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The Numbers the World Has Been Waiting for We know you want the numbers and we're not going to waste your time. Neither is Nissan. Its 2009 GT-R hits 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, quicker than the last Dodge Viper, Corvette Z06 and Porsche 911 Turbo we tested. Keep your foot pinned, and after another tap on the upshift paddle it will clear the quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds at more than 120 mph. We know this because we've just returned from Japan where we tested a privately owned Nissan GT-R on an airstrip outside Tokyo. The car we tested was a Japanese-spec example with 1,500 break-in kilometers on its odometer. It's owned by Japanese journalist Jun Nishikawa and packs the same hardware the U.S. car will get: a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 that generates at least 473 horsepower and 434 pound-feet of torque. It had the same six-speed dual-clutch automated manual gearbox and the same adjustable dampers which, by now, you've read plenty about. What you likely haven't heard about is this: launch control. Despite its bold 3.5-second 0-60-mph claim, Nissan has been keeping this little bit of technological wizardry a secret. Test a GT-R in the homeland, however, and the need for confidentiality is quickly overwhelmed by the need for speed. Controlling the Launch Activating the Nissan GT-R's launch control is a matter of configuring its transmission, dynamics control and damping adjustments properly. The transmission and damping switches must both be set to the R mode and the VDC must be switched off completely by holding the VDC-R button down for a few seconds. Then it's just a matter of pinning the brake with your left foot and wooding the throttle with your right, not unlike the technique used to produce a tire-shredding burnout in that '85 Camaro you drove in high school. The result, however, is quite different. The computer holds the engine at 4,500 rpm and waits for you to lift your left foot off the brake pedal. When you do the GT-R produces the most crushing acceleration of virtually any production car in the world. Our test was conducted on a fairly low-grip surface that produced lots of rear wheelspin before the GT-R's sophisticated all-wheel-drive system engaged the front wheels and it thundered down the track. Its 3.3-second 0-60-mph run and 11.6 at 120.9 mph performance make the GT-R the quickest car we've ever tested.autopartswarehouse It's even quicker than the Porsche 911 Turbo Tiptronic, but not by much. The German hits 60 mph in 3.4 seconds and blasts through the quarter-mile in 11.6 at 118.5 mph. Due to their lack of all-wheel drive, the Dodge Viper and Corvette Z06 are held back by traction limitations. Despite its 600-hp V10, the last Viper coupe we tested reached 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and finished the quarter-mile 11.8 at 125.3 mph. The Corvette Z06 isn't even close. Once impressive, its 4.1-second 0-60-mph run and 12-second quarter-mile at 121.8 mph are now well off the pace, which is why Chevy is creating the supercharged Corvette ZR1.autopartswarehouse In an effort to preserve its drivetrain and relations with the owner, we only activated the launch control twice, but with a few more attempts to calm the violent wheelspin, the numbers would likely have been even better. Leave the launch control off and the tranny in R mode, and the car is still sick quick. Sixty mph arrives in 4.0 seconds and the quarter-mile disappears in 12.3 seconds at 120.6 mph. All our testing was completed using manual shifting.autopartswarehouse World-Class Braking It requires 15-inch rotors, six-piston Brembo calipers and sticky Bridgestone Potenza RE070R rubber to bring a 3,836-pound GT-R to rest from 60 mph in only 104 feet. That's only 1 foot longer than the Porsche 911 Turbo equipped with the $8,800 ceramic composite brake package. It's also the same stopping distance as the last Dodge Viper we tested and 2 feet shorter than the Corvette Z06. Experience tells us that the Nissan GT-R's conventional iron rotors aren't going to endure abuse as well as the 911 Turbo's ceramic brakes, but in a one-stop scenario like this, we have no reason to doubt them. With a solid, effective and intuitive pedal, braking confidence is high. Plus, we're guessing future versions of the GT-R will get brakes as advanced as the Porsche's.autopartswarehouse Predictable, Accessible Handling Our makeshift test facility at the AMI Airport near Tokyo didn't allow room for lateral acceleration testing on a skid pad. However, we did set up our standard slalom for comparison. Again, we were somewhat thwarted by the less-than-ideal surface, which had unavoidable painted lines crossing the course. This served as an opportunity to witness the GT-R's striking at-the-limit composure. Blasting across the bumpy painted lines between cones, you get the sense that this is truly a special car. Its chassis remains composed and it goes exactly where it's pointed despite the ugly surface. There's none of the puckering that comes with driving a Vette or Viper this fast through a slalom. Nor is there the sense that the rear-mounted engine of a 911 Turbo is eventually going to find its way to the front. The Nissan GT-R is versatile, with plenty of control latitude, and the difference between the limit of grip and the limit of control is huge. It's probably the most easily controlled car we've slid sideways between the cones. More importantly, its abilities are far more accessible for the average driver than those of its competition. At 72.9 mph, it's quicker here than the Z06 and 911 Turbo but can't quite match the huge-tired Viper (74.2 mph). Still, it will be interesting to see how these numbers compare when all three cars are tested at the same place and time. The Best Part Perhaps more impressive than the Nissan GT-R's brain-cell-punishing acceleration or its stellar handling is its price. At just under $70,000 it's within reach of the upper middle-class enthusiast who insists on spending disproportionate amounts of his income on a car.autopartswarehouse Plus, it will take an average driver and hurtle them into a realm of speed they couldn't buy with a 911 Turbo. It's world-class fast and relatively cheap. And that's a hard combination to beat.

