http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jalopnik.com.png http://jalopnik.com/tag/between the lines http://jalopnik.com/tag/between the lines

We try not to read ESPN columns too often because it most often ends with someone having to restrain us so before we can bash our iBook against the wall. Don't get us wrong, we love Bill Simmons and all of that, but a recent column about Jeff Gordon's identity crisis represents both the worst in writing and the worst aspects of celebrity culture in racing (since no one hosts dogfights, apparently). More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=328661&view=rss&microfeed=true

Oh dear. While our impending Sebring review will go down in teh internets annuls as "why Loverman is unemployed," one thing is certain — the 2007 Chrysler Sebring is an abomination. One of the most visually vile cars to ever come to market. However, James Healy of the full-color-weather-maps-on-page-one rag writes, "The front of the car is dramatic, alluring, exciting." Um... Bullshit! He continues, "It has a special charm, especially visually" Oy vey iz mir... Can you do that? Can you just make shit up? Really? And his paychecks don't bounce? Unbelievable. – Jonny Lieberman More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=223935&view=rss&microfeed=true

Of all the sleazy little quid pro quos practiced by the mainstream automotive press — undeclared first-class junketeering, advertising that looks like editorial, editorial that looks like advertising — the long-term test car is the most offensive. I'm sure editors can think of 500 reasons why it's OK to "test" a Ford GT for a year. I can think of one good reason why they shouldn't: It clouds their editorial judgment. IRS auditors note: Buff books like Motor Trend are some to the worst offenders. They've assembled entire fleets of freebies; erstwhile journalists dip into the company key bowl like sex-mad suburban swingers. And when it's time to "update" readers on the writers' favorite perk, what's the chance they'll pull their punches? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=175433&view=rss&microfeed=true

I'm not a big fan of bait and switch. For example, Automobile's June cover features the Bugatti Veyron's bodacious butt with the tease "Coast to Coast in the USA." In fact, Editor-in-Chief Jean Jennings drove the Bug from one side of Florida to the other. AutoWeek's editors may not practice this kind of morally reprehensible despicably dishonest deceit, but there's no question that they're willing to skirt the line between what they know we want and what they've actually got. Dozens of AW covers promise readers the inside dope on the latest four-wheeled crack — only to throw down a couple of pages of Photoshop fantasy with a bit of tarted-up conjecture. Jenis Meiners' WORLD EXCLUSIVE on the '09 Cadillac CTS Coupe is a perfect case in point. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=173869&view=rss&microfeed=true

Despite the warm hotness that is the CTS-V, the words "Cadillac" and "small" go together like "male porn star" and "small." Cadillac obviously forgot to learn that lesson back in '81, when they released the "Cimarron by Cadillac". The badge-engineered Chevrolet Cavalier — complete with in-line four and four-speed manual — was the smallest, nastiest, most heinously over-priced Cadillac ever produced — followed closely by its replacement, the Catera. (People watching Saturn's decaying orbit should note that the Catera was a rebadged Opel Omega, imported from Germany.) And now, finally, the Cimmaron has a proper suck-cessor: the BLS. It's a Euro-only model, and Motor Trend's de-capitalized paul horrell likes it. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=172321&view=rss&microfeed=true

GM must really be in trouble. When Car & Driver feels free to give the new Impala SS a black eye, the balance of power has shifted away from The General and towards... the reader? Nah, couldn't be. Maybe America's favorite automotive buff book simply got to the point where they couldn't gloss over one more crap car without writing the word "crap" a thousand times— and they knew that type of review would alienate their arthritic audience. In any case, old habits die hard. The headline over C&D's Impala hatchet job plays coy: "Powerful impulses from a car with a split personality." Or, as we say around here, Crap Car. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=170752&view=rss&microfeed=true

