Why you should buy this car: Because you want an economical yet sporty car that gets very respectable fuel mileage, has a good measure of practicality, and throws fun to drive into the soup pot of miserly subcompact automotive selections. Because you fancy yourself a apex-carving Pompurin.
Read MoreExterior Design: *** Fans of Hello Kitty's ber cuteness will likely enjoy the Fit styling a bit more than those who dig GI JOE with lifelike hair. We could also be wrong about that. The design is entertaining if not a textbook case of form following function. Sport version adds trick rear spoiler and other sporty bits to give a bit more GT style to the cute box look. We like the goofy grin, but you may not.
Read MoreBack in the punk rock days of the early eighties Boston, a weekly paper called Boston Rock published a comic called Steven. Like Picasso, Steven had a friend named Brock. Unlike Picasso's pal Braque, Brock lived in a refrigerator box. From the outside his box looked like a box, but inside it was a luxurious flat. Sometimes when Steven visited Brock, he'd be installing storm windows or an air conditioner on the box, and they'd retire inside to watch big-screen TV. While the Honda Fit is no refrig
Read MoreWe're glad the Stig's able to talk, because now we're completely speechless. We've seriously got nothing more to say other than to tell you that need to keep watching until it hits about 45 seconds left in the clip of an interview of two of Top Gear's hosts...and a human some say used to be called a "thing." We're going to go and cry now and lament the damn hot Dutch woman who got the Stig (who sounds remarkably like Damon Hill) to speak and killed our dream that he's a space cyborg. [Hat tip t
Read MoreWhat do we really have to say — just watch the video above and check out the screen-caps we'll have up shortly. Yes, it's totally hot. We think at least one of us may have just had a transformergasm in his pants.
Read MoreNo, we're not kidding — no April Fool's Joke here — we think. It looks like Funkmaster Flex's Expedition he pimped out blinged out mutilated for last year's SEMA show will actually be hitting FoMoCo showroom floors near you as a limited edition 2008 model of the Big-UV. The ride will be built on the existing short wheelbase, Limited model, features a 3d Carbon body kit and custom interior. And if it isn't obvious, the Ford press release clearly tells us "step one is a custom paint job." We're
Read MoreOk, at the moment Porsche isn't buying Volkswagen. I know there's all this talk everywhere on the Bruce-tastic Teutonic knights taking a larger stake in the automaker representing Deutschland, but an outright purchase is just not happening — yet. How do we know? Here's why. The shares of V-Dub are currently trading at around 117 Euros. Porsche's offer is 100.92 Euros, well under the market price and the lowest legal amount the Porsche boys can offer. See, it's pro forma. Under German law, when
Read MoreWillys is mostly known for its iconic Willys MB (aka WW2 Jeep), but the company made a car from 1951 through 1955: the Aero-Willys. When Kaiser acquired Willys-Overland and decided to ditch cars in favor of hotter-selling Jeeps, the Aero's tooling ended up in Brazil, where production continued well into the 1970s. The Aero's design continued to evolve, and by the mid-60s there was a limousine version rolling off the assembly line: the mighty Willys Itamaraty (to muddle the car's ancestry even fu
Read MoreAccording to one self-stated attendee of an Infiniti focus group, posting on GM Inside News, Nissan's luxe brand has been busy on its upgrade path for the FX crossover. Although the current design's freshness date isn't quite up (at the moment), the company apparently has a more powerful, svelte and athletic FX in the works.
Read MoreNissan's kicking out its in-house tuner 350Z, the 2007 Nissan NISMO 350Z, at the New York auto show next week. The Nissan Motorsports tweak job includes a body kit, Brembo speed-reduction clamps and a handling package. It'll come with six-speed only (sorry, mom) and will go on sale in July '07. If it looks familiar, it's because NISMO is basing the package on its Super GT championship Z. Think of it as Japan's answer to Le Mans GT1. We'll look it in the eye next week in NYC.
Read MoreUttering the phrase half price anywhere near the word junkyard sends a couple of the Jalops driving with toolbox toward the self-service junkyard like so many moths to a streetlight on a summer night. One of the larger self-service yards in California had a statewide half price sale a while back and we were there in NoCal and SoCal. Bumbeck headed down out of the hills into hot and dusty Sun Valley while Martin ventured out onto the mean streets of Hayward from Alameda. Out of the thousands of c
Read MoreYes, not as much Jill Wagner as we'd like, but hell, we'll take as much of her as FoMoCo will give us. In this episode of Blade commercialism from the not-Ford brand, our fair heroine is explaining how she can single-handedly re-badge a Ford product as a Mercury by placing the badge in the middle of thin air, and then watching as a Ford Escape Mercury Mariner is born. We kid FoMoCo, actually the ad's all about...well, hell, the press release is right after the jump.
Read MoreThe above video by way of Gawker videographer Richard Blakeley is from an announcement made just a short while ago in Times Square by Frank Klegon, Exec. Vice President - Product Development for the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid. The scoop is the long-awaited news that Chrysler's taking it in the back...seat. The boys n' girls in Auburn Hills, MI will be offering SIRIUS Satellite Radio Backseat TV service in 2008 model-year vehicles, starting first with their new 2008 minivans ava
Read MoreYou want to know what's thee last road vehicle you want to tangle with in a crash? Other than nitroglycerine tankers and such, it's your typical American transit bus. They're made to withstand decades of bad roads, indifferent maintenance, and near-daily impacts with concrete and/or steel opposition; the chassis is built on a huge-ass pair of I-beams that would make most bridges feel inadequate and the lower bodies tend to be more armor plate than sheetmetal. I spent a few years working for a bu
Read MoreThat's not to be confused with the UK Type R hatchback. The Japanese Type R Civic sedan will go on sale tomorrow across Nihon, that groovy constitutional monarchy occupying the Japanese Archipelago. It's the one we wish they sold here, only with the steering wheel on the starboard side. Specs include a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated four, joined to six-speed manual transmission; a lighter, more rigid body shell; sport tuned suspension; 18-inch tires and 17-inch front discs, and a functional aero
Read MoreThe Mercedes-tuning hotshots at AMG released details on the new CL65 smokehouse earlier today. It's largely what you already knew, though we did find out there's a 40th Anniversary edition that will come with a free bowl of soup. Actually, it comes with two lamps and a gift certificate for one birthday party at any participating Denny's. Oh, we can't fool you. Read on after the jump.
Read MoreThe General whose prime directive is Motors will unveil three concept minicars at the New York auto show. John Q. Public will be bid to vote on his favorite of the three urban runabouts on www.vote4chevrolet.com. The first to be revealed is the Trax concept (shown). Common sense says the contest results will have the best chance of becoming Chevrolet's new global minicar and potential Smart competitor. GM says they'll "help Chevy determine US market interest in the minicar segment, and which des
Read MoreNow and then, an enterprising hot-rod head suddenly thinks, "What if I put a freakin' Ferrari motor in this thing?" Many of Los Jalopniks have had this thought, but this visionary with a buttload of taste and a surprisingly-correct sense of perfect went the extra mile and acted on it, having the mill from a wrecked 360 Modena dropped into the back of a Rambler wagon. We think it looks perfect as it stands; as if an enterprising teenager with fab skills hit the junkyard, found a T-boned amalgam o
Read MoreThis has absolutely nothing to do with cars. Unless it does. Which it does. So it does. While garage-saling, Coop picked up a tackle box once owned by one Harold Underhill, replete with a collection of lures, as well as Harold's fishing license from 1959. For petrolheads of a certain age, this will immediately invoke the scent of a certain era of garages, before said garages were mandated for automotive storage by asshat homeowners associations. This tackle box, friends, is an optical scent memo
Read MoreCadillac's showing off the new '08 style of the STS, and let's just say — it's quite a refresh. Which is our way of saying not a whole lot's changed since the '07 model. The exception is a number of visual cues making their way across the entirety of the Cadillac line-up like the chrome grille first seen on the '08 CTS previewed in Detroit earlier this year and those freaky non-functional side-vents coming straight from the Escalade. Otherwise, anyone expecting to see the interior of the Chine
Read MoreEveryone loves a good April Fools Joke (remember the ESPN aluminum bat hoax?), especially the guys and gals over at SEAT Sport UK. The racing team that operates the SEAT Leon in the BTCC has a story on their website that is "strictly embargoed until April 1" about a remote controlled SEAT possibly competing in the series as early as next week.
