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Tuesday, January 26, 2021

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

Jan 26, 2021

Top Stories of the Day

Biden plans to replace federal fleet with American-made electric vehicles

President Joe Biden said today that the U.S. federal government would replace its fleet of vehicles with electric vehicles. "The federal government also owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which we're going to replace with clean electric vehicles mad…

2021 Nissan GT-R Road Test | Godzilla on ice!

Call it a dinosaur. Mock the Nissan parts bin interior. Declare it overpriced versus newer sports cars. The 2021 Nissan GT-R doesn't mind. It's still Godzilla, and it will still rip your head off with pleasure. Flashback to a few years ago: I was ch…

GMC Hummer EV coming to Extreme E with Chip Ganassi Racing

The electric off-road racing series Extreme E is getting another famous face. This time it's not a person, but rather a vehicle: the GMC Hummer EV . GMC announced that it will be the main sponsor for the Chip Ganassi Racing Extreme E team. With the s…

Volvo will give away cars worth $2 million if a safety is scored in the Super Bowl

Volvo put $1 million worth of free cars on the line at last year's Super Bowl . For this year's Super Bowl LV, Volvo is doing it again, but it's doubling the prize potential. If a safety is recorded in the big game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and…

Quadratec's one-off YJL is a square-eyed tribute to the original Jeep Wrangler

Quadratec, the world's largest independent retailer of Jeep parts and accessories, built a one-of-a-kind Wrangler inspired by the original YJ model to celebrate its 30th birthday. Called YJL, the SUV gains square headlights that appeal to your 1990s …

This one-of-a-kind Ferrari Breadvan Homage is exactly what it sounds like

Dutch coachbuilder Niels van Roij Design immersed itself in an obscure chapter of Ferrari history to turn a 550 Maranello into a one-off shooting brake named Breadvan Homage. Built at the request of a collector, the model is a modern take on the 250 …

'Flying cars' still aren't ready for takeoff, but automakers keep climbing aboard

Flying cars (and jetpacks) have fascinated the public and press for decades and are a surefire way to get crowds and coverage at an event. At this month's virtual CES , GM scored big buzz (and a significant stock-price bounce ) from its numerous announ…

An amazing Group B rally car collection heads to auction

Kicking off in 1982, the Group B era spawned some of the most fearsome rally cars of all time. The technologically advanced pioneers of all-wheel drive and turbocharging defined a time when automakers had carte blanche to build machines with unrestri…

Ford Bronco prototypes get trial by fire after trailer goes up in flames

Carmakers need to put every new model through a battery of tests, but checking whether a car can survive extreme heat is not normally part of the homologation process. Ford presumably obtained valuable data about the new 2021 Bronco 's heat resistance…

Mansory made a lawnmower that's also a tribute to Air Jordan shoes

German car customizing firm Mansory is known for its outrageous and, at best, polarizing projects. But none of them are as strange as this, the BSTN GT XI. Yes, it is a lawn mower . Yes, that is the Air Jordan logo on it. No, none of this is a joke. I…

Monday, January 25, 2021

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for January 25, 2021

Jan 25, 2021

Top Stories of the Day

2021 Dodge Durango Hellcat First Drive | The 710-hp family hauler

Manifest Hellcat Destiny has brought us the latest inevitable supercharged V8 machine from Mopar, the 2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat . And to make it extra-special, this 710-horsepower monster is the most powerful SUV that Chrysler — or any other auto…

Lotus will kill Elise, Exige and Evora to make room for the new Type 131

Lotus ended years of speculation by announcing it will begin rejuvenating its range when it releases a new model in 2021. Known as the Type 131 internally, its arrival will mark the end of the Elise, the Exige and the Evora. Although the three afore…

Ford design lead Moray Callum to retire, with a legacy from Mustang to Miata

Moray Callum, global vice president for Ford and Lincoln brand design, is retiring this year, the company announced Monday. Callum spent 38 years with the company, during which he led design on several noteworthy projects, including just about everyt…

