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Infiniti Q50 Red Sport 400 priced at $48,855, AWD at $50,855

Infiniti's most powerful production model, the new Q50 Red Sport 400, now has a starting price. You'll need at least $48,855 for the rear-drive model or $50,855 for all-wheel drive. (Both figures include the $905 destination charge.) A fully loaded, rear-drive Q50 RS400 with Direct Adaptive Steering, navigation, adaptive cruise control, a heated steering wheel, and Infiniti's entire alphabet soup of safety equipment, tops out at $57,045. (Again, add $2,000 for AWD). When it comes to rear-drive competition, the closest base price to the Q50 is the 320-hp BMW 340i. This German undercuts the Infiniti by two grand, $46,795 to $48,855. But the BMW outprices the Q50 as soon as you start selecting options. A 340i with similar equipment to a loaded Q50 Red Sport 400 costs just under $60,000. All-wheel-drive German competitors also lose out in the price war. Like with the rear-drive models, the BMW 340i xDrive undercuts the Q50 RS400 by around $2,000. Add the options, and the Infiniti becomes a better value. The other two big German rivals, the Audi S4 and Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG start at a higher price and only get more expensive. Technically the S4 starts cheaper than the Q50, but only with the standard manual transmission. Selecting the S-Tronic dual-clutch model kicks the price from $50,125 to $51,125, and going for the top-end Prestige trim will bump potential Audi owners up to $57,025. Throw on must-have S4 options, including adaptive cruise control, adaptive dampers, and a sport differential and you'll be shell out $64,425 for the Audi. The Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG is the priciest choice in this group, starting at $51,725, or roughly $900 more than a base Q50 RS400 with AWD. Options, again, are the downfall here. Building a C450 to match a loaded Infiniti will drive the Mercedes' price up to $64,315. While it occupies something of a weird space relative to these vehicles, it's also worth mentioning the Cadillac CTS VSport. It's the only car in this impromptu pricing comparo that can outgun the Q50, with its 3.6-liter, twin-turbo V6 good for 420 hp and 430 lb-ft of torque. It also starts at $60,950, although that includes plenty of standard equipment. All this means that the Q50 Red Sport 400 represents a relative value. It packs more power than the Germans – 80 more than the 340i, 67 more than the S4, and 38 more than the C450 – and a more comprehensive list of options, too.

VW joins Daimler's protest of new A/C refrigerant as EU deadline for compliance passes

The case of Dupont and Honeywell's refrigerant R-1234yf is doing the exact opposite of keeping things cool. The two chemical companies have spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars developing R-1234yf to replace R-134a, the new refrigerant shown to be 99.7-percent kinder to the environment than the one it is meant to succeed. Part of that development has been years of testing by governments, outside safety agencies and automakers to approve the chemical for use in cars. It passed the protocols necessary for the European Union to declare that new and significantly revised cars from 2013 onward needed to use R-1234yf, and mandated that every car as of 2017 must use it.
Enter Daimler AG. The automaker created a head-on collision test with a B-Class at their Sindelfingen test track that would lead to the pressurized refrigerant being sprayed on the engine. The result in 20 out of 20 test was that the refrigerant burst into flames as soon as it hit the hot engine, while Daimler says that R-134a does not catch fire in the same test. Another unexpected result of the R-1234yf test was the release of hydrogen flouride, a chemical far more deadly to humans than hydrogen cyanide, emitted in such amounts that it that turned the windshield white as it began to eat into the glass.
Said a Daimler engineer in a Reuters piece, "It was scarcely believable. The most complicated lab tests conducted using the most sensitive measuring instruments around found nothing and all we do is drive a car around a couple of times, open a tiny hole in the refrigerant line and the next thing you know the car is on fire." So Daimler said it wouldn't use the refrigerant, and it recalled the cars it had already shipped with R-1234yf.

Aston Martin tipped for F1 return with Red Bull, Mercedes

Aston Martin could be plotting a return to Formula One for the first time in over half a century. And not as a backmarker, either. That is, at least, if the latest rumors materialize. While most automakers that participate in F1 do so as either a team owner (like Ferrari and Mercedes) or as an engine supplier (think Renault or Honda), the rumored Aston Martin deal would take a different approach. According to Autosport, the proposal would have the Red Bull Racing team run Aston Martin branding – but not its engines. Those would be provided by Mercedes, just like the engines in the British marque's upcoming slate of road cars. In that regard, the deal would not be unlike the one which Red Bull currently has with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which sees the team running Renault engines and Infiniti branding. Andy Palmer was a pivotal figure in brokering that unusual arrangement when he was working for Carlos Ghosn, and is now tipped to be brokering a similar deal in his new capacity as Aston Martin's CEO. Though Aston has found glory in sports car racing (including Le Mans and its various associated series), it was never much of a contender in grand prix racing. It competed in a handful of races in 1959 and 1960, but never achieved results worth bragging about. Aston was rumored to be plotting a return when David Richards sat as chairman of the company, having run Aston's racing program as well as Honda's F1 team previously. Those rumors, however, never materialized. Whether this time 'round gains any traction remains to be seen - Aston Martin declined to either confirm or deny the reports when reached for comment by Autoblog. Red Bull has been growing increasingly dissatisfied (and increasingly vocal about its dissatisfaction) with Renault engines over the past couple of seasons. Though the two parties won four back-to-back world titles together, things took a noticeable step backward after the new turbo engine regulations took hold for the 2014 season. Nissan/Infiniti and Red Bull are contracted to continue collaborating until the end of next season. After that is when the new Aston deal could take hold, and Mercedes is reportedly keen on the idea so that it could add another customer to its F1 engine supply business and offset the costs of development. That could effectively prove the end of Renault in F1 (at least for the time being). Aside from Red Bull, the French automaker currently supplies only that outfit's sister team Toro Rosso.