December 4, 2015
BMW Charger 1
$63,000 and $66,000 are respectively vast sums of money to the average consumer. 425 and 707 horsepower are equally staggering performance figures in a world where 200 horsepower is the norm for most passenger cars. Yet, both numbers come from what you could call “family-oriented automobiles”. Capable of taking the kids to school, running errands, or demolishing tires at an empty intersection.
The BMW M3 and the Dodge Charger Hellcat don’t compete for the same market share. They don’t even compete in the same levels of performance. One is a German surgeon’s scalpel, while the other an American chainsaw. However, where they do compete is in pricing, and gauging their individual prices versus what each offer, how does one choose between the two performance sedans.
RELATED: See More of the BMW M3 Here
M3 15
M vs. SRT
Since their debut, we’ve driven both cars extensively. Last year, we named the Dodge Charger Hellcat our BoldRide of the Year. We love its instantaneous tire destruction and its ability to make everyone in the world once again feel like a child. The BMW M3, on the other hand, is one of the best performance cars around. Period. The handling, power delivery from its turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine, and the fact that you can still get it with a manual transmission has us swooning.
It was a real struggle when both the Charger Hellcat and the M3 had to leave our care, since they are both the kind of performance sedans we’d rather not give back. But we definitely had more trouble giving back one over the other—and it might not be the one you’re all expecting.
Charger Hellcat Review 6
The Dodge Charger Hellcat is a beautiful machine and offers a performance that you typically wouldn’t be able to touch unless dropping six-figures. It’s the everyman’s supercar, and that’s what Dodge intended it to be. But it doesn’t have the well-rounded nature that BMW’s M3 offers. The Charger Hellcat is great at making loud noises, sitting five people comfortably, and demolishing some purpose-built racing cars. Though it will allow you to drift a corner like you’re Ken Block, it doesn’t exactly handle all that well. The BMW is another story.
Thrashing BMW’s M3 was definitely a highlight of the year. Taking it into the canyons, and pushing it to our limits revealed a car that’s frighteningly faster than we are. It’s manual transmission is sublime as you shift through its gears. The traction delivered from the suspension setup, the chassis, and its Michelin Pilot Super Sports is phenomenal. Nevertheless, it still has enough slack in that geometry, and enough torque to light up the rear end and fill the area with a dense cloud of tire smoke. It’s a hooligan in BMW clothing.
M3 3
Add the level of sophistication in the BMW, and the two cars become light-years apart. Whereas the Charger Hellcat was built to be a cheaper, super-sedan alternative, BMW didn’t skimp on the details; every piece of trim, the quality of the leather on the seats, and every knob and button feels Teutonic. A vast contrast to the Charger Hellcat’s interior made of hard plastics. The BMW’s engine however, is the star of the show.
RELATED: See More of the Dodge Charger Hellcat Here
Charger Hellcat Review 3
Is Horsepower The Defining Factor?
BMW’s last M3 made use of naturally aspirated V8 engine, and had a bellow that needed to be witnessed in person to truly appreciate. But the M3’s new twin-turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine is a symphony, a masterful triumph in turbocharged engines. There’s virtually no lag from the turbo setup, meaning you have almost instantaneous acceleration. It’s a violence that you wish to repeat over and over again. Where the Charger Hellcat’s acceleration could be described as a sledgehammer, the M3 is a laser-guided missile.
That ferocity is down to the 1,000-pound weight difference between the two cars. The Charger Hellcat, while having 707 horsepower, weighs a hefty 4,575 pounds. The M3, with its 425 horsepower, weighs just 3,540 lbs. That weight makes a deafening difference between the two performance sedans, one that can’t be made up with horsepower alone.
RELATED: The 2015 BoldRide of the Year is…
M3 12
The Verdict
Of course, armchair enthusiasts that have never driven either car will call us idiots, or noobs, or the kind of slanderous expletives frequently found on forums and in comment sections for picking the BMW M3 over the obviously better because it has more horsepower Dodge Charger Hellcat. We still love the Charger Hellcat, and that you could spec one out with a baby seat.
The BMW M3 is just that good, and in the real world, 425 horsepower is better than 707.
