Lexus is a brand name used by Toyota in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand for luxury automobiles. Some believe the name comes from the combination of “luxury” and “elegance”. Lexus was inspired by the success of the luxury Toyota Supra and the Toyota Cressida models. Both the Supra and Cressida were rear wheel drive cars with a powerful (7M-GE/7M-GTE) type engine.
The first Lexus-branded car models, the V-8 powered LS 400 and the smaller ES250, appeared in 1989. The flagship LS400, known as the Toyota Celsior in the Japanese domestic market, had a unique design, sharing no major elements with previous Toyota vehicles, with a new 4.0L V8 engine. It was widely praised for its quietness, well-appointed interior, fine engine performance, outstanding build quality, and value. It was generally regarded as a major shock to the European marques, but it has never managed to gain the affection of the public in the way of the older luxury manufacturers. It won several major motoring awards when released.
These virtues have been maintained in subsequent iterations of the LS, including the LS 430, and the range has been expanded with other models. The Toyota Camry-based ES 330, the small, sporty, rear-drive IS 200 and IS 300 based on the Japanese Domestic Market Toyota Altezza, and the Toyota Land Cruiser-based LX 470 SUV, and the GS models. The world’s second mass-production hybrid SUV was a Lexus, after the Ford Escape SUV in summer 2004. The SC300/400 was Lexus’ first coupe that made its way to the United States.
Read more about Lexus.
2007 Wrangler
The 2007 Jeep Wrangler broke cover at the North American International Auto Show. It continues in the direction of the original Jeep, the Willys MB, by offering more off-road ability and enhances the 4 wheel drive leadership of the brand.
The new Wrangler offers more on-road refinement with an all new frame, a 2 inch wider wheelbase, lower spring rates, advanced shock tuning, a 3.5 inch wider track and increased jounce travel. It also offers increased ground clearance, enhanced Dana front and rear solid axles, larger wheels and tires, optional Comand Trac and Rock Trac transfer cases, and electro disconnecting front sway bar and new electric axle lockers.
The 2007 Wrangler is powered by a new 3.8 liter V6 engine, with 205 horsepower and 240 lb-ft of torque. New four-wheel ABS is standard on all the 2007 releases. The increased dimensions mentioned above provide more interior room with 4.6 inches more hip space, and 5.1 inches more shoulder room. Also, the new Wrangler now offers more open air options than earlier with a new three piece modular hard top, a Sunrider soft top and dozens of different door, top and windshield combos.
Read more about The Jeeps of 2007
Let’s take a look at the new generation Honda…
2007 Honda Accord
The changes to the seventh-generation Honda Accord will be most noticeable at night, when the multiple LEDs in the tail lights and center high-mounted stop light (CHMSL) are readily apparent. The CHMSL has been moved from the rear window to the rear edge of the trunk, where it acts as a small spoiler. The rear fenders are changed slightly from earlier models, as has the grille and front bumper. Improvements to intake and exhaust airflow have enabled Honda to find a few more horsepower in both Accord engines. The silky-smooth 3.0-liter single overhead camshaft, 24-valve V6 is up four horsepower, for 244 at 6250 rpm, with maximum torque 211 lb-ft at 5000 rpm. Honda’s VTEC variable valve lift and timing system ensures optimum performance at all engine speeds, and there is a very healthy midrange surge of torque that is best taken advantage of by the six-speed gearbox.
Read more on new 2007 Honda car models.
For the 2007 model year, Dodge has come up with some surprises. Here are a few of them:
2007 Dodge Caliber
It would seem that Dodge decided a compact hatchback is a swell idea in light of America’s recent and slightly elevated interest in smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The Caliber is not a hard-core fuel miser, though, and is instead a pretty normal-sized compact. It features an all-new chassis design, and is being built at DaimlerChrysler’s retooled Belvedere, Illinois, plant. For the Caliber’s initial launch in North America, Dodge has three styles available (SE, SXT and R/T) and a hat trick of four-cylinder, twin-cam engines: a 1.8-liter, a 2.0-liter and a 2.4-liter. The goal of improved fuel economy has also played a role in the Caliber’s transmission offerings. While the 1.8-liter gets a traditional five-speed manual, the 2.0-liter and 2.4-liter engines have a continuously variable transmission (CVT).
