Car Reviews
2020 Honda e First Drive Review: Electrified Object of Desire
The 2020 Honda e and the original Acura NSX have a few things in common. They are both rear-wheel drive. They both roll on a staggered tire setup, the rears wider than the fronts. And they are both among the most desirable cars Japan’s most individualistic automaker has ever built. The Honda e is not Honda’s first all-electric-powered vehicle—the company has been working on EV technology since the late 1980s and has released several production battery electric vehicles, including the EV Plus, a handful of which were made available on a lease-only basis in the U.S. in the late 1990s. But Honda has never truly embraced the EV, preferring instead to spend precious R&D time and money on fuel-cell powertrains that combine the zero tailpipe emissions of an electric motor with the...
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...
We Drive the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 Hemi V-8 Concept!
For Jeep fans, it was Christmas in July. Looking to spoil the Ford Bronco’s big reveal a couple months back, Jeep dropped the Wrangler Rubicon 392 Concept stuffed with a 6.4-liter Hemi V-8 from the factory at roughly the same time. Jeep’s people say it’s still “taking feedback” on the concept, and after driving the beast, our feedback is this: Stop talking and start building. It’s not like we all didn’t know a V-8 Wrangler would be awesome. Companies like AEV have been swapping Mopar V-8s into Jeep Wranglers for decades, and other aftermarket companies and enterprising shade-tree mechanics have been doing it even longer. Hell, even Jeep did it more than 40 years ago, putting a 304-cubic-inch (5.0-liter) AMC V-8 in the pre-Wrangler CJ-7 for five yea...
2021 Jeep Gladiator EcoDiesel First Drive: Diesel Makes It Better
No one would blame you for thinking adding a diesel engine to a vehicle’s lineup is a bad idea these days—not after VW’s emissions-cheating scandal. Although doing so really isn’t a great idea for passenger cars given the additional costs and lack of consumer appetite, it remains an excellent idea for trucks and their work-centric missions that often take them off pavement. For their part, Jeep executives like to say the second question they heard after, “Will you make a Jeep truck?” was, “Will it have a diesel?” The 2019 launch of the Jeep Gladiator answered the former in the affirmative, and the EcoDiesel variant does the same for the latter. And it’s a better truck for it. Diesel Torque FTW The formula is exactly what you expect it to be: ...
2022 Lucid Gravity SUV First Photos: Everything We Know About the EV Crossover
Not content simply launching an all-new EV with more than 1,000 horsepower and expected EPA range of more than 500 miles, the mad geniuses at Lucid Motors are cooking up a new SUV, because of course they are, and today’s market dictates they offer one. It’s called the Lucid Gravity. Little official information is available at this point beyond these two key items: First, the Gravity looks wider and will of course be much taller than the Lucid Air sedan, but it will sit on the same stretched-wheelbase skateboard platform so the SUV/CUV’s length should be close to identical. (Perhaps somebody whispered in our ear that the Gravity is less than an inch (15 mm) longer than the Air—who’s to say?) Second, VP of Design Derek Jenkins is an off-roading enthusiast who has...
2021 Lucid Air First Look: Rarified EV Air
The normal temperature in Los Angeles on this particular date is 84 degrees Fahrenheit. Its record high was 102, set in 1955. Today it’s 111 (with 121 degrees recorded elsewhere in L.A. County). Call it global warming’s local warning. When my abode was built, its location of a mile from the Pacific Ocean meant you didn’t need air conditioning to stay comfortable. With indoor squatting at Starbucks nixed and in a perspiring panic, I’ve decamped to the spacious, air-conditioned back seat of an SUV in the driveway to chronicle my introduction to the zero-emission 2021 Lucid Air electric sedan. Life is the theater of the absurd. It seems humans are just 7.8 billion jeans-and-T-shirt-wearing frogs in a planet-sized pot of warming atmosphere who all keep forgetting what t...
The Classic Off-Road SUV Comparison Test: Battle of the Jeep Alternatives
Peel away the decades of evolution that have softened the modern SUV—independent suspension, leather-trimmed heated seats, rear-seat entertainment systems, power-adjustable pedals—and what do you have left? Heritage from the golden age of off-roading. The term “sport utility vehicle” didn’t exist back then. People were just realizing that vehicles designed for emergency crews and farmers also made for exciting off-road adventuring. The vehicles became so popular that sales increased by 700 percent between1961 and 1971, growing 31 percent every year in that period. SUVs soon replaced muscle cars as the hot niche. See all 27 photos These machines were simple and honest. Options were geared toward the working man: snowplows, winches, multiple body styles, a rear ...
