I hadn’t been in an Audi in a long time when I climbed into the 2019 RS 5 Sportback. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to like it. The severe styling of these cars had me imagining a soulless, surgical driving experience. But by the time I got out, for a second there, I had a new favorite car. It’s fast, sure, but it’s also comfortable, reasonably useful, and lively.
Read MoreThursday night a very confused driver took his Honda Accord sedan down a narrow-yet-navigable lane onto the Pulaski Bridge in New York. connecting Brooklyn and Queens. As the driver drew closer to the center of the bridge, however, the lane began to narrow further. “Better speed up to make it,” he likely thought to himself.
Read MoreBack in the 1960s, Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev claimed there was a secret project going on deep in the country. It had a ship—this half-plane, half-boat contraption—that was capable of breaking the land speed records of the era while carrying an unprecedented amount of cargo. These projects were called Ekranoplans, and here’s why this technology just never caught on.
Read MoreI’m a big fan of vehicles that can continue to sell without major updates for many years. You see this in motorcycles a lot: the Yamaha TW200, the Honda XR650L, and the Suzuki DRZ400 have all been going on unchanged for a long time. You see it in cars and trucks, too, like the 16-year-old Nissan Frontier, or Dodge’s entire lineup. But Lada is on another level.
Read MoreAre you ready to be stuck in traffic behind armies of autonomous delivery robots? No? Well good news: if you live in California you can soon stay home and have all your stuff delivered by autonomous delivery robots. Starting January 17, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles will start approving permits for self-driving delivery vehicles. These permits allow for testing and commercial use, and there are separate permits for vehicles with and without backup drivers.
Read MoreIf you want to take the train from Cleveland to Chicago on any given weekday, a distance of approximately 350 miles, you have two options. You can catch the Capitol Limited departing at 2:59 a.m. or the Lake Shore Limited at 3:45 a.m.
Read MoreDeep in the Sahel, as Muammar Qaddafi’s Libya exploited instability in Chad to expand its territory, a daring operation took place to obtain one of the Soviet Union’s most advanced attack helicopters. It was a complex plan involving Chadian rebel groups as well as French and American soldiers and spies, but it worked.
Read MoreAt around mid-day on Friday, international shipping between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea ground to a halt when Liberian-flagged container ship Songa Iridium collided with the embankment on the European side of the Bosphorous Strait in the center of Istanbul.
Read MoreKawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan has launched the world’s first-ever liquefied hydrogen carrier ship at Kobe Works yard. Officially named the Suiso Frontier, the goal of the ship is to transport hydrogen in large quantities via the sea. It’s the first vessel of its kind.
Read MoreThe 2019 Ford Fusion plug-in hybrid is decent looking and comfortable enough to ride in. It’s also expensive and not particularly efficient. Ford’s “pivot to trucks” is a real bummer for car enthusiasts in general, but I don’t think anybody’s going to miss this one.
Read MoreAs Jalopnik’s resident car buying expert and professional car shopper, I get emails. Lots of emails. I’ve decided to pick a few questions and try to help out. This week we are talking about used rental cars, non-transferable warranties, and the best time of year to buy used.
Read MoreThe 2020 Mercedes GLB is basically a lux Jeep Renegade. In other words, it’s a compact car with an aura of toughness articulated exclusively by its design, but it’s also very practically proportioned and really quite decent to drive around in. Meanwhile, the interior looks like a nightclub on a spaceship. Why not!
Read MoreHi, my name’s Andrew, I’m a grown man and I play with toy cars. With that out of the way, let’s get into a long overdue review and discussion of Hot Wheels Premium.
Read MoreI first heard about Fast and Furious: Spy Racers, the animated Fast and Furious spinoff, in April 2018 and then promptly forgot about it because so much time had passed. But since it was released today, I gave it a whirl. It’s fun, colorful and lighthearted.
Read MoreErik has an old Land Cruiser that he loves, but now that his commute just went from around town to a more significant distance the classic Toyota isn’t going to make for an ideal daily driver. He is looking for something with four-doors, three-pedals, and a reasonable price. What car should he buy?
Read MoreThis past Sunday, with no one to see and nowhere to be, I decided to head to the Upper East Side in Manhattan to check out Barneys New York’s going-out-of-business sale. I’d never been to this department store before—it was far too expensive to be interesting—but now that it’s currently in its death throes, I thought what the hell!!!!!!!
Read MoreThe Nissan Versa, despite its very reasonable pricing and possession of four wheels and an engine, has never really been a popular choice for modders, perhaps because it’s a pretty soulless transportation appliance. That didn’t stop one Craigslist seller from modding the crap out of a 2012 Nissan Versa S, in a way that includes a bizarre and confusing mod, the likes of which I’m not sure has ever graced a car in the august history of Doing Shit To Cars.
Read MoreThe only other two electric cars I’ve driven are the Tesla Model 3 and the Nissan Leaf. Both were great. This Kia Niro EV? Also great, and largely because it feels the most “normal” of the three.
Read MoreThe 2020 Hyundai Sonata looks good. Its manufacturer-suggested prices are good, too, especially given its design. Its entire aura is enough to make anyone have to squint in order to confirm that it does, in fact, have a Hyundai badge on the front. For an automaker aimed at affordability, that’s a feat.
Read MoreDecember is usually a good time to get a deal on a car since both manufacturers and dealers want to end the year with strong sales numbers. However, just because something looks like a good deal doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pick apart the details.
Read MoreWe’ve been really loud advocates of Audi keeping wagons in America, but now it’s time for everyone to swallow the pill that hurts going down, which is how much these things actually cost. The 2020 Audi A6 Allroad will start at $66,895.
Read MoreThe redesigned-for-2019 Subaru Forester doesn’t top the charts at any one thing. But it does do a lot of things reasonably well, including serving as a capable, reasonably-priced family hauler.
Read MoreI have almost bought a Pontiac Fiero more times than I can remember, and the reason I never do is always the same. I talk myself into it, I get all jazzed up about getting the ‘88 V6 five-speed that is the only worthwhile Fiero configuration, and then I remember I don’t have anywhere to park it.
Read MoreThe 2020 Hyundai Sonata is brand-new, but it’s already kicked things off with a bang. Not only is it great to look at, but it will also offer an enthusiast-focused N-Line. On top of all that, Hyundai is also smartly offering leasing incentives right off the bat.
Read MoreThe first crossover I ever drove was a mid-2000s Mazda Tribute, a re-badged version of Ford’s Escape, in turn based on Mazda’s old 626 sedan (GF) platform. It was my mother’s first new car since 1991, and it was decidedly un-good. Now, if you want proof of how far Mazda has stepped up its game across the last 15 years, just drive the new CX-30.
Read MoreAs Jalopnik’s resident car buying expert and professional car shopper, I get emails. Lots of emails. I’ve decided to pick a few questions and try to help out. This week we are talking about deals on discontinued models, heated steering wheels, and dumping a lot of cash into an older car or getting a new one.
Read MoreBen had a Porsche 911 convertible that he got from his grandfather. He loved that car until an unfortunate incident with a pizza delivery dude. Now he’s looking for a replacement. It needs to be a manual, drop-top, and some kind of back seat. What car should he buy?
Read MoreIt’s well established that new cars are getting very expensive, but you don’t have to break the bank to get a quality vehicle. Pre-owned cars typically offer more value for your dollar because someone else has taken the initial depreciation. Our friends at iSeeCars have dug into previous studies that analyzed over 20 million cars to recommend the top pre-owned vehicles to buy.
Read MoreFor years, the U.S. market has known Hyundai as a brand that makes good road cars and kind of stops there. The company has been safe, like its longer factory warranties and its tendency to focus on what does well rather than what serves a more niche audience. But Hyundai is becoming more daring by the model, and the driving the Sonata N-Line performance trim doesn’t just emphasize that—it screams it from the lungs of the Sonata’s most powerful engine yet.
Read MoreVolkswagen would like you to know it is confident. Confident in its new and growing lineup of crossovers and SUVs. So confident, it just did a random confident survey to double-check that yep, the people who bought SUVs like SUVs and would likely buy another.
Read MoreCruel SUVs and crossovers and the normie’s near-unquenchable desire for them have claimed another automotive victim, this time Australia’s iconic Holden Commodore. Just because nobody is buying the mid-size sedan, Holden, which appears to only be in this business to make money, somehow, has axed the car from its lineup, which will now only be SUVs and, as the Aussies like to call El Camino-type trucks, utes.
Read MoreAs Jalopnik’s resident car buying expert and professional car shopper, I get emails. Lots of emails. I’ve decided to pick a few questions and try to help out. This week we are discussing employee based car buying services, buying a car in the US to export to the UK, and overpriced Toyota trucks.
Read MoreThe 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe surprised us all recently with a face that went quite aggro. Given that’s the trend of all cars today, it’s not completely unexpected, I suppose. But the Santa Fe wears its new face well. And it has some features that are very nice and thoughtful. Especially in its top-tier Limited trim.
Read MoreDanielle drives a manual Honda Fit—a good car! But it’s getting worn out and is no longer ideal for hauling two kids around. She is feeling some pressure to get something “more responsible” but doesn’t want to give up the stick shift life. What car should she buy?
Read MoreFor the last 10 years or so, I’ve spent most of my life browsing two websites: Jalopnik and Craigslist. Read about cars, buy cars, wrench on cars—that’s my life’s motto, and it’s been serving me damn well (mostly). Right now, I own 11-ish automobiles, which, you could argue, is too many, but I’d own far, far more had the recently-released Craigslist app come a few years sooner. I thank the heavens it didn’t.
Read MoreRemember Nissan? Yeah it’s still around, but you don’t hear much from it lately. That might have something to do with recent, erm, developments within its management. Nissan’s flagship sports cars have been around for almost a decade, god knows what it’s doing with Infiniti, and while Nissan is committed to the EV Leaf, not much else has come from its electrification. Honda and Mazda have already brought out full electric vehicles to market, Toyota is still dominating in the hybrid segment while
Read MoreThere is a new Jaguar F-Type coming, and while we all breathed a sigh of relief that Jaguar didn’t kill its sports car in an age where everyone wants a crossover, I’m not so sure this new one is an improvement style-wise over the original. Really, the best outcome of Jaguar refreshing the F- Type is that now the best version of it is pretty affordable.
Read MoreIf you’re already a Chevy Corvette owner, you’re probably a huge fan of “big deals.” Well, GM is offering up a “big one” as it tries to sell the last of the front-engine C7 Corvettes, now offering over $9,000 to anyone who owns or leases any Corvette. What an upgrade!
Read MoreEvery year as it comes to a close we tend to joke that the next year surely can’t be as bad as the one we’ve just lived through. And every year the universe tends to show us just how wrong we can be about that. 2019 was a pretty awful 12 month span, so let’s try to end it on a high note, shall we?
Read MoreA very weird rumor floating around is saying that Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, escaped Japanese house arrest and fled to Lebanon this past weekend by reportedly hiding in a musical instrument case ahead of a trial for his alleged financial misconduct.
Read MoreIt seems like every day there is a new segment of the automotive universe created. There are more sub-species of BMW or Mercedes now than there are heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The burden of choice is real, and how can any of these manufacturers expect consumers to make an informed choice when there is an all-new or first-ever every few weeks? No, no, friends, we must find a way to fix this scourge, and I think I’ve figured it out. There should only be six cars.
Read MoreBefore the Los Angeles Auto Show this past November, Ford parked a bunch of Ford Mustang Shelby GT350s, 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500s, and Ford Mustang Bullitts in the parking garage under a hotel, and gave the keys to journalists. Prior to taking the sports coupes on a beautiful canyon drive, journalists fired up the V8 motors and revved them in the garage, creating the greatest sound an auto enthusiast could ever hope to hear. Listen to this.
Read MoreIf you’ve watched any science fiction in the past few decades or seen a concept car, or, hell, even had a daydream about what the future may be like, then you owe a lot to a man named Syd Mead. Syd Mead, likely more than any other artist or designer, helped us visualize what the future could look like, whether it was a gleaming, post-scarcity utopia or a bleak, brooding dystopia. He designed spaceships, cars, robots, cities, everything. He designed the future. Mead died today, at the age of 86.
Read MoreCarlos Ghosn, the former CEO of Nissan and former chairman of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, is reportedly no longer under court-ordered house arrest in Japan and is now in Lebanon under unclear circumstances.
Read MoreImagine being a weary commuter on your way home from a long day of toil. You descend into the subway and wait for a train. One arrives, you slowly board and ease yourself down into a seat, finally able to rest for a moment.
Read MoreAs people, we often refer to “the people” as the average. Sure, there are people with 42 supercars at home and people with none at all, but “the people,” as a collective, are the leased Toyota Corollas of the world. Thus, any normal person assumes the recipient of an award called the “People’s Car of the Year” would be on Corolla levels, or at least somewhere within that stratosphere.
Read MoreWith an incredibly limited run of McLaren F1s ever produced, a mere 106, it’s surprisingly easy to keep track of where the cars end up and the legends they accrue as time goes by. But somehow seven of those cars have gone missing.
Read MoreWhile it’s unseasonably warm up here in New York right now, other parts of the country are getting far more than their fair share of snow this winter. If you keep your car outside, that means a lot more work to get yourself on the road.
Read MoreThe final days of December are upon us and soon it will be time to ring in the new year. While we better start getting ready to write“2020" on our checks and assignments and paperwork, the arrival of January First doesn’t have me looking forward, but rather back to 1995. Why? The Volkswagen Polo Harlekin is finally old enough to import to the United States. That’s why.
Read MoreI’ve seen a few 2CVs here and there, but I’d never seen the delivery van in the wild until last weekend when I found one weaving through the canyon roads of the Santa Monica Mountains. I had to catch up with the driver to ask him some questions like “How did you make it up the mountain with no horsepower?” and, “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
Read MoreI can’t believe I published our hotly-anticipated 2019 Year In Droids Recap on Monday, only to have the biggest fucking droid-related news of the year happen after the fact. Yes, my fellow dorks and associated dipshits, I’m talking about the stunning reveal of an R2 droid with humanoid-style limbs as seen in the final episode of The Mandalorian. What hath God wrought?
