Marvel & Toyota Team Up
This has got to be one of the quirkier things to come out of Toyota's big marketing push for the Yaris - The "What The..?!" crew from Marvel and Toyota send Bruce Banner on a road trip with Dr. Strange to Cleveland, Ohio. For one thing I had no clue "What The..?!" made the jump from comic book to youtube videos, but I have become an instant fan of the Robot Chicken-like shorts. Obviously, Toyota is targeting a younger market with their newest Yaris with their meme contest at I Can Has Cheezeburger? and more videos at Funny or Die. For the most part, I think they have done some great ads for their "It's a Car!" campaign and this collaboration with Marvel is pure brilliance. Much better than the "Fit is Go!" campaign that came out of Honda. Anyhow, check out episode 1 of Marvel Superheroes: What The...?! - The Incredible Drive and get ready to go on a road trip! Come on Bruce! WEEEEEEE!
New Car in the Import Junkiez Garage
Looks like Christmas came a little early for us! I took a quick stroll halfway up the California Coast and picked up a 9th generation Civic. Instead of waiting 3+ months for an allocation, it took us about two week to find this little guy, well maybe not so little as the Civics have grown into the slot the Accords once held. Yup this Honda head spent time and money to actually buy a 9th generation Honda Civic Si - the sedan kind with the navigation. Yes the same 9th gen Civic that most reviewers and auto blog sites were hugely disappointed with, because not much has changed from the previous generation or at times much worse. The same 9th gen Civic that was stopped in the middle of its development to "cheapen" the car for American buyers who just saw the housing bubble burst in 2009 while in Japan they decided to nix the entire line. The same 9th gen where the Honda CEO, Takanobu Ito, took responsibility for the Civic's poor reception in North America while the President of American Honda, Tetsuro Iwamura, suggested that the company would consider moving the Civic's mid-model refresh from the usual model year of 2014 to 2013 (which means production would begin by the end of next summer) to fix the decontented Civic. There are no Car and Driver Best awards, MotorTrend COTY, or Consumer Reports recommendations for the line. Specifically for the Si, the shoehorning of an Acura TSX engine into the tiny Civic didn't win over the hardcore enthusiasts, just alienated them even more since the introduction of Honda's green initiative. Even with all that and a lack of an actual temp gauge, I still wanted one.
Hit the jump to find out why...
2011 LA Auto Show: Mario Kart 7
One of the most packed displays at the 2011 LA Auto Show wasn't the new Honda CR-V or even the Toyobaru Twins. It was Mario & Luigi displaying their karts from the just released Mario Kart 7 on the Nintendo 3DS. These karts are the real deal go karts that top out at 35 mph. West Coast Customs was entrusted by Nintendo to build these life-sized Mario karts for the debut of the 3DS game. Too bad Santa ain't got the pull to give me one of these little karts. I'd ditch my car in a heartbeat to go around town throwing banana peels and oil slicks at the other cars. Oh well, I guess I can settle for just the video game. 
Better Late Than Never: Scion FR-S’ First Drift
Just thought I would put this here in reference to this post "The Next Hachi Roku (AE-86)?". What was that exactly? The Speedhunters got some footage of Formula DRIFT driver, Ken Gushi, testing out the drifting abilities of the Scion FR-S for the first time. So even though the vid has made it's way through the Internet a couple weeks earlier, a word is a word and here's a glimpse of what the Toyobaru can do...on a wet track.
via the SpeedHunters
2011 LA Auto Show: The Gallery
Did a quick run through of the LA Auto Show that occurred last month during Thanksgiving week. Pretty much if it was a hybrid, electric, or SUV vehicle it made a debut at this show. There was a small spattering of sporty compact cars though, so all in all it was an alright show. The aftermarket area was alright and we didn't even bother stepping into the showroom of cars we would never have a chance to obtain in my lifetime. Check out the gallery after the jump to spot what's up and coming with the North American auto industry.
Update: Nissan Juke-R… almost done!
The final touches are being put on the Nissan Juke-R, the fastest crossover vehicle in the world.
and now some testing.
-infamousjj