Read MoreNow and then, I wonder if this malaise is not a thirtysomething crisis, and then I take a step back and realize that it really isn't. Age is merely a tipping point, where the enthusiasm of youth is finally allowed to a step back in the face of a broader historical perspective. There is a transitional moment where it's understood that while independence and DIY will always rule, they are not quite the all. There is a beauty to industry, but when industry becomes the be-all, end all, there's a spi
Read MoreThe term "plug-in hybrid" will one day hang beneath "1/3 less calories" and "dolphin-free tuna" in the advertising and public relations halls of fame. For now, we'd imagine all hybrid-building carmakers will either add the capability to their hybrids, or say they're looking into it. That's not to diminish the latest plug-in announcement, this time from everyone's favorite German-American hybrid. DaimlerChrysler says its first plug-in hybrid will be in the form of a Dodge Sprinter van. It'll test
Read MoreIt has only taken a smidge over eight months since we dropped it, but this past Sunday I helped buddy Scott nearly-literally shoehorn the beautifully rebuilt 1500cc wind-chilled motivator back into his project Type III. Scott has a much more knowledgeable write up of the day's proceedings over on his impressively researched VW 1500 restoration blog. But I will say this: I hate the clutch return spring on all Type III Karmann Ghias. I thought the Germans were supposed to be such great design wund
Read MoreOur first three Jalopnik Fantasy Garage residents possess on average the power of 477 horses. The 1969 Honda 1300 Coupe 9 has only 116 ponies at the ready. And its front wheels are of the driven persuasion. Still, I am advocating for the Coupe 9 to be included in our little 50-space Fantasy Garage. Why? Well, for one it is hella rare. Official numbers are hazy recollections at this point, but according to our research Honda built just over 8,000 Coupe 9s. The company built a lesser variant, the
Read MoreFor 2008, the brand that even the General's vice-chairman wonders whether they got to in time, is going retro. The company's reintroducing the "Super" designation from the early 1950s. "Super," not to be confused with its hetero-life-mate, "Duper" was the umm...actually we're not sure what it used to be...as near as we can remember and as near as we can tell from the releases, Buick's "Super designation was:
Read MoreAccording to the Society for Sustainable Mobility, reducing cars' dependency on natural resources can be accomplished with three steps: first do no harm, eat more fiber and shower with a friend. OK, barring those, the three keys are thus: improve cars' efficiency, move toward an open-design automotive architecture and commercialize products to put them in consumers' hands. Considering the first and third of those are part of any automotive manufacturing proposition, it seems the second is the mo
Read MoreDetails are somewhat murky, and we're hearing conflicting reports all centering around one truism — people who don't know how to drive should not drive the Ferrari Enzo. You will crash it, and we will be out one less absolutely magnificent vehicle. Case in point would be actor Eddie Griffin, who apparently just helped another helpless Enzo to its death in Southern California while rehearsing for a movie or some such silliness. We'll have more details as they become available — in the meantime,
Read MoreLooks like the best laid plans of mice and men are plans easily laid low by a HummerGuy. The site all about the vehicular BJ is reporting via a standard embargo break that the 2008 Hummer H2
Read MoreNot all road-rage killers get off with some slap-on-wrist manslaughter charge- this Alabama slimeball gets 56 years in the pokey on a first-degree murder rap after blasting another driver who made "obscene gesture" at him. [WBBM]
Read MoreNot all Mercuries are forgotten! When psycho terrorist scrote Timothy McVeigh made his getaway from the site of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, what was he driving when he got popped for lack of license plates? A 1977 Mercury Marquis, a choice that would have caused irreparable harm to Mercury's image... that is, if Mercury actually had an image. Maybe that's the one advantage of being the invisible badge-engineered division.
Read MoreOur sports-obsessed site was all atwitter about Peyton Manning hosting SNL this past weekend. We, on the other hand, as usual, were rather unimpressed with the show and spent the majority of the time fast-forwarding through our DVR-ed copy of the episode. But we did happen upon one clip that made us wish the more-precise side of the German-American hybrid were making cars for the hard-workin' blue-collar 'merican man. Specifically, we wish they made something like Manning's Mercedes 550 Meatloaf
Read MoreWe love it anytime Bush speaks and he's not behind a podium. We just love how he walks struts out all gunslinger-like. Seriously, it just tickles us in all sorts of wonderful ways. Today he's taking the CEO's of the traditional US automakers, and yeah, they showed off their "very relevant" E85-powered vehicles (and in the case of FoMoCo, a hydrogen-powered concept Car-UV that likes to live on the Eh-dge!) Here's the rose garden press conference, in it's entirety — enjoy the strutting, and "Slick
Read MoreHere's a picture of the actual Ultimate Aero TT that attempted to break the Veyron's "production car" top speed record but "only" achieved 230mph due to snow and bad roads in Nevada. Which is weird, because if you drive from Los Angeles to Vegas on Interstate 15 – which we may have done once or twice – you notice that on the California side it is a pitted, pot-holed two-lane mess but that the second you cross into bat country Nevada, gambling revenues convert the I-15 into the most perfectly pav
Read MoreThose can't-leave-well-enough-alone types at Brabus are introducing their tuning package for the Mercedes C-Class concurrently with the redesigned entry-Merc's launch. Performance wise, the Brabus C is in the hottish range. The company's tweaked 332 hp out of the Mercedes 3.5-liter V6, mainly by way of an overbore to 4.0 liters and the addition performance crankshaft, stainless-steel exhaust and remapping of the engine computer. Torque is increased to 310 ft-lbs and top speed to 171 mph. Brabus
Read MoreNot everyone loves cars. Some equate the rise of the internal combustion engine with socio-political strife, environmental devastation, corruption of mens' souls and atrophication of their bodies, impoverishment of the weak, enrichment of the undeserving, separation of the family unit, eradication of public space, diminishment of the ozone layer, monopolization of natural resources and diversion of tax revenue to the Sisyphean task of roadbuilding. These activists, sometimes counted as "pro-mobi
Read MoreOk, so it's not really Iron Chef, and yeah, we're still not sure we're sold on drifting as a "sport." But we're pretty sure after we saw this here hoontastic effort, you're probably able to sell at least one of us on being able to call cucumber-cutting a "sport" at least on par with NASCAR.
