We’ve shared some of 2021's most read posts in our Best of 2021. Now, we’re sharing a few that our staffers think are worth a second look. These are our 2021 Staff Picks.
Read MoreAs you’ve seen here before countless times, school buses make for an interesting blank canvas for an RV conversion. But turning a vehicle meant to haul kids into a comfortable home takes skill, and not all conversions look that great. Here’s a bus conversion that’s not just small, but it looks so good inside that you might just forget you’re camping in a school bus.
Read MoreBicycle mechanics in the U.S. have had enough of junky bikes that big box stores sell under the pretense of “budget bikes.” Mechanics say these cheap bikes from Walmart and similar retailers have been built to meet low price points for decades. But in the last ten years, their quality has declined so much that they’re not really budget bikes anymore. They’re now better categorized as bikes that are “built to fail,” according to a report from Vice.
Read MoreAirstream is teasing a travel trailer that could making towing so much easier. The RV manufacturer revealed a concept that propels itself, saving fuel or electric range that would be lost in towing. Perhaps even cooler is the fact that you can park the thing by remote control.
Read MoreMassive oil companies will do anything to look like they are cutting emissions, as long as they aren’t actually cutting emissions and they can get taxpayers to pay for the efforts. Enter Royal Dutch Shell’s Quest Carbon Capture facility in Alberta, Canada, which has captured 5 million tonnes of carbon since it started operation in 2015. The only problem? The hydrogen plant has emitted 7.5 million tonnes in that time, including methane as well as carbon.
Read MoreSome of the coolest RVs in the world are not ones built out of factories in Indiana but are crafted by the hands of people making their dreams come true. These creations often cost a ton of money, making them unattractive for other buyers. That’s what makes me excited to show you another cool custom RV that I’ve found. This Gillig Phantom is not just a transit bus turned into a sweet-looking RV, but one that’s nowhere close to what these usually cost, either.
Read MoreHere at Jalopnik, our team of writers have quite a diverse selection of cars, buses, trucks and other assorted machines. And, not wanting to be left out of this group of excitable owners, I have since set out to fill the vehicle-shaped hole in my apartment.
Read MoreA few weeks ago, my husband posited that he had solved the electric vehicle infrastructure crisis when it came to charging. “Hotel chains just need to partner with EV charging chains,” he said. “Imagine if you could plan a road trip around the fact that every Holiday Inn between you and your destination had a charger for your car.” And I have to admit: he has a point, and it’s given me an interesting thought experiment.
Read MoreRobots are here to take over our world, and instead of making them look scary and imposing, you know, like you’d expect from a device that’s threatening our way of life, designers are making them appear adorable. Case in point: the next-generation delivery bot from Nuro, which now adds a pedestrian airbag to further enhance the illusion that our robo-overlords will be super cute.
Read MoreThe U.S. mail truck is something of a cultural institution, so the U.S. Postal Service’s job of replacing it with a modern alternative is a tough challenge. Now, the agency says it will cost an extra $3 billion to make those new mail trucks run on electricity.
Read MoreJohn Deere has unveiled a version of its 8R tractor equipped with autonomous driving tech that it claims will help solve world hunger. First premiered at CES in Las Vegas, the modified tractor pairs a GPS guidance system with 12 cameras that enable 360-degree obstacle detection.
Read MoreGood news fellow plebeians! Bugatti has unveiled a vehicle we common folk may actually be able to afford… and it’s an EV. Sounds too good to be true? It is. The French hypercar maker unveiled its first electric scooter at CES. Exciting, I know.
Read MoreThe fancy robot arm that your neighborhood’s garbage truck is likely to use has a name other than “the claw,” which is what I’ve called it for years. These robot arms are actually called automated side-loaders, and they pretty much confirm that garbage trucks are the closest thing on the road to Transformers.
Read MoreTaking a road trip with a travel trailer is fun, but choices for trailers are pretty limited for those with smaller, less capable vehicles. Owners of a small car shouldn’t fret, because you can still hitch up to a vintage camper that weighs basically nothing. This 1964 Serro Scotty Sportsman is a pint-sized camper that weighs in at just 975 pounds.
Read MoreThere are plenty of abandoned bikes here in New York City, pandemic bike boom or no. Most of them sit and rust away to nothing, but one was doomed to a Promethean fate. It couldn’t rust, and that was what shocked me seeing it chained to a pole, forgotten.
Read MoreAfter being at risk of sinking, having the Soviet-era sub berthed next to it at risk of rolling into it, being thrown to the wind by officials that didn’t know what to do with it, and being the poster child of a company that left a trail of debt and lies, the Queen Mary may finally get a fresh start. The LA Times reports that the city of Long Beach has approved $5 million for critical repairs to the ship.
Read MoreHave you ever loved a book so much that you’d do anything to own something related to it? Well, that’s the position a group of presumably die-hard Harry Potter fans found themselves after they were alleged to have embezzled $190,000 to buy a boat named “Expelliarmus”.
Read MoreDid you know a ship can be arrested? It appears they can, because a U.S. judge issued an arrest warrant for a white, 781-foot long fugitive that goes by the name Crystal Symphony, wanted for skipping out on a $4 million gas (well, probably that thick, creamery ship diesel fuel, really) bill. The Crystal Cruises-owned ship was supposed to dock in Miami on Saturday with its between 300 and 700 passengers (reports varym) but it instead high-tailed it to the Bahamas. The ship appears to currently be
Read MoreEvery year (or sometimes randomly within a year) automakers adjust prices across their model lineups. Usually, that means manufacturers add very slight increases for every vehicle — to keep up with inflation, you see. Lincoln, however, has done the opposite: Decreasing the price of the 2022 Aviator by a truly incredible amount. The magic number? Five whole dollars.
Read MoreAh, car forums. Home to the highs and lows of automotive culture, from the best advice on aftermarket parts to the entirely indistinguishable, absolute worst advice on aftermarket parts. Once in a while, though, something interesting sneaks its way onto those bastions of crowd-sourced car enthusiasm — say, for instance, the full list of options for Canadian-delivered 2023 Nissan Zs.
Read MoreCOVID-19 messed up pretty much everything, and the auto industry was no exception. There have been chip shortages, manufacturing snafus and now, with the near certain raising of interest rates by the Federal Reserve, a perfect storm is gathering to make already expensive cars more unaffordable.
Read MoreIt’s been a week since our last installment of the Bring A Trailer Suckers Slideshow. Since then, anecdotal evidence (i.e. hours I‘ve spent browsing Facebook Marketplace) seems to point to a slight cooling in the used-car market. For our favorite auction site, however, the prices seem to only ever go up. And up. And then up some more.
Read MoreI keep flip-flopping on this. I’ve never bought a new car. Especially as someone with wrenching skills, I just find it financially foolish. And yet, because I was on the Jeep Wrangler JL engineering team, part of me wants to order a brand spankin’ new one. Stick shift, base model, green with tan top; maybe half doors. Is this a bad idea?
Read MoreThere is a thing that is obvious, that you can see with your own eyes every day — that Americans are buying lots of trucks and SUVs; in fact the vast majority of new car purchases are trucks and SUVs — but then you read a stat about it, and it becomes astounding all over again. The stat is this, via JD Power: That in October 2021, over 80 percent of estimated new vehicle sales in the U.S. were SUV and trucks for the first time ever. Over 80 percent!
Read MoreJeep has finally dropped pricing for the 2022 Grand Cherokee 4xe plug-in hybrid months after the announcement of the all-new gas model, and this PHEV is going to be the most expensive of the Grand Cherokee models yet.
Read MoreDue to the pandemic, Cameron tried to delay his car purchase for as long as possible. However, his commute has changed and his aging 2010 CX9 isn’t going to cut it. HE wants to get both a family car and a sedan for the daily drive. He is working with a solid budget. What cars should he buy?
Read MoreHere in America, we’re used to going camping in anything from repurposed work vans to colossal palaces on wheels. But what if I told you that you could camp in something smaller — way smaller? That would be the opportunity offered by the Honda N-Van Compo if it were ever sold here.
Read MoreDue to current inventory shortages, this has become a seller’s market for cars, with dealers getting away with even more nonsense than before. Now, a proposed piece of legislation in Florida would allow dealers to opt-out of obtaining your title after the transaction has taken place.
Read MoreThe car-buying market is screwed right now. If you read the site regularly and have seen how much we talk about dealer shenanigans, you know. While markups are always bad, the more widespread problem is an overall lack of inventory. It’s hard to find exactly what you want right now because of the chip shortage and other supply chain concerns. And that’s left some buyers flying halfway across the country just to buy the car they want, Channel 25, an ABC affiliate out of central Texas, reported.
Read MoreConsumer Reports took an in-depth look at the practices of two of the largest subprime auto lending banks in America, and the results were grim: Predatory lenders focus their services on poorer people in desperate need of a car because they make money on defaults as well as successful loans. Subprime lenders have built a win-win scenario where the only losers are the already struggling borrowers themselves.
Read MoreWe’ve been banging on about dangerous auto loans for years, but now there’s a new stat to add to the teetering tower of potentially economy-ruining loans: A fraud detection company used algorithms to spot fraud in car loans to the tune of $1 billion in just under a three year period.
Read MoreUnless you’ve been avoiding the internet, you likely heard that Ford finally threw the covers off its hot new Bronco Raptor. The truck is wider, faster, taller and more aggressive than its standard counterpart. But, how does it stack up against its rivals?
Read MoreMichael Schumacher won seven Formula 1 titles, most famously with Ferrari, though he spent the final three years of his F1 racing career driving for Mercedes. It was during part of that period when, off the track, he drove this 2010 Mercedes C63 AMG Estate, a car that by virtue is a fast station wagon. It goes up for auction February 3.
Read MoreThe Dodge Challenger is very, very old, but it doesn’t matter. For the very first time since the car emerged for the 2008 model year, Dodge has sold more Challengers than Ford and Chevrolet have sold Mustangs and Camaros.
Read MoreIf modern cars and trucks are full of too many details and annoyances that just don’t appeal to you, I’m happy to say that you can buy a brand-new, 2022 model year Ford that has none of the things that bother you. In fact, it has none of most things, period. It’s the 2022 W-350 Stripped Chassis, and it starts at $31,730.
Read MoreThe car market right now is absurd. New and used prices are skyrocketing, and options for cheap transportation are getting slimmer by the day. Still, you can do a lot better than these ten buyers did on Bring A Trailer this past week.
Read MorePeople in the U.S. can now rejoice in shared misery with the rest of the world, because now no one can get a new Toyota Land Cruiser — unless of course you want to wait four years.
Read MoreNo, this isn’t déjà vu. A 2005 Porsche Carrera GT just set the record for most expensive car sold on Bring a Trailer. It stole the crown from a different 2005 Porsche Carrera GT that sold earlier this month. That one went for a measly $1.9 million, whereas the new record holder sold for an even $2 million.
Read MorePromotional anime are all the rage right now. Toyota fell back on its Initial D heritage for a GR86 ad starring Takumi Fujiwara and Keiichi Tsuchiya, and (while not an official Toyota ad) the upcoming anime adaptation of MF Ghost will likely spark more than a few first-gen 86 purchases. Now Acura, in the midst of reviving its Type S performance brand, is getting in on the fun with what appears to be a full limited series.
Read MoreValue is pretty much bullshit and the current car market shows it, with dealers tacking on prices just because they can. A great example of how screwed it is, outside of the widespread markups, is used car dealer Platinum Pre-Owned in Carlisle, PA. The dealer is… a piece of work.
Read More2021 was, for most people, a long and difficult year. A year of political tensions, ever-shifting pandemic responses, and bean-related parents led to many considering it the worst year in their lives. Consider the other side, however, the silver lining: A few luxury automakers made bank.
Read MoreWhat do you think the average price of a new luxury car was in December? If you guessed $64,864, you are right.
Read MoreNobody likes cute cars. Oh, sure — they’ll claim otherwise, taking brief delight in the appearance of a mint-green Fiat 500, quipping that you “just don’t see those very often.” And then they’ll disappear into the forest in their Ford Sasquatch or Subaru Megatron to be one with the redwoods, never to be seen again.
Read MoreA couple of months ago my fiancée picked up a 2010 Toyota Prius from Carvana. At the time, she said it was the easiest car purchase she’s ever had. Now that the honeymoon is over and the car has acquired a few thousand miles, I want to revisit the Carvana buying experience and show you how things are going.
Read MoreWe get article suggestions all of the time, and often they’re fantastic ideas because, as you know, our readers are very smart. And devastatingly attractive. And while I’m sure that’s the case with this particular article-suggestor, the article suggested isn’t the one I think they had in mind. It involves a new 2021 First Edition Ford Bronco. I better explain.
Read MoreNik recently moved to Boston and he has found that his ND Miata is not the most ideal car for city traffic, terrible roads, and bad winters. He would also prefer something a bit more spacious for hauling gear. What car should he buy?
Read MoreHere’s a dumb question: Would you rather own a new car or a 22-year-old car? Assume they’re identical in function, options, even color. They’re even almost exactly the same price, but the new one is safer, gets better fuel economy, and didn’t spend over two decades under the ownership of a fire department. Who in their right mind would buy the old one?
Read MoreHey — Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport owners, put down your hoagies and whittling knives and ice tongs, because I have important news! Your car is getting recalled because the rear tires are probably all cracked and dangerous! There are nine people in America who are affected by this recall, but I urge the other 51 owners out there to yank off the filthy tarp from your Pur Sports and see how bad those rear tires are, because according to the NHTSA, those shitty tires can “lead to a loss of vehicle cont
Read MoreDealerships across America are sitting on goldmines. While Volkswagen no longer sells diesels in America, you can still find a surprising number of TDIs for sale on lots, some with fewer than 50 miles on their odometers. But there’s a catch: If you want a new-old Volkswagen diesel, you may have to pay as much as $74,000. That’s $20,000 over the original sticker price.
Read MoreThe biggest frustration with shopping for a used car in this current market is that often the prices are so inflated, you might as well buy a new one. However, there is one segment that still presents some great cars at solid values: Luxury sedans.
Read MoreLate last week, while the Jalopnik Brain Trust (me, David, Raph, Rory, and a smoothly-sanded plank of pine) were discussing why MGB prices never seem to get that high, I decided to hop onto Craigslist to see just what MGBs were actually going for. I only found one ad, and I have to say, I was deeply and powerfully impressed by just how shitty the ad’s pictures were. Now you get to see them, too!
Read MoreCars never really die, they just fade away. At least, in terms of sales. GoodCarBadCar released its round-up of all the cars sold in 2021. Predictably, the various shortages and squeezes caused by the pandemic on dealer lots gave quite the boost to orphaned models. Cars that sold in the single digits since their deaths reached dozens of buyers in 2021. That 2017 Chrysler 200 built during the Obama administration suddenly looked pretty sweet when new car prices are averaging over $45,000 for the
Read MoreEnthusiasts have long awaited the return of the rotary engine. Since its death alongside the RX-8, the Wankel faithful have all but begged Mazda to resuscitate the Dorito-based engine layout. Until now, their cries had only been met with the promise of rotary range extenders in EVs, but a new patent filing from the company shows a rotary-electric hybrid that still drives the wheels with gas. Even better: the wheels being driven are in the rear.
Read MoreWhen you hear “car auction,” you probably think of the big names. The Barrett-Jacksons or Mecums (Mecii?) of the world are likely the first to pop into your head, long before any three-word website best known for making the cars you like entirely unaffordable. But while we all stared wistfully at that auction list, like Dickensian orphans through shop windows, it seems some people out there actually could afford those reserve prices: Bring a Trailer outsold Barrett-Jackson and Mecum last year. I
Read MoreAfter New Year’s, many folks reflect on how they can better their financial situation in the next twelve months. Naturally, a number of popular outlets will try to get your clicks by giving some helpful advice. Unfortunately, this one from Yahoo! Finance on how to pay your car off in a year totally misses the mark.
Read MoreCarlos is relocating from Switzerland to California. He will need to buy a car that can handle family duty. He is looking for something quiet and comfortable but doesn’t want to spend a lot on fuel costs. With a budget of up to $50,000 what car should he buy?
Read MoreIt seems no corner of America’s sprawling economic system is immune to a shortage of people willing to work for shitty wages; even our pizza places are suffering. Domino’s, the second largest pizza chain in America, is trying its best to mitigate its low workforce by giving customers an incentive to choose pick up instead of delivery.
Read MoreThe Chevy Bolt faces an uncertain future, mostly because the once-promising electric vehicle started burning up in driveways and garages. Any momentum the Chevy Bolt picked up, thanks to its design and relatively low price, hasn’t been enough to overcome the fires and GM’s half-measures. But a new study citing the NTSB and NHTSA claims that EVs in the U.S. actually light on fire at a much lower rate when compared to ICE cars and hybrids, as Kelly Blue Book reports.
Read MoreDetroit, history and pizza are very near and dear to me, so when I heard this story about a pizza shop owner in Detroit inventing the kevlar vest after being shot at while out on delivery, I couldn’t believe this hadn’t fallen under my radar before. It tickles me so much I had to bring it to you, dear reader.
Read MoreHalo will finally grace the small screen this March thanks to a new series on Paramount+. It’s a tie-in that’s been a very long time coming — so long that it’s probably 15 years too late by now. This originally started as a movie involving Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp, for what it’s worth. And while this isn’t the sort of news that would normally catch the attention of a pokey car site like ours, fans have noticed a surprising cameo in the show’s trailer. It’s a truck, and it’s not the M12 W
Read MoreJust over a year ago, we showed you Renault’s new electric version of the legendary Renault 5, and it looked pretty delightful, with just enough retro charm to be fun. That same platform is going to be used for a new EV version of the Nissan Micra, expected around 2025. Okay, that’s great, but if Nissan is going to introduce a new EV Micra, then there is only one thing they can do after that makes any sense: start a new Pike Factory line, this time all EVs.
Read MoreLet this be a lesson to all of you: If you’re going to buy a new vehicle with a warranty, make sure to follow it to a T. You should not only do this to keep your new purchase in tip top shape —you should do it because if you don’t, it could come back to bite you in the ass. Hard.
Read MoreAn 84-year old man from Nottingham in the UK confessed to police that he’d been driving without a driver’s license for over 70 years, allegedly having managed to avoid being pulled over even once for more than seven decades, the BBC reports.
Read MoreThe fuel crisis of the early 1970s was sort of a wake-up call to American carmakers, who generally regarded fuel economy with about as much interest as a child regards long reports about reapportionment issues or maybe crop rotation. When people started buying Toyotas and Hondas because they got non-Paleolithic fuel economy numbers, Detroit began to pay attention. Well, a little bit of attention, at least, and a fine example of this early half-assed approach can be seen in Chrysler’s Fuel Pacer
Read MoreLess weight, more power. It’s a tried and true recipe for building a fast car. The Acura NSX is an incredible piece of machinery already, offering an experience that no other six-figure sports car does. With the Type-S model Acura hopes to send it off with a bang, kicking the horsepower up to an even 600 with bigger turbos. It’s more than that, though, as the car features weight-saving carbon fiber, enhanced aerodynamics, and advanced tuning for the suspension, engine, electric motors, and trans
Read MoreDeaths on U.S. roadways have seen an alarming increase since 2019, despite seeing less traffic due to the pandemic. This latest spike in traffic fatalities has prompted the Department of Transportation, under the direction of former U.S. presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, to implement a new “National Roadway Safety Strategy” in an effort to curb traffic deaths.
Read MoreFor most of us, having a driveway opens up the possibility of creating a safe space in which to keep your car. Maybe you’ll clean it there, maybe you’ll care for it there, but that is where it can live, safely out of reach of passing traffic. But for many United Kingdom homeowners, a driveway is a business instead of an automotive safe haven — and business is booming.
Read MoreWith a naturally aspirated Cosworth V12 that revs faster than the speed of light and a literal fan affixed to the back, Gordon Murray Automotive’s T.50 is a special hypercar. And while it was built to be somewhat civilized on the road, it’s really tuned to be a joy on the track. The McLaren F1 designer recognized the need for a truly daily supercar, so he made this: the T.33.
Read MoreYou know what’s interesting? I mean, other than Suzuki’s clever little rear-engined Fronte Kei car up there. Look at that guy, with the cigarette, and either kissing that lady’s head or taking a nice taste of her leave-in conditioner. Do you trust him?
