If you are someone who has been a car enthusiast for a long time or is trying to start out as one, then you know you need some place to help you get started and to give you the right tips. Import Tuner is one of the best and most popular websites that you can visit that will provide you with articles on the best vehicles and give you a schedule on the latest events that show off the best vehicles.

One of the greatest things about Import Tuner is that they will test out the latest in parts and accessories and will write reviews on how to install them and how well they work. That way you will know if you should use them for your particular vehicle and you will know how to install it. But don’t think that they are just about the real cars. They love to show off the latest games that have come out that feature the best vehicles. Now you can get the best reviews on games like ‘Need for Speed’ and ‘OutRun2′. Visit now and you can submit photos and a written article about what makes your vehicle unique from all the others out there. They will choose the top three articles that they like (one of them could be yours) and feature them in an article on their fast, growing website. Plus you could win a t-shirt from Import Tuner. So place your entry in from 9 a.m. PST 05/01/07 till 5 p.m. PST 05/22/07. When you vote you need to be at their site from 5:30 p.m. PST 05/22/07 till 5 p.m. PST 05/31/07. And remember to keep visiting to see if you are a winner! “Sponsored Post”

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Average Gas Price

Per Gallon

Prices by automotive.com

I also found a place to search for gas prices by state, county, city, etc. Pretty interesting to see how folks in places like Texas *cough* Bush *cough* are coming in compared to the rest of the country. If you drill down far enough, you can even see gas prices for individual gas stations and for different grades of gasoline and diesel!

Another interesting tid-bit... the United States (alone) consumes over 140 billion gallons of gasoline every year. That's alot of gas. Right now our national average is $2.30 per gallon... that's 322 billion dollars spent by Americans, holy cow. Think we have it bad? Drivers in Amsterdam pay nearly 3 times as much at $6.48 per gallon. This post was sponsored by Automotive.com

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Both of these bikes (Yamaha FZR600 and Suzuki GSX-600 Katana) have been around for a long time, and they’ve been locked in a fierce battle for supremacy. Five of their editors go toe-to-toe about who they feel is the winner. Unfortunately they’re lacking in up-to-date stats, a 2007 motorcycle comparison would be great. Either way, you can’t go wrong. Motorcycle.com sums it up best by saying “These motorcycles might not give you leading-edge technology, but you do get proven components that’ll meet the budgets of most everyone — especially starving students or beginning riders. If you don’t need to have the trickest, quickest, fastest and newest model, either one of these Value 600s will satisfy your demands for a good, solid streetbike”.

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“It is a very important design win for Microsoft,” said Phil Magney, president and principal analyst at the Minnetonka, Minn.-based Telematics Research Group. The technology connects to a mobile phone for making hands-free calls, and to a portable media device for controlling and playing music through the audio system. Ford will use the name “Sync” for its version of the Microsoft system.

Microsoft will address it later in the day during Chairman Bill Gates’ presentation on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Microsoft previously struck a similar deal with Italy’s Fiat Auto, the company behind the Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia brands. But the Ford pact secures a key spot for Microsoft’s software among the Big 3 North American automakers.

Ford, meanwhile, says it sees the Microsoft system as one way to differentiate its vehicles in the eyes of car buyers. The rollout is expected to start later this calendar year in 2008 model year vehicles and expand in the 2009 model year. The automaker’s “recovery as a business depends upon having products that customers absolutely must own,” said Gary Jablonski, Ford’s manager for infotainment system product development.

The system will show contacts and other information retrieved from the phone on a small display in the car, giving drivers the option of browsing their address books to place calls using voice commands or buttons inside the car. Another feature will read incoming text messages through the speakers and let drivers respond with a number of preset replies. In addition, the system will connect via USB port with iPods and other music devices, including Microsoft’s Zune, to let drivers browse and play music using voice commands or buttons.

Microsoft has worked out a deal to let the system play songs encoded in Apple’s FairPlay AAC format. Previous versions of the Microsoft Auto system played songs from iPods in unprotected formats, but not those encoded in that way. Songs played through the car audio system will still reside on the iPod or other music device, which must be plugged in for the music to play.

