March 19 (Bloomberg) — Am I doing the updated BMW 7 Series a serious disservice by talking first about the seats? After all, the luxury liner is as fun to drive as a much smaller sports car, and it’s big news that the maddening iDrive system is finally as easy to use as an iPod.
And yet, when I’m stuck at an airport lounge or on the subway, I find myself fantasizing about those heavenly front bucket seats. My mind goes to the supportive cradle that’s adjustable 20 ways, the please-touch-me Nappa leather, the squeezable headrest you can fold around your cranium like those on a first-class Cathay Pacific flight. [Read on Bloomberg News#mce_temp_url#]
Curious to see the unique Aptera 2e in blazing, three-wheeling, electric-powered action? See how stable it really is in this Aptera video which I shot when I was on location in their facility outside of San Diego.
To see a view from the inside, screeching around corners, click through. (more…)
The Mercedes SLR McLaren, ready for super-speeds (before it broke down)
March 12 (Bloomberg) — The funny thing about going really, really fast in a sports car is it’s a bad time to look at the speedometer. Your eyes should be on the road.
I remind myself of this as I push past 150 miles per hour. The Ferrari 599 I’m driving is chewing through asphalt like a starved beast, yet part of my brain is curious. I take a quick peek: 160 mph, only 40 more to go. It’s 200 or bust, baby. [Read on Bloomberg News]
[Doors akimbo: The not-so-traditional electric Aptera 2e]
I drive new cars all the time, but two weeks ago I extended a trip to San Diego to drive something very, very new. As in you-haven’t-seen-anything-like-this-on-the-road-before new. Called the Aptera 2e, it’s the first product from a San Diego startup and the idea is ingeniously simple: Make something so light, so aerodynamic, that whatever power source you plug into it, it will go really far. (Full review of the Aptera is here.)
This baby is all electric, and you plug it in with an everyday extension cord. Even the gas-powered version they’re working on has a projected gas mileage of 100 miles per gallon.
The Aptera truly looks radical: A slipstream design with three wheels that appears more like a spaceship than a conventional car, it was funny to watch other drivers stare as me and electrical engineer Sean Touhy as we sped around the streets near Vista, California. Like they’d just spied E.T. on his floating bicycle. (more…)
