Archive for August 2006

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Buying (11)

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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Mazda MX-5 Miata Power Retractable Hardtop, Part 2

    Exterior Design: **** She's a beaut. First of all, massive kudos to Mazda's design team for having the balls to let a Japanese car look like a Japanese car. No one is aping Germany here. The front end is the best Schnoz to spring from the land of Tentacle-Rape Anime since Commander Bond was driving Toyota's 2000GT in grease paint. Equal parts cichlid and pissed off samurai, the front of the new MX-5 is one of the very best in the business. The Solstice and the Quattroporte are its only competiti

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Mazda MX-5 Miata Power Retractable Hardtop, Part 1

    Despite being a megaseller and perennial favorite of pen-toting pistonheads, the Mazda Miata is still considered a chick car. Make that was. The new MX-5 resembles a lightweight power lifter — tiny but bulgy, with flared wheel arches rising out of the hood and the trunk, aggressive swells around the headlights and dual pipes poking out of a chiseled, muscular derriere. Even with all that metallic beef, a strategically placed Honda Civic can easily obscure the MX-5. Despite 77 extra pounds of har

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Jeep Compass, Part 3

    Why you should buy this car: You're the type of person who thinks "Jeep" is a cartoon character named Eugene from the 1930's Popeye comic strip. You're someone who doesn't give a rat's ass what other people think about them and wants an inexpensive and useful vehicle to go from one place to the next — sometimes even in snow.

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Jaguar XJ Super V8, Part 3

    Why you should buy this car: All that watching "Top Gear" has you believing British cars truly are the best in the world. You want a classy, fast, comfortable full-size luxury car that doesn't have an aftertaste of bratwurst.

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Jeep Compass, Part 2

    Exterior Design: * The Jeep Compass takes all the good hot-hatch looks of the Dodge Caliber and chops them off. The sweet-looking crossbar front-end is gone, replaced by what looks to be leftover front ends from the first-generation Liberty. The rest of it appears far too low to the ground to be of Jeep lineage.

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Jaguar XJ Super V8, Part 2

    Exterior Design: **** The Jaguar XJ is stylishly retro, much in the way of a Fila or Izod shirt. The proportions are well matched front and rear, and it is instantly recognizable as a Jaguar. It is also instantly recognizable as something that is related to an X-Type, which is bad. (Fine, the X-Type is an easy target.) At any rate, the XJ is like a good suit: stylish but not overstated.

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Jaguar XJ Super V8, Part 1

    First, the good news. The Jaguar XJ Super V8 is as fast as its V12-engined competitors for more than $25,000 less. (You could pick up a used X-Type with the spare change, but why would anyone do that?) At any rate, the long-wheelbase XJ comes with the supercharged, 4.2-liter V8 found in the sportier XJR (and the Range Rover Sport), and it puts out 400 horsepower. That's 38 horses down from its nearest competitor, the BMW 760Li. But the Jaguar is all aluminum and, unlike the similarly constructed

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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2007 Jeep Compass, Part 1

    Jeep has always signified a go-anywhere-and-damned- if-I'm-not-allowed-to mentality. It's a marque that's retained the muddy patina of its roots as a military vehicle, despite post-decommissioning hazards that included rotating ownership and a raft of spotty offshoots. It even survived (and flourished amid) a more "feminine" — as some would say — tangent with the Jeep Liberty. That's because, despite the front office's desire to attract a wider audience, the Liberty shared the same "Trail Rat

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Hummer H3, Part 3

    Why you should buy this car: You already have an H1 and an H2 and want to complete the set. You want a car that "feels safe." You're genuinely interested in off-roading. You want an SUV that actually looks like a truck instead of some warmed-over tall wagon.

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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Hummer H3, Part 2

    Exterior Design: *** The H3 looks like a Tonka toy, in a good way. It also looks exactly like how you'd expect a Hummer to look, although other than styling cues the appearance isn't close to the H1 or H2. So the aggressive, tough look of the H3 is a success. It only gets negative points for the fake plastic vent on the hood, and the fact that we saw a black H3 with chrome door handles and fuel filler door the other day.

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Hummer H3, Part 1

    Maybe you've seen the Hummer TV ad where a two kids cut in line to a playground slide. The victim's attractive mother says, "I'm sorry, Jake was next." To which the other mother replies, "Yeah, well, we're next now." Then, inspired by an ad on a city bus passing by in the background, Jake's mom heads straight to the Hummer dealership, trades in her minivan for a new H3, and drives away happy with the tagline "Get Your Girl On" emblazoned across the screen. Finally, some truth in advertising. Aft

    By Mike Spinelli Read More

Entertainment (1)

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    Top Gear! Get Your Free Top Gear!

    Okay, so we've been obsessively downloading Top Gear torrents since we found FinalGear. But, for those of you less technologically inclined than us, who have computers that launch GoLive when one tries to watch RealVideo and whose Windows Media Player only seems to work half the time, the Beeb has relented and posted Season 8 of everyone's favorite motoring series for you to watch online. As for us? We're going back to the torture of torrents. [Thanks to Marc for the tip.]

    By Davey G. Johnson Read More

News (121)

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    The Real Problem With Automotive CEOs These Days

    Honestly, it boils down to this: Not Rick Wagoner, Bill Ford, Carlos Ghosn, Bernd Pieschetsrieder, J rgen Schrempp, Sergio Marchionne, Roger Smith, Katsuaki Watanabe, nor even Dieter Zetsche nor Lido will ever be known as "Il Commendatore." And this friends, is why modern culture is sucking right now. We need us some Duces, some F hrers, some Emperors; some His Majesties the Whatevers. And then we need a bunch of anarcho-syndicalists just for fun. Throw in a Papa Hemingway for good measure. Reme

    By Davey G. Johnson Read More
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    A Bit About Wealthy Car-Guy Culture

    We weren't raised wealthy, but we were raised in the 1980s, when conspicuous consumption was everywhere. We mostly came of age in the 1990s, when our weird punk geek friends made bundles of money in tech and bought us drinks and drugs, but it was cool to be (or appear to be) broke. As Ian MacKaye so famously sung, "Cool's eternal, but it's always dated." And if that line isn't as famous as it should be as a social critique, well, it should be. And now? Well, now we're in an age of some weird asp

    By Davey G. Johnson Read More
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    JD Power Takes In The Fumes: Releases Environmentally Friendly Vehicle List And Environmental Expectations Survey

    Maybe it's the methane toxic-shock from all the self-inhaling that's causing the mass hysteria surrounding hybrids — because on top of the "Top 30" list (who comes up with a "Top 30" list anyway — doesn't anyone watch Letterman anymore?) JD Power & Associates also released the results of their "expectations survey" which measured consumer perception on the benefits of alternative-powertrain options like hybrids, flexible fuel vehicles and diesel engines found a very interesting result when th

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Breaking Bond From FoMoCo! Ford's Looking To Sell Aston Martin

    Although it's no secret that FoMoCo's been searching for ways to offload chunks of the Jacques Nasser-created "Premier Automotive Group" (NAMBLA), we didn't expect they'd be offering it up piece-by-piece via press release beginning this morning — because, you know, that doesn't make ya look desperate or anything. But, according to the Dearborn automaker's Big Boss, Bill Ford, it's looking to "explore strategic options for Aston Martin." We're guessing that by "strategic," they mean "selling" and

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    NBC's Hybrid Mania, Courtesy Chrysler

    As folks who are privy to Chrysler Group's Firehouse blog, we're sometimes frustrated with the site's Detroit-centric view and other times impressed with the straight shooting that comes out of it. And we have to say this bit from Jason Vines — regarding a Today Show piece on gas prices — is worth sharing. Click through for a quick, clean stab at the mainstream media.

