ExxonMobil posted $56 billion in profits for 2022, exceeding the U.S. oil giant’s own record profit of $42.5 billion in 2008. Exxon has now rebounded from a historic low during the global pandemic, when the oil major lost $22 billion in 2020. To put Exxon’s record-breaking good year into perspective, the company made approximately $6.3 million per hour in 2022, which is a new high water mark for the Western oil industry, according to Reuters.
Read MoreMining industry giant Rio Tinto issued an apology on Monday for having dropped a radioactive capsule in the Australian outback. The mining giant said in a statement that it’s taking the accident very seriously, although the miner was quick to point out it was not, in fact, the company’s fault.
Read MoreHave you ever dropped anything off the back of your truck while you’ve been out on the road? Perhaps a poorly strapped down bike, or a parking receipt that blew out an open window? What about a tiny radioactive capsule that could burn your skin or even cause cancer? That’s exactly what’s slipped off the back of a truck in Australia.
Read MoreThere are some good things about life in America: gas is cheap, potatoes taste better and you’ll struggle to go a day without seeing a Ford Mustang. But then, it also has its drawbacks: cross-country trains are basically unusable, there’s no easy access to a Greggs and everyone seems happy to walk down the street and pay to do their laundry. Weird.
Read MoreIf you’ve ever tried to fight a parking ticket or negotiate a cable bill, you may have heard of a company called DoNotPay. It offers a subscription-based service to automate those boring, time-consuming tasks by using chatbots and AI to talk to customer service representatives or deal with endless forms and paperwork. But recently, it’s been promising more. Earlier this month, the company issued a challenge: It offered $1,000,000 to anyone willing to let its chatbot argue a case before the U.S.
Read MoreThe idea of a nuclear power plant having a meltdown is one that strikes fear into the hearts of most people. It’s a massively dangerous event that can affect people all around the world and can take decades or more to contain or clean up even then leading to areas becoming uninhabitable for millennia.
Read MoreEver since humans started driving cars, there have been competitions involving automobiles. While most of these have involved racing or improving the vehicles themselves, one of the latest crazes out of Russia combines the confined space of a car with Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Read MoreParking garages: they’re huge, utilitarian eyesores that take up valuable city real estate while providing nothing to a neighborhood or downtown areas appeal. CityLab has an interesting story on the history of these lumbering gray beasts — and where cities can go from here.
Read MoreThe heavy use of road salt to de-ice streets and highways in the Upper Midwest of the U.S. has raised the chloride levels of the Upper Mississippi River by more than one-third. According to Undark, a study from the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association found that liberal use of road salt in the notoriously snowy region is responsible for the river basin’s chloride levels going up by 35 percent from 1989 to 2018, which is a rate of salinization of one to four percent per year.
Read MoreIn recent years, infrastructure and racial equity have moved to the forefront of national discourse. The crumbling state of America’s highway infrastructure became far too dangerous to ignore. Also, the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer provoked an evaluation of the government’s impact on race relations in the United States.
Read MoreThe fight over right to repair has been heating up over the last few years. Owners of everything mechanical, mainly things like vehicles and farming equipment, want to be able to freely repair the machines they purchased. But manufactures want to be the only ones to provide those repairs. From the state to the federal level, right to repair laws are being looked at or passed. And as The Wall Street Journal reports, it seems a win has been scored: John Deere agreed to ease up over farmers repairi
Read MoreBMW’s current-generation M3 and M4 are angry, violent machines capable of borderline terrifying turns of speed. It seems unlikely that anyone who has had the chance to do some hard driving in an M3 Competition would ask for a still-more-hardcore version, but that isn’t stopping BMW from giving us one. Enter the 2024 BMW M3 CS, which debuted on Tuesday and promises a lighter, stronger and faster four-door M-car.
Read MorePersonal luxury coupes are quickly going extinct. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, they were at their zenith; almost every premium manufacturer had multiple options in the category. Automakers from around the globe wanted in on this segment, and in Europe, the Germans gave us icons like the original BMW 8 Series and Mercedes-Benz CL.
Read MoreThe European Union is giving a shipping company millions in funding for the development of a car carrier that uses sails to transport cars around the world. Wallenius Wilhelmsen will receive an initial €9 million (or $9.7 million) grant from the Horizon Europe fund to kick off a round of research and development for the Orcelle Wind. According to Automotive Logistics, the ship could set sail as early as 2026 with its first shipment of EVs from Volvo, which is one of the partner companies involve
Read MoreOne of the things that have become increasingly apparent with the rise of electric cars is that when they catch on fire, those fires are incredibly difficult to extinguish. This is true of fully equipped fire crews on dry land, but imagine if one of those fires happened inside a ship at sea.
Read MoreSwedish boatmaker Candela partnered with Polestar to make an electric boat that the company claims will have the longest range in the world. The Candela C-8 will have a range of up to 57 nautical miles, or 65 miles, at a cruising speed of 22 knots, or 25 miles per hour. Candela says the C-8's performance puts it on par with powerboats using internal combustion engines, and it’s all thanks to a combination of hydrofoils, efficient motors and batteries sourced from Polestar.
Read MoreJust a few miles outside of Venice, Italy, is a marsh full of abandoned boats that are harming the fragile ecosystems of the Venetian Lagoon. The idyllic canals and tourism centers of Venice get most of the world’s attention for obvious reasons, but the city’s wetlands have been often overlooked until now, thanks to the work of volunteers hunting for so-called “Ghost Boats” in the Venetian wetlands, as the Guardian reports.
Read More2022 was a bad year for big boats, and it seems that 2023 is going to continue that trend. A new report from Bloomberg says a ship that was going from Ukraine to China lost engine power and disrupted traffic in Egypt’s Suez Canal.
Read MoreHappy National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Probe Day, everybody! On the same day the overworked department announced it’s looking into almost 2 million Ford Explorers for windshield wiper trim ejecting itself at highway speeds, we’ve also learned that 2020 model-year Kia Tellurides are under investigation for a potential issue of their own. This one’s a little less humorous though, as it involves the headlights.
Read MoreMazda has had upscale aspirations for a while now. Redesigns of the CX-5 and Mazda3 show the brand’s know-how — both are great vehicles to drive, with interiors that are surprisingly classy. Those up-market moves continue with the all-new 2024 Mazda CX-90 you see here.
Read MoreFord has reportedly done some pretty significant slashing to the Mustang Mach-E’s price. Following in the footsteps of Tesla, the automaker is cutting prices on its electric crossover by as much as $5,900 per vehicle. That’s not quite the 20 percent cut that Tesla made to some of its vehicles, but it’s still a considerable sum.
Read MoreConvertibles. They’re becoming rarer and rarer, especially the sort of luxury barge drop tops that used to top everyone’s lottery wish list. We used to dream, people. What happened? It seems like Genesis wants an answer to that question too, as the brand has reportedly set about turning last year’s X Convertible concept into a production flagship.
Read MoreWhen Acura announced the revived, fifth-generation Integra, it came with a set of expectations. Longtime Acura fans wanted engagement, fun, and a quality interior with a manual shifter wedged between its front seats. But beyond everything else, fans of the DC2 Integra expected one thing: A performance trim level.
Read MoreThe A80 Toyota Supra has an almost god-like status among the automotive community, especially in tuner circles. But you already know that. Built from 1993 to 1997, the A80 Supra gained an even bigger following with 2001’s The Fast And Furious. As the years have gone on, their prices further skyrocketed. What’s worse is that they’re becoming harder and harder to find stock. Buyers have to contend with someone else’s potentially shitty mods, high miles, and six-figure price tags. But every so ofte
Read MoreHeavy duty truck pricing — truck pricing in general, really — has been on a crazy upward trajectory for years now. You can expect to not spend any less than the mid to upper $40,000 range for even the most basic trim. GMC is reinforcing that pricing for 2024 with its updated Sierra HD, including the first Sierra HD trim to crest six figures.
Read MoreMore and more car shoppers in the U.S. seem to be foregoing leasing their next vehicle in favor of buying or financing them outright, according to a new report from Business Insider.
Read MoreThe recent winter storms that have hit California have dumped trillions of gallons of water on the state. While that’s helped drought conditions, the downside is that all that winter weather and water have caused billions in damages across the state. Included in that number as the Los Angeles Times shows are thousands of flood-damaged cars that are about to hit the used market.
Read MoreWhen Nissan brought the new Z to last year’s Tokyo Auto Salon, it teased the world with a one-off wearing a distinctive mug. This was the Z Customized Proto, with flared arches, orange-and-black paint and, most notably, a grille evoking the rare, homologation-special Fairlady Z432R. Some fans begged Nissan to bring the car to market, as an alternative to the stock Z’s polarizing grin. The automaker kept quiet on the topic for a year, but at last weekend’s 2023 Tokyo Auto Salon, it relayed some g
Read MoreThe world first caught wind of the Mercedes-AMG One way back in 2017, but the production version wasn’t formally introduced until last year. That’s because the engineering team had to harness literal magic to make the thing road legal per Europe’s existing emissions regulations. The solution was an extensive exhaust cleaning system immersed in the complex web of energy that underpins the Formula 1-inspired hypercar.
Read MoreLast year, when Alfa Romeo announced the Tonale crossover, it sent a jolt through the automotive world. Thousands of voices on car websites and social media, all crying out in perfect unison: “Yeah that sure is another crossover, huh.” After years of teases, it was finally here — one of the cars of all time.
Read MoreDespite what you may think of the Genesis brand, it’s an up-and-coming player in the luxury game. Every single car they make hits it out of the park. From the G70 sports sedan all the way up to the GV80 SUV, you can’t not take them seriously. The G90 embodies all of that. Before I tell you guys why I’d like to know what you all want to know about it.
Read MoreOne of the biggest downsides of all the great cars coming out in the last few years is the opportunists trying to make a quick buck. Instead of enjoying these vehicles they’re hopping on Bring a Trailer or Cars & Bids to flip these things. One 2023 Toyota GR Corolla buyer found out the hard way, paying a substantial dealer markup, flipped it on the Cars & Bids auction site, and ended up selling it at a loss, Carscoops reports.
Read MoreYou know how long the R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R, the archetypal, Fast & Furious GT-R, lasted for? Four model years. Meanwhile, the R35 GT-R is set to mark its 15th trip around the sun, and also its third facelift. I love going back to old GT-R reviews, like this one written by our old friend Patrick George from five years ago, and remarking at the perception of the GT-R’s age even then. “Baby Shark” happened in 2018 — it may as well have been two decades ago.
Read MoreA new report shows that electric vehicles built in U.S. factories by far and away lead the domestic EV market, and it doesn’t seem like that trend is going to be coming to a stop anytime soon. According to Automotive News, new vehicle registration data from Experian shows that U.S.-made EVs account for about 75 percent of new electric vehicles in the first 11 months of 2022.
Read MoreFrom new car prices to gas prices, getting on the open road has become increasingly expensive (along with everything else.) The same goes for car insurance rates, which are expected to rise 8.4 percent in 2023.
Read MoreThe current generation Jeep Cherokee has finally reached the end of its life. Jeep has updated the Cherokee lineup for 2023 as production of the midsize SUV winds down.
Read MoreManheim, which is the biggest wholesale car auction house in the U.S., publishes a used car value index every month based on its auctions, which showed Monday that wholesale used car prices went up 0.8 percent in December, compared to November, but went down 14.9 percent compared to December last year. That latter figure, Manheim says, is the “largest annualized decline in the series history,” which goes back to the 1990s. This might lead one to believe that on the street, prices for used are fa
Read More2022 may not have been the best year ever for Tesla. Vehicle demand began to stagnate globally, supply chain issues were abundant and the automaker’s stock tumbled over 60 percent. But not all is lost for the Austin, TX-based company. A new report shows that Tesla has just dethroned BMW as the U.S. luxury sales king — a distinction the German brand held for the past three years. It’s also the first time in nearly 25 years that an American brand led American luxury sales.
Read MoreOn Monday we learned that Mazda is finally ready to show the world the rotary-assisted version of its MX-30 electric crossover. That’ll happen on Friday at the Brussels Motor Show. But the company never explained the fate of the MX-30 on our shores, as the 2022 model unceremoniously sold out after 505 units were moved in California, and the 2023 version hadn’t yet been officially announced for sale here. Yesterday, Mazda quietly put the big question to rest in the form of a press release. The MX
Read MoreGeneral Motors began delivering the first Cadillac Lyriqs last summer. Despite this, just 122 examples of the electric not-an-SUV rolled into driveways throughout 2022. Dealers and customers have been left wondering about the hold up for the “sold-out” EV, and this week GM has come clean: It’s just being really, really careful.
Read MoreHyundai seems to be determined to make hydrogen work. From its straight-out-of-Cyberpunk 2077 N Vision 74 concept to its Xcient fuel cell truck Hyundai has poured tons of money and effort into fuel cell tech. The Nexo fuel cell crossover hit the California market in 2018. But those who bought the Nexo new may regret it after seeing the steep depreciation these things have.
Read MoreIt may have been a rough sales year in 2022 for most automakers, but some were indeed spared from last year’s sales wrath. One of those companies was Bentley, which reported record vehicle sales in 2022.
Read MoreThe endless will they/won’t they saga of Mazda bringing the flawed, beloved rotary back will finally come to an end this week, as the Japanese automaker unveils a new plug-in hybrid version of its confounding MX-30 electric crossover.
Read MoreIn the eye of the law, the Cadillac Lyriq is not an SUV. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t matter; given its two-box shape, ample seating for five plus cargo space, seven inches of ground clearance and 5,600-pound curb weight, we know its an SUV, even if it’s not classified as such. Yet semantics are standing in the way of the most important Cadillac in decades being eligible for the full $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles. And General Motors is asking the U.S. Treasury to do something about it.
Read MoreEvery year automakers inch closer and closer to making subscriptions for features a thing. We get it, there’s lots of money to be made. But while some automakers are still thinking about it, others are jumping in with both feet, even though the data shows people don’t want them. Mercedes already has a subscription to boost the performance of one of its EVs. Now, BMW is here to join the party, as Motor Authority confirms the brand will go ahead with subscription-based features for the U.S. market
Read More2022 was less than good for most automakers when it came to sales. Supply chain snarls, high interest rates and demand issues all played into most car companies having rather down years. But, atop garbage mountain there are still some kings. No matter how bad sales are, there are still 25 cars at the top of the list.
Read MoreIf you’re a car enthusiast like me, you’ll notice cars as you drive around. The number of high-priced cars I’ve seen on a daily basis has puzzled me for a while. This isn’t to say that there aren’t a lot of people who can afford these things, but it does raise some eyebrows. And it looks like my concerns aren’t unfounded, as a report from Edmunds shows the number of people that willingly accepted a car payment of $1,000 or more rose at the end of 2022.
Read MoreThis year looks to be a pretty exciting year for new cars. While there are the usual crossovers and everyday vehicles, there are a good number of fun-to-drive cars and most importantly, EVs. So here’s a list of every new or updated vehicle coming in 2023 for all you car buyers out there.
Read MoreThe Mitsubishi Mirage has lived out its existence toiling at a thankless deed, as the cheapest — or one of the cheapest — new cars available to buy in the U.S. over the past decade. The Japanese automaker has never moved a ton of the things, selling just under 23,000 units in 2021, but the Mirage has helped Mitsubishi squeak by during times when it had no vaguely redeeming product to speak of. Those times are beginning to change, because the new Outlander is good enough. And so, the Mirage’s lon
Read MoreMarshall is relocating from Virginia to Minneapolis and plans on downsizing his Volvo XC60 to a nice sedan or wagon. He likes luxury features and comfort but wants to stay away from German brands. With so many options on the market, he’s feeling overwhelmed. What car should he buy?
Read MoreJoe is an engineer from Michigan, and boy does he have a challenging ask for this week. With a $15,000 budget, he wants something reliable, with four-wheel or all-wheel drive, that’s spacious and, most importantly, has three pedals. Also, he wants it to be newer than 2010, ideally with under 100,000 miles. What car should he buy?
Read MoreThere are some signs that the 2023 car market will be an improvement over last year. While you don’t want to get too excited yet, some automakers are bringing back rebates and special finance offers to help move inventory. However, it’s critical that you run the math before jumping on any “special” loan offers.
Read MoreAndy is in the auto salvage business and his fleet of cars is made up of the values that he comes across in his job. His wife has a 2007 Mazda5 and he wants to get her something nicer with some luxury features. However, he still has a modest budget of about $15,000 what car should he buy?
Read MoreAfter a really rough car market in 2022, there are some signs of improvement for buyers shopping for a new car this year. For some brands, inventory is improving and there are dealers looking to “clear out” older inventory. But just because you might see deals advertised under MSRP, doesn’t mean discounts are really back.
Read MoreTor had an i3 that he was really fond of, but the car was totaled in an accident. He liked the quirkiness of the BMW EV but didn’t care for the difficult service. He would like to replace it with something unique. What car should he buy?
Read MoreIt’s always fun hopping on a car configurator to spec out something like the Nissan Z or GR Corolla to see how you’d order yours. You can even design your dream Rolls Royce or Ferrari knowing full well that it’s a car you’re never going to order, but that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of picking the perfect wheels or paint. Would that joy remain if it was a model car for your kid?
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Justice has requested that Tesla share documents pertaining to the EV maker’s Full Self-Driving and Autopilot driver-assistance systems. Tesla disclosed the letter of request from the DOJ on Tuesday, Reuters reports, as scrutiny of the automaker’s systems and misleading claims is kicked into high gear.
Read MoreThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is imposing a $130 million civil penalty on Volvo Group North America due to delayed recalls. The U.S. agency is levying the multimillion-dollar fine on the Volvo Group — which excludes Volvo Cars, but includes Volvo Trucks, Mack Trucks, Nova Bus and Volvo Bus, among others — for failure “to recall vehicles in a timely fashion,” according to Reuters.
Read MoreBefore a new car hits the market, it’s usually extensively tested in all manner of conditions. Pesky things like cold and altitude can massively affect a car, and manufacturers need to know exactly how things will change before releasing their shiny new vehicle onto unsuspecting consumers. It’s a very buttoned-up, professional process, one that involves absolutely no snow drifts, donuts, or burnouts.
Read MoreEvery decade, a new kind of crime comes along, and our language needs to catch up to our reality — think hacking, or before that, identity theft. In the early ’90s, Detroit journalists needed a whole new term for an old type of crime that was gripping the city: A blend of armed robbery and car theft. And so, “carjacking” was born.
Read MoreAs millions of Americans warm up to an old idea (cops are bad!) and Minneapolis appears ready to disband its police department, let me offer another step on the path toward abolishing America’s police and forming a more just country. Let’s straight-up give up on all traffic stops. End them. As it turns out, they’re only really good at one thing, and that’s racism. I can explain why.
