty, Performance and Luxury. It has Sporty Aggressive look, chrome door handles (V-6), jewel-like brakelights and an exquisite attention to fit and finish are proof that the Accord has left no stone unturned, 18-inch alloy wheels (V-6). It has 271-hp engine (V-6), Latest-Generation Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) Offers Both Brisk Acceleration and Fuel Efficiency (V-6 with 5AT) and Low Center of Gravity and Independent Multi-Link Rear Suspension Enhances Handling. Okay the inside of it its just great it has Leather-Trimmed Seat, Bluetooth HandsFreeLink,  Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System with Voice Recognition and Steering Wheel-Mounted Controls just like the other recent models of Honda accord.

The Acura ZDX is an upcoming mid-size luxury crossover wagon developed by Honda for their brand Acura. The car was originally to be called the Acura MSX. The ZDX debuted at the 2009 New York International Auto Show on April 8, 2009. The car has been said to be a “new level of prestige for Acura.” It features Acura’s first six speed automatic transmission, advanced ventilated seats, as well as other luxury stuff. The vehicle was also the first to be completely designed at Acura’s California design studio.

The announced version includes a SOHC VTEC V6 all aluminium engine, six-speed automatic transmission, Super Handling All- Wheel Drive, 19 inch 7 spoke alloy wheels, panoramic glass roof with movable sunshades, hand stitched leather interior. Bluetooth connectivity , power tailgate and a high powered audio system with CD player, AM/FM/XM Satellite Radio and USB interface with iPod integration.Technology Package adds the Navigation System with voice recognition, an Acura/ELS Surround premium audio system and a new multi-view rear camera. Advance Package adds blind spot information system, Collision Mitigating Braking System, and Adaptive Cruise Control . Sales were set to begin in winter 2009.

The New Chevy Volt 2010 is electric powered car. At a recent General Motors media event, GM “product czar” Bob Lutz wanted to be sure there wasn’t any confusion. According to Lutz, the 2011 Chevy Volt is not a plug-in hybrid, but rather it is an extended-range electric vehicle. General Motors is determent to sell an E-REV before anyone else. The Volt is not just a symbolic “moon shot” for this is beleaguered American company.

As Larry Burns, GM vice president for research and development, told Cat and Driver magazine, ” Toyota creamed us on the Prius. It wont happen again” Yes folks this is personal… The 2011 Chevrolet Volt will differ markedly from Prius and other gasoline/electric hybrids.  The GM has gone out of its way to keep the media fully briefed on the production car’s progress

One evening recently my wife yelled for me from her home office. Unfortunately, a virus had infiltrated her notebook pc and had taken the whole system over.

Like other pediatricians, she has been working long hours due to the nasty spread of H1N1. Ironically, standing in the way of her dictating the huge stack of patient charts was an entirely different type of destructive virus.

As some loyal readers know, long before I was an automotive writer I was a tech geek. I was first exposed to computer viruses in the 1980s when my high school became the first in the world to get hit with a system-wide virus — the dreaded nVIR, which took down the school’s fledgling Mac network. After college, I ran the business and technical operations of an early internet provider, Cyberspace.com, which in 1995 provided me the opportunity of working in cooperation with the FBI Computer Crimes Division in an attempt (make that “failed attempt”) to apprehend one of the world’s most wanted hackers and phreakers (one who hacks telecommunications networks and phone systems). I also later worked for web, system management and security software companies.

Ridding computers of malware (the name for malicious software viruses, worms, adware, etc…) is very similar to fixing problems with a car. One simply tries to methodically isolate the symptoms and problems. It is generally a tedious process, but with a great sense of accomplishment when the system is returned to good working order. It’s not surprising that I take as much pride in ridding a computer of a virus as I do synchronizing a pair of SU carbs.

Just like with automotive technology, computer viruses have become far more advanced and complex. I marveled at this specific virus’ ability to lock out the Task Manager and Registry Editor functions, prevent .exe files from running, all while elegantly blocking any web site with any mention of the name of the top anti-virus software applications.

