Cars Guide

BMW Group and its Chinese joint venture partner Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. have presented a concept plug-in hybrid sedan based on the long wheelbase version of the BMW 5 Series Sedan. The plug-in was developed exclusively for the Chinese automobile market and produced at the Shenyang site. Series production of the automobile is to start in China in 2013.


The parallel hybrid system consists of a 160 kW (215 hp) BMW TwinPower Turbo engine and an electrical motor with a maximum output of 70 kW. The electrical motor draws its energy from a high-voltage battery pack, housed in the luggage compartment, which can be charged via the grid.
When running purely on electrical power, it is possible to travel for up to 75 kilometers (47 miles) at a constant speed of 60 km/h (37 mph). Use of the combustion engine provides a minimum additional range of 400 kilometers (249 miles), which is in line with the driving profile of Chinese customers in the premium segment, BMW says.

 This car is a car of the future that will be much-loved automotive connoisseurs. with a design that is very elegant and feels very luxurious.

until now BMW is still reluctant to specify the price of this hybrid car. of course this car will compete with other hybrid car.

The mystery (well, at least part of it) of "Hitman" and the $29,100 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 auction is over.

Brad Davis at Glenn E. Thomas Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep confirms that the dealership did honor the $29,100 auction as Hitman said...but for a different car of arguably higher value. 

Jonny Lieberman at Autoblog got it right...Hitman (real first name Alex) went home in a new 2010 Challenger SRT-8 instead of the 2009 with 500 miles on the odometer.  Davis tells me the 09 was sold to another client last week while the auction was in dispute.

Hitman was offered his pick of three 2010 Challenger SRT-8s and chose a black one. The 09 was blue.



Hitman also gets $2,000 worth of Mopar accessories of his choosing.

All this leaves his cheering section at the ChallengerTalk Forums wondering why "Hitman"s been so uncommunicative since taking delivery of the car on Saturday. If anything, he won bigger. A poster who says he talked to "Hitman" says hes under legal constraints about what he can discuss...but if so, why was Brad Davis so willing to divulge details?

Dunno. Tirekicker only pawn in game of life.



If you want more, theres still a fair amount of head-scratching going on at the ChallengerTalk forums, where the auction thread, started by "Hitman" on March 13, just had its 400,000th page view today. Pick it up from where we broke the story this afternoon here.

Big changes rarely happen in year two of a new vehicle. But Mazda’s not known for coloring within the lines and, frankly, it can’t afford to hold good stuff back for the mid-cycle refresh three or four years down the road. It needs your attention now. And if the 2014 Mazda CX-5 doesn’t get that attention, it’ll be your loss as well as Mazda’s.
Even with the 2.0-liter, the CX-5 we drove last year was no slouch in terms of driving dynamics. Mazda’s fun-to-drive “Zoom-Zoom” philosophy was baked into the bones of this small SUV. It’s easily one of the most driver-oriented machines of its type, with constant feedback and instant response to your inputs of brake and steering. In the 2014 2.5-liter, the throttle joins the party. 0-60 times fall to 7.2 seconds from about 9 seconds for the smaller engine (both are Mazda’s figures). It’s a difference you don’t need a stopwatch for. You can feel it in the seat of your pants. Peak torque comes earlier, emphasizing the extra oomph. And the engine sounds much more like an eager participant than a stressed underachiever. To get the fun stuff, though, you have to skip the base model Sport ($21,995). That’s still strictly 2-liter land. Pony up for the $24,615 Touring model or the $27,620 Grand Touring (our tester) and the 2.5-liter powerplant comes as standard equipment. 

 
In fact, on the Grand Touring, there’s very little that doesn’t come standard. 19-inch alloy wheels, variable rain-sensing wipers, rear privacy glass, a power moonroof, automatic halogen headlights, fog lamps, a leather-wrapped steering wheel with controls for audio, cruise and Bluetooth, leather-trimmed heated (in front) sport seats (the driver’s is an 8-way power chair with power lumbar) a Bose 9-speaker audio system with HD Radio, and a rearview camera with 5.8-inch color touchscreen are all included. You can get options. Ours added a rear bumper guard ($100), a retractable cargo cover ($200) and the Grand Touring Tech Package ($1,625), which bundles in-dash TomTom navigation, adaptive auto-leveling HID headlamps and Smart City Brake Support, which reduces brake rotor travel to quicken braking if there’s risk of a low-speed (19 MPH or under) collision, and will automatically brake if the driver doesn’t. All that put the bottom line on our test vehicle to $30,340 with delivery fee. Not cheap, but not out of line with the competition, and Mazda has a distinct edge with the combination of performance and fuel economy the 2.5-liter SKYACTIV-G offers.