    By Davey G. Johnson Read More
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    (Not) Breaking (The Bank)! Chrysler Prices Sebring, Aspen

    The American side of the German-American hybrid must be looking for the new Durango Aspen and Avenger Sebring to lift the Chrysler Group out of the summer doldrums, because at the price point they're dropping the two newest additions to the family, we feel like they're trying to make sure they won't need to cut production numbers. The Aspen, a full-size premium SUV, will have a starting price of...

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    Breaking! UAW Holds Special Super-Double-Secret Ford Meeting

    UAW leadership for all FoMoCo plants in the US met yesterday afternoon under direction of UAW head Ron Gettelfinger and Bob King, the new veep in charge of contract talks with the Dearborn-based automaker. Although local leaders speculated the topic of the meeting was buyouts, specifically the company-wide kind — no one knew for sure. The Freep's Sarah Webster reports the meeting focused on what might be done to help the automaker with as many ailments as autos and the UAW's statement backs t

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    Green Goes Mean? Motorsports Firms To Build Hybrid F1 Car

    FIA president Max Moseley has already said some form of regenerative braking system that powers a burst-of-speed system is the future for Formula One (a comment that caused more than a few FIA underlings to spit-take their Ch teauneuf du Pape). Now, two motorsports technology firms are teaming up to build the first hybrid-drive Formula car. Formula Renault builder Tatuus will build a concept designed by the technologists at N.Technology. Could a new "green" series be in the offing, or will Mosel

    By Mike Spinelli Read More
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    Just Buy A Honda And Get It Over With: A Jalopnik Lovefest

    Someday, we've decided, we will own a certain car. We'll not mention the model, because every time we think, "Oh word! A cool car we could actually own!" and write about it, it skyrockets past its real value. We will not take all of the credit for the spike in Trans Am prices in the last year, but we're fairly sure that we're due some of it. And if credit's what matters, we'll take credit, but frankly, we'd rather still be able to not pay what we think is stupid money for vehicles that aren't wo

    By Davey G. Johnson Read More
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    Southern Comfort At A Most Pleasant Price

    We sort of want to hug Burger King for trading on its obesity-causing role in pop-culture and embracing its inner stock-car racer. If we weren't a vegetarian, we'd go buy some chicken fries right now, just because BK financed the greatest commercial since the Gap's Spike Jonze spot three trimesters ago and BK's own best ad since the Hootie/Big Rock Candy mountain bit.

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    When A HummVee Just Won't Cut It: The Armet Gurkha

    Sometimes in Iraq, or hell — sometimes in Queens — even an up-armored HumVee just won't cut it. That's when you need the Gurkha by the armor-freaks at Armet Armored Vehicles, Inc. out of Toronto, ON. The squat and hedgehog-lookin' 19,000 lb beast-of-an-armored-vehicle ain't just built to shrug off a roadside bomb with its high strength ballistic aluminum armor, or stop a bullet from an AK-47 with its ballistic glass. No, it's also pretty fast for its size — with a top speed of 93 mph. Also, c

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Motorhome, Now With A One (Small) Car Garage

    Tell grandpa his days of pulling his Merc SLK behind the Bluebird are over. The Volkner Mobil mobile home comes with a particularly oddball convenience: an on-board parking space. A hatch below deck of the tour-bus-sized roller is large enough to squeeze in a small vehicle, a few motorcycles or an itinerant poker game. It's currently on display at the Caravan Fair in Dusseldorf, Germany.

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    Hoo Ha! Porsche 996 GT2 Slays The Nurburgring

    Sure, watching driver-POV videos of N rburgring burns can be tedious as waiting for your girlfriend to finish her turn at GT4. But this one, of a Porsche 996 GT2 devouring the Green Hell in just over seven minutes, has that stomach-dropping effect that's missing from most run-of-the-mill lappage vids. Take Dramamine as needed.

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    Design Language: Is The Audi R8 Hotness Or Notness?

    For years, pistonheads the world 'round have divined Audi's long-rumored (now confirmed) supercar, the R8. With each new prototype Ingolstadt unveiled — the Terminator 3—reject Rosemeyer, the French-porn-star-sexy Nuvolari, the HR Geiger—faced Le Mans — enthusiasts' mental picture of the imminent resolved: A mid-engined two-seater based on the Lamborghini Gallardo. Sometime last year, a heavily disguised test mule began making the rounds. Then, this month, a Web site editor at Carster.com stumbl

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    Do The Electric Slide Up And Down: The 1973 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Electric Tailgate

    We're not sure if this was the pinnacle of GM innovation, the depths of laziness or the height of cool. More than likely, it's all three wrapped up into one liitle deep and tall invention...on the pinnacle of brilliance. Yes, it helped to make the Custom Cruiser weigh north of 5,000 lbs, but it's a small price to pay for sexy. In fact, we now want made standard on all wagons. Ya hear that, automakers — now make it so! [Hat tip to Mark Peters!]

    By Ray Wert Read More
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    Bill Harrah: 1, Igor Sikorsky: 0

    We were talking to our folks last night and mentioned the majesty of the Hoover Dam, one of the few unnatural features of Nevada that doesn't reek of chintzy artifice. Being of Nevadan stock ourselves, we have mixed feelings about the state; the superficial glitz, dumb hicks and ridiculous high-roller wannabes get to us, but you know, there's familial history there and we've got a weakness for strippers. Six o' one, a half-dozen of the other, we suppose. While we were in Pebble Beach a week ago,

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    Fuel Nazi No More! GM Lets Dealers Have Their Fuel Allowance Back

    Last week we reported on a double-super-secret missive from William Powell, GM's Veep for Industry Dealer Affairs to all dealers on fuel allowances outlining the General's new policy on reimbursement to dealers of the cost of gas on that first filled-to-the-brim tank on a new car. The new policy was that instead of a reimbursement to dealers for a full tank upon delivery, the General'd be reimbursing $20 for a car and $30 for a truck — which by our calculations left a sizable gap between what

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    Google Pontiac Now, Bitches! G5 Takes Advertising Internets-Only

    Maybe we've been wrong and you really can teach an old dog new tricks — or if not an old dog, maybe at least an old company. With the release of the G5, Pontiac's newest member of the General's arrow-headed tribe badge, the marketing and advertising folks over at the RenCen are making a new marketing move no automaker's yet made — they're going online-only. That's right — no cheesy Leo Burnett created tv ads for this badge-engineered addition to the Chief's brand — it's all going online. Alth

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    EVette: The Feckless Tesla

    While the Tesla electric car's really been the only plug-in sled we've so far been able to love, it hasn't stopped a growing group of garage-bound develeopers from trying to create their own "Electric Car Of The Future" — like Tom Sines of Florida and his "EVette." Let's let him do the talking, and try to see if he can get us onto the bandwagon for this one-of-a-kind electric slide. First the good:

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    Exclusive Transformers Movie Pictures: Teletran-1 Needs To Explore For Ratchet, Bumblebee And Brawl!

    The way the story of the Generation 1 Transformers goes — way back in episode numero uno — the Autobots went-a-searchin' for some energy ito beat the evil Decepticons. After the Autobot's ship, the Ark, was attacked by the Decepticons — it crash landed on Earth where it was buried under a dormant volcano for a few million years until it went active — waking Teletran-1, the Ark's explorin' and repairin' computer system. Teletran-1 got the lay of the land and brought back schematics to bring b

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    Blogging The Auto Bloggers: With Wiley Gone Like A Coyote, What Will Become Of GM's Blog Empire?

