Auto Trends

Toyota Prius, originally uploaded by duncandavidson

In the green community, there is usually not too much bad to say about the Toyota Prius. It is reasonably affordable ($22,000), gets great gas mileage (50 mpg average), and has had a pretty good track record over the years (so far, anyway).

Well all that could be about to change. The disgruntlement of Prius owners this month is not about gas expense or engine/battery maintenance, but rather those nifty, cool, high-intensity headlights that are all the rage. It seems that these upgraded Toyota Prius headlights have a tendency to break over time, leaving consumers with a rather hefty mechanics bill.

Toyota is not quite ready to call these headlights faulty, as that would ensue the need for a recall. Instead they are taking a backseat to the problem, leaving many consumers with repair bills ranging anywhere from $400 to $1,700 (depending on the extent of the repair and how good they are at making Toyota feel responsible for their inconvenience).

Two months ago (late April 2009), Toyota actually befell a lawsuit by a group of Prius owners who were fed up with this treatment. They claimed the defects “dangerous” and are requesting that Toyota extend their warranty to cover the cost of the repair. With 338 complaints piling up on their desk, the U.S. Department of Transportation has finally got up off their duff and decided to take a closer look into the situation.

As it stands today, if the National Highway Safety Administration (NHSA) decides that the headlights indeed pose a safety hazard due to their early demise, Toyota could be held accountable and forced to perform scheduled recalls. If this happens, Prius owners will be given the option to have Toyota replace any headlight systems found defective, free of charge.

Let’s recap what we have going on here:

We have America’s most eco-friendly vehicle, the Toyota Prius, in the midst of launching its third-generation hybrid, only to be found treating its faithful, good-hearted consumers from the past, like a pack of rats in a laboratory cage. Big mistake, considering the average Prius driver prides themselves in doing what’s right by society. Why would they want to hold patronage for a car manufacturer who themselves refuses to do right by society.

Toyota still has a chance to turn this fiasco around by issuing a bulletin alert to Prius owners. They would be invited to bring their vehicles in for a safety inspection regarding the headlight issue, replacing any defective parts under an extended warranty. This motion of customer appreciation would thereby restore any wavering consumer confidence. There is no indication at the moment as to whether or not this is the direction Toyota will decide to go, but the continued squeaky-clean image of the Prius may very well depend on it!

Source: Autoweek.com

mustang vs camaro, originally uploaded by lovebumblebee218

Every time a newly designed Chevrolet Camaro comes out against a newly designed Ford Mustang, you know a battle is about to ensue. This year the 2010 Camaro took off both gloves, pulled out a 300 horsepower V-6 Camaro, 425 horsepower SS and told Mustang to give them their best shot. Well, the Mustang offered up a slightly updated rendition of the Mustang, but it still has the same tired and unenthusiastic 210 horsepower V-6 and respectable, but not as respectable as the Camaro, 315 horsepower V-8.

The last time anyone has seen a Camaro of this magnitude, I think the mullet was just coming into style, so Ford certainly had their work cut out for them. The sale numbers have come-in for the month of June, and GM was only too happy to gloat in the fact that they have outsold the Ford Mustang by almost 2,000 cars (9,320 to 7,362). This is the first time Ford has experienced such an upset in over 15 years (1993 to be exact).

If we go back to that faithful 1993 era, we see the Mustang was once again toting around a rather underpowered fox body platform. In full gear, the Mustang GT’s 5.0-liter only saw 205 horsepower (235 horsepower for the Cobra) and 275 ft-lbs of torque. The Camaro Z28 for that year same year was bestowed a detuned Corvette LT-1 engine worth 275 horsepower and 325 ft-lbs of torque. While horsepower never tells the entire story, some enthusiasts prefer to go for the biggest numbers!

While GM is claiming the sales have doubled their expectations and that they only have a six day supply of Camaro’s on hand, Ford is the one laughing to the bank. Well, I shouldn’t exactly say laughing, as they are not doing that good, but compared to everybody else they are doing great. While GM reported a 33 percent drop in sales for the month of June, Ford reported only an 11 percent decline. But the mustang is not exactly the breadwinner for Ford, but rather the Fusion and the Escape.

Ford has even beat out Toyota (32 percent), Honda (30 percent), and Nissan (23 percent) by a fair margin, putting them into a very good position for the mid-year. In addition to the increased sales, Ford also received good news this month that they will be the lucky recipient of around $8 billion in government loans to help build new, green vehicles.

Sometimes it’s good to the the king!

Source: Autoweek.com

theautoalert.blogspot.com aston-martin-cygnet, originally uploaded by AutoAlert!

Aston Martin and Toyota have teamed up to create a city car known as the Aston Martin Cygnet. What we are talking about here is basically a special edition of the Toyota iQ Car. You take a bare bones Toyota iQ, throw a little leather at it, a little flare, jack up the price to $32,000, and you’ve got yourself one heck of a competitor to the Smart ForTwo and the electric Mini Cooper.

If you’re expecting Aston Martin type performance, you better think again. The Cygnet has no more gusto that the regular Toyota iQ, it only looks faster. But there is very good reason for this. Aston Martin is looking for a little green to throw in with the rest of their ozone hole punching fleet, such as the DBS, Vantage, and D89.

The new European legislation is about to crack down on manufacturers, forcing them to produce more fuel efficient vehicles than ever before. The good news is, it won’t be so much the efficiency of each car, but rather the efficiency of the entire fleet (as an average).

So if you have one Cygnet at 60 mpg and one DBS at 10 mpg, you’re basically getting an average of 35 mpg give or take a few. In other words, the Aston Martin Mini-Me allows those who want to be green, to be green, while those who like their big V-12’s, they can still have them, and feel a little less guilty.

The above photo is just a sneak peak of what the Cygnet is going to look like once it is complete. The main draw will be its excellent fit and finish, which Aston Martin promises will be just as well-built as any other $100,000+ sport, luxury vehicle.

Aston Martin plans on selling approximately 4,000 to 5,000 of these a year to uphold their green standards, and it will be by far their least inexpensive vehicle in quite some time. Austin Powers, eat your heart out!