Slk230 Clean Title, Not Salvage; Rebuildable Repairable Wrecked Project Damaged on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Recharge Wrap-up: Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive goes on sale in Europe, Spain gets Nissan Leaf taxis

The new Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive goes on sale in Europe on November 3, with deliveries starting before the end of the year. Developed with the help of Tesla, the new electric B-Class offers more than 132 kilowatts (177 horsepower) and 250 pound-feet of torque. It features Economy Plus, Economy and Sport driving modes. An optional radar support system uses the collision prevention assist sensors to help make smarter decisions about when and how to use the regenerative braking. The B-Class Electric Drive also offers an optional Range Plus button, which can unlock more battery capacity when charging for the occasional longer drive. Learn more in the press release below. Racing returns to the streets of Miami for the first time in more than a decade for the Formula E Miami ePrix on March 14, 2015. Formula E has revealed the track layout, which takes the race around the Miami Heat's home court, American Airlines Arena, along the Biscayne Bay. "This event will help to make Miami more of a sports city," says Mayor Thomas Regalado. "In addition, we will show the younger generations that you may have motor racing without noise or pollution." Read more about the event at the Formula E website and see the track layout in detail here. Hyundai has delivered the first ix35 Fuel Cell vehicles to customers in the UK, including clean energy company ITM Power. ITM is responsible for three of the hydrogen refueling stations being built around the EU as part of the Hydrogen For Innovative Vehicles project - the same project that helped bring the Hyundai ix35 (also known as the Tucson) Fuel Cell to Europe. ITM's 700-bar hydrogen stations will be built in London by Spring 2015, each with its own electrolyzer system on site. In the meantime, ITM will use the ix35 for commutes between London and Sheffield, refueling at a site that uses wind-generated electricity from an on-site turbine to power the electrolyzer to make the hydrogen. Learn more in the press release below. Demand for aluminum is expected to climb as China builds more electric cars. Aluminum supplier Novelis says demand will likely increase 30 percent annually for the next 10 years in China, Japan and Korea, and possibly more depending on how China's plan to increase EV use and decrease air pollution shakes out. Read more at Bloomberg. Barcelona and Madrid have received their first all-electric taxis in the form of Nissan Leaf EVs.

2017 Infiniti QX30 First Drive

If you've heard anything before about this car, the 2017 Infiniti QX30, it probably has to do with its corporate parents, an odd couple if there ever was one. Renault-Nissan, Infiniti's corporate overlords, inked a deal with Mercedes-Benz to share some mechanical components and platforms. That deal put a new, very modern 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four under the hood of the Q50 and was the genesis of what you're looking at here. What are you looking at here? We drove this car in 2015, when it was called a Q30 – originally it was going to be the lower-riding counterpart to the slightly jacked-up QX30. Then Infiniti decided it'd make more sense to sell all variants of this vehicle as CUVs in the US, so we have three slightly different flavors of the QX30 instead. There's the normal version; the Sport, which is 0.6 inches lower; and the AWD, which is 1.2 inches higher. Infiniti brought us to Seattle to sample the Sport and AWD flavors on a semi-circumnavigation of the Puget Sound. It didn't rain a drop, thanks for asking, and instead was sunny and mild the whole time. It's easy to make the QX30 sound more confusing than it actually is. This is essentially a Mercedes-Benz GLA250 with full exterior styling and partial interior design by Infiniti, built in the UK alongside several other Nissans. The powertrain and chassis, including the optional AWD system, were all "co-developed" with partner Daimler, with final calibration and tuning by Infiniti engineers. Here's another way of explaining it: Infiniti needs an entry-level car to appeal to new premium car shoppers, and the QX30 is the prescription. It's a hatchback that's been given the mildest of CUV treatments and a lot of marketing descriptors. That's because hatchbacks are sales death in America. In Europe, they'll see right through the CUV posturing and realize it's just a hatchback offered in three different suspension heights. Whatever you call it to make it palatable to Americans, it's a useful little vehicle. This car is mechanically identical to the Q30, so there are some things we can gloss over. Both are powered by a transverse-mounted 2.0-liter Mercedes inline-four. It's a turbocharged, direct-injection gasoline engine, and it sure feels like one. It sounds like a rock tumbler full of nickels and runs out of breath at about 5,000 rpm. All versions make 208 hp at 5,500 rpm and 258 lb-ft of torque between 1,200 and 4,400 rpm – more than adequate but less than thrilling.

Top 10 small cars with the longest total driving range

Editor's Note: Since this article was originally posted in the spring of 2015, much has changed in the automotive landscape, especially among those shopping for small car economy. With thanks to Volkswagen for their blatant cheating – and subsequent cover-up – on diesel emissions, the largest player in the diesel passenger car segment isn't playing – they're paying; billions are going for both car buybacks and federally-imposed penalties. And for a few VW execs there exists the very real possibility of jail. With the absence of a big player and the abrupt entrance – via Chevy's new Bolt – of an affordable EV with 200+ miles of range, we've limited the diesel listings to Jaguar's new XE. And for those wanting an updated look at efficiency and range, Autoblog has it – or the EPA has it. Long before electric vehicles were part of the mainstream conversation, car lovers and skinflints alike would boast about the total range of their vehicles. There's something about getting farther down the road on one tank of gas that inflames the competitive spirit, almost as much as horsepower output or top speed. Of course, the vehicles with the very best range on today's market are almost all big trucks and SUVs; virtually all have the ability to carry massive reserves of fuel. Top up a standard Chevy Suburban and you can expect to travel almost 700 miles (you'll need to stop before the Suburban stops...), while a diesel-fed Jeep Grand Cherokee manages almost as many. But what about vehicles that are smaller? The EPA has, essentially, three classifications for 'small' vehicles: Minicompact, Subcompact and Compact. All three are measured based on interior volume, meaning that some cars with rather large exterior dimensions and engines slot in next to traditional small cars. But even though impressive GT coupes from Porsche, Bentley and Mercedes-Benz may have much larger gas tanks to feed their powerful engines, that capacity is offset by higher rates of consumption... in most cases. We used the EPA's Fuel Economy Guide for model year 2017 cars as a start, calculating the official highway miles per gallon rating with each vehicle's tank capacity. The resulting numbers aren't necessarily real world, but they do offer a spectrum for total theoretical range. The eventual top ten surprised me on a few occasions, and comprised quite a varied list of vehicles. 10.