When Reverend Dave Thomas gets peeved about something, you know it's worthy of a fire and brimstone bombardment. Jalopnik's temporary editor is an even-tempered, temperate man whose editorial dagger remains firmly sheathed— until the Lord whispers the S-word (smite) into his ear. Well, in this case, Reverend Dave decided discretion was the better part of valor— a theory which this epistle pretty much rents asunder— and charged your humble correspondent with the wet work on Jean Jennings, smiley-faced editor of the chameleon-like Automobile magazine. Dave read her opening salvo in May's issue and took umbrage. Her sin? Pride, which goeth before the main mag in Jenning's [only partially correctly titled] "Vile Gossip" column. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=169160&view=rss&microfeed=true

As country singer and professional Burt Reynolds pal Jerry Reed sang, when you're hot, you're hot; when you're not, you're not. Of course, back when The Guitar Man recorded his career-topping paean to the joys and sorrows of shooting craps, the second gen Chevrolet Camaro was minting money for The General and Burt's struggling film career was about to receive some divine deliverance. These days, Reed's just released a live album to prove he is, Burt's had so many face lifts he looks like a distant cousin and GM's rolled the dice on its newish SUVs: the GMT900 series. So, is GM's range topper, the GMT-based Cadillac Escalade, hot or not? 'Cause if it ain't, the company's going down. I know! Let's ask The Car Connection! More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=167713&view=rss&microfeed=true

Rabid Rick Wagoner, GM's beleaguered CEO, recently responded to increasing calls for his resignation by asking The General's Board of Bystanders for a vote of confidence. While it would be uncharitable to suggest that the Board's thumbs-up is an example of the blind leading the deaf, you gotta give Ricky credit for balls. I mean, what low testosterone corporate manager would risk an Ed Koch-like "How Am I Doing?" after losing more than a dollar per human on the face of planet earth, overseeing a relentless drop in market share and cooking — I mean, "accounting errors"? What in the world could Wagoner say to sweep all THAT under the carpet? For an answer, we turn to Newsweek. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=166209&view=rss&microfeed=true

The future is a terrible investment. Consider Tommorow- land. Disney s ode to the joys of scientific progress has been causing the Mouse conniptions ever since it opened in 1967. And no wonder. Unlike the past, the future is always changing. One minute everyone s flying around with nuclear-powered backpacks popping food pills like a Jacqueline Susann character, the next they re freight training across intelligent highways in fuel cell minivans munching on apples genetically engineered to make them pay their taxes — er, more alert. Anyway, when Automobile decided to ask a futurist for a glimpse of the road ahead for their 20th anniversary issue, the results were bound to be debatable. But who knew they d be so predictable? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=160433&view=rss&microfeed=true

Our little corner of the infosphere is not immune from political considerations. We re often ground zero for petro-political debates about the connection between American foreign policy and the way the needle in your big-ass SUV's gas gauge swings to E like a Big Band bee-bopper. We re also the subject of discussions about the negative effect of the exhaust gasses blasting out of the conjoined pipes of your Cayman S on California s Mighty Redwoods. Zzzzzzz. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=158515&view=rss&microfeed=true

As bankrupt and bankrupting suppliers begin to supply General Motors with potentially lethal trouble, the debate over free trade is quickly heating-up. Despite the issue s enormous complexity, or perhaps because of it, auto writers are beginning to analyze the effect of international trade relations on American automakers and, by extension, American workers. Despite being a former GM Spinmeister, or perhaps because of it, The Car Connection scribe Gary Witzenburg has decided to tackle the Big Kahuna. If America s failing automakers and their engorged unions are looking for an excuse to assume a victim mentality, Witzenburg is happy to oblige. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=158259&view=rss&microfeed=true Daniel Howes writing for The Detroit News sets the gold standard for automotive journalism. His news pieces are comprehensive, insightful, balanced and eloquent. Lately, Howes has eased-off the hard news and ramped-up his commentary. Specifically, he s written a series of columns analyzing Motown s woes, from GM s fall from grace to the region s faltering fortunes. While keeping one foot in objective journalism, Howes has gradually become the best (if not the only) cheerleader The Big Three have got. And now he wants a word with the President. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=155960&view=rss&microfeed=true

