Coming to America: Street legal KTM X-Bow

Coming to America: Street legal KTM X-Bow

Although KTM has been making motorcycles since 1934, it's new to the car business. Evidently, no one told them that if you're going to go back on something you said in the auto business, it's supposed to be really disappointing. Instead, KTM has announced its intention to bring the X-Bow track car to the United States and make it street-legal to boot, despite previously saying that the X-Bow would only be sold in Europe and Asia and that it would be confined to the track.

The announcement was made by KTM sales and marketing chief Hubert Trunkenpolz at the recent annual gathering of KTM bike dealers from across North America in Salt Lake City, Utah. Apparently the company has received some 600+ requests from American KTM dealers for the X-Bow to make the transatlantic trip. Trunkenpolz (now we just like saying Trunkenpolz) noted that they will need cooperation from Volkswagen/Audi, who supplies the running gear, and from local authorities, but that the company "will do whatever is possible to bring the car to the U.S. – that, I promise."

Nicely Modded Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X

It’s amazing what the right set of rims combined with a lower suspension can do to the appearance of a car. And although the owner of the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X, Ryan Gates, is actually setting the car up for track use and in particular, for the NASA TT-A class and the Street AWD class at select Redline Time Attacks, those absolutely stunning black-colored 18-inch rims could make any EVO X look totally sick.

Coming Soon: The Mind Blasting Corvette ZR-1

The Corvette ZR-1 raises, at best, a polite eyebrow of interest on this side of the Atlantic. The Americans, on the other hand, have gone potty for it.

And you know what? This time, they're right.

In a nutshell, here's the deal. The ZR-1 has a supercharged 6.2-litre V8 doing 638bhp, and it weighs just 1518kg. It does 0-60 in 3.4, 0-125 in 10.3 seconds.

It tops out at 205. It has carbon brakes as standard. And it's not just a point and squirt machine. It has the current Nurburgring production-car lap record. Yup, faster than a GT-R or any Porsche. See why the Americans are excited?

We on the other hand have allowed ourselves to be hoodwinked by the fact that this is a supercar disguised as a regular £46-grand Corvette - a car with a steel frame and fibreglass panels.

This one costs £100,000 (about $120,000 in the U.S.) but for that you get an entirely different and very trick car: aluminium and magnesium frame, carbonfibre panels, magnetorheological adaptive suspension, the blower, titanium conrods, head-up display et cetera et cetera.

The performance is just sensational. The one gizmo it does without is a semi-auto box, and you have to cope with a mildly clunky manual shift. But you don't have to use it often because this engine is a hallucinogenic wall of torque.

The handling and grip do nothing to let the side down. In as much as a car so fiery can be amenable to a mutt like me, this one is. And anyway, you've got the well-tuned safety net of StabiliTrak (aren't the Americans great at hype? That's their name for what the boring Germans call ESP.)

I am very excited for the ZR-1, I can't wait to test one.

Nissan Рaises GT-R MSRP Бy Нearly $7,000

Nissan announced today a price increase for the 2009 GT-R, raising the MSRP nearly $7,000 from $69,850 to $76,840. The price for the Premium model has been increased even more, going from $71,900 to $79,090 in one fell swoop. Fortunately, the adjusted prices do not affect customers who placed their orders with dealers before September 5. Nissan cited increased material costs as the reason for the adjustment.

Since the GT-R is already one of the best performance bargains on the market today and customers are paying a premium to own one, we doubt that the price increase will have any effect on sales. Still, $7,000 is a serious chunk of change that could go towards aftermarket toys from Cobb Tuning or HKS.

Mitsubishi Lancer VR4 Station Wagon

A member of the Dutch ‘Galantfans’ forum came up with this rendering depicting a sporty station wagon version of the new Mitsubishi Lancer (Galant Fortis in Japan). Although it’s apparent that the ‘chop’ was made by mating the body of a… VW Passat Variant (check out the mirrors) to the front-end of the Lancer along with adding a set of tasty alloys that are housed in blown up wheel arches, the overall result looks very promising.

VW Scirocco SERIES

For some reason, the Volkswagen Scirocco hasn't really blipped on my radar.

It's just one of those cars that's sort of passed me by - despite all the hype and nostalgic musings it's generated.

Maybe that's because the Iroc concept looked so brilliant, only for VW to lose their guts and dilute it into a softer, less edgy-looking production version.

Such gutlessness caused me to lose interest. What happened to that pointy, aggressive front-end? I wanted it back.

But, sat there in the BBC's secret underground layer (just off the A40 at White City), it looked bloody brilliant.

Pictures don't do this thing justice. In white, it looks properly cool, and the wheels are unlike anything on other 'normal' cars - they're more like the turbine-style jobs you get on an SLR.
And underneath all that, it's a Golf GTI. There are worse things to have as an alter-ego...

So it's quick. And stylish. Quick, stylish and utterly appealing. I want one.

Driving around west London, it got tonnes of attention. Maybe that's 'cos it's new, but the constant flicker of 'thumbs up' from pedestrians, cabbies and truckers would suggest people really like the look of it.

The only let down is the interior - it's boring. OK so I like the ribbed leather seats, and they're the only nod to the Scirocco of old.

But the rest of it is dull, and a bit safe in a very VW sort of way. The Iroc had all sorts of sculpted surfaces, bright splashes of colour and even a racing harness. Where's all that gone?

Probably in the same dustbin as the original front-end. So if you're planning on buying a Scirocco (which you should), my advice is to go find that bin, fish out the parts and graft them back on.

2010 Lotus Europa i6 concept

The Europa i6 concept study is a mid-engined, rear wheel drive sports car inspired in terms of design by the classic Europa and Elite as well as by the latest Lotus models. The independent designer supports that ideally, the Europa i6 would weigh in at about 2,030 lbs (920 kg) with power coming from a 2.0-liter supercharged inline six-cylinder engine.

In theory, he says that the sports car would sprint from zero to 100 km/h (62mph) in 7 sec (kind of slow...) and on to a top speed of 165 mph or 265 km/h. Leaving aside the theoretical technical specs, Idries’ take on a compact mid-engined Lotus sports coupe hits the spot. Too bad it exists only in the digital world, but I would really be surprised to see it on the streets someday.