Exterior Design: Silverado: **** I've always though an aggressive centerline on the front of a vehicle creates a unified central point that draws the eye forward. The Silverado's got that. One star deducted for the odd looking rear-wheel flares.
Read MoreWhy You Should Buy This Car: Drop-kicking the accelerator is like hitting a crack pipe; the rush is outright mad, instantly exhilarating and altogether unhealthy. A lack of German engineering in a car this powerful is refreshing. The GT500 is as American as Marlboro Reds, 72oz steaks and adult-onset diabetes; wrapping yourself in a flag would be less patriotic. Despite all odds, the Shelby is a blast to drive really fast. The brakes will man up and save your bacon, and then do it again. Tight ba
Read MoreExterior Design ***** The more I look at these new Mustangs, the more I understand why LA's Museum of Contemporary Art gave designer J Mays his own show. True, his New Beetle and reborn Thunderbird are insipid, but what he did for Ford's hot two-door has teeth. The Mustang looks even better dressed as a Shelby, with its ass in the air, fat tires and megamouth shark front end. You simply cannot front on the blue Le Mans stripes, nor can you dispute the perturbed Cobras (four of 'em) covering all
Read MoreIt's a turbulent time for full-sized pickups. For the past three decades, the Ford F-series has been the segment's undisputed king of the hill. But a recent slowdown in demand and production means its crown may be up for grabs. Toyota's gearing up to launch the newest Tundra, the product of a titanic undertaking to match the domestics on their own turf. And then there's General Motors, which is launching its latest full-size light-duty pickups — the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra — this month
Read MoreFord's Shelby GT500 is the real, vulgarian deal. Sure, its faults are numerous: It's too fat (3,920 lbs.) and too much of that lard is near the nose (58/42 front-rear split); the ride is utter garbage; the transmission feels like it's made from old nautical rope, and above 80 mph the road noise is like the inside of a dumpster that's being slammed by drunks with aluminum bats. And who cares? Certainly not me. True, a Dodge Viper will wend its way around a track faster, but when the Shelby catche
Read MoreWhy you should buy this car: Handling, handling, handling, five-speed manual and handling. And while I find the appearance of the Fusion only half-baked, I know there are those out there who think it snazzy looking. The low price and relatively large size are a rarity in today's autodom. A similarly equipped Accord LX costs $2,000 more. The back seats are for real people. Even driving like a rev-happy dummy, the mileage was consistently better than advertised. The Fusion SE really is an outstand
Read MoreExterior Design: *** I don't dig the five "razor blades" — three in the grill, two in the air dam — fitted to the Fusion's front. (Yeah, there's chrome all over the place in search of a tie-in, but so what?) Worse, while the grill, headlamps and taillights are properly fussy, at 20 paces it's impossible to tell the Fusion from other mid-sized sedans. It's not an ugly car, by any means, and its crisp lines cut a sharper profile than does the Mazda6's bulbosity, but its other platform-mate, the Me
Read MoreBack in San Francisco, while we were attempting to see just how open an open bar can be, I was invited to sit next to the very calm and cool FoMoCoBro, Alan D. Hall. Poor Mr. Hall. While it's true I clean up reasonably well in a blazer for these types of occasions, I've also played Gilman Street more times than any other auto journo working today. I'm a punk at heart. Start pouring gratis, double-gin martinis down my throat and I can be a dungeon-dwelling asshole.
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Read MoreThe PR chief for the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid, Jason "Main Man" Vines, was kind enough to inform us that he's called off the dogs of war (or legal action, depending on how you look at it) on the 'ol Jalopnik after we posted some "gag" versions of some web ads the Chrysler Group's running. Here's the skinny, straight from the Vinesian mouth:
Read MoreOur chap about town, Nick Hall, is hanging around Germany's Essen tuner show (like the US's SEMA), attending to the ladies vehicles on display. While he's there, he'll likely come across Cobra's N+ program as applied to the Nissan Qashqai, the company's new compact SUV currently only available in Europe. The package includes cosmetics like chromed and stainless-steel body components, sport muffler, 18" wheels and interior jewelry. All that stuff gives the ropy ute a bit more heft. We'll get more
Read MoreIt would appear even the mainstream media's got a bit o' irreverence left in it — even if it's only in the web pages of the Old Grey Lady. Here's the caption from one of the pictures from yesterday's slideshow on the new VW Tiguan concept on the Times web site:
Read MoreApparently the folks at the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid were pretty upset we liberated those "gag" commercials from the bureaucracy of Auburn Hills a while back. They've gone so far as to head on over to YouTube like a petulant child asking them "Mommy, make Jalopnik stop running leaks they get from the Tech Center!" and just like that YouTube's gone and slapped us with a little DMCA violation for the content — and poof, the funny little ads that have done more to help make the
Read MoreThis is the Mazda Nagare concept. Ignore that it looks like one of Carrie Bradshaw's Manolos, or a tiger moth in the pupa stage, or a Pinewood Derby entry from that kid whose dad works for NASA. Pay attention, however, to the graduated surface lines. It's a new design language, say designers in flowery art-school prose, that expresses motion. Thus, they've dubbed it "Nagare," which is Japanese for "flow." The car is, in truth, a "concept of a concept," which will inform subsequent designs to be
Read MoreCould it be Hyundai's been pumping a nitrous cocktail into the engineers' lounge, or something stronger than gin and tonic was passed around at last year's holiday party at the Hyundai Design Center? Either way (or elsewise), the HCD10 Hyundai Hellion concept, which the company unveiled at the LA show yesterday, was born. The press lit says the three-door crossover ute was inspired by the look of hardshell backbacks and surfboards, in particular, the way their rigid, manmade shapes mimic organic
Read MoreAcura turned the avant garde up to 11 with its Advanced Sedan Concept, unveiled at the LA show earlier today. Its sharp lines and architectural details incorporate design tropes from several eras, including the late 1930s, the mid-1950s, the lower-middle 1970s and six weeks from next Tuesday (or thereabouts). Modern? Post-modern? Get a French philosopher on the horn, stat.
