LaFerrari

Some people say the Ferraris became overrated. They claim they’re too expensive, should always break performance records… But sooner or later a new Ferrari arrives, and everybody else silences. People from all over the world start struggling to acquire one of its own, moving an amount of money which is almost as countless as the wallpapers set by the fans as a symbol of this passion which any other automaker motivates. Having that in mind, how could someone question Ferrari’s title of world’s most powerful brand?

Part of such reputation comes from the fact of the Italians sticking to what made them famous on the first place. Like Land Rover’s typical off-road abilities, Fiat’s expertise at compact vehicles or Volvo’s legendary concern with safety, Ferrari’s difference from the competitor automakers comes from its overall image. LaFerrari once again introduces this worldwide-known set of features starting with the iconic red, but there’s much more worth attention. For instance, its very name goes without the brand’s surname, making this car unmistakable in the same way as Madonna, Sting or Enzo Ferrari, the brand’s founder which was (even more) immortalized with having the company’s previous top-notch car named after him. That’s why the newcomer’s name is the Italian expression for “The Ferrari”, along with official information such as the title of most powerful Ferrari ever built. When it comes to the styling, it’s interesting to observe there are several references both to the present and the past. The car’s overall silhouette leads to think of an evolved Enzo, but at the same time it’s much more futuristic. The sleek headlights took inspiration from recent models such as FF, while the circular tail lights on a Ferrari are nothing but historical. And while F40 and F50 have strongly-wedged fronts, LaFerrari reproduces Enzo’s concept in a taller double-deck element, which juggles with light and shadow to give a very imponent appearance without getting out of proportion

But if all that is some kind of innovation among these supercars, have you noticed something special about that strong line after the side intakes which ends contouring the rear? That’s Ferrari’s way of drawing central engines’ hoods, like at this and this examples. Finally, the glass area had the sheetmetal around it in black for a reason: the colored part becomes hard not to remind of a F-1 vehicle, just like the fascinating interior – the red-and-black room has everything turned into the driver, although a companion is taken with plenty of comfort in this one. As you’ve already read several times, this car brings F12berlinetta’s V12 6.2L improved to achieve 789 hp at 9000 rpm and 516 lb-ft-torque, but paired to an electric engine which adds 161 hp to complete 950 hp and more than 660 lb-ft of torque, using a seven-speed automated transmission. Such power is applied to hand-made chassis with four types of carbon fiber, resulting on much better torsional rigidity than Enzo’s along with amazing 2800 pounds of weight, even with the electric engine and batteries. If you add to that Ferrari’s most advanced technology kit and performance items such as carbon-ceramic brakes, it’s easy to believe in a 98-feet smaller space to a 124-0 mph stop. When you’re moving one of the 499 units the other way, though, you’ll be able to accelerate to 62 mph in less than three seconds, to 124 mph in less than seven, to 186 mph in around 15… and reach the top speed of about 217 mph.

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Hyundai Sonata Hybrid 2013

Almost like Nissan has done with Leaf few months ago, Hyundai has only updated this version’s powertrain, for North America. The ecologic Sonata starts at US$ 25.650 and received bigger generator, more powerful electric engine and lithium-polymer battery. These changes increased the electric power in 14 hp (reaching 46 hp), while the new battery is lighter and takes less space, resulting on a 12.1-cu-ft trunk. They also enable longer life for the all-electric mode and better final consumption, reaching 38 mpg.

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Volkswagen XL1

Even if your interest for cars doesn’t qualify you as a fan, you’ve certainly heard about concept cars, specially during auto shows. They’re always intended to take everyone’s attention, such as Citroën with Survolt’s design, but the purposes vary. While that one came only to impress at these events, others anticipate the automaker’s future trends. The design ones can come indirectly, like with Ford Evos, but the technological ones come much more clearly, like VW’s latest project to receive the production version.

Volkswagen’s projects of a super-efficient car have been developed for more than a decade, since the first prototype was showed in 2002, the 1-Litre concept car. All those studies have been done under Ferdinand Piëch’s management, which helps to explain the big similarities since the first project to this article’s car: the intention of achieving the lowest possible consumption rates was always there, like with every other automaker, but only VW has specificated it to the special number of 1 l/100 km, which can be expressed also as 235 mpg and 100 km/l and has been achieved since that first vehicle. The challenge, therefore, became adapting the test prototype to the production model. There was another concept car which seemed to take the studies to a different structure, called L1, but the final vehicle has very much in common with the first one. The essential concern with the aerodynamics has been expressed in the streamlined body, which is 153.1 inches long, 65.6 inches wide but only 45.4 inches tall. The wind flow also demanded a narrower rear axle with covered forged magnesium 16” wheels, although bigger and wider than the 15” front set – by the way, there is carbon fiber here, indeed. This car uses it on the monocoque, while other parts combine materials such as aluminum and magnesium. Another good part is that creating a super-efficient vehicle didn’t stop VW of making it look sporty.

