Various news sources across India are reporting that Audi will make that country the debut market for its A3 Sedan. It will be a good fit for that market. Reliable information on the vehicle is hard to find — Autoblog’s summary of the concept A3 Sedan from its debut earlier this year sounds uncannily like the incoherent moaning of a middle-aged woman perched on an unbalanced washing machine, clutching a picture of Taylor Lautner, and one Indian source can only report the shocking news that the A3 will be “priced to compete with BMW” — but there you go.

Other, secondary comments and information after the jump.

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All told, this has been a successful holiday season for your humble editor. I have showered myself with gifts, avoided annoying family entanglements, kept my pimp hand weak strong, and made sure there’s a three-hour gap in my Christmas to re-watch Michael Mann’s Heat in its glorious entirety.

And yet… I’m dissatisfied. Perhaps because there are ten simple things the automotive industry and/or its various players could do to make this the best season ever, and as of yet, none of them have been done. So here’s my list, delivered nice and late. Warning: mixture of hatred, sarcasm, and foolish sincerity ahead.

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The video above, which has been circulating through the Mustang community, shows what can happen when you pull the speed limiter from a stock Mustang V6 and run it to 135MPH: the driveshaft takes a hike and chews up everything around it. Obviously there are some compromises involved in delivering a 305-horsepower, rear-wheel-drive sporting car for the price of a loaded Chevrolet Cruze, and this is one of them.

On the plus side for Ford, the other famously fragile part of the current ‘Stang — the manual transmission fitted to all non-GT500 models — has just passed an NHTSA investigation with flying colors.

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If you’re like no other person in the world, you’ve probably been anxiously awaiting the debut of a next-generation Pathfinder styling study. Fear not: it’s here. Maybe.

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Sometimes the stars align. Last week’s article about the “Consumer Watchdog” Elantra fuel-economy press release had ruffled some feathers and aroused my personal curiosity regarding the Elantra’s alleged thirst. And then — wouldn’t you know it — I found myself with a chance to run South and visit a few friends. The time frame was short. Had to be there and back in 36 hours, covering about 435 miles each way. And the nice people at Enterprise were willing to rent me a 2011 Elantra for a two-day stretch at a total of $50.36.

This was my math: (900 miles/23.5 mpg) * $3.18 = $121.78. That would be the cost of running my Town Car. A mythical 40mpg Elantra plugged into the same equation would cost $71.55. Difference of $50.23. Clearly some sort of sign, right? Might as well rent the Hyundai and conduct a highly non-scientific test. Along the way, we’d ask the usual questions: How well does the Elantra hold up in rental service? Is this the class killer some people want it to be, or the mid-packer described in TTAC tests up to this point? Can’t this thing go any faster? What time is lunch?

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Yes, many cars to do not meet their EPA ratings. But few are as far off as the Elantra… In your Elantra advertising, you prominently feature only your “40 mpg” claim. Yet the dismal independent test and real-world results for your city and combined mileage claims mean buyers are unable to make accurate comparisons. This is in effect a deception, and one we ask you to discontinue in your advertising while awaiting a welcome EPA re-evaluation.

This letter, sent to Hyundai USA CEO John Krafcik yesterday by “Consumer Watchdog”, doesn’t mince words. It does, however, raise two questions:

1) What exactly is “Consumer Watchdog”?
2) Does the organization have a valid point?

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Acura has confirmed three debuts for the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, ranging from the completely cynical to the terminally hopeful.

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The Scion (nee Toyota) IQ may be a very small car, but we’ve treated it like big news here. Alex Dykes took an an early look a few months ago. Michael Karesh turned his lens on the IQ in a Take Two. So far, we’ve been cautiously optimistic. Why review it again? Simple. The IQ […]

Two weeks ago, the TTAC Black Friday Special was all about Corvette crashes. Not just any Corvette crashes, however. We’re talking about the very special kind of Vette crash that happens when you’re just driving along and… something happens to make you jam that accelerator down and lose control.

