Fast Cars

Honda released in Japan the Civic Mugen RR sports sedan. Honda Civic Mugen RR is based on the Type sport car and its engine can produce 240hp at 8,000rpm and 160lb-ft at 7,000 revs.

Since Ford is also considering relocating Jaguar production to another location (i.e. one without a minimum wage), now is the time to visit England’s Jaguar plants, Castle Bromwich in Birmingham is rumored to be closed for tours until after the new XF sports sedan is released in 2008, however Halewood on Merseyside are still open for touring. You won’t get a new Jag to take home, but someone we know got samples of the fabrics used in a Jaguar’s interior — in case you wanted to stage a backyard version of “Pimp My Ride.”

Although BMW styling efforts continue to be controversial, they must be doing something right because direct competitors shamelessly model their sports sedans after the 330i. Truly imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The Concept CS illustrates that BMW is “predominantly interested in building very beautiful luxury sport sedans,” Purves told Automotive News.

one of my favorite cars to rent is the Hunday Sonata. It is good on gas, yet it has a powerful V6. With a leather interior it would be a kick-ass compact sport sedan.

Subaru used the 2007 New York International Auto Show to debut the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX. This new model comes with a 2.5-liter turbocharged flat-four Boxer engine that delivers its maximum torque and horsepower earlier than the previous model, with 224 horsepower @ 5,200 rpm and 226 lb.-ft. of torque @ 2,800 rpm, a full 800 rpm earlier than the previous generation WRX.

Powered by a 5.0-liter V8 engine, the new Lexus IS-F sports sedan is clearly aiming at BMW M5 and Audi S6 high-performance vehicles.

Cadillac deserves much credit. For over a hundred years they have made cars. Cadillacs in our lifetime have gone from gigantic road liners to tricked out sports sedans. I have always been a Lincoln fan but always thought Cadillac had a niche. The twist is that one of the niches I have discovered here in Arizona is that people from away come to live here in the winter and drive their Cadillacs in ways that would boggle your mind and haunt your dreams.

Mulally, who joined Ford last year after a 37-year career at plane-maker Boeing, told reporters: “Jaguar is not for sale at this time.” While this comment doesn’t close the door on a future sale, it seems the new boss wants to give Jaguar a chance to re-establish itself, with the new XF sports sedan as a key model in a revitalised range.

So what have Honda been up to? The Honda Sports 4. The Concept points the way to future Honda sports sedans, featuring a sleek, bold exterior with a low-centre of gravity and low inertia body. On the inside is a sports cockpit with futuristic controls laid out for instant “at a glance” recognition and intuitive information displays. The interior is sculpted as a “one form” design from metal, wood and leather.

Most of the features in the Toyota Camry Hybrid are available in some form in the other models of Camry, or in other non-Toyota cars, so quite a bit of this post applies to every new Camry, or even every new Toyota. But the hybrid drive is what makes this car special.

Ok, the car is truly beautiful! But it is also what they call a sport sedan. A high preforming 4 door car.

Side note: Not that I’m thinking of replacing the Neon because earlier this week AutoPro’s service manager’s boss spent some time brainstorming ways to keep the Neon on the road for what he figures could be another 60,000 miles (currently it’s at 140,000 miles). He figures instead of fixing the leaking head gasket (because the repair is so expensive) they can try some stop leak. He also walked me through all the different fluids and emphasized how important it is that I know stay on top of their levels (the power steer fluid also leaks). The only other big work item is replacing the muffler which I’ll postpone until next month. I figure I save $500 a month by continuing to drive the Neon and resisting the urge to get a flashy sports sedan.

If you really want to grasp the enormity of the average American motor vehicle, you should bring one to Budapest. In Europe, most cars are tiny. A 3-series BMW, a small sports sedan, is considered to be a big car. Streets are pretty narrow too. To show you just how narrow, here’s a street in downtown Budapest with a Lamborghini Diablo parked on the left side:

During the Chicago Auto Show this year Honda promised to give us this new Si at under $20K. We’ll see if they keept that promise. Sporting a 197HP, 8K redline engine with a 6 speed tranny and LSD… I’ve been looking at this car for a while, and I dont know how else to say it but wow. If indeed we see a price tag of 20k or under. This is basicly a new RSX type S, granted with a few poneys less but we’ve gained LSD.

