Autos
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2022 Honda Civic Hatchback Teased Shadily, Reveals Sleeker Form
Ahead of its global premiere, the all-new 2022 Honda Civic hatchback is being dangled in front of us. Honda released a teaser image of the five-door version of the 11th-generation Civic sedan, and the latest iteration of the popular compact hatchback will officially debut during a virtual concert event later this month. Based on the partially concealed side profile photo, in which the new Honda Civic hatchback is backlit by a sunset or sunrise, we can make out its more refined body. It now has a straight beltline that stretches from the rear quarter panel all the way into the nose, much like the sedan. There is no roof spoiler; the backside appears less inflated and more slender compared to the rather clunky outgoing model. See all 25 photos The Civic hatchback will be manufactured in...
Ford Unleashes 2021 F-150 Raptor Horsepower, Torque Numbers
Interestingly, the 2021 Ford Raptor isn’t the truck that’s been breaking the internet for Dearborn lately. That’s been the job of the new F-150 Lightning and the new Maverick compact pickup truck. It’s still a beloved member of Ford’s truck lineup, and it (along with the rest of the F-150 range) received some major updates for 2021. More aggressive bodywork, 37-inch tires, and a new five-link rear end were among the improvements, but it turns out that extra power won’t be. The 2021 Ford Raptor will make 450 horsepower at 5,850 rpm and 510 lb-ft of torque at 3,000 rpm from a twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6. Those figures are identical to the previous generation Raptor that ditched the old 6.2-liter V-8 in favor of the EcoBoost V-6. That might come as a sl...
2021 Volkswagen Jetta GLI Review: Still on the Podium?
Volkswagen Jetta Full Overview Debuting for 2019, Volkswagen’s current A7-generation Jetta represented a meaningful step forward for a nameplate that had lost some of its luster over its previous few iterations. It impressed us enough, in fact, to earn a third-place ranking among compact sedans in our MotorTrend Ultimate Car Rankings. How’s it holding up against the ever-increasing competition? To find out we spent a week in a range-topping GLI model in Pure Gray and fitted with the Autobahn Black package, which left it a few red wheel stripes shy of aping the 35th Anniversary model we tested in 2019. Now, this GLI isn’t the Jetta that ranks as our third-best compact sedan. Our class rankings focus on the highest-volume variants, which in the compact-sedan class would be ...
2022 Ford Maverick: Why There’s No AWD Hybrid Version of the Small Truck—Yet
Lost amid the hoopla surrounding the launch of America’s cheapest hybrid and its only pickup truck to boast a full hybrid powertrain as standard: The 2022 Ford Maverick boasts an entirely new electric traction motor that is the first one developed and manufactured fully in-house at Ford. Its form factor isn’t terribly different from the motor used in the Ford Escape Hybrid, but it renders the e-CVT transmission a unique new part number from that used in the Escape Hybrid. So although there is no packaging or technological impediment to modifying the Escape Hybrid AWD model’s e-CVT to accommodate the Maverick’s new motor, Ford decided not to bite off more than it could chew by developing and launching both front- and all-wheel-drive Maverick hybrid variants in ...
The Future Summit 2021 Is a Sneak Peek of the Cars (and Thinking) of the Future
The cars of the future are coming sooner than you think, and the world’s top automotive industry executives are wrestling with change that is as revolutionary as the switch from the horse to the car more than 120 years ago. From gas power to electrification, from driving yourself to being driven, these are the monumental challenges that will be tackled head on during the Reuters Events: Car of the Future Summit 2021, where global leaders from major automakers and automotive suppliers will share how they are planning to transform their companies to meet the new reality. Chief among them is the switch to electric-powered vehicles. Many of the world’s top automakers have committed to electrifying their fleets in as little as a decade from now and are spending billions to do so. Bu...
2022 BMW X4 and X4 M Grow Bigger Snouts and Are More Powerful
We promise, we won’t mention the updated BMW X4’s bigger grille. The time for that is dead and gone. The upsized nostrils aren’t even that bad here—they’re certainly not as garish as those on the 4 Series, M3, or X7, which ushered in the new schnoz design in Bavaria. Besides, the grille isn’t the only update that BMW has made to the 2022 X4 and X4 M, even if it might be easiest to spot. Freshened up, Inside and Out Beyond the new grille, there are some new taillights and other styling tweaks that help differentiate this facelifted compact BMW SUV from the previous model. The high-performance X4 M and its competition-badged sibling receives similar updates to the head- and tail lights, as well as even more aggressive front and rear bumpers. Similar changes...