Read MoreFirst we had the pretty drawings of Hyundai's new concept sedan, the Genesis, but now we've got the pictures. The concept Car-UV will be revealed for all to see next week at the New York Auto Show, but for now, the details we've got in hand come to us from the press release we've dropped in below the jump. The gist of it is that it appears the Genesis will be a rear-wheel drive car-platform powered by the newly developed Tau DOHC 32-valve V8 powertrain and we should expect to see it in some fo
Read MoreAlthough it doesn't yet have a name — just an internal code designation at the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid — we've heard from the kids over at Allpar that it may be called the "Crew." We've no idea, but we do know the site all about the Mopar-love claim to have the scoop, being the first to buy the Priddy pics. Here's what they're saying about what Priddy's spy shooter saw:
Read MoreWe received the following tip from a very reliable source about the specialty vehicle manufacturer, Saleen:
Read MoreAfter a short battle with cancer Robert E. Petersen has passed away. If not for Petersen and his crazy idea for a magazine full of gow jobs called Hot Rod we wouldn't have beans for jobs.
Read MoreSome automakers are users and abusers of the "booth babes," including them in displays in order to create a visceral reaction from the high horsepower cars and attractive women perched atop them. The automakers that employ them are all over using them because they want the auto writing media folks to do two things — equate their cars with the potential for sex with a hot woman, and then to take pictures of the hot women with cars behind them so that others will equate their cars with the poten
Read MoreIt may seem unlikely that the first step in polishing aluminum to a near-mirror shine is to score an extra crusty set of '70s vintage US Indy slot mags of off an equally '70s vintage Toyota SR5 Liftback at the local junkyard. Mag wheels are named as such because the aluminum is mixed up with a bit of magnesium to form a stronger alloy. Over time and with exposure this alloy tends to turn a dull grey. Even the crustiest of aluminum wheels can be brought back to a mirror shine with a fair amount
Read MoreAccording to Sharon Terlep at the Detroit News, the General may be attempting to limit their PR rock down the electric avenue via the Volt concept car shown at the Detroit Auto Show in January. Although we knew from the start the Volt, a plug-in hybrid concept car, relied on battery systems nowhere near ready for prime time. Apparently, despite numerous internal debates, the team at downtown Detroit's tower of phallic power decided that they needed the dues anyway, and pushed ahead with not
Read MoreThere are two contradictory reports out of FoMoCo today on the minivan replacement in the blue oval's lineup. Everyone appears to be in agreement that it'll be called the Flex rather than the Fairlane, its conceptual name. And that's good because whenever we think "Fairlane" we think "Adventures of," and that's no good thing if Ford wants families to be buying this thing. But we digress. The contradiction appears to be on something wholly more important — what the doors will look like. We kid
Read MoreFoMoCo forums are all atwitter with people claiming to have the inside skinny on the possibility of a Super High Performance version of the Ford's newly renamed Taurus. So what have we heard thrown over the back fence from Dearborn? Well, we're getting tios that a high-performance model of the Taurus is undergoing testing in Dearborn. We've also heard, and I dunno how much stock I'll put in this one, but it is from one of our reliable sources, that
Read MoreIt started out as a 1999 Chrysler Concorde LXi, which was presumably minding its own business. But the guys at DiMora Designs, part of a larger coachworks company, lured the the four-door, front-wheel-drive, five-passenger family sedan into their machinists's lair and had their way with it. The result is the JX Coupe, a two-passenger, El Camino-like glossmobile with a covered bed and a 260-hp, 3.2 liter V6 built by ATK. They fused the rear passenger doors permanently to the body and chopped the
Read MoreI guess it must be yet another example of the overall cost of manufacturing in the US and European automotive markets when a company like Mazda's looking to boost global sales by a ginormous 23%, and not base those sales advances on expanding production in either of those markets. Of course, it could be because they didn't learn from that whole Cougar Ace thing. Or, you know, maybe FoMoCo's still of the belief you can't make stuff here in the US profitably. Sure, that makes sense, although som
Read MoreThe original "Formula 1 car for the street," the Caparo T1 will get a little more displacement under that tiny bonnet — and no silly intake tricks. When the street-ready T1 launches at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK this June, it'll be sporting a proprietary, naturally aspirated 3.5-liter V8 with an aluminum block and power of up to 200 horsepower per liter. That should propel the 1,100-lb car quite nicely indeed. That means the original goal of 1000 hp per ton has been met and exceede
Read MoreLast fall, after the Paris Auto Show, I hopped the Thalys train to Amsterdam. It was my first time on a TGV, and other than the fact that the loos stunk to high heaven and the whiny kid who caused the occupants off the carriage to cheer when he and his idiotic mother exited somewhere around Rotterdam, it was a wonderful travel experience. I grabbed a hotel room and set off in search of my pal Aziz. If in Amsterdam, Los Jalops recommend a visit to his shop, Independent Outlet, as it is simply the
Read MoreWhat is it at the core of autosport? What are the facets and edges of this jewel that holds some of us so captive? A few quick words and phrases come to mind: machine vs. machine, driver vs. driver, sound, fury, glamour and glory. Endurance sports-car racing gathers all these angles and takes them to extremes. Machines vary wildly in their look, structure and abilities, but they're all thrown together into the same battle. Drivers must not only best the opponents in their class, but also be read
Read MoreIJalopnik reader Leo tipped us off to the video his passenger shot of what appears to be...umm...something vaguely car-like. Although that sound's unmistakably Lambo-like, we can't make heads or tails of anything else — but maybe you can. Begardless of what we, and you, are able to discern, Leo's got the scoop on what he saw, which we've got just below the jump.
Read MoreWhile Mr. Wert attends some manner of press event at the Buick Home for the Aged, the Detroit News maps the crossroads at which the GM brand finds itself. How will the Buick brass navigate the "damaged" brand (said Bob Lutz) to a more prosperous future? One way is by resurrecting the "Super" tag that once denoted early postwar high-performance. Super models, built between 1940 and 1958, included the Buick Super, the Buick Super Riviera, and the Buick Super Convertible. They were a favorite of ci
Read MoreIt's Forgotten Mercury Week, folks, and we're moving on to our next FoMoCo badge-engineered special: the LN7. Damn-near-identical sibling of the Ford EXP, the two-seater LN7 was built for the 1982 and 1984 model years only (the EXP name wheezed along for a few more years). About 40,000 were built, but the road from factory to crusher was a very short one for the little Mercury that couldn't and they're incredibly rare today. Too bad; an LN7 packing about 30 more horses and build quality several
Read MoreIn an article published in yesterday's New York Times, Nick Bunkley alludes to an anonymous GM higher-up e-mailing a group of dealers to point out, let's just say, massaged truths in recent Tundra ads. This morning we find an anonymous e-mail from our circle of engi-nerd friends that reads like it could have been the message in question. The messenger makes several points that until now had eluded even this tireless sentinel of truthiness in advertising. The folks over at ToMoCo's ad agency must
Read MoreFiat launched its new 500 officially today, indicating neither a rear-mounted engine nor wicker seats were in the offing (not that anyone was expecting either of those). With the Nuova 500 in the can, Fiat's not the first European automaker to trade on past romances. The New Beetle beat it by several years, though the 500 still made it to market before the Nouveau Citr en 2CV (not that we're holding our breath). Nonetheless, the new bearer of the Cinquecento torch will get a range of three tiny
Read MoreIf you're a thirtysomething pistonhead like me, odds are good you once had a poster of a Lamborghini Countach on your wall. Most likely, the Countach spent the duration of your puberty sandwiched between a Ferrari Testarossa and Kathy Ireland. But you probably didn't have a picture of an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. And I say picture instead of poster because they didn't print posters of the British supercar — I had to cut mine out of Car and Driver. Even freighted with pimples, hairy palms and a fu
Read MoreRobert Q. Riley Enterprises says its new plug-in diesel-electric hybrid is two months from launch. (It'll debut on June 16.) Purportedly, the three-wheeled XR-3 will get 125 mpg on its three-cylinder, 23 hp diesel engine alone, and 225 mpg when coupled with an electric motor driving the rear wheel. Riley, a well-known custom car builder and purveyor of kit-car plans, will offer the XR-3 in kit form. For those with more time and talent than reasons just to sit and watch reruns of "Freak Show," th
Read MoreSo, as you may have already seen, I got my shot. Shawn quit after one day, but I didn't know until I walked into the garage as they were about to film him making the announcement. I walked in to see what the commotion was about and almost immediately heard the news. I'm pretty sure I set a personal best in the vertical leap at that moment. They even tried to get me to do it again for the cameras, but I'd made a pact with myself before I flew down to keep the hamming it up to a minimum, so I decl
Read MoreYou know your "special edition" isn't really all that special when you're calling it that just because it gives the consumer a better price on up-sized options to create a higher-priced "base model" of your current vehicle. Exhibit A would be the "Wolfsburg Edition" of anything in the line-up of the automaker representing Deutschland. The newest uber-special wolf-like edition is the Passat, and the up-priced "value model"
Read MoreRabbi Dave over at the site all about, well, Cars, got the scoop on the sticker for the 2008 Chrysler Sebring drop-top. We'll go ahead and set aside his editorializing on a lack of understanding of the popularity of a drop-top with room in the back seat for the kids, golf clubs or a combination of the two for under $30,000. And instead, we'll just give you the new figures on the new sunniness from the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid after the jump, with the photo gallery below to r
Read MoreI think the gallery below and the post over at SVT Performance tells you everything you need to know here:
Read MoreIt can be safely said that we were no great fans of Saddam Hussein's son Uday. But we do feel sorry for his poor, beleagured Lamborghini LM002. Apparently a group of American soldiers, not realizing what the vehicle was, decided that it would be an ideal platform for studying the effects of a car bomb on a concrete barrier. Already well-beaten when the test began, the end result could safely be referred to as smithereens.
