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Monday, March 1, 2021

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for March 1, 2021

Mar 01, 2021

Top Stories of the Day

Next-gen Honda CR-V spied through the grapevine for the first time

A new Honda CR-V is coming soon, as one of our spy shooters just caught the next-gen model out testing for the first time. It wasn't an easy catch. The shooter says they used an ultra-long telephoto lens to shoot at a long distance from this secret E…

NHTSA probing engine bay fires in 1.9 million Toyota RAV4s

DETROIT — The U.S. government is investigating complaints of engine compartment fires in nearly 1.9 million Toyota RAV4 small SUVs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating after getting 11 fire complaints involving the…

2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 2-row spy photos reveal unique bodywork

The two-row 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee has been spotted testing in the wild alongside its three-row sibling, giving us our first glimpse at how Jeep plans to differentiate the two beyond their available seating configurations. This is our first look …

2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV First Drive Review | Super-sized with Super Cruise

TAYLOR, Mich. — For the first time in a long time, the sun was shining and the snow was beginning to melt as we first laid eyes on the 2022 Chevrolet Bolt EUV in person. Less than two weeks after the reveal of the just-slightly-larger sibling to the …

2022 Kia Carnival priced with a $1,700 premium over the outgoing Sedona

It's only been a week since the Kia Carnival debuted , and we already have full pricing available. The base LX starts at $33,275, including the $1,175 destination charge. Versus a totally base Sedona, that's a $1,700 price increase. Standard equipmen…

VW is thinking of turning the ID.3 into its first convertible EV

Volkswagen developed the ID.3 as an electric alternative to the Golf. It's offered only as a four-door hatchback, but several members of the company's top brass expressed their wish to see a convertible variant join the range. Ralf Brandstätter, the…

Polaris teases an all-new electric Ranger utility vehicle

Six months ago when we learned that Polaris was working with Zero Motorcycles on electric vehicles , we figured "an upgraded version of Polaris' electric Ranger EV line that uses motor and battery technology from Zero" would likely be the first collab…

Cadillac will expand its range of high-performance Blackwing models

Cadillac proved the American sport sedan isn't dead when it introduced the Blackwing variants of the CT4-V and the CT5-V (pictured) in February 2021. Launched to denote a short-lived V8 engine , the nameplate will appear on other go-fast members of th…

The Porsche 911 GT3 attracts American manual buyers

There's a line that we have grown accustomed to hearing from automakers: We don't offer a manual transmission because the take rate is so low. Moreover, the rule of thumb is that Americans buy automatics while our friends across the Atlantic prefer m…

Junkyard Gem: 1992 Dodge Caravan With 5-Speed Manual Transmission

Believe it or not, minivans with manual transmissions once roamed America — not in huge numbers, but they existed. Plenty of mid-engined Toyota Vans and early Previas came with three pedals here, and Ford sold manual-trans Aerostars through 1994 … bu…

Friday, February 26, 2021

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for February 26, 2021

Feb 26, 2021

Top Stories of the Day

'Black box' in Tiger Woods' SUV could yield clues about cause of wreck

DETROIT — Investigators who are looking into the rollover crash that injured golf legend Tiger Woods will rely heavily on data stored in the Genesis SUV he was driving to figure out what happened. The 2021 Genesis GV80 , made by the Hyundai luxury br…

2021 Lexus ES 250 AWD First Drive | Pick your first-world problem

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Looking at the 2021 Lexus ES sedan, one couldn't be faulted for thinking it unchanged from the previous model year. There is a significant new element, however, with Lexus offering an all-wheel-drive ES for the first time. The ES 2…

Chevrolet may ditch the C8 Corvette's quirky center console

Almost everything about the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette is positively sublime, but one of its more polarizing features is a high, cockpit-style center console that splits the cabin. It's a distinctive element , and not everybody loves it, but if tha…

2021 Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S Coupe Road Test | Beyond the fashion statement

I will forever remember the day when the 2021 Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S Coupe told me it didn't have a heated steering wheel. It was Jan. 30, 2021. A Saturday. Modern cars are impressive things; modern luxury cars, even more so. A few weeks back, I was …

2022 Land Rover Defender V8 to start at $98,550

Land Rover has announced U.S. pricing for its 2022 Defender lineup, including the brand-new V8 model. The short-wheelbase Defender 90 V8 will start at $98,550 (including $1,350 for destination); the long-wheelbase 110 V8 will start at $101,750. The…

Chevy Silverado ZR2 looking bigger, more capable than Trail Boss in spy photos

Since 2019 , there have been reports that Chevrolet has been working on a full-size answer to the Ford Raptor and Ram TRX , which were further stoked by a factory-modifed race truck . Now we have spy photos of what seems to be a serious Chevy Silverado …

Ringbrothers shows off Coyote-powered 1968 Mercury Cougar

We'll openly admit that not every SEMA build is our cup of tea. But this? A tastefully resto-modded 1968 Mercury Cougar with a 460-horsepower Ford Mustang V8? Yeah, this is right in our wheelhouse. Sadly, there was no in-pwerson SEMA show in 2020, so…

Ferrari 250 GTO-inspired GTO Engineering Moderna headed to production

England-based GTO Engineering announced it will build the Ferrari 250 GTO-inspired Moderna it released sketches of in 2020. While the Prancing Horse would undoubtedly prefer to keep the design in the history book, a European court opened the door to …

Here's the Lordstown Motors Endurance race truck

Lordstown Motors has revealed a rendering of the race truck they plan to enter in the San Felipe 250 off-road race in April. We've seen them testing the skateboard that underpins the pickup, but this is the first glimpse at what the finished race tru…

Next-gen Mercedes-AMG C63 reportedly getting 550-hp turbo-electric drivetrain

Mercedes-Benz introduced the fifth-generation C-Class in February 2021, and it confirmed the range-topping AMG-tuned C63 will return with a seriously downsized powertrain. While official technical details remain closely guarded, an unverified report …