Honda Accord 2008

The Sports 4 concept, which is nominally based on the Honda Accord platform, foretells a new four-wheel-drive sport sedan and also showcases a possible new direction for Honda styling, which the company calls "Keen Edge Dynamics." The front end reminds us of the Acura RL, while the tall, sharply chiseled bodysides and the small greenhouse are similar to the new Lexus IS. At 180 inches (15 feet) in length, the show car is shorter than an Acura TL.

Honda has not specified a powertrain other than to say that it will likely be a 2.0-liter four-cylinder. The Sports 4 uses the same super-handling all-wheel-drive system as the RL. Rear-seat passengers can monitor the system's torque split and other vehicle data via small digital readouts on the backs of the front-seat headrests. The idea that all passengers should be able to share the same information at the same time is one of the key concepts of the car.

Designed in Japan, the Sports 4 concept has a luxurious, four-seat cabin boasting a moonroof with four blinds that can be individually opened or closed.

A Crash, a Wreck and Car Bike Racks

A few days ago I was driving with my little brother Jan to a town called Hallodays. We had no clue where we were exactly, but at least we knew the name of the town. It was somewhere in Colorado, a state that usually implies snow, great mountains or parties after skiing the whole day. But his place was different. It had nothing in common with these attributes that sound like fun. This place was pretty much the opposite of a “fun place”. Hallodays was a town in the middle of nowhere: No snow, no greens and primarily no people.

Now you are probably wondering what I did there? The answer is the one that is common for trips like this: bike racks! Ok, not everyone is such a huge fan of bikes and all these kinds of bike accessories, but I recommend sharing this interest with me. No other passion lets you see places like Hallodays, where probably no tourist has ever been. Two hundred people are living over there and surely everyone knows each other. But as you can imagine, the weird town was not the actual reason why I traveled there with my brother. It was the area around. There is likely no other place in the world, where you can drive as fast as you want and check out the performance of your auto’s engine. But as I mentioned, driving my car just to check the engine’s performance did not bring me there.

My intention was to find out if the bike racks installed on my truck are able to hold the bikes my brother and I stored there. I am kind of extreme, so I had to make sure that my new bike rack is good enough for my beloved bikes. Of course, the advertisements promised all possible features of the racks, but who can trust the commercial in days like these where everyone wants to sell his stuff, no matter what lies it costs?

So I ended up there and started proving the truth of the commercials by driving 100 miles an hour. Fortunately the commercials did not lie and the bike racks worked so great that I could leave the middle of nowhere after an hour. Till now the story does not seem special, but this will change very soon. During my attempt to escape from this place, my right tire popped and I crashed against likely the only tree standing there. I did not remember everything due to this accident, but I know exactly how I felt after looking in the eyes of my brother. He was crying and his head was bleeding, but it was a huge relief when I saw that he moved his legs and arms. In comparison to him, my condition was pretty good. My head was hurting and my legs were bleeding, but this was it pretty much. So I considered helping my brother as soon as possible. I called the 911 and after about an hour they reached Hallodays. The emergency guys took him in the ambulance and I drove with them to the next hospital one hundred miles away. Remember, we were in the middle of nowhere, so I got more scared just because of the time we needed to get to our destination. After one and a half ours we arrived at the hospital and all the things that happened afterwards I just know from my brother. To make it short: After spending two days in the hospital he was able to leave. He just had a concussion and a couple of cuts.

What do you think we did after my brother got back home? Exactly, we returned to Hallodays to see, what happened with our car. And just as I thought, it was totally busted. There was just one thing that survived this horrible crash: the bike rack! So I learned my lesson from this experience. Trust the commercial and avoid the hell, at least as long as you can, bad boys.

More Jeep Darwinism

Another Jeep, done in by Darwin.


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The Beauty Of Sports Cars That Attracts All Car Lovers

Most cars as a rule must possess both form and function at the same time. The designers of sports cars do not compromise aesthetics with performance.

When talking about automobiles, there is a special something about sports cars that make them stand out from the rest of the pack when it comes to beauty, things that go way beyond external features only.

There is much more to the physical features like, aerodynamics or sleekness of the car that determine its overall beauty.

Some of these characteristics that endear sports cars to car enthusiasts are things like attitude. True sports cars have attitude at first glance.

Sports cars seem to just scream the attitude that they possess, unlike mere mortal cars whose average looks can easily be ignored. They grab the eyes of those who behold them and imply that total exhilaration and enjoyment can be expected when they are driving such a car.

Another way that sports cars stand out from the crowd of other cars seen every day, is primarily because their designs seem to imply what they are capable of doing. A fast look really matches to a car that can do what it looks like it can.

The power of a sports car comes from their more powerful engines other specifications they have that the other cars do not have. A true sports car can do much more than ordinary everyday tasks because of the performance features that only they possess.

