Imagine that you’re stationed at an outpost deep in a conflict zone. Your MRAP’s alternator is busted and you’ve got a spare, but your mechanic tells you that she’ll void the warranty if you let her replace it. It’s either tow the whole thing out or let it sit there wasting space. That’s what American servicemembers are up against these days.
Read MoreIt turns out that Google Maps is more fallible than you might want to think. Just look at German artist Simon Weckert, who managed to create a virtual traffic jam without a single car on the road. Why he did it, though, is the most interesting part.
Read MoreThe new BMW X5 M and X6 M drive like cars half their weight and also have every interior feature imaginable if you want. And yet. You get a nagging feeling behind the wheel, which isn’t the car’s fault. No, the car is good. But the questions that linger are: Who is this car for, exactly? What is this car for? Why is car?
Read MoreThere are issues inherent with hydrogen as a fuel for cars. It is incredibly expensive and energy intensive to create, it is difficult to pressurize and transport, and the infrastructure for hydrogen as fuel is far less developed than battery electric charging. A few automotive manufacturers, chiefly Honda and Toyota, have hung their zero emissions program hat on the hydrogen peg, but it’s still a very small sliver of the automotive market. It’s pretty much only viable in a small area of Souther
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 car purchases based on global economic factors, why new some cars have massive discounts, and can junkyard cars be diamonds in the rough?
Read MoreGeorge is a political activist working for a good cause. He needs an affordable ride to help get the word out, transport voters to the polls, and shuttle the candidate around. What car should he buy?
Read MoreIt’s all-too-often that people end up in a situation where their car is worth a lot less than their loan balance. This is called being “underwater” and there’s no easy solution for it. Some dealers are offering what seems to be a quick way out by telling these buyers simply to stop making the payments, as noted by a new in-depth report in The Wall Street Journal. Unsurprisingly, this works great for dealers and is horrible for everyone else.
Read MoreYou don’t really notice how truly huge everything else on the road has gotten until you’re behind the wheel of a Mini, especially a 2019 Mini Cooper JCW Hardtop. This is the Mini that still unapologetically has two doors, as the fun car gods intended.
Read MoreBrett recently got diagnosed with ALS. Even though that isn’t the best news, he has received he is taking this opportunity to check owning a sports car off his bucket list before his health condition dictates otherwise. He has a lot of options on the table and a fairly decent budget. What car should he buy?
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 dealers that will finance anyone, renting vs. buying for a car you only need for three months, and the best compact crossover for under $20,000.
Read MoreTom is from the land down under and will be visiting the U.S. He plans on doing a coast-to-coast road trip and doesn’t want a boring rental car. He has a modest budget for a road-trip-ready American machine. What car should he buy?
Read MorePeople either love to hate minivans, or have completely forgotten about them, even though they’re the most practical, comfortable form of transportation a family of four or more can get their grubby, peanut butter-smeared hands on.
Read MoreWith 2020 car sales predicted to be down compared to 2019 some automakers are doing whatever they can to maintain market share and get new buyers behind the wheel. It’s in this spirit that Hyundai will be one of the first non-luxury brands to offer a free maintenance program. This is great but it shouldn’t be the deciding factor in buying a new car.
Read MoreThe scuttlebutt around the internet last week, at least in certain circles (of car nerds) was that a 1971 Datsun 240Z sold for $310,000 in an online auction. Also sold at auction, on the same site in fact, was a 2004 Maybach 57: $34,000.
Read MoreFor many decades now, a myth has spread across the motoring community that, in a pinch, you can use a leather belt as a connecting rod bearing. To test the validity of this claim, our favorite Russian car scientist from YouTube channel Garage 54, Vlad, dropped his crappy Lada Samara’s oil pan, swapped the bearings for some leather, and went on a drive. Here’s how that went.
Read MoreThe Colorado Senate Friday approved a bill 22 to 12 that will allow electric vehicle manufacturers, like Tesla and electric truck manufacturer Rivian, to sell their products directly to consumers, bypassing the traditional dealership system. There is a caveat however, the bill only allows company that sell solely EVs and has no prior traditional system of dealerships already in place to do so.
Read MoreWe all know what Chrysler’s coolest minivan is: the turbo, manual first-gen Dodge Caravan. We all know Ford’s coolest minivan: the rear-wheel drive, manual transmission Ford Aerostar. And we all know that GM’s most interesting people-movers were the “Dustbuster” minivans. Except the Holy Grail variant of those was never sold stateside.
Read MoreI was still piecing together the broken, disparate fragments of myself after a trip to rock-goddamn-bottom when Jalopnik decided to take a chance on me. The first time I logged on as a Saturday contributor in March of 2018, I spent the full day shaking like a leaf, wondering when and how I was going to screw up, because it was surely only a matter of time before I made a fool of myself on this massively public platform. It took about a month before I could get through the day without melting awa
Read MoreIt is that time of the week again, time to meditate, reflect and, of course, answer a question sent in to our resident nerds at Jalopnik for Ask A Car Nerd! This is why Friday is the best day of the week, isn’t it? Get excited.
Read MoreIf you already know that jerks are more likely to drive fancy cars, you’re probably not going to be surprised to learn that those very same fancy cars are unlikely to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. And a new study has confirmed that’s exactly the case.
Read MoreThe current 2.0-liter Subaru Crosstrek is woefully underpowered and fans have been complaining for years. But finally, the 2021 Subaru Crosstrek will get a new 2.5-liter engine from the automaker’s other cars, adding 30 horsepower. But get this: With the power gain, it still only makes 182 HP.
Read MoreTraffic sucks, so why not start your morning off with some music? You provide the toast and we’ll provide the jams.
Read MoreIf you ask a casual car nerd when was the real golden age of GM, you’d probably get pointed to the late 1960s or early ‘70s. That’s when we got the Camaro, the big block muscle cars, the ultra-crisp Cadillac Eldorado. But if you looked closer, you could see that GM was already in decline. There’s an easy way to spot it, and conveniently we have it on video.
Read MoreOnce upon a time, I queried why anyone would need an SUV with over 300 horsepower, but then I drove a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, so now I understand. The 2020 Audi SQ7 doesn’t have quite as much power, but it’s still a very respectable and excessive amount.
Read MoreWith all of those gradually-improving power-bumped special edition Subaru WRX STI models out of the way now, the next step is the upcoming next-gen 2021 Subaru WRX STI which will reportedly get a heavily overhauled Boxer engine making nearly 100 horsepower more than the current base STI.
Read MoreThere’s only so much you can talk about a car in theory before you need to see things in cutaway or exploded view. Thankfully, the Chevy team brought a cutaway model of the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette at the official launch last week and we got to take a closer look.
Read MorePerhaps in honor of yesterday’s Mardi Gras festivities, the experts of fun things at YouTube channel TheStraightPipes served up some donuts in a C8 Corvette. It is good to know that as modern as the Corvette has become, it still is more than capable of doing donuts like an ‘80s El Camino with a 350 swap.
Read MoreThe forward observation lounge on the Shiki-Shima train from the East Japan Railway Company features not just windows and chairs, but hand-woven carpets meant to resemble moss. “Enjoy the amazing textures,” JR-East says.
Read MoreCadillac is desperate to get 2020 Escalades off the dealer showroom floor before the all-new 2021 model rolls in. So desperate, in fact, that it sent an email to current Escalade owners offering up to ten grand off if they trade for the merely new instead of the new new. According to CarsDirect that translates to around $19,000 off MSRP when current rebates are considered.
Read MoreSee that strange-looking car up there? It sort of looks like a phone booth landed on a pair of bicycles parked on either side of a patio fireplace? That strange little car happens to be one of the most influential cars of all time, and I don’t think it gets nearly the respect it deserves. Want to know why? Well, I’m going to make you click to find out, because what do you think we’re running here, a charity?
Read MoreCan you use a car’s oil pan as an actual cooking pan? Does a hubcap make a good bowl? Can you use power tools to peel potatoes and carve chicken? Will a piston work as a cup? Will a pushrod function a straw? Does a pickle fork work well as an actual fork? These are things that every rational, sane human has wondered, probably since birth. So to finally gets answers, my coworker Kristen Lee and I prepared a meal using only car parts and tools in an idiotic exercise that likely reduced our life e
Read MoreOf the 4.4 million or so cars exported from Japan every year, around 1.4 million of those are used cars. Used JDM vehicles are the Japanese equivalent of a McDonald’s; there’s very few places in the world where you won’t see one.
Read MoreI’ll be straight with you: I think I already know how the 2020 Audi Q7 will drive. Obviously, I’ll withhold all those preconceived notions until I actually drive it, I just have a strong suspicion. But at the same time, I’ll also get to drive the 2020 Audi S4, which hits far closer to my personal interests. What do you want to know about both? Either one?
Read MoreHave you ever been calmly sleeping at night, when you suddenly bolt awake, with one thought seared into your mind: what is the condition of cars trapped inside a capsized cargo ship? Well, I’m delighted to tell you that you can finally sleep easy again, since a salvage team has used LIDAR equipment to image the interior of a the MV Golden Ray, a 600-foot cargo ship that capsized off the coast of the state of Georgia in September of 2019.
Read MoreIf there’s one thing you can say about Porsche, it’s that they have an almost preternatural ability to sense what drivers really, really want from their cars. Porsche’s new announcement about their newly-developed direct printing tech really reinforces this idea: finally, after years of unrequited desire, Porsche will allow buyers to print a giant version of their fingerprint on their hoods. Finally, right?
Read MoreWhen you think about it, an electric Renault Twingo makes sense—a small car to begin with, it has the structure already in place to make for a good city-going EV. And with 155 miles of range, the Twingo Z.E. looks like a pretty decent addition to Renault’s lineup.
Read MoreDid the Citroën CX have the same ‘50s style of the DS that preceded it? No, but it didn’t have to. It was a French luxury car with a style all its own. And it’ll look fantastic behind the icons on your various screens.
Read MoreThe fifth-generation Honda Civic Type R has already been around for three years, which means it’s time for an update. Does it get more power? No. Do the controversial looks improve? Not really. But it is more expensive, and you can get a manual shifter that looks like it came from a much cooler car now.
Read MoreIt seems that every time I go on a long road trip in a sub-$1,000 car, I wind up stranded on the side of the road, covered in oil, wrenching on some part that shouldn’t have failed but did for whatever reason (the Jeep gods want to spite me, I’m convinced). But I recently returned from a 1,500 mile road trip to D.C., Virginia, and North Carolina in my $500 “low mileage” Jeep Cherokee, and things were different. A lot different.
Read MoreHere at Ask a Car Nerd we get questions. Educational questions. Quirky questions. Deep, hard-hitting questions. But very occasionally, we get insulting questions. Like this one about whether all of our cars here at Jalopnik will actually run. Ouch.
Read MoreTesla, which has a long and sometimes sour history with Consumer Reports, did pretty well in this year’s CR rankings of automakers, rising eight spots to take 11th, with Porsche finishing first. The rankings are based on safety scores, a reliability survey, and road tests. Maybe this means Tesla and CR are entering a period of rapprochement.
Read MoreAutomotive design has changed pretty dramatically from the unashamedly rectilinear 1980s. We’ve learned a lot more about aerodynamics, which is of course a factor, but we’ve also just somehow decided that we really want all sorts of undulating, overlapping folds and creases and waves, wrapped around massive grilles and lights shaped like droplets of ice cream melted and flung, at speed.
Read MoreThere’s a certain baffling quality about this story that somehow fits with the current state of Nissan, a certain heady mix of baffling drama and a line of cars that feels like it has been ignored for years. In this case, the setting is the Chicago Auto Show, and the car is a lovely blue GT-R, and the baffling part is a virtual, computer-generated GT-R. This is weird, but I’ll explain everything.
Read MoreHave you heard the Good News? The Good News about our Lord and Savior? The news is that if you think that’s you, then you can get a personalized license plate that says so, thanks to a federal court ruling. That federal court made this clear when they decided that Ben Hart’s “IM GOD” Kentucky personalized license plate was protected by the First Amendment.
Read MoreAfter the resounding success of our last hate mail reading, we really felt quite encouraged. So, we again decided to really fuck with our mental health, dredge up some fresh hate and read it out loud on video for your viewing pleasure. Pour yourself a drink, have a seat and enjoy.
Read MoreTen years ago, after Bugatti had successfully stunned the world with the world’s-fastest car, the Bugatti Veyron, it set its sights on making a sedan. It almost made it to production, and then everything went completely wrong with the design.