At roughly 1:30AM in the midst of running a scan my train of thought segued from tampering with computers to hacking cars. I chuckled as I remembered when my friends wired the brake light circuit of a guy’s Miata to the horn, so the horn blew every time he hit the brakes.

Then almost immediately I got a sinking feeling in my gut. It occurred to me that the day when an elegantly-designed, yet very malicious virus targeted towards cars and trucks is far closer than any analyst or auto manufacturer have seemingly acknowledged.

Hackers and virus designers utilize two elements to work their evil magic: a host (a vulnerable system) and access (the ability to remotely install software to said host system). As far as the former, cars have been developing as host systems since ECUs of electronic ignition and fuel injection systems replaced points and carburetion in the 1980s. When the 1997 C5 Corvette first appeared, it did so with more on board computers than the first NASA Space Shuttle.

Access to car-based computer management, however, has been lacking. Over the last twenty years automotive systems have essentially been closed systems with access available only via mechanics’ scanners. While scanners do have downloadable updates, the manufacturers ensure that these are also fundamentally closed systems.

The biggest gift to hackers in terms of access is the Internet. By web-enabling cars and trucks to upload and download data from the ‘Net, this can certainly provide the right mind with a key to create mass vehicular chaos.

Let’s face it — the worst thing that can happen to your home computer is that all the data is erased and a full reformat and reload of software is required. All one needs to do is have a creepy imagination (like I do) to see the infinite opportunities for wreaking far greater damage on daily life that viruses could have in the automotive world as compared to personal and business computing. Think of it like Hootie and The Blowfish versus The Beatles in terms of global impact.

New vehicles feature drive-by-wire throttle control, computer-managed variable ratio steering, software-driven transmission, data-processing for stability control (yaw, ABS braking and traction control), and of course on-the-fly manipulation of fuel, spark and air induction. If these systems were to be insecurely tied (even indirectly) to a seemingly innocuous web-enabled process – any or all systems could be hacked and reprogrammed with a virus created by a guy sitting in his parent’s basement with a couple computers and a stack of empty pizza and Mountain Dew bottles.

Imagine if your car had a virus that sporadically reversed the drive-by-wire gas pedal to make wide-open-throttle at the standard idle position. Maybe someone’s idea of “funny” would be to constantly vary the variable ratio steering or deploy all the airbags given a certain odometer reading. My nightmare, though, is that a hacker would write a virus to utilize throttle position data and stability control to simply speed a car up, apply one brake and disable all airbags to ensure a catastrophic collision.

How much web-enabling is enough to open the Box in Pandora’s Camaro? I have no idea. Since manufacturers are already touting in ads the ability for cars to send emails to dealers and text to owners when service is necessary, the window of opportunity seems to be opening. If I were a betting man, I’d guess that the moment one can browse the web or check email via a factory-installed navigation system, the games will be on.

I hope I’m wrong. Maybe the worst thing that will happen is that the nav system in all Dodge Chargers will instantly show all Hooters restaurants and adult theaters in the US. Of course, given that car’s demographic, this would probably be considered a well-appreciated benefit.

And don’t expect anti-virus software to help your car. Most system administrators will tell you that the consumer security software products like Norton are useless, because they are reactionary. They are even less valuable than a car alarm, because at least a car alarm annoys people into noticing a vehicle has been broken into before they throw rocks at the car in hopes of shutting off the noise. In the case of consumer anti-virus software, it just sits there eating RAM totally unaware that the system has been taken over.

As I recall in my discussions with the FBI Computer Crimes guru, the challenge is that there are lonely people spending twenty hours seven days per week trying to hack software, but in the best case scenarios, the engineers are only working eight to twelve hours Monday through Friday to prevent them. Maybe I’m a cynic, but I don’t trust that auto manufacturers right now are taking to heart the old precept: hope for the best, plan for the worst.

