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Monday, October 7, 2019

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for October 7, 2019

Oct 07, 2019

Top Stories of the Day

2020 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel fuel economy numbers are right in the zone

Every new truck spec gets it own awards show nowadays. In this next envelope we have EPA fuel economy ratings for the 2020 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel — drumroll, please: 22 miles per gallon in the city, 32 mpg highway, 26 mpg combined for the 4x2 trim; 21 mp…

Aston Martin reveals the open-air Vantage Roadster

Aston Martin has tweeted the first official image of its Vantage Roadster in prototype form, following a promise made earlier this year to unveil a convertible version by year's end of the all-new coupe that was unveiled almost two years ago. As is c…

2019 Porsche Macan S Second Drive | Impressions of a sports car

The 2019 Porsche Macan represents an update of the German luxury brand's bestseller. The changes go beyond a simple facelift, with Porsche tweaking chassis tuning, adding new wheels and better tires, improving brake feel and upgrading technology. In …

2020 Chevrolet Corvette does a sound check around Thunderhill West

Road & Track has been deep into parsing data gathered for its annual Performance Car of the Year extravaganza. During testing at Thunderhill West, the mag included a pre-production 2020 Chevrolet Corvette among the luminaries. Guest judge Matt Fa…

Dodge designer on yellow plastic splitter guards: 'I wish they would take them off'

About a year ago, Dodge began placing yellow strips of plastic on the leading edge of Charger and Challenger front splitters to prevent damage during transport from plant to dealer. Dodge embossed "To Be Removed By Dealer" into the plastic, but those…

Harley LiveWire's bid to rev up a new generation is problematic from the get-go

CHICAGO — Harley-Davidson is betting on electric motorcycles to attract the next generation of younger and more environmentally conscious riders to reverse declining U.S. sales. But as Harley ships its first "LiveWire" bikes — priced at $29,799 — to…

Junkyard Gem: 1980 AMC Concord DL 2-Door Sedan

The American Motors Corporation story doesn't have much of a happy ending; the company started out as the merger of Nash-Kelvinator and Hudson, acquired Jeep, had a good run of sales during the 1960s and into the early 1970s, then entered into a grad…

Tire dust is a major source of microplastics in coastal waters

By now you're probably aware that the world is inundated by microplastics — defined as plastic particles that measure smaller than 5 millimeters — with the tiny bits showing up everywhere, including the world's lakes , oceans , tap water and even in fi…

Who's liable for a Tesla Summon fender bender? Lawyers weigh in

Tesla owners summoning their driverless cars in parking lots are likely liable for crashes, lawyers said after a series of internet videos showed problems with cars running new Smart Summon software. If the accidents pile up, though, Tesla itself is…

Friday, October 4, 2019

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for October 4, 2019

Oct 04, 2019

Top Stories of the Day

Lincoln opens the doors again to the Continental Coach Door Edition

Last year, Lincoln did a limited — just 80 — run of stretched Continentals with '60s-style suicide doors to mark the nameplate's 80 anniversary. (The Continental launched in 1939 as a special project of Edsel Ford's.) Those cars, officially the 80 An…

Dodge Challenger outsold Mustang, Camaro in third quarter of 2019

The Dodge Challenger is nearly old enough to start driver's ed in some states, and it doesn't have a firm grasp on the increasingly crucial concept of downsizing, yet it beat the odds to become the most popular American two-door model during the thir…

Next-gen Cadillac Escalade spied with grille uncovered for the first time

The next generation of full-size GM SUVs is coming, and the Cadillac Escalade may the most anticipated reveal of them all. Lincoln has blown up the scene with its excellent Navigator, and Cadillac needs something revolutionary in response. Our latest…

Fiat 695 Abarth 70th Anniversary is the most absurd and awesome Fiat 500 variant yet

Fiat recently told us it would be discontinuing the Fiat 500 hatchback and convertible in America, but Europe still enjoys small cars. There, Fiat just took the wraps off the nuttiest and most shocking 500 variant of all, the 695 70th Anniversary edi…

