We were all pretty surprised earlier this week when Jay Leno announced his collaboration with GM on the EcoJet concept. Leno — a well-known car freak — fulfilled every kid’s dream — or maybe just ours — of getting to design a crazy concept car from scratch with the backing of one of the world’s largest automakers. Keep reading for more photos of the concept, and see our original post here.
Yesterday we brought you initial information on Mazda’s tricked-out CX-7 crossover concept at SEMA. Today we’ve received official images of the Adrenaline concept and are a bit more impressed by the level of customization. The fade-to-yellow paint job is a bit too wild for our tastes, but we’ll take the customized cargo compartment with matching luggage. We even like the wild interior, complete with yellow inserts in the seat fabric and steering wheel. Keep reading for more images.
The Mazda CX-7 is a heck of a crossover SUV in stock form. Now the company’s performance shop, Mazdaspeed, has gotten its hands on a CX-7, just in time for this year’s SEMA show. Since the CX-7 already has the same engine and driveline as the Mazdaspeed6, they decided to give it a six-speed manual transmission, too. Engine power was boosted from the 244-hp norm to an even 300 horses. The vehicle’s height was also lowered significantly. Add extreme 22-inch wheels and copious amounts of body work, and you get one mean-looking Mazda.
While the paint scheme, interior and, most definitely, the wheel size will never make it to a production car, we don’t doubt Mazda is considering a Mazdaspeed version of the solid-selling CX-7 to go along with ones it has produced for the Mazda3 and Mazda6.
[Source: Mazda, photo via Autoblog]
Last year, Volkswagen unveiled some very cool, very high-powered in-house performance variants of their Jetta, Passat and Touareg with a simple R badge. These were some cool-looking concepts that led many to think that VW would offer them in limited numbers. Alas, it never happened. So we’re a bit dismayed to be teased once again this year by a great looking, amped up VW, this time called the R GTI.
The new GTI by itself is a great performer. Add on a more powerful turbocharger to the stock car and somehow VW and partner APR wrangle 375 hp out of the hot hatchback. There are much larger tires and wheels — 19-inch at that — and a limited slip-differential to get all the power to the road, while Brembo brakes help stop the sucker. A much larger intercooler is needed for the turbo and that led to a change in the grille design that makes the GTI look pretty mean.
The GTI will probably never see these treatments at the factory but because VW used major aftermarket manufacturers and parts a few VW fanatics could probably replicate this in their own garage. We expect VW to develop an R version of the GTI as either a R32 or R36. Those are likely to feature a V-6 and not a turbo four-cylinder, but we’re hoping for the R GTI’s front end to make the transition regardless.
Honda handed brand-new cars to various aftermarket tuning houses to show off what someone could do to the company’s new Civics, Fits and Elements at this year’s SEMA show, but we’re only interested in what Honda wants to do to these vehicles. I guess we just don’t want to get our own hands dirty. To that point, the company debuted two concepts we think have merit and could enter the lineup relatively soon.
Subaru used this year’s SEMA show to debut two new Sport trims of its popular Forester SUV. We think of it as more of a wagon, but that’s not stopping Subaru from giving the boxy hauler a sleeker appearance via a new grille, larger 17-inch wheels and other slight body modifications.
The Sport X comes with the same 173-hp four-cylinder as the standard Forester, and the Sport XT comes with a turbocharged 224-hp four-cylinder that hits 60 mph in less than six seconds. We’ll update you when pricing and availability are announced.
Mitsubishi has brought some really interesting concepts to SEMA. Top among them is the Evolander concept. The name not so subtly merges the high-performance Evo name, previously held by the Lancer sedan, with the Outlander SUV. We just finished testing the new Outlander — the review should be posted by the end of the week — and were impressed with its stock 220-hp V-6 and six-speed automatic transmission. That more-than-adequate power plant gets a supercharged boost to 300 hp here in the Evolander.
Shift paddles and an all-wheel-drive system are supposedly what will be in the next generation of Lancer Evos. Mitsubishi says this could be what a future Outlander Ralliart will look like. If so, we say Mitsubishi should go for it, if only so we can test drive it.
When you think “hotrod,” your mind naturally wanders to the wilds of Sweden. That’s where Volvo cooked up this amazingly authentic hotrod concept for SEMA. The Caresto V8 Speedster is pure California-custom, even though the V-8 engine is a Volvo unit that runs on ethanol and the designer’s name is Leif Tufvesson.
Leif is a custom-car builder who went to town for Volvo on the Speedster. We don’t see why this aluminum and carbon composite baby couldn’t be made for production, other than the projected $300,000+ price tag. We’ll just thank Leif for letting us soak in his beautiful work. Click below for more images.
Jay Leno likes cars. He really likes cars. So much so that GM actually allowed him to develop an original concept for the SEMA show this week in Vegas. The concept is called the EcoJet, and it’s powered by a turbine engine more akin to what submarines use than the standard combustion engines found in most cars. The “eco” part of the name comes from the fact that the 650 horses the engine produces are fueled by BioDiesel and not regular gas. The mid-engine layout is built around a Corvette Z06 aluminum frame and the entire body is made of carbon fiber and Kevlar.
This concept is extreme but we think the EcoJet already looks a bit dated and the Cadillac cues seem like an afterthought. We’ll give Leno a break though since the idea supposedly germinated on the back of a napkin.
It’s just an engine, but a famously named engine. The Boss 302 is not the name of a new Mustang model – although it probably will be – it’s the name of Ford’s new V-8 crate engine for hot-rodders. The 5.0-liter powerplant was originally developed under the name “Hurricane” and was set to take on Chrysler’s resurrected Hemi line of engines . The name and entire project were scrapped -- the name because of the devastation of Katrina last year and the project itself because of cost cuts. Now, Ford has revived the concept and fans should expect the Boss 302 to find its way into the next generation of F-150 trucks and the redesigned Mustang when it debuts in 2009.
For now, gearheads will have to wait until early next year when just the engine will be made available through Ford Racing dealers. Then they can customize their own Boss 302 Mustang like the concept shown here.
[Source: Ford via Autoblog]
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