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Autoblog Minute: VW Q3 financial woes, 2015 Tokyo Motor Show

Consumer Reports pulls its Tesla recommendation, the U.S. Copyright Office offers a ruling affecting car owners, VW gets hit hard with third-quarter losses, and lots of exciting news from Tokyo. Autoblog senior editor Greg Migliore reports on this edition of Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00] Consumer Reports pulls its Tesla recommendation, the U.S. copyright office offers a ruling that affects car owners and gear heads, VW gets hit hard with third-quarter losses, and lots of exciting news from Tokyo. I'm senior editor Greg Migliore and this is your Autoblog Minute Weekly Recap. After a week away testing vehicles for Autoblog's Tech of the Year award, we're back in the office to recap the week in automotive news. [00:00:30] One of the things you might have missed was Consumer Reports pulling its recommendation of Tesla's Model S sedan. The blemish for Tesla comes after a tally of reviews from customer surveys. The most common problem areas for the Model S as cited by survey takers included: the drivetrain, power equipment, charging equipment, body and sunroof squeaks, rattles, and leaks. So lots of stuff. Though they could not ignore a score of "worse-than-average", Consumer Reports still [00:01:00] highlighted the fact that the Model S was "the best performing car" they've ever tested. Telsa CEO Elon Musk took to social media to defend his sedans saying: "Consumer Reports reliability survey includes a lot of early production cars. Already addressed in new cars." And, "Tesla gets top rating of any company in service. Most important, CR says 97% of owners expect their next car to be a Tesla (the acid test)." In Financial news, Volkswagen took a hit and reported an operating loss of [00:01:30] $3.84 billion. This is the first such loss for VW in 15 years. Toyota reclaimed the crown as the world's largest automaker as well. It's important that it's not all doom and gloom for VW though in Q3. Sales revenues were up and the company's automotive division boasts $30 billion dollars in liquid assets. It's a sizable war chest that will no doubt come in handy, as the company has yet to feel the full brunt of the diesel emissions scandal. Good news for gear heads. The US copyright office [00:02:00] ruled in favor of mechanics and car owners by granting an exception to existing copyright law. The law was originally meant to prevent software pirating and bootlegging of Hollywood movies.

Good Samaritan pulls key from hit-and-run driver

A man in England stopped a hit-and-run driver from fleeing the scene by grabbing her keys from the ignition. On February 13, Michael Scott witnessed a crash on a busy road in Birmingham, England according to the Telegraph. He watched as a Vauxhall Astra crashed into a Porsche right in front of his vehicle. At first, it seemed like the offending driver was going to stop, but she just kept going. Luckily, Scott had his dashboard camera rolling at the time. "I was shocked when the Astra driver didn't stop, and just carried on accelerating up the road," Scott told the Telegraph. "I thought the driver was trying to do a runner, so when the car in front of me moved off I managed to speed up and block the Astra in. Scott rushed ahead of traffic to cut off the Vauxhall in a turn lane a few hundred feet from where the crash originally occurred. The running driver then maneuvered around Scott, but was blocked by another car from making a clean getaway. Scott then nabbed the driver's keys to keep her from fleeing again. "I was in a rush so I couldn't stop, but I gave her keys to the Porsche driver and left," Scott told the Telegraph. "I contacted the police to let them know I had footage of the incident too." When police arrived they found both drivers were unhurt, though the Porsche will probably need some expensive repairs. The fleeing driver was charged with drinking and driving and is currently out on bail.

Watch a marksman go clay shooting from a Porsche 911

A Porsche 911 is exciting. Firing a shotgun at clay pigeons is also exciting. And when you combine the two? An amazing video. This video features British master marksman Phillip Thorrold as he takes on a very different form of competitive shooting, because traditional sporting clays, trap, and skeet must be too boring. By mounting a clay pigeon trap to the hood of a Porsche 911 Targa, Thorrold has melded driving and shooting in a way that hasn't been seen since James May and Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear tried to rethink the biathlon. The Brit makes short work of the clays with his over-under shotgun. Even as he runs form spot to spot to intercept the Porsche, he has no trouble downing the discs as they're launched unpredictably from the speeding, sliding 911. He then hops in the passenger seat and proceeds to take out the tiny, orange clays while zipping down a country road. If that's not awesome enough, the clays have been fitted with exploding discs, for that extra bit of excitement. We've posted the entire three-minute video at the top of the page. Even if you aren't into competitive shooting, this is a spectacle you aren't going to want to miss. Please don't try this at home. Related Video: