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2021 Volkswagen ID4 Interior Review: High-Tech, not High-End
Volkswagen just officially pulled the silk off of the 2021 ID4, the latest member of an all-electric lineup of cars and SUVs. VW says the new SUV is its first long-range EV that will be sold in the States—the e-Golf was merely a baby step toward electrification. Also unlike the e-Golf, the ID4 will be the first chance U.S. customers will have to experience an entirely new exterior and interior design language from the German automaker. (Europe got a head start with the ID3 hatchback, which won’t be coming here.) If you want all the specs on the ID4, including range and charging info, you can check out our 2021 Volkswagen ID4 First Look here. But earlier this week, MotorTrend got an in-person preview of the ID4 in the metal, and it both impresses and lea...
Sitting Pretty: What’s the Perfect Driving Position?
You’d think that how we sit in cars wouldn’t be a thing to debate about. You get in, move the seat and steering wheel around, and off you go. But what’s the right way to find your perfect driving position? “Before track driving, I adjust everything to what feels a bit too close. The padding compresses and offers good leverage for control, so being a little close works best for me because by the time I get out there, it’s not too close anymore. I lean back a bit, often meaning there’s a gap at my lower back that I fill with a rolled-up towel, and I have some bend at the elbows, because turning the wheel requires extending your arms. I’m relatively close to quickly countersteer if necessary, which is also a bit close for my legs—so I splay them a lit...
2021 Kia Sorento First Look: Taking Inspiration From the Telluride
It’s no secret that we love the Kia Telluride, our 2020 SUV of the Year, and we’re glad that the smaller Sorento will take a page from its playbook and adopt some of its bold design cues. Now, we’re learning specs for the overhauled 2021 Kia Sorento that’s coming to the United States, including details on a new hybrid variant. Like the Telluride, the new Sorento has a boxy, prominent front end, and the expansive new grille makes its mug appear even wider. The headlamps, now integrated into the grille, offer “tiger eye” LED daytime running lights, which signify the “intense impression of the lines around a tiger’s eyes.” By pushing the A-pillar back slightly, Kia gave the Sorento a more windswept design. We ...
2021 Porsche Panamera Turbo S First Drive: First-World Remedy
Porsche has given its Panamera lineup a midcycle refresh, tweaking the exterior styling, changing up powertrains, and unlocking the electronic goody bag to add more standard features. We’ve already covered the upgrades in detail, but to quickly recap the major ones: The entry-level Panamera gets the newer Audi-developed 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-6 of the Panamera 4 instead of the old single turbo 3.0-liter engine; Porsche’s own 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 gets 20 more horses in GTS trim and makes 620 horsepower in the new Turbo S model; and the 4S E-Hybrid’s powertrain now makes 552 horsepower and will take the Panamera 33 miles on all-electric power alone thanks to a bigger battery. The 2021 Porsche Panamera Turbo S replaces the Turbo in the company’s luxury four-do...
2021 BMW M3 First Look: Big Grille, Big Power
Good news, stick-shift enthusiasts: The 2021 BMW M3 comes standard with a six-speed manual gearbox. That’s right, the German brand’s iconic sports sedan refuses to give in to peer pressure and nix the row-it-yourself transmission from its features list. In other words, BMW listened to its enthusiast fanbase. Alas, the company opted to ignore the cries of dismay caused by the tall and narrow kidney grilles found on the 2021 4 Series. Rather than limit the large nostrils to the 3 Series sedan’s lower-slung sibling, BMW went right ahead and applied them to the new M3. Is this a sign of what’s to come for the run-of-the-mill 3 Series? We hope not. If the previous M3 is anything to go by, though, it’s likely the latest M3 will serve as the sole 3 Se...
2021 Hyundai Sonata N Line First Look: Nürburgring Sonata
The big-name German performance brands all sell performance in various packages and steps, from BMW’s M Sport or Mercedes-Benz’s AMG packages to full-blown M and Mercedes-AMG models. Hyundai aspires to follow in these footsteps with N models like North America’s Veloster N and Europe’s i30 N at the top of the retail pyramid (factory racing N cars occupy the ultimate peak of the pyramid) and a widening line of N Line models occupying the rung beneath them. First to get the N Line treatment was the Elantra GT N Line, and next up are the Elantra and Sonata sedans. Not too much info has been shared on the full Sonata N Line package, but at a powertrain backgrounder in December 2019, we learned that the heart of this new beast is a turbocharged 2.5-liter “Smartstre...
