As a car person, I consider myself extraordinarily lucky. My daily driver, a 2005 Audi Allroad, is the car I want to hold onto for as long as I possibly can. It’s a passenger car with the heart of an SUV.
Read MoreWhomst amongst us has not heard the call of the open ocean, yearned to feel the kiss of salt spray on our cheeks, the feeling of cool water pooling around your ankles as you listen for your motor to suck in a big gulp of water? You could do what everyone does and just buy an Amphicar. Or, you could do like Peter Sripol did, and cut up an old jonboat so you can stick go-Kart stuff in there.
Read MoreThe Centers for Disease Control asked folks to comment on whether they feel ready to once again board cruise ships despite America’s still out-of-control pandemic. If the public comments are to be believed, the answer is a resounding yes.
Read MoreSo I got this email about something called the Strand Craft V8 Wet Rod Super Yacht Watercraft and now we’re going to have to talk about it.
Read MoreI can’t say that jet skis, actually called Personal Watercraft because a Jet Ski is a Kawasaki brand name, enter my mind too often but today I learned about the 2021 Yamaha SuperJet from Mike Finnegan’s Instagram and find myself strangely entranced by this odd-looking mission-specific machine.
Read MoreWay back in September of 2019, a care-free, more innocent time, a 656-ft car carrier cargo ship named the MV Golden Ray capsized off the coast of Georgia in the U.S. with 4,200 Hyundais inside. Well, that big sucker is still there because of, what else, the Coronavirus.
Read MoreSome of those good productive Americans who through hard work and superior morals definitely deserve their own yachts have been illegally sneaking across the Canadain border with their tracking responders switched off and our neighbors to the north have had enough.
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 the difference between a return policy and an exchange policy from a used car dealer, and what to do if the dealer didn’t process your loan but you have the car and the title.
Read MoreAre you someone with a standing desk? If you are, I have a question to ask you: how can you deal with the hypocrisy of sitting down to drive, when you have so clearly aligned yourself with the ethos of standing? Well, I’m happy to say that there’s finally a solution to your problem. As we speak on the webbed-site Bring a Trailer exists a fantastic vehicle that you drive while standing. And, it’s cool as hell. It’s a 1934 Twin Coach Delivery Truck, and it’s exactly what you need.
Read MoreAndrew will be soon moving out of Brooklyn to the Hudson Valley area and commuting to work. He has both a BRZ and an older MR2 that are super fun to drive, but neither is ideal for his needs. He plans on selling the Subaru and getting an affordable, AWD, commuter car for around $15,000. What should he buy?
Read MoreI was still a preteen when the Plymouth Prowler was first presented to the world, but I remember how disappointed people were with it. My dad, especially. He was hoping for something more. I remember him yelling at our 27-inch cathode TV screen: “An Intrepid V6! Really?”
Read MoreWe recently detailed the fastest-selling cars of 2020 as compiled by iSeeCars.com, but the one that spends the longest time sitting on dealer lots waiting for a buyer is none other than the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
Read MoreThe Kia Seltos is America’s third-fastest selling car. We are clamoring for them, risking our lives to get them. I wanted to know if it was worth it. As it turns out, the 2021 Kia Seltos S 1.6T is not a bad car. Then again, it’s not trying to be a car at all.
Read MoreIf you don’t want to disturb the period-correctness of your ’80s or ’90s car’s rad dashboard but are tired of listening to that same old Conway Twitty tape you found in your grandpa’s truck, it’s time to check out an Arsvita Bluetooth tape adapter.
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 sales tax on vehicle purchases, and a $20,000-ish sports car that is good for mods.
Read MoreShelby’s RAV4 was totaled in a somewhat interesting fashion due to Hurricane Isaias, so it’s time for a replacement. Shelby and his wife are torn between going super interesting on a JDM Pajero or sticking with something a bit more common. They need a family car for long drives and fun activities. What should they buy?
Read MoreBecause dealer inventories are so depleted amid the COVID-19 crisis, the used car market is hot. With dealers desperate for vehicles to sell, now may be the ideal time to get the maximum allowance on a trade-in. But you’ll want to look at the big picture before parting with your current ride.
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 the strange number of used ultra-low-mile, red G70s, and the best strategy to think about buying or leasing a car while the pandemic impacts the markets.
Read MoreI don’t really like running (currently operating) carmakers’ ads in stories unless I’m going to mock them, though occasionally I have admitted my profound admiration for a particularly well-crafted ad campaign. This is one of those times when a bit of advertising just proves to be charming enough to worth a mention. Plus, it’s from Citroën, who doesn’t even sell cars here, so I can’t be that big a shill.
Read MoreShawn is a Star Wars fan and not only does he dress up as Obi-Wan or Luke, but he transforms his vehicles into Star Wars art cars and uses them for charity work. However, is Nissan 350 Z-wing is getting up there in miles and he needs a replacement. What car should he buy?
Read MoreDespite having a stint as a racecar that could gobble up the competition, the two-door BMW M8s sat on the lots, and now the model will be put on hiatus for the 2021 model year.
Read MoreI’m not going to lie, it still feels weird using “Stellantis” to refer to the combined Fiat-Chrysler-Peugeot-Citröen etc. supergroup, but, well, here we are. While not many of Stellantis’ plans are actually known yet, it’s never too early for me to start giving them some entirely unsolicited advice. So that’s exactly what I’m going to do, starting with this: if they really wanted to be the death of Renault-Nissan’s Infiniti premium brand, bringing the DS brand to America could do it. I’ll explai
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 using cash to buy a hot car, choosing between a Model 3 and a Honda.
Read MoreGoPro has been the go-to in action cameras basically since there have been action cameras. You have one, I have one, we all have one. The company initially launched a new light attachment for its Hero line of cameras, but figured even people without cameras needed a good flashlight. So, that’s why the GoPro Zeus Mini Flashlight exists. And it’s got a ton of versatile functionality baked in. But it is pretty expensive.
Read MoreMatthew has recently encountered some professional and personal changes, and he is going to relocate from NYC to LA to “reboot” his life. He wants something fun and unique that is suitable for California weather. What car should he buy?
Read MoreBuyers looking for car deals during this pandemic are entering what most would consider a “seller’s market.” New and used car inventory is shrinking and our friends at iSeeCars.com compiled the models that sell the quickest. Some of these cars may not be what you expect.
Read MoreThere is no car in the country that signifies wealth more succinctly than running errands in a Mercedes E-Class wagon. Nor is there anything more simply comfortable than road tripping in an S-Class sedan. But for pure luxury, you do not beat the S-Class coupe. Or, you didn’t.
Read MoreWhy does this keep happening? Every year we get at least one breathless article about a new flying car that’s just completed some milestone and will be swarming in the skies in two years. But they won’t. Because they never do. Even worse, we’re still seeing these articles about flying cars that are absolutely in no way flying cars. Like this not-flying car, from SkyDrive, that just completed a successful test with a driver of not being a flying car.
Read MoreThere’s been some exciting skulduggery going on with Tesla, and I’m not even exaggerating things just so I could finally use the word “skulduggery” in a post. In fact, I think it’s been a solid decade since that word was last used here. But I think it’s justified in the case of a Tesla employee who was offered a million-dollar bribe to introduce malware into Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory computer networks.
Read MoreThe US-Canadian border is technically closed to all non-essential traffic until at least September 21, 2020—although there’s a good chance it’s going to be extended through the end of the year. With my spouse being a Canadian resident that resides in Canada, there’s a clause that allows me to cross. Here’s what it’s like to cross into another country in the middle of a pandemic.
Read MoreThe first Jalopnik post ever was a review of the then-new Chrysler 300, which means it’ll be some kind of milestone if and when the 300 takes leave from this world. And according to a new report, Chrysler is slashing two trim levels on the 300 for next year, making me wonder if “when” is getting here ever closer.
Read MoreThat headline is, of course, deliberately ambiguous to the point of implying that there’s going to be some sort of punitive response to this little kid by the neighbor. But I don’t feel like deceiving you, at least not today. What happens here is just flat-out adorable and sweet and if it’s not at least a little charming to you, then maybe it’s time to slide one of those old-people-high-shelf-stuff-grabbers up your ass and pull out the lump of coal that’s taking the place of your heart.
Read MoreThe long-overdue three-row Jeep, the Jeep Wagoneer, shows its face on September 3. Until then, you can expect to continue seeing teasers from Jeep, with the latest two being the shot above showing the SUV’s panoramic glass roof and another one showing a nice, chrome HVAC vent. Take a peek.
Read MoreThe Hyundai Palisade and its sibling the Kia Telluride are so popular the two automakers can barely keep up with demand. But that may soon change, as many owners have taken to forum pages to report odors of “smelly socks” and even garlic.
Read MoreAudi took our complaints about the design of the Audi Q7 wagon crossover SUV thing, did it’s typical sports tune and treatment to it for the first time in the U.S. finally, and now I have a 500-horsepower seven-seater 2020 Audi SQ7 to drive for the day. What do you want to know about it?
Read More“I can’t remember the last time I even sat in a real old Volkswagen!” my dad shouted as we sped down my street in a 1963 Karmann Ghia. We hadn’t made it to the first stop sign before his foot was searching for the phantom passenger-side brake. Despite being the guy who actually taught me how to drive 20 years ago, he still gets nervous with me at the wheel.
Read MoreFormer UAW President Dennis Williams was charged with conspiracy to embezzle union funds today, which we knew was coming yesterday. Which means the biggest question remaining isn’t whether the feds would ensnare the two most recent former union presidents but if they will take over the union itself.
Read MoreChevy’s had some issues with the C8 Corvette’s frunk, namely that it had to issue a recall some ‘Vettes to fix the internal trunk release, while some owners reported that the frunk was flying open at speed, with a software update issued this week to address that.
Read MoreI bet you wouldn’t mind something fun and absolutely unrelated to all of this (gestures vaguely around with arms) mess around us all right now? Of course, you would. You’re human. And, as a human, I suspect that you also have a special love for well-crafted pixel art and old Japanese Domestic Market Cars. If you weren’t aware, I’m pretty much a human myself, and find these things delightful, which is why I find this little tool (toy?) on the Retro JDM website so charming. I bet you will, too.
Read MoreThe Bollinger B2 pickup truck design is one of the most versatile and compatible work trucks designed for production, with cool features like a pass-through loading door that tunnels straight through the frunk of the vehicle. Now the startup wants to apply that versatility to delivery vans.
Read MoreThe Kia Stinger sports sedan has had a big 100-horsepower gap in its lineup for years, forcing buyers to either live with the base four-cylinder or pay at least $6,000 more for the big V6. But now that problem is solved with the new 2.5-liter four-cylinder introduced to the 2022 Kia Stinger.
Read MoreTesla makes the Model S, the Model X, the Model 3, and the Model Y, two of which were genuinely groundbreaking, one of which has become the volume sales success Tesla needed, and the other the possible sales success Tesla still needs. But CEO Elon Musk has been giving hints about something even more desirable: a compact.
Read MoreAs you know, I’m a man who really loves details. Weird details. Obscure details. Insignificant to any rational human sort of details. And there’s a detail that is definitely insignificant, obscure, and weird and likely bafflingly uninteresting to most well-adjusted humans on just about all air-cooled Volkswagens (except Type 2 buses and trucks) from 1973 on that I’d like to tell you about, if you’ll indulge me. Well, even if you won’t, I’m going to do it anyway, so, you know, hang on.
Read MorePorsche has finally updated its four-year-old second-generation Porsche Panamera. The sports wagon is getting a new 4S E-Hybrid trim, and the new 2021 Porsche Panamera Turbo S gets a boost of 70 horsepower to achieve a claimed 0 to 60 mph time of just 2.9 seconds.
Read MoreGeneral Motors seems to have no trouble producing desirable, affordable electric cars. We just don’t get them in America.
