Autos
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2021 Hyundai Veloster N DCT First Test: Somehow Even Better
Hyundai Veloster Full Overview What’s new for 2021? Although the Veloster N has only been on sale since the 2019 model year, the changes for 2021 are fairly significant. Aside from the new eight-speed automatic (effectively a $1,500 option) joining the standard six-speed manual transmission, there’s a power boost for 2021. Starting this year, the Performance Package that was available on 2019 and 2020 Veloster Ns becomes standard. This not only boosts the 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4’s power from 250 hp to 275 hp (torque remains flat at 260 lb-ft), but it also includes a limited-slip differential, electronically-adjustable dampers, bigger brakes with better cooling capacity, an active exhaust system, and stickier summer tires on 19-inch wheels. Other changes include new per...
The Auto Industry and EVs: Where We Are and What’s Coming Next, After Years of Crying Wolf?
A showroom of affordable (and profitable) electric vehicles in all shapes and sizes has long been the holy grail for automakers and regulators alike. It is a long-standing dance that has gone on for nearly 50 years: Regulators set ambitious emission-reduction targets with long lead times, the established automakers cry, “Impossible!” then hunker down and either work to defang the mandates or occasionally hit the targets, sometimes ahead of schedule. Solutions to date have been a mix of improving the efficiency of the gas-powered fleet, adding hybrids, and developing a few token electric vehicles to be sold at a loss to the few buyers who want them. Lather, rinse, repeat. Automakers have attempted to lure the public into electric vehicles but made little headway. Part of it is c...
The Wild Ways GM’s Getting the Lyriq and Hummer EV to Market so Quickly
Reservations for the $59,990 2023 Cadillac Lyriq will begin in September. Meanwhile, deliveries of the vehicle are set for the first quarter of 2022. The original timeline saw the Lyriq going on sale at the end of 2022. How did GM pull this off? Credit a mix of cost-cutting necessity, a need for speed, the flexibility of a new electric vehicle architecture, and the realization that greater reliance on virtual tools can get the job done. See all 17 photos We first heard about the new approach from engineers working on the 2022 GMC Hummer EV full-size pickup. The team lopped about two years off that vehicle’s development time to meet a production target of fall 2021. Engineers were using simulations to drive and even jump Hummers in the virtual world before they ever got behind the whe...
Volkswagen’s Newest Desert Racer Is an … ID4 Electric SUV?
But that isn’t going to stop Tanner Foust from getting behind the wheel and Rhys Millen Racing from prepping the ID4 for the NORRA Mexican 1,000 that’s set to take place from April 25-29. But the ID4 won’t get very far in the race without a little help from Millen and his team. While the 82 kWh battery pack and the single electric motor on the rear axel will be left unchanged, there is some serious work being done to the rest of the SUV. For starters, rally-style coilovers will replace the stock suspension setup and the SUV gets new control arms up front and new boxed lower links at the rear—the result is a 2-inch lift and presumably more articulation. The radiator was moved higher up for better cooling and better approach angles, and 3/8-inch steel skid plates ...
Verboten Vezel: Honda’s Global HR-V Replacement Gets Mugen Upgrades
Mugen is once again massaging one of Honda’s latest offerings—this time the global version of the Vezel model, known in the U.S. as the HR-V. If this mainstream subcompact crossover sounds like an odd object of desire for a longtime Honda tuner, Mugen went ahead and gussied up the low-power people mover anyway. American enthusiasts haven’t been sold on the HR-V, which essentially serves as the replacement for Honda’s beloved Fit hatchback in the U.S., so maybe it’s for the best that this new Vezel won’t translate directly to the next-gen HR-V due here soon. The redesigned HR-V will be U.S.-specific, but what that means exactly is unclear. Whether or not it will resemble the global version or share enough mechanically to allow any of these new Mugen g...
Rack Superstar: The Yakima CBX Solar Packs a Big Charge
Yakima may not have invented the roof-mounted cargo box, but it continues to tinker with the basic concept. The CBX Solar, the 16.0-cubic-foot CBX Solar counterpart to the lesser Yakima CBX 16 cargo box, advances its cargo-carrying capabilities by adding an integrated solar panel to the top side of the unit. The CBX Solar is capable of supplying up to 36 watts of power by way of two 5-volt USB ports, both of which Yakima hides within the cargo box itself. That’s enough juice to charge small electronics such as cell phones and portable speakers. Big Sun At $1,299, the CBX Solar stickers for $450 more than the CBX 16, which is no insignificant sum and makes the CBX Solar the most expensive cargo box in the company’s lineup. Nevertheless, we strapped the low-slung ...