Read MoreZap released a sketch of the new ZAP-X flagship crossover, which will feature electric in-hub motors with enough juice (664 HP) to propel the AWD mini-ute to 155 mph. As mentioned earlier, this vehicle is being developed on the Lotus Aluminum Performance Crossover platform. Though generally similar to the APX, this sketch indicates that Zap intends to take their crossover in an even sportier direction. Press release after the jump.
Read MoreNo Audi's not done deriving new models, considering there are still a couple of counting numbers it hasn't yet appropriated. For instance, it's been a year since we've heard anything new about the coming Audi A7/S7, a new coupeish four-door set to challenge the Mercedes CLS by 2009. Ditto for the Q5 small SUV. Now, German news outlets are reporting on the company's raft of new badges it's rolling out in its quest to be a major luxury player. The A7's expected to hit in 2009 for the 2010 model ye
Read MoreThe world economy is crumbling, we're all going broke, and oil's soon to cost more per gram than uncut cocaine. Perhaps we should just buy a round of bicycles and lament the good, old days when we recklessly ruled the land Mad Max-style in callous, vicious killing machines like the Toyota Yaris. If you believe such talk from the Greenies, the fast car has a dimmer future than Betamax. Unfortunately for those endeavoring to de-employ me and thousands of others who pound the tarmac for pocket chan
Read MoreThe perpetual-motion machine may be eons away, but the the first commercially viable car to run on compressed air may be at hand. The brainchild of French inventor Guy N gre, the MDI, which we first reported on in 2005, employs a novel system of compressed air tanks and an internal-combustion support engine that can either power the minicar or compress the air used in its tanks. The urban runabouts, which come in a number of configurations, are built from fiberglass over a tubular chassis. MDI p
Read MoreThe Tundra's just not having a very good day today. First we heard ToMoCo's offering $2000 to dealerships to give up their current parts-haulers, and now this news. According to the folks obsessed with personal mass-market passenger vehicles that haul, carry and tow, NHTSA just awarded ratings for driver and passenger safety to ToMoCo's Tundra. The pickup, the super number one awesome best automaker from the land of the rising sun's first entry into the full-size hauler market, received four s
Read MoreWe were all excited earlier this morning when the General dropped the release on the green-is-good Aura Green Line. We thought maybe they'd turned a new leaf and began to learn to love the sedan. Ha! We totally should have known better. That bit of hetero-automaker love lasted all of about 20 minutes, which is about when we read the second release of the day, which amazingly ran right over that pro-green pro-car message with a 16" anti-green gas-guzzling tire. The second release pushes GM's ne
Read MoreKudos to GM for not only finally bringing a sedan to the market to compete with the Camry — the Aura won NorAm Car of the Year — but then for bringing a hybrid model to the market. Oh and probably some more green-love today for pricing it below any other hybrid you can buy today. They've just announced pricing on the mean-grean four-door machine, and it's got an out-the door MSRP of $22,695. On top of the steal-of-a-price, the IRS has just certified the Aura Green Line, with its 28 mpg city
Read MoreThe good folks over at the line that's never crooked at Edmunds are all excited that they've caught what looks to be the BMW 1-Series out for some warm-weather testing and photo shooting in the American southwest. And yes, that engineer is not on large and in charge, he may very well be getting a tongue-lashing after letting this baby bimmer out into the open. In addition to getting engineers in trouble, the Edmunds folks are also parroting rumors we've heard that we can be expecting the littl
Read MoreNormally, when commenters post awesome links on the site, we let them have the glory. And we are giving commenter rgseidl all the credit for this one, but we had to bring it to the wider attention of our readership. Imagine all of the glory of the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show, crossed with with rank amateurishness, oddball European cars, strange homebuilt specials, a Corvair-engined dune buggy losing a backwards drag race to a Subaru-liveried DAF and a Messerschmitt up on two wheels. Then add the f
Read MoreThe Finns are awesome. We only know a paltry handful of them personally, but their ingenuity with a hack saw and prowess with a rally car totally make up for the bland food, meager sunlight and high taxes. And if those are the worst things about Finland, it's still better than winter in New Hampshire (oh, but I kid the Hampshirians). But back to the country's fiscal policy. Our buddy Matti hipped us to a tax loophole that brought the law of unintended consequences to bear on a helpless mid-80s
Read MoreFoMoCo's confirming today they'll be taking their first step into European road racing. They're looking to get the Mustang-derived FR500GT, also known as the "Man Racer," and FR500C, also known as the "Boy Racer," approved for FIA competition. The "Boy Racer" (sorry, we just dig these "official" nicknames) is getting ready for GT4 competition in FIA, and the "Man Racer" will be tooling up for GT3 competition. No word yet on whether the Warriors in Pink Mustang (aka, the "I'll Show You Little
Read MoreIn order for the miracle of the automotive cooling system to march on unabated all the components must be able to hold up under pressure. The heavy hitter in this equation is the radiator. Inside the radiator are coolant passages. Connected to the passages are the cooling fins. As hot engine coolant passes through the radiator heat gets wicked away through these fins and into the air. Neglecting the cooling system can cause corrosion and even rust to build up inside the radiator until one day i
Read MoreHere's the following note Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of the cross-global alliance, sent to his North American staff today to explain why he wouldn't be coming to this year's Christmas party. I feel like I'm reading a speech by Imelda Marcos or something.