Read MoreYou know the LA Auto Show has arrived when Honda decides to unveil not one, but two world premieres. And it only took 'em 100-years. The city of angels, not Honda, who as we know is highly efficient. No one from Honda would go on record, but we suspect both the Remix and Shoebox Step Bus concepts were designed and built in six hours. By interns. So freaking high is their efficiency.
Read MoreSpinn's dropping of the hybrid bomb a little while earlier makes this somewhat anti-climactic, but that's ok — because what you see in front of you, is a Saturn, so quit asking already. And now, there's even some Opel and Daewoo design in the new-for-2008 Saturn Vue. Although I already know one commenter doesn't like the General's new prettiness — I have to admit, it's hella better looking than it's predecessor, a CUV that looked like it hit every branch of the ugly tree on the way down — and
Read MoreThe General made good on the press leak indicating it'd build a hybrid with an extension cord. The electro-geek community — from the halls of Petaluma to the shores of MIT — are probably already figuring out their hacks, while the enviro-nerds of same will likely open the fists they once raised in GM's direction. The plug-in hybrid Vue Green Line will use a version of the company's two-mode hybrid-drive system (developed with DaimlerChrysler and BMW), featuring Lithium Ion battery technology, tw
Read MoreCall it headless horsepower. The flagship Lamborghini Murci lago — the 640-hp LP640 — is now sans top. The company is introducing its LP640 Roadster at the LA show this week, and we'd imagine it'll suck the oxygen out of the room with its air of menace and tricky convertible-top. Like its coupe sibling, the roadster is powered by Lamborghini's 6.5-liter "longitudinale posteriore" V12, which produces 486 lb-ft or torque and revs to 8,000 rpm. Zero to sixty in 3.4 seconds, and a top speed of over
Read MoreThe lightness-loving beings at Lotus revealed their latest US model, a club racer based on the Exige coupe. The Lotus Sport Exige Cup is a track-day-only model, with a boost to 252-hp via a Roots-type, Eaton M62 supercharger and some hacks to the Lotus engine management system. The company says the 1,800-lb sled can get from zero to 60 in 3.9 seconds (and to 100 mph in 9.8 seconds), and has a top speed of 160 mph. Not street legal, the Sport Exige Cup is a turnkey racer, with SCCA-compliant roll
Read MoreIf you've been keeping track of the spy shots coming down the pike, you won't be surprised the second and third of Nissan's LA Show trifecta are the Sentra SE-R and SE-R Spec V — the latter in cornea-blitzing yellow. The factory-tuner versions of Nissan's compact sedan are coming in March 2007 as 2007 models. Both get Nissan's 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine, but the SE-R Spec V's is spiked to produce 200 hp to the SE-R's 175 hp. Both cars get standard 17-inch wheels and tires, four-wheel disc brake
Read MoreOur mate at Carscoop calls it a poor man's Infiniti G35, and despite the front-wheel-drive that's probably as accurate a comparison as can be made. Rather than a sawed-off Altima sedan, the new Altima Coupe — coming in mid-2007 as a 2008 model — has its own dimensions. Its wheelbase is four inches shorter than the sedan's, suspension geometry has been altered, and the engine's placed lower in the subframe. According to the press release, Nissan's virtually eliminated torque steer by employing eq
Read MoreFord's rejiggered the stylings of its smallest of SUVs, the Escape, giving it a cleaner look, a higher beltline, a new face, and seating surfaces made of 100-percent post-industrial materials — that's the bizness community's version of recycling. It also gets a range of interior tweaks from ice-blue dash lighting to more storage bins in weird places to a console that can fit a laptop computer. Ford says engineers have spent all manner of brain to reduce noise, vibration and harshness, which is a
Read MoreA non-Jalopnik member of the press asked Rabid Rick if instead of merging with Carlos "Hot Daughter" Ghosn's lineup, why doesn't GM simply merge with — and save — FoMoCo? Mr. Wagoner literally answered, "We have enough problems. We will not be saving Ford." The General does sound like it's intent on saving Buick. Brand Manager Steve Shannon reassured the assembled autojourno throngs that Buick will soon "be making real Buicks again." He went on to explain that instead of trying to put a car in e
Read MoreAfter the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid made it through its adventures over international date line with barely a pre-embargo scratch, they're ready to drop the sheet on the convertible version of the Chrysler Sebring. We'd spill all the deets for you now, but we're tired and it's way too late. Gallery below and full release after the jump. We promise we'll have more for you in the morning.
