Maybe you’d rather not cop to the retro craze that’s so hot right now, but understanding the importance of the 2003 Ford Mustang Mach 1 requires an appreciation of history. Think back some 30 years ago, when big-blocks ruled the strip, long before street racing included nitrous-injected sport compacts. We’ve tested the Mach before, but it’s now available with an automatic transmission. We felt it was worth a run down the 1320. All time-machine cues are present: Front and rear spoilers? Check. Magnum-style wheels? Check. Shaker hood scoop? Oh, yeah. Open the hood to see the wall-to-wall 4.6-liter, four-valve per cylinder, DOHC Ford V-8 (think Boss 429). Output is 305 horsepower at 5800 rpm and 320 lb-ft of torque at 4200 rpm. There’s a choice of transmissions: ...
“Undoubtedly the right of locomotion, the right to move from one place to another according to inclination, is an attribute of personal liberty, and … a right secured by the Fourteenth Amendment and by other provisions of the Constitution.” —Williams v. Fears, 1900 Green Book—the Oscar-winning Hollywood movie loosely based on the life of African American virtuoso pianist Don Shirley and his white driver and bodyguard, Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga—introduced white filmgoers to The Negro Motorist Green Book, one of several travel guides used by Black families and business travelers in the Jim Crow era. Many white audiences were startled by the idea that Black Americans driving a car in the supposedly civilized postwar United States could be fraught with racial hazards,...
There’s something about driving with the top off that’s special. The open-air experience, even when the weather doesn’t fully cooperate, brings a dose of aliveness to the cabin. There’s a sensation of being free and privileged. Apply that to a supercar, and the experience is multiplied by a 100. The Mercedes-AMG GT R Roadster brings the same power as its coupe sibling. But with its roof down, it delivers a playful drive that might be more engaging than the hardtop. 2020 Mercedes-AMG GT R Roadster—The Basics There are many similarities between the roadster and the coupe, but one thing that sets them apart (besides the topless ability) is the limited production for the convertible—just 750 units worldwide. At $191,745 to start, you’re getting something special. ...
The revamped 2021 Buick Envision arrives early next year in the U.S. with a more modern interior, more standard safety features, and a more attractive exterior design. GM also promised it would bring out a range-topping, luxurious Avenir trim like the one it offers on the larger Enclave, and now we’re finally getting a glimpse of this upscale variant, or at least the Chinese-market version. We hope ours looks similar. In this photo, the Avenir is depicted as wearing a special grille with a shiny mesh design. It also gets new wheels we haven’t seen before on the Envision. The plum exterior and the body-color wheel arches look quite becoming on the SUV, which is lower and wider in its new iteration. The treatment overall is pretty much a dead-on copy of the Avenir trim on the lar...
UPDATE 6/19/2020: Apparently the widespread internet LOLs generated by moving the reveal to noted Bronco passenger and “If I Did It” author O.J. Simpson was too much, as the company has now delayed the reveal by four additional days, to July 13, as announced in the below tweet. In a less-controversial occasion of happenstance, July 13 is Harrison Ford’s birthday, which somehow seems appropriate. For what it’s worth, the company says the selection of the July 9 date was “purely coincidental.” So we will indeed see the new Bronco soon. Probably. —Ed. UPDATE 6/15/2020: Because 2020 is just one of those years, it seems, and because truth sometimes is stranger than fiction, the 2021 Ford Bronco’s rescheduled reveal falls on O.J. Simpson...
The year 1968 changed America and the world, with unforgettable events both entertaining, awe-inspiring, and devastating. There was the “Game of the Century,” an NCAA basketball matchup between the UCLA Bruins and Houston Cougars. The unstoppable Bruins—led by Lew Alcindor, who would become future Los Angeles Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—had a 47-game winning streak that came to an end with a two-point loss to Houston, 71-69. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. Apollo 8 orbited the moon and returned safely to Earth. Future pop-culture superstars were born: actors Will Smith, Josh Brolin, and Molly Ringwald, along with skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. In the middle of it all, the cute and fabulously awkward Winnebago F17 RV/motorhome was traversin...
