Monthly Archives April 2014

Yesterday we reported Aston Martin makes an astonishing decision to sell the 2015 Vantage GT for less than $100k.

Some news are claiming this to be a good deal. But we say, this is actually a big deal. We do not mean whether you should go and buy one, instead we view this incident from other aspects.

To US market Vantage GT is identical to the European market Vantage N430 special edition. In UK, the base Vantage’s MSRP is GBP 84,995; and the N430 is selling for GBP 89,995. The base Vantage V8 MSRP in US starts from $122,400. So how come the better equipped GT trim is now selling for significantly less money in the US market?

Financially speaking, there are usually two rea...

We have reported almost information for the 2015 Sonata several weeks ago, in this post.

The only major specs that we have to update today is the engine output. In the US market, the Sonata has two engines for customer to choose from.

The 2.4L naturally aspirated 4-cylinder engine outpus 185hp and 178 lb-ft of torque. You may see it is down a little bit compared to the current Sonata (190hp, 179 lb-ft). This is because the Hyundai engineers shift the toruqe curve to let the engine generate more torque in low engine RPM .

The 2.0L turbo 4-cylinder engine makes 245hp and 260 lb-ft of torque, down from the current Sonata 2.0T’s 274hp, 269 lb-ft torque...

There is no special treatment to the engine for the new generation of Mustang’s 50 year edition. The sole available engine is the  5.0L V8 which pumps out 420hp and  390 lb-ft of torque.

Besides the tweaks in the exterior and interior, which tells everybody who is looking at your car that “this is a special edition one”, a good news for those who does not know how to drive a manual transmission car: the Performance Package is available for the auto transmission version. The Performance Package contains Brembo front brakes, 19-inch wheels and high performance tires.

The only difference between the Performance Package-equipped manual transmission and automatic transmissio...

The 2015 model year sees the mid-cycle update for the Toyota Camry. Here are highlights:

– 2,000 new parts;

– 1.8 inches longer; 0.4 inch wider track;

– Enhanced body torsional rigidity, additional spot welds added to the door opening flanges;

– Brake system upgraded with a two-stage brake booster;

– Interior carpet adds 30% more insulating material;

– Interior panels have more premium materials;

– LED headlight available;

– New instrument panel design; a 4.2-inch TFT screen nestled between the 3-dimensional Optitron gauges on the SE, XLE and XSE trims;

– Revised electric power steering;

– Newly added XSE trim is another step up from the sporty SE trim...

The biggest news for the 2015 Q70 (the new name for the previous Infiniti M) is the long wheelbase version will be available to the US market.

Strictly speaking the long wheelbase Q70 is not a new creation – the China market already received it two years ago.

The long wheelbase Q70 has 5.9 inches longer of wheel base than the standard model. This is not a typical move for the brand in the US market. We can see that long wheelbase version of cars in Chinese market usually do not come to US, for example the BMW 3 series L, Audi A4L, A6L, Mercedes C class L, E class L etc. (in China, even the Toyota Yaris has a long wheelbase version)

So why Infiniti brings the Q70L across...