Friday, January 31, 2014

Roads In Afghanistan Are Falling Apart insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

Written By Unknown; About: Roads In Afghanistan Are Falling Apart insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com on Friday, January 31, 2014

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® Roads In Afghanistan Are Falling Apart

Roads In Afghanistan Are Falling Apart S


Welcome to Must Read, where we single out the best stories from around the automotive universe and beyond. Today we have reports from The Washington Post, The Federalist and Esquire.


These aren't all car-related today, but they are interesting. And that's important, isn't it?



They look like victims of an insurgent attack — their limbs in need of amputation, their skulls cracked — but the patients who pour daily into the Ghazni Provincial Hospital are casualties of another Afghan crisis.



(Hat tip to former Jalop Sam Smith for the link to this one!)



I am (or at least think I am) an expert. Not on everything, but in a particular area of human knowledge, specifically social science and public policy. When I say something on those subjects, I expect that my opinion holds more weight than that of most other people.




Danny DeVito lives high on a hill, on a street that could be called nondescript if there were such a street anywhere in Beverly Hills. I guess you could say it's an unpretentious street, in the context of a neighborhood where streaming caravans of tourists still pay forty dollars a head to be driven around to gawk at the tall shrubs and locked gates blocking any street view of the homes of the stars. Every few minutes, another one crawls by. One guide's talking about some motorcycle that once belonged to Elvis Presley—there's no motorcycle visible—and another points out the house where Brad and Jennifer lived when they were still together. Could be. I wouldn't bet on it.



Roads In Afghanistan Are Falling Apart

The Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 And The Best Halal Cart In NYC insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® The Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 And The Best Halal Cart In NYC

The Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 And The Best Halal Cart In NYC S


The best halal cart in the city is the one on 53rd and 6th. SCC Exotics happened to be driving by with their Murcielago LP640 and happened to be hungry. Photo op? Photo op.


The Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 And The Best Halal Cart In NYC S


As it turns out, yes you can drive your Lambo on the sidewalk, so long as you have the Halal Guys spotting you. SCC (you may remember them from this trackday I did on their dime) explained how it all happened.



Cruising around NYC to get locals and tourist excited about Signature Car Collection- Exotic Car Rental and attended a few Private Super Bowl events that we were invited to on Thursday evening.


All that driving through Time Square, Downtown Manhattan, cutting through all the Super Bowl Festivites cross town got me so hungry esp driving the beastly LP640 in NYC... so enroute we visited the The Halal Guys on 53rd and 6th avenue. After chowing down on the infamous chicken and rice, the next thing you know, Jules Rha aka@lambojules was asked to drive Signature Car Collection's Lamborghini LP640 up to the halal cart... ONTO THE SIDEWALK!! I was a little taken back since but the Halal Guys took charge of their territory and guided me up the sidewalk.



I don't know about you, but I thoroughly approve of any Halal Guys/supercar combos. And I'm sure SCC approved of the nose-raising function Lambo put on the Murci.


The Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 And The Best Halal Cart In NYC S


The Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 And The Best Halal Cart In NYC S


Photo Credits: SCC, Jeffrey Liu Photography


The Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 And The Best Halal Cart In NYC

It's Impossible To Unsee Our Work insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® It's Impossible To Unsee Our Work

It's Impossible To Unsee Our Work S


It's really nice hearing from all of you. Seriously, you guys all have... thoughts. But your thoughts on our thoughts are... also thoughts. It's a compliment, I swear.


Jason put together the most excellent explainer to F1 noses for 2014 and, I know, they all looked like genitalia to me, too. For some of you, it distracted from other awkward images you saw on our site today.


xtrappedunderricex:



They all look like underwear/jock straps.



Shmalworthington:



You must not be able to shake the Daewoo image from AOTD earlier.



xtrappedunderricex:



It is seriously all I've been thinking about this afternoon.



Me too. But you learn to work around it. And think of how Jason feels. He was looking at all those F1 noses/penises.


Photo: Getty Images


It's Impossible To Unsee Our Work

But Dat AE86 Though insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® But Dat AE86 Though

But Dat AE86 Though S


Finally warm enough to wash cars, an amusing picture opportunity presented itself.


Also got a chance to go to the DMV and transfer title/register the Corolla. VA plates to replace the NC one coming.


There's an exhaust leak and a hole in the muffler so I've got some stainless steel headers and cat-back on the way.


Finally got around to replacing some of the worn out fuel lines on the E30 as well. Curse you ethanol.


Since I don't have kids, you could ask which car I love most...and I'd have a hard time answering.


But Dat AE86 Though

Giant Street Legal Cozy Coupe Will Delight The Crap Out Of You insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® Giant Street Legal Cozy Coupe Will Delight The Crap Out Of You

Giant Street Legal Cozy Coupe Will Delight The Crap Out Of You S


Everyone loves the Li'l Tykes Cozy Coupe, right? For many of us, it's our very first experience piloting any sort of wheeled vehicle at all. Even so, taking one out on the highway or even any public road is often a harrowing experience. Luckily, the industrious kooks at Attitude Autos in the UK have a solution.


Using an old 0.8L 3-cylinder Daewoo Matiz as a basis (we get them here now as Chevy Sparks), the shop has built a fully drivable and street-legal version of the Cozy Coupe — they call it the Toytown Coupe to keep lawyers at bay. The look isn't a 100% exact replica, but it's remarkably good, especially when you consider the need to accommodate things like lights that are more than stickers, an actual enclosed floor, and a functioning drivetrain. They did commit to accuracy in the car's total lack of glass.


The Matiz was shortened significantly, removing the entire rear passenger compartment section, and the remaining front and rear joined back together. The whole interior was replaced with a molded-fiberglass seating insert, much like the molded plastic of the original, and details like the continental-style spare or the toy car were made with the tire cover of a Daihatsu Midget.


Giant Street Legal Cozy Coupe Will Delight The Crap Out Of You S


The roof is hand-made and especially impressive, looking very much like the source kiddie-car's roof. The end result really looks and feels like a giant version of the toy, and if there's anyone who sees this thing drive by and doesn't crack a smile, I'd say they need to be checked for illicit alien cyborgification.


Giant Street Legal Cozy Coupe Will Delight The Crap Out Of You S


Attitiude Autos also seems to have a number of other exciting projects in the works, including a Reliant Scimitar GTE restomod, which is of special interest to me, as I have a Scimitar of that same year that really needs my attention. They're also working on a Rat Rod Rolls Royce, which seems like an alliterative triumph, and a crazily hopped-up Daihatsu Midget, which was probably the donor car for the Toytown Coupe's spare tire cover.