Read MoreEditor’s Note: This article was originally published on January 26, 2022. Today, March 13 2023, we’re revisiting this article after news that Chase Allan, a follower of the so-called Sovereign Citizen movement, was killed by police during a traffic stop stemming from a fake license plate Allan had on his car. Read on to learn more about the Sovereign Citizen movement in our original article below from 2022.
Read MoreIn the space of half a week, I’ve gone from one of those curmudgeonly no-fun-havers that hated on Wordle for clogging up my Twitter timeline to someone who routinely plays every day, sometimes at the precise moment the clock strikes midnight. I’m not too proud to admit it.
Read MoreI know I’ve lamented about the collective draining of color from the global carscape for years, and if the sea of grayscale monotony that clouds every parking lot you come across isn’t enough to depress you, then perhaps this will help: color names used to be so much better, too. Look at these examples from the 1970 Ford Maverick, and you’ll see what I mean.
Read MoreWhoever bought this high-end custom slot car recreation of Fiat’s famous rooftop test track on its legendary Lingotto Factor in Turin, Italy is certainly living la dolce vita.
Read MoreThe most recent major innovation in the automotive lighting universe is likely modernity’s near-ubiquity of daytime running lamps on cars. They’ve actually been around in various forms for a long time, and while they’re not legally required in America yet, they’ve been required in Canada since 1989 and even earlier in often-dark Scandinavian countries, starting with Finland in 1972. Surprisingly, I think Ford may have inadvertently stumbled onto DRLs as early as 1970, though they had no idea the
Read MoreFrench automaker Bugatti is known for making bonkers hypercars with high amounts of horsepower and even higher price tags. But since last year, the firm has been under the ownership of electric supercar brand Rimac. And with that change in ownership, its gas powered future has been in doubt. Until now.
Read MoreOur kind editor-in-chief Rory Carroll messaged me last week to ask what I know about winter driving and snow tires. I admitted that I knew “little to nothing.” And that is how it was decided that I would be the perfect writer to test out some Blizzaks at Bridgestone’s Winter Driving School in Steamboat Springs, CO. I’m going to document my journey, and I want to know what you want to know.
Read MoreI think at this moment, one of the more interesting things happening in the automotive world, culturally, has to do with the Tesla/Elon Musk fanbase. This goes beyond brand loyalty and even beyond the level of single-marque fanaticism that we’ve seen many times before. It’s weirder — and, often, sadder. I can’t think of any carmaker CEO that would cause anyone to be dreamed about in the way mentioned in this tweet I want to tell you about and, even if someone is dreaming about, say, picking up M
Read MoreI’ve always liked the look of the Fiat 850. The proportions are pleasing, it’s got a crisp ‘60s modernity to it, and that face is so friendly and willing, without being cloying or trying too hard. It’s just a good pal who happens to be a car. Morning, Fiat 850.
Read MoreWe’ve all made 3-point turns, right? Of course we have. Sometimes, we’ve done four, or five, or maybe even the occasional and slightly embarrassing six-point turn. I bet, though, all of these complicated, slow, car-direction-flipping maneuvers have happened on streets where there was, say, minimal chance of falling to your death. That’s not the case in this video that shows a minivan driver performing an alarmingly dangerous and complicated 14-point turn. Maybe 13 points? 20? It’s sorta tricky t
Read MoreI’d argue that Top Gear peaked in December 2009 when Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May traversed Bolivia in a trio of old off-roaders. It might have been controversial at times, but the ambitious (but rubbish) Top Gear of the 2000s introduced generations of viewers to the joys of driving. And after its dramatic demise in 2015, many were left with a car show-shaped hole in their lives.
Read MoreWhen you let your crew know you’re rolling down the ave in your Ambassador, chances are they’ll assume you mean the Kenosha-built variety driven by the Government Agents in Repo Man (and then they’ll diss your crummy two-barrel 304 and roar off in their 390-powered Javelins, most likely, leaving behind nothing but the echoes of their cruel laughter and a gnawing sense of emptiness in your soul). But if your homeboys happen to number among the billion souls living in India, they’ll know right off
Read MoreI just dropped $3,400 on the quintessential Cash For Clunkers econobox: The 2009 Nissan Versa. It was the cheapest car in the U.S. back when the Obama Administration’s “Car Allowance Rebate System” took place in the summer of 2009. Thousands of people turned in their old gas guzzlers for this $9,990, awkward-looking sedan. Here’s what I think about those peoples’ decision.
Read MoreOverlaps of design between the automotive world and the computer world are really pretty rare, even if we count those silly red laptops with Ferrari logos on them. Sure, one of the original designers of the Datsun 240Z also designed an early laptop, but aside from that, what sort of cross-pollination was there? Well, it turns out, there was actually a lot, but it’s kind of subtle. It starts with Volkswagen and ends up with Apple. There’s even a reasonable chance you’ve seen an example of this, b
Read MoreToday, we bid farewell to a rock hero. Actor, singer, and king of camp Meat Loaf has died at the age of 74 — which means it’s time to pay tribute to a career kicked off by a famous set of wheels: The Honda Civic.
Read MoreThe Peugot 104 was the company’s cheap, entry-level car in the 1970s, but there’s one thing it absolutely did not skimp on: telling you that some controls moved up and down. Look at those two little thumb-rollers there for, I think, the heat and fan controls? I’m not exactly sure, but I am sure how you’re supposed to move them: up and down.
Read MoreIt’s always a good idea to be prepared for the environment in which you regularly drive. This year, after 55,000 miles, the original equipment tires on our 2018 Buick Regal TourX were down to the wear bars and our Nevadan infrequent rains became a sketchy proposition. The plan was always to get winter tires this season to put on the stock wheels, then in the spring get a second set of aftermarket wheels to put a more summer-appropriate compound on. I’ve been doing this since I got my license, an
Read MoreIt’s been slow going, but my little Pao is now almost fully repaired after I smacked into a (possibly inebriated) deer a few months ago. In that Pao-vs-venison mashup. One of the casualties was a hard-to-replace official Pao yellow fog lamp, so I had to think of some alternatives. I’m testing a solution, but I’m not convinced I’ll stick with it. Maybe? I need to actually see how it works, and, you know, maybe talk it out. With you.
Read MoreHypermiling seems like the exact opposite of some idiot hooning around on public roads, street racing and doing donuts and getting in everyone’s way, but the truth is that it’s really just another version of the same thing: Driving like a jackass. I know this from experience and because I was reminded by a recent Wall Street Journal article about EV hypermilers. Also, there’s a name in that article that we have to talk about.
Read MoreCar companies are apparently not OK in France right now. Ford is crying foul on the car-related public health warnings mandated by France after Hyundai complained that these “vilified drivers.” Ford’s managing director in France says these warnings, which are about curbing emissions, prove lawmakers in Paris don’t understand people who live outside of the French capital, according to the Financial Times.
Read MoreThe life of a TV reporter can be tough. If you aren’t being sent into hostile environments to chase down leads or struggling to force an answer out of a politician, you might end up in the awful scenario of being hit by a car on live TV. That’s exactly the situation one WSAZ-TV reporter found herself in earlier this week while covering a severe weather incident in West Virginia.
Read MoreLook at this seemingly kinda boring car. The Charmant, French for “charming.” Yes, it’s built on the Corolla platform, but it’s not just a Daihatsu, it was the largest Daihatsu for a while. Think about that! Your largest car is the size of a Corolla. What a world.
Read MoreAnother week, another story about how flying cars might be the future of transportation. This time, it’s the turn of mobility specialist The Arsenale, which claimed that “the car is over” at the opening of the “first ever flying car store.”
Read MoreThere was a lot of excitement in the cluster of rusty, discarded FEMA trailers that forms Jalopnik’s world HQ about Hoonigan’s new Gymkhana car, styled to look like an ‘80s Subaru GL wagon. My first thought when I saw the car was, of course, to wonder if it had Subaru’s cyclopean Passing Lamp Some of our newer writers weren’t familiar with what this was, and when I showed them a picture, the telltale sound of shock-urine spattering on a dirt floor told me all I needed to know: People need to be
Read MoreI can’t give you a really good reason why, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the MGB a lot lately, partially because of a conversation last week about how MGBs never seem to get that expensive, and partially out of my own nostalgia, when MGBs seemed to be pretty much sprinkled all over the place in the general car-scape, seemingly appearing with about the same frequency as the melba toast things in Chex Mix. They stopped making them in 1980, but what I never realized were the peculiar — if half
Read MoreWhat if I told you there is a single place where you can see tiny recreations of the largest versions of roadside attractions all in one place? Well, clear the sleep from your eyes for it is no dream. It is the World’s Largest Collection of World’s Smallest Versions of World’s Largest Things in the appropriately teeny-tiny town of Lucas, Kansas, and friends, it makes my heart so happy.
Read MoreIt’s almost 6 o’clock, do you know where your package is? If you’re neighbors with TikTok user Rachel Porter, all you need to do is follow the smoking hole in your front door to the still smoldering skid mark in the front hallway to find your latest purchase.
Read MoreThe profile of this looks a lot like a Plymouth Barracuda or an AMC Marlin, but it’s actually a Sunbeam Rapier. Sunbeam liked pointy-thing names for their fastbacks—the fastback variant of the Hillman Imp was sold as a Sunbeam Stiletto, for example, but AMC may have learned something from their pals across the pond, because they did end up with a Javelin, which is, as you know, quite pointy.
Read MoreAs the United States celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today as the country has for the past five decades, it’s difficult to believe an automotive artifact related to his death was left to languish in a field. The 1966 Lincoln Continental that is currently on display at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee only entered the museum’s possession in the last within the last 15 years. The Continental’s existence paralleled Dr. King’s final days in Memphis
Read MoreIf you were asked, I’m sure you have some idea of what you would say is the greatest road in the United States. Well, I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong. That is, unless your answer is the New Jersey Turnpike.
Read MoreI don’t watch The Bachelor on the reg, or at all. And I doubt you do either. And that’s seriously OK by all. But, I found something that might entice you to succumb to wasting about three minutes of your life by watching what some of us Jalops at the office have concluded is a semi-horrifying experience. It is, however, properly redeemed by its chaperone, one of my favorite people in the Motor Trend world: Tony Angelo.
Read MoreAnother “flying car” concept is making its rounds on the internet. This time it’s another electric Vertical Takeoff And Landing Airplane made by a UK company called Bellweather Industries. Called the Antelope, it’s an eVTOL with “supercar sex appeal,” according to Design Bloom. The prototype flew at a few trade shows and events last year, but photos published by Design Bloom show a vehicle not large enough to even house a human being. The company told Bloom:
Read MoreMunicipal leaders across the country are warning drivers not to use QR codes stuck on to parking pay stations. Such QR codes are easily faked, and it seems scammers used them to soak up unsuspecting people’s parking fees, along with their credit card information, in some of the largest cities in the U.S.
Read MorePeople who rely on medical transportation services are missing appointments or are being left stranded after getting medical care because of driver shortages. Medicaid has paid the companies that run these services despite the shortage, which means that millions of dollars were wasted on rides that never came. And for those lucky patients who do get the rides Medicaid paid for, many have had to wait for hours at a time, NPR reports.
Read MoreAmerica’s a fun place and, on the whole, things are fairly similar to the UK. But dig deeper and it’s a world full strange quirks and bizarre words like “rutabaga” and “sidewalk.” Americans and Brits may both speak the same language, so why is there a host of different phrases that all mean the same thing?
Read MoreThe 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon happens this weekend, and Japan’s most creative tuning companies are bringing their best to the festivities. Among them is Liberty Walk, which chose to do up not a modern supercar for this year’s event but a curious old cult favorite — the infamous Mitsuoka Orochi.
Read MoreI took my car to the shop in Los Angeles before driving back to New York City this week because the drive belt was squealing and I wanted a general wellness check in any case. They said the water pump was leaking, and also the rear brake shoes needed replacing, and also I wanted new spark plugs. I spent [REDACTED] to get it all done, but it did make me wonder when it would be time to move on.
Read MoreThis image is from a 1971 brochure for the GM Ranger, a short-lived GM brand for (mostly) South Africa that was basically re-badged Opels and Vauxhalls. There’s better photos in the brochure, of course, but I’m dazzled by the choice to use this confusing, blurry image in there. It’s a bold, bold call, especially with the crazy-eyes there.
Read MoreI’m not sure about you, but as a car person, I occasionally receive those texts or calls from friends, co-workers and the like that ask, “Hey, this happened with my car… is this bad?” In many cases, the problem is a simple fix that may require a quick trip to the auto part store or a mechanic. Sometimes, it’s a little more. And in many cases, an expensive issue could likely have been prevented, if they knew just a tiny, tiny bit about cars.
Read MoreI had a press vehicle recently, and when I pulled down the visor to block the intense rays of that large, glowing orb in the sky — I want to say it’s Jupiter? Anyway, when I pulled down the visor, I was confronted with this big warning label, and I realized that I’m not sure I’ve ever actually read one.
Read MoreTough news for Toyota C-HR owners out there. A Consumer Reports survey showed people who have the little hatchback/crossover-thing have more buyer’s remorse than any other owners.
Read MoreThe dude that fought hordes of the undead with a chainsaw hand had to start somewhere, right? Well, in the case of actor Bruce Campbell (who research suggests may not actually have a chainsaw hand in real life?), that start seems to be doing films for automakers like Chrysler, and interacting with an actual, genuine Ford Tempo. Don’t just take my word — Bruce told us himself!
Read MoreEveryone knows that weight is the enemy of car design, and yet oddly, in the 1970s, American automakers actually bragged about their vehicles being heavier than the competition. The whole thing is unbelievably idiotic and serves as just another reminder of the sad state of American cars during that era.
Read MoreThat’s right. This is all your fault. After years and years of production, Mercedes-Benz plans to discontinue offering any wagons by the end of the decade because of low demand.
Read MoreA viral video of a man ending a 23-car “pay it forward” streak at a Starbucks drive-thru has the internet divided over whether he was justified in taking his paid-for order and not funding the next person’s daily dose of caffeine. Some think he was, as charity is never required. Some think he’s a spoil-sport. But no one seems to be realizing the obvious: pay it forward is an added pain in the ass for the workers making and handing you your coffee. If you really want to do some good, tip the unde
Read MoreWhen is a submarine a car? This isn’t a riddle, it’s an honest question. I think if something has wheels and drives on the ground, it qualifies as a car. If that ground happens to be under a lot of water because it’s the bottom of the ocean, I’m not so sure that really changes things. It’s still a car. Just an underwater car. And, incredibly, these appear to have existed since 1894! Let’s dive in.
Read MoreIn a very Pennsylvanian tale, police pulled over a car in York County, Pennsylvania, last week for suspected DUI only to find three seemingly buzzed occupants and one slightly fazed deer.
Read MorePickup trucks in the U.S. are marketed as all-capable, all-terrain, unstoppable forces of adventure. Lifting a pickup is supposed to give even more ground clearance, so that no boulder or mud bog can disrupt your journey. Surely, then, a lifted pickup can handle a bit of snow on a mild incline. Right?
Read MoreI realize that among the various Corvette generations, the C4 ‘Vettes (1984-1996) aren’t really considered the most popular, but this assessment doesn’t take into account the very powerful and influential niche of gearheads who are really into reverse lamp innovations and novel seat belt systems. For this group, the C4 ‘Vette is one of the finest automobiles ever crafted by human hands, and if you can calm down I’ll tell you why.
Read MoreI’m not entirely certain why, but this image of a roll-down vent window, a pedal, an Auto-Pilot control (what Mopar called its early cruise controls!) and some wipers all seem to add up to more than the sum of its contents, compositionally. Maybe it’s the unified bluescale color scheme, maybe the placement, I’mm not sure, but I’d have this hanging on my wall.
Read MoreBefore anyone asks, I have not yet started learning to drive stick in my 1996 Pontiac Firebird like I originally intended. But now that my husband is here in Texas, he’s been driving me around in it to let me get a sense of how the car should feel when it’s properly functioning. And boy, have we found some goofy-ass problems in this beautiful machine.
Read MoreRolls-Royce sold more cars in 2021 than in any previous year in its 117-year history. Its unexpectedly good sales year had little to do with sales of its SUV, the Cullinan, or with the company’s announcement that it plans to go all-electric by 2030. According to the carmaker’s CEO, Torsten Müller-Otvös, its record-breaking sales year is partly due to people dying from COVID-19.
Read MoreCars are really, really expensive right now, and that’s a problem. I was thinking about ways that cars could possibly get a bit cheaper, and that line of thinking brought me to the idea of commoditized components that could be standardized across the industry. That lead me to thinking about how pretty much every mainstream carmaker (well, save for the boxer holdouts at Subaru and Porsche) have some sort of inline-four cylinder turbo engine of around 1.5- to 2.5-liters in displacement. And that l
Read MoreOkay, I’m going to be absolutely honest with you: the Lego cars part in the headline was a bit of a ruse so I could justify writing about this on our lovely automotive website here. I don’t actually think any Lego cars need anuses (I mean, a few anuses here and there can’t hurt), but I do think it’s extremely significant that for the first time in their 90-year history, Lego has officially designated a piece to be used to represent an actual mammalian anus. This is huge news.
Read MoreI think it’s safe to say that BMW, perhaps even more than most carmakers, is very committed to certain visual elements that make up the company’s distinctive front end, the face of the car. The kidney grilles are, of course, the best-known and most distinctive element, but another key component of the face is BMW’s use of quad headlamps, a pair on each side, something the company has been using (off and on) since the early 1970s, at least. But what if I were to tell you that on many BMWs, there’
Read MoreAt the end of the year, I finally made it out on the roads for my first drive on American soil. And despite a few weird differences, it was great to be back whizzing around the countryside and embracing the freedom of driving for the first time in almost a year.
Read MoreI’ve been reviewing mountains of largely fictional data about consumer car-buying habits in the very difficult automotive-sales year we just left, and let me tell you, some of the facts I’m learning/making up are absolutely fascinating. Even with the chip shortage and massive supply chain issues and absurd prices, people bought plenty of new cars, and they optioned out those new cars with lots of decisiveness. But there were some options that just couldn’t find many takers, and I want to talk ab
Read MoreMost people know that everything we read on the internet is 100 percent true, which makes Google an arbiter of truth in a discomforting way; you’re only as right as Google says you are. That’s why big oil companies are buying ads that look like legitimate search results. Exxonmobil, Shell and Aramco are among the biggest buyers of these tricky ads, according to the Guardian.
Read MoreThere’s many, many things I love about AMC, America’s lovable loser of carmakers, but I think its truly defining trait has to do with its sheer inventiveness and cleverness in the face of its own perpetual broke-ness. AMC was the master of re-use and repurposing cars, like making the Gremlin by chopping the butt off the Hornet or making concept cars all about using the fewest parts or the cheapskate way they updated the Wagoneer face. But this largely-unknown half-assed attempted re-purposing of
Read MoreGary Rider died last month, but will always be a legend to at least 50,000 people. In early 2021, the 57 year-old Pennsylvanian listed his air compressor on Facebook Marketplace. “Older air compressor, working as it should.i need a liver transplant.procedes go twords it,” read the post. A silly Facebook group named “a car club where everyone acts like boomers” saw the listing for the compressor, and instead of just poking fun at the guy as they normally do, members raised over $50,000 for the fo
Read MoreIt finally happened: I was let loose on the roads of America over the holiday break and got behind the wheel for the first time in what seemed like forever. It marked my first time driving in the U.S., after more than 10 years of motoring back home in the UK.
Read MoreI’m not sure if it’s the slightly subscale size of the people, or the beige void they exist in, or their nervous, wary approach to the big scarab-green car in front of them, but so much of this old brochure painting is downright creepy.
Read MoreEven if you’re only mildly into cars, the sort that can still manage to have a conversation that doesn’t involve either cars, car-based analogies, or a lot of internal struggles to not bring up cars again, I still suspect that you’d be aware of some of the strange, interesting details of Citroën’s legendary mid-century spaceship, the DS. Things like the way it can adjust its height, the steerable headlights, the brake pedal that looks like a rubber mushroom and that odd one-spoke steering wheel.
Read MoreOn my drives home from Detroit (in the days when I physically worked downtown), I would constantly seek out new routes, partly to avoid the godawful commutes on I-75, I-94 or the Lodge, but also to see what I could find of Detroit’s automotive past. Sure, these buildings haven’t been in operation in my lifetime, but they were the foundations of what created the Motor City, and I was always delighted to at least see them for myself.