Read MoreBristol was once a builder of some lovely cars, powerful grand touring cars that sometimes had grilles like a BMW and sometimes like trapezoidal maws with a cyclopean headlamp. In more recent decades, though, Bristol decayed into a sort of incredibly British zombie, with zombie-grade build quality and subsisting on a diet of pure, unrefined brand snobbery and nothing else. In 2011, they went into receivership and changed owners. They’re being liquidated again, but this time it looks like a disgr
Read MoreThe Volkswagen Passat has been with us since 1973 in eight official generations and a shit ton more facelifts, including one for the American market this year. Still, given the demand for SUVs and VW’s big push into electric vehicles, it wasn’t always clear if Passat would get a ninth generation, or even stick around at all. It seems it will do both.
Read MoreThere is an incredibly good tweet going around the bird site right now which posits that you can tell whether a man is worthy of your time based upon his bookshelf. Things such as a well-worn copy of Infinite Jest—or anything by Ayn Rand—should be enough to get you to turn around and walk your ass right out of their life, or so says journalist Jess McHugh. She may be right, but I’m more interested in red flags of the automotive kind.
Read MoreYou could be forgiven if you haven’t thought about the Mini Convertible in a little while—only 4,031 of these were sold last year in the U.S., down almost a quarter from the year before, though 5,334 in 2018 still wasn’t much. Anyway, Mini is reportedly getting rid of it.
Read MoreNo emperor in ermine or crowned king or be-shashed mayor bestowed the honor on me, but I still claim the title of Global Taillight Culture Ambassador. This is not a position I take lightly, which means that it’s my responsibility to do my best to understand and advocate for all taillight subcultures, from the Altezzans to the Amber Rear Indicator League to the true taillight pervs. That’s why when I find a confusing aspect of taillight culture, I need to do what I can to understand it. And this
Read MoreWe’ve been talking a good bit about the upcoming Lucid Air battery/electron-powered vehicle, mostly because the company claims it’ll have a range of more than 500 miles and, less mentioned, it appears to have 20 pop-up headlamps. One thing it isn’t, though, is an SUV, the biggest money-making segment of the American market. Perhaps because the executives enjoy acquiring money as well (perhaps to exchange for goods or services), Lucid is adapting: An SUV version of the Air has now been spotted te
Read MoreThe very last thing I wanted to do in the middle of a global pandemic was road trip across America, but fate made me do it anyway. I was in Texas, my husband is in Canada, and I have a carload of books to lug around while I write my thesis. Thankfully, I was able to prepare for the journey with the help of medical professionals, and I have decided to share that advice with the rest of you fine people in the event that you find yourself faced with a drive across a hot spot littered country.
Read MoreI don’t know about you, but I derive genuine joy from feelings of absolute bafflement. There’s a strange sort of freewheeling glee that comes from contemplating things that simply make no sense. I think that’s why I love Ford’s late 1970s ad campaign for the U.S.-market Granada, where somehow everyone involved managed to delude themselves that the Ford Granada was a dead ringer for cars made by Mercedes-Benz. I grew up around these Granadas and Mercedes (Mercedeses?) and I am here to tell you, a
Read MoreThe upcoming all-new, all-electric Lotus Evija’s launch has been delayed by five months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the British automaker announced this week. It’s the type of delay that we’ve seen doom many Lotus plans in the past.
Read MoreEvery now and then I’ll think about some little, insignificant automotive detail every rational person has happily forgotten about and before I can take the appropriate fistful of pills to stop it, it’s all I can think about. This is one of those times, and the detail is the fact that for many years and for many trucks, a rear bumper was considered an option.
Read MoreHey hardcore Tesla owners! You know how things can get kind of lonely when you’re not emailing me to remind me I’m an idiot stock-short who’s also short and doesn’t know shit about autonomous driving? Wouldn’t you like to find a partner who understands that sometimes true love is based on mutual, all-consuming admiration for an electric car company and its billionaire founder, along with the inclusion of a homemade cardboard standee of Elon Musk in your loveplay? Of course, you would, and finall
Read MoreAs a human, or at least as a primate close enough to human, I have the same anxieties about aging as anyone. As a gearhead, there’s the extra element of dread at knowing that, at some point, I will just be too damn old to drive in a safe way. And you know, not into a Safeway, which may be a possibility. For parents or relatives with dementia, this can be even harder, as they may not understand why they can no longer drive. One of our readers was in this very situation and came up with a remarkab
Read MoreLike many kids, I grew up watching episodes of Speed Racer, marveling at the Mach 5's impressive technology and being horrified and baffled by the shocking similarities in behavior between that kid and that monkey that always used to gorge on candy and stow away, dangerously, in the race car’s trunk. I also recall that most of the Mach 5's gadgetry was actuated via lettered buttons on the hub of the steering wheel. I can’t say I ever really remembered what each of them was supposed to do, which
Read MoreAt this point in my life, I think the only thing I can say I actually understand with any degree of certainty is that people need quality, piping-hot Changli content. And I know it’s my duty to provide that as best I can. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how the Changli is doing after about three months of hard, unforgiving ownership.
Read MoreI’ve been doing some research into the history of a certain kind of common early taillight known as the Duolamp, a little unit which was common on old Fords and other cars of the teens through the 1930s. Because these cars often got hot-rodded in later years, these lamps have remained at a certain level of aftermarket popularity, even inspiring some novelty knockoffs. Among these knockoffs is a truly remarkable sub-genre, something I had no idea existed, but appears to exist in several forms: th
Read MoreAlanson Partridge Brush. Remember that name. Because it was according to his patents that Cadillac put into production something that Honda and Alfa Romeo took decades to match. Mr. Brush’s invention? Variable valve timing.
Read MoreWe haven’t heard anything official about the upcoming 2021 Hyundai Sonata N Line since the automaker confirmed it was coming last year, but a new leak likely shows the hot new production model completely undisguised.
Read MoreI feel like I’ve been doing too much Instagram scrolling, so thought I might share some of my findings with you. That way I can write the time off as “work” and feel productive! But you actually will like some of these, I’m sure of it.
Read MoreHBO’s new series, Lovecraft Country premiered as Jordan Peele’s interesting re-working of noted weirdo and virulent racist H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulu Mythos into something that incorporates the realities of ‘50s American culture and racism, along with all those creepy many-eyed monsters old H.P. loved so damn much. As a period piece, it’s filled with some great vintage iron, but I want to focus now on the shows’ central car because it’s something a bit unexpected.
Read MoreI’m not sure if your valet already gave you the news that there’s a new Knight Rider movie in production, but if he hasn’t, then I suggest you take this moment to both deliver to your valet a much-deserved face-slapping and to take a moment to yourself to let the news sink in. A new Knight Rider! Of course, a knight has to ride, so that means there needs to be a new KITT as well. And that brings us to the real question: with no more Trans Ams around, what kind of car should a 2020-era KITT be?
Read MoreWhen we’ve written about the Mahindra Thar in the past, it’s mostly been in comparison with Jeeps. That makes sense, as the Thar is the development of the Jeep CJ that Mahindra has had a license to build far longer than Jeep’s current owner has been building Jeeps. We’ve usually thought of the Thar (and it’s American-market-but-not-road-legal little brother, the Roxor) as a sort of purer, more back-to-basics Jeep than the Wrangler. With this new version of the Thar, though, that may finally have
Read MoreResearch into advertising messaging in Illinois suggests face masks might be able to borrow some of the hard-won lifesaving cache seat belts built up over the last six decades. Indeed, the struggle towards national acceptance of seat belts can teach us a lot about how people are reacting to face masks, and hopefully, allow us to get towards mass mask-wearing more quickly.
Read MoreEarlier today, I learned that Skoda will be making a version of the Volkswagen ID all-electric crossover called the “Enyaq.” This led me down a rabbit-hole of ideas for better names. Even the ananym of Skoda, which is just the word spelled backward, or Adoks, would be a better name than “Enyaq.”
Read MoreTomorrow, I get set to start a weeklong 2250 mile road trip in the hope that the Canadian border will take pity on me and let me visit my husband. I am not exactly looking forward to the slog, but inspiration struck: who else would have a plethora of tips to make the journey easier than the fine denizens of Jalopnik dot com?
Read MoreVolvo is trying to get a lawsuit brought by an automotive photographer thrown out of California court on the basis that it has the right to use any image it wants from Instagram, without compensation or permission.
Read MoreVolkswagen has managed to recover pretty well from the horror that was Dieselgate, even managing to grow a bit in the process and, as a result finding themselves in a pretty good position for an upcoming electric future. Even so, that doesn’t mean they’re likely eager for another big scandal, which is part of why I’m so baffled at what I’ve discovered. Because I’ve discovered something that, while I’m not going to say scandal just yet, is certainly baffling, and it has to do with a very lovely c
Read MoreA few years ago when it first began emerging that some diesel Mercedes were possibly cheating emissions tests, a Daimler spokesman said, “All our vehicles comply with regulatory frameworks.” Today, Daimler announced that it would be paying billions to settle civil and regulatory proceedings over emissions cheating.
Read MoreIt is difficult for me to stress just how much money Japanese car companies threw around at engineering and design in the 1980s Bubble Era. Here is, perhaps, an example: Toyota once built a running, driving, turbine-engine concept car.
Read MoreA Maserati Trofeo (Italian for “Trophy”) is kind of like a BMW M or Mercedes AMG; it’s the Italian automaker’s hot-version trim. And new-for-2021 are Trofeo production performance versions of the Quattroporte and Ghibli sedans, both promising entry to the 200 mph club.
Read MoreThe Hyperion XP-1, unveiled Wednesday, is a hydrogen fuel cell supercar with over 1,000 miles of range, a claimed zero to sixty time of 2.2 seconds, and a claimed top speed of over 220 mph. It’s also trying to make the case for hydrogen fuel cell technology.
Read MoreGM’s North American president said Wednesday that the upcoming Lyriq will start at less than $60,000, putting it somewhere in between Tesla’s Model X and Model Y, though Cadillac still has to nail the execution.
Read MoreFirst, there was the GM strike last year, which delayed the 2020 Chevy Corvette. Then, not long after deliveries began, the coronavirus pandemic hit, shutting down factories and delaying more production. Now, there’s a huge backlog and buyers aren’t too happy. Chevy doesn’t sound all that happy either.
Read MoreI usually roll my eyes at aggressively shadowed teaser photos but unnf get a load of the new BMW M3 Touring’s rear quarter! The chiseled sides, that quad exhaust! How hard is it to move to Europe again?
Read MoreThe Hyundai Elantra GT hatchback will not be getting the cool angular redesign its sedan sibling just got. Instead, it will be dead after the 2020 model year, because a bunch of new small crossovers started outselling it.
Read MoreIn recent weeks, it’s been all the rage among electric vehicle makers to replicate, try to replicate, or think about trying to replicate, Tesla’s strategy of using investment from Wall Street to fund the development of products that don’t yet exist. Not Polestar, though.
Read MoreThe tech industry has started to altogether retreat from electric car development after a lot of noise coming from tech giants like Apple and even Dyson. Both companies have publicly abandoned EV projects, but Sony is pushing ahead with its first electric car now entering road testing.
Read MoreFor the last few Tuesdays, I’ve been beaming a little bit of the off-road sim SnowRunner from my Xbox to the world via Twitch. We’ve talked trucks, we’ve gotten stuck, we’ve had ourselves a little unofficial show. I’m going to do one more before taking a Twitch break, so let’s go on one last ride!
Read MoreThe Audi S3 as we’ve had it in America has only always uncomfortably positioned as a more expensive, less-spacious cousin of the Volkswagen Golf R. The VW shared most of the Audi’s running gear for a lower price. It seems Audi is capitalizing on the few years it will take for the next Golf R to launch by throwing power at the S3.
Read MoreWe got a hint of this in April, but today Lucid stated that its upcoming Air will get a shit-ton of range, or an estimated 517 miles of it to be exact.
Read MoreGM sued Fiat Chrysler in November over alleged corrupt union bargaining, a lawsuit that was later dismissed though one that so far has refused to die. Things got spicier last week when GM said that FCA had a “mole” inside GM. Today, FCA said GM’s allegations “would make John Le Carré cringe.”