(Thanks, Philip!)


Related Related

Reliant Scimitar And Friends

The other day we get an email from a guy named Jason Torchinsky who has not only read the feature we did on microcars A Quatrtet of Microcars, but… Read…




Giant Street Legal Cozy Coupe Will Delight The Crap Out Of You

F1: McLaren reshuffles its aero team insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® F1: McLaren reshuffles its aero team

F1: McLaren reshuffles its aero team


McLaren has undertaken a reshuffling of its aerodynamic department as part of an ongoing review of its Formula 1 operations.


Head of aerodynamics Marcin Budkowski has left the team. Chief aerodynamicist Doug McKiernan will now head the squad's aerodynamic operations ahead of the start of the 2014 season.


Budkowski originally joined McLaren in 2007 as a senior aerodynamicist, moving up the ranks to become head of aerodynamics from November 2012. He played a key role in last year's MP4-28.


A McLaren spokesman confirmed Budkowski's departure and said that the parting of ways had been mutual following a disagreement about future direction.


"Marcin and McLaren Racing have differing views on the strategic plans affecting the aerodynamics department… (more)


F1: McLaren reshuffles its aero team

GPS Data Suggests Justin Bieber Wasn't Racing In A Rented Lamborghini insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® GPS Data Suggests Justin Bieber Wasn't Racing In A Rented Lamborghini

GPS Data Suggests Justin Bieber Wasn't Racing In A Rented Lamborghini S


Think the story of Justin Bieber drunk street racing in Miami was over? Not even slightly. So, yes, he had booze and drugs in his system. But TMZ says GPS data shows he may not have been speeding in his rented Lamborghini.


TMZ reported today it obtained the GPS data from the rented Lamborghini Gallardo Bieber was driving last Thursday when he was stopped and arrested by Miami Police, charged with a DUI.


It's common practice for exotic car rental companies to fit GPS trackers on their cars. The data from the Gallardo in question was recorded going 27 mph just before Bieber being pulled over and arrested. That was actually below the 30 mph speed limit on the road he was on.


After looking Bieber-rific in his mugshot, Justin Bieber has been in a load of trouble other places in the world, including New Jersey. But if the data is to be believed, he just might not have been street racing early in the morning.


Photo: Getty Images


GPS Data Suggests Justin Bieber Wasn't Racing In A Rented Lamborghini

What's Wrong With Me That I Like the BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe? insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® What's Wrong With Me That I Like the BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe?

What's Wrong With Me That I Like the BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe? S


I don't like the current 3er sedan. I don't like the current 3er five-door hatch. I don't like the 4er coupe. But I do like the 4er five-door hatch, the 4 Series Gran Coupe. What's wrong with me?


I dislike the current F30 3er because it just seems so big, and bloaty, and far, far removed from what I like about BMW. I'm sure it's a fine, refined car, it's just not for me. I feel the same way about the 4er, both in coupe and cabrio form for the same reason. Plus the dogbone lower front grill looks awful.


And I don't like the 3GT even though I think I should because, I don't know, it's got a hunchback.


But the 4 Gran Coupe! What is this that I am feeling? I don't care that it's too big and too heavy and probably drives like a Buick. I don't care that it's missing a seat in the back (ok, wait, no I do dislike that). It just looks wonderful, and I couldn't be happier behind the driver's seat, even if any traces of wonderful Neue Classe small sports sedan DNA have been pried out like a tick. I like that it's a liftback, according to this F30post user who claims he's seen one in person at a private showing. It reminds me of the wonderful old BMW E3, which looked every bit like a sedan version of the beloved E9 coupe.


Maybe I'm going insane, but here's a big, fat BMW that I kinda like. That or I just think it's pretty. Either way.


What's Wrong With Me That I Like the BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe?

This Plane Shared A Name With A VW And Was Fixed With Rock And String insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® This Plane Shared A Name With A VW And Was Fixed With Rock And String

This Plane Shared A Name With A VW And Was Fixed With Rock And String S


Do you love aircraft and flying, but feel that planar wings are revolting affronts to decency? Also, do you detest helicopters and other rotorcraft? If so, boy are you in luck, pal. Meet the Coléoptère.


The Coléoptère (which means "beetle" in French — man that word comes up a lot in my life) was an experimental VTOL aircraft developed by the French company SNECMA, which sounds absolutely disgusting if you say it out loud. The plane is like the front clip of a conventional fighter jet mated to the center of a giant turbojet engine. It looks sort of like someone stuck a fighter jet cockpit onto a colossal beer keg.


What's going on here is that the huge cylinder that surrounds the engine is an annular wing, or a ring wing, if you want to get all aero-slangy and look cool at pilot's bars. The plane was a tail-sitter, being able launch and land from a vertical position, and even capable of hovering vertically at a fixed point.


This Plane Shared A Name With A VW And Was Fixed With Rock And String S


Annular/ring wings have been experimented with for years, and are known to eliminate the issue of wingtip vortices, which cause drag, because there are no wingtips at all.


Sadly, it was a failure. Not in the "looking bonkers" categories, where it was off the charts, but in the much more fussy "flying reliably" metrics. As Air and Space magazine said of the airplane,



Without the benefit of a large delta wing to dampen any rolling tendency during hover, the Coléoptère had the tendency to slowly spin about its vertical axis. Instrumentation also was spotty. On one flight, Morel called the vertical speed indicator "a fantasy" and complained of "an unacceptable imprecision in steering" during landing. Still, free flights often reached altitudes of several hundred feet.



It took many attempts to achieve horizontal flight, and even better, the pilot was pretty blind when it came to landing the craft vertically on its tail. The hard part was knowing where the ground actually was. Air and Space talked to the test pilot about this issue:



... the only way he could accurately gauge height was by listening for a change in pitch in the engine's hum. The test team whipped up a fix in which a contact light was tripped when a string on a pebble, dangling from the side of the engine, went slack as the aircraft approached the ground.



So, the fix to indicate ground proximity for this highly advanced, experimental plane was literally a rock tied to a string.


This Plane Shared A Name With A VW And Was Fixed With Rock And String S


Based on that alone, I wouldn't consider this plane a failure.


