Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Tony Stark trades his Audi for mystery Acura in The Avengers

Tony Stark trades his Audi for mystery Acura in The Avengers
Next summer, when The Avengers opens to packed multiplexes, playboy billionaire Tony Stark will be rolling in a trick new ride. After driving an Audi R8 in the two Iron Man features, Stark apparently switches to a never-before-seen Acura sports car.

There’s a very good reason for this.

Movie sponsorship deals notwithstanding, Stark and his fellow superhero companions starring in The Avengers have been called together by the government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. And S.H.I.E.L.D agents, who first appeared in the recent Thor and Captain America films, all drive Acuras.

It has been reported that Acura spokesman Gary Robinson has said, "As you may know, Acura has been in the Marvel Comics Universe films as the official car of their fictional law enforcement agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. That relationship continues for The Avengers.

The open-top sports car that was photographed yesterday is a one-off, fictional car that was made just for the movie and will not be produced.

That said, as you may also know, our CEO has said publicly that we are studying the development of a new sportscar, but we can't say any more about it at this time."

Mr. Robinson also said that he's unable to tell us any specifics about the use of the car in the film beyond what's suggested in the photos, and that Acura itself won't know the full extent of the car's appearance in The Avengers until the film's release next spring.

[Source: Autoblog.com] [Photo Credit: WENN.com]

The Best Cars For The Buck

Consumers always seem to be overly focused on getting a great price for their purchases. “You can cut an amazing deal, but it’s not an amazing deal if you hate the car,” says Mike Quincy, an automotive specialist at Consumer Reports. Buying a car is thus a very personal decision and there are many factors consumers should consider. But for those who are after a great deal, Forbes reports that a good rule of thumb is to look for cars with the best history of reliability and the lowest overall cost of ownership. The publication ranked the best cars for the money using reliability and ownership cost data from Consumer Reports. First they selected vehicles with the five highest reliability ratings in their segments (small car, family car, luxury SUV, etc.); then they evaluated their ownership costs. Then they chose the vehicles with the best balance between predicted reliability and low ownership costs in their respective segments to come up with their list of the Best Cars for the Buck.

Vehicles that made the top 10 list include the Honda Fit, Honda CR-V, Acura TL and Acura RDX.

[Source: Forbes]