The newest version of the original sport compact – a.k.a. ‘hot hatch’ – was introduced at this year’s New York auto show and so was the latest iteration of its closest and fiercest rival. The sixth-generation Volkswagen GTI and second-generation Mazdaspeed3 will soon be dueling for the top spot on the wish lists and shopping lists of pocket rocket enthusiasts.

The two cars have much in common. Both are powered by transverse-mounted, turbocharged four-cylinder engines with direct injection driving their front wheels. Both engines were carried over from the previous model. On paper, the Mazda wins the horsepower battle. Its slightly larger 2.3-litre heart pumps out 263 hp at 5,500 rpm and 280 lb-ft of torque at 3,000 rpm. The GTI’s 2.0-litre engine delivers 200 hp from 5,100 to 6,000 and 207 lb-ft of torque from a low 1,800 rpm to 5,300 rpm.

MazdaSpeed3 vs. Volkswagen GTI

The Mazda has more grunt than the GTI but the German hatch has an exceptional torque spread and is a master at using it all on a twisty road. More so if VW Canada finally decides to include XDS, a newly-developed extension of the electronic stability program (ESP) that acts as a virtual limited-slip differential by keeping the inside wheel from slipping in corners and transferring torque to the outside wheel in the process. The Mazda also comes standard with torque-sensing (torsen) limited-slip differential.

Both cars come with a standard 6-speed manual gearbox. The new Mazdaspeed3’s has revised and ‘slightly taller’ ratios from 2^nd to 5^th gear to make better use of the engine’s generous torque. The GTI, on the other hand, can be equipped with a 6-speed sequential manual gearbox with dual automated clutches. The DSG gearbox unerringly rattles off lightning-quick upshifts and downshifts with perfect, computer-controlled throttle blips when you pick your gears with the steering-mounted paddles or the stubby lever on the center console. You can also let it do its thing with a smooth auto mode.

Engineers have revised and fine-tuned the Mazdaspeed3’s suspension, steering and brakes and their counterparts at Volkswagen have worked on the GTI’s overall refinement and quietness. The Mazda has new, wider 225/40R18 performance tires mounted on alloy wheels with the same design as seen first on the new RX-8 R3. The GTI’s has standard 225/45 R17 ‘all-season’ tires but you can also get it with 225/40 R18 all-season or performance tires on a polished version of the GTI’s signature alloy wheels.

Both cars get their own version of their respective families’ redesigned interior, with new gauges and controls. The GTI’s standard cloth sport seats have a tartan-style chequered fabric called either ‘Interlagos’ or ‘Jacky’, depending on your source, a nod to the original GTI that was launched in Europe back in 1976 (the GTI made it to North America only in 1983). The two rivals carry a spoiler mounted high atop their rear hatch but the Mazdaspeed3 gets a new functional hood scoop to better feed cool air to its engine.

It will be a thrilling slugfest between the new GTI and Mazdaspeed3. And things might get even more interesting if and when Volkswagen confirms production of the Golf R20 that has been spied while testing on the Nürburgring. This one though, equipped with a version of the 265-hp TSI engine seen in the Audi TTS and all-wheel drive, would also be gunning for the WRX and Evo X.

If you listen to Jane Marx, tour guide extraordinaire – and you always listen to Jane – no one should own or drive a car in New York. The thing is Jane is a native New-Yorker and passionate about her city: “You either love it here and there’s no place else you want to live, or you hate it and the rest of the world looks great”.

In Jane’s world, to move about in NY, you simply walk, take the subway or catch one of the thousands of yellow cabs. Hybrids are at their best in city driving, where they make the best use of their electric power. So you might end up riding in one of about a hundred Toyota Prius or the more numerous Ford Escape Hybrids, but chances are you’ll be flagging one of the thousands of St-Thomas, Ontario-built and relatively indestructible Ford Crown Victorias. 

But if you really want to ritz it, you will be using the classy transport of the moment in Manhattan, a black Mercedes-Benz S Class limo. Not even the extended-wheelbase model. And soon, you’ll be able to slide into one of the gas-electric powered S 400 BlueHybrid, complete with lithium-ion batteries, How chic. 

And if your pockets are deeper than a Norwegian fjord, don’t dawdle and hitch a ride in a Rolls-Royce Phantom or even a Maybach to arrive in style.