    All the attention from the quote on blogging in the Detroit News yesterday must have gotten to Mike Wiley, GM's Director of New Media — word is, he's departing the General, mommy-blogging wifey and kids in tow, and leaving the wilds of Toledo, Ohio to work for big-time PR firm Edelman in Chicago. So that's interesting — where does that leave the General's two misbegotten blog step-children, the FYI and FastLane blogs?

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    Breaking! Ford To Go All Meta And Sell Pieces Of Self To Former Self Nasser?

    Bloomberg News's reporting FoMoCo's in talks to sell some of its luxe brands from its Premier Automotive Group (NAMBLA) with a group led by none other than former Ford Chief Executive Officer Jacques Nasser. This is the same guy who FoMoCo's board fired just five years ago after the whole Firestone tires thing — and the same CEO who created the PAG in the first place — a group including Euro brands Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo. Although the deal being discussed doesn't involve Volvo, no one s

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    Exclusive Transformers Movie Update: Megatron's Nastier Than Prime!

    Ugh — we think we just vomited in our mouths a little bit. That can't seriously be Megatron. What the hell is Bay trying to do to our beloved Transformers — why does he need to over-techie them in an orgasm of wires and tiny metal parts? It's just gross. And seriously — "Battle Mode" and "Standard Mode" — what the hell is this, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers? And wait, he's a fucking jet — ok, so when did he become Galvatron again? Excuse us while we go and vomit some more and then look aroun

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    Chrysler Tells Dealers To Eat Their Durangos — How Can They Have Any Calibers If They Don't Eat Their Trucks And SUV's?

    As we heard yesterday in the Tom LaSorda press scrum-n'-tumble out in Auburn Hills, the German-American hybrid's running into some troubles with inventories of trucks and the Dodge Durango. But, as was told to us yesterday — at the same time, they're working to boost the small car / mid-size SUV side of the sales ratio, pushing those new Dodge Calibers out to dealers to sell as quickly as their Mexican Illinois-based plant can birth them. Or at least that was what we've been told. Instead, Ka

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    Bill Ford Just Wants To Be Alone: Taking FoMoCo Private?

    It's something we speculated wild-assedly about way back at the beginning of August but now it seems that trains picking up some speed. And although we're not one to say "I told ya so" or "yeah, we know" — we'll still totally do that cause we're petty and it's funny. So, as we said earlier this month:

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    Jalopnik Emissions

    Redneck Yellowjackets Practice Urban Renewal In '55 Chevy Classic IMSA Action at the Monterey Historics Exclusive Transformers Movie Update: Barricade's A Bad Saleen, Yes He Is! The Joy of Muntz Chrysler Group CEO LaSorda Carries The Water Weight Of Unsold Trucks And SUVs Very Well Paddock Randomness at the Monterey Historics Less than Liberty: Dodge Nitro Priced Cat on the 'Ring: Evo Staffer Floggs a Caterham on the Green Hell And You Thought the Brera Was Hot: Vintage Alfa Deliciousness Ach! E

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    Exclusive Transformers Movie Update: Barricade's A Bad Saleen, Yes He Is!

    Oooh, we love it when we get one of those hot n' exclusive tips from an insider in the know. Like these pictures right he-yeah of Decepticon baddie Barricade — the Saleen Mustang who's all about his "enslave and protect" job. Yes, we've seen him before — but not from these many angles, baby. Oh my god, we think we just spewed fan-boy love all over the screen...does anyone have a squeegee? By the way, our tipster sent us some more pictures you'll be able to see here tomorrow afternoon (just f

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    The Joy Of Muntz

    The last vehicle to cross the block at the last event of the Monterey weekend was a 1953 Muntz Road Jet. Bidding started at $35k for what's reputed to be the cleanest unrestored Road Jet in the country. One person took the bait and the car rolled offstage. Sort of a whimpering end to a wallbanger of a weekend. But Earl "Mad Man" Muntz, who made his bacon selling televisions (he named his daughter "Tee Vee") was no shrinking violet.

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    Chrysler Group CEO LaSorda Carries The Water Weight Of Unsold Trucks And SUVs Very Well

    We journeyed down the road to Auburn Hills today to visit the American end of the German-American hybrid of DaimlerChrysler, and witnessed what may be the most bizarre event of the week — a Chrysler Group function to kick off the employee corporate campaign for United Way of Southeast Michigan. The highlight (lowlight, perhaps — depending on whether you happen to see the picture of Chrysler Group PR main man Jason Vines in some very interesting garb) of the event was the very un-Olympic-like

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    Dan Howes: "Top GOP Leaders To Big Three: Drop Dead"

    You know, the more the American automotive industry gets ignored by the folks with all the power in Washington, the more we start to like columnist Dan Howes over at the more-conservative- than-the-Freep Detroit News. In todays edition he pens a piece on the intricacies of the bullshit that is federal involvement with the American auto industry so biting, we're starting to think he's ready to start hitting the auto blogorrhea circuit . Here's one of our fave quotes:

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    Spy Video: 2007 Audi R8 In Action

    The Streetfire.net boys (and girls?) are back on the Audi R8 tip. The've procured a clip of the 2007 Audi R8 — recently exposed in near-production trim — along with a couple of test engineers who seem really, really happy with their jobs. Dig that crazy V10 whine.

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    Spy Photos: GMT-900 Chevy Tahoe And GMC Yukon SS?

    That's what our Paukert-ed up friends at the blog down the road which winds are telling us this AM. They're claiming what you've got in crop-top-drop-shot above, and through the link below is none other than the GMT-900 edition of the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon in some kind of "performance package", maybe even the SorrySucker SuperSexyBack SuperSport packages. But Winding Road asks the same questions we do — is this just a trim 'n tape job, or some real performance enhancements? Considering ou

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    Jalopnik Emissions

    The Best BMWs Ever Coiffures d'Elegance: Best Hair at Pebble Beach Post-Debut Pre-Debut of Peter Kalikow's Ferrari 612 Kappa Call The Feds, We've Got An Older-Model Lincoln: Traffic Stop In Detroit Nets FBI Attention The Dash Is Totally Hot! The New 2007 Land Rover Defender The Ballad of Babe The Blue Ox Pebble Beach Ferrari 599 Preview Spy Photos: BMW 3-Series Hardtop Convertible on the 101 Magnum DGJ: Jalopnik Hits the (Pebble) Beach What's The Truthiness Of Pogue's Prius Horn-Blowing Fit? Spy

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    The Dash Is Totally Hot! The New 2007 Land Rover Defender

    Anytime you're professing that your vehicle's made changes to "maintain relevancy" it's usually almost a sure thing the changes you've made probably didn't. But, Land Rover perserveres with the newest rennovation to the ages-old Land Rover Defender for 2007, a name that's both synonymous with longevity and a requirement for an update. So let's see what the new hotness on this version of the around-since-1948 off-roader which has sold around 25,000 units a year to over 100 countries — mainly t

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    Spy Photos: BMW 3-Series Hardtop Convertible On The 101

    Generally, we leave the spy photography to professionals, like Brenda Priddy, Hans G. Lehmann and our readers. But now and then, opportunity and necessity conspire to force us to take matters into our own hands, and yesterday was just such a time. Rolling down the 101 a bit north of Santa Barbara, Eagle-Eye Pendleton spotted a car that didn't look quite right. At first blush, we thought it might be a disguised Volvo C70, which is most likely what the Motoren Werker of Bayern wanted passers-by to

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    Magnum DGJ: Jalopnik Hits The (Pebble) Beach

    Last Thursday, around 7:30am we were supposed to be on our way to Pebble Beach in a Ferrari 308 GTB with Jalopnik reader, Larry Manetti fan and all-around fantastic character Pen Pendleton, who was to play Rick to our Thomas Magnum. But we weren't. We were asleep, having snoozed right through our alarm. A few frantic phone calls and some mad Interwebs clicking later, we were in the Durango on the way to LAX to catch a flight to San Jose, where we were offered a ride to Monterey by a very nice wo

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    What's The Truthiness Of Pogue's Prius Horn-Blowing Fit?

