The Demo Site

Now that Saturn has one foot in the grave, GM is looking at other ways of selling Opels in the US. The newest rumor claims that Buick is going to receive a version of the small Astra.

If these rumors are in fact true, Buick will be getting a new small car in 2011 as a 2012 model. It's not yet known if the Buick will use the Astra name or get something entirely new. It's also not known if it will be a hatchback, a sedan or both. Saturn was expected to get three and five-door versions of the next Astra.

Does Buick really need a new small car? This rumor brings back memories of the not so great Skylark

Chrysler has announced new incentives for the month of May to move more of its vehicles off dealer lots by giving buyers what they want...more cash.

Beginning today, Chrysler is now offering $4,000 consumer cash on 2009 vehicles, $1,000 owner loyalty for current Chrysler owners and $1,000 credit union bonus cash for qualified members. So that basically means that some buyers will be able to get up to $6,000 towards the purchase of a Chrysler, Dodge or Jeep.

The incentives run through June 1, 2009.

Hennessey Performance Engineering has unveiled four new tuning packages for Cadillac's highly regarded CTS-V.

After months of waiting, we finally have some official word from Lorinser about the changes they made to the Mercedes-Benz GLK. We still want to know more!

Front and rear lights with LEDs have been revealed on a disguised next-generation SAAB 9-5. We will see it do the full monty at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Now you see it, now you don't. The controversial 'winner takes all' scoring system has now been erased from the 2010 sporting regulations.

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

The Yada YD-V1 is a smartly designed little Bluetooth headset. Packaged as part of two hands-free calling bundles, one that has 12-volt and USB direct chargers and another that adds a mobile phone cradle to the mix, the YD-V1 is billed as a "car-centric" headset.

Today the car appeared again in Munich with less camouflage than ever before. We can now see the entire front and rear lights, but also the little side window in front of the C-pillar was revealed today - on another otherwise more disguised car.

980 euro "bonnet mascot" is made of brass and plated with highly polished chrome. German tuner Aden also calls it a radiator figure. It is removable and comes with a lock to protect against theft.

Kicherer boost performance on the standard SL 63 AMG with 35 more horsepower and a supple aerodynamic kit. The SL 63 RS also features LED daytime running lights and 20-inch light-metal wheels.

The 4MC, powersliding out of corners and getting sideways, on wet and oily tarmac! This has to be the most phenomenal motorcycle concept we've ever seen...!!!

Pics and video: 4MC, via Gizmag

Remember the Yamaha Tesseract and Franco Sbarro’s Pendolauto? Both of these four-wheeled motorcycle concepts looked like they would be a lot of fun to ride but they haven’t, apparently, progressed beyond the concept bike stage.
Now, where Yamaha and Sbarro haven’t been able to move ahead, the UK-based Nick Shotter has. His 4MC four-wheeled motorcycle is a fully functioning prototype and going by the video you see above, it’s simply phenomenal. With proper motorcycle-style tilting wheels – but with the added traction you get with four hoops rather than just two – the 4MC seems easy to powerslide out of corners, on wet and oily tarmac!! You wouldn’t try that on your ZX-10R, would you…?
According to a report on Gizmag, Shotter is a London-based ex-courier, who’s been working on his tilting four-wheel motorcycle for two decades. He also owns a few patents on this design, which might actually be one of the reasons why Yamaha have not been able to go ahead with the Tesseract concept.
When you watch the video of the 4MC being ridden around corners, you realise that this bike seems just about uncrashable. At full tilt, its wheels actually move slightly further apart, increasing stability. That, along with the added manoeuvrability that its tilting wheels provide, make the 4MC a demon in fast corners. And at very low speeds, there’s a hydraulic anti-tilt system there, which ‘locks’ the wheels and allows the machine to be ridden very slowly, without the rider having to put his feet down.
For now, the 4MC prototype is fitted with a 400cc Yamaha engine, but it can be modified to accept bigger, more powerful engines. We really wonder what this machine will do with a litre-class superbike engine in there. We see a lot of concepts and prototypes and all kinds of wild and wonderful two-, three- and four-wheeled contraptions here at Faster and Faster, but the 4MC has just blown us away. Awesome machine!!!

Big CC's GSX-R1000 K7 Turbo, with up to 450 horsepower...