The front fascia even follows its current design trend (looks like a compressed Scirocco’s), and there are several items to enhance the design without leaving the rules of aerodynamics: the arch-shaped LED tail lights give a futuristic touch, while the windows with small opening parts remind sports cars like McLaren F1 and the gullwing doors of the old race cars, opening with part of the roof to make the occupants’ entrance easier. The interior abandoned the original tandem configuration to have the seats almost side by-side. The cabin doesn’t expose much luxury, keeping the good impressions to the visible carbon fiber parts and, specially, to the door-panel monitors, which are fed by rearward-facing exterior cameras to serve as rearview mirrors. XL1’s extensive use of lightweight materials pays off at the final 1750 pounds, while dropping 1-Litre’s original aircraft-inspired canopy in favor of a conventional cabin didn’t disturb this car’s drag coefficient, resulting at 0.189. That’s why its hybrid powertrain needs only a two-cylinder 800-cc diesel engine with 48 hp, paired to a 27-hp electric unit to give a combined 69-hp power and 103-lb-ft torque; the DSG seven-speed gearbox with rear traction gives 0-60 mph in 12s7 and the top speed limited to 100 mph. XL1 will start with fifty units sold in Europe, but even if the acceptance spurs more units to be produced, this car’s profit won’t ever come in money. VW’s concern is to adapt most of XL1’s technologies to the conventional cars, just like it was revealed with up!: it’s expected that most of this powertrain is going to be applied to the supermini’s future hybrid version.

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Toyota Prius

Esqueça o breve período em que este carro só foi visto nas ruas da capital paulista e com a cor branca e os adesivos obrigatórios para o uso como táxi. O híbrido mais famoso do planeta agora desembarca em nosso mercado com disponível para qualquer motorista, dando mais um passo de grande importância para a introdução definitiva de veículos mais ecológicos em nosso país. Mas além de todo o enorme carisma que esse carro apresenta, este artigo irá mostrar um pouco do que faz do Prius um carro tão adorado.

Entrar no mundo dos carros elétricos e híbridos requer ver o conceito de carro de uma maneira totalmente nova. Aqui a função de transportar não tem como segunda prioridade desempenho, luxo ou preço baixo como normalmente se vê, mas sim à eficiência. Estes carros focam em realizar sua função principal com os menores consumo de combustível e emissão de poluentes possíveis, de forma que aqui são os outros aspectos que fazem concessões a aqueles. Tudo isso parece muito interessante de ver, mas já representou grandes dificuldades nos primórdios do carro elétrico moderno. A questão é que essa tecnologia só voltou a se desenvolver com mais força na década de 1990, de forma que ainda não existia nada avançado demais. Em outras palavras, o famoso Saturn EV1 e seus contemporâneos não podiam escapar de baterias caras e pesadas, autonomia curta, desenho desagradável e custos altos para comprar e manter, um pacote não exatamente sedutor. Claro que a imagem de famosos comprando carros ecológicos para uso pessoal trouxe ajuda enorme à sua popularidade, mas isso não surgiu já de início. Como as marcas continuavam a investir nessa tecnologia, ela só prosperou quando as mencionadas concessões por parte do consumidor começaram a diminuir.

A fama mundial do Prius só foi começar com a segunda geração, de 2003: o desenho ficava muito mais caprichado, as baterias permitiam maior autonomia e a habitabilidade foi melhorada. Sem contar que neste momento já existiam cada vez mais concorrentes, como o Honda Insight. O futuro desses carros passou a ser ganhar as mais variadas melhorias, porque isso só lhes deixou mais próximos do que o cliente sempre esteve acostumado: era difícil fazê-lo trocar o carro com o qual tem costume por modelos que tinham aquelas desvantagens. Hoje em dia já se provou que tudo isso ficou no passado, primeiro para os híbridos e depois para os elétricos, mas existem concessões “menos graves” que ainda não se podem dispensar mas estão longe de trazer problemas. Um caso é o estilo do Prius: assim como em Leaf, Volt e similares, apurar a aerodinâmica é fundamental para evitar que o arrasto desperdice energia. Aqui se usa o chamado Kammback, em que a suave ascensão da dianteira à capota simula a forma ideal de uma gota, mas termina num corte traseiro bem abrupto; é provado que assim se consegue efeito muito parecido ao de prolongar sua queda até o final. Se o segundo Prius trazia visual ainda insosso, a fase atual deu grande atenção a estilizar tudo o que não implique em fugir do tal formato: itens como os farois recortados, lanternas transparentes e laterais imponentes trazem semelhança com modelos esportivos.