Read MoreIn 50,000 years, when our mutated evolutionary relatives comb through the still radioactive debris of our civilization, in an effort to reconstruct early transportation history, they'll stumble on this 1974 Karmann Ghia and puzzle over it. Is this the long postulated early missing link between Audi and Volkswagen? The body is obviously a modified hardtop Karmann, but the powertrain is that of a two-wheel-drive A4 2.8-liter V6. But what's this? The front suspension is off of what? A Corvette? The
Read MoreWe're sorry we're not using the normal OCPDG graphic this evening, but to tell you the truth, we kinda miss Dylan "Stock Stud" Ratigan — in a totally hetero man-love kind of way. The man's got an on-air gravitas that makes listening to financial news and views an interesting and appealing process. Yes, we know you don't have to really twist our arms to get us to watch the current On The Money "Money Bunnies," Melissa Francis and Margaret Brennan, but although they're both equally intelligent a
Read MoreEvery so often, a question appears in our inbox that has nothing to do with our asking Jay Leno if he'd be interested in buying someone's dead grandmother's 1978 Dodge. This is one of those e-mails. So pop on The Ramones' "Questioningly" (from Road to Ruin) and see if you can help out.
Read MoreSometimes, on this great journey through life, you witness something so truly breathtaking, so utterly, impossibly perfect, pure and good, it shifts the paradigm of your perception. It is deceptively easy to go right by the "First Love" exhibit in front of Detroit's Cobo hall. A passing glance will reveal nothing out of the ordinary, as slick show cars go. Look closer and you'll bear witness to high-dollar rodding nirvana. Simply put, this is, by a wide margin, the finest example of no-holds-bar
Read MoreWe love Form 10-K's. For those not in the know, a 10-K is the form that a company files its annual report to the SEC on. And to be honest, there's nothing at least one of us enjoys more than sitting down with a big stack of financials and geeking out over every minute number-crunch. Yeah, we know that's probably weird, but whatevs, that's how we roll here in the D. Anyway, the section we love reading more than any other is a company's "risk factors." Mostly, that's because we enjoy seeing what
Read MoreYeah, that's right, I'm thumbing my nose at the establishment, giving the finger to the man, and gesturing in any other phalangically based displays of disrespect. I say this is the first C6 Corvette-based conversion that does not, in fact, suck. In pictures it may not work; our very own commenters raked it over the coals when Spinelli wrote about it back in November. But in person it works surprisingly well. I spoke with Fred Kanter, chairman of n2a (and owner of the Packard brand name - cooool
Read MoreLittle British sports cars are kinda lovable, in the same way that a friendly dog who gets sick all the time with random unexplainable symptoms is lovable, but for the most part they sputtered off the assembly line- and past the jeering picket line of striking British Leyland employees- with about 1/3 the horsepower they deserved. But drop a V8 into one- say, a Ford 260 into a '62 AC Ace- and everything changes. The folks at BritishV8.org have compiled dozens of examples of such madness on thei
Read MoreTwo members of the DaimlerChrysler Board of Directors are asking for the Board to vote in April on whether or not to keep the DaimlerChrysler name or revert back to the DaimlerBenz name of old. Cars.com is reporting that Prof. Dr. Ekkehard Wenger and Dr. Leonhard Knoll have asked for the following resolution to be adopted by the Board:
Read MoreWith the General now going full-tilt into the Transformers movie merchandising and product placement, we're thinking we're going to be seeing a lot of pictures like the one above and the rest in the gallery below. Above we've got all of our favorite bots all lined up pretty-like in their vehicular alt-modes...and all of them are GM products. Well, except for that Saleen Mustang over there on the right...and yeah, Starscream there. Unless of course Starscream's a Saab, and we just can't tell the
Read MoreEvery year since 1958 the March Meet has been the big deal in drag racing at Famoso raceway in Bakersfield. After having been to the event over the last ten years under fuel cars with a wrench and out on the starting line with a camera, we went this year to hang out on the grandstand side and take in the show. With driver Tim Gibson at the wheel of his BMW M-wagon and Cole Coonce throwing commentary post-punk Chris Economaki style, we motored up from Los Angeles to the former auxiliary airfield
Read MoreThe morning of the second mod day rolled around, and I woke up in a good mood despite the insistent nagging of a low-grade hangover. Bourbon's all fun and games until you arise with a steel band around your skull and Technicolor breath. I grabbed a few cereal bars and an energy drink at the set and looked around for ways to make myself useful. The fog was burning off, both literally and figuratively, when I walked outside the main garage to look for some missing gear in one of our vans and spott
Read MoreOooh, look, the General's finally decided to tell us whether they made any money last year, dropping their restated earnings out in the wee light of this March morning. Let's find out if they...hmm...ok...looks like they made $2.2 billion in 2006 on revenues of $207 billion. Good for them. It's not what I'd call the best return on revenue — but whatevs, who are we to argue, we're not stockholders. But oh wait, that's net income excluding special items, and although that's the number the trader
Read MoreMy dream of scoring a cherry Simca Vedette with Ford Cammer 427 power has been brushed aside. Obliterated, actually. All it took was one glance at this nicely restored '63 Amphicar on eBay. With an Amphicar, you drive to the beach... and then keep going into the water! Hot damn! Of course, there's the somewhat troubling issue of that $45,000 high bid, with reserve not yet met. Hmm, what's a kidney worth?
Read MoreFor every new day it seems like we're getting more and more speculation, rumor and non-news on the potential for a Chrysler Group sale. Today's batch comes over the back fence to us from Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal. The Journal's reporting that the more-equal-than-others side of the German-American hybrid is looking to have a short list of potential suitors for the 'merican side by the general shareholder meeting on April 4th in Berlin. Whether or not it'll be a late April Fool'
Read MoreIt's been a rocky thirteen months for the talking heads manning the turrets of the automotive towers of power in Detroit. There's been precious little good news to go around, and when it has come it's always been just before, just after or just during a fiery hailstorm of fecal matter flung from both outside the tower walls as well as via friendly fire. Now we're hearing for the first time in print something we've been hearing from a variety of different "anonymous" sources around town for th
Read MoreAs Audi looks to beef up the brand by boosting sales from the 905,000 they rolled out the doors in 2006 to 1.5 million by 2015, they're going to need some new places to build all that precision. Guess that's why they're part of the Teutonic titan of an automaker that is all about representing Deutschland. That's because we've now got official word that Audi's going to be helping Poppa Bear out by snagging the Dubster's Brussels Golf plant. The multi-ringed automaker plans on building the A3 f
Read MoreWith a starting price of $14,985, Patriot displaces the Compass, its platform prostituted sister, as the new entry-level price point for the Jeep brand. Just in case you've forgotten what the mini-Commander looks like, gander at the gallery below. For those of you who do remember, let's continue. The ad campaign for the Patriot's going to be all about "Choosing Your Own Adventure" which forms a nice little acronym that could just as easily stand for "Cover Your Own Ass," which very well could be
Read MoreSome of us Jalops have busy lives and a fan base that is not only extensive, but always demanding of attention. As such, sometimes the coverage of a major hot rod show like Detroit's Autorama may be posted a bit late. Hey, you'd post late too if you had to beat off all those fans with a bent tie rod. Anyway, in the next couple of days, expect tardy posts. You know, my norm.
Read MoreWhy would someone ever want to take away the Stiffler-esque vanity plate of this young lad from the Seattle area? And seriously, who would ever marry a guy who had this license plate?
Read MoreEach year France's Espera Sbarro design school rolls out some manner of supercar concept for the journo set to ogle. Last year it was the Diva. This year, it's the Turbo S20 Concept 2007. It's a collaboration with the automotive TV show, "Turbo," which airs on channel M6 in France. Twenty students took just 120 days to create the concept, which is powered by a 5.0-liter Mercedes V8 and uses parts from Fiat and Smart models. We missed it at the Geneva show, where it made its debut, but copious pr
Read MoreHere's the thing: A company called SameLane created a social-networking scheme that involves drivers on the highway. We'll let Dutch Mandel, writing for Automotive News explain it.