That said – native wisdom notwithstanding – you love New York but are nonetheless passionate about cars and you want to drive your own. So, what to do?

Well if you want to drive in Skyscraper Kingdom, no matter what, you need something truly vertical, something outrageously horizontal, a car specifically designed for clean and frugal city driving or then a tiny, zippy, dent-proof machine.

Mercedes S400 hybrid

This last one’s easy: one day you might be able to ride one of the two-wheel runabouts developed by GM and Segway, but until then, you can get a Smart Fortwo. Surprisingly roomy and comfortable for its 2.7 metres (106 in) in overall length, the Smart has interchangeable and virtually indestructible plastic body panels and a 1.0-litre, 70-hp three cylinder engine. 

If this sweetie has not yet caught on in New York the way it has in Paris, Rome or Berlin, it’s probably because it is not crowded and difficult enough to park there yet for someone who wants to hop around and shop around unfettered.

The Smart will soon have a rival in the Scion iQ, from Toyota’s hip division. A concept version was unveiled at the New York show, complete with ‘3+1’ seating, nine airbags (!) and power from a 1.3-litre, 93-hp four-cylinder wit variable valve timing.

Scion iq concept

To go vertical, you will need one of the latest box-shaped, tall-roof compacts that are coming to us after being the rage with young buyers in Japan for years. The most notorious is the well-named Nissan cube (lower case intentional), with asymmetric styling and a concentric-ripple headliner or the Kia Soul, a talented newcomer with features such as door-mounted speakers with music-sensitive orangey ‘mood’ lighting.

If ultimate efficiency and urban virtues are your credos, you will join the hybrid-driving clan. It’s a banner year for ‘gasoline-electrics’, with the launch of a more powerful, third iteration of the Toyota Prius, the seminal hybrid. The young granddaddy of all hybrids has solid competition in the new Honda Insight. 

Moving about in these quiet, rational and roomy hatchback sedans makes great sense in New York, but there is so much more to this city.

To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, it’s all a matter of timing. New York might be the city that never sleeps, but its streets are not always mobbed and crowded like Times Square on New Year’s Eve. It’s even quiet and pleasant at times, with traffic flowing easily along wide avenues.

Lamborghini

But you can also go Verdi, Wagner and Zappa all at once by driving a Ferrari 430 Scuderia – red of course – through Central Park, on 42^nd Street and right by Rockefeller Center at 5 am as the 510-hp V8’s soul-ripping wail is reverberated by rows of skyscrapers. You’ll feel like Claude Lelouch shooting ‘Rendez-vous II’.

Second scenario: pick a Lamborghini Murciélago, matte black. Feel like Batman in Gotham City by driving it full-throttle on Park Avenue at night.

Fiction you say? Don’t think so. I heard something quite similar from my hotel room on the 7^th floor while I was in town for the auto show.

Now that’s living and driving in New York.

The quest for the ultimate clean and cheap powertrain technology has been raging for more than a decade and every auto show is a showcase for the latest and greatest developments. New York is no exception this year and, as usual, contenders and pretenders went in almost every imaginable direction.

There still is no picking a clear winner in a race where participants are simultaneously running in all directions, but some do stand out. This spring, in the Big Apple, the biggest player in the eco-battle is Mercedes-Benz, with the introduction of three different diesel-powered or hybrid vehicles. In terms of pure impact, though, the most spectacular and surprising is also the smallest in size: the tiny GM/Segway experimental urban two-wheeler runabout automatically fascinates and quickly grabbed headlines worldwide. 

P.U.M.A.

Presented as one of the possible solutions to growing traffic congestion, especially in the most densely-populated cities in Asia, Project P.U.M.A. (for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) combines several technologies that have been developed separately by Segway for its famous stand-up ‘scooter’ and GM in various projects. These include electric drive and batteries, gyroscopic stabilization, all-electronic control of acceleration, steering and braking plus vehicle-to-vehicle communications and ‘autonomous’ driving and parking. The current P.U.M.A. can run at up to 56 km/h for up to 56 kilometres. GM and Segway will be testing a second-generation prototype this summer.

