For The GT-R Owner Who Has Everything

Nissan Commemorates GT-R With Watch That Costs More Than a GT-R

If you're in Japan, you can custom order a Grand Seiko chronograph inspired by the Italdesign GT-R50 today. Starting price? $178,000.

(Road&Track.com)

A Piece Of Heaven On Earth Has A New Owner

Volvo's and Lotus' owners just bought a Utah racetrack 

Expansive Utah Motorsports Campus covers 511 acres

Chinese automaker Geely, owner of Volvo and Lotus, continues to expand on a global scale. After an announcement earlier this week that it has invested in building "supersonic trains" in its home country, the company also officially confirmed the purchase of the Utah Motorsports Campus.

The Utah Motorsports Campus, located west of Salt Lake City and just south of the Great Salt Lake, is a massive automotive dreamland. Totaling 511 acres, it includes an adjustable 4.4-mile road track, a 0.9-mile configurable kart track, an off-road course, a rock-crawling course, and a rallycross track. It also includes numerous buildings suitable for race teams and garages, all with a gorgeous background of snowcapped mountains.

(AutoBlog.com)

I'm A Bit Suprised By The Amount

Want To Be Part Of The World’s One-Percent? Here’s How Much Money You Need To Have 

According to Credit Suisse Research Institute’s 2018 Global Wealth Report, you need to have a net worth of $871,320 USD.

Less than you thought, or more?

Using that number, there are over 19 million Americans who are members of the One-Percent club. And no other country is even close, as China comes in second on that list with 4.2 million people.

The report also revealed some other very interesting financial numbers.

• There are 42 million millionaires worldwide.
• The average wealth per adult in 2018 was $63,100.
• A net worth of $93,170 will put you in the top 10 percent worldwide.
• To be in the top half worldwide, you need a net worth of just $4,210.
• Global wealth increased by $14 trillionlast year.
• Global wealth in 2018 reached $317 trillion.
• Global wealth is projected to rise by nearly 26 percent over the next five years.
• China is now clearly established in second place in the world’s wealth hierarchy.
• Switzerland ($530,240) is the wealthiest country, based on wealth per adult.
• Australia ($411,060) and the United States ($403,970) are second and third on the list.
• Australia ($191,450) was the highest, followed by Switzerland ($183,340) using median wealth per adult.

(Bits&Pieces.us)

A Good Read - Harley Davidson Edition

How Harley-Davidson's All-In Bet on Its Past Crippled Its Future

Harley’s longtime bread and butter has been Baby Boomers, those who grew up enamored with the outlaw image to the point that they were willing to spend $20,000 or more on the bikes and leather to live out that image. But the Boomers are getting older, increasingly physically unable to ride or dying out entirely. And Harley’s response—an electric bike called the LiveWire set to debut next year—isn’t so much of a Hail Mary as it is a capitulation. It also won’t be nearly enough.

“I think they have to completely reinvent the brand, and I don’t know if they can do it,” Erik Gordon, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, said. “The jokes are true. When I go down the freeway, I always look to see if this cliche about Harley riders is true. And the crazy thing is that it is true. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone under 55.

“My generation viewed Harleys as American fast, loud, muscle. We liked that stuff,” Gordon said. “[My students] view it as the tired old folks who screwed up America.”

(Jalopnik.com)

Did You Know - Tires Edition

Here's Why Tires Are Black

“Original tires had a lighter shade because of the natural color of rubber,” a company representative told me. “Carbon black [a fine manufactured soot] was added to the rubber compound in [circa 1917] and produced a tenfold increase in wear resistance.” 

This increased longevity is confirmed by award-winning chemical engineer Jack Koenig, who says in his book Spectroscopy of Polymers that a tire without carbon black would last “less than 5,000 miles.” Consider that most tires are driven between 12,000 and 15,000 miles a year, and are meant to last three or four years or more, and you get how low that was.
 
The Michelin spokesperson went on, saying carbon black represents about a quarter to 30 percent of the composition of the rubber used in tires today, and in addition to making them more wear resistant, the material that gives tires their black color is also good at protecting tires against ultraviolet rays that can cause cracking, and it also improves grip and general road handling.

(Jalopnik.com)

Uh, Ok . . . . .

CFO Luca Maestri announced that the company will no longer be reporting unit sales of its iPhones, iPads, and Macs because the figures don’t accurately reflect the business. It’s like they say, you can’t change what you can’t measure.

(BroBible.com)

I Wouldn't Mind Having This Collecting Dust In The House

You Can Buy a New $50,000 R34 GT-R Engine From Nissan's Holy Grail Of Factories

(Jalopnik.com)

I'm Not Surprised

Study Shows UK Buyers Bought PHEVs For Discounts Not To Plugin And Save The Environment

In theory, plug-in hybrid cars are the perfect stepping stone to shifting from internal combustion engines to fully electric cars, getting us all used to the idea of plugging in our rides instead of filling them up.

But a recent report from the BBC suggests that a lot of hybrid sales in the UK came from large tax incentives, and then people just never bothered charging them.

