VW Builds the World’s Coolest SUV

The Paris-Dakar Rally is a race so crazy competitors have been taken out by land mines. To say it’s grueling is like saying Carrie Prejean likes shooting video. Just what sort of vehicle is required to take on a race where normal conditions include searing heat, towering dunes, ginormous rocks and weather conditions that would give a crab boat captain pause?

Volkswagen has the answer in their new Touareg for the next Dakar.

The cars, trucks, bikes and buggies that run in the Dakar rally are tech porn of the highest order. Take a look at what VW has to offer for the 2010 running of the race, which will be run through Argentina and Chile. (The name comes from the days when the race ran from Paris to Dakar, Senegal.) The Germans made history last year by taking the checkered flag in the first diesel-powered entry in the automobile class. It entered the diesel ‘Reg in the Baja 1000, too.

This time around, the Touareg features such cool features as a carbon fiber-reinforced outer skin that weighs a mere 50 kilograms, a braking system capable of exerting pressure equal to that of 700 meters below sea level and a data acquisition system that can store 250 MB of data that is read and analyzed by race engineers at the close of a days stage.

Just the run of the mill specs for the Touareg shows you how serious of a challenge the Dakar is. The VW is powered by a 2.5-liter five-cylinder TDI diesel engine with two-stage turbocharging system with exhaust turbochargers and intercooling. The mill, mounted longitudinally behind the front axle, puts out approximately 280 horsepower and more than 440 pound-feet of torque. Gotta love diesels for buckets of torque.

All that power and grunt is put to the ground — no matter what kind of ground it is, tarmac, sand, gravel, rocks, you name it — via a longitudinally mounted sequential five-speed gearbox and a permanent all-wheel-drive. More slick hardware includes selectable viscous locking mechanical differentials and an hydraulically actuated three-plate ceramic clutch. Stopping power comes from 320 mm ventilated disc brakes squeezed by aluminum calipers with six pistons up front and four out back. The Dakar Touareg even has power-assisted rack and pinion steering.

All this is done in a surprisingly lightweight package that tips the scales at just under 4,000 pounds. The Dakar Touareg can hit 100 km/hr from a standstill in 6.1 seconds on firm ground and tops out at , on hard ground, and will top out at approximately 118 mph, which may not seem like much.

Unless you’re running flat-out through the desert.

Photos: VW

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Going Rogue in a Luxury Hybrid Snowmobile

When we heard that Sarah Palin got a $1.25 million advance for Going Rogue, we wondered how she was going to spend the loot. With a new wardrobe in the closet and donors clamoring to her PAC like cranky old people to a town hall meeting, we think it’s time for her to listen to her new pal Oprah and live that best life now.

We’ve got just the thing: a luxury snowmobile snow machine just perfect for a fabulously wealthy Alaskan former First Family.

The i-Scoob (Get it? No? Sound it out! Ice cube — good one!) is a concept from designer Jeff Darling. It’s a plug-in hybrid with a well-appointed interior that can also be hosed out. It’s designed to be as capable carrying precision instruments to measure the thinning permafrost as it is hauling bullet-riddled polar bear carcasses. Plus, there’s an electric-only feature for crossing those especially environmentally sensitive areas of the tundra on the way to a seal hunt.

It’s purely a concept — even in Alaska it’ll never see the light of midnight, but gosh is it fun.

Depending on the time of year, Darling said that on-board solar panels may be useful for when all other fuel sources are expended. “While there may not be much sun in the areas the i-Scoob would operate, every little bit helps,” he said. “Even if it takes a couple days to generate enough power to finish the journey it’s better than being permanently stuck.”

The passenger compartment of the i-Scoob is enclosed by a front-hinged capsule, and every hollow compartment is filled with foam for insulation and flotation. “Should the vehicle fall through ice into frigid water it will remain afloat,” Darling said. “The foam also helps insulate the drivetrain components and occupants from the harsh environment.” A glazed cockpit traps warm air from the sun, providing skeptics a real-life demonstration of the greenhouse effect.

Steering and acceleration are via joystick, while a radio and climate control keep passengers comfortable and entertained.

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A Cayenne Makes Hybrids Hot

LOS ANGELES — Porsche hopes to spice up the luxury hybrid market with a gas-electric version of the Cayenne sport utility vehicle.

The German automaker brought the latest prototype of the Cayenne S Hybrid to the Los Angeles Auto Show and said we’ll see it “sometime next year.” Although hybrids still comprise less than 3 percent of all vehicles sold, Porsche sees that changing and wants a piece of the action.

“Hybrids are a small but growing segment of the automotive market and we believe there’s room for a Porsche hybrid,” said Detlev von Platen, president and CEO of Porsche North America.

Porsche believes adding an electric motor and lithium-ion battery to the Cayenne will boost its fuel efficiency to 24 mpg. Further development could raise it to 26. The goal is to make the vehicle 25 percent more fuel efficient than the gasoline Cayenne S, which gets 13 in town and 19 on the highway.

Porsche is using a full hybrid system, so the Cayenne S Hybrid will be able to run on gasoline or electricity or a combination of the two. It will put the electric motor between a 3.0-liter supercharged engine and an eight-speed Tiptronic S transmission. Porsche says a full hybrid system is most easily integrated into the Cayenne platform. To further increase fuel efficiency, Porsche will give the hybrid electric power steering, brake vacuum, air conditioning and transmission oil pumps.

No word on the price, but the Cayenne S starts at $60,700 so it won’t be cheap. It also won’t be the only four-door hybrid out of Stuttgart.

“Our engineers are already working on a hybrid Panamera,” von Platen said.

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Tata Nano Hybrid In The Works

Here at Autopia, we have been fascinated by Tata’s Nano micro-car for some time. On the one hand, it seems like a way to bring cheap transportation to the masses. On the other, does the world’s environment really need more masses of cars? What if the Nano wasn’t a conventionally powered car, but a hybrid? That was, at first, a rumor at the L.A. Auto Show, but now it looks to be a reality.

At first there were rumors from our friends at Left Lane News that Ratan Tata had let slip to a Korea business paper that his company’s upcoming Nano micro-car would also be available as a hybrid. Then Mr. Tata confirmed that the Indian automaker intends to launch a hybrid version of the Nano. The Nano, which has been billed as, “The World’s Least Expensive Automobile” looks to also add the name of “The World’s Least Expensive Hybrid.”

Ratan Tata said that the hybrid Nano is intended to be ‘Greener and more Eco- friendly’, according to Ub News. The news outlet also noted that Mr. Tata is concerned about the expected rise in pollution levels due to the influx Nanos on the roads of India. StockWatch India also reported on the upcoming hybrid variant, and in addition to noting that Tata has already delivered 10,518 Nanos by October, that the company is reportedly working on the use of bio-diesel and ethanol in other Tata brands.

The Daily Green, while gushing over Honda’s P-NUT and other high MPG rides at the L.A. show also mentioned the hybrid Nano, but cautioned that the price would likely be more than the standard Nano’s $2,500. Other Indian news outlets are trumpeting the announcement, and even major American channels such as CNN have picked up the story.

Here at Autopia, all we can say is: Good! It will be better to have a gajillion hybrid Nanos running all over the streets of Udhagamandalam and Visakhapatnam than a bunch of gas burners. Now if they could just give the thing a little more style.

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