Read MoreWe're on the conference call right now where we're being told FoMoCo will be selling Aston Martin for just over $925 million to a consortium composed of ProDrive's David Richards, John Sinders, Investment Dar and Kuwaiti investment entity Adeem Investment Co. But even after the sale, which is expected to close in the second quarter, Lewis Booth, the President of Ford Europe and PAG claims there will be "a continued relationship between Ford and Aston Martin." Despite that remark by Booth, and o
Read MoreCadillac's unveiled the second reskinned Saab 9-3 model that will grace Cadillac dealerships in Europe, the BLS wagon. Caddy's still trying to convince Europeans, who know Cadillac more for tailfins than for its Art and Science design language of late, that the brand stands for global luxury. The BLS also gets the honor of being the first wagon in Cadillac's history (not counting hearses), considering the ground-clearing SRX is technically a crossover SUV. Is it an appropriate extension of the b
Read MoreOur tagline, "Jalopnik loves cars. Secret cars, concept cars, flying cars, vintage cars, tricked-out cars, red cars, black cars, blonde cars — sometimes, cars just because of the curve of a hood," obviously has some measure of sexual connotation to it. In fact, we once attempted to get a photo of one of Los Jalops simulating an auto union of flesh, aluminum und shteel with the car for our wives at the Audi R8 press intro. Sadly, too much pink sparkling wine was involved and the image was unusabl
Read MoreRemember the Challenger Super Stock from SEMA? Yeah, that one. Well, we made an early entrance to Cobo Hall today for Autorama, and happened upon some MoPar sexiness in the form of that same Super-duper Stock concept — oh yes, it's back, and in matte black with gloss black stripes. Otherwise this Chrysler Skunkwerks-designed Super Stock's the same — 6.4-liter fuel-injected Hemi utilizes 10.5:1 compression, twin-plug cylinder heads, forged pistons, a forged crankshaft and forged connecting rods t
Read MoreAt the heart of the cooling system is the water pump. It spins as does the engine in order to continuously circulate engine coolant through the automotive cooling system. Out from the engine, into the radiator, and then back again. So goes the water-cooled internal combustion engine. If the water pump fails in its task the cooling system will have the automotive equivalent of a heart attack. A few miles outside of Baker, California on a 107-degree day is usually where a water pump clutches its c
Read MoreWhen you buy a towed-away car from a city auction, you get all the stuff in the car that wasn't ripped off by various city employees prior to the auction. But I figured, when heading to the government-vehicle auction, that the County Sheriffs would do a pretty good job of clearing out their crap from their cars before they let them go. Not so; my Crown Victoria came with a trunk full of police stuff, including big stacks of police paperwork plus the following...
Read MoreWe've got to give ForbesAutos some credit. They're most often known for their lists of the most expensive and most prestigious car lists around. This time they've gone a bit sideways, looking for the players with the most bank, but with the least prestigious cars. That's right — there's a great number of folks with the means, but not the desire, to buy the biggest bang for the biggest buck. Instead, these Scrooge McDuck's have gone for something a bit more down to earth — and we've got FA's to
Read MoreThat's right, big or small, blue collar or white — you're all getting bonuses. Here's a question — why? Oh wait, there's a letter here from FoMoCo CEO Alan Mulally. Maybe this'll explain it:
Read MoreWe've all seen plenty of hyper-redneck 4x4 conversions, in which some overall-wearing gentlemen from Butcher Holler (or Fontana) plop a car body on a truck chassis and roar off to the nearest mudhole and/or rock formation. Brian Roth's 4x4 Volvo, on the other hand, is all about the science; Roth wanted a wagon that could negotiate his steep driveway during Sierra Nevada winters and he wanted it cheap and reliable. So he took a GM 3.8 V6/700R4 combo, a Dana 30 front axle out of a Cherokee, and so
Read MoreAfter the stoppage of Power Stroke delivery by FoMoCo jilted lover Navistar International, and the subsequent court order demanding both sides hug it out, we've now heard it looks like the two sides of the big Power Stroke struggle can now come together and live again in sin. According to the AP:
Read MoreThe photogs who work for some worldwide group of car fans claim to have snapped some pictures of what they believe to be the first yet taken of the next Opel Vectra. This is supposedly the new Epsilon 2 platform that's supposed to replace the current model by the end of the next year. With the hope of providing more space inside for passengers, this spankin' new platform's supposed to allow a wider and taller body than the current one. And as we all know, width matters, so that wider stance me
Read MoreThat rumor that Chinese auto manufacturer SAIC wanted a little bit of sumthin-sumthin from the German-American hybrid? According to SAIC, that's just not the case. Automotive News this morning is reporting that Shanghai Automotive spokesperson Chen Hong stated
Read MoreThe sad fact of the current state of our manufacturing industry is the traditional US automakers just aren't hiring anyone these days. In fact, they're kicking 'em out the door as fast as it'll swing open. But hey, those new guys in town — automakers like the super number one awesome best automaker from the land of the rising sun and HoMoCo are hiring people — so that's like a net increase, right? Wrong. A new Honda plant in Indiana was inundated with over 5,000 applications for the new posit
Read MoreThe safest accident may be the one that doesn't happen — but all the tech in the world ain't going to stop someone else from hitting you. I think that's why you'll notice Lexus doesn't actually say in this ad, called "hydrant," that their "14 actively safe features" on the new 2008 RX will keep you out of an accident — but they certainly do a nice job of insinuating it. While they're at it, could they also have it brew me a mocha and maybe bake me some cookies — because while I'm sure "water-rep
Read MoreMany people may not know it but I just moved into a new place in downtown Royal Oak, MI. It's the city my Dad grew up in, I was born in, and my cousins still run the local hardware store — so it's got a lot of positive energy for me. Apparently, despite the familial energy, I've been told the fabulous city right next door's got even more energy than my paternal home town. I happen to think that's debatable, but if fab Ferndale doesn't have more energy, today it at least has a bit more precisio
Read MoreSo the headline on Ford's press release is totally bringing to mind "Best. Blank. Ever." And for some weird reason, it's making us laugh a little. That's probably not what FoMoCo had in mind when they wrote it up, but whatevs, it's been a long day. Despite the reaching-for-the-stars paper they released, there's reason for FoMoCo to be proud of the new line-up of commercial carriers, especially as they enter the market commanding 40% of the market share in sales vans. But when you're talking
Read MoreA bunch of these pics ended up making their way out onto the interwebs prior to the show, but frankly, because the look hasn't changed that much since the 2007 model, we just really weren't in the biggest rush to kick these pictures out the front door. But, now that the Geneva rush is beginning to pass, we'll slow down a little, and stop and smell the roses — something we're assuming the buyer of a 2008 XJ might want to do. Because when FoMoCo is pushing the angle of "raising the standard for
Read MoreThe Blue Oval is staring down the barrel of a recall involving 109,664 '03-05 Crown Victoria Police Interceptors due to possibly faulty welds in the cop-spec steel wheels that can lead to rapid deflation during hot pursuit. Two crashes have resulted due to failure of the welds, although Ford's disputing the claims, as the officers involved in the wrecks weren't injured. Apparently, the recall only extends to active-duty police vehicles; ex-police Vics aren't covered, as their owners are expected
