By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Edmunds got their hands on an ultra low mile 1998 Acura Integra Type R and put it up against a 2010 Honda Civic Si. Guess which car they liked more? Kind of sad, really. Honda and Acura need to start building cool cars again. Full story at Edmunds Inside Line

Edmunds Inside Line hosted a Nissan 370Z preview in Los Angeles on Saturday. Nissan brought out three of their new cars and everyone at the event was allowed to get up close and personal. Check out Go370Z.com for a ton of detailed shots.

But Edmunds has spent $9,888 in just ten months with their long-term 2002 BMW M3! Jeez… Compare that to the $4,625 they spent in total on their long-term 1983 Ferrari 308. Oh course, they could have gone with factory replacement brakes instead of forking over $3,140 for the Stoptech brakes and install. But still… More details at Edmunds.

Should you trade in your old gas guzzler on a more fuel efficient vehicle? Well, Edmunds came up with this handy little calculator to help you decide. I wanted to see if it made sense for us to trade in our 1988 Volvo 240 grocery getter in on a new Prius. The calculator only works for cars back to 1990, so I had to use a 1990 instead. Ok, whatever. Anyway, I was told I’d get $317 in trade (considerably less than all that Swedish steel is worth in scrap) and that the old Volvo gets around 19 mpg (which is about right). I factored in that we only drive it about 500 miles per month. The calculator showed me that if we switched to the Prius, we’d save $66.63 in gas per month, and that at this rate it would take 348 months (or 29 years) to reach break even and begin saving on gas. Hmmm, I’m thinking that the $23k might be better spent on some more old Mopars…

Edmunds just the put the new Challenger up against the Mustang Bullitt. The Bullitt comes with a manual tranny, weighs 600 pounds less and is $5,400 cheaper. But the Challenger smoked it in the quarter, edged it out in the slalom, has a higher quality interior and a usable back seat. Hmmm….

When Edmunds isn’t busy converting cool old rides into office furniture, they engage in silly mental exercises. The latest is their Camaro vs. Challenger match-up. That’s right, neither car is out yet, and the Camaro isn’t even due til 2009, yet Edmunds felt they could declare the Camaro "the winner" based on the fact that the Pontiac G8 GT outperformed the Dodge Charger SRT8 in one of their tests a short while back. Honestly, this is one of the silliest pieces of "automotive journalism" I’ve read in a while. Now, let’s say Chevy actually puts out a Camaro with the 505 hp LS7 from the Corvette Z06 or the 620 hp supercharged LS9 from the Corvette ZR1. Well, maybe Ma Mopar will introduce a Challenger with a Viper V10. Who knows? It’s all speculation.

I say we wait til both cars are available before anyone declares one car a winner. And please, be sure to compare two versions that are priced about the same (Chevy hasn’t announced any pricing on the Camaro, remember?). And finally, if/when some journalist does declare one of these cars a winner, no one is gonna care. Why? Cause at the end of the day, Mopar guys buy Mopars. Chevy guys buy Chevies. And Ford guys buy Fords. If a Chevy guy tells a Mopar guy that some dude at Edmunds declared their car "a winner," the Mopar guy is just gonna laugh and tell his Chevy buddy to meet him out at the track (of course, that won’t settle it, either).

Edmunds just started up a little fantasy car stock exchange game. Basically, you buy and sell stock in upcoming models–their value is based on predicting U.S. sales figures. You start off with a cool $1 million. It’s kind of cool. They don’t have a lot of models to choose from right now, but will be adding more. I’m waiting for the G8 to IPO. For the time being, I bought a bunch of stock in the EVO, and seem to be doing ok so far.

SEMA is only a few days away and I can’t wait. I have SEMA-itis pretty bad, and I’m sure the only cure is a big shot of Vegas, which is way different from that big shot of penicillin you have to get after returning from Vegas. Anyway, here’s the news:

• Apparently Nissan isn’t going to rest on the laurels of having the baddest sports car on the market (the new GT-R, duh), they’re apparently going to develop a lightweight, more powerful GT-R Spec V as well. Lord help us all.  (Edmunds Inside Line)
• Lexus is no longer the only car offering a "hands-off" parking experience, Mitsubishi is now in the game with the all-new Galant. And all-new it is! It’s got the all-wheel drive and twin-clutch system from the Evo X, as well a crazy diesel motor with 274lb/ft of torque! Of course, it’s so cool, its probably never coming to the US. (AutoExpress UK)
• Ferrari has the Porsche Cayenne in its sites, as it’s rumored to be developing the world’s most powerful SUV. Dubbed the Ferrari FS 599 Fuoristrada by WCF’s insider, this beast is said to produce 600hp and 411lb/ft of torque with a 0-60 of about 5.5 seconds. (WorldCarFans)
• What can green do for you? FedEx is going to test ten diesel-electric hybrids in it’s European force, and it’s already running 95 hybrids in the US. Kind of gives me a warm fuzzy to know the company delivering my front mount intercooler might be setting a good example. (Autoblog Green)
• BMW is developing a baby SAV dubbed the X1. Rumored to be a 3-door sporty crossover with similar styling to the new X6, we should expect this around 2011. And let’s hope they have better design plans than the concept! Right now, it looks like an angular Morgan with a pick-up camper shell! Yuck! (AutoExpress UK)

This week Edmunds published a comparison test between an Audi R8 and a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. I don’t get it. What do you think they were going for here? Is it supposed to be funny or something?