Read MoreWell, I guess there's no accounting for the International Dateline when setting press release embargo times, eh? Or so it would seem after the 'merican (UK) side of the German-American hybrid's gone a little bit early with some of their information on the new Chrysler Sebring Convertible — or as they'll call it across the pond — the cabrio. Full press release from DaimlerChrysler UK after the jump and the one pic above — also from DaimlerChrysler UK. If you'd like to see more on the Chrysler G
Read MoreOne of the problems with the California Air Resources Board is that they seem to be a bunch of liberals stuck in Sacramento. This makes them angry. And frankly, despite the fact that the city's metro area seems to nearly span the Central Valley, in some ways, the region is more desolate than ever. And while it's been full of vapid, unfriendly California rednecks forever, now it's full of vapid California rednecks in sport-utility vehicles. So we understand why the liberals want them off the road
Read MoreIn case you're wondering why you're seeing the link below re-directing you over to a post about "debutards" over on Gawker, fear not — we're ready to explain. You see, the post references a young lady named Caroline Ghosn, a first-year student at Stanford. Yes, as I'm sure you've figured out, it's the daughter of Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan, who we're sure was standing proudly by with wife watching as Caroline was busy being quoted by WWD while simultaneously getting ready for the 16th
Read MoreThe star-hounds at TMZ have learned that "30 Rock" star Tracy Morgan was busted for drunk driving at around 4:00 AM today in Manhattan after NY's finest noticed he was driving erratically. According to the 5-0, Morgan "was unable to maintain a position in a lane of traffic." Yeah, that's a pretty good sign you've either been drinking or you're frightened of imaginary bees in your car. In this case, it apparently was liquor. Now normally, after you get that first DUI — you generally want to sta
Read MoreOMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! After all of the waiting — all of the "sneak peaks," Tiger Woods photo ops and viral marketing, the Buick Enclave has finally arrived, and we've got the PR pictures — all of them and OMG, we've got them in the gallery below! And we know you're gonna want to see them because if you listen to the "buzz", this CUV could quite possibly be the most amazingest vehicle evah! I mean, once you get past the fact that it's shaped like an over-sized jellybean and that it drives merely
Read MoreRight before the LA Auto Show begins, Cadillac's gone and released the embargoed doors on pictures and a press release for three of their show vehicles — and guess, what — although the press release claims Caddy's "extending its luxury tradition with limited-edition versions of XLR Roadster, and STS, DTS Sedans" — in reality, it's more like they're "extending the tradition of endless variant edition chromium-covered comic books." Basically, Cadillac's trying to build off of another "variant e
Read MoreMore details have emerged from the final ride of Suleiman Kerimov's now bent, burned and busted Enzo Ferrari. First of all, witnesses claim that Kerimov, the Russian billionaire and Duma deputy injured in an accident in his Ferrari on Sunday, was traveling at "faster than posted" speeds. Yes, that was pretty much assumed — but what's just as likely was his distraction due to the purported "unidentified woman" in the passenger seat who suffered burns on her thighs and hands. Well, now she's the
Read MoreIf you thought the Ford Mustang was a fine car, just not quite Italian enough, you'll probably get all weepy when the company unveils a new Giugiaro-designed concept car at the Los Angeles show. (That is, unless you think Lambo doors are just too Italian.) The design house smoothed out the Mustang's retro design, giving it a more modern, sleeker look — which some might assume hearkened the next-gen model, set for 2010. But Ford execs will likely say this is purely a styling exercise, not an augu
Read MoreSo the other day, after I posited in the comments that I might be a poor version of the site's Vyvyan, I got to thinking, in our dysfunctional Jalopnik family, which of the Young Ones are we, actually? I mean, I might really be more Rik, or with my penchant for lentils, Neil. "We wanted to do a sitcom in which all of the characters were irredeemably horrible," says Lise Mayer, one of the show's writers. "And we thought, 'Who is more horrible than students?'" Bloggers, Lise. Bloggers. After the j
Read MoreIn German law enforcement, there is no room for imprecision. Our pal Alex Roy is one highly precise man. Some would say precise to the point of obsession. Anyway, last night he kicked down an e-mail from German law enforcement (in Comic Sans, no less, which we feel is not precise enough for German police), which we've reprinted after the jump. We thought was rather amusing, and we can imagine Herr Roy giggling his ass off when he received it. As we have no interest in the Bundespolizei knocking
Read MoreWho would have thought that Time mag's Person Of The Year (POTY being the acronym for those who are — you know, in the know) award was such a big thing? I never knew it needed a "sole corporate sponsor" — but then again, I talk about cars all day. Maybe our sister site obsessed with the media would understand better why the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid felt it necessary to shell out dollars to be the only sponsor for both the POTY-mouthed issue of the magazine and it's one-hour
Read MoreToday, in a move that sounds an awful lot like a plot line from a Steinbeck novel of the 30's set in dust-bowl Americana, FoMoCo's asking JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs to help the automaker finance $18 billion in secured (meaning backed by tangible assets like equipment, buildings, nameplates, water coolers, etc). Except, in this Steinbeck novel, instead of the Joad family, Johnny's telling the story of Pa Mulally and Momma Ford asking the bank for a loan. The bank tells them the
Read MoreCan Ford rewire the brains of Californians to associate SUVs with environmental friendliness? Maybe (and maybe Governor Arnold will take a side job as a French chambermaid). Nonetheless, later this week at the Los Angeles auto show, Ford will show off a new fuel-cell powered SUV it hopes will strengthen its hand in the alternative energy baccarat game. It's the Explorer TDV-2, with electric all-wheel drive and a 350-mile range per hydrogen fill-up. The prototype's been driven 17,000 miles, inclu