Read MoreAfter many years, lawsuits, recalls, injuries, deaths, and reports of malpractice by both manufacturers and automakers, the Takata airbag saga has become a massive, sprawling thing that’s almost too terrifying to try to keep up with. If you stopped paying attention, don’t, because it’s far from over.
Read MoreI’m assuming a bunch of Porsche PR people realized they had some end-of-year money lying around that needed to be burned through, because that can be the only explanation for this wonderful event they held, one without a focus on any current product or anything crassly commercial like that. It was just a whole bunch of Porsches from over seven decades, and a track to drive them on. That’s how I was able to drive a stunning and wildly rare old Porsche 356 variant, and also how I realized how fuck
Read MoreAfter writing about a perfect 1990 Toyota 4Runner with only 12,700 miles getting snagged by a Texas car salesman for a modest $4,000, I received an email from a reader showing off another amazing find: a 1992 Honda Accord Coupe with only 20,628 miles on the odometer. The car, I’m told, was actually destined for the crusher until the reader swept in and saved it, armed with nothing more than $800.
Read MoreIf you’ve got a 2019 or 2020 Mazda3, you should be aware that your car could, in its own electronic way, have hallucinations that cause it to panic-brake, even when there’s no reason. This is because the Smart Braking System (SBS) has some “incorrect programming” that can cause it to falsely detect obstacles in front of it, resulting in automatic and errant emergency braking. Mazda has issued a recall to fix this in these cars.
Read MoreWhen you make a turn, merge, or change lanes, you are supposed to use your turn signal. You indicator. Your blinker. Whatever you call it, everyone knows that you’re supposed to use it. But apparently that kind of common sense knowledge has been forgotten, leaving the Supreme Court in Washington state to cast a deep, heavy sigh and remind everyone that, yes, you have to use your damn blinker.
Read MoreOf the Three Amigos, I’ve always found James May to be the most progressive. His interests are wide-ranging and he usually appears to be quite open-minded on camera. Today, I learned May owns both a Tesla Model S and a Toyota Mirai and he brings up a great point about how we will talk about cars as more get electrified.On a recent video uploaded to the DriveTribe (remember DriveTribe?) YouTube page, May reviews both of his electric cars and then gets a little philosophical at the end. He finds t
Read MoreThe Porsche factory museum in Stuttgart is one of the world’s greatest treasure-troves of elegantly displayed cars. But apparently even that joint can’t fit everything cool that the company’s collected. Here’s a look at what’s in Porsche’s proverbial junk drawer.
Read MoreOne of the biggest reasons that people give for buying SUVs, even if they don’t need off-road ability or even a large-sized car, is because they want something known as a “command seating position.” That’s just goofy marketing-speak for “driving while sitting a bit higher than in a normal car.” You don’t need a truck for that!
Read MoreWe get it. For you, the Dodge Viper owner, every day follows a set schedule. You wake up, you remember you own the most absurd car from 2005, and then you prance around in it, getting single-digit fuel mileage and laughing because you can, in fact, afford the impracticality of such a car.
Read MoreNowadays we’re simply festooned with all sorts of mid-engine Aston Martin news. Valkyrie this, Valkyrie that. But it’s not the first Aston with the engine in the proper spot, far from it. That belongs to the Aston Martin AMR1, a Group C race car with a fine carbon fiber chassis and and a 700-horsepower 6.0-liter V8 thumping behind the driver’s head.
Read MoreThe Bugatti EB110 is as close as you’re ever going to get to an “unloved Bugatti.” Now it’s beloved, of course, for its quad-turbo V12 that gulped fuel through 12 individual throttle bodies, and its all-wheel-drive and its cheese-wedge styling. But back when it first debuted in 1991, there was a global recession going on. A bunch sold, of course, but the EB110 wasn’t enough to keep the company out of bankruptcy. So here’s some happier times in 1989, with a bunch of Italian engineers doing what I
Read MoreThe 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans saw not one, not two, not three, but seven factory teams competing for victory, a high point for prototype racing. And the car that won it, well, was not the Jaguar XJR-9. But there is a good reason to adore it. Two, really.
Read MoreThe WEC Hypercar class that will replace LMP1 next year as the highest class of endurance racing sanctioned by the FIA (LeMons be damned) has a lot to live up to. These cars will be racing the same courses traversed by the mighty Ford GT, Porsche 917, Mazda 787B and countless others.
Read MoreWe are now 30 years removed from the 1989 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which stands as the highest point of possibly the greatest era of modern sports car racing. And the car that sits atop that peak is an interesting one.
Read MoreI’m livid. There’s just no way to sugarcoat what is happening in our country today, so I’m just going to come out and say it: there’s a war going on. A war against our fundamental freedoms, our time-honored traditions, our core sets of beliefs. A war on our very happiness. A war on Happy Honda Days.
Read MoreYou may have thought Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber, was done with the company in 2017 when the board forced him to resign as CEO amid a cascading series of scandals, but you’d technically be wrong. He’s been on said board ever since, sticking around just long enough to cash out his substantial shares in the company, which went public earlier this year.
Read MoreFor the average enthusiast an E30 M3 would be a pretty exciting car to drive in stock configuration. It’s a race homologation-special with a high revving engine and sexy 80s box flares, what more could you want? Vidar Jodahl, apparently, wanted quite a lot more. That’s why they built an all-out animal of an E30 with a 1300 horsepower 1100 lb-ft Toyota 2JZ-GTE inline-six pushing 45 psi of boost!
Read MoreMan, the amount of information we have to deal with on a daily basis is just overwhelming, isn’t it? So much going on with all the holiday shit, news shit, politics shit, all these different manners and types of shit flowing with such ruthless abandon, it’s too much. And yet, in all of it, there is hardly any usable, important news about all of the goings-on in the world of fictional robotics. Let’s take care of that, right flipping now, with this update on droid news from both The Mandalorian a
Read MoreDo you love Toyotas? I mean really love Toyotas? Like, “dream about one day dating your Toyota in hopes of getting married and having small Toyotette babies?” No? Huh, weird. Well, this dating simulator involving actual Toyotas is still probably right up your alley.
Read MoreThere isn’t exactly a firm roadmap to starting a new car company, but thanks to the industry’s current electric revolution, we’re getting new opportunities to see just how much it all costs. After its newest $1.3 billion investment, Rivian has now raised over $3.5 billion with zero vehicles sold.
Read MoreThe McLaren Fast Car, also known as the McLaren Speedtail, is a three-seat, science fiction-looking thingy with bendy carbon fiber. Its power, weight, and structure together supposedly help it hit a speed of 250 mph. Recently, it did just that. A bunch of times. Like, 30 times.
Read MoreI know I’m not the only one who gets a jolt form spotting a car that shouldn’t be where it is. Maybe it’s built for another sort of surroundings, like a Soviet 4x4 in Brooklyn, or perhaps it’s just so mind-numbingly rare that it seems impossible it might be street-parked at all. But they’re out there, and I know you’ve seen them.
Read MoreI fully realize that this moment we’re in is a deeply Star Wars-centric moment, what with the new movie just out and the excellent Mandalorian series and all those baby Yodas and shit everywhere, which is why I feel like this is an ideal time to talk about something in the Star Trek universe that’s always bothered me. You know, just to be a jerk.
Read MoreMercedes-Benz, Audi, and even Jaguar have already pushed electric crossovers into production, and now BMW has to catch up. The good news is the electrified X3 called the BMW iX3 is shaping up to actually be a pretty solid car.
Read MoreThe 991-generation of the Porsche 911 is finally no more, despite the current 992-generation being well into production. The last 991 911 just rolled off the line. And no, it wasn’t a base Carrera that you or I could buy in a few years’ time; it was a Speedster. So I guess we all dropped the ball on this one because it’s so expensive, anyway. Nobody can afford that car.
Read MoreGrilles at BMW might be getting larger by the day, but the automaker doesn’t seem to think bigger is always better. For the Consumer Electronics Show next month in Las Vegas, the company will bring with it the BMW i3 Urban Suite—its new vision to downsize luxury travel.
Read MoreThe 2020 Lincoln Aviator is a car Lincoln makes. You can buy it if you live in a warm climate and you can buy it if you live in a cold climate. But if you live in a cold place, where snow and ice are common occurrences in the winter, Lincoln’s solution to make things a little easier is heated wiper blades. Cool! But, Lincoln, let me ask you this. Why didn’t you just heat the whole car?
Read MoreAs we inch closer to Formula One’s massive rulebook rewrite, and consider it in context of a massive increase in interest in Formula E from manufacturers, sponsors, and fans alike, we need to consider if this change will be enough. Could the sport be doing more to make the competition closer and the playing field more level?
Read MoreEarlier today, our own hoarder-in-chief David Tracy showed us all some pictures of a lovely and strangely tempting manual early 1980s Plymouth Voyager that was for sale somewhere. While I managed not to get snared into David’s thirst trap too deeply, I did realize something about the Voyager’s styling, and that realization led me to realize something about the strange way our brains process images. Hear me out.
Read MoreAs we all know, the year 2020 is widely accepted to be when the Bible’s Book of Galifracians predicts there will be a “Great Stompinating” as hordes of gigantic land-leviathans and other colossal beasts attack our cities, because of our hubris or eating the wrong meats on the wrong days or something religious like that. That’s why it’s more important than ever to address this question: when the giant monsters come, where should you hide? I’ve considered it, and I think a modern SUV is your best
Read MoreOur preliminary look at the 2020 Toyota Highlander told us it would have a grumpier face and a nice, efficient hybrid version. Now, new pricing details about the three-row SUV have emerged. There’s a spectrum.
Read MoreThere are a lot of powerful feelings we can associate with Ford v. Ferrari, which put the 1960s tale of Le Mans fresh in our minds, such as an uncontrollable love for the fuels the world runs on: capitalism, gasoline and testosterone. But in the spirit of all three, can we put a monetary value on those feelings?
Read MoreIt’s not that it makes sense. It’s not that I shouldn’t, I don’t know, buy literally any readily-available BMW instead. It’s just that I deserve a four-door 1990s Nissan Skyline and it is inappropriate, in a cosmic sense, that I do not have one.
Read MoreEvery time my wife and I go on vacation I try to find something car-related to do. This year we took eight days to relax in Palm Springs over Thanksgiving as a a way to unwind. When searching for activities in the area I dug up the site for Adventure Hummer Tours and booked a guided trip into Joshua Tree National Park. Sure, I would have preferred to drive the Hummer myself, but it was still a great experience.
Read MoreIn the next few years, penalties in Europe for automakers who don’t meet European Union emissions requirements are going to get very, very steep, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars if they were in place right now. In response, automakers have been scrambling to electrify their lineups. The Financial Times recently took a look at just how deeply unprepared most of them are.
Read MorePeoples of Earth! Listen up! It has come to my attention that the anthropomorphization of trains and locomotives is in a state of crisis, a state that has persisted for decades. The time has come to right this wrong, and, of course, the responsibility to do so falls upon me, the Global Chief President of Vehicular Anthropomorphization, as appointed by myself and what I vividly imagine are the wishes of the United Nations, the American Council of Churches, and the American Dental Association. I’m
Read MoreFor a brief moment in history, the most ambiguous thing about a Shelby Ford Mustang—Ford Mustang Shelby? Mustang Shelby Ford? Fustang Shord Melby?—isn’t the order its names go in. It’s the price, because in case you hadn’t searched a 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 lately, it’s not the holiday season.
Read MoreOne of the most show-stopping cars to come out of this past year was the De Tomaso P72. It’s a startup supercar, claiming it’ll offer a manual gearbox, a supercharged V8 and gorgeous copper detailing. Part of what made me care about it, though, were the studio photos that not only looked as professional as any from an already-established company, but were straight up some of the best I’ve ever seen.
Read MoreAfter having to delay the 2020 C8 Corvette due to the month-long United Auto Workers strike earlier this year, GM is blaming the union again for delaying the reveal of a new electric vehicle that was originally planned for next month’s CES.
Read MoreThere was a time when homebuilt EVs were the realm of ridiculous nerds shoving a half-ton of lead acid batteries into a Ford Festiva and running it through a 30 kW fork lift motor for a max speed of 49 mph and a range of about 30 miles.
Read MoreClassic car insurance company Hagerty has spent the last few years expanding its brand, which now includes editorial content and commentary on the value of old cars. This week it released a list of “10 collector cars (and one bike) on the rise [in 2020],” and I have Opinions. I’m sure you do too. Let’s talk.
Read MoreThe car’s full name is the 2019 Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S 4-Door Coupe, which is a mouthful. And if you think a car with a long name such as that should also come with many, many fun options, then you’d be right. Join us on a jaunt through its best and most bizarre features, keeping in mind not all of them were created equal or the most useful.
Read MoreMany people like to ask why I treat my feline child as if she is a human child and as if no human child could ever replace her, citing things like how “cats scratch things” and that they’re “pretty much plotting to destroy the world.” To that nonsense, I raise you: this toddler* who scratched up $10,000 worth of Audis at a dealership.
Read MoreFollowing the announcement of the Porsche Macan Turbo is this, the range-topping, 2020 Porsche Macan GTS. And I’m going to be straight with you. All I have in terms of news here are the car’s specs. We all know what a Macan is already.
Read MoreThe 2020 Audi RS Q8 is basically a science project for the latest technology in preserving as much energy as possible for maximum efficiency in a car that also happens to have a 600 horsepower turbocharged V8.
