We here at Dubspeed Towers are big fans of Mr. Dan Neil of the Los Angeles Times. Not only is he a top-notch automotive journalist (Pulitzer-winning, even), but he manages to effectively communicate not only the technical features of the car and what it feels like to drive it, but be consistently funny while doing so. Also, he is in possession of an impeccable sense of style, as shown in the above photo and the Video of the Week. In this week’s installment, Mr. Neil reviews the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, the first truly purpose-built automobile and one of the coolest things ever. As the article states, the only significant difference between the replica and the original prototype is the replacement of the old-school candlestick-sized spark plug with the modern equivalent.
In case you’re still clicking frantically at the picture on the top of this post and trying to figure out why it doesn’t play, this week’s installment of Video of the Week is behind the indicated link at the bottom of the page. Furthermore, the LA Times’ website doesn’t play nice with Firefox, and the video link has to be opened with Internet Explorer. You have been warned.
Even though I’ve said some mean things about Top Gear in the past, I still love her and hope that she replies to my desperate, tearful phone messages I leave her in the middle of the night, and anxiously await the next season so I might be able to watch the show again. What would be even better is a US version of Top Gear, preferably hosted by actual car journalists instead of the bunch they hired for the US pilot version last year (a reality show contestant was in the mix) that was apparently so hideously bad it’s never been shown to the public. According to a recent article by The Sun, plans were in place to have Clarkson, Hammond and May fly across the Atlantic to the US and shoot a US version of the show for a few months, and according to that same article, Clarkson refused to participate. His stated reasons were mostly family-related. The Sun article tries to make it look like Clarkson hates the US enough to refuse to live there for the period of time needed to film the show, and that might be true, but I think that it’s much more likely that he and the rest of the Top Gear hosts and crew didn’t want to spend months away from their families on top of the months and months they spend working on the UK version of the show. After all, they just finished attempting to cross the English Channel in their homebuilt amphibious cars and having Clarkson and May drive a Toyota pickup to the North Pole while Hammond went there in a dogsled. Time with their families is tight enough that Hammond ditched his car and ran 16 miles after traffic from flooding held him up from getting home to be with his daughter on her birthday. Asking much more from them doesn’t seem fair, so I guess I’ll just have to wait until they sort out a new set of hosts for the US version.
Currently, I’m freezing my ass off in a hotel room in Fortuna, California. My eyes are watering from the residual cigarette smoke in the room and I can’t vent the room out because there’s a trailer with a load of live cattle parked outside my window. Despite all of this, I’m in higher spirits now than I have been for a while. The reason for my mood is sitting out in the parking lot: a 2001 Acura Integra Type R, specifically, my Integra Type R. I purchased it on Thursday in Seattle and I’m halfway through driving it down to Southern California. Today, as a personal test of its dynamic capabilities and as a chance to get to know it more intimately, I drove from Red Butte to my current location on State Route 36, a 140 mile strip of asphalt that contains every type of twist, turn, camber change and elevation shift that you can think of, and it was never anything short of brilliant. In celebration of my new relationship with the Integra Type R, here’s Top Gear’s (yes, YouTube commenters, Top Gear did exist before 2001, and yes, Tiff Needell was on it) review of the then-brand new Honda (nee Acura) Integra Type R.
VW has long been an enthusiast’s darling, with several classic models under their belt like the Beetle, GTI, Sirocco and Corrado. Unfortunately, even with their new models winning awards left and right, VW is still battling against public perception that their cars are slow and unreliable. As a result, even since the New Beetle boom wore off in 2003, sales have continually been on a downward trend, from 338,000 sold in 2002 to 235,000 in 2006. The failure of their ad campaigns to move the new Jetta, Passat, Golf and GTI models has only added to the pressure. VW CEO Martin Winterkorn has said that the turnaround is “their number one priority”. Ominous rumblings are coming out of the company, however. A company insider is quoted in the Business Week article as saying, “For the first time in some time, the phrase If we are to stay in the U.S.’ precedes a lot of conversations at VW.” Bad vibes.
