2008 Suzuki Grand Vitara Luxury Sport Utility 4-door 2.7l on 2040-cars

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It's a hard knock life for a N"urburgring rental car

Rental cars get no respect. They're abused, misused and flogged mercilessly as athletes in Rental Car Olympics. And that's just at your everyday airport rental counter. The torture gets extreme for rental cars thrashed around Germany's infamous Nürburgring.
Rent4Ring expects its customers to drive its cars around the 'Ring with enthusiasm and, in some cases, less skill than the pros. Rent4Ring just recently retired its Suzuki Swift Sport from its fleet and shared the car's two-year-plus lifetime highlights.
The little hatchback made more than 2,800 laps of the 'Ring over three seasons amounting to more than 310,000 miles driven by 457 different drivers. "Some were fast, some were slow. Some were nice to the car, a few were frankly awful," says a Rent4Ring rep.

Ugly Moto makes beautiful motorcycle art [w/video]

Ugly Moto is a horrible name for a company that makes such wonderful motorcycle art. The creation of artist Francis Ooi, the company's illustrations focus on some of the iconic racing bikes of the 1960s and 1970s.
The artwork has an elegant simplicity that really makes it pop. It would fit just about anywhere from a home office to the bedroom of a young gearhead. Ooi has completed six illustrations so far covering classic cycles from Honda, Ducati, Yamaha and even Harley-Davidson. According to his site, the Suzuki RGB500 ridden by Barry Sheene will be the next one released. All of the prints are priced at $65 and are limited to 100 copies. They are all about 16.53 inches by 23.58 inches in size.
According to his website, these prints are just a hobby for Ooi and his real career is as the creative director at an ad agency. He creates the illustrations on his Mac, and he estimates that each design with about 800 components and layers takes about a month to complete. You can get idea of the process involved in the time-lapse video below.

Suzuki Jimny displays Samurai spirit in Japanese snowstorm

Say what you will about its smallest SUVs, but you have to hand it to Suzuki: the likes of the Samurai, Sidekick and Vitara were doing the little-sport-ute-that-could thing long before most of the rest of the industry caught on. And the formula remains relevant enough that Suzuki is still selling the same basic Samurai overseas as the Jimny.
That could be why the Samurai still has something of a cult following. Well, that and the name - which, as it turns out, may not have been such a stretch after all. A Samurai warrior, after all, was just one man - but like any other knight, he was worth more than his headcount on the battlefield. Or in this case, a Japanese snowstorm. Just watch the half-minute video below to see what we mean.