2002 Nissan Xterra on 2040-cars

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Syrena Sport returns as rebodied Nissan 370Z

We wouldn't hold it against you if you'd never heard of the FSO Syrena Sport. FSO built the long-enduring Syrena for some 17 years nonstop, and while the machines were mostly plodding family sedans, engineers at FSO did create one version with a bit more zest. The Syrena Sport was a two-door coupe that borrowed design cues from Ferrari and was powered by a two-cylinder, air-cooled boxer engine. While originally intended for production, economic woes kept the machine from ever seeing the light of day.
Now, the Syrena Sport is back, though in a slightly different configuration. Entrepreneur Rafal Czubaj has resurrected the name for a special one-off creation designed by Pavlo Burkatskyy. This time around, there is no oddball boxer under the hood, however. Czubaj chose to use the underpinnings from the Nissan 370Z, complete with its 3.7-liter V6 engine. Buyers can choose between a 330-horsepower tune or a 450-hp iteration, and with a curb weight of 2,865 pounds, the car should be plenty quick. Expect acceleration to 60 miles per hour in around 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 180 mph.

Total auto recalls already on record pace in 2014

If you've noticed that there have been more recalls than usual this year, you may be on to something. According to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the US market is on pace to break a record for recalls. In 2013, 22 million cars were recalled. We're only a third of the way through 2014, though, and we've already halved that figure, with 11 million units recalled. That's wild.
Considering the past few months, it shouldn't be a surprise that General Motors is leading the charge, with six million of the 11 million units recalled coming from one of the General's four brands. Between truck recalls, CUV recalls and the ignition switch recall, 2014 hasn't been a great year for GM.
Other recall leaders include Nissan (one million Sentra and Altima sedans), Honda (900,000 Odyssey minivans), Toyota (over one million units in a few recalls), Volkswagen (150,000 Passat sedans), Chrysler (644,000 Dodge Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs) and most recently, Ford (434,000 units, the bulk of which were early Ford Escape CUVs). So while it's been a bad year for GM so far, its competitors aren't doing too well, either.

Autoblog Podcast #317

Mitsubishi Mirage, Toyota thinks of beefing up US production, Marchionne on Alfa, Dart and minivans, Ford Atlas concept, Honda Gear concept
Episode #317 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Jeff Ross and Michael Harley bookend the other podcast topics with a pair from the Montreal Auto Show, the Mitsubishi Mirage and Honda Gear concept, and in between we talk about Toyota building all its US-market cars stateside, Hyundai building a Nurburgring test facility, Sergio Marchionne's latest words about Alfa Romeo, Dodge Dart powertrains and the future of Chrysler vans. Some chatter about the Ford Atlas concept finishes up the meat of the 'cast and then we wrap with your questions. For those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Keep reading for our Q&A module for you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #317: