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Acura/Honda
One of the most talked about cars of the show was the Acura NSX concept. Acura is Honda's North American luxury/sports division and so it got to show off the new car on its stand. Fear not, it'll be sold as the Honda NSX when it eventually reaches the showroom - by 2014 we reckon. Looks like it'll have about 400hp from its hybrid powertrain and four-wheel drive. The Acura RDX SUV and ILX saloon also on the stand were all but ignored.
The Cobo Center opens its doors wide to the media on January 9 for the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. Here's a preview:
Acura
Honda's luxury US division will use the North American International Auto Show to debut a new ILX concept saloon. The Honda Civic-based four-door saloon will be available with either a 2.0- or 2.4-litre four pot or the Civic Hybrid's powertrain (in America only).
A near-production ready second-generation RDX crossover will also be displayed that noticeably, in an automotive world dominated by downsizing, will swap the turbocharged four-cylinder engine of old for a more fuel efficient V6.
The…
In case you didn't notice, our news pages have been dominated with stories from Auto Shanghai and the New York Auto Show this week.
The latter only really kicks off today so there'll be more to read later, but before that, here's the list of interesting unveils in China:
A busy news day finally, though most of the stories relate to cars that aren't terribly relevant in Ireland. Two of which made their debut at the Chicago Auto Show in the States, which opened its doors last night. The Nissan 370Z has been given a minor overhaul to keep it fresh in the wake of forthcoming new rivals (such as the all-new Porsche Boxster/Cayman and Audi TT).
As you can see, there's not a lot to report. The wheels are a new design, the front bumper houses LED daytime running lights and there…
Monday mornings are usually a bit slow in the motoring world, but there are a few bits and pieces to look at today. The most relevant news to Irish new car buyers is the revealing of SEAT's new five-door Mii.
Just like its Volkswagen up! and Skoda Citigo cousins it's little different to the three-door option, other than an extra pair of doors, naturally. That makes it easier to get into the rear seats and hence it'll be the best-selling version.
Actually, SEAT Ireland hasn't confirmed whether or…
It has gone suspiciously quiet this week. No doubt all the press offices are waiting for the perfect moment to announce their Geneva Motor Show plans. Opel has already confirmed its line-up, which will include a 280hp OPC version of the new Astra GTC. Alongside will sit a 195hp BiTurbo Insignia, which is the most powerful diesel car yet made by the company. It promises to be clean as well so don't rule it out for the Irish market.
We've already looked at the Mokka crossover, which will be sold here, while we'll not…
One quick thinking commentator described Enda Kenny's State of the Nation address - which seemed to prepare us for the most hard hitting and austere budget in living memory - as the pep talk you receive from the dentist before he starts a root canal. But on the face of it Budget 2012 was not as bad as we had been lead to believe. Certainly CompleteCar.ie is happy that the tub of Vaseline we had to hand as Michael Noonan delivered his first as Minister for Finance has now been returned to the medicine cabinet...
Changes to the Universal Social…
It's the show that gives two fingers to any economic crisis; the ninth edition of Top Marques Monaco held at Monte Carlo's Grimaldi Forum is under way, showcasing some of the most exotic and expensive offerings the automotive world has seen.
Alongside luxury boats, limited edition watches, rare jewels and art, at Top Marques the super-rich can view and even experience the latest Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin, but also the truly low volume supercar manufacturers. Think Pagani, Koenigsegg, Savage, GTA, Roding, Fisker and new Slovenian supercar builder Tushek. For those needing to upstage…
It's getting a bit late to write up all the news from today's New York Auto Show, so here's a sneak preview before we do that tomorrow:
Above is the all-new Jaguar XFR. The whole XF range gets the new nose and other updates. The XJ and XK have also been updated and there's a mighty new XKR-S model.
Here's the new Honda Civic Coup?. I know it's the US-only model, but we're reliably informed that the forthcoming European Civic update is closer in ever in style to…
Paddy is in Germany right now to witness the unveiling of the BMW M5. Although that's embargoed until April 7, there's also a faster M3 saloon on show. No details as yet, but here it is.
Let's catch up on the rest of yesterday's news first. The most interesting titbit was the revealing of one of Nissan's stars at the Geneva Motor Show. Called the Invitation, this concept clearly paves the way for a new production model and that'd be the replacement for the Note compact MPV.
It's a cracking looking car by all accounts, and we'd be hopeful that much of the Invitation's look will be carried through to the showroom in 2013. In some ways it's closer in style to a conventional five-door hatchback, though we'd expect plenty…
We're kinda surprised Lexus has released a full set of images of its new LF-Gh concept car. On April 6 we received a couple of teaser shots (see that story here) with a statement that full details of the car would be released at the New York Auto Show on April 20. Whatever, here it is in all its moody glory. Has elements of the BMW Concept M5 about it, doesn't it?
