You won’t be shocked to learn that the 2018 BMW M5 is fast, comfortable and expensive. But the big M sedan’s switch to all-wheel drive has raised some eyebrows. Rest assured, BMW’s done it well. And they’ve done it much differently than you might expect.
Read MoreI didn’t ever think I’d get to the point where I’d consider buying a new Honda Accord, but the newest model seriously changed my opinion this year. Maybe I’m becoming more mature, maybe the car is actually really good, or perhaps a combination of the two. In any case, the new Accord Sport 2-liter turbo with a 6-speed manual was impressive, and I actually want to buy one in 2018.
Read MoreIt’s taken about six months, but the first Model 3s are finally making their way to people who aren’t Tesla employees or close to the company. But since production of the all-electric sedan began over the summer, the majority of auto journalists have had only had a few minutes with the car at Tesla’s factory. With Model 3s now circling around the country, we’d like to change that.
Read MoreDalida has been recruited by her brother into the cult of cars. Naturally, she’s in the market for a car, and one side of her brain wants something sensible like a crossover from an import brand. But her newfound Jalopness has some other ideas. What car should she buy?
Read MoreRebecca lives in the Pacific Northwest and her current ride is not the best for navigating ice and snow. She wants something inexpensive and reliable to get her through the colder months. What car should she buy?
Read MoreFor the longest time, a small SUV has been a fashion statement. “You’re not worthless,” they shouted. “You’ve amounted to something.” “Your parents aren’t ashamed of you.” That’s because you moved to the suburbs, got a house, and the small SUV. The 2018 Volvo XC40 seems to be the first one made for the rest of your life.
Read MoreWhere have all the weird cars gone? I feel such lament every time I see that Jason drives some odd plastic French thing, my mom talks about her Isetta or I have to explain what my 411 is. But fear not: the rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive Smart ForTwo Cabrio is here to keep wackiness on wheels.
Read MoreOne day last December, Tanisha Coley visited a Kia dealership in Stamford, Connecticut and filled out a computer-based credit application to figure out what kind of car she could afford. Soon after, she left without buying a vehicle, but ended up more than $17,000 in debt anyway.
Read MoreEric takes the train to work every day and is looking for some cheap transport just to get to the station and back home. He wants something that is functional but that also isn’t tempting for thieves. What car should he buy?
Read MoreFor those of you out car shopping this holiday season, you will likely see some dealers advertising some “free” giveaways with your car purchase. These things could include a TV, some oil changes, or even a free vacation. I hate to be the one to break this to you, but none of this stuff is actually “free.”
Read MoreThe 2018 Jeep Wrangler is easily the most important vehicle to come out this year. (It’s debatable whether the Tesla Model 3 is really “out” yet.) An American icon is being replaced, and fans have been nervous. Is the new Wrangler still a serious off-roader worth worshipping, or has it been watered down like almost every other SUV?
Read MoreWhen Volvo launched the new V90 and V90 Cross Country in US, the strategy was to offer Americans a Crossover-esque lifted version, while the “real” wagon had to be ordered. It turns out some dealers ordered V90s anyway, which means you can buy one without the wait. However, the option to order one directly from Sweden and score a trip to the country just to pick up your car might be too cool a deal to pass up.
Read MoreMatt has been living the #Jaloplife, and pouring his time into various project cars. He is looking for something that he can drive more than fix, and maybe even take to the track. What car should he buy!
Read MoreVolvo began its renaissance a few years ago, first with the big XC90 SUV and the big S90 sedan. They were followed by the midsize XC60, but the true test of the comeback would be the smaller 2018 Volvo XC40 crossover. But I have seen this entry-level luxury promised land, and it has been good.
Read MoreI never thought I would but I went out an bought a Honda Civic. It’s not a Type-R or even an Si. It’s a regular ol’ 2008 Honda Civic EX. I drive a lot and I wanted something I didn’t have to worry about. Please don’t hurt me in the comments.
Read MoreI’ve been wanting a Nissan Pao ever since I learned that they exist, and for many years the idea of owning one just seemed like an impossible dream. I’d like to have gills to breathe underwater, too, but at least those I wouldn’t have to import from anywhere. But now I look in my driveway and there sits a lovely 1990 Nissan Pao. I still can’t quite believe it’s real.
Read MoreFWD: It stands for Fun-Wheel Drive. Alright, technically it stands for front-wheel drive, but it’s fun-wheel drive in my mind.
Read MoreI’m feeling really good about the neural-enhancement chip I had that guy behind the CVS install in my brain. I just set the switch to PRESCIENCE on the (wired, unfortunately) remote, and it’s already started flooding my cyber-enhanced mind with visions of our automotive future! I’m going to get these down here as fast as I can, because it’s also getting really hard to stay awake and control my legs.
Read MoreThere are often, sadly, engines that have too little horsepower. There are often, disconcertingly, engines with too much horsepower. Through extensive and vigorous testing as an Automotive Journalist, I have determined the correct amount of horsepower.
Read MoreI’m not a very superstitious person, but with a Lamborghini you can never be too sure. If you want the car to keep running, some say you have to sacrifice your neighbor’s firstborn child to it. Others say differently.
Read MoreFor about the last year or so, we’ve been running a column here at Jalopnik called Countersteer. Every Tuesday, we’d ask you guys a question, you’d answer in the comments and every Monday, we’d collect our favorites responses from the previous week and package them, nice and neat, into a post for you.
Read MoreThat picture right up there is the answer to a question I’ve wondered about for years and years: was there ever a blatant knockoff of the iconic Volkswagen Beetle? Sure, there were plenty of cars “inspired” by or evolved from the Beetle: Fiats 500 and 600, Subaru 360, Porsche 356, Chevrolet Corvair, and so on. But until now, I wasn’t aware of any real, no-joke knockoffs. Then I learned about the Orix 610.
Read MoreIt’s that time of year again, the Lexus December To Remember Sales Event™ and I can’t be more excited. I hope my loved ones give me the gift of a new Lexus RX 350 with $3,699* due at signing. All I want for Christmas is another car payment for several years.
Read MoreThe world is not ready for the streets to be invaded by Linkin Park.
Read MoreI went to Dallas to talk to John Redding about the 1966 Datsun 1600 Roadster that’s been hidden away in his storage space for years. On my second evening there, we were standing in front of that storage space, and he wasn’t crying, but his voice was quivering. I asked him if he was okay.
Read MoreOne of Robert Zinn’s earliest memories is of riding around in the back with his two older brothers in a boxy economy car his father was trying to sell. The big sign mounted on the roof read “30 MPG,” but it was 1965 and gas was cheap, so nobody gave a damn. It was a perilous start to their father’s new business: selling cars in America from this relatively obscure Japanese company called Toyota.
Read MoreWhen I was a kid, my family had a massive, fake-wood-paneled 1973 Ford LTD Country Squire wagon. It was the size of a rural county and almost as nimble to drive. As an American car of the 1970s, it was laden with wreaths and crests and all sorts of synthetic heraldry. It also prominently featured badges with what appeared to be three very stylized cats on them. What the hell was that about?
Read MoreSilicon Valley is a beautiful capitalistic nirvana at the moment, where NOTHING IS NEFARIOUS OR WEIRD AT ALL WHY DO YOU ASK. But to get in on all that sweet, sweet venture capital cash, first you need ideas. We’ve got ideas alright.
Read MoreI’m not exactly sure why we’re not, collectively, freaking out more about the recent Pentagon reveals of the possible UFO/alien encounters and the admission that there’s special facilities around Las Vegas where “alien alloys,” still-unexplained materials from alleged alien spacecraft, are being stored and investigated. This is the kind of crap I’d daydream about, and now it seems like it actually may be happening? What the hell? And, most crucially of all, how can we use these alien alloys in c
Read MoreI’ve done this a couple of times before, but I never seem to get tired of doing it: getting pictures of cars at the auto show and averaging them together to get a sense of what the average car looks like. The results always have a strangely impressionistic look, but they almost never fail to look really, really average. Because that’s exactly what they are.
Read MoreFrom 1999 to 2006, Honda made a car called the Insight. From 2008 to 2014, Honda made a car called the Insight. And from 2019 onwards, Honda will make a car called the Insight. These have all been vastly different cars. This needs to stop.
Read MoreYou can spend a few hundred on a car or a few million. Whether or not these prices are justified is between you and your god, but it doesn’t change the fact that sometimes they are beyond our budget. So, what was the worst thing you did to yourself to make a car happen, or keep it running?
Read MoreSometimes, a car is meh because no one cared enough to make it more interesting. Sometimes, it’s meh because of a brutal campaign of blandization by innumerable committees and focus groups. In this case, the meh-ness stems from an actual attempt to de-meh a car, but that attempt was so half-assed that it actually backfired and super-meh’d the car all to Heck (remember, Heck is the Meh form of Hell). That car is the 1991-1995 Toyota Paseo.
Read MoreWhen I see something like a Lamborghini or a Ferrari, I go, “Well, there’s a car you can go fast in,” or “That’s a car to drive very slowly along the beach with,” or “The perfect vehicle to roll up to your high school reunion with!” I don’t ever think, “What a lovely vehicle to use as a robbery getaway car,” but cars get misused all the time, so I could be wrong.
Read MoreIf you had to imagine the ideal lineup for a car company, I suspect that most of you would come up with something like this: a tiny three-wheeled microcar called “the flying saucer,” a tiny knockoff Jeep, another microcar with four wheels, a Mercedes 190 SL knockoff, and a bizarrely misshapen sedan. Right? If that’s your list, then get ready to be delighted, because that’s pretty much what Kapi built.
Read MoreI’m disgusted. This is supposed to be the happiest, most joy-saturated time of year, and yet here I am, quaking with rage. I’m livid because once again an arrogant corporation with a clear agenda has decided to try and destroy one of the most fundamental and important traditions that make up the American experience. Starbucks’ 2017 Holiday Cup is an absolute slap in the face to all the good, decent people who observe Happy Honda Days.
Read MoreWhat happened to me? I used to be the sort of person that loved hearing about the flying cars we’d all enjoy in the future. The very idea was thrilling, the technology ingenious, the potential inspiring. But now, when we get emails about new flying cars like this one called the Switchblade, I find I’m just a cranky, bitter old bastard. Because I don’t believe any of this bullshit anymore.
Read MoreThe Tatra T87 was one of the great streamliners, built to cruise Europe’s first highways, a smooth, high-speed luxury express. What it was not built for is gridlocked Los Angeles traffic, something that was eminently clear as we all started to smell the car wildly overheat.
Read MoreYou know those companies that sell exotic car driving experiences? Where you can pay some money to drive a Lamborghini or Porsche or GT-R or a Corvette or whatever? Those are great, sure, and they give a lot of us time in cars we could never afford, but they come with a pretty deep inherent flaw. But I think I know a way to fix it.
Read MoreAs part of an effort by the Republican-led U.S. House and Senate to reconcile their legislation that aims to drastically cut taxes for the rich, the $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles is hanging in limbo. In a poorly-argued, haphazard piece, the Wall Street Journal editorial board says it should be eliminated, mostly because Republicans need to find a way to plug the gaping hole they’re creating by trying to cut taxes. This is an incorrect take.
Read MoreI know the picture I chose is of the new Land Rover Discovery traversing some water, and technically this Discovery was designed to do such a thing, but I have a hard time believing that any luxury SUV owner would use it in that way. Off-roading in a $50,000 SUV? File that under improper use!
Read MoreI know that the formula that usually works best for a Jason Drives episode is to cram myself into something tiny, obscure, ill-conceived, a bit dangerous, and very uncomfortable. I mean, who doesn’t want to see me struggle and hurt a little? This week is different. This week is the finale, so I’m treating myself. I’m driving a car I genuinely, unashamedly love, a real Class 11 desert racing Beetle.
Read MoreI know it sometimes feels like I pick on GM a lot for these meh car articles, but they just did such a stellar job at making some truly dull, forgettable automobiles. It’s a talent, really. A terrible, terrible talent. If you start feeling some pity for GM, then I’m going to implore you to jam a syringe of adrenaline in your sternum (to keep you awake) and look right at the last-generation Oldsmobile Cutlass. Still want to complain?
Read MoreMaybe I’ve been in Tokyo for too long, maybe we’ve all become desensitized to them in our age of Instagram and YouTube, but it’s fair to say that to stand out anymore, supercars have to be in unique specs. Thankfully, the supercar owners of Japan have no fear of modifying even the most expensive cars.
Read MoreCars are fun on their own, but what’s the point if you can’t share them with other people? Have good discussions? Share a laugh about head gaskets?
Read MoreAutomotive technology has come a long, long way since the 1920s, nearly a century ago, but one automotive development from that bygone era has never beens surpassed: the truly surprised-looking car. Lancia pulled it off first, with the perpetually-shocked-looking Lancia Lambda.
Read MoreThe winter holiday season is just about here and it’s almost time for you and your whole family to hop in whatever vehicle you chose for winter duty and travel across the country for all your various Hanukkah/Christmas/Festivus/etc family gatherings.
Read MoreFor a lot of people who are car shopping, the color is often just as important as the features. Of course, you want a car that fits your aesthetic tastes, but how much more would you be willing to spend to get the right color on your next ride?
Read MoreOccasionally, I am permitted to wander out from behind this computer screen and venture into the real world, where the rest of you and The Cars exist. Not as commenters behind usernames or mere photos of cars; real, living breathing people and machines to enjoy the company of. That’s where you can get into the actual culture of things.
Read MoreCar meets are a great place to meet people. Honestly, you go to a car meet to talk to folks. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s not so great. Just like meeting people anywhere!
Read MoreOur undying love for R34 Nissan Skyline GT-Rs will never truly be satisfied, but this pretty wallpaper of a rare 2000 V-Spec edition will do in the meantime. Only 1,200 were ever made. This one has a full Nismo body kit, HKS Hypermax IV coilovers, and rare Nismo LMGT4 wheels—and we like it.
Read MoreThanks to the colossal, world-gripping network of wires, pipes and pneumatic tubes that we call the “internet,” the ancient and exquisite art of the automobile brochure is rapidly fading into oblivion. That’s why it’s so important that especially noteworthy examples are preserved, like this 1960 brochure for the Volkswagen Type 2 bus, which VW liked to call a ‘station wagon.’
Read MoreEngines! Some – too big. Others – quite small. Whatcha need, my friend, is the Good Engine. The Goldilocks Engine. But how do you know which engine is just the right amount of engine? I have figured it out, and now I share my simple formula with you.
Read MoreIn case you didn’t know, Japan celebrates Thanksgiving Day, too. It’s not really the same as Thanksgiving in America, it’s more thanks for labour and production. But nevertheless at the end of every November the Japanese celebrate ‘Thanksgiving Day.’ I bring this up because right on the weekend following Thanksgiving was the annual NISMO Festival, a festival to give thanks to all the fans of Nissan and NISMO around the world.
Read MoreA resident in Fort Worth, Texas was sick of drivers plowing into his yard whenever it rains, so they decided to set up a video camera to capture the action as proof. It recently captured a Jeep Grand Cherokee nearly striking a pedestrian, who, remarkably, appears undeterred.
Read MoreOn Friday, SpaceX launched a rocket into space, freaking a lot of people out on the ground, some of whom thought it might be aliens. (It wasn’t.) Unsurprisingly, some drivers on the road were similarly caught unawares, likely leading to a pretty nasty collision.
Read MoreThere’s a reason the Dodge Viper is an endangered species. It has no sense of self preservation. It exists in a constant state of imminent eruption, like an unstable star about to enter supernova.
Read MoreKen Block, that guy who jumps vehicles and does dangerous stunts for a living, will be the law enforcement in some giant, off-road game of Cops and Robbers on Top Gear next season. This should go really well for the people getting chased.
Read MoreThe Grand Tour is officially done with Mike Skinner The American, but it needed a new hot shoe for track tests, and the awesome news is that the role’s gone to a woman for season two. She’s racing driver Abbie Eaton, but you wouldn’t know that from actually watching the show.
