The expert editors of Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com (www.kbb.com), the leading provider of new- and used-vehicle information, announce their picks for Kelley Blue Book’s 2008 Top 10 Best New Road Trip Vehicles.
Kbb.com Editorial Comments: 2008 Best New Road Trip Vehicles
Audi S5
Combining a silky 354-horsepower V8 engine, impeccably tuned suspension and quattro all-wheel drive, the Audi S5 delivers high levels of both performance and comfort, along with the elegance to arrive in grand fashion.
Bugatti Veyron
If the price of fuel has impacted your yacht time more than your driving habits, you might find the $1.5-million, 1,001-horsepower, 16-cylinder, quad-turbo, 250-mph Bugatti Veyron an ideal alternative the next time the jet is in the shop. Just keep in mind that at full speed, the Veyron burns through its 26-gallon fuel tank in about 12 minutes.
Chevrolet Malibu
We recently drove six top-selling mid-size sedans in a back-to-back comparison test, and the remarkably quiet and comfortable Chevy Malibu handily outshined the competition on the highway. The first car in the category to combine a flexible six-speed automatic transmission with a gas-sipping four-cylinder engine, the Malibu is capable of an impressive 32 highway miles per gallon.
Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid
While the Tahoe Hybrid’s highway fuel economy rating of 22 mpg is only 2 mpg better than that of its gas-only counterpart (the hybrid’s bigger advantage is in city driving), it’s nevertheless the most fuel-friendly full-size SUV on the road and provides seating for eight, plenty of cargo solutions and the ability to tow your boat to the lake.
Dodge Grand Caravan
They say that getting there is half the fun. In the Dodge Grand Caravan, getting there can easily be all the fun. The Grand Caravan’s wide variety of entertainment options includes multiple DVD players, video game inputs, two overhead video screens, SIRIUS Satellite TV and radio as well as rearward-swiveling second row seats, all helping to transform the once humble minivan into a virtual party on wheels.
Ford Flex
Due in dealerships this summer, Ford’s new full-size, three-row crossover will be turning heads from coast to coast all year, while treating occupants to cold drinks with its class-exclusive refrigerated console.
Infiniti EX35
In addition to a plush, flexible interior, the EX35 offers a Lane Departure Prevention System that can help keep any driver — quite literally — in line. A small camera detects lane markers in front of the vehicle and, when inadvertent lane departure is detected, the system applies small amount of left or right brake force to nudge the vehicle back on course.
MINI Cooper Clubman
With excellent fuel economy and a fun-loving attitude, the MINI Cooper has earned its way onto our list of top road trip cars for the second year in a row. The new Clubman offers more passenger and luggage space than the standard Cooper, making the largest member of the MINI family an even more ideal long-haul companion.
Toyota Prius
The iconic Prius doesn’t just deliver the best highway mileage of virtually anything on four wheels; it also features a flexible hatchback design and enough interior volume to qualify as a mid-size vehicle.
Volkswagen Eos
The Volkswagen Eos is a sporty coupe that’s also a sexy convertible, thanks to a sleek, sophisticated retractable hardtop. This chameleon also has an exceptionally wide glass sunroof for when you want the open-air experience without getting that wind-swept look.
How much city and traffic driving do you do? Because that’s where hybrids have the most advantage in fuel economy. When a hybrid is stopped at a light, or in traffic, where a regular car will get zero miles per gallon, it doesn’t use any fuel. And when running at slow, steady speeds and light engine loads, as in under 35 mph or so on level ground, a hybrid will run under electric power, using no gasoline.
Under acceleration and at highway speeds, the hybrid uses its gasoline engine, perhaps with an assist from the electric motor while accelerating. Because the gas engine is smaller than the one in a similarly-sized gas-only car, it may be running under a higher load, particularly under acceleration or while climbing a hill. Because of that, fuel savings might be less than expected.
The dirty little secret of the hybrid world is that EPA highway fuel economy ratings are more than a little optimistic. Because of the abstract way that the ratings have been calculated, internal-combustion engine fuel economy is also inflated, but not usually by as much. Changes in calculation methodology have been announced, which is good, because most of us do not drive at a steady 50 mph on level ground when on the highway.
Still, if you do a lot of city driving or commuting, a hybrid makes sense. If you want better fuel economy and do more highways driving, buy a diesel.
Yeah, you heard that right. Modern diesels are less like the ones we’d rather not remember from the 80s than modern gasoline engines resemble their counterparts from the 1950s. They are quiet, smooth, and smoke-free, thanks to new design and construction technology and new ultra-low sulfur fuel. Spark-ignition (gasoline) engines have been the focus of development for passenger car use, especially in the US, for the past century. Compression-ignition (diesel) engines are just beginning a period of development. Consider the diesel of today to be where the gasoline engine was in about 1970. New fuels and emissions technologies are about to make some major changes for cleanliness and efficiency - and the diesel is already more efficient than the spark-igniton engine.
Diesel-electric hybrids? Likely in the future. Note, too, that diesels are amenable to alternative fuels. Biodiesel, produced from used cooking oil, is available today. No surprise that a diesel engine can run on cooking oil - the petroleum product known as diesel fuel was not available when Dr. Rudolf Diesel developed his compression-ignition engine. Among the fuels he used before the development of a petroleum-based fuel was peanut oil.
A team of Iranian designers come up with this bright cooking idea which actually isn’t as disgusting as it first looks. Your car’s exhaust is used as a barbecue to grill your food! Yeah! Those still sounds bad, but consider that the fumes don’t c…
Read and post comments |
Send to a friend
What kind of car are you driving?
It is almost everyone’s dream to own a flash car, but only the super wealthy can own the flashest. It is hard to imagine someone would actually spend 8 million dollars on a car instead of using it for something more productive. However, if you have the money and the opportunity, you will definitely spend a small fraction of it to place a few of these supercars in your garage.
All cars in this top are old and rare beauties, the newest one being the 1970 Ferrari 512S and the oldest and most weird one being the 1884 DeDion, Bouton et Trepardoux.
2007 Top 15 Most Expensive Cars
- $9.3 million - 1962 Ferrari 330 TRI/LM
- $5.7 million - 1953 Ferrari 340/375 MM
- $5.5 million - 1966 Shelby Cobra
- $4,950,000 - 1959 Ferrari 250 GT
- $4,510,000 - 1931 Bentley 4_-Liter
- $4,455,000 - 1959 Ferrari 250 GT
- $4,400,000 - 1935 Duesenberg SJ
- $3,740,000 - 1933 Delage D8S
- $3,564,000 - 1970 Ferrari 512S
- $3,520,000 - 1884 DeDion, Bouton et Trepardoux
- $3,267,000 - 1966 Ferrari 206 SP Dino
- $3,118,500 - 1953 Ferrari 340 MM
- $2,970,000 - 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Double Pullman
- $2,821,500 - 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione
- $2,819,000 - 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Corto
The honor for the most expensive car sold in 2007 falls to a 1962 Ferrari 330 TRI/LM Testarossa which changed hands in May for a record $9.3 million, making it the most expensive Ferrari ever sold. Ferrari’s seemed quite popular this year as eight models are included in the “top 15”.
Kramer and a car salesman vow to drive a Saab 900 "into the slash" just to see what would happen, in an episode of "Seinfeld," Kramer said he had made it once but blacked out and wakes up in a dike with a full tank of gas. At this time there is a...
Read and post comments |
Send to a friend
In Ukrainian