2004 Pontiac GTO 2004 Pontiac GTO
The
Pontiac GTO, so shortly revived from its decades-long coma, will be going back
under at the end of the model year. Automotive News reports that the two-door coupe would cost General Motors too much to
certify for tougher safety regulations being phased in for the 2007 model year.
Benz SL Goes to 550 and 382
You don’t want to mess with a good
thing, so Mercedes didn’t change too much about its 2007 Mercedes Benz SL550
roadster. Underneath the hood, a new 5.5-liter V-8 engine matched to a
seven-speed automatic transmission compelled the name change from SL500 to
SL550, although outside

2006 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class

2006 Mercedes-Benz SL-Class
Hooked to this engine is a new adaptive seven-speed automatic transmission called the 7G-Tronic, which comes with a sports system that includes paddle shifting on the steering wheel. It shifts smoother, but engineers say the shifts are also 30 percent faster.
The second generation of Mercedes’ Active Body Control is installed to the SL550. It allows 60 percent more control of the suspension, to keep the car flat when the driving gets strenuous. The entire active suspension system and various brake assists work together to — well, they can’t change the laws of physics, but they do extend the time until they take effect. The result is to make every driver better and safer without their even realizing it.
The appearance changes are subtle. A new front air dam, front grille, revised taillamps and redesigned door-entry sills, and a new 18-inch ten-spoke wheel are the extent of outside updates. Inside, the upgrades are the materials — new high-quality leather and some new colors, including black and red, and some new toys-and-trinkets like Sirius Satellite radio and hands-free telephone capability (you have to buy the Bluetooth or Multi Handset Interface separately).
To honor the 50th anniversary of the most famous of this line, the 300SL, the North American market will get an SL Roadster 50th Anniversary Edition. Just 550 of them will be sold, and they’ll feature exclusive double five-spoke wheels, a brown leather and black ash trim interior, and a pewter-colored exterior.
Prices won’t be released until closer to the April sale date, but expect the new SL550 it to go up about a percent or so. —David Schmidt
2006 Geneva Motor Show Preview, Part
I by Ian Norris
(2/20/2006)
Honda Prepping Hybrid Fit?
The next Honda hybrid to join the
company’s lineup may be a gas-electric version of the new Fit subcompact. A
report in
2006 Detroit Auto Show Index by TCC Team (1/30/2006)
Toyota ranked ninth on Fortune magazine’s annual Most Admired Companies list. It marks the first time a non-U.S. company cracked the top 10.
The magazine ranked 303 companies.
DaimlerChrysler, which made the list, is sort of an American company. General
Motors and Ford did not rank in the top half of the motor vehicle segment and
weren’t ranked in the overall list. The top five in motor vehicles were:
Using a scale of one (best) to 10 (worst), the companies were judged in eight categories: innovation, employee talent, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment, and quality of products/services.
GM scored 10s in financial
soundness and long-term investment. The company’s highest score was a six for
social responsibility. Ford’s best score was also in social responsibility,
where it notched a three.
Industry Report: Feb. 13, 2006 by TCC Team
(2/13/2006)
Kia Ce’ed Coming to

2006 Kia Ce'ed concept

2006 Kia Ce'ed concept
2006 Geneva Motor Show Preview, Part
I
(2/19/2006)
2006 Geneva Show Preview, Part
II (2/19/2006)
New
VW Concept A, Porsche 911 Turbo, BMW WRC car.
Honda Adds More EX to CR-V
Honda will add a new front-wheel-drive version of the CR-V EX to its lineup. The company says the 2WD version of the uplevel model will include standard features like alloy wheels, a moonroof, a six-speaker audio system with a six-disc changer, and steering wheel-mounted audio controls. With the five-speed automatic transmission, the new model is rated at 23/29 mpg city/highway, 1 and 2 mpg better respectively than the similar 4WD model. The new EX 2WD starts from $22,500.
Street Names Contest Winners!

Farfrompoopin Road

Farfrompoopin Road
We’ve seen lots of Deer Licks,
Bone Licks, and more than a few Yankees, Doodles and Dandies. There are a
surprising number of This-a-ways and That-a-ways, as well as a few places around
the country where you can Haviturway. We’ve seen the macabre, including Shades
of Death Rd. and Bucket of Blood; the musical, like the intersection of Count
and Basie; and the unpronounceable,
But some wild, weird, and wacky street names stand out from the rest, and we found that with rare exception, the top choices of TheCarConnection’s editors and managers matched the result from last week’s Reader’s Poll. Combining the two tallies, here are our winners:
First Prize goes to Psycho Path, a
mad little private lane in
READ MORE: Street Names Contest Winners! by TCC Team (2/20/2006)
Going
“Psycho” scores with readers and judges.
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