A planet in a two-star system can chaotically bounce between its stars for thousands of years before being ejected, a new study suggests.

This year´s commercials were racier and more sexually suggestive than ever, according to a TV watchdog group.

Not only will Mazda´s new CX-5 return class-leading fuel economy, but it will also be among the most affordable compact SUVs available. The automaker has just announced pricing for the 2013 CX-5, which starts at $21,490 including the $795 destination fee.

That price is cheaper than many of its competitors including the Toyota RAV4 ($23,460) and the Honda CR-V ($23,105), though the 2012 Hyundai Tucson is cheaper at $19,970. The CX-5´s price of entry lands you in the base Sport model with front-wheel drive and a six-speed manual. The Skyactiv-Drive six-speed automatic — optimized for fuel economy — costs $1400 more. Standard features include 17-inch rims, power windows, automatic headlight shutoff, a roof spoiler, tilt and telescopic steering, and auxiliary and USB jacks.  Jumping up to the all-wheel drive model with active torque split (available with six-speed automatic only) will cost you $24,140. A $400 Bluetooth Audio Package adds hands-free phone and audio streaming, HD Radio, and a 5.8-inch color info screen.

Next up is the CX-5 Touring, priced at $24,690 and $25,940 for the front and all-wheel drive models respectively. The six-speed auto is the only transmission choice. The Touring model includes the Sport´s Bluetooth Audio Package as standard as well as a power driver´ seat, rear backup camera, blind spot monitoring, and leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob. Options include a Moonroof/Bose Package ($1130) and a Technology Package ($1185), which adds navigation, Homelink, bi-xenon headlights, rain-sensing wipers, and alarm. Satellite radio is available for $525.

Finally, the range-topping Grand Touring model is priced at $27,840 and $29,090 for the front and all-wheel drive variants respectively. The Grand Touring gets 19-inch rims as well as a long list of niceties including leather, heated front seats, dual-zone climate control, satellite radio, and a Bose sound system. A Technology Package similar to the Touring model is available for $1325, but also adds an advanced keyless entry system.

Last month, Mazda announced that the CX-5 will return a class-leading 35 mpg on the highway when equipped with the front-wheel drive and manual transmission. Ford, however, is confident that the upcoming 2013 Escape equipped with the 1.6-liter, four-cylinder EcoBoost engine should return hybrid-like fuel economy numbers.

Source: Mazda

Country music star Randy Travis was arrested in a Dallas suburb Monday on suspicion of public intoxication.

Last week, Kia released a teaser sketch of its latest show star, the Kia Track’ster Concept, and now it has revealed the first photo of the Track’ster, a Soul-based concept car that is set to debut later this week at the 2012 Chicago auto show.

The prior teaser sketch showed that the three-door Track’ster had a sloping roofline, big showy wheels, and an aggressive scallop in the front fender. This rear shot shows the car has a squat stance, with flared fenders leading into a greenhouse that tapers at the top. Twin round exhaust tips, bracket-shaped taillights, and vents in the bumper further dress up the Track’sters rear. The car is loosely based on the production Kia Soul hatchback.

Kia says the Track’ster, which is the brainchild of the company’s California design studio, is a performance-themed variant shows “what the Soul could someday be.” Lead designer Tom Kearns echoed those sentiments, saying the Track’ster has a “rebellious, individual, and urban character.”

The company says the Track’ster concept would be powered by a gasoline engine with about 247 hp on tap. However, there are no plans to put a model like this into series production. The concept car will be unveiled publicly later this week in Chicago.

Source: Kia

The celebration over the Giants win at the Super Bowl last night can continue on your passenger or commercial vehicle, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today.

"I join all New York Giant fans in congratulating the team and staff, especially native-New Yorker coach Tom Coughlin, on this great Super Bowl victory," Governor Cuomo said. "We are all very proud of the dedication, hard work and grace under pressure that enabled the Giants to bring the Vince Lombardi Trophy back to New York."

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Mercedes-Benz announced a new compact delivery van, revealing sketches of the future small commercial vehicle. Called the Citan, the van´s name is an amalgamation of the words -œcity-� and -œtitan.-� Mercedes-Benz says the vehicle will be developed with customer requirements in mind, and will debut at the IAA Commercial Vehicle Show in Hanover, Germany this September.

Unveiled at Mercedes´ design center in Sindelfingen, the concept sketches show a vehicle similar in design to the Renault Kangoo. This could be a clue that the van is a result of the Daimler-Renault/Nissan alliance of a few years ago. The Citan will join Mercedes´ other commercial van offerings, which include the Vario, Sprinter, and Vito. Mercedes plans to broaden its range in the lower-weight van class with the Citan. Mercedes says that class was once a small niche in the commercial van market in the mid--˜90s, but has since grown to around 700,000 units annually today. With the Citan´s introduction, Mercedes hopes to significantly boost sales, and gain 4-5 percent market share of the emerging small van segment.

-œWe will take advantage of the trend toward city vans,-� said Mercedes-Benz Van boss Volker Mornhinweg in a release. -œOur brand will be able to exploit
[this trend] thanks to its attractively priced vehicles and the high quality of our products and services.-�

Engine options for the Citan will be made up of a wide range of diesel and gasoline powerplants with Mercedes´ BlueEfficiency package. An electric-drive version is also in the works, according to Mercedes. The vehicle will be offered as a panel van, passenger-hauling crew bus, and multi-purpose vehicle, and will be available in a variety of lengths and weights.

