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from http://chicagoautohaus.com/collision-reporter-round-table-diagnostics-tipping-point/
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Did you know exhaust systems function like elaborate organ pipes? I always thought they were more like long megaphones or trumpets, transmitting and muting the sound of the explosions happening in the cylinders. Nope. The noise is actually generated by the rush of exhaust gasses passing—sometimes at sonic or supersonic speeds—through an exhaust valve opening, just like compressed air entering an organ pipe. This probably isn’t news to folks in the exhaust-system biz, yet Borla Performance Industries is only just now getting patent protection for tuning exhaust pipes like organ pipes.
Maybe that’s because not enough musicians design exhaust systems. David Borla, son of the performance exhaust company’s co-founders, Alex and Alyse Borla, started out in the music biz. The composer and performer held a Sony recording contract and has several IMDB movie soundtrack writing credits to his name. Now serving as the company’s sales and marketing VP, David initially riffed on the idea behind his dad’s XR1 racing-muffler patent. That concept uses a bundle of perforated tubes inside a muffler to achieve greater noise attenuation and better flow than a single large perforated tube can deliver. His experimentation with combinations of perforated and unperforated tubes resulted in the company’s line of Acoustically Tuned Applied Kinetics (ATAK) products. Then one night David was contemplating the whole organ pipe concept and realized that “one of the things that makes an organ what it is are the polyphonic notes—playing more than one note at the same time. Harmony.” He reckoned that if pipes could be combined to engender pleasing chords like triads (a root note plus its third and fifth intervals) or perfect fifths (the kerrang of an AC/DC power chord—root plus fifth interval), the result might inherently sound more pleasing—an exhaust chorus instead of a soloist. So he visited organ pipe factories and learned how varying a pipe’s size can help it convert one note into another. Now his team records an engine’s exhaust signature using a frequency-spectrum analyzer that helps identify pleasing and objectionable frequencies. (V-12s mostly produce the former; four-bangers generate a ton of the latter.) Pipes are then selected to enhance the sweet notes, de-emphasize or cancel the sour ones, and generate harmony. Borla has just scratched the surface of what this technology can do and is working to develop computer simulations to speed development of new systems. At press time, polyphonic pipes are available for the Focus RS, Fusion Sport, Challenger R/T, and Infiniti Q60S, soon to be joined by BMW M3/M4, Honda Civic Type R, and Kia Stinger systems.
Lessons learned so far: Location of the polyphonic pipes makes a huge difference—they’re quite close to the engine on the Focus RS system, just ahead of the tailpipe mufflers on the Fusion, and just aft of the cross-over pipe on the Challenger and Q60S systems. Polyphonics can restore much of the richness and sound character lost to turbochargers. And systems can be tuned loud or quiet—the Q60S system sings 4dB louder than stock (too loud for Euro pass-by regulations), but forthcoming Mustang EcoBoost and GT systems will be Euro-compliant. “You’re not going to listen to it and go, ‘Oh, that’s a C triad,’” David Borla notes, “because there are harmonics and overtones. And engine speed, heat, and humidity can all affect the note. But these combinations just sound cool, and they sound different.” They also look cool. Most feature four smaller pipes spliced into the main pipe using header collectors. Pricing for these million-mile-warranted T-304 stainless steel systems is higher-end but not crazy—$1,208 for the Focus RS cat-back system, with competitor prices ranging from $499 (MBRP’s aluminized steel) to $1,475 for a cp-e system claiming a 5 percent power boost. (Borla makes no specific performance claim for its cat-back system but does for its high-flow-catalyst downpipe.) Your choice—an exhaust that sounds like full-on AC/DC, or an Angus Young unplugged one-note solo.