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The R36 receives an exterior makeover with R-specific bumpers, darkened LED taillights, bi-xenon headlights, a rear spoiler, matte-chrome exclusive front grille, chrome side accents, and body-colored side skirts and fender flares. R36-exclusive eighteen-inch “Omanyt” wheels carry 235/40-18 tires, and the rear end is punctuated with twin chrome exhaust tips.

Inside, the instrument cluster, now lit in white instead of blue and red, is visible through an R steering wheel, the shift lever is alumized, and the “Engine Spin” R logo is repeated on the aluminum pedals and front door thresholds. Heated sports seats are fitted all-around, with the fronts 12-way electrically adjustable.

With no mention of any suspension or brake upgrades, the R36 is more of an appearance package than anything. This comes as a bit of a surprise, since the R32 was such a thoroughly integrated package built upon the GTI.

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The 2007 Range Rover is quieter and more comfortable and easier to for people to operate. The inside cabin benefits from new switchgear, revised air conditioning, redesigned seats and increased noise-reduction measures. Redesigned airbags further improve its safety. Modeled after luxury yachts with gorgeous wood trim and rich leather, the Range Rover cabin is a comfortable place to be.

It’s quiet, smooth and poised on the road or off and makes its occupants feel classy and sophisticated at the same time. It’s one of the best luxury vehicles available, counting cars. The Range Rover remains an exclusive vehicle, further adding to its class and panache. It also represents quite a step up from the Range Rover Sport, in our view. It’s the ultimate in luxury SUVs.

Great service is also part of the Range Rover experience. Surveys indicate customers are highly satisfied with their Land Rover retailers who pride themselves with taking care of their customers. Our anecdotal evidence backs that up. The Land Rover Centres go beyond those of the typical car dealership, acting as off-road outfitters. They carry accessories and apparel and organize outings. Land Rover’s four-year/50,000 mile warranty includes roadside assistance (even where there’s no road) and free scheduled maintenance.

The 2007 Range Rover comes in two trim levels, the HSE ($76,535) and Supercharged ($92,035). The HSE is powered by a 305-hp, 4.4-liter V8 engine. The Supercharged gets a 400-hp, 4.2-liter V8.  Both engines are mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. Both also feature permanent four-wheel-drive with a two-speed transfer case and electronic Torsen center differential, all-terrain traction and stability control, Hill Descent Control and four-wheel disc brakes with ABS, and now Land Rover’s Terrain Response technology.

The HSE comes with three-zone climate control, a 12-way power driver’s seat with three memory settings for seat, tilt-and-telescope steering wheel and outside mirrors; 10-way power front passenger’s seat; rain-sensing automatic windshield wipers; and voice-control, DVD-based GPS navigation and Harman/Kardon digital surround-sound system with six-disc CD changer and 14 speakers, and Sirius satellite radio (subscription required). Nine exterior colors and six interior pallets are available to choose from.

Options include the Luxury Interior Package ($5,000) with premium leather seating surfaces and dash, 14-way power seats with inflatable lumbar support for the driver and front passenger, cooled-air ventilated front seats, choice of light or dark 12-piece wood trim, adaptive front lighting, auto dimming exterior mirrors and a cargo net. Seven-spoke, 20-inch alloy wheels with a full-size spare are available ($4000). Also available is an electronically controlled infinitely variable locking rear differential ($500).

The Supercharged comes with everything in the Luxury Interior Package, plus 20-inch bright-finish aluminum wheels and the locking rear differential. Brakes are upgraded with Brembo calipers in front and vented discs all ’round, in place of the HSE’s vented/solid setup.  Safety equipment on all Range Rovers is comprehensive. Nine airbags come standard: front, side, and head airbags for driver and front-seat passenger, as well as head and seat-mounted side airbags for rear outboard passengers, and a special airbag designed to protect the driver’s knees.