Turbo specialists Big CC are it again and this time, they’re getting up to 450 horsepower from the K7 Suzuki GSX-R1000. According to Big CC, their turbo kit for the Gixxer is designed to produce between 230-450bhp. ‘At low boost levels, this bike is very rideable, with nice predictable power delivery. But engage the two-stage boost and it can wheelie in any gear at any speed,’ says the Big CC website. ‘Using a KMS secondary fuelling computer to control the mapping of various boost levels on enlarged secondary injectors, the kit comes with dump pipes but has optional full exhaust at extra cost as seen,’ it adds.
A 450-horsepower turbo GSX-R1000? Why not, it sounds just perfect to us.

Chrysler LLC announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court has entered an order approving a process for the sale of substantially all of the company's assets

For those of you who love racing, here are a few interesting details about INDY

Championship leader Jenson Button on Sunday maintained his dominance of the 2009 season, heading a Brawn one-two in the Spanish grand prix.

Next-generation Astra will come with a new 1.4 liter, turbocharged gasoline/petrol engine with various power outputs.

The 'team orders' saga has hotted up even more, with Rubens Barrichello threatening to quit Brawn GP if he is again the victim of team orders.

Forum member "Offroad250" over at Truckblog spotted this fine example of redneck engineering. Instead of mounting his hitch in a truck bed, this rocket-scientist installed it to the tailgate of his S-10 Blazer. Updates below

Unfortunately we don't have larger images so that we may dissect the carefully thought-out details, but from what we have it's clearly evident the engineer behind this project went through at least one, no, two cases of beer before and during the installation. You can see the install isn't just on the tailgate, because that would be silly. Instead, the mounting brackets span the tailgate and mount onto the rear load floor. We can also see the installer took the time to beef up the system with what appears to be chain from a child's swing to back up the tailgate cable. Yessir, that there is a fine example of backyard ingenuity.

Update: We just got a full set of images sent to us and this mechanical marvel is even more spectacular than we originally thought. There appears to be a piece of 4x4 lumber mounted to the old hitch to reinforce the tailgate even more than the swing set chain already did. Brilliant. (Thanks for the shots Don)

The Maserati Khamsin was a sports car introduced as a Bertone protype in the 1972 Turin Motorshow, the next year, it was on display at the Paris Motor Show badged as a Maserati, production started in 1974.

Toyota, which reported a $7.7 billion loss during the first quarter of 2009, said that it will cut its vehicle production by 28 percent this year to the lowest level in 7 years.  It said that it aims to produce a total of 6.68 million units in 2009, down from 9.24 million in 2008.

“We expect the severe conditions to continue this year,” said Toyota spokeswoman Ryoko Nishinohara.

Toyota said that it expects it current fiscal year of March 2010 to be the worst ever, forecasting a loss of $5.7 billion.

Source: Detroit News

Yesterday we considered the 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP while indulging in a bittersweet cocktail of horsepower and history in the making. Today, we drink deep the bracing tonic of dispassionate evaluation.

Exterior Design: ***
A tougher call than one might think, because the shape is hardly bad. To make the GXP, Pontiac took the ‘Strine Commodore Calais, gave it their nostril treatment plus two little scoops and a bit more front fascia, fitted a small rear wing and some tasteful 19-inch wheels, and then went off to work on the important stuff. It's an honest, clean, hunkered-down shape with athletic proportions, and it thankfully avoids frippery like those weakly-contoured side strakes that once made certain Pontiacs look like Tupperware accordions. Well done to those involved for leaving well enough alone. But while the understated look will certainly grow on a devoted owner, there's just no one angle or feature that really grabs the eye or the gut.

Interior Design: **
While just driving or sitting in the GXP, you're fine. The seats are firm and done in perfectly adequate leather and the passengers in back have a surprising amount of room given the car's compact proportions. The steering wheel is a nice piece, as is the shifter, and the pedals are good. The instrument panel is perfectly legible and the switches and knobs are almost all in the logical places-with the glaring exception of placing the traction-control button between those for the left and right heated seats, which on one cold, drizzly morning caused me to accidentally select exactly the wrong sort of tail-happiness. Mostly, though, like the exterior, this car's interior would be perfectly acceptable if unremarkable. But the materials range from unpleasant to just flat-out bad, and so is some of the execution. The very worst components, such as the creaky parking-brake lever, the groaning sunroof and the wobbly glovebox, don't feel as if they'd last a year.

