By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

When the latest SRT Viper debuted a year ago at the New York Auto Show, it garnered plenty of attention for its more civilized interior and convenience toys. Those toys must have bothered some hardcore Viper fans since the only concessions to comfort found in the first two generations were a lousy radio and air conditioning...

Now, a year later and SRT has an answer to all the critics who called the new Viper compromised and unfinished. The Viper TA - or Time Attack - is a factory-designed performance machine bred exclusively for on-track work. Think of it like a Porsche 911 GT3 or Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca compared with their 'regular' road-biased siblings. 

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos

On sale later this year, General Motors is previewing its new 2014 Chevrolet Impala in San Diego, California this week. No doubt, you’ll read forthcoming reports that the 2014 version is a much better vehicle than the out going version. Seeing how the current Impala uses a platform first seen in 1988, that shouldn’t be a stretch. But as much of an improvement the new Impala should be over the outoing model, how much different is than than other similarly packaged sedans in General Motors' lineup?

By Justin Couture, MSN Autos

If you happened to be clicking through MSN.ca, there’s a good chance you saw a viral video of Jeff Gordon, NASCAR driver extraordinaire, putting a Camaro through its paces — and scaring the living bejesus out of an unsuspecting used car dealer. It’s both funny and cool — there’s nothing like seeing a sports car (or any car, really) being put through its paces.

Alas, the whole thing is fake. According to ABC, a Pepsi spokesperson admitted that it wasn’t Gordon who did the driving, though the reactions of the salesman are “100 percent genuine.”

As something of a gearhead, I couldn’t help but notice a couple of things wrong — it’s usually the little details that give things away, and here it’s no different. On watching the video again, the whole thing seemed too polished, too slick, and too loaded with product placement (why are all the cars in the videos brand new Chevys?). The big giveaway was the star car.

The black Camaro featured in the ad? According to the bright numbers on its windshield, it’s a 2009. The thing is, the reincarnated Camaro didn’t appear until 2010. Also, the perfectly placed cameras that snagged the interior shots show the car having Chevy’s new MyLink touchscreen system, which is new for 2013. And what about that perfectly situated can-holder on the upper dash? Oops.

So yes, it’s not real, but most car chases aren’t. Watch it as you’d watch any action flick, and, if you happen to be a car enthusiast, check your encyclopedic knowledge at the door.

 

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos Canada

Just as the rest of the auto industry starts to cool on the idea of electric cars, General Motors says it’s working on a new type of electric vehicle with a range of 200 miles — or 322 kilometres. To put that in perspective, the current Chevrolet Volt’s pure-electric range is just 62-km and the 2014 Chevrolet Spark EV (seen above at its world debut at last year's Los Angeles auto shwo) is expected to be able to go about 120-km between recharges.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

Jimmie Johnson won his second-ever Daytona 500 on Sunday afternoon, despite not leading many laps along the way. Johnson restarted in the lead with only six laps to go, and despite a charge by Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin, Johnson wasn't really challenged at the checkers.

“It’s a very, very proud moment. Plate racing has been a little tough on the 48 the last few years," Johnson said.

It was the first win for Chevrolet with its new Gen-6 SS racecar, and it also took six of the top-10 finishers. Ford had three while Toyota had only one, although it was third-placed Martin.

Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin were the most dominant in terms of laps led, but finished poorly in 37th, 20th and 14th respectively.

For those wondering, Danica Patrick set another record on Sunday by becoming the first woman to lead a Cup race at Daytona. She was racy all day and was into the mix until the final lap where she dropped from second to eighth.

Bad luck also gave Patrick's teammate and boss Tony Stewart a headache when he wrecked out early despite having won the infamous crash-filled Nationwide race the night before. Despite being Sprint Cup champ at least twice, he's never won the big one at Daytona.

Overall, the race turned out to be more a snoozer than NASCAR was hoping for. Apparently the Gen-6 cars were safe enough on their first outing, but it was difficult to pass and run two or three wide. However, the focus for the new Sprint Cup cars is to improve the 'show' at the mid-sized 'mile-and-a-half' tracks that make up the bulk of the schedule, not the two-mile 'plate' tracks like Daytona and Talladega.

Did you watch the race? What did you think? Were you rooting for Danica to win or crash out? Let us know in the comments.

 

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

Well, that's a bummer.

We spent plenty of time checking out Chevrolet's new SS performance sedan during its coming out party at Daytona International Raceway last weekend. The full-size four-door SS is essentially a cleaned up version of the old Pontiac G8, which of course was an Australian Holden Commodore. The SS - and yes, that's its name, not Beaumont or Chevelle - is essentially Chevrolet's take on the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300, meaning it's got a big V8, is rear-wheel drive and pretty large.

