Chevy’s Newest Camaro: Fast Enough To Outrun A Decepticon Invasion

Chevy’s 2012 Camaro gets more horsepower from the V-6 and adds the eagerly anticipated ZL1 version, complete with a 6.2-liter, 550 horsepower V-8. The SS version remains largely unchanged under the hood, but that’s not a bad thing since the Camaro’s normally aspirated 6.2 liter V-8 is still good for 426 horsepower with a manual transmission (or 400 horsepower with the automatic). That’s not quite enough to outrun a Mustang from zero to sixty (sorry, bowtie fans), but it apparently is fast enough to outrun a Decepticon invasion, at least according to Tim Allen. Until Transformers 3 comes out, you can get a feel for the action in the video below. Read more

So How Does Chevy Test The Camaro Convertible Top?

There was a time in the not-too-distant past where American cars didn’t get a whole lot of validation post assembly. I’ve driven nearly new convertibles that leaked like a sieve in the rain, and I’ve had low mileage cars with more creaks and rattles than a haunted house. Fortunately, those days are in the past, and most of todays cars are tested to the point of failure before they even see production. Chevy wants you to know that they go well beyond “reasonable” in testing the top of the new Camaro convertible, running it through over ten years of simulated hard use in testing. Even production cars don’t get loaded for shipment until they’ve been tested under water spray of 900 gallons per minute. Like the video says, don’t try climbing into the trunk of your car at home. From personal experience, I can tell you that it’s not a particularly comfortable ride. Read more

2012 Centennial Edition Corvette Honors Chevy’s 100th Birthday

Louis Chevrolet, the man behind the bow-tie badge, was a race car driver long before he founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911. It’s fitting, then, that Chevrolet is honoring it’s 100th birthday with a special edition of the Corvette, the most-campaigned race car in Chevrolet’s long history. The 2012 Centennial Edition package will be available across the entire Corvette range, including the ZR1, and includes both appearance and content upgrades. Read more

2011 Chicago Auto Show: 2012 Camaro ZL1 Revealed

After months of speculation, the new uber-Camaro was revealed today at the Chicago Auto Show. To the surprise of many, the car didn’t carry the expected Z/28 nameplate; instead, Chevy opted to label the car the Camaro ZL1. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know the significance of that name, since it was used only once, as an internal order code for an aluminum-block racing engine option on the 1969 Camaro. Only 69 were ever built with the ZL1 order code, and their performance and value is the stuff of legend. What better way to honor the name than by building the most powerful and most capable Camaro in Chevrolet’s history? Read more

GM To Add 750 Jobs In Flint

It wasn’t too long ago that all the news related to U.S. automakers was negative. Things have changed in recent months, and GM is now the second of the big 3 U.S. automakers to announce significant hiring plans for the immediate future. General Motors announced on Monday that they would be adding a third shift to the Flint Assembly plant, which builds both the GMC Sierra and the Chevy Silverado heavy-duty pickups. The third shift is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2011, with workers arriving for training in the second quarter. Read more

Cars With Launch Control: Houston, We Have Lift Off!

[original post date: 02/10/2009] I honestly believe that the new Nissan GT-R has sparked quite an interest and crave for launch control. Many cars way before the Nissan GT-R have had their own system for a launch control either in a SMG transmission in the E46 BMW M3 or the Volkswagen’s early DSG found in the GTI.

The ultimate crave for launch control baffles me but you have to understand that I would take a full manual transmission any day over a, what Jeremy Clarkson calls them, floppy paddle gear box. Even with Nissans woes with grenaded transmissions in the GT-R, launch control is still a big hit. Even Hitler “had to launch it”.

Ever since the introduction of drive-by-wire, auto manufacturers have been toying with new electronics that improve upon the over-all safety of a vehicle. New systems come standard in many vehicles now such as dynamic skid control or also known as vehicle dynamic control or electronic stability control (name varies from each manufacturer). Many of these new systems utilize a combination of computer operated units from the ABS braking, traction control and accelerator control. I am sure if manufacturers thought they could play with these systems and make a car safer then why not develop a precise method for accelerating a vehicle with a computer to make it faster.

