Autos

(As it turns out, you can see the Mustang Cobra Jet dragster in action on the show Hard Cell on the MotorTrend app. In the meantime, subscribers can check out other episodes of the performance-EV-focused program right here. ) The Mustang Mach-E is a clear indication Ford wants to make quick, powerful electric cars. Now the Blue Oval has prepared an even more potent pony: a Cobra Jet EV dragster with more than 1,500 horsepower. Like fossil-fuel-powered Cobra Jets, the Ford Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 prototype—so named, we suppose, for the 1,400 wheel horsepower it was originally thought to produce—looks a lot like a regular Mustang on steroids, with optimized bodywork and fat rubber signifying its quarter-mile purpose. For better or worse, though, this latest model sounds nothing...

First and foremost, the Grand Wagoneer will be available in two lengths, as will be a less grand, plain Wagoneer model; all four versions will feature three rows of seats. The base Wagoneer will point its seven-slat grille squarely at the Ford Expedition, GMC Yukon, and Chevy Tahoe and will start around $60,000. For reference, the 2021 Tahoe starts at $50,295. the 2021 Yukon at $51,995, and the 2020 Expedition at $54,505, so the Jeep will be a fair bit more expensive. A long-wheelbase 2022 Wagoneer will probably start somewhere under $65,000; its Chevy Suburban, Yukon XL, and Expedition Max competition all run roughly $2,000 more than their short-wheelbase brethren. We don’t know yet what sort of equipment will be offered on the regular Wagoneers, but we anticipate it will be pitched...

Porsche has a long history of winning at Pikes Peak. Before this weekend, its trophy count stood at 27. Now make it 29, as two entrants in the Race to the Clouds snagged division trophies this weekend. In fact, the fastest car took third overall—a Porsche 911 GT2 RS—just behind two open-wheeled hillclimb specials. Three cars based on the GT2 RS, and four Cayman GT4 Clubsports, competed for the prize. The best result came from David Donner in a 911 GT2 RS Clubsport, taking the Time Attack 1 Division win with a 9:36.6—good enough for third overall. Blake “Bilko” Williams also took a class win in the Porsche Pikes Peak Trophy by Yokohama class with a 10:52.6 (he also nabbed 16th place overall). Two other 911 GT2 RS-based cars competed: a 935-19 piloted by veteran Je...

If you somehow don’t think the 702-hp 2021 Ram TRX is potent enough for your needs, Hennessey Performance has a truck for you. The high-performance tuner has upgraded the TRX pickup’s 702-hp 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi, enlarging it to an insane 7.0-liter displacement and extracting more than 1,200 horsepower from the result. Meet the Hennessey Mammoth 6×6. Following in the footsteps of the VelociRaptor 6×6 and Goliath 6×6, this special TRX has six wheels. But the Mammoth almost puts these decidedly not “weak” trucks to shame with how much power it has. Hennessey says the TRX-based Mammoth is the biggest and most powerful truck it has made in its 29-year history—even among all those wacky 6x6s. See all 51 photos 2021 Ram 1500 TRX front 3/4 In addition...

After we rode in the Lucid Air prototype electric vehicle last month, we learned the upcoming sedan almost assuredly has Tesla beat in the driving range game. Now, Lucid has released details on the Air’s drivetrain, and we have even more reason to be excited about the forthcoming EV ahead of the production model’s debut on September 9. See all 14 photos The Air’s in-house-developed permanent magnet electric motor drive units are also lighter and more compact than those of its closest competitor, according to Lucid. Presumably, that’s a jab at the Tesla Model S. The drive units combine an electric motor, inverter, transmission, and differential into a package that can reportedly fit inside of a carry-on roller bag. See all 14 photos Each drive unit weighs 163 pounds,...

The all-new 2021 Mercedes-Benz S-Class is here, and like its predecessors, it’s a technological powerhouse that moves forward the state of the automotive art. The new S, which will launch in America next year, is claimed to have more computing power than any car ever created. While its mighty silicon brains are brought to bear on things like personal profiles for up to eight drivers, MBUX voice-assistance functionality for each individual seat, active ambient lighting and other interior delights, an active suspension that can prepare the car for a side impact, and much, much, more, it’s also being turned toward our autonomous future. The new S comes preloaded with the ability for both SAE-designated Level 3 and Level 4 autonomy; the difference between the levels is that Level 3...

Hyundai’s entry into the subcompact class, the new-for-2018 Kona crossover, sure made a splash. It was small and affordable, but wore bold styling with odd eyebrow-like running lamps hovering over headlights disguised as fog lamps in the bumper. Mix in its fun paint colors, available turbo engine, and cheeky vibe, and the Hyundai Kona was about as exciting as subcompact crossovers come. A couple years later, it’s due for an update, and it is getting one: Meet the 2022 Hyundai Kona. See all 5 photos 2022 Hyundai Kona: A New Face Will the ’22 Kona make as big of a splash as the original? As a mid-cycle refresh, not an all-new design, you’d expect it to wear mildly revised exterior lights, maybe add a new paint color option, and get some new touchscreen or somethi...

Per the EPA, the EcoDiesel pickup delivers 24 mpg combined—an improvement of more than 25 percent relative to the truck’s gas-powered V-6. That advantage holds for the Gladiator EcoDiesel’s city and highway fuel economy numbers, too, which come in at 22 mpg and 28 mpg, besting the gas-fed Gladiator’s 17/22 mpg. The stick-shift Gladiator is rated for 16 mpg city, 23 mpg highway, 1-mpg lower in the city cycle but 1-mpg higher on the highway than its automatic-transmission sibling; we’re comparing automatic-to-automatic, however, because it’s the only transmission Jeep offers with the diesel V-6. Interestingly, should you want both diesel power and the hardcore off-road bits that come on the Gladiator Rubicon trim, you’ll see slightly lower fuel economy num...