Read MoreThe world is getting more dangerous day by day, and who knows what horrifying realities await us in the future. If you truly want to be prepared when shopping for your next car, base your next purchase on the results of these crash tests with a 9,000 pound wrecking ball.
Read MoreAt last, the first episode of the second season of Amazon’s The Grand Tour aired last night. Armed with the knowledge that it would be the episode in which we see Richard Hammond’s Rimac Concept One crash, it cast a darkly anticipatory atmosphere over the viewing. But, despite a few snags, the episode generally wasn’t bad. It was just Top Gear.
Read MoreOver the summer, we learned of some very scary news that Richard Hammond had crashed while driving the all-electric Rimac Concept One supercar during the filming of the second season of The Grand Tour. In addition to putting him in the hospital, the crash also threw a lot of The Grand Tour’s filming schedule out of whack. They had to shuffle some stuff around to make everything fit, including the order of the episodes.
Read MoreIt’s been a little over a year since Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond returned to us with their new show on Amazon Prime, The Grand Tour. And this Friday, Dec. 8, the show will return for its second season. What are you hoping to see?
Read MoreOh, hello there. I will assume that you who are reading these words right now enjoy good things in life. For instance, a certain surge of joy potentially brought on by the appearance of the new Toyota Supra at the Detroit Auto Show. Well, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but it won’t be there. Sorry.
Read MoreThe Los Angeles Auto Show was alright. It had some fun cars, mostly there to drown in the sea of crossovers and SUVs that will one day swallow the planet. Our own Jason Torchinsky found cool stuff in the basement, but our editor-in-chief Patrick George summed it up as “depressing as shit.” A never-ending cavalcade of crossovers and reminders about our looming autonomous apocalypse.
Read MoreNineteen cupholders. Nineteen cupholders in a car that seats a maximum of eight people. That’s nearly 2.5 cupholders per occupant. Other publications, unaware of the importance of hydration, thought that perhaps this is too many cupholders. They are wrong.
Read MoreOut of everything that I saw at this year’s 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show, my favorite car was actually an SUV. I know, I’m surprised, too. But it was the 2019 Volvo XC40, a car you should really be paying attention to if you like very cleverly designed interiors filled with secret nooks and crannies for all your stuff.
Read MoreYes, it’s exactly what you think: Mitsubishi took the name of a sporty little car that was once great and stuck it on a new crossover to join all the other lumpy crossovers currently saturating our market: the 2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross. And while I could easily slip into a blind rage over the whole ordeal, I won’t. I’m going to wait to drive it. I want to give the thing a chance.
Read MoreThe 2017 Honda Civic Si is not the fastest car you can get for about $25,000. It is not the most powerful or the best handling. A Ford Focus ST would beat it in a drag race, a Mazda Miata would take it in the corners and a Subaru WRX would likely do both. But there is one thing the Civic Si has that’s better than almost any other car at any price range, and it has six gears and sits next to the driver.
Read MoreFor many people, seeing a Frenchman dressed as Santa Claus on a motorcycle usually means that Cirque du Soleil is in town, so be extra wary and trust nobody. This time, though, Motorcycle Santa is something of a hero, chasing down a terrible hit-and-run driver.
Read More“What do you mean, you don’t own a car?” The tall man in the cowboy hat asked, looking at me like I’d just landed from Mars or New York. He may have admired my sheer chutzpah, but I doubt it.
Read MoreThe 2016 Honda Africa Twin arrived with a whole lot of flash and fanfare. Here was a large, cool-looking adventure bike you could pick up from a dealership and ride around the world. One person’s actually doing that, and documenting their adventure online.
Read MoreNew riders have an idea of what motorcycling will be like. They are usually very wrong.
Read MoreJohn Portman, the architect behind GM’s famed Renaissance Center building, died on Friday at 93 years old-no cause was given-according to this report from the New York Times.
Read MoreI’m a big fan of Wybór’s videos on YouTube. He usually features an eclectic mix of Polish garbage cars on his channel, ostensibly stuff you could buy in-country for under $600. Usually the cars are rusty and rough, and would have been relatively inexpensive when they were new. Most of his videos are in Polish, but this one happens to be in English. Watch and enjoy.
Read MoreThe Alfa Romeo 4C is one of my favorite sports cars you can buy right now—light, loud, fast, laser-focused and kind of weird. But it gets endless grief from enthusiasts, usually those who haven’t driven it, because it has a DCT instead of a proper manual gearbox. Here’s some news from Alfa Romeo: the next one won’t either.
Read MoreIt makes sense that a proper rally car would be an excellent road car, if you think about it. They are softly sprung with a lot of suspension travel, they have smaller diameter wheels with tall tire sidewalls, and they’re usually based on hatchbacks with plenty of room to fit your shopping. As CarAdvice’s Mr. Fallah comments in the below video, “you could drive it every day if it wasn’t so loud.”
Read MoreMagnesium is an excellent metal to add to an alloy to make wheels. Because magnesium is 1.5 times less dense than aluminum, while retaining similar specific strength and damping capacities, it is possible to make a mag wheel lighter than an aluminum alloy wheel of the same strength. Particularly in the 1960s, magnesium racing wheels were en vogue. Though developed for motorsport applications, the mag wheel was soon adopted to street use by the enthusiast community. Given that this simple wheel d
Read MoreOne of the most heart-pounding motorsport events I attended all year was the Global Rallycross event at a small oval track in Indianapolis. The cars were quick, the drivers were cheerful and happy to interact with fans, and the racing action was tight and close. With qualifier races and lower-tier races going on, it was a full day of on-track battling, and it made for a great trip. Unfortunately, the grandstands were pretty empty.
Read MoreLooking a bit like an awkward and slack-jawed Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, the Jensen 541 was England’s non-Jaguar answer to the inline-6 sports car. Like the 300SL, this Jensen was the absolute king of speed, setting the record for four-place automobiles at 127 miles per hour, thanks to a low-for-the-time 0.39 coefficient of drag figure. The fastest Mercedes two-seater was capable of 160 MPH flat out, and featured a Cd of just 0.38. Differences between the two? The Jensen is crafted of lightwe
Read MoreRadwood is over this year, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t live on in our hearts. The Spirit of Rad is always active, even in the dead of winter. That’s why the Spirit of Rad has bestowed upon us a 1985 Subaru XT Turbo for sale on Craiglist for only $600.
Read MoreIt’s not exactly a replicator you can just look at and yell: “Floor mats. Mini. Make them say that ‘gas, grass, or ass’ thing” and out spits some very classy floor mats for your Mini, but this is pretty close. Mini is now offering a service called Mini Yours Customized that will let Mini owners order custom, 3D printed and laser-etched parts.
Read More“I don’t think it’s corrupt.” MTA board member Charles G. Moerdler told the New York Times for its most recent subway exposé, “But I think people like doing business with people they know, and so a few companies get all the work, and they can charge whatever they want.” Oh yeah. That’s definitely not corruption.
Read MoreWhat’s that, you say? Your new Bugatti Chiron got recalled? Didn’t you spend, like, $3 million on that silly thing? Oh, right, but it’s special. That’s why you paid so much for it. It’ll go 261 mph or something, which is definitely worth the $3 million. The poors can’t get that kind of speed on their lowly six-figure budgets.
Read MoreYou’ve probably seen a Nissan Pulsar NX Sportbak before, maybe on the weird side of town with half of its clear coat peeled away. You might not have realized that it was possibly the first and maybe the only modular car ever put into production.
Read MoreJason Torchinsky has a proclivity for the weirdest cars, and this may be his finest acquisition yet: over the holidays he got himself an imported 1989 Nissan Pao, the Bubble Era Japan take on the original Austin Mini and other European city cars. Come with Jason as he takes his first tour of the new Pao!
Read MoreThe year’s almost out, but I’m going to end it with a bang by bombing around Vermont in a sparkly brown 2017 Volvo V90 Cross Country, hopefully kicking off 2018 the right way. What do you want to know about it?
Read MoreI can’t remember the first time I ever heard the word “gearhead,” though it definitely wasn’t a thing my dad, an erstwhile car mechanic, ever said, though he did fit the definition. I suspect that the first rule of being a gearhead is that you never, under any circumstances, use the word when describing yourself.
Read MoreFor years I have been wearing the same, plain white racing helmet. Why? It’s not because I wanted a plain white racing helmet; it’s because I assumed that painting one was an arduous process only doable by professionals. And I’ve been wrong this whole time?
Read MoreIn case you’re not aware, there’s a larger-than-you’d-think group of gearheads who are literally counting down the days until the first-generation of Renault’s delightful city car, the Twingo, is old enough to be imported to America. These people are not wrong to feel this way. The Twingo is fantastic, and the more we can get over here, the better off we’ll be.
Read MoreAccording to Automobile magazine’s Georg Kacher, one of the very few to have driven Porsche’s sleek alabaster Mission E electric vehicle, the car will be offered at three power levels with the mightiest one coming in at an impressive 670 horsepower. That’s a lot of lightning-horses.
Read MoreClickbait this, clickbait that. “You guys only write blogs FOR THE CLICKS,” the demented commenters say. Unfortunately, we do want people to actually read the stuff we write, yet we have no control over what blows up and what does not. That is the will of the internet, and she works in mysterious ways. So, these are the stories that you—the deranged masses—read the most this year.
Read MoreIt doesn’t matter if you’re an amateur or an elite driver- drifting involves speed and high stakes. Except when it doesn’t, like when you have a frozen lake in a national park to drive on. These drifters are practicing sliding at walking speed, in quiet cars, and it looks like an absolute riot.
Read MoreThe new 2018 Mercedes A-Class, which is finally coming to America, is getting nice-ified with things like an upgraded suspension, according to Autocar. More importantly, it will also be available in two performance models, the AMG A35 and the AMGA 45. And while it’s not totally clear if those models are are also coming to the U.S., I’m hoping so.
Read MoreMichigan residents are accustomed to soul-crushing snow. For those in the northern part of the state, a snowmobile’s practically a prerequisite for living and getting around during the wintertime. But using a horse and buggy? For most of us, that’s an unusual look.
Read MoreI’ve never seen more imported cars in America than in this past year. Laurels, Skylines, Autozams abound. I’m sure that many of y’all who imported a car are even reading this, right now. What I want to know is how it all went for you.
Read MoreThis year has been good for the cars, and the cars have been good to us. Some of us at Jalopnik bought new cars. Others got rid of their cars. Some cars broke down, and some got fixed. It was a wild ride, but now is the season of making resolutions.
Read MoreLast year wasn’t so great for cars in movies, but 2017 more than made up for it. Here’s a rough list of our favorite cars in the movies that came out this year.
Read MoreAutomakers are great at hiring the most verbose, ostentatious people there are to handle flowery communications. It results in press releases, ads and really everything sounding like this: “[Such and such car is] a peerless combination of craftsmanship and technology, epitomizing the pinnacle of luxury travel.”
Read MoreWhile we are unable to confirm any official contract or agreement, it appears that Isuzu has landed a very important role for their NPR HD line of work trucks: blocking television crews from seeing President Trump golfing at his West Palm Beach golf club. This is a big win for Isuzu, and a very public one as well, with their truck getting lots of camera time that would ordinarily just be of President Trump in golf clothes.
Read MoreIt took Porsche the better part of a decade to complete the inimitable 959: twin-turbo, all-wheel drive and unbelievably fast. But the company had been beaten to the punch, by a lone Finnish man with a very yellow 911, 4WD and as quick as an F1 car.
Read MoreMeet the Xbee, which Suzuki says is pronounced “Cross-bee,” though I think “ecks-bee” is better. You can prounounce it however you like, of course. Suzuki had previously shown off concept versions of the car at Tokyo earlier this year; they announced on Christmas that the mix SUV/wagon you see above would hit the market.
Read MoreNürburgring records are like Motor Trend Car of the Year awards, but with actual value: Everybody participates, and getting the honor is like a giant promotional banner. There’s a Nürburgring record for almost everything, but some—like a record for towing a dang trailer the fastest—still manage to be surprising.
Read MoreYou know those strange, generic-ized car-chimeras you see in things like insurance company advertisements and body shop ads or ads for acessories like floormats? We usually think of those as products of the era of Photoshop, but they’ve actually been around much longer. I think these may be two of the earliest examples of this fascinating subspecies, automobilia generica.
Read MoreOld automotive lore tells us that a car’s oil should be changed every three months or 3,000 miles. That hasn’t been explicitly true for a long time, but I still find myself wary of claims that an engine’s lifeblood can last 20,000. But it turns out, there really is science behind that sticker on the bottle.
Read MoreOver five feet of snow has fallen on Erie, Pennsylvania, since Sunday evening, and the roads are a bit of a mess. But the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is working on that, and you can watch their efforts in real time.
Read MoreDiRT Rally is one of the toughest driving sims out there. (That makes sense, rally driving is one of the toughest forms of racing out there.) Anyway, here’s a kid playing like a pro, and he is a mere three years old.
Read MoreNot all supercar testing involves competitive lap times and precision driving. Some of the shakedown process is just about crash testing, driving off curbs and smashing priceless Koenigseggs with a hammer which, here, has been set to a party music montage and is awesome.
Read MoreResidents in Washington D.C.’s swanky Georgetown neighborhood are so fed up with the area’s new dockless bikeshare programs that they’ve taken to calling 911 over people who’re simply seen using the bikes.
Read MoreAustrian motorcycle maker KTM makes only one automobile, and it’s appropriately bonkers. The X-Bow (pronounced ‘cross-bow’ not ‘ecks-bow’, just a reminder) has been updated for 2018, with most of the changes thoughtfully made to keep the running costs down, since, you know, these things are usually bought as economy commuter cars.
Read MoreThe Aston Martin Vulcan, which there are only 24 of worldwide, is a track-only car for anybody with $3 million or so to toss aside. The car is so absurd that its price includes track days to teach owners how to handle it, but one owner decided to modify theirs to drive out on the public streets with us poors.
Read MoreOutside of Japan, Kenichi Yamamoto isn’t a household name. Not the way Henry Ford and Carroll Shelby and Lee Iacocca are. Yet most people who enter the auto industry don’t get to produce one of the greatest alternative engines ever made, or oversee the development of one of the most beloved sports cars of all time. Kenichi Yamamoto got to do both.
Read MoreModern automotive design and pedestrian safety regulations have all but eliminated hood ornaments, because as a culture we’ve decided when a car runs into us, we don’t want a chrome jaguar shoved up our hee-whoms. However history judges us on this decision only time will tell, but it did make me realize one important question: why were there never trunk ornaments?
Read MoreAfter World War II, when Japan didn’t have much oil on hand but could generate electricity well enough, the Japanese government asked its country’s engineers to try to make some electric vehicles. The Tokyo Electric Cars Company, which later became part of Nissan, obliged.
Read MoreLast week, The Atlantic put forth an interesting idea: in the future, what if we could hail a driverless taxi for free? Free sounds cool, but there’s a catch. You’d have to stop along your route at “sponsoring locations,” like a Whole Foods or Starbucks. The idea sounds hellish enough, but there’s virtually no way this is going to happen anyway.
Read MoreThere’s only so much us meager passengers can see during the final approach of a flight. Thanks to a new high-definition video, we’re able to get a glimpse of what it’s like inside the cabin of a Boeing 777 as it makes a descent toward New York City. It’s fascinating to watch.
Read MoreYou may remember earlier this month when we showed you some leaked CAD images of the upcoming mid-engine’d C8 Corvette. You may also recall that those images were proven to be real because GM’s lawyers told us, without really telling us so. Well, it’s happening again, but this time we’ve got an even better look at that engine that’ll be sitting, for the first time in a ‘Vette, right behind you.
Read MoreNavigation apps are supposed to make driving experiences better by suggesting shortcuts for commuters away from heavy traffic. But officials in one town in New Jersey—Leonia—say they’re actually dealing with extreme congestion because of apps like Waze and Google Maps. So next month Leonia’s set to ban drivers who don’t live there, except in limited circumstances.
Read MoreWant a nice metaphor to end out the year? As usual, the mad marsupial mess that is Australian wildlife provides an answer, in the form of a pair of adorable koalas blocking traffic as they desperately try to kill each other.
