Autos
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Self-Parking Cars Explained: How Does Automatic Park Assist Work?
I’d love to know how many wheels are curbed and bumpers are tapped each year in attempts to parallel park. There’s a whole industry of rubber bumper guards built around how difficult parking alongside a curb can be; crowded cities like New York are full of them. You might catch yourself thinking, “If cars can sort of drive themselves, why can’t they sort of park themselves?” They can. How Does Self-Parking Work? Most cars with self-parking capability can’t actually do it all themselves. These systems can locate a parallel (and in some cases a perpendicular or diagonal) parking spot upon activation by utilizing proximity sensors on the front, side, and rear of the vehicle; often, the tech requires activating a turn signal to indicate what side of the road it should look for a space. Once th...
Recycling Combustion: Creating Fuel From Carbon Dioxide
I admit that writing about this month’s subject makes me feel a bit like Charlie Brown running toward Lucy and her football. This particular football, as a general concept, is just so alluring: Take a problem (excessive atmospheric CO2) and turn it directly into a solution that lets us keep driving the vehicles we love—via carbon-neutral gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. This latest scheme solves many of the problems that have yanked the ball on my previous runs, giving me the courage to barrel toward it one more time. My three prior columns explaining ways of converting atmospheric CO2 into liquid fuels ran in July 2008, June 2012, and Oct 2018. The early ideas started by scrubbing CO2 from the air with an absorbent compound such as sodium hydroxide in water, isolating the CO2, cracking it ...
Leaked: The Jeep Gladiator Adds a Retro Willys Trim for 2021
The 2020 Jeep Gladiator is a well-packaged truck that’s extremely capable off the beaten path. It was a welcome addition to the Jeep lineup, and according to JeepGladitorForum.com, a few new trim levels are coming to the Gladiator for the 2021 model year. One forum poster claims to have obtained a leaked dealer bulletin that confirms the truck will get a Willys package and an 80th Anniversary Edition model for the new model year. <!– –> Much like the Willys trim level that’s already available on the Wrangler, the Gladiator’s Willys package will come in two levels: the Willys Sport and the Willys (the Willys Sport being the cheaper of the two). All Willys-trimmed Gladiators will get black 17-inch wheels with mud-terrain tires, rock rails from the Rubicon ...
Lincoln Continental Coach Door Edition Interior Review
Behold, the only American car you can factory order and pick up at a dealership that features body assembly completed by an independent coachbuilder, just as luxury automobiles like Duesenbergs—and Lincolns—often were in the classic era: the Lincoln Continental Coach Door Edition. Anyone can plainly see the extensive modifications the coachbuilders made in stretching the bodywork and reengineering those Rolls-Royce-aping rear-hinged—don’t-call-‘em-suicide—rear doors. But how did they do on the inside? Is this the Rolls-Royce Ghost of American luxury-car interiors? Let’s start off by noting that nothing much changes forward of the B-Pillar, so we’ll focus on the rear-seat experience here and refer you to our 2017 Lincoln Continental Black Label Interior Review for details on the cockpit, i...
Fast and Furious 9: Behind the Scenes of the ‘One Shot’ Music Video
We’re standing in an alley just east of Downtown L.A. between run-down warehouses. A black helicopter is sitting in the parking lot behind a chain-link fence, engine running. Over the roar of the chopper comes shouting: “Three, two, one, action!” A bright orange Dodge Charger Hellcat Widebody comes screaming down the alley, turns, and nails the throttle—drifting through an open gate and coming to a stop just short of the helo. And …“Cut!” It’s not the set of Fast 9, the latest movie in the Fast and The Furious mega franchise, but it feels like it, and that’s the point. We’re actually on the set of the SixTwentySix’s music video production for “One Shot” by YoungBoy Never Broke Again featuring Lil Baby—the breakout hit from the official “Road to Fast 9” mixtape. With the song inspired by th...
Is the 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLE 450 4Matic a Good Road Trip Car?
Mercedes-Benz dropped off the long-term GLE 450 4Matic in early April, right as the shutdown from the global pandemic was getting underway. There was nowhere to go, and as such by the end of May, the poor, underused Mercedes family hauler had only 1,984 miles on it. An ominous mileage total if there ever was one, as well as one that’s way lower than I’d like to see on the odometer. Solution? Grab a startlingly inexpensive Airbnb just outside of Colorado City, Arizona, (Warren Jeffs country!) just south of the Utah border. Then toss the wife and 3-year-old in the Benz and hit the road for a 2,000-mile road trip, hitting the following breathtaking locales: Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. How’d the GLE 45...