Specs
BMW M3
Engine: 3.0-liter Twin-turbocharged Inline Six-Cylinder
Horsepower: 425
0-60: 3.8 Seconds
Price: $63,200
Dodge Charger Hellcat
Engine: 6.2-liter Supercharged V8
Horsepower: 707
0-60: 3.7 Seconds
Price: $65,945
Positives
BMW quality is unmatched in the class
Turbo and supercharger noises are great things to have
Both have ludicrous top speeds
Negatives
Pricey options on BMW M3
Hellcat has too much hard plastic
We don’t own either of them…
Photo Credit: Jeff Perez and Jonathon Klein for BoldRide
While Tesla, General Motors, Nissan, BMW and other automakers doggedly push to bring battery-powered vehicles into the mainstream, Achates (a-KATE-ezz) Power engineers are betting that an old technology could drastically improve fuel economy and reduce the size of future internal combustion engines.
The company was launched in 2004 by James Lemke, a self-described "serial entrepreneur," with an initial investment from John Walton, son of Wal-Mart founder Sam. Based in San Diego. Achates earlier this year opened an engineering center in Farmington Hills.
The U.S. Department of Energy made a $9 million grant to Achates, Delphi Automotive and Argonne National Laboratory. Together the three recipients will invest another $4 million to develop a 3-cylinder, 3-liter opposed-piston gasoline compression engine that could improve fuel efficiency by 50% or more on large passenger vans, pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans.
So what is an opposed-piston engine and how does it work ?
Instead of one piston per cylinder, which requires four cycles per firing, opposed-pistons engines have two pistons per cylinder, both connected by levers with a single crankshaft. With two pistons per cylinder, working in opposite reciprocating action, there's no need for cylinder heads, which means less heat is lost in the combustion process.
The advantage is the engine can produce equal performance for less displacement and less emissions from pressure inside the cylinder than a four-stroke engine. Combined with gasoline compression injection there is an opportunity improve fuel economy significantly and reduce emissions of nitrous oxides and particulate matter.
The 30-month program will draw on Achates' expertise, Delphi's experience with gasoline compression injection systems and Argonne's know-how on single-cylinder engines.
This opens new technical and commercial territory for the 11-year-old company.
"Most of our work to date has been with diesels and some natural gas engine, and those tend to be larger engines aimed at large commercial vehicles," said Larry Fromm, Achates vice president for business and strategy development. "This project involves engines for passenger vehicles such as shuttle vans, pickup trucks, minivans and SUVs."
So why haven't automakers and truck manufacturers already beaten a path to Achates' door?
The short answer is that most of its work so far has been focused on research and development. This is the company's third joint development program.
Earlier this year Achates received a $14 million for development on a new generation of engines to power future combat and tactical vehicles for the Army in partnership with Cummins, the engine-making giant.
In 2013 Fairbanks Morse Engine, a manufacturer of industrial and marine engines, and Achates began work to reduce emissions and fuel consumption of Fairbanks Morse proprietary diesel and dual-fuel opposed-piston engines.
While Volkswagen's emission-cheating scandal, not to mention falling gas prices, may reinforce American car buyers' reluctance to give diesels a chance, the commercial trucking industry is the likely initial market for this technology.
The project with Delphi and Argonne is important because it could lead to sales in the light-vehicle market. The end product will not be a diesel, but a 3-liter gasoline compression ignition engine.
"GCI provides diesel-like efficiency in a gasoline engine, without typical diesel and after-treatment cost penalties," said Achates CEO David Johnson.
In 2012, the National Highway Safety Administration determined that by model year 2021, each manufacturer will need to achieve a combined fleet-average fuel economy of between 40.3 and 41 miles per gallon. Not long ago, industry observers expected hybrids and electric vehicles to drive compliance with those targets.
But with gas prices trending toward $2 a gallon or lower in much of the country that premise is shaky. Even the Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Energy Department, projects that in 2035 about 95% of light vehicles will still be powered by internal combustion engines.
Fromm and Fabien Redon, Achates vice president of technology development, said company's existing work force of 85 people will handle most of the new program's work, which will be divided between San Diego and Farmington Hills.
"But we will probably hire some contractor-supported work," Redon said.
