2009 Mini Cooper S 2dr Cpe S on 2040-cars

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Trump calls Germans 'very bad,' vows to stop their car sales in US

TAORMINA, Italy -Talks between President Trump and other leaders of the world's rich nations at the G7 summit on Friday were expected to be "robust" and "challenging" after he had lambasted NATO allies and condemned Germans as "very bad" for their trade policies. Trump's confrontational remarks in Brussels, on the eve of the two-day summit in the Mediterranean resort town of Taormina, cast a pall over a meeting at which America's partners had hoped to coax him into softening his stances on trade and climate change. According to German media reports, Trump condemned Germany as "very bad" for its trade policies in a meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, signaling he might take steps to limit sales of German cars in the United States. "The Germans are bad, very bad," he reportedly told Juncker. "Look at the millions of cars that they're selling in the USA. Horrible. We're gonna stop that." White House economic adviser Gary Cohn on Friday confirmed the reports. "He said they're very bad on trade, but he doesn't have a problem with Germany." Cohn said Trump had pointed out during the meeting that his father had German roots in order to underscore the message that he had nothing against the German people. Trump's spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump had "tremendous respect" for Germany and had only complained about unfair trade practices in the meeting. Juncker called the reports in Spiegel Online and Sueddeutsche Zeitung exaggerated. The reports translated "bad" with the German word "boese," which can also mean "evil," leading to confusion when English-language media translated the German reports back into English. "The record has to be set straight," Juncker said, noting that the translation issue had exaggerated the seriousness of what Trump had said. "It's not true that the president took an aggressive approach when it came to the German trade surplus." "He said, like others have, that (the United States) has a problem with the German surplus. So he was not aggressive at all," Juncker added. In January, Trump threatened to slap a 35 percent tax on German auto imports. "If you want to build cars in the world, then I wish you all the best. You can build cars for the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay 35 percent tax," he said. "I would tell BMW that if you are building a factory in Mexico and plan to sell cars to the USA, without a 35 percent tax, then you can forget that." Last year, the U.S.

Honda engines and giant killing in the classic Mini Cooper

Electric Federal has taken a fresh look back at the enduring legacy of original Mini with a video interview with Heritage Garage's Graham Reid, one of the foremost experts on classic Minis. As Electric Federal points out, it's important to remember that the Mini did not start out as a performance car. It was built in response to the Suez Canal crisis of the mid-50s, which had a similar effect on British gas prices as OPEC did on American prices in the 1970s - rationing and rapid price jumps.
Through the years, Minis have grown from their budget roots to become seriously competent performance machines. As Reid says, a 150-horsepower Mini on the right track should have no problem outpacing a contemporary Porsche 911.
For some time now, classic Mini owners have been dropping Honda engines under the tiny hoods of their classics. With up to 250 horsepower pulling a car that tips the scales at barely 1,200 pounds, the upgraded Mini is "a real sleeper," Reid says. Interestingly, Reid doesn't mention another increasingly common swap in the Mini community - Suzuki Hayabusa-powered Coopers.

Porsche tops JD Power APEAL study for 12th time

JD Power's 2016 Automotive Performance, Execution, and Layout (APEAL) study hasn't changed much this time around with Porsche coming in at No.1 for the 12th consecutive year, while BMW was close behind in second. Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz tied for third with Land Rover, Lexus, and Lincoln tied for No.5. The APEAL Study, according to JD Power, measures owners' level of excitement and emotional attachment across 77 parameters. Brands and cars are rated on a 1,000-point scale. The study found that new cars with modern safety features including low speed collision avoidance and blind spot monitoring have higher APEAL scores than vehicles without the features. The overall industry score increased from 798 to 801, which JD Power claims was helped by the launch of a variety of new vehicles. This year, 22 out of 30 new or redesigned cars received a higher score than the vehicle's respective segment average. Porsche is once again at the top of the list as the automaker's score increased by three points to 877. BMW outscored Jaguar to take second place with a score of 859, while the British automaker dropped three points from last year with 852 points. Volkswagen overtook Mini to become the top-ranked non-premium brand with 809 points, while the latter automaker trailed behind by one point. At the end of the scale, Smart came in at the very bottom for the second year in a row with a score of 745 points, which represents an increase of 62 points over last year. Fiat's score increased by six points to 755, but still confined the automaker to second-to-worst place for a consecutive year. Mitsubishi's score increased to 770, up from 755, to become the fourth-worst brand, while Jeep fell to third-worst with a decrease in seven points to 756. General Motors received six segment-level awards, followed by Hyundai with five, and BMW and VW earning four apiece. Surprise segment victories include the Chevrolet Camaro, which outscored the Dodge Challenger, and the Lexus RC which ranked above the BMW 4 and 3 Series. For more information on how the automakers ranked, check out the official release on the 2016 APEAL Study below or visit JD Power's website to analyze the graphs. Related Video: Porsche Ranks Highest in APEAL for 12th Consecutive Year; General Motors Receives Six Segment-Level Awards, Hyundai Motor Company Receives Five DETROIT: 27 July 2016 — Popular driver-assist technologies help make vehicles considerably more appealing to their owners, according to the J.D.