Let’s take a look at a Hot Wheels diecast toy car like the one pictured above. A nice but somewhat slightly trashed looking Shelby Cobra Daytona due to collisions with other toy cars, walls and jumping off staircases. It looks pretty good doesn’t it? Especially with those really oversized wheels in different sizes for the front and the rear. If this were a real Shelby, those wheels would be easily 26inches up front and 30inches at the rear.

I suppose this is what has happened to the AG Excalibur. It must have suddenly come into the inventor’s mind like a bolt of lighting, straight to the brain and frying all sense of logic remaining in the poor fella’s gray matter as he then decided that it could be done…a Hot Wheels kind of car could be done. And it could be done indeed!

Designed single handedly by Lithuanian Audronis Gestautas, and based on a Mercedes Benz CL chassis and drivetrain, AG Excalibur boasts a customized aluminium frame wrapped with a carbon Kevlar and fiber glass mix. The Mercedes CL chassis must have been radically altered to fit those huge 24inch wheels up front which run 295/30/24 tires and gargantuan 30inch 315/30/30 tires. Notice that the Excalibur looks pretty much like a Hot Wheels toy car with that outrageously styled body and those humongous wheels.

The Excalibur has wheels so large that the mass of those wheels make it necessary to have 8 piston calipers on the front and 380mm x 34mm discs to make a dent on the rolling inertia as well as to balance out the wheel to brake disc ratio, so that it doesn’t look too weedy. But imagine the unsprung weight of the car and that rolling mass it has to have. It’s outrageous. And one must also note that you can have this car with a Mercedes Benz engine of up to 740bhp worth of horsepower (most likely the AMG 6.0liter V12 Biturbo) to overcome all inertia related problems.

As for the interior (photo above by topspeed.com), AG Excalibur has not skimped. Buy this car and you would get Swarovsky crystals as buttons on the dashboard and center console. You also get Swarovsky crystals as a gear shift stick and another to toggle its hydraulic suspension on the center console. And these are equally massive too. Like two glass goblets in the middle of the dashboard.

Couple this with quilted leather that has a button at the ends of each diamond shaped stitch pattern which goes all the way to the A-pillars as well as the roof, the whole car looks exquisitely garish. Then add that humpbacked whale sitting right smack in the top of the dashboard you know you’ve landed in a Alice’s Wonderland, or Hell. Depending on choice.

And oh, don’t park this car in a seedy back lane as the logo stuck on the boot of the car is solid gold. Anyone with a flat head screwdriver may become slightly richer after chiseling it off.

I suppose AG Excalibur have tapped into a niche market by offering the largest wheels on any car. But coupled with the looks of the Excalibur, I do not think that it is a palatable package for most to swallow. Hence their second model, the AG Shark (pictured below). It’s based on a BMW 6 series and still looks like it is a 6 series with Hot Wheels styled wheels instead of a Maybach Exelero clone which was designed on a designer drug induced trip. This may appeal more to Lithuanian movie stars, Russian oil barons or anyone with tons of money and a slight lack of taste that needs to have a full sized Hot Wheels toy car in their garage.

Anyway, it goes to show that people in post Soviet Republic countries have a sense of humor as warped as most of us out here, plus a little extra.

Yes, I know, the shine has somewhat dimmed on Jaguar over the years. What once was a car company that posted “Grace. Pace. Space.” and slew all that came before them at places like Le Mans has now been passed around like a doobie at a Grateful Dead concert, ending up in the hands of Tata. Not that there’s anything wrong with Tata. They seem like nice guys, and they’re doing nice things with Jags (or promising to). But cop cars?!

Dear God … just give me a second here … okay (deep breath) … okay … cop cars … right. A year after the British company announced the development of a police package for the new Jaguar XF sedan, and the first ever pursuit versions of the English saloons are about to go out on patrol across the Midlands. (Sniff.)

