Best Shots: May 2020

Friday, May 29, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for May 29, 2020

May 29, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1 is happening, will be the 'most track-capable' non-Shelby

The Mach 1 name is returning to the Ford Mustang lineup for the 2021 model year. It'll be making a comeback as a limited-edition model, and be positioned as the "pinnacle of style, handling and 5.0-liter V8 performance." So yes, it's going to have th…

Ford Mustang Mach 1: Time-traveling at the speed of sound

"Mach 1": The term refers to the speed of sound, which is not a fixed number but varies based on the temperature of the surrounding gas. Named for Austrian physicist Ernst Mach, the term is a little science-geeky, but Ford evidently felt it connoted …

2021 Acura TLX revealed, finally looks like a credible luxury sports sedan

We've been given our first official glimpse into the brand-new 2021 Acura TLX sedan, and so far we like what we see. It's clear that Acura wants to be considered a brand that focuses on performance, boosting power with two turbocharged engine options…

2021 Acura TLX vs. luxury sedans: How they compare on paper

The 2021 Acura TLX has been revealed, and it looks superb. We also have a handful of hard numbers, so you know that we've got to take a look at how they compare to the competition. As we only have numbers for the base turbocharged four-cylinder model…

2021 Buick Envision is a vision of Buick's future that's shockingly stylish

Allow us to introduce you to the new and much improved 2021 Buick Envision. Don't let the handsome shape and sharp design fool you. This compact crossover is a Buick. The Envision has been a frumpy and rather boring looking crossover since its launch…

Nissan gives us our first look at the next-gen Frontier and many other upcoming models

Nissan released a video today previewing and confirming the next-gen Z car. We got to see a shadowy silhouette of Nissan's upcoming sports car — find all the details on that here — but we also got a preview of many other future Nissan products. Most …

Toyota Corolla Sport GRMN to get AWD, too

The WRC-inspired Toyota GR Yaris is one of the hot hatches nabbing lots of attention this year. The Japanese automaker has promised a version for the U.S. , albeit on a different platform, and apparently with a different naming scheme. A report in Jap…

2021 Mercedes-AMG GLS 63 Exhaust Test | Treating the ears of all aboard

You wouldn't do this with a Kia Telluride . You wouldn't want to, there really wouldn't be much to hear. But when you have a 4.0-liter handbuilt twin-turbo V8 enhanced with a mild-hybrid system to produce 603 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque, w…

2020 BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe Review | The not-so-budget BMW sedan

The 2020 BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe is BMW's newest entry-level four-door offering. It slots below the 3 Series in price, panache and size, and despite the name, is wholly different from the two-door 2 Series . While that car rides on a traditional-for-B…

2020 Mazda MX-5 Miata RF Luggage Test | It's not the size that counts ...

The Mazda Miata would not be my first choice for a road trip car. Would probably be in the bottom 10, in fact. The interior fits me like a coffin, the seats pinch my back and the amount of passenger legroom is laughable. It's not exactly the most ser…

Thursday, May 28, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for May 28, 2020

May 28, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

Nissan previews next-generation Z: See it in this official teaser video

Nissan put an end to years of motley rumors and wild speculation by releasing a short video that shows the next-generation Z for the first time. The flick confirms the yet-unnamed model will arrive as a retro-styled coupe. The current-generation Z e…

Nissan posts $6.2 billion annual loss and unveils plan to cut costs

TOKYO — Nissan outlined a new plan on Thursday to become a smaller, more cost-efficient carmaker after the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated a slide in profitability that culminated in its first annual loss in 11 years. Under a new four-year plan, th…

What would you drive in 1995?

After journeying back to 1985 and 1975 and then 1965 , we've decided to go back to the future. This will be the first list where the majority of our editors are old enough to really remember the cars in question, or in some cases, actually being alive…

Tesla Cybertruck: Jay Leno and Elon Musk drive a square peg through a round hole

We've known for a few months now that the Tesla Cybertruck would get a spin through "Jay Leno's Garage," with a slew of photos and videos of the titular host driving in a prototype with Elon Musk flooding social media back in January. The segment fin…

Soldier stopped active shooter on Kansas bridge — by running him over with his car

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — A U.S. Army soldier stationed in Kansas saved "countless lives" Wednesday when he hit a man with his car as the man was shooting randomly at people on a bridge near Fort Leavenworth, a police chief said. One person was injured by…

2021 Audi Q5 Sportback spied, confirming rumors

A couple of months ago, reports came out that Audi was going to offer a coupe-like Sportback version of the Q5 luxury crossover. Those rumors appear to be true, since one of our spy photographers caught what seems to be the 2021 Audi Q5 Sportback, po…

2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon Driveway Test Video | Sun's out, guns out

While the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator are primarily known for being the most accessible off-road machines available on the mainstream market, part of their charm is the appeal of open-air cruising. For as long as there have been Jeeps, there has been…

Mercedes-Benz looks back on historic CL 55 AMG F1 Limited Edition

Mercedes-Benz and its performance arm AMG can claim numerous automotive industry firsts, and the CL 55 AMG F1 Limited Edition is part of that pioneering pedigree. Although only 55 were produced in 2000, it made history as the first road car in the wo…

Lego Technic's first Lamborghini is a 1/8-scale, 3,696-piece Sián

The sold-out Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 represents a milestone in the company's history — its first production-bound hybrid, its most powerful street-legal car, and the first Raging Bull added to the Lego Technic catalog . Denmark's best-known brick bui…

The Bumper Dumper is a hitch-mountable portable toilet

Buckle up, everyone. This is going to be a weird one. We've all been on long road trips before when once we end up on a long stretch of interstate with no civilization in sight, well ... nature calls. Many of us may even enjoy off-roading, getting de…