Read MoreWe all joke about how BMW seems to find new niches within its niches in its absurdly large lineup, but the company is reportedly planning to multiply its models in ways we never even dreamed up, like selling two new versions of the BMW M5 with different powertrains at the same time.
Read MoreAs you may be aware, the Start Trek franchise is finally taking a real stab at a show that doesn’t take itself so damn seriously. I mean, yeah, I get that it’s wonderful to have a show about the future that’s utopian and not the now-far-more-common dystopian hellscape, but even a utopia needs to get the piss taken from it every so often. The show Lower Decks intends to do that, and I’ll let our pals at iO9 handle full reviews because I just want to talk about the fact that an actual car shows up
Read MoreMarch 4, 2020. The late afternoon Nevada sunshine had made me sleepy after a long day of off-roading with the OnX Offroad app crew—my first ever time piloting a Jeep over steep rock faces and sandy hills—when one of the voices in our little press group asked, “So, what do y’all think about this coronavirus thing?”
Read MoreWell, well, well. If it isn’t Elizabeth Blackstock, back again for another round of the weekend grind!
Read MoreWhen Fisker unveiled its Ocean earlier this year at CES, the biggest shock was the price, $37,499 for what could be a Tesla Model Y challenger. It also said then deliveries would be late 2021, but that was before it found somewhere to build the car. Now, Fisker says it finally found a manufacturer and Henrik Fisker, the man at the top, has matured, according to The Wall Street Journal’s anonymous sources.
Read MoreWell, what did you expect, that something as enjoyable as feeling the wind in your hair as you drive would be good for you? Come on. A new study from the University of Surrey found that driving with the windows down can increase a car’s occupants’ exposure to pollution by 80 percent, more during peak travel times.
Read MoreThe Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise bills itself as the largest single-day cruise of classic cars in the world. This year organizers canceled the event as the communities it drives through were (rightly) concerned that the 40,000 cars and one million people attending were a COVID risk. Not concerned: the local GOP, which will cruise anyway.
Read MoreIn recent months, Tesla’s soaring stock price has seemingly boosted startup Nikola, which was once valued as high as $26 billion despite having no revenue. According to a new report, GM might want to try and get in on that investor hype.
Read MoreWe’re just at the tipping point of what could be the worst recession in American history. In the last six months we’ve seen the collapse of industry in the U.S. with millions unemployed, housing and car payments missed in record numbers, and more Americans than ever facing financial crisis. By far the poorest Americans have been hit the hardest, and the slowly collapsing middle-class has continued to shrink.
Read MoreBloomberg did a roundup on the discontinuations in the US or straight up deaths of various small cars, all of which are precious, and because that is already well-covered ground at this website instead of rehashing I would like to highlight a stat from the story that made me realize I had little idea how bad it’s gotten.
Read MoreBack in January of 2019, Cadillac’s big “one more thing” at the Detroit reveal of the 2020 Cadillac XT6 was news that an all-new, all-electric Cadillac crossover was coming in a few short years. GM is taking another step towards the luxury EV space against Tesla with the Cadillac Lyriq, but not until 2022.
Read MoreGM has gone nostalgia-macho with its short-term EV plans, reviving the once-dead Hummer brand as an all-electric pickup truck with absurd performance figures. Predictably, Jeep is also inevitably getting into the EV game, except Jeep’s plans sound very... European.
Read MoreOne of the few benefits of this miserable pandemic is that, thanks to pervasive video conferencing from people’s homes, we all get to voyeuristically peek into strangers and colleagues’ homes, scrutinizing all the little details and wondering what’s in all those unmarked jars on the windowsill. It’s strangely compelling, which I think may also be at the root of the requests I’ve gotten to do a more full basement walk-through, showing the various old computers, game systems, and other crap down h
Read MoreThe BMW M2 CS came out about a year ago as the hot version’s hot version of the Bavarian automaker’s quintessential smallish performance luxury vehicle. Yesterday, BMW posted a huge album of pictures the Misano Blue car taken at Sachsenring. Neat!
Read MoreThis is how the sedan ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper. This week Ford phased out the last remaining blue oval-branded sedan. At its height in 2014, the Fusion moved over 300,000 units, but Ford only managed to push about 60,000 units out the door in the first half of 2020. Obviously there are extenuating circumstances when you consider 2020 sales numbers, but Ford has been planning a phase-out of all non-Mustang cars for a couple of years now, and it’s finally made that happen.
Read MoreWhen Roger Penske said that the E-Tron was too expensive in November, Audi pretty much brushed it off, saying that it was happy with E-Tron sales for a car that starts at $74,800. Except today it said that it was lowering the price of the base 2021 E-Tron by several thousand dollars.
Read MoreBMW is the last of the German manufacturers to report how it did in April, May, and June, and the news, like it has been for everyone else, wasn’t good. For the first time since 2009, BMW lost money.
Read MoreI know at the moment Ford is riding high on new-Bronco mania, as well they should. They seem to have done a wonderful job developing the Bronco in a way that feels both modern and true to its roots. Even so, with all the effort put into producing this unique platform and vehicle, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to hedge their bets a bit and find another, very different niche they could fill with essentially the same components. And I think I have an idea for that: a new LTD.
Read MoreIt’s a pretty good rule of thumb that if an ad isn’t memorable, it’s not going be all that effective. What good are competitive statistics, bogus stunts, or expensive production if the customer just can’t remember? A good way to fix that is an earworm soundtrack, a song that simply can’t be forgotten, no matter how hard you try.
Read MoreYou got the sense with outgoing CEO Jim Hackett that he was never quite accepted at Ford. It felt like every story about him was obligated to remind you that he used to be the CEO of a furniture company, an old job that may have undercut his credibility from the get-go. Incoming CEO Jim Farley won’t have that problem.
Read MoreIf you are looking for the most exciting, beyond-the-limit driving on the planet, look no further than what you’d find at Pink Style. If you are looking for the most exciting car to drive on the planet, you’d look at the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50. The two should go together, right?
Read MoreLiberty Bell Auto Protect offers extended car warranty coverage for both new and older vehicles. In this review, we cover Liberty Bell Auto Protect’s coverage options, price, reviews, and overall reputation.
Read MoreIan Gordon Murray CBE has had the kind of engineering career that pretty much anyone could be jealous of. His 22 years of experience designing cars in Formula One would have been enough to earn him a place in the pantheon of legendary designers. Following his F1 career the guy went and designed the car that has defined the supercar conversation for the last three decades. Okay! Calm down, Gordon.
Read MoreThe first sketches of the legendary McLaren F1 were put to paper in September of 1988, though it’s likely the earliest seeds of the car were planted in Gordon Murray’s brain long before. That car was perhaps the most ambitious performance car ever created, and its has never been replicated or surpassed. Until now. Murray is back with a brand new car, and if he wasn’t fucking around before, he definitely isn’t now.
Read MoreFord CEO Jim Hackett is retiring, the company announced today. He will be succeeded by Jim Farley, the company’s COO, on October 1, in a succession that seems a little earlier than expected.
Read MoreHey, wanna know a secret? I’m miserable right at the moment. Physically. I cleared out a bunch of brush this weekend that included way more poison ivy than I realized, and now my arms look like thick red relief maps of Mars and one eye is half swollen shut and I itch and itch and itch and oh god please make it stop. Anyway, last night I took some Benadryl and got a little loopy thinking about cars and chicken nuggets.
Read MoreGM sued Fiat Chrysler in November alleging corrupt union bargaining, and the suit just kind of lingered until a judge got really mad about it in June, before dismissing it altogether last month. Now GM says it has new evidence, and says it thinks FCA likely had a paid mole in GM’s board room.
Read MoreI feel like we’re currently living on the cusp of a very exciting revolution in the car market, a revolution that we can all take part in and enjoy, because it’s a revolution of super-cheap shitbox EVs. I myself have done what I could to introduce you to one of the cheapest, the remarkable sub-$1,000 Changli. It seems now there’s a new player on the scene claiming to be the cheapest EV you can buy in America: the Kandi K27.
Read MoreAfter the city of Troy told me in June that I had until July 31 to fix, sell, or garage all 12 of my cars, I went to work. I sold cars, fixed suspensions, tore into engines, and spent far too much time at the vehicle registration place. Here’s a look at the progress I made last week, just a few days before the city’s deadline.
Read MoreNew Hampshire’s motto is ‘Live Free or Die.’ Needless to say, the Granite state is often confused with Jalopnik due to the similarity of our mottos, the legislature, at least, does seem to believe in driving free as well as living free. Maybe just in the case of driving cars that do not yet exist? On Wednesday, they legalized the operation of flying cars on New Hampshire roads.
Read MoreYou know what I like to do when things start to feel a bit gray and dreary? I like to take myself on a little journey. A journey to a place I know will always make the world seem brighter and more optimistic. A strange, magical place I like to call “Daihatsu Japan’s Website.” And this trip brought me knowledge of something truly wonderful: a new Daihatsu Taft.
Read MoreFord teamed up with electronic artist Matthew Dear to remix the sounds developed for its all-electric 2021 Mustang Mach-E into music. The song is called ‘New Breed’ and uses both Dear’s vocals and sounds specifically engineered to make the quiet electric car sound more like a car but from the future.
Read MoreYou know how everyone who sees the Rolls-Royce badge and famous Spirit of Ecstasy flying lady hood ornament always asks “Rolls-Royce? Aren’t they Hyundai’s entry-level car brand?” Well, Rolls-Royce, the 116-year-old maker of the most carefully-crafted luxury automocarriages in the world has decided to finally put an end to all that by re-designing their famous logo. Sorry, I mean their brand identity.
Read MoreWhile the Tesla Model Y is mostly just a crossover version of the Tesla Model 3 sedan, there were some key differences when the new model was introduced. Now, though, the Model 3 has been updated with the Y’s frunk design, which could mean it’ll get more range soon.
Read MoreJeep’s remembered that they like taking money from people in exchange for vehicles, so to make more of that happen they’re planning on releasing an all-new three-row SUV, a segment that sells like piping hot sexcakes here in America. Jeep hasn’t sold a three-row SUV since the Jeep Commander was discontinued a decade ago, but come September 3rd, they will again, with an all-new Jeep Grand Wagoneer.
Read MoreWhile everybody is busy arguing over the vast new mug of the 2021 BMW 4 Series redesign, but the new BMW M4 GT3 race car ain’t half bad!
Read MoreThis week, Mercedes-Benz opened its order books in the United Kingdom for its new eSprinter line of vans. It’s the same best-selling Sprinter van with enough batteries to haul you and your stuff a humble 96 miles of range on a full charge. Here’s why Mercedes thinks that’s enough.
Read MoreYesterday I bumped into another old story that knocks around the car world: In the 1960s, Porsche feared that upcoming roof crush rules in America would outlaw convertibles, and Porsche made the Targa with an integrated roll hoop to sidestep it. The story goes that these rules never came into place. That’s both not true, half true, and filled with car companies doing what they know best: helping Americans die.
Read MoreOne of the other few Nissan Pao owners here in North Carolina, my friend Attila, sent me a picture of a car he’s buying the other day. It wasn’t the usual picture you’d send of a car, but it was a picture of one of the components of a car we’re all most intimate with; the steering wheel. When I saw the wheel, it made sense why he chose that part to show me. Because, on this car, a Nissan March Turbo, there is no part that captures the fundamental essence of the car better.
Read MoreIt kind of hurts a little bit to focus on a car this, well, normal. It’s not that I mind, it’s more that it’s just feels weird to me, like if I suddenly had to give up eating food and instead chew on nutrient-impregnated orbs of putty—I could do it, if I had to. Well, this time my nutrient-impregnated orb is the fourth-generation Volkswagen Jetta, and I want to talk to you about it because I feel the design of this car is worth revisiting, much like a really great nutrient-impregnated chew-orb.
Read MoreBack in its day, the first-generation BMW X5 was a controversial new design direction for the German luxury brand. Today, the gaping maw of the 2020 BMW 4 Series is perhaps the most controversial new BMW design in decades.
