Is This the New 2009 Toyota RAV-4 That We Will Get in the US?

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It's obvious that Toyota isn't happy that the Honda CR-V is the best selling SUV and crossover in the US. Although the RAV-4 offers three rows of seats and an available V6 engine it still isn't selling better than the CR-V. This is the what the revised RAV-4 looks like in Japan, so I wonder if this is what we will get here as well?



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Mary J. Castillo: Long Beach Babe

Mary J. Castillo: Long Beach Babe
Mary J. Castillo is a hot model on the import scene that has recently grabbed our attention. Mary is originally from Long Beach, but does shows all over. Mary says that she loves to cook a good steak and claims that it would make her the perfect wife. We’d definitely like to put her steak cooking skills to the test, to see if she can cook one better than us.

Mary J. Castillo: Long Beach BabeMary J. Castillo: Long Beach BabeMary J. Castillo: Long Beach BabeMary J. Castillo: Long Beach BabeMary J. Castillo: Long Beach BabeMary J. Castillo: Long Beach BabeMary J. Castillo: Long Beach BabeMary J. Castillo: Long Beach BabeMary J. Castillo: Long Beach Babe

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Audi R8 V12 TDi Concept - Engine Breakdown

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At the January 2008 NAIAS in Detroit, Audi showed an R8 sports car with a V12 TDi diesel engine. Derived from the race engine in the Le Mans-winning R10, the 500-hp (373-kW) 1000-Nm (739 ft.lb) production unit will see its first application in the production Q7 SUV.

FULL SIZE IMAGE HERE

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[Source: Automotive Engineering - Feb 2008 Issue]



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New Product Placement: Best-Selling Novels

Crossr350

Over the weekend, my wife sat down to read the latest James Patterson novel, “Cross.” This is the latest in a series of mystery thrillers featuring the hero Alex Cross, and I guess they’re pretty popular. My wife pointed out early in the book that Cross detailed a trip to a Mercedes-Benz dealer in detail, and it seemed odd to her — especially in the middle of the plot. Here’s that first excerpt:

“So we stopped at the Mercedes dealer…Jannie and Damon ogled a silver CLK500 Cabriolet convertible, while Ali and I tested out the spacious front seat of an R350. I was thinking family car — safety, beauty, resale value. Intellect and emotion.

The italics are verbatim. He goes on to talk about the rest of the trip to the dealer, but resale value? Anyway, this takes up an entire chapter. Perhaps if it had been just one mention we wouldn’t have been disturbed, but then Cross goes and buys the R350 later and repeatedly goes for drives to clear his mind during the investigation. Even that wouldn’t be that bad if he didn’t describe the R350 each time like this: “I liked the vehicle’s zip and also the dual-dash zone climate control, which would keep everybody happy, even Nana Mama.”

Mercedes gets a handful of mentions in the best-selling fiction novel in the country, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Patterson were shuttling between book signings in a new R350 of his own. Even though this is a work of fiction, the repeated mentions bugged my wife a lot more than seeing James Bond drive an Aston Martin or the “CSI” staff in Hummers.

What do you think? Is product placement in print more bothersome than on the screen?



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VW Multivan: Now also as cabrio!

We are not 100% certain if this is an April fool's joke or not, but if true, this is the coolest mod of the VW Multivan ever!Coming with 174 bhp and only as buggy version which means: no roof available!Read the full story here, Google-translated.Related news: GermanCarBlog, P4MR, VW MultivanSource: Autosieger



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Chinese S.W.A.T. team rides Segways into the line of fire

A counter-terrorist exercise known as "Taishan 2008," took place yesterday in Jinan, Shandong Province, China. Among other things, the forces used Segways for transportation. As we've reported in the past, the Segway has become an increasingly popular way to travel now that gas prices have risen to record high levels in the United States. We've even seem some police forces using the urban runabouts and capturing criminals with them. Still, nothing we've seen in the past made us believe that somewhere in the world, the Segway scooter is being used by gun toting, armor wearing tactical defense teams. Seriously, is the Segway really the best choice for this type of operation?

Perhaps the T3 Mobile Defender would be a bit more appropriate. That machine has been specifically designed for police units and appears a bit more battle ready. Perhaps the advanced targeting system hooked to a non-lethal air gun would prove useful. Or maybe the S.W.A.T. team hopes to stun their opponents with disbelief to win the day.

[Sources: Engadget, Gizmodo]



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The Clear Hood is Back


Now I am the first person to admit that I go to a lot of car shows. However with all the car shows that I go to it has been at least eight years since I have seen a car with a clear hood. That all changed at the Meguiar’s show on Saturday when I saw this VC Valiant Sedan. To be honest none of the clear hoods that I have seen in the past have done justice to the cars that they were attached to. I am pleased to say that this one actually looked really good. I think the big difference is that the owner has kept the clear section to the center of the hood instead of having the entire hood as one clear piece. The car has a 360CI Chrysler block which pumps out 627 horses at the rear wheels. No doubt the twin turbos help a bit. It took 3 years to build the car, but it was time well spent. One more pic after the jump.

bailout

bailout



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Audi A4: French "Heaven" commercial

Please watch this great "Heaven" commercial for the Audi A4 in French. Nice!Related news: GermanCarBlog, P4MR, Audi VW VolkswagenSource: YouTube via Fourtitude



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Big Block Thursdays Tonight on Speed


It might be kind of hip to hate TV, and there tons of people who’ll tell you that the only reason they have cable is because it’s super cheap when bundled with internet. They are lying. Personally, I love television, and since I also love cars, I wind up watching a lot of Speed. Anyway, tonight they’re kicking off Big Block Thursdays, where Pinks All Out, Jacked and Wrecked will run back-to-back. I haven’t actually seen Jacked, but I like the idea of tracking down stolen rides Cops-style, so I imagine it’ll be pretty cool. And since I’m already a fan of Pinks and Wrecked, Big Block Thursdays should prove pretty entertaining. While this would make perfect “hangover TV”—think Saturday mornings at 10—everything starts tonight with Pinks at 8PM. If you’re home, check it out.

Big Block Thursdays Tonight on Speed



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Could Cars Be Used As Batteries For Cities? [Hybrids]

There's an idea kicking around in the egghead community about a notion called V2G, or vehicle to grid, where parked hybrid or electric cars would be plugged into the city grid and used as a distributed power storage medium. Car owners would collect a fee as the cars would be used as a buffer to store power generated in off hours for use during peak times. The concept would do away with the need for backup generators and further offset the higher costs of hybrids. What the idea won't do is work without ginormous cross industrial and governmental standardization the likes of which will never be seen in the United States. To Europe, eggheads! [LiveScience]



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