Archive for February 2006

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Buying (9)

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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Audi A3 3.2 Quattro DSG, Part 2

    Exterior Design: ** You know this small station wagon thing is out of control when an Audi hatchback is a miniature version of a miniature version of the A6 Avant. With its gaping maw (never shown with a US license plate), the A3 s front end simply overwhelms the rear. Although we understand the need to differentiate the Audi A3 from the cheaper, equally mental VW R32, switching from Bahaus to Analytic Cubism was the wrong answer.

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Audi A3 3.2 Quattro DSG, Part 1

    The manual transmission is dead. Long live DSG. Yes folks, it s true: the Direct Sequential Gearbox is ready to turn tripedalists into I remember when you had to coordinate your hands and feet like a flamenco dancer to drive to the record store old fogies. The last time I checked Audi s clever two-clutch paddle shifting jobbie, I was wearing the 04 Audi TT. It was a reasonably righteous cog swapper attached to an engine that wouldn t get out of bed for anything less than 3000 revs — and then had

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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe, Part 2

    Exterior Design ***** Someone in GM s design department(s) glimpsed the swan inside their ugly truckling and set it free. By adding gentle curves to the Tahoe s front, back and sides; sorting out the stance and sweating the details, they ve created an elegant yet powerful truck, whose balanced proportions make it look smaller than it is. As Papercutninja suggests, an MIB version would be killer.

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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe, Part 1

    Car and Driver got 12, but they had the Tahoe for at least a week. I drove it for twenty-five minutes AND I had to endure a salesman named Vito He Wishes It Was His Real Name Corleone telling me that veal piccata is God s gift to the casual diner. Even so, I managed to reduce the new Chevrolet Tahoe s nominal fuel economy to 11 miles per gallon. It wasn t hard; I just leaned on the monster s go pedal here and there, and floored it everywhere else. OK, I was not-so-silently competing with C & D f

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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Mercedes E350 4Matic, Part 3

    Why you should buy this car: You love Mercedes! The big EZ makes you feel safe, secure, satisfied, loved, respected and admired. The sedan s four-wheel-drive let s you believe you don t have to pay for/install snow tires every year.

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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Mercedes E350 4Matic, Part 2

    Exterior Design *** What a drag it is getting old. You go for something sensible and safe and people call you a fuddy-duddy. You go for some fresh and funky and flame-surfaced and people call you a barbarian. Mercedes plays it straight down the middle with a classically proportioned three box design. It s stunning in its unobjectionality. I still can't abide those weird-ass swoopy headlights and the woosy little grill it engenders.

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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Mercedes E350 4Matic, Part 1

    Beige. For me, beige is the color of death. It s the color of all the OAP s (Old Age Pensioners) I encountered during my 16-year English adventure: beige jackets, beige trousers, beige skirts, beige shoes and yes, beige socks, shirts, handbags, scarves and caps. I reckon only a person ready, willing and able to quietly slip into that long good night would turn to a salesperson and say It s nice, but do you have it in beige? Our test Mercedes E350 s interior was dominated by a particularly vivid

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News (66)

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    Adding More Totalitarianism And Eco-Friendliness To Your Rental Experience: Bio-Beetles

    Okay, so we're all for people running biodiesel as a personal initiative. We think we've made enough posts on it to prove that point. And we're all for people selling biodiesel. And LA's a perfect environment for it, and it's cool to have a biodiesel option when renting a car around LAX. So in a way, we applaud Bio-Beetles, a new rental agency near the airport. That said, one can only refuel the cars in one spot; a Culver City parking lot. Plus, apparently, the company only allows one to use bio

    By Davey G. Johnson Read More
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    Best. Dieter. Photo. Ever.