Read MoreEach day I wake up on my extravagant yacht, survey the aquamarine waters lapping at the hull and think to myself, “Damn, I should have bought that F310 Ferrari F1 car in 1996 when the dealer handed me the brochure.”
Read MoreThat oil change can definitely wait a few more months, right? After all, the gas powers the car and that’s the main thing that gets it from A to B.
Read MoreWe humans like motorsports because they combine all the best aspects of living—flying, leaping, speed, adrenaline—with our favorite pastime, sitting. Hare Scramble is the one motorsport that takes the joy out of all of it.
Read MoreFor a brief moment in the 1990s, GT1 was the top tier of international auto racing, with major manufacturers firehosing gigantic budgets into homologation special programs to conquer Le Mans. Also, there was this Lotus, sent with a handwritten approval to the FIA.
Read MoreJuly 1, 1998: the most hilarious bumper of all time is born. Take in the homologation special Mercedes CLK-LM, with the most canny, tacked-on bumper to ever grace a road car.
Read MoreHere’s an opinion that, based on the immediate response coworkers had when I first shared it, is sure to piss a few of you off: CDs are good—so good, that I’d argue they’re the ultimate medium for listening to music while you drive.
Read MoreIf you were a car nut growing up in the 1990s, you probably know just about every variant of the Lamborghini Diablo. There was the SV, VT, the S30 Jota, even the GTR. But you probably haven’t heard of an oddball called the Lamborghini 132 GT1.
Read MoreAny parent with kids who are into cars must also have drawing after drawing of the strangest and most wonderful imaginary vehicles taped to the fridge. Kids are not limited by things like logic or reality and it’s what makes them some of the most creative people on the planet.
Read MoreAdvan Wheels, a division of Yokohama Rubber Company, has been on the scene for decades, but rose to prominence in the US throughout the 1980s for building fresh off-the-wall wheel designs that fit the needs of import car enthusiasts. If you’re already going to be driving an oddball Japanese car, you may as well fit it with oddball Japanese wheels. Advan has built a bunch of strange looking wheels that I adore, and some of those will likely end up featured in this column in the future. For the mo
Read MoreLike many sports car fanatics, I was disappointed when Peugeot cancelled their LMP1 program in 2012. As their sales continued to decrease, it made less sense for the company to spend many millions continuing the sports car program, though their focus on rally continued. In 2014 the French manufacturer built a special car to race (and win) at Pikes Peak, and that kicked off an obsession with proper off-road point-to-point rally raid.
Read MoreMazda’s little two-seat sports car MX-5 has never sold in stratospheric numbers, most years just barely outselling Porsche’s 911. Mazda is a big company with more pressing matters, like figuring out how to add another CUV to their lineup. If they wanted to, their sports car model could just be treated as an after-thought, just floating along at dealerships unchanged for a decade, like Nissan does. The MX-5 actually matters to Mazda, however, as it holds the key to the company’s soul.
Read MoreThere’s a lot you can do to keep yourself entertained on lengthy road trips. Listening to music is always an excellent option. Podcast are great as well. Scintillating conversation. For me, it always has been and forever will be listening to stand-up comedy.
Read MoreNamed for company partners Charles Deutsch and René Bonnet, Deutsch-Bonnet is one of many oddball 1950s French automakers, though perhaps my favorite of the bunch. The company made their stamp on the market by building tiny lightweight runabouts for Le Mans and Mille Miglia competition. By comparison to the racers they produced, the fiberglass-bodied, 1400 pound, Panhard-sourced-two-cylinder, 65-horsepower HBR5 shown here was the company’s Grand Touring model, intended for more luxury-minded mas
Read MoreAn eBay user in Powder Springs, Georgia managed to get their hands on a 1985 TVR 280i. Also known as the TVR Tasmin, this British sports car was made in really small batches and according to the seller, only seven 280s were ever sold in the United States. If that’s true, this is one ridiculously rare car.
Read MoreHere’s some cheerful news just before the holidays: the mighty Audi R8 might be close to its demise, with no replacement in sight. As of now, this is just a rumor.
Read MoreI might get some flak for this but I truly believe the 4th generation Corvette is the best generation. Sure it had barely 200-horsepower out of a wheezing V8 when it debuted in 1984 but it also had pop-up head lights, saw blade wheels and looked like a shovel with t-tops.
Read MoreThe highlight of this, clearly, is Keanu Reeves, in medias res, yelling, “Shit!”
Read MoreTJ Hooker and other 1980s cop shows led many of us to believe that about 75 percent of police work involved hanging on to rapidly moving cars. Apparently that’s not exactly the case in reality. Except sometimes it is, as in this incident of a Florida cop who was sent to check out a possible overdose.
Read MoreNissan Canada’s finance arm is notifying more than one million customers of a data breach that led to personal information being accessed by at least one unauthorized person.
Read MoreI know the Bugatti Chiron isn’t normally considered a “green” car, but there’s at least one stage in its life where it does give something back to the environment: a burst of electrical power. Of course, it’s still fundamentally a ridiculous vehicle the capabilities of which virtually no one who buys it will ever remotely tap, but we got to give credit where it’s due.
Read MoreIf you missed the celebration of 1980s and ’90s cars and coolness known as Radwood 2, don’t worry: You can travel back in time with us right now and become one with nostalgic radness in gloriously grainy period correct video!
Read MoreInfiniti will be showing a new concept car at the Detroit Auto Show next month, and they decided to give us a little teaser look at it. It’s interesting, even if it does feel a bit like a fancy folded napkin or maybe a bit of intricate origami.
Read MoreAfter around $300,000 in laptops, smartphones, and other goods went missing from some postal trucks in Sweden over the summer, officials put cameras into trucks that they thought might be particularly inviting targets. They were right.
Read MoreMy Toyota Tacoma has proven to be a hard worker ever since I gave it a minor overhaul a while back. However, there are a few mechanical issues that I failed to address the first time around. Most Tacoma owners would probably grow used to them and say “that’s just how it is.” But I had to fix them.
Read MoreBefore the peanut gallery rises up to lambast me for stating the obvious, let me just say I had no idea this was a thing until this morning. We’re not all brilliant. Anyway, you might not know it, but if you’re renting a car for the holidays, take a look at your credit card benefits. Why? You might already have insurance for the vehicle.
Read MoreFollowing a blockbuster report in the New York Times, outlining years of sexual harassment at two Ford plants in Chicago, the automaker’s CEO issued an extensive apology on Thursday and said “we will learn from this and we will do better.”
Read MoreMike Mistry was just your regular old parking lot attendant, working for the local municipality, and now he’s been fired just because they found an incredibly famous king buried in his parking lot. Sad, but true!
Read MoreSafety is a big deal for car buyers and owners today. Most people check a car’s safety ratings and crash-test scores before buying, and if someone sees you drive without buckling a seatbelt, they’ll look at you like you just chugged an anthrax smoothie. But this wasn’t always the case. Once, a long time ago, consumers cared so little about safety they complained to congress to make their cars less safe.
Read MoreI don’t really care for winter sports. Sorry. I dislike wearing so many layers that I can barely move, how slippery the ground is and the cold. But, man, I do very much want to try bumper cars on ice.
Read MoreWhile Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been sending the Twitter masses to a weird voicemail and arguing with the rest, a California shop has been finishing a Model S limo conversion to sell. Bids are at less than the starting price of a regular-sized Model S, which sounds decent if you have extra garage space.
Read MoreMore environmentally friendly cars aren’t so friendly to the pedestrians around them, considering that they’re quieter than a Miata seller when you ask about the rust. Automakers are turning to fake noise because of that, and Mercedes has Linkin Park helping it come up with sounds for its AMG cars to make.
Read MoreAbout 200 workers at Dulles International Airport went on strike this week over what they say is low pay and their management’s refusal to recognize their union.
Read MoreDo you guys have a favorite M5? Because I do. I love the E60-generation, the one with the V10. If, next time you’re at a fancy dinner party and are trying to impress someone, this video will help you with a quick rundown of all the M5s ever made. You’ll make friends instantly!
Read MoreThe new TVR Griffith has all the ingredients that make it a perfect driver’s car: a 500-horsepower V8, a lightweight body, a manual gearbox. But what about the sound?
Read MoreMother of God, look at this thing. Look at it!
Read MoreMost of us definitely haven’t thought about what a car would do if we put other liquids in an engine that runs on gasoline. But cars are running on all kinds of stuff these days, right? Like electricity, and so on? That’s what I hear. It’s worth a try to put Coke in the tank, in case gas prices go up and we all get desperate.
Read MoreI consider myself something of a proponent of weird cars, and while the Hyundai Veloster never managed to be the best hatchback you could buy, I was always glad it existed in all of its three-door squat strangeness. Fortunately, unlike some brands, Hyundai is keeping the weird alive and the Veloster is coming back for a new generation. Here it is before you’re supposed to see it.
Read MoreIt’s cold, snowy and icy outside for a lot of us, so we go and swap our summer tires for the winter ones. It’s the safe thing to do... on ice and snow. Things are a little different on pavement.
Read MoreAnother person has been killed by an exploding Takata air bag inflator, bringing the total fatalities linked to the defect to 20.
Read MoreThe latest Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, has quickly proven itself to be one of the most trailblazing and divisive entries of the series. Ultimately, its few problems can’t overshadow its best moments, but one of the coolest moments in the movie brings up a common issue seen in many movies.
Read MoreEarlier today, it seemed like Elon Musk tweeted out his own phone number. But, after we called the number, it brought us to the same voice message that you get if you dial the number from a God of War Easter egg.
Read MoreAt the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, the electric Morgan 3-Wheeler, dubbed the EV3, captured our hearts. Unfortunately, there were some production changes along the way, but those are all settled up now and the company back on track with building the EV3. Fun.
Read MoreElon Musk, the world’s favorite space boy who will eventually colonize Mars and no longer need one of humankind’s “phones,” tweeted his number earlier. Oops.
Read MoreWhile automakers and tech developers race to deploy fully-autonomous cars on the road, one question that’s still being worked out is who’s liable in the event of a crash. Google’s self-driving car unit, Waymo, delivered one possible answer on Tuesday: it’s teaming up with an insurance provider to cover everything from personal items to medical benefits for passengers who use the company’s driverless cars.
Read MoreIn August, Ford announced it would pay up to $10.1 million to settle a racial- and sexual-harassment investigation at two Chicago plants. There were almost no details, but Ford said it “took appropriate action” against those violating policy. But as an extensive and damning New York Times investigation found, it wasn’t that simple.
Read MoreThe McLaren F1 is one of those cars that you would want to hang onto forever. This is because it is awesome, the rare piece of automotive history that actually lives up to its own hype. Repairs and maintenance aren’t cheap or easy—but at least they are somewhat more convenient now, and a new Road & Track story details the one man in North America certified for the job.
Read MoreLexus is going to unveil its newest concept car, the LF-1, at the Detroit Auto Show next month, but the brand is so excited it decided to release a little teaser of the car’s design, specifically, the front lighting signature.
Read MoreThe Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles got all of America as their Secret Santa gift-ee, and they’ve given us a wonderful gift: a list of all 330 rejected personalized license plates. Some suggest dirty words, or body parts you’re not supposed to show people in public! Some reveal a deep misanthropy among Ohioans! One says “BOOBIES!” There’s something for everyone.
Read MoreI think it’s fair to say that aside from a few hits like the 190E, Mercedes-Benz’s entry level car offerings tend to not be as inspiring as the bigger sedans, coupes and roadsters. The best thing about the AMG CLA45 is the motor, and as for the non-AMG CLA... I’d advise you to pass on that one. But Mercedes has a new A-Class small sedan coming soon and it’s headed to America too. We know one thing about it: on the inside, it looks pretty sharp.
Read MoreThe internet is great because it speeds up the spread of information like never before. Unfortunately, it also allows for the spread of very bad and stupid information. The latest crock of shit to come across Idiot Twitter is unsubstantiated rumors that Antifa sabotaged an Amtrak passenger train, causing it to derail in Washington State early this morning. This is not true.
Read MoreThe scene Monday along Interstate 5 in Washington was stunning: train cars dangling over the freeway, vehicles underneath crushed to bits, survivors who were given a commemorative lanyard for the ride left screaming and having to kick out windows to escape. A train along Amtrak’s Cascades route, somewhere between the cities of Lakewood and Olympia and hours into its inaugural ride, abruptly ended in what appears to be one of the worst wrecks for Amtrak in years. By the afternoon, the casualty to
Read MoreTop Gear’s Chris Harris isn’t sure how to feel about Honda. It had its good days, back in the second generation of its front-wheel-drive Civic Type R, but lost its charm for years afterward. But the new car is so good that Harris wonders if one of its biggest competitors, the Ford Focus RS, needs to power all four wheels.
Read MoreThis crossover doesn’t look like much. From some angles, it could be mistaken for a Nissan Murano, or some kind of Citroën. And while it also runs on electricity, it lacks the visual drama of a Tesla Model X. But Chinese newcomer NIO may just succeed where other once-cash flush startups have failed, and the fact that the ES8 looks pretty normal may just help with that.
Read MoreWhen you read that someone accidentally shoved a gas pump nozzle into the wrong car-orifice and pumped gas into places of the car it’s never supposed to go, causing an explosion, most people’s reaction is to assume the driver’s an idiot. In this case, though, involving a 2005 Smart ForTwo, I think at least part of the blame has to go to the design of the car,
Read MoreYou’re probably familiar with at least one Led Zeppelin song. Perhaps you’re not familiar with singer Robert Plant’s 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Coupe. If you happen to be in the market for one, Plant’s selling his off.
Read MoreAmtrak passenger train 501 derailed onto Interstate 5 this morning, according to CNBC. First responders are reportedly treating the incident as a “mass casualty incident,” though there is no official announcement regarding injuries. The derailed train is blocking the southbound lanes of the interstate. Update: At least six have been reported dead. Seventy-seven have been taken to the hospital.
Read MoreA number of images purporting to be CAD designs of what’s been dubbed the “mid-engine Corvette” leaked last week, but despite how real they looked, there was no way of knowing for sure if they actually came from someone affiliated with General Motors. Until now! Late Friday, a lawyer working on behalf of GM inadvertently confirmed that these drawings are real.
Read MoreHumans are historically and foolishly bad at heeding a warning in a letter, going to a shop and having their car repaired for free. That’s called “getting a recall done,” and people are so terrible at it that Honda employees are going to homes telling customers to take their potentially explosive Takata airbags seriously.
Read MoreIn another sign of our dystopian present, ambulance rides drop a whole bunch once Uber becomes available in a locality. It turns out even a $100 Uber ride is a hell of a lot cheaper than calling something with life-saving care in it.
Read MoreI’m all for toy cars. Hell, at least 75 percent of my kid’s Hanukkah haul is toy-car related. And while I know Playmobil makes some very nice toys, and their toy Porsche 911s look especially fun, what with their illuminated headlights, taillights, and even dash instruments! But a Porsche dealership toy? What kid is into this?
Read MoreThe Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport experienced a power outage around 1 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon, stranding thousands of travelers and grounding as many as 100 flights, reports ABC News. An underground fire caused extensive damage to Georgia Power’s electrical facilities that serve the airport, but the exact cause of the outage has not been officially confirmed yet. [Update: Power’s back on now.]
Read MoreAs a young automotive enthusiast, one of the first cars that I fell head over heels for was Alois Ruf’s wild and powerful turbocharged CTR “Yellowbird”. By virtue of playing with the Ruf in Gran Turismo 2, and later by watching Faszination Nurburgring on a VHS passed to me at an autocross, it didn’t take much more for Ruf to become my favorite auto ‘manufacturer’. My dog’s name is Alois.
Read MoreWhether you’re getting into the holiday spirit or you’re a soldier in the war on Happy Honda Days, many Americans have already hauled their dead evergreens into their homes to decorate them with shiny plastic and memory-ascribed baubles. Some cool car folks are not above strapping their tree to the roof of their car, super or otherwise, in order to tote it home. What’s the fun in having it delivered or renting a pickup?
