The Little Engine That Couldn't: Why I Own A Dead Volkswagen In Arkansas

It was a clunk, then loud banging from behind me, and then the engine cut off. Any other time before and I would have been in a flash of panic, checking and forcing a restart and I don’t know what else. This time, man, I just put it in neutral...

Sep 13, 2025

Here Are The Used Cars We've Been Drooling Over This Week

We Jalopnik staffers spend our days looking at cars one the internet: new cars, old cars and, most worryingly, cars for sale. If you’re curious what cars we keep double, triple, quadruple checking on Craigslist, fantasizing about what our lives would be like with them, writing their names next to...

Sep 13, 2025

The World Is Your Demolition Derby When You Drive A $250 Car

Why buy a few video games when you can spend a day flogging an actual car like a piñata for the same price? This chunky little Proton looks pretty well worn at the start of this video, when main character Alex acquires it for £200. But it actually only leaves...

Sep 13, 2025

A Ferrari 458-Swapped Toyota GT86 Has The Most Beastly Exhaust Rumble Ever

Ryan Tuerck fired up his project car to end all project cars tonight: a Toyota GT86 with a Ferrari 458 engine mounted up front. With a ton of custom parts and clever modifications making it work, we couldn’t wait to hear this one, either. Fortunately, the wait is over. Listen...

Sep 13, 2025

A Scary Halloween Tale Of All The Electrical Gremlins In My Jeep

Tonight, millions of American kids will knock on random strangers’ doors begging for those sweet, tooth-eroding monosaccharides. But none of those children will have the gall to knock on my door, because out in my driveway sit monsters that breath fear into even the bravest of souls: electrical gremlins. We’ve...

Sep 13, 2025

Here's Everything Wrong With My $36,000 Aston Martin V8 Vantage

Whether it’s your favorite French pastry or a pair of shoes, the fact that something is handmade usually means that it’s more exclusive, but likely won’t last as something made by an uncaring robot with no emotions or a chance of making mistakes. Here’s what happens when the effects of...

Sep 13, 2025

Where Would You Swap Mercedes' New Straight Six?

Mercedes brought to their engine portfolio after nearly two decades out of major use. It’s a classic engine, and I think it could do well in a classic car. But which one? I most particularly like M-B inline sixes because they sound so good. Even BMW I6s can sound kind...

Sep 13, 2025

What's Your Car's Favorite Tool?

Somehow every project vehicle I’ve gotten acquainted with has had one sacred tool I always need. I think my Integra could have been completely disassembled with a 10 millimeter socket. In my Scout, everything comes apart with a Phillips-head screwdriver. What tool does the most to keep your car alive?...

Sep 13, 2025

Winter Is Coming And My Cars Aren't Ready

It’s already November and my Detroit-based fleet of cars is in disrepair, meaning I’m going to have to engage in a practice only the toughest of souls ever dare to undertake: Michigan outdoor winter wrenching, also known as “frostbite.” That is, unless I can get these things done first. Last...

Sep 13, 2025

It's Legal To Hack Your Own Car Again—At Least For The Next Two Years

You may recall that there has been a struggle among those of us that like to work on our own cars. A called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which suggested that you don’t really own the software that runs your car, hence, you can’t touch it. , at least not...

Sep 13, 2025

We Are All This Insanely Frustrated Truck Mechanic Sometimes

Orrin Visotto, possibly the angriest man in the gentle nation of Canada, is tired of dealing with his crappy Freightliner truck, so he filmed this rant about how big a piece of garbage his big rig is. And he uses lots of expletives. We are all Orrin Visotto. Visotto drives...

Sep 13, 2025

When Will The BMW E36 Get Its Day In The Sun?

Everyone wants an E30, but people just seem to have the E36. They tune it, they race it, they engine swap it. But no one loves it. No one truly wants the E36. Will that ever change? The BMW 3 Series is ubiquitous, and never really ever a bad choice...

Sep 13, 2025

Everything You Need To Know About The World's First All-Wheel Drive 4-Rotor Mazda RX-7

The turbocharged, rotary-powered FD Mazda RX-7 is one of the most legendary Japanese cars ever, but even with modifications, it was never really the hypercar-slayer that its owners dreamed it to be—until now. Here’s everything you need to know about what could be the most powerful and unique Mazda RX-7...

Sep 13, 2025

What Was Your Most Frustrating Wrenching Experience?

I just spent twelve [REDACTED] hours trying to remove my [VERY REDACTED] cylinder head from my [PLEASE MOM DON’T READ THIS] 1948 Willys Jeep engine. And it was a total nightmare. This past weekend, my friend and I removed the Go-Devil engine from my with the goal of figuring out...

Sep 13, 2025

These Mad Geniuses Are Doing A Car Build Show You Will Actually Want to Watch

Do ? Are they too heavy on drama without enough actual building for you? Do you find yourself more interested the actual fabrication than the fabricated drama between mechanics or cast members? Do you wonder how Richard Rawlings gets any work done with all those rings? Well, two Brits are...

Sep 13, 2025