Driving Sports

Episode 6 of your Driving Sports TV Extra! Ford sells Volvo to Geely, final specs and video of the new Ford Mustang GT, go racing with the BOSS at Daytona and Ryan weighs in with his prediction on the new RX-7.

Transcript:

This is your Driving Sports Extra! All the auto news you need to know in about 4 minutes, or less!

This week: the Mustang 5.0 is official, Ford goes out for Chinese over the Christmas break and Ryan gazes into his Crystal Ball for more on the return of the Mazda RX-7.

While many of us were spending time with loved ones or family members over the Christmas holiday, Ford executives were working overtime to make their future Christmases even Merrier. On December 23^rd. Ford announced that it had successfully brokered a deal with Zheijiang Geely, the mega Chinese automaker, to take control of its money-loosing brand Volvo. Final contracts will be signed in 2010, pending government approval of the deal.

In what will hopefully be our last news report on the Mustang for a while, (amen) we now have an official look at the new GT 5.0.

Consistent with our earlier report, the 2011 GT features a 5-Liter V-8 good for 412 hp, 390 ft-lbs of torque and an estimated 24 mpg.  The magic in the mix is in the cam-torque-actuated variable camshaft timing and a highly-optimized aluminum block. The new motor is 20-percent lighter than the previous 5.0, weighing in at only 430 lbs, and it boasting a 7000 rpm redline.

Top-to-bottom, the GT has been designed for performance and practicality, the holy grail for daily driven muscle. And, from what we can tell, Ford seems to have hit its mark. The proof will come when we finally get a turn behind the wheel.

Final pricing has yet to be announced. Historically, you’ve been able to snag a GT for as low as $25 Grand. | In spite of all the improvements, and after the initial price gouging period, we’d expect the same range for the 2011 model.

The Mustang we really want to drive, however, is the new BOSS 302R. Built in honor of Parnelli Jones’ 1970 Trans Am championship winning BOSS, the 40^th anniversary model will have a similar V8 as the new GT with a six-speed manual transmission, roll cage, race seats, data computer, race springs and dampers as well as a Brembo brake package. Pricing starts at a cool $79,000.

For the full Grand-Am competition setup, get ready to drop $129,000 for the 302R1, which can have you on the grid in Daytona as soon as January 29, 2010. This model has a sealed race engine with an upgraded cooling system, close-ratio 6-speed, seam welded body, KONI dampers, ABS brake tuning, performance exhaust and a balanced one-piece driveshaft.

The Japanese have built some of the best rear-wheel drive sports cars the world has known. Through the 80s and 90s, the island nation brought the us seminal works on the subject. In fact, 20 year old cars are still competing in the highest rungs of Drift Competition.

Who better to capitalize on the popularity of the rear-wheel drive low-cost performance formula than, the Koreans. Enter the new hotness: the Hyundai Coupe, which has done quite well. Or, well enough to bring the Japanese back to the table.

Now, all of the sudden the Haichi Roku is coming back as the joint Toyota and Subaru FT-86, Nissan is talking about building a new Silvia and just this week rumors of the big daddy started to reach a fevered pitch. Yes, renewed rumblings that the RX-7 will return to retake its throne – as early as 2011.

With Mazda being the sole developer of Rotary motors, developments don’t come as fast as they do in the piston world. But this is what we know about the new version in development, the Renesis 16X: It’s capable of up to 350hp and 215 ft-lbs of torque, almost twice the power of the current Rotary. Looking at the history of the RX-7, Mazda had its greatest success with the simpler, cheaper, first-generation model. The third generation twin-turbo, popularly known as the FD, was an awesome car, but it was expensive and the failures of the razors-edge motor design almost destroyed Mazda. So anyone expecting Mazda to ship a 350hp RX-7 I think will be sorely disappointed.

Here’s my prediction as someone that currently owns a 2008 RX-8 and the first car I bought was a ‘84 RX-7 GSL-SE: The next generation RX-7 will return to its two-door coupe styling, be powered by a 200hp Rotary and make it’s debut in 2011. The car will sell in the low 20,000 dollar range, priced just under the Miata, and – here’s an important part – it will deliver 30-35 miles per gallon. It will achieve all of this through greatly-improved rotary design efficiencies, and overall weight reduction. It essence, it will be a modern interpretation of the original RX-7.

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