cars

OK, we're officially depressed. First, we hear about the air guitar T-shirt. Bad enough. Then came the USB electric guitar. But a guitar that plays through your car stereo?

As Red Ferret reports, owners of new Volkswagen Golfs, Beetles, Rabbits and Jettas will get a complimentary guitar with their purchase. Why? Here's an explanation from First Act GarageMaster, which makes the guitars: "Owners of new VW models can transform their cars into mobile amps, with a newfound freedom to rock in the driveway, play at outdoor parties, or shred in the beach parking lot. New rockers will … Read more

If you're prone to speeding, you might think twice before doing it anywhere in Deutschland. The German Federal Traffic Ministry and the Association of German Automobile Tuners (a group that encourages tuning?) have launched a punctuation-happy program called Tune It! Safe! that will feature a Mercedes CLS V12 Rocket sedan decked out for German polizei at this year's Essen Motor Show.

The modified police rocket can reach speeds of up to 225 mph--a necessity, I suppose, when going after reckless drivers on the autobahn.

This gravity-driven "car" (top photo) took the prize for "Best Design Exploration" at the Unlimited Derby car race, an event sponsored by IBM at the Industrial Designers Society of America conference in Austin, Texas.

It was designed by ID-One, a creative services company of engineers, industrial designers and graphic artists. (We wonder if they had been flipping through the Tiffany's catalog at the time--see the sterling silver baby rattle below.)

The race is akin to the Boy Scouts' Pinewood Derby in that entries must be gravity driven and fit specific size parameters. Unlike the Pinewood … Read more

Sybarites.org has fittingly posted more speculation on the release of a Bugatti Veyron Roadster for 2009.

As rumored earlier this year, the convertible version of the Veyron will have a roof similar to the Porsche targa, or a removable hardtop accompanied by a soft-top alternative. WorldCarFans.com has this computer generated image of what the car may look like.

At speeds well over 200 mph, just remember to wear a baseball cap, ladies.

And in case you were wondering, a "sybarite" is someone who prefers the finer earthly delights. The word originally referred to a person from … Read more

Cadillac Escalade owners will soon have an extra piece of tech bling with which to wow their homies. According to USA Today, GM is planning to introduce a new remote-control key fob next April that will allow Escalade drivers to change their cars' radio-station settings, check the fuel-tank level and tire pressure, and remind themselves whether they locked the doors or not. The device will feature a built-in LCD display and is designed to operate at four-to-six times the distance of other remote access systems, according to GM. The technofob will be offered on the Escalade and a range of … Read more

Placing a great deal of trust in a bunch of automotive journalists, Honda let about 20 of us loose today in their next-generation hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles on the Laguna Seca racetrack in California. Only two models of the Honda FCX Concept exist, and we got a chance to put the futuristic sedans through their paces while admiring the sleek styling and high-tech drive train components that enabled us to blast around at 80mph with no emissions besides water.

The FCX Concept runs entirely on hydrogen, has a range of 270 miles per tank, and represents a significant advancement for Honda'… Read more

For the Juan Manuel Fangio wannabe or the parents who fear their daughter wants to be the next Danica Patrick, the ScanGauge II gives insight into what your car is up to.

The ScanGauge II from Linear Logic is a painless-to-install car diagnostics reader for $170 and, according to the company, it will soon be getting an add-on to make it even more useful. Currently, the ScanGauge II reads and displays 12 different parameters in real-time.

The recorded parameters track things like fuel usage, average speed, maximum speed, driving time, maximum rpm, distance to empty, and time to empty. The … Read more

If you ignore the estimates that all the farmland in the U.S. couldn't produce enough biodiesel to make a big dent in our petro-appetite, biodiesel is pretty exciting--when you can find it. All the tired jokes about pulling up to your favorite Chinese restaurant aren't very funnny when the needle is on "E" and you want to stay green.

Nearbio.com is a free site that tells you where the nearest biodiesel vendor is located and how to get there. It's really optimized for use on a web-enabled cell phone (nearbio.mobi) where its … Read more

Following yesterday's Los Angeles Times article on GM's development of a new kind of gasoline-electric hybrid, Reuters is reporting this morning that the plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) car is likely to make its first appearance at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit next January. The unveiling will come exactly 10 years after the launch of the ill-fated EV1 electric car (pictured), which GM discontinued in 2002 citing lack of public interest. Since then, GM has taken a hammering at the hands of overseas automakers who have been early adopters of hybrid technology.

Recent initiatives such … Read more