The Jaguar cop cars (sob) are in the hands of the Central Motorway Police Group, which patrols motorways across Staffordshire, Mercia and the West Midlands. The Central Motorway Police Group just purchased bought seven high performance Police-spec XFs. (Hysterical crying.) All of the XFs are based on the Diesel S model, and have a 3.0-liter plant churning out 275-horsepower and 443lb-ft of peak torque, (wailing) while still returning 42mpg UK and a CO2 rating of 179 g/km. (Gnashing of teeth.)

“Police forces across the country have been evaluating the XF and we are delighted that the team at the Central Motorway Police Group has chosen Jaguar to join its fleet,” Geoff Cousins, Managing Director for Jaguar Cars UK, blasphemed.

The police-spec XFs (heavy lamentation) package includes a roof mounted light bar with 3600 blue flashing lights and integrated side alley lights, blue and white flashing LED lights inside the front grille, side mounted blue flashing LED lights, blue and red flashing LED lights integrated in the rear light clusters and a Home Office-specification electronics ‘Police pack’.

I’d like to write more … but I can’t right now … I just need to be quite for a while …

Source: Car Scoop

But maybe the answer is even simpler. A performance car brings a smile to your face when you’re attacking corners down a windy road or enjoying the rush of speed it gives while powering down a long straight. It may not be the fastest car around, but if the performance of the car can give you that certain high, I would assume that the car does fulfill the performance car criteria in a certain sort of way.

This brings me to the Peugeot 308 1.6 THP Turbo Automatic I drove recently. It has almost the same ingredients as a Golf GTI with the exception that it has a smaller engine. Something like a Golf GT with its smaller engine but with the uprated suspension. The 308 has the badging – ‘turbo’ on its rear, large alloys, a stiff suspension and a curvy bulbous body. It looks its part, but is it a performance car OR a car that can give you that smile on your face because of its performance?

In order to answer that question, we start with dull bits first. The 308 has got pedestrian safety covered with the long overhang up front as well as a bulbous JLo styled butt. Some argue that the 308 is over styled and I have to agree with it. It is a 307 that had been elongated up front and at the rear. It does look pretty cutting edge, but I do feel that it is slightly over styled because of certain things like that ridiculous overhang upfront. It finishes its looks by sporting 225/45/17 sized tires on 17 inch five spoke rims that bring out the sporty pretensions of this Pug even more.

The 308 1.6 THP has the usualy slew of features like ABS, EBD, a 5 star NCAP rating and the clean Euro 4 -5 engine covered as the engine is a collaboration between PSA and BMW. So it is economical, reliable and powerful. But all the safety features stated above as well as modern day soundproofing has made this purportedly sporty hatchback into something disappointing. As for those who think that a hatchback with a turbo can make anything into a ‘performance car’ or a hot hatch, think again. This 308 made 140bhp, 240Nm of torque made from a turbocharged 1.6 that is also used in the smaller 207GT and the current BMW Mini.

The power delivery of this engine is pretty good as you can find that the engine picks up steam at an early 1800rpm in the 308. While it feels strong even with the archaic four speed automatic (with manual tiptronic + and – function) transmission that the car had. The torque the turbocharged engine makes fills up the gaps in the gearing that a four speed autobox usually has. It takes a pedestrian 9.2 seconds to reach 100km/h but this does not reflect on the somewhat ample mid-range performance that the 308 has when you shift down a gear manually either to overtake or to pull yourself out of a bend. I practically used the car in manual mode throughout the duration of the time I drove the 308. I prefer the control it gives.

However, if you compared the acceleration with the BMW Mini, which shares the same engine, this engine makes the Mini reach 60 at least two seconds sooner than the 308. Two seconds could be a lifetime to some single-celled organisms. This is because the Mini weighs nearly 200kgs less than the 308. Therefore the 308 is a warm hatch because of the weight.