Read MoreLincoln Navigator buyers are now joining Ford Bronco buyers in the line for discounts due to unscheduled deliveries. Lincoln is giving buyers with unfilled 2022 Lincoln Navigator orders a discount of $5,000 if they agree to wait some more and exchange their current orders for a newer 2023 Lincoln Navigator. The discount can be used towards the purchase of the next Navigator model year or a Navigator Black Label, both of which are among the most expensive SUVs that Lincoln sells.
Read MoreThe infamous Jeep “Death Wobble” could have landed the automaker in some monetary trouble. The owners and lessees of 2018-2020 Jeep Wranglers and 2020 Jeep Gladiators may reportedly be getting a warranty extension and possibly cash back if they paid out of pocket for Death Wobble repairs. It’s part of a proposed settlement agreement in a class-action lawsuit against the automaker. The proposed agreement also stipulates that Jeep denies any admission of liability or wrongdoing.
Read MoreA new study shows that more and more car buyers are pre-ordering their vehicles online rather than just buying them off the lot. Despite the change in the way many people buy, they were also increasingly dissatisfied with their overall experience. According to Automotive News, a lot of that dissatisfaction comes from limited inventory and supply chain issues.
Read MoreWaymo, a self-driving tech company, has reportedly laid off a “limited” number of employees this week. Automotive News reports that the company didn’t disclose just how many people were laid off, but the cuts do seem to be coming from multiple departments.
Read MoreStellantis is recalling 76,000 plug-in hybrid Pacifica models that run the risk of stalling on the road due to a potential short circuit shutting off the minivan’s engine. This latest FCA recall applies to 67,000 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid models in the U.S., and another 9,000 of the minivans in markets abroad, according to Automotive News.
Read MoreFor some reason I’ll never get my head around, most people would rather have a big, boxy SUV over a cool, sleek station wagon. It’s for that reason that car makers around the world stopped plowing their sporty ideas into cool wagons to focus on rugged utility vehicles instead. But now, German tuning company Alpina is out to show just how slick the station wagon can really be.
Read MoreOnce again, Carvana is fully back in business in Illinois. The online used car retailer and the state agreed to settle a long-running regulatory dispute, and now Carvana can operate in the Land of Lincoln with a clear conscience.
Read MoreTesla had long been against using heat pumps in its vehicles, but like most things with the Austin, Texas-based automaker, it changed its tune. It first added the pump to its Model Y, and since then, heat pumps have made their way to the rest of the company’s model lineup.
Read MoreHonda finally seems tired of lagging behind in the EV game, and it is now creating a new division to remedy that. The automaker is reportedly overhauling its organizational structure in order to strengthen its electric vehicle future in hopes get some of that sweet electric vehicle market share pie, as well as continue to compete with their U.S. and European rivals, Reuters reports.
Read MoreThe Ram 1500 Revolution concept that was revealed at CES came and went without me paying much attention to it, because everyone’s working on an electric truck these days if they don’t have one already. Also, it’s Ram, not a particularly interesting automaker, and I’m a city dweller, so my next truck will be never. Which is all to say that it is only now coming to my attention that the Ram 1500 Revolution concept includes a third row if you want, which is an unfortunate but unmistakable sign of t
Read MoreDespite the fact EV prices — for the most part — are falling, renting them hasn’t gotten any cheaper than it was before. A new report from USA Today says that not only do electric vehicles cost more to rent than gas vehicles up front, in many cases there are hidden fees that have caught travelers by surprise.
Read MoreBet you can’t guess this year’s most popular car color around the world! I—Damn. That quick huh? OK, yes. It’s white, again. But for those of us tired of how monochromatic our roads have become there’s a glimmer of colorful hope.
Read MoreIf you’re in the market for a limited-edition or bespoke Bentley, you’re spoiled for choice these days. The British outfit and its Mulliner customer customization service have been making some wonderful one-offs and rarities in recent years. And for its next limited-edition project, Bentley has turned to its Bathurst-winning race cars for inspiration. And yes, the automaker is only building two of them.
Read MoreThere’s a reason why Tesla has been able to drastically cut its vehicle prices across the board without breaking a sweat. The automaker reportedly earns more money per vehicle than literally all of its rivals. Now, Reuters reports that Tesla is using that fact as another weapon in the EV price war.
Read MoreLos Angeles’ vibrant car culture isn’t exactly a secret. We have year-round awesome weather and great driving roads, and those two things combine to get people out and driving their weird/rare/valuable classics on a regular basis. Southern California is also the home of the original Cars & Coffee (RIP) and while there have been a whole host of pretenders to that throne, one event has risen up to be its true spiritual successor: Good Vibes Breakfast Club.
Read MoreSo much of the daily grind here at Jalopnik involves looking at and talking about the new cars that are set to hit the market — but everyone on staff has their own personal tastes when it comes to the machines they really want to drive. Today, we asked the staff to share their thoughts on the cars they’re most looking forward to driving this year.
Read MoreThe Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing are some of the best-performing sport sedans ever made. Cadillac has been getting accolades from all sides over how good they are. But one thing was missing: not everyone knew what they were due to rather sedate badging. That’s about to change, as GM Authority reports that Cadillac is giving Blackwing owners a new badge so they can show off the special machine they’re behind the wheel of.
Read MoreWhen Tesla announced it was drastically cutting the prices of its entire EV model lineup, it may have started a pricing war with other legacy automakers. These price cuts put Tesla more in line with vehicles from Ford and General Motors, according to the Detroit Free Press. In fact, while Tesla has been slashing prices, the other two have been raising them for some of their EVs.
Read More“Take only photos, leave only footprints” is a corny saying I like batting around every time I head out into the wilderness. It’s all about leaving nature where nature belongs and heading home without a trace. But if your only method of getting into the countryside means leaving a cloud of toxic gases in your wake, can anyone ever really stick to this cheesy mantra?
Read MoreMore people are taking on 84-month auto loans when it comes time to finance new and used cars. By the end of 2022, consumer credit agency Experian found that 84-month loans were underwriting nearly one-fifth of all new-vehicle purchases and 11 percent of used-vehicle purchases, according to Automotive News.
Read MoreIt’s been a long time coming, but we are finally getting a look at the first of 275 customer-destined Mercedes-AMG Ones. The automaker unleashed its halo Project One concept car on the world at the Frankfurt Motor Show more than five years ago, and since then it has pretty much just been a waiting game for when the hypercar would actually get into customers’ hands.
Read More1992. It was such a strange time for the world. America’s greatest adversary was no more, Jeffrey Dahmer went to jail (and Ryan Murphy made a ton of money 30 years later because of it), and we elected a saxophone as president. It was also a strange time for cars – especially American cars.
Read MoreIf you’re anything like us, then you’ve been watching the crew from MotorWeek put a veritable pantheon of cars through their paces. Whether they’re weaving through cones at Roebling Road or showing us how to get in and adjust the seats and steering wheel, something about MotorWeek’s reviews puts the Jalop staff into a state of tonic immobility, like when you put a shark on its back.
Read MoreIf you live in north of the Mason-Dixon line, you’re probably familiar with road salt; the evil stuff that makes the road safer while eating away at the very structure of your car. You might have heard beet juice is a superior alternative, but why?
Read MoreRenault has come to the defense of the Twingo after singer Shakira unfavorably compared the compact to a Ferrari in her new diss track aimed at her former partner, Gerard Piqué. Shakira and Piqué had been together for more than a decade and have two children, but their relationship ended last year and Piqué was rumored to have been cheating with a much younger woman.
Read MoreThe entire universe may be clamoring for SUVs right now, but Citroën’s CEO Vincent Cobée thinks that trend will soon be a relic of the past. “The world of SUVs is done,” he told Auto Express. That being said, he admitted that there really aren’t any numbers backing up his feeling.
Read MoreVolkswagen has finally laid out the details on its upcoming hot version of its highly anticipated ID Buzz van, dubbed the ID Buzz GTX. The fact the regular van hasn’t made it to our shores yet doesn’t make this news any less exciting.
Read MoreKen Block’s first Gymkhana video is a short, raw, and fascinating piece of action film, a now-historic item that created the multi-million-dollar Gymkhana universe back in 2008. To commemorate Block’s life and achievements, I spoke to Matt Martelli, the producer behind the first Gymkhana and a friend of Block’s for decades, to understand how this influential series came to be. Just over four minutes long, the first Gymkhana video changed car culture. The video is nearly 15 years old, but it’s ju
Read MoreThe Jaguar F-Type 75 is officially coming to the U.S. as the British carmaker bids farewell to internal combustion engines and prepares to become an EV-only brand starting in 2025. The 2024 F-Type 75 and R 75 will constitute the final model year of the F-Type.
Read MoreIn a strange place far from here called Europe, there’s a funny little car company called Renault. You might have heard of it, as it’s made some neat hatchbacks and fun minivans over the years, and even tried its hand at racing. It turned out to be pretty good at racing, winning events in WRC, Formula E and even back-to-back F1 world titles.
Read MoreIf you watch car videos on YouTube, then the odds are very good that you’ve at least come across a video from Marty and Moog from Mighty Car Mods. Not only do they operate one of the largest and longest-running automotive channels on that platform, but they also do it without most of the annoying YouTuber slime factor, which has become so common. Now, 15 years into their journey, they’ve released their most comprehensive behind-the-scenes video yet, and it’s pretty awesome.
Read MoreTraffic is returning to pre-pandemic levels around the world, even exceeding historic highs in a few major cities. Europe and the United Kingdom regularly host the world’s biggest traffic jams in Paris and London, but the U.S. isn’t far behind. Traffic came honking back in 2022, with five of the top 10 most congested cities in the world found in the U.S., according to Bloomberg.
Read MoreChevrolet is giving us another official look at its upcoming 2023 Corvette E-Ray, and while today’s 24-second teaser video posted on Facebook doesn’t give us too much to see, there are a couple of very important and very neat things we can learn from it. Chief among which: we now know when the company will be officially unveiling the hybrid Corvette.
Read MoreOn December 21, the New York State Thruway Authority announced that the McDonald’s at nine rest areas along the Thruway would be shuttered effective New Year’s Day, which was sad news for the McDonald’s freaks among us (me), but, otherwise, the news came and went, because who cares. A couple of weeks later, though, a columnist at The New York Times decided to care, asking the all-important question: “Must We Gentrify the Rest Stop?”
Read MoreYou may not think of New York City as an excessively green place, but life has found a way into every nook and cranny of the Big Apple not taken up by concrete. There’s so much green, in fact, that on certain summer days New York’s plant life reduce CO2 by up to 40 percent—sometimes knocking out an entire day’s worth of traffic emissions.
Read MoreThe bad news just keeps piling on for Tesla. The electric vehicle maker has now cut prices in China for the second time in less than three months because of cooling demand in the world’s largest car market.
Read MoreThe 1974 Camelot Cruiser RV that sold on Bring A Trailer recently was absolutely bananas. The auction photos showed us a wonderland of avocado-colored toilets, burnt-orange tilework and acres upon acres of green shag carpet, but photos just weren’t enough. I wanted more, so I was beyond stoked when I came across this video tour of the one-of-three Camelot Cruiser.
Read MoreThe 981-generation Porsche Cayman has a fantastic chassis with one of the most communicative steering systems in existence. When it first came out, I considered the 981-generation Cayman GT4 the best road car Porsche had produced. Porsche was seemingly afraid of cannibalizing its iconic 911 when it released the 981 GT4, so the car came with a measly 395-horsepower 3.8-liter Carrera S engine stuffed into what many think is a better platform than the 911. What about the driver who craves a ridicul
Read MoreThe year is 2012. You’re a budding car enthusiast in high school, about to turn 16, who grew up on vintage racing and tales of muscle cars and British roadsters. You may not have your license yet, but you’re already dreaming about your first car — a beat-up K5 Blazer, maybe, or a final-generation Firebird. Then your favorite automotive website introduces you to something called “Gymkhana,” and your whole life changes.
Read MoreNo one ever thinks of New York City as a haven for automotive enthusiasts, because it isn’t. But, we make do with what we have. Every once in a while I’ll be walking down the street and see something very odd and very wonderful.
Read MoreIs there anything more festive than driving down the highway with a gingerbread latte stowed in the cupholder, filling your car with comforting, festive smells? I don’t think so. And while unbearable hipsters like me might make a similar brew at home with our locally-roasted beans and manual espresso makers, this isn’t for everyone.
Read MoreIn the category of full-size gas SUVs that are capable of going off-road, this is Toyota’s entry, and new for 2023, as the Sequoia is now in its third-generation. On paper, there is a lot to like about the 2023 Sequoia TRD Pro, but I cannot say, initially, that I was very excited to drive it. I’m a childless city-dweller, for one thing, and despite being tall the benefits of a bigger car aren’t always apparent to me, especially because I don’t have anything to tow. Further, I don’t do overlandin
Read MoreEarlier this year, the writers and editors of this fine network of websites took a few days away from posting. In that time, we found new camaraderie between our sites — from the car folks of Jalopnik to the 1337 64/\/\3|25 of Kotaku, we forged bonds that to this day remain unbroken. We also, through the fires of weekend alcohol influence, forged new ideas.
Read MoreGeneral Motors has been building C8 Corvettes for just about three years now. I know, the passage of time is downright insulting. Either way, with the first mid-engine ’Vette fast approaching the halfway point of its lifecycle, we’re not only going to be seeing further evolutions of the formula, like the hybrid, all-wheel-drive E-Ray and long-rumored Zora. Talk of a successor is bound to get louder, too.
Read MoreIf it seemed too good to be true, it likely was. So is the case in Chevrolet’s discounts on the Bolt EVs and EUVs. The brand had announced last year that it would be lowering the price of its electric vehicles to make them more obtainable without the tax credit. Now that the tides have changed and the Bolt will again qualify for a tax credit, Chevy’s financing discounts to make up the difference are disappearing, Cars Direct reports.
Read MoreModern pickups drive damn near as well as many luxury sedans, which arguably facilitates the troublesome trend of using pickup trucks as family sedans. Today’s trucks are tech-laden, sophisticated things, a far cry from the pickups we had just a few decades ago. How do you make that job even easier? Well, you make a pickup truck that can drive itself. With a trailer. Sort of.
Read MoreTo most people, a sphere is just something that’s good for throwing through hoops, kicking round a field or sitting inside while you barrel down the side of a hill. But for German automaker Audi, a sphere is so much more: it’s an electric autonomous vehicle that can tackle any setting. That’s why it’s been gradually unveiling four Spheres concept cars, culminating with this off-road Activesphere model.
Read MoreA wild scene was caught on camera in South Los Angeles as a man going through a divorce crashed a dump truck into his estranged wife’s home. In the process not only did she do ample damage to her property, he also smashed a number of cars parked on the street. The whole ordeal was recorded by TikTok user ja.m43.
Read MoreTraffic cameras – be they speed cameras or red light cameras – suck if you’re in the habit of speeding or not coming to a full stop when you make a right on red, but they’re also a pretty good deterrent for people who would otherwise be doing those things. Of course, there are drivers who say cameras be damned and obscure their license plates to make their cars unscannable by those devices. Then there are people like Gersh Kuntzman who ride their bikes around and narc on that second group.
Read MoreA man in North Carolina stole a John Deere tractor, inciting a low-speed chase through the town of Boone on Tuesday. Police claim the driver of the stolen tractor is one Ronnie Hicks, whom police are allegedly “very familiar with.” No one was hurt or injured during the chase, despite the John Deere reaching speeds up to 20 miles per hour down US Highway 421 south.
Read MoreSan Francisco’s Police Commission voted 4-2 this week to place limits on what circumstances police can pull over drivers in an effort to cut down on police disproportionately targeting people of color. Called the “pretext stop” policy, the new rule limits police from primarily stopping drivers over nine different low-level offenses, like failing to display registration tag or failing to use a turn signal, Axios reports.
Read MoreDespite digital odometers being used in cars for decades, odometer fraud went up throughout the U.S. in 2022 compared to the previous year. The car market has been unkind to car buyers in the last few months, what with outrageous car prices that are only now starting to come down, but we can also add increased odometer fraud to the list of possible pitfalls.
Read MoreAs of January 1, Tennessee became the first state in the U.S. to charge DUI drivers who cause a fatality child support for their victims’ surviving children. It’s a piece of anti-drunk driving legislation being considered across the country.
Read MoreThieves stole five pricy pieces of art from a locked truck in a hotel parking lot in Boulder, Colorado, last month.
Read MoreA Tesla crashed off the Pacific Coast Highway in Northern California on Monday, sending four seriously injured people, including two children, to the hospital—and now police allege that the crash may have been intentional.
Read MoreFor the last six years, the team at Turn 10 Studios has been working to reinvent Forza Motorsport. You can argue they kind of needed this breath. Seven games, all two years apart, left the series in a rather predictable place with minimal enhancements between each rendition. Microsoft’s bid to dethrone Gran Turismo finally realized its potential with FM3, and FM4 was the zenith of that formula. The releases since haven’t necessarily been poor, but they’ve danced around core issues. 2023's Forza
Read MoreThe rebooted Forza Motorsport was one of the stars of Microsoft’s Xbox Developer Direct on Wednesday afternoon. The Xbox and PC racing sim remains due for release this year — although, suspiciously, the word “spring” appears to have vanished from the game’s ETA.
Read MoreThis past weekend marked the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual, hosted by Motorsport Games in rFactor 2 and featuring the world’s best real and sim racing drivers. It was Motorsport Games’ third time running the show, and after 2022's mostly drama-free event, there was little reason to anticipate problems. Unfortunately, this one didn’t go as smoothly: seventeen hours in, Max Verstappen said he really hoped “everyone uninstalls the game.”
Read MoreA few months ago, Blizzard’s hero shooter Overwatch relaunched as Overwatch 2. The update came with a whole host of changes — hero rebalances, new game modes, one fewer tank slot per team, a progression and battle pass systems seemingly designed to aggravate me specifically — as well as some new maps. One of those maps, Circuit Royal, includes cars.
Read MoreJust before the new year, World Racing 2: Champion Edition — a new version of the 2005 racing game from the defunct German developer Synetic — found its way onto Steam. Available for the low, low price of $10, it was never going to set the storefront ablaze. But it’s a very important rerelease nonetheless, because it demonstrates how classic racers, often mired in the chains of expired licenses, can return the same way games of other genres do. It’s really quite simple: patch out the licenses.
Read MoreDirt tracks, open cockpits, and wicked speed — the formative years of auto racing were as dangerous as they were exhilarating. Perhaps nowhere is this spirit better captured than in the 1932 film, The Crowd Roars.
