| Bye-Bye Five: The Future Dims for the Five-Cylinder Engine |
Oct 26th, 2012 |
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Fans of oddball engines were dealt a blow recently when Volkswagen and Volvo both announced that they intend to phase out their five-cylinder powerplants. Among the last of their kind in the U.S., both will be replaced by turbocharged fours with fewer liters. Chalk up the rush to fewer cylinders and smaller displacements to the pursuit [...]
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| 2013 Land Rover Range Rover First Drive: Massively Lighter, Better, Luxurious as Ever |
Oct 26th, 2012 |
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So what you really want to know is how it feels to drive a Range Rover with nobody in it. Compared with the outgoing Range Rover, that’s how this new one should feel: empty, unladen. By building what it describes as the world’s first SUV with an all-aluminum unibody, Land Rover has cut a claimed [...]
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| Toyota and Lexus Haul Another Batch of Vehicles to Vegas [2012 SEMA Show] |
Oct 26th, 2012 |
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Toyota and its luxury-arm Lexus aren’t exactly known for their outlandishly styled and tuner-friendly lineups. But that hasn’t stopped them from bringing a handful of modified cars and trucks to Las Vegas for the 2012 SEMA show. The vehicles vary from a sport-tuned Lexus LS to a Tundra that looks like the inside of a [...]
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| 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Long-Term Test: Great Packaging, Not So Great Gearbox |
Oct 26th, 2012 |
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In SUVland, the Jeep Grand Cherokee is a curious genetic offshoot. While its competitors evolved from enclosed trucks to car-based pseudo-wagons, aping the Jeep’s unibody construction along the way, the Grand Cherokee holds on to off-road credentials long-since forsaken in pursuit of the lucrative lacrosse-mom market. But the GC also offers comfort, extending Jeep’s go-anywhere [...]
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| Fiat 500 Abarth Cabrio, 500E to Debut in November [2012 L.A. Auto Show] |
Oct 26th, 2012 |
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Fiat’s range of bantam 500s is set to grow even larger this November, with the company debuting an electric 500 and a convertible version of the Abarth at the 2012 L.A. auto show. Chrysler and Fiat didn’t make the announcement, but the L.A. auto show’s official newsletter, sent out this week, talks about the pair’s [...]
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| The Continental: Audi’s Sports Car, BMW’s Three-Banger, and Happy Birthday to Le Car |
Oct 26th, 2012 |
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Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental. I have driven the Audi R8 many times, and I appreciated the opportunity to drive it [...]
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| Modified British Van Invades Drag Week in Latest Hot Rod Unlimited |
Oct 26th, 2012 |
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Drag Week is known to be one of the most grueling events in motorsports, as competitors push their vehicles to the limit on and off the track. Apart from having to post the lowest average elapsed time at the end of the week, competitors must also travel several miles to four different drag strips. It [...]
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| 2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year Contender: BMW 3 Series |
Oct 26th, 2012 |
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Through sheer competence from decades of experience, the BMW 3 Series remains at the top of the segment and is still best-in-class by most measures. “Feels softer, more compliant than the Cadillac ATS, but also more developed and mature. BMW is evolving the 3 Series into a car that is not as overtly sporty as [...]
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| Thread of the Day: Should Lincoln Get a Mustang-Based Mercedes E-Class Fighter? |
Oct 26th, 2012 |
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Lincoln is in dire need of a flagship sedan – a luxury car that can provide direction for the brand, and let everyone know just what a Lincoln is. After years of nothing but rebadged Fords, Lincoln could use a car like this to reverse its fortunes. And according to editor-at-large Angus MacKenzie in a [...]
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| 1940 Ford Coupe Added to Automaker’s List of Reproduction Body Shells |
Oct 26th, 2012 |
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Ford is expanding its line of reproduction body shells by adding the iconic 1940 Ford Coupe to the lineup. The reproduction ’40 Ford body will be introduced to the public next week at the 2012 SEMA Show. The new Ford Coupe body shell joins the 1965-1970 Mustang body shells that Ford has introduced at the [...]
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