Happy Belated Earth Day!

In light of turning a bit more green for this year’s Earth Day, here’s a little clip to remind you that you can still have fun without a little petrol in your tank.

Hummer Ousts Prius in MPG

The Hummer H2 has long been known as one of the worst gas guzzlers out there today (and one of my least favorite cars of all-time), but a New York artist named Jeremy Dean wanted to change all that for the ailing brand. How’d he do that? By ditching the conventional engine all together and opting for some good ‘ol fashioned horsepower.

We can’t help but wonder…if you get one of these instead of a god-awful Prius, do you still get a tax break? Check out a vid put together of the carriage in action here.

[Via Toxel]

And Just Like That…

The Z4 has gone from a perfect all-season, every day practical car to a balls out, fire-breathing track menace. Out goes the twin-snail 300hp 3.0 I-6, in comes the current M3′s 4.0 V8 packing 480hp. Out goes the clever hard top folding roof, in goes a SL Black series-like fixed top to save weight. And to make matters even more delicious, the Z4 received some massive aerodynamic re-working that not only make the car perform better at speed, but you have to admit…it makes the car look ridiculously mean. Seeing this in my rear view mirror would make me miss apexes all day. Can’t wait to see how this thing performs against its rivals…and its M3 counterpart.

“When it comes to electronics, the private teams can look forward to innovative BMW solutions, which have proven themselves in the BMW M3 GT2: the engine is controlled by the modern ECU 408, while the Power400 control unit is responsible for operating all actuators. The transmission takes place via a sequential, six-speed gearbox.” [Via BMW Blog]

Just When You Thought it Couldn’t Get Better

It does. Much, much better.

Is it the car or the wheels?

…that make this as fresh as it is?

The Audi R8 is about as good looking as you can get straight from the factory, but that’s not to say that it could never be improved. With any car, a drop (as always) is a must…and a set of some nice shoes (like these ADV.1 wheels) to go with it can really set the car off right. When you apply this simple formula to a gorgeous car like this, you get some pretty drool-worthy results.

Welcome to Rallying, Homies

As many of you know, Ken Block made his way into the WRC this year behind the wheel of a Ford Focus. Following suit, the Iceman Kimi Raikkonen decided to step away from the Formula 1 spotlight and try his hand at the world of rally racing too. So how are they doing?

Well…it might be an unsurprising result considering their previous resumes aren’t exactly chock full of rally cred, but they have found themselves at the bottom of the 2010 rankings chasing the relentless Sebastien Loeb for points.

Either way, it’s pretty cool to see these guys behind the wheel of something so unfamiliar to them. It’s been really cool to watch them grow and develop as the 2010 WRC rallies on. Although I do have segway to express my disappointment for Danica Patrick and Juan Pablo Montoya jumping ship from IRL and Formula 1 respectively to NASCAR. :gag:

Any which way, here’s some footage of Block and Raikkonen getting a taste of some rally-style crashes:

Punk’d by Mother Nature

So a couple weeks ago, I hit up Chicago Pizza & Oven Grinder with some friends. I decided to bring the M3 out of hibernation since there wasn’t any snow in the forecast, but it seems Mother Nature wanted to baptize the E90 in her wintry menstruation before I could get it back into the garage again. She’s definitely got a sense of humor.

The Nitto Invos are definitely not the best tires to be on in sub-40 degree weather, but I got rid of my stockers last year since I knew the car would be stored. It was probably a mistake since I’m looking for another set of 18s for potential track use. I’ve got an indoor racing school event at Autobahn on the 20th, so I’ll see how the Nittos cope with the low temps and a track surface if we get a few laps in. I spoke to a rep at Bridgestone last year about maybe making the switch on track wheels (vs. the Nitto NT05R), so we’ll have to see how that goes.

Either which way, I’m definitely ready for spring to come around. And I’m pretty sure the M3 is too. What about you?

Oh GLK…What Have They Done?

Okay remember how I said Mercedes put out some pretty cool car commercials in their time in a previous post? I just recently saw a commercial they filmed with their GLK in New York City. The verdict? I can’t say I’m very impressed.

Now before you watch the commercial, I have to say I actually like the GLK. I prefer the look of it over the X3 (though that isn’t saying much) and I place it a close second to my small SUV of choice – the RDX. It (the GLK) looks like a harder (albeit smaller), more chisel-jawed version of the big GL – a little yippy, yuppy Terrier for the recent college grad looking for a practical, yet “fashionable” daily hauler. Doesn’t sound terribly exciting does it? Well that’s because it really isn’t to drive…but like most cars in Mercedes’ fleet, it looks the part. Here’s a shot of it on the set of Sex and the City:

And that’s really where it belongs. Now before I offend people who actually own a GLK, I don’t particularly see anything wrong with that. For people that want something more sporty and thrilling, they have the X3. If they want the best all-around small SUV that has practicality and fun to boot, there’s the RDX. And for people that want to spend too much money on something that is great for cruising around town in comfort to do some shopping in style, the GLK is it. Granted, if you are looking to add a touch of sport to your baby GL, there is the Brabus version that I had the pleasure of sitting in at SEMA a few years ago.

But back to the commercial…where it goes all wrong. See up until this point, the GLK knows what it is. It hasn’t pretended to be anything else more than a city cruiser…until they set it up to have a “race” in New York City with a bicycle. Have a look at these:

Okay, now that you’ve watched it…I think you can agree it made biking really cool and the car look really boring. I’m not even sure how anyone could even call it a race at all frankly without the least bit of sporty driving. And if the GLK wasn’t made or meant to be marketed as a sport-ish SUV, what was the point of that commercial? Hell, even the music selection during the car parts made it look boring. Yes, I think it reaffirmed the GLK as a city cruiser, but to the expense of its character. It’s no longer a cruiser that you can enjoy in comfort en route to the shops, boutiques and friendly get-togethers. It makes it look like a soulless SUV…that dorks drive…who don’t have friendly get-togethers. Sure, it’s no secret that non-AMG Benzes lack soul. But that doesn’t mean you have to rub it in everyone’s faces like this.

No ///M, No Care

Honestly, I’ve been finding myself digging the non-M E46s and E39s a lot more than I used to. I think I can actually picture myself in either iteration for a nice daily since you can fetch them for ridiculously cheap nowadays. And if they can look like this with a drop and wheels while getting some sick gas mileage (and cheap insurance), why the hell not?

House Porsche!

I ran into this little clip on Jalopnik and thought it was pretty funny. Admittedly, I’d probably watch this show over most of the other garbage on TV nowadays. Who knows, with FOX’s lineup, they might just slide this right into prime time!

A dude gets thrown out by his fiancee and is forced to live in his car. But his car’s a Porsche! House Porsche! Sounds like a great concept for a TV show to us and Tosh.0 too.

[Via Jalopnik]