Maybe the F-35 program is just not supposed to work out. Despite a week where the system appeared to display a growing sense of maturity, old problems of reliability, pilot hypoxia and lagging airframe deliveries eclipsed progress. But, first, the good news.
Read MoreLast week, CIA director Mike Pompeo said North Korea could only be “months away” from having the ability to hit the United States with a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile. Speaking at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Pompeo said America needs to behave with the knowledge that North Korea is “on the cusp” of being able to strike the U.S. with a nuclear weapon. All of which betrays a simple fact: North Korea has become a nuclear power.
Read MoreIn late 1984, when the first Akula submarine of the Soviet Navy put to sea, it immediately changed the way anti-submarine warfare would be conducted. With the Akula’s arrival the American submarine fleet would no longer enjoy the dramatic undersea advantages they had possessed since the end of the World War II. The Akula, which is Russian for shark, stunned NATO with its high-level of stealth, especially compared to any Soviet submarine before it.
Read MoreAfter distastefully joking to a crowd of Puerto Ricans devastated by Hurricane Maria that they were taking up too much of the budget, Trump later proudly announced in a military briefing that he would be rewarding the armed forces for their relief efforts on the island by ordering “hundreds of millions of dollars” in F-35s that you “literally can’t see.”
Read MoreOne of the most frustrating aspects of shopping for a car online can often be boiled down to three words: “call for price.” It seems simple enough; call the dealership and they’ll tell you how much it costs. But the subtext to this command will give you a pretty big clue as to whether or not you even want to bother picking up the phone.
Read MoreThis summer I joined my German friends Andreas and Josi on a road trip to a wedding in Romania. I knew little about the country, and even less about the bride and groom, but that didn’t matter. I was about to drive some of the greatest roads on earth in one of the Jalop-est new cars I could get my hands on: an all-wheel drive, diesel manual Mazda6 wagon.
Read MoreThe 2018 Aston Martin DB11 can be had with a 503 horsepower V8 or a 600 HP V12. We’ve driven both cars back to back, and even if you’re not comparison-shopping super GT cars the tangible differences between the two were actually pretty interesting.
Read MoreThe Porsche Cayenne is my favorite automotive troll. Porsche fans were horrified at the idea of a Porsche SUV only to discover that the Cayenne is ridiculously capable off-road, on-road, on-track, and even when towing. The all-new 2019 Porsche Cayenne is faster and more powerful than ever, and if you’re still mad about the idea of a Porsche truck, take this advice: drive one.
Read MoreBrandon is 31 and has always regretted not learning how to drive a manual transmission. He wants to get a cheap, fun beater with three pedals to learn the skill that many of us cherish so much. What car should he buy?
Read MoreIt must be nice to roll into a car dealership, point to something cool and say “I’ll take that one,” without any care about cost. It’s a luxury many of us don’t have. I’ve found that some luxury car dealers may get a little too use to this devil-may-care attitude. They work with so many big spenders they may not be all that interested in cutting a deal for the rest of us.
Read MoreI think the reaction most people had when they found out I was driving a 2018 Maserati GranTurismo MC for the weekend was: “Holy hell, they still make that thing?” Yes, in fact, they do and the world is a more glorious place because of it.
Read MoreTyler and his wife like cars with a small footprint both physically and environmentally, but their compacts aren’t cutting it now that they have had twins. They want a car that can handle the family but doesn’t require a big sacrifice on the eco-friendly front. What should they buy?
Read MoreBefore Fiat married Chrysler it was just Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, but most people probably would have told you it stood for this: “Fix It Again, Tony.” My dad took this as a personal challenge and adopted a 1979 Spider 2000 in the ’90s. The car’s still in the family. Actually, it practically raised me.
Read MoreLast month, Porsche flew me to Düsseldorf for the Porsche Cayenne Technology Workshop, where engineers in classrooms taught me detailed technical minutiae about what’s good on the new 2019 Porsche Cayenne. The whole thing was extremely German, and that’s a very good thing. Here’s what I learned.
Read MoreYou would assume that dealers selling high-end cars would be less inclined to try to take advantage of folks on that level because they understand it’s bad for business. This bonkers lease, though, goes to show that even wealthy buyers have to run the math.
Read MoreNo car I have driven epitomizes everything that’s wrong with cars today more than the 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport. It’s irritating to drive and isn’t even comfortable. Yet its worst sin is what it represents: the phasing out of a segment that got many of us into cars in the first place in favor of half-baked crossovers that suck to drive.
Read MoreIn terms of dinosaurs, the 2018 Maserati GranTurismo kind of is one, as the first GranTurismo came out in 2007. Surprisingly, you can still buy one new today and you know what? It’s still pretty good. Especially the sound.
Read MoreMark is an attorney who’s looking for a fast ride that can stay under the radar. He has a pretty healthy budget and needs something with a bit of practicality. What is the best sleeper he can buy?
Read MoreThe building blocks for autonomous cars are already here, but so far the biggest step into that world for actual consumers has been Tesla’s Autopilot. Now General Motors is going there too with a semiautonomous highway driving feature called Super Cruise, available on the new Cadillac CT6. Questions about how it stacks up to Autopilot will be endless, so I’ll get this out of the way first: Super Cruise is not quite as capable as Autopilot, but it’s objectively safer.
Read MoreThe 2017 Toyota RAV4 sitting in front of me covered in bugs (turns out New England has a lot of bugs) certainly did not fit the archetype of what I thought of as a “rally car.” Populating the roads running along the rolling hills of Maine and New Hampshire I had spotted the predictable ones—blue Subarus, sticker-covered 911s, Mitsubishi Lancers, and even a great-looking orange 280Z—which made Toyota’s stout family crossover stand out even more.
Read MoreJames is a college student who’s tired of working on his old Chevy Blazer. His folks are going to help him get another car, but they say it has to have a good warranty. James, naturally, still wants something manual and sporty. What car should he buy?
Read MoreI remember actually being excited when the Honda Fit came out. A friend of mine bought an early one and cracked themselves up explaining: “It fits everywhere, and everything fits in it!” I’m here all week, folks... with a 2018 Honda Fit. So let me know what you want to see as I shake it down.
Read MoreJalopnik’s TV show hasn’t been canceled yet! Dreams DO come true. And this week, our TV boys head out to rural Pennsylvania to experience the magic of off-roading.
Read MoreI don’t have to tell you that the hottest Halloween trend happening right now are costumes for your car. Why dress your own damp, sticky body up in some costume, like a goddamn caveman would, when you can dress up your car? You wouldn’t. Car-stumes are here to stay, and here are the hottest ones this year.
Read MoreThe old Dodge was such a fixture in the neighborhood that one particularly awful person named his or her wireless network after it: “Retarded Guy’s Charger.”
Read MoreI’ve been giving American cars a lot of likely unwanted meh-car attention lately, so let’s venture across the sea and discover what unexciting non-wonders are waiting listlessly to bore you. This week, thanks to a suggestion from a reader named Adam, I’d like to present to you a heaping fistful of French automotive enuui: the Talbot Tagora.
Read MoreWe have all been there, scouring Craigslist or Autotrader late in the evening searching for our next project or dream car. You find what looks like the perfect match for the right price, and then your dreams come crashing down.
Read MoreHonda was one of the highlights of the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show, even if I still came away a little disappointed. Their duo of EV concepts, for example, the Urban EV Concept—first seen at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show—and the new Sports EV Concept were two of the coolest cars at the show.
Read MoreI get it. When you’re the biggest car manufacturer in the world and there’s a motor show on your home turf, you have to show everyone that you can innovate and are leading the pack with future technologies. And that’s what Toyota did at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show, but it leaves us with one glaring omission we’re all talking about.
Read MoreOnly Mitsubishi would have the gall to call its new electric SUV concept an e-Evolution. Sure, it’s not a Lancer Evolution, but having the word ‘Evolution’ in a car with a Mitsubishi badge raises certain expectations. And now it’s on this storied but troubled company to meet them.
Read MoreIt’s nearly 11 months into 2017 and I’ve only just found out it’s the 10th anniversary for Lexus’ F division. That’s quite a milestone. So instead of announcing the LC F at the Tokyo Motor Show, the brand instead showed a special edition version of the RC F and GS F—and an unusual concept.
Read MoreTonight on Car vs. America, we’re talking about cars in New York City. There’s the good, like our friend Phil who says if you’re gonna own a car in the Big Apple you may as well own something cool—which is why he has two classic Lancias and a BMW M1. Then there’s the bad, which is everything else.
Read MoreI’m here at the 45th Tokyo Motor Show, and while you Americans were sleeping I went to the various press conferences at Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Lexus, and Toyota. The verdict? There’s some cool stuff here, but not the big announcements we enthusiasts were kind of hoping for.
Read MoreSometimes I feel like Meh Car Mondays unfairly picks on some key Meh-eras of the past: the famous Malaise Era, the bland optimism of the 1990s, that sort of thing. To mix it up a bit, I wanted to pick a meh car that you, the meh car enthusiast, could go out and buy new today. And I found one: the gloriously meh Buick Envision.
Read MoreAnyone can be a car enthusiast. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you drive. But it takes a special kind of maniac to own and love a car in New York City. If you’re gonna do it, you better do it in something interesting.
Read MoreOctober has been quite a month for events in Japan. From the Nicole Racing Days, the La Festa Mille Miglia, and the Ferrari 70th Anniversary Rally just last week, we’ve been staying busy over here. But we can’t always have nice things, and as such it’s been raining non-stop (like raining water, not raining cool car things) for the past two weeks.
Read MoreUnless you’re driving an R31 Nissan Skyline, you’ve probably lost your car in a parking lot before. Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us. My 1996 Toyota Camry is one of the most common cars ever made so I lost it on an almost daily basis until I installed a big, dumb ol’ roof rack on it.
Read MoreFor today’s imaginary car from an imaginary country, I’d like to take you to the vast plains of Tarquania, a thriving and proud nation sandwiched between Mongolia and Kazakhstan. Back in the 1960s, Tarquania was undergoing a great economic boom, and there was a lot of demand for cars—unfortunately, most imported cars were not acceptable, because the Tarquanians are the only people on Earth to have a fierce taboo against any hip-to-hip contact.
Read MoreEvery year since 1997, more than 100 cars have left Tokyo on a 680-mile rally paying homage to the famed Italian Mille Miglia road race. Dubbed the “La Festa Mille Miglia,” this rally celebrated its 20th anniversary this year and is considered a “sister event” of the official Mille Miglia. It’s the vintage car heaven you’d expect from a name like that, with a Japanese touch.
Read MoreI hate car keys that don’t actually have a physical home inside their vehicle, but that’s more a fault of my own idiocy than engineering. The key to the Aston Martin DB11 V12, however, is so dang large that I thought somebody at the company was playing a joke on me.
Read MoreHere at Jalopnik we spent years crapping on car television for being generally awful. That’s because deep down, we always thought we could maybe do it better. Strap yourself in, because you’re about to watch our first attempt at doing exactly that: Car vs. America.
Read MoreTraffic sucks, so why not start your morning off with some music? You provide the toast and we’ll provide the jams.
Read MoreIn a moment it was all silenced. The screaming of the fans packing the stadium. The 14 cars all tearing into a collision course with me. The passenger airbag blew as another skidplate car made contact and it finally snapped me into realizing what I’d gotten myself into.
Read MoreAs special as it was to do a 1000 km rally with 70 Ferraris, it was even cooler because I had a 2017 Nissan GT-R Nismo to chase them down in. The Ferraris drew a ton of attention as they blasted across Japan, but I had to show everyone what the home team could pull off too.
Read MoreTo celebrate its 70th anniversary, Ferrari threw a bunch of parties around the globe last week. I’m biased, but I think one of the better ones is here in Japan, where the Ferrari 70th Japan Exclusive Rally was held over the course of two days. The starting point was a the famed sumo stadium where a cavalcade of 70 Ferraris set off on a wet morning in Tokyo. I tagged along for the ride.
Read MoreCars of a given era tend to look alike. They’re designed with a common design vocabulary of the time and often follow common trends. Even so, cars that are dead-on doppelgängers for one another (that aren’t badge-engineered twins) are pretty rare, especially when one of the cars is one of the most-recognized vehicles ever made. That’s why I froze like I just caught my junk in my zipper when I saw pictures of the Pilát Lidovka R6.
Read MoreDespite a loud, idiotic subset of fans who seem hell-bent on proving to the world they’re the worst sort of people, I still like Rick and Morty, the gleefully-nihilistic animated show about a dimension-hopping scientist and his hapless grandson and, occasionally, Buttworld. Like anything worthwhile, Rick and Morty has its share of cars, so let’s take a bit and really waste some time by identifying a bunch of cars from the show.
Read MoreJalopnik editors Michael Ballaban and Raphael Orlove: you won’t find tougher, more skilled, more experienced Real Car-Driving Men® than these guys. But one thing they’ve never done is put skid plates on old family sedans to go up against the toughest locals at Winston-Salem’s Bowman Gray Stadium. You get to see it go down next week on Car vs. America!
Read MoreWomen’s participation in motorsports is growing for sure, but it definitely doesn’t represent the ratio between men and women in the general population—yet. This has not escaped the notice of professional off-roader and bona fide badass Emily Miller, whose women-only Rebelle Rally has become one of the most grueling races you can find anywhere.
Read MoreFor a city that loves supercars so much, there aren’t really many ways to experience one in Tokyo without owning one yourself. Unlike other large cities in the world, supercar rentals or sharing services are practically non-existent here. There are plenty of companies that offer rentals on Japanese cars, such as Nissan GT-Rs, Honda NSXs, and Mazda RX-7s, but if you want something a little more exotic you’re mostly out of luck.
Read MoreMike Ballaban is Jalopnik’s Deputy Editor. Raphael Orlove is Jalopnik’s Features Editor. Each owns a decrepit European car and has driven a Dakar race truck. Together, they star in Car vs. America—Jalopnik’s first real-deal television program. It premieres on Fusion TV on Oct. 18.
Read MoreI usually don’t trouble myself with the legislative affairs of whatever puny country I happen to be passing through, but I’m going to make a special case for France.
Read MoreGlobal geekdom is experiencing complicated and confusing sensations in their collective bathing suit areas thanks to tonight’s release of the second trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. My job, of course, is to scour the trailer for interesting vehicle or droid-related information, and, boy, does it look like there’s something good. Something X-Wing good.
Read MoreThe Ford Five Hundred is about as close to a ghost as an automobile can get. Even if you see one, it’s hard to be sure exactly what you saw, or if you even saw anything at all. It’s very existence is confusing to most people—was it a thing? Was a just a Taurus? Have I ever seen one? The Five Hundred is so meh it’s almost haunting. It’s so meh it has almost meh’d itself out of its very existence, and that’s terrifying.
Read MoreSince I’m stuck helping out on a lovely Saturday, I figured I may as well have a little bit of goofy fun, so I’m starting this new series: Imaginary cars, from imaginary countries. I’m just going to make up a car and a country, and then quickly sketch whatever stupid thing I’m thinking of. Sounds fun? Too bad, I did it anyway!
Read MoreIf, for whatever reason, the modern world is grinding you down and you find yourself pining for some idealized time in the past, let me give you something to hold onto to make you feel better: in at least the arena of electric cars, the past was a shithole. The modern world is doing wonderfully with electric cars, and you won’t believe the crap we had to deal with back in the day.
Read MoreWhen I first heard about the Nicole Racing Days, I was pretty skeptical about it. A company with a huge dealership and service network throughout Japan inviting its customers and various owners’ clubs to a day at Fuji Speedway seemed like a ploy to get cars to thrash around a circuit only for them to need service afterwards, I figured.
Read MoreThere’s very little that I like more than finding out about cars I’ve never heard of before. It’s like a drug—there’s that rush, that intense thrill of confusion and discovery, and your tolerance increases, making that next thrill harder and harder to find. That’s why I’m so thankful that one of our readers, Eduardo, found this wonderful Argentinian fix for me today: the Dinarg D-200.
Read MoreCars: what are they? Are they just rooms we control with our hands and our feet and our hearts, or are they something... more? Furthermore, America: is it just an ideal we will never truly live up to, or an actual place, sandwiched between Canada and Mexico? No one can say. But if there’s anything that will have answers, it is Car vs. America, the first-ever TV show from Jalopnik.
Read MoreDrifting. You know, that thing where drivers get cars to go sideways and make lots of noise and smoke, destroying tires along the way. It’s spawned a whole sub-culture of modified cars around the world, and it’s now gotten a very fancy and legit FIA-backed competition.
Read More“SEND IT!” the kid next to me screamed into the night, as three cop cars tore through the intersection where a slammed Volkswagen had done a front-wheel drive burnout only moments before. A police helicopter buzzed over the bay nearby. H2Oi was technically cancelled this year. But 78 arrests, 2,735 calls to police and one charge for attempted murder later, it’s clear that the most ticketed car show in America only got rowdier than ever before.
Read MoreListen: we get it. We know you have lots of options when it comes to TV these days. Some might even say there are too many shows! But we at Jalopnik know you are craving a car show that’s in touch with real, grassroots car culture, and Car vs. America aims to be that show.
Read MoreWant to see real, visceral disappointment in action? Tell a friend who loves cars that you got them a lovely Chevy Monte Carlo. Really soak in the delight that you watch play across their face as they imagine themselves behind the wheel of one of America’s most stylish oversized coupés. Then, hand over keys to a fifth-generation Monte Carlo from 1994-1999, and watch all that joy vanish, instantly, replaced with a stunned, bland acceptance, punctuated by the soft wail of a soul dying.
Read MoreWe’ve seen these sorts of ghost car dashcam videos before, but there’s always something fascinating and haunting about them. I guess that “something” isn’t exactly a mystery: a car comes out of freaking nowhere. This recent ghost car video, from Singapore, is a particularly good one.
Read MoreThe crashes at the 11-foot-8-inch bridge were funny at first. Then, when the city of Durham, North Carolina, added several warning lights and signs, the crashes became sad. Now they’re so sad, they’ve looped right back around into being hilarious again.
Read MoreCars have a lot of important parts on them and in them. Some, like the radio or maybe one of your forward gears, you can live without. Others, like your tires, you really cannot. Please do not experiment with this hypothesis at home, or on a busy Houston highway.
Read MoreA crash in the early hours of the morning near Miami Beach left a Lamborghini Huracan split completely in half, according to reports. The car caught fire as well, with the front end landing in a nearby parking lot and the back half coming to a stop in the middle of the road.
Read MoreAlcohol is a hell-of-a drug, and it’s just about the only explanation I can come up with for why the person in this video was able to stumble so catastrophically straight into a street-parked 2001 Porsche Boxster S. Just wait until you see the dent.
Read MoreA Texas jury just awarded a couple severely injured in a crash $42 million because their vehicle, a 2010 Honda Fit, had been improperly repaired by a collision center. Instead of welding the roof, per Honda’s repair guidelines, the shop used adhesive. That, according to plaintiffs, compromised the car’s safety structure and contributed to the severe injuries sustained.
Read MoreJalopnik sleuths, we call upon you and your inherent car knowledge. Update: Damn! You guys are good!
Read MoreYesterday, an Instagram user posted a Snapchat video of what appeared to be a human “skateboarding” an old Honda CRX. That is, coasting it down a hill while standing on the floorboards. The video ends with a dramatic crash. Is this video real? Fake? Physically real but also completely intentional? We’re leaning toward the latter.
Read MoreOn Saturday, in Gómez Palacio, Mexico, a taxi attempting a U-turn struck a Lamborghini Aventador, causing around $38,000 in damage, according to the Mexico City newspaper Excelsior. For once, it wasn’t the Lamborghini’s fault!
