In my First Drive of the U.S.-bound Audi RS6 Avant last year, I knew that Audi had a winner on its hands. Apparently, customers agree, as the beastly wagon is currently commanding a hefty $50,000 markup at some dealerships. It seems that incurring deep gouge wounds is a small price to pay for exclusivity, especially if you take your RS6 to the racetrack.
Read MoreA few weeks ago we showed you the latest wacky build from the Garage 54 team. The Russian answer to Mythbusters (for cars) branched out to motorcycles, turning a Ural — basically a cloned vintage BMW — into a five-wheel ATV. It was mostly a success, but the end result struggled in the snow. Now, the crazy experimenters have evolved their Ural into an unstoppable snowmobile.
Read MoreThe Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, New York, is so heavily polluted that entire cars have been pulled from its waters, and now a whole barge will need to be pulled out after it joined all the junk on the bottom of the Gowanus earlier this week.
Read MoreThe seventh-generation Lexus ES sedan introduced the first mass-produced digital mirror to the world in 2018, beating the Audi E-Tron, Honda E and McLaren Speedtail in replacing traditional side mirrors with cameras. Based on just one night with the digital Lexus ES mirrors, I believe the change to be an improvement.
Read MoreSean is a rock climbing enthusiast with an aging Volkswagen R32, and he’s looking for something more suitable for off-road trails and hauling his three dogs. He wants something a bit different and has a modest budget. What car should he buy?
Read MoreI’ve been on a quest to buy a Honda Beat from Japan and honestly, it’s been a ball of fun. My new-to-me Beat will come from one of the many auctions in Japan, and that means reading inspection reports and condition grades. There’s a lot to understand here, so let me show you the way.
Read MoreHarley-Davidson’s Serial 1 e-bikes are better (and a better value) than I ever expected. And more fun, too.
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 wheel and tire protection plans and the best minivan to buy for around $17,000.
Read MoreThe first joke you can expect to hear about Serial 1, Harley-Davidson’s e-bike spinoff, is how Harley managed to make them set off car alarms and wake up the neighbors. As it turns out, the $3,399 Mosh/Cty is the loudest bike I’ve ever ridden. That’s a good thing, though it has more to do with me than the bike.
Read MoreI’ve launched a fun quest to import a Honda Beat from Japan — and do it entirely on my own. Each week I’ll update you on how things are going and what snags I’ve run into. Today I’m exploring different ways to buy a car online — to be precise, a car that’s still in Japan.
Read MoreAlex says he “makes poor decisions with cars.” It all started with a Land Rover that was eventually confiscated because it turned out to be a stolen car. A Ducati gave way to a C63 AMG, which was replaced by a Toyota 4Runner. Alex is bored with the Toyota and “bad decisions” are calling. What car should he buy?
Read MoreOne of the things I like best about old-school, air-cooled Volkswagen Beetles is that so many of the damn things were built that they were accessible to people who did all kinds of things to them. That’s how we ended up with Baja Bugs, all kinds of bonkers fiberglass kit cars, weird motorcycle-centaur trikes and other wild creations. I’ve seen so, so many things done to Beetles that I thought nothing could surprise me.
Read MoreDigging into the data to learn which cars are kept the longest can reveal something interesting about what’s on our nation’s roads. Previous lists from iSeeCars.com had some fairly predictably winners. That was until this year’s data was revealed.
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 if it’s better to prioritize performance over features and if a dealership is getting “revenge” for a bad survey.
Read MoreIf you have been looking for a cheap green car, or if you love bargains on cars that hardly anyone wants, listen up. Chevy and Toyota are offering incentives that are nearly unprecedented on their EV and FCEV models — vehicles that are often overlooked.
Read MoreDespite most industries adapting to a 21st Century way of doing business, many car dealers are still stuck in the past which makes the entire shopping process a big hassle and, in the time of COVID-19, a big risk. Carmax has just announced that it will be taking a few big steps to make buying a used car a bit less stressful.
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 why leases are more frustrating to shop for and buying the same car for the same price eleven years later.
Read MoreI think it’s pretty safe to say that in 2021 smoking cigarettes is no longer an admirable habit. Shoppers almost always want a car that has not been smoked in, so it probably doesn’t make a lot of sense that one of the most admired luxury car brands in the world continues to market a “smoker package.”
Read MoreIn recent weeks I’ve fallen deeply in love with tiny Japanese cars. I recently made it a goal to buy a Honda Beat and am kick-starting the process now. Against solid advice saying it’s a bad idea, my partner and I will import a Honda Beat ourselves. This is car importation on hard mode, but we have some tricks up our sleeves.
Read MoreLincoln lives in Detroit with his wife, daughter and a puppy named Hank, a Pit/Lab/Mastiff mix. The doggie is small now, but it won’t be for long. Lincoln wants an affordable ride for a one-car family that’s suitable for their outdoor activities and big enough for a grown-up Hank. What car should he buy?
Read MoreA decade ago, if you were getting into sim racing and wanted to buy a steering wheel, there wasn’t much shopping around to do. You pretty much bought a Logitech G27 like everyone else and called it a day. Today, the offerings are far more diverse, with higher-end options from Thrustmaster and Fanatec sending wheel-feedback to your hands via belt-drive or, in especially advanced wheels, direct-drive motors.
Read MoreAt some point in the fairly recent past, the multiverse split and sent the world on a darker timeline. I’d venture it was around the year 2000, when we exited the bright optimism of the 1990s. Somehow vans, once the ultimate vehicle for families, adventurers and travelers alike, were immediately and unceremoniously ditched for the new SUV-shaped flavor of the decade. After spending a few days with a van, I hold this truth aloft for the world to see: The vans are good.
Read MoreCadillac used the Rolex 24 at Daytona to release its first teaser of the 2022 CT4-V And CT5-V Blackwings before their official debut on Monday, February 1, 2021 at 7pm ET. And, man, do they look gorgeous.
Read MoreGenesis just filed a slew of different trademarks with the US Patent and Trademark Office, and it hints at one thing: the electrification of just about all of the company’s lineup.
Read MoreAs the automotive world continues its slow pivot to electric vehicles, the future prospects for big, high-powered internal combustion engines have been growing slimmer. But instead of mourning the loss of what’s been one of the company’s most successful marketing measures, Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis doesn’t sound at all concerned that the Hellcat V8 is a dying breed.
Read MorePorsche enthusiasts have been rolling up to dealerships lately only to be disappointed: they won’t be sold the specific car that they’d had their eyes on. Those vehicles feature something called the Sport Chrono Package—and that package is letting out more emissions than is acceptable.
Read MoreWhen it comes to car ownership, there are generally two extremes: you either love your car or you hate it. We talk a lot about the worst cars we’ve owned, the ones we’d never even look at again, but what about the ones you loved and lost? The cars that, for whatever reason, you had to give up on.
Read MoreIf you’re a car enthusiast in America, you know the name Edelbrock—but it looks like the future of “the most respected name in performance” might be up in the air.
Read MoreThe new Land Rover Defender may not be as hardcore as it used to be, but it looks like it still has some brawn. A new video shows one Defender hauling a car hauler loaded with six other Land Rovers down an icy road, and it is frankly pretty damn impressive.
Read MoreToday should be an international holiday. We should gather round (virtually), toast champagne, and celebrate, because today is the Mazda car company’s birthday.
Read MoreWe’ve had the debate time and again about which state has the worst drivers, but today, we’re going to look at something slightly different: the states where owning cars just sucks. And top on the list are California and Hawaii.
Read MoreEveryone has different priorities when buying—or even considering—a car, but I want to know the one thing you’re never going to compromise on. That one thing you just have to have, no matter what.
Read MoreTesla has been promising an expanded product line beyond the S, 3, X, and Y for a handful of years now, but thus far none of those projects have amounted to anything concrete. While the company’s sedans and hunch-backed crossovers continue to sell in ever increasing numbers, the battery electric roadster, pickup truck, and tractor trailer remain fugazi. When each of these three models were shown off, they were ascribed headline-grabbing stats which were impossible with then-current technology, a
Read MoreI am a fan of the strange and unusual, so when our Editor-in-Chief Rory Carroll spotted this fascinating story in National Geographic about the Dyatlov Pass incident, he immediately sent it to me. He was right to do so, as this is one of my favorite mysteries and it seems it may have actually finally been solved using, of all things, digitally animated snow from a Disney movie and some old General Motors crash testing data.
Read More“Rat Creek,” the blogger Kate Woods Novoa tweeted Thursday, “is not looking good.”
Read MoreThe Detroit Auto Show — more formally known as the North American International Auto Show, or NAIAS — was supposed to happen in June of last year, before that was canceled in favor of June this year until that was canceled in favor of September. Until that was canceled too in a decision that took a few people by surprise.
Read MoreElectric cars were gaining some serious steam in the early 2010s with cars like the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S. But among those memorable models were vehicles so bad and so forgettable that I’m surprised any still exist today in 2021. The Coda was one of those cars and Robert Dunn from Aging Wheels is here to show you why it was a dismal failure.
Read MoreI have a vague but well-stored memory of eating some meal as a kid, with the small 12" black-and-white Montgomery Ward kitchen-counter television rotated towards the table, offering its help in freeing us from the horror of interfamilial conversation. It must have been dinner because the nightly news was on, and I think it was Peter Jennings talking about a Volkswagen Beetle that had braved an ocean crossing of some sort. The image of that little Beetle bobbing among the waves seared into my you
Read MoreThe Audi Q5 will be available in liftback form for 2021. The Q5 Sportback will join the GLC Coupe and BMW X4 in the “crossover with a coupe-like roofline” segment, appearing on dealer lots later this year. Pricing has been released and build and price tools are active on Audi’s website.
Read MoreThe same week General Motors vowed it would eliminate tailpipe emissions from all its light-duty vehicles by 2035 with an eye toward being carbon neutral by 2040, Nissan made a prediction of its own. The difference is, Nissan’s estimate is much, much more conservative. So conservative, in fact, that the Japanese automaker may as well have said nothing at all.
Read MoreSometimes when life throws up a literal roadblock, you just have to improvise and hope for the best. Such was the case when a group of healthcare workers with doses of the COVID-19 vaccine got stuck in a snowstorm on an Oregon highway. Not wanting to let those doses expire, they administered them to motorists stuck in the snow.
Read MoreCars and music will forever be connected in American pop culture. For many of us, having the right tunes is crucial for our motoring experience. There are songs that are great for driving, but some are a bit overhyped. Which tune is the most overrated driving song?
Read MoreLow-volume manufacturers that produce replicas of classic cars can finally look forward to building complete running cars thanks to new regulations, the SEMA Action Network reports. This freedom has been a long time coming.
Read MoreWhen it comes to Jaguar’s real estate holdings in most people’s brains, the iconic E-Type tends to have the biggest, showiest properties. But, for those in the know, there’s an older area so crammed full of charm and motorsport history and flowing curves of metal that’s worth visiting: the C-Type. Jaguar just announced it’ll build new, old C-Types as part of their Continuation program. While I’ll never be rich enough to afford one, I’ve spent some time in a C-Type and can honestly say it absolut
Read MoreRenault’s Twingo exists in this world to spread delight, a common but friendly car for the masses to twist, swing and tango. It’s also now reported to be dead.
Read MoreMazda’s 2.5-liter, 250-horsepower turbocharged engine made headlines when it was introduced in the new Mazda 3. For 2021 the engine has made its way into the CX-30, which slots between the CX-3 and CX-5 but has measurements that bring it confusingly close to both models.
Read MoreThe Blue Bird school bus manufacturer has committed its lineup of yellow young human-haulers to a new engine: the 7.3-liter gasoline V8 found in the 2021 Ford Super Duty. That’s more displacement than the outgoing model, but it’s the finer details that should help keep these new buses running for generations to come.
Read MoreGM said today that it planned to be carbon neutral by 2040 and that it also planned for all of its light-duty vehicles to be all-electric by 2035. GM’s big electric push is only picking up speed.
Read MoreGM said Wednesday that it would be partnering with truckmaker Navistar to make hydrogen fuel-cell-powered semi-trucks and that they would start testing them next with the trucking company J.B. Hunt. This is the kind of quiet evolution that we’ll be seeing more and more.
Read MoreVolkswagen’s top color designer has a hopeful prediction for those who love colorful cars: Our future may have more color to break up the endless sea of gray. That got the Jalopnik crew thinking about car colors. Naturally, we went to the extreme and started thinking about the bold VW Harlequin paint scheme. Which cars do you think would look smashing with a Harlequin paintjob?
Read MoreThere’s a lot of fascinating things happening in the strangely made-up world of the stock market lately, and there’s a lot going on politically. Also, cars, specifically, electric cars. Lots going on everywhere, really, which is why I think it’s worth taking a moment to talk about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s purchase of a lot of “call options” of Tesla stock, and how we feel about it.
Read MoreI don’t really get how the stock market works. It all seems like a big scam to me.
Read MoreOn the eve of Tesla’s earnings call, it announced a newly refreshed Model S. As the car nears its tenth birthday, the one you can order now doesn’t look all that different from the one that launched in 2012. It’s the stuff inside and the stuff under the skin that has changed. The Model S has gotten faster, more tech-focused, quicker, and with more range. Some minor complaints have been addressed, but this new one creates so many more questions than it answers.
Read MoreWhen models aren’t catching on, it can be tough for an automaker to say goodbye. Take Kia’s Stinger. It got off to a slow start and hasn’t set any sales records, but Kia plugs away at selling the premium sports sedan. Sadly though, the brand can’t keep the dream alive for every model. Car and Driver reports that the K900 and Cadenza have both been killed off.
Read MoreAnyone with even a passing interest in video games in the late ’90s or early-2000s is likely familiar with Crazy Taxi. Part of the game’s ubiquity is down to the fact you really couldn’t get near an arcade in those days and not hear The Offspring’s Dexter Holland belting out the chorus to “All I Want,” but the game’s wide appeal also owed a lot to its easy-to-grasp premise: Deliver the most passengers to their destination within the time limit to score the most cash. Simple.
Read MoreFiat Chrysler has agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to violate the Labor Management Relations Act, stemming from its participation in the UAW corruption scandal. FCA will also pay a $30 million fine.
Read MoreToyota is going doggedly into the FCEV future with new investments in fuel-cell technology, and it doesn’t seem to care if fuel cells really are the way forward or not.
Read MoreWith Toyota’s recent trademark filing for the Celica name, speculation has been flying about a potential return of the model. Could it be a new model? A Supra variant? (The first two Supras were Celica-based) A name change for the GT86? Whatever it means, it’s the return of a nameplate with a storied history, spanning seven generations, 36 years and numerous racing wins. Let’s look back at some old Supras.
Read MoreIt seems a million months ago, but it was only in October of last year that SSC claimed to have set a new production car top speed record in their Tuatara with an astounding speed of 331 mph. Unfortunately, there were so many questions and inconsistencies and problems with the runs, instrumentation, and documentation of the record that in the end, nobody — not even the driver — was able to certify the result. SSC founder Jerod Shelby pledged to re-do the attempt, and it looks like they have.