Read more by Frank Markus here:
from http://chicagoautohaus.com/borlas-pipe-organ-tech-gets-your-car-riffing-like-ac-dc-technologue/ As the 2019 Acura RDX prepares for its upcoming auto-show debut, the stakes are higher than ever before. The Acura RDX will need to defend its place near the top of the compact luxury crossover segment’s sales charts against new challengers from Volvo, Jaguar, and Infiniti, as well as plenty of other premium CUVs that start under $40,000. Now entering its third generation, the RDX comes from an automotive bloodline that started on the sporty side but then shifted toward the mainstream in its second iteration. So what will the 2019 Acura RDX be like? What follows are our predictions on how the luxury automaker will update one of its most important models. Photos of the outgoing RDX crossovers are shown below. Bringing Turbo Back
We called the first-gen Acura RDX “the EVO of crossovers” in a long-term verdict of a 2007 model that was powered by a 2.3-liter turbo-four with 240 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque. Mated to a five-speed automatic, this combination was good for Motor-Trend-tested 0-60-mph times of 6.5-7.3 seconds when we tested 2007 models (a 2011 model is shown above). Nearly 10 years later, we tested a second-gen 2016 RDX with its 279-hp 3.5-liter V-6 producing 252 lb-ft of torque. On the track, the RDX scooted to 60 in just 6.2 seconds. The 2019 RDX will likely be powered by a version of the 2.0-liter turbo-four in the 2018 Accord 2.0T and could use the brand’s eight-speed twin-clutch automatic to differentiate it from the Accord 2.0T that doesn’t offer that transmission. That sedan uses a 10-speed automatic and accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in only 5.7 seconds. We expect the 2019 RDX to be just as quick as the last-gen model but offer greater efficiency. With Honda preparing a CR-V hybrid in some markets and the MDX already offering a hybrid model, an RDX hybrid could be part of the product plan after the non-hybrid model is revealed. Matching Your Driving Mood
The 2019 RDX will have a version of the brand’s Integrated Dynamics system (IDS), which can change settings on the throttle sensitivity, steering, transmission, HVAC, and even the engine sound. Move from the TLX’s Econ or Normal modes to Sport+, and the car noticeably changes the way it sounds and drives. In the MDX, IDS settings can be programed into the two key fobs.  
What Sacrifice?
Space comes at a premium in most luxury cars, but that’s not the case with the outgoing RDX. In fact, interior space was one of the bland-but-capable crossover’s best features; the 2018 RDX has more interior space than many of its similarly priced competitors, and don’t expect this to change on the new Acura. The outgoing RDX didn’t have reclining rear seats, but it shared the Honda CR-V’s simple latches in the liftgate area—pull a latch and part of the 60/40-split seat easily folds down. We hope this feature will make it onto the new RDX. If the 2019 RDX remains on the spacious side of the segment, that could leave room for an even smaller crossover such as the CDX. Through the first 11 months of 2017, Acura’s two crossovers each outsold the brand’s entire car lineup. Value
Although many over the years have questioned what Acura stands for, value is still one key brand advantage. The 2019 RDX will probably come standard with LED headlights, heated front seats, and a power liftgate yet still undercut a couple competitors in price. We’d be surprised if the AcuraWatch package of active safety tech isn’t standard on every model, as well. The tech suite will probably include adaptive cruise control with a stop-and-go function, lane keeping assist, automatic braking, and rear cross-traffic alert. Dual-Screen Layout?
The dual-screen layout on most Acuras today won’t survive to the 2019 RDX. That’s almost a shame considering the brand improved it on the refreshed TLX and MDX, but we won’t complain if the new RDX makes its debut with a large screen at the top of its center stack. Infotainment systems these days play a significant role in how much you’ll enjoy a car or use some features you paid extra for, so we hope Acura gets it right on the new RDX. The Acura Precision Interior concept (shown below) featured a 12.3-inch screen as its instrument cluster and infotainment displays, and we wouldn’t count on that for a base-model 2019 RDX. But an 8.0-inch infotainment screen with a 12.3-inch screen available on the top trim is a possibility, and we look forward to seeing the current RDX’s dated gauges being redesigned.
