Auto and Cars

Saleen GT4 Race Car Debuts With 450 HP and a $225K Price Tag Saleen is no stranger to GT racing, and its latest offering aims to bring the competition experience to drivers of varying skill levels. The company on Thursday in Las Vegas revealed its GT4 concept race car, based on the Saleen 1 (a.k.a. the Saleen S1) and intended to compete in SRO Motorsport Group’s GT4 series. Saleen plans to build the cars in Corona, California, beginning in November, and will open them to customer orders once SRO homologates the model for competition. Saleen revealed the turbocharged race car during a press conference and demonstration event held at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and it said it designed its GT4 to compete in various series around the world as well as with SRO. The GT4 concep...

Refreshing or Revolting: BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe vs. Mercedes-Benz CLA The 2020 BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe answers a question no one asked: What would a BMW competitor to the Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class look like? Slotting below the 4 Series Gran Coupe, the 2020 2 Series Gran Coupe rides on a front-drive-based platform shared with the X1 and X2. For the U.S., the 2 Series Gran Coupe will only come with all-wheel drive. Upon first glance, the 2020 BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe borrows its front end design from the X2. The twin-kidney grille and headlight clusters are the same shape as in the crossover, giving it a familiar appearance. Compared to the 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class, the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe has a chunkier look thanks to its rounded appearance. More differences become apparent when yo...

Nearly 150 Collector Cars Seized in an FBI Raid Head to Auction In December 2018, federal agents from the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service raided the offices of DC Solar and the home of company founders Paulette and Jeff Carpoff, exposing the supposed maker of solar-powered generators and light towers for an $800-million-plus Ponzi scheme. Started in 2008, DC Solar attracted investments from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and Progressive insurance. The company brought in $810 million in total, $340 million of which came from Berkshire Hathaway. Now, almost a year after the FBI showed up at the Carpoffs’ 4,100-square-foot California mansion, 149 collector cars seized during the raid are going up for auction. So if you thought auction season was over, you thought wrong. As it turns out,...

Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye Test Drive Video: The Biggest and Baddest The Dodge Challenger doesn’t compete with the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang. The pony car proletariat may protest, but hear me out. As the Camaro gets lighter and sharper with track-focused 1LE versions and Ford develops high-revving flat-plane V-8s and carbon-fiber–wheeled GT500s, those cars are chasing a different audience than a car like the Challenger. Dodge’s take on the modern muscle car is bigger, heavier, more comfortable, and more audacious than those cars—the Challenger is its own thing. And the Challenger Hellcat Redeye Widebody is the most Challenger-ish Challenger Dodge will challenge you to buy. ...

Hyundai iMax N Drift Bus Makes Van Life More Exciting Vans are awesome—they haul stuff and take you on epic adventures along with seven other people (you like). But what if said van also gives you thrills? That’s exactly what Hyundai Australia added to a humble iMax (also known as Starex in other global markets) passenger van. However, it didn’t just give it a couple go fast bits and pieces, this iMax got the full N treatment. Say hello to the Hyundai iMax N Drift Bus, the eight-passenger, rear-drive machine that’ll happily go sideways. Normally, the Hyundai iMax is powered by a 2.5-liter turbodiesel I-4. That wasn’t enough so Hyundai Australia ditched that in favor of a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6 good for 300 kW and 550 nm of torque, that’s 402 hp and 409 lb-ft. The engine comes paired e...

Aston Martin DBX Undisguised: Details Revealed in New Photos Ignore the dogs. We’ve already seen photos of the upcoming Aston Martin DBX wearing trippy camouflage and bright red lipstick, but a new batch of undisguised detail shots provide fresh clues about the super-SUV. Bundled with a news blast covering accessories that can be optioned on the high-performance high-rider, the photos hint at its capabilities, as well as similarities and differences between other Aston Martins. Take a moment to stretch before proceeding, because we’re about to reach. The crew in Gaydon explicitly details the DBX’s cargo capacity as they describe the available Pet Pack. It’s listed as 632 liters, which converts to about 22.3 cubic feet. That’s comparable to other sporty fastback SUVs; the Lamborghini Ur...