Read MoreBack in the early 1990s more was always better. And if 10 cylinders was good enough for Dodge’s American supercar, then Chevy would have to up the ante a bit to really push back. The Corvette team built one-off design study called the ZR-12 to see what would happen if you put 10-liters of all-American goodness into a C4-generation ‘Vette. Obviously good things happened.
Read MoreDo you want an actual modern take on the Ford GT? Forget that thing that that Ford actually makes right now, the Fordzilla P1 concept is perhaps actually more in line with the original Ford GT’s ethos. Instead of competing for the GTE Pro victory, which it took a few years back, Ford should really have been vying for the overall at Le Mans. And if you’re going to extrapolate an LMP1 class car for the street, you could do worse than this one.
Read MoreSome of you may recall how a week or so ago I had to defend myself from angry Tesla-stans regarding my statements about how Level 2 semi-automation—the level of autonomy where Tesla’s Autopilot operates—sucks. It sucks because the sort of vigilance tasks demanded of the not-really-driving driver are fundamentally incompatible with how humans behave. In case you need proof of this, just this morning fate provided us with one, as a guy watching a movie in his Tesla on Autopilot slammed into a cop
Read MoreI’m never going to get in the way of people enjoying their cars, however they choose to enjoy them, and there’s no denying that cruise nights are one of these ways. People are proud of their cars, other people like to look/listen/smell them, so there’s a symbiotic relationship of people driving slowly around and other people watching. Cruise nights are also great incubators for idiocy, though, and this video here is a really incredible example of just that.
Read MoreI know most of you feel that while the normal, naturally aspirated Lamborghini Huracan is a pleasant enough car for daily driving use, its 640 horsepower V10 is a bit anemic, especially when it comes to merging onto those freeways. The Norwegian company Zyrus agrees, which is why they’ve built this 1,200 HP turbocharged version. There’s some video of it running the Nordschleife, which is where we can see that doubling your horsepower does not help much when you blow a tire.
Read MoreI’ll admit, a part of me feels a bit of unwholesome satisfaction to hear that a German judge ruled that the Tesla Model 3's windshield wiper controls are kinda shitty. That’s because I said as much back in 2017 but had to back off after Tesla pitched a huge fit and pointed out some mitigating details. Now, I’m feeling more emboldened on my stand that Those Wiper Controls Kinda Suck, because now a German judge has my back.
Read MoreI feel like I’ve seen videos similar to this before, where a person is improbably hanging on the back of a swiftly-moving vehicle, and the most notable quality these people seem to have is a sort of preternatural calmness. Just look at this dude here, spotted hanging on the back of a box truck doing about 70 MPH on Interstate 25 outside of Aurora, Colorado: he looks completely calm. And yet there he is, holding on to the back of a truck driving at highway speeds.
Read MoreJust last month, we told you about a man from Florida crashing the brand new Lamborghini Huracan he bought with funds stolen from the Paycheck Protection Program. A criminal mastermind from Texas pulled off a similar scam, only he spent his money on not just a Lamborghini Urus, but a 2020 Ford F-350 as well.
Read MoreAside from cars, the thing I really love is going to see new movies. For the last handful of years I’ve generally gone to see new releases about 40 times a year, and have caught at least a dozen more as rentals or on airplanes. Watching a movie makes for a great date night, a great way to spend a hot summer afternoon in air conditioned comfort, or just a way to forget about your problems for a couple of hours. Of course, in 2020 you’d have to be positively insane to want to attend a crowded bloc
Read MoreRumor has it that Knight Rider is the most recent classic television series to be getting a feature film reboot. Yes—yet another relic of the Good Ol’ Days is being stripped of its retro charm in order to throw it on the big screen. And I’ll be honest—no one needs it.
Read MoreNovember is usually a huge month for the off-road scene, between the SEMA Show bringing in hordes to Las Vegas to gawk at a vast upgrade parts and the Baja 1000 putting some of those parts to the test. Both organizations put out press releases today: SEMA is off, but Baja is go.
Read MoreOn a sunny day near a rock quarry an hour outside of Detroit, Ford lined up its all-new Bronco and Bronco Sport for a bevy of masked and socially distant journalists. We weren’t here to actually drive the cars, which was probably a good idea as the brand-new Holly Oaks ORV Park had some more challenging routes and these were pre-production Broncos. The interiors were still the bare bones plastic of pre-prod vehicles, but we were getting a chance to closer to the car on everyone’s minds than ever
Read MoreI learned to drive on a Toyota Camry of this vintage. A four-cylinder automatic, it is still one of the nicest, sweetest, trustiest machines I have ever driven. Here is one, but with the V6 and a manual. It is imperative I do not buy it.
Read MoreIt’s a 30-year-old sporty coupe that shares an engine with a pickup truck. It’s a vintage Nissan that’s not a Skyline or Z. It’s an In-N-Out spec Nissan 240SX, and this one just went for $32,750. I think I can explain why.
Read MoreThe 2020 Honda Civic Type R doesn’t look dramatically evolved but its subtle updates are worthwhile. Mostly, the CTR remains one of the most thrilling driver’s cars you can buy new right now. If you’re good with the look and price, it’s pretty much perfect for local daily driving, weekend rips, and track day heroics.
Read MoreTo get any kind of good car photo, you need a lot: time enough to find a good location, to wait for good light. But to get a hero shot, there’s one thing that makes the job almost effortless. That’s all to do with the lens on your camera and its focal length.
Read MoreIf you have a car in California and want to take it off the road for a while, to save money on registration and insurance you can file “Planned Non-Operation.” Here’s a brief rundown on how “non-op” works, how to use it, and some potential pitfalls with it.
Read MoreMuch of middle America is covered in waving fields of corn by the time August hits, but these lovely 8-foot tall shimmering seas of delicious future high-fructose syrup hold a dark side (besides childhood obesity) as cornfields can make traversing rural roads incredibly hazardous.
Read MoreI will never claim to be an above-average motorcycle rider. I am an enthusiast, but I’m not dragging knees or setting lap times, and I don’t really care about any of that. Would I notice the 3.74 pound weight reduction of M Performance carbon fiber wheels for the S 1000 RR, a 434 pound motorcycle? I’m inclined to say I highly doubt it. But they sure do look cool.
Read MoreBust out your barf bag and hang on to your office chair while you watch pro motocross rider Tyler Bereman right straight to Send It City from the perspective of a fast-moving drone flown by ace aerial camera op Johnny FPV.
Read MoreHonda’s Goldwing is already an incredibly good touring bike, perhaps the best in the biz. It’s as big and heavy as it is comfortable for long distance rides. It hugs the road and hugs your booty in equal measure. It’s got Apple CarPlay (BikePlay?) and is available with a dual-clutch transmission. But you know what would make it even better? The additional all-electric range and improved fuel economy of a plug-in hybrid.
Read MoreBMW really wants its new R18 cruiser to capture the hearts and minds of affluent middle-Americans who have grown sick of their custom V-twins. Beemer handed its new flat-twin big-bore cruiser to Roland Sands Design to prove that the thing is capable of great things in the hands of a great designer. Needless to say, RSD delivered with the new Dragster custom. This thing looks like an absolute riot, sounds even better, and goes like hell.
Read MoreThe town of Sturgis, South Dakota is about to swell its capacity for a week starting this Friday. Despite the global coronavirus pandemic which has killed nearly 700,000 people worldwide as of this writing, the famed Sturgis Motorcycle Rally will go on as planned. The town’s population of around 7,000 will swell by an expected 250,000 bikers this week. The steady stream of thumping V-twins has already started, and it will continue unabated until August 16th.
Read MoreThe 2020 Toyota Gazoo Racing Yaris is pretty much all the car anyone needs, a small, pissed-off, 268-horsepower hatchback that I could not be more charmed by. That is, until I learned about the small charming factory in which it is made in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. Toyota doesn’t know it yet but I’m moving in.
Read MoreThe German auto parts supplier Continental recently released a years-in-the-making study detailing its Nazi-era past, including the use of 10,000 slave laborers at a time, CEO Elmar Degenhart said, when Continental “was an important part of Hitler’s war machine.”
Read MoreBefore you write this story off as just another “auto journalist yearns for the past,” article, hear me out. The coronavirus, a shift towards electromobility, and the current “van life” trend have all come together into the perfect moment for the return of the bench seat—one of the greatest features in all of automotive history. Here’s what I mean.
Read MoreFourteen people, including former UAW President Gary Jones, have been convicted of charges related to an ongoing federal corruption investigation. Criminal charges against another former UAW president, Dennis Williams, are reportedly expected tomorrow.
Read MoreRemember Lordstown Motors? The guys with the electric pickup that doesn’t look like a paper airplane? You’re forgiven if it’s slipped from your brain, as the Lordstown Endurance was unveiled back in late June, which in 2020 time is roughly the equivalent of 700 years ago, and we haven’t heard much about it since.
Read MoreA trainload of new Land Rover Defenders sits at a platform in Aschaffenburg, Germany—the town of my birth. Will these Defenders ever see real, hard-core off-road use? Do they resent that Discovery behind the white Defender on the top level, since they were born without solid axles but rather with numerous suspension parts shared with their three-row sibling? Where are they headed? To these questions, I have no answers.
Read MoreMcLaren is the Mexican restaurant of the car world. Before you get all up in arms defending McLaren, just think about it now. If you go to a Mexican restaurant, you’re going to end up with some combination of cheese, meat, vegetables, and beans on, in, or under tortilla. If you buy a McLaren, they’re all built on the same chassis and use some variant of the same thirty-year-old Nissan V8 engine. Some are hybrid, some have a top that opens, some have holes in the doors, some go super fast, but at
Read MoreOne of the interesting things about modern electric cars is their ability to be modified relatively easily, via software. Tesla, of course, understands this and takes full advantage of it by offering things like an “Acceleration Boost,” a $2,000 option for dual-motor Model 3s that unlocks an extra 50 horsepower and shaves an extra half second off the 0 to 60 MPH time so you can get to highway speeds in under four seconds. Because people exist who want that but don’t want to drop two grand, third
Read MoreWhat’s the first thing that pops into your head when you think about a hybrid? For most Americans it’s a vision of a boring grey Toyota Prius. If it’s not that, it’s maybe a hyper expensive McLaren P1 well beyond the realm us normal working class folk can afford. But is there an in-between? Can you have an economically and environmentally friendly hybrid that’s a few steps more fun than watching cement cure? Volkswagen would have you believe that you can. Maybe.
Read MoreIt’s one of the most depressing times of year again, that season when we gather around the social media to watch as someone streams their drive through the unimaginable wildfires currently devastating what’s possibly the most beautiful (not to mention, most expensive) places in the country.
Read MoreA few weeks ago, the YouTuber who goes by Warped Perception published a video showing what goes on inside a car tire while driving. That same channel now has a new video that also shows the innards of a tire, but instead of motoring down the road, the car is sitting still while its rear tires are ripping a huge, smoky burnout. The footage of the rubber exploding is glorious. Watch it and read a tire engineer’s take on what’s happening.
Read MoreOver the weekend Ford launched yet another special edition of the GT, this time called the Heritage Edition. This is, by my count, the eighth different special edition version of the GT since it was launched in 2017. With a total production run in the hundreds, Ford is making sure that most GT owners will have something unique and special to brag about when six of them are parked in a row at a Los Angeles cars and coffee. In a way it’s brilliant, following the Pagani track of making everything a
Read MoreGeneral Motors’ lawsuit against FCA is dead in the water yet again after a U.S. District Judge denied GM’s attempt to reinstate the suit Friday, though GM plans to not let it go without a fight.
Read MoreThe Nürburgring acknowledges several categories of records, including compact cars, sports cars, prototypes, etc. Then there is “executive cars,” which are cars like the BMW 7 Series, Audi A7, and Mercedes S-Class. And also the Porsche Panamera, which recently set the bar for the class.
Read MoreThe saying ‘a little goes a long way’ doesn’t really apply to climate change, so our piddly break from driving hasn’t really done much to move the needle. A new study found that the roughly three months we were all inside at the beginning of the year only lowered the estimated rise in temperature by 2030 by 0.01 degrees.