    Toyota's had some problems of late in the sphere of quality control, so much so that Frank Williams from Robert Farago's relatively tame site, The Truth About Cars, provided some quality and controlled commentary on the issue the other day — and asked an important question:

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    Big Three Getting Toasted On The West Coast For Fuel Economy, But Toyota Truck Sales Up?

    Automotive News today is reporting some interesting numbers from the folks at RL Polk & Co. — during the first half of the year, the domestic brands on sale out in sunny Caly-fohr-nya accounted for only 31.4% of the state's retail registrations. Just as importantly, Toyota, the brand from the land of the rising sun, accounted for 26,7% of retail registrations. Setting aside George Clooney's Hollywood-love-fest at the Academy Awards earlier this year, the Ocean's 11/12 star did have one thing

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    GM Says To Dealers: No Gas For You!

    Like the Soup Nazi, the General's laying down the law on dealerships in the latest missive from the bean-counting bureaucrats at the RenCen (Note — in today's episode, the part of "bean-counting bureaucrat" will be played by GM Veep of Industry Dealer Affairs, William Powell), by making it clear they'll no longer reimburse dealers for a full of tank of gas upon delivery. Instead, the Detroit-based automaker will be handing the dealership $20 for cars and $30 for trucks — which if we've calcul

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    Exclusive Transformers Movie Update: Optimus Prime And Starscream Robot Modes Are Teh Suck — And The Pictures Prove It!

    Our Transformers main man, Hue Hughes, gave us the lowdown on some pictures found over on one of the biggest Transformers fan-sites, TFW2005.com. The pictures are none other than robot-modes of Autobot main man himself and sporting the long-nosed semi look, Optimus Prime. And if that isn't enough to get your fan-boy love juices flowing, they've also got first-looks at Decepticon bad-boys Starscream, Blackout and Scorponok. Take a look through the photo gallery below and then click the jump fo

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    2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: GM's Rick Wagoner Talks Dream Cruise

    We had the opportunity to hit up a GM event for a short while last night at Athens Coney Island right along M-1 in Royal Oak. We've got a few things we'll be showing you in a bit — but what we've got spun up above so far is all about Rick. You see, GM's Rick Wagoner knows all about the Dream Cruise — and according to him — GM knows all about using the Dream Cruise as a marketing tool. That makes sense...it's such a lovely time to talk about cars built by GM, Ford and Chrysler over the past 40 ye

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    2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: Cruising Come Rain Or Shine, But Parking? That's A Toughie!

    The two biggest issues at any Dream Cruise are always the potential for rain and the potential inability to find parking. That's one of the reasons we were up at 5:00 AM to hit the streets and byways looking for spots to ditch our ride and make a walking cruise down Woodward Avenue. Just our luck, the rain decided to get up early too. But that's allright, that's ok — thanks to a tip from one Jalopnik reader late in the evening last night — we've got some covered parking, which is where we too

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    Less Ford Truck Men: Mo Analysis On FoMoCo's Slow-Down

    Those wacky boys n' girls in Ford's PR team sure no how to make certain the pictures leading the way on the press site when bad news hits are appropriate — like the one above, now offered as the lead story. But digressions aside. We listed several plants set to be idled as a function of cuts FoMoCo announced earlier. Now, let's look at which vehicles will be most severly affected. It's Big Bill Boss' bread n' butter, the F-Series trucks, undergoing a cut in production of more than 404,000 of

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    The Dollar Sign Of The Cat: Jaguar Announces XKR Pricing

    Notwithstanding Jaguar's corporate fate, which became cloudy this week amid reports of Ford advisors recommending a sell (with Land Rover) — and others recommending a hold — Jaguar announced MSRPs and options for the 2007 XKR Coupe and Convertible will come in under the $100,000 mark. On location of this year's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance (Davey, represent!) the company revealed the coupe will start at $86,500, and the 2007 XKR Convertible at $92,500. Still, add a few options, and your acco

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    2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Wert's Got A Full Tank Of Gas, A Half Pack Of Starbucks DoubleShot, And He's Wearing Sunglasses. Hit It!

    So we realized last night that Wert's gonna have to get some sleep, and last night he tried. Unfortunately, when he's ingested four Starbucks doppio espressos in a 6 hour period — it's much more difficult than just "going to sleep." And no, the liquor didn't help much either. But, since it worked so well for him yesterday — we've dropped a couple of double shots down our Detroit man's throat — and sent him out to do his task, because there's now only 24 hours to go before the big Cruise start

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    2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Bike Moves!

    Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy Out in the back seat of my 60 chevy Workin on mysteries without any clues Workin on our night moves Tryin to make some front page drive-in news Workin on our night moves In the summertime In the sweet summertime

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    Oh-Ho-Ho, It's The 2007 Chevy Aveo!

    Chevy dropped the tarp on the 2007 version of its 37 mpg subcompact, giving one of us the opportunity to see it up close and personal, even allowing us to lay our hands on the supple perforated leather leather-like leatherette interior (at only $250 more!) and stroke the many included amenities (can someone say aux in?) in this value-oriented car. Although there were no test drives today boys and girls — we can tell you that this car is all about saving you the benjamins, so although what we

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    BMW M3 Coupe Pricing And Specs Leaked?

    Our buddy Tom just tipped us off that someone over at E90Post posted what they say is US pricing info (though, strangely, metric horsepower and torque specs) for the next-gen BMW M3 coupe, due out later this year. Some notables regarding the new model are its 4.0-liter V8 (bi-VANOS 3rd gen.), producing 412 hp and 310 ft-lbs of torque, its available SMG III 7-speed tranny (six-speed manual standard), its carbon-fiber roofage similar to the M6's, and base price of $53,975, a $5000 jump from the 20

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    2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Royal Oak Police Are Still Teh Suck

    Ok, so what have we learned so far at this years Woodward Dream Cruise — or at least the week leading up to it? Hunter House has, by far, the best slider burgers in the known universe. We've also learned not to jaywalk — or at the very least, don't get a ticket for jaywalking in Royal Oak (by the way, still looking for extra legal advice here — any takers?). We've also learned there's a major-league difference between "rat rods" and "hot rods." More than anything though, we've learned the imp

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    Power (Not) To Wait: Audi-Engining The Lotus Elise

    Forget how much attention engineers pay to a car model's power-to-weight ratio, there's always some knucklehead around to stick a socket wrench in the handiwork. Take Lotus's Elise and its coupe sibling Exige, two of the most perfectly balanced road-and-track cars on the planet. Sure, the cars' perfectly sufficient horsepower can't snap a C1 vertebrae at the flick of a toe, but compromises must be made. Still, UK tuning shop Auto-Teknix had to go and stick an Audi 20-valve five-cylinder, turboch

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    Porsche Shoots For All The Marbles: Considers Suing German Government For Control Of VW