Kia’s Sportage Remains the Same for 2022—No New Model Yet
The fourth-generation Kia Sportage has been around for six years, and the compact SUV is beginning to look rather tired. Compared to the slightly smaller Kia Seltos, larger (and increasingly popular) Telluride, and the all-new midsize Sorento, the compact Sportage is due for an overhaul. That redesign will, apparently, wait another year, as not much has changed for the 2022 Sportage save for a few tech updates and the addition of a new LX Value Edition package. Forward collision-avoidance assist with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, lane-keeping assist, driver attention warning, high beam assist, and blind-spot monitoring are now standard across the Sportage lineup. The Sportage LX Value Edition package adds heated front seats, 18-inch dark wheels, and a Smart K...
2021 BMW M2 CS Manual First Test: More Than Just a Sporty Car
BMW M2 Full Overview If you’re washing the dishes while daydreaming about laying on a beach in Cabo sipping a piña colada, are you really washing the dishes? It might be laborious tedium, but if you aren’t conscious of your presence, thoughts, and actions, are you really there? The 2021 BMW M2 CS with the six-speed manual asks that exact question, but of the act of driving, not dishwashing. We’ve already lauded the DCT-equipped M2 CS as one of the best driver’s cars to ever wear the famed roundel—it might even be the GOAT. Sure, there are Bimmers with a sweeter soundtrack, and there are certainly M cars with more power. But none of them have been as thrilling, as focused, and as complete, as the Misano Blue M2 CS we tested earlier this year. This Alpine White e...
Baja Blast: History of the Subaru Baja, the Outback of Car-Trucks
Subaru is not a player in the midsize, full-size, or heavy-duty pickup truck segments. It doesn’t currently offer anything with a bed—today. It wasn’t always that way, though. Once upon a time, there was the Subaru Brat. It was a funky Subaru Leone-based truck that Subaru ultimately pulled the plug on in 1987. Fast forward a couple of years, and Subaru brought the spirit of the Brat back in the form of the Baja compact pickup. Except, instead of the Leone, the Baja used the Subaru Legacy Outback wagon as a base. See all 20 photos Although the rhyming Bs of the Brat and the Baja may be confusing, these Subaru trucks share next to nothing in common. The Brat and the Baja did, however, share a groovy, rebellious spirit that blurred the line between car and truck. It wasn...
2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV vs. Toyota RAV4 Prime: Plug-In the EV Gap
Toyota RAV4 Full Overview The dawn of the jet age, the point at which turbine-driven flight had become unquestionably the way forward, came just as piston-powered planes reached their peak. This meeting of eras led aircraft engineers to ease the transition with hybrid, mixed-format designs such as the Navy’s FR-1 Fireball and the Air Force’s B-36 Peacemaker, the latter of which had six 28-cylinder engines and four turbojet engines. We sit at a similar inflection point in the automotive industry today, when modern plug-in hybrid cars and SUVs like the 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime stand as analogs for those hybrid aircraft, bridging the purely internal combustion powertrains of the past and the electric propulsion of the future. Those early hybrid air...
2003 Acura MDX Rewind Review: When Luxury Meant Simplicity
I am tugging on the door handle of a classic first-generation Acura MDX, and it is refusing to let me in. This, I will soon realize, is what makes this old MDX such a fantastic SUV. All of which is irrelevant to my current problem: Why won’t the damn door open? And then I have my forehead-smacking moment: This MDX predates the proximity key, and is completely oblivious to my presence. I can’t unlock it by merely touching the handle, as I can in most new cars; instead I have to tell it I’m here by pushing a button on the key fob. (I suppose I could also put the key in the lock, but what are we, Neanderthals?) The MDX, I realize, is a portal to a not-too-distant past, a time before luxury cars started trying to figure out what we want and just did what we asked. Despite bei...
How Much Is a Tesla? Here’s a Price Breakdown
Update: This post was updated on April 23, 2021, to include updated prices for the Tesla Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV. Everyone knows they’re not cheap, but exactly how much does a Tesla cost? There’s a huge difference in price between the cheapest Tesla and the most expensive Tesla. The EV lineup works for a wide variety of budgets and expectations. Tesla changes its prices and trim-levels every now and then, but below you’ll find pricing information for each Tesla model as of this writing. Unfortunately, federal tax credits on Tesla vehicles have ended, but you can still take advantage of state credits. Keep reading to learn how much you can expect to spend on a new Tesla. How Much Is a Tesla Model 3? See all 65 photos As the cheapest Tesla available, the Model 3 has a...