Read MoreNetflix recently announced it would be bringing a bevy of classic Black sitcoms to the streaming service, which has unlocked tons of forgotten memories for just about every Black millennial in America bored during the pandemic. There’s one weird, oddly specific thing from one of those shows I want to hone in on, though, and that’s a mysterious VW Type 181 that’s stayed with me for more than 20 years.
Read MoreThe central appeal of Tesla CEO Elon Musk—whether you love him or hate him or feel some kind of queasy in-between—is his commitment to bad takes. But don’t let the sideshows distract you from the fact that he isn’t much more than a car salesman with an uncertain future.
Read MoreTikTok is a “social media” service that I have been vaguely aware of for some time now, though because life is short and I am busy I do not know much about it. I have since been forced into TikTok by #grasscar.
Read MoreRectilinear Volvos like today’s Nice Price or No Dice 240 were once primarily favored by tweedy, pipe-smoking professorial types. Nowadays, pretty much every car nerd loves and covets them. Let’s see if its asking price could get you professing your love for this rare manual-equipped edition.
Read MoreIf you like Range Rover-level luxury and mystique, but need three-rows in your SUV then maybe today’s Nice Price or No Dice Mercedes GL320 will the car to scratch that itch. We’ll just have to see if its price has you itching to buy.
Read MoreWith just 2,300 miles since new, you have to wonder what the current owner of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Alfa 4C has been up to recently since it’s obvious driving it hasn’t been in the cards. Let’s see if it’s priced to let a more active owner take over.
Read More“Heavy is the head that wears a crown,” or so claimed Shakespeare in Henry IV Part 2. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Toyota Crown may not imply such weighty obligations, but could this project wagon’s price still make it feel like it costs a king’s ransom?
Read MoreBMW’s Z3 Coupé has always been one of the modern era’s most comically-designed cars, and today’s Nice Price or No Dice example is no different. Let’s see, however, if its price means makes it no laughing matter.
Read MoreSuzuki’s Samurai and Sidekick are among those most anomalous of vehicles—cheap when new, but now commanding premium pricing in their advanced age. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Sidekick is the less-common four-door. Let’s see if it’s priced more like new than old.
Read MoreWith 178 horsepower under its hood and a mere 18K under its tires, there’s a lot to like about today’s Nice Price or No Dice Miata. Let’s find out if its price is another.
Read MoreFord isn’t the only company doing extreme performance trucks, but they’re the only ones that can call their trucks Shelby Performance editions. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Super Snake gives you 750 of those Shelby-imbued ponies. What might all that horsing around be worth?
Read MoreWhen Toyota first introduced its Celica, the car was on obvious homage to Ford’s Mustang. When the third generation came around, as exemplified by today’s Nice Price or No Dice Liftback, the Celica had long gone its own way. Let’s see if this one’s price has it going your way.
Read MoreThe C4 Corvette doesn’t get the love it deserves, and that makes coupés like today’s Nice Price or No Dice Z07 all the more intriguing an investment. Will this flawed but well-fitted edition earn your love, and maybe even a buyer?
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Wrangler calls it the find of a lifetime. We’ll just have to decide if this Cummins-powered monster will require a life-time of wages to buy.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice 300ZX has been sitting for so long it literally has moss growing on it. Let’s if its price will make it worth taking it from petri dish to blue plate special.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Mercedes says it has AMG looks, but with its modest V6 mill doesn’t require an AMG’s checkbook. Let’s see if presenting as a poseur will make its price a plum deal.
Read MoreAlec Issigonis’ original Mini was perhaps the most ingeniously packaged car the world has ever seen. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Cooper S is a good bit bigger than its iconic ancestor but comes with a fairly small price. Will that make it just as legendary?
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Camaro includes the original Monroney sticker in its ad, but cleverly blacks out the factory MSRP. That’s okay, we’re more interested in what’s being asked for it in the present.
Read MoreThe narrow-angle of Volkswagen’s VR6 engine gives it an iconic appearance. It also has a pretty unique sound as well. That engine is wrapped in today’s Nice Price or No Dice GTI, and we’ll now have to decide if its price makes it an iconically good value.
Read MoreThe Mustang will likely soon be the only car in Ford’s lineup. But as today’s Good Buy or Goodbye convertible attests, these pony cars have long found favor at FoMoCo. Let’s see if this classic edition’s price might make it the only one you’d consider.
Read MoreWith Mercedes seemingly abandoning the coupé market here in the U.S., we’re taking the opportunity to look at a two-door that’s already here. Today’s Good Buy or Goodbye 300CE is an example of how MB did coupés right. Let’s just see how right its price might be.
Read MoreThe seller or today’s Good Buy or Goodbye Z3 describes it as “Show room CONDITION !!” and claims it’s a “COLLECTIBLE CAR!” The pics in the ad seem to support that exaltation, but will its price prove equally praiseworthy?
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Nissan is a T-topped shooting brake. It’s also a closed coupé since BOTH hatches are along for the ride. Let’s see if this “Radwood winner” has a price that will make it a winner in your book too.
Read MoreFerraris are some of the most finicky of cars to maintain. Toyotas, on the other hand, are among the least. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe MR2-based F355 may be the best of both those worlds. That is if you’re not faked out by the price.
Read MoreFirst, just for the sake of everyone not pulling their sphincter muscles to the point of injury, let me make clear that the little three-year-old girl who, um, stars in this video is okay. She suffered some very minor abrasions, but is otherwise physically unharmed. Okay, with that out of the way, Here’s a video of a kite festival in Taiwan where a toddler went for an unexpected and thrilling/terrifying ride.
Read MoreBoth the Michigan State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard are looking for more information from the public to help catch a pilot who flew directly underneath the immense Mackinac Bridge on a busy day in June.
Read MoreIt’s safe to say, flying is already fairly stressful, even under normal circumstances. So it’s definitely about time for those bold enough to travel during a pandemic to dial up the number of guns they’re bringing through airport security.
Read MoreSeven people, including an Alaska state House of Representatives member, were killed Friday morning after two small planes collided near the city of Soldotna on Alaska’s southern coast.
Read MoreThe original 911 Targa was a product of the 1960s. Convertibles were going out of style in the advent of air conditioning and looming crash standards, so Porsche threw a hoop over the cabin and ended up with a cool new model. Today you can buy a 2021 911 Targa as an alternative to a full droptop or traditional hardtop. I’m just not sure you’d want to.
Read MoreThis one isn’t for me. Of all the types of cars currently being manufactured, the sporty crossover might be the only one that I find totally unappealing. It’s a type of car that I’d never under any circumstances buy for myself. I don’t get it. But, that doesn’t mean Porsche can’t make an amazing sporty crossover. It can. In fact, the Cayenne GTS is one of those.
Read MoreFormula One introduced wheel tethers back in 1998 to prevent errant tires from flying off a crashed car and causing more damage than necessary. Back in 2011, the FIA even implemented double wheel tethers for twice the safety, and in 2018, a third. There’s just one big problem: they don’t actually seem to be reliably working.
Read MoreWhen you have a machine that you want to prove at its peak of difficulty, you take it to the Nordschleife out at the infamous Nürburgring. That goes for everything: trucks, sports cars, hatchbacks, and, yes, even tractors.
Read MoreThe Rich Energy drama is, truly, the gift that keeps on giving. Even though the brand has moved on from Formula One to sponsor or partner with drivers in British Superbikes and the British Touring Car Championship, CEO William Storey has been cryptically tweeting about returning to F1 for a while. Now, however, it seems that the first plan of action to getting back into the F1 fold is taking its former partner, Haas F1, to court.
Read MoreNo. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon is easily one of the best drivers of this era, and 2020's numbers have shown that in spades. After his win at Gateway last night, Dixon not only scored his 50th career win, but he has officially won half of the races this year.
Read MoreOn August 31, 2020, Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert was killed in a horrifying crash during the opening stages of the series’s feature race at Spa-Francorchamps. With the Formula One circuit returning to the circuit for the first time one year from Hubert’s death, many drivers are reflecting on their memories with the driver.
Read MoreThe Pikes Peak hill climb is one of the coolest events in motorsport. Every year, countless drivers in fast machines rip on up Pikes Peak in Colorado in pursuit of speed records. If you’ve never watched it live before, now’s your chance, because it’s available to stream for free.
Read MoreNashville has been on the NTT IndyCar Series’s radar for years, but nothing has ever really come of the rumors. But with Roger Penske at the helm of the series, it sounds like there are going to be plenty of schedule changes coming in the future with Nashville’s Music City Grand Prix being one of the first additions.
Read MoreNASCAR’s cutoff race took place on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway, which determines the drivers that progress into the next round of the championship. It was one hell of a wild race that saw William Byron take the win and lock himself into the playoffs. Kevin Harvick was crowned the regular series champion.
Read MoreWhen it arrived on the Formula One scene, the Haas team seemed to be a story of success that all incoming teams should try to emulate. Now, however, after several difficult years, Haas is saying that it might not make it in the sport without the implementation of some serious cost caps.
Read MoreWhile I wait out my government mandated quarantine, I’ve been digging through YouTube for old archival race footage to pass the time. There’s something about a nice, homemade film of history’s coolest cars that just eases my mind and makes me forget about the absolute disaster that is the world at this exact moment in time.
Read MoreMike Hailwood was something of an anomaly in the racing world. While he started off racing motorcycles, he transitioned to car racing (including Formula One) later on in his life before making a triumphant two-wheeled return 11 years later. Now, Eric Bana—an actor known for his work in The Time Traveler’s Wife and 2003's Hulk—is writing a screenplay for a new Hollywood film about Mike the Bike’s last TT run.
Read MoreA quick look in the comments section of just about any tweet or article about Lewis Hamilton lately makes for a pretty disappointing time—especially regarding his recent statement that he doesn’t plan to join US-based sportsmen by striking and refusing to contest this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. While many people are upset at the decision, a good portion of them are upset for relatively disingenuous reasons, claiming that Hamilton is putting “personal gain ahead of [his] ‘principles’.” This is
Read MoreThe NTT IndyCar series has been looking for ways to make the most of its limited track time during its pandemic-shortened season, and it has inspired a few fits of genius. Easily its best strategy yet has been the doubleheader qualifying strategy it introduced ahead of the Iowa 250s race weekend and will be using again at Gateway—and it’s something that any series running back-to-back races in a weekend should using.
Read MoreFerrari hasn’t had a good year in Formula One in a while, but 2020 might just be rock bottom for the Maranello team. No longer is Ferrari one of the top three teams. Instead, it’s languishing away near the rear of the grid, hoping to scoop up a few points-scoring finishes. And it’s not looking any better ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix with both drivers knocked out in Q2.
Read MoreI’m not one wax poetic about how much better racing was when there was very little driver assistance, but I’ve often wondered what racing would be like if we took away radios just for one race. In Jamie Whincup’s case, he didn’t need a damn thing to help him take the win at the Supercars Townsville SuperSprint event.
Read MoreNASCAR Xfinity Series team Kaulig Racing looked like it would practically be handed a victory at Daytona International Speedway’s Wawa 250 last night. As the final lap got underway, Kaulig drivers Ross Chastain and AJ Allmendinger were duking it out for the lead of the race when the two made contact and crashed in spectacular fashion.
Read MoreFormula One has finally fleshed out its revamped 2020 schedule with the addition of races at Istanbul and Abu Dhabi with two events at Bahrain. The second race at Bahrain, known as the Sakhir Grand Prix, will be staged on the circuit’s outer loop layout—which could see the series posting laps under 60 seconds.
Read MoreFar be it for me to presume that Kimi Räikkönen is done racing in Formula One, but he’s 40 years old and when was the last time he sounded like he was having fun in the sport? Every week he sounds frustrated and disgusted with himself and the team. That’s no way for anyone to live. Räikkönen’s contract with Alfa Romeo ends at the close of this season, and he has not yet decided if he will return.
Read MoreWelcome to the Jalopnik Weekend Motorsports Roundup, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of racing, where you can see it, and where you can talk about it all in one convenient place. Where else would you want to spend your weekend?
