Toyota has decided that the RAV4 electronic vehicle will not be made available to consumers. According to Geri Yoza, Toyota’s national business planning manager of advanced vehicle marketing, the vehicle will instead be focused for “very strategic applications” such as fleets and car sharing programs.

The RAV4 EV has made use of Tesla’s electric drivetrain and has been tested with 160 users receiving positive feedback, according to Yoza. Testers charged the RAV4 more frequently (around 10 times a week), costing $150 for six weeks.

This is Toyota’s first RAV4 EV after first launching the vehicle 15 years ago in 1996. The EV is the first vehicle in the world powered by nickel-metal hydride batteries, capable of achieving 78 mph (125 km/h) and a maximum range of 120 miles (190 km). The RAV4 is expected to arrive in the U.S by the first quarter of 2012.

GALLERY: Toyota RAV4 EV

[Source: Reuters]

Those big, shiny eyes, that dapper British accent, that long, green tail – the GEICO gecko is a pretty cute mascot (even if he is a lizard). He’s now the star of the insurance company’s new free smartphone app that’s available to both policy owners and the general public.

The GEICO GloveBox app comes with more than just the same old customer service routine. It also features car maintenance info and accident and emergency assistance info. If you’re not auto mechanically inclined, the app comes with a handy Auto How-To tab that offers step-by-step instructions on things such as jump-starting a vehicle, changing a flat tire and checking tire pressure.

Because this is an auto insurance app, it comes with features that help you out if you ever get into a fender bender. The Accident Helper feature puts you in touch with emergency services, lets you save accident photos and record all the vital information from the scene. If your car isn’t going anywhere, use the Roadside Service tab to arrange a tow and find a local mechanic. When all that is taken care of, you can call for a ride home using the Taxi/Rental feature.

If you’re a Geico customer, use the My Policy tab to pay premiums and access current insurance ID cards. For those of you with an iPhone or Android, you can view vehicle and driver information, check claim status and update policy details. Even motorcycle customers can manage their policy with the GloveBox app.

The GEICO GloveBox app is can be downloaded on most smartphones, including Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7 and Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

[Source: CNet]

Don’t keep your anger about bad drivers to yourself anymore. Let the world know how you feel about Mr. Never Signals Before He Changes Lanes on Driver-Ratings.com.

Here’s how it works: Head over to Drivers-Ratings.com and type in the offending driver’s licence plate number. Pick your province or state from the dropdown menu and hit enter. You can than see what other people have been saying about this driver. You can let them know if they are good or bad and leave a comment about their driving skills (or lack of). While you’re there, upload pictures of people who take up two parking spots or videos that showcase unsafe driving habits. Of course, you should enter all this information once you’ve parked (or else you may end up with a bad rating).

The point of this site is to reduce road rage and let drivers save their fury for the keyboard, as well as make fun of other people’s bad driving habits. Since it launched in beta two months ago, the site has received over 75,000 license plate ratings, and about 70 percent of those have been positive. For the ones that weren’t, here is a sample of a few of the funnier comments posted:

About a bad driver in California: “If your kid is an honor student, perhaps they can teach you how to drive.”

About a bad driver in Texas: “This person drives their car likes it’s a weapon”

About a naked driver in Washington: “We drove past him and I was like ‘Is that guy naked??’ and my roommate was like ‘No, he probably has shorts on’. Nope.”

Check out the site and start rating drivers at www.driver-ratings.com.

The Volkswagen Golf GTI is the original hot-hatchback. While many have followed this recipe of putting a tuned engine in a practical hatchback, thanks to its ever evolving state, the GTI is still on the scene and getting faster and faster.

Now news from Europe suggests that the next generation GTI will just get a mild tweak of its current motor. Since the GTI we buy in North America has a different engine than what our trans-Atlantic cousins are driving around in, maybe this tweaked version of the EA888 (as the 2.0T 4-cylinder motor is known to the VW faithful) will finally make its way over to us.

Early guesstamates suggest that power output will be around 220-hp, which would bring it a step closer to the Golf R spec motor. Thanks to detailed remapping of the engine management system, the new version will also be cleaner than the out-going motor.

To handle its torque-steer, a new electronically controlled, mechanical locking differential will be added to the GTI and R models.

VW is also looking to put the “R” version of the Golf Cabriolet into production. However, no word yet if this model will ever be made available on our shores.

[Source: Autocar]

Back in the mid 1990′s, if you wanted to compete in the GT1 class at the LeMans 24-Hour race, you had to have a car that was nearly identical to a street-legal car. Hence all the manufacturers involved in this series starting producing limited-run racing cars with license plates. This formula gave birth to some of the most extreme road cars ever made, and this is why Porsche produced the 911 GT1 Straßenversion (Street Version).

As you can tell from its styling, this car is loosely based on the 996-model 911. However, apart from the doors, every body-panel has been reshaped. This car is much bigger and wider than any other 996.

While the Straßenversion had a detuned version of the 3.6-liter, twin-turbo race-motor, it still cranked out 540-hp. This example we have featured here, which is on sale in Kyoto, Japan is said to be tuned to produce 690-hp. This added power boost will enable this version to accelerate from 0-60 mph in just 3.3 seconds, and onto a top speed of 235 mph.

Only 25 examples of the Straßenversion were made, hence these rare machines demand serious price tags. This example here has an asking price of $1.7-million.

[Source: GT Spirit]

Score another one for the outside-the-box thinkers at Nissan. First there was the Juke, which everyone now wants to copy. And according to a new rumor, the Murano CrossCabriolet may just have started a new fad.