Read MoreRolls-Royce has a lamp that’ll show you how paint colors will look under the sun anywhere in the world, because you don’t want to design a $500,000 car only to have it look dingy in your driveway. But that lamp probably won’t show you how your car will look in a sinkhole, which is where this Rolls ended up.
Read MoreIt’s Day 593 into the war. Or Day 840. Or 1,383. You can’t keep track anymore. And it’s not really your job to, anyways. You’re just the scout. The runner. You simply complete the missions until there aren’t any more to complete. You aren’t paid to ask questions.
Read MoreRevology, an Orlando-based manufacturer of classic Mustangs, just debuted its new reproduction 600 horsepower Shelby GT500 at the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association in Las Vegas. And though the car is far from cheap, it takes good looks from the ’67 pony, and melds them with modern components. And that’s just cool.
Read MoreI could be wrong, but I think there’s a pretty stereotypical checklist of items you need to complete in order to be considered manly. An affinity for meat. A thirst for whiskey. A love of going outdoors. Flannel. Ron Swanson stuff—and stuff I can generally get behind. But this new RTR truck concept? I dunno.
Read MoreI know more than a few folks who had just one question about the new 2017 Honda Civic Type R: “When can I get that engine?” For those of you with dreams of swapping this powerful turbo motor into something else, there’s finally good news. Sort of.
Read MoreThere’s good news for everyone who’s been prowling Copart for wrecked Dodge Hellcat Chargers and Challengers: Fiat Chrysler’s Mopar division just announced a new 6.2-liter supercharged crate engine kit called “Hellcrate.” Because every car deserves 707 horsepower.
Read MoreWell-known aftermarket exhaust purveyor Borla is applying an ancient technology to its new product and I am tentatively intrigued. Its new “Polyphonic” exhausts use a series of different-sized pipes to make multiple notes simultaneously just like a pipe organ.
Read MoreI drive a lot of cars for work. So much so, that my personal car, a 2004 Honda Civic SiR—or just the Civic Si, if you’re American—is rotting away in press office parking lots covered in bird turds, fuel tank dried up, brakes all seized up. The poor thing just never gets driven. I’m an asshole for neglecting my Civic.
Read MoreFans are talking about the 2017 Honda Civic Type R like it’s the second coming of Jesus, or at the very least, Honda itself. This is partially because so many test pilots have heaped praise on it, but also because it’s only the second Honda to earn a “Type R” badge that’s made it to America. We went back to the first, the Integra Type R, to see how far the R has come.
Read MoreThe humble Honda Accord has not sprouted into a sports car or been reborn as a limousine. But the new-for-2018 10th generation of the car is ergonomically excellent, mechanically tight and did I mention you can have it with the Civic Type R’s engine and six-speed manual transmission?
Read MoreThe market, like nature, finds a way. Despite their ancient design, Volkswagen Beetles were famously still made in Mexico until 2003 and incredibly common as Mexico City taxi cabs until 2012. They’re illegal for cab use there now for being too unsafe, but the city’s Cuautepec area is plenty dangerous on its own.
Read MoreI know what you’re thinking. What is this dummy trying to accomplish here? Of course, I know about stop signs. But maybe—maybe!—you didn’t know this: stop signs weren’t always red. We’ve talked about other red things before, and there’s a reason we ended up with red octagons telling you to STOP. I swear it’s interesting. Here’s why stop signs are red.
Read MoreIf you thought this “robot apocalypse” was going to be quick, smooth and over before us humans noticed, you were wrong. Robots are cocky. Just look at this motorcycle robot, which (who?) looked at seven-time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi and said, “I am Motobot. I was created to surpass you.”
Read MoreThe 1993 Honda CBR900RR that I’ve been writing about is almost too much of a unicorn. Low-mileage, near-perfect examples don’t exactly grow on trees. I want to preserve it. That doesn’t mean park it forever in the living room, but it does mean daily-rider duties are off the table. The bike doesn’t take up much room, so for the time being, I can justify this action. What I can’t justify is not being able to use it how it was meant to be used. So I did the only thing I could think of to fix the is
Read MoreYamaha brought something interesting for the Tokyo Motor Show, and it’s a bizarro three-wheeler sportbike. Surely it’s too early for it to be some sort of elaborate April Fool’s joke, right?
Read MoreThe Honda Gold Wing and I are both headed into our 43rd year. Unlike me, the Gold Wing keeps getting lighter, sportier and more efficient.
Read MoreFinding the bike of my dreams was 95 percent of the battle. Here’s the other 5 percent.
Read MoreWe’re all here, obviously, because we love cars and bikes. But the great people who make up the car community—they’re just as much a reason to love our weird little niche as anything with wheels.
Read MoreI’ve been trying to figure it out for some time now. What is it about early ’90s sportbikes that gives my stomach butterflies? Is it the round headlights, the voluptuous fairings, or the lack of electronics? Whatever the reason, there is one bike in particular that has been on my realistic must-have list for a long time: the Honda CBR900RR.
Read MoreThousands of homes have been destroyed and dozens of lives lost in the wildfires of Santa Rosa, California. Thankfully, heroes like Dr. Scott Witt have the courage to risk their safety and help those in need.
Read MoreKalashnikov, the Russian conglomerate best known for the AK-47 assault rifle, is getting into the electric motorcycle game. The details are sparse, but it’s my sad duty to report that it doesn’t look like the bikes will come with banana-magazine range extender batteries.
Read MoreI don’t know what being sent to review a bicycle for Jalopnik says about my driving abilities, but I got the last laugh for having the most fun with a vehicle review. Tearing through neighborhoods, hills and city streets on an electric pedal-assist bicycle is living out your best unfulfilled grade-school speed demon dreams.
Read MoreSix thieves arrived on three mopeds at a jewelry store in London on Monday night and robbed the place before leaving on a single moped, having abandoned one at the scene and crashed another, according to the Guardian. Six people on a single moped! The escape, somehow, was successful.
Read MoreHere’s a phrase I haven’t heard in a couple years: BMW i8 Spyder. Or roadster. Or convertible. Whatever, you get the point—it’s a topless version of BMW’s gorgeous hybrid sports car. And it’s finally debuting at this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show, reportedly.
Read MoreJeep just released the first official images of the 2018 Jeep Wrangler, the JL. And while it looks a lot like the current JK, there are a number of notable differences.
Read MoreIf you own a Subaru WRX or WRX STI, I have no idea why you would be listening to anything other than the engine’s delightful burble. But if you checked the box for the optional factory-installed subwoofer in the trunk, Subaru is recalling your car due to subwoofer sparking, overheating and, potentially, fire.
Read MoreIt’s about that time of day when we start combing through the comments and other notes you’ve lovingly dropped for us to read in the Jalopnik comments section.
Read MoreEight people are dead, and 11 injured, after a truck drove down a bike path in lower Manhattan, according to The New York Times.
Read MoreI’m not sure what I’d do without cars. I’m not very interesting and don’t enjoy much other than watching (and making) things go vroom, so who knows what the future would hold if I pursued other things. But I tell you what, if electric cars start “singing” to make up for a lack of engine noise, I may head that way.
Read MoreSome things are really heavy and awkward to load in a vehicle, like engine parts, coolers, caskets, and festive but delicate gourd centerpieces that you don’t want to break in two. Thank goodness for vehicles, like the 2019 Porsche Cayenne and some hearses, that squat down in the rear.
Read MoreHappy Halloween, everybody. Want some real terror to make you jump ten feet in the air and possibly soil your pants? This is it. Watch a man somehow avoid getting wounded by his own third gear.
Read MoreGlobal demand for cobalt and nickel, two of the essential elements in electric car batteries, has never been higher. But where do all those metals come from? And do we even have enough for our electrified future? The answers to those questions are getting increasingly complex.
Read MoreHappy Halloween! We all know there isn’t a shortage of creepy shit in cars—gremlins, inexplicable quirks and happenings—but what about cars that actually tried to kill you?
Read MoreIt’s readily apparent that electrification is the immediate future of cars, and more than likely our gateway drug to full-on electric cars going mainstream. And that trend may be fine. It’s hard to argue against SUVs and sedans and even trucks going hybrid; they’re normal cars, so why not? But what about high-end performance cars like the Lamborghini Huracan?
Read MoreOn Oct. 20, on his last attempt, Tom Morgan, a British adventurer, sat in a chair and flew into the sky on the strength of a few dozen giant, helium-filled balloons. It was all reminiscent of a certain movie.
Read MoreLast year, we reveled in the ‘80s-tastic nostalgia-porn of Stranger Things, and, predictable bastard I am, wrote about all of the period cars used in the series. Season two was released last Friday, and over the weekend sweet, loyal Jalopnik readers were already all over my ass to do this again for the new series. Okay, okay, already! Here you go!
Read MoreOur David Tracy is a Jeep man. You, our readers, get him.
Read MoreThere’s something about seeing generations of the same car presented side-by-side in an attractive package that just makes tracing their origins all the more interesting. A Honda Civic hatchback is no exception.
Read MoreI remember watching movies like I, Robot, Bicentennial Man, The Matrix and, later on, Logan and being struck by how many human jobs were replaced by robots in the imagined future. It’s definitely projected to happen within the coming decades, according to some. But a new poll shows that Americans aren’t terribly concerned about the big robot takeover just yet.
Read MoreJust when you thought no third-generation Toyota Supra strife could match your Facebook arguments over the pros and cons of buying one, some New Jersey residents decided to use one for a bloody Halloween display in their front yard. Some neighbors say it’s great, others think it’s “too much.”
Read MoreI can’t believe the likes of Better Homes and Gardens or Lawn Gnomes Quarterly haven’t picked up on this yet, but 2017 IMSA champ Jordan Taylor has stumbled upon the ultimate killer landscaping trick. Any yard can be improved substantially by adding a mini dirt bike track.
Read MoreWell, isn’t this some good and happy Monday news!
Read MorePresident Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, hid more than $18 million in several overseas shell companies as part of a complex scheme to avoid tax collectors, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Monday. Turns out he had a thing for nice cars too.
Read MoreI love to drive. My car is my happy place. I love taking it places. Often, though, I find myself screaming from behind the wheel at some idiot crap that another driver has pulled. Because driving with other people ruins driving. Because other people are hell.
Read MoreThe fact that you can still buy a brand-new, rear-engine, opposed-piston Porsche 911 today is just about entirely due to one man: Peter Schutz. Schutz was Porsche’s first American CEO, and arguably saved the company in the 1980s from their own misguided decisions that would have destroyed their iconic cars and heritage. Schutz died over the weekend, at the age of 87, according to German media and Ray Shaffer, manager of the Porsche Classic & Delivery Center.
Read MoreRobotics aren’t new to the automotive world, but Ford has a robot, and its shaped like a human butt, called the “Robutt,” and mimics how our butts move in and out of a car seat. How can we not talk about it?
Read MorePhotographer Michael D’Ambrosio took this photo of his very own 2011 BMW M3 ZCP Competition Package. My god is it perfect.
Read MoreA Tesla owner named Tyler Martin recently uploaded a video to YouTube chronicling every issue he’s had with his 2016 Tesla Model S. The video is 25 minutes long because Tyler has a lot to talk about.
Read MoreSouth Korean automotive supplier Hyundai Mobis has developed a new airbag that aims to prevent vehicle occupants from flying out of their cars’ sunroofs during rollovers. Here’s how the intestine-shaped safety device works.
Read MoreApple co-founder Steve Jobs was seldom seen in a boring car. He owned a Porsche 928 in the 1980s, which supposedly helped inspire the design of the Macintosh 128k, and later in life used a California legal loophole to stay out of having license plates on his string of AMG Mercedes-Benzes. He liked speed and he liked flash, which explains why he had a BMW Z8 in the early 2000s. If you’re rich enough, you can own it too.
Read MoreMopar is the parts division of Fiat Chrysler and today they are known for offering all manner of accessories for Chrysler’s current lineup. They used to be renowned for performance parts and modifications you could throw on your Plymouth Duster to lay down some rubber.
Read MoreFerrari just announced the Evo version of its LaFerrari-based FXX-K, and my god have the aerodynamicists gone crazy with it.
Read MoreShortly before falling into a sodium-induced coma after some particularly bad McDonald’s, on Friday afternoon I spotted something small and red zipping down the road. It didn’t have any badges on it, but I knew exactly what it was. It was a Geo Metro convertible. The Metro pulled into the parking lot of Lowe’s, and after a few minutes, I found the owner, who was more than happy to talk about his car.
Read MoreIrony of ironies! Turns out the inaugural Jalopnik Auto Show, the car show we spent weeks planning to benefit three hurricane relief charities in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, has to be postponed due to a flash flood watch.
Read MoreTwelve yards long, two lanes wide, 65 tons of American pride! Chevy Tahoe! *whip crack* Chevy Tahoe!
Read MoreHelp me. I cannot stop thinking about the Oldsmobile Calais. I accidentally watched an advertisement for the car and Oldsmobile’s compact coupe has lodged itself into my brain.
Read MoreThere’s a new iPhone out soon or something? And the people, they are excited about the new device. Why? I myself haven’t carried a phone in years, it’s much easier to have other people carry the phone for you and make the calls when you demand it. No, what everyone should be doing is placing orders for the new Ferrari FXX K Evoluzione.
Read MoreEveryone has an official “first car” that they buy shortly after they get their driver’s license. The first car I purchased was a 1985 Chrysler LeBaron Turbo convertible. But that’s not really the first vehicle I ever drove regularly. It was just the first car that I could call mine.
Read MoreI have a lot of bad ideas. Quite a few of them involve buying an ill-advised vehicle of some sort on Craigslist and thrashing it around like I’m in a nightmare version of an off-road rallying competition.
Read MoreI heard about Volkswagen discussing the possibility of a new, electric, MEB-archicture Kübelwagen or Thing a couple days ago, but was hesitant to write about it because, well, I’m not sure if it’s just idle talk or if there’s some grain of seriousness behind it. I guess it doesn’t really matter, because it’s interesting enough it’s even being mentioned.
Read MoreLast night, I was watching Fight Club with a group and somebody who had never seen it before (I know, disgusting) asked when the movie was released. This was after multiple heavy-CGI scenes, and all of us dumb idiots guessed sometime in the early-to-mid 2000s. Turns out it was 1999, which blew most of our minds.
Read MoreHitting a deer is no joke. An average adult deer can weigh at least couple hundred pounds. Hitting a deer while traveling at over 100 mph... well, physics dictates the results to be grisly and dreadful. Like something out of a slasher film.
Read MoreIt wasn’t easy, but after decades of intense research and development, a dedicated Craigslist designer and engineer has managed to take a Ford Aspire and make it decidedly non-boring. The revolutionary method used to achieve this goal was based on the scientific principle known as “make it terrifying.”
Read MoreEarlier today, I wrote a blog about the rare problem of bad and repetitive jokes occurring on the internet. Commenters offered some better jokes.
Read MoreThe new Need For Speed game, Need For Speed Payback, promises us way more cars than its previous versions. Of course, we wanted to know which cars we’d be racing, drifting, off-roading and crashing with. Electronic Arts and Ghost Games revealed the list earlier this week and it’s... quite good.
Read MoreWhen Alvin Pharis was a kid in the 1960s, he had an uncle named Clifford who used to race cars. Clifford was a drag racer, starting in the 6 cylinder stock class, and later moving up to super stock. One of those stock cars was a 1965 Ford Falcon, which was sold decades ago. Clifford hasn’t seen that Falcon since he was a kid, until very recently, when a flood-damaged car he purchased at auction just happened to be that very same car. That’s a hell of a coincidence.
Read MoreOn Friday Aston Martin unveiled the $359,950 Vanquish S Volante Tom Brady Signature Edition, a ridiculous car targeted, I guess, at rich people with no taste who love the Patriots. (Come to think of it, that’s probably a very large market.) Anyway, here come the bad jokes.
Read MoreI’ve been to Austin’s Circuit of The Americas more times than I can count. I’ve covered major motorsports events there since high school, and I’ve said what I thought might be my last words on the back of a racing motorcycle on the track, but never had I actually driven it—until a few weeks ago.
Read MoreIn Langley, British Columbia, a fire engulfed a building filled with over 40 classic cars valued at around $2.3 million, Canadian news site Global News reports. The footage of the destruction is not for the faint of heart.
Read MoreI love a good homemade pumpkin pie as much as anybody, but can we all admit that Big Pumpkin is out of control? First, Oktoberfest taps at the pub get crowded out by gross pumpkin beers. Then “pumpkin spice” infects everything else that’s potentially edible. Now Big Pumpkin crushed a perfectly good car.
Read MoreYou’re probably tired of hearing me harp on the first-ever Jalopnik Auto Show, the big car party we’re throwing in Newark this Sunday to raise money for hurricane relief. Or you’re just counting down the minutes until it arrives. Either way, tickets are still on sale and you should come.
Read MoreThe Porsche Mission E, in a heated battle with the wind over which can make a quieter “whoosh” sound, tested on the Nürburgring recently. It’s what cars do. If you have negative opinions about it or electric cars overall, do not share them out loud. Your whispers won’t be quiet enough to keep a secret from this thing.
Read MoreThe U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating complaints that steering wheels can come loose or fall off entirely in 2014-2016 Ford Fusions.
Read MoreLook at me, this is my surprised face. I’m so surprised that there probably won’t be a rotary-powered Mazda anytime soon. I am floored by this news.
Read MoreItaly has always been the home of small coachbuilding companies that take manufacturer’s cars and give them novel and exciting new bodies. Think Zagato, Italdesign, Pininfarina. They specialized in making cars that looked like nothing else. Ares is an Italian coachbuilder, too, but they seem to be more about making cars that look exactly like something else, in this case, a 2012 Mercedes-Benz concept car.
Read MoreThe bad news is that we’ve known Lotus was likely going to plunge into the crossover craze for a while now. This new patent rendering seems to show they’re getting pretty far along with the concept, but it shouldn’t be anything to worry about.
Read MoreBMW is again considering developing a new high-performance sports car of some sort, something to slot above the current BMW i8 and the upcoming Z4 roadster and new 8 Series. The issue is that the execs just don’t know why they would need to. Here’s a few good reason of why they need to, damn it.
Read MoreAs we’ve mentioned here before, the long life of the Grumman Long-Life Vehicle (LLV) that’s been America’s deliverer of bills and supermarket circulars for decades is about to come to an end. It’s time to find a new Mail Truck for America, and there’s some interesting competitors in the mix, including the Indian juggernaut, Mahindra. I think we’re seeing their mail truck in these pictures.
Read MoreIf you’re as fascinated by Mazda’s SKYACTIV-X Spark Controlled Compression Ignition engine as I am, then you’re going to want to take a break from whatever Miata-Is-Always-The-Answer comment you were writing and watch this video. It’s borderline pornographic.
Read MoreJust the other day I was having an argument with a friend about whether Final Fantasy 8 was any good or not (I think it was) when we realized it’s nearly 20 years old now. Twenty! And guess what, Radwood attendees: some of the prized cars of your youth are but a distant memory for today’s teens, if they matter to them at all.
Read MoreWhen my coworker Jason drove a 2017 Ford Mustang RTR—a dealer-installed upgrade kit for Ford’s pony car—he called it “the most rational way to own a complete lunatic car.” But he wasn’t driving the most powerful “Spec 3" model, which, for 2018, is going make over 700 horsepower. And still come with a warranty. Now that’s loony.
