Autos
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2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV GT First Test: It’s All Right
Mitsubishi Outlander Full Overview It happened. We finally tested a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, a model that entered the U.S. market in late 2017 and which has become the world’s best-selling plug-in hybrid SUV thanks to a strong European following. While we missed out on putting the pre-refresh version through its paces, the 2021 model-year Mitsubishi Outlander brings several updates and a new trim, and we recently saddled up for a weeklong stint in a GT model. It’s worth mentioning the plug-in Outlander is the only one you can buy right now; the gasoline-only model is on a one-year hiatus for 2021—a version based on the Nissan Rogue arrives for 2022—leaving the PHEV to hold the line. The base Outlander PHEV starts at $37,490 and the newly added mid-grade LE at $39,190, wh...
2021 Hyundai Santa Fe Calligraphy 2.5T First Test: When Looks Can Be Deceiving
Hyundai Santa Fe Full Overview Until recently, it wasn’t clear what the Santa Fe signified in Hyundai’s lineup. Before the larger Palisade entered the picture for 2020, the Santa Fe XL was Hyundai’s three-row SUV while Santa Fe referred to a two-row midsize SUV. One year before that, the three-row model was just known as the Santa Fe, and a five-seat model was called Santa Fe Sport. From that confusing past, the updated 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe emerges with a clearer identity, a completely new powertrain, and a reimagined interior. If you think this new one looks just like the old one, understand that there’s way more here than meets the eye. Performance from the Santa Fe’s upgrade engine underwhelmed us in the past, but the 2021 model changes all that. With a ne...
2021 Mazda 3 2.5 Turbo Hatchback Review: Big Heart, Could Use More Soul
Mazda Mazda3 Full Overview The 2021 Mazda 3 2.5 Turbo is a tricky car to wrap the old noggin around. Not because it produces brain-melting acceleration and cornering figures or because it’ll set your hair on fire at the local autocross. That’s not necessarily the case. Rather, the new Mazda 3 2.5 Turbo is so perfectly adequate in so many areas that, viewed as a car that gets you from point A to point B in comfort and with no drama, it’s a fine device. Still, you can’t help but feel like it needs something more. See all 31 photos Beautiful on the Inside … As we’ve said before, the Mazda 3’s cabin is the best in its class—by quite some margin, too. The dashboard is cleanly designed, while a set of mostly analog dials and a head-up display present imp...
The 2021 Lexus IS300 AWD Is a Cheap Tune Away From IS350 Power
Don’t let the 2021 Lexus IS300 AWD‘s name deceive you; while the $40,025 rear-drive IS300 uses a 241-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter I-4 for motivation, the $42,025 all-wheel-drive IS300 has a 3.5-liter V-6. So despite sharing a badge with a four-cylinder car, it actually shares its engine with the pricier IS350 F Sport that stickers for $43,925 in rear-drive guise and $45,925 with AWD. There’s a “but” in there, though, as the IS300 AWD’s 3.5-liter V-6 makes just 260 horsepower and 236 lb-ft of torque, 51 fewer horses and 44 fewer lb-ft than its IS350 stablemate. But the lesser IS model’s V-6 sure doesn’t feel detuned. In our testing, an IS300 AWD needed 5.7 seconds to scoot from 0 to 60 mph, the same as a 100-pounds-light...
Nissan Armada’s Middle Eastern Twin Gets Sporty, Head-Scratching NISMO Treatment
The Nissan Patrol (better known to us Yankees as the Nissan Armada) is the Japanese brand’s biggest and baddest SUV. It’s designed as both a people-mover and a more-rugged-than-a-crossover body-on-frame off-roading machine. But, if desert dune running and go-anywhere, do-anything capability don’t quite appeal to you, then maybe the Patrol’s new NISMO treatment will do the trick—just so long as you happen to live in the Middle East, because that’s the only market this NISMO will be sold in. Nissan’s Motorsports (Ni-SMO, get it?) division has worked its magic on a range of Nissans in the past, and it even set its tinkering hands on a Patrol before. But this new Patrol NISMO promises to be even badder than the one that came before it. The first thing y...
Kim Kardashian’s Cadillac Escalade Is a Silver Slice of Excellence
Believe it or not, Kim Kardashian actually has a pretty solid track record when it comes to her personal fleet of vehicles. Most of them have either been left stock, or else tastefully modded. Her Rollers, Bentleys, and Ferraris haven’t quite cut against the grain in the same way as, say, Kanye West’s cars have. But her newest ride doesn’t come from Great Britain or Italy. It hails right from Detroit, and we aren’t ashamed to say we love it. Not only that, but the new Escalade itself is a damn good starting point. Its supple ride, first-class cabin, and massive interior volume combine to make for the perfect Hollywood mom car—especially as seen here in long-wheelbase, ESV guise. We doubt lowering it did much for the ride, but you have to do something to stand out fr...
