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2020 Hyundai Sonata Review: Appealing to Your Emotions
Remember sedans? They’re not dead yet, though you’d be forgiven for thinking so considering what’s parked on your street. With more people making the switch to SUVs every year, some automakers have given up on sedans entirely. Hyundai isn’t one of them, and it’s betting that making the 2020 Hyundai Sonata sexy, comfortable, and effortless will convince you not to defect. The way Hyundai tells it, the last Sonata was great but dull. This is, Hyundai says, because they were chasing best- in-class interior space at the expense of design. Believe that if you want, but now they say that’s not enough. SUVs of equal footprint have more space by nature, so they need something else to pull you in. The new strategy embraces the fact that a car purchase is more often an emotional one than a coldly lo...
2020 Maserati Levante Trofeo First Drive: The GT Car of Super SUVs
As the number of SUV derivatives continues to explode, we find ourselves considering new models that slice the segment ever thinner. High-performance SUVs have been a thing for years now, and sloped-roof SUV “coupes” are becoming a thing, whether we like it or not. Now, the Italians have—inadvertently, I fear—invented yet another SUV subclass with the 2020 Maserati Levante Trofeo: the SUV GT. Readers will be familiar with grand touring cars, or GTs, which are big, comfortable coupes and sedans with equally big engines designed to transport the well-heeled owner across continents as quickly as decorum allows. Fast as they may be, they’re not sports cars per se (though they do generally handle well). Their suspensions are softer, all the better to soak up rough roads and float down the high...
2021 Subaru Outback, Legacy Receive More Stuff Standard, Cost a Little More
Coming off full redesigns last year, the Subaru Outback wagon and Legacy sedan return for the 2021 model year with minor changes, including a new paint color and a few new standard safety features. The 2021 Subaru Outback and Legacy reach dealerships this October, and prices have increased slightly for both models. To improve nighttime visibility, steering-responsive LED headlights are now standard across all trim levels on the Outback and Legacy. Rear seat reminder, which prompts drivers to check the rear seat area before exiting the vehicle (for dogs or kids sitting on the seat), is also newly standard, as is a seat belt reminder for front and rear passengers. Finally, both models receive a new Brilliant Bronze Metallic paint color option. The base 2021 Subaru Outback now goes for $27,84...
2021 Kia Sonet First Look: A Tiny, Stylish SUV for (Most of) the World
A Kia what now? Meet the Sonet, a new tiny crossover being introduced for India that Kia says will soon be available in other global markets. It isn’t entirely clear if the U.S. is among those markets, but it seems unlikely given Kia’s well-fleshed-out small-SUV lineup here. The Sonet is more or less the same size as Hyundai’s Venue—which is sold in America—meaning it’d overlap heavily with the Kia Soul and, to some extent, the recently introduced Seltos that sneaks in between the subcompact Soul and the compact Sportage. What Is the Kia Sonet? The Sonet is a sub-subcompact SUV that looks sort of like a squished mashup of a Sportage and a Seltos, with dinky little wheels and a bubbly roof. It’s cute in the way most small things are cute, and interesting detail...
The Ultra-Rare Porsche 916 Is a Hot 911 Engine in a Big, Beefy 914 Body
You’re looking at a vehicle that represents two absolute extremes of Porsche in the early 1970s. On one hand, the Porsche 914 was a polarizing “junior” Porsche, derided for its Volkswagen roots and unusual styling. On the other hand, the 916 is a vision of a different future, in which the little mid-engined sports car received a huge dose of adrenaline in the form of big flat-six engines pulled straight from hotter 911s—much more extreme than the 914/6 cars upgraded with a mild 110-hp 2.0-liter flat-six. Even packing a big six displacing between 2.4 and 2.7 liters, the 914-based 916 was a small car. And the kind of performance brought by the engines in so small a package would have threatened the 911 substantially. That wasn’t the reason the 916 project was cancelled, but it was surely a c...
2021 Genesis G80 Improves Big Time on Old Model’s Fuel Economy
The all new 2021 Genesis G80 sedan broke cover earlier this year, and it immediately caught our eye. Its new face, swooping roofline, and overall good looks made a sparkling first impression. Of course, what’s underneath the fabulous sheetmetal matters too, and today we finally know what kind of fuel economy the all-new mid-size luxury sedan will offer. <!– –> Two engine choices will be on offer when the new G80 finally reaches U.S. shores. Even though power figures are still under wraps, the EPA-estimated fuel economy gives us our first good idea of how the newest entrant in the luxury mid-size sedan segment will stack up against its competition. Both engines will come with an eight-speed automatic gearbox as the only transmission option. The smaller engine is a 2....