2021 Audi Q5 Luggage Test | Versatile but space is limited

The 2021 Audi Q5 is one of the smallest compact luxury crossovers inside, but considering that it's been that way for two generations now and continues to be Audi's best-seller, it seems like many buyers are willing to overlook it. Nevertheless, its …

American dealers are begging Nissan for a modern-day Xterra

Consumer interest in off-roaders is booming, and Nissan dealers across the nation want to cash in on the trend. Several store owners are asking the Japanese company to bring the Xterra back as quickly as possible. Production of the second-generation…

Sony says it has no intention of entering the automotive industry

Unveiled at CES 2020, and road-tested in Austria in 2021, the Sony Vision-S looks ready for series production. And yet, the Japanese consumer electronics giant said it's not planning on leaping into the automotive industry. "At present, we have no p…

BF Goodrich introduces off-road-specific windshield wipers

When off-roading in most places (except for the desert, probably) you're going to need your windshield wipers. Crashing through water or pits of mud is going to leave your windshield covered with the outdoors. It's all a little more than what your wi…

2022 Honda Odyssey loses its HondaVac due to a supplier issue

The Honda Odyssey minivan is losing its in-car vacuum for the 2022 model year. The Drive reported the loss of the HondaVac first, learning that Honda had to nix it because the supplier who provided the vacuum went out of business. We asked Honda fo…

Go anywhere, including your living room, with the Tamiya Landfreeder Quadtrack R/C truck

One of the hottest modifications to hit the off-road scene has been swapping wheels and tires for tank-style tracks. Various aftermarket companies make them, and we've even driven some OEM customs with the mods . Of course, the price of entry is steep…

Junkyard Gem: 1963 Dodge Polara Hardtop Coupe

Well into the 1970s, when you referred to a postwar American car as simply a "1971 Chevy " or "1953 Mercury ," everyone knew you meant the full-sized car made by the specified company, and model names for most of these cars simply designated the trim l…

Friday, January 22, 2021

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for January 22, 2021

Jan 22, 2021

Top Stories of the Day

Here's what else you could buy for the average new-car price of $40,573

Autoblog may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change. The average price of a new car in America hit a new record in December 2020: $40,573. Not that we're surprised — the average has…

2021 BMW X3 Review | The sensible driving machine

It's funny to think of a BMW SUV as an almost default choice in a segment, but the 2021 BMW X3 sure seems like exactly that. With a diverse range of models including the mass-volume xDrive30i, the plug-in hybrid xDrive30e and uber-performance X3 M, B…

2021 Ford Ranger MS-RT is another cool Ranger variant we won't get

The U.S. is the pickup truck capital of the world, made clear by vehicles such as the Ram TRX , F-150 Raptor and Colorado ZR2 . And because of that, it's so strange that we keep missing out on the coolest versions of the Ford Ranger. First there was th…

The next-gen Ford Mustang reportedly going all-electric, arriving in 2028

There's some scuttlebutt going around that the next-generation Ford Mustang might not appear until late 2028, and that the reason for the delay is because it will be going fully electric. And no, we're not talking about the Mach-E . This is the good o…

2021 Ram 1500 Infotainment Driveway Test | Bigger IS better

The 2021 Ram 1500 comes standard with a simple 5-inch touchscreen, while the 8.4-inch version found on most versions as standard equipment is the same user-friendly unit found elsewhere in the Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram line up. Unlike all those other b…

Dodge's 710-horsepower 2021 Durango SRT Hellcat is sold out

In the summer of 2020, Dodge announced it would only build the 710-horsepower Durango SRT Hellcat for six months, but it didn't tell us how many examples it would make in that time. We now know that production will be limited to 2,000 units, and they…