Read MoreI feel like this is a game of 99 bottles of beer on the wall, except replace "99" with "399" and "bottles of beer" with "Enzo Ferrari" — because another one's bitten the dust this weekend. This time it was Russian billionaire and Duma member, Suleiman Kerimov. The Muscovite with the big money grip (a reported $7.1 billion, according to Forbes) was driving through the French city of Nice, with a "female passenger" when he sent his black Enzo into a tree on the median in the resort city, splitti
Read MoreThere's an bit of space in the air off of the SoCal coast, right near our West Coast office in San Pedro, that's reserved for aeronautic acrobatic stunts. David Hermance, 59, Toyota's top American exec for alt-fuel vehicles and emissions tech, was well known as a pilot who enjoyed a bit of the loop-de-looping in this bit of blue sky. Unfortunately, according to Mark Rechtin of Automotive News, Hermance took one loop too many yesterday, and the engine of the airplane he was piloting, an Interav
Read MoreLooks like the folks at BBDO Detroit were having all sorts of fun while filming those web-only ads we found creative on earlier this week for the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid, creating a few different versions. But these two commercials for the Jeep Commander (above) and the Chrysler 300 (below the jump) are definitely on the "gag" side of the "alternate" spectrum — and you've got to admit, it's ballsy of them to have even finished the creative. Watch for yourself and try and see
Read MoreChrysler's using the same idea as the "if you can find a better car, buy it" ads — except this time they're striking straight into foreign territory with some humor in these web-only BBDO Detroit ads designed to push import-owners into buying new Chrysler Group vehicles. The first commercial, above is for the Chrysler 300 and below the jump we've got ads for the Dodge Caravan and the Jeep Commander. Best line of the entire campaign's got to be "Oh, thank you Chrysler!" and the running "smooth, g
Read MoreThose of you who have not yet deep-fried a turkey and enjoyed its crispy yet still juicy goodness are indeed missing out on the turkey day experience. This deep-frying exercise is not to be taken lightly. Hooking a propane tank up to a flimsy stand upon which five gallons of hot oil and a big 'ole turkey sit bubbling is a recipe for one heck of a grease fire. Even lowering the big bird into the bubbling oil is an exercise in danger. Jalopnik is here to show you how to deep-fry even a monster bir
Read MoreTonight's the biggest bar night of the year, and as a public service announcement for our readers — the folks from Michigan's Oakland County gave us the opportunity to test out a Drager Car Breathalyzer XT interlock device for a few hours. An interlock is a breathalyzer unit installed in the vehicles of repeat offenders who have been prosecuted for driving under the influence of alcohol and the folks at Drager estimate there are 60,000 of their units currently deployed across the country. The sy
Read MoreWhen famed rallyist Richard Burns lost a battle with cancer in 2005, two years after a brain tumor ended his WRC career, the Subaru enthusiast community raised millions in his name for cancer research. Now, Subaru is kicking in with a memorial of its own for the once Subaru World Rally Team star. Dubbed the RB320, this limited-edition Impreza WRX STi gets some tweaks from motorsports tech firm Prodrive, including a performance pack that boosts horsepower to 316 at 6,000 rpm and torque to 332 lb-
Read MoreGrab your toques, hosers, because it's time for the little green autojournos of the Canadian Dominion to play hail-to-the-Queen, quaff a chilled Molson and run down their favorite vehicles available in a land that is north of most of our states, and features a bay that is larger than San Francisco's or Chesapeake's. Much larger, in fact. It was named after Henry Hudson, and as far as we know, he predates the step-down Hornet, a car which our father admires greatly and was once portrayed by Paul
Read MoreWell, we've yet to even get to Thanksgiving and the LA Auto Show and already automakers are dropping Detroit goodness all over the interwebs. Maybe it was the Malibu shot released earlier today that caused these two concepts, one for the Jeep Trailhawk and the other for the Chrysler Nassau, released today by the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid, to break free from the oppressive chains of automaker embargo — who knows. What we do know is that the first, the Trailhawk, is pictured ab
Read MoreIf one thinks about it, the only truly great thing Malcolm Bricklin ever did was bring Subarus to America. Other than that, Yugo? The Bricklin? Entirely amusing vehicles, but only if other people own them. So who really expected his venture with Chery to succeed? Well, we kind of did. At least for a while. But now that the Cheries are possibly on board to build the Dodge Hornet, Bricklin's holding the bag, calling the cars' quality not up to snuff, and deciding that Visionary Vehicles is going t
Read MoreA UK car insurer pulled out the calculators over the weekend to come up with the price it'd expect to collect in premiums in order to ensure a quick replacement of 007's pretty new Aston Martin DBS in case anything should happen to the fictional character's car. And, after carrying the one and adding a zero somewhere, the folks at Kwik-Fit / Virgin Car Insurance came up with the princely sum of 7,108.50 ( approximately $13,478.39 in real American dollars) for protection on the roads. So that m
Read MoreSince it was donated to Italy's Polizia Stradale last year, the force's Lamborghini Gallardo cruiser has become more well known than Suri Cruise's fifth poop. But it's not just a PR stunt; the bella macchina sports some high police tech to match the Gallardo's on-road performance. Not only has it a video license-plate recognition system, but also it can tell exactly how much grappa the elderly man going 25 mph on the autostrada in an Ape has consumed at lunch, and of what vintage. Seriously, tha
Read MoreLet's have a rally where every car has to be yellow. It can be painted with tempura, covered in Post-Its held down by wheat paste or colored with a hi-liter, if that's the way you want to roll. It can be a B210 or an F430. It just has to be yellow. And along the way, you will have to accomplish various feats involving mustard. For example, during the Beverly Hills stage, pulling up alongside a Roller and videotaping one of the car's occupants asking, "Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?"