Now the other thing that the extra weight does is affect handling. The torquey engine cannot mask all of the problems brought up by the weight. The 308 feels heavy handed when taking corners at higher than usual speeds. Take a tight corner at around 90km/h it will show understeer quite early into a corner. You can tell that it is somewhat porky when you’re wrestling with the steering wheel mid corner. Its like a boxer with some flab around his waist, jumping up and down, trying to jab and punch but its responses are slightly out of sync with his real intentions.

Another thing wrong with the 308 is that even with its slightly firm ride it is not able to handle mid corner bumps and undulations well. A mid-corner bump taken in this car would make the car feel unsettled where you have to adjust and make extra corrections with the steering. The steering feel on this Pug is only average and when you add all the extra work you have to do trying to wrestle it all into shape it adds up to something less fulfilling to do.

Furthermore, the car rides on the firm side for a 5 door hatch. Cars that ride as firm as the 308 should be able to handle well. But give the 308 a road with more than one pothole, rut, or bump and it’ll bounce and lurch uncontrollably like the French Army admitting defeat right after being Blitzkrieged by the Germans. The dampers seem to have decent bounce and truly rubbish rebound settings.

I have to also add the fact that Peugeot has lost its touch to make cars ride comfortably as well as handle. It s ride is nothing like the 405s or 406s people I knew had. The 308 does not have the magic carpet ride like Peugeots of old. It is not sports car firm but it isn’t all that comfortable too.

The thing is, this was the 2010 version of the 308 and this car has been around since end-2007 in most markets. Peugeot have not changed any aspect of the handling to this date as I remember reading about this flawed handling characteristic in magazines before.

I think if you drive it as a means of transport the 308 is fine, but asking this car to be a performance car is asking too much from it even though it has a good engine and nice fat tires on 17 inch alloys that look its part. This is a French hot hatch that basically ate too much Hors D’oeuvers, lots of Foie Gras, croissants, and then washed it all down with lots of Chardonnay thereby turning something hot into something warm. Writing this has suddenly made me hungry.

Disclaimer: This test vehicle was provided to CarThrottle by the manufacturer for purposes of evaluation

Peugeot 308 1.6THP Picture Gallery

Peugeot 308 1.6THP Specifications

Base Price: £18,000 (approx)– 308 THP 1.6 150bhp 6sp manual (THP auto may not be available in the UK but is very available in Malaysia)

Body: 5-door Hatch
Mechanical Orientation: Front Wheel Drive

Engine: 4 cylinder 1.6 Turbocharged
Power: 140 bhp (down 10bhp from the manual)
Torque: 240 Nm
Transmission: 4 Speed Automatic Transmission (with + and – “manual” function)

Weight: 1440 kg
Wheelbase: 2610 mm
Length: 4276 mm
Width: 1821 mm
0-62 mph: 9.2 seconds
Top Speed: 203 km/h

For: Looks, high speed refinement, decent interior
Against: Looks, weight, weight, handling, weight
Conclusion: A warm porky hatch

A stripped down, getting just the standard gear Amarok is just a grand short of what a Ford F-150 XL Super Cab goes for. And bear in mind that the Amarok comes with a 122 horsepower engine. The Ford F-150 XL Super Cab most certainly does not, and any way you care to measure it, the Ford beats the Amarok in everything but gas mileage. Ouch.

If you decide to start adding options to your VW pick up, and go with the Highline trim, you’re up to 163 hp plant and now you’ve got four-wheel-drive. Which is about what I’d want (minimum) in a pick up truck. But now your also up to a price tag of €37,169 ($50,022 U.S.) before taxes and fees.

No wonder VW won’t be bringing this guy to America. That’s just too much money for not enough truck. I recall that being one of the reasons Volkswagen never went ahead with that totally sweet Bus re-do they showed about a decade ago – you know, the one that was a minivan version of the New Beetle. People were slavering for that thing, and they announced that IF they were going to build it, prices would start at around $50K or so, and interest went down like an anchor.

