Automotive

Chevy Redline Editions Announced

At the Chicago Auto Show, Chevrolet announced the introduction of the Redline special edition series. And by special edition, they mean slapping some badges and trim onto cars. Specifically, the Redline special edition is offered on nine Chevrolet cars, trucks, and crossovers, and Redline is the broadest cross-portfolio special edition ever offered by the brand.

And that, honestly, is saying a lot. Because making these half-baked “special editions” is something all American car companies have been doing ad nauseum since time immemorial.

Chevy’s Redline offerings come with black wheels with red hash marks, black nameplates with a red outline, blacked-out grilles, and black Chevrolet bowtie logos.

There’s more doo-dads and gee-gaws affixed here and there, depending on the model. The Silverado and Colorado Redline pickups have red tow hooks, for example, while the Camaro Redline gets black hash marks above the wheels. Chevy says it’s a design cue taken from their long heritage in motorsports, but everyone usually just calls them Grand Sports Stripes.

The various packages are offered on the Cruze LT (both sedan and hatchback), the Malibu LT, the Camaro LT/SS (both coupe and convertible), and Chevy’s crossover platform rides: Trax LT, Equinox LT, and Traverse Premier. For the trucks, it’s Colorado LT, Silverado Double Cab LT Z71, and Crew Cab LTZ Z71.

This whole idea of the Redline special edition has been knocking around since the 2015 SEMA Show in Los Vegas. Chevy says since everyone loved it so much at SEMA, they decided to make a production run and expand the Redline editions to cover nine vehicles in their car, truck, and crossover segments.

Brian Sweeney, U.S. Vice President of Chevrolet shard his views.

“Redline is another example of Chevrolet bringing SEMA concepts to showrooms. The SEMA show has proven to be a great way to identify customization trends in the industry, and quickly apply those trends to our most popular Chevrolet models. Based on the strong interest Redline attracted at the show, we believe they will be very popular with customers looking for standout cars, trucks, and crossovers,” he said.

No word specifically on how much the Redlines will run you, but you know, most of these things are never too terribly expensive. Silverado Redlines are the first available but orders can be placed at Chevrolet dealerships now for others in the lineup. All Redline vehicles will be available for purchase by the end of 2017.

Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He means well, even if he has a bias towards lighter, agile cars rather than big engine muscle cars or family sedans.

Chevy Redline Edition Gallery

Photos & Source: Chevrolet

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Maven Expands Car-Sharing Services To Atlanta

Maven is General Motors’ personal mobility brand. Essentially, it’s the answer to outfits like Zipcar and car2go that the General set up a little while back. Maven has expanded its programs in Atlanta, from just the Lyft Express Drive program to Maven City car-sharing services.

Increasing Locations

In just over 11 months, Maven has launched three car-sharing or ride-based products and has expanded into 17 cities across the United States and Canada.

Those cities include Ann Arbor (the one in Michigan), Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Jersey City (the one in New Jersey), Nashville, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. You’ll note that these are all large cities, both in terms of population, but also size. Most of them also have pretty good public transportation systems too (most of them, Los Angeles I’m looking at you!).

These are all places where you don’t really need a car until you need a car. Most of your daily activities can be taken care of either on foot, or using ubiquitous public transit. Every so often though, you need a car. You go shopping and buy something big. Your beloved aunt Evie, still alive and kicking at 87, flies in for a visit. What, you’re gonna make her ride the bus?

No, you go get a Zipcar or a car2go or, GM is hoping, a Maven account, rent a car for a few hours, get the job done, drop the car off, and don’t worry about it any longer. So far it seems to be working out for GM and Maven. They have more than 20,000 members that have traveled 61 million miles. So if it works in far flung and exotic locales like Jersey City and Waterloo, Ontario, why not Atlanta?

The average Maven City trip is 121 miles and lasts more than 13 hours. Meanwhile, Maven City’s most popular vehicles are the Chevrolet Tahoe and Volt. Photo: General Motors.

Practical Expansion

“Atlanta loves cars,” says GM, and Maven gives urban Atlanta dwellers a nice selection of rides to choose from: hybrid electrics to sedans and SUVs. And, as is the case in this market segment, the cost of doing this is actually pretty low. Hourly rates start at $8 per, and that includes gas and insurance, so that’s not all that bad, when you consider all the costs are paid for up front.

At the moment, Maven in Atlanta has 50 vehicles at more than 20 locations throughout the city. Registered members can reserve one via the Maven app. In case your an Atlantan . . . Atlantian? . . . Aleutian? . . . Alsatian? . . . anyway, for a person that lives in Atlanta, Maven’s initial offerings can be found in Ponce City Market, Midtown, West Midtown, Downtown, Old Fourth Ward, Virginia-Highland, East Atlanta Village, and and Inman Park.