Read MoreIt’s not excessively hard to get a driver’s license. I mean, 16-year-olds do it, and they can barely do anything. However, being a good driver takes some training, experience and attention. Even after years of piloting a car, not every driver on the road can claim to be a good driver. Some people cannot even really follow signs! Do you think you’re a good driver? Why?
Read MoreThere are a lot of players in the hypothetical world of autonomous cars, but only two of them are big enough to taunt each other, or at least big enough for those taunts to land with meaning. I’m talking about Waymo and Tesla of course, and I say hypothetical because it’s still not clear to me that Level 5 autonomous will ever be a real thing.
Read MoreThe Kawasaki KLR 650 is back! On the surface, it appears not much has changed. However, team green’s benchmark for dual-sport motorcycles has finally gained some modern technology that riders have been begging for.
Read MoreThe 2021 BMW 5 Series is one of the best new BMW models on sale today because it’s one of the last sedans where the automaker hasn’t ruined the formula of an unassuming German sedan hiding motorsport-level performance. The new range-topping M5 CS has now leaked early, and it’s still thankfully reserved on the outside and brutal under the hood.
Read MoreThe world is full of wacky builds but few are as nutty as what you’re about to see here. What you’re looking at here is an eight-wheeled sportscar powered by a pair of twin-rotor rotary engines combined into one.
Read MoreLate last year Hyundai issued a recall for the Kona Electric, affecting some 77,000 vehicles globally after 16 of them caught fire. Over the weekend, yet another Kona EV suffered a similar fate in South Korea while charging at a station in Daegu, Reuters reported Monday. The difference is, this particular car had already been recalled.
Read MoreHave you been trolling Craigslist and Bring a Trailer and Facebook Marketplace and Etsy and your neighbors’ garages (quietly, at night) looking for a new project car? Of course you have. And are you bored, just so very bored, with miserable, sl0w-ass pieces of shit like Veyrons and Chirons and Huracans and Huayra and Bradley GTs and Sennas and other alleged supercars? Again, of course you are.
Read MoreIt must have really sucked for fans to wait through decades of OJ Simpson jokes for the Ford Bronco to return, only to suffer COVID-19 manufacturing delays before the trucks finally started shipping to customers last year. These pictures of two fresh Broncos meeting a fiery end in Greenfield, Illinois posted yesterday on a Bronco enthusiast form must really be testing their patience.
Read MoreThe United States government operates a fleet of about 645,000 vehicles, from mail delivery trucks to military vehicles and passenger cars. On Monday, President Joe Biden announced that his administration intends to replace them all with American-made, electric alternatives.
Read MoreWe’ve seen many carmakers bid farewell over the years, and lately quite a few have returned from the abyss, from Alpine to Datsun, De Tomaso and Hummer. Surely there are more nostalgic names for marketers to plumb and reinvigorate in a fresh, youthful, electrified fashion, so I pose the question to you thoughtful lot: Which automaker should be resurrected next and — more important — how would you resurrect them?
Read MoreThe “supermajor” oil companies collectively known as Big Oil are having a time of it, in large part because of the pandemic, obviously, but also because we are swiftly moving towards a post Peak Oil era. Big Oil knows this, and it’s doing what it can to get in on what’s next.
Read MoreIt goes without saying 2020 was a terrible year for everyone (except billionaires) — though it was especially bad for Subaru in the United Kingdom.
Read MoreAll you need is to believe that it’s possible. If you’ve always been looking for an excuse to buy a “track car” consider that you may already have one in your driveway. You know, if you have a car, and it goes on track, it’s a track car. That’s how simple it is. Of course, not every car will be fun on the track, but with a few choice modifications you can make it fun. Yes, even a Prius.
Read MoreToyota fans have been drooling over a Celica comeback for years. Along with its Supra (and Acura’s NSX), the Celica is probably one of the most-dangled comebacks of any nameplate, with years of rumors and speculation met mostly by silence from Toyota.
Read MoreThe days of Europe serving as the spawning habitat for so many great diesel cars are coming to a close. In another example of the tectonic shift underway in the auto industry, Stellantis will transition its plant in Tremery, France, from the production of diesel engines to electric powertrains.
Read MoreA few months ago, a friend who works as an engineer for a major automaker showed me a test-rig that he built out of PVC pipes he’d purchased from his local hardware store. “Well, I can’t do the testing at work, so I’m just going to have to figure something out in my garage,” he told me. The contraption he made was amazing. I want to see more of this. So if you’re an auto engineer who’s had to get creative because of the pandemic, tell me your story.
Read MoreJames David Power III, who launched the business that bears his name as well as the awards appearing in millions of car advertisements, died Saturday. He was 89.
Read MoreA police officer in Tacoma, Washington, has been placed on administrative leave after driving over a crowd of people over the weekend. Two people suffered injuries during the incident and one is currently hospitalized. Their condition remains undisclosed.
Read MoreIt’s been more than a decade in the making, but it seems like we may finally get a new Lotus before 2021 is out. The company is putting the finishing touches on its next and last gas-powered sports car, which is planned to debut in the summer, before production ramps up in 2022. Exciting times, indeed.
Read MoreHarley-Davidson is on a restructuring blitz lately. The Motor Company has been reshaping its future, and fans of the brand have been curious where it’ll go. On January 19, we learned a bit more about Harley’s future plans, and not all of it is good. It just killed its cheap bikes, the Street 500, Street 750 and Street Rod.
Read MoreIn Scotland tonight folks will be celebrating Burns Night, a night dedicated to the Scottish poet Robert Burns who was born this day in 1759. The Scots celebrate it with the reading of his poetry (especially his poem “Address to a Haggis”’) and the consumption of Scottish food and drink. The main focus, however, is sharing poetry with the folks you gather together.
Read MoreAsk anyone meddling in the mechanical realm and they’ll tell you that the brakes are one of the most important systems on your car. A bad set of pads and rotors can spell disaster on the street, but that’s not the only environment where brakes matter. Want to go faster on the track? A good set of brakes — coupled with the right tires — is the first step to shaving down seconds.
Read MoreI’m not exactly sure why cars have become a prime target for network sitcoms, but along with the new NASCAR show with Kevin James on Netflix, NBC is bringing out a new sitcom about the automotive industry.
Read More2020 may have been a year of serious financial decline, but rich people remained rich, and they all kept buying big fancy cars at auction. Out of the 10 most expensive cars that hit the auction block last year, Bugatti and Alfa Romeo dominated the list.
Read MoreWith dust, snow, mud, and water launching just about everywhere, off-roading can be quite a messy affair, which, in my opinion, is all part of the charm. Nevertheless, BFGoodrich has introduced a new set of off-road windshield wipers to make sure your visibility is never compromised.
Read MoreWhen someone talks about, say, 1990s Formula One, most race fans immediately picture the biggest names of the era: Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher. But I know not everyone at the time was a fan of those drivers; there’s a whole entire grid out there loaded with drivers that were either bad or never got their chance to drive a decent car. I want to know who you rooted for when you were younger.
Read MoreWell, well, well, if it isn’t Vietnam coming back all these decades after that brief American incursion. To the long list of everyday products from the country that we in the U.S. currently have in our lives, we may soon be adding two new crossovers from VinFast, Vietnam’s first homegrown automaker.
Read MoreNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration has ordered Ford to issue a recall for a pesky little problem that could potentially impact three million of its US-based cars: the Takata airbag inflators could rupture, sending deadly metal fragments flying into passengers. It’s estimated to have an impact on about $610 million worth of machinery.
Read MoreThere have been a hell of a lot of cars since cars became a thing. We’ve gone through countless makes, marques, and models since day one, which means there are countless machines that have been lost to the annals of history. Not every car can be a hit—but that doesn’t mean we’ve totally forgotten about ‘em.
Read MoreI know I’ve been harping on the idea that the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems Tesla currently offers or plans to soon offer in their cars are not, despite how they’re marketed, anything close to being fully autonomous. In fact, they’re just Level 2 driver-assist systems, and even if Elon Musk says Tesla is “very close” to full autonomy, they’re not. If you, like most Tesla fans, think I’m a drooling simpleton who needs to keep his stupid mouth shut, that’s okay, because it looks like the
Read MoreLiving on the U.S. - Mexico border I grew up seeing many foreign cars, and I can’t in good conscience keep them all to myself anymore.
Read MoreI’m a big proponent of the Vision-S , Sony’s running prototype shown at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show to demonstrate the safety, entertainment and assisted-driving technologies it intends to offer established automakers for future models. Sony and its partners at Magna Steyr and Bosch have done such a good job in assembling the Vision-S, I believe, that were they interested in mass producing the car it’d really have something to offer the market.
Read MoreAlmost every Buick model was down in sales last year in the U.S., and big time too, with double-digit losses to Enclave and Encore along with big losses for discontinued models like LaCrosse, Regal and Cascada. There was at least one bright spot, however, with the Envision, which saw a modest 5 percent gain.
Read MoreModern racing games owe so much to Sega’s Virtua Racing. Released to arcades in 1992, Virtua Racing wasn’t the first 3D polygonal racing game, though it was the first to really get it right, thanks to a blistering sense of speed and smooth, responsive 30 frame-per-second gameplay that outpaced its contemporaries at the time.
Read MoreIn 1993, my dad bought our family its first PC. Little did I know that what I considered the Minesweeper machine would be a lifelong line in the sand for my father.
Read MoreIt can be hard to convince the haters of the virtues of electric cars, unless those people are Californians, or those people were already on board with the concept to begin with. But according to a new study, once people do make the leap they tend to stay.
Read MoreDo you miss bold, vivid car colors as much as I do? Do you wish cars were offered in more than just gray, other gray, black and white? Well, Volkswagen’s Netherlands division is here to show you how things used to be with a Polo wearing the colorful Harlequin paint scheme.
Read MoreWill 2021 finally be the year Lotus reinvigorates its lineup? It’s been a long time coming, and in recent years the British automaker’s plans to transform itself have fallen flat. Either way, we’ll know sooner rather than later, as the company is targeting a summer unveiling for its next (and probably last) sports car to be powered by an internal combustion engine.
Read MorePete Buttigieg, who used to be the mayor of a midsize town in Indiana but is now Joe Biden’s nominee to be Secretary of Transportation, is in confirmation hearings this morning. One of the topics broached was the gasoline tax.
Read MoreChevy is really hyped about the upcoming Bolt EUV. Teasers for the upcoming electric crossover have been coming left and right ahead of its debut next month. With this recent teaser, we have a better look at the crossover’s back end, having already seen a headlight, a side profile and part of the interior. Roadshow reports that Chevy will be teaming up with Disneyworld for the reveal of the crossover and presumably hoping to draw the attention of family-focused buyers — exactly the kind of buyer
Read MoreSelecting cars for a movie like The Fast and the Furious is, unsurprisingly, a pretty big job. It takes the director, producers, and picture car coordinator all get together to figure out what cars to choose. Many cars may be considered early on and even written into the script, only to be tossed out later. It turns out, The Fast and the Furious was no different.
Read MoreThe team at SRT isn’t afraid to put the famous 6.2-liter Supercharged V8 engine into different Stellantis products. One of the latest vehicles to get the beast of an engine is the Dodge Durango. Sadly, if you want one of the 2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcats, you may to have to wait. Stellantis’ 2021 Durango SRT Hellcat production is almost sold out.
Read MoreA memo that’s reportedly an internal Ford document obtained by Automotive News says that the automaker is threatening “business repercussions” and “recovery actions” against suppliers who are found responsible for leaked Ford photos or information.
Read MoreUsing a car for smuggling goods is a concept almost as old as the car itself. Here in America, the NASCAR series has its roots in bootleggers running from the police with their illicit products. Bootleggers drove small street vehicles that were souped up to outrun the cops. That makes me think, what would be a good car to smuggle stuff in today?
Read More“Hello, friends! Thanks for stopping! Say, are you fellows and ladies headed by that book depository? Could you drop me by that grassy knoll nearby? No reason. In the bag? Uh, just, um, a baguette. Why?”
Read MoreMuch like General Motors, Ford has for years been fighting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s order to recall several million cars carrying potentially defective Takata airbag inflators. And also like GM, the Blue Oval’s appeals have been unsuccessful, as Reuters reported Tuesday that Ford must repair the affected cars after all.
Read MoreThe Golf R and the Golf GTI will still be around after this year but you can say goodbye to the base Golf, which is leaving the American market for good. Or at least until gas prices soar and Americans want good, small, fuel-efficient cars again.
Read MoreThere has been a lot of talk today about President Joe Biden’s first day executive orders. One EO that has long been promised paves the way forward for mass electric vehicle adoption. Joe has campaigned on a $5 billion plan to install half a million new EV charging stations by 2030. If it does come to pass, it’ll certainly help alleviate range anxiety and provide the network consumers and automakers alike need to be able to rely on emissions free driving.
Read MoreI know that we often get accused of having a strong anti-Tesla bias on our site, but that mostly comes from hardcore Tesla fans. I think overall, we treat Tesla fairly, but I admit, it is a bit complicated. I think most of us here respect the engineering and design of Tesla’s cars, but have some real issues with the build quality and the way Autopilot is marketed, and, yes, the Big Man himself. But the Tesla-stans, there’s something unusual going on there, and by chance I was reminded of it toda
Read MoreVolkswagen CEO Herbert Diess made his first tweet earlier today in an apparent effort to start some beef with Elon Musk. The reality, though, is that VW’s $50 billion electric push hasn’t gone so swell.
Read MoreThe long-awaited Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing will debut next month, bringing more power and more track capability to the Cadillac lineup. GM Authority is reporting that you’ll be able to reserve one of the first 500 units (250 CT4s and 250 CT5s) for $1,000. Once the first 500 are spoken for, dealers can proceed to order (and mark up) the cars on their own.
Read MoreThere’s a new entry in what I am officially calling the “Winter Of Moody Pop,” and it’s very much a track about us. It’s about an unhailed rite of passage: Getting your driver’s license.
Read MoreVolkswagen is planning an all-new halo electric car, and today VW brand emperor Ralf Brandstätter announced the name, Trinity, and some details about the car that are using some, well, confusing terms. The car will be based on a new version of the MEB electric car modular platform, and, with the positioning of it in the premium space, potentially competing with Audi, it seems VW must have new tech that wipes their brains of any lessons learned from the VW Phaeton.
Read MoreAre you ready for an all-electric Mustang? No, I don’t mean that all-electric Mustang — I mean a Mustang car, with batteries. If the latest from Autoline and AutoForecast Solutions is true, you’d best warm up to the idea over the next few years, because the Mustang EV is reportedly coming in 2028.
Read MoreAutomakers keep marching towards an electric future and Mercedes-Benz has joined in lock-step with the first of its new electric range that we reported on months ago. Mercedes unveiled the EQA 250 Wednesday morning, and as is often the case, the American market will not get this compact crossover but will have to wait for another of its larger siblings.