It is Friday, so time to trawl the classifieds to see what it out there and this one caught our eye over in Merlin Motor City on the Kylemore Road in Dublin.
This gorgeous Ford Focus ST 5-door has covered only 33,666 miles since 2006 and has an NCT until July 2012. The colour, gunmetal grey is fantastic and the fact that it is is 5-door means that we can still be practical while still enjoying the fact that this car is quite the hooligan. The 2.5-litre puts out 222hp and 320Nm of torque…
At the end of February this year I received one of the saddest emails of my life. The subject was simply "ceasing writing" and the sender was none other than Ferdia O'Dowd. Into his seventies Ferdia was an active and fit man and his love for cars and the car industry was undimmed. He wrote for the Sunday Business Post on the subject for well over twenty years and it must have pained him to have to pass that baton to me.
In comparison to his close friends and family I only knew Ferdia…
The Fiat Qubo has joined the CompleteCar.ie long-term test fleet and when it was first suggested that this car would come, I must admit that I wasn't what you called thrilled. Up until now I think I had only seen the Qubo in green (Disco Green) and it is certainly 'distinctive'.
But the arrival of a new addition to the Comyn family, young Noah has made me look at cars in a very different way. Even the normal family hatchback is filled to the brim very quickly with buggies and all the other 'stuff'…
The Audi A1 has been a pretty slow seller since it arrived in Ireland. It would appear that there just hasn't been that much of an appetite for the small high-end car, which can cost you an arm and a leg new. But they have started to show up on the used car forecourts and you can save a bundle on a nearly-new one if you go down this route instead.
Here is case in point - one we saw in Drogheda, Co.Louth.
Audi A1 for sale in Western Motors Drogheda
It all happened by accident. I was supposed to collect the Seat Ibiza ST, a car which sounds like it has performance potential, but is really just a Seat Ibiza Estate, which Shane had driven before anyway. But when I showed up at Seat's Liffey Valley headquarters, the Ibiza had gone AWOL and the Leon 1.6 TDi was offered by way of a replacement.
It had been quite a while since I had driven a Leon. Probably because it is a long time…
We're big fans of the annual LA Design Challenge that runs alongside the LA Auto Show. It always throws up some bizarre concepts and ideas. This year's theme is "Hollywood's Hottest New Movie Car" so the designers had to envisage a whole storyline to go with their bonkers creation. Only six design houses entered the competition, but they've more than made up for the lack of entries. Below is the overview, while the image galleries and articles are linked to on the left. Enjoy.
Honda IH (Intelligent Horse)
Honda's film takes us hundreds…
Today's news round-up is a little earlier as I've got to go do some parenting...
The run up to the Auto Shanghai and New York Auto Show feature heavily. Paddy was quick to the chase this morning with a piece on the new Audi Q3 crossover. Full details and a set of images have been released and we believe it'll start at €33,000 in Ireland. Click here for the full story.
The Q3 is unlikely to have much of an impact on 2011 car sales, but we're glad…
Three Sub €10,000 Family saloons
The family saloon makes up the staple diet of Irish car buying and we have chosen three good value cars here, all great value because they are petrol powered.
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer 1.5 Intense €9,950
The latest Mitsubishi Lancer is an impressive car, so we were delighted to see that now you can get into a 2008 model for under €10,000, which is really very good value. The Lancer feels feel built, is entertaining to drive and the engines are reliable. Plus, lately, they have been better equipped with lots of standard equipment thrown in.…
Normally the Friday Fantasy would involve scouring through the listings on Carzone.ie looking for something that tickles our fancy, but this car comes to us via Facebook. The advert was posted by a motor racing chum who comes from an age regularly called the PlayStation Generation. It is defined by an unnatural infatuation with hot Japanese motors. So for said chum to highlight a European car not seen since the early nineties it has to be special.
At the…
Three Bargain Fast Estates
?Estate cars don’t have to be boring, or super expensive as these three super-fast estate cars show
We all know that Audi’s RS-range produces some super cars and the RS4 from the early part of the last decade was nothing short of astonishing at the time but it would also have been a car that was out of reach for most buyers because it cost close to six figures. Ten years on and this RS4 has covered 92,000 miles, but looks…
Thousands of visitors have had the pleasure of walking the hallowed ground of Ferrari's factory in Maranello. What could be sexier than seeing shiny new Ferraris driving out the doors? Many of those visitors probably don't realise that most of the cars begin life up the road at the Scaglietti plant. That's where we are for the day at an 'aluminium workshop'.
The 'workshop' word usually sends dread into the hearts of attendee journalists, but even the most cynical would smile as they enter the gates of the Scaglietti plant to be greeted by…