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Linkity Saleen S5S Raptor Concept By David Gluckman After teasing us with a concept sketch last month, Saleen has officially unveiled the S5S Raptor concept in New York. We now know that the Saleen 5.0-liter supercharged engine (from whence comes the car's alphanumerics) is a version of the company's tuned Ford V-8 block. Unlike the Mustang creations that Saleen is most famous for, the two-seat car has been designed and styled from the ground up with a mid-engine layout. The chassis is all-aluminum and is wrapped in a composite skin. The Raptor's V-8 runs on E85 ethanol which allows it to produce more power than the similar powerplant found in the Sterling Edition S302. Horsepower reaches 650 at 6300 rpm while torque peaks at 630 lb-ft at just 4400 rpm. These numbers are good for an estimated sprint to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. A six-speed manual transmission handles gear changes for the concept, though the folks at Saleen are already talking about an optional sequential, paddle-shifted gearbox. That's the first we've heard of an options list on a concept car. The S5S features a double-wishbone suspension setup and rides on 20-inch wheels. Front brakes measure 15 inches and are squeezed by six-piston calipers, while the rears have two-piston setups with 13-inch discs. If an S5S Raptor were to be built (and we think it will be) production could begin in as little as two years. Saleen has already mentioned a price tag of $185,000, so anyone selling an S7 should easily be able to afford one. Click the links below for high-resolution S5S Raptor images, as well as coverage of Saleen's other New York debuts.

The Kia Koup Concept By Joe Dematio Linkity The Kia Koup concept (Koncept?) that debuted at the 2008 New York auto show accomplishes two things for Kia. First, it gives us a good idea of how the next-generation Kia Spectra will look, which is to say, a lot sexier than the current one. Second, it also reveals the new corporate "face" for Kia. We caught up with Kia's worldwide design director, Peter Schreyer, a veteran of Audi's design studios, at Kia's cocktail party near Javits Center the night before the official unveiling of the Koup. Kia positioned the car in a special presentation room that was awash in red lights, so it was difficult to tell what color the actual car is, because it looked kinda pink. This morning at the official unveiling, it became clear that the Koup is actually bright red, and it sports a full glass roof. At the party, the Koup was draped, but the drape was teasingly pulled back enough to show part of the front-three-quarter view, the side greenhouse, and the rear flanks and trunk. With its muscular, defined corners and sharply drawn sheetmetal, the Koup looks great and is clearly much closer to production than, say, the Kia Kee that debuted at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show last September. "The Koup was designed at our California studio. Koup [with a K] is a play on Kia, but this is actually a preview of the next Spectra," says Schreyer. This is a two-door, but the production car will be a four-door, although Schreyer allows that "we will see what the reaction is from the media and the public here at the show. If it is positive, we might also consider a coupe version. But the sedan is for sure and will come within a year's time." Kia insiders indicate that a Spectra coupe version is quite likely, about six months after the Spectra sedan, and it should look virtually identical to the Koup concept. "What I like about the Koup is its proportion and stance," Schreyer continues. "The front shows for the first time our new grille [Kia calls it a 'tabbed grille'], a theme that I want to follow as a signature family face for Kia worldwide. I want Kia to have an identity, like when you see a Mercedes or BMW or Audi or Volvo coming toward you and it is immediately identifiable-that would be nice for Kia. We do not currently have that kind of awareness, which makes a brand a lot stronger." When asked about Kia's relationship with Hyundai, in terms of design, Schreyer insists that Kia will go its own way: "I have a strong idea about what I want to do. I am trying to implement this [design theme] around the world, at our three design studios [Korea, Europe, USA]. We will have our own style [as compared with Hyundai] and our own form language. That is the only way that we can effectively differentiate ourselves from [corporate parent] Hyundai." By the looks of the Kia Koup, we'd say that Schreyer is on the right track. This is actually a sexier car than the Genesis coupe that Hyundai unveiled at the New York show. Check out the Kia Koup concept in the gallery below.

I always wondered what it meant. Kenney Chesney Kansas City Kryptonite Charlie Kangaroo Cooter Killer Car

I have a soft corner for the one below. A great little car which I will not mind having as my fourth vehicle, if they come with 120 hp engine and get 40 mpg highway.

