I think I’ve peaked, folks. I really do. I never thought I’d own a single car in Australia — to own TWO (okay, let’s be real, 1.5) is just epic. I’ve got to give the credit to Laurence, the reader from the Dubbo area of Australia (basically in the middle of Nowhere, New South Whales) [Editor’s Note: I was going to fix this to “Wales” but this is just too funny a typo, so it stays....

Here’s what happened: Last December, then-candidate George Santos tweeted this (the original tweet has been deleted, but this was the text): He then followed that up with some more explanation, and that tweet somehow still exists: Last year my gas tank was $54. 54×3=162 162×52=8,424 Joe Biden’s policies made my expenses go up $4,524.00 and that America is only on gas! America can’t afford Joe and his socialist agenda. — George Santos (@Santos4Congress) December 11, 2021...

I’m surrounded by a bunch of Lexuses at a Toyota press event at the company’s headquarters in Plano, Texas, so I figured I’d walk around and talk about the new RX’s design, as well as the design of the rest of the brand’s models. Because none of it is boring. That Nose The thing you likely noticed before anything else on the new RX is the very, very prominent nose of the car....

These examples were sent to us by an Autopian named Oliver, who first clued us in to an interesting example, not really a recent holdout, but more of a little-known variation from the early 1990s. Behold: Yes, that’s a second-gen Dodge Caravan minivan there, but with a strange-looking black plastic front face that incorporates rectangular sealed-beam headlights. You can see the normal 1991 Caravan up there in the corner to compare what the normal face looked like, with its shaped, composite headlights....

The human Austin Partner was born in 1871 and is best known for the very last thing he did: dying when the Titanic sank. Here’s a letter he sent to his wife just after the Titanic set off: Oh, Austin, you’re gonna wish it was just maddening, my man. This does remind me of another car/person name matchup, one that remains my favorite, Lloyd Alexander. I wrote about this one for The Old Site way back when, and even made this chart, which I’m just gonna stick here because for some reason that article is always hard to Google:...

(Welcome to Member Rides. This is the weekly feature where we look at people who became members of the site by signing up here and parting with a little of their hard-earned dough to keep The Autopian going. Our plan is to do these every week! Today it’s Cristiana’s turn!) If you’re a member and want to be highlighted please check your email for a link to a survey you can fill out....

Last week, we looked at the 2010 Heynsdyk 2500 SF. It was a rare Dutch kit car built out of then 20-plus-year-old donor cars. We asked you to guess its headlights, taillights, and donor car. Those of you who guessed Porsche 944 for the donor car are correct! The headlights came from a first-generation Mini Hatch and the tails from an Alfa Romeo 159. Today’s Parts Bin Puzzle takes us back to the familiar warmth of the recreational vehicle....

I’m surprised it was that close, actually. But I just couldn’t keep that absurd V8 Nissan Versa to myself. Some things are so weird that they must be shared far and wide. I believe that’s one of the founding principles of the internet, isn’t it? So with that out of the way, it’s time to scrape the bottom of the barrel again, and seek out the cheapest running and driving cars on the web – vehicles you can buy tonight, drive home without incident, get in tomorrow morning and drive to work....

Yep. I agree wholeheartedly. I already have a better and lower-mileage pickup than that F-150, so I’d take the Volvo and try for half a million on the odometer. Today we’re going further afield than usual, only not really. Although both cars today are Japanese domestic market cars, both are already here in the good ol’ US of A, with all the paperwork completed. I was inspired to look at JDM cars after listening to this week’s excellent Autopian podcast, with guests Myron Vernis and Mark Brinker sharing their love of cars from the Land of the Rising Sun....

A little housekeeping here: BMW did not announce a price, but BMW Blog’s sources say 750,000 EUR. It’s also seemingly not homologated for the United States, but maybe BMW will let private collectors have a couple for track-day specials? The fact that it was announced on Thanksgiving is pretty much key in understanding it’s probably not for us. What Is The BMW 3.0 CSL? In 1973, BMW’s motorsports division, aka BMW M, decided it was time to build a race car....