Entrar em carros mais ecológicos já não impressiona tanto, e isso é excelente. Afinal, ainda não se veem ambientes de luxo, mas sim o mesmo que trazem carros a combustão com porte similar, talvez com um toque extra de modernidade por causa das telas em LCD do Prius. O modelo brasileiro traz pacote muito parecido ao dos demais com preço ao redor dos R$ 120.830 que pede, em que os destaques são bancos e volante em material sintético ecológico, sistema de som multimídia com Bluetooth e mapas, entrada sem chave, heads-up display (HUD), sete airbags, freios ABS com EBD e controles de tração e estabilidade, entre outros. Há o motor de ciclo Atkinson a gasolina e o elétrico de 650 V de potência, que combinados geram um máximo de 138 cv, com câmbio CVT. Não é um número surpreendente porque o sistema nunca chega a usar os dois motores nas faixas de potência máxima. Também existe a frenagem regenerativa, o que permite explicar o esquema de funcionamento desse carro como se vê em seu hotsite: a partida e o uso em baixas velocidades se fazem somente no modo elétrico. Em velocidade constante os dois motores se revezam segundo o que for mais eficiente, as altas acelerações usam a maior força do motor a combustão, as desacelerações são aproveitadas para recarregar as baterias e ao parar o carro se usa o sistema start/stop, que desliga o motor até que se dê um toque no acelerador.

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Cadillac ELR

Multiuse platforms must’ve become one of the best strategies ever created by the car industry in the last years. The idea of not having to start every project from scratch was always a temptation in many aspects, but the biggest barrier was finding the right “tune” between saving money by sharing and giving project freedom for each car. After decades of many GM experiments, this coupé’s proportions now arrive to prove that car-wise, there has never been a Cadillac like ELR efficiency-wise, technology-wise or otherwise-wise!

The first picture’s contrast between the writing style of brand and model’s names is a great example of what Cadillac has done in the last decades to stay successful and profitable. That excessively extravagant style from the 1950s could have been beautiful and irresistible (for many people it still is, in fact), but it wasn’t hard to expect it wouldn’t last long. Not only because of the plain time passage, events like the oil crises and the technology advances had a huge influence at the very concept of an automobile, which demanded a huge attention from the involved companies to keep offering something the customers would be willing to buy. This was a very important point specifically for GM’s luxury marque because after the drastic changes performed during the 1970s and the 1980s, their cars survived the following decade pretty much adrift. That’s why the 2000s seen such a revolution created by Cadillac: the whole new design language came with replacing the older projects with not only up-to-date ones but also shared with GM’s other brands, enabling it to participate much more intensely at the upcoming technologies’ development. ELR is precisely the youngest result of this new operating strategy, because it’s the luxury version of GM’s urban hybrid cars – that’s right, this car shares very much with Chevrolet Volt and Opel/Vauxhall Ampera.

If you’re familiar with the Converj concept, it won’t be necessary to explain very much about the design. ELR comes as its production version, so the designers’ idea was to keep the changes to a minimum. The design was smoothened, indeed, but it seems more elegant now. Some measures were changed in order to fit Volt’s platform, but they’ve also helped this car to avoid resembling the coupe CTS too much. But besides the boomerang-shaped lights, imponent front grille, gorgeous 20” wheels, LED-composed headlights and the typical very strong cuts and creases, the cabin really brings the expected finesse. Its four passengers will all enjoy very spacious individual seats, whose stitched leather can be paired to several options of coating colors and materials, including fine woods and real carbon fiber. And if you’ve noticed the big central console, this is one of Volt’s genes. The pictures show the T-shaped 288-cell, 16.5 kWh battery lies at the car’s center, to work with the two electric engines and the gasoline one, a four-cylinder 1.4L. This combined powertrain results at 208-hp power and 295-lb-ft torque, which doesn’t achieve the same performance as the sedan’s because they’re lighter cars: it’s estimated that ELR will make the 0-60 mph in around eight seconds. The all-electric mode’s autonomy will be 35 miles, extended to 300 miles with the 1.4 and technologies like regenerative braking. ELR will be priced only when closer to hitting the streets, which will be done around the end of this year.

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Lexus IS 3

Do you know what does “L-finesse” stand for? This is Lexus’ latest design language, like Ford’s Kinetic or Hyundai’s Fluidic Sculpture. Toyota’s luxury brand is starting to succeed at the long-term desire of creating a more inspired style for their cars, an initiative that has recently received great help from LFA’s production. They’ve already renewed the bigger brother GS and facelifted the even bigger LS, but the entry-level became much more different. This article will show a little more about this “entry-luxury” sedan.