Your Feature Presentation
A 360-degree camera system will make its way onto the 2019 Acura RDX’s options list, as will heated/ventilated front seats (like the outgoing RDX), heated rear seats, and, most likely, additional interior color options aside from black, gray, and beige. It’s unclear whether there’s enough interest in an RDX A-Spec model, but all 2019 models will wear the brand’s diamond pentagon grille. In its second generation, the RDX became recommendable for a wider variety of buyers but lost a bit of its character. We can’t wait to see where the 2019 model fits in the standing-room-only $35,000-$45,000 luxury crossover class once the redesigned RDX makes its debut in 2018. from http://chicagoautohaus.com/2019-acura-rdx-what-to-expect-from-the-popular-luxury-crossover/ The brake lights just ahead flash bright red through the steeply raked windshield. I count an extra beat then mash the brake pedal as hard as I can, the bellowing 620-hp V-10 behind me erupting into a quick fire, shock-and-awe sonic barrage—boom! boom! boom!—as I fan the left hand paddle, working the transmission back through the gears. The all-wheel-drive Lamborghini Huracán Performante in front of me is squirming all over the road as Squadra Corse test driver Christian Engelhart dances it to the absolute limit of adhesion on corner entry.
My rear-drive 2018 Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO stops hard enough to punch the air from my lungs, dives for the apex the instant I turn the wheel, and then carves through the corner, slick tires gripping like limpets, as the big V-10 at my shoulder blades bellows once more. In that moment I feel like a racing god—like I’ve swapped jobs with Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen, and no one’s laughing. And that’s exactly how Lamborghini’s newest factory race car has been designed to make me feel. Welcome to the future of the supercar. With its trick aerodynamics, racing transmission, slick tires, carbon brakes, and FIA-approved roll cage nestling in a stripped-down interior, the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO is a proper race car. It’s also proper production Lamborghini, created by Lamborghini engineers and designers and built alongside the Huracán and Aventador road cars. Write a $295,000 check, and the friendly folks at Lamborghini will send you one, pretty much ready to race. What’s more, they’ll give you somewhere to race it. Super Trofeo is a Pro-Am race series devised and promoted by Lamborghini specifically for these Huracán race cars and aimed at customers the company politely calls ‘gentleman drivers’—those with the money to consider racing Lamborghinis on some of the world’s most iconic tracks a hobby. Super Trofeo championships are held in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, culminating in a world final at the legendary Imola circuit in Italy, just down the road from Lamborghini HQ in Sant’Agata Bolognese.
Despite its race-face swagger, the Super Trofeo EVO is heavily based on the Huracán road car, sharing about 70 percent of its parts, including engine and suspension. It’s not as fast, nor as tricky to drive on the limit, as the Pro-spec Huracán GT3 race car. Although it has more power, the Super Trofeo EVO generates less downforce, and it is electronically limited to 174 mph. “We allow drivers to enjoy the power and torque, but the Super Trofeo is meant to be a scholarship car, to prepare them to move up to a GT3,” says Lamborghini Motorsport boss Giorgio Sanna. The EVO’s engine, transmission, brakes, wheels, and tires are carried over from the 2015 Huracán Super Trofeo, along with sundry other pieces of hardware, including the giant rear wing. Power remains the same—around 620 hp—but a new air intake layout delivers a 3 percent increase in torque at maximum speed. Also new for 2018 are the exhaust system, revised hydraulic power steering pump, and updated software for the traction control and antilock braking systems. The new aero package that comprises most of the EVO upgrades has been specifically designed to improve chassis balance and stability, especially through the fast fourth, fifth, and sixth gear corners that would give gentlemen drivers wide eyes and sweaty palms in the edgier GT3 Huracán. Key elements are new rear fenders, a vertical fin on the engine cover, bigger cooling vents for the front brakes, and larger louver openings on the front fenders.