    You know, we're a little worried about Herr Doktor Dieter Zetsche of DaimlerChrysler and Arrested Development. Ever since his wacky comedy got killed off by Murdoch's minions, ol' Deet's found himself a bit listless and prone to finding himself in compromising situations. Don't worry, Dr. Zetsche; you've still got your stand-up and CEO careers to fall back on. [UPDATE: Dieter's TV series just got picked up by Showtime! They've ordered 26 more episodes, ensuring plenty more Funke jokes on tha Jal

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    85 US Smarts To Be Delivered Via ZAP!

    So the ZAP-types are apparently taking delivery of 85 federalized smarts to offer to dealers; one of the first is Tim Day, of Phoenix, AZ. We're really confused now. We suppose ZAP is some kind of interim-sorta niche-dealer network until DCX finally decides for sure that they're going to establish one of their own for the erstwhile Swatchmobiles, which Dieter says is increasingly likely.

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    I Travel At Extreme Speed: The Koenigsegg CCX

    Yesterday, Koenigsegg released pics and info on the extreme CCX supercar it's bringing to Geneva this year. As we already know, the CCX will be coming to the US, where it will charm the living daylights of the country's state troopers with an estimated top speed of 245 mph. Click through for pics and release.

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    The Free Trade Boys Are Clucking: Repeal The Chicken Tax?

    One of the many, little-known particulars of the automotive industry is a trade tariff economists call The Chicken Tax. Way back in the swinging '60s, Europe aimed to protect its chicken farms from the juggernaut that was the American poultry industry by tripling the tax on US-bred lunch-fowl. In response, we gave Europe's truck builders a collective Bronx cheer in the form of a 25% import tax on foreign-built trucks. Now, our lessez-faire-wether friends in Washington want to reduce the tariff i

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    Famous Rover V8 Engine Saved

    In the post-Ford-takeover world of Land Rover, there's just no place for the venerable Rover V8. But those who live by that burble and torquey pull (if not the often questionable build quality) will delight in knowing it will live on under the guise of UK firm MCT. Derived from an all-aluminum V8 that GM created in 1961 for Buicks and Oldsmobiles (the Buick 215 and Olds Jetfire turbo), the lightweight engine and its tooling was sold to Rover in 1964. In the ensuing decades, the V8 found its way

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    Lotus Releases Pics, Info On New Europa

    Those turned off by the cocktail-bag stowage capacity of the Lotus Elise and Exige sportsters will look toward the Lotus Europa S as God's gift to the long weekend. It's a GT car, meaning it can carry at least a change of clothing and a toothbrush, that still has its siblings' approach to weight (not a lot of it) and sports a 200-hp, 2.0-liter turbocharged mill, oriented midship, that will likely render many a country lane as "that greenish-brown blur on the way to the day spa." According to the

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    Gizmondo Guy Confirmed As Toastied Enzo Owner

    So according to the Local which bills itself as "Sweden's news in English," Gizmondo-type and supposed Swedish Mafia groupie Stefan Eriksson is indeed the same Stefan Eriksson found in the wreckage of the obliterated Ferrari Enzo cracked up in a reputed street race with a McMerc yesterday morning on the Pacific Coast Highway. According to LA's Finest, he's still not being treated as a suspect, despite the fact that no traces of supposed-driver "Dietrich" have been found. Oh Dietrich, where art t

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    Autoextremist On Trade Policy

    Sweet Peet D. You know, we agree with him somewhat. Other governments are more involved with growing their automotive industries than we are. And their manufacturing bases. And we don't think it's some sort of either/or case in a nation like ours where one can't do highfalutin' things like R&D and cost-benefit analyses and economies of scale and whatnot. We believe the gov't needs to step in at this juncture and allow our manufacturers the headroom to do better. At that point, the initiative is

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    Was Gizmondo Executive Driver Of Busted-Ass Enzo?

