If you weren’t the least bit psyched at the thought of a small BMW coupe with 300 horsepower, check out the official BMW B-roll footage of the 135i, courtesy of Carscoop. Just try not to entertain visions of dual-lane switchback and long, smooth straights seen from the windshield of this little, rear-drive bugger. Suddenly, it’s 1966. – Mike Spinelli

TAKEN FROM jalopnik.com/cars

If you loved the camo-free shots of the 2008 Honda Accord last week, we’ve got some lovely new photos for you of the V6 version of the next generation of the top-selling car in America for fifteen of the last twenty years. These shots come from a couple of vacationers in Cape Cod drafted into the spy photo-snapping army of Brenda Priddy. We’ve still no idea what the output of the V6 will be, but we’re expecting it to be a 3.5-liter V6 with about 270-horsepower. – Ray Wert

Spy Photos - 2008 Honda Accord V6

TAKEN FROM jalopnik.com/car

click above image for high-res gallery of the Mercedes-Benz F700 Concept

After a bit of a song and dance routine, sans the song, Mercedes-Benz finally drove out its new F700 Concept at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. Looking something like an S-Class cross-bred with a Mazda RX-8, it still managed to wow the assembled horde. The debut itself was a wild enviro-mechanical fusion of dancers emulating trees and geckos that formed a vehicle out of their prop tree branches and then fit themselves inside. It was a clever way to show green and machine can coexist beautifully. Sitting next to Lewis Hamilton and all of the Mercedes brass made it an even more interesting experience.

The car itself is being described as a “magic carpet ride” by Mercedes folk. It’s depicted as a future luxurious touring sedan with good performance and exceptionally low fuel consumption. Big and luxurious, the F700 is also the first car in the world that can recognize and predict road conditions to manage bumps using a new PRE-SCAN active suspension M-B is developing. It also features the new DIESOTTO powertrain. It’s a 1.8-liter four that rivals the efficiency of a diesel but runs on gas. It also addresses the all-important CO2 emissions head-on, with a rating of just 127 grams per kilometer or about 44.3 mpg.

There’s a huge gallery of live shots and official pics in the gallery below, plus the abridged press release after the jump.

Gallery: Frankfurt 2007: Mercedes-Benz F700 Concept

PRESS RELEASE:

Mercedes-Benz shows the future of the superior touring sedan

Stuttgart – With its F 700 research car, Mercedes-Benz redefines the idea of effortless, superior refinement: this concept for a future luxurious touring sedan shows how outstanding riding quality can be combined with high levels of environmental friendliness, and good performance with exceptionally low fuel consumption. Thus, the 5.17 meter long F 700 with its innovative and very spa-cious interior design enables an entirely new and exceedingly comfortable mode of travel. The F 700 is the world’s first car that can anticipatively recognize the condition of the road and level out the uneven spots with its active PRE-SCAN suspension, further improving suspension comfort substantially. The forward-pointing DIESOTTO drive system introduced in the F 700, a four-cylinder with a displacement of only 1.8 liters, combines the strong points of the low-emission gasoline engine with the consumption benefits of the diesel drive. Its CO2 emissions of a mere 127 grams per kilometer correspond to con-sumption of only 5.3 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers (44.3 mpg), extremely low for a vehicle of this class.

This is made possible by a forward-looking drive concept, the heart of which is the “DIESOTTO” technology – an advancement of the internal combustion engine thought up by Mercedes-Benz. With its novel controlled auto ignition (CAI), direct fuel injection and turbocharging, it combines the high power of the spark-ignition engine with the exemplary torque and great fuel economy of a diesel. The drive system in the F 700, as four-cylinder featuring two-stage charging, attains the performance level of a current S-Class car with a 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V6 gasoline engine or the 3.0-liter V6 turbodiesel.

“Our goal is to make the gasoline-powered car just as economical in consumption as the diesel. The new DIESOTTO concept is a major step in that direction, combining the best properties of the spark-ignition engine and the diesel engine,” says Dr. Thomas Weber, Board member of DaimlerChrysler AG responsible for Group Research & Mercedes Car Group Development.