Read MoreThe new trailer for Ken Block’s ever-popular Gymkhana series dropped today and, surprise surprise, it’s good! It’s fun and it seems like Gymkhana Ten (my God, we’re on ten already?) will follow up with even more mayhem and tire smoke madness than its predecessors.
Read MoreJohnny Bohmer has been breaking records in his 2,700 horsepower BADD GT for a while now, first taking it to 250 mph before going up to 275 mph and, then, 283.232 mph, which still stands as the Guinness World Record. On Friday, Bohmer beat that, going 292 mph at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, though coming back down to zero turned out to be the hardest part.
Read MoreDid I trip over a frayed extension cord, die, and get uploaded into a heaven dreamed up by adrenaline-addled robots? Or are we all just going to accept that the Apollo Intensa Emozione is an actual car?
Read MoreYou there! If you live anywhere in the greater New York/New Jersey/East Coast/Western Hemisphere region, you should definitely come to the first-ever Jalopnik Auto Show in Newark this Sunday because we’re putting on a car show for hurricane relief. But if you can’t, our friends at Blipshift have you covered.
Read MoreTwo years ago, Mazda unveiled the RX-Vision Concept at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show. It was the first big unveil that year and got everyone excited at the prospect of a new Mazda rotary sports car. This year, no such luck; but we do have cars that carried over the RX-Vision’s design language.
Read MoreAmong the issues dragging down the proliferation of hydrogen fuel cell cars in the market, cost is a huge one. A hydrogen fuel cell car is still many thousands of dollars more expensive than a hybrid or conventional electric car, but Toyota said that it wants to fix that in the coming years.
Read MoreI’m washing my ute. Again. Some of my mates reckon I wash it more than I drive it, but that’s not entirely accurate—even if I have only racked up 1,600 km (994 miles) since taking delivery of it on August 4. It’s different this time though.
Read MoreAs soon as your car leaves the factory and is properly broken in, it’s probably cranking out the most power it will ever make in stock form. That’s because, over time, certain components wear down; here’s how that happens.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreToyota won’t give you a Supra this week, but I can. Technically it’s a Celica Supra but that’s better than nothing, yeah?
Read MoreI’m not always able to help with stolen cars, but sometimes I can try. And, as you know, I have a soft spot for stolen Beetles. A woman named Miranda had her 1970 Beetle stolen from the Atwater Village area of Los Angeles, and I’m hoping some of the magic that helped me recover my Beetle may be able to help here, too.
Read MoreMeadow Walker, the daughter of Fast & Furious franchise star Paul Walker, has settled the lawsuit against Porsche concerning her father’s death in 2013, according to The Blast.
Read MoreResidents of Snellville, Georgia, have recently been the victims of a petty crime: someone has been going around and smashing the glass out of the wing mirrors of their cars. Someone... or something.
Read MoreThat headline pretty much sums this up: a guy was working at a car wash, pressure-washing the inside of the car wash, because things that clean things sometimes need to be cleaned themselves. In the process, he gets whipped around like crazy by a huge brush. That’s it!
Read MorePerhaps it’s just coincidence, perhaps it was fate, perhaps it was a clever positioning campaign on behalf of Mitsubishi Fuso and Daimler, but the truck company has debuted a new electric cargo truck with a 217-mile range just a day before Tesla was initially scheduled to show of its new semi.
Read MoreYou know, sometimes I just love Honda. It’s the only car company out there that watched Wall-E and thought “screw it, let’s make that happen!” You’ll see what I mean when I tell you about RoboCas, Honda’s concept robot that appears to be capable of carrying your stuff like a pack animal, letting you open a food stand, maybe helping to raise your kids, and, uh, sing with you. Onstage. Honda, you glorious kook.
Read MoreThere are people in New York City who put rubber shields on their bumpers to stop them from being scratched from other drivers tapping their cars while parallel parking. That’s amateur hour compared to this concept car from Toyoda Gosei, which surrounds nearly the entire body with ... airbags.
Read MoreWhen the BMW X5 happened, I said alright, sure. Then came the X3. Again, I said, fine. After that, we got the X6. Uh, OK. I’ll play along. My head is still spinning from the X1 and the X4 and now there’s an all-new X2 coming and I’m like, ahhh you guys sure about this one?
Read MoreWe’re throwing a big car party on Sunday. You should buy tickets and come, because you get to hang out with really cool car people (us) and when you do all that money gets donated to three charities actively doing hurricane relief work in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. Now here’s an even cooler deal.
Read MoreNissan started their press conference off with an apology from Daniele Schillaci, Executive Vice President for Global Marketing and Sales. Recent scandals involving Kobe Steel, as well as the signing off of cars for the Japanese market by unqualified staff, has put Nissan under intense scrutiny. By owning up to it and bowing deeply in front of the predominantly Japanese media, Schillaci made it clear that Nissan’s leadership intends to own their mistakes.
Read MoreLate Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that allows financial institutions to keep putting clauses in loan contracts—including auto loans—that prevents consumers from banding together to file class-action lawsuits against lenders. Auto dealers are particularly pleased by the vote, which passed 51-50 after Vice President Mike Pence weighted in to break a tie.
Read MoreI’m not sure if it was intentional or due to budget restrictions but unlike bigger companies such as Nissan and Toyota, Subaru didn’t have any self-driving EVs on their stand this week at the Tokyo Motor Show. That could be a good thing, though, depending on how you look at it.
Read MoreIf you own a stock Toyota AE86, Mazda RX-7, Datsun 280ZX, or any of the many legendary sports cars Japan produced in the ’70s and ’80s, first of all: you’re a lucky bastard. Second of all, if you’re having a hell of a time finding little 13-inch or 14-inch tires that actually look “right” on your car, there’s good news: Yokohama just brought back its 1981 Advan HF Type D tire.
Read MoreKia Motors announced a second recall in the U.S. for more than 340,000 Souls, after it was discovered an initial repair for a steering defect may not have fixed the issue.
Read MoreWhen it comes to companies that make pianos, flutes, drums, computer networking hardware, car interior components, violins, ATVs, motorcycles, and the occasional car engine, Yamaha might just be my favorite. Now the company that is in dire need of diversification is teasing us with a very novel little truck concept: the Cross Hub, showing this week at the Tokyo Motor Show.
Read MoreI’m not entirely sure this has happened before, but a car designed for a video game is going to be produced for sale in reality. The game is Sony’s Gran Turismo Sport, the car is the IsoRivolta Vision, and the reality is the one you’re using now, the same one where you do laundry and eat corn dogs in.
Read MoreThe Subaru BRZ STI Sport looks like a real key to happiness on a budget. Just imagine parking in the shade, hopping out and letting the wind catch your hair as you run down a mysteriously empty beach. It sounds like a dream, until you realize the car has the same, non-turbo four-cylinder engine as any other BRZ.
Read MoreSunroofs on dozens of newer car models from around the world are shattering spontaneously, leaving owners perplexed and seeking answers. But while even experts don’t know entirely why this is happening, we do know which cars are yielding the most complaints to regulatory agencies.
Read MoreThe Tokyo Motor Show is going on right now. But what did you think was going to happen? Did you actually think you’d wake up to miraculous news of a new 1,000 horsepower Nissan Skyline, or a reborn Z, or an announcement that the IDx is finally happening? No. We live in a place called reality and reality often isn’t a nice place. Meet the Nissan IMx Concept. It’s an electric and autonomous crossover.
Read MoreA new Apollo has been teased for some time now, with an announcement in October 2016 that something would be coming, before video of the new car was leaked to us earlier this month. Today, Apollo finally unveiled the new IE in all of its naturally aspirated glory, and it looks pretty sharp. Literally.
Read MoreI often wonder which automaker will have the guts to come out with a fun hybrid or electric sports car that’s actually affordable. And a lot of the time I keep thinking if anyone could do it it’s Honda, which has given us impressive electrified offerings like the new NSX and Accord Hybrid—even with the occasional misfire like the CR-Z. Meet the Honda Sports EV Concept. I hope it leads to good things.
Read MoreYou might not be able to buy an affordable (let’s say $30,000) self-driving car any time in the next 25 years, but, hell, there’s no reason we can’t ask the people about it. Edmunds released a survey Monday where they asked people from across all driving age groups if they would buy a self-driving car in the next five years.
Read MoreIt’s done. The final nail in the coffin of the Mitsubishi Evo has been driven. It’s now officially an electric crossover, as previewed by the Mitsubishi e-Evolution Concept debuting at the Tokyo Motor Show, and it’s depressing as hell.
Read MoreSubaru is bringing the Viziv Performance Concept to the Tokyo Motor Show as a likely preview of its plan for the next-generation Subaru WRX, which apparently includes hexagonal fender flares, a large touchscreen interface and some upgraded driver-assistance systems.
Read MoreThe Tokyo Motor Show hits keep coming from Mazda. I seem to be in the minority when it comes to liking the Mazda Kai Concept hatchback, but I think this one will be way more of a crowd pleaser. This is the Mazda Vision Coupe Concept, and we’ll forgive it for not really being a coupe because it looks so damn good.
Read MoreBefore you jet off to the comment section to remark about how it must be a slow news day around here, I just want to drop this in as a reminder that maybe—just maybe—someone’s had a worse day than you. Commuters in Metro Detroit faced an unexpected detour Monday when a train blocked a railroad crossing for nine hours. Officials reportedly called this “crazy.” Frustration levels are “high.” I bet.
Read MoreNetflix found a pretty clever way to justify shooting hours and hours of Malaise-era cars roaming dejectedly around the streets of overcast, gray 1970s landscapes: wrap them all up in the context of a series about the FBI and serial killers set in 1977. The series is called Mindhunter, and if you want a taste of the bleak 1970s American car landscape, there’s no better place to see it.
Read MoreMazda’s been on something of a roll lately when it comes to design, from stuff that you can actually buy like the new CX-5 crossover to things you probably will never get, like the RX-Vision concept. Following in the latter’s footsteps is the Mazda Kai Concept soon to be shown at the Tokyo Motor Show, and Belgian site Autotijd has the leaked pics. (Update: Now with official photos from Mazda.)
Read MoreVolkswagen’s decision to cheat diesel emissions testing has been covered relentlessly ever since the automaker came clean about the scam in late 2015. The ins and outs of it never seem to get old, though, and German magazine Der Spiegel has a winding, fascinating tale today about the West Virginia University students who uncovered the problem in the first place.
Read MoreThank goodness BMW came to the rescue with an activewear line. It really was getting exhausting to have to hike, sweat and get dirt all over clothes that don’t showcase what kind of luxury sedan and/or crossover SUV I lease. Maybe the outdoors is fashionable again.
Read MoreI have a soft spot for taxis, pretty much any taxi. Checker taxis, of course, were good, but so was the Chevy Caprice. I’ll even defend the Taxi of Tomorrow, which is bad. That’s because in any taxi you can go full Michael Clayton, which is always good. Take the new JPN Taxi, available today from Toyota. Would you pay someone $20 to just drive in this thing? Of course you would.
Read MoreJonathan Ward has made quite a name for himself turning old utility vehicles into art on wheels at his shop Icon 4x4. The Toyota FJs and Ford Broncos he’s reimagined are already famous, but his Dodge F-250 is one of the wildest work rigs you’ll ever see. And as beautiful as it is outside, you have to look close to see the most impressive parts.
Read MoreIn recent years, auto supplier Delphi has been working at a breakneck speed to position itself for the automotive industry of the future—embracing the high-tech gadgetry that’s expected to become commonplace in the coming years. On Tuesday, the company further bolstered its position by announcing a $450 million deal to acquire nuTonomy, a self-driving car startup that already has robotaxis testing on the road today.
Read MoreIt’s no secret that New York City is home to some of the rudest and pushiest drivers imaginable. On one hand, yes, driving here teaches you to be more aggressive, defensive and careful overall. But other times, I just wish drivers here were a tad more considerate and logical.
Read MoreIf you’ve ever tried to ride out a nuclear blast hiding in a refrigerator, and found it’s less suited to that task than you were led to believe, you know what I’m about to tell you: movies aren’t real. As unreal as they are, they sure do work hard to seem real, which is probably why these certain car-related things bother me so much. In most realistic-seeming movies, cars generally behave as you expect, with the exception of these five things that never fail to drive me nuts.
Read MoreI prefer my Corvettes with engines from Mercury Marine and tuning from Lotus, thank you very much.
Read MoreWould you like a new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited? With a 6.4-liter 500 HP V8? Do you somehow need protection from assault rifles, a thermal vision imaging system and a nice copper paint job on bodywork that looks like the crumpled up ball the artist should have made out his rendering of the Rezvani Tank?
Read MoreU.S. regulators have approved a “fix” for 38,000 Volkswagen Auto Group 3.0-liter diesel SUVs, which should clean up some of the hundreds of thousands of deceptive emissions-spewing diesels in the U.S. and potentially save the company $1 billion.
Read MoreMake a mental note if you’re visiting Hawaii soon: Starting Wednesday, texting while walking across a street in Honolulu is illegal, thanks to a new law that allows police to fine pedestrians up to $35 for checking their phone, while crossing an intersection in the Hawaiian city and surrounding county, according to the New York Times. That’s right—while walking.
Read MoreOn September 27, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Hoegh Autoliners AS, a Norwegian shipping company, plead guilty in a scheme with four other companies to fix prices on shipping. One of the companies who say they got duped, to the tune of an untold sum of money? Fiat Chrysler, who has now filed a complaint over the scheme to the U.S. Maritime Commission, seeking “reparations” from the companies, according to Reuters.
Read MoreThe sad fact of the matter is that naturally aspirated V8s are dying out. There are only handful to choose from these days. Thankfully, the 2018 Maserati GranTurismo MC is one of them. So when we got our hands on one earlier this month, we did what any responsible adult would: we revved the everliving shit out of it on a busy Manhattan street for a video, which we now present to you. You’re welcome.
Read MoreEarlier this year the Aston Martin DB11 made landfall in the United States. Say what you will about the rear roof quarter lifted from a Nissan Maxima; this car makes a hell of an entrance. And with its 600 horsepower V12, a good getaway, too. This week we’re driving the V8 version. What do you want to know about it?
Read MoreYou ever see a picture of something and you make an involuntary, incoherent noise because the subject is just that awesome? That just happened to me when I saw this picture of an Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake.
Read MoreIt seems that the people of Montreal are a proud people, and they don’t like to be told when to dance. At least, that’s one possible reason why 39-year-old Taoufik Moalla was pulled over and given a $149 ticket for “screaming in public.” Moalla was signing along to C&C Music Factory’s 1990 hit, Gonna Make You Sweat, which, if you’ll recall, includes a repeated, belted-out command for everybody to dance, now.
Read MoreThe only driving game I’ve really ever played is Forza. I’ve never actually played a Need For Speed game. Until tomorrow, that is, because Electronic Arts invited me to come preview the series’ newest installment, Need For Speed Payback, ahead of its Nov. 10 release date.
Read MoreA toy chariot estimated to be 5,000 years old has been discovered as part of an ongoing excavation in one of the oldest settlements of the world, according to reports, and it’s seriously awesome.
Read MorePretty much any act of road rage makes you look like an idiot. That’s just how it is. This particular example, from New South Wales, Australia, might be the most pure and perfect form of the road-raging moron. That’s because the road-rager’s own anger and idiocy causes him to bite himself on the ass, like an idiotic ouroboros in a Honda CR-V. Only instead of a bite, the dumbass hit himself with his own car.
Read MoreMy time with Driver’s Ed and logging those hours with the instructor to get my permit were largely uneventful. Which I guess is sort of the experience that you want. Nobody screamed at me ever because there was nothing to scream at. This wasn’t always the case with you guys.
Read MoreFord said in July that the 2018 Ford Mustang GT would come with an optional Performance Pack that would include things like a bigger radiator, summer tires, and upgraded brakes. Today, the company unveiled the Performance Pack Level 2, an upgrade on the upgrade which they said would “bridge the gap” between the first Performance Pack and the GT350, the most powerful version.
Read MoreSunday is for the cars, and this coming Sunday in New Jersey, the car time happens for a great cause. This is your reminder that we’re throwing the inaugural Jalopnik Auto Show in Newark this weekend, and you should definitely buy tickets because they go to relief for three areas devastated by hurricanes this summer.
Read MoreWell isn’t this a nice Sunday evening surprise. I’m sitting at my computer, catching up on emails and getting ready to cook dinner, when lo and behold Porsche pops in to say “Look at this, it’s the lightest new 911 you can buy right now!” Meet the 2018 Porsche 911 Carrera T.
Read MoreIt doesn’t matter if we’re talking about the oddball V6/AWD or the asphalt-annihilating 840/808-horsepower Demon—every version of the relentlessly retro Dodge Challenger really does it for me. Here’s my favorite picture of the last one I got to road trip in.
Read MoreAfter over four years of begging Jalopnik’s editors, I, Stef Schrader—Jalopnik’s resident Porsche owner—finally get to drive a Porsche that can tow my Porsche. This week, I’m checking out the brand new, fascinatingly made 2019 Porsche Cayenne. What do you want to know about it?
Read MoreHere in America, it’s easy to forget that people once sincerely feared that “import cars”—specifically cheap, well-built, reliable cars from Japan—would put the U.S. auto industry out of business. That’s hard to believe today where companies like Ford and Toyota compete on an equal footing, but in the United Kingdom, the rise of Japanese cars coincided with the slow and painful decline of the British auto industry.
Read MoreRecently, Mopar’s maddest scientists have been making some absolutely bonkers cars like the 840 horsepower Dodge Challenger Demon and the 707 HP Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. What you may not know is that the SUV is technically faster than its more powerful muscle car cousin. How does that feel, Challenger bros?
Read MoreIn the 1950s and ’60s, two-tone paint schemes were a common sight on everything from family station wagons to muscle cars. According to a report by Automotive News, that trend is on its way back to the mainstream.
Read MoreChrysler pretty much invented the concept of the minivan with the 1984 Chrysler Town and Country and the Plymouth Voyager. To show the world what they had wrought, Chrysler hired a Canadian magician/warlock/wizard named Doug Henning to advertise the van.
Read MoreAccording to Entertainment Weekly, everyone’s favorite mustached private investigator, Thomas Magnum, may return for a reboot of Magnum P.I. The Magnum P.I. broadcast in the 1980s was known for three things: the Ferrari 308 Magnum drives, Tom Selleck’s mustache, and Hawaii.
Read MoreHello and welcome to Eagle! It is 1990 and we are Chrysler’s newest brand for people who only want the best and most advanced cars that money can buy, provided they are made by Chrysler. If you could ignore the Jeep sign out front, that’d be great. Eagle makes only the most Sophisticated™ cars for the international consumer and people who fit the Eagle Lifestyle™.
Read MoreStrap on your Nike Air Mags and start blasting Huey Lewis because today, October 21st, is Back to the Future Day. It’s the day when noted rock n’ roll ‘80s teen Marty McFly travels into the future year of 2015 in Back to the Future II. What’s a better way to celebrate than renting a DeLorean DMC-12 and cruising around pretending you’re in a cooler future than the one we got?
Read MoreIt’s 1989. Your glasses cover half your face and you need a car drive off into the sunset. But not just any car—a car built for excitement. What do you use? A Pontiac Grand Am, that’s what.
Read MoreLife is full of silly things, a lot of which would be cool if they weren’t so silly. Take this model of a Bugatti Chiron engine: It’d be a great conversation piece on your LED-backlit display wall of rare, expensive automotive memorabilia dusted with diamonds for extra shine, but maybe not for $10,000.
Read MoreHere’s some fun news: for those of you complaining that too many cars are boring shades of gray, beige, black and white, you could be onto something. It appears that cars with flashy, brazen colors depreciate more slowly than cars with drab ones, a new study finds.