    The Wreck of the Ferrari Enzo (whither, Gordon Lightfoot?) has been cleared from the Pacific Coast Highway, but the mystery remains: Was the driver the Stefan Eriksson? Nope, you've never heard of him unless you've got one foot in the geekosphere and the other on a bullet train to Stockholm. That Stefan "Fat Steffy" Eriksson is an erstwhile executive of Gizmondo, the ill-fated handheld gaming device that sent many a stockholder scurrying up something tall to jump from, and may or may not still h

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    Bended Enzo Roundup

    So you know, you kids today have been all over the Enzo back-halved early this morning on PCH. So in the interest of giving the people what they want, (and because we've got a mad case of writer's block today), we've compiled a list of all of the pertinent Busted-Ass Enzo news. Thanks to everyone who wrote in on this one. You all get a mushroom-and-Swiss sandwich and a sloppy kiss from the Gawker Media editor of your choice. Chronological development after the jump.

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    Between The Lines: Daniel Howes On Presidental Help

    Daniel Howes writing for The Detroit News sets the gold standard for automotive journalism. His news pieces are comprehensive, insightful, balanced and eloquent. Lately, Howes has eased-off the hard news and ramped-up his commentary. Specifically, he s written a series of columns analyzing Motown s woes, from GM s fall from grace to the region s faltering fortunes. While keeping one foot in objective journalism, Howes has gradually become the best (if not the only) cheerleader The Big Three have

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    Good Morning, Moneypenny, You're Looking As Lovely As Ever: Bond's Aston DBS

    The next bit of Bond celluloid, a reworking of "Casino Royale," won't be out until the end of his year — November, that is. But the teasing of Aston lovers is merely in the preliminary stages. Bond fan site Mi6 has a side-view rendering of Bond's Aston Martin DBS, which will have a range of gadgets Q could only have dreamed in his most (military-industrial) complex fantasies. [Thanks to Simon for the tip.]

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    BMW Alpina B7 To Arrive In US

    Thither, M7? BMW and its longtime "enobler" (their word, not ours) Alpina announced last week they were bringing a new, higher-performance edition of the 7-Series to the US market, where normally such vehicles are rarer than the Hilton family's dignity. The 2006 BMW Alpina B7 will get a supercharged version of the 7's last-gen 4.4-liter V8 engine, producing 500hp and 516 lbs.-ft of torque. Reported zero to 60 time is 4.8 seconds. It also gets a mess 'o Alpina tweaks including 21-inch wheels, Z-r

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    Here It Comes: New Nissan Skyline To Make Racing Debut

    American Nissan Skyline fans, get down off that ledge. Your day has come. Nissan's GT-R R34 will make its North American racing debut at the 2006 SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship (c'mon, take it down a notch with the series names already). Twenty-year-old Igor Sushko will pilot the front-engine, AWD coupe, competing on the tarmac with the Dodge Viper, Chevrolet Corvette and Porsche 911 — at least a year before the next-generation GT-R (in whatever form it takes) competes wit

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    Jalopnik Rental-Car Reacharound: 2006 Ford F-150

    Reader Aaron Headly, who once stole a microphone from one G. Danzig at a Detroit Misfits gig and sang, "TWENTY GUYYYYYS IN MAH BE-E-E-E-D," takes on a big-ass truck in the latest installment of Jalopnik's Rental Car Reacharound. Got a rent-a-racer review of your own? Send 'em to tips@jalopnik.com, and keep the rants to around 500 words. Danke!

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    Cripes. A Stratallardo? A Cirruscielago? The Lambo-Dodge

    Okay, fine, Chrysler owned Lamborghini for a while, but does that really make this kind of thing okay? Take one Chrysler Group Cloud Car. Add fiberglass bodywork. And profile in a faux Lambo with more or less (depending on the model or both Dodge and Lamborghiini) half the cylinder count. And what's with the leopard motif? Part of us thinks this shit is genius. Part of us really needs to take a dump.

