The 2012 Volvo C30. Image: Volvo

Of all the reasons to buy a Volvo. “because I can have it tuned” probably doesn’t make the top ten very often. Nonetheless, Volvo does indeed have a corporate tuning partner, Polestar, which has developed a line of performance software for select 2008 and later Volvo models. If you own a C30, C70, S40 or (soon) a V50 with Volvo’s T5 engine, Polestar’s tune will net you an additional 23 horsepower and 29 lb.-ft. of torque.

Here’s the best part: your Volvo dealer will reflash the ECU for you, and the upgrade doesn’t impact your existing warranty coverage. Polestar claims that it won’t negatively affect fuel economy, either, but we suppose that depends on how much you enjoy your new tune. The price is a reasonable $1,295 installed, which is on par with tuning upgrades from other aftermarket vendors.

Polestar is the company behind Volvo’s racing efforts, and it’s worked its magic on the new S60 T6 R-Design, which gets a bump from 300 to 325 horsepower. Will the partnership between Volvo and Polestar result in more cars like the highly entertaining S60 T6 R-Design? We certainly hope so.

APR's lobby, featuring the 2006 SEMA GTI.

When it comes to tuning in the Volkswagen, Audi and now Porsche world, one name stands out above the rest. APR LLC, which was originally founded as “Auburn Parts and Repair” in Auburn, AL, has continued to blend performance with functionality since the shop began tuning Audi A4s in 1998. Since then, their market has expanded to include Volkswagen Seat, Skoda and Porsche, and the company now has a presence around the globe.

APR's headquarters in Opelika, AL. Image: APR

While Volkswagen doesn’t have an “official” tuning partner, APR is as close as the automaker gets. The first collaborative effort between the two companies was the Volkswagen GTI built for the 2006 SEMA show, and prominently displayed in APR’s lobby. The relationship continues to this day, and APR is currently at work building a murdered out Jetta, dubbed “Darth Vader,” for Volkswagen U.S.A.. While most dealers will point out that modifying your car’s ECU will void the warranty quicker than you can say “reflash,” APR has established itself through VW dealers across the country (and across the world), helping to legitimize APR’s software and hardware products.

APR's rapid prototyping system.

Prototype parts are accurate enough to use for test fitment.

Unlike most tuners, APR is a massive operation with an impressive amount of in-house capability. Everything from design through rapid-prototyping is done in house, and manufacturing is only farmed out when it can be done better by a third party manufacturer. A good example of this is the company’s Carbonio intakes and their stainless exhaust systems; since APR doesn’t want to lay up carbon fiber or bend stainless tubing in house, they farm the component manufacturing out to companies who can meet their exacting standards.

APR's chassis dyno.

In fact, “exacting” may be an understatement. APR’s Opelika, AL facility includes a chassis dyno (in its own dedicated environmental chamber), a UV-curable resin rapid prototyping system, several CNC machines, fuel injector testers and even a high-pressure fuel pump test rig, the only one of its kind outside of a major automaker or tier 1 supplier. Buying a commercially available unit would have cost in the neighborhood of $500,000, so APR designed and built its own in house, for roughly $60,000.

Darth Vader awaits completion.

Under Darth Vader's hood. It only looks stock...

That kind of “do it yourself and do it better” mentality pervades the entire APR staff. Every one is an enthusiast, and you get the feeling that coming to work in the morning is a lot like going to play in your garage on the weekend. I visited them on Labor Day, and you wouldn’t have known it was a holiday, since the shop was busy prepping race cars for the season-ending Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race. Keith Lucas, APR’s director of sales and marketing, and Arin Ahnell, APR’s marketing manager, both took time out to show me around the impressive facility.

APR's logo. I wonder how many fans have this as a tattoo?

One of APR’s hottest-selling products is its EMCS Program Switching tune, which allows VW, Audi and Porsche owners to select custom ECU maps based on available fuel grade. The stock ECU programming is also retained, allowing owners to easily switch back and forth between stock and tuned modes. The gains in performance are readily apparent, and there’s no better way to go faster for a reasonable amount of money.

APR's CNC area. Image: APR

In the case of my 2011 VW GTI, the stock car produces 216 horsepower and 227 ft-lb of torque on 93 octane gasoline. With just an APR Stage 1 tune, and no other mods, the car now makes 254 horsepower and 303 ft-lb of torque on 93 octane gas. Should I have to run 91 octane, I can easily switch maps and the car will still produce 250 horsepower and 294 ft-lb of torque. For track use, if I’m willing to completely drain my gas tank and run 100 octane fuel, my car will make 273 horsepower and 337 ft-lb of torque.

The workshop area, cleaner than an operating room. Image: APR

Numbers on paper are only part of the equation, and they don’t mean much if the car loses drivability in the process. That’s simply not the case with my GTI, which now pulls noticeably harder from 2,500 rpm to redline. There’s still next to no torque steer, which makes the GTI easy to drive at speed. In short, APR has transformed the car into the GTI that VW should have built.