The most advanced or forward-looking ‘green’ model on the Mercedes-Benz stand is the E 250 Vision Bluetec ‘concept’ is an E-Class sedan powered by a turbocharged, 2.2-litre, four-cylinder diesel engine with a pair of balancing shafts that produces 204 hp and a solid 369 lb-ft of torque at 1600 rpm. Mated to a 7-speed automatic gearbox, this engine would return a fuel economy average of 5.5 L/100km and meet not only Bin 5 but also the EU6 emissions standards set for 2014 in Europe. 

German rival Volkswagen counters nicely with the stingy new, production-ready sixth-generation Golf TDI set to arrive next fall. Powered by a turbocharged, direct-injection, 2.0 liter engine that delivers 140 hp at 4000 rpm and a substantial 236 lb-ft of torque between 1750 and 2500 rpm, it is rated at only 4.5 L/100 km on the European cycle. 

Koenigsegg CCXR (photo: Marc Lachapelle)

Now we want the Golf GTD that was recently unveiled at the AMI show in Leipzig. It combines a stronger 168-hp TDI engine and the chassis settings of the new GTI, for 0-100 km/h runs in 8.1 seconds and a 5.3 L/100 km rating. This is enough to join the BMW 335d sedan and its 3.0-litre, variable-twin-turbo diesel engine with 265 hp and 425 lb-ft of torque in the select ‘swift and thrifty’ segment. 

The all-electric camp was led in New York by the confirmation that Mitsubishi will be selling the iMiEV to North America. The car will be equipped with a lithium-ion battery pack and have a range of about 130 kilometres. Other pure-electric notables in New York are the Cadillac Converj concept, the Fisker Karma and Sunset models and the Mini E.

On the production hybrid front, Mercedes-Benz also has the new parallel gas-electric ML 450 Hybrid and the upcoming S 400 BlueHybrid luxury sedan with the first lithium-ion battery pack in a mass-produced model.

All this said, the title of most fiery and powerful of the green brigade in New York goes jointly to the twin-turbo V12-powered, 610-hp Bentley Continental Supersports and the 1018-hp Koenigsegg CCXR supercars that can both run on E85 bio-ethanol fuel. It must said, though, that the CCXR consumes 22 litres per 100 km of the stuff, which does not look very good on its greenhouse-gas (CO2) balance sheet.

Among all the glitz and glamour of the auto show, some less than impressive cars get introduced too.

Yes while these cars still might have decent engines or gadgets, something about them was very disappointing.

The list below is my personal “Worst of the Show.” Feel free to agree or disagree with me.

Nissan 370Z Roadster

I’ll start with the least disappointing, but disappointing nevertheless, the 2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster. I don’t know if the show car was the wrong color, or maybe it just didn’t look good sitting indoors, but it looked like a blob of wax with a few cuts made to it. I don’t like the front, it lacks detail compared to its predecessor, and the rear is too fat and rounded.

Yes it has cool features like a power folding roof that can be operated from outside the vehicle, and its 3.7-liter, 332 hp, V6 should give it entertaining performance. Somehow it just misses the mark with me. Maybe a road-test will change my view.

Mercedes-Benz E-class coupe

It would require even more than that to make me like the new Mercedes-Benz E-class coupe. This is the replacement model for the current CLK-coupe, which is still an attractive car, despite being in the market for five-years in its current guise.

The new E-class coupe is one of those cars that just looks ugly from whichever angle you look at it. The front has some sharp lines that seem to be carved from an exacto-knife, the rear is too rounded, and the side view makes you think you are looking at a four-door sedan rather than a coupe because of the extra cut-off line in the C-pillar to accommodate its retracting window.

Mercedes-Benz says that kink was needed to allow the glass to clear the rear wheel-arch, but they managed to accomplish this feat in the bigger CL-coupe without ruining its looks, so why could they have not worked out a solution here? All this just makes its competitor, the Audi A5/S5 look even better.

Iconic GTR Roadster

Now onto the absolute worst car from this years New York International Auto Show, the Iconic GTR Roadster.

From the looks and specs, this sounds like a very exciting car. It’s modeled as a modern day AC Cobra, and will admit, it looks good. It also has a very interesting engine too, a 6.9-liter, all-aluminum V8, same engine as used in NASCAR, minus the restrictor plates, and it develops 800 hp according to the company. Given its 2200 lbs. weight, this car should be seriously fast.