Overall downforce is unchanged from the 2015 cars, but the aerodynamic balance has been shifted 3 percent toward the front axle, and the dorsal fin improves stability at the rear. Meanwhile, an 8 percent reduction in drag means better acceleration on the straights. Working together, these tweaks trimmed 1.5 seconds off the 2015 car’s lap times in testing at the storied Monza grand prix circuit outside Milan. Many racetracks are built on godforsaken pieces of real estate; barren and windswept, stinking hot in the summer, freezing cold in the winter, miles from anywhere. Not the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. This 3.1-mile track nestles comfortably among rolling hills on the tree-lined south bank of the Santerno river, barely a mile from the cafés and restaurants of Imola’s old town, the streets of which were mapped by Leonardo da Vinci in 1502. Lamborghini boss Stefano Domenicali was born here. Home to the San Marino Grand Prix between 1981 and 2006, the Imola circuit gained worldwide notoriety after the sublimely gifted Ayrton Senna was killed in the opening laps of the 1994 race. Tragically, Senna’s death had come barely 24 hours after Austrian Formula 1 rookie Roland Ratzenberger lost his life in a crash during qualifying. The first fatalities at a Grand Prix in 12 years, they prompted a redesign of the track layout. With chicanes replacing the fearsome 190-mph sweeper called Tamburello, where Senna crashed, and the flat-out right-hand Villeneuve kink that claimed Ratzenberger, Imola today is a less intimidating place. But it’s still fast and flowing in places, with dramatic changes in elevation that test driver commitment as much as chassis composure. Perfect for a first drive of a 620-hp mid-engine race car, then.
‘My’ Super Trofeo EVO is one of two cars Lamborghini Squadra Corse has on hand for a small group of journalists to sample in between qualifying sessions and races over the Super Trofeo finale weekend. Painted menacing matte gray, it’s the older of the two, with some parts clearly straight out of the prototyping shop. The other EVO, painted bright lime green, is better finished but has been set up to suit the shorter drivers of the group. Only the pedals adjust—the seats are fixed—and the Lamborghini mechanics have had to guesstimate two broad compromise settings to enable journalists to switch in and out of cars with minimal time loss. At 6’2”, I’m the tallest driver here, and the pedals in the tall guys’ car are still slightly too close for my liking. But I fit, and at least the steering wheel is reach and rake adjustable. ‘Wheel’ isn’t an entirely accurate description: It’s a vaguely butterfly shaped affair with an Alcantara covered rim that’s flat across the base and loops up and around to join the top side of a carbon-fiber-covered boss that has eight buttons and two knobs. To the lower right of the wheel is a box covered with pads. You press one to awaken the Lambo’s electrics and another to crank the big V-10 into life. It settles down to a fast, bawling idle. As in most modern supercars, paddles lurk with easy finger reach behind the steering wheel rim, upshifts on the right, and downshifts on the left. But there’s also a clutch pedal, small and tucked down near the floor. The rear-drive Super Trofeo EVO has a full-race, six-speed sequential shift transmission that’s designed to bang home gears without the niceties of worrying about a clutch to smooth things out, but you still need that third pedal to get the EVO underway and to bring it smoothly to a halt.
Lemme see … Clutch in, left thumb on the neutral button on the steering wheel boss, click back the right paddle. Thunk! We’re in first gear. Build revs, ease out the clutch, and the low-slung Lambo stutters down pit lane, bah-bah-bah-bah-bah-bahing against the 30-mph pit lane rev limiter. Past pit exit, right thumb on the pit button to cancel the pit limiter, and the Super Trofeo leaps forward. Bang! Second gear slams home like an anvil dropped in a dumpster. Bang! There’s third. Bang! Fourth. I’ve only driven a car with a sequential shift transmission once before—the brain-melting Caterham R500, a pint-size 500-hp featherweight that, if you can stop the rear tires from going up in smoke, will dust a Viper ACR over the quarter mile. But that was only in a straight line. Over successive laps around Imola in the Lamborghini I learn there’s subtle art to getting the best out of a sequential-shift transmission; that on downshifts especially you have to pay close attention to engine revs and vehicle speed to prevent momentarily locking the rear wheels on corner entry and unsettling the car. The grip, the stability, the noise, the braking—especially the braking—it’s all a vivid rush for the first few laps. Every young racer I’ve spoken with after they’ve driven a Formula 1 car for the first time has raved about the braking, not the power, and in the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO I get a sense of why. This is my first experience of modern slicks, downforce, and carbon brakes all working together, and I cannot believe how deep I can go into corners before hitting the middle pedal. The Lambo slows crisply and concisely, corner after corner.
