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California City Bans New Gas Stations—Will Others Follow?
In its commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, the city of Petaluma, California in Sonoma County, approximately 39 miles north of San Francisco, has approved a ban on the new construction of gas stations. The first city in the United States to prohibit the expansion of filling stations, specifically those associated with large retail chains, is also banning the addition of new pumps at existing ones. According to a report by KTVU FOX 2, the city council voted unanimously to pass the measure, which enforces the ban immediately. Free of opposition, the ordinance is said to be widely accepted and supported by residents. The city of Petaluma has a population of 61,000 people across 14.5 square miles, and it’s currently home to 16 gas stations, not counting an earlier approval of a...
Bugatti Chiron Sport vs. Chiron Pur Sport: This Changes Everything
Bugatti Chiron Full Overview Some emails are better than others. Case in point, when the Bugatti public relations person asks if you’d like to compare and contrast the Bugatti Chiron Sport against the new Chiron Pur Sport (pronounced “pure sport”), well folks, that’s a pretty good email. Yes, I spent a day driving two cars that between them have 3,000 hp, 32 cylinders, eight turbochargers, 128 valves, 20 radiators, and cost north of $7,800,000. That’s $3,757,150 for the exposed blue carbon-fiber Chiron Sport and $3,959,000 for the Jet Grey Pur Sport, so you know. We’ll get to the difference between them in good time, but first I’d like to tell you a little story about the first time I drove a Bugatti. A Veyron Affair In 2010, Bugatti unveiled the V...
2005-2008 Dodge Magnum History: Mopar’s Wonderful Muscle Wagon
Applied to neither a gun nor private investigator, Dodge’s most recent use of the Magnum name was slapped instead on a station wagon. Not just any wagon, the Magnum was based on the then-new Charger sedan and sold for the 2005 through 2008 model years. So, where did this Charger station wagon go? Dodge dropped the Magnum after 2008 for reasons that should become clear if you think about what happened to the economy that year. Before that, the Magnum sold decently—for a station wagon—in America, with sales topping the 50,000 mark at least one year. Weirder still, Dodge refreshed the Magnum for 2008, meaning the updated model lived for a single year before it was culled. See all 85 photos If you were to ask us, the Dodge Magnum wagon suffered a premature death—can you imagine...
Happy Happy Joy Joy: Meet the Lightweight Happier Camper Traveler Trailer
The pandemic has left families cooped up at home with fewer routine activities on their plates and more time to dream about the happy life to be found in the great outdoors. Hence, travel is on the rise, and every season has become ripe for road tripping. See all 7 photos Coinciding with this fortunate time for travel trailer manufacturers, Los Angeles, California-based Happier Camper has come out with a new trailer for 2021 that it aptly calls the Traveler. The company, which in 2014 first brought to market its other travel trailer offering called the HC1, touts the new Traveler as a tool that’s ideal for adventuring longer (thanks to its larger size than the HC1) with optimal flexibility (courtesy of its reconfigurable design, also shared with the HC1). The Happier Camper Traveler ...
2021 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 First Drive: Absolutely Mind-Melting
Lamborghini Aventador Full Overview Not your average hybrid The 2021 Lamborghini Sián will catapult to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and hit 220 mph, leaving in its wake a shock-and-awe wall of sound from its mighty 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V-12. The Sián is long and low and extreme, with a menacing, almost alien road presence that signals its status as a tarmac predator ready to pounce and devour random Ferraris. The Sián packs an 807-hp punch, making it the most powerful Lamborghini road car ever built. It’s also Lamborghini’s first-ever gasoline-electric hybrid. But we’re a long, long way from Toyota Prius territory here. The limited-edition Sián is fundamentally an Aventador SVJ with more radical exterior styling and a redesigned interior that features a new center conso...
Jeep SUVs May Drop Cherokee Name, Says Parent Company Stellantis
So, what’s Jeep going to do? Well, when the story first dropped two weeks ago at Car and Driver, it included a statement from Jeep that said, among other things, that the automaker was open to a dialogue with the Cherokee Nation and that it’s always intended to “honor” and “celebrate” the tribe with the name. However, principal chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. asking that Jeep drop the name altogether undercuts the basis of the company’s position. After all, how can an automaker honor a group by using its name when the group doesn’t want Jeep using the name? Which brings us to the latest turn in the Cherokee name’s future at Jeep, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal: Jeep may be open to ditching the name. This is a decision that Jeep c...
