Autos
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Sneak a Peek at the 2022 Jeep Wagoneer SUV Before Its March Debut
Although we don’t expect the production SUV to be a spitting image of its concept counterpart, we do believe it will maintain the Grand Wagoneer show vehicle’s basic design details. As Jeep’s 15-second teaser for the forthcoming model shows, the brand’s newest model’s mug will lose the concept version’s unibrow light strip spanning the headlights. It also looks to welcome larger tri-LED fog lamps in its lower fascia. Overall, though, we expect the production Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer to retain the concept SUV’s upright profile and available two-tone roof. A wiper ought to find its way to the rear window, which sadly is not expected to motor its way down into the hatch itself like that of the original Grand Wagoneer (or the current Toyota 4Runner ...
2020 Mazda CX-30 Road Trip Review: When Driving Doesn’t Matter
Mazda CX-30 Full Overview Mazda no longer uses “Driving Matters” as its tagline (now it’s “Feel Alive”—already do, thanks), but that ethos is still imbued in every one of its vehicles. We agree with that mantra—mostly. Sometimes we’d trade involvement for relaxation, particularly when enduring long highway stretches as we’ve now done for several thousand road trip miles in our long-term 2020 Mazda CX-30. Turns out that when driving doesn’t matter, this subcompact crossover is less than ideal. Driver “Assist” Systems Nice as the CX-30’s accurate, reactive steering is on a twisty road, managing it becomes a chore when coursing dead ahead. Lane-keep assist can be an awesome help in these scenarios, and the CX-30’s spec sh...
Kia Adds a Benjamin to the Niro’s Price for 2021
The new goodies include a standard rear passenger alert, a remote engine start feature (for cars equipped with the smart key), and there are some upgrades to Kia’s smart cruise control system that allows it to better deal with bends in the road. Niros equipped with the larger 8-inch infotainment display wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard, a connection that previously required a cable. As for pricing, the base Niro LX Hybrid costs $100 more than it did last year, rising to $25,865. The LXS and Touring trims follow suit, coming in at $27,265 and $29,565 respectively. Touring SE and EX Premium models see a marginally higher ($160) price jump and start from $32,125 and $34,125, respectively. The Niro PHEV trims get similar bumps in price. The Niro PHEV LXS comes in at $2...
California City Bans New Gas Stations—Will Others Follow?
In its commitment to becoming carbon neutral by 2030, the city of Petaluma, California in Sonoma County, approximately 39 miles north of San Francisco, has approved a ban on the new construction of gas stations. The first city in the United States to prohibit the expansion of filling stations, specifically those associated with large retail chains, is also banning the addition of new pumps at existing ones. According to a report by KTVU FOX 2, the city council voted unanimously to pass the measure, which enforces the ban immediately. Free of opposition, the ordinance is said to be widely accepted and supported by residents. The city of Petaluma has a population of 61,000 people across 14.5 square miles, and it’s currently home to 16 gas stations, not counting an earlier approval of a...
Bugatti Chiron Sport vs. Chiron Pur Sport: This Changes Everything
Bugatti Chiron Full Overview Some emails are better than others. Case in point, when the Bugatti public relations person asks if you’d like to compare and contrast the Bugatti Chiron Sport against the new Chiron Pur Sport (pronounced “pure sport”), well folks, that’s a pretty good email. Yes, I spent a day driving two cars that between them have 3,000 hp, 32 cylinders, eight turbochargers, 128 valves, 20 radiators, and cost north of $7,800,000. That’s $3,757,150 for the exposed blue carbon-fiber Chiron Sport and $3,959,000 for the Jet Grey Pur Sport, so you know. We’ll get to the difference between them in good time, but first I’d like to tell you a little story about the first time I drove a Bugatti. A Veyron Affair In 2010, Bugatti unveiled the V...
2005-2008 Dodge Magnum History: Mopar’s Wonderful Muscle Wagon
Applied to neither a gun nor private investigator, Dodge’s most recent use of the Magnum name was slapped instead on a station wagon. Not just any wagon, the Magnum was based on the then-new Charger sedan and sold for the 2005 through 2008 model years. So, where did this Charger station wagon go? Dodge dropped the Magnum after 2008 for reasons that should become clear if you think about what happened to the economy that year. Before that, the Magnum sold decently—for a station wagon—in America, with sales topping the 50,000 mark at least one year. Weirder still, Dodge refreshed the Magnum for 2008, meaning the updated model lived for a single year before it was culled. See all 85 photos If you were to ask us, the Dodge Magnum wagon suffered a premature death—can you imagine...
