| 2015 Smart Forfour First Drive: Why Isn’t the Five-Door Smart Coming Here? |
Nov 25th, 2014 |
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The Smart Fortwo is a known quantity. It’s the expensive novelty you often see strewn haphazardly on snippets of unclaimed urban streetscape, especially in Europe. It survives because of Daimler stubbornness—after 16 years, the automaker has yet to boast of a Smart profit—and burbles along at about 100,000 global sales per year, partly because it’s […]
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| AutoShop Express Publishes Winter Survival Tips for Auto Dealers & Repair Shops |
Nov 25th, 2014 |
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Purchasing and customizing the right auto dealership supplies is important year-round.
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| The Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake Is the CLA as Nature Intended |
Nov 24th, 2014 |
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The fifth—and by far our favorite—iteration of Mercedes’ latest front-wheel-drive platform, the CLA Shooting Brake arrives with the ability to haul more stuff and melt plenty of hearts. (The others: A-class hatch, B-class hatch, CLA-class sedan, and GLA-class crossover.) No, this little brother to the CLS Shooting Brake won’t come here, but we can at least dig on the […]
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| Scion Exec Says FR-S Convertible and Turbo Models Won’t Happen |
Nov 24th, 2014 |
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After years of reports indicating one thing, then the other, before swinging back to the first thing, neither a convertible nor a turbocharged variant of Scion’s FR-S sports car will see the light of day. In an interview with WardsAuto, Scion senior vice president Doug Murtha states unequivocally that the FR-S will remain a coupe with […]
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| Gearing Up: Next-Gen Jeep Wrangler To Get Eight-Speed Automatic |
Nov 24th, 2014 |
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Among the rumors and speculation that surrounds the next-generation Jeep Wrangler, one thing is certain: Its fuel economy must be improved from the current model‘s less than stellar 17-mpg city and 21-mpg highway numbers. A recent report in Automotive News points to a major change that will help in that mission. AN reports that a recent Fiat-Chrysler filing with […]
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| Look Out, Subaru: VW Golf SportWagen Confirmed to Offer AWD in U.S. |
Nov 24th, 2014 |
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Volkswagen’s new Golf SportWagen—yes, it’s happening, even if VW only is calling it a “concept” (pictured above) for now—is everything we dig in a compact: It’s attractive, should come with a choice of turbocharged gas and diesel engines, and it’s a wagon. Now we have even more to look forward to when the Golf SportWagen […]
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| Homicide Conviction Overturned in Accident Traced to GM Ignition Switch |
Nov 24th, 2014 |
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Ten years, one week, and two days ago, Gene Mikale Erickson died in a car accident, a passenger in his girlfriend’s Saturn Ion. The driver, Candice Anderson, survived and was charged with criminally negligent homicide based on what appears to have been sloppy police work. Today, seven years after her conviction, a Texas judge has cleared Anderson’s […]
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| Name That Shifter, No. 206 |
Nov 24th, 2014 |
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It’s Monday, and that means it’s time to present this week’s shifter. You’ll have until midday Wednesday to identify the make and model of the vehicle whence this shifter came. Because we’re feeling rather thankful this week, the first person to respond correctly in the Backfires section below will win a Save the Manuals prize […]
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| Ferrari Fires F1 Team Principal After One Season, Hires Marlboro Exec |
Nov 24th, 2014 |
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Tough times at Ferrari’s Formula 1 team: After a disastrous season that found Scuderia Ferrari nearly 500 points behind number-one constructor Mercedes, heads continue to roll. The team just announced that F1 boss Marco Mattiacci is out, replaced by Marlboro senior executive Maurizio Arrivabene. Arrivabene comes to Ferrari after 17 years at Philip Morris, where […]
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| UM, HOLY CRAP: 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 FIRST TEST! |
Nov 24th, 2014 |
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A few years ago, during the darkest hours of the GM bankruptcy, Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter found himself on a conference call with company execs and government overseers. A conversation on the bolts and screws of bailing out GM suddenly halted when one of the federales, a Corvette fan, wanted to know the plan […]
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