Read MoreHaving your car break down can be an anxiety-inducing experience. It may have you wondering if your ride will ever be 100 percent again. After it’s fixed, maybe it’s a good practice to confirm that everything works as it should.
Read MorePorsche’s Taycan is an incredible feat of engineering. Not only does it drive great for an electric car, it drives great for a Porsche. It is arguably the best car the company has delivered in its history. Until just now, the Taycan has been rather on the pricey side of six figures. With the unveiling of the standard Taycan model, however, featuring rear wheel drive, 402 horsepower, and over 250 miles of range for under 80 grand, Porsche has its mass market winner. This thing will be ruling the
Read MoreAs you likely know, one of the most crucial parts of my job, as delineated by a United Nations mandate known as UN Agenda 44, is to second-guess decades-old decisions made by Volkswagen regarding products that have not been built or sold for almost two decades. This is important work, arguably crucial to the fundamental operation of civilization as we know it, and while I understand it may be painful for many of you to endure, it needs to happen. So, with that in mind, everyone please steel your
Read MoreWhen the pandemic began nearly a year ago, I suddenly found myself unsure how to fill my days — particularly my days off. Overnight, it felt like the free time I’d typically use to relax, rest and reconnect was no longer good for any of those purposes anymore. Inevitably, I slid into depression, a path familiar to far too many these days.
Read MoreThe ride came to an end for the Mazda CX-5 diesel over a year ago, but nobody really noticed it was gone until now. A diesel crossover seems like a terrific idea; this one just arrived too late and cost too much. Its attractive shape simply wasn’t enough to counter the meh fuel economy and the lofty price.
Read MoreThe launch of the midengine Chevrolet Corvette hit another small hiccup last summer, suspending sale of the very popular High Wing option after surging demand and COVID-19 pandemic complications kneecapped suppliers. The good news is that the wing is now back in stock, and you don’t need to install it at the dealership if you missed your chance on the order form.
Read MoreI’ll admit, normally I prefer to know the full context of these random videos but there’s something so perfect about this one as it is, I’m willing to let that slide, at least for now. It’s a video that’s been posted in a number of places, but I happened to encounter it via Twitter. Here, just watch:
Read MoreHyundai still hasn’t made up its mind about whether it wants to partner with Apple on the tech giant’s long-rumored semi-autonomous electric car. If the Korean automaker does go along with the plan to develop and manufacture the EV, it may turn the project over to Kia instead.
Read MoreWe had a bit of crime descend on our staff over the weekend, and it got us thinking about car security. There are plenty of conventional — and unconventional — ways of keeping your car in your hot little hands, so what are they?
Read MoreKia released teaser images of seven new electric vehicles planned for production in coming years, starting with a sleek crossover coupe that’s said to be capable of 300 miles of range on a charge. What’s more exciting is the design direction Kia is apparently about to take.
Read MoreRemember when Peugeot said it was coming back to the U.S.? Well, let’s just say that may not be a priority anymore.
Read MoreA cross-country road trip can serve up the ultimate adventure, all the more if it’s done in a vehicle not really meant for the job. But it’s possible that even Steinbeck (traveling with Charley, of course) couldn’t hold a candle to what Tom Stanniland from the United Kingdom tried. The man attempted to cross the U.S. by mobility scooter, and I’m impressed that he actually made it 500 miles.
Read MoreSmart’s announcement yesterday that it is planning on releasing two full-size SUVs. The vague memory that, yeah, Mini is planning on releasing more big SUVs just drives home the realization that the car market is inexorably lumbering to becoming nearly an undifferentiated parade of chonky SUVs. If this is truly our fate, then I’m going to take some time here to implore Mini to at least consider an alternate path into that inevitable SUV space. A path that feels more true to their origins, more B
Read MoreDutch sports car manufacturer Spyker NV is slated to debut two cars in 2021, but now it looks like. the company is all out of money, with CEO Victor Muller filling for bankruptcy... again. And somehow he still thinks things are going to turn out okay. Maybe that’s because it’s been holding on for dear life for the last six years.
Read MoreJamie Lynn Spears, younger sister of the iconic Britney and star of the slightly-less-iconic Zoey 101, took to Instagram to discuss one of her very normal, regular people problems: her Teslas are killing her cats.
Read MoreOn January 17, 1953, the Chevrolet Corvette prototype was unveiled at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City at Motorama. But the car that we recognize today as synonymous with (relatively) accessible sportiness wasn’t as loved when it first appeared.
Read MoreCruising down a snow-covered back road a few days ago, I saw something awful. I saw someone hauling one of those mini campers. Normally, those campers are fine. They’re cool with me. But this particular one looked like it had just been salvaged from the junkyard. The two tires I could see were flat. Through the rust holes, you could see stacks of rusty junk inside. And, of course, this person needed to pull out directly in front of me, despite it only being the two of us on this stretch of road
Read MoreCOVID-19 has completely changed the face of travel as we know it, with massively reduced numbers of people taking flights and public transportation—but our cars have remained a mystery. How safe are we in our vehicles? What are our risks?
Read MoreIf there’s one thing that’s true about people passionate about something, it’s that they’ve probably got strong opinions that are tough as hell to change. Whether that’s your opinion on a football team or your exceptional hatred for certain foods, we’ve all been there. But I want to know something different. I want to know what vehicle changed your mind.
Read MoreI always like it when old car ads or brochures go out of their way to tout features and details that are, to modern eyes, absolutely baffling. I’m not sure what exactly causes the car-buying public to decide what they find important or interesting, but I’m pretty sure one thing that gets special mention in this 1970 Plymouth Barracuda brochure is something that—and I’m going to go out on a limb here—exactly zero potential Barracuda buyers gave a brace of BMs about.
Read MoreOh boy. Get ready for some awkwardness, for I just rediscovered my old Yahoo Answers account, and it is overrun with supremely ignorant questions about cars, and embarrassing queries about balding and muscle gain (and also uses of the term “swole.”) To anyone who reads this: I am sorry.
Read MoreChris Petruccio drove more than 10,000 miles on a coast-to-coast-to-coast road trip in a built-for-SEMA show car pushing 700 horsepower and riding on eight degrees of negative camber. Spoiler alert: Chris and his wildly modded Subaru survived the double continent crossing handily, though drama ensued at times.
Read MoreI have a soft spot for a company that makes cars of a kind I’ll never own — wildly opulent, often armored SUVs. It is still best known, I think, for a particular choice of upholstery (you use whale penis leather one time) but recently it’s making a pretty big switch from opulent, powerful, dictator-chic gilded beasts and giving a shot in the exact opposite direction: affordable electric city cars. Yep. You read that right, DARTZ is making a cheap EV.
Read MoreA Thursday night commute went wrong when a New York MTA articulated bus crashed through an overpass railing and plunged several feet down to the road below. At least nine people were injured and the bus dangled over the Cross Bronx Expressway for hours.
Read MoreEvery year or so — maybe more often, I have trouble keeping track — a report will float the idea of making a Corvette SUV or crossover, or perhaps even making Corvette a standalone brand in the GM stable. A report this week suggests both are in the mix, as well as a Corvette-inspired electric car. Again: Please leave the Corvette alone.
Read MoreI’m loving what I’m seeing out of the Tokyo Auto Salon this year. Adorable Copen speedsters and overlanding Honda Fits are bringing exactly the levity the world needs after the year we’ve had (and, at this rate, the one we’re about to). Now Nissan is joining the fun — or, rather, forgetting it — in the case of its NV350 Caravan Office Pod.
Read MoreErin dropped this question in Slack last night and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Since I started driving, I’d be that less than half, and probably substantially less than half of my driving has been done in cars that were less than 20 years old. There were years, recent years, where I put a thousand miles or so on a car with no seatbelts or even doors. But I have kids now and have in non-driving areas of my life, become obsessed with safety, at least their safety.
Read MoreLada and Dacia announced a new partnership today, the most important Dacia news since the Spring Electric. That isn’t all: Dacia gave us the Bigster Concept.
Read MoreUber announced that its Uber Green initiative will see broader adoption in 2021, with the company expanding the service to include more than 1,400 North American locations.
Read MoreWe have an update on Smart’s future. It’s looking less of an evolution and more of a total rebranding. Smart is likely to build not just one, but two SUVs. And if that’s not nuts enough, the brand wants to shake off its playful image and go premium. It’s disappointing.
Read MoreThe Tesla Model 3 quickly earned a reputation for safety. Our look at the engineering of the Tesla Model Y crossover, which is based on the 3, revealed even more structural improvements. Now Tesla claims the Model Y is the safest SUV ever tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for rollover risk.
Read MoreOne of the great things about the internet, among all the horrible ones, is that the abundance of online information makes research simpler. I know this is stupidly obvious when written out, but if you were, for instance, buying a video game in the ’90s, you had to read a magazine to know what you were getting yourself into if there wasn’t enough word of mouth surrounding a particular release. Worst case scenario, you’d just make your selection based on box art alone.
Read MoreGM’s stock price reached an all-time high this week after CEO Mary Barra gave a speech at the virtual version of CES. Her keynote address talked about GM’s commitment to EVs, and not for the first time. For once, Wall Street seems to like a legacy automaker.
Read MoreRenault had already announced they’d be digging in their past for inspiration for new electric vehicles, and at today’s Groupe Renault strategic plan presentation/key party (unconfirmed) the first of these resurrected and electrified nameplates were revealed: an all-new Renault 5 EV, and the concept looks pretty amazing.
Read MoreSometimes you just don’t know what you have until it’s gone, and we see our fair share of that in the automotive realm. Respectable cars can simply arrive at the wrong time, go misunderstood or fail to live up to the astronomical hype they’ve inherited. History is full of these cars; at Jalopnik, we like to celebrate them.
Read More2020 as a whole was not a kind year to many. Volkswagen, in particular, saw a global sales decline of 15.2 percent. Things looked particularly dire in the first half of the year, but the VW Group saw a significant recovery in the fourth quarter. One bright spot for VAG was found in its electric vehicles, which saw a significant increase in sales across 2020 as compared to 2019. Part of that was due to increased availability of popular models, and introduction of new models.
Read MoreThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked Tesla to recall 158,000 Model S and Model X cars because of “media-control unit” — the touchscreen and associated tech— failures.
Read MoreIn an unprecedented change, the Kia Sedona minivan has officially changed its name and will no longer proudly share it with the city in the Great State of Arizona. It will instead be called the 2022 Kia Carnival — take what you will from what Kia could mean by that.
Read MoreChinese carmakers are eyeing at least one of the production plants that Ford announced it would shut down earlier this week, CNN Brasil reports.
Read MoreThe availability of electric vehicles is providing fun new ways to build hot rods. Take the guts of a Tesla or a Zero motorcycle and stick the parts into basically anything for instant fun. But you don’t often see electric cars sporting gasoline engines.
Read MoreEvery week I receive mail from readers asking me to write more about weird RVs and buses. The world is full of wacky RV builds and this one is a doozy. I’m talking about the Dobbertin Surface Orbiter; an amphibious RV capable of sailing around the world.
Read MoreAutomakers love coming to CES to show off wild concepts, and this year’s virtual CES is no exception. One of Cadillac’s interesting concepts is an autonomous pod — but this one isn’t just another autonomous toaster on wheels. Cadillac designed the PAV pod to be a mobile lounge.
Read MoreIf you’ve ever walked through New York City’s iconic Grand Central Terminal, you’re familiar with the high green ceilings, the crowds of people and the massive network of smelly underground train platforms that shuttle thousands in and out of the city. Now imagine the nightmare if a fire broke out.
Read MoreSeeing some douche driving like a jackass in an expensive car is something we’re all aware of and science is aware of. And we all enjoy a good guffaw whenever the douches rapidly run out of talent or sense and wreck dramatically, the results of which get broadcast on the internet.
Read MoreIf there’s one thing I especially enjoy about being painfully into cars, it’s that the sheer breadth of just how that manifests itself is pretty staggering. Gearhead tastes are wildly divergent, and I’m certain that what I consider a dream car is something that many others would reject in favor of a nice long coma. That’s why I want to put this out here today, because at least two of us here on the USS Jalop think it’s cool. But I suspect we may be in the minority. I’m talking about cars with sc
Read MoreGeneral Motors teased many new electric vehicles in its digital Consumer Electronics Show keynote, including Cadillac’s flagship Celestiq and a pair of Corvette-looking crossovers that are, apparently, Buicks. There was a Chevy truck in there too. Lots of EVs, indeed.
Read MorePresident Trump’s attempted rollback of Obama-era fuel efficiency standards was basically a mess from start to finish. And now a Trump administration decision on Tuesday means that increased fines for automakers who miss those standards — whatever they are in the end — will be delayed for now.
Read MoreTo celebrate the anniversary of the original Boxster going on sale in 1996, Porsche has unveiled a special edition Boxster 25 Years model. Only 1250 examples will be built, each based on the current GTS 4.0 model. That means a 394-horsepower 4-liter flat six and a 0-to-60 time as low as 3.8 seconds. It’ll be available with either a PDK or 6-speed stick transmission, but each and every one of them will have this gorgeous set of simple five-spoke bronze-finish wheels.
Read MoreBack in November, I wrote about BMW’s strange marketing campaign in which the brand defended its ugly iX electric SUV by brushing off detractors with the phrase “OK Boomer.” I wrote then that this seemed like a questionable move given that BMW’s customers tend to be older. But BMW doesn’t seem to care, because the brand’s latest ad is arguably even more offensive to older people. It’s downright bizarre.
Read MoreTesla is an oddity in the business landscape. The company’s stock is so stratospheric that Elon Musk has surpassed Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person. Now, we have another mind-blowing metric. At Tesla’s current price-to-earnings ratio, it would take the company almost 1,600 years to make what the stock market says it’s worth.
Read MoreRenault claims it is now the EV leader in Europe. The French carmaker announced as much as it wrapped up sales figures for 2020.
Read MoreWe’ve known General Motors has had big plans for introducing new electric vehicles for many years as the announcements started back in 2017. The upcoming all-electric Chevy pickup truck, as well as the new Cadillac Celestiq flagship electric sedan and a slew of new crossovers were finally teased (briefly) at GM’s CES event today, and the future looks good.
Read MoreSince Nissan-Renault’s old boss mailed himself to Lebanon, there’s been a new person at the French carmaker’s tiller, Luca de Meo. De Meo has some ideas about how to turn around Renault’s fortunes, and he’s going to talk about them this Thursday at a company strategy update. It seems that strategy involves leaning into Renault’s rich history and turning some old motoring icons into new electric cars.
Read MoreThe pandemic-distorted economy has delivered yet another curve ball. As many people strayed away from the idea of buying a new car, others bought increasingly expensive rides. In December, the average price of a new car leaped past $40,000 for the first time ever, according to separate reports from both Cox Automotive and Edmunds.
