We’ve seen several vehicles come out of high profile tuning garages lately, namely John Hennessey’s, but Roush engineering has brought something a bit different to the table; a propane powered Mustang drag racer.

The beastly 5.4-liter V8 engine based on the Ford GT engine powering this thing is capable of over 600hp all thanks to propane power.

The racer isn’t actually done yet but they plan on having it ready to race in the 2010 NMRA competition. However, we will get a glimpse of it sometime this week during the SEMA show, but that car will be based on a 2005 Mustang, not a 2010.

It seems that Enterprise, one of the nation’s largest car rental agencys, has been getting a ton of bad publicity due to a supposed “glitch” in their system. As the story goes, Enterprise purchases 66,000+ Chevy Impalas without the standard side impact air bags hoping to lower the cost. This is all fine and dandy considering they saved an estimated $11 million+ but what comes next wasn’t so dandy.

After the cars had their run, the company proceeded to sell 745 of the 66,000 purchased Chevy Impalas to consumers without telling them the side impact air bag had been removed. In fact, they actually told consumers that the cars did have the airbag, which is where said “glitch” comes in.

Hoping to remedy this problem Enterprise has said they will purchase the cars back for $750 more than their Blue Book value. What do you say, loyal readers, do we forgive them?

via autoblog

While most car fanatics who watched Transformers have been focused on the Chevy Camaro (aka Bumblebee), others have had their eye on the ridiculously mean looking police car made from a 2005 Saleen Mustang.

Pictured above is said Barricade Mustang which recently sold for $36,000 over at icollector.com. For the record, this is one of the cars that was used actually used in the Transformers movie with only 2 similar cars in existence. Now all we have to do is wait for Saleen to release a special edition Transformers Barricade Mustang and we’ll be all set.

Hey, it was done with the Camaro, so why not the Mustang too?

GM is just starting to get their footing in the industrey back but that doesn’t mean they are prone to production problems. Their latest recall deals with 185,903 2004-2009 trucks including the Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, Isuzu I-280, Isuzu I-290, Isuzi I-350, and the Isuzu I-370.

This particular recall concerns the vehicle’s brake-lamp switch that, due to a production error, could possibly malfunction which means they either won’t work, or will stay lit while the car is on. This is a safety hazard because drivers behind a vehicle with a malfunctioning brake-lamp don’t know when the car is slowing down increasing the probability of a crash.

Like always, GM and the NHSTA say that you can bring your car to a local dealership to get the problem diagnosed and fixed if needed.

Subaru and the NHTSA have recently issued a recall for 15,633 Bajas of the 2005-2006 model year.

This recall will begin in September and focuses on potential cracking of Baja’s fuel hose connection to the fuel pump. If it were to crack it could lead to fuel leaking from the vehicle thus increasing the risk of a fire.

Subaru says that when they begin the recall owners of 2005-2006 Bajas will be able to bring their vehicle to a local dealership to get the problem inspected and fixed free of chrage.

And I thought Pontiac’s problem was widespread — Nissan has recently issued a recall dealing with Murano’s manufactured from 2003-2007, 362,981 to be exact.

This problem focuses on the intake air ducts with could potentially become seperated from the intermediate resonator found in the air intake system due to accelerated aging of the duct material. This problem could potentially have the Murano’s stalling out while in use making for a huge safety hazard.

Nissan says that Murano owners should have a chat with their dealers who will fix the problem free of charge.

Read (KickingTires)

Hyundai and the NHTSA have recently announced not one, not two, not even three, but four separate recalls for four seperate problems.

First up is the motherload, affecting over 500,000 vehicles from 2005-2008. Apparently, these units all share a potential problem with their stop lamp switches that could cause brake lights to not light up when the brake pedal is pressed.

Second, affecting almost 200,000 vehicles from 1999-2004 is a problem exclusive to states that salt their roads to melt ice. Apparently, these vehicle’s front sub-frames are sensitive to this salt and could potentially cause the lower control arm to separate from its mount. Yikes.

Third, affecting over 170,000 vehicles from 2001-2003, is another problem exclusive to states that salt their roads. Due to excessive corrosion caused by the salt these vehicle’s lower control arms have the possiblity of failure.

Lastly, affecting 85,000 vehicles from 2001-2003, is again for the salty states and deals with the rear trailing arms of the vehicle’s suspension failing due to, again, excessive corrosion.