Read MoreIt’s no secret that I am not a fan of the current Mercedes-AMG GLE Coupe design, previously congratulating it as the “new ugliest of all crossover coupes.” The look is back with the 2021 Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S Coupe, which at least comes with more power.
Read MoreNissan has a new-ish CEO in Makoto Uchida, who is trying to clean up the mess left behind in the wake of former CEO Carlos Ghosn’s completely inconspicuous departure. Uchida told shareholders Tuesday that if he couldn’t turn things around, “you can fire me immediately,” in a meeting The Wall Street Journal described as “rowdy.”
Read MoreIt doesn’t really make sense that I should even give the slightest of shits about the demise of GM’s Australian division, Holden, because Holdens have never been a part of my automotive life. We never officially got them in America, and even unofficially, they’re incredibly rare here. My experiences with them are aggressively minimal. And yet I hate to see them go, mostly because they were, of all the cars made across the globe, the closest equivalent to a long-lost sibling that American cars ev
Read MoreHi everybody, and welcome to Earth 2,020 years after some monk made up a date he figured was when a very popular religious figure was born! I hope you like it here: we have amazing pocket computers and really great television and excellent sushi and also if you’re a billionaire and you do something another billionaire doesn’t like, such as buying an electric car from some company not owned by the first billionaire, we have global data networks you can use to be petulant about it. Like Elon Musk
Read MoreAfter last episode’s fairly deep dive into the world of Volkswagen semi-automatic transmissions, I thought this week it might be fun to do some more old driving video game stuff and maybe something a bit more hands-on. But nothing too involved, something that if someone liked the idea, she or he could replicate it while killing time before going out or something. Something quick and dirty. And that’s pretty much what I got, with this really crappy kind-of-motion driving DIY controller.
Read MoreIt’s happening, you guys. We’re finally able to go touch, poke, drive and lick the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette for real this week. It’s going to be like meeting Bigfoot. What do you want to know about it?
Read MoreOn Sunday, one of only 130-ish Porsche Taycans in the U.S. burst flames in a Florida garage, EV-focused car website Electrek reports. We don’t know much about the context surrounding the fire, but what is clear from a short YouTube video is that it caused serious damage to both the garage and the car, which is now little more than a pile of molten metal and plastic.
Read MoreOverlanding, off-roading: you might be inclined to think they’re both the same thing, since people use them interchangeably. But don’t be fooled—while they might share some similarities, overlanding and off-roading are two distinct driving practices that deserve to be named and defined properly. And the difference has nothing to do with the kind of vehicles you drive or the equipment you use.
Read MoreThere is a lot of discussion around what makes a good race track in terms of passing and driver skill, but there is also a lot of thought and design that go into making a good spectator experience. Some tracks are better than others, but most have all the excitement contained in a small area right in front of your $700 bleacher seat.
Read MoreFirst, I’d like to say that this is precisely the kind of shit I love: those delicious little mundane mysteries of life, just waiting to be revealed under every scrap of filthy carpet. This time, that carpet is in an old Toyota Land Cruiser, and the mystery is a strange little black disc with some wires coming out of it. Who wants to help solve a mystery?
Read MoreThe Trump administration formally proposed rolling back Obama-era fuel economy standards in August 2018, but two new reports suggest that the rollback may not end up happening at all. That’s thanks to some remarkable—even for this crew—incompetence.
Read MoreMercedes-Benz is arguably the oldest car manufacturer still around. But did you know that its famous logo was actually a fusion of two former German automakers?
Read MoreAhead of next month’s Geneva Auto Show, Hyundai is giving us a small teaser of its upcoming electric concept, the Prophecy. We’ve seen a small smattering of electric sports cars from the Tesla Roadster to Porsche’s Taycan, but aside from Honda’s Sports EV concept, where are the reasonably attainable and reasonably sporty EVs for folks like us? Maybe this concept from Korea is a portent of sporty electrics to come.
Read MoreLast Spring, Toyota crushed dreams of a more affordable four-cylinder Supra in the United States saying, even though the car was certified in California, there were no plans to bring the engine option to the U.S. Well, it seems something changed over at Toyota, as the company announced Thursday that a GR Supra 2.0-liter, four-cylinder turbo option is also coming to America.
Read MoreHot damn, everyone, it’s time again to take out those brains and kick the shit out of them behind a dumpster with the hardest car trivia book known to humankind, Mitch Frumkin’s The Great Auto Trivia Book. Last time, I got to quiz Raph. Now it’s my turn, and I’m happy to say that I think I kicked some car-trivia ass.
Read MoreI despise traditional hot rods. I just do! It’s my Bad Car Opinion, I’m entitled to one, since yours (yes, YOURS) are all terrible. But one “hot” “rod” that I unabashedly love is the Volvo Hot Rod Jakob, based on an original Volvo ÖV4 from the 1920s. It’s different and interesting and such a lovely shade of blue.
Read MoreJaguar’s electric tall wagon the i-Pace is a pretty good car, and it’s finally selling reasonably well for the British automaker, moving some 18,000 units across 2019. Unfortunately, that good sales streak may be coming to an end shortly as Jag pauses production for a week starting Monday, according to The Times. A battery shortage from LG Chem has affected Audi e-tron production in the past.
Read MoreFirst thing, allow me to apologize to you. I realize that most of our readers took a look at the Santana Ligero up there and immediately and involuntarily emitted a quick, alarmed squirt of terror-urine right into their pants. I regret that this happened, but I really felt there was no other way to show you this car other than to just put it right out there, with no warning. Let’s get through this by talking about the Ligero, and, maybe, come to appreciate it.
Read MoreThere is no shortage of opinion pieces aimed at proposing what Cadillac should do to remain relevant. But forget about all of those, because they are terrible takes. I, however, have what may be the best answer for saving America’s historic luxury brand: Cadillac should make only two cars.
Read MoreOne of the great things about the close, personal relationship that you and I share is that, generally, you’re remarkably tolerant of my weird automotive fetishes. Intense, unsettling interest in lighting equipment, odd engine locations, anthropomorphic car faces, and, yes, trunk volumes. That’s why I was thinking it might be fun for us to do something together, and, of course, nothing says togetherness like a car trunk. So let’s start there, with a car trunk-packing contest!
Read MoreThere’s been some buzz (from us as well as our friends at Road & Track and The Drive) about how Cadillac doesn’t really have any current plans for its Blackwing V8. It’s a waste for sure, but upon further rumination, the Blackwing isn’t exactly the best engine, particularly for Cadillac.
Read MoreI’ll never own an Aston Martin and that’s fine. I don’t need to physically have the car in my garage in order to think it’s pretty. The new 2021 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster, gorgeous with its tan interior and blue paint in these press photos, is wonderful to look at and apparently has a slick-folding top.
Read MoreLamborghini Squadra Corse is preparing to unleash a very expensive track-only hypercar, which is powered by an 830 horsepower V12 engine. You can’t see it yet, because Lamborghini is being intentionally vague in order to drum up interest in a car that it will surely sell out of within minutes of its launch. You can, however, listen to it while it makes a dyno pull without any of its bodywork on. Ooooh, how very voyeur.
Read MoreThe last MR2 was built in 2007, when production stopped in the face of falling demand. Since then, we have heard rumors—but nothing solid—about a potential comeback. Toyota also took in $272 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year. I can only conclude based on these two facts that Toyota is simply too scared to make a new MR2.
Read MoreAs far as new, made-up car brand names go, Vantas isn’t bad. It feels like the premium brand it’s intended to be, sort of a heavily yet vaguely European-accented way to say half of the word “fantastic” or “fantasy.” Vantas is the name chosen by China’s giant Chery Automobile company to sell premium SUVs in America, and while the brand is Chinese, the plan is to build them in the United States. We’ll see, I guess.
Read MoreThis Citroën doesn’t have hydropneumatic suspension. It doesn’t have front-wheel drive. It doesn’t even have recognizable rear wheels. But it (or rather one very much like it) crossed the Sahara back in 1922, and that’s reason enough for Citroën to celebrate it at Rétromobile 2020.
Read More“Is that what I think it is?” I stuttered as I peeked into the thin slit that is the Nissan Pao’s door pocket. I had discovered the rare, junked car on the side of a road in Hong Kong, and decided to buy some parts off of it for my coworker Jason. This required climbing into the vehicle, which was overgrown with shrubs and, as I’d later find out, housing a critter straight out of my nightmares.
Read MoreFord posted a paltry $84 million profit for 2019, down from $3.7 billion last year and $7.7 billion in 2017. The low profit was in large part due to the launch of the 2020 Explorer, which was utterly botched. This year the stakes are higher, with the Mustang Mach-E launching and the new Bronco and next-generation F-150 debuting. Ford knows it can’t mess this up.
Read MoreSigh. Sigh. I know it’s pointless banter to lament about the demise of the manual transmission in the United States, but I’m going to do it anyway because I’m told it’s healthy to let it all out. The fact is fewer and fewer people are buying new, stick-shift cars. This was clearer than ever last year.
Read MoreElectric big-rig startup Nikola first unveiled its prototype hydrogen fuel cell semi concept back in 2016 with a promise to develop a national hydrogen distribution network to keep these trucks fueled. The company has allegedly already booked several billion dollars worth of truck sales in pre-orders, including up to 800 units for Anheuser Busch, but we have not yet heard tell of any finished units delivered.
Read MoreI know that in most of the automotive world, the East German Trabant is considered something of a joke. The smoky little two-stroke scheiße-box made from old Soviet underpants and resin hardly enjoys the best reputation, even if I personally happen to believe it’s a remarkable triumph, when you consider the circumstances it was forced to exist in. Of course, I also fully understand why people also think of it as a joke, and videos like this one certainly make that very easy. Very, very easy. Mos
Read MoreIt has happened (reportedly). Diesel fuel somehow allegedly ended up coming from gas pumps at a couple of gas stations in Colorado. Welcome to my nightmare.
Read MoreWhen it comes to sheer madness, it’s hard to pick an automotive category more blessed with vehicular batshittery than Land Speed Record cars. They’ve been around since at least the later 1800s, and even in this category that includes rocket cars, cars made from jet fighters, and electric torpedoes you basically sit on top of, this incredible monster from a Frenchman named René Stapp stands out. But to this day it’s not really known if this man and his car represented a genuine, earnest attempt a
Read MoreIt is my pleasure to report today that it (the 2021 Jaguar F-Type) is yellow. That is, of the paint colors available on the 2021 Jaguar F-Type some of the colors are not yellow, whereas one, by contrast, is.
Read MoreThe 2020 Jeep Gladiator is on Struggle Street, according to Automotive News, an outcome which is somewhat surprising but one which we sort of saw coming last month. It seems that $33,545 is a lot of money to pay for a pickup.
Read MoreWe already know Honda Civics tend to give you a lot of car for not very much money. The 2020 Honda Civic Hatchback (in the Sport Touring trim) does not disappoint. What do you want to know about it?
Read MorePorsche’s track-focused hardcore 718 Cayman GT4 and 718 Boxster Spyder launched last year with a six-speed manual as the only transmission offering. Now, after years of rumors, it seems that a dual-clutch option is finally going to be available.
Read MoreI’ve never run out of gas. I’ve come close, but I’ve always made it to the pump in time. My sister though? She ran out of gas and in one of the worst places.
Read MoreThere’s something poetic about these medium-format film photos of the Acura NSX, perhaps the least analog supercar on sale these days. The simplicity of film exposure capturing such a complex digital machine is kind of paradoxical, but it really does work.
Read MorePart of me feels bad for not blogging about this sweet retro-styled free online racing game earlier, so you could have used it to procrastinate, but think about how much more you got done today without it!
Read MoreThose of us whose experience in the armed forces is limited to pwning noobs in Call Of Duty hear “military-grade” and assume whatever comes next will be elite and tough. People in marketing seem to think the same way. Folks who have actually served... not so much.
Read MoreIt’s a peculiar feeling one gets when encountering a project that seems so inside your wheelhouse, you start to wonder just who the hell else is hiding in that wheelhouse you thought was yours. I felt this when I stumbled across this website, which appears to be dedicated to documenting every instance that a Volkswagen Beetle has appeared in a video game.
Read MoreThe UAW can’t stop embarrassing itself, but that can happen to an organization seemingly propelled by its own inertia into repeated face plants, no banana peel required. The latest involves a pen intended to commemorate its President, Rory Gamble, who is ostensibly there to clean up the place.
