1976 Bmw 2002 Base Coupe 2-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

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BMW i8 now has 10-month waiting list in UK

Reports that the BMW i8 would be a popular plug-in vehicle have been circulating since stories claiming 'sold out' status circulated late last year. Those turned out not to be entirely true, but now that deliveries have actually started, the $160,000 EV is proving to be only available to the patient in posh English shops. The Telegraph reports that there is a 10-month waiting period for the i8 in the UK, where one dealer (Park Lane in London's Mayfair) has managed to convince 170 people to place an order. Well, maybe convince isn't the right word. The store's sales manager told The Telegraph, "We've had numerous people asking to buy the display car. Many have said to me: name your price." Many locals want the car to avoid paying the expensive London congestion charge. The i8 uses a turbocharged 1.5-liter, three-cylinder engine and a 96-kilowatt electric motor to move from 9 to 60 miles per hour in only 4.2 seconds. The plug-in powertrain is good for 357 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque. The plugged portion gives the i8 an EV range of up to 22 miles. The first i8 in the US is going to be auctioned off at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Weekend next weekend.

This Or That: 1980 Oldsmobile 442 vs. 1989 BMW 635CSi [w/poll]

The last time I roped a coworker into an automotive debate, I lost. Resoundingly, I might add. Still, 2,385 voters chose to cast their lots for the Fiat 500 Abarth, as opposed to 5,273 choosing the Ford Fiesta ST, and so I can rest easy in the knowledge that at least 30 percent of you, dear readers, see things my way. I still like to think we have more fun, too.
My loss in the first round of our This or That series, in which two Autoblog editors pick sides on any given topic and then attempt to explain why the other is completely wrong, didn't stop me from picking another good-natured fight, this time with Senior Editor Seyth Miersma. Last time, our chosen sides were eerily similar in design, albeit quite different in actual execution. This time, our vehicular peculiarities couldn't seemingly fall any further from one another: A 1980 Oldsmobile 442 wouldn't seem to match up in comparison to a 1989 BMW 635CSi.
How did we come up with such disparate contenders? Simple, really. Seyth and I mutually agreed to choose a car that's currently for sale online. It had to be built and sold in the 1980s, and it had to be a coupe. The price cap was set at $10,000. The fruits of our searching labors will henceforth be disputed, with Seyth on the side of the Germans, and myself arguing in favor of the Rocket Olds. Am I setting myself up for another lopsided loss?

Mini Vision Next 100 concept invokes an alternate universe

Sir Alec Issigonis, designer of the 1959 Mini, would probably find Mini's new Vision Next 100 concept amusing. The original Mini was largely an exercise in efficient packaging and clever engineering. That it was handsome, and became iconic, was more a product of its wild success than an intentional product of its exterior styling. While the Mini concept is undoubtedly cleverly packaged, it's almost purely a styling exercise, no matter what sort of futuristic connected/autonomous functionality Mini says it'll have. Mini doesn't seem able to move past the Mini as a caricature of itself. The heavy, floating roof, the vestigial round and friendly "headlamps", the oversized gauge pod. This seems very German, the inability to communicate essential brand attributes without using cliches. Mini is in a styling rut, trying to evolve the same basic styling language with each new generation, stretching it over larger hard points. The Vision Next 100 program would have been a great time to communicate to the public that Mini is more than just styling tropes: it's an attitude, a way of thinking, a connectedness to the driver. More than a badge or bug-eyed headlights. To its credit, the interior is massively decluttered. That's in part to the rear-engine layout, but more on that in a follow-up piece. The comparatively vast footwell and ultra-minimalist dash pair well with the giant windscreen. It feels light, airy, and authentic to the ideals of the originally Mini in terms of space efficiency, without being overly sentimental. Futurism is a thankless profession, and we can't take this concept literally as a vision of what the brand will be in 100 years. We can say this: it doesn't seem that Mini will be able to transcend the styling tropes that currently define Mini. Let's hope they find a way out of their rut. Related Video: Featured Gallery Mini Vision Next 100 Concept View 38 Photos Design/Style BMW MINI Coupe Hatchback Concept Cars Future Vehicles vision next 100