2020 Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato launches with 760 horsepower

The 2020 Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato has finally been revealed in real life, following renderings shown this summer . And with the reveal come additional details, such as the fact that it bears the most powerful version of Aston's twin-turbo 5.2-liter …

2019 Mini Cooper JCW Knight Edition Drivers' Notes | Drama in a tiny package

The Mini Cooper John Cooper Works Hardtop is the most performance you can buy in a Mini. More powerful JCW Clubmans and Countrymans are over the horizon, but those are much larger cars. A two-door hardtop with a hatchback is the traditional Mini shap…

Toyota prices 2020 RAV4 TRD Off-Road close to 4Runner territory

Toyota has priced the trail-friendly variant of the hot-selling RAV4 it unveiled at the 2019 Chicago auto show. The more adventurous TRD Off-Road trim will join the range for the 2020 model year. Pricing starts at $36,300 after a mandatory $1,120 de…

Ram Trucks celebrates 10 years as a standalone brand

In late September 2009, when Fiat still owned just 20 percent of Chrysler, Automotive News reported that Chrysler would turn Dodge Ram pickup trucks into the standalone Ram Trucks brand. On Oct. 5, 2009, the deed became official , so now it's time to …

Audi planning at least three MEB-based electric cars

Audi will build at least three electric cars on the modular MEB platform developed by parent company Volkswagen. The three battery-powered models are part of an ongoing, 20-car EV offensive that started with the E-Tron in 2018, and that the firm hope…

[VIDEO] Here's 30 minutes of straight-up, weirdly calming Porsche Taycan production footage

The tech in modern automotive manufacturing is as impressive as the tech in the cars themselves, even more so. With new interpretations of the production line, cars skate through like a cart on a roller coaster, as robotic arms precisely piece them t…

Thursday, October 3, 2019

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for October 3, 2019

Oct 03, 2019

Top Stories of the Day

2020 C8 Chevy Corvette convertible reveals its retractable hardtop

Though we got a pretty good look at the 2020 Chevy Corvette convertible earlier this year when it was teased with the coupe, today the company officially showed off the droptop. And that droptop is a retractable hardtop, a first for the model in its …

2019 Subaru Forester Long-Term Introduction | Bring us your dogs

A 2019 Subaru Forester is officially entering the Autoblog long-term vehicle fleet. Subaru completely overhauled the Forester for the 2019 model year , so we've snagged one to start a year-long test. The new, small Subaru crossover left quite an impre…

2020 Chevy Corvette C8.R race car revealed: See and hear it, here

In addition to the 2020 Chevy Corvette convertible , Chevy brought out the C8.R race car undisguised for the first time. As one would expect from a race car, it has splitters and wings protruding from every extremity. It's noticeably wider than the ro…

2020 Chevy Corvette's lead engineer on convertible stiffness, extra weight and more

At the reveal of the 2020 Chevy Corvette convertible , we spoke with Tadge Juechter, the Corvette lead engineer, to glean some extra details. He talked to us about the thinking behind the retractable hardtop, some of the differences between the coupe …

Tesla's Smart Summon feature is being investigated by NHTSA

U.S. regulators are looking into parking lot crashes involving Tesla cars driving themselves to their owners using the company's Smart Summon feature, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Wednesday. Several users have posted vi…

Mitsubishi MI-TECH concept has four electric motors and a turbine engine range extender

Mitsubishi is bringing a new concept car to this year's Tokyo Motor Show, and it's already shaping up to be an exciting proposition. We got a teaser photo of the MI-TECH Concept today, and it looks like a short wheelbase convertible SUV. Not only tha…

The $100,000 Winnebago Solis is a Ram ProMaster camper with a pop-top

Think of it as bunk beds for the outdoors. Maximum personal space, and the campsite has plenty of room for activities. It's an overall win-win. Camper vans with pop-tops are some of the most useful and versatile adventuremobiles out there, and now Wi…