The F 700 also sets standards in regard to road roar, tire vibration and suspension comfort. With two laser scanners the active PRE-SCAN suspension scans the roadway in front of the car. The hydraulically controlled active suspension proactively compensates for detected hindrances, enabling entirely new comfort characteristics –a “flying carpet” feeling.

Equally innovative is the operating concept “SERVO-HMI”. The display is not only particularly gentle on the eyes; the number of controls also has been appreciably reduced and the menu structure has been made strikingly simple and self-explanatory. The driver can “discuss” more complex inputs, such as a destination for navigation purposes, in dialogue with an avatar, a virtual operating assistant.

The exterior design of the F 700 shows that with this concept an extraordinary amount of space has been created for the passengers. The very silhouette, charac-terized by the long wheelbase, is a clear indication of this. The design harmoniously joins together inspirations provided by nature with technical innovation. All the futuristic styling devices notwithstanding, the F 700 is perfectly compliant with the brand identity of Mercedes-Benz.

The interior concept interprets comfortable travel and well-being in a completely new way. With its REVERSE seat the F 700 breaks up the firmly established seat arrangement of conventional sedans and offers individual seating positions facing, or with one’s back to, the direction of travel, always affording maximum spaciousness and supreme comfort.

The F 700 provides inspiring ideas for the technological future of Mercedes-Benz once again – like each of the research cars which preceded it.

TAKEN FROM www.autoblog.com

After opening up a real can of worms in the debate over the Rat Rod 356 yesterday, it seems only fair that we should see an evil-looking primermobile that reminds us of a time when men were men and Pabst wasn’t an ironic beer choice. Time was, loud-ass GM A-bodies with fat tires and mismatched wheels roamed the streets of Alameda in packs, searching for Mopar B-bodies to take out to City Line for some street-racing action…

Cars like this ‘69 Chevelle. Or maybe it’s a Malibu. In any case, you could time-travel this thing back to ‘82 and it would fit right in on Alameda’s streets (and the APD would have the owner eating hood as they searched him for dope, a ritual that the primered-A-body owner could count on experiencing at least once a week in those days).

This Chevelle looks pretty mean, all right. It’s sad that most of the ones you see these days are all shiny and sanitary.

The 307 emblem would have caused some real confusion in the minds of other musclecar owners back in the day. Does the car really have a 454, with the emblems just serving as a ruse to sucker small-block-equipped Barracuda drivers into an ill-advised wager? Or does it actually have the sucky 307… but then why would you leave the emblems on while making the rest of the car look so evil? Aaaagghhh!

It’s got the aftermarket steering wheel and B&M Megashifter, plus the optional boxer shorts and graduation tassel. And Malibu emblems on the door panels… but the other door doen’t have one, if I recall correctly. Feel free to debate the Chevelle-versus-Malibu issue, hair-splitters. Actually, this may not even be a ‘69, what with the junkyard mix-n-match thing so prevalent on these cars.

I’m totally hearing Montrose when I look at this shot.

Strangely, GM didn’t actually issue these cars with Centerlines, though it sure seemed like that for a big chunk of the 70s and 80s. Bonus points for having them on the rears only, just like the Evil Kingswood Estate wagon that lives a few blocks away.

So now I’m going to try a new variation on the gallery thing; all the small images will be in the gallery, plus some extras. We’ll sort this out eventually.