One of APR's Continental Tire Challenge GTI race cars

So why didn’t VW tune the American GTI for this much horsepower? It comes down to building a car for the worst case scenario. While the 2.0 TSI is a fairly robust engine, if an owner opted to use 89 octane gas (instead of the required premium) and then flog the car in 110 degree heat, bad things would happen. It’s cheaper for a manufacturer to limit performance than it is for them to replace engines in cars that aren’t properly maintained, or that are driven without regard to temperature and conditions.

If you’re a VW or Audi fan, chances are you already know about APR. If you’re new to either brand, bookmark GoAPR.com, since you’ll probably be buying stuff from them in the near future.

The Hennessey Venom GT. Image: Hennessey

Try this experiment next time you’ve got a long stretch of open track in front of you (because we’d never condone this kind of driving on public roads): at 70 miles per hour, drop the hammer and keep it matted for 17 seconds. Record your top speed, and compare it to the speed of the Hennessey Venom GT, on a “low boost” setting.

If you’ve got a fast car, I’ll bet you can hit 150 miles per hour from 70 in 17 seconds. An average car will probably struggle to hit 120 or so, but the Hennessey-built Venom GT will run from 70 to 215 mph in those 17 seconds. Need proof? It’s in the video below.

Just in case you’ve never heard of the Hennessey Venom GT, the Silverstone, England-built supercar starts life as a Lotus Exige body, which gets stretched by some eight inches for better high-speed stability. Next up comes a Corvette ZR1 sourced V-8, tuned by Hennessey to make up to 1,200 horsepower. Mated together, the final product weighs less than 2,700 pounds, resulting in “impressive” acceleration. Zero to sixty, for example, comes up in 2.5 seconds (if you launch the car correctly), and the quarter mile flashes by in 9.9 seconds at 162 miles per hour. A Bugatti Veyron takes 24.2 seconds to reach 200 miles per hour, but the Venom GT does it in 15.9 seconds. Top speed? Hennessey claims it will do 275 miles per hour.

Image: Hennessey

The price? If you have to ask, you’re not a serious Venom GT buyer. The point of entry for the 750 horsepower “base model” Venom GT is $600,000, while the 1,200 horsepower version starts at $725,000. Since Hennessey will only build up to 10 cars per year, owners will find themselves in a very exclusive club, and the odds of you finding another Venom GT on the same racetrack are pretty slim. If you’ve got the money, that certainly helps justify the price of admission.

Source: You Tube via Autoblog

JDM Legends tunes, rebuilds and resells old Japanese sports cars. Located in Salt Lake City, the shop blends art, engineering and craftsmanship in their restorations, and shop manager Eric Bizek admits to being a bit obsessive. They won’t cut corners to save a few dollars, so don’t expect JDM Legends to match the price of a “restored” Celica that you found on eBay.

I’ll admit to having a bad jones for the ’73 Celica pictured above. I always loved the lines of these cars, and they’re a lot simpler mechanically than anything you can buy today. With proper care, feeding and rustproofing, they’ll run for a long, long time and don’t cost much to maintain. This example is for sale on the JDM Legends website, but they don’t mention the asking price. That’s probably a good thing, because I don’t think the missus would believe that it followed me home. Enjoy Josh Clason’s latest video on JDM Legends below.

HBTV: Depth of Speed – JDM Legends Restored from HBTV on Vimeo.

Source: Autoblog

The 2011 Ford Mustang GT. Image: Ford Motor Comapny

Perhaps more than any other kind of vehicle, muscle cars are meant to be modded. In the old days, that generally involved a new intake manifold, a bigger carburetor, a high-lift, long duration cam and a new exhaust system from the headers back. Today, squeezing more ponies out of your car is generally done by reflashing the ECU, followed by a low restriction intake and high flow exhaust. Aftermarket blower or turbo kits can add serious horsepower, but often require additional upgrades (to the cooling system or clutch, for example) to handle the added power. The point is this: muscle cars are still meant to be modded, both to personalize them and to squeeze the last bit of horsepower from the engine.

A new Technical Service Bulletin from Ford may give owners of 2011 and 2012 5.0-liter Mustangs (and F-150s) cause for concern. In it, Ford advises against modifying any powertrain components or calibration to increase performance, as doing so may exceed the design limits of parts. To increase owner paranoia, Ford says that, “attempting to increase the engine output via recalibrating the PCM may result in poor drivability, DTCs (trouble codes), or component failures. The TSB even has a flowchart, with the ominous step of “Initiate warranty cancellation process” if a reflash or hardware modification is found to be the cause of the component failure.