2022 BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe First Look: A Gran Grille for the Gran Coupe
With every BMW variant released with a plus-sized grille, the brand seems to be asserting that its new styling direction is no momentary aberration. The 2022 BMW 4 Series stays the new course set by its two-door 4 Series siblings, which is to be expected. After all, the hatchback remains most notable for the differences around its sides and back, not its face. Otherwise, the 4 Series Gran Coupe mostly resembles its coupe and convertible siblings in terms of overall size, powertrain options, and features. This is the second generation of the 4 Series Gran Coupe, and this time around it’s less difficult to tell at a glance what it is. The previous car, to an untrained eye, looked quite sedan-ish unless the power rear hatch was opened. This changes for 2022. See all 68 photos The 4 Seri...
2022 BMW X3 and X3 M First Look: Are You Into X and M?
The days of BMWs with separate kidney grilles are coming to a close, with the 2022 BMW X3 and X3 M adopting the conjoined nostrils that mark the mugs of many modern Bimmers. It’s not just the X3’s grille that gets an update, as BMW also tinkered with the small luxury SUV’s front and rear fascias, headlight decor, and taillights, the latter of which are far more visually interesting than the red blobs that grace the rear end of the current X3. See all 73 photos Sub-M 2022 X3 Welcomes Available Mild-Hybrid Setup BMW pares down the X3’s powertrain lineup for 2022. Despite its appearance in the images accompanying this piece, the X3 xDrive30e plug-in gasoline-electric hybrid is no more for the United States, per BMW. Instead, the automaker plans to offer the 2022 X...
What’s the Best 2021 Toyota Highlander Trim? Here’s Our Guide
With over 200,000 examples sold every year, the Toyota Highlander is one of the most popular three-row SUVs sold today. All-new just last year, it features ample cargo space, a strong safety suite, and four distinct powertrain combinations. With a half-dozen trim levels, buyers face a wide array of possibilities. To help narrow it down, we’ve compiled the following trim review as an easy way to navigate these choices. 2021 Toyota Highlander L Trim Pros and Cons New entrants in this segment mean that even the Highlander L must deliver a strong value game to remain competitive with the formidable Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride duo. The Toyota boasts eight-passenger seating, but the third row in the Highlander is seriously cramped. Like the Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade, ...
2021 Honda CR-V Touring First Test: Still the Best
Honda CR-V Full Overview They—whoever they are—say it is difficult to be humble when you’re the best at what you do, but apparently they forgot to tell that to the 2021 Honda CR-V, the family hauler that we rate number one among compact SUVs. It’s not hard to believe that Honda would make the best compact SUV in the segment—but what exactly makes it so good? We took a refresher drive in a top-of-the-line 2021 Honda CR-V Touring with all-wheel drive and were reminded of everything we love about the CR-V. Let’s take a tour, front to back. We’ll start with the engine, a 1.5-liter turbo-four that delivers 190 family-friendly horsepower and 179 lb-ft of torque. It’s an engine we waited quite a while for: While other automakers plunged headlong into small-displaceme...
2021 Ford F-250 vs. Ram 2500 HD, Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD: Gentler Giants
Ram 2500 Full Overview The heaviest loads and trailers demand a 1-ton diesel dually pickup. But those are unwieldy to maneuver, and their ride quality can be downright punishing when they’re not fully loaded. Plus, to tow more than half of those trucks’ max capacity you need a commercial driving license (CDL). Scale back your towing needs to “operator license” territory (26,000 pounds for the truck and trailer combined), and you’ll find a 3/4-ton diesel pickup with single rear wheels (SRWs) fits the bill much more comfortably. Our MotorTrend Ultimate Car Rankings already assess 1-ton diesel (350 or 3500) pickups and 3/4-ton gasoline-burners, so this 3/4-ton diesel truck comparison explores new territory. The heavy-duty Rams are currently our picks in both of t...
2022 Kia Carnival vs. 2021 Toyota Sienna: High-Spec Haulers
Kia Carnival Full Overview In theory, doing the right thing is easy. Want to lose weight? Eat fewer calories and exercise more, right? Similarly, you might be tempted to think creating the right minivan is easy, too. All you need is a big, blobby shape, lots of seats, and a couple of sliding doors, and the job’s done, right? Turns out, no. Just like dropping pounds, it’s a lot more difficult than it seems to create a well-engineered minivan. They need to handle approximately the same with one passenger as they do with seven or eight. They need to be incredibly safe (think of the children!) yet have nearly every body panel open to create a yawning portal. Plus, it would be good if the seats could go away when an owner wants to turn the soccer taxi into a Home Depot hauler. Getti...
