<![CDATA[Jalopnik: News: Test Drives]]> http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jalopnik.com.png <![CDATA[Jalopnik: News: Test Drives]]> http://jalopnik.com/tag/news: test drives http://jalopnik.com/tag/news: test drives <![CDATA[Rental Car Reacharound: Toyota RAV4]]> As a frequent business traveler and a Hertz Gold Member I've had my share of Fusions, Mustangs and Tauruses (Taurii?). On a recent trip to the Bay Area I was surprised to see a utility-company-white 2006 Toyota RAV4 parked in space #312 at San Jose's Norman Y. Mineta International Airport. My company requires employees to rent at least a midsize vehicle, and occasionally Hertz has upgraded me to a full-size SUV or convertible. I guess this is one of the few times one could classify a mini-SUV as a midsize vehicle. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=205517&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Mass Displacement: PistonHeads Drives the Weineck Cobra]]> What do you get when you stick an Englishman behind the wheel of a berzerker German interpretation of an iconic American adaptation of a British sports car? How do you handle an English country lane in roadster with 12.9 liters of V8 (780 ci) under the hood, a billet crankshaft the size of Martin Short and more torque than the 7th Armored Division? Do they even make wheels (that aren't steel and set atop rails) that can handle nearly 1,300 ft.-lbs of torque? So many questions. PistonHeads' Ian Kuah has some of the answers. [Thanks to CJ for the tip.] More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=196348&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Rental Car Reacharound: 2007 Dodge Caliber]]> On a recent trip to Reno, I was "upgraded" to a 2007 Dodge Caliber by the good folks at Enterprise. (Having reserved an economy-class car, I was surprised that they would call the Caliber something other than that.) Approaching the car, my wife actually said it was "cute." I was expecting her to hate it, given Dodge itself calls the Caliber "Anything But Cute." I thought she'd much prefer the curvier Jeep Compass (which essentially is Pat to the Caliber's Hans and/or Franz). Fortunately, they didn't have a Jeep Compass on the lot. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=193522&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Test-Drive Video: Crikey, the Holden VE Commodore SS-V]]> Our mild obsession with / jealousy of Australians' access to muscle cars continues with a video from Drive.com.au of the Holden VE Commodore SS-V carving up the Holden test track in Victoria, with one of the company's engineers at the helm. Nine'een inch wheels, big V8, a lotta fun to drive. Roight! More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=192097&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Herefore Art Thou: First Drive of the Holden Commodore VE SS-V]]> What does a billion bucks buy you? If you're GM's Aussie Holden division, it's a kiss on the cheek from the 6.0-liter V8 gods and a rear-drive platform that will affect many more of the General's products. Not enough? It'll also buy into production the Commodore VE SS-V, one of those distinctly Australian muscle cars that does more to get Americans scratching their heads than two seasons of "My Fair Brady." Why, we ask, do we — the freaking muscle-car capital of the world (if we might be so bold) — not get similar machines in the states? Don't give me business-case reasons — give me cars. Aussie Drive lets us know what we're missing. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=191485&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Hype Hypercar: Driving the Ascar KZ1]]> Our mate Nick Hall points out that anyone and his Uncle Enzo can build a light, fast supercar to challenge those at the top. Building a supercar that won't cause shaken-driver syndrome over anything rougher than 60 grit sandpaper is a bit more involved. That's why at the way top — the mid-six-figure and up, top — carmakers are giving drivers a club-room experience along with their faceful of Gs. One of those is the Ascari KZ1, a car that comes with track time at the company's own raceway in Spain. Who will benefit from the Ascari's attention to every comfort-inducing detail? Hall says:
It's a hard life, well no it isn't, and there are people that genuinely live like this, wafting from society get-together to race circuit, to polo match, the kind of men that have a blonde for the morning and a brunette to end the day. These are the kind of people that will drive a KZ1 and they indeed are the privileged few.
