Beginning in 2006, businesses and taxpayers who lease, or purchase, an environmentally-friendly and fuel-efficient vehicle will be eligible to claim federal income tax credits worth thousands of dollars. Individual states also offer generous incentives, including hybrid state tax credits, new High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes access and discounted thruway tolls for alternative-fuelled vehicles.
And that’s not all you can save from going green! You can now save on your parking fees at a number of universities and some auto-insurance companies are offering insurance discounts for hybrid-vehicle owners nationwide.

If you want to take advantage of these incentives and contribute to energy conservation then visit HybridCenter.org and complete a personal profile about your driving needs and habits. You will get in-depth advice on hybrid models that would make economic sense to you and local, state and federal incentives available where you live.

Important engineering revisions markedly improve fuel economy, particularly for four-cylinder models, while updated suspension and steering designs maintain the Altima’s reputation as one of the market’s best-handling family sedans.

The coupe remains mechanically unchanged, but is reduced to only a single 2.5S trim level.

Judgment about styling will always be subjective (some might say it looks too much like the Maxima now), but there’s no question that the 2013 Nissan Altima sedan’s interior is an improvement, featuring a more visually interesting design, softer-touch materials and more comfortable front seats. The only aspect that continues to be a drawback is the Altima’s tight rear headroom.

The latter is a result of Nissan keeping this fifth generation of its family sedan pretty much the same size as last year — nearly every dimension is the same as before. There are refinements under the skin, however, including reduced weight (about 50-100 pounds fewer than last year), revised suspension tuning for sharper handling and a more refined ride, and a thoroughly reworked continuously variable transmission (CVT) that significantly improves fuel efficiency.

A longer 111.7-inch wheelbase opens up more legroom in the new Impala’s cabin, and unlike the midsize Chevy Malibu, which feels cramped for its class, the full-size Chevy gives you as much room to stretch out as its key competition, including the Chrysler 300 and Toyota Avalon. Those two rivals still offer more shoulder room up front, but when four of us pile into the 2014 Impala for a four-hour drive through the mountains and citrus groves east of El Cajon, nobody’s unhappy.

“We focused on providing occasional adult comfort,” says our 6-foot-plus backseat-mate, Todd Pawlik, the chief engineer of the Impala. His knees don’t graze the front seatback, even though our co-driver is also a 6-footer. Real-life owners, Pawlik says, won’t use the rear seat often, but when they do, their passengers will mostly be adults, and adults expect comfort.

V6 Only To Start
Our 2014 Chevrolet Impala LT test car has the same direct-injected 3.6-liter V6 engine used in last year’s Impala. Given that this large sedan weighs around 3,800 pounds (a gain of 125 pounds over the old car), Chevrolet officials expect most buyers to get the V6. It’s the engine Chevy will offer when the new Impala goes on sale next month.

You’ll notice the ratings on the V6 are slightly higher this year, as it’s listed at 305 horsepower at 6,800 rpm and 264 pound-feet at 5,300 rpm versus 300 hp and 262 lb-ft previously. Chalk it up to the debut of electric power steering, Pawlik says, as the engine no longer has the drag of a hydraulic power steering pump. Look for all General Motors vehicles with this engine to make the switch to EPS for the 2014 model year.

Last year’s six-speed automatic transmission returns to drive the front wheels, and we’re told there’s no plan to offer all-wheel drive. Gearing hasn’t changed, and although the final-drive ratio is numerically shorter, there’s no actual difference because the tires are larger.

With four adults onboard, the 3.6-liter feels unstrained, and we’re able to pass at will on the two-lane roads in eastern San Diego County. There’s nothing exciting about this V6, but acceleration is competitive with the rest of the class. Chevrolet says the 2014 Impala will reach 60 mph in 6.8 seconds, which is on par with the last Chrysler 300 and Hyundai Azera we tested. The Avalon, Nissan Maxima and Hyundai Genesis 3.8 are all a bit quicker.