More new models can be found here
In 1909, William Durant, a successful buggy manufacturer from Flint, Michigan, asked Louis Chevrolet, a well known race car driver, to help design a car for introduction to the public. In 1911, Durant establishes his company. The Chevrolet Motor Car Company enters the turbulent automobile market on November 3. Durant chose to name the company after its designer, Louis Chevrolet, because he liked the sound of the name and because Chevrolet was a prominent name in motor sports.
The bowtie logo of Chevrolet was introduced in 1914. It is said that the logo was inspired by a pattern of wallpaper in a Paris hotel. Reportedly, in 1908, Will Durant detached a small piece and kept it in his wallet, waiting for the day he’d put it to use. The Bowtie became an advertising icon, and is still the marquee of today’s Chevrolet. The year after the logo was finalized, Chevy released its challenge to the Ford Model T, the “490”. The year 1918 was a milestone in the history of Chevy – this is the year when Chevrolet joined General Motors. In 1927, Chevrolet outsold Ford by topping 1 million units for the first time. In all but four of the next 55 years, Chevrolet remained the top-selling American nameplate.
The first Corvette appeared at the 1953 Motorama, and Chevrolet was besieged with requests for a production version. Many skeptics did not believe Chevrolet could offer such a radical design for mass production. Corvette became the first series-production car with a fiberglass body. In 1955, the legendary small-block Chevy V8 was introduced. This innovative engine became one of the most famous Chevy engines ever. The Impala nameplate arrived in 1958, designed to provide a Cadillac “big-car’ look at a Chevrolet price. Impala became an instant hit with the American public.
Read more about Zip Zap Zoom with Chevrolet 2007
Buick Motor Division, which claims one of the most dramatic and important chapters in the history of the American automobile, celebrated its 103rd anniversary in 2006.
The founder of the company, David Dunbar Buick, was building gasoline engines by 1899, and Walter L. Marr, his engineer, built the first automobile to be called a Buick between 1899 and 1900. But officially, Buick dates its beginning in the year 1903. That was the year the company was incorporated and moved from Detroit to Flint.
The company’s history has been exciting from the beginning. Buick recovered from near bankruptcy in 1904 to become the number one manufacturer of automobiles in 1908 - exceeding the combined production of Ford and Cadillac, its closest competitors.
Buick was the financial pillar on which General Motors, today the world’s largest automaker, was created.
From the beginning, “motor” has been a key word in Buick’s name. Their original patented overhead valve single cylinder was unbelievably powerful for its time. And today’s 3.8-liter 3800 V6, widely described as world class in smoothness, performance and reliability, is a result of the Buick V-6 used in the 1962 Buick Special– the first V-6 ever offered in a mass produced U.S. car. Today, Buick offers V-6 engines in most of its models, including a supercharged 3800 in its flagship Park Avenue Ultra.
Toyoda….sounds familiar? You may think that was a typing error, but no; you would have been driving a Toyoda today, had the word Toyota, which takes 8 strokes to write in Japanese, not been considered to be luckier than Toyoda!
The Bayerische Motoren Werke (Bavarian Motor Work) started in 1913 as an aircraft engine manufacturer, though the name was adopted only in 1917. It concentrated primarily on aircraft engines and motorcycles in the pre-war years. It is now, the biggest in the industry in all of Europe. For its first step into the car industry, BMW built a simple and inexpensive car, named “Dixi”. However, it was the 2 liter sports car 328 which put the company on the map in 1936
Allie has launched her car research site, since she is looking to buy a car shortly after her 16th birthday. You can view her research at Allie’s Car Research and Auto Review website here. She has section for Honda, BMW, Acura, Chevy and Jeep.
Everyone would love a new vehicle but choosing the right new car or pickup truck for you is quite a difficult decision to make! There are so many different makes and models from which to choose and so many different special deals being advertised that it can be overwhelming trying to settle on just one vehicle to purchase. New cars and pickup trucks are easy to find on any new car dealer’s sales lot. However, finding one that has exactly the options you want may be tougher. If you have already decided on the make and model that you desire, you’ll need to decide how important each option is to you. If you have not set your heart on a specific make and model, you may choose to select a different car lot to purchase your new vehicle from where a car or pickup truck with the options you are is waiting for you.
Read entire Choosing the Right Vehicle Article here.