It gives us a warm feeling to know these guys are well taken care of. Score another one for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Billionaires. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=187360&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Defying the World Cup: Fifth Gear Drives the 2007 Audi TT]]> The UK's "Fifth Gear" defies the juggernaut known as the World Cup (a capital offense in many localities) to test drive Audi's new TT in Germany Austria. They found the TT's met a few of Audi's stated, er, goals, such as to make the new model more of a driver's car than the rather aenemic previous version had been, despite its radical design. The new TT also sounds pretty damn good for a four banger. In a couple of words, they deem it, "genuinely entertaining," unlike most of the Cup games, we're afraid. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=187048&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Dan Neil Likes the Acura RDX, He Really Likes It]]> Dan Neil's back. Right, he never left physically, but if we're being honest (and we pretty much are), we'd been detecting a slight leak from his characteristic wit of late. If his Muse had left the building, she was only out for lattes (or a Double-Double with extra avocado). Neil's prosiness is back, and it's trained on the Acura MDX SUV, which he says, is "perfectly constructed, elegantly engineered and shamelessly underpriced." Acura's marketing speak-speak, on the other hand, is far less elegantly rendered.
In fact, so smitten am I by this vehicle that I can only conclude I'm exactly the sort of person it was designed for. According to Acura's psychographic buyer's profile, I'm apparently what you call an "urban achiever." I'm edgy, competitive, and I work hard and play hard. During the weekdays I'm entertaining clients and impressing the boss. Weekends I enjoy an active lifestyle of dating, night life and mountain biking.
More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=185172&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Rental-Car Reacharound: Call of the Mild - The Chevy Impala]]> Approaching the rental lot at the Manchester, NH airport, I was struck by the sheer abundance of Chevy Impalas. Seems the erstwhile Ford Taurus has finally met its match — so much for GM kicking its rental habit. With keys in hand, I set off to sample Chevy's latest full-size offering, a silver LS model with a mere 70 miles of abuse on the odo. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=182768&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Ach! Rapide!: AutoBild Tests Aston's New Four-Door]]> Our multilingualist friends at Eurocar Blog clued us to AutoBild's test drive of the upcoming Aston Martin Rapide. What do the Germans have to say about it? (phonetics ours): More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=179288&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Rental-Car Reacharound: Chevrolet HHR]]> Imagine you've landed on a tropical island and your first stop after baggage claim is the unnamed, ubiquitous car rental agency. You could go for the convertible Ford Mustang, but the price of admission is out of your league. The Chevrolet Impala is the reasonable choice but its vanilla appearance (and performance) annuls any umbrella-drink fantasies yet to be fulfilled. After exhausting all of the options and the patience of the folks behind you in line, a silver HHR is insured, signed for and piloted onto the H1, the major interstate (yes, interstate) that leads to Honolulu, Hawaii. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=178094&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Driving the Seriously Hi-Tech Lotec Sirius]]> More supercars? Yes, please. Pistonheads winds up the latest in six-figure, carbon-fiber tressed, European-built, 800-hp sex machines, the Lotec Sirius. Oh, look, there's the six-liter Mercedes V12, the six-speed CIMA manual tranny, the sub-four-second zero-to-60 time, the wind-tunnel-tested body shape that toes the good-taste-bad-taste line like a lost Flying Wallenda. It's all there. Do we still care? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=177923&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Driving the Brooke Double-R]]> US pop-culture freaks will likely picture the star of "Suddenly Susan" eating a ham-and-cheese burger at Roy Rogers when they hear its name (or maybe it's just us), but the Brooke Double-R is indeed a sports car, and one powered by a Cosworth-tuned Ford Duratec to boot. It's also got a higher power-to-weight than a Lamborghini Murcielago or Porsche GT2, making it a track-day sled of note, despite it looking somewhat like a kit car from the mid-80s. The blokes from Pistonheads got to test it out, and report back on the Double-R's relentless acceleration and "meaty feel." Anyone for a Double-R Bar Burger? Brooke? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=176941&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Jalopnik Rental-Car Reacharound: Put Down That Yaris! Buy a Used Civic!]]> In our occasionally - occasional "Rental Car Reacharound" series, we (and our readers) comment on vehicles we've rented. Got a rental car story? Keep it to 500 words (or less, or maybe a couple more) and send it to tips@jalopnik.com. In this installment, Davey G. weighs in on the '05 Honda Civic LX sedan he rented from Enterprise at Oakland Airport over the weekend. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=175558&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Automobile Drives the Volkswagen EcoRacer]]> When Volkswagen's 80-mpg EcoRacer concept debuted at Tokyo's motor show last year, the diesel-powered roadster received the kind of polite, matter-of-fact coverage that would follow, say, the opening of an Albertson's grocery store in Bolivia. The bright-orange prototype, after all, is largely a fancy wrapper for the company's zippy, new 1.5-liter turbodiesel mill coming out this year, and carries all sorts of messages about the new engine by association: It's sporty! It's earth friendly! It's efficient! It smells like fresh-cut petunias not coal tar! Still, it's a matter of dispute whether the company would seriously consider building such a roadster, diesel or not. Nonetheless, an Automobile writer braved the mild winds of the South of France to take the forward-thinking concept 'round a track a few times, for research's sake. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=173396&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Driving the New Noble M15 Test Mule]]> We'd imagine driving a supercar in test-mule form might be a bit like eating dough out of the bowl or drinking cabernet straight from the barrel. Considering most journos are never allowed that kind of experience, it would seem Lee Noble surely trusts Jalopnik homeboy Nick Hall with his wife life. Lee let Hall take an in-development Noble M15 prototype for a spin at the company's proving grounds, an experience Hall wrote about for World Car Fans. So which is it, dough or whoa? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=172326&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Driving the Farboud GTS]]> Our globetrotting, supercar-flogging buddy from Blighty, Nick Hall, tells the story of Arash Farboud's bid to build a better Ferrari. After his attempt to acquire an Enzo was met with a prancing, equinine "SOL, champ," Farboud picked up a more accessable Porsche Carrera GT and used a portion of his family's pharma phortune to launch an improbable car-building project. The result was the Farboud GTS, an Audi-powered prototype that's as rough hewn as it is ready for tail-kicking action. The production product will likely be a different machine — Cosworth Ford powered, for example — but Farboud's already got plans to bring his creation to the US. And that's more than we can say for Lee Noble's hardware. What say you, Nick? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=168137&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[The Truth About the Saturn Sky]]> The stable of tellers over at The Truth About Cars is expanding like an automotive CEO's golden parachute in a cyclical downturn. Now, they're among the first to have gotten their hands on a Saturn Sky, which in base form — not the turbocharged Redline (above), unveiled at the New York show last week — may be exactly what GM promised. That is, a fun, just-a-bit-more-stylish cousin to the Pontiac Solstice. More than that, though, may be too much to ask. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=167608&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Dan Neil on the Lexus GS450h: Good News for Techies, Bad News for Golfers]]> This week, Dan Neil takes on hybrid doubters with a love letter to the Lexus GS450h, and a quick lesson on speaking in physics. Lest that intro sound as if we're challenging his objectivity, we ain't. Still, his usual gallons 'o prose does make us want to put foot to pedal.
The GS450h is the neon-skinned, freeway-ventilating electric eel of midrange torque. Put the Wellie to this car at 80 mph and, before you can say, "Galvani, Volta, Faraday and Tesla," the Electro-Lex is humming along at 100 mph, shoved into crass illegality by its 197-horsepower monster-magnet motor. ... The GS450h has a direct linkage between the go pedal and the rear wheels. Nail the throttle and the car surges forward on electron-greased rails while the needle on the cool-metallic "kilowatt" gauge swings to over 250kW (max output of gas and electric power is 339 horsepower). Next stop, D sseldorf.
