Mini Cooper Roadster News

A few things have changed since the Spartan V track car was announced almost three years ago. Back in 2010, the red open-top sportscar from Australia was slated to be a 661-pound apex-hugger with 170 horsepower coming from a 1,200-cc Ducati engine. The slinky red bodywork remains, but the engine now comes from Honda: a 2.0-liter four-cylinder turns the ...

Tesla Motors' efforts to clear allegations of reduced range on its electric cars just took another hit. A British appeals court dismissed a libel lawsuit filed by Tesla against the BBC's Top Gear show. The court rejected Tesla's appeal of a court decision last year that struck out its "libel and malicious falsehood" case against BBC. Tesla had asserted ...

Rolls-Royce may be working on a new, mega-powerful roadster for 2017. CAR reports the convertible would conceivably boast a V16 engine. Of course, the report gets a little muddled here, with CAR saying the engine would be very similar to that of the one that powers the Bugatti Veyron – the French machine makes use of a W16 mill. Even so, the article ...

Well, that happened quickly. The $441,600 Lamborghini Aventador Roadster is, according to reports, already sold out in every market around the world until at least the middle of 2014. Boasting a 6.5-liter V12 that churns out a heady 690 horsepower, there's little wondering why the cars are so popular. But with its finicky carbon fiber rooflet, $3,700 gas ...

Plug In America has launched a second electric vehicle owner experience survey – this time with the Tesla Roadster. It follows a survey conducted last year among Nissan Leaf owners, which was utilized and acknowledged by Nissan as it dealt with unexpected battery capacity loss reported by Leaf owners in high temperature Arizona. Last year, Plug In ...

During an event for what we'll assume are potential buyers for the just-unveiled Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 Roadster, a rep demonstrated the installation of the two-piece, 13-pound carbon fiber roof. Guests were told that two people could install both panels in less than a minute. Backing up the claim, it took the rep about two minutes to do it by ...

This morning, Lamborghini has announced the newest member of its supercar family, the stunningly sexy Aventador LP700-4 Roadster. With more than 1,300 Aventador coupes sold to date, Lamborghini believes it will find strong demand for the convertible version. The Roadster's roof is a two-piece affair, made from carbon fiber and weighing in at just over 13 ...

Whether you spell the word "rumor" in the US or "rumour" in the UK, this one's a good one. Tesla Motors is looking to make its upcoming version of its Roadster all-electric convertible faster than the original when it debuts to the public in 2017, UK's Auto Express "reports," citing unsorted rumors, or, er, rumors. The California-based automaker will ...

Questions about the legality of Tesla selling its electric vehicles in its own retail stores have been floating around since the days of the Roadster. Last week, the recent wranglings between auto dealer associations and Tesla stores in New York and Massachusetts were moved along in courts of law, proving once again that EVs won't arrive without ...

One would never mistake a shiny new tech-filled Tesla Motors dealership for a used-car lot, but with several years worth of Teslas already on the road, that notion is about to get very real. Those retreads will be pretty rarified, though. The California-based electric-vehicle maker is starting a buyback program in which owners of the company's first car, ...

Believe it or not, despite the fact that Mazda first unveiled its refreshed 2013 MX-5 Miata in July of this year, the 2012 Paris Motor Show in late September is the first time we've run across the iconic sports car in the metal. And so we wasted no time in filling our DSLRs with a full spate of images. As you can see, while we eagerly await the ...

From "noooooooooo!!!!!!" to "yes!" That's the recent history of Rafael de Mestre and his attempt to be the first person to take a standard, production electric vehicle around the world. After playing catch-up with the Electric Odyssey duo and their Citroen C-Zero EV, de Mestre suffered a crash in Germany just 600 miles from the finish line. Undeterred, ...

Give Nissan some credit, here: the company is proudly publicizing coming in second. The Japanese automaker entered a souped-up Nissan Leaf in an all-electric-vehicle race at Japan's Sportsland Sugo earlier this month, with hopes of knocking off proverbial favorite Tesla in the 50-kilometer race. The Nissan Leaf Nismo RC was customized with a groovy, ...

Five models doesn't quite equal GM, but it's pretty impressive for a startup. And five models is exactly what Tesla Motors chief Elon Musk is shooting for. Musk says the battery-electric luxury vehicle maker will have five models by 2016, when Tesla will add a small crossover and a sports car to the mix at around the same time, according to Wired. Of ...

noooooooooo!!!!!! game over! +++ I'm fine!!!! That's how Rafael de Mestre let his fans know that his attempt to be the first to drive around the world in a standard all-electric car, a Tesla Roadster, had come to an end. De Mestre posted the above picture to Facebook along with a short video of "the black day of the race" showing the crash and some of ...

Much is expected of the next-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata, primarily significant weight savings and a bit more power. The new roadster will be co-developed with Alfa Romeo as part of a joint-venture agreed upon last May. A report in What Car? suggests that that Mazda's benefits won't be limited to the hard bits, claiming that personalization possibilities ...

Veteran And Rookie Roadsters Face Off In Droptop Doubleheader Like an aging ballplayer, the Mazda is starting to look a little gray around the temples – a bit vulnerable. We've been eying this fight for a long time. Since the reborn Mini first burst on the scene in 2002, really. Oh, the Mini Cooper Convertible has been around since 2005, but ...

Revozport is a Chinese tuner, but one of its tuning arms reaches all the way to the UK. To reward itself for getting a particular ISO certification, its UK office put together the Revozport Mini Targa Raze, a program applicable to either the Mini Coupe or Roadster. It might be a smidge OTT, but it's not a bad job. With the help of Targa racing the motor ...

To some, Nikola Tesla was the most unappreciated inventor ever. That's why a group of activists are pushing for a U.S. museum to honor this creator of revolutionary technologies. How about this important work: the alternating current (AC) electricity that powers your home today. There were several Tesla inventions that other people took credit for, such ...

Never underestimate what at an automaker can accomplish with a little determination. We spotted the BMW Zagato Roadster sulking on the lawn at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance among the various other concept cars on display in front of the lodge. Built in just six weeks, BMW executed the roadster as an encore to the delectable Zagato Coupe, and ...