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    Die, Laptop, Die: Jalopnik Brought To Its Knees

    You're a lucky man, Mr. Breeman, much luckier than the Jalopniks. It seems not one but two Jalaptops cashed in their chips and headed for the Cadillac Ranch in the past week. First, Johnson blew a logic board (oops, did we just give away our brand?), now Spinelli's video has gone deader than an order of chicken vindaloo. Then how'd we post this, you ask? Magic, dear readers, ma-freaking-gik. So what to do? Let's blow open this here blog and let y'all do the work for once. We've set up a temporar

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    Ed Wellburn Talks About GM's Future Design Direction

    We're really not stoked on just about everything coming out of GM today design-wise. There's always one detail that screws the whole thing up the 'Vette's cheesy retrograde Ferrari headlamps, the chunky chintz of the new Chevy front end, the Down's Syndrome looks of the new Escalade, the VW-abee taillights of the Lucerne, and the list goes on. But Ed Wellburn, GM's design honcho, has a vision for every division and he sets it forth to the boys at Ward's. Click through it's kinda interesting.

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    Ladies And Gentlemen, The Marrakesh Express: You're Infringing On VW's Trademark

    Blogger TripVlog, on his blog A Blogger's Blog (sounds like our kind of guy) published a letter sent from the Volkswagen organization (maybe you've heard of them). Apparently, VW is none too pleased someone registered the domain name www.vwmarrakesh.com. Considering Volkswagen has trademarked the name Marrakesh, likely for its new compact SUV planned for 2007, the company is claiming infringement and wants the forward-thinking registree to do the old cease and desist. Here's an excerpt from the

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    Tech Start-Up Planning Flying Car

    A technology start-up company founded by MIT graduate students could have a flying car to market as early 2009, according to CNet. The company, Terrafugia, is working up a SUV-cum-aircraft that will be able to carry two people and luggage on 100- to 500-mile jumps using a tank of premium unleaded gas. A working prototype is expected by 2008, but the company will display a scale model of its Transition Personal Air Vehicle at the EAA AirVenture Conference in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this July. Book you

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    Ford Gets Adrenalized, Unfortunately

    You know, unless we're talking about the glands that sit atop the kidneys, we really want to hear nothing about adrenaline in any sort of context. It's played. It's tired. It sucks. And now Ford's promoting the Fusion and its NASCAR drivers with a new "Overactive Adrenaline Disorder" site, which simply bugs the livin' crap out of us. This is as lame as the Hurra Torpedo doc is fun. Ugh.

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    Between The Lines: The Winding Road On Private Jets

    I don t get it. Why publish a car magazine on-line that looks exactly like a buff book? Readers downloading a PDF of The Winding Road onto a normal-sized screen have to do more scrolling than a Babylonian library clerk, without any of the web's inherent advantages (embedded links, readable font, word search, easy navigation, etc.). These e-mag guys may be Luddites, but they have some big advertisers behind them - and Car and Driver and Automobile ex-jeffe David E. Davis ahead. That's right: the

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    Dodge Hornet To Buzz Geneva

    Feckin' fack if we aren't useless. We grew up in California. We spent a year living in Tejas. And what language did we choose to learn? German. So we really have no clue about this Dodge Hornet thing, other than it looks like a cross between a Nitro and a Mini. Oh, and it cranks out 174hp from a blown 1.6 (yes! "compressor" the vaguely-universal power-adder!), which is pretty respectable for a car that appears to be the size it appears to be. It'll apparently premiere at Geneva. Or Ginebra. Mayb

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    Woo! Shitty Traffic!

    Okay, so if you count Jalopnik's West Coast bureau and add in its various and sundry ex-girlfriends as Florida-style padding, we've lived in half of the nation's worst traffic cities. And we live in one now. Thankfully, we're in an oddly walkable part of Los Angeles, which leads us to heavy-heartedness when avoiding this blonde beggar woman who confronts us roughly a third of the time when we leave the bodega, asking in an innocent, almost shrill voice, "DO YOU HAVE A QUARTER?" "No, sorry." "DO

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    Lexus' Online Marketing Strategy

    Apparently, the accidental viral marketing that has branded porn stars, strippers and ghetto children of a certain age with the company's trademark just ain't enough for Toyota's luxury bland brand. And neither are pedestrian online marketing gags like blogs. Lexus is setting up social networking sites for other RX hybrid owners to stroke each others' green streaks like so many E'd up rave kids.

