Car FYI

Porsche's enthusiasm for motorsports has been the cornerstone of the brand's prestige as a sports car maker. While the German performance vehicle builder has been regularly competing with production-based race machines through the 21st century, Porsche has not had a purpose-built race car entered in the top prototype category of Le Mans. In fact, the last time Porsche contended in the prototype class of the French sports car classic occurred before Audi entered the their first R8R vehicle in competition. After 16 years, the 16-time overall event winner returned to the daylong sports car endurance race with the Porsche 919 Hybrid. Although the two Porsche entries suffered problems during the 24-hour race, there was still a celebratory spirit at Porsche Centre Oakville. This enthusiasm his now been recognized by through a global competition for marketing. Triumphing against respected dealerships across the global ...

Japanese automakers first inroads to the North American marketplace around half a century ago depended upon smaller vehicles. While Toyota and Honda allowed vehicles in their line-up to bloat to capacities suiting large-thinking tastes east of the Pacific Ocean, Mazda remains centered on being a big player of mainly compact vehicles. Mazda will again remind the world how big things come in small packages with the world premiere of a new compact crossover vehicle. Detailing the appearance of the Mazda CX-3, the continuing fostering of KODO design language is teased in a sketch the automaker provided. Vertically aligned grille, sweptback headlamps and pronounced side curves exhibited on the CX-3 design could foretell the arrival of Mazda's boldest styled crossover. Whether the teaser image is largely accurate or an embellishment will be unveiled on November 19th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Making its global debut at the 2014 Los An...

In writing my last post on 2015 model year vehicles that have undergone Canadian safety recalls in 2014, I noticed one group of vehicles from General Motors have endured the roughest exit from the starting gate. Going by the Tahoe and Suburban name wearing the Chevrolet nameplate, Yukon and Yukon XL when fitted to GMC badged vehicles or as the Escalade and Escalade ESV with Cadillac, five separate safety recalls have been issued relating to products built on the new truck-based sport utility vehicle (SUV) platform. Important to note these potential safety issues have or are being addressed by General Motors promptly, multiple recall notices are clearly not the way an auto company wants to welcome new buyers. This first recall in Canada affecting Chevrolet and GMC variations of the new SUV  came this past March relating to the six-speed automatic transmission. It was a concern that the transmission cooler lines w...

This is a time of the year we commonly associated as the period where the auto industry looks forward. Even though the calendar says we have two months remaining in 2014, 2015 is now the mindset of Canadian new car sales lots. Some models released earlier this year have already been set in the upcoming year while others are now becoming the candy for buyer car consumers. New designs, technologies and sometimes a chance to see something entirely new from a favoured brand. If you are one of those people, 2015 model year promise to be a tantalizing time to be wooed. More than ever, motorists realize potential problems with vehicles are addressed with recall notices. For what is the second-most expensive purchase many of us make, automobiles is perhaps the most complicated products available. In the case of cars, trucks and crossovers that are all-new or significantly retooled for 2015, introduction marks a vulnerable moment for all the testing auto manufactur...

A reoccurring tale of many organized sports is the cost to compete. Tragically, the various expenses of even minor league sports (namely the proud Canadian past time of hockey) has caused a social disconnect. Arguably the most expensive competition for an individual to attempt is auto racing. The vehicles, operating costs such as fuel and tires, as well as considerations such as storage of race equipment makes maintaining the sport prohibitive for athletes. In Canada, the auto company with the most affordable new car in the marketplace will bring some racers a chance at budget-minded competition. Using the exact under car starting at a $10,000 base price, Nissan has paired with JD Motorsports and Motorsport in Action (MIA) to ready the Micra for the race track. Launching next year in the province of Quebec (a province long-regarded as a haven for small car sales), the one-vehicle Nissan Micra Cup is slated to compete during five race weekends under the Auto Sport Quebec sancti...

Yesterday, a monumental display in 21st century automobile technology proceeded under the presence of a large motorsports crowd. As the content of a previous article on Car FYI announced , a special Audi RS7 concept car lapped Germany's famed Hockenheimring lacking one detail typically associated with lapping vehicles; a driver. Taking part ahead of the main race for the 2014 DTM series finale at the world famous race track, An exhibit of computer-controlled autonomous driving provided by Audi was placed behind the starting line of the Hockenheimring. Driven into the P1 starting spot by a human, the doors of the vehicle opened to a small reception of press and other Audi-related personnel. Preparations for the live display Piloted Driving has arrived to an ambitious live display. While Audi previously tested the RS7 Piloted Driving concept car leading up to the one-lap performance on Sunday, the perceived freshness of the technology could have left the window open to any va...

On Sunday, drivers of the German DTM series will converge for their final race of the 2014 season at the famed Hockenheiming. A league of drivers topped by BMW's Marco Wittman in 2014 (Wittman has locked-up this year's championship), DTM sees Audi RS5, BMW M4 and Mercedes C-Class race cars muscled around race tracks due to the direct result of the human element at the controls. For the last race weekend of 2014, a special, attention-grabbing Audi RS7 Sportback will be navigated around the famed German road course absent a driver. Scheduled to make an appearance on-track Sunday prior to the main feature for DTM, the Audi RS7 Piloted Driving concept vehicle will negotiate the 4.574-kilometer Hockenhiemring circuit guided only by its autonomous drive technology. A 560-horsepower supercar many human drivers will simply long to wheel, the Audi RS7 five-door coupe  conversion to a driverless concept vehicle involved few changes...

Can a vehicle travel at a top speed of 168 miles per hour, achieve 0 to 100 kilometer per hour acceleration times in just 5.7 seconds from the momentum of two cylinders? The Volkswagen XL Sport concept car presenting itself to the world for the first time in Paris this month boasts those exact impressive performance numbers from a high-revving motorcycle engine. Think of the Volkswagen XL Sport as a motorcycle with four wheels and a full car body. The concept vehicle was derived from the limited production Volkswagen XL1 plug-in hybrid. On the surface, the XL Sport fits all the criteria to be called a supercar. Radical exterior sculpting of the Volkswagen XL Sport concept results in a 0.258 drag coefficient. Lamborghini's active aerodynamic features including an extendable rear spoiler and adaptive air vents augments the vehicle to achieve an optimum level of downforce. Extensive carbon fiber construction, LED lighting and 18-inch forged magnesium wheels are also character...