Read MoreYou know how sometimes you just want to escape to a simple life? Avoid all the complications of the metropolis and withdraw into something modest and quaint for a change? Well, you wouldn’t, what with all your loans to pay off, but just use your imagination for a second. I’m feeling generous today and I want to show you this little piece of property I like to use as a summer cottage.
Read MoreI believe I’ve written before about the colossal stacks of old car brochures I was sent by a kind reader who perhaps secretly wants my body to be found under piles of automotive paraphernalia one day, and, lucky you, I’m about to do it again. In fact, last time I wrote about some strangeness in an old Volkswagen Rabbit brochure, and it turns out I’m at it again, with another bit of Rabbit brochure weirdness. This time, it’s about a feature VW thought was important enough to highlight in callout
Read MoreAh, children. A necessary evil if society is ever to advance. Between their constant demands, screams, messes and inane questions, their parents must soldier on (or else they go to jail). It’s a thankless existence I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but at least the 2021 Toyota Highlander XSE is here to make these parents feel a little less dead inside.
Read MoreVolvo, founded 93 years ago in April, wobbled in the dying days of Ford’s ownership in 2010 before a surprising turnaround under Geely. These days, it is doing better than ever.
Read MoreI’m feeling pretty validated, today. The International Journal of Psychology has released the findings of a recent study that confirm jerks, or at least Finnish jerks, much prefer luxury cars—specifically BMW, Mercedes, and Audis or—to just about anything else. Hence why it feels like every BMW driver is driving egregiously above the speed limit.
Read MoreGM released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2019 earnings this morning, which revealed that the company took a massive if predictable hit from the UAW strike, but also that the company still made $6.7 billion last year. Not a bad return, all things considered, but shareholders were unimpressed. CEO Mary Barra then tried to convince anyone who would listen that GM is a technological leader.
Read MoreWhen Porsche announced they would be taking a bunch of their cars from their collection, some right out of their museum, covering seven decades of Porsche cars and taking them to Sonoma Raceway for a bunch of gassy auto journalists to drive around, I was of course interested, but with a caveat: I didn’t want to talk about the same things that have been said about these cars forever. No breathless, reverential praise or the same clichés you’ve heard a million times before. I wanted to put these c
Read MoreHashtag vanlife has blown up in the last couple of years. In that same amount of time, Volkswagen’s let Jalopnik road-test its T6 California minivan-sized camper. I still get emails from readers asking if they can buy one. If you’re in America, the answer has been “no.” Until now. Now, the answer is: “Buy this Mercedes.”
Read MoreThe Honda Civic Type R is a driving enthusiast darling because it’s fast and a lot of fun to drive. This generation of the car’s getting its first real revisions for the 2020 model year, so let’s break down what’s been announced and parse what’s important.
Read MoreI’m not going to make many friends with this take, but here goes: Gulf liveries are overdone and tacky, now worthier of contempt than admiration. But the upgraded 2020 Ford GT has forced me to eat my highly opinionated words. It looks—and I truly hate to say it—Actually Good.
Read More“Some people don’t always think ‘Cadillac’ when they think of an Escalade,” Rob Hunwick, Cadillac’s lead exterior designer, told us at a launch event in New York City today. “They don’t say, ‘I drive a Cadillac,’ they say, ‘I drive an Escalade.’”
Read MoreI have to admit, while this story is very interesting and engaging, there’s a lot of missing details going on here. It’s not a complicated story: essentially, a woman named Chen Tao from Jinan, Shandong Province in China wanted to get some steamed buns from a nearby store, but she didn’t want to risk exposure to the coronavirus by leaving her house. So, she did something very clever: she sent a remote control car, equipped with some cameras, a loudspeaker, and a cargo box, to the store instead.
Read MoreWhen I visit my brother in Hong Kong, he and I always find incredible Japanese cars often sitting abandoned on the side of the road. But last week, we spotted something different in front of a junkyard. It was a rare Nissan Pao that someone, for whatever reason, hacked up and turned into a pickup truck. Just look at this absurdity.
Read MoreAfter being unceremoniously kicked off of the SUV throne with the upcoming electric Hummer, and after at least three leaks, the 2021 Cadillac Escalade is finally out in the open, and it’s a big blocky son of a bitch.
Read MoreWhen you’re Chevrolet and you have access to five-time Le Mans winner Oliver Gavin, it’s a smart idea to shove him behind the wheel of a new C8 Corvette with the Z51 performance package and point him out for a flying lap of the Nordschleife. These lap times are largely irrelevant as they absolutely do not correlate to driving enjoyment or real-world usable performance, but it’s a slightly abstract way to compare the relative abilities of sports cars.
Read MoreBeing alive often means living through some genuinely horrific or at least incredibly dramatic events. Events like 9/11, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Pearl Harbor, all of these irrevocably changed the world when they happened. If you were alive in 1963, you might be able to include the transition from clear turn indicators to amber ones, at least if you go by what the March 23, 1963 Reading Eagle newspaper has to say about it.
Read MoreDuring the Chicago Auto Show, which is set to open in two days time, Nissan will have this delightful maroon Frontier on its stand. It will be sitting right alongside brand new Frontiers which will look more or less the same as this, as the D40 series made its debut back in 2004 and soldiers on today with little more than a minor facelift. The difference between a brand new Frontier and this gem owned by delivery driver Brian Murphy? Murphy’s has racked up more than 76,ooo miles per year!
Read MoreA job listing for the Ford Motor Company on LinkedIn, the worst social media platform, seemingly reveals the next-generation Ford Mustang will debut in 2022 for the 2023 model year.
Read MoreSpy photographer Wilco Blok just leaked the 2021 Cadillac Escalade (not the first time!) ahead of its big reveal tomorrow afternoon, showing off a new look that’s familiarly Cadillac while also being surprisingly low-key and maybe a little overthought.
Read MoreFord let the world know yesterday that they absolutely understand what people want out of a modern electric vehicle: the ability to cram the front trunk full of 36 gallons of shellfish. The idea of a car with a trunk you can just fill full of seafood, soups, slurries, moist glops, melted cheese, or any number of other solids or semi-liquids has been a dream of humankind for centuries. Now it’s finally here, and I’d like to help Ford with some suggestions for what to fill that glorious frunk with
Read MoreFerrari is working on its first SUV, stupid name and all, needless fights and all. It’s a move automakers like Aston Martin, Lamborghini, and Bentley have gone to in recent years to make more money. The difference is that Ferrari is doing just fine without it.
Read MoreHere’s the scenario: you’re supplying bird appendages for a mid-week hot wing eating contest, but the wing restaurant was robbed last night and the thief only took containers and bags. You need to get these wings across town in a flash, but you don’t have anything to carry them in! Your hands? Your mouth? Surely not big enough.
Read MoreOh, good, you’re here. Look, I realize that I suppose I’ve had a solid four decades to make sure you were aware of this, but for whatever reason the full impact of importance of the Maserati Khamsin’s taillight setup has only just recently dawned upon me. Yes, it’s an amazing car for so many reasons, but I want to focus on one aspect that makes it absolutely unique in the automotive world, and it’s taillight-related. Best strap in.
Read MoreYou may have noticed that I pretty much fell off the grid these past few weeks trying to find a greater meaning to this life. I didn’t even come close to accomplishing that, but I did find some damn cool cars in southeast Asia, including this custom, 1972 Jeep Wagoneer located, inexplicably, on the outskirts of Saigon.
Read MoreThe Dodge Durango, an SUV that’s been around forever at this point, will reportedly become the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat at the upcoming New York Auto Show. While I am not one to complain about having over 700 horsepower, I am befuddled by its application here.
Read MoreIn the latest display of blatant desperation and utter cravenness, Ferrari is now picking a fight with a charity over the name of its upcoming SUV, the Ferrari Purosangue. A charity.
Read MoreI’m not sure how much time you’ve spent hanging around with traffic lights, but if you have, you know that they really, really do not give a shit what you think. That’s why if you’re at a red light, honking is useless. It’s like the stop light doesn’t even care how long you’ve been waiting. A lot of people in Mumbai don’t seem to realize this and as a result the Mumbai Police undertook a bold technological experiment to remind people that honking doesn’t help, it just makes life worse.
Read MoreIt flashed onscreen for just a moment and almost derailed my night. I reached for my phone before hesitantly putting it back. “I’m going to lose sleep over this” I said quietly, before convincing myself I knew what it was. A quick google this morning confirmed that I was, at least, right enough.
Read MoreJust because big-money billionaire and Official F1 Dad Lawrence Stroll bought a big chunk of Aston Martin doesn’t mean the company is suddenly going to heal all its wounds. Aston’s been spending more money than it should and a new owner largely translates to a new modus operandi. And that means pushing back both the Lagonda and all potential electric vehicles until after 2025.
Read MoreHonda’s first serious effort at an electric car has had us excited since the concept dropped back in 2017. When the production version was revealed and Honda announced that the car wouldn’t make it to America, it was a real blow. But the car is now in the hands of journalists across the Atlantic and it’s time to get a closer look.
Read MoreGrowing up just outside of Boston, I used to see a lot of Volvos with a suspicious piece of red metal behind the license plate. They were Swedish export plates, left in place by drivers who wanted to signal to those in the know that they were real Volvo people, the kind who’d pick up their car in Gothenburg.
Read MoreBack in 2017, rumor had it that Volkswagen was going to start electrifying its Golf lineup by outfitting the Golf GTI with a hybrid motor. But with the release of the 2021 model, there’s something that isn’t there. A hybrid GTI. And Volkswagen has offered an explanation as to why it didn’t go the partially-electrified route.
Read MoreCitroën’s luxury spin-off brand, DS, is named for the legendary Citroën DS, the Déesse, that futuristic mid-century icon of forward-looking automotive design. The DS series hasn’t generally made direct stylistic references to their original namesake, but the new, just unveiled DS9 E-Tense actually does make one very clear reference, in that most important of details: the rear turn indicators.
Read MoreThe new Polestar Precept concept packages its advanced safety sensors in a hidden part of the nose, evolving the complicated technological future of the car into something sleek and stunning. I hate to say it, but this is, in fact, a new Tesla Model S rival.
Read MoreWhen designing a car, having a big pile of already made parts is one of those powers that comes with some responsibility. It’s super easy and cheap to take a part from an existing car that has already been designed and tested, and stick it in a new car. You know it works and you don’t have to spend time and money developing a new one. That is until you go too far and start taking things like entire suspension systems and moving them to the wrong end of an entirely different platform.
Read MoreI know everyone who is even considering plopping down several wet paper bags full of cash for the upcoming 2020 Ford Bronco is most likely waiting to pull the trigger based on the reveal of one crucial detail: the Bronco’s new taillights. We’ve seen what seems to be the leaked headlights, and now, thanks to a reader named Eric spotting a disguised Bronco testing in Michigan, we have a peek at the new Bronco’s taillights.
Read MoreThe history of automotive design owes a lot to the Italians, the Germans, the Japanese, and the design studios of Southern California. But Detroit has always had its own language that has been shaping automobiles for well over a century.
Read MoreThere are some pretty great automotive designs from the past that have fallen out of use for one reason or another. Some of them, like fins and rocket-shaped tail lights, should make a comeback. But most of them are gone for good reason, like mirrors mounted forward on the fenders.
Read MoreSometimes I get myself up to some Extremely Petty Shit. Today is just one of those days, and it concerns the 2019 Mini John Cooper Works Hardtop I had recently. The car was (largely) great! There was just one problem on the inside that made me want to scream.
Read MoreAs humans, we have the exquisite ability to see a whole range of wonderful colors. Researchers have chalked healthy humans eyes up to being able to distinguish around a million. So why are most of our cars the same shade of sludge? If you wind up getting a Porsche Taycan and you don’t immediately paint it pink, you’re going to Taste Jail.
Read MoreFord’s new carbon-fiber weave GT is seriously gorgeous—but don’t let the “plain body” look deceive you. It’s actually way harder to outfit a GT in the Liquid Carbon scheme than it would be to just paint the thing. We’re talking three times harder.
Read MoreSome people are still laughing at the BMW X7’s super large pre-sneeze snout. I, for one, got over it when I saw the SUV in person. Then a few months ago, pictures of hilariously tall kidney grilles (are they even kidneys anymore?) came out and we cried. Now, there’s this shit.
Read MoreI don’t pretend to know much about fashion, but it seems that most new things are just a rehashing of old things. Car companies do this too, with retro styling and throwback names. The cycle seems to take around 20 to 30 years. What mom and dad are doing is not cool, but what grandma and grandpa did, that’s cool.