Normal cars can make everyday driving a monotonous and boring event, while on the other hand, sports cars are basically aimed to give its drivers a "high" feeling of speed and control. It is true that only sports cars are able to provide that adrenaline for drivers who seek adventure.

Sports cars give you back the thrill of driving that other cars can not. By their very nature, sports cars are not designed just for practicality, but for pleasure as well.

Many drivers have the need to be able to express their "wild side". High performance cars make any road a venue to satisfy those needs. Only these cars can match the "wildness" that some drivers innately seem to have. It is for that reason that sports cars perfectly compliment the teenager in every driver.

True car enthusiasts appreciate the vast improvements that have been made to high performance cars. It can definitely be said that sports car technology has infinite possibilities. The normal stereotypes of sports cars have long been put to rest. The avid car enthusiasts love to watch as these vast improvements unfold before their very eyes.

If you are a true high performance car enthusiast you will love the new innovations that are coming in the industry.

Porsche Boxster 2007

The Boxster is Porsche’s mid-engine, six-cylinder roadster that was added to the Porsche lineup for 1997 with Porsche’s new liquid-cooled flat six-cylinder “boxer” engine. The Boxster first debuted as a concept car at the 1993 North American International Auto Show with styling cues from the legendary Porche 550 Spyder. The Boxster S was added for 2000 with a higher level of performance. The second-generation Boxster debuted for the 2005 model year with updates for the first time since its debut.

The 2007 Porsche Boxster receives a bigger engine, more power and other minor updates. The Boxster gains five horsepower to 245 and torque increases by two to 201 lb-ft. in its 2.7-liter engine. The engine in the Boxster S is increased from 3.2 to 3.4 liters with a horsepower and torque upgrade of 15 to 295 and 251 lb-ft. Zero to 60 mph time is a tenth of a second quicker than its predecessor at 5.1 seconds and the top speed increases by two to 169 mph. Standard is a tire-pressure-monitoring system and available for the first time are optional 19-inch forged alloy two-tone wheels that were developed for the new 911 Turbo.

AutoPacific, a California-based automotive marketing and product-consulting firm has conducted a survey asking thousands of new car owners on what they think is the most satisfying sports car in United States. The 2007 Porsche Boxster has been able to obtain the No. 1 position.

Porsche Boxster and Boxster S were given the Vehicle Satisfaction Award (VSA), which is considered the industry’s yardstick in measuring the satisfaction that new car owners get from their vehicles. According to the survey, Boxster owners have rated their cars highly within the Power/Acceleration and Braking categories same with the Cargo/Space/Capacity, Cupholders and Interior Storage areas of the survey.

The Auto Pacific releases VSA outcome annually as a consumer and industry service measuring owner satisfaction across 46 specific areas associated to a vehicle’s operation, comfort, security and overall buying experience. And fortunately Porsche got all what it takes to win such distinguished recognition.

George Peterson, President of Auto Pacific said that, “Sports cars are supposed to be exhilarating to drive, but sometimes difficult to live with. Owners of the Porsche Boxster indicate it delivers on exhilarating, but it is not difficult to live with.” Starting from the day that the Boxster was released until now it still win praises from consumers as it provides the ultimate open-air driving experience. It has a one of a kind mid-engine configuration, with numerous handling developments and better dynamic and passive safety that makes it the leading vehicle in its segment.

Auto Pacific as a future-oriented automotive marketing and product-consulting firm promise to give every year the same kind of award to deserving vehicles, they aim to recognize vehicles and manufacturers that prove to them that they deserve respect and acknowledgement from consumers.

Porsche Panamera

The Porsche Panamera is a four-door, four-seat sedan, currently still in concept stages, set to be launched in 2009. It will be front engined and rear wheel drive and powered by a modified version of the 4.5 L V-8 found in the Cayenne, equipped with the FSI system invented by Volkswagen (Porsche and Volkswagen collaborated on the Cayenne/Touareg sport utility vehicle platform). Base spec models will be engineered with a 3.6 litre V-6 found in the upcoming 2008 facelifted Cayenne, and there is even a hybrid version in the pipeline. Rumours suggest that the V-10 engine from Porsche's limited-run Carrera GT supercar may be offered as well, although this is still extremely unlikely given the expense of manufacturing the engine and that Porsche does not currently have a facility capable of producing a suitable number of the V-10 per year. A rumour is also around that the V-12 diesel from the Audi Q7 could make it into the Panamera.