He also confirms what we've heard about all that electric-ware reducing trunk space, but that's not nearly as much fun. More eel references please. [Thanks to Doug for the tip.] More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=163785&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Jeremy Clarkson on the Alfa 159: It's Christopher Walken]]> The Times UK's resident ten-foot-tall car reviewer, Jeremy Clarkson, turned his Fi Fi Fo Fum on the Alfa Romeo 159, a stunning take on the sports sedan that had us head-over-digicam at the Geneva show two years running. Alfa's latest, he says, is the Christopher Walken to the BMW 3-Series's Tom Cruise of sports sedans: a non-obvious star that's capable of a one-in-a-million performance. Of course, what would an Alfa be without at least one example of engineering lunacy:
...In most cars, the cruise control "off" button is clearly visible and easy to use in a hurry. Not in the Alfa it isn't. It looks like one of the pieces from a game of Risk and it's mounted on a stalk just below and slightly behind the indicator.
More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=163096&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Ugly, Ugly Evo: Dan Neil Drives the Mitsubishi, Insults Hippos]]> Consider yourself on notice, Mr. Neil. It's one thing to compare the Mitsubishi Evo MR's squat comport to a groundhog, but it's a whole 'nuther to point your fancy wordstick at a defenseless 500-lb child.
The stubby and thick Evo MR, on the other hand, is more like a rocket-powered groundhog, or a baby hippo fired out of a cannon. Fast. Ugly.
Still, ugly's not the whole story, says Neil. The top-of-the-mast Evo MR is also fast as hell, sticky in the corners, and costs close to $40,000. But boy, is it ugly.
On the outside, the Evo MR looks like it went into a performance parts store and got dressed in the dark.
More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=162169&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Ezra Rode a Harley: The NY Times on the Ford F150 Harley Davidson]]> Our homeboy, Automobile writer Ezra Dyer got it on with the Gray Lady, penning a piece for the NY Times on Ford's cross-branded F150 Harley Davidson pickup. Obviously, ol' Ez was called in to add a dash of youthful color to the Times's notoriously wife-and-kids car reviews. His job (sure, he accepted it) was to translate the latest Harley edition F150 SuperCab pickup — which bypasses HD's lucrative aftermarket business by factory-installing a billet-style grille, Harley badging, supercharged 340-hp V8 and full-time all-wheel drive (it's the only F150 with that option) — for those whose last car ride was a post-midnight grope in the back of a cab.
And while the Harley F-150 offers tough-truck options like skid plates and towing package, you'll see one on a job site when you see I-beams being welded by the Construction Worker from the Village People.
Oh, he's perfect for the job. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=161658&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Honda Fit Test Drive]]> The Edmunds Inside Line folks got their hands on a Honda Fit, at least a month before Honda's new entry-level runner is set to hit dealerships. Does Scion have anything to worry about, or is the fit a pale attempt at re-entering the shallow end of the US pool. C'mon, it's Honda. What do you think? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=159804&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Driving the TVR Tuscan]]> We Yanks get nothing so slithery as the TVR Tuscan on these shores. In fact, we get nothing at all from TVR, which became the laughing stock of yuppiedome during the mid-1980s by inflicting some of the most egregious hardware this side of the Baltic Sea on America's newly minted upper-middle rich. But in the UK, these are heady days for TVR, which is now under the fiduciary care of a too-young Russian industrial billionaire who's goal is to make TVR into a global purveyor of wonderful things. How's he succeeding? Check out our mate Nick Hall's test drive of the Tuscan II in World Car Fans. How about a little left-hand drive action? More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=159661&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Dan Neil on the Suzuki Grand Vitara]]> In light of GM selling off $2 billion in Suzukibux, Dan Neil's review this week of the Suzuki Grand Vitara is poignant at best (and a helluva coincidence at the least). He addresses the two companies' enduring partnership, sans fiduciary ties, right off. "This seems a little like pledging a strong, future-oriented partnership with the Ottoman Empire," he writes, "but there you go." But what of the ute in question? Is the new model, like its predecessor, a four-wheeled referendum on public transportation, or have the Suzukians raised it to the standards of its competitors? There's good news and there's bad news. But mostly good. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=159135&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[What's So Great About the Aston Martin Vanquish S?]]> We know what you're thinking. What's the deal with Aston Martin — all their damn cars look the same? They're all hot as a cup o' magma to be sure, but certainly similar, though prices vary by a half-dozen zeros. Why buy a $250,000 Vantage when a $150,000 DB9 seems perfectly sufficient? Too many questions, you ask? Then see what Classic Driver has to say. No pullers of punches, them. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=156757&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Bullet Train to Berlin: Audi RS4 and ICE Face Off]]> Put on your Google-Translate-to-English decoder rings, kids. The gang at The German Car Blog offer up a play-by-play, by way of germany's Motor Vision, of a race from Munich Graefelfing to Berlin between an Audi RS4 and the ICE bullet train. If you're up for sorting through machine-made constructions such as, "The 4.2-Liter-Benzindirekteinspritzer is expenditure-squeezed. Thus s-button pressed at the steering wheel to be correct in order to blow the side cheeks up of the standard Recaro seat bowls to sharpen the accelerotor pedal," it's a helluva ride. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=156749&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Clarkson on the Volkswagen Jetta: Bloody Zzzzzzzzzzz]]> In his latest Sunday Times column Clarkson reveals his impatience with bores, include one unidentified acquaintance, members of the Aston Martin owners club and the Volkswagen Jetta.
I came to London yesterday in the Volkswagen Jetta, and tomorrow I must go home in it. Which will be like spending an hour in a coma.
More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=155847&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Jalopnik Rental-car Reacharound: 2006 Mercury Milan]]> Today's Rental-car Reacharound comes from longtime commenter Nick Weaver, who recently took out a Mercury Milan during a recent business trip to Los Angeles. Send your rental-car stories (keep 'em to around 500 words) to tips@jalopnik.com. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=154801&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[On the Greatest Driving Road in the World: Test Drive of the Mini Cooper Convertible]]> Now here's a junket we'd be happy to take. Writing for Edmunds Inside Line, Alistair Weaver traveled all 7.3 miles (and 4,000 feet upward) of the Jebel Hafeet Mountain Road in the United Arab Emirates in a Mini Cooper S convertible. He describes the smooth-as-glass trail as "the greatest driving road in the world," with 60 corners rising to the UAE's highest peak. It's also none to bad for taking photos, as some of the story's accompanying photography would make the guys from Evo fall face down in their Kellogg's Crunchie Nut. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=154631&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[If the Navigator's A-Rockin': Necking at Cobo]]> We hate to be the ones to break it to you, but remember those times when your parents said they were going grocery shopping, but didn't come home for five hours? Well, we have it on good authority that they were really parked at Lookout Point, making out in the Astro. The Detroit News claims this delinquent behavior is still happening, and sent several couples to field test SUVs on display at Cobo, to see which ones are best equipped to handle a hot 'n' heavy makeout session. One woman said of the Ford Escape, "We know about parking, and this is a good car to go parking in or to the drive-in." More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=149801&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Dan Neil on the Chevrolet HHR]]> This week, the LA Times's Dan Neil takes his Pulie and sticks it up the Chevrolet HHR's tailpipe with such figurative vigor, we're tempted to just hit copy-and-paste, shut the lights, and go get sugarplummed on Applebee's margaritas. Instead of wasting the HHR with a single, jungle-clearing BLU-82, labeled "poseur," he addresses the HHR's cultural failings like a lone Delta Force operative.
There is a Detroit-cloistered quality to the HHR, and not simply because it is such a pointed response to a crosstown rival. The HHR wants to capitalize on a sentiment.