Read MoreI’ve slept in my old Beetle before. It wasn’t great, but it worked, in the sense that I ended up unconscious for at least a little while. You’d think that, rationally, the idea of paying someone to let me sleep in another old Beetle wouldn’t be remotely appealing, right? That’d be crazy. Except now that I know about this hotel made from an old Beetle in the Jordanian desert, I kinda want to spend a night there. What’s wrong with me?
Read MoreNever trust anyone, not even the seemingly sweet husband-wife dealership sales team.
Read MoreLast July, Der Spiegel published something of a bombshell report, alleging that every major German automaker, including BMW, Audi, VW, Porsche, and Daimler, had been running a secret cartel since the 1990s. Today, it was reported that European Union authorities raided BMW headquarters as part of their investigation into the alleged cartel, according to Reuters.
Read MoreWells Fargo has said it set aside $80 million to reimburse more than 570,000 customers who were forced by the bank to purchase auto insurance they didn’t need. But a confidential report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency suggests Wells has likely underestimated how much it would cost to reimburse consumers harmed by the scam, according to the New York Times.
Read MoreA couple days ago, a giant robot battle that had been in the making for two years happened, and, like so many things in this miserable, mosquito-infested craphole we call “reality,” it was kind of a letdown. A lot of the blame is being cast at the organizers, but, really, this is also partially on us, the people who’ve been enjoying fictional robot battles for decades: there’s no way the reality could meet our expectations.
Read MoreFormula One week in Austin is beyond nuts, and the parties are crazy accordingly. One such gathering for assorted race weekend staff and friends had a recreation of Billy Meyer’s 1972 Motivation Mach-1 funny car sitting in the driveway so of course, they fired it up. I mean, it’s only 10 p.m. at night.
Read MoreIt was an early summer afternoon in 2000. I was already on a high after asking Christina to the junior prom, but little did I know the day would only get even better. My dad raised up his keys to his 1992 Cadillac Allanté; the metal hit a glint of the sun, blinding me slightly. And then the words I had always wanted to hear came out of his mouth: “Son, you can take the Caddy to the prom.” It was truly the greatest day of my life.
Read MoreYesterday, a YouTuber who goes by the name FlyinGato sent us a video that documents what appeared to be a pretty gnarly grind between first and second gear on his new 2017 Honda Civic Type R. FlynGato also showed what looked like gear grinding in the cars of two other YouTubers. Suffice to say, it didn’t sound good.
Read MoreYesterday the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety showed the first results of its new passenger-side small-overlap crash test, which it conducted on 13 mid-size sedans. Here’s a look at the results of the new test that IIHS hopes will ensure equal protection for drivers and passengers alike.
Read MoreElon Musk has a lot going on, meaning he’ll probably never stay in one place long enough for you to get a whiff of him. If that daunting realization frightens you, a couple of Elon Musk fans who also aren’t exactly sure what the guy smells like took an educated guess and made it into an air freshener.
Read MoreI know it’s not even November yet, but Christmas is still right around the corner, and it is my absolute favorite holiday. An extra excuse to shop, while annoying agencies like the IRS are closed because of this federally recognized holiday. As it does every year, home appliance and washcloth factory outlet Neiman Marcus is helping me celebrate.
Read MoreA 22-year-old Sheriff’s cadet named Christopher Combs has a father who’s a Palm Beach, Florida, Sheriff’s lieutenant. What he doesn’t seem to have is any sense whatsoever, since he used his dad’s unmarked Sheriff’s car to pull over his ex and screw with her and her new boyfriend.
Read MoreLos Angeles is America’s car capital for a reason. Look around at almost any stoplight and you’re liable to see all kinds of amazing iron. If you’re really lucky, somebody’s shop doors will be open and you’ll catch a scene like this.
Read MoreThe California Public Utilities Commission has suspended Chariot, Ford’s commuter van service, from operating in the state, after the company failed three successive vehicle inspections, the commission said on Thursday.
Read MoreConsumer Reports’ 2017 Car Reliability Survey results are in, and quite a lot has changed since last year. Here’s a look at the new ratings.
Read MoreA European agency has advised that airplane manufacturers on the continent stop using products produced by Kobe Steel until those products can be certified as safe, according to Reuters. Kobe Steel has been entangled in a growing scandal over the quality of its metals after it acknowledged that it was shipping some products that weren’t as strong or durable as Kobe had said they were.
Read MoreI’ve always rather liked the Audi A7 Sportback, but was never a fan of the shape of the tail lights. They reminded me of goofy, droopy eyes. The all-new A7 Sportback fixes that—the resulting rear end doesn’t look bad!
Read MoreFormula One is back in Austin, Texas, and so are a lot of you. It’s truly the most wonderful time of the year here: the oppressive heat is gone and F1 fans from around the world return like the swallows of Car-pistrano. So, we’re meeting up yet again to enjoy drinks and snacks this Friday, and you should come!
Read MoreConsumer Reports released reliability scores on Thursday for a number of new cars, many of which they haven’t seen yet, like the new Kia Stinger. The organization gave the Stinger an “average” score, basing this in part on drivers’ experiences with current Kia models. CR gave the same score to the Tesla Model 3, which they have also not driven, prompting a lengthy, angry statement from the automaker, who has contended for some time now that CR has singled them out for bad coverage. CR has emphat
Read MoreA mechanical defect in 2013-2014 Subaru WRX and WRX STI vehicles can lead to contaminated oil carrying metal debris throughout the engines, according to a lawsuit filed last week.
Read MoreThe Mercedes-AMG G65 is an amazing 5,600 pound anachronism of an SUV, with a 6.0-liter V12 putting out what Mercedes says is 630 horsepower. And while the G-Class, as introduced in 1979, will live on, Mercedes-AMG says the G65 will not. On Thursday, the company announced it would be releasing 65 “Final Edition” G65s to mark the occasion.
Read MoreIt’s a sad day for those of us who liked knowing that there was a company building big, V8-powered beasts, just like here in America, down at the bottom of the Earth. The company was GM’s Australian subsidiary Holden, and today they finished their very last car. Let’s see how much changed from the first Holden to the last.
Read MoreThe very first Ford Mustang, the 1964 model, cost $2,320 and produced 210 horsepower, while coming in at 2,556 pounds. The 2018 Mustang GT produces 460 hp, weighs 3,705 pounds and costs $35,095. There have been a lot of Mustangs in between.
Read MoreIt used to be that if tire grievances happened to you on the road, you simply pulled over, got out the jack and spare tire and changed the the thing yourself. Then you’d be back on the road once more. Easy. But this isn’t the case anymore for an alarming number of people in new cars, a new AAA study finds.
Read MoreA second Austin Police Department officer has sued Ford for negligence, alleging the company failed to fix a known issue with its Explorer Police Interceptor SUV, which leaked carbon monoxide that poisoned the officer and resulted in nerve damage.
Read MoreVolunteer firefighters in the Tyrol region of Austria recently encountered a Tesla Model S ablaze. Watch what it takes to successfully extinguish the fiery electric vehicle, even when apparently following Tesla’s guidelines.
Read MoreIt’s undeniable that the long-rumored Apple car was over-hyped, seemingly from the get-go. What reportedly started out as a clean-sheet approach to the car of the future is now probably just Apple’s attempt at getting in on the tech side of the self-driving wave, and now its car may have been spotted.
Read MoreThis is your annual reminder that winter is coming to turn your classic automobile into a crumbling mound of Fe2O3. This GMC Sonoma that I spotted (in Michigan, of course) lost half its bed to old-man winter; don’t let this happen to your beloved machine. Be responsible, and buy a beater.
Read MoreYesterday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that self-driving cars could start being tested in the Manhattan next year. Today, NYC officials said that it would’ve been nice for Cuomo to have included the city in this decision.
Read MoreYou might have noticed that the car community is rediscovering ‘90s design. As our love for all things wedged returns, first-generation Acura NSXs are enjoying a revived popularity (and surge in sale prices). One 1991 Acura NSX in particular has probably been on your screen already. And this week, it ships out to be auctioned off for the American Red Cross.
Read MoreThe last cars of General Motors’ now-defunct “sporty” brand have aged into a delightfully weird state of beaterdom, all too often proudly sporting rust holes, AutoZone mods and Insane Clown Posse hatchet man decals. That’s what makes a Pontiac Sunfire leap so graceful your local ballet troupe just blushed so nice.
Read MoreWhat you see above is the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, purported to be the largest stadium in the world by capacity, which is estimated to be 114,000. It’s one of the crown jewels of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, captured here by a photographer who was given rare permission to fly over and take extended video of the city.
Read MoreMaybe I’m ignorant for having this mindset, but I always thought you could go to a dyno to figure out how much power your car makes and that was the number you could proudly tape to your fridge. Jason Fenske of Engineering Explained has a different take.
Read MoreThor: Ragnarok, the third installment in Marvel’s Thor franchise, is hitting theaters early next month, so director Taika Waititi sat down with triple j for a bit of promotion. In the interview, he admits for the first time that he named the movie’s space ships after cars made by Australia’s legendary Holden brand.
Read MoreWe at Jalopnik have determined that actually, the bus is good. It’s fine. It’s great! New York City buses might even be better than the subway. But after seeing this Toyota fuel cell bus concept, I felt a stab of jealousy. Why does everyone else get the cool shit?
Read MoreNearly four decades ago, 18-year-old William Leland Jr., a distant relative of Henry Leland, the founder of Lincoln and Cadillac, bought a highly well-equipped 1979 Pontiac Trans Am for $10,095. The Trans Am wasn’t to be driven or even washed, Leland ordered. When Leland died at the age of 42, his father took over ownership, and preserved the car according to his son’s wishes as a shrine.
Read MoreThe 45th Tokyo Motor Show is about a week away, and Toyota is bringing this: the Fine-Comfort hydrogen fuel-cell concept. The company calls it “a new form of the premium saloon,” which I guess means “weird futuristic minivan” in Toyota-speak.
Read MoreWe’ve seen a few new cars dabble in semi-autonomous driving technology, but by and large they’ve been expensive luxury cars like the Tesla Model S and X, Volvo S90 and XC90, Cadillac CT6 and various Mercedes-Benzes. Nissan’s taking a different tack by putting its new ProPilot Assist system on a pretty affordable crossover, the 2018 Nissan Rogue. That’s a big deal.
Read MoreThe Porsche 718, in both Cayman and convertible Boxster variants, is a genuinely good and fast car, but some say they just don’t have the classic character of the old 6-cylinder models. Porsche is hoping to change that perspective with the new 718 GTS.
Read MoreRemember where you are today, because today is historic. It’s one of those days when imagination made the leap to reality. Like when humankind learned to fly at Kitty Hawk, or when Yuri Gagarin broke free of the bonds of Earth, or when the madpeople at Chewels accomplished the impossible and gave us a gum with a liquid center. Today is the day that humans, encased in gigantic robot suits, fight.
Read MoreI maintain the philosophy that any car is better when it’s made to go off-roading, whether that’s rallying or something more... extreme. This 4x4-converted 1972 Dodge Challenger for sale on Craigslist is definitely the latter, and it clearly validates my argument.
Read MoreCopycat cars produced in China have been a problem for years now, with Chinese manufacturers scrambling to produce cheaper lookalike versions of cars that buyers will pay a lot of money for. Now, Land Rover’s design chief says the company might hold back showing its concept cars early to at least delay a (likely) inevitable replica.
Read MoreThree black former Tesla employees claim they suffered racial discrimination and racially-motivated abuse by company supervisors and fellow employees, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Read MoreAs America in 2017 struggles with how much to publicly memorialize the ugliest parts of its past, Detroit has found another way to honor painful history and show that teachable moments have the potential to lift up an entire neighborhood.
Read MoreEarlier today we talked about how Harley-Davidson is in trouble because the only people who like and still buy their motorcycles seem to be old white men, which is a diminishing audience, according to actuarial tables at least. One commenter had a different theory.
Read MoreOn the outside, it just looks like a gray 2014 Honda Civic Si with a crooked front license plate and some stickers on the trunk lid. But under the hood sits a heavily-built 500-horsepower beast that makes Matt Farah, the host of The Smoking Tire, laugh uncontrollably. Watch the video of this “super sleeper,” and you’ll understand why.
Read MoreI’m here in Shanghai, marveling at all the bewildering makes of cars (what’s the one with the starfish badge? The horse head? The one that looks like the Starfleet insignia? More on that soon!) and scrutinizing the Polestar 1 in more detail. Here are the biggest questions I have and the best answers I got from the designers, engineers, and executives I spoke with to get more information about the striking-looking hybrid GT.
Read MoreSo. Video game bundles. Usually you get a cool case for the game, maybe Master Chief’s helmet on a stand and some in-game credit. Well, all of that shit pales in comparison to Sony Interactive Entertainment Taiwan Limited’s Gran Turismo Sport Super Bundle.
Read MoreKobe Steel, the Japanese steelmaker at the center of an ongoing metals scandal, is facing scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice, the company said Tuesday, after admitting last week that it falsely labeled products supplied to over 500 companies across the world.
Read MoreAlso probably the only story you’ll see today about a Venturi, but who’s counting?
Read MoreDriver’s Ed: the gateway through which every driver must pass in order to reach the holy land of driving. You hope that Driver’s Ed will pass by uneventfully, because nothing is worse than prolonging the process of getting your driver’s license.
Read MorePolestar has been Volvo’s in-house performance brand since 1996, providing higher-performance versions of Volvo cars, much like Mercedes-Benz’s AMG or BMW’s M. You know how that works. Now, though, Volvo is spinning Polestar off into its own unique brand, with Polestar-badged cars that, while they may share some technology with Volvo, will not be just re-worked Volvo S90s or whatever. Meet the first of that: Polestar 1.
Read MoreFollowing concerns about the manual on the Volkswagen Jetta GLI getting dropped for the 2018 model year, company executives have reached out to reassure us all that the shifty-stick will be returning on the updated Jetta for the 2019 model year. Every day we inch closer to a nuclear war that will wipe out the vast majority of life on this planet.
Read MoreBack in 2008, Honda wanted to be cute and destroy a stretch of California road with grooves spaced out to play “The William Tell Overture” in tire noise as you drove across it. Well they got the grooves wrong and it sounded terrible. Not just the first time—the road workers got it wrong again when they had to relocate it.
Read MoreThe Japanese corporate world is getting rocked by the country’s third-largest steelmaker, Kobe Steel, which admitted last week to falsely labeling products supplied to over 500 companies across the world, including the largest automakers. While the extent of the damage is currently unclear—no reports of safety issues or injuries from affected products have been reported yet—it’s shaping up to be a scandal of monumental proportion.
Read MoreOne of the biggest thing that strikes you about the Detroit Industry Murals are the sheer number of bodies—pushing, pulling, turning, bodies everywhere. A modern version of the Detroit Industry Murals would include no bodies, of course, just a lot of robots. But wait! All may not be lost.
Read MoreYou may remember a time when Xzibit would put your Transformer into your Transformer. But imagine someone actually putting a Transformer into a 2014 Bugatti Veyron—or at least painting it like one—and asking almost $2 million for it.
Read MoreSome people, like our very own Kristen Lee, are troubled with a “quirk” that causes them to mistake cars for...not cars. Random household objects. Things without wheels. Or interiors. Or windows. When these “automobile misidentifiers” make these errors, they must be corrected.
Read MoreThere are two things the internet likes a lot (actually, there are far more than two things, but let’s stick to the program here): Chris Harris driving cars and a car called the 2017 Ford GT. So, here is a video Chris Harris driving the Ford GT.
Read MoreCurious cases of brand new or super low-mileage cars for sale pop up every so often. Usually they concern a Lexus LFA or a Nissan 240SX. This one involves a 1997, never-owned, never-registered McLaren F1. With 148 miles on the clock.
Read MoreLast week, in Jefferson County, Texas, a Dodge Challenger Hellcat was allegedly stolen and then involved in a high-speed police chase. The whole thing played out in a very Vanishing Point kind of way.
Read MoreI think most of us can agree it’s been a bad year. But for a lot of us it’s been even worse thanks to the series of hurricanes that hammered the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. The news has moved on to other things, but people in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico will be recovering from these storms for years. We at Jalopnik have long wanted to throw a car show for you readers, but this time we felt we needed to do it for a good cause.
Read MoreEighteen engineering graduate students from Clemson University debuted a new Mini concept car, which they developed with help from the ArtCenter College of Design in California, at BMW’s U.S. manufacturing grounds in Greer, South Carolina on Saturday. Called the Deep Orange 7 Mini concept, here are all the weird design features this young team came up with.
Read MoreIt’s easy to look back on cars of years past and say, “Wow, things were just better back then,” simply because memory is grounded in perception, which is imperfect. Of course things seem better in the past: we selectively remember the good parts. But what about now?
Read MoreI have very high hopes for the newly standalone Polestar brand. Volvo has been hitting home run after home run as of late and I can only imagine Polestar will be like that, but better. Even the name of the upcoming Polestar car is cool: the Polestar 1. Damn!
Read MoreNo matter how you feel about the new Honda Civic Type R, you have to admit its styling is a bit... complicated. There are lines going every which way, making the car busy to look at and difficult to wrap. But that doesn’t stop people from wanting wraps, and one California shop documented the entire process.
Read MoreLast week, as wildfires raged in Santa Rosa, California, fire trucks from across the state were called to assist. This video captured by a truck from Berkeley—an hour away from Santa Rosa—is as harrowing as any since the fire began consuming 220,000 acres and claiming at least 40 lives.
Read MoreTwo of them! I have two wallpapers for you this weekend! Who loves you the best, baby?
Read MoreNot only is engine braking a technique that will make you a bit safer driving down a mountain pass, the science behind it can actually save you more fuel over just coasting in neutral.
Read MoreHave you ever wanted to own your own Bentley Mulsanne and/or a piece of South Carolina Interstate 26? This auction is for you.
Read MoreLeaks happen all the time before big new car debuts, but today we’ve got the mother lode for you to peruse. We won’t see the all-new 2018 Jeep Wrangler for some time yet, but here’s the entire leaked owner’s manual and user guide from the JL Wrangler Forum way before the car debuts. And it tells us EVERYTHING.
Read MoreEver since Warren Robinett hid his name in the Atari 2600 game Adventure, there’s been a rich and wonderful tradition of developers hiding little fun secret things in computer software. This one, found on Russian-made GAZelle Next vans and trucks, is especially good: you can play Tetris on the little dot-matrix screen in the instrument cluster. It’s perfect.
Read MoreThe time has come to mourn the death of yet another sporty car nameplate. This one doesn’t affect the North American market, and while inevitable, it’s kind of a bummer nonetheless. The Volkswagen Scirocco is no more.
Read MoreIt’s the weekend and you deserve to relax and cruise around in the finest Dodge minivan 1989 had to offer.
Read MoreDoug’s Cadillac in Washington state somehow managed to get their hands on a 2007 Cadillac CTS-V with only 108 miles on the odometer. Although I suspect time travel, I’ll let it slide for now. I must learn your secrets, Doug.
Read MoreWell, I accidentally went back in time again. I was trying to fish some lint out of the wall outlet with a butter knife and the next thing I knew, I woke up and George H.W. Bush was president. Don’t worry, I’m somewhat sure I’m back in the present now and once my sense of smell comes back, I think I’ll be fine.
Read MoreWelcome to the Jalopnik Weekend Motorsports Roundup, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of racing, where you can see it, and where you can talk about it all in one convenient place. Where else would you want to spend your weekend?