The Citan will launch in Europe this fall, and will make its public debut in September at the IAA Commercial Vehicle Show.

Source: Mercedes-Benz

A new Siena College poll shows 77 percent of New Yorkers have a "favorable" impression of Governor Andrew Cuomo and most voters support key elements of his 2012 agenda. The poll also showed strong support for President Barack Obama and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Siena also polled voters on the Republican presidential candidates. Though all of the potential GOP nominees scored far lower numbers than President Obama in the poll, New Yorkers clearly have an especially strong distaste for Newt Gingrich. Read More

While the Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake (of course, this is just a wagon and not a shooting brake, click here for Jonny Lieberman’s take on how the Germans have been bastardizing vehicle naming) spied here is still reportedly a Europe-only special, with enough begging maybe Benz will bring this CLS variant to America. After all, Mercedes is one of the few automakers still offering traditional wagons here in the U.S. with its version of the E-Class (including the totally insane E63 AMG wagon).

It’s a fair bet the CLS Shooting Brake, which was recently caught testing out in the snow, will come with a 4Matic option since it will no doubt be mechanically identical to its four-door CLS-Class coupe sibling. That means power should come from a 4.6-liter, twin-turbo, V-8-engine rated at 402 hp and 443 lb-ft of torque. For the speed junkies, a CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake should follow soon after, equipped with the 5.5-liter, twin-turbo V-8 rated at 525 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque (550 hp and 590 lb-ft with the AMG sport package). For the European market, at least one or more diesel engine options are likely.

Judging by how little camouflage it’s wearing, we´d say the production version is about ready to pop out of the oven, expect to the CLS Shooting brake most likely at the upcoming 2012 Geneva auto show. Again, we´re still not sure if this will make it to our shores, but wouldn´t a CLS Shooting Brake look nice sitting next to a Mercedes-Benz E-Class wagon on the showroom floor?

As teams prepare for the year’s first Formula 1 race in Melbourne, Australia, on March 18, they are rapidly unveiling their new cars for the 2012 season. Among the teams to have revealed their new racers are road-car manufacturers Ferrari, Caterham, and McLaren.

Cars this year must follow a few new rules adopted by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile sanctioning body, including a lower front nose, revised exhaust exit designs, and engine computer programming. As before, all engines in the 2012 Formula 1 season must be 2.4-liter V-8s.

Ferrari’s new car is called the F2012, and will be driven by both Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. It’s the 58th Formula 1 racer that Ferrari has ever developed. Changes include a new “stepped” nose that results from the new regulations, a narrower rear end thanks to a more compact transaxle housing, and redesigned cooling ducts for the Brembo-supplied brakes.

McLaren’s new racer is the MP4-27, which will be driven by Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button. The new car doesn’t have the stepped nose design seen on the Ferrari model, but instead adopts a sleek, swooping front end that dips low enough to comply with the new FIA regulations. The team says its car is all-new, even though visually it looks identical to last season’s entry. The car’s 2.4-liter V-8 is supplied by Mercedes-Benz, and can rev to an incredible 18,000 rpm.

Caterham showed off its CT01, which is to be piloted by Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli in this seasons Formula 1 championship. The car’s engines are sourced from Renault Sport F1 and its transaxle from Red Bull Technology.

Sources: Ferrari, Caterham, McLaren

At the start the project MADE IN W.I.O.N

Around 8 p.m. on a recent Monday, about 35 people of disparate ages were sitting on the marble steps of the public atrium inside Two World Financial Center, listening to a 25-year-old in baggy jeans named Jordan Phoenix talk about Living. -œThis is the class where we figure out who we are and what we want to do with our lives,-� he told his audience, a range of artists and professionals, employed and unemployed, 20-somethings and middle-aged divorcees who, like me, were drawn in by Mr. Phoenix´s aggressive pitch on the website Meetup.com.

As the post had put it: -œThis group is for you if you know you are capable of greatness, but are unclear and frustrated about how to get there.-� The group, -œStart Living in 2012,-� had picked up more than 100 members in three days, which made it a very fast-growing meetup group indeed.

-œI love that everyone here showed up,-� Mr. Phoenix said. -œSixty-eight people RSVP´ed. Thirty people didn´t show up. Guess what? They´re not invited to the next meetup, because they´re bullshit artists.-�

I had no intention of going to the next meetup. As much as I want to start living in 2012, I was merely a tourist. Read More

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 8

Tour: ArtWalk Chelsea: David Zwirner, Gagosian and Gladstone
The American Federation for the Arts takes visitors on a tour of three exhibitions of three very different artists in Chelsea--Doug Wheeler, Damien Hirst and Shirin Neshat. --Michael H. Miller
Meet at David Zwirner, 519 West 19th Street, New York, 4-6 p.m., $25 for AFA members, $35 for non-members.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9

Opening: "Happenings" at the Pace Gallery
Over 300 photographs document performance pieces from the movement, featuring work by Jim Dine, Simone Forti, Red Grooms, Allan Kaprow, Claes Oldenburg, Lucas Samaras, Carolee Schneemann, and Robert Whitman. Sounds like a stellar tribute to a too-short movement, and you never know, someone may stage a be-in right at the opening. --Dan Duray
The Pace Gallery, 534 West 25th Street, New York, 6-8 p.m. Read More