Read MoreThe best part of sim racing is the opportunity to get a taste of what real-world racing drivers experience. The same tracks, the same cars and similar rules are available to anyone across a variety of games and services. However, the equipment you use at home is usually a far cry from the steering wheels and pedal boxes used in racing cars. However, one of the most established engineering firms in motorsport is bringing one of its most prolific products to sim racers.
Read MoreFifteen years ago, you’d have told anyone getting into sim racing to just buy a Logitech wheel. That’s what I did; that’s what my friends did. But a lot can change in a decade and a half, and while Logitech’s bread-and-butter G29 and G923 wheels are still an excellent choice for casual players or those just looking to dip their toes into the hobby, they’re far from the last word. This little hobby has come a long way.
Read MoreThe film business is weird. A script sits in production hell for nearly a decade, before all of a sudden another, similar project is greenlit, hired and filmed, start to finish, within half a year. That’s pretty much what happened with Gran Turismo, which was first linked to a film adaption all the way back in 2013. After nothing but crickets for nine years, the Real Driving Simulator’s silver-screen debut roared back to life midway through 2022. Cameras began rolling in November and finished la
Read MoreI’m not much for movies; I’m pretty much whatever the opposite of a “movie buff” is. Name your favorite film; I haven’t seen it. But I’ll tell you what I have seen — Knives Out. And I loved it! I could listen to Daniel Craig declare things as Benoit Blanc for hours on end, without the excuse of a plot, and I’d be totally content. Glass Onion, the sequel that hit Netflix just before Christmas, is good too. And it has come to my attention that there’s a car-related continuity slip in it — one I ha
Read MoreWe all know the Tokyo Auto Salon as the premier Japanese show for tuners, but in recent years, it has increasingly been the place for OEMs to premiere their bolder concepts, too. With TAS being the only massive annual auto show in Japan, it makes more sense for them to show off their latest and greatest here than to wait every two years for the more corporate Tokyo Motor Show. For 2023, these were the big announcements from some of Japan’s biggest companies to one you might not have heard of bef
Read MoreWith a total of 179,434 people in attendance, up from 126,869 in 2022, it’s safe to say the Tokyo Auto Salon is heading back towards its pre-pandemic self. With Japan’s borders fully opened in 2023, the biggest tuner shower in Japan welcomed foreign visitors for the first time since 2020. That’s three years of catching up to do all in the span of three days in mid January. It’s a good thing this year’s show was bigger and better than last year’s.
Read MoreIf there’s one thing hotter than electric pickups right now, it’s electric SUVs. Every automaker out there is clamoring to come up with one that you actually want to buy so they can start edging towards their eco-minded targets. But how do you make your electric blob stand out from all the other electric blobs? Well, if you’re Lexus, you make it ready for the one place everyone takes their SUVs: the race track.
Read MoreEver since Silicon Valley began eying up the nearly-$3-trillion auto industry, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has become the place to track the hottest trends in mobility technology. And so, every January, people like me descend on Sin City to feast from this all-you-can-eat hype buffet and regurgitate the choicest insights into the public’s squealing maw.
Read MoreTesla. General Motors. Two titans of the American automotive industry, each with their own approaches to design and engineering, but with one key similarity: Fires. Between Model Ses burning up after a crash, or the endless string of fire-related recalls for the Bolt, U.S.-based manufacturers are constantly innovating in the field of “cars that want to barbecue you.” We’ve had cars that explode after crashes, cars that detonate in garages, and cars that seem to go up in flames for no clear reaso
Read MoreEverybody loves concept cars. Sure, plenty of folks like to say that concept cars are pointless styling exercises, statements of excess, and demonstrations of technologies that will never make it to production. But even those folks, when they’re done pontificating, stand there in admiration of whatever freakish creation is slowly rotating on the turnstile. At the 20223 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, we got a whopping three concept cars — proof that CES is now the most important auto sho
Read MoreIn addition to announcing plans to build its own charging network, as well as an odd collaboration with Superplastic, Mercedes-Benz announced today that its Level 3 driver-assistance system has also been approved by the state of Nevada, with California approval expected soon. That means Mercedes will be the first automaker to offer Level 3 driving in the U.S.
Read MoreGoogle is rolling out a slew of upgrades big and small to its infotainment at CES 2023, including upgrades to Android Auto and Google Services that are built into select models. Android Auto’s big facelift that conforms to different display sizes is finally becoming widely available, while native apps in the Volvo EX90 and the Polestar 3 will be the first to get Google’s new HD Maps and a few other updates before they roll out to other makes and models.
Read MoreWe’ve seen electric pickups either enter production or getting ready to enter production from the likes of Ford and two brands under the GM umbrella, and now, according to an announcement made on Thursday by Ram, it’s getting in on the fun too with its Revolution concept.
Read MoreSafety tech is getting more advanced and most importantly, smarter. Tech from Valeo shown at CES 2023 could keep pedestrians safe in traffic by predicting what other drivers and pedestrians could do.
Read MoreItaldesign has unveiled what can only be described as an urban autonomous mobility platform at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. The Italian design firm helped create some of the most iconic cars in history, like the Lotus Esprit, the DeLorean DMC-12 and the Lancia Delta. However, it’s difficult to call Italdesign’s new creation a car.
Read MoreEarlier today, Mercedes-Benz announced plans to build its own charging network that will offer plug-and-pay charging for its customers. It might not be the most groundbreaking announcement in the world, but it’s at least interesting and seems appropriate for CES. But Mercedes had a second CES announcement that still has me scratching my head: a collaboration with Superplastic (or SUPERPLASTIC if you want to get technical and look like you’re yelling every time you type it).
Read MoreThe automotive supplier ZF Group revealed a cool little gadget at the Consumer Electronics Show Thursday: A heated seatbelt potentially capable of cutting down on range loss in electric vehicles during a cold snap.
Read MoreThe Ring Car Cam is finally available two years after it was first announced. The Amazon-owned home security company had shown the Car Cam in late 2020, as the Verge reports, but the in-car camera didn’t materialize until now at CES 2023. The Car Cam is expanding Ring’s purview out of the home and into the car with a device that links to the Ring App on your phone and lets you see and record footage of the interior and exterior of your car.
Read MoreIt’s no secret that charging infrastructure is holding back electric vehicle adoption in the U.S. In addition to needing more reliable chargers, we also need more chargers in general. Today, Mercedes-Benz announced that it plans to build a global network of 10,000 chargers in North America, Europe, China, and other important markets.
Read MoreRemember BMW’s weird Dee activation on Twitter, when the company’s global account got “taken over” by a character that was really into talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger? Well, we now know what that’s all about, and it’s exactly as weird as we’ve come to expect from modern BMW: A concept sedan based around virtual reality.
Read MoreIf there’s one thing weird car fans like more than weird cars, it’s the Motocompo. For anyone not familiar with this creation, the Motocompo was a cutesy folding moped that could fit into the back of ‘90s Hondas. It was designed to use when your car couldn’t make it into the city due to traffic or parking restrictions. Now, this wonderful creation has been resurrected by a Japanese startup.
Read MoreChrysler has announced the debut of its futuristic Synthesis interior concept demonstrator at CES 2023. Those attending this year’s Computer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will be able to get a preview of Chrysler’s self-envisioned future starting on January 5th. The Synthesis two-seater might lack doors, a windshield and a roof, but its design is immediately evocative of a fictional starship. The demonstrator is intended to be a representation of the design language and advanced technologies tha
Read MoreOver the summer, Volkswagen revealed the ID.Aero concept, a large, swoopy sedan that looked about like what you’d imagine the ID.4 would look like if it transformed from a hatchback into a sedan. At the time, we were told the production version would first go on sale in China in mid-2023 and arrive in the U.S. and Europe at a later date. Now Volkswagen has just revealed the production version, the ID.7 sedan. Sort of.
Read MoreI’m not going to lie: when Porsche unveiled the 911 Dakar at last year’s LA Auto Show — complete with ultra-slick footage of the thing sliding through dirt and kicking up an enviable cloud of dust — I was a little bit underwhelmed. As someone who adores all things WRC and who has loved the Dakar Rally for decades, I should have been thrilled. But I wasn’t.
Read MoreThe Honda Pilot has undergone a transformation from a venerable suburban conveyor to a light-duty off-road explorer. This fourth-generation Pilot has a tougher and rougher appearance, and there’s legitimate substance to back up this style. From steel skid plates and a full-size spare tire to a suite of off-road driving aids, the 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport is equipped with tangible improvements that will be useful for the occasional off-road excursion.
Read MoreCharity auctions for first-run cars are all the rage right now. Every rich guy wants to get their hands on VIN Number One of a new make and model, so they can never use it and eventually trade it to another rich guy — and nab a nice tax deduction in the process, probably. Chevy hopped on the trend with the first C8 Corvette Z06 to roll off the assembly line, and GMC got its turn with the Hummer EV. Now, it seems, it’s Ford’s turn.
Read MoreFor the past four years, backup cameras have been mandatory for new cars in the United States. Yet, despite years of practice, it seems automakers still haven’t quite perfected the art of “showing images from a camera that is behind you.” Case in point: Yet another backup camera recall.
Read MoreFord’s supply chain constraints are forcing the automaker to get creative about Bronco sales. Ford is giving $2,500 in discounts to Bronco buyers who agree to cancel their original orders and place new orders on Bronco trims that work around Ford’s current lack of supply.
Read MoreAre you bored of driving the same old staid, practical cars? Are you sick of driving boredom? Are you tired of being anonymous? Don’t you just want to go ape shitt? Don’t worry, friend. I’m here to help.
Read MoreDo you ever get tired of playing the hits? Sometimes, it’s just nice to throw on a B-side and relax, crank the volume on a lesser-known track and enjoy something you don’t hear all too often. You don’t always need “Bring Me To Life” — sometimes “Going Under,” “Everybody’s Fool,” or “Tourniquet” just fits the vibe better. Yeah, I’ve been listening to a lot of Evanescence recently. Shut up.
Read MoreFriends, Jalops, countryfolk, I come to you on this Friday-est of days with listings. Listings for cars, in fact, which really shouldn’t surprise you given the rest of the content on this site. It’s a car site. This slideshow is about cars.
Read MoreIn the immortal words of Rebecca Black: It’s Friday. Did you know that Black still writes and records music, and that her new stuff goes extremely hard? Now you do. She’s got an album coming out this year, so now you have something new to look forward to in 2023.
Read MoreFor one very wealthy individual, the trope about having a rare Corvette can actually be true. RM Sotheby’s is offering an exceedingly rare 1969 Corvette Stingray ZL-1 Convertible at its upcoming Phoenix auction. A ‘69 Corvette convertible may not sound like anything too special, but the big news here is under the hood: the 427 cubic-inch (7.0-liter) ZL-1 big block V8 motor.
Read MoreAll good things must come to an end, and so we must say goodbye to the 10th-generation Honda Accord. When this car launched in 2017, it ushered in a new standard for midsize sedans. Hell, it even bumped up against some legit premium offerings, as well.
Read MoreHonda has given the 11th generation Accord a top-to-bottom redesign with styling that’s both evolutionary and handsome. And with those handsome looks comes a relatively reasonable price — starting at just$28,390. That price also includes a $1,095 destination charge (all prices listed here include this charge as well.) Altogether, the 2023 models comes out just $775 more than the 2022.
Read MoreZero Motorcycles is offering discounts on its bikes to encourage riders to switch to EVs. The EV motorcycle maker says it’ll give riders an “instant incentive” of up to $4,250 on certain 2022 models as part of its “Go Electric” program, which could make up for a current lack of federal tax credits that apply to EV bikes in the U.S.
Read MoreSo as someone who’s never lived somewhere that it snows a whole bunch, the concept of “snow bikes,” aka dirt bikes with rear tracks and front skis rather than wheels, is kind of a new one. What isn’t a new concept is just how damned silly the 155-horsepower (to the wheel, according to Motorcyclist magazine) Suzuki Hayabusa is in basically any situation. What do you get when you combine the two? According to Grind Hard Plumbing Co on YouTube, you get a good time.
Read MoreHarley-Davidson is planning to phase out motorcycles powered by its storied internal combustion engines, and will slowly but surely transform into an all-electric brand. Harley CEO Jochen Zeitz tells Dezeen that after 120 years of being famous for its big gas-powered models, electrification is the logical next step. That is, if the company plans on sticking around for another 120 years.
Read MoreHarley-Davidson is turning a big section of its headquarters in Milwaukee into a public park for employees, for faithful riders and for nature-lovers alike. The storied motorcycle company, led by CEO Jochen Zeitz, says the new park will give the local community a much-needed “greenspace,” and will eventually be expanded with a “market street, contemplative garden, and nature playground.”
Read MoreIn 2021, Minnesota passed a set of “clean car” rules that were modeled after California’s emissions regulations. That upset the Minnesota Auto Dealers Association, which sued to block the state’s emissions rules from being enforced. As of today, though, they have been unsuccessful.
Read MoreNew York gained a bright, shiny new train terminal last week and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority decorated the walls with brilliant and moving quotes about the Big Apple from some of the city’s most famous residents. Unfortunately, one quote features an embarrassing typo.
Read MoreA man who police say intentionally drove his wife, young son and daughter off of a 250-foot cliff in the family’s Tesla in California last month was taken into custody and charged with three attempted murder counts as soon as he was released from the hospital on Monday.
Read MoreInsurance companies charge more for electric vehicles in general, but some of the biggest names in the biz are totaling barely driven Teslas over massive repair bills with less than 10,000 miles on the clock.
Read MoreEverything seems to be getting really, really expensive these days, except for Teslas as the company has been slashing prices for its EVs all over the world in recent weeks. But, while Ford clamored to follow Tesla down the price-cutting rabbit hole, German automaker Volkswagen assures that it won’t be making any such moves.
Read MoreThe National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has reportedly opened a safety probe in nearly 1.9 million Ford Explorers because of a windshield trim panel that can allegedly detach when going at highway speeds. Automotive News says the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation has received 164 complaints from owners of 2011-2019 fifth generation Explorers alleging their trim flew off.
Read MoreEven among other midsize luxury crossovers, the Mercedes-Benz GLE isn’t exactly an enthusiast favorite. Instead, it’s more focused on comfort and luxury. Sure, you can get AMG versions that are more fun to drive, but comfort is really where the GLE shines. And that’s arguably a good thing. It’s a big, heavy SUV, after all. And for 2024, the Mercedes-Benz GLE has been given a refresh.
Read MoreEven if you’re not familiar with the name Jam Handy, there’s a good chance you’ve seen at least one of his videos before. His explanation of how differentials work is absolutely legendary, and if you haven’t seen it, you should absolutely correct that. It may be from 1937, but it does such a great job of making things simple and easy to understand, it’s hard to think of a better video to recommend to someone who wants to learn.
Read MoreSince 1981, Chevrolet’s Bowling Green production plant has had one singular focus: building the Chevrolet Corvette. But in those 41 years, things have changed down in the Kentucky facility — processes have grown leaner, meaner, more technologically advanced and precise.
Read MoreThere is, any old financial advisor will tell you, Good Debt — which is mainly just a mortgage and student debt for an undergraduate degree — and Bad Debt — which is credit card debt more or less, which you ran up spending on clothes and other bullshit. Good Debt will theoretically increase future earnings, because your home will likely grow in value, and getting a college degree should get you a higher-paying job. Bad Debt will do the opposite, because you racked it up buying clothes and other
Read MoreYou guys, the Canadian Freedom Convoy is back. Well, sort of. This past weekend marked the first anniversary of the arrival of hundreds of trucker drivers and thousands of supporters in Ottawa after a cross-country trip. The protestors shut down the city for three weeks, terrorizing residents, peeing on war memorials, and making life for average Canadians a nightmare.
Read MoreThere are a lot of supercars that are quicker and more powerful than the Spyker C8 Spyder. There are also a lot of supercars that can lap a track faster. But there sure aren’t many that are as gorgeous. I mean, just look at it. Spyker didn’t need to make the C8 this good-looking, but it did, and the world is a better place because of it.
Read MorePeople like complaining about the sound EVs make. They love saying that the futuristic hum of an electric car isn’t as exciting as the sounds that emanate from a gas-powered car. But, that hum is an important safety feature that ensures anyone around can hear an EV coming. Now, some BMWs have stopped humming and are being recalled for being too quiet.
Read MoreTypically, it’s best for your car to not be on fire. But sometimes, life has other, more on-fire plans for your car. And if you happen to be driving an electric vehicle, those fires are notoriously hard to put out. In the case of the latest Tesla that set itself on fire, it took thousands of gallons of water to extinguish the flames.
Read MoreThe UFC star Conor McGregor said he was hit by a car while cycling, posting and then removing a photo and videos of the aftermath of the incident. He didn’t appear to be injured, and the driver that hit him eventually gave him a lift.
Read MoreTens of thousands of gallons: That’s how much water it takes to extinguish a single electric vehicle fire. As EVs becomes more prevalent on our roads — possibly reaching 50 percent of all new car sales by 2030 — firefighters are still struggling to get proper training on how to quickly and effectively put out these incredibly intense blazes.
Read MoreEven if you order a brand new Tesla and pay the extra $15,000 to add the so-called Full Self-Driving Beta software, no Tesla is actually capable of self-driving. And that won’t change in the near future, either. Over-the-air updates may improve what current Teslas can already do, but upcoming hardware changes are still going to leave current owners behind.
Read MoreAlfa Romeo is currently accepting pre-orders for its small Tonale crossover, but if you actually want to buy an Alfa in the U.S. today, your only choices are the Giulia and the Stelvio. But the Italian automaker does recognize that it needs to offer something closer to a full lineup, so it’s working on that. And apparently, that involves a midsize sedan or something similar.
Read MoreA small plane was forced to make an emergency landing on a toll road in Texas last weekend, but instead of hitting pavement the plane briefly brushed the top of a semi’s tractor-trailer before tumbling to the road and crashing.
Read MoreThe saga of Goodyear’s defective RV tires continues; AP reports that a grand jury is gathering evidence against the tire manufacturer over its defective RV tires.
Read MoreIt’s the end of the road for Jay Leno’s Garage on CNBC. The network has reportedly pulled the plug on Leno’s show after seven seasons. It also marks the end of a 30-year relationship between the 72-year-old comedian and automotive enthusiast at NBCUniversal.
Read MoreIt’s been a rough couple of months for comedian and automotive icon Jay Leno. Just a few months ago he sustained third-degree burns to his face after a fire broke out at his garage in Burbank, California. Now, he is once again recovering after a motorcycle accident left him with several broken bones.
Read MoreWe certainly didn’t expect to love the new Prius. After all, it’s a Prius. But then Toyota went and revealed a shockingly good-looking design. Late last year, we got our first chance to drive it, and we were impressed. Just because the new Prius drives better than the old one doesn’t mean it’s actually fun to drive, though. But what if the folks behind the GR Corolla developed a version that’s legitimately sporty? It may sound farfetched, but it might just happen.