While the privately-held company doesn't disclose financial results, it has attracted about $100 million in venture capital from investors who are willing to stick it out for the long term.
"You do need patient investors, but we are making great progress in terms of technology development and customer traction," said Fromm. "We are working with clients in India, Japan, China, Europe and the U.S."
Porsche’s flat-four-powered Cayman and Boxster will revive the historic 718 nameplate
By Ronan Glon
December 10, 2015 8:31 AM
Currently, the Porsche Boxster
and the Cayman are two different model lines that happen to share a long
list of components. That will change next year when Porsche gives both
models a major mid-cycle update and renames them 718 Boxster and 718
Cayman, respectively. The 718 name wasn’t chosen at random. It’s
borrowed from a victorious race car built between 1957 and 1962 that
took first place in Italy’s challenging Targa Florio in 1958 and in
1960, and first in class during the 1958 edition of the 24 Hours of Le
Mans. All versions of the 718 were equipped with a flat-four engine, and
that’s where the connection with the updated Boxster and Cayman comes
in. While Porsche isn’t ready to publish technical specifications, an
earlier leak uncovered by British magazine Car reveals the entry-level
models will be powered by a 2.0-liter flat-four tuned to send 240
horsepower to the rear wheels via either a manual or a dual-clutch
automatic transmission. S models will up the ante with a 2.5-liter
flat-four rated at approximately 300 hp, while the GTS versions will get
a 370-hp evolution of the engine. Both variants of the four will be
fitted with direct fuel injection and a single turbocharger. Downsizing
is expected to make the 718 considerably more efficient than the
outgoing Cayman/Boxster, much lighter, and considerably more fun to toss
around a track. That said, special models like the Boxster Spyder and
the Cayman GT4 (pictured) will continue to please the purists with a
naturally-aspirated flat-six engine. The smaller engines will be
complemented by a minor facelift that will give both cars roughly the
same front end design. The cabin will also benefit from updates
including the addition of a new infotainment system.
Related: Take a virtual tour of the Porsche museum in
Germany The 2017 Porsche 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman will likely be
introduced to the public next March at the Geneva Motor Show. Porsche
has one last surprise up its sleeve: while the Cayman currently costs
$500 more than the Boxster, the 718 Cayman will be positioned below the
718 Boxster as the company’s entry-level sports car.
Also watch: Top Ten Most Expensive Cars In The World (2015) Please enable Javascript to watch this video
The 718 name wasn’t chosen at random. It’s borrowed from a victorious race car built between 1957 and 1962 that took first place in Italy’s challenging Targa Florio in 1958 and in 1960, and first in class during the 1958 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. All versions of the 718 were equipped with a flat-four engine, and that’s where the connection with the updated Boxster and Cayman comes in.
While Porsche isn’t ready to publish technical specifications, an earlier leak uncovered by British magazine Car
reveals the entry-level models will be powered by a 2.0-liter flat-four
tuned to send 240 horsepower to the rear wheels via either a manual or a
dual-clutch automatic transmission. S models will up the ante with a
2.5-liter flat-four rated at approximately 300 hp, while the GTS
versions will get a 370-hp evolution of the engine.
Both
variants of the four will be fitted with direct fuel injection and a
single turbocharger. Downsizing is expected to make the 718 considerably
more efficient than the outgoing Cayman/Boxster, much lighter, and
considerably more fun to toss around a track. That said, special models
like the Boxster Spyder and the Cayman GT4 (pictured) will continue to please the purists with a naturally-aspirated flat-six engine.
The
smaller engines will be complemented by a minor facelift that will give
both cars roughly the same front end design. The cabin will also
benefit from updates including the addition of a new infotainment
system.
The
2017 Porsche 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman will likely be introduced to
the public next March at the Geneva Motor Show. Porsche has one last
surprise up its sleeve: while the Cayman currently costs $500 more than
the Boxster, the 718 Cayman will be positioned below the 718 Boxster as
the company’s entry-level sports car.
Bentley's EXP 10 Sports Car Concept Is One Step Closer to Production
The coupe that wowed at this year's Geneva Motor Show is all but a done deal.
Technically, the Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6 shown at this year's Geneva Motor Show
was just a concept, but considering the overwhelmingly-positive
reception it received, we had a feeling it might be headed for
production. In September, we got a few hints that Bentley was at least considering it, but we know now that it's essentially a done deal.
