Day Two at the New York Autoshow

Certainly the biggest news out of day two in New York was the debut of the 2013 Toyota Avalon. Much like Chevy with Impala the day before Toyota went with a more adventurous styling direction with the latest Avalon. Aiming to give the Avalon some "four door coupe" styling Toyota unwillingly made it look a bit like the last Hyundai Azera in the profile. Upfront a Camry grille is joined by a catfish/Ford Taurus SHO bumper. At the rear sharp lines and narrow taillights make it the best angle for the Avalon. All in all the latest Avalon receives a drastic new design breaking away from the familiar shape of the first three generations of Avalons. Inside the Avalon looks to feature a well appointed and ergonomic dashboard but the plastic around the navigation screen looks a bit out of place. Take a look below and see how the new Avalon looks for yourself. As always click on the photo to get a better look.

This angle reminds of the last generation Hyundai Azera

More from New York

This year's New York Autoshow is playing out quite well with a good amount of new introductions. Here are some highlights from day one including the new Viper, Acura RLX concept and the new Lexus ES.

The Dodge SRT Viper returns with a look reminiscent of the second generation and racy front end design that some are calling what the Ferrari F12 should have looked like. The 8.4 liter V10 is up to 640 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque while composite body panels shave weight. More power and less weight is always a great combination and best of all the Viper is returning to American Le Mans racing competition this year as well.

The Acura RLX foreshadows how a top of the line Acura sedan will look when it goes on sale later this year. The production version should look very similar as the recent ILX concept was an accurate depiction of the real ILX. The RL replacement doesn't address all of its predecessor's shortcomings but attempts to solve some. Design-wise the concept design gives a hint of the Subaru Legacy from the profile and the new Lexus GS in the roofline. The most exciting part of the concept is the all wheel drive hybrid setup (preview of what the NSX will have) that Acura says is good for 370 horsepower and 30 mpg in the city and highway. One electric motor is placed before the transmission while two electric motors provide torque vectoring of the rear wheels which promises some great handling prospects.

This angle reminds of a Subaru Legacy

And the roofline is a lot like on the new GS

The spy shots of the Lexus that circulated the web a while back didn't put the new ES in the best light but from the looks of things the ES is going to do alright with a design that aside from the forced new corporate grille is very pleasing to the eye.

New York Autoshow 2012: Nissan Altima and Chevrolet Impala

With less than a day until the New York Autoshow begins officially here are a couple more early photos of a pair of anticipated debuts, the new Nissan Altima and Chevrolet Impala. The newest Altima is certainly an evolution of the current one along with some new styling elements as seen on the Maxima and the Infiniti M. The overall design works quite well without any particular highlights or blemishes as on par for the segment. The biggest selling point for the new Altima is the promised 27/38 EPA fuel economy rating for the 2.5 four cylinder. On the other hand Chevrolet took a big leap forward with the Impala, giving the previous fleet queen some real styling. The jury is still out whether the new corporate Chevy front as seen on the Traverse is an improvement over what the new Malibu will wear.

2013 Lincoln MKZ Is Styled

With the latest Ford Fusion receiving unanimous praise for bringing high end styling to the mainstream sedan category, the upscale Lincoln MKZ sibling had big shoes to fill. The MKZ designers certainly dreamt big with the latest version resulting in a bold yet possibly polarizing design. Upfront small headlights are part of a restrained horizontal grille that is a step forward from recent baleen whale Lincoln designs. However, the new MKZ looks the best from the 3/4 angle rear as a thin full width LED bar  serves as the taillight while a compact trunk and a thick C-pillar gives the sedan great visual appeal. The rear fender design is excellent.  From the side the sedan has a set back design with a large rear window giving the impression of a hatchback such as the last generation Mazda 6 offered.