The Canoo Electric Car: 6 Thoughts After Visiting the EV Startup We first reported on the intriguing Canoo electric-car startup last month—what follows are six thoughts from Kim Reynolds, one of the most knowledgeable EV experts in automotive journalism today. That misspelled name “So, could you tell me about the name, Canoo?” Three weeks ago, I typed the address of a new EV startup called Canoo into Google Maps. Canoo? That strange name was the first thing I was going to ask about when I got there. Pulling up to a surprisingly large, two-story building in Torrance, it took a while to find an empty spot. But inside, I was quickly greeted by Canoo’s CEO, Ulrich Kranz, a slight, wiry man in his sixties who speaks with a precise, German accent. After a quick tour downstairs, I followed him...

Ford Explorer, Escape Custom SUVs for SEMA Range From Mild to Wild This time of year, the days may be getting shorter, but we can already feel the SEMA lines getting longer. The well-established custom-car, accessories, and tuner show in Las Vegas, Nevada, is just around the corner, and while we’ve already seen what Ford has in store for some Ranger and F-150 pickups at its booth, now we get to learn about its plans for the 2020 Escape, Explorer, and Expedition SUVs. Read on to learn about the transformations, which range from street machines to off-road beasties. MAD Industries Ford Expedition Stealth This Ford Expedition Stealth by MAD Industries looks rad and is made for weekend warriors—check out that Yakima SkyRise rooftop tent, all you campers in the crowd. The all black and stea...

2020 Hyundai Palisade vs. 2020 Kia Telluride: Korean Cousins Square Off The Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade are built on the same platform. They have the same engine, with the same output, connected to the same transmission. They have the same number of seats, similar features and technology, as well as near-identical practicality. Therefore, cross-shopping the two proves you’re a car enthusiast. Why? Because when vehicles are so similar on paper, you’re forced to delve into subtleties and details to decide which is better. Look, if you just wanted a seven-seat people mover, you’d get whatever’s cheapest. But deciding between this duo shows that what you drive matters, even if it’s not an enthusiast car in the typical sense. Ultimately, finding the better SUV was a test of our enthus...

The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 is Faster-Accelerating Than These 10 Pricier Cars MotorTrend has been performance testing cars for 70 years, and over that time we’ve recorded the 0-60 times of thousands of cars. We recently retested the first car to ever grace MotorTrend’s cover, a 1949 Kurtis Sport Car, which did 0-60 mph in an exceptional (the wrong kind of exceptional) 15.3 seconds. Today, some performance cars can even break the 3-second barrier. And now that we’ve tested the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8, we know that the sub-$100,000 mid-engine supercar-beater rips to 60 in 2.8 seconds. So which MotorTrend-tested supercars and sports cars are slower than the new 2020 Corvette? Check out the list below to find out. Interested in the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette? See our comprehensive covera...

2020 Volvo XC40 Recharge First Look: The First of Many Volvo EVs to Come Volvo isn’t being shy about it: We need to change our ways to combat climate change issues the world faces today. Cars in particular—including, by Volvo’s admission, its own—are primary contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and resource depletion that pose a massive problem for society today. Rather than take a fatalistic approach and suggest that we end driving entirely, Volvo thinks there’s a smarter, more holistic way. This new approach is better for the planet, but at the same time will add value to Volvo’s business—not to mention still produce fun-to-drive vehicles. Enter the 2020 Volvo XC40 Recharge. Sharing a name and body with the XC40 compact crossover, Volvo’s first-ever all-electric car is based on i...