Read MoreThe Southwest travel drama at the end of 2022 took place just over a month ago, but the airline is still feeling the ripple effects from thousands of canceled flights. Customers and the government alike want answers about just what went wrong. Now, as The Dallas Morning News reports, the Department of Transportation is investigating Southwest to see if the airline over-scheduled flights during the 2022 holiday season. The airline maintains that its cancellations were due to weather and technolog
Read MoreThe gigantic Packard Auto Plant has been a 3,500,000-square-foot cancer in the heart of Detroit’s Eastside since the brand shuttered the facility in 1956 — two years before the brand would also disappear. After decades of neglect, the looming ruin is finally coming down.
Read MoreA lot of times, an anniversary edition is nothing special. Sure, you might get a special paint color, unique wheels, and some different leather for the seats, but most of the time, who cares? They’re something only the most dedicated fans care about, and few people would be willing to pay a premium for one. But that’s decidedly not the case with the 1997 Chevrolet Camaro SS 30th Anniversary Edition.
Read MoreCalifornia is about turn the state’s restoration, customization, and other automotive industries on its head. The state is looking to reduce harmful emissions and cancer-causing chemicals. The L.A. Times reports state officials have set their sights on banning a method of chrome plating that releases potentially deadly and cancerous chemicals.
Read MoreAkio Toyoda, who served as president of Toyota for the last 13 years before announcing on Thursday his plan to step down, always seemed a little too good to be true. The grandson of Toyota’s founder, he nonetheless seemed to genuinely enjoy making cars and driving them, which is not a job requirement for being a car executive, though it helps.
Read MoreIf you’ve been holding your breath since 2019 for a Tesla Cybertruck you need to think of your family and breathe; CEO Elon Musk announced in a call with investors Wednesday that volume production of the giant electric truck would likely only start in 2024.
Read MoreIt isn’t hard to understand why it’s a bad idea for people to drive with pets in their laps. Not only can it be distracting, but if you get in a wreck, airbags aren’t designed to account for your dog sitting right in front of them when they go off. So when New Hampshire state representative Jennifer Rhodes, a Republican, introduced a bill to ban the practice, she reportedly thought it was common sense legislation. She probably should have known better.
Read MoreBe on time for your next Lyft, as The Verge reports that the ridesharing company quietly added a new fee that’ll charge riders for making their drivers wait.
Read MoreNo longer needing to buy gasoline is one of the most convincing selling points for potential electric vehicle customers. It’s easy to conclude that owning an EV and recharging at home is cheaper than using a car powered by an internal combustion engine. The conclusion is correct if a driver switches powertrains between luxury vehicles, like going from a Porsche Macan to an electric Porsche Taycan.
Read MoreThere’s a lot to unpack about the Porsche Vision 357 concept, but the coolest detail is an unexpected bit of whimsy: cartoon dinosaur stickers on either side of the concept car. It’s a clever nod to the fact that, despite looking all new and futuristic, the Vision 357 is all about celebrating Porsche’s past.
Read MoreA study published Wednesday shows just how bad the environmental damage will be if the United States switches to EVs while maintaining our current lust for large, personal vehicles. It’s not good, and the only way to avert disaster, according to researchers, is for Americans to give up their super car-centric lifestyles for accessible mass transit, walkable cities, and robust battery recycling programs.
Read MoreLast year, Toyota had to stop selling the electric bZ4X due to a minor problem where the wheels were at risk of falling off. You know. Just a typical new car quirk. That’s also a big reason the Japanese automaker only sold about 1,200 bZ4Xs in the entirety of 2022. But now that Toyota’s figured out a way to keep the wheels on its electric vehicle, 2023 is the year it will finally take on Tesla, right? Not exactly.
Read MoreA three-year study between Volvo’s autonomous software arm and the Large Hadron Collider in Europe shows promise in helping self-driving cars understand the road and make split decisions.
Read MoreIt wasn’t very long ago that Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system was about as good as it got compared to what other automakers had to offer. Even as recently as 2020, Consumer Reports ranked Autopilot second among all the systems it tested. But the fact that it was considered good compared to the competition at one point doesn’t mean other automakers can’t get better. And it seems they have.
Read MoreIf you’ve read our review of the 2023 Honda CR-V Hybrid or seen that the 2023 Accord lineup is mostly hybrids, it’s possible you might think Acura would have some new hybrids on the way, too. After all, it would make sense — better fuel efficiency and the possibility of improved performance? Acura could sell a ton of them. Except it won’t: The luxury brand is skipping new hybrids and moving straight into all-electric vehicles.
Read MoreThere is, in the current state of the car world, not as much color on cars as there should be, with automakers prioritizing things like “sales” in trying to justify why customers can have whatever color they want, as long as it’s white, black, or a shade of gray. Infiniti said on Tuesday that they have a new color that is not white, black, or a shade of gray. Of course, it will be “extremely rare,” because let’s not get too out of control. But: Black Opal Metallic is what it’s called and it’ll b
Read MoreIt’s not easy, chopping up the world’s largest passenger aircraft and sorting through the bits, but someone has got to do it.
Read MoreHyundai and Kia’s thefts are still happening. What started as a dumb social media stunt has exploded into a full-blown theft epidemic. The Korean automaker has done little to help aside from horrible rollout of a theft deterrent system by Hyundai, and threats of class action suits haven’t lit a fire to fix the problem. Now, even if people still want to buy the cars, despite the above, they can’t insure them. The St. Louis Dispatch reports that residents in the Missouri city area are finding that
Read MoreWith the slimy ways that dealers often do business, it always comes as a surprise when dealers get a win—and one that’s both right and verifiable. For that, you have to give credit where it’s due. In this case, one dealer’s camera system has been used to catch customers lying about the service department damaging their vehicles, Automotive News reports.
Read MoreThere aren’t many vehicles on the market today that would be more embarrassing to be seen in than the Rezvani Vengeance. At least in the U.S. No decent, normal person would be caught dead in that thing. It’s just a fantasy car for the kind of dude who is so scared of the world that he fully believes he needs to carry two AR-15s just to safely order coffee in a suburban Starbucks. It’s for the kind of person who fantasizes about murdering cyclists because roads should be for cars, and those cycli
Read MoreResearch scientists are sounding the alarm in the Pacific Northwest after this month’s “atmospheric river” drenched much of the state’s roads, sending brake and tire dust into rivers, streams and, eventually, the Pacific Ocean.
Read MoreThe Polestar 2 was the Swedish automaker’s first foray into all-electric vehicles after dabbling with hybrid power in the Polestar 1, which was a flag in the sand showcasing its design and technological know-how. But, it’s been around for a few years now, so an update was definitely in order. To bring the car more in line with the competition, Polestar has given the electric sedan an updated front end, new motors and quicker charging.
Read MoreThis may come as a shock to some of our readers who don’t pay a lot of attention to what happens over on TERF Island in the UK, but the latest black cabs seen all over London are built by a company that’s owned by Geely. Yes, the same Geely that also owns Volvo and Lotus. Geely also owns a lot of other companies, too, but the focus today is on the London Electric Vehicle Company. And more specifically, Geely’s plan to have LEVC expand significantly and build more than just taxis.
Read MoreIt seems we’re at a point where COVID-19 infections are somewhat slowing down (or, maybe, we’ve just grown desensitized to them). And while the virus blindsided the world, some mitigation measures were lifted too soon, came too late, or didn’t work at all. Take COVID-19 travel restrictions. United Press International (UPI) reports that COVID-19 travel restrictions in the UK failed as wastewater samples from arriving flights show.
Read MoreCharging times for electric vehicles have come down significantly over the years. But even so, it can still take a while for the charger to add the range you need to your next destination. If you’re in a hurry to get some food or go shopping, you might accidentally forget to plug your car in, causing a huge delay once you realize that and finally get it on the charger. But the good news is, a few Tesla owners on Twitter have figured out that it’s possible to help these forgetful folks who had a
Read MoreGenerally, we’re not big fans of up-badging. After all, who are you really trying to impress with an AMG badge on your C300? I guess everyone’s allowed to like what they like, but come on. Humblebadging, on the other hand, is much cooler. An E39 M5 badged as a 518i? Go for it. A couple of people will probably appreciate what you’ve done when they notice it. And yet, we can’t help but appreciate how well-executed this technically up-badged BMW Mazda6 is.
Read MoreBritish Prime Minister Rishi Sunak proved that no one is above the law when he was fined for not wearing a seatbelt in a moving car as he filmed a video for social media, according to the BBC. Lancashire Police issued the £100 fine to the 42-year-old Prime Minister, and he’ll now have 28 days to pay it… or else. Aren’t the British just the wackiest little creatures?
Read MoreGM announced on Friday that it would be spending $854 million to make its sixth-generation small block V8, and $64 million to help its EV efforts, in news that sounds like it belongs in a different year but isn’t. The news also confirms that a sixth-generation small block V8 is happening, which GM says it intends to use to “strengthen its industry-leading full-size truck and SUV business.”
Read MoreFor years, I defended Toyota’s reluctance to sell an electric vehicle. It was just a conservative company waiting until there was more demand for EVs. And it’s not like it wasn’t doing anything with batteries and electric motors. Toyota sold both conventional hybrids and plug-in hybrids. Making an EV when the time was right would be like flipping a switch for Toyota. Except here we are in 2023, and it feels like Toyota legitimately does not want to sell EVs.
Read MoreLast summer, two yachts thought to be owned by Russian fertilizer oligarch and worst-kind-of-sports-parent Dmitry Mazepin disappeared from the port of Olbia off the Italian island of Sardinia. They had been seized in March, pursuant to European Union sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but local officials weren’t able to immediately tie the vessels to their owner. Both boats vanished three months later within days of each other — and suspiciously mere hours before police confirmed
Read MoreThe Pontiac Firebird Trans Am is an objectively awesome car. Even the F-body Firebird that Jason Torchinsky (may he rest in peace) said was uglier than a Mitsuoka Orochi. He claimed he was willing to prove it with his fists, and he’s no longer here anymore, so you can probably guess how that fight went. Trans Am superiority, baby. Good news is, if you want to be superior, Barrett-Jackson will be auctioning off a 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that would be perfect for you.
Read MoreIt’s a shock for absolutely no one, that the Wyoming Republican State Senator who sponsored a bill that would phase out electric vehicle sales in the state by 2035 said he never intended it to pass, and it was really just a stunt. According to Automotive News, State Senator Jim Anderson added that he doesn’t begrudge anyone for buying EVs. What a guy.
Read MoreUber is doing everything it can to make an entire fleet of electric ride-sharing vehicles by 2030. Uber has already taken a step in that direction, by working a deal with Hertz to allow drivers to rent its electric vehicles. Another avenue the ride-sharing company is considering is having a dedicated electric vehicle made exclusively for ride-sharing, per a report from the Wall Street Journal.
Read MoreEarlier this week, we reported that a Tesla engineer testified that the automaker faked its self-driving Model X video back in 2016. It wasn’t just a low-level employee making these claims, either. It was Tesla’s director of Autopilot software, Ashok Elluswamy. And while you’d probably have been safe to assume Elon Musk was involved and knew what his employees were doing, internal emails now confirm exactly that.
Read MoreLancia, which is in the middle of transforming itself into something else (probably just another luxury marque), is an automaker with real history that still does sell cars. Or at least one car, in a handful of European countries: the Ypsilon, which is a supermini, which is the car I would buy if I lived in Italy. I would ask them to paint it in this new green.
Read MoreRemember earlier this week when a 2023 Toyota GR Corolla owner tried to flip it on Cars & Bids? Remember how they later complained that they lost money on the auction even though it sold for $8,500 over MSRP? It was glorious, wasn’t it? Sure, they were allegedly selling it to make room for another car they got a surprise allocation for, but still. It was wonderful schadenfreude. Well, now we’ve got a new one for you, although this time it’s a 2023 Honda Civic Type R.
Read More2022 was a bad time to buy a car. As was 2021. And most of 2020. But the good news is, that appears to be changing for the better. Shoppers still aren’t likely to land some of the best deals that were available before the pandemic hit, but at the very least, it appears the days of paying over MSRP for the privilege of owning a basic family vehicle are over.
Read MoreIt was at a Wendy’s in 1976 when the then-governor of Ohio James A. Rhodes had morning burgers with some Japanese government officials to pitch them on one thing: A Honda factory to be built in the state, the country’s first. When that factory, in Marysville, Ohio, eventually started producing cars in 1982, it was off to the races, though probably no one could predict what a massive success it would turn out to be.
Read MoreThose of you who live in or just so happened to pass through London, Paris or Brussels last weekend may have noticed some strange, vaguely unsettling Toyota and BMW billboards in your travels. Parody ads highlighting the dichotomy between the automakers’ “greenwashed” environmentalist marketing and anti-climate protection lobbying recently popped up across Europe, according to Brandalism, one of the activist groups responsible. And they don’t hold back.
Read MoreIt’s not exactly news that most title loan companies are sketchy as hell. That fact is well-established. Remember back in 2016 when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined TitleMax’s parent company TMX Finance $9 million because its deceptive policies violated federal law? The CFPB also put TMX Finance under a consent order in an attempt to make sure it actually follows the law. But that doesn’t mean TitleMax has completely cleaned up its act.
Read MoreThe 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray is finally here, and while the words “all-wheel-drive hybrid” might not get your heart racing, we have a feeling the E-Ray’s 655 hp and 2.5-second zero-to-60 time probably will. It’s certainly not as track-focused as the Corvette Z06, but that’s the point. It’s a super powerful Corvette for people who probably won’t take their car to the track. But what about the burnouts? Surely, Chevy knows people are going to want to do burnouts, right?
Read MoreFor some brands, the EV craze has morphed into a weird rose-tinted acid trip. There’s no reason Renault couldn’t have sold a car that looked like the upcoming Renault 5 EV with an internal-combustion engine, or Hyundai couldn’t have made a gasoline-powered Ioniq 5 years ago. But seemingly all at once, automakers have come to realize that nostalgia is the easiest way to sell something new and unfamiliar, even if the nostalgia that’s doing all the heavy lifting isn’t their own.
Read MoreFor anyone that was traveling with Southwest in December 2022, you know that it was hell. Thousands of flights were canceled all over the country due to extreme weather. Lawsuits were filed, and people awaited refunds for their flights. It was a total mess. Southwest wants to prevent that from happening again. The Washington Post reports the airline is investing billions to update its systems so that it can be prepared if and when something like that happens again.
Read MoreIn December of last year, several Corvette forums noticed the E-Ray visualizer had gone live prematurely. Several people were able to get screenshots before Chevrolet took it down, giving us all an idea of what options would be available. Now that the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray has been officially revealed, though, the visualizer is back online and ready for your dream car-customizing enjoyment.
Read MoreThe Mazda MX-30 R-EV marks the first Mazda — or indeed any passenger car — with a rotary engine since the beautiful, broken Mazda RX-8. In the context of the MX-30, the engine isn’t powering the wheels, but rather charging the compact crossover’s battery. And if things go well for the Hiroshima-based automaker as it electrifies its entire range, it may even once again apply the latest and greatest in rotary technology to a new sports car.
Read MoreShell, one of the biggest oil companies on the planet, has reportedly just acquired Volta, an electric vehicle charging network operator. According to Reuters, the all-cash deal is valued at about $169 million.
Read MoreIf you own a diesel-powered commercial truck that’s over 10 years old in the state of California, it’s now illegal to drive it on the roads, thanks to a new law that went into effect January 1 of this year.
Read MoreThere are a lot fewer crypto bros and NFT nerds in Davos, Switzerland this week for the World Economic Forum, but one eye-catching visual reminder of the teetering crypto currency market remains: A bright orange Mercedes-AMG GT with a Bitcoin badge replacing the Mercedes three pointed star on the front.
Read MoreIt’s been a few years since Mercedes-Benz introduced the current-generation CLA, which means it’s time for a refresh. Although without sitting the new car next to the old one, you may not notice the styling updates to the 2024 CLA. Exterior changes are minimal, although they do make the car more attractive. Both the front and rear ends have been tweaked, but the CLA’s already a good-looking sedan, so we’re not exactly upset Mercedes didn’t do more.
Read MoreVirginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin told Ford to take its plan to build a massive, 2,500-job EV battery plant in the state and shove it, all because Ford’s partner in the project is a Chinese battery manufacturer—the largest such manufacturer in the world.
Read MoreIn its current guise, the Aston Martin DBS has been around for a while now. It burst onto the scene in 2018 and has been winning the hearts and minds of rich people ever since. Now, its time is drawing to an end, and Aston Martin will soon cease production of its third model to wear the DBS badge. But it won’t be going quiet into that good night.
Read MoreIf you like to shop at Parts Authority, maybe consider finding another place to spend your money. The Department of Labor recently announced that it has obtained a judgment ordering Parts Authority Arizona and Arizona Logistics (operating jointly as Diligent Delivery Systems) to pay back wages and damages after they misclassified 1,398 drivers as independent contractors.
Read MoreThese days, a Pontiac GTO Judge is far from a cheap car, but it’s not typically one you’d expect to cost Real Rich Person money. If it’s in good shape, sure, maybe it’ll go for $100,000. But if you make above-average money, live in a low-cost-of-living area, and save $1,000 a month, you could reasonably expect to buy one in cash in less than a decade. The 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge that just crossed the block at Mecum’s Kissimmee auction, though? Forget about it. That thing sold for $1.1 million.
Read MoreWe’ve doubted the trucker shortage for a while now, as time and time again post-COVID, industries will cry “no one wants to work anymore” when really the job is just too miserable for the miserly pay. An incredible first-hand account from the trenches of trucker life by Wired journalist Andrew Kay paints a picture of a hard life set to only get harder in the coming years.
Read MoreA Tesla engineer testified that Tesla faked a Model X driving by itself in a 2016 video. You know, the one from 2016 where the company vehemently insists that no one is in control of the car? Yeah, that one.
Read MoreThe 2024 Chevy Corvette E-Ray achieves a lot of Corvette firsts. It’s the first hybrid Corvette, and the first with all-wheel drive. It’s got a lithium-ion battery tucked between the seats. It even offers Stealth Mode for silent all-electric propulsion, so you don’t wake the neighbors with that 6.2-liter small-block V8. But there’s one thing the E-Ray doesn’t have: A charging port. So why didn’t Chevy make the first hybrid Corvette a plug-in?
Read MoreOn Monday, Variety published a report that claims Jeremy Clarkson’s time on Amazon Prime Video will come to an end after he wrote a deranged column attacking Meghan Markle. Clarkson has since apologized and asked The Sun to take down his column, but he still wrote what he wrote. As the saying goes, the toothpaste is already out of the tube. Or perhaps more appropriate for Clarkson, the sheep’s already been fucked.