So what does this mean? Not much, really, since the Magnuson-Moss warranty act of 1975 prevents manufacturers from voiding your entire warranty based on aftermarket modifications. They can still void sections of your warranty, or deny warranty claims based on mods, but the burden of proof is on the dealership. Reflash the ECU and throw a connecting rod, and you’ll be paying for the repair yourself, since the dealer will claim the software change exceeded the design limits of the engine. Add aftermarket wheels and tires (with no other mods) and throw a rod, and the dealership will be fixing your ride under any warranty you have left. If the component failure is unrelated to the modifications made, the dealer still has an obligation to honor your warranty; if the component failure is in any way related to the mod, plan on writing a check for repairs yourself.

This could potentially be another black eye for Ford, who’s already dealing with six-speed transmission failures on 2011 and 2012 Mustangs and bent rear frame assemblies on SVT Raptor pickups. The TSB really doesn’t say anything new, but it does indicate a change in focus for the automaker; once content to look the other way in regards to mods like intakes, headers and exhausts, it seems that Ford dealers will now actively look for reasons to void warranty claims.

Source: MustangsDaily, via AutoGuide

Image: Honda

If you like the looks of the Mugen-tuned CR-Z in the picture above, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that the car has legitimate performance gains over the stock CR-Z, yet still delivers reasonable fuel economy. The bad news is that the car is a work in progress, and is still officially described as a “concept vehicle”. The translation of that is that it may or may not see production, and that production may or may not be sold in the United States. Honda isn’t releasing a lot of performance data just yet, since the car won’t be “officially” unveiled until July’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

So far, Honda is claiming that the Mugen CR-Z’s 0 to 60 time is comparable to a European market Civic Type R, which does the run in 6.6 seconds. Since that benchmark was achieved, Mugen has shed 110 pounds from the CR-Z and has bumped up power by another 15 percent; in other words, the Mugen CR-Z that the world will see at Goodwood will be “noticeably quicker” than an EU market Civic Type R.

Mugen has retained the car’s three-mode personality, and they’re quick to point out that the car is still “green”. In Eco mode (which is terrifyingly slow in a stock CR-Z), Mugen claims to get nearly 42 mpg, which is comparable to a stock CR-Z. In “Mugen” mode, which replaces Honda’s “Sport” mode, the car still gets 29 mpg, not bad, considering that the Mugen car uses a supercharger to boost power.

The Mugen-tuned CR-Z will also get lighter wheels, bigger brakes and a stiffer suspension, which tells me that these components will probably be available ala carte, even if Honda doesn’t sell the Mugen CR-Z on this side of the pond. It’s not the turbocharged, gasoline engined CR-Z we’d been hoping for, but the Mugen CR-Z may turn out to be the next best thing.

Source: Carscoop

The Mercedes-Benz Concept A-Class. Image: Mercedes-Benz USA

Mercedes-Benz’s recent Concept A-Class has drawn a lot of attention from fans and critics alike. The design is a lot edgier than what people expect from a conservative German auto manufacturer, but that’s necessary to draw in a new generation of buyers. Also necessary is a tuned version of the car, to compete against the likes of the Mini Cooper John Cooper Works and the upcoming Audi S1. For Mercedes, that involves giving the green light to AMG and saying, “bitte, mehr Pferdestärke.” Be careful what you wish for, since rumor has it that the AMG-tuned baby Benz may have as much as 350 horsepower, which would make the diminutive, front-wheel-drive car a handful to pilot in all but dry weather.

Image: Mercedes-Benz USA

Image: Mercedes-Benz USA

AMG’s thought of that, too, which is why the car is rumored to be equipped with an AWD system from an upcoming Mercedes compact SUV. If that’s the case, the AMG A Class could be the most entertaining car to wear the three-pointed-star in a long time (or at least the most entertaining, semi-affordable car to do so). There’s still mixed signals on whether or not we’ll get the A-Class in the U.S., since subcompact German cars historically haven’t sold well here. If we do, that will up the odds of us getting the AMG version as well. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Source: Autoblog

I’ll admit that these videos, from Hennessey Performance Engineering, are getting a little old. Every week it seems that HPE has a new and obscenely-tuned ride to pit against last year’s Nissan GT-R. At the current rate, I predict we’ll see a video pitting a 1975 Winnebago Chieftain motorhome, tuned by Hennessey, against the 2011 GT-R by the end of May. You know the Winnebago will smoke the GT-R, but they’ll probably have to use a rolling start. GT-R fans will pan this video, saying the Escalade left the line first, and that if Hennessey really wants to brag they should run the same test using the new and improved 2012 GT-R. That misses the point entirely, and Hennessey could have used any number of cars to run against the big Caddy SUV. Regardless of any staged drag race, if you’re not impressed by a 5,500 pound truck hitting sixty miles per hour in 3.3 seconds (faster than a stock Cadillac CTS-V), I’d encourage you to check your pulse. Video below.

Throw a couple corners into the mix, or make the contest from 0 to 100 mph and back to 0, and the GT-R would eat the Caddy’s lunch. I’ve always said that I’ve never driven a car that scares me, but anything the size of my first apartment that accelerates more violently than a Z06 Corvette has a damn good shot at it.

Source: Jalopnik, via Autopia