Report: Owners Leasing Cars May Be Able to Make a Profit

With the recent surge in used car prices in the U.S., many people leasing vehicles have discovered the surprising fact that the market value of their automobiles is greater than the dealer’s quoted residual (buyout) price.

All a would-be lessee needs to do is buy the car from the dealer and sell it on privately. The dealer gets the residual amount and the former lessee pockets a tidy sum.

Take the example of a 2008 Volvo XC90. With more than twelve months left on the lease, the dealer’s buyout price was a quoted US$18,500. Compare this to the amount the lessee was likely to get by selling the car privately: a far more substantial US$27,000. That’s a profit of US$8,500!

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China Opens World’s Longest Ocean Bridge Measuring 26 Miles in Length! [with Videos]

China opened today to the public not just one or two, but amazingly four of the world’s longest over-sea bridges. Three of the bridges are part of the Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway, which made its maiden trip today.

This project began in 2008, cost around US$33 billion and employed approximately 10,000 workers. It is expected to carry double the number of passengers than before (80 million versus approximately 40 million), whilst also reducing the time it takes to make the journey from 10 to less than 4 hours!

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Kia Hooks its Belgium CEO up to a Lie Detector to Dispel Doubts About 7 Year Warranty

If there’s one thing South Korea’s Kia does better than any other automaker, it is offering especially long warranties. In Belgium, for instance, the warranties across their entire range of vehicles extend to seven years.

That’s no mean feat, though intriguingly Kia Belgium have found that a lot of new car buyers believe the seven year warranty scheme is too good to be true. Either there’s a catch, or it doesn’t cover all Kia models, or there’s some extra charges that need to be paid first.

To counteract these rumours, and gain some additional customers, Kia Belgium hooked its General Manager Benoit Morrene up to a polygraph (lie detector) and let the general public ask him questions in an online, streamlining environment.

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Ford to Baby Boomers: We Get that You’re Old and Feeble and Can’t Read Small Fonts

*This article has been (patronizingly) posted in a larger-than-normal font for our older readers

From next year, the fonts in Ford’s Edge and Explorer SUV models will be some 40% larger as well as thicker. The reason? Baby Boomers have poor eyesight. No, really, Ford’s done a study and everything. The bigger fonts will extend to interior display screens control and A/C controls, and will gradually be rolled out onto other models in the Ford range in coming years.

In a statement on their website, Ford expressed its desire to make it, “easier for people of all ages, particularly aging Baby Boomers, to read display fonts.” Ah, like the little boy or girl who flat-out tells his grandparents that they’re old and wrinkly, Ford has snagged upon that babying / slow and loud way anyone under the age of 30 speak to anyone over the age of 50:

“YES, MRS. JOHNSON. THE WEATHER IS NICE TODAY. DO YOU THINK YOU’LL GO DOWN TO THE PARK?”

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Missing Link Tries to Climb Tree with Honda Chopper [Video]

Take a good look at the picture posted above. Now raise your hand if you know what’s going to happen next. If the first thing that popped into your head was that the tree is going to fall down, well, let's just say that you may want to see if this cultural motorcycle club is accepting new members.

If your thoughts involved a flying chopper inflicting a lot of pain to the biker, give yourself a pat on the back and head over the jump for a few good laughs.

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Drunk, Asleep and Driving a Car? The Curious Case of Dr. Donald Clegg

Donald Clegg, a 59-year old doctor from Prestwich in the UK was four times over the legal limit when he crashed his Vauxhall Zafira into a row of parked cars. He was also sleepwalking at the time and attired in a dressing gown and slippers…

Dr. Clegg pleaded guilty to driving over the limit “without due care and attention” and was sentenced to a minimum 12 month driving ban, a fine of £650 and was ordered to pay £315 in court fees and charges. The court rejected that Dr. Clegg’s sentence should be suspended due to his somnambulism (somncogoism?).

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BMW Takes Leading Car Role in New “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” Film with i8 Concept and 6-Series

Tom Cruise’s return for another impossible mission as Ethan Hunt also marks the BMW Group’s return to Hollywood, as the Bavarian automaker will be the main automotive partner in the fourth installment of the Mission Impossible franchise.