]]> http://kyrillevin.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/future-cars/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:34:22 +0000 Khareen http://kyrillevin.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/future-cars/

I just watched Discovery Channel’s episode on Future Cars, and I’m so amazed on the car designers’ visions of the future. The feature presented the sort of ‘brand new DNA’ for automobiles, wherein there is a convergence of revolutionary technology and artistry for the cars in the future. How would you react on a future car that has no engines, no drivers, no limits and no steering wheel? I think this one is so amazing, indeed, the future never ceases to surprise us.

So what would they look like? The cars. For one thing, the shape is different, but it doesn’t defy the conventions, after all, according to Tom Peters, ‘if you understand classic design, then you’ll understand future design’. Right. There is that unusual blend of form and function and convenient fluid efficiency. The visibility is unpredictable, converging high fashion and high technology. I think these changes are so cool – the car upgrades, model changes, the idea of ‘no-steering-wheel’ – and probably just joysticks to manipulate the car. The GM gathered all the best car designers to design on that skateboard: no engine, and petroleum-free, wherein these designers can attach different shape bodies, attach car parts in different positions – well, to put it simply, they can do anything above the skateboard. The designers came out with really unique revolutionary ideas.

The idea that the future car would be ‘drive by wire’ thus eliminating mechanical linkages and is flexible, totally interests me. Not only that – the future car would have minimum weight and perfect aerodynamics, low resistance mobility, and very efficient. Moreover, the cars would have totally different wheels – new wheels that would eliminate the potential ‘flats’.

I just love the show. So cool!

A  number of car companies have promised that they will wheel out electric model cars to the general consumer within a few years.  Below is a list of electric cars.

1. Chevrolet Volt- powered by a 400 pound lithium-ion battery, the car will travel 40 miles until it needs to be recharged again by the gas engine.  The price tag is in the near $40,000 range and the likelyhood of this car being produced is still unclear since GM fell into bankruptcy.  However GM hopes to release this in November 2010

2.  Ford’s Electric Focus is due out in 2011.   On one charge, it will cover 100 miles.  It plugs into a 220 volt outlet and it will recharge in six hours.  On a 110 volt, it will take 12 hours.  Since Ford didn’t need to be shackled by the Govt bail out, chances of this car hitting the streets are high. Price is yet to be determined.

3. Nissan EV-02 will have a  limited release in North America  in 2010 and enter world wide production in 2012. It’s a five-passenger fully electric subcompact car that can travel up to 100 miles on one charge when using a 220 volt outlet.  Speeds reach up to 85 mph. The price tag which Nissan claims, will be affordable to the masses at below $30,000.00.

Life is Savage has always been a BMW fan..from way back in the day when we rocked out with our (insert male chicken here ) out in a box shape 325i (it was blue Chad)! Those days are well gone and we have been wanting  to feel the good times again but no BMW since then has managed to capture that genuine Cape Flats  spirit.

So ,as we do, we pulled some strings and made a couple of calls to the main okes at BMW headquarters in Bavaria and gave them some cool ideas for a future hybrid model.Didn’t take them long to come up with a little summin summin..

They even threw in a Billy Bob Thorton look-a-like in a suit to present it.. thanks guys..you shouldn’t have.

Now all it needs is a CD hanging from the front mirror and we good to go. Can’t wait for them to send us one so we can shake ’n bake that puppy.

If you have the bandwidth to spare (unlike me..i havn’t seen it..just like 10 seconds..but tell me what its like)  then feel free to enjoy its savage beauty.

If this got your pant-engine all hot and chubby then go check out all the specs and the PRESS RELEASE HERE.

Bavarian automakers has officially revealed photos, details and video of their new BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept car. Making its world debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the 2+2 seater concept is described as a visualization of BMW ActiveHybrid technology; an icon for prospect high-performance forceful dynamics and pouring pleasure all with a innovative level of efficiency.

