Autos
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Nissan MID4 and MID4-II: The Mid-Engined Supercars That Almost Happened
The above car might look like a discarded design study for the Acura NSX, or maybe an unlicensed BMW M1/Ferrari Testarossa mashup, but it’s actually the second of two intriguing performance-oriented concept cars that could have sent Nissan on a very different halo-car trajectory. The MID4-II, as the white car is known, has a cleaner and more modern look than its predecessor, the thoroughly mid-1980s MID4. But both were more than mere concepts, seriously considered for production and predating the eventual Acura NSX. And they’re worth knowing about if you want to know why the Z car evolved as it did. Skipping to the end before the beginning, the MID4s ended up as dead ends. Nissan’s performance future evolved on a few fronts: the affordable Silvia/240SX, the 300ZX that ado...
2022 GMC Hummer Electric Pickup First Look: An Off-Road Icon Reborn
2022 GMC Hummer EV truck offered exclusively in Edition 1 trim. Lesser Hummer EV trims arrive for the 2023 and 2024 model years. Edition 1 starts at $112,595 and goes on sale before the end of 2021. General Motors has pulled the wraps off the 2022 GMC Hummer EV, an electric full-size pickup with crazy power, a removable top, moonscape-themed details, and a price of $112,595 for the high-end Edition 1 trim that’s set to go on sale before the end of 2021. We know, it’s a lot to unpack. Let’s start with this: It is real. Sure, the Hummer EV Edition 1 in these photos is more of a show car, but it still shows off the forthcoming production pickups that are due to roll off the line at GM’s retooled Detroit-Hamtramck plant. Despite pulling the cord on the Hummer brand...
How GM Fast-Tracked the 2022 GMC Hummer Electric Pickup, Beating Tesla and Rivian
General Motors is blunt about it. The 2022 GMC Hummer EV, a full-size electric pickup, raced from computer screens to production at mach speed to compete with plans by Tesla, Rivian, and others to build an electric trucks of their own. GMC Hummer EV chief engineer Al Oppenheiser, who spent most of his career developing Camaros, said 20 months ago he was asked by GM leadership to bring Camaro charisma to the electric vehicle program to give it an adrenaline shot to better combat the 2021 Tesla Cybertruck and 2021 Rivian R1T, both of which had created a lot of buzz. (Not to be outdone, Ford is developing an electric F-150.) Oppenheiser’s work began in April 2019 on a full-size truck GM wanted in production in the fall of 2021. In other words, lop about two years off GM’s normal d...
2021 BMW M440i First Test: Not Just a Two-Door 3 Series
Mt. Baldy road is hardly more than an hour’s drive from downtown Los Angeles, yet it evokes European alpine passes—those that lead from metropolises to epic vistas and crisp mountain air. Breaking off from the freeway, it crosses a quiet suburb before opening into long sweepers weaving up the hillside. In the final climb, it crinkles into tight switchbacks before terminating at a tiny rural ski resort. It’s the type of road cars like the BMW M440i xDrive were made for. No longer is the 4 Series simply a two-door 3 Series. As that iconic sedan preserves its dynamic focus, the 4 Series evolves and now offers a blend of luxury and performance once reserved for BMW’s highest-end models. It’s a balance that’ll leave some drivers in bliss and others wanting more. Is...
2022 GMC Hummer EV Fast Facts: 11,500 LB-FT of Torque?! (No, Not Quite)
General Motors deemed it a “moonshot”, and those working on the newest GMC model dubbed it Project Obtainium. We know it as the 2022 GMC Hummer EV and the freshly debuted pickup includes several interesting tech highlights beyond its wild claim of 11,500 lb-ft of torque that’s been much ballyhooed. There’s a lot to dig into on this EV off-roader, but let’s start by dissecting that torque number before we check out the truck’s trick Extract mode, neat CrabWalk feature, and more. 2022 GMC Hummer EV: Put a Torque in It Let’s start off with that marquee number: 11,500 lb-ft of torque. That is the combined total torque being applied to the wheels, not at the output shafts of the Hummer EV’s three permanent-magnet motors. (Initi...
2021 Cadillac Escalade First Test: Finally What It Should Be
Finally! Finally, Cadillac has been allowed to deliver what we’ve always believed it’s capable of. For well over a decade now, the brand has brought us incredible bones, incredible performance, and incredible handling, but faltered on the luxury, on the details. The 2021 Cadillac Escalade sets things right, and not a moment too soon. We’ve known since the early days of “Art and Science” that Cadillac can build a fantastic chassis, not that the Escalade ever got one. We’ve known from the early days of General Motors that the parent company can develop incredible technology, when it wants to. We’ve known for over a decade now Cadillac can do jaw-dropping design built from world-class materials, at least when it comes to concept cars. We’ve alwa...