There are now more than 100 global Maven team members as the brand continues to attract top talent from the car-sharing, ride-sharing, and connected car industries, as well as some of the best minds from within GM. The Maven team has filed seven patent applications to help make car sharing more efficient. Photo: General Motors.

Global Markets

Your choice of rides includes the Chevrolet Cruze and Cruze Hatchback, Malibu, Tahoe, and Volt; GMC Acadia and Yukon, along with the Cadillac ATS and Escalade. At this point, GM treats Maven as a semi-experimental but ongoing thing. In addition to working in real world city environments, GM also has campus car-sharing locations at GM do Brasil headquarters in São Caetano do Sul, and at GM Australia/Holden headquarters.

São Caetano do Sul makes a ton of sense since it’s right in the Middle of São Paulo. Have you ever driven in São Paulo? Shoot, have you ever read about driving in São Paulo? The place is completely nuts. It’s like a chaos theory experiment gone horribly awry. Imagine the Ben-Hur chariot race scene and you get 90% of the picture. Also, have you ever noticed that most Brazilian race car drivers come form São Paulo? Coincidence? I think not!

Anyhoo, if you live in Atlanta, Maven looks like a viable car-sharing outfit.

Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He means well, even if he has a bias towards lighter, agile cars rather than big engine muscle cars or family sedans.

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2017 Mazda CX-9 Trim Level Guide

Mazda recently announced their CX-9 sport utility vehicle will be back for its sophomore model year, with an unchanged MSRP of $31,520 when it reaches showrooms later this month. Sounds like a good deal already, but, of course, Mazda being Mazda, has done some tweaking and improving here and there.

Sport Trim

The entry version of Mazda’s CX-9 is dubbed the Sport trim level. The Sport version comes standard with LED headlights and taillights as well as fabric seating surfaces.

The parking brake is, sadly, electronic, so no hand-brake turns in snowy parking lots for you mister. Also standard are 18-inch wheels, a rear backup camera, trailer stability assist, MAZDA CONNECT infotainment with Commander control, and a 7-inch color display. I have no idea what “Commander control” might be, but it sounds a tad over the top and compensating.

All the other stuff is pretty self explanatory. Trailer stability assist sounds like a wonderful idea for anyone who’s messed around with trailers, especially in cross winds, slippery roads, and stuff like that. The MAZDA CONNECT infotainment is one of those centralized data platforms within the car. Everything from your tunes, phone, navigation, and the like run through the system.

The rear backup camera also seems to be a very good thing to have, and lots of car companies are touting them at the moment. If you go for the Sport trim level, you can also opt for the Sport Package (that doesn’t sound too confusing), which adds a power driver’s seat, heated front seats, and heated door mirrors. Nice for those of you in winter climes and/or ski-bum types.

2017 Mazda CX-9. Photo: Mazda North American Operations.

Touring Trim

Further up the food chain lives the CX-9 Touring where you get an auto-dimming rearview mirror, Blind Spot Monitoring with Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, and SCBS (that’s Smart City Brake Support, which is one of those contraptions that hits the brakes for you when you’re not paying attention, you dolt).

You also get a selection of black-or sand-colored leather seating surfaces.

HomeLink garage door openers, Mazda Advanced Keyless Entry System, a power liftgate, power front seats, and an 8-inch MAZDA CONNECT touchscreen display round out the options, all of which seem fairly attractive.

If you tick the box for the Touring Premium Package (again Mazda, confusing naming conventions here), you get automatic headlights, LED fog lights, navigation, and a premium 12-speaker Bose audio system that will get you Felix Pappalardi levels of hearing damage I bet. Rain-sensing wipers, rear backup sensors, second-row retractable sunshades, SiriusXM satellite radio, and a sunroof are also included.

Grand Touring

Next up comes the Grand Touring were you get all the icing from the Sport and Touring trim levels. Here you get an Adaptive Front-Lighting System, 20-inch wheels, aluminum interior trim (nice!), and Mazda’s first Active Driving Display that projects instrument and navigation information onto the windshield (essentially a HUD). There is a high-beam control (I assume that’s automatic), lane-departure warning (because you can’t pay attention, can you?), lane-keep assist (you really can’t pay attention, can you?), and Mazda Radar Cruise Control with Smart Brake Support.

Finally, a set of roof rails and memory settings on the driver’s seat finish off the Grand Touring.