It is all a numbers game if you think about it. I am sure many car enthusiasts, including yourself, may have experimented with dropping your clutch at a certain RPM to get the full potential out of a launch from a dead-stop. Even you guys with automatics have almost perfected holding the brake pedal while stomping on the accelerator in preparation for a ‘launch’. What if your car could do this for you? Well, many new exotic and sports cars can but it does take the use of a special transmission or a manual transmission that is controlled by a computer, except in Porsches’ case with their newest launch control system on a full manual transmission.

Where did this idea and technology come from?

If you think about it, F1 cars among other racing cars were already using a type of the technology that we see in today’s cars fitted with dual clutch transmissions and SMG (Sequential Manual Gearbox) units. Racing is where it begins… most times. From the F1 cars now shifting well under 60 milliseconds to the Nissan GT-R’s dual clutch shifting time of around 200 milliseconds, computers have taken cars to a new level of performance where a human just simply cannot match yielding a much higher level of performance.

Cars with Launch Control

Many of the baby boomers know ‘launch control’ to be something only NASA quotes in the control room during a space shuttle launch. Now we can all experience a ‘horizontal’ launch in many of today’s technologically advanced performance vehicles.

So which cars have launch control? Below is a short list that we have compiled of all vehicles with an available launch control. If we missed any please post a comment below and let us know.

Please note: Some of the vehicles included on the list may only have a staging RPM setting which some may call “launch control” but it is not as involved as a fully automated launch control or uses a sequential shifting transmission (paddle shifter) such as in the Nissan GT-R.

• Audi R8
• Audi TT
• BMW M3
• BMW M5
• BMW M6
• Bugatti Veyron
• Chevrolet Corvette/ZR1
• Ferrari 360cs
• Ferrari 599 GTB/GTO
• Ferrari F430/Scuderia
• Ferrari 458 Italia
• Lamborghini Gallardo/LP560
• Lamborghini Murcielago/LP640
• Lexus LFA
• Mercedes Benz McLaren SLR
• Mercedes Benz SL63 AMG
• Mercedes Benz SLS AMG
• Mitsubishi Evo Lancer Evolution/MR
• Nissan GT-R
• Porsche 911/Carrera/S/GT2
• Volkswagen GTI/Golf/Rabbit/R32

Various videos demonstrating launch control below after the jump…

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Playboy Selects “The Hottest Rides Of 2011″, We Offer Our Rebuttal

Let’s keep this simple: if you want to look at gorgeous, semi-naked women or read insightful reporting, go to Playboy.  If you want accurate information on cars and trucks, come to Automotive Addicts.  We don’t do the whole pictures of naked women thing (although we have been known to look at them admiringly), because it’s just not what we do best.  Likewise, when Playboy publishes a list of the “Hottest Rides” of the year, you need to read it with some skepticism.

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The 2011 Chevy Volt Is As Good As The Hype – Chevrolet Volt Full Test Drive

‘The 2011 Chevy Volt Is As Good As The Hype’

There appear to be two camps when it comes to the Chevy Volt; on the one hand, detractors cry, “it’s just another hybrid”, while discussing conspiracy theories about government subsidies for electric vehicles.  On the other hand, those who’ve driven it, myself included, come away pretty damn impressed.  How impressed?  Motor Trend just named the 2011 Chevy Volt the “Car of the Year”, and not two hours later Automobile magazine followed up with the “Automobile of the Year” award.  I’ll tell you flat out: the Chevy Volt is perhaps the most significant automobile of the past 50 years, and it’s the launching pad for a whole new generation of high-tech vehicles.  You can love it or you you can hate it, but you certainly can’t ignore it.

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