Autos
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A Brief History of Overlanding—Aussie Style
Overlanding has become a thing in America. Before the coronavirus pandemic tapped the brakes, people all over the country were jumping into their 4x4s and taking the road less traveled, turning away from the interstates and the neon-lit desolation of cheap hotels and fast food joints, journeying instead along the quiet back roads and trails that still crisscross the country. Overlanding has made the voyage as important as the destination. Where I grew up, it always was. Australia is about the same size as the lower 48 states but has just 7 percent of the population, most of which lives within 100 miles of the eastern and southern coasts. What in the U.S. is called the Heartland is in Australia called the Outback. No prairies and cornfields and red-painted barns here, though: Most of inland...
2022 Ford F-150 EV Due After Tesla Cybertruck, GMC Hummer, Rivian EVs
See all 67 photos Ford has confirmed production plans are underway, a new “Built for America” ad campaign has been crafted, and we have a few new, vague details about the electric F-150. The pure battery-powered F-150 would be in addition to the 2021 Ford F-150 hybrid that has been added to the lineup as part of the truck’s latest redesign. The best-selling truck will continue to be offered with a raft of available gasoline and diesel engines, as well. New Plant for 2022 Ford F-150 Electric Pickup Ford officials say they have broken ground on a new facility in the Rouge complex and will add 300 jobs to build the electric F-150 there, along with battery assembly for both the EV and the F-150 PowerBoost hybrid. The most advanced Ford plant to date, the new facility will use...
Newest 2021 Ram 1500 Built to Serve Edition Celebrates the U.S. Air Force
Ram Trucks introduced a novel take on the limited-edition pickup earlier this year when it began rolling out its “Built to Serve” line of 1500 pickups. These special-edition trucks were to be released in batches of 1,000 to 2,000 units, with each run decorated in honor of one of the five branches of America’s armed forces. So far, we’ve seen Ram’s Built to Serve 1500 pickups celebrating the Army and Navy, and now comes the third model in the line, representing the Air Force—just in time for that service branch’s 73rd anniversary. Landing in showrooms in the fourth quarter of this year, likely as 2021 models, the Ram 1500 Built to Serve Air Force trucks will be available in two “aeronautical” and exclusive paint colors: Anvil and Billet Silver...
Racer Andy Pilgrim Recalls His First 24 Hours of Le Mans
Even though this year’s race will look a little bit different, without the thousands of fans lining the stands, Le Mans itself is still the same 8.5 notorious miles of straights, chicanes, and flat-out corners. Just ask Andy Pilgrim, who has raced at the 24 hours of Le Mans six times in his career and knows the track as well as anyone. But his first memory of racing at the famed street circuit has nothing to do with racing at all. It has to do with bacon. It was 1996 and Pilgrim was behind the wheel for New Hardware Racing, a New Zealand-based team that was running a Porsche 911 GT2. Being his first appearance at Le Mans, Pilgrim wanted to get to the track nice and early—only he made the mistake of showing up a bit too early. MotorTrend is the EXCLUSIVE PLACE in the U.S. where v...
Radical SR10 First Look: One Radical Track Toy
Easy to operate and cost-effective, the all-new Radical SR10 aims to keep drivers on the track for longer stretches at faster speeds, whether dicing it up at the local club track day or racing in the Radical Cup. Expanding on the architecture of the Radical Motorsports SR model line, which includes the SR3 and SR8, the SR10 offers the next level of Radical performance, incorporating some aspects of the marque’s larger RXC range of cars. Manufactured in Peterborough at the Radical Motorsports United Kingdom production facility, the mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive SR10 is powered by a turbocharged 2.3-liter inline four-cylinder rated at 425 hp and 380 lb-ft of torque. Developed by Radical Performance Engines from the Ford EcoBoost engine, the SR10’s four-pot features a bespoke Garre...
Driving the 1966 Jaguar XJ13, the British Brand’s Stillborn Le Mans Contender
Le Mans, 1968, the way it was meant to sound: the rolling thunder of the 7.0-liter Ford GT40s, the screaming howl of the Ferrari P4s, the edgy rasp of the Porsche 908s, and the metallic snarl of the mid-engine, V-12-powered Jaguar XJ13. The thought of this impossibly low-slung British Racing Green roadster running wheel to wheel down the Mulsanne Straight with scarlet Ferraris, big-banger Fords, and scrappy Porsches is enough to get any enthusiast’s pulse racing. Of course, it never happened. But to wriggle into the one and only XJ13’s snug cockpit, grasp the well-worn wood-rimmed steering wheel, and fire up the fuel-injected V-12 nestling in the small of your back is to get a tantalizing taste of the glorious spectacle it would have been. The XJ13 grew out of a program that st...