Read MoreIn what is certainly the best way to run a legislature, Wyoming Republicans in the state senate introduced Senate Joint Resolution 4 banning all electric vehicle sales in the state by 2035, because screw other states, that’s why.
Read MoreLast week, I flew to Detroit to get a sneak peek at the 2024 Chevy Corvette E-Ray, the first hybrid Corvette and the first all-wheel-drive vehicle to wear the Corvette badge. Chevy says the E-Ray, which made its official debut today, is the quickest-accelerating Corvette in history, ripping from zero to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds and covering the quarter-mile in 10.5 seconds. But the hybrid Vette wasn’t designed to be a track monster. In fact, it’s basically intended to prevent people from wandering
Read MoreAfter lots and lots of leaks and teasers, it’s here. Feast your eyes on the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray — the first hybrid Corvette, and the first with all-wheel drive. Its debut marks the 70th anniversary of the original Corvette, introduced to the world in New York City in January 1953, but the E-Ray is no retro machine.
Read MoreYou’ve got to love Google Photos. It backs up every picture that you take, and then, every now and then, decides to curate a collection of photos from your past that you didn’t have any interest in remembering. Although recently, my phone decided to remind me about my move to Detroit. As you may (but probably don’t) recall, supply chain issues caused it to be a bit of a disaster. But that photo collection did include a photo I took of a situation that taught me a lesson that is Very Important Co
Read MoreBallots for the UAW’s runoff officer and board elections began to be mailed out on Thursday, to be completed by members and mailed back by February 17 to get in before the February 28 deadline. At stake is exactly how much members want their union, which was mired in a corruption scandal for years, to change.
Read MoreIt seems like only yesterday that I was writing a post highlighting how Carvana continues to struggle. Oh wait, it was literally yesterday. And yet here I am, once again writing about Carvana continuing to struggle. But the bad news keeps coming, so I keep writing. One day, it will end. Eventually, either Carvana or I will die. But today is not that day. This time around, though, it’s bad news for employees, as Carvana has reportedly begun another round of layoffs and hourly cuts.
Read MoreThe rotary engine is back, baby! Except, this time around, it serves as a range extender for the Mazda MX-30's electric powertrain. So think more “BMW i3 in crossover form” than “new Mazda RX sports car.” It also gets a long, difficult-to-remember name: the Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV.
Read MoreThis shouldn’t come as a surprise, but dealerships are fairly territorial. It’s one of the reasons dealership franchise ownership can be a messy experience. It’s also a reason why you rarely see the same brand dealer in town, but perhaps a town over. Too close, and you’ll be in for a fight, like the dealer suing Volkswagen over a new dealer getting licensed, just 20 miles away, Automotive News reports.
Read MoreOn Sunday, Aston Martin will turn 110 years old, making it, among legacy automakers, pretty average in terms of age, though among modern supercar makers, a senior citizen. Aston also likes to celebrate its history, because it’s an opportunity to remind everyone how legit Aston is, and so it said Thursday that it would be making a “special model” to mark the occasion, or at least make a quick and easy profit off of it.
Read MoreLucid Group potentially dodged a bullet on Wednesday when a California judge dismissed a class action lawsuit against the electric automaker. Investors involved in the lawsuit claimed that Lucid defrauded them by overstating how many vehicles it expected to build in 2021.
Read MoreIf you’ve been paying the slightest bit of attention over the last year, you know that Carvana is in big trouble. We recently published a roundup of all the problems Carvana’s been dealing with, but the gist is that it got itself into legal trouble with several states, its stock price has tanked from about $360 per share to $6 or so, and with used car prices falling, it’s going to probably have to take a loss selling a lot of its inventory. Although in some locations, it doesn’t have any invento
Read MoreA man driving his Toyota Prius down the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu on Tuesday narrowly avoided death or serious injury after a boulder crushed his car moments after he exited the vehicle.
Read MoreIf you’ve been reading Jalopnik for more than a couple of weeks, you probably know that we don’t exactly have a friendly relationship with Mansory. I won’t go so far as to say that new hires are told on their first day to dislike the affronts to God that they call cars, but somehow, everyone manages to pick up on our institutional position pretty quickly. And yet, looking at the terrible things Mansory did to this Lamborghini Urus, I can’t help but think it’s not completely blasphemous. In its o
Read MoreAfter a woman in Texas cheekily defended her right to drive in the high-occupancy vehicles lane due to her pregnancy, a lot of people thought, “hey yeah, why shouldn’t a pregnant woman count as two if life begins at conception?” Apparently, some of those people work in the Virginia General Assembly, and their solution is a little terrifying.
Read MoreThe saga of Carvana’s ongoing troubles continues into 2023. The Detroit Free Press reports the online car retailer has reached an agreement with the state of Michigan that leaves one of its dealers without a license to sell cars in the state.
Read MoreIt looks as if Geico will be off the hook for one of the wildest auto insurance claims the company has probably ever received. Last year, a court ordered Geico to pay $5.2 million to a woman who claimed she got a sexually-transmitted disease during a romantic encounter in a car insured by Geico. Now, CBS News reports that the Missouri Supreme Court has vacated that ruling.
Read MoreIt’s understandable that you’d be upset if you were staying at a hotel, and your laptop went missing. There’s probably important stuff on it, not to mention the cost to replace it. And if it’s your work computer, even if you don’t get in trouble for losing it, you might miss The Big Presentation.
Read MoreIt’s hard to explain to people who aren’t into cars, but there’s just something about the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s YouTube channel that’s addicting. You can watch big, expensive things get destroyed, and no one gets hurt in the process. Then you can watch another one. And another one. And then, oops, it’s 2:00 a.m. on a school night. Oh well. It was still an enjoyable way to waste your time.
Read MoreA Connecticut school district was forced to delay classes by two hours after the catalytic converters were stolen from its school bus fleet. There has been a recent uptick in catalytic converter thefts, becoming such a problem for Prius owners that Toyota is offering a converter shield as an accessory on the new Prius. Regardless, no vehicle fitted with a catalytic converter is safe, including school buses.
Read MoreBentley said on Tuesday that it had its best year ever in terms of sales, and then Lamborghini, which also makes very expensive cars, said it did, too, selling ten percent more cars globally in 2022 versus 2021, or 9,233 cars, an all-time high. That’s more evidence, if you needed it, that while volume sales are still struggling, automakers that sell to rich people are doing just fine.
Read MoreLast November, Elon Musk announced that Tesla’s so-called “Full Self-Driving Beta” software would become available to all Tesla owners. Just hours later, news broke that a Tesla Model S had caused an eight-car pile-up on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge. The crash sent nine people to the hospital and caused a massive traffic jam as emergency crews had to stop traffic for 90 minutes to bring in ambulances and clear the wrecked cars from the bridge. The driver claimed “Full Self-Driving” was active at t
Read MoreToyota isn’t the only automaker that’s been slow to introduce electric vehicles and expressed doubts about EV-only lineups, though it’s arguably been the loudest about it. Compare that with Polestar, which believes going all-electric isn’t strictly about the business case, it’s about recognizing the realities of climate change and doing what needs to be done to react to it.
Read MoreBMW has announced a voluntary recall of more than 14,000 i4, i7, and iX vehicles built between October 14th, 2021 and October 28th, 2022. The recall states that “[d]ue to a software issue, monitoring of the high-voltage battery charging process may be affected. This could lead to an interruption during high-voltage battery charging, a temporary loss of power while driving, or stalling.”
Read MoreThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asking Tesla about a funny tweet Elon Musk sent on New Years Eve about the company’s plans to removing the “steering wheel nag” from cars with drivers who successfully complete 10,000 miles in the beta testing program.
Read MoreThe concept of induced demand is far from new at this point. It’s been around since at least the 1960s, and we’ve reported on it for years. And despite Elon Musk infamously disagreeing, it’s a real thing that’s backed up by a ton of research. When you widen a road and add lanes, congestion and traffic speeds may initially improve, but it doesn’t last. In the long term, all you get is more cars and more traffic. And yet, despite knowing that widening roads generally doesn’t work, states have cont
Read MoreAs far as electric vehicles go, the Chevrolet Bolt is incredibly affordable and makes a great first EV. You won’t have access to Tesla’s Supercharger network, but it’s got plenty of range for daily driving, and since it’s a hatchback, it’s practical, too. At least if you live in an area that doesn’t get particularly cold in winter. But if you do live where it’s cold, you’ll notice that it loses a significant chunk of its range in below-freezing temperatures. A big part of the reason why is that
Read MoreIn a stunning example of what Not To Do, a Tesla owner admitted last week to allowing his Full Self Driving Beta-enabled vehicle to drive his drunk, thoughtless ass home over the holidays.
Read MoreA list of the best-selling vehicles in any given year can be interesting, especially if one or two vehicles make a big jump on the list compared to the prior year. Or if a longtime sales champion falls several spots. Heck, we just published one earlier today. But while Andy was busy doing the important work that’s actually going to drive site traffic, I got distracted looking into meaningless sales comparisons. Somehow, I was able to convince Bob to let me write about them, possibly so I’d stop
Read MoreA family of four are in the hospital — with the father awaiting arrest for purposefully causing the crash — after their Tesla Model Y plunged 250 feet off of a cliff to the rocks below in California earlier this week. The deadly steep cliffs on this stretch of road have claimed many lives, but these four people managed to survive thanks to excellent engineering and a bit of old fashioned luck.
Read MoreIf you’re taking your car through an automatic car wash, you have to accept that the process probably isn’t going to be great for your paint. It’s also possible you might worry about scratching a wheel. Then there’s using a car wash in the winter, when you might consider being careful on the way to, since it’s possible for the water to freeze and make the exit a bit dangerous. But have you ever worried about your car rolling on its side and trapping you inside for over an hour? We certainly have
Read MoreThe Chrysler 200, a car for whom the Chrysler 300 is too big, was last made for model year 2017, a fact which hasn’t stopped Chrysler from selling any Chrysler 200s in 2022. Chrysler sold two new 200s in the U.S. in 2022, Chrysler reported on Wednesday, hopefully to two different people or possibly to one lucky 200 fan. Unfortunately, that was fewer than the amount of 200s Chrysler sold in 2021, when it sold 15.
Read MoreAs of the first of this month, Louisiana residents will need to show state-issued proof of age before viewing anything racy online.
Read MoreCredit Acceptance, a subprime auto lending company, is being sued by the New York Attorney General’s Office and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The two entities allege the lender misled customers about the true cost of the car loans it was giving, and it let dealerships it worked with deceive customers, according to Automotive News.
Read MoreLast summer, Sony and Honda announced that they were serious about building electric cars together. A new joint venture was minted, with talk of manufacturing right here in the United States, at an upcoming facility in Ohio. Orders were to begin in 2025, and we’d already seen plenty of the vehicle. All that was seemingly left to learn was the name. Now we have that name, and suddenly I’m having second thoughts about the whole exercise.
Read MoreAfter watching Leh Keen and other companies such as Singer make a lot of money building safari 911s, Porsche finally decided it would like some of that money for itself. So late last year, it introduced the off-road-focused 2023 Porsche 911 Dakar. But with a price of $223,450 and plans to only build 2,500 examples, the 911 Dakar is going to be extremely hard to get. The good news is, it sounds like Porsche has plans to change that.
Read MoreSouthwest is pulling out all the stops to try and make it up to the customers affected by the airline’s holiday follies. The airline’s latest gift to customers who are still waiting for refunds for their canceled flights is a bonus 25,000 points, The Wall Street Journal reports, with the added benefit that the points can be used anytime and never expire.
Read MoreNASA announced today that astronaut Walter Cunningham, the last surviving member of the Apollo 7 mission, died Tuesday at the age of 90.
Read MoreEarly this week, movie star Jeremy Renner was hospitalized after a snow-induced car accident. Renner didn’t slide off an icy road, or hit another car due to snow blindness — he was run over by his own PistenBully snow plow while trying to rescue a family member’s vehicle that got stuck on a closed, snowed-in road. But what is a PistenBully, and why does Renner have one?
Read MoreThe five-seat versions of the Tesla Model Y may not be eligible for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. Engadget spotted that our friends at the Internal Revenue Service haven’t categorized specific variants of the electric crossover as sports utility vehicles.
Read MoreThough it may not be a known quantity on our shores, SsangYong is a company with a long history. It was established a decade after Kia, as South Korea’s second-oldest carmaker, well before Hyundai hit the scene. And yet it’s been shoved off from one unwilling parent to the next, seemingly always on the brink of collapse, its SUVs and trucks forever an option but rarely recommended. SsangYong’s new owner wants to shed those troubles once and for all, and he’s hoping that ditching the name will he
Read MoreThe Aston Martin DBS Superleggera first appeared back in 2018, which means it’s getting a little old. It’s still gorgeous, but it’s time for Aston to move on. Before it does, though, it’s time for one final sendoff for the gorgeous DBS, in the form of a limited-production special edition with even more V12 power and (presumably) a higher price tag.
Read MoreIf you were in the market for a new car in 2022, there were a fair few obstacles to try and overcome. Once you’d made it past all those dastardly dealer markups, inventory shortages across the country and delivery delays, you’d better be sure the car you ended up with was worth it. So, to the one person who bought a brand-new Kia Cadenza in 2022, we ask: Was it?
Read MoreA gas station argument might have led to a hit-and-run collision that left 22 people injured at a restaurant in New York City. On Monday night, just before 9 p.m., an Uber driver crashed his Toyota Rav4 into the Inwood Bar & Grill near the intersection of Broadway and West 204th Street. The driver and his crossover SUV were helped onto the sideway. The Rav4 was struck by another car from behind on Broadway, hopped the curb and crashed into the restaurant’s front window.
Read MoreSome cops are still up to no good. An annual report done by California’s Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board shows that officers across the state are still racially profiling drivers, specifically Black drivers.
Read MoreDespite its name, Tesla’s so-called “Full Self-Driving” software doesn’t actually make Teslas capable of fully driving themselves. If that sounds like false advertising to you, you’re not the only one. And yet, Tesla is still allowed to use that term and recently decided that anyone with $15,000 to burn would be allowed access to the software. But as dangerous as it can be to use in perfect driving conditions, a new video shows how incredibly dangerous it can be to use in the snow.
Read MoreFord, which these days is rapidly trying to transition to EVs, is still, at heart, a truck company, if you judge it by traditional metrics like “sales.” Ford said on Tuesday that it remained the most truck company, selling over 640,000 F-Series trucks in 2022, holding on to the sales crown for the 46th consecutive year.
Read MoreWe’re now approaching 10 years since the Takata airbag recall began after parts manufactured by the Japanese company were found to be defective and deadly. Since then, tens of millions of cars have had the dangerous parts removed and replaced, but new models are always being added to the list of affected cars. Volkswagen is the latest company affected, adding tens of thousands more Beetles to the recall.
Read MoreThe first of what is sure to become many lawsuits has been filed against Southwest Airlines. The suit, is a proposed class action suit, alleging the airline isn’t offering refunds for flights canceled during last month’s weather and holiday travel, Reuters reports.
Read MoreIf you like unique vehicles, it’s hard to do better than the Smart Crossblade. Based on the original Smart ForTwo, the Crossblade was first shown as a concept at the 2001 Geneva Motor Show. With no roof, safety bars instead of actual doors, and a small wind deflector, it was an interesting design exercise that seemed unlikely to ever go into production. Except, for some reason, Smart actually did decide to sell the Crossblade. And now one could be yours.
Read MoreA Tesla sedan fell off a cliff while traveling along the Pacific Coast Highway on Monday near an area known for fatal falls. Two adults and two children were inside the Tesla, which plummeted over 250 feet from the California highway onto a rocky outcropping just a few feet away from the shoreline, according to the Associated Press. All four passengers were rescued alive at the scene of the crash, but were listed in critical condition as of Monday.
Read MoreThe Los Angeles Police Department spent the holiday season attempting to tackle the widespread issue of drunk driving among its own officers. The LAPD confirmed to KNBC that seven officers were arrested during the first two weeks of December. The arrests served as the impetus for a department-wide bulletin about a sudden increase in alcohol-related arrests within the department, which has been a long-running problem.
Read MoreChinese automaker Geely has a pretty impressive roster of companies to its name. There are legacy brands like Volvo and Lotus, which both now fall under its ownership, as well as a whole host of innovative upstarts looking to shake up the EV space. One such company is Zeekr, which has firmly planted its flag in the ground with an update to its 001 EV to make it the longest-range electric car out there.
Read MoreKen Block, the rally racer most famous for co-founding Hoonigan Industries and starring in the wildly popular Gymkhana series of stunt driving videos, was killed in a snowmobile crash on Monday, January 2nd, according to a statement posted to Instagram. He was 55 years old.
Read MoreRecently, The Drive found a video from the Beyond the Brick Youtube channel that features the incredible work of Stefan Weinert. The video featured in the article focuses on some of the massive Lego replica diesel engines he’s built, but Weinert’s channel features all sorts of truly incredible builds. The dude’s got some serious talent.
Read MoreFor better or worse, we are unlikely to find a Mercury Capri XR2 in as nice of shape as today’s Nice Price or No Dice example, but does that ensure we’ll find its price tag equally as nice?
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Tahoe SSV claims the truck to be a “beast” and an “absolute workhorse.” Let’s see if it comes with an equally beastly price.
Read MoreIt’s expected that within a couple of years, Jaguar will no longer offer a sports car of any kind. That makes used examples like today’s Nice Price or No Dice XK8 all the more dear. Let’s see if this clean convertible cleans up in our vote.
Read MoreHagerty just listed the Volvo 200 series as one of the highest appreciators of 2022. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Volvo 145 is that model’s immediate ancestor, but will it find similar appreciation in our vote?
Read MoreOnly about 15,000 Ford Centurions were ever built, so when one like today’s Nice Price or No Dice Ford F350 shows up for sale, it’s worth taking notice. Let’s see if this custom coach-built truck is also worth its asking price.
Read MoreAside from its gauge cluster being a total cluster-you-know-what, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Studebaker is claimed to be ready for the road. Let’s see if this old-school hot rod is also readily priced.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice 325ic touts that, after 167,000 miles, the odometer still works. That’s a laudable achievement for any old BMW, but could it make this car worth a low five-figure asking?
Read MoreTo be the hit of any party, you need to arrive in a car like today’s Nice Price or No Dice Porsche Targa and operate its fancy top a few times. Let’s find out what being such the life of the party might effectively cost.
Read MoreThe Sahara Desert is generally sandy brown, just like the top on today’s Nice Price or No Dice Sahara Wrangler, the body of which is also oasis green. It comes freshly serviced and is presented in as-new condition. Will its price, however, prove an insurmountable sand trap?
