Autoblog

Don't want to wait for the Chevrolet Volt? Don't feel like spending tens of thousands of dollars on a new green car? Combine your thrift, environmental consciousness and affinity for wrench turning by building your own electric car. Canadians Darin Cosgrove and Ivan Limburg have electrified a Geo Metro for less than $1,000 and you can too! Starting with a Metro helps set expectations, as the converted car is not fast and suitable only for low speed in-town tripping, but the original was no paragon of performance anyway. AutoblogGreen covered some of the ForkenSwift's construction, but we thought it'd be a good thing to revisit. The winter months are upon us, and building an EV in the garage is a nice way to stay out of the snow.

After stripping out the gas engine and its associated plumbing, the duo sold the engine and fuel tank; we're amazed that there's a market for Metro engines. A $500 used forklift provided the DC motors and control systems, and the carcass provided good scrap value once the vital organs were harvested, helping offset costs. A used bank of batteries were donated by another EV owner, though new batteries would boost performance and range. But hey, nothing's as cheap as free. Finding a Metro for cheap might be a neat trick now that prices have been inflated, but any old light thing will work. For a total tally of $672, who can complain with the results? Thanks for the tip, Maxim.

[Source: Ecomodder]

We already fuel and lubricate our cars with animal byproducts, it just takes millions of years for the process to happen. Connecticut-based Green Earth Technologies has been marketing its G-Oil product for small engines at retailers like Home Depot, and the company is waiting on approval from the American Petroleum Institute new automotive applications. G-Oil is biodegradable (no word about the nasties that used oil holds in suspension, though) and made from animal fat that would typically be discarded by slaughterhouses. It's ironic that animal-derived oil is an alternative to petroleum, which shifted the world away from whale oil over a century ago.

Mobil 1 and other synthetic oils have been around for decades, and do offer an alternative to straight dino juice, but Green Earth's technology guru Mat Zuckerman touts G-Oil as "better than anything out there." As the whaling industry discovered back in the day, there's not enough animal byproduct out there to satisfy the demand for oil or supplant petroleum's primacy, but every little bit helps. GET's Oklahoma facility is capable of producing 5 million bottles per month, and we wonder if it makes your engine's innards smell like meatloaf.

[Source: Detroit News via TCC]

We're apparently not the only ones in love with the Lotus formula, as celebrities are reportedly falling all over each other to get on the list for an Evora. We had a blissful visit with an Exige recently, but our main gripe was that we could only share the joy with one other person. When you've got a car that's such a delight, you want to pack the whole family in it, car seats and all. We're not sure if the 2+2 Evora will have LATCH anchors in the back seats, but that wouldn't stop us from trying to sign up for the upcoming four-place Lotus were we able to swing the payments. We'd be in good company, automotive celebrities Richard Hammond and James May are on "the list," along with TWO James Bonds. We wonder if the Evoras destined for Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig have been fitted with Q-approved submarine conversions, but even if they can't go swimming, it's clear that the Evora is the "it" car of the moment for a sizable list of celebrities, no Autoblog scribes included.



[Source: Lotus]

Volkswagen's new Scirocco is rapidly becoming a popular canvas for customizing, and Wolfsburg itself is getting into the act. The Bologna Motor Show has been graced with the Scirocco Study R, which could be a preview of a production version called the Scirocco R20T. The Study R is a derivation of the ideas laid down by the GT24 race concept, with a sneery front end and a wing out back. The Study R is more understated in white with subdued striping, red mirrors and a nostriled hood. Power is provided by a 2.0 liter TFSI engine that twirls the cogs in a six-speed DSG gearbox. Suspension and braking systems have also been tweaked to deliver on the image's sporty promise, and a less restrictive exhaust offers some bark to underscore the bite. With the death of the R32, Volkswagen might bring the R20T to the North American market, and if it's anything like the Study R, we'll be saying R-thirty-who?



[Source: Motor Authority]

If we keep this up, we're going to best our record of six in a row, or whatever it was. The Autoblog Podcast crew returns for Autoblog Podcast #105 with Chris, Sam, and Dan discussing a paltry sweep of subjects as the quiet gathers before the storm of Congressional hearings is unleashed this week. We kept it shorter this week, but that doesn't mean that there's not plenty of witty repartee to go around. Enjoy!

