FAIL: BMW X5′s Aren’t Meant to Barrel Roll

I never watched the Dukes of Hazzard, despite them having a car with a somehow sweet name on the show (the General Lee). However I know enough about the show to know that the General Lee was asked time and time again to perform spectacular stunts, not least of which is the barrel roll.

Now, the Dukes of Hazzard undoubtedly have a huge following and I’m not sure if the show ever had any “don’t try this at home” warnings, but it I’m guessing with the type of people that watched the show, a warning wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

Case in point, an owner of a BMW X5 decided to try the classic barrel roll stunt. I’m not sure how much the General Lee weighed, but it was surely less than the over five tonne X5. Plus, I’m sure each stunt required quite an intricate set up. These facts of common sense obviously escaped the X5 owner. The lack of reaction from the people recording the stunt would seem to indicate that they saw this coming too.

Watch his unfortunate results in the video above.

[Youtube]

WIN: New Take On Overtaking

Whoa! Check out this race in Quebec where a driver redefines how to overtake your opponents!

Safe Sex

HEICO SPORTIV – The all new Volvo S60. from heicofilm on Vimeo.

Video has just been released of the Volvo S60 Heico Sportiv. Wow. It looks terrifically sexy! And being a Volvo, it’s super safe.

The Heico Sportiv S60 boosts power to 330 horsepower and 339 pound foot torque. That’s good enough for a 0-100 time in 5.8 seconds. If I’m honest, that number seems a bit disappointing. All that power with only a 5.8 0-100 time? I guess the AWD system must be really heavy. It’s not like 5.8 seconds is anything to sneeze at.

Plus, when your car looks this good, you’ll want to give people enough time to look in awe anyway.

[Heico Film]

Flying Firebird

What happens when a 19 year old drives a Pontiac Firebird at over 160 kph into a guard rail? A police cruiser happened to catch it on the dashboard cam.

Shockingly, this kid survived the crash and no other vehicles were involved.

[WDTN]

WIN: Bees Hate Chargers Too!

My head is swarmed packed with puns and cheesy jokes right now.

Apparently in Wake County, North Carolina, a truck carrying bee hives broke down on the side of the highway. A passing police officer stopped to offer assistance and called a tow truck. The officer decided to wait with the broken down transport truck until the tow truck arrived as it was very early in the morning before sunrise. Turns out that was a bad idea because by the time the tow truck came by the sun had risen which meant it was a fresh new day for the bees.

They they came out of their hives and started swarming the officer and transport truck driver! But luckily the bees rightfully hate Dodge Chargers so much that they then turned their attention to the officer’s Charger police cruiser! Oh the hilarity! And actually the officer sought refuge in his police car, but ended up being trapped there due to the amount of bees.

Bee keepers from the University of Carolina were then called in to take care of the bees’ apparent love/hate for the Dodge Charger. When enough were taken off the car, the policeman was able to drive away.

Autoblog has a caption contest going for this story. How about:

“Sting operation backfires”

“Dodge Charger charged with swarmings”

“Officer regrets honey dip donut choice from Tim Horton’s”

“Winnie the Pooh arrested for stealing honey, bees react strongly”

“Flower has bees arrested for sexual assault, bees insist pollination”

“Choice of Dodge Charger for police force has everyone buzzing”

I could go on… unfortunately.

[Autoblog]

Riding Shotgun In the BMW 1-Series M

Must. Have. Now.

This easily is going to be my next car purchase. Check it out the new member to the M family from the eyes of the passenger as it has a go around the track.

FAIL: Traction Control Can Be Your Friend

I am one of the few people left that believes a true raw performance recipe is rear wheel drive + manual transmission + light weight = fun. That said, as much as I love rear wheel drive, you really need to know how to drive it properly. Get it right, and it’s one of the more satisfying experiences in life. Get it wrong, and you’re going to be making an embarrassing phone call to your insurance company.

Case in point, a lucky person found a nice road to take their BMW M6 for a drive on. However, the driver is either too inexperienced with rear wheel drive cars, or was foolish enough to take the traction control off when the road surface was obviously slick. If it was on, the system would’ve helped to correct the slide and a crash likely would’ve been avoidable. Either way, he sends the M6 into an over-steering drift which he (or she) is unable to do anything about.

The end result is an M6 in the ditch. The crash didn’t seem too serious, so I assume the driver was okay, but the damage to the M6, no matter how minor, is likely to cost an arm and a leg.

Let that be a lesson to everyone out there. Sometimes traction control can be your friend, despite how annoying and intrusive it can be. If you’re inexperienced or the conditions aren’t the best, you should probably just keep it on. FAIL to the M6 driver for not realizing that.