Smaller horizontal grille is a great improvement over recent Lincolns

From the profile the area around the C-pillar is a bit awkward

But the rear 3/4 design is excellent, the rear fender shape is amazing

Full width LED bar serves as the taillight

The large retractable glass roof is large

The interior is a huge upgrade over the current MKZ but looks much like the Fusion

Second Generation Mercedes-Benz GL Achieves Design Harmony

There are only a few categories of vehicles where boxy design is appreciated; full size SUVs, Japanese subcompacts like the Scion xB, and delivery trucks. The GL occupies the first transportation category and the second generation GL continues to be the modern interpretation of its Geländewagen fore bearer. Following the Scion xB route Mercedes has given its latest GL more curves to give it a fresh design which is a reasonable direction considering that you can't make a box any edgier. In fact the new GL appears to finds a perfect harmony between traditional boxy SUV styling of the G class and Range Rover and the smoother surfaces of the Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne.

Upfront a prominent grille of the last generation remains while SL style headlights fit the SUV better than they do the roadster. At the back the taillights are a curvier version of the first generation. From the side the GL remains a familiar sight while gaining 3-D surfacing compared to the flat and vertical original version. Inside the new GL features an upgraded interior similar to the one on the new ML class. Figure the GL to be powered by the now familiar 4.6 turbo V8 in the GL550 configuration and by the BlueTec diesel in the GL350 BlueTec. A 500+ horsepower GL63 AMG version is likely as well. 

The Boxier First Generation For Reference

Acura tries its hand at a flagship once again

Acura is a unique brand in the luxury arena as it has never offered a V8 for sale in its cars even with Acura and Honda racing programs successfully running high performance V8s for years. For years Acura has attempted to create a true flagship without V8 power with mixed results. The Legend was wildly successful as the first Japanese luxury vehicle sold in America even with a V6 powering the front wheels. However its replacement the RL has never had the same success and the last generation RL spent the last few years having trouble clearing double digit monthly sales, in fact it was outsold by the Audi R8 last year. When the latest RL came out it was greeted with praise from the automotive precess that was not reciprocated by the consumer which found the RL offering little benefits against its cheaper TL sibling. The RL is negligibly larger than the TL and uses the same powertrain.

In two days Acura will once again attempt to challenge Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes with its new flagship rumored to be called the RLX. Acura promises that the RL replacement will have the interior space of the 7 series while having more nimble handling like that of the 5 series. Once again Acura will not offer a V6 option. However, this time around Acura's refusal to use a V8 shouldn't hurt as much as fuel economy concerns have forced its competition to offer V6 engines as well. Acura also believes that its trick hybrid all wheel drive system with two motors on the rear axle will give performance equivalent to a V8. Such a set up should be good for around 400 combined horsepower with claimed 4 cylinder fuel economy. Hopefully Acura delivers on this promise better than Lexus did with its V8 hybrid that promised V12 performance with V6 fuel economy while delivering V8 performance with V8 fuel economy.

It appears that the latest RLX should return some of the Legend's former glory in the luxury arena, some would prefer the name to make a comeback as well, but it is still tough to see the RLX matching up with the A8, 7 series, LS and S class. On the other hand the RLX should be a much better competitor to the A6, 5 series, GS and E class which are mostly sold with six cylinder engines as well nowadays.

V6 only for Acura's flagship

A Four Door Ford Mustang

The following two facts are true, Road & Track is reporting that Ford will be build a four door version of its popular Mustang for 2014 and that today is April 1st. The end result is not too bad at all and perhaps begs the question whether Ford should actually build a four door Mustang to take on the Dodge Charger. Even if this April Fool's joke doesn't sway Ford to add extra doors to the Mustang it should have Ford thinking about building a V8 powered rear wheel drive sedan. Ford actually already builds such a sedan in Australia called the Falcon and in its highest performing application it is powered by a supercharged version of the Mustang GT's V8 with 450 horsepower. With Ford's recent focus on offering its products globally there is a possibility that the next version of the Falcon would be sold in other countries aside from Australia. However, there is also a more likely possibility where the next generation Falcon is replaced by a Taurus derivative. Here is to hoping that Ford utilizes the next generation Mustang platform to create a Falcon for Australia and the USA or at least a true Cadillac competitor for Lincoln. With Ford struggling to differentiate Lincoln from the Ford models they are based on a rear drive MKS would go a long way in doing so.

Click to see more photos of how a four door Mustang would look like

If the next generation Falcon stays rear wheel drive it has a chance of coming to America