Going by what I know from Hollywood, the bomb-disposal community has a firm definition for the strategic technique of blowing up a bomb you can’t defuse: a controlled explosion. A Polish bomb squad just demonstrated what an uncontrolled explosion looks like, but thanks to them, nobody was hurt.
Read MorePete lives in New England and now has the duty of chauffeuring his older parents around. He needs something comfortable, affordable, with good seats and easy ingress and egress. He has about $15,000 to spend. What car should he buy?
Read MoreCare By Volvo is the automaker’s alternative to leasing or financing a new vehicle, offering instead a subscription program starting at $650 per month covering insurance, tire protection, maintenance and other services on a new car. And now you can swap out for another new ride after only four months.
Read MoreWhether you are on board with the concept of leasing vehicles or think it’s a terrible financial decision, you may be curious to know what the payment numbers would look like on one of the world’s fastest and most expensive cars.
Read MoreGenesis may have arrived late to the SUV party, but at least it can pull off fashionably late. This beautiful vehicle is in the real world now, after a slight delay due to COVID-19, and it is in a good position to plug a hole in the Genesis lineup while making the brand all of the money.
Read MoreAs Jalopnik’s resident car-buying expert and a professional car shopper, I get emails. Lots of emails. I’ve picked a few of your questions and will try to help out. This week we are discussing whether or not an older couple should buy or lease what will likely be their last car and the best way to off-load a fairly new truck.
Read MoreJohn lives in New York City, but his city friends are leaving either as a result of the pandemic or because they’re off to grow a family. He values these friends and wants to visit them — and he also would like to enjoy the outdoors beyond the city. So he’s looking for something affordable that is also good for camping. What car should he buy?
Read MoreWe knew this day would come, but we were hoping to squeeze another year or two out of our 2008 Sienna XLE. The van, however, had other plans. After a few clues that it was about to give up, the van expired. That put me on the journey to spend about $75,000 on a Honda Odyssey.
Read MoreThe Hyundai Veloster N, a favorite around these parts, will start the new model year at $32,250, up $4,650 over the 2020 MSRP of $27,600. It might seem a steep hit, but the 2021 car has effectively graduated to another class.
Read MoreAs Jalopnik’s resident car-buying expert and a professional car shopper, I get emails. Lots of emails. I’ve picked a few of your questions and will try to help out. This week we are discussing when used-car inventory will return to normal and the best strategy for trading a Subaru on a Toyota 4Runner.
Read MoreAs cars are increasingly driven by computers, and the process of driving becomes further detached from human engagement, the class of pure enjoyment-focused track weapons is likely to see continued growth. And now the Ariel Atom 4, the ultimate track toy and work-life balancing tool, has been updated to satisfy where other new cars no longer can.
Read MoreDominic has a 2008 Kia Rondo that has treated him well. But now it’s time for something a bit more recent, a car with some modern safety tech so that he can feel more comfortable with his teenage daughter at the wheel. It also needs to be comfortable for taller people but manageable for a new driver. What car should he buy?
Read MoreIt comes as no surprise that a Ford dealer is marking up a Mustang GT500. This happens every time similar cars come onto the market. But what is almost impressive is how exactly they describe their online price.
Read MoreWhile all of us wish that the country could start to return back to normal, the coronavirus continues to have an impact not only on the automotive market but the larger economy. Recently, I’ve had several conversations with car buyers who planned to pay cash for their purchase, thinking it was the safer play. Here is why this may not be the case.
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 downsizing payments on multiple cars and buying new cars instead of used while there’s an inflated market for pre-owned vehicles.
Read MoreThe Aston Martin Vantage seems to be suddenly popular with big-budget drivers in Los Angeles. I get why. It’s an extremely cool-looking alternative to the ubiquitous Porsche 911 and might even be flashier than the Mercedes AMG GT. Noise is impressive, too.
Read MoreChris needs a car to get him through college because his ’86 Cutlass Supreme is currently a work in progress. He needs something affordable and spacious, ideally with respectable fuel economy and three pedals on the floor. What car should he buy?
Read MoreAt this moment, I think the cheapest new car you can buy in America is the Chevrolet Spark, which in its manual shift, LS trim level starts at $14,395. By U.S. market standards, it’s a hell of a deal. But I just drove a car that sells for about $10,000 less than that new, and in comparison to what you get with the Spark at more than three times the cost, this incredibly cheap little machine seems pretty damn amazing. The car is a Renault Kwid, and like it or not, I’m going to tell you about it.
Read MoreThe Mercedes G-Class is the ultimate socialite mobility vehicle for obvious reasons. Its look is simultaneously flashy and classic with a good whiff of Fuck You energy. It’s surprisingly easy to drive in tight spaces and doesn’t mind potholes. Major revisions for 2019 made it even more easily wielded by basic bitches of all genders, but really, a U.S.-spec G still doesn’t make any kind of sense.
Read MoreSince 2020 continues to suck, it’s no surprise that Jaguar is killing off its best car that no one bought in the American market. The XF Sportbrake will not return to our shores for the 2021 model year. But if you have been itching to put a Jag wagon in your driveway, there aren’t many left, so now is the time to act.
Read MoreThe 2021 Nissan Rogue is quieter, quicker and more interesting to look at than the aging current model, but is still built for mass appeal. Can it tempt more CUV buyers into the Nissan family? That remains to be seen.
Read MoreAs Jalopnik’s resident car buying expert and professional car shopper, I get emails. Lots of emails. I’ve decided to pick a few questions and try to help out. This week we are talking about trying to stop the spam calls about your car’s warranty and whether a late model M5 is a risky long-term purchase.
Read MoreBen was doing very well in amateur competition with his Subaru BRZ until the car got wrecked at the track. He wants to replace it and get back on the podium, but he would like to have more ponies under the hood. With up to $40,000 to spend, what car should he buy?
Read MoreNo automaker ever wants to see its cars recalled, but Polestar has suffered this fate twice in a month with its Polestar 2. Yes, there’s a different problem from last time.
Read MoreThe whole concept of Halloween is pretty much a no-go in 2020. Wandering around the streets and letting strangers hand you candy that they’ve touched? Not a smart plan in the middle of pandemic. Because of that, a lot of cities across North America have decided that the traditional Halloween trick-or-treating just isn’t going to happen this year, but some places have decided that they’re still going to host a spooky Halloween—you’ll just have to drive up to it.
Read MoreWaymo just released a huge amount of data covering the 6.1 million miles its cars have driven since January 2019. The data includes details about the 47 collisions Waymo’s cars have been involved in during that period, which is an uncommon amount of transparency in an industry sorely lacking in it.
Read MoreFCA is sometimes slow to the party, and one particular area where we’ve yet to see much action is with a fully electric pickup truck. Ford, Tesla, Rivian, Lordstown Motors and most recently, General Motors, are all on the record with their commitments. During Wednesday’s third-quarter earnings call, FCA CEO Mike Manley stated there would be an “electrified Ram pickup” coming from the company, though. Manley did not provide any details about what to expect from the electrified Ram.
Read MoreYou know how I foolishly insist on making these posts about costumes for your car nearly every Halloween? And you know how you all called me names when you didn’t think I’d hear you and pelted me with roots and tubers and assorted offal? Well, now, thanks to the grim specter of the Coronavirus, it actually seems like dressing up your car in a costume and not leaving it will be the safest, most rational way to enjoy Halloween! Who’s laughing now, you monsters? Me, that’s who, me!
Read MoreThe Volkswagen Golf R as we knew and loved it is sadly dead forever, but the good news is the automaker just teased the reveal of the all-new eighth-generation model to debut this Wednesday. So far we know it’s got the clean new VW logo and a clean new R badge, and it’ll come in blue. Great start.
Read MoreI’ve never made a secret of my status as a Mahindra-stan and more generally, as an Indian cars-stan. I really admire the enthusiasm and creativity that the Indian auto industry puts into building really usable, really cheap cars. I’m not sure any other country in the world manages to approach the very bottom end of the car market with as much vigor as India does, and a great example of this is Mahindra’s new electric car, the Atom.
Read MoreWe used to do a thing on this site called Traffic Jams and man, I loved posting Traffic Jams. TJs turned into the Erin Good Time Playlist for a while there. Then our golden idol, The Merciless Google, decided it didn’t like websites with such short posts so we stopped doing them. But I will still occasionally hear a song and I will just want to share it with all of you.
Read MoreRemember yesterday when we were talking about all of the confusion and scrutiny that the video purporting to show the SSC Tuatara setting a record production-car-on-public-road speed of 331 mph was generating? Well, just to make sure this heaping helping of clusterfudge is even fudgier, the driver of the car for the record attempt, noted racer Oliver Webb, has released a video on Instagram admitting even he doesn’t know what the hell is going on, either.
Read MoreIf an artist writes enough music, they’re going to eventually touch on a lot of subjects repeatedly. But it seems that for John Darnielle, songwriter, singer and creator of the Mountain Goats, that cars and driving are a constant thread through his work. Darnielle is incredibly prolific. He started recording under the Mountain Goats name in the early ’90s and has put out about an album every few years since then.
Read MoreThe Nissan Z Proto, 400Z, the 370Z update with the 400-horsepower twin-turbo 3.0-liter VR30...whatever you want to call it, it’s here in America and it looks so much better out of the confines of Nissan’s Japanese press tour. It helps that it visited Chris Forsberg Racing, probably the best modern Z shop in the country.
Read MoreWe knew the Genesis SUVs were coming and Thursday Genesis officially unveiled all of its new GV70. The car is Genesis’ second SUV following the very beautiful GV80, and it is just as slick as its sibling.
Read MoreMitsuoka, arguably the world’s most important carmaker, has released its first-ever SUV. Sure, you could argue that Mitsuoka is a bit late to the SUV game, but a better way to look at it is that Mitsuoka waited until they could do it the right way. And, of course, the right way is giving a Toyota RAV4 the face of an early ’80s Chevy K5 Blazer. It’s called the Buddy, and I think I love it.
Read MoreFord said Wednesday that it brought in $2.4 billion in net income for the third quarter, which is a lot more than what analysts were expecting and signals that auto industry is slowly but surely getting back to normal. Well, “normal.”
Read MoreI was thinking of ways to properly introduce myself here. Do I write an article about a new car? Do I launch my project? News? No, I think I’ll dive right into the deep end by introducing my expansive vehicle fleet.
Read MoreThe internet has pretty much turned the entire world into cranky roommates, with everyone knowing everyone’s business all the time. While sometimes this can be maddening, other times I kind of appreciate the fact that any major claim will be subjected to truly remarkable levels of scrutiny. This goes for major claims like, oh, SSC (formerly Shelby Super Cars) North America’s claim that its new Tuatara ran 331 mph, with a two-way average speed of 316, busting the record for a production car on a
Read MoreRecent automaker releases have brought (or will bring before long) a new Hummer, new Ford Bronco, new Toyota Supra, new Nissan Z, new Honda NSX and even a new Gordon Murray F1-inspired road car. But I’m still mad that we never got these two compact Chevy sports cars from 2012, for example.
Read MoreIf some of you haven’t noticed yet, I’m one of the new writers here on Jalopnik. I’m sure there were more than a few questions from my post last week wondering, “Who the hell is this guy?”
Read MoreWay back in July 2013, Aston Martin and Mercedes announced that they would partner up so Aston could use AMG engines and some Merc electronics, in exchange for Merc getting a small Aston stake. Today, the two companies said that their relationship is significantly growing beyond that.
Read MoreI will be driving a BMW X6 M Competition to Monticello Raceway in New York tomorrow to join BMW for its East Coast test fest, where I’ll get to drive the new 4 Series, updated 5 Series, BMW M2 CS and the new Alpina XB7, which I’ve been told I can drive on a track.
Read MoreWhile I was doing a bit of research this week for that extended vans post, I realized something I don’t believe I’d ever realized before: AMC never made a van. How could that be? A major (well, you know, close) U.S. automaker not even trying to get a taste of that sweet, sweet municipal water department fleet-van pie? It makes no sense. I also didn’t realize how close AMC came to getting into the minivan game in the ’80s, either. I’ve got a lot of AMC van-related growing up to do, so join me, wo
Read MoreHarley-Davidson is in the dumps and has been in the dumps for a while, though its still-newish CEO has said he has a plan. That plan is, basically, getting smaller and trading on exclusivity. In the short-term, it appears to be working.
Read MoreLucas Fletcher is an instrumentation technician at an oil refinery in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and he’s also a diehard Nissan fan. But when his former National Guard Sergeant told him about an RX-7 collection up for auction in Kansas, Lucas decided to branch out and take a peek at some twin-turbo rotary Mazdas. What he discovered in a storage locker is so astonishing, it has captured the imagination of Mazda RX-7 enthusiasts around the world.
Read MoreSometimes we here at Jalopnik worry about drivers becoming too dependent on the high-tech features in their cars to do the thinking and driving for them. There is a AAA study that suggests those fears aren’t unfounded. But as a car enthusiast, if you have daily access to such high-end safety features, how much do you trust the technology?
Read MoreTesla has been on a bit of a run in the past several months, defying expectations that the pandemic might slow it down. Tesla’s to-do list now contains just a few items. Mainly: Make better batteries and expand as fast as possible.
Read MoreOne of the things I like so much about workhorse vans is how much they tend to blend into the background texture of modern reality. There always seems to be some around somewhere near you, busily doing their jobs and not making a big thing about it. But I’d like to make a big thing out of a thing made big: the clunky joy of extended vans.
Read MoreSpy photos preview what appears to be an upcoming track-only Bugatti Chiron supercar, which had its X-shaped taillights teased last week. We can now see those taillights are shaped like that to get out of the way of the aerodynamics around the rear wheels and surround an awesome quad-exhaust stack.
Read MoreLet’s be honest, here, you knew this was coming. We teased it even and, besides, what’s the point of having the World’s Cheapest Electric Car if you’re not going to take it to the man who’s arguably the world’s leading expert on how much it costs to build cars? There is no point without that, that’s what, so that’s why I trucked 800 or so pounds of Changli all the way to Detroit. I wanted Sandy Munro to get a really good look at the thing and tell me what he thought. And that’s exactly what happ
Read MoreAre you confident enough in your DIY skills that you’d feel comfortable installing a high-voltage charging station in your home to maintain your electric vehicle? A recent survey shows that 25.5 percent of Americans that own an electric car with a Level 2 charger think they are.
Read MoreI’m fairly certain that everyone is convinced their state has the worst drivers. I’ve lived in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Texas, and I’ve felt that each of those states had to be populated by the worst drivers in the world. I’ve driven across the country countless times and found myself thinking, yep, this state is the worst. But a new study from QuoteWizard is shaking all my expectations.
Read MoreMercedes is blew its electric sports car lead, but Mercedes is still Mercedes, meaning that even if Porsche is out here with the Taycan and Tesla is out here with the Model S Mercedes still has the financial might to catch up. In interviews this week, its executives say that that’s exactly what they’re trying to do.
Read MoreWe have relatively affordable electric cars. We have relatively popular electric cars. But we have not yet had the best-selling car in America be electric.
Read MoreUber and Lyft, two companies that have never turned profits, really want you to believe that their very existence in California is riding on Proposition 22. That very well may be, but not because there is anything wrong with California state law. It will be because Uber and Lyft’s business models rely on worker exploitation.
Read MoreThe illuminated Mercedes-Benz star badge option has a problem with its electrical ground connection, according to a recall notice posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The issue could potentially lead to malfunctions of the car’s windshield wipers, left headlight or power steering, which sounds like it could possess your car.
Read MoreCar jumps! We’ve all seen them a million times, done by professionals or not. And so I don’t know why seeing Travis Pastrana jump a Subaru WRX over some water at a marina in Maryland on Thursday was such a delight, but it was. It feels like a throwback to a simpler time.
Read MoreI’ve been a car fancier for a long time, but it took me a while to get into racing. My parents weren’t fans, and it wasn’t really a thing among the people I grew up around, so it never stuck with me. Stick-and-ball sports were way more accessible. Even if I wasn’t great, at least I could play them and gain some familiarity with the rules and concepts.
Read MoreA good way to make yourself upset is to log on to the UK website of virtually any automaker and gawk at all of the amazing small and electric cars that are sold in Europe but aren’t sold here, for reasons. Fiat is adding another one more to the shelf with the Fiat 500 3+1.
Read MoreI guess you might call this new upload by Alexi Smith of NoriYaro fame a street driving video, but that would be focusing solely on the boring parts. It’s a few snapshots of tuner-car culture in Japan in the early 2000s, and it includes one of the best car mods I’ve seen in a while. That’s a little TV screen in those taillights.
Read MoreEveryone, drop everything you’re doing — let go of that belay line, put down those defibrillator paddles, take your hands off that steering wheel, because there’s a question about taillights that needs your attention. While I’m pretty sure I’ve idly contemplated this, the actual straightforward question came from a post by our pals in the Malaise Motors Facebook group: What was the first American car — as in American-built, for the American market — that had amber rear turn indicators?
Read MoreMore than two years after Tesla initially told Jalopnik it was investigating why multiple brand-new Model 3s had their rear bumpers ripped off while driving on wet roads, the company effectively admitted there was a fault with the design and will cover the damage under the vehicle’s warranty.
Read MoreTesla made a profit in the second quarter with the caveat that it was only profitable thanks to sales of regulatory credits, as opposed to pure car sales. Tesla’s third-quarter results—announced today—told a similar story but a slightly more convincing one this time.
Read MoreDe Tomaso, best known for the midengine Pantera yet still kicking in 2020 with its P72 model supposedly on the way, says that it is moving to the U.S. De Tomaso has long been based in Modena, Italy. It says the move to the U.S. is to save the American auto industry, or something.
Read MoreThe year 2020 has turned out to be in part an extended marketing push by GM to convince everyone that it’s all about electric now. It debuted an EV platform it pioneered decades ago, it debuted its family of EV powertrains, it tied up with Honda for EVs. And this week, it said it’ll be spending billions more on electric vehicles.
Read MoreTwenty-eight years ago GM launched the Hummer brand for a conspicuous consumption American audience. The brand took off and was everywhere for a while, until it wasn’t. When the economy imploded with the 2008 housing crisis, Hummer sales tanked worse than any of GM’s other brands, and by 2010 the big boy brand was dead. A decade on, the Hummer name is back as a GMC sub-brand with electric propulsion and distinctive off-roading capability. It’s unlike anything GM has ever built.
Read MoreThe best production car in the world at any given moment is usually said to be the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, though you could be forgiven for thinking the honor actually belongs to the Renault Alpine A110. The A110 checks all of the boxes: rear midengine, rear-wheel drive, dual-clutch transmission, almost 300 horsepower, real history. It weighs only a little more than 2,400 pounds, and it looks good.
Read MoreHere’s the iconic Beast of Turin Fiat being fettled at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. It should be swarmed by people with beards getting very excited that it exists. But now everything is different, and very strange.
Read MoreThe official reveal of the 2022 GMC Hummer EV is still more than nine hours away at this time, but it appears that the full look of the truck has been leaked inadvertently via online ads that, in at least one case, showed up on the iPad versions of the CNN website. A reader sent us a screenshot of the ad (which now seems to have been pulled), and it does show the full look of the upcoming least EV-feeling EV.
Read MoreIn the wise words of Homer Simpson, “I enjoy all the meats of our cultural stew,” but even an art stew connoisseur such as myself always felt opera was too high brow and dense to be accessible. That was before the Michigan Opera Theater’s production Twilight: Gods, a drive-thru Opera.
Read MoreAmong the many weird factoids about the ugliest American car ever, the Pontiac Aztek, one of the wackiest is the fact that GM offered a tent option to turn the versatile SUV into a camper. The accessory is quite rare so when a Jalopnik reader managed to find one in a junkyard he had to save it. Then, on the way home with tent in tow, he had a brilliant idea.
Read MoreI’ve been writing about Nobe, a small Estonian start-up that’s hoping to build a genuinely charming little electric car, for a few years now, and while I love the car I have to admit that they haven’t exactly had it easy. First, there’s the difficulty of starting up any new car company, and on top of that, they suffered a crippling fire that destroyed most of their prototypes. But don’t count them out. Nobe has recovered and made a great decision: they’ve partnered with Sandy Munro. Yes, that Sa
Read MoreI feel like this is a picture I’ve encountered before in various places, most recently on the r/WeirdWheels subreddit. It’s an oddly lifted Model T, and the caption suggested it was some sort of dealer-installed “high water kit.” But not everything really checks out, and it’s so delightfully strange, I figured perhaps we’d all enjoy discussing whatever the hell this is. So let’s do just that.
Read MoreIt looks as if Bolivia elected a new president today and not only is Elon Musk getting thoroughly dunked on, but Tesla stock is down. Why? Because Elon set himself up for failure on Twitter, of course.
Read MoreThe Romanian automaker Dacia unveiled a new electric car this week, one that looks very Dacia and that Dacia says will be the “most affordable electric car in Europe.” The car is a sad reminder that affordability is a thing companies are competing to do there and not a thing companies are competing to do here.
Read MoreEditor’s Note: On October 10 an SSC Tuatara was clocked at a two-way average of 316.11 miles per hour on a closed section of Nevada State Route 160 outside of Las Vegas. You’ll no doubt read on the internet today that this is a new world record for production cars on a public road, but the speed data, gathered in accordance with Guinness record rules, has yet to be certified.
Read MoreUsed to be, when a company announced the death of a manual transmission option for just about any given model, we’d all freak out and start cursing that company’s name. These days, n it seems those announcements are met with a resigned shrug. The writing is on the wall, if not because the older people who can actually afford to buy new cars don’t tend to have the vigor to drive stick, then definitely because the EV makes transmissions with more than a couple gears unnecessary.
Read MoreWhat do you get for the car enthusiast who already has everything (yourself included)? It can be hard to find automotive memorabilia that’s not: 1) a car, 2) expensive, or 3) tacky. RM Sotheby’s, though, is hosting a week-long auction to sell off a collection of old automobile mascots and hood ornaments. It’s a great place to get your hands on some cool—and unique—pieces of history.
Read MoreThe new electric Hummer is going to debut next week, which is exciting for everyone involved but the fact is that GM has made electric cars for nearly a decade now. Except now GM really, really wants you to know that it’s all about electric and all things future.
Read MoreCyberpunk 2077 is a complex and overwhelming game according to Kotaku that I also can’t wait to play. It comes out in November, and includes lots of cars but only one based on something real: a 1977 Porsche 911 Turbo Carerra. Porsche even made a real version that runs and everything, for some reason.
Read MoreThe 41-year-old motorcycle racing G.O.A.T. announced Thursday on Twitter that he woke up not feeling well and immediately submitted himself to testing for the global hell virus that has plagued us these many months. The initial quick test result was negative, but a second more trustworthy test was sent off to labs and confirmed a positive result. Because Vale will now need to quarantine until he recovers, he will be forced to miss both this weekend’s race at Aragon as well as next weekend’s.
Read MoreWe’ve seen a great variety of engine swaps for the new Toyota Supra. Wait, no we haven’t! We’ve pretty much seen only 2JZ swaps, struck down by god. What we need is something different. We need something that is good enough for a Le Mans car.
Read MoreA tipster emailed us a photo of a bunch of parked Uber cars in Pittsburgh last week, raising some degree of alarm that perhaps Uber had scuttled its program for autonomous vehicle operation. This was an exciting possibility for a short while, at least until Uber said it definitely was not shutting down the program.
Read MoreIt’s time to do my monthly check-in on Bollinger, the electric truck startup that I really hope can pull this off. Bollinger so far has forged a path of sensible progress, as opposed to—to use two recent examples—Lordstown Motors and Nikola. Founder Robert Bollinger said this week its slow and steady strategy wasn’t changing.