Plug-in hybrid Jeep Wrangler 4xe gets First Edition model in Europe

Jeep detailed the First Edition variant of the plug-in hybrid Wrangler 4xe that it will launch in Europe in early 2021. While the package hasn't been announced for America yet, we could see something like it here in the near future. As is typically …

ItalDesign teases DeLorean-inspired gullwing car for DMC-12's 40th anniversary

Legendary design house ItalDesign has revealed a teaser image of a mysterious car with gullwing doors and the letters "DMC" on the nose. Wait, have we gone back in time? Oh, it's still 2021, meaning this is an all-new DeLorean-inspired car. Accompan…

Hurtan Grand Albaycin is a Mazda MX-5 Miata dressed in a vintage suit

Spanish coachbuilder Hurtan rivaled Mitsuoka in the eccentricity department by introducing the Grand Albaycin, a Mazda MX-5 Miata -based roadster with a design that tilts heavily towards the retro side of the scale. Carmakers often frown on aftermarke…

Tired of waiting for the VW I.D. Buzz? Check out this Tesla-powered Microbus

Autoblog may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change. No donation or payment necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes. See official rules on Omaze. If you're like me, you're sick …

Thursday, January 21, 2021

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for January 21, 2021

Jan 21, 2021

Top Stories of the Day

These are the cars owners keep the longest

Owners of these cars and trucks are much more likely than average to keep them a long time. Toyota dominates the list, and they all come from Japanese brands.

2021 Cadillac XT5 Review | The middle-ground luxury crossover

The 2021 Cadillac XT5 plays in what's become the most popular of all luxury segments: two-row crossovers. It does so with typical Cadillac nebulousness, straddling the line between size segments with the promise of getting more for your money than wh…

2021 Ram TRX VIN #001 heads to Barrett-Jackson

The very first production example of the 2021 Ram TRX is headed to auction, the company confirmed Thursday. The truck, in Launch Edition Anvil Gray, will cross the block at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale on March 26 to benefit the United Way for Southeas…

2021 Ford F-150 Raptor order guide confirms 3.5L EcoBoost V6 as base engine

Official Ford order guides have leaked for the 2021 F-150 Raptor and Tremor packages, confirming that the high-output 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 will return as the base engine in Ford's range-topping off-road pickup. The guide images, leaked to F150Gen14.…

Say goodbye to the Volkswagen Golf, as production for the U.S. officially ends

Volkswagen quietly ended production of the venerable Golf last week for the U.S. market. Of course, the new Mk 8 Golf will continue in other locales, but not here. Instead, Volkswagen is limiting our Mk 8 consumption to the high performance GTI and G…

L.A.'s mysterious jetpack guy could actually be a human-shaped drone

It turns out the mysterious case of the jetpack guy casually flying around at a few thousand feet above the ground in California could actually be something completely different, albeit just as dangerous. According to documents collected by The Black…

Ares Design turns the Tesla Model S into a two-door convertible

While custom coachbuilt Teslas aren't new, not even convertibles , this example from Italian design house Ares Design is one of the nicest we've seen. It's had quite a bit of work put into it as well, since not only is it a convertible, but it's a two…

2020 Volvo S60 Child and Infant Car Seat Driveway Test

2020 was a hard year, but it gave the Snyder family something truly special to appreciate. In November, we welcomed our second child, Leokadia (or "Lola" if you prefer) into our lives. Of course, as our large son Wollie has already done so many times…

Lada Niva will get its second generation after nearly 50 years

Motorists who complain that the Toyota Land Cruiser is past its prime need to sail across the Bering Strait and hop behind the wheel of a 2021 Lada Niva. Introduced in 1977, it has been in continuous production since without receiving major updates. …

Great news! Dacia introduces the go-anywhere Bigster concept

It's 2021. Say goodbye to bigly and hello to Bigster — the Dacia Bigster, that is. Yeah, we got the joke out of the way in the headline, but increasingly obscure references aside , the latest from Renault's subsidiary is more exciting than it sounds. …