| Capitol Offense: Watch Rhys Millen Light Up the Streets of Washington D.C. in a GRC Hyundai Veloster |
Jun 19th, 2014 |
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To promote its upcoming Global Rallycross Championship race taking place in our nation’s capitol this Sunday, June 22, the Red Bull GRC Rallycross guys dispatched Rhys Millen on a wild, tire-smoking ride through its streets Being Washington, D.C., Rhys was of course accompanied (some of the time, anyway) by a police escort consisting of two […]
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| Questions of Quality: J.D. Power Generates Metrics that Automakers Pay to Examine—What Does It Mean for Car Buyers? |
Jun 19th, 2014 |
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J.D. Power’s freshly announced 2014 Initial Quality Survey (IQS) tells us the Porsche Panamera sedan earns its highest quality rating among cars sold in the U.S. in 2014. It also says, based on the same survey of consumers reflecting their experience in the first 90 days of ownership, that the assembly plant that produces the fewest […]
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| Up Close and Personal with Bumblebee and Two Other Cars from Transformers 4: Age of Extinction |
Jun 19th, 2014 |
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It’s not every day you get to see some of the hot cars starring in Transformers 4: Age of Extinction up close and personal, but GM invited us to see the Camaro-based Bumblebee, a rally-modified Chevrolet Sonic hatchback, and a muscled-up Corvette Stingray at its sprawling Design Center outside of Detroit. The experience was augmented […]
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| The Continental: Hamsters Invade Leipzig, Big Diesels, and Alpine’s Coming Back |
Jun 19th, 2014 |
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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. While the auto-show circuit is typically at its quietest during the summer months, it doesn’t stop […]
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| Hatch Hotties! Ford Fiesta ST vs. Fiat 500 Abarth, Mini Cooper S Hardtop |
Jun 19th, 2014 |
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Sitting 80 miles north of the Mexican border, in the epicenter of America’s pepper-growing belt, is the village of Hatch, New Mexico. A small farming community of 1648 inhabitants, Hatch is famous for the chile peppers that bear the town’s name. In fact, Hatch is the “Chile Capital of the World.” It’s possible that this […]
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| Hey Smart Lookin’: We Sample Nissan’s “Smart” Rearview Mirror Technology |
Jun 19th, 2014 |
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At this year’s New York auto show, Nissan showed off an interesting piece of rearview-mirror technology that no one in our office paid any attention to—mostly because the brand’s flashy 2015 Murano debuted at the same time. Dubbed the Smart Rearview Camera, the tech consists of a rearview mirror that can be toggled between a […]
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| Knock It Off? Land Rover Opening Chinese Plant with Chery |
Jun 19th, 2014 |
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Jaguar Land Rover will open its first Chinese factory later this year to feed that country’s appetite for foreign luxury cars and steady sales growth. Since JLR is really an old-school SUV company—of 425,006 vehicles sold globally in 2013, 82 percent were Land Rovers—no Jags will pounce out of the new Changshu plant (neighboring India […]
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| NHTSA Checking Ignition Switches in 1.25 Million Chrysler Minivans and Jeeps |
Jun 19th, 2014 |
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Chrysler may be next in the dock for faulty ignition switches if the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determines there’s a problem lurking on 1.25 million cars. The agency opened two investigations this week after Chrysler revealed it used airbag controllers on previous-generation Jeeps that only stay powered for 150 milliseconds after the car shuts […]
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| Jaguar Land Rover Forms New Arm for Tuning, Special Models, and One-Offs |
Jun 19th, 2014 |
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Jaguar Land Rover has set up a new Special Operations division to create high-performance versions of its existing models alongside one-offs and heritage models. The performance engineering part of the S.O. business will be called Special Vehicle Operations, which is likely to trigger a feeling of déjà vu among anyone old enough to remember Ford’s […]
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| 2013 Audi S7 Quattro Long-Term Logbook: Stuck in a Bind |
Jun 19th, 2014 |
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“The one unforgivable sin is the low-speed binding of the all-wheel-drive system with moderate steering lock.” – Eric Tingwall One of our long-term Audi S7 Quattro’s biggest complaint generators is, ironically enough, its Quattro all-wheel-drive system. Nearly every staffer who’s driven the S7 has noticed that, during tight maneuvers at low speeds, there is a […]
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