Read MoreThe amazing thing about today’s Nice Price or No Dice MGB-GT is that while it’s a project, pretty much every part of it is readily available. Let’s see if it’s priced well enough to get someone to part with its asking price.
Read MoreThe seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice special edition Toyota FJ Cruiser says they’ll accept Bitcoin in exchange for the title. We’ll have to decide what the heck that might mean in cold, hard cash.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice Chrysler is notable for having been offered as both a soft and hard top convertible. This one is the more desirable hard top and comes with super-low miles. Let’s see if its price also tops it off.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice Audi comes from the unfortunate era when the German company was unfairly saddled with claims of “unintended acceleration.” While that was proven to be pure bunk, could this well-equipped survivor still race into our hearts?
Read MoreSEMA show cars are almost always wild, and today’s Nice Price or No Dice Corvette — which the seller claims once was a SEMA entrant — fits that bill. Let’s find out if this former showgirl can still draw a crowd.
Read MoreDecals on the top trunk of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Honda Gold Wing advise followers to “Work Hard/Play Hard.” Let’s see how much work would be needed to buy it.
Read MoreMercedes is one of the few manufacturers still offering a station wagon in the U.S., so they must be doing something right. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice E350 has a lot that’s right. Let’s decide if that includes its price.
Read MoreToyota named today’s Nice Price or No Dice contender the Century to honor the 100th birthday of founder Sakichi Toyoda in 1967. Let’s see how honorable this ex-pat limo’s price tag might be.
Read MoreToday’s Nice Price or No Dice Mark LT is a gussied-up version of Ford’s best-selling F-150 pickup. All that extra luxury needs a motor to match, so it’s supercharged too. Let’s see if that makes it priced to move.
Read MoreWhile not a Swedish meatball, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Saab is a Swede with enough muscle under the hood that it still should be a ball to drive. Let’s see if takes a wad of cash to buy.
Read MoreA number of notable artists have created artwork using cars as their canvas. Most of those were famous beforehand. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice 500SL was painted by a lesser-known artist, which might make it a prudent investment should they someday get famous.
Read MoreAccording to the seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Chevy van, it’s been “garage-kept and babied” all its life. Let’s see if it’s priced to soon become someone else’s baby.
Read MoreTo be fully transparent, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Mustang has nothing to do with Carroll Shelby other than honoring his legacy, and the car is presented in the ad as nothing more. Let’s see if that’s enough.
Read MoreAir traffic control is a critical element of commercial air travel. Every day, there are thousands of metal tubes flying through the air at over 500 miles per hour. These flights need to be managed closely so that each airliner can depart and arrive safely at its destination. It is difficult to imagine anywhere in the world without the ability to monitor its own airspace properly. Yet, Somalia hasn’t had that capability for the past 30 years. Until today.
Read MoreCould you imagine being the passenger on a several-hour-long flight and having the plane turn around because of a clerical error? On Monday, Qantas flight in Australia from Adelaide to Perth was forced to return back to its departure airport. The aircraft didn’t have any technical problems, and no one on board had a medical emergency. Qantas staff failed to complete the necessary paperwork for the flight correctly. The error was the latest in a series for the Australian flag carrier just this mo
Read MoreLast month, the National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary report on a shocking incident that took place at Alabama’s Montgomery Regional Airport. On New Year’s Eve, 2022, an Envoy Air worker was killed after being sucked into the jet engine of an Embraer 170. NTSB investigators have now laid out the sequence of events that led to the accident.
Read MorePent-up demand for travel finally unleashed on an unprepared airline industry last year, leading to a post-lockdown travel experience including, but not limited to snarls of lost luggage, major outages and oversold, delayed or canceled flights.
Read MoreWe’ve all been bored on the internet, right? Aimlessly scrolling through Twitter or clicking through TV Tropes, eyes glazing over as we spend hours doing the online equivalent of re-checking an empty fridge. But some people, it seems, use their boredom-induced internet browsing for more than just re-reading all of Catra’s tropes. Some use it to shine a light on the American surveillance state.
Read MoreWe’ve all been there. You’re organizing some files on your computer, moving things into new folders, when — shit, where did that one go? You could’ve sworn you never touched the Delete key, but your 2020 tax returns are suddenly nowhere to be found. Ah well, at least it wasn’t an important file.
Read MorePassenger airliners aren’t the most efficient vehicles in the world. While it’s true that between 1978 and 2021 the aviation industry managed to increase its efficiency by over 130 percent, more could always be done. That’s what brought NASA and Boeing together, as CNN reports the two are working on technologies that could make air travel way more efficient than it is today.
Read MoreEmotional support animals have been somewhat controversial as of late, especially when it comes to defining what that support animal is. Typically we think the cuddly route, like a fluffy little dog, a mini horse or maybe even a penguin. But what about a giant snake? What is the limit for an emotional support animal? Well, the TSA deemed large snakes as one of those limits, as one Florida woman tried to get past security with her four-foot “support” boa constrictor in her carry-on bag.
Read MoreThe Sud-Est Grognard looked more like a drawing of a spaceship than a fighter jet. The experimental French jet fighter, of which only two were built, belongs to my favorite era of aircraft: early Cold War experiments. While jet engines saw their combat debut in the flak-ridden skies of the waning days of World War II, figuring out how best to bend an aircraft around an air intake and turbine remains a hard problem.
Read MoreIt would be easy to assume that the commercial aviation industry’s fuel consumption was its biggest impact on the environment. For example, a Boeing 737-800 burns about 5,000 pounds of fuel an hour in the sky. However, research shows that persistent contrails play a much larger role. An eight-year-long study found that contrails created 57 percent of the industry’s contribution to the climate crisis.
Read MoreThe Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its first annual report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena new federal Thursday. It details more than 350 reported Unidentified Aerial Phenomena reported mostly by U.S. defense pilots, since March of 2021.
Read MoreIf you thought the travel troubles around winter storms were rough, just wait until you hear what happens when a nationwide warning system goes down: chaos, that’s what. This morning, a cross-country system that warns pilots about hazards in the air or at airports went down and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) responded by pausing all domestic departures. Update: Flights have resumed; see below.
Read MoreIs there anything that’s been previously owned by a famous person that you’d like to get your hands on? Maybe the guitar Paul McCartney wrote “Blackbird” on? Or perhaps an old race car driven by Michael Schumacher? What about an old jet that once belonged to Elvis Presley?
Read MoreWhile you sit in an airplane, tens of thousands of feet in the sky, you likely don’t think much about the air outside. Sure, that opening speech from the flight attendants may spark some little thought in your brain — “Huh, the masks drop if the cabin loses pressure? How pressurized is it?” — but for the most part, your thoughts likely stay within your sealed metal tube. But what if it suddenly came unsealed?
Read MoreWhat does it sound like when $100 million crashes into the ground? Beneath the howl of wind and the shouts of bystanders, there’s the roar of the jet engine, and then a sort of scraping sound, as the smooth stealth exterior of the most expensive fighter jet in history grinds along the runway. The F-35B is one of the most sophisticated jets ever built. On the morning of Thursday, December 15, one crashed onto a runway in Fort Worth, Texas, the pilot ejecting as the plane plowed into the soil.
Read MoreDelta Air Lines flight attendants, mechanics and fleet service workers are attempting to join unions. Delta is the only mainline passenger carrier in the United States where employees in these positions aren’t unionized. As a result, Delta has the lowest percentage of workers represented by a union of any major U.S. airline. The Atlanta-based airline has aggressively dissuaded prior unionization attempts including stating that union dues could be better spent on a new video game console.
Read MoreA passenger plane in Culiacán, Mexico took on gunfire moments before takeoff on Thursday as Mexican military captured the son of the notorious former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. The former cartel boss’s son, Ovidio Guzmán, was not aboard the Aeromexico flight caught in the crossfire, but the plane in question was taxiing for takeoff when military planes landing on the airstrip nearby drew fire from the cartel, according to Reuters.
Read MoreIf you’ve ever flown on a plane, you know how obnoxiously expensive they make in-flight Wi-Fi access. Well, unless we’re talking about JetBlue. JetBlue offers it for free, which is great. Now, though, Delta has announced that it’s going to follow JetBlue’s lead and make its in-flight Wi-Fi free, as well.
Read MoreIt’s the actual most wonderful time of the year: The holidays are over, the days are getting longer and the Transportation Security Administration is taking a break from fondling our dead loved ones to release a list of the strangest things seized last year.
Read MoreFederal investigators are alleging that American Airlines retaliated against flight attendants who reported illnesses caused by toxic fumes in aircraft cabins, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Read MoreAir travel emits roughly 100 times more carbon dioxide per hour than taking a train or bus. Yet, while hybrid and electric buses are common sight on the road and you might sometimes see a train if you’re lucky, more eco-friendly planes still seem a long way off.
Read MoreWhat were you up to four months after passing your driving test? Cruising ‘round town, taking your pals to the drive-in movies? Well, in the world of newly-qualified pilots the stakes are a touch higher, as one teenage pilot found when his engine failed midair.
Read MoreBoth the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the jet-engine death of a ground crew worker at Alabama’s Montgomery Regional Airport over the weekend.
Read MoreWhen Porsche announced it was developing an off-road 911, we all knew what to expect. The Safari trend had been rampant, inescapable in Porsche enthusiast circles, and it had long since simmered into a thick, consistent aftermarket sauce: Tall ride height, wide fenders, and chunky tires — all of the ingredients Porsche had added to its own offering.
Read MorePorsche may turn to Google to provide the backbone for its infotainment software in future models, Reuters reported Thursday citing a source with knowledge of the German manufacturer’s plans.
Read MoreThe Porsche 911 Dakar rips, and so does its Rothmans Racing-inspired heritage livery. What are you supposed to do, though, if you want your very-extremely-expensive 911 to have the classic rally look, but the Rothmans thing doesn’t do it for you? Porsche has an answer for this, and it comes in the form of three appearance packages featuring designs from Porsche’s rallying efforts in the 1970s.
Read MoreIt’s dangerous getting out of your comfort zone sometimes. That zone is comfy for a reason, after all; so familiar! So safe! Stepping out of your door opens you up to all sorts of new experiences and possibilities, including some weirdness on the road.
Read MoreThere are a lot of cars that just aren’t a good idea to buy: Cars that were once very expensive, now on their third or fourth owner. The first time something goes wrong, you’re going to be hit with a ridiculous repair bill. The best thing to do with this kind of car is steer clear.
Read MoreWhile the single-seat monsters in Formula 1 are primarily seen as the ultimate racing machines, the prototypes in international sports car racing are uniquely impressive. These sleek racers are purpose-built to contest a huge variety of events, from a 24-hour classic on a semi-temporary road circuit in northwestern France to a 12-hour race on a converted World War II airbase in Florida. Factory programs have to build reliable race cars capable of dealing with any weather condition, any kind of p
Read MoreDepending on the brand of car that you’re working on, specialty tools may be a necessary evil or they may be the thing that stops your wrenching sessions from being knock-down-drag-out slogs filled with blood and swearing. We asked what your favorite specialty tools were and here are your answers:
Read MoreJanuary is almost over, which means it’s time to actually set some real goals for the year that aren’t coated in a rose-tinted sheen of New Year’s Resolutions. I know we’ve all cheated on our diets, or ignored the gym, or cut someone off in traffic despite vowing to change our ways. Today, the staff of Jalopnik comes before you, humbled, and ready to share our definitely achievable automotive goals for 2023.
Read MoreOne of the great things about being a car enthusiast is having the ability to recognize a car for being a good or terrible buy. But that can also be the curse of this enthusiast life as well. This job requires us to look at cars all day, and because this is Jalopnik, we also continue to look at them after hours. It also means we’re constantly tempted by purchasing cars we know better than to buy—the allure of a cheap fun or cheap performance car can be just too strong to ignore.
Read MoreShaking a reputation as a car that’s unreliable can take decades to undo. As it turns out, the perception of South Korean and British carmakers from Hyundai Motor Group and Jaguar Land Rover is skewed by the past, and these brands are still carrying a bit of that unreliability baggage.
Read MoreWorking on one’s own car can be a source of joy and excitement, or it can be a miserable frustrating experience that leads you to spew obscenities at the vehicle and everyone around you. The difference between the two can often be having the right tool, and sometimes that’s a specialist tool beyond your average ratchet and socket set or impact driver.
Read MoreEnthusiasts love to debate which car is the best one in a given segment or price range, and we especially love to complain about all the things we don’t like about a particular car. It’s just what we do. But what we don’t talk enough about is the cars that are neither great nor terrible. There are plenty of perfectly serviceable cars out there that probably won’t get you excited about driving or owning them but also won’t give you anything to complain about.
Read MoreI’m often surprised by how much a bad reputation can stick. Even with many newer makes and models, some folks tend to apply an outdated view of how reliable or not a car is. So, I want to know which modern cars you think still struggle with a past reputation that’s labeled them as unreliable — and whether or not these newer models deserve that reputation.
Read MoreDid you know that the Hyundai Ioniq 5 is a very good electric vehicle? And did you know that the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is a very good performance vehicle? Of course, you do. Because they both keep winning end-of-the-year awards.
Read MoreThere are a lot of reasons you can end up waiting for a car. It might launch elsewhere first, it might get held up on delivery or it might be teased for months and months before it goes on sale. But whatever the reason for waiting, some cars are just so worth it.
Read MoreWhen car companies are stuck churning out facelifts and generational updates, it can be a bit of a drag for designers. This leads them to create some truly outlandish one-offs as a means of letting off steam.
Read MoreThere are a lot of ways we’re left waiting these days. It could be the long wait for your sick new Motocompo gloves to be dispatched, or the delays in your local coffee shop while you wait for fresh croissants to come out. You can also be left waiting in the car world too, maybe you’re stuck at traffic lights longer than you’d like, end up on hold to insurers longer than is necessary or wait weeks for a new catalytic converter to show up after yours was swiped.
Read MoreLook, not every car is a winner. But out of those that aren’t, they aren’t all losers either. There’s always a middle ground, a gray area: Cars that are just forgettable. Yesterday, we asked for the most forgettable cars to ever join your stable, and today we’re walking through your answers. Let’s see what you said.
Read MoreBelieve it or not, just about every car maker has a fun side. Car companies have teams of designers and engineers that just want to break all the rules and create something that’s a bit bonkers. Their outlet for such creativity is in the show cars, concepts and one-off builds that carmakers wheel out from time to time to grab a few headlines.
Read MoreAh, the art of buying used cars. It’s arcane, complicated, and often difficult to find a good buy on sites like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, and even harder at used car lots. The trick, it seems, is to watch for red flags — like the red flags we asked you all about yesterday. Let’s take a look at your answers, shall we?
Read MoreStruggling online used car retailer Carvana is doing all it can to ward off a hostile takeover — including a “poison pill” maneuver. Illinois dealers are appealing the state’s direct-to-customer EV sales ruling, and BYD is taking a cautious approach when it comes to entering the U.S. market. All these stories and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, January 18, 2022.
Read MoreMost readers of this fine, esteemed motoring website have long automotive histories, filled with all sorts of interesting, characterful vehicles. From Alfas and Miatas to off-roading Jeeps and classic muscle cars, all you Jalops seem to have exquisite taste in four-wheeled transportation. Today, though, we’re talking about the exact opposite.
Read MoreWhen you settle down to watch a movie or TV show, how often do you find yourself dreaming of driving the star car? Something like the Aston Martin Vanquish from “Die Another Day” or the Ford Mustang from “Bullitt” both look like great fun to drive.
Read MoreWe’ve all been there. You’re shopping for your next car, and you spot a great listing, but something seems a little bit off. The Craigslist ad looks great, the photos all show a car in seemingly excellent working order, but there’s a nagging feeling in the back of your mind that you just can’t seem to get rid of. Something’s wrong.
Read MoreWhat makes a car luxurious? Is it the ticket price, the features you find inside or even the styling on the outside? Whatever your gauge on luxury, there are probably a few niceties you expect from any car that’s commanding this premium. But are there any that promise a luxurious driving experience, but fall well short of the mark?
Read MoreThere have been some great movie cars over the years. There are icons like the Delorean from Back to the Future, James Bond’s endless stream of Aston Martins, and the Batmobile. And let’s not forget all those famous motors from the small screen too, like Walter White’s Pontiac Aztek or the Ford Capri driven by The Professionals.
Read MoreLet’s face it: Nardo Gray is played out. It’s been done too much, it’s too common, and we need a new hot trend in automotive paint to draw everyone’s attention away. Yesterday, we asked you all to come up with that new trend, and today we’re looking through your answers to gaze into the future of car aesthetics.
Read MoreThere was muted excitement in the office this week as we apparently had a new king of luxury cars here in the U.S., which swanky German automaker was on top form today? Well, it turned out not to be Mercedes or BMW or anyone else like that. Instead, it was America’s own Tesla.
Read MoreWe’ve all been there — an unavoidable situation, one where you may not have intentionally gotten yourself in trouble but it found you all the same. In those circumstances, it’s often only luck that gets us out unscathed. Yesterday, we asked you for your luckiest driving saves, and today we’re reading through your stories. Let’s see what you said.
Read MoreFor the past few years, there’s been an unsettling homogeneity in automotive paints. See, it’s been a decade since Audi introduced us all to Nardo Gray, and for that decade we’ve all lived under the tyranny of its flat-non-metallic-gray-under-high-gloss-clear-coat aesthetic. Everyone wanted it, whether through OEM paint or attempts to mimic the finish using vinyl wraps.
Read MoreThe 2010s were an interesting time in America. The decade kicked off with hope for change and ended in a downhill slide into what became a raging global pandemic. Much like the varying degree of a “where we started, where we’re at,” the vehicles produced in that same decade had some awkward starts and well, meh endings.
Read MoreAt some point in your driving career, it’s likely you’ll end up in a bad situation. You’ll over-drive the conditions, slide out on ice, or just fall victim to the poor driving habits of others. But no matter how you get into that situation, you won’t always be able to get yourself out — sometimes, only luck can do that.
Read MoreWe all know how it works by now, every few years carmakers roll out minor tweaks to their best-selling models to keep people interested before they unveil an entirely new generation of car. It’s a formula automakers have been following for decades.
Read MoreWe’re now three years into the 2020s (two if you’re annoying about when decades end), so we thought it would be a good time to look back at the 2010s with a bit of a critical lens. That idea brings us to today’s question.
Read MoreIt might not feel like it in some parts of the country, but it’s winter. I know, it sounds crazy, doesn’t it? And, in a season that traditionally brings awful weather such as snowstorms, freezing temperatures and bitter wind-chill, it’s best to be prepared for the worst when you hit the road.