Word has it Land Rover is planning a drop-top version of the Range Rover Evoque model. The odd model would likely be based on the three-door version of the Evoque, rather than the more purposeful 5-door version, and there’s some possibility that this could be the rumored Victoria Beckham special edition.

If the rumor proves to be true, the Evoque Cabriolet could join the drop-top Murano and even a possible Audi Q5 convertible in a very new, and very strange niche segment. At least it’s better than an Audi Q7 pickup truck.

[Source: Autoblog.nl]

Japanese mini-car manufacturer Daihatsu is preparing to launch what it says will be the most fuel efficient non-hybrid car in the world.

Set to launch in September, the unnamed vehicle makes use of what is being called “e:S Technology,” or Energy Saving Technology. The comprehensive efficiency program is being credited for achieving an almost 40 percent improvement in emissions, with Daihatsu claiming the new car will get 30 km/l, or roughly 70-mpg.

In order to achieve this massive fuel economy gain, the car will use an all-new engine with an 11.3:1 compression ratio, an electronic throttle with a throttle valve made of resin, plus a start-stop system and even a near-hybrid system that converts brake energy into electric energy in order to recharge the car’s battery.

An efficient CVT transmission is mated to the engine, while other improvements include special aerodynamics and low rolling resistance tires, not to mention a significantly lighter chassis, that weighs 60 kg (132 lbs) less than the current Mira model (above).

While seemingly irrelevant to our market, as Daihatsu doesn’t offer cars here, the company is majority owned by Toyota Motor Corp. and so it’s only time before these small car advances find their way into different cars. Plus, with increasingly smaller cars being offered in North America, like the new Scion iQ, mini cars like the Mira might not be far behind.

A simple city intersection in Berlin turns into a painted canvas, thanks to a “guerilla art project” that splashed paint onto the wheels of hundreds of passing cars.

Dutch artist Iepe Rubingh—whose name already sounds like a work of art—gained inspiration from seeing spilled cans of paint trampled by bicycles and footprints on the sidewalk, and possibly this highway accident. “Because I work a lot in a public space it feels that I am painting reality,” he said. “I am not a painter but my work always feels like I am painting reality myself and the world myself.”

He planned the artwork carefully with his buddies from his chess boxing club, which apparently is a real thing—he tested on a bicycle first to make sure the environmentally-friendly, rain-washable paint would look good and not leave the road slippery, which would have been an entirely different guerilla project.

After all their secret tests were completed, the team dumped the paint from bicycles onto the intersection and snuck off to avoid police suspicion. A video camera from a fourth-floor apartment overlooking the intersection captured everything—including the police officers and firefighters who descended upon the intersection, taking samples of paint back to various laboratories.

The art piece took place over a year ago, but Rubingh waited for the statute of limitations to expire, and is now only releasing the footage. His hard work is now your entertainment: click the jump to see this artist’s efforts.

[Source: Toronto Star]

Continue Reading…

A Bentley SUV? How uncouth! But damn the recession, luxury SUVs are still the rage—and word from Bentley’s chief executive says a baller Bentley is all part of the package.

Being part of the Volkswagen umbrella, after all, doesn’t render this news surprising. The Bentley SUV would ride on the same platform as the Touareg, Cayenne, Q7 and future Lamborghini SUV (maybe), and would be more than just a lifted Conti GT shooting brake (as awesome as that would be).

Expect to see the Bentley ute clogging the streets of Kensington at a rate of $230,000, against the Mercedes-Benz GLK and various Range Rovers. And don’t be offended if the first ten or twenty are earmarked by the Sultan of Brunei—after all, his Bentley Dominator (shown above) is due for an update.

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport]

Volvo is living up to its reputation for being a leader in safety, with a new report shedding light on exactly how big an impact the brand’s new City Safety collision avoidance system is having.

According to a study published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), Volvo’s XC60 model, which comes standard with the City Safety system, is involved in significantly fewer crashes than comparable vehicles. And that’s not all. Studying insurance claims data, not only does the XC60 get into 2 percent fewer accidents, but property damage claims are down 27 percent, while claims for personal injuries have been cut in half.

“It is great to see validation from HLDI and IIHS of the safety systems that we at Volvo are continually developing,” said Thomas Broberg, Volvo Car Corp.’s senior safety expert. “This is another step towards achieving our Vision 2020 of eliminating serious injuries and fatalities by the year 2020, and an even larger step towards a crash-free future.”

Along with preventing accidents and saving lives, the City Safety system is also benefiting the insurance companies, with property damage payouts down 20 percent, and overall collision payouts down 31 percent.

Volvo’s City Safety system works by using a laser sensor in the front of the vehicle that scans the road ahead, applying the brakes automatically at speeds between 2 and 19 mph if the driver does not react. At speeds below 9 mph the system can bring the car to a complete stop, while at speeds between 9 and 19 mph it can engage the brakes and reduce the speed at impact by half. Originally a technology only for the XC60 luxury crossover, it is now standard on all 2012 S60, S80 and XC70 models.

“This is our first real-world look at an advanced crash avoidance technology, and the findings are encouraging,” said Adrian Lund, president of HLDI and IIHS. “City Safety is helping XC60 drivers avoid the kinds of front-to-rear low speed crashes that frequently happen on congested roads.”

So could buying a Volvo cut your insurance costs? In the future, perhaps. “The lower claim frequencies found by HLDI prove that City Safety is preventing crashes and thus reducing insurance costs,” said John Maloney, VCNA’s vice president of marketing and product planning. “There’s an opportunity here for insurance companies to begin offering a discount on vehicles equipped with City Safety or similar crash-avoidance technologies.”