Read MoreWe’ve shared some of 2021's most read posts in our Best of 2021. Now, we’re sharing a few that our staffers think are worth a second look. These are our 2021 Staff Picks.
Read MoreWhat I’m about to describe to you is one of those things that manages to short-circuit my brain when it comes to how I perceive it: On the one hand, it was ridiculous garbage and should have been embarrassing to the companies that did this. But at the same time, it was wildly clever and did exactly the job it was intended to do. The paradox I’m describing is the old 1970s and ‘80s-era practice of re-designing a roofline with fiberglass and industrial goops, then hiding it all under vinyl.
Read MoreThe new Nissan Z’s gaping grille is probably its most polarizing design trait. Judging from reactions when the car was initially unveiled, chances are you either love the simplicity of it, or are put off by the scale of that rectangular maw. Some of those particularly adept at Photoshop grafted a solution onto the front end — a crossbar, aping the classic Z cars and the way their chrome bumpers would bisect the large intake.
Read MoreAmong the many electric vehicles at CES this year was one from Turkey’s Togg. Togg is a startup in the sense that it was founded only in 2018, but it also really isn’t because it’s actually a consortium of six different long-running Turkish entities, one of which is a beverage manufacturer and another, a telecom. It’s working on bringing an electric SUV to the market by the end of 2022. There’s going to be a sedan too, and wouldn’t you know it’s designed by Pininfarina.
Read MoreReplacing perfectly good steering wheels with yokes is so hot right now. Tesla kicked off the current wave of fixing what ain’t broke with the Model S Plaid, but even the traditionally conservative Toyota has jumped on the trend. Now BMW has entered the fray, with a novel take on the yoke that fixes its worst problems. It’s the One Good Yoke, a design so meticulously though-out that it could only have come from entire minutes of dedicated pondering on the topic. I would know, because the design
Read MoreAlmost a month ago, BMW teased a “color-changing car” for CES. Today, we got to see that car: it’s an iX with a wrap that can go from black to white, partially or completely. Black and white are not colors, as an elementary school art teacher will tell you, but rather shades, so I’d say BMW didn’t quite deliver what it promised here. That’s not to say the result isn’t neat, though.
Read MoreChevy’s big news at CES was the Silverado EV, the bow tie’s big shot at going up against the Lightning and Rivian. Many of the Jalopnik crew were excited to see it — after all, electric offerings in the full-size pickup space are pretty cool by default. I, however, was nonplussed; to me, the Silverado just looks like a rebadged low-trim Hummer EV. No, my interest in Chevy’s CES presentation laid somewhere far more modest: the upcoming Equinox EV.
Read MoreWelcome to 2022. With every new year comes the annual onslaught of car companies touting their sales figures. But this year, sales of Chevrolet Impalas hit a figure that General Motors might not want to shout about.
Read MoreThere’s a brand new car from Noble. Yes, I’m as shocked as you are. But it’s true: British car maker Noble does still exist, and it has created a brand new supercar to prove just that.
Read MoreIf Cadillac has its way, the future will have autonomous vehicles with immersive passenger experiences. That’s what Cadillac’s autonomous InnerSpace concept is, a rolling tech-filled autonomous lounge.
Read MoreA truck driver’s dash cam caught just one of multiple terrifying crashes caused by a fast-moving snow plow throwing a geyser of ice and snow into oncoming traffic on the Ohio Turnpike in Erie County on Sunday. Ohio State Highway Patrol say at least 40 vehicles were damaged and at least a dozen people were injured as a result of the slush jet.
Read MoreCar crashes are often difficult news stories to write. Reading about injuries and wrecked cars can wear on you and pull at your heartstrings while you sit at your keyboard composing an article. Other times, everyone’s okay, and a semi truck just dumps a full trailer of potatoes onto a highway, shutting an entire direction of traffic down. These stories are much, much better.
Read MoreA driver in Michigan is thankful to be alive after launching his car over a freeway overpass last week. Unfortunately, the drink that gave this Chevrolet Impala wings may have been alcohol.
Read MoreLos Angeles news outlet KTLA reports that California prosecutors have brought vehicle manslaughter charges against the driver of a Tesla that was on Autopilot that struck a car and killed two people in 2019.
Read MoreOnlookers were shocked as a woman driving across a frozen river in Canada crashed through the ice and plunged into the freezing water. But that isn’t the shocking part of this story. It seems that residents in Old Mill Way were further confused by the whole scenario when the driver stopped and posed for a selfie on the rear of her sinking car.
Read MoreAdmittedly, I’m a big fan of Forza Horizon 5. A video game where I can launch my car across an undulating landscape is just the perfect platform for endless hours of entertainment. However, I could never conceive of doing anything from that carefree virtual space to our real world of broken bones and vehicular damage. Recent footage from Michigan shows a dramatic crash ripped straight from the Horizon’s digital playground, except the damage isn’t superficial.
Read MoreThe Houston Police Department released video footage of the police chase that killed 62-year old Michael Wayne Jackson on December 4, 2021. The video footage was pulled from the body cam worn by the officer who ran Jackson over, as well as that worn by his partner when the two were responding to an alleged car robbery of a vehicle that was already being tracked by the HPD.
Read MoreWith Formula One in the middle of its offseason, the dream of driving on a Grand Prix circuit is especially vivid for many motorsport fans, including myself. However, not many are willing to steal a car and speed on public roads to fulfill that dream.
Read MoreA white man has been charged with a hate crime after starting an unprovoked attack on a group of Black teens at a Florida gas station, the Orlando Sentential reports.
Read MoreHow far would you go to redeem a bit of free cash? Would you pick a penny off the sidewalk, answer some market research questions, or return your glass bottles to claim a deposit? Well, two men in Berlin went one step further: They stole a car in order to claim the rewards they’d get for recycling the trash inside.
Read MoreStaged car crashes are big money. So big, in fact, that the National Insurance Crime Breau has whole brochures on it. It’s also lucrative enough that one group of people from Washington state pulled off a three-year scheme of fake crashes. That is, until the feds caught them, as the Tri-City Herald reports.
Read MoreYou’d think that police officers would be better equipped to handle a car accident that results in a pedestrian’s death, but as NBC News reports, one New Jersey cop threw his training — and career — out the window after allegedly hitting and killing someone while off-duty before then bringing the dead body home.
Read MoreIn August, the Los Angeles County District Attorney filed federal charges against two Torrance, California, police officers for conspiracy to commit vandalism and vandalism after a suspect’s car was returned covered in antisemitic graffiti. Now the owner of the car is also suing the police department, alleging Torrance police conspired with the towing company to hide their officers’ crime.
Read MoreSo you want a luxury car, but don’t have luxury car money. What do you do? You could pull a traditional heist, snatching cars from under a dealership’s nose, but you’re more refined than that — a businesslike, suit-and-tie criminal. No, you need something more conceptual, more convoluted, and more likely to appear on Shark Tank: A series of fake companies that promise lease takeovers on luxury and exotic cars, only to rent the cars out for profit without sending a dime back to the lessees.
Read MoreAnyone who has lived in a big city has experienced this: A car doing something on the scale between mildly inconveniencing to very illegal with their hazard lights blinking, as if that makes everything they are doing OK. This footage of a banged-up Volkswagen Jetta driving backward down a main artery in St. Louis is a perfect example of that infuriating practice.
Read MoreIf you’re on pretrial release, suspected of assaulting two officers at the U.S. capitol on January 6, you should probably try to stay out of trouble altogether. One man decided to go big or go home with violating his pretrial requirements and now, instead of going home, he’s going back to jail.
Read MoreHave you ever been so hungry that satisfying your burger craving meant more to you than a stint in jail? One man in Louisiana claims that he didn’t stop for the police that were trying to pull him over, not because he didn’t see them or didn’t care, but because he wanted to finish the burger he just bought. And according to the Miami Herald, police didn’t buy it, because they still arrested him.
Read MoreA man in Ohio stole an Audi from a Hyundai dealership while a passenger was sleeping in the backseat on Saturday, January 15. That passenger was reportedly taking a nap while the owner of the 2012 Audi A4 spoke to someone at Taylor Hyundai about trading in that same Audi. Police claimed the car thief opened the driver door, stepped in and proceeded to speed away from the Hyundai lot.
Read MoreTwo employees of a Long Island, NY Toyota dealership were fired after a video of them racially harassing an immigrant family went viral, Automotive News reports.
Read MoreFlorida news outlets are reporting that a former state official was killed during a road rage incident. Outlets also report it was an incident he may have started.
Read MoreBeing assaulted or threatened with violence is terrifying. With the right training and mindset, there are ways to survive, or even better, avoid these encounters. But I cannot stress enough that you should be very critical of any “survival tactics” by social media sensations like Detriot D.U.S.T.
Read MoreA lawyer is arguing his client was just “unlucky” after authorities found a severed head and torso in his client’s stolen truck.
Read MoreA Georgia auto shop allegedly retaliated against a former employee by dumping over 100,000 pennies, and other assorted change, in the man’s driveway as payment. Now the government is suing the shop, as Business Insider reports.
Read MoreGiven the performance of the PS5, Xbox Series X and whatever graphics card Nvidia or AMD came out with in the last 10 minutes, the honor of “best looking video game” is a constantly, speedily moving target — particularly for titles that target a realistic visual style. Yoshi’s Island will forever be a pastel-colored dreamscape, because it’s pure art. Racing games, however, tend to age like milk, save for a few exceptions. And 2014's Driveclub shines the brightest among them to this day.
Read MoreIt’s beautiful in its simplicity, isn’t it? In 2000, a company called Agetec published a PlayStation game simply titled Racing as part of its budget A1 Games label. It’s absolutely as terrible as you’d expect, but the utter lack of any defining qualities whatsoever has endeared it to me for years.
Read MoreWhen Fanatec revealed last year that it was bringing a direct drive wheel base to market for just $350, sim racers sort of lost it. Direct drive is the cream of the crop in terms of force feedback technology compared to cheaper but less precise gear- and belt-driven systems. But Fanatec’s existing direct drive base, the Podium DD1, cost $1,200. Here was one priced at less than a third of that, yet still promised a vaguely similar experience — minus the wrist-snapping torque. It seemed too good t
Read MoreThe thing about the Nintendo Switch is that it’s a great piece of hardware that regrettably holds extremely limited appeal if a significant portion of what you play is racing games. That’s disappointing, because it’s not like good racers can’t exist on the platform — Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Fast RMX, Grid Autosport and Sega Ages Virtua Racing very much prove otherwise. It’s just that few want to make them. Let it be known, though, that the awful ones are still worth checking out. Especially when th
Read MoreApple has won the bidding war for the yet-unnamed Formula 1-themed Brad Pitt vehicle that may or may not also involve Lewis Hamilton, Deadline reported earlier this week. Supposedly the film will star Pitt as a veteran racer who returns to competition to partner and guide a young talent. If that sounds at all familiar, it’s because Sylvester Stallone essentially made the movie 20 years ago, only with CART instead of F1, and it’s one of the greatest racing films of all time.
Read MoreFor years, the Lexus LX has been a difficult SUV to understand. Unlike the ES and the Toyota Camry, the Lexus LX wasn’t significantly nicer than the Land Cruiser. It also cost about the same as the Land Cruiser, making it hard to figure out who the LX was for. In theory, it was the buyer who wanted a large, reliable, comfortable off-road SUV but also insisted that it have a luxury badge.
Read MoreIt’s pretty messed up that we have to come to expect things like this, but we all know markups on the Ford Bronco Raptor are coming. The hardcore version of the Bronco hasn’t even rolled down the production line yet, but as Cars Direct reports, dealers are already estimating how much they’re going to overcharge for them. My own little investigation has confirmed the rumor.
Read MoreThe hardcore off-road enthusiasts among you may have noticed something about this morning’s Bronco Raptor release. Namely, every image was of a four-door Bronco, with no mention made of its two-door sibling. It seems that omission was intentional: The Bronco Raptor will only come with four doors.
Read MoreThere’s some good news if you’re one of the people who didn’t get a chance to order a 2021 Bronco due to production hiccups: Ford is going to offer you a discount. The discount will be available on all trims of the two and four-door 2022 Bronco, Cars Direct reports, so you won’t have to opt for a trim you didn’t want in order to get that discount.
Read MoreFord has stopped accepting customer orders for the Maverick because demand for the compact pickup now exceeds Ford’s production capacity. The problem is people keep ordering the Ford Maverick, and the carmaker says it refuses to take on more orders than it can build, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Read MoreFord has taken a small step in chastising dealers who want more money out of F-150 Lightning reservation holders. The F150gen14 owner’s forum obtained a copy of a bulletin sent to a dealer by Ford outlining the behavior that should stop.
Read MoreThe car plastered across your screen right now had huge ambitions. The Devon GTX was supposed to be a “quintessentially American” supercar powered by the 650-horsepower 8.4-liter V10 heart of a Dodge Viper. The car may have been a massive failure, but you can buy one of the only two in existence on eBay.
Read MoreAnother week means another entry into our series featuring the sweet cars I found for sale online. This time you’re getting a couple of imports, classics and two Lotus!
Read MoreThis should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, but there is currently a 2000 Acura Integra Type R for sale on Bring a Trailer with bidding already over $110,000. And there are still three days left on the clock.
Read MoreWhen the subject of importing a car comes up, most people will probably picture a Nissan Skyline, BMW 745i, or maybe a Renault Twingo. But here’s another car you may want, and it checks basically all of 1980s car enthusiast boxes. This 1986 Volvo 480 ES preproduction car has pop-up headlights, a wedge shape, a glass tailgate and just 48 miles on its odometer.
Read MoreAnother week means another entry into our series featuring the sweet cars I found for sale online. This time we have a Ford-powered TVR, a manual V10-powered BMW, and plenty of vintage American iron.
Read MoreIn this hellscape of a used car market, you could expend your budget of 18-and-a-half-thousand dollars on a well-worn Elantra. Or you could spend your money for real and get something truly in a class of its own: a Zimmer Quicksilver. Specifically, the first Quicksilver registered in these 50 states. I think you know what to do.
Read MoreLook, I know it’s a little early to start thinking about Valentine’s Day, but I have a treat for you that’s not just a box of chocolates. How about the 1976 AMC Pacer used in Wayne’s World? Yep, this is the actual car used in the movie, and it’s about to roll across the Barrett-Jackson auction block.
Read MoreA Volkswagen dealer in Brooklyn recently posted a 2019 Beetle Convertible for sale. There’s nothing too usual about that… until you look at its price tag of $53,000. That’s the price of admission if you want to buy this 325 mile example of a car that’s now three years old.
Read MoreLook, I get it. You’re two years into a pandemic with no end in sight, you’ve come to the realization that life is both short and precious, and you want to make some changes. Call it cabin fever, call it an early mid-life crisis, but please don’t call the seller of this $49,000 2008 Dodge Challenger. You’re better than that.
Read MoreAnother week means another entry into our series featuring the sweet cars I found for sale online. This time we have Ford’s hottest hatch, a twin turbo Subaru wagon, and two-wheel-drive motorcycle.
Read MoreIf you’re like me, you’ve seen a Volkswagen EuroVan or a few while scrolling through the pages of Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. You, like me, then probably passed it up on your way to look at another Mazda Miata. But we should have stopped to look at those vans again because they’re actually pretty cool.
Read MoreAnother week means another entry into our series featuring the sweet cars I found for sale online. This time we have an incredible supercar, a rare Japanese BMW, a fantastic Jeep and more!
Read MoreA 1993 Oldsmobile 98 Regency Elite with just 1,900 miles will cross the block at Mecum in Kissimmee, Florida later this week, and it’s the most pristine example of the last gasp of 20th century American luxury you’re likely to see anytime soon.
Read MoreGeneral Motors has debuted its fully-electric truck, the 2024 Chevy Silverado EV. Not to be outdone by its rival, Ford, GM teased a standard model, a fleet model and an off-road model of its EV truck, which Ford has failed to do so far. While GM and Chevy didn’t provide details, they did confirm that the Chevrolet Silverado EV Trail Boss is on the way. And it looks good.
Read MoreEV sales in the U.S. are a small market segment, but one that’s growing quickly. Just 4% of new cars sold here are electric, but their market share is growing 28 percent every year. That growth rate is slower than China or Europe, but faster than the overall auto sales market in the U.S. — slow and steady wins the race, right?
Read MoreThe outgoing Civic Type R was a masterpiece in many ways: It was raucous fun to drive, had incredible seats, and sent its power through one of the best-feeling transmissions to ever appear in a street car. Its looks may have been divisive, but the styling had as many fans as detractors. If it had one flaw on which everyone could agree, though, it was the sound — for all that power, fun, and suspension wizardry, it sill just sounded like a Civic.
Read MoreAbout this time every year, car enthusiasts rejoice over what 25-year-old cars they can now legally roll onto a ship and bring to America. The reason a Renault Avantime, R34 Nissan Skyline, or S15 Nissan Silvia remains forbidden fruit is this infamous “25 year import rule.” It wasn’t always this way. Decades ago, just about anyone could import a foreign car and get their “gray market” vehicle federalized. But what you think you know about this law may be wrong, so let’s dive in.
Read MoreThe Jalopnik inbox has been lit up with a number of reports about clocks and calendars in Honda cars getting stuck at a certain time in the year 2002. The spread is impressive, impacting Honda and Acura models as old as 2004 and as new as 2012. Here’s what might be happening.
Read MoreThey say that you can see the future of the motorcycle industry by looking at the recent past of the automotive industry. That’s usually true of technology like direct fuel injection, electrification, or advanced rider aids. In this case, however, Ducati is following Porsche’s example in launching a new factory customization program to build customers the exclusive bike of their dreams. Porsche calls it Sunderwunsch or Special Wishes program, Ducati calls it Unica.
Read MoreIf your idea of adventure is an extra level of spice in your Thai food order, turn away. This is not for the faint of heart but the truly adventurous.
Read MoreHarley-Davidson has been on a roll in recent years, releasing motorcycles that are not just worth getting excited about, but ones you might actually choose over the competition. Now, Harley has something for those who want their baggers to hug corners like a sportbike. The Street Glide ST and Road Glide ST bring some of what makes King of the Baggers racing awesome to the road.
Read MoreAnyone who collects stuff is probably familiar with the urge to find tiny versions of big things. Even better is when the tiny version is functional. That’s what makes this minuscule 9cc Harley-Davidson Panhead engine so cool. It runs and sounds almost like the real thing!
Read MoreA lot of weird, properly ridiculous custom motorcycles have been popping up lately. I found another, and this one is so good that I think it’s the best yet. The 1972 Honda Double 750 Salt Flat Racer “Anti-Christ” is a beast housing two Honda CB750 engines working together to set Bonneville speed records.
Read MoreMany enthusiasts and even some of our readers consider motorcycles to be deathtraps to never be touched. Indeed, things can go really south after just a simple mistake. So it makes me giggle to find the kinds of motorcycle builds that even true, die-hard motorcyclists might not want to ride. Here’s another, and this one looks like it’ll kill you if you look at it the wrong way. Someone is shoving a Honda K24 with a huge snail into a CBR1000F frame. The goal? 1,000 horsepower.
Read MoreIt feels like just yesterday that Damon Motorcycles unveiled the modular Hypersport, but in fact that was all the way back at CES in 2020. This year at the same show in Vegas, Damon launched its second model — the HyperFighter — which is more or less a reskin of the same drivetrain in a ‘streetfighter’ style of bodywork, rather than the Hypersport’s sleeker sportbike proportions. The HyperFighter is the Streetfighter V4S to the Hypersport’s Panigale, if that makes it easier for you.
Read MoreState officials are finally looking into the police force in the tiny Alabama town of Brookside, which saw a 640 percent increase in its fines and forfeitures revenue over two years, The Guardian reports. It looks like Brookside’s for-profit policing may finally be coming to an end.
Read MoreAre you bummed out that us Americans won’t be getting the new Toyota Land Cruiser — and that even if we were, we’d have to wait at least four years to get one? Are the new Toyota Sequoia TRD Pro and Lexus LX600 just not going to cut it for you? Well, there’s some good news for you, very specific person. You can make your old Land Cruiser look new again.
Read Morethere’s bad news for prospective Ford F-150 Raptor owners who were hoping to not have to steer on the highway. A report from Ford Authority says the 2021 and 2022 F-150 Raptor won’t have the company’s BlueCruise driver-assistance feature.
