Author: Sofia
From the February/March issue of Car and Driver.While everyone’s busy celebrating the complicated sound maker under the hood, a device that needs all sorts of care and feeding and still only makes peak power in a minuscule range, they tend to ignore the system that may be twice as powerful. That’s right, the brakes. Car and DriverThe whoa part of the equation is just as responsible for a quick lap as the go portion, even if its sound doesn’t get people out of their seats. So this year we quantified just how hard braking systems were working at Lightning Lap,…
Quick Facts About Manual Cars The number of manual cars being produced is up slightly from 2022. Cars with manual transmissions use third pedals called clutches. Acura reintroduced its Integra with a manual transmission after being discontinued for more than a decade. Transmission — whether automatic or manual — isn’t typically top of mind when buying a new or used car. If you’re seeking an automatic car, that’s easy to find when searching for your next ride. But finding a car with a stick shift — now that’s a challenge. According to the latest data from the United States Environmental…
As new cars and trucks continue to become more complex and tech laden, the simple, almost minimalist nature of classic vehicles is a quality many buyers are seeking—and willing to spend big bucks on. Velocity Restorations of Pensacola, Florida, is a company that has capitalized on the growing demand for classic vehicles that still offer the convenience, performance, and reliability of modern equivalents. The company has spent the last decade building restomod versions of the original Ford Bronco, and it recently started offering a restomod version of the fifth-generation Ford F-Series F-250 pickup. Jay Leno has featured the truck in…
Pros: Class-leading spaciousness; excellent available tech; true luxury interior in Grand Wagoneer Cons: High price; poor fuel economy; no serious off-road variants The 2023 Jeep Wagoneer and its luxurious counterpart, the Grand Wagoneer, are already expanding their offerings one year after the nameplate’s rebirth. This full-size, three-row SUV gets even more spacious with the introduction of the Wagoneer L and Grand Wagoneer L, which feature a longer wheelbase and an entire foot of extra length. Jeep also added a new engine to the lineup: the “Hurricane” twin-turbo inline-6 with two different outputs available, making it even more competitive against the…
On Super Bowl Sunday, Ram released a first set of photos revealing that, in production form, the Ram 1500 REV electric pickup truck won’t be nearly as radical in design as suggested by the Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept shown at CES last month. In a full set of exterior photos released ahead of an anticipated Super Bowl commercial that may include a deeper look, the production Ram 1500 REV appears to have the same front-end appearance as the concept, with distinctive lighting that flows in twin paths to the side from the grille, as the Ram 1500 Revolution BEV…
I’m jetlagged, but it’s all good. I’m in the pocket of a sleek, leather-lined four-seater, flipping its shift paddles to goose its twin-turbo V-6, strafing the countryside northwest of Rome. I’m all, oh, look, there’s an olive grove and oh, look, a thousand-year-old aqueduct. Meanwhile, I’m hoovering up pavement like the Italian cream buns at the Colosseum Cafe when not being squeezed into a half-lane by wandery Iveco box trucks. Forty-eight hours earlier, I’d been filing my taxes and scooping the litter box. Gran turismo? You bet your maritozzo it is, notwithstanding the joys of 1099-INT forms and all. The…
When we started Lightning Lap 17 years ago, a 2006 Ford GT claimed the fast time with a 3:00.7. Today, that lap doesn’t even land in the fastest third of a record book that includes 319 vehicles.Each time on this list tells a story about the capabilities of a single car. Taken as a whole, the comprehensive list of Lightning Lap times tells a saga of long-running rivalries, continuous technological progress, and an evolving notion of what constitutes a performance vehicle (we’re talking about you, Porsche Cayenne, the SUV lap-time champ). A single overarching theme carries through it all: Faster.…
Ram’s ready to start talking about its production-bound electric pickup truck. On Sunday, the truck division of Stellantis revealed the exterior of the Ram 1500 REV with the the automaker’s game-day commercial during Super Bowl LVII. While pre-orders aren’t being taken yet, Ram began taking a refundable $100 fee from customers to reserve their spot in line to pre-order the Ram 1500 REV. Set to enter production in 2024, the Ram 1500 REV’s design is an evolution of the current gas-powered truck rather than a full revolution as previewed by the Ram 1500 Revolution Concept in January at CES. Ram…
Ready for more news on the Cadillac Lyriq? Cadillac giveth and taketh away with its luxury electric crossover, inserting a new entry-level Tech trim into the lineup that lowers the model’s starting price that, as a commenter noted, paradoxically omits a lot of tech. GM Authority reports exterior color options and interior choices will also grow. Inside, Perforated Inteluxe seating available in either Noir or Sky Cool Gray has been Hobson’s choice up to now — “Inteluxe” being fancy code for fake leather — contrasted with Dark Ash Cluster open-pore trim. The 2024 Lyriq Tech will be stuck with non-perforated…
Ford has filed a second patent application for roof-mounted airbags aimed at offering added crash protection to vehicle occupants. The automaker filed a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2021 (it was published in late 2022) showing roof-mounted airbags that deploy from a vehicle’s headliner and surround the occupants. Now a second application has appeared showing a similar concept. Ford roof-mounted airbag patent image (from second application) Published on Jan. 26, 2023, this second patent application focuses on airbags that could cover the space between the front seats and dashboard. Unlike the previous application,…