By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

We're only a few months away from another highly desirable electric car hitting our streets. The Audi R8 e-tron has been on our radar screen for a couple years now, and this battery-powered electric is getting some final tweaks before it goes on sale to the public later this fall. 

Using a pair of 300-horsepower electric motors - one at each axle to mimic Audi's quattro all-wheel-drive - the R8 e-tron is able to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in only 4.6 seconds. For comparison, that matches the 'regular' 4.2-litre V8-powered R8, despite the gasoline-powered car only having 420 horses. The main reason for the difference is the increase in weight. Despite Audi's use of aluminum and carbon-fibre, the giant lithium-ion battery pack and other assorted gear brings the e-tron's weight up to nearly 1,800 kg or between 100-150 kg more than other R8 models.

The upside of the enormous T-shaped battery is that with its 49 KWh or energy, Audi estimates a nominal range of 215 km if driven with some restraint.

However, going for the electric-car record at the 21-km Nurburgring Nordschleiffe requires anything but restraint, and Audi actually had to increase the e-tron's speed limiter from 200 km/h up to 250 km/h to take advantage of the track's notoriously long straights.

With an Audi development driver behind the wheel, the e-tron completed a lap in 8:09.099, which is an amazing achievement. That's an enormous achievement given that the lighter V8-powered R8 did it in 8:04, while the V10-powered R8 5.2 FSI was a little faster at 7:44. 

The Peugeot EX1 Concept had set a time of just over nine minutes back in May 2011. (Toyota has gone faster around the 'Ring in an electric car, but the car is essentially a full-on prototype race car and an earlier evolution of the machine that they'll eventually race up Pikes Peak this year.)

By David Menzies for MSN Autos

You’ve got to hand it to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg: he just never fails to come up with new and creative ways to interfere in the day-to-day lives of the Big Apple’s citizens.

Recently, His Honour targeted super-sized sodas, announcing that New York plans to ban single-serve sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces. This is how the nanny-like CEO of New York Inc. is waging his personal war on obesity... even though there’s nothing stopping a consumer from buying TWO 16-ounce cups, thereby having a 32-ounce serving nevertheless. But we digress...

In any event, thanks to New York’s recent failure to pass legislation that would allow law enforcement to issue fines for speeders caught on camera, Mayor Bloomberg has suggested another deterrent tactic: public shaming.

Instead of old school Puritan-style punishment such as the stocks, Bloomberg says he'd like to put scofflaws' "names and pictures some place" to shame them.

"If Albany is not going to let us do this stuff, we've got to save lives," he says.

There he goes again, trying to save lives. What a guy! Kinda like a low-rent Batman. Because hey, when a New Yorker is motoring a good 10-mph over the speed limit, well, that’s just so beyond the pale, isn’t it? And there’s no way Batman – er, Bloomberg – is going to stand for that sort of reckless behaviour.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

The 90th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was shaping up to be a very exciting event thanks to an intense shift towards super-powerful electric vehicles that promised to eclipse the current record time up the hill. Big-money efforts from Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan, along with a private entry from Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima who set the current record of 9:51.278 in a 900-horsepower Suzuki SX4. 

Unfortunately, because of growing wildfires threatening Colorado Springs - the closest town to the mountain - and the surrounding communities, the race organizers are postponing the event, originally scheduled for July 8, until later in the summer. 

By Steve Mertl for MSN Autos

Faithful readers of MSN Autos might remember a story we did a while back on how much drivers really knew about the electronic safety systems found on newer automobiles.

Experts told us features such as skid and stability control, collision warning and lane-departure and blind-spot alerts have the potential to save thousands of people from death and serious injury. But they also felt people didn’t understand how these systems worked.

Now a poll by Canada’s Traffic Injury Research Foundation confirms a majority of drivers could benefit from more knowledge about these increasingly common features.

The poll, done between November 2011 and January 2012, surveyed respondents on a range of issues “including familiarity with different safety features, perceptions about their use, and the effects of these features on driving,” the foundation said in a news release.

Photo and story by Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

One of the more interesting bits of information gleaned during Ford's recent full-line preview event earlier this week (check back for more in-depth stories later) had to do with how drivers deal with stressful situations. And, more importantly, how best to design and integrate different technologies to help either reduce that stress or at least not increase it.

Playing off the 'do not disturb' button in Ford vehicles equipped with the MyFordTouch system that when pressed routes all incoming calls to voicemail and doesn't announce incoming texts to the driver, the question they asked was how to make it more automated and smarter. Strapping a bunch of test gear to a few vehicles and observing how people handle situations with different stress levels, they were quickly able to devise several periods when drivers probably shouldn't or wouldn't want to be disturbed by minor attention-seeking messages or calls. Merging onto a highway or navigating a busy parking lot are two that come easily to mind.

But how to gain that data without bulky computer gear and an expert driver in the backseat making his or her own observation? Well, the new vehicles drive today are jammed full of sensors and assist technologies that can be used in a slightly different way. If the throttle sensor figures that you want strong acceleration to merge with faster traffic, another system could be programmed to automatically turn on 'Do Not Disturb' until it's obvious that you're comfortably up to speed and merged.