Read MoreI can’t think of a car that has been more hyped, argued, and picked apart than the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette. The C8 Corvette. The mid-engined one. After 60 years of waiting, I sort of expected it to emit a faint glow, perhaps shoot rainbows from its tailpipes. There will be time later for the think pieces and the philosophical debates. For now, here’s what it’s like to drive and what it’s like to (briefly) live with.
Read MoreThe year 2003 seems like it was just yesterday, but it’s almost old enough to vote. Back then, Jeep was selling all internal combustion vehicles, but it had plans to build alternative fuel vehicles in the following years. It was a different time.
Read MoreWe have a ton of new car technologies that promise to change transportation forever, but they tend to stick to the boring, tried-and-true automotive lay out of everyone facing forward. A new design from students at the Istituto Europeo di Design aims to switch it up with the Tracy concept, and my god does it look classy.
Read MoreFour thousand gallons of jet fuel spilled out of a tanker split open when it hit a guardrail and overturned on Wednesday afternoon in Indianapolis, igniting a highway overpass ramp, and sending flammable liquid pouring down both sides. Thankfully the driver was able to get out of the truck on his own, but his clothes ignited, and he was taken to a local hospital where he is in critical condition. Nobody else was injured, and no other cars were involved. The incident occurred at the junction betw
Read MoreSome serious amateur Dukes of Hazzard shit was going down in Long Beach yesterday, with the skill and planning normally associated with stunt driving replaced with speed, inattention, and a 300 pound boulder to get effectively the same result: a car flying through the air. Incredibly, nobody was hurt in the wreck.
Read MoreA police chase in Baton Rouge, Louisiana ended with the fleeing driver crashing his (I think) Jaguar XE into some trees, which caused not only the driver to be ejected from the car, but the 2.0-liter inline-four turbo engine as well, which flew from the car, through an apartment door, and landed in the living room of the resident, injuring them. Just take a moment and think about what it would be like to be sitting at home, when suddenly a car engine slams into you.
Read MoreYou could give people the biggest playground in the world and some will still find a way to trash the delicate parts and ruin it for others. Death Valley National Park is absolutely massive, larger than the state of Connecticut. The more capable your vehicle is, the larger the park gets, with trails, old mining camps, and rocky cliff-side roads that you could spend a month exploring.
Read MoreWes Anderson has been working hard to make sure the cars in his upcoming film The French Dispatch exude just the right kind of quirky Gallic flair. It’s hard work to get the cars in a film just right, but Anderson knows it pays off when he does. Just look at Bruce Willis’s Plymouth in Moonrise Kingdom.
Read MoreOne of the most standout things about the Fast and Furious franchise, even in its earliest days, was its willingness to cast strong female characters as more than mere accessories. Now, eight movies, one spin-off and an upcoming ninth installment later, there finally might be an all-female spin-off in the works.
Read MoreThere’s a new Wes Anderson movie coming out, and it looks to be, at least visually, made from pure, uncut weapons-grade wesandersonium. That’s good, as I adore the visuals of his movies and think everyone who likes to bitch about him is just looking for a reason to use the word “twee” in a review. The man does what he does and he does it well, and that includes some excellent car casting. The trailer was just released, so let’s see what kind of good French iron we have here.
Read MoreAs Italy battles Europe’s toughest outbreak of the Coronavirus and Switzerland has just reported its first case, this year’s Geneva Motor Show, originally planned to open March 3, has been canceled.
Read MoreThe only company to build cars in Austria outside of Magna Steyr is motorcycle manufacturer KTM. The carbon-tub track-only XBow has been on the market for 12 years, somehow, and yet it still looks modern enough to stay relevant. The company has built over 1300 examples of this delightful little car in that time, and even started racing them in GT4 classes a few years back with a cool little canopy over the driver. Now the company is hitting for the fences with a version called XBow GTX aimed at
Read MoreThere isn’t much in this life that you can count on anymore, aside from the ability of the French to build some quirky-as-hell cars that solve a problem. The newest in a long line of French quirkmobiles is Citroën’s new all-electric “quadracycle” called the Ami. This is the ultimate cheap conveyance for eco-conscious city-dwellers who want windows. Think of it as a slightly more compact Smart, or a more comfortable Renault Twizy. It’s as bare as bones can get, has just 8 horsepower, and can only
Read MoreIf you’re the strong-man despotic leader of a small nation-state with an extra three-quarters of a million dollars of misplaced infrastructure stipend to throw around, Brabus has the perfect vehicle for you. The 800 Adventure XLP, which debuted Wednesday at the Geneva Auto Show, has all of the bells and whistles you might need. It’s longer, taller, and wider, has a spiffy luggage rack, and even comes with a drone.
Read MoreThe full socioeconomic effect of the coronavirus has not yet been felt as the disease continues to spread. As of this writing, the outbreak has infected over 75,000 people, killing at least 2000. China is an integral part of the automotive ecosystem, and this will have a long lasting effect in all aspects of life, but particularly where the automobile is concerned.
Read MoreThe residual effects of Dieselgate may still be impacting Volkswagen years later, but that doesn’t mean the company has given up on the fuel quite yet. In fact, VW announced that the company will bring the 2021 Golf GTD to next month’s Geneva Motor Show in an attempt to prove that diesel is still a fuel of the future.
Read MoreDiesel Jeep Cherokees are a dime a dozen in Europe, with the most common ones coming with the overheating-prone VM Motori 2.5-liter turbodiesel. In the U.S., though, diesel XJs are pretty much nonexistent, because very few were ever sold here. The ones that were had a gutless engine shared with a Winnebago; Here’s a beautiful example for sale on Craigslist in Boise, Idaho.
Read MoreGrab your wallets, Jalops. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. A rear-wheel drive, manual transmission wagon has appeared from the depths of Carmax, and it’s not just any wagon. It’s a 556 hp Cadillac CTS-V, and it’s brown. Yes, I said it: Brown.
Read MoreIf you’re a west coast beach bum with a penchant for seventies vans, slot mags, and the University of Oregon ducks, this might just be the perfect van for you and your board to boogie on down to catch some swells. This 1972 Ford E100 van is the perfect embodiment of the late 70's van movement with all of the accouterments you might need for a weekend at the beach. And you’re in luck, because it’s currently for sale on Craigslist in San Francisco.
Read MoreThe Renault Twingo is one of the greatest compact cars ever designed. Its design brilliance is the reason why “Twingo Tuesday” is a thing in the car community, and it’s also the reason why these dirt-cheap models for sale in Germany need to be saved. Like, right now.
Read MoreIn 1978 you could walk into a dealership with $3,679 and walk out with a Subaru 2-Door Sedan, complete with a 1.6-liter engine and front-wheel drive. Today you can drop in on Philadelphia Craigslist and buy that same car with a mere $680 less in your pocket.
Read MoreI live in metro Detroit, and I’ve adapted to my local environment by evolving into a bit of a rust-enthusiast (not fetishist). So take it from me when I say that this 1984 Toyota Truck for sale in Lincoln City, Oregon may very well be the rustiest truck in America, outside of junkyards. And if the photo above doesn’t convince you, just wait until you see the floor of the bed.
Read MoreYou hear about a car that’s got a full cage, stainless exhaust, a fuel cell… hell, even adjustable suspension. Sounds like serious business. Then you find out it’s also an early-2000s Volvo S60 road car. Plated up and everything. Okay. Then you find out it’s for sale.
Read MoreRecently sold on the website Only Used Tesla is what is believed to be the highest-mileage Tesla Model X in the world—a 2016 “90D” rental car/shuttle with over 400,000 miles on the odometer. The company that owned it, Tesloop, gave me the vehicle’s full maintenance records, so let’s look at every part that had to be swapped for this electric crossover to reach 400,000 miles in this condition.
Read MoreThe Ford Crown Victoria is a legend in the car world. It’s a dirt-cheap, reliable, body-on-frame, V8 cruiser that has proven itself in damn near every environment, including the race track, golf course (?), and even off-road trails. The car’s versatility knows no bounds, a fact proven yet again by this amazing camper for sale on Craigslist.
Read MoreMaybe you’ve heard about my love for the Dodge Viper. Just whispers and murmurs, perhaps. Every single generation yielded objectively perfect cars. But the 2010 Alfa Romeo TZ3 Stradale Zagato? Not so sure I love it!
Read MoreIt’s the year 2549 and you’ve been invited to a party on Jupiter. What are you going to show up with? Why, this Italdesign Aztec, of course, all the way from the ancient year of 1988.
Read MoreOn first glance, it looks like the most generic Ford Mustang ever: a 1966 Coupe, probably with the 289 V8 and C4 three-speed automatic. But actually, this machine, for sale on Facebook Marketplace, is much, much stranger. That’s because the “Z-Tang,” as its seller calls it, had its guts traded for those of a Datsun. And trust me, the swap is more extensive than you’re probably imagining.
Read MoreNot many people got to have Tatra 603s. They were usually reserved for people who had status on the other side of the Iron Curtain. People the leadership wanted to impress. Yasser Arafat was one of those people, and this was allegedly his car.
Read MoreThere is nothing more challenging than having to cover ground on unfamiliar roads. But there is a whole training school devoted to this kind of driving and it’s a bit of a dying art.
Read MoreI really love the concept Cake has gone with for its follow-up to the Kalk electric motorcycle. This little utilitarian scooter—called the Ösa—is an equally weird looking back-to-basics ride for city folk to tool around on, and with that in mind the concept works quite well. It doesn’t look like a traditional scooter, but that’s mostly because it doesn’t have to.
Read MoreZero introduced its latest electric motorcycle yesterday, the slick-looking SR/S, with up to 201 miles of range. At a launch event in New York City, the biggest vibe I got was that the company is all in on what it thinks is the future.
Read MoreAfter a leak yesterday showed the world Zero’s new EV bike with a fairing a few days early, the NorCal bikemaker decided to push up the reveal date to today. Nothing stays secret for long in the current age of the internet. The new SR/S wanted to get out, to be seen, and so it has. For the most part, the specifications of this bike are in line with what we expected, as the drivetrain and chassis are more or less lifted straight out of the Zero SR/F launched in early 2019, just with a plastic fai
Read MoreLate last week almost two minutes of footage featuring Zero’s new SR/S—which appears to be a fully-faired version of the company’s existing naked SR/F—was leaked to YouTube on a burner channel. Unfortunately the video was taken down before we could lay eyes on it, but thankfully some intrepid two-wheel enthusiasts at Motorcycle News took screen shots and scribbled down the specs that were touted in the video.
Read MoreIn 1948, The Vincent Black Shadow was the fastest naturally aspirated motorcycle in the world. At Bonneville that year, rider Rollie Free achieved a record-breaking speed of 148.6 mph before stripping down to his swimsuit and riding superman style on the bike breaking the record again by going just over 150 mph and setting up one of the greatest pictures in the history of motorcycling.
Read MoreLast weekend at Portland’s Veterans Memorial Colliseum something truly new happened. You could feel a change in the air as the old boy’s club of motorcycle racing embraced a new technology. For the first time ever, at the 11th Annual One Pro motorcycle dirt flat track race, the pros went head to head on race bikes powered purely by electricity.
Read MoreWhat would a 2020 bike from a parallel reality where gas bikes never existed look like? According to Hugo Eccles of Untitled Motorcycles, it would look something like his Zero XP. When I first entered the basement of Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum (the new home of The One Motorcycle Show), I was dazzled by the hundreds of incredibly cool custom motorcycles on display, but when my eyes finally focused on one subject, it was the XP that really caught my attention.
Read MoreDucati unveiled Thursday afternoon the new benchmark for superbikes in the Superleggera V4. Based on Ducati’s Panigale V4, the Superleggera V4 throws all of that heavy aluminum in the trash and replaces it with giant swathes of lightweight carbon fiber. The entire load bearing structure—including frame, subframe, swingarm, and wheels—is crafted from CFRP. All of that carbon allows the Superleggera to lose a little over 35 pounds.
Read MoreSince I am decidedly not a motorcycle rider, I actually didn’t know people sometimes swap car tires onto their motorcycles. I have wondered about it, though. And if you’re thinking about trying it out, here are some things to think about.
Read MoreI have a fascination with cars that make smart use of space through clever packaging and intelligent overall design. For this reason, I’m a huge fan of minivans, and since I love rare manual transmission versions of cars that you wouldn’t expect to have manual transmissions, this 1994 Dodge Caravan—owned and still used for its intended function of shuttling kids to school by Michigander Bob Swanson—has me entranced.
