Entries Tagged 'News' ↓

We here at 62mph wish everyone a very happy holidays. In honor of the festive occasion we decided to send our special wishes to everyone hoping that they get the gifts that we know we won’t receive.

Austin:

Every year I see loads of cars. This year I spent a lot of time in Scottsdale and it became a regular experience to see cars that cost significantly more than my house. And yes every time I would pass a Ferrari F430 or a Lamborghini Merciélago I could feel my heart rate increase. Those cars produce a reaction that my wife could be nothing but jealous of, but still none so much as my all time favorite of the Lotus Exige S 240.

In spite of the fact that this is a no limits wish list, I think the fact the Lotus checks in at a completely realistic and attainable price of right around $70,000 MSRP. That isn’t just the base either. That is with the Track package which give it the ability to adjust the suspension, plus I added the Touring pack which gives it the leather seats, stereo, and sound insulation. I also added metalic paint, and of course a Limited Slip Differential. The full kit for $70k not too bad for a car that is pretty exotic in my book. Sure they are cheap but they just aren’t around all that much. I wish you all one. Merry Christmas

Allen:

There are just so many to cars to choose from how can I choose just one.  I have always liked Porsche and if I was going to choose a Porsche it would be the 911 GT2 Turbo but those aren’t necessarily unique.  Rare, maybe? but anyone can buy one with enough money.

What I think I really want is the 1969 Ford GT40 that won Le Mans, the exact car, no replicas just that very car.  It truly is a testament that American manufactures can do anything if they want to.  It symbolizes that America has been there and defeated Ferrari, Porsche and anyone else who got in the way.

But I wouldn’t stop there.  I would fly the car to Europe and drive it around the Le Mans Circuit that it won almost 40 years ago.  Just once around the track would be good enough for me.  What an experience that would be!  Then I would fly it back to my house, put in the garage and polishing it nightly mumbling to myself… “My Precious…  My Precious… Gollum… Gollum.”

I always thought Cadillac was the boring luxury car of the United States. There was never much appeal for me to take interest in them. The Northstar was a great performing engine but incredibly hard to work on. Then the front wheel drive platform that Cadillac used since the ’80s never ever under any circumstances added to the performance aspect of the car. But Cadillac did one thing well and that was the job of keeping people comfortable, particularly Grandma and Grandpa.

But that has all changed. The new Cadillac CTS-V is no longer the Grandma’s car for cruisin’ but a missile for mischief. In the past, the CTS-V was invariably short of it’s competition; always out-handled, out-braked and most of the time the engine was out-performed by cars of similar cost. The new 6.2L supercharged engine produces a massive 556 Horsepower and 551 ft-lbs of torque. The handling of the car has increased and the brakes made better. What is Cadillac trying to do, lose Grandma and Grandpa as their market and go for the intellectual BMW crowd? Actually, I think so.

The standard BMW M5 cost around $83,900 and the new CTS-V will set you back between $59,995 and $68,635. So you save almost $15,000, get a loaded Cadillac and the Ultimate title of “The Worlds Fastest Sedan.” And with a zero to 60 mph time of 3.9 seconds, it could literally peel the wrinkles from the face of grandma and grandpa giving them the appearance of thirty-year-olds. So I guess it appeals to everyone.

Except for me. I’m the biased type that can only drive the purest form of vehicles. It has to have a manual transmission and be rear wheel drive. So I guess that leaves me… Oh?! What do we have here, you can get it with a 6-speed manual transmission and it is rear wheel drives. And the manual transmission reduces the massive 4,255 lbs curb weight of the automatic by 33 lbs. A six speed and a weight reduction? “Behold! The heaven’s parted, and their glory shown brightly down onto the Cadillac CTS-V.” I’m pretty sure that’s how it went at the Detroit Auto Show. If it didn’t, it should have.

God Bless America. Finally a car that more than competes with its off shore counterparts coming from this great nation. This certainly is one car that makes me say “I’m proud to be an American.”

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BMW announces the release of 500 Mini Cooper Electric cars for lease in 2009. While only 500 lucky people will get to cruise back and forth from work in one, the rest of the United States will get to enjoy 100 years of the perfected art of the internal combustion engine. You know, like being able to accelerate faster than a slug, wonderful torque, horsepower, mellow exhaust notes, gas prices, air pollution…

Wait a second, the new Mini has 204 horsepower, produces 162 ft-lbs of torque at 1 rpm, is completely silent, never needs gasoline and never pollutes. That’s more horsepower and torque than either of my cars. If I’m keeping score, that is like the Mini E-4 and my compact cars-0.

What’s this? The new Mini is capable of a governed 95 MPH and 150 mile range on a single charge. AHA! That would be one for my cars. I have better range and I can go faster.