Into the light of dawn my little sports sedan pressed forth. On Dasher, on Donner, on...well you get the idea. Bellingham awaits.

monday i get my 2005 cadillac cts-v i can’t fucking wait. it’s pretty much cadillac’s answer to german performance sports sedans. 400 horsepower, 6 speed manual, it can’t be beat. i love it. the best part is it’s equipped with an ls6 chevrolet engine the same engines found in the high end z06 corvette’s. i will post pictures once it arrives as it is coming from maryland.

Conclusion: Charger is a welcome addition to Chrysler’s LX family of RWD cars. Its not only have the same merits as its 300/Magnum silibings, which are powerful engines, comfortable interior, confident handling dynamics and great value. It also provides a much sportier driving feel than its sedan silibing, while you can treat it as a “4-door Magnum". In a nutshell, if you are shopping for a sports sedan for somewhere around 40k, you must put Charger into your shopping list.

Volkswagen also have had not much luck breaking out of the people mover image. The Volkswagen Phaeton, although being a GREAT luxury car has had problems selling because of the people mover image the Volkswagen badge has. The following goes through the mind of the person who is considering the Phaeton. “If I can buy a similiar Audi A8 from Audi, why should I settle for a Volkswagen?

The driving experience was rather good, the new focus is probably better than most of it’s peers, it has excellent brakes (even the 1.6L models have discs at the rear), the steering is precise and the whole car feels very nimble. I saw more body roll than I wanted when I slammed it into corners, and this one had some really annoying traction control thing which would *muzzle* the engine when I was trying to drive it really hard. Every time I’d downshift and floor it through a corner, I’d get around 0.5s of joyful torquesteering...

Nissan has taken their landmark Altima series to a new height with the addition of a performance-oriented SE-R. Its truly a sheep in a wolf’s clothing with 250hp V6 engine, a stiffer suspension and an understated body kit. Thanks to the extra boost of turbocharged character, Legacy GT is a sports sedan that comes with one of the world’s finest AWD system with potent performance. It also handles relatively well thanks to its newly found stiff chassis and dynamic suspension tuning. Unlike its predecessor, S40 T5 feels like a true sports sedan in every dimensions. It got typical Volvo Swedish styling, a comfortable interior and a proven T5 powerplant that delivers real power. While all are nice cars, Legacy GT took the honor as best sports sedan despite its Limited version is overpriced. It simply offers the best value for money with 250hp turbocharged engine, a proven AWD system and a style that is finally mainstream.

Dunlop's flagship SP Sport Maxx racked up another win in maximum performance -- this time with Tire Rack, the online performance source for tires.

Tire Rack, outlining test results this week, said, "The Sport Maxx achieved the highest lateral g's, which aided driver confidence, and easily set the fastest average overall lap time in this test."

Tire Rack drivers indicated the Dunlop ultra-performance summer tire out- performed three leading tire brands on four identical 2003 BMW 330Ci sports sedans.

These and other features available on the new IS, such as the Adaptive Front headlamp System (AFS), Dynamic Radar Cruise Control and ventilated front seats are normally found only in more expensive luxury cars.

The interior has a heavy use of metallic and chrome 4 panel sunroof, leather seats, two-tone door and seat inserts. The interiors were given high priority in the car design which is very evident. There is a large and confortable passenger room in the front and especially in the rear seat. The vehicle’s interior roominess is heightened by the large windshield – a result of the steeply raked A pillar and the p anoramic roof, which features four sliding glass panels to create a convertible style open air driving experience.