Acceleration: *****
From a dead stop, at highway passing speeds and on beyond what's really practical, from idle on up to the 6200-rpm power peak, the GXP will definitely and unmistakably accelerate. Empirically, it will accelerate to 60mph in 4.7 seconds and run the quarter in just over 13. Anecdotally, I found that when I got tired of leaning forward in my seat and fetching my music player from its perch atop the dash, I was able to drop down two gears, nail the throttle, and pluck my trusty iPod out of the air as it shot past my shoulder. Please note that this somehow fails to impress women.

Braking: ****
The big, robust Brembos on all four corners don't quite communicate like a true sports car's would, and they're annoyingly grabby at low speeds, but twitchiness and fade are never going to be problems. I never did get the antilock system to intrude; nice, that.

Ride: ****
It's worth mentioning that the chassis designers not only got the comfort/handling balance right, they apparently pulled off the rare trick of making the ride smoother and more supple as the car fills up with passengers and luggage. Still not a featherbed by any means, but certainly better than expected.

Handling: *****
Very balanced, very neutral, very predictable, with the only nitpick being the rather light steering. Nitpick indeed, because this doesn't in any way feel like a two-ton five-passenger car. Unlike most modern performance cars, and muscle cars in particular, the GXP doesn't mistake grip for handling. Where many cars would settle for merely clinging to the road as hard as they can, the GXP also changes direction quickly, communicates where the limits of grip lie at any given moment, and allows a driver to go confidently and safely up to those limits and beyond whenever they please. That's good, because with this engine, you'll want to try beyond a few times. Believe it.

Gearbox: ****
Our car had two options, the lousy $900 sunroof and the admirable and mandatory $695 Tremec six-speed. This box has good positive feel, great ratios, and nice short throws. Points off for the GM Skip-Shift, which for reasons of fuel economy forces you to go from first gear directly to fourth at part-throttle and which makes many drivers, including me, furious enough to pulp week-old puppies in my clenched fists when I'm just trying to drive in a civilized fashion and suddenly second gear is just not there anymore. And I'm a dog person.

Audio: *****
Now this is a pleasant surprise. Right or wrong, I associate GM with Bose audio, which many seem to think is perfectly fine but I think is treble-heavy with too much muddy, booming, overdriven subwoofing. The 230-watt 11-speaker Blaupunkt system in the GXP was clear and defined throughout the scale, and good rich balanced bass seemed to come from everywhere at once. I really only used the aux-in jack, but XM radio and a six-disc changer with a color info screen are right there.

Toys: ***
There's nothing really cool and unusual here, but all the stuff you'd expect is standard with the exception of a nav system. Apparently the Australian nav is illegal here by some quirk of screen angle. Instead, there's OnStar and its turn-by-turn navigation, which is frankly brilliant as it saves weight and lets you deal with actual real live people when you're lost in Baltimore, a city where at one point 40th and 41st street not only cross but eventually converge to become one and the same street for a couple miles. Staring at that on a dashboard screen would not have helped, but being talked down by an actual human voice does.

Value: ****
Not only does it make the fabled mid-90s Impala SS look like a half-hearted hot-rod taxi, it provides the performance of an M3 sedan or an Audi RS4, and then some, for two-thirds the price. Or, if you like, half the price of an M5. A small deduction must be made for the disappointing interior and because at least one quality issue (flimsy handbrake) seems like a potentially serious problem in the making.

Overall: *****
Yes, indeed, five stars for a car with some definite problems. Yes, the fabrics, plastics, and miscellaneous materials of the cabin are such that when I gave a ride to a textile designer (no, really) she couldn't believe I could actually like the car. And yes, my head was thoroughly turned by the GXP's excellent engine and suspension and by the sheer competence with which it went down any road I cared to take. But I believe that's how this is supposed to work. A good car is greater than the sum of its parts, yet all equivocating aside, as a driver's car it's so very good that it's a little hard to believe. You could probably own and enjoy the GXP, flaws and all, for the rest of your life. So be warned: Pontiac may be dead, but if you have the opportunity to acquire one of these now and you let it go, you'll take that with you to your grave.

Yes, this could be the yummiest vanity license plate ever. One question: is there a chocolate-covered license? [via topcultured]

The latest trend for young, female role models? Throwing eggs. Paris Hilton joined Lindsay Lohan on the egging bandwagon after several cars, including a $1.4 million Bugatti Veyron, were vandalized during a house party.