What’s most impressive about the Super Trofeo EVO, however, is that even after a few laps you can start to push it, to explore its limits rather than worry about your own. Default handling mode is mild understeer, which requires a little patience with the throttle exiting tight second and third gear corners but is a safer, more predictable option through the fast curves, where that new fin helps keep the rear end tracking faithfully on line. The engine loves to rev, the LEDs on the simple digital instrument readout rapidly flickering through green, blue, and orange en route to red, but the fat torque curve cuts you a little slack if you aren’t quite on top of your shift points. This is a race car that rewards neatness and precision with a fast lap time but won’t bite your head off when you get it wrong, as mere mortals like us inevitably will … You can dial up or down appropriate levels of traction control and antilock braking via the two knobs on the steering wheel boss, depending on track conditions and your confidence level. And before you sneer, even the pros play around with these settings as they work toward the optimum setup. This is, as Lamborghini claims, a car in which you can learn how to drive like a pro racer.
Super Trofeo racing is close and spectacular (check it out on Motor Trend OnDemand) and for Lamborghini, it’s good business—the company has built 150 Huracán Super Trofeos since 2015 and already sold nearly 50 of the new EVO models. But it’s also a long-term survival strategy: As mass automobility heads inexorably toward autonomous vehicles, automakers that are defined by high performance and driving passion can no longer rely on simply selling fast and sexy road cars. “Racing … it’s life,” said Steve McQueen in the 1971 film, Le Mans. “Anything that happens before or after … it’s just waiting.” The Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO, one of a growing group of factory-built race cars for gentleman drivers that includes the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, the Ferrari 488 Challenge, and the Mercedes-AMG GT4, gives supercar owners the opportunity to not only drive the dream, but live it, too.
from http://chicagoautohaus.com/2018-lamborghini-huracan-super-trofeo-evo-review-the-future-of-the-supercar/ It’s here! The 2019 Jeep Cherokee shows off a new upscale design and will offer more fuel-efficient powertrain options for the New Year. Jeep’s mid-sized SUV is set to bow at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show next month. The latest version seems to borrow a few styling cues from the sleek Jeep Yuntu Concept—minus the exploratory drone, we saw earlier this year at the Shanghai auto show.
Its biggest update we can see is up front where the Cherokee’s split headlights are larger and line up closer to the grille and hood lines. Around back the bumper and skid plate get some minor tweaking too. Jeep is tight lipped about spilling more details until the Detroit show, but we’ll bet it will still offer a standard 2.4-liter inline-four-cylinder engine that delivers 184 hp and 171 lb-ft of torque. Its V-6 engine option produces 271 hp and 239 lb-ft of torque. Both engines will likely be mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission and available with all-wheel drive options. It’s possible that the V-6 option gets replaced with a 2.0-liter turbo-four-cylinder engine found on the 2018 Wrangler, but we won’t know for sure until next month. The little four-door hauler will of course be offered in a number of trims with chrome or blacked out options depending on your preference for black top or dirt crawling. We’d opt for the darker ones.