What Is It? Mitsubishi Eclipse Ralliart Concept What's Special About It? This is an Eclipse done the way we would have done it. It's from Ralliart, the motorsports division of Mitsubishi and unlike the standard Eclipse this concept looks like it could be a serious driver's car. Gone is the production model's front-wheel drive in favor of an all-wheel-drive setup pulled straight from the Lancer Evolution. Ralliart went ahead and used the Evo's turbocharged four-cylinder engine, too, but cranked it up with a laundry list of HKS performance parts. A new turbo, 264 cams, a high-flow fuel pump, high-flow injectors — it's all there along with a custom intake and 2.75-inch exhaust from the turbo back from autopartswarehouse. Mitsubishi estimates the engine cranks out around 400 horsepower. We were glad to see a six-speed manual transmission instead of the paddle shifters that every other concept seems to be favoring these days. The rear suspension was borrowed from the Endeavor SUV while Road Race Engineering provided the coil-over shocks. Brakes are eight-piston Brembos up front, four-piston in back with 15- and 13.5-inch rotors, respectively. Overall weight was reduced by using carbon fiber for the roof, front and rear fascias, hood, mirror housings and front fenders.autopartswarehouse The interior of the standard Eclipse is one of its bright spots and the Ralliart designers didn't fiddle with it much. They replaced the rear seats with storage bins and swapped in Recaro seats covered in leather and Alcantara up front. Auxiliary gauges were added to the top of the dash along with a suede-covered steering wheel pulled from the Evo.autopartswarehouse source edmunds

GM considers sharing E-Flex among brands, sky is blue At its autopartswarehouse annual dealer meeting in San Francisco, what's described as having been a "passing remark" seems to be generating some buzz. Automotive News reports that a GM spokesperson said that the Chevy Volt's underlying technology could make its way into offerings from the automaker's other brands. While the report describes an excited dealer's reaction, the idea of shared E-Flex itself is hardly surprising. For instance, we've seen E-Flex concepts for Saturn/Opel (Flextreme) and Cadillac (Provoq) already, and sharing the tech makes sense when you consider that consumer interest will probably be high whenever the Volt is ultimately produced, and spreading the wealth gives GM multiple avenues (and price points) at which it can cash in on the investment. The General already shares engines and platforms among its brands, so why not E-Flex? It seems like such a natural thing to do, maybe that's why the comment about sharing it was made in passing to begin with. The General's been telegraphing this move through the concepts it's released over the last year.

