By Justin Couture

Ford’s much anticipated Fiesta is still about a year away from arriving in dealerships, but in preparation, the brand is doing just about everything in its power to get North Americans acquainted with its European-designed subcompact.

You might’ve noticed that it has started to appear in Ford’s television commercials, not to mention its clever Fiesta Movement campaign, in which young, ‘net-savvy “agents” were given 100 Fiestas and a series of missions to accomplish, blogging and posting their results on YouTube and other social networking sites.

To keep the momentum building, Ford is now targeting a different crowd – motorsport enthusiasts. Backed by Sweden’s Olsberg Motor Sport Evolution, it will run a pair of Fiesta Rallycrosses in this year’s Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb, North America’s second oldest motorsport event.

By David Menzies

The time: 5:20-ish. The place: A plaza in Richmond Hill, Ont. The issue: an able-bodied driver without a permit is occupying a parking space reserved for the disabled. Just 10 paces away – yes, 10 – sits an ocean of empty parking spots.

I have a choice to make: ignore the slight and keep walking. Or take a stand against ignorance and entitlement. I decide to do the Batman thing, albeit without the de rigueur cowl and cape.

I start off politely, simply pointing to the blue and white signage festooned with the wheelchair icon. The driver sees me but ignores me. If he’s trying to make me mad, he’s succeeding.

I then tell the thirtysomething, able-bodied driver he cannot park his Toyota Corolla there. He lifts his hand and lamely waves it, as if he’s shooing away a bug that’s crashing his picnic.

I snap: “Don’t be so selfish! Move it already!”

I receive the one-finger salute and a glare.

By Justin Couture

Despite facing its restructuring deadline of June 1, everything seems to be business as usual at GM’s Cadillac division. The brand is getting ready to launch two new vehicles for model year 2010, the CTS Sport Wagon and the SRX.

The newest member of the CTS family is the Sport Wagon, which offers buyers the same dynamic package as the regular CTS, but with nearly twice the cargo carrying capacity (720L with the rear seats up, 1,523L with the rear seats down). Completely restyled from the B-pillar back, Cadillac’s first North American wagon adheres to the brand’s Art and Science design language with slim, vertical tail lights and a sharply-styled power-operated tailgate.

By David Menzies

Perhaps the most memorable scene in the 1992 film Scent of a Woman is Al Pacino (playing the blind Frank Slade) whipping down city streets behind the wheel of a cherry-red Ferrari. It’s a gulp-inducing three minutes of film given that it is such a bizarre and terrifying concept: namely, someone driving a pricey exotic car very quickly in zero visibility.

Even so, the scene was easy to stage because Al Pacino is, in fact, a sighted actor merely portraying a blind man.

That certainly wasn’t the situation with Roger Keeney.

The Athens, Ga. resident lost his sight some 20 years ago in a farming accident. And in a case of life imitating art, Keeney recently won a Ford-sponsored essay-writing contest in which the top prize was the opportunity to get behind the wheel of an all-new 2010 Ford Mustang.

By David Menzies

Don’t try selling Perry Watkins on the merits of “bigger is better” – at least not when it comes to motorized vehicles. Indeed, the Buckinghamshire, England resident tends to swing the other way. He’s already in the record books for having the world’s lowest car (the “Flatmobile” as he calls it.) And now Watkins has applied his considerable mechanical talents to concocting what he says is the world’s smallest car.

Upon perusing the photographic evidence, who’d even attempt to argue the point?

The quest for smallness began when the 47-year-old stumbled upon a Postman Pat children’s coin-in-the -slot ride that was for sale on eBay from a vendor in Scotland. Postman Pat was no longer in working condition, but Watkins didn’t mind: he only needed the bare bones fibreglass body.

Watkins then did the Pimp My Ride thing. First, he reinforced the shell with a steel frame. Then, he mounted the body on a powerful mini quad bike (the powerplant is a 150cc single-cylinder four-stroke engine.) Next up was the addition of mirrors, windshield wipers and washers, lights and turn signal indicators along with faux racing exhaust pipes and even a fake wind-up key protruding from the rear. The conversion from kiddie car to street-legal machine took all of seven months.

By David Menzies

As the auto industry continues to go through a period of profound restructuring – and as GM bids adieu to a gulp-inducing 245 Canadian dealerships – some people are questioning the very existence of the new car dealership. While dealerships have been part of the retail landscape for about a century, some pundits question why such entities exist in the age of the Internet. Surely a system that allows a consumer to log onto a website and order an appropriately-optioned car factory-direct would make more fiscal and logistical sense, right?

Wrong.

By all accounts, the demise of the new car dealership has been greatly exaggerated. Dealerships may be down right now, but they’re not out. Nor will they be disappearing in the future.

Indeed, since the rise of the Internet in the ’90s, far from downscaling, new car dealerships have become increasingly bigger and more opulent. Dealerships tend to have more showroom space and have gone so far as to add upmarket creature comforts, ranging from cappuccino machines to comfy sofas.

By David Menzies

Talk about sticker shock: Even with deep discounting and dealer incentives and 0% financing, when it comes to cars, they just don’t price ’em like they used to.

Indeed, Hyundai made headlines last year with the return of the so-called “four-figure car” (namely, an Accent for $9,995 – a big whopping fin under five figures.) But whatever happened to those cars priced around $1,000 – the bottom end of four figures?

Well for those on a tight budget, rejoice: a one-stop clearing house for vehicles costing under $1,000 is here: www.carsforagrand.com.

Ok, there are a few not-so-insignificant catches. The first one being the inventory consists of used cars. The second hitch is that the used cars in question aren’t exactly late-model Acuras and Bimmers (expect to see descriptors along the lines of “as is” and “shop project.”) Finally, since Cars for a Grand is a U.S. website, you’ll have to go Stateside to retrieve your cheap wheels.

By Justin Couture

For nearly 30 years, Volkswagen and Audi fans across Europe have congregated in Austria for the annual Wörthersee Tour. A celebration of all things VW and Audi, the festival features hundreds of customized and classic VW and Audi cars, lovingly put on display by their owners. But it isn’t just die-hard enthusiasts who’ve joined in on the fun; over the years both brands have set up official displays, treating visitors with factory designed concepts and limited edition models to whet the appetite and get creative juices flowing.

Past concepts include the crazy VW GTI W12 650 Concept, the Audi TT clubsport quatto Concept and many others. This year, Audi will show its Q5 Custom Concept, a lean, mean, performance version of its new compact crossover.