Read MoreMost people can agree the Hyundai Veloster N is a great car, but it’s also packaged in a way that makes it a bit difficult to live with on account of its rear passenger door that’s only on one side and almost-hatch roofline that doesn’t offer quite the same utility a normal hatch would. I speak from experience as my friend owned a few last-gen Velosters, and there was no way for me to sit in the back without striking my head on one of the overhead crossbars.
Read MoreIt’s a bit of an understatement to claim that cars have changed a lot over the last 50 years, but those changes have a greater impact on how we live — and how we speak — than we realize. In Sunday’s post discussing learning to drive manual transmissions, some old slang I haven’t heard before re-emerged.
Read MoreFord is closing three production plants along with overall production in Brazil. The company announced the plans today and provided further details, while reassuring those in the South American market that despite the closures, it remains committed to the region.
Read MoreThe Chinese electric car startup Nio last weekend unveiled the ET7, the fourth vehicle in its lineup and the first that isn’t a crossover or SUV. Rather, the ET7 is a sedan aimed squarely at the Tesla Model S, and Nio has a lot riding on it.
Read MoreAs a proud Changli owner, the cheapest electric car in the world, I have to admit that one of the things I never considered about my $1,200 car is that it may look dated. Looking like a giant Cozy Coupe, sure, but never really obsolete. Looks like I was wrong, as our friends over at Changli have been busy, and the latest version of their cheapest EV is quite significantly improved over the model I got just last year.
Read MoreWatching an airport operate can help pass the time while you’re waiting for a flight. As you watch the orchestra of people and vehicles prep a plane for its flight, a baggage tractor will certainly join the effort.
Read MoreSinger Vehicle Design introduced its first-ever off-road project, dubbed the All-terrain Competition Study, or ACS, last week. Inspired by historic off-road racing Porsche 911 sports cars, the ACS gets a number of fun and functional details that make it better suited to doing off-road stuff. None of them are more visually distinctive than the large mud guards sticking out of the front bumper. As threatening as they might look to a pedestrian, they’re also shockingly effective at, well, guarding
Read MoreThe goofy new Defender you see above has good reason to smile. It took the new Defender less than a year to exceed sales figures set by its predecessor, which was last sold in the American market from the early-to-late ’90s.
Read MoreWhen you think of Smart — if you do — the vehicle that usually comes to mind is the second-generation Fortwo. Readers slightly more familiar with the brand may recall the sleek Roadster or maybe the Forfour. But Americans were never supposed to get the Smart Fortwo. Instead, we were slated to get the Smart Formore SUV.
Read MoreLast week, it seemed like everyone was getting new logos. It started with Kia, which rang in its pointy rebranding with a fireworks show. By Friday, General Motors had a surprise new look too, its first comprehensive makeover since 1964. Hell, even Burger King got in on the fun (and arguably outshined them all.)
Read MoreEarlier last week, our wonderful Mercedes Streeter stumbled across a truly stunning Craigslist find: a 1990 Subaru Legacy Wagon that, despite its 216,000 miles, looks like it was transported directly into 2021 fresh off the production line. Well, my fine folks: It has found its forever home.
Read MoreTo say I’ve been in a tough spot lately would probably be a bit of an understatement, but there’s something about the aimless drive that serves as a balm for the shittiest of days.
Read MoreMost everyone who’s learned to drive a manual has a story about it. Whether it was an absolute disaster or a great success or somewhere in between, I’ve found that it’s one of those events people remember forever.
Read MoreNot every great driver can be a world champion. Only one person can come out on top, and that person needs as much skill as they do a solid car and a strong team. Some drivers shine despite the odds, but they may not always be the ones we immediately recognize as the best.
Read MoreDo you lie awake at night wishing there were more convertible crossovers? Do you yearn to sit up high with nothing but sky above you? Well, Fiat may have just the solution as the automaker intends on releasing a convertible version of the 500X Crossover.
Read MoreSomeone who declined to be named sent us a picture of Ford’s new Maverick pickup truck along with the explanation that “an acquaintance of an acquaintance that works there took the picture.” Whether that’s an extra level of security to prevent them from getting fired, or perhaps Ford themselves leaking the photo in a guerilla marketing campaign, we may never know. In any case, this purports to be a Ford assembly line at the Sonora, Mexico Hermosillo plant with a lone still-camouflaged compact pi
Read MoreThe Singer ACS is great and all, but if you’re going off-grid what you really want is this custom Honda Fit. Behold the e:HEV CROSSTAR.
Read MoreI had just crossed the border into Canada, having left the outpost of Chicken, Alaska, in the morning, with Dawson City ahead of me. I was on what’s called the Top of the World Highway, part of the most remote drive I had ever taken. And there was a VW Super Beetle passing me by.
Read MoreEveryone loves the Autozam AZ-1. One of the shining examples of Mazda’s bubble-era audacity, the Ferrari-aping, gullwing-doored, mid-engined AZ-1 is exactly the kind of vehicle we’re conditioned to think could never be mass-produced. Yet, between 1992 and 1994, Mazda made nearly 5,000 of the damn scamps.
Read MoreThe 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS, a fully electric sedan that takes direct aim at Tesla’s top offerings, will offer an optional display screen that stretches the entire width of the dashboard. Mercedes is calling it the MBUX Hyperscreen, because it is not just a screen, it is also hyper.
Read MoreAs you may have heard, Elon Musk became the richest person in the world yesterday, thank god. (Elon, if you’re reading this please unblock me on Twitter. I won’t reply to you, I just don’t want to have to switch to an alt account to read your tweets. Thank you for considering.)
Read MoreThe 2021 Chevy Spark is the cheapest car in America, but Mitsubishi’s announcement of the 2021 Mirage starting at $14,295 is here to ask, “Is it though?” So let’s take a closer look into these two hatches under $15,000, now the cheapest cars in America.
Read MoreIt’s beginning to feel like rumors of the Apple Car will outlive us all. As time continues its relentless march, we’ll continue to be subject to the same will they/won’t they reports, circling the merry-go-round with headlines about how it’s on or off again, or how Cupertino’s once again poached a Tesla engineer. The only thing that will change is the year.
Read MoreJust when you thought Boeing’s troubles with the 737 MAX were over, the U.S. Department of Justice delivers a whopper. The DOJ charged Boeing with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. The charges come nearly 22 months after the 737 was grounded following two crashes that killed 346 people.
Read MoreEveryone, everyone, get over here! Quick! I know shit’s been pretty miserable and surreal and, well, just mad lately, but I just want to let you know that it’s not all bad news out there. On the contrary! In fact, there’s some fantastic news! Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and someone who was already a billionaire is now, it seems, the richest person in the whole wide world. Isn’t that fantastic? Aren’t you happy for him? Of course you are. Now let’s tell him how to spend his stupid money on cars the righ
Read MoreThe Dodge Viper is the car that can’t die. As FCA’s Full-year 2020 Sales Results shows, the discontinued Viper managed to outsell the Jeep Patriot in 2020. Maybe sports cars are the saviors we need from crossovers!
Read MoreI’m guessing that just by looking at the first frame of this video where it’s all going to end up, but, I promise it’s still somehow worth watching. It’s a slow build-up, but a lovely, satisfying payoff. You’ll see.
Read MoreSome very horrifying shit went down in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, and while we were all glued to the news wondering what would happen to our democracy few of us spared a thought for the Washington residents enduring this crap in their town.
Read MoreThe residents of George Street in Shefford, UK sure know how to have a good time. They’ll apparently find any excuse to throw a party. I don’t know this for absolutely certain, but I’m extrapolating because they all got together to throw a birthday party for a Volkswagen Golf Mk5 that’s been abandoned on the street since December 2019.
Read MoreOrdinarily, it’s best practice to buy a car that fits into your life, not one that you have to rearrange your life to make fit. Sometimes, though, things don’t work out that way. Sometimes, your love for a car is so deep and so profound, you’re willing to inconvenience yourself and occasionally your family and friends to make the relationship work.
Read MoreRemember a couple of years ago, when some poor bastard decided to get a tattoo of a manual transmission shift pattern, and ended up with something that just permanently demonstrated they had never actually driven anything with a manual transmission? That was pretty embarrassing, but, you know, at least that guy wasn’t a huge nationwide chain of auto repair shops, because, man, if that happened to some organization like that, hoo, that would be really embarrassing! Hey, lemme see how much an alig
Read MoreI don’t know about you, but when a tuning company takes a car that’s already quite fast and expensive and makes it even faster and more expensive, I tend to lose interest pretty quickly. However, something caught my eye about the Lamborghini Huracán-based Zyrus LP1200 Strada. I wonder what it could have been?
Read MoreWinter, the most wonderful time of the year! Full of festive cheer, family gatherings, ice on the road and frantic holiday shopping. Well, not this winter. This has been a different kind of winter, one in which you probably have some free time on your hands to prep your vehicle for inclement conditions. Stay home, brew up a fierce hot chocolate and bust out that toolbox, honey, because we’re going over 7(-ish) things you can do to winterize your car.
Read MoreThere was that time when a group of unnamed website staffers sitting around a Detroit Airbnb got to talking and I learned that almost everybody else in the world steals a lot more than I do, and I’m kind of a dweeb. Or at least they “used to.” But none of that even begins to cover all the car crime.
Read MoreIf you didn’t own a car before All Of This began, you may have reconsidered that choice once or twice in the meantime, possibly because you fear public transportation like planes and trains. The circumstances of 2020 led to a somewhat weird situation in which new car sales were down considerably from 2019 — but as demand returned, inventories fell short.
Read MoreI spend countless hours online looking for neat cars. I love cars with awesome stories, but ads are usually short on details and shorter on punctuation. So it blew me away when a reader sent us the best Craigslist ad I’ve ever seen. The 1990 Subaru Legacy Wagon they have for sale has a staggering number of miles for how good it looks.
Read MoreHave you ever had to settle some sort of dispute or perceived slight by a rapid-fire duel of classic Volkswagen Beetle drawing? Probably. Well, if so, I’m not sure what method you chose to render your VW, but if it helps for next time, I’ve developed, at great personal expense, a method to quickly but effectively draw a VW Beetle, known as the Dual-Egg Method. For this week’s Torchinsky Files, I reveal the great secret of the Dual-Egg Method to you, then attempt to replicate it on a bunch of old
Read MoreMazda, a company with a history of making engines that spin (although it hasn’t in a minute) is bringing the rotary back in a vehicle that will come to the U.S. Hooray!
Read MoreOur new, fresh, no-one-has-peeled-off-those-plastic-films-over-the-screens year of 2021 has barely started, and we’ve already managed to find a new heel: Bean Dad. Like so many other legume-eating, child-having people across the globe, I read about Bean Dad and Bean Daughter’s can opener trials and rolled my eyes with the ruthless abandon of a flung hubcap. Bean Dad seems to have issued an apology just now, which makes me shed initial reservations about writing about any of this at all, especial
Read MoreSinger Vehicle Design has been restoring Porsche 911s for about a decade, and during that time the company has typically stuck to optimizing early-gen 911s for road use, with tuned engines, lighter body panels and modernized interiors. For its latest endeavor, though, Singer is doing something truly ambitious — and the result looks phenomenal.
Read MoreThe Jimmy John’s sandwich chain of restaurants trains all of its franchise store managers out of its headquarters location in Indiana. That’s why my best friend and myself were caught driving my rear-wheel-drive 2003 BMW 325ci on all-season tires across the country during 2014's so-called “Polar Vortex” storm, and reader, it was a journey.
Read MoreThe Morris Garages brand of British sports car has been through the wringer in its lifetime. Having built iconic roadsters like the TC, B, and Midget, the company was once a paragon of the sports car market. The thread connecting MG to EV has taken a bit of a detour by way of its current Chinese ownership. If you go into an MG dealership these days, you’re far more likely to walk out with an electric SUV than a sporty car. The company hopes to change that by introducing the production version of
Read MoreWhen the Bentley Bentayga Hybrid debuted in Geneva in 2018 no one really knew who it was for, except regulators. The Hybrid is slower and less powerful than the other Bentaygas, and yet still costs as much as a small Midwestern house. But you get better fuel economy!
Read MoreOne of the best things about being a car nerd that people rarely talk about is that we actually tend to be pretty damn easy to buy gifts for. Perhaps it’s just me, but even after 27 trips around the sun, few simple pleasures still delight as much as getting a miniature version of a car I really like.
Read MoreI’m sure we’ve all had jobs that only currently exist in our heads as embarrassingly detailed revenge fantasies, orgies of imagined chaos and destruction. That’s pretty normal, I think, and generally harmless. What’s less normal and harmless is actually acting out these brutal reveries, like a 38-year-old ex-Mercedes employee did in a Basque, Spain-area Mercedes plant.
Read MoreThe 2020 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport starts at $22,595 not including the destination charge, which is in the range of its competitors like the Hyundai Kona, Kia Seltos, and Mazda CX-30. But the price wasn’t low enough for Mitsu.
Read MoreThe world is still reeling after the news of rapper and producer MF DOOM’s death, reported on Thursday. MF DOOM, whose real name was Daniel Dumile, passed away on October 31; the news was confirmed by his wife Jasmine on the artist’s Instagram account. Dumile was 49.
Read MoreThese mergers often feel like big steps toward a totally homogenized car business where badge engineering and strict bean-counting lead us to our inevitable future — 23,000 robots stamping out one model of electric crossover in 7 different colors. But, between now and then, maybe something fun happens.
Read MoreAround here, we think cars are pretty important. It’s kind of surprising to learn that cars weren’t really entered into the Library of Congress until the Historic Vehicle Association created the National Historic Vehicle Register in conjunction with the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2013. I mean, what kind of crap were they putting in there before, if not cars?
Read MoreThere hasn’t been a Toyota quite like the new GR Yaris since the old Celica GT-Four ST205 of the mid-’90s. It was only a matter of time before someone staged a face-off between the company’s two most recent homologation special rally monsters, and Fifth Gear has risen to the occasion.
Read MoreAnother state has followed California’s example in banning the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles. This time, it’s Massachusetts, and it’s aiming for a more electric-friendly state by 2035.
Read MoreTesla set a strong goal for 2020: build and deliver half a million cars. And while the electric vehicle company very nearly achieved both goals, it fell just 450 units short of its delivery goal.
Read MoreThe massive merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and French Groupe PSA cleared one of its final regulatory hurdles in late December, and the final transaction is set to take place tomorrow, January 4, 2020. But that’s only if Frank B. Rhodes, Jr., Walter P. Chrysler’s great grandson, doesn’t get his say.
Read MoreGet your thinking caps on, folks. You’ve heard all about the 2021 model year cars coming out, and now the time is here. What are you most excited for this year?
Read MoreOn January 22, RM Sotheby’s is hosting another auction in Arizona, and while the entire collection is great, there are six specific cars that stand out. Part of The Homologation Collection, these six machines were designed for rally racing. And they are gorgeous.
