10 Techno-Cool Cars

mrv writes "The IEEE Spectrum picks their '10 Techno-Cool Cars'. The article picks vehicles from the 2003 or upcoming model years, that feature significant jumps in performance, convenience, or comfort, are technologically bold, and otherwise cool (for engineers, not just the 'motorhead' type)."

Comments

This car should have been on the list...

[$$$$$exyGal]

The best car of all time.

Poor Uncie Herb ;-)

--sex

Hmmm. . .

[bplipschitz]

"Refuel it at home with an optional $1000 (natural) gas station".

I wonder if that comes with an optional (taco) bell, instead of a horn.

Excellent

[mao che minh]

Cool, I can't wait to abandon my clingy android son in the middle of the woods, his eyes tearing and hangs clinging feebily to the bumper, while driving away in my stylish Honda FCX. I can't wait for the future.

Favorite feature!

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

A third feature is the radar-enhanced automatic cruise control, ...

Sweet! So I can set it for 95, but when the fuzzbuster detects a speed trap, it'll revert to the speed limit!

...which maintains a constant speed until the car gets too close to a vehicle in front of it, at which point it slows down enough to maintain a constant distance.

Awwwwwww.......

No WinCE

[Dynedain]

Glad to see that the BMW-Windows hybrid is NOT on the list....showing these guys are impressed by well thought out, practical solutions, not gimmicks and gadgets

Chevrolet Trailblazer: Four or eight cylinders

[Doobian Coedifier]

Ummm.....GM has done this before... in 1981 Cadillacs. The system got mixed reviews. Some people said it worked great, some said it was nothing but trouble (getting stuck in V8 mode was one problem, IIRC). They scrapped it after MY 1984, presumably in favor of 4 cylinders.

No RX8?

[Anonymous Coward]

Man that just ticks me off that they are not putting the RX8 in there. I mean the Rotary engine is coming back and it is suppose to be pretty nice with the RX8. These engines are amazing....why not point that car out?

Oye, more tech != good?

[binaryDigit]

I have an '89 750il, which for it's time was way high tech. Antilock, electric everything, fly by wire throttle. And of course, one of the most hated things about this vehicle is all the electronic doodads. When it works it's great. When it doesn't, rottsaruck. BMW is having some problems now with it's latest 7 series and their on board computers going wacko. There was a funny post about it, can't remember if it was here or not, some guy even video taped his car doing strange stuff (cell phone not working, stereo acting strange, car doesn't want to accelerate, etc).

I can see the mechanics repair books now:

Replace head gaskets 2hrs
Replace starter 2.5hrs
Debug car suddenly speaking in German 40 man hours

Funny thing about the last problem is that it is one that actually occurs!

Toyota Fine-S

[Anonymous Coward]

Check it out

For some reason it's gotten almost no press, even though it's both amazing looking (like a car version of the Tron cycle) and uses impressive technology.

Re:Where is the Honda S2000

[binaryDigit]

Well as cool as the S2000 and Enzo are, they either are just very refined (S2000) or are priced in such a way that most people will never benefit from their hi tech (Enzo).

There really isn't anything all that groundbreaking tech wise with the S2000. Honda just paid a lot of attention to detail and applied what their extensive engine know-how to create a very highly tuned motor mated to a firm and responsive chassis. Hardly hitech, but definitely way cool from a gear head point of view.

thoughts

[oyenstikker]

1.) Smokey Diesels.
Diesels do not have a history of being smokey. 1 diesel engine, the 70s GM diesel V-8. It was an America only engine. EU doesn't have a problem with diesels.

2.) 8/4 Cylinders.
Lets hope it fares better than GMs infamaous 8-6-4 of the 80s.

Re:Where is the Honda S2000

[zapfie]

because its (a) two years old and (b) just another gas-sucking penis-replacement.

Dude.. I dunno.. I don't think that car is fitting in my girlfriend.

Re:America Under-represented

[SoCalChris]

Volvo Safety Concept Car - Volvo is owned by Ford
Saab 9-3 - Saab is owned by General Motors
Honda Civic GX - I'm pretty sure that Honda has a design studio in California
Honda FCX - See above
Cadillac XLR - Owned by General Motors
Audi A8
Mercedes-Benz SL500
Fiat Stilo
Chevrolet Trailblazer - Owned by General Motors
Toyota Prius

So, in review four of the 10 cars are American, and two of them were probably designed in America. That's not bad considering that most of the "high end" cars that you would expect to see on a list like this such as Mercedes, Audi, Lexus etc... aren't American.

Re:Brake by wire? Sounds horrid.

[Mr. X]

Did you read the entire article? There is a manual backup braking system on this car.

Re:Where is the Honda S2000

[Neon Spiral Injector]

The RX-8's Renesis engine was revving to 10,000 and making 270 HP out of a 1.3 L engine. But the production version was scaled back to 8,000 RPM and 250 HP. But still 1.3 L. That beats the 2000's engine.

Of course four strokes only use half of their displacement per revolution where the rotary uses it's entire displacement every time around. So to be fair you either multiply the displacement of the rotary by 2 or divide the boinger (piston engine) by 2.

Bugatti Veyron...

[Chicane-UK]

I guess the petrolhead in me was hoping to see the Bugatti Veyron in there. Yeah, sure it wouldn't exactly make it in there for safety, but for engineering perfection it pretty much has it in the bag. The engine is a Volkswagen developed 16 cylinder, 8 litre, 64 valve quad turbo lump outputting 1001BHP..

Acceleration on this machine must only be comparable to a ride in a jet plane.. 0-62MPH is estimated at just over 3 seconds, and do from 0-186MPH in little under 14 seconds. And the top speed is around 250MPH.

If you fancy Slashdotting someone, try this link for more information and pictures :

http://www.gizmo.com.au/public/News/news.asp?artic leid=1290

Personally...

[chunkwhite86]

I don't want a car that's cool from a geek perspective. I want a car that's cool from a motorhead perspective.

Asking for a car that is cool from a geek perspective is like asking for a computer that's cool from a motor-head perspective.

I personally dislike all the electronic gadgets and doo-dads. I drive a Porsche 911, special ordered to have NO sunroof, NO power locks, NO heated seats, NO power windows, and yes folks... NO stereo. I absolutely love it. It is the best car in the world. Powerful, reliable, clean... And no wacky electronic gadgets standing between me, and the most ultimate driving experience available to a human.

Save the gadgets for your cubicle.

Re:Where is the Honda S2000

[DavittJPotter]

It just makes me laugh when people talk about 'penis envy' or 'penis replacement' when someone has a sports car/high horsepower car. Get over yourselves and your own shortcomings.

Building or owning a high-performance/high-horsepower car is for most people, a fun and rewarding hobby. You own something a small percentage of the population 'gets' or understands. Dropping the hammer on a 500hp Camaro or Mustang is an adrenaline-pumping experience. So is being the passenger, for that matter!

Let me put in geek speak: Do you really need a GeForce4 4600Ti for your video games? Really? And an overclocked Pentium 4 2.4 GHz? 1GB of RAM? No, you really don't. You may step in here and tell me about 'frame rate' and 'playability', etc., etc., but I'll put it this way. If you want more and more framerates, that's your power/speed addiction. Yeah, a freakin' VW Bug will get you there, but a Corvette will get you there in style and with some fun along the way.

Most of us don't drive our high-performance/high-horsepower cars daily - they're too expensive, and we don't want the speeding tickets and wear & tear.

Talking about a car as a penile replacement is stupid. Yeah, I've seen the Corvette/BMW/Mercedes owners that think they're God's gift, but most people just like a cool car that they find fun/sexy/exciting/good looking.