Read MoreThe 2020 Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb was always going to be interesting, unlike any other in the race’s history. Starting with last year’s decision to no longer run motorcycles following the death of star rider Carlin Dunne, the event was already in historically uncharted waters. Then came the coronavirus and the announced postponement of the 2020 hillclimb, originally scheduled to run at the end of June.
Read MoreI’ve seen a lot of things in my years, but I’ve never seen a drag racing R32 GT-R turned into a winning hillclimb beast. That is, until now. It’s instantly obvious that when a car has 1200 horsepower on tap it’s going to be fast—it is—but the level of speed is truly mind-bending. The degree to which the driver has to moderate the power through the slower corners is truly astonishing.
Read MoreWhile the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb looks a little different this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions limiting the number of people on the mountain, the race is still as precarious as ever. Two of the three teams entering with an electric Tesla Model 3 have already crashed out of the race.
Read MoreThe Indy 500 ended on something of an anti-climax after a crash with five laps to go ended the 104th running of the event under a yellow flag. Japanese driver Takuma Sato took home his second Indianapolis 500 win after looking incredibly strong during the last quarter of the race. While his last 500 was secured for Andretti Autosport, Sato takes home his second win with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Read MoreThe NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina was vandalized on Friday night or early Saturday morning, local news station WRBC 6 reports. Police are investigating who spray painted “All Lives Matter” and “ALM” on the side of the building.
Read MoreOnce again, MotoGP has put on an absolutely stunning race, this time at the Styrian Grand Prix. Rider Miguel Oliveira secured his first ever victory after Jack Miller and Pol Espargaro ran wide while battling for the lead—a pretty impressive feat for independent KTM team Tech 3 Racing. Not only was Oliveira awarded with a win, but he also went home with a brand new BMW M4.
Read MoreRosemary Smith made headlines for the first time in decades when, in 2017, she became the oldest person to drive a Formula One car at 79 years of age. It was a brief moment of vindication for the former rally driver who spent years battling stereotypes and low expectations: here, she could prove herself on an international scale in an era of rapid media sharing. For a multi-time Coupe des Dames winner, it was the recognition she deserved.
Read MoreEver dominant in the Australian Supercars Championship, DJR Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin has secured his 50th win in dominant style at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin. He pretty much led the event from start to finish, with the only challenge coming within the first few laps.
Read MoreMarc Marquez, easily one of the best MotoGP riders of this generation, will be forced to sit out at least two to three more months of the season as a result of his broken right arm. Marquez sustained the injury in a crash at the season opener at Jerez.
Read MoreI’m always here for more cool motorsport projects, and one of the neatest is officially under construction near Oro, Ontario. The Oro Station Motor Circuit aims to combine a road course, a business plaza, and testing facilities to become a hub of Canadian motorsport.
Read MoreJustin Allgaier had his hands full at the first of two races at Dover International Speedway. Not only did he have to hold off the incredibly dominant Austin Cindric, but he was also looking to make up for last week’s disappointing outing at the Daytona road course.
Read MoreOn Friday’s Carb Day practice ahead of the 2020 Indy 500, there was a fairly uncomfortable moment where former driver and current commentator Paul Tracy drew attention to Danica Patrick’s shoes. He referred to Patrick’s bright, NBC-yellow heels as “sexy shoes” twice before stating that he has “always been a sucker for sexy shoes.” It seems as good a time as any to remind you folks out there to just let women do their damn jobs.
Read MoreWhat happens to old race cars after their on-track tenure is up? If you think they all end up in museums or the hands of collectors, you wouldn’t technically be wrong, but you’d be making the same mistake Jonathan Holtzman made when he went out looking to get his hands on a Tyrrell Project 34—better known as the unique six-wheeled Formula One car. Most of those P34s have gone to museums or former drivers, but two were also destroyed after their successful season. And if you’ve got some money and
Read MoreTomorrow afternoon, the 104th running of the Indy 500 will decide which driver will be crowned champion, forever to be remembered in history books as the winner during the year of the pandemic. Here’s how you can watch the magic happen—and what to watch for while you do.
Read More2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi is notoriously great at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: the Californian has never finished lower than seventh. What goes on in the head of someone who’s pretty consistently successful at the biggest race in the world? In a recent interview with Jalopnik, Rossi opens up about the atmosphere in the impressive-looking Andretti Autosport and what he’s expecting from the 104th running of the world’s biggest race.
Read MoreMotoGP is heading back to the Red Bull Ring for the second week in a row, this time for the Styrian Grand Prix. And it’s looking like a promising event for the KTM team now that rider Pol Espargaro nabbed pole position with a time of 1:23.580, just two hundredths ahead of second-place rider Takaaki Nakagami.
Read MoreI’ve been fielding questions from first-time Indy 500 viewers for the past few days, and one of the big questions has been: why are there 33 cars? And I’ll be honest: for a long time, I didn’t know, I just shrugged it off as the kind of arbitrary tradition that tends to come along with the 500 (you know, that “we did this one way 50 years ago and now we’ve never done anything different”)—and while, yes, it’s kind of arbitrary in the modern era, there actually is a reason for the 33 car field.
Read MoreThe World of Outlaws sanctions some of the best, top-level dirt track racing you can find, but it isn’t immune to the effects of a global pandemic. After last week’s races in Knoxville, Iowa, three sprint car drivers and a few crew members tested positive for COVID-19, a fact that looks to derail the series for at least the next two weeks.
Read MoreIt is absolutely astonishing that this 1972 Ford Condor RV, dubbed The Magic Bus, is still in the condition it is. The gorgeously-presented green velour interior is proper 1970s nostalgia. The motor coach was painted in an orange papaya paint scheme with a hand-painted kiwi bird logo on the side as this was a hospitality vehicle for the head of McLaren Engines to use trackside for various Can Am, USAC, and F1 events. After a particularly rabid bidding war, current McLaren CEO Zak Brown purchased
Read MoreWilliams Grand Prix Engineering has been participating in Formula One as a constructor since 1977, and in all those years the team has always been majority-owned by its founder and principal Sir Frank Williams. That is no longer the case as Friday morning it was announced that American private equity firm Dorilton Capital has purchased the entire company, lock, stock, and barrel.
Read MoreWelcome to the Jalopnik Weekend Motorsports Roundup, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of racing, where you can see it, and where you can talk about it all in one convenient place. Where else would you want to spend your weekend?
Read MoreFormer Chip Ganassi Racing NASCAR driver Kyle Larson was suspended in April for using a racial slur on an open radio channel during an online racing event. His suspension from NASCAR coincided with a suspension from his CGR team and the loss of his McDonalds and Credit One sponsorship deals. Following an interview this week with the Associated Press in which he appeared apologetic for his fuckup, Larson formally requested reinstatement to the eligible NASCAR ranks.
Read MoreIn 2014 Gene Haas picked up the pieces of the failed Marussia team and built a new American Formula One team in Kannapolis, North Carolina. The team was assembled and ready for the 2016 season, and has been racing in the sport for half a decade. The first six rounds of the 2020 season have been far and away the worst start to a Grand Prix season that the team has had thus far. On Wednesday the team announced it had signed the new Concorde Agreement, along with all the other nine teams, to commit
Read MoreValtteri Bottas is many things; he’s reliable, consistent, someone Lewis Hamilton probably ‘accidentally’ calls Heikki more often than he should, an excellent Rubens Barrichello-type number two, and a Finn who looks proper fit in black. He is not, however, a championship-caliber Formula One driver, and after almost four years of having his ass handed to him by F1 G.O.A.T. and teammate Lewis Hamilton, he might finally be realizing it for himself.
Read MoreQualifying is over, and the starting grid for the 2020 Indy 500 has been set after today’s session with the fastest nine drivers. Marco Andretti of Andretti Autosport took his first pole position with an average lap speed of 231.068 mph; for the first time in 33 years, an Andretti took pole again.
Read MoreI have to admit that I’m one of the race fans that would love to see more NASCAR events on road courses, including those delightful road course-oval events. And after both Friday night’s ARCA race and Saturday’s Xfinity event, I have to say that the Daytona International Speedway road course might actually be the most fun weekend of the year.
Read MoreAs thick clouds rolled ever closer to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, fans turned to the radar instead of the race broadcast in hopes of watching something interesting. The promise of rain was far more exciting than the on-track Formula One action, where almost a full minute separated the top three positions from the rest of the grid for a significant period of time.
Read MoreJust nine laps into MotoGP’s action-packed Austrian Grand Prix, a massive Turn 3 crash took out riders Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli. Both riders were conscious and able to walk away of their own accord.
Read More‘Tis the season to celebrate the dynamic duo of consumerism and capitalism, and it’s time to answer a question that’s been weighing on my mind for a while now. Have any of you ever actually gone out of your way to buy something specifically because it was a sponsorship in a discipline of motorsport you watch?
Read MoreDAMS Formula 2 driver Sean Gelael was airlifted to a hospital following yesterday’s feature race in Barcelona. The Indonesian driver was released from the hospital in the morning but will likely be unable to compete in a car in the near future.
Read MoreToday marked the first day of qualifying for the 2020 Indianapolis 500. If you’ve been following along, Saturday qualifying determines the starting position of most of the grid—the final eight rows, or starting positions 10 through 33. On Sunday, we’ll see positions one through nine settled. Here’s what we can expect from the starting grid so far.
Read MoreLast week, we talked about how the Racing Point drama is the gift that keeps on giving, and it absolutely peaked yesterday with the FIA decided to “expressly prevent” the use of reverse engineering in the future. Okay, fellas. How, exactly, do you plan to do that?
Read MoreThe 2020 Formula One season has been subject to some pretty wild trials and tribulations this year, what with cancellations and reschedulings—and the series hasn’t even sorted out November yet. Now, though, two former tracks are in the running to host some end-of-season races: Istanbul and Jerez.
Read MoreIt’s obvious that Lewis Hamilton is one of the best Formula One drivers who have ever competed in the sport. And having secured his 92nd pole position ahead of the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton has proved his dominance yet again by taking possession of 8.95 percent of all F1 pole positions ever.
Read MoreNASCAR fans have been asking the series to add more road courses for years, and with the addition of the Charlotte ROVAL and the Daytona road course, it seems that the series is listening. Not everyone agrees, though. In a phone interview with Jalopnik, Watkins Glen International president Michael Printup said the balance of road courses compared to ovals is just fine as it is.
Read MoreIt’s that time of year again: the Indy 500 is around the corner, and qualifying is about to begin. If this is your first year watching—or if you just need a little refresher—then it can be tough to follow. Just like with most things Indy 500-related, qualifying is a complex process dictated by tradition. But don’t you worry: we’re here to help you out
Read MoreHave you ever convinced yourself you didn’t like a food, only to then eat that food and realize it’s the most delicious thing in the world and you’ve been depriving yourself of something incredible for years? Yeah. That’s how I’m feeling about watching MotoGP.
Read MoreI wanted to love the second season of Drive to Survive, the Netflix docuseries tracking Formula One’s 2019 season. I really wanted to—especially after rewatching it in a desperate bid to relive some on-track action during the stir crazy purgatory that is self-isolation. I just can’t bring myself to do it. And, with the news that DTS will be coming back for a third season, I can’t help but hope the producers will figure things out next time around.
Read MoreWelcome to the Jalopnik Weekend Motorsports Roundup, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of racing, where you can see it, and where you can talk about it all in one convenient place. Where else would you want to spend your weekend?
Read MoreThe EV car nerds will soon inherit the earth. From the moment this project started to the moment the car won its class speed record was just three months, which may well be the most impressive compressed racing program I’ve ever born witness to. The EV West and Hickey Speed Electraliner made four runs in two days on the Bonneville salt to go down in history as the fastest E2 class car to ever run.
