Autoblog

Autocar has listed the top 100 Formula 1 drivers of all time, as declared by British motorsport journalist Alan Henry. We won't spoil the top-of-the-list surprise for you, but of course, as with all of these things, some of the placings could be a little controversial. At least until one realizes that there haven't really been that many F1 drivers in the 62-year history of the sport. Still, Mika Hakkinen at #10 in front of Michael Schumacher at #11 strikes us as somewhat odd. And Barrichello and Button ahead of Bruce McLaren? Hmmm. Autocar has the top 30 listed, you can get the full list here.
Thanks for the tip, Darren!

[Source: Autocar via Bruce-McLaren.com]

click above to view more high-resolution images of the Maybach 62 Laundaulet

Lord help us, for the automotive industry has sunk to a new low. As if it wasn't bad enough that Maybach created an ode to conspicuous consumption like the 62 Landaulet, but now Mercedes' big, goofy brother has decided to put the thing into production.

Following a spat of rumors, Maybach initially unveiled the half limo/half convertible/half marshmallow in Dubai this past November, and then laid it on us in person at the Detroit show. It starts with the Maybach 62 S and then peeled off half the roof like a can of sardines and slathered whitewash all over the thing. Unfortunately, as we could see by the yellow Cayenne we showed you yesterday, money and taste don't always go together, and Daimler seems content to separate the former from those who don't have the latter. The reported list price rivals the concept itself for sheer lunacy: $1.19 million. That's an unfathomable $756k premium over the $433,750 list price for a 2008 Maybach 62 S, though we've found conflicting reports that it will start at £350,000 or around $685,000 USD. We'd like to speak to any potential customers considering buying a Maybach 62 Laundaulet about this bucket of extremely rare sand that we're offering for a very reasonable price.

We've added some new official high-res images of the 62 Laundaulet to our gallery of live shots from the 2008 Detroit Auto Show below.

[Source: Motor Authority]

While it's hard to argue with the industry minivan leader, the new-for-2008 Chrysler minivans had us scratching our heads a bit. Their styling appears to take a page from the Chevy Venture book of design, which had us wondering if Chrysler could could keep them on top. Well, it looks like the Chrysler Group might have a few tricks up its sleeve to keep the crown, like offering better vehicles with more standard features for a lot less dough. They just announced the U.S. pricing for the 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country and the new minivan kings appear to be incredible values.

According to the press release, the new vans will start arriving in dealerships in the fall "...with 35 new or improved features," along with the new 4.0L V6, six-speed transaxles, standard all-row side curtain air bags and Electronic Stability Program (ESP), all for about two grand less than the outgoing models. The Grand Caravan SE will start at $22,470 and the Grand Caravan SXT at $27,535. Over at Chrysler, the Town & Country will be $23,190 for the LX, $28,430 for the Touring, and $36,400 for the Limited.

Full press release with more details can be found after the jump.

[Source: Chrysler]

We thought it was getting to be a long time since Forbes had put together another Top Ten list, but this time the journal of choice for successful businessmen put a twist on the annual tradition: instead of simply picking ten cars and assigning ranks by degree of sexiness, Forbes picked the sexiest ride for each of ten categories of personalities, including ballers, mobsters, divorcés and talent agents. If you don't fit into any of the categories, chances are you probably don't have the cash to spend on any of these cars. But if you've got the greenbacks and don't match the list, you might have to figure it out for yourself.

It's all a matter of taste, but Chris Bangle fans will notice the conspicuous absence of any BMWs, while enthusiasts of Italian automobiles will take note of the the Maserati, the Lamborghini and the two Ferraris that made the cut.

Here's what Forbes has nominated for this year:

• Sexiest Car for Hip-Hop Moguls: Rolls-Royce Phantom
• Sexiest Car for Hollywood Agents: Lexus LS Hybrid
• Sexiest Car for Miami Beach Plastic Surgeons: Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster
• Sexiest Car for Mobsters: Cadillac Escalade & EXT
• Sexiest Car for Newly Divorced Dads: Chevrolet Corvette Convertible
• Sexiest Car for Newly Divorced Moms: Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG
• Sexiest Car for Lobbyists: Cadillac CTS
• Sexiest Car for Forbes Readers: Maserati Quattroporte
• Sexiest Car for NBA Players: Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
• Sexiest Car for Driving Purists: Aston Martin DB9 and Ferrari F430 (tie)

We'll take one of each, please.

[Source: Forbes]

Mazda just announced that it has decided to scrap all 4,703 vehicles that were aboard the Cougar Ace cargo vessel when it nearly capsized off the Aleutian Islands in Alaska back in late July. The shipping vessel sat listing to one side for over a month before it was towed to and repaired at a port in Oregon. During that time, the vehicles on board, comprised of the Mazda3 small car and CX-7 crossover, were tied down at severe angles. Mazda had previously told us it would inspect all the vehicles and sell most as used with full disclosure, considering that many showed little or no signs of damage. Regardless, Mazda reconsidered and the announcement that the entire shipment would be scrapped came today from Jim O'Sullivan, Mazda North America's President and CEO.