Read MoreWe leased a Toyota Highlander in July of 2019. We always lease because the economics usually work out for us: We live in a city, so we never exceed our mileage limit; we can budget with minimal concern over unexpected repairs; and we just kind of like new cars. Something about the lack of commitment beyond a few years is comforting, particularly when so much of our life has felt pretty locked in since we decided to have children and start our family.
Read MoreElon Musk’s other Earth-based transportation company, the Boring Company, has so far been living up to its name by digging featureless underground tunnels. These tunnels were once going to be the backbone of a wildly futuristic transportation system that used tubes with the air extracted to form a vacuum, through which magnetically levitated pods would bolt at incredible speeds. Then it became just a tunnel with a Tesla driving through it. If you’re disappointed, don’t be — Elon assures us that
Read MoreThe price of the Tesla Model S electric sedan may have just taken a pretty healthy price cut earlier this week, but it isn’t enough to beat the new competition. The Lucid Air electric sedan will go on sale for $77,400, or $69,900 after factoring in U.S. tax credits.
Read MoreOn Tuesday afternoon, VW took the covers off of its new sub-Tiguan compact crossover, the 2021 Volkswagen Taos, which is intended to compete with the Kia Seltos and Chevy Trailblazer. The Taos brings Volkswagen’s modular MQB platform into a slightly smaller segment vacated when the Tiguan grew into a bigger-sized three-row crossover a couple of years ago. It brings nothing new to the table, but will still somehow sell by the truckload.
Read MoreI suspect that everyone reading this at one time or another has felt some kind of speed-related intoxication; a sort of mildly altered state of excitement and engagement because, for reasons that seem to go against everything you’d think evolution would have taught us, going fast is fun. But long before people actually were going at any speeds even close to what we’d consider fast, there were people freaking out about the very idea of it all. The freaking out was even given legitimacy through ac
Read MoreSpy photos taken at the Nürburgring of a new Toyota Yaris GR prototype with a lot of upgraded aerodynamic kit have been spreading around the internet, suggesting we’re going to get an even hotter version of one of the most exciting new cars in a long time.
Read MoreWealth buys you a lot of freedom. Freedom to do whatever dumb crap you want to do. (Which for most wealthy people means working until they die to accrue more wealth. Something I will never understand). But in the European Union, you aren’t even afforded the freedom to spec your custom Rolls-Royce however the heck you want! I’m sorry, did I wake up in communist China this morning? Who cares if the extra light from an illuminated Spirit of Ecstasy causes unnecessary light pollution?
Read MoreThe Hyundai Santa Fe has been with us for 20 years now, and while Hyundai has had hybrids in its stable for half that time the Santa Fe has only sort of been electrified once. Until next year, that is.
Read MoreIt’s safe to say that Toyota’s hydrogen-powered cars haven’t exactly been flying off dealer lots. This has a lot to do with the fact that it’s almost impossible to find hydrogen fueling stations outside of Southern California, and that the original Mirai was trouser-damagingly ugly. Recently, though, Toyota seems to have pivoted to a new niche market: Popes. And it looks like they’ve captured an impressive 50 percent of that market so far.
Read MoreWhat’s not to like about Gymkhana? Sure, some have been better than others, but even a bad Gymkhana is a fun way to spend ten minutes. Ken Block first launched the series in 2008 with an impromptu tire shredding session on an old airfield that set the world, and early YouTube, on its ear. It was the perfect thing for that moment of internet virality, and it tested that theory to its upper limits. Now the series is being (likely temporarily) handed off to a new driver in the legendary Travis Past
Read MoreThose of us who drive cars with significant amounts of power will be familiar with the unrelenting Call of the Track. It’s a powerful, unwavering urge one gets after holding back from unleashing your car’s full power on public roads. It’s a yearning for freedom, for speed, for releasing the unbridled, unconstrained power lurking ever-present under your right foot.
Read MoreTimes are tough, finances are tight, and now Mazda is looking to offer a little bit of relief to those who have gone above and beyond to help and support their communities. Fifty lucky folks who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to their communities will each receive a 2020 Mazda MX-5 Miata 100th Anniversary.
Read MoreGrowing up, there were two things I loved more than anything: fast cars and Van Halen. If you could stick those two things together, all the better—and my family often did. My dad would make mix tapes of his favorite Van Halen songs to play at max volume while we went cruising in our 1989 Grand Prix Turbo. In my mind, the two things are inseparable. The wailing riff from Eddie Van Halen’s guitar, the heart-thudding roar of an engine—they’re one and the same. They’re made for each other.
Read MoreSome of you may recall that I just took the World’s Cheapest EV™, the Changli, out on a glorious tour of racing and discovery, and one of those stops was to the undisputed Wizard of Taking Cars Apart and Looking at Every Little Freaking Thing, Sandy Munro. Munro and Associates are the leader in evaluating how much it costs to build cars and all kinds of products, so there’s no one better to show the grand mystery of the Changli than Sandy.
Read MoreWe’ve got new generations of the Mercedes-Benz GLS, Mercedes GLA, Nissan Rogue and Ford Explorer, in addition to entirely new cars like the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, Genesis GV80 and Ford Bronco, so a new fourth-generation Acura MDX arrives in the face of plentiful competition. I’m probably forgetting a lot of others! Sheesh, do automakers ever know where the money is.
Read MoreAmerica and Japan have given the world probably the most famous low car styles there are: lowriders in the States, bosozoku and shakotan in Japan. Low as they may be, these cars don’t have all that much in common. Just ask Shin Sato, who made his name in Japan building them all.
Read MoreWaymo has been giving rides in autonomous cars in Phoenix to invitees for almost two years now, but it said Thursday that it would open up the program to the general public. Which prompted Tesla CEO Elon Musk to chime in, for some reason.
Read MoreA bit over a year ago Amazon introduced the “climate pledge” to drive the fourth most valuable company in the world to net zero emissions by 2040. One major step in that pledge was the introduction of a new Rivian-built fleet of electric delivery vans. Amazon announced on Thursday that it had received the first of its 100,000-unit order. For the pledge to come true, Amazon will need to act quickly, as the company’s carbon footprint grew 15 percent in 2019 (when it made this pledge).
Read MoreI’m sure almost every one of us has been in this position at some point in our lives: you’re bored and stuck at some school or work situation, in conditions where you can’t be online, you don’t have access to your phone, or books, or even an open window. You’re mind-numbingly bored. But there are some office supplies, specifically one of those pink erasers and some thumbtacks. You know what to do from here.
Read MoreAston Martin first teased the upcoming V12 Speedster way back in Januaury, banking on the fact that rich people would want a whole-ass other million-dollar supercar that isn’t much faster than any other car in its lineup, but also has the inconvenience of a permanently open roof. Ferrari did it with the Monza SP1 and SP2, and McLaren is delivering the Elva. They sold well enough, so Aston figured why not?
Read MoreYou might remember a different time, the summer of 2018, when Elon Musk said that Tesla had a saboteur on its hands. That set off a legal battle that may have finally ended last month. Tesla said this week it had uncovered a new alleged saboteur.
Read MoreIt has been long rumored that the hypercar fancy folks over at Bugatti were considering development of an all-new second model to sell in the lineup. Despite record sales on the back of the new Bugatti Chiron, the Covid-19 pandemic has stalled any plans for the future car.
Read MoreMercedes might have blown a huge electric sports car lead, and its new electric van gets less than 100 miles of range. But today Mercedes revealed a bit more in the works, with electric versions of the S-Class, E-Class, GLA, GLB, GLE, and GLS as well.
Read MoreJust last year we were happily shocked to hear that the Jaguar XF Sportbrake, a stunning, supercharged sleeper power wagon most people probably don’t even know they can buy in America, was returning for another year. Well, that was fun while it lasted.
Read MoreIt truly is a dark day for American luxury car buyers. First, we lost the Jaguar XE and XF Sportbrake, and now Mercedes-Benz executives have reportedly determined that the development of manual transmission in its cars is too expensive, so the company won’t make any more. The Mercedes manual is dead.
Read MoreOkay, it’s time to dream a little. You’ve had the weekend to mull existentialism, now it’s time to think about two-wheeled conveyances that you’d like to join your garage for shenanigans, hooliganism, and chicanery. Earlier today I was waltzing around a multi-brand motorcycle dealership showroom—Fox Powersports in Grand Rapids, Mich.—trying to figure out which of the bikes there I’d most like to take home while the one I was riding had a service.
Read MoreTesla is an outlier among carmakers for a large number of reasons. They’re the only mainstream all-electric carmaker, they have a much greater cultural impact than most other carmakers, their CEO is likely the only one of all the major car companies that any random person off the street could name, and, significant to what I want to talk about here, they handle media very differently from everyone else. Specifically, they ignore us.
Read MoreI’ve been recently thinking about the last time Americans seemed to have collectively lost their minds: the Cold War. Pondering this time period led me down a YouTube rabbit hole where I learned that during the chilliest portions of the Cold War, Chrysler V8s were used to power the loudest air raid sirens ever built.
Read MoreBefore the Toyota Yaris GR, Mazda 3 Turbo, Hyundai Veloster N and the rest of the current incredible pack of affordable performance cars, there was the Subaru BRZ and its Toyota twin. Subaru hasn’t given up on its boxer-powered sports coupe, and now there’s a second-gen to take on all that competition.
Read MoreI know we’ve covered Tesla’s chronic quality control issues here before, and I realize that among hardcore Tesla-stans this may feel like we’re picking on Tesla unfairly but in our defense, Tesla really does have some terrible quality issues. Sometimes we get a really dramatic and baffling issue, like this one where the fucking roof flew off a brand-new Model Y while the car was being driven home. Yes. The roof flew off.
Read MoreA 17th person has died in the U.S. because of a faulty Takata airbag, according to Reuters. The biggest recall in automotive history has claimed yet another victim.
Read MoreThere are very few things a car can’t do these days, but the only thing it really needs to do is stop and go when we want it to. But it looks like all of the 2,200 currently delivered Polestar 2s will be recalled because they’ve been completely shutting down fo their own accord and failing to start again.
Read MoreWhen the automobile started taking the world by storm, it was pretty much a guarantee that the first customers would be rich folks and royalty. But maybe one of the most hard-partying, sport-loving kinds had to be Alfonso XIII of Spain. Now we can take an in-depth look at his 1911 Hispano-Suiza Type 45CR.
Read MoreIn the midst of economic uncertainty as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, luxury marque Lamborghini somehow managed to record its best-ever September throughout its 57-year history.
Read MoreAs COVID-19 began to take its toll in America, health officials and government leaders advised that we all stay home. Some states made that a mandatory requirement. It makes sense that overall traffic fatalities would decrease. Except, in exchange, fatalities per mile appear to have spiked.
Read MoreIn a very real, literal way, I ended up with my dream job here at Jalopnik because of a car, which seems fitting. I mean, I’m told that between articles pushing a heavy socialist agenda, we write about cars here. The car was one I absolutely loved, an interesting, rare car, and one I really found satisfying to drive and own. I just sold it. And, surprisingly, I don’t feel bad about giving up a car I really like. In fact, I feel great, and, for the first time in a while, I’m free from a lingering
Read MoreThe Torchinsky Files is back! Well, it’s not really like it ever left, since it’s just me down here in this basement where I spend hours and hours every day working but, look, I finally shot a new one! So I’m just happy to be back on track. And it’s a good one since it’s all about the origins of something we still see today: moral panics about violent video games.
Read MoreThe democratization of electric horsepower is upon us. You don’t really have to be an engineering nerd anymore to get a rack of batteries and an electric motor to power your project car. The good folks at EV West have devised a way to simplify the EV swap process, and it’s here in their new Revolt “crate motor”, complete with Tesla drive unit, custom gear reduction box, and an output flange to make your life a whole hell of a lot easier.
Read MoreThe Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 is the best new sports car that I’ve ever driven when evaluated on a per-dollar basis. Viscerally, it’s an absolute powerhouse of sensory stimulation that makes the world a better place with each degree that rev needle climbs. Sadly, this magnificent beast is getting the axe this fall. And I’m here to tell you: Sometimes it’s okay to let the tears flow.
Read MoreJim Farley’s first day as Ford’s new CEO is today. Related: There is also a big management shakeup.
