Sportier MINI Countryman JCW Edition Spied Working out at the Nurburgring

Carscoop’s spy photographers have snapped some of the first images of the sportiest edition yet of the Mini Countryman bearing the John Cooper Works logo. The…high-hoon version of Mini’s urban crossover model will come with all the usual styling upgrades and performance modifications we’re used to seeing in the other JCW models.

First and foremost, the Countryman JCW will get a juiced up version of the Cooper S’ 1.6-liter twin-scroll turbo engine. Being that the Countryman is much heavier than the other Mini JCW variants, engineers may further hone the four-cylinder powerplant to deliver more than 211-ponies it normally produces, possibly approaching the 230HP mark.

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Lotus to Replace Evora with Elan in 2017

Lotus’ most recent new sports car, the Evora, will stay into production until at least 2017, when it will be replaced with the new Elan according to the company’s boss Danny Bahar. This changes the initial plan that called for the Evora to be replaced as early as 2012. Read more »

Lincoln Drops Price of 2012 MKT with EcoBoost V6 by $3,000

Lincoln has introduced the 2012 model year version of its not-so-successful MKT three-row crossover. While there are no equipment or styling changes, the Detroit automaker has reshuffled the MKT’s lineup by dropping the all-wheel drive model with the naturally-aspirated 3.7-liter V6 from the range and reducing the price of the AWD version with the 355HP 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 by $3,000 to $46,295. Read more »

You Can’t Touch This: Boy Racer in Citroen Saxo has Cops Running in Circles

A rather foxy yet clearly irresponsible teenage driver of a Citroen Saxo had British police running in circles –literally- in a chase that took place at the Hams Hall industrial estate near Coleshill, England, last month during a police crackdown on what they call illegal car cruise events.

One of the spectators who had stopped on the side of the road to enjoy the chase filmed the young man’s shenanigans and uploaded the video on Youtube for all to see.

It all started when an unmarked Seat Leon hatchback pursued the driver of the silver Saxo who managed to escape by speeding up, down and even in…reverse on the busy highway.

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Magical Thinking Breaks Amarpreet Gill’s Bristol Car Concept

I really wish industrial designers would leave the engineering to, you know, engineers. Nothing irks me than a designer trying his or her hand at conjuring up some magical, black box powerplant for their vehicle design studies. Take Amarpreet Gill for instance, a Leicester-based designer and the brains behind the blandly named Bristol Car Concept.

Using a combination of piezoelectric “threads” as well as photovoltaic paint and glass, the Bristol Car Concept “harvests energy from the surrounding environment, rewarding the consumer with the gift of free energy”.

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Jay Leno Visits Mercedes’ AMG HQ, Drives SLS Roadster and E-Cell

As we all know, Jay Leno is a car fanatic. So when he had the chance to visit the AMG division of Mercedes-Benz at Affalterbach and drive two of its most exclusive models in its test track, he couldn’t resist. The Chairman of Mercedes-AMG GmbH himself, Ola Kallenius, accompanied Leno on his factory tour.
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Just Say No: Lamborghini Gallardo “Galaxy Warrior”

Even if you somehow blocked these images from your screen, the name “Galaxy Warrior” alone is a sign that something ain’t gonna be right with this tune. Found for sale on the German edition of eBay, the “Galaxy Warrior” is a styling package for the Lamborghini Gallardo coupe from a company called ATS Automotive. Read more »