Read MoreI was all set last night at the MGM Grand Casino in beautifully wet n' cold downtown Detroit — all of us auto writers were finished with our gun-slingin' and were getting hammered on Martinis and learning to play the confounding and confusing game of Bacarat, a game which I think may be akin to nuclear physics in areas of which I hold expertise. Luckily, an area of which I do hold some level of expertise is in the arena of determination of how aesthetically pleasing something is (my ownership
Read MoreOf course, any event starting with the promise of shooting live ammunition and ends with martini's can't be all bad, and Lincoln's event to promote the latest ad campaign for FoMoCo's luxe nameplate didn't disappoint. Reilly Brennan, editor of the online-only magazine of the Road which is always Winding, and I had the opportunity to drive the new Lincoln MKX and MKZ, the badge-engineered kissin' cousins to the Ford Edge and Ford Fusion — in a day-long event Lincoln called Dirty Harry Day "My D
Read MoreVolkswagen's GTI Edition 30 only makes sense in Europe, considering the first Rabbit debuted there 30 years ago. If the company were to launch a similar car — powered by a 230 hp version (one extra per year) of the 2.0-liter FSI turbo four and dolled up with 18" alloys and other accouterments — in the US, it would have to be the Edition 23, and only have 223 hp. No point in that.
Read MoreWe would like to see a leisurely-yet-hotly-contested automotive cruise, sort of a modified Time/Speed/Distance rally that requires the preparation and consumption of ham. Teams of three drivers (eight hours behind the wheel each) would follow a course. One would drive, one would navigate and one would prepare dishes in the back. Vehicle choice would be up to the teams, but only a certain amount of fuel would be allowed to cover the allotted distance.
Read MoreI'm down in Dearborn today for an interesting little marketing event sponsored by the folks at FoMoCo for the Lincoln brand. It's an extension of their "Dreams" campaign — an attempt to link the Lincoln brand to one of three luxe segments Lincoln believes corresponds most closely with it's brand image. The segments called "American Dream." So what's Lincoln doing to get us auto pundit-types to talk about it? why, they're letting us act out our greatest fantasy (no, not that one). Instead they'
Read MoreMark "Movie Star" Fields is making one hell of a "Bold Move" for the weekend after Thanksgiving — showing off something he's calling the "Showroom of the Future" at Detroit's Cobo Hall. The little post-turkey extravaganza is a curtain pull on FoMoCo's future product plans for Ford NorAm from now until, you know, whenever they run out of ideas — which apparently will be 2010. The two-day event is open to current and future Ford workers only, allowing them to see the automaker's product developm
Read MoreOh look, more pictures of the ever-talked about and certain to be announced "Blue Devil" Corvette. It's getting to the point that we know you can recite the rumored numbers The Car Connection repeats mantra-like by heart — "a supercharged Z06-derived 7.0-liter V8 with 600 hp and a $100,000 pricetag." All we've got to say is this little devil's due to make an appearance on an auto show floor at a date of "really, really, really soon." Sounds like a good way to keep the enthusiasts semi-erect un
Read MoreThe boys over at Hot Rod have come up with a list of the 40 greatest car movies currently available on DVD. The usual suspects appear: you got your Gone in 60 Secondses, your Vanishing Points, and your Smokey and the Bandits. But hidden in there is Cobra, which of course, is Stallone's best movie ever. After all, he doesn't deal with psychos: he puts 'em away.
Read MoreA group of engineering students from the University of Toledo slapped together an auto-park system that's KISS-simple. Get the nose into the spot, lower the hydraulic dolly, and bingo-bango, A Bruce-like parking job in a mere Corolla!
Read MoreTodd Phillips directed some pretty magnificent chase scenes in his time — like the car/boat scene in the recent "Starsky & Hutch" movie, or who can forget the epic snatch n' grab scene with Will Ferrell from "Old School?" Okay, so by magnificent — we mean magnificently horrible. Regardless — the man's been tasked by BMW to put together a new commercial for the new-for-2007 Mini Cooper line of itty-bitty cars, and Jalopnik reader Zack, a fairly regular contributor of corrected information — dropp
Read MoreThrough the marvel of two-way radio frequency communication, the General's now got a brand new toy coming your way. It's a — wait for it — hell, give it a drum-roll — key fob! And if we're to believe the hype, it promises to revolutionize your pocket through a breakthrough in miniaturization of both size and costs. For the wee fee of only $150, this new key chain attachment finally puts key information drivers need to know at all times right at their fingertips — and from the comfort of their
Read MoreAlongside occasional trips to the temples of the automotive world like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Pagani, it is one of my dirty pleasures to tour the German tuning scene whenever I get the chance. Some hacks look down at anything that doesn't come with a bought-and-paid-for test drive in Southern Spain. But for me, the chance to tackle winding roads, the Nordschleife and the kind of automotive lunacy that stays with you forever makes the endless sausage, sauerkraut, Ibis Hotels and foreign porn —
Read MoreAround here in the Metro Detroit area we've grown accustomed to the in-your-face style of WXYZ's investigative reporter Steve Wilson. The man may have cut his teeth down in the Miami area investigating Monsanto's growth hormones, but up here in Detroit, he's the man best known for asking some tough questions of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Wilson went after hizzoner on everything from alleged parties at Motown's Manoogian mansion, the official mayoral residence, to questioning why the Mayor