Read MoreArson was almost immediately ruled out after a July fire in the IT department at the UAW’s Detroit headquarters, though it was never clear why, exactly, especially since the fire occurred amid one of the biggest corruption scandals in UAW history. Now, the Detroit Fire Department says, uh, nevermind about that, it could still be arson.
Read MoreAlfa Romeo is undeniably making some pretty great cars right now. Everyone everywhere has been praising the Giulia, and someone who used to work at this very website once said “The 4C is a junior Ferrari for a fifth of the price. Except not a modern Ferrari — an old-school one, back when they were for guys like Steve McQueen and not guys like Justin Bieber.” That’s extremely high praise, so why are three year old 4Cs still kicking around on dealership showroom floors?
Read MoreThe electric Porsche Taycan has an EPA estimated range of 201 miles. This has generated some controversy. Partly, this is Porsche’s own fault for creating false expectations by suggesting it would have a range of 300 miles a few years ago. Beyond that, it doesn’t compare well to other EVs on the market, even ones that cost much less, which is pretty much all of them, because the Taycan starts at $103,800.
Read MoreHonda debuted the fourth-generation Fit in Tokyo this year. It looks fine. The car will be available to customers in Japan in February. In the States, we are also getting a 2020 Fit. It won’t be the shiny new one, though.
Read MoreDo you like screens? Hell yeah you do, even if you also kind of hate them. You’re on one right now, after all, and you’ve probably been on it for hours. But if you thought the 2021 Cadillac Escalade would be your one involuntary escape from the screens you can’t voluntarily take your eyes off of, you’d be wrong.
Read MoreThe German automotive industry, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, and their subsidiaries, may soon be facing more problems in the declining Chinese car market over a dispute about 5G phone networks, of all things.
Read MoreFor some reason I can’t wrap my head around, the new entry-level 2020 BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe will start at $38,495, including destination, which is just a couple thousand dollars short of the larger 2020 BMW 3 Series sedan.
Read MoreMini is advertising the range of the upcoming Cooper SE to be 110 miles in the U.S. market, a drop from its previous estimate of 114 miles and a significant drop from the European WLTP range of 146 to 168 miles. That is not an official EPA range, as that agency has not yet published a number. The EPA cycle often results in a lower range than the WLTP test; as we reported recently, the Taycan has an EPA estimated range of 201 miles—much less than the 280-mile European estimate.
Read MoreThe first all-electric vehicle from Mercedes, the EQC, was supposed to arrive at U.S. dealerships in a few weeks, but now it seems stateside buyers will be waiting until 2021. “It is a strategic decision to first support the growing customer demand for the EQC in Europe,” the automaker said in an email to customers.
Read MoreRemember how General Motors recalled nearly 560,000 trucks recently over the potential for their seat-belt systems to cause fires in a crash? Well, GM wasn’t the only one. Ford’s now conducting a similar recall, including nearly 550,000 Super Duty vehicles whose systems, too, may spark in the case of a crash.
Read MoreIf you’ve gone out to buy a Mini in the U.S. over the past few months, you might have noticed that manual options on new cars were either slim or nonexistent—more so than usual, that is. But the six-speed manual Mini will return to the market soon, for certain models.
Read MoreUnless you are nerdy or weird or both, you probably don’t find yourself thinking about Morgan too often. Well, I’ll have you know the low-volume, boutique British automaker has some big changes planned for the new decade. Morgan will finally replace a chassis it introduced 83 years ago. Bless!
Read MoreOf all the companies selling cars here in the United States, the one with the best grip on how actual car names sell actual cars might actually be Kia. From the Soul to the Stinger, the company sticks to names not alphanumerics. And that’s why we should cast a wary eye on a new report that the surprisingly good-looking Kia Optima might become the Kia K5.
Read MoreThe beloved Suzuki Jimny might just have a significant rival come 2022. That’s right: some folks at Jeep have been talking about the company releasing its very own ultra-compact utility vehicle sometime in 2022. And it could even feature an all-electric powertrain.
Read MoreThere is a Yaris that the rest of the world gets, while the U.S. market is given a re-badged Mazda 2. That means we are left wanting for a Yaris-based hot hatch. In those more fun markets it looks like Toyota is going to offer an all-wheel-drive model inspired by its WRC victories (including Ott Tanak’s amazing 2019 championship victory) with three doors and a huge injection of kickass. It’ll make its official debut on January 10th ahead of the Tokyo Auto Salon.
Read MoreHow can we expect anyone to learn how to GT500 good if they can’t fit inside the school? This school needs to be at least three times bigger.
Read MoreThe 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is so fast, guys. Zoom! Whoosh! Power! Speed! Acceleration! All that zoom-whoosh-power-speed-acceleration might actually be too much for everyone. So there’s a special Ford school you can attend and learn how to drive your snakepony car more goodly.
Read MoreIt’s been an eternity since the Koenigsegg Jesko was unveiled by the Swedish supercar manufacturer, but every so often, periodic reminders of its existence swim into the general automotive consciousness. Sort of like this new video that may just be the first-ever clip of the Jesko firing up in all its sweet, sweet V8 glory.
Read MoreThe 2019 Audi E-Tron is the German automaker’s first stab at a mass-produced electric car. Despite boasting impressive charging speed, critics (including us) were more focused on the car’s disappointing range. Audi will improve the E-Tron for the 2020, model year, though, which will hopefully mean increased range.
Read MoreWhether it was the Corvette C8 or the Tesla Cybertruck, the strange Kia HabaNiro concept or the 21-screened Imagine, there’s been some really wild stuff hitting the automotive world in 2019. And some of it has been really, terribly, horribly bad. But I want to know what was the absolute worst.
Read MoreFollowing the debut of the 2021 Mercedes-Benz GLA 250 is also news of the 2021 Mercedes-AMG GLA 35. Because you can’t go three feet from a new Mercedes model today without running into an AMG version of it, too.
Read MoreThe smallest SUV offering Mercedes-Benz makes is the GLA 250. For the new, 2021 model year, the compact crossover gets taller but shorter from nose to tail, while not compromising rear passenger legroom. So your friends will hopefully complain less when you inevitably squash them back there.
Read MoreI know it’s petty and probably shitty to go after grammar, but enough is enough. I read countless comments, tweets, blogs and smoke signals from you people on the daily, and by far the most common fuckup I see comes down to pluralizing cars. I cannot believe I have to reteach this to you.
Read MoreYou’re back! You came back to my basement! Hot damn, I’m glad you stopped listening to all those people trying to convince you how dangerous and unsanitary it is down here—they’re not one of us, right? You’re in for a treat this week because I’m talking about Lego cars, just not the Lego cars you’re likely thinking of the ones made from, you know, Lego. These are the earlier Lego cars, ones that don’t seem like Lego cars at all. But they are. Just watch.
Read MoreThe poor 2020 Ford Explorer just can’t catch a break. Issues with the screens and personnel problems at the plant have resulted in a messy launch and dropped sales. There was a recall. Now adding to the pile of complications is news the new Explorer’s crashworthiness didn’t improve enough for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to give it a safety award.
Read MoreLast week Automotive News got some quotes from Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Hackett about his “decontenting” strategy, which was pitched as a way to help make vehicles more affordable. But it sounds to me like consumers are just going to end up paying more for basic options.
Read MoreWhat more do you need from a car than a few hundred kilos of frame, engine, suspension, wheels, tires, and controls? This 838-pound machine is the Light Car Company Rocket, designed by a pre-McLaren F1 Gordon Murray to be the purest driving experience in the world. It’s reminiscent of a Formula Vee, but has power from a 1000cc motorcycle engine.
Read MoreBigger, faster, quicker, more power, more space, more quiet. That’s the trend that cars have gone for decades, and we’ve probably reached a tipping point where the average car is far less fun to drive than it was in previous generations.
Read MoreEvery single time I encounter some strange air-cooled Volkswagen variant I hadn’t previously been aware of I’m hit with the same, powerful sensation that the world is a vast, rich, nearly unknowable thing, and that’s both terrifying and beautiful. This time the air-cooled VW weirdo is my favorite kind: a peculiar yet official factory-built thing, an adaptation of a car we all know: the VW Type 181, known as the Thing to us Americans. This time, VW tried to turn it into a truck for farmers.
Read MoreThere’s a whole world out there dedicated to car modifications and aftermarket parts designed to improve your vehicle’s performance. You could probably wax poetic about which mod is the best for days—but Wyatt Knox from Team O’Neil Rally School has a pretty hot take for y’all: it’s not about what you add. It’s about what you take away.
Read MoreThere are so many driving laws. In fact, driving is one of the most regulated activities most people do on a regular basis. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, most people regularly break at least some of those laws. Speed limits, for example, are laws nearly everybody breaks all the time.
Read MoreIt’s natural for art and cars to go hand in hand since the latter starts out as art imagined by its designer anyway. Art can be found in cars, on cars, as cars and featuring cars. This particular poster collection has some very lovely regional car art we can all appreciate.
Read MoreFor many of us car enthusiasts, our love of fast machines was something we inherited from our parents. There’s a good chance someone you loved as a kid had something so damn cool that you just realized, hell, this whole car thing is kind of cool! And I want to know what that was.
Read MoreLet me start by saying this: If I could physically say “What the fuck,” I would physically say “What the fuck.” Instead, Ford only gave me the ability to honk, despite my exorbitant base price of around $500,000. A car should be able to do much more than honk for that amount of money, but alas, I could only honk in protest of that notion. The engineers thought something was wrong with me.
Read MoreJust when you thought McLaren might be taking a little break from introducing brand new cars for 2019, the Woking-based outfit comes out with yet another beautiful machine: the 620R. This new car is based on the McLaren GT4 race car, so if you’ve ever wanted to see how one of those bad boys would perform on the road, then this is your chance.
Read MoreBlack and orange is an all-time color combo. On a ‘70s sportscar it looks good. On an off-roader, it looks bomb. On a brand new supercar? Class. And now you can look at it all day behind the thumbnails and icons of your desktop.
Read MoreWhat appears to be a poor attempt at a Cybertruck prototype was spotted outside of a Tesla store and posted to Reddit yesterday. The roughness seems to indicate a weird fan idea of an early prototype, or perhaps a testing mule of some sort.
Read MoreLike most people under the age of your next U.S. president, I consume my media on various glowing rectangles. But I still love the look and feel of dramatic car photos on glossy paper, even though I don’t read car magazines as much as I used to. So it isn’t surprising, but still disheartening to hear that a whole slew of great automotive magazines are going out of print.
Read MoreTwo years ago, Ford announced an electric crossover that would become the Mach-E, originally calling it the Mach 1. It was, according to Ford PR rep Mike Levine, “researching the name Mach 1 to see how customers respond.”
Read MoreA jury found Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk not liable in the defamation lawsuit brought against him by British caver Vernon Unsworth, who Musk claimed was a “pedo guy” in a tweet last year.
Read MoreTEN Publishing, the publisher behind enthusiast magazines like Motor Trend, Hot Rod, Automobile, and a lot more, has announced it is shutting down print operations for 19 of its 22 titles next year.
Read MoreJames May has always been my favorite of the Three Amigos. Even before they all went to The Grand Tour, watching James May traveling abroad during the Top Gear specials was a treat. Now, it seems like there’s a new show of just May doing that: traveling. I’m tentatively excited.
Read MoreI started my career at a big daily newspaper. I learned to be a journalist in the trenches with people who were thoroughly steeped in the community they covered. The idea was that you weren’t just some detached observer chronicling things from afar. You were a part of that community, just as affected as any reader by what happened in it.
Read MoreToday is the last official workday for Patrick George, the longest-serving Editor-in-Chief in Jalopnik’s history. In the PG-era the site has done some of its best work, and grown to audience sizes previously unimaginable. He was also our boss, so now we’re going to make fun of him relentlessly. Lovingly, as well. But mostly, relentlessly.
Read More“Planes are like houses,” Courtland Savage explains. “They hold value like houses and they’re sturdy like houses as well.”
Read MoreUber has been under fire for rider and driver safety for years, and while reports of assaults, robberies and worse are regular fodder for local news, it was hard to know the extent of the problem—until now. Uber released its first safety report yesterday looking at two years of data and, while the practice of using ride-hailing apps is mostly safe, there are some alarming figures to be aware of.
Read MoreTraffic sucks, so why not start your morning off with some music? You provide the toast and we’ll provide the jams.
Read MoreBentley said last week it would be planting 100 trees around its England factory in the name of “sustainability.” Its VW neighbor Bugatti also chimed in this week that it’d plant over 4,000 trees to “offset the CO2 emissions from its Chiron hypercar, offices, and factories,” according to Motor Authority. Both of these efforts, I’m sad to report, are stunningly useless.
Read MoreThe Nissan GT-R50 was a radical redesign of the Nissan GT-R by Italdesign when it debuted in the summer of last year, but after announcing a limited production run, Nissan still hasn’t sold all 50 of the cars it plans to produce.
Read MoreIn 2013, I truly thought fast cars had plateaued. The 2014 Porsche 991 911 Turbo S could hit 60 mph from a standstill in a claimed mere 2.9 seconds. There was no way we could crack that. But cars have since gotten faster and faster. And now we have McLaren’s CEO saying the next McLaren supercar will pull off the feat in a targeted 2.3 seconds. What.
Read MoreThe 2019 Subaru STI S209 may just look like a modified Subaru sedan on the outside, but it’s technically a product of STI, Subaru’s motorsports division. When STI went to homologate the car to our crash and emissions regulations separately from Subaru, it faced one setback: the U.S. government couldn’t wrap its head around what exactly the car was supposed to be.
Read MoreIt’s probably good I’m not rich. I’d just spend my money on excessively stupid shit, like an Aston Martin V8 Vantage from the 1980s. And I have no business owning that! Nobody does.
Read MoreTraffic sucks, so why not start your morning off with some music? You provide the toast and we’ll provide the jams.