Read MoreFor decades we’ve been told that Americans just won’t pay for premium luxury in compact sedans like the Europeans frequently do. In recent years we’ve seen BMW’s 2 Series and Audi’s A3 sell in decent enough numbers to buck that tradition, but nothing smaller (or less expensive) than the CLA-Class has been available from the three-pointed star.
Read MoreEverything about this ‘Kustom’-ized George Barris Ferrari screams early 1980s car culture harder than naming Chrysler’s Aries and Reliant Car of the Year. The caramel brownie motif is totally mondo when slathered over custom wide bodywork and a set of extra-wide gold Epsilon/Southern Ways mesh wheels.
Read MoreBoeing’s 747 is perhaps the most iconic commercial airplane of all time. Introduced half a century ago in 1968, it was a technological marvel and a dependable workhorse. Through that time, they’ve built more than 1,500 of these winged beasts. Production has recently dropped way off, and Boeing’s customers have stopped buying them. As such, Delta Air Lines will retire its last remaining 747 this Tuesday following its last Seoul-to-Detroit route.
Read MoreHan Solo’s Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars movies is about as recognizable as Darth Vader or a lightsaber. It’s a smuggling ship, hot rod and plot device all rolled into one. After all, it’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. It also shares some similarities with another famous and strange looking vehicle, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. While it’s important to note that one of them is fictional, both served their star systems well. Both the Millennium Falcon and the P-
Read MoreThe Toyota 86 (GT86 everywhere else in the world) is getting a new “GT” trim. While it does very little for performance, it make the little rear wheel drive coupe a little better to drive and a little more bearable when sitting in traffic.
Read MoreHave you ever thought that Jeeps were too mainstream? Well this UAZ 469B may be the vehicle for you. Those capitalists over at Jeep don’t have anything on good communist craftsmanship. This UAZ isn’t the run-of-the-mill truck you’d see down at the local party headquarters. This one has a secret under the hood. It’s powered by a five-cylinder diesel engine straight from a 1982 Mercedes 300D. The listing even states that it was installed by a “Russian Military Expert.”
Read MoreA good portion of the United States is under a blanket of snow at the moment but that doesn’t mean you have to stop driving. Sometimes you gotta hop in your older brother’s Honda CR-V and whip it around the empty cul-de-sac a few streets over while you “learn” how to drive in the snow. Everyone needs a winter beater car that will get you through the cold months.
Read MorePut on your blindingly white racing gloves and hop in the seat of the “most advanced” vehicle the world has ever seen. It’s the newest Chevrolet Corvette, and with its pop-up headlights and computer activated manual transmission, you’ve never felt anything like this before.
Read MoreWhat’s the most important thing to bring on an off-road adventure? Wrong. It’s a sense of humor. And, maybe, a willingness to have a plan B... through Z.
Read MoreJohn Frye is a Digital Modeling Group Leader at Honda. He’s a professional automotive designer. That means when he decides to do a little bit of imaginative automotive artwork for fun, it ends up being the sort of thing that grabs your attention and makes you feel funny way deep in the car-glands. He’s been working on a series of model boxes of autonomous F1 cars from an alternate reality, and they’re fantastic.
Read MoreThere’s no shame in faking it ‘til you’re making it, and what better way to fake it than by driving a genuinely nice and enjoyable ride. This is good for self confidence, impressing a date, impressing your friends, impressing your parents, and possibly most importantly, impressing your colleagues and superiors.
Read MoreSome people decorate for the holidays. A smaller margin go so far as to decorate their vehicles, too. This is inexplicable, and now there is science, courtesy of GM, detailing how inefficient and bad those tacky dollar-store antlers, bows and wreaths can be.
Read MoreYou know what are nice? Tailgates. You know what’s not nice? That tailgates are all-but entirely restricted to trucks and SUVs. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Read MoreFew things are as wild as they seem—looking at you, vinyl-wrapped enthusiast cars on Craigslist that end up being stock automatics—but this Toyota Supra is. Not only is it a V12 that’s hit 222 mph and looks like a knockoff Ferrari 488 in the front, but the owner who tuned it also got rather good at being arrested in it.
Read MoreA federal judge on Friday blocked Michigan from suspending driver’s licenses for motorists who can’t pay traffic fines or fees, the Detroit Free Press reports, stopping, for now, a fucked-up practice that could trap residents in poverty.
Read MoreIf “living the dream” had its own entry in the dictionary, you’d probably see a photo of Pat Long, Jeff Zwart and the rest of the Luftgekühlt crew hovering around their latest build. This is the LuftAuto 002 1987 Porsche 3.2 Carrera build, and it’s a perfect 911 built for the dirt.
Read MoreAbout a month ago, I took a trip down to Richmond, Virginia, to visit a very special 1957 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster. The car itself is spectacular, but this one also has an incredibly well-documented history that adds to its story.
Read MoreWas the Mercury Capri RS the best Fox-platform car? This couple certainly thought so. And I believe them.
Read MoreSo we didn’t get a new Toyota Supra at any of the auto shows in 2017, and it doesn’t appear to be coming to the Detroit show next month either. At this point I’m all but convinced it exists only internally so Toyota employees can rip burnouts as a stress-relief exercise. But! Something interesting and unexpected is coming to the Tokyo Auto Salon in January from Toyota’s Gazoo Racing.
Read MoreIn these dark days when everything seems impossible, hope is rare and days are short, we need a guiding light to show us the way, the light, and the path of vehicular ridiculousness. This Detroit driver is clearly that man.
Read MoreDo you feel that? The numbing pain left behind when a small piece of your soul has been extracted and crushed, never to return to your body again? If not, then perhaps you don’t have any soul left to crush. Understandable.
Read MoreOkay, so, special edition cars: they’re guaranteed to be more expensive and exclusive. Look no further than the Porsche 911 R and the Global Mazda MX-5 Cup to see my point. I was expecting some markup on the 2018 Subaru WRX STI Type RA and the BRZ tS, but I still balked after seeing the prices.
Read MoreProduction on a new line for the Alpine A110 has finally begun, its owner Renault said Thursday. The reborn brand hopes to make around 6,000 cars yearly, though only 1,955 for an initial limited-edition run to commemorate 1955, the year Alpine was founded. This is all good news, since some cars, like the old and new Alpines, just make you happy.
Read MoreTypically, people or companies on Twitter get chided for saying dumb things. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation was taken to task for something seemingly more benign, but still important to note: the agency violated an anti-lobbying provision when it retweeted and liked a tweet, according to a federal watchdog.
Read MoreYour fireproof racing suit has gotten impossibly filthy, and it needs to be washed. But that terrifies you, because what if you do it wrong and wash away all the fire retardant material and the way you find out that you messed up is when you’re actually on fire. Not to worry, A Clean Person is here for you!
Read MoreA few weeks back, we wrote about how John Hennessey said he’ll be able to break the 300 mph with his planned Venom F5 supercar. We found that it’s extremely unlikely that the F5 could make 300 mph on the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires the car currently uses. John Hennessey himself reached out to us to discuss this, and here’s where he stands on the speed claim now.
Read MoreGood Lord, the Polestar 1 looks great. And rather than merely staying as Volvo’s performance arm, now Polestar is its own electric performance brand. You’ll be able to order one of its cars in 2019, but only if you live in one of its five initial launch markets.
Read MoreCars that are not supposed to go off-road, made to look off-roady, are so hot right now. Who can blame us for going nuts over a Porsche 911 on all-terrain tires, though? The absurdity is just too delightful. But if you can’t bare to rip up a real one for Fury Road, this small-scaled version is pretty sweet.
Read MoreAs a pack of car dorks, I’m sure you know all about badge engineering. Just in case you took a blow to the head and forgot, here’s a reminder: it’s when a carmaker decides to re-badge the same car under a different brand and model name for byzantine, unknowable reasons, and somehow sell it and make more money. It happens all the time. There’s a Korean company, though, that has quietly made the biggest advancement in badge engineering ever: Brenthon.
Read MoreIf you have dreams of getting extremely sideways but don’t quite have the courage to try and slide your car inches from a wall, believe it or not you can start by doing donuts. And luckily for you, Formula D pro drifter Ken Gushi has some tips for us on how to make a sweet tire-slaying circle. Pay attention to him and you’ll be burning rubber beautifully in no time.
Read MoreIf you ever wondered what a transportation planner’s fever dreams looked like, well here you go. This is what it looks like being on galaxy brain.
Read MoreWell, we all knew this was coming. Despite Dodge’s best efforts to mitigate the bonkers markups on its insanely hyped Dodge SRT Challenger Demon, there was bound to be at least a few stores that would attempt to make huge profits on this rare muscle car.
Read MoreOn a post over at the CorvetteForum website, a poster named Firebirdfan proves to be remarkably prescient when they predict that “Give it 2 hours, this will be all over Jalopnik...” because, holy crap, look what’s happening. The reason this post is being referenced here is because it’s full of allegedly leaked CAD images of the new C8 mid-engined Corvette. And that’s exciting.
Read MoreIn 2016, a group of designers in the Netherlands set out to transform a Tesla Model S into a hearse, which is a very smart idea. The same group behind that concept, RemetzCar, is now putting out a limited run of Model S station wagons. They look sharp!
Read MoreThe 2017 Fiat Punto became the first car to ever get zero stars in the European New Car Assessment Programme’s crash testing, the safety organization said Wednesday. That’s not a great score, and the necks of these crash-test dummies will probably be hurting in the morning.
Read MoreAn explosive investigation into corruption at the Detroit Police Department blew open on Wednesday, when authorities announced that four officers pleaded guilty to extortion charges related to the scheme, while two more were indicted on separate charges. The officers accepted bribes from auto collision shops in town, the feds allege, in exchange for stolen and abandoned vehicles recovered by the city.
Read MoreAfter Ford announced its new plan to slash costs and dump money into electrification earlier this year, changes are already starting to happen. EV production is moving to Mexico, the Flat Rock assembly plant will become an “AV center of excellence” and, allegedly, Fusion production will soon move to China, though Ford denies that.
Read MoreCheck that out! It’s a toy Nissan 370Z, the car that’s been around longer than that fridge magnet you made in kindergarten but is kind of cool because of that, bathing in a miniature car wash Nissan uses to test its paint durability. How rad is that?
Read MoreLamborghini recently came out with an SUV called the Urus, not to be confused with “uterus,” although the two sound very similar. The SUV now has its own line of fashion, luggage and model cars, because we’re all supposed to give into the idea that certain brands make us more important than we really are.
Read MoreWe humans are so inclined to just throw things away after they’re not pristine anymore. That’s especially true of cars, even well-loved and well-worn ones that could still work just fine with a little love and care. And this video will make you feel less inclined to dump your old beater car for something shiny and new.
Read MoreThe day is coming, and we all know it. The day when Lexus will finally give up on on its snarly, naturally aspirated V8 in favor of something more powerful, yes, but also turbocharged. It was inevitable.
Read MoreHere’s a tweet from a few of days ago that I saw last night that made me laugh, and also made me reevaluate how I deal with road rage.
Read MoreThis came back home from my son Otto’s first-grade class. It was a Thanksgiving assignment, where he had to write what he was thankful for.
Read MoreSome people like to open a window or turn off the heat in the bedroom before snuggling up under the covers when going to bed in the winter. What if you could take that sensation with you anywhere you went?
Read MoreA company called Ares is out to reskin the Lamborghini Huracan to look like a “modern” DeTomaso Pantera, pop-up headlights and everything. How could you ever look at a Huracan the same?
Read MoreI just watched Baby Driver for the first time recently, and one of the problems in that movie is the cars aren’t bulletproof enough. Everyone would have had a much easier time if there were rolling around in the Mercedes-Maybach S 600 Pullman Guard. Now there’s a real armored car.
Read MoreBelieve it or not, in the United States, Volkswagen’s best-selling model is still the Jetta. Yes, even as sedan sales implode, and even with the Golf being as good as it is, and even with two new SUVs newly embiggened and competitively priced for the American market, and even though the compact sedan itself is quite old at this point, the Jetta is what we spend our dollars on the most.
Read MoreMore than two years after Volkswagen came clean on how it managed to skirt diesel emissions tests, we’re still learning about new ways it used so-called defeat devices. Like on Tuesday, when Germany’s automotive watchdog announced a recall of VW Touaregs that were apparently equipped with defeat devices.
Read MoreWhile you, mere mortal of average income whose bank account cyclically drops faster than those amusement-park rides, sit in your living room and think about how unfortunate your upcoming monthly bills are since it’s the holidays, the wealthy inhabitants of this world are buying more and more Ferraris.
Read MoreI’m not sure if I’ve plunged into some truly depraved tier of hipsterism or if I’m just still high off the fumes from Radwood 2, but this week I had an epiphany: cassette tapes are the best way to listen to music while driving.
Read MoreBy now we all know not to expect too much logic or reason from Craigslist. We know Craigslist is a deviant subset of humanity, sometimes an ideal place to find beater cars or dusty mid-’70s pong games, sometimes a terrifying hive of vice and exposed genitalia. This time, it’s a place where a strange serial Volkswagen Passat TDI wagon thief seems to be active.
Read MoreThe 90s! What a time. Cell phones were still new. CDs were a big deal. The world wide web was in its infancy. On the internet, things looked basic. And that was cool! For instance, auto.com—check out that stylish layout up top!
Read MoreI don’t think I need to remind you, but blades and guns are not allowed in your carry-on luggage. TSA will find it, TSA will confiscate it and TSA will shame you in a hilariously savage Instagram post. If you’re still not following them at this point, you should. It’s the best account.
Read MoreRecently, Rolls-Royce had recording artist Skepta get in the back of a Phantom and record a song for a promotional video. It was meant to show how silent the car is—enough to be used as a recording studio—but it seems to also be so quiet that no one could hear their common sense telling them to put on a seat belt.
Read MoreMost cop cars have a big metal-and-rubber push bar mounted to the front bumper. While it’s easy to imagine how the bar could be used, it’s rare to actually see it in action. That’s part of what makes this video so interesting: it’s a good example of why those things can be so handy, especially if you have to, say, shove an overturned car out of traffic like this CHP officer did.
Read MoreLeaving an unattended car running is almost like painting a giant bullseye with “THEFT” in the middle on it, but it’s a conscious choice that people can freely make—for now, at least. A Florida state representative wants to charge theft victims with a crime if their cars are left running with the keys in them.
Read MoreLong name, tiny car. I’m off to drive the 2018 Smart ForTwo Electric Drive Cabrio. I love weird, quirky, teeny city cars, and the Smart car has always been as close to a mass-produced microcar that the U.S. gets in modern times. The new one even looks properly cute! So, what do you want to know about it?
Read MoreYes, that is an oddly specific fantasy, but when you watch this short film you’ll understand. And you’ll want to be there.
Read MoreThere was a time when you could buy a heavy-duty Chevy Suburban from a dealership, with diesel power and healthy payload and pulling capacity to go with it. Now, GM won’t sell them to civilians. But independent outfits are doing the lord’s work and making their own.
Read MoreImmense wildfires are still ripping across southern California this week. This video from what seems to be the cab of a CalTrans plow truck clearing paths firefighters and rescuers is particularly harrowing.
Read MoreMiami-Dade police issued 123,731 traffic citations in 2015. So far this year, they’ve given out 76,563. Part of the reason for that massive dip, according to The Miami Herald? Police are running out of paper tickets.
Read MoreA couple weeks ago, we sponsored one of the greatest car shows that I’ve personally ever been to: Radwood 2. Together, with the guys from podcasts Driving While Awesome!, Cammed & Tubbed and Clutchkick, we threw down a show absolutely filled to the brim with 1980's and 1990's cars. Some people got super into it with the period-appropriate dress. Richard Chen got really into it—enough so that he got law enforcement involved.
Read MoreThe $207,900 Range Rover SVAutobiography is comfortable, of course. It’s also optimized for lazy passengers. The amount of motorization in the back seat of this thing is absolutely awesome if you’re an indolent millionaire, and probably the opposite if you’re the fourth owner trying to keep all these electronics alive.