The Range Rover cuts a distinct profile, instantly recognizable as a Range Rover. Its contours are smooth and taut, with just enough curvature to suggest substance and strength. Compared to less exclusive, but more conspicuously massive SUVs, the Range Rover looks trim, muscular, and athletic, like a formidable middleweight fighter next to a costumed television wrestler, a look bolstered by the Range Rover’s comparatively short wheelbase and markedly robust approach, break-over and departure angles.

The front end is strong and horizontal, capped by Range Rover’s trademark clamshell hood. High-tech lighting clusters housing bi-xenon headlamps (with power washers) wrap around the corners. The optional adaptive headlamps turn several degrees in the same direction as the front tires to better illuminate corners. Punctuating the bumper are two serious-looking round ports with deeply recessed foglamps and a long, horizontal slot feeding air to the engine. Taillights echo the futuristic look of the front and incorporate a bright-light rear foglamp.

The Supercharged model is set apart by a silver-metallic, mesh-design grille and side vents and monochromatic exterior paint scheme with black-on-silver badging. Dual, chrome exhaust tips signaling the presence of the more powerful engine are set back beneath the rear bumper to maintain the same, ground-clearing departure angle as the HSE.

New safety measures for 2007 include side airbags relocated from the doors to the seat backs to better achieve optimum protection regardless of whether the seat is forward or aft on its tracks. There’s also a new knee-protection bag for the driver.

The front passenger’s frontal airbag has been revised and now emerges upward and then toward the passenger’s seat rather than coming straight out of the dashboard, which should maintain full protection while helping to reduce injuries caused by airbag deployment.

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Talons and Eclipses are built in Mitsubishi’s factory in Normal, Illinois, sharing major sheetmetal and virtually identical interiors as well as subdural mechanical bits. Ob-servations made concerning the Talon, therefore, also apply to the Eclipse.

The Talon/Eclipse duo comprise a modern range of sporty cars that provide ample driving fun, with engine options from mild to wild–if your definition of mild power in a base model starts at a whacking 140 hp. Turbocharging and all-wheel-drive models add another order of magnitude to the driving excitement. And the Eclipse adds the option of a soft top, new to the lineup last year and available only in the Mitsubishi version.

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There are a few other cars that have this kind of balanced performance, the Porsche Turbo as well as the BMW Z8 and a couple of the higher priced Ferrari’s, but you’ll pay at least twice the price for the privilege of snubbing your nose at the Chevy nameplate. If you want ferocious and competent on the affordable side of $50,000, this is the only car in town. Even when compared with the $70,000 Viper, this Vette can hold its own. Sure the Viper with 450 HP will take it off the line, but not by much, and the Z06 is better balanced and easier to drive.

Unlike other Corvettes, the Z06 is strictly a performance car with few amenities. It is built on the new coupe body for its lower weight and has a fixed top that is not removable. Inside the cockpit, you sit very low and need to be somewhat limber to gracefully get in or out. The seats are comfortable and hold you in place. Sit in an earlier Corvette and you knew that you were in a Vette. The style, character and flair of the past Corvette interiors was unmistakable. With the current version, sitting behind the wheel, you could easily mistake it for a Camaro.

Despite the race-tuned engine, the Z06 was quite easy to drive at low speed. The LS6 engine is smooth and pulles easily even from below 1000 rpm. Another incongruity was is that this car has excellent gas mileage (as long as you drove it like a normal, sane person) with an EPA rating of 19 mpg city & 28 hwy. Not something that you find every day in a car with half this performance.

Another surprising fact is that this is not one of those new engines that relies on dual overhead cams, variable valve timing or four valves per cylinder. No, this engine has a single camshaft in the center of the block pushing 2 valves per cylinder through pushrods and rocker arms, just like the original Chevy V8 back in 1955. Don’t get me wrong, this is a high-tech engine to be sure with an aluminum block with cast in “windows” which allow better bay-to-bay breathing. Chevy engineers have also incorporated a new composite intake manifold with increased plenum volume and smoother-flowing intake runners. Dozens of other refinements come together to increase volumetric efficiency and maximum rpm.