This last Wednesday was the 20th anniversary of Walter Röhrl’s record-setting sprint up Pikes Peak. Driving a Audi Sport Quattro S1 Group B rally car, he did the deed in 10:47:85, beating perennial Pikes Peak hill climb winner Bobby Unser’s record run of 11:09:22, set the previous year in a similar Quattro S1. The first appearance of the Sport Quattro at Pikes Peak in 1985, driven by Michele Mouton, who not only won the event, but set a record time for a female driver that still stands. Video starts out in German, but soon the voice goes away, leaving only the beautiful music of a Group B engine being beat to within an inch of its life.
Well, the E92 M3 is here, and the first reviews are out. Overall, they’re very positive, reporting solid handling, a great engine, a beautiful body and good interior. There’s only one consistent complaint, and it’s a big one if you’re a fan of the original race-bred E30 M3. Reports of a preference for understeer, a wobbly gearshift, and number handling than what was expected for what’s supposed to be the racer of the BMW M Division lineup have been seen. For example, despite having a 70 HP advantage over the E46 M3, the new M3 is no faster around the Nurburgring than the old model. There are those who disagree, though. Tom Ford of Top Gear thinks that even though it’s not as hardcore as M3s from days gone by, it’s far more important that it be great to drive and more accessible. Fear not, however, because if you think that a Lotus Exige is your idea of a perfectly acceptable daily driver, BMW has confirmed that they’re already working on a CSL version. Here’s hoping we see it over here, unlike the E46 M3 CSL.
Above, you’ll see the Fifth Gear review of the Audi R8. Tiff Needell is in top form, drifting the all-wheel-drive supercar around a cone track at the Las Vegas Speedway after taking it on a midnight cruise on Las Vegas Boulevard and out into the Nevada desert. It’s beautifully shot and scored, one of the best Fifth Gear reviews I’ve ever seen. I had a “why can’t we do this in the US” rant all lined up, but then I realized that it’s because we’ve never bothered to actually try. Then I started the video up again, and all was forgotten. Anyway, enjoy.
I’ve made clear my feelings on hybrid cars and their owners before. Having actually been in shouting arguments over the purchasing motivations for hybrids, I feel a great sense of vindication in announcing that a recent survey by CNW Marketing Research found that more than 50% of Prius owners announced that they bought their car because “it makes a statement about me,” an increase from 30% three years ago. The article from the New York Times makes a reference to the upcoming EPA MPG testing standards revision, and the drastic drop in projected miles per gallon it will report. When that bit of information hits the popular consciousness, I want to be on a lawn chair in front of a TV with something frosty and alcoholic in my hand to watch the fireworks go off.
As demonstrated in the above screenshot, we’re slaving away tirelessly here at Dubspeed Towers to bring you the latest in automotive news, videos, and other things that we find interesting. However, there are limits to even our God-like purview of the automotive world, and we come to you on bended knees, asking for your help in finding interesting stuff to post here on Dubspeed Driven. Anything car-related (even tangentially so) that you find out there on the web that catches your attention, please send our way at kasey@dubspeedmedia.com. After all, there’s only so many hours a day we can spend entering random search terms into Google and YouTube and stealing content from other blogs carefully combing the Internet for the latest automotive news and bringing you the hard-hitting and completely original content that Dubspeed Driven is known for.
You know, we may not cover all ofthe latest cars, or get to drive the Caparo T1, but you can count on us to be your trusted source for BMW 1-series coupe news. And in that spirit, here’s the recently released press video for the upcoming 3.0L twin-turbocharged version of the 1-series coupe. Also, as an aside, if representatives of a certain Bavarian automotive company were to offer a chance to drive their upcoming 300 HP super-coupe, I would not be disinclined to perform any acts they might demand, up to and including the infliction of grievous bodily harm. I’m just saying, that’s all.
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