By Stephanie Porteus

HotRodHoney

It seems that even with a hefty (and record) $16.4 million fine for Toyota, things aren’t turning around just yet.

April 19th marked the end of a two-week period in which the U.S Department of Transportation and Toyota were expected to sign a settlement following the Obama administration’s finding that Toyota knowingly chose not to recall faulty accelerator pedals on many of its popular models. By agreeing to pay this fine, Toyota is “accepting responsibility for hiding this safety defect” from the National Highway Administration “in violation of the law,” says Senior Transportation Department official (who asked not to be named since the settlement had not yet been finalized). Read more…

Continue reading "Toyota Troubles: Not Over Yet" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Over 500 2010 Camaro owners drove their fifth-gens across the US and Canada to participate in the first annual Camaro5Fest in Valdosta, Georgia. Read more about it at Camaro5.com!

By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

he world the diabolically accessible MegaSquirt EFI system. By using commonly available parts, basic mechanical skills, and their incredibly detailed manual, you too can have a fuel injected ride that performs as well or better than the mega-buck kits that are on the market today. This group of geniuses scored 2009 Drag Pak Challenger #24 and have MegaSquirted a metric Hemi and turned it loose on the strip.

The car is packing a 6.1L Hemi and a 904 automatic transmission. According to the guys at DIYAutotune.com it weighs in at 3130lbs in race trim. The fellows posted a huge gallery of photos showing the build of the car and some video of it on the dyno.

Lots of BangShifters have had positive experiences with the MegaSquirt system and it has been proven effective at places like Bonneville, on Hot Rod Magazine’s Drag Week, and lots of other high performance venues.

Hit the link below to see the entire gallery, including shots of the wacky tall intake manifold these cars are running, but stop looking for a carb. This mother is injected!

Click here to see the whole build gallery for the DIYAutoTune.com MegaManiac Challenger

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

The infamous Pikes Peak Hill Climb is a mere two months away and Rhys promises bring the hill climb record back to the Millen family. But not in a production based Hyundai but rather an unlimited class car, powered by a Hyundai engine, aiming to break sub 10 minute record. Even the current Pikes Peak unlimited class record holder Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima also has that record in his sights this year. Pikes Peak is going to be something to definitely follow this year.

- Linhbergh

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Here’s the front 3/4 view of the new Smyth Performance G3F TDI, the high mpg mid-engined performance kit car based on the MK4 Golf. Dig those Celica headlights? Oh, and want to see what gets cut out of the Jetta to make this thing? Click here. The first wave of beta build kits are all spoken for, but don’t worry, production build kits will be available in September (price is currently set at $10,000). If you haven’t already, become a fan of Smyth Performance on CarDomain!

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

Last week, I popped into the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress to talk to the sheet metal peeps about making fenders. While I was there, I checked out Ford’s Ride’n'Drive, which included the all-new 5.0-powered six-speed manual transmission Mustang. So…. Power? Gobs. Snickety-snick ultra-tight shifter? Entire pattern fits in a sticky note. Feather-light clutch? You got it. Suspension and steering? This ain’t your daddy’s Mustang. Incredible awesomeness? More than you can possibly imagine. I hooned it out a bit on the Lodge and 375, and was so blown away that I forgot to take a picture of it. If there was any concern that environmentalism was killing the horsepower wars, forget it. It’s not happening.  Ford scores again. This Mustang is better than your wildest dreams.

By Sam Barer

Sound Classics

I wrote here a few months ago about my wife’s decision to replace her 1998 Olds Intrigue. I detailed my grand plan to give her the 2006 Toyota Avalon while I procured myself a slightly used Mercedes S550 as a new daily driver.

The interesting thing about the Mercedes S550 is that, without expensive and rarely-equipped options, it offers fewer bells and whistles than a minivan of half the price. Consequently, it was near impossible to find one with adaptive laser-guided cruise control and a back-up camera, at least one with a reasonable number of miles that wasn’t being sold by a dealer at a typical narcotics kingpin’s profit margin. I did finally find a low-mileds 2008 S600 (the model with all the bells and whistles as standard, powered by the fire-breathing bi-turbo V12 and usually purchased new by professional athletes and CEOs) offered at a sell-it-today price of $72,000, but getting it to my door and licensing it would have put it at $80,000. Still, at nine in the morning on one beautiful day I had the deal ready to go.

It’s funny how spouses have the ability to bring us back to ground-level. My wife reminded me that no matter how far under-value I could buy the S600, I was making a poor financial decision. She also pointed to the other cars in the garage and asked if I really needed another expensive car for myself. This was the point when I again got to swallow hard and use my signature line “you’re right, I’m wrong, I’m sorry, I’ll change!”

It had taken me months to get to nearly buying the S600, but thanks to my wife’s decisive nature, by 5pm that night she was at Titus-Will Hyundai signing for a brand new 2010 Genesis 4.6 Sedan–for her! A Hyundai? On my property? What the hell?

Continue reading "Heaven, Hell or Hyundai" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

In designing the new SHO, Conan accuses Ford Marketing Manager Amy Marentic of trying to “tinker with perfection.” Whatever you might think about the Taurus generally, the original SHO was a tough car. Marentic, who according to her bio made it her personal mission to resurrect the SHO since starting with Ford, seems to be pretty into it as well. Watch!

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

It must be awesome to live in the Southwest–so many great photo ops for your ride out in those gorgeous desert landscapes. Rick has done a great job of taking advantage of the scenery in photographing his 240SX. Take a look at his page, and keep those photo suggestions coming!

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Some of you might have seen this clip already, but we just had to post it here. Taken by our buddy Adam in Japan. Head over to 7Tune.com for more photos of this twisted machine.

By Mike Garrett