Sidebar, the exhaust note of the M6 before the crash was sick!

[Youtube]

Bugatti Veyron Supersports: Fastest Production Car?

Top Gear took it to its top speed. Or what they thought was its top speed. Then they took it around their infamous track. Did it take pole position on the leader board? Click above to find out.

Save The Manuals!

This is the best thing ever!

Car & Driver has noticed what I and every other sensible person has noticed for a while now. Manual transmissions are going extinct.  Only 10% of cars on the road are manual transmissions! Cars that used the be available with manuals, no longer are. And as Car and Driver puts it, a big reason why is because of “Hollywood douchebags”.

Check out the hilarious video above where Car and Driver pleads to save the manuals in a PSA style ad. Also check out their website to see what you can do.

Consider Car Driven to be a 100% supporter of this initiative!

[Car and Driver]

Art in London

Good. God.

I never wished I was in London this bad in my life.

[Youtube]

Porsche Shootout: 911 Carrera 4 S vs. Cayenne Turbo

Even though the Cayenne has long been criticized by Porsche fans for not being a true sports car, it has proved again and again that it can definitely hang with the rest of the Porsche family.

The new Cayenne will be out soon and Porsche has promised it to be even better than the last. But really, every car company says that about their product, don’t they? Well Porsche says the Turbo version is so good, that it has an identical 0-100 time as the 911 Carrera 4 S and could even give it a run for its money on the track.

To find out if that is just blatant PR or the shocking truth, Autocar took both out to find out for themselves.

The results, I admit, are quick astonishing.

[Autocar via Youtube]

Drool: BMW Releases Video of 1-Series M Coupe

Even though it is still fully camouflaged, BMW has released an official video of the upcoming 1-Series M. In the video, they do not give it an official name, but BMW has said that it will not be called the M1. That name is reserved for the original M1 and for a possible successor down the road.

Rumours of power have been all over the map, but the most consistant seems to be in the 320 horsepower range, about 20 more than a regular 135i. The 1-series M will also add two more air intakes, two additional ducts, wider fenders, a more pronounced ducktail shaped trunk spoiler, and of course drilled rotors are large brakes. Oh, and those sweet looking wheels will indeed make it to production as well.

No word yet on pricing, but BMW did say that the 1-Series M will only be available in limited numbers.

FAIL: In Soviet Russia, Car Drives YOU!

I’m not sure what possesses people to do crazy things with their cars, but a lot of people seem to expect them to be capable of anything.

Case in point, a couple of men in Russia deemed it possible for their Bentley Continental GT to handle the elements of off-roading. Not only that, but they also figured they might as well attempt to do a few donuts on the grass on a very enclosed space with lots of cars and people around.

Well, they pretty much got what they deserved, but that makes it no less painful to watch.

The strange part is they seem to show off to the crowd afterward. Really? You’re proud of crashing your Bentley in a very foolish way? That’s kinda like being proud of your erectile dysfunction.

[Youtube]

Oh Hi: 2011 Volvo V60

We’ve known about the V60′s existence for a while, we’ve even seen pics of it without any camo, so there aren’t really any surprises here, but now we have an official reveal and I must say it looks fantastic.

The very shapely and sporty looking wagon apparently enjoys being taken by the scruff of the neck. The video Volvo has released above shows just how well the wagon can handle the elements. Volvo has bragged about the new S60′s handling capabilities, so it’s safe to say the V60 can pull off similar tricks, only with more room for all your stuff.

Even though Volvo has had huge amounts of success with its SUV’s (I came away quite impressed with the XC60 for instance), I really appreciate that they haven’t given up on their wagons, which have really helped to catapult Volvo’s sales in the past.

This new V60 will replace the V70 & V50 (at least in our market). The XC70 will still stick around for those who want a bit more space and a bit more off-road capability. As you would expect, you get all the usual Volvo safety bits as standard.

In any event, looks like another winner from Volvo.

Check out some pics at Autoblog

[Volvo via Autoblog]

Jeremy Clarkson Shows Us Why Three-Wheeled Cars Don’t Work

If you’ve ever been to Europe, you’ve likely noticed that the type of cars they drive over there are awesome. Sometimes, though, they come up with some pretty crazy ideas. Case in point, the Reliant Robin – a three wheeled car.

What is the point of a three wheeled car you might ask? Well apparently in Britain, if you purchased a three wheeled car back in the day, you got a 55 pound tax credit. Yeah, that’s pretty much it.

As you’d imagine, and as Jeremy hilariously shows us, three wheeled cars don’t exactly work. Yet shockingly, there seems to be quite  a following for them even today.

Check out Jeremy’s antics in the video above. Part two is after the jump.

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