Auto Trends

Ferrari_599 GTB Fiorano Stallone Mansory 2008, originally uploaded by Syed Zaeem

Look out Tesla, Ferrari’s CEO, Amedeo Felisa, has opened up and confirmed rumors they are hot on the track of several fuel efficient versions of their famous sports cars. They are planning on debuting their hybrid model within the next few months, most likely the auto show in Los Angeles this December.

The model chosen to receive the electric update is a Ferrari 599 GTB. By all speculation, the hybrid will feature a fairly potent gas engine set up for the rear wheels, and then a couple of electric motors for the front wheels. This type of set-up will allow the Ferrari to maintain a sports-car like appeal, while also maintaining improved fuel economy during cruising speeds.

This 4-wheel-drive hybrid system is hoped by Ferrari to reduce emissions by over 50 percent. They have also announced they plan on reducing emission by 40 percent by 2012, which would seem to be quite a tall order, considering it we are nearly over the hump for 2009. Not to say that Ferrari is not a green company, but these changes do not necessarily come from the bottom of their heart. By 2014 manufacturers will face a new set of stricter European emissions regulations.

Electric is not Ferrari’s only consideration however, as they has also expressed interest in both turbocharging and biofuel. Ferrari has been widely known for their large gas guzzling engines, such as the 599 GTB and its 6.0 liter V-12, featuring 620 horsepower, 450 ft-lbs of torque. This is a beautiful design that has been clocked at zero to sixty in just 3.4 seconds, although it unfortunately maintains a rather dismal 11 city/15 highway mpg rating.

The turbo will give Ferrari the capability to make comparable times and specs as the bigger boys, taking advantage of a much lighter, smaller cubic inch engine, as Lotus has done for years. The electric will undoubtedly take advantage of the instant torque acceleration, but will not lose track of its bread and butter, which will most likely be a fairly potent gas fed engine hosting plenty of technological tricks of its own.

The real question on some peoples mind, is will all of this green tarnish the once great Ferrari name plate, which was built-up from power, speed, and lots of red paint? Ferrari ensures it will not. They will still have an awe-inspiring grumble (albeit the turbo will have a slightly higher-winding one), jolt off the line like a bat out of hell, and take plenty of your own green just to sit one in your driveway!

Sounds like a win-win-lose to me, but heck, two out of three ain’t bad!

Corbeau Racing Seats, originally uploaded by bmw328driver

People decide on getting new seats for a number of reasons. One, maybe they spilled some alcohol on their red leather (been there, done that). Two, maybe the seats are old and need replaced. Three, they just don’t like the looks of their current seats.

When either of these occurrences strike, you are given a variety of choices. You can take it to the dealer and hand over your wallet and tell them to leave whats left of your bank account on a McD’s gift card. You can have your old seats recovered by a local professional (or do it yourself), or finally you could purchase a universal sport seat.

Dealer Installed Sport Seats

While from my experiences, many dealers do in fact have a great product (if you have the funds to spare), so that is not a bad way to go. However, if you are looking to get the most for your buck, covering your existing seats can make a nice custom accent, while retaining the overall original feel and look of the interior.

Reupholstering Your Existing Seats

Many reupholster cover kits are actually not too bad for the do-it-yourselfer. You do have to make sure that you get the right kit however, as if your vehicle has side air bags, that is usually an entire different design which allows the airbags to function unrestricted. Upholstery can run anywhere from the $200’s and up depending on the year of your vehicle, the fabric, and the overall quality of the skins.

Universal Sport Seats

If you are looking for a complete change to your interior, a new set of sport seats might be more to your liking, and in many cases, it is actually a comparable price to the nicer recover kits. Sport seats come in all shapes and sizes. Some enthusiasts prefer “racing seats”, but unless you are looking to go out on a sanctioned track, sport seats are usually more than any daily driver would ever need.

Sport seats can go anywhere from around $150 a seat to well into the $1,000’s range. Recarro and Sparco are two top named brands. Many of these applications offer universal seats that will have to be fabricated in order to bolt to your interior. Some seats offer universal seats with custom brackets that can be purchased separately to make the whole job go much more smoothly.

Corbeau is probably one of the highest quality, inexpensive sport seats around. For a fixed seat (non-tilting), they have a line of Forza’s that generally cost in the range of the low $200’s. They have plenty of reclining seats that range in the $300’s on up.

While the seats themselves are a major factor of the cost of this project, the “easy install custom brackets” will add an additional $100 per seat, so don’t forget to factor that in while you are setting up your budget. Many people claim that it is quite easy to fabricate a bracket using simple tools and the existing hardware from your old seats, but one person’s “easy”, is often another person’s headache.

Side Airbag Considerations

There is another subject that goes along with installing a universal seat in your vehicle… safety. If your vehicle is fitted with airbags, your options are limited to retain these same safety devices. Recaro has a line of airbag race seats, but in general most will not.

To disconnect any safety equipment on a vehicle is generally considered illegal. This is why many dealers will sell you a seat and not be able to install it or tell you how to install it in order to bypass the system. The problem you will run into is once the electric airbag is unplugged, is that you will forever get a warning light telling you that the system is unable to locate the side airbags.

A resistor could be devised to trick the system into thinking the side airbag was still in place, although this is a dangerous project in the wrong hands, as a wrong amount of electricity sent through the system could release the airbag, causing substantial injury. For this reason, if you have side airbags it may not be to your best advantage to replace the seats.

New seats can make quite a substantial improvement in your ride, just make sure that you take all those little things into consideration, before you actually pull the trigger!