Guess what else the Mini can do? It can be charged in very same electrical socket you used to make those blended frozen margaritas the night before and it only takes about two and a half hours using the quick charger. That means you can watch your Football game and by the end go for a 150 mile test drive to your favorite club, bar, or grocery store. I guess that’s another point for the Mini. Continue reading →

I’m really excited about the new 370 Z car that is being produced and feel like Nissan has come full circle with this new Z. The new styling and major redesign of the chassis captures the references from every Z car, and glaringly so from the 240Z. But the new Z car has also capture its own unique styling that I can only describe as a contradictory “sharp-roundness” not found in any other vehicle except in the Nissan line-up (The New Maxima). The headlights and taillights sharply encase the roundness and flares of the wheel wells. The shortened rear of the car and sharper line of the rear hatch add to the meanness factor. But I can’t forget about the inverted fangs in the grill that surprisingly add to the lines and aggressive stance of the car. In short, the car screams “Drive me hard and you won’t be disappointed.”

But the new Z has a new chassis that raises the bar from the old 350Z. It is shortened almost 3″ shorter overall and has nearly a 4″ shorter wheel base not to mention a 1″ wider track. With all that taken out you would think it the car would be substantially lighter, unfortunately it isn’t. The 370Z is only 95 lbs lighter than the previous Z because of added safety features and increased chassis rigidity. But what does that mean to you? Better handling and a safer vehicle. I can’t argue with that and it is still a little lighter.

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The questions is can you have your cake and eat it, too? I love the idea of fast sports cars that handle well and also serve as a decent daily driver. However, as I mentioned before in the last article, gas prices are on the rise and are currently over $4.00 a gallon with no relief in sight. Where does that leave the driving enthusiast?  Bored… and annoyed (At least I am.)

You can’t take that leisurely trip up north or to your favorite mountain pass on the weekend, you have to save that precious fuel for getting yourself to work and back. So what is the solution?

Carpool if you can, ride a bicycle if you live close enough, or buy a more economical ride.

I never want to recommend that people trade in their existing car for the sole reason of poor gas mileage. If there is nothing wrong with your vehicle it always better to stick with it even if fuel is expensive. It will take a long time to make up the difference in price for the fuel and maintenance on your old vehicle versus the fuel savings from a new vehicle. With that said let me suggest some sporty and economical vehicles.

First and maybe not the best for this category is the Chevy Corvette. Really, it does actually get fairly decent gas mileage considering it is putting out 430 HP. It averages 16/26 mpg. You get the performance, the handling, and the gas mileage, but (and there is always a but) you have to pay for it. It is close to $48,000 and you don’t get a back seat, so as long as you don’t care about the price or hauling anyone but your best friend then I say go for it. This car is not realistic for the everyday driver. It is impressive none the less to get that good of gas mileage out of a car.  I was shooting for sporty cars with the city gas mileage over 20, cause let’s face it who here mostly drives in the city… I certainly do!

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Yesterday was the first day in my entire life that I paid more than $50 to fill my fuel tank on my 240sx. I paid almost $4 a gallon. (I took a 15 minute pause right here in the article to punch a few inanimate objects and yell at the fact that gasoline is so so expensive… Feel free to do the same.)

So I figured, I would recommend a few ways that you can save and hang on to that precious liquid gold in your tank a little longer.

First, keep your hands, arms, heads, and puppy dogs in the vehicle at all times. As much as my dogs like the windows down the gas mileage of you car can suffer greatly by just having the window down. With the windows open air flows into the vehicle and not around it, decreasing how aerodynamic it is. This is more critical the faster you are driving. So at freeway speeds it is a must.

Note: This is not my dog, I own a much much cooler dog than this.

Second, Don’t use your air conditioning. It robs the power from the engine and can affect the gas mileage of your car. Unfortunately I can’t even follow this advise. It is 100 degrees out here in the summer and I particularly do not want to be drenched with sweat when I get home from work. On the other hand it is a great way to lose weight.

Third, Anticipate the flow of traffic and lights. I’ve noticed that most people where I live fail to do this regularly. Besides it is a good driving habit, the smoother and less inputs on the accelerator pedal the better. When you sharply stab that pedal the computer in your car reacts and almost immediately dumps as much fuel into the engine that it can get. If you’re smooth on the throttle the computer can anticipate your needs and only give the engine the required amount of fuel.

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Did I ever mention how much I love my old 1987 Toyota Corolla? Well, I do. (If you don’t care about reading my article and only care about the numbers then scroll the to bottom of the page.)

The past several month, life for Austin and I has been down right insane. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a person out there reading or checking out our web site who hasn’t experienced the craziness of life at one time or another. During this craziness, Austin somehow manged to coerce me out of my S13, 240sx, or what ever you’d like to call it. So I’ve been stuck driving my Corolla. Which it turns out I like actually better. So If your interested in an S13 email me allen@62mph.com

During the progression of time I met some fellow AE86ers’ (I guess that is what you call us… it’s a word now.) and made some new friends along the way. One of them John, who I hope at one point will get to interview and review his really sweet MR2 Spyder, works at a garage with a dyno.

A little beer, helping him put on his body panels on his MR2 and next thing I know I’m running my AE86 on the Dyno.

It was Austin, My friend Noel, John and of course yours truly. We decided to play the “Price is Right” with my Dyno numbers at which point I found out that John is a pessimist at 85 HP to the wheels. Noel was only slightly better with 90 Hp and I guessed 92 HP. Austin, Ah Austin the eternal optimist guessed 98HP.

