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Revisiting the Isle of Man TT record set by Subaru, a new MG4 Mulan EV sedan launched in China, and rear-wheel-drive Volvo love is spreading.

michael banovsky

Aug 29, 2022 — 3 min read

Are rear-drive Volvos having a moment? Have I timed a trend? Just as lunchbox 40 went live last Friday that mentioned my 1990 Volvo 740 Turbo sedan, Car Throttle posted a video featuring a familiar-looking wagon; I bet you can even picture it now: We Bought A 265,000 Mile Turbo Volvo. Following with interest.

1971 Volvo 142E, $auction • I won’t make a habit of creating content that speculates over auction valuations (or bombarding you with Volvos), but for the right car…I might have to make an exception.

Exception #1: this very clean 1971 Volvo 142E, a simple, stout, sporty rear-drive coupé fitted with a 4-speed manual transmission. Why so clean? Import Parts Distributing (IPD), the legendary U.S. company renowned for its Volvo parts and service business had bought it in 1972 as a development vehicle for products.

From its genuine Volvo Rallye gauge cluster to subtle blink-and-you’ll-miss-it tweaks throughout, at only 75,000 miles this 142E has a lot of catching up to do. Speaking of, there are less than two days left on the auction, with bidding near $20,000 Usd. One to watch.

Modified 1971 Volvo 142E 4-Speed • Bring A Trailer

You’re familiar with Subaru’s Isle of Man TT record attempts? No…? OK. Even if you’d caught this record-setting run in 2016 as I had, the footage has recently been re-released by the production company hired by Subaru to film its lap record attempt. Run, don’t walk:

Mark Higgins Full Record Breaking POV TT Lap • Guy Martin Proper

Here’s the latest ~$30,000 Usd. electric sedan with 600 km of range…for China.

If Car News China isn’t already in your RSS feed reader (ditto speedster.news/rss), add it.

Just when you thought Hyundai, Kia, Ford, and Tesla were crowding the market on mainstream “sporty” EVs, the MG Mulan arrives, looking to me…as if Toyota rebodied a Nissan Leaf?

Looks aside, this 3.8s-to-100 km/h hatchback will soon be on sale in Europe (called MG4 and spec’d to a lower specification when it goes on sale there in Q4 2022).

When will an enterprising car company in North America simply pop the badges off of a design like this and call it theirs? Hell, it already comes with a 5-star Euro NCAP rating… Check out the article below for all the details available during launch.

MG4 Mulan EV Unveiled At The 2022 Chengdu Auto Show • Car News China

Mitsubishi Toppo x steel wool set on fire = shooting star?? I don’t know how I found this, but the absurdity and English dub made me genuinely LOL. Queued up at the good part. Happy Monday, y’all. ✌️