2013 Kia Forte Ex on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Driving the Kia K5 and Mini Cooper JCW GP, plus an interview with Jimmy Chin | Autoblog Podcast #637

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder and News Editor Joel Stocksdale. They veer off right away into talking about their dream project garages. Next up is news, including some info on the next Nissan Z car, the Honda Fit being discontinued in the U.S., new Mercedes-Benz EQS details, and some talk about the new, electric GMC Hummer being adapted for the military. Then they talk about driving the new Kia K5 sedan and the Mini Cooper JCW GP, before they opine about the 1966 Pontiac GTO. Autoblog Senior Producer Chris McGraw interviews Oscar-winning filmmaker Jimmy Chin about his collaboration with Ford for the Bronco reveal, and more. Finally, our editors help a listener in the U.K. pick a used vehicle in the "Spend My Money" segment. Autoblog Podcast #637 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Some thoughts on project cars News Nissan suggests the next-generation Z won't be electrified at launch Fit Is Gone! Honda drops subcompact hatch in U.S. Mercedes-Benz announces the electric EQS will offer over 435 miles of range GMC's electric Hummer could someday serve alongside the Humvee in the U.S. Army Driving the 2021 Kia K5 Driving the 2020 Mini Cooper JCW GP 1966 Pontiac GTO: Love it or hate it? We talk Ford Bronco and other adventures with Oscar-winning filmmaker Jimmy Chin Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

Kia Proceed Concept is like a tiny Stinger GT

Related: We obsessively covered the Frankfurt Motor Show — here's our complete coverage After releasing a teaser recently, Kia has dropped a couple of official photos of its mysterious wagon concept, as well as its official name. It's called the Proceed Concept, and it will set the stage for the next generation of Kia C'eed compact cars, which compete with the Honda Civic, Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf, among others. What's somewhat unusual about this Proceed Concept is that its name is akin to the current Kia Pro_cee'd (a name that's sure to have every editor pull out a few hairs), which is the two-door hatchback version of the normal Cee'd. This Proceed Concept is very clearly a four-door hatchback, bordering on traditional wagon. Based on what Kia says about the car, they've seen people are more open to alternatives to typical two-door hatches, and thus are considering something different for the future model. We certainly have no qualms with the body style since not only is it a wagon, which as journalists we're practically required to like, but it's a darn good-looking one, too. The whole car sits extremely low over the wheels, and all of the car's lines appear to be drawn back to a taper, evoking a sense of speed and sleekness at rest. It looks sleeker than the already sharp Stinger GT. Aside from the classically pretty lines, it has another very unusual styling feature. The bright outline of the car's greenhouse is not chrome, nor is it white painted trim. It's actually illuminated with something called Luminline. So even at night, the car's rakish roofline will be visible. Of course, since this is the concept for a European-only car, we likely won't see the production model in the States. But just in case someone from Kia is reading, we have a suggestion: Just put a Forte badge on it and sell it here. The average person won't know or care, and it saves you from having to develop a separate model for one market. Think about it. Related Video:

Hyundai, Kia and U of M studying 'highway hypnosis'

Next up on the hot-button list of things that can kill you behind the wheel: "highway hypnosis." That's the zombie-like, autopilot phase you get into on a long highway drive when there isn't much to distract you, like curves or traffic. Digging further into what it is and how to combat it, Hyundai-Kia engineers and the University of Michigan are commencing a study that will measure brainwave activity in order to track the body's slide into highway hypnosis.
We're not sure how much overlap this has with Mercedes-Benz's Attention Assist, which tracks more than 70 in-car parameters to determine when you're not focused on the road anymore. That system is billed as an alarm against fatigue, in our experience it does more than that - if you use your phone while driving, for instance, it will chirp.
They don't know what form a warning system will take yet, but Hyundai-Kia plans to develop a method for warning drivers when they being to zone out. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were more than three thousand deaths and nearly 400,000 injuries due to distracted driving in 2011.