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Thieves stole $3.7 million worth of Jaguar Land Rover engines

This past Tuesday was not a good one for Jaguar Land Rover. According to British news source Birmingham Mail, just over $3.7 million worth of engines were stolen from the company's factory in Solihull, England. Reportedly, the thieves drove up to the facility in a stolen semi-truck, found a trailer full of engines, hooked it up, and drove off. The thieves did this twice in one night, with the same truck, and got the first trailer in just six minutes. Perhaps more shocking is that Birmingham Mail reports this is the second time a theft of this type has occurred at the facility. The previous time happened in almost exactly the same way, but the engines taken were valued at just over $1.2 million, and five people were convicted of the crime. Currently, local police are looking for the latest suspects and the engines. The trailers were found, but were empty. We got in touch with a Jaguar representative who provided us the company's official statement: "We can confirm that we are working closely with West Midlands Police to investigate the theft of engines from the Solihull manufacturing plant. A reward is on offer to anyone who has information which leads to the successful recovery of these engines. It would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment whilst this investigation is ongoing." This was the only statement he would provide, and didn't provide answers as to what engines were stolen and if there would be any impact on manufacturing or vehicle deliveries. But if you're in the UK, and you've got a tip, let the cops know. Related Video: Related Gallery 2017 Jaguar F-Pace View 46 Photos News Source: Birmingham Mail, JaguarImage Credit: Jaguar Plants/Manufacturing Weird Car News Jaguar Land Rover Luxury jaguar land rover

Lexus tops JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study again, Buick bests Toyota

It shouldn't surprise anyone, but Lexus has once again taken the top spot in JD Power's Vehicle Dependability Study. That'd be the Japanese luxury brand's fourth straight year at the top of table. The big news, though, is the rise of Buick. General Motor's near-premium brand beat out Toyota to take second place, with 110 problems per 100 vehicles compared to Toyota's 111 problems. Lexus owners only reported 89 problems per 100 vehicles. Besides Buick's three-position jump, Scion enjoyed a major improvement, jumping 13 positions from 2014. Ram and Mitsubishi made big gains, as well, moving up 11 and 10 positions, respectively. In terms of individual segments, GM and Toyota both excelled, taking home seven segment awards each. The study wasn't good news for all involved, though. A number of popular automakers finished below the industry average of 147 problems per 100 vehicles, including Subaru, (157PP100), Volkswagen (165PP100), Ford/Hyundai (188PP100 each) and Mini (193PP100). The biggest losers (by a tremendous margin, we might add) were Land Rover and Fiat, recording 258 and 273 problems per 100 vehicles. The next closest brand was Jeep, with 197PP100. While the Vehicle Dependability Study uses the same measurement system as the Initial Quality Survey, the two metrics analyze very different things. The VDS looks at problems experienced by original owners of model year 2012 vehicles over the past 12 months, while the oft-quoted IQS focuses on problems in the first 90 days of new-vehicle ownership. Like the IQS, though, the VDS has a rather broad definition of what a problem is. Because of that, a low score from JD Power is no guarantee of extreme unreliability, so much as just poor design. In this most recent study, the two most reported problems focused on Bluetooth connectivity and the voice-command systems. The former leaves plenty of room for user error due to poor design (particularly true of the Bluetooth systems on the low-scoring Fords, Volkswagens and Subarus), while the second is something JD Power has already confirmed as being universally terrible. That makes means that while these studies are important, they shouldn't be taken as gospel when it comes to automotive reliability. News Source: JD PowerImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL Buick Fiat Ford GM Hyundai Jeep Land Rover Lexus MINI Mitsubishi RAM Scion Subaru Toyota Volkswagen Auto Repair Ownership study

Jeep driver nearly gets washed away by fast moving river

Just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should. For example, you should never attempt to cross a fast-moving river in a bone stock Grand Cherokee no matter how shallow the river looks. Especially if you don't know what you're doing. A video posted recently to the Facebook group Jeep EXPERIENCE, shows an inexperienced jeep driver learning that lesson the hard way. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The video starts innocently enough, with a group of off-roaders watching one of their friends attempt to ford a shallow looking river. Things quickly go sideways however, when the driver of the silver Grand Cherokee just plunges right in and quickly gets in over his head. The river is moving faster than the driver thinks it is, the driver panics, makes some bad decisions, then the jeep is turned over and swept downstream. Eventually, the jeep is hauled out by a Land Rover after a long comedy of errors that involves one guy losing his trousers to the current and the Cherokee ingesting untold gallons of water. What went wrong here? Well, It's pretty obvious from the video that the Cherokee driver didn't have a clear idea of where he was going or about the condition of the riverbed. He chickened out halfway across the river, and in what appears to be a misguided attempt at turning back, he reverses, digs himself deeper in the riverbed, then turned broadside on into the current. When he changes his mind again and decides to just gun it for the opposite shore, he drives directly into a deep water hazard that would have been obvious to an experienced off-roader. At that point the jeep and the driver were doomed. Hopefully the driver learned a lesson here, and hopefully he didn't pollute that river too much with the jeep's fluids. Related Video: News Source: Jeep EXPERIENCE Weird Car News Jeep Land Rover Driving Safety SUV Off-Road Vehicles Videos river