VOTW 12/22/08

Every week we at domesticvsimport.com scour the internet for videos we deem worthy of showing off. Sometimes videos will be an import vs a domestic, but other times videos will focus on just domestics or just imports

This weeks video is a set of greatest car chases as chosen by Top Gear. The clips are from the movies Ronin, Gone in 60 Seconds, and The Matrix Reloaded, respectively. Although some of the choices may surprise you, all the scenes are fairly entertaining and unique in their own way.

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VOTW 12/15/08

Every week we at domesticvsimport.com scour the internet for videos we deem worthy of showing off. Sometimes videos will be an import vs a domestic, but other times videos will focus on just domestics or just imports

Ford GT street racing in Tampa

This weeks video is a few races between a modified Cobra vs. a Ford GT. Enjoy!

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2010 Ford Mustang GT - First Drive Review

from caranddriver.com

Nearly five years after the Mustang’s last major redo, fervent fans of Ford’s seminal pony car might have been hoping for an all-new 2010 model—especially considering the new Dodge Challenger and Chevy Camaro models with which it will compete. Instead, Ford has launched a thoughtful upgrade, improving the areas that most needed help.

Number one was the interior, which had a retro look but consisted of hard plastic panels pieced together with numerous seams. From behind the wheel, the most obvious change is an instrument panel that stretches from door to door and from the base of the windshield to the top of the center console. This thermoplastic olefin molding feels squishy and looks rich. The twin-cowl theme of the current car continues, but it’s upgraded with more metallic trim and less plated plastic, a new instrument cluster with fully round dials, and an optional nav system with a huge, eight-inch screen and the latest version of the Ford/Microsoft Sync telematic system.

Outside, the new model is plainly a face lift rather than an all-new design, bearing a closer resemblance to the ’69 Stang than the current car. The four-light grille—the inner two are actually large fog lights—and the kicked-up rear fender lines come straight from the ’69 car. Otherwise, the sheetmetal is beveled at both ends, and there’s a pronounced hood bulge—the new model looks both more muscular and a bit smaller than the current one, which in some ways seems like a cleaner and more coherent design.

Underneath, the 2010 model is largely carried over, with key additions to improve stiffness and upgrade the ride and handling. Using the current car’s Bullitt package as the starting point, the new car gets 17 percent stiffer rear springs, and recalibrated shocks with markedly more compression damping and somewhat stiffer rebound damping. The changes are said to reduce body roll during hard cornering by about ten percent.

The V-8–powered GT now comes standard with 8 x 18-inch wheels (up from 8 x 17s), and the standard rubber is a Mustang-specific 235/50ZR Pirelli P Zero Nero all-season tire, a further development of the 17-inch Neros on the current GT. In Ford testing, these tires perform well in snow and deliver 0.84 g of dry cornering grip. Upgrading to 245/45ZR-19s mounted on 8.5-inch-wide rims raises grip to a claimed 0.90 g. The last GT we tested pulled 0.89 g on all-season Neros.

Ford finally is offering a TrackPack, which includes 255/40ZR-19 P Zero summer tires, stiffer shocks, higher-performance brake pads, a 3.73 axle ratio instead of a 3.31, rear trailing links with stiffer bushings, a strut tower brace, and larger anti-roll bars (the tubular 34mm front bar goes from 5.1 to 5.8 mm wall thickness and the solid rear bar increases from 20 to 24mm). With all of these changes, Ford says maximum grip increases to 0.93 g, while body is reduced a further ten percent.

The larger standard wheels and tires add only 15 pounds to the Mustang, which is a good thing because power hasn’t gone up much. Thanks to a cold-air system based on that of the Bullitt Mustang, power is up from 300 to 315 horsepower, and torque grows a modest five pound-feet to 325. The redline is also up from 6250 to 6500 rpm, matching the Bullitt’s. The cold-air system is said to cut 0-to-60 times by 0.3 second away from a stoplight, when the engine has been heat-soaking while idling at the light. The transmissions are unchanged with a choice of a standard five-speed manual or an optional five-speed automatic.

We spent a couple of days driving both current and new Mustang GTs around Southern California and at Willow Springs Raceway, and we predict that most people could tell the two cars apart even if blindfolded. The subtle structural improvements, the recalibrated suspension, and the better integrated interior achieve a marked improvement in the car’s perceived solidity. The current car is hardly a rattletrap, but the 2010 feels granite-like and is completely unfazed by hard driving or sharp bumps.

Depending on how you drive it, the new model is both quieter and louder than its predecessor. At low revs and light throttle, engine noise is subdued, and reductions in wind and road noise produce a peaceful cabin. Rev the engine, however, and you get the V-8 rap in high fidelity, thanks to something called a “sound induction tube,” which connects the engine’s intake track to the passenger cabin. There’s a tuned membrane in the tube to transmit selected sound frequencies without actually permitting any airflow.

On California’s smooth canyon roads, the new Mustang felt perfectly composed and planted. There was plenty of grip for brisk street driving and just enough understeer to encourage charging into corners and hard exits. Though feedback from the front tires is largely nonexistent, the steering itself is perfectly weighted and very accurate.