Read MoreMazda says it's planning to show off a new concept car for the Los Angeles show — and offers the above teaser image to whet our appetites for instruction. The Nagare, it says, will offer the first hints of the brand's next design direction to be pursued in the styling of future vehicles. Dig the master-class art school verbiage:
Read MoreIt won't take the traditional Volante designation, as had been speculated, but the Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster is nonetheless an SPF 0 version of the V8 Vantage coupe. (Better to hear that snarly V8.) Aston revealed the convertible today ahead of its media coming-out at the Los Angeles auto show later this month. Performance is said to match that of the coupe, with a zero-to-60 score of 4.9 seconds and top speed of 175 mph. Also like the coupe, transmission choices include the six-speed Gra
Read MoreIf the third brakelight on your 911 simply isn't highly precise enough, might we suggest adding Winky the Cat to your rear parcel shelf? When interfaced with your taillights, Winky's eyes blink in sync with your signals, telegraphing an extra degree of safety to following motorists. Commenter Murilee Martin lamented his deletion from the JC Whitney catalog, but according to the folks at Nostalgia Unlimited, who also sell Betty Boop clocks and bobblehead dogs "made of 'realistic' flocked material
Read MoreWe were a bit slow on the Tivo button, so all we've got is the last four minutes of the just-to-the-side-of-the Rose Garden press conference where "Slick" Rick Wagoner, Tom "Two-Shoes" LaSorda and Alan "Get Yer Irish Up Like A Boeing Jet" Mulally officially reported out the obvs outcome of their meeting with the President. Comments like "We're not looking for a buyout" apparently couldn't be emphasized enough, with the only surprise being that they were allowed a one hour meeting rather than a m
Read MoreWith the cheapest "Buy it Now" price of a Ford GT just below $150,000 — and the last GT having rolled off the Saleen Special Vehicles line back in September — what's a speed-craving cheapskate to do? They can write a check for around $70,000 to replicar builder Superformance, and roll out with a new SPF GT40 MKII A (sans engine, of course). Rather than wallowing in Ford's new tech, they'll be getting a car that's closer to the Ford GT's antecedent, the Le Mans-winning GT40. The Superformance car
Read MoreWere it not for the media tweakers at Novitec, a German tuning shop specializing in Ferraris, we'd never ever get to see how engineers tunnel-test a Ferrari fitted with one of the company's aero kits. But there we are — complete with photo spread. It's a story of how a bunch of really smart people determine the drag coefficient of the company's Novitec Rosso F430 Supersport. The wind tunnel simulates a speed of ~87 mph, at which engineers determine lift at the front and rear axles. The point is
Read MoreFoMoCo finally announced a much anticipated earnings restatement today. Why much anticipated? Well, because if the numbers restated were restated up, that'd be a welcome bit of news for Alan Mulally (and more importantly, for FoMoCo CFO Don LeClair, already on tenuous ground with investors and you know, like — everyone) — however, if the numbers were on the not-so-good side, there'd be some serious hell to pay — and one would expect LeClair would be out the door before the end of the week. Luc
Read MoreBMW's 12-cylinder Hydrogen 7 isn't exactly the ultimate driving machine, considering it takes nearly 10 seconds to get from zero to 60 mph (laugh it up, Volkswagen Rabbit). But that's only a small concern, considering this 7's only true competitor is an airport shuttle bus built by Ford. The BMW (and Ford's shuttle) are the first vehicles on the road built to run on liquid hydrogen, whose combustion in a traditional V8 emits only water vapor and nitrous oxide, with a side of carbon dioxide. Wire
Read MoreThe artist formerly known as Vincent Furnier has decided to sell his blown '05 Mustang GT to make room for an Elanor replica. The 'Stang pumps out a respectable 535hp from its Paxton-supercharged 4.6 and exhales through a Billy Boat exhaust system. The interior features custom red-leather inserts and seats. All told, Alice has dumped around 50k into the ponycar. Drop the right amount of ducats, and you could roll like a shock-rock golfer.
Read MoreThe ideal wedding ring is supposed to cost three months of the man's salary. The average vehicle these days, apparently, costs the average famiily six-and-a-half months' salary. Which is, in real dollars, is about the cheapest they've been since 1980. Our longest relationship didn't last as long as our longest period of vehicle ownership. Meaning? If you're a betting man, ditch the girl and buy an Accord. Otherwise, have fun falling on your face trying.
Read MoreSadly, Ford's Bold Moves(TM) don't involve bringing the S-Max MPV to the states. And that's a gol darn shame, considering the newest of Ford Europe's "kinetic design" structures was just awarded "Car of the Year 2007" by a panel of 58 of the continent's sexiest automotive journalists. In addition to being an attractive take on the one-box, seven-seat, utility wagon segment, the S-Max was also called out for its safety performance (i.e., NCAP gave it five stars for adult occupant protection) and
Read MoreA couple of months ago, we happened by NY-area bertuner, Ai Design, where the boy geniuses were messing with a late-model Chevy van. It looked plenty stock; the only feature suggesting it wasn't just some dry cleaner's delivery truck was a pancake satellite antenna on the roof, the shadow of a transfer case between the front wheels and hints of a custom interior in the works. Since then, they've completed all the cut-and-sew work, and annointed the van the Mobile Living Space (MLS). The spec she
Read MoreUncle Bumbeck was the first of two Jalops to make the jump from the East Bay to Southern California. When Davey G. followed a couple of years later, he said, "Well, cool! We can hang out."
