Autos
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Fast 9 Is Here: The Deep Impact of the Fast & Furious Franchise on Car Culture
Maybe you love the Fast & Furious moves, or perhaps you’ve never forgiven them for that reference to the “MoTeC exhaust”—but either way, it’s impossible to deny the impact the movies have had on society and car culture. With 10 films, including this year’s Fast 9, Fast & Furious is one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood history. It’s been 20 years since Brian O’Conner moseyed into Toretto’s Market and Café for a tuna on white with no crust, and the car world has never quite been the same. MotorTrend features editor Scott Evans well remembers the impact of 2001’s The Fast and The Furious: “The buzz was everywhere. Even in my small California town, everyone had heard about this new street racing movie. I went to ...
It’s Ridiculous: The Story Behind Fast 9’s Mid-Engine, Hellcat-Powered ’68 Dodge Charger
You can only ask this question in the context of a Fast and Furious film: How do you top a ’68 Dodge Charger with a jet engine in the trunk? Easy—a ’68 Charger with a Hellcat in the back seat. How does a Hellcat engine, even one tuned to Demon specification like this one, top a jet engine? Because it’s real. That’s right, kids, the jet engine sticking out the back of the “Ice Charger” in 2017’s Fate of the Furious was just a prop. The car was powered by a Chevy LS3 V-8 pushed back under the dashboard to make room for an all-wheel-drive system. Cool stuff, but the mid-engine Charger is the real deal. At least, two of them are. See all 15 photos “Now, when I say we built nine, they’re not all identical,” he explains. “There...
Tesla Offers Free Supercharging for Fourth of July Holiday in California
Tesla drivers in California, good news: Supercharging is free for the Fourth of July holiday. On June 28, Tesla sent out the following message to some Tesla owners through the Tesla App: “Avoid the rush this 4th of July holiday and charge for free before 12pm and after 9pm at select California Superchargers between Friday, July 2 and Monday, July 5. For faster charging anytime, navigate to your destination using Trip Planner to optimize your route and automatically precondition your battery.” See all 12 photos Tesla does not provide a list of those “select California Superchargers” but you can easily check Supercharger site’s status and price on the in-car navigation map. (Tip: tap on the red pins with numbers on them.) Do mind that the free charging time slot...
2021 BMW M3 Competition vs. Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Comparison Test: Four-Door Fire
BMW M3 Full Overview Pricing—both starting and as tested—parallel each other, as well. BMW requires $73,795 for the basest of the base M3 Comp, while Alfa demands $76,095 to get things started with its arrabbiata Quad. Our test-car examples sit at a hefty $93,945 for the Italian and $97,645 for the bright yellow German, so ignite your checkbook if you want to re-create our pairing. This comparison test is a meeting of technical equals with only a few minor exceptions, at least if you limit your afternoon reading exclusively to our spec charts that follow in this piece. In practice and on the charge, the 2021 BMW M3 Competition and 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio couldn’t be more dramatically different in terms of their ethos. See all 103 photos The Same, Only Quicker A portion of...
2022 Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT First Look: Prepare Thyselves, Purists
See all 32 photos At first glance, the Cayenne Turbo GT looks much like its lesser Turbo stablemate. Those with sharp eyes, however, will note a number of small styling enhancements, such as a distinct front fascia with bigger side air intakes and a more prominent front lip, black fender arches, a set of gorgeous 22-inch gold wheels, and updates to the SUV’s rear wings, with the upper-hatch-mounted unit welcoming carbon-fiber side plates and the larger adaptive spoiler (that resides just below the rear window glass) adding a two-inch-tall Gurney flap. Additionally, the Turbo GT sits approximately 0.7 inch lower than the run-of-the-mill Cayenne Turbo Coupe. Powerful Porsche Porsche’s performance tweaks to the Cayenne Turbo GT extend beyond its ride-height reduction. Notably, the...
Sad! Chevy Killed a New, Z06-Powered Camaro Z/28
My most excellent source—Deep Burble—recently told me the sad tale of the stillborn sixth-generation Camaro Z/28 that almost was, but never will be. I just had to say something. Yes, friends, Chevrolet was all set to build a follow-up to the absolutely brilliant, Best Driver’s Car winning fifth-gen Camaro Z/28. Now it ain’t. Feeling blue? You haven’t even heard the details. MotorTrend lifers Scott Evans, Angus Mackenzie, and I have long talked about a so-called “Engine Hall of Fame.” My first ballot all-timer has always been the mighty LS7 7.0-liter V-8 of General Motors fame. First seen in the sixth-gen Corvette Z06, the 505-hp humdinger eventually trickled its way down to the Camaro Z/28. The results were staggering. Quoting me: “But it’s not jus...