The final assembly of the vehicles will take place in Leipzig. Engines will be assembled in Stuttgart, and the car's painted body will come from the Volkswagen facility in Hanover.
The Panamera is generally considered to be the long-awaited fruit of their 989 concept from the late 1980s; some argue that it also presents itself as a suitable successor to the 2-doored 928, although some amount of debate surrounds this. It will be marketed as a direct competitor to automobiles such as the Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG and Maserati Quattroporte and (to a lesser degree) a less expensive alternative to vehicles such as the Bentley Continental GT, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and Aston Martin Rapide. It is the first V8-engined sports car built by Porsche since 1995, when the 928 was discontinued and will be produced in the new plant at Leipzig alongside the Cayenne. The vehicle has been caught testing at the Nürburgring and the original sketches are a little more sleek than the taped up model spied testing.

Artist renderings of the car already distributed by Porsche show a low-slung, four-door sports car with narrow side windows and flowing lines. However spy shots of the Porsche Panamera testing at the Nürburgring show a more blunt car than the artists renderings.

The Panamera's name is derived, like the Porsche Carrera line, from the Carrera Panamericana race. Earlier prototypes of four-door sedans such as the 1991 Porsche 989 prototype or the even earlier 4 door 911 based prototype, never went into production.

Biography of Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche

Although the company of Dr. Ing. h.c.F Porsche AG was formed on April 25,1931 as "designers and consultants for land, sea and air vehicles," it wasProfessor Dr. Ferry Porsche, son of the automotive genius Professor FerdinandPorsche, who steered the company into becoming one of the world's leadingautomotive engineering design companies and specialist manufacturer of sportscars. From the time he designed the first Porsche, the Type 356 in 1948, itwas his personal involvement that made Porsche the great marque it is today.

When Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, known as "Ferry," was born in WienerNeustadt, Austria, on September 19, 1909, his father was Technical Director ofthe Austro-Daimler Company.

Never far away from the automotive work of his father, Ferry Porsche wassoon behind the wheel of a car and, by the age of twelve, was even permittedto run in the class winning Targo Florio car, the lightweight Austro-DaimlerSascha.

When the Porsche family moved to Stuttgart in 1923 for Professor FerdinandPorsche to become the Technical Director of Daimler-Benz, the south Germanautomotive center became Ferry Porsche's second home. It is there that he waseducated and met his wife, Dorothea, she remained his staunch companion untilher death in 1985, and was the mother of his four sons.

Ferry Porsche started working with his father when the latter formed hisindependent design office. Their first contract, designated number 007 togive the impression it was not their first project, was a 2-liter car forWanderer. The success of this car was later to lead the newly founded AutoUnion Company, which had incorporated Wanderer, to appoint Professor Porscheas the designer of a new Grand Prix car to meet the new 750 kgs. maximumweight formula.

The Auto Union was the most advanced pre-war racing car design concept.It was of lightweight construction, featured a 16-cylinder super-chargedengine, with unique valve control mounted just behind the driver; an engineposition which is standard for all modern generation F1 cars. Ferry Porscheplayed no small part in its design and construction. Less well known is thefact Ferry Porsche conducted much of the initial test driving of the car untilhis father declared one day, "I have enough drivers, but only one son."

One other car which the Porsche firm designed before World War II was tohave an important influence on both Ferry Porsche and the rest of the world.It was, of course, the most produced car of all time: the Volkswagen Beetle.

The war itself cut deep into the life of the young automobile designer.Transferred from demolished Stuttgart to the Carinthian town of Gmund in 1943,Ferry Porsche and a few colleagues had to start again from scratch in 1945 bykeeping busy with repair jobs and the construction of simple farm machinery.

Meanwhile, the French held Ferry's father, Professor Ferdinand Porscheuntil 1947, when Ferry Porsche's family managed to raise sufficient money fromnew contracts in Italy to buy his freedom. One of these design projectsresulted in the Cisitalia Formula 1 race car, unveiled at the Turin Motor Showthat same year. It was the first race car with a midmounted engine andfour-wheel drive.

After that, Ferry Porsche decided to build his own sports car, effectivelythe first "Porsche." He took out plans he made back in 1939 for a light,compact car based on the Volkswagen, practically the only components availablein Germany at the time. Besides providing speedy acceleration, unmatchedbraking and good road holding, an essential criterion was the car had to bepractical for everyday use. Its "marketing concept" adopted by Ferry Porschewas, "If I build a car that gives me satisfaction, then there must be otherswith the same sort of dreams who would be prepared to buy such a car."

The first car to bear the Porsche name, the Type 356, was delivered onJune 8, 1948. It boasted a tubular space frame chassis, an aluminum body anda rear-mounted four-cylinder 1.131 cc VW engine. The following year, in orderto ensure continued production of the 356, Ferry Porsche negotiated a newcontract with the then head of Volkswagen, Heinz Nordoff, for the supply ofparts. Besides this, the contract appointed Dr. Ing h.c.F Porsche K.G. asconsultant engineer to VW, sole importer of VW's for Austria and recipient ofa royalty sum on every VW Beetle produced at Wolfsburg.