Read MoreIf you’re anything like me, you’re sick of hearing 2020 referred to as “unprecedented.” I legitimately cannot stand it anymore. There’s a nugget of truth in there, but between scientists predicting that we’re about due for a pandemic and the world being precariously balanced on the needlepoint of capitalism, disaster was inevitable. So, that’s why I’m asking you to make some predictions for 2021.
Read MoreThe indication of one’s intent to turn: Is there any greater act of self-determination and agency one has as a driver? Probably not.
Read MoreHere at Jalopnik, we spend a lot of time moaning about where all the interesting, fun car colors have gone. I promise that this particular post won’t go down like that, though, because one of Volkswagen’s top color experts has given me and other complainers reason to be optimistic about the future.
Read MoreFor the most part, the new Mini Coopers, now refreshed for 2022, look a lot like the cars they’re replacing and even their last-gen predecessors. The outline of the daytime running lights within the oval clusters has been a good look, and halving the Union Jack across the taillights was a stroke of genius. The latest Minis are maybe a little bloated, but I think they continue to clean up.
Read MoreThe Dutch design house Niels Van Roij Design has a strong portfolio of cars they’ve adapted into station wagons and shooting brakes, including Teslas and Rolls-Royces, so it makes sense that they’d be who you’d approach if you wanted to create a modern interpretation of one of the most iconic shooting brake-like cars ever built: the 1962 Ferrari 250GT SWB “Breadvan.” Well, after years of work, the firm has finished their Breadvan Hommage, and it’s pretty incredible, even if it does kinda look li
Read MoreAs you may know, one of my many idiotic automotive obsessions has to do with difficult or challenging trunks. I’ve even found them inspirational at times, the efforts expended to wrestle out a bit of usable storage volume even when every bit of geometry was seemingly confederated against the idea. The designers of the Alfa Romeo SZ, though, seem to have taken an approach to trunk design that I find gloriously baffling. Let’s dig in.
Read MoreWhat do the 2016 Ford GT, Mustang Mach-E and Bronco have in common? All three were styled under the guidance of Moray Callum, Ford’s global design chief. Ford announced Callum’s retirement today, concluding a 38-year career that spanned a number of brands beyond Ford, including Ghia, Chrysler, Peugeot and Mazda.
Read MoreMercedes-Benz is a company with one of the longest continuous histories in automobildom, so much so that it even often likes to claim it built “the first automobile” even though this is in no way true. It also tends to get credit for inventing gullwing doors, even though this claim doesn’t seem to be completely true, either. Let’s see who really had these first.
Read MoreFor those who like good news out of nowhere, ItalDesign has a treat. The renowned styling studio is teasing a new vehicle featuring gullwing doors in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the original DeLorean DMC-12.
Read MoreI think anyone who has been even vaguely interested in cars growing up has attempted to design a car before. Whether you were super serious about it, you just scribbled some drawings as a kid, or you critique cars on the Internet (I don’t judge), we’ve all been there. But now, we’ve got legendary designer Frank Stephenson here to give us some tips about how to break into the industry.
Read MorePraga Cars, the Czech Republic’s iconic auto manufacturer, has released a revised version of its successful, race-winning R1, but with a twist: this version is obscenely light due to its all-carbon construction, meaning it doesn’t need tons of extra power to prove itself on the race track.
Read MoreWhile we’ve already gotten a clear look at the 2022 Subaru BRZ, Toyota has been playing coy with revealing anything at all about its version of the boxer-powered, lightweight rear-wheel-drive sports coupe. Thursday, thanks once again to Australia’s patent office, we can at least look at the front bumper.
Read MoreCorrection: Thursday, January 21, 2021, 1:31 p.m. ET: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the option to retrofit Vane grilles to existing Vantages was new; it’s new for Aston Martin Works in the U.K., but has actually be offered by Aston Martin North America since March 2020. The original Hunter grille design also remains the default option on all Vantages from the factory, whether Coupe or Roadster. These errors have been corrected below.
Read MoreThe Nissan Z Proto looked awfully production-ready when we first saw it in September and filings at Australia’s patent office, found by CarExpert and apparently registered in November, provide further indication the final version will look just like the concept.
Read MoreI’m so conditioned to watching head-turning concepts be distilled and softened on the way to production that it’s hard to get excited when a manufacturer announces plans to mass-produce a show car. But Hyundai’s just teased the Ioniq 5 — the production version of its Hyundai 45 concept from 2019 — and I think this is one of those rare cases where enthusiasm is justified. Because this thing already looks amazing.
Read MoreThere’s been plenty of talk about the new 450-horsepower Safari Porsche 911-inspired Singer Vehicle Design All-terrain Competition Study. We’ll just call it the Singer ACS for short.
Read MoreOn January 10, 2008, Tata Motors introduced the “People’s Car,” the Nano. Impressively small and impressively cheap, it immediately grabbed the award of being the world’s cheapest car. Where else can you find a family car for $2,500?
Read MoreAs you likely have heard from your valet shouting it at you, General Motors has updated its logo for the first time since 1964. This new logo modernizes the typographic elements, rounds some corners and, at least in some forms we’ve seen online, features some mildly dated and maybe even a bit embarrassing gradient and embossing effects. But, if we’re being totally honest, it’s not like GM’s old logo was anything special, either. So let’s dig into this a bit.
Read MoreFor companies that exist to build cars, automakers sure like to parade around non-working mockups with the promise they’ll one day be drivable. How ironic is it that when Sony, a major tech company, decided to bring a car to the Consumer Electronics Show last year, it brought one that ran.
Read MoreAmerican cars have been getting heavier and heavier since the early ’80s, but have no fear, the American auto industry has been hard at work... to make them more powerful, too, as noted in the EPA’s recent year-end report.
Read MoreThe acclaimed car designer Walter De Silva revealed his re-imagination of the iconic Porsche 550 Spyder, a design study called the 550one, on his Instagram a few days ago. I can’t stand idly by any longer.
Read MoreWhile Tesla is often recognized as one of the automakers at the forefront of electric sedan production, plenty of challengers have arisen to mount a challenge. Today, we’re going to see how a Ford Mustang Mach-E fares when compared to the Tesla Model Y.
Read MoreIf there’s one thing I miss about older cars, it’s buttons. An infotainment screen is a great and handy invention, but even haptic feedback doesn’t give you that same, bone-deep satisfaction that comes from pressing a good button. It’s a human instinct, really: give a toddler a button and she’ll press it all day long. And that’s exactly why the 1987 Chevy Blazer XT-1 concept should have become a reality.
Read MoreItalian coachbuilder Ares Design is showing off a custom convertible Tesla S, and rest assured, this Tesla is roofless by design rather than by accident.
Read MoreThe rally hits keep coming, and they don’t stop coming. Dakar is done, but the 2021 Monte Carlo Rally is underway and already proving a difficult event for some.
Read MoreTeams participating in the 2021 Dakar Rally must apparently now add helicopter collisions to the list of rally hazards. As if Dakar were not already dangerous enough.
Read MoreDrivers using smartphones have been the bane of many good trips, and one study by Purdue researchers zeroed in on drivers playing Pokémon Go behind the wheel, specifically in the timeframe following the game’s launch.
Read MoreIt’s rare to see two of the same car crashed into one another; to see four is especially uncommon. But that was the scene on an off-road trail near Colorado Springs, where slippery conditions sent a quadrumvirate of Toyota Tundras careening into one another, creating a mangled mess of metal and plastic.
Read MoreDo not adjust your screens, that headline you just read is not a joke. On Saturday morning, a thief stole a Honda Pilot in Beaverton, Oregon. When the thief discovered a four-year-old child inside the car, he turned around to both return the child and berate the mother.
Read MoreNew York City police discovered suspicious-looking devices — very much intended to look explosive — on a stolen Tesla outside a Queens shopping mall early Monday morning. In addition to a gas cannister and wires, there was a husky calmly sitting in the car.
Read MoreWe’ve been telling you about the lack of data security in your car for some time now. Police investigators are increasingly taking notice of the flimsy security in cars and are now using that in-car data to solve crimes. There’s another side to this coin, though: As critics argue, that openness of the onboard computers in cars is a burgeoning privacy nightmare.
Read MoreHave you ever wondered what happens to the cars in Top Gear’s Specials after the cameras stop rolling? In the case of the Botswana Special, Jeremy Clarkson’s Lancia Beta stayed in Botswana, a YouTuber recently discovered.
Read MoreAnother week means another entry into the sweet cars found online that I wish I could drive. I like finding cheap used cars that can either be daily driven right away or daily driven after minor work. Over the past couple of years, I’ve turned it into a bit of a skill.
Read MoreAnother week means another entry into the sweet cars found online that I wish I could own. I like finding cheap used cars that can either be daily driven right away or daily driven after minor work. Over the past couple of years, I’ve turned it into a bit of a skill.
Read MoreThe 1980s and 1990s were strange times at the monthly car magazines. For example, Car and Driver was budding up with car builders to make weird dreams come true. One of them was this bonkers twin-engine Honda CRX, and it’s up for grabs on Facebook Marketplace for $20,000.
Read MoreAnother week means another entry into the sweet cars found online that I wish I could own. I like finding cheap used cars that can either be daily driven right away or daily driven after minor work. Over the past couple of years, I’ve turned it into a bit of a skill.
Read MoreOne of my favorite ways to regain some semblance of normalcy following a largely successful domestic terrorism plot is to cruise Craigslist looking for another car I definitely don’t need. As I slowly gain back my motor functions following about 12 hours of refreshing the news and spiraling into a black pit of internal doom, the only thing that could bring me back to the surface with a smile on my face is this topless land barge Thunderbird road racer with a better power to weight ratio than a H
Read MoreDear reader, I’ve run into a vehicle so rare and obscure that even Google turns up relatively few search results for it. This is the 1986 Lands Precedent, and it’s one of the rarest cars around.
Read MoreAnother week has passed and that means another week of sweet cars found online that I wish I could own. I like finding cheap used cars that can either be daily driven right away or daily driven after minor work. Over the past couple of years I’ve turned it into a bit of a skill.
Read MoreDriving fewer miles and working from home has become the new normal for so many people during the pandemic. If you miss the sights and sounds of a morning commute as much as I do, then Erkam ?eker has just the app for you. Drive & Listen is an impressively chill way to simulate a drive through your favorite cities.
Read MoreFew businesses have weathered the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic unscathed, but things have been especially tough for the National Motorcycle Museum in the United Kingdom. So tough, in fact, that the museum is giving away three motorcycles via raffle in the hope that it can keep them going for a few more months.
Read MoreSuzuki’s king of the 1990s motorcycle speed wars has fallen on hard times. The Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa was discontinued in Europe in 2018, and American enthusiasts wondered what was going on when it didn’t show up in Suzuki’s 2021 model line.
Read MoreIndian’s FTR1200 was already a certified VGB (Very Good Bike), but with a few tweaks coming to the motorcycle for the 2022 model year, it’s about to get even better. Indian listened to people who bought the bike and gave it a few minor tweaks to make the flat track race-inspired machine an even better street machine. With the revised suspension, new wheel and tire package, and engine control enhancements made, it would seem Indian has addressed every issue I had with the FTR.
Read MoreMoto Guzzi is celebrating 100 years of production in 2021. As you let that sink in, arm yourself with a reply for the inevitable wisecracks you’ll hear when talking about Italian go-fast machines. I’m looking at you, Alfa-Romeo.
Read MoreNo matter how many safety precautions they take, motorcycle riders are still about 28 times more likely than a car passenger to die in a crash due to the prone nature of the rider. The thing that people love about riding—the sensation of being open and close to nature—is the very thing that makes the whole thing so dangerous. But a new invention, airbag jeans, is looking to solve that. And they already seem much more useful than parachute pants.
Read MoreMotorcycles are great, but for many of us—especially sport bike riders—the riding season is cut short by cold weather and slick roads. If you’ve spent the whole winter itching to get back out on track, then what you need is a MotoTrainer module which allows you to train your weight transfer and cornering in the heated comfort of your luxurious garage. Yeah, it’s not cheap, but how awesome would it be to go for a rip in near 100 percent safety while the temperature outside is still below the free
Read MoreTriumph is teasing its new Speed Triple 1200 RS. It looks mean and scary, and I thought it just needed a little affection until I read it’s rumored to have 178 horsepower.
Read MoreBMW Motorrad is showcasing another custom R18, this time from designer Dirk Oehlerking, who helms Kingston Custom. And well, my feelings about this new design are...complicated. Because I can’t be sure whether I am repulsed by or attracted to the Art Deco styling of this bike.
Read MoreThe average American commute is a paltry 12 miles. The average American drives no more than 25 miles per day. A small electric motorcycle isn’t for everyone, but more than half of Americans could benefit from zipping around town on something like this. Imagine how much better your commute could be if you could hop on something that not only looks cool and futuristic like the Sondors Metacycle, but also cuts your fuel budget to practically nothing. I’m seriously considering buying one of these fo
Read MoreThere’s been a slew of announcements for new small-displacement bikes that will soon hit the asphalt around the world. The announcements come from big and small bikemakers alike, from KTM and Husqvarna to Hanway and Bullit.
Read MoreIndian Motorcycles filed an extremely detailed patent application for an adaptive headlamp design way back in May of last year, and it was officially published in October. Our friends over at RideApart recently dug it up, and it’s absolutely fascinating. The system uses sensors from all over your motorcycle to provide a speed and lean-angle sensitive pattern of light emission. Having ridden several thousand miles myself in the pitch black of night, I am definitely behind and in support of anythi
Read MoreThis winter, fellow riders have suggested that I put the bikes away and drive a car.
Read MoreRiders have been waiting for an update to the CRF250L and CRF250L Rally, and Honda finally has some good news: The dual-sport pair got a generous helping of upgrades.
Read MoreHonda has been evolving its Gold Wing motorcycle into a two-wheeled car since the bike was introduced in 1974. As it stands, this is probably as close to the perfect touring machine for two-up riding you can find on the market today. However, two people need two helmets, and the current Gold Wing trunk can’t fit two extra large helmets in it. For the 2021 model year, Honda is amending that particular oversight by increasing the capacity of the top case trunk to 61 liters, up from 50 liters.
Read MoreToday’s small-displacement motorcycles pack an impressive punch for their size and price. Some small bikes are good fun, but what if I told you that you could have had even more fun 31 years ago? This motorcycle offered on Craigslist is the Honda CBR250RR, a pocket rocket that shrieks like a vintage Formula 1 car.
Read MoreThe new TVR Griffith will enter production next year, company chairman Les Edgar says. If you’ve been following the saga of TVR’s first new car in 15 years, I shouldn’t have to tell you it’s inadvisable to take that sentence at face value. And if you haven’t been following it, know that this isn’t the first time Edgar and company have labeled “next year” as the estimated time of arrival.
Read MoreThere is yet another auto emissions scandal bubbling up, and this time it’s on Toyota. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan announced Thursday that Toyota would pay a $180 million fine for violations of the Clean Air Act. This is the largest civil penalty ever for a violation of federal emissions-reporting requirements.