Read MoreBack in the 1950s very little was known about automotive aerodynamics. Much was surmised, and several hypotheses were put to the test, but to most designers the art of shaping a car to cheat the wind was still a dark one involving white chalk Baphomets drawn on basement altars from Dearborn to Turin. When Alfa Romeo began unveiling its series of Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica concepts in 1953, they took the design world by shock and awe force.
Read MoreAn eagle-eyed reader in West Virginia spotted a coven of carefully disguised GM test vehicles in a parking lot and used an image-capture device, cunningly integrated into a portable radio-telephone, to take these pictures, which were then sent to us via electromagnetic-post. It’s all very advanced stuff, you see. The images show some interesting things, including what looks like it may be a new small GM electric car.
Read MoreWhile we’re all pretty much done fawning over the 2022 Hummer EV revealed by GMC last week, the automaker has released early design proposals that show different versions of the electric pickup truck we almost got.
Read MoreGM makes and sells a handsome, successful electric vehicle for around $4,500; it just doesn’t sell it here. How does it sell the rather nice-looking GM-Wuling Mini EV for so cheap? In part, because it doesn’t bother with things you don’t need, as a new English-language test drive of the car from Wheelsboy explains.
Read MoreAs I’m sure you’re all very much aware right now, GMC has resurrected its once infamous symbol of excess and goofily over-the-top machismo, the Hummer. In an exciting twist, it’s now electric, and the design, as massive and over-the-top as ever, is pretty striking, with a somewhat unexpected source of inspiration that I think works. I mean, a Hummer can’t be boring, right? Let’s dig in and see what this reborn Hummer’s look is all about.
Read MoreSuper-expensive car designs like the Rolls-Royces and Bentleys of the world have stayed neutral and nearly unchanged for decades. The legacy is the whole thing with those cars. But when a bunch of kids start drawing their dream Rolls-Royce designs, we actually get to see something interesting for once.
Read MoreThere’s something inherently exciting about the idea of having some little vehicle you can carry almost anywhere and just deploy as needed. Boom: You’re riding something, instead of walking like a filthy animal.
Read MoreAcura has done that weird thing of revealing what it would like us to believe is a concept vehicle but is actually a nearly production-ready version of the next-generation MDX three-row crossover. With the RLX luxury sedan now in its final year, the MDX becomes Acura’s flagship, and it promises to pivot on the brand’s hot new sportier approach.
Read MoreA couple of days ago, Twitter user Douglas Sonders showed the world some pictures of an abandoned car in Thailand that he got from a Facebook group. This car, so seemingly conventional-looking at a glance, has so far defied identification. And it’s driving me bonkers.
Read MoreIn one of the ruder things I’ve seen an automaker do in a while, Honda announced Friday that John Cena would be the voice of its new ad campaign. Cena will replace Honda’s current voice Fred Savage because Cena is tougher than Savage or something, which is weird because Savage’s last name is literally savage.
Read MoreNew patent images appear to show the upcoming all-electric Ford F-150 pickup truck may be available with the option of a bed-mounted range-extending engine.
Read MoreAkio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corp., is an avid motorsports fan, racing driver and sports car enthusiast, and he pours that passion into exciting new projects at the company. That includes standouts like the 2020 Toyota Yaris GR, a hot hatchback that benefited from his involvement, directly from the cockpit, since the very first prototype.
Read MoreThe Chevy Trailblazer is the fastest-selling car in America at the moment, so I felt it was my journalistic duty to figure out why. Rather, it was my duty to figure out if you’re all making some kind of mistake.
Read MoreWhen car enthusiasts think track cars, Bugatti probably isn’t the first marque that comes to mind. They’re fast, sure, buy they’re also heavy. Those W16 engines move a lot of weight to achieve the speeds they do. So, what would happen if Bugatti decided to build, you know, something not as heavy as your average aircraft carrier? The answering to that question may be found in a track special called the Bolide.
Read MoreI am an unabashed EV enthusiast, but even I will admit that there is very little on the market today that is dorkier than an electric crossover. Crossovers are boring and bland on their own, but add in the smug holier-than-thou self-righteousness of the typical owner and it’s an automatic automotive turn off. Mercedes-Benz likely knew that when it built the EQC, which is why the 2020 EQC 4x4² design study exists.
Read MoreAs I’ve made abundantly clear over the years, I’m downright pervy when it comes to my car interests, filled as they are with all kinds of weird fetishy-levels of interest in very specific things: taillights, packaging, cabover designs and so on. One of my other fetishes in cars is extreme utility, especially with a bit of modularity and some healthy absurdity. Opel’s largely forgotten 1983 concept car, the Junior, checks these particular car-perv boxes with lurid abandon.
Read MoreMan, it hasn’t even been a whole month since we’ve had to write up one of these look-at-this-moron-in-a-Tesla-abusing-Autopilot, but here we are. And I think it’s important to cover and mock people who do this, because it is deeply fucking stupid. Autopilot is not self-driving, remember. And, really, this is a story of two morons, the dude who pulled this shit and Tesla, the automaker that somehow allows this shit to keep happening.
Read MoreThe PT Cruiser has been the butt of many jokes over the years. I mean, just look at this ridiculous thing! It’s asking for it. A new video of moronic terrorists training to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer featured this most unlikely of terrorist vehicles.
Read MoreThe police just recovered a 1987 Chevrolet Camaro that was reported stolen way back in 1988. The car emerged from the depths of an Indiana reservoir earlier this week after a fisherman using a sonar device to search for lunkers discovered the vehicle and contacted authorities. The Camaro, it should surprise no one to learn, looks rough.
Read MoreJames May, former host of Top Gear and current co-host of The Grand Tour, has invested in a pub during one of the worst moments in history imaginable to do such a thing, but his main concern is renaming the restrooms.
Read MoreThe new Ferrari SF90 Stradale was never going to be slow, but I didn’t realize the 986-horsepower supercar could be fast enough around the Top Gear track to not only beat a LaFerrari but also to best the current track record, held by the Ferrari 488 Pista.
Read MoreYou might recall that earlier this week I wrote about my life-affirming adventure of taking the cheapest EV in the world to the racetrack. You also may recall that the cheapest EV in the world, the Changli, can only go about 28 miles per charge and tops out at under 25 MPH. This means to get to the track within a normal human lifespan, I needed to transport the 800-or-so pound Changli in some other vehicle. Luckily, Ford loaned me that other vehicle, an F-250, complete with a ramp kit that made
Read MoreLast year, my friend Brandon and I nearly lost our minds after we flew across the country to fix and road trip a rare, manual transmission Jeep Grand Cherokee. Now there’s an even cooler “Holy Grail” Grand Cherokee for sale just one state over in Illinois, and nobody’s buying it. It makes no sense!
Read MoreIf you’re like me, you probably spend an inordinate amount of time on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist looking at vehicles you could buy only if you sold your first-born or a nonessential organ. Occasionally you may just run into something weird. Maybe the find is a mystery Isuzu with a 6.5-horsepower engine or some outrageously expensive exotic that nobody should ever think about buying or selling on Facebook. This is one of those weird things.
Read MoreWhen it comes to things I think of as “Swiss,” I’d have to say Chevy Camaros are pretty down low on the list, between nachos and Kabuki theater. That may be why this particular Camaro is so fascinating: first, it’s in Switzerland, and B., it’s so very strangely customized that I’m genuinely baffled. All of the customizations are weird, but there’s one element for which I have no explanation. You’ll see.
Read MoreIf you’re the sort of person that savors the feeling of telling someone how much horsepower your car has and then seeing that wonderful look of amazement and disbelief, then boy are you in luck. See, there’s two ways to do that: either spend an absurd amount of money for something with 700+ horsepower, or drop a measly $500 on this Isuzu Amigo with an astounding 6.5 HP. I promise people will give you similar gasps of shock when you reveal that number. Maybe in a slightly different way, but still
Read MorePart of my obligation as a Jalopnik writer is to help readers score the vehicles of their dreams. At least, that’s how I’ll justify writing this post about the perfect 1990 Chrysler minivan—a turbocharged manual Dodge Caravan with a red interior!
Read MoreI think you can group the history of EVs into three distinct eras: First came the Archaic Period, which goes from the late 1800s to around 1935 or so. Our current era, which we may as well call the Tesla Era, I’d actually start with GM’s EV1 from 1997 and continue to today.
Read MoreThe following video has been out in the world for a couple of weeks but it escaped my attention until recently. Which was a shame, because it’s the most delightful argument against buying old sports cars that I’ve heard in a while.
Read MoreOne of my holy obligations as a Jalopnik writer is to make readers aware of quirky cars for sale at low asking prices. Think of me as an automotive match-maker—arguably one who will introduce you to a car that will ruin your life, but hey, it’s a free service. You don’t get to complain. Anyway, let’s talk about this Subaru 360 for sale in Minnesota.
Read MoreIt’s big bike season here at the resident Jalopnik bike nerd’s house, because Harley-Davidson dropped off this gorgeous Performance Orange Street Glide Special with a big-bore crate engine swap from The Motor Company’s Screamin’ Eagle aftermarket performance line. I’ve spent a little time on big ol’ baggers, but it’s probably the style of bike that I’m least accustomed to, so it’s nice to log some miles on this big orange bastard.
Read MoreEveryone’s favorite Swedish niche electric motorbike maker is back with another variant of its popular (?) Kalk two-wheeler, and this time its coming equipped as standard with an international one-make racing series. The Cake Kalk Race, available in OR (the white one) and INK (the black one) versions, will kick off the CAKE One Design Race series next spring.
Read MoreIt looks like Harley was working on another electric bike in addition to the LiveWire. Going on sale in March, the Serial 1 is to be the first bike from a new division Harley is spinning off called Serial 1 Cycle.
Read MoreHarley-Davidson has been struggling to find new, younger buyers. As a part of its initiative to reel in new riders, the Milwaukee company is venturing into categories it isn’t known for. The Pan America adventure-touring motorcycle is one of the bikes slated to be released as part of this initiative. The good news is that the Pan America has been spotted touring dealerships in Europe, with some supposedly taking orders already.
Read MoreAs I established in my review of the 2020 Grom, it’s an excellent around-town bop if you want to have a lot of fun on your commute while saving gas and looking cool as heck. For 2021, it looks like Honda will be giving the little Grom a massive makeover with some pretty nifty updates. The new mini Honda and its stats were released for the European market via Honda.co.uk. Presumably the U.S. spec 2021 will be announced soon. The chassis and 125cc engine will remain basically the same, but its got
Read MoreIt’s almost time for GM’s off-roading Hummer EV to launch, and just in time because Volcon just unveiled the perfect electric two-wheeled off-roader companion to the Hummer in its Grunt. The Grunt is a compact fat-tire trail bike something like the electric counterpart to the Rokon Trailbreaker. If you’re the kind of tree-hugger that likes to head out into the wilderness to experience it firsthand, the Grunt might be the bike for you.
Read MoreThe 2020 Ducati Diavel 1260 S is a big muscle cruiser with the soul of a sport bike. It is a great everyday ride that delivers impressive power and handling without sacrificing comfort.
Read MoreWhen I’m not riding motorcycles, I’m usually thinking about motorcycles, which in our modern buy-it-now instant gratification society usually means trying to find my next motorcycle. The old axiom contends that the correct number of motorcycles to own is X+1, where X is the number of motorcycles you currently own. When trawling through the online ads for something to add to my collection, I usually search for my holy grail, the OG style icon 1981 Suzuki Katana. That’s how I found this thing.
Read MoreThere isn’t much that gets me in a tizzy quicker than a well-customized motorcycle. But when it’s an electric motorcycle getting customized by the world-famous Michael ‘Woolie’ Woolaway in his last project for Deus Customs, my tizzy-meter is fully busted. It’s time to positively blow my top. I’ve gone gaga for this track-ready blend of modern and vintage. Just look how flippin’ cool this is!