    Mess not with Wendelin the Lionhearted, ye Saxon dogs! Lest ye be dispatched with a slash of Porsche general counsel's mighty broadpen. Argh! What are we on about? It seems the large and in charge leader of the Porsche dream team, Mr. Wiedeking, wants the corporate control that should go along with owning a controlling share of Volkswagen. Porsche has already paid $4.2 billion Boxster bux to nab 21.2 percent of VW (with an option to grab up an additional 3.9 percent). The next largest stockholde

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    It's Not Radio, It's XM: GM Cuts Price Of XM Radio To $199

    It's a radio slash-fest over at the General. They're dropping those prices low to the flo' on equipping XM radio in its cars and trucks — from $325 a pop to a new-for-you price of just $199 on most model 2007 vehicles. As Mark LaNeve, GM's veep of NorAm says:

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    Breaking! Prez Bush Sez Not Snubbing Big Three, But No Meeting's Planned

    This meeting's supposed to have happened since April, but for some reason the President just can't seem to make time for three of the nation's largest employers. Yes, he had time for a ten-day brush-clearing vacay down in Texas — but hey, some things have to take priority, right? Tony Snow was asked a question on it by Deb Price of the Detroit News in the press scrum whether Bush was "snubbing" the Big Three — and his response was:

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    2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Royal Oak Police Show Us What Not To Do On Woodward Avenue — Wert & Co. Get Jaywalking Tickets

    Although yesterdays update was fairly run of the mill — despite the el Camino parked out front of Hunter House — now that the one-day Dream Cruise is officially un-officially becoming a one-week long Dream Cruise, things are starting to heat up on Woodward Avenue. But as you can see by the ticket over yonder, there are certain things you still shouldn't do — like jaywalk. Although we're not even for a moment going to admit to whether it was a fair cop on the part of the Royal Oak cop, we will

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    Duke Hale Says: Never Mind Nanjing, MG To Be Built In The US

    The Nanjing-Oklahoma Saga sounds could be an epic novel about the railroad building in the old west, and the name of Duke T. Hale fits someone who might be hiding a pickaxe under his ten-gallon hat. Of course, Hale, president and CEO of the newly formed MG Cars North America/Europe, is actually an auto industry veteran who's worked for Ford, Chrysler, Volvo, Mazda, Isuzu and Lotus. In his latest job, he's got the unenviable task of reviving a storied British marque — known as much for electrical

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    One, Two, Three, Four — Chevy Don't Want A Muscle Car War?

    It's only day one of the muscle car wars, and already we're hearing about one of the pony-makers backing off. This is totally not what we wanted to hear as we get ready for the titans of Detroit to do battle like the Jets n' Sharks of old. To bring you up to speed, this morning the Chevy Camaro Dream Cruise trailer made an impromptu guest appearance and drive-by of a Chrysler PR event talking up a Dodge Challenger give-away promo. After taking that white-gloved slap, Chrysler's PR top dog Jaso

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    The Muscle Car Wars Are On! Chrysler's Vines Fires A Salvo At Chevy PR Newbie Rhadigan

    Looks like this Muscle Car "cold war" just turned hot — and just in time for the world's largest single-day classic car cruise. To recap — earlier today at a Chrysler Group press event, the PR peeps from Chevy made a point of letting the Chrysler folks know that they were stepping on the Generals turf by driving their bowtied Camaro trailer past the event — almost goading the Chrysler Group into a West Side Story-like knife fight. And oh-ho-ho, it worked. The chief PR man from the German-Amer

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    Who's Tweakin' Jason Vines And Challenging Dodge?

    So our boy, Chrysler PR man extraordinaire, Jason Vines, was looking rather worried there behind the Dodge Challenger concept car at the PT Cruiser and Dodge Challenger press event this AM. At the time, we couldn't figure out exactly why — and although it seemed like he was looking at something over on Woodward Avenue we'd had too little caffeine to justify something as simple as turning around and looking. It wasn't until we were glancing through main-man-with-the-cam James LaMoreaux's photos a

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    The Truth About ABS: It's A Killer?

    These days, we take antilock brakes' grinding and pounding underfoot as a fait accompli of the safety age. Just about every insurance agency offers a discount for cars equipped with ABS, though the NHTSA maintains its soft-pedal endorsement of the device, "When used properly, an antilock brake system (ABS) is a safe and effective braking system." But according to The Truth About Cars, ABS is a killer. To wit:

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    No Free Mustache Rides From Dr. Z — How About A Free Dodge Challenger Instead?

    Other than the PT Cruiser PCH Edition, the big news out of the Chrysler shindig this morning next to Duggan's Irish Pub on Woodward Avenue was the answer to apparently one of the most asked questions on the "Ask Dr Z" website. Although we were hoping more for the answer to the question, "Do you give free mustache rides?" — the question Dr. Z's minions answered today was still pretty good — "How can I win a Dodge Challenger, or another Chrysler Group product?" The press release below the jump

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    2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: The Hunter House And The El Camino, Two Perfect For Words

    Only a one in a million moment could have paired two of the most amazing things in our life in the same picture. An El Camino and The Hunter House restaurant on Woodward Avenue in downtown Birmingham. This must mean only one thing — and just like Jake and Elwood Blues, we've been tasked by some heavenly force to cover the 2006 Dream Cruise...as well as eat lots of the famous burger joints sliders. So we've delegated the task to Wert, and now with just four days left until the largest single-d

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    Get Manly Or Get Your Girl On? New Hummer Ads Don't Restore The Balance

    Let's strike this one from inside the intended demo: Gen-X guy buys tofu. Gen-X guy is spotted buying tofu. Gen-X guy runs to nearest Hummer dealer and buys H3. Now, the Jalop penning this piece has been a devoted tofutee for 11 years. He also drives a sport utility vehicle while wishing he owned a sports car and a pickup. Budget constraints, utility and access to press cars won out, and he ended up with a midsize ute that featured everything he wanted in a station wagon in his price range (V8,

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    Note To 'American Idol' Prospects: Cowell Doesn't Appreciate Car-Broiled Dog

    As an odd, cred-killing side-note, one Jalopnik was actually in both the El Camino High Madrigal choir, as well as the Central Valley Regional Honor Choir with American Idol contestant Mandisa Hundley, who is a very nice woman and only accused us of being a racist once, when we, as a part of a pre-Homecoming stunt, were the ringleader in a game of Musical Pies and ended up dumping a pan full of cream onto a black girl's head, not realizing that due to the texture of African-bred hair that dairy

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    What's So New About The New, New Mini?