As it has been mentioned several times by the specialized press, each automaker has created their own visual identity in order to distinguish their cars from the competitors. Besides, this came in handy for the Eastern brands because of their own design issues of that time: those cars were excessively alike until the 1990s, all of them with too classic lines and plain shapes. The Japanese started to change that around the early 2000s, but the Korean took some more years. Lexus’ problem, in turn, wasn’t creating good-looking designs but more appropriate ones. The bigger complaints went to the fact that they didn’t look like the upscale vehicles they are, which led many people to mistake them for cheaper cars. Acura and Infiniti faced the same problems at some time, too, but neither took too long to solve it: Honda’s brand decided to follow the North-American luxury cars, with smoother volumes and straighter lines, while Nissan’s division tries to follow the Europeans: the organic shapes contrast with stronger creases and very well divided volumes, which helps to give a high-performance impression. And now Lexus seems to have found the path to follow by looking at its own homeland. The new IS proves that Lexus is investing on acute angles and strong creases, which have all been the Japanese recipe for sportiness for decades.

That’s what explains this front design which will certainly turn each and every neck from which this car passes near. Whether for the tuning-like aggressive air intakes, the headlights with separate-but-visually-connected LED part or the most imponent spindle-shaped grille you’ve ever seen, taking inspiration from the LF-CC concept car has worked very well for what’s Lexus’ sports sedan now more than ever. The sides preserved the elegance of few creases and taller windows, but with a hint of sportiness that will be finished with the rear section: that elevated rear window cut without following the door handles line comes from the very first IS, taking the memory back to 1999. The second generation made it more visible and imponent, giving a very nice look with the chrome contour. Now there weren’t big changes to its shape, but it became paired to a very strong line born beneath the B column: it rises in the exact same proportion as the rear windows, creating the very nice impression that the car is always moving – it’s a complete change from the first IS, where all those horizontal lines made it too bulky. And the Grand Finale is made by these tail lights which seem to take more space from the sides than the rear. Paired to the absence of many lines, they give the last section a slim look which could easily be found at many current sporty coupes. This is definitely the right car for who doesn’t appreciate “limousine-like” sedans.

The first official pictures show only the F-Sport version, so the ones who didn’t like the scarlet seats shouldn’t worry. However, it’s hard not to notice the beautiful interior, with plenty of black and chrome as most of the sportier cars. But Lexus states there’s much more to observe: the bigger wheelbase improves the internal comfort, while the whole cabin became more ergonomic. The luxury extremes were restricted to IS’s bigger siblings, but the F-Sport version brings aluminum pedals, perforated leather steering wheels and even metal details with 3-D effects. This car will be officially presented at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show at all its versions: IS 250, IS 350 and IS 300h – the hybrid one being the first one to bring the Lexus Hybrid Drive. The respective engine options will be a V6 2.5L with 200 hp, a V6 3.5L with 300 hp and a four-cylinder 2.5.

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Toyota Prius Táxi

Se você mora em São Paulo, é muito provável que já tenha visto o Nissan Leaf rodando como táxi. Meses depois, o mais novo automóvel “verde” a integrar a praça da capital paulista é nada menos que o híbrido mais vendido do planeta. Seu Programa de Táxis Híbridos viabilizou a entrega de vinte unidades do Prius a algumas empresas, que começarão a rodar já nesta semana. Outra excelente notícia é que o modelo teve suas vendas particulares adiantadas, e chegará a todo o Brasil em forma oficial já no próximo mês de janeiro.

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Honda Civic 9,5

An unusual phase number for an unusual phase update. For someone who doesn’t live in the US this may sound odd, specially in countries that also sell Civic, but the North-Americans have criticized this car so hard that Honda needed to perform a last-second facelift in order to solve these problems before they affected the car’s solid reputation. After lots of media speculations of all kinds, the last Los Angeles Auto Show finally received the official version of the “new new Civic”, which you will meet reading this article.

Since the last generation, Honda decided to create different versions of their best-seller, in order to suit each market’s particular needs of body, engine and equipment options, along with minor visual differences. But nobody knows what Honda thought when configuring the North-American version, because this car was criticized by everyone. The design resembled too much the previous generation, the interior had bad coating and assembly quality, the handling became worse, there was too much internal noise… This car started to lose the awards it was used to receive every year, so Honda needed to act quickly to stop their compact sedan from losing sales to competitors like Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra, Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla. The Japanese response came with facelifting the entire line only eighteen months after the current generation’s release, surprising everyone because they brought heavy changes: the pictures show the sedan has changed the front and rear style, with more chrome details whose inspiration was taken from the new Accord and bring a more sophisticated appearance to the car. The overall impression is a more mature car, which still haven’t abandoned the previous generation’s style but now uses a different interpretation of it: instead of that raw Japanese sportivity, Civic now follows a North-American elegance.

