Yes, we all hate the alphanumeric nomenclature, snaking over the auto industry like poison ivy. And with only so many letters and numbers, we always expect some repeats (Lexus LS/Lincoln LS, Chrysler 300C/Mercedes C300, BMW X5/Mazda MX-5). Has Hyundai gone a character too far? The car we North Americans know as the Veracruz is being introduced to Europe as the ix55. Not only is this a bizarre thing to say down at the pub (Oh, I drove my ix55), but it’s awfully close to, well, a lot of other cars. Hyundai’s new scheme for European car names is to begin with the letter “i,” because if it worked for Apple, it’ll work for them. Or Mitsubishi’s “i car.” The X we can assume refers to this vehicle being an AWD crossover, and of course the 55 is because it has a 5.5 liter V8. Erm, no. Instead, it sounds to me like a mish-mash of BMW (xDrive 50) and the 55 immediately conjurs memory of a trillion Mercedes AMG cars with 55 at the end, from C55 to E55 to S55 to CL55 to CLK55 to ML55 to G55). Besides, what was wrong with Veracruz?

Or the concept version of it, at least. Honda says what you see here (and what they will show at the Paris auto show) is 90% of what we can expect when they roll out the production version – on sale in the US next spring. While Honda has said it will be the best priced car in the segment (what segment? It’s the Prius and nothing else), many have estimated its price will be below $20,000. Unlike the first generation Insight, which was a 2-seat bicycle, this new one very much follows the Prius layout: 5 passenger, 5 door (that means hatchback), and lots of high-tech gadgets. Making those gadgets optional should help to add high-profit margin items to the sales sheet, as well. While we have no information on engine or mileage, I’d be willing to bet that the all important MPGs will be very impressive. Honda is hoping to sell 100,000 of these in the US per year, and another 100,000 per year worldwide. Something tells me that won’t be a problem at all.

A carbon fiber Formula 1 machine can sprint from 0 – 120mph in less than five seconds and survive crashes at 100. Sadly, the price of the hi-tech material is prohibitively expensive, restricted use to racing cars, luxury bicycles, boats and aviation. Now that those planes are getting long in the teeth, a German joint venture named CFK-Valley Stade reckons it can recycle carbon fiber (CF) from old Airbus frames for automotive applications. The project involves 77 (count ’em 77) research institutes and a major waste disposal company. Dow Chemical will be joining CFK-Valley Stade to build a plant to recycle more than 1k tons a year, starting (you guessed it) 2010. The exact chemical process is complex/boring, but the CF is shredded and subjected to pyrolysis. The fibers are then isolated and combed. The finished product is sub-aviation quality, but a lot cheaper. For cars, recycled CF may be used for interior parts, gas pumps, body parts or exterior mirrors. A VW spokesperson says at the expected lower price, CF will drift from its present applications in the company’s Bugatti and Lamborghini brands down market, to VW (SEAT?). Is this the antidote to the sad tendency of car companies to think thin, but build fat?

First it was hot tubs. Then jockey shorts. Now the latest threat to male fertility is heated seats. According to research published in New Scientist magazine (and reported by eGMCarTech.com ), heated car seats can toast one's testicles to the point that sperm production shuts down. While the ideal temperature for the little swimmers is 96 degrees Fahrenheit, test subjects found their family jewels were steamed to a toasty 99 degrees (don't ask me where they stuck the thermometer). Don't worry too much, though. Researchers do say for any real damage to take place, you'd have to be sitting on a heated seat "for a long time on a regular basis." Of course, if you habitually shoot blanks you should just have the balls to admit it instead of trying to blame it on your car…

Warning: you might want to turn down your volume when that Audi TT with a new turbo upgrade hits full boost. The last time I heard a whine like that was when the Pratt & Whitney engines on my jet spooled-up, developing 21k lbs of thrust apiece; and it only does 0 – 60 mph in about 15 seconds (and then 60 – 250 mph in another 15). Which brings me to my question. I've seen many a car "tuned" beyond belief, many with ridiculous body kits to emphasize the fact. How much tuning on a car it too much? When does the tuning destroy the car's original character and turn it into a peaky, unreliable mess? I like it when people modify cars, especially when it builds upon the car's strengths and tones down its weakness (like the above Audi). But looking around me on Friday nights, sometimes I think it gets a bit extreme. What say you?

