Autos24

Up until right now, I was merely somewhat miffed that we Americans aren't getting the Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG hatchback. But now that I've seen this video, I'm way more than miffed. I'm super sadballs. It's only a short clip, but it gives us a great sense of the throaty, burbly engine we're missing out on. Remember, that's a hatchback with a 2.0-liter turbo four good for 360 horsepower with all-wheel-drive. I think it sounds pretty hot. The good news is we'll be getting more or less the same setup in the CLA45 AMG, but I kind of want it in hatch form now. If Usher likes it, it's got to be good, right?

A Lego spill has shut down a highway in West Virginia. WHO DRIVES A TRUCK WITH THAT MANY LOOSE LEGOS?

Volvo make Volvos, right? Volvos don’t get the blood boiling. But in a world where most carmakers outdo each other in aggression, Volvo’s quiet stance is quite remarkable. There is something terribly cozy about modern Volvos. The shapes are increasingly like objects found in nature, rounded, flowing edges, like pebbles, like driftwood. They speak to the lizard brain seeking comfort. Like a well-heated, dry, Scandinavian living room is what they are on the inside. If I had kids, I’d have an XC70. Volvo’s stand at Geneva is a reflection of all this. Where others have hard-edged plastics and shiny metal, they have leather, wood and glass. Others have rotating platforms do a 360° every minute or two. Volvo’s takes ten minutes and you can sit on the platform with the new cars—the V60 D5 and the XC60—while sipping a flat white from da Matteo, the Gothenburg-based coffee company whose baristas make coffee for Volvo at car shows. There’s even a Dutch wooden bike on display looking like a...

You know how sometimes you'll catch yourself, say, doing your taxes or considering life insurance or pouring your fortified wine into an actual glass and you'll think to yourself, "Damn! So this is what adulthood feels like!" Well, if you ever want to make sure you'll never have those disgusting thoughts again, this should be your next ride. Just looking at the text it can almost seem like a very rational thing: $3500 for a 2001 Porsche Boxster? "Runs good?" How could you go wrong? Well, you can't really go wrong here, but you can certainly go crazy. Crazy as in a 250 HP body-less mid-engined monster that likely weighs about half of what it did when rational people would be seen in it. The seller's not totally nuts, though, as you can tell by the jauntily-welded square-section-tubing-please-don't-test-it "roll cage" and the thoughtful inclusion of some lights and trailer-aisle turn signals. Also, the sharp parts of the monocoque seem to have duct tape or some grey goop packed on top...

Mascari tries his first Cracker Barrel. Chicken livers are delicious. We'll see you all in Peachtree City tonight at 8:00 PM. Travis might be a little late as he's in Charlotte waiting for the Viper. But we'll be there and we hear Rutledge Wood might bring something special, weather permitting. Plus the Gizmodo guys have a sneak preview of the new show.

You missed out on the massive BMW E30 M3 appreciation-fest of the 2000s -- during which prices catapulted upward, by percentage, more than the Elephant Man's eye teeth. But with prices flattening, perhaps just temporarily, now may be the best time to secure your piece of Bayerische Motoren history. Ten years on, mark my words, a good 1987-1991 M3 will be harder to find than a Black Lotus card from Magic: The Gathering. Not that I'd know what that is. It's either the highest expression of the purely mechanical road car, or it's the most overhyped beast in sports car history. It's the E30 BMW M3, and if you have around 20 grand American burning a hole in your Sears Toughskins, you can own a really top-class one right now. A four-cylinder 3-Series going for same-period Porsche 911 money? Yes, and it may be a better long term investment than any Porsche of its day. Of course, you already know the E30 M3 is not your bank branch manager's 318i. It's a racing homologation model with an...

Tucked away in a factory, deep in the heart of England, a group of engineers worked tirelessly through the winter. Their dream was to craft a World Championship winning machine, capable of re-writing the history books. They garnered the most powerful engines, enlisted the world’s fastest drivers, and constructed an ingenious chassis that combined to produce a car so dominant it’s known today as the greatest Formula One car of all-time: the McLaren MP4/4. It was so dominant, in fact, it won 15 out of 16 races in the 1988 season, with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost behind the wheel. On six occasions the MP4/4 qualified first and second with a margin of a second or more, and at Monaco, Senna was 2.6 seconds faster than his nearest non-McLaren rival. But, even more amazing is this incredible pace was at no detriment to reliability. The MP4/4 retired just four times, two of which were a result of crashes. To understand why this car was so successful we must go back to 1986. It was here a...