Read MoreYou can buy a USB adapter for your car’s 12 volt cig lighter plug for a couple bucks. But if you spend just a tiny bit more time and money, you can have a charging port that looks clean enough to have come from the factory.
Read MoreWhen you take a regular Mercedes-Benz car and give it a fat engine, big power and lots of fancy performance bits, you get an AMG. When you take a regular AMG coupe and make it even more aggro and faster, then you get a Black Series. And four of them will be for sale very soon!
Read MoreWe’ve heard for a while now that hackers are taking advantage of keyless entry systems to steal modern cars in what are known as “relay attacks.” And while some folks are using old-school methods like steering wheel locks to shield themselves, there is a much simpler method.
Read MoreThe McLaren F1 is legendary for reasons that barely need repeating anymore. Fastest car in the world for over a decade. Most expensive car in the world for over a decade. Best car in the world forever and ever, blah blah blah. Less commonly known is just how much of an insane drain it is on the bank accounts of even the uber-wealthy who own one.
Read MoreI really don’t understand how some people end up in politics. Sometimes you see decisions made that are so idiotic, so destructive, and just so wrong that is makes you wonder how the people behind them could even get elected to clean a toilet. This time, I’m specifically baffled by the mayor of the French city of Béziers, and his decision to use the theme of a woman about to be murdered as a way to promote a high-speed rail line to the city.
Read MoreOn Saturday, a nearly 12-minute video went on YouTube claiming to investigate its title: “Where are the Car Girls?” But the answer to that question couldn’t be found in the video. Instead, it was in the comments section—where a wider, more telling representation of the car industry decided to show up.
Read MoreOver the weekend, a picture of a big slab of metal with a bas-relief snake appeared on Instagram. Importantly, this time the image wasn’t of a belt buckle, but seems instead to be the pulsating, 5.2-liter V8 heart of the upcoming 2019 Ford Mustang Shelby Cobra GT500.
Read MoreIn Tokyo, you can dress up as Mario or Luigi or Wario or whatever Mario Kart character you desire (Toad is clearly the best Mario Kart character and has been for 25 years) and drive the streets in a real go-kart that looks very similar to what appears in the game. You can do this without a helmet and seat belt, too, though that will soon be changing.
Read MoreI spent a great deal of last week reading about wonderful, er, liberal interpretations of the rules in motorsports, but by chance I happened upon one of my favorites that I’d completely forgotten about. And it involves parts getting shoved in the trunk.
Read MoreNew York Police have a male suspect in custody after an explosion Monday morning in the subways below the Port Authority bus terminal in midtown Manhattan, leaving four injured. Police arrested Ullah Akayed, 27, a Brooklyn resident who came to the U.S. seven years ago from Bangladesh, an NYPD spokesperson told Jalopnik. It appears as if some sort of homemade pipe bomb strapped to the suspect’s chest was used, the spokesperson said, however the type of explosive has not yet been confirmed.
Read MoreThis is a simple wheel design, but it’s so crisp and clean that it works on many different cars, marking the sign of a good vintage wheel design. While this is a very 1990s design style with curved surfaces, prominent center cap logos, and simple split-spoke sensibilities, the BBS RK works quite well in juxtaposition to 80s wedge and straight edged automobile designs.
Read MoreGeneral Motors has plans to introduce carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic materials in their ‘lightweighted’ pickup truck beds as an effort to meet increasingly stringent fuel economy standards and customer expectations, according to this report from Automotive News. Now how about those bear cage commercials?
Read MoreThis 212 Inter has an extraordinary history. Not only is this car outfitted with tremendous one-off Ghia bodywork and gorgeous paint work, it was built as the 49th of just 73 examples, used as a Paris Motor Show display car, and was owned by infamous Argentinian dictator, Juan Perón. And now it’s for sale.
Read MoreIf you’re familiar with Jeep’s long running JK-generation Wrangler, you’ll know that it’s quite difficult to fold the windshield if you want to go proper off-road spec. For the new 2018 Jeep JL, they’ve remedied that, and made it quite simple to not only remove the roof, but fold the windshield forward in just about 5 minutes. You’re going to see a lot more Wranglers with the roof off in the near future.
Read MoreThe Pagani Zonda is famous for being an absolutely unhinged AMG V12-powered track car with seemingly dozens of “Final Editions.” Pagani sought to preserve this legacy by announcing a program by the name of Pagani Rinascimento. It’s a program that seeks to restore early Zondas in painstaking detail.
Read MoreI’m certainly not breaking any new ground when I say that a lot of hybrids lean towards the boring side. With a few exceptions, the styling tends to fall somewhere between “egg” and “space egg.” But what if you wanted a car that looked like someone made a Blade Runner prop out of a late-90s Honda? Then this 2000 Honda Insight located in Camarillo, California might be for you.
Read MoreMcLaren Cars is known for making very fast road cars. Emphasis on the “road” part. Easy to drive, quiet when you want them to be, almost supple. This is not that. This is not that at all. This is the McLaren Senna, and it’s here to crush every single track day.
Read MoreThe newest member of the McLaren Ultimate Series has dropped a little earlier than expected, appropriately dubbed the McLaren Senna. This isn’t the three-seat layout car we’ve been hearing about, but it’s still really exciting.
Read MoreHave you ever wanted to own a tiny 4x4 that looks like Grimace and would make doves cry? Well now is your chance. Someone in North Hollywood is selling their 1996 Suzuki X-90.
Read MoreIn the late 1970s, the US Department of Energy had the ambitious plan of jumpstarting the electric car ecosystem by financing different electric car companies. This grand idea fizzled out quickly because the technology just was not where it was supposed to be. Electric car technology decades ago consisted of throwing some car batteries in the back of a hatchback and calling it “science.” It was decades before Tesla and the Nissan Leaf were household names and electric car choices were limited to
Read MoreWith winter comes cold weather and snow. In fact, this year it’s started snowing in areas that don’t even usually get snow. Luckily Subaru has you covered with all the four-wheel-drive, light piano accompaniment and vague weather related threats you could ever want with their 1990 lineup.
Read MoreLancia gained true fame in the United States when Top Gear declared it the one maker that had the most truly great cars. And they weren’t wrong – the 037, the Stratos, and the Delta Integrale among the greats. Lancia’s mostly thought of as a dead company, but it still exists. Just barely.
Read MoreIf you’re Chris Harris, host of Top Gear and one of the most prolific motoring journalists working today, and you somehow haven’t reviewed the super quick Tesla Model S, you’re going to need to save face—like racing it against the incredible Porsche 911 R.
Read MoreA couple of weeks ago, I had an unexpected yet important thought: My mother, not wanting to hear what people think about her car-buying tendencies, often keeps it to herself until a car’s been bought. Selfishly, I realized her 2008 Mazda Miata could disappear at any time, and asked her to offer it to me first.
Read MoreNever, ever point a laser pointer at an aircraft. Your cat’s favorite toy can blind the pilots aboard that aircraft, who will not be pleased. One man in Pasco County, Florida, somehow came up with an even worse idea: pointing a laser pointer at a police helicopter, which then promptly landed to arrest him for it.
Read More“Please help Elon,” Farhan tweeted, after announcing to Twitter he had to climb in through the other side of this car when his Tesla’s door handles busted for the third time.
Read MoreHere’s a hot tip for you motor-car piloters out there: that big window right above the steering-direction torus is a fantastic way to see what kinds of things you’re about to drive into! I just wish I had a chance to give this hot tip to this Audi driver on the Casco Bay Bridge in Portland, Maine, before this happened:
Read MoreCalifornia is weathering the worst fire season many of us have seen out here and responders are still inundated with heavy work. One question I keep seeing, besides “remember Volcano?”, is “why are the firefighting planes dropping red water?” Well, there is a reason. And that’s not just water.
Read MoreIn January, the Obama-era U.S. Department of Transportation laid out a proposal that would’ve required airlines and ticket agencies to disclose baggage fees “as soon as passengers start the process of buying a ticket,” reports The Hill. This week, for reasons I can’t even begin to grasp, President Donald Trump’s transportation department scrapped the idea.
Read MoreRadwood 2, the 1980s and 1990s car show we co-sponsored, had an incredible amount of fantastic, rare, and unexpected 1980s and 1990s rides. It was glorious. But, amid all that glory, there was also a fierce concentration of madness, centered over a strange, second-gen Mazda RX-7 with color-shifting paint and a small chimney on its hood.
Read MoreSnow is truly the great equalizer that doesn’t care what kind of car you have. You could take David’s totaled Kia Rio out in the slippery white stuff and have a ball. Snow will make you a donut superstar anyway. To demonstrate this fact, here is a delightfully loud Porsche Cayenne GTS getting sideways. Enjoy.
Read MoreA subsidiary of construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar cheated customers for years by doing unnecessary repairs to railcars, according to the Wall Street Journal. They also dumped brake shoes into the ocean to hide evidence in the case, the culmination of a years-long investigation.
Read MoreHonda has spent time and effort to build a set of robot concepts “engineered to advance mobility and make people’s lives better,” one of which shows empathy and compassion to humans through “facial expressions.” In other words, Honda has spent time and effort to build artificial humans (again).
Read MoreRadwood 2 wasn’t simply a car show, or just a collection of automotive enthusiasts. It was much more than that. It was a refreshing break from the hectic present and an opportunity to relive good moments from the past.
Read MoreNot only was this dude casually driving a Porsche Carrera GT around Chicago in winter, he’s got the dang roof off. Apparently it was 28 degrees out there yesterday. Cars were made to be put to work, and this guy gets it. A legend in our own time.
Read MoreAsk any random person to name an electric car, chances are really good they’ll say the name “Tesla.” Tell them to point to the first electric car they happen to see while out in the world, and it’s much more likely their finger will be targeted at a Nissan Leaf. That’s because despite Tesla capturing the mind and imagination of everyone who talks about EVs, the Leaf is the most-sold battery-electric vehicle. Now, Nissan has made it a lot better. But better doesn’t exactly mean exciting.
Read MoreLots of 2018 model year cars are safe, but 62 have been singled out as exceptionally adept at protecting their occupants. And of those, 15 are supposed to be the very safest.
Read MoreA silver Saturn Ion! One of the most boring cars ever made! I owned one for years until I totaled it in Brooklyn, which was among the better things that’s ever happened. My dad liked to refer to it as a “very basic car.” He was right.
Read MoreJason Calacanis, founder of Engadget and investor in dozens of companies, including Tesla and Uber, would like to know if it’s morally acceptable for millions of people to die in a preemptive strike against North Korea. It’s just something that came up over dinner.
Read MoreA tractor-trailer hauling Vodka tipped over on a highway exit ramp just off of I-95 in northeast Philadelphia right before rush hour Thursday Morning. Workers needed to close the busy ramp for hours while clearing the wreckage, Philly.com reports. It’s unknown what cause the accident though conditions around the crash seem very dry.
Read MoreSaleen is well-known as the purveyor of go-fast upgrades for the Ford Mustang and the outfit that finalized the S7 supercar. In the last few years, it seems that the company has gone through difficulties. Yet this month, it came out of nowhere with a seriously cool-looking performance machine promising production and a $100,000 price tag in the near future.
Read MoreMost of the time, the Nürburgring gets brought to my attention because some manufacturer was there and set a really fast, lightning-quick lap time and wants us all to know about it because car sales. It’s not always Very Serious Car Drivers there all the time, though! It actually does get fun!
Read MoreThe BMW M5 has gone all-wheel drive. I’m not mad. I’m not mad! I swear I’m not mad.
Read MoreSee that beautiful blue car up there? It’s the reborn Alpine A110 and, no duh, it’s not coming to the United States. So we can only admire it from afar and fantasize about how great the alleged sportier version will be.
Read MoreThis just in for your daily (monthly? yearly?) dose of Saab news: the reborn EV Saab 9-3 sounds bleak as all hell. I don’t know if my poor heart can take any more of this.
Read MoreMcLaren Special Operations is McLaren’s bespoke division, which allows super-wealthy McLaren buyers the chance to get the company to make special versions of their cars just for a customer’s very specific desires, like a dashboard inlaid with the teeth of your enemies, or, in the case here, a paint color based on the color of Bruce McLaren’s own home.
Read MoreRed light cameras, which are a dangerous scam, are bad. Mats Järlström, a Swedish man living in Oregon, knows this, and when he sought to prove it using math and such, the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying fined him $500 for “unlicensed practice of engineering.” Earlier this week, Järlström got some revenge.
Read MoreThis DeTomaso Pantera hadn’t been on the road for decades, so long locked away in a trailer nobody had the keys to open it anymore. As it turned out, the car was one of the last great Cannonball racers, much to the ebullient joy of the two old men who finally shed some light on this thing.
Read MoreAuthorities in Los Angeles are asking drivers to avoid using GPS navigation apps, so they can steer clear of streets currently engulfed in flames due to the ongoing wildfires spread across the region.
Read MoreMy heart is still in the process of growing three times its normal size after seeing this video of a man scooping up a wild rabbit from the side of the road to save it from the 90,000-acre Thomas wildfire.
Read MoreIn case you are not aware, wheel thieves really love to steal the rims from Honda Accords, especially on the Sport trim car. One poor dude in Maryland had his rims snatched off his Accord twice in one week!
Read MoreEarly Sunday morning in the oceanside community of Del Mar a freak fire claimed a few gorgeous pieces of automotive history, leaving them nothing but empty husks of misshapen metal. Luckily nobody was injured in the blaze, and the fire was contained to the garage.
Read MoreSurprise, surprise: Porsche really does want to take manual 911 fans’ money after all. We finally got a manual 911 GT3 because Porsche saw stick-shift 911 Rs selling for insane prices, reports Road & Track. Fans demanded when Porsche wasn’t supplying, and Porsche didn’t like being left out of that insane cash-a-palooza.
Read MoreOliver Schmidt, the former head of Volkswagen’s U.S. regulatory compliance office from 2014 to 2015, was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years in prison for his role in the German automaker’s emissions cheating scandal.
Read MoreWe’ve called H2Oi the most ticketed car show in America, but you don’t understand just how many cars there get pulled over until you show up. Which we did. And we got got, too.
Read MoreThere’s a lot of things that people will buy for their trucks that make no sense to me. Artificial genitals, for example. But there seems to be something of a renaissance going on in the medium of those see-through rear window stickers people put on their trucks.
Read MoreIt’s about six hours from New York to Seattle via plane, which was too long, recently, for a Delta 757 that had to make an emergency stop in Billings on Saturday night. The bathrooms were full and, well, a lot of passengers had to go. Correction: A lot of passengers had to go “really bad,” according to a Delta report.
Read MoreOftentimes, you’ll hear terms like “boost threshold” and “turbo lag” get thrown around, sometimes mixed up and sometimes used as the same thing. They aren’t actually, and here’s the difference.
Read MorePeople who know him call him Dave. You probably know him by the eponymously-named company, J.D. Power and Associates, which I used to think was fake. It is not. It is extremely real and, I have learned, one of the most hilarious threads running through the multi-trillion-dollar auto industry.
Read MoreWhat you see above is a Lexus with a New Jersey transit sign jutting out of its sunroof. The reason this happened, police say, is because the driver of the Lexus struck a pole in the City of Secaucus, and just kept going. When police caught up to the driver and arrested her, she’d traveled several miles, apparently unaware of the sign protruding out of her car.
Read MoreLos Angeles’ morning commute is a nightmare on most days, but today, it looked like drivers were heading straight into the fires of Hell. Interstate 405 in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles ultimately had to be shut down this morning when a wildfire came way too close to the freeway as well as many homes in the area, KTLA reports.
Read MoreGeneral Motors announced its new Marketplace app, meant to allow drivers to order things by poking their infotainment screens on the road, Tuesday. It was only a few hours later when the National Safety Council was all over the folks at GM, reminding them that maybe shopping while driving isn’t a great idea.
Read MoreMy dad had a Chevette for a very brief stretch in the early ‘90s. Or maybe it was the late ‘80s. The car screamed early ‘90s or late ‘80s.
