Damox's Car Blog

What happens when you swap out the weak PVR engine in a stock Delorean for a 300 horsepower Wankel rotary engine? You get to 88 mph a lot faster. This engine is from an Eunos Cosmo, which was sold in Japan.

Here's a rather corny video of this rotary-powered Delorean:

Chrysler is trying to revive its brand name with the new Imperial luxury car. There was a time when Chrysler was known for its luxury cars, although never at the high prices as a Cadillac. The Imperial is a step up from the Chrysler 300, and I think it looks terrific. This car is clearly a Rolls-Royce / Bentley imitation, but it looks tasteful and it will cost about a quarter of the price of those British luxury cars. Analysts predict that the Imperial will sell for $5,000 to $7,000 above the 300.

Chrysler, which was sold to a private equity firm earlier this week, will invest $700 million to produce the Imperial.

Holy crap! Volkswagen must have been on speed when they decided to soup up a VW Golf GTI. Those cars are pretty quick when stock, but some of the engineers at VW were not satisfied. They dropped an enormous 6.0L biturbo W12 engine behind the front seats. The top speed they've achieved with this concept is 201 mph, but I think I'm even more impressed with the 3.7 second 0-62mph time. This car is both quick and fast, too much so to ever make it into production, even in limited numbers. No, not even Volkswagen has the money to pay lawyers to cover their behinds on lawsuits from a beast of a car like this one.

I'm enamored with the new Saab Aero X concept car. This is what a Saab should be. It has a look that evokes Saab's aviation heritage, but at the same time might remind some of the Jaguar roadsters of the 1960's and 70's.

While some people might be intrigued by the use of glass in this car, with what appears to be a wrap-around windshield, my favorite feature is the exterior shape. This car looks sleek and fast, even when standing still. Let's face it, the glass features will never make it to market, for a variety of reasons (mostly cost and safety). Let's hope Saab is inspired to bring this shape to its cars in the near future.

I bet some of you thought you'd have to sacrifice luxury to get into a hybrid vehicle. We see Leonardo DiCaprio and other celebs in their tiny little Toyota Prius' and we wonder why they believe in their cause so much that they're willing to drive around in a clown car. Toyota has finally stepped up to the plate and built a luxury hybrid car for all those wealthy, environmentally-conscious celebrities out there.

The Lexus LS hybrid sedan has a retail price of $124,000, and Toyota expects to sell 7,000 of the cars this year at that price. I hope they reach that number, because lower demand for gasoline is something that could help us all, but especially me (because my wallet is the only one I care about).
Toyota Unveils Its Priciest Hybrid