Bonds New/Old Ride in Skyfall

      I recently saw the new Jame Bond movie, Skyfall. In my opinion, this is one of the best. Don't worry, this is not going to be a spoiler about what happens. This is strictly about the car Bond uses. Every big 007 fan knows the iconic cars for these movies come from Aston Martin. In recent Bond movies they used the Aston Martin DBS, but in this action packed movie they brought back the classic DB5. This was the  Aston that Sean Connery used in the second 007 Goldfinger. This was the first car to be filled with all types of gadgets, from smoke bombs to machine guns. I am not going to tell you what causes him to go back to the old school DB5. You will have to go see the movie for that.


side view of DB5

      In its hayday, the DB5 was a very powerful car. It had many features that other sport cars of that time did not have, such as power windows and locks. Its engine was a 6-cylinder, 4.3 litre that gave the car 282 horsepower. Its top speed is around 145 mph, which if you think about it, was fast for 1963. The directors of the Bond movies have always thought of this car as the perfect one to put machine guns, ejector seats and other futuristic gadgets in. The Aston Martin has become an icon of movie history, and I hope that they keep it in 007's future.


Interior of DB5

Engine





Scion's New Addition to the Sports World

       Recently, I was looking in Car and Driver and saw an ad for the new Scion FR-S. My first thought was that this car is one heck of a car! I was shocked by its sporty look. Its sleek curves are much different from Scion's usual boxy style. I think that it was good for Scion to stray away from that look and go for one that is easier on the eyes. After admiring its looks, I needed to know what kind of power the FR-S produces. The engine is a Subaru 2.0 litre, 4-cylinder boxer engine. For those who are not familiar with boxer engines, they are engines that have horizontally mounted cylinders instead of the usual vertical mounted configuration. This design makes the engine smooth and symmetric, which improves handling. The FR-S creates 200 break-horse power, which might not sound like much, but when you consider that it only weighs a little bit over 2,600 pounds, the FR-S will go! The interior of the FR-S is also sporty, with bucket seats and paddle shifters. The paddle shifters are a cool feature when combined with the automatic gearbox. The price for this car starts at a nice $26,055, which is a very good price for a car that looks this good. Feel free to tell me what you think of the FR-S, and if there are other cars that you would like me to explore, please let me know.



Pictures of FR-S

Boxer engine

Back of FR-S

Interior Driver Side

Side View
 

The First Few Miles

           Hello, and welcome to "Hitting the Road". As you maybe can tell, this blog is about cars. I will be talking about cars of the present, cars of the past, and probably some that will come in the future. My plan is to give you my opinion on what cars I think are the coolest. I will also do some price comparisons. My dream is to own some of the cars that I will be talking about. I have loved cars my entire life, and once you have a passion for something, you never let it go. I will never let go of my passion for cars. Something about the noise they make and the power they produce keeps me attached. Be forewarned.  I will not be talking about the Prius' or Prii or whatever they call them. This blog is all about muscle and horsepower. Feel free to leave comments related to cars and information that could help me with future blog posts. Please refrain from leaving comments that are non-constructive. I think that this will be a fun blog and I look forward to talking about cars with the rest of the car loving community.    
I will be using the website Car and Driver