Read MoreThank the lord of motor parts that we've got tipsters like Galvin Wong, a name at an empty and hastily created hotmail e-mail account. Without him, and folks like him, we'd have no way of getting amazing pictures of the tip of the headlight of the new Buick Enclave. That's right, despite finally getting "outed" by the mainstream media this AM, who as an aside, ignored the fact we already dragged them kicking and screaming out of the closet — the Buick marketing team continues their onslaught o
Read MoreIn San Pedro there is problem. And the problem is transport. We hammer on this point like Sweet Peet on his "product, product, product" mantra, but the movement of goods in and out of the harbor has created a massive air-pollution problem. One application where we see hybrid technology as especially beneficial is in medium-to-heavy-duty, short-haul vehicles that require serious torque to get up and go. Just like the container-bearing trucks that clog the southern terminus of the 710 at practical
Read MoreNo freaking 2CV? No freaking 2CV?. This list is a freaking travesty. And it's after the jump. We'll take the 2000GT in a pinch, though...
Read MoreApparently there's a part of the Toby Keith "Ford truck man" song we must have missed. It's a part of the song that must not have reached the commercials, where Keith pulls out a pocket protector and a tablet PC — and then says
Read MoreFrom the class-up-the-joint department: Mercedes announced it's offering a kitted-up 10th anniversary addition of the SLK for the European market. The Edition 10, as it's known, is identical to the show car the company unveiled at the Paris auto show last month, which was painted in matte grey metallic "allanite grey Magno," a descendant of chimpanzee god from "Planet of the Apes." That color will be an option on the 350 series cars, along with obsidian black metallic and iridium silver metallic
Read MoreA few months ago, CNN reported General Motors was working on a plug-in hybrid vehicle. At the time, that news tidbit (possibly a PR leak), was lost beneath the anti-GM tide swelled by the film "Who Killed the Electric Car," and thus couldn't shield the company from media-flush environmentalists' jerked knees. But now, it's the General who could wind up laughing all the way to the green room. News reports indicate GM is planning to unveil a prototype hybrid-EV that employs a internal-combustion e
Read More• First night of the Seger tour. Bad news, "Like a Rock" was nowhere to be found. Good news, "Our Country" isn't there either. [Freep] • Chrysler's shoveling vehicles out the door via some interesting lease deals. [Detroit News] • Nissan considers buying US automaker assets. Why? So they can make more cars that aren't selling either? [Reuters] • The Toyota Prius induces mass hallucinations. [Freep]
Read MoreLots and lots of Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo product news today, courtesy of Carscoop. The backstory is this: Fiat Group hosted a meeting with financial types this week to introduce its near-term product plan. Considering the analysts and institutional investors in attendance likely ended up with chronic linguine stains on their non-disclosure agreements, it's no shocker to find Fiat's presentation in wide online circulation. From the materials, it looks like the meeting focused on up-and-comer
Read MoreThe General's engaged in some lame viral marketing in the past — like when they tried to pretend cars and trucks were flying because of some silly warranty or something. Everyone knows that the cars were flying because of the secret alien-derived technology they and the feds have jointly developed out in the desert sands of Nevada. Right, that's the very same alien-derived technology that brought us the electric car they so conveniently killed. Men in Black, my ass — more like men in Chevy polo
Read MoreThe recent (and steeply sloping) sales and revenue downturn over at the American side of the German-American hybrid has caused folks to speculate whether the muckety-mucks running the day-to-day show under Chrysler Group CEO Tom "two shakes a day" LaSorda over in the Auburn Hills, MI HQ have been making the wisest of choices. Of LaSorda's executive squad, no washroom key carrying member of the team's being talked about in hushed tones more than Joe Ebehardt, the sired-in-Stuttgart exec veep in
Read MoreLast weekend, I drove for 32 hours and more than 1,700 miles in the process of making an increasingly popular vehicular pilgrimage. No, not Bowling Green, nor Indy, nor Pebble nor Laguna. There was no factory tour waiting for me at the end of my journey. No concours of priceless Italian bella macchina. Just a $59/night motel and some of the best damn driving roads in the US of A.