Since the original 750 was introduced in 1985, Suzuki’s sold over a million GSX-R sportsbikes. As the name suggests, this new 2013 Suzuki GSX-R1000 1 Million Commemorative Editioncelebrates that milestone. But, 28 years later, the motorcycle world is a very different place. Is the GSX-R now what the GSX-R was then? What’s New: Only 1,985 units of the 1 Million will be sold worldwide, each denoted by a special plaque on the top clamp. As you can see, ours is number 950. In addition to that plaque, the 1 Million adds: unique (and much classier) graphics in traditional GSX-R white and blue; red anodized fork caps; gold colored forks; a red spring on the shock; black calipers with a red “Brembo” logo; “1 Million” wheel stripes; a unique key fob with a red “R”; a single seat cowl as standard. Most noticeable is the newly red nose. We lovingly christened the bike “Rudolph,” but that that feature is actually a nod to Suzuki’s Bol d’Or racers of the 1980s, which had red numberplates, and we...

Filed under: Minivan/Van, Geneva Motor Show, Europe, Work, Electric The Geneva Motor Show never does lack for high-minded and/or wacky concept cars, and throughout the years Rinspeed has done more than its fair share to add to the inventive environs. With plucky iconoclasts like the BamBoo, iChange and (of course) the Lotus Elise that got turned into a submarine, what can we do but wait with baited breath for the next installment of Swiss madness? This year the outside-of-the-boxers at Rinspeed have brought along a microMAX concept that sees one giant box on wheels packed with concept-car goodness. The basic idea behind the EV taxi/bus hybrid is that of smarter public transportation. The microMAX utilizes cloud-based software that can "talk" to other vehicles on the road, and find optimal routes for passenger pick-ups and efficient driving. The roomy interior has space for one driver, two passengers and a lot of stuff, ostensibly making it very convenient for family use or IKEA runs....

This just in from the drug-fueled vehicle-related rampage capitol of the United States: A 21-year-old Florida man has been arrested after police say he went on a nude rampage through an apartment complex, tried to steal a woman's car with a child inside, and jumped on the hood of a police car all while declaring he loved cocaine. Which he needed more of, apparently. (We'll agree to disagree there.) According to this report in the NWF Daily News, the man, who they did not name, caused residents at an apartment complex to call police after he was found running around naked and screaming at people. He tried to steal a woman's car with her baby inside, but was unsuccessful. When the police showed up, the man -- having now obtained pajama pants -- jumped on top of their car, and then shouted that he "loved cocaine" and "needed more cocaine." After a chase the man had to be Tased twice, and fled police after losing his jammie pants once again. From the story: “Statements from the defendant...

The Pagani Zonda used to rule the world when it came to outrageously alien rearview mirrors on insectile carbon fiber antennae but it’s suddenly got company. The LaFerrari’s wing mirrors extend into the atmosphere on footlong stalks and they look stunning. Are you a Zonda man? A LaFerrari convert? More into Spyker’s T-1000 mirrors? Show us your favorite.

So, as we all know, Hugo Chávez died yesterday. Now, despite the hidden right-wing-leftist-anarcho-monarchist subtexts I include in all my posts, we're not really a political blog, so we'll just say that Chavez' legacy is, at very best, checkered. So, despite whatever reservations I may have about the man and his long tenure as Venezuela's Grande Queso, I do have to donate props to the man for one thing: as far as I know, he was the one of the only recent world leaders to drive a VW Beetle. His Beetle, from these pictures, appears to be a Mexican-built late 90s- early 2000s model. Those rims look pretty aftermarket, but the car seems quite well maintained. Still, all is not lost. See, even with Chávez gone, it seems there is still one world leader left who drives an original-style VW Beetle: current president of Uruguay, José Mujica. Often called the "world's poorest president," Mujica drives what looks to be an alliterative-friendly blue Brazilian-built Beetle, which appears to be...