This Plane Shared A Name With A VW And Was Fixed With Rock And String

Yes, You Can Off-Road The 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 Z71 insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® Yes, You Can Off-Road The 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 Z71

Yes, You Can Off-Road The 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 Z71 S


While most of the other journalists at GM's Heavy Duty truck drive this week were busy sucking down caesar salad and fiddling with cruise controls, I was crushing rocks and roosting photographers in a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 Heavy Duty Z71.


Drag racing pickups up and down a mountain with 10,000 pound trailers in tow was fun, too, and I'll tell you all about that later. But after I'd seen what a few heavy duty GMs could do with a burden twice their own weight (there were other, heavier trailers) I was keen to cut one loose and see what kind of mischief it could get into on the hoon-happy fireroads of Arizona.


I mean, if you write "OFF-ROAD" on the side of a truck you gotta find out if they're serious, right?


Everyone at the event had congregated at a little restaurant in Payson, AZ for lunch. I was reading about the monotube Rancho shocks, underbody armor, special front bumper and special gauge faces (oOo!) the Z71 got, and really wanted to know if that mean looking "OFF-ROAD" sticker on the back of the bed actually meant anything.


I'd been asking GM reps all day about off-roading, without any positive response. Finally, GMC Communications Manager Brian Goebel overheard me lamenting our confinement to bitumen and walked over with a proposition; "Pavement ends just about three miles that way, I'll show you if you want."


I wanted.


Yes, You Can Off-Road The 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 Z71 S


Jeep Off Road Author Tom Morr was in, too, and by the time I found a Z71 in a cool color (Blue Topaz Metallic) we had also collected two of GM's official photographers. The three big blokes across the rear bench got mighty familiar once we started getting jostled by the dirt. As the skinniest guy in the group I almost felt bad for capitalizing on the driver's seat. Almost.


We passed a couple shallow creeks I hoped to revisit later, but the road turned back to pavement after a little over two miles.


Not to be deterred, I pressed on. In a place like Payson, you're never too far from an old service road or ATV track.


Sure enough, it didn't take more than a few minutes down West Doll Baby Road — a name surely fit for the death of a prickly antagonist in a Cormac McCarthy novel — for my perseverance to pay off. There, on the nearest hill, was the unmistakable brown vein of a truck trail through the olive and khaki colored brush.


I bubbled over with giddiness when we confirmed the entrance lacked a "No Trespassing" sign and carefully guided the massive pickup onto the trail.


The entrance was a fairly steep and slippery down-and-up. The Goodyear Wrangler SRA tires weren't quite up to the task in 2WD, but 4 Hi made quick and easy work of the job.


Once clear of the ascent we found ourselves in a small dust bowl. My passengers piled out and took an arsenal of cameras, from a massive pro job to iPhones, to the sides of the clearing. They started snapping away and dodging the dirt I was throwing in 2WD with traction control off, at which point I was having one fuckin' fine kinda day.


Yes, You Can Off-Road The 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 Z71 S


The truck was pretty easy to break loose with a just a boot in the throttle, and it was effectively a rubber-grinder when I added a brake stand to the equation. With nothing in the bed, the Goodyears pretty much had to wait until they found a solid rock to hook up. When they did, the truck surged forward like a freshly branded bull and required a quick return to the brake pedal to avoid wreaking destruction on the brush surrounding the dust pit.


An old Lebowski-looking dude in a cowboy hat rumbled over to us from the top of the trail as the dust settled. Once I decided it wasn't likely he planned to shoot us, I told him we were about to head up the path he had emerged from. "Beauty view," he replied, adding "wouldn't take my truck up there."


Welp, this truck belongs to The General, and he won't mind I thought as I rallied the troops back into the cab for the ascent, assuring Goebel and the crew I'd "done this before."


Yes, You Can Off-Road The 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 Z71 S


The trail wasn't a full-on rock garden, but sharp-looking stones the size of footballs littered the deeply-rutted path to the top of the hill. We made our way up what was probably a 15% grade in 4 Hi without so much as a slip until we got near the top, where the track was rutted enough to require significant articulation.


At the first significant crest there were two paths, as there often are at tough points on a trail, and I pondered the view of the mountains as we posed for a few more pictures.


Yes, You Can Off-Road The 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 Z71 S


"Wanna use the bypass?" asked Gobels… who was probably wondering if his department would be billed for damage.


That was the first time I'd ever used the phrase "truck nah," as I asked the shooters to jump out again and capture some of the shock-stretching they were about to see from behind.


We had the left-rear off the ground at one point, but for the most part the Rancho shocks had enough travel to keep all four tires ground bound.


The Silverado climbed into the first rut easily enough, but getting out proved challenging in high gear. I dropped to low range and surged over the dirt rump as I felt the G80 differential engage.


Yes, You Can Off-Road The 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 Z71 S


Photographers clapped, and got some more shots as we navigated around some very big rocks. We pressed on over flatter ground and I got to appreciate how much more comfortable the Z71 Rancho monotube suspension was over a rough surface at speed compared to the setup on the light duty Silverado on 20's I'd been driving earlier in the week.


I would have loved to have followed the trail further, but the end of the day's program was approaching and my passengers had to get to other appointments. With hardly enough room to open the doors, I used the rear-view camera to guide about 500 yards of our decent until we came across a flat patch at the top of the steep section.


Yes, You Can Off-Road The 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 Z71 S


Once pointed the right way, walking down the steps in low range was easy money. The cab stayed reasonably level through the deep articulations and over pointy rocks.


The trail we took wasn't seriously technical, but it was definitely a couple notches above what I reckon anybody's going to do with a heavy duty pickup. At least until the old, cheap, and hoon-friendly start buying them secondhand.


In spite of its substantial girth, the Z71 performed confidently and comfortably. It didn't take long to get my head around the truck's dimensions (no park sensors on this one) and once I did I felt like I could have pretty much put it anywhere. The wheels are easy to keep track of, and even with the flappy chrome running boards we had plenty of clearance in the body and suspension through bigger dips than these trucks will ever see in the hands of their first owners.


Yes, You Can Off-Road The 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 Z71 S


On the way back, I dumped the photographers one last time at the first creek to give them a little tsunami show and wash the cow shit off the tires. Not much of a water crossing, but what a photo op!


Verdict is the 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD Z71, and presumably its GMC Sierra counterpart, can do any off-pavement activity that will be reasonably required of it in the line of duty and keep you plenty comfortable while doing it. But if you're looking to get into real rough stuff on a regular basis, well, you're gonna want a whole lot less truck.