Speaking in an interview with Top Gear, Bentley's
board member for sales and marketing Kevin Rose said, "To decide
whether to do a new model we always ask ourselves three questions. Is
there a gap in the market? Is there a feeder group of customers coming
from similar but cheaper cars? And can we make it a Bentley? With EXP
10, sure we can. It ticks all the boxes."
He went on to say the car hasn't been officially signed off on by the board, but at this point, it's just a matter of time.
We
still don't have details on the powertrain, but he did reveal that the
production car will be based on Volkswagen Group's MSB platform.
Originally developed to underpin the next-generation Porsche Panamera,
it's a rear or all-wheel drive modular platform with a longitudinal
engine that will also be used on the next-generation Continental GT and
Flying Spur.
The
platform offers a lot of flexibility, meaning "you can create a sedan
with sedan feel or a sports car with a sports-car feel."
If
you're looking for this to be a budget-friendly Bentley, you might want
to think again. The production version will be smaller than the
Continental GT but not cheaper. Instead, it will differentiate itself in
the lineup by offering a sportier driving experience.
Even if we are still waiting to find out what kind of engine it will get, this is still good news. Great work, Bentley!
How the Wild Alfa Romeo Carabo Concept Predicted the Future in 1968
Pointy, wedge-shaped, with scissor doors and a louvered rear window, this late-'60s concept set the tone for two decades of concept cars.
Since
the dawn of the automobile—or at the very least, the birth of the
Curved-Dash Oldsmobile in 1901—the industry has drifted toward
non-rectilinear shapes. Even the phone-booth-upright Model T featured as
many round forms as Henry Ford deemed financially prudent. For those of
us born in the 1970s, the angular machines we grew up with seemed
normal and modern; anything curveacous was obviously archaic. A Ferrari
330 GTS may as well have been an MGA, which could've been a Cord, for
all we cared. Only survivors like the Beetle, 911, Mini, and the Fiat
124/Pininfarina Azzura definitively bucked the trend, and they were
recognizably vehicles that had sallied forth from an earlier time,
vehicles who somehow beat back all attempts at replacement. Looking back
now, it's easy to see that the straight-edge styling of the 1970s and
1980s was merely a blip, an aberration. But if that strange period has
roots anywhere, they're right here, in the form of the Alfa Romeo Carabo
from 1968.
One might recall that Lamborghini's Miura had
only been on the market for two years when the Carabo went on display
at the Paris auto show. One might be shocked to learn that they shared
the same designer, young Marcello Gandini of Bertone. Underneath the
Carabo's fantastical shell sat the guts of a detuned racing car, in the
form of Alfa's 33 Stradale.
While the workaday Stradale wore the era's de rigueur curves, and wore
them as well as anything from the Porsche 904 to the Ferrari 330 P4,
Gandini went fabulously sci-fi with the Carabo.
Gandini
had conceived of the wedge shape as a way to combat the Miura's
tendency to raise its front end at speed. But at a time when Europe was
undergoing upheaval—the Paris uprisings of May '68, Soviet tanks rolling
into Czechoslovakia, Andreas Baader's early arson escapade in Germany,
and tensions in Northern Ireland, to name but a few episodes in that
turbulent year—why not start with a
clean sheet that looked toward the future? Even if it wasn't Gandini's
intent, the car's straight, stern lines offered a respite from chaos,
while the beetle-green paint imbued it with a sense of otherworldly
playfulness.
While the
underpinnings were merely a refinement of what had come before,
including a screaming 2.0-liter V-8 fed by SPICA mechanical fuel
injection and nestled behind the cabin in a tube chassis, the exterior
broke almost wholly with convention. Rather than a collection of forms,
the Carabo was a single, hewn mass. Likethe new 1968 Corvette and
Opel GT, the Alfa featured pop-up headlights. Unlike the swoopy GM
products, the Carabo's rose out of a practically-flat front panel. The
doors swung upward, allowing ingress over the thick sills in tight
spaces. Gandini would later reuse the idea for the Miura's replacement, the mighty Countach, a car that outwardly seemed to have more in common with the Alfa Romeo than its own predecessor.
