Autoblog

• BMW owners claim software update degrades performance
  

  Filed under: Maintenance, BMW

  BMW's N54 engine has won the International Engine of the Year award for the past two straight years. It has also been listed as one of Ward's 10 Best Engines during the same period. The engine produces 306 hp and 295 ft-lbs of torque in a 3.0L inline six package thanks to the use of twin Mitsubishi turbochargers and direct injection. The N54's quick response and smooth torque curve has been an attraction for many enthusiasts, including myself - I call my Montego Blue coupe the turbo Cookie Monster. That is why a few BMW 335i owners are miffed by a feeling of reduced performance after a...
  




• GM adds 12-month/12,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty on certified used vehicles
  

  Filed under: Car Buying, Maintenance, GM

  Now that leasing seems to be going through a slow phase-out, shoppers looking for a good deal on a newish vehicle may take a harder gander at certified pre-owned models. GM realizes this and has responded by ambushing customers increasing the warranty coverage on the CPO models for all of its brands, minus Cadillac which has its own program. The new warranty stands at 12-months or 12,000 miles and begins when the CPO purchase is made -- an increase of up to nine-months over the previous guarantee. Being a "bumper-to-bumper" warranty, everything excluding wear items like tires and brakes are...
  



• Mechanic arrested for not giving up vehicle to angry customer
  

  Filed under: Maintenance, Carsumer Advocacy, Humor

  Remember last week when we told you about a tuner shop in Florida that got stuck holding a $16,000 bill after customizing some broke guy's Toyota Celica? That shop is resolving its dispute through the courts and will likely end up selling the car to make its money back, but a mechanic in the U.K. named Darren Tandy recently found himself in a similar situation with a very different outcome. A customer came to pick up his Land Rover recently and refused to pay the agreed upon price of £1127 for the service work that Darren had done. At first the owner...
  



• Lexus leads J.D. Power dependability for 14th straight year
  

  Filed under: Maintenance

  
  Click above for results 2008 J.D. Power Dependability Study
  
  J.D. Power and Associates has just released its 2008 Vehicle Dependability Study that attempts to measure vehicle quality throughout the first three years of owning a vehicle, and for the 14th year in a row Lexus leads all manufacturers with a rating of just 120 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100). This year's runner up, surprisingly, is Mercury, though it's a distant second at 151 PP100. Cadillac (155 PP100), Toyota (159 PP100) and Acura (160 PP100) round out the top five spots for brands. Lexus also had the most segment leaders with six vehicles leading their respective category, while...
  



• Owner ships Lambo from Qatar to London (and back) for oil change
  

  Filed under: Maintenance, Etc., Supercars, Lamborghini

  
  
  A wealthy Arab man, thought to be a Sheikh, recently had his black and gold Lamborghini LP640 flown 3,250 miles to London via Qatar Airways and trucked to a certified UK Lamborghini dealership last Friday for a fluid change, which cost him a paltry £3,552 compared to the £20,000 round-trip flight. That's a grand total of £23,552 ($46,644 USD) for a friggin' oil change.
  
  Environmentalists are obviously not pleased with the owner's wanton display of conspicuous consumption. Airport workers at Heathrow also blasted the owner's excess after watching the car get the royal treatment on the runway. One commented,...
  



• GM cuts Saab powertrain warranty down to four years/50,000 miles
  

  Filed under: Car Buying, Maintenance, Saab

  As if selling a quirky Swedish brand wasn't hard enough, Saab dealers will now have to do it with a smaller powertrain warranty. Effective immediately for 2009 models, all powertrain warranties on Saab vehicles will be reduced to four-years or 50,000 miles. Most media outlets, including Automotive News, are reporting that Saab's current warranty is seven-years and 100,000 miles for its powertrains, but that's inaccurate. Saab's powertrain warranty has the been the same as the rest of GM's brands since they were all increased in September, 2006 to five-years or 100,000 miles. So the new Saab powertrain warranty lops one year...
  



• Another automated fine - thanks, HAL
  

  Filed under: Maintenance, Etc., Safety, Videos

  
  
  Sure, they'll say it's for safety, driving on excessively worn tires is dangerous, but something more sinister is afoot. German firm ProContour has developed a tire tread depth measuring system that beams a laser at the wheels of passing vehicles and takes 430 million measurements per second to develop a three-dimensional profile of that tire. Tread depth and pattern are then calculated, and if there's less than .06 inches of tread or the pattern is clearly inappropriate (studded snows in the summer, for example), a citation is automagically issued. While we're admittedly being cynical, the safety aspect of what ProContour...
  



• Click and Clack cartoon debuts tonight on PBS
  

  Filed under: Maintenance, Etc., Lifestyle, Celebrities

  
  
  If you've been dying to see animated versions of Click and Clack -- aliases Tom and Ray Magliozzi -- then you'll want to tune into your local PBS station tonight. Their new series, As the Wrench Turns, starts off with their presidential campaign, with one of the platforms being "America needs a lube job!" We're all for it. Big Bird and the Cookie Monster will also make a cameo, though we're not sure if it's tonight. Check your PBS site for local times, or check out the show's site for a preview of the mechanical mayhem.
  
  [Source: Kicking...
  



• Mazda extends rotary warranty on RX-8 to 100k miles
  

  Filed under: Maintenance, Coupes, Sports/GTs, I.C.E., Marketing/Advertising, Recalls/TSBs, Mazda

  
  Click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Mazda RX-8.
  
  You've got to hand it to Mazda for its perseverance with the Wankel rotary engine design. Ever since it's engineers managed to make it semi-reliable, the turbine-like smoothness of the quick-spinning lump has seen duty in numerous Mazda-branded vehicles, and even a few others as well. Still, despite constant engineering work and updates to the basic rotary engine design, there is a lingering question about the reliability of the design. Most owners seem happy with the engines in their RX, that is,...
  



• Cost of vehicle maintenance is escalading
  

  Filed under: Maintenance, First Drive

  
  
  The pains many automobile owners are feeling at their local service station isn't just at the pump -- prices for general maintenance is also increasing. Petroleum based products, such as oil and tires, are heading north with the price of gasoline. Demand for steel has also pushed up prices on various automotive parts. That means consumers are seeing larger bills from their auto repair specialists, even when their exhaust doesn't require three people to install. Instead, many are choosing to squeeze pennies and skimp on elaborate repairs in order to stay on the road. AAA says in 2008 the average vehicle owner will spend $8,121 to...