The Z06 features a new Titanium Exhaust System which is a first for a mass-production vehicle. This new exhaust system reduces back-pressure and weighs only half as much as the stainless steel system found in other Vettes. It looks better too with four 3.5-inch diameter chrome tips peeking out from the center of the rear bumper. I am told that much time was spent tailoring this system to ensure an exhaust note that would be unique to the Z06.

This is a thinly disguised race car that is equally at home on the racetrack. With its well-balanced acceleration, braking and cornering, many buyers will use it for just that, a race car that doesn’t need a trailer to get it to and from the track. The Z06 has a power to weight ratio of just 8.13 pounds per horsepower which is better then the 1999 Porsche GT3 (8.26), the 2000 Porsche Turbo (8.19), the 2000 Ferrari Modena (8.21) and even the ‘95 Corvette ZR1 (8.73).

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Questioned about the lightweight aspects of his original L88, owner Kevin Mackay informed us about an esoteric option that included an oil cooler, headers, and a headlight kit in the trunk for owner installation. “Most utilized closed-chamber aluminum heads,” says Kevin. “The open-chambered version breathed better and produced more horsepower.” These better-breathing heads were finally offered to the public in June 1969, whereas this L88, a one-of-four car, (which Mackay loosely refers to as a prototype) was built in January of the same year.

This particular L88 originally went to Orlando Costanzo. Now in his eighties and living in Tampa, “Or” wasn’t your average hot shoe. He raced at Daytona and Sebring and had connections at Chevrolet. He ordered his then-Daytona Yellow L88 through Ferman Chevrolet in Tampa. As amazing as the Vette’s racing history is (including the highest finish ever Fourth overall for a Corvette at Sebring and back-to-back wins at Sebring and Daytona).

What’s even more unbelievable is that Mackay unearthed this history piece in a junkyard in 1991 and bought it for $7,000 after tracking down the owners one by one.
When Mackay finally got to view the ex-racer, he noticed the rear glass on the hardtop still had the ‘72 Le Mans race-team sticker, all the original panels, steering wheel, gauges, shifter, seats, and much more.

After a quick restoration, the L88 was back on the road. That paint? Well, as you may know, John Greenwood painted his L88 Vettes with the American flag. Previous owner Toye English decided to use the Confederate flag to draw attention to their rivalry not to mention the Greenwood Vette was the tire-test car for BFGoodrich, while Rebel was the tire-test car for Goodyear.

So, who won the North or the South? That’s up for argument. The Greenwood Vette is the faster car, but the Rebel was more durable. Sebring and Daytona, of course, were endurance races. So, it depends on the venue. But if you ask Team VETTE, it doesn’t matter. They’re both Corvettes, so everyone’s a winner.

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Power and handling are just part of the overall package that you would expect from Acura CL performance. Reviewing 2007 Acura CL Type S stats or esthetic qualities alone would make the Acura CL one of the most desirable coupes on the market. Take the advice of Acura CL dealers and experts alike and view our improved 2007 Acura CL info to help your auto shopping research. Its impressive performance envelope is matched by a world class level of luxury and sophistication that one rarely finds in a vehicle this exciting to drive.

2007 Acura CL Type S performance under the hood: the engines in both models, the 225-horsepower CL and the 260-horsepower 2007 Acura CL Type-S, offer the performance and environmental benefits of Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control, earning both cars that all-important status as Low-Emission Vehicle. This website offers 2007 Acura CL info for two versions – the 225-horsepower CL and the 260-horsepower 2007 Acura CL Type-S.

Both of these models hug corners firmly and effortlessly, thanks to the help of Vehicle Stability Assist in the automatic, or a new short-throw, close-ratio 6-speed manual transmission instead. What’s more, research provided by dealers indicates that the engines in the 2007 Acura CL and the CL Type-S can go 105,000 miles before their first scheduled tune-ups, which will save you both time and money. Reviewing our Acura CL pictures will be further incentive for buying a new 2007 Acura CL.

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