Autos

The Dodge Viper, the wild, on-again/off-again 10-cylinder sports car that menaced roads since the early 1990s under different brand names went out of production in 2017. That didn’t mark the end of the line for the Viper, it seems. While Dodge stopped making the things long ago, a few have apparently been lurking on dealer lots these past few years, coiled and waiting to strike the right buyer. Really? Really. Dodge parent company Fiat Chrysler released its full 2020 sales figures today, and right there in the charts with sales totals for the Ram truck, Jeep, Chrysler, and Fiat brands in addition to Dodge was a familiar if unexpected reptilian name: Viper. It turns out, Dodge sold four Vipers in 2020, a year over year decrease of 20 percent. We’ve reached out to FCA for cl...

Gone is the old logo, pictured above, with its clean, legible, red-on-white theme. In comes a new, black-and-white colorway and a futuristic vibe seemingly inspired by a similar design tested on the 2019 Kia Imagine concept. There’s just one teeny-tiny problem with the new one: It’s forward-thinking, but also visually complex and difficult to make out if you don’t already know it’s Kia’s new logo. We get that logos can be whatever a brand wants them to be—just look at the Chevy’s bowtie, which, on its face, has nothing to do with cars. However, if they’re supposed to spell out a word, they should at the very least be legible. The new Kia logo could easily be mistaken for “K | A” or a “K” and a backwards “N,” and ...

Jeep offers a variety of four-wheel-drive systems for buyers of the new 2021 Grand Cherokee L to choose from. Called Quadra-Trac I, Quadra-Trac II, and Quadra-Drive II, each setup offers different levels of four-wheel-drive capability. Let’s take a quick look at how each system works and the differences between them. See all 68 photos Jeep Quadra-Trac I Quadra-Trac I is a single-speed full-time four-wheel-drive system that requires no driver intervention. Four-wheel-drive is always engaged, with 48 percent of the engine’s torque delivered to the front axle and 52 percent going to the rear. Quadra-Trac I uses open differentials and relies on the traction control system to distribute power by way of the SUV’s brakes. If a wheel loses traction, the system senses th...

You’ve probably heard of Ferrari Tailor Made (and other programs like it) where prospective owners go to make their (already quite special) cars even more so, crafting one-of-a-kind creations with special details and unique paint schemes. It looks like Jeep is working on its own version of the concept. How do we know? A deal between Fiat Chrysler and the city of Toledo for a plot of land that will be used for a customization facility was announced on Friday. According to The Toledo Blade, the city of Toledo will sell FCA a plot of land just a few miles from Jeep’s assembly plant there (where the Wrangler and Gladiator are currently built). The sale price? A measly $1, as an incentive for FCA’s investment in the community. FCA, in turn, plans to build a 250,000-s...

Say you want a full-size SUV but not three rows of seating, which usually come standard in sport-utility vehicles so large. Where should you turn? Maybe try the 2021 Ford Expedition XL STX, a new entry-level variant that chucks the big SUV’s third-row seat, leaving only two rows for up to five people (driver included) ahead of a massive, 105-cubic-foot cargo area in the rear. Ditching the Expedition’s rearmost seats takes a chunk of the price out of the equation. The 2021 Expedition XL STX starts at $51,690. The STX’s price is thus $2,815 cheaper than the previous bottom feeder, the $54,505 XLT. Next to saving a few bucks and giving up eight-passenger capacity for five seats, Expedition XL STX buyers give up little else outside of satellite radio and some safety tech. As ...

It’s official: Mazda will soon sell a rotary engine in the United States, though perhaps not in the format we were all hoping for. In an interview with The Detroit Bureau, Mazda North American Operations president Jeff Guyton confirmed that the brand’s MX-30 crossover, originally bound only for Japan and Europe, will come to the U.S. as an electric vehicle with a rotary-engine range extender. “For the U.S. market,” Guyton told TDB, “the range extender would be more appropriate.” We asked Mazda for more information, and the company confirmed: “Mazda is committed to continuing to innovate and delivering an engaging driving experience. With that in mind, we can confirm we will bring our first electric vehicle, the MX-30, to the U.S. market. The vehicl...

A Russian SUV, in America, imported by a bankrupt Italian truck manufacturer, and sharing a model name with an upcoming Volkswagen crossover? This is going to take a little explaining, but first, you’re looking at the 2022 Bremach Taos, an SUV that the company wants to sell in America for just under $27,000. See all 20 photos Under the fresh-start rebranding, the Taos is really a UAZ Patriot—something novel to us, perhaps, but old hat to the Russians. The Patriot has been on sale since 2005. It’s a simple body-on-frame SUV, with chunky styling and angular headlights that vaguely recall the contemporary Suzuki Vitara. Like the Jeep Wrangler, the Taos features solid axles front and rear—a boon for off-roading, but not the most sophisticated or comfortable arrangement for on-road ...

The Grand Highlander will likely share its TNGA-K underpinnings with the run-of-the-mill Highlander, however, the upcoming model may sport an elongated wheelbase and/or a redesigned rear end that aims to add more cargo and third-row seating space (not unlike the Lexus RX L). Such a change should allow Toyota to move the Highlander’s third-row bench further back, which in turn ought to improve legroom. Assuming the Grand Highlander comes to fruition, we anticipate the new model will wear a sticker price a few thousand dollars greater than that of the regular Highlander, which currently starts at $35,985. We reached out to Toyota about its Grand Highlander trademark, however, a company spokesperson informed us they were unable to “provide details on future products.” You De...

As its name implies, the Bentayga Hybrid trades the V-8 engine of the run-of-the-mill Bentayga for a gasoline-electric plug-in hybrid powertrain made up of a V-6 engine and electric motor. The basic recipe of the 2021 Bentayga Hybrid remains the same as its 2020 counterpart, with a forced induction V-6 engine and an electric motor producing a combined peak output of 443 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. An eight-speed automatic transmission channels that grunt to all four wheels courtesy of the SUV’s standard all-wheel-drive system. See all 20 photos Electricity by Default Despite its gas engine, the 2021 Bentayga Hybrid defaults to its EV Drive mode on startup, meaning it relies exclusively on the 126-hp electric motor for motivation. An active accelerator pedal adds a distinct pressure p...