The incident occurred after fancy car-owning neighbors called the cops on Paris Hilton's little shin dig at 4am with noise complaints. Allegedly Hilton or guests then keyed and egged six cars, including two Maseratis and a Veyron. Police have already interviewed the heiress, but speculation indicates that she's likely way too lazy to have done the deed herself. [via LA Times]

Ford uses shopping carts to test the performance of new pressure-based airbag sensors.

(Credit: Ford)

It may sound easy enough, but don't try this at home. To test the performance of new pressure-based air bag sensors equipped on the 2010 Taurus and 2009 Ford F150, Ford engineers have employed equipment more commonly found in shopping malls than in laboratories, such such as water cannons, basket balls, shopping carts.

Unconventional as these tests may seem in a state-of-the-art testing facility, it's exactly what these vehicles might encounter in the real world and what engineers need to test against.

As part an effort to achieve the highest safety ratings, Ford has replaced acceleration-based sensors with pressure-based sensors that more accurately measure the severity of a crash.

These new air bag pressure sensors, according to Ford, have several advantages over air bags equipped with acceleration-based sensors: they deploy 30 percent faster, perform better in new federal side-impact and oblique-impact tests, are less likely to be affected by vehicle design differences, and give designers more flexibility because they take up less space.

Renault and Ondas have announced the signing of an agreement to offer satellite radio receivers in Renault Group vehicles sold in Europe from 2012.

Brazen car thieves have stolen the R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R driven by Paul Walker in the latest Fast and Furious flick. The real crime? The sickos scratched a mint condition Studebaker Silverhawk. Video details below.

In a ten minute time span, the thieves broke into builder Chris Milano's warehouse, where the car was being stored, and while in the process of stealing it, bumped a BMW and scratched up a Porsche Boxster and a Studebaker Silverhawk. Milano said the $75,000 car was not insured as it was mostly just used for movie promotion, though he is offering up a reward for any information leading to the car's recovery. Stealing a famous R34 is a pretty stupid move, as it won't take long for FNF geeks to spot the car, but scratching a Silverhawk is just reprehensible. [CBS2]

(from Kicherer Press Release) Even after its facelift Mercedes Tuner Kicherer saw sufficient hidden, sports potential in the Mercedes SL 63 AMG which it then brought to the fore in the Kicherer SL 63 RS. Kicherer transforms the Mercedes SL 63 AMG into the SL 63 RS.
Whilst the 6.2 litre large V8 engine in the standard modell produces 525 Ps and 630 Nm with fine tuning Kicherer have teased 560 PS and 670 Nm out of the high performance machine.
So the customer can experience this extra performance Kicherer are simultaneously offering a Vmax-upgrade, which disables the electronic brakes at speeds of 250 km/h. To counter this the ABC-suspension has been electronically adapted to meet the increased demands and equipped with more sporty lines. Kicherer has also improved the brakes.
The Kicherer SL 63 RS is of course allowed to display it potential. And for this the tuner has applied an extensive exterior package of laminated carbon fibre. To visually improve the two-seater a new front spoiler, LED daylight driving lights, headlight blenders, a new front grill, a bumper on the front wings along with special mirror covers and a completely new shaped rear diffuser have been added. This latter also frames a sports exhaust system with four exhaust outlets.
Downforce system is the name given by Kicherer to the boot lid with integrated spoiler that is also made of laminated carbon fibre and which should clearly increase the downwards pressure on the rear axle.The transformation of the Mercedes SL 63 AMG is rounded off with 20 inch large light metal wheels, which at the front have 255/30 tyres and at the rear are fitted with 305/25 tyres.Carbon fibre is also the material from which Kicherer has made the new decorative parts in the interior. The tuner has also added a new sports steering wheel to the package.
© Source: seriouswheels