Hyundai is telling everyone who meets the criteria to head to their local dealers where their vehicles will be inspected and repaired if need be.

Having recently been told by the government to prepare for a June 1st bankruptcy filing, GM has yet another problem on their hands. Recently issuing a recall for a staggering 1.5 million vehicles that deals with the engine possibly lighting on fire, the future looks grim for GM.

Apparently in late 90’s and early 00 model cars fittedwith a 3.8 liter V6 there is a chance that oil could be leaked into the exhaust manifold upon hard breaking. And with oil on the exhaust manifold comes the possibility of a spark that could spreak 

Some of these engines may leak engine oil that could end up on the exhaust manifold during hard breaking. If the manifold becomes hot enough, it could cause a fire to start which could then spreak to the spark plug wire channel which would cause all sorts of a mess.

GM is telling owners of these cars to bring them to the dealer immediately where they will be fitted with 2 spark plug wire retainers for free effectively squashing the problem.

Read (KickingTires)

Shopping for a car? If you are, given the current economic position, chances are you are looking for the cheapest one possible.

Good news for you then as Cars.com has recently put up an article detailing cars you can find for under $10,000. What’s included in the list you ask?

Well let’s see here, we have the 2009 Nissan Versa, 2005 Ford Escape, and the 2005 Mitsubishi Outlander, among other things. Why don’t you check it out? From mid-size compacts to full-sized pickups the list has just about everything covered for those who are on the market for a new car.

A steering wheel issue has forced Japan car manufacturer giant Toyota to pull out approximately close to 120,000 cars for brands that was divided between new model cars Reiz, Crown sedans and Lexus Luxury models.

Cars that were manufactured back in February, 2005 until October, 2006 seems to be the ones affected, owing to a probable defect that came about in their tie up with the FAW group during this period.

Considering the number of cars being recalled, that is indeed a lot. Just some days back, Toyota was announcing that it would be incurring its first-ever annual operating loss. With this recall, this is bound to toggle the figures more to the red.

Source

Time’s are changing, we have a black president, people are taking notice of their impact on the environemnt, and Barack Obama’s 2005 Chrysler 300C is on eBay. This probably comes as a result of his much publicized switch from a gas-guzzling 300C to a Ford Escape Hybrid.

The starting bid’s are $100,000 and the car has about 20,000 miles on it, so expect to be paying about $80,000 more than you would expect to pay for a similar car. Of course, this would probably go perfect in a collectors garage because in the future it’s sure to be worth a hell of a lot more than $100,000.

Got a bunch of money and want a peice of history? Head over to eBay motors and slap down a bid.

I know you love Range Rovers and so do I. I would understand how this news would affect your spirits. And especially if you happen to own one made during 2003-2005! Almost 20,000 units have been recalled as they may have misaligned front driveshafts. If you don’t take care of the problem that might result into an unwanted accident of some sort. There’s no point in endangering your family right? After January 6, 2009 you will be able to schedule appointments with Land Rover to repair yours. Hopefully nothing wrong will happen in the mean time.

via Good Car Bad Car

VW did have at least two famous cars which will always be remembered. The classic Beatle was revived while the also popular mini van wasn’t really revived.

VW had a 2001 Microbus concept which was supposed to enter production four years later in 2005. That never happen unfortunately. I’m sure there would have been quite a line of people interested in purchasing one.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that VW is reconsidering the Microbus project again and it appears that it would be built in the same platform as the new sedan which is going to be produced at VW’s Chattanooga. According to official VW sources, European production of the Microbus is a non starter. In the mean time Jill Bratina from the Volkswagen Group of America said that a second line out of Chattanooga is “conceivable in the foreseeable future.”

That leaves us with the choice of opting for an old van to hang around in, since no one is officially ready to say that the Microbus is going to actually see the light of day.

It seems that BMW has issued a recall on 200,000 of its vehicles due to the fact that the front passenger airbag may not deploy during a crash. Hmm, seems serious.

BMW goes on to say that the recall will effect the 2006 3 series, 2004-2006 5 series, and the 2004-2006 x3 SUVs.

Apparently, the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), has found that small cracks could develop in the seat detection unit that could lead to the airbag getting unintentionally deactivated. Luckily, BMW lets us know that no injuries or accidents have been tied to this problem.