AutoWeek Daily Drive — Wednesday, October 13, 2010

HOME   |   CAR NEWS   |   CAR REVIEWS   |   RACING   |   AUTOSHOWS   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   MARKETPLACE Wednesday, October 13, 2010                  Sketches of a future X3 strongly hint at the direction the X4 will take.... BMW poised to add X4 to lineup in 2014 It was only natural. With the SUV craze decidedly downsizing, BMW appears set to add an X4--with a range-topping M version--as part of plans to expand its utility-vehicle lineup in 2014. Conceived along the lines of the highly successful X6, the X4 is a smaller and more agile four-seater. Although it shares the same floorpan, drivelines, chassis and engineering hard points as the X3, the X4 is ...   Bentley considers S-Tronic technology for upcoming V8 Continental Bentley is considering equipping its future V8-powered Continental GT variant with a dual-clutch transmission that sister-company Audi badges as S-Tronic. Bentley's engineers are doing engineering studies on the feasibility of packaging the S-Tronic into the Continental's transmission tunnel....   2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, an AW Drivers Log EDITOR WES RAYNAL: This thing looks like something Batman would drive. It's outrageous! And I mean that as a compliment. Obviously, with the gullwing doors and all, it is intended to remind one of the glorious original 1950s 300SL, and it looks terrific. The interior is familiar Mercedes ...   Plug-in Prius Blog: Hybrid hype Oh, what the heck, I'll jump into the feeding frenzy about the Chevrolet Volt, even though by the time you read this it will have been forgotten and replaced by some outrage over Kyle Busch. Being as I have been driving a plug-in Toyota Prius for a week, I am now as much of an expert as anyone on...   2010 Jeep Liberty Renegade, What I drove last night It's interesting to arrive home after spending the better part of a week in France to find a mystery vehicle awaiting you at the airport. I didn't know what to expect, knowing only that the AutoWeek fleet commandos had executed a clandestine car swap while I was overseas. Not knowing what I...   Vintage vehicles shine at annual Lime Rock Park fall festival Mark your 2011 calendar for this event, right now. Vintage racing in the Northeast was virtually invented at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. The sport was established by the Vintage Sports Car Club of America (VSCCA), founded in 1958, and remained “clubby” for nearly two generations,... You May Have Missed...   2011 Chevrolet Volt, an AW Flash Drive What is it? General Motors' much-anticipated, highly publicized grab for technological superiority in the burgeoning electric-vehicle segment, the Volt represents some three years of intensive engineering and development work to take a novel concept from the drawing board to the reality. The car...   Le Mans: Lotus has big plans for the future, eyes building LMP1 contender The return of Lotus to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with an all-new LMP2-class coupe in 2012 could pave the way for a bid for outright honors in the future. New Lotus Motorsport director Claudio Berro called the forthcoming LMP2 program "a good first step" into the prototype division. He said that the...   IndyCar interview: Chip Ganassi and Dario Franchitti reflect on the season Championship-winning team owner Chip Ganassi and three-time Izod IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti participated in a media call on Tuesday and discussed the recently completed season.Franchitti's 2010 championship--officially his second consecutive and third in a row considering he skipped...   SEMA: Rhys Millen soups up the Hyundai Equus The Hyundai Equus would appear to be an unlikely candidate for special treatment for SEMA. Drift-car star Rhys Millen disagrees. He's created the RMR (Rhys Millen Racing) Signature Edition Equus, with a fortified V8 that puts out 415 hp, 30 hp more than stock. The car also gets two-tone carbon-...   33 legendary Indy cars seen on track at Speedway to celebrate centennial History rolled out of Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s garages at daybreak on Tuesday, as 33 of the greatest Indy cars were on display and representing each decade of greatness--and the men who drove them to victory lane.The display on the Speedway’s front straightaway was part of the...   Formula One: Porsche should form own team, Durheimer says Porsche could run its own team, if it decides to return to Formula One. New Porsche CEO Matthias Müller revealed earlier this month that the German manufacturer is considering an F1 return 19 years after its last involvement in the sport. The idea of Porsche running its own team was subsequently...   NASCAR: Front Row Motorsports celebrates . . . The Andy Griffith Show? In one of the more out-of-left-field sponsorship arrangements to come along, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team Front Row Motorsports on Tuesday announced that its No. 37 Ford Fusion will feature quite the paint scheme for this weekend's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway--and it's all in the name of Andy ...   Study finds teen drivers need more time in adverse conditions Practice might make perfect, but not if the drills never change.In a study organized by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Study and the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, participating teen drivers averaged about an hour and a half of supervised driving each week--mostly on... CLICK HERE TO UNSUBSCRIBE from the AutoWeek Daily Drive E-mail or to sign up for other AutoWeek e-mail products. IMPORTANT: Please add AutoWeek.com to your E-mail Address Book to ensure you will continue to receive our newsletters. Please DO NOT reply to this e-mail. You will not receive a reply if you use this e-mail address. 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