Read MoreWhen the 2020 Hyundai Sonata dropped at the New York Auto Show in April, we declared ourselves extremely here for it, which is not something we normally say about a midsize sedan. We still are, but now our excitement has been slightly tempered with marketplace reality thanks to Wednesday’s confirmation that, while the Sonata will have an N Line variant, it won’t go full N.
Read MoreThere’s a point in every conversation that starts on the internet about someone wanting to make their old Volkswagen Beetle go fast that someone pulls it up. It’s inevitable, and always the same link.
Read MoreYou knew it was coming, because it was just too good to last. The Buick Regal, which includes the Regal Sportback, Regal GS and the beloved Regal TourX wagon, are dead in the United States and Canada and after the 2020 model year. Pour one out for the classic American family car.
Read MoreEver since we first saw the Tesla Cybertruck unveiled on that stage, even before it had its windows smashed, the first thing I (and likely many others) thought of was that, damn, this thing looks like the kind of low-polygon model we used to have in 1990s early 3D video games. Well, now that passing thought has become a passing reality, since some enterprising hacker managed to stick a Cybertruck into the famous 1997 Nintendo 64 James Bond game, Golden Eye. It fits right in.
Read MoreIn recent years, various car washes in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley have joined forces with local food pop-ups to serve a new type of customer: hungry ones. In particular, these customers come for the hot chicken sandwiches that have enjoyed a spike in popularity in Los Angeles.
Read MoreRight off the bat I’d like to apologize for the lack of direct photographic proof of this car, since my ride in it was decades ago, at a time when I was young and beautiful and in no way aware that one day I’d be relaying any of this to anyone, ever. But I promise you it’s all true, and the car I was in was indeed remarkably rare, and yes, at the same time astoundingly dull. With all that in mind, please prepare yourselves accordingly, perhaps by reading this over a dropcloth.
Read MoreOne of the reasons why I like going carspotting is the juxtapositions you find completely by chance. In this case, here are two green American “compact cars” parked right next to each other in Manhattan’s East Village with four decades between them: a 2010s Ford Fiesta and a 1970s Plymouth Valiant. Let’s look at how wildly different these two cars doing the same job are.
Read MoreWhat is America if not a country for people trying to speed from one ocean to the other in a car as fast as possible? The most notable of such efforts is called the Cannonball Run, and it’s just had its previous record cross-country time from 2013 shattered by three guys in a Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG breaking a lot of laws.
Read MoreThe worst part about buying yet another supercar with my monthly allowance from Mom and Dad, which they give me as part of our agreement that I leave them be to day drink and flirt with the young tennis instructors at the country club or whatever, isn’t that I’ll have to forgo my usual expenses—a private jet to the islands, giving my poorer friends a vacation home as their wedding gift—for the next 30 days. (And trust me, that’s a lesson in budgeting on its own.) It’s that when I go to buy the d
Read MoreThis past weekend, I drove from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where I spotted the most “Texas” truck I’ve ever laid eyes upon. Sitting in the parking lot of the most Texas fast-food joint I know of, Whataburger, was a red Ram 3500 diesel armored with what I assume are standard automobile accessories sold at every AutoZone in The Lone Star State. Except this truck may have gone a little overboard.
Read MoreDespite being around for nearly eight years, I didn’t think the Jaguar F-Type needed any facelifting. But now that I’ve seen the 2021 Jaguar F-Type, I think I get it. The face is a whole lot meaner. And there’s still a supercharged V8, thank god.
Read MoreI understand that the carpool lane is for vehicles carrying multiple people. But the thing is, I’m a good person. I deserve to drive in it alone.
Read MoreBack in October, I wrote about the “Holy Grail of Jeep Grand Cherokees,” an extremely rare, first-generation manual transmission Grand Cherokee left to rot on a Wisconsin dairy farm. After reading that story, a reader miraculously discovered a second grail for sale for $800 in the Middle of Nowhere, Colorado. Unfortunately, it was 1,500 miles away and plagued by a bad clutch, a worn-out steering system, and 260,000 miles of wear. Naturally, I bought it. Sight unseen. Because I’m a fool.
Read MoreIt’s the Monday after a holiday, and that can only mean one thing: Raph and I are at each other’s throats regarding a question about scrotums. And not just any scrotums: the synthetic scrotums that deeply lost people hang from the back of their trucks to suggest that their trucks are male and have the organs that mammalian life uses for reproduction. Yes, Truck Nutz. It seems there are two very divergent kinds, and our own Raphael Orlove and I disagree which are worse.
Read MoreIt wasn’t a Rolls Royce, nor was it a 7 Series or even a Maybach. No, in my 12-year-old mind, it was the Lincoln Town Car that signified power and mobility in 2000s New York City.
Read MoreThis is a Mazda RX-7. It is not the car our David Tracy bought this weekend in Colorado for $700, despite my best efforts. He bought something else instead. I’m trying here, people.
Read MoreEarlier this week, I was reading BringATrailer as one does and I came across this 1981 Chrysler Sno Runner. Apparently, this little cross between a moped and a snow-mobile was powered by a little single-cylinder Chrysler boat engine and sold alongside the rest of the Mopar product line. While there have been adult toys for sale at Dodge dealers, I had never seen one of these before.
Read MoreThere won’t be any deliberation. There won’t be any disagreement. Zagato has always known what to do with Alfa Romeos. And what they did with the Junior back in 1969 is no exception. But how did Zagato get their hands on an already gorgeous Alfa Romeo design? Car designer and friend of Jalopnik Matteo Licata has the story.
Read MoreWith its 35.5-kWh battery pack, roughly 130-mile range, and 143 horsepower, the Mazda MX-30 is small beans compared to other electric cars in its class. The decision to scale down the battery is antithetical to pretty much every other automaker’s design philosophy of larger batteries with massive ranges. And while the world needs more small, cheap EVs, Mazda says its newest model is inspired by a desire to cut carbon emissions.
Read MoreI’m not exactly certain what the future will bring, especially since I ran out of those pills the man in the rusty Econoline gave me, but one thing we do know is that 2020 will be, at least in part, the Year of the Bronco. Ford’s re-born Bronco is expected to be revealed sometime in the spring, but before then we’ve got a nice little sneak peek at the newest version of the iconic early SUV’s headlights. I like them!
Read MoreWith the merger with Peugeot-Citroen looming, plans for Fiat’s own small cars are coming to an end. The 500, Panda, and others will be replaced by PSA-based models once the merger is complete. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to look at how Fiat built bigger cars once upon a time, don’t you think?
Read MoreThe McLaren Elva might be a hardcore new supercar that can both outrun the McLaren Senna and look a lot better in the process, but it does have one quirk: its lack of a windshield. But don’t fret, because McLaren has a method to keep bugs out of your mouth—aside from pricing it way out of your reach, that is.
Read MoreFrom its indecisiveness on SUVs to its rigid stance on never making a pink car, Ferrari is a perplexing company. But the company is getting ever so slightly closer to the mark in terms of whom it’s openly marketing its different models toward, because it’s at least hinting that it doesn’t believe in cars “for women.” The only problem with that is what it believes a car “for women” actually is.
Read MoreSome bad designs are noticeable right away, their poorly-considered executions slap you in the face like a slice of wet ham. Others are more insidious, with problems lurking stealthily under the surface. The Cadillac XLR’s taillights are an example of this latter group, and they’re causing the handful of remaining XLR owners all kinds of expensive headaches.
Read MorePerhaps one of the most controversial parts of the Tesla Cybertruck is the remarkable simplicity, perhaps even crudeness, of the design—all flat panels, no complex curves or stampings. This could also prove to be one of the design’s best qualities, at least from the perspective of eager bootleggers who want to throw together quick knockoffs of the electric truck, much like one industrious fabricator in Moscow seems to have done.
Read MoreAn all-electric Ford F-150 pickup is coming, and a new patent filing shows us exactly what’s in store under the hood. Since it won’t be an engine, it looks like Ford instead will offer a front trunk, or a frunk, and a pretty clever storage system.
Read MoreThe Aston Martin Valkyrie still hasn’t made its way into production quite yet, but the marque knows how to get people interested: onboards. To prove your car is the best, you have to show it kicking ass out on the track. And that’s just what we have for you today.
Read MoreI find car interiors difficult to photograph. That’s frustrating because, sometimes, a car’s cockpit is more interesting than its sheet metal outerwear. In such cabins, there’s one feature in particular that I often like the best: the handles you use to pull the doors shut.
Read MoreThe good news is that the Honda S2000 is coming back, from Honda, next year. The disappointing news is that’s it’s only a custom updated one-off to celebrate the iconic roadster’s 20th anniversary.
Read MoreIf you’ve followed me this far on this website, then you’ll know I love car interiors with buttons, dials and switches. That’s not exactly a brave stance, as literally every breathing person in this world feels this way, but I hate touchscreens and will argue against them until my last dying breath. It seems, however, as though we are fighting a losing battle when it comes to Audi’s future interior design.
Read MoreWhen you hear the word “philanthropist,” chances are you either think it’s something dirty. Or you think of us, the Good People of Jalopnik, who give and give and give until it hurts, and it always hurts. What do we give? Ideas. Who do we give them to? The neediest entities of all, poor, innocent massive car-selling conglomerates. Why do we give? Because that’s just who we are, friend.
Read MoreThe Jaguar E-Type was an incredible car when it debuted in 1961. It had disc brakes, independent suspension, rack-and-pinion steering, and monocoque construction that made it lightweight and resulted in great performance, especially for a car as inexpensive as it was. It was called the most beautiful car ever made by Enzo Ferrari, and it routinely tops automotive journalist’s lists of best-looking cars.
Read MoreNo, I’m not forgetting about all the other dumb shit Rolls-Royce has done in the past. Because all that’s legitimately bad, dumb and hilarious. But when Rolls-Royce does do good stuff, it really makes you stop and take notice. Just look at this embroidery. It’s utterly gorgeous.
Read MoreMost drivers are familiar with the gut-dropping feeling of running full-tilt over a speed bump. If you’re anything like me, you just clench your teeth, scream inside, and then immediately pretend that nothing happened and everything is fine. Well, friends, you’re about to see what actually, really happens to your car—in slow motion—when you go crashing over a bump and it’s just as jarring as you imagined.
Read MoreIt must be hard to follow up the McLaren F1—a car with the most iconic three-seater arrangement with a literal gold-plated engine compartment—but Gordon Murray is giving it a shot. The $2.6 million GMA T.50 celebrates Murray’s 50 years designing cars, and it’s bringing a giant fan mounted to its butt to the party.
Read MoreWe’re so used to having cars around that I think we all too often forget what remarkable machines they are, just in a very general way. We’re so spoiled by modern car conveniences and horsepower and distracted by styling and status that we forget that pretty much any car, and I mean any car, can do some pretty incredible things. A perfect example of this idea is this Scion xA that I happened to see in Pennsylvania.
Read MoreWe’ve all seen the peculiarly-designed Tesla Cybertruck on stage and driving on a short course during its debut last month. But if you’ve been wondering what the vehicle looks like on public roads, especially next to standard, run-of-the-mill cars, the answer is: absolutely absurd. Take a look.
Read MoreElectric cars are undoubtedly the future of the automotive industry. If a manufacturer doesn’t have an EV in its lineup, that manufacturer is behind the times. But EVs also have some hurdles before they are universally accepted, and towing is one of them. Thankfully, Jason Fenske from Engineering Explained is here to give us all the details as to why.
Read MoreLast month, we reported General Motors vice president of global design Michael Simcoe predicting a future hell where cars would have 24- and 26-inch wheels. Audi’s design head, however, draws the line at 23-inch wheels.
Read MoreI’d like to remind you that there is currently a great battle waging— a battle between Mahindra, who is selling their very Jeep-like Roxor off-road-only vehicle, and Jeep, who sells, you know, Jeeps. Fiat-Chrysler (FCA) alleges that the very Jeep-like Roxor is too very Jeep-like to be sold here in America. While on the face of it, this seems to make sense, when you dig a bit deeper things just aren’t as clear. Mahindra sent us a statement that explains their side of things a bit more.
Read MoreThe definitely real and totally not fake ecologically-conscious Fisker Ocean is slated to hit the showroom sometime in 2021, and the automaker is already trying to get people pumped up about its all-electric SUV by explaining one of its most head-scratching features: California Mode. It is, unfortunately, not as cool as it sounds.
Read MoreAnyone old enough to remember the old commercials for noted powdered beverage vehicle Kool-Aid? The ads consisted of a gigantic, be-limbed pitcher, summoned to life via the blackest magic by children wracked with the pain of thirst. He would break through walls, fences, doors, whatever, raining destruction and chaos, all while shouting “OH YEAH!” A 40-year-old in Sarasota County, Florida managed to do a pretty good impression of those ads with his GMC Sierra, through the walls of the Sarasota-Br
Read MoreIf you’ve been looking for a new 2020 Volkswagen Golf with a rear ejector seat then I have some good news for you. Euro NCAP crash tests have shown that the rear driver’s side door could pop open in an accident, which is definitely not something you want car doors to do.
Read MoreThere isn’t a lot to keep a teenager occupied in rural America, but owning a $600 car opens up a lot of possibilities. I was a pizza delivery driver for a few of my younger years and after a typical closing shift, some of the other drivers and I would pile into one car and drive around in a fruitless search for something, anything, to do. We would always leave the light-up pizza delivery sign on the roof of the car, because we knew we were less likely to get pulled over that way.
Read MoreJust in case you needed a little reminder as to whether or not you lived in a fictional 2019 where we have fully autonomous, self-driving vehicles or the actual 2019 where we have, at best, partially self-driving vehicles that require constant driver attention, this should be a good reminder: Over the weekend, a Tesla Model 3 with Autopilot engaged crashed into the back of both a police car and another vehicle. This is because the 2019 we all live in is not one where we have truly self-driving v
Read MoreGenerally, when stunt drivers plan on doing something like a jump over a dozen or so cars lined up in a row, there’s lots of planning and calculating and equipment testing and all that. It’s a big deal. Maybe, though, all those daredevils have been wasting time, since it seems you can just get dizzy at the wheel of a Toyota Camry and do basically the same thing. At least, that’s what happened Tuesday afternoon off of U.S. Highway 19 by a Ford dealership. Oh, and, yeah, it was in Florida.