Shaker asks:

I've been hearing about these systems that use hydrogen added to the intake systems of cars resulting in mileage gains of 20-30 percent. My engineering background tells me that this can't be the case (as you can't get "something for nothing"), but the latest spin that I've seen on the Web is that small amounts of added hydrogen somehow enhance the combustion of regular gasoline, so that a small "hydrogen generator" unit is sufficient. There's even a guy at our company (still hearsay) that claims to have increased the mileage of his Civic by 10MPG. I think this is very unlikely (if not impossible), but maybe your crew could debunk the myth, or find that there's some merit there.

So how about it? Do any of you have any experience with hydrogen injection or can explain how it could improve mileage? For that fact, have any of you ever used any gadget advertised to increase gas mileage that actually worked as claimed?

OK, someone needs to tell Ford's Presidente de las Americas that FoMoCo didn't invent direct-injection turbocharged engine technology. Oh wait, someone did. A comment underneath The Detroit News' article: "Why is Ford getting all this attention just for catching up with the rest of the automotive world? VW, Audi, Subaru, Renault and a number of other manufacturers have had turbocharged direct injection engines for years. While it's nice to see Fords pulled its head out of its corporate ass for once, it isn't like they've done anything original." In fact, The DetN reports that "Ford began working on EcoBoost more than seven years ago"– only to be stymied by the marketing guys. And now it's rush, rush, rush. All that said, it's also worth noting that Fields floored the Eco-Boosted MKS and then claimed "This will put a smile on your face. But you get 20 percent better fuel economy with 15 percent less CO2."  Note to Fields: not at WOT you don't.  

Want to see how wonderful EcoBoost is?  Click here.  

I like all these automotive technologies that make it possible for the government to spy on you: black box accident data recorders, OnStar vehicle monitoring (complete with built-in microphone and remote "slow down"), insurance-related transponders, etc. I like the assurances the companies provide that they will never share the information with anyone, ever, unless the government twists their arm. And I like not having any of it in my vehicle (when possible). BMW joins the no-thanks parade with a new feature in its next gen 7-Series. The gizmo's camera reads speed limit signs, compares GPS-stored speed limit data to your current speed, and then flashes the fact that you're speeding on the heads-up display. "The new BMW Speed Limit Display will significantly reduce the risk of drivers exceeding the speed limit by mistake,” BMW Group Australia Marketing General Manager Tom Noble tells WardsAuto. "The technology is an information system only and does not intervene in the control or speed of the vehicle in any way, the auto maker says." Whew!

By the end of this month, Chrysler will offer EVDO routers (that's for CDMA services Verizon, Sprint and Alltel) for their cars. This for a whopping $499 a pop. And then there's the monthly service fee– which could be as low as $30. Or whatever the major carriers charge (i.e. more like $60 a month). While you can pick up an EVDO computer modem for free at your local cell phone store, when purchasing a new car, a $500 option may not feel expensive. Then again, is Chrysler kidding? It's bad enough when the guy in front of me is trying to pair his Bluetooth headset to the phone while driving. Now he's going to be on G Chat and Facebook? The system might operate only when parked, at which point I'd just go inside whatever Starbucks I'm parked in front of and use their internet for free. Speaking as an incipient lawyer, how Chrysler's in-house counsel signed off on this project, I have no idea. 

An Aveo that sounds like a Corvette? The Detroit News says it's possible using technology developed by Eberspacher GmbH and its North American subsidiary after exhaustive research [sorry– couldn't help myself]. The system, called "ActiveSilence," goes Lotus' "Safe & Sound" system one better. It works by inserting a heat-resistant speaker into the exhaust system in lieu of a muffler. Then, depending on driver preference, sound waves from the speaker can either cancel engine noise completely or tune it for a variety of sounds from limo quiet to a roaring big block. Those who want to turn their ride into a rolling ghetto blaster can even blow music out their tailpipe. The system is ready for production but an Eberspacher spokesman said it would be two or three years before you'll see hear it on the road. Once that happens there's bound to be a booming business in downloadable sounds to personalize your car with the automotive equivalent of ring tones. But the burning questions is: will it include a jack so you can plug in your iPod?

CNet News reports a FasTrak/EZPass exploit from the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. Millions of older transponders in use have unencrypted RFID chips, allowing a malicious individual to steal ID's and use those accounts to get free tolls using a "cloned" transponder. Transponders can also be reprogrammed on the fly, wreaking all sorts of havoc down at Billing Central. Also, an "electronic alibi" could be created that could have a miscreant listed in the system has having paid a toll at a particular place and time when they were elsewhere. Newer transponders do have some security to prevent reprogramming, although this was also defeated. The hacker involved suggests inserting a switch to the keep the transponder from automatically activating, the less convenient alternative being the bag the unit came in or an aluminum foil wrap.