If you're gonna engage in some high-speed vehicular fun, it helps to have excellent reflexes. This motorcycle rider is probably glad he did after he narrowly avoided getting killed by an FJ Cruiser who was on the wrong side of the road. This scene took place during a sunny day out on California's Glendora Mountain Road. We see the motorcycle going hard around the corners but staying in his lane and not being terribly reckless, when all of a sudden he sees the Toyota appear from around the bend and head straight toward him. Luckily the rider managed to dodge him in time, either through a combination of skill or luck or most likely both. A video has also surfaced that appears to be from the FJ Crusier driver. The description says it's since been pulled down from its original page, but we see just how close the driver came to hitting the rider. It looks like he was trying to pass some skateboarders, but why the hell would he do that right before a blind curve? Crazy. Just plain crazy....

Welcome to what would you buy, where you can pretend to be someone else, if only for 5 minutes and make car buying decisions you would otherwise never be faced with. Go for here Tuesdays edition. You are the son of a very very wealthy oil tycoon that worries about nothing more than his next adventure in this world. Your latest idea, is to cross the desert, any desert, many desert's, but you'll need your maids, chef and posse in tow as well. For this purpose you'll need the following. 1) A Personal Vehicle, it can be whatever you want, as long as it has at least two seats and has the remote promise of being able to handle desert terrain. 2) A Supply Truck, you'll need plenty of Egyptian cotton sheets, caviar, food, vintage wine, champagne and a full wardrobe to make it even a day away from your usual comforts. 3) Two (or more) Personnel Carriers, armored if you so choose, to transport your loyal and very well paid servants (they'll be getting hazard pay for this one). 4) A flatbed...

In 1961 Betsy traded her 1957 Dodge Cornet Lancer to a dealer for a new Mercury Comet..and instantly regretted it. Five years later, she traded the unloved Comet for a 1966 Ford Mustang and hasn't driven anything since. This is the remarkable story of a woman and her car of 47 years. Betsy was born in 1922, notable for being the year of the famous Teapot Dome scandal and the year that Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb was entered for the first time in 3000 years. Betsy spent her youth in upstate New York, but in 1960 moved to Long Beach, CA with her mother and hasn't missed one minute of the cold winters. California's famously mild weather has been equally kind to the Ford Mustang that she purchased new from Pacific Autosales on Feb 23, 1966 for an out-the-door price of $3009. Betsy was 44 years old when she purchased the car and used funds from her job as a commercial artist at a department store in Long Beach. Photo credit: cdlib.org Betsy worked in the Buffums' design department...

Futuristic planes with glowing wings, super-efficient wind turbines, greener cars… can a coat of ionised gas deliver all this magic?

Big thanks to Justin for the tour of SPEED. Now we're off to top secret location 2 and then on to Atlanta tonight.

Filed under: Safety, Videos, Tesla, Electric As electric vehicles become more prevalent on the roadways, first responders are facing new - and sometimes unknown - challenges when it comes to intense tasks such as the extrication of passengers trapped inside a car. Advanced Extrication, an online training resource for rescue workers, recently posted a video showing how rescuers should respond to vehicles like the Tesla Model S. The best way to do such a video, of course, is to actually demonstrate the process, so Tesla donated a new Model S just so the Fremont Fire Department could tear it to shreds as the host explains some of the unique dangers specific to electric cars. The unfortunate demo car looks like it just came off the assembly line, meaning it is completely intact to begin with, but we wonder if it would have been more interesting to see how firefighters deal with the car's wiring and DC-DC converter (and other high voltage components) when the vehicle structure has been...

Stick a Suzuki GSX-R engine into a tiny offroad buggy, let it loose on a snow-covered forest rally stage and you have the Finnish Crosskart Championship, possibly your new favorite motorsport. These things have a better power to weight ratio than a world rally car and can accelerate to 62 miles an hour in just 3.5 seconds. Given that these guys are bombing within feet of very not-soft trees, this is certainly one of the ballsiest forms of car racing we've seen.

A fuel tank based on the human intestine could help cars carry more natural gas

You all no doubt remember Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian superbadass who jumped out of a balloon last year 128,000 feet above the earth and hit 843.6 mph with his body because Red Bull asked him to. Now he has been called to perform an equally dangerous task: drive the obscenely efficient Volkswagen XL1. And by "equally dangerous task," I mean "take a nice drive in the Swiss Alps and tell the VW boffins what he thinks." No, it's not as exciting as his space jump, but it is interesting to hear his thoughts on the XL1, a ridiculously aerodynamic diesel hybrid that can supposedly get around 260 mpg. The video also features some European autojournalists, who say they're quite impressed with the XL1 as well. I'd love to give it a go myself. No word yet on whether or not VW seeks to toss it out of a space balloon. Hat tip to Car Crack!