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    Jalopnik Rental-Car Reacharound: 2006 Mercury Milan

    Today's Rental-car Reacharound comes from longtime commenter Nick Weaver, who recently took out a Mercury Milan during a recent business trip to Los Angeles. Send your rental-car stories (keep 'em to around 500 words) to tips@jalopnik.com.

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    Nissan To Launch Infiniti In Japan?

    Our Kotakuan brother in Japan, Brian, tipped us off to the rumor that Nissan might just be bringing its luxury brand across the ocean-size playground we in San Pedro like to refer to as "Tha Pacific." Bri says that while new-car shopping in Nippon, his Nissan salesman intimated that they'd have Infinitis in stores as soon as next year. Bear in mind, that we've encountered more than a few car salesmen who don't know their asses from a throttle-body, and we've got no more info to back this up.

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    The Ice Of Boston: Beantown Tows Record Number Of Cars During Storm

    While we're sitting here on the Left Coast basking in warm, sunny days (a dramatic difference from the storms of a year ago which is a bigger problem than one might think because Angelenos have no clue how to drive in the rain), the kids back East got hit with some stormage, and the City of Boston, determined to keep the roads clear, towed a while mess of cars. Some folks are calling foul. After the jump, a somewhat telling paragraph from the Boston Globe.

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    Chrysler Ups Dealer Incentives

    In an effort to rid itself of overstocked vehicles (93% factory capacity's workin' out well, eh LaSorda?), Chrysler's now upped its per-vehicle incentive from $750 to an even grand within its dealer network, trying to absolve itself of the sins of overzealous production. While the company itself won't speak out on the matter, dealers, apparently have been more than willing to spill the beans. Somebody let Dieter know, because this shit can't keep flying.

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    Koenigsegg To Bring New CCX Supercar To The US

    Among supercars that can travel one-third the speed of sound (at sea level, natch) the Bugatti Veyron gets all the press, having recently hit 252 mph — besting the Koeingsegg CCR's 241 mph — to make the Bug the world's fastest production car. Now, Sweden's Koenigsegg is plotting to answer Volkswagen's stomping, with a new, 800-hp supercar that, joy of joys, will be available in the US. The new model, the Koenigsegg CCX, is set for a Geneva show debut, according to the boys at Gizmag. Though it l

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    So Long Guv'nor: Mercedes Will Unlock Top Speed On AMG Models In The US, For A Price

    It's largely a philosophical conundrum: If going 155 mph is already illegal in the US, how much more illegal is 186 mph? Europeans have long been able to persuade BMW and Mercedes to unhook the e-nannies keeping their cars from going over the "gentlemen's agreement" top speed of 200 250 km/h (155 mph), despite parts of Germany's autobahn being unrestricted to all but nitro-burning funny cars. That persuasion, naturally, comes in the form of a rucksack's worth of currency. Now, Mercedes is offeri

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    Oberlin Goes Car Sharing

    What would the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have become if Karen O had been able to carshare? Actually, we have absolutely no clue, but she's the only former Oberlin student we can pull out of our asses at the moment. Needless to say, for non-auto-havin' students, the college's deal with Cleveland-based CityWheels makes a date with the night a bit easier for students sans regular vehicular transport. Just don't spit beer all over the dash.