That facelift didn’t apply to the coupe version, though. What the entire line has received is the series of small-but-very-important updates to the interior. The peculiarly-shaped dashboard received better materials (including some leather parts), improved assembly and a new, more classy design for the air-conditioner’s outlets and buttons. Besides all that, Honda states that Civic received thicker windshield and bigger soundproofing in several areas, in order to reduce the internal noise. They also included some new technologies in this car, such as electronic systems for lane-departure and forward-collision warnings. When it comes to the trim levels list, the DX entry-version is no longer offered, leaving to LX the title of cheapest one available. Honda took this opportunity to maintain the previous LX’s equipment level, and allow itself to announce that every Civic now comes with more items – with all the optional ones, this list includes GPS navigation, Bluetooth connection and multi-view auxiliary cameras. This update is interesting because the deepness of those improvements is usually performed by other brands only at half-age facelifts, when the car has spent about three or four years in the current generation but it’s still too soon to invest in a complete new phase. Therefore, all this effort is a nice way for Honda to reconquer their customers’ approval.

However, as in almost every facelift of that kind there weren’t changes to the engine department. The standard option is the 140-hp four-cylinder 1.8 with a five-speed manual or automatic transmission, but Civic can also use the 2.4 with six manual speeds. These options also apply to the coupe version, which received only the interior updates. This means it still features a sporty design, with well-proportioned volumes to avoid a big-vehicle impression: it may not be the most powerful option of its category, but doesn’t seem visually heavy like a coupe Elantra would look like. Besides that, the Si version was also updated, adding the classic aerodynamical kit with side spoilers, more aggressive bumpers and that big rear spoiler – this area became a little confusing with this typical sports-car-item right above the chrome line which almost every sedan since the 1980s has used to join its tail lights. And at the top of Civic’s huge versions list, there are not one but two gasoline-opposers: the hybrid version pairs a 1.5 gasoline engine with the electric one to generate 110 hp and the excellent 44 mpg rate, using a CVT transmission. Besides that there’s the Natural Gas version, restricted to compressed natural gas, with 32,5 average consumption; the common versions achieve 32 mpg with manual and 33,5 mpg with automatic transmission, while Si stays at 26,5 mpg always with six-speed manual transmission.

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Toyota Avalon 4

After debuting its new generation at the last New York Auto Show, Avalon now receives its new price list. This means Toyota is about to start selling one of their most important vehicles of the latest times, considering the changes that were applied and the market category in which this car competes. While some competitors focus at their tradition, like Chevrolet Impala, this sedan wants to prove that it’s possible to please the wealthier families offering the luxury they’re used to have with a style that never had followed it before.

Avalon could achieve all that mentioned boldness without big limitations only because it was time to receive a whole new generation. This comes from the fact that even though the brand decides do change their style rules at some time, those updates will always take some time to be effectively seen. They can start them by releasing one new model as a symbol of what to expect from the next years, but there’s always the fact that a big automaker’s cars are always each one at a particular moment of its lifecycle. This means that some already need a new project, but others can have only a half-life face-lift and others don’t even need to change at all, and all those conditions need to be respected not only to avoid the financial losses from making big investments without the previous ones being satisfactorily recovered, but also to avoid a massive customer complaint, since they would see their cars becoming outdated in much less time than what’s expected. That’s the reason why the North-American Toyota’s showroom (to restrict this text to the market where Avalon is sold) has received Camry’s current generation one year ago while the Prius family (started in 2010) will remain unchanged for some years and Corolla will receive its new generation soon, since the current one arrived in 2009.

In fact, the biggest Toyota sedan of that market was so acclaimed that it was said it’ll be the visual inspiration for the next Corolla, planned to be revealed in 2013. This approval starts with the stylish exterior, composed of modern lines who follow Toyota’s nice idea of applying the most recent trends in car design without forgetting the typical Japanese cars’ ones. This explains why Avalon brings European ideas such as a much shorter third volume to remind the coupe rear (like Mercedes-Benz does with CLS) but also the design of the lights and air intakes, with visually aggressive cuts like most of the Eastern cars of the past few years. This “recipe” is common among the latest Honda, Hyundai, Kia or Mitsubishi cars, for example, but usually at compacts, crossover or sports cars because those categories tend to attract young customers, and because of that focus at emotional appeals. However, a family sedan, specially at the US, deals with the strong traditions built around them. Their main public are older couples, who twenty years ago used to drive Chevrolet Impala, Chrysler Concorde and Ford Taurus, therefore used to much more classical cars.

