Autos
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2021 Chevrolet Suburban Diesel First Test: The Most Efficient Full-Size SUV
Chevrolet Suburban Full Overview Efficient full-size SUVs are like cheap wagyu beef. They simply don’t exist. But when a punchy six-cylinder diesel engine is fitted under the hood, things change. The 2021 Chevrolet Suburban Diesel is rated at 20/26/22 mpg city/highway/combined, which makes it the most fuel-efficient four-wheel-drive full-size SUV in the market. Think about that for a sec. A diesel Suburban is not novel, but the SUV hasn’t been offered with an alternative type of engine for a long time. And although the diesel engine isn’t as quick as the 5.3-liter engine, there are more pros than cons. We drove a 2021 Chevrolet Suburban Diesel High Country and took it to the track to compare its handling and performance against a Suburban with the base engine. 2021 Chevro...
2021 Jeep Gladiator Mojave First Test: Kickin’ Trail
Jeep Gladiator Full Overview Off-road capability is a game of trade-offs. Long-travel suspension increases wheel articulation for better traction and stability but reduces payload and towing capacity. Low gears multiply engine torque applied to the wheels but limit your top speed and fuel efficiency. Making it even more complicated is the fact that different types of off-roading require different suspension designs and different gearing. You wouldn’t know it if you drove a 2021 Jeep Gladiator Mojave, though. The Gladiator Mojave is, if you haven’t heard, one of two top off-road trim levels of Jeep’s mid-size truck (the other being the Gladiator Rubicon). It starts with all the capability of a standard Gladiator and adds 2.5-inch-diameter internal bypass Fox Shox with remo...
2021 Subaru WRX and WRX STI Priced; Replacement Expected for 2022
The current Subaru WRX and WRX STI have been with us for a good long while now—seven model years, to be exact. Over the course of this time, we’ve seen a number of special editions, including the all-conquering S209 (the formerly JDM-only special). But the base cars themselves have been given only incremental improvements—not to mention a small facelift for 2018. For 2021, the WRX and WRX STI live on for what should amount to their final lap around the sun. All-new iterations of the Subaru performance sedans are expected to arrive for the 2022 model year. The only change to the 2021 WRX is the addition of a standard proximity key with push-button start on Premium trims. Aside from that one small change, the rest of the WRX line is indiscernible from its 2020 counterpart. As a result ...
2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost First Drive: Chauffeurs Need Not Apply
Rolls-Royce Ghost Full Overview The British are famous for their understatement, so much so you’d believe it if I told you it was codified in common law. Rolls-Royce, the most British of British automakers, treats understatement in reference to its products with the same reverence it treats the Spirit of Ecstasy that adorns them: the utmost. Six years ago, Rolls-Royce launched the Ghost Series II, insisting it was a “subtle” update. Now it presents us with a third-generation 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost (no “series” appellation) described by a design movement Rolls-Royce itself made up: “post opulence.” A New Sharpness for the 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost’s Design Much as no Rolls-Royce is ever subtle, it is never unopulent, either. But the new 2021 Roll...
Great Scot! Scotland Gives Its Snowplows—All of Them—Hilarious Names
Every holiday season, American children can keep tabs on Santa’s deliveries by way of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the United States’s missile defense tracking site buried in the Cheyenne mountain outside of Colorado Springs. The watchful folks of NORAD, who otherwise spend their time waiting to alert us all of incoming missiles, hellfire, and other terrifying air and sea threats, instead use America’s formidable aerospace detection equipment to “track” Santa Claus and his sleigh as it hopscotches around the country on Christmas Eve. In Scotland, there is no NORAD Santa Tracker—instead, children (or, well, anyone) there can follow along with the Trunk Road Gritter Tracker, a real-time, Scotland-wide snowplow tracer. It’s tru...
Hyundai Is Buying That Terrifying Robot Dog Company
Hyundai Motor Company has inked a $1.1 billion deal to acquire a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics, the robotics company you probably know as the maker of those unsettling four-legged robots that terrify and delight YouTube browsers. (And which you can buy for just shy of $75,000—or more for enterprise versions.) Those quadrupeds as a whole likely have little to do with Hyundai Motor’s automotive aspirations, but you can bet the automaker is after the robots’ software. You see, Boston Dynamics long ago mastered the creation of walking, running, leaping, and all-around horrifying legged robots. It also works on autonomy—with those robots possessing autonomous capabilities not unlike, well, self-driving cars or factory vehicles. That AI capability looms large in Hyundai&#...
