Autoesque

Interesting to see a couple of re-badged European cars on display at the 2010 Detroit show earlier this month. Following its takeover by Fiat, Chrysler clearly couldn’t be bothered to do too much with the Lancia Delta, not even going to the trouble of changing its model name. A minor tweak to the grille seemed to be enough. The Chrysler Delta.  Or is it? Buick meanwhile appeared to make a bit more of an effort with the Regal, its version of the Vauxhall / Opel Insignia. The GS shown featured a 252 bhp four cylinder turbo engine. Not quite the 321 bhp that the six cylinder Insignia VXR / OPC has, but it should still be rather quick, with a 0 - 60 mph time below six seconds.

Undoubtedly one of the best features of the Fiat Grande Punto was its styling, which even earned comparison to the design of the Maserati 3200 GT, around the nose at least. Hardly surprising considering that Italdesign was involved in both cars. So who knows what Fiat was thinking when it signed off the Grande Punto’s successor, the Punto Evo? Being kind, it’s definitely a striking facelift. Being unkind, perhaps they should have left the bandages on. Maybe it’ll look better in the flesh, but the combination of that great chrome strip with the heavy bumper / grille arrangement at the front really isn’t very photogenic. Not all bad news though - one of the highlights of the Punto Evo has to be the new MultiAir petrol engines that manage to increase power and torque, whilst reducing fuel consumption and emissions. This is achieved by a clever new electro-hydraulic method of controlling the inlet and outlet valves. It means that the most powerful petrol engine, the 1.4 16v turbo, p...

The event that literally nobody has been anticipating. Nevertheless, hopefully there'll be posts on a fairly regular basis.