The 6.2-litre V8 produces 415 horsepower and an equal amount of torque and is backed up by a six-speed automatic transmission. The SS has big Brembo brakes and near-perfect weight distribution, which is impressive for a vehicle this large. Chevrolet figures it'll do the 0-100 km/h run in five-ish seconds.

Sure, the exterior styling looks like you'd lose it in a rental-car pickup lot, but some of its potential buyers probably appreciate a modern-day sleeper. Chevrolet is only building - well, importing them from Australia, really - 5,000 of them, and at a price of around $28,000 (according to Automotive News). 

But - and this is a big 'but' - don't expect any of those 5,000 cars to be sold in Canada. Fellow MSN-er Michael Bettencourt broke the bad news in The Globe and Mail, saying that GM Canada spokesman George Saratlic confirmed the rumours.

Considering how much I enjoyed driving the G8 when it was around, I'm pretty disappointed, but given how few G8s were ever sold in Canada, I understand where GM Canada is coming from.

Would the new SS interest you? Or do you think Dodge and Chrysler already have that portion of the market covered perfectly fine? Let us know.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By John LeBlanc for MSN Autos Canada

Let’s open up this discussion with some facts. The top three, full-size pickup truck sellers in Canada last year were the same trio that have been at the top since, well, forever: Detroit’s Ford, General Motors’ Chevrolet and GMC brands and Fiat’s Ram (nee Dodge). In total, they sold 254,268 full-size pickups, with the Ford F-Series leading the way with over 100,000 sold — a record. When you compare those domestic brand truck sales numbers with the respective sales numbers for the Toyota Tundra (7,241) and Nissan Titan (3,499), you have to wonder why the pair of Japanese brands continue to take it on the chin from the always-dominant Detroit Three. And based on recent news, it seems like both Toyota and Nissan aren’t giving up.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

With one of the longest, most awkward names attatched to it, the Chevrolet Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel will be shown off to the assembled auto press during media days at the Chicago Auto Show.

The long-awaited diesel-powered compact looks promising on paper... it uses a 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine with 148 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque available at just 2,000 rpm. Under certain conditions, the engine can provide up to 280 lb-ft for about 10 seconds on 'overboost'... We know all American Cruze diesels will only be available with a six-speed automatic transmission, but we're hoping Canadian versions might offer the six-speed manual sold in other markets.

According to Chevrolet, the Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel does the 0-60 mph sprint in 8.6 seconds and will hit 42 mpg (US) on the highway. Emissions exceed Tier 2 Bin 5 standards thanks to technology and filters adapted from the Duramax heavy-duty pickups, which includes a urea-based exhaust treatment. The 17-litre tank lasts at least 16,000 km and is timed to be refilled during your regular oil changes; however, the tank does eat slightly into the trunk space.

Pricing in the United States starts at $25,700, or about $2,600 more than a loaded gas-powered Cruze LTZ or a base Volkswagen Jetta TDI, which obviously is the Chevrolet's biggest target. Here's hoping the Canadian strategy differs by offering a stripper model with cloth seats and fewer features to get it closer to the Jetta TDI's $24,000 (CDN) price tag.

Would you consider a turbo-diesel Chevrolet over a Volkswagen? Would the Cruze TD 2.0 make you a believer or does it just want to make you run even farther from General Motors? Let us know!

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

Even though legendary Canadian racecar drivier Ron Fellows is part of the new ownership group behind Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (i.e. Mosport) just east of Toronto, he still has his name attatched to a Corvette-focused driving school South of the Border. The Ron Fellows Performance Driving School at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Nevada has been a popular stop for 'Vette owners and fans, mainly because it allows them to pilot the big-power rocketships like the 638-horsepower ZL1 without dishing out over $100K to buy one.

Obviously, Cadillac felt Fellows was the best man for the job when it decided to offer a similar program aimed at admirers of its palm-sweat-inducing 556-horsepower CTS-Vs. So the V-Series Academy offers similar experiences for high-end Caddy buyers, although with a more luxurious bent.

There are one- and two-day programs that run between $1,300 and $2,300 (US) and class sizes are limited to 12 people max. Exercises will include learning both on Spring Mountain's 6.5-kilometres of track itself and in the surrounding facilities.

This is just another example of Cadillac trying to legitimize itself in the eyes of potential customers. Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz already offer similar programs focusing on their respective performance-oriented sub-brands, so this is kind of a no-brainer.

For more information on the Cadillac V-Series Academy, click through on this link.