Read MoreA convoy of truckers and their supporters shut down streets, harassed soup kitchens, disgraced war memorials and generally kept Ottawa police busy over the weekend. The cops in Canada’s capital were really looking forward to a return to normal this week, but that may have been too much to hope for.
Read MoreThe first production 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 hammered at auction this weekend for a whopping $3.6 million. Don’t worry, this isn’t some sort of dealer markup scam. The money is for charity.
Read MoreI’ve seen countless videos of drivers haphazardly losing control of their vehicles on snow-covered roads. Though, I’ve never seen a commercial airline pilot venture a massive freighter off a taxiway like an SUV on a sloped suburban driveway. That changed on Friday when a Boeing 747F plowed through ground equipment at O’Hare Airport in Chicago like street furniture.
Read MoreEditor’s note: This article was originally published on January 29, 2022, when video of the incident was first made public. Today, charges were dropped against the driver, Eric Popper, whose lawyer successfully cited Florida’s Stand Your Ground law in getting the case dismissed. You can read our coverage of today’s developments here. Below is our original article from 2022.
Read MoreIt seems the city of Pittsburgh may have had a three year warning before Friday’s dramatic bridge collapse.
Read MoreI’ve been very excited about V0lkswagen’s upcoming electric re-make of their iconic Type 2 Transporter, better known as the Microbus. This could be exactly the car VW needs for their MEB-based line of EVs: A vehicle that leverages on decades of character and identity and that has iconic status right out of the gate. The details are going to be very important on this one, and we’ve finally gotten a peek inside thanks to some leaked images shared on the VW ID Talk forum. It looks pretty good!
Read MoreA major bridge collapse in Pittsburgh, PA left 10 people with injuries just hours before President Biden is expected to give an infrastructure speech in the Pennsylvanian city. The $1 trillion bill is going to fund repairs and maintenance on the country’s road, railways, physical infrastructure, and of course, bridges.
Read MoreCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom has big EV plans for the state. California is the largest EV market in the country, and on Jan. 26, the governor announced a $10 billion proposal to transition the state to clean energy and get people driving EVs. But as Southern California news outlet the Daily Bulletin reports, when these EVs inevitably get old, no one seems to know how to handle or dispose of the old batteries.
Read MoreWhen New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority retired its old “Brightliner” subway cars, it sent over 1,000 of them off to coastal areas in Delaware, New Jersey and Georgia and dropped them to the ocean floor. It was all part of an artificial reef program. This all happened around 10 years ago. Back then, artificial reefs were made to host recreational fishing, which generated about $15 billion in state and federal taxes at that time.
Read MoreTesla CEO Elon Musk is attempting to pay a teen thousands of dollars to shut down a Twitter account that keeps tabs on his private jet, claiming a concern about his personal safety.
Read MoreIt seems soft-closing doors can be used for more than just making sure the door is tightly closed. They can also be used to sever part of your thumb. Because of this extra feature, Mercedes-Benz is being sued.
Read MoreGeneral Motors announced plans on Tuesday to invest $4 billion in its Orion Township, Michigan plant to immediately switch over production to batteries and newer EV trucks like the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra on its update Ultium platform. Left out in the cold in this announcement, however, is the very EV and EUV already built at Orion: the Chevrolet Bolt.
Read MoreOn Wednesday Tesla announced that it saw record revenue, beating even Wall Street’s estimates, of $17.72 billion in Q4 of 2021. While analysts were optimistic for Tesla’s fourth quarter, the electric automaker managed to post even better numbers. The world’s most valuable car manufacturer actually managed to turn a decent profit last quarter, good for them.
Read MoreRivian is looking to ramp up production of its electric trucks after a rough 2021 filled with multiple production issues and delays. The company is eyeing a target of almost 200 delivery-ready vehicles per week.
Read MoreFlorida authorities, along with the Coast Guard, are searching for survivors of a boat that capsized off the Florida coast. That boat was reportedly carrying an estimated 40 migrants from the Bahamas to Florida, the New York Times reports.
Read MoreDon’t worry, fellas. The Ford Bronco Raptor has a size problem, too. However, its problem is being too big. Ford somehow managed to make a vehicle that is both too tall and too wide for its production facility.
Read MoreIf many automotive experts are to be believed, we’re on the cusp of a self-driving revolution. And that means that as automakers finalize their autonomous-driving technology, lawmakers must write the rules that govern self-driving cars. And that includes deciding who is at fault when one crashes.
Read MoreAh, the chip shortage. Our stalwart enemy over the past two years, wreaking mayhem from the shadows like an arc-long anime villain. It’s taken everything from individual options to entire vehicles off of dealer lots, and in limiting supply, it has radically increased prices through dealer markups and skyrocketing used car prices. Now, the U.S. Commerce Secretary is issuing a warning: Without a lot of help, things aren’t getting better any time soon.
Read MoreAfter nearly 50 years in the U.S. market, the Volkswagen Passat is no more. The final sedan rolled off the assembly line in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where more than 800,000 Passats were built since production started in 2011. This may not sound like that big of a deal since the Passat has been a middle-of-the-road sedan for some time now. But, it is to me.
Read MoreThe U.S. Federal Aviation Administration seems to have found a workaround for the 5G issues that started to impact flights a few weeks ago: It just approved additional altimeters that will allow about 90 percent of the U.S. commercial aviation fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports near 5G hubs.
Read MoreAre you a large U.S. military force that’s looking for a greener way to promote “democracy” and “freedom” across the globe? Well, Oshkosh Defense has just the truck for you!
Read MoreGeneral Motors said Tuesday that it would be spending $7 billion on four different sites in Michigan. That’s right, Michigan! Unlike some other automakers. If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you.
Read MoreUsually, if you want to try your hand at automotive photography, you’ll go out and purchase an expensive DSLR camera and some even more expensive lenses before heading to a shoot. However, one man tried something a bit different. Conor Merrigan went to a drift event with a modified Game Boy Camera, and it had some quite impressive results.
Read MoreFolks, Tesla did it. They built a Cybertruck, naysayers be damned! Okay well they built one Cybertruck. But it’s been revealed in a walk-around, so we should take a look at it, together. Don’t worry. It still looks goofy. In fact, it may look even goofier than before.
Read MoreOver 15 million vehicles passed through just 10 miles of toll lanes, bringing in $48.9 million in toll revenue in 2021. Those are stats for Southern California’s state route 91 toll lanes, which have brought in nearly a billion dollars since their inception in 2003. But as Fox 11 L.A. investigated, much of that money hasn’t gone to maintaining those same roads.
Read MoreBecause of the state of the world we now live in, Lamborghini set an all-time delivery record in 2021, and almost all of its production capacity for 2022 has already been ordered. However, the brand isn’t resting on its laurels.
Read MoreFor 14 years Austrians have been building one of the most exciting sports cars in the world. The lightweight carbon chassis co-developed by Dallara, was lauded back in 2008 as one of the most exciting things in cars, and when paired with its 300-horsepower Audi inline-5 engine (the standard engine since 2012) it is incredibly quick. After a decade of very minor changes to the car, it’s time for a major update. Namely, more power and a roof.
Read MoreI know when Ford’s new Raptor came out, a lot of you were all, “nice, but how’s it stack up to a Renault 5?” While I certainly understand the impulse to make this comparison, up until now it’s been pretty lopsided and unfair. But that’s about to change, because the Bronco Raptor seems to have finally beaten the Renault 5 on a crucial metric everyone cares about: Width.
Read MoreTime to get out your crispest jorts and whitest New Balances — it’s been another five year increment since the Corvette was introduced, and it’s time to celebrate!
Read MoreVolkswagen is going to pay the state of Ohio $3.5 million in a settlement because of the 2015 Dieselgate scandal. Ohio claims the German automaker violated state laws when it manipulated vehicle computer software to cheat emissions tests, according to Reuters.
Read MorePut down that calendar and close that app, it is not April 1st and you’re probably not a fool. John DeLorean’s alleged son says that the Taliban wants to buy his repainted Reliant “DMC-21" three-wheelers. He’d consider doing it, too, if it weren’t for the fact that it’s illegal to do business with the Taliban.
Read MoreA stowaway was found alive in the nose wheel of a cargo plane that traveled from South Africa to the Netherlands, according to Dutch police.
Read MorePersonally, I had a pretty quiet New Year’s Eve. I stayed up past midnight but spent the entire night at home. I can confirm that I was not involved in a crash that left a limousine in a creek. I cannot imagine waking up in a hungover stupor on January 1st having the realization set in that you walked home because your designated driver crashed their limo and just left it at the scene.
Read MoreProfessional tennis has a strong commercial association with the automobile industry. Many famous players sign lucrative multi-year deals to promote and appear in advertisements for luxury car brands. Most notably, Roger Federer has a long-running relationship with Mercedes-Benz. The Swiss 20-time Grand Slam tournament winner has been partnered with the German automaker since 2008.
Read MoreYes, I know this sounds like the opening scene of a Hollywood movie about a new highly-contagious pathogen that ravages the United States. Well, there is a highly-contagious pathogen ravaging the United States, and a truck full of lab monkeys has crashed. However, the two statements of fact are unrelated.
Read MoreDo you want to be an F1 driver but lack the money and talent to make it happen? Well, your solution may be found on eBay… as long as you have about $55,000 to spare.
Read MoreA group of divers dredged up a car from the Brazos River in Texas, which could finally solve a missing persons case that was opened in 2017. In December of that year, 42-year-old Stephanie Torres left her home in Waco, Texas, behind the wheel of her 2006 Kia Rio, according to NBC. She left her “wallet, cell phone and medication” at home and family said it wasn’t unusual for Stephanie to be gone for days at a time.
Read MoreGeneral Motors wants you to know that even though the future is electric, the present is still very much gas powered… and loud.
Read MoreGetting all worked up about things is a pretty good way to kill time if you lack other engaging pursuits. One exciting thing to get alarmed about is the possibility that the American government — already known to be kind of a dick at times — may be planning to force cars to have a kill switch, which is making a lot of people very upset at the idea. The only thing is that this isn’t really happening, but, like most things we get alarmed about, there’s at least a kernel of something worth keeping
Read MoreEarlier this week, a decommissioned 300-foot-long Staten Island Ferry went up for auction. Many speculated as to who exactly would want something like this. Well, we now have our answer.
Read MoreAutomakers have largely thrown in the towel on vehicle subscriptions. The all-in-one bundle of car payment, maintenance, and insurance wasn’t as appealing to consumers as automakers thought. That hasn’t stopped some independent companies from trying though. Now, the founder of TruCar is trying his hand in the car subscription game with a company that lets you subscribe to a Tesla, as Bloomberg reports.
Read MoreConsumer Reports is set to announce its Top Picks for automobiles next month, but the site just released a fascinating tidbit: It’s going to start awarding points for driver monitoring systems, and so far, only Ford’s BlueCruise and General Motors’ Super Cruise even earn those points. Yikes.
Read MoreDealer markups have increased as supply chain issues and semiconductor shortages continue to hamper the new car market, and this has become a huge problem for highly sought after new cars. There may be no more sought after new car than the 2023 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 — but dealers have already been put on notice.
Read MoreAustralia is a lot like the U.S. — a large country with major cities on the coasts and vast stretches of nothing in between. And, much like in America, convincing car buyers that an EV can handle driving through such large empty stretches has proven a challenge. A retired engineer partnered with Polestar to solve the problem of getting EVs through one of the most wild, empty places in Australia using old “chip” frying oil.
Read MoreThere’s increasing debate in Germany over whether or not they should be adding speed limits to the Autobahn’s legendary unlimited section – especially since their last election a few months ago. Now, those calls are being renewed after a Bugatti Chiron owner tried to max out his car on the public road.
Read MoreBrookside, Alabama’s population is barely 1,200 people, but officials decided that what the town really needed was more police. Now, fines and forfeitures make up half of the town’s income in a rampant case of policing for profit, Alabama news site AL.com reports.
Read MoreAre you a little weird but also have a few hundred thousand dollars laying around? Well, have we got the purchasing opportunity for you — the Staten Island Ferry!
Read MoreEmergency cleanup efforts are ongoing along the coast of Perú after a reported 252,000 gallons of oil spilled into the South Pacific. The oil spill allegedly traces back to the Tonga volcanic eruption of January 15, but the Peruvian government nonetheless opened an investigation and could impose $33 million in fines against the oil companies involved, per Reuters.
Read MoreIt’s been two years since Proposition 22 passed in California (though it was later ruled unconstitutional), and even longer since rideshare companies first started siding with tech companies and claiming its drivers are self-employed, but Lyft is back at it again. Now, the Boston Globe reports that the company is throwing money at yet another attempt to prevent its drivers from being classified as employees.
Read MoreThe C8 Corvette is built at General Motors’ Bowling Green Assembly Plant, and the workforce there — members of UAW Local 2164 — have almost unanimously rejected the manufacturer’s latest contract offer.
Read MoreHave you been feeling like your Tesla just isn’t getting you enough attention? Well, you’re in luck thanks to Koenigsegg. Yes, that Koenigsegg. No, the Swedish supercar manufacturer isn’t tuning Teslas, but it’s now making carbon fiber dress-up parts — and they aren’t as expensive as you’d think.
Read MoreSome major international airlines are now working to modify or cancel flights to several major U.S. cities because of the new 5G cell phone service rollout across the country. They worry the new system could lead to potential interference between cell phone service and important plane technologies.
Read MoreMajor airline operators across the U.S. can breathe a sigh of relief – at least for now. Verizon and AT&T are changing their plans for 5G cell phone signal rollouts near airports around the country.
Read MoreThere are likely a lot of effective methods to deal with unreasonable anger and rage one may feel while driving, and while these various methods have their own specific benefits and challenges, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that firing a gun 10 times into a crowded intersection is not one of the better ways to deal with this issue. Maybe someone should have clued in Tulsa, Oklahoma-area 30-year-old Brian Chintharsy to this hot little tip, because that’s exactly how he handled getting oh
Read MoreThis 1951 Mercury coupe just sold at the Mecum auction in Kissimmee, Florida for $1.95 million. Yes you read that right, $1.95 million... for a glorified Ford product.
Read MoreFord has partnered with online financial services company Stripe, to handle payment processing for the automaker for things like vehicle reservations and the unfortunate future: subscriptions, Automotive News reports.
Read MoreWe may sound like a broken record, but something else just hit a record high price – rental cars. And as with everything as of late, it isn’t getting better anytime soon.
Read MoreJust in case you forgot, Volkswagen China loves to make a bewildering array of models you’ve never heard of and you can never have, because that gets them off, sexually. At least, that’s the rumor. Anyway, they’ve done it again with an all-new version of their MQB-platform four-door hatchback called the Lamando, only now it sports a fun, mischevious-bordering-on-gleefully-evil look. Also, there’s a bit of interesting lighting going on I’m contractually obligated to discuss with you, so let’s get
Read MoreWho’s hungry? Got a craving for sun-ripened animal offal and entrails, but don’t have the kind of cash needed to really indulge your cravings? Are you in Australia? If you’re answering a vigorous, breathless “yes” to these questions, then boy are you in luck, because a huge truck full of animal guts barfed out its contents onto a Melbourne-area highway’s exit ramp. And, remember, it’s summer down there, so everything’s getting nice and toasty. Ewww.
Read MoreIt is difficult to find a single sector in the United States that isn’t struggling to find commercial drivers. There aren’t enough drivers to transport our goods. There aren’t enough drivers for ambulance services and non-emergency medical transportation. There aren’t enough drivers to operate school buses. Now, there aren’t enough drivers to move snow off our roads.
Read MoreI haven’t cheated death by avoiding an ill-fated transatlantic flight to Paris, but I get still nervous driving on highways behind most vehicles with loads secured to the roof. One loose strap or one poorly tied knot, and I could end up in my own personal straight-to-DVD sequel to Final Destination. Someone this week got a similar fright in New Zealand and caught it on dashcam.
Read MoreIn early January, one man rammed into a car dealership in the Austin, Texas area and then entered the building with an AK-47 in what appeared to be a pursuit of someone inside, local news station KXAN reports.
Read MoreA Tesla owner in Germany may just have the record for highest-mileage Model S in the world. He recently rolled over 1.5 million kilometers (932,256 freedom miles if you live in the U.S.) in his Model S P85.
Read MoreJust like everyone else in the automotive industry, Subaru is getting real weird with it. The company revealed its new STI E-RA concept at the Tokyo Auto Salon, which is an all-electric hypercar designed to demolish records.
Read MoreSorry, folks. I do hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you missed your shot to buy a new Bugatti Chiron or Bolide.
Read MoreSinger John Mayer and comedian Jeff Ross found some comfort in sharing memories of their late friend Bob Saget while retrieving his car from LAX on Wednesday.
Read MoreThe jury’s still out on how promising the upcoming Apple Car will be, but recent reports suggest that the electronics company turned automaker is looking to South Korea for its parts.
Read MoreForgotten supercar makers are having quite the week. Yesterday, Noble was convincing us all it still existed with a new supercar, and now De Tomaso has come out of the woodwork with news of a new factory and plans to start production of its gorgeous P72 concept.
Read MoreIn November 2021, an abnormal amount of torrential rain descended on the Pacific Northwest region of North America, wiping out major highways around Vancouver, British Columbia and kicking off a series of supply chain problems that still persist for the Canadian city. That experience is about to become the norm under climate change, the Washington Post warns. And it’s going to impact up to 70 percent of the roads on the Northern Hemisphere’s permafrost regions.
Read MoreYou’re in luck if you own one of Toyota’s rare or classic models. Autoblog reports that Toyota’s Gazoo Racing arm has added more parts for classic models to its Heritage parts catalog.
Read MoreSomeone has finally come up with a solution to Tesla’s much maligned yoke on the Model S Plaid, but it’s going to cost you.
Read MoreImagine if your car could pump CO2 into the environment all while sitting in your garage. I know, it’s a dream few have dared to realize but now you can! And you don’t even need to own the actual physical car! Just a picture of the car and some code will deliver plenty of sweet, planet warming carbon straight into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Read MoreA California man is suing BMW after finding that the company’s lease agreement favors selling its leased vehicles to branded dealers over third-party dealers, Automotive News reports.
Read MorePeople in the U.S. have been waiting for the Toyota GR Supra to offer a manual transmission pretty much since the car was first revealed. Well, wait no more as a new report seems to all but confirm that a 6-speed is coming.
Read MoreLocal Motors, the company behind the first car to ever be openly developed and built using crowd-sourcing, is dead.
Read MoreMemphis Raines is at it again, folks. Well, not really. There’s little chance Nicholas Cage’s character in the 2000 car crime thriller Gone in 60 Seconds stole this 1967 Shelby Mustang GT 500 – but someone in Oklahoma did.
Read MoreThis may not come as any surprise, but new car prices are very much still on the rise. The average price someone in the U.S. paid for a new car in December 2021 was a staggering $47,077. That means the average price of a new car raised over $6,000 in a single year.
Read MoreThe numbers are in and on top of everything else Americans had to deal with in 2021, inflation hit a 40-year high at seven percent, the Associated Press reports. By far the fastest rising costs last year? Unleaded gasoline and used car prices, by a mile.
Read MoreThe Mercedes Sprinter vans used by Amazon to make deliveries have been falling victim to one of the worst feelings in automotive history: A failure to properly park, in some cases even with the parking brake activated.
Read MoreAnchorman Jim Gardner is a mainstay in Philadelphia TV news. He helmed the 6ABC Action News desk at 11 p.m. for over four decades, and last night was his final broadcast at that time slot, as he plans to retire at the end of 2022. (Don’t worry you can still watch him at 6 p.m. if your heart desires.)
Read MoreGood news if you live near Jeep’s new assembly plant on Detroit’s east side. Stellantis told Michigan regulators it finally has a plan to solve a persistent odor issue at the complex. The catch is, they don’t know have a date for when it will actually be fixed.
Read MoreMany cities want to electrify their public transit fleets. Doing so, though, requires incredible investments in both vehicles and infrastructure — investments many cities are loath to make. When the bills start to include multiple commas, organizational inertia kicks in for many municipalities; it’s easier to keep buying gas vehicles, so why stop? But for cities that lack transit infrastructure, the choice to go electric is a lot simpler — at least, that’s what the city of Huron, CA is trying t
Read MoreAn appeals court denied two former Los Angeles Police Department officers’ motion to be reinstated last week after they were fired in 2017 for pursuing a rare Pokémon in the mobile game Pokémon Go while on duty. The court documents make for some pretty hilarious and depressing reading.
