A biweekly roundup of automotive news, good, bad and just plain weird:
Corvette Museum fills sinkhole
One of the more bizarre stories of late in the automotive realm was the sinkhole that opened up in the middle of the Corvette Museum, causing several cars to plummet to their doom. Over the past months, they hauled a few of these battered machines out, some to be restored, some beyond repair.
Given the impact, there was much talk about the idea of keeping the sinkhole open as a part of the museum, perhaps with a glassed-over section, or similar. Now, however, the Corvette Museum has decided to simply fill in the hole - the cost of keeping it would be simply astronomical.
They won't, however, restore all eight of the cars, as previously promised. Three of the eight will be restored, with the rest kept the way they were after the accident, as a tribute to the event.
Land Rover ditches LR2 for Discovery Sport
Odds are, you didn't even know Land Rover still made the LR2. The company mainly seems to sell Range Rovers, LR4s, and maybe an Evoque or two.
With the crossover market starting to become the backbone of sales for many manufacturers - Audi's Q5 currently outsells the BMW 3-Series - it just makes sense that Land Rover would try to find a way to bump up the recognition on their smallest car. Well here it is, coming in early 2015, the Discovery Sport.
The chunky LR4 is sold as the Discovery in most overseas markets, and is a pretty neat machine. Despite the luxury trimmings, it's still a true Landie, and will see hard use in the hands of its second owners, if the first owners never take it anywhere more challenging than a Whistler parking lot.
The Discovery Sport, on the other hand, is a CUV in the style of the Evoque, although with seating for seven and a little more utility. More importantly, it looks like a baby Range Rover, which should boost sales.
As usual, all this luxury product planning makes me scratch my head a bit, having grown up with an actual Land Rover from the 1970s, which was sort of like a tractor except with aluminium body panels and a tire on the bonnet. Well anyway, now you get autonomous braking and a 240 horsepower 2.0-litre turbocharged engine, and an eight-inch touchscreen display. The Gods must be crazy.
WRX hatchback mule spotted
OK. OK everybody just remain calm. This might be nothing.
However, the ever-active spy photographer community that hangs out around all the various manufacturer testing areas just released some snaps that should be of interest to any Subaru fans. Their pictures are of a plain black Impreza hatchback, but there's something else going on.
The car has a WRX front fascia, and a removable panel on the hood, indicating that there might be a hood-scoop tucked away under there. Could it be that finally, bowing to pressure from the 50 per cent of WRX buyers who go for the hatchbacks, Subaru is coming out with a fivedoor variant?
Oh please let it be true. We need this thing yesterday.
Switzerland champions the drive-in brothel
Officials in Switzerland are claiming that their drive-in brothel program is an out-and-out success, which of course made everyone say: a drive-in what now?
Well, they have drive-in liquor stores in Australia, so I suppose anything's possible. In this particular case, the drive-in brothel was intended as a way to get sex workers off the streets and provide them a safer setting. In this respect, the facility does indeed seem to be a success, and is far enough from residential areas that no one seems to be bothered.
So that's cheese, chocolate, fancy watches, and the drive-in brothel. Oh, and those handy little knives too - thanks, Switzerland!
Mercedes-Benz G65 bound for North America
Driving an AMG-powered Gelandewagen is a bit like being atop an elephant when it's suddenly stung by an enormous wasp. One does not accelerate. One stampedes.
You can already get the AMG G63 with a twinturbo V-8 cranking out 544 horsepower and that should be plenty. More than enough. A surfeit, surely.
However, too much is never enough, so here comes the G65, powered by a 6.0-litre twin-turbo V-12 that makes 604 h.p. and 738 foot-pounds of torque. My goodness me.
Top of the food chain for Mercedes SUVs, this hyperactive heffalump should cost somewhere well beyond the quarter-million mark and is entirely unnecessary and Really Quite Silly Indeed. But still, the world needs overpowered nincompoopery to some degree, so at least the G65 is no longer a Euro-only item.
Ford Focus RS gets 350 h.p., AWD
The hottest version of Ford's Focus isn't available in Canada, possibly because it's a bit too expensive. However, with sales of the Fiesta and Focus ST both doing well, Ford's reportedly bringing over their latest RS model starting next year.
Rumours are swirling: power will come from the 2.3-litre Ecoboost fourcylinder, cranked up to as much as 350 h.p. All-wheel drive will be standard to get the power down. Each car will come with a free pet unicorn. OK, not really.
For the same price as a Subaru STI or the upcoming Golf R, a Focus RS could be just the ticket. Even as luxury marques seem to be reaching down into the compact performance market, could we see a fast Ford to take the fight to cars like the AMG version of the CLA? Time will tell.
Watch this space for all the best and worst of automotive news, or submit your own auto oddities to mcaleer.nsnews@gmail.com.