Read MoreIt’s always been the case that some cars age gracefully and even appear timeless, while others struggle with the changing times and soon start to look dated. And as we barrel headfirst into a new year, we’re starting to take stock of the cars that are beginning to show their age.
Read MoreLook, I’ll admit it: Not every minute spent behind the wheel is a good one. Some of them are boring, unsettling, or downright terrifying. Yesterday, those were the moments we asked about — your worst driving moments of 2022. You had precious few stories, but stories nonetheless. Let’s see what you said.
Read MoreHere in New York it might be a balmy 17 degrees Celsius (or what I imagine is around 120 degrees Fahrenheit), but winter is coming. We’ve already had one hefty snowstorm sweep the country, and it feels like only a matter of time before another one parades through town, coating everything in ice and snow. And when that happens, you want to make sure you’ve got the right tools for the job. Nice boots, a good shovel, and a car that won’t disintegrate at the first sign of poor weather.
Read MoreFellas, we made it to 2023, and that’s a big achievement in itself. But, that hasn’t stopped you all from aiming even higher. That’s what led us to yesterday’s question.
Read MoreAs an avid Jalopnik reader, you’re probably a fan of this whole “driving” thing we’ve got going on. Cars, trucks, abandoned decades-old bicycles, there’s something to like about each one. But once in a while, you’ll have a moment behind the wheel (or behind the handlebars) that’s just downright bad. Whether terrifying or boring, everyone has a driving moment they’d count as their worst.
Read MoreWelcome to 2023, the year in which cars from 1998 start becoming legal to import under the United States’ arcane 25 year law. Can you believe 1998 was 25 years ago? I’m pretty sure that I’m now the oldest person to have ever lived. Way back in 2022, oh so long ago, we asked what 1998-built cars you’d like to import in 2023, and now it’s time to look through your responses. Some of them even met the criteria.
Read MoreHappy 2023, folks! There’s just about an entire brand-spanking-new year ahead of us that’ll give everyone plenty of time to hit all sorts of goals and milestones. That’s what leads us to today’s question.
Read MoreWell, here we are: The start of a new year. I’d ask how your resolutions are faring on this second day of 2023, but I thought I’d ask something that doesn’t require you to admit that, actually, you also still didn’t go to the gym today. What are your automotive predictions for 2023?
Read MoreThe Haas F1 Team has unveiled its livery ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season. While the American team has clarified that the digital model isn’t a full representation of its car for the upcoming season, it does offer the first chance to see MoneyGram logos prominently featured on its livery. MoneyGram, a money transfer company, entered a multi-year title sponsorship agreement with Haas last October. The deal is believed to take Haas’ budget up to F1’s $135 million cost cap, which has raised quest
Read MoreThe IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship gave fans at the track and around the world an exciting premiere for its new era of racing. Acura left the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona triumphant after securing a 1-2 finish in the first race for IMSA’s revived GTP class. A record crowd was on hand at Daytona International Speedway to see the new racing cars produced by Acura, BMW, Cadillac and Porsche.
Read MoreAudi has purchased a minority stake in the Sauber Formula 1 team (which is currently doing business as Alfa Romeo F1), as the manufacturer outlined in its plans announced last October. The German automaker is scheduled to join the world championship in three years. The 2026 F1 season might seem like an eternity away, but both Audi and Sauber are taking important steps to ensure they are as competitive as possible when the time comes.
Read MoreIf you’ve been crowned the best in the world at the one thing you’ve worked at all your life, what do you do next? Would you stick at it, trying to keep holding onto your crown, or would you retire graciously to leave a cloud of mystery around your legacy? For ex-champions Jenson Button and Jimmie Johnson, it doesn’t sound like they’re taking either option, and are instead just having a go at whatever they fancy.
Read MoreThe convergence of GT regulations to GT3 in all significant sports car championships by 2024 meant that we would see brand-new racing cars from several manufacturers. In the build-up to the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona, Chevrolet has unveiled the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R. The first-ever factory-backed Chevrolet GT3 racecar will make its competitive debut in a year at the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Read MoreWhile Red Bull Racing developed the RB18 into one of its most dominant Formula 1 cars of all time, Ferrari took itself out of the title fight. The legendary Italian racing team had a competitive car early in the 2022 season but failed to capitalize on it fully. Ferrari made numerous strategic error that hindered its on-track performance. Now, the team’s new principal is looking to make systemic changes within Ferrari’s strategy department.
Read MoreThe last time a V8 powered a Porsche prototype race car was nearly two decades ago in the RS Spyder that competed in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) LMP2 class. The LMP2 car may have experienced some growing pains at first, but overall it was incredibly successful, winning the championship title every year it ran in the series, from 2006 to 2008. When it came time for Porsche and Penske Motorsport to return to the next-generation Prototype class in both IMSA and WEC, it was only natural for t
Read MoreIt’s quite a time to be a motorsport fan right now. Formula 1 is booming in popularity like never before, IndyCar is attracting a host of talented drivers to the series, and Formula E is plowing ahead with its fastest electric racer ever. It genuinely feels like motorsport is going through something of a renaissance.
Read MoreLast weekend’s Monte Carlo Rally was a decidedly snow-free affair, in much the same way 2022's Monte Carlo Rally was. In recent years, the World Rally Championship has had to face the realities of global warming, having moved Rally Sweden up north by 500 miles last season to ensure wintry stages. The WRC doesn’t appear to want to do that for Monte, however, even at the behest of its drivers.
Read MoreWhile Andretti Global might be the name of Andretti Autosport’s parent company and its potential Formula 1 entry, Michael Andretti wants Global to carry as much meaning as his family’s name in the organization’s identity. In the build-up to the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Andretti told Motorsport.com, “With our new partners that we have with Andretti Global, our goal is to be in every major racing event in the world, and obviously Le Mans is one of the big ones. So, down the road, we definitely want to
Read MoreHow does one rank the finest motorsport liveries of all time? It’s not really something you can apply science to, so here’s what we’re going to do: I’ll list my top 15, you’ll disagree with me, and then we’re going to talk it over in the comments. While I can’t promise that you’ll love the order, I am pretty certain that if you clicked on this, you’re bound to find something you like ahead. Plus, the vintage photography is phenomenal. Let’s look at some cool old race cars, shall we?
Read MoreLive onboard footage is the easiest way to put television viewers right into the midst of wheel-to-wheel racing on the track. Though, nothing portrays the visceral experience of driving an F1 car better than a camera mounted inside the driver’s helmet. Formula 1 introduced its Driver’s Eye helmet camera system during the 2021 season on a trial basis. Now, F1 is expanding the system’s use.
Read MoreImola Circuit received a fine for violating noise restrictions with a single Formula 1 car. While the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari might be officially named after the founder of the iconic sports car manufacturer and his son, the racing circuit is synonymous with the Italian town it sits in. According to Motorsport Week, the circuit fell foul of the community’s noise restrictions, despite hosting races in Imola for the past 70 years.
Read MoreThe 2023 IMSA WeatherTech Championship kicks off next week with the Rolex 24 at Daytona and, with it, a new generation of GTP hybrid prototypes. Between Cadillac, Porsche, Acura and BMW, there’s plenty of change to be enthusiastic about within the top class, but one difference that may surprise you on race day will be the sound coming from pit lane.
Read MoreIt’s amazing what you can do when your country is home to the third most valuable natural resource reserve in the world. Just this year, Saudi Arabia has tried to coax F1 teams out to the Middle East, confirmed it’ll be a fixture on the F1 calendar for at least the rest of the decade and now teased a plan to try and buy the entire damn sport.
Read MoreFormula 1 might have only managed to confirm its 2023 calendar earlier this week, but circuits around the world are already preparing for the future. And, while race promoters begin hashing out contracts for future F1 races at their tracks, I’m sad to report that one circuit looks set to stay on the calendar for longer than we’d like.
Read MoreMcLaren Racing’s growth in the past decade has been astonishing. From a Formula 1 team sprung efforts in IndyCar, Extreme E, and Formula E — and that very well could be just the beginning. In fact, Zak Brown already has his eye on the next big prize: the World Endurance Championship.
Read MoreSince its inception, one of Formula E’s greatest challenges has been its insistence on street racing in city centers. In theory, bringing motorsport to the people is a great way to find new fanbases. In reality, locals aren’t always thrilled about road closures, and the changing tides of government leave FE up to the whims of politicians. That’s why CEO Jamie Reigle sees a strong future for FE in circuits like Portland International Raceway.
Read MoreThe world of Formula 1 is a strange one filled with secretive contracts, dodgy deals and sky-high salaries. But, in order to get there, drivers need a huge amount of cash to fund their rise through the junior ranks of regional single-seater racing, F3 and then F2. One driver that’s done just that, and won a Formula E title in the process, is Nyck de Vries, who will make his full-time F1 debut for Alpha Tauri in 2023.
Read MoreIn its nine years of existence, Formula E has seen its fair share of ups and downs. The evolution of the much maligned mid-race car swap, for example, transformed FE’s image into something more serious — but the sport has also struggled to maintain a grasp on the teams and manufacturers. When Audi, BMW, and later Mercedes all announced their departures from FE, critics were quick to point out the series was struggling. Those same critics, though, have been rather quiet in the face of new entrant
Read MoreSince Zak Brown took control of the McLaren Racing program in 2018, he’s been hellbent on expanding the team’s historic portfolio to encompass just about, well, everything. From a focus on Formula 1, we’ve seen a McLaren expansion into IndyCar, Extreme E, and, most recently, Formula E, with the program signing up much of motorsport’s most promising talent. What is it, though, about McLaren that actually works?
Read MoreThe concept of the all-electric open-wheel series that would become Formula E was first announced when I was just discovering my intense love of all things motorsport, and I decided that I was all in. The first round of drivers included former Formula 1 drivers I’d loved and legacy names I wanted to know more about: Nico Prost, Bruno Senna, Nick Heidfeld, Jerome D’Ambrosio. Little did I know that my decision to follow this brand-new series would become a love affair that has lasted a decade.
Read MoreThe “will they, won’t they” dance around the Chinese Grand Prix has been ongoing for what seems like forever. The event was first canceled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and Formula 1 hasn’t raced there since. Now, after the event made a brief appearance on the 24-race-strong 2023 calendar, F1 has once again confirmed that the Chinese Grand Prix won’t, in fact, take place this year.
Read MoreAlessandra Ciliberti laughs when I ask her about the recent challenges of her job. She’s serving as the Gen3 Technical Project Leader at the FIA, helping to guide Formula E into its newest incarnation of lighter, faster, and more powerful cars — and when I sit down with her, it’s nine in the morning on Friday the 13th, which also happens to mark the first on-track session of the 2023 FE race season. Ciliberti laughs, and she says two words that sum it all up: “A lot.”
Read MoreKyle Larson will join the ranks of many other past NASCAR drivers with an entry in the 2024 Indianapolis 500. The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Champion will attempt the legendary 500-mile race with the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team and co-owned by his Cup Series team owner Rick Hendrick, along with sponsorship from HendrickCars.com. Larson’s car number and livery will be revealed at a later date as there’s an ample amount of time until the 2024 edition of the Memorial Day Classic.
Read MoreIt’s a big day, the trailer for the new series of Drive to Survive is here, along with the news that we’ll get to enjoy every new episode on February 24. How exciting.
Read MoreIt is less than a month away from the competitive debut of IMSA’s next-generation GTP sports prototype category. The Rolex 24 at Daytona will see several brand-new race cars take to the legendary speedway’s 3.56-mile road course, including the Cadillac V-LMDh. Three Cadillacs will attempt to win overall honors at the 24-hour race at the end of January. Much is already known about the program, like the teams operating the prototypes and their drivers. However, it wasn’t precisely known what the c
Read MoreIt’s a big week for famous people doing stuff they aren’t necessarily known for. After tennis star Rafael Nadal announced he was dipping a toe into all-electric speedboat racing, Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz came out and told the world he would be racing full-time in ARCA this year.
Read MoreLast November, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson announced that he had bought a stake in the Petty GMS team and was returning to compete part-time in stock car racing’s most famous championship. Johnson joined the team’s existing leadership duo of Allegiant Air CEO Maury Gallagher and seven-time champion Richard Petty. This morning on NBC’s Today, Johnson unveiled the new identity of Petty GMS as well as his new car number.
Read MoreSaudi Arabia could become the next home for at least two Formula 1 teams, McLaren and Aston Martin. For the last half-century, the United Kingdom has been the center of the Formula 1 universe — seven of F1’s ten current teams are based in the UK. Those teams serve as regional pillars for over 4,000 racing and engineering suppliers, in a region commonly referred to as Motorsport Valley. Now, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hopes to create its own Motorsport Valley as it diversifies its economy.
Read MoreGroup B rally is legendary among auto enthusiasts and especially rally fans for being both incredibly fast and spectacularly dangerous for drivers, co-drivers, and, sadly, spectators. We’ve all seen the cars and heard the horror stories of when drivers got it wrong, but this short film, “Group B” by filmmaker Nick Rowland and starring Richard Madden, who you probably know as Robb Stark from Game of Thrones, takes a look at the toll this era of rallying had on the drivers.
Read MoreIf Formula 1 actually cares about breaking into the American market, it needs a team like Andretti Global, and it needs Andretti’s partnership with General Motors’ Cadillac Racing marque. How the sport responds to the Andretti/Cadillac bid to join the grid will easily define the sport’s trajectory of growth in the United States.
Read MoreIt’s quite an exciting time in Formula 1 right now: For the first time in years, the series is seriously considering adding a new team to the grid. A tie up between Andretti and General Motors is an attractive proposition for the sport’s 11th team, and has all the hallmarks of a successful F1 squad: big budgets, familiar names and a drive for success.
Read MoreThe 2023 Dakar Rally has been disastrous for Audi. Eight stages into the Audi RS Q E-Tron’s second attempt to win the iconic cross-country rally, the German manufacturer has no cars left in the top ten positions. The highest-placed Audi prototype, driven by Mattias Ekström, is in 28th. Ekström is over seven hours behind the leader, Toyota’s Nasser Al-Attiyah. Despite being out of contention for the overall victory, Audi is still racing for pride and stage wins.
Read MoreWe’ve all got hobbies that we enjoy outside our work life, right? Me, I like going for a hike or playing a spot of saxophone. But if you’re a 22-time grand slam winner, then activities like that just don’t cut it. So if you’re, say, Rafael Nadal you might be on the lookout for a pastime that’s a bit more high octane. Perhaps something like all-electric speedboat racing?
Read MoreIt’s safe to say no one was expecting Andretti Global and Cadillac Racing to partner up for a future Formula 1 bid, but last week, that’s just what happened. New regulations will allow potential teams to file a formal expression of interest that can be evaluated by the relevant parties before permitting that team to join the grid — but to learn more about what brought General Motors to the table, I spoke to Rory Harvey, Vice President of Cadillac’s global operations.
Read MoreLast week, Andretti Global announced a partnership with General Motors’ Cadillac Racing in its bid to join the Formula 1 grid. The announcement got the attention of the motorsport world, including F1’s current teams. GM stated that it would be supporting Andretti financially and technically and an agreement has already been made with a third-party power unit supplier. Somehow, GM’s involvement has made the opposition against Andretti from within the F1 paddock even more fierce.
Read MoreThe FIA World Rally Championship has announced that it will be withdrawing the number 43 from use for the 2023 season in tribute to Ken Block. This is the first time that a number has been retired in rallying’s most prestigious championship. Block was killed in a snowmobile accident on Monday at 55 years old. While most famous for starring in the Gymkhana stunt driving video series, Block had a respectable career in rallying, rallycross and cross-country rallying.
Read MoreThe Mazda 787B may not have been the fastest prototype to participate in the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans. In fact, it certainly wasn’t, with a qualifying time 12 seconds slower than that of the pole Sauber-Mercedes C11. But you don’t win Le Mans on speed alone, or sometimes even speed at all. Reliability and efficiency are king. That’s how Mazda became the first Japanese manufacturer to win the event, and probably the only one that will ever do it using rotary power alone. Of course, it helped that
Read MoreOne of 2022's greatest rumors was Andretti Global’s interest in joining the Formula 1 grid — one that was dashed time and time again. Now, though, new regulations making it easier for teams to express formal interest in joining the grid means that Andretti has teamed up with General Motors’ Cadillac Racing division to begin that process.
Read MoreIt’s a pretty exciting time to be a space nerd right now. Agencies around the world recently came together to launch the most advanced telescope ever into orbit, startups are promising increasingly sci-fi means of traveling into orbit and NASA is hard at work getting humans back to the moon. That mission took a step closer to reality recently, when the American space agency began testing the rocket that could get us there.
Read MoreI don’t know if you know this, but space is really freaking big. So to get there, we need to turn to some pretty enormous machines. The rockets that shoot satellites, astronauts and other craft into space can weigh hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pounds. So, they need a pretty big engine to get off the ground.
Read MoreAs hard as it is to believe, modern conspiracy theories that claim the Apollo lunar landings were a hoax don’t hold a candle to the outrageous things that the American public once believed about the moon. Long before the age of social media, and over a century before the 1960's counterculture wave in the U.S., the moon was the center of the hoax universe. And it mostly comes down to a beef that editor Richard Adams Locke had with religious scholars and other contemporary astronomers like Thomas
Read MoreLast year, there was some drama aboard the International Space Station as Russian cosmonauts were forced to abandon a spacewalk after a leak was found in a Soyuz capsule connected to the ISS. The leak, it transpired, was caused by a tiny meteoroid that hit the crew’s return ship and put the craft out of action, leaving three crew members stranded aboard, in need of rescue.
Read MoreThe new era of space travel and scientific discovery kicked off by the successful launch and return of Artemis I will be astounding, but before the big discoveries can be made astronauts will have to deal with a very Earthbound problem: Figuring out just where the heck they are.
Read MoreElon Musk is no longer the world’s richest man, according to Forbes. Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH — the conglomerate behind luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Hennessy, Bulgari, and lots of other brands you see at overpriced airport boutiques — is. Bloomberg said Tuesday that a firm tied to LVMH will be merging with Lotus to take the carmaker public, presumably emboldened by Porsche going public in September. This might, on paper, pit the world’s two richest people against each other in
Read MoreSan Francisco has just about had it with Cruise autonomous cars clogging up intersections, driving on sidewalks and even escaping arrest, or whatever it is the police do to a robotaxi that has become ungovernable. Last week, the city wrote the statehouse requesting that officials intervene with the rollout of General Motors’ driverless service, as well as Alphabet’s Waymo. Two damning letters took aim at everything from the companies’ push for blanket, city-wide, 24/7 approval, to their insisten
Read MoreOver the past few years I’ve been lucky enough to drive a large majority of the new cars on sale, from hot hatchbacks and family SUVs to ultraluxury sedans and supercars. I love getting to experience the amazing variety in the automotive industry, especially as the world is reaching a tipping point in terms of electrification. Recently, while spending a week with the 2023 Mercedes-AMG EQE, I solidified my thoughts on something that’s been brewing in my brain for a while: I don’t want to drive ga
Read MoreThe Suzuki Jimny may get a literal power boost as a fully-electric model by 2030 now that Suzuki is investing billions into electrification. After a relatively long period of uncertainty regarding its stance on EVs, Suzuki is earmarking nearly $35 billion to produce a lineup of five EV models that will go on sale in Europe by the end of the decade, and one of them could be a Jimny EV.