<h2 align="left">Linkity</h2> The Cobalt Gets Its 15 Minutes[/size] By Erin Riches, Senior Editor Email Date posted: 03-24-2008 We come to our first serious corner on Glendora Mountain Road, and the 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Coupe delivers the unexpected. It turns into a tight left-hander with the haste and hunger of an import sport compact. Perhaps most surprising of all, it gives the impression of being happy to do it. Instead of savoring the moment, we get back on the throttle. We hear the euphoric sigh of the turbocharger, followed by a throbbing exhaust note out the back. The sounds are distinct even to the distracted ear, and they refuse to harmonize. It's an old-school touch in a car full of new-school kit, and you realize there's quite a bit going on with the 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS. It's an odd feeling, because with that familiar Chevy face and Pro Stock-size rear wing, you wonder if you're getting behind the wheel of last year's car. But give this 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Coupe an hour of your time on a good road and it takes you somewhere completely different. Not the Same Old SS The only hard visual evidence that we're driving a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS is the blacked-out grille and set of new 18-by-7.5-inch wheels (0.5 inch wider than before). Of course, then we go poking around under the Cobalt's hood and find the turbocharger that engineers from the GM Performance Division (GMPD) have secreted away in the back, which replaces the supercharger that used to be under the SS's hood. In addition, the 2.0-liter Ecotec four-cylinder gets continuously variable timing for its intake and exhaust valves this year. This turbocharged, intercooled Ecotec with direct fuel injection is the same engine introduced by the 2008 Chevy HHR SS. The output gains over the former supercharged Ecotec are substantial. The 2.0-liter turbo develops 260 horsepower at 5,300 rpm and 260 pound-feet of torque at only 2,000 rpm. Compare this to 205 hp at 5,600 rpm and 200 lb-ft of torque way up at 4,000 for the supercharged Ecotec in the '07 Cobalt SS. Larger driveshafts and wheel bearings have been fitted to cope with the upgrade. EPA estimates say the '08 Cobalt SS gets 22 mpg city/30 mpg highway. The Cobalt SS is available only with a five-speed manual gearbox, and we suspect that the six-speed manual isn't up to the torque loads. The car's final-drive ratio is also taller, now 3.82:1 versus 4.05:1. I Wanna Go Fast The people who built the 2008 Chevy Cobalt SS just want to go fast. You can tell, because other than the 2008 Chevrolet HR SS, this is the only car under $25,000 that has launch control. You pull the Cobalt SS onto the drag strip and switch the stability control into competition mode. At this point, the DIC (GM's awkward way of saying "Driver Information Center") flashes the happy message: "Launch Control." You put the clutch in, select 1st gear and push the gas pedal to the floor. The Cobalt's computer will immediately rev the engine to 5,100 rpm, and all you have to do is work the clutch. But you can't side-step it; you have to release it progressively but quickly. Get it right and the Cobalt SS makes a getaway with enough authority to churn the contents of your stomach. To ensure the clutch has a shot at surviving the five-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty period, the GMPD engineers tell us that they installed the largest, most robust clutch that would possibly fit and even downsized the flywheel to accommodate it. The engineers also did 600 launches on a single test car to verify their work. For all its entertainment value, launch control is not the quickest way off the line, largely because it can't perfectly match wheelspin to actual surface conditions. Better acceleration numbers are possible with a less dramatic launch between 2,000 and 2,500 rpm that minimizes wheelspin. Faster Than a Mazdaspeed 3 The 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS uses up just 5.8 seconds accelerating to 60 mph, and it goes through the quarter-mile in 14 seconds flat at 103 mph. This is a night-and-day improvement over the supercharged Cobalt SS, which couldn't break 7 seconds for 60 mph and ran a 15.2-second quarter at 95.6 mph. In fact, the '08 Cobalt SS is, for the moment, the quickest car you can buy under $25,000. Even the Mazdaspeed 3 can't keep pace with this Cobalt, as it posts a quarter-mile of 14.2 seconds at 100.1 mph and 14.5 at 98.7 mph. The Chevy's main advantage is that it weighs 200 pounds less. Also, you can upshift in the SS without lifting. We're serious. GMPD created a "No-Lift Shift" software algorithm that kicks in when you're at full throttle and press in the clutch. It manipulates the engine's variable cam phasing and retards the ignition timing so the cylinder contents burn later in the cycle than they usually would, creating more energy to help the turbocharger maintain boost. You have 3/10ths of a second to complete your shift while maintaining 95-100 percent throttle; otherwise, you experience a normal upshift with an interruption in boost. Our hottest shoes can execute a gearchange in half this time, so it's not hard to meet the time limit. One Notch Down From Full Kill Handling is the other half of the story about the 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS, which marks a shift in thinking for the chassis engineers at GM. This midcycle makeover represents a joint effort with Opel Performance Center (OPC), the tuner division of Opel that created the Astra VXR, and the upshot is that GMPD recalibrated the damping. There's more compression damping than before, but the rebound damping hasn't been dialed up a commensurate amount, so the car feels far more supple in the European style. You feel this immediately in the '08 SS. The suspension doesn't isolate you from the corners, but instead lets you feel them while dispatching them in a controlled fashion. No matter how or where we drive this Chevrolet Cobalt, it feels highly composed but never harsh. The fact that we're saying this about a car with a torsion-beam rear suspension makes it all the more remarkable. Roll stiffness has been increased by about 30 percent on the 2008 Cobalt SS, too, largely thanks in part to revised steering knuckles that change the front suspension geometry to raise the roll center — this effectively makes for a stiffer front end. Other upgrades include new lower control arms, stiffer antiroll bars, revised coil spring rates and wider 225/40R18 Continental ContiSportContact 2 tires. While fine-tuning the 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS, GMPD chassis engineers kept a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII around the garage. They describe that car as "always being on full kill." The plan was to make this Cobalt "one notch down from full kill." Show Us Your Numbers Our Cobalt has the optional Torsen-type limited-slip differential (an absolute must with this much torque), and it works quite well with the car's standard brake-lock differential. Understeer is inevitable if you dive into a corner too hot, but it no longer defines the character of the Cobalt SS. The 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS is nearly 2 mph quicker through the slalom than the old model, averaging 69.2 mph. The last Mazdaspeed 3 we tested went through at 69.3 mph, while the Saturn Astra, which shares the Cobalt's chassis but not its power, manages 69.1 mph. There's little difference in skid pad performance between the new SS and the old: 0.89g versus 0.87g. Here again, the Mazdaspeed 3 and Astra turn in numbers that are nearly identical to this. Steering remains electric on the 2008 SS, and GMPD has quickened the steering ratio to 14.8:1. Really, you can't even tell it's electric, and we mean that in a good way. Even the Cobalt's brakes impress us. The rotors are an inch larger front and rear on the '08 SS, and the rear discs are now vented instead of solid. And you can't miss the four-piston Brembo calipers up front. There's still a dead zone at the top of the pedal travel, but the pedal firms up nicely during harder efforts. Our best 60-to-0 stop at the test track is 115 feet. We've measured a Mazdaspeed 3 as short as 113. Here's the Problem: Looks Matter We can't stop talking about how well the 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS Coupe drives. GMPD has made up serious ground in the sport-compact wars with the 2008 Chevy Cobalt SS. This car is quicker than a Mazdaspeed 3. And the price difference is all of $20. This is when we feel a twinge of sadness. The Cobalt SS has become a surprisingly cool car, but cool kids aren't going to give it a chance. The SS is stuck in a Cavalier-style body that just doesn't resonate with them. Poor interior packaging and down-market furnishings make it worse. A full-blown Chevrolet Cobalt SS sedan is coming for 2009, and we expect that body style will prove more popular. But if it were up to us, we'd put all this stuff on the five-door Saturn Astra. Call it a VXR. Call it a Red Line. Either way, it'll outsell the 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt SS coupe. The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.