Alternatively, using the radar sensors - park-assist and blind-spot warnings - and front-mounted cameras for Ford's new lane-keeping technology, you could easily figure out that there was a lot of traffic around and that minor warnings from the car - say, your washer fluid is low - could be delayed until the conditions improve.

But perhaps the neatest step yet to come will be personalizing that information to individual drivers rather than programming ahead of time for the 'average' person. Ford knocked together a system that can track driver biometrics - like breathing rate, palm moisture, heart-rate, skin temperature, etc. It uses simple sensors embedded in the steering wheel and seatbelt, along with infra-red cameras aimed at the driver, to get all kinds of real-time data. Combining that information with what the car itself is detecting outside is how Ford hopes it can simplify driving.

"With a more complete picture of the driver’s health and wellness blended with knowledge of what is happening outside the vehicle, the car will have the intelligence to dynamically adjust the alerts provided to the driver and filter interruptions," said a Ford release. "With the driver occupied in heavy traffic, the vehicle control system could increase the warning times for forward collision alerts and automatically filter out phone calls and messages, allowing the driver more time to respond. On the other hand, an alert driver on an open highway could safely receive incoming calls."

By David Arnouts, AutoWeek

Ford will offer some unique upgrades for its off-road terror, the F-150 SVT Raptor, in the 2013 model year.

According to Ford, the truck will offer an industry-first—beadlock wheels direct from the factory. Beadlocks allow the driver to secure the edges of the tire to the wheel by clamping the tire between the wheel and a beadlock ring kit from Ford Racing. Once the wheels are locked to the tires, the driver is free to lower tire pressure for increased traction in certain conditions.

By Jake Lingeman, AutoWeek

Mazda will bring the Miata of our dreams to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the United Kingdom on June 28. The Mazda MX-5 GT concept will run in the “First Glance” class for the legendary hillclimb.

Mazda says the GT concept is inspired by its MX-5 GT race program, and its debut at Goodwood is meant to gauge customer reaction to the car.

News flash: We love it.

By David Menzies for MSN Autos

Talk about a gilded cage…

Should one ever decide to steal rather than purchase a swank set of wheels, it might be prudent to ensure the real owner of the car isn’t nearby… or that he has the ability with but the click of a button to trap someone inside the intended target.

That’s exactly what happened recently when an anonymous BMW driver says he caught a would-be car thief red-handed when his wife heard the car's alarm blaring.

According to the owner of the Bimmer, the car alarm activated at approximately 3:30 a.m. But instead of this eruption being yet another de rigueur false alarm, he spotted a shirtless man – seldom a good sign in the dead of night – lurking in the shadows. Sure enough, the topless and heavily-tattooed twit opened the car’s door and jumped into the driver’s seat.

However, technology being what it is, the owner of the Bimmer remotely locked the doors and phoned 911. And like a proud fisherman who just reeled-in the catch of the day, the Bimmer owner then snapped some cellphone pics of the hapless cretin.

No fan of the paparazzi treatment, the thief raised a finger (not the “thumbs-up” salutation) and became increasingly pissed off with his predicament. But the BMW owner countered by going to the garage and grabbing a sledgehammer.

“I stand next to the driver's door with the sledge in my hand and a very angry look on my face,” the BMW owner recalled. “If he tries to bust his way out of the car, he's getting squashed. The kid is obviously scared shitless as he doesn't even move or look at me.”

By Larry P. Vellequette, AutoWeek

The Jeep Grand Cherokee will have a shortened 2013 model year so that in January the Chrysler Group can introduce a diesel engine and eight-speed automatic transmission for the 2014 model, internal Chrysler sources say.

Dealer orders for 2013 Grand Cherokees began this month. The 2013 model, which will begin production in August, will continue with the five-speed automatic that the Grand Cherokee has had since mid-2010.

In January, the Grand Cherokee will pick up an eight-speed transmission licensed from ZF Friedrichshafen AG and built at Chrysler's transmission plant in Kokomo, Ind.

By Jeremy Sinek for MSN Autos

Two years ago, the notion of a big, comfortable full-size sedan with better fuel economy than most subcompacts would have been pure fantasy. Then Volkswagen launched the supersized U.S.-built 2012 Passat with its TDI engine promising better highway fuel economy than a Smart ForTwo or Scion iQ.

Now Toyota will offer a Hybrid version of the Avalon when the new-generation 2013 model comes to market this fall. The gas-electric Hybrid will be in addition to the regular Avalon’s basically carryover 3.5-litre V6, which itself generates some pretty mean fuel-economy numbers for its size.

The Avalon Hybrid will adopt the same powertrain as its smaller sibling, the Camry Hybrid, with a 2.5-litre Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder gasoline engine, 245-volt Ni-MH battery pack and 34-kW electric drive motor. And thanks to the Avalon’s slick aerodynamics and low mass, its fuel-economy numbers are barely worse than the Camry Hybrid’s.