Train Horns On Cars = Hilarious

Let’s face it, scaring the crap out of people with train horns attached to your car is just good old American fun. Attaching train horns to your car is apparently all the rave these days as you can see from the video below. But those set-ups are usually pretty complex. You can’t just strap a train horn where your old car horn used to be. Those horns are generally 3+ long and bulky horns working together to make a chord, and they run on compressed air. So you need room enough for a tank of compressed air (usually in the trunk), and a place to fit all the horns, and lines connecting the two. It’s a lot of work to be a public nuisance I guess.
Check out the video after the jump:

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2009 Honda Insight Prepares For Parisian Debut

Today, Honda has confirmed that a bigger, updated model of their hybrid vehicle, the Honda Insight, will make its green entrance at the Paris auto show in October. Introduced in 1999, the Honda Insight is technically billed as the first mass produced hybrid vehicle and, in theory, should’ve beat the Toyota Prius at it’s own game. Unfortunately, in addition to being the leaders in hybrid technology, Honda was also the leader in aesthetically revolting exterior design. The latter distinction ultimately cost them big time; from 1999 to 2006, the Honda Insight only sold a total of 17,001 units. Expected to hit dealer showrooms in April, the 2009 Honda Insight will ditch the 2-passenger, covered rear wheel layout in favor of a five-passenger hatchback and will look absolutely nothing like its rival, the Toyota Prius. We jest, of course.

‘See The 09 Insight After The Jump

2009 Honda Insight

After licking their wounds, Honda sent the Insight back to the drawing board and for 2009, will reveal a fresh design shaded heavily with Prius-brand colored pencils. With a completely new platform, the 2009 Honda Insight adds room for three more passengers and loses those gross first generation rear panels. Although the Insight’s gasoline engine will be its primary power source, the electric motor will generate energy for the car’s auxiliary functions as well as provide additional power for accelerating, starting, and stopping. Surprisingly, the Insight’s upgrade does not spell price inflation - quite the opposite, in fact. Specifics have yet to be released, but Honda has confirmed that the Insight will retail for less than the both the $22,660 Civic Hybrid and the $21,500 Toyota Prius.

We say: We sympathize with Honda because they did it first, Toyota just did it better. We’re sincerely rooting for the Honda Insight, and if we manage to get our hands on a Prius and an Insight, we just might have to schedule a drag race shootout.

[Photo & News Source: Auto News]

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The IFR Aspid Super Sport: It’s What’s On The Inside That Counts, Really

Photo Courtesy of AutoExpress

Making its international debut at the British International Auto Show on July 22, the brand new IFR Aspid Super Sport stole the show. A super car by definition, the IFR Aspid Super Sport is a front engine, rear-wheel drive, luxury two-seater sportscar. Although its interesting (read: really acquired taste) exterior design suggests Lotus lineage, the IFR Aspid is in a league all its own.

Ground breaking technology, an unbelievable 50mpg, and the impressive power that usually comes standard with $100,000 sports car ($107,000; if you want to split hairs), does much to quickly set the Aspid Super Sport apart from would-be competitors. Unquestionably a car made to flex its specs on the asphalt (legally too, with its FIA endorsement), the IFR Aspid Super Sport boasts a 4-cylinder Supercharged engine capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 mph in 5.9 seconds, and from 0 to 62 mph in 2.8 seconds. In addition, the Aspid Super Sport also features a curb weight of 1,543 and a 402-horsepower engine, which clocks it in with a power-to-weight ratio of 570-horsepower-per-ton. According to egineering genuis and company founder, Ignacio Fernandez Rodriquez, “The whole point of the Aspid is that it is small and lightning fast, just like its namesake.”

The Aspid Super Sport’s performance stats certainly appear to spell “track car”, but the Aspid Super Sport is not the bare-essentials F-1 you would expect. Featuring both Bluetooth and WiFi capability, the Aspid Super Sport’s instrument panel and driver controls have all been integrated into one, user-friendly touch screen located in the center of the steering wheel. Offering a surprising amount of legroom given the Aspid Super Sport’s compact styling, the interior is a leather-clad, carbon-fiber, La-Z-Boy – our at least as close as you’re going to get to one barrelling down the freeway ( er, I mean – “closed professional driving course”) at 150 mph.

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Inflatable Cars: Seriously This has to be efficient

Gas 2.0 never ceases to amaze me with the crazy nonsense they dig up. Inflatable Cars is today’s latest gimmick.

The California Based Startup is called XP Vehicles, the technology is similar to those developed by NASA for the Mars Rover but they are for the Asian Consumer Market.

Not only does XP vehicles state that the Whisper™ will have a range of 2,500 miles using their “hot-swap XPack Multi-Core™ battery/fuel cell powerplant,” they are aiming for a price point of under $5,000. The cars will be sold direct online, initially only offered in Asian markets, and you will be able to configure them with a variety of different colors, decals, stereo systems, iPod mounts, and alarms - none of which will cover up for the fact that you’re driving a balloon.

Seriously will anyone buy an inflatable car? In a sidenote, the picture above is not from the startup company.

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Honda to Send CR-Z Hybrid to Geneva: Gives Europe First Dibs

After making a couple stops along the North American Teaser Tour Honda is preparing to take their CR-Z Hybrid over to the Geneva Auto Show, but with a bit more business in mind than just showing off. Word has come out that Europe will be the first to get the new Honda Hybrid some time between 2009 and 2010. This could be yet another devastating blow to the Americans as they seem to be playing second-fiddle to Europe and Asia when it comes to new car releases. It must be foreign auto makers way of “Sticking it to the man,” and it seems that North America is “the Man.”

Honda’s CR-Z Hybrid, which first appeared in Tokyo, carries in its design some genetic breeding to its 80’s ancestor the CRX. Ofcourse in the CR-Z Hybrid you have a gasoline engine that is assisted by an electric motor that is housed between the engine and the transmission. Unfortunately, with this Hybrid setup there will be no all-electric driving option, but hopefully the Hybrid assist will bring the fuel mileage numbers up to the old CRX’s numbers. Even back in the day friends were bragging about achieving 40 to 50 to almost 60mpg. Some of that may have been hyperbole and some of it true, but any of those would be good targets for Honda.    …photo gallery to follow… (more…)

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Will better fuel mileage and fleet reductions save the New Chrysler?

Is the new Chrysler LLC. in need of saving? Some would say yes as sales slump and uncertainty surrounds the old, fledgling company (that’s right, “old” and “fledgling”). Some might say no… but I have no excuse for them. Chrysler themselves are feeling the crunch and are reacting so. Announcements have come out this past week that Chrysler will be trimming some of the fat off their fleet and working to make fuel mileage a priority in their design and engineering. Now that Chrysler has realized that excess is no longer the trend and that their new mid-sized Sebring design is a Se-bust it is time to play a little catch-up.

It looks as though the retro days of the PT Cruiser are nearing their final conclusion. Slow sales and 10 years without a redesign make the Cruiser a bit stale and put it first in line on the chopping block. (more…)

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eBay Find of the Day: The Electric Powered 1980 Commutacar

Just as the rise in fuel prices is not necessarily new, neither is the public outcry for electric cars. The Commutacar can out in 1978 just as the US was caught in the grips of its second fuel shortage in a decade. And quite like the electric cars of today the Commutacar had a selling price above the national average for a new car. Despite its $6500 price tag there were 4,000 cars that sold between 1978 and 1980. Once the fuel shortage passed and safety standards increased the Commutacar went the way of the Vangaurd Citicar: the predecessor to the Commutacar. (more…)

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