The Z71 package adds about $1,500. The options list is long, there are heaps of little storage boxes and such you can add to any Heavy Duty GM. The Silverado I drove here MSRP'ed out at about $48,000 with plenty of goodies.


I was a little worried GM might put me on their shit list for making a lot of extra work for their detailers, but they actually ended up using some of these images in their press kit. So if you see any similar shots of a blue Z71 with '028201' on a Michigan tag, that's me at the helm.


Images: FPI Studios


Yes, You Can Off-Road The 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 Z71

New NASCAR championship points format emphasizes winning races insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® New NASCAR championship points format emphasizes winning races

New NASCAR championship points format emphasizes winning races


NASCAR announced a new championship format on Thursday that will put greater emphasis on winning races all season long, expands the current Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field to 16 drivers, and implements a new round-by-round advancement format that "ultimately will reward a battle-tested, worthy champion," the sanctioning body said in its announcement.


"We have arrived at a format that makes every race matter even more, diminishes points racing, puts a premium on winning races and concludes with a best-of-the-best, first-to-the-finish line showdown race – all of which is exactly what fans want," said Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO. "We have looked at a number of concepts for the last three years through fan research, models and simulations, and also maintained extensive dialogue with our drivers, teams and partners. The new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup will be thrilling, easy to understand and help drive our sport's competition to a whole new level."


Changes announced by France to the championship format include:



  • A victory in the first 26 races all but guarantees a berth in the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – a change that will put an unprecedented importance on winning a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race all season long

  • Expanding the Chase field from 12 to 16 drivers, with those drivers advancing to what now will be known as the NASCAR Chase Grid

  • The number of championship drivers in contention for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship will decrease after every three Chase races, from 16 to start in the Chase Grid; 12 after Chase race No. 3; eight after Chase race No. 6; and four after Chase race No. 9

  • The first three races of the Chase (27-29) will be known as the Challenger Round; races 30-32 will be known as the Contender Round; races 33-35 will be the Eliminator Round and race No. 36 will be the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship

  • A win by a championship-eligible driver in any Chase race automatically clinches the winning driver a spot in the next Chase round

  • Four drivers will enter the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship with a chance at the title, with the highest finisher among those four taking the Sprint Cup Series championship.


And that's not all… (more)


New NASCAR championship points format emphasizes winning races

Gigantic Alaskan Avalanche Closes Highway, Creates 2,500 Foot Lake insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® Gigantic Alaskan Avalanche Closes Highway, Creates 2,500 Foot Lake

Trying to understand the enormity of an avalanche is almost impossible. This one in Alaska has closed a major highway and made a huge lake. Just. Like. That.


A huge avalanche in Alaska has closed the Richardson Highway for about a week now. When viewed by helicopter, it's easy to see why. The snow has covered the road in probably something like 70 feet of snow. And see that body of water? Yeah, that's because it blocked an entire waterway, making a brand new lake.


Workers are using dynamite to bring down loose snow and will be working to get rid of ice left by the water. There is an estimated 50-60 feet of snow there, so there is a lot of cleanup left.


Thanks avalanche.


Hat Tip to @kmatth!


Gigantic Alaskan Avalanche Closes Highway, Creates 2,500 Foot Lake

​Very Pretty GTA V Pictures Make for a Super-Depressing Letter insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® ​Very Pretty GTA V Pictures Make for a Super-Depressing Letter

​Very Pretty GTA V Pictures Make for a Super-Depressing Letter S


You thought the stories you play through in Michael, Franklin and Trevor's lives in Grand Theft Auto V were grim, didn't you? Well, you haven't met Sarah yet. And, guys, I don't think she's built for life in Los Santos.


Redditor berdu took snapshots of life in Rockstar's broken-mirror version of Los Angeles and stitched them together with a fictional letter from a recently re-located young woman to her parents. That last image can be interpreted in a… suicidal way. Hope Sarah's okay.


[via Reddit]


​Very Pretty GTA V Pictures Make for a Super-Depressing Letter

Ford Is Using James Franco To See 'Nearly Double' Before Super Bowl insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® Ford Is Using James Franco To See 'Nearly Double' Before Super Bowl

Ford hasn't been the biggest player among automakers running ads during the Super Bowl, and that won't change this year. They're airing a spot before this year's game. And it'll have James Franco, who's in pretty much everything anyway.


According to Automotive News, Ford will show a 90-second spot for the Fusion Hybrid just before the game starts Sunday. In the teaser for "Nearly Double," Franco thinks he's Rob Riggle. So it's a good thing Ford actually has Riggle for the 90-second ad.


One thing's for sure. James Franco can't be a body double for a Ford Fusion. The Fusion just looks significantly better.


Ford Is Using James Franco To See 'Nearly Double' Before Super Bowl

Unbelievably Close Call Makes Man Scream Like His Life Depended On It insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® Unbelievably Close Call Makes Man Scream Like His Life Depended On It

Unbelievably Close Call Makes Man Scream Like His Life Depended On It


"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"


Well, this is certainly one of the most pants-shitting close calls I've ever seen on the road, followed by one of the most harrowing screams I've ever heard. I can't believe this didn't end in a head-on collision.


CBC News reports that the crash occurred on Ontario's Highway 11, way up past Nipigon. In the comments section, the YouTube uploader claims to be the screaming offended truck driver's wife and states that the other driver didn't even stop after running her husband off the road. She says she is trying to find the identity of the other trucker and keep him off the road. Ontario police are still investigating the crash.


(Hat tip to Rob!)


Unbelievably Close Call Makes Man Scream Like His Life Depended On It

Your Definitive Chart Of All The New F1 Noses And What They Look Like insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® Your Definitive Chart Of All The New F1 Noses And What They Look Like

Your Definitive Chart Of All The New F1 Noses And What They Look Like S


There's been a lot of talk about the new noses on the 2014 F1 cars — mostly about what sort of gentials they resemble. As much as I love genitalia, the immediate gonadal assumption of the new noses isn't really fair or accurate, which is why I'm happy to present this comprehensive chart of the 2014 F1 noses.


I programmed the Jalopnik Mainframe (located in a nuclear-hardened bunker several hundred feet beneath Nathan Lane's illegal Malibu horse slaughterhouse) to assess each nose from three angles and then run a heuristic image-association search to determine what each nose most resembled. I think the results are fascinating, and they're 91% genital-free!


So, give it a look. This chart is especially huge, so if you want to print it out for wall-mounted studying, have at it. The big version can be accessed here as well, in case you have trouble enlarging. Happy nose-viewing!