2022 Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro First Look: Beyond Le Mans
Regulations, rules, and red tape govern cars both street legal and for competition. For the well-heeled, these aren’t fetters, but instead challenges. And the 2022 Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro revels in its lack of restraint. This is a hypercar with Le Mans prototype-level performance (and pedigree), but without being held back by racing rules or power restraints—or anything required of street-legal cars. Because it isn’t legal for either road or competition. It’s the ultimate hypercar-lover’s hypercar: only suited for a limited purpose, and magnificently specialized at its awe-inspiring role—to thrill on track. See all 17 photos The Valkyrie AMR Pro is what it is partly because its race version, which was intended to campaign at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the Le M...
2021 Ford Bronco First Drive Review: The Long-Awaited 4×4 SUV Is Absolutely the Real Deal
Ford Bronco Full Overview The 2021 Ford Bronco is easily one of the most anticipated vehicles of our fledgling decade, and we won’t keep you in suspense: Our initial impression after driving the new two- and four-door Bronco is that it absolutely lives up to the hype. Driven on-road or off, viewed as a getaway/adventure vehicle, a family truckster, or as a piece of retro automotive art, the Bronco feels like a winner. Indeed, Jeep’s longtime off-road champ, the Wrangler, now has some serious 4×4 SUV competition, as does our 2021 MotorTrend SUV of the Year, Land Rover’s epic Defender. We had the Wrangler in mind as we saddled up a Bronco in Austin, Texas, for our first on-road drive. Our trusty steed was a mid-level four-door Black Diamond model—seriously, who came up...
2024 Honda Prologue: The Brand’s Electric SUV for North America Has a Name
The slow drip of information about the new electric SUVs coming from the Honda and Acura brands continues with this latest droplet from the information faucet: the higher-volume Honda model will bear the name Prologue. The 2024 Honda Prologue is due to arrive in 2024, and its name signifies its role as the forerunner of a series of new, high-volume, battery electric vehicles from the Japanese brand. This includes a luxury, performance SUV for Acura, which is also slated to go on sale in 2024. No name for the Acura has been revealed yet. Call the GM The point of all this sharing is to create scale, which brings down the costs of various EV components, including batteries, for both GM and Honda. Co-development also means shared costs, and the Honda and Acura SUVs will be built in a GM plant ...
2021 Mercedes-Benz E450 4Matic One-Year Review: Hello to a Family Friend
Mercedes-Benz E-Class Full Overview Mercedes runs deep in my family. From my grandma’s inimitable diesel S-Class—white with pink pinstriping—to the late-’80s E-Class models my parents drove for years, I grew up road-tripping from their backseats. Later, I learned to drive in a 1988 300TE, the same wagon I’d taken naps in during long highway drives a decade earlier. Although my parents moved on to other brands, MotorTrend has a history of its own with the E-Class. We recognized the E-Class as our 1996 Import Car of the Year before experiencing the all-around excellence in the updated E-Class, our 2021 Car of the Year. Now we get to spend an entire year with the 2021 Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and we have some questions. There’s more at stake here than you might thi...
Rolls-Royce’s Landspeed Collection Is Lightly Salted Luxury
There are lots of special-edition Rolls-Royces with interesting details and backstories. Heck, there’s one with the entire Arabian peninsula on its hood. Or how about another that includes a cryptographic mystery concealed in glyphs hidden around the car? The special models Rolls-Royce recently pulled the wraps off of, however, are a little more traditional. These models are none the weaker for it, either, as the Landspeed Collection celebrates the remarkable career of the Thunderbolt land speed racer, which was powered by twin Rolls-Royce aero engines. See all 31 photos Available on the Dawn and Wraith in Black Badge form, the limited run (25 of the former and 35 of the latter) is chock full of cues that celebrate both the Thunderbolt and the famous Bonneville Salt Flats. ...
2020 Ram 2500 Laramie 4×4 Yearlong Test: How It Spent Winter
Ram 2500 Full Overview Yes, it’s summer, but we only recently found this winter report tucked between the seat cushions of Guffman, our long-term 2020 Ram 2500 Laramie 4×4. So, we figured we might as well share how the truck spent the colder months in Michigan, where the truck is based with our Detroit staff. When we ordered Guffman, we didn’t check the box for the Ram 2500 HD‘s $145 Cold Weather Group’s grille cover and block heater. That’s because the truck would live in Detroit, not Yellow Knife, and our oil never turns to Jell-O. But because diesels throw off less waste heat than gas engines (that’s part of their efficiency secret), and because the owner’s manual recommends covering the grille at temperatures below freezing—and also becaus...