Read MoreEver since last October I’ve been looking forward to Mazda’s gorgeous 3 TCR racer. The program has been fraught with issues. Not only was the program planned to begin racing in 2020, which has seen the season completely implode, but Mazda’s TCR partner manufacturer Long Road Racing went out of business in January. On Tuesday, Mazda confirmed to Grassroots Motorsports Magazine that the planned launch of the car, which had been punted out to 2021, is now scrubbed altogether thanks to the global co
Read MoreOn Monday the 33-car entry list for the Indianapolis 500 was released, and for the first time since 1999 it did not include a single woman. The list includes five rookies and ten former Indy 500 winners, but erstwhile competitor Pippa Mann couldn’t put together the program in time for qualification. Since Janet Guthrie’s first time qualifying for the race in 1977, a total of nine women have made the field. Seven of those nine have been in the last twenty years.
Read MoreBack in June the 24 Hours of Le Mans was scheduled to go ahead with limited spectator tickets. Thankfully on Monday the ACO announced that it would scrap that plan and refund all spectator tickets, opting for a closed-doors race on September 19/20 instead. The smarter plan, to be certain in light of the continued spread of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Read MoreAntonio Felix da Costa’s years of dedication have paid off: the DS Techeetah driver has dominated the 2019-20 Formula E season and come home with the championship with two races remaining.
Read MoreIf you haven’t been keeping up with the recent drama surrounding the Racing Point Formula One team, you’ve been missing out. The team has recently been punished for utilizing a Mercedes-based design for its brake ducts, which the FIA says is illegal but which many others say is, actually, perfectly fine. And it’s just so, so good.
Read MoreWhen quarantine hit and I found myself itching to watch race cars again, I made a decision: I bought a subscription F1 TV, the series’s bespoke streaming service that also boasts an archive of old races and feature shows. I was thinking, how could would it be to watch some high-quality races from the good ol’ days? And I’ll be honest: It’s a massively disappointing service—for now.
Read MoreQualifying for the Indianapolis 500 is coming up next weekend, from August 15-16, and it’s set to be the quickest and most difficult qualifying session we’ve seen in over two decades. And that’s even taking into account the extra drag from the addition of the aeroscreen.
Read MoreThis is only Brad Binder’s third race in the top level of motorcycle racing, but he has made an impression already with his KTM MotoGP team by taking home his first win at the Czech Grand Prix after a difficult start to the season.
Read MoreSebastian Vettel hasn’t had a particularly great time since he moved from Red Bull Racing to Ferrari in the Formula One championship, and 2020 looks like it’s just been the pinnacle of disaster. After Vettel’s first-lap spin at the 70th anniversary of the British Grand Prix, the German driver just needs to find some way to hit the reset button on the whole year.
Read MoreIf you’re anything like me, you have frequently grumbled about the absolute state of motorsport coverage lately. Sometimes it’s just boring. Sometimes it just feels too out of date. Sometimes I’m sitting here asking myself, “how is that news?” So, while I have some neat ideas on how we’re going to revamp the way we cover racing at Jalopnik, I want to put the idea out to the readers: what do you want to see?
Read MoreWhen we’ve written about MotoGP in the past here at Jalopnik, many fans have raised some very valid criticisms about why we cover sensational crashes or retirements without actually digging deeper into the sport. And you know what? Y’all are right. And that’s why I’m spending 2020 learning to love MotoGP and blogging my way through it.
Read MoreOn May 30, 1964, a red flag waved at Indianapolis on the second lap of the 500—the first time the iconic race was stopped for anything but weather. When the smoke cleared, drivers Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald were dead. It was day that still serves as a black mark in the Indy 500's history, but there was so much more to that day than we often remember. In Black Noon, Art Garner reminds us that this was more than just a tragedy: it was a complex series of events, the result of contentious polit
Read MoreThe Indianapolis 500 traditionally runs a 33-car field with its eleven rows of three cars. The health of sport can often be intuited by the number of cars over the 33 car limit that have entered—but with the coronavirus pandemic not only rescheduling the race but also taking a financial toll on smaller teams, 33 cars actually sounded too ambitious for 2020.
Read MoreEvery few years, The Powers That Be in Formula One sit down to redraw the rules of competition and the prize money distribution. Known as the Concorde Agreement, this little document has caused a fuss ever since the first agreement was signed in 1981. And with the newest iteration coming up in 2021, it’s no surprise that some of the top teams are pushing back against the promise of a redistribution of finances.
Read MoreFormula E is one of those racing series that actually kicked off its season before the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the meat of its mid-season races. So, in response, FE rescheduled its entire European stretch in a span of nine days at a single track. And their plan for it kind of rules.
Read MoreLewis Hamilton has looked unbeatable since the delayed return of Formula One’s 2020 season, but if teammate Valtteri Bottas’s performance in qualifying for the series’s 70th birthday event at Silverstone, Hamilton might have to start watching his back.
Read MoreIf you’ve watched NASCAR in recent years, you’re probably no stranger to the series’s weird rules and complex procedures that seem to accumulate year by year. Now, starting at this weekend’s doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR has implemented a whole new policy: the choose cone rule.
Read MoreOn Friday Ed Carpenter Racing announced that it would be carrying the United States Space Force colors (and upside down Pontiac emblem) to speeds it has thus far not reached. The Space Force was officially founded on December 20th of last year, and only employs 88 active duty members, and has not carried out any space defense missions. Indy 500 veteran Ed Carpenter will attempt to qualify the Space Force car into the race with a speed of at least 227 miles per hour. Not quite the 25,000 miles pe
Read MoreWelcome to the Jalopnik Weekend Motorsports Roundup, where we let you know what’s going on in the world of racing, where you can see it, and where you can talk about it all in one convenient place. Where else would you want to spend your weekend?
Read MoreAlmost since the start of the season Renault has been extremely mad about Racing Point apparently copying their brake ducts from Mercedes’ 2019 car, against the rules this year. Today, the FIA finally handed Racing Point a fine and a point deduction though no one seems happy about it.
Read MoreAt the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, a race shortened by tragedy, Lella Lombardi became the first woman to ever score points in Formula One. She is one of two female drivers to have started a race and one of five to have entered. Today, 45 years later, she still remains the most successful woman to ever contest the series.
Read MoreNo, there isn’t a new Cadillac SRX crossover running at Dakar. And this isn’t the Mitjet 2L-based racing series out of Las Vegas that never took off and was auctioning its assets last fall, that was EXR. SRX is a 6-race summer circle-track series planning to kick off next year as a joint-venture between Tony ‘Smoke’ Stewart and car designer Ray Evernham. On Tuesday we got our first look at Ray’s full sketch of what the SRX platform is supposed to look like. The series sounds like a place for was
Read MoreFirst, Roger Penske said that Indy would absolutely not be running without fans after its delay because of the pandemic. Indy then said actually it would run with only 50 percent capacity. Then it said nah ACTUALLY 25 percent capacity. Today, Penske said it would be run without fans.
Read MoreEnglishtown’s legendary quarter mile closed a few years back. If you see two Corvettes lining up under the tower now, it’s not for drag racing; it’s for drifting.
Read MoreEver since Pirelli joined the Formula One circus, taking over for Bridgestone in 2011, its rubber has rubbed me the wrong way. The series removed refueling during in-race pit stops under the guise of safety following the 2009 season, and was looking for a way to improve ‘the show’ of a Grand Prix weekend. With a new tire supplier jumping on board, the series asked Pirelli to construct a tire that had a high performance envelope when new and also wore out quickly.
Read MoreSix drivers refused to kneel with Lewis Hamilton, their fellow Black driver, at the start of this COVID-abridged season. At the most recent race this past weekend, a seventh driver stood. And F1 had the gall to put out a video saying that all drivers are acting as one to end racism.
Read MoreElon Musk’s dream of an Earth surrounded by teaming clouds of Low Earth Orbiting satellites, a project known as Starlink, just happens to be a nightmare for astronomers and amateur stargazers alike. A new report on the many challenges Starlink poses suggests astronomers’ best-case scenario is for SpaceX to abandon the project.
Read MoreThere hasn’t been a splashdown of an American crewed space capsule since the Apollo capsule from the Apollo-Soyuz joint U.S.-Soviet Union space mission in 1975, at least not until yesterday, when astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned to Earth from the International Space Station in orbit, splashing down just off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. They were met by recovery teams, and, as an unexpected bonus, by a bunch of dipshits in private boats who got in the way of recovery operations
Read MoreBollinger’s electric SUV and truck have been in development for years now, and still not yet in production but also still edging ever closer to getting there. Bollinger’s ultimate plan is to do low volume vehicles at six-figure prices and I like it in large part because it has been doing all of this without the bombast of a Lordstown Motors, a Nikola, or a Tesla.
Read MoreI’m glad to see that there’s at least one company making the automotive world match the one that was foretold in the movie Gattaca, where lovely vintage cars are retrofitted into high-tech electric wonders. One such company is Lunaz, which has already been converting Jaguar XK120s to electron-power. Now they’re taking a deeper gulp out of the Chalice of Classy, and offering EV conversions of Rolls-Royce Phantom Vs.
Read MoreIf we’re looking at numbers, which we are, then it’s safe to say that Lucid seems to have a really viable Tesla competitor on their hands with their upcoming car, the Air. Earlier this month Lucid announced the expected range of the Air, 517 miles, which would make it the longest-range EV available, beating out Tesla’s Model S Long Range Plus with its 402 miles per charge. Now Lucid is claiming that the Air will be able to recharge faster than Tesla as well, at a rate of 20 miles per minute, or
Read MoreThe electric revolution is coming, and it will be live streamed. This week electric charger infrastructure company Electrify America announced a partnership with Love’s truck stops to install 28 new stations in six states. The company recently installed its 2000th charging station installation in just two years of operation, and the growth shows no sign of stopping. One way to assuage the truly American sense of range anxiety is to provide easy access to charging points along routes that people
Read MoreI did not think Mercedes-AMG was serious about putting its 1,000-horsepower Project One hypercar on the road when it was first unveiled in 2017, my skepticism was reinforced by delays, but it doesn’t seem like the Benz boys and girls are quite ready to give up. You can now watch a prototype rip in track testing.
Read MoreI had an interesting experience recently when I was on the podcast of my friend Sean Carroll, a very respected physicist who normally has guests far, far smarter than me. What I found especially interesting was moving outside of my usual audience bubble of fetishy gearheads like myself, and into the world of the sorts of people who listen to hard science podcasts. As you can imagine, many of my views on autonomy got a lot of blowback, but I want to be clear about something here: I’m not alone.
Read MorePolestar is spinning up the campaign for its all-new fully electric compact sedan, the Polestar 2, and it has the Tesla Model 3 in its sights. An “independent firm” hired by Polestar to do a simulated highway test showed the Tesla was the least efficient of five vehicles tested.
Read MoreToday, California ruled that Uber and Lyft must stop pretending that their drivers are independent contractors and start treating them for what they are: employees. Uber and Lyft’s responses are, of course, exactly the kind of weak shit you would expect.
Read MoreI think we’ve all been pretty dazzled by the new Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 hypercar—and I normally find that word kind of eye-rollish, but in this case I think it’s justified. It’s such a pure exercise in technology employed to make driving really exciting: small, featherweight, an advanced, naturally-aspirated V12, carbon body, and, maybe most excitingly, that big-ass fan on the back. Now, the fan is for complicated aerodynamic purposes, but there’s something I can’t help but wonder: could
Read MoreThe used market is finally showing signs that it’s cooling, the former chairman of Mitsubishi is dead, and mayflies. All that and more in The Morning Shift for August 31, 2020.
Read MoreAmidst a global pandemic, economic crisis, and the continuing march of climate change, are Americans wholeheartedly switching to compact cars? Of course not! We’re running companies at capacity to feed us SUVs. All that and more in The Morning Shift for August 28, 2020.
Read MorePorsche is still full speed ahead in taking on Tesla in the US, Volkswagen is doing the electric car reservation thing, and Hurricane Laura is pounding dealerships and everything else in Texas and Louisiana. All that and more in The Morning Shift for August 27, 2020.
Read MoreGM and Ford are almost through making ventilators, the UAW is mad, and new Chevy Bolts. All that and more in The Morning Shift for August 26, 2020.
