It’s real, it’s drivable, and it has 300 horsepower fed to the rear wheels from a mid-mounted 2.0-litre turbocharged engine. Too   bad, then, that the Hyundai Veloster Midship Concept…

Hyundai reveals ultra-cool mid-engine Veloster Midship Concept

It's real, it's drivable, and it has 300 horsepower fed to the rear wheels from a mid-mounted 2.0-litre turbocharged engine. Too bad, then, that the Hyundai Veloster Midship Concept is only a one-off prototype … at least for now.

Hyundai unveiled the radical Veloster show car at the 2014 Busan International Motor Show in South Korea. Known internally as the Veloster RM (for rear-drive, mid-engine), it was created by the company's High Performance Team, which also developed the i20 WRC rally car. Features include a lightweight aluminum suspension, a gigantic rear wing, and a high-rigidity chassis with near-perfect 50/50 weight distribution thanks to the mid-engine layout.

In a media release announcing the show car's debut, Hyundai carefully pointed out that the Veloster Midship "is a concept only to explore possibilities for the Veloster chassis, and is currently not related to any future production model."

Hyundai also revealed its new large AG front-wheel Read Full Story
Forget the Rolls Royce or the stretch limo, when your next chauffeured ride arrives it might just be this little bubble car from   Google. And while self-driving autonomous cars from Google aren’t…

Google reveals purpose-built autonomous car

Forget the Rolls Royce or the stretch limo, when your next chauffeured ride arrives it might just be this little bubble car from Google. And while self-driving autonomous cars from Google aren't exactly new, this one has some critical differences.

First, it's not a development sled based on a Toyota Prius or Lexus LX with an assortment of added-on cameras, sensors, computers and control systems, as the company's past autonomous cars have been. Instead, it's a purpose-made design, built by Google entirely from scratch.

Second, and perhaps more significantly, unlike the earlier autonomous cars that were based on production vehicles, this one doesn't have any redundant manual controls. So there's no steering wheel, no brake pedal, no accelerator pedal, and no gearshift lever. Just a pair of seats, some space for luggage, buttons to start and stop the car, a navigation screen that allows you to enter and display the programmed route … and that's about it.

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When the third-generation Kia Optima was introduced to Canadians for the 2011 model year, it caused quite a stir. The Peter Photo: Simon Hill, Canadian Auto Press Schreyer-designed sedan replaced the…

2014 Kia Optima SX Turbo Road Test Review

When the third-generation Kia Optima was introduced to Canadians for the 2011 model year, it caused quite a stir. The Peter Schreyer-designed sedan replaced the inoffensive blandness of the second-generation car (which was called the Kia Magentis here in Canada) with bona fide style. Three years later the Optima's athletic, coupe-like profile still looks pleasingly contemporary, so the Korean automaker has taken a conservative approach to the mid-size family sedan's mid-cycle refresh.

Externally, the changes to the 2014 Optima are limited to revised front and rear fascias and some trim details (for instance, the decorative fender vents get a chromed slash bezel instead of a horizontal splitter). At the front, the fog light housings have been reshaped to create the impression of a narrower lower grille, and the SX now gets quad-pod LED fog lights. At the back, the taillights have been restyled, the diffuser panel widened, and the lower reflectors moved up a little.

None Read Full Story
For most of its lifetime, the Chevrolet Corvette has been something of a bargain in the realm of ultra high performance automobiles.   Roundly celebrated for this fact, contemporary Corvettes have…

2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stringray Road Test Review

For most of its lifetime, the Chevrolet Corvette has been something of a bargain in the realm of ultra high performance automobiles. Roundly celebrated for this fact, contemporary Corvettes have also been routinely lambasted for having interior treatments of such low quality it was half-jokingly said Chevrolet contracted Fisher Price, makers of the Playskool line of plastic toys, to craft the passenger compartment of the Corvette.

Characterized by overtly plastic-looking materials, uninspired designs, ill-fitting parts, squeaks and rattles, the maladies went on and on and on. And yet, with every preceding generation of Corvette, we've been told this problem has been corrected; each new Corvette has been said to have more attention lavished upon its interior treatment than any previous model. Thing is, they were all so bad, even with extra attention lavished upon them, they still came out poorly-until now.

