Monthly Archives June 2014

In this section, let’s take a look at one factor that determines the location of your car’s brake calipers.

First, we look at the front wheels. You may find many front-wheel-drive cars have their front brake calipers in front of the axle, that is because for FWD layout, the engine is usually transversely placed in front of the axle. With such layout, the steering arm can not be placed in front of the axle because the transversely placed engine acts like a wall to block the passage of the steering shaft. Therefore, the steering arm can only be located after the axle, which means there is no place left for the brake system at the same location...

The Subaru-developed 1.6L turbocharged flat-4 engine (code name: FB16 DIT) has been used in the Japanese domestic market model Subaru Levorg, for quite a while.

Today insider news indicates Subaru is planning to put the same engine on the brand’s popular model Forester. From the following official engine power curve, it shows the engine is rated at 168 hp@4800-5600rpm, with peak torque 184 lb-ft achieved between 1800-4800rpm.

This Subaru engine packs with some impressive technologies, which can be told from its 11.0:1 compression ratio. If you think this ratio is not high enough, please do not forget this is a turbocharged engine, not a naturally aspirated engine...

Brake calipers are essential to your car’s ability to stop and are arguably one of the most important automobile brake parts. Some car’s brake calipers are in front of the wheel axle, while other cars have the brake calipers behind the axle.  For example:

– Toyota Camry, Honda Accord: front brake calipers in front of the axle; rear brake calipers behind the rear axle.

– BMW 2/3/4 series, Ford Mustang: front brake calipers behind the front axle; rear brake calipers in front of the rear axle.

– Porsche Cayenne, Infiniti G37: both the front and rear brake calipers are in front of the corresponding wheel axles.

– BMW 5/7-series, Audi A8, Mercedes-Benz S550: both the f...

Toyota Motorsport GmbH (a.k.a TMG), the Köln Germany-based motorsport division of the Toyota Group, told Australian media that they are developing a double-clutch transmission for the company’s Lexus brand.

According to Rob Leupen, business operations director of TMG, in the next 2 or 3 years we should be able to see the TMG-developed DCT on the Lexus RC-F, and also the next generation of IS-F.

For the IS-F, Leupen also hinted that the redesigned IS-F may use hybrid powertrain technologies.

Today we got a set of latest spy shots of the upcoming W205 C63 AMG sedan.

From the photos we can see the following details:

– AMG quad exhausts (even though you see only one pipe on each side, but the size of the opening in the rear bumper indicates quad-exhaust arrangement on production version);
– P255/40R18 rear wheel tire size;
– Leather wrapped/stitched dash board;
– Adjustable suspension control near in the center console;
– 320 kmh (200 mph) speedometer;

Also the powertrain specification of the new C63 AMG will be:

– 4.0L twin-turbo V8;
– standard version: 476 hp;
– high output version: 510 hp;
– 7-speed MCT transmission

The 2016 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG will be offi...