News Service

Honda, Toyota again top U.S. top 10 most stolen car list

In its yearly report called “Hot Wheels,” the 1994 Honda Accord was the most stolen car in the country in 2010, following by the 1995 Civic and the 1991 Toyota Camry. Hot Wheels is the only report that examines all theft data without regard to a vehicle’s insured status thereby providing a more complete view of the vehicle theft landscape. For example, certain models of older cars and trucks are popular with thieves because of the value of their parts — but many are not insured against theft. Whereas newer, more expensive and insured vehicles are often stolen to be resold intact with counterfeit vehicle identification numbers or shipped out of the country. Overall, vehicle thefts continue their decline. Preliminary

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California gets dubious car honor — most stolen vehicles

California has it charms — beaches to quaint cities to redwood tree forests. But it also has the dubious honor — the most car thefts of any state in the country. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) released its annual list of cities with the most car thefts, and Fresno, Calif., tops the list. In fact, eight cities in the top 10 are in California, with the remaining two in Washington state. Following Fresno on the list are Modesto and Bakersfield with Sacramento Stockton and the area including San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont also on the list. Spokane, Wash., was No. 4 among on the top-theft list, while Los Angeles surprisingly was No. 23. The NICB calculated rates of car

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President Obama: New automotive decree: 54.5 mpg by 2025

President Obama has announced a proposal with the backing of car manufacturers from General Motors to Ford and Hyundai to Toyota to improve the fuel efficiency of vehicles to 54.5 mpg by and substantially reduce green house gas emissions by 2025. Chrysler, BMW, Honda, Jaguar/Land Rover, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Volvo also approve the plan, which means it will affect more that 90 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States. The announcement extends a 2009 agreement with the auto industry to improve fuel efficiency in the next five years. Fuel efficiency is currently controlled by the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) within the Department of Transportation, which was enacted by Congress in 1975 in response to the

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Driving the Tour de France: Country roads in my Renault

ST. FLOUR, France — The Tour de France Road Book, distributed to the media at the start of the race, features the history of each starting and finish city, extensive maps how to get from the start to the finish each day and a wealth of other details about the race. It’s difficult to maneuver around France during the race with the book, and I suspect nearly impossible to do without the book. Direct and indirect route options are provided for each stage, with the direct option usually the route of course. It’s sometimes longer but quicker. But the off-course route is often the proper choice, if seeing the course isn’t necessary. It avoids the race course, massive crowds, and

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Driving the Tour de France, July 3: Many cars, few cyclists

LES ESSARTS, France — Beyond the starting field of 198 cyclists, the moving caravan that is the Tour de France includes thousands of cars, trucks, motorhomes, motorcycles, team buses and wacky sponsors’ vehicles, some of which defy description. As one of the race publicist’s said in only the way a French person can say it when they speak English: “We didn’t think it would be possible to have 4,000 vehicles everyday following what 200 cyclists do.” In addition to about five vehicles per team, the Tour de France has 1,200 cars registered with media credentials and another 1,200 VIP, race officials, sponsors and technicians’ vehicles. There are 47 officers of the Republican Guard and 13 other policemen at the end

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Driving the Tour de France, July 2: Credentials and car stickers

LES HERBIERS, France — The journey to the opening day of the Tour de France Media Center (Salle de Presse) is always an unknown. It’s the “chicken-before-the-egg” scenario of cycling’s grand affair. Without a credential you can’t enter the media center and without a press sticker you can’t enter the media parking area to get your press pass. In some years, I’ve had to park a mile away, talk my way into the facility, acquire my car stickers, walk back to the car, attach the stickers and then drive into the media parking area. None of that occurred this year, which I’m taking as a good omen for the race. The drive from Nantes was only about an hour and

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Tesla pulls plug on pricey Roadster, focus shifts to sedan

The Tesla Roadster electric car can now be considered a collectors’ car. The much-touted California start-up manufacturer has announced it will stop taking orders for the $109,000 vehicle at the end of July 2011. The reason: The Telsa Roadster didn’t sell particularly well. Further, the innovative company is focusing on its less expensive Model S electric car, a four-door sedan. Now in version 2.5, the Tesla Roadster is a two-seat coupe. It’s fast (3.7 seconds, 0-60 mph), features a carbon-fiber body designed by Lotus, and a 245-mile-rated range. Powered by a liquid-cooled battery pack made up of 6,831 lithium ion cells (similar to those found in laptop computers), the Tesla Roadster delivers 295 lb-ft of torque and has an electronically

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Cars2 stalls in warm-up with motor running for start (video)

It’s taken five years, barrels full of money, expensive voice-over talent and a massive amount of publicity, but Cars2, the sequel to the massively popular 2006 original, debuts June 24. Owen Wilson and Michael Caine, among other famed actors and actresses, minus decease Paul Newman, return. But unlike the first film, which received two Academy Award nominations, and was universally praised, the current has been highly criticized in pre-public release reviews. Time magazine’s reviewer, for example, said, “its premise is a lemon.” In Cars2, Lightning McQueen, the main character is on the road in an international spy caper. He teams with his pal Mater, the tow truck, to compete with the world’s fastest cars in the World Grand Prix. Detours

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Auto show models: Pretty, smart and Sirens of Chrome