Read MoreIt may not look like much, but the Datsun 510 was a legend. Ben Hsu, author of Classic Japanese Performance Cars, says it “put not just Nissan, but Japanese cars in general, on the map.” So now we should all watch TheSmokingTire hoon the 510 so we can reminisce upon a time when Nissan was actually cool.
Read MoreFord, which has been dealing with hundreds of complaints for weeks over carbon monoxide levels in 2011-2017 Ford Explorers (even offering to buy one back), said Friday that they are offering to fix 1.4 million Explorers to prevent exhaust leaks. But don’t call it a recall! It’s not a recall, Ford says. Also, what carbon monoxide.
Read MoreThis isn’t a funny one, this is a community one!
Read MoreQuestions over what the U.S. wants to do with the North American Free Trade Agreement have swirled for months, and a new report from Reuters—if true—indicates President Donald Trump’s administration indeed wants significant changes. But the proposed tweaks, which appears to have a slim chance of being approved by Canada and Mexico, could blow up in Trump’s face, all the while driving up costs of cars in the nation.
Read MoreWhat do you do when a bottle of fancy olive oil shatters on your car seat? Well, you ask a Clean Person.
Read MoreOne run at Byron Dragway’s World Power Wheel Standing Championship—which delightfully is a real thing that exists—went very wrong for driver Jason Schubert. Schubert’s 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass veered off-course and into the wall, tumbling several times after the hit.
Read MoreIt’s Friday the 13th, in October, which means things are getting spooky over here amongst the Jalopnik staff. (Actually, things aren’t much different than usual, just a little cold with autumn air rolling in.) But we got to talking about our scariest moments in a car, and figured we’d all have a big share session.
Read MoreI know we sometimes get accused of giving Tesla more than their share of guff here (to be fair, we also get accused of fellating them, so, you know, can’t win) but I noticed something about the new Model 3 that I really feel like deserves mention. It has to do with the windshield wipers, but sort of encapsulates most of my issues with Tesla in general. UPDATE: I clearly got this wrong. See the full update below for details.
Read MoreIt might be the coolest, or most annoying, PT Cruiser still on the road, depending on how you look at it. This year, police in the municipality of Central Saanich have received 17 noise complaints from residents because of the sound emanating from Canadian resident Dustin Hamilton’s PT Cruiser, reports the Vancouver Sun. So, officials literally banned Hamilton from driving his car, the Sun reports—with some limited exceptions, like driving his girlfriend to work.
Read MoreSometimes, the cosmos line up in just such a way that makes you think, Hail Satan.
Read MoreI may have a weird fetish for small, simple cars, but I rarely remember the Yaris iA, which is basically a Mazda2 sedan with some Toyota badging. We didn’t get the new 2 in the United States, but we got Toyota’s version. This one has a manual, which is excellent. But what do you want to know about it?
Read MoreAs you might have noticed if you live in New York City, or converse with anyone who lives there and can’t stop talking about it, the subway is not fun. It’s hot, cramped and often delayed, and the folks saying that each day have ample stats behind their complaints: NYC subway delays are up 237 percent since 2012.
Read MoreIt’s always kind of a crapshoot when you turn a coupe into a convertible. Sometimes you get something stunning, and sometimes you get the Nissan 350Z Roadster. But the new Aston Martin DB11's design seems hard to screw up no matter what you did to it, and luckily its roadster version doesn’t disappoint. Meet the DB11 Volante.
Read MoreThere’s nothing better suited to operate as both a delivery vehicle and an eye-catching rolling billboard than a cargo version of the new second-coming of the Volkswagen Microbus, and now we don’t have to worry about it anymore.
Read MoreOh man, is automotive TV shaping up to be quite excellent this season. On one hand, you have Jalopnik’s very own Car vs. America to look forward to (Oct. 18 on Fusion!). And on the other, you have /DRIVE, which is returning to NBC Sports on Oct. 19 for its fourth season.
Read MoreThere’s very little information about what exactly happened in this dashcam video, but it appears to be from Jamaica, and appears to show a car wash worker taking a customer’s car for a joyride. It also appears that the worker made a colossal mess out of everything.
Read MoreRemember that cool, retro-looking boutique car that had a screaming BMW V10 under the hood? It was called the GT MF5 and made by Wiesmann, a German automaker that specialized in hand-built custom cars. Which is a highly lucrative business endeavor!
Read MoreThe E30 generation of BMW 3 Series is a great car. Overrated? Yeah, probably. But they’re fun and iconic enough that it’s now incredibly hard to find one that isn’t rusted, modded, stanced, engine-swapped, raced, beaten to death or some combination of those things. We did find one, and if you want it, it’ll cost you a pretty penny.
Read MoreIs there anything nicer than a sweet older gentleman who still has his Porsche 914-6 after 45 years? Well, if that man is Pikes Peak legend, filmmaker and Porsche nut Jeff Zwart, you can bet there’s some burnouts and donuts involved—and we’re not talking about a run out to Krispy Kreme, either.
Read MoreNow, not to make any guesses or jump to conclusions here, but someone once said those “McLaren” things aren’t cheap. And price tags always tend to rise when you put your own spin on something, so customizing one sounds like quite the expensive endeavor. Customizing two? Well, then.
Read MoreYou couldn’t exactly call this 2011 Ford Focus RS “new,” because it’s from about seven years ago. But you could make an argument for it, considering that the thing has barely been touched since it rolled off the line—plastic on the seats, 18 miles on the odometer and a real talent for just sitting there.
Read MoreMost Americans only know Daihatsu from the sad little Charade that was sold here back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and that’s a huge shame, because I’m starting to believe that Daihatsu is the only truly and consistently wonderful modern automaker. That’s probably hyperbole, but look at their two new concepts for the Tokyo Auto Show and tell me you don’t kind of agree.
Read MoreThe Honda Civic Type R is one serious performance hatch, but with an MSRP of over $36,000 and limited supply driving prices even higher, the car isn’t as attainable as many of us would like. According to some National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents, a cheaper version may be on the horizon.
Read MoreAs the California wildfire continues to spread, rescue workers and emergency services have to push themselves through unbelievably dangerous conditions, as evidenced by a video released by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office sourced from a cruiser racing through the raging fire.
Read MoreElectric motors are coming whether we want them or not. So let’s not pout, but instead celebrate the ways in which electric vehicles actually outperform their conventional internal combustion engine-driven counterparts.
Read MoreThe last Holden car is expected to roll out of General Motors’ assembly plant in Elizabeth, South Australia, on Oct. 20, during a ceremony for employees. But an image that surfaced ahead of that appears to show the car in the process of being built. The car will be the last commercial car ever built in Australia.
Read MoreTwenty-one people are dead and around 142,000 acres of land have been burned in California wine country since the start of wildfires there that began on Sunday and have continued burning for days. In their wake is a sight that’s becoming increasingly familiar: the burned-out carcasses of homes, land, and cars, some of which were missing their rims after they melted in the fire.
Read MoreIf you’re going to buy Chrysler’s new murdered out “S” trim of the Pacifica because you think it will make you or your family cooler, you are mistaken.
Read MoreSlow your roll on that 368 horsepower rating for the new 2018 Jeep Wrangler’s 2.0-liter turbocharged inline four.
Read MoreI am definitely not taking any crazy pills (today, at least): this is totally the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette, people. What the hell else could it be?
Read MoreIt’s going to be a while before you, a dutiful, early-and-often voting, patriotic member of the American public, get your hands on a Tesla Model 3. Even if you pre-ordered one, the brand new entry-level electric sedan is stuck in “production hell” as Tesla tries to ramp up to meet the aggressive sales targets set by CEO Elon Musk. If you’re going to buy one now there’s a good chance it’s because someone got cute—or greedy.
Read MoreA former security guard at JFK Airport filed a lawsuit against former employer Allied Security Services and her supervisors at the job, alleging that male bosses forced female colleagues to have sex that was broadcast via security cameras. One of her former coworkers, who has also left the job, echoed her claims.
Read MoreNo one wants to find their car in worse condition than when they left it, but accidents do happen. And even if the damage was minor, there are a few reasons why you may want to get a repair quote before you file a claim.
Read MoreThe 2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar has finally made its way to America, and this week we get to spray some sand on its perfectly formed face for the sake of a shakedown. What do you want to know?
Read MoreMotocrosser, stunt rider, rally nut, Nitro Circus head honcho and all-around eXtReMe guy Travis Pastrana just landed a truly insane stunt: a 75-foot backflip jump between two un-moored barges in the River Thames. Any slight gust of wind could have moved the barges and ruined the landing, making this a tad insane to attempt.
Read MoreWith Chrysler’s announcement today that 2018 Pacifica will be offered with a sporty appearance package, I can only logically assume that much of the push back against the quite-good minivan was largely about how un-sporty it is. Bitch, it’s a minivan! Minivans like the antithesis of sporty. But what the hell do I know.
Read MoreSmoking weed and then driving? That’s definitely a thing that happens. But fessing up to it? I’m honestly surprised by the results here: A newsurvey of 600 drivers found nearly 40 percent were comfortable getting behind the wheel within two hours of smoking pot.
Read MoreUnlimited Porsches—the dream, right? Well, it’s somebody’s dream, at least. If that somebody is you, great! You drive any car Porsche will give you, not any car you want, for either $2,000 or $3,000 a month. A lot of money for a specified amount of freedom, yeah!
Read MoreI’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but one of the biggest competitions in the automobile world is happening right now, under our very noses: the race to see what vehicle will be delivering our mail. The Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV) that has been delivering America’s mail since the 1980s is nearing the end of its Long Life, and there’s potentially 180,000 U.S. Postal Service trucks needed to take the LLV’s place.
Read MoreIt’s easy to sometimes get bored with vintage car values. In the last few years it feels like the rare Ferraris air-cooled 911s and BMW E30 M3s and their like have dominated the imaginations and wallets of collectors everywhere; it feels rare to run into something truly original with an eye-raising price. How about an 8,000 mile survivor BMW M1 for $658,000?
Read MoreOne of the biggest problems with self-driving cars, according to Bloomberg, is that they drive too perfectly. They do insane things like make full stops at stop signs and drive the speed limit. Crazy things. I’m here to make a prediction: This will make human drivers very mad. And, soon, because we deserve it, the air will be filled with the sound of drivers honking at computers. It’s going to be great!
Read MoreIf you’re going to go big you may as well make as much of a show out of it as you can—a lesson one dumb 21-year-old from Macomb Township near Detroit, Michigan failed to grasp after stealing an ambulance from a hospital.
Read MoreNissan is no stranger to cool Gran Turismo tie-ins with its GT Academy program, but this one is as large as real life itself. They hooked up a GT-R to a PlayStation DualShock 4 controller and let it loose for remotely-controlled flying laps around Silverstone’s National Circuit.
Read MoreToo often I hear people bemoan their dealership experiences, telling harrowing tales of predatory salespeople, car key theft and hidden fees that ring up their payments to barely acceptable levels. In an attempt to ease these frustrations, Hyundai is rolling out a new car-buying program in the hopes to make the experience less shitty.
Read MoreWhen I was growing up, my mom would regularly drive several miles out of her way to buy gas for a few pennies cheaper per gallon as opposed to going to, say, the station around the block. It was crazy! But, before apps and websites like GasBuddy, my mom was far from alone. Obsessing over gas like this in the Midwest in the 1990s (when everything was still good) was how way some people passed the time.
Read MoreMore car and heist movies are never a bad thing—usually they involve exciting chase scenes. And now it looks like Netflix will add its own feature to the mix.
Read MoreA reader named Justin sent us the link to a small, not particularly well-viewed YouTube channel called NewbieMechanic, which is essentially just a bunch of videos of a British guy wrenching on his Toyota MR2. He’s not really a great mechanic, the videos aren’t particularly well-done, but they’re so honest and simple that they’re almost hypnotic to watch.
Read MoreA welding instructor in Surry County, North Carolina, discovered a dog trapped in the engine bay of a car , so she and one of her students sprung into action, breaking out wrenches on a mission to save the pooch.
Read MoreSorry everybody, but all of those intriguing patents and leaks seemingly showcasing a new small, probably mid-engined “baby” Honda NSX seem to just be another one of those Gran Turismo video game concept cars.
Read MoreLook, “great things take time” and all. That’s what all of the people who take a long time to do things say, at least. So, in the time it would take some people to pay off a mortgage, Lexus made some paint. The company calls the paint “much more than simply a new choice on a colour chart.” Rock on, then, Lexus.
Read MoreI was tipped off about a very exciting and rare car available on Craigslist, and the unnamed tipper wasn’t wrong—this thing is an absolute unicorn. It’s also exactly the kind of car that, if you find it interesting, will make you realize just how deep down the automotive rabbit hole you’ve fallen.
Read MoreRecently, we told the tale of a man who achieved a lifelong dream of buying a Maserati, only to have it break again... again, and again, forever, causing him to wonder whether he’d be able to feed his children or keep the lights on. But a kind soul on the internet came to the rescue with a simple fix.
Read MorePorsche has developed an electric Cayman. The bad news is that they don’t plan on selling it. The good news is that it previews the impressive technology that will be introduced with the upcoming electric Porsche Mission E sports sedan.
Read MoreI can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to a car show or meet and I encounter at least a dozen people gazing at the gleaming, state-of-the-art machines and shaking their heads. They reminisce fondly on days of fewer regulations, leaded gas or massive engine displacement. “They just don’t make them like they used to,” is a common sentiment.
Read MoreOh, you thought it was lovely to watch one 2017 Mazda Miata RF put its wacky robotic roof down? Ha! You must not know what true happiness is. Try nine at once. (Or eight? Or some other number? They all start to blend together.)
Read MoreSeason 14 of Wheeler Dealers—the British television series centered around the art of buying, restoring, and flipping cars—debuted last week without its most important star: the affable nerdy mechanic, Edd China. And while that might make you think the show is now ruined, the reality is: it isn’t. No, Wheeler Dealers remains a glorious bit of gearhead television.
Read MoreSo far, the big automotive news about the latest Replicantsplotation movie, Blade Runner 2049, is that it seems that French cars like Peugeot will make their return to America with some very impressive flying cars. I have some potentially bigger news, though: it appears that in 2049, there’s at least still some old air-cooled Beetles trundling around Los Angeles.
Read MoreNeed to feel a little bit better about everything, forever? I figured you might. Luckily, that’s possible by watching these two Shiba Inus (ignore that lazy one sleeping in the foreground) lean like pro motorcycle riders as they’re driven around in what I think is a little Kei van.
Read MoreIn August, Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Ferrari and a sentient being, said that a Ferrari SUV would “probably” happen. Today, Marchionne confirmed at the New York Stock Exchange that the SUV is, indeed, happening. Get ready!
Read MoreYou guys! You guys! The gullwinged, bite-sized kei car of your dreams is for sale! And it is BLUE.
Read MoreTraffic on the coasts is very bad, but you probably already knew that! Here, though, are the spots where it’s very specifically bad, like I-95 from Exit 133A to Fairfax County Parkway in Virginia, which, a new study says is the worst traffic hotspot in America.
Read MoreThe Tesla Model S is already an insanely quick machine with all of the dumb fitments and comforts people want in an “expensive” and “luxurious” car. But true enthusiasts know the only real experience is completely stripping out a car of all of its unnecessary guts to see just how quick it can really go. Somebody has finally done that with the Model S.
Read MoreIf you break it down, a lot of what living is about involves evaluating situations and then making the best decision you can. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Leverne Doran of Nottingham, Maryland, failed pretty dramatically by this definition of living, since he crawled onto the hood of a middle school bus and screamed about an alleged thrown bottle.
Read MoreTo the people who dutifully fill up their tanks as soon as the needle hits a quarter-tank, I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to the adventurers who live dangerously close to the edge, who exist merely to play the great game of chance.
Read MoreEveryone knows that to beat a competitor, you either have to work really hard or cough up the money to take a shortcut. The second option is easier.
Read MoreA storm in Rio Negrinho, in the North of Santa Catarina, Brazil, brought down a good number of trees. One of those trees came right down on a Volkswagen Kombi, smacking it right in the middle, the result looking like what would happen if you dropped a small barbell onto a loaf of bread. The difference, though, is that a loaf of bread won’t keep driving like this determined, broken bus does.
Read MoreWe’ve all been there: living in the 1980s and after a truck that’s sporty, cheap, and filled with features. Why not buy a Mazda B2000 LX?
Read MoreIn Canada it’s currently illegal to paddle a canoe and be drunk at the same time. Doing so can leave you subject to the country’s strict drunk-driving laws, which can mean fines, driving license suspensions, and vehicle impoundment. But wait! According to the National Post, paddling a canoe while smashed might soon not be a crime at all.
Read MoreFor just $750 a day, you can either go to jail or or die in a twin-turbo MKIV Toyota Supra with the power cranked all the way to eleven—hundred. Turo user Pernell decided to let anyone with internet and money rent this badass beast.
Read MoreChurch vans come in all shapes and sizes, and this week’s van isn’t a van at all. It’s a truck.
Read MoreMore so than its central mystery or its musings on the nature of memories and humanity, I love Blade Runner for its world-building—even if that world is decidedly not a very nice place. The sci-fi classic is back with Blade Runner 2049 and I’m not spoiling anything by telling you that world is even worse now. More pollution, more rampant poverty, more legalized slavery. But in this vision of the future, cars are still around, and one very unlikely brand is the film’s headliner.
Read MoreA couple years ago, Dodge unearthed the Challenger and Charger Hellcat. They made 707 horsepower from a supercharged 6.2-liter V8. Those cars are... fine, I guess, but if you ask me the logic of “slap a blower on it” is far more insane on their big cousin, the Dodge Viper.
Read MoreSee that? I had to make up a word there to figure out how I feel about this ‘70s/80s-era body kit for Datsun B210s called the Datsun 210ZX. The word is a portmanteau of ‘awful’ and ‘wonderful,’ because that’s exactly what this kit was: not wonderfully awful or awfully wonderful, but somehow both at once.
Read MoreThe first-generation Toyota Prius was essentially an Echo with a few 9 volt batteries thrown in the trunk. It wasn’t until the second generation that Toyota really crafted the Prius whose legacy continues today. With its Hybrid Synergy Drive, weird egg shape and extremely high MPG, it really was a revolutionary car when it debuted in 2004. The Prius became a status item among environmentalists (or celebrities posing as environmentalists) and people who wanted to “Go Green.” It’s also met with a
Read MoreSearching for wildly depreciated used luxury cars on the internet is a fun way to spend the hours between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. At that time, no one can hear you mumbling about Mercedes G-Wagens under your breath and questioning out loud to no one in particular if the entire electronics system is available for cheap on eBay.
Read MoreWelcome to the Jalopnik Weekend Motorsports Roundup, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of racing, where you can see it, and where you can talk about it all in one convenient place. Where else would you want to spend your weekend?
Read MoreA gas station clerk in Bulgaria tried to stop a customer from smoking a cigarette while refueling his car. After a few brief words, security footage shows the clerk opted for the overkill method of resolving the issue.
Read MoreOh my, oh my. The day has come. An advisory body to the Australian government brought up the thing legislators will probably be debating until there are no longer steering wheels or pedals in road cars: whether people should be allowed to “drive” drunk or on drugs in an autonomous car.
Read MoreI’ve never understood why automakers put their pie-in-the-sky concept cars that real people can’t buy in movies and TV shows (unless they’re set in the future, like I, Robot or something), but Mercedes is doing just that with the upcoming Justice League movie.