    From the outside, the 2007 Mini (UK version) looks to be a mere nup-and-tick away from the last model. But the company says every single body panel is different. That's owed to what chaos theorists call the butterfly effect — you can't change one segment without it rippling throughout the rest of the design. Of course, everything is new to such an evolutionary degree — the most noticable differences being in the front and rear overhangs — a casual onlooker may be none the wiser. But under that f

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    De-Brief Me, Baby! The 2006 Management Briefing Seminar Round-Up

    You probably weren't up in Traverse City at the beautiful Grand Traverse Resort for the annual conclave of Michigan minds of the automotive industry. You know damn sure we weren't gonna make the trek up there to hear a bunch of folks tell us what works and doesn't work in the auto industry — that's just way to wonkish, even for Wert's taste. But, we've talked to people who were up at David Cole's annual gala , and man, wow — we totally weren't missing anything. But, for those of you who're lo

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    Who Needs A Keg? Dodge Taps College Students Instead

    Better yet, keep the keg and ditch the marketing research, especially if you're a company like DaimlerChrysler and can just head up the street to Oakland University to get commentary on potential new models from a bunch of college kids from all over the country who've come to work for you for free. Oh wait, that's just what the German-American hybrid car company's done. DaimlerChrysler's participating in Vanderbilt University's Accelerator Summer Program, which puts business and marketing stu

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    Rally 'Round The Ford! GT Ends Production, Owners Gather In Dearborn

    With FoMoCo ending the limited-run production of the Ford GT supercar next month as they shut down the Wixom assembly, it's obviously a time for sentimentality. It explains why the Dearborn automaker invited GT owners from far and wide to head on down to Bill Fords big glass house for some punch and pie with the people who helped make the GT a reality. But although Jeremy Clarkson may not have been one of the owners in attendance, he should feel content that all of the work he put in on break

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    Spy Photos: Alfa Black Line

    Alfisti, take particular note of this tibit from our friends at Italiaspeed. It's not groudbreaking, but it'll do for a Monday morning. It appears the Alfa GT coupe will be getting a new, midcycle cosmetics upgrade package, the Black Line 2 (an upgrade over the Black Line trim pack offered in late 2005). Alfa will show the special edition GT at the Paris show in September, along with (we hope) a production version of the 8C Competizione. The Black Line due package will add such jewelry as 18" al

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    Bold Movies: Ford Dishes Dirt On 2007 Shelby GT

    Ford's "Go Fast" project has hardly anything to do with zero-to-60 times; it's an internal project to speed up product development — from drawing board to production — and the subject of the latest "Bold Moves" documercial installment. Cleverly, at least in a narrative sense, the episode ties in Ford's partnership with Shelby, in particular how the Fordies are learning how to fight deadline-busing bureaucracy by watching Carroll Shelby's minions work up the Shelby GT Mustang in record time. Can

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    Spy Photos: Kia Pride Hybrid?

    One of our tipsters sent over this shot from points unconfirmed. If the badging is accurate, it's a hybrid version of the Kia Pride (think: Ford Festiva) snapped in a secret location under a covert kimchee-and-dumplings factory in South Korea. Kia's already said it's serious about getting into the hybrid game. A plan for parent Hyundai to supply engines and LG providing the electronics has been on the table since late 2005. The companies announced they'd set up a joint R&D team, with hybrid prod

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    Summer Cruising On Woodward Avenue: Chevy's Building The Camaro?

    We guess Chevy just enjoys preaching to the converted — it's our only explanation why we've now seen a car carrier driving up and down Woodward Avenue pre-Dream Cruise with a Chevy Camaro concept and a classy classic Camaro, closely followed by the above billboard truck twice in the past two days. The billboard shows the new Camaro along with the tagline:

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    Rental Car Reacharound: 2007 Dodge Caliber

    On a recent trip to Reno, I was "upgraded" to a 2007 Dodge Caliber by the good folks at Enterprise. (Having reserved an economy-class car, I was surprised that they would call the Caliber something other than that.) Approaching the car, my wife actually said it was "cute." I was expecting her to hate it, given Dodge itself calls the Caliber "Anything But Cute." I thought she'd much prefer the curvier Jeep Compass (which essentially is Pat to the Caliber's Hans and/or Franz). Fortunately, they di

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    Mommy! Daddy! Tell Logan He's A Prick!

    Since today is Friday, and folks are looking to hit the road on a gorgeous summer day, here's something for all of your vacationers. So no, that's not the formula for determination of FoMoCo's sales or how much money DaimlerChrysler's spent on the "Dr Z" ad campaign. Rather, it's a formula created by the folks at Leapfrog, the interactive kiddie porn education software/hardware company. Devised by one of the company's well travelled management consultants, who's raising two sets of twins, the

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    What A Shocker! North Texas Ford Dealers Don't Like Homosexuals!

    We've known some fine people from North Texas. We made the decision to move to Central Texas of our own volition, and we still have many fond memories of the place and often miss it. To the coastal types who think all Texans are stereotypical bigots, well, we'd like to deflate that notion right now. That said, there is a reason for that impression, and a coalition of North Texas Ford Dealers sent a letter to HQ in Dearborn presenting their objections to Ford's rejection of concessions to the Ame

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    Business In The Front, And The Camaro Is Back!

    One of us had the opportunity to witness todays official announcement event for the new Camaro, an event including a sea of thousands of very local Camaro and auto enthusiasts, many driving in to the event in their own classic Camaros. But the official announcement from the folks at Chevy today (well, it was the official announcement unless you count GM CEO Rick Wagoner announcing it earlier today at the big auto seminar in Traverse City, MI — but really, that was so boring they didn't even b

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    Big Brother Says Slow Down: Traffic Control By Satellite; Myth Or Coming Soon To The UK?

    We've been following the UK's march toward state-controlled motoring with empathetic semi-amusement. With every new municipal proposal to employ technology for the sake of imposing iron will over the motoring public, we're ever more grateful even for the US's anti-driver traffic laws (in urban areas, at least) — the doubling of fines at will, the Boss Hoggian manipulation of "speed zones," the selective enforcement — and even more grateful for the Constitution (even in the shape it's in). But go

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    What About Bob?

    Last week when the General introduced its newly tricked-out GMT-900 trucks, the Chevy Silverado and the GMC Sierra, it got us to thinking — whatever happened to the old "Like A Rock" ad slogan? One of us (take a guess) was all over that made-in-Detroit Bob Seger crooner shit, and despite the suckiness of the song — that same one of us thought it was a pretty cool slogan for a truck — and it fits right in with that whole "American Revolution" thing Chevy's slingin' right now. Plus, Seger's got

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    All Your Blogs Are Belong To Ford: FoMoCo Makes A Bold Blog Buy, Jumps On The Cluetrain

    Looks like FoMoCo wants to make a "Bold Move" in the blogosphere so badly it's decided to buy its way in. The Dearborn, MI-based automaker recently made a purchase of ad space on 400 blogs running BlogAds ad boxes. The ads are appearing on urban-hipster sites like Gothamist, as well as environmental-themed sites like Treehugger (full disclosure: one of us received an ad on his not-so-well maintained personal site). The text of the ads can be seen in the graphic to the left, and although it do

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    Third Row! More On The 2007 BMW X5

    The seven-seat 2007 BMW X5 was revealed yesterday, much to the delight of children and kneeless adult passengers, who'd been clamoring for a third row to hunker down in while mom (or whoever) scooted throught the esses on US 208. It's also got a new iDrive controller that uses programmable hot keys to bypass the digital labyrinth for repetitive tasks. As for the design, the overproduced PR imagery makes it nearly impossible to suss out what the latest nip-and-tuck session has wrought. We'll see

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    Here We Come...Rollin' Down The Street...The Monkeemobile!

    As a child, we loved two things: musclecars (especially GTOs and B-Body Mopars) and the Monkees. In fact, the first rock show we ever saw was the non-Nesmith reunion lineup on tour with "Weird Al" Yankovic in the summer of 1987. Lack of Mr. Woolhat not withstanding (we're still big Mike Nesmith fans, by the way), the thing we missed most during the show was the absence of their Goat-on-acid Monkeemobile. The Dean Jeffries-designed Pontiac A-Body came about via a precipitous confluence of Univers

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    Hey Dealers! GM's Mark LaNeve Has A Great Opportunity For You!