On the track, the differences among the three tire packages quickly became apparent. In all cases, the new Mustang understeers mildly at the limit but can easily be rotated with a quick throttle lift. But the speed at which this takes place goes up with the optional 19-inch Neros. Switching to the TrackPack yields not only another increase in grip but a chassis that turns in much harder and reacts more quickly to inputs at the limit.

For the first time, the Mustang offers stability control—Ford calls it “Advance­Trac”—and it’s standard. The system allows substantial shenanigans before it decides to shut down the fun. A sport setting is even more permissive. The system on the TrackPack gets special tuning and to go bareback, the system can be switched off.

Unfortunately, there’s no switch for bigger brakes. Even with the TrackPack pads, it didn’t take many laps before the stoppers started to fade.

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VOTW 12/1/08 and 12/8/08

Hey guys I apologize for not being on the boards recently but I have been extremely busy over the last two weeks and unfortunately have had very limited time to check the site. Here are the last two Video of the Week’s I missed

BMI Drift Bible with the Drift King part 1-2

BMI Drift Bible with the Drift King part 2-2

This first set of videos is the drift bible with Keiichi Tsuchiya. The videos are pretty long but have some amazing techniques and are a good starting point for anyone looking to get into the world of drifting.

11.25 @ 125 mph Challenger Hennessey HPE700 Turbo

The second video is a Hennessey turbocharged Challenger running an 11.25 @ 125 mph. This thing sounds amazing.

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Car of the Month 12/08

Congratulations to nemocamaro for our first Car of the Month award!

To see pics, specs and more of nemocamaro’s ride, check out his Car of the Month page at http://nemocamaro.domesticvsimport.com

Honda V8 Coming in 2015

from autoblog.com

“You’ve got to have the right tool for the job.” “You can’t bring a knife to a gun-fight.” Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. We’ve heard it all before. Honda makes some excellent engines, there’s no doubt about that, from small displacement four-pots that rev through the roof to gloriously smooth and reliable V6 units. Unfortunately, the fun stops there, as the Japanese automaker has steadfastly stuck to its guns, not building an eight-cylinder engine when it can do just as well with fewer pistons.

Regardless of how competent its six may be, nearly all of Honda’s competitors offer V8 engines in their top-level models, and Acura fanatics have been begging for a range-topper to compete with the likes of Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz for years. They may soon get their wish, as Honda’s CEO Takeo Fukui has stated once and for all that Acura will indeed be getting an eight for its next top-level sedan.

What good is a beefy engine if you can’t get the power to the ground? A big, heavy V8 engine over the front tires is a recipe for a horribly unbalanced front-driver, and Honda realizes this. So expect the aforementioned sedan to get rear-wheel-drive to go along with its newfound infusion of displacement. When? Not until 2015 according to some industry sources. That’s a veritable eternity in the auto biz, so we have to wonder if Fukui has let the cat out of the bag a bit prematurely.

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VOTW 11/24/08 and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hey guys hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving today! Spend some time with some friends and loved ones, and as always stuff yourself until you pass out.

Ken Block Gymkhana Practice

This weeks video is Ken Block practicing for gymkhana, which is a type of autocross that requires extremely high driver skill and maneuverability. Although the video is a few weeks old its still a great watch for anyone that hasn’t seen it. We’ve seen Ken Block in the past (click here) but this is arguably his most impressive video thus far.

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10 Best Cars of 2009

from caranddriver.com

Autumn in the Midwest means cold cider and warm doughnuts to a lot of folks, but for the C/D staff, it also means the weeklong rousing of a few quiet burgs as we descend on a rural route about 30 miles from our Ann Arbor office in search of the coming year’s 10Best cars.

This year, our home base changed—we upgraded to a location with a paved parking lot in the interest of floor-mat preservation and real bathrooms in the interest of staff sanity—but the roads traveled did not. Our traffic violations numbered zero, a nice change of pace from last year’s record total. Our judging criteria and the rules, however, remain constant.

Cars are judged on three points. The first is how well they perform their intended functions—sedans and hatchbacks should be spacious and versatile, economy cars should be frugal (but not punishing), and sports cars should be responsive and satisfying. Secondly, we consider how engaging a car is on an emotional level—do we emerge from a drive with a smile, and does it hold our gaze as we walk away? Finally, we look at how competitive a car’s pricing is for the levels of versatility, practicality, and fun it offers. We recognize value when we see it and we highlight those cars that possess it.

Eligibility for 10Best is determined based on newness and past 10Best success. All cars either new or significantly redesigned are allowed. Additionally, cars that made the list in 2008 are automatically invited back for 2009, providing they still clear our price cap—2.5 times the average new-car transaction price for all light-duty vehicles sold through August of the previous year, or $71,000 this time around.

If a car fails to make the list its first year on the market, it’s out of contention until a significant redesign renews its eligibility. Conversely, if a car consistently impresses us enough to be voted to the list year after year, it can remain on the list indefinitely, even if it receives no updates. But all eligible cars must be available for sale no later than January 2009.

1. BMW M3

2. Cadillac CTS

3. Chevrolet Corvette

4. Honda Accord

5. Honda Fit

6. Infiniti G37

7. Jaguar XF

8.  Mazda MX-5 Miata

9. Porsche Boxster and Cayman

10. Volkswagen GTI

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