As its compatriot Honda Accord, Avalon’s previous generations actually followed those rules because of the Japanese automakers’ decision of starting North America’s operations with more neutral cars in order to achieve better sales at that first time. Today they all are much more than popular around there, but if the eighth Accord still offers a classical style, Toyota’s sedan seems to want to revolutionize this category. Sharing platform with its “richer cousin” Lexus ES, it not only has a sophisticated construction as brings lots of comfort and technology items: the interior’s wooden details come with three-zone air-conditioner, heated leather seats, GPS navigation, sunroof and the multimedia system with a 7” touchscreen at the central console. The basic Avalon had a 6,6% price reduction from the previous generation and now starts at US$ 30.990. Its trim levels will be XLE, XLE Premium, XLE Touring and Limited, but the engine options will be the V6 3.5 with 268 hp with automatic six-speed transmission and the hybrid one, an Atkinson 2.5 along with the electric engine and a 244 volt battery, to achieve the final 200 hp using a CVT transmission. With the last option and the most expensive trim level, Avalon reaches US$ 41.400.

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Ford Fusion and Mondeo

The North-American website has already received the price list of the new Fusion, which denotes its sales are going to start soon. This car reflects a change at Ford’s strategy when promoting a new vehicle because, as what was made at Brazil with the new EcoSport, they’re starting to show it through different media several months before it really starts to appear at the dealers. Until now it’s hard to define if this procedure is good or bad, but the fact is that you will read about the best phase of these cars ever.

We can say that, as well as Escape, the second-generation Fusion will be the first strong example of the latest visual identity changes Ford is starting to apply at its cars. This can be explained by remembering that, when a company decides to promote a big change like that, its vehicles are divided at three moments of their current lifetime. The first one is like the current Focus, who got completely remodeled only one year ago. Even if some cases of this group don’t follow too well its brand’s new path, they’ll have to stay like that for some more time until it’s really worth to get changed again. The second group are the ones who already have that extra time at the current phase, but still not needing big investments. At this case, the better solution is a face-lift, like Fiesta has recently received, so this makes possible for them to adapt the new style to a project who is still getting good reception. And the third kind is the oldest, therefore clearly deserving an entire new generation or even a new model to replace it. Those are the better ones to work on, because the new values the company wants to express can be applied since the very start of the designing. So that’s why the cars at this article abandoned their six-year-old previous phases to get completely improved.

And by improvement, Ford means adopting the new interpretation of the Kinect style. There are more elegant shapes, with some concession of the agressive lines in order to achieve an imposing design. Fusion and Mondeo now use a long and wide hood to give bigger impression of plenty of power, while the small-sized headlights seem to compose an angry “facial expression” along with the big air intake – this one has also abandoned the thick silver pieces to a much less brutal and more elegant design. The side sections follow the latest trend, which already drops that excessively tall lower line of the windows, but brings the Kinect fluidity with strong, solid lines without too much folds. It’s easy to see that this car became much more sophisticated than the previous Fusion, and here’s where Ford starts to attach it to Mondeo. Yes, that déjà vu you must’ve had with the tail lights has its reason: the One Ford project has decided that both the North-American and the European luxury sedans would converge into the same car at this new generation. This win-win strategy helps Ford to cut production costs and allows the customers to have a much better car, designed to satisfy the two most demanding markets of the world.

Obviously, the interior has become an excellent definition of both European and North-American quality. There’s a lot of equipments regarding comfort and security, but the technology is what guides this car: at least at the United States, it’s already known that Fusion will offer the Ford/Sony Sync entertainment system as a standard item. It concentrates the sound system with GPS navigator and lots of other functions to be controlled by a big touchscreen at the central console. Considering the North-American price list, Fusion starts at the S version, at US$ 22.495 with focus at company use and 2.5-liter engine. Right above it there’s SE, who starts at US$ 24.495 and adds some of the comfort and style items, besides of the modern and efficient 1.6 EcoBoost – this engine generates 181 hp and can use manual or automatic transmission, both with six speeds. There’s also the 2.0 EcoBoost with 240 hp for US$ 26.745, but this one only comes with the automatic option. There’s already a Hybrid version, with an aspirated 2.0 and the electric engine, using a CVT transmission and starting at US$ 28.000. And the top of the line is made by the Titanium version, with only the 2.0 EcoBoost and the automatic transmission, besides exclusive items such as special suspension and bigger wheels.

Going to Europe, however, reveals some more amazing surprises. Mondeo will arrive at that market already with also the station wagon and notchback versions, until now exclusive for that continent. This comes from the fact that the North-Americans usually prefer the SUVs when they have to choose a bigger model, while the Europeans have always loved these two car variations. It’s really nice to see how the wagon followed the exact idea passed by the sedan, achieving the same modern dynamism instead of giving that heavy “family car” look – named Mondeo Turnier as the previous generations, it uses the usually effective solution of sharing the tail lights with the sedan, not only to reduce costs but also to increase the overall resemblance. And about the notchback, Ford used the typical solution of only reducing the third volume, giving an “almost sedan” look; this solution saves all the money that would be used to create an entire hatchback rear section, but ends allowing the trunk lid to move along with the rear window anyway. Mondeo will be sold at Europe only at late 2013, but its engine options will be really nice. It’ll use diesel with the 1.5 and 2.0 TDCi and gasoline with the 1.6 and 2.0 EcoBoost, but also the one-liter option, which have chance to achieve excellent consumption and emissions numbers.