Happy Happy Joy Joy: Meet the Lightweight Happier Camper Traveler Trailer
The pandemic has left families cooped up at home with fewer routine activities on their plates and more time to dream about the happy life to be found in the great outdoors. Hence, travel is on the rise, and every season has become ripe for road tripping. See all 7 photos Coinciding with this fortunate time for travel trailer manufacturers, Los Angeles, California-based Happier Camper has come out with a new trailer for 2021 that it aptly calls the Traveler. The company, which in 2014 first brought to market its other travel trailer offering called the HC1, touts the new Traveler as a tool that’s ideal for adventuring longer (thanks to its larger size than the HC1) with optimal flexibility (courtesy of its reconfigurable design, also shared with the HC1). The Happier Camper Traveler ...
2021 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 First Drive: Absolutely Mind-Melting
Lamborghini Aventador Full Overview Not your average hybrid The 2021 Lamborghini Sián will catapult to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds and hit 220 mph, leaving in its wake a shock-and-awe wall of sound from its mighty 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V-12. The Sián is long and low and extreme, with a menacing, almost alien road presence that signals its status as a tarmac predator ready to pounce and devour random Ferraris. The Sián packs an 807-hp punch, making it the most powerful Lamborghini road car ever built. It’s also Lamborghini’s first-ever gasoline-electric hybrid. But we’re a long, long way from Toyota Prius territory here. The limited-edition Sián is fundamentally an Aventador SVJ with more radical exterior styling and a redesigned interior that features a new center conso...
Jeep SUVs May Drop Cherokee Name, Says Parent Company Stellantis
So, what’s Jeep going to do? Well, when the story first dropped two weeks ago at Car and Driver, it included a statement from Jeep that said, among other things, that the automaker was open to a dialogue with the Cherokee Nation and that it’s always intended to “honor” and “celebrate” the tribe with the name. However, principal chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. asking that Jeep drop the name altogether undercuts the basis of the company’s position. After all, how can an automaker honor a group by using its name when the group doesn’t want Jeep using the name? Which brings us to the latest turn in the Cherokee name’s future at Jeep, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal: Jeep may be open to ditching the name. This is a decision that Jeep c...
2021 Aston Martin DBX First Test: It’s Great. Period.
See the Full Model Overview One of the biggest laughs in automotive-themed time travel would be to set the dial to the mid-1990s—the beginning of Aston Martin’s Ford era—and roll up to Aston’s old Bloxham factory in a contemporary Explorer SUV. Posing as a FoMoCo executive in an ill-fitting suit, you’d round up a cluster of Aston’s finest engineers. “I want you to make that,” you smile, pointing at the Explorer, “handle, ride, look, and sound like that,” swinging your finger over to a DB7 in the car park. After a week spent driving the DBX on the road and at our test track, it’s obvious Aston dug deep in creating its SUV. That’s a good thing, considering this is one of the biggest leaps the boutique automaker has ever taken; Aston...
The Ram 2500 Laramie 4×4 Cummins Is King of the Road Trip
Ram 2500 Full Overview Guffman’s been stretching his legs as staffers reluctant to fly take to the highways. Chicagoan Greg Fink made a run to visit his family in Florida, and I made a brother-in-law run to Greenville, South Carolina. It’s fun to watch the predicted range soar early in a road trip that follows several weeks of around-town driving. On that Greenville jaunt, an initial prediction of 425 miles grew to 437 over the first 60 miles before finally beginning to count down what ended up being well over 500 total tank miles. Repeatedly accelerating four tons of mass means those in-town tankfuls average less than 15 mpg. But simply maintaining momentum at 80 mph brings the average up to the mid-19s. It’s safe to assume this 32-gallon tank can outlast most bladders. ...
2022 Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo First Look: Shockingly Practical EV Wagon
Despite the new Taycan Cross Turismo’s extra ride height, tough body cladding, mud guards, and generally off-road-ready looks, this isn’t some Dakar-ready Porsche EV. As cool as that would be, Porsche insists that the 2022 Taycan Cross Turismo is merely a more well-rounded version of the slinky Taycan sedan. The electric wagon also is better suited—even if only on paper, or in appearance—for those who live in temperamental climates or fancy themselves adventurous types. After all, the normal Taycan is available with all-wheel drive, meaning it could probably handle a snowy road just as well. To that point, even though it may look different from (and some might say better than) the standard Taycan, Porsche says almost everything from the wagon’s beltline down (in...