Read MoreA hidden loophole in the Biden administration’s regulations to curb truck pollution could end up greatly weakening the new laws. These were part of a crackdown on heavy truck pollution that’s the first of its kind in decades, according to Bloomberg. But commercial truck makers like Daimler and Navistar pushed for an exemption to the stricter emissions under cold weather conditions, which allegedly hamper their engines’ abilities to curb pollution.
Read MoreThe Tesla Model 3 and Model Y might soon have the option of physical buttons and knobs to give owners tactile control over certain functions buried in the touchscreen. Rather than furiously tap and slide on climate settings or other features that have no business behind a screen, Tesla owners can look forward to an aftermarket accessory called the Ctrl-Bar that adds actual buttons to their screens. That is, if the crowdfunded input device can make it to production.
Read MoreA couple weeks ago, Tesla dropped the price of its Model Y in the U.S. by $13,000, probably in part because they are worried about demand, though also because the IRS deemed the Model Y a car. That meant the Model Y wouldn’t qualify for tax incentives because its old price was over the $55,000 limit, but its new price, $52,990, would qualify. Now Tesla has changed the Model Y’s starting price again, to $53,490, without explanation.
Read MoreWhen you think of a Ferrari, what immediately comes to mind? Is it the Prancing Horse emblem, a flash or scarlet, or the roar of a combustion engine? Well, while the brand’s personal palette and Cavallino Rampante aren’t going anywhere, the electric revolution could be set to change the signature sound of a Ferrari.
Read MoreTo be blunt, public EV charging sucks. Chargers can be unreliable and nonoperative when you need them, a problem that’s hampering EV adoption. We need more chargers, specifically DC fast chargers. California, at the forefront of EV adoption, wants to make EV charging more reliable as Car & Driver reports. State officials want to make charging more reliable and hold EV charging companies responsible for unreliability.
Read MoreKia’s third EV to come to consumers, after the Niro EV and hot selling EV6, will be the large EV9 crossover. Previewed by the 2021 concept—the automaker has teased the upcoming crossover, but it’s been quiet about specs. But if a report from Car & Driver is to be believed, the upcoming EV crossover will offer up to 400 hp and cost over $73,000.
Read MoreNew York City is expanding the use of traffic cameras equipped with sound meters to catch cars and motorcycles that make excess noise. These new video and audio devices record the license plates of offending vehicles as they loudly drive by, in the same way that roadside cameras snap photos of speeding cars, as the Associated Press reports. Fines for illegally loud bikes and cars can go up to $2,625, prompting some car enthusiasts in New York to push back, as they think the city is going too far
Read MorePorsche is bringing modern infotainment into the cabin of its cars from the 2000s, including the 911, Boxster, Cayman and Cayenne. Porsche Classic is offering to update the dashboard of certain models with a pricey new head unit that brings a touchscreen, USB connectivity, Bluetooth, SiriusXM radio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality.
Read MoreIt’s easy to get fatigued by alternative-energy restomods. The thought of taking a beloved enthusiast car and transforming it to ensure continued enjoyment for hundreds of more miles is very enticing, but also very unattainable. That’s why I find cars like the AE86 H2 and EV concepts that Toyota just revealed for the Tokyo Auto Salon so bittersweet. There’s a silver lining to these experiments though: you might just be able to drive them one day.
Read MoreThe Genesis GV60 is a great little EV; it’s quick, quirky and super nice inside. It’s also the first production car that’ll let you get in and drive solely through the use of biometric tech — no key fob or smartphone required. You can unlock the GV60 with your face and turn it on with your fingerprint; it’ll even remember your seat position and personalized settings. Man, this really is the future.
Read MoreCybersecurity researchers managed to hack into California’s new digital license plates, which are sold and managed by tech company Reviver. The digital plates, called Rplates, went on sale in California late last year, but it was only a matter of time before hackers found a backdoor into Reviver’s systems.
Read MoreOne potential downside of the EV revolution is that the people who love to modify and tune their vehicles, won’t be able to. Electric vehicles depend on lines of code and software to instead of those finely tuned engines, and instead of needing just a part to upgrade performance, you’ll need computer access and codes. Automakers hold the keys to the codes, and many are opting to hold onto them preciously. Dodge—a brand that attracts the modifying-hungry fans—says it too will keep EV performance
Read MoreThe Peugeot Inception is a concept car that Peugeot unveiled at CES on Friday that is both futuristic and also a little retro-feeling, the sort of car a child might make if tasked with making a car from the future. The Inception will also, Peugeot said, be the inspiration for every Peugeot from 2025 going forward, even the compact ones.
Read MoreHydrogen as a vehicle fuel, particularly hydrogen as a combustible rather than as a part of a fuel cell system as in a Hyundai Nexo or Toyota Mirai, is kind of contentious. It’s not a super efficient way to make power, and while Toyota is tinkering with the technology in race cars these days, BMW tried to make it a thing in the early aughts with the Hydrogen 7.
Read MoreNow that BYD is ostensibly the largest EV maker in the world, the company is entering the luxury segment with the debut of Yangwang. The new BYD sub-brand is meant to compete with European luxury marques like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, according to the Financial Times. And it could do so beyond China by exporting fully-electric SUVs and supercars like the Yangwang U8 and Yangwang U9.
Read MoreThe auto industry is in the middle of a big shift to EVs, so now would be a good time for it to hunch down, hands on knees, and catch its breath. Or if the auto industry won’t, then we, the buyers, should because U.S. automakers may be rushing us down the wrong way with bigger, faster but not better EVs.
Read MoreChinese automaker BYD outsold Tesla by a wide margin last year with the help of its inexpensive electric cars. BYD has now become the biggest EV maker in the world, according to the South China Morning Post, but only when accounting for its sales of both fully-electric and plug-in hybrid models.
Read MoreWhile EVs are on the come-up, not everyone wants to drive them. Many, especially gearheads, still want an old-fashioned internal combustion engine. The problem is pollution, which is what EVs aim to solve. But what if you could have the best of both worlds: no shitty emissions and the ability to still drive a regular engine? Enter synthetic fuel. And Mazda may have proven that trouble-free emissions can be possible with synthetic fuel with no modifications necessary.
Read MoreTesla if one of those bleeding edge, forward-thinking #disruptor companies —the kind of company that would have kombucha on tap if it cared about its employees. As such, it’s deeply interested in cryptocurrency as the future — and deeply invested to match. So invested, in fact, that the company was able to lose $140 million on Bitcoin alone in 2022.
Read MoreIf you weren’t aware, the extremely real Tesla Cybertruck was designed with inspiration from the DeLorean DMC-12. That means hard edges, angles, and —most importantly — that smooth, unpainted stainless steel finish.
Read MoreLast year was supposed to be a banner year for Tesla. The company was spinning up new factories while expanding existing ones, continually raising the prices on its cars without seeing a drop in demand. Expectations were high for the top-selling EV maker in the United States. Then it all came tumbling down.
Read MoreTesla’s experiment of forcing the steering yoke on their customers seems to have come to an end, at least for now. The EV maker has restored the wheel on the build pages of its Model S and Model X, and buyers can now opt for the practical, fault-free, time-tested steering method instead of one that’s objectively unsafe and confusing but looks cool to nerds.
Read MoreWelcome to 2023, everybody. As the rest of us are taking down our streamers and disposing of our novelty New Year’s eyeglasses, automakers are carrying out a much less mirthful task: Compiling and releasing their year-end sales numbers for 2022. These are the figures that stock traders love, metrics by which investors justify all those dollars spent betting on their corporation of choice. But for Tesla, those numbers seem to be dragging the company even further down.
Read MoreIf you’re new to the Tesla family there’s a good chance you’re angry, General Motors capped last year strong and Mazda wants you to know that the Miata will be with us until the end of time, as true love always is. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 31, 2023.
Read MoreToyota is on top once again, Nissan and Renault have put the past to bed and Volvo won’t give up car subscriptions. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Monday, January 30, 2023.
Read MoreNobody thinks Akio Toyoda won’t be an active participant in Toyota’s future, Senator Joe Manchin’s attempt to curb existing electric vehicle tax credits has hit a predictable snag, and Ford can’t ignore Formula 1 any longer. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 27, 2023.
Read More‘Morizo’ himself is stepping down, Tesla will go to new lengths to keep costs down as it cuts prices, and Renault and Nissan each have homework to do if their marriage is going to work. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Thursday, January 26, 2023.
Read MoreThe electric vehicle tax credit’s biggest enemy will stop at nothing, Tesla’s doubling down on Semi production in Nevada, and Volvo has a big recall on its hands. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, January 25, 2023.
Read MoreSome automakers are struggling to convince first-time buyers to return to the showroom, Elon Musk testified that he really believed he’d be able to take Tesla private in 2018 with some help and Audi took Nio to court and won. All that and more in The Morning Shift for January 24, 2023.
Read MoreIt took the government six years to determine that the Ford Explorer doesn’t have an exhaust problem, Ford’s EV tie-up with Volkswagen will result in hundreds of job cuts in Europe, and General Motors and LG don’t seem to be getting along. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Monday, January 23, 2023.
Read MoreTesla’s stock price collapse has almost completely overshadowed drastic downturns from Lucid and Rivian, Toyota is gearing up for a production comeback after a number of cuts, and a parts shortage means an Italian Stellantis plant will grind to a halt. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Friday, January 20, 2023.
Read MoreElon Musk’s Tesla trial is beginning, Alpine wants to give the U.S. a shot, and German authorities want Tesla’s Berlin plant to rev up those fryers. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Thursday, January 19, 2023.
Read MoreFord and Volkswagen’s many fruitful years of partnership already appear to be winding down, the class action trial over Elon Musk’s infamous tweet kicks off today and Renault and Nissan continue to go through it. All that and more in this Tuesday edition of The Morning Shift for January 17, 2023.
Read MoreThe rapid growth of electric vehicle sales in around the globe may begin to slow down in 2023, EV maker Lucid beat its production targets even though it struggled to deliver cars, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is doubling down in court over his “funding secured” tweet. All these stories and more in The Morning Shift for Friday, January 13, 2023.
Read MoreMercedes looks to be ditching its EQ branding, investors want Elon Musk to stand trial in San Fransisco, and Beijing may tamp down Tesla’s Shanghai expansion plans. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Thursday, January 12, 2023.
Read MoreEV maker Tesla wants to expand its factory in Austin, Texas to the tune of $775 million, a new study shows traffic crashes cost U.S. society billions, and Tesla is also nearing a deal to set up a factory in Indonesia. All of this and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, January 11, 2023.
Read MoreUsed car sites are cutting their advertising spend and you’ll be able to tell in about a month, the U.S. government wants to end transportation emissions once and for all it was a decent year for some German brands, a worse one for others. All that and more in your Morning Shift for Tuesday, January 10, 2023.
Read MoreRolls Royce recorded its best-selling year of all time, Honda makes it sound like its Acura marque might be dead in another market and Tesla buyers are protesting in China as the automaker keeps slashing prices around the world. All this and more in The Morning Shift for Monday January 9th 2023.
Read MoreIf you own a Mercedes-Benz SUV there could be a recall coming your way, Stellantis’ CEO really doesn’t like how Chinese automakers can churn out EVs for so much less than it can, and BMW’s CEO thinks big infotainment screens will fade away, only to potentially be replaced with something even less safe. All that and more in this Friday edition of The Morning Shift, for January 6, 2023.
Read MoreFord is American’s number two EV builder, China discontinued its electrification incentives, and Tesla can’t seem to move its China-built cars. All that and more in The Morning Shift for Thursday, January 5, 2023.
Read MoreAuto sales in the United States took a big hit in 2022 due to a number of factors, people want to buy electric vehicles but cannot get past the high prices, and electric truck maker Rivian just barely missed its production target for 2022. All of those stories and more in The Morning Shift for Wednesday, January 4, 2023.
Read MoreTesla will have to pay South Korea a little more than $2 million over alleged false advertising, the EV maker has a bona fide second-in-command behind Elon Musk now, and Hyundai and Kia have hopeful targets for the new year. All that and more in this January 3, 2023 edition of The Morning Shift.
Read MoreToyota shocked everyone with the 2023 Prius. I didn’t know what to expect, but I certainly didn’t expect a Prius that would make me say “I’d buy that.” It’s also nice to know that with that striking new design comes pricing that won’t empty your pockets. Including a $1,095 destination charge, the Prius starts at $28,545.
Read MoreYesterday, a new commuter rail terminal opened in New York City. Built beneath the historic Grand Central Terminal, the new Grand Central Madison was designed to give Long Island Rail Road commuters direct access to the east side of Manhattan. The new deep-level LIRR terminal was styled to look modern while still emulating the Beaux-Arts design of the original Grand Central. But the Beaux-Arts movement never accounted for tweets.
Read MoreA runaway train led firefighters in southern Germany on a dramatic chase after the train’s engine went up in flames. Emergency officials near the village of Strass had been called to stop a train fire when the burning train started rolling downhill, picking up speed as it traveled toward the border of Austria. The diesel engine was driverless at the time, according to the Associated Press.
Read MoreA train collision in Mexico City killed one person and injured at least 59 others on January 7, according to early reports from Reuters and the Associated Press. The number is now up to 106 injured, according to El País (link in Spanish). The crash pinned four passengers in the wreckage, including one of the train conductors who was later rushed to the hospital with grave injuries.
Read MoreAt about 11 p.m. Monday night, a CSX freight train hit an unoccupied vehicle that was stuck on the tracks, causing the train to derail. The incident forced Amtrak to reroute some of its passenger trains to avoid the area of the crash. But according to ABC News, what started as an inconvenience soon turned into a nightmare for the 563 passengers riding on the Amtrak Auto train, which was delayed for 20 hours in South Carolina waiting for a new crew to arrive and get the passenger train to its des
Read MoreWhen you think about the timeline of personal transportation, what does it look like to you? In my mind, it goes something like horseback riding, then some kind of animal-pulled carriage before everyone took to bikes and eventually cars. There would, of course, have been a pretty long gap in between each new development.
Read MoreI’m of the opinion that there’s a neat mode of electric mobility out there for everyone. If you’ve got a lot of stuff to carry ‘round, you might want a Cake bike. If you want a fun way to traverse city streets then you might opt for an electric scooter. And, if you want to scare yourself silly on your morning commute, you might want to try out the world’s fastest electric skateboard.
Read MoreElectric bikes are cool and there are some very clever people doing some fun stuff in the sector. One such brand making a fleet of pretty sleek machines is Swedish bike builder Cake, which made a name for itself with some industrial-inspired electric motorbikes and mopeds. But now, the company has unveiled its first pedal-assist e-bike.
Read MoreLike the concept of public transportation in general, the United States briefly dabbled with the idea of women-only train and subway cars in the early 19th century. A women-only compartment was trialed in New York City for a few months in 1909, but was never fully realized. Despite a measurable increase in ridership, significant opposition to a permanent change shelved the women-only concept in America’s largest city and the rest of the county.
Read MoreBetween the Silverado EV and GMC Hummer, General Motors has sort of got the big electric pickup angle covered. But what about something smaller — a lot smaller? The company already has a vision for one and is assessing its market viability, based on a report from Automotive News.
Read MoreIt’s amazing what your brain becomes blind to after years of repeated exposure. There was probably once a time, when I was very small, where I rode in the back back seat of my mom’s 1992 Dodge Caravan and stared out the pop-out window, wondering why tractor trailer and work truck wheels looked so paradoxically sunken and bulbous. And then I put that thought away for many years, as we do. But there are reasons trucks are the way they are, as we’ve discussed before. And today, we’re going to tackl
Read MoreThe campground at Leo Carrillo State Park in Malibu, California is lovely, but you’re not exactly roughing it. There are park restrooms with indoor plumbing and a Starbucks 10 minutes down the road. Each campsite has a fire pit with a built-in cooking grate and there’s a cute little store where a disaffected local teenager will sell you firewood, medicine, snacks and booze. Every night, you can catch a postcard-worthy sunset on the beach of the Pacific Ocean. It’s camping for people who don’t to
Read MoreA new year means new off-roaders are on the way, either as models that debuted at the end of last year, or models we’ve known about for a while that are only now gearing up for the trail. Off-road models are arguably as popular as they have been for the last few years — which is to say very.
Read MoreConsidered by many to be the toughest Dakar route in recent memory, the 2023 rally passed from the Red Sea camp to the other side of the country in Dammam. Encountering a range of surfaces and landscapes along the snaking route, the drivers’ navigational skills will be pushed to the limit, not to mention their levels of determination and their ability to endure extreme discomfort.
Read MoreOn the eve of the final stage of the 2023 Dakar Rally, the bivouac is eerily quiet. This is the event’s roving center of operations, trucks and tents and everything else that the competitors leave behind every morning, only to find it again in the evening, reconstructed in a completely different location. After nearly 3,000 racing miles, the air of exhaustion is palpable.
Read MoreSuzuki unveiled the highly anticipated Jimny 5-Door at the Auto Expo 2023 in India, along with a few other SUVs and an EV concept called the eVX. Clearly, Suzuki is living its best life outside of the U.S., the land of trucks and SUVs. It’s ironic that the Jimny has become the kind of vehicle that appeals to Americans, but like the previous Jimny 3-Door, the bigger model is unlikely to come to the U.S.
Read MoreThe coolest custom model of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class is not a G-Class at all, but is instead a Suzuki Jimny that’s dressed up to look like the iconic off-roader from Mercedes-Benz. Japanese car tuning company DAMD calls the product of its custom Jimny body kit the “little G,” as a nod to the Mercedes G-Wagen that inspired it.
Read More“Run what you brung” is well-meaning advice, often passed down from open-minded elder car enthusiasts to young gearheads embarrassed about their shitboxes. “All that matters is that you’re having a good time,” they’ll say, in the same way a mother says “that’s nice, honey” as a four-year-old describes their day at Head Start.
Read MoreSo sometimes owning a cool older car isn’t all that fun. It can be pretty stressful and expensive because things you had planned to repair when it was convenient to do so start breaking when it’s decidedly inconvenient to do so. This is where I found myself this week with my new-ish to me 2003 Porsche 911 Carrera, but luckily, I have a good mechanic.
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