BMW uses the example of a vehicle with the performance of a BMW M car joint with the fuel market and emissions of a modern small car in the premium seminar of course. This is the basis rule behind the BMW EfficientDynamics development approach taken to an acute.

Read more (details + photos + video)!!

The new Vision EfficientDynamics concept uses an ample mixture configuration consisting of a three-cylinder turbodiesel with two exciting motors. Output is 262 kW (356 hp), limit torque 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) channeled through all-swing energy featuring an exciting motor on both the front and rear axles.

BMW predicts standstill acceleration to 100 km/h in 4.8 seconds, top alacrity 250 km/h (155 mph) (electronically narrow), fuel consumption in the EU adversity series 3.76 litres/100 km (75.1 mpg imp), CO2 emissions 99 grams/km.

As a socket-in mixture, BMW Vision EfficientDynamics is able to shield the complete fuel consumption maneuver phase under electric capacity solitary. Taking the sources of energy worn for generating the electric country consumed into account (EU electricity mix), this reduces the CO2 release rating to just 50 grams per kilometre.

Electric energy is generated lacking the slightest enlarge in fuel consumption through Brake Energy Regeneration. Energy is stored in 98 lithium polymer cells. The car is able to traverse a distance of about 50 km (31 mi) in the electric approach deserted.

Using birth materials and innovative light technology the interior demonstrates the hottest in technology such as a 3-dimensional Head-Up Display. The roof and door insert made of polycarbonate glass automatically become darker as a reactionary party of incoming light. Doors opening to the border like Mercedes SLC Gullwing. Formula 1 influenced aerodynamics render a CX drag coefficient optimised to just 0.22.

A car that is newly designed as an industrial design course project features adjustable tires and capability to analyze the particular landscape to change the shape of tire automatically as required. It is an Amphibious Hybrid. Moreover, the tires are capable for opening up as per the requirement of landscape. The tires will run normal whenever the tires run on normal roads. But whenever, they happened to run in the snow they will be opened a little bit. Besides, the flaps of the vehicle will be completely opened while running in the water. The designers of the vehicle are Janne Leppänen, Tuulia Miettinen, Roope Kolu, Tiemen Stelwagen, and Jaap Van Der Voort.

Click to know about Hybrid LH3 Concept car

When the designers say about this :
The idea is to make an amphibious vehicle that can be used on land, ice and on water. Inside each wheel is an electric engine, which has energy from batteries. To realize these points the vehicle needs to be adaptable to the environment and use. This problem is solved by a specially designed tire.

[ More ]

Last post it would seem I was the victim of bad journalism. Looking at the comments on the article linked in the previous entry, you can see references to at least one forum on the subject, just as there is a system called Poulsen Hybrids available (though only across the pond). A bit car-uglifying, IMHO, though the obvious benefits might outweigh this. However, other comments reflect this preoccupation of uglification and other factors. Exterior parts aren’t just less pretty, they also cause drag and widen the car. To paraphrase the comments, the availability of hub motors will undoubtedly make retrofit hybrids a practical reality, and it looks much better than the Poulsen thing as you don’t cause as much drag and the parts don’t seem as complicated. This would be a great system but almost seems too good to be true, no?

Exciting news from Hybrid-land: your car doesn’t have to look like a piece of shit to also run on electricity.

Dr. Charles Perry, a former electrical engineer at IBM, believes his hybrid retrofit kit can transform nearly any vehicle into a fuel-saver at a cost of between $3,000 and $5,000.

(…)

Perry’s patent-pending hybrid retrofit kit features one hub-mounted electric motor with 10-15 horsepower powering each wheel. The needed electrons to power the system would come from an appropriately-sized battery mounted securely in the trunk. According to the inventor, this system could potentially double fuel mileage in urban settings. Work is currently underway on a functional prototype that’s being developed with assistance from the Tennessee Technological University.

I can imagine my trifuel car right now: Petrol + LPG + Electricity. I just hope it’ll be commercially available before I’m old and grey.