Rivian’s R1T EV Truck Is the Unsung Hero of Ewan McGregor’s New TV Show
You know that the MotorTrend App is completely stuffed with amazing adventure driving shows such as Dangerous Roads and Idris Elba: No Limits, right? We think we have the greatest car shows around, but we’re also down to tell you about particularly exciting things happening outside of the MotorTrend App universe. Take the new Charlie Borman (who incidentally is featured in a Dangerous Roads episode) and Ewan McGregor show Long Way Up, a sequel to the fantastic Long Way Round and Long Way Down miniseries. The premise has always been somewhat the same: put Ewan and Charlie, old friends who love adventure travel, on the back of two huge and heavily laden adventure bikes and send them around the world or across a continent. Predictably, Long Way Up follows a similar setup, and it takes place m...
Suzuki Jimny Black Bison Edition Is a Jeep, Bronco, and Land Rover Mashup
Along with the Ford Ranger Raptor, the Suzuki Jimny is one of the most desirable off-road vehicles we don’t get here in the U.S. And while the Jimny is typically known for its spartan rugged charm, the folks at Japanese outfitter Wald International have made the little 4×4 flashier with additional off-road design cues and a posh interior. Up front, the Suzuki Jimny Black Bison Edition features a new grille with headlight covers. The front bumper receives new LED lights, and additional lighting elements can be found on the roof. A special aero hood adds to the more aggressive look. In the rear, there is a new bumper panel and spoiler. It’s also hard to ignore the beefy overfenders and the off-road-ready tires. Inside the cabin, Wald is offering plenty of luxury. Along with quilted-patt...
1957 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR First Test
With the recent reveal of the 2021 Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series, we thought now would be a great time to revisit the AMG GT’s legendary predecessor. From our April 1957 issue, here’s our First Test of the legendary Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. Every time Daimler-Benz returns to racing, success is achieved by a single-minded concentration of effort and resources, giving the appearance of inevitability. The cars, which open up new perspectives in design for high performance, are retired to places in the Daimler-Benz museum at Untertürkheim, and it is a rare occasion when the opportunity arises to study a design in detail. In the case of the famous World Championship Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, the veil has been lifted. In the spring of 1956, a few of us sat in the sun outside the elegant Schloss Solit...
Joe Biden Hints at All-Electric, 200-MPH Chevy Corvette in Campaign Video
Former Vice President and current Presidential candidate Joe Biden is an unrepentant fan of the Chevrolet Corvette. In fact, he personally owns a green 1967 Corvette convertible, which just so happens to have a starring role in a recent video he tweeted out in support of his presidential campaign. There's been a lot of talk about my vetting process lately. Here’s an inside look: pic.twitter.com/tFRKJOE3hi — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 5, 2020 As much as we love hearing the sound of a V-8 spinning toward redline, we know this clip ultimately serves as a prop toward Biden’s political ambitions. We’re not taking a stance one way or the other on the race—this is MotorTrend, not PoliticTrend—other than to point out that it truly seems as though the former Vice President of th...
Turbofan Wheels: The History and Appeal of These Awesome Rims
For any given era and social niche, there are certain markers, certain cultural icons, that serve as symbolic bywords for that era and culture. Clothing can easily become such a reference: bell-bottoms, backward clothes, flannel, JNCOs, skinny jeans—each has had its heyday. So, too, with cars, some icons standing in as rolling representations of their eras—Wolf of Wall Street, anyone? But what about what the cars roll on? Do the shoes make the car, too? In the case of “turbofan” wheels, at least, the answer is yes. What Is a Turbofan? Originating from the time when racing’s top levels were just beginning to figure out the “how” of creating downforce and minimizing aerodynamic lift in the 1970s, turbofan wheels were another step in that direction. Perhaps capturing that nascent but incomple...
Want a Mint 1999–2000 Honda Civic Si, But Don’t Want to Pay Bring a Trailer Money for It?
We’ve been in a nostalgic haze over the 1999–2000 Honda Civic Si coupe for a while. The two-door’s zingy 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine, which crested the magic 100-hp-per-liter benchmark thanks to Honda’s VTEC variable valve timing system and its ear-splitting 8,000-rpm redline, steals the show. So, too, does the economy car’s simple interior and manual transmission. We’re not the only ones pining for these emerging classics, however, as evidenced by the recent over-$50,000 sale price of a clean, low-mile example on Bring a Trailer. Is that the new pricing benchmark? Perhaps not, and there is hope for those in the hunt for a similar EM1-generation Civic Si at GR Auto Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan. <!– –> Mitten state locals surely know o...