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You know things have gone awry when BMW now offers three different flavors of non-cars, all of them antithetical to the Bavarian brand's classical claim to fame. The X6 is the latest addition to the range, joining the X3 and X5, and BMW is calling it a Sports Activity Coupe, creating an acronym that's oddly prescient for a vehicle that's essentially a post-bris X5. Beyond the looks that are an acquired taste, we wanted to know if there's BMW goodness baked into the X6, so we swiped the keys to an X6 XDrive 35i for a week with the SAC to find out.


Photos Copyright ©2008 Dan Roth / Weblogs, Inc.

Those Chastity Pariahs over at the Parents Television Council have called out General Motors and Nissan, among others, for advertising on shows deemed shocking and outrageous. The PTC has ranked the best and worst companies based on the television programs they advertise on, arguing that the advertisers' support is tacit enabling of programming's content. It could be that the auto companies have advertising agencies that do smart things such as market research to determine where the target customer's eyeballs hang out. The PTC is all in a tizzy over GM ads shown during Family Guy breaks, a show which is clearly satire and not intended for children, despite being animation. Nissan and GM spots showed up on shows that caused the PTC's red light to flash nearly 1,000 times during the last year, which shouldn't be correlated to bad behavior on the automakers' part, like the PTC would have you believe. Car companies are in the business of selling products to people; many people don't limit their viewing to Higglytown Heroes, some of whom occasionally purchase automobiles. Besides, what parent in their right mind would let a child watch Family Guy, with its decidedly blue and often hilarious content? Lighten up, Francis.

[Source: AdAge]

Sporting a name that could roughly mean "high pitched rabbit" is loveably quirky, and so it fits that the name is affixed to a kei car. Suzuki's 660cc microcar, styled in the same idiom that has shaped Nissan's Cube, though the 'Zuki calls to mind the original Mini more than other squared-off micros. The styling is about the only thing that Suzuki hasn't changed on the Alto Lapin, which has been on sale since 2002. There are upgrades to the platform, powertrain, and interior, making the Alto Lapin a virtually new vehicle. The interior rework brings a newfound sense of space, if that can truly be said about anything so tiny, and the stylish design is rendered in classy materials. A new CVT makes the most of the 53 naturally aspirated or 63 turbocharged horsepower while delivering nearly 58 mpg. The car, with its inherent cuteness, is aimed at women buyers (like many other keis, it's offered in pink), and there's a whole line of "Lapin Goods" to go along with the car. With a price between $11,000 and $15,000, there's some scratch left over for trinkum that will make you nearly as stylish as your Alto Lapin. Click here for a translated version of Suzuki's press release.

Gallery: Suzuki Alto Lapin

[Source: Suzuki via Autofiends]

That treasure trove of appalling autodom described in the most gnarled English imaginable, otherwise known as eBay Motors, serves up today's flavorful morsel of weird and wonderful. Why wait for the upcoming Rolls-Royce RR4 when you can just throw $50K at this heavily customized Chrysler 300C? It's got the ostentatious grille, the suicide doors, the RR embroidered headrests, but most importantly, a HEMI V8 underhood. HEMI, apparently now transmuted to mean "multi-displacement system," will save you fuel as you rent the car out for the dreamy rate of $750 per day as the seller suggests. At least with a Chrysler lurking underneath all that nasty, you can be assured that repair costs will be nominal compared to the real thing.


[Source: eBay Motors via TTAC]

Hyundai is once again shuffling the deck at its U.S. operation. Since 2003, four different backsides have sat in the CEO seat. Finbarr O'Neill, Bob Cosmai, Steve Wilhite, and Jon Eun Kim were not able to gain enough ground towards the brand's goal of selling 1 million units by 2010, so now it's time for John Krafcik to try his hand. Krafcik will move up from his VP of Product Development and Strategic Planning position where he helped shape Hyundai's most recent successes. He played a role ensuring the Genesis and Santa Fe would resonate with the American market, and his reward is the new title of acting President and CEO of the U.S. unit for Hyundai. In the past, individuals named as "acting" executives had the probationary title removed within just a few months. While Hyundai no longer thinks it will shift 1 million cars by 2010, Krafcik will try to keep the dealer body pleased with stable upper management and continuing to release world-class product at more reasonable prices than the competition.

[Source: Automotive News ,sub req'd]