Read MoreJohnny Bobbitt Jr., a homeless veteran who gave his last $20 to a stranded motorist last month, has now purchased a new home and a 1999 Ford Ranger thanks to money raised by the woman he helped.
Read MoreIs the best part of this video the wagging tongue? I think it is. The best part of the video is that tongue.
Read MoreLooking at the 2019 Lamborghini Urus SUV could make you do one of three things: decide you like it, decide you hate it, or simply tilt your head in confusion because you haven’t quite grasped what’s going on yet. No matter where you fall, the configurator is out. What’s the worst that can happen?
Read MoreYesterday in Anderson, California, a man reported his 1991 Honda Accord stolen, then later tracked down, fought, and subdued the suspected thief in an epic citizen’s arrest.
Read MoreOn Monday, the state of Virginia instituted a high-occupancy toll lane on a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 66 inside the DC beltway. The lane was previously just for high-occupancy vehicles, but the new tolls give solo drivers the option to use it, for a price. How much of a price? Well, it hit $34.50 Monday morning, according to The Washington Post, which is about 6.5 cents for every 100 feet.
Read MoreCanada’s CBC News reports that drivers at a recycling center in Calgary, Alberta “can’t seem to stop hitting a giant rock in a suburban parking lot, despite it being an inanimate object surrounded by yellow-painted curbs.” This damn rock. Who saw it there, anyway? It came out of nowhere.
Read MoreThere’s always a push by carmakers to get automotive superlatives—fastest production car, best fuel economy, longest electric range, cheapest or most expensive car, whatever. Carmakers eat that crap up and then inscribe it on plaques. But they’re not eager for just any superlative. Deadliest, slowest, dampest, none of these are goals. You’d think the claim of narrowest car would be unclaimed, too, but you’d be wrong.
Read MoreAn officer in the United Kingdom showed the world just what a cop without a gun can do after he save a driver’s life by holding an entire truck back from a precipice.
Read MoreThis video of a wooden toy Thomas The Tank Engine doing stunts exists in a strange valley between “so-bad-it’s-good” and “wait-that’s-actually-hilarious-and-awesome.” But for some reason I’ve already watched it twice.
Read MoreAround a year ago, I tried to turn on my headlights on my 2008 Honda Fit, and they did not come on. “Huh,” I thought, “I should fix that.” Instead of fixing it, I drove around for a couple weeks using my brights, because I’m a lazy asshole. When I finally did take it into the shop (it needed a few other things done), they told me that there was an open recall for a problem that could render the low-beams inoperable. Who knew!
Read MoreIt’s not clear why this elderly Portuguese gentleman had a boot placed on the wheel of his mid-2000s BMW X3, but what is clear is that he is not so interested in making use of the device. So he removed it. With his hands.
Read MoreAt this very moment I’m a very well-pampered, mostly-willing hostage of Nissan at some Napa Valley resort that seems to be entirely populated with elderly folks on electric scooters. Nissan is showing their latest version of their very sleek and advanced electric scooter, the Leaf, to me and other journalists very soon. What do you want to know about it?
Read MoreHey friend, I know your style. You absolutely must buy a luxury SUV and you want a diesel motor with all the torque to pull your car. Well, I’ve got some good news for you. Now that there is an approved fix for some Audi/VW 3.0-liter TDI models, you can score one up to 30 percent off.
Read MoreWhat you’re looking at is a Lamborghini Huracán with a Christmas tree on top. This is the proper and only good way to transport a Christmas tree, if you were wondering.
Read MoreIt’s taken you weeks of searching. You’ve finally found it. The perfect car for your budget and your Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It’s even a low mileage car. Unusually low mileage. Very, unusually, low mileage. Here’s where that can go wrong.
Read MoreLast Saturday, the very best cars that the ‘80's and ‘90's had to offer descended upon The Phoenix Club in Anaheim, California, to attend Radwood 2. There was music, food, beer and great merch. Dogs and people decked out in their best ’80s and ’90s garb. It was incredible. You were all incredible.
Read MoreAfter more than half a decade in development, the new 2019 Lamborghini Urus SUV finally dropped today. And it’s, uh... something. But I really like the version USA Today revealed to the world earlier this morning.
Read MoreWell, everyone, the day has arrived. That automaker all of the kids had posters and screensavers of has finally come out with a (somewhat im)-practical SUV with four seats that, under a sheet, could almost be mistaken for a Kia Sportage. This is the new 2019 Lamborghini Urus, whether you wanted it or not.
Read MoreRental cars have hard lives full of frequent abuse from hoons and careless drivers alike, but Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler apparently took it to a whole new level. According to a report in Germany’s Der Spiegel, Daimler rented a Tesla Model X to test and dismantle for research purposes. Not purchased—rented.
Read MoreIf you didn’t go to Radwood 2 in Anaheim this weekend, I’m about to make you feel really bad. I’m sorry.
Read MoreToday on Regular Car Reviews, we have the Mazda Autozam AZ-1. One of the least regular cars ever made.
Read MoreThe road to autonomy is riddled with challenges and some wild tweets, including this one from a self-driving car engineer talking about his attempt to drive a car like a human person, heaven forbid. Multiple people nearly died.
Read MoreWe’ve been hyping the Radwood 2 show for weeks, and on Saturday our dreams of bringing the ’80s and ’90s back to the streets finally came to life. And because of all of you, it was excellent. Thank you.
Read MoreThere once was a time (let’s just say in the 1960s) that Lotus and Porsche were fairly equivalent in the automotive world. Both small, both making nimble sports cars. If you wanted a German car, you got a Porsche, and if you wanted a good car, you got a Lotus. That time is long gone, but now Lotus is flush with Chinese money, and that’s going to change things.
Read MoreIt took four years for filmmaker Chris Kippenberger just to track down Willi Thom, but once he did, he found one of the most obsessively perfect Porsche 911 builds in the world. This backdated 1980 911 SC was lightened to a featherweight 1,807 lbs—and my goodness, it sounds amazing.
Read MoreA Minnesota police department got an anonymous envelope last month, sent to the attention of the chief. Inside was $1,000 in cash and a letter, which said the sender hit a car one night in the ‘80s and drove off. The sender apologized for any inconvenience caused three decades ago and asked for forgiveness.
Read MoreChristmas is coming up fast and that means you have to start buying gifts for people. Luckily, I acquired a copy of lifestyle magazine Town and Country (not the Chrysler product) and they have a few perfectly sensible automotive gift ideas for the car person in your life. After all, car enthusiasts are sometimes hard to shop for. Here are a few excerpts from their guide.
Read MoreWhere Regal Road and Springmount Avenue meet in Toronto, there’s quite a bit of pavement, and, importantly, all-way stop signs. The problem is that not a lot of drivers stop, probably in part because of all that space, and because it’s a rush-hour alternative to busy streets nearby. Some residents recently took it into their own hands to change that.
Read MoreOn Nov. 9 in an apartment parking lot in Dalton, Georgia, a dog went ape-shit on a Dodge Journey (an automobile that falls squarely in the “unfortunate” category) in an effort to catch some cats hiding in the engine bay. The car’s owner was livid, and asked a responding officer to shoot the canine. Here’s a video of the hectic scene.
Read MoreIf there’s one event you should experience in Japan, it’s the Richard Mille Suzuka Sound of Engine. Now in its third year, the Sound of Engine is possibly the closest thing Japan has to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Except rather than watching cars go up a hill they go around one of Japan’s most well-known circuits for an entire weekend.
Read MoreWedge-shaped cars, pin stripes, skinny tires and badges that bragged about fuel injection are all coming back at Radwood 2, baby. In case you haven’t heard about this ultimate gathering of cars, motorcycles and yes, BMX bicycles from the ’80s and ’90s going down tomorrow, you better get up to speed!
Read MoreIf you’re driving around in a stolen car and would prefer not to get caught (note: don’t do this), the best way to do that is to not attract attention. That would include not asking others for money to fill up a Ferrari 458 at the gas station, since your average Ferrari owner likely, um, wouldn’t.
Read MoreLavon Miller, the owner of Plain City, Ohio’s Firepunk Diesel, has been building and testing engines for years now, but he never had one blow up on him like this six-cylinder diesel did on Thursday, which he got up to 2,200 horsepower before things went south. He’s still investigating exactly what went wrong.
Read MoreJust days into his new job, Uber’s General Council sent out an email to the company’s security team telling them to stop any “any kind of competitive intelligence project that involves the surveillance of individuals.” Basically, hey, don’t do that thing we’re being investigated by the FBI for, Recode reports. “We don’t need to be following folks around in order to gain some competitive advantage.”
Read MoreOne of the most interesting and compelling vehicles at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show looks like it was styled by the same team that did the exterior design for your window air conditioner, and yet it’s somehow more exciting than nearly every other SUV at the show. It’s the Bollinger B1 all-electric utility truck, and I got to really, really inspect this grey beast.
Read MoreHorsepower is a great thing. It helps cars move, which helps us drive them, and driving is what we enjoy. But in some cases, too much horsepower does exist. When it seems like yet another company is showing off a new car with 1,000-plus horses every week, that means we, as a society, have too much horsepower.
Read MoreFew things are more hilarious and satisfying than seeing a vehicle do something outside of its intended use. Take pro drifter Chelsea DeNofa’s diesel pickup truck, for example. He drifts the truck, too. I mean, why not?
Read MoreA few days ago we were sent a rumor that some Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawks had been stolen from Chrysler’s Jefferson North Assembly plant in Detroit. Today, a spokeswoman for Fiat Chrysler gave us a statement confirming that six Trackhawks were stolen on Nov. 17.
Read MoreSeat belts might be the most under-appreciated elements of car design. Obviously, they’re a big factor in crash survivability and driving comfort. But when an automaker takes the time to make them pretty? Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff.
Read MoreRemember how Ford hand-picked its buyers for the $450,000-plus Ford GT supercar? Wrestler John Cena was one of the 500 lucky ones who got one, but he quickly sold the car afterwards. Now Ford is taking him to court, as buyers were contractually obligated to keep the car for two years before selling it.
Read MoreArcimoto’s $12,000 semi-enclosed electric vehicle is not going to replace the average American’s daily driver. But for what it costs, and how far it can go, it actually might be a viable inexpensive option for adventurous people who want an EV.
Read MoreUnlike some other cars in VW’s lineup, today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Corrado didn’t come with a name derived from a wind, but instead from the Spanish word for ‘run.’ Let’s see if this running g60 is worth running over to buy.
Read MoreHow do you like your eggs? Over easy? Sunny side up? How about rolling down the road? That’s the egg you get with today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Previa, and we’re going to find out if its price makes it a breakfast special.
Read MoreIs there any category of car less popular right now than the big two-door coupe? That makes today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe T-Bird a car that caters to a unique and small audience. Let’s see if the show is worth the ticket price.
Read MoreDealer options can be hit or miss when it comes to the long term value of your ride. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Jeep Comanche comes with a dealer-installed double-wide back end, but will that double its desirability?
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe 300TD is really eager to move the metal, so much so that he’s simultaneously posted the car on Craigslist and eBay. We’ll just have to see what the fuss is all about.
Read MoreFor today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe we have a cozy camper that’s just a little rough around the edges. We’ll have to decide if its price might just worth roughing it.
Read MoreDo you like the Mercedes SLK but shun its clamshell convertible top? If so, then today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Crossfire might be up your alley, as it’s a traditional convertible. It’s also an SRT edition, which means lots of ponies. Let’s see if its price means lots of bucks too.
Read MoreThe benefit of a convertible like today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe S4 is its adaptability to the weather. That’s not the case with this one though, as the top mechanism is said to not function. Let’s find out if it might then still come with a functional price.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Lincoln Blackwood is one of only 3,356 built over the course of its single model year. While there’s strength in numbers, when it comes to rare cars there’s greater strength in smaller numbers. Let’s see if the numbers in this Lincoln’s price are small enough.
Read MoreIt’s rare for a show car to make it to production relatively unchanged. It’s even more rare when one does so looking like today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Alfa S.Z.. Let’s see if this former show car has you wanting to show it some love.
Read MoreWith a smooth six and a stick shift, today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Mazda longroof might just be in it for the long haul. That is, if its price doesn’t make you long for something else.
Read MoreGetting struck by lightning can really ruin your day. You probably wouldn’t want to get struck by today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Ford Lightning either, but it’s price may mean that you wouldn’t mind buying it.
Read MoreHey, you know how you tell the difference between snowmen and snow-women? That’s right, snowballs! Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Justy will give you the balls to head out when the white stuff is falling. That is, if its price isn’t one big snow job.
Read MoreFor today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe contestant we have a car that—to be perfectly honest with you—I had forgotten even existed. Let’s see if this Touareg hybrid’s price makes it worth remembering once again.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Maserati GT is—hallelujah—a manual. Most of the ones built were the hated-by-me Cambiocorsa models. It’s not all belíssimo however, because there is the issue of its 214K miles, and possibly, its price.
Read MoreHave you ever had to sell a project after having screwed it up royally? That’s the case with today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Kawasaki, but maybe the seller’s loss can be your gain.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe droptop 280ZX says it’s on the market because he needs money for college. Let’s see if his pricing acumen means that he’ll ace that Economics class.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Camry says that it does not want to die. Of course nobody wants to cast off their mortal coil, but could this well-used wagon come with a price that makes it worth living with?
Read MoreHave you ever considered yourself to be avant-garde? You know, artsy-fartsy? If so, then today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Audi Avant will be right up your alley. That is, if its price doesn’t prove a to be artless.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Scion adds ponies to its handling prowess by way of a Cosworth supercharger. Let’s see if its price makes it a cause célèbre.
Read MoreProbably no one in the motorsport world is more known for their aggressive social media presence than Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, who never misses an opportunity to tell us how #blessed he is. But that may be coming to an end soon. On the heels of him saying something dumb, HAM appears to be clearing out his Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Read MoreI’ll be honest: 2017 was garbage at best, even in racing. We even had a literal dumpster on fire in the parking lot of at one of the races I did. Yet shockingly, it wasn’t all bad. Bernie Ecclestone finally left F1, for example. Maybe we all forgot the good parts in our collective disgust at this year, but they happened.
Read MoreMonster Jam is one of those things that never quite makes sense, no matter how many times you watch it. How do these trucks fly like dainty birds, or flip like 12,000-pound gymnasts? How does a mere human make a monster truck fly and do flips, or even decide that’s something they want to do in the first place?
Read MoreAfter being scheduled to close next month to be bulldozed and turned into a mall, California’s Irwindale Speedway isn’t done for after all. Posts on social media said the speedway announced it Thursday night, and a spokesperson from the track confirmed to Jalopnik on Friday that Irwindale will stay open.
Read MoreSometime near Christmas, a group of engineering students at Texas’ Southern Methodist University said they realized a trailer with a race car they’d built in it had gone missing across the highway from the main part of campus. The group told Jalopnik the alleged theft included $55,000 or more worth of parts.
Read MoreThere’s a very convincing looking fake Twitter account claiming that everybody’s favorite series-hopping Formula One driver Fernando Alonso is confirmed to drive for Toyota at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But don’t get your hopes up just yet—it’s an extremely well done gag.
Read MoreOf course, 2017 wasn’t some special year for people saying dumb things about women, particularly in cars. Women have put up with this for ages, including Cosmopolitan’s car for women, and the list below doesn’t even scratch the surface.
Read MoreIn an Instagram video that’s since been deleted, Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton asked his nephew if he got the dress for Christmas and when he nodded, Hamilton asked why and yelled “boys don’t wear princess dresses.”
Read MoreWhen people think of Ferrari race cars, they think of Formula One. When people think of Ferrari race cars with fenders, they think of the classic Ferrari 250 and its ilk. When they think of modern Ferrari racers, they might think of cars like the Ferrari FXX K. We need to think more about the Ferrari 333 SP.
Read MoreIn the 1980s, Toyota began its most audacious push into the high-end side of the car world, racing V8 prototypes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and designing V8 Lexus sedans to take over America. But while that was happening, the company was also working on a little four-cylinder that would become arguably its greatest engine.
