Premium 2 Pkg Leather Navigation Backup Camera Wood Wheel Cd Changer on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Elephant with an itch to scratch uses cars for relief

Sometimes in life you, get an itch in a place that you need some help to scratch it. That feeling apparently goes for elephants as well as humans. A pachyderm at the Khao Yai National Park in Thailand recently had some serious comfort in its rump. Unfortunately, the giant animal chose several passing vehicles to alleviate the problem. Things start out rather cute with the elephant rubbing its enormous behind on a Mercedes-Benz. However, another vehicle apparently doesn't provide the same level of relief. The animal seems to grow annoyed and starts taking the sedan apart with at least one person inside. The experience must have been mammothly terrifying. According to BBC News, no one was injured, and the odd behavior is being blamed on a result of the elephant's mating season. Male elephants, as well as other male pachyderms, go through a period called the musth, when testosterone levels rise to several times greater than normal in preparation for the mating season. It makes the elephant aggressive, irritable and yes, itchy.

Lewis Hamilton owns 15 cars, uses tow trucks to keep the mileage low

No matter how you feel about Lewis Hamilton off the track, it's impossible not to respect his talent behind the wheel. Currently, Hamilton is the second most successful Formula One driver of all time. His 67 wins and four championships place him only behind Michael Schumacher's 91 wins and seven championships. With all those winnings, Hamilton has racked up a decent personal fortune, much of which he uses to buy cars. Except he doesn't drive them quite as much as you might think. According to The Sunday Times, Hamilton's net worth of just over $207 million makes him one of the richest sports figures in the UK, just behind David Beckham. In a recent interview with the British newspaper, Hamilton gave some details on his personal car collection. His first car was a used Mini Cooper, soon followed by a Mercedes-Benz C200. Both have long since been replaced by a pair of original Shelby Cobras, a 1967 Shelby GT500, a Ferrari 599 SA Aperta, two LaFerraris (a red coupe and a white Aperta), a McLaren P1 and a Pagani Zonda 760 equipped with a manual transmission. All in, Hamilton has about 15 cars split between homes in Monaco and Los Angeles. Unsurprisingly, he has a Mercedes-AMG Project One ( a car that shares more than a little with his F1 W09 EQ Power+ race car) on the way. Hamilton has some hot takes on his personal collection. "The Zonda is terrible to drive," he said. "It's the best-sounding car I own, but handling-wise it's the worst. I got it in manual because I didn't like the tiptronic version. The tiptronic Pagani offered was worse than the Smart Roadster I had." He also says his Shelby Mustang is a "beautiful car, but a heap of junk." In order to keep the miles down (and valuations up), Hamilton apparently has a tow truck on retainer in Los Angeles. When he's finished driving one of his Ferraris, he'll have the car towed back to his place. Classic cars are becoming a solid and serious investment, and Hamilton doesn't want to squander his wealth like some other athletes. That said, there are a couple more cars Hamilton would love to own, including a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (the one with the gullwing doors) and a Ferrari 250GT California Spyder (the one from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"). Related Video:

Why it's difficult to accurately test the efficiency of a plug-in car

When it comes to electric vehicles and plug-ins in general, the Environmental Protection Agency-certified range is a hugely important number. While actual range anxiety is largely psychological, the magic number does provide a point of comparison of buyers considering one EV over another. The driving distance is also often touted by automakers when marketing their models. Unfortunately, as Green Car Reports finds in a recent deep dive, the way the EPA calculates the figure is a convoluted mess, and discovering the reasons why is definitely worth the read. The issue isn't about bad science but instead comes down to vague wording. The EPA's accepted range test is sourced from an evaluation called J-1634 from the Society of Automotive Engineers, and it seems to provide balanced results for vehicles that automatically reach a single state of charge when plugged in. However for models with multiple charge settings, the situation gets complicated very quickly. Of course, these modes are often created in the software, meaning that a car's certified driving distance can change with just a few taps of the keyboard without the real world results owners might experience actually changing. By showing the test's effects on the certified range for the Tesla Model S, Nissan Leaf and Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive over the last few years, Green Car Reports makes a compelling argument that it's the evaluation that needs to change. Thankfully, it appears that the solution is a very simple one. Get the details here.