Category: Auto Industry

Report: Man beats ticket on dashcam evidence, takes town to court [w/videos]

Filed under: Government/Legal

Vermont police pull over Rod MacIver

Rod MacIver wanted justice after being wronged by his local police department. He was pulled over and cited for running a red light, despite the officer’s dashcam video clearly shown that he hadn’t. When the matter went to court, the judge, after viewing the footage, threw the case out and dressed down the officer, Jason Lawton.

MacIver isn’t through, though, taking the matter to small claims court over the time and effort involved in beating his original ticket. Looking for $2,000 in damages, the 56-year-old resident argues that the department’s default attitude “was dishonesty in every encounter.”

With his day in court scheduled and Judge Samuel Hoar “looking forward to” the proceedings, neither the officer, his sergeant nor a department administrator were to be found. Only the Shelburne Police Department’s lawyer, Colin McNeil, showed up in court. Arguing that the burden of proof was on MacIver, the lawyer argued that the officers didn’t need to attend the proceedings (no joke, they were across the street at a coffee shop – insert donut jokes in three, two, one…), meaning the matter was set aside for a future date. While the matter still isn’t resolved, Judge Hoar informed McNeil that “it would be a mistake” for the officers to miss the next hearing, according to a report from WCAX.

Take a look at the full video below and the news report, and let us know what you think. Was there any reason for pulling MacIver over?

Continue reading Man beats ticket on dashcam evidence, takes town to court [w/videos]

Man beats ticket on dashcam evidence, takes town to court [w/videos] originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Read This: Lack of 35mm film, replacement parts putting hurt on America’s drive-ins [w/poll]

Filed under: TV/Movies, Read This

Drive-in movie theaters turn 80 years old this summer, and, soon, they might die of old age. There are only 360 drive-in theaters left in the US – down from 4,000 at their peak in 1958 – and the 35-millimeter film projectors that they use to screen movies are quickly losing support from studios, which have switched to digital methods of capturing pictures.

Remember the four-foot poles with speakers built in? You’d pull your car up to it, park, and open your windows to listen to the movie. Well, there’s only one company left that makes parts for those speakers, and they don’t support surround sound. And the cost to upgrade the projectors to digital systems is prohibitively expensive. James Kopp, manager at the Family Drive-In Theatre in Stephens City, Virginia, says he was quoted nearly $140,000 to make the switch to digital, The Washington Post reports.

Pennsauken, New Jersey, was the first US city to build a drive-in, yet there are no more of them in the state. As gloomy as it looks, there are drive-ins trying to make the switch to digital projection systems, and there are ones that already have. But as drive-ins fall further from our minds, the question is, do people care?

Read The Washington Post article, and tell us what you think in the poll below.

View Poll

Lack of 35mm film, replacement parts putting hurt on America’s drive-ins [w/poll] originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Ford blamed in drug mule lawsuit

Filed under: Government/Legal, Ford

If a college student is caught smuggling drugs across the border, one might think the kid got what was coming to him. But when a Mexican student at the University of Texas in El Paso was caught by Border Patrol agents with duffel bags filled with marijuana in his trunk, the man used a classic excuse: He claimed they weren’t his.

While a claim like that is almost unbelievable, Ricardo Magallanes, the student, is now suing Ford for handling its vehicles’ key codes negligently enough to allow drug smugglers to break into his Ford Focus and stash the drugs, The Daily Caller reports. The twist here is that four other people who lived in Juarez and worked in El Paso were involved in the same type of scheme – allegedly unwittingly, just like Magallanes – and all the cars were Fords except one model from General Motors. FBI agents also found an employee at a Dallas Ford dealership that had accessed the key codes to all four of the cannabis-stuffed Fords.

While we all may not own Fords, the case still causes us slight paranoia. We’ll definitely be checking our trunks before we cross any more international borders.

Ford blamed in drug mule lawsuit originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Alfa Romeo Spider said to get modern styling, 168 horsepower

Filed under: Convertible, Alfa Romeo

Take a good look at the picture (and the high-res image gallery) of the Alfa Romeo 2uettottanta concept by Pininfarina, because the production Spider that will be a joint development with the coming Mazda MX-5 Miata isn’t expected to look anything like it. According to a report in Autocar, designers at Fiat’s Centro Stile couldn’t figure out how to translate the concept to a production car.

We’re being told that the new Alfa roadster will be styled to match the modernity of the brand’s lineup, accented by “historic design themes,” and that its exterior is near final approval. Apparently, the traditional Alfa grille will be flanked by “lower intake whiskers” and headlights that are nothing like those on the 4C. To be built alongside the Miata in Japan, it will share certain platform hardpoints like the front bulkhead and engine compartment, but won’t have any body panels in common with the Mazda.

Only one engine is expected to be slotted in that bay: the 1.4-liter MultiAir with 168 horsepower. Those ponies will be charged with moving a roadster said to come in at no more than 2,420 pounds, with shifting performed by a six-speed dual-clutch transmission. If that information is correct, that would give it one more horsepower and 20 or more pounds less weight than the current manual-transmission Miata Sport. Comparing like-for-kind-of-like, it would have 10 more hp and be at least 122 pounds lighter than the current automatic-equipped Miata Sport.

Alfa Romeo Spider said to get modern styling, 168 horsepower originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Chrysler delays 2014 Jeep Cherokee media launch

Filed under: Jeep

2014 Jeep Cherokee

Chrysler is making the unusual move of delaying the first media drives of the 2014 Jeep Cherokee, which were slated to start next week in Seattle. And while something like this is a rare occurrence, and one that most of the Autoblog staff can’t recall happening this publicly or so close to the event itself, it won’t effect the actual on-sale date of the new Cherokee, which is set to hit showrooms in September.

