By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Tomorrow John, Jen and I fly out to Vegas, where we’re gonna meet up with Mike Musto, Katherine Helmetag and our photographer Larry Chen. And this year, we’re bringing a videographer along, so we can post high quality videos from the show every day.

We’re expecting to see lots of Challengers and GT-Rs. Lots of big wheels and lots of big trucks. And this year "green" will be big, too—SEMA even set aside an entire "green" hall. I still can’t quite picture it, but…

This will be the third year for John and me, and the second year for Jen. Mike and Katherine have no idea what they are getting into.

So what do YOU want to see? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll do our best to get something up. And stay tuned for a ton of coverage over the next week.

<div class="avatar katherine"><a href="http://www.cardomain.com/id/atomicalex"><div class="box"></div></a><div class="info"><p>By <strong><a href="aboutus.html#katherine">Katherine Helmetag</a></strong></p>

<p>AKA atomicalex</p></div>

<div class="other"></div></div>

<p>The merger drums are beating louder and louder. As Chrysler and General Motors bumble along the collision course that may eventually result in their merger, talks have begun between the assorted Michigan towns that will be affected. Mayors of affected locales were alerted by the MI governor’s office this week and instructed to begin discussions on how to deal with the potential loss of tax revenue and increase in unemployment that will follow an inked deal. If it wasn’t ugly enough already here in the Motor City, it’s going to get uglier soon. Up to 25K MI jobs would likely be lost, with a large number of them coming from the white collar ranks. We’re keeping our heads down up here, bracing for impact. More details after the meeting in Warren this morning.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/business-18/1225385650273180.xml&storylist=newsmichigan" target="_blank"><img alt="The RenCen" src="http://memimage.cardomain.com/member_images/1/web/3181000-3181999/3181934_1.jpg?002918-304" width="575" /></a></p>

I CarDomain member

What gets better gas mileage, a V6 Mustang or a Hemi Challenger? Turns out the automatic V6 Mustang gets worse milage than the Hemi Challenger. They both get 17 around town but the cylinder deactivation on the Hemi helps it get 1 mph more then the V6 Stang on the freeway. Weird, hugh? And the Hemi Challenger gets significantly better mileage than the V8 Mustang, despite the fact that it is quite a bit heavier.

How about the price differences between the V6 and V8 cars? Are they really justified? Does it really cost that much more for Ford to build a GT? How about the $9k price difference between the V6 and Hemi Challenger?

How about insurance and depreciation? If you’re under 25, it’s gonna be a lot cheaper to insure a V6 pony car. In terms of depreciation, the V8 cars definitely hold their value better, but that may change with the gas prices. Wait a minute, see my first paragraph…

How about the new Camaro? The V6 car will have 300hp and word is they are hoping for high 20s on the freeway. Price? Insurance?

Here’s an idea. Take a V8 pony car, strip all the useless stuff out of it, bring down weight, the MPG and the MSRP. Probably won’t be cheap to insure, but…

Continue reading "Looks Like the General Lee Just Got Upgraded" »

This is probably the least cute del Sol that we’ve ever seen—and that’s a big-time compliment! From the aggressive bodykit to the totally tricked out interior, Jeffrey’s little Honda is Showoff material all the way! Is this thing sick or what? Congrats, man!

I’m the type of guy that loves exhaust systems.  The exhaust alone is what makes a car exciting to me.  Shoot, an exhaust system is what makes me like a tractor and motorcycles.  Something about the power they unleash, the exhaust tones they produce, and the craftsmanship that goes into them makes me smile like a little kid.

So when I saw this Invidia Q300 exhaust over at World One Performance on their 2008 STi Project Car, I had to love it despite the drain-like exhaust inlet. So what’s your thought? Ya or na?

Continue reading "Exhaust, The Must Have Mod!" »

After this Ford leaps off the dyno, the assembled crowd totally starts cheering. Am I the only one that thinks this situation is a little scary? I mean, think of what could’ve happened if it had kept going. Yikes.

Well if throwing a custom wrap of a fighter jet big mouth on the front of your rally car isn’t hot, then I don’t know what is. 

If you recall Claus Ettensberger’s showed up to the Bullrun this year in an over the top Techart Porsche Turbo with a wild WWII like fighter plane front end.  Then there was the green Hummer on Bullrun sporting a similar wrap although they had to rip it off when being chased by highway patrol.  And now, there is a Ferrari F430 sporting a nearly identical wrap in the Gumball 3000. Who knows, maybe its the new thing and we are going to see Infiniti and Mercedes running around with this style but for the time being I’m going hold tight on my smart and wait for this one to pass.

So which one do you like more?

         

Our buddies at GM invited CarDomain to check out Seafair, Seattle’s annual summer brouhaha featuring ariel acrobatics by the Blue Angels over Lake Washington, followed by the fabulous Chevrolet Cup hydroplane races! The whole thing was a blast, and it was kind of a change of pace to see racin’ that didn’t involve cars, though there was a lot of overlap in both technology and fan culture. The boats run some burly engines, including everything from big-block V8′s running massive Holley race carbs to twin-turbocharged V12 aircraft motors. Chevy was the headlining sponsor for the event, so the vendor area was speckeled with cool displays heavy on the GM content—including Clint Bowyer’s No. 07 Impala, whose very tolerant handler, Dave, actually let me climb into the driver’s seat while the crowd was distracted. This brand-new COT, Chassis No. 184, has been run in practice at Las Vegas and Phoenix, and will likely run its first race at Bristol this season. I’ll be watching for it, especially after leaving a good-luck kiss on the air cleaner! More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "Seafair With GM" »