1979 Chevrolet Malibu Classic Sport Coupe 2-door 4.3 With 350 Hp on 2040-cars

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Brief website update hints 2016 Chevy Volt will get 43 mpg, 106 MPGe

Customers in California can already order the 2016 Chevrolet Volt and be the first to own the new, range-extended EV in August. It appears there's now a possibility that buyers of the updated model might get slightly better economy than Chevy's initial announcement from the 2015 Detroit Auto Show in January, too. According to the eagle-eyed folks at GM-Volt.com, Chevy has been subtly tweaking the spec page for the 2016 Volt. It briefly showed the model getting 43 miles per gallon combined fuel economy and 106 mpge, rather than the originally released figures of 41 mpg and 102 mpge. Shortly afterward, the internal-combustion mileage returned to 41 mpg, but 106 mpge remained. A GM spokesperson told Hybrid Cars the changes happened by mistake. "We have not finalized numbers yet. We expect to announce in July." The economy isn't the only statistic to see an adjustment, though. The total range was reportedly briefly shown as 420 miles, and then returned to a 430-mile rating, according to Hybrid Cars. The Volt's output has also been slightly tweaked from the original figures. It's now displayed as 150 horsepower and 293 pound-feet of torque, versus the preliminary numbers of 149 hp and 294 lb-ft. These tiny changes likely have a negligible impact on real-world driving, but they suggest that Chevy's team is still working to squeeze as much as possible from the latest Volt's powertrain. If the final figures are coming in July, then the engineers still have just a few weeks to improve the ratings even more.

Junkyard Gem: 1985 Chevrolet Sprint

For in the 1985 model year, General Motors began selling Chevrolet-badged Suzuki Cultus hatchbacks in California. Sales of the cheap three-cylinder econobox in the rest of North America followed soon after (with the Canadian version known as the Pontiac Firefly), and did pretty well considering the crash in gasoline prices during the middle 1980s. Starting in 1988, the facelifted Sprint became the Geo (and, later on, Chevrolet) Metro. Here's one of the very first Cultuses sold on our shores, found in a San Francisco Bay Area car graveyard. Amazingly, the primitive rear-wheel-drive Chevrolet Chevette remained available all the way through 1987, competing with the thriftier front-wheel-drive Sprint in the same showrooms. For 1988, Pontiac started selling a rebadged Daewoo LeMans, so the Sprint/Metro never lacked for intra-corporate competition. Inside, you'll find the same stuff most mid-1980s Japanese econoboxes got: tough cloth upholstery and long-wearing hard plastics. Suzuki quality in 1985 wasn't quite up to Honda or Toyota levels, but you weren't paying Honda or Toyota prices for the Sprint. MSRP on this car started at $4,949, or about $12,000 in 2020 dollars. The cheapest possible 1985 Chevette cost $5,340, while a new no-frills Ford Escort would set you back $5,620. Subaru, however, could have put you in a punitively unappointed base-model Leone hatchback for just 40 bucks more than the Sprint that year. I think I'd have sprung the extra for a $5,348 Toyota Tercel, a $5,195 Mazda GLC, or— best cheap-commuter deal of all that year— the $5,399 Honda Civic 1300 hatchback. I was 19 years old and driving a Competition Orange 1968 Mercury Cyclone that year, and I recall feeling pity for Chevy Sprint drivers, new-car smell or not. Still, these weren't bad cars for the price, though a Sprint with an automatic transmission was a real character-builder. Got three cylinders and uses 'em all! 48 horsepower from this hemi-headed SOHC 1-liter. The Turbo Sprint — yes, such a car existed — had a howling 70 horsepower. The hood-latch release is a rectangular button that resembles a badge. 1985 Chevy Sprint Commercial The highest-mileage, lowest-priced car you can buy. 1985 holden barina commercial The Australian-market version was the Holden Barina, and the TV ads featured the Road Runner. 1983 SUZUKI CULTUS Ad In its homeland, this car got screaming guitars and a drive through New York City for its TV commercials.

Hot Wheels' Twitter-enabled vending machine coughs up free Camaro diecasts

There are still plenty of companies that haven't gotten the whole social media thing down pat yet, but Hot Wheels isn't one of them. During the recent Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, Hot Wheels created a lot of buzz for itself by using a vending machine filled with Chevrolet Camaro models, but instead of money to get the cars, show attendees just had to use Twitter.
To get the free car, people were asked to send a tweet to Hot Wheels Canada saying what they liked about the new Hot Wheels Edition Camaro, and including the #ChevyCIAS hashtag. This seemed to be a popular marketing tool, too, as AdWeek reports that the @HotWheelsCanada account more than tripled in followers during the course of the 10-day show. Looking ahead, this could open up even more innovative marketing possibilities using social media.
Check out the video posted below to watch how it works, and while the auto show has ended and the free-car giveaway has too, we're almost certain that some of the 1,500 freebies will make their way onto eBay.