Autos
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Picking the Brain of Mike Koval Jr. Head of Ram Brand, After Another MotorTrend Truck of the Year Win
Congratulations on the three-peat win as MotorTrend Truck of the Year for the Ram 1500 TRX. What is your secret for success? First of all, thank you very much. Once again as a brand we find ourselves humbled and honored for the recognition and the secret is great people inventing great product. And I think that since Ram became a standalone brand back in 2009, we’ve had the competitive advantage really of focusing clarity in our mission and that is as the only dedicated truck and commercial van brand we are fully and entirely committed to understanding and delivering on the unique needs of our customers as a truck brand. How do you follow this up? What is next? Well that’s a great question and one certainly we’re not going to rest on our laurels. I think an award of this ...
2021 Audi R8 Panther Edition Is Rare, Dark, and Only for Us.
The entry-level Audi R8 loses its all-wheel-drive system for 2021. The mid-engined model now sends its power exclusively to the rear wheels—a boon for drifting enthusiasts. (Don’t worry, Audi still offers a 2021 R8 with all-wheel drive, however, consumers wanting that feature now have to spring for the pricier R8 Performance.) Now, Audi’s catering to rear-drive R8 fans who want to stand out from the typical R8 pack with the stealthy Panther Edition. The R8 Panther Edition is essentially a murdered-out version of Audi’s 10-cylinder sports car. The model’s exclusive Panther Black crystal is littered with metallic flakes, which gives the hue a unique sheen relative to that of Audi’s typical Mythos Black paint. Additionally, the door mirrors, side blades...
Here Is the New 2022 Jaguar I-Pace EV Before You’re Supposed To See It
MotorTrend found a slew of patent images that show renderings of a slightly massaged version of the I-Pace. Even though the changes look minor, they should help bring the I-Pace in line with the newly revised XF sedan and recently refreshed F-Pace SUV in terms of exterior and interior design. The I-Pace’s apparent changes include new daytime running lights, which look to be slightly thicker in the patent images than the ones on the current car, as well as revisions to the bottom of the front bumper, which likely has been changed to improve airflow around the car and reduce range-killing aerodynamic drag. Hey, so long as charging stations are not as prevalent as gas stations, EVs will continue to benefit from maximized driving range per charge. The rear of the I-Pace also gets a fresh...
2019 Genesis G70 Long Term Update: The Dealer Experience
Genesis G70 Full Overview When folks buy a car, most hope that’s the last they’ll see of the dealership. But in the luxury-car arena, many brands have created Taj Majal showrooms that, before the global health crisis, served as well-heeled hangouts—complete with espresso bars, putting greens, and other glitzy touches. If you needed an oil change, it was a far more plush place to chill than at Jiffy Lube with a stack of old magazines and the hoi polloi. But Genesis is going a slightly different route—partly as a futuristic endeavor, and partly out of necessity. You see, Genesis is an offshoot of Hyundai Motor, and Hyundai dealers wanted to get Genesis franchises, as well, just like Toyota dealers did with Lexus. Problem is, Hyundai dealers rank below the industry average among m...
Electric Mini Cooper SE Gets the JCW Touch, Because Environment
Currently, JCW models represent the sporty zenith for the not-so-little-anymore Mini lineup. There are JCW variants of the Hardtop, Convertible, Clubman wagon, and Countryman crossover SUV. All are turbocharged, with the models’ juiced four-cylinder engines shoving out between 228 and 301 horsepower. The Hardtop is available in even harder-core GP guise, with crazy aerodynamic add-ons and the same 301-hp engine spec as the larger Clubman and Countryman JCW models. These pricey JCW Minis are the most spiritually aligned with Mini’s sporty brand ethos, a critical distinction given how dull mainstream Minis have become. See all 28 photos If you’re wondering what a JCW Mini EV might look like, well, take a gander at the camouflaged Hardtop pictured above. This appears to be t...
The Million-Mile 2007 Toyota Tundra Pickup: The Teardown
Four and a half years ago, the odometer in owner Victor Sheppard’s 2007 Toyota Tundra pickup passed one million miles, with the truck still on its original engine, transmission, and paint—an impressive feat for a vehicle just nine years old. Toyota thought so, too, swapping the heavily used rig for a brand-new model and sending the Million-Mile Tundra on a months-long tour of various company facilities. Once that was complete, the Million-Mile Tundra’s body, interior, and mechanicals were torn down to examine how well its constituent parts held up during its high-mileage duty cycle. The plan was to identify any defects and work with engineering to increase future quality. Here’s what Toyota found: It was the night shift on March 28, 2007, at Toyota’s Huntsville, Ala...