Read MoreBritish heiress, model, socialite, and daughter of former Formula One chief gargoyle Bernie Ecclestone Tamara Ecclestone reported a large amount of expensive jewelry stolen from her home in London last week. No arrests have been made yet.
Read MoreEven with the old team over at Amazon, Top Gear returns once again for a new season tonight (in the UK, at least). The 28th season will feature more than just specials, and frankly, I think we wave a lot to look forward to.
Read MoreThe graphic on the side of the butterscotch Toyota Supra in 2Fast 2Furious was an afro pick. And if that blows your mind, wait ’til you see how the studio faked a whole engine for the stunt cars. The main prop car though was actually pretty impressively built, even if it wasn’t set up to be fast.
Read MoreThe Dark Knight is the movie that elevated Christopher Nolan to a household name, but it was Inception that proved to everyone the guy knew how to do complicated espionage thrillers that mess with time. And his next movie, Tenet, looks like it’s going all in on those themes.
Read MoreThe trailer for Top Gun 2: Maverick is out, and it looks like it ticks all the boxes that modern cinema appears to be looking for when it comes to new movie releases: we’re just gonna phone it in and re-make all the old, iconic movies that everyone loves because it guarantees people will see it, and we’re gonna totally take away all the coolest parts of the original film that made people love it in the first place.
Read MoreIf you haven’t sub’d to Disney+ or pirated The Mandalorian yet, I can share a funny observation without any real spoilers: among the many pieces of prop-junk the Jawas are scavenging in the show’s second episode are a pair of Volkswagen fuel rails, as spotted by an eagle-eyed Redditor.
Read MoreDaniel Craig is back for one last mission, and his James Bond seems mad as hell in the first trailer for No Time To Die. Blofeld is back, the V8 Vantage is back, and the DB5 is spewing bullets out of its headlights.
Read MoreI don’t think I’m being unfair when I say the American versions of Top Gear have had a rough history. Top Gear USA made it through four seasons with some okay episodes, but it never landed as well as the British original. And Top Gear America, starring the banker who gets shot at the beginning of The Dark Knight? I don’t know who asked for that. I also don’t know if anyone asked questions when it got axed.
Read MoreThe first trailer for the upcoming James Bond movie, No Time To Die, will be released Wednesday morning, but the little 15-second teaser reel that came out last night already features one incredible motorcycle stunt that was mostly done for real.
Read MoreHonda is bringing its vision of the future to this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, and it’s... kind of strange. It’s calling its newest concept car the Augmented Driving Concept, and it’s basically an occasionally-manual-control autonomous car. Which sounds... kind of strange.
Read MoreIn the Los Angeles Auto Show, the little hall between the two main sections of the convention center is usually taken over by the Galpin Empire, a large network of dealerships and the famed Galpin Auto Sports. It’s also where Beau Boeckmann puts some of the really fun stuff from his collection out for lots of people to see. Stuff like this car, the remarkable Mooneyes Moonliner.
Read MoreChevrolet’s C6 Corvette ZR1 was a gem of an automobile with supercar-beating power, grip for days, carbon ceramic brakes, and a 200+ mph top speed. The only thing it’s missing is cachet. It just looks like a Corvette. It doesn’t have fancy butterfly doors or flying buttresses, or a-pillar mounted rear view mirrors, or the day-to-day attire of a four-wheeled mech suit from the future. That’s where the one-off coachbuilt Bertone Mantide comes in. It takes all of the good stuff from the ZR1 and add
Read MoreTo take a frumpy 1980s Mopar minivan with a stick shift and drive the living hell out of it is not a new idea. But somehow as 2019 wraps up, it’s still a relevant one.
Read MoreIf you’re trying to buy a Ferrari right now, and it’s not this six-speed manual 1995 456 in non-standard red, you’re doing it wrong.
Read MoreMy love for the first-generation Chrysler minivan reached new heights when I laid eyes on this perfect, manual, red-on-red 1986 model for sale on Facebook Marketplace for only $3,500. Just look at this sliding-door-having 1980s human-hauler, and you’ll agree that this may have been the deal of the century.
Read MoreWhile I often try to forget its existence, I was again reminded this week about the concept of ultra-luxury, bejeweled car keys—you know, the kinds of keys for people whose 18-karat gold emblem on the front of one of their four dozen supercars just isn’t enough. It was at that point I wondered: Why?
Read MoreThe origins of this 2000 Mercedes-Benz E320 Wagon – pickup truck – are somewhat murky but its regalness is not. What a thing.
Read MoreWe’re two weeks from 2020, which probably makes you, like the rest of us, feel a mix of both despair and the creeping of old age from your joints through every other part of your body. But there is some good news, even if it comes in a small dose: You can still buy a brand-new Dodge Dart.
Read MoreFor those of you who love a good car-found-in-a-field story, have I got the mother lode for you. It involves roughly 10 Alfa Romeos in rough shape, truth be told. But they’re in Texas and they’re calling out to you. Do you hear them? Do you hear them calling your name?
Read MoreBuying gifts is hard, especially when it’s socially mandated that you do so, like during the holidays. What do my family members want for the holidays? I don’t know. I could probably find out if I asked them, but I’m not going to ask them, because that may ruin the surprise despite it being no surprise that the holidays are coming up and we’re all getting each other gifts. Ugh!
Read MoreI know a good deal when I see one, and $140,000 for a used Dodge ain’t it. But I also recognize a Demon when I see one–because it gives me flashbacks to the mind-melting moments I spent behind the wheel, full-noise, on a drag strip in Indiana. This is a historically significant car, and this one, in particular, is exceptionally special.
Read MoreAfter reading about my $700 “Holy Grail” Jeep purchase, a reader shared with me the incredible deal he scored on a perfect second-generation Toyota 4Runner with under 13,000 miles on its odometer. Just look at this minty off-roader.
Read MoreIt is probably fair to say that the Taylor Aerocar was not a particularly good car, nor was it a particularly good plane. Only five were ever made, one of which being a prototype. But that’s still more than Larry Page’s now-delayed Kitty Hawk project, and you can even buy an Aerocar.
Read MoreIgnore my driver’s license. Ignore my “birthdate.” I am 12 years old. Most of the time, I am 12 in the sense that all I want to do is watch monster trucks and children’s card games on television. Sometimes, I am 12 in the sense that I want to be a living, breathing Polly Pocket, except more sparkly.
Read MoreHonda’s been building motorcycles ever since 1949. That’s 70 years of mobilizing people on two wheels when sometimes four just wasn’t possible or realistic or the most fun. And right at the end of 2019, the company celebrates its 400 millionth motorcycle built.
Read MoreA thing you should all know by now is the 2020 Hyundai Veloster N is an incredible, everyday hot hatch. But since Hyundai has a sense of humor, it’s also cooked up an absolutely nuts mid-engine, rear-wheel drive prototype, à la the Renault 5 Turbo and Ford Shogun. It’s called the Hyundai RM19 and I got a taste of what it’s like on the track. It drives as crazy as it looks.
Read MorePeople love to photograph cars. Who can blame them? The trend nowadays seems to either be super even and ugly HDR photos, or overly processed dark images with too much contrast. If you want your car photos to stand out for cheap, it’s time to look into some filters.
Read MoreHere we have two high-performance electric vehicles built by independent California-based manufacturers, the Tesla Model 3 Performance and the Zero Motorcycles SR/F. But that’s pretty much where the similarities end, because one is an all-wheel drive performance sedan with 450 horsepower and tons of torques, and the other has 110 hp/140 lb-ft routed through just one wheel. Aerodynamically the sedan has a much better shape than an un-faired streetfighter motorcycle. So which is faster in the quar
Read MoreI never really cared about cars until after I bought my first one, but I’ve loved motorcycles for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories of wide-eyed motorcycle adoration was when a couple of kids down the street from me got mopeds. Are they bicycles? Are they motorcycles? They’re both! These were not unattainable things from a far off land; these were kids on my street, who were my age, riding things that looked similar to my bicycle.
Read MoreIt’s pretty much impossible to debate that Valentino Rossi is an unmatched talent when it comes to two-wheeled competition. The guy is a master of traction management, and this massive talent came in handy on his way to sharing victory with Luca Marini at the recent 100km Tavullia race in Italy. Fifty laps of a 2 kilometer dirt course, complete with a Le Mans-style start and a rider change.
Read MoreMotorcycles are great. Sometimes, when the weather is beautiful, the road is winding, and the traffic is non-existent, I think bikes might even be better than cars. But motorcycles are also expensive, dangerous, too powerful, not all that great for the environment, and occasionally incredibly out of touch with buyers. The motorcycle industry is going through a phase of change right now and could leave behind a lot of companies, and a lot of riders.
Read MoreForget disc brakes or forced induction or hybrid drivetrains or advances in aerodynamics, the new thing that moved society forward the most stemming from motorsport is undoubtedly this “The Cup” which allows you to chug a beer while keeping your eyesight unobstructed, therefore never missing a second of the on-track action. Somehow this happened a decade ago and we still have not found a way to make this technology trickle down from the race track to our everyday lives.
Read MoreWe’re about to enter the depths of winter with cold weather ahead and no fun holidays to break it up in sight. That’d be really depressing if we didn’t have some 1970s Citroëns to look at and keep our mind on warmer days.
Read More1997 was early for a car like this. The Tokyo Auto Salon hosted the debut of the first-generation Prius that year, sure, but that was a purpose-built hybrid designed with the might of the Bubble Era behind it. This, though, was a hybrid built into a model that buyers were familiar with. This was about as forward-thinking as you could get.
Read MoreThere is no scarier road condition than thick soupy ground-level fog, and when conditions are as harrowing as depicted in this news camera footage the interstate is the absolute last place I would want to be. There is threat from all sides, because you simply don’t know when traffic might be stopped ahead, and you don’t know when some Leeroy Jenkins behind you might come barreling in maintaining 80 miles per hour. Both were the case here.
Read MoreHere comes Honda CEO Takahiro Hachigo, rising from the dead to walk among us in the year 2019—a year in which Tesla has sold more than 255,000 cars—to inform us he is still not sure about this whole electric car thing, revealing himself to be not a man but a ghost of a bygone era.
Read More1998 was before endurance racing turned into a mileage game. This was before Audi’s diesel-powered assault in the 2000s. Back then, Mercedes, Mclaren, and Porsche were dueling with wide, low mid-engined machines. But Dr. Don Panoz wasn’t known for following the pack. He tried something new, and while it didn’t work then, it would prove to be the future of the WEC.
Read MoreStraight off the heels of a monster $1.3 billion investment led by T. Rowe Price, electric truck startup Rivian has shown off a new feature called the Tank Turn that it says will be available on its electric R1T pickup and R1S SUV when they reach the market sometime in late 2020 or early 2021.
Read MoreMany of you will be faced with two significant challenges this week. You’ll be stuck on the road in mile after mile of traffic with others on their way to family and friends to celebrate, and you’ll be stuck on the couch nursing a food coma while scrolling through the streaming services looking for something to watch. We can’t help much with the first challenge, but we’ve got something in mind for the second.
Read More1998 was relatively late in the Bubble Era but that didn’t stop Isuzu from giving us its perhaps most impressively weird model to date, the Vehicross. To get such a bizarre low-volume model approved, Isuzu decided to employ a cost-cutting production method that allowed the brand to keep overhead down. They used ceramic molds for the bodywork.
Read MoreForget the Elf On The Shelf, if you’re worried about ending up on the wrong list this week, you better keep an eye on your speedometer. Up in Chester, Vermont, the local police department has modified its radar-enabled speed limit signs to let you know whether your driving could land some coal in your stocking.
Read MoreFiat went through the wringer in the 1970s. The original 500 was canned and the the brand introduced a new wave of front-wheel drive hatches. Eventuallyr the Ritmo was launched, but not before a major injection of cash from a man in North Africa named Muammar Qaddafi. The first Fiat plant was opened in the major overseas market of Brazil. The company had to change because it was up against a lot back then. And while most of the marque’s more creative decisions of the era at least appeared to att
Read MoreWe lost the Holden Commodore last week and while the one we’ll say our last goodbyes to isn’t the same rear-wheel-drive, LS-powered muscle sedan we knew for most of the car’s run, we can keep the best Commodores in mind as we bid it farewell. In case you need a little refresher on what the car could do, this lap of the Nürburgring should be a good little refresher.
Read MoreThe holidays are here, and people are wondering which books they should buy their friends and family. There are lots of great car-related ones out there (I just finished Where the Suckers Moon: The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign—it’s about Subaru marketing. It’s good), but right now, I’d like to focus on Robot, Take The Wheel. It’s a 2019 nonfiction comedy (if that’s not an actual category, it is now) about autonomous cars written by our very own writer, artist, and comedian, Jason To
Read MoreEvery year it’s the same shtick, you don your gay apparel, go to the home of someone you’re related to, overindulge on bland meats and candy canes, argue about politics, then go home to forget all about it with a jug of alcohol in front of the blessed Yule Log. Except you don’t actually have a fireplace, so you play the boring-as-shit one on Netflix or something.
Read MoreYou remember the BMW Concept 4 and its giant grille? Sure you do. The template for the next 4 Series took after the new X7 and 7 Series in having a grille the size of the Moon. Whether you like it or not is somewhat beside the point, as BMW has now said its customers were demanding something “strong.” BMW simply had no choice.
Read MoreYou know how sometimes you just want your car to smell like a glorious pine forest, where it smells so intensely and fiercely piney that you just have to light up a smoke to really appreciate it all? Why shouldn’t you do that? What should stop you from experiencing this joy? Maybe the fact that doing so could blow up your car, like this poor SEAT owner did in Halifax, UK. Oops.
Read Moreat tOn November 25, Uber sent an updated Technology Services Agreement to its drivers through the driver app. Like all terms of service we encounter on the internet, the 27-page, single-spaced agreement flashed across their phones when they opened the app hoping to make some money that day. Drivers couldn’t use the app, and therefore drive for Uber, unless they agreed. The app even allows drivers to agree without opening the document at all.
Read MoreCadillac recently said it would be ditching its lame naming system, in favor of actual names. It also ditched its old CEO, Johan De Nysschen, back in 2018. Perhaps incidentally, Cadillac also said that it expected to sell more cars in the States this year than last year for the first time since 2013.
Read MoreDuring almost all of Cadillac’s early history it called its cars by numbers, before giving way to the 1950s and the Coupe DeVille and Eldorado, and after that the Calais, Seville, Cimmaron, and Allanté, among others. It got rid of the names in the aughts to be more like the Germans, but now, as it goes electric, Cadillac says names are coming back.
Read MoreThere was a fire at the UAW’s headquarters in Detroit in July, a blaze that started in the IT department and spread to the PR wing, attracting nine fire engines and forcing the union to move to temporary quarters. Arson was ruled out a couple weeks later, but the timing, amid one of the biggest corruption scandals in the union’s history, was still, uh, hmm.
Read MoreThis weekend, Acura brought a very special SLX to Radwood. It might have looked like the old Isuzu Troper rebadge it is on the outside, but underneath it was all modern RDX. It was a publicity stunt, yes, but it was a good one. And it gave me an idea.
Read MoreAfter the large V8s and bulky shapes of the 1960s, times got tougher for automakers. The market got more competitive and challenges like safety concerns and fuel shortages drove manufacturers to think harder about what cars should be like. It was a complicated process, but Peter Wherrett is here to coach us through it.
Read MoreWhen a certain Jim Magill let me know he’d be arriving in New York City with a right-hand-drive Alfa Romeo built right on the cusp of import eligibility, I knew I needed to see it. Jim, being the upstanding gentleman that he is, obliged me. He even let me drive.
Read MorePerfect fluffy snow, a surprised love one, a giant red bow. The ‘December To Remember’ ad script is familiar to all by now and it should be after twenty holiday seasons. The campaign is back again this year, but the numbers indicate that buying stock in Big Big Red Bow might not be a winner.
Read MoreIt is an automotive crime that there are no high-performance production minivans. There are high-performance SUVs, crossovers, small cars, big cars, expensive cars, compact hatchbacks, even trucks, but no minivans. It’s been talked about, and companies have built one-off racing minivans, but nobody has done it in production yet, and I think now is the time.
Read MoreFiero. It means “Fire” in Italian. That’s actually not true, it means “Proud,” but a lot of people think it means fire, perhaps because the early Pontiac Fieros had a disproportionate tendency to alight into what the Italians would call, “a fuoco.”
Read MoreThere are two types of designers. Those that enjoy the challenges of constraints, and those that loathe constraints. Automotive design is hard for the latter type, as there are tons of legal requirements for automobiles. You can’t really hide tail lights or reflectors when there is mandated minimum visibility. And so you get styled lights, sometimes really expensive styled lights. But there are also aspects of automotive design that are swept under the rug; aspects that designers just pretend ar
Read MoreAston Martin opened a new plant in Wales today that will build the DBX, but what continued to steal the headlines was a story published yesterday claiming that the Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll was preparing to purchase a “major” stake in the company. Aston Martin has had a terrible year, but that might be the exact reason Stroll is reportedly interested.
Read MoreCar production ended in Australia in 2017, a sad moment that marked the end of something without a clear new beginning. You can still buy Holdens there, but they are imported from Germany. Sales, meanwhile, have fallen off a cliff, and keep getting worse.
Read MoreThe Ford Mustang Mach-E is coming, you know that, as is an electric F-150, and of course the Bronco, but this blog is really about those first two cars, since they are more game-changing, at least for Ford. For those of us on the outside this merely constitutes trying.
Read MoreMazda wants to rebrand, you may have heard, even if most Mazda buyers already think of themselves as the smartest people in the room for having gone with Mazda instead of buying a Corolla or Civic. Or they think “Miata,” and that is all they think. What they don’t think is “premium,” and I don’t think they ever will.
Read MoreIf your car was on fire, would you consider running around and yelling “HELP! HELP! My car is on fire? Does anyone have diarrhea and can shit-squirt the fire on my car away?” No? Well, perhaps you should, because languid streams of raw sewage does seem to work for putting out a car fire, as we can see in this Russian video of a BMW being extinguished by lazy arcs of liquid waste. Is the result better than if the car had just burned down, though? I’m not certain.
Read MoreIt’s true that Lancia is a shell of its former self, selling but one measly model on the Italian Market. But somewhere deep within Fiat Chrysler is someone who cares about Lancia. Someone who made this news possible. Someone who loves the Delta.
Read MoreThe VW T3 Syncro is a tough but quirky machine, but you didn’t need me to tell you that. Just have a look at all the #vanlife posts on Instagram. Of course, before it was hauling hipsters out of Bushwick, it was doing real work in the South African Bush.
Read MoreBrazil’s BR-262 highway cuts across the country from east to west, connecting the border with Bolivia to the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a busy road, carrying all manner of industrial products towards the shore for shipment. That should be a good thing, and for the most part, it is– unless you’re an anteater.
Read MoreThere’s a lot going on with today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Volvo. We’ll just have to see if its price means it also “has got it going on.”
Read MoreYou may not be able to have it all in life, but with today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe BMW you could get damn close. With AWD, a stick shift, and a sport interior, this is one rare wagon, but could its flaws and price make it less than the sum of its parts?
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe E-Class has every feature of an SUV you could want save for the tippy handling. Could its price tip it even further in your favor?
Read MoreToday is Boxing Day, a traditional day of charitable giving following Christmas that originated in the British Isles in the early 19th Century. Coincidentally, today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Range Rover also originated in Great Britain and is kind of boxy. Let’s see if its price makes it the perfect gift to you.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe T-bird boasts cool sequential turn signals that would be later shared with the Shelby GT350. Let’s see if that alone is worth turning out its asking price.
Read MoreWe just passed the Winter Solstice which of course means it’s time to start thinking about top-down summer driving in cars like today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Solara. Let’s see if this forgotten Toyota is priced to make those future memories.
Read MorePorsche always made sure their 911 was a just a bit hairier than their mid-engined Boxster and Cayman twins, but as today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe 986 proves, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Let’s see if this modded Boxster is also way too expensive.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Lexus is, in reality, just a fancy Land Cruiser. Strangely enough, these seem less loved than their venerated cousins. Let’s see if that factor means this Luxo off-roader is, in reality, on-point.
Read MoreThe ad for today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Corvette says it’s been garage-kept all its life. That’s almost a shame since a car this clean needs to be seen. Let’s see if its price means it’ll find a new garage to call home.
Read MoreIt is unlikely you will find a cleaner example of Ford’s ‘80s AWD sedan than today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Tempo at any price. The question is, should you go looking at all?
Read MoreWith a massive 406 lb-ft of torque and AWD, today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Q7 rivals many more traditional trucks in its towing capacity. Let’s see if its price could haul in a buyer as well.
Read MoreYou don’t often see rare exotic cars get modified as extensively as has today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Intermeccanica Italia. That’s mostly because you rarely see Italias at all! Let’s see if unfamiliarity, and its price, breeds contempt.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Passat has the goods—five-speed stick, handy wagon body, park-able size. It also has the ‘bads’—a leaky valve cover gasket and an upcoming need for a timing belt and clutch among them. Let’s see if it’s priced to make it worth the work.
Read MoreThe ad for today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Conquest advises ‘Serious buyers only,’ and forewarns that ‘cheap monkeys’ need not apply. Could the price of this seemingly well-preserved sport coupé make it something you might still monkey around in?
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe SHO describes it as being in ‘unbelievable condition’ and the pictures prove that out. Let’s see if this amazingly clean hot Taurus’s price is also outside the realms of believability.
Read MoreWhen it comes to cars, you don’t have to be pretty if you’re pretty damn quick. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe V70R is aesthetically challenged but still looks like it’s got some get up and go left in it. Let’s see if this sporty wagon’s price ensures it will sell fast too.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Chevy S10 is a border-spanning custom that could very well bring Canada and the U.S. closer together. Let’s see if it also comes with just as diplomatic a price tag.
Read MoreJeremy Clarkson is quoted as saying that to be a true auto enthusiast you must have had at least one Alfa in your life. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe 164 is one Alfa. Could its price and condition mean that it’s “the one?”
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe E30 says it has a “salvage history” but secondarily lists it as having a clean title. That seems pretty fishy, but could their pricing acumen potentially make up for the sleight?
Read MoreThe traditional quaff in the winner’s circle at the Indy 500 may be milk, but as today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Chevy proves, the race’s pace cars have to be a little flashier than a plain old bottle of moo juice. Let’s see how excited you could get over this older Indy pacer’s price.
Read MoreThe Macan is Porsche’s best selling model in most markets, and with one look at today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe 3.0 S it’s pretty easy to see why. Let’s see if easy also applies to its price.
Read MoreSeveral months ago we notified you about this former Pimp My Ride minivan that was for sale and in need of some serious re-pimping. Well, the call was answered by Jalopnik alumnus Tavarish who purchased the minivan for $800 and gave us a behind-the-scenes look at this historic relic of early 2000s car customization.
Read MoreVolkswagen has used GTD, GTE, and GTI to denote the diesel, plug-in hybrid, and performance variants of its models, respectively, for some time. But since GTE is already taken, it had to come up with something else for its new electric cars. And that’s how VW took the name of the Plymouth GTX.
Read MoreToday, Boeing announced Dennis A. Muilenburg has resigned from his position as company CEO and board director effective immediately. In a nod to the fact that he was essentially fired, the company said that the company board “decided that a change in leadership was necessary.”
Read MoreDelta’s crew of flight attendants are easily distinguishable because of their deep purple and gray uniforms. But a recent, nightmarish report from Business Insider asserts these uniforms might be the cause of mysterious illnesses and ailments among Delta employees including but not limited to rashes, migraines and flu-like symptoms.
Read MoreAir travel is a massive source of carbon emissions, making up 2.5% of all emissions on earth. That’s not nearly as much as automobiles or power production, but it is hardly an insignificant source. If we’re working on reducing emissions from the other two, we should also be working to find solutions for the third. Thanks to Harbour Air Seaplanes in Canada and MagniX electric motors out of Australia, the first major hurdle on the path toward electrified air travel has been cleared.
Read MoreWe live in a free country. We have so much freedom I sometimes can’t get enough of all the freedom. It’s such an overdose of freedom here, in the Free States of Freemerica, I almost wonder if we have too much freedom, you know?
Read MoreJalopnik began in 2004, which, in internet years, is a long time ago. But it’s also a long time ago in motorsport years, because the plethora of changes to racing over the past 15 or so years have transformed the sport into something entirely different than it was back then—generally, for the better.
Read MoreA staple of modern Formula One is the fact that it’s split into two tiers: the top teams and the rest of the field. But there have been grumbles in the rest of the field for a while now, and those grumbles have been over how much television attention they’re getting—which is, to drivers like Sergio Perez, not enough.
Read MoreWhile many big-name Formula One teams aren’t all that happy about the new cost caps being implemented in 2021, there’s one team that’s not happy with the restrictions for a completely unexpected reason. Ferrari doesn’t think the caps are going to be strict enough.
Read MoreOne of the most thrilling features of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been its road course. Since 1923, the Automobile Club de l’Oest (the ACO) has cordoned off stretches of road between the town of Le Mans and the villages of Mulsanne and Arnage to create Circuit de la Sarthe. Despite some minor changes, the layout has largely stayed the same since then except for two major exceptions: the chicanes on the Mulsanne Straight.
Read MoreLamborghini is known for fast cars but it isn’t known for race cars. While they have had some success in GT racing in recent years (and mostly with the cars built under Audi’s tutelage), the Lamborghini racing story is rather short. That said, there have been some attempts in the past to fix that. The Countach QVX is one of them.
Read MoreIt’s the debate that has raged on for decades, one that has torn family dinners asunder and ruined relationships. That’s right. With people sitting down for a big feast tonight, we’re going to decide which Formula One driver sported the best facial hair in the history of the sport. Let’s get ready to fight.
Read MorePerhaps one of the greatest feelings in life is finding something you never knew existed, but that somehow brings you the kind of pure, untainted joy that is far more rare than it should be. That, everyone, is how I felt when I stumbled upon these artsy NASCAR headshots from 2005.
Read MoreThere are few shames deep enough to compete with that of showing up at a track day and proving yourself to be woefully, incompetently unprepared. While we all have to learn somehow, it’s still possible to identify all those silly mistakes and figure out how to prevent them before you look like a fool out there.
Read MoreSuccess in Formula One depends pretty damn heavily on having lots of money and also having the most minutely more impressive technology—and no battle epitomized the importance of those seemingly microscopic details than the championship fight between Ferrari and Mercedes.
Read MoreWhat do you get when you combine LeMons, dirt track racing, and demolition derby? Bilcross, is what. It’s a Swedish motorsport often called folk racing and it’s incredible.
Read MoreRobert Glenn Johnson, Jr. was among the most prolific NASCAR champions of all time, having run 313 races over a 14 year career, netting 50 wins of his own before winning six Cup championships as a team owner, three each with Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. The 88-year-old NASCAR legend passed away Friday after entering hospice care earlier this week. He is survived by his wife Lisa and their two children, Meredith Suzanne, and Robert Glenn Johnson, III.
