At the end of last month, I decided let my 96′ Golf to retire and get myself a brand new Honda Fit.  Why did I choose a Fit?  The main reason is because the price and fuel consumption.

Since it is replacing a car for daily use, to and from work, and do glossaries etc; I need a car that does not burn a crazy amount of gas everyday like killing a tree on every mile I traveled and it needs to be roomy and most importantly, price needs to be cheap, well relatively cheap.

2008 Honda Fit, equipped with a 1.5L 4 cylinder engine that produce 109HP and 105 lbs/feet torque with burning 7.1 L/100km (city) or 5.7 L/100km (hwy) of gas.  What I like about Fit is the style is pretty and somewhat young looking (since I’m not and old family dude) and the seats can be folded to create amazing huge interior space.  The seats gives you enough leg rooms in order to let your family and friends sit in your Fit comfortably.

Never the less, I had a great experience when I was purchasing the car from Vancouver Honda which I think I should give them a create for that.  When my wife and I walked in to the dealership, I was served almost right the way and everyone there provided an excellent service.

Now with the new fit, I’m spending about 35 bucks for a tank of gas where it would be $50+ to fill up the Golf that I had with the same price for the gas.  Plus when I purchased the Fit, Honda was offering 0.9% finance and 90 days no payment which saved me a lot of money and I’m happy

Here is a Real Life Bond car that is modified based on a Lotus.  It can be driven on the roads like an ordinary car but it can also be driven under the water like a sub-marine.  It can go as deep as 20m under the water.  Due to the safely reason, the car is a convertable and the driver and passenger will get really wet after driving in the water

Here is a video of the car:

I’ve mentioned that we went to Japan Car Show 2007 during the trip to Japan in November 2007.  The most famous car isn’t Ferrari, nor Porsche, it’s Skyline GT-R by Nissan.   I’m sure it’s not hard to find one on the road anywhere in Japan and Hong Kong, China, since this beauty is already avaiable in Asia market and it will be available in US in the year of 2009.

Performance

GT-R equipped with a VR38DETT twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 engine, that produce 480hp @ 6,800 rpm and 430 lb-ft torque @ 3,200 - 5,200 rpm with a top speed of 192 mph.  This GT-R will be All-Wheel Driven (AWD) with independent rear-mounted transaxle integrating transmission, differential and AWD transfer case.  Nissan claims that the GT-R will accelerate from 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds, and quarter-mile in 11.7 seconds.

Transmission

GT-R is equipped with a 6-speed Dual Clutch Transmission with three driver-selectable modes, they are: Normal (maximum smoothness and efficiency), Snow (gentler starting and shifting on slippery condition), and R (maximum performance with fastest shifts) comes with fully automatic shifting or full sequential manual control via gearshift or steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters.  The Dual Clutch design will shift gears in less than 0.5 seconds (or 0.2 seconds in R mode) - I doubt if a human can shift faster than that?

Too bad this Japanese super car is not available in Canada and I’m hoping someone would drive one to the north and visit Vancouver in 2009 or come to watch the Winter Olympic in 2010 with it

Porsche Panamera Hybrid

(Click on the images to view full size)

Porsche has announced that they are planning to build a hybrid version of its Cayenne SUV by the end of the decade, and recently, they announced that a four-door Panamera will also be available in hybrid flavour.

This is exciting news, not just because hybrids are obviously very important and worthy, but because it means the Panamera definitely exists.

See, although we’ve known for a while that a Porsche four-door is on the way, this is the first time that Stuttgart has formally acknowledged that it’ll be the Panamera.

Not that we know for certain what it’ll look like, as the only official sketch released is this rather dull outline.

However, Porsche is bandying around the words ‘low’, ‘muscular’ and ‘dynamic’ which, as expected, lines the Panamera straight up against the upcoming Aston Martin Rapide. But the Rapide won’t get a hybrid.

Using similar technology to the hybrid Cayenne - a standard combustion engine up front and an electric motor in the rear - the hybrid Panamera should, according to Porsche, return over 31mpg.

Porsche has also confirmed that the Panamera will be a strict four-seater, with just two seats in the back. We’re expecting to see the Panamera on the road in 2009, with the hybrid version to follow in 2010.

Elise SC 220

According to Lotus, the Elise SC 220 was built with an Elise with Exige-S power.  A supercharger is added to the Elise’s 1.8-liter four-pot, just like the Exige S.  However, the Elise does not have a roof snorkel, so Lotus developed an Eaton-style blower and doesn’t use an intercooler on the Elise SC.  Elise SC weight 2050 pound and yeild 220 horsepower and 153 pound-feet of torque which can almost compete the Exige-S that produces 220 horsepower and 165 pound-feet of torque.

Lotus claims that Elise SC can hit 60 mph in 4.6 and cost $54,500.

Elise California

In 2007 Los Angeles auto show, Lotus also load with an collectible Elise California.  This model is cost $51,770 which meant to showcase Lotus’s aptitude for customization. Mods that were made in the name of the Golden State include vintage-Ferrari-like silver egg-crate grillwork, body-color side air inlets, upgraded wheels, a light two-tone-leather interior, a removable hard top, an Alpine sound system, and a gargantuan rear spoiler that covers the entire rear end.

According to Lotus, you do not have to live in California to order one for your garage; however, you might want to do it quickly if you want one, since only 25 Ardent Red and 25 Saffron Yellow examples will be built.

My friends and I went to the Tokyo Car Show 2007 today.  We left our hotel at 9am, we took the Japan Rail (JR) from Tokyo Station with “Keiyo Line” to the Kaihimmakuhari Station.  The Exhibition Center is about 5 minutes walking from the station.  The ticket was 1,100 Yen when purchased online or 1,300 Yen at gate.