The two-tone interior seen here resembles the previous generation’s innards—it looks clean and snug with a leather wrapped steering wheel with plenty of controls. There’s also a decent sized touch screen for its infotainment system with volume and tuning buttons as well. Thanks Jeep! Pricing hasn’t been announced, but we imagine it should start in the mid-$25,000 range to stay competitive and go up from there.
from http://chicagoautohaus.com/2019-jeep-cherokee-gets-a-fresh-mug-for-the-new-year/ It’s official: Honda will bring back the Insight nameplate that it discontinued in 2014. This time around, Honda is positioning the Insight as an upscale, five-passenger sedan instead of a hatch. Honda has released images of the Insight Prototype ahead of its official debut at the Detroit auto show in January. The prototype takes plenty of design cues from the Civic, including its long hood and curvaceous body lines. The 2019 Honda Insight will adopt a two-motor hybrid system. The 2018 Honda Accord Hybrid uses this type of setup, pairing two electric motors with a 2.0-liter DOHC Atkinson cycle engine.
Exact powertrain details for the Insight are unknown, but it’s already sounding better than the pesky Integrated Motor Assist setup on the old Insight. We never liked the system, which is comprised of a 1.3-liter I-4 with an electric motor producing a combined total of 98 hp. The powertrain would switch on and off too abruptly at stoplights, as we noted in a 2009 review. Introduced in 1999, the first-generation Insight was a two-door vehicle and the first hybrid to launch in the U.S. Honda didn’t debut a second generation until 2009, when the model adopted a more practical five-door design. Still, we weren’t all that impressed with the Insight’s interior space, not to mention its ride quality. Transforming the Insight from an egg-shaped hatch to a sedan should help broaden its appeal. And it’ll erase any comparisons that may have been made in the past with the king of all hybrids, the Toyota Prius. Expect a much more premium feel and a more spacious interior for the new Insight. It’ll slot above the Civic in Honda’s lineup and will offer fuel economy that is competitive with other compact hybrids, the automaker says. Honda is also claiming the model will have “best-in-class performance.”
“You won’t have to be an electrification advocate to appreciate the new Insight—it’s a great car in its own right, independent of what’s happening under the hood,” Henio Arcangeli Jr., senior vice president of Automobile Sales and general manager of the Honda Division at American Honda Motor Co., said in a statement. A production version of the Insight will arrive next summer. It’s part of Honda’s plan for electrified vehicles to comprise two-thirds of its global sales by 2030. The 2019 Honda Insight will join the new Accord Hybrid, launching early next year, alongside the Clarity series in Honda’s expanding green lineup. The vehicle will enter production at Honda’s plant in Greensburg, Indiana. Source: Honda
from http://chicagoautohaus.com/2019-honda-insight-goes-mainstream/ “The Jeep is the only real American sports car.” That old chestnut, attributed to Enzo Ferrari, probably makes the Wrangler team in Toledo, Ohio, pretty happy, but I’d imagine a few guys in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Fremont, California, take issue with the shade. The all-new Jeep Wrangler, Corvette ZR1, and a surprise new roadster from Tesla all made their debuts recently. Jeep launched the all-new Wrangler in New Zealand, and Chevy chose Dubai to unveil its 755-horsepower Corvette ZR1 coupe—the most powerful vehicle GM has ever produced. A week later, Tesla surprised the world by crashing its own all-electric semi-truck coming-out party, with an all-new “roadster” prototype shooting out of the back of the trailer. We hardly believe the performance numbers Tesla claims. Will you?
American car companies have been on a tear of late, and not just at the slick, sporty end of the lineup, as you’ll see in our world’s first Tesla Model 3 versus Chevy Bolt versus Nissan Leaf comparison test. But it would be unwise to discount the quiet, continuous progress of Japanese carmakers. Just look at the march of Subaru. Its all-new, three-row Ascent SUV graces the cover of our February 2018 subscribers’ print issue, likely to the horror of the competition. Over the last 10-plus years, tiny Subaru has grown sales and claimed market share like no other rival. The Ascent is aptly named—it climbs boldly into yet another massively competitive SUV segment, ready to conquest. And then there is Mazda, who took me to the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show for the debut of its Vision Coupe and Kai concepts and then on to its headquarters in Hiroshima to see how these cars were made.