Your Definitive Chart Of All The New F1 Noses And What They Look Like S


Your Definitive Chart Of All The New F1 Noses And What They Look Like

'Supercorolla' Will Take Over The World, Starting With Puerto Rico insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® 'Supercorolla' Will Take Over The World, Starting With Puerto Rico

'Supercorolla' Will Take Over The World, Starting With Puerto Rico S


I bet you don't think much of the 2014 Toyota Corolla, do you? You probably just think it's the kind of crappy rental car you get at the airport when you're too cheap to upgrade. Well, you're dead wrong — the new Corolla is poised to rule us all, because it's a Supercorolla!


At least, that's what I learned when I was driving the new Mini Cooper down in Puerto Rico. They have gigantic banners everywhere that proclaim it to be "El Nuevo Supercorolla."


What's super about the Puerto Rican Corolla? I have no idea. There must be more to it than we realized.


Toyotas are a huge deal on the island of Puerto Rico. They have more than 30 percent of the market down there, and everyone cruises around in older Tercels and Paseos and Corolla wagons. I've never seen so many AE86s in my life until I came here. The Puerto Ricans like them because cars are expensive but Toyotas are generally affordable and they last forever.


'Supercorolla' Will Take Over The World, Starting With Puerto Rico S


So the new Corolla must be really important. I just thought the ad campaign — gigantic banners plastered on the fronts of skyscrapers — was kind of hilarious, especially since the car's technology comes from the early 2000s.


I don't know why they call it "Supercorolla." I do know (thanks to Google) Toyota used to field a Filipino pro basketball team in the late 70s and early 80s called the Super Corollas.


Coincidence? Uh, probably.


'Supercorolla' Will Take Over The World, Starting With Puerto Rico

How the NFL's hidden scourge also threatens NASCAR drivers insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® How the NFL's hidden scourge also threatens NASCAR drivers

How the NFL's hidden scourge also threatens NASCAR drivers S


After years of ferocious hits weekly on the football field, we're seeing retired NFL players combat debilitating, ultimately fatal brain injuries. There's another sport where concussions can have the same effect: racing. Crashing carries risks long after a driver calls it a career, especially in NASCAR.


Now NASCAR is taking steps to address the dangers, but is it enough? As drivers and race organizers grapple with the issue, this story—the story of retired NASCAR racer Fred Lorenzen and his slow descent into the darkest depths of an incurable disease—is a must-read.


How the NFL's hidden scourge also threatens NASCAR drivers

The TSA Laughs At Your Naked Body And Does Not Stop Terrorists insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® The TSA Laughs At Your Naked Body And Does Not Stop Terrorists

The TSA Laughs At Your Naked Body And Does Not Stop Terrorists S


If you somehow need more proof that the Transportation Security Administration is an expensive, invasive joke of a federal agency that does not actually thwart airline terrorism, then writer and former TSA screener Jason Edward Harrington is happy to give you some.


Writing in Politico Magazine, Harrington details the three ludicrous years he spent working for the TSA at Chicago O'Hare International Airport which included, in his words, "patting down the crotches of children, the elderly and even infants as part of the post-9/11 airport security show."


The worst part, he says, is many of the TSA agents themselves feel that the agency creates mistrust with citizens and is a waste of public money. Here are some of the great examples of how Harrington and his blue-shirted pals kept us safe in the skies:



Once, in 2008, I had to confiscate a bottle of alcohol from a group of Marines coming home from Afghanistan. It was celebration champagne intended for one of the men in the group—a young, decorated soldier. He was in a wheelchair, both legs lost to an I.E.D., and it fell to me to tell this kid who would never walk again that his homecoming champagne had to be taken away in the name of national security.



And this:



People holding passports from the selectee countries were automatically pulled aside for full-body pat-downs and had their luggage examined with a fine-toothed comb. The selectee list was purely political, of course, with diplomacy playing its role as always: There was no Saudi Arabia or Pakistan on a list of states historically known to harbor, aid and abet terrorists. Besides, my co-workers at the airport didn't know Algeria from a medical condition, we rarely came across Cubanos and no one's ever seen a North Korean passport that didn't include the words "Kim-Jong." So it was mostly the Middle Easterners who got the special screening.



Really nice. And remember that would-be underwear bomber in 2009 who was thwarted by passengers? Although it was used as a justification for body scanners in every airport, the TSA knew said scanners wouldn't work despite costing $150,000 a pop, Harrington writes, quoting an instructor:



"They're shit," he said, shrugging. He said we wouldn't be able to distinguish plastic explosives from body fat and that guns were practically invisible if they were turned sideways in a pocket. We quickly found out the trainer was not kidding: Officers discovered that the machines were good at detecting just about everything besides cleverly hidden explosives and guns. The only thing more absurd than how poorly the full-body scanners performed was the incredible amount of time the machines wasted for everyone.



Except for the TSA agents who wanted to stare at naked people, of course:



Many of the images we gawked at were of overweight people, their every fold and dimple on full awful display. Piercings of every kind were visible. Women who'd had mastectomies were easy to discern—their chests showed up on our screens as dull, pixelated regions. Hernias appeared as bulging, blistery growths in the crotch area. Passengers were often caught off-guard by the X-Ray scan and so materialized on-screen in ridiculous, blurred poses—mouths agape, à la Edvard Munch. One of us in the I.O. room would occasionally identify a passenger as female, only to have the officers out on the checkpoint floor radio back that it was actually a man. All the old, crass stereotypes about race and genitalia size thrived on our secure government radio channels.



Which were also used to sexually harass women, because why not:



Then there was the infamous "guyspeak" in my "Insider's TSA Dictionary." One of the first terms I learned from fellow male TSA officers at O'Hare was "Hotel Papa," code language for an attractive female passenger—"Hotel" standing for "hot," and "Papa" for, well, use your imagination.



The TSA's budget was $5.16 billion in 2013. Be sure and check out the rest of the story at Politico Magazine to learn even more exciting ways your money is being spent.


Photo credit AP


The TSA Laughs At Your Naked Body And Does Not Stop Terrorists

F1: Red Bull ends Jerez test early insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® F1: Red Bull ends Jerez test early

F1: Red Bull ends Jerez test early


Red Bull called an early end to its troubled week of Formula 1 testing at Jerez in Spain on Friday.


The reigning world champion outfit has had a nightmare four days with its RB10, after suffering a spate of overheating and power unit problems.