Sports
and concept-car designers immediately took note. Nuccio Bertone,
Gandini's employer, put pen to paper and came up with the radical
Stratos 0 (or Zero) concept. Pininfarina put its own space-age twist on
the idea with the Ferrari 512S–based Modulo, now owned by Jim Glickenhaus. William Towns applied the precepts to a luxury sedan, resulting in the wonderful, complex Aston Martin Lagonda.
Essentially, Europe had gone wedge-crazy. Even conservative Ferrari
recruited Bertone to pen the successor to the Dino 246 GT, the
underrated 308 GT4, then promptly returned to Pininfarina for their
entry-level car's stunning two-seat variants. Still, the famed concern's
Leonardo Fioravanti had clearly been nipping at the geometric Kool-Aid
when he penned the 1972 365 GT4 2+2, which later evolved into the 400
and 412.
While
Giorgetto Giugiaro was no stranger to high-powered sporting machines,
having designed the lovely, troubled De Tomaso Mangusta during his
tenure at Ghia, he truly made his mark on the industry with the first
iteration of Volkswagen's Golf and its more-sporting sibling, the
Scirocco, which applied the Carabo's strict lines in a more
friendly, approachable form, setting a template that would influence
every hatchback from the very-European Ford Fiesta to the bog-American Chevy Citation.
It
might be said that the Carabo's influence reached its peak around 1983,
just as the last Japanese and American cars cast off their "European"
affectations of the 1970s. The first, most-angular of Ford's
long-running Panther-platform cars were in showrooms. The Fox-body
Mustang still carried its four-eyed visage. The Camaro and Firebird had
just given up their curvaceous second-generation bodies in favor of moreangular, compact forms. Mitsubishi's geometric Starion and its Chrysler Corporation captive-import Conquest twin were
on the scene, and Honda's first-generation CRX entered production late
that year. By then, the Countach had sprouted fender flares, but it had
yet to adopt the disruptive strakes of the Anniversary model. The next
year would see the debut of Ferrari's Testarossa, whose softer, blunted shape would set the aesthetic tone for supercars well into the 1990s.
Ford's
Sierra and Audi's C3 100 bucked the trend early, arriving in 1982. By
the 1986 model year, when Ford adapted the Sierra's jellybean styling
for American tastes in the form of the Taurus and Mercury Sable, the
writing was on the wall. At the same time, the edge had begun to come
off the edges in Japan. Honda/Acura's Legend was essentially a softer
take on the styling of the third-generation Civic that had preceded it,
and the Civic followed suit shortly thereafter. The Camry received
rounded corners during the same period, while Giugiaro's long-running
Lotus Esprit was replaced by Peter Stevens's rounder revamp in 1987. And
finally, the Carabo's indirect descendent, the Lamborghini Diablo,
arrived in 1990, shutting the proverbial scissor door on its
grandfather's revolution.
Yes, in the years since we've seen Lamborghini trot out F-117–inspired designs in the form of the Reventón, Sesto Elemento, and Egoista,
as well as the arrival of Cadillac's Art & Science form language.
While all of these made bold use of hard lines, none were as simple,
plain, and sharp as the shape of things to come that the Carabo
foretold. The future, it turned out, was just a phase.
From:
Car and Driver
Smooth Alligator: Taming the Tandem Twin – Technologue
The Alligator Boasts a New Engine Design
I’m a sucker for a new engine design, particularly when the concept offers simple solutions to thorny problems and especially when its inventor is a renowned race driver/team owner/engine tinkerer with a record of achievement like Dan Gurney. While all his 51 race wins (and 47 podium finishes) were achieved in four-wheelers (F1, Indy Car, NASCAR, Trans Am, and Can Am), the perennial champion also enjoys riding two-wheelers. The trouble is, his 6-foot-4-inch frame rides too high off the ground on conventional bikes. So he invented the Alligator bike, which has a low seat nestled down between the engine and the rear tire. Gurney’s All American Racers firm built a small run of 36 Alligators in 2002, but he was less than thrilled with the engine choices available to him at the time. Most were either too wide to comfortably wrap his legs around or vibrated so much that the engine couldn’t serve as a stressed chassis member but rather required extensive rubber isolation and chassis reinforcement.
