1985 Honda 250 Fourtrax Seat on 2040-parts.com

Pioneer App Radio officially unveiled

Pioneer has officially unveiled the App Radio that AutoWeek told you about earlier this month. Now that it's willing to talk, Pioneer claims that the radio and audio system is "the first in-vehicle product designed to utilize the processing power, storage capacity, network connectivity and apps of the iPhone and iPod Touch as the primary source for its information and entertainment capabilities." That does sound a lot like what Mini Connected and, in a more platform-agnostic sense, Ford Sync are doing. Pioneer said it couldn't speak to the similarity of those systems, but Ted Cardenas, director of marketing for Pioneer's car-electronics division, briefed us on installation of the device and what Pioneer is doing to minimize driver distraction.

BMW M5 (2011) the first official video

BMW has started its hype generator for the upcoming M5, with this first online teaser video. I'm at the office and can't watch the footage right now – what can we see of the new BMW M5?  It's officially called a 'first glimpse', and in and amongst shots of a partially-camouflaged prototype M5 roaring through a tunnel and powersliding along a snowy test track, M Division boss Dr Kay Siegler appears talking about the new car in the workshop of M HQ. Segler introduces the new M5 as 'a bold business car, which at the touch of a button, becomes a sports car'. The new BMW M5 - the lowdown The new F10M-spec M5 is downsizing from the E60's 5.0-litre V10 for the same 550bhp 4.4 litre twin-turbo V8 found in the X5M and X6M. But rather than the torque convertor autos used by the SUV pair, the new motor is mated to a beefed-up version of the the seven-speed M-DCT double-clutch transmission currently serving in the M3.

VW to intro Passat BlueMotion Concept at Detroit auto show

While performance heads are anxiously awaiting the North American debut of the hot-heat Mk VII Golf R at the Detroit auto show, Volkswagen's Passat BlueMotion Concept offers never-before technology in the Yank/Canuck family sedan segment: a four-pot motor with cylinder deactivation. Based on the EA211 1.4L turbo motor we sampled last year in the Euro-market Audi A3 sedan, the Passat BlueMotion Concept's engine is capable of shutting down the middle two cylinders during cruise, and features the Jetta Hybrid's gearbox, a twin-clutch unit capable of decoupling from the engine during off-throttle coasting. In the Passat's application, the 1.4 puts out 150 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque; VW suggests its highway fuel economy will stand at 42 mpg.