Monthly Archives August 2014

Today there was a rumor that surfaced online that the next generation Corvette may have a mid-engine layout, or will have a mid-engined variant.

First let’s make it clear that Chevrolet does produce a mid-engined Corvette. However, here “a mid-engined Corvette” means Chevy actually only made one unit of such a Corvette, which is the Corvette Daytona Prototype, which Chevrolet created specifically for the 2012 Daytona race. Below are images of this Corvette.

Corvette Daytona Prototype is not a production car, and Chevrolet has no plan to make it a production car, plain and simple.

The fact is, beginning 3 generations earlier – starting from C4, before every new generat...

Review Index

2014 Acura RDX – Part 1 (Exterior)
2014 Acura RDX – Part 2 (Interior)
2014 Acura RDX – Part 3 (Interior – Gauges/Seats/Capacity)
2014 Acura RDX – Part 4 (Powertrain)
2014 Acura RDX – Part 5 (Suspension and Chassis)

Two things impressed me most when testing the RDX are: the ride comfort the suspension provides, and also the solidness of the car chassis.

First I will talk about the suspension. For the RDX, the front suspension is MacPherson strut type, and multi-link for the rear suspension.

A close look at the multi-link suspension in the rear wheel area. The majority of the rear wheel suspension parts are made of steel.

Automotive adhesive materi...

Review Index

2014 Acura RDX – Part 1 (Exterior)
2014 Acura RDX – Part 2 (Interior)
2014 Acura RDX – Part 3 (Interior – Gauges/Seats/Capacity)
2014 Acura RDX – Part 4 (Powertrain)
2014 Acura RDX – Part 5 (Suspension and Chassis)

The 2014 RDX only has one engine option: a 3.5L naturally aspirated V6, good for 273 hp @ 6,200RPM and 251 lb-ft of torque at 5,000 RPM. Also there is only one transmission is available on the RDX: a Honda-self-developed 6-speed automatic transmission.

Let’s first talk about the V6 engine (Honda code name: J35Y)...

Since Dodge can do a SRT Hellcat trim for the Challenger, there is no technical issue that will prevent Dodge from putting the same powertrain in any of its rear-wheel-drive models.

So obviously we are not surprised that now Dodge has announced the 2015 Charger SRT Hellcat with the same 707hp engine. For more technical discussion of this supercharged 6.2L V8 engine, please see our article here. If you do not have time to go through the press release provided in the end of this article, here are some key highlights of this sedan monster.

– Supercharged 6.2L HEMI V8, 707hp, 650 lb-ft of torque
– ZF-sourced 8HP90 8-speed automatic transmission (no manual transmission offered...

If you have followed our reports regarding the current automobile industry antitrust investigation in China, you may know that Audi China was found to be in violation of the Chinese antitrust regulation, and Audi China will receive a fine for this.

Today news came out that the fine amount is RMB 18 billion, which is equivalent to around USD $300 million.

The RMB 18 billion fine is divided on to each Audi China dealership, and is calculated by percentage of the annual total revenue of each dealership. The percentage is from 1% to 6%, depends on how cooperative of that dealership in the investigation process.

According to China National Development and Reform Commission (ND...