Read MoreWe were told just days ago to expect changes to the provisional 2021 Formula 1 calendar — and the changes, they are a-comin’. The season was to begin with the Australian Grand Prix on March 21, but now that race has been shifted all the way back to November 21, where it will serve as the third-to-last round of the year.
Read MoreSemiconductor shortages have reached the auto industry, and seemingly no company is exempt. The Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg all reported in the last several days that various manufacturers have been forced to delay or stall vehicle production due to a lack of chips, which are more critical than ever in modern cars to operate everything from in-car entertainment to assisted driving features and so on.
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 incorrect listings for new Toyota Supras and finding an “old school” but recent car.
Read MoreDespite showing pictures of the top in both open and closed positions, the seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Saab 900 lists the convertible roof to be nonworking and in need of a fix. Will that top flaw require a lower bottom line?
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Z3 claims its drivetrain was converted to M-spec by an aftermarket tuner that couldn’t wait for BMW to introduce the official M Roadster. Let’s see if this converted car can also command an M-like price.
Read MoreThe ad for today’s Nice Price or No Dice Jeep Wagoneer cites “Minimal Rust” as a top selling point. That’s usually code for lots of rust, but as the photos don’t show any obvious Swiss cheese maybe it really is worth mentioning. Let’s see if that also makes it worth its asking price.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice E320 claims to have all of the car’s service receipts. Let’s see if that treat and an appreciably clean appearance warrants adding a sales receipt to the file.
Read MoreThere are few vehicles you can buy that are anywhere near as weird as today’s Nice Price or No Dice Nissan. The fact that the model existed at all is pretty remarkable. Let’s see if the price tag warrants remarks as well.
Read MoreWith its rebuilt 2.5-liter turbo and similarly renewed 5-speed stick shift, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Dodge is a people-mover that in all likelihood can really move. Let’s see if it’s priced to move as well.
Read MoreBack when Ford was selling the punky Pinto in the U.S. market, it was also selling cars like today’s Nice Price or No Dice Taunus all over Europe. Let’s see if this private import’s price makes it worth exploring what us Americans were missing.
Read MoreIf you’re going the route of a sport sedan, you may as well go all-in and get one that’s manual shift like today’s Nice Price or No Dice M5. Let’s see if it requires all of your wallet to do so.
Read MoreOne of the most interesting stories to come out of 1980s autodom was Ford’s purchase of BMW diesel engines for its Lincoln brand. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Continental is a rare surviving example of that ill-fated plan. Let’s see if historical value holds any sway over that of the car.
Read MoreAs an example of the last subcompact model sold in the U.S. to have actually been built in the U.S., today’s Nice Price or No Dice Sonic is a small car that’s kind of a big deal. Let’s see if this hot hatch is priced to hatch a quick sale.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice RX-7 is looking to cull a car collection, and this Mazda has to go. Let’s figure out if that collector’s loss could be someone else’s gain.
Read MoreThey say there’s no such thing as a cheap Porsche and yet today’s Nice Price or No Dice Boxster is...a cheap Porsche. Could its low price make it an easy onramp to Porsche ownership? Or is it a rocky road to future expenses?
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice F-250 is a Camper Special, but what’s really special is its amazing ’70s chromatic decal look. Let’s see what that crazy color scheme might ask of your green.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice M3 seems to have nearly everything. There are hard and soft tops, a supercharger on its S52 six and a five-speed stick — even tricolor stripes running its entire length. Let’s see what all that might possibly be worth.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Volvo claims that you won’t find a cleaner wagon anywhere, and the pictures in the ad do support such a boast. Let’s see if this classic longroof is priced to also clean up.
Read MoreBoxers know it’s always smart to watch out for a sneak left jab. Do so today, however, and you might miss the right hook packed by our Nice Price or No Dice Town and Country. Let’s see if this right-hand-drive van is worth its price or if it should get left in the lurch.
Read MoreThe Renault Fuego was the first car sold in America with keyfob remote locking, a feature today’s Nice Price or No Dice ’85 may still have. Let’s see if its rarity, style and that cool keyfob make its price something you might be open to.
Read MoreWith its black-ops exterior, blue-highlighted interior and massive turbo, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Escalade certainly does stand out. Let’s see if an outstanding price tag is also one of the truck’s features.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Comanche says it was converted to 4WD from its original 4X2 base. Let’s see if this midi-pickup’s price is low enough to get you to convert in its favor.
Read MoreWhile the 400 may have been the first Ferrari model to offer an automatic transmission, today’s Nice Price or No Dice GT eschews that convenience for an old school clutch pedal and manual shift. Let’s see if its price has you clutching at your pearls.
Read MoreLancia’s Stratos is an incredibly special car, but more than its specialness, it’s on the bleeding edge of simplicity. In an effort to engineer the car for lightweight race car goodness, Bertone and Lancia crafted what must be the simplest and yet still most effective window mechanism I’ve ever before seen. With little more than a wing nut, the Stratos’ unorthodox window operation is infinitely adjustable, and totally infallible.
Read MoreBiofuels are all the rage these days as companies look for natural and more sustainable ways to power race cars and airplanes. Boeing has joined the party now, too, with its promise that 100 percent of its fleet will be running on biofuels by 2030.
Read MoreTecnam, an Italian aeronautics company that produces aircraft parts for other manufacturers and also develops it own light aircraft, has engineered a small plane with the purpose of transporting the COVID-19 vaccine by air.
Read MoreShortly after taking off from Jakarta, Sriwijaya Air flight SJY 182 lost contact with air control. The passenger plane had 62 passengers onboard and is believed to have crashed, according to Indonesia’s Head Of National Transportation Safety Committee, Suryanto Cahyono.
Read MoreHave you ever been out jogging in cold weather, (ha ha ha, no) watching your moist, hot exhales condense into clouds of alabaster steam and thought to yourself, hey, why can’t we run airplanes on this shit? Well, good news! A bunch of scientists must be listening to your brainwaves via satellite, because a bunch of scientists from the University of Oxford (inventors of that comma) have figured out a way to do basically that: turn carbon dioxide into jet fuel. And, yes, they’re using an organic c
Read MoreThe dust had yet to settle over the 2021 running of the Rolex 24 endurance race at Daytona International Speedway when Corvette Racing announced that Antonio Garcia, one of its race-winning drivers, tested positive for COVID-19.
Read MoreYet another Formula One driver has tested positive for COVID-19. Pierre Gasly, No. 10 AlphaTauri driver, announced the news via Instagram story and Twitter. With Gasly’s positive case, one-third of the F1 grid has now tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Read MoreThe 59th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway has been our first taste of motorsport for 2021, and what a damn good race it was. After a race-long battle amongst the top five cars in the premiere DPi class, the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura piloted by Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Alexander Rossi, and Helio Castroneves.
Read MoreThe 2021 Rolex 24 broadcast has been an interesting one for plenty of reasons but in part because the NBC crew has been calling different folks on Zoom to check out their thoughts on the event since they can’t be there in person. And, folks, Tom Kristensen’s house is awesome.
Read MoreMotorsport has served as a proving ground for loads of new technologies that eventually make their way into the auto industry’s consumer cars, and a new documentary shows exactly how that happened with disc brakes. And yes, it involves legendary racer Sir Stirling Moss and Jaguar test driver and engineer Norman Dewis.
Read MoreAs you might have seen, we had a chance to talk to Formula E CEO Jamie Reigle earlier this week to coincide with the announcement of an updated schedule. But our conversation went far beyond just chatting about the schedule itself—I also wanted to know more about the complexities of creating that schedule, of how the series is balancing the disposability of PPE with the series’ sustainable goals, and, most importantly, how the fate of the New York City ePrix looks (spoiler alert: it’s good.
Read MoreOne year ago today, racer John Andretti died after a battle with colorectal cancer. Now, the legendary Andretti family has set up a charity in his honor which is designed to carry on John Andretti’s legacy even in his death.
Read MoreWhen Liberty Media, an American-owned media company, took control of Formula One, it kicked off its tenure by immediately adopting the strangest possible start time procedure for Grands Prix. Now, the series is reneging on that idea because it... hasn’t actually done anything.
Read MoreThis afternoon’s 2021 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway is looking, uh, a little more dangerous than usual. Not because of weather or track conditions—mostly because of the addition of the LMP3 class, which has turned out to be a little bit of a hot mess.
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 MoreI swear, every time Extreme E announces a new part of the sport, it becomes incrementally cooler. On Thursday the new electric off-road racing series showed off its 100 percent clean energy hydrogen fuel cell generator, which will be hauled around the world to power each of the vehicles for the full race weekend. In between sessions, when all 11 of these race vehicles need to charge up, they’ll fire up the FC generator and pump electrons into each of them.
Read MoreSports car racing, particularly tin-top GTs, has been rapidly moving through a vicious cycle of inflated costs and reduced grid sizes lately, and once again, Corvette Racing has been left holding the bag. It used to be that GT1 was the king shit, but following the 2008 financial crisis, Corvette was the only team left in the class. Now that GTE/GTLM—née GT2—is dying an ignominious death at the hands of a financial crisis, once again Corvette is the only team interested in keeping the party going
Read MoreSeason 3 of Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive To Survive documentary series is likely weeks away at this point, and in anticipation. F1 broadcaster Will Buxton has uploaded a video to his personal YouTube channel that sheds light on how the production team was able to make it happen despite restrictions to proximity and travel brought on by the pandemic.
Read MoreFormula E’s city-center racing model has left it at the mercy of rapidly changing COVID-19 protocols across the globe. As restrictions and regulations change, E-Prix races have been canceled, rescheduled or indefinitely postponed. Now, there’s a new round of calendar changes being confirmed — and, according to Jamie Reigle, CEO of the series, this new style of scheduling and announcements will make it a hell of a lot easier to predict a stable calendar.
Read MoreIn the wake of a truly screwed up 2020 season, global economic depression, and shrinking budgets, Formula One has frozen its regulations for the 2021 season. The original plan had included a brand new set of regulations for 2021, but that was kicked back to 2022 after teams couldn’t find the money to develop a new chassis in the midst of a pandemic. So, for the most part teams will be using the same chassis carried over from the 2020 season.
Read MoreIn the interest of keeping costs down and streamlining development in the COVID-19 era, 2021's Formula 1 cars will carry over a great deal from their predecessors. On the outside, they’ll look pretty similar to what we saw last year. However, there are a number of small aerodynamics changes, in addition to a new sturdier tire compound and additional financial regulations, that have introduced new challenges for teams over the winter break.
Read More34-year-old Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe was unceremoniously dropped from his ride with Schmidt Petersen Motorsports when McLaren took over the team at the end of 2019. The fan-favorite driver, who is arguably the face of IndyCar right now, was forced to sit out much of the 2020 season, running only a partial program with Andretti Autosport. With Marco Andretti moving into partial retirement from the sport, The Mayor Of Hinchtown finally has a car with his name on it again.
Read MoreOn Monday it was announced that former Formula One world champion Jenson Button would be kicking off his own Extreme E championship effort from the driver’s seat. This announcement marks the fourth F1 pilot to start an XE team, following Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, and Carlos Sainz into the new electric off-roader sport. JBXE racing is the tenth team to join the grid for the series’ inaugural season.
Read MoreWomen have dominated headlines across motorsport publications this week, and for some damn good reasons. Countless incredible racers are getting rides in series across the globe, including some names that have been absent from racing for a while or are just making their debut. We’ll run you through some of the biggest moments you need to know about.
Read MoreI’ve been listening to my husband scramble to find a group of fellow racers to take part in iRacing’s virtual Rolex 24 at Daytona for months. I mean months. This man repaired his whole entire broken sim rig specifically for this race. And then the servers crashed.
Read MoreMy favorite part of the racing season is here: the beginning. And, as per usual, we’re kicking it off with the IMSA WeatherTech series’ Rolex 24, a day-long event that puts drivers and machinery to the test. And to get you sufficiently amped, we’re going to run you through everything you need to know.
Read MoreLet’s pour one out for our racing coverage, friends. NBC Sports Network is reportedly shutting down at the end of the year, requiring motorsport series like IndyCar, IMSA, and NASCAR to find a new home.
Read MoreNext Friday, in the run up to the Daytona 24 weekend, Hyundai’s Veloster N ETCR racer will take to the track for some exciting demonstration laps. This will be the first time that anyone outside of Hyundai will get to experience the quick acceleration of Hyundai’s 670 horsepower electric machine based on its quirky three-door sporty hatch.
Read MoreFormula 1 is the self-appointed pinnacle of motorsport. So why, oh why, does its streaming offering suck so much, particularly when less-prominent series that garner fewer eyeballs do things so much better?
Read MoreThe first race of the IMSA sports car season kicks off this Saturday with the qualification race for the Daytona 24, but before the season can even start Tim Pappas’ Black Swan Racing team has been forced to withdraw. Last weekend, while racing in the Dubai 24 hours race, Pappas contracted COVID-19 from one of his racing co-drivers. With the twice-round-the-clock Daytona event scheduled for the 30th of January, there simply isn’t enough time for Pappas to recover and hit the track.
Read MoreAfter having won the 24 Hours of Daytona two years in a row, and taking the 2020 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup championship, the BMW Rahal Letterman Lanigan team will focus its Big M8 racing efforts solely on endurance events for the 2021 season. This means BMW will be skipping eight races in 2021. With the factory Porsche team suspending its IMSA efforts, that leaves just three full-season cars to race in the GTLM class—two Corvettes and a single privateer Porsche from WeatherTech Racing. We’ve p
Read MoreWhen their kid turns 16, most parents are dealing with the existential crisis that comes from teaching them how to drive, but just know that it could always be more stressful. Your kid could always be teaming up with some his fellow teen buddies to compete in the Rolex 24 endurance race at Daytona International Speedway.
Read MoreNASCAR driver Kyle Larson has made a very stellar name for himself on dirt tracks in the past few years, and with his second straight Chili Bowl win, he has proved that his winning streak is nowhere near over.
Read MoreThis weekend, racing driver Devon Rouse made history. He became the first openly-gay driver to turn laps in an ARCA car during the series’ yearly test session. He did so behind the wheel of Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track Racing machine.
Read More15-year-old stock car driver Taylor Gray has raised quite a stir on social media today after posting a Snapchat video of him using one hand to film himself while cruising around the Daytona International Speedway at full blast. So, here’s your regular reminder: filming yourself racing at speed is always a bad idea, but especially when you’re a young racing driver trying to make it up the ranks.
Read MoreCOVID-19 has already wreaked havoc on the 2021 World Rally Championship schedule, and its path of destruction continues. The iconic, snow-covered (well, most of the time) Rally Sweden has long been nixed from the calendar, but various other changes had it looking like we wouldn’t see any snow events this year. Now, though, Arctic Rally Finland has stepped in.
