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Red Bull RX-7 goes drift crazy on New Zealand's Crown Range

For the first time ever, the Crown Range, New Zealand's highest paved road, was closed off for the drifting pleasure of one man. That man is Mad Mike Whiddett, and the machine he's piloting is a heavily modified Mazda RX-7 sponsored by the energy-rich crew from Red Bull and powered by a 750-horsepower quad-rotor engine. There will be smoke. Lots and lots of smoke.
Mad Mike hits speeds in excess of 140 miles per hour over the course of the road's six and a half miles, which boasts 47 individual corners at over 3,500 feet of elevation. Scroll down for all kinds of fire-belching, tire-squealing and smoke-inducing action. Or, as Mad Mike himself puts it, "A dream turned into reality."

Consumer Reports no longer recommends Honda Civic

Consumer Reports annual Car Reliability Survey is out, and yes, there are some big surprises. First and foremost? The venerable publication no longer recommends the Honda Civic. In fact, aside from the walking-dead CR-Z and limited-release Clarity fuel-cell car, the Civic is the only Honda to miss out on CR's prestigious nod. At the opposite end there's a surprise as well – Toyota and Lexus remain the most reliable brands on the market, but Buick cracked the top three. That's up from seventh last year, and the first time for an American brand to stand on the Consumer Reports podium. Mazda's entire lineup earned Recommended checks as well. Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58. The Civic isn't the only surprise drop from CR's Recommended ranks. The Audi A3, Ford F-150, Subaru WRX/STI, and Volkswagen Jetta, GTI, and Passat all lost the Consumer Reports' checkmark. On the flipside, a number of popular vehicles graduated to the Recommended ranks, including the BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, and Cruze, Hyundai Santa Fe, Porsche Macan, and Tesla Model S. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the hilariously recall-prone Ford Escape getting a Recommended check – considering the popularity of Ford's small crossover, this is likely a coup for the brand, as it puts the Escape on a level playing field with the Recommended Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue. While Ford is probably happy to see CR promote the Escape, the list wasn't as kind for every brand. For example, of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles catalog, the ancient Chrysler 300 was the only car to score a check – there wasn't a single Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram on the list. That hurts. FCA isn't alone at the low end, either. GMC, Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, and Mitsubishi don't have a vehicle on CR's list between them, while brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Cadillac only have a few models each. You can check out Consumer Reports entire reliability roundup, even without a subscription, here.

Mazda delays US launch of Skyactiv-D engine

Japanese automakers haven't lead the charge towards diesel power in the same way as, say, the Germans have. But Mazda is out to change that. It has been following Audi's lead on the racetrack with oil-burning racecars right here in America, and will soon translate that excitement to the road by introducing its Skyactiv-D engine in North America. It just won't happen as soon as we expected.
Mazda announced today that, while its diesel engine meets current emissions requirements, the company has decided once again to push back an introduction originally slated to kick off in the Spring. According to the brief statement below, Mazda wants to take more time to find "the right balance between fuel economy and Mazda-appropriate driving performance."
In other words, the Zoom-Zoom brand apparently thinks its diesel engine doesn't deliver the zoom-zoom American drivers would expect, so we'll have to wait just a little bit longer. Details to follow closer to launch, whenever that will ultimately take place.