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Seat announces five-door Mii city car

We knew at its unveiling in Frankfurt that the debut of the production version of the Volkswagen Up! was only the beginning, what with all the concept versions Volkswagen showcased over the years. But that was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. VW isn't the only brand in the group that will offer the little city car, and its sister marques are eager to follow suit.
So after Volkswagen debuted the Up!, Skoda unveiled the Citigo and Seat showcased the Mii - all versions of the same vehicle, but with slightly modified sheetmetal and different nameplates. But those were only the three-door versions. Now that Volkswagen has confirmed the five-door Up! and Skoda the five-door Citigo, Seat is taking its turn with the five-door Mii.
The similarities between the Mii, Citigo and Up are, of course, greater than the differences. But at the end of the day, the variety gives European buyers a greater range of choices when buying their new city car, even if similar exercises on this side of the Atlantic - Plymouth, Mercury, Pontiac, Oldsmobile...we're looking at you - have long since disappeared.

Alonso gives McLaren until October to prove it can win

BARCELONA - Fernando Alonso said he has given struggling McLaren until October to persuade him they can provide a winning car next year or else he will talk to teams that can. The double Formula One world champion, preparing for his home Spanish Grand Prix, failed to start in Russia last month because of engine failure, a situation he described as "totally unacceptable". McLaren has not won a race since 2012, and has struggled for performance and reliability since entering a new partnership with Honda in 2015. Meanwhile, Alonso will be 36 in July and can sense time ebbing away. "My intention or first priority is to race next year here. And not only to race, I want to win," said the Spaniard, who is out of contract at the end of the year. "I am happy with the team, but we are not winning." "If from here to September/October we are in a position that I see clearly a possibility to win in 2018, I will be more than happy to stay with the team. "If it is not the case then I will be more than happy to talk to anyone." McLaren has yet to score a point in four races. The Spaniard is missing Formula One's showcase Monaco Grand Prix on May 28 in order to compete at the Indianapolis 500. Alonso said he would also have to consider whether "it was time to find other challenges outside Formula One", though he said he liked the 2017 specifications that gave cars a higher cornering speed. The Spaniard has spoken of his desire to become only the second driver ever to win the Triple Crown, which would mean adding victory at Indianapolis and the Le Mans 24 Hours to the F1 titles he won with Renault in 2005 and 2006. He said he still did not know what had happened in Sochi when his engine failed on the formation lap. That incident followed a no-start for Belgian teammate Stoffel Vandoorne in Bahrain. "There are some things we need to put in place, starting this weekend, for the rest of the season. Hopefully this is the starting point of a new championship for us," said Alonso. "We need to raise our game here in terms of reliability and hope to finish with both cars." Reporting by Alan BaldwinRelated Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Motorsports McLaren Racing Vehicles US

McLaren F1 25 years later: Designer Gordon Murray reflects on his classic creation

It's been a quarter century since the introduction of the McLaren F1. In honor of this anniversary, McLaren caught up with Gordon Murray, the car's designer, to talk about it and the development process. In the above video, Murray reveals a number of fascinating facts about the freakishly fast F1. For instance, the center seat placement wasn't solely to evoke the feeling of being in an F1 car. It was also done to avoid having the pedals offset strangely as with other supercars of the era. Some of the most interesting facts concern the F1's top speed. Murray says that when the car was being developed, he never set any sort of performance or speed target, which seems odd for a car that immediately became the fastest street-legal car on Earth. Rather, Murray said, "I just tried to do the best car I could from an engineering point of view." The fact that the F1 was so fast was just a pleasant result. When the topic of the McLaren F1's top speed comes up in the video, there is some fantastic footage of the car setting its top speed record. Apparently, according to Murray, the company had to disconnect the rev limiter in order for the car to set its record of 240 mph, and even climb to 243 mph (391 km/h). The driver, Andy Wallace, also exhibits textbook British understatement as he reaches 391 km/h. When he tops out he says, "It will not go anymore than 391. But anyway, 391's quite fast, isn't it?" Sure is. The video is definitely worth a watch. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.