Read MoreI’d like to ask you to take a moment to imagine something. You’ve just wrapped up your COVID-19 vaccine regimen and have planned your first trip to the race track in over a year. You arrive with your mask and your folding chair, prepared for the most satisfying weekend you’ve had in months. In the distance, you can hear it: the whine of an engine preparing to attack the corner you’ve so critically positioned yourself at. Your palms begin to sweat in anticipation; your heart begins to beat. Here
Read MoreNASCAR is gaining its second celebrity co-owner ahead of the 2021 racing season. Grammy-award winning singer Pitbull—yes, Mr. Worldwide himself, Armando Christian Perez—is taking on an ownership role at newly formed Trackhouse Racing. Because, hell, why not?
Read MoreThe first official trailer for Netflix’s The Crew was released on Friday, and boy does it look bad. The show, which will debut on the streaming app on February 15th, follows a NASCAR race team as the team boss retires and places his young daughter at the head of the operation. Obviously there will be plenty of room in this show for lowest-common-denominator humor, including perhaps derision of a young woman working in an old boy’s club.
Read MoreAfter 226 races and fifteen years of racing in IndyCar, Marco son of Michael of the Andretti clan is retiring from the family business. Once held in high opinion as the future of American racing talent, Marco puts pause to his career after two race victories. The most recent of Marco’s trips to winner’s circle came a decade ago in Iowa. The kid has shown flashes of brilliance in his career, most recently by snatching pole position for last year’s delayed Indy 500. The 33-year-old rolling tribute
Read MoreThe era of the hypercar top class in global endurance racing is finally here, arriving with the reveal of the Toyota GR010 Hybrid racecar today.
Read MoreNo matter what happens in the Dakar Rally, no matter how bad it gets, you don’t abandon your teammate. And yet one driver competing in the Side-by-Side class reportedly did just that yesterday, in the middle of the world’s most grueling rally raid event, this year taking place in Saudi Arabia.
Read MoreIn addition to launching an extremely interesting electric hatchback 5 concept on Thursday morning, Renault, by way of its Alpine sub-brand, announced a partnership with Lotus to build, well, something. There aren’t many details on the joint venture, but the French and British car makers “signed a memorandum of understanding to study a number of areas of cooperation, including the joint development of an EV sportscar.” This is definitely newsworthy, despite very little information being availabl
Read MoreOn Thursday Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc announced that he was the fifth Formula 1 driver to contract Coronavirus. Previously, drivers Lance Stroll, Lewis Hamilton, and Sergio Perez were forced to sit out of rounds during the 2020 season as a result of the virus, and Lando Norris is currently in isolation having himself fallen victim to COVID-19 just nine days ago.
Read MoreThere’s a pretty good chance that you got one of those cheap consumer-grade quadcopter drones for Christmas or a birthday recently. And there’s a pretty good chance that within minutes you smashed that bitch into a tree or a telephone wire or something. Cadillac wants to scale that technology up to hold a human-shaped soft and squishy cargo and deploy thousands of them in every city around the world. The no-longer-laureled crest division of General Motors unveiled this concept, called eVOL, duri
Read MoreLast November I trucked my ass over to Laguna Seca to watch what is perhaps one of the most fun racing events I’ve ever been party to: the inaugural MotoAmerica King of the Baggers event. It was a hell of a good time, and in 2021 the series is aiming for even more of a good thing with a full five-race season. The Indian versus Harley fire has never burned brighter, and it’s going to be exciting to see that carry on.
Read MoreThe preliminary plan for pre-season testing in F1 has cars on track in just a month and a half. We’re almost two weeks into 2021, and the grid still hasn’t been completely confirmed. The defending champion, a 7-time world champion in fact, Lewis Hamilton has still not been contracted to race in Formula 1 this year.
Read MoreMcLaren Racing on Monday made a definitive announcement that it might eventually race in another series. It signed an option to enter, Formula E, now an FIA World Championship series, at the end of 2022. This is not, of course, a binding contract and transmits nothing but interest, but it’s interesting nonetheless. McLaren admits that Formula E is on its radar “as part of its ongoing evaluation of potential new motorsport platforms.”
Read MoreCyril Abiteboul, team principal of Renault’s Formula 1 operation and the man responsible for the single greatest line in the first season of Netflix’s Drive To Survive, is out at the French squad, the team announced today.
Read More2020 wasn’t a particularly easy year for the Williams F1 team, and after scoring no points at all for the second year running, something needs to change. So, Williams has opted to further expand its technical partnership with Mercedes, the head of the pack.
Read MoreSantino Ferrucci, one of America’s more controversial racing figures in recent years, has finally confirmed the rumors: He’s moving on from IndyCar and taking up a part-time schedule in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 26 Toyota endeavor. He’ll make his debut on February 27 at Homestead-Miami.
Read MoreThe Dakar Rally is intended to be one of the most difficult motorsport events in the world, but things have been something of a hot mess in 2021. Competitors are struggling with the updated Saudi Arabian route, to the point where it’s actually having a negative impact on the event as a whole. The legendary Sebastian Loeb has titled it a “race of co-drivers, not drivers.” And he’s not the only experienced racer to pose some criticism.
Read MoreFormula E has announced that it’s getting serious about not just electric racing but eSport racing, with its new Accelerate series standing as an online counterpart to its real-life events. And the prize is formidable. Not only does the winner take home $122,000, but the Accelerate champion will get their own test in a real life Formula E car.
Read MoreThe record-breaking 23-race Formula One calendar released for 2021 seemed incredibly ambitious when it was announced in October, and now it appears that those fears are going to be borne out. Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) president Jean Todt has now admitted that the season is probably going to be rearranged. Actually, about half of it. Half of it is probably going to be rearranged.
Read MoreBritish sportscar constructor and former F1 marque Lola Cars is going up for sale—but that doesn’t have to be an entirely bad thing. In fact, because all the technical assets are coming with it, we could actually see a return to racing by the brand, considering the initial price is about $9 million.
Read MorePat Patrick, one of the longest-standing and most influential car owners in the IndyCar paddock, died on January 5, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. He was 91 years old.
Read MoreIn what will likely come as a surprise to no one, the IndyCar Series has been forced to postpone its season opener, Florida’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, as a result of rising COVID-19 cases in April. Instead of taking place on March 7, it will now be moved to April 25, taking the place of the Long Beach Grand Prix (which itself has been moved to be the season finale).
Read MoreAfter a long, ten-year tenure as a Ford driver, Ken Block’s partnership has come to an end. He is, according to Hoonigan, “a free agent.”
Read MoreThe Superstar Racing Experience, known as SRX, has finally released its 2021 schedule. While it may be short, the stock car series that kicks off on June 12, 2021 is doing some really fascinating things.
Read MoreLong before the era of British racing legends like Stirling Moss and Graham Hill came the pre-war Grand Prix era, a time whose most popular UK driver was a man named Dick Seaman. There was just one problem: Seaman raced for the Nazi-backed Mercedes-Benz team, resulting in a memory that was quickly scrubbed out of the history books by a country increasingly uncomfortable with the specter of facism. A Race with Love and Death by Richard Williams tells the story of this young driver’s life and deat
Read MoreIn a shock move, Suzuki MotoGP boss Davide Brivio has been linked to the Alpine Formula One team. While the ultimate swap isn’t yet 100 percent confirmed, Suzuki has announced that Brivio is no longer part of the team.
Read MoreAfter the bright orange and white Penske-run Acura prototypes ended their tenure in IMSA’s top flight category DPi at the end of the 2020 season, fans were worried that the bright prototypes would bow out for a more visually subdued field. With the Meyer Shank Racing team picking up one half of the Acura banner (Wayne Taylor Racing will run the other Acura) fans needn’t have worried. Pink race car good.
Read MoreOn Friday the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus announced that plans to debut its 007 LMH at 1000 KM of Sebring in March have been scrapped as the team ran into delays. This means that the much hyped Le Mans Hypercar class will kick off in 2021 not with a bang, but with a whimper. Toyota will, of course, have its two cars on the grid because Toyota doesn’t miss a deadline, and it’s possible, though not likely that a single ByKolles entry will take the green flag.
Read MoreOn Tuesday McLaren driver Lando Norris announced that he was the fourth Formula 1 driver to contract Coronavirus. Previously, drivers Lance Stroll, Lewis Hamilton, and Sergio Perez were forced to sit out of rounds during the 2020 season as a result. Norris is currently on vacation in the United Arab Emirates, and will be self-isolating for 14 days.
Read MoreJust because 2020 has been replaced with 2021 on your wall calendar, that doesn’t mean all of last year’s problems have evaporated. You may recall that the season-opening Australian Grand Prix wasn’t cancelled until the Friday of race weekend after McLaren had already withdrawn from the race due to crew members having contracted Coronavirus. You may also recall that it was an absolute mess from parties on all sides. Well, this year it’s looking like Formula 1 has learned its lesson and will be p
Read MoreThe Polski Fiat 126p will last 1000 years. Or so says the caption on this video, which looks to be a compiled footage of Fiat 126ps rallying in Poland in 2020. The footage comes from Rally Park Kaczyce, where a privately organized series of rally events in the village of Kaczyce pits the little Polski against other cars.
Read MoreThe Dakar Rally, frequently named one of the most difficult motorsport events in the world, is generally a man’s affair. Women compete, but they’re few and far between. But for 2021, with the rally’s second event taking place entirely within Saudi Arabia, it’s important that we take time to acknowledge all the women out there kicking ass.
Read MoreThe fascinating story of John Paul Jr. ended on December 29, 2020 when the 60-year-old former racer died in Woodland Hills, California after a long battle with Huntington’s disease.
Read MoreAfter recognizing the benefits of shortened practice sessions at several belatedly-scheduled events in 2020, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has decided to officially reduce practice times for Formula One’s 2021 season.
Read MoreAre you missing race cars already? I know I sure am. Lucky for you, it’s time to kick off the 2021 running of the Dakar Rally! We’re going to run you through the best ways to follow the event to scratch that racing itch.
Read MoreAldo Andretti, former racing driver and twin brother to the legendary Mario Andretti, has died at age 80. He passed on December 30, 2020 as a result of COVID-19, RACER reports.
Read MoreThe space shuttle Challenger exploded and broke up over the Atlantic Ocean 35 years ago today, a national tragedy that played out on live TV 73 seconds after launch. The images and video of the disaster are just as shocking and stark in 2021 as when it first occurred.
Read MoreCuriosity, the rover that’s been exploring the planet Mars since it touched down on the Red Planet on August 6, 2012, just celebrated its 3,000th day on Mars on January 12, 2021.
Read MoreOne of the few non-shitty things to happen in the recently-deceased (see you in hell) year 2020 was that the next generation of Mars rover, Perseverance, was launched, and is currently on its way to the Red Planet, where it will land on February 18. If my local CVS feels comfortable putting up Valentine’s Day crap already, then I figure I can talk about Perseverance, which lands only four days later. So, with that in mind, let’s look at some of the fun details and Easter Eggs NASA and JPL stuck
Read MoreHave you ever been crossing a busy street and then suddenly dropped down to the tarmac because you thought a passing roach was the same one that stole part of your Fruit Roll-Up the other day, only to look up and see a Subaru Impreza screeching to a stop inches from your head? Sure, we all have. I bet when that Impreza came to a halt, you noticed something interesting about the Subaru logo — specifically, in the number of stars it has. There’s a new insight into this we really should discuss.
Read MoreOn January 3, 2004, Mars Exploration Rover Spirit began to make history. It touched down on the Red Planet for the first time, kicking off one of NASA’s longest and most successful missions—and helping us mere earthlings better understand the wonderful universe we live in.
Read MoreWhen humans started flinging things into space, we didn’t really think about the impact it would have down the road, which means that, right now, there’s a whole lot of metal junk floating around in the ether. So, one Japanese company and Kyoto University have come up with a solution: wooden satellites.
Read MoreProduction of the Corvette C8 has been riddled with starts and stops due to COVID-19 interrupting the supply chain. Now, it looks like we’re seeing yet another round of delays.
Read MoreI know we’ve been covering the refreshed Tesla Model S and the bonkers steering wheel and lack of turn signal stalks and the subsequent laughter, confusion, and moaning a fair amount, but there’s still another significant, um, innovation, we need to discuss. Specifically, the shifter. Or, more accurately, the lack of a shifter and the possible use of a sophisticated process known as (checks notes) guessing. But, you know, computer guessing. Really.
Read MoreHow about that steering yoke, huh? Well, while everyone was getting riled up over that, Tesla did another weird thing, which is put a console-caliber gaming rig in some of its cars.
Read MoreWhen you take delivery of a new car like the 2021 Chevrolet Corvette, the temptation to put the pedal to the floor straight off the dealership lot is mighty powerful. But that can be disastrous for a factory-fresh engine.
Read MoreLG Innotek has developed a new digital car key module that promises to increase the range and accuracy of digital car keys, and it brings us closer to the car-key-in-your-phone era. At least, in theory.
Read MoreThe New York Times ran a first-person piece in the Opinion section Monday about the writer getting a Nissan Leaf and her argument that owning an EV can actually be a bargain in the long run. The article is fine. Except I feel compelled to correct the record on one point.
Read MoreI think it’s safe to say that we all take for granted just how easy it is for us to mix a variety of media pretty seamlessly in the content we so voraciously consume every day. Our computers and phones have no trouble gushing forth a fountain of text, images, video, audio, whatever, all integrated and crammed together willard-nillard, with all kinds of degrees of interactivity. This, of course, wasn’t always the case, and it’s fascinating to see some relics of early attempts at interactive multi
Read MoreWhen was the last time you stumbled on a vintage car in a basement? Never?Yeah, me either. But that’s exactly what happened to Jeryl Schriever and Alex Huppe when they found a 1916 Saxon Model 14.
Read MoreArgo, alongside its partnerships with Ford and Volkswagen, has been working on the autonomous car project for quite a while now—and the company has now updated its suite of hardware to further improve the autonomous experience. We’ll run you through what we’re looking at.
Read MoreRideshare companies like Uber and Lyft have made some not-so-savory names for themselves over the years, and Lyft has introduced a new feature that seems directly aimed at shooting its own reputation in the foot. That new feature is called “priority mode.”
Read MoreThis is kind of a difficult concept to describe, but I love wonderful things that are at least on some level ridiculous. I love things that show incredible levels of thought and innovation, but for very questionable goals.
Read MoreI’m a firm believer in the idea that technology should be forgiving. We’re humans, we’re distracted and busy and rushed and hungry and horny and have to pee and maybe sometimes all of these at once and, as a result, we don’t always do things the right way. That’s why the best engineering is designed to cut us some slack. That’s also why I love Ford’s Door Edge Protector that, absurdly, was only used on Ford Focuses, when, really, it should be on absolutely everything.
Read MoreThe pursuit of autonomous cars has brought auto manufacturers and tech companies closer together than ever. Microsoft and General Motors, strange bedfellows though they might’ve been a decade or two ago, are now partnering to put Cruise’s robotaxis on the road.