All looks good, until you spot the price-tag, U.S. $600,000 for the base model. For that money you don’t even have a roof or side windows and a brand that has no pedigree.

Perhaps the makers of this vehicle haven’t noticed the current global economic conditions, or the fact you can buy a Superformance Cobra replica with similar performance for 1/5^th the price. This company looks like it hasn’t got any chance of survival.

New York is a city of extremes and its auto show this year is a feast of sharp contrast when rounding up new production iron. While struggling US automakers Chrysler and GM presented a mere couple of new models amidst discussions of restructuring plans, European rivals were rolling out new 500 horsepower-plus sport-luxury SUVs alongside eco-friendly diesels and hybrids. And in the Japanese and Korean camps, shiny new metal ranged from stylish to sensible and frugal to fast.

Arguably the star of this year’s New York auto show for its rakish, edgy styling, the Acura ZDX concept is likely a thinly-disguised version of the production model that Honda’s luxury brand will soon be building in its Alliston, Ontario plant. The ZDX, built on the same ‘flexible’ architecture as the MDX, is smaller and sleeker than expected. 

BMW rolled out the X6 M and X5 M, performance versions of its two mid-size utility offerings. Both models are powered by a 555-horsepower, twin-turbocharged iterations of the 4.4-litre V8 and become the first all-wheel drive models created by the Motorsport division.

Arch-rival Mercedes-Benz is aiming at entirely different targets with the models it unveiled in their world premiere. While the E 63 AMG sedan is the unapologetic performance king of the revamped E-Class with its 518-hp, 6.3 litre V8, the all-new E-Class Coupé is all about style, its sleek lines good for a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.24 that makes it the most aerodynamic production car of the moment. On the green side, the E 250 Vision Bluetec concept sedan is powered by a four-cylinder diesel engine with exceptional 5.3 L/100 km fuel economy and the new ML 450 Hybrid production SUV has 335 horsepower with 60 per cent lower emissions and fuel consumption. 

Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG

There is plenty of muscle under the hoods of the three 2010 Land Rover models unveiled in New York. The Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and LR4 models are all available with a brand-new Jaguar-Land Rover-developed 5.0-litre V8 that develops 375 horsepower in naturally-aspirated form, with a 510-horsepower supercharged version optional on both Range Rover models.

Jeep, the other legendary off-road brand, introduced the fully-redesigned, third-generation 2011 Grand Cherokee. Built on a version of the Mercedes-Benz ML-Class platform, it will be offered with the choice of Chrysler’s brand-new 3.6-litre, 280-hp ‘Phoenix’ V6 or the strong-but-thirsty 5.7-litre, 360-hp Magnum V8. Also available; a Quadra Lift air suspension that raise this Jeep by 11.4 cm, for a total ground clearance of 28.1 cm.

Jeep Grand Cherokee

General Motors rolled out the GMC Terrain, a mid-size SUV-crossover with a choice hi-tech, direct-injection engines: a 3.0-llitre, double overhead cam V6 that produces 264 hp and a 2.4-litre, 182-hp inline four. Both promise a range of more than 800 kilometres and will be built at the CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario.

One of the most interesting, attractive and promising cars of the NY show was a European version of the Ford Fiesta that was made available to journalists for short drives outside of the Jacob Javits Center. The Fiesta is scheduled to make its North American début as a 2011 model. 

Just as sleek and promisingly light on its feet is the 2010 Kia Forte Koup, introduced in New York on the heels of the new Forte sedan. The Koup is powered by a 2.0-litre, 156-horsepower and will be launched on the Canadian market next summer.

Kia Forte Koup

If you are looking for even more muscle in your compact, Mazda has the all-new, second-generation Mazdaspeed3 at the ready. The four-door hatchback is powered by a 2.3-litre, turbocharged, direct injection four-cylinder that delivers 263 hp at 5,500 rpm and a stout 280 lb-ft of torque at 3,000 rpm.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen’s GTI, the icon and pioneer of all sport compacts, is also getting a revamp for 2010 as the Golf enters its sixth generation and loses the name Rabbit, once and for all, hopefully. Also introduced in New York, the Golf TDI is the ultra-frugal yin to the GTI’s performance-focused yang in the VW line-up with city/highway fuel economy ratings of 6.8 and 4.8 L/100 km. 