Read MoreWe'd heard initially the Dodge Avenger campaign might be something more hoontastic, so we already knew we'd be a bit disappointed by the campaign no matter how good it ended up. However, even through the disappointment, we tried to do our level best to keep our minds on a level playing field. Still, despite the attempts at mustering the positive energy, we couldn't get all that jacked up about this Sebring clone. Of the three ads, the best one's got to be the one above, which is called "tuned up
Read MoreI stood in the shower the day after the first set of races and tried to loosen up painfully stiff muscles in the hot water. Today was to be a modification day before the autocross and drifting events. What that meant for me so far was that I'd gotten to wake up a little later than usual, which along with a cereal bar I'd grabbed the night before did wonders for my outlook on life. I'd seen the shiny new go-fast parts hanging on the walls of the "Speed Shop" the crew had constructed in the garage
Read More• Okay, we get it. You grew up in a small town, were the first and only Shiny Black Mustang owner in your small town, and you thought that driving drunk around your small town in your Shiny Black Mustang was okay, at the time. We also get that you may be a total fucking moron and should never be allowed to own a Shiny Black Mustang again. [Itchy Blog] • Zuh? Using your Chrysler 300 as exercise equipment? See previous statement about "fucking morons." [Waist Loss] • In case you're wondering, h
Read MoreAll this teaming up with plastics companies (see also: Rinspeed/Bayer) could mean carmakers and designers are angling to get DOT approval for new materials that can save weight. Whether the world's safety police will bite is another matter. But Hyundai's QarmaQ (don't ask) is a joint effort with GE Plastics, which provided its latest concoctions like Lexan for the panoramic greenhouse and Exatec, which reflects heat when applied to transparent surfaces. Safety is another of the concept's definin
Read MoreBack in 1998, my parents picked up what was, for them, an uncharacteristically ostentatious automobile. In late 1975, I arrived home from the hospital in a 1962 Rambler, which is the first car I ever steered. Our other car at the time was a '64 Belvedere sedan with a 318. From there we graduated to a '69 Catalina and a '68 Country Sedan. And then an '83 Olds Firenza and an '80 Mercury Colony Park. The Firenza gave way to an '89 Camry in '91, while the Merc was supplanted in trailer-towing duty b
Read MoreHey, kids, it's the KTM X-Bow. Let's go say hi. Sure, the little roadster is just as we pictured it. Compact, busy, and with just enough amusement-park frivolousness to make us wish we were either eight years old or luxuriating in an fortune derived from someone else's sweat. (Both wouldn't be bad.) KTM says it's building a pilot run of 100 by the end of 2007, before deciding on a series run. That's mainly a function of whether motorsports engineering firm Dallara can build them fast enough.
Read MoreMad supercar genius Victor Muller introduced the latest from the newly minted F1 constructor Spyker Cars. It's a Zagato-designed rear-drive sportster, powered by VW's 6.0-liter W12 engine, producing 500 hp. Like other of Spyker's vehicles, this one combines supercar with 1930s robber-baron airplane, to create a gestalt from speed, fine leather, Chronoswiss instruments and aeronautics. The C12 gets from zero to 60 in 3.8 seconds and has a top speed that knocks fairly hard on the threshold of 200
Read MoreAs in neutral, which is where the talks on the challenge of selling off the 'merican side of the German-American not-so-much-equal merger's been for the past two weeks. And by neutral, we mean gunnin' the engine, but not going anywhere. So while one member of the Jalopnik team's been drinking hot chocolat by the chalet fireplace, our intrepid associate editor from Detroit's had his nose deep in the financial books trying to divine some sense from the conflicting reports on who wants what out o
Read MoreYou waited years for it kids, and here it almost is. It's not the new V8-powered BMW M3, it's the V8-powered BMW M3 Concept. That means it's just teasing the crap out of you, isn't it? BMW's own World Touring Car champ, Andy Priaulx drove it out from the wings, revving the M3 for the rafters. Shite. All that talk about BMW neutering its V8 was unfounded. To save weight, it's got a carbon fiber roof and aluminum hood, along with 19" light alloys. Yeah, we were surprised at the hots on this one.
Read MoreIf Toyota's new Hybrid X concept is any indication, the next generation Prius — and any other next generation hybrids from Japan's super awesome number one best automaker — should look even more like a bubble than the current gas-sipper. But the next one will be a bubble designed under two "consistent themes" — what ToMoCo's calling "J-Factor" and "Vibrant Clarity." ToMoCo's press release describes "Vibrant Clarity" easily enough as just the expression of "J-Factor" in the design of the vehicle
Read MoreWith the new Brooklands, the Bentley boys are back in the super-luxe coupe market. It's a market they invented, back when Lord Mountbatten was just a lad, trodding the tennis courts and bedding uncouth American actresses. Once reported to have been dubbed "Havana," the Brooklands will come in a run of 550 cars, each with Bentley's most powerful unit — a 530-hp version of the company's 6.7533333333-liter V8, producing enough torque to drag Sir William Crookes into the 21st century. The first del
Read MoreLotus has lots up its sleeve here in Geneva. Last night, the company released info on the plug-in hybrid concept it's showing off. The green dealie is the product of a partnership between it and parent, Malaysia's Proton. But for sheer sexification, you can't do much better than its other, more sporting display-case bait. That is, the Exige GT3 concept road car. A product of Lotus Sport, Lotus's performance arm, the GT3 is a prototypical offshoot of the company's GT3 racing efforts. And it's not
Read MoreThe guardians of the Wolverine State's highways and byways are being asked to cut their fuel consumption by 20%, due to rising gas prices. The fuel-saving edict was issued in the face of a $13.6-million deficit expected by the MSP this year. According to officials, they're cutting back routine patrols; at least one station has parked two of its cruisers, but authorities assure the public they're still responding to accidents and, we assume, reports of life-threatening mayhem on Michigan's roads.
Read MoreHere in the sleepy French community of Ferney-Voltaire, just over the Swiss border, I'm watching French TV. At this moment it's a sendup of "Candid Camera" en francais, featuring such skits as "narcoleptic cop" (police narcoleptic) and "knife salesman who randomly stabs himself in the hand." Both are more interesting than a Suzuki MPV, and slightly less interesting than a Maserati Coupe designed by Pininfarina. But that matters only today, because tomorrow and Wednesday, we're heading back over
Read MoreYeah, yeah, they're 1/43 scale. But damn, it's a genuine 3-Wheelers.com limited-edition diecast Reliant Robin Supervan! I own only one 1/43 scale toy car at this point (a '75 Pacer X) but I think it may soon have a companion.
Read MoreAlthough the show's in Geneva, it seems like the real reveals are occurring out here in the inter-wilds, with the 2008 model of the Volvo XC70 the latest victim of the always-on and always-at-the-ready world wide web. While we sit here and further contemplate the meaninglessness of embargoes, why don't you take a look at the gallery below and of Volvo's AWD sports wagon. Oh yeah, and it doesn't appear as though there's a V8 in the offing as of yet — but the stats in the release below the jump ap
Read MoreAnd now the trilogy of advertising semi-randomness from FoMoCo is complete. In many ways we're thinking this is the last salvo of the Ford marketing team's attempt to show Alan Mulally they're relevant. And if they failed at it in any way like the second to last salvo, it's not going to end very well at all. But we digress, let's get back to the last two ads from FoMoCo's wild ride. They're a continuation of the buff mag hand-job product placement we've already seen called the "Fusion Challenge.
