Refreshed Hyundai Elantra GT to Debut February 13

Refreshed Hyundai Elantra GT to Debut February 13
Ex-Takata Engineer to Testify on Airbag Flaws
Toyota Camry, Corolla Special Editions Add Style
Cooper Tire Discoverer AT/W Tire Review
Infiniti QX30 Concept Teased Before Geneva Debut
Kia Trail’ster Concept Headed for Chicago

Posted:

Hyundai plans to debut two vehicles at this year's Chicago Auto Show.

The first will be a refreshed version of the Elantra GT while the second will be a special edition of the Veloster.

Specific details were not offered on either car, but it seems both will offer some mild improvements. Expect the typical refresh for the Elantra GT, meaning a slight tweak to styling and likely some packaging updates.

SEE ALSO: 2015 Chicago Auto Show Preview

As for the Veloster, expect something along the lines of the RE:FLEX special edition that was revealed at last year's show. That car packed a unique paint job and other style elements to set it apart.

Check back AutoGuide for live coverage from the Chicago Auto Show.

[Source: Autoblog]

Discuss this story at our Hyundai Veloster forum

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Ex-Takata Engineer to Testify on Airbag Flaws

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A former Takata engineer has confirmed that he is willing to testify against the company.

Mark Lillie, who left the Japanese auto supplier in 1999, says he warned Takata against using ammonium nitrate to inflate its airbags because it could result in complete airbag failure. As we now know, Lillie was right.

Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) put out the call for anyone with insider information on Takata to come forward. Two federal investigations are currently underway to find out if Takata willfully hid or altered data that resulted in a public safety risk and the feds want individuals with insider knowledge to testify in court.

Takata has forced the recall of 24 million cars due to airbag inflators that can deploy with too much force, causing metal fragments to shoot at the passengers. Six deaths in Honda vehicles have all been attributed to this airbag malfunction.

"I knew that ultimately there were going to be catastrophic failures," Lillie told Automotive News. "I didn't want my name associated with it." Takata held a design review in 1999 to discuss the use of ammonium nitrate, which was eventually used as the propellant in its airbags. "We went to the design review saying this is not an appropriate propellant," Lillie said. "I literally said that if we go forward with this, somebody will be killed."

[Source: Automotive News]

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Toyota Camry, Corolla Special Editions Add Style

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Toyota is rolling into the Chicago Auto Show with new special editions of the Camry and Corolla.

Just 12,000 units of the 2016 Camry Special Edition and 8,000 units of the Corolla Special Edition will be produced in total, with each car offering some upgraded style over the standard versions.

Spicing up the special edition Camry are 18-inch allow wheels with gloss black accents, smoked tail lamps and a blizzard pearl or blue streak metallic paint job. Inside, the car gets a moonroof, blue stitching, a sport meter cluster, Entune infotainment, Qi wireless charging and unique floor mats. A 2.5-liter four-cylinder mated to a six-speed transmission provides power.

As for its smaller counterpart, the special edition Corolla gets 17-inch alloys with gloss black accents and three different paint options: absolutely red, black sand pearl and super white. Inside, red contrast stitching along with a red accented dash and door trim are fitted along with a push button start.

Production for both of these cars will take place between August and December 2015. They will both be revealed at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show next to the updated 2016 Toyota Avalon.

Discuss this story at our Toyota Forum

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Cooper Tire Discoverer AT/W Tire Review

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I'm a firm believer that there's no such thing as an all-season or all-weather tire.

For those who live in regions with four proper seasons, the temperature swing from mid-summer to mid-winter is so dramatic that a tire needs to compromise in one season to perform well in another. But Cooper Tire wants to change all that and claims to have created a proper, all-year capable tire.

Called the Discoverer A/TW, the new tire is designed for pickup trucks and large SUVs. Cooper chose the truck and SUV segment to release the new tire as the company felt it was the best fit to allow a proper, twelve-month tire to be created. Many have tried this idea before, especially with passenger car tires and failed. With trucks and SUVs, Cooper very well may have succeeded.

Proper Winter Testing

Despite being an all-season tire, the new Discover A/TW is actually certified to be run in regions that require dedicated winter tires like Quebec, Canada. Appropriately, Cooper Tire brought me to Mecaglisse Motorsports Park in Quebec during the middle of winter to test the new AT/W out. Located over an hour north of Montreal, Mecaglisse is a winter motorsports wonderland full of snow and ice tracks that twist and turn up and down the hillsides of central Quebec.

To earn winter certification, a tire needs to be adorned with the snowflake symbol on its sidewall. Cooper warned us that this doesn't mean much. The company is actively campaigning for the process to earn winter certification to be stricter. Currently, the test is too simple. Basically, to earn certification a new tire needs only to marginally out accelerate a twenty-five year old all-season tire on snow. There's no braking, handling, ice or extreme cold temperature testing to achieve that snowflake on the tire's sidewall. What's more, the Tiger Paw that is used is not the new one, but a version designed twenty-five years ago.