Read MoreThis story hit the EliseTalk forums yesterday — it all starts with an Lotus owner in Orlando, FL who took his Elise into Goodyear to drop a new set of tires on his canary yellow grip-tight speedster. And the result was — well, let's just say we'd be laughing if we weren't crying so hard. Here's the story, straight from forum member and dented-Elise owner qball:
Read MoreBristol released more info on its new, batshit-mad, Dodge Viper-powered Fighter. It'll be dubbed the Fighter T, and the final numbers total 1,012 hp and 1,036 lb.-ft of torque (at 4500 rpm) via a couple of turbos and twin intercoolers feeding the 8.0-liter ten banger. The chassis is 30% stiffer than its predecessor, and it's been fitted with firmer springs, lower ride height, stiffer antiroll bar and 19" aluminum wheels. Aerodynamic drag factor's been reduced to 0.27 by a new rear wake diffuser,
Read MoreYou'd have to check your local DOT, but apparently in Florida (and Indiana) you can drive this titled 1999 Dallara — allegedly Eddie Cheever's back-up car for the 2000 Indy 500 — on public streets with abandon. The 1,000-pound go kart's been fitted with headlights and brake lights and the engine's been swapped with a Chevrolet small block, but other than that it's a full-on Indy car, with qualifying stickers still attached. Of course, city drivers might want to attach a periscope for heavy traff
Read MoreAutoWeek's reporting today that Chrysler may be close to a decision on whether to build the Imperial concept it showed in Detroit this past year. Considering how divisive the hulking mass of Chryslerness has been, we though we'd offer another sounding board for readers to send to the ears of Dr. Z. Build it or bag it? That's the question. Will Chrysler take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them? Or suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Only you knuckleheads know f
Read MoreCar and Driver teases us in its December issue by connecting several dots that lead all the way to a new version of the SCCA's Trans-Am series (which, surprisingly, is still limping along under license). Imagine the new Mustang FR500GT racer (pictured) alongside similar purpose-built offerings based on the coming Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger. All you'd need would be names like Titus, Penske, Gurney and Donohue — and a Sunoco sponsorship — to rehash the glory days of muscle-car road raci
Read MoreYou may have seen this ad already — a 60 second version of the spot above debuted on Sunday — and much of the ducats spent went to showing the commercial on CBS NFL, Fox NFL Sunday, NASCAR racing on NBC and "Law & Order" on TNT. But apparently the commercial, which is supposed to reflect "the masculine, bold design of the Nitro" won't just be airing where you'd be expecting guys to be. Mark Spencer, the senior manager of Dodge's marketing and global communications also plans for the ad to run on
Read MoreEarlier this year, Foose Design and Unique Performance announced a teamup to build a limited-edition 1970 Dodge Challenger. Say hello to their little car. Production of the E-body throwbacks — which are built on the bones of original 1970 and 1971 Challengers — started midyear, with the first series model planned to be sold at the 2007 Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale. Visuals come by way of the Foosian pen, while mechanicals include a choice of crate Hemi, rear suspension by Unique Perform
Read MoreConsidering China's new cultural revolution — that of billionaires suctioning acres of cash out of the People's rise in wealth — it's no surprise Maybach would choose the Auto China 2006 show in Beijing to introduce its latest high-end limousine, the 62S. The new model will get the same AMG-tuned, 612 hp, 6.0-liter biturbo V12 as the 57S, but is meant to be driven by staff. That means the rear passenger area's just a bit more luxe, with redesigned leather accouterments and trimmings in piano lac
Read MoreOh man, talk about a shitty day. That's what the owner of this lovely red Z06 Corvette had yesterday over in Long Island, the day after having a new exhaust installed on his car. In fact, we'll let skelzy of M3Forum.com tell the tale, with a gallery of his pics below:
Read MoreA couple of days ago, His Magnificent Sweetness took Karl Brauer of Edmunds to task over the site's "Most Wanted" vehicles list only including two slabs of Detroit iron. Peter's rationale? "[I]s it any wonder that the new go-to guy for auto-biz quotage for that beacon of anti-Detroit objectivity, The New York Times, happens to be none other than Karl Brauer, editor in chief of Edmunds.com?" And while I have heard people talk smack about Karl and his industry connections, I've gotta give the win
Read MoreBuried in the middle of most any giant automotive hoo-haa convention or show are the cutaways. Peering inside an engine or entire car sliced in half or at insane angles by way of a giant band saw is, in the words of Carl, freaking awesome. These inside-the-workings-of-an-engine shots come from the GM display out on the SEMA floor. If you don't have a Chebby 350 or old Stovebolt Six laying around, perhaps slicing the toaster oven down the middle and heading for the Kitchen and Desktop Appliances
Read MoreSo I don't know very much about the Alfa, but I know there's a helluva large community of lovers of the Italian brand formerly known as Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, now known as Alfa Romeo, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fiat SpA since 1986. Yeah, because those two names sound like they've got the same soul, right? Anyway — after Sergio Marchionne confirmed the automaker's return to US soil back in May, there's been much discussion about the vehicles we'd see over here — with the 8C sup
Read MoreThe opinion of most industry folks was beating the '05 October sales numbers would have less to do with any shift in opinion by buyers and more to do with just showing up — this time last year consumers were just coming off the dizzying merry-go-round that was employee pricing. But, even from here in the wilds of Phoenix (where I'm patiently receiving some first hand time with a truck that thinks it knows how to grade professionally as well as whether "Our Country" has a truck to match) it's o
Read MoreThe knife was lifted, the bandages unwound, and here at SEMA in Vegas, we've seen the results of Subie's nose job — plus a bit of performance catalog love that made the production Forrester look ready n' willing to go rallying. Subie dropped the '07 model of the Sports 2.5X and XT showing off the JDM-inspired styling changes, specifically a less-than-anatomically-flying front end, including a black mesh grille, a deleted-tick-box on the roof rails and a new front clip. The Forrester Sports XT
Read MoreYou can't stride athwart this wide-ass donkey show without stumbling on Honda's modded vehicles. The company does know its place in the aftermarket; this year it's gone after nearly every sport-compact sub genre, from drifting to urban to "unfortunately appointed with kandy orange." That last one's new — Priimedia doesn't even have a magazine about it yet. [Gallery]
Read MoreHonda's getting all over the factory tuning tip. Starting today, tuner kids can get a Civic Si prepped by Japanese Honda tuner Mugen (which was founded by Hirotoshi Honda, the son of Honda Motor Company founder Soichiro Honda) at their local dealerships. The limited-edition Civics won't be cheap (MSRP of under $30,000), but they will be somewhat hotter in the feet than a base model. The tweaks are mainly to suspension damping, tires and cosmetics, with an aero kit, badging and shift knob. Don't
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