As much as the new cars on display, so are the models hired by manufacturers to help showcase the automobiles to the largely male audiences attending car shows around the globe. Once just pretty women, auto show models now know their car stuff. Which, of course, makes them even more attractive. Margery Krevsky, co-founder of the Productions Plus agency in 1981, became one of the major booking agents for auto show models. She’s now the author of the book Sirens of Chrome. The 192-page volume (ISBN 1-879094-84-3, Momentum Books, $24.95) chronicles the history of the “human hood ornaments” from 1900 to now. The book details: “These human hood ornaments and walking encyclopedias of fuel-economy and towing-capacity specifications are descendants of

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Hyundai, Toyota, Honda, Ford get best used cars honors

Hyundai keeps reaping praise. Edmunds.com, the respected California-based automotive web site, has selected two Hyundai models on its list of the top-15 recommended used cars since 2004. Hyundai, Ford, Honda and Toyota all had two models on the list, with the Hyundai Elantra selected as the best used sub-compact and the Hyundai Azera chosen as the best used large sedan. “With used car prices still soaring, it’s important for consumers to have expert guidance to get the best value,” said Scott Oldham, editor in chief of Edmunds.com. “By taking into consideration a range of factors from consumer ratings to NHTSA crash safety tests, to True Cost to Own metrics, these cars are the most attractive options in the used car

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Mazda recalls half-million Mazda3 models for faulty wipers

Mazda is recalling nearly a half-million Mazda3 (the Mazda Axela in some countries) globally to fix an electronic malfunction that could prevent the windshield wipers from working properly. Mazda said no accidents were reported, but 29 failure complaints were received by the manufacturer. The recall covers cars and knock-down parts for the Mazda3 that were shipped between Jan. 2008 and Jul. 2010. It affects 157,700 units in North America, 91,600 in Europe, 84,000 in China and about 20,000 in Japan. The Mazda3 was introduced in 2004 and the second generation was announced for the 2010 model year. The same problem plagues the Mazda3 and Mazda3 MPS models produced between January 7, 2008 and December 22, 2008. According to the company

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TheWeeklyDriver.com now featured on www.alltop.com

Auto enthusiasts likely already have their favorite sites bookmarked, and theweeklydriver.com hopes it continues to find a growing audience among the vast array of car sites. No other site does for the automotive industry what www.alltop.com does . . . it aggregates all the auto sites (and sites on almost any topic) and cleanly organizes the offerings into clear, easy-to-follow feeds. If you’re going to bookmark one auto site make in www.alltop.com We just received word that theweeklydriver.com is now part of the great aggregation site’s impressive auto section. We’re pretty jazzed about it. We fancy our site, but the section has dozens of other car sites — the major companies to a good supply of niche auto sites with

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Smart, Bentley get top, dubious automakers' mpg honors

Smart, with its line of electric or gasoline two-seaters, has the best gas mileage average among car manufacturers, according to a new Brighter Planet study of 2011 cars and trucks. Throughout its lineup, Smart averages 61 mpg. Mini (30.0 mpg) is second across its production line. Honda (27.4 mpg) third is and the top manufacturer with a full line of cars, trucks and SUVs. Suzuki (25.5) and Nissan (25.3) round out the top five, according to the study that detailed Brighter Planet’s ranking of 39 automobile manufacturers included in the 2011 EPA Fuel Economy Guide based on miles-per-gallon fuel consumption or equivalents of all models in each company’s portfolio. Bentley has the dubious honors in the study, the lowest manufacturer-wide

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Allan McNish unhurt in wild 24 Hours of LeMans crash (video)

A horrible crash primarily involving Scottish driver Allan McNish occurred in the opening hour of the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours. McNish tried to pass one of the slower cars, made contact and went hard into the barriers. The video, with commentary in German, is dramatic. More surprising is that McNish emerged from his car unhurt. Likewise, despite flying car parts, no one else on the track and just behind the barrier with a few feet of the wreck was hurt. Here’s a recent biography McNish: Born – Dumfries, Scotland, Dec. 29, 1969 Lives – Monte Carlo, Monaco Status – Married to Kelly, one son Finlay and one daughter Charlotte Height – 1.65m Weight – 58kgs McNish began racing since

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Audi A7, 2012 car review

The early 2012 Audi A7 3.0 TFSI quattro is a generally outstanding four-door hatchback sedan that looks much like a rakish coupe. But the $59,250 A7 is expensive with desirable options, such as its Sport Package with items like 20-inch wheels and a sport suspension (vs. standard 18-inch) wheels. The bottom-line price of the A7 I tested was $86,220, including that package and a bunch of high-tech items such as a navigation system and rearview camera. The A7 is loaded with comfort, convenience and safety equipment, including  power sunroof, so one need not add a thing—except perhaps the $1,500 Sport Package my test A7 had for sharper moves, with 20-inch (vs. standard 18-inch) tires and a sport suspension. You can

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Dealers begin taking orders for 2012 Chevy Volt

Chevrolet dealers in every state can begin taking orders for the 2012 Chevrolet Volt. The starting price of the new model is more than $1,000 less than the 2011 edition, the manufacturer announced. The suggested retail price for Volt will start at $39,995 (or $32,495 assuming a full federal tax credit of $7,500, which is subject to the customer’s eligibility). The price includes an $850 destination freight charge but excludes tax, title and license fees. The lower base price is possible in part because of a wider range of options and configurations that come with the expansion of Volt production for sale nationally. The 2011 model was available in just seven states and the District of Columbia. For 2012, consumers

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