Read MoreDucati is just toying with me now. I recently completed the first 2,500 mile half of a 5,000 mile round-trip on a Ducati with regular old dumb cruise control, and the company wait until now to unveil adaptive cruise and blind spot monitoring integration on its motorcycles? I guess they’re pretty much hoping I get killed by cruise controlling right into the Mansfield bar of a semi truck loaded down with a cross-country potato chip delivery.
Read MoreGenesis is doing great things with its vehicles. The G70 has gained almost universal praise for being a proper sports sedan and the new G80 and GV80 are both gorgeous inside and out. Sales, though, could definitely be better. Last year Genesis moved 21,233 vehicles.
Read MoreOne thing you’ll learn one day when you have your own car company is that there is no niche too small. So, if you think you can corner the market on 20th century stabbing enthusiasts, dualists, and general blade-based murderers, name your car after something from the culture and run with it. Like Sunbeam did!
Read MoreHyundai has expanded the N performance line to include a variant of the not-sold-in-the-U.S. i20. The i20 is the subcompact hatch that Hyundai’s successful WRC car is, more or less, based on.
Read MoreAh, the seventies. The era when families would pile into their well-polished, nacho-cheese-colored Mercury Montegos with a smoldering grill jammed in the trunk, driving around until they found a manicured lawn or golf course, and then set up a frenzied, ad-hoc BBQ until the roving bands of Police Wolves detected the scent of charring mutton and goose patties and drove them off. Good times.
Read MoreIt’s Friday, so how about another fun one? Early on in the pandemic, I made the decision to read The Uninhabitable Earth, or at least listen to it while I worked on cars at night. I still intend to finish it, but I didn’t make it through on my first try. It turns out that listening to the ways I was helping to make the world unlivable for my babies wasn’t the key to wrenching productivity, not in the way that listening to two people make fun of bad Kickstarters is. Still, I spend a lot of time r
Read MoreToyota announced Tuesday that it would be making a Class 8 truck powered by fuel cells and electricity. That is Class 8 as in tractor-trailer sized. It is also intended for the American market.
Read MoreAfter flying to Germany and spending over a month preparing a $600 diesel Chrysler Voyager for the country’s daunting TÜV inspection, I was confident. I’d replaced, fixed and adjusted dozens of faulty parts. With trained mechanics advising me, I was certain things would go swimmingly at the inspection center. But oh was I wrong. Here’s what happened when I took a 250,000-mile Chrysler minivan that I’d bought sight unseen through one of the toughest mandatory vehicle inspections on earth.
Read MoreA reader just sent in a bunch of photos of a white C4 Corvette filled with plants, twigs, a plastic bag (?), a muffler (??), and concrete (???). I don’t know what’s going on, but I figured I’d share it with you, dear readers. Update: It appears to be a famous Corvette!
Read MoreIt took Acura more than a decade to bring about a successor to its much-loved original NSX, but as today’s Nice Price or No Dice candidate shows, there’s no waiting for that successor on the pre-owned market. Let’s see just how much of a success its price proves to be.
Read MoreCarlos Abarth chose a scorpion for the logo of his namesake company, a nod to his astrological sign. In keeping with that arachnid’s physiognomy, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Fiat 600 packs some Abarth-inspired sting in its backend too. Let’s see how much its price might just sting.
Read MoreTaking on any project car can be daunting, and today’s Nice Price or No Dice Porsche 914 is no different. Still, with prices on these cars going through the roof of late, could that make its cost of entry worth the work?
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice Passat 4Motion has done less than 2,000 miles a year over the course of its life. Let’s see if that makes it worth digging into your life’s savings to buy it.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice Continental represents one of the last gasps of traditional American automotive luxury. That may make it an oddity today, but with a solid presentation and that old school kitsch, perhaps its asking price will overcome the odds of being too old-school for 2020 shoppers.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice BMW touts some pretty impressive numbers: 12 cylinders, 6 speeds — and 2 pop-up headlamps for good measure. Let’s find out if those all add up to another impressive number, its price.
Read MoreThe ad for today’s Nice Price or No Dice Jeep says the truck needs some work but that it’s all “relatively easy fixes for someone who knows what they’re doing” Let’s find out if this Cherokee’s price will make you feel like you know what you’re doing, should you choose to buy it.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Dodge is willing to take cash or make a trade for a car that’s even older. Let’s see which of those two options might be the better deal.
Read MoreWith a claimed 598 horsepower, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Mustang Cobra certainly packs all the ponies you could want. Will that make its price palatable, or will it make you think its seller is lower than a snake’s belly?
Read MoreOver the course of its existence, Nissan’s Pathfinder has morphed from a body-on-frame SUV to a unibody soft-roader, twice! Today’s Nice Price or No Dice edition hails from the first, and by far the most robust, version. Let’s see if that, and its condition, makes its price a path you might want to follow.
Read MoreWith its S40 T5 R-Design, Volvo adapted the company’s established sport-sedan recipe to a smaller package. Let’s see if the price on today’s Nice Price or No Dice ’10 edition is just as successful.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice Cadillac is almost a century old, and the seller claims that through all those years it has not been restored, only maintained. Let’s see if this classic’s price will restore your faith in the Cadillac brand.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Audi S4 says it’s a babied rare gem, and with its long Avant roofline, it’s plain that this baby got back. Let see if the price tag has you getting behind it all the way.
Read MoreIf a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? It would if it’s turned into today’s Nice Price or No Dice Harley. Let’s see if this custom bike’s price could have you saying “Yes I wood!”
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice Encore is so rare a sight that it’s likely many of you have never actually seen one in the metal. Let’s see if that makes its price worth this unexpected performance.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice 3 Series has a lovely interior, AWD and a six-speed stick. While those are all extremely desirable facets, the car’s rusty tailgate is far less of one. Let’s see what you might be willing to pay for this well-kitted but slightly wounded wagon.
Read MoreDespite the seller’s claim to the contrary, you don’t need to know who Lee Iacocca was to appreciate today’s Nice Price or No Dice Chrysler LeBaron. Let’s see if this blast from Mopar’s past is worth knowing at all.
Read MoreCadillac was once called the Standard of the World and yet as today’s Nice Price or No Dice CTS-V proves, standard just doesn’t cut it anymore. Let’s see what this custom twin-turbo monster might be worth.
Read MoreThe Esprit was Lotus’s longest-running model, and as proved by today’s Nice Price or No Dice SE, the body tweaks it received along the way were mostly all in its favor. Let’s see if this now-classic sports car is priced to continue its reign in the hands of a new owner.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice VehiCROSS says it’s in need of some TLC. Let’s see if its price reflects that need, or if it makes you say “GTFO.”
Read MoreWith the E60 edition, BMW created the ultimate M5, or at least the one with the ultimate cylinder count to date. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice M5 is a manual-shift example and has some very expensive engine work already under its belt. Let’s see if it’s priced to ultimately be a good deal.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice Porsche Boxster represents quite a conundrum. It has a 3.4-liter motor upgrade, but the seller says it’s in rough shape and either could be fixed to be streetable or (gulp) parted out. Let’s look at the car and its price to see which path would be more preferable.
Read MoreBMW’s new Volkswagen Golf GTI competitor is a tuned version its 1 Series hatchback. But instead of doing its usual naming tricks, BMW calls it the BMW 128ti, bringing back two little letters reserved only for “particularly sporty” cars.
Read MoreYou step outside your ranch house in Hayward, keys in hand. The sun is already bouncing back up to your eyes, shining off the acres of gleaming hood stretching out before you, bathed in Sport Gold Metallic. You’re getting into your Pontiac Firebird, you’re off on vacation, and it’s 2006.
Read MoreThere are no reported injuries and minor damage to two Airbus A320 aircraft after a small collision on the ground at Santiago Airport in Chile, though somebody on the ground crew is going to be in a lot of trouble.
Read MoreThe PA-24-250 Comanche was Piper’s shot at the high performance, retractable (landing gear), piston single (single piston engine) market. It was also the only light civil aircraft to come with four, six, and eight-cylinder options from the factory. It’s an important airplane, in its own way, and today we’re going to review it
Read MoreA study of COVID-19 infection rates on airplanes by the Department of Defense and United Airlines concluded that the risk of masked passengers being infected by the virus while flying was “virtually non-existent.” A lot of people thought that sounded fishy, and it turns out an infectious disease doctor who ran a similar study is one of those doubters.
Read MoreYou go through this world as most of us do, believing that to eclipse the max speed of a real P-51 Mustang by more than 100 mph with an R/C plane, you’d need to employ some form of propulsion, maybe a little turbine. But then, out of nowhere, you learn that actually no, the fastest R/C planes are gliders.
Read MoreIt’s always a good sign when your rookie season sees you promoted to the championship-winning team the following year. And that’s exactly what happened to Alex Palou, one of IndyCar’s shining rookies of the 2020 season. He may not have secured Rookie of the Year, but he got something even better: a move to Chip Ganassi Racing, where his teammates will be six-time champion Scott Dixon, 2020 IndyCar rookie Jimmie Johnson, and former Formula One driver Marcus Ericsson.
Read MoreThe last time Formula One raced at Imola, pole position was worth a lap time over one minute and 20 seconds. This year, Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas took pole with a 1m 12.609s time.
Read MoreIf you haven’t been following the SSC Tuatara record controversy, you’ve been missing out. In a nutshell: the SSC Tuatara team claimed its car set a speed record for a production car on a public Nevada road. Folks on the internet scrutinizing the video claimed that there was no way the car actually went 331 mph. The driver of the car doesn’t have any idea what’s going on. Now, the founder of SSC North America (formerly Shelby Super Cars), Jerod Shelby, has decided that the only thing to do is j
Read MoreBeing a Formula One driver is a tough life. You have to travel around the world to drive cars worth millions of dollars that are specifically designed to your tastes. You only get to stay in the nicest hotels. And at the track, you might not always be the fastest because your multi-million dollar team is, frankly, the public school equivalent to your private school competitors. And now, after all that, the series is going to start capping your salary! It is, truly, far more difficult an existenc
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 season of Formula One was originally planned to be a record-setting 22 races long. Obviously the global coronavirus pandemic had other plans, and the current schedule was reduced to 17 events late in the year in Europe or the Middle East. All flyaway events in Japan, Australia, and the Americas were cancelled for simplicity and safety. F1 has a plan to blow that short season out of the water, having delivered a schedule to teams for 2021 that will mean the longest and difficult season i
Read MoreYou must remember Kyle Larson, the NASCAR driver who used the n-word on a racing stream in April, was subsequently dropped from Chip Ganassi Racing, and lately has been on a redemption tour? Well, today it was announced that Larson will be back in NASCAR for 2021.
Read MoreThere is nothing quite like that feeling of dancing on the fine edge of adhesion. Getting a corner just perfectly right, braking straight and true, finding an early apex, and then powersliding out the other side. There are so many mechanical, chemical, historical, and mental forces at play here to make everything work just right, and when the outcome is this pretty, it just deserves to be celebrated.
Read MoreI have never in my life been so amped for a brand new class of motorcycle racing. MotoAmerica’s Drag Specialties King of the Baggers inaugural race at Laguna Seca looked awesome from the word go, and thankfully the on-track product lived up to every bit of the pregame hype. There is something so appealing about watching a dozen big beef boys with giant thumpy V-twins hauling ass around a legendary racetrack. America, Fuck Yeah, indeed.
Read MoreThe 2020 IndyCar Series finale, the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, marked the 15th year in a row that the championship battle came down to the final race, but Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon walked away champion.
Read MoreIt’s all happening. As the NASCAR season starts winding to a close, more and more drivers are announcing big moves. If you haven’t stayed on top of the news this week, don’t worry—we’ll get you caught up.
Read MoreThere’s yet another all-electric racing series coming to town. SuperCharge is a road car series with eight events planned for 2022. It aims to span Europe, the US, the Middle East, and China by bringing road-ready EVs to city streets across the globe. In a lot of ways, it sounds like Formula E’s compact utility vehicle equivalent.