21 cars and motorcycles from Paul Walker's collection are headed to auction

Nearly six years have passed since Paul Walker tragically died in a car accident. A lot has gone down since then , but the news today is about part of the late actor's car collection . Many of his cars and motorcycles, 21 to be exact, are going up for …

2020 BMW X5 M and X6 M are big SUVs with a race track attitude

"Track capable" performance SUVs continue to rain from above, and today, we have more. Let us introduce you to the 2020 BMW X5 M and X6 M, in addition to their Competition trim counterparts, the X5 M Competition and X6 M Competition — four performanc…

Feast your eyes on this perfect 1979 Chevy El Camino Royal Knight

The 1979 Chevrolet El Camino Royal Knight is probably not your dream El Camino. In fact, chances are you don't dream of El Caminos to begin with. Then again, maybe you have the El Camino on your mind after seeing the new "Breaking Bad " movie trailer.…

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for October 1, 2019

Oct 01, 2019

Top Stories of the Day

2020 Lincoln Corsair First Drive | Compact 'American luxury'

SAN FRANCISCO — Lincoln almost left the building. Word is that former Ford CEO Alan Mullaly, who had come from the airline business and did not have any special affection for historically significant auto brands, was ready to kill off Lincoln after F…

The 2021 Rivian R1T looks lovely in bright blue paint

It's been nearly a year since the Rivian R1T truck was first revealed to the world, and today we finally get to see it in a different color. Thanks to a YouTube video posted a couple days ago, a blue paint option has officially emerged. The truck isn…

Some 2020 Toyota Supra owners could get new cars in BMW-issued recall

There are seven brand-new 2020 Toyota Supra owners out there who could have their Supra replaced with a brand new one, due to a safety recall issued by BMW . Yes, there's a lot going on in that sentence, so let's break it down. The recall concerns th…

2020 Toyota C-HR gets a new sense of style

The Toyota C-HR has been an unusual-looking little car with a design that stands out from the rest of the tiny crossover crowd — the automaker calls its look "extroverted," eye-catching in either a good or bad way depending on your sensibilities. Toy…

[VIDEO] First videos of Tesla's new Smart Summon feature a mixed bag

Tesla released the latest version of its AI-driven come-hither feature called Smart Summon last week. Available to owners who purchased the Enhanced Autopilot or the Full Self-Driving option for their cars, it allows a Tesla to leave a parking space …

2019 Audi TT 20th Anniversary Edition First Drive Review | Objet d'art

Twenty years after its debut, the 1999 Audi TT hasn't acquired a place in the Museum of Modern Art's (MOMA) permanent collection , but that coupe's circles, curves, and concision – as well as the roadster's baseball glove leather stitching – still mak…

2020 Hyundai Venue fuel economy revealed with up to 32 mpg combined

We recently were able to drive the upcoming 2020 Hyundai Venue subcompact crossover, and it impressed us with its style and pleasing driving character . At the time, however, we didn't have all the vital statistics, particularly fuel economy numbers. …

1997 Acura Integra Type R sells for $82,000 on Bring a Trailer

Acura Integra Type R prices are getting ridiculous. The car is absolutely superb, but the latest one to sell on Bring a Trailer went for a cool $82,000. You could likely pick up two old Acura NSXs in average condition for a similar price as the singl…

[VIDEO] Transform any bike into an electric bike with this smart motor

Transcript: Transform your manual bike into an electric bike. Rubbee X is an attachable smart motor that touches the rear tire of a bike to provide motor assistance. The quick release technology allows you to install and detach Rubbee with one hand. …

Electronic billboard on Michigan highway plays porn

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Motorists traveling through a Detroit suburb were stunned to see a pornographic video playing on an electronic billboard. Auburn Hills police say the video played on the billboard along Interstate 75 in Oakland County for about…