Same thing would have applied to the Amarok 4 door pick up. Just think of the response form your average truck buying in, say, Tennessee if they would have advertised a two wheel drive truck, stripped down and starting at over $35K. It would have been a disaster. Too bad though. Looks like a nice truck.

Source: AutoBlog

And not just any Lancia but a Lancia Delta. And not just any Lancia Delta, but an HF Integrale EVO. Seriously, how many EVOs are there out on the roads? A dozen or so? And rather than race the thing, you decided to take a torch to it and cut it up and make this. Brilliant.

It would seem, according to sources, that there are not one, but two Lancia Delta HF Integrale stretch limos that are up for sale. And what makes that even more insulting is that they are being offered in their home country of Italy. Somehow, that makes it even worse.

If this insult had been leveled by some non-Italian, it might have been slightly more tolerable, but to have this done in Italy. Tsk-tsk-tsk. Oh, and the price is a travesty as well €99,000 or around US$136,000 at today’s exchange rates.

Beyond that, the details are thankfully sketchy. Both limos seem to sport the wider body and detailing of the 1991 Integrale Evoluzione. And one of them seems to be propelled by the HF Integrale 8v’s 2.0L turbo powerplant. And the other, it would appear, gets motivated by the Evo I’s 210-horsepower 2.0L 16v turbo unit.

Now, there’s no definitive word as to whether these two limos were made up from real original Delta HF Integrales, or whether they used the standard Delta hatchbacks, cut them into limos, and then added some bits and pieces of Delta HF Integrale bodywork to make the look complete.

There is also no word as to whether either of these limos feature the Integrale’s four-wheel drive system. Do you really want to know? I don’t, apart from a vague technical curiosity about how they extended and suspended the drive line all the way out to the back wheels.

But even if ewe are looking at a best case scenario, which in this case means they are just “normal” Deltas that got hacked up, these Bozos not only used up some perfectly good Delta HF Integrale body panels that could have been put to a much more worthy purpose (i.e., racing), but they also used up two sets of those gorgeous O.Z. Rally wheels.

Source: CarScoop

Protoscar describe themselves as being “CleanCar Shapers”, but I really think they should reevaluate their self-image. No, the Lampo 2 is not outright hideous, like a Pontiac Aztek, but it is awkwardly executed and strangely proportioned. In a lot of ways, it is rather reminiscent of various “safety car” studies that you’d see back in the 1970s.

Back then, it seemed to be all the rage (for a while) for car companies to design some sort of car that was as safe as a bank vault. These were things that were designed to be driven into walls at 40 MPH, and you could walk away without a scratch. They were Ralph Nader’s wet dream. the only real downsides were that they had the performance of a Model T, weighed more than a Brinks truck, cost 3 times what a Ferrari went for, and were homelier than a mud fence.

The Protoscar Lampo 2 is based on General Motor’s Kappa platform. This is the same basis for the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky and, in Europe, the Opel GT. And all of those, if not car designs for the ages, are at least fairly attractive. the Lampo 2 on the other hand …

Anyway, underneath the bodywork, the Lampo 2 features a powertrain consisting of twin electric motors, one up front, and one in back, meaning that it’s all-wheel drive. There’s a large-capacity lithium ion battery pack and solar cells on the back deck may help range, but probably not by much.

The total power of the twin motors is a very impressive 408 horsepower and they crank out 472 pound-feet of torque, also impressive. The Lampo 2, which weighs in at a beefy 3,483 pounds can do zero to 60 in around five seconds and top out at 124 mph. Which is not bad.

Protoscar’s real claim to fame though is their recharging options. One is allegedly a fast charger that offers up 100 kilometers of range after a 10 minute charge via an off-board DC rapid charger interface. OK, so it’s got that going for it.