I don t get it. Why publish a car magazine on-line that looks exactly like a buff book? Readers downloading a PDF of The Winding Road onto a normal-sized screen have to do more scrolling than a Babylonian library clerk, without any of the web's inherent advantages (embedded links, readable font, word search, easy navigation, etc.). These e-mag guys may be Luddites, but they have some big advertisers behind them - and Car and Driver and Automobile ex-jeffe David E. Davis ahead. That's right: the Dean Wormer of automotive journalists is set to helm Winding Road's newfangled net thingie. Meanwhile, here's a pertinent question: what s a car mag doing reviewing a private jet? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=155030&view=rss&microfeed=true

You may not believe this, but my mother always told me to be polite. I just never saw the point. Honest, yes, absolutely. But polite is so boring. Being snide, flip and nasty is so much more entertaining. (Why should drag queens have all the fun?) I guess that s the biggest problem with US automotive buff books: they re perfectly polite and deadly dull. This failing is easiest to see when magazines like Automobile review a real stinker like the new Cadillac XLR-V. How do you tear a substandard car a new asshole while, at the same time, kissing its ass? Over to you Mr. Johnson More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=153714&view=rss&microfeed=true

It s nice to know that automotive websites are finally welcome to suck on the corporate tit alongside their buff book brethren. For The Car Connection s recent review of the new Jaguar XK, scribe Marty Padgett joined the glossies go-getters in South Africa for a romantic interlude with the Ford s division s latest two-seater. As our fearless leader recently indicated, Jalopnik is not entirely averse to that kind of action. We will simply state our cooption up front, and report on the bacchanalia as well as the whip. Meanwhile, Marty starts his automotive post card (from the company that makes the Edge) by waxing lyrically about luxury brand imagineering. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=152984&view=rss&microfeed=true

Once upon a Time, millions of Americans digested the Newsweek with one of two general interest magazines. When it came to pop culture, Time and Newsweek spoke with one voice. And earned a reputation for being cursed; the moment an artist appeared on their cover(s), their cultural relevance was over. It s the same deal with AutoWeek. As soon as the car mag describes an automotive trend as being in the zeitgeist, it s already gone Beanie Baby. Victims include retro-muscle cars, rice rockets and now... hip hop car culture. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=152015&view=rss&microfeed=true

A decade or so ago, a left-leaning English newspaper writer could insinuate himself into the heart of America s liberal elite, send anti-American diatribes back to his champagne socialist admirers, and nobody on this side of the pond would be any wiser (so to speak). In these days of the Internet (and CSI), a hack can t get away with anything. So when professional Bush-basher Paul Harris decided to tell the UK Observer s audience How the US fell out of love with its cars , it was inevitable that his outlandish thesis would fall foul of US pistonheads. Autoblog s readers recently had a go. Now, it s our turn More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=151467&view=rss&microfeed=true

After all the build-up, Ford s Black Monday had a distinctly grayish tinge to it. The Blue Oval Boys bad news bash was pretty much what everyone expected: 30k factory jobs, 4k managerial position and 14 factories scythed from Henry s North American operations. The fine print was, of course, exceedingly fine. To wit: no mention was made of the United Auto Workers (UAW) contract, which guarantees that not one Ford assembly worker will find themselves on the street without a significant payoff. If you thought that this iron-clad income protection program would stimulate the union to show a little magnanimity towards Ford s recovery effort, think again. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=150287&view=rss&microfeed=true

It s hard to believe a German car maker would follow the advice of Winston Churchill, but there it is. If you re going through Hell, Winnie admonished his admirers. Keep going. Translation: If your flagship suffers from an overdose of kludgy electronics, add some more. To its credit, Motor Trend s undercapitalized, unattributed, parenthetical (first test) mercedes-benz s550 grasps the electronic nettle from the git-go. To its shame, the buff book never once uses the r word. But if questions about Mercedes s reliability remain unexpressed, at least Motor Trend is willing to tackle the big issues surrounding electronic intervention. Like who actually needs this shit? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=148913&view=rss&microfeed=true

