2008 Mazda RX-8 sporty but practical

With so many great cars on the increasingly competitive market, claims to uniqueness are rare.

But Mazda can rightfully call its RX-8 sports coupe the only rotary-powered mass production vehicle in the world. And despite its comparatively tame styling, the RX-8 remains an iconic sports car on par with the Chevy Corvette and Nissan 350Z.

That rotary engine is a real marvel, even if you’ll never open it up to see how it works.

The power plant’s diminutive 1.3-liter capacity is part of its genius. The Mazda rotary is 60 percent smaller and lighter than a comparable V-6 and 40 percent smaller and lighter than a 4-cylinder engine.

Reducing the size of an engine while increasing its power has been the challenge of engineers for decades. Last year, Mazda celebrated the 40th year of its rotary engine.

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Getting a car dealership to pay up

If you’ve ever bought a car, you’ve probably considered a theft deterrent window etching policy.

That way, if your car gets stolen, you get paid thousands. One consumer signed up for the policy. But when his car was stolen, the insurance company wouldn’t pay. That’s when he called for Tappy Phillips and Seven On His Side.

Dante Calise has double trouble. First, his 2-month-old Nissan Pathfinder was stolen. Then, his theft deterrent policy, worth thousands, wouldn’t pay up.

“I can’t get anybody to return a phone call,” Calise said. .

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All-New 2008 Thule 835PRO Kayak Rack and Thule 867 Tahoe Roof Bag Released to Nationwide Retailer

ORS Racks Direct announces the 2008 Thule 835PRO Hull-a-Port kayak rack and 2008 Thule 867 Tahoe roof bag now available for immediate shipment to consumers nationwide.

Montpelier, VT (PRWEB) March 16, 2008 — ORS Racks Direct, a leading provider of truck and car rack systems for commercial and recreational applications, announced today the 2008 Thule 835PRO Hull-a-Port kayak carrier and 2008 Thule 867 Tahoe cartop cargo bag are now available for immediate shipment to consumers nationwide.

Replacing the discontinued Thule 866 Escape II roof bag, the Thule 867 Tahoe bag ( image viewable at http://www.orsracksdirect.com/thule-867-tahoe-roof-bag.html ) is the first cartop roof bag to offer dual capacity options with a 15 cu. ft. capacity and an expandable 17 cu.

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Is cop car look-alike legal? It fuzzes the line

Jessie Vigil isn’t a police officer, but the car he drives sure makes him look like one.

Vigil painted his 2007 Ford Mustang black and white, added a red-and-blue emergency bar across the top and painted the word “police” on the doors.

The decorating started last summer, in an effort to make the car look like the police cruiser in the “Transformers” movie because his 7-year-old son, Thomas, was a fan.

“My intent was to re-create the movie car,” said Vigil, a 35-year-old disabled Iraq veteran. “When I came back from Iraq, I tried to spoil him. I wasn’t the best dad before.”

Law-enforcement agencies say what he’s done with his car isn’t illegal as long as he doesn’t act like a police officer.

Vigil said he called the district attorney’s office beforehand and spoke to Chief Deputy District Attorney Joe Ulibarri, who tried to discourage his decorating scheme but couldn’t find anything in the law that would stop Vigil as long as he didn’t impersonate an officer.

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Car given away in draw after MotoGP

Staff Reporter
MOHAMED Azhar Yaaqoub has won a BMW Z4 M Roadster in the BMW raffle sponsored by Alfardan Automobiles. The draw was held after the Commercialbank MotoGP concluded on Sunday.
Alfardan Automobiles, exclusive importer of BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce as well as Ducati and KTM motorcycles, organised the raffle in collaboration with the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF).
The other winners are Augus Erwin Socerdi, who won a KTM motorcycle, and Wayne Porteous, who won a Ducati sport bike.
“This is a dream come true. I came here to watch an exciting race, and now I’ve won a Z4 M Roadster. I’m very grateful to Alfardan BMW for sponsoring the raffle,” said Yaaqoub.
Every visitor who purchased a ticket to the grandstands at Losail, where the race was held, was automatically entered in the draw.

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Motorists scamper to remove illegal car accessories

ABU DHABI � Motorists in the capital are scampering to automobile workshops and accessory shops to remove speed boosters and decorations in the fear of penalties under the new federal traffic law which came into effect this month.

This reporter who visited a number of such workshops and outlets met quite a few motorists who had come to remove some of the paraphernalia fitted in their vehicles. Yusouf Hamdan, a national car owner, said, “I came here to replace the tint film on the window glasses with the permissible 30 per cent tint to avoid the fine.”

He noted that many young motorists who had installed speed boosters like turbo engine and filters were dismantling them. He said these accessories sometimes caused accidents like fire.

“We can say that the black points system has come to protect the lives of motorists,” he added.

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Soaring gas prices make locals think before driving

A comedian on National Public Radio recently joked that truck drivers’ wallet chains now are a heavier gauge, in response to rising fuel costs.But truckers aren’t the only ones feeling the pressure.Mississippi’s average price of gasoline – $3.175 a gallon – today still is lower than the national average of nearly $3.25 per gallon.And while gas prices, from station to station, vary widely from day to day – recently Columbus’ prices were listed as among the highest in the state, but Wednesday morning were among the lowest – prices everywhere are rising.A year ago, the average price per gallon in Mississippi was only $2.387.

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Mad Catz Secures License Agreement to Produce NASCAR Branded Steering Wheels and Related Accessories

Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSX: MCZ), a leading third-party interactive entertainment accessory provider, announced today that it has entered into a license agreement with the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (“NASCAR”) which allows it to produce customized NASCAR steering wheels and other accessories for all video game platforms. The multi-year license agreement allows Mad Catz to distribute licensed products throughout the United States and Canada.

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City’s electric vehicle hits road

It looks funny to everybody but the person who pays the fuel bill.

Since November, the city’s parking control unit has been using a red-and-white, bubble-looking, small-wheeled machine that acts like a golf cart on steroids.

And it looks beautiful to the person who signs the checks for the nearly 500,000 gallons of fuel that the city’s vehicle fleet uses each year. The funny looking machine is an all-electric car, a first for the city.

“So far, it has worked out pretty well,” said Steve Stewart, the city’s fleet manager who is monitoring whether the vehicle is a more cost-effective way to accomplish some city tasks.

Thus far, the experiment has been limited to the parking department, where employees use the vehicle to travel back and forth to the downtown parking lots at which they write tickets.

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Volkswagen enthusiasts: Friends restore Beetles to original glory

It all started early last year when Lloyd Baker was handed his brother-in-law’s well-used 1967 Beetle, which spent most of its life cruising the streets of Manila. The car had been in Baker’s wife family since it was first purchased 41 years ago on Guam and shipped to the Philippines.

He decided to spend the money to restore the “daily driver” back to its original glory,

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