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A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

Travis Kvapil tells Twitter his Sprint Cup car was stolen

There's a bizarre story coming out of Atlanta today, as NASCAR racer Travis Kvapil is reporting that his Sprint Cup Car was stolen from a lot at the Drury Inn in Morrow, GA. Kvapil announced the theft, which included the black pickup that was hauling the trailer and the #44 Chevrolet SS Sprint Cup Car – shown above, with driver JJ Yeley at the wheel – on Twitter. According to Kvapil, the car wasn't going to be ready for the Thursday test session at Atlanta Motor Speedway, although forecasts of snow forced the team to dispatch their main trailer and tools to the track ahead of the car, which left for Atlanta later yesterday. According to ESPN, police in Morrow have video of the "incident," which happened at 5:34 AM Friday, with police investigating it as as criminal in nature. "Sometimes what happens when thieves see trailers, they might just assume there's something in the trailer they can go off and sell," Sgt. Larry Oglesby, of the Morrow PD, told USA Today. "Sometimes when things like this occur, they will drop off the items in a parking lot somewhere – like a Walmart parking lot – once they realize what they have." "All we know is it was a silver jeep," team owner John Cohen told USA Today. "One guy got out and they pulled off together." Earlier, Cohen told ESPN that the theft will force the team out of this weekend's race at the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kvapil, meanwhile, has taken to Twitter to appeal to his followers to be on the lookout for the truck, trailer and race car. Here's hoping it turns up all together. Check out the driver's tweets, below. Wow. Anyone near Atlanta find my stolen Cup car let me know! Unreal - Travis Kvapil (@TravisKvapil) February 27, 2015 I bet when whoever has it, opens the trailer and is going to be like 'oh snap' - Travis Kvapil (@TravisKvapil) February 27, 2015 Ok, to clarify. @Teamxtreme44 transporter is @amsupdates. The guys stayed and worked on the car Thursday at the shop in NC. They drove.... - Travis Kvapil (@TravisKvapil) February 27, 2015 down last night in a Ford dually and enclosed trailer with racecar inside. That was stolen out of hotel parking lot this am in Morrow, GA - Travis Kvapil (@TravisKvapil) February 27, 2015 Black Ford dually, white enclosed tag behind trailer. New Jersey plates - Travis Kvapil (@TravisKvapil) February 27, 2015 Dang.... I'm wishing we had LoJack or something on it!

Here's the production Chevy Bolt

"It looks like a Volt had an evening of regrets with an i3." That's AutoblogGreen editor-in-chief Sebastian Blanco talking about the car you see here, the 2017 Chevy Bolt. Our trusty spy photographers caught the new Bolt EV fully uncovered at a photo shoot, ahead of its official debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. To say the styling looks familiar would be an understatement. There's a lot of Volt elements here, and the nod to the BMW i3 is definitely valid. It's not unattractive, it's just sort of, well, there. Never mind, the Bolt will have a lot going for it when it launches, should earlier rumors come to fruition. The hatchback is expected to have a 200-mile electric range, and should cost right around $30,000 after incentives. The Bolt will be built in Michigan, and will likely arrive at dealers in early 2017. Chevy knows this one's going to be huge, and the company is fully committed to launching and marketing the Bolt the right way. We'll have the full details in January at CES. For now, feast your eyes on His Boltness in the gallery above. Let us know what you think about it, in the Comments.