So what are Gurney’s plans for the engine? “Our philosophy right now is to build five prototype engines, and then we’ll see,” he says. “If they live up to the simulations or close to it, it’ll generate a lot of interest. I don’t anticipate manufacturing it ourselves, but we might be able to get a license agreement that makes sense.” The first prototype should be running by mid-2016. The patent protects combinations of four, six, or eight such cylinders (sharing the same two counter-rotating shafts) for use in automotive, marine, or aircraft use, but I’m more skeptical of their success. Such “U engines”—pioneered by Bugatti’s 1915 U-16 aircraft engine—fell out of favor before World War II, owing mostly to issues of weight, complexity, and friction. But a smooth-running 262-hp tandem-twin ’Gator could have some serious legs.
http://www.latimes.com
Tilting Motor Works kit turns Harley-Davidson motorcycles into 'reverse trikes'
Many love the stability of a three-wheeled machine, but an equal number are put off by the handling: Trikes don't lean when they corner. They steer, a little more like a car than a bike.
Now the Seattle-based engineer behind Tilting Motor Works may have found the solution. Company founder Bob Mighell has developed a kit that will turn any Harley-Davidson cruiser into a "reverse trike" — two wheels in the front, one in back — that leans like a bike but won't fall over.
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The invention is timely. Harley-Davidson says its three-wheeled Freewheelers and Tri Glides represents the motorcycle giant's third-most-popular model. Sales of three-wheeled Can Am Spyders and Polaris Slingshots are up too.
The numbers will only go up as the male-dominated motorcycling cohort ages and as more women enter the sport — both trends that the trade group Motorcycle Industry Council already has noticed.
Although many female riders are jumping on traditional two-wheelers, and riders of both genders continue to make Harley-Davidson the country's biggest motorcycle brand, the popularity of the three-wheeler is likely to grow.
Mighell's contraption, which fits all Harleys except the V-Rod and is being altered now to fit the Honda Gold Wing, doesn't come cheap. The base unit costs about $10,000. It includes a new front end, complete with wheels, tires, brakes, suspension and the hardware connecting all that to the motorcycle.
The more complex unit, which includes technology that automatically stabilizes the bike should it tip over too far for the rider's comfort, goes for $13,000.
That's a lot, but it still may be cheaper to convert a new Street Glide (base price: $20,899) than buy a new Tri Glide Ultra for $33,499.
On the road, the Tilting Motor Works conversions feel surprisingly like traditional motorcycles. On a recent swing through Southern California, Mighell brought a Street Glide and a Softail Heritage fitted with Tilting Motor Works front ends.
The bikes handled nicely and felt light, even though the Tilting kit adds about 100 pounds. They carved the curvy roads around Griffith Park just as well as the original two-wheeled versions would have, shifting gracefully from side to side, cornering effortlessly compared with other three-wheelers, which require considerable upper body effort and deliver limited cornering confidence.
And they offer an added benefit of stability, which is a key thing for many riders — especially female riders, Mighell said.
"We're getting a whole lot of interest from women who want a big bike but want the stability of three wheels," Mighell said. "We also hear a lot from guys who like riding with their significant others but who would like them to have their own bikes."
Mighell's Seattle area shop is busy. He says he sold the first 12 kits he built, then sold out the next run of 25 and is already taking orders for the next wave of 50.
Mighell said it appears that the market can bear the cost.
"We did the math," said the tall, Nordic-looking Washington resident. "Harley sold 15,000 trikes at $35,000 each. So that's half a billion dollars. The market is there."
Ruth Zebb of Tucson is one of Mighell's satisfied customers. A longtime Honda Gold Wing owner, she rode for 17 years without an incident, then hit a patch of gravel and went down hard. At 64, she decided she was done riding on two wheels.
She tried a Harley Tri Glide and a Can Am Spyder. "It was like driving a tractor," Zebb said.
But then a friend sent her a Los Angeles Times article about three-wheeled motorcycles, and she saw the Tilting Motor Works trike, and said, "That's what I want."
A year later, she has a new Gold Wing that's been made into a Tilting Motor Works machine. "I'm thrilled," Zebb said. "I love it."
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