I’m not a big fan of supercars. Top Gear is a cool show but I hate it when all they talk about are impractical vehicles with the price tag the size of Everest and the petrol consumption of a small nation. Supercars are nice to look at and use in Abu Dhabi, but they’re pointless as a means of simple transportation.

However, because I’m partial to Citroën, I can’t pass up this chance to mention their foray into what is to them unknown territory, the realm of the supercar. And usually cars start out life as cars, then they make a rally version or something, then someone somewhere gets creative and makes a computer game with the said car, and in the case of the really expensive stuff, it’s the closest you or me will ever get to actually driving one. The GTbyCitroën is the other way around, having started off as a bonus model on GranTurismo 5, moving on to concept-car status and finally, beginning it’s own (very limited) production run.

And for a brand that is best known for making cars for the lower segments of the market, the GTbyCitroën has apparently been rather well received from what I’ve read in comment boxes and fora. None of those quips regarding reliability and frenchness, and just surrender to the wow factor this car inspires.

Apparently Citroën weren’t expecting to build the car as a production model, but I suspect they changed their minds by the public’s reception. Citroën’s boss mumbled some sounds in the sense they would make 20 models, but the current estimate is an exclusive six, that will set the lucky and very rich prospective customers back something like €1.3 million. It would be cheaper to buy a Bugatti Veyron! Funny thing is that if you asked the average bloke in the street if he’d buy a €1 million+ 500+hp Citroën if he had the money, he’d probably say something like “Bugger off”. But having set eyes on it, and given the exclusivity of the car and Citroën’s penchant for making cars that then become legends (Traction Avant, DS, 2CV, SM, etc.), these half-dozen exemplars may very well sell quickly.

This climate change business may or may not be true—scientists dispute it as well as agree with it. The major problem is that liberals refuse to have a debate on it. I’m suggesting its a political ploy to take taxpayer money and make most of us “equally poor.”

Here’s the censored report from CEI
http://cei.org/news-release/2009/06/25/cei-releases-global-warming-study-censored-epa

I feel sorry for the young woman on national television who was dancing with glee when Obama won the election–she declared she wouldn’t have to worry about her mortgage or gas for her car. Unless she has an inside track to Obama, she is going to be one very disappointed voter.

Pickens recently suggested that the price of oil could reach $300 a barrel. We peaked at about $147 last summer –

Of course the Democrats who don’t pay back taxes will get off a bit easier. You know, Geithner and a host of others in the White House.  Oh, I’m aware they paid up their taxes when they were called on it–but I doubt if anyone is watching their tax returns just now.

More jobs will be lost with the climate bill — if jobs are created, I read that Unions want to be considered first.  Makes sense, doesn’t it? First they get Chrysler and then dibs on the first jobs that become available.  Don’t they deserve it? They did put Obama in the White House. That’s a big debt to repay.

Now UAW wants money for their golf course too.  Must be great to be friends of Obama. Yet I don’t think he can repay everyone who voted for him.  He’ll have to stick to priorities…Unions, ACORN, etc.

Will the jobs be low tech or high tech? Wind mills are very low tech…

Here is what John Boehner has to say:

Lastly –ethanol ought to be ditched. The MDI “air car” gets over 100mpg. Why not use that technlogy until others can be perfected? Electric cars will be very expensive with electricity costs soaring!

Hydrogen cars—maybe take a look at this. Hydrogen car running on solar…1978!

Jack Nicholson 1978

Too bad private industries don’t have a chance against Government Motors–GM, Chrysler, and Ford.  DC and lobbyists always had your best interests in mind!

Seniors of course won’t have to worry much about the energy bill–they can take an aspirin when they’re sick–if they die–the economy will be better off because Obama care doesn’t really want to pay for your ailments. …surgery…please, it’s for the young.

I guess social justice (socialism)  isn’t for everyone.

Seniors—gird your loins!