2021 Aston Martin Vantage Roadster First Drive Review: Open-Air Greatness
No one these days designs a coupe without engineering the car to ensure it can also be built as a convertible. Well, almost no one—the Ferrari Portofino means there won’t be a convertible version of the gorgeous Roma coupe, although since 70 percent of the Roma’s platform is derived from the Portofino, you could argue Maranello simply did things the other way around. The Vantage Roadster shares much of its hardware with its coupe sibling—the rumbling, AMG-sourced 503-hp 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8; the rear-mounted eight-speed ZF automatic transmission; the e-diff; the suspension; and the brakes. And it has the same tight, taut, focused feeling as the coupe when you point it at a winding road and punch the gas. The Vantage Roadster is no show pony. It hasn’t been designed to...
2021 BMW M4 First Look: Hello, M Drift Analyzer!
It’s comforting to know that not even a global pandemic can stop the inexorable march forward of BMW’s pursuit of power, torque, and driving fun. Proving our point is today’s virtual rollout of the 2021 BMW M4, sporting the spectacular new S58 engine available in two states of tune and with a choice of manual or automatic transmissions. There’s even a new M Drive Professional suite of onboard performance analyzers, including M Drift Analyzer and M Laptimer, and soon it will even offer M xDrive performance all-wheel drive. Hey, driving your own car fast around a track is de facto social distancing, right? How Much Power Does the New M4 Have, Anyway? We first sampled the new, mighty S58 engine in the BMW X3 M and X4 M SUVs and in the Competition models of each. Under ...
2021 Porsche Panamera 4S E-Hybrid First Drive: A Turbo for the Geek Squad
As we noted in our first look of the 2021 Porsche Panamera, Zuffenhausen is worsening the “paradox of choice” customers face when trying to select their ideal powertrain, by dropping two engine offerings but adding three new ones. We’ve just driven the middle of these new engines—the plug-in electric-boosted twin-turbo V-6 Panamera 4S E-Hybrid that makes 552 hp and 553 lb-ft. That output rating has Porsche casting this new model as a greener proxy for the departed 550-hp/567-lb-ft twin-turbo-V-8-powered Panamera Turbo. Is it? 2021 Porsche Panamera 4S E-Hybrid: Performance We haven’t mounted our Vbox gear yet, but Porsche says trading two cylinders for an electric motor and battery only blunts the 4S E-Hybrid’s launch-controlled 0-60 mph time by 0.1 second rela...
Aston Martin Slashes Prices on the DBX, Vantage
Good news if you’re looking to buy an Aston Martin: The automaker is slashing prices by tens of thousands of dollars on certain models. Buyers will see price reductions on the 2021 Aston Martin DBX, Vantage Coupe, and Vantage Roadster. See all 41 photos Meanwhile, the 2021 Aston Martin Vantage Coupe now costs $142,086, regardless of whether you opt for the seven-speed manual or the eight-speed automatic. That’s a price reduction of $7,000 for the manual and $14,000 for the automatic. On the Vantage Roadster, prices now start at $150,086, a drop of $14,000. The Vantage Roadster is available exclusively with the automatic transmission. All of these vehicles make use of the Mercedes-AMG-developed 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8. The engine delivers 542 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque in the D...
Yeah, Buddy: 2021 Ford Bronco Sasquatch Will Offer a Manual After All
Citing feedback from reservation holders, Ford confirmed it has decided to offer the Bronco’s seven-speed manual transmission with the Sasquatch gear on both the SUV’s two- and four-door body styles. As a refresher, the gearbox is a Getrag-sourced 7MTI550 seven-speed manual, with six forward gears in a conventional pattern and a crawler gear (marked “C”) located left and down from the first set of gates. The crawler gear—also known as a granny gear—is a super-low ratio that allows the Bronco to, well, slowly crawl over almost anything in its path. (For more, check out our explainer on crawler/granny gears.) The Sasquatch package is available on every Bronco—base, Big Bend, Black Diamond, Outer Banks, and Badlands, and standard on First Edition and Wildtrak—and bring...
Toyota GR Super Sport Hypercar Makes Surprise Debut at Le Mans
This year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans was all about Toyota. Again. For the third year in a row, the Japanese brand took the checkered flag at the famed French endurance race. But Toyota didn’t simply make news for winning the race. In fact, the company made sure to steal the spotlight just before the green flag fell by publicly showing off a prototype mule of its forthcoming hypercar, the GR Super Sport. See all 12 photos This was no static display, either, as the low-slung camouflaged car made its way around Circuit de la Sarthe. Predictably, the GR Super Sport appears to crib many of its design cues from the Le Mans-winning TS050. Bulging front and rear fenders, a pointed schnoz with space for a proper Toyota badge, a wide front splitter, and a large rear wing all give the gasoline...