Read MoreA Koenigsegg with only 600 horsepower? That's the thing about racing regulations; sometimes you have to make concessions. Nonetheless, it's the new K-egg CCGT, an FIA homologated GT1 racer based on the 806-hp CCX, whose homegrown 4.7-liter V8's gotten a double superchargerectomy. But it's also been bored out to 5.0 liters. It's also been lightened porked up to meet the GT1's weight limit of 2,425 lbs. We'll see it up close long about Geneva time. [Note: Spanks on me for missing the delicious iro
Read MoreFoMoCo's really pushing this "Ford Challenge" tagline and we're sort of digging it. It's certainly a helluva lot better than "Bold Moves" at describing what the Dearborn-based automaker's looking to prove. I mean, it's no Iacocca-esque "If you can find a better car..." but then again, they sell more trucks than they do cars anyway. So that explains why Henry Ford's baby is all over Mike Rowe, the host of "Dirty Jobs." The man personifies the play-in-the-mud type. And playing in the mud is what a
Read MoreOne of our favorite bits of freeway in California is Highway 24. It's not a challenging road, but it moves fast through some pretty countryside. And we used to live right at its eastern terminus, so it's got a bit of a homey feel to it as well. On a clear day, headed west the casual motorist is greeted with an absolutely breathtaking view of the Bay when exiting the Caldecott Tunnel; that beautiful puff of clouds floating by from Oakland to the gates of Marin (apologies to Kerouac and Schwarzenb
Read MoreAlthough Toyota's been interested in "looking at" a plug-in hybrid for a while now, they've only now decided it needs some help on the batteries needed for real long-range driving. Thus, we've got the following Reuters report of a convo they had with Jim Press, US President of Japan's super best number one awesome automaker:
Read MoreFoMoCo's dropped a blizzard of creative on us today and we're literally just trying to shovel our way through the mess of it as we speak. So we'll start off with the double shot of ads they're firing across the bow of the General's big-league profit-maker, the Chevy Suburban. True, the Expedition's already beating the Suburban in sales, but whatever, maybe they like the whole "underdog" role. It's either that or they're scared the big automaker from the D's looking at buying them up to along wit
Read More• Today in Pointless Hypothetical Situations (Part One): choose between your car and your laptop. [By The Way...] • Today in Pointless Hypothetical Situations (Part Two): imagine what it would be like if your car exhaust was actually fetid horse shit. [The Galloping Beaver] • Unhappy with traffic light response time? A little initiative and one quick phonecall could change your driving life forever. That is, if you live in Jerusalem. [Yehuda] • Surprise, surprise - the readership of Men and Moto
Read MoreNo, it wasn't a two-car crash. That's a single, formerly pristine ABT-tuned Audi RS6 that was catastrophically bent by one of nature's stoutest. It was likely traveling at about eleventy miles an hour when it left the road. Apparently, the driver says wheels got light and he lost control. Here's part of the account from RS6.com:
Read MoreThe difference between the rows of late model cars at the junkyard awaiting the crusher and Grandpa's 400-thousand mile 1974 Mercury Bobcat Wagon with genuine simulated wood grain paneling is regularly scheduled maintenance. The failure of an inexpensive and easy to replace part can cause a heap of pricey damage. This is especially true of the automotive cooling system thermostat.
Read MoreFunny story. Remember that new Mini JCW Motoring File talked about a few days back. Well, they were completely unwrong about that. It's the new Mini John Cooper Works R56 — a tuning kit for the MINI Cooper S's twin-scroll 1.6-liter four — and it's debuting next week in Geneva. The mild tuning kit can be installed on any new-model Cooper S, providing around 17 more horsepower and 10 more lb-ft of torque. An overboost function can increase torque temporarily to nearly 200 lb-ft, from 184 lb-ft. No
Read MoreFourtitude reports Audi's boss man says the bruiser Audi V12 TDI concept shown in Detroit may be US-bound. Nonetheless, those in Herr Rupert Stadler's charge have more definitive news on the other hot Q7 diesel arriving one ocean away. It's the 4.2-liter TDI, which produces 326 hp and 561 lb-ft of torque. Audi says it's the most powerful diesel SUV on the world market. It barely edges out its cousin the Touareg V10 TDI, which produces 310 hp and a near-miss 553 lb-ft of torque. But edges out it
Read MoreUnlike the General's breaking performance earlier — the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid beat expectations, just not in the direction they would have liked. So despite beating that 7% prediction from Bear Stearns and actually dropping 8% in sales month-to-month still means they only pushed 174,506 vehicles out the door in February. So if there's a bright side to look at, it's that that level of performance probably makes a great number of German execs in the not-so-much merger of eq
Read MoreThe history of the Hillman Avenger is long, sordid and involves Chrysler, Peugeot and Volkswagen. And while some of the rally/saloon variants were pretty rad, the Avenger variant that simply cannot be fronted upon is the Uruguay-built Dodge 1500 pickup. Sadly, not much thought was given to the structural integrity of this South American truckcar and the vehicles apparently had a propensity toward chassis failure. Still, unlike its American cousin, the Rampage, the 1500 was at least driven by the
Read MoreNo really, seriously. Despite some out there predicting a 7% decline in sales for the month of February, the General showed it's got some fight left in it as it beat the living snot out of expectations. The big phallic automaker smack dab in the center of Detroit saw sales up by 3.4% for the month, led by an astounding 11% increase in retail sales. And what makes that number even more amazing is that this was on top of a reduction of fleet sales by 18%. The full release is after the jump for y
Read MoreWell, FoMoCo should look on the bright side. Their sales drop this month wasn't nearly as bad as last month's plummetastic 19% drop. Also, it's at least better than the 20% reduction some were saying they'd be seeing this month...small wins, right? But even with that Pyhrric victory, with February sales of only 211,150, things still weren't what you'd call even "decent." Ford's claiming half of the decline as coming from daily rentals, but when they then point out that sales to retail customer
Read MoreThe automaker representing Deutschland at all times just released their February 2007 sales. The precise automaker from the land of all things "Bruce" and un-pimping saw sales of 16,367, a 0.2% increase over the February 2006 sales of 16,329 vehicles. The volume car-leader for the car-maker is still obvs the Jetta, which has year-to-date sales of 14,352, with the GTI coming in second on sales of 2,450 — a 23% increase over the previous year. Press release and all the salient details below the
Read MoreWhat's that now? No, don't blame Ingolstadt. This nose belongs to a Subaru Legacy that's been fitted with a kit by Japan's DAMD design house. Despite the mimicry, DAMD says the design is functional, improving cooling and aerodynamic efficiency. We're not quite sure who gets the last laugh on this. Perhaps no one.
Read MoreFoMoCo execs are breathing a sigh of relief this morning after Oakland County Circuit Judge John McDonald issued a temporary restraining order requiring Navistar International Corp. to resume production and shipments on the 6.4-liter diesel PowerStroke engines used in Ford's big n' bold F-Series Super-Duty haulers. That'll let Ford reverse it's decision early yesterday to reduce shifts at their Louisville, KY truck plant — ensuring a steady stream of profit-heavy trucks will continue to flow int
Read MoreFor you white-knuckled daredevils with such a serious desire to show off in the turns you look at the Lotus Exige and Elise and say "meh," Lotus has something new for you to lust after. Enter the 2-Eleven. This super-cool (my own little amalgamation of supercharged and intercooled) 1796 cc engine in the Lotus 2-Eleven has a maximum power output of 252 hp at 8000 rpm and approximately 179 lb-ft of torque. Unfortunately for those of us here in the US, the grippy little speedster won't be availabl
Read MoreGerman engineering and design firm EDAG says it's come up with a modular approach to building niche vehicle derivatives. That means we may be seeing more coachbuilding products from the boys and girls of Fulda. To showcase what it can do, the company's worked up a show car it's calling LUV, a luxury-tweaked Honda Ridgeline with more Escalade action than BET's parking garage. The theme is maritime, and appointments include such yacht-y measures as teak slats for the cargo bed and hood. German tun
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