A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird:
The mid-engined Corvette is real
We start our first Braking News of 2015 with a rumour that's been around as long as the exclamation point. "Mid-engined Corvette! Read all about it inside! Page 64!"
If you've ever seen something like this proudly emblazoned on the cover of Road Track or Car and Driver, right in front of an improbable-looking sketch or digital rendering, then you're probably bored of all the speculation. The buff books have been crying wolf for so long that the most recent round of claims was ridiculed, scoffed-at, and basically ignored.
Um. Looks like even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Recent photographs from Car and Driver (they appear to be taken using a drone) show a pickup-truck-looking test vehicle, clad all in black, with the cabin of a current Corvette, the front clip of an Australian Holden, and an undoubtedly midship engine mounting. It's got a huge wing and looks riveted together, so this thing's a long way from production yet, but it looks like the rumours of a mid-engined next-generation Corvette are real this time.
Those rumours indicate that the C8 (eighth-gen 'Vette) will be shorter, smaller, lighter, and have a smaller engine. It's reportedly going to be called the Zora, after Zora Arkus-Duntov, widely considered to be the father of the original 'Vette.
Expect the new 'Vette to upset the purists starting sometime around 2017. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for more leaks.
Dodge launches one-of-one custom paint option for Viper
With the supercharged Z06 currently kicking heads all over the track, the mighty Dodge Viper is struggling to maintain relevance. It doesn't help that the only Dodges anyone wants to talk about are the Hellcat twins.
So what's a company to do? Discount the heck out of their 8.0-litre sledgehammer? They've already done that, dropping the Viper's price significantly. OK then, what about making the buying process a little more special.
This is a really unique idea, and one we might start seeing elsewhere. If you buy a Viper GTC, you get to pick your own colour combo from 8,000 different options for paint, 24,000 different stripes, 10 different wheels, 16 interiors, and a half-dozen aerodynamic kits. And when I say "your own," I mean it. No two Viper GTCs will be allowed to be built the same.
The order process is pretty great: you get a swatch showing your paint choice, then a 1:18-scale model, and then the car is painted just the way you like it, with no one else allowed to order the same car. You'll be able to follow through the whole process online, with constant updates as the car approaches readiness.
Now, obviously not everyone's in the market for a Viper, but as mass production keeps finding ways to customize on a large scale, it might not be all that long before buying a new car allows you to have the same experience when ordering your MX-5 or Mustang. It's a creative solution to make a car more special, and it'll be nice to see more of it in the future.
Lower speed limits cause fewer pedestrian deaths in NYC
New York, the big apple. "Hey, I'm walkin' heah!" delivered in a strong Brooklyn accent. That sort of thing.
In a well-of-course-it-did report, looks like NYC's plan to reduce pedestrian fatalities by dropping the speed limit five miles per hour actually worked, with fatalities dropping from 180 in 2013 to 132 in 2014. That's still a long way to the zero deaths claimed as a goal for 2024, but it's certainly an improvement.
There are other factors at play here, including increased police presence at crosswalks and more tickets for failing to yield to pedestrians, but it looks like the plan is working.
You have to wonder if lessons learned in one of the densest cities in the world might be applied to our own area. Vancouver's fatality ratings are a tenth that of NYC, so perhaps we might be able to reach zero before they do.
Toyota shows 2016 Tacoma ahead of debut
Vipers and 'Vettes are all well and good, but here on the North Shore we love our small pickups. The current Tacoma is so long in the tooth it qualifies as a sabre-tooth tiger these days, but not to worry, here comes the refreshed version. And it's! Pretty much the same.
Not much you can do with a truck, it seems, and the new Toyota doesn't look like it'll surprise much. However, it's what's under the skin that counts, and the rumour is the updated 270 horsepower, 4.0-litre V-6 from the 4Runner will likely migrate over.
It'd be great to see an extra gear in the transmission too, but don't be surprised if the five-speed hangs around as the automatic option. Here's hoping the six-speed manual is still an option too.
Watch this space for all the best and worst of automotive news, or submit your own auto oddities to mcaleer. [email protected]. Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendan_mcaleer.