BMW’s product placement in the “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol” film comes in the form of the concept version of the upcoming i8 Hybrid Coupe, the Vision EfficientDynamics study while the latest 6-Series Convertible will also play a role in the movie.

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Сбоить: Russian President Medvedev’s Mega Driving Gaffe Caught on Video

The man behind the “Forward Russia!” movement, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, took his campaign motto a smidgen too seriously when he almost...forwarded a Mercedes M-Class he was driving into a crowd of people cheerfully waiting for him on the side of the road.

While we can’t be 100 percent sure, from the video it looks like Medvedev either forgot to put the SUV’s handbrake on or even worse, didn’t shift out of drive and into park before jumping out of the vehicle to meet his voters.

Fortunately, Medvedev’s security was alert and managed to stop the Mercedes before it hit the crowd. The incident allegedly occurred in the city of Kazan on Monday. The video, which you can watch after the break, went viral and has already more than 200,000 views on Youtube in less than 24 hours.

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1994 Ferrari 348 Spyder with just 2,300 Miles and a…$100,000 Paint Job

An imaginary pod of dolphins pictured swimming in a sky of stars may look cool on a pinball machine but on an Italian exotic like the 1994 Ferrari 348 Spyder it’s more like decorating a classical sculpture with graffiti…

And if that ain’t enough to make you flip your lid, learn that the Austin, Texas dealer selling this cars claims that the paintjob, which is the work of the “world famous Hawaiian artist Christian Lassen” cost –get ready for this- $100,000!

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Meet the Most Happy-go-Lucky Driver in the World [Video]

Upon viewing this accident that was caught on a security camera for the first time, the initial reaction is shock: a large bus (seemingly) drives through a red light and crashes with an oncoming bus at the intersection.

Take a closer look at the footage though and shock is quickly followed by bewilderment when you notice a small green vehicle, which looks to be a three-wheeler tuk-tuk (or rickshaw), passing between the two busses milliseconds after the impact and just as the second bus falls onto its side!

From what we can tell, the green tuk-tuk came from the park and turned right on the central road. The accident reportedly happened in Bangladesh on Monday. Check it out for yourself in the clip after the break.

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Tell Him He’s Dreaming: £200,000 / US$320,000 for a Parking Space

Behold Britain’s most expensive parking space: 284 square feet (26 square metres) of concrete in an underground car park in Knightsbridge, West London. There’s a separate entrance and exit driveway and 24 hours a day, 7 days a week remote access and security. The price is just…£200,000 (US$319,460) for the first nine years, then another £710 (US$1,134) a year for the next ninety.

Though at just 33 pence an hour, the price is some ten times less than what most people pay to park in Knightsbridge. Still, they don’t have to keep paying for the next 99 years. Though Harrods Estates Asset Management, which brokered the deal, refused to name the buyer for confidentiality reasons, the terms of sale stipulate that the buyer must live within 400 metres (1,312 feet) of the parking spot.

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Fail: Wile E. Coyote’s Long Lost Cousin goes Rock Climbing

When common sense goes out the window, you can usually expect one of two things to follow: tragedy or comedy. What you’re about to view in the video after the break could have turned tragic, but since it appears that no one was seriously hurt, we’re going to categorize it as comedy. Read more »

Greenpeace wants to Turn VW Away from the Dark Side, Launches Spoof Star Wars Ads

The rebel alliance from…Greenpeace launched a coordinated attack against the Volkswagen Group this morning by airing spoofs of the German firm’s now famous mini Darth Vader commercial, taking over advertising hoardings to install their own banners on billboards located in London and unleashing “eco-storm troopers” to protest on London's Old Street.

Greenpeace went ahead with the attack to draw attention to its concerns over the German company’s ecological record.

The environmental activist group claims that the car giant is “spending millions of Euros every year funding lobby groups who are trying to stop Europe increasing its commitment to greenhouse gas reductions from 20% to 30% by 2020” and calls Volkswagen to turn away from the Dark Side.