Back in 2011, the UK passed a grant meant to incentivize people to buy plug-in hybrid vehicles by knocking £4,500, or roughly $5,740, off the sticker price and steeply undercutting the cost of most comparable diesel cars.

(AutoSpies.com)

It's Worth The Price

Own original 16 Hot Wheels in replica store display — here's what it costs 

It's highly limited production, and really expensive 

Hot Wheels has been celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and a part of the celebration was a re-release of 5 of the original 16 cars. They were packaged in replica original packaging with Spectraflame paint and redline tires. But Hot Wheels has an even more impressive replica for the diehards: a replica of the store display from 1968 with all 16 cars.

The display is extremely limited in availability, though. Only 1,500 will be made, and they'll be offered to Hot Wheels Redline Club members first starting on November 6. Then, 36 hours later, people with Hot Wheels Collectors accounts will be able to purchase any that haven't been sold. The displays are expensive, too. The retail price is $499.99.

(AutoBlog.com)

This Is One Bad Ass Bus

Volkswagen Renntransporter is home on the wheels for your Porsche 935

(4WheelNews.com)

The More Options, The Higher Price. Duh!

Pickup trucks priced like luxury cars out of reach for many buyers 

Consumers are spending far more for new trucks than they expected 

Data from Cox Automotive show that most buyers expect to pay $26,699 for a new midsize pickup like the Toyota Tacoma or Chevrolet Colorado. But the average transaction price in August was much higher, at $33,275. For full-size pickups, the respective gulf was wider: $38,529 versus average transactions of $47,987 — in the same ballpark as the Porsche Macan or even the current, well-appointed versions of the Tesla Model 3 electric sedan. In the last decade through September, according to Edmunds data, prices for full-size pickups rose 48 percent to $48,377.

Much of the sticker inflation is down to added technology and more sumptuous trim options. Low gas prices have also fueled growth in truck sales, as more and more consumers turn to pickups as their family haulers, as opposed to using them strictly for work.

(AutoBlog.com)

To Say This Sale Price Shocked The Industry Is An Understatement

1997 Acura Integra Type R auctioned for $63,800 

This is a new record price for Integra Type R cars 

(AutoBlog.com)

You Can't Make This Stuff Up

RECALL ALERT: 700 2019 Toyota CH-Rs Recalled Because Its Wheels May Fall Off — Seriously

Toyota has issued a recall for the 2019 C-HR subcompact SUV.

Thankfully, the recall is rather small in scope, limited to approximately 700 vehicles, although Toyota did not say if the recalled vehicles share anything in common like build dates. So far this year, Toyota has sold about 37,930 C-HRs in the US, and it sold an additional 25,755 in 2017.

The recall stems from axle bearing bolts, which keep underbody components together. Apparently, some of these bolts on the affected vehicles might not have been tightened to spec. If they become loose or fall off during vehicle operation, rear brake components might become damaged, and there's a chance the rear wheels might detach. This, obviously, increases the risk of a crash, hence the recall...
(AutoSpies.com)

Such A Powerful Punch From Only 1.5L Of Displacement

From 1984 to 1987, Porsche built a 1.5-liter turbocharged V6, branded as the TAG-Porsche TTE P01, for the McLaren MP4/2 and MP4/3; if the naming seems odd to cover four years, it's because McLaren raced the MP4/2B and MP4/2C in 1985 and 1986. The engine produced more than 1,000 horsepower in qualifying trim, and 750 hp in race spec.

(AutoBlog.com)

It's Worth It, If You're The One Being Chauffeured

Here's Why This One Option Package Costs as Much as a New Toyota Camry

The 2018 Lexus LS500 is already a luxurious car. It’s got leather everywhere you look, and it’s loaded with the latest technology. With no options whatsoever, the car already costs $75,200. But if you really want to go all-out, it has one single option box you can tick off that costs an astounding $23,000.

Twenty-three thousand dollars. To put that in perspective, you can walk into a Toyota dealership right now, and pay $23,845 for a new Toyota Camry. You’ll pay less if the dealership gives you a deal on it, which I don’t see why they wouldn’t.

But there are likely no discounts whatsoever on the most expensive option package on the Lexus LS, known as the “Executive Package with Kiriko glass.”

That little screen, my friends, is the key to the kingdom.

From that little screen you can not only recline both seats, the back right seat unfolds into an ottoman-adorned recliner, pushing the front passenger seat out of the way as it does so, because only peasants sit in the front. Both rear seats benefit from extensive shiatsu massage programs, complete with a “spot heater” that applies heat in just the small spot where you are currently feeling massage pressure, as as to better replicate the feel of a human hand gently pushing against your backside.

Because you paid $23,000 for it, damn it. You need the feeling of a human hand, especially considering as the level of wealth you need to accrue simply to be able to afford such an option necessitates, fundamentally, a distance from other “humans.” Might as well simulate it then.
Of course, a screen would be a bit silly if all you used it for was extremely precise control of the backrest, seat bottom, head rest, seat heating, seat cooling, lumbar support, level of cushioning, massage, spot heater, ottoman, and all 22 ways the rear seats could possibly move. What a terrible waste that would be, of course.