Read MoreEvery car in the U.S. after 2011 has had to be equipped with electronic stability control thanks to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 126. This means they all have four-wheel antilock brakes. But not too long ago, many cars had no ABS at all; More interesting, though, is an intermediate phase between those two periods—a phase in which vehicles had rear-only ABS. Yes, that was a thing.
Read MoreI visited my doctor today to understand why I can’t stop thinking about the second-generation Oldsmobile Bravada. “It’s just a Chevy Blazer,” I told her, “This makes no sense!” When she asked what I though might be the cause of my ailment, I guessed that perhaps it’s the trusty and torquey 4.3-liter V6 luring me in. “No,” she replied, “Chevy put that in damn near everything.” She had a good point. “Maybe it’s the styling?” I guessed. “No,” she said again, “It’s a Blazer with a weird grille.” Aga
Read MoreMatt Levatich, who has been CEO of Harley-Davidson since May 2015, is stepping down from the job, the company said in a news release late Friday. In Levatich’s time at the top sales have fallen every year.
Read MoreChase had a ‘99 Jeep Cherokee, that was stolen recently. Now he needs to find a solid 4x4 that can tow a boat and has a bit of refinement, all with a modest budget. What car should he buy?
Read MoreOh, hey, I didn’t see you there! Please, come on in, have a seat on one of these luxuriant and oddly damp bearskin rugs and get comfortable. I’m here in America’s warm hat, Canada, on Volkswagen’s dime because they’d like me to drive their new Atlas Cross Sport and, I bet, say nice things about it. We’ll see about that, VW, but I figured I should see if there’s anything in particular you’d like to know about the Atlas’ slightly smaller and more vain brother.
Read MoreVolkswagen just revealed the new 2021 Volkswagen Golf GTI ahead of the Geneva Motor Show, and it gets more power and some nice new styling to match the new MK8 generation of the car. Here’s a full look at the new sheetmetal and fascias, as well as a quick look at some specs.
Read MoreWe all know Google is up to all kinds of secret, shady things with their minions of AIs lurking all around us. Google smart speakers listen to us day and night, concocting new ways to sell us more laxatives and shoe insoles. We know that Google Street View has been mapping and imaging every inch of the Earth, but did you realized it’s also designing new cars? It is, secretly, and I can prove it, with this six-door Jeep Wrangler variant spotted in Massachusetts.
Read MoreIt was the day before Presidents’ Day last week when GM announced it was retiring its Australian marque Holden, almost three years to the day after it said it was planning to dump out of Europe. That leaves the General almost completely reliant on just three markets: North and South America and East Asia.
Read MoreThe Sultan of Brunei has a lot of cars. It makes some people mad. I might be among them. But at least his case of The Car Sickness resulted in some of the most interesting Ferraris ever built, even if they weren’t exactly what Ferrari itself had in mind for the F40.
Read MoreBefore World War II, the premier modes of air travel were dirigibles and flying boats. The Hindenburg disaster saw to the end of the massive gas-filled airships, but what exactly happened to those gleaming seaplanes that could land on water?
Read MoreWe started to say our final goodbyes to Holden, General Motors’ Australian-market brand, famed for its V8-powered sedans and utes. Though the brand’s decline and death has been drawn out, with local production ending a few years back already, the news is major. GM won’t be making any more mass-market right-hand-drive cars anymore. Not just for Australia. For anyone.
Read More“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Its a motto for countless local haunts around the country, from hot dog stands to ice cream parlors to shisha bars. When customers know why they come, there’s no reason to change tradition. Or get a new van.
Read MoreBattery availability has recently been a major constraint on EV production. Tesla has been frequently battery cell constrained, Mercedes delayed its EQC due to battery production, the Jaguar paused I-Pace production because of battery availability problems, and now Audi E-Tron manufacturing has temporarily stopped due to “bottlenecks in the parts supply.” The company said the issue was not China or Coronavirus related, and given all the other battery supply problems, it isn’t much of a stretch t
Read MoreThe EU has tough fleet emissions targets and increasingly steep fines for companies that can’t meet them. It’s starting to look like auto companies are all going to come up short.
Read MoreIt’s hard to make a profit in the ride-sharing business, which may be why Lyft has recently acquired a company that allows drivers to make money by putting digital billboards on the roof of their cars.
Read MoreToyota makes some good looking vehicles but it’s hard to imagine them ever releasing something as beautifully designed as the 2000GT. It was their first sports car, long before the Supra or the Lexus-branded LFA. Sadly, the company only made 351 of them with 62 left-hand-drive versions making it into the United States.
Read MoreMaserati hasn’t really done anything interesting since, geez, the Alfieri concept all the way back in 2014. But all of a sudden there’s a new mid-engine supercar on the way called the Maserati MC20, and it’s shaping up to be a direct successor to the MC12.
Read MoreThere isn’t a lot of data out there about how towing affects EV range, largely because there is such a diversity in trailer aerodynamics and mass. Thanks to the Oklahoma Chapter of the Electric Auto Association, we have some idea of how towing a 4000-pound car trailer affects the range of an Audi E-Tron.
Read MoreMaserati has had electrification plans for a while, but we’re now getting some specific details about what to expect from the brand in the coming years. It was previously stated that “electrification will be a hallmark of the brand,” by 2023. There are several electric vehicles planned, but Maserati seems to be hedging their bet by offering gasoline versions of their electrified vehicles.
Read MoreGet your comically oversized checkbooks ready because AMG is here with 3,277 horsepower split between seven engines and two vehicles. That’s 56 cylinders, displacing just under 2000 total cubic inches.
Read MoreThe Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is a remarkable place to test athletes and vehicles, in part because it is so brutal and unpredictable. Unfortunately, the same things that make it exciting also make it incredibly dangerous.
Read MoreThe last time we saw Kevin Czinger in these parts he was showing off a concept at CES in 2017 that was the future my misguided colleague Raphael Orlove wanted to live in. Raph is closer to getting his wish, as a similar-looking new Czinger will fully debut next month.
Read MoreI’m glad my question yesterday about working on cars with your parents brought back so many memories. I ask at least one question each weekend and I’m always excited to read the responses but this week was extra special. Here are a few of my favorites.
Read MoreWith the global market for private cars all but halted and manufacturing techniques and capacity revolutionized by developments in warplane and military vehicle production, the effects of World War II on automaking were immense. Luckily, we’ve got Peter Wherett’s Marque special on the subject to fill in the details.
Read MoreGreen funerals are becoming rather fashionable these days, with options like urns that grow into trees and biodegradable caskets becoming increasingly popular. But what about getting to the graveside? My humble suggestion is that hearses go electric. It actually makes a lot of sense.
Read MoreBack in the ‘60s, the British Motor Corporation (which eventually became British Leyland) went racing. To design a flashy mobile garage to support the MGs, Minis, and other cars on the track, they called Pininfarina. And now one is for sale.
Read MoreBack in the ‘90s, Mazda had a plan to take the global luxury market with a line of cars bigger, nicer, and more powerful than what they had built before. To sell them, they called on Sean Connery.
Read MoreWith a price tag upwards of three million dollars, the Koenigsegg Jesko ought to always look its best. That’s why when it was on its world tour last year, the team at AMMO NY was put to work making sure every little detail was perfect.
Read MoreFord’s new massive 7.3-liter V8 is going to be a slow-revving but durable engine for large pickups, but recently we’ve been alerted to its capacity for modification and rather outlandish performance. If there’s a destination for a motor like that, it’s the De Tomaso Pantera. Trust me.
Read MoreThis week, the Department of Homeland Security has informed vehicle importers and exporters that all exports of New York-titled and registered vehicles will be on hold until further notice.
Read MoreOne of the less-considered side effects of car features moving from hardware to software is that important features and abilities of a car can now be removed without any actual contact with a given car. Where once de-contenting involved at least a screwdriver (or, if you were in a hurry, a hammer), now thousands of dollars of options can vanish with the click of a mouse somewhere. And that’s exactly what happened to one Tesla owner, and, it seems many others.
Read MoreThe new 2021 Chrysler Pacifica gets an all-wheel drive system that fixes a major packaging problem that plagued Chrysler starting in the 2005 model year. The refreshed minivan also gets increased ride height, a new infotainment system, and a front end that actually looks damn good. The current Pacifica is already the darling of the minivan class, and this mid-cycle update looks like a smart way to keep it that way.
Read MoreLexus, a company that no longer sells a five-speed manual ES300, is in the throes of a bit of a malaise. Its cars are all fine, competent, and good-looking, but only the super-Camry ES has been substantially updated in recent years as company focuses more on its hot-selling SUVs. There’s also seemingly no real full-electrification push, at least in the U.S. It isn’t surprising that sales in North America were flat last year compared to 2018. Slightly more surprising is how China and Europe made
Read MoreProduction started on the 2020 Corvette today, according to Chevy, following a strike-related delay and the need to finish the last 2019 Corvettes and retool the factory. GM expects to make around 40,000 new ‘Vettes this year, all of which are sold out, the company claimed. There’s also that new electric Hummer, which will change how we think about electric SUVs. See what happens when you take a risk for once (or twice), GM?
Read MoreA few days after reports suggested that F1 and Le Mans champion Fernando Alonso’s 2020 Indy 500 attempt would be Honda-powered, things are looking different. If Alonso wants to make his racing triple crown this year, he’ll have to do it with a Chevy motor behind him.
Read MoreFor 1970, Pontiac wanted to assert its position as GM’s “Fun” brand for the new decade. It needed to make sure America knew who the bad boys in Detroit were. And it was going to do that with the Humbler, a feature package for the GTO that debuted in the brand’s ad during the big game.
Read MoreThe Beatles’ The Beatles. Metallica’s Metallica. Led Zeppelin’s Led Zeppelin. All great albums. All self-titled. It does cause some confusion, which is why all these albums have more commonly used nicknames. The Beatles is The White Album, Metallica is The Black Album. Led Zeppelin is sometimes called Led Zeppelin 1 because it was followed by 2 and 3, but they made it even more confusing by leaving their fourth album untitled.
Read MoreThe Volkswagen ID R has set records at Pikes Peak, Goodwood, the Nurburgring, and Tianmen mountain, and the company isn’t planning on slowing down. The company will be bringing the ID R back to Goodwood to try and beat its own record. But before that, it will be heading to the Sonoma Speed Festival to try and break the California track’s record. The current record was set by a Mercedes Formula 1 car driven by Esteban Gutierrez.
Read MoreImagine all the things you cherish—friends, financial security, love… Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Audi will give you none of those. Its name does promise to give you “all roads” and for that, at least, we’re going to see what it might be worth.
Read MoreWe are often told that it’s advantageous to think outside the box. When it comes to today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Porsche, however, we definitely need to think inside the Boxster. Let’s see what doing so might just cost.
Read MorePurpose-built electric vehicles are all the rage today, but for every company that seems to be making a go of it, there are at least two others that are abject failures. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Coda is one of the latter, but perhaps its price will give it a second chance.
Read MorePacer is a name used by both Edsel and American Motors, which is probably why it hasn’t been used again. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe wagon harkens back to the days when AMC was still a going concern. Let’s see just what it should cost to still set the pace.
Read MoreThe odometer on today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Corolla may read over 300K, but it sports an MR2 engine that was swapped in somewhere along the way. Let’s find out what all that might just make you to be willing to pay.
Read MoreSomeday, both manual transmissions and sporty sedans will be relegated to the history books. Until then, you can enjoy today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe 540i as it offers both. Let’s see if this low-mileage Bimmer comes with a price that could make it a historic deal.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe SRT-10 Pickup has looks that could frighten small children and make the timid avert their gaze. In addition to that power, it also packs 650 WHP. Let’s figure out what all that intensity might just be worth.
Read MoreMercedes intends the AMG GT to be their 911 competitor, and our candidate for today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe contest certainly does exhibit some Porsche vibes in its various views. Let’s see if it’s priced accordingly.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Merkur says it can be registered as a historic vehicle, and it is true that it represents a good bit of Ford history, albeit not the most successful part. Still, could that history get you to part with some modest cash?
Read MoreThey say that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. The seller of today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Tacoma built himself a modern-looking standard cab since Toyota doesn’t play that game anymore. Let’s see what he thinks his work is worth.
Read MoreRally-bred homologations may be a rare breed, but at least Subaru’s kept the flame alive. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe WRX may not be as raw and exciting as its OG predecessors, but that doesn’t mean its price shouldn’t offer anything other than smooth sailing.
Read MoreFront-wheel drive sports coupes were once rife on our nation’s highways and byways, but their popularity has been usurped by crossovers. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Acura RSX represents one of the breed’s best, but will its price have you wishing it had stayed forgotten?