A total of fifty-two 356 cars were built at Gmund in Austria before thecompany returned to Stuttgart. Production recommenced there in March 1950.During the same year, Porsche began designing its own engine, the Carrera.The 356 model, which was initially forecast to have a world sales potential of500 units, was last produced in 1965 after over 78,000 cars had been built.The policy of model longevity is continued today with the Porsche 911, whichenters its 35th year of production.

Professor Dr. Ferry Porsche was happy and grateful that his fatherwitnessed with approval, shortly before he died on January 30, 1951, the startof Porsche as a specialist sports car manufacturer. Since 1948, decades ofhard, dedicated work were put in by him to further enhance the Porscheproduct, which enjoyed a fine reputation from the beginning, by expandingcustomer service and marketing, not to mention accelerating productdevelopment through motor racing.

Since entering Le Mans in 1951 and achieving a class win, the name Porschehas been synonymous with success in motor sport. Amongst its numeroustriumphs, Porsche has been crowned World Endurance Champion in sports carracing 14 times and, since 1970, has won the Le Mans 24-hour race a record15 times. The world famous Monte Carlo rally was won four times by Porsche911s, and an experimental 4WD 911 Carrera won the 1984 Paris-Dakar desert racefirst time out, the very first sports car ever to achieve this honor.Subsequently in 1986, Porsche 959s finished first, second and sixth on theirdebut outing in the event as well as becoming the first all-wheel drive racingcar to enter and win its class at Le Mans.

In all, Professor Dr. Ferry Porsche demanded a great deal from hisengineers, mechanics and drivers. He made courageous investments in newdevelopments and thereby founded the worldwide reputation of his firm as aprivately controlled, independent producer of technologically advanced sportsand racing cars for worldwide use.

In 1972, the year the Porsche family withdrew from active management ofthe company, Weissach was opened. Today, Weissach is world famous as a sitefor research and development, where 30%, of all work is undertaken on behalfof other manufacturers, governments and NATO.

Back in 1965, Ferry Porsche was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by theTechnical University of Vienna in recognition of his achievements in so manybranches of the automobile world. In 1984 on his 75th birthday he was awardedthe honorary title of 'Professor.'

1909 Ferdinand Porsche was born in Wiener Neustadt, Austria on September 19.

1931 Began his activities as a designer in the engineering consultancy of his father, Dr. Ing h.c.F Porsche KG.

1932 Ferdinand Porsche's duties expanded to include supervision and coordination of testing. Assisted with the design and development of the Auto Union race car.

1934 Head of VW Testing

1935 Ferdinand Porsche became the Manager of the Research Department in the newly established Porsche test plant, Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen.

1935 Married Dorothea Reitz from Stuttgart (died 1985). They had four sons.

1938 Head of Development Department. In same year the design studio moved to a newly built building in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen.

1940 Took over the post of deputy director for the entire operation.

1945 Ferdinand Porsche headed the firm, moved to Gmund in Carinthian during the war, and initiated development of the legendary Porsche 356, based on the Volkswagen and the first car to carry the Porsche name.

1948 The first 356 was completed in June.

1949 After completing the first 52 cars of this 356 range, Ferdinand Porsche with his company and most of his colleagues returned to Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. Rebuilding of the consultancy offices for outside contracts took place.

1950 Production of the Porsche 356 began in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen.

1959 Professor Theodor Heuss presented the Grosse Verdiensstkreuz (Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit) of the Federal Republic of Germany to Ferdinand Porsche in September.

1965 The Technical University of Vienna honored Ferdinand Porsche in November with the presentation of the title, Dr. techn. E.h.

1972 The Dr. Ing. h.c.F Porsche KG became a joint stock company (AG). Dr. Ferdinand Porsche assumed the post of Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

1975 Dr. Porsche received the Grosse Goldene Ehrenzeichen (Great Golden Cross Of The Order Of The Order Of The Order Of the Order of Merit) of the Republic of Austria in Vienna on January 31.

1979 On September 19, Lothar Spath, Prime Minister of Baden-Wurttemberg presented Dr. Porsche with the Grosse Verdienstkreuz mit Stern (Knight Commander's Cross) of the Bundesverdienstorden, on the occasion of his 70th birthday.

1984 A third of the entire Dr. Ing. h.c.F Porsche AG capital was offered to the public in the form of non-voting preference shares on April 25. On September 19, Dr. Ferry Porsche celebrated his 75th anniversary and was awarded the honorary title of 'Professor.'

1985 The Guild of Motoring Writers Vice Presidents trophy for outstanding achievements in the field of automobilism was won by Professor Dr. Ferdinand Porsche. Honor of "Senator E.h." by University of Stuttgart.

1990-1998 Honorary President of Supervisory Board, Porsche AG.