G. David Felt

Though production ended in 2008, I still marvel at seeing one of these:

 

 

The International Trucks CXT (and the smaller RXT and smallest MXT) were my favorite medium duty-converted-into-pickups offered to consumers.

Those were sweet as were the same style of truck offered by GM.

Nice job, time to replace that rusty muffler with a stainless steel system. Give it a tuned pipe! Over all so happy you got this done well with minimal stress. Looks Awesome!

For me out of all these, I have taken to the F650 XUV as my preferred outragous SUV!

G. David Felt

Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer

www.CheersandGears.com

Outrageous SUVs

Since the death of Hummer and Fords original Expedition suv that tree huggers called the Exxon Valdez many have thought we finally left the crazy SUVs behind. In reality we only moved them up stream to the 1% class and the Enterprise Business that could justify spending the money on a vehicle that could go anywhere on planet earth.

The SUV craze has changed into a watered down CUV craze. Most drivers never took them off road so a more road comfy awd cuv has become the 21^st century craze. Yet here in the 21^st century we still have hard core SUVs that are so capable, crazy and outrageous in size that they would hardly seem real to most people. If gold-plated hoods, porcelain toilets, water travel or 6 wheel drive is your thing then the following are your beasts for extreme off-roaders and for the ultimate insecure owner overcompensating in style.

Many of today’s automakers tout the “go anywhere” mantra of their SUV or CUV, but the following delivers at a whole new level.

Aton Impulse Viking

This is a Russian built amphibious SUV with a low weight of 3200lbs. Balloon like tires to be easier on mother earth with built in inflation or de-inflation and help in flotation of the SUV. The Viking has a built in Jet Ski motor for water speed up to 10 mph. The suspension is air and fully adjustable from inside the cabin. The engine is a rather small 1.8 L 4-cylinder making 80HP with a turbocharged version making 130HP. This SUV is all about all terrain capability rather than speed and is street legal and has room for seven.

Dartz Black Snake

This Latvian builder of Tanks and armored autos has brought out this crazy Snake of an SUV that honors the Chinese calendar for the year of the snake. This SUV is based on the Mercedes Benz GL63 AMG chassis and powertrain. You have the 5.5 liter twin turbo V8 with 557HP and 560 lb-ft of torque. This is an over the top SUV with the hood covered in real gold leaf made to look like snake scales and can be had with an optional Diamond Hood ornament. Inside you have your choice of exotic leathers.

Ford F650 XUV

This 6 door bad boy is bigger than anything on the road other than full blown semi’s and are loved by larger than life NBA stars. The XUV is the creation by SuperTruck who specializes in building Fords F650 trucks into luxury SUVs. You have Fords choice of the 6.7L cummins turbo diesel or the 6.8L V10 with 145 gallon tanks on each side. Interior is whatever your mind can dream.

Knight XV

This is a 4000hr hand built SUV based on an F550 super duty truck chassis. This comes with your choice of either the V10 making 326hp / 462 lb-ft of torque or the V8 Turbo Diesel making 300HP / 660 lb-ft of torque. This 20 foot long, 8 feet tall 13,000lb SUV uses extensive body armor able to withstand a .30 caliber bullet. Other features include armored glass, front and rear infrared cameras, ballistic run-flat tires and much more for a custom order. You get the best available for this six passenger SUV loaded with flat screens, DVD plays and laptop stations.

Mercedes Benze G63 AMG 6x6

Adding a third axle to a stretched G63 AMG is how engineers started this beast of an SUV. From a tire pressure control system, differential locs and ultimate low range this beast rides on 37 inch tires. The twin turbo V8 moves this four ton SUV by using over 500 HP and torque. This is a military grade SUV using almost total production parts of the normal Mercedes auto line.

Sport Chassis P4XL

Start with a Freightliner M2 chassis, Cummins 8.3L 6-cylinder turbo diesel rated at 330HP / 1050 lb-ft of torque or the optional 12.9L Detroit Diesel 6-cylinder with 450hp / 1650 lb-ft of torque. These custom bodied bad boys will get you anywhere riding on 22.5 inch wheels and 150 gallon gas tanks.

Unicat Terra Cross 59

These are the ultimate post zombie apocalyptic SUV motorhomes. They come in a variety of configurations with the top of the line being a 6x6 crew-cab version. Powered by Mercedes Benze 6.3L Turbo Diesel paired to a 9 speed transmission. These beasts are 31 feet long, 8 feet wide and 12 feet tall.

Unimog

From the farm fields to the Dakar Rally, the Unimog is the swiss army knife of all-terrain SUVs. Almost 19 inches of ground clearance and full time 4x4, these beasts go everywhere. Three versions are produced in a light, medium or heavy duty. Propelled by a 4.8L 4-cylinder turbo diesel and an average weight of 9500lbs.

So are these the craziest SUVs or do you have others that should be on this list? Sound off on what you think of these machines!

DUDE, Wheres my Cadillac!

I think if they had a true 4 door Hybrid, Diesel, CNG and a proper support chain they could make a difference. Half-ass only gets you a luke warm response. Either all in or all out.