The decision not to sell any of the vehicles that were aboard the Cougar Ace must have been difficult to make, considering that we estimate the hull of the ship contained over $103 million worth of vehicles (60 percent of the vehicles on board were the more expensive CX-7, so we assumed a conservate per unit average MSRP of $22,000). Not that we're criticizing Mazda for scrapping the entire shipment, but the destruction of 4,703 vehicles, at least some if not most of which are salveagable, seems like a waste. We're sure there are plenty of non-profit organizations and charities that would be grateful to take these vehicles off of Mazda's hands.

You can read Mazda's full press release concerning the matter after the jump.

For those who haven't been following the story of the Cougar Ace, check out the post trail below.

• Cargo ship Cougar Ace tips over: 4,700 Mazdas aboard
• Cougar Ace moored in Wide Bay as salvage continues
• Cougar Ace salvage operation turns deadly
• Look who's up: Cougar ace stabilized and almost fully righted
• Cougar Ace: Could some of her Mazdas be saleable?
• Cougar Ace Update: No Mazdas aboard will be sold as new

What are those items that you always bring with you on an inaugural ride in a brand new car, or those things that you transport from one vehicle to the next that you can't live without? Automotoportal posted a list of the Top Things You Must Have in Your Car and for the most part we wholeheartedly disagree with the choices (the full list can be found after the jump). Lip balm? A Candy bar? Those hardly make the cut of must have items for motoring in our book.

We did agree with the inclusion of the American Map 2007 U.S. Road Atlas, although we'd prefer a portable sat-nav system to the old ink and parchment. The meager pen is also a must have for scribbling missives while tooling along or penning a good-bye letter when stranded in a snow drift. Sure, a first-aid kit is a good idea, but don't spend your own money on that, let your mother buy it as a Christmas or Chanukah present. And a flashlight? I always have two of them with me when driving; they're called the left and right headlights. Joking aside, if you're going for essentials then where's the bottled water, extra quart of oil, blanket and road flares?

Missing from the list entirely is spare change, and lots of it. And we're not talking about pennies here, we mean quarters. Quarters are about ten times more valuable inside a car than out because you can hardly ever find one when it's time to pay the piper his toll fee. Kudos to the first company who installs a portable mint in the glovebox to produce quarters on demand, we'd take that over heated and cooled cup holders any day. The Automotoportal list also doesn't include any tuneage. At this point I'd rather listen to silence while driving than local radio, so if there's no iPod or satellite radio handy than we need to inform Houston we have a problem.

What items do you need with you at all times in the car? If you answer lip balm, you will be made fun of.

[Source: Automotoportal]

Bill Howard reviews a new vehicle each week for the website, TechnoRide. While most people envy this aspect of his job, he points out that driving so many vehicles exposes him to flaws and foibles that generate responses ranging from "Huh?" to "What were they thinking?" to "Stop the car, I want to get out."

Here are the twelve designs elements that particularly peeved Howard...

1. Space-wasting ashtrays
2. Mechanical transmissions
   
3. No digital owners' manuals
4. Bad PDF manuals
5. No PDF hot links
6. Dumb button placement
7. Overly reflective wooden consoles
8. Nag screens
9. Where's the Map button
10. No LCD screen controls
11. Unintelligent night settings
12. Dumb speaker systems

Note from JN - We've driven a few media vehicles in our day, and disagree with a few of Howard's criticisms. Ashtrays don't bother us too much anymore, as they're usually pretty small and make great places to stuff wads of paper in a jam. We're guessing Mr. Howard's love of electronics makes him loathe the mechanical, but there's nothing like feeling the components of a good transmission do what you ask. And PDF manuals? Who reads manuals? If I can't figure it out in five minutes, it's a bad design. We're with him on dumb button placements, nag screens, map buttons for nav systems, and pretty much the rest of the list, though.

Related: Technology Overload

[Source: TechnoRide]

While foreign manufacturers dominate the car and SUV vehicle segments, that quintessential American icon, the pickup truck, continues to be ruled by the domestic automakers. Forbes Dan Lienert wrote that Toyota Tundra engineers, while touring Texas Stadium during a Dallas Cowboys' football game, continued to be amazed how Americans loved their pickups even as personal transportation. We'll have to wait until next year after the new Tundra has debuted to see if Toyota's engineers have tapped the pulse of America's pickup purchasing public.

Without further adieu, Forbes top pick pickups for 2006:

• Best Midsize Pickup: Dodge Dakota and Mitsubishi Raider
• Best Pickup For Off-Roading: Dodge Ram Power Wagon
• Best Pickup For Pulling Stumps: Ford F-Series Super Duty
• Most Fuel-Efficient Pickup: Ford Ranger and Mazda B-Series
• Most Sinister Pickup: Ford Harley-Davidson F-150 (pictured)
  
• Most Upscale Pickup: Cadillac Escalade EXT
• Raciest Pickup: Dodge Ram SRT-10
• Safest Pickup: Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra

Related:
Strategic Vision Top Quality Award winners for 2006 announced
Forbes picks hottest family trucksters
Consumer Reports' 2006 Top Picks? 100% Japanese

[Source: Forbes]