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    LaSorda All Happy 'Bout Chrysler Prospects 'N' Stuff

    Tom LaSorda's actin' happier than a hobo who just won his weight in Cisco, because he's predicting a banner year for Chrysler Div. Why? Ten new models, the most in the company's history. According to the man who never had anything to do with the artists formerly known as the Brooklyn Dodgers, the factories were operating at 93% capacity, which no doubt makes Ford and GM rather green with envy. That said, it no doubt contributed to the massive end-of-the-year overstock that Chrysler's still deali

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    Chicago Wrap-Up: Kia Multi-S Crossover

    Our apologies to Kia for ignoring the company's press event in Chicago (well, not so much ignoring as failing to attend due to relative disinterest apathy). Still, Kia is the new Hyundai, which is the new Toyota, which is the new GM, which is the new, well, never mind — so it deserves our respect. There it is. So, this day, we proclaim the next thirty seconds to be the Kia half-minute, during which time we will show the crossover concept the company unveiled yesterday at the show (too bad we'd s

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    Bertone Concept Coming To Geneva

    The boys from Bertone are working up a new coupe-cabriolet concept vehicle, the second of several concepts expected to appear at next month's Geneva show to be built around on Fiat's latest B-segment hopeful, the Punto Grande. The yet-unnamed concept is a four-seat coupe-cabrio that can actually seat four in relative comfort, Bertone says, and the cabin layout is the result of "meticulously attentive volumetric and ergonomic studies." (We love when they talk dirty.) No word on a production model

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    American Apparel Biodieseling Its Employees

    Our pal Spence over at Leftcoast- breakdown reports that his employer, American Apparel, they of the sweatshop-free, made in Downtown Los Angelees clothing, are now offering biodiesel to their employees, and Spence is all over that shit like a man in pain rockin' the liquid Vicodin:

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    Between The Lines: Automobile On The Cadillac XLR-V

    You may not believe this, but my mother always told me to be polite. I just never saw the point. Honest, yes, absolutely. But polite is so boring. Being snide, flip and nasty is so much more entertaining. (Why should drag queens have all the fun?) I guess that s the biggest problem with US automotive buff books: they re perfectly polite and deadly dull. This failing is easiest to see when magazines like Automobile review a real stinker like the new Cadillac XLR-V. How do you tear a substandard c

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    Deustche Bank: Sell Deine GM!

    Man, poor GM just can't catch a break these days. They slash salaries, cut dividends, install a York on the board and the biggies still keep callin' "Sell!" This time it's Deutsche Bank makin' the mandatin', and we're not talking about flirtation between adult humans with penises, we're talkin' bout a sell recommendation from one of the larger financial institutions in the world. Still, Bear Stearns analyst Peter Nesvold calls near-term bankruptcy unlikely. You pays your money and takes your cho

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    Protesting Forefeiture In Prostitution Cases

    There's a debate going on down in Florida right now over whether county officials have the right to impound probable johns' cars when there's evidence that they've been cruising for some pay-to-play, as the crime's merely a misdemeanor. The alleged offenders must pay a five-hundred-dollar fee to recover their vehicles on top of any other fines. County officials claim that this is to pay for processing and police overtime.

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    DetroitWonk Kills Comment Spam Dead

    We just got a note from a guy named Lawrence over at Sacred Noise, who as you may remember from yesterday, was responsible for leaving comments touting the new Escalade bits in at least three blogs' comment sections. He wrote us today, asking us to print what he called, "a retraction," so, because we're all dutiful and stuff, his apology/rationalization follows after the jump.

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    Autoextremist On The Impending Doom Of Car Mags

    Sweet Peet D. is predicting doom and gloom on on a grand scale for the auto publishing industry as we know it. Why? Because feebs like ourselves are taking away their newsy lifeblood via our patented Just-In-Time delivery system, while the corporate bechweemuths that control them are pressing for more and more profits, leading to cut salaries and writer attrition on a grand scale. Indeed, more and more good journalists seem to be bailing on the traditional game.