To understand why anyone would bother making a sequel to a 1970s truck, you have to appreciate the crazy situation that the original Li’l Red Express Truck came from in the first place. As with many wacky stories of the auto industry back then, it goes back to emission controls and the Oil Crisis. Our own Jason Torchinsky explains in his Jalopnik article: However, there was a loophole of sorts....

Okay, so here are the details for the very first Autopian Car Show, which The Autopian boss Beau Boeckmann will be hosting on his property that I like to describe as automotive mecca. It’s a really special place, and you’re going to want to see it. Anyway, without further ado: Date: Saturday, August 13, 2022 Time: 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. Place: Galpin Auto Sports parking lot — 15600 Roscoe Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91406 Who will be in attendance: Jason Torchinsky Matt Hardigree Mercedes Streeter Beau Boeckmann Huibert Mees Thomas Hundal Mark Tucker David Tracy Hopefully many cool Autopian readers Cars that will be in attendance: Beau’s legendary car collection A broken 1959 Nash Metropolitan A Citroën LNA to (at least they said it’ll be there) Who knows?...

Right off the bat, the EX90 looks pretty great. It’s beautifully minimalist, unmarred by excessive plastic cladding and even the suggestion of a grille. Every line seems thoughtfully-placed, from the upsweep of the daylight opening giving the shoulder line room to breathe, to the curvature of the front end. One detail I particularly love is the pull-up door handle design, a bit of a throwback to the iconic Volvo 240....

Karen was one of those designers like Raymond Loewy who didn’t just design cars – they designed things, and some of those things happened to be cars. Karen also designed bicycles and toys and electronics, and brought a certain competent sort of optimism and fun to everything, no matter how humble. Karen died on December 31, 2022 at the age of 96, and I just want us to take a moment to think about him....

So what makes the ID.7 a Passat replacement? Well, while Volkswagen is keeping most dimensions under wraps, the ID.7’s 2.97-meter (117-inch) wheelbase is only 20 mm (0.787 inches) longer than that of the Hyundai Ioniq 6’s and roughly 167 mm (6.57 inches) longer than that of the outgoing Passat. That puts the ID.7 firmly in large family sedan territory, which should give Volkswagen an early EV entry into America’s favorite segment of passenger car....

It’s based on what has been the best-selling EV in China, the roughly $5,000 Wuling Hongguang Mini EV. It has the same 27 horsepower electric motor, and a choice of 9.3 kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery good for about 75 miles or a nearly 14 kWh battery that’ll take you about 105 miles. Both can be had as nickel-metal-cobalt batteries if you have metallic preferences. There’s even a long range one that’ll go almost 175 miles....

From Milan With Love Today’s first challenger is none other than a 1990 Chrysler TC by Maserati. Designed to take on the Mercedes SL, it never quite lived up to Lee Iaccoca’s grand expectations. Chrysler and Maserati only built 7,300 units of this zooted-up K-car variant (a nice Reliant automobile), the absolute bare minimum required under contract. That’s what we call assured rarity – nobody wanted them when they were new....

And what a grin this is! From left to right we have a Scootacar, the second most popular Spanish microcar, the lovely PTV 250, then the double-ended Zündapp Janus, and then the fascinating Biscúter, Spain’s best-selling microcar, and then the incredibly rare cartoon-car-in-reality Paul Vallée microcar. This lineup of microcars I don’t think has ever been seen in public before! And I bet this is the highest concentration of Spanish-built cars at the LA Auto show maybe ever?...

Let’s look at some Volvo ads over the past few decades, just to get a sense of what they were up to. As you can see, Volvo enjoyed showing how strong its cars were, how much they could withstand, and how much abuse they could take — presumably in lieu of your soft, pliant, fuzzy body. If you know a bit about this history of car advertising, you can likely sense a lot of influence from Dole Dane Bernbach’s (DDB) famous 1950s to 1960s Volkswagen ad campaign, one of the most influential ad campaigns for anything, ever....

Yes, a rant is coming. I’m not going to swear. I’m not going to get mean or sarcastic. I want to be heard. Specifically, I want someone in Renault PR to print this out and put it in the hands of Renault CEO Luca de Meo, and I want Luca de Meo to be reading these words while drinking his espresso or smoking a cigarette or whatever. At the end of this rant will be other news and Luca, my pal, my friend, I also want you to read those, too, because I chose them for you....