MSN Autos Has No Idea What Cars Look Like

While trying to find something to write about today, I was browsing Alltop, my favorite aggregator for car news and came upon a piece about “Young Stars and Their Cars” from MSN Autos. Now, I love celebrity trash as much as anyone, and I’ve commented on quite a few young stars who have foolishly spent money they didn’t have on cars they couldn’t afford, so I thought I’d take a look-see. What did I learn? That MSN Autos’s Erik Sofge has no idea what cars are supposed to look like. 

Example 1 (Photo above): Sofge writes that Zac Efron is, “ just making do by driving his “High School Musical” co-star — and then-girlfriend — Vanessa Hudgens around Burbank, Calif., in her rented Porsche Cayenne Turbo S.”

Anyone with a basic knowledge of what the Cayenne is supposed to look like will very easily be able to identify this Cayenne as a base model. The front bumper, hood, fog lights and wheels do not match the Turbo S, or the Turbo, or even the S.

Example 2: Sofge Writes about Kevin Jonas, “making a statement with this 2007 Jeep Commander.”

This is not a Jeep Commander. My mother could tell you this is not a jeep Commander. The mirrors, seats, and window trim absolutely scream Chevrolet Tahoe or another GM full-size SUV variant, but, yeah, not even close there.

Example 3: Sticking with the Jonas Brothers theme, Sofge writes about Nick Jonas and his “Shelby Cobra GT.” He is smart enough to comment that, “the restoration work makes it hard to pin down the exact model year of Nick Jonas’ Shelby Cobra GT. Maybe it’s a ’67 with misleading headlamps or a ’68 GT350 with a modified hood scoop.”

However, as far as I could find online, there were no notchback Shelby’s produced at all during the 1960′s. All Shelby Mustangs of that era (1967-68) were either fastbacks or convertibles. Now, while Mr. Jonas’s car is a perfectly fine example of a pro-touring Mustang that has a few Shelby styling cues added on, it is almost certainly not a “Shelby Cobra GT.” Oh yeah, there was never such a car as the “Shelby Cobra GT,” it was always followed by either a 350 or a 500.

Example 4: In possibly our most egregious fail of the day, here’s Jamie Lynn Spears ordering at a Sonic in “her own top-of-the-line, blacked-out Range Rover HSE, seen here.”

I’m sorry, but have you ever seen a Range Rover before? This is clearly a BMW X5.

Now, I understand if the article were simply discussing what young celebrities were driving, and included no photos or at least a “Not shown here” disclaimer, but every one of the captions refers to the specific vehicle in the photograph. What a fail.

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