Well, whatever they eventually name it, it seems not even ultra-luxury automakers like Bentley are immune to the required eco-sensitivity of our times. And why not? We should all do our part. If Willie Nelson can start a bio-diesel fuel company then, yes, Bentley should have this. At the Geneva auto salon earlier this year Bentley premiered a Continental GT that runs on ethanol and called it the Continental Supersports, for lack of a more appropriate name, apparently.
And the upside is that the E85 version is a better performer, upping the power quotient on the 6.0 liter W12 engine to 630 hp, 20 hp more than the GT Speed and 78 more than the standard Continental GT. 0 to 100 km/h comes in at under 4 seconds (3.9 s). Another marked improvement over the GT and GT Speed, which come in at 4.8 and 4.5 seconds, respectively. There's also a modest jump in top speed - 329 km/h compared to 322 (GT Speed) and 318 km/h (Continental GT).
But the improved performance does not necessarily reflect the power of the E85 (ethanol) fuel. Bentley has put the Continental on a diet to the tune of 110 less kilograms through the use of carbon fiber components. There's also a new Quickshift gearbox that makes changes twice as fast as the previous iteration of the transmission. It also has a wider track at the rear by 50 millimeters.
The spy shots seen here are of the Continental Supersports arriving at the track at Nurburgring for a little exercise. Cosmetic differences to the standard Continental GT are minimal, with a different rear bumper and tailpipes and larger air intakes at the front, which improve cooling to also help increase those performance numbers.
Whoever will be driving this, though, you can bet they won't be whistling On the Road Again. Willie, you interested?
© Source: worldcarfans

Spy photographers of the Motortrend just caught Volkswagen's latest hot iteration of the Scirocco roaming the streets surrounding the Nurburgring. We take the sponsor decals to mean that VW is prepping the hot hatch for its reported launch at the ADAC Zurich 24 Hour Race next week.
Note that this VW Scirocco R20T lacks a roll cage, likely relegating its track duties to the parade type. Otherwise, the R20T visual treatment features a more aggressive front end with larger intakes, a new rear spoiler, and an exhaust tip protruding from each end of the rear bumper. The Audi S3-derived, turbo 2.0L under hood should generate somewhere between 270 hp and 300 hp.
Along with this Scirocco, we also expect VW to unveil the Golf R20 at the 24 hour race. Stay tuned, the festivities begin May 21.
© Source: wot.motortrend

Assuming testing goes off without too much drama, MotoCzysz plans to enter an electric motorcycle in the upcoming TTXGP zero-emissions time trial at the Isle of Man. Motorcycle Daily got the chance to talk to Michal Czysz about the new development, and a few interesting tidbits were gleaned.
According to Czysz, the E1PC came about after an employee asked for permission to borrow the frame from a Yamaha YZF-R1 to create an electric motorcycle to enter in the TTXGP. Apparently, Czysz thought it would be better to design a new bike from the ground up using an advanced carbon fiber frame that's been designed to accept a modular powertrain. This design will reportedly allow for a range of electric motorcycles all based on the same basic underpinnings.
The entry-level electric MotoCzysz machine would cost under $20,000 and use a relatively small motor and battery pack, allowing for around-town riding with short bursts on the highway. A higher-spec model could go for $50,000 or more and would use a much larger battery pack (Czysz suggests it could be as large as the Chevy Volt's 16 kWh unit) enabling it to hit speeds of 150 miles per hour and have additional range.
© Source: autobloggreen

(Credit: CNET)

The weather's nice, and the kids are out of school. Time to pack up some gear and head out on the open road for summer fun. But what sort of car will hold the family and luggage for a weeklong excursion without costing an arm and a ...

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET)

Yesterday, we took a look at the TomTom One 140 S and found that we liked it, but wanted a bigger screen.

Today, we find ourselves on the road with the TomTom XL 340 S, which takes all of the features that we praised in the ...

We found this on a Dutch blog with very little explanation, but an underlit trailer park with a caravan, an Impala and a Gallardo is already exciting enough. Potentially NSFW.

Use the arrows and the plus signs to click around the image at various hot objects—LucasArts style—and discover people doing, well, things. Many of the people are well-endowed women. Make sure you click with the sound on as the creators have made an excellent effort at depicting audio depth.

Warning: While nothing explicit happens in the pictures, there is enough implied seediness to make this potentially NSFW.

Source: Qinetiq

Hankering for some cheap off-road fun? Popular Mechanics has put together a rough guide for mud-plugging on any budget. Pictured is PopMech autos editor Ben Stewart demonstrating how not to go off-road. [Popular Mechanics]

Curious why automakers are struggling? Look no further than these ten terrible car commercials. Celine Dion, suicidal robots, and contagious catchphrases combine to make us want to never buy another new car again.

Click On The Play Button To Launch Each Commercial!