2022 Jeep Grand Wagoneer Concept First Look: Worth the Wait?
Pros: Jeep enters premium full-size three-row SUV space; plug-in hybrid; innovative passenger screen. Cons: Slightly underwhelming first impression after years of hype; not enough wood in modern interpretation. “It’s the boss’s car. We can’t mess it up.” That has been whispered in the halls of Fiat Chrysler’s headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan, where the return of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer has been underway for at least a dozen years. And for most of that waiting period, Mike Manley has been both head of Jeep and the GW’s longtime proponent. Today, Manley is the CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles—the boss. And the world is getting its first look at Jeep’s latest project, one that is probably second only to the Jeep Wrangler in importanc...
2021 Mercedes-Benz S-Class First Look: The Luxury-Sedan Benchmark Again Moves the Goalposts
2021 Mercedes-Benz S-Class offered in S 500 4Matic and S 580 4Matic trims with standard all-wheel drive at launch. 3-D instrumentation, active ambient lighting, haptic feedback—including seat shakers that amplify the effect of audio bass—and more all aim to provide a rich sensory experience. The new Mercedes S-Class goes on sale in the first half of 2021 in the United States at prices yet to be announced. Certain cars are so important to the auto industry as a whole that they generate their own gravity. These models, when redesigned, can suck all the air out of competing automakers’ boardrooms, design studios, and engineering labs. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is one of those cars. Sedans as a vehicle type may be in general decline, but the S-Class remains the king of the format globall...
2008 Dodge Dakota Crew Cab TRX4 Retro Review: The OG TRX
What: Dodge’s midsize pickup with all the off-road bells and whistles How Much: Base price, $29,745; As tested, $34,350 What’s Hot: Cool 4×4 options, 302-horse V-8 (only V-8 in class), best-in-class towing What’s Not: Over-creased exterior, rough ride, pricey On the Road:The Dodge Dakota didn’t qualify for the 2008 Truck of the Year event (its engine, styling, and suspension tweaks were too minor), so we opted to try the midsize model at the office. Even a quick glance reveals changes to the pickup. The front end now resembles that of the Nitro, and new, angular creases dominate the fender flares and tailgate. People notice the Detonator Yellow 4×4 on the road and, it turns out, so do bugs. This truck’s bright paintwork attracted dozens of gnats each...
2021 Ford Bronco First Ride: Seat Time In the 4×4 Wrangler Fighter!
I like to think of it as a fun water drip test. Ford teased us for years with promises of the return of the Bronco, and when the automaker was finally poised to show it, a global pandemic mucked up the plans. Adjustments were made, and finally on July 13, the 2021 Ford Bronco made its virtual global debut, along with the more urban 2021 Ford Bronco Sport. And in the three weeks that followed, more than 165,000 plunked down a $100 deposit to get a two- or four-door Bronco when it goes on sale next year. Back to the water test. Yes, we are wriggling with anticipation to drive the new Bronco family. And Ford knows it. So, the automaker organized a Bronco Day on August 11, the SUV’s 55th birthday, at a new off-road park outside Detroit. Small groups of media were invited to hop into the ...
2019 Porsche 911 Speedster Second Drive
Nobody is perfect, especially me. An odd way to begin a car review, sure, but hear me out: A couple of months ago I wrote up a list of The Best 991-Gen Porsche 911s I’ve ever driven. Sitting in fifth place on that list is the Porsche 911 Speedster. Fifth out of 12 is fine, but I want to state right here, right now, that I made a mistake. See, back in December I got to drive this very same Guards Red Speedster up in Sonoma County. Thing is, I drove it the same day that I drove the 1953 Porsche America Roadster, and that little white bathtub of a sports car shattered my brain. I couldn’t even process the new Speedster. I knew the final iteration of Porsche’s 991 platform was good, superlative even, but any impression I had of it was cudgeled away by the America Roadster. Ye...