10/09/2012 update: It was included all the information about Ford Mondeo including the pictures, and the entire text was translated to English in order to follow the other non-Brazilian cars’ articles.

Read more > Ford Fusion and Mondeo

Lexus LS 2013

A noite de ontem foi importante para a Lexus. Num evento grande a ponto de merecer transmissão ao vivo pela internet através do Facebook, finalmente se fez o lançamento da nova fase do maior sedã de uma marca cujo foco é aliar o luxo a uma interessante dose de estilo. O face-lift teve como principal objetivo sintonizar o carro com as mais recentes regras de estilo dos carros da marca, mas também dotá-lo de novos itens de requinte e segurança. Afinal, ele tem rivais do naipe de Audi A8 e BMW Série 7.

Pode até parecer estranho que todo esse alarde se faça apenas para um redesenho de meia-vida, mas fato é que ele mudou bastante. Mais de três mil peças, segundo a Lexus. Essas mudanças começam a se fazer notar na dianteira, que passa a usar a imponente grade com formato de dois trapézios unidos. É interessante notar que ela traduz muito bem a dupla origem da marca, porque as linhas imponentes típicas dos carros ocidentais agora formam um contraste de muito bom gosto com a profusão de recortes e vincos pronunciados que tanto caracteriza os carros japoneses, com os quais os Lexus tem forte parentesco. Já a traseira tem sua dualidade de valores expressada não em lugares, mas sim em épocas: as lanternas agradam pela modernidade do uso de LEDs, mas ao mesmo tempo são unidas por um filete cromado acima da placa que remete aos sedãs de vinte anos atrás. Esse item já é famoso nos sedãs justamente por causar essa impressão conservadora que agrada à maioria dos seus clientes. As laterais exibem linhas limpas mas muito elegantes, que combinam muito bem com as rodas enormes. Ele preserva a opção da carroceria alongada.

Por dentro temos novos quadro de instrumentos, revestimentos das portas e console central, numa cabine que conclui o ar de sofisticação com iluminação branca. O console, aliás, não só segue a tendência de oferecer uma completa central de entretenimento como o faz por uma touchscreen de alta definição de surpreendentes 12,3 polegadas. A extensa lista de mimos ao motorista inclui ar-condicionado digital e bancos com regulagem de temperatura individual, entre vários outros. Fora o detalhe das cinco opções de revestimento (cinza, caramelo, marfim, marrom topázio ou preto) para combinar com as quatro opções de madeira. Já a área da segurança melhorou com os novos sistemas eletrônicos, como o de monitorar pontos cegos acima de 16 km/h, ajudar o motorista a se manter na faixa da rua ou o que previne colisões iminentes parando o carro por completo se estiver abaixo de 39 km/h. Com essa lista de itens de série, os opcionais são sonhos como a suspensão aérea, que soma os modos de direção Confort e Sport S+ no seletor de comportamento, além de Eco, Normal e Sport. Já os bancos podem fazer nada menos que massagem shiatsu.

Todo esse preparo é necessário para conter a força dos dois motores que o LS oferece. A versão de topo se chama LS 600hL porque é híbrida, e traz um V8 5.0 de 445 cv associado ao motor elétrico. Este sempre vem com câmbio CVT e tração integral. Já os LS 460 e LS 460L usam o 4.6 V8 com potência e torque de 387 cv e 50,7 kgfm, usando câmbio automático de oito marchas e ganhando opção de tração traseira. Este último, aliás, também equipa a principal novidade da linha 2013 do sedã. A versão LS 460 F-Sport foi a primeira a aparecer oficialmente, e se destaca pelo pacote esportivo de ótimo gosto: ele teve a suspensão rebaixada, ganhou parachoques mais agressivos, diferencial Torsen quando usa tração traseira e rodas de 19”, tendo as dianteiras pinças Brembo. A cabine tem acabamento em alumínio, bancos esportivos e paddle shifts para as trocas de marchas. O lado bom é que a Lexus brasileira já confirma a vinda do modelo re-estilizado para novembro, apesar de que apenas na versão LS 460 L. Ainda não se sabe o preço que terá.