    More than likely GM NorAm veep for sales, service and marketing, Mark LaNeve never actually saw this dealer bulletin going out today, but damn it, it's even more funny if he actually did. It's a bulletin sent to all General Motor dealerships in the US, letting them in on something so amazing, so killer-cool, so hawt — all dealers have to know about it...and know about it right now. Here's the opening, with emphasis added for your enjoyment, and the rest after the jump.

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    Boston Globe, You're An Embargo Breaker, Newstaker; Don't You Mess Around With Acura

    Oooooh, Boston Globe, you're in trouble! Looks like that story we didn't cover — about how the 2007 Acura TL was coming in Type-S trim (that's a 3.5-liter V6 with 286 hp and 256 lb.-ft. of torque) — was embargoed until September 1st. But seeing as information wants to be free (as some believe), this bit seemingly snapped its leash and ran for the hilltops, where it made itself known on hundreds of Web sites. Because schadenfreude, unlike revenge, is a dish best served piping hot, we've got the l

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    Lutz On The Holden VE Commodore SS-V: It's Magical!

    "Maximum" Bob Lutz appears bullish on Holden's new VE Commodore SS-V, calling it "a magic vehicle" after driving it just once, according to Australia's Drive.com.au. That bodes well for the car becoming integrated into GM's North American line — possibly as a replacement for the Pontiac Grand Prix — something Holden boss Denny Mooney would give his eyeteeth and a case of wallaby for.

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    Leakity Leak! New BMW X5 Revealed

    BMW's new X5 is set to be revealed officially this week. But does that mean you can't see it yet? Hells no. First, AutoWeek appears to have again negotiated a pre-release shot, considering they seem to have a Web exclusive on the above. (Oh wait, not any more.) But you want to see the whole bit, no? Correct. For that, we turn to our mates at Carscoop, who never met an embargo they didn't regard like a meth-addled silverback gorilla at a Harry and David cheese tasting.

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    Unbelievers In The Seavers: 'The Fall Guy' Detractors At Jump The Shark

    While it's true that the addition of Nedra Volz to the cast of The Fall Guy was somewhat of a woodrow-wilter, especially considering by that point we'd already seen a decline in the bikini-clad appearances of Markie and Heather, the main reason cited by Jump The Shark contributors for the show's ungoodness was Lee Majors' "The Unknown Stuntman." These people obviously have brainpower somewhat comparable to a Portuguese Man o' War (and are possessed of considerably less loinclothy awesomeness tha

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    Anarchy In The UK: Jenson Button's Wild Ride

    Last Friday, on his way home from work, one guy in London got into a little street-racing action (Jalopnik does not condone illegal or dangerous driving behavior of any kind, right legal team?) on London's M40 with a guy in a royal blue Honda NSX.

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    Bill Ford Looking At Solutions, Privately?

    With the recent hiring of M&A expert Kenneth Leet as a personal jesus advisor to Wee Willie Clay it's certainly a signal that those Bold Moves we've long heard about at FoMoCo may actually happen. It's also brought about a great deal of speculation, some even of a wild-ass nature, on what he's going to be doing there. As an M&A expert, and with signals of "For Sale" signs popping up all over the place, it's safe to assume a couple of pieces of Henry's empire may be up for the taking to folks

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    Breaking! Four Bucks A Gallon, Here We Come! BP Goes Oops In Alaska, Shuts Off 8% Of US Crude

    Although "BP" changed their name to "Beyond Petroleum" in its marketing, it never officially changed the name of the company. That's because the company all about "listening to the concerns and criiticisms of real people" is still chained to that ol' carbon fuel source o' oil. Now, due to what's being called "corroded lines" in the company's primary Alaskan oil field, they're needing to shut down distribution of all crude from the state with a bridge to nowhere. And that accounts for somewher

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    2006 Concours d'Elegance Meadow Brook: Boogety-Boogety-Bugatti Veyron

    Yes, we're spoiled here in Metro Detroit. Every day, and double on Shabbos, there's some kind of a car event or auto show. But one of us had the opportunity to check out the Concours d'Elegance just down the road from us on the grounds of Oakland University's historic Meadow Brook Hall, and let's be frank — it was boring as hell. Yes, the 300 or so cars were most definetly amazing, but as one Jalopnik reader told us, after about 45 minutes you've seen all the cars and you're wondering what's

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    Gleaming The Tube: X Games Rally Update

    There it went, this past weekend — the first rally car racing event graced the X Games. As matters shook out at the The Home Depot Center, Travis Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom wound up with the gold, but it was Colin McRae who scored the most freestyle points with the Rockstar-addled crowd. Coming into the games' "Super Special" contest with a 0.5 second edge over Pastrana was veteran rallyist, McRae, who was favored to dust the field. But as he and co-driver Nicky Grist dropped into

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    Sometimes You Feel Like A HOG, Sometimes You Don't: The 2007 Ford Harley-Davidson F-150 Super Crew

    Once in a while there's a time in each and every Harley-Davidson owners life where they actually need a piece of machinery capable of hauling more than just them, their squaw and an extra pair of leather chaps. For those days, there's FoMoCo's newest edition F-150 Super Crew, even if all you'll really use it for is to carry your Softail from one rally to the next. But at least you'll be doing it in style in this, the ninth model to come out of the Dearborn-Milwaukee alliance since the two com

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    More On Da Matta's Deer Incident At Road America

    Faithful tipster Scott sent over this bit from ESPN regarding Champ Car-driver Cristiano da Matta's collision with a deer during a practice session at Elkhart Lake. Cristiano is currently hospitalized in critical condition, in a medically-induced coma, due to a subdural hematoma. In layman's terms, it means that the accident resulted in a burst blood vessel on the surface of his brain. Stefan Johannson — who courteously dropped off the Bullrun so's we could snake his room at the W Hotel in San D

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    'Angry Buick' Is Not Necessarily An Oxymoron

    One of the reasons we've been so hard on GM's Buick division as of late is that we once loved it so. The classic '50s porthole cars, the ridiculously sexy '60s Rivs, the pure, unadulterated awesomeness of the '70 GS, and of course the question-my-blackness-and-I'll-bunch-your-fucking-eye-out Grand National and GNX, which took the humble G-Body platform to spooled-up stratospheric heights of Saturday-nights-on-the-strip coolness. We sold our '70 Skylark eight years ago, and there's not a day that

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    Jalopnik Team Party Crash: X Games Rally Party In Los Angeles

    "Man, I ain't never been to a Rally-party like this," explained Rally Innovations driver Kevin Welker as we both stood gawking at the hordes of beautiful-ish people that had bum-rushed the Avalon in Hollywood for the X-Games After Party. Rallying, that loveable sport where hopped up Evos and STIs go "Dukes of Hazzard"-style airborne crazy, has been added as an official X-Games event. Mr. Welker went on to explain that every Rally party he's been to comprised drivers, mechanics and owners slammin

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    Help Me, Rhonda! Jalopnik Team Party Crash: Woodward Dream Cruise Edition

    It's that time of the year again, when thoughts turn to classic cars on Detroit's most sprawlerific avenue. That's right, it's time to get funky and clap your hands for the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise. We're now just two weeks away from the most amazing of all amazing automotive events — and this year, we're actually planning ahead. And as we look at the plan now, we've got a lot of things to do...and little to no resources to do it with. For instance, we've got Wert in Metro Detroit...and we'

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    Ad Watch: Yup, That's One Head-Bobbin' Jeep Compass

    There are four ads for the Jeep Compass featuring bobblehead dolls head-bobbing at each other. Each of the four make an attempt at being funny, and then just as quickly, they each fail. On top of that, they're just creepy as hell, and there's no real explanation for who, what, why, where...and to be honest, we couldn't give a rat's ass how. The best thing we can say is the music by KRS-One, which we think is called "Steady Bounce" is not as annoying as Celine Dion, but also not as good as the Ch