“We are seeing a considerable number of new Mazda buyers come in from premium and luxury brands, with CX-9 Grand Touring and Signature models regularly being cross-shopped with the likes of Lexus, Porsche, and Volvo,” said Tetsu Nakazawa, Vehicle Line Manager for crossover SUVs, Mazda North American Operations. “That consumer confidence illustrates the strength of CX-9’s design, quality, and engineering innovations.” Photo: Mazda North American Operations.

Signature Trim

And at the very apex sits the CX-9 Signature that comes with standard predictive i-ACTIV all-wheel drive. That would be 27 sensors, busily working away, measuring conditions more than 200 times per second, to govern how to allocate power to each wheel so you never feel them slip.

On the inside, the CX-9 Signature is adorned with Auburn-colored Nappa leather, rosewood supplied by Japanese guitar-maker Fujigen, LED signature accent grille lighting, and LED accent lighting around the automatic shifter.

Regardless of which model you choose, all power comes from Mazda’s turbocharged SKYACTIV-G 2.5T engine. That plant produces 250 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque on 93-octane gasoline (227 horsepower on 87-octane if you’re a cheapskate). Fuel economy? A class-leading EPA rating of 22/28 city/highway and 24 combined for front-wheel-drive configurations. The engine is teamed up with a standard SKYACTIV-DRIVE six-speed automatic.

Starting price of $31,520 USD and finishing off just under $38,000 USD if you go full-boat and get every option available. Not bad at all.

Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He means well, even if he has a bias towards lighter, agile cars rather than big engine muscle cars or family sedans.

2017 Mazda CX-9 Gallery

Photos & Source: Mazda North American Operations

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Volvo V90: Personalized, Pretty & Powerful

I know, it’s just a wagon, what’s so special? 1 – it’s a very pretty wagon, and 2 – it ain’t slow. Nope, Euro-wagons have a habit of being much faster, and therefore much more fun, than you’d think. If you’re an American gearhead with a penchant for quick Euro wagons, another option is at hand, brothers and sisters. The Volvo V90 Wagon is now available to order for U.S. customers. Volvo allows us (and there’s a few of us out there) to use their custom order service via Volvo Concierge, so you can get a full range of options from the comfort of your couch.

Power & Performance

The V90 is based on Volvo’s new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) and shares interior design qualities such as the 12-inch Sensus Connect Touchscreen, open-pore wood trim, and Nappa leather with the S90 sedan. You can choose from two power plants for the V90, either Volvo’s T5 FWD, turbocharged DriveE engine, or the T6 AWD, turbo and super charged powertrain in Inscription or RDesign trim.

Obviously, we here at One Automoblog Towers recommend the latter. A Polestar performance package that upgrades the powertrain is also available.

Other goodies include leather seats, a panoramic moonroof, and Blind Spot Information System (BLIS). Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard along with City Safety that activates automatic emergency braking with pedestrian, cyclist, and large animal detection (moose, deer and so on).

Volvo Concierge

Volvo has a rather nice online setup for the V90, which allows wagon enthusiasts to customize their vehicle. You can also get in touch with Volvo Concierge, which uses online chat, email, and actual voice to voice phone conversations with a real human being, to assist in configuring and ordering, if you want to take it to the next level.

Keeping up with the “high touch” attitude, Volvo Concierge will stay in constant contact with you, the future V90 owner, notifying you of when the car has been shipped from far off and exotic Sweden, and when you can expect it to reach your home. When it shows up at the local dealer for delivery, the car will have all preferences (radio stations, software settings, and other personal touches) based on the owner’s choosing set up and ready to go.

The Volvo V90 on display at the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. Photo: Carl Anthony for Automoblog.net.

Overseas Delivery

V90 buyers that wish to have the full Scandinavian experience (get your mind out of the gutter, I know what that sounds like, and it’s not that) can choose Overseas Delivery. Overseas Delivery gets you two paid airline tickets and hotel accommodations in beautiful Gothenburg, Sweden. Buyers also get a tour of the factory where the V90 is assembled and ultimately pick up their car at Volvo’s Factory Delivery Experience Center.

Once the keys are in your hot little hand, you can drive your V90 throughout Europe and drop it off at a designated port for shipping back home to the United States. How much fun is that?

Sadly, this much fun, beauty, and practicality does not come cheap. The T5 FWD R Design V90 will start at $49,950, with models, options, and higher-end specifications going up from there in price.

Tony Borroz has spent his entire life racing antique and sports cars. He means well, even if he has a bias towards lighter, agile cars rather than big engine muscle cars or family sedans.

Photos & Source: Volvo Car USA, LLC.

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