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The original Mini Cooper still has universal appeal

It sold over five million units. It was voted the second most influential car of the last century, bested only by the pioneering Ford Model T. It counted among its owners Steve McQueen, Enzo Ferrari and Peter Sellers. It is the classic Mini.
The tiny, two-box, four-seat hatch is an automotive icon of the first order and it's high time it featured in an episode of Petrolicious. Of course, the video gurus did it right, filming this handsome 1971 Mini, which has been modified to accommodate the 1,275-cc four-cylinder from the Mini Cooper S of the time.
Its owner, Sumner Norman, describes life with his right-hand-drive, UK-spec Mini. Naturally, he points out some of the idiosyncrasies inherent with a car built under the guise of British Leyland, including some of well known reliability woes, which he says is the car "going British." Mostly, though, he just seems to have a good time with the little hatch.

Mini teases high-performance electric hatch as a safety car

Mini has made it clear that it's working on some sort of high-performance electric Mini. It even released photos of such a prototype back in December. Now it seems we may get a look at a more finished example in the near future. The company put out the above teaser on Twitter. The teaser is quite light on information, but the hashtag "#ElectricThrillMaximised" makes it pretty clear that it's not running on gasoline or diesel. Playing with the image in Photoshop, we were able to brighten it up enough to see that there aren't any tailpipes, either. Instead, there's a rear fog light in the middle of the diffuser. What's also interesting is that from what we could make out of the fender flares, they're very wide, but they don't look like the unusual carbon fiber pieces from the John Cooper Works GP. So Mini has done some work to make it a little more than just an electrified GP. Of course, we've skipped over the obvious part of this teaser, and that's the bright lights that seem to identify the Mini as a pace car or safety car. We think this Mini might become a safety car for Formula E. Not only would an electric car make sense for the electric racing series, but BMW has provided i model cars as safety cars for the series for a few years now, despite the company no longer competing. Certainly BMW could also use something like the new i4, but with Mini going fully electric a few years down the road, why not start associating the brand and the alternative fuel now? We're not sure when the car will be revealed, though. The teaser didn't provide any pertinent information, and the Formula E season is already underway. But hopefully it won't be too long, since it looks like the car is finished, at least for pace car purposes. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

10 automakers sued over keyless ignitions

Keyless ignition has rapidly proliferated throughout the auto industry to become a fairly normal feature on new cars. It's supposed to offer the convenience of keeping the fob in your pocket and just pressing a button to drive away. However, ten major automakers are now being sued in US District Court over claims that the system is dangerous, Reuters reports. The suit alleges that people are forgetting to shut off the engine, and the lack of an idle timer is the cause for 13 deaths by carbon monoxide poisoning and multiple injuries. The suit currently includes 28 plaintiffs, according to Reuters, but the lawyers are asking for class-action status to potentially add many more. The case goes after a major swath of the industry, including BMW, Daimler, FCA, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagen, plus their related brands like Acura, Infiniti, Mini, and Lexus. In all, over five million vehicles are affected. The assertion here is that people walk away from their vehicle without shutting it off because they believe the engine shuts off automatically. If parked in a garage, carbon monoxide can build up, leading to poisoning. The lawyers claim automakers know this is a problem and also cite 27 complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the issue, according to Reuters. The plaintiffs are asking for an automatic shut-off and damages from the companies. These concerns have come up before, though. Toyota previously faced a lawsuit over a carbon monoxide death after a woman accidentally left her Lexus running. Also earlier this year, GM recalled 64,186 examples of the 2011-2013 Chevrolet Volt because owners weren't shutting them off. The problem resulted in two injuries, and the company released a software update to limit the idling time.