Most Memorable Cars on the Screen

Cars and movies have been around for about as many years and it didn't take long for the two to form an inseparable bond that would yield many classics over the years. From James Bond and the DB5 to Steve McQueen and the Mustang and Marty McFly and the DeLorean, cars have starred in movies just as much as the actors. Likewise Miami Vice, Magnum P.I., Knight Rider, and Dukes of Hazzard have made their corresponding cars famous on the TV screen. While these iconic collaborations have withstood the test of time here are a few recent ones.

Breaking Bad: Pontiac Aztek

Before Breaking Bad swept all the Emmys this past year and Walter White entered the empire business the Pontiac Aztek's only claim to fame was making essentially every ugliest car list there is. These days the first thought spotting an Aztek is to quickly scan the area to stay clear of any possible kingpin danger. The show came too late to help the Aztek or Pontiac but it does leave the Aztek with a slightly more respectable legacy.

Cars & Coffee Symbolic Round Two Highlights

Symbolic hosted another Cars & Coffee (and Krispy Kremes) event this past weekend and as always there were certainly quite a few interesting cars to check out. Along with the usual collection of Audi, Bentley, BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari and various other exotics there were certainly a few standouts in the Carrera GT, Bugatti Veyron Vitesse and the brand new Lamborghini Huracan. Follow the link for more photos and impressions.

Cars & Coffee: Symbolic Edition

Here are some visuals from this weekend's Cars & Coffee event from Symbolic. Symbolic is a Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce dealership in La Jolla. Symbolic brought over a few examples from each of their brands and together with cars from private owners there was a good selection of cool cars to check out. The highlight of the show was definitely the Bugatti EB110 in its signature light blue paint. It's not very often that you get to see a Bugatti, even more so one that's not a Veyron. The event was also the first time that I saw a Rolls-Royce Wraith in real life and I was pleasantly surprised about its design after absolutely hating its roofline in all the photos I have seen. Likewise I liked the design of the brand new M3, the M specific design elements looked pretty good in black. You can tell that it has the M treatment but they are not overdone.

Observations from a non major autoshow

LA, Detroit, Chicago and New York comprise the major auto show circuit in the US that gets the coverage, but you can find an auto show in any major convention center. KWF set out to find out what kind of an automotive experience one can have at these other shows and see what we can observe. No world debuts to catch, no concept cars to see, is this even worthy of being called an auto show? While lacking all the flash and glamour of the big shows you still get an opportunity to see almost every make and model on the market today.  What follows are random observations after numerous hours of looking up and down from all angles, sitting in every back seat and stroking every dash.

Audi Engine Downsizing and New EPA Fuel Economy Ratings

Engine downsizing has been an industry buzzword for the past few years. The idea behind downsizing is to replace a large naturally aspirated engine with a smaller turbocharged or supercharged engine. At first this concept only applied to mainstream cars but has recently appeared on luxury brands as well. Even Mercedes AMG models are replacing their 6.3 liter naturally aspirated V8s with slightly smaller 5.5 liter twin-turbo V8s. Audi has gone one further with its all new 2012 A6 as the previous V6 model has been replaced with a four cylinder turbo and the V8 option has been dropped in favor of a supercharged V6. These downsized engines have delivered for Audi. Paired with a CVT transmission the A6 2.0T delivers 25 city and 33 highway for 28 combined, numbers rarely seen in the luxury category. The quattro 3.0 TFSI does quite well as well rated at 19 city and 28 highway.


Here are some other notable new ratings. City/highway (combined)

Aston Martin Rapide: 13/19 (15)
Audi A8 W12: 14/21 (16)
Lamborghini Aventador Coupe: 11/17 (13)
Lamborghini Avenador Roadster: 11/17 (13)
Lexus LFA: 11/16 (12)
Volkswagen Passat TDI: 31/43 (35)

Geneva Preview Show

With the Geneva Motor Show only a week away the floodgates have opened and many manufacturers have released images of the cars that they will debut in Geneva. Without a doubt the most highly anticipated Geneva debut is the upcoming Lamborghini LP-700 Aventador. Lamborghini has slowly but surely revealed its upcoming hypercar by showing the engine, suspension, and its carbon fiber monocoque. While Lamborghini has done an excellent job drumming up excitement over the Aventador without revealing too much, a certain European magazine has revealed a glimpse of the real deal. The Aventador will not be the only high powered Geneva debut as Jaguar has unveiled its most extreme version of its XK to date, the 550 horsepower XKR-S. The S adds an additional 40 horsepower and 41 lb-ft of torque to the XKR along with more aggressive styling. Fellow British based Aston Martin will also be revealing its newest model, the Virage, at Geneva as well. The 490 horsepower Virage slots between the DB9 and the DBS performance and style-wise while incorporating the latest chassis improvements to the Aston aluminum platform. There will also be a convertible version called the Virage Volante. Maserati has a high-performance convertible ready for Geneva as well, the GranTurismo Convertible Sport. It features 11 extra horsepower and 15 additional lb-ft of torque along with sportier transmission and suspension tunings and unique styling elements. On the other side of the performance envelop Volkswagen will be showing its Europe-only Golf convertible featuring a soft top roof that needs only 9 seconds to go down.

Click on the photo to launch the gallery and see photos of all upcoming Geneva debuts and stay tuned for more news throughout the week.