Read MoreSandy Munro, the manufacturing expert who once said an early Tesla Model 3 had fit and finish issues similar to “a Kia in the ’90s” now has a new Model 3. Munro just gave his company’s new car a once-over, and while he didn’t liken it it to a Korean economy car from three decades ago, he wasn’t thrilled with the flaws he spotted.
Read MorePioneer’s virtual CES 2021 presentation included a new head unit, the DMH-WC5700NEX, that could be the key to updating my older dashboard with today’s tech. It’s so interesting, that I’m considering breaking into my Sony Hi-Res piggy bank.
Read MoreWe tend to think of drifting, or any wheel-spinning tomfoolery, as a crude, reckless and indulgent act when not done in the safe confines of a closed course. Yet researchers at Toyota’s Research Institute and Stanford University’s Dynamic Design Lab are hard at work testing technology that may use drifting for good — in this case, getting you and your passengers out of a sure collision.
Read MoreSince its introduction in the automotive sector, head-up display (HUD) has changed the name of the safe driving game—and now Panasonic wants to take it a step further. The electronics company has just debuted its idea of what an augmented HUD display would be at the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show—and it’s going to make driving a hell of a lot easier.
Read MoreDrifting is already cool, but autonomously drifting in the name of science is a hell of a lot cooler. The Toyota Research Institute has paired up with Stanford University to develop safer cars for regular drivers by getting its 2021 GR Supra to drift on its own. Let’s run you through why.
Read MoreIf you haven’t noticed, autonomous vehicles have been a massive topic of conversation despite the fact that most automakers aren’t actually all that close to releasing an autonomous passenger vehicle. In fact, we don’t really have a ton of cohesive regulations to dictate the development of self-driving cars. And that’s why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released some new guidelines—in many cases easing some of the stricter regulations it had previously imposed.
Read MoreIt is possible that, pretty soon, your bike will be able to talk to cars on the road and ask them to scoot a bit.
Read MoreThe idea of using your phone or smartwatch as a car key has been kicking around for a while, and some vehicles — usually more expensive ones — are already outfitted to let you do it. However, the implementation has been wildly inconsistent across car brands, and sometimes even require certain phone models to work. Up until recently, the necessary software wasn’t even prebuilt into devices, meaning you’d need a third-party app to lock and unlock your car.
Read MoreI’m finding myself banging on one particular autonomous vehicle drum more and more recently. It’s the annoying drum that many AV enthusiasts (and, I’m gonna say, especially Tesla-stans) like to ignore the most: The sobering but accurate fact that until autonomous vehicles figure out some kind of failover system that does not require immediate driver intervention, they’re just going to be Level 2 driver-assist semiautonomous features, no matter what misleading name Elon gives them. I have yet to
Read MoreHonda is building two hot EVs, new entries for its motorsport roster. They are making a drag racer out of a Honda E and a hillclimb competitor from an N-One. Big Red is teasing its reveal on yet another microsite in advance of the virtual Tokyo Auto Salon 2021.
Read MoreAs cars become more autonomous, manufacturers and suppliers are cooking up new and intuitive ways to keep drivers/passengers informed behind the wheel. Many automakers are looking to heads-up displays to fill that responsibility, but modern HUDs are limited in terms of display space and intelligence.
Read MoreIn a Bosch news conference streamed yesterday, Michael Bolle, the company’s CTO, laid down some harsh reality about the timeline of autonomous vehicle development. He suggested a timeframe that’s much more sober than what others suggest — notably, world’s richest moneyman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. For the record, my money is going on what the Bosch guy said. I’ll explain why.
Read MoreAt the beginning of December I set myself a goal of living one month without directly burning any fossil fuels. Obviously, because we live in a society, I can’t completely eliminate my dependence on gasoline and diesel, as pretty much every product or service purchased is facilitated by burning hydrocarbons. I can’t control what everyone else does, but for a little over a month I heated my home with electric heat, drove or rode only those vehicles powered by electrons and paid extra for the elec
Read MoreVolkswagen is upping its electric vehicle game in a big way—and not with a car. It says it’s bringing into production a prototype of a charging robot that it debuted back in 2019, and it liked the original design so much that the company is sticking with it.
Read MoreWhen the first Porsche 911 was introduced back in 1975, car culture changed. The 911 became a fan favorite for everything from competitive racing to a sporty daily driver, and people are still in love with each and every generation that’s been released. But which one is best?
Read MoreWe’ve reached the next logical step in autonomous evolution. On Christmas Eve, the United States Patent and Trademark Office released a patent filed by Toyota that will allow your car to sense that it’s dirty and then head off to the car wash without any human input at all.
Read MoreAs nice as it would be to leave masks behind in 2020, the state of the COVID-19 pandemic has ensured that those of us in America will be donning these ever-fashionable items well into next year. So, Honda has jumped on the trend: it’s bringing out a new mask for your car.
Read MoreJaguar Land Rover is doing a bit better, as are the Germans, and Nissan is recalling Pathfinders again. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 29, 2021.
Read MoreToyota is the world’s biggest automaker once again, Wall Street wasn’t jazzed about Tesla, and Faraday Future. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 28, 2021.
Read MoreTesla is technically a car company. But looking at it strictly as an industrial concern could never account for its stock market valuation, nor would it give you a sense of its emissions credit business. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 27, 2021.
Read MoreNew car sales could come back big in the next few years, Hyundai wants 2021 to be a year of “great transformation,” and Nissan. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 26, 2021.
Read MoreAs it turns out, the American car market is just midsize SUVs and midsize SUVs alone. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 25, 2021.
Read MoreVW lost half its profits last year, Nissan is trying to dodge tariffs, and flying cars. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 22, 2021.
Read MoreTesla is doing just fine, Volkswagen isn’t, and Waymo. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 21, 2021.
Read MoreTrump managed to wedge in a pardon for Anthony Levandowski, the engineer charged with fleeing Google for Uber with trade secrets in tow and got caught up in a massive lawsuit between those two pillars of Silicon Valley. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 20, 2021.
Read MoreStellantis includes 14 brands and some of them may die, Tesla is delivering a China-made Model Y, and also senior citizens. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 19, 2021.
Read MoreTrump has hurt automakers, Hyundai is big into hydrogen fuel cells, and BMW is done with subscriptions. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 15, 2020.
Read MoreTraffic deaths were up in the first nine months of 2020 in the U.S., Subaru needs semiconductors, and Nikola. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 14, 2020.
Read MoreTrump threw a lot of weight behind the somewhat quizzical Lordstown Motors, which facelifted an electric Silverado and got a GM factory for its trouble. Now the startup needs more federal money. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 13, 2020.
Read MoreMercedes and BMW are still on top of the luxury market, but EV companies are giving them a run for their money, Volkswagen saw a sales drop last year but says it has been doing better as of late, and NADA. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 12, 2021.
Read MoreOn the face of it, Tesla is a small car company that produces lots of electric vehicles. But Tesla is also a hype machine that stands in for the future, and as such its stock has ballooned greater than the heights of the dot com bubble. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 11, 2021.
Read MoreHybrids did the heavy lifting, Saudi Arabia is leaning on Lucid, our Transportation Secretary quit and we’re short on chips. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 8, 2021.
Read MoreYesterday was bad, Elon Musk might soon be the richest man in the world on paper, and rhodium. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 7, 2021.
Read MoreThe tie-up of GM and Honda’s gets real, GM also had a very good fourth quarter, and teens. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 6, 2021.
Read MoreThis is the first year that more than 50 percent of new cars sold in a country were EVs. Well, depending on how far you stretch your timeline. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 5, 2021.
Read MoreThe Chrysler brand might not be long for this world, Tesla is set for even bigger stock market gains, and dealers. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 4, 2021.
Read MoreAdobe’s Flash, the web browser plug-in that powered so very many crappy games, confusing interfaces, and animated icons of the early web like Homestar Runner is now finally gone, after a long, slow, protracted death. For most of us, this just means that some goofy webgame you searched for out of misplaced nostalgia will no longer run. For a select few in China, though, the death of Flash meant being late to work, because the city of Dalian in northern China was running their railroad system on i
Read MoreMove aside Hyperloop, you were obsolete before the idea was ever dreamed up. Magnetic levitation trains are infinitely cooler, and significantly less expensive to produce as they don’t have to ride inside a vacuum tube. China is exploring avenues to increase the speed of its maglev trains, as it’s a very big country and wants to move people more efficiently. By using high-temp superconductors, researchers at China’s Southwest Jiaotong University tested a prototype train on a test track up to 385
Read MoreGMC and Chip Ganassi Racing are gonna rip up the trail together in the inaugural season of Extreme E, and I am fully behind the electric, irony-free Extreme Hummer.
Read MoreA reader recently sent me an ad for a 1970 Chevrolet C10 pickup. It didn’t seem that interesting, but I clicked on it anyway. I’m glad I did, because a surprise hides under the bright blue paint. This thing is powered by the infamous Volkswagen V10 TDI diesel engine! That alone stopped me in my tracks, but the madness doesn’t stop there.
Read MoreFellow Jeep Cherokee XJ fans around the world, I have bad news: We’ve been living a lie. The vehicle that we have long held as perfect is hiding on its interior door panels an egregious spelling mistake that may force us to sell our vehicles in shame.
Read MoreThis weekend, 18-year-old Jalopnik reader Ethan Fass from Colorado sent Jalopnik photos of a camouflaged pickup truck parked alongside a number of new Hyundais. Let’s have a close look at what has to be the unibody Hyundai Santa Cruz that we’ve been waiting for since the beginning of time.
Read MoreThe Ford Ranger is bringing it back. “It” being the feel-good vibe that sport trucks first brought us decades ago.
Read MoreThe greatest Soviet car of all time, the Lada Niva, will be reborn, and it’s partly a result of Renault’s ambitious new business strategy involving the Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ and a road map established for the new Niva.
Read MoreIf you’re looking for an overlanding rig, but you refuse to buy one that you can’t hold in your hand and/or put in your shirt pocket, today is your day. Someone has thoughtfully converted this 2003 Suzuki Jimny into what they’re calling a motorhome. And it’s for sale at The Market, a UK-based auction site.
Read MoreIn yet another instance of our neighbors to the south getting cool cars that we in the States will not, the redesigned Toyota Fortuner will arrive in Chile this year, Rutamotor reports.
Read MoreThis has certainly been a crazy week. But here at Jalopnik, we have found the perfect video to unwind and put a smile on your face, a construction vehicle with a dinosaur head!
Read MoreSales figures in the three-way fight for feeding America’s insatiable appetite for pickup trucks in 2020 are in. The winner depends on how you look at things, and how everyone fudges their numbers.
Read MoreThe vast majority of things that get transported via truck are things that are, generally, smaller than the trucks that are transporting them. Sometimes, though, they’re bigger, much bigger, and that always makes for exciting visuals. And then there are those rare times where they’re so wildly oversized that nothing makes visual sense anymore. Like the case with these massive over 200-foot long wind turbine blades. It’s hard for brains to process these images as reality.
Read MoreJeep, a brand that sells so many SUVs that it almost seems to compete with itself, has not offered a three-row option in the U.S. since the “Unfit For Human Consumption” Jeep Commander left the market in 2010. Now that changes with the fifth-generation “WL” Jeep Grand Cherokee, which takes what has for many years been Jeep’s most luxurious model, and for the first time ever adds a third-row option.
Read MoreThe Toyota Land Cruiser is reportedly dead in the U.S. after the current generation has trucked through the last 12 years on sale, mostly unchanged. Letting go isn’t easy, though, and reports indicate Toyota is now trying to figure out what, exactly, a modern Land Cruiser should be for the model to make a future comeback.
Read MoreThe Kamchatka Peninsula on the far east end of Russia is actually an island. Oh, sure — Google Maps will make it look like it’s actually connected to the rest of Asia, but between the volcanoes, swamps and complete lack of roads leading into the region, it may as well be in the middle of the Bering Sea.
Read MoreWhen I bought my 2000 Jeep Cherokee for $500 a few years back, I thought I’d scored the deal of the century. The vehicle had just two previous owners, 80,000 miles on the engine, and what looked like a relatively rust-free body. But after a single winter, I inspected it a bit more closely and realized that I had been mistaken: The body wasn’t even remotely rust-free. It had an enormous hole in a critical part of the unibody. Here’s how I fixed it.
Read More“[My Jeep] has started smelling like gas after I drive it for a bit. And it shakes a lot when it’s idling,” my friend Hannah recently messaged me. Her 1997 Jeep Cherokee, which seemed to be in decent condition overall, needed maintenance. Neither she nor I could have guessed that it needed $5,112.90 worth of maintenance, as quoted by a nearby mechanic. Here’s a look at the shop’s estimate, and how little it would cost me, a shadetree mechanic, to do the same job.
Read MoreOver the past few weeks we’ve looked at handy flexible claw pickup tools, OBD-II monitors and screw-holding screwdrivers that make dropping screws less likely. This week’s tool, flexible hose clamp pliers, makes removing coolant hoses from the engine bay easier, with less cussing required. It’s designed for factory-type spring clamps, not replacement worm-drive clamps. The OE clamps can be vile devices, a real wrestling match when access is limited.
Read MoreBack in November I bought a really cheap Nissan Leaf. It might be the perfect around-town commuter for very little money, as it has served dutifully since. I honestly couldn’t have spent $2,000 in a better way. But since then I’ve set about spending time and money on this car in very dumb (and fun) ways, like a set of three-spoke wheels, underglow, painting the taillights, and debadging the car. After a couple of months driving it, however, I just couldn’t deal with it being black anymore.
Read MoreOver the past few weeks we’ve looked at ratcheting serpentine belt tools, handy flexible claw pickup tools and OBD-II monitors that can save your car from disaster. This week’s tool, the screw starter, makes dropping a screw while trying to thread it a thing of the past.
Read MoreOver the past few weeks we’ve looked at a new take on hand impact drivers, ratcheting serpentine belt tools, and flexible claw pickup tools to make retrieving lost hardware and tools easier. This week’s tool, the OBD-II monitor, can save your car in a moment of disaster.
Read MoreOn Saturday, I took a stroll through a junkyard just for fun. In just 30 minutes I spotted some interesting hardware: A strangely beautiful GM part that few people will ever see, an awesome air intake system that cools a car’s computer, and one of the wackiest suspension designs of all time. Check it out in the first installation of my new series called “Junkyard Finds.” (Since I basically live in junkyards anyway, I may as well take you all with me.)
Read MoreIf you want to see the 2020 Chevy Corvette C8 up close — like really, really close— then today is your day. A few weekends ago, I had a chance to help reassemble a C8 that had been torn into hundreds of pieces; the images and video I snagged of the car’s hardware nearly made me faint. Yes, it’s that beautiful.
Read MoreOver the past few weeks we’ve looked at a new take on adjustable wrenches, hand impact drivers and ratcheting serpentine belt tools that save time removing belts. This week’s tool, the flexible claw pickup tool, makes retrieving lost hardware and tools easier.
Read More