Source: AutoBlogGreen

Ahhh, the French. Can you imagine anyone else coming up with a ride like this? Sure, Gerry Anderson, back in his UFO/S.H.A.D.O.W. days, but a real car company? Nope, only in France. And imagine touring around Paris in this thing?

But indeed the Cityrama Currus was real. It was built up on a Citroen U55 truck chassis (or so they say). I know nothing about the U55, and darned if I could find anything about it, but suffice it to say that it was capable of being modified, and apparently used in a fashion deemed satisfactory by the folks at Groupe Cityrama.

The Citroen U55 Cityrama Currus was double-decker bus with stylishly curved, wrap around glass on seemingly every surface – sort of like a Vista Cruiser station wagon on steroids. Or on a whole sheet of blotter, now that I think about it. The roof was also glass, and that could be removed so the very upper deck could be used for open air touring in the summer months.

Not only was the Cityrama Currus seen around the streets of Paris, but it was also featured in such continental movies as Le Corniaud and Zazie Dans Le Métro. Yes, those would be the very same movies directed by Gérard Oury and Louis Malle. And yes, that would be the same Louis Malle that was married to Candice Bergen.

Of course, seeing a ride like this raises a whole lot of questions. The first one is: “What’s that pointy-pointy thing jabbing out from the front of the, er, first roof for?” I could speculate, but I’ve found that doing that where the French are concerned is only right about a third of the time.

And another thing: I hope the Citroen U55 Cityrama Currus has an amazing air conditioning system. It’s got the glass area of a medium-sized greenhouse. And you combine that with your average Frenchman being required by law (I’m pretty sure) to smoke at least a pack and a half of Gauloises a day back in the 50s and I bet the Cityrama Currus could smell like a pair of sweat socks pretty easy.

Source: Jalopnik

Yeah, I know there’s that whole “pimp style” things, but if there was ever a “style” to back away from, that has got to be near the top of the list. Not only does it have a worse sense of esthetic restraint than Louis XIV, but the current power distribution around women is bad enough already without inflicting “pimp style” on them.

Anyway, it’s called a Bugazzi but it started out as a 1972 Lincoln before the King of The Kustomizes had a go at it. A while back it rolled across the auction stage at RM Hershey, but now the Bugazzi is on Hemmings.com It’s up for sale by an outfit called Daniel Schmitt & Co. in St. Louis Missouri. Daniel Schmitt & Co. seem to think it makes sense to ask about five times for than what it sold for at auction.

Back when RM Hershey was trying to sell it, here’s what they had to say:

“Finished in stunning 30 coats of custom, hand-rubbed Pearl lacquer with 24-carat gold leaf hand laid pin striping. Interior features include: Gold suede upholstery, Persian rugs, Italian marble, television, wet bar, and more! This Barris creation was sold new for $29,500 – nearly 3 times the cost of a Lincoln, and $10,000 more than a Rolls-Royce. It was marketed as the finest motorcar in the world to select celebrities such as Danny Thomas, Pia Maria, Enzo Stuarti, and Jack Hennesey just to name a few! With only 12 built, this unique Bugazzi is among one of the most sought after collectible motorcars of modern times. We are proud to offer this piece of motoring history to the most astute collector, investor, enthusiast, or museum who truly desires one of the greatest motorcars of all time. Buy with confidence—you will not be disappointed in this truly magnificent Barris creation!”

Yikes! Where to start? How about with the 30 coats of custom, hand-rubbed Pearl lacquer and the 24-carat gold leaf hand laid pin striping? Yeah, stunning all right, like a blow to the head. Although I’ve got to say that the color isn’t awful (white is so bland anyway) and 24-carat gold leaf pin striping does go with the whole esthetic of the car, that’s for sure.

Gold suede upholstery, Persian rugs, Italian marble, television, wet bar, and more! What was I saying about Louis XIV? Forget him, comparatively speaking, 14 had WAY more taste than this … it’s those Persian rugs that really go too far. OK, maybe the marble too.

