Daily Archives: May 14, 2018
Aston Martin DB11 Gets an AMR Treatment
Aston Martin just updated its lineup by bringing the AMR treatment to its DB11. The 2019 Aston Martin DB11 AMR may not necessarily be the perfect car on the race track, but it suits consumers who want a larger and more focused version of the DB11.
The AMR version of the DB11 has been revealed at the Aston Martin’s Nurburgring test center. It replaces the standard V-12 DB11 in Aston Martin’s lineup and brings a new 5.2-liter twin-turbocharged V-12 that can deliver a whopping 630 horsepower.
This new output now has the capacity to go 62 mph from a complete standstill in just 3.7 seconds. It also has a top speed of 208 mph. The original DB11 with an output of 600 horsepower can do that in 3.9 seconds, and has a top speed of just 200 mph.
The straight-line speed is not just where the DB11 has been upgraded. The team over at Aston Martin also made sure that it will have an improved feedback without harming the car’s supple ride. They also added a more aggressive shift calibration for the 8-speed automatic transmission. And for those of you who love the feel and the sound of a more powerful engine, the DB11 AMR has a more vocal exhaust note.
Distinguishing the DB11 AMR visually are the number of darkened elements and exposed carbon fiber. This dark theme will continue inside—from the dark leather and Alcantara upholstery accented with a contrasting central stripe in AMR’s signature lime color. It also has a leather-wrapped sports steering wheel.
If you want your DB11 AMR to have a more race-car-inspired style, you can choose to have the engine cover, exhaust outlet, rear spoiler, steering wheel, and paddle shifters all in carbon fiber.
The Aston Martin DB11 AMR will go on sale this summer with a starting price of $241,000. There’s also a special AMR Signature Edition of the car. There will only be 100 units of the DB11 AMR that features a Stirling Green exterior with lime accents.
2019 Subaru Crosstek PHEV Is Company’s First Plug-In Hybrid
Subaru’s third best-selling car, the Crosstek, will be the company’s first-ever plug-in hybrid. It’s quite telling, actually, that the automaker chose the Subaru Crosstek to be its first plug-in hybrid version seeing as it was the first conventional hybrid introduced for the 2014 model year.
Since the Crosstek is the company’s fast-selling vehicle, it makes sense that it would like to experiment on it as people are more open to shelling out their money for something they would choose to go with, in the first place. Subaru has yet to reveal photos of the plug-in hybrid variant, so we’re left to wonder how this would look like.
The Crosstek PHEV will be similar to the Subaru BRZ since both of them will benefit from Toyota technology—the hybrid system, that is. It will still be paired to a flat-four and will be capable of driving in full EV mode and in conventional hybrid mode. We have yet to receive information on what the range of the Crosstek PHEV will be.
What Subaru did reveal is that the Crosstek PHEV will be coming soon, even as early as the end of 2018. We might be seeing this in dealerships before the year comes to a close. Of course, while we’re on the subject of release dates and arrival in dealerships, this also signals that more information and details are bound to come in droves.
There aren’t many plug-in hybrid compact crossovers in the market, but there are a few and they are quite interesting. The closest competition of the upcoming Subaru Crosstek PHEV would be the Kia Niro PHEV, which claimed to have a range of 26 miles on a single charge and a solid 46 mpg when running with the gas engine. The Kia Niro PHEV has a starting price of $28,840, so we’re thinking the Crosstek PHEV might play near this number.
Another competitor is the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV with 22 miles of range and 25 mpg on gas. The Outlander has more cargo, but it has a higher base price of $35,915.
3 Things That Make The 2018 Lexus RX Crafted Stand Out
Photo Source: CarAdvice
Lexus has come up with the RX Crafted. The Lexus RX Crafted sits right between the Luxury and the F Sport trims, giving customers who want more features but don’t want to pay the price of the F Sport trim a new alternative. It’s only available in Australia for now, but we’re hoping we’ll see it this side of the globe, too.
Exterior
The update did not alter the exterior of the RX completely, though it now stands out because of the black accents to the front grille and the fog lamp bezels. The mirror caps are also now wrapped in black for a sportier look and the standard wheels have been replaced with 20-inch alloy units.
The rear is unchanged, but the bumper insert has been painted black and the chrome trim in the center and around the tailpipes have been removed. This gives the RX Crafted a sportier stance. The exterior is finished off with a standard moonroof.
Interior
Think about all the equipment you would want in a car and that’s what you’re going to find inside the RX Crafted interior. The Luxury trim used an eight-inch infotainment display. The Crafted has updated this to a 12.3-inch screen at no additional cost. It also has the heads-up display and the premium 15-speaker Mark Levinson sound system with Clari-Fi technology. These are the features that are reserved for the more expensive models.
Powertrain
Most special-edition models only have one powertrain, but Lexus is giving us more with the RX Crafted. It comes available with all the powertrains offered with the standard RX. There’s the RX 300, which uses a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. It can produce 235 horses. Next, there’s the RX 350, which uses a 3.5-liter V-6 engine with 296 ponies. Finally, the RX 450h hybrid is rated to have 308 horsepower.
Photo Source: CarAdvice
3 All-Important Rumors About The 2020 BMW M3
The BMW M3 has been around since 1985 and has always been the go-to car for its reliability and its style. The latest F80 generation dropped in 2014, but we’re now looking at the next-generation M3, dubbed internally as the G80.
Exterior
Based on the recent spy shots of the car from TopSpeed, this compact four-door screams sports machine from the first view, thanks to its wide and low stance, aggressive aero bits, and larger intakes in the front fascia. At first, the camouflaged version looked a lot like the standard 3 Series but a closer inspection revealed the transformation from a luxury sedan to a performance car.
Finishing off that aggressive and sporty look are the flared fenders, the pronounced rear trunk spoiler, and wheels that measure between 19 and 20 inches in diameter.
Interior
The 2020 BMW M3’s cabin is almost the same layout and design as the current model. It has a lot of space, enough for a total of five passengers. The dashboard will continue to have physical buttons used to control the car’s features and a widescreen will be mounted on top of the dash.
The steering wheel has a three-spoke design with loads of buttons and switches to control the car’s main features. One of the biggest upgrades, however, would be the gauge cluster behind the steering wheel. It will all be digital, something that both Audi and Mercedes have been planning for quite a while.
Performance
The 2020 BMW M3 will have a new powertrain package—a standard M-tuned twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder. Known also as the S58B30, it’s the same engine used in the M4. It could produce as much as 500 horsepower, the lowest estimate might peak at 465 horsepower and 450 pound-feet of torque.
The engine will be paired with an eight-speed automatic, replacing the current dual-clutch seven-speed unit. We could also see BMW offering the new M3 in RWD and manual gearbox.