2021 Mercedes-Benz E 450 4Matic First Test: A Glorious Vintage
Mercedes-Benz E-Class Full Overview In July, reports broke that Mercedes-Benz would be chopping seven cars from its U.S. lineup, including the E-Class coupe and convertible. More recently, Daimler CEO Ola Källenius confirmed that Mercedes-Benz would cut 20 percent from its operating costs and slash several underperforming models by 2025, but he isn’t naming names yet. Indulge me for a moment as I yell into the wind: Are we really dumping the handling nuance, the top-down romance, and the sheer grace of a long chassis with chest-high rooflines just to cart home a new big, square box every eight months? Or to see through all the similarly stilt-high SUVs lumbering around you? Am I wasting my time saying this? Completely. But I do feel better. On top of the bloodbath already underway to...
2020 Toyota GR Supra Long-Term Update 2
Toyota Supra Full Overview As travel restrictions lifted, we hit the road in our 2020 Toyota Supra, and we’ve added more than 5,000 city and highway miles since the first update. As a result, our once-empty-road fuel economy (27 mpg average) is now more representative of real-world driving at 25 mpg. The EPA estimates 26 combined, so we’re close. A couple long drives that nearly drained the tank proved the Supra can be quite miserly, returning 30 to 31 mpg. Supra at the Track Not only are we driving more, we had an opportunity to run to our test facility to see how this 3.0 Premium measures up against two “Launch Editions” we tested last year. There’s no difference in hardware, only a 21-pound weight difference, so we didn’t expect a difference in perfor...
2021 Mazda CX-30 2.5 Turbo Costs Thousands More Than Non-Turbo Model
The 2021 Mazda CX-30 2.5 Turbo will run $6,600 more than an equivalent non-turbo CX-30 with all-wheel drive, starting at a rich (for something this size) $31,000. That price difference reflects the comparison of AWD-to-AWD CX-30s, because Mazda will only sell you a CX-30 2.5 Turbo with all-wheel drive. Factor in the even cheaper front-drive non-turbo CX-30, which starts at only $23,000, and the price gap between the least-expensive non-turbo CX-30 and the least-expensive CX-30 2.5 Turbo swells to $8,000. Don’t choke on your discount shopper’s card quite yet! While Mazda’s naming convention for the CX-30 2.5 Turbo largely mirrors that of the non-turbo CX-30, with Standard and Premium trims, there are big equipment differences between them. Up front, of course, is the extra...
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition: A Kick in the Horse
Good things come to those who wait, as evidenced by the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT. Unlike Ford’s lesser Mustang Mach-E models, which are due to go on sale before the end of the year, the Blue Oval plans to start selling the high-end Mach-E GT in late summer 2021—next year, at the time of this writing. As the most powerful iteration of the Blue Oval’s electric SUV, the GT trim packs a total of 480 hp—134 more than the next most powerful Mach-E model—from two electric motors, which Ford estimates launches the SUV to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. It also offers an estimated driving range of 250 miles by way of an 88-kWh battery pack—and a light right foot. In other words, the Mach-E GT’s inherent performance is arguably worth waiting for. See all 23 photos It turns out Ford left ...
Gone Too Soon: Nikola Badger Electric Truck Is Seemingly Dead
It’s over. The Nikola Badger electric pickup truck is a no-go. The stillborn truck that would have been a bold addition to the smorgasbord of forthcoming electric pickup trucks has been stuffed underground for good. Call it what you may: another tragedy of 2020; a smoke and mirrors dream that never really had hope; a stroke of good luck for other electric startups. Regardless, without an OE partnership, the Badger program will not continue. But wait, didn’t Nikola just strike a deal with General Motors that included the production of the Nikola Badger? Yes, and that’s why there was actual hope that the Badger, under the wing of a giant deep-pocked manufacturer such as GM, would actually come to fruition. The proposed strategic alliance hashed out in September basically sa...
How to Watch the 2022 Acura MDX Reveal
The 2022 Acura MDX is an open secret at this point. First, it leaked online courtesy of Acura’s own infotainment system software. Then we got a preview of the 2022 MDX Prototype, which we’re quite sure is representative of the real thing. Now, however, Acura has announced the timing for the release of the actual 2022 MDX. The new MDX makes its official debut on Tuesday, December 8 at 2:30 PM EST. The crossover is due to feature a number of new items we expect will trickle to other members of the Acura model line, too, including a digital gauge cluster. Look for a host of other luxury features from the MDX Prototype to make their way to the production model, including the Prototype’s 16-way adjustable front seats, LED ambient lighting (with 27 different...
