turbo

Car Tech Live 239: Porsche Panamera Turbo S (podcast)

The most reliable cars are... Plus, the Nissan Leaf spawns a plug-in cousin, Ford stops your teen from texting while driving, a scathing report on red-light cameras, and we drive the Porsche Panamera Turbo S.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video)

EPISODE 239

SHOW NOTES

Put the pedal to the metal with Drag Racing for Android

Drag Racing for Android puts you in the driver's seat of your favorite street racer. With more than 50 real cars to choose from, dozens of upgrades, and a nearly unlimited pool of opponents, don't be surprised to find yourself behind the wheel for hours at a time.

The game offers four racing modes to choose from. You can Race Offline against the computer, Quick Race one-on-one against an online opponent, join the Pro League against a group of online competitors, or race against Friends. Also, you can choose either quarter-mile or half-mile races, with the shorter distance … Read more

Hennessey building 12 1000 horsepower CTS-V Coupes

If you've been eyeing a Cadillac CTS-V Coupe but feel like 556 horsepower just isn't going to cut it, perhaps Hennessey Performance's limited-edition Caddies are more your speed. The performance turning house plans to produce a dozen 1000 horsepower Twin Turbo CTS-V Coupes next year that have been customized inside and out.

The performance-tuning house has been offering 1000 horsepower Cadillacs for a while, but setting the limited-edition CTS-V apart from other souped-up Caddies is its modified body and custom interior. Like the V1000 upgrade offered on all CTS flavors, the sports coupe will be outfitted with … Read more

Seagate adds Turbo to its GoFlex family

If you've been in the market for a portable hard drive, you've surely heard of Seagate's GoFlex family. These portable drives offer not just storage space and portability, but also flexibility that others can't even come close to.

Today, the company adds another member to that series, the GoFlex Turbo Performance drive.

The new portable drive is similar, if not basically the same, as other drives in the family, such as the GoFlex Pro and the GoFlex Ultraportable, with one big difference. Its internal drive now spins at 7,200rpm (as opposed to 5,400rpm or slower as with previous models). Seagate says this helps boosts the drive's performance.

I got a hold of one a couple of days ago, and in our testing, the drive was indeed faster than previous models via USB 3.0. It wasn't the fastest we've seen, however, and when used with USB 2.0, the drive could use some improving. To make up for this, Seagate, for the first time, bundles with the drive's two-year warranty its SafetyNet data recovery services, similar to what ioSafe has for its disaster-proof external hard drives. … Read more

Conquer the world!

TurboRisk allows you to try your hand at world domination. Just like wielding global power, this freeware take on the classic board game quickly becomes addictive. Once you get started, it's easy to lose track of time with this game.

After a painless installation, we were presented with a colorful world map in a simple and uncluttered interface. TurboRisk uses just a handful of buttons, and it's clear what each one does. The object of the game is to conquer all the territories on the map. That seems pretty straightforward, but it isn't. Thank goodness there's … Read more

CNET Car Tech: 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo

The Kia Optima comes in three power trains, including a hybrid. But a V6 is not one of them, unlike its rivals Accord, Camry, and Fusion. What gives? Kia thinks a turbo 4 can do the job better. Brian Cooley takes you for a drive to check the tech.

You can also read CNET's full review of the 2011 Kia Optima SX Turbo here.

The 404 848: Where Jeff's still walking down 5th Avenue (podcast)

In the words of Governor Andrew Cuomo, we're all proud to be New Yorkers, but we reached a new level of social justice this weekend with the vote to legalize same-sex marriage. Indeed, Jeff may still be celebrating on 5th Avenue today following yesterday's gay pride parade.

We invite our old friend and colleague Joseph Kaminski, aka Ozone, to fill in as we chat about LGBT rights, Pixar's "Cars 2," a Black Eyed Peas video game from Ubisoft, and a lightbulb that can also transmit wireless audio to any room in your house.

The 404 Digest for Episode 848

Comparing news headlines: New York Post vs. New York Daily News. Google shuts down Health and PowerMeter. Your TV set-top box might cost you more on your energy bills than your refrigerator. Put your DVR on an energy diet. Black Eyed Peas finally get their own video game. New lightbulb carries wireless audio.

Episode 848 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Buick offers better fuel economy with direct injection

The new Buick lineup will offer big-engine performance with small-engine fuel economy thanks to the use of direct injection.

Direct injection works by using high-pressure direct injectors that deliver fuel to the point of combustion in the cylinder so fuel doesn't get left behind on manifold walls or evaporate up out of a carburetor. This process also reduces the temperature of the compressed mixture as the fuel evaporates, which enables a higher compression ratio, allows for more spark advance, and reduces fuel consumption.

"The beefier low-end torque and improved drivability of the direct-injected 2.0L turbo makes it … Read more

Ford announces 1.0-liter EcoBoost, its smallest engine ever

Ford's been taking advantage of its EcoBoost forced-induction technology to downsize engines across its line. V-8s give way to turbocharged V-6s. V-6s give way to turbo four-bangers. Continuing the trend, Ford has just announced the smallest engine it's ever built: a 1.0-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder engine.

Besides the obvious fuel savings from its lower displacement, Ford's new tiny terror packs in all sorts of economy-boosting technologies. For example, Ford's split cooling system helps the cylinder block to warm faster which helps to save fuel during the least efficient warm-up phase, especially in cold weather. The three-cylinder'… Read more