Interesting to see that it is the same length as a CTS but half the width.

Cost

G. David Felt
Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer
www.CheersandGears.com

Elio Motors Ultra High Mileage Auto / Trike?

Elio Motors is promising to have on the market next year an 84mpg $6800 2 person auto / Trike. This 3 wheel transportation has a configuration like most 3 wheel modern motorcycles with 2 steering wheels in front and a single drive wheel in back. Unlike Can-Am bikes where you still get wet, the Elio is fully enclosed auto. So what do you get for $6800?

Exterior measurements are as follows:

So this begs the following questions:

Can Elio deliver on their promise of a $6800 2 person auto?

How or will the Big auto companies respond?

Being an enclosed auto with 3 wheels will it have to conform to all the regular 4 wheel auto safety requirements?

Would you be interested in driving this auto?

Yes there could be many more questions but these first four questions I believe are important to discuss. What do you think?

G. David Felt
Alternative Fuels & Propulsion writer
www.CheersandGears.com

GM was in the press earlier this year when it offered to help recover and restore the corvettes from the corvette museum that got damaged in the sinkhole. GM stepped up again when VP Mark Ruess happened to be listening to a radio show on WJR on Wednesday.

The show talked about how police researching a phoney VIN led authorities back to the original owner. 71 year-old owner, George Talley got a call telling him his vette was in Hattiesburg Mississippi. Odometer showed 47,000 miles and was in good condition. The retiree who had worked at GM's Milford Proving Grounds had no idea of how to get it back home. With a single phone call into the show, Mr. Ruess offered to have it shipped back to Detroit for Mr. Talley.

Story as reported by Fox News.

Interesting ugly little turd.

If one looks at history and how Cadillac was coveted with designs that were not European but stood out by themself's I think Cadillac can do this as long as they deliver a unique design that gives the requested needs. Diesel is one of them.

Nice write up, be interesting to see one in person.

Did they mention if they did anything to deal with the poor performance in the Crash tests?

How is the sense of where your corners are on the auto? One thing I have noticed is that many FITs tend to have bumper scuffs on the corners and in talking to even my daughters friend who has owned one for 2 years now, she says it is so hard to tell just how close you are to something as she cannot sense where the corners are on the auto.

So did you feel you had better feel of the dimensions of the auto or worse?

Harley has an AWESOME new video!

Check out this AP video!

http://msnvideo.msn.com/?channelindex=2&from=en-us_msnhp#/video/6bbd9a24-a62c-2b68-5348-0403d409bbe1

http://msnvideo.msn.com/?videoid=6bbd9a24-a62c-2b68-5348-0403d409bbe1&src=v5:share:sharepermalink:&from=sharepermalink

http://www.bing.com/videos/browse?mkt=en-us&vid=11ef682e-57f7-a6e4-ab66-0cc6042a4a1f&from=sharepermalink&src=v5:share:sharepermalink:

These new video's are awesome and really show the potential for these new E Bikes!

Fuel

Decent List SMK, I have to agree with all you stated there.

Metallic pink Mark V with rose colored landau roof and velour interior.  I've never seen one that color, and it appeared to be factory.  In the mall parking lot, parked way out.

I remember they had a pinkish champagne color offered on those. Very cool and very rare.

Very good read. Thanks this helps gain a better understanding of the car.

Now in comparison to other competitors, how does this line up? What cars would you list below it and which ones above it?

Z06 claimed the CLA was competing with the Cruze, clearly it is not. 

Actually it really can, I find the Cruze TDI to be every bit equal if not better in some ways to this over blown CLA. Considering what I get for the base price of this CLA, The Cruse is a superior auto. This is a car that is not worth the MSRP let along $45K. 4 banger FWD appliance for a over priced luxury Badge is just pathetic.

As you have said, for half this price I could get a far better MB than this car or just buy 3 Cruzes for the family compared to this bloated over priced Bovine.

Zues

Cool to see the saturn and your new Kia. Awesome.

Very interesting, guess in this case the bean counters probably won then. Sucks they did not take care of a poor engineering product.

 

 

My issue is that Chrysler, Toyota, and Ford are sneaking in a bunch of big recalls too and getting very very little press about it. It is something I need to address here when I get a couple of seconds to breath.

 

Yes, my issue is with Hypocrisy. These guys have recalled as much as GM has, yet there is no one crying river on it.

 

Honda recalling airbags after 14 years? I want to see Blumenthal calling for a Congressional hearing for that and those victims' families standing holding signs saying "Honda is Bad."

 

 

The bigger question... how long did Honda know about it?

 

Honda knows about an A/C issue in all 2002 - 2007 CR-Vs, Civics, Accords, and Odyssey where the compressors grenade and the entire A/C system has to be replaced. Not being recalled... if you're out of warranty (as you most certainly are by 2014) you are SOL. 

 

WOW, I wonder not if, but when that AC system grenades if it causes damage to the engine that could cause an accident if they will deal with it then.

I could see this as a new bad ass Decepticon! :rage:

AKA your local little Piggy!!!

I agree with the comments above, I just hope they get a Auto person that has passion about building world class luxury cars and SUV's!