In the eyes of enthusiasts, one of the most desirable production cars to début in New York is the 2010 Porsche GT3, powered by a naturally-aspirated, 429-horsepower, 3.8-litre ‘flat six’. The new GT3 has racing-style center-lock rims, a full-size rear wing and a system that lifts the car by 3 cm to clear driveway entrances.

Porsche 911 GT3

In the midst of numerous niche-dwelling models, Subaru had the world premiere of its fully-redesigned Legacy sedan and Outback all-purpose vehicle, both built off an all-new platform. Aimed more sharply than ever at the heart and core of the market, the Legacy rides on a 7.6 cm-longer wheelbase and is 9 cm wider and yet only 3.5 cm longer overall. It offers a welcome 10 cm of extra rear legroom and its trunk is 30 per cent bigger. 

The Outback has grown in about the same measure, spacewise, and its ground clearance is now a sizable 22 cm. Both models can be ordered with a 2.5-litre, 170-hp base engine or the newly-available 3.6-litre, 256-hp powerplant, both horizontally-opposed cylinder or ‘boxer’ type units. The former is available with a 6-spped manual gearbox or Subaru’s new continuously-variable Lineartronic transmission (CVT) and the latter with a conventional 5-speed auto box.

Concept cars are the bread and butter of any auto show. They offer a look into the future, and while not all concept cars make it to production, their technology and design cues certainly do.

However, not all concepts are good, there are bad and crazy ones too, and here is a look at some from the 109^th New York International Auto Show (N.Y.I.A.S.).

The Good = Fisker Karma Sunset: We have seen the Fisker Karma Sunset concept before in Detroit. But when something looks as good as this, it deserves another mention. The Karma Sunset will become the second production car from the new Californian company, Fisker Automotive.

Counter Balance

The Karma Sunset is a Plug-In Hybrid, which means that it’ll run on just electric power, until the battery is depleted (80 km range). Then if you’re still not home, an onboard gas engine will kick in to take you the rest of the way.

This ingenious drivetrain was developed by Quantum Technologies, who’s President and CEO is a Canadian, Alan Niedzwiecki.

The car looks fantastic and its technology makes lots of sense, and since the Karma sedan is about to enter production in 2010, you can be sure its convertible concept sibling won’t be too far behind. Can’t wait.

The Bad = Barkan Design Counter Balance: From the file titled “What were they thinking?” comes the Counter Balance from Barkan Design.

This new company hopes to turn this vehicle from a concept to reality, but let’s just hope it doesn’t. This you see is a mid-engined pick-up truck. Sounds like a novel idea, but it isn’t. First of all, due to the mid-engine layout (which in this concepts case was a 6.0-lite, Chevrolet V8), the rear passengers sit above the engine, giving them stadium style seating. All very good, until the vehicle gets involved in a roll-over crash, in which case they’ll get squashed like pancakes.

Apart from its obvious safety flaw and the terrible build quality, there is a matter of its design. It looks like it escaped the set of a bad sci-fi film. Even Judge Dredd would dread this.

The Crazy = GM/Segway P.U.M.A.: Easily the craziest concept of the show has to be the P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility), which is a joint venture between General Motors and Segway. This is a two-seater, electric, personal mobility pod, meant for short commutes into the city (50 km range), which makes a lot of sense in busy cities like Manhattan, NY.

It uses the same gyroscopic technology found on the Segway Scooter, which means it self balances on its two main wheels. The computer works out the onboard weight and the angle of the surface. In the P.U.M.A. concept, there are extra trolley wheels to help keep it from rolling over, just incase technology lets you down.

Will it ever go into production is hard to say, but it sure is a great idea. Just think of the congestion problems it can solve.

Hope you enjoyed a look at some of the more interesting concepts from this years N.Y.I.A.S. Be sure to check out the rest of our auto show coverage.

Of all the production cars that made their North American debut at the New York International Auto Show, the Bentley Continental Supersport takes the title of being the most powerful.

Take a look at its engine and you’ll see why. It has a 6.0-liter, W12 (that’s 12-cylinders, placed in a double-V configuration, hence called a “W”), with two-turbo chargers, and as a result it produces 621hp and 590 lb/ft of torque.