The Land Rover Defender Is the 2021 MotorTrend SUV of the Year
You would be forgiven for assuming the judges of our 2021 SUV of the Year competition simply walked around the parking lot filled with 28 new and refreshed SUVs and pinned the award on the Land Rover Defender without starting a single vehicle. Unlike most of this year’s field, the all-new Defender actually looks the part of a proper sport utility vehicle. Sport utility vehicles as we know them have transformed from go-anywhere tools to mall-crawling tall wagons and minivan substitutes. Most vehicles we refer to today as SUVs are actually CUVs—car-based crossovers lifted up in the air a few inches, not for ground clearance but because people like to sit up high. There is no mistaking the Land Rover Defender for one of these poseurs. That said, the Defender itself has metamorphosed to ...
This 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Was Cut Apart for Safety
Here’s a little fun fact for you: If you get into a violent car wreck, it really doesn’t matter what sort of vehicle you’re driving. Because if emergency workers need to get you out of that car, no matter how nice it is, they’re cutting it apart to retrieve you. They’ll use saws, the Jaws of Life, hydraulic jacks, and axes in the most horror-show ways possible on your ride until they can free you from the wreckage and not think twice about it. Faced with a recent extraction from a 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, the Dearborn, Michigan Fire Department, local to the Ford Motor Company’s headquarters, might have hesitated to perform their duty, but that’s only because there wasn’t actually anyone in this 760-hp muscle car. The car was being used...
The SSC Tuatara Is Now the Fastest Car in the World at 316.11 MPH!
Nobody needs to go 280 or 300 mph. Hardly anybody has the space available (or the fortitude required) to drive those speeds. But everybody wants to know which car is fastest. The custodians of such info at Guinness will tell you that in 2017 the 277.9-mph Koenigsegg Agera RS snatched that record from 2010’s 267.9-mph Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport. Well, on Saturday, October 10, the famed publication’s record monitors gathered alongside a closed, seven-mile section of Highway 160 near Pahrump, Nevada to observe a new record in the making, set by U.K. pro racer Oliver Webb at the wheel of a supercar hailing from Richland, Washington, the SSC Tuatara. The new speed? A staggering 315.7 mph! See all 45 photos Best Two Runs in Opposite Directions The SSC team spent a...
Flame Hoops? The Weird Science Behind the World’s Fastest Car’s Wild Engine
We’ve come to expect speed records to be set by deep-pocketed global car companies like the VW Group’s Bugatti brand, which has the budget to produce crazy complicated quad-turbo W-16 engines. So when the Washington state-based and independent SSC Tuatara managed to set an official two-way average speed record of 315.7 mph (!) running a small-block engine boasting half the cylinder and turbo count and a single (billet) camshaft, we were desperate to learn more about this record-setting engine. Who better to tell us all about it than its architect, Tom Nelson, of Nelson Racing Engines? See all 40 photos Small-Block Geometry, No GM Parts Tom was quick to note that this is not a GM engine block. It merely shares some key geometric dimensions with the iconic and quintessential...
Maybach Up a Minute: Mercedes’ Ultra-Luxury GLS Is One Pricey SUV
Mercedes is asking $161,550 for the Maybach GLS, which features just about everything but the kitchen sink. Goodies include heated, ventilated, and massaging seats, interior roof-mounted ambient lights, luscious Nappa leather upholstery, heated and cooled cupholders, and a signature cabin fragrance. Passengers in the back get a 7.0-inch tablet to work with, while a wooden parcel shelf separates the main cabin from the luggage area. Buyers can also select a refrigerated compartment with custom champagne flutes. Meanwhile, the exterior is decked out with a chrome grille, retractable running boards, standard 22-inch wheels (23-inch units are optional), and a hood-mounted Mercedes three-pointed star. Under the sheetmetal, the 2021 Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 packs a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8. A 48...
Land Rover Defender Visual History: How the Off-Road SUV Got Here
Land Rover Series I (1948-1958) See all 165 photos The Rover Company had a problem after the second World War. Europe was in shambles and there wasn’t much demand for the sort of luxury cars Rover had made in the past. Inspired by the Willys Jeep, they developed the first Land Rover, an agriculturally focused four-wheel-drive truck with a steel frame and an aluminum body. It entered production in 1948 and what would come to be known as the Land Rover Series I was born. It was offered in various configurations that differed in wheelbase, door count, and body style. Land Rover Series II (1958-1971) See all 165 photos The Series II made its debut 10 years later in 1958. Its exterior design featured the same inboard headlights and boxy profile as the Series I but added a pronounced shoul...
