It’s easy to think of corporate honchos as greedy, self-important robber barons who brought the economy to the brink of the abyss with their hubris then fled with their million-dollar bonuses to the safety of their guarded mansions. But not all of them are like that. Case in point, Jim McDowell, chief of MINI USA, who went on stage dressed as a member of KISS to announce a partnership with the band to sell KISS-inspired graphic wraps for MINIs, and to auction off four special KISS-themed MINIs on eBay, all to benefit UNICEF.

KISS memorabilia will also be open for bidding on eBay, but the undoubted stars of the auction are four MINI Countryman SUVs in KISS colors, each mimicking the makeup worn by one of the band members, and each signed by all four of them.More...

In today’s consumer-driven world, it is often difficult to stand out from the crowd, especially when it comes to budget cars. Enter the aftermarket world, a place where anyone can quickly take an ordinary car and transform it into a rolling eyesore and the butt of everyone’s jokes.

Spoiler

You aren’t fooling anyone. By placing a cheesy aftermarket spoiler on your front-wheel-drive Honda, you have shown the world that you really have no understanding of how a car works, much less the aerodynamic properties that allow a spoiler to improve the performance of a racecar. Oh, and odds are that in a drag race, you’d still get smoked by grandma in her Prius. More...

Here are the 10 Worst Driving Songs of All Time. These are songs that make us want to switch to AM radio. We sincerely hope one of your favorites is listed. Ideally, you used one in your wedding. That just illustrates how stupid you were. To get married, not select the song. Don’t like the list? Write your own blog.

This article is the result of the most exhaustive research in the history of realcarguys.com: We posted the question on Facebook, Tweeted (twitted?) it, and emailed it to our few remaining friends and relatives. Most importantly, Pulitzer-prize winning humorist Dave Barry posted it on his site. (In Dave’s words, I am not making up this part.)

10. “Ridin’ Dirty” by Chamillionare and Weird Al Yankovich’s White & Nerdy spin.

9. “Red Dirt Road” by Brooks & Dunn. “It’s where I met Jesus, wrecked my first car, tore it all to pieces.”

8. "Tell Laura I Love Her" by Ray Peterson. This is the worst of a terrible genre of teen car crash songs from the Fifties and Sixties. The song got extra credit because friend and race driver Jack Broomall often said, as crew chief Greg Syfert was strapping him in, “Tell Laura I Love Her.” Greg’s response “Hmmmf.”

7. “Radar Love” by Golden Earning. We’re eternally thankful Golden Earring was a one-hit wonder.

6. “Jesus, Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood. Carrie, you scared him half to death last time you drove. The Bible is not clear whether Jesus completed driver training, though the Book of Mormon has a different interpretation.

5. “Dead Sunk” by Loundon Wainwright III. This is Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” from the animals’ viewpoint.

4. “Drive” by the Cars. “Who’s gonna drive you home tonight?” Not you, bud.

3. “Trans Am” by Sammy Hagar. Unless you have a mullet, do not listen to this. Elvis Presley never wrote a worse song, and he didn’t write any songs.

2. “Drive My Car” by the Beatles. “An awful, annoying song from the best rock group ever,” said a Dave Barry Blog commenter. “Bad lyrics, bad harmony, plodding beat. Did they phone this one in?”

And now, in my best Casey Kasem voice, here’s a song that’ll make you long for public transportation—the worst driving song of all time:

1. “Glory Road” by Neil Diamond. There are no words.

Honorable Mention: Worst Than The Worst: “Beep, Beep” by the Playmates. Dave Barry nominated "Beep Beep,” "the unbelievably annoying 1958 hit song by the Playmates, because (a) it is unbelievably annoying, and (b) just LOOK at the Playmates.”

Try something you haven’t; the sound less listened. Expand your mind. Let us bend your brain in ways that have never come to mind, some excellriffic eargasma that doubles as genuine driving music. Better, these all have the striding, surging energy that keeps driving music in your head. The list is endless, so we’re going to start on Planet “A,” sprinkled with a few off-the-head specials. These are tracks that you must Play with your hands on the wheel. And don’t worry, there’s no “pop” here—pop is soulless by definition and, as they say, dead; it just doesn’t know.

Feeling like some tracks that carry a heavy cosmic vibe, very lush and groovy without getting weighed down with electronic overproduction? You’ve heard this track before: “Surfing on a Rocket,” by Air. It’s on Talkie Walkie, a clean, melodic album, probably the best of Air’s catalogue. “Surfing” was the track Nissan used with their Armada ads, those filmed on what looks like the North Shore of Oahu. It’s definitely a surfy sound, but not choked with bliss and BS. If you’re digging the big groovy surf-type vibe but don’t need to be carried away by modified sounds, take a taste of The Three E.P.s by the Beta Band. The Three E.P.s album is more San Fran-surf than Air’s big island sound, but they work well in tandem, for no reason. More...