We have lambasted various carmakers over the years for their heavy-handed approach to design and inability to pick up the pen. Current fads seem to include floating roofs at every auto show and character lines with their own character lines. Meanwhile, Mazda has been quietly molding and sanding, resurfacing and refining its unique and subtly stunning Kodo design language. Take a long look at the body sides of its concepts (best done in person), and consider their gentle, light-catching concavities and how highlights caress surfaces devoid of excess lines and creases. It takes a lot of effort and finesse to come up with something so complex yet elegant.
The same could be said about the groundbreaking technology within Infiniti’s 2.0-liter four-cylinder VC-Turbo engine, which I had the chance to sample not too long ago. Over the years, Frank Markus has written extensively about the technical challenges of bringing a variable compression ratio engine to market, and it would appear that Nissan’s engineers have, 20 years and 300-plus patents later, done the impossible and delivered on the promise of six-cylinder power with four-cylinder fuel economy. I’m making this claim ahead of our full test of the technology but after driving a preproduction Infiniti QX50 in which the VC-Turbo engine will make its debut. Studying a cutaway model showing how the links swing and oscillate about a constantly rotating crankshaft, I couldn’t help but think about the mechanisms inside a fine Swiss watch. If the modern four-stroke combustion engine is a Swiss-lever escapement, then surely Nissan’s Multi-Link Variable Compression Ratio technology is the tourbillion, right? (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t worry, it’s probably my fault—I wear a Casio.) The best way to understand the beauty and complexity of this revolutionary technology is to see it in motion:
More from Ed Loh:
from http://chicagoautohaus.com/heady-days-for-car-lovers-the-lohdown/ It’s official: Honda will bring back the Insight nameplate that it discontinued in 2014. This time around, Honda is positioning the Insight as an upscale, five-passenger sedan instead of a hatch. Honda has released images of the Insight Prototype ahead of its official debut at the Detroit auto show in January. The prototype takes plenty of design cues from the Civic, including its long hood and curvaceous body lines. The 2019 Honda Insight will adopt a two-motor hybrid system. The 2018 Honda Accord Hybrid uses this type of setup, pairing two electric motors with a 2.0-liter DOHC Atkinson cycle engine.
Exact powertrain details for the Insight are unknown, but it’s already sounding better than the pesky Integrated Motor Assist setup on the old Insight. We never liked the system, which is comprised of a 1.3-liter I-4 with an electric motor producing a combined total of 98 hp. The powertrain would switch on and off too abruptly at stoplights, as our colleagues at Motor Trend noted in a 2009 review. Introduced in 1999, the first-generation Insight was a two-door vehicle and the first hybrid to launch in the U.S. Honda didn’t debut a second generation until 2009, when the model adopted a more practical five-door design. Still, we weren’t all that impressed with the Insight’s interior space, not to mention its ride quality. Transforming the Insight from an egg-shaped hatch to a sedan should help broaden its appeal. And it’ll erase any comparisons that may have been made in the past with the king of all hybrids, the Toyota Prius. Expect a much more premium feel and a more spacious interior for the new Insight. It’ll slot above the Civic in Honda’s lineup and will offer fuel economy that is competitive with other compact hybrids, the automaker says. Honda is also claiming the model will have “best-in-class performance.”
“You won’t have to be an electrification advocate to appreciate the new Insight—it’s a great car in its own right, independent of what’s happening under the hood,” Henio Arcangeli Jr., senior vice president of Automobile Sales and general manager of the Honda Division at American Honda Motor Co., said in a statement. A production version of the Insight will arrive next summer. It’s part of Honda’s plan for electrified vehicles to comprise two-thirds of its global sales by 2030.