Read MoreOn the outside, today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe E150 is the epitome of the creeper van. The van’s custom camper interior, however, is as inviting as can be. Let’s see if the price means that it’s what’s on the inside that counts.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Challenger is one of the cars that started the modern hella-horsepower wars. Let’s see if this one’s depreciated price means it’s now well worth going into battle.
Read MoreThe Gambler 500 is like LeMons for people who like to get more than just their hands dirty. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Volvo is a past Gambler participant but is now ready for a new adventure. What might you pay to tag along?
Read MoreColin Chapman famously made his cars go faster by “adding lightness.” Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe “sort-of-a” Lotus Seven adds a hot Honda mill to that lightness. We’ll have to see if that’s worth lightening your wallet a considerable bit to buy it.
Read MorePeople like to say “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore,” and when it comes to Isuzus today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Trooper, they don’t make ‘em at all. Let’s see if this old luxury SUV from a defunct car brand not known for luxury can still make its asking price.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe CR-V is being sold without its stereo’s sub and amp, but with an intercooled turbo for its transverse four. That seems the better deal, but we still have to decide if its price makes it worth dealing with at all.
Read MoreScooters may litter our cities’ sidewalks, but if you really want to solve our nation’s last-mile transportation issue what you really need is rollerskates. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Maxton would get my vote for that role. Let’s see if it’s priced to make it yours too.
Read MoreThe stacks on today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe D150 are functional and those aren’t even the most notable features of the Lil’ Red Express package. Let’s see if this restored pickup has a price that makes it worth breaking out stacks of cash.
Read MoreIn 1969, Enfield Automotive built its first prototype car, the 465. It was propelled by a 3 kW electric motor attached to a 48v battery. It was an adorably small two-seater with tiny wheels and sliding doors. Only three were made, but it was followed by the Enfield 8000. The 8000 was similar to the 465 but had twice the power: 6 kW or about 8 horsepower.
Read MoreThere are car company names that are acronyms like Fiat and Alfa, and plenty of model names that are initialisms, like the NSX or the BRZ, but not many model names that are acronyms. Subaru made one starting in 1978 called the BRAT, which stands for Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter.
Read MoreThe Reliant Robin. It has three wheels, a passionate following, and sometimes rolls over when you drive it aggressively, especially after modifying it to do so.
Read MoreAlright so this is an interesting one. The Toyota AE86 isn’t totally uncommon here in America. You still see a few old of these old Corollas at car shows and drift meets here, same as you do in other foreign markets. But what you don’t realize is Japan got probably something like TEN TIMES AS MANY of these things as the rest of the world.
Read MoreYou’re Subaru and it’s the early 1990s. You need something to make your small family van stand out in a crowded market. It comes to you in a flash: what if you could option it with a tent, a bicycle, a grill, a cooler, a ski rack, several sun visors, a backup mirror, and at least two Momo steering wheels.
Read MoreWe’re in the golden age of JDM imports with Skylines, Chasers, Autozams, and Delicas now flooding not only into American garages, but also into our rental fleets.
Read MoreI see right-hand-drive Japanese market vans nearly every day here in New York City and it makes a lot of sense to me. For the slight inconvenience of driving on the right, you get a practical, often all-wheel-drive shape that’s maneuverable in town. But while that seems to work for these New Yorkers, MotorWeek wasn’t quite convinced back in 1987.
Read MoreChrysler, the automaker, sold its first minivan in 1984 as a Dodge Caravan. Chrysler, the brand, sold its first minivan six years later as the Town & Country. Prior to this minivan, the Town & Country name was mostly used on wagons, all the way back to the first one in 1941. There were only a few made in the first couple of years before production was stopped so that the company could help de-Hitler the world.
Read MoreHere’s a quick reminder for those of you who haven’t checked in with the realities of air travel in a while: airplane seats are designed to recline. I’m not saying that means you should recline or that it’s the ethical thing to do (personally, I don’t) but they can and people do and it’s just how it is. It’s not that big a deal. What is a big deal is acting like a petulant little jackass like the fucko in this now-viral video, though, to be fair, reaction to the video is remarkably mixed.
Read MoreSince the Kennedy Administration, the light-blue and white jet carrying the president has been more than just transportation for American leadership. It has been a symbol of what that leadership was meant to represent. An internationally-minded, forward-thinking ethos steeped in Modernism and Internationalism. Now, though, the White House is more America First than American Century and Air Force One is getting a new look to match.
Read MoreStorm Ciara ravaged Britain all weekend, but its impact on air travel isn’t all just breaking trans-Atlantic records. Oh no. In fact, the commentary on a livestream of planes touching down at Heathrow has provided us with some of the most surprisingly delightful motivation you can get to start off your week.
Read MoreAs Storm Ciara causes flooding and transportation delays across Britain, at least some are finding the weather rather agreeable as the winds from the storm helped British Airways flight BA112 cross the Atlantic in a record time of four hours and 56 minutes.
Read MoreIf I were to ask you, “Hey, do you think it would be funny if I jokingly screamed I had coronavirus on a packed plane?” you’d probably respond, “Not at all, you fucking moron.” This was allegedly a conversation some idiot aboard a WestJet flight from Toronto failed to have with anyone when he did exactly that. Relax guys, it was a prank.
Read MoreOnce upon a time, they put a four-cylinder in the 2019 Porsche Boxster GTS. This was widely regarded as a bad idea and everyone hated it, so Porsche has already brought back the flat-six. But I didn’t drive the new one. I drove the one everyone likes to hate.
Read MoreThe ACO dropped the entry list for the 2020 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Friday, and it’s not exactly encouraging. While this race marks the end of the LMP1 era, which has produced some truly prodigious racing in the last decade, it’s going out on an extremely low note. Just six entries—two Toyotas, two Rebellions, and two Ginettas—will make up the entire P1 field, less than 10% of the whole 62-car shooting match. From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in just a handful of year
Read MoreWe are awash in production cars with 500 horsepower or more. So many we recently got three of them to test at the same time almost entirely by chance. What we found was that the power alone doesn’t necessarily make the car exciting; it’s easy for it to be smothered in sound deadening and weight. As a contrast, please enjoy this 1970 Ferrari 512 S, with a 5.0-liter V12 that absolutely roars.
Read MoreThis year will see the triumphant return of Zandvoort on the Formula One calendar, a venue that hasn’t hosted a race since 1985. In an effort to make the racing more exciting, though, the track decided to implement some banking. And now we’ve got our first view of that banking.
Read MoreFormula One’s Chinese Grand Prix has already been postponed as the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic continues to impact the health of people around the world. And while the FIA is still confident that no other events will be affected, the Italian-based F1 teams could begin to suffer.
Read MoreThe Saleen Cup series was founded back in 2019 with a good idea—anyone who wanted to compete could show up and race in a car identical to all the others on the grid—but, apparently, not on a strong enough basis. Just a week before its proposed season opener at Circuit of the Americas and weeks after journalists were invited to take the cars out for a spin, the Saleen Cup has folded.
Read MoreThere are undoubtedly a lot of perks to being a Formula One driver, but I think my personal favorite has to be that they seem to just get free rein of manufacturer factories. If I had a chance to, say, wander around the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England, I don’t think they’d ever be able to drag me out of it. And in that sense, I am just like McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris.
Read MoreMercedes’ innovative dual-axis steering system has been making waves in the Formula One paddock, but if you’re unfamiliar with aerodynamics it can be tough to actually understand how changing the angle of the tires can make a car faster. Thankfully, we’ve got a new video detailing the whole concept of toe angles to clear things up.
Read MoreThe Indianapolis 500 has really really not been kind to Fernando Alonso. In 2017 he ran a fast but fragile Honda powerplant which blew up on him after leading the race. In 2019 his McLaren-entered car was a proper clusterfuck and didn’t even make the big show, bumped out in qualifying. The former Formula One ace, Le Mans and Daytona 24 champion (and Dakar 13th place finisher) is still looking to add an Indy win to his quiver.
Read MoreThe ongoing saga of the Formula One Grand Prix in Miami has been truly mindblowing. With an initial design that looked truly horrible followed by a delay and a relocation, it would be easy to assume the event just isn’t happening. But... it might actually happen. Even if it might get sued first.
Read MoreFormula One preseason testing is well underway—and so is the drama. All the talk has been surrounding a new innovation by Mercedes called dual-axis steering, or DAS. Basically, by pushing or pulling on the steering wheel, drivers can change the toe angle of the front tires in order to manipulate airflow and downforce on straights and corners. Fans were divided on whether or not the system should actually be legal, and it turns out that the FIA is going to allow it... for a time.
Read MoreFormula One preseason testing is well underway, and so are all the rumors. This time around, those rumors center around Mercedes, which appears to have developed a neat little steering trick to create more toe by pushing or pulling on the steering wheel.
Read MoreThe Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG 004C race car took to the track at the Cremona circuit in Italy Tuesday and Wednesday for its first laps of testing. Team owner—and occasional Jalopnik commenter—Jim Glickenhaus had the honor of turning the car’s first ever laps before handing the steering wheel over to test driver Thomas Mutsch for the development work. In late May of this year the car will be entering the Nurburgring 24 in the SPX class, and will later be homologated for GT3 competition all
Read MoreThe FIA was riding high a few years ago. Its LMP1 class was booming with factory entries from Porsche, Audi, Toyota, and Nissan. The sanctioning body was filled with a Dorian Grey-esque level of confidence in its invincibility. It knew that the follow up to LMP1 had to play to the strengths of a manufacturer team, allowing OEMs to build race cars that looked more like street cars.
Read MoreJust two days after his horrifying his horrifying Daytona 500 crash, NASCAR driver Ryan Newman has left the hospital on his own two feet. The specifics of his condition are still not known, but his ability to head out with his two children by his side bodes incredibly well.
Read MoreWhen Jackie Heinricher and Michael Shank announced that they’d be teaming up to form an all-female racing team ahead of the 2019 IMSA season, it was hard not to be excited. Great drivers like Katherine Legge and Simona de Silvestro had signed on to drive the Acura NSX GT3, and the whole operation was going to compete in the Rolex 24. Maybe they’d even go to Le Mans. Except, the whole thing fell apart long before that happened.
Read MoreFormula One likes to market itself as the pinnacle of motorsport, but I’m going to be honest: it’s not. It can’t be, not when the beauty of Marbula One exists in this world.
Read MoreAfter Ryan Newman’s terrifying wreck at the end of last night’s Daytona 500, NASCAR needs to take a step back and look critically at the way it treats—and romanticizes—danger. The series has been blissfully averse to driver death since Dale Earnhardt died in 2001, when serious changes were implemented to protect the men and women racing for a win on Sundays. But NASCAR officials have been getting lax, and we need to start pushing for a different outlook.
Read MoreGet hyped, everyone, because Formula One: Drive to Survive’s second season will be available on Netflix later this month, on February 28. And according to the newest trailer, we’re going to get to see all sorts of good, dramatic shit that happened in 2019.
Read MoreOn Sunday, President Donald Trump gave the command to the “gentlemen” to start their engines at the Daytona 500. Around the same time, a story broke about a Trump administration policy in which the words given in confidential therapy sessions would be used to deport children. Despite what we may want to think, the two events are distinctly related. One is a tacit endorsement of the other.
Read MoreThe FIA World Endurance Championship is set to begin its 2020/21 season with the introduction of its new Hypercar class—but with one significant player missing. Aston Martin is rumored to be pulling its Valkyrie-based hypercar out of the series, leaving Toyota as the sole competitor in the Hypercar class. Interestingly, this announcement comes soon after Aston Martin released videos of Red Bull Racing’s Formula One drivers taking their Martin out for a spin.
Read MoreThe 62nd running of the Daytona 500 ended late on Monday night after a rain delay Sunday night. The event, however, ended in tragedy after a brutal last lap crash saw No. 6 driver Ryan Newman hospitalized while Denny Hamlin celebrated victory.
Read MoreWhile many car manufacturers were finding clever ways to squeeze hundreds of horsepower out of three and four-liter engines, Dodge did what Dodge does best and just made a pushrod engine with ten huge pistons, each made by melting down an entire Dodge Neon.
Read MoreToday is the first of 36 races in this year’s NASCAR Cup Series. The top-level of NASCAR always runs a lot of races compared to most other racing series, but they used to run a lot more each season. In the 1950s and 60s, there were more than 40 races in every season except three. Most of those seasons had 49 or more races and one, 1964, had an incredible 62 races.
