An Electric Lotus for the U.S.

Zap — that wild and crazy “we’ll put electric engines into anything” company out in California — announced today that it would be teaming with Lotus’ — yes, that Lotus — to put a plug-in electric powerplant into the new light-weight Lotus APX crossover shown above.

The vehicle will be called the Zap-X Crossover Electric Car and will replace the gasoline V-6 engine with a series of in-hub electric motors powering all four wheels, which the company says will equal 644 hp. That’s a lot of horsepower and because it will be fitted into a vehicle designed for mass production, it won’t be as fly-by-night in the fit and finish department as the Tesla Motors roadster. The engine bay will be filled with a battery pack that will provide a 350 mile range and a quick 10 minute recharge, probably using a special kit, not a standard outlet, although we'll have to wait until later in the week to get a look in person.

ZAP will debut the concept at the National Automotive Dealers Association meeting this week in Las Vegas. ZAP is looking to sell a finished product in the U.S. and we bet that if it looks like the APX and gets 644 hp, it’ll probably sell OK. More photos of Lotus’ concept below.

Cars.com's Top 10 Most Memorable TV Cars

Way back in May 2006, one of the first posts ever on this blog was about our Top 10 Movie Cars in celebration of the animated movie “Cars.” Now we’re tackling the next logical step in the pop culture lexicon involving cool cars and our shared memories: television.

The editorial staff thought long and hard; we argued viciously over the merits of “Magnum P.I.’s” Ferrari 308 GTS versus The General Lee from “The Dukes of Hazzard” — one of us even talked seriously about the yellow pickup from “Baywatch.” Eventually, we came up with an authoritative list of the 10 most memorable cars in television history. Don’t agree with us? Vent in the comments below. 

Suburban Dad: 2007 BMW X3

It wasn’t hard to get the kids to enjoy the BMW X3: They became fixated on, and fought over, the heated second-row seats. Or, as they called them, the “butt warmers.”

As for my wife and I, we loved the interior and the X3’s look, but thought it was just a little small for our family of five. Still, for the X3, maybe we could ship off one of the kids…

Having driven plenty of BMW sedans over the years, all the usual markers were in place. The beautiful interior, the nice attention to detail in the upholstery, the snazzy looks. There are plenty of creature comforts as well, although BMW doesn’t have the best icons to tell you each button’s function. Whoever decided the power door lock button should be located under the hazard lights button, and not on the driver and front passenger doors, ought to be smacked. That little mystery took me more than 90 minutes to figure out; at one point, I wound up using the key fob to unlock the doors — from inside the car!

There were some other little annoyances:

Audi Prices New 2008 TT Coupe and Roadster

Audi’s all-new TT coupe and roadster debuted in the U.S. at the L.A. Auto Show last fall, but now we know when they’ll hit dealerships and how much they’ll cost. When the coupe arrives at U.S. dealerships in April it will carry a base sticker of $34,800, followed by the roadster in May with a base price of $36,800.

Both base prices are for the 200-hp, 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that is shared with the current A3 and A4 models. A 250-hp, 3.2-liter six-cylinder engine is also available and is matched to Audi’s Quattro all-wheel drive. It’s the only model offered with a six-speed manual standard. All other models feature a five-speed automatic with a manual shift feature; it’s a $1,400 option on the 3.2 Quattro.

Full prices are below.

City Man Replaces Jeep Bobblehead Ads; Still Not Interesting

When Jeep introduced the new Compass small SUV, it used a series of ads with bobbleheads driving the car around, listening to music and bobbing their heads. That was it. To say it was lackluster is an understatement. Now Jeep is following the bobbleheads with City Man, a giant made up of urban things like road signs and newspaper stands. City Man surfs the Compass around streets, supposedly showing it off.

Advertising pundits aren’t impressed with City Man, and I admit I didn’t get it at all when I first saw it last week. I never got the bobbleheads, either.

What would be a better commercial?