“Over the last couple of weeks during final quality and durability testing, we have discovered the opportunity to further improve powertrain calibration,” Chrysler told Automotive News. This marks the second notable delay in the Cherokee’s short life, after production was delayed for roughly a month earlier this summer.

Still, we’d rather Chrysler make sure the Cherokee is ready for primetime before flying media in from around the country. It shows a willingness to get things right the first time, rather than offering media drives and then tweaking the car after the fact.

A simple look at the Cherokee’s powertrain is all that’s needed to understand how big of a deal it is. Everything under the oddly styled CUV’s hood is new, from a tweaked 2.4-liter engine to a new 3.2-liter V-6, to the first use of Chrysler Group’s new nine-speed automatic, developed jointly with ZF. The pressure to get this right must be immense. We’ll find out if Chrysler succeeds in September.

Chrysler delays 2014 Jeep Cherokee media launch originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Acura teases 17 seconds of the NSX on Vine and Instagram

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Videos, Acura, Luxury

Acura won’t roll out the prototype NSX until August 4 when it shows up at Mid-Ohio Raceway for the Honda 200 IndyCar race, and the genuine production car isn’t scheduled to arrive until 2015. Acura will, though, make the car a Vine and Instagram video star with snippets of the mid-engined roarer lapping the test track in both the dry and the wet.

After unleashing a six-second loop on Twitter’s video service yesterday, it gave fans a bit more by uploading a nine-second clip on Instagram of the coupe throwing up rooster tails and sliding around bends. Best of all is the sound – it’s like no Acura you’ve ever heard outside of a race track. You can check out both videos below.

Continue reading Acura teases 17 seconds of the NSX on Vine and Instagram

Acura teases 17 seconds of the NSX on Vine and Instagram originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 12:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Drive: 2014 Toyota Tundra

Filed under: Truck, Toyota, First Drives

Raising A White Flag To The Competition

2014 Toyota Tundra

We all benefit from highly competitive battles. In the automotive sector, few campaigns are so closely fought as the decades-long struggle for supremacy in the fullsize half-ton pickup truck segment. The Ford F-150 has dominated for ages, but Chevrolet, Ram and GMC have been closing the gap with freshly redesigned trucks that are rocking the industry.

Today’s half-ton trucks are better than they’ve ever been, and we have fierce competition to thank for that.

But where does the segment leave a truck from an automaker that has chosen to no longer fight and deliver its best product? What kind of vehicle comes from a company that has relinquished any desire to strive for the top of the class – one who is now content offering nothing more than minor updates and mediocrity in an aim to placate brand loyalists?

Such a calculated underachiever would look a lot like the 2014 Toyota Tundra.

Continue reading 2014 Toyota Tundra

2014 Toyota Tundra originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Next Chevy Spark coming in 2015, Sonic delayed

Filed under: Budget, Hatchback, Chevrolet

As the best-selling Chevrolet product in Europe and a surprising new hit here in the US, the Spark is proving to be quite an important global vehicle for General Motors. Even though the Spark just went on sale in the US last year, it has been on sale globally since 2009, and Automotive News Europe is reporting that the next-generation Spark is expected to debut during the first half of 2015. There is no information about the new Spark except for reports that it will continue to be built in South Korea.

This report also says that the redesign of the Sonic/Aveo has been delayed until after 2015. Again, there was no information as to the cause of the delay, but this means the third-gen Sonic and Aveo will likely debut sometime in 2016 – five years after the debut of the current model. This follows the recent report saying that the redesign of the Cruze has been delayed by almost a year, until the end of 2015, due to engineering changes.

Next Chevy Spark coming in 2015, Sonic delayed originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Jaguar F-Type coupe to cost more than convertible?

Filed under: Spy Photos, Convertible, Coupe, Jaguar

Jaguar F-Type Coupe Spied at the Nurburgring

Jaguar may price the much-rumored F-Type Coupe above the F-Type Convertible, if a report from Australia’s Drive is to be believed. What makes Jag think that such a pricing strategy would work? Porsche. Take a look at the German manufacturer’s consumer site, and you’ll notice that the Boxster is less expensive than the Cayman, despite being essentially the same car.

It’s a fair point, and a price premium does a good job of emphasizing the sporting chops of the coupe over the open-air experience that normally entitles convertibles to higher MSRPs. It’s unclear just how closely Jaguar will follow Porsche’s example, though.

Both the Cayman and Cayman S boast an extra ten horsepower over a Boxster or Boxster S, and while this bump in grunt is negligible in every situation but an argument over which is “best,” it isn’t something to be ignored in the F-Type, particularly as cranking more power out of its supercharged engines should be a rather simple matter.

Drive also points out something quite exciting: with an F-Type Coupe on the way, the groundwork has now been laid for a dedicated R and RS model. We can’t wait.

Jaguar F-Type coupe to cost more than convertible? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 Jul 2013 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Autoblog Podcast #343 goes LIVE at 10PM Eastern!

Filed under: Etc.

Autoblog Podcast Live

We’re almost ready to record Episode #343 of the Autoblog Podcast! We’re joined tonight by Autoblog Alum George Kennedy, of Boldride.com. Check out the topics below, add your own to the Q&A and join us live via UStream, as well. Keep reading for our embedded UStream player, and thanks for listening!

Discussion Topics for Autoblog Podcast Episode #343

  • BMW i3 debut
  • NACTOY long list
  • Bentley SUV is a go

Continue reading Autoblog Podcast #343 goes LIVE at 10PM Eastern!

Autoblog Podcast #343 goes LIVE at 10PM Eastern! originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 29 Jul 2013 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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