As a kid, I remember playing a little game to help pass the time on road trips: every time something low, wide and red drove past I’d shout “Ferrari!” and laugh as the other kids in the car got whiplash trying to catch a glimpse of the Corvette, Trans-Am, or 3000GT I’d purposefully misidentified. Perhaps Hofele had that game in mind when it designed this R8-alike-ish bodykit for the A5. Of course, it’s also possible that they just though it looks good. You never know with tuners.

Well, I didn’t exactly say it was the truck’s propulsion engine. But take a good look at this picture, especially the cab of the truck way down in front and low, in order to get the proper scale of the payload on this mover of prime movers. More info on this mammoth straight-eight and the world’s largest diesel engines as well as the Eugene variation on this theme after the jump:

I know Ed isn’t a big fan of goofy pictures like this, but he’s up on Mt. Hood skiing in fresh powder and I’m here feeding the hungry monster. This photo just speaks to me very deeply; directly to my subconscious, actually. So I’ll try to do it justice with some profound analysis:

While reading through some of our analysis of Chrysler’s five-year plan, you may have found yourself wondering “what did the Pentastar boyz do to convince you of their company’s viability plan besides flash PowerPoint slides at you for seven hours?” To fully comply with TTAC’s stringent disclosure standards, we present Chrysler’s material compensation for the seven hours that auto journalists most wish they had back.

Oooh, look! It’s another official VW sketch of its North America and China-only, Passat-replacing New Midsize Sedan (NMS). Never mind product strategy, on a clear day will you be able to see out those windows? Hit the jump for the old official sketch. For contrast. Ish.

See where I’m going with this?

From the Lotus press release:

Translated as ‘dark’ from Italian, the name ‘Scura’ reflects the stealth character of this already fierce looking Lotus and its stunning soft-feel matt black paint finish. Limited to just 35 cars globally, this Exige evokes a desire to ‘indulge your dark side’. This is a serious looking car and enhancements to performance and a reduction in weight from the production level Exige S means that the Exige Scura demands to be driven by a serious driver.

7tune is celebrating the shockingly unnecessary with a look into the world of Prius tuning. And AMS’s first-gen Prius “Terra” bodykit is by far the pick of the litter. But hold onto your comments until you see the front end….

In our Regal-welcoming thread, Martin Schwoerer noted that the Insignia is smaller inside than the Cruze. And guess what? He’s right (trust but verify). The German-market Cruze has 963 mm (37.9 inches) of rear kopffreiheit, while Insignia comes in at 910 cm (35.8 inches) according ( PDF) to the guys at motor-talk.de (who cite sources ). These same resourceful forum denizens also dug up the range of distances between the rear and front seats on the Insignia and some competitors and by comparison, Insignia rear seating isn’t sitting pretty.