The car show includes modern technologies, Commercial Vehicles, Bikes, and most importantly, Cars.  In the car show, you will see a lot of cars that you’ve never seen in N. America, as they are available in Japan only.  Besides the cars, the show girls are also attractive.  Whenever there is a show girl describing the cars, there must be a crowd surrounding and taking pictures.

How many air bags in your car? 

You will never have enough air bags in your car comparing to this model.

Environment Friendly Race Car

Usually, race cars are lots of horse power and consume a lot of fuel during races, how about a hybrid race car?

Funny Concepts.

During the car show, car manufacturers are showing off their concept cars.  There are lots of cool concepts as well as funny looking concepts.  The following is one of the funny concept cars made by Nissan.

Pretty Race Queens

Porsche is always my favorite, and most excitingly, the have a GT2 for display and I’m lucky enough to sneak to the front and took some picture of the car and the pretty show girls.

Super Cars

Besides Porsche there are a few Japanese super cars that I like, for example Skyline GT-R (Grey) and Subaru Impreza STI rally edition (blue).

We stayed until 4:00 pm and I enjoyed the show

Wohoo!  At last I’m in Tokyo, Japan after 10 hours flight from Vancouver.  We arrived Tokyo Narita International Airport at 3:30pm.  After we claim our baggage, we took the airport shuttle (Friendly Airport Limosine, is what the shuttle is called) to the hotel, Keio Plaza, in Shinjuku.  The shuttle costs 3,000 YEN per person and it stops right in front of the hotel, it’s very convenience.

After we checked in the hotel, we went to have our dinner at a izakaya for a beer and some sea food.  It was delicious.  Hm…. That Could Be In My Mouth.  Yummm!!

Alright, I’m really tired after the flight and it’s time for me to sleep.

Tomorrow, I will be going to 2007 Tokyo Car Show.  I’ll take lots of pictures and if you would like to know more about the car show, please come back tomorrow.  See you guys

We all know that Ferrari’s engineers put Science and Math in their Formula and their race cars.  Now here comes a 599 GTB Fiorano F1, a road car that is combined with their Science and Math.  Will this 599 GTB Fiorano go down in history as one of the greatest Ferrari road cars?

The 599 equipped with a 5,999cc/612-hp V12 that sits deep under the hood of the aluminum space-framed with an 8,400 rpm redline.  Ferrari claims that the 3,733 pounds 599 accelarate from not to 62mph (100km) in 3.7s. A traditional 6-speed manual transmission as well as Ferrari’s 6-speed sequential manual gearbox called F1 SuperFast will be offered

 The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano (internal code F139) is Ferrari’s 2-seat Gran Turismo flagship model, replacing the 575M Maranello in 2006 as a 2007 model.  This road car, this two-seat coupe can be driven comfortably, safely and with confidence all day, every day while it carries 11.3 cubic feet of luggage.  Yes it has a trunk at the back as this is a front engined coupe.

The shape of the rear produce a huge down force for cornering. The 599 run faster than a Ford GT and Porsche 911 GT3 on Top Gear’s show on the same track and the same driver.  However, if you are paying $250,000 for a Ferrari, you want to feel special in the car, not a car that you can do your glossary faster than a Honda, Toyota or Mercedes.

After all, it’s still a sweet car I’m sure it is a head turner on the roads.

Lamborghini, one of the well known brands that produce super cars. The Gallardo Superleggera, a lighter and more powerful version of Gallardo would be a dream car of many Lamborghini fans.

Superleggera equiped with a 5.0 Liter V-10 engine that yield 523 bhp @ 8000rpm. Torque is the same as the Gallardo at 376 pound-feet @4250 rpm. The Superleggera used light weighted but super hard Carbon fiber which trimmed 126 pounds comparing to the regular Gallardo. According to Lambo., the increase of 11 horse power from upgrading the software and a larger intake manifold.

How much more does it cost to put all these upgrades to make this hard-core version of Lambo’s entry level super car? The price of a Superleggera is US$246,000 vs US$225,000 for a regular Gallardo.

Let’s compare this super car with Porsche GT3 RS

Porsche GT3 RS is equiped with a rear 3.6 Liter flat-6 engine that produce 415 bhp and 300 pound-feet. By looking at the specs, the Gallardo Supperleggera seems better than GT3 RS; however, in Top Gear, the most famous car show in British, Season 10 episode 1 did a road test of these 2 sweet super cars in Europe. The GT3 RS actually performs as fast as the Lambo with better fuel consumption. Superleggera has 23.8 gal fuel capacity that runs 11 MPG in City and 17 MPG on HWY, where GT3 has 17.7 gal tank and run 17 MPG in City and 24 MPG on HWY, although the owners would not care how much it would cost them to run their engines.

Both super cars are definitly head turners and it would be fun to see one drive by.

When I saw a Porsche 911 Turbo (as known as Carrera) the first time when I was 10, I fall in love with it, and it becomes my dream car. The model 911 has been in the market around 43 years. What made 911 so great? One thing that I like besides performance is the classic look. Porsche improves the look of 911 to be trendy without losing the classic look of the car. If you compare the models from 90s, 80s or even older, you will notice that the shape of the car looks alike.

Porsche is introducing their super car: The New 911 GT2. It has a 3.6L 6 cylinders engine which has 530 hp and 505 lb-ft. From 0 - 60mph only takes 3.6s and 0 - 100mph in 7.4s. The rear muffler and tailpipes of the GT2 are for the first time made of light titanium. Since it’s a rear engine and it’s important to reduce the weight on the rear axle.

GT2 has a completely newly designed expansion intake manifold which allow GT2 to have more power than the 911 Turbo when using the same engine. Like GT3, Porsche just made another racing car to be a street legel vechile.

I don’t know when GT2 will be available but I’m looking forward to see one driving by.