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    First Look: Dodge Caliber SRT-4

    Dodge released photos of its new Caliber SRT-4 it plans to unveil later this morning in Chicago. No wimpmongers, them, they've created a 300hp monster that completely obliterates memory of the Neon family it replaces, even in its own SRT trim. How'd they do it? Nope, not a Hemi. All that juice — including sub-six-second zero-to-60 tiimes — comes from a turbocharged and otherwise tricked-out version of the company's 2.4-liter four-banging world engine. Oh, did we mention it's four-wheel-drive. Ye

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    Pimp My Press Ride: Automakers' Secret Stash Of Perfect Vehicles?

    In a Very Special Jalopnik column, automotive writer Bob Elton calls out carmakers for allegedly extra-beautifying the cars they provide to members of the media for testing. According to Elton, specialty shops modify vehicles subject to review by the mainstream and automotive press to assure they're free of some finishing flaws that plague cars rolling off the line unmolested. What that means for the content of reviews is uncertain, though it doesn't seem to keep some writers from panning certai

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    Turn Off The Lights, And I'll Glow: F1 V-10 Startup

    Y'know, it's fairly obvious that we're not huge fans of modern Formula 1 racing. But the technology, oh sweet mother of internal combusting. CTE pointed us toward this vid of a Formula 1 V-10 startup test, and we'll be damned if those glowing headers didn't make us hotter than George Michael in a loo full of gloryholes.

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    Between The Lines: The Car Connection On The Jaguar XK

    It s nice to know that automotive websites are finally welcome to suck on the corporate tit alongside their buff book brethren. For The Car Connection s recent review of the new Jaguar XK, scribe Marty Padgett joined the glossies go-getters in South Africa for a romantic interlude with the Ford s division s latest two-seater. As our fearless leader recently indicated, Jalopnik is not entirely averse to that kind of action. We will simply state our cooption up front, and report on the bacchanalia

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    Super Bowl Sponsorships, Ford Versus GM

    DetroitWonk went beyond the 30- and 60-second spots in the Super Bowl media juggernaut, and focused on the sponsorship battle between Ford (e.g., Ford Field) and GM (e.g., Escalade, official vehicle of Super Bowl XXXX, sorry XL) that was waged yesterday evening. Ford appears to have bested GM in the messaging game, despite the General's staggering $25 million sponsorship deal with the NFL — which according to Detroit Ray couldn't usurp Ford's existing $40 million, 20-year deal for stadium naming

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    Volkswagen, Google Working Together On Nav Systems

    Now here's a novel idea — combine Google Maps with automotive navigation. Google and Volkswagen showed off such a system at the CES show in Las Vegas last month; now the companies have teamed up with chipmaker nVidia to turn the prototype into something we'll see at center dash in coming model cycles. Volkswagen's Electronic Research Laboratory (ERL), in Palo Alto, Calif is development ground zero for the system — which will feature photo-realistic, high-res 3D maps, real-time traffic updates an

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    BIodiesel Royal Enfield On eBay

    Reader Brian tipped us off to this little curiosity, an Indian-built Royal Enfield motorcycle powered by biodiesel. It's on eBay, and the auction closes tomorrow. It's a 350cc single, and since Enfields aren't known for their ZX-12-smashing performance, we wonder what difference the biodiesel conversion has made in terms of output. Still for pistonheads who aren't petrolheads, it's kind of an interesting toy, non?

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    Risi Competizione To Run F430 In ALMS

    Ho boy. The ALMS GT2 class just got a bit gnarlier. Already featuring a first-time entry from Lexus, Houston-based Risi Competizione has officially tossed their hat into the ring, fielding their new F430GT this season. We can't wait to hear this thing's barbaric yawp when it debuts at Sebring next month.

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    More Ford Parking Dumbassitude

    So we just got an e-mail from a guy who works as a contractor for Ford and reports that the "Ford Only" parking situation has spread at the Rouge complex beyond Dearborn Truck, proving that the Great Leap Forward is leaping forward at a goodly clip. Good onya, Mao Willie Clay! Keep the spirits of the proletariat high! It's Red, it's White, it's freakin' bold! Read our anonymous lamenter's lament after the jump.