Read MoreWhen you think of Volvo, the first thing that comes to mind is probably “wagon.” Despite this, its best sellers are all crossovers. It wouldn’t be surprising if the company decided to forgo sedans and wagons altogether — in fact, it would probably be good business. But rejoice! The Swedish brand confirms it will replace its long-standing ‘S’ and ‘V’ models with something new… and they’ll be even prettier.
Read MoreWhat’s old is new in the world of Toyota. The company has a new plan for extending the lifecycle of the cars it makes. It wants to “refurbish” its cars to make them as close to new as possible, the same way you can refurbish your cell phones. Or, at least, Toyota wants to do that in The United Kingdom.
Read MoreYou know what I hate? Being cold and wet. In fact, I bet I share this dislike not with all people, but I bet nearly all mammals and possibly even reptiles, too. Nobody likes being cold and wet and miserable. It sucks, deeply and powerfully. I think this incident that happened this past Friday at a ski resort in Beech Mountain, NC might be one of the worst possible examples of wet and cold that I’ve ever seen.
Read MoreCNBC may have found the last guy you want to talk to at a party. Siraj Raval is using his 2018 Tesla Model 3 to mine cryptocurrencies and says he’s made up to $800 a month in the process.
Read MoreLast Monday (Jan. 3, 2022), drivers in Virginia were left stranded after more than 12 inches of snow covered the roads across the state. During the whiteout, one driver abandoned their car on the highway after it broke down and tried to walk to safety — with fatal results.
Read MoreAfter five years of questionable existence, DriveTribe is shutting down its website at the end of January.
Read MoreOne Texas mom has been charged with child endangerment after allegedly putting her sick son in the trunk of her car to avoid contracting COVID-19 herself, CNN reports.
Read MoreIn the news today is a story so wild that I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. A pilot is in stable condition after crashing their plane onto railroad tracks and being rescued by police just a few seconds before a commuter train sliced the wreckage in half.
Read MoreThe Ford Bronco may have been the hot new off-roader in 2021, but when it came down to the numbers, the Jeep Wrangler was still king. Wrangler sales outsold the full-size Bronco and Bronco Sport combined last year. However, the full-size Bronco had only been available since June.
Read MoreHow long are you willing to drive underground? How about long enough that you could have a lull in concentration behind the wheel? Well, a video light display might be enough to keep drivers engaged until they make it to the light at the end of the tunnel. This week, the new longest underwater tunnel in China opened to traffic after four years of construction with this interesting feature.
Read MoreIn collaboration with Luminar Technologies, Volvo announced an autonomous driving system called Ride Pilot on Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show. Volvo customers in California will have access to Ride Pilot as a subscription service at some point after 2022.
Read MoreDespite communist forces defeating the United States there almost 50 years ago, Vietnam has embraced some aspects of market capitalism, including foreign investment. Foreign car manufacturers have assembled some of their models in Vietnam for decades. Ford and Mercedes-Benz are two of the various automakers with operations within the country’s borders. VinFast, Vietnam’s first domestic automaker, now aims to return the favor in their home countries.
Read MoreLess than a year after pledging to stop or alter donations to lawmakers who lied about 2020 election results — Detroit automakers are already back to giving them money.
Read MoreIt wasn’t that long ago that Volkswagen basically gave up on making money in the U.S., for the short-term. But that was before the Taos, a retrograde sort of machine that was inevitably thus very popular with American car buyers. On Friday, VW said it had its best American sales year for nearly a decade.
Read MoreAfter an explosion that may have been related to terrorism, severely injured a French driver in Saudi Arabia, France is considering the cancellation of the already-underway Dakar Rally. However, not everyone is on the same page.
Read MoreiRacing is probably the single most professionally-recognized simulator in the racing world. It’s been used to replicate real NASCAR during the pandemic, it’s partnered with IMSA, even dirt track and open-wheel racers have found a home on its online platform. But that intricacy, the attention to every conceivable detail, has made for a high barrier to entry that’s forced iRacing into being a niche market player — far from the likes of Forza or Gran Turismo.
Read MoreIn November 2021, Elon Musk tweeted “It’s either traffic forever or tunnels.” Well, that does not really seem to be the case.
Read MoreOn Monday, drivers were stranded for hours on Interstate-95 in Virginia as snow fell and blocked the road. Some motorists reported being stuck for more than 17 hours as crews struggled to clear the road and rescue stranded drivers.
Read MoreRight now, at-home COVID tests are worth their weight in gold. Despite concerns about their accuracy, particularly with the Omicron variant, home tests have been nearly impossible to find since the pre-holiday travel rush. Now, as stock slowly trickles back in, some Seamless and Uber Eats users are finding tests ready to be delivered — for a hefty cost.
Read MoreOn January 1 of this year, government price controls for liquefied petroleum gas were removed in Kazakhstan. Today, the country’s capital is in a state of emergency and the government appears to have shut down internet access for the entire nation. Correlation may not always equal causation, but here you can draw a pretty clear line — one enforced by riot shields.
Read MoreGM is planning to crush all of the severely damaged C8 Corvettes from last months storms, rather than taking the chances of having potentially defective cars end up in peoples’ hands.
Read MoreLast year took plenty of cars out of production, some good, some forgettable. One more didn’t make it to 2022 and it’s gone without anyone noticing. The Smart Forfour is dead as the automaker gears up to make an SUV.
Read MoreIn October of 2012, when Håkan Samuelsson was named president and CEO of Volvo, the automaker was still trying to find its footing under then-still-new Geely ownership, after years of drift under Ford ownership. It’s safe to say that, in nine years under Samuelsson, it has.
Read MoreUnited Airlines is offering their pilots quite the incentive to pick up trips through January to help ease staff shortages caused by the pandemic.
Read MoreWhile we were all just trying to get past our New Years’ hangovers and trying not to think too hard about what made that weird stain on the ottoman, Mercedes-Benz was out there showing off a brand-new electric concept vehicle, the VISION EQXX. That’s the last time I’m typing that name in all-caps, Mercedes PR people, so just deal with that. The concept is a striking-looking, slightly retro-inspired four-door sedan with a dramatic taillight setup. Let’s look at it.
Read MoreA Seattle couple was met with gunfire after confronting catalytic converter thieves on their block.
Read MoreNot all dealerships are bad. Yea, I know dealer reputations tend to lean that way when I write about their behavior and markups. But most of that deals with just plain old greed. On the other hand there are times when their behavior is completely out of pocket and sincere. In this case, one dealership has made things right with a teen who was out both thousands of dollars and a vehicle.
Read MoreIn Virginia, a winter snowstorm brought 12-inches of the white stuff down on roads and highways in the state. The worst hit area was the Fredericksburg region and the Interstate-95 highway. Since the snow began falling on Monday (January 3rd) morning, the torrid conditions saw motorists stranded on the highway for more than 15-hours.
Read MoreLast year, we told you about the 165 Hertz customers who were arrested for stealing cars that they had lawfully rented. The months they spent in prison, and their desperation in getting recompense from the company, could make you shy away from ever renting a car again. But if their stories didn’t, one out of San Ramon, CA might: An Uber driver whose late rental payment caused him to be mauled by a police dog.
Read More$29,011: That’s now the average used car price in the U.S., according to Edmunds.com. That’s up 42 percent from a year earlier. It also means that for the first time, more than half of all American households have less income than is considered necessary to buy the average-priced used car.
Read MoreThe Ford Festiva Shogun is a unique automotive creation. The Shogun was a mid-engined marriage between a Japanese-designed American subcompact and a high-performance three-liter V6 engine meant for a sedan. While the Shogun intended to have a production run of 250 cars, only seven were ever made. Now, there are only six.
Read MoreAt the start of 2021, it seemed like Spyker was against the ropes and ready to go down for the last time. The company’s CEO filed for bankruptcy for a second time. Though, the Dutch sports car manufacturer has seemingly had something good happen for a change this week. A long-awaited and thought to be fallen through deal has actually been completed.
Read MoreWith its modest-displacement six and five-speed stick, today’s Nice Price or No Dice E39 should prove an adequate and enjoyable cruiser. That is if its price and title status don’t get in the way of the fun.
Read MoreWith so many manufacturers besmirching the coupe name by applying it to four doors, it’s good to see a REAL coupe in the form of today’s Nice Price or No Dice AMC. Let’s find out what this crazy 4X4 two-door should rightfully cost.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice Toyota could let you live out your Top Gear fantasy of owning an un-killable truck. Let’s see if its price tag is equally as fantastical or if it kills the deal.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice Mazda is offered in Chicago but is advertised on Craigslists all around the country. That’s probably necessary since it’s a model hardly anyone has ever heard of. Let’s see if it’s priced to make it all the more memorable.
Read MoreAs proven by today’s Nice Price or No Dice Caravan, Chrysler was once the dopest automaker on the planet. Let’s see if this old-school van’s price tag will make a new owner out as a different kind of dope.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice Volvo isn’t an exciting car, but being a wagon and powered by a smooth five-pot mill, it’s a bit intriguing at the very least. Let’s see just what kind of money this sort of mundane is mandating these days.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice 348 is described as almost all original. That’s either a good or a bad thing depending on your view of what’s considered to be one of the less successful Pininfarina styling outings. We’ll have to see if its price increases its attractiveness.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice 380 SL starts on starter fluid, but won’t run on its own gas. That seems like a surmountable problem to a savvy mechanic. Will its price prove equally so?
Read MoreWith its water-cooled, front-mounted engine, today’s Nice Price or No Dice 944 S2 is a model that some traditional Porschephiles might give the side-eye. Let’s see if it’s priced to be liked by us less judgmental types.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Jag has dubbed it a ‘luxury beast’ owing to its high level of spec and the supercharged V8 growling beneath the bonnet. Let’s see if it’s priced to make it someone else’s beastly burden.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice 550i comes with three pedals and is advertised on a classified site of the same name because that’s all the place offers. Let’s see if such exclusivity comes at a cost.
Read MoreIf you’ve gone back into lockdown due to Omicron, Fluorna or just having given up, restoring something like today’s Nice Price or No Dice MG might the days not seem so long and boring. Let’s see if it’s worth the effort.
Read MoreAccording to its insistent ALL CAPS ad, today’s Nice Price or No Dice G35 “runs like a dream or a bat out of hell if you want.” Let’s see if its price tag is equally as flexible.
Read MoreToday, on a very special episode of Nice Price or No Dice, we look at not one but two Buick Reatta coupes that someone could buy as a bundle. Let’s see if their as-a-package price could also save a bundle.
Read MoreWith its smaller V8 engine, today’s Nice Price or No Dice 400 E could be considered the Hammer’s little brother. Let’s see if this TLC-needing little bro has a price that might make it worth adding to the family.
Read MoreSteve Martin used to do a routine parodying drug culture in which he said he was going to “get small.” You can’t get much smaller than today’s Nice Price or No Dice Scion iQ, so maybe Martin would appreciate it. Let’s see if it takes a celebrity’s income to afford it.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice 300ZX may not have the panache of an early S30, and it’s a bit rough around the edges, but time is running out to get on the Z Car bandwagon. We’ll have to see if it’s priced commensurate to its station.
Read MoreMore power is always better, and with an add-on supercharger, today’s Nice Price or No Dice BMW Z4 roadster offers some of that more-better power. Let’s see if its price could stand to be better as well.
Read MoreWhile the category of Sport Utilities has been around seemingly forever, the idea of one being actually a sport model, as is the case with today’s Nice Price or No Dice Cherokee, seems a bit of a stretch. Let’s see how much of a stretch its asking price proves to be.
Read MoreWhile Ford’s new Bronco may be a technological tour de force, there’s a lot to like in the simplicity of today’s Nice Price or No Dice old school edition. Let’s see if that attraction includes its price.
Read MoreA non-running car should at the very at least be beautiful and today’s Nice Price or No Dice 308 GTSi certainly comes through on that account. It’s also a non-runner which means it’s offered at a substantial discount over actual useful versions. Let’s see if that discount is enough.
Read MoreThere’s a good chance that when you think about the Morgan Motor Company, your mind doesn’t immediately jump to the time Malvern-made shipped off to France for a have-at-you with the famed 24 Hour. No, rather you’re probably sitting there thinking about spinning donuts in a three-wheeler, or perhaps weren’t-funny-the-first-time jokes about woodpeckers building nests in the frames. In any case, there’s a new Plus Four limited edition paying homage to the 1962 class victory that MMC is quite so de
Read MoreHow often do you think about the Chevrolet Cavalier? If you’re like me, you probably can’t remember the last time you saw one without lots of miles and maybe a ton of rust. That’s what makes this minty 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier Z24 Convertible for sale for $9,950 such a wonderful oddity.
Read MoreEvery day, tens of thousands of flights take to the sky, ferrying a couple of million people to their destinations safely. If you’re one of the lucky passengers to get a window seat, chances are you’ve probably spent some time staring out the window, looking at the plane and the world before. If you’ve looked at the wings long enough, you’ve probably seen a bunch of metal rods jutting out into the sky. What are those for? They’re actually an important safety element.
Read MoreCalifornia Fire spent time doing serious work with its extremely fun-looking helitorch this week and I gotta say, I both want one for the Jalopnik staff and am very aware that none of us should ever be allowed to have one.
Read MoreBoeing announced Wednesday it will pay customers $3.5 billion over delayed orders of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft and will lose another $2 billion in increased production spending in what spells the third straight year of massive losses for the aeronautics company. All told, Boeing ended 2021 $4.3 billion in the red, which is still an improvement over the $11.9 billion lost in 2020
Read MoreIt seems like every day I see something in my aviation news feed about some sort of new “flying car” being built by some random startup that says it’s revolutionizing transportation. These vehicles are neat, but call them what they really are: electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Because they’re not flying cars.
Read MoreAn Irish man on his way to a new job in the U.S. was arrested after causing such a ruckus on his international flight earlier this month that he might spend the next 20 years in federal prison.
Read MoreThe problem with air travel these days is that there’s just no class anymore. Flying used to be an event, one befitting of your Sunday Best and your finishing school manners. Now, one New Zealand winery is bringing a little finery back to the skies by becoming the world’s first winery airline. And I assure you that I will do what must be done: I will take one for the team and get shitty in the skies with an aerial wine tour.
Read MoreYouTuber and former Olympian Trevor Jacob ignited discussions and countless breakdowns in aviation media after jumping out of a perfectly flyable plane. The video of the incident has many calling it staged. Now, the Federal Aviation Administration has launched its own investigation.
Read MoreLast year was the worst year on the FAA’s record for unruly passenger incidents. For a while, it seemed like every day someone recorded someone else doing something stupid on a plane. Now, a year after the FAA and the airlines enacted new policies, things are looking much better. The rate of unruly passengers has been cut in half.
Read MoreHours away from a full rollout of the fifth-generation of cellular networks, ten of the largest airline operators in the U.S. submitted a letter to the Feds begging for another delay in the rollout, and promising total chaos in both shipping and passenger travel should 5G be implemented near airports.
Read MoreIn the early 1980s, President Ronald Reagan proposed defending the United States from a potential Soviet nuclear missile strike with space-based weaponry. Critics derided the idea as being Star Wars. Last Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration released a document that proposed special conditions allowing delivery company FedEx to use an anti-missile laser defense system on Airbus A321-200 aircraft. This is Boxcar Wars.
Read MoreThe Environmental Protection Agency has made an announcement that’s been decades in the making. After many years of research, the agency is about to evaluate just how bad leaded aviation fuel is for your health.
Read MoreTens of thousands of flights have been hampered during the pandemic by passenger behavior, bad weather and even server outages. I thought I’d heard it all until an incident in Honduras yesterday. A passenger ran into the cockpit of a plane, broke a thrust lever, then tried to jump out of a window.
Read MoreFlying used to be a fairly ho-hum activity, one that welcomed the delicate barbs of stand-up comedians about the quality versus the amount of food on planes or arm rest etiquette. Sure, things got dicy after 9/11, and we still have to take our shoes off in security while getting a full body scan with the occasional pat down, but flying had generally settled into a routine. The pandemic changed that (along with everything else). Now, flying seems like a horror movie, and the calls are coming from
Read MoreIn August 2021, United Airlines introduced a vaccine mandate for all employees to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Now, CEO Scott Kirby has shared a horrifying fact about the pre-mandate era: At least one United employee, on average, was dying per week.
Read MoreIn Topeka, Kansas sits an historic 1967 BAC One-Eleven airliner. It’s been there for at least 20 years, its engines never starting up and its wings never flying through the clouds again. Now, it’s up for sale and the possibilities of what to do with this grounded plane, are endless. I could see this thing becoming the coolest little home in the middle of nowhere.
Read MoreLufthansa Group, one of Europe’s largest aviation companies, has confirmed that it flew 18,000 empty flights just to keep its take-off and landing rights at major airport, Belgian news site The Bulletin reports.
Read MoreCars have gotten very complicated in the last century, but they’ve also gotten more reliable and generally require less maintenance now than ever before. Today we asked you what one-time motoring headaches you’re glad have become less common over the years. Here were your responses.
Read MoreIt’s easy to bemoan the complexity of modern cars and wistfully recount how good and simple the old days used to be. I’m not saying there aren’t aspects to miss, but I think the rose-tinted glasses do gloss over a lot of general automotive annoyances that we don’t have to put up with anymore. Today, we’re going to be thankful about that. What old car problem are you happy has fallen by the wayside?
Read MoreNot everything can roll of the production line looking like a stone-cold stunner. In fact, many cars are give a mid-cycle refresh to update their styling, options and interior before a whole new generation of car is produced.
Read MoreIt seems that most of the times a new iteration of a car premieres, a lot of people complain about the changes to its design and call for a return of the original. Heck, that same thing can be said for movie sequels, TV show remakes and difficult second albums. But what cars buck this trend and were improved by a facelift?
Read MoreModern cars are chock full of features that stand out in a dealership brochure. Adaptive driver assistance technology, self-parking functionality, even things as wild as windows with buttons instead of cranks. We asked this morning which of these unimaginable luxuries you tried and disliked, and you gave us so many answers. Here are ten of our favorites.
Read MoreWell, you did it. You finally scrounged and saved, signed on the dotted line, and got yourself a new car. You even shelled out a bit extra to get a couple fancy features — the big infotainment screen, the nice speakers, maybe even the massage seats. But as your drive your new car, and keep driving your new car, you start to nitpick. The big screen reflects the sun into your eyes, the nice speakers don’t actually sound all that nice, and the massage seat really just hurts your back. Maybe you wou
Read MoreEveryone needs a hobby, and if you’re reading Jalopnik, there’s a good chance your passion revolves around cars. If that’s the case, you might be lucky enough to have as nice collection of old cars. But are there any vintage vehicles you’d never add to that collection?
Read MoreThere’s no denying that something like a vintage Porsche 911 would be a worthy addition to any car collection. They look great, have that glorious flat-six engine and come with solid German build quality. But, at the other end of the spectrum, what classic cars aren’t worth collecting?
Read MoreThis morning, we asked you which muscle cars you thought were the worst ever built. Despite all the debate around what actually counts as a muscle car, you gave some great answers — including an apparent blanket hatred for the years between 1969 and 1990. We compiled ten of the best answers for you, so the debate can be settled: These are muscle cars, and boy are they bad at it.
Read MoreLast year, the Dodge Challenger rose to the top of the muscle-car sales heap like fat congealing atop a homemade stock. After years of dominance from the Mustang and Camaro, the news came as a shock — one that sparked debate within the Jalopnik Slack channel. Did the Challenger really deserve the honor? Was it really the best muscle car built in 2021, or did chip shortages and supply chain issues allow the worst of the bunch to flourish?
Read MoreThis morning, we asked you what you thought the worst automotive law or regulation was, and y’all certainly didn’t disappoint. Sure, some of the responses were familiar — but certainly deserving — punching bags, but there were more than a few in the mix I’ve rarely or never considered. If Jalopnik was its own sovereign nation, it would probably last four years before being forcibly annexed by Luxembourg or something. But damn it, those four years would be a haven for drivers, thanks to you. Here
Read MoreEvery other day there’s a story on this website about how some law is responsible for making your life and the cars in it worse. Today we’re going to take aim at all those dumb rules, and call them out in the time-honored open forum that is Question Of The Day. What’s the worst automotive law or regulation, in your opinion?