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Sacha Baron Cohen gets Glitzy Gold Dartz for the Needs of his New Movie The Dictator

After becoming worldwide known for his portrayal of the fictional character Borat from the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, and the lesser successful flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion show presenter, Brüno, English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is returning to the big screen with a new movie called The Dictator.

And what may that have to do with a car site, we hear you ask? Well, for one, we’re going to see him facing off three Lamborghinis with his camel on the streets of New York, but most importantly, we learned that the dictator he portrays will ride in an “all-gold Dartz” armored truck.

For those of you with a weak memory, the Russian maker of the Dartz Prombron had made headlines about a year ago when it introduced a special version of the armored truck with its interior slathered in…whale-penis leather.

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Subaru in the Midst of Saudi Women Driving Uproar

Last month, a 32-year old woman named Manal al-Sharif was arrested in Saudi Arabia for committing the crimes of… driving and posting a video on Youtube urging other women to drive too.

This is strictly forbidden by the Wahhabi sect of Suni Islam which is Saudi Arabia’s religion, as women are not allowed to apply for a driver’s license or mix with men (e.g. in service or gas stations) or even leave the home without male company.

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Top Gear Season 17 Episode 1 Starts with a Blast: Forget about the Hummer, Meet the Marauder [Video]

Yesterday we brought you news about the first episode of the seventh season of BBC’s Top Gear TV series which aired last night featuring the Paramount Group’s Marauder. The South African-built armored vehicle was driven by TG presenter Richard Hammond in its native country.

However, “driven” is an understatement, since Hammond made the Marauder flatten cars, smash through walls and defy lion attacks. He also took a bright red one for a drive around Johannesburg, creating quite a fuss.

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Monstrous Paramount Marauder Armored Vehicle to Star in First Episode of Top Gear Season 17

In just a few hours from now, Top Gear will air the first episode of season 17 on BBC. During the past two weeks, we got a taste of what Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond have in store for us this year through two teaser clips.

In one of those trailers, we saw a large off-road-like vehicle playing the role of a monster truck on a white Alfa Romeo 156 and an older generation Renault Megane sedan.

It turns out that the vehicle is a mine protected armored truck called Marauder from South African company Paramount Group and the driver behind the steering wheel is Richard Hammond. We were contacted by Paramount Group who told us that the Marauder will be featured in tonight's first episode of Top Gear Season 17.

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Plastic is Fantastic: 1:24 Scale Supercar Exotics Encased In Resin

Here’s something you don’t see every day: a 1970's style resin “sculpture” made by an unknown French artist and featuring various 1:24 scale Ferraris.

There’s also a Lamborghini Diablo, Jaguar XJ220 and Bugatti EB110 in there among others. Props to anyone who can help us identify the rest. The unusual item is being sold by Mantiques Modern [sic] of New York.

For details on price, you’ll have to contact the dealer, but something tells us it won’t be cheap… More photos of the artsy piece in the gallery after the break.

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Dancing with the Bikes: The Most Twisted Video You’ll See Today

What you’re about to see in the following video is one of the weirdest motorcycle accidents ever with an unexpected -yet admittedly, highly enjoyable-twist.

It features two racing motorcycles and their respective drivers during a round of the promosport Championship at the Magny Cours track in France. The incident began when the first motorcyclist slips before a turn sending his bike sliding on the tarmac, and eventually hit a rider in front knocking him down from his bike.

Up until this point, there is nothing out of the ordinary about the incident. But as the two bikers get up and try to lift their motorcycles, it happens… See for yourself in the video after the jump.

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There you HAVEit: VW Renders Drivers (almost) Obsolete

We’ve seen them in science-fiction films: cars that drive themselves. And, as car enthusiasts, we hoped that this invention will never be realized, or at least not in our lifespan. But is seems like Volkswagen and the EU have other plans.

At the final presentation for the HAVEit (Highly Automated Vehicle for Intelligent Transport) project in the Swedish city of Boras, the German car company presented the “Temporary Auto Pilot”, or TAP, a system that allows the car to semi-automatically drive itself up to speeds of 130 km/h (80 mph) on motorways, with the driver simply monitoring the vehicle.

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