Contrary to popular opinion, it's not a Grande Punto.

Press Release Rewind: The 2007 FIAT Bravo

November 10, 2017

Today, thanks to an old press release from Autoblog, you are going to learn about a little FIAT from the late 2000s that you will promptly forget about after reading this article. (And that’s assuming you click the “Read More” link after this paragraph.) It is not a car that will be remembered by most people in the world. Those of you who play Gran Turismo or Forza will probably think from the above photo that it’s a standard Grande Punto. It is not. It is actually a larger car called the Bravo, meant to replace the Stilo. The Bravo was meant to compete with the VW Golf and Ford Focus while the Grande Punto was an alternative to the Polo and Fiesta. Despite it being a good-looking, fun-to-drive, and fuel-efficient Italian hatchback, much better than what Americans could get at the time, it never came to the United States. That was probably a good thing.

Press Release Rewind: Lincoln Town Car Ballistic Protection Series

July 4, 2014

Sometime last year, Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire bought a bulletproof 1993 Mercedes-Benz S600 Guard on Craigslist for $2,500. In one video, Matt Farah “was sitting in” the car while a buddy shot at the driver’s side front window with a 9mm handgun. Later, when shooting at the car with high-powered rifles, most of the bulletproof material failed after a few shots and it ended up being torched.

Press Release Rewind: The G35 Had To Win Motor Trend's Car of the Year

June 7, 2014

Every November or so, Motor Trend releases its Car of the Year press release where it announces the best new (or heavily-revised) car for the following model year. Primarily, it entails rounding up numerous press vehicles, testing them around some willing automaker’s desert proving grounds, driving them on the worst California roads imaginable, and then spending hours lamenting that the Mercury Marauder isn’t available with a manual.

Press Release Rewind: Land Rover Freelander SE3

May 9, 2014

Today’s rewind is on open-air Land Rover models that were available in the US. Unfortunately, this isn’t about the Land Rover Defender, which was excellent in every way and has held its value steadily for the last twenty years, to my chagrin, which is why I’ve been searching to the ends of the earth for a good P38 Range Rover, which is much, much cheaper.

Screenshot courtesy Internet Movie Car Database.

Press Release Rewind: Audi in Legally Blonde 2

March 5, 2014

Ladies and gentlemen, so far the press releases I've analyzed with the benefit of hindsight have had some substance to them. The Jeep Trail-Rated badges. The Centennial Edition Ford lineup. That time MINI wanted to tell auto journalists that there were a few new flags for the roof. Well, this time it's something different which perhaps all auto journalists would've figured out on their own without the automaker press release.

Press Release Rewind: Mini Has New Roof Schemes

February 19, 2014

We all know Mini. They're the brand that makes an excellent hot hatch, but also has a line-up consisting of a mini-SUV (because you loved your old Cooper but had kids), a mini-coupe (if you decided rear seats and/or practicality weren't your thing), a mini-roadster (when you've already made a coupe out of your hot hatch, it's not that hard to chop the top off and call it a roadster), a stretched-hatchback with a third door on the passenger side (which doesn't work in places where cars are RHD, meaning the third door feature is useless in the United Kingdom, where it's made), and a two-door mini-SUV (that one's totally pointless).

Press Release Rewind: Subaru Recalls Its Transmissions

February 14, 2014

There used to be a time where Subaru would use automatic transmissions on its cars instead of CVTs. There also used to be a time where a Subaru recall meant under 200,000 cars. Such was the case in November 2002 when a defect in the automatic transmission parking rod was discovered. This meant if you almost never used the parking brake when you parked your Subaru, it just might have unexpectedly rolled away.

Press Release Rewind: The Ford Centennial Edition Vehicles

February 9, 2014

It was December 2002. Ford was getting prepared to celebrate its 100th anniversary in June of the very next year. So they did what any other company would do. They decided to create an anniversary edition of their products to a) get higher transaction prices and b) make owners believe that their car will hold its value down the line.