It’s a little hard to believe that the company responsible for the Prius—and with it, almost the entire market of hybrid electric vehicles—is this late to the battery electric vehicle (BEV) game, but it’s true. The year is 2022 and the world is finally seeing the first mass-market Toyota BEV—the 2023 Toyota bZ4X. (Please don’t […]
There are two kinds of people: Jedi who do not deal in absolutes and Sith lords with access to unlimited power. In a similar manner, there are two kinds of BEV (battery-powered electric vehicle), those from established legacy automakers and start-ups. Beyond that oversimplification, EVs are taking on increasingly diverse forms––though they started as super […]
The end of 2020 brought with it much exciting news, but at the time, auto fans like me were stuck waiting for details on the 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor. Never before in the Raptor’s 9-year history had so much been riding on the announcement of the next model year’s specs! The all-new Ram TRX was […]
They’ve been around since 1935. They functionally owned Le Mans for nearly a decade and crafted what is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cars of all time before slipping into obscurity due to ineffective state-sponsored management. Their return to private independence in the early 1980s is a glowing capitalist success story, with […]
It might be the most anticipated sports car of 2023––the car that permanently lays to rest the idea that a Corvette is a poor man’s Ferrari. With a mid-engine layout, the most powerful naturally aspirated V8 engine in a production car (ever), and a flat-plane-crank design that redlines at 8600 RPM, the 2023 Chevy Corvette […]
On March 17, 2022, a panel consisting of Steve Phelps, Jim France, Rick Hendrick, Jim Campbell, Stu Grant, Pierre Fillon, and John Doonan made a remarkable announcement at Sebring: NASCAR had established a plan to make a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023, 47 years after American stock cars last thundered […]
Toyota’s recent announcement of a $383 million investment in American production operations is the latest in a series of major commitments made by the world’s largest automaker to the US manufacturing sector. It is not clear as of the time of writing whether this, and other multi-million-dollar investments by Toyota, are in addition to the […]
What do Bill Nye, Travis Barker, A’ja Wilson, and Keanu Reeves have in common? If your guess is that they’re all blood type O-, you’d be…well, weird, maybe correct, and distressingly in sync with the corny misdirection that I’ve imposed on this opening. If, however, your guess is that each of them has driven a […]
There’s a new car rolling out of the BMW Group Plant Dingolfing this year that is unlikely to ever find itself on an average BMW dealership lot—probably not even on the lots in Munich! What vehicle could be so special as to claim exemption from the normal life cycle of the 20 other BMW models […]
One of the most exciting industries in the world is the electric vehicle (EV) segment. After years of tantalizing hybrids and odd-looking short-range electric commuters, the rest of the industry is catching up to Tesla’s lead, and the goals that manufacturers have for worldwide lineup electrification by 2035 are staggering. Yet if details regarding GM’s […]
It is likely that in any objective analysis of which individual nameplates constitute the greatest automobiles of all time, the Porsche 911 would be at the top of the list. It has it all––one of the world’s best performance pedigrees, daily livability, longevity, value, and timeless style. While other vehicles have done better as cash […]
How did it take until 2022 for General Motors to finally offer Chevy’s flagship vehicle with their flagship off-road performance package? I mean, sure, they have a well-documented record of dodgy decision-making, but this is a no-brainer. With 60% of Silverado sales currently including either the Trail Boss trim or Z71 package, Chevy dealers nationwide […]
Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) programs are a great way for used car shoppers to increase confidence in their purchase, with high initial quality assurances and extended warranties for anything that goes wrong in the short term. Every brand offers its own take, usually varying the age and mileage limits as well as the number of inspection […]
This is a warning. It is not a condemnation of or a call to boycott, but a message intended to caution those who might be customers in the automotive tuning industry. It is an attempt to communicate that you may be getting yourself into a relationship whose outcomes are far from guaranteed. The warning is […]
As an average, everyday peasant, it’s easy for me to look at marques such as Cadillac, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz as the pinnacle of luxury. Large, beautiful, and nigh-unobtainable with sticker prices that look like my mortgage, what I can’t attain is in my face every time I look at the news of the automotive world. […]
It’s finally here! The news we’ve all been waiting for! On January 5th, 2022, in a virtual reveal with the Consumer Electronics Show, General Motors unveiled the all-new 2024 Chevy Avalanche EV pickup truck! The entire industry is abuzz, so I thought I’d give you a summary of what everyone else is saying along with […]
Some people think cars are merely tools to get you, your family, and your stuff from Point A to Point B. This is a free country, so everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I would like to politely suggest that these people are hopelessly wrong and irredeemably lost. Luxury car comforts, sports car thrills, […]
Noise surrounds us. It inundates us, isolates us, occasionally overwhelms us completely. Sound can send a shiver down our spines and raise the hairs on the back of our necks. Its absence is suffocating–or completely liberating–and when any one noise speaks loudly enough, we feel it in our bones. Simple pressure waves–pulses of highs and […]
There’s a lot of different ways to maximize the value you get when shopping for a vehicle. At the extreme ends, you can buy from used car dealers, private sellers, and auctions for some of the cheapest cars out there or buy something brand-new, trading depreciation losses for the highest reliability possible. Besides leasing, though, […]
It had been a long time since the Corvette lineup didn’t include a high-performance model, but that’s exactly the situation we’ve been in since 2020. The model years that have passed after the C8 generation debuted represent a chasm, the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the 1997-2000 C5. However, these dark days have […]