What’s that something? Experienced Corvette-ologists know that common provocations to throttle-based havoc include:

• the presence of your daughter’s sexy-ass friends, particularly if one of them is named “Sharona”;
• hearing the chorus of the famous Golden Earring song, “Radar Love”
• but worst of all, when somebody has the son-of-a-bitching nerve to drive up next to you at the stop sign in another Corvette!

From there it all goes downhill… but TTAC is here to help. When Corvettes attack, just click the jump to find out what to do.

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(This is part of the “Drama McHourglass” story cycle and is a sequel to Nights Of Wine And Ponies. This is a work of, um, fiction. Any trademarks which appear in this story are used in a fictional context. Close cover before striking — JB)

Some time ago, I convinced Vodka McBigbra to watch one of my favorite movies — “The Mack”, starring Max Julien and Richard Pryor. As I watched “Goldie” drive his “hog” (another way to say “pimped-out Eldorado” down the streets, resplendent in fur coat, matching hat, and with his sword cane by his side, I said to V. McB, “I could totally be an awesome pimp.” Vodka, veteran of the Las Vegas stage and a woman who was fully aware of how modern pimps operate (Warning: the link WILL GET YOU FIRED FROM YOUR JOB) responded with a combination of anger and disdain.

“Pimps aren’t funny, dressed-up guys in Cadillacs,” she snarled. “They are terrible, terrible people. You could never be a pimp. You… well, you…”

“I get the point,” I responded, “I’m no pimp. But Pretty Tony is about to pull out his sword cane so I need to focus on the movie.” Little did I know that one day I would have a chance to test the truth of her assertion.

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Here it is: the Alfa-based new small car to be known as the Dart. There will be three engines, detailed after the jump. For Mopar small-car fans, however, the most important and interesting part isn’t the car itself; it’s where the car will be made.

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The “Race Of Champions” is a made-for-TV event which purports to pit the world’s best drivers head-to-head using a variety of vehicles on an indoor stadium course. This year’s event was won by up-and-coming WRC pilot Sebastien Ogier (for the individual event) and the rather formidable team of Sebastian Vettel and M. Schumacher (for the Nations Cup).

Whom did the United States send? Well, we sent our very best — Travis Pastrana and Brian Deegan. How’d they do? Well, Pastrana’s gone as far as the second round in the past, but this time it was all bad news for the Americans. How badly did they get beaten? Click the jump to find out…

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Here’s a little Saturday fun. Take one hugely confident, low-skill driver with a CTS-V. Load the car up with mods that range from the unnecessary (headers) to the dangerous (wacky-ass, incorrectly-installed shoulder belts) to the absent (track-ready brake pads or fluid). Let him pass a few people in a Novice session so he’s ready to GO FAST. Then add in an instructor who takes the wheel to prevent what he feels will be a dangerous crash and points the car into another one. The crash starts at 1:23 if you’re impatient. Click the jump to hear what I have to say about touching the student’s wheel… and the one time I did it during a crash.

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When it rains, it pours. Both Alex Dykes and I were lucky enough to get a slot in the West Coast media introduction for the 2013 Lexus GS350, GS350 F-Sport, and GS450h. Rather than do a “Take One” and “Take Two”, we decided to handle it the way OutKast would. Alex, like OutKast’s BigBoi, will […]

Somewhere around Season Five of The Sopranos, mob boss Tony Soprano asks his psychiatrist, “Whatever happened to the strong, silent type?” Here’s one answer to that question: Ryan Gosling’s performance in Drive. Awkwardly taciturn in many scenes and utterly wordless in others, Gosling’s nameless Driver has a ruthless economy of both word and action. As an action movie, Drive is patiently paced; as a love story and character study, it is almost too sparse to parse. Since this is TTAC, however, we’ll mostly talk about the cars and the driving…

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