Ford's PR machine is working overtime. Before 10 AM, FoMoCo sent out seven press releases. The first missive trumpets the fact that the 2009 Focus will be available in a SEL trim line with a lot of standard stuff that's optional on other Focii. And all Focii will now have electronic stability control (standard on the Hyundai Elantra). The next release tells the world that $1,995 buys you a glass roof panel for your 2009 Mustang. Release three: The Blue Oval Boys are moving up the introduction of an "industry-first innovation" (the Blind Spot Mirror) by a year, and making it standard on the 2009 Edge. Release number four reveals the pains to which FoMoCo goes– "driving, shaking, baking and freezing the vehicle"– to keep the Flex from living up to its name. Another news flash! The Lincoln MKS is available in luscious White Chocolate, Sangria and Cinnamon (dieters can delight in Tuxedo Black Metallic, White Suede, Brilliant Silver Metallic, Smokestone, Light Ice Blue and Dark Ink Blue). The penultimate press release brags that the MKS "outsold the Acura RL, Infiniti M35 and Cadillac STS" in July, thanks to "unique marketing and education efforts underway since the vehicle was introduced in November." Finally, Ford wants us to know that their powertrain lineup "underscores four key pillars of the company's 'Drive one' communications effort: Drive Green, Drive Smart, Drive Quality, and Drive Safe." Interestingly it says nothing about driving me crazy. And the day's not over yet…

As 'Mater says in Cars, you hurt your what? I don't pretend to understand this hi-tech stuff, but I know a man who does. Know, I mean; not pretend to know. He's R. Colin Johnson of the EETimes (I wonder what he made of Wally's Eeeeeeva). Seems there's a nano (nano) technology breakthrough that lowers the cost of producing rare earth magnets (not magnets to pull Earth out of orbit, presumably). And that's a good thing, not a bad thing. "Rare earth magnets are essential to NASA and [the Defense Department] for small, high-performance motors and power generators that can operate in high-temperature environments," according to C.N. Chinnasamy of Northeastern University's Center for Microwave Magnetic Materials and Integrated Circuits (NUCMMMIC). "With our process, they can be manufactured much more economically." Got it? To paraphrase Ariel, oh Flounder, don't be such a nanoblade dipole! "Other techniques for creating supermagnets composed of nanoblade dipoles have succeeded for high operating temperatures, but the rare earth magnets performed poorly at start-up when the magnets operated at room temperature. However, Northeastern University researchers claim their formulation performs well both at room temperature and at very high operating temperatures, thereby permitting applications such as smaller motors with the same performance as larger engines." 

Inspired by the plight of blind and partially sighted pedestrians fearing hybrids running silently in EV mode, Lotus is set to replace the silent whoosh of a Prius' EV mode with some sort of engine noise. So how does Lotus' "Safe and Sound" system sound? In the videos provided by Lotus, it sounds a lot like a healthy four-banger. Hethel's engineers claim you could make your Prius sound like it's packing a desmo-head 1955 Mercedes 300 SLR engine or a breathed-on Chevy small block. Pity the poor gangsters of Agrestic who will lose their drive-by shooting advantages if Nancy Botwin upgrades her Prius with the Lotus system.

Click here for Lotus press release  

For the red-blooded enthusiast, it's the ultimate nightmare: a car that just doesn't want to be driven hard. For the under-frugal and over-cited drivers of the world, Nissan's ECO Pedal could be the mechanical conscience they need to adjust to our eco-friendly, speed-kills society. "Each time the driver steps on the accelarator (sic)," flubs Nissan's press release, "a counter push-back control mechanism is activated if the system detects excess pressure, helping to inform the driver that they could be using more fuel than required." Required for what exactly? An electronically-determined "optimal acceleration" based on transmission efficiency and fuel consumption rates. You know, like how polite people and Buick owners drive. Nissan claims that with the killjoy-graft "drivers can improve fuel efficiency by 5-10 percent, depending on driving conditions." Sadly, the intrusion is not limited to the gas-pedal recalcitrance. An "eco-driving indicator" on the dash stays green if your driving style does (get it?), but flashes and turns amber "to advise the driver of their driving behavior." Or remind the driver that they are merging onto an interstate. Luckily, you will still be able to eke whatever id-fodder is available to Nissan drivers who would consider this option by switching the nagging thing off. Nissan will "commercialize" the system in 2009, but they don't say what models it 'll be on. If it's cheap and it can be turned all the way off when the less-better angels of our natures need to have their way, it could be worth a look… if you're into that kind of thing.