Read MoreMcLaren has finally mapped out a foundation for going all-electric within a decade despite signaling that it had some wild ideas just a few months ago, and Tesla, Ford and more are going after their chip suppliers. That’s not all in The Morning Shift for Tuesday, August 25, 2020.
Read MoreNissan is giving up on the Titan in Canada and possibly soon in the US too, Porsche is being investigated for gas-engine manipulation, and Ford. All that and more in The Morning Shift for August 24, 2020.
Read MoreFaced with the haunting prospect of treating their drivers like human beings, Uber and Lyft threatened to cut them all off in California and pull its operations entirely. At the last minute, the state gave in. All that and more in The Morning Shift for August 21, 2020.
Read MoreA new sun awakens the day and JD Power publishes some more bullshit. All that and more in The Morning Shift for August 20, 2020.
Read MoreNokia could brick Mercedes-Benz production in Germany if it wants to, GM’s China sales slip for first time in practically ever, and Uber is exploring new means of labor exploitation in California. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, August 19, 2020.
Read MoreCalifornia just locked in auto emissions standards that defy the Trump administration. The entire plan seems to be “just don’t do what Trump says” and it seems to be working. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Tuesday, August 18, 2020.
Read MoreDealerships are struggling to keep cars on their lots. The Big Three have a “brain drain” problem. Cadillac is making changes to dealerships to prepare for EVs. Oil companies are cutting back on exploration as demand plummets. That and more in The Morning Shift for Monday, August 17, 2020.
Read MoreAirports are looking for a new business model, Michigan reinvents bus lanes again, oil prices will stay low, and who has to clean up the major oil spill in the Indian Ocean? That and more in The Morning Shift for Friday, August 14, 2020.
Read MoreThe Ford Bronco is trying to compete with Jeep Wrangler on accessories, a Volkswagen employee was found dead in a burned-out car, and airlines are withholding billions in refunds. All that and more in The Morning Shift for August 13, 2020.
Read MoreThe way the Feds regulate auto safety has been a shitshow for a good long while, and now it’s facing an audit. How much faith you put in that audit, is another question. All that and more in The Morning Shift for August 12, 2020.
Read MoreEurope is really pushing EVs and that should bring up lithium prices, Hyundai’s new autonomous car partner just got a strange new name, GM’s global CFO is out, and China sales are soaring. All that and more in The Morning Shift for August 11, 2020.
Read MoreGeely has ambitions, Hyundai is getting more serious about EVs, Buick wants the Encore GX to perform, and a lawyer accused GM of McCarthyism. All that and more in The Morning Shift for August 10, 2020.
Read MoreMitsubishi’s long-time chairman steps down at a tough time for his personal health, Tesla’s battery supplier is making bank, and there’s drama with aluminum supplies. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Friday, August 7, 2020.
Read MoreToyota is still making lots of money, Dieselgate is neverending, and AAA says that modern driving assistance tech is bad. That and more in The Morning Shift for August 6, 2020.
Read MoreI don’t make the rules, but things didn’t exactly sparkle for Tesla-lookalike Nikola after its debut earnings release. That and more in The Morning Shift for August 5, 2020.
Read MoreHonda and Kia are on the road to recovery, Subaru could be doing better, sales in China remain good, city folks are buying their first cars, and more in The Morning Shift for Tuesdsay, August 4, 2020.
Read MoreLordstown Motors, the electric vehicle startup I’m not even sure has a functioning pickup yet, has been valued at $1.6 billion, Ferrari growth takes a hit, and more in The Morning Shift for Monday, August 3, 2020.
Read MoreI’m pretty sure anyone who’s ever ridden on a subway, anywhere, would find this valuable information: how long can a subway car’s air filtration system filter a fart from the air? As far as I can tell, no major subway system has provided such information. Until now.
Read MoreRoad-tripping in coronavirus America is suboptimal, but definitely possible and I would hazard to say it’s even still fun. I’ve just completed my fifth drive across the contiguous U.S. in an old car and, as ever, it was a unique experience.
Read MoreI’m currently in the throes of a hardcore wrench-a-thon with a 1994 diesel manual Chrysler Voyager minivan. It should therefore come as no surprise that I’m intrigued by this video featuring a diesel Toyota TownAce van running on (faux) WD-40, automatic transmission fluid, and various other liquids that aren’t diesel. It seems the possibilities are endless!
Read MoreThe Ford F-150 Raptor off-road sport pickup has proved to be a huge marketing and sales success for the automaker. It only makes sense that Ford would spread that formula to a new Raptor model based on the very new and very popular 2021 Ford Bronco SUV, which may have just been confirmed.
Read MoreGreetings from the Nebraska/Colorado border where my wife and I are about 1,300 miles into a 3,000ish-mile quest from Los Angeles to the northeast. We’re running my old-but-OK 1998 Mitsubishi Montero, on its biggest validation run since I adopted it. Theoretically, we’ll head home eventually, too. Here’s how I prepped the truck and how we’re doing so far.
Read MoreIt’s only been a few days since the all-new 2021 Ram 1500 TRX was revealed with its Hellcat V8 engine shilling a whopping 702 horsepower, but the truck will get no rest at the top. A new, well-timed leak claims the next Ford F-150 Raptor will also get a new V8 engine with over 700 HP.
Read MoreJeep’s latest sales training material for dealerships is meant to help the staff fend off competition posed by Ford’s fresh-from-the-oven 2021 Bronco. This means pointing out Jeep Wrangler’s advantages over its interloping FoMoCo competitor, all the while taking a few shots at the newcomer. Check it out.
Read MoreWarn is hardly the only company making the kind of winches you often see mounted on truck bumpers, but it’s probably the best-known. The brand is also fairly famous for making manual locking hubs, which I’ll get into in a minute. Now it’s doing a few wheel designs and they look decent!
Read MoreJust when you think the waves may finally stop crashing down, the year throws another chaotic twist into the newsfeed: General Motors is reportedly working on advancing its six-way pickup truck tailgate with a new, secret seventh feature on the upcoming Chevy Silverado.
Read MoreAfter being rumored and teased for over four years, the hopped-up high-horsepower 2021 Ram 1500 TRX is finally here to take on the Ford Raptor, and it features a glorious 702-horsepower Hellcat engine tearing through all four wheels.
Read MoreThe all-new 2021 Ford Bronco Sport may have been pitched by the marketing department and media as a softer version of its bigger off-roading Ford Bronco sibling, but newly “leaked” video of the company’s development team driving the baby Bronco Sport through Moab is very promising.
Read MoreIn the basement of an apartment building in Nürnberg, Germany sits an old International Scout II. The vehicle features a ridiculously thirsty 345 cubic-inch V8 mated to a three-speed automatic and has aerodynamic properties similar to the Fort Wayne, Indiana factory in which it was built. For these reasons, whoever owns this machine in Germany is a hero in my book.
Read MoreThe 2021 Ram 1500 TRX, a long-fabled off-road performance variant of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ half-ton hero truck, finally has an official unveiling date of August 17, 2020.
Read MoreLiving in an era where automotive design is largely dictated by how air flows around the car as it moves through space—you know, aerodynamics—it’s kind of liberating to see vehicles that could not give one gilded turd about any of that fancy-ass math-laden bullshit. These trucks aren’t just not aerodynamic—they’re gleefully un-aerodynamic. Like, they seem to have been designed with an out-and-out contempt for aero. They’re Fiat/Iveco vans built by the Italian coachbuilder Minonzio.
Read MoreThe Rubicon Trail has been Jeep territory for years now, at least as far as American off-roading enthusiasts are concerned. When it decided to take on the Jeep Wrangler with the all-new 2020 Ford Bronco, Ford knew this was a test it’d eventually have to pass—and it appears it just did.
Read MoreEarlier this year, Nissan celebrated Brian Murphy, one of its busiest customers who managed to log over one million miles on his manual 2007 Nissan Frontier. Now the company has offered him a trade: He gets a 2020 Nissan Frontier if he trades in his old one so the automaker can memorialize it. What’s funny is the two trucks, all those years between them, are almost the same.
Read MoreFord is developing a new compact pickup truck to slot under the Ford Ranger, which it’ll likely call the Ford Maverick. Everyone joked that it’ll be the rebirth of the old Ford Explorer Sport Trac, but actually it will reportedly be worse.
Read MoreI always thought those suction-cup window shades people put on Camrys and kid-carrying cars looked stupid, and I mean, they do. But they’re also pretty useful. And the ones that pull down around the door frame are even better.
Read MoreIf you’re an avid wrencher like me, and you’ve been living in a house covered in oil stains for years, be stained no more. I have a solution that may change your life.
Read MoreA miracle has happened. The 250,000 mile diesel, manual Chrysler Voyager that I bought sight-unseen in Germany for $600 actually runs and drives. Here’s how I made that happen and what problems I discovered after getting the machine on the road.
Read MoreLess than a mile into the trail, I crossed over a little plank bridge, over a small hump and then KERSNAP. I knew something was wrong, it just took me a minute to realize that two rather important parts of my bike had completely detached.
Read MorePunks, posers, and street racers of Los Angeles: Get used to this view. That’s right, my 300ZX is now fitted with two (2) of the finest, shiniest exhaust tips the Pep Boys on Sepulveda had in stock yesterday, taking the car to an elite level of tuning rarely seen on these streets.
Read MoreMy 1994 diesel manual Chrysler Voyager minivan, which I plan to live in for a month as I road trip through Europe, is now in my friends’ garage in Erlangen, Germany. It sits atop a hoist, giving me a great view of the vehicle’s faults. Here’s a look at everything I’ll have to fix on my $600 Austrian/Italian/American Chrysler minivan to get it through Germany’s absurdly strict inspection.
Read MoreSaturday was magical. It was the day that I arrived in Erlangen, Germany and first laid eyes on the Austria-built, Italy-sold, U.S.A.-designed, $600, 250,000 mile, diesel, manual, Chrysler Voyager minivan of my dreams. The van is even more glorious than I hoped it would be, and I didn’t think that was possible. Come on this tour with me, and you’ll understand why. Okay, you probably won’t, but join me anyway.
Read MoreI’m planning a road trip through Europe in a 250,000 mile diesel, manual Chrysler Voyager minivan that I bought sight unseen for $600 from a seller near Nürnberg, Germany. That’s over 4,000 miles from my Michigan house. My plan to fix the broken machine and turn it into a mobile apartment isn’t exactly what I’d call “failure proof,” as you will surmise upon reading the rest of this article.
Read MoreBack in June, the City of Troy, Michigan sent my landlord a letter explaining that, if I didn’t get the 11 cars on my property fixed and registered by July 31, bad things would happen. Over the following six weeks, I wrenched as hard as I possibly could, and though I had an engine to rebuild and a front axle to mend, I somehow pulled it off.
Read MoreI’ve been having a hard time with my Volkswagen lately. A few months back the engine decided to relieve itself of all of its oil, and my efforts to fix the problem have been unsatisfactory. It felt like the car was getting away from me. Then I fixed the trunk release cable.
Read MoreI have a complicated relationship with my Nissan Z. Since I inherited it in 2017, I’ve liked it enough to keep it, but not enough to spend serious money on it. When the pandemic encouraged home hobbies, I realized this was my chance to become a better mechanic! At first, I had fun working on the Z. Then I hated it. Finally, random dudes from the internet showed up at just the right time, and now I love a car I haven’t driven in months.
Read MoreI’m flying to Germany today to prepare a $600 Chrysler Voyager (manual, diesel!) to act as a mobile apartment for a month-long, car-themed road trip through Europe. The second-gen Chrysler minivan, which I bought sight unseen, doesn’t run; it’s located over 4,000 miles from my Michigan home, in Nuremberg, Germany; and it has 250,000 miles on what many consider a highly unreliable engine. Oh boy.
Read MoreI can think of a few places where “social distancing” was the norm before our current global pandemic, but the You-Yank-It junkyard is definitely one. I masked and gloved up a couple of weekends ago and paid a visit to my local yard so I could see what treasures might be found. It turns out there were several.
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