Bentley Continental Supersports (photo:Nauman Farooq)

Even more impressively, it can achieve these phenomenal performance figures on E85 petrol, not just high-octane. So not only is the Supersport the most powerful Bentley road car ever, it is also the greenest to the environment.

Not that I see any Greenpeace officials driving around in a car that can top 329 km/h and go from 0-100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds.

That makes it almost a full second quicker than the regular Continental GT. The reason for its extra speed and quickness is not just extra grunt, but also weight shedding. Bentley had put the Continental GT on an Atkins style diet, as a result it has lost its rear seats and by replacing some heavier components with lighter ones, the car has lost 110kg from its bulk.

Thankfully it still retains its all-wheel drive system, its adjustable suspension and its smooth six-speed automatic gearbox, which now feature even quicker shift times of just 200 milliseconds.

You’ll also be pleased to know that with its extra speed comes extra braking power. This Continental Supersport features the largest diameter carbon-ceramic brakes on any production car, measuring 16.5-inches in the front and 14-inches in the rear. Despite their larger size, each disc is 11 lbs. lighter than conventional brakes.

It’s not just the performance that got a make-over, the Supersport also features different bumpers, a new hood, a slightly wider stance, new 20-inch alloy wheels, new electronically deployed rear spoiler (which adds more downforce than the one found on the Continental GT), and sinister blacked-out headlamps and tinted tail-lights complete the look.

Inside there are a few changes too, gone are the back seats as mentioned before, instead now you get a luggage shelf and a huge carbon-fiber crossbar to further strengthen the body. You also lose the massaging front seats and in their place are new, lighter, more supportive sports seats which are more comfortable than they look at first.

The Continental Supersport will be on sale in the next few months with pricing in the U.S. starting at $267,000 (no Canadian pricing announced yet).

Audi and Infiniti have been locked into a sales battle for over a decade, and from the looks of things, the battle is far from over.

At the 109^th New York International Auto Show, both Audi and Infiniti brought along their latest drop-top offerings, which as you might have guessed are very similarly priced and will thus be appealing to the same buyers.

Audi A5/S5 Cabriolet vs. Infiniti G37 Convertible

So which one better? Let’s take a closer look at both to find out.

The Audi A5/S5 cabriolet is available with two engine options, a normally aspirated, 3.2-liter V6 which develops 265 hp, or a supercharged 3.0-liter V6 which develops 333 hp in the S5 model.

The A5 comes with a six-speed automatic gearbox, while the S5 model gets the newer seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Both the A5 and the S5 can also be ordered with a six-speed manual gearbox.

The Infiniti G37 convertible only comes with one engine, a normally-aspirated 3.7-liter V6, which produces 325 hp. You do get a choice with the gearbox, a six-speed manual or a new seven-speed automatic.

So far these cars look very evenly matched, however, while the G37 only sends power to the rear-wheels, the A5/S5 have the Quattro all-wheel drive system, which will certainly be useful in climates where the weather can get very slippery.

Both the Audi and the Infiniti have power-folding roof systems, however while the Audi still makes do with a canvas roof, the Infiniti features a very clever folding metal roof. This means the G37 can go from being a hard-top coupe to a convertible in about 25 seconds.

However the Audi has another trick up its sleeve. You see, in the A5/S5, you can operate the roof while the car is moving. At speeds under 50 km/h, you can open and close the roof as you go. So if it starts to rain while you’re enjoying open-air motoring, you don’t have to stop the car to get the roof erected.

As you can imagine, both the Audi and the Infiniti come equipped with the latest gadgets to keep their owners amused.

Both of these vehicles will go on sale this fall, with prices starting at about the $60,000 mark.

Which one is better? As you can see they are both very evenly matched, they both have their pro’s and con’s. Regardless of which one of these cars you choose, you’ll surely be a very satisfied owner.

Despite the downed economy and the unpredictability of crude oil pricing, the American automotive industry thinks that this is still the right time to re-introduce muscle cars into the market.

Best muscle-car at the NYIAS

Ford never stopped production on the Mustang, and the new Chevrolet Camaro will be on sale soon enough, plus there is the new-ish Dodge Challenger.

The Challenger has been on sale since last August, and sales of its SRT-8 model have been particularly strong.

However, for some even 425hp isn’t enough, and most people who have driven the Challenger would agree that the handling and the brakes need to get upgraded.