The 2019 Honda Insight will join the new Accord Hybrid, launching early next year, alongside the Clarity series in Honda’s expanding green lineup. The vehicle will enter production at Honda’s plant in Greensburg, Indiana.
from http://chicagoautohaus.com/2019-honda-insight-transforms-into-a-sedan/ It’s here! The 2019 Jeep Cherokee shows off a new upscale design and will offer more fuel-efficient powertrain options for the New Year. Jeep’s midsize crossover is set to bow at the 2018 Detroit auto show next month. The latest version seems to borrow a few styling cues from the sleek Jeep Yuntu Concept—minus the exploratory drone—that we saw earlier this year at the Shanghai auto show.
The biggest update we can see is up front where the Cherokee’s split headlights are larger and line up closer to the grille and hood lines. Around back, the bumper and skid plate get some minor tweaks too. Jeep is keeping tight-lipped on technical details until the Detroit show, but we’ll bet it will still offer a standard 2.4-liter inline-four-cylinder engine that delivers 184 hp and 171 lb-ft of torque. The current V-6 engine option that produces 271 hp and 239 lb-ft, but it’s possible that gets replaced with the 2.0-liter turbo-four-cylinder engine found on the 2018 Wrangler. We won’t know for sure until next month. At any rate, the 2019 Jeep Cherokee will likely continue to offer a nine-speed automatic transmission and available all-wheel drive.
Though the exterior has changed, it doesn’t appear much is new with the 2019 Cherokee’s interior. The two-tone cabin seen here resembles the current model’s cockpit, but it does look like it gets the latest version of FCA’s Uconnect infotainment system, which will feature Apple CarPlay (and likely Android Auto) capability. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but we imagine it should start in the mid-$20,000 range to stay competitive and go up from there. Source: FCA
from http://chicagoautohaus.com/refreshed-2019-jeep-cherokee-unveiled-ahead-of-detroit-debut/ Almost two years have passed since the Morgan Motor Company debuted its all-electric 3-Wheeler concept; the EV3. Since then, Morgan has been diligently working on the production version of the EV3, and now with the help and technical partnership between the British marque and Frazer-Nash Energy Systems, the EV3 will finally begin production next year. According to Morgan, the forthcoming EV3 will feature a range of 120 miles thanks to a 21 kWh lithium battery that powers a liquid-cooled 41.8 kW motor; this translates to around 56 horsepower. Like its gasoline-powered predecessor, the EV3’s electric propulsion will drive the singular rear wheel only.
Unlike its heritage, however, the EV3 will use a modern space frame chassis, as well as the company’s first use of lightweight composite body panels. These departures, Morgan claims, lowers the EV3’s center of gravity, decreases the overall weight, and provides the EV3 with the performance Morgan’s 3-Wheeler customers have come to expect from the pint-size anachronism. Exactly when production will begin hasn’t been disclosed just yet, but given Morgan’s release, we’d expect the British company to begin production very soon, although those Morgan customers that reside in the United States will likely have a longer waiting period. Likewise, price hasn’t been divulged either, but Morgan has stated in the past that the company would like for it to price out around the same level as the current gas 3-Wheeler.
Steve Morris, Morgan Motor Company’s Managing Director said, “We have been working closely [with Frazer-Nash] on optimizing the EV3’s architecture in every way to develop a car which will offer proven reliability, range, and cooling performance, combined with the pure driving experience that is expected of every hand-crafted Morgan.” Morris furthered, “The greatest challenge lies within introducing EV technology into our factory work flows, customer experience and supporting dealer network in a robust, and most importantly, safe manner. Frazer-Nash Energy Systems offer us every confidence in achieving this.”
from http://chicagoautohaus.com/morgan-announces-ev3-production-commencement/ |
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Autohaus is Chicago’s premier collision center, auto repair and customization shop located in Chicago’s Lincoln Park/Bucktown area. We are conveniently located to serve Chicago’s Gold Coast & North Side as well as the outlying Chicagoland area. Our full service auto repair shop prides itself on giving our clients the highest quality work and the absolute best in customer service. Archives
June 2017
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