The transmission shifts smoothly at all times but doesn’t match revs on downshifts. It doesn’t upshift for you in Manual mode, either, which is inconvenient since there are no paddle shifters, just a toggle button atop the shifter. Chevy says fuel economy ratings will come in at 19 city and 29 highway mpg, which is lower than the V6 Avalon (21 city/31 highway/25 combined) but competitive with other six-cylinder full-size sedans.

Four-Cylinder Comes Later
If you’re frugal, Chevrolet will offer a direct-injected 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 196 hp and 186 lb-ft of torque on all trim levels of the 2014 Impala starting in May 2013. It won’t be any more efficient than a six-cylinder Avalon, but it will be cheaper.

In the fourth quarter of 2013, the Impala eAssist, a mild hybrid, will arrive with predicted 25 city/35 highway mpg EPA ratings. It will have a direct-injected 182-hp 2.4-liter engine plus a small belt-driven electric motor that contributes another 15 hp. Tip: This Impala’s going to be slow. The LaCrosse eAssist took 9.2 seconds to hit 60.

Let’s Make It a Road Trip
After four hours, we’re still content in the 2014 Chevrolet Impala’s driver seat. A big reason for this is the ride quality. Our test car is as compliant as you expect a big sedan to be, yet it’s a controlled ride.

Chevy is offering 18-, 19-, and 20-inch wheel and tire packages, and our Impala has the midrange 245/45R19 98V Goodyear Eagle RS-A 2 all-season tires. We notice a touch of float over larger impacts, but otherwise, the car manages bumps without much fuss.

It feels capable enough around turns, too.

“We didn’t want to use the HiPer strut front suspension [which separates the spring and damper paths] as on the XTS and uplevel versions of the LaCrosse, because it’s very expensive,” Pawlik tells us. Instead, the engineering team stiffened up the strut tower housing and specified front dampers with rebound springs to improve handling.

The V6 Impala shares its electric power steering unit (though not its calibration) with the Camaro. It’s good steering for this class, with a nice sense of stability on-center and reasonable precision in normal driving.

Its brakes are larger than before to offset the weight gain, and regardless of the wheels you choose, your Impala will have 12.6-inch ventilated front discs and 12.4-inch solid rear discs with single-piston sliding calipers all around.

Amenities for Modern Times
There’s a lot going on in the 2014 Chevrolet Impala’s cabin. The design is handsome but busy, and we don’t love the dash materials or the strangely plain gauges. Chevy’s designers have finally brought the car into the 21st century, though, and the fit and finish on our early-production tester is solid.

The best part is the 8-inch MyLink touchscreen interface for audio, navigation and phone functions. It’s easy to use if you’ve ever picked up a smartphone or tablet and it’s a radical advance for the Impala, which never before had a factory nav system.

MyLink is standard in LT and LTZ models (it replaces the puny 4.2-inch screen in base LS models), though you’ll have to pay extra for navigation functionality. The touchscreen is less sophisticated than the Cadillac CUE setup (there’s no haptic feedback when you touch it), but it’s surrounded by conventional audio and climate dials. These controls provide redundancy, so even if the touchscreen confuses you, there’s almost always an alternate way to accomplish basic tasks, even if you don’t want to use voice control.

Even better, the front passenger seat occupant sensor performs double duty in the 2014 Chevrolet Impala: If someone’s in that seat, they can pair a phone or enter a destination while the car is moving. The system locks out the driver from these activities, regardless of whether there’s a front passenger onboard, Pawlik advises. Really, our only complaint about the whole setup is the low-resolution image from the back-up camera.

Other than airbags and OnStar, last year’s Impala was bereft of modern safety tech, too. It’s a different story in our 2014 Impala LT tester, which has an $890 option package that gives it the ability to warn us of impending forward collisions, vehicles in our blind spot and motorists who didn’t notice us backing up. Veering out of our lane elicits both an audible warning and gentle steering correction. These items are standard on the top-of-the-line LTZ, which is also eligible for adaptive cruise control.

