Two Cars that Have Seen Too Much Coverage

The first car that has seen more than its fair share of coverage is the exclusive and limited-production 2011 BMW 1 Series M Coupe. I complain about this in the first place because fewer than 1,000 of these bad boys will ever be produced.

So why cover such a car? To get fans all riled-up? To inspire readers to take standard 1 Series models and convert them to the more aggressive-looking 1 Series M? I plainly don't get the purpose of the media's coverage of the car. Could it be the garish orange that graces almost every model you see the media types driving like they stole it?

Either way, some publications such as Road & Track, Car and Driver and Motor Trend have produced reviews of the car. I find this totally illogical. The chances of you even getting a chance to maybe even see this car are very unlikely. For all the public knows, these cars may be a mythical creation of the media and BMW's PR in order to rejuvenate enthusiasm in the brand.

This car is treated as if anyone could go out and purchase today. Or that they're readily available at BMW dealerships. They're not. They're extremely rare and hard to find. So while making a review for a unicorn is great and all, it's useless.

But don't it look pretty?

Next is the Nissan Juke-R, which isn't even being released, ever. Hence me not assigning it a year. So why are publications like Autocar giving it reviews?! I cannot provide an adequate answer.

In the same way that the 1 Series M takes all the quick bits and pieces from its older brother, the M3, the Juke-R takes the go-fast parts from the Nissan GT-R. So again, like the Bimmer, the Juke goes a lot faster than its platform is intended to. Meaning, the car is extremely impractical.

It is the size of a GT-R. Yet it doesn't look like a GT-R, go like a GT-R, handle like a GT-R, but it eats fuel like a GT-R. So in a sense, Nissan have taken all the good parts, and reduced their inherent goodness, put them into a tiny Juke, and ingeniously incorporated all the bad parts along with it. I'm almost convinced it's wise for Nissan not to release the Juke-R to the public, they couldn't handle its raw power and its lack of handling due to its high center of gravity and worse aerodynamics thanks to the people-carrier intent of the original car.

In fact, the Juke-R weighs 150 pounds more than the GT-R, paired with its worse aero, rendering even worse gas mileage. So it really is a black sheep.