While the automobile industry gorges on gorgeous, unveiling wild and sexy concept cars in LA and Detroit, the real business of the car business grinds on. GM enters 06 with its financials on the crash cart side of perilous, and it ain t anything a turbo-charged two-door with all the luggage capacity of a grocery bag is gonna fix. Almost all the General s chips now rest on the little square marked GMT900: their new(ish) SUVs and trucks. So, is it a hit? Motor Trend s persistently undercapitalized (first test) chevrolet tahoe tells the tale. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=146997&view=rss&microfeed=true

These days, Sports Car International (SCI) is a serious playa. Editor Erik Gustafson has upgraded his publication s output across the board; his glossy car mag now hunts with the big dogs. In fact, SCI s clean-room layout, automotive eye candy and spade-calling editorial make the buff books look like timid, doddering, mutant Chihuahuas. So how does SCI No. 172 tackle the big Kahuna, a.k.a the Bugatti Veyron? While the competition has set the bar at limbo levels, it s up to SCI freelancer Jeurgen Zoellter to show em how it s done. Go Zoellter, go Zoellter; it s your birthday, it s your birthday... More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=146052&view=rss&microfeed=true Jeremy Clarkson is a one man army. The English auto hack wields barely-judged invective like a malarial Crusader swinging a Damascus double mace, flailing at anyone and anything within reach. Self-deprecation and self-righteousness are the spiked balls in question. While the combination is a clear indication that Clarkson suffers from a bad case of class-related self-loathing, the journalist s deep-rooted insecurities don t detract from the fact that he s superb writer, with an instinctive command over the English language. So, does JC s prose rise to the challenge presented by the world s fastest production automobile, or does the big Bug fling him into a rhetorical cesspool of his own creation? Get your waders on boys More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=145192&view=rss&microfeed=true

EVO is the UK pistonhead's bible. While populist titles like Top Gear, What Car? and Max Power troll the Sceptered Isle's mass-market, EVO remains resolutely high church. Every month, over 60,000 adherents peruse its glossy, over-sized pages to delight in the world's best automotive photography, and absorb the strange cadences of writers dedicated to The Gods of Opposite Lock. It's somehow appropriate that the magazine was started by a gentleman farmer/car enthusiast named Harry Metcalfe. It's equally apt (in a class-bound kinda way) that The Boss would reap what he sowed, grab the Bugatti Veyron keys for himself and write EVO's review of the world's fastest production car. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=144173&view=rss&microfeed=true

Never fall in love with your writing. Authors smitten with their handiwork tend to guard even the most pointless piece of purple prose against essential self-sacrifice. The resulting read contains words, sentences and entire paragraphs that should have disappeared down the highlight-and-delete highway. And yet, there they are, just sitting there, lazing around, doing nothing special for anyone save their creator. If you re looking for particularly egregious examples of superfluous text, always scan an article s first four graphs. To see how it should be done, check out this piece from Motor Trend s decapitated feature (first drive) bugatti veyron 16.4. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=143551&view=rss&microfeed=true

You know an automaker s tag line lacks a certain piquancy when a professional car journalist can t remember it. Or his managing editor. I know Mercedes used to be engineered like no other car in the world (which is still true, but not necessarily a good thing), but what the Hell is it now? Rob Moran, MB s infinitely affable PR meister and occasional provider of cars that go AMG in the night, put us out of our misery: Unlike any other. Now what does that tell you? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=143084&view=rss&microfeed=true