Future 2020 Honda Fit Shows Its Profile in New Teaser The next generation 2020 Honda Fit (Jazz in global markets) has been teased ahead of its official debut at the 2019 Tokyo Auto Show. One of the most noticeable features on the new car is its length; its nose appears to be longer than the current generation Fit giving it a more car-like profile. The current Fit has a shorter nose that makes it look a little more unusual—even minivan-like in some angles. Other than the longer nose, the new Honda Fit’s looks appear evolutionary. It’s still got the same upright greenhouse, which should help retain its trademark roomy interior. Earlier this year, we spied the next generation Honda Fit testing in Europe sporting roof rails, Honda’s new corporate grille, and round headlights with halo-like...

Eight Supercars and Sports Cars Slower Than a 2020 Toyota Supra It seems that Toyota’s numbers for the new Supra are … let’s say, conservative. Toyota claims the Supra’s BMW-sourced force-fed inline-six makes 335 hp and 365 lb-ft of torque at the crank, but we took it to a dyno for more testing. It put down 332 hp and 387 lb-ft at the wheels, which, factoring in an approximate 15 percent drivetrain loss, suggests the engine is generating a lot more grunt than Toyota tells us. In terms of performance, Toyota’s numbers have the Supra hitting 60 mph from a stop in just 4.1 seconds, which is mighty quick. (Quick, not fast. Fast describes top speed; quick relates to acceleration.) Ah, but just like the power and torque figures, our own testing saw the Supra overperforming. The car completed ...

10 Relatively Affordable Camper-Van Conversions for Living That Van Life Looking to get out there—you know, really out there—but tents are a no-go and you don’t want to drag a trailer to sleep in or drive something the size of a house? Then you’re looking for a camper van. These handy homes away from home are based on normal-sized trucks and vans, meaning they should fit in normal driveways and parking spaces and be fairly easy to drive. We’ve gathered up 10 worth considering for going #vanlife, although fair warning: Even while the majority sit at the affordable end of the camper-van and conversion-van spectrum, they’re all significantly pricier than a regular ol’ van with an air mattress thrown in the back. Airstream Interstate Nineteen Looking for the bougiest luxury conversio...

Jeep Wrangler vs. Mercedes G-Class Video: Two Off-Road Icons Clash in Moab When you think “off-roading,” the first car that probably comes to mind—if you’re an American—is the Jeep Wrangler; an icon of go-anywhere, do-anything capability, especially in Rubicon trim. But if you live elsewhere in the world, you might think of the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, another rugged SUV with military heritage that’s an off-road icon in its own right. Over the years, the G-Wagen has become better known as a luxury symbol than one of off-pavement prowess. Has the new Mercedes-Benz G550 gone soft? Watch it go rock crawling in Moab alongside the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon in this comparison video to find out. Even though the G-Wagen may look more at home on Rodeo Drive than on the Rubicon Trail these days, our H...

Favorite Top Gear Episode: When James Drove a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport THIS Fast… I credit Jeremy, James, and Richard—among many others—with jumpstarting my love for cars. I’m sure many members of the millennial generation do. After just one episode of Top Gear I decided my life, in some form or another, had to align with the automobile. As a result, I owe the boys a bit of a thank-you. The ultimate collection of Top Gear is now available on the MotorTrend App, the only subscription streaming service dedicated entirely to the motoring world. Sign up for a free trial to start binge watching right now! So for my little Ode du Top Gear I wanted to bring back a classic feature from almost a decade ago. There are so many good ones to choose from—the Burma special, the Patagonia special, ...

EXCLUSIVE: 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray First Test: The C8 Keeps Its Promises This far, no farther. Chevrolet’s Corvette engineering team has been clear: They had taken the front-engine, rear-drive sports car platform as far as possible. The only way forward was to move the engine backward. After pulling the pin and blowing up 65 years of history and heritage, the mid-engine C8 Corvette made its debut to incredible promises. And after decades reporting rumors and false starts, we can finally confirm: Chevrolet keeps its promises. You’ll forgive any skepticism. Chevrolet told us moving the engine back a few feet, adding 35 horsepower (give or take), and employing a dual-clutch transmission would make the 495-hp C8 Corvette Z51 quicker to 60 mph than the 755-hp C7 Corvette ZR1, despit...