The 2021 Acura TLX takes a big step forward for the brand’s mid-size model thanks to its new platform, turbocharged engines, and bold styling. Needless to say, there’s a lot to see and talk about. That’s exactly why MotorTrend’s own Miguel Cortina took a trip out to Honda Proving Center in the Mojave Desert to pore over the new TLX with Acura’s vice president and brand officer Jon Ikeda. The new Acura TLX is immediately distinguishable from the old model by its low-slung front end and long dash-to-axle ratio. Acura claims the latter feature increases by 7.8 inches over the previous model, giving the sedan a long hood and cab-rearward profile. Though its new proportions suggest a rear-wheel-drive layout, the base TLX continues to route its powers to t...
More than a decade after Mazda pulled the plug on its Ford Ranger-based B-Series truck in the United States, the “Zoom-Zoom” brand is making us yearn for its return to the American pickup segment with the new BT-50. Marking the model’s second full redesign, per the company, the new BT-50 trades its predecessor’s Ford underpinnings for Isuzu-based mechanical bits. That’s right, just because Mazda stopped selling trucks in the U.S. doesn’t mean it stopped selling such models in other markets. Look past the Mazda’s pretty, CX-9-like face and you will find what amounts to a re-skinned Isuzu D-Max—a model that was never offered here, from a brand no longer imported to our shores. Fortunately, this is no new take on an old truck, as Isuzu recently r...
The current-generation Honda Pilot is getting on in years, but it is hardly showing its age. That’s because Honda makes frequent small updates to the roomy and practical three-row SUV, including a styling refresh the year before last. For 2021, the Pilot receives a special edition trim and comes standard with the nine-speed automatic transmission across the line (previously it reserved for upper trim levels, while lower-spec models used a six-speed). For its extra three forward speeds, the entry-level 2021 Honda Pilot LX sees a price increase of $725, to $33,370. It is more expensive, therefore, than the base Chevrolet Traverse (which also is much larger) but still less expensive than the more similarly sized Toyota Highlander. Prices on the mid-level EX and EX-L trims have swelled b...
The high-performance sedan niche is one of the very best in the automotive kingdom. It’s so very unnecessary but so easy to love at the same time. Why wouldn’t you take a massive V-8 and cram it into a midsize sedan? Exactly. Now the good people at M and AMG are battling it out for super-sedan supremacy once more with the refreshed M5 and the updated E 63 S. Coincidentally—or, perhaps not so coincidentally—the mid-cycle refreshes of these two beasts were announced within one day of each other. If that doesn’t scream rivalry, perhaps everything else about these two cars will. Both now have massive, touchscreen infotainment displays, redesigned fascias and exterior lights, and improved tech: The Merc gets the three-pointed star’s MBUX infotainment system and the Bimme...
Every year around this time, we’re guessing there’s a question that starts rattling around in your head: What in the heck am I going to get Dad this year for Father’s Day? Well, if he’s into cars at all, then do we ever have the answer for you! From now until the end of June, you can spring for our Special Deal for Dad and surprise him on Father’s Day with more than 3,200 hours of the most expansive and entertaining automotive content you’re going to find anywhere on earth. And even better, it’s not going to dent your wallet to get it for him. Whatever Dad’s into car-wise, you can be assured he’s going to find plenty of what revs him up on the MotorTrend App, everything from our smash hit shows Roadkill, Texas Metal, NASCAR ALL-IN: Batt...
Not uncomfortably hunched over the wheel, or awkwardly curled up in the back seat, as you might imagine. A “person familiar with the plans,” who decided to remain anonymous, told Reuters that the front passenger seat will fold back to lay flat, creating a bed described a bit like those found on the first-class cabin of passenger planes. Sounds comfy! Now, Ford’s not the first company to offer an interior that converts into a bed—there have been a lot of stuffy interiors and foggy windows over the years. When Nash was still around, many of their cars famously featured front benches that folded down to create a whole-interior bed. The perfect feature for penny-pinching families who didn’t want to pay motel rates, or lovestruck couples on the move. We’re not judg...