10.) Celine Dion Destroys Cities In Her Dodge Colt

Not even musical superstar Celine Dion, seen here in full-on 1980s dance mode, could make the Dodge Colt appealing to a mass audience. In fact, Celine Dion may have made things worse by convincing people they'd scare people away and randomly set fire to parking meters if they purchased one. "Run for your lives! Celine Dion is driving another Chrysler product!"

9.) Susan Lucci's Ford Windstar Star Trek Ripoff

Is All My Children actress Susan Lucci really the best choice to be selling a family van? While it's true she's part of a family, they've had some bizarre things happen to them. Perhaps this concern explains why, for no apparent reason, Susan Lucci is playing a thinly disguised character from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Since they didn't secure the rights to Star Trek she doesn't get "beamed up" but rather beamed into some sort of strange space above the vehicle just a few feet away.

8.) Jeep's Engineers Kidnapped And Taken To Woods

Chrysler hoped, in vain, a series of minor upgrades to their unpopular models would mean enough sales to prevent them from going under. It didn't work. This ad doesn't work either. Though it's trying to show off how Chrysler engineers are listening, it instead comes off like the company's engineers are so dumb they required a complicated and somewhat creepy trip to the woods to make the connection.

7.) Triumph Wants You To Drive Slowly

Triumph gained a bit of a reputation for poor performance, poor handling, and poor quality in this country. This advertisement for the Triumph Spitfire is meant to be "clever" but instead reminds us of all the problems the car faced. We've watched this commercial many times and have yet to fully ascertain the meaning. Perhaps there was a mistranslation from English to English? Talk about being divided by a common language...

6. )Toby Keith Is A Working Man

Every time country music star Toby Keith touches a Ford truck he has an Amerigasm. Most of the Keith + Ford commercials are light-hearted fun, but this "Working Man" commercial puts the musician into the role of a modern day blue collar worker who, perplexingly, is a one-man construction team. We imagine he probably scared the rest of his crew away by randomly breaking out the guitar and jumping on equipment. Given Keith's wealth and spectacular grooming we don't buy the Willie Loman act.

5.) Renault-AMC Is So Excited!

Before Renault went off to buy Nissan and AMC merged with Chrysler, they briefly tried to sell their own cars in America. And to sell cars in America in the 1980s you better have The Pointer Sisters singing "I'm So Excited." Unfortunately, the product wasn't quite as exciting as the song. Sure, there's a Jeep driving off road, women flashdancing, and 80s yuppies laughing but it doesn't work for all vehicles. Why is the woman leaning all the way back in that Alliance? Why do they all live in a ghost town? Why do they show the same video of a Jeep Wagoneer twice? I'm so.. I'm so... scared.

4.)GM Robot Suicide

This ad, which aired during the Super Bowl, was so bad GM quickly released an edited version and tried to purge the original from our memories. But we remembered. In this commercial a friendly, WALL*Esque robot accidentally drops a screw and is treated like an outcast, sent to live on the streets. After a series of odd jobs the robot decides to jump off a bridge. Given how many people GM had to "let go" and the glib portrayal of suicide, it was a massively stupid thing to do before an audience as large as they one they got during the Super Bowl

3.) Black Gold Datsun!

Hey, remember the 1970s? We wish we didn't either after seeing this commercial for the Black Gold Edition Datsun 280ZX. We're fairly sure this concept was dreamed up in the back room of Studio 54 after a long night of enjoying black tar heroine and goldschläger. Why is everyone so sweaty? What's with the huge porn-stache? Why can't we stop watching it?

2.) Toyota "Saved By Zero" Ad

Toyota deserves an award for alienating the most people possible in 30 seconds without the use of politics, violence, sex, or profanity. At the center of this commercial is the chorus from the song "Saved By Zero" by the band The Fixx. Unfortunately, Toyota used only this ad for a major blitz and it was therefore possible to watch TV during certain sporting events and see it at almost every commercial break. It was so bad a number of people launched online petitions to "make it stop!"

1.) 1980s Plymouth Duster Spandex Nightmare

If you haven't noticed by now, the 1980s is the best decade for the worst car commercials. We can't imagine how expensive this ad was to produce, but it's like a German surrealist film combined with a Cyndi Lauper video to create what we imagine is the closest approximation of one of Prince's nightmares ever put to celluloid. Men in jorts with suspenders, unitards, bad 80's hair, and a chorus that's more infectious than the Ebola virus combine to seriously freak us out.