Well with the car being pretty much stock with the exception of a TRD header, High-Flow Catalytic Converter, and an Megan under tail exhaust (I don’t recommend bad customer service and I had to get it re-welded for ground clearance.), I put down 106 HP! That exhaust kicks %^#!

Really?! The first run was 92 HP to the wheels. Looks like I was right. I would have been a little more excited to see 95 HP to the wheels but three HP is almost negligible.

But wait, I had the silencer in the muffler still and until now I’ve never ran the car with out it. So we ran the test again. 98 HP to the wheel and besides being ridiculously loud, it sounded about a hundred times better.

So if you have a silencer in your Megan Exhaust, burn it drive over it, use it for target practice but for the love of all things holy and horsepower related, never, ever, ever put that thing back in. That was an 8% gain in horsepower!

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I got an email back from Corvette regarding the Skull logo on the ZR-1 and I have to say that that the story behind it IS actually quite interesting.

Short story is this. It is an homage to the ZR1 Corvette’s racing heritage. It is the official logo of Corvette Racing. Long story is as follows.

The smirking skull is called “Jake.” The Corvette Racing team had been using various ’skull’ iconography for a while in various ways, but the guys at BadBoyVettes.com felt that there was a need for a proper logo. This is a scan of the original napkin design from that came from a night at the bar after the 2004 LeMans drawn up by Bad Boy Vettes while sitting with the Corvette Racing team. Since then the logo has been on the C6.R b-pillar as the official “mascot.”

According to BadBoyVettes, Chief Engineer Tom Wallace, “saw the crossed flags on the ZR1’s supercharger along with the conventionally placed ones on the nose and the intake snorkel he balked at the 3x arrangement. His solution? Honor the ZR1 connection to its racing roots and replace one set of flags with the embossed Corvette Racing skull.”

What is really cool is that later they invited the guys from BadBoyVettes to see a preview of the production ZR1 and popped the hood to show them their logo on the air intake. The full story can be found here. Congrats guys. Very cool to find your design inside of the fastest production American muscle car ever.

Interior and Header photo courtesy and © General Motors
The napkin is © BadBoyVettes.com
62mph.com is unaffiliated with either

The new Corvette ZR1 has a subtle design element that quietly speaks volumes. When you peak under the hood you see the awesome LS9 from the standard Corvette with a hi-tech supercharger strapped onto the top. Normally in a Corvette you see the the “twin flag” emblem all over the place. It is on the hood, under the hood, on the steering wheel, on the door sills, on the wheels, and on the floor. The ZR1 is no exception to this except that when you lift the hood, instead of seeing the standard twin flags on the airbox you see the twinflags making the eyes of an extremely stylized skull.

Now that is tough. This seems to represent only one possible thing. That the ZR1 means death. The 620hp in this 3300 lb car are meant to destroy the competition. There is no doubt that the Vette is going to take down the Viper throne, which it currently only holds in terms of American power. The Z06 has always been hoping to wrestle with the Porsche 911 Turbo which it has always fallen behind, but with this new Corvette rendition we will have to see.

The Corvette ZR1 is basically the fastest, most powerful, production corvette in history. That is the short story. The long story is that the ZR1 is so heavily modified from its origin that it is almost a completely different car altogether.

The ZR1 is targeting 100hp / liter making 620 hp at 6500 rpm and hits 585 lb-ft of torque at 4000rpm. Those numbers are high but get this. From 2600 to 6000 rpm you will have 90% of the torque available. With that much low end torque, I am imagining this to be a great car for power in the twisties. The horsepower starts to really kick in at around 3000 rpms with 300hp right in the middle and it just keeps climbing from there.

You might notice the brakes on this beast. They are Brembo 15.5 inch carbon-ceramic rotors on the front and 15″ on the back. That is a $20,000 option on a Ferrari. Impressive to say the least. There should be no question of its stopping abitily.

There is plenty more to discuss involving the ZR1 and so we will continue to cover it. Right now it looks plain awesome. Somehow I think I need to talk my wife into taking out a few mortgages against the house as well as convincing her that 110hp is completely inadequate for our growing family and that 620 would be far more reasonable. I am sure she will understand the need for a $100,000 Corvette when I tell her that it is the best one yet.

Allen: I concur! If the devil had to drive a new production car, I’m pretty sure this would be it. The ZR1 Skull just adds to the attention to detail that Chevy has put into its high performance car for years, turning an already awesome car into something sinister. That little skull screams “Death to all who oppose the mighty ZR1″ with its half grin.

As for Austin taking out a second, third, and four mortage for the ZR1, I’m all for it but you might have to explain to your daughter why she gets left behind. Even with its $100,000 price tag they still didn’t make the ZR1 with a back seat.

62mph has officially launched as of today. We are still working out a few kinks but the main site is now up.

It is 62mph.com. We are doing vidcasts of car reviews in addition to continuing to provide regular blog posts. Check it out, bookmark it (RSS still coming) and feel free to give us your feedback. We would love to hear it.

Thanks from Allen and Austin.