More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=145872&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Driving the BMW 130i]]> We've really taken a shine to the car reviews of UK-based writer Nick Hall, which have been featured of late on German Car Fans. This week, the motoring scribe's attention is on the the BMW 130i, that spry new baby Bimmer powered by BMW's fine 3.0-liter six. Of course we won't see it in the US this year, but if VW's upcoming R37 does as well as predicted, we're sure BMW will damn the exchange rate and bring the Sport across the pond. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=145321&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Toyota's FJ Cruiser on Its Way]]> After a scene at the Detroit show in 2003 that had visitors practically hurling their underpants and hotel-room keys at the Toyota FJ concept, it was no shocker that Toyota would consider building the thing. Now, Toyota's released new details on its new off-roader in a customarily long-winded press release with nearly every plot point but price. Edmunds Inside Line has a first-drive piece on the FJ, which answers the question no one thought needed asking (which speaks to Toyota's new-truck reputation): Is it a poseur? Click through for full text of the press release. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=145147&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Driving a Mighty Mercedes: GCF on the Carlsson CK55]]> What's it like to rock a Carlsson-tuned Mercedes CLS 55 AMG on the unrestricted autobahn, legally nudging aside police bikes at (140mph) with a polite flick of the blinker? Nick Hall, writing for German Car Fans has some idea:
This car is just stretching its legs at the old car s artificially induced 155mph top end and will now scorch all the way to 200mph without trouble, barging police out the way at every opportunity. The figures belong to a top end Ferrari or Lamborghini, which is a truly monumental achievement for a 1920kg car with sofas instead of seats and the quiet, regal air of a gentleman s club.
He had us at "High." More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=144708&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Video: The Audi S8 in Action]]> We may have a new favorite sound. Used to be a Ferrari V12 could make us forget Angus Young's tasty guitar solos (over brother Malcolm's fat-assed major fifths) had ever existed on earth. Now we're leaning toward the throaty razzle of a German-engineered V10. First, it was the BMW M5, now it's the Audi S8, thanks to the guys at Fourtitude. Someone's got to get one of those into the studio. [Thanks be to Punkey.] More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=144158&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Dan Neil: The Economics of the Z06]]> The LA Times's Dan Neil again turns simple column inches into a multithreaded liberal-arts lesson. This time the focus is on the 2006 Corvette Z06, in a review by way of Adam Smith, Marx's Theory of Value, the Home Shopping Network, the Saunders Wrist-Rocket, Greek mythology and the "Wizard of Oz." Class is in session. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=143065&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Missing from US: 2006 Ford Focus ST]]> Oh you Europeans. Torque, torque, torque. Always with the torque: direct-injection diesels maxing below two grand, five-bangers with a stump-pulling span more than 3,000rpm wide. (All the while we sit in our imitation Recaros with our feet planted to the floor and our right arm flailing like half a cymbal-playing monkey.) As for that second example, while we can experience that wide T5 torque band in the Volvo S40, Europeans get the Focus ST — a model as different from the US-spec ZX3 as a 1995 BMW 3-Series is to a 2005 model. (See? There's some respect there). Ford claims we'll be getting the same C1/P1-platform Focus as Europe someday, and hopefully in ST trim. In the meantime, Edmunds tells the tale. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=141692&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Road Testing Suzuki's SX4 Mini Ute]]> In its new SX4 small crossover, Suzuki may have a car that will finally put it over the threshold as a producer to contend with. Otherwise, it'll have another econobox to jeopardize the brand equity it's largely gleaned from teenaged motorcycle buffs learning to draw that iconic S on their three-ring binders. AutoWeek drove the 2007 SX4, a "sport crossover vehicle," which will debut at next year's New York Auto Show. Based on AW's very basic take, Suzuki may get the former: a solid, 4WD contender among the boatload of new economy cars coming to the US market (e.g., Chevrolet Aveo, Nissan Versa and Toyota Yaris). More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=140156&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[Quadrophenia: Autocar Drives the Qpod in Traffic]]> Is it a glorified ATV retrofitted for ministry-of-transportation approval, or a full-sized Volkswagen Beetle that's been swimming in an icy lake? Whatever it is, the City of London considers it a scooter, so it doesn't charge riders of the 340cc bone shaker for congestion, which makes it kind of a bargain for those unafraid of being undone by one if its larger roadway mates. It's not cheap, but it's French. For what that's worth. More »
]]> http://jalopnik.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=139382&view=rss&microfeed=true