In an article on CarandDriver.com GM chairman Rick Wagoner talks about the cancellation of the V8 family to succeed the current Northstar engine family at Cadillac. This decision is directly related to the short minded legislation requiring the average economy in a brand of vehicle to average 35mpg (called the CAFE standard).

So instead of providing us with a viable source of oil to lower our costs until more advanced hybrid and fuel cell solutions come to their prime and a lower price the government decides to make the cars more expensive and likely far less safe.

So how do we reach this new standard? Well first off all those little add-ons and pieces of safety equipment the government demands, like airbags, stability control, ABS, all adds weight lowering the fuel economy of the car. So, the car gets smaller and lighter meaning you’re seated lower and there’s less between you and the cars around you. Guess who survives that coming collision with the SUV?

Next the engine becomes smaller and less powerful which will work fine in the inner city but once you leave the urban jungle and hit the highways its another story. Suddenly instead of slipping past bogged down rigs carrying a load of produce or half the empire state building up a mountain you’re bogged down right beside them trying to pull your 3000 pound car and its 1.4 liter turbo 4 with its pedal to the carpet. Even the mighty F-150 will soon gain a turbo V6 option in a year or two (and probably become standard).

As stated in the article, meeting this standard will raise the average price of new cars by $1500-$2000. So what we actually get is less car for more money. A nice analogy of our government I think.

Now we look at the slow death of a piece of true Americana: the American V8. Thinks of any car from our pop culture: the General Lee, American Graffiti, Knight Rider’s Kitt. What powers them? What was the first engine most gear heads built? What was the first car you fell in love with? For a lot of us it most likely had a V8 and that was one of the reasons we loved it.

GM states they will not be developing any new V8 families, instead they will follow Fords EcoBoost design of turbocharged V6s. They say that a turbo V6 tuned for low end torque will function just as well as a modern V8 in larger vehicles. Now, I won’t dispute whether its possible, it is. But it takes a far more complicated engine to do it. With every new standard the government lays down, we pay that little extra for something harder and harder for the average man to grasp.

Don’t expect to be inviting your buddies over to throw a top-end on and add some headers over the weekend to boost power. You’ll need computer expertise as well, and an understanding of any special gizmos they installed, monitors and such, on every single moving part they could manage. Car repair moves closer and closer to a full on engineering degree.

All this is why its so hard to find a good cheap car these days. After you pay for all the government mandates there’s not a lot left to build a car.

Why is “saving the world” always so damned inconvenient.

So, do you pronounce it “nays” or “nayus” or maybe “nas”? However you try to pronounce it the North American International Auto Show is wrapping up and I figured its as good a time as any to start this site proper (as soon as I wipe all the drool off my keyboard). What follows is a completely random and whimsy romp through the cars of nays… er nayus…. er Detroit ‘08, yeah, that works.

Cadillac CTS Coupe Concept

Finally Volkswagen has come through and… oh wait that’s a Caddy. Yep, this seemingly VW Corrado inspired looker is the Cadillac CTS Coupe concept. This is intended to be Cadillac’s answer to the BMW 3-series coupe and I like the styling. Its hard to pull off a big flashy grill on a coupe but this car manages it and its resemblance to the VW sport-hatch (especially in the c-pillar) only endears it to me more. There’s also talk it might recieve the 550hp Corvette-based engine from its big bad brother the CTS-V should this car reach production.

So all you studio apartment wannabe gangstas get ready for your dream car. Its a cool, fast Caddy that fits in those downtown parking garages that gave your Escalade a shave.

» Read the rest of the entry..

First look at new Camaro production model. Now that’s a nice view.

Click image for full size.

 
Image courtesy of CarScoop

It is believed that Audi will show a V12 Turbo Diesel version of its R8 supercar in Detroit next week, a very cool idea.

Reportedly carrying a civilized version of Audi’s R10 TDI LeMans race car engine. Possibly pushing 500bhp and 738 ft-lbs of torque, it would certainly be a site to see fueling up at your local truck stop. Though nothing else is confirmed, it will be interesting to see how this holds up performance wise to the current V8 R8 and the currently testing V10 R8.

» Read the rest of the entry..

Spy shots of the new Camaro are circulating the web and of great interest is the interior. GM has held much more to the concepts design than originally expected and thank goodness.

Its certainly getting harder to find an engaging and unique interior in modern cars. Only a few have stuck out to me in last few years, such as that of the Mini Cooper with its column and shelf style center console. Wether you like the look or not its nice to see someone trying to put some style back in.

» Read the rest of the entry..

A new year, a new round of concepts and production previews are heading our way. On display at this years North American International Auto Show (NAIAS henceforth) will be everything from a $100,000 Corvette supercar to the first production fuel cell vehicle, the Honda FCX (I still say it looks like a Prius) to a new Hummer. I can’t wait.

Although at this moment, the most glaring issue I see is where are all the budget fun cars? I want another Mark II Golf or Plymouth Roadrunner. A cheap but insanely fun vehicle that is little more than an engine, a body, decent handling and nothing fancier than ABS and FI. I want a car I can buy for $10k-$15k that’s as bone stock as possible but with a potentially massive aftermarket so you could build it into whatever you wanted: weekend racer to lowered and flared cruiser.

I can’t remember the last supercheap car to be built that was actually entertaining right out of the box. What we are getting pushed these days are performance cars edging closer and closer to $30k just for a starter good time, and frugal but not exactly exhilarating hybrids and alternative fuel cars.

I beg you, Detroit, Asia, Europe, anyone, please, give me a sub 3000lbs high-revving 4 banger that I can thrash and bash and simply enjoy the thrill of driving itself without selling an organ to get there.

For now I will simply ogle the awesome new cars to be shown at Detroit and console my wallet as best I can as we drool over the new Camaro (btw, Chevy, GET IT OUT THE @#%$ DOOR!, thank you).

Welcome to Wideload.TV. An automotive gossip and opinion site on everything from concepts to current models to full customs. We will begin daily updates in mid-january and video episodes by summer/fall. So get ready for a lot of hot air from one fat guy with a lot to say.