Autos
Wazupnaija – Naija Entertainment blogs & Forums – Lifestyle – Autos
Is Top Gear America Binge-Worthy?
Now that the first six episodes of Top Gear America are live and streamable—commercial free, exclusively on the MotorTrend App—a question has arisen: Is Top Gear America binge-worthy? Obviously, we think so, but we asked the overlords of the interwebs all about binge-worthy shows, just in case. What makes a show binge-worthy? First, we need to define binge-watching. It’s generally agreed that you need to watch two or three episodes of one show in one sitting to be considered binging. Whether it’s mysterious, thrilling or hilarious, binge-worthy shows always have a hook you just can’t pull out. You know that lie we all tell ourselves? “Just one more episode”—yeah, that never happens. Can a Nissan 350Z go overlanding? Was Rob Corddry OK after inhaling all those ...
The Mansory Stallone GTS Is a Ferrari 812 GTS for the “Fast & Furious” Crowd
You gotta hand it to Mansory because the outfit’s creations are never boring. Polarizing, for sure. But never boring. In fact, the brashness is endearing. Take the new 2021 Mansory Stallone GTS—no relation to that guy, but of some relation to previous Stallones, such as the 812 Superfast-based one that debuted back in 2018 at the Geneva show. For 2021, that car is getting a drop-top counterpart called the Stallone GTS. Still based on the 812, albeit the GTS version, it’s … something else. See all 25 photos Let’s take a quick second to remind ourselves what’s underneath the Mansory treatment here: the Ferrari 812 GTS, the first V-12-powered series-production convertible from Maranello in decades. Its hardtop twin, the 812 Superfast, stunned us with its quickness...
Aston Martin Boss Reveals Plans for a Fully Electric Performance Car and SUV
Lawrence Stroll, executive chairman of Aston Martin, revealed to the Financial Times that the British brand has plans for two electric vehicles. One will be a performance car, the other an SUV. None of this is terribly surprising considering the company’s pledge to phase out non-electrified internal combustion engines by 2030. But the details are intriguing, especially when you consider Aston’s track record. See all 77 photos Onto the vehicles: Stroll told FT the performance vehicle will be a proper front-engined car, specifically a “version of a DB11/Vantage”. This should be good news for enthusiasts given the propensity of those cars to thrill. The SUV will be, well, an SUV—although it’s unclear if it’ll be a BEV variant of the DBX or another...
2022 Genesis GV70 Luxury SUV’s First MPG Figures Revealed
Looking as hot as any compact luxury SUV on the market right now, the first-ever Genesis GV70 will make its grand arrival on showroom floors this year as a 2022 model. While Genesis has kept the on-sale date and pricing for its second SUV after the larger GV80 under wraps, we do know that two engine choices will be available. But the newest member of the luxury Korean brand has some fierce competition that includes the Audi Q5, BMW X3, and Volvo X60. We here at MotorTrend cannot wait to see how the GV70 stacks up to those rivals in a broad sense, but we now have some hint of how it’ll do on the fuel economy battlefield. See all 2 photos That is because official EPA ratings for the V-6-powered GV70 were just announced. The all-wheel-drive Genesis GV70 equipped with a 3....
The Lamborghini Diablo Is the 1990s Supercar Legend Your Dreams Deserve
Talk about big shoes to fill. As the Lamborghini Countach entered its twilight years in the late 1980s, the company had the onerous task of designing a car that exceeded the visual, aural, and dynamic sucker-punch provided by its iconic neck-snapping V-12 super-wedge. The new Lambo had to vaporize eyebrows and buckle knees at a thousand feet if it was to be labeled as anything other than a letdown. Yeah, well, you can see where this is going. Despite a top speed of over 200 mph—only the second production car to do so—and being far easier to drive than its pappy, the Diablo is a bit of a middle-child. As far as the big Lambos go—of which there have been only five to date—the Diablo is relatively unloved. See all 19 photos We must stress that all of this slight negativity is best read throug...
Volkswagen Takes Fresh Swing at Tesla With “Project Trinity”
Volkswagen just teased the new venture with some promising claims. Project Trinity will result in a sedan with “high range, extremely short charging times, and revolutionary production.” What this all means, of course, is still quite unclear. But it does leave room for a heck of a lot of speculation. Let us peer once more into the (often flawed) automotive industry crystal ball. Right now, the only EV Americans can buy from VW is the ID4. At full tilt, with a 125-kW charger handy, that electrified SUV’s battery will charge from 5 percent full to 80 percent in roughly 40 minutes. In isolation that sounds pretty good, but compare that to what you can get out of a Tesla Supercharger, and the VW loses out. The current Tesla Model S, when hooked up to a V3 Supercharger station...
Sneak a Peek at the 2022 Jeep Wagoneer SUV Before Its March Debut
Although we don’t expect the production SUV to be a spitting image of its concept counterpart, we do believe it will maintain the Grand Wagoneer show vehicle’s basic design details. As Jeep’s 15-second teaser for the forthcoming model shows, the brand’s newest model’s mug will lose the concept version’s unibrow light strip spanning the headlights. It also looks to welcome larger tri-LED fog lamps in its lower fascia. Overall, though, we expect the production Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer to retain the concept SUV’s upright profile and available two-tone roof. A wiper ought to find its way to the rear window, which sadly is not expected to motor its way down into the hatch itself like that of the original Grand Wagoneer (or the current Toyota 4Runner ...
2020 Mazda CX-30 Road Trip Review: When Driving Doesn’t Matter
Mazda CX-30 Full Overview Mazda no longer uses “Driving Matters” as its tagline (now it’s “Feel Alive”—already do, thanks), but that ethos is still imbued in every one of its vehicles. We agree with that mantra—mostly. Sometimes we’d trade involvement for relaxation, particularly when enduring long highway stretches as we’ve now done for several thousand road trip miles in our long-term 2020 Mazda CX-30. Turns out that when driving doesn’t matter, this subcompact crossover is less than ideal. Driver “Assist” Systems Nice as the CX-30’s accurate, reactive steering is on a twisty road, managing it becomes a chore when coursing dead ahead. Lane-keep assist can be an awesome help in these scenarios, and the CX-30’s spec sh...
Kia Adds a Benjamin to the Niro’s Price for 2021
The new goodies include a standard rear passenger alert, a remote engine start feature (for cars equipped with the smart key), and there are some upgrades to Kia’s smart cruise control system that allows it to better deal with bends in the road. Niros equipped with the larger 8-inch infotainment display wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, a connection that previously required a cable. As for pricing, the base Niro LX Hybrid costs $100 more than it did last year, rising to $25,865. The LXS and Touring trims follow suit, coming in at $27,265 and $29,565 respectively. Touring SE and EX Premium models see a marginally higher ($160) price jump and start from $32,125 and $34,125, respectively. The Niro PHEV trims get similar bumps in price. The Niro PHEV LXS comes in at $2...
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...