For Half a Million Dollars, You Can Buy This Jet-Engined Volkswagen Beetle
Got a hole in your garage and another one in your wallet? We’ve found a great way to fill the first one with the money pouring out of the second: Ron Patrick’s street-legal, jet-powered Volkswagen New Beetle is up for sale on Craigslist. If you have $550,000 and a few extra gallons of kerosene, you can be the big hit at your local cruise-in! Patrick built this ultimate rear-engine conversion while he was studying for his PhD in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. His reason for adding a jet to his bug? “In California, new cars have biennial smog inspections so if you modify the engine, it is likely to fail and you won’t be able to drive it on the street. There are some exempt engine modifications, but none that will allow you to add 1,350 horsepower to ...
The 992 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Is the 2022 GT3’s Evil Track Twin
Money can’t buy you happiness, but enough of it can get you a 992-series Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (likely north of $200,000, if the current GT3 Cup is anything to go by). The upcoming race-ready twin to the 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 is due to debut this March at the Porsche Carrera Cup North America race at Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Florida. While Porsche’s mum on many of the details of its new rear-engined racer, the German brand is sharing images of the vehicle as it undergoes development. The lack of information comes as no surprise, really, given Porsche’s remaining pretty tight-lipped about the Cup’s street-legal GT3 counterpart, as well. See all 18 photos Predictably, the new GT3 Cup ought to improve upon the performance of its predecessor. Testing of th...
Ares Design’s Wami Lalique Spyder Is a Blast From a Past That Never Happened
Why is Ares Design calling their new limited-run retro-roadster Wami Lalique Spyder? Maybe they thought Panther, the name of their Huracán-based DeTomaso Pantera tribute, was just too easy to pronounce. While the Wami Lalique Spyder’s name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue—instead it gets caught up there, flops around a bit, then falls to the floor with a resounding thud—these computerized renderings show the car itself to be a work of mid-century-inspired art. For those unfamiliar, Ares Design is an Italian concern started by Dany Bahar, best known as the former chief of Lotus, where he implemented a six-model vaporware program then left under a cloud. Ares opened its doors in 2014 and began modifying high-end cars for the super-rich. Project Panther was their most extensive...
2020 Mazda CX-30 Track Test: Looking for Joy Beyond the Numbers
Mazda CX-30 Full Overview The pandemic makes it hard to get to know a new car. I’m sure in some parallel universe our new long-term Mazda CX-30 Premium AWD was handed over by a smiling car porter, smelling of new car, and driven each and every day to work and on errands. Instead, reality is that our CX-30 was delivered by a masked man, smelled of rubbing alcohol, and, since the Mazda CX-30 is too large for most of our bedroom-to-the-kitchen morning commutes, it’s spent most workdays sitting idle in the driveway. To right that wrong, our CX-30 test vehicle hit the road a few weeks back bound for the test track, so we could become better acquainted. You wouldn’t expect a small subcompact SUV to be a barnstormer, and, well, our 2020 CX-30 isn’t. Powered by a 2.5-liter ...
The Ford Mustang Mach-E’s Volume Knob Has a Clever Little Secret
If you’ve spent any time in the brand-new 2021 Mustang Mach-E electric SUV or at least perused images of its interior, you may have noticed a cool design detail on its touchscreen infotainment system: the volume knob that pokes through the panel. Well, truthfully, that knob isn’t poking through anything at all—it’s an illusion, Michael. That’s because rather than Ford going through the costly process of developing a touchscreen with a hole punched through it—and all the attendant fit and finish and function issues that could bring—the Blue Oval and its supplier opted for a less difficult but no less cool solution. You see, that big, glorious vertical touchscreen is a full, unbroken panel and the knob doesn’t work mechanically like a traditional volume control;...
2022 Mitsubishi Outlander: Everything We Know About the New Crossover SUV
The aging Mitsubishi Outlander crossover you can spot at dealerships today was introduced in 2014, and is ready for a new generation with more modern styling and amenities. It looks like an all-new Outlander is exactly what we’re about to get. Between teaser images and revealing leaked images, the new 2022 Outlander‘s styling looks contemporary and aggressive, bringing it more in line with its rivals in this highly competitive midsize crossover segment (and stablemates like the Eclipse Cross, as well as the smaller Outlander Sport). 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander Styling and Design The 2022 Outlander‘s bold face is the most striking part of the new design, with the primary headlights mounted lower than turn signal and marker lamps, as is the trend these days. We...