Read MoreYou ever wonder what a race-bred, almost 1000-horsepower, twin-turbo Mercedes 5.0-liter V8 sounds like? It sounds like rage and fury and everything nice. It sounds like NASCAR on amphetamines. It’s the Mercedes-Benz C11, and it’s perfect.
Read MoreSomething has been blatantly missing from much of the public debate as to whether Formula One should get rid of grid girls: womens’ opinions.
Read MoreGrandpa had a chair. Our family always joked that any presents we bought him would end up behind this chair, as he was a true child of the Great Depression: he made do with what he had and didn’t want for more. I didn’t just inherit this chair—I seem to have inherited his lack of enthusiasm for extraneous stuff. Just buy me a track day or something instead.
Read MoreThere was one weird offseason when no one was quite sure if Formula One legend Ayrton Senna was going to stick with F1. On December 20, 1992, Senna came to Arizona to test a Penske PC21-Chevy. It was the only time Senna ever floated the idea of running IndyCar, and at the time, it seemed like a plausible move.
Read MoreOccasionally, I put “Texas World Speedway” into my search bar for the sake of nostalgia. The same goes for driving by on a feeder, since that’s as close as cars can get anymore—a cop blocks the entrance since the track is an auction site for flood cars. It often doesn’t make me anything other than sad, but I do it anyway.
Read MoreMany of us have the dream: buy a cheap old unlikely car, race it against teams with much bigger budgets, and win big. Summon your inner Caswell, your inner Holland. Then reality sets in and you think it’s actually impossible, so why try? But this year on Mount Washington, Alexander Grabau did what some would consider impossible.
Read MoreIn the most doubt-inducing way possible, Ferrari wants everyone to know that it is really, really serious about its threat to quit Formula One. Ferrari doesn’t like what F1’s new owners are doing, and now the company’s temper tantrum is getting so big that it tossed up the idea of creating its own rival racing series.
Read MoreFormer Formula One dictator-in-chief Bernie Ecclestone hates a lot of things. He hates the entire continent of North America, a known shit hole. He hates the idea of gender equality. He hates social media. He also hates when widespread corruption is out of the picture, because corruption accomplishes things.
Read MoreIt’s official: Toyota’s top-class LMP1 team is sticking around for the entire transitional World Endurance Championship “superseason,” which spans roughly a year and a half and ends with a second running of Le Mans.
Read MoreMontreal announced today that it will cancel its Formula E race weekend after last year’s race weekend cost taxpayers millions of dollars and left the organizers in debt, the CBC reports. Montreal mayor Valérie Plante claims that taxpayers would have to pay up to $35 million CAD ($27 million U.S.) to host the second running of the Montreal ePrix, and it didn’t make financial sense.
Read MoreTwo-time CART champion, ex-Formula 1 driver, and winner of paralympic gold medals Alex Zanardi will be driving a BMW M8 GTEs at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2019, BMW announced this weekend. Zanardi lost both legs after a CART crash in 2001, so the new BMW will be modified to work for him but still be shareable with other drivers.
Read MoreJalopnik must apologize for our grave error last week, in asserting grid girls are not necessary—and even, possibly, harmful!—to racing. We were so very wrong because, as we recently learned from mediocre Formula One driver Nico Hulkenberg, male drivers need to see beautiful women in order to operate a car.
Read MoreIf there’s one clip that shows why Stadium Super Trucks are the greatest, please consider this epic roll from Lake Elsinore this weekend. Or, you know, how the truck just lands on its wheels and keeps going.
Read MoreLast night in Brazil’s premier “500 Milhas de Kart” event, two drivers were disqualified for engaging in fisticuffs after the pair had contact on track that ended with both of them stuck in the barrier with just 18 laps remaining in the race.
Read MoreA few months ago, a race promoter contacted me about a new proposed series with an aggressive marketing platform, a GT spec program, and a promise that all expenses would be paid. The catch? The series was for women only, and I wouldn’t be allowed to continue to compete in IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge or any other unsegregated series.
Read MoreThe world’s biggest and most glamorous parade will get faster yet again next year, which will either be to the great relief or dismay of the poor souls having to run Honda engines. We’ll just have to find out.
Read MoreIn July of 2015, Dale Earnhardt Jr. led a huge pack of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series cars across the finish line on the last lap at Daytona International Speedway. Nearly every car behind him was wrecking, and one tore across the speedway’s catch fence—spewing debris into the stands and onto the track.
Read MoreMost of the big-budget efforts that head off to Daytona are run by people whose full time gig is racing, but one team will have to return to their regular desk jobs after it’s done. The Honda of America Racing Team (HART) is crewed primarily by workers at Honda’s American headquarters in Marysville, Ohio.
Read MoreDepending on others’ opinions, Formula One’s new bosses could get rid of “grid girls”—an outdated concept in which women line a male-dominated racing grid, for few other reasons than being something to look at. It should go without saying, but having grid girls encourages objectification and gender stereotypes.
Read MoreThe best car films are often the ones that aren’t made by car people explicitly for other car people. In 2005 Dust To Glory brought Baja racing to the world, and now the follow-up Dust 2 Glory is bringing it to a new generation.
Read MoreThere have been some good times for Tony Stewart in the past few weeks: He got engaged, and the sprint-car series he owns announced a television deal for next year. But other things haven’t been so great, like the fact that an angry fan’s been stalking him for years and he keeps wrecking sprint cars overseas.
Read MoreThe Nürburgring is heaven on earth for car nuts, attracting the world’s most interesting cars, including manufacturers’ latest models. You can even drive it yourself! Sometimes a dream trip to the ‘Ring doesn’t end up being quite so enviable, though, and here are this year’s fail compilations that prove it.
Read MoreThese darn Formula One drivers. They’re so amicable, so friendly, like wealthy, televised, car-driving neighbors or something. What happened to the aggression, the anger, the ruthless rivalries—the glory days? Mercedes boss Toto Wolff wants to know, because his drivers are getting along too well.
Read MoreVintage racing is a show, as much as collecting expensive, old cars for display is. The cars aren’t bought to sit around, no matter how misleading the shiny body panels and pristine conditions are. They’re bought to take a beating on the race track, and still need the kind of upkeep they did before becoming collectibles. But if vintage racers wreck a car, their collectible could be done for.
Read MoreRobert Boston of Hickory, North Carolina, father of former Kyle Bush Motorsport racer Justin Boston, was convicted of crimes related to fraudulent theft of funds from his company’s investors in order to buy himself an expensive home, pricey cars, and fund his son’s NASCAR Trucks career. Sentencing will happen at a later date, but the elder Boston could head to jail for wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, or a combination of all three.
Read MorePippa Mann, the fastest woman to race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is opposed to the FIA’s appointment of Renault test driver Carmen Jorda to their Women In Motorsport Commission, and for very good reason. Recently Jorda has indicated an interest in creating what amounts to a ‘separate but equal’ Formula 1 series specifically for women, and does not believe that women can compete on a level playing field with men at the height of open wheel racing sport. As it happens, Pippa’s opinion is in p
Read MoreNo words in the English language suck more in racing than “event cancelled.” It’s even worse if you’ve gone all the way out to an amateur endurance race where you may have spent months getting a car and a team together for just one weekend. Fortunately, not even snow could stop the racing this weekend.
Read MoreThe FIA, a motorsport governing body overseeing dozens of international series like Formula One, added a women’s commission in 2009—when the association was over a century old already—to talk about “girl stuff” like, oh, equality in racing. The commission just added Carmen Jorda, who is the antithesis of that.
Read MoreThe Whittington brothers were constantly searching for their next adrenaline fix, so naturally, they went into sports car racing. Ex-Canepa historian John Ficarra told their insane story to VINwiki, and it’s a 1970s whirlwind of drugs and other illegal stuff, rad ‘staches and duffel bags full of cash.
Read MoreRally racing is its own discipline, different from most other motorsports in that it isn’t all about power and, as a new driver, you’re certainly not going to feel as in control as you expected. That makes it tricky to choose a car if you’re not familiar with the style of racing.
Read MoreIn news more shocking than the fact that The Amazing Race is still on television, IndyCar drivers Alexander Rossi and Conor Daly will be on it next year. The show is arguably most famous for a video of a woman catapulting a watermelon into her own face.
Read MoreA jury convicted former American Le Mans Series champion Scott Tucker of a huge list of charges in October, ending a predatory-loan scheme that sometimes charged 700-percent interest rates. Bloomberg has a story on just how widely that ring of payday loans spread—with Tucker’s family at the top of it all.
Read MoreHonda’s Formula One division is getting rid of its top role for next year and splitting it into two, because the pressure of overseeing the worst engine in F1 is far too much for one poor soul. Surely, this will magically make everything great and next year will be a dream instead of a nightmare.
Read MoreFormula One’s excessive grid penalties are widely loathed by fans, as they’re confusing to follow. The FIA World Motor Sport Council simplified those penalty rules today, reports Autosport. Problem is, this fix doesn’t address why penalties get so out of control, and even more teams will likely face grid penalties in 2018 thanks to a dumb plan F1 just won’t give up.
Read MoreDo not merely drive in to the median, my beautiful jabroni Mustang-owning friends. Drive over the median.
Read MoreIt is time once again for our network to pump out gift guides for the holiday season, prodding you to buy and consume like all the other sheeple. However, no one made a gift guide for us, the people who write Jalopnik. Thankfully, SpeedSource’s auction has us covered. The diesel Mazda6 is for sale, and we’re still head-over-heels in love with that car.
Read More“Real snoozer today,” you type, yawning and searching for the race’s hashtag. As you prepare to tweet it, you begin to wonder: Am I being too critical of Formula One? Not all of the races this year have been more spread out than a strand of broken pearls. But, in fact, they were. You now have numbers to back up your yawns.
Read MoreFormula One has a boring track problem. Bad track design has given drivers too few places to pass each other, which sucks to watch. This year’s wider, more downforce-intensive cars made much fewer passes than in years’ past, and F1 finally wants to tweak its tracks to try and fix that.
Read MoreIt doesn’t matter how you get pole position for a race—all that really matters is that you went the fastest, and it counted. Techeetah Formula E driver Jean-Éric Vergne even arrived backwards across the finish line for his fastest lap in qualifying for Race 1 of the Hong Kong ePrix, but who cares? It was enough to score pole position.
Read MoreI will never tire of hearing about ingenious ways that car racing teams bend the rules for what they can and can’t do for engineering speed. I thought I knew them all, but there are always more.
Read MoreYoutheory Racing’s No. 55 truck sent a wheel flying across a desert when their truck landed nose-first into the dirt while trying to qualify for the Pahrump Nugget 250 Best in the Desert race. No one was hurt, but it just looks like a ridiculous trucksplosion.
Read MoreAfter threatening to quit Formula One, Ferrari brought Alfa Romeo back to sport for the first time in 30 years on its Sauber team. That’s like adopting a puppy together after threatening to end things with a significant other, but Ferrari wants everyone to know that it is still really, very serious about what it said.
Read MoreFormula E probably didn’t have the season opening weekend it wanted right after a bunch of manufacturers announced they’re coming into the series. Saturday’s race was stopped for a crash that blocked the road on the very first lap of the 2017 season.
Read MoreIf there’s any one kind of racing that gets universal approval from the Jalopnik staff, it’s Extreme Barbie Jeep Racing. It’s the safety-third pastime of flinging yourself down a steep hill on a children’s ride-on, and the wipeouts are incredible. It’s truly racing for the people, and we love it so much.
Read MoreThe 25 Hours of Thunderhill is one of America’s longest, craziest grassroots road races, attracting crazy fast club racing cars ranging from Spec Miatas and Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsports to full-on racing prototypes. Oh, and there’s a Studebaker Champion out there sharing a track with Norma prototypes, and it’s perhaps my favorite thing.
Read MoreAlfa Romeo fans love to go on and on about beauty and soul, but we’re talking about a modern-day Formula One car here. We’re just lucky this isn’t the year of the penis nose with those. Sauber unveiled their Alfa-branded F1 livery today, and it’s okay. It’s not a gorgeous 4C in F1 car form. It’s just okay.
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 MoreIf you read that headline and got a sense of whatever deja vu is in Russian, don’t worry: they’ve been talking about this for years. I suppose the Russians may finally launch an orbital ‘hotel’ soon, but to be honest, I’m pretty skeptical of most Russian ISS segment plans, which were once quite elaborate, but seem to never quite happen, year after year. Still, this plan offers a chance to actually make some money, so maybe it’ll actually happen.
Read MoreIf you’re in Los Angeles and you looked up this evening, you can be forgiven for losing your shit. After all, it’s mere days after a haunting New York Times report made alien visitors seem more plausible than ever, and now you’re seeing an indescribably weird light display! Rest assured, it is not aliens, probably, just Elon Musk.
Read MoreAs far as space-firsts go, this one isn’t exactly the most glamorous, but it’s pretty important: for the first time ever, a previously-used launch vehicle has sent a previously-used cargo vehicle to dock with the International Space Station. The rocket was a SpaceX Falcon 9, and the cargo vehicle was a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
Read MoreAccording to cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, the Roscosmos contingent aboard the International Space Station had it slightly tougher in training than their American counterparts. I, a reasonable person who is terrified of heights, find his anecdote from cosmonaut training to be completely terrifying.
Read MoreIt was December 11, 1972, 45 years ago to the day. Astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt had just stepped out of the lunar lander. And thus began one of humanity’s greatest road trips.
Read MoreDrew Feustel is a true Jalop if there ever was one. He grew up in the Detroit area, where he worked as an auto mechanic in college. He’s had an enviable list of cars over the years and nearly went into car design himself, but ended up using his mechanical and science background for something more incredible: becoming an astronaut.
Read MoreThe maiden voyage of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket will have some interesting cargo, Elon Musk revealed on Twitter last night. Musk’s own cherry red Tesla Roadster playing “Space Oddity” over its stereo system will be aboard the rocket with its final destination being Mars’ orbit. [Update: Just kidding! He made it all up. See note below.]
Read MoreTesla has started delivering the first Model 3 sedans to early reservation holders, and one new owner of the all-electric car has documented his experience on a cross-country jaunt. Unfortunately, he found a number of issues with the car.
Read MoreGenovation Cars has been teasing images of their supercar hitting more than 200 mph ever since announcing plans to make an all-electric Corvette in late 2016. Now, ahead of the car’s debut at this year’s Consumer Electronic Show, Genovation has unveiled some of the cars’ final specs, including a top speed in excess of 220 mph.
Read MoreBeyond issuing a delay of the Model 3 production’s timeline, little has been disclosed about whether Tesla has successfully addressed the bottleneck in the all-electric sedan’s production line. Still, CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter on Tuesday to heave another item onto his mountain of promises: Tesla’s all-electric pickup will be made after the Model Y crossover, which nothing more is known than a loose production date of 2019 or 2020.
Read MoreIf recent reports are accurate, electric car startup Faraday Future recently netted a $1 billion investment and, in turn, named Chinese tech entrepreneur Jia Yueting its CEO. But by the end of 2017, Jia needs to return to China to sort out a mountain of debt his other companies have accrued, according to Reuters.
Read MoreAfter scaling back its ambitious car plans in 2016, Apple spent this year quietly immersing itself in the field of self-driving cars, and a new patent shows the company’s thinking of more efficient ways for autonomous vehicles to get around.
Read MoreAhead of Jaguar Land Rover’s launch of its first all-electric vehicle, the I-Pace, there’s now reports of the car’s price-point for. when it goes into production. If reports from early reservation pan out, the crossover could come close to the base price of a Tesla Model X.
Read MoreTwo new startups are joining the electric car world—and both include executives and employees who recently departed Faraday Future, according to a new report and a source who spoke to Jalopnik.
Read MoreIt’s well-known that some Uber drivers work dangerously long shifts, but a new letter from the company offers some additional insight into how many seem to be plowing through most of their week behind the wheel.
Read MoreThe growing hype this year around electric cars is about to be met with a daunting reality: despite the fact that dozens of new electrified models are set to roll out in the coming years, few have interest in buying them right now.