Acura RDX A-Spec vs. Advance: Which 2020 RDX Trim Should You Pick? So you’ve decided the 2020 Acura RDX is the luxury SUV for you—great! No car is perfect, but we’ve (mostly) come to like the RDX’s overall package after naming it a 2019 SUV of the Year finalist and driving a 2019 RDX A-Spec for nearly a year. But if you’re not sure which RDX trim is best, we can help. Besides our more than 20,000 miles in an RDX A-Spec, we recently spent some quality time with a 2020 RDX Advance, the highest trim in the model lineup. So if you’re comparing the RDX A-Spec against the RDX Advance, which trim should you pick? Wait, what’s wrong with the RDX Technology package model? Nothing’s wrong with the RDX Tech package model, and you’ll save a ton of money if you can forgo the features and added appe...

2018 Honda Civic Type R One-Year Review: Do I Have to Give it Back? Seriously, do I? When I started this year-long evaluation, I wondered what it would be like to live with the Best Hot Hatch in Decades. Now, I’m wondering how I’m going to live without the 2018 Honda Civic Type R. The CTR, as its fans call it, proved to be a consummate, comfy commuter, a maniacal mountain road goer, a multi-record-holding performer, frugal road tripper, and surprisingly spacious and convenient hauler. There may not be a more comprehensively satisfying MotorTrend long-term test car extant. It literally does everything. Performance Let’s get right to the good stuff. The first Civic Type R (FK8) sold in the States is simply the best performing front-drive production car in history. No stock FWD car will be...

How to Launch (JUMP) a 2020 Chevrolet Corvette in 5 Easy Steps Step 1: Obtain a 2020 Corvette The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette goes on sale very soon. First customer deliveries are expected this spring. If you have $60,000 lying around, that should be enough to land a base model Corvette, but only in the first year. If you’d like a topless C8, expect to pay considerably more. For this test flight, we used a 2020 Corvette Z51 provided to us by Chevrolet; check back in the next few days for the rest of MotorTrend’s Corvette Week, with more awesome C8 stories you’ll only find here. Step 2: Location, location, location Our lawyers advise us that you’re mostly on your own with this one. If you know a racetrack or private road that has the right change in elevation, we suggest going there first. I...

2020 Porsche Taycan 4S Offers up to 563 HP and a Lower Price Porsche debuted the 2020 Taycan EV in Turbo and Turbo S trim, but we always knew the Taycan range would add variants below those top models eventually. That expansion has happened earlier than expected. Meet the Taycan 4S, the newest member of Porsche’s electric car lineup. The 4S comes with two battery options. The Performance Battery and the Performance Battery Plus deliver 522 hp and 563 hp, respectively. The standard Performance Battery in the 4S has been slightly sized down to 79.2 kWh, but if you opt for the Performance Battery Plus you’ll get the same 93.4-kWh two-layer battery out of the Turbo and Turbo S. Like its more powerful counterparts, the 4S is all-wheel-drive thanks to two synchronous electric motors, one on e...

Will Future Cars Have CO2-Negative Carbon Fiber? – Technologue Carbon fiber seems relatively good for the environment—it makes cars and planes so much lighter that they get way better gas mileage, right? True, but this simple analysis forgives the fact that cured carbon-fiber structures are extremely energy-intensive to produce. That’s why BMW sourced the carbon fiber for its i3 and i8 cars from Moses Lake, Washington, where hydroelectric energy drastically lowers the footprint of its carbon. Now researchers at the Technical University of Munich have discovered a process that turns that notion on its head—CO2–negative carbon fiber. That’s right, producing polyacrylonitrile feedstock from algae and curing it using parabolic-reflected solar energy produces fibers that match the properties...