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for May 27, 2020

May 27, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

Tesla slashes thousands of dollars off the price of new electric cars

Tesla cut prices overnight on its three-strong line of electric vehicles by as much as 6% in North America. The biggest price reductions come on Tesla's older Model S and Model X, while the smaller and newer Model 3 sees smaller cuts. The automaker h…

SpaceX's historic launch of NASA astronauts set for today, with an eye on weather

The SpaceX Falcon 9, with the Dragon capsule on top of the rocket, is raised onto Launch Pad 39A Tuesday at Cape Canaveral, Fla. Two astronauts will fly on the SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station scheduled for launch Wednesda…

SpaceX's first astronaut launch will also launch a new sense of style

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first astronauts launched by SpaceX are breaking new ground for style with hip new spacesuits , gull-wing Teslas and a sleek rocketship — all of it white with black trim. The color coordinating is thanks to Elon Musk, the d…

2020 Hyundai Veloster N Suspension Deep Dive

I've been a fan of the Hyundai Veloster since the beginning. In its styling I saw a faint whiff of the second-generation Honda CRX I used to own, and the asymmetrical three-door layout — coupe on the driver's side, sedan on the passenger side — provi…

Ford Police Interceptor Utility can destroy coronavirus by baking it

Ford has rolled out new software aimed at disinfecting the interior of its Police Interceptor Utility vehicles to help officers minimize the risk of exposure to the coronavirus. The solution raises the cabin temperature to above 133 degrees Fahrenhei…

2021 BMW 4 Series shows its nose less than a week before its debut

BMW published a dark preview image that shows the radically new 4 Series in the metal for the first time. The 3's two-door sibling should have made its debut at an auto show but it will instead break cover online. Although the next 4 Series is shrou…

G80 BMW M3 prototype spotted in the wild, this time with more aero

A prototype of the upcoming G80-generation BMW M3 has been spied yet again, this time wearing what appears to be a more pronounced aerodynamics package, suggesting that this may be a hotter model — perhaps the Performance or Competition — rather than…

Ford F-150 could be getting an onboard generator

Most of the electric pickup trucks due out in the early 2020s list an onboard power outlet on their specifications sheet. Ford will prove enabling this feature doesn't require a lithium-ion battery pack, by adding a generator to the next-generation F…

Fiat 500X and 500L could be combined into 500XL for next generation

The Fiat 500L, classified as a subcompact minivan, has been on sale since 2012 in Europe, since 2014 in the U.S. Its subcompact crossover platform-mate, the 500X, went on sale in 2014 in Europe, replicating the same two-year delay in getting to the U…

2020 Honda CR-V Hybrid vs 2020 Porsche Cayenne Coupe Turbo S E-Hybrid

We do our best around here to provide sound consumer advice, which is why there shall be no stone left unturned and no consumer unrepresented in our efforts to be fully inclusive of the car-buying public. Let's say for instance you're interested in b…

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for May 26, 2020

May 26, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

Carbon fiber 1967 Shelby GT500 cooked up by Classic Recreations and Speedkore

What we have here is like a SEMA build offered to the general public. Oklahoma's Classic Recreations, known for officially sanctioned continuation builds of early Ford Mustangs, wanted to do a carbon-fiber-bodied version of its 1967 and 1968 Shelby G…

Hyundai teases coming Santa Fe with intense front fascia

In February, South Korea's KKS Studio rendered a facelifted Hyundai Santa Fe based on spy shots of prototypes spotted around that country. The image showed a full-width grille, thick in the middle and pinched under the headlights, anchored at the edg…

2020 Porsche 911 Luggage Test | Keep the suitcases coming

A Porsche 911 might not be the first choice when it comes to packing in a bunch of luggage — the Macan and Cayenne are your pack mule options — but don't let its sports car shape fool you. The 2+2 rear-engined track scalpel is surprisingly able at fi…

Next-gen Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class spied for the first time

The Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class may have just been updated for the 2020 model year, but a completely fresh crossover is already on the horizon. Mercedes' hot-selling compact crossover hasn't been spied in its next-gen form before, so these spy shots are …

Mercedes-AMG G-Class 4x4 Squared is coming back for a second generation

The beefiest, brawniest AMG model is making a comeback. Spy shots reveal that there will be a second-generation Mercedes-AMG G-Class 4x4² . It follows closely in the footsteps of the previous gargantuan G-Wagen, but there is one particularly major cha…

2020 Ford Edge ST-Line is for appearances only

The Ford Edge lineup is expanding for the 2020 model year with the introduction of the new Edge ST-Line. Unlike the performance-minded Edge ST, the ST-Line will essentially be equipped with a styling and features package that provides no actual sport…

Dodge closes Caravan order books at the end of this month

After being introduced as the Dodge Caravan in 1983 , after debuting a long wheelbase Grand Caravan in 1987, after entering its fifth generation in 2007 and going almost unchanged since then to become the oldest minivan in the segment, after being pub…

Lock your cars! Vehicle thefts and car prowls spike in coronavirus pandemic

LOS ANGELES — The coronavirus hasn't been kind to car owners. With more people than ever staying home to lessen the spread of the virus, their sedans, pickup trucks and SUVs are parked unattended on the streets, making them easy targets for opportun…

Formula E driver disqualified for getting a ringer to race for him

LONDON — Audi Formula E driver Daniel Abt was disqualified and ordered to pay 10,000 euros ($10,900.00) to charity on Sunday for getting a professional gamer to compete under his name in an official esports race. The German, who apologized f…

This ice cream truck dispenses only 'metal music and disappointment'

Here's a story that seems tailor-made for our season of discontent under the heavy thumb of the coronavirus pandemic. It's about a guy in Minneapolis who drives a black ice cream truck. It plays the familiar ice-cream truck jingle, but it also blares…