Read MoreI tend to give a lot of shit to the Bugatti Veyron (and now, the Chiron) but I do it because, well, it’s worth it. The idea of $2.5 million-dollar cars making over 1000 horsepower and capable of 240+ MPH that mostly do nothing but sit in garages is ridiculous. But a $36,000 car making more than 1000 horsepower and capable of 240 MPH from 1959 is something I can get behind. Especially when it looks like something The Future doodles in its notebook during math class.
Read MoreOn Thursday morning some security guards spotted a leopard wandering into a Maruti Suzuki factory about 20 miles south of New Delhi. What happened next was a shutdown and a hunt for the wayward cat that involved tranquilizer darts, firecrackers, and goats.
Read MoreFerrari turns 70 this year, which is a pretty major milestone. Seventy years of racing and producing some of the most beautiful road cars ever to grace the earth. What is a better way to celebrate this than to throw a big celebration in the City That Hates Cars, then?
Read MoreEver since Gumpert went bankrupt we’ve seen hints and signs of a possible Apollo resurrection, and even an actual car last year—the Apollo Arrow at the Geneva Motor Show—but aside from an announcement last October that more would be coming, we’ve seen pretty much nothing. Until now! Here’s video of a new Apollo given to us by a source with knowledge of the situation, suggesting that something is in the works.
Read MoreThis looks really terrifying, yet I cannot look away.
Read MoreI have to admit, I was surprised by GM’s announcement of their new robotic fuel-cell-powered all-terrain utility-truck platform, SURUS. Most automaker reveals aren’t this confidently utilitarian, and it also seems to be a rebirth of a GM concept I thought was long dead, the Hy-wire fuel-cell concept that featured a self-contained, skateboard-like platform. The surprise is good, because the concept seems very promising.
Read MoreAston Martin DB2. Aston Martin DB4. Aston Martin DB5, 6, 9, S, 10, 11. You get the idea. So, what does “DB” stand for? Dead Bird? Doobie Brothers? Database? DeciBel? Dragon Ball??
Read MoreSomehow, between Richard Hammond busting up his leg in a car crash and Jeremy Clarkson nearly dying from pneumonia, The Grand Tour managed to film a TV show. There’s extra photo evidence of it if you’re skeptical, or if you just want to see what these dudes will be doing in the new season.
Read MoreWell this certainly doesn’t look boring, this Toyota GR HV Sports Concept thing. It looks damn close to a Toyota 86, just with a different front, rear, interior, a hybrid powertrain and a freaky gearbox. I sort of love it.
Read MoreBased on information found in a very dry document from FCA to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) regarding the arcane art of Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) decoding, it appears that the upcoming next-gen Jeep Wrangler JL will have two engine options: a 285 horsepower V6 and, more interestingly, a 368 HP turbo 2-liter four. Take this with a big grain of salt, but here’s what we’ve seen.
Read MoreAhead of this month’s Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota is telling us about a lot of cool new shit, like yesterday’s third-generation Century. Today we get a boxy concept car they’re calling the Tj Cruiser, which looks like the car equivalent of a bull in a china shop. In a good way, though.
Read MoreWhen it comes to the cars, some days are good. Some days are full of fun and exciting and nice news that keeps me optimistic about the future. And then on other days, I wake up to find the latest Mitsubishi Evolution concept is an electric crossover with AI assistance. Here’s something to cleanse the palate.
Read MoreSpecial-edition cars based on movies are certainly A Thing, and some have even become so desirable that there are hopeful hoaxes swirling about their existence, like we saw with the alleged 2018 Mustang Bullitt edition. But for every Bullitt-edition Mustang or 007-themed Aston Martin there are a lot more really lousy movie tie-in cars, and since I love lousy, that’s what I want to show you.
Read MorePolestar, which has been getting pretty coy on Instagram as of late, is finally beginning to show some of its cards.
Read MoreBugatti’s celebratory “42" special edition Chiron is now meaningless. Consider trying to get your money back.
Read MoreNatural disasters happen and they can absolutely ruin cars. Trees could fall on them. They could get swept away in floods. Forest fires could reduce them to ash. This tale, however, is one of hail, a Hellcat and a salvage title.
Read MoreEver since texting became a thing, people in the driver’s seat have been looking at their phones instead of the road. This is, of course, not cool. Texting while driving is now illegal in most places. But a new study says that the worst driver distractions come from inside the car.
Read MoreA Mazda patent dated Sept. 28 describes an interesting design for an active rear spoiler, a design different than what we’ve seen on cars before, but also strangely similar-looking to a design detail on Mazda’s 2015 RX-Vision rotary concept. Was that always the plan, and we’re just finding out about it now?
Read MoreNew to my fleet is a 2001 Oldsmobile Alero that I purchased for the price of one of those tree-shaped air fresheners. While it might seem like an unusual purchase considering my affinity for old Jeeps, The $1 Oldsmobile has one key trait that helps it fit right in with the rest of my collection: it doesn’t work (and hasn’t for a long time.)
Read MoreThe Toyota Century has only been updated once since its debut in 1967, a car designed, seemingly, to be ageless. And why not? The Century is great! Now, Toyota has revealed what the third-generation will look like. The new Century is scheduled to make its full debut at the 2018 Tokyo Motor Show later this month. It looks very roomy. It’s also got a V8.
Read MoreJust last month, a Bugatti Chiron went from zero to 249 mph and back to zero in an incredible 41.96 seconds. On Sunday, a Koenigsegg Agera RS broke that record, performing the same feat in 36.44 seconds.
Read MoreA lot of us think Ford teased a 2018 Mustang Bullitt in a video earlier this year, and we’ve been sniffing for confirmation of the car since. Mustang fans got riled up again today as a window sticker of a 2018 Mustang Bullitt appeared online, but unfortunately, Ford has confirmed it is not legitimate.
Read MoreYou know those really awkward moments in movies where you, as the viewer, actually feel embarrassed that you’re watching them? Moments that make you cringe so hard that you feel like you’re about to turn yourself inside out? Well, Overdrive as a whole felt that way: a cringey, cheap and flat discount version of Redline. Not Fast and Furious. Redline.
Read MoreThe Michigan State Police recently completed its annual cop car showdown, and while we wait on the official results we’ve seen some preliminary numbers. Even though Ford’s Police Responder Hybrid got smoked by every other contestant, it still dusted the old Crown Vic in a sprint to 100 mph.
Read MoreVladimir Putin, Donald Trump’s Best Friend Except Not Really, is apparently an expert on Well-To-Wheel analyses. At the Russian Energy Week conference in Moscow today, he gave a nice long-winded explanation on why electric cars—which he actually likes—are dirtier than gas cars.
Read MoreNot long ago, it was announced that the next Batman movie was going to be an animated version of the famous Batman alternate-history comic, Gotham by Gaslight. The basic conceit of this comic was to place Batman in 1889 London, where he’d be in pursuit of Jack the Ripper. As far as I can tell, there was no Batmobile designed for this Batman, in that world, and I think that was a grave error. So I’m going to try to fix that.
Read MoreA couple in Maryland says that Ford has offered to buy back their 2016 Explorer after company engineers detected carbon monoxide during a drive—though without recording a paper trail, according to News4. After apparently fixing the problem, Ford then offered to buy the SUV back.
Read MoreIt has been brought to our attention at Jalopnik that we have been very wrong about the car brand “Alfa Romeo.” We have called it unreliable, when it is in fact not. It is very reliable. Luckily, the Real Car Men have explained it to us. Please forgive us for this transgression.
Read MoreIt’s no secret that the United States has a long-running dream to establish a base on the moon. Thirty years ago, the CIA really thought it’d be cool—with one top official saying it’d be worth it “because everyone looks at the moon and will be constantly reminded that a US base is there.” Cool.
Read MoreThe economics of supply and demand mean that some cars can command serious markups while others are subject to awesome discounts. One of the latest examples: If you are shopping for a Civic Type R, good luck! But if you have the cash for an Acura NSX, I have better news for you.
Read MoreLast year Jalopnik had a beautiful 2013 Cadillac CTS-V manual-shift wagon in our daily Nice Price Or Crack Pipe feature. One of you lunatic readers liked it so much that the car ended up being shipped across Canada, where it made an appropriately massive impression.
Read MoreI’ll tell you right up front: I have an Amazon Echo device at home. It sits up against the wall in my kitchen. We shout commands at it and it happily screws up those commands. And now that automakers are saying that they will adopt Alexa into their cars, I’m rather alarmed. Following on the heels of BMW’s Alexa-integration announcement from last week (which followed Volkswagen’s, which followed Ford’s), Nissan also announced today that it will offer a new skill for Alexa that lets you remotely l
Read MoreA Wells Fargo executive on Tuesday visited the U.S. Congress, where a Senate committee held a hearing on the financial institution’s various scandals—including one that involved wrongly forcing 800,000 customers to purchase auto insurance they didn’t need. One lawmaker, in particular, flat-out accused the bank of lying to Congress, according to CNN Money, for failing to disclose the problem during a previous hearing in September 2016.
Read MoreFour years ago, Aston Martin and AMG announced a partnership in which Aston Martin cars would get AMG engines and Mercedes electronics. Mercedes would get a five percent equity in Aston Martin. Good stuff all around!
Read MoreOf the very few fond memories I have of growing up in a stuffy suburb of Detroit, one that stands out is eating garbage fast food inside my idling car at a free parking spot offered to drive-thru customers. At KFCs in England, the act itself could lead to a parking fine—that is, if you take too long to eat your food.
Read MoreWinter is just around the corner! How are you getting your vintage Audi wagon ready for it?
Read MoreThe Tesla Model 3 may be off to a slower-than-expected production launch, but early models for the car are getting delivered and people are already discovering all sorts of quirks. Some are cool, and some are unfortunate.
Read MoreIt’s Oct. 3, which means it’s Mean Girls Day!
Read MoreIf you ask me, the world could use a couple fewer car shows where millionaires scowl at each other on golf courses from behind their Bugattis and Delahayes. My ideal car show would have cars like the Camaro IROC-Z and Toyota Cressida and DeLorean, filled with good music and fine people there to celebrate iconic 1980s and 1990s cars together. Fortunately some smart people already thought of this—it’s called Radwood, and not only is it back, Jalopnik is helping out this time.
Read MoreLast month, Volkswagen held a car show called “Coming Home” just outside of the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg. Though the show was meant for Volkswagen GTI enthusiasts, people showed up from around Europe with all sorts of VWs, and the show turned out to be a celebration of Vee-Dub glory.
Read MoreSteve Kalafer, the owner of Flemington Car and Truck Country in central New Jersey, says that he will be pulling all of his dealership’s TV ads from NFL broadcasts for the rest of the season. Kalafer is mad that the NFL isn’t doing more to force its players to stand for the national anthem, because America or something
Read MoreIn January, authorities officially called off the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, nearly three years after the plane vanished from radar on March 8, 2014. The reckoning, though, isn’t over. In a new report released Tuesday, the Australia Transport Safety Bureau called the failure to find the plane “almost inconceivable and certainly societally unacceptable.”
Read MoreThe Tesla Model 3 is the newest and most inexpensive model in the Tesla lineup, and while it lacks some of the features found in the more expensive Model S and Model X, it may end up exceeding them on the self-driving technology front. How? One document appears to reveal an intriguing clue: redundant steering motors, which brings it one step closer to a level of automation where the driver is not required to monitor the driving environment.
Read MoreLast year, Automotive News Europe’s sources claimed that the Alfa Romeo Giulia was delayed for “extensive reengineering” after the car “failed to pass internal front, side and rear crash tests.” Fiat Chrysler then outright denied this to Road & Track, and while we may never know the truth, we do know this: the production Giulia can crash with the best of them.
Read MoreIt is a game that every single driver has played at least once: the Oh, Damn My Fuel Light Is On; Let Me See How Far I Get It To The Next Gas Station game. It’s a very fun game with very real consequences!
Read MoreLegends never die. Rusty Slammington certainly hasn’t. The E28 BMW 5 Series has been featured on the internet pages of Jalopnik for the better part of a decade, but now it’s finally done, and it’s out there putting BMW nightmares into your children’s heads.
Read MoreLegendary rocker Tom Petty died today at age 66. He was many things to many people, but I think most would agree that he wrote, played and sang some of the greatest driving songs the world’s ever known. Celebrate his life by enjoying that legacy; cue up your favorite Petty track and put some miles on your car.
Read MoreThis past weekend saw heavy rains in the North Shore region of Massachusetts, resulting in major flooding on roads that trapped cars.
Read MoreThe spanking-new 2018 Honda Accord is finally being released into the wild. There’s no more V6 and no more two-door version of this car. But practically speaking, the new Accord’s most significant upgrades are not in its sheetmetal or under its hood.
Read MorePart of the problem of getting the ever-thrill-seeking youths to buy the Nissan Leaf was, apparently, the non-aggressive nature of the car. Nissan is looking to change this by supposedly upping the aggro on the new Leaf with a Nismo version of it. Update: this post has been updated with an official Nissan statement and photos.
Read MoreHurricane Maria was the most devastating hurricane to make land in Puerto Rico in nearly 100 years and the country is still reeling in its wake. Much of the island still doesn’t have running water, reliable communication or electricity.
Read MoreNeed For Speed: Payback is going to be the next installment in one of the longest-running racing game franchises in video gaming. Last week a trailer introduced us to the game’s open-world environment, and toward the end, revealed a really cool feature you might have missed.
Read MoreIn an effort to simplify his life and find adventure, Rick Kretschmer from upstate New York moved west after college, and bought a ridiculous custom Geo Metro camper, which he lived in for over a year. Now the car is for sale because the 24-year-old needs a kitchen in his new home: a 1996 Dodge Ram. So if you need an efficient 55 horsepower camper, this is your chance.
Read MoreSome time in late January 2014, in the middle of a blizzard, I was driving over the old Kosciuszko Bridge in my Saturn Ion when someone clipped me from behind, my car turned sideways, and I ran head first into a wall. No one was hurt, but my car was totaled. I blame the snow, not the bridge, but, still, fuck that bridge. Yesterday, I’m happy to report, what’s left of it was destroyed.
Read MoreWhile I was in Nagoya visiting Liberty Walk it would’ve been rude to not have stopped by Toyota—it is their hometown, after all. And the Toyota Automobile Museum is only a 40 minute train ride from Liberty Walk.
Read MoreHere’s a terrifying image that you don’t want to see out of your window mid-flight: An Airbus SE A380 superjumbo made an emergency landing over the weekend after an engine on the Air France-operated plane broke apart, according to multiple reports. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.
Read MoreI know not everyone agrees with this, but as far as I can tell, life can be interesting, and the purpose of a Homeowners’ Association is to prevent any evidence of that fact from being demonstrated. At least that’s what I’m taking away from the situation with Tony Buzbee, his authentic WWII Sherman tank, and the HOA in his Houston, Texas neighborhood.
Read MoreCar design evolves to fit both the aesthetic of the age and road regulations. Things like safety and aerodynamics play a part in how a car looks. Other times, a car’s layout is what, hopefully, designers think will be most helpful and look the best for customers. Problem is, they don’t always stick the landing.
Read MoreAn Illinois woman reportedly unaware of Uber’s surge pricing found out how badly the tactic can sting after taking a 100-mile ride recently that ended with her being charged $925. Uber has since refunded the rider, chalking it up to a “perfect storm” of confusion, according to ABC7 in Chicago.
Read MoreThe Aston Martin Cygnet has always been a bit of a bad joke, though we never really figured out if its designers were kidding. Grafting the front of a Vantage onto the compact body of a Cozy Coupe, I mean Toyota iQ, was never going to be pretty but it happened anyway. And it looks like at least one is daily driven.
Read MoreThe Chevrolet Astro Van was General Motors’ first entry into the minivan wars of the mid-1980s. Dodge had the Grand Caravan, and Ford had the Aerostar. They were all boxy people carriers but the Astro van had the advantage of being from space—and rendered in glorious CGI.
Read MoreOccasionally some car will show up in your neighborhood that has no reason being there. In this case, a Volkswagen Corrado G60 materialized into existence a short distance from where I live. It was not there one day, and then it suddenly showed up on a street corner and hasn’t moved since.
Read MoreSCCA racing legend and Motor Trend presenter Randy Pobst has driven just about every car on the planet. So when it comes to clearing up the often misunderstood difference between your car’s two primary power ratings—horsepower and torque—he’s definitely up for the job.
Read MoreThanks to America’s 25-year import ban, and the principles of math, we are finally beginning to see some of the cooler 1990s Japanese cars here in the states. Honda Beats, Suzuki Cappuccinos, right-drive MR2, and ubiquitous Nissan Skylines. But it turns out the law has some unintended consequences too: the Mitsuokas are coming.
Read MoreIt’s Halloween and what better car to have for today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe than one that’s described as being so fast it’s scary. We’ll still have to see whether this trick car’s price proves to be a treat.
Read MoreRightly or wrongly, the minivan has long been imputed as the auto enthusiast’s white flag of surrender. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Plymouth is a custom minivan you might get enthusiastic about, that is, if its price proves half the battle.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Honda is described as a “bolt-off” restoration. A lot has been done, but based on the ad there’s lots more to go. Will that fact, and its price, have you thinking it’s the seller that should bolt off?
Read MoreIt’s long been said that “chicks dig scars.” Well, true or not, you might dig today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Viper regardless of your gender, as it shows some serious track taint. Let’s see if its price is likewise tainted.
Read MoreMercedes’ first generation CLS is in my humble opinion, the most beautiful Benz of the modern era. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe CLS 55 has the balls to back up those looks, but will its price prove an ugly counterpoint?
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe GTI represents, if not the first hot hatch, then at least the category’s quintessential archetype. Let’s see if this muscly Rabbit should easily have a buyer typing up an offer.
Read MoreI’m really interested in your opinion on today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Celica. This dealer offered drop top seems pretty compelling, and yet has been on the market for weeks. Is it its price, or maybe something else? Let’s find out!
Read MoreThe introduction this week of the Polestar 1 coupe has no doubt gotten many champing at the bit to own a sporty Volvo two-door. Don’t worry though, Nice Price or Crack Pipe has got you, fam. This C70 looks a lot like the 1, but is it priced to be the one?
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Boxster is claimed to have a 3.4-litre M96 out of its big bro, the 911. Let’s see if that, and its overall condition, make it worth a look.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Pontiac may presently call the Motor City home, but its roots are really from down under. Let’s see if its price could have you getting down to brass tacks.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Civic is incredibly clean for a car with over 200K on the clock. Let’s find out if it’s priced to clean out your wallet.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe ‘Stang as no A/C or heat. That may limit its attraction outside of the temperate zone, but we’ll still have to decide if it’s a car that’s cool enough that you might warm up to its price.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Z28 is “triple black,” owing to its ebon paint, likewise top, and ditto interior. That’s an excellent color combination, but will it prove excellent enough to warrant going into the red for its purchase?
Read MoreYou would probably never go looking for a decade-old Ford Focus, they’re just not all that desirable. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Roush Stage 1 is a looker, and, oddly enough, desirable. Let’s see if its price is also something we can all focus on.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Fiero sports its original, introductory bodywork, which I just so happen to think is its best looking. That’s about the only thing original about this LS3-equipped car, so let’s figure out if its price is original gangster.
Read MoreWe all know that it’s a bad idea to buy someone else’s project, but what about buying your own project? Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe TR6 is just that opportunity, that is if its price proves project oriented.
Read MoreThe Audi TT once had an issue with its high speed handling. That had supposedly been addressed by the time today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe convertible was built, however. We’ll still need to address how to handle the price tag on this very green German machine.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Saab has an ouchie—one of its alloy wheels needs fixing/replacing. That’s easy enough, but let’s see if the rest of the car comes with a price tag that has you wincing in pain.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Renault A110 was actually Hecho en Mexico. That makes it far more rare than its French cousin, but will this restored example still prove worth the dinero?