Read MoreWhen Rich Energy’s saga in Formula One came to an end in 2019, I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. The energy drinks’ time sponsoring Haas was such a beautiful mess, and then it was over. But I have some good news: Rich Energy is back because this is just one of those brands that never says die.
Read MoreLast month, Porsche offered me a chance to drive the 2020 Porsche Taycan electric car from its U.S. headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia down to Daytona, Florida for the Rolex 24 race. To see these brand-new race cars, I took an old film camera and was surprised with the results.
Read MoreLando Norris is seen today as one of Formula One’s rising stars with a talent far beyond his years. He came second in the F2 Championship in 2018, which prompted McLaren to graduate him from reserve driver status to full time Fernando Alonso replacement. He recently admitted that he wasn’t sure he was ready for F1 when the 2019 season started.
Read MoreThey’re really going for it, aren’t they? The Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus team has stepped up with a commitment to run in the World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class as a manufacturer. Today the team unveiled the street car version of its race car.
Read MoreYesterday, Ferrari released its contender for the 2020 Formula One championship, the SF1000. At first glance, you might be wondering if Ferrari just wheeled out its 2019 car to a whole bunch of fanfare, but there are, in fact, plenty of little tech changes along the way that could promise good things for the team this year.
Read MoreIf you’ve sat down to watch Ford v. Ferrari any time recently, you might be inclined to think that you are now a master of—at least—the basics of what went on during the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. But you definitely didn’t get the whole story—and Chris Amon, the winner of the race that year alongside Bruce McLaren, is here to tell you why.
Read MoreAfter some hemming and hawing over whether a cancellation was necessary, the FIA has officially postponed the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix on April 19 as a result of the Coronavirus. And it sounds like it’s going to be a real struggle to actually fit the race back into the schedule at a later date.
Read MoreHonestly, I’d hate to be Marco Andretti. With two preceding generations of great racing on your shoulders, it has to be extra rough to have a bad season. And that’s why Marco is going back to driving school ahead of his 15th season in the IndyCar series.
Read MoreMercedes-Benz confirmed Monday that it was committed to Formula One for at least the next five years as part of an announcement of a new deal with petrochemicals giant Ineos as principal partner, one rung below title partner Petronas. Even in the face of Daimler cutting 15,000 jobs and cutting at least 1.4 billion euros from its budget by the close of 2022, team boss Toto Wolff says that F1 works for Mercedes.
Read MoreFormula One isn’t exactly known for its frugality and economy, but the motorhomes that teams set up at European races are next level lavish. I mean, these things are nicer and more expensive than any house I’ve ever lived in (Ross Brawn aptly calls them “gin palaces”). And they should be one of the first things to go as F1 pushes to go carbon neutral by 2030.
Read MoreA few weeks back we brought you the news from the 2020 Rallye Monte Carlo. But that race was filled with Hyundais and Toyotas. This week’s Rallye Monte Carlo Historique had Alpines, Porsches, and not one, not two, but three mighty Lancia Stratos (Stratoses? Stratii? Straterix?) taking part. You know, the Good Cars.
Read MoreThursday morning the Haas F1 Team unveiled the car with which it will contend the 2020 Formula One season. Freed from the ridiculousness of its Rich Energy partnership, the team was able to ditch its boring black and gold livery—which Elizabeth gave a D+ rating last year. Able to forge their own path, starting from scratch, the sky was the limit when it came to designing the team’s new livery. They had an opportunity to seize the carp and make their car look totally fresh and new.
Read MoreLast summer Mercedes-Benz brought an F1 W07 chassis out to Sonoma Raceway in California’s wine country, plugged Esteban Gutierrez into the driver seat, and unleashed him on the track. He managed to fling Lewis Hamilton’s championship-winning chassis around the track in a new [unofficial] record time of 1 minute 15.430 seconds. Volkswagen wants to beat that. With an electric car.
Read MoreI’m no fortune teller, but I’m pretty sure I can predict the best thing that’s going to come out of the 2020 IndyCar series, and that is Scott McLaughlin’s debut race. That’s right. The defending Australian Supercars champion Scott freakin’ McLaughlin is coming stateside to try his hand at the Indianapolis Grand Prix on May 9. There’s no way anything is going to top that.
Read MoreWith the IndyCar season fast approaching, I think it’s high time we all start getting excited about the series’ answer to head protection: the aeroscreen. According to a new interview with Jay Frye, the president of IndyCar, this thing can withstand the force of six Chevy Silverados.
Read MoreLast week Formula E teased next season’s aerodynamic updates to the Spark SRT05e chassis, dubbed the “Gen 2 Evo” design. Tuesday morning we finally got a look at the updated design and all it entails. There are a few moves here that make Formula E’s design a bit less spaceship than it currently is, while making the car slightly less robust to discourage drivers from playing bumper cars at the E-Prix.
Read MoreRally Sweden, with its treacherous snow-packed roadways and unique winter conditions, has been a longstanding gem in the World Rally Championship calendar. But the fate of this month’s February 13-16 event is currently hanging in the balance because there’s just not enough snow.
Read MoreIf you’re cruising around at a track day or competing against other drivers on a racing simulator and realize that you’re significantly slower than the other people driving the exact same equipment, I’ve got some bad news: you aren’t cornering fast enough.
Read MoreImagine being the Ferrari Formula One team for a second. As the most storied, long-lasting team in the sport, you’ve got it pretty good. You’ve had decades on your competition to sort out your problems, and the very rules of the sport are designed around giving you a leg up. Except for the fact that you haven’t won a championship since 2008. What could be the problem? Certainly not your finely-built machines! No—it has to be F1's politics.
Read MoreDown in Bathurst, Australia, V8 Supercars and GT cars alike have been racing for years at Mount Panorama Circuit and this weekend at the Bathurst 12 Hour was no different. Except this year, the endurance racers were joined by a few of the locals for qualifying.
Read MoreThe International Space Station is the most expensive vehicle in existence, even more expensive than a Ferrari 250 GTO, or a Datsun. At $150 billion dollars, it’s slightly out of my price range, and the fact that it is in space probably means we’re not going to get a Doug Score on it anytime soon.
Read MoreTire tests are usually tedious affairs involving lots of swapping tires and running controlled tests over and over again. For most people this would be considered a boring and unimportant event, but the reality is that having the right tires for the conditions could literally save your life. I grew up in Western Michigan where shitty weather reigns, and I have been a winter tire evangelist since the day I got my first set at 17.
Read MoreComing from Texas and now living in the northeast, I am perpetually in awe watching my Canadian husband maneuver a vehicle in winter weather. In the midst of a snowstorm a few weeks back, he busted out some wild moves with his handbrake that had me looking just like that Pikachu meme. Confident driving on snowy roads isn’t a mysterious talent granted only to northerners, however. Here’s a quick tutorial courtesy of Wyatt Knox at Team O’Neil on how to use a handbrake in winter driving to get you
Read MoreAs you’ve likely heard, the hot new virus everyone’s talking about and slowly descending into paranoia regarding is the Coronavirus (COVID-19), a new and rapidly-spreading virus that’s already caused over 2,700 deaths. Nobody wants this mess, so, naturally, its caused a resurgence of interest in air purification technology like the “Bioweapon Defense Mode” that’s optional on some Teslas. The question is, can such a system really help? Let’s find out.
Read MoreThe National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) just put Tesla, Apple, and the federal government on blast, claiming the two companies have been reckless in self-regulating vehicle safety systems and distracted driving, and concluded that the government needs to step in and do more to regulate the driver assistance systems on our roads.
Read MoreIf the shady business practices, abuse of drivers or straight-up possible negligent homicides don’t make you pause before hitting that Uber or Lyft app, maybe this will: at least one Dallas exterminator is doing big business killing bed bugs in ride-share vehicles.
Read MoreA French startup called EP Tender has a new solution to a relatively new problem. This smart startup is offering a range extending trailer to haul behind your electric car. It plans to roll out along traditional holiday travel routes with a fleet of 60 kWh battery trailers. The Renault Zoe, an inexpensive city electric popular in Europe, will get another 350-ish miles of range on top of its standard 120 miles with the EP Tender attached. Each trailer rental will cost no more than $37.
Read MoreHyundai and Kia recently announced the development of a transmission that can predictively shift into the appropriate gear based on a scan of the upcoming road.
Read MoreThe one pressing question I had during the official launch of the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette had to do with time. The car is new for 2020, but it has been talked about since at least 1960. When exactly was the project finally green-lit? When could the people involved finally, emotionally invest in turning myth to reality?
Read MoreThe Model Y was officially unveiled almost a year ago in March of 2019, and Thursday the first Performance version was finally given an official EPA rating for range and MPGe. Hopefully customer deliveries will begin soon, as some customers who placed deposits have allegedly been called to confirm a February delivery. The tall version of the Model 3 is on its way, and it can go 315 miles on a charge, just 7 miles short of the more aerodynamic 3's 322 mile range.
Read MoreBMW was once known for its diminutive fuel-sipping neue-klasse cars in early 1970s America. In the fifty years since, the company’s offerings have grown in every dimension. With the big-power M division getting headlines, and sales success of ever-larger luxury SUVs, BMW’s corporate average fuel economy has seen better days. As it faces a challenge to meet strict 2021 European carbon emissions standards, the Motoren Werke still has much to do.
Read MoreFollowing the successful launch of the TX Electric Taxi two years ago, which saw over 2500 units delivered to cabbies across the UK, the London Electric Vehicle Company unveiled it’s sized-up model for delivery van drivers. The company continued its creative naming scheme by dubbing this the LEVC Electric Van. And it’s got more range than Emma Stone. There’s only one problem; it can only go 377 miles when it is topped up with petrol for its gasoline-powered range extender.
Read MoreHBO’s new comedy series, Avenue 5, is about a luxury spaceliner that goes off-course, and the many and terrible people trapped inside it. There’s a lot of interesting, if deeply cynical, predictions about society and technology to come (triple-marriages will be accepted by the mainstream, artificial gravity is possible, and Daniel Radcliffe shat himself very publicly at a future Super Bowl) but I think the most interesting one has to do with the autonomous taxis shown in the show, which are inte
Read MoreComputers are absolutely, unquestionably amazing, incredible things that have radically transformed the entire human experience, and will very likely continue to do so. The progress that’s been made on systems to drive cars via computers over the past decade has been absolutely astounding, and we’re well into developing genuinely viable autonomous vehicles. It’s also worth noting that computers are idiots, and as idiots, can be hilariously easy to fool, as some McAfee researchers did recently.
Read MoreKia and Rimac are two companies at opposite ends of the electric vehicle spectrum. Kia makes affordable compact crossover EVs, and Rimac makes million-dollar electric hypercars. But in the next couple of years, we’re going to find out what they can come up with together.
Read MoreSince 2017 an investigative panel in the state of Missouri has been studying the feasibility of installing a 250 mile stretch of Hyperloop along the I-70 corridor between St. Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City. The study found that the Hyperloop could save the state up to $500 million annually in increased productivity thanks to reduced travel times, reduced fuel use, and fewer road accidents on I-70. That massive project cleared its first hurdle in the state house of representatives on Thursday.
Read MoreElectric cars increasingly seem to be the answer for lowering America’s transportation emissions numbers. Not only do they already produce zero emissions in the process of driving, but even pollute far less than gasoline cars when you take into account the emissions generated in the production of the electricity needed to charge them, according to a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Read MoreThe new MOTIV city car from Gordon Murray Design is red on top, white on the bottom, and can only hold one passenger at a time. It’s an autonomous electric pod that contains its occupant when in transit, and pops open to release them when it’s time to go to work. Yep, that’s a Poké Ball alright.
Read MoreEvery morning I wake up with heaps of existential dread over the state of our planet. Antarctica is too hot. Australia is on fire. There are massive locust swarms in East Africa. I am far from claiming Polestar is the one that’ll turn this shit around, but I do appreciate the push for sustainable interiors on its future cars.
Read MoreArticles about how autonomous vehicles are almost here and how big a deal it’ll be aren’t exactly uncommon, but this one from a couple of days ago over at Interesting Engineering struck me in particular because it rehashes an idea that’s at the root of so many articles and self-righteous online arguments from Tesla owners about autonomous cars: that autonomous vehicles will unquestionably be safer than human drivers. I think there’s a bit of a logical fallacy there, and there’s no reason we have
Read MoreThe Porsche Taycan Turbo S and the Tesla Model S Performance have finally gone head-to-head in one of the first comprehensive tests of the two cars together. The results show that, while the Tesla is the better EV deal, Porsche seems right about the performance of the Taycan beating its estimates.
