Saturday, August 20, 2011

Production VW Up! Ditches Rear-Engine, Rear-Wheel Drive for a Traditional FWD Setup



It won’t be long before we get our first glimpse of the production version of Volkswagen's all-new Up! city car that scheduled to have its official world premiere at next month's Frankfurt Motor Show.

But here's a little something we learned. While the three-door hatchback model's looks are very similar to the original Up! Concept car displayed at the 2007 Frankfurt auto show, under the sheetmetal it's a different story as Volkswagen has ditched the study's unique rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout.

Instead, the Up! is based on the German firm's Modularer Querbaukasten or MQB platform using a more traditional front-engine, front-wheel drive setup.

Volkswagen will offer the Lupo's spiritual successor at launch with a choice of small displacement, three-cylinder gasoline engines with plans to add a pure-electric version into the mix at a later date.

 
VW UP! CONCEPTS

NCE Converts New Jaguar XJ into a Four-Door Convertible Oddity



One of the latest models to fall into the hands of California-based company Newport Convertible Engineering (NCE) is the new Jaguar XJ.

NCE is known for chopping off the roofs of just about anything it can, be that a Toyota Prius hybrid or a luxury Range Rover SUV.

And while we respect the work that went into developing and applying the convertible treatment to Jaguar's flagship limousine, the end result is not what we would call elegant or stylish, especially with the soft top in normal position. Check out the rest of the pictures for yourself in our gallery after the break.

Kudos to Torben for the tip!

 
VIDEO



NCE Jaguar from Icon-Media on Vimeo.


PHOTO GALLERY

More Powerful 2012 Kia Soul Priced from $14,650



After the premiere of the facelifted 2012 Soul at this year's New York Auto Showin late April, it’s time for Kia to talk prices. The revised small crossover enters the new model year with some modest styling changes but more importantly, a new pair of more powerful engines hooked up to six-speed transmissions.

Pricing for the entry level Soul with the 1.6-liter engine and a manual gearbox starts at $13,900 or (*) $14,650 after a $750 destination and handling (D&H) fee, while the automatic model starts at $15,700 or $16,450 if you include D&H.

Kia has not yet released pricing from the new flagship Soul equipped with the 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine.

The updated 1.6-liter unit that features Kia's fuel-saving and emissions reducing gasoline direct injection (GDI) technology, is rated at 138-horses, an increase of 16 ponies over the previous model.

Kia says that mated to the new six-speed manual and automatic transmissions, the 1.6-liter engine delivers up to 34mpg on the highway and 28mpg in the city.

The new 2.0-liter engine produces 164HP, an increase of 22-horses over the previous model year, and is also offered with a choice of two six-speed transmissions, manual or automatic.

According to Kia's estimates, the two-liter unit returns 27 mpg city and 33 mpg highway for both the automatic and manual transmission models.

 
PHOTO GALLERY

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