That's right! This year, nVidia's Tegra chips made its way into a bunch of super cars by powering their infotainment centers with its nVidia powered goodness with awesome graphics and visuals.
The ones that made it to the show were the Tesla S, Audi A7, and of course the Aventador.
Let's say the Zombie Apocalypse hit, and you need a civilian vehicle to get you through your daily errands. This is the vehicle to get you in and out of a jam:
I'm sorry, you've missed it this year. But they're coming back 1st Quarter next year. They have everything from honda civics, to massive Denalis, to Corvettes for you to drive on obstacle courses and high performance courses.
I went on the last day, late in the afternoon. It was overcast so there wasn't a whole lot of people there, which meant I only had to wait a few minutes between test drives of most of the cars. The only exception was the high performance course.
While most of the cars I've test driven (I managed to fit over a dozen test drives on the courses) performed as you would expect, there were a few standouts:
1. Acura MDX = Hands down the best performing SUV in its class.
2. 2011 Chevy Traverse handled extremely well as a crossover for it's size.
3. 2011 Ford Explorer was the absolute worst performer on the obstacle course. This was just the road course, no obstacles to climb over, just cones to avoid.
4. Overall most of the big trucks handled pretty well on the work / off road type course and not bad on the highway course.
5. The Chevy Volt: (GM's answer to most people's idea of a commuting car) seems to live up to all the hype as Motor Trend's 2011 Car of the Year.
Be sure to check out my test drive video.
Under the Chevy Volt's hood. Almost looks like a regular car.
The high performance course features the Corvette, Mustang, and Camaro.
I highly recommend registering for this event and attending it when it comes back around. Click here for more details.
From the test drive it seems that the Chevy Volt lives up to all the hype. They have just about seamlessly fused the electric motor with a gasoline generator to the car so that it fulfills the needs of at least 80% of the population.
My mom can drive the car like a normal car - that's quite an accomplishment for something so advanced.
Anyway, there's lots of information about the car at Chevy's website. I give it thumbs up on the overall first impressions with the car.
Last year I tried it on a whim. It was on sale at Amazon at the time, and I took advantage of it.
Today I see it on sale in the Amazon.com gold-box offer and thought I'd share my experience.
I noticed increased fuel efficiency and power when I poured it into my old Jag. Granted I don't get much MPG with it as is, any amount of increase is easily apparent just by looking at the odometer and fill-up time.
Don't ask me how it works, but it did what it said it would do and noticeably so.
A couple of observations. The fluid / formula is the same in all formulations, the only difference is the volume per bottle. For example the power steering fluid could easily be used in your gas tank, and in your motor oil.
If you have a newer car (within the past couple of years), reports show that it didn't make much of a difference.
Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!
On the way up to Tahoe, I dropped by a friend's shop who run Big O Tires in Tracy, CA. (The reviews are off as they took over in mid-2007, and for some reason they aren't listed in Yelp, but I'll help them with that).
So we have the expensive sports tires on the Lexus, and little did we know they are run down to the bare wire on the inside.
Here are some tips I got from him over lunch:
1. Do regular maintenance (duh). Keep your car properly maintained and it will last you at least a decade.
2. Dodge vehicles always need to have their ball joints replaced - expect a $800 minimum bill for that if you value your alignment. Its only a matter of time.
3. If you had to pick all wheel drive vs four wheel drive. Go for the four wheel drive. All wheel drive and their complicated transmissions which try to compensate for things such as poor alignment, or uneven tire wear really stress the mechanical structure of the drive train / tranmission = expensive repairs. With the expensive all-wheel-drive vehicles, if you have to buy new tires, you must replace all four to prevent premature wear.
4. Volkswagon Passats can only have their brake pads replaced by an authorized dealer because of the electronic controls on the brakes.
5. High performance tires / wheels really need to be changed often. They only go about 20,000 miles so expect to change them often if you are addicted to the performance.
