2008 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder Gt Convertible 2-door 3.8l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Your 2013 Pikes Peak Hill Climb primer: "Donuts at 14,000 feet."

The teams have all set up their pits and paddocks for today's run of the 91st Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and there's nothing left to do but take a shot at the title. At 8 am Mountain time (9 am EST / 7 am PST), the first of a field of 83 bikes and 63 cars - whittled from an original field of 157 - will race 12.42 miles through 156 turns from the start gate at 9,390 feet to the summit finish at 14,110 feet. The summit is where we'll be all day, having arrived on the media bus at around 5 am and not allowed to come down until the race is finished. If it's anything like last year that could mean a 14-hour day on the top munching on donuts at the summit café, begging for hits of pure oxygen and trying to stay hydrated and warm...
Here are the event with Hyundai, we enjoyed dinner with Rhys Millen got his take on what's happened and what's about to happen. Millen said the issue that caused his engine swap last week was minor, a head gasket (a production part) that was causing a bit of hesitation and a slight drop in top speed. He said it's the first time they've stressed the engines this hard, pushing boost pressures up to 19 psi at altitude, which equates to 25 psi at sea level. Offering testament to the strength of the engines, though, he said that Paul Dallenbach's engine did the entire 2012 drift season as well as Pikes Peak, and it's the engine being used again for the hill climb this year.
We also chatted with Dallenbach, who has come back from that beastly crash last year in the Unlimited category to lead almost every practice day this year in the Time Attack class. Telling us he's happier behind the wheel this year than he has been in 20 years, he asked us, "Know what my dashboard says when I turn the car on? 'Donuts at 14,000 feet.'"

Mitsubishi Attrage brochure reveals additional looks, info

If you're keen to get a closer look at the upcoming Mitsubishi Attrage global sedan, we've got good news for you. A handful of brochure images have made their way to the web courtesy of IndianAutosBlog.com, complete with driveline details. The compact car looks to have its teeth set on taking a chunk out of the Nissan Versa. The Attrage will launch in Thailand with a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine good for 76 horsepower coupled to either a five-speed manual transmission or a continuously variable transmission. The combination should yield a range of around 570 miles with an 11 gallon tank. We'll save you the math: that's over 50 miles per gallon, though we wouldn't be surprised to see a more powerful, less efficient engine show up on the US-spec model. Buyers can also enjoy snazzy 15-inch alloy wheels.
Expect to find a rearview camera, push-button start, Bluetooth audio and automatic climate control indoors. This information gives us a pretty good idea of what we can expect from the car once it touches down here in the US, though final details - including powertrain - remain likely to change somewhat.

Bhutan asks Nissan, Mitsubishi for help with massive EV-only plan

Originally, the somewhat modest plan was to introduce 2,000 electric vehicles to the capital of Bhutan. Then things got bigger when Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn paid the country a visit and the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Tshering Tobgay, said his country, "will commit to a program to achieve zero emissions as a nation by a certain target date." Now we're approaching "holy huge" territory. Last week, Tobgay visited Japan to ask Nissan and Mitsubishi for help in possibly replacing every combustion vehicle with an all-electric option. "Gasoline is expensive and unfriendly to the environment." – Bhutan's Prime Minister At the very least, Bhutan wants to make more eco-friendly vehicles available. Tobgay told AsiaNews that, "Gasoline is expensive and unfriendly to the environment. Sustainable transportation will bring citizens happiness," which is something that a country that measures its Gross National Happiness is eager to track. Switching to electric vehicles makes complete sense in Bhutan, since the mountainous Asian nation produces more renewable hydro-electricity than it can use. Ninety-five percent of the zero-emission energy is exported to India, and Bhutan uses the profits to buy fuel from India to then power its vehicles. You can probably figure out for yourself how there's a simpler way to do this. News Source: AsiaNews.it Green Mitsubishi Nissan Green Culture Electric