2021 Aston Martin DBX First Test: It’s Great. Period.
See the Full Model Overview One of the biggest laughs in automotive-themed time travel would be to set the dial to the mid-1990s—the beginning of Aston Martin’s Ford era—and roll up to Aston’s old Bloxham factory in a contemporary Explorer SUV. Posing as a FoMoCo executive in an ill-fitting suit, you’d round up a cluster of Aston’s finest engineers. “I want you to make that,” you smile, pointing at the Explorer, “handle, ride, look, and sound like that,” swinging your finger over to a DB7 in the car park. After a week spent driving the DBX on the road and at our test track, it’s obvious Aston dug deep in creating its SUV. That’s a good thing, considering this is one of the biggest leaps the boutique automaker has ever taken; Aston...
The Ram 2500 Laramie 4×4 Cummins Is King of the Road Trip
Ram 2500 Full Overview Guffman’s been stretching his legs as staffers reluctant to fly take to the highways. Chicagoan Greg Fink made a run to visit his family in Florida, and I made a brother-in-law run to Greenville, South Carolina. It’s fun to watch the predicted range soar early in a road trip that follows several weeks of around-town driving. On that Greenville jaunt, an initial prediction of 425 miles grew to 437 over the first 60 miles before finally beginning to count down what ended up being well over 500 total tank miles. Repeatedly accelerating four tons of mass means those in-town tankfuls average less than 15 mpg. But simply maintaining momentum at 80 mph brings the average up to the mid-19s. It’s safe to assume this 32-gallon tank can outlast most bladders. ...
2022 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo First Look: Shockingly Practical EV Wagon
Despite the new Taycan Cross Turismo’s extra ride height, tough body cladding, mud guards, and generally off-road-ready looks, this isn’t some Dakar-ready Porsche EV. As cool as that would be, Porsche insists that the 2022 Taycan Cross Turismo is merely a more well-rounded version of the slinky Taycan sedan. The electric wagon also is better suited—even if only on paper, or in appearance—for those who live in temperamental climates or fancy themselves adventurous types. After all, the normal Taycan is available with all-wheel drive, meaning it could probably handle a snowy road just as well. To that point, even though it may look different from (and some might say better than) the standard Taycan, Porsche says almost everything from the wagon’s beltline down (in...
2022 Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer First to Get Amazon Fire TV for Auto
We’ve already seen the new Jeep Grand Wagoneer in concept form, and while we don’t expect the real deal to deviate too much from the preview, we are prepared to see the production full-size SUV in the metal when it debuts next week. (We’ll also see the non-Grand Wagoneer. ) But before we get to see the Wagoneer’s final form, Jeep has announced some of the new in-vehicle tech we can expect to see in the anticipated three-row hauler. The Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer will be the first cars to feature Amazon Fire TV for Auto. It’s a bit like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in that it integrates well-known software with in-car hardware, but Amazon’s take is for passengers’ enjoyment, not for the driver or navigator. The system will integrate wit...
General Motors Files a Patent for a Floor-Mounted … Foot Massager?
In-car seat massaging systems have become a common feature in mainstream cars like the Buick Envision, Ford F-150, and Ford Explorer. But now General Motors is taking things to the next level by filing a patent for a foot massager. The patent filing submitted to the United Patent and Trademark Office (and spotted by The Drive) describes a foot massaging system embedded in the floorboard. Titled “Vehicle Foot Massage System in A Vehicle Floor,” this built-in massage feature would use compressed air to create moving patterns underneath passengers’ feet. In other words, air pockets that move up and down just like the mechanism found on massaging seats. See all 2 photos Implanted in specific locations throughout the floor, all passengers, except for the driver who n...
We Imagine the Space Force-Inspired Ram 1500 Built to Serve Edition
Ram recently announced the release of the latest—and, apparently, last—variant of its full-size 1500 pickup’s Built to Serve special edition trim. Each Ram 1500 Built to Serve honors a branch of the United States military: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. Notably missing from this list, however, is the recently formed Space Force. How, then, can this fifth iteration of the Ram 1500 Built to Serve be the end of the line for this special trim when the military contains six branches? We reached out to Ram’s parent company, Stellantis, for an answer, but have yet to receive an official comment. Although Ram states the newest, Coast Guard-inspired Ram 1500 Built to Serve pickup marks the “final phase” of the limited-edition line of trucks, the br...