Read MoreFormula One is on a steady attendance rise, and, surprisingly, the North American market is proving itself a pretty important part of the fanbase. A recent attendance report shows that two of the three North American races are some of the highest-attended events of the season.
Read MoreBloodhound LSR—the revival of the defunct Bloodhound SSC project—is currently working its way up to its ultimate goal of 1,000 mph by taking the machine out for test run after test run in South Africa. And the newest video of the vehicle shows just what it’s like to hit 628 mph for driver Andy Green.
Read MoreOn the surface, the electric Formula E Championship continues to gain ground in open-wheel racing. The FIA, the governing body also over Formula One, will soon begin recognizing Formula E as world championship, and manufacturers are flocking to it by the season. But all of that isn’t putting pressure on F1 to go electric—at least, not that F1 is letting us onto.
Read MoreHave you ever got on the road only to realize you’ve forgotten something crucial back at home? Do you have some kiddos in the rear who just don’t know when to stop kicking the back of your goddamn seat? Or are you just plain tired of making five-point turns? Then mastering the forward 180, courtesy of Wyatt Knox at Team O’Neil Rally School, may just be perfect for you!
Read MoreWe already know that Formula One teams are definitely going to be spending tons of money developing their cars before the cost caps go into effect in 2021—but it sounds like Ferrari is gearing up to spend even more than everyone else. There’s currently no idea how much, but we’re talking taking advantage of a “record” financial year, according to Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri.
Read MoreThe K-Pop wave has been sweeping across the world for a while now with no group bigger than superstar group BTS. Now, in a totally unprecedented move, BTS has become Formula E ambassadors in an effort to raise climate change awareness. That’s pretty huge—it’s rare for such a massive group to partner with a racing series, let alone on this big of a scale.
Read MoreBack in October, we wrote about Formula E’s intention to reintroduce pit stops to the series’ races. Unlike the initial battery swap stops, however, these new ones would involve actually re-charging the battery. Now, FIA documents reveal that these stops would ideally remain under 30 seconds, and it’s inviting manufacturers to submit design proposals.
Read MoreWhen E.J. “Bill” Simpson showed up at the Indianapolis 500 in the first-ever Nomex race suit and lit himself on fire to prove that this meager-looking piece of fabric could save lives, the course of racing history changed. Simpson died of a stroke yesterday, December 16, 2019, at age 79, but his legacy as one of the pioneering forces of international motorsport safety will never be forgotten.
Read MoreThe creator of the soon-to-be FIA Formula E World Championship has another electric racing project in the works: an SUV series that’ll travel the world and potentially make environmental documentaries about each location. That series, Extreme E, now has an official calendar, and plans to kick off in January 2021.
Read MoreI don’t think anyone would be particularly surprised to learn that even Formula One drivers fell victim to the tyrannical rule of bossman Bernie Ecclestone before Liberty Media bought the series and made everything suck a little bit less. But a new article that’s come out about just how bad that got has come to light. It sounds like trying to run a successful social media account in the Ecclestone era sucked a big one.
Read MoreFemale drivers have been a rare thing in what’s normally regarded as the peak of open-wheel racing, Formula One, for a plethora of reasons. But there have been a few women in development ranks in recent years, and there may soon be a female driver in the program at F1’s second-best team as well: Ferrari.
Read MoreAre you shopping for a sensible, environmentally friendly 4-door hatchback for around £46,000? Would you also like to silently send it sideways down a rally stage? Well I have good news. Testing has begun on the Corsa-e Rally, soon to be available from Opel (kudos on resisting the urge to call it the RallE).
Read MoreThe FIA WEC has a big problem to solve between now and the start of the 2020/21 season next September. This will be the beginning of the new Le Mans Hypercar regulations which aim to make the top class at Le Mans look more like a road going car than a spaceship. The problem is that Hypercar is way slower than the LMP1 class it replaces, and currently slower than the next rung down, LMP2.
Read MoreThere’s really no doubting that both Lewis Hamilton and Valentino Rossi are two of the greats in their sports, Formula One and MotoGP, respectively. But what would happen if they had to swap rides for a track day? Would they still be as absurdly dominant?
Read MoreIn 1991, a rotary-powered Mazda won the 24 Hours or Le Mans. By 1992, rotary engines were no longer allowed to race there. But for the 2021 season, 30 years after the fact, the organizers behind the biggest race in the world of sports cars have allowed rotaries back in.
Read MoreWhen’s the last time a new circuit popped up on the Formula One calendar laden with cool corner names like Spa-Francorchamps’ Eau Rouge or Monza’s Parabolica? You’d probably have to scrape the very recesses of your brain to try to think of one—and you’d still come up blank. And I’ve gotta say—I can’t be happier.
Read MoreWhen people talk about the bygone days of NASCAR, you often hear a few terms: moonshine, the Intimidator and North Wilkesboro Speedway—a beloved North Carolina track that fell into disrepair when the big leagues left in the late 1990s. But North Wilkesboro will soon come back to life, in the form of sim racing.
Read MoreThis week Porsche 911s, Ford Escorts and even a Rover SD1 ripped through Kenya and Tanzania as part of the Safari Classic Rally. While part of the course had to be abandoned, the rally went on and it looks like it was a pretty damned good time.
Read MoreWhen it comes to how fancy your racing series is under the FIA governing body, it depends on a short, five-letter word: “world.” Without that word, you’re just a championship. With it, you’re a world championship, like the all-electric FIA Formula E World Championship will be starting with the 2020-2021 season.
Read MoreThe desire to go fast is universal. The desire to go faster than anyone else has gone before, to buy your own jet engine and tempt fate at 400, 500, 600 mph, is a drive few possess and fewer still survive. This is what’s detailed in Speed Duel by Samuel Hawley, covering a near decade-long battle for the land speed record.
Read MoreEvery season, Ferrari looks promising. Formula One’s pre-season testing starts the rumor mill churning: this might just be the year Ferrari beats Mercedes! Ferrari is faster! Its engine is better! Aerodynamically, Ferrari is killing it! It’s always something.
Read MoreBoeing has had a pretty rough year and its latest venture into space has not helped. The Starliner spacecraft launched yesterday on a test mission to rendezvous with the International Space Station, but an error in the craft’s timing system caused it to flub the orbital insertion burn. By the time they were able to get signals up to do the correct insertion burn, it was too late. Boeing was able to partially correct the trajectory to get it into a stable orbit.
Read MoreA catalytic converter is one of those car parts that you know how it works in theory, but you’re really never going to get a chance to see it in action unless you have some sort of crazy x-ray vision. But now that some wild human has sliced one in half, you too can see what that hidden bit of tech looks like.
Read MoreWhen one automotive company comes up with a good feature on a car, it usually eventually makes its way to other vehicles. But sometimes, good ideas come and go with only a handful of examples. I think one of the best, if not the best feature that is only on one vehicle is the folding mid-gate on the Chevy Avalanche. It is an excellent feature, with the only drawback being that you have to own an Avalanche to have it.
Read MoreFCA hasn’t been terribly enthusiastic about electric vehicles in the past, but according to a report obtained by Mopar Insiders, the company may be planning a mild hybrid Durango to be introduced in 2020.
Read MoreIn June, the New York Senate and state Assembly passed a bill with nearly unanimous support that would allow electric scooters and bicycles in the state. That bill was recently vetoed by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Read MoreRecently, I found myself in the presence of an engine. This is hardly uncommon, but this engine was, uh, a little weird. The engine itself, a GM inline-six, isn’t that unusual but whatever the hell is going on with that valve cover is. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one quite like that. What’s going on here?
Read MoreI’m all for carmakers really exploring new, novel, or, let’s face it, even downright weird ideas, so I’ll say I’m supportive of Volkswagen’s latest effort here, even if it is a sort of a more limited version of an idea I suggested over two years ago. It’s a robot that’s able to come to your EV to charge it, and it has a face that reminds me a bit of those floaty robots in that weird Disney Black Hole movie.
Read MoreThe EPA lists the Porsche Taycan Turbo as one of the most inefficient electric cars sold in the United States. That may not really matter to potential Porsche Taycan customers, who will mainly be Porsche enthusiasts with more than one vehicle. While brand loyalty may be enough to woo those buyers to an inefficient vehicle, the rest of us are left wondering how Porsche dropped the ball on the range.
Read MoreThere are a lot of great things about driving a 12,000 RPM Honda that is over half a century old and has no roof or interior. It is visceral; you are connected to the drivetrain and the road in a way that is basically impossible in anything other than a go-kart. It does come with some drawbacks, like the fact that it is INCREDIBLY LOUD inside, and usually quite dirty. The advantages, however, outweigh the drawbacks in both quantity and quality.
Read MoreYou’re driving down the interstate singing a mediocre-at-best rendition of Jewel’s “Who Will Save Your Soul” when a vehicle merges into your lane, right into the side of your car. Tires squeal, your windows break, and before you know what happened, the other car hits the accelerator and disappears into traffic. Right in front of you is an autonomous vehicle with cameras that saw the whole thing. How much would you pay for the video from that vehicle?
Read MoreStanford University has built an incredible robot which only exists for the purposes of absolutely ripping. This is MARTY, an autonomous electric-swapped DMC12, and it has been programmed to kill shred tires around a 1-kilometer drift course. You know, for science.
Read MoreIf you’re like me, most of your experience with car headlights has been to switch them from dim to slightly less dim so you can try to avoid hitting all the deer on a drive down a rural road. Car headlamps have come a hell of a long way from the days of old sealed beams you could buy in a gas station—they’re now absurdly advanced lighting subsystems with matrices of lamps and computers and GPS data. Of course, most of these benefits are actually illegal in the U.S., so let’s just take a moment
Read MoreNext time you feel the need to justify to a family member, friend, or random acquaintance why you drive an old shitbox instead of a much more comfortable, modern vehicle, here’s another reason for you to trot out: your old shitbox, unlike every modern car, is not spying on you.
Read MoreThis week, we learned the EPA rated the new 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo’s range at just 201 miles on a charge. That’s worse than almost every other electric car on sale today, and far worse than the 300 miles Porsche teased a couple of years ago, so what made the EPA figure so low?
Read MoreThe Dinghy. A trusted companion of any worthwhile waterborne vessel. What is a boat without a dinghy? It is just a dinghy itself, albeit one that is not on another boat.
Read MoreLyft expects to be profitable by the end of 2021 but seems to be doing everything they can to push that date back by launching a rental car service in Los Angeles and the Bay Area for as little as $35 per day plus tacking on $20 in Lyft credits for getting to and from the car.
Read MoreWe may be going into the year 2020 as automakers talk of a future centered on autonomy and electrification, but in terms of the car technology we have in the year 2019, one is still severely lacking: headlights. But the IIHS wants to change that, and will try to do so by hinging its safety awards on quality headlights.
Read MoreWhen the 2020 Porsche Taycan first debuted as the Mission E concept, the company claimed the car would achieve up to 300 miles of range. But today, the EPA announced its estimated range for the 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo is just 201 miles, leading Porsche to go and do its own independent tests as damage control.
Read MoreIt takes a special kind of audacity for your startup to be successful, and a special kind of audacity to name your startup “Unicorn”. Sadly, the overlapping of those two audacious circles did not spell success for one scooter company.
Read MoreMazda is considering an electric or hybrid powertrain for the next Miata, according to Autocar’s interview with Mazda R&D boss Ichiro Hirose. A low-cost electric roadster sounds like a blast, but I wonder if battery technology exists for a Miata to have both decent range and the lightweight dynamics that the Miata has always been known for.
Read MoreFree public transportation is an idea that has floated around various circles for some time without gaining much traction here in the U.S., but Kansas City appears ready to give it a go.
Read MoreYou remember the Acura SLX, don’t you? Wait, what’s that? You... don’t remember the Acura SLX? How disappointing. I was counting on all of you to keep track of the world’s obscure Isuzu Trooper variants. (It was a Holden and an Opel too!) But now the SLX is back, and more rad than ever because this one is using modern powertrain from an Acura RDX.
Read MoreEarlier this year, BMW was widely called out for the pettiest of price gouging by charging owners $80 a year to use Apple CarPlay, a feature that is often included in infotainment packages on much cheaper cars elsewhere. To save some face, BMW has decided to not do that anymore.
Read MoreRight before Thanksgiving, Lexus announced its (and, really, all of Toyota’s) first real mass-market battery electric vehicle, the Lexus UX 300e. It’s not really all that radical a vehicle. It’s essentially an electric version of the Lexus UX crossover, with a decent-enough range of almost 250 miles. Even though this seems like an ideal vehicle to compete with the swarm of modern EVs in America from Tesla and now Ford and soon Volkswagen, to name a few, Toyota is only planning to sell this in Ch
Read MoreThe Empire State Building is one of the most convenient locations in the world to get to via public transportation. It is close to pretty much all the subways: the 1,2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, A, C, E, B, D, F, M, N, Q, R, and W lines are all within a ten minute walk, not to mention the PATH train from Jersey and all commuter and regional trains coming into Penn Station and Grand Central.
Read MorePerhaps you have noticed the uptick in extreme weather lately. There’s the never-ending flood in the Florida Keys, all those wildfires, more and longer heatwaves, more frequent and stronger hurricanes, and so on. This is climate change at work, gradually shifting what a normal season and storm looks like. Subaru wants to sell you a car specifically for all that. Seriously.
Read MoreHELLO, THERE. I AM SORRY IF I AM SPEAKING A BIT MORE LOUDLY THAN NORMAL. IT IS JUST THAT I HAVE BEEN ENJOYING A NEW MERCEDES-AMG FEATURE, YOU SEE. IT’S CALLED EMOTION START AND IT MAKES YOUR EXHAUST LOUDER ON STARTUP. HEY, IS THAT YOUR PHONE RINGING?
Read MoreThe decade of Alfa Romeo that barely was, saving money with the government, something about Tesla, and another thing also kind of about Tesla! We’re counting down to the new decade in this, the last Morning Shift of the year, on Monday, Dec. 30, 2019.