Read MoreScience, technology and pop culture have all promised a lot when it comes to the future of transportation. But on the surface, it doesn’t appear as if much has changed in the past 50 years of driving. Unless you count the addition of screens.
Read MoreIt’s the year of our lord 2022. So if we are to follow the gospel of Marty McFly, we should have robotic gas stations, hoverboards and flying cars by now. But, if you glance out your window, you’ll be disappointed to see that none of these are a reality.
Read MoreThis morning, we asked for your perfect Autobahn-cruising machines. Some of your answers were classic high-powered grand tourers, but some of you went a little stealthier with your approach — maybe too stealthy in some cases. These are some of the best (or just the wildest) answers we saw.
Read MoreMost car enthusiasts, if given the opportunity, would love to drive the German Autobahn. With 8,000 miles of highway, 70% of which have no legal speed limit — it’s a playground for high-powered tourers, sports cars, and supercars alike. But if you were given the opportunity to fly to Germany just to take a car of your choice on a lap of those famed roads, what would you bring?
Read MoreThe automotive world, like fashion, is awash with trends and fads that come and go with the seasons. And while some might deserve to stick around, others need to get right in the sea.
Read MoreThe automotive world is a fickle space. One day you might be the biggest fish in the tank, and the next you’re being served up as someone’s dinner. It’s safe to say that trends come and go in the car world almost as quickly as fresh fish at a sushi restaurant.
Read MoreModified cars, as it turns out, are extremely cool. From full-scale time attack or safari builds down to the simplest everyday mods, something about making a car unique just makes it more interesting. We asked for your favorite car mods this morning, and here are some of the best answers.
Read MoreMost car people love to tinker. We enjoy taking a car that was meticulously designed for years by a team of engineers, getting it into our driveways, and thinking “I can make this better.” The best part? Sometimes we’re right.
Read MoreA drive-thru meal can be everything from an on-the-go treat to sustenance on a long journey home. But, where is the best place to stop for your mid-trip fill?
Read MoreWe’ve all been there: Driving down the highway for hours, you’re faced with a rumbling belly that’s punishing you for forgetting to pack snacks. Then, a heartwarming sight, a drive-thru appears before you.
Read MoreSometimes, you’re confronted with incontrovertible facts of life. Truths you weren’t aware of, but that appear fully formed and inarguable. The replies to this morning’s Question Of The Day, when we asked for your favorite purple cars, made one of those facts known: Purple is, unquestionably, the best car color. Sure, yellow and orange are fun, but purple cars seem to come factory-equipped with two turntables and a microphone — because they’re where it’s at.
Read MoreLast week, Pantone announced its Color of the Year for 2022: 17-3938, Very Peri. It’s a deep, cool purple that, according to Pantone, exudes “carefree confidence and a daring curiosity that animates our creative spirit.” I’m not sure a single color can pull all that off, but I can say this about Very Peri: It would look great on a car.
Read MoreOn any long journey, it can be nice to have a friend alongside you. But not all friends make for good traveling companions, and some bring nasty habits onboard with them.
Read MoreIs there anything better than loading up your gear, friends and all the snacks you could dream of, and hitting the highway? Hours on the road with great people and great music can be a lot of fun. And sometimes, the journey out to the sea, mountains or any new city can be even more rewarding than the destination itself.
Read MoreCar enthusiasts may not be cowardly, but we sure do seem to be a superstitious lot. From colors to brand to body damage, there are a wealth of things that feel just a bit more important than you’d expect — or that have some deeper connotations under the surface. We asked for your biggest automotive superstitions this morning, and you gave us some great suggestions. Here are our top ten.
Read MoreThe automotive world is full of superstitions, with lists of spooky racing beliefs abound online, covering everything from how you get dressed in the morning to the color of your car. But those superstitions don’t always stay on the track — they can follow you home like poltergeists, influencing your every thought behind the wheel.
Read MoreTaking a road trip or commuting to work is an exercise that utilizes every one of our five senses. You see the world around you, feel the car you sit in, taste the drive-thru snacks you picked up, and smell the air as it wafts through your windows.
Read MoreDriving is something of a multi-sensory experience for anyone that gets behind the wheel.
Read MoreThere’s a lot of choices out there (at least 50 of them!) when it comes to picking the best license plate design. Some states definitely offer better options than others.
Read MoreThe best thing about car spotting in the States, for me, is that as well as all the weird new names that regular cars seem to have over here, there are so many license plate designs to spot.
Read MoreThis morning, we asked what your favorite automotive video games are. They could be anything from driving games, to mechanic games, to games where you cruise around in a big rig and enjoy the sites. You all delivered in spectacular fashion, digging up games across genres, media, even countries. Here are our ten favorites.
Read MoreI’ve always enjoyed video games as a cold-weather activity. As a then-girlfriend of mine once said, while watching me lap a Scion FR-S around Lime Rock for half an hour, “Y’know, most people who play these games compete in races to win money and progress. You just like to drive the cars.” Right now, between the winter weather and the spiking COVID case rates, it seems like the perfect time to settle in on the couch with a controller and some nice digital cars. As the winter drags on, I wanted to
Read MoreThe world’s auto makers are always coming out with refreshed model lineups to appeal to new or repeat customers. But sometimes, cars can miss out on a refresh and are left forgotten on the salesroom floor.
Read MoreNew Year, New Me, that’s the saying, right? It’s a chance for everyone to claim that they’re going to eat better, exercise more and be nicer to people on the internet for the first few weeks of the new year.
Read MoreIt’s a new year, and with that change in the date comes a renewed dedication to self-improvement. At least, for some people — I’m sure some of my resolutions are a lot of fun, but not exactly good for me. You all, however, had some great ideas for ways to make 2022 better than 2021. Here are some of the best.
Read MoreMerry New Year, everyone! It’s the beginning of another year, and you know what that means: Constantly writing 2021 on anything that requires a date, then trying to add a loop at the top of the one and extending the bottom to turn it into a super convincing two. I will personally do this until mid-February, but your mileage may vary.
Read MoreThis past year has been an interesting one from the automotive perspective, packed with everything from fun car reveals to five million different coronavirus variants killing off fun events all year long. But I want to know what you think 2022 is going to bring.
Read MoreFormula 1's current strategy on dealing with Covid is heavily reliant on lots and lots of testing and contact tracing, though without a strict vaccine mandate for those in the paddock. It sounds like that’s going to change for 2022.
Read MoreThe 2022 Formula One season is set to get underway soon, with teams getting ready to release new liveries and hit the track for testing in February. There’s just one problem, two Motorsport Italy reports suggest. Red Bull Racing and Mercedes aren’t quite ready to join the party after failing their crash tests.
Read MoreAnyone who has followed Formula One knows that the series has a bit of a complex relationship with the United States and any of the Grands Prix hosted here — but there’s a good chance you didn’t know how closely intertwined the US Grand Prix was with organized crime. Thankfully, Randall Cannon is here to give you the full history in Caesars Palace Grand Prix: Las Vegas, Organized Crime and the Pinnacle of Motorsport.
Read MoreIsabella Galmiche made history during 2022's Monte Carlo Rally. As co-driver for the victorious Sebastien Loeb, she became the first woman to take a victory at the prestigious rally event since Fabrizia Pons co-drove for Pierro Liatti in 1997. That’s not bad, considering rallying is Galmiche’s side gig. By day, she’s a math teacher.
Read MoreThe 60th 24 Hours of Daytona had a finale that will be remembered for the next 60 years. Over 23 hours, seven DPi entries were culled down to four cars in contention for the overall victory with a half-hour to go. The safety car was deployed during the final hour to recover the #19 TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo outside turn 1. Each of the four contenders made pitstops, removing any strategy from the battle for the win.
Read MoreIMSA has set an exceptionally high bar of what fans should expect from the new era of sports car prototype racing. The sanctioning body has announced that the top class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be called Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) for the 2023 season. GTP will be used to refer to both LMDh prototypes and Le Mans Hypercar prototypes, similarly to how the FIA and ACO refer to both sets of prototypes as Hypercar in the World Endurance Championship.
Read MoreThe ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season commenced this weekend with a doubleheader in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. This was also the first time Formula E used its new “Duel” qualifying format in competition. The new qualifying system is fairer than the prior “four group” system and creates exciting moments. Though, there’s a lot of downtime between the duels during that stage of the session.
Read MoreLater today, the 60th running of the 24 Hours of Daytona will begin on the legendary superspeedway’s road course. While this is an occasion worth celebrating, this year’s race isn’t actually the 60th 24-hour race held at Daytona International Speedway. The first two editions of the endurance classic were 3 hours in length, then known as the Daytona Continental.
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 MoreFormula 1 has stayed pretty quiet since its race director Michael Masi bent the rules surrounding safety car use in the closing stages of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. But now, as the start of the new season looms, it looks like the sport may soon make changes following the fallout. And that means the job of race director Michael Masi may be on the line.
Read MoreWhen Ford ended its GT sports car racing program in 2019, the announcement disappointed a great many fans, partly because it always sucks to see a popular manufacturer back away from racing, and partly because the Ford GT was especially cool. It was like an old-school prototype that just happened to be mixing it up in the lower class, evoking the Toyota GT-One, Porsche 911 GT1 and Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR.
Read MoreWhen Honda announced it would be leaving Red Bull Racing and Formula One after the conclusion of the 2021 season, all hell broke loose. Red Bull Racing managed to convince F1 to freeze powertrain development while it sought out a new technical partner. Except, now Honda is back in the Red Bull Racing fold.
Read MoreWhen Robert Wickens was paralyzed in an IndyCar crash in 2018 many figured his racing career was over, but this weekend he’ll be climbing back into the cockpit. Joining fellow Canadian Mark Wilkins in a special Hyundai Elantra N TCR racer, Wickens will participate in Friday’s four-hour BMW M Endurance Challenge at Daytona event.
Read MoreLast year, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace became the first Black driver to win a Cup Series race since Wendell Scott took a contested victory in 1963. Wallace hit headlines the season before thanks to his activism. Now, Netflix is celebrating his career with a new docuseries set to be released on Feb. 22, 2022.
Read MoreGlobal sports car racing is going to be amazing starting next year. That’s when a slew of manufacturers — including Porsche, BMW, Acura and Cadillac — are going to have their next-generation LMDh prototypes ready for competition. They’ll join the likes of Toyota, Peugeot and Ferrari, who are developing Le Mans Hypercars — a different ruleset that will be performance balanced with LMDh in the World Endurance Championship and IMSA. But the FIA is getting a little silly with how it presents the car
Read MoreWhen the W Series was first announced, The Powers That Be in the sport assured fans that the all-female open-wheel series would proudly stand on its own without becoming the dedicated opening act for the much bigger Formula One. But the 2022 W Series schedule shows just that: All eight rounds of the series’ championship will be hosted during F1 weekends.
Read MoreI’m jet-setting from a bitter cold and snowy Michigan to the slightly warmer beaches of Florida to take part in the magic that is this year’s 60th Rolex 24 at Daytona. And I’m inviting you to join me, as I struggle to keep myself awake for more than 30 hours straight to watch and take everything in.
Read MoreFormula E is back, baby! And this is the year you should finally get on board the electric racing hype train.
Read MoreThe time has finally come for Daniel Ricciardo to be recognized by the Australian government as a significant Antipodean. During the Governor General’s Australia Day Honours List ceremonies, Danny Ric was awarded the appointment of Member of the Order of Australia (also known as an AM) for his “significant service to motorsport as a competitor and ambassador, and to the community.” I mean, it’s about damn time.
Read MoreFortescue Metals Group, owned by Andrew Forrest [also known as ‘Twiggy’, but not that Twiggy], has purchased Williams Advanced Engineering. WAE was spun off from Williams F1 years ago in an effort to gain the racing team some funding, and has been the brains behind a number of important car advancements in the last decade or so. Not only is WAE responsible for the development of Formula E, but it also worked with Singer on the advanced DLS, and Jaguar on the concept C-X75.
Read MoreRight now, the most effective tool one driver has to get past another in Formula 1 is pit strategy. The inability for F1 cars to run close alongside each other without suffering huge disturbances in aerodynamic activity — coupled with the general flimsiness of the tires — has produced this obsession with undercuts and overcuts. Commentators will spend half a race trying to verbally work out which strategy is stronger while Amazon makes its flashy graphical predictions. When the pass eventually c
Read MoreI don’t know about you, but I‘m very excited for the new season of Formula 1 to kick off in just under two months time. A huge shakeup of the rulebook is promising one of the most unpredictable seasons in years as teams try to come to terms with a vastly different car for their 2022 campaigns.
Read MoreOver the weekend Sébastien Loeb and co-driver Isabelle Galmiche put together a Rallye Monte Carlo victory that previously seemed impossible. The 47-year-old won a record-breaking 80th rally this weekend in a one-off effort for the M-Sport Ford team in the inaugural running of the new hybrid Puma WRC. This was scheduled to be Loeb’s only appearance in the WRC this year, having retired at the end of the 2020 season.
Read MoreAt 19 years old, American Seth Quintero has been demolishing records left and right. Most recently, he took the record for the highest number of stage wins in a single rally with 12 victories at the recent running of Dakar. Make sure you remember Quintero’s name, because this Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team member is here to stay, and he’s one of the greatest racers America has right now.
Read MoreThis weekend, Katherine Legge will be hitting the race track for the Rolex 24, an endurance race held at Daytona International Speedway’s road course. For the second year running, she’ll be racing the Team Hardpoint Porsche, and she’s looking forward to the adventure.
Read MoreIt would be more challenging to write a better story than what took place over the past four days in southeastern France. The 90th Rallye Monte Carlo, the opening round of the 50th FIA World Rally Championship season, featured two of rallying all-time greatest drivers in an epic duel that wasn’t decided until the final stage. When the smoke cleared, a 47-year old Sébastien Loeb took his 80th WRC rally victory. Loeb’s co-driver Isabelle Galmiche won her first WRC rally victory at 50 years old and
Read MoreThis week, Formula One informed race promoters via email that military flyovers will no longer be allowed to take place during Grand Prix weekends. But, there seems to be an exception to still allow flyovers in some form.
Read MoreThe FIA World Rally Championship is in the middle of the opening round of its 2022 season, the 90th Rallye Monte Carlo. While this iconic event has been proclaimed as the start of a new era with the introduction of a new hybrid ruleset into the WRC, so far, the rally has been a duel between two legendary drivers in semi-retirement. Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier, with a combined 17 World Rally Championships between them, have so far bested the category’s full-time competitors this weekend.
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 MoreAustralia hasn’t held a Formula 1 race since 2019. The 2020 event was one of the earliest sporting cancelations of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2021 version was first delayed, then canceled as well, due to the country’s hardline restrictions around international travel and vaccinations. But this year’s running — scheduled for April 10 — is fully expected to go ahead, regardless of all the drama Australia’s recently been in the news for surrounding tennis player Novak Djokovic’s desperate attem
Read MoreThe year is 2011, and you’re looking at your favorite motorcycle racing news website to find something strange: Paris Hilton is sponsoring a 125cc Grand Prix motorcycle team, which was the equivalent of what we call Moto3 today. That’s right. This is your reminder that notorious socialite Paris Hilton etched her place in motorsport history with the SuperMartxé VIP by Paris Hilton team.
Read MoreThe Alpine Formula One team has been in flux for the past two seasons — and 2022 looks no different. The former Renault Team has gone through driver and personnel changes on a regular basis, and things came to a head earlier this week when Alain Prost was summarily dismissed. If you’re struggling to keep up, we’re here to help lay it out in simple terms for you.
Read MoreWe aren’t even to the end of January yet, and we’ve got an early contender for cool car build of the year right here. Mad Mike, the rotary obsessed Mazda/Red Bull racer who builds cool shit down in New Zealand is back with another rotary-powered cool shit car, brought to our attention by our friends at The Drive. Who wouldn’t want a Mazda3 hatchback with 1200 horsepower pumped through the rear wheels? And while we’re at it, who wouldn’t want to race that car at the 100th running of the Pikes Pea
Read MoreCanada is a nation filled with odd but delightful treasures — maple syrup drizzled on snow, butter tarts, and ice racing. And I honestly don’t think anything can top this incredible video of malaise-era ice racing in the 1980s is the epitome of all the best Canada has to offer.
Read MoreMax Verstappen was last year’s Formula 1 champion, you may have heard. He won it in controversial fashion in Abu Dhabi — controversial only to people who are not fans of Max Verstappen. I had thought, naively, that at some point we could all move on but, no, the FIA is still investigating the matter, and it’s not going to be settled for several more weeks.
Read MorePoor Formula 1, it seems the sport can’t go more than a week without some new threat to its global reputation. The latest saga has been outlined by McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who warned that it might actually be F1 teams themselves that are risking the integrity of the series.
Read MoreAll in all 2021 was an encouraging year for the Alpine F1 team. Following a slow start, the Enstone squad’s fortunes began to turn around the midpoint of the campaign when Esteban Ocon notched his first race win at the Hungaroring. A late-season surge, with Fernando Alonso finishing third in Qatar and Ocon following with fourth in Saudi Arabia, helped the crew top AlphaTauri and Aston Martin on the constructor’s table.
Read MoreColombian racer Tatiana Calderón will join the IndyCar grid in 2022 driving a third car for AJ Foyt Racing. She will race 12 of the series’ 17 races slated for this year, sticking only to the road course and street course events. Her teammates include the 2021 Indy Lights champ Kyle Kirkwood (who will also be racing with ROKiT sponsorship) and Dalton Kellett-reprising his role with the team for his third season.
Read MoreIf you had walked into the Shelby American garage back in the late 1950s or early 1960s, here’s how it would go: You’d ask for a job, Carroll Shelby would hand you a broom, and you’d get to work making yourself useful. Or, well, that’s what happened to John Morton, a story he tells in full in Inside Shelby American.
Read MoreOn Oct. 11, 2013, Spanish racing driver Maria de Villota made history when she became the first woman to die as a result of a crash in a Formula One car. Today, nearly a decade after her passing, we want to take the time to remember de Villota for her strengths and for the other wonderful things she brought to the motorsport world.
Read MoreWell, well, well. It only took two weeks and this year’s Dakar Rally for the narrative surrounding the new Audi RS Q e-Tron and balance of performance to be completely upended. Over two weeks ago, three-time Dakar winner and two-time FIA World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz Sr. said that his Audi was penalized by the regulations. Four stage wins later, and now the electric prototype is a looming goliath preparing to obliterate international cross-country rallying.
Read MoreThe Chili Bowl Nationals has a new winner, Tanner Thorson. Only three drivers had won the most prestigious dirt midget race in the United States over the previous seven editions.
Read MoreA new season of the FIA World Rally Championship is quickly approaching. The season-opening Rallye Monte Carlo is less than a week away. With a new set of regulations, WRC teams have been teasing and eventually revealing their new Rally1 cars ahead of the season. Earlier this week, Hyundai Motorsport unveiled its new i20 N Rally1 with fairly sterile press photos. M-Sport decided to exhibit its new Ford Puma Rally1 in its natural habitat, tarmac roads in the Alps.
Read MoreIf you’d just finished the Dakar Rally on two wheels, how would you want to celebrate? For Yamaha teammates Javi Vega and Sara Garcia, completing the most demanding race in the world was the perfect occasion for a marriage proposal — and yes, it was successful.
Read MoreWe all know Kyle Larson is an undisputed talent on the dirt track scene, but the driver is currently crediting his recent win at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals to one thing: Television.
Read MoreAn Italian pharmaceutical firm, SIFI, conducted a study with the help of LCR Honda to learn the impact racing has on the eyes of professional motorcycle riders. The study found that MotoGP riders are not prone to dry, irritated eyes despite exposure to stressful conditions like headwinds and UV rays. More importantly, SIFI discovered that MotoGP riders blink fewer times than the average person, even when they’re just kind of hanging out — aka, not racing.
Read MoreWhen rising motorsport star Robert Wickens suffered a crash in IndyCar’s Pocono event back in 2018, it wasn’t clear that the Canadian racer would compete again due to severe injuries. Today, though, Wickens has announced that he’s going to be competing in the 2022 IMSA TCR season behind the wheel of an all-Canadian Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai.