Read more > Lexus LS 2013

BMW ActiveHybrid 7

Já se começa a observar no Brasil uma reprodução do sangrento combate europeu entre Audi, BMW e Mercedes-Benz. Se esta última trouxe o primeiro híbrido importado oficialmente ao país, o S400 BlueHybrid, a BMW levou um ano mas agora vende o seu topo-de-linha com propulsão conjunta entre gasolina e eletricidade, ao preço de 546 mil reais. Entretanto, as vendas de um modelo desses por aqui ainda são ínfimas, então vê-los nas ruas será quase um milagre.

O AH7 oferece o mesmo desenho que exala sofisticação sem perder as linhas que não hesitam em alardear o parentesco com o resto da gama BMW. A cabine oferece tantos itens de luxo que praticamente seria necessário outro artigo para listá-los, mas o destaque deste modelo está mesmo sobre o capô: um V8 4.4 Turbo e um motor elétrico trifásico com baterias de íons de lítio, cuja atuação conjunta proporciona 465 cv e 71,4 kgfm. Tanta força aliada a um câmbio automático de oito marchas dão ao modelo 0 a 100 km/h em 4,9 e máxima de 250 km/h.

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Ford Fusion Hybrid

E finalmente o Brasil dá mais um passo rumo ao Primeiro Mundo. Ainda que nosso mercado já tenha recebido o Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHybrid, não se pode negar que o Fusion tem um preço muito mais acessível, de forma que é com ele que os carros híbridos devem começar a florescer pelo país. Se os quase 134 mil reais pedidos pela Ford parecem muito comparado ao 2.5 comum, o Hybrid traz um excelente pacote de equipamentos, além de todo o sabor de novidade de um legítimo motor híbrido.

Por fora o carro é um Fusion como outro qualquer, salvo por detalhes como os logotipos da versão e as novas rodas. Já o interior é bastante requintado, com uma tela de 4,3 polegadas no console central, além de itens como teto solar elétrico, sistema de som Sony com a tecnologia multimídia Sync (que comanda o Bluetooth, leitores de mídias e um disco rígido do próprio carro), além de sistemas de auxílio a manobras, entre outros.

Mas o grande destaque deste carro são realmente seus dois motores. O elétrico pode produzir até 35 cv e 22,9 kgfm, enquanto o de combustão é um 2.5, totalizando 193 cv e 41,7 kgfm. O motor elétrico traz vários sistemas que tornam seu uso prático, como as baterias que podem ter a recarga interrompida sem problemas, e o sistema de recuperar a energia das frenagens, além do conhecido Start-Stop. Além disso, seu câmbio é do tipo CVT (de relações continuamente variáveis), o que torna as diferentes combinações de uso dos motores algo que não interfere na condução do veículo.

Seu sistema de gerenciamento dos motores é um pouco diferente dos híbridos tradicionais. Aliado ao câmbio CVT, eles podem funcionar os dois em qualquer período, segundo o que seja mais eficiente. Entretanto, até 75 km/h o motor elétrico pode levar o carro sozinho, e é exclusivo das partidas e da marcha a ré, o que simplesmente anula ruídos de motor nestas ocasiões. Os dois trabalham em conjunto nas situações de necessidade de mais força, como em arrancadas fortes e uso na estrada.

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Mercedes-Benz S400 Blue Hybrid

E finalmente temos o primeiro híbrido importado oficialmente no país, uma versão do belíssimo Classe S mais recente. Infelizmente um modelo desta faixa de preço está longe de alcançar presença expressiva nas ruas, mas o importante é que pelo menos um modelo assim já se vende por aqui – a tendência é que cada vez mais fabricantes decidam trazer seus híbridos, em que as boas vendas vão ser papel essencial para que cheguem modelos em maior variedade e de menor preço.

O modelo é nada menos que o topo-de-linha da Mercedes-Benz. Então ainda que o S400 seja uma versão intermediária, já podemos imaginar os metros que mede sua lista de itens de série. Mas neste carro os holofotes estão sobre os dois motores: um V6 3.5 de 279 cv já usado em outros modelos da marca, aliado a um elétrico de 20 cv. O interessante é que o S400 os usa ao contrário da maioria dos híbridos: o elétrico fornece força extra em situações de acelerações fortes e de uso em estrada, enquanto na cidade é o V6 que entra em ação quase sempre sozinho.

Já os momentos “ociosos” ele preenche como gerador para as próprias baterias, coletando energia nas frenagens. E não poderia faltar também o sistema Start & Stop, que desliga o motor quando o carro pára, para voltar a ligar quando o motorista abandona o pedal do freio. Toda essa atuação é cuidadosamente regulada pela central eletrônica do modelo, que também gerencia funções como o controle de tração. Segundo a Mercedes, num ciclo de vida comum o modelo consegue emitir 18% a menos de CO₂ comparado com o S350 de mesmo motor.

Read more > Mercedes-Benz S400 Blue Hybrid