Proper Winter Design

The reason Cooper Tire is looking to increase the winter certification difficulty is that the company believes the Discoverer A/TW far exceeds the relatively easy certification process and matches the ability of a true winter tire. For starters, unlike most all-season tires, the A/TW features full tread sipes. Thinner than the company's regular winter tire sipes, the A/TW's still work to provide extra grip in ice and snow.

The tire's glassification point is really what makes it so impressive. Glassification is the point where a rubber tire becomes hard like glass. When this happens, its ability to provide traction and grip greatly decreases. A normal all-season tire has a glassification point usually around 45F. With generous use of silica, the A/TW has a much lower glassification point; one not far off of most winter tires.

Silica is more than just the secret sauce that keeps tires flexible at low temperatures. It also allows increases tread life, reduces rolling resistance and adds traction, all at the same time. So why doesn't every tire come crammed full of silica? Well, it's expensive to cure into the rubber and it's highly abrasive to the manufacturing equipment.

Putting it to the Test

But enough about the tire's design; I was in Quebec to put it to the test. For evaluation, Cooper brought along the Discoverer A/TW and it's Canadian-market X/T4 sibling. Equipped to Chevrolet Tahoes, the tires were being compared to the Firestone Winterforce UV, a dedicated winter tire. The test included slow speed slaloms, incline braking, incline acceleration, emergency lane changes, downhill cornering and panic braking.

Although this was all closed course testing on a snow encrusted track surface, some clear observations could be made. First and foremost, the Discoverer A/TW and X/T4 couldn't quite match the abilities of the Winterforce in terms of cornering and agility. But the gap in performance is small. In back-and-forth maneuvering, the Firestone is more willing to grip during sudden directional changes. All three tires performed similarly on the downhill cornering though and were very predictable at the edge of traction.

Braking is a draw between the tires as all offered the same level of grip and stability. When it came to acceleration, especially during the uphill portion, the Discoverer tires actually outperformed the Winterforce. The overall performance gap to this dedicated winter tire is the closest I've ever experienced in an all-season tire. If I were to rate the Firestone as a 9 out of 10 in winter ability, the A/TW and X/T4 would have to be at least an 8.5 out of 10.

More Than Just a Winter Tire

Remember though, the AT/W is as much of a summer all-terrain tire as a winter tire. With chevron grooves, stone ejector ribs and cut & chip compounds designed into the AT/W, Cooper assures me the tire still has good off-road capabilities. The actual performance should fall just short of Cooper's true winter Mud & Snow tire, but the AT/W's tread life is also much longer.

And since the tire is meant to handle hot temperatures, warm wet performance should be better than dedicated winter tires that get too soft and stops performing properly. Plus, winter tires can wear-out up to 40 percent faster when driven all year around as their rubber compound is not meant for hot temperatures. There's only one way to really find out if the AT/W performs as well in warm weather as it does cold weather and that's a proper test in the heat. Luckily Cooper Tire has a giant proving grounds near San Antonio, Texas, with on- and off-road courses that I plan to evaluate the AT/W on later this spring.

Fast Facts:

Available for wheels 16- to 20-inches
Priced from $121.99 per tire
Currently available in 21 sizes with 9 more to be added in March

The Verdict:

With over 1.9 million miles of testing, Cooper Tire is confident the new AT/W and XT/4 siblings are ready for all year around abuse. For now, the tire is only designed for larger SUVs and pick-up trucks available in 16- to 20-inch wheel sizes. Besides adding more wheel sizes, the company did hint that it may expand the range in the future to include the booming small crossover market. Impressive in the snow, if the AT/W can live up to its claimed abilities in the summer as well, this could very well be one of the first, true, all-weather tires.

LOVE IT

Legitimate winter capabilty
Lower glassification point
Retains off-road capability

LEAVE IT

Only available for trucks and SUVs
Only available in 16- to 20-inch sizes

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Infiniti QX30 Concept Teased Before Geneva Debut

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Infiniti is girding its loins for battle in the compact premium crossover segment.

The company plans to unveil its QX30 small crossover concept at the Palexpo during the 2015 Geneva Motor Show in March. In a press release today, the brand said its concept is a design preview of its upcoming small premium crossover. Powertrain details and other specific information about the car haven't been announced yet, but it will probably be mechanically similar to the Q30 concept Infiniti first revealed during the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Infiniti didn't offer very much information about that concept, but it was widely reported to be based on the front-wheel drive MFA platform co-developed by Mercedes and Infiniti. The platform currently underpins Mercedes nameplates including the CLA-Class and GLA-Class.

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Kia Trail’ster Concept Headed for Chicago

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Kia is rolling out a new concept at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show next week called the Trail'ster.

The Trail'ster is based on the Kia Soul and uses a rear electric all-wheel drive system along with a turbocharged engine to power all four wheels. A fully retractable canvas roof is also incorporated on the concept.

2015 Chicago Auto Show Preview

The brand says the Trail'ster is for the "city-dweller-turned- outdoor-adventurer." It will debut at the Chicago Auto Show on Thursday, February 12, at 9am.

Discuss this story at our Kia Soul Forum

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Car Reviews

Thursday, 5 February 2015