Autos Blog

2008 Model Roundup

The pages of the 2007 calendar can’t disappear fast enough for auto lovers, because the 2008 model year ushers in a bumper crop of fascinating redesigns and an unusually large number of first-time models.

What follows, in no particular order, is a short list of some of the more interesting offerings that’ll soon be materializing in showrooms near you:

2008 Mercedes Benz C350
The folks at Daimler like to pretend the redesigned C Class got most of its styling DNA from Mercedes’ flagship S Class. Who are they trying to kid? Sure, if your eyes sweep over the new C Class sedan, you’ll see a linkage to its stylish big brother. But it’s equally clear that Mercedes’ designers taped pictures of BMW’s 3 Series to their computer terminals as they went about concocting the C Class’s exterior.

With the exception of the car’s front grill fascia, the C350′s aggressive, angular new sheetmetal is evocative of nothing if not the 3 Series. There’s a clear-cut need for an automotive paternity test when it comes to determining the C Class’s lineage.

From a driving standpoint, the C350′s genes are all Mercedes. Which is to say the little Mercedes handles quite well, but doesn’t deliver the taut steering and suspension feedback the 3 Series is renowned for. That’s not a knock, because few cars do. › Continue reading

VW Mk6 Golf GTi

VW hit the panic button when the sales of its flagship model Golf hit an all time low. So VW unveiled the new Mk6 Golf and now we have the GTi version. It will debut at the Paris Motor Show. The latest Volkswagen Golf GTI, uses the reskinned Golf’s wide, shallow upper grille to underpin the front of the hot hatch with a dominant, road-eating lower grille.

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Lean Machine: Ferrari V4 superbike concept

This may not be the first effort at creating a Ferrari motorcycle, but it may very well be the best. Alfredo “Dino” Ferrari, the departed son of company founder Enzo, was said to have raced specially-prepared motorcycles in the 1950s. In the 1970s, Kay Engineering crafted a racing bike, now said to be worth half a million dollars, with full factory backing to honor Enzo Ferrari. In the ’80s, legendary motorcycle designer Arlen Ness styled a one-off chopper on the Testarossa, while some guy named George crafted a pair of Ferrari-powered superbikes. Last year someone built a custom Scuderia Ferrari chopper for the retiring Michael Schumacher (who has since been trying his hand at motorbike racing), and earlier this year a collector crafted a model of what a Ferrari sportbike could look like. We’re sure some more will be brought to our attention in the comments below, but while some of these creations have been more convincing than others, this one has to be the slickest.

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