Read MoreThe Passat, like many other VW’s since the ‘70s, is named for a wind. We’ll just have to see if this Nice Price or Crack Pipe TDI wagon has a price that… well, you know, blows.
Read MoreIs there any more literal automotive name than that of today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Quattroporte III? I mean, it means four-door number three! Let’s see if its price has the numbers that really count.
Read MoreIn Greek mythology, Clio was the muse of history. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Clio V6 is historically significant, but you’ll still need to decide just how amusing its price proves to be.
Read MoreRemember all of the rumors that current Porsche 919 driver Brendon Hartley was going to Chip Ganassi’s IndyCar team after Porsche shuttered its Le Mans prototype team after this year? Turns out, they were legit—so much so, that the Toro Rosso Formula One team had to negotiate Hartley out of an existing contract to drive for them.
Read MoreIn news almost as big as the fact that Fernando Alonso has a kitten, Formula One officials announced their goals for the series’ revamped engine regulations for the 2021 season. Some of the biggest planned overhauls will be what fans have called for for years: louder engines and lower development costs.
Read MoreWorld Rally Championship team M-Sport’s future may look bleak with the Tänak and Ogier Show likely to end, but they took home four major wins this weekend anyway: the WRC manufacturers’ championship a fifth drivers’ championship for Sébastien Ogier, another codrivers’ championship for Julien Ingrassia, and Elfyn Evans’ first WRC rally win ever.
Read MoreFortunately, it looks as though the engine in my Lemons-racing Volkswagen 411 wasn’t damaged as badly as we may have thought. Two cylinders had normal, good compression! But the two cylinders on the passenger side did not, and one cylinder with no compression at all was thoroughly mangled.
Read MoreI’m not sure what was crazier—Denny Hamlin crashing out Chase Elliott to momentarily snatch the lead in the last laps of today’s NASCAR Cup playoff race at Martinsville Speedway, or the final restart that resulted in most of the field behind the leaders crashing. Then a fan tried to pick a fight with Hamlin!
Read MoreLewis Hamilton finished ninth today at the Mexican Grand Prix in Mexico City after his tire was punctured by Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari. Vettel tried his best to come from behind after the crash, but it wasn’t enough, ultimately handing Lewis Hamilton his fourth World Drivers’ Championship.
Read MoreIf you’re the reigning 2017 IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship champs with an open seat to fill for 2018, you’ve got to fill that hole wisely. Fortunately, the driver behind the greatest pass of the year (if not decade or maybe more), Renger Van der Zande, was available.
Read MoreFerrari Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel complained of a burning sensation down below during Free Practice 2 in Mexico only to discover that his car’s onboard fire extinguisher had gone off, WTF1 reports. The cause was a loose screw. Naturally, I’m writing this for the brilliant headline possibilities.
Read MoreWelcome to the Jalopnik Weekend Motorsports Roundup, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of racing, where you can see it, and where you can talk about it all in one convenient place. Where else would you want to spend your weekend?
Read MoreAfter scoring a point in his surprise comeback United States Grand Prix drive for Toro Rosso, Daniil “the Torpedo” Kvyat is officially no longer driving for either of Red Bull’s Formula One teams, Autosport reports. Kvyat was told that he would no longer be driving for the team after last weekend’s race, Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost confirmed today.
Read MoreHellaflush Subarus aren’t the only cars on earth who fear going over speedbumps. Formula One cars hate them, too, as they have a lot of intricate bits that just love to break off and high-tech lightweight chassis that weren’t designed for sweet jumps. Now Formula One is using speedbumps to discourage racers from cutting certain corners and I’m not sure this is a good idea.
Read MoreToyota, for now, will be the lone manufacturer left in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s top racing class next season. The company said it wants to stay in the class, “only with the goal of winning.” The only thing you can do is win if there is no one else competing, Toyota.
Read MoreOn the last lap of last weekend U.S. Grand Prix in Texas, Max Verstappen passed Kimi Raikkonen in a move that race stewards later deemed illegal, costing Verstappen a podium spot. Verstappen wasn’t happy, predictably, and his fans weren’t either, some of whom later sent death threats to one of the stewards involved. Could we all agree not to do this please? Sheesh.
Read MoreFormula E is like that restaurant near campus all of the college students flock to. It’s not as Instagram worthy as other spots, but it’s inexpensive, practical and gets the job done. Nissan, following behind the manufacturer crowd with its headphones in and backpack halfway zipped, just asked for a seat at the bar.
Read MoreA year after Daniel Suarez became the first Mexican driver to compete full time in NASCAR’s top series, Darrell Wallace Jr. will be the first black driver to do so since 1971 next season. He’ll replace Aric Almirola, who’s raced for Richard Petty Motorsports for the past six years, in the No. 43 car.
Read MoreTexas World Speedway, a gargantuan 2-mile oval on the outskirts of College Station, a college town that’s creeped so far outward it’ll soon swallow the race track entirely, may still survive through its 50th birthday. But it won’t be a happy one. It’ll be rather lonely, although the track looks like it has all the company in the world.
Read MoreMost details of seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher’s life and health have been understandably off limits for the last few years, but that isn’t the case for one of his former race cars. A Ferrari that helped Schumacher to win the 2001 title will be auctioned as “contemporary art” next month.
Read MoreThe big Formula One track down in Austin that wants to snatch up every series it can for a race weekend just added another to its 2018 schedule. The FIA World Rallycross Championship will race in the U.S. for the first time ever next year, at Circuit of The Americas, of course.
Read MoreAt the U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen climbed from 17th all the way into third after a grid penalty. But the podium Verstappen took away on the last lap didn’t last long, since Formula One race stewards decided his pass on Kimi Raikkonen wasn’t fair. Here’s that pass, from every angle.
Read MoreIt’s not every day we get famed boxing announcer Michael Buffer of “let’s get ready to rumble” fame correctly identifying Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat as “Dany the Torpedooooooo Kvyaaaaaat!”
Read MoreMercedes driver Lewis Hamilton dominantly won the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on Sunday, but Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel clawed his way back up to second in the finishing order to keep Hamilton from clinching the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship.
Read MoreCircuit of The Americas, a nearly 3.5-mile road course near Austin, is interested in hosting a Verizon IndyCar Series race so long as it doesn’t conflict with an existing event. But COTA shouldn’t be concerned that—the race track should, instead, be worried about its 1.5-mile asphalt neighbor up north.
Read MoreToro Rosso has swapped its drivers around so much at this point in the 2017 Formula One season that Brendon Hartley is being penalized for an engine swap on Daniil Kvyat’s old car. But Daniil Kvyat isn’t considered to be driving his old car, even though his number is running this weekend on Toro Rosso’s other car.
Read MoreThe best thing about McLaren’s Formula One team right now is that they want to let their drivers drive in other series. We had to ask McLaren Technology Group Executive Director and real-life American in F1 Zak Brown if Fernando Alonso might drive at the 24 Hours of Daytona. “Stay tuned,” he told us.
Read MoreAre you paying attention to Ultra4 racing? This picture might convince you you should be.
Read MoreSix Formula One drivers ran faster qualifying laps than the new F1 lap record set by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton earlier today at Circuit of the Americas, but it was Lewis Hamilton again who claimed pole position. Hamilton’s new lap record is an astonishingly fast 1:33.108, obliterating last year’s record of 1:34.999.
Read MoreHaas Formula One driver Romain Grosjean had a brown-shorts moment when he ran wide heading out of Circuit of the Americas’ faster-than-anyone-thinks Turn 19, where he encountered a surprise from Lance Stroll’s Williams car in his path.
Read MoreFormula One listened to our demands, and they’re finally giving us what we want. F1's Managing Director of Commercial Operations Sean Bratches told Autosport that the series is rolling out its own in-house streaming service for races and other clips starting next season.
Read MoreSadly, 2016 GP2 champion Pierre Gasly—the driver replacing Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso for the rest of the Formula One season—won’t be racing anything this weekend. Gasly missed the F1 United States Grand Prix to wrap up his Super Formula season in Suzuka, but NBC Sports reports that the Suzuka race was canceled due to a typhoon.
Read MoreToro Rosso stand-in driver Brendon Hartley can’t seem to catch a break in his first Formula One drive in five years. First, changes to the car’s power unit triggered enough grid penalties to move him to the rear of the field at the start of the race, NBC Sports reports. Worse yet, his helmet wouldn’t stay put during yesterday’s practice sessions.
Read MoreWilliams almost had to fork over a €10,000 fine for being three seconds late turning in a tire used in Free Practice 1 on Friday. Three seconds. Holy crap, man. I thought my friends laid on the guilt trip when I show up late to things, but this is a whole ‘nother level.
Read MoreWelcome to the Jalopnik Weekend Motorsports Roundup, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of racing, where you can see it, and where you can talk about it all in one convenient place. Where else would you want to spend your weekend?
Read MoreNASCAR, as a sport, is fond of oval tracks that just so happen to be 1.5 miles in length. Those tracks just so happen to be some of the least interesting of them all, so one decided to change it up by running a mix of the oval and its interior road course in 2018. After testing the track, drivers aren’t sure how to feel.
Read MoreRed Bull’s Formula One B-team Toro Rosso appeared to win the stand-in jackpot when reigning Le Mans winner Brendon Hartley was available to drive for them at the United States Grand Prix. Only catch is, it’s been five years since he’s even driven a single-seater, much less a Formula One car.
Read MoreCongratulations! You and your merry band of miscreants have made the great pilgrimage to Austin for one of the greatest race weekends on the planet: the Formula One United States Grand Prix. But what’s the best way to enjoy it, and what do you do after the track goes cold? We’re here to help.
Read MoreMcLaren confirmed today that Fernando Alonso will be staying with the Formula One team for next year alongside Stoffel Vandoorne, F1 announced. Thankfully, since McLaren will run Renault power units next year, they might actually have a competitive car.
Read MoreThree-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton told the press that he doesn’t have any plans to kneel during the anthem in protest of the oppression of black Americans, as many football players are doing this year. He also refuses to let the controversy surrounding the topic keep him from winning a fourth world championship.
Read MoreThere are so many things happening at the Formula One United States Grand Prix this year that we just had to go watch it for ourselves. So, let’s meet up, watch the cars, and try to determine if new series owners Liberty Media have really improved the show or not here in our home country. It’s F1 time!
Read MoreAre you there, God? It’s me, Stef. I don’t ask for much, but I just picked up a weird rare Volkswagen race car and its humble flat-four engine is woefully broken. All I need to do is find €10,000 and I can replace it with a Mugen-Honda MF-351 V10 from a Formula One car that’s up for sale on Race Cars Direct right now. Really. That’s all I want.
Read More2017 has been the year of M-Sport, a fan-favorite World Rally Championship team that’s currently beating big-budget factory rally efforts from Toyota, Citroën and Hyundai. But Ford won’t make M-Sport a full works team despite all its success, and now one of M-Sport’s most loyal drivers is leaving.
Read MoreJustin Boston’s career in NASCAR’s lowest national touring level, the Camping World Truck Series, wasn’t very long, but the aftermath of that stint has been. While Boston has run just 10 truck races total, repercussions of an alleged $25 million defrauding scheme that helped fund his racing career have yet to end.
Read MoreIf you watch NASCAR frequently, you’re probably not fond of the fact that five of the 10 championship-deciding races are on 1.5-mile oval tracks. And if that’s the case, you were probably thrilled when Charlotte Motor Speedway announced it would run a road-oval layout for its championship race in 2018.
Read MoreAs a person who likes cars and often does not like spending money, racing simulators are the relatively affordable gift that keeps on giving. You can wreck cars without paying to fix them, don’t have to go further than your computer to race, and, soon enough, will be able to jump a virtual rallycross car.
Read MoreIt’s impossible to determine the craziest part of this figure-eight racing fight from Anderson Speedway in Indiana. It’s just a magical cornucopia of race car belligerence that must be appreciated in its entirety. It ends with one car on top of the other, one driver getting tased and both drivers involved getting arrested.
Read MoreIt’s been 20 years since the Thrust SSC made its record-breaking speed run, becoming the only car to ever travel faster than the speed of sound. Yet as its driver explains, it wasn’t as simple as mashing the go-pedal and having its two enormous Rolls-Royce Spey turbofan engines blast him into the history books.
Read MoreIf there’s one driver that has been missed in Formula One, it’s certainly 2009 world champion Jenson Button. Button isn’t done with racing yet, but won’t be making a full-time return to F1. Now he’s named two other series he won’t be trying in F1's place: Formula E and IndyCar, which “scares the shit” out of him.
Read MoreFinally, crash-tacular Talladega Superspeedway delivered a handful of exciting crash-free laps at the very end of today’s NASCAR Cup Series race. Only 14 cars survived until the very end of the race, with Brad Keselowski ultimately finishing out in front.
Read MoreToday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega gave everybody what we all expected: the big one. A 17-car crash piled up behind the top few leaders on lap 172 of 188, red flagging the race for a massive cleanup.
Read MoreYou know what they say: cautions beget cautions. A caution called for minor contact involving Trevor Bayne, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Daniel Suarez resulted in one heck of a messy restart with 33 laps to go that took out numerous cars in the rear of the field.
Read MoreThe world is a scary, divisive place right now, and it can be hard to even carry on a friendly conversation with other Jalops right now. Thankfully, our Onion-scented friends at The Morning Sweat have stumbled upon the one thing that can truly unite us: race cars.
Read MoreTalladega’s NASCAR Cup race didn’t start off well for playoff contender Jamie McMurray. Two-time Talladega winner Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 tried to come into the pits but traffic around him didn’t expect it, causing a collision.
Read MoreIn a retirement season where little has gone right for him, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be starting from pole position for today’s Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Despite having won at Talladega six times before, this is his first-ever pole position at the track.
Read MoreThere have been plenty of examples of races ending under a safety car, red flag, or in a crash. Yet somehow the World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Fuji out-weirded them all. Drivers scrambled back to their cars to race for the final 10 minutes only to have the restart called off with everyone about to leave.
Read MorePart-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver and occasional Jalopnik contributor Parker Kligerman just surprised everybody and won at Talladega Superspeedway. When trucks started to pile up behind him on the last lap, he simply drove away from it to nab his second career NCWTS win at ‘Dega.
Read MoreNASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt Jr. got the best retirement present ever Friday afternoon from a track that he considers his “second home.” Talladega Superspeedway gave him the No. 2 Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by his father for his rookie 1979 Cup Series season and his first championship in 1980.
Read MoreFinally, Formula One is asking its fans what they want by asking them directly in the places where they go. This week, a representative from Formula One Management hopped on Reddit to ask what they want in terms of digital content. The answer Redditors gave was pretty clear: stream the races, duh.
Read MoreFormer American Le Mans Series champion Scott Tucker was convicted Friday of racketeering charges related to the payday lending business which funded his highly successful Level 5 Motorsports racing team, reports Bloomberg. Predatory loans made by Tucker’s company had interest rates that sometimes exceeded 700 percent.
Read MoreAfter Formula One pulled off the deal of the century to allow McLaren to swap its busted Honda engines for Renault ones, Toro Rosso’s standout driver Carlos Sainz Jr. will leave the team for Renault early, starting with the United States Grand Prix. So, naturally, Toro Rosso gets a Le Mans champ to fill in. Rad.
Read MoreHere’s something you probably didn’t know: The McLaren-Honda Formula One team isn’t great these days. Wild, right? The team’s two-time champ, Fernando Alonso, has threatened to leave all year in the same vein as a teenager saying they’ll never talk to you again, and he’s still not sure if he’ll stay around.
Read MoreFormula One’s new Liberty Media overlords are as tired of seeing only a handful of F1 teams ever win, as many of us are. Smaller teams can’t compete with the big-budget efforts at the front of the grid, so F1 may enact a budget cap, reports Racer. Teams expect to receive a budget cap proposal by the end of the year.
Read MoreThere’s nothing worse in a car than slippery race shoes. Drivers, including Supercars racer Dean Fiore, go to great lengths to avoid having wet shoes in the car. Forget wrapping your shoes in a sad little baggie, though. Fiore showed us the ultimate way to stay dry during last weekend’s Bathurst 1000.
Read MoreAfter Watkins Glen International stepped up to fill the hole left by the Verizon IndyCar Series’ disaster of a Boston race—which never happened and left a $2 million bill—the track is already back off of the schedule. IndyCar will go to Portland instead, to race at a track recently said to be in need of “upgrading.”
Read MoreI have this problem, you see. It takes up a lot of my time, and it really isn’t healthy. I spend all day writing about cars. Cars, cars, cars. Then, I spend the evening looking at flooded cars being housed locally for insurance auction and searching “NASCAR” in online car auctions to see if I can find an old race car.
Read MoreThis year, Wayne Taylor Racing has been the team to beat in the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, having a championship title all but in the bag before they even showed up to the season finale. It’s largely in part to the ultra-fast sons of Wayne Taylor, and now one of them will be driving an Acura next year.
Read MoreIt finally happened, you guys. Someone finally bested the dude who eats gross stuff at church camp in the Great Prank-Off Of Life Itself: Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. The Red Bull Racing drivers have brought hijinks that wouldn’t be out of place in your tenth grade homeroom to their post-race obligations at Suzuka last week, and that’s just what Formula One needs.
Read MoreSonoma Raceway may have escaped harm from the recent wildfires in the area, but drivers at Thunderhill Raceway Park found out just how bad the fire risk is in California this weekend. A racer at the National Auto Sport Association’s Western States Championships went off the pavement, sparking a grass fire that lasted nearly three hours.
Read MoreThere isn’t much that comes out of Alabama, other than college football, that makes you say “Hell yeah.” But hell yeah, the Alabama governor declared this Sunday as “Dale Earnhardt Jr. Day” across the entire state. Get your Dale Calls and your Mountain Dew beer hats ready, y’all, because it’s time to celebrate.
Read MoreIf you thought Block was done with Ford when Hoonigan pulled out of World Rallycross, oh no. Ford’s not going to give up that PR-and-tire-smoke machine that easily. Now we finally know what Block’s future plans involve: one of the most insane cars of all time: a 1991 Ford Escort Cosworth Group A rally car.
Read MoreCalifornia’s governor declared a state of emergency with several wildfires across the Sonoma and Napa counties Monday, some of which climbed the hills near NASCAR track Sonoma Raceway. After confusion on social media as to whether the track was on fire, the speedway’s president confirmed the facility is OK.
Read MoreWe all knew the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R was going to win a championship if they merely showed up to Petit Le Mans this weekend, and yes, that happened. But as always, the rest of the WeatherTech Sports Car Championship’s season ender was a bit of a wild ride.
Read MoreSupercars driver Shane van Gisbergen is one of my favorite drivers to watch, and not only when he wins. In fact, if his fourth-place performance at this year’s Bathurst 1000 proved anything, it’s that I’d really, really like to see him in a rally car. Van Gisbergen is the master of race car off-roading.
Read MoreDrivers Luke Youlden and David Reynolds just won one of the most incredible races on earth for lovable underdogs Erebus Motorsport: the Bathurst 1000. It’s hard not to love the young Erebus team. They’ve only been around since 2013, but they’re owned by an awesome, no-BS woman named Betty Klimenko, and they had the guts to try racing wacky loud Mercedes in V8 Supercars.
Read MoreLance Stroll’s Williams Formula One car became an out-of-control torpedo after a right front tire problem, sending him off-roading through the gravel trap. If that wasn’t terrifying enough, his car popped out right as Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull was passing by. Behold, the near miss of the year.