Race drivers Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo managed just 21 laps over the four days of testing at Jerez. On Friday, in a bid to cure the overheating, it opened up extra vents in its sidepods to try to help matters. Despite making a little progress, it was then stopped by an unspecified mechanical failure on the car that meant it called time on its running at mid-day.


Team principal Christian Horner remained upbeat that, despite the troubles of the week, Red Bull could make significant progress before the next test in Bahrain.


"It's been a very difficult test," he said. "We have had numerous Renault issues as well as chassis cooling issues, which have affected our progress. However, despite the lack of mileage, what we have managed to learn shows that the problems should be solvable for the next test in Bahrain.


"Part of the purpose of this early test was to learn about any issues ahead of the start of the season and there will now be a lot of focus on the dyno over the next few weeks."


Finding a cure...


F1: Red Bull ends Jerez test early

Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Wants Your Cash To Get Out Of Prison insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Wants Your Cash To Get Out Of Prison

Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Wants Your Cash To Get Out Of Prison S


You know, we Detroiters just love our public fundraising efforts on the Internet. It's why we have a RoboCop statue coming! The latest ploy for handouts comes at the hands of corrupt former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his mother, a now-former Michigan congresswoman.


Kilpatrick is serving a 28-year federal bid for being a greedy dick racketeering, extortion, bribery and a laundry list of other convictions. Supporters are looking for another way to spring him from the joint.


Life was once grand for the Kilpatrick family before the feds swooped in. With Kilpatrick in office and his mother, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, in the House of Representatives, they were pulling in lots of public money while building a political dynasty.


Now, the money's gone, and Cheeks Kilpatrick is now the "trustee" for the "Freedom and Justice Trust" to raise money for her son's legal fees. What they'll do with the money is...not quite clear.


From the website:



The Freedom and Justice Trust is a trust established to raise funds to help defray the legal expenses of former Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick.


The Trustee of the Trust is former US Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick(D-MI).


Under the terms of the Trust, the funds raised can be used only for expenses(including attorneys fees and costs) incurred in connection with the legal representation of Kwame Kilpatrick. There is no legal limit on the source or amount of contributions that the Trust can accept.


Contributions to the Trust are not subject to public disclosure. The Trust is not required to file any disclosure reports with any government agency or authority.


Contributions to the Trust are legally gifts to Mayor Kilpatrick. Accordingly, such contributions are not tax-deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.



Yeah...no. It's time for the Kilpatricks to suck it up and realize what's done is done, and there are consequences for actions. Too bad like Indiegogo or any other site, we can't see how much money has actually been raised. But since Kilpatrick still has some die-hards out there, there's probably a few coins in the pot.


Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Wants Your Cash To Get Out Of Prison

The Smoking Tire Project Fiesta ST Gets COBB Stage 1 insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® The Smoking Tire Project Fiesta ST Gets COBB Stage 1

The Smoking Tire Project Fiesta ST Gets COBB Stage 1 S


After we filmed the somewhat controversial Ford Fiesta ST vs. BMW E46 M3 video a month or so back, we as a group were so smitten with the Fiesta ST's ludicrous value for money proposition that our cameraman and resident mad scientist Thaddeus Brown went straight to the dealership and traded in his 2006 Mini Cooper S for one. And in the first two months, it's been an incredible car. But the kind folks at COBB Tuning thought it could use a little more.


We love the Fiesta ST because it can hold an obscene amount of camera equipment, gets great fuel economy, can hang with supercars in the twisties (which means better chase cam shots for you), and is as much fun as any $25,000 car ever produced.


As we'll see in the video, Ford is majorly sandbagging on the numbers for the Fiesta ST, something I suspected all along, and 5 minutes of reflashing from COBB unleashes even more power.


The Smoking Tire Project Fiesta ST Gets COBB Stage 1

What It's Like To Drive Infiniti's Crazy Drive-By-Wire Steering Tech insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® What It's Like To Drive Infiniti's Crazy Drive-By-Wire Steering Tech

What It's Like To Drive Infiniti's Crazy Drive-By-Wire Steering Tech S


Living in New York City, I don't drive very much these days. I still like a hot car and I love driving, especially on the vast and sometimes 80 mph speed limit Texas highways I grew up on. Is it fast? I'm in. Does it look cool? Done. Does it make me look even cooler? Even better. But the reason the 2014 Infiniti Q50s floored me had nothing to do with my normal criteria.


It's not that the Q50 isn't a looker. That's just not the marquee feature. The Q50 is all about a crazy steering tech that's new to cars (although more common in planes and spacecrafts). And I didn't even understand what it was until I gave 'er a spin.


So what is it? The concept is called drive-by-wire steering, and the Q50 is the world's first production car to incorporate it standard. Maybe those words mean nothing to you, and I would say it's worth actually driving the Q50s to fully grasp the definition. But basically, instead of a metal shaft running from the steering wheel to the front suspension, the Q50 uses electronics to relay your steering wheel input to the tires.


That might sound dangerous, given the relative reliability of electronics. But don't fret; if the electronic system fails, a mechanical backup snaps into place. The rest of the time, though, the only thing connecting the steering wheel to the road is electrons.


What's the benefit? Since software is running the show, it's easier to switch between steering styles. So with the flip of a little switch on the console, you can swap between sport, standard, eco, snow, or custom modes.


It took me a while to actually work up the courage to switch from standard mode to something else. I dunno, driving a $40,000 car that didn't belong to me? I guess I thought something might explode and kill me. Also, less than a half a dozen Q50s have been recalled for a failure in the steering system when it gets too cold, but that's neither here nor there.


When I actually came around to it, the change was always seamless. The car would automagically go from feeling like a nice sedan to a speedy little sports car with a tighter, stronger, and decidedly different steering style. There was a slight jerk that signified you had made an adjustment, but it wasn't anything too terribly dramatic. Also, I thought using the switch would take a modicum of skill, but it was actually a perfect match to my timidity—and in fact it probably resulted in making me a bit bolder of a driver. Thanks, technology!


What It's Like To Drive Infiniti's Crazy Drive-By-Wire Steering Tech


Of course I used sport mode a lot; it was the most fun, and the gas pedal response time seemed to be the fastest. But on the highway, I also liked using eco mode. It was smooth and easy to coast along, and the wheel felt a little bit looser when I made turns. The one I didn't get a chance to try out was snow mode. I am in Texas, and although snow has been known to make cameo appearances here, it was M.I.A. during my rendezvous with the Q50S.