Trickle-Down Tailgatenomics: 2021 Chevrolet Silverado Gets GMC’s Fancy Tailgate Tech
When the current GMC Sierra 1500 debuted, we applauded the truck for finally differentiating itself from its slightly-(slightly) lower-market Chevrolet Silverado 1500 sibling. One key differentiator? An exclusive, optional reconfigurable tailgate that can alternately act as a work surface, a step into the bed, or a load stop depending on how you position it. But now, we’re learning that the handy tailgate will trickle down to the 2021 Chevrolet Silverado. There will be one small difference: While GMC calls the innovation the “MultiPro” tailgate, Chevrolet dubs its version the “Multi-Flex” tailgate. At the end of the day, it’s the same “multi” thing. On both trucks, the tailgate offers six unique configurations. Along with the aforementio...
2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee: Everything We Know About the Upcoming Mid-Size SUV
After a decade of resting on its laurels, the Jeep Grand Cherokee finally undergoes a full redesign for the 2022 model year. This marks the Grand Cherokee’s fifth generation after nearly thirty years of carrying the mid-size SUV mantle for the off-road-oriented Jeep brand. While the 2022 Grand Cherokee will maintain the mission of its forebears, it also promises to look toward the future with modern mechanical and convenience kit. A Grander 2022 Grand Cherokee Reportedly riding on a variant of the Alfa Romeo Stelvio‘s rear-drive-based underpinnings (the same basic chassis will underpin the Maserati Grecale crossover, too), the 2022 Grand Cherokee ought to improve upon the model’s on-road dynamics without sacrificing its off-road capability. See all 30 photos Look fo...
2021 Ferrari Portofino M First Look: M Is for More
For better or worse, we’ve called the Portofino an everyday Ferrari—a very good, but not great, car from Maranello. That’s less of a criticism and more an observation of the real purpose of the entry-level Ferrari drop-top. We have already found it to be fast, elegant, refined, and luxuriously equipped—it’s faint praise only when you consider the other prancing horses in the stable. And with the 2021 Portofino M, Ferrari is refining the formula even further. See all 21 photos M stands for modificata, or modification, signaling an evolution of the existing model. Consider it a mid-cycle refresh. The real news here is that the Portofino M adopts the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission from its fixed-top Roma sibling, a unit that debuted in the incredible SF9...
Ford Teases Its Extra Off-Road-Ready Bronco “Warthog”
There’s no telling if the Warthog name is truly heading to the Bronco, as the application only deems it for, “Land motor vehicles, namely, passenger automobiles, pick-up trucks, sport utility vehicles.” That’s an admittedly broad list of possible applications. Nevertheless, internet forums have circulated the possibility of the top-dog Bronco model donning the “Warthog” name for some time now. Although Bronco fans aren’t product planners, the fact they’ve been predicting a name that the Blue Oval only just got around to trademarking does lend credit to the possibility of a future Bronco model bearing the Warthog name. Adding fuel to the fire is a recent photo put out by Ford on its social media channels. The image shows a camouflaged Bronco &...
The Unlikely but Plausible Way the Suzuki Jimny Could Come to the U.S.
The Suzuki Jimny is the tiny four-wheel-drive SUV that we absolutely love, and maybe even more than we really should. Automotive writers and critics have gone wild about it, but by any dispassionate analysis, the little Jimny sales case—where it likely wears a high price in a niche segment—is marginal in this country. If the sales justified homologating it here, wouldn’t someone find a way to do it? Suzuki might be gone as a seller of passenger vehicles in America, but surely there’s a partnership possibility with a company that remains in our market. Hey, wait a minute, there is! Toyota owns a stake in Suzuki. A small one to be sure, but a real one. And with the introduction of the Ford Bronco and the subsequent elevation of the dearly departed FJ Cruiser into the realm of a m...
Nissan Z Proto First Look: A Heritage-Rich Preview of the 400Z
The Nissan Z Proto is a close-to-production, retro-flavored concept preview of the 400Z. The 2022 Nissan 400Z will go on sale in America in the spring of 2021. The Proto has a twin-turbo V-6 we expect will make 400 horsepower in the 400Z. The Nissan 370Z seems to be such a permanent fixture in the Nissan lineup, you’ve probably stopped wondering how long it’s been around. Well, we’re going to tell you anyway because it matters: The current-gen Z launched in 2008, and 12 years is a pretty long haul even for a sports car. In fact, there were doubts if a successor was ever going to materialize, and between the slew of negative press Nissan has received the last couple of years and the current economic climate, you would be forgiven for losing all hope. But Nissan swore ...
