First media day at the Beijing Auto Show. Accredited working press only. Half of Beijing must be accredited, and the other half must be on their way to China International Exhibition Center (New Venue) – that’s what it’s called, no joke – in order to finagle one of those hard to get press passes. (Read More…)

Two new engines will be joining the Jaguar family, with at least one confirmed for the new F-Type sports car.

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Both Derek and Steven have recently had a go at their worst new small cars (and if you haven’t already, Jack’s take on the Eclipse is as entertaining as that car is not).

I’ve had a few abysmal drives in the past few years, notably a Smart Fortwo and an auto-equipped Scion tC, but one car stood head and shoulders below the rest. I drove it immediately after spending a week with an Evolution GSR, and my first thought was, “Well, that’s the end of Mitsubishi then.” (Read More…)

Our man Bertel Schmitt is en route, all set to cover the Beijing Auto Show for the next two days. By our count, there are over 70 debuts, with many of them being Chinese market products; concept cars, older vehicles re-issued and manufactured in Chinese JV factories and obscure concept cars. A complete list, with a brief description can be read at just-auto.com for anyone really interested in the Brilliance Jinbei Large Sea Lion Camper or the HaiMa Yao.

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Before I moved to Colorado from California, two years ago this June, I became accustomed to seeing Saab 900s in large quantities in every self-service junkyard I visited. The 900 was a big seller in California (as was the Volvo 240), and you’d always find a half-dozen or so at the bigger yards. The 900 is a much rarer beast in Colorado; I see the occasional lovingly preserved example on the street, but this is the only junked example I’ve seen in a few months. (Read More…)

TTAC Commentator edgett writes:

Sajeev –

I’ve got a 2007 BMW 335 which has a direct injection system. Although I enjoy the car, it has been through three fuel pumps in 35,000 miles and BMW has thankfully extended the warranty on the fuel pump to 100,000 miles and seven years. The benefits, however, are extraordinary. This engine gets excellent fuel mileage and makes fantastic power. So tell me why DI systems are so difficult that mighty Honda has yet to take the plunge! (Read More…)

A few years after I left Detroit, doing my best to forget my heart-wrenching decision to give up on car design, a similarly disheartened automaker named Saturn made something called an Ion.  I saw it at the Houston Auto Show circa 2002.  Wounds from Detroit still fresh on my mind, I had absolutely no problem with the Saturn Ion shown behind a velvet rope.  I honestly thought it was a design study commissioned by Playskool, not a production ready vehicle from General Motors.

I mean, it was that awful. So imagine my surprise when the General’s peeps come up with something nearly as ugly…and this time it’s a Cadillac. (Read More…)

“I’m dead,” Sebastian told his attorney. “Might as well be dead, anyway. I’ve lost everything. Fuck, it isn’t just the investments, or the business. I’ve lost the house. The house. Where my children sleep. You know I’m supposed to be picking up a Ferrari tomorrow? Guess I’d better learn to sleep in it. We can all sleep in it, together. A hilarious lesson. Something they can tell their kids. About the one time Dad lost everything because of some bullshit allegation brought on by some whore, and we all slept in the car together until, you know, Dad finally did the decent thing and put a BULLET IN HIS OWN FUCKING HEAD!!!!” Distantly, Sebastian realized he had been screaming for the greater part of what he, in retrospect, felt to have evolved, at some point, into a speech both dramatic and mostly factual.

“Nobody’s dead yet,” the voice on the other end replied. “The judge will rule on the testimony come Friday afternoon. If it’s thrown out, the rest will fall. You’ll be fine. Clean.”

“Sure, I know, but what,” Sebastian heard himself whining, as if to a recently appointed foster parent, “am I supposed to do until then? That’s three days from now!”

“You want my advice,” the attorney said, with a chuckle, because, after all, Sebastian paid him for advice, it was why he existed, of course the advice would be taken, “you’ll fly down to Florida and pick up that Ferrari. Distract yourself. I will call you from court on Friday. Go distract yourself.”

“It won’t help,” Sebastian replied, “I’m a dead man.” Nevertheless, nine hours, two flights, one taxi ride, and a series of scrawled signatures later, he found himself seated behind the wheel of his first, and probably last, Ferrari.

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While Lexus generally gets credit for pioneering the car-like luxury SUV, the 1998 Mercedes-Benz M-Class actually beat the RX to market by a year. Unlike the car-based RX, the original ML was too much a truck and not enough a quality vehicle. Substantial revisions were made with the 2006, and again this model year. In […]

Every once in a while, you see funny things written on junked cars, presumably by waggish junkyard employees. There was the Bee Careful Cressida, for example. On a recent trip to a Colorado self-serve yard, I spotted this very charred pickup with some more examples of the Funny Junkyard Guy genre. (Read More…)

Hybrids are a tough sell in China. Honda and Toyota want to change this.  Honda wants to change it so bad that it will provide its core hybrid car technologies to other Chinese automakers, in addition to its joint venture partners, The Nikkei [sub] learned today. (Read More…)

Mahindra & Mahindra dates back to 1945, when they started to produce the Willys Jeep in India under license. Soon after that, they started developing light commercial vehicles and utility vehicles. In 2002, Mahindra launched the Scorpio, which was also introduced in Europe as the Mahindra Goa a few years later. Last year, the XUV5OO (pronounced five double Oh) was launched. Mahindra had to stop accepting bookings (which were opened in just 5 cities across India) after just 10 days of launch. They received 35,000 test drive requests in the same time. The second phase of bookings saw more than 25,000 applicants, which were put through a draw! Bookings have been closed since then and you can’t buy the XUV5OO even if you have the money. So what is the Mahindra XUV5OO all about? (Read More…)

If you want to see a 1910 Franklin up-close and personal, you would usually have to look in a museum. Dave Cruickshank doesn’t believe that 102-year-old cars belong in museums. They belong on the street because as Dave says, “If you own them you should drive them.” (Read More…)

With the release of the SciBaru FRZ just weeks away, everyone’s been caught up in the sticker price, available options and aftermarket support for the car, but nobody has asked a crucial question; what about insurance?

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The first-generation Accord is one of the most important cars of postwar North America… but they tend to be invisible to me when I walk past one in the junkyard or on the street. This Accord, with its distinctive body shape, has been with us for so long that it’s just background. Here’s an extremely typical brown Malaise Era Accord LX, of the sort that forced every other maker of compact cars to change everything… or die. (Read More…)