Read MoreThe first autonomous car to achieve federal regulation approval could soon be hitting the streets of a city near you. And they might just be delivering your groceries. Self-driving robot startup Nuro gets to bypass safety standards to start taking to the streets.
Read MoreIf you hate driving in the dark, then I think you’ll enjoy seeing this video of a DIY LED light bar setup. Not only does this thing make everything bright, it takes the dark out behind some dumpsters and beats the dark turds right out of it. Plus, this brightest LED light array is mounted on a very cool custom truck, not that you can really see the truck because you’re effectively blinded.
Read MoreYou can’t currently buy a brand new car with GM’s very good driver aid system Super Cruise. It was available in Cadillac’s CT6, but that died a sad and lonely death in January. The technology has been announced as an optional add-on for the new Cadillac Escalade, as well as the CT4 and CT5 this year.
Read MoreMazda’s been busy in the powertrain department, revealing its first-ever electric car and shipping its “holy grail” Skyactiv-X engine over in Europe. Now we know it’s also working on a new inline-six engine, and new patents reveal that also comes with a new 8-speed automatic transmission.
Read MoreThe Wall Street Journal has a long look at how auto emissions regulations in the U.S. are changing for the worse under the Trump administration, and I encourage you to read it. A lot of it is what you’d expect given the deliberate chaos in the White House, but a passage about California and GM actually made me laugh.
Read MoreToyota is no stranger to “unintended acceleration,” agreeing to pay $1.2 billion in fines in 2014 after a federal investigation found that the company covered-up safety issues in its cars amid what was one of the biggest recalls in automotive history. But unintended acceleration isn’t always because of a defect with the car, it’s frequently just simple driver error, to which Toyota said today it will soon have a possible fix thanks to “big data.”
Read MoreRemovable roofs are a mixed bag. Sure, they’re great for when it’s warm and you want to cruise around in the sun, getting your daily dose of Vitamin D. But they’re also notorious for not sealing well, and often difficult to remove without a couple of other people.
Read MoreI’ve never been a big fan of hybrid cars, even though I built one that one time. They’re supposed to be the best of both worlds, but you often end up getting drawbacks from both sides. I’m generally a fan of electric vehicles but I do think there is one place where hybrids would work out really well, and that is RVs.
Read MoreI drag Aston Martin for a stupid thing its boss said, Japan wants Carlos Ghosn to return and answer for his alleged crimes, and Honda’s CR-V Hybrid comes out swinging for the RAV4 Hybrid. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Friday, Feb. 28, 2020.
Read MoreFord’s COO admits the company is struggling, but he has plans to turn things around. The death knell has come for the iconic Chevy Impala. VW could be on the verge of blowing its most important car launch in decades and a Tesla crash has advocacy groups urging for government safeguards on advanced driver-assist systems. All this and more in The Morning Shift for Thursday, February 27, 2020.
Read MoreEver wanted $400 million to feel like a tiny amount of money? Just read up on the car business. It’ll start looking like pocket change. All this and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, February 26, 2020.
Read MoreTesla will be held accountable for Autopilot crashes, Nio has big plans to expand, and there are fewer traffic deaths in the United States than in past years. All this and more in The Morning Shift for Tuesday, February 25, 2020.
Read MoreRivian is finding itself in the same direct sales battle with dealerships and legislators as Tesla, Carlos Ghosn is dealing with a lot in Lebanon, someone at Italdesign got coronavirus, and all that and more in the Morning Shift for Monday, February 24, 2020.
Read MoreSales are way down as people stay home and factories stay shut, Tesla mows down a forest, and GM shuts down a plant and still somehow ends up on top. This is The Morning Shift for February 21, 2020.
Read MoreAmerica has been leading the world in the development of luxury electric vehicles, but the world of affordable ones centers around China. And in that field, things are looking hectic. All that and more in the Morning Shift for February 20, 2020.
Read MoreWhy Tesla may put a less energy-dense battery type in some of its Chinese-built cars; Europe wants to compete with Asian battery manufacturers, but it won’t be easy; GM is making major changes that will affect plant workers; Renault is struggling; More on the GM-FCA racketeering lawsuit. All that and more in the Morning Shift for February 19, 2020.
Read MoreFarewell to Australia’s mightiest car company, Chinese manufacturers move to fill the gap, and the one country on Earth that actually has the political will to ban lots of things thinks about banning gasoline. All that and more in the Morning Shift for February 18, 2020.
Read MoreTesla is raising $2 billion despite Elon Musk saying it didn’t need to, declining sales and the Coronavirus are shutting down car production, and Nissan has slipped behind Subaru in the ranking of biggest Japanese automakers. That and more in The Morning Shift for Friday, Feb. 14, 2020.
Read MoreThe coronavirus evidences the truly international nature of the automotive industry, some virus-related Hyundai woes and air quality concerns in Beijing. All that and more in a very China-heavy The Morning Shift for Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020.
Read MoreNissan remains in the shitter, the used car market is strong because new cars are too expensive, and Hyundai has partnered with an electric vehicle startup. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, February 12, 2020.
Read MoreThe Trump administration is dropping its antitrust probe against Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, and BMW for working with California regulators on emissions standards. It’s the end of a very inane drama, but it’s still incredibly frustrating. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Tuesday February 11, 2020.
Read MoreCarlos Ghosn wants a documentary, Volvo might go public, and the coronavirus is having a big impact on the auto industry. All this and more in The Morning Shift for Monday, February 10, 2020.
Read MoreJaguar isn’t in the best place, Nio isn’t either, and Honda, well, let’s be honest, also could be better. All this and more for The Morning Shift on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020.
Read MoreA Nissan Leaf completes a long journey all by itself, General Motors issues a recall of a recall, and Toyota didn’t do so hot last quarter. All this and more for The Morning Shift on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020.
Read MoreEveryone is losing money, America introduces its first official self-driving transit, and GM wants you to take its EV prospects seriously. All this and more for The Morning Shift on Wednesday, February 5, 2020.
Read MoreTesla’s moonshot value is freaking people out, the Coronavirus could actually help balance Chinese vehicle production, gas cars just got Brexited, and all that and more in The Morning Shift for Tuesday, February 4, 2020.
Read MoreWhy Nissan dealers are selling used cars over new ones, the Big Three are struggling in China and coronavirus ain’t helping, why Lincoln is so obsessed with residual values, and Toyota and Panasonic establish a new prismatic battery company. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Monday, February 3, 2020.
Read MoreThe 2020 Toyota Camry lives up to the car’s reputation for providing simple satisfaction. Camrys are comfortable, easy to use, and frugal on fuel burn. Now, for the first time since the ’90s, you can get one with all-wheel drive.
Read MoreYour crowded train leaves the station and rumbles through the darkness, wheels screeching against a curve. It’s just another morning commute. But then light and color rush in from outside from one of the oldest animation technologies in the world. It’s a zoetrope. And we need more of them.
Read MoreThis JDM Toyota Hilux Surf, a close equivalent to a second-gen U.S.-spec 4Runner, is very cool looking. But I was only really compelled to share it because of that bizarre brush guard. Have you ever seen anything like it?
Read MoreWith the reintroduction of the Ford Bronco nameplate not just as a continuation of an American off-roader’s legacy, but now expanding into a full lineup with a smaller “Baby Bronco” also on the way, I am very happy to report that Ford has reportedly gone out of its way to offer over 150 accessories covered under warranty.
Read MoreIt should take about 23 hours door to door from my apartment in Los Angeles to the driver’s seat of a loaner truck in Johannesburg. Then, I’m going deep into creature country to look at the region’s magnificent animals. It’s a long journey to pack light for, but here’s how I make it work.
Read MoreTwo long years ago, I sat in the front seat of the Volkswagen Atlas Tanoak pickup truck concept at the New York Auto Show with Justin Westbrook and argued about the truck’s usefulness and necessity. It was really all for naught, as Volkswagen, unsurprisingly, almost certainly won’t build it.
Read MoreI love trucks. I love how-it’s-made style documentaries. This one is a how-it’s-made documentary on how Mercedes builds trucks. It’s relaxing. You’ll like it a lot.
Read MoreA Jeep Wrangler Rubicon hops joyously from rock to rock, enjoying the fresh air through its vacant doors and roof. Lurking in the wings, though, is the 2021 Ford Bronco ready to strike, and based on these new off-road spy photos of a two-door prototype, it looks like The Blue Oval is going to strike hard.
Read MoreThe desert-running trend is hot in the off-road world right now, and Jeep is ready to take advantage of that with the 2020 Jeep Gladiator Mojave. It’s basically a Jeep Gladiator Sport with moderately beefier chassis bits meant to handle the abuse of high-frequency, high-amplitude desert undulations. Here’s a quick look at what Jeep did to prep the Wrangler truck for high-speed sand duty.
Read MoreNissan is officially promising that the 2020 Frontier will be “the last of” the current generation pickup, with an all-new model slated for next year. As a sendoff, the final-year second-gen truck will have the upcoming third-gen powertrain. That will either make these 2020s super desirable or a huge pain in the ass to own.
Read MoreYesterday, after telling my friend I’d just bought a Jeep Comanche, she responded about this 11th vehicle in my fleet: “Nice! What are your plans for it?” I had no answer. I frankly have no idea why I bought the Jeep other than that it is absolutely awesome; Just look at this thing!
Read More“READY TO USE,” the bottle of prediluted 50/50 engine coolant reads, trying to lure you in with its all-caps yellow letters in a bright red background. “All you have to do is buy me and pour me,” the bottle whispers as you peruse the bottles on the shelf. Resist the temptation. Prediluted antifreeze is for the weak.
Read MoreBack in November, I went on an epic off-road trip with some friends in their two Nissan Frontiers. I led the way in “Project Slow Devil,” my 1948 Willys CJ-2A, whose engine I flooded in a giant mud pit. While one of the pickups did end up with two dents and a torn front lower fascia, now it’s clear that it was my Willys that took the biggest beating.
Read MoreIf cars have a nemesis, it’s rust. Rust is our Satan: a malevolent force that lurks everywhere, and if you’re not careful can completely possess your car, destroying it with silent and brutal determination. Any given repair job on a car has the specter of rust lurking around, even on cars that aren’t really all that rusty, like my own Nissan Pao. I know this. And yet I was still surprised at how much harder the Brown Crumbly Monster made this relatively simple repair.
Read MoreThe idea was simple: Get a cheap, old steel bike and bring it up to date with modern components, good enough to hang with modern bikes costing four figures. I should have known that simplicity was not going to feature in this process.
Read MoreWhen my friend Jeb showed me the $1,500+ repair estimate he’d gotten from his Mini dealership, I told him to hold off on the work. I’d fly to the rescue, arriving in Washington D.C. wearing my oil-covered cape and spandex tights made of recycled serpentine belts, and solve all of his troubles simply and on the cheap. Except that didn’t happen. We screwed up badly, and fixing that screwup was hell.
Read MoreLady Camden is back and this time she’s rocking bigger hair, a jumpsuit, slayer nails and thigh-high boots. Today’s lesson? Changing a spark plug. I promise you it’s never been done with this amount of pomp, fake lashes and blatant innuendos before.
Read MoreFirst off, let me be clear that while, yes, I am talking about WD-40, a commercially available product, I in no way care if you buy it or not. This is not sponsored content, and I have no dog in this pond. I don’t care if you never, ever buy WD-40 ever again to use on your car projects, just to spite me, and maybe even go out of your way to see to it that nobody you know ever buys it. That’s fine. Have at it. I just want to talk about the history of WD-40, which, I believe, is interestingly unex
Read More“A 2015 Mini Cooper. Engine bay might be a bit tight, but there’s no rust, so this job will be easy!” I told my naive self before agreeing to fix my friend’s engine mount. His dealer had quoted him a huge figure for the job, and I couldn’t stand by and watch him part with all that cash, not when we could easily do it ourselves for cheap! But oh how wrong I was. The Mini now sits stranded in a garage in Washington D.C. because I screwed up royally.
Read MoreIf you have an older or a generally unfancy car, an easy way to modernize it is to change out its incandescent interior light bulbs for LEDs. LEDs offer much more brightness and use less power than regular filament bulbs. They also look cool and super crisp. There are cheap ones, pricy ones, and plenty in between. Here’s how to decide which to get.
Read MoreOriginal paperwork is an important part of a car’s value... when you’re talking about a unique or irreplaceable classic. If I were to sell my ’98 Montero I don’t think too many people would care if it had a factory owner’s manual or not. But I do. Hence, my quest.
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