And who the hell are Danny Thomas, Pia Maria, Enzo Stuarti, and Jack Hennesey? OK Danny Thomas has to be the entertainer, but the rest? Pia Maria was apparently an Italian TV host, Enzo Stuarti was an Italian American tenor and musical theater performer, and Jack Hennesey doesn’t come up anywhere, so who know who he is.

Daniel Schmitt & Co. has it on eBay with a “Buy it Now” price of US $99,000.00, or about what you could get a Ferrari F430 for. The choice is yours.

Source: Hemmings

Look, I understand. The world is changing, and you have to keep up. V12 Astons are wonderful cars, but you have to do something green, or at least have some show that you care about the environment, right? But this? This is just a Toyota iQ with a nice interior and some AM styling touches. Is this really what you want to do with your brand?

And who’s going to buy the Aston Martin Cygnet? Are there really that many rich people out there that green conscious AND worried that they look like they’re too rich, but still want to drive an Aston Martin. Have rich people ever wanted to be anonymously rich? I guess Aston thinks there are.

And it looks like Aston is going ahead with it. At least they’re serious enough to release some photos of the Cygnet before it takes its official bow. And those photos show that the Cygnet looks like in detail, which, to me, resembles what a Vantage would look like if some New Guinea headhunters were to get a hold of it.

Aston Martin calls the Cygnet “a new luxury commuter concept car.” And that it very well is, but I’m still unconvinced of the economic viability of the little guy. AM also goes on to say that “the Cygnet concept represents a creative, environmentally conscious solution, being small, yet with presence – and highly fuel efficient, now combined with the prestige of Aston Martin’s luxury brand ownership.”

Really? Prestige? Like, when you pull up to the ultra-swank restaurant, the valet will say to you, “Oh no sir, please, let’s leave your Aston Martin Cygnet park right out front here so Che’ Adolfo can have even MORE Prestige!”

Aston goes on to say that ” … it is hoped that it will become a production reality initially available to Aston Martin customers in the UK and Europe.”

Source: AutoBlogGreen

I’ve known that there has been lawn mower racing for some time. In a certain, hair-brained way, it has a certain appeal. There’s different classes, so that gives you room to fiddle, and it’s probably pretty cheap too. But like with any form of racing, some one is bound to ask, “Just how fast can one of these go?”

The current answer is 81 mph which was set in 2006 by Bob Cleveland from the USA, but now it looks like a group of British enthusiasts are designing a special lawn mower based on a Countax model and are hoping to break that record by creating the first lawnmower to reach 100mph.

The idea can be blamed on a fellow by the name of Stephen Vokins from the Beaulieu Estate. Yes, that’s the same Beaulieu Estate that is generally known for being the home to the National Motor Museum. Guess the Brits aren’t as conservative as they’d like some to think.

At the moment, Vokins is blaming his idea on the internet, “I saw a video of American, Bob Cleveland on YouTube setting the record for lawnmowers at an impressive 80.792mph on Bonneville Salt Flats. I was greatly impressed, but felt with the right team, 100mph should be possible,” said Vokins.

Vokins continued, “This is a proper record, and building a lawnmower capable of speeds well into 3 figures is no easy feat undertaken in an afternoon. For a start, it still has to be a lawnmower, capable of cutting grass properly. And then it has to obey the laws of physics that will try to stop it going so fast, both through drag and also aerodynamics. There is a real danger that if the aerodynamics are wrong, it will flip up in the air, with disastrous results.”

So when does Bob suit up and stand on it? He ain’t. That job will go to Don Wales, who, on February 27, 2010 will pilot the modified lawn mower at the Pendine Sands. If Don, Bob and the rest want to be recognized by the folks at Guinness, they will have to show them that it is a proper lawnmower, built by a recognized manufacturer of lawnmowers, uses mostly lawnmower parts, and it has to cut grass on the day of the record.

Source: CarScoop