Read MoreTo flesh out the 2020 Formula One season, The Powers That Be fleshed out empty weekends with tracks that have either never appeared in F1 before or haven’t been part of the calendar for years. Some have been fun, some have been boring—but whatever else happens, we need to keep Portimao on the calendar. And, to cap things off, Lewis Hamilton rewrote the history books by scoring his 92nd win, breaking the previous record set by Michael Schumacher.
Read MoreYamaha rider Franco Morbidelli had just about everything go his way at Sunday morning’s Tereul Grand Prix in Aragon, finishing two seconds ahead of his closest competition. It’s his second win of the 2020 season and a provides a s=olid improvement for his championship hopes.
Read MoreThree-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin will finally have his shot at an IndyCar Series debut. Originally scheduled to compete in the Indianapolis Grand Prix in May, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the New Zealander to put his open-wheel plans on hold. But today at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, he’ll be competing in IndyCar for the first time ahead of a full-time season in 2021.
Read MoreCarbon fiber changed the motorsport game when Formula One teams started using it to fabricate cars in the 1970s. A bunch of carbon atoms weaved together, carbon fiber is stiff, strong, and light—the perfect material from which to build competitive, aerodynamically-sensitive machines. But in an ecologically-conscious world, there might be a better option made from natural fibers that could outshine its originator.
Read MoreTomorrow’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg marks the IndyCar Series’ final event and the one that will decide the championship contender. But at the end of a messy qualifying session came a little bit of the familiar: Will Power took pole position for the last race of the year.
Read MoreThe Indy Lights series is the top run of the Road to Indy feeder series ladder that brings talent into the IndyCar series. And while the series took a break in 2020 as a result of COVID-19 and economic uncertainties, its return in 2021 will be marred by one big omission: the annual Freedom 100 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Read MoreFormula One has used hybrid engines since the 2014 season, and the technology is supposed to play a key role in the reduction of the series’ carbon emissions in the near future. But with Honda leaving as an engine supplier, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is skeptical that the series is actually promoting the hybrid power units the way it should.
Read MoreLocal authorities in New South Wales have advised everyone who attended last weekend’s Bathurst 1000 to be wary of COVID-19 symptoms after the virus was detected in a sewage sample taken from wastewater.
Read MoreJust before Saturday’s qualifying session at the Eifel Grand Prix, Racing Point driver Lance Stroll withdrew from the event, citing a mysterious illness that he noted at the time was not COVID-19. Now, two weeks later, the Canadian driver has admitted that, despite a negative test before the race weekend, he had indeed come down with COVID.
Read MoreFor the first time since 2004, a Japanese rider has taken a MotoGP pole position. Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami secured pole position at the Teurel Grand Prix in Aragon with a flying 1m 46.882s lap—just six hundredths ahead of Franco Morbidelli, his closest competition. It’s a great way to celebrate the fact that Nakagami signed new two-year deal with Honda on Thursday.
Read MoreAfter a half hour delay due to a broken drain cover, Formula One qualifying kicked off in cool temperatures at Portimao for the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix. And despite his teammate’s dominance of every other session, Lewis Hamilton pulled out a quick lap where it mattered most, securing his 97th career pole position of his career.
Read MoreWith former F1 driver Vitaly Petrov announced as this weekend’s Formula One race steward, many people are speaking out. Both Lewis Hamilton and LGBTQ+ group Racing Pride have protested the decision, citing Petrov’s recent criticisms of the Black Lives Matter movement, the LGBTQ+ community, and F1's We Race As One campaign which is designed to bring together disparate communities.
Read MoreThe NTT IndyCar Series championship is coming to a close on Sunday, and the battle for the Astor Cup has come down to the very last race. Right now, there are 19,872 different outcomes for championship contenders Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon to score points—and only one percent of those outcomes will secure defending series champion Newgarden another title.
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 only American-based Formula One team is committed to continuing its efforts in the series for at least another five years. It has been competing in the sport since it was formed in 2016, and have very little to show for that billion dollar plus investment. No podiums, and only 42 points finishes from 188 starts. Every race the team has had Romain Grosjean in one of its cars, and for the last four seasons the other car has been filled with Kevin Magnussen. At the end of this season, both driv
Read MoreOne of the weirder rivalries in Formula 1 ended rather abruptly when Nico Rosberg quit at the top, retiring from being Lewis Hamilton’s somewhat stressy teammate for the illustrious job of vlogging. Now it’s back, just in ExtremeE all-electric off-road racing.
Read MoreThe current Aston Martin DBS is a V12 supercoupe of terrifying speed. Indeed, it is a twin-turbo V12 rocketsled with over 700 horsepower. And it is nothing next to this Aston Martin Vantage from the early ‘90s, complete with a fantastic backstory and 2,800 horsepower.
Read MoreThe night of Kyle Larson’s incident I remember saying “Oh boy, someone in NASCAR is in deep shit” and she said “Did they say the N-word?” Shortly after the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, back in mid-April Kyle Larson proved that the negative connotations associated with NASCAR were true when he spouted a racial epithet over his online-racing comms as easily as if he were saying hello. And just six months after losing his team, sponsors, and NASCAR sanctioning he’s been awarded a reinstatemen
Read MoreIf there were an era of racing in which cars were about as distant from modern F1 as could possibly be, it would probably be this one. In the late 1950s, F1 was just a fledgling formula and this car right here provided the series with its first official constructors’ champion. Tony Vandervell’s Vanwall racing squad stormed to six victories that year with Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorne, and Tony Brooks doing the driving. It was the last of the front-engine Grand Prix cars to be extremely successfu
Read MoreDuring the middle of Saturday’s NASCAR Truck Series race, it was announced that Hailie Deegan would be competing in the series full time in 2021. She was competing in the race when it was announced, which was her first ever Truck Series start.
Read MoreFormula E testing has kicked off ahead of its seventh season, and it’s bringing a hell of a lot of great things with it. This will be the first year FE is an officially certified world championship, and there have been countless driver swaps after the conclusion of the previous season. But perhaps most exciting is the fact that the series might announce the return of a Canadian ePrix for the following season.
Read MoreIf you’ve been following any of the NASCAR silly season news, you’ll certainly have heard the word “charter” thrown around. But if you’re new to NASCAR—or if you just don’t follow all the ins and outs of the series with a magnifying glass—then we’ll let you know everything you need to know about charters.
Read MoreReigning FIA Formula E champion Antonio Felix da Costa has been fitted for an IndyCar seat with the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team ahead of a single-day test on November 2, 2020 at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. While it doesn’t mean da Costa is actually moving to the IndyCar series next year, it does bode well for a cross-series swap.
Read MoreThe Australian Supercars series might still be powered by V8 engines as we enter the post-Holden era, but its newly released Gen3 cars are still getting ready for a swap to hybrid power sometime in the near future. We’ll outline how.
Read MoreIf you haven’t been following MotoGP closely this year, then you need to start ASAP. During today’s Aragon Grand Prix, Suzuki’s Alex Rins barely pipped Alex Marquez at the line to become the eighth different winner of the 2020 season’s 10 races, and he put on a thrilling race to make it happen.
Read MoreEverybody fails. We all know that. No matter how great someone’s life seems, there’s always some dark moment that lingers in the shadows. It’s a taboo to talk about, almost, especially when it comes to the motorsport world—it’s not exactly a pleasant thing to dwell on your disasters when you can just as easily talk up a race win. But that’s exactly what Will Buxton encourages racing drivers to do in My Greatest Defeat.
Read MoreIt was Holden’s final race in the Australian Supercars series, and the marque went out in style at the Bathurst 1000. The No. 97 Holden Commodore piloted by Shane van Ginsbergen and Garth Tander took hold of the lead after a short rain shower about halfway through the race, and the duo came across the finish line in first place. It also means that, after years of trying, van Ginsbergen is finally a Bathurst 1000 winner.
Read MoreThe 2020 Motul Petit Le Mans kicked off with a little bit of chaos and kept that trend right up to the last 15 minutes, when two different crashes brought out two yellow flags. Ultimately, it was the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac driven by Renger van der Zande, Ryan Briscoe, and Scott Dixon that took the checkered flag first.
Read MoreHonda made headlines when it decided to step back from Formula One, no longer providing power units to Red Bull Racing or AlphaTauri after the 2021 season. Red Bull has been left to explore other options to provide its power, but more recently, its most recent might be its most interesting yet: It will take over Honda’s project itself... as long as the circumstances are right.
Read MoreThis week, Kyle Larson officially applied for NASCAR reinstatement after being removed from competition after using a racial slur during a public but unofficial iRacing event on April 13, 2020. This does not mean that he has been formally reinstated—NASCAR officials have yet to decide on a result.
Read MoreArrow McLaren SP made IndyCar headlines ahead of the 2020 season when it made the bold decision to sign two near-rookies to its lineup instead of veteran James Hinchcliffe. Now, the team has done something similar in opting against re-signing No. 7 driver Oliver Askew in exchange for Patricio O’Ward and, reportedly, Felix Rosenqvist.
Read MoreI’m not sure what it is about all-electric racing series that makes The Powers That Be want to introduce some strange aspects of fan-involvement, but I am sorry to report that Extreme E has fallen into the trap with its most recent introduction, a concept called “GridPlay.”
Read MoreRyan Vargas has been making a name for himself in the NASCAR Xfinity Series paddock for so long that you might be surprised he’s never run back-to-back races until now. His partnership with TikTok and JD Motorsports has given him the opportunity to run the final six races of the 2020 season, and his most recent two were at some of the most chaotic tracks on the schedule: Talladega and the (rained drenched) Charlotte Roval.
Read MoreFabio Quartararo has had one hell of a MotoGP season so far this year. From winning the first two races to dropping back and only scoring a few points, he’s managed to keep the championship lead—but only just. A bad crash in a Saturday practice session before qualifying for the Aragon Grand Prix looked set to put him out of contention, but, as he’s done all year, the Yamaha rider persevered and took his fourth pole position of 2020.
Read MoreToday marks the start of the annual MOTUL Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, but before we head into the race itself, we need to look at yesterday’s wild qualifying session, where three of the four IMSA classes contesting the race broke an official record.
Read MoreYamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi will miss this Sunday’s Aragon Grand Prix after a positive test for COVID-19. He has reported experiencing symptoms that required two additional tests on Thursday after testing negative on Tuesday. A rapid PCR test was negative. The second test was positive.
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 defining traits of an Audi: stealth speed, boutique engines, all-wheel drive. The defining traits of this Audi built up for drifting in Japan: extreme volume, a crate motor, rear-wheel drive. It’s all wrong, and that’s part of why I adore it.
Read MoreOn Thursday afternoon Mazda’s spec-racing Global MX-5 Cup series announced that it would be partnering with IMSA from 2021 onward as its sanctioning body of record. The series has been in a bit of tumult lately as it was formerly sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing, which imploded a few years ago, before jumping ship to next available IndyCar. Former Mazda North America Director of Motorsports John Doonan was hired on as president of IMSA late last year, and it is quite likely that this has something
Read MoreFernando Alonso is coming back to Formula One in 2021 after tooling around at the Indianapolis 500 and at Le Mans. I have no idea whether he and Renault will do all that great considering Mercedes will probably dominate again next year ahead of rules changes in 2022, but one can dream.
Read MoreThe Indy Lights series is the last rung on the Road to Indy ladder that filters new talent into the IndyCar series. It has always provided great incentives for winners of the series, but after it was cancelled due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, its future was a little bit up in the air. But this week, the series confirmed it will be back in 2021, and it’ll be better than ever before.
Read MoreElectric off-road series Extreme E has been slowly bolstering its reputation in the racing world by signing on big names and developing big ideas. Now, that effort has been recognized by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, or the FIA, the governing body for many international sporting events. Extreme E has been granted International FIA Series status.
Read MoreWith Honda leaving Formula One to pursue electrification, F1 pundits have been wondering what comes next for the series. If the future of the sport is zero-emission, should the FIA start exploring full electrification as an option? Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul, though, has a different idea. He thinks F1 should opt for hydrogen power.
Read MoreKyle Larson has spent most of 2020 sitting on the Cup Series sidelines. After he used a racial slur during a just-for-fun iRace against other professional drivers, he’s found himself without sponsorship and without a NASCAR Cup Series ride. And while he’s finally coming out to apologize in the public eye, he still has work to do.