So you can also control all of the audio for the rest of the car, the privacy shades that emerge from the bottoms of the rear doors and the rear windshield, and the interior lighting.

(Jalopnik.com)

The New Modern Safety Feature Scares Me Greatly

Data Confirms That Handbrakes Are Dying, Slowly and Painfully

Handbrakes used to have a real function outside of sick bootlegger’s turns, back decades ago when car brakes weren’t terribly reliable and you did need a last-resort emergency brake. But federal regulations improving car brakes have made that function a relic of the past, so it’s no surprise that, increasingly, automakers are forgoing handbrakes completely. 

Here are some of the benefits of e-brakes, according to CarGurus UK:

Considered a luxury feature, the electronic parking brake requires less physical effort, holds the car more securely and doesn’t need adjusting like the traditional lever. Most electronic handbrakes disengage automatically when you pull away plus they often offer an automatic hill-hold assist function, which is an additional safety benefit. The switch helps de-clutter cabins by taking up less interior space than a chunky lever on the centre console.

Hill-hold assist is nice, and, yes, it is less physical effort to push a button rather than pull a lever for those who need the help, though I’ll propose going forward that we equip every car with both an e-brake and a handbrake. Double the safety and fun.

(Jalopnik.com)

That's About $19 Per HP To Start, $29 Per HP With Add Ons

Here's What A $17,000 Four-Cylinder Engine Sounds Like

You do get a lot for your money, with an engine taken up to 2.3 liters from 2.0 and the aforementioned 900 horsepower.

This package offers a complete performance engine build from Mazworx, using the SR20 platform.

Final displacement is 2.3L and this package is rated for over 900hp and the constant abuse on drift engines.

We start the build reinforcing the block with the installation of Darton sleeves. Then we complete block preparation, constantly taking measurements to ensure the correct machining process is used.

As for the cylinder head, we start with a Mazworx Stage 3 CNC Porting, installation of new guides, valve angle job, lashing.

For the completion of the Long Block, Mazworx degrees and put it together using Mazworx Head Gasket and new hardware.

Basic setup starts with:

• Mazworx 91mm stroker crankshaft
• Custom CP Pistons
• Carrillo Rods (machined to accept 19mm bearings)
• Calico Coated ACL Race Bearings
• Mazworx 1/2" Head Studs
• Mazworx Billet Main Caps and 1/2" Main Studs
• Mazworx Full Grommet Headgasket
• Supertech Valvetrain + Mazworx Shimless valves setup
• Kelford Cams with VVL killer
• Tomei Adjustable Cam Gears
• Mazworx Timing chain kit
• Nissan OEM Oil Pump

Options:

• Add 90mm Ross Throttle Body / add $325.00
• Add Complete Cooling System / add $815.00
• Add Mazworx Catch/Air-Oil Separator Can Kit / add $395.00
• Add Mazworx Hall Sensor Kit / add $449.00
• Add Mazworx SR20 Conversion Intake Manifold with ID Injectors / add $2,055.00
• Add Mazworx/Garrett Turbo Kit (rated to 750+hp) / add $4,429.00

(Jalopnik.com)

Simple. Because People Want Trucks & CUV's

LC Sales Failing To Meet Expectations - Why Can't Lexus Make A Performance Car That Sells?

Unless your surname is Porsche and your given name 911, the sales volumes generated by premium two-doors are frighteningly small.

Lexus nevertheless brought to market the two-pronged Lexus LC range, as an indirect successor to the SC, with lofty expectations.

Moreover, Lexus was public with its goals, going so far as to respond directly to TTAC to defend the company’s reasoning.

(AutoSpies.com)

Rotary Reliability Be Damned, The RX-7 Was One Bad Ass Car

1993 Mazda RX-7 Retro Review | A '90s hero turns 25 

There was nothing else like it on the road – and there still isn't 

Seen today, the FD walks a fine line between being a beautiful modern classic that can hold its own against much more recent challengers out on the road, and semi-garage queen that demands some time spent under the hood to ensure continued good mechanical behavior. Then again, if you're not the kind of "engaged owner" Mazda was looking for when the RX-7 was new, perhaps you'd do better parking something more pedestrian in your driveway 25 years later. Or at least something with pistons.

(AutoBlog.com)

This Is An Important Factor That Can/Will Affect Its Sales

Something You SHOULD KNOW About The All-new Toyota Supra That NO ONE Is Talking About

A friend of AutoSpies, Tim Stevens is in charge of CNET's Roadshow.

A real enthusiast, Tim is the kind of guy that takes his Subaru WRX ice racing. Clearly, he isn't playing around.

This past week I was leafing through my Facebook feed and I came across a picture he snapped at the prototype drive of the all-new Toyota Supra. And, there was a nugget he noted about the Supra no one has pointed out — at all.

If you take a peek of this side-by-side shot, you'll note that the Supra is actually about the same size as the Toyota 86. And the 86 is a small two-door vehicle by modern standards.

As Tim points out, the Supra isn't going to be a "big" car like its elder.

(AutoSpies.com)