The New Muscle

There is no match to the 60's muscle but Ford, GM, and Dodge are all trying to bring back the revolutionized, new muscle car of this century. We have all heard the hype for the new camaro coming out in the spring of 2009 and the convertible coming out the following year. GM definitely had to try to match the Ford Mustang which has hit the streets hard. There are so many Mustangs out now; the Roush, Saleen, Boss, and especially the new Shelby GT500 which is particularly outstanding. I have been lucky enough to have driven the new "Eleanor" and I will be the first to tell you that you better be able to handle a lot of muscle. This car will break lose going into third gear with no problem. This is a very sweet car but it gets pricy to get one of the high-end Mustangs. The GT500 starts around $42,000 but it has a 500 horse 5.4L supercharged/intercooled V8. Then there is always the huge step up to the GT500KR that is marketed at $79,995. The Dodge Challenger is also out now with the SE, R/T, and the SRT8. The SRT8 has a 420 horse 6.1L HEMI V8. This car takes the look of the older muscle cars much better than the other in my oppinion. Finally the brand new Cheverolet Camaro that comes out in '09, my personal favorite. The lines of this car and the interior could attract all kinds of customers. The RT, LT, and SS will all come out to match and compete with these other muscle cars. It's going to be a new life on the roads with these three comparing themselves. The high-end Camaro will have a 422 horse 6.2L V8. They all compare nicely, you can only choose by your personal preference for the makes or the looks of these cars. All these cars are a great attempt to "bringing back" the old muscle cars. The fun is back on the roads with these exensive toys. If you are planning on buying one of these cars, you might want to purchase a nice radar detector as well.

What's going to be your first mod?

Did you just get your very own car? Wondering what you’re going to do to it first? Nowadays, the first mod that people are doing to their cars is installing high-end sound systems (massive 15” subs, loud speakers, tweeters, etc.). But sometimes people can go way overboard when they don’t even need to. I put subs in my car about 2 years ago. I thought I needed all this power and all I did was look at the wattage and how loud my subs were really going to get. But that’s were I went wrong. I soon found out that a lot of power isn’t necessarily the best thing to look for. My trunk would rattle and it would sound like crap from the outside but sound completely different on the inside. Let me be the one to say that rattling trunks are not cool. Distortion is not cool and it makes you look stupid because people think you’re just this idiot who just doesn’t know what they’re doing. Here’s some simple advice that will help you make the right choice of subs for your type of car. If you love bass like I do you will want to defintiely have power, but you don’t need two 15s to get you that. A nice set of 12’s or 10’s will do (make sure though that you get a amp that will supply enough power, otherwise you could end up damaging your subs which you don’t want). Now, depending on what size car you have, you will want to fit the subs to your car. For example, don’t try to squeeze two 15 inch subs into a little sub compact. Save the 15’s for the big Tahoes and Expeditions. You will hear the same sound in your car, don’t worry about that. Now that you have what type of subs you want, focus on the frequency, ohms, and all the other little items that go along with it. Lower ohms equal more power, wider ranges of frequency equal more sounds coming from your subs, and look at the RMS of the subs not the peak power. RMS is how much power it can put out for an extended period of time. To sum it up, do your research. Subs can get expensive but you can a decent pair of subs that put out the sound you want for a fairly reasonable price.

Hyundai comes to play

The recent craze in cars is sedans that double as performance vehicles. The big players include Nissan with their new Maxima, BMW with their 760 Li, and Mercedes-Benz with their AMG class just to name a few. Hyundai is not a name you would expect to see on this list of luxury/ performance cars, but rather on a list of cars with great fuel economy. The addition of the Hyundai Genesis shook this up a little bit. Hyundai is known for producing cheaper, efficient cars, but nothing really luxurious or fast. The Genesis is both of these things packed into a surprising deviation from Hyundai’s boring past… It combines luxury features like leather and navigation with a beastly 368 horsepower V8 engine that gets the driver to 60mph in less than 6 seconds. The top package starts under $40,000 making it one of the least expensive luxury/ performance options available. Notice the lack of a Hyundai emblem on the front of the grill... If you didn't know, would you really think this is a Hyundai?

Just to give you an idea of exactly how fast this car is, this is a video of the Genesis racing a BMW 750i.

"a coffee shop for car talk"

Hold the Brakes is a blog for the ever growing car community. Readers can find posts about new cars, classic cars, tuners, mods, or anything else that may pertain to the automotive world. Part of what makes Hold the Brakes so special is the fun and relaxing atmosphere. On any given day, one can find a picture of a hilarious riced out Ford Taurus, the sexy body lines of a Lambo, or a cool new thing to do to your very own car. If it’s about vehicles you’ll find it here. One feature we will begin with is our “Ricer of the Week” which will showcase the funniest riced out car of that particular week. Here at Hold the Brakes our mission is to deliver information about new high profile cars, as well as remembering the classics of yesterday, the unique mods (both funny and serious) drivers have done to their cars, cool things you can do to your car, and provide an enjoyable place for readers to experience both the serious, and the not so serious world of cars and motor vehicles. You can call Hold the Brakes, a “coffee shop for car talk.” ZR1-Vette, AMG12, and Camaro, will be running Hold the Brakes. If you love our blog or want to suggest something just let us know by commenting. We’d love to hear what you have to say. From all of us at Hold the Brakes, enjoy!