It's not just academically interesting that a flip of a switch can readily adjust features like engine output and steering response; it's fun. I don't know if drive-by-wire steering alone is enough of a hook to make me actually buy this car. I found myself sort of forgetting that I even could switch between modes.


But whether drive-by-wire would be enough to make me buy this specific car isn't really the point. The Q50 is most interesting as a glimpse at the future of how we'll drive, one in which drive-by-wire isn't a curiosity but a given. I can report with conviction that the future is fast, and it is fun.


What It's Like To Drive Infiniti's Crazy Drive-By-Wire Steering Tech

The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW

The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


Do you want to know the deepest, darkest secrets of the future of the BMW brand? With the possible exception of the i3 and i8, these secrets don't lie under the hood of any car with a roundel badge; they're hidden within this guy, the 2014 Mini Cooper. No, seriously.


It's going to be hard to avoid size-related puns when I write about the all-new Cooper. Yes, its name is Mini, which implies that it's small, but this one is more grown up than ever, both figuratively and literally. It's also a really big deal for the BMW brand, as its mechanical parts will underpin a huge family of new cars, both Minis and Bimmers.


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


Okay, so how is it to actually drive? Pretty damn good, it turns out. Both Cooper and Cooper S are quick, handle great, have a vastly improved interior and ride quality over the outgoing car, and boast a very impressive array of technology at a good price.


But the new car's size increase, as well as its newfound maturity, means it's not quite as tossable and ridiculous and prone to shenanigans as its smaller predecessors.


(Full disclosure: Mini needed me to drive the 2014 Cooper so badly that they flew me to Puerto Rico and put me up in an obscenely fancy hotel on the beach. I was just happy to not be on the frozen-ass East Coast anymore. I would have done this drive in a Zetas-controlled shantytown in Mexico if it meant warmer weather. I should also note that I own a 2008 Cooper S, which I rather like quite a bit, and I asked to go on this drive so I could compare the new one to my car.)


Few cars have had an evolution as strange and fascinating as the Mini Cooper. It started life as Alec Issigonis' ultra-tiny, ultra-efficient car, and then at the start of the last decade it was reborn as a sport-oriented premium hatchback that survived BMW's ill-fated and bizarre marriage to the Rover Group, may British Racing God rest its soul.


Over the years BMW has grown the Mini lineup to include convertibles, two-seat coupes, and even small crossovers — with extremely mixed results at times — but Mini has always kind of been out there on its own, doing its own thing with its own engines and platforms.


Not anymore! BMW has channeled its inner Bun B and told Mini, "Baby you been rollin' solo, time to get down with the team!" The new Cooper is now integral to BMW's future products.


Everything is new on the new Cooper. New transmissions, new engines, new interior, new chassis, and new electrics. It rides on an entirely new front-wheel drive platform called UKL that will underpin the next generation of Mini models and some BMWs, starting with a four-door Cooper and the 2-Series Active Tourer.


Yes, BMW is going front-drive, get over it. Frankly it's amazing they lasted this long, given the way fuel economy standards lord over everything carmakers do these days.


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


And for the first time ever, the Cooper's engines are all-Bimmer, all the time. Gone are the previous motors co-developed with Chrysler and PSA Peugeot Citroën. Now there's a 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine and a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, both with a BMW TwinPower twin-scroll turbo. That three-cylinder will go into the BMW i8 hybrid supercar, and the engineers heavily implied the new four-cylinder could see future duty in cars like the 320i or 328i.


This is why it makes sense that more than ever, the Cooper now drives like a small BMW. The first-generation R53 Cooper felt the most British, and this one feels the most German. (This was made painfully obvious by the fact that, despite the Coopers present at the launch decked out in the Union Jack flag, every engineer I met was a dude named Fritz or Klaus.)


The Look


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


Let's get the size thing out of the way first. The new car is larger in every dimension than the R56 Cooper it replaces. It's 4.5 inches longer, 1.7 inches wider, 0.3 inches taller and has a longer wheelbase. And it's 100 to 150 pounds heavier, depending on the model.


How did that happen? Two reasons, according to Mini engineers: to add more safety features and because their customers asked for a Cooper with more space. The last one doesn't make too much sense to me. The car's small size is one of the things that appeals to me most, but I must be in the minority in this.


To be fair, the 2014 Cooper is still a small car by modern standards, and every car is bigger than it was a decade ago. It's just harder for Mini to get away with this because small size is both the name of their brand and the entire point of the original Issigonis-designed car. It's still smaller than, say, a Volkswagen Golf, so it has that going for it.


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


Styling wise, it's hard to tell the difference between the old car and this one unless you look very closely. The general shape and details are the same, but the front fascia, tail lamps, side badges and other details are different, and it generally looks a bit more rounded, but it's still very clearly a Mini Cooper. People are still going to know what it is when they see it. Why mess with that kind of instant brand recognition?


Personally, I like the base Cooper's front end over the S's. The chrome horizontal bars and lack of big rectangular "dimples" on either side of the front intercooler make it look less, I don't know, scream-facey, if you catch my drift. The Cooper is a bit more understated, more traditional. I think it works better here.


The Interior


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


It's a huge improvement over the old car on the inside. Lots of the interior quirks hated by Americans — the giant, center-mounted speedometer, window buttons on the center console, stuff like that — are now gone. The layout of buttons and switches is much more intuitive than past cars.


The new wheel-mounted spedometer is super easy to read, and the Cooper S I drove also had a nice heads-up display screen that showed me you how fast I was going. Still, a few interior quirks remain; the tachometer to the left of the speedo now feels like kind of an afterthought, and the gas gauge to the right isn't the most clear thing ever, either. But there are good quirks, too! I like the big LED light bar around the infotainment screen that changes colors when the car does different things and the bright red stop/start switch.


Most importantly, the overall quality is vastly better than the ones in the outgoing Cooper. The cheap, hard, rattly plastics are mostly gone, replaced with soft-touch materials everywhere. It's definitely more grown up, more BMW-ish, but still full of that unique Mini character.


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


Also: I kind of fell in love with the woven gray cloth seats on the Cooper that featured leather accents. To put it simply, they look classy as fuck. I want them on my car. I want them in my house. I want them inside me.


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


At the same time, the inside of the new Cooper is where the size increase becomes most readily apparent compared to the old car. When you sit inside, it's got noticeably more headroom and elbow room for you and your passenger, and the hatch area is a lot more substantial. I suppose there were enough people out there who said they were put off from buying a Mini by its small size that BMW decided it needed to get bigger.