Read MoreA pre-race downpour soaked the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit just minuted before the MotoGP grid lined up to take the green flag—the first wet race since Valencia in 2018. And, as you’d expect, the wet track made for some chaos and unexpected results—resulting in Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci’s win. He’s the seventh different winner in nine Grands Prix in the 2020 season.
Read MoreMercedes’ Lewis Hamilton might not have qualified on pole position, but he achieved two important milestones at the Formula One Eifel Grand Prix. He took home Mercedes’ first win at the Nurburgring since 1954. More importantly, he tied Michael Schumacher’s record 91 wins. And he doesn’t look set to slow down any time soon.
Read MoreWhen COVID-19 knocked the world off its equilibrium, I don’t think many of us expected that most racing series would manage to cobble together much of a season at all, let alone ensure that it would go ahead and contest exactly as many events as it originally intended. Somehow, though, NASCAR has pulled it off—and it still seems too good to be true.
Read More2021 will mark NHRA’s 70th anniversary, which means that if you’ve ever wanted to head out to a race, now’s your chance to pull it off in a legendary year. Thankfully, the series has released next year’s schedule already so you can start plotting your trip.
Read MoreLaura Salvo, a rally co-driver for Miguel Socias in his Peugeot 208 Rally4, has died in a crash at Portugal’s Rally Vidreiro, the sixth race of the Portuguese Rally Championship and part of the Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica. She died on Saturday morning, October 10, 2020, after making contact with a pine tree.
Read MoreWe don’t talk about mental health enough in motorsport. The mindset that talking about your emotions—your fears and disappointments—makes you weak pervades the institution of racing, whether it be the drivers, crew members, journalists, or fans. But McLaren’s Formula One team is opening up the discussion when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic.
Read MoreWhen NASCAR announced that it was partnering with Barstool Sports back at the start of 2019, opinions were as strong as they were mixed. But no matter how you feel about it, the party is coming to an end... at least for a little while.
Read MoreIt’s been a busy week in the NASCAR Cup Series paddock. It’s that time of year when drivers start swapping teams and new contracts are signed. If you’re not paying attention, it can get a little overwhelming. So, for simplicity’s sake, we’ve compiled a list of all the big moves you should be aware of as we head into the Charlotte ROVAL weekend.
Read MoreThe COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way a lot of folks interact with the world around them, and that’s had a big impact on the racing world. Fans have often been forced to watch from home while some series either test everyone in its “bubble” religiously or hope that everyone will follow the honor system to report health issues. It’s been the same situation in IndyCar—but now Team Penske is utilizing its relationship with sponsor Hitachi to make the paddock just a little bit safer.
Read MoreFabio Quartararo has found his stride in what has been an otherwise chaotic MotoGP season. The Yamaha rider has more pole positions and wins than anyone else in 2020, but he’s only barely leading the championship. It’s been one of those years. But if he can make this performance last, he’ll have a great shot at winning the title.
Read MoreAfter a rainy Friday, qualifying day for the Eifel Grand Prix dawned cool but sunny. Red Bull Racing looked to have a strong pace during practice and qualifying, but it wasn’t to be—Mercedes proved dominant once again with Valtteri Bottas taking home pole position.
Read MoreIf you’ve never heard of the Rebelle Rally, you’re missing out. It’s the first all-female rally to ever take place in the United States, and 2020 marks its fifth anniversary. This year, there are 36 teams and 72 different women entered for the 10-day adventure through the natural terrains of California and Florida. And it’s also possible to keep up with it along the way.
Read MoreIn recent years, most racing circuits have done their damndest to get rid of any potential safety hazards. Shoddy barriers, awkwardly placed retaining walls—you name it. One of the most unpopular from the fan perspective has been the paving over of gravel or grass runoff zones. But Spa-Francorchamps is bringing back the gravel.
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 MoreIMSA has a history of throwing things at the wall to see what sticks in a post-economic-depression economy. Following a huge fall off of entries after the 2008 racing season, which saw the death of GT1 and the eventual collapse of LMP1 in America, the IMSA-run American Le Mans Series added a Porsche GT3 Cup spec class called GT Challenge and a very cheap to operate Oreca-based GM LS-powered Prototype Challenge class. Not only did these classes add to the confusion of the casual observer, but mad
Read MorePrior to this weekend’s 8 hour race at Bahrain, the FIA World Endurance Series had never seen its entry list dip below 30 entries. The international endurance racing series will see just 25 entries after the Rebellion LMP1 team abandoned its post-Le Mans efforts, leaving Toyota alone to fight itself in the top class. The regularly deep LMP2 field will see just seven entries. There will be significantly more GT class entries than prototypes in this round. And it’s honestly a crap-shoot if the ser
Read MoreA number of high profile drivers from seemingly every walk of motorsport life dipped their toes into the Extreme E pool recently in the series’ first six-day open test. Drivers from sports cars, Formula One, Formula E, and World Rally were on hand to test the new Spark Technologies Odyssey 21 E-SUV chassis and motor setup. The list of drivers was largely kept quiet, but we know Mercedes F1 number two Valtteri Bottas was among them.
Read MoreWhile it’s never great to see a nasty crash in motorsport, it’s especially terrifying when it comes to the Top Fuel class in NHRA. The narrow, pointed machines are designed to be the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, which means they’re frequently broaching at least 300 miles per hour. Thankfully, after nasty crashes at this weekend’s Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals, three drivers were able to walk away unhurt: Top Fuel racer Leah Pruett, Pro Stock racer Kenny Delco, and Funn
Read MoreWhile IndyCar noted its commitment to hybrid power earlier in the year, the series has reconfirmed its plans this weekend, this time with more detail and a few amendments.
Read MoreMazda Motorsports has traditionally run two teams in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship DPi program, but in 2021, the team will be halving its efforts. The decision is a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic’s widespread economic impact.
Read MoreFormula One is a series that’s pretty much dictated by overpreparedness and attention to even the tiniest details. So, what are you supposed to do when a global pandemic wipes out your best laid plans, forcing you to roll into races at track you’ve never contested with nothing to prepare you for the inevitable chaos? The answer largely comes down to hope.
Read MoreIMSA and the SCCA are two of the biggest motorsport sanctioning bodies in the United States, particularly when it comes to sportscar racing. Now, both are partnering up to increase involvement in American motorsport in a variety of different ways.
Read MoreHonda dropped a bomb last week when it announced that it would be leaving the Formula One paddock after the 2021 season. And while we talked about what Honda’s plans were for the future (spoiler: it’s electrification), we need to have a pretty serious chat about what this means for Red Bull Racing, F1, and racing as a whole.
Read MoreWhen Elspeth Beard took off on a solo motorcycle journey around the world, she had a few thousand dollars and the faintest idea of a plan. Two years later—after experiencing a miscarriage, several crashes, on-the-road motorcycle modifications, broken bones, and broken hearts—Beard pulled back into her family’s driveway. And even after reading Lone Rider, I’m still not fully sure how she did it.
Read MoreWhen the IndyCar series kicked off its 2020 season, Chip Ganassi Racer Scott Dixon looked unstoppable. So dominant was he that fans just assumed he’d take home the championship at the end of the year and started paying attention to the battle for second and third. After all, at one point, Dixon’s gap to second place was well over 100 points. Surely that would be insurmountable.
Read MoreThe Boston Grand Prix is one of the most notorious IndyCar events that never happened, largely because of how messily things fell apart. Both the city itself and the promoters went at each other’s throats, fans had already booked tickets, and even a near-million dollar bailout from IndyCar couldn’t salvage the mess. Now, the Boston Grand Prix’s former CFO has been arrested on fraud charges.
Read MoreOn Friday, October 2, fans around the world were a little puzzled to learn that Liberty Media—the media company that owns Formula One—had invested in the Meyer Shank Racing team. MSR competed in IndyCar and IMSA, not F1, which meant speculation ensued about a possible new F1 team joining the mix. And while that’s likely not the case, the Liberty Media-MSR partnership makes a lot more sense than you’d think.
Read MoreFormula One hasn’t been afraid of undertaking widespread COVID-19 testing when it resumed the 2020 season—and for the most part, numbers have been good, with only a handful of drivers and team personnel turning up positive each week. But now, after the Russian Grand Prix, cases have reached an all-time high in the F1 paddock.
Read MoreWhen it comes to its schedule, NASCAR doesn’t take many risks. At least, not until 2021. Next year’s Cup Series schedule includes quite a few shakeups, including additions, removals, and reconfigurations. Here’s everything you need to know about what to expect for 2021.
Read MoreIt’s a big schedule release week for American motorsport, and while IndyCar’s 2021 schedule was overshadowed by NASCAR’s, it’s still out—and there are some significant changes. We’ll run you through what’s important and where, exactly, IndyCar will be competing next year.
Read MoreYou hear it all the time in racing nowadays: a driver has been penalized in some way for exceeding track limits. But what, exactly, are track limits? How are they defined? And why are drivers penalized? This guide will walk you through everything you need to know.
Read MoreScott Dixon looked like he had the IndyCar Series championship locked down at the start of the 2020 season. He seemed untouchable while the rest of his competition suffered rookie mistakes and struggled to find their footing. People started wondering how early Dixon could wrap up the season victory. And now he might just find a significant challenger in Josef Newgarden.
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 MoreHonda, the lovable basket case of Formula 1, is pulling out of the series after 2021. The company says it has more important things to spend money on, namely building fuel cells and battery-electric cars. This is a colossal bummer. For F1.
Read MoreWhile the SSV category has only been running for four years in the Dakar Rally, it has quickly become a favorite, attracting competitors from all over the world to compete for the win in their favored brand of UTV. While a privateer runner in a Polaris won the class in its first year, 2017, the victory has gone to Can Am ever since. This year Polaris hopes to bring the cup back to Minnesota with a factory-backed three-RZR team. Polaris RZR Factory Racing has taken numerous victories in races her
Read MoreHigh-performance sports cars from Europe and Japan rev to the moon while American performance cars are all low-revving lumps. That’s the stereotype anyway and here’s a 1958 Chevy gasser taking off at 10,000 RPM to prove it wrong.
Read MoreThe way I see it, the Ram TRX is pretty much the truck equivalent of a supercar. It’s way more powerful than it needs to be, it’s never going to be used to its fullest potential by the vast majority of people who buy them, and making it really good at one discipline pretty much ruins its usability as a daily driver. Supercars are too stiff because they need to set a fast Nürburgring time. The TRX is too sloppy because it’s a 6,400 pound pickup built like a trophy truck.
Read MoreUh-oh... hold on.... I’m receiving reports that these are not the kind of laws Elon Musk is talking about.
Read MoreA Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply spacecraft is currently docked to the International Space Station (ISS) and among the 8,000 pounds of cargo the craft is bringing to the station is a very exciting bit of new space-equipment: an all-new space-shitter. Yes, there’s a new toilet, officially called the Universal Waste Management System and I couldn’t be more excited to think about astronauts relieving themselves.
Read MoreConsumer Reports gathered up 17 cars with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and put them to the test to determine which one actually offers the best hands-free help. And Cadillac’s Super Cruise technology took the top spot.
Read MoreThe Rimac C_Two is a semiautonomous electric monster that will go into production next year. Rimac has been crash testing the car ahead of that. But not like Richard Hammond did in a different Rimac. These tests were with crash test dummies and in a lab.
Read MoreThis is one of those things I suspect all of us have wondered about at some point or another—does changing the air cleaner on your car actually give you the power boost you’re hoping for? I mean, it seems to make sense — let the engine breathe easier, it should make more power, right? Just like a horse with freshly-cleaned nostrils. But do they really work? Thankfully, this charming British fellow with access to a dyno, a couple of cars, and a bunch of aftermarket air cleaners decided to check a
Read MoreWith the average price of gas at a hair over $2/gallon, I am equally surprised and dismayed that an oil giant like BP turned a profit in the third quarter. And that’s with profits down a staggering 96 percent compared to this time last year.