TAKEN FROM jalopnik.com/cars

Well, hello! Web site km77.com dropped many official shots of Mazda’s new Mazda6 ahead of its proper debut at the Frankfurt show next week. The new design pulls cues from the RX-8 and from Mazda’s organic-styled concepts of late, with carved-in fender treatments and upswept headlamps. No details yet, but we’ll be watching for the release. [km77.com]

TAKEN FROM jalopnik.com/cars

Click image for gallery

It was rumored yesterday, and it’s real today. Come September 13, Japanese enthusiasts will be able to order up the hottest Civic Type R yet. The already-impressive R gets the full once-over from Mugen, and the result is the Honda Civic Mugen RR. Designed to be perhaps the ultimate front-engined/front-wheel-drive performance car, the Mugen RR sheds an additional 10kg (22 lbs) off the standard Civic Type R’s weight, coming in at 2733 lbs. In addition to the weight loss, the freer-breathing Mugen RR picks up 15 horsepower over the regular Type R. It’s rated at 240 horses at 8,000 rpm and 160 lb-ft at 7,000 rpm.

Complementing the added power and and decreased weight are a new bodykit, upgraded brakes all around, a retuned suspension, new wheels and tires, and logo-emblazoned Recaro sport buckets. Availability is limited to 300 cars, all in the Milan Red finish shown, and the pricing in Japan has been set at ¥4,777,500 ($38,750 USD).

TAKEN FROM www.autoblog.com

We’ve no idea what it is, but the folks from Land Rover have released a teaser shot of what looks like a vaguely hatchback-like coupe that they’re claiming is a concept car folks think we’ll be seeing at the Detroit Auto Show. No other details have yet been released, but we’re thinking they’re at least going for a photo guild award in dramatic use of motion blur on a stationary car. More details when we get them — but here’s a high-res version for you to determine what it is yourself.

TAKEN FROM jalopnik.com

click above image to view 3 high-res shots of MINI Clubman, more to come

Although the MINI Clubman has been spied in a variety of guises over the past year, we’ve yet to get a full, unadulterated view of this new, more versatile hatch. InsideLine decided to let the Clubman’s specs and a few pics out into the open before the embargo imposed by MINI officially lifts sometime on Friday (we think), and although it’s what we’ve come to expect, the details are worth noting.

The Clubman rides on a stretched version of the traditional model’s platform, with the addition of a suicide-style door on the passenger side to aid ingress and egress. Power delivery will come courtesy of the 1.6-liter four, producing 120 hp and 118 ft-lbs. of torque, while the ‘S’-badged variant will benefit from a turbo huffing compressed air and allowing the 1.6-liter mill to produce 175 hp and 177 ft-lbs. of torque. European customers will also have their choice of a 110 HP, 177 ft-lbs. 1.6-liter common rail diesel, while everyone the world over will be able to get either a six-speed manual or optional automatic gearbox.

Sale dates and pricing have yet to be announced, but we’d expect something official soon, hopefully before the Clubman’s debut in Frankfurt. In the meantime, check out the three images shown by InsideLine below, except know that ours are high-res and we have an additional 18 on their way once the embargo lifts.

taken from www.autoblog.com

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is just fine today after a crash in Switzerland’s canton Solothurn. The boss was reportedly traveling at around 60 miles per hour in a 599 GTB, when he rear-ended a Renault driven by an elderly motorist on the A1 motorway. According to a report, the impact caused the Ferrari’s airbags to blow up, blocking Marchionne’s sight. Subsequently, he lost control and slammed into crash barriers. Police say Marchionne had been unable to slow the car in time for an unexpected traffic jam. No one was hurt, but the $275,000 car was totaled. Marchionne later blamed the crash on Italy’s pro-union political climate, but also raised Fiat’s profit forecast. (Thanks to David for the tip.) [Reuters via Swissjourno's Weblog]

TAKEN FROM jalopnik.com

After all points were tallied, Carnegie Mellon’s Tartan Racing was the winner of this year’s DARPA Grand Challenge. In second place was Stanford, with Virginia Tech in third. As podium finishers, the teams will receive $2 million, $1 million and $500,000, respectively. Currently, there are no plans for a fourth challenge, and murmurings from DARPA staff are that autonomous-vehicle development has reached a point such that it no longer needs seed money to flourish and evolve further. Hopefully they’re wrong though, because the Grand Challenge a great event and tremendous motivation for public imagination. Maybe the teams will just bathe in Cristal tonight. – Curtis Walker

TAKEN FROM jalopnik.com