Read MoreSupply chain shortages have rocked the automotive world this year, and the NASCAR Cup Series has been no exception. As the 2022 season comes into focus, many teams are facing the very real possibility that they may not have enough Next Gen cars to get through the first handful of races.
Read MoreThe NTT IndyCar Series is introducing one hell of a great bonus prize for the upcoming 2022 season: The first driver to win races on an oval, street circuit, and road course will win a $1 million prize, which they’ll split with their team and a charity. That’s a pretty huge deal for IndyCar, which has really started to find its footing in recent years after a tumultuous past.
Read MoreIf you’re an American looking for more great racers to support in international competition, then look no further than the Dakar Rally, where Seth Quintero is absolutely dominating the light prototype class.
Read MoreNow some feel good news to round out the week. MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi has confirmed he’ll be racing for Team WRT Audi in the coming GT World Challenge Europe series. As it happens, the 2022 season kicks off with one of two home races for The Doctor, at Imola, on the weekend of April 1.
Read MoreEver wondered what goes on behind the scenes at a National Hot Rod Association drag racing event? The folks over at 1320 Video on YouTube got some excellent behind-the-scenes access to help viewers understand what goes on in the world of professional, top-level drag racing, and it’s a great video for both longtime fans and the curious newcomer.
Read MoreThe rules for NASCAR’s newest Next Gen cars are designed to make the new cars as symmetrical as possible, but some teams have already found a way around the rules. Previously, teams were allowed to run asymmetrical cars designed to maximize speed on banked left turns. During this week’s test session at Daytona International Speedway, some cars have been running some fairly excessive skew — and right now, it could very well be totally legal.
Read MoreTeam Penske’s Josef Newgarden has become the unofficial face of the IndyCar series since he first joined the sport over a decade ago. Now, a new NBC mini-documentary as part of the “Off the Grid” series shows just why he’s such an integral part of the sport’s newest generation.
Read MoreThis year’s Formula 1 cars will look vastly different thanks to a new set of rules created to bring about closer racing. But Aston Martin reserve and development driver Nico Hulkenberg thinks the new cars might fall short of this mission.
Read MoreMotorsport has long had a problem of romanticizing danger. The deaths and injuries of historic drivers — and even drivers who could have had promising careers — have been celebrated as a feature, not a bug, of high-speed competition, and change is long overdue. And that means it’s time for motorsport fan surveys to stop asking disingenuous questions about crashes.
Read MoreMaserati hasn’t formally entered open-wheel motorsport since it entered a single chassis in Formula One for a single race in 1969. That’s set to change in 2023, which is when Maserati will be entering Formula E, the electric, open-wheel championship. That also makes Maserati the first Italian brand to compete in the series.
Read MoreI know there are few memes more tired in this advanced age of the internet than that Xzibit one, but that’s really the only meme that comes to mind looking at the back of Hyundai’s 2022 World Rally Championship challenger, the i20 N Rally1. “Rally1" to reflect the WRC’s new regulations, taking effect this year, where the cars will employ hybrid power for the very first time.
Read MoreThe Dakar Rally is making a big push to feature alternatively-powered vehicles in the iconic competition. This year has Audi debuting the Dakar’s first electric entrant while the truck class has hydrogen and hybrid vehicles for the first time. 2022 is just the first step of this push. During the rest day at this year’s Dakar, GCK Motorsport unveiled the hydrogen prototype it intends to enter in the car class in 2024.
Read MoreOn Thursday, Danilo Petrucci became the first MotoGP race winner ever to win a stage of the Dakar Rally. Though, his path to a stage victory wasn’t smooth or easy. With only two months to train and prepare, Petrucci was in for a rough experience, even as someone with a decade of MotoGP experience. It didn’t seem certain that Petrucci would even compete in Saudi Arabia.
Read MoreAhead of the Tokyo Auto Salon later this month Toyota has put out a teaser of its upcoming GT3 race car, based on an as-yet-unseen sports car. This silhouette is too low and long to be Supra based, and too muscular to be GR 86. In profile this new race car looks a lot more like a Mercedes-AMG GT than anything currently in the Toyota lineup.
Read MoreDuring last year’s 78th running of the Goodwood Members Meeting, the Gurney Cup was a real treat for motorsport fanatics around the world. Sharing driving duties with Sam Hancock, Tom Kristensen’s Ford GT40 was dropped to the back of the pack during a safety car, and Mr. Le Mans had to fight his way back through the field. Thankfully for everyone, it was a masterclass in fast and fun racing, and we all get to watch it from onboard.
Read MoreAfter financing a buyout of the Racing Point team in 2020, Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll installed the Aston Martin Racing name on the F1 team his son Lance drives for. Since then he has also made waves by financing a new headquarters for the team on the grounds of Silverstone — which should be finished in the middle of next year — shitcanning Sergio Perez in favor of Seb Vettel, and hiring some of the best designers and aerodynamicists in the biz. It’s been a busy 18 months for Stroll, a
Read MoreYou already know that the famed Circuit De Spa Francorchamps in Belgium is getting a facelift. There are many reasons the circuit needed a revamp, not least of which because it needed more grandstands and better paved runoffs so it could host FIM motorcycle racing, but the most pressing reason is the safety concerns surrounding the crashes seen in recent years at Eau Rouge. Among many other changes to the track, that corner — and Raidillon that follows it — is getting a rethink.
Read MoreLast week, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Brandon Brown decided to get behind the slogan that supposedly damaged his racing career by choosing to put it on his car. His team, Brandonbilt Motorsports, announced a partnership with a cryptocurrency called LGBcoin on December 30, though NASCAR later stated it never approved the sponsor. The racing series officially rejected the team’s submission on Wednesday.
Read MoreThe Dakar Rally is underway in Saudi Arabia, but an explosion in the run up to the annual race has thrown an ominous shadow over the off-road spectacle.
Read MoreThe 2022 Dakar Rally has just begun but one driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing has managed to run over two motorcycles and one rider. Toyota’s Giniel De Villiers ran over Chilean motorcyclist César Zumarán on Sunday at the rally’s opening stage. Then on Tuesday, Villiers ran over Moroccan KTM rider, Ali Oukerbouch, causing “major mechanical damage” to his bike, per Dirtfish.
Read MoreThis year’s edition of the Dakar Rally began on the first day of 2022. The first weekend of the competition did not hesitate to highlight the favorite for this two-week event, Nasser Al-Attiya. The three debuting electric Audis showed speed but were all knocked out of contention. BRX’s Sébastien Loeb seems to be the only other driver in the car class able to keep up with the Toyota driver.
Read MoreAs I read Hemi Under Glass: Bob Riggle and His Wheel-Standing Mopars by Mark Fletcher and Richard Truesdell, I went back in time to my childhood, where I had a series of vague memories connected with the wheel-standing Plymouth Barracudas. Some model cars, some photos, some videos — memories of a damn good childhood.
Read MoreThe motorsport year began immediately with one of its least forgiving events, the Dakar Rally. The 2022 edition started today. The grueling cross-country endurance rally is known for relentless attrition. Of the 310 entries to start the 2021 Dakar, 104 entries failed to finish. It’s also not uncommon for competitors to not make the start. However, missed starts are usually down to physically not reaching the rally, not the vehicle going up in flames.
Read MoreEverybody loves the Ford Bronco. Pile your friends in, throw the top down, and head out to parts unknown — what’s not to like? But in a base Bronco, you may bemoan how long it takes you to reach those far-away dunes — or how little air you can get off the tops of them at full tilt. If those sound like complaints you’d have, never fear: Ford’s got a Bronco Raptor to make your SUV-jumping dreams come true.
Read MoreElon Musk’s SpaceX was forced to scrap its planned rocket launch this weekend after a cruise ship sailed too close to the mission.
Read MoreA four-ton Falcon 9 rocket launched in 2015 is heading straight for the Moon at 2.5 kilometers a second and is scheduled to strike Earth’s favorite natural satellite sometime in the next few weeks.
Read MoreIt seems that the U.S. Air Force (USAF) didn’t get the memo about the pandemic and ongoing climate crisis that are threatening the global economy and environment. If it had, maybe it wouldn’t have partnered with rocket maker Space X to see if it can blast military goods around the world on space ships. Or, well, it probably still would.
Read MoreThe James Webb space telescope is almost ready for scientists anxious to peer into the deeps of space and time, but it’s also a thrilling moment for all of humanity. We are now nearing the end of the most significant deployments with all 18 of the JWST’s golden hexagonal mirrors deploying in perfect order and days ahead of schedule on Wednesday.
Read MoreOn Christmas Eve, it wasn’t just Santa who was preparing to take to the skies for a very important flight. No, engineers at NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA) were preparing to launch the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope into the cosmos.
Read MoreHoonigan. Subaru. Vermont SportsCar. Three great tastes that, when mixed properly, go incredibly well together. VSC has been building rally cars for Ken Block and Travis Pastrana since time immemorial (circa 2006), but the company’s move into supplying Hoonigan with gymkhana cars has given it a newfound freedom from any sanctioning body’s rules.
Read MoreThe Lotus Esprit is one of the most iconic sports cars of all time, and for such a car to make a comeback would mark an important piece of the future of fun driving. Based on the “sketch” that Lotus released this week of its future electric supercar, called Type 135 for the time being, I think we’re looking at just that very thing. An all-electric Esprit sure would be cool, and leave it to Lotus to get such a thing just right.
Read MoreWe’ve reported on the findings of Tesla hacker/researcher GreenTheOnly before, and it seems that a new interesting detail has been discovered, found in relation to information about a new front seat vendor for Tesla Model 3 and Model Y cars. The cars appear to track metrics and data about how often the seat is adjusted, and “excessive use” can result in users being locked out of adjusting the seat. This sounds, um, annoying.
Read MoreOver the weekend, David Tracy, myself and my fiancée attempted to embark on a wrenchfest for the record books. Admittedly, we only managed to fix one Jeep because we found ourselves doing other stuff like hooning a Valiant and visiting a junkyard to look at a fire engine. While peering into the trunks of dead American iron, I got to thinking which car had the strangest place to position a spare tire. One van stands out as having odd spare placement for me: the Dodge Caravan.
Read MoreCruise is the robotaxi unit of GM, with plans to develop a fleet of driverless cars that it thinks could revolutionize transportation, or at least be as important as then the Model T. GM’s CEO Mary Barra recently got a ride in one, and she thought the experience was “incredible.”
Read MoreModern automotive technology has made so many previously impossible things commonplace, from in-dash navigation to pickup trucks that get 40 mpg to cars helping you to stay in lanes and so much more. They’ve also made incredible new ways to fail, like getting in your car and finding that all your dash instruments are upside down, something that sounds like it would be gearhead prank your grandfather’s friends would play on him in his old Hudson. Well, thanks to modern tech, Hyundai has pulled th
Read MoreBefore leaded gasoline hit the market, those credited with its invention, General Motors’ Charles Kettering and Thomas Midgley, Jr., stumbled in the dark for several years, revealing in the process a distinct absence of chemical understanding and an even more remarkable lack of concern for the public health consequences of several of the octane-boosting gasoline additives they’d unsuccessfully champion. Even their corporate masters at DuPont and future collaborators at Standard Oil of New Jersey
Read MoreThe BMW i3, the German automaker’s first mass-produced electric car, will die as of this summer, according to a new report. BMW confirmed that it would stop making the plug-in car in July.
Read MoreIt’s happened again! It’s incredibly predictable, sure, but that doesn’t make it any less glorious or wonderful! During Tesla’s earnings call yesterday, where the company very justifiably crowed about their record revenue and Model Y production at their new Texas factory, Tesla CEO and adorable optimist Elon Musk gave the world what they wanted and confidently predicted that Tesla would achieve “full self-driving”—a term usually understood to refer to SAE Autonomy Levels 4 and 5, requiring no mo
Read MoreA lobbying group created in 2016 by Ford, Volvo, Uber, Google, and Lyft called the Self-Driving Coalition For Safer Streets announced a name change and will herewith be known as the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA), so if you want them to come for dinner, you now know what to yell out into the neighborhood. This change is good in that it distances itself from the misleading “Self-Driving” terminology so loved by Tesla, but I think it’s still using words that have the potential to c
Read MoreThe most exciting electric vehicles in the world right now aren’t anything Tesla produces but are instead electric vans, given their potential to transform last-mile delivery. Ford’s E-Transit is among them, and the early returns seem good, as Ford said Wednesday that it has orders for at least 10,000.
Read MoreMini is officially getting into the EV conversion racket, but this time, I’m rooting for the electric conversion of these classics because of a cleverly retrofitted gauge. Look, if classic cars must be converted to EVs, there’s a right and wrong way. It sounds like Mini’s new EV conversion team is doing it right, at the very least trying to preserve the spirit of the tiny cars.
Read MoreJudging by the way automakers are looking into the future, there will come a day when you won’t be able to buy a tank full of gasoline anymore. It’s not happening any time soon, but it probably will happen eventually. So what are we going to do with all of these classic cars still on the road? Wad them up and throw them in the trash, right? No, of course not.
Read MoreKia has finally released pricing for its first electric car, the EV6. Compared to the rest of the compact four-door sedan-ish EV crowd, it seems pretty reasonable: The base EV6 Light starts at $40,900 before a $1,215 destination charge — a hair above the Volkswagen ID.4 ($40,760) but a considerable amount below the Mustang Mach-E ($43,895) and Tesla Model 3 ($46,490). That’s also before deducting the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, which all but Tesla in that group still benefit from.
Read MoreThe Serbian government has suspended Rio Tinto’s construction of a massive lithium plant in the country after environmental activists protested for weeks in Belgrade and throughout other major cities. Thousands of protesters shut down roads in the Serbian capital as they coalesced in opposition of Rio Tinto’s mine, per the BBC. Rio’s proposed Jadar mine had been pending the results from several environmental impact studies ahead of its groundbreaking in 2022.
Read MoreBack in November, Apple — one of the tech industry’s leading adversaries of the right-to-repair movement — finally caved to pressure from regulators and consumers and announced it would make parts and tools for its products available to the general public. Several months earlier, the Federal Trade Commission vowed to take manufacturers across all industries to task for unlawful repair restrictions, while encouraging the public to reach out and inform it of any shady practices. That followed the
Read MoreWhen a semi truck rolls over, drivers behind the wheel have a nearly 50-50 chance of living or dying — but one company has developed a trailer attachment plate that’s designed to keep loads from blowing over, even when facing down the powerful blast of a jet engine.
Read MoreLamborghini kicked off its hybrid future in 2019 with the Sián, a car that produced, combined, over 800 horsepower. That was just the beginning, though, with Lambo now saying that 2022 is it for its internal combustion only Lamborghinis.
Read MoreNestled under the hoods of some Volkswagens — maybe even your own — is an engine that sometimes only identifies itself as a V6. It’s a venerable engine fitted to famous cars, but one we’ve never really talked about on its own. Over 30 years after its creation, the Volkswagen VR6 is still a fantastic piece of engineering.
Read MoreThe current Volvo XC90 is the second generation of the car, which has been with us since the 2015 model year and, as such, getting a bit long in the tooth, even after a facelift last year. However, the next XC90 might not be an XC90 at all, but instead an all-electric and/or hybrid big SUV with an actual name. There is some evidence that that name is ... Embla.
Read MoreThe 2023 Cadillac Lyriq is Cadillac’s first EV SUV and also its attempt to change the conversation (again) about who and what Cadillac is, non-Escalade division. It will start at $60,000. We had heard that it would be coming sometime this year, though now, it seems, there is a bit more specific update.
Read MoreYou may remember back in early January when the east coast went into meltdown as I-95 in Virginia was gridlocked with cars stranded on the highway for as long as 14 hours thanks to a heavy winter storm. It was, understandably, a mess. Since then, thanks to a cynical WaPo oped, anti-EV weirdos have been shouting that this extremely rare occurrence is proof that the world isn’t ready for EVs. This also comes in spite of the fact that there is no evidence that any EVs were left stranded on I-95.
Read MorePerusing the menu of cars Volkswagen sells in Europe can be a little disorienting, given that in the States VW seems intent on eking out every last dollar that it can from ICE cars like the Taos. Not so across the pond thanks to different government regulations. VW sells so many electric cars there that, on first glance, you might miss what could be the best of the lot, the E-Up!
Read MoreWinnebago, yes that Winnebago, is jumping onboard the electric vehicle bandwagon in a big way. This week at the RV Super Show in Tampa, Fla. the company unveiled the e-RV, what it is calling the first all-electric zero emission motorhome concept. You can look at it and instantly tell that it’s Ford Transit-based, which makes sense as Ford recently unveiled an electric Transit.
Read MoreThe Mustang Mach-E GT should be able to put its tires through quite a bit of agony thanks to its upwards of 600 lb-ft of torque. That’s especially true if you deactivate traction control and set about spinning ruts into the earth. It turns out, though, that some Mach-Es sort of lose it after such displays of power, as one owner revealed on a forum earlier this month.
Read MoreBrad Templeton has been working with computers since way way back in the day (dude helped port VisiCalc to the Commodore Pet in 1979, for example) and has been involved with automated vehicle development since 2007, writing extensively about them, and then joining Google’s team (that later became Waymo) in 2010.
Read MoreThe charging situation for EV drivers on the go is currently a bit tenuous. For the most part, if you drive an electric car, you’re doing the lion’s share of your charging at home or at work — or both — probably on a slower Level 2 charger. Shell has aims at changing that, because right now it’s not making any money on you cheap louts who don’t stop in for a coffee and pastry every third morning on your way to the office now that you don’t need to fill up a tank of petroleum distillate to get th
Read MoreFord and ADT, the home security company, are working jointly on something called Canopy, that will eventually let you monitor your car remotely, something I’m told Ring does for homes.
Read MoreYou can still buy a car with a BMW V12, even now, though that fact is easy to forget about, given that a V12's very existence is against the prevailing winds of our time. BMW’s V12s now, however, have an end date.
Read MoreŠkoda wants to convince people about the benefits of switching to EVs by going after the dreaded maintenance and service intervals needed to keep ICE cars running. The Czech carmaker claims that counting miles will be unnecessary for EV servicing schedules, due to their mechanical simplicity. The only thing you’ll have to remember is a two-year time period in between shop visits.
Read MoreThe third-generation Honda HR-V was unveiled last year, but that was the version for everyone outside of North America. Here, Honda plans an HR-V with slightly different styling and a later release date, because we’re special. Honda released teaser images of the 2023 HR-V on Thursday.
Read MoreAlpha wants us to believe that it’s a real automotive company, despite not having released or sold a single vehicle to the public. As of now, the company has a full lineup of nine retro-styled vehicles, covering nearly every vehicle preference from coupes to sedans to pickups. Its latest is this admittedly cool EV wagon.
Read MoreHere’s a situation that I’m sure we’ve all experienced: You’re driving at night and come up on a car that is bafflingly driving with just its daytime running lights on. You pull up and notice the dashboard lit up, and the driver going about their business, unaware that their lights aren’t actually on. Canada thinks it has just the solution for this.
Read MoreEver rolled through a stop sign? Of course you have. I think I did it this morning, in fact. If you’re a driver who hasn’t, then I hope being a liar is working out for you, because I bet you have. As far as illegal things go, rolling through a stop sign is about as minor as you can get, though it is technically illegal and I suppose for a decent reason, since stop signs are generally placed at locations where stopping fully is at the very least a pretty good idea. So, with that in mind, should w
Read MoreWhile Tesla is busy shouting about how awesome its new Model S is with 375 miles of range, and then under-delivering in real world testing, Our Next Energy, a startup in Southeast Michigan is retrofitting its own batteries into and older Model S and doing a road trip more than double that without charging. While this is still a proof-of-concept prototype battery, the goal is to turn this into a big business re-powering old Teslas to do big miles.
Read MoreEven though driving automation tends to get all of the attention and captures the imaginations of people hoping to dramatically reduce traffic deaths, Automatic Emergency Braking systems may be the real unsung heroes of driving safety, with studies from the IIHS finding that rates of rear-end collisions with injuries can be reduced by 59 percent with Forward Collision Warning (FCW) and Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) systems.
Read MoreIf you’re bored and stuck in traffic, chances are you’ve probably looked around at the vehicles around you, looking for something, anything to ease the pain. As you play Miley Cyrus’ Party In The USA while you inch forward, you’ve probably spotted something off to the side on a slow-moving truck. The wheels on its trailer have little strips slowly rotating, drawing your attention in. What are those for?
