A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird: GM recalls 1.3 million cars for potentially fatal ignition flaw The recall is now such a part of the modern automotive world that we sometimes let the headlines wash past us and blithely continue on our way. We'll get to it later, after the groceries, and the school run, and the commute, and all the other busyness of life.
It's not unlike the annoying pop-up that keeps reminding you that your Adobe software is out-of-date for the four billionth time. No, I don't want to download and re-install yet again; I just want to check my email and go to bed.
However, as recalls go, this is one that can't be ignored. The ignition switches on a great number of GM vehicles are potentially faulty, and they could cause death or serious injury.
The problem is a wonkiness in the key tumbler that can cause the ignition to slip out of the run position, turning the car off suddenly. This can happen at-speed, and can be caused by something as innocuous as the bump of a highway expansion joint.
With the engine off, obviously there's a sudden power loss, but power steering and braking dies too, and airbags are shut down. To date, 13 fatalities and more than thirty serious accidents are being attributed to this issue.
The cars affected are Saturn Ion coupes and sedans built from 2003-2007, Chevy Cobalts and Pontiac G5s from 2005-2007, and Chevrolet HHRs, Solstices, and Saturn Skys built between 2006-2007. Please, if you have one of these vehicles, get to your local dealer as soon as possible to have the problem fixed.
Nissan Micra returns, eliminates Versa sedan While automotive enthusiasts are always excited about the latest high-powered, stick-shift, wagon-bodied car that probably won't even make it to North America, here's a Canada-only original that gets me all excited in a different way. It's the return of the plucky little Nissan Micra.
My university roommate had one of the originals. We named it "Mikey," and oh dear Lord was it slow. Seriously - you couldn't pick a fight with a kid in a Power Wheels Jeep.
It was, however, almost comically fuel-efficient: "I gotta go put gas in Mikey."
"What, is it March again already?" Also, it was a fun to drive little thing, easy to park and ideally suited for the urban environment. The new one, based on the Nissan March, looks fantastic, with some of that old Nissan spunkiness. It's got a perky little 1.6-litre engine, an available fivespeed manual, and it costs less than $10,000 for the base model.
It also marks the demise of the Versa Sedan, which wasn't really a bad car at all, just a little less sensible than buying a small hatchback. The Micra is also cheaper than the Versa Sedan, so visitors to Nissan showrooms will be able to have their pick of two economical hatchbacks - go for the Versa Note for more space and comfort, or keep an eye on the bottom line with the Micra.
Last, just because I always have to throw out the request for something with a little more sporting prowess, it should be noted that you can get the March in a Nismo variant overseas. While I'd argue that we keep power levels the same for frugality, it'd be pretty neat if Nissan offered suspension and exhaust tuning packages for cheapskates who want to speed skate.
Hennessy Venom GT is world's fastest car The Hennessy Venom GT, if you haven't heard of it, is a Lotus Elise with a twin-turbo V-8 swapped in that makes 1,244 horsepower. It has a manual gearbox and, as you can imagine, is a tad tricky to drive. Imagine an angry rhinoceros attached to one of those harnessracing buggies and you get the general idea.
Now, Hennessy performance can claim the much vaunted title of world's fastest production car, having run down the tarmac at the Kennedy Space Center at more than 435 kilometres per hour (270 miles per hour). For the record, that's quicker than Bugatti has been able to get their Bugatti to run.
Unfortunately, this was only a one-way run, and because just 29 Venoms are being built, that's one run and one car short of the necessary limits required to go down in the Guinness Book of World Records. The Venom does have a standing record as the fastest car to 300 km/h, so should you be hanging around in a pub with a Veyron owner, there's always that argument to be made.
However, let me throw down a gauntlet here, as unlikely as it is that John Hennessy is going to find himself reading a community newspaper in British Columbia. I have a challenge for you, good sir, and it's one for the history books.
Last year, Hennessy ran a nitrous-powered Stingray Corvette past the 320 km/ h mark on a new Texas toll road. Don't worry - the road wasn't open yet, and the cops were on hand to clock the speed, not to hand out a whopping ticket.
If Mr. Hennessy can get permission to run his Venom at 435 km/h on the same piece of closed, yet public, road, he'll be able to claim the fastest speed ever recorded on public roads. Why is this important? Because currently the record belongs to the Mercedes-
Benz W125 Rekordwagon in 1938, and while the history of the time is fairly convoluted, that speed record was used by the Nazis as propaganda.
Time to whip the Nazis, Mr. Hennessy, Indiana Jones haymaker style.
Finland gets glow-in-thedark reindeer Rudolph is about to get some company. In an effort to reduce animal collisions on dark Nordic highways, the Finns have decided that reindeer should be all aglow. Basically, Santa just got high beams.
In Finland, all the reindeer are privately owned by herders, so it's not like we're talking wild animals here. The herding association is currently testing out things with just 20 animals, lighting up their antlers with brightlyglowing permanent paint, and hosing down their bodies with a more dilute solution.
It's all non-toxic of course, and only lights up brightly when hit by a vehicle's headlights. Think of it as a reindeer hi-vis vest.
Of course, if you're just visiting the country, a giant, glowing reindeer wandering across the road like Harry Potter's patronus spell will absolutely scare the crap out of you. Don't worry, it's all in the name of safer reindeer games.
Watch this space for all the week's best and worst of automotive news, or submit your own auto oddities to [email protected]. Follow Brendan on Twitter at @brendan_mcaleer.