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    Angry Welsh Folk Cut Trees In Attempt To Stop Sex On Wheels

    Five years or so ago, CTE invited us to a party in Berkeley where hippie chicks danced topless in a non-ironic, non-erotic fashion. While standing in the beer line, we got talking to a recent Stanford art-history grad from Texas with a Louise Brooks haircut and interesting glasses. (Sigh, they're always from Texas.) Long story short, she hacked through our BS, and CTE and her gay friends, wondering where we went, engaged in a bit of coitus interruptus through the foggy glass of our Acura Legend,

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    Three-Point Belts Or No?

    Authorities in New Zealand are wrestling like Sgt. Slaughter and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat over whether to make a three-point belt retrofit mandatory in the nation's cars. While we feel much safer buckled in across the chest as well as the lap, the cost of re-equipping cars that originally featured only lap belts could be prohibitive for many Kiwis. And besides, if having three-pointers installed on your older car is so important to you, you'll have 'em regardless of law.

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    More On The Reborn Duesenberg

    BidnessWeek's hopped on the Duesie bandwagon, and the article's got a bit more on the machine's unique propulsion system. Apparently, it was designed by legendary custom-vehicle nut Eddie Paul, patterned after a patent he holds on a water pump used by the men who fight the forest fires. The entire unit itself rotates, rather than featuring a conventional internal rotating assembly. Interestingly enough, the motor uses no oil; the gasoline is apparently lubrication enough, given the engine's desi

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    GM Planning Escalade Hybrid

    It's a bit like spiking a flute of Cristal with lemon-ginger tea. GM boss Rick Wagoner said today the company is building a mild hybrid version of the new Cadillac Escalade — not a surprise as much as a culture-shock moment accompanied by visions of environmentally conscious Crips waving their gats in the air outside the office of some villainous chemical company. Wagoner made the announcement on site at the Baltimore transmission plant that will build hybrid-drive systems for the Caddy, which w

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    Steve Harris Takes Top PR Spot At GM

    Tom Kowaleski, GM's public-relations czar, is stepping down March 1st, to be replaced by none other than Steve Harris. We're longtime fans of Steve, having seen him at both the sadly defunct Cal Expo Amphitheatre and at the Concord Pavilion with his group, Iron Maiden. In fact, our terrible high school metal band, Cynical Threat, cut its teeth on his songs before moving on to originals like "Born to Kill" and "The Blood That Runs." We own many of his albums, including Iron Maiden, Live After Dea

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    Between The Lines: AutoWeek On Hip-Hop Car Culture

    Once upon a Time, millions of Americans digested the Newsweek with one of two general interest magazines. When it came to pop culture, Time and Newsweek spoke with one voice. And earned a reputation for being cursed; the moment an artist appeared on their cover(s), their cultural relevance was over. It s the same deal with AutoWeek. As soon as the car mag describes an automotive trend as being in the zeitgeist, it s already gone Beanie Baby. Victims include retro-muscle cars, rice rockets and no

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    Big Changes Afoot At Car And Driver

    We'll admit that over the last couple of years, we haven't enjoyed Car and Driver or Automobile as much as we once did. With their young talent pools having been cherry-picked by David Pecker and his posse to put together mph and Dan Neil having filled his plate in Los Angeles, there's a certain spark that's missing. And while Primedia's cost-cutting measures are legendary (we recently heard an anecdote that a low-level editorial position at Hot Rod pays $15,000 a year less than it did two decad

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    Ford On President's Ethanol Call: Bring It On!

    Bill Ford responded today to President Bush's indication in last night's State of the Union address that ethanol will gain gov'ment support as an alternative energy source. The FoMoCo CEO pointed out that Ford has already put more than 1.5 million ethanol-capable vehicles on the road, and will produce 250,000 more this year. (Note: GM and Chrysler also produce such vehicles). "We believe focusing on alternative fuels such as ethanol will bring this issue where it belongs — to the forefront of th

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