I have a sneaking suspicion that the tag lines deployed by automotive advertisers are aimed at the carmaker s workforce. Your average car buyer is more likely to know the spoken intro to Madonna s La Isla Bonita than which brand offers inspiration as standard . Como puede ser verdad? I reckon it s a hangover from the eighties, when corporate mission statements were only slightly less popular than The Material Girl s seemingly unstoppable parade of hook-laden hits. Although Madonna has since descended deep into Desperate Pop Stars territory, automotive tag lines are still here and they re still a crystal clear description of the automakers intent. But not necessarily their execution More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=142491&view=rss&microfeed=true

It s Road and Track s turn to test drive the Bugatti Veyron 16.4. Reflecting the impact of a two-month lead time on its vehicular priorities, Hachette Filipacchi Medias car mag consigns the world s fastest production automobile to a corner of their front cover (in favor of the slightly more accessible Shelby GT500). At least R&T s brought/bought a big gun for their shot at the top dawg: car designer Gordon Murray. Mr. McLaren F1 inaugurates his contract with R&T with a seven-page analysis of Veyron s mechanical challenges and charms. Meanwhile, helmsmanship falls to Patrick Hong, who demonstrates a fondness for figures that puts Don Eppes to shame. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=142140&view=rss&microfeed=true

BTL salutes the New York Times. The Old Gray Lady s automotive department boasts the industry s most stringent ethical guidelines. Not only does the NYT refuse manufacturers junkets and shun any writer louche enough to suckle on the proverbial tit, but the section pays for its press cars. The cynical amongst you may attribute the papers late-out-of-the-gate reviews and curiously bloodless copy to these policies, but we re glad that the Times still sets — and upholds — the standard for journalistic integrity (in this at least). Unfortunately, the barbarians are at the gate . More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=140998&view=rss&microfeed=true

What is it with AutoWeek and Cadillac? After giving the new DTS a free pass, the weekly car mag French kisses Cadillac s performance-tuned luxobarge, the STS-V. Promises Kept the cover headline proudly proclaims. For years GM said it would battle BMW s Best. Now it Does. The eagle-eyed lawyerly-types amongst you will notice that the copy doesn t say anything about the STS-V beating Bimmer s best. The fact that the issue also includes a review of the new BMW M5 might have something to do with it. Or not. Who knows what editorial disconnect creates AutoWeek s unintentional irony. But it sure is painful to read. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=140692&view=rss&microfeed=true

This Web site and others have savaged the Subaru B9 Tribeca for its hideous snout, ugly ass, cramped interior, hateful ergonomics, anemic engine, pathetic gearbox and piss-poor mileage. Needless to say, Rich Ceppos and his fellow AutoWeek scribes don t share our editorial freedom. The magazine s lucrative relationship with their auto making sponsors demands that all punches must be pulled, all dissing dissipated. So when AutoWeek s Autofile set its sites on the horrific B9, it was inevitable that it would read more like a bi-polar apologia than a coherent analysis. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=138636&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's no secret around here that GM doesn't particularly love us. Our readership isn't exactly miniscule, we're part of a high-profile network of blogs, and we're even occasionally fun to read. Yet unlike other automakers, the General won't give us the time of day. We're not on their Fastlane blogroll, and what's more, they still won't give us access to their press site. Basically, they like to pretend we don't exist. So somebody over in Web services at GM must have it in for Mark LaNeve, because we ended up first on the list of sites that reference Mark LaNeve's latest Fastlane post regarding GM's revised Red Tag promotion. For a quick refresher, check out our Robert Farago's evisceration of LaNeve here. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=138343&view=rss&microfeed=true The General has decided to revive the moribund market for its substandard sheet metal with yet another national incentive / discount campaign. Out goes GM s Total Value Promise (something about the sticker price reflecting the actual price), less than halfway through its promised run. In comes the Toe Tag Sale — I mean, Red Tag Sale. The man who promised to stay the course is, of course, the same man who must now sell the new, new plan. And check this: Monster Mark LeNeve is blogging! More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=137371&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Chevrolet Impala embodies everything that s wrong with GM. It s not a bad car; it s just not a great one. The Impala struggles vainly to make a marque in a class filled with deeply-entrenched, top-notch competition. Road & Track s First Drive review of the new Chevrolet Impala embodies everything that s wrong with buff books. It s not an obsequious review; it s just not an honest one. Road & Track struggles vainly to maintain fading street cred in a new media world filled with editorially liberated content. In that sense, it s ironic that Shaun Bailey s apologia begins by harkening back to less demanding times... More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=137082&view=rss&microfeed=true