Three Days in the 2008 BMW M3 The new M3 is that good. I simply love almost everything about it. (Okay. It seems you can't write a BMW review without knocking iDrive, and I won't skirt the issue here. BMW appears to have simplified some of the iDrive functions, but it's still an annoying interface. Anyone who tells you "you get used to it" is just trying to stand out from the crowd.) But let's forget about iDrive. I assure you: Spend a half-hour behind the M3's salami-thick wheel, and you wouldn't care if the nav/audio interface were a soup can on a string.autopartswarehouse The 4.0-liter V-8 has to be experienced to be believed. Around town, it's as polite and smooth as BMW's vaunted inline sixes -- albeit with a touch of intriguing edge in the exhaust note. Step on it, though, and it races up the tach as if it's never going to stop. The technology under your right foot is breathtaking: a separate throttle body for each cylinder, ultra-fast variable double-VANOS cam timing, a 12.0:1 compression ratio, a highly rigid crankshaft that weighs just 44 pounds. At 6000 rpm, the engine is screaming and your hair looks like you've just bumped into a Van de Graaff generator -- but you're nowhere near the redline. Keep your foot down hard, don't grab the shift lever, watch the tach needle keep climbing. There's no drop-off in acceleration whatsoever; in fact, the M3 is pulling harder and harder. Peak power arrives at a staggering 8300 rpm (suddenly, you're Nick Heidfeld driving an F1 BMW Sauber). A tick later, at 8400 rpm, finally you nip the redline. Finally you shift. Almost unconsciously, you check that all your limbs are still intact. The car has not exploded. In fact, the engine sounds absolutely delighted to be set free; it's charging for the redline again. Check the speedo. With luck you're on a racetrack, because by now you're undoubtedly breaking every speed law in the country.autopartswarehouse 2008 BMW M3 The racebred M3 obliterates the magic 100-horsepower-per-liter mark, delivering 414 naturally aspirated ponies from its 3999 cc. Torque is a relatively modest 295 pound-feet, but almost all of it is on tap from 3900 rpm to 6500. The M3 loves to wind, but you don't need to wind it. Never once while driving it around town did I feel I was piloting a "peaky" machine. Like Mt. Everest looming above base camp, you can thrill in the climb to the engine's lofty summit, or simply bask in the joy of knowing it's there. Ah, and then you realize you're only driving in "comfort" mode. Press the center console button, and the M3 snaps into Sport. Instantly, you can feel an urgency in the throttle, a responsiveness that feels as if a 500-pound cheetah is pushing you from behind. Wow. Now the M3 is even faster. What a phenomenal car.autopartswarehouse Handling is nothing short of brilliant, with surgical steering feel, an unfailingly planted suspension that manages not to beat you up, and a Variable M Differential (which delivers up to 100 percent locking action) to put the power down without a ripple. The close-ratio six-speed feels solid and sturdy yet almost springs from gear to gear by itself (stay tuned: a DSG is coming). Huge compound disc brakes (over 14 inches in diameter up front and nearly as large at the rear) stop savagely hard yet modulate effortlessly. The seats hug you like a loving aunt. You, as the driver, feel like you're operating in a vat of syrup, every control input smooth, every vehicle response a steady surge of torque or shifting mass. This is automotive performance at the highest level -- approachable, utterly useable, polished, perfected, thrilling. BMW is one of a tiny handful of automakers that could build a car like this. Maybe the only one. And then . . . Monday. The near-perfect sport sedan slips out of my hands and into the warm embrace of another oh-so-fortunate pilot. All I can do is . . . check the bank account. Naturally, a spare $56,000 isn't there.

HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation will showcase the world premiere of the all-new Mazda6 (known as the all-new Mazda Atenza in Japan) at the 62nd annual Frankfurt Motor Show to be held from Tuesday, September 11 through Sunday, September 23, 2007. The Frankfurt Motor Show press days are September 11 and 12, and the public days are September 15-23. Mazda will hold its press conference on Tuesday, September 11, at 13:45 (local time). All-new Mazda6 (European specification) The all-new Mazda6 arrives as a full redesign of Mazda’s first model to embody the Zoom-Zoom product philosophy, offering a thrilling drive to all those who still remember the love of motion first experienced as a child. Following the all-new Mazda2, the new Mazda6 is the second Mazda new generation product to evolve to the next stage, further deepening the emotional connection between man and machine - Mazda calls it “Kizuna”. as per autopartswarehouse Inheriting Mazda’s tradition of responsive handling and performance that has become recognized around the world and evolving the original model’s distinctive design and exceptional functionality, the all-new Mazda6 takes a step forward in quality and offers strengthened environmental and safety performance. The result is an exciting and delightful experience that only the all-new Mazda6 can deliver. autopartswarehouse

I'll let the pictures do the talking. Needless to say this is probably the fastest Sentra in the world for Time Attack/Circuit Racing. For those of you familiar with SE-R/Sentra.net or read Sport Compact Car mag a lot, you'd be familiar with the name Mike Kojima. In Nissan Sentra racing circles, the guy's a Guru and this latest project was built to compete in Time Attack events in the United States under the Unlimited FWD class. Details of the car's build can be found there. The amount of custom fabrication required to build a competitive professional racecar is out of this world! Enjoy! Can't wait to see a 500hp FWD rear suspension beam Sentra whoop cars with independent rear suspension. in order to understand this car more. here is the progress Project Sentra Some parts used are displayed at autopartswarehouse