Like I said, I feel like small size was a big part of its appeal, at least to enthusiasts who wanted a kind of Miata-esque car but needed something more practical.


The Drive


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


We had two kinds of cars available to us on this drive: a base Cooper with a six-speed manual, and a Cooper S with a six-speed paddle-shifted automatic.


I started the day, as I figured one should, in the less powerful car. But the base Cooper's 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine was the biggest surprise of this experience. The 134 horsepower, 162 pound-foot three-banger was pretty impressive in terms of acceleration able to propel the Cooper from zero to 60 mph in 7.3 seconds, which puts it extremely close to the Fiat 500 Abarth. It feels a bit gutless at very low RPMs, but once it gets into the midrange it packs an unexpected punch.


It also sounds good, too. The three is quiet at cruising speeds, but when you get on it there is a really nice growl, and its acceleration is smooth like a proper inline-whatever BMW engine should be. Mind you, you have to work this engine hard to get the most out of it, but it's always up for that kind of play. Will Americans get used to the coming onslaught of three-cylinder engines? If they're even close to being as good as this car's motor, we'll all be just fine.


The six-speed manual is a big help with getting the most from the little engine. Shifts are light, tight and relatively short. The clutch is easy to work and does its job without drama. All in all, it's a very good gearbox, and it's a worthy partner to this mill.


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


The Cooper S came with a big surge in power over the base engine: it's up to 189 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque these days, and torque can go up to 221 pound-feet with overboost.


The S is quick, hitting 60 mph in 6.4 seconds with the automatic, though it doesn't feel significantly faster than my Cooper S. It does have ample passing power and, like a good Bavarian motor, it feels comfortable and relaxed at high speeds. I do have to say that its sound isn't as interesting and compelling as the three, though it's an improvement over the odd, burbly spaceship noises you got from the old PSA engine.


As with every Mini Cooper, the automatic waters down the driving experience considerably. However, the new six-speed auto is a much better transmission than the one it replaces. Paddle shifts are tremendously quicker, almost DSG-like, and those paddles are on the proper left and right sides of the steering wheel instead of the push/pull system used in the old car. The throttle is also a lot more linear on the new Cooper S, whereas the old one's acceleration could be jerky out of the gate.


When it comes to handling... well, here's where the new Cooper (I'm talking about both the base model and the S now, to be clear) starts to fall down a bit if you compare it to older, smaller Minis. It's still remarkably flat in the corners, and it's nimble for sure, but its new, all-electric system lacks the feel, the tightness and the directness you got out of the outgoing Cooper.


Also, it handles like it's bigger and heavier than the old car. This is because it is in fact bigger and heavier, and when you make cars bigger and heavier, they lose some of their driving dynamics.


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


The new Cooper is still an extremely adept handler for its size — I was pulling J-turns in the base car just fine — but it's just not as razor sharp and, worst of all, only about 70 percent as fun as the car it replaces. The first time I ever drove a Cooper S, I felt like I could use it to run from the cops. That sense of vehicular hooliganism feels dulled on the new car. Like I said, it's grown up now.


I do have to give it praise for its improvements to the old car's weakest area: ride quality. The old Cooper, especially in S trim with a sport package, was so harsh that getting a root canal was almost preferable to driving one in a city with a lot of potholes. Both Coopers are now far more comfortable than the older ones. Mind you, things are still a bit harder than the average economy car, but it's much more livable. There are ways to tweak that, too, which I'll get into momentarily.


Keep in mind that our test cars had Pirelli P Zero sports tires on them, and not the crappy, hard-riding run flats that Coopers usually come with. No word yet on what tires they'll have them they actually go on sale.


The Toys And Tech


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


You do get more tech stuff than ever in the new Cooper, and much of it is impressive. I'll start with the much-hyped Mini Driving Modes. By flicking a lever below the shifter you can set every Cooper and Cooper S to Mid, the default, Green, or Sport. These tune throttle response, adjust the tightness of the steering, and on Cooper S-es equipped with Dynamic Damper Control, tweak the ride quality for either optimum fun or maximum gas mileage. An adjustable ride is a first for the Mini.


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


The differences are stark, making each mode feel like a different car. On the Cooper S, Green Mode is slugglush and underpowered but also the most comfortable, and Sport Mode is louder and sharper, and it gives you a nice exhaust burble as you work through the gears. I kept my tester in Sport Mode most of the time because, well, you know.


Gone is the dainty little knob thing that previously controlled the infotainment system, replaced by a large controller surrounded by buttons that's basically the same kind of iDrive they put on Bimmers these days. And it's quite good. It is not a touch screen, but the infotainment system is fast and responsive, though it does involve scrolling through a lot of menus.


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


There's also a ton of safety-related gadgets, like a backup camera, cruise control with distance control and automatic braking, and automatic parallel parking. I don't really know why anyone needs that. If you can't parallel park a Mini Cooper, you probably shouldn't be driving a car.


The Conclusion


The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW S


In the end, I generally liked the 2014 Cooper and Cooper S. In many ways that matter, it's the best Mini Cooper ever made. The tweaks to the interior and the ride quality are hard to argue with, as are the larger hatch area and the various tech toys. Plus, it's still very fun to drive.


I just wish it hadn't gotten so large, and I wish it retained a little more of the driving insanity of the R53 and R56 Coopers.


Here's the weird thing, though: I liked the three-cylinder engine better. Yes, the Cooper S has plenty of power, but wringing all the juice I could out of that eager little three-banger as I rowed through the gears was just way more fun (For whatever it's worth, most journalists on this trip agreed with me). If I were buying a new Mini Cooper, the three-cylinder with a manual is the one I'd get. It has a lot more character than the 2.0 four does.


I think the new Cooper will appeal to people who wanted something a little more refined and larger than the outgoing car, who were less apt to deal with its oddball interior ergonomics. Want the pure, crazy, pint-sized driving fun of the R53? I'm not sure there's anything currently in the market quite like that, but maybe the Ford Fiesta ST comes close.


I'd love to see Mini do something to make the pint-sized Mini Rocketman concept a reality, maybe with only the three-cylinder motor, but I get the sense from talking to engineers that it really isn't in the cards right now. In the meantime, expect to see a lot more of the 2014 Cooper, both in Mini and BMW forms.


Photos credit Mini


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The 2014 Mini Cooper Is The Future Of BMW