You know how sometimes you get a really stupid idea in your head, and it won't just go away until you, somehow, act upon it? Not only is this the story behind 90% of swastika tattoos, but it's also the story behind this post you're reading right now. In this case, the idea is this simple question: if you had to make an actually-produced spaceship into a car, what would be the best choice? I think this is one of those rare hypothetical questions that actually has a pretty clear, definitive answer, and I think the equally hypothetical result is satisfying as well. There's not all that many actually produced and used spaceships in the first place, and the pool of ones small enough to be effectively converted to automobile use is even smaller. So let's see what our options are. These are all the types of manned spacecraft so far used by humans for at least Earth-orbital operations: Vostok, Mercury, Vokshod, Gemini, Soyuz, Apollo, the Space Shuttle, and Shenzou... and that's pretty much...

It seems like Google has covered the entire world with its all-seeing gaze, but Jalopnik readers know ten amazing roads worldwide that aren't on Street View. Welcome back to Answers of the Day - our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy! You'd be surprised how many distant, rural roads are on Google Street View. We were sure, for instance, that the legendary mountain roads of Japan would be off the Street View grid, but even the Usui Touge is on there. In fact, it seems like all of Japan has been Street Viewed. This list is fairly US-centric, purely given that most of our readers submitted American roads. Please fill in more amazing and bizarre international highways in Kinja below. If you happen to be an American near a crazy road nobody has heard of, post that too. Photo Credit: Shifted Cinema 10.) Cottonwood Pass, Colorado According to...

The barn find is the ultimate prospect for a car collector – it offers a kind of untouched, deflowered vehicle. They are the virgins of the auto world. We love a car that’s well aged, well maintained, and well used, but there’s something to be said for unearthing a legendary car that’s been lost for decades. So, what’s the greatest barn find ever made? (QOTD is your chance to address the day's most pressing automotive questions and to experience the opinions of the insightful insiders, practicing pundits, and gleeful gearheads that make up the Jalopnik commentariat. If you've got a suggestion for a good Question of the Day, send an email to tips at jalopnik dot com.) Photo Credit: Donnie Boyd

Engineers had to create a hybrid car that would live up to Ferrari's legendary performance standards.

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Legislation and Policy, Better Place Shai Agassi has been pondering what it will take for electric vehicles to beat cheap gasoline-powered competitors. And he got some advice from former president Bill Clinton in 2006: giving away the car is a sure way to succeed. Clinton offered this advice a year before Agassi launched Better Place, a company dedicated to powering EVs with swappable batteries and a subscription-based charging model. The company ousted Agassi in October and has pulled the plug on US and Australia operations, and is now focused solely on Israel and Denmark. Writing over on LinkedIn, Agassi says he heard Clinton and current Israel president Shimon Peres speaking at a conference seven years ago. He approached Clinton and pitched his thoughts on converting Israel to electric mobility. At that time, Agassi was doing the numbers and figured he could sell an EV with a battery for about $32,000. He tried to convince Clinton that EV drivers would be...

Ssangyong has updated the controversial styling of its Rodius for the 2013 Geneva motor show.

Starting at around $60,000, the Alfa Romeo 4C won't be cheap in the US. Than again it's going to be a bargain compared to Alfa's previous mid-engined adventure, the V8-powered 8C. But after examining the three cars they brought to Geneva, I could see where they plan to save a few Euros. The air duct in the front: What works on angry Jaguars doesn't necessarily suit small mid-engined Italian sports cars. Maybe it's just the matte white paint making it plasticy, but it looks out of place. The silver car didn't have these, so there is some hope they will get rid of it before the production starts. Chicken wire: Mid-engined cars need more holes on the body for cooling, and you can see some "chicken wire" on every hypercar, including the McLaren P1, the Koenigsegg Agera R and Ferrari's LaFerrari. Maybe there's just a bit too much of it at the back of the 4C. Still, if that keeps it cool stuck in traffic on a summer day, that's fine by me. The keyhole: Keyholes are just keyholes, but this...

At the 2013 Geneva motor show Toyota's Tetsuya Tada explains how he'd like the company to develop a sub-brand based on its GT86.