Read MoreBack when we got our first look at Arcimoto’s two-seat three-wheel electric city commuter mobile, it was called SRK and the company was aiming for 2,000 units per year. In the intervening three years, the model’s name has been changed to FUV — which stands for Fun Utility Vehicle — and production expectations have ramped up substantially, to 50,000 annually.
Read MoreSince I was a kid, eagerly scrutinizing cars in parking lots, I remember noticing something that only showed up on a few brands of cars: Fords, Lincolns, and the occasional Mercury. That something was a set of five little buttons, each bearing a pair of numbers, placed near the doorhandles of these cars and looking so very tempting to push with my curious little kid-fingers. To this day I don’t believe I’ve ever actually seen anyone use them, and the more I think about them, the stranger they se
Read MoreThis week, hardcore Tesla fans got complicated feelings in their bathing suit areas as Tesla announced the limited deployment of their new Full Self-Driving (Beta) software, which, based on the name and the hype, sure sounds like it’s a fully autonomous driving system for Teslas.
Read MoreJust in case anyone out there forgot, autonomous driving is hard. Incredibly hard. Getting two tons of inert wires and transistors and motors and lenses to somehow navigate a complex, real-world environment is almost comically difficult. The fact that we’re able to make machines that can do any of it at all is amazing.
Read MoreThere’s a redesigned Genesis G70 sedan coming in the 2022 model year and, if we get anything like the car announced for the Korean market today, it should be a very fun, controllably messy good time depending on local law enforcement.
Read MoreAny great expectations of Elon Musk’s Boring Company plans were probably undone by him announcing that it’s just a car tunnel because that’s easy. A new report from TechCrunch, though, finds that even this is probably undone because it runs afoul of Las Vegas’ fire safety regulations.
Read MoreAt some point, everyone who carries a mobile phone with them will have “butt-dialed” someone, committing the act of inadvertently making a call via unconscious but sophisticated buttock actions while a phone is in a pocket. The consequences are generally low, just subjecting someone to a muffled bit of eavesdropping. Occasionally, the consequences can be much higher, as in the cases of people who have butt-upgraded their Teslas via the Tesla mobile app, often resulting in thousands of dollars in
Read MoreFrom the Prius to Tesla, America got an early lead in buying up hybrids and all-electric cars. First China started stepping past us with affordable EVs, and now it’s Europe that’s getting its act together. Europe is on track to triple sales of plug-in vehicles, thanks to strict regulations rolling in while we are getting lax.
Read MoreVolvo has confirmed it will build a new small electric crossover based on a platform developed to underpin vehicles from a very interesting spectrum of future cars, including Polestar, Lotus and even those new electric London taxis.
Read MoreFisker is cashing in, Polestar needs money, and Carlos Ghosn’s case is still developing. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 30, 2020.
Read MoreAn electric Ford F-150 is one thing, an electric Ford Transit is another. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 29, 2020.
Read MoreConsumer Reports isn’t at all impressed with Tesla’s Autopilot, Fiat Chrysler reports record profits and Jaguar Land Rover is ready to hand a lot of money over to the European Union. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 28, 2020.
Read MoreJust as the oil industry has known about climate change for decades and campaigned against efforts to fight it, a new report details how Ford and GM scientists briefed their companies about how car emissions were melting the ice caps and causing climate change. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 27, 2020.
Read MoreFiat and PSA’s merger is good to go, Hyundai had a bad quarter, and Jeep. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 26, 2020.
Read MoreA major automaker has tried investing in this newfangled technology called electric cars with something affordable and desirable. And you know what, that company is doing pretty well! What a shock. That and more in The Morning Shift for October 23, 2020.
Read MoreGM says pricing on the Hummer EV will be no-haggle, Renault’s unions are upset, and the US’s second-biggest dealership group says it just had its most profitable quarter ever. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 22, 2020.
Read MoreThe auto industry is still trying to play both sides, and I get the feeling that it’s going to get away with it. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 21, 2020.
Read MoreVery few people need a dealership showroom anymore, BMW is doing better than expected, and automakers are fretting over electric vehicle fires. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 20, 2020.
Read MoreWhile we in America are bracing for a long, dark winter with Coronavirus, China seems to have made it out, if car sales are any indication. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 19, 2020.
Read MoreDaimler is doing better, Nikola is becoming less convincing by the day, Foxconn is getting more into cars, and BMW has issued a recall because fire. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 16, 2020.
Read MoreTrump had big plans to boost up the auto industry and it’s gotten the Big Three nowhere. But don’t worry, it’s also come at the expense of American workers, too! All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 15, 2020.
Read MoreThe used market is coming down from a high, Hyundai has a new chairman and the launch of the Ford Escape plug-in hybrid has been bungled. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 14, 2020.
Read MoreTesla has lowered its price on the Model S, sales in China are back up and NHTSA is worried about fires in the Chevy Bolt. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 13, 2020.
Read MoreBuick and Cadillac are giving GM some healthy returns in China, some Nissan dealers are very mad at Nissan, and Hyundai is worried about Kona fires. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 12, 2020.
Read MoreIt used to be that concept cars pretended that they could drive themselves, or run off nuclear power. Now they pretend they can cleanse themselves of germs, because that’s the world we live in. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 9, 2020.
Read MoreTesla wants to finish 2020 strong, the Mazda MX-30 is happening, and I fear we have to talk about Nikola again. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 8, 2020.
Read MoreDid you buy a Mercedes CLA? The company basically thinks that was a mistake at this point. Meanwhile, Lexus outsold the German in the last quarter. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 7, 2020.
Read MoreDaimler wants bigger profits, Nissan plans to sell lots of Rogues, and Faraday Future wants to go public. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 6, 2020.
Read MoreA consulting group predicts we might just... never go back to driving as much as we did before Covid. Of course, I’m thrilled at the idea of it, even though I’m sure all of you other drivers will still find a way to do exactly the speed limit in front of me in the far left lane anyway. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 5, 2020.
Read MoreTesla released its third-quarter delivery numbers, Nikola’s deal with GM is still being negotiated and traffic deaths in the U.S. are down, but it’s a little complicated. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 2, 2020.
Read MoreAutopilot just ranked sixth in a comprehensive review of driver assistance systems, in part because it’s not particularly good at “assisting” the driver. All that and more in The Morning Shift for October 1, 2020.
Read MoreIn Germany, there is a fully developed nuclear power station built decades ago that was never put into service. One day, an amusement park swing ride was installed inside the station’s cooling tower, and now the facility functions as a local tourist attraction. It looks like fun, in a creepy Orwellian fashion.
Read MoreIt’s not every day that I find a Jeep-like off-road vehicle that I’ve never heard of, which is why I need to tell you all about the Asia Rocsta that I found in a German parking garage a few weeks back. It’s incredible.
Read MoreThe fully electric 2021 Rivian R1T midsize pickup won’t go into production until at least next summer, but a preproduction model has just completed the off-road Rebelle Rally. Driver Emme Hall’s review proclaims the truck to be nothing short of game-changing.
Read MoreAt this point, you probably already know that the Lexus GX is for the most part a 120-series Toyota Prado, and that makes it a pretty solid starting point for an off-road project. You may not know that I have one, so I’m going to walk you through my truck and what I’m doing with it.
Read MoreYou’ve all been wondering about 2021 Ford Bronco pricing since the convertible Wrangler-fighting off-roader debuted earlier this year. Now the configurator is up, and we have a full pricing breakdown. Check it out.
Read MoreGeneral Motors just debuted the first production-intent Hummer in more than a decade, but instead of it being an enormous, gasoline-sucking machine like the Hummer you remember, it’s an advanced EV. Here’s a look at some of the Hummer EV’s coolest tech.
Read MoreAmerican outdoor outfitter Filson has partnered with Ford to donate a pair of custom 2021 Bronco Badlands trucks equipped with the Sasquatch package to firefighting crews. The Broncos are modeled after the older-model U.S. Forest Service Broncos and are painted in the classic green of the Forest Service.
Read MoreThere’s a new Hummer EV out today and GMC seems into the idea of naming it a “supertruck.” There is no way this exists without the context of the other hi-power electric truck that nobody yet owns, the Cybertruck. We must ask: is cyber more better than super?
Read MoreThe second-generation Chevrolet Blazer may seem among the least interesting SUVs on earth. It’s got a strangely sad face, it has the same powertrain as damn near every other body-on-frame Chevy of the era, and its on and off-road performance isn’t remotely impressive. And yet, after spotting a peculiar green Blazer near the Belgium border and then going down a deep rabbit hole, I realized that, actually, the Blazer is fascinating. Here’s why.
Read MoreYou can spend more than $9,000 on off-road upgrades alone on a new Ford Ranger right now, thanks to Ford Performance’s new tiered factory accessory packages. After a long weekend wheeling a Ranger decked out with the best parts from the catalog, there may actually be some value to upgrading.
Read MoreAfter seven years at Jalopnik, Andrew Collins is leaving. So, in traditional Jalopnik fashion, staffers have contributed to a “roast” as a way to hide their sorrow. Read along as we try hard to say rude things about Andrew, but ultimately fail because Andrew is too good of a person, and we don’t deserve him.
Read MorePickup trucks may feel like American institutions, but their purest form in 2020 is actually Japanese. Here’s what it was like driving 1,000 South African miles in a Toyota Land Cruiser 79-Series Namib Edition, a vehicle we should sing ballads about when we finally lay flowers on the grave of fossil fuels. Also, if you think elephants look large in pictures, wait ’til you’ve got one in your windshield.
Read MoreThe Honda Ridgeline has been the darling of the midsize truck world since the truck debuted in 2016. Journalists have for years now fawned over the vehicle’s smooth ride, agile handling, good fuel economy, impressive interior space and decent utility. But what very few have complimented is the front-end styling. Now Honda has fixed it. Well, sort of.
Read MoreBeing a dork, I’ve often talked to my mailman about his work truck, the venerable Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV). These aluminum workhorses, based on the Chevy S-10 pickup, are soon to be retired, and while a full (possibly electric) replacement is in the works, some mail fleets have been adding stopgap placeholders already, including Ram Promaster and Mercedes-Benz Metris vans.
Read MoreLexus used to define itself by its incredibly practical, large, quiet sedans. The LS. That kind of thing. But executive cars don’t speak prestige like they used to. You want an SUV that can double as an escape pod, and for that, there is the new J201 one-off, a supercharged, lifted expedition-prepped overland Lexus LX570.
Read MoreHaving recently sold my 1971 Datsun 240Z, I was left with holes in both my heart and my garage. Both voids have been satisfyingly filled by the recent acquisition of a triple-black 2001 Porsche Boxster. Let’s take a look at what my new-to-me 986 needs. Then you can decide if I’ve bitten off more Boxster than I can chew.
Read MoreI knew it just a few days into owning my 1974 VW Bug: This car should almost certainly be fully rewired. Four years later and I still haven’t done it, even with everything I need right in front of me.
Read MoreWhen you’re faced with fixing up a 1972 Honda N600, you don’t get to go on a forum and get all your answers online. You need to keep an eagle eye on eBay and wait for a holy book to pop up: the shop manual.
Read MoreI somehow managed to get my 250,000 mile Chrysler Voyager diesel through Germany’s rigorous TÜV inspection, but that didn’t mean the van was ready for a long European road trip. I still had a serpentine belt to swap, and I wanted to install a new water pump just to be safe. This should have been easy, but instead, it was by far the most difficult job to date.
Read MoreI’ll admit that at first I wasn’t sure I should even write this post because it shows a thought process so remarkably, irredeemably stupid and lazy that, in hindsight, it’s painful to admit I considered it. But I suppose if my near-act of dumbassery may help one other person avoid the same fate, then I guess it’s worth it. It has to do with a minor repair on my Nissan Pao and my consideration of a shortcut that would have bitten me on the ass.
Read MoreMy bike hates me. I bought it, a 1987 Schwinn Cimarron, with the intention of replacing all of its surely crusty, busted, hopelessly obsolete parts with new ones. Once I started riding it, the bike made it clear it had other plans.
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