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    Nissan's A Manga Maniac: Two Concept Vehicles To Appear In New "Ghost In The Shell" Movie

    The Japanese side of the Carlos Ghosn love child, the automaker Nissan, has teamed up with animation studio Production I.G., to remake the full-length feature "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society." Why Nissan, you ask? The better for product placement, we respond. The science-fiction film, set in the post-cyberpunkian Stand Alone Complex (S.A.C., hehe) world stars both former special agent Batou and more importantly to us — two Nissan concept vehicles: the Sport Concept

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    All Your Pods Are Belong To Us: Apple Inks Deal With GM, Ford, Mazda

    Screw Sirius and screw XM cause iPod's gone and killed the satellite star. Instead, the new hotness in radio accoutrements will be iPod integration. Apple released word today it's teamed up with FoMoCo, the General and Ford's division of Zoom-Zoom, Mazda, to deliver "seamless iPod integration" across the majority of their respective car brands and models. Sounds like a plan to us. We were early adopters of the fruity handheld music player, so this is something we've been looking forward to so

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    It's Over! Bullrun '06 Wrap-Up

    So while some of you have expressed displeasure with our extensive Bullrun coverage, some of y'all have enjoyed it and some have reacted with indifference, we have to say that our own abbreviated sojurn as a mini Sal Paradise to the distaff Dean Moriartys of Keri Rensing and Jennifer Nicole was an experience we'll never forget as long as we live. You can call the celebrities B-grade. You can laugh at some of the posturing, but at the end of it all, it was an incredible gathering of car guys and

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    The Trouble With Dr. Z

    AdAge is reporting that despite criticism from the marketing pundits, Chrysler is continuing with its marketing campaign featuring DCX honcho Dieter Zetsche. Here's how we see it. The spots aren't particularly funny. We like Dieter at press intros. A CEO who's willing to have a little fun is all right in our book. The problem is, press introductions are not television advertisements. And while Dieter's funny for a CEO, he's no David Cross. Nor is he Peter Stormare. VW played the quirky German th

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    Rally Blog, A Driver's Journal: Maine Forest

    My result from the Maine Forest rally: Third in class, PGT, and 20th overall. Wow, that sucks after the great run we were having, but that's they way it goes in rallying. Things change in a split second and you push on with what you have.

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    Double Breaking! Ford Earnings Restatement Doubles Second Quarter Loss

    Late yesterday,Dearborn's biggest employer announced its second-quarter loss was a bit more than the numbers CFO Don LeClair and CWFO (Chief Way Forward Officer) Mark Fields reported earlier this month. Thus, it's now necessary to file a new earnings report with the SEC. And by "a bit more" we mean it went from a loss of $131 million to a loss of $254 million. How do you miss that one? Wait...there's an explanation here somewhere...ah, here it is. FoMoCo said the reason behind the shift from

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    More On The 2007 Opel Antara: Specs Revealed

    GM Europe's let fly with more details on its Antara crossover — which we'll likely see as the next Saturn Vue — ahead of its unveling at the Paris show next month. The Antara's entry engine will be a DOHC 2.4-liter four, with diesel options and a top-line 3.2-liter V6. Where the Antara will be built by those who developed the platform — at GM Daewoo in Korea — its Vue cousin will reportedly be built in Mexico. Click through for specs.

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    Being Greenish: Silverado, Sierra To Be GM's First Hybrid Trucks; Fall 2007 Launch

    Edmunds Inside Line got the inside dirt on GM's new full-sized hybrid trucks. Word is, the first among them — versions of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups — will debut in Fall 2007, which means GM could possibly beat Toyota (the big T's reportedly doing a feasibility study on a hybrid version of its new '07 Tundra) to a significant hybrid product launch. At last. [UPDATE: In the headline, we of course meant first full-hybrid trucks. The current Silverado hybrid is most definitely a

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    A Compendium Of Pre-Mel Gibson PCH Action

    So, of course, the big news in Celebutown this week is Mel Gibson's arrest for DUI while rolling in an LS430 with a bottle of tequila. Somehow, we imagine Mel having a war with his inner Max Rockatansky, but seeing as we doubt the LS was equipped with a faux-blower and most likely did not suck nitro, we'll get down to the tacks. Brass 'em up, boys.

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    GM's New Truck Hotness, Part II: The 2007 GMC Sierra Extended Cab

    Like it's brother GMT-900 truck, the Chevy Silverado, the 2007 GMC Sierra was re-designed from the bottom up — and also like its badge-engineered brother — it shows. The cool thing about the GMC model is the addition of a "Denali edition." And by "cool", we really mean it's probably not cool. Rather, it kinda feels like a shameless extension of the "Denali edition" of the Yukon and Envoy — except...it does look different. But more on that shortly. Feast your GMC-loving eyes on the picture gal

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    GM's New Truck Hotness, Part I: The 2007 Chevrolet Silverado Extended Cab

    The General's announced the most important pickup truck in the company's history today, and for once, the hype on product development may match the product. Although we've not yet been able to drive it, the new 2007 Chevy Silverado looks...and feels (literally) better than previous models. The Silverado, based on the new GMT-900 platform, which underpins a number of GM's new large SUVs, including the '07 Tahoe, boasts some very important features in areas the truck-buying demographic is very

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    Will The Oval Survive? Ford's Crucial Next Launches

    AutoWeek runs down the next three 2007 product launches from Ford, gauging them in terms of crucialness in the company's plan for rebirth. These launches are, in order of importance, the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX, Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator and 2008 F-Series Super Duty. Get our take after the jump.

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    Bullrun '06: Fontucky To Beverly Hills

    The rally was originally supposed to end at The Grove, one of the tonier open-air shopping areas in Los Angeles. However, at the last minute, mall authorities reneged on the deal, as they'd been doing some research on the Internets and decided that the Bullrun wasn't a "family-friendly" event. During the drivers' meeting at Fontana, David Green informed us that our final destination would actually be the Beverly Hilton, our hotel for the evening.

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    Breaking! GM July Sales Down 19.5%, Obfuscation Wins!

    Anyone who voted "C" in the poll earlier...guess what? Y'all won. Despite a headline reading "GM Delivers 410,332 Vehicles; Best Retail Month Of 2006", the numbers don't really back up the excitement inherent in such a headline. Reading through the press release, we found the excitement to be a bit...err...unfounded. You see, although it took us a bit, we did find the year-to-year sales somewhere around paragraph 12...and to get to that number in addition to the headline, we had to sift throu

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    Hacker's Notebook: Ferrari Hits Its Stride

    [Big welcomes all around to Nick Hall, international man of letters and reviewer of the world's most potent and storied tractors. This is his first in what we hope to be innumerable Hacker's Notebook columns. And by innumerable, we mean he's being compensated in dollars Kelvin. Thanks, Nick — ed.]

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    Hearty Hatch: Audi Reveals 2007 S3

    Ladies and gents, the number is 265. That's the horsepower Audi's wrung from the 2.0-liter TFSI four that graces its new S3. As for torque, the number is 258 ft.-lbs. All that comes by way of cam tweaking and turbocharging, while retaining low engine weight — 335 lbs. Of course it's got the Quattro business as well as lowered suspension profile, 18" alloys and other toys, for a European-converted $44,851. No power-to-weight figure yet, but we'll bring that as soon as Audi spills it.

    By Mike Spinelli Read More