Read MoreChevy unveiled the 2024 Silverado EV on Wednesday, after a fair amount of anticipation. Chevy says it can tow up to 10,000 pounds and has 400 miles of range (though probably not that much when towing up to 10,000 pounds). Also, it isn’t what you would call cheap.
Read MoreHave you ever woken up in a pool of your own sick on the asphalt of a big city’s bus depot and rolled over until you were face-to-tire with the wheel of a city bus? And, when you looked up at that wheel, body aching, wallet missing, and cold, so cold, did you happen to notice a lot of odd little plastic arrows on the wheel nuts? What are those, exactly? Why are they there? What do they do? And how will I get home? I’m here to answer some of these questions for you.
Read MoreChrysler, which is a confounding brand that is basically a minivan company and also for some reason still makes the 300, said Wednesday that it will have a battery-electric vehicle by 2025. It may or may not look like the Airflow Concept that Chrysler also revealed.
Read MoreBack in September, I wrote a story titled “Sony Doesn’t Know Why They Made A Car Either.” On Tuesday night, the tech giant returned to CES with not only its Vision-S sedan, but an SUV called the Vision-S 02. It also announced the creation of a new company, Sony Mobility, to handle all EV-related activities. In the last four months, Sony either figured out why it made a car or, more likely, knew it all along: It’s building cars because it wants to sell them.
Read MoreThe “normal” BMW iX — if such a word could possibly describe a vehicle with switches and buttons lifted from the Swarovski catalog — is a pretty quick all-electric SUV that costs just north of $80,000. Like all modern BMWs, it either arouses or disgusts you with its looks. But that iX just so happens to be the tame one compared to what BMW’s just virtually unveiled as part of its all-digital CES festivities.
Read MoreEarlier this week, Tesla released its earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2021. The report showed record revenue, but it came with the news of delays to the Cybertruck, Roadster, and an unnamed budget-minded model. Elon Musk’s reason for the delay was that the company had “enough on [its] plate right now,” but Tesla’s investor presentation tells a different story: With an average cost per car of $36,000, the company simply can’t afford to build a car that cheap.
Read MoreTesla has been promising an affordable mass-market EV for years. First it was a vague $30,000 concept, then the mythical $35,000 Model 3, and most recently the $25,000 model without a steering wheel or pedals. With the exception of the entry level Model 3's incredibly brief run, Tesla doesn’t exactly seem eager to follow through on any of these budget-minded promises. Why not?
Read MoreLast summer, Tesla began rolling out a new infotainment computer called the MCU3 (no relation) in its high-end Model S and Model X vehicles. Not only did the new computer include a faster processor, enabling smoother navigation through the car’s menus, it also contains a dedicated graphics processing unit — enabling the sort of detailed rendering necessary to guide Geralt of Rivia through the Continent. Months later, Tesla gave the Model 3 and Model Y the same upgrade, but the cheaper cars show
Read MoreTesla’s “Full Self-Driving” Beta exists in an odd middle ground of semi-autonomy. On the one hand, its capabilities put it firmly in the category of a Level 2 system: It cannot operate without a human driver, ready to take over at any time, and is easily confused by changing conditions outside the car. The Tesla faithful, however, seem to believe the car is capable of so much more — and will put themselves and others at risk to prove it. The misleading name definitely doesn’t help.
Read MoreI am always intrigued when a single successful model pretty much props up an entire automaker. What’s surprising is our newest one — the 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander — is a thought experiment of “what if we made the cheapest and ugliest car possible... but with three rows of seating?” All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 31, 2022.
Read MoreStellantis has joined many other big companies in dropping its vaccine requirement, Uber’s congratulating itself in Canada, and the Chinese auto industry is looking to Latin America. All that and more in this Friday edition of The Morning Shift for January 28, 2022.
Read MoreTesla has reached the top, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance is back, and Mary Barra. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 27, 2022.
Read MoreThese past years in the auto industry have been strange. Plants have shut down over Covid, supplies dwindling to a trickle, yet profits are up. How do they do it? Maruti Suzuki in India makes the case clear. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 26, 2022.
Read MoreTesla will probably have record profits, Toyota wants to make 11 million cars, and Hyundai. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 25, 2022.
Read MoreThere’s a funny irony that a factory basically given up on by Toyota and GM is now out-performing them. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 24, 2022.
Read MoreIntel has big plans for Ohio, lawmakers want to know what Tesla’s plans are in one of China’s most embattled regions and Renault is ditching the old plan. All that and more in this Friday edition of The Morning Shift for January 21, 2022.
Read MoreTesla’s worldwide expansion has some hiccups, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety isn’t impressed with driver assistance systems, and Tesla. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 20, 2022.
Read MoreFord says it thinks it will make billions on its Rivian investment, GM dealers are getting a bunch of slow chargers, and “responsibly sourced gas.” All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 19, 2022.
Read MoreStellantis’s stock is a year old, Elon Musk is going to Germany, and Toyota. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 18, 2022.
Read MoreTesla is taking dogecoin for some products, the Cybertruck is delayed again, and Ford. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 14, 2022.
Read MoreUsed car sales broke records in 2021, we should hear more on the whereabouts of the Cybertruck soon and Lamborghini’s doing a-OK. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Thursday, January 13, 2022.
Read MoreTesla is chipping away at the old guard as General Motors tries to learn some lessons from the new one. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, January 12, 2022.
Read MoreVolkswagen’s van people are getting a big check from their friends at Porsche, Tesla is investing in U.S. nickel mining, and the once mighty have fallen in South Korea. All that and more in this Tuesday edition of The Morning Shift for January 11, 2022.
Read MoreGeneral Motors is now behind California, Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” beta is now $4,000 more expensive than it was a little more than a year ago and Lotus has reason to be optimistic about the future. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Monday, January 10, 2022.
Read MoreElectrified Toyotas are well on their way to becoming more expensive, General Motors is very proud of the number of non-binding reservations it received for its first electric pickup, and Aston Martin is in some trouble. All the car news that’s fit to print in this Friday edition of The Morning Shift for January 7, 2022.
Read MoreBMW and Mercedes are battling, and so are Ram, Chevy, and Ford. VinFast, meanwhile, is in a category of its own. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 6, 2022.
Read MoreI guess you could say that Ford’s total abandonment of cars is working, if it weren’t for the almost complete model-by-model sales decline for pretty much the entire range of Ford trucks and SUVs. The Mach-E and the Bronco did well, and that was about it. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 5, 2022.
Read MoreToyota had a good 2021, Tesla did, too, and the Ford F-150 Lightning. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 4, 2022.
Read MoreFifteen years: That’s how long the second-generation Toyota Sequoia had been on the market. Aside from a small refresh in 2017, its been largely untouched. Until now. Toyota has redesigned the Sequoia for 2023 to bring it more in line with the 21st century.
Read MoreToyota’s recent midlife crisis kick looks to be going swimmingly. After focusing on reliable, practical cars for so long, the company has been trying to inject life back into its lineup with cars like the Corolla Hatch, GR86, Supra, and never-to-be-seen-on-American-shores GR Yaris — and it’s working. Toyota now makes some of the most interesting sports cars on the market, but the company doesn’t seem interested in stopping there. For its next trick, it wants to slap license plates on GT3 racers.
Read MoreSeventeen Union Pacific train cars derailed last week along the same tracks experiencing mass looting in Los Angeles. Union Pacific recently blamed the staggering 160 percent increase in thefts since September 2020 on the Los Angeles district attorney, but the fault may lie, at least in part, with plain old short-sighted greed.
Read MoreTrains in downtown Los Angeles are traveling on rail lines covered with torn open packages and empty boxes after people raided cargo cars for the booty therein. For everyone playing Societal Collapse at home, we’re now at the wholesale train heist portion of our regression:
Read MoreThe same snowstorm that halted highway traffic across Virginia earlier this week also caused lengthy delays on Amtrak. Several Amtrak trains were stopped in Virginia due to track conditions. Operational problems were compounded by poor customer service and communication aboard trains and with call centers. The situation was dire enough to garner criticism from Virginia’s delegation to the U.S. Senate.
Read MoreIt’s fair to say that passenger rail infrastructure in the United States is lacking. Projects outside the northeastern U.S. to expand commuter and inter-city rail networks are few and far between. One of those fledging rail services has had another fatal incident in South Florida.
Read MoreOver the past year, the world became fully aware of the perils present in global logistics. Shipping has been pushed to its limits due to emergent constraints from the Ever Given blocking off the Suez Canal for six days to the bottlenecks at major ports in the U.S. The most appealing alternative to the chaos at sea is to shift as much freight as possible from ocean shipping lanes to rail freight lines. Three countries have just made a significant move in this direction.
Read MoreLast year, it might have felt like airline passengers were rowdier than usual by the sheer volume of notable incidents recorded on camera phones and posted to social media. Now, there are statistics from the Federal Aviation Administration to prove that 2021 was not only worse than usual. 2021 was the worst year for passenger incidents since statistical recording began by a wide margin.
Read MoreBeing a lover of transit buses is much like having a curse. Unlike my tiny cars, it’s not easy finding a place just to store the things. Yet, it can be hard to resist the call of retired public transportation. This GM S6H-4503A transit bus for sale is an example of one of GM’s greatest buses and it can be had for just $4,950.
Read MoreComplaints about Penn Station are nothing new. Anyone who has walked through the much-maligned New York City institution could tell you about the cramped confines, the dimly-lit corridors and all of the signs of disrepair. Some even yearn for the days that Penn Station had a beautifully designed headhouse on Seventh Avenue and didn’t sit underground beneath Madison Square Garden. Though, a candidate for Governor of New York decided to cross a line from protesting about terrible facilities to dis
Read MoreA fringe group of Canadian truckers have been traveling across the country to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates for drivers, and it seems the stunt has attracted some extremists who are claiming to want all health mandates dropped, along with the federal government. You know, just a few modest demands.
Read MoreThe federal government detailed a pilot program last week that will allow around 3,000 18-t0 20-year-olds to drive big rigs across state lines. The program was a requirement in the massive infrastructure bill passed Nov. 15, 2021, and will allow teens without any visual impairments or previous tickets to pilot the massive 80,000-pound trucks all on their own after a probationary period.
Read MoreWe’ve all seen oversize loads on the highway. They’re usually pre-manufactured buildings or wind turbine parts, but I would guess that you have never seen a superload. And maybe not one that takes up two lanes, slowly meandering to its destination. Such a load is currently making its way through Pennsylvania.
Read MoreWe should all be used to hearing about delays with angular, electric pickup trucks. But today, EV maker Bollinger announced that it’s postponing its two electric trucks “indefinitely,” which came as a bit of a surprise. Especially because Bollinger said the reason for doing so was to pivot its focus towards making commercial vehicles.
Read MoreYou don’t need me to tell you that the prices of both new and used cars have skyrocketed in recent months — we’ve covered that plenty here on Jalopnik. Instead, I’m here to tell you what vehicles people are actually buying when they do buck up and spend the money, and the answer is probably a Ford F-150.
Read MoreA museum in North Carolina has received what is one of the coolest motorcycle builds I’ve seen in a while. The KennyBilt is a 9-wheeled camper that looks like a mini big rig and has the heart and blessing of Harley-Davidson.
Read MoreToyota’s Hilux has achieved near legendary status all over the world as one of the most ready-for-anything pick-em-up trucks out there. It’s been through a number of generations, and we haven’t gotten a damn one of them here in the U.S. market, which is a damn shame because it would sell like hot cakes. You know, if it weren’t for that frickin’ chicken tax. And now there’s another reason to be bummed that we can’t buy a new Hilux. Two letters; GR.
Read MoreIt looks like Porsche won’t be releasing the rumored 911 Safari after all. To be clear, there very likely is going to be an off-road 911 soon, which can trace its lineage to the machines that competed in the East Africa Safari Rally during the 1970s. But this new 911 is reportedly going to be called the Porsche 911 “Dakar” instead of the 911 “Safari,” according to Motor Trend.
Read MoreNext week I’ll be descending into California’s Johnson Valley to witness the high-octane thrills of the King of the Hammers. While there, I’ll be wheeling in a side-by-side and sleeping right where the action is in a little off-road camper that nicely fits into a garage. That camper is the Taxa Mantis Overland.
Read MoreYou may already know that Ford and the Pope Francis Center just auctioned off a Pope-themed 2021 Bronco and that the proceeds of said auction will go to fight homelessness in Detroit. What you may not know is that in Mexico, where the Pope is essentially a rockstar, we call the supreme pontiff el Papa. And that makes this Ford Bronco First Edition the Papa Bronco, as far as I’m concerned.
Read MoreThe 2023 Toyota Sequoia getting its own TRD Pro trim was more or less a matter of course in the Year of the Overlanders. While the Sequoia TRD Pro debuted on the outgoing generation of the full-size SUV, it took Toyota a while to get there. You could argue the previous Sequoia TRD Pro was a desperate attempt to keep Toyota’s old redwood relevant. But this time, the Sequoia TRD Pro is coming out the gate first thing because the U.S. can’t get enough off-roaders. Or for that matter, the redesigned
Read MoreThe Ford Bronco Raptor is finally here because Ford figures that combining the horsey and dinosaur nameplates is tantamount to printing money; Ford’s probably right. As you’d expect, the Bronco Raptor is loud, brash and stupidly wide. So wide you’ll want a spotter to help you reverse, in case your dune runs dust over the rear camera lens. But the Bronco Raptor is not as much of a showoff as its fenders would suggest, and I’m grateful that Ford did not stick two or more big, dumb tailpipes on thi
Read MoreOwning a camper van gives you the opportunity to set your stakes down in places where there are no hotels. But driving these things isn’t usually fun. Soon to roll across the auction block is a camper van that may be an antidote with its high ground clearance, four-wheel-drive and 444-horsepower turbodiesel V8.
Read MoreThis is the Škoda Trekka. It’s passed through here before, but only briefly. I’m normally against copycat car design, but I can’t feel anything but happiness when I look at the Trekka. Especially when the Škoda is saying hello again, having returned to plead its case as the cutest off-roader ever. The Trekka is competing against cars like the My Ami, Ferves Ranger and Jimny.
Read MoreThe 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon has featured an incredible number of neat custom cars, and a bunch of them are unsurprisingly from the Nihon Automobile College. The students and instructors from NATS had been putting together a five-door Jimny for weeks that debuted at the Tokyo Auto Salon, after all. And I knew the custom five-door Jimny would be good, but not this good.
Read MoreI think we’ve all pretty much settled on the idea that Americans buy cars not to meet the demands of their typical day, but for real or imagined edge cases —pulling a trailer, loading drywall, etc. I can’t say for sure it’s true, but looking at the types of cars that sell, I think it more or less makes sense. Obviously, buying a car based on an attribute that you’re going to make use of maybe 5-10 percent of the time is irrational. So why is that a primary driver of car purchase decisions?
Read MoreThe world of crossovers is chock full of vehicles that look like they could go off-road but fall short when the going gets tough. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised when I took a pair of Volkswagen ID.4s for a punishing drive out in the desert in California and found out they could hold their own.
Read MoreClearly, overland and off-road vehicles are getting a lot of attention right now. These machines are riding a wave of popularity that’s looked like it’s about to crest for a couple of years now, only to surge higher. Well, it’s happened again because the growth of the overland and off-road segment has blown past expectations and shows no signs of letting up any time soon.
Read MoreMitsubishi is still trying to make Ralliart a thing. The carmaker is adamant that it can revive the iconic badge with what are basically styling add-ons for current models like the Triton and Pajero. Mitsubishi will unabashedly stick to that plan at the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon, where it’ll debut the Vision Ralliart Concept.
Read MoreDacia is back with its mischievous antics in the UK, this time with a little bit of self-awareness to ring in the new year. Dacia is encouraging Duster owners in London to come in for a free “mud-wash” so these owners can at least pretend to take their 4X4 off-roading. It’s a playful, funny way to coax drivers into going off-road in machines that were made to do so, but rarely ever do.
Read MoreAs I mentioned in my earlier post about the Roofnest Sparrow, there are a couple of drawbacks to mounting a rooftop tent on your car. Chief among them is that the tent is still up there, whether you’re using it or not. This one only weighs about 130 pounds, and it’s more aerodynamically optimized than some other options, but it’s still additional weight in the worst possible place for weight, and it does create some fuel-economy reducing drag. Other tents come with a smaller frontal area, so l
Read MoreEmergency situations can happen at any point and time. A little insurance in the form of an emergency kit can be helpful whether you are on the trail or the road, especially where cold weather is a concern. Jalopnik alum Wes Siler calls this insurance a “Winter Car Kit,” and suggests you put one together for your car. Now that we’re in the middle of the cold season, I encourage you to heed his advice.
Read MoreThere’s a lot of hype around the Ford F-150 Lightning, and Ford is leaning into that hype by almost doubling production — something it announced Tuesday, a day before General Motors is expected to unveil its electric Silverado. Also today, Ford sent the Lightning configurator live, giving potential customers, as well as the generally curious, the ability to price out the electric pickup of their dreams.
Read MoreThere comes a time in about every gearhead’s life when they want or need to see the inside of something. It could be an old classic they just rescued, a car they let sit for too long, or a dying engine. A cheap borescope gives you vision where you can’t get your eyes, but some are better than others. Here’s one that’s awesome.
Read MoreFive. That’s the goal. And though to the layperson that may seem achievable, to me — someone currently in possession of 13 mostly broken cars — it seems impossible. But this weekend, I’m going to make a strong push towards freedom.
Read MoreNew York City isn’t exactly known for empty streets, plentiful garages, or spacious abodes. It’s seen as a hellish place to be a car owner, let alone a car enthusiast — a place where working on your own car is about as feasible as finding a reasonably-priced takeout option for lunch. That is, entirely impossible. Mike Edwards, however, thinks otherwise: His 1973 Dodge Challenger entered the garage of his Williamsburg apartment building as a bare-metal rolling shell and left it as a rumbling musc
Read MoreA lot of automotive jobs become so much harder the moment a part won’t come off the way it’s supposed to. Our David Tracy detailed one of those nightmare scenarios when a man spent three days trying to remove an oil filter. In the process, that wrencher used a tool we should all probably have in our toolboxes.
Read MoreThere are some repair jobs so soul-suckingly awful that I can’t help but procrastinate on them. In my garage is a 1991 Jeep Cherokee that I sold to someone under the condition that I swap the rear leaf springs. Why did I agree to this? Because I am a fool, that’s why.
Read MoreTo say Tony Rotundo’s first oil change on his recently-acquired 1965 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S was a disaster would be an understatement. The San Francisco-based wrestling photographer suffered for three days trying every trick in the book, turning a clean orange cylinder into a beat-up thin plate and his excitement for his new car into total exhaustion.
Read MoreI’m going to be spending much of this winter doing a motorcycle revival project. Don’t worry, you haven’t missed anything; I just haven’t announced it yet. It’s going to be an exciting project because for the first time since becoming a motorcyclist I have a nice, warm area to work on bikes. However, to prepare for this project I want to move some of the cars that are already housed in my tiny warehouse for some more space. This is a problem.
Read MoreFatigue is a dangerous thing in the car world. I’m not talking about falling asleep at the wheel — I’m talking about a material failure mode that one can’t plan for. It’s something that can happen to even the most meticulous car owner, and it happens suddenly, unpredictably, and often catastrophically. It’s what happened to my Valiant, and it contributed to a crash.
Read MoreBuying a new titanium mountain bike will run you thousands of dollars, which is why I was shocked to see this one from the ‘90s, a 1998 Litespeed Unicoi, rotting away abandoned on a quiet Brooklyn side street, getting rained and snowed on for two long years. Now that I have it home, here’s what I’m looking at to fix it up.
Read MoreLifting up a car to work on it can be a time consuming and sometimes dangerous process. Even something simple like an oil change could require jacking your car up then sliding underneath. There’s another way to get your car into the air and it’s pretty slick.
Read More“Dude, you may want to go to a clinic,” my friend told me after I asked for advice on my feet, which hurt so badly I was having trouble walking. I had spent two straight weeks obsessively fixing a rotted-out 1958 Jeep FC-170 while living in a Toyota Land Cruiser, and in all the excitement, I had forgotten to take care of my body. This was a mistake — one that nearly forced me to give up on a vehicle that hadn’t run in many years and that was plagued by major engine problems. But I didn’t give up
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