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Hyundai move from Baboons to Kids to test quality

Hyundai let a troop of 4 & 5 year olds loose on an i30 to test quality Last year, Hyundai let a troop of 40 safari park baboons loose on an i30 to see if, left to their own devices, they could trash Hyundai’s very well bolted together (just ask Martin Winterkorn) i30. It was a clever way to demonstrate that the i30 doesn’t just look good, but is made of a bit more than recycled baked bean cans and Fairy liquid bottles. The i30 came through the baboon test with flying colours (even the company tasked with cleaning it up after the baboons commented on the story that they were impressed by how unscathed the i30 was), but Hyundai has now come up with a quality test that makes the baboon adventure look like a walk in the (safari) park.

Art Center Car Classic features the world's great automobiles

It seems like we say this every year, but this year it's truly fitting: this was the best Art Center Car Classic ever. Consider that the show covered both ends of the Corvette spectrum, from Peter Brock and the rise of the original “Mitchell Corvette” -- which was right there parked on the grass -- to General Motors designer Pete Thomas and the new C7 parked not far away, with the Mako Shark and the '63 split-window Sting Ray lined up between. A couple car lengths from that was the debut of the finally finished Peter Mullin Bugatti Type 64, a spectacular re-imagining of Jean Bugatti's unfinished final car done by Art Center students and Transportation Design chair Stewart Reed.

2014 MINi Countryman gets a facelift to bring it closer to the new MINI Hatch

The 2014 MINI Countryman (pictured) gets a facelift The MINI that’s far from mini – the MINI Countryman – is getting a bit of a refresh for 2014 with a minor facelift to take it through to an all-new MINi Countryman in 2016. So no, the 2014 Countryman isn’t the big version of the new MINI Hatch, it’s a refreshed version of the current Countryman with some minor tweaks to keep it current. It’s the usual facelift fodder for the Countryman with a new nose incorporating a new grill with big lower scoop, red ‘S’ badges for the quicker models, LED fog lights, new alloys and underbody guards for the All4 4WD versions.