In addition to the just revealed 2008 JCW Mini Cooper S , we've also got some great shots below of the new 2008 JCW Mini Cooper Clubman S. It's the first time JCW's gotten a hold of the Clubman, and the photos look great -- better even the faux JCW Mini Cooper Clubman S we'd seen already. Unfortunately, we won't have a press release for a few more minutes so for the time being you'll just have to make do with the shots we've got below. All we can tell so far is it's got similar badging to the more-mini Mini.  read more »

Just in time for the Geneva Motor Show next month, the automaker all about the cars that are so small they're Mini has seen fit to release a bevy of shots and all the deets on their two big reveals for the show. The first is the official reveal of the John Cooper Works package for the 2008 Mini Cooper S . Other than the press shots we've got below, here's what we know about the up-powered Cooper S from a quick glance of the press release which we'll have up below the jump shortly. UPDATE: Full press release below the jump!  read more »

With a numbered limited edition of only about 500 and a one year lease price of about $820, the MINI E won't be finding a whole lot of takers, but its still a car that will attract a lot of interest. The two seat all-electric car delivers 204 HP and 162 lb-ft of torque and runs on 28 kWh of a 35 kWh capacity battery made of 5,088 individual lithium ion cells and will take the MINI E a full 156 miles before a recharge at it's dedicated wall box is needed — a scant two and a half hours for that job! Acceleration is a brisk but not blinding 8.5 seconds to 62 MPH and top speed comes when you reach 95 MPH. With such low production numbers, this MINI is more of a field test for the real life of an electric car and the results will be used in future vehicle developments. Complete details below along with a nice rant if you scroll all the way down.  read more »

We brought you the news BMW in cooperation with Rahal-Letterman racing would be returning to the track with the 2008 BMW E92 M3 GTR next year. What we didn't do was show you the video of the monster being unveiled. While Bobby Rahal was in attendance the embearded David Letterman was nowhere to be seen as Martin Birkmann did his disrobing duties. Did we mention there's a full press release and specs now?  read more »

BMW has released the MSRP for all of the 2009 model line-up for North America including the pricing and new option package details. The car in the lowest end is the 128i Coupe which comes in at $29,200. On the high end was the brand new M6 Convertible for a hefty $107,500. As far as options, it looks like a heated steering wheel is going to become part of most cold weather packages, and Active Steering will no longer be available on 128i or 328i/xi models. Finally, if you want a double-clutch gearbox on your M3, youll need to pony up an extra $200 in addition to the base manual transmission option cost of $2,700.  read more »

We've been saying for years the only efficient hybrid with current technology is one mated to a diesel engine, and now it looks like another automaker is jumping into the conceptual fray. Our little news yesterday on the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics X5 -- translated from Bruce, that appears to be an X5 outfitted with a 2.0-liter twin turbo common rail diesel mild hybrid (wow, that's a mouthful, ain't it?) -- appears to be wholly true.  read more »

Five-cylinder engines have long been an Audi trademark. First used in 1977 in the Audi 100/5000, five-cylinders took Audi upmarket and clearly differentiated the brand from the competition. The Audi 200 Turbo, with its 170-hp inline-five, became the world's fastest four-door in 1984; the 315-hp, Audi 80based RS2 Avant of the mid-90s was the most extreme station wagon of its time; and Audi won several rally championships with the five-banger Quattrothe S1 Pikes Peak had almost 600 hp. In the mid-90s, Audi dropped the five-cylinder engine and its characteristic, subdued growl in favor of more conventional four-cylinder and V-6 engines. Brand aficionados howled in futile protest, and engineering guru Ferdinand Pich, who had developed the five-cylinder engine but later moved on to become head of VW, said he never quite understood why the engine had been dropped. Its Back!  read more »

The letter F is an auspicious one in Lexus lore. Back in the mid-'80s, when the Lexus brand was still in the planning stages, Toyota insiders referred to the prospective luxury division as "Circle F." And the car that put Lexus on the map, the LS 400, was known internally as Flagship One, or F1. For 2008, the letter F is back: The company has decided to crash the ber-sport sedan party with the 2008 Lexus IS-F , a hard-edged performance car based on the IS-series sedan and aimed squarely at perennial magazine-cover fodder like the Audi RS4, BMW M3 and Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG.  read more »