As far as the automotive press is concerned, Jay Leno is the gift that keeps on giving. The Tonight Show host is endlessly, relentlessly generous with both his time and his [large] jaw-dropping collection of exotic, vintage and mutant motors. To say Leno s pithy munificence has been endlessly exploited by doting car hacks would be like wondering if pre-pubescent Persian carpet makers would benefit from union representation. A quick search of Motor Trend s Web site reveals more than a dozen Leno-inclusive features. So, when Porsche approached Motor Trend with yet another JL-based idea, the temptation to file the request under DTD (Done to Death) must have been immense. Unfortunately, they resisted. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=135769&view=rss&microfeed=true

Having watched Car & Driver fumble the Bugatti-shaped literary football, it s time to check out UK weekly Autocar s take on the big Kahuna. To go flat out in the fastest car ever, the august publication threw the keys to their Editor-at-Large, Steve Sutcliffe. As Autocar s top lead foot, Sutcliffe has driven every supercar extent: Pagani, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Maserati and all those commercially doomed, massively powerful misbegotten motors produced in English, French, German, Dutch, Swedish and Swiss sheds. So it s no surprise that Sutcliffe initiates his career capping Veyron review by comparing the Bugatti Veyron to the McLaren F1. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=135035&view=rss&microfeed=true

When Car and Driver received an invitation to run the world s fastest production passenger car up to V-Max, it s no surprise that Editor-in-Chief Csaba Csere grabbed the keys. Needless to say, the assignment held its dangers— and I m not talking about the prospect of Csere ending his life in a twisted heap of mangled Volkswagen parts. (As John Lennon said when he heard of Elvis death atop the porcelain throne, it would have been an excellent career move.) I m referring to the possibility that Csere s prose would not prove itself equal to the task of describing one of the seminal events in 21st century automotive journalism. The piece certainly starts well enough More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=134493&view=rss&microfeed=true

Jalopnik s exploration of the tension between art and commerce in the review sections of various US car mags continues. Meanwhile, we couldn t help but notice a stunning example of this literary sub-genre in the 11 October issue of Brit weekly Autocar. Although Spyker doesn t advertise within Autocar s glossy pages, Chris Harris article on the Dutch automaker s C8 supercar is the single best example of this car sucks but I m not going to say so in so many words review we ve ever read to date. As the British like to say, Harris starts as he means to finish. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=132898&view=rss&microfeed=true

God knows why GM introduced their car blog. I suppose somebody s teenage son thought they should have one, so have one they do. The electronic dialogue s net effect on GM is precisely nothing — save the chance it affords kvetchers and kiss-asses to parade their prejudices. And yet Maximum Bob Lutz persists in posting. Once again, his unedited comments offer a fascinating (if unintentional) insight into the strategy and mindset of GM s top car guy. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=132266&view=rss&microfeed=true

Automotive writers serve three masters: their readers, the publication and the manufacturers who supply cars — but not in that order. While you re guessing who goes where, October 17th s AutoWeek provides yet another off-kilter example of a tri-cornered car hack struggling to balance these forces. Steven Cole Smith supplies this week s lesson in comedic tightrope walking: a review of Jaguar s Super V8 Portfolio entitled More Super Than Clark Kent. Hang on; shouldn t that be more super than Superman? The headline is the first indication of Mr. Smith s, shall we say, ambivalence More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=131680&view=rss&microfeed=true