Could Hövding’s $330 Airbag Helmet Prevent e-Scooter Death and Injury? Anxious to jump on the shareable e-scooter craze, but less psyched about all those news stories highlighting the likelihood that you’ll suffer debilitating brain injuries during a ride? A helmet is the obvious solution, but who carries one of those around 24/7? Luckily, there is hope for Bird and Lime and other e-scooter riders who don’t want to choose between skull safety and fashion: Hövding. What the what? Hövding is a Swedish company with a novel helmet alternative that every scooter rider should consider. Founded in 2006 by design students Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, Hövding hoped to encourage bicycle-riding Swedish teenagers to heed a then-new compulsory helmet law by skipping helmets altogether. Its solution...

Will Future Cars Have CO2-Negative Carbon Fiber? – Technologue Carbon fiber seems relatively good for the environment—it makes cars and planes so much lighter that they get way better gas mileage, right? True, but this simple analysis forgives the fact that cured carbon-fiber structures are extremely energy-intensive to produce. That’s why BMW sourced the carbon fiber for its i3 and i8 cars from Moses Lake, Washington, where hydroelectric energy drastically lowers the footprint of its carbon. Now researchers at the Technical University of Munich have discovered a process that turns that notion on its head—CO2–negative carbon fiber. That’s right, producing polyacrylonitrile feedstock from algae and curing it using parabolic-reflected solar energy produces fibers that match the properties...

Could Hövding’s $330 Airbag Helmet Prevent e-Scooter Death and Injury? Anxious to jump on the shareable e-scooter craze, but less psyched about all those news stories highlighting the likelihood that you’ll suffer debilitating brain injuries during a ride? A helmet is the obvious solution, but who carries one of those around 24/7? Luckily, there is hope for Bird and Lime and other e-scooter riders who don’t want to choose between skull safety and fashion: Hövding. What the what? Hövding is a Swedish company with a novel helmet alternative that every scooter rider should consider. Founded in 2006 by design students Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, Hövding hoped to encourage bicycle-riding Swedish teenagers to heed a then-new compulsory helmet law by skipping helmets altogether. Its solution...

20 of the Best 3-Row SUVs for 2020 If you’re looking for a family vehicle with seating for more than five, chances are you’re in the market for either a minivan or an SUV. The latter segment is currently growing and dominating the automotive industry. Even if you’re looking exclusively at SUVs with a 3rd row, there are plenty to choose from across the mainstream and luxury segments. Here are our picks for the best SUVs with 3 rows for 2020. Kia Telluride With its rugged good looks and commanding presence, the 2020 Kia Telluride wants your attention if you’re in the market for an SUV with a 3rd row. The Telluride backs up its appearance, too. It’s got a well-appointed interior that punches above its weight, plenty of safety features, and a healthy 291-hp 3.8-liter V-6, making it one of ...

2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 vs. C8.R: Here’s How the Race Car is Different Road cars and their endurance racing counterparts may look alike, sometimes sharing body panels, headlights, and even engine architecture, but in general, the stripped out, lightened race cars you see competing at Le Mans and elsewhere are nothing like the vehicles you can go out and buy. Chevy says its Corvette C8.R, however, shares more parts with its production equivalent than any other Corvette race car to date. Though that may be true, the list of changes from road car to race car is still extensive. Let’s go over some of the biggest differences between the regular Corvette and the C8.R that will race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Running Gear Let’s start with the engine. Motivating the roa...

Refreshing or Revolting: 2020 Chevrolet Corvette C8 Coupe vs. Convertible Chevrolet has finally revealed the 2020 Corvette C8 convertible, which ditches the traditional soft top for a power retractable hard top. We’ve already examined the 2020 Corvette Convertible next to its front-engine predecessor. Now, let’s see how the drop-top’s styling compares to its targa-roof counterpart. Which C8 body style is more attractive? Take a look below and decide for yourself. When you look at it next to the coupe, the convertible’s styling differences aren’t immediately apparent from the front fascia. The moment you move to the side, however, the obvious lack of a rear hatch and the smaller glass area distinguish the convertible from the coupe. Move around to the back and we find more key difference...