Don’t Rent It, Buy It
Our 2014 Chevrolet Impala LT has most of the features you’d want in a large sedan, including nav, Bose audio, suede/vinyl upholstery with contrasting piping and heated seats, and costs $36,165 (up from a base price of $30,760). Leather upholstery, ventilated seats and HID headlights are available when you move up to the LTZ.

A comparably equipped Avalon or Maxima costs more than our Impala LT, while a Taurus or Azera would be similar. The Chrysler 300 remains the best value story in this class, as it’s a stylish rear-wheel-drive (or AWD) sedan available for less money than any of the above cars. The slightly more expensive Genesis 3.8 is also tough to ignore.

Ultimately, though, Chevy’s greatest challenge in selling this redesigned Impala could come from within. Seventy percent of last year’s Impalas were sold to corporate fleets, and now Chevrolet wants to reverse that: It hopes to sell 70 percent of these new Impalas to everyday people, though officials wouldn’t get any more specific about an annual sales target than “30,000-70,000 units.”

Regardless, it’ll be a tall order given that most Americans have only encountered the previous Impala on rental car lots. Further, Chevy plans to continue building the old version for fleets (badging it as the Impala Limited, and it’s limited alright), which could add to the confusion.

Of course, there’s no confusing the new car with the old in the metal, and once you actually drive it, you’ll have to admit the 2014 Chevrolet Impala finally has what it takes to compete for real customers.

Next in line could be Lamborghini, which has been rumored to be considering an available hybrid powertrain in the Urus crossover from the beginning. Now reports suggest it could pack as much as 670 horsepower.

With a relatively short nose, as Motor Trend points out in a new report, the Urus in its current form wouldn’t likely be able to accommodate the Gallardo’s V10 or the Aventador’s V12. The last time Sant’Agata made an SUV was the LM002 in the 80s that used the Countach’s V12, but the Urus is emerging as a different beast entirely. Lambo has stated that it would look to the VW group parts-bin to power the Urus. If it paired a twin-turbo V8 with an electric motor or two, it could be looking at well over 600 horsepower. Porsche’s Cayenne and Panamera hybrids have just 380 horsepower.

Year: 2006
Make: Lamborghini
Model: Gallardo
Trim: Coupe
Engine: 10-Cylinder
5.0L V10 DOHC 40V
Trans: E-GEAR
Fuel: Gasoline
Color: White
Interior: BLUE LEATHER
Miles: 13900
Stock #:
Body Style: Coupe
Condition: Used

price $119,997

You can get it from PERFORMANCE AUTO WHOLESALERS Doral, FL, 305-477-0517

from Toyota.com

Intelligent Elegance
Imagine an environment that feels as if it were created just for you.This was the idea behind the technology in the 2013 Avalon. We created IntelliTouch™ controls that are simple to adjust, available Entune® [8] that gives you access to more information than ever before, and an available backup camera [5] that helps you with the unknown.

We made sure that technology amplified your drive, not diluted it. Now, not only can Avalon give you clear vision of what’s behind you, but it can also give you a glimpse of the future.

Entune^® [8]

With a compatible smartphone, Avalon’s available Entune^® [8]multimedia system makes life on the road more convenient, entertaining and informative. Stay connected with three years of complimentary access to apps like Bing™, iHeartRadio, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable^® and Pandora^®. You’ll also enjoy access to XM Data Services, including NavTraffic™ [17], NavWeather™, fuel prices, sports and stocks.

IntelliTouch^™

For the first time, Avalon incorporates IntelliTouch™ controls for the climate control and audio systems. Similar to those used on high-end consumer electronics, these elegant, low-profile controls use no mechanical parts and require just a touch to operate.

The Lamborghini Aventador was based off the Reventon, a 2008 model which was based off the Murcielago and a fighter jet. This car is sure to keep up with competitors like the Ferrari 599 GTO and Lexus LFA.

The Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 makes a groundpounding 691 horsepower and 510lb-ft of torque from its 6.5L V12 engine, sending that power to all four wheels to help make the Lamborghini Aventador one of the fastest cars in the world.

When introduced, Lamborghini stated that the LP700-4 would hit a top speed of 217 miles per hour but during a recent test session while in the hands of the European automotive gurus at Sport Auto, the Aventador reached a top speed of 370 kilometres per hour – or 230 miles per hour for our American readers. That is 13 miles per hour faster than the stated top speed of the newest Lamborghini supercar and with a top speed in the range of 230, the Lamborghini Aventador ranks among the fastest production cars in the history of the automobile.

Lamborghini Aventador Speed

Sport Auto hit a top speed with their Lamborghini Aventador test subject of 370kmh/230mph, which places the Aventador 6th among production cars, trailing the McLaren F1 (231mph), the Koenigsegg CCR (241mph), the Bugatti Veyron (253.81mph), the SSC Ultimate Aero TT (256.18mph) and the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (267.856mph). The key fact here is that the Aventador can hang with those models – all of which are far more expensive and most of which are no longer available.

On that list of the top five fastest cars in the world, only the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport and the Ultimate Aero TT are still available, with the Veyron SS costing $2.3 million while the Ultimate Aero TT will set you back around $650k…both of which are far more expensive than the 2012 Lamborghini Aventador that costs “only” around $379,000. In addition to being less expensive than those other 225+ mph supercars (most of which are now dubbed hypercars), we can expect to see far more Aventadors on the road than we do any of those other high performance cars on the fastest production cars list.

In addition to offering video of the new Lamborghini Aventador speedometer and tachometer as the V12 helps the supercar climb to 370kmh, Sport Auto also gave us a look at the Aventador tearing around the Hockenheimring race course in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. This lap, which was conducted by Sport Auto, brought about a lap time of 1:08.575 which makes it faster around the German race course than the Porsche 911 GT2 RS and putting it within a half second of the Porsche Carrera GT and the McLaren MP4-12C.

Check out the video below of the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 roaring around the Hockenheimring, beginning with a lap around the track with the camera attached to the right rear corner of the car and followed by an in-car camera focused on the tachometer/speedometer as the car easily eclipses the 217mph top speed reached by Lamborghini Aventador.

The Peugeot RC HYmotion4 hybrid cars includes a 70 kW electric motor at the front wheels.

Similar to the drivetrain model used in the upcoming Chevy Volt, the 2009 Peugeot RC concept promises the ability to run solely off electric power for extended periods, with a hybrid electric powertrain filling in the gaps when extra range is needed.

The full name is Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano XX. An upgrade that improves the car’s handling, meaning Handling Gran Turismo Evoluzione, includes a modified set-up with stiffer springs and rear anti-roll bar as well as new calibration settings for the magneto-rheological shock absorbers when the manettino is at its sportier settings. The ride height has also been lowered, which lowers the car’s center of gravity. The package also includes optimised tyres featuring a compound that offers improved grip. The car’s electronics have also changed. The gearbox’s shifts are faster in high-performance settings, while new engine software improved accelerator response. The exhaust silencer was modified to produce more marked and thrilling sound under hard usage while still delivering just the right comfort levels at cruising speed. The exterior and interior were upgraded with more carbon fiber components and it also includes new 20-inch wheels.

The R8 is due to be replaced with a brand new model in calendar year 2014. The highest output version of Audi’s new 4.0 liter V8 twin-turbocharged engine is expected to power the new car. This engine is scheduled to be previewed as a detuned version in the 2012 Audi S8—with 518 hp (386 kW) on tap.[citation needed] In the R8 application it is expected to produce about 600 hp. Combined with an approximate 200 lb (91 kg) weight loss, the new R8 is expected to compete well with the new Porsche 997 twin turbo model and will likely perform significantly better than the current R8 GT with a 0–60 mph time in 3.2 seconds and a quarter mile in less than 11 seconds. A dual clutch automated gearbox will be offered for the first time.

audi r8