That is where Steve Saleen steps in. Formerly known for just modifying Mustangs to a level Ford never could, he has set about to work his magic on the new Challenger under his new company SMS Supercars.

Instead of modifying the 6.1-liter, SRT-8 motor, SMS takes the more humble, 365hp, 5.7-liter, V8 from the R/T model and throws on an SMS 296 supercharger on it.

The result is 500 hp in the SMS 570, and 700 hp in the SMS 570X. The “570” in the name refers to the size of the engine and “X” refers to extreme.

The gearbox of choice to handle all this grunt is the SMST six-speed manual, and when launched right, the SMS 570X can go from 0-100km/h in about 4-seconds flat. Keep the pedal nailed to the floor and you’ll see speeds creeping into the 320 km/h mark.

To make sure the car is stable at such high speeds, SMS strengthens the chassis and beefs up the suspension. To bring this muscle-car to a quick stop are new 14-inch, six-piston brake rotors at the front and 12-inch rotors in the rear.

On top of the performance upgrades you get styling upgrades too. The Challenger gets new front and rear bumpers, a new hood with functional butterfly inductions valves and unique 20-inch rims all-around.

The best part of all this is the warranty. While most modified cars have no valid warranty left, SMS cars are fully backed, so you can have peace of mind performance motoring.

Pricing for the SMS 570 starts at U.S. $65,000 and the SMS 570X starts at U.S. $85,000, which makes it the cheapest 700 hp car on the planet, and also the best muscle-car from the 2009 New York International Auto Show.

No Canadian distributors yet, but Saleen said he is working on it.

The latest version of the Volkswagen Golf, one of the most popular cars in history with more than 26 million sold to date, is the winner of the 2009 World Car of the Year award. The announcement was made in a press conference held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center on April 9, during the second media day preceding the public opening of the New York Auto Show.

Stefan Jacoby, president and CEO of Volkswagen America and Volkswagen AG chief designer Klaus Bischoff posing with the 2009 World Car of Year winner, the sixth-generation VW Golf. (credit: Marc Lachapelle)

The sixth generation of the Golf was voted as the most worthy by a jury of 59 journalists from 25 different countries, in the World Car awards’ sixth annual edition. Canada is represented on this jury by the program’s Co-chair and co-founder Gerry Malloy, a three-time winner of the Canadian Journalist of the year award. Beth Rhind, the WCOTY program’s Executive Manager, is also based in Ontario. 

The Golf VI, which will be introduced in Canada next fall, won after two rounds of voting. Jurors had started in January with a list of 51 new vehicles eligible for the award, whittling it down to a short list of ten vehicles. The second vote led to the announcement of three finalists, in early March. The voting is secret and all ballots are tabulated by international accounting firm KPMG. The other two finalists for the overall WCOTY award were the Ford Fiesta and Toyota iQ.

The same process was used for the second annual World Performance Car award. The three finalists were the Corvette ZR1, Nissan GT-R and Porsche 911 Carrera. The trophy went to the all-wheel drive, twin-turbocharged GT-R, itself the heir of a great tradition as the latest Skyline, an illustrious family of sports cars that has long enjoyed cult status in Japan now sees its international ambitions validated by the WCOTY jury. 

For the World Green Car award, given the great complexity and diversity of modern powertrain technologies, a list of 22 contenders was first established by three technical experts representing the Americas, Asia and Europe, was. Jurors then voted on this list and the award went to Honda for its hydrogen fuel cell-powered FCX Clarity sedan, currently leased to a select group and driven in real-world conditions. The FCX edged out the all-electric Mitsubishi iMiEV micro-sedan and the Toyota iQ, already on sale in Europe. The tiny iQ was the only vehicle in contention for two awards this year.

Regardless of its performance or technical attributes, styling and design are crucial elements of a car’s attraction, success and lasting appeal. To recognize this, the World awards organization has again asked a panel of four design experts to establish a short list of standouts from the original 51 eligible new vehicles. Jurors then voted and picked the Fiat 500 as World Car Design of the Year. The two other finalists were the Citroën C5 Sedan and Tourer, and the Jaguar XF. The diminutive Fiat is a modern interpretation of the original Fiat 500, launched in 1957. The modern car, launched last year, had won the 2008 European Car of the Year award.