Another Movie, The New 300, and Turbo Heresy?

Greetings followers of Tuned, Wallio back with another video! (Can you believe it? I can't). This is a quickie, but it is what will hopefully be the first in a series of stupid PSAs. This one is kind of an inside joke, so you may not get it, but if you do, you'll laugh yourself stupid.

So here it is, PSA #1 Don't Buy From Royer! (should be obvious really.......)

Bit of house keeping on our first video: I forgot to post music credits at the end of it. That's obviously a no-no and was an oversight on my part. Obviously, they're not my songs. They are Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" over the opening, and Bowling for Soup's "High School Never Ends" during the closing credits. Fear not as I gave appropriate credit for the music in this video.
Ok now the biggest new release from the weeks we were off was the unveiling of the new Chrysler 300C SRT8, as seen below.

First the good: It looks great, very badass. Its hemi engine has been stroked to 6.4Litres (roughly 400ci) and puts out a quite respectable 465bhp. It also has an adaptive suspension with active yaw control. So the suspension will be luxurious when you want it to be, but hard as a rock when you drop the hammer.

The bad? Well the 300C has always had a bit of an identity crisis. Its more like a European luxury saloon than a muscle car, but its was never well regarded in that bracket, as it was considered too MUCH like a muscle car. So Chrysler has said the hell with it and made it a full blown hot rod. But its not as easy as that. Its too big, too heavy, and too comfortable to be a muscle car. Its suspension is also far too complicated and there are too many electronics (muscle cars are supposed to be bare bones remember) and its 8-speed gearbox puts it in Grand Tourer territory. So does the rumored $65,000 price tag.

Even though it doesn't know what it wants to be, and even though there are prettier two door cars that will go as fast. I still want one. Because above all else its cool, and hey, its "Imported from Detroit".

Let's switch from imports to exports. I keep hearing that Detroit is going to get serious about exporting its flagship cars outside of the US. More specifically the Mustang and Corvette. This poses a problem, however. Europeans don't like American cars, more specifically American engines. Huge, pushrod motors just don't fly across the pond, where its all small displacement turbos with DOHC and direct injection. So to counter act this both Ford and GM are introducing smaller turbo lumps for their bread and butter before export.

Sources tell me the 2014 Stang (the 50th anniversary model no less!) will see a 1.5litre turbo I-4 as an entry level lump. It will produce between 230-275bhp. The V6 will remain, putting out roughly 325bhp, and the 5.0 and 5.4 V8s will round out the line-up (the 4.6 will be dropped and the Boss 302 won't be exported).  Also for the first time ever, you will be able to buy a right-hand drive Mustang.

Chevy is rumored to be putting a 3.0 Litre DOHC TurboV8 spinning to around 10,000rpm in the new C7 Vette. It will produce 450bhp and be the entry-level engine. This is also to boost Euro-sales and take on Jag, Ferrari, Mclaren and Lotus on their home turf. The C7 will also be available with right hand drive. However, both new motors will be sold in the US as more and more car makers move to a "world platform". Which means the days of building country specific cars will soon be ending. Whatever goes abroad, comes here as well, and vice versa. So tell me are small displacement turbos heresy in our muscle cars? Jury's still out, but I can't wait for the uproar over the C7 from vette enthusiasts.......

That's all for now folks, I'm editing a third movie (told you once we started, we'd be rolling) where Hollywood and I test our dailies. It had a rough outline (I hate to call it a script) so its much better than these two. It also features a cameo by the Future Ex-Mrs. Wallio!