I vaguely recall a Dodge Caliber commercial with a bunch of young, hip guys on a road trip, drinking from the refrigerated glove box, then pulling over to the side of the road for an impromptu bathroom break. Maybe they could have a bunch of young, hip women drive the Compass on a road trip and show off its features.

What do you think? What’s the best car commercial on TV right now?

[Message Lost For Some in Jeep Ads, The Detroit News]

2008 Lexus RX 350 Price Unchanged

Lexus tells us that the 2008 RX 350 has a new grille and chrome door handles, along with new color schemes and wheel choices, all for the same price as the 2007 models. The only problem is we can’t really see any difference in that darn grille.

We compare 2008 to 2007 below and if you can tell them apart let us know.

As for the pricing it remains $37,400 for the front-wheel drive RX 350 and $38,800 for all-wheel drive when the 2008 hits dealerships in early February. Prices do not include a $715 destination charge.

New 2007 Dodge Ram 2500, 3500 Clean Diesels Coming in March

Dodge — along with the EPA — is calling the new 2007 Ram 2500 and 3500 the cleanest diesel pickups ever, and one can be yours in March if you pony up the $32,750 starting price, plus $900 in destination charges. The diesel beast powering these heavy-duty trucks is a 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel that produces 350 hp and 650 pounds-feet of torque, compared to the outgoing model’s 325-hp 5.9-liter with 610 pounds-feet of torque. In the heavy-duty truck game, torque is king, and buyers will also enjoy the addition of a six-speed automatic transmission and a 50% quieter engine. Towing remains the same, though, at 16,350 pounds.

What makes the emissions so clean is a new self-cleaning particulate filter added to the exhaust system. More important for the tinkerers out there, the muffler is separate from the system, so it can be replaced without impacting emissions.

The 5.7-liter V-8 Hemi gasoline engine still remains the base power plant for the lineup and is on sale now, but heavy-duty truck shoppers are increasingly buying diesel, and this is a worthy new entry.   

A TiVo for Car Radio

I don’t know about anyone else out there, but after using TiVo and now a cable DVR for a few years, I’ve gotten so used to pausing and rewinding live TV that when I’m in the car and miss a song or news item I catch myself reaching for a rewind button that doesn’t exist. Well, the European Space Agency is working on the problem for me, it seems. The group has developed a prototype car radio that can do all the things your DVR can — pause, rewind and time shift on the radio dial.

The cache memory will most likely be flash-based to avoid problems from bumpy driving, and all of it is tied into a satellite beaming down radio signals, but instead of an antenna buyers will have to install a small satellite dish. Sounds like a roadblock to me, but considering the group is saying it will be more affordable than current satellite offerings like XM and Sirius, it probably has a shot at taking off. Plus, I won’t miss the score from last night’s game while driving to work anymore.

[ESA Satellite Radio Promises PVR-Like Features, DailyTech]

Faceoff Lite: 2007 BMW X3 vs. 2007 Acura RDX

Crossing paths in the Cars.com fleet of cars were two compact luxury SUVs that have an interesting relationship. One, the BMW X3, was meant to take advantage of a gap in the luxury SUV market, and many automotive journalists thought the effort from BMW was a tad rushed. The other SUV, the Acura RDX, was developed with one thought in mind: Beat the X3 in every way. BMW added a few new bells and whistles this year, including some minor plastic surgery inside and out. But can it fight off the newcomer?

Kelsey Mays and I took them both on, and here’s what we made of the new rivalry.

Toyota to Add 40% More Hybrids in 2007

Toyota is looking to boost its global sales of hybrids to 430,000 in 2007 from an already impressive 312,500 in 2006. This boost will include a 40% increase in Prius production in Japan, bringing total Prius numbers to 280,000 units. All this increase in production comes while sales in the U.S. remain just 1% of all new cars sold. In two weeks, Toyota will unveil the new 2008 Highlander Hybrid, which will join the Camry Hybrid, Prius and Lexus hybrids like the LS 600h L, RX 400h and GS 450h in the company’s green portfolio. 

[Toyota Sees 40% Jump in '07 Global Hybrid Sales, SignOnSanDiego.com]