Mercedes-AMG’s Future Includes 800+HP Hybrids, Hot-Rodded EVs
The hallmark of performance in the auto industry, increasingly, is electrification. Torquey electric motors, either on their own or assisting a gas engine, have helped push vehicle performance to new heights. So, it is not surprising that Mercedes-AMG, the V-8-lovin’ performance brand of Mercedes-Benz, is pursuing an electrification strategy that includes plug-in hybrids as well as battery-electric vehicles to thrill enthusiasts. The electrification of the powertrain plays a central role, Philipp Schiemer, chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-AMG, says. Future performance hybrids paired with four-cylinder and eight-cylinder gas engines will surpass the driving dynamics of current AMG models, he says, and there will also be battery-electric AMGs based on the Mercedes-EQ bra...
Genesis X Concept First Look: X Gon’ Give It to Ya
A Genesis electric vehicle? Oh, it’s coming, don’t you worry. While Hyundai Motor Company’s already revealed the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 battery electric vehicles, the Korean company continues to play its nascent luxury marque’s production BEV plans closer to the chest. Still, Genesis is due to debut such a model in the next few years. We’ve yet to get any official details as to what form the first Genesis EV might take, but we think the electric Genesis X concept is a great place to start. Genesis bills its fifth concept as an “EV-based GT,” which is how we know there’s hypothetically nothing but wires and motors underneath the X’s svelte matte skin. We say hypothetical, as the automaker abstains from even hinting at the Genesis X&...
2022 Porsche 911 GT3’s Enviable Engine and Manual Transmission Will Cost You
Pull out the laptop or grab a seat at the computer, because the 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 configurator is up and running. As such, U.S. customers can now virtually build and order their new 911 GT3 arriving in Porsche showrooms this fall. They also can now see how much the latest high-performance, track-ready 911 to join Porsche’s storied line of GT3 models will cost. The latest GT3 promises even better throttle response thanks to its improved naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six engine. This focused apex predator’s unmuffled six redlines at 9,000 rpm and generates an impressive 502 hp and 346 lb-ft of torque. It’s tough to turn down this 911—unless you can’t swing its $162,450 price of entry. Head over to the configurator on Porsche’s website to see how you...
Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat vs. 392: Which Should You Buy?
If you’re in the market for a performance-oriented three-row SUV with mainstream badge on its rump, your options are disappointingly limited—there’s the Dodge Durango SRT and the Ford Explorer ST. That’s it. But making choices is hard, and you make enough of them every day, anyway: What’s for dinner? What time should I get up tomorrow? Do I really need that third drink? But some choices are easy. When it comes to Durango or Explorer, we already saved you the trouble. However, for 2021, the Durango SRT lineup expands. The 475-horsepower Durango SRT 392 has been joined in the lineup by the one-year-only 710-hp 2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat. Yes, another decision to make. Thankfully, we’re here to help—Which Durango SRT should you buy, the Durango SRT 392 or the...
2021 Dodge Charger Hellcat Redeye First Test: Committing All Seven Deadly Sins
Dodge Charger Full Overview The Dodge Charger Hellcat Redeye is not my kind of car. My tastes lean toward agile canyon carvers over brute-force muscle machines, and I could be the only person to ever pick up a Hellcat wearing Birkenstocks and tie-dye wool socks. I pride myself on preferring a holistic approach to performance versus adding great gobs of power: humbly engined Mazda Miata-type cars that provide speed with less chest-thumping, or even electric super sedans like the Porsche Taycan Turbo S that provide face-warping acceleration while easing environmental guilt. But the devil is a powerful temptress. Spending 10 days and 1,670 miles with the four-door Hellcat Redeye has me thinking more of garden serpents than flaming felines. I was presented with SRT’s apple and relished i...
2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Small Pickup Eyes New Ford Maverick
Feast your eyes on this incredibly cool not-quite-SUV, not-quite-pickup truck. What you’re looking at is a barely shrouded image of the new 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz ahead of its April 15 debut, and Hyundai is adamant its new car-based small-to-midsize truck will be a bold, segment-shattering automobile. The unibody Santa Cruz might be more segment-bending, as going along with Hyundai’s hyperbole requires forgetting the Honda Ridgeline, which has owned the unibody truck segment for the last 15 years now, as well as the Subaru BRAT that kicked off the car-pickup format here in the U.S. decades ago. But Hyundai is so certain the Santa Cruz is one-of-a-kind that the company has literally said it creates an entirely new category of car. Translated, we take that to mea...