Subaru BRZ Apparently Dead for 2021, Will Rise Again Like a Phoenix
Speculation has always been regular part of the auto-journo gig, and today we’re armchair-quarterbacking the current Subaru BRZ‘s future. If you happen to check out Subaru’s Japanese website at this link, translate the page from Japanese to English (unless you’re fluent in the language, in which case, good for you), and scroll down to the ominous message blared in big red letters: “We have closed the build-to-order manufacturing order for the models listed.” <!– –> Even though that translation is a little wonky, it looks like Subaru of Japan won’t be taking orders for BRZs anymore, a signal that the company has officially hit the brakes on BRZ production. When we reached out for comment, a Subaru spokesperson simply said they, ...
Garage Find Lamborghini Miura S Spent 45 Years in Back of a Body Shop
Jeff Meier’s latest acquisition of the all-time great Lamborghini Miura–by way of a stunning garage find–is a heck of a story, filled with fortunate good luck. But his fascination with Lamborghini’s original supercar runs much deeper. Meier was born and raised in Cleveland, where he grew up in a large family. His father owned an automotive repair shop, so there were always different cars parked in the driveway. As early as the age of five, Meier developed a curiosity for cars that flourished into a hobby of identifying them when he’d see them driving on the road. The same kid that would shout out “Volkswagen,” “Chevy,” and “Ford” from the backseat when his father pointed at a car would one day become a full-fledged car expert and collector in his own right. The Lamborghini Miura Bug Bites ...
2021 Volkswagen Golf GTI Adds New Styling Cues and Infotainment Tech for Its Final Year
A new Volkswagen Golf GTI arrives in the United States for the 2022 model year—in fact, it and the Golf R are the only confirmed versions of the company’s compact hatchback coming to our shores. Before it arrives, Volkswagen is sending off the seventh generation 2021 Golf GTI with some new goodies for its final year on our shores. Once again offered in S, SE, and Autobahn trims, the 2021 Golf GTI adds visual zest across the board courtesy of new black-painted side mirror covers and rear spoiler. Higher-end SE and Autobahn models also benefit from fresh 18-inch wheel designs, as well as an improved infotainment system. See all 18 photos Dubbed MIB3, the new setup brings wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, as well as SiriusXM with 360L, into the hatch’...
2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Spied: This Compact Pickup’s for Urban Adventurers
We spotted a camouflaged 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz crossover-based pickup on a trailer in the middle of the SoCal desert, possibly en route to Death Valley for some real life testing in hotter-than-hot conditions. After all, we saw a temperature of 110 degrees at the location we saw the truck, suitable to give any vehicle a healthy workout. See all 11 photos Hyundai, recognizing the need to increase its presence in the truck and SUV market, hopes the compact unibody pickup will do the trick. Is it even a truck? To the disappointment of diehard body-on-frame truck enthusiasts, the 2022 Santa Cruz is going to be a unibody, crossover-type truck reportedly built on the compact SUV Hyundai Tucson’s platform. It’ll most resemble the Honda Ridgeline, but smaller, perhaps making it bette...
Watch the Lordstown Endurance EV Pickup Looking Legit Doing Legit Truck Things
The Endurance, not yet on sale, has already endured some hardship in a sense. Lordstown Motors emerged from the ashes of GM’s Workhorse W-15 hybrid pickup situation, which flamed out, but gave a breath of life to a new and arguably more compelling project. But all that history, and any promises Lordstown has made about the upcoming EV pickup, aren’t worth a hill of beans if it can’t do real truck stuff in the way customers want. This promotional video aims to prove that the Endurance has the goods to do the job—and see for yourself if you think customers are ready to jump aboard. The Endurance is just one of a number of EV pickups on the radar, with varying degrees of profile and vastly different ideas of what an EV truck should be. From the retro-futuristic Tesla Cybertr...
Real-Life Barbie Jeep Looks Pretty in Pink, and You Know You Want It
It’s hard to pull off a Jeep Wrangler in pink, but designer Afzal Kahn managed to do just that. This special Wrangler, painted in “3D texture pink military paint,” is currently up for grabs. And it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. The pink Jeep features a special design package from the Chelsea Truck Company. Front and center is a carbon-fiber grille with four slots. The model also features a new front bumper, special front lighting, an Iron Man vented hood, and a set of electrically folding side steps. A suspension lift kit gives the SUV even more presence. In the rear, there is a quad exhaust system and a Chelsea Truck Company spare wheel cover. Finishing off the look are black, star-shaped 20-inch wheels. See all 20 photos Inside, the SUV sports quilted leathe...