You may not be aware that one of the best sports sedans in the country - the Infiniti G35 - is actually the Nissan Skyline in Japan. Here's a link to the home-market website where both the Skyline sedan and coupe are shown: http://www2.nissan.co.jp/SKYLINE/

Mercedes has just released the information for the European CLK AMG equipment package. Exterior accents include revised front and rear bumpers and side skirts, rear spoiler, 18-inch AMG wheels, silver-painted calipers with MB lettering, lowered suspension and chrome AMG twin tailpipe. Inside AMG adds multicontour seats, aluminum-style sports pedals, velour floor mats with the AMG logo and steering wheel gearshift buttons on automatic equipped cars.

Sales of passenger cars also achieved all-time record breaking results with 136,130 units reported, an increase of 7 percent over 2003 sales of 126,820 units. The Lexus flagship LS 430 premium luxury sedan continues to be the segment leader with record sales of 32,272 units, up 34.6 percent over 2003. The ES 330 was the entry luxury sedan sales leader with 75,916 units sold, an increase of 15.1 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Sell-down of the GS mid-luxury sports sedans continued on schedule with 8,262 units sold. The all-new 2006 GS 300 and GS 430 arrive at Lexus dealerships late next month with an official on-sale date of March 1.

In recent years, BMW's reputation has taken somewhat of a hit for the controversial "flame surfacing" being incorporated onto the exteriors of its newest sedans. So loud and persistent was the criticism that BMW used a more conservative styling for its upcoming 2006 3 series sedan, the previous generation already accounting for over 40% of the German automaker's sales. What we now have is an evolutionary rather than revolutionary design that personally I find appealing, though not as sexy as the outgoing model.

Automotive.com, a leading Internet automotive marketing company, announced Audi A6 as the winner of the "Most Anticipated New Car" of 2005. After months of voting and tallying over 200,000 votes submitted by consumers in the Automotive.com 2nd annual Consumer Choice Awards, the Audi A6 came out on top.

"The most anticipated new car award encompasses both new models and complete redesigns of current models which is what an automotive enthusiast thrives on" said Jason Phillips, vice-president of Automotive.com. "Audi winning this award proves you can take a tried and true model like the A6 and improve on it."

I’ll write more in a feature later this week, but the new 3 (E90) is basically a good car, good engines (320 diesel would do me) and there are some significant improvements on the outgoing range (E46) – like more room in the back. The external styling is certainly less controversial than the 5 and 7 I think. Should be a success in the market. No great surprise there. It’s a competent job and most people I spoke to had a favourable view of the car. Gripes? Personally, I find iDrive quite hard to use, not very immediately intuitive, although I do applaud BMW’s effort to address the problem of proliferating electronic functionality in a car in such a bold way in an attempt to keep switchgear clutter down. Some improvements to iDrive are coming that the BMW people reckon will make it more intuitive and user friendly.

And I’m not 100% convinced that ‘active steering’ is worth the »925 as an option. Not sure I could feel any great difference when driving one of the cars that had that fitted. Indeed, once you load your car with added optional equipment, the price you pay for your BMW starts to get just a little bit heavy, though perhaps that is not too surprising.

But the new 3 is undeniably a good car. BMW has played pretty safe with it. The customer base won't have a problem a la 5 and 7.

Great review of American sports sedans. These fast cars can keep up with their European rivals without breaking a sweat. Click above for full review.

The guy in the BMW has no idea what just sucked the foglights off his $70,000 grille. To Mr. Bimmer, it looked more like Avis than autobahn. He's positive that it was just some generic American sedan that drove right by him on the freeway off ramp. You can tell by the puzzled look on his face that he was under the impression, until now, that he was driving the "ultimate driving machine." He just learned a lesson.

The car that blew his doors off was an American sedan. But one that's far from generic. In fact, it could have been any of the eight cars in this article. This particular group of cars, American sport sedans all, delivers the performance of the power imports at a bargain price. Yet in all their tire-smoking fun, they offer serious practicality for the family, which means big back seats and trunks and big buckets of torque.