The 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray has a world-class interior Read Full Story
If you were expecting a radical styling departure for Audi’s sleek four-door coupe, hopefully you won’t be disappointed with the   subtle upgrades made to the upcoming 2015 model. After…

New 2015 Audi A7 Sportback unveiled

If you were expecting a radical styling departure for Audi's sleek four-door coupe, hopefully you won't be disappointed with the subtle upgrades made to the upcoming 2015 model.

After five years on the road, the Stefan Sielaff-designed A7 Sportback will get a modernized version of Audi's trademark single-frame horseshoe-shaped grille up front, along with revised headlights and a reworked lower fascia, while the car's sharply edged profile will remain identical. Its aft quarters will continue to slope gently rearward in the hatchback configuration that gives the model its "Sportback" designation, culminating with an upgraded bumper and newly fashioned exhaust tips, however the taillights will maintain the same size and mostly the same shape as the current model, albeit with new lenses.

Those lenses will feature de rigueur LEDs, as will the lamps up front, but the DRLs within the headlight clusters will be available with optional Matrix Beam LEDs that "light the road Read Full Story
Back in 2011, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda revealed plans for a new way of thinking at Toyota, a way of thinking he called Global   Vision. Now the first tangible application of that vision has been revealed…

2015 Toyota Yaris revealed

Back in 2011, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda revealed plans for a new way of thinking at Toyota, a way of thinking he called Global Vision. Now the first tangible application of that vision has been revealed in the form of the latest Toyota Yaris.

What makes this Yaris special is that it was designed and developed in Europe, in cooperation between Toyota Motor Europe's Product Planning Department and Research and Development Division, based in Brussels, Belgium, and the company's European Design Centre, based in Nice, France. This represents the first time the two divisions have worked hand-in-hand to develop a product destined for markets far outside regional European borders.

The new Yaris gets a restyled front fascia that draws from Toyota's "Keen Look" detailing and "Under Priority" design concepts, giving it a family resemblance to the new Corolla and Camry. At the back there's a redesigned bumper that incorporates a diffuser for a more planted look, and inside there's Read Full Story
By now, most people familiar with the MX-5 know the initialism PRHT represents power retractable hardtop, making this version   of the world’s best selling sports car a two-seat coupe and a…

2014 Mazda MX-5 Road Test Review

By now, most people familiar with the MX-5 know the initialism PRHT represents power retractable hardtop, making this version of the world's best selling sports car a two-seat coupe and a roadster.

The power hardtop retracts into its own storage well, so no intrusion upon the MX-5's admittedly meager trunk space is required. Cargo capacity is constant whether the top is raised or lowered (good thing too, as there are only 150 litres available). Retraction or deployment of the roof can be accomplished in 12 seconds. Releasing a single catch at the header and pressing a button atop the centre stack does this.

Power is the same as with all other versions of the car. This means you'll find a 167-horsepower 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine with an aluminum block and head, capable of generating 140 ft-lbs of torque happily whirring under the diminutive two-seater's hood. Transmission choices for directing its thrust to the rear wheels are a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic Read Full Story
Pity the poor Viper. Even with its greater performance potential, the Viper is all but doomed to be forever thought of as the “other”   American sports car. While there’s absolutely…

2014 SRT Viper Road Test Review

Pity the poor Viper. Even with its greater performance potential, the Viper is all but doomed to be forever thought of as the "other" American sports car. While there's absolutely no denying the Corvette's higher profile is what causes most people to envision it when you say "American sports car", the fact of the matter is Viper and Corvette are also as dissimilar as night and day.

Yes, both are lightweight two-seat sports cars with hugely powerful engines, but the philosophy behind each car is completely different. Corvette is sophisticated in a manner approaching Europe's finest GT cars, while the 2014 SRT Viper is…

Well, let's put it this way, if Corvette and Viper were actresses, Corvette would be Sandra Bullock and Viper would be Melissa McCarthy. Both are fun, but they have distinctly different personalities. Which, in turn, leads us to say that we admire the awesome Viper too.

Nothing looks like it; nothing sounds like it, and nothing else goes Read Full Story