Read MoreFaraday Future founder Jia Yueting has reportedly managed to suddenly raise $1 billion in funding for the company and will take over as CEO, following reports that Yueting had been blacklisted by the Chinese government and his company was edging towards bankruptcy. This all seems totally legitimate so far.
Read MoreIn good news for companies developing electric vehicles, and for interested consumers, the federal electric vehicle tax credit will not be repealed in the Republican tax bill going to a vote next week.
Read MoreEver since General Motors rolled out the latest game plan for self-driving cars earlier this month, I haven’t been able to shake a line that CEO Mary Barra, among others, offered up: The carmaker’s vision of an autonomous future, she said, is for traffic crashes to be a thing of the past.
Read MoreA couple weeks back, Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent reporters on a wild goose chase over (possible) plans to send a Roadster into space aboard one of his toy rockets. He told The Verge it was legit. Then he said it was “totally made up.” And then a source told the news outlet it was real. Why’d he spend a weekend screwing with reporters? Because he knows he can, and it’s so goddamn tired.
Read MoreMazda is one of a few automakers without any grandiose plans for autonomous cars quite yet, but the company recently commissioned a study to better understand how drivers feel about them. It found more than two-thirds have no interest in letting an autonomous car drive them around. Score another point for the driving-focused automaker.
Read MoreVolvo has delayed its Drive Me autonomous car pilot program by four years and will no longer be testing fully-autonomous cars at launch, after initial plans to get the robots rolling by the end of this year. This isn’t very surprising.
Read MoreThroughout 2016, as Tesla prepped the launch of the all-electric Model 3 sedan, the automaker simultaneously dealt with a formal probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission over the all-electric sedan. That’s what research firm Probes Reporter found out in documents it obtained from the SEC this week.
Read MoreTesla has been working to finish 2017 by delivering the first Model 3s to non-employees, but it went above and beyond this week to get the all-electric sedan to one particular reservation holder: a man fighting terminal stage four cancer who said the “last thing on my bucket list” is getting to spend a few days with his Model 3.
Read MoreAs part of an ambitious plan to deploy fully-autonomous cars within the next five years, French automaker Renault said on Wednesday that it purchased a 40 percent stake in a media company to entertain passengers in driverless vehicles.
Read MoreAt this time of year you may find yourself hunting for some new or gently used car deals. And if you are reading this website, you more than likely would prefer your car to be fun. Here is a tip: buy a performance car with a naturally aspirated engine.
Read MoreRepublican leaders in the U.S. House and Senate have come to a compromise on legislation that primarily aims to cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy. As part of that effort, the federal tax credit for electric cars was in limbo, but if an unnamed source who spoke to Bloomberg is correct, the credit has been spared.
Read MoreA couple months back, a group of mayors from across the world made a splash by pledging to only buy all-electric buses starting in 2025. But a story this week from Reuters points out how far the U.S. in particular has to go to electrify public buses: only 300 out of more than 65,000 public buses on the road today are electric, the news agency reports.
Read MoreElectric car startup Faraday Future is closing out 2017 in a very precarious position, something The Verge captures in a spellbinding story today on the company’s financial state. One of the new bits uncovered by the outlet is that Faraday’s main financier, Jia Yueting, is suing a software developer who accuses Jia of creating a $75 million trust fund for his kids with Faraday’s money.
Read MoreFollowing an explosion Monday morning near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, New York City’s subway system backed up with congestion just as the morning commute got underway. Prices on Uber and Lyft rides also skyrocketed, and both companies have now said they will offer refunds to some passengers in the wake of immediate criticism.
Read MoreEver since Tesla publicly revealed a new all-electric semi truck last month, major companies have been lining up to place a pre-order, ahead of the projected 2019 production date. On Thursday, beer maker Anheuser-Busch joined the growing list.
Read MoreSwiss car designer Rinspeed has a penchant for designing over-the-top concepts, and this new car(?) it plans to show off at this year’s CES is exceptionally extravagant.
Read MoreAs Tesla workers in California seek to unionize, the United Auto Workers has accused the company of interrogating employees at its massive Gigafactory battery plant over union activities and subjecting them to “heightened supervisory scrutiny.”
Read MoreA former security guard at Faraday Future’s headquarters is alleging the start-up of dismissing multiple reports of sexual harassment she filed against one of the company’s IT administrators and even accused her of “inviting the harassment.”
Read MoreWith most automakers in the industry prepping an onslaught of electric vehicles in the coming years, there’s increasing attention being paid to where they’ll obtain necessary minerals for production. Last week, a group of 10 automakers took a step forward in the right direction, by saying they would “identify and address ethical, environmental, human and labour rights issues in the sourcing of raw materials.”
Read MoreOK, so it’s not the latest Microbus, but here’s another sign that Volkwsagen’s moving swiftly to electrify its fleet in the coming years. On Monday, the automaker said it’s rolling out a new all-electric minibus for a ride-hailing service set to debut late next year.
Read MoreA significant tax credit which helps boost sales of EVs in the United States remains in limbo after the Senate passed their version of the overhaul in the early hours of Saturday morning. The Senate’s plan left that tax credit alone, as Green Car Reports notes, but still has to be reconciled with the version passed by the House of Representatives.
Read MoreThings are going from bad to worse for electric car startup Faraday Future. One of the company’s founding executives, former BMW designer Richard Kim, has resigned, reports The Verge. His final day is Friday, according to the news outlet.
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 all of the top stories of the car world, stories that should hopefully distract you from news of possible impending doom for bananas. Sorry, sorry, back to cars.
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 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 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 MoreWith five windows wide open and ocean breeze flowing through the cab, our 2017 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro bounded over Pismo Beach’s dunes like a golden retriever in hot pursuit of a tennis ball. No special “sand mode.” No fancy forced induction. Just a snarling V8 and an overstuffed driver’s seat. And it felt so right.
Read MoreAn uncamo’d, production-spec-looking new Ford Ranger was spotted at what appeared to be a photo or commercial shoot in the off-roader’s paradise of Moab, Utah. Now that the 2018 Wrangler has landed, this can be our new 4x4 fixation for a bit.
Read MoreRM Sotheby’s is auctioning this heavily modified 1977 International Scout II Traveler at a huge sale in Arizona, where it’s apparently expected to bring “$70,000 to $90,000.” I think it’s neat because it’s exactly like my truck. Kind of. But also, if that price prediction is accurate, this might be the most expensive Scout yet.
Read MoreMaking regular cars look off-roady has become a big thing this year. You can thank the rise of The Gambler 500 and lingering popularity of Mad Max: Fury Road for some of the lifted Crown Vics that have been thrashing your Instagram feed, but for “practical” adventuring I think a little lifted SUV is the way to go.
Read MoreThe new Jeep Wrangler JL is better than the already-excellent outgoing model in many ways. So it’s not surprising that I’m drooling all over my keyboard right now as I configure a JL while simultaneously devising a diabolical get-rich-quick scheme.
Read MoreAfter far too long, Jeep has finally redesigned its Jeep Cherokee, and now it actually looks decent. Here are Jeep’s first official images of the 2019 Jeep Cherokee.
Read MoreToday at a press event hosted at the Texas Motor Speedway for Chevy Truck’s 100th anniversary, Chevy surprised attendees by flying in the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado by helicopter and lowering it onto the stage. Our own Bradley Brownell was in the crowd and managed to get a few pics of the newest Silverado generation. The 2019 will be sleeker and look more aerodynamic than previous generations of Silverado. The model shown was a Silverado LT Trail Boss which hints at a new trim level.
Read MoreA reader just sent an email telling me about two Jeep SJs (one Grand Wagoneer and one Cherokee Golden Eagle edition !!!) that she’s got to get rid of for dirt cheap. “Would you know of anyone who would be interested?” the email reads. After yelling “BOY WOULD I!” at the top of my lungs and hyperventilating into a paper bag, I reeled myself in; this has to be a trap, right?
Read MoreWe love forbidden fruit, especially when that fruit is a diesel, manual, four-wheel drive small pickup truck not meant for the U.S. market, like the Volkswagen Amarok. Believe it or not, there’s one for sale in Pennsylvania right now, but you may not want to buy it.
Read MoreThe angry, blocky Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen has been around in its current shape since the 1970s. Over the years its powertrains have changed, its interior’s been wrapped in different cloths, but it looks like 2018 will be the first major update the world’s roughest luxury “car” has had in a long, long time.
Read MoreDriving around topless with no doors and the windshield folded down is a pastime that connects Jeep Wrangler owners with those who putted around in the very first civilian Jeeps, CJ-2As, back in the 1940s. And now, with the 2018 Jeep Wrangler, undressing the newest descendent of that CJ is easier than it has been in many years.
Read MoreThe time has finally come; I’m near Tucson, Arizona, preparing to drive the next generation Jeep Wrangler both on and off-road. So now’s the time to tell me what you want to learn about the newest version of the “truest” Jeep in the brand’s lineup.
Read MoreMore than a decade ago, director Dana Brown gave us the quintessential Baja movie Dust To Glory. Today, you’ll still hear desert racers and rallyists tell you about how the film turned them on to motorsports. And tomorrow, you can catch the new version. In a real live megaplex theatre near you.
Read MoreThe cheapest version of the 2018 Jeep Wrangler, the two-door Sport, will start an MSRP of $26,195 according to documents posted on JL Wrangler Forums. The information seems old, but people who appear to know what they’re talking about are saying it’s legitimate.
Read MoreHard charging the APR Stage 3+ Volkswagen Golf R sucks your skin to the seat and blurs every cell in your brain that’s not dedicated to driving. By the time you catch your breath, the only things sputtering around your noggin will be awe, incredulity and “how is this a freaking Golf?”
Read MoreI didn’t want its beautiful gold wheels, red and gold decals, and bronze-tone rear quarter windows to hypnotize me into making a rash decision. So I took a few days to think about whether I should buy that 1979 Jeep Cherokee Golden Eagle I looked at last weekend. And—with help from readers—I’ve now realized that the answer is “no shit.”
Read MoreMy Dodge Ram 2500 drove quietly and comfortably on my recent excursion out to the Radwood 2 car show in Anaheim, California. The same couldn’t be said for the return venture back to Kansas. Somewhere near Flagstaff, Arizona, a low -pitched growling began emanating from within the steel beast - the 3,400 mile trip had uncovered another fault in the truck’s armor.
Read MoreI don’t need any more vehicles in my life, but I sure as hell want more. And readers know this, so they continue sending emails. They tempt me with my favorite type of automobile, known in the deepest, darkest reaches of Craigslist as “the shitbox.”
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 MoreNobody ever claimed that the Z32 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo was a reliable vehicle. Here’s one of the reasons why.
Read MoreI’ve been tossing and turning in my sleep these past few days trying to decide if I want to add an eighth car to my collection. But that hasn’t stopped Jalopnik readers from tempting me with even more vehicles that could send me spiraling down a dark, dark path.
Read MoreRon Dauzet, a Michigan man whose township is forcing him to rapidly get rid of his enormous car collection, is selling them off as he’s required to do. But it’s just not quite enough. Now the 70-year-old is resorting to just scrapping some seriously cool cars instead of selling them, and it’s a damn shame.
Read MoreYesterday I drove over 500 miles to take a peek at a 1979 Jeep Cherokee Golden Eagle and a 1987 Jeep Grand Wagoneer—both of which Jalopnik reader Tammy offered me as a package deal for $3,400. Somehow I resisted buying them on the spot, so now I come to you—my dear readers—for advice.
Read MoreLast summer, I drove 500 miles to pick up a Jeep that a reader had offered to give me for free. But instead of coming home with the extra iron, I fixed the college student’s Jeep and returned home happy to help. Lots of people read that article—heck, even Adam Savage from Mythbusters tweeted about it. But as pleasant as it was at the time, the story has a dark ending.
Read MoreDecember is here, meaning Michigan has shifted into a wintry hellscape. And, because of some poor planning on my end, I’m now wrenching on my $800 Jeep Grand Wagoneer in my rock-solid, snow-covered backyard instead of in my garage. It’s true misery.
Read MoreLast month I sort-of inherited this 1984 Nissan 300ZX with more than 200,000 miles on the odometer. It’s in remarkably good condition for an almost-free car, but the issues it does have are not things I’ve ever encountered in other old cars before.
Read MoreWe are well aware that rally drivers are the most versatile in existence, but we must also not forget that their mechanics are among the toughest, fastest and most resourceful in the car world.
Read MoreI never thought I’d say these words: I now own a 2003 Kia Rio. And my god is it a gigantic pile of garbage that I will thoroughly enjoy destroying in an upcoming video series. But first, the thing has to somehow survive winter-beater duty.
Read MoreThere are few things I loathe more than shopping for clothes. Maybe dental work and gynecological exams, but that’s it. Buying new clothes lies somewhere in the deepest circle of hell, and cleaning them? Not much better. It’s the extra cost of wrenching no one seems to mention, but I hate it all the same.
Read MoreThere’s this Jeep Cherokee that I love dearly—one that I bought for only $600, fixed up using junkyard parts, and drove all the way to Moab, Utah. But ever since that epic trip, the XJ has been falling apart, and now I’m wondering: is it time to send the Project Swiss Cheese to the ol’ off-road park in the sky?
Read MoreFinally, after way, way, way too long, I replaced the shocks on my car. I would have done it sooner if I had known just how busted my old ones were and how much better the new ones already seem.
Read MoreAnother week, another pile of emails filled with Craigslist links to extremely tempting shitboxes. Here are a few of my favorites from readers who know I have a “problem,” but who simply don’t care.
Read MoreWhile wrenching on my $800 Jeep Grand Wagoneer this past weekend, I made a major gaffe that could have cost me hundreds of dollars. But it was just one of many blunders I’ve made over the years, and it’s the sort of thing I’ve come to embrace. And if you want to get into wrenching, then you should embrace your own idiocy, too.
Read MoreThis past year was terrible, but you already know that. It’s time, now, for some relief. Let us recap some of the strangest and most perplexing things we found on the road in 2017.
Read MoreAs you would imagine of someone who posts a poll every weekday, I really dig data, and Nice Price or Crack Pipe gives us lots of data to peruse. Let’s have a look at all the highs and lows over the past year. And, If you’re not careful, you may even learn something before it’s done.
Read MoreA lot of cars died in 2017. For some, they will be dearly missed; for others, this was probably for the best. While everyone else is making lists of resolutions and what they plan to accomplish in 2018, and because death awaits us all in the end, let’s say farewell to the cars that won’t make it that far.
Read MoreI had a hard time choosing my favorite stories Jalopnik published in 2017. That’s because between prison snitches, BMW addicts, doomed startups, car hoarders, secret Porsches and hurricanes, there was almost too much good to choose from.
Read MoreCars have plenty of opportunities to suck. Some simply perform poorly, others are depressingly soulless and then there are ones that just plain look sad or break our hearts. Here’s the rundown of every car that hurt to drive in 2017.
Read MoreWe heard a lot about autonomous transportation and “mobility” as abstract concepts in 2017. But we also drove cars. Good ones. Actually, some blew our freaking minds. Driving’s not dead yet, and we’re happy to share the cars that proved that to us this year.
Read MoreIt’s been nice to see so much more heart and humanity in the photography showing up on Jalopnik this past year. We’ve seen lots of supercars on dream roads before; it’s sweet now to see character and driven culture.
Read MoreAs you may be aware, in addition to blogging hot takes about cars and giving you car buying advice, I run a consulting business where I actually help people buy cars. Sometimes, folks will come to me with a certain car in mind and I convince them to go in another direction. Here is this year’s list in helping folks make good automotive decisions.
Read MoreIf there’s one thing that came sharply into focus this year, it’s that most of the automotive industry has bought into the idea that autonomous and electric cars are the way of the future. Notice I said the word “idea” there—exactly how that future will look, whether buyers will embrace it and how it will make money are all still up in the air.
Read MoreI nearly didn’t realize it, but 2017 will be over soon. It’s amazing how fast time passes when you’re thumbing through munitions catalogs after coming ‘round from a coke-nap. I’m a little dehydrated right now, waiting on the help to bring the bubbly, but you’ve caught me at a time when I’m feeling thoughtful.
Read More