True that, but change should not be forced, otherwise there will be chaos.

I think Camino said it the best. Bigger cars and no replacement for displacement are integral part of most of US culture. This is coming from someone who has not been born in US. I have never seen US industry or media or even common Joes tell and force people in Europe to drive bigger vehicles. It bothers me to see that is the growing tendency from the other side of the pond (that does not include a certain poster, ZL-1 :AH-HA_wink: ) to force us believe that small cars is the mantra. Let US consumer decide what they want to drive. Does it matter if they are paying for $6/ gallon and still driving bigger vehicles? Argument from the other side might be, that is ridiculous, so be it. The fact is it is better to learn the hard way and adopt to the new lifestyle, rather than being spoon fed by someone who is looking through their own perspective and telling that is the right way. I as for that matter hated bigger vehicles. But when I go back to visit my country, I cringe at the cars belonging A, B and even C categories. European lifestyle is different compared to here. That does not mean either of the lifestyles are right or wrong. As for the questions, I still believe that the current oil fiasco is NOT entirely supply and demand based, and there is speculation and a lot of it in the prices of oil. I will not divulge the details, but I have had first hand experience on this speculation. I firmly believe alternatives will save gasoline vehicles. Just like any other industries, oil needs at least one good, viable, and cheap competition. Switching to small cars is nothing but a band-aid fix. If US does move to small cars, then the strong need for pushing alternatives will be diminished and chances are we will still see the prices of oil go up, despite driving smaller vehicles. What would be next then, walk?

A Buttload

1

If that is what takes to save the icon and breed it in large numbers, then so be it. I am willing to pay more for the V-8.

She got smitten by an Audi TT. Off goes the theory. She is asking me how is the car. Any opinions?

How about you donating her your Purple Mobile?

How can you tell the difference? Both 69 and 70 look the same to me.

Is that 1970 SS? F$ck 1969, 1970 is my favorite year.

I will go with PCS on that one. 1969.

Oh I know. Do not get me wrong. Let me know when you can convince Estrogen species.

Forget that extra weight, that thing is faster than the F and much better handler.

I got slapped on my head for that.

Probably a 21st century car. Hyundai is a no for her. She had a very bad experience with her Sonata. A living legend of "America's best powertrain warranty" was not honored. Although I do agree that a good new car would do her good. I told her about that. She says only if they are not terrible in depreciation she would. She has a minor in accounting, and says that is money she would pay for her mortgage.

I agree with z-z's. Enzl, you have played patience game for quite a while, now just hang in there buddy. Like I had said in another post, only GM has to lose if this is a PR gimmick. And for your concern regarding the billions spent on two mode, part of that money went to making the drivetrain suitable for the plug-ins and also for cooling capabilities. It is not a total loss. Correct me if I am wrong, but the entire development money for those two projects comes off from one funnel of GM's alternate fuel resource division.

Army needs some mules for practice anyways. I would not waste any C-4 on this Pile Of Soil though.

I think the car looked pretty because of the dude. The extra charge black color on black interior, driven by a gorgeous chick. Gorgeous!

10 4 Captain.