Read MoreTesla’s real owners do well, Nissan is heading into 2020 on the downswing, and automakers really aren’t keen on SUV taxes. All this and more in The Morning Shift for Friday, December 27, 2019.
Read MoreThinking better of trying to rescue Nissan, BMW under investigation, RIP Car2Go, and the sweet, sweet release of death. All this and more on The Morning Shift for this Boxing Day, Thursday, December 26, 2019.
Read MoreAutonomous vehicles without steering wheels, EV tax credit update, and lower speed limits coming soon to a city near you (probably). All this and more in The Morning Shift for Monday, December 23, 2019.
Read MoreEVERYTHING MUST GO at Fiat Chrysler dealers, Ram may have a plan to build a mid-size truck with help from PSA, GM recalls a shitload of cars, and Amazon is buying vans. All that and more in the Morning Shift for December 20, 2019.
Read MoreIf money is power, Volkswagen says it’s going to use its power for good, Ford adds jobs, and GM shuts down a plant. All that and more in the Morning Shift for December 19, 2019.
Read MoreDealers expect car sales to be bad next year, Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot make it official, and Sergio Marchionne might have been more corrupt than we ever knew. All this and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019.
Read MoreBoeing has suspended 737 Max production until further notice, Toyota announces plans for deploying its advanced self-driving tech and news about European car sales. All this and more in The Morning Shift for Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019.
Read MoreChina is delaying auto tariffs, Germans are asking for a higher CO2 tax to aid the environment, and big investments from GM. All this and more in The Morning Shift for Monday, December 16, 2019.
Read MoreThe Tesla Cybertruck may not stack up against Ford, millions more Takata airbags could get recalled, BMW finally gets Android Auto, and more, more, more in The Morning Shift for Friday, Dec. 13, 2019.
Read MoreThe outlook for China’s vehicle sales in 2020 isn’t great, United Auto Workers ratify contract with Fiat Chrysler, Ferrari’s timeline for a fully electric vehicle, tire recycling in China, and ride sharing at General Motors’ Cruise autonomy arm. All of this and more in The Morning Shift for Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019.
Read MoreFord and GM sedan owners turn elsewhere for new cars, a new trade deal we know very little about, Honda’s parts crisis, and a little tiny detail about AVs that may matter someday. All this and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, December 11, 2019.
Read MoreIn January of this year, every automaker in the world opened up the newspaper and saw something it never wanted to see: China’s car market down, for the first time in 20 years. As we round out the year, things may have gotten worse. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Tuesday, December 10, 2019.
Read MoreNissan has a bold and innovative new strategy that it’s just going to try out and see how it goes, Nissan gets fined, and workers get back to work. All that and more non-Nissan-related news in the Morning Shift for December 9th, 2019.
Read MoreNissan’s U.S. sales are so bad that furloughs and cost cuts are in order, everybody knew about the defective Ford transmissions, Toyota can’t make enough hybrids and more for this Morning Shift of Friday, Dec. 6, 2019.
Read MoreFolks, we’ve got another huge Takata airbag recall for you. Plus, some news about upcoming General Motors layoffs and a United Auto Workers guilty plea. All of this and more in The Morning Shift for Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019.
Read MoreAutomakers are cutting costs (and jobs) to invest in electric cars, the Trump administration continues its fight with California over emissions regulations, Tesla boss Elon Musk is in court over a dumb Twitter comment, and FCA’s getting sued by seemingly everyone. All of this and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019.
Read MoreElon Musk is on trial for calling that cave rescuer a pedophile last year, Trump may delay China trade deal for the election, Hyundai’s got it figured out and Nissan is stalling. All of this and more in The Morning Shift for Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019.
Read MoreMore news for the United Auto Workers, both good and bad; phone-detection cameras are now on roads in the Australian state of New South Wales; Nissan’s new CEO plans to look into Renault ties; and Renault is working on a new CEO itself. All of this and more in The Morning Shift for Monday, Dec. 2, 2019.
Read MoreBus and train transport over long distances is a pretty normal thing pretty much everywhere else in the world except the U.S. It’s a great idea to toss a bunch of people into a bus for a long highway stint instead of having all of them in their own individual cars. I needed to pick up a car in Northern California and rather than having my wife drive with me to get it, I decided to take available transit methods to go myself. Not only in an attempt to minimize my impact on weekend traffic, but to
Read MoreThe Nissan Frontier gets a lot of hate. The current version’s been in production for 15 years and the design, powertrain, and interior quality are now thoroughly outdated. To see if the old truck has any redeeming qualities, I took two through muddy forests trails in central Michigan. It was a shitshow resulting in damaged vehicles, but I came away convinced the Nissan Frontier deserves more respect.
Read MoreWhen an important replacement part for a ship scheduled to call in Dubai was needed from a Scandinavian supplier, air travel wouldn’t cut it back in 1976. That part needed to be driven out there. It was a grueling journey, but for Norwegian trucker Jan Dabrowksy and his Scania, it was just part of the job.
Read MoreGetting stuck in the mud is seldom noteworthy. But every once in a while someone gets their vehicle so prodigiously stuck, in a place that is so preposterously far from civilization, in the nastiest and slipperiest mud imaginable, that it draws the attention of people from all over. Such is the case for one Toyota 4Runner that spent Christmas in the middle of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.
Read MoreChristmas Island is not just a Jimmy Buffett song, it’s a real place! And the biggest recurring event there is not Jesus’ birthday, it’s an annual red crab migration. The crustaceans have to cross roads in big numbers, putting them at high risk of being squished by cars. Hence, Chris Bray’s anti-crab mod.
Read MoreWe’ve been watching the overland trend – kitting out cars for camping safaris – build a lot of momentum in 2019. A sidebar to that has been the rising popularity of Subarus as adventure vehicles. I mean, why not. But also, it’s kind of funny.
Read MoreI like to think of myself as a problem solver. A man who could figure out how to get a 53-foot semi-trailer across town using only a plasma torch, some scrap metal, and a Chevy Silverado. So I feel like I would have some connection with this intrepid Canadian, and I feel like I can give him some slack for forgetting to ask himself the important questions, like: “Is there a non-zero chance that this is incredibly stupid, and that I could injure or kill myself or others?”
Read MoreIf you have a Jeep, truck or SUV with a spare tire hanging out outside, I recommend putting a cover on it. Not just for the self-expression opportunity; (prime real estate for a Life Is Good stick figure!) but to make your tire last longer.
Read MoreOwning a Jeep Wrangler has always required major compromises in comfort and fuel economy. And while that’s still the case for the refined “JL” model when compared to other SUVs on the market, Jeep’s first-ever diesel Wrangler just took fuel economy to a level the nameplate has never seen before: 29 mpg. Damn that’s impressive. For a Wrangler.
Read More“It’s A Tragedy That The World Doesn’t Have A Proper Jeep Museum,” I wrote back in 2017, pointing out that a brand with such a rich heritage, and one with millions of fans around the world, somehow doesn’t have its own temple of worship. But that might be changing, as there are now official plans to build an “interactive” Jeep museum in the home of Jeep—Toledo, Ohio.
Read MoreSpeaking to a bunch of Aussie reporters, Jeep global president Christian Meunier reportedly claimed the entire lineup, including the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator, will get either plug-in hybrid or battery-electric drivetrains in the next couple of years.
Read MoreFire trucks are great candidates for electrification. They travel short distances, return to the same location after every trip, and unlike most heavy duty trucks often operate in residential neighborhoods where people probably don’t want diesel engines running for extended periods on their block.
Read MoreRight after scoring a victory at the Baja 1000 in his badass racing buggy, James Glickenhaus is back in the shop, this time working up some new ideas for the company’s upcoming four-door version of the SCG Boot. New photos uploaded by Glickenhaus reveal a cool interior setup and a possible throne seating for one (1) child. Or one (1) very tenacious adult.
Read MoreWhile the internet may just be one of the biggest mistakes humanity ever made, it has its occasional benefits—sort of like how two people in a Facebook truck group managed to swap hoods so that their Silverados finally matched. This might just be one of the best star-crossed stories I’ve ever heard.
Read MoreSay what you want about the new 2021 Chevy Tahoe Z71, but I think it looks good. Chevy was going for “ruggedness” (that’s literally the word in the press release), and I think they nailed it—well, at least from styling standpoint. As for actual hardware? Well, I crawled underneath the vehicle to find out; here’s what I saw.
Read MoreI happen to like the restyled look of the 2021 Chevy Suburban and Tahoe SUVs. I dare say it’s the best application yet of GM’s insistence on stretch-face styling for everything. Many commenters disagreed though, so perhaps the more stately jaw of this apparently leaked 2021 Cadillac Escalade will suit you better.
Read MoreAmerica’s public transit infrastructure may not be as lauded as Europe’s or Japan’s, but this country still has a vast and wide-spread railway system. That system requires protection, which apparently might sometimes include a rail-truck like this full of skull-cracking law enforcers.
Read MoreThe world has just become a better place, because not only are two of the most popular full-size SUVs—the 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe and 2021 Chevrolet Suburban—getting diesel engines, but they’re getting inline six diesel engines. And we all know that that’s the best kind of diesel engine, especially when it can make 460 lb-ft of torque.
Read MoreChevrolet just debuted the new 2021 Chevy Suburban and Tahoe at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. We can’t give you many details on what’s different under the skin, but we can show you the skin itself. Behold the new Suburban and Tahoe. Update: We have details. There’s a diesel engine, an updated rear suspension design, and some serious changes in overall size.
Read MoreThink there are too many kinds of milk these days? Relate to the protagonists of Bon Jovi ballads with no sense of irony? Saddle up steel cowboy, and climb into this bitchin’ pickup truck with 770 HP and an interior to match your ill-fitting pleather jacket.
Read MoreYou may think this UPS truck was removed from Iron Horse Auction because it’s a four-ton, 850 horsepower beast designed for NASCAR and thus isn’t meant for the streets trodden by the common man, but you’d be wrong. They weren’t trying to save pedestrians or the pinks slips of all the FedEx and Amazon drivers you’d challenge. The only reason you can’t purchase this beast is that the “owner” has no paperwork on it.
Read MoreAs the owner of numerous solid front axle-equipped automobiles, I’ve dealt with the violent shake that is “Death Wobble” a number of times. And yet even I would soil my favorite set of cargo shorts were I piloting this white Jeep Grand Cherokee. Because it appears that there’s a massive earthquake affecting only its front axle and not the world around it, and that’s horrifying.
Read More“Would you like help not dying in Colorado?” asked Denver reader Jason in an email. I’d soon be flying in and renting a car to drive over the Rockies during a bad snowstorm and Jason, whom I’d never met, was offering me the keys to an old Chevy GMT400-series pickup truck—one that would capture my heart and change the entire tone of my trip to the middle of nowhere to rescue a 260,000 mile “Holy Grail of Jeep Grand Cherokees.”
Read MoreYou may or may not like drifting and drift cars, but you cannot deny they have style. They can wear brightly colored liveries, be covered in stickers and be in various states of banged-up. But this particular BMW drift car has two engines—because the cars have been welded together. For fun. And for science.
Read MoreEarlier this month, I devised an absolutely idiotic plan to pick up from the middle of nowhere a rare, manual transmission 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee that I’d bought sight unseen for $700. It’s a vehicle that I refer to as the “Holy Grail of Jeep Grand Cherokees,” except its condition was far from holy. With a bad clutch and loose steering, the 260,000 mile Jeep needed work, and since it was 1,500 miles from my house, this meant I had to bring tools and parts onto an airplane. Here’s how that went
Read MoreI’m can’t claim I was any kind of hotshot mechanic before an off-road accident pulverized my left hand, but like many car enthusiasts, I like(d) to tinker. Recovering my dexterity has been and will be an ongoing process, but I’m proud to say, after many months, I am back on the tools. And it feels good.
Read MoreI want to be upfront about this: My plan to fly to Colorado with two suitcases full of car parts and tools, repair my $700 “Holy Grail” Jeep Grand Cherokee’s significant mechanical problems and then drive the 260,000 mile SUV 1,500 miles back to Michigan all in a span of four days is deeply flawed. Chances of failure are high, and yet, on Saturday, I’m going for it.
Read MoreA few weeks ago, while driving to pick up a battery for my recently-drowned 1948 Jeep, I noticed a black second-generation Ford Escape curiously sitting in the road, straddling two lanes. One of the wheels was cocked hard to the right with lots of camber, and it didn’t take me long to realize what had likely happened: ball joint failure. This kind of scene has become all too common where I live, which is why I’m here to tell you that ignoring that little “shimmy” in your car’s steering is just n
Read MoreTen-millimeter sockets go missing a lot. I know this is a thing because I’ve worked in shops with shared toolboxes. I built Formula SAE race cars in college, and I have always spent a fair amount of time in fabrication shops as an engineer. These shared toolboxes are totally devoid of 10mm tools. I know this is a thing for other people too because I see memes about it. I also noticed Amazon sells packs of 10mm sockets in quantities up to 26.
Read MoreBuell built over 136,000 motorcycles during its existence, the vast majority of those built while Harley-Davidson either owned or had a major stake in the company. You can find some of these sitting uncomfortably in the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, just over 10 years after Harley unceremoniously and inexplicably shuttered Buell for good.
Read MoreSince the calendar (usually) doesn’t lie, and unless you feel like having that tedious argument about how there was no year 0, we have to accept where we’re at: the end of a decade. So, let’s do what has to be done, and call out the worst cars of the two thousand teens. Because someone has to.
Read MoreAs we head into 2020, the number of hydrogen cars available to the public is still dreadfully low. There are less than a handful of them and existing infrastructure is woefully behind anything that would sustain any realistic, widespread usage. But had automakers invested in hydrogen cars with the same gusto they did battery-electric vehicles, we’d have a solution to a lot of issues people have with BEV cars today.
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