Autos

Earlier this year as the ongoing health crisis snowballed, Mazda showed its support to our nation’s healthcare workers with free oil changes and car cleaning services. Now, in a fresh act of moral grace, the automaker wants to give Miata sports cars to 50 heroes who have made an impact on their communities this year. Each hero will receive a special-edition MX-5 Miata that marks the automaker’s 100th anniversary. “We had hoped this time would be filled with moments of celebration and appreciation for our fans, employees and partners. But given the many tragic events of 2020, we decided to express, in another way, our brand’s unique heritage of trying to make things better,” said Jeff Guyton, president of Mazda North American Operations. Mazda is looking for pe...

Nowadays, most pickup-truck buyers expect as much comfort as they do capability. Fortunately for FCA’s efforts to woo such customers, the 2021 Ram 1500 has one of the nicest interiors in its class, and it’s about to get another luxurious option: a new special edition that brings an American Southwest theme to the truck’s exterior and interior. The 10th Anniversary Edition celebrates the decade since Ram was spun off from Dodge as its own standalone brand. It’s based on the Limited Longhorn, previously called Laramie Longhorn, but regardless of what you call the trim, the resulting truck is pretty posh and packs plenty of exterior chromework. Open the doors of the new special edition, and you’ll find an interior swathed in Mountain Brown, too. See all 10 p...

Although we love the current Jaguar XF‘s sharp looks and excellent handling, its underwhelming infotainment system and interior quality leave us wanting. Luckily, Jag’s midsize sedan gets a major overhaul for 2021 that should help give the aging cat another life. Sadly, the XF Sportbrake is not mentioned in the 2021 update, which leads us to believe it’s likely gone for good in the United States. A moment of silence, please. 2021 Jaguar XF: Fresh Looks for an Aging Cat We’ll start with the 2021 XF‘s new face, which adopts a number of styling measures that also appear on the recently refreshed 2021 Jaguar F-Pace crossover. This includes new blade-like LED running lights LED daytime running, grille, front and rear bumpers, and taillights. Keen eye...

“Remember my motto?” asks Reese Bobby. “Wake up in the morning and piss excellence!” answers a child Ricky Bobby while driving a Dodge Charger in a new ad campaign that riffs on the 2006 movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. The boast isn’t just a casual reference to the movie—it nods to the very reason for the ad: Dodge was surprised to learn it came first in two recent J.D. Power studies on initial quality and driver appeal in the same year, a first for a domestic brand in decades. FCA executives told us they were emailing one another within seconds of the news asking if they should do a commercial to tout the milestone—a decision in the affirmative was made immediately, but it created a dilemma. The J.D. Power honorifics are serious big-boy awa...

Although we know little about this latest Lambo, we expect it to share much of its mechanical bits with the Essenza SCV12. As such, power will come courtesy of a naturally aspirated V-12 engine with north of 830 horses, which are sent to the rear wheels by way of a six-speed gearbox.  Whether buyers of this Squadra Corse-developed model will be able to take the car home with them is something we’ll have to wait to find out about, too. Essenza SCV12 owners leave their vehicles with Lamborghini, as the company stores the cars in a specially built hangar in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy, when not in use. You might remember “owners” of the Ferrari FXX track-only car have a similar arrangement with Ferrari. See all 19 photos Regardless, those interested in this upcomi...

Ford is working on an electric F-150 pickup truck. We know this, and you’re expecting it. But the electric pickup world is a new one, and Ford is probably aware that it’ll take some tricks to win over F-Series buyers used to powerful gas or diesel engines—and the plentiful, easy-to-find fuel that powers them—and get them overcome the range anxiety and charging challenges of the EV world. Which is what makes a Ford patent that recently came to light so interesting. The patent is for a range-extender unit that can be fitted to an electric pickup truck’s cargo bed—where it’d resemble a toolbox or some other innocuous component but provide for extra driving range per charge. Automakers keen on lending their electric vehicles additional driving range without investing in...

Honda officially announced it will no longer supply power units to Formula 1 teams after the 2021 season. If you’re unfamiliar with the sport, a power unit is the car’s internal combustion engine, MGU-K unit (motor generator unit-kinetic), MGU-H (motor generator unit-heat), and other control systems. The announcement comes as a surprise, but the practical reasons behind it aren’t at all that shocking. Indeed, sharp observers of F1 might have suspected something was afoot when Honda, after its initial 5-year commitment to F1 expired last year, only committed at the time to signing up for another single year. Formula 1 is incredibly expensive, and all the money Honda dumps into F1 research and development can no doubt be funneled into research and development for its passen...

Meet the Tiguan X, the swoopier sibling to the standard Tiguan. Volkswagen took the wraps off the model at the Beijing Motor Show in China. Made in and for the Chinese market, the Tiguan X is a surprisingly attractive addition to the Tiguan line, but its tumbling roofline surely cuts into cargo space and likely eliminates any possibility of a third row of seats. See all 29 photos That said, we could see American consumers making that sacrifice. After all, Volkswagen already bets on U.S. buyers to make that same sacrifice with the Atlas Cross Sport. If positioned to avoid sales cannibalism on Atlas Cross Sport sales, we see few reasons not to bring this slick-looking crossover to our shores as a Tiguan Cross Sport. Nevertheless, should Volkswagen decide to ship the Tiguan X our way, the bra...

The NISMO Performance brand has developed a new line of off-road products to enhance the off-grid capability of the midsize Nissan Frontier pickup, full-size Titan pickup, and long-gone Xterra. Offerings include a suspension kit, bumpers, lighting, and wheels—the main necessities when further outfitting a vehicle for off-roading. See all 18 photos To properly introduce the new NISMO off-road parts lineup, Team Wild Grace, captained by Sedona Blinson and Lyn Woodward, will race a NISMO’d 2020 Frontier in the 2020 Rebelle Rally. The Rebelle Rally is a women’s-only, old-school navigational rally that traverses over 1,200 miles of grueling southwestern terrain. It starts October 8 in Lake Tahoe and finishes on October 17 in California’s Glamis Dunes. The team believes betteri...