Read MoreFerrari Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel had to retire on lap 5 of today’s Japanese Grand Prix due to an engine issue. Vettel, who sits in second place just behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in the F1 drivers’ championship, quickly lost position after slowing on track and was ultimately called in by his team.
Read MoreWith Ford pulling out of World Rallycross, that leaves one big question up in the air: are they going to put that money somewhere else? To me, there’s only one answer: Ford needs to make M-Sport its World Rally Championship works team before they lose the WRC’s second most successful driver ever: Sébstien Ogier.
Read MoreOld Volkswagens are known as excellent camping vehicles. Westfalias! Type 2s! Fear not, for Volkswagen finally made another big VW worth camping in, at least for one or two: the new Atlas. I slept in it over the 24 Hours of Lemons weekend at Buttonwillow. And it actually ruled.
Read MoreIn about the biggest conflict of interest the sporting world could produce, the Renault Formula One team hired the person who oversaw all of F1’s technical development up until last month. That means he knows the confidential stuff other teams are planning, which is, uh, not good.
Read MoreNot only is “roval” objectively the most fun word to say, a roval will also objectively make next year’s NASCAR playoffs way more fun. Charlotte Motor Speedway’s track layout will go full squiggly line in 2018, and we now know exactly what it’ll look like.
Read MoreThe people behind Roborace, as the name suggests, plan for it to be the world’s first driverless, electric racing series. They brought on a Tron designer to create a futuristic dog bone of a car, they’ve tested autonomous prototypes countless times and they’re expecting to get racing underway in the next few years.
Read MoreA driver sponsored by rally champion Jock Armstrong wasn’t having a good race, so, like any good sponsor, Armstrong tried to help with a joke most of us left behind in our teen years: mooning him. But far worse than most kids face, Armstrong got hit with a $1,300 fine and a racing ban.
Read MoreSometimes, when you have a new 30,000-square-foot mansion with an indoor basketball court, bowling alley and a helicopter pad, talking about salaries isn’t a good idea. Most of us poors don’t want to listen. But that didn’t stop Denny Hamlin, who thinks NASCAR drivers should make more money.
Read MoreI am now the proud owner of a free, rare air-cooled Volkswagen race car, and I may or may not be completely over my head. I’m in the process of towing home the Volkswagen 411 we raced at Buttonwillow last weekend, and I’m pretty sure it’s marking its trail in oil dribbles.
Read MoreFord and Hoonigan Racing have announced that they’re jointly withdrawing from the FIA World Rallycross Championship at the end of the 2017 season. The next move for racers Ken Block and Andreas Bakkerud and their Focus RS RX race cars is yet to be determined.
Read MoreFormula One will move from NBC to ESPN for the 2018 race season, according to multiple reports. The reported move will be the first time in five years that F1 has switched television networks in the U.S., since the NBC deal—which the CEO of F1’s new owners called a “popcorn fart” earlier this year—began in 2013.
Read MoreAnd it looks like the caution flag is out, folks, for a wreck at an intersection in Charlotte, North Carolina around the time of NASCAR’s “Laps Uptown” parade before race weekend. Someone’s spotter is going to be in trouble for this one.
Read MoreA drain cover came loose during Formula One’s second practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Friday, slashing Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean’s tire and sending him straight into a wall. The cost of repairing the car is creeping toward $1 million, and it sounds like the team isn’t happy about the bill.
Read MoreI get excited for the mail every day, but that’s probably because I work from home, live in a retirement neighborhood and am secretly 87-years-old. But getting something delivered by Formula One driver and professional sad man Fernando Alonso would be slightly more exciting than the daily mail truck.
Read MoreFormula One’s last Malaysian Grand Prix—for now—was an oddly intense one. A drain cover came up in a Friday practice session, slashing Romain Grosjean’s tire and sending him into a wall. As soon things got back underway the next day, one of F1’s support races had a grand total of zero cars finish.
Read MoreRunning 104 laps in an almost bone stock 1971 Volkswagen 411 earned us the 24 Hours of Lemons’ highest award: the Index of Effluency. I kept my race shoes on because I knew what I had to do. Yes, I finally got to do a shoey. It didn’t taste as bad as it looked. No, it tasted like success.
Read MoreLast week, three-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton asked people to “try to educate” themselves on why athletes are kneeling for the American national anthem in protest of police brutality and oppression of people of color. Not long after, he said he may join them at the U.S. Grand Prix this month.
Read MoreTo the closely spaced houses and straggling few vehicles along some two-lane roads in the outskirts of Houston, the sun had just set on what seemed like any other Saturday evening in September. But it wasn’t. It was the first Saturday in a long time that this place, and Texas as a whole, had seen this kind of action.
Read MoreAs the Sepang International Circuit hosts its last Formula One race for the foreseeable future, it certainly didn’t disappoint, and damn near beckons for the series to keep coming back.
Read MoreLast week, the always-exciting Elon Musk announced a plan to launch soft, moist human passengers in his new planned rockets to fly on suborbital trips from city to city, allowing travel between almost any major city on Earth in under an hour. It’s a fascinating idea, but not a new one. In fact, Ronald Reagan mentioned the basic idea in his 1986 State of the Union address.
Read MoreThe United Auto Workers union on Wednesday filed an unfair labor practice claim against Tesla, claiming the company harassed, intimidated, and fired workers who openly advocated for unionizing its California factory.
Read MoreA recently terminated Tesla employee filed a lawsuit against the company Tuesday, claiming the automaker violated a California state law by failing to give proper notice when it allegedly laid off hundreds of workers this month.
Read MoreReporters who cover the burgeoning self-driving car industry threw a fit this week over a New York Times column that failed to accurately capture the automated capabilities of a new Volvo S90. “Driverless Cars Made Me Nervous,” the piece’s headline reads, ignoring the fact that no car on the road today can operate without a driver behind the wheel.
Read MoreRaise cash, burn it, rinse, repeat—that has essentially been the business model of enterprising startups like Tesla and Uber for some time. And an insightful report from The Economist shows just how uncommon it is for companies like that to achieve prolonged success.
Read MoreConsumer Reports released its annual reliability survey on Thursday, but the findings are being overshadowed by a growing rift between the publication and Tesla, which took serious issue with the reliability score given to the automaker’s Model 3. Tesla called CR’s coverage “consistently inaccurate,” but CR responded on Friday, saying Tesla’s statements contained “supercharged and unsupported claims about the survey.”
Read MoreA billion dollars for a self-driving tech company? It’s not unheard of anymore. But a new report from the Brookings Institute sheds light on just how much loot has been spent on the race to bring fully-autonomous cars to the public. The total, so far: $80 billion.
Read MoreIf there’s one noticeable sentiment emerging from Ford under the reign of newly-hired CEO Jim Hackett, it’s the company’s refreshing new public sentiment toward self-driving cars. The official line, lately, is: yes, this technology is Good and Will Happen, but it Will Take Time. More time than the thought leaders in Silicon Valley would have you believe.
Read MoreEveryone has a collection of accessories that forever reside in their car to make driving just a little easier. My daily driver is a 1996 Toyota Camry V6 LE. It has a cassette player and an AM/FM radio for entertainment. The antenna is currently missing from my car so my audio options are either silence or whatever plastic rectangle I can find to put in the cassette player. Because you can only listen to Led Zeppelin’s “In Through The Out Door” so many times, I got one of those cassette adapter
Read MoreEveryone’s favorite spinning triangle is coming back! Sorta. Mazda seems intent on bringing back the compact and powerful engine for possible use as a range extender for an EV or hybrid vehicle, Automotive News reports.
Read MoreTesla announced Thursday afternoon that it’s voluntarily recalling 11,000 Model X SUVs worldwide because the rear row of seats might not lock into place in the event of a crash.
Read MoreRide-hailing companies see themselves as a way to reduce the reliance on automobile ownership and a path forward to eliminate god-awful congestion. But a new study on the impact of companies like Uber and Lyft from the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies offers a different outlook: Instead, it turns out, they’ve likely increased congestion and, more worrisome, reduced use of public transit.
Read MoreBuilding a futuristic hyperloop system won’t be cheap, so startup Hyperloop One’s surely feeling good today, after it announced billionaire Richard Branson had made an investment in its endeavor. And with that, the company’s rebranding to a not-clunky-whatsoever-name: Virgin Hyperloop One.
Read MoreGoogle’s self-driving car project, Waymo, wanted at least $1 billion and a public apology from Uber as part of a proposed settlement to end a high-stakes trade secrets lawsuit against the ride-hailing company, according to a report from Reuters. Uber rejected the stipulations as non-starters, the news agency said.
Read MoreEven though Tesla has pushed back the official reveal of its upcoming all-electric semi-truck to focus on Model 3 production and explore the possibility of rebuilding Puerto Rico’s power infrastructure, we’re still getting clues as to what the truck might be like.
Read MoreFollowing a report from the Wall Street Journal last week claiming that major elements of the Tesla Model 3 production line were being carried out by hand while the machinery meant to be doing it was still being sorted out, Elon Musk posted a video of the production line on Sunday, seemingly in response to the report.
Read MoreFor now, the general public find self-driving cars sketchy—something that’ll likely only be alleviated by getting consumers more familiar with the technology. Intel, which has made huge inroads in the industry this year, is leaning on NBA superstar LeBron James to boost awareness of robotaxis, as part of a new broadcast and digital ad campaigin that’s rolling out next week, according to The Verge.
Read MoreIt’s not unusual nowadays to hear about auto companies involved in the development of self-driving cars acquiring a smaller subsidiary that makes autonomous tech components or the like. But General Motors announcement Monday that it has acquired LIDAR technology company Strobe is significant. It puts the company one step closer to having a stake in almost all production and development aspects of self-driving cars.
Read MoreThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration can’t provide details on how it reached a conclusion that Tesla vehicle crashes dropped 40 percent after the automaker installed Autosteer—which keeps the car centered within a lane—into its semi-autonomous Autopilot system.
Read MoreThis week, Tesla reported only making 260 Model 3s since launching production of the all-electric sedan in July—roughly 80 percent under a promised goal of 1,500 in that span. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported the source of the issue: major portions of the car were still being banged out by hand as recent as September.
Read MoreAnother founding executive has left the troubled electric car startup Faraday Future, Jalopnik has learned. Pontus Fontaeus, director of interior design and brand, has left the company, the company confirmed on Friday.
Read MoreIn our golden years, some of us may no longer be able to drive, which is why one of the biggest beneficiaries of driverless car technology could very well be older people. A new self-driving car startup, Voyage, wants to see how the elderly interact with the new technology. This is actually a clever idea.
Read MoreYeah... the gig economy. Can you survive in it? Stories abound of drivers for Uber and Lyft doing whatever it takes to earn a meager wage—something highlighted today in a new story from the Financial Times. After you’re done reading the piece, the FT has created an interactive game to see how you’d do as an Uber driver.
Read MoreBack in July, the state of Louisiana fined Elio Motors $545,000, saying it’s operating as a “manufacturer” and therefore should have a state-issued license to accept non-refundable deposits for its proposed three-wheeled ride. Elio vowed to appeal the decision, and on Tuesday it delivered, challenging the fine in court that it claims was “deliberately” made to “put Elio out of business.”
Read MoreDeveloping an autonomous car that’s deemed safe is one thing. Convincing the majority of skeptical Americans autonomous cars are ready for primetime driving action, not so much. A new study echoes previous findings—most consumers remain uneasy about the technology—but the survey from American International Group found the greatest concern could be the threat of hackers taking control of the ride, according to Bloomberg.
Read MoreNew Ford CEO Jim Hackett unveiled a vision for the automaker Tuesday that aligns it with trends emerging across the auto industry, with an emphasis on electrification and mobility (The Future™), all the while slashing costs by $14 billion.
Read MoreA federal judge has granted a request by Google’s self-driving car unit, Waymo, to delay the company’s high-stakes trial against Uber until December.
Read MoreThere’s little known about the all-electric semi truck that Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to unveil later this month. But now we have an apparent snapshot of what it’ll look like.
Read MoreUber hired an engineer from Google to run its self-driving car program, even after an internal report cast uncertainty over whether he took—and kept—proprietary information from his former employer. The report, commissioned by Uber to determine the risks in hiring the engineer, Anthony Levandowski, was made public late Monday as part of the company’s legal battle with Google’s self-driving car program, Waymo.
Read MoreTesla has sky-high expectations for the release of the all-electric Model 3 sedan, including benchmarks set by the company’s CEO, Elon Musk. The automaker managed to get production rolling by a Musk-imposed July deadline, but it made only 260 Model 3s ever since—far less than Musk’s expectation.
Read MoreGeneral Motors is planning to unleash an electrified onslaught of cars in the coming years, announcing on Monday that it’ll push out at least 20 all-electric vehicles by 2023. The first two are expected within the next 18 months, the company said.
Read MoreOnly one-in-four Americans trust the idea of self-driving cars right now, and among that group is Ford’s newly-installed chief executive, Jim Hackett. Ford may be working to deploy a fully-autonomous car on public roads by 2021, but Hackett said Monday that he wouldn’t ride in one just yet, according to Automotive News.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know on this spoooooooky day.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read More1st Gear: Nearly Every Major Automaker Is Uniting To Campaign Keep The U.S. In NAFTA
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know as you head out into the wilderness of our ongoing international nightmare.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know as you head out into the wilderness of our ongoing international nightmare.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read More1st Gear: Ford’s Brutal Own By Wall Street
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreGood morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know.
Read MoreThe lovable Jeep Comanche—based on the equally-lovable Jeep Cherokee platform—is a fantastic little truck. But this one for sale on Craigslist, a single-owner short-bed with original paint, a five-speed manual, a 4.0-liter inline-six and only 18,500 on the clock, is truck-o-motive perfection. I need it.
Read MoreI won’t say I’m taking a wing of new Land Rover Discoverys and Range Rover Sports to their natural habitat because, that would be a valet line on Rodeo Drive. But we are taking these vehicles into the kinds of conditions you usually only see in commercials: the jungles and deserts of Peru.
Read MoreI guess I should clarify a couple of things about that headline: ‘coolest’ is entirely subjective, of course, and chances are really, really good that you can’t actually buy it, since only a very small percentage of our readership is in any country where it’s actually sold. Even so, I’m pretty smitten with the Zamyad Z24 pickup truck.
Read MoreAn assortment of apparently leaked documents from Jeep parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles anonymously sent to Jalopnik last week included a spreadsheet detailing the upcoming Jeep Wrangler and Wrangler Pickup Truck’s pulling and hauling capabilities. Let’s discuss.
Read MoreImagine driving down the road at speed when your door, which you thought was closed, pops open. This would be bad! Ford said Wednesday that it was recalling 1.3 million F-150 and Super Duty trucks to avoid just this scenario.
Read MoreThe YouTube channel Car Question tests the all-wheel drive systems in various soft-roaders with a “diagonal test,” which involves taking each car up a ramp at an angle. Some of these car-based SUVs and minivans were clearly not designed to go off-road, but that just makes watching them flex out and spin their wheels that much more entertaining.
Read MoreThe 2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar is more about style than speed. And while it can go off-road, it doesn’t really love to. But make no mistake—this is a brave car that manages to stand out in today’s bland, busy and boring flock of medium-sized crossovers.
Read MoreA complete illustrated owner’s manual and user guide to the 2018 Jeep Wrangler leaked over the weekend on JL Wrangler Forums. While Jeep’s reps have declined to confirm its authenticity, there’s very little doubt that it’s the real deal. Here are the most interesting facts and functions we found in it.
Read MoreIf you have an Erector Set laying around somewhere, congratulations! You’re properly equipped to make an accurate scale model of a new military vehicle concept, the Partisan One. The Partisan One is a rugged, wildly basic 4x4 that’s built from a simple frame of right angles and bolt-on parts. It’s supposed to be bomb-proof, and comes with a warranty that lasts a century. I kind of love the way it looks, too.
Read MoreOver the weekend the International Committee of the Red Cross tweeted a video of three MAN KAT 1 cargo trucks slogging through a “road” that looks more like a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The trucks are towing each other, and seem to be moving under their own power at the same time.
Read MoreJust a month after announcing that every new car after 2020 will be electrified, Land Rover has announced its first-ever production plug-in hybrid for the U.S. with the new Range Rover Sport.
Read MoreBack in the 1970s, AM General—American Motors Corporation’s renaming of Kaiser Jeep’s “Defense and Government Products Division”—built an electric mail carrier Jeep called the DJ-5E “Electruck.” It was so advanced, NASA conducted a bunch of research on it, even referring to the Jeep as “state-of-the-art.”
Read MoreWe had some leaked pictures of the Rezvani Tank earlier, but now that the independent California carmaker has officially released pictures and details about the car, we can see a lot more. And the biggest thing I’m seeing is that this is a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with a Hemi swap and a body that looks like it should be in the background of a movie about the Martian Civil War of 2176. I’m not saying that’s good or bad, but that’s what it is.
Read MoreThe current Suzuki Jimny is as close to a modern day World War II Jeep as exists on this earth, which is to say: it’s an off-road god. And if that’s not enough to have you lusting over the Japanese 4x4 masterpiece, just look at Indian Autos Blog’s renderings of the 2018 model. It’s perfection.
Read MoreIt’s Halloween, the perfect time to talk about things that haunt us: like parts failures that can cause us to lose control of our vehicles. Here are the scariest automobile failure modes I can think of.
Read MoreA few weeks ago, I bought a 2001 Oldsmobile Alero for $1 from a friend who just wanted the non-running junker out of her driveway. My plan was to destroy the car in an upcoming video series, but those plans have now changed; I’ve decided to trade the N-Body sedan for a ruined 2003 Kia Rio.
Read MoreTwo guys in Iowa found a 1965 Ford F-250 that had been abandoned in the woods since 1991. The video series showing how they got the dilapidated pile of junk running and driving is totally captivating.
Read MoreIt’s springtime! Time to start working on your project car, learn a new wrenching skill, learn how things work under the hood, or just spruce up your daily driver. All month, we’ll be looking back at our best informative, maintenance and DIY articles from Jalopnik’s near 20-year history to get your ride ready for the road. Welcome to the Jalopnik Spring Tune-Up.
Read MoreLast night, I spent three hours freezing my ass off in a rainy, windy department store parking lot because a simple repair job turned into a nightmare.
Read MoreTwo years ago, I used junkyard parts to turn a $600 Jeep Cherokee into an off-road beast. Then I rebuilt a dilapidated 1948 Willys CJ-2A farm Jeep, took it on a 1,300 mile road trip, and wheeled the crap out of it at Moab. Now it’s time to introduce this year’s project: an $800 Jeep Grand Wagoneer for which I have plans. Big plans.
Read MoreOn a shelf in my garage sits a truly shocking collection of oil filters, including those for cars I don’t even own. I’m not sure I have a good explanation for my obsession, other than simply that oil filters are beautiful contraptions. Here’s why.
Read MoreI just got off the phone with David Kohn, a mechanic from Boone, North Carolina, who used a bunch of brilliant home-brew methods to turn a Cadillac Seville into a flatbed car-hauler. Here’s how he concocted this genius bit of automotive glory.
Read MoreIt’s the weekend. Hopefully you’re not at work at anything except an engine or a gearbox that needs some TLC. Show us what you’re up to.
Read MoreI bought my $1 Oldsmobile because I needed a sacrificial vehicle for a diabolical project I have planned. The problem is, after getting this Alero’s “Quad 4" engine running beautifully last weekend, I’m having second thoughts. Should I destroy what might be the best vehicle in my fleet?
Read More