Best Shots

Friday, April 24, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for April 24, 2020

Apr 24, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

McLaren P1 GTR-18 by Lanzante takes its inspiration from the F1

The McLaren P1 GTR is already one of the most exclusive hypercars ever built (McLaren made only 58 of them), and now Lanzante is making it even more special. The storied British racing company has decided it's going to convert six P1 GTRs into what i…

UAW warns automakers: Restarting U.S. plants is 'too soon and too risky'

WASHINGTON/WARREN, Mich. — The head of the United Auto Workers union on Thursday said it was "too soon and too risky" to reopen auto plants and Michigan's economy in early May, citing insufficient scientific data and coronavirus testing to assure wor…

The Quail joins the Pebble Beach Concours, cancels for this August

Another of the major Monterey Car Week events has announced it's canceling this year's festivities. The latest is The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering , which is a show and road rally that precedes the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance (also canceled ) ea…

[VIDEO] Porsche Syberia RS rally car is what you make when you need a Hummer that's fast

Some history: The Porsche 911's first-ever race was the 1965 Monte Carlo rally, entered because Porsche's PR man at the time wanted to show how much the future icon could do. A year later, Porsche began selling an optional rally kit for the 911 that …

2020 Porsche Cayenne Coupe Luggage Test | How much cargo space is lost?

There are typically two practical drawbacks to a sport utility "coupe." One is reduced backseat space and comfort resulting from a lowered roof and usually a lowered seat bottom to counteract the lowered roof. As noted in the video walk-around of the…

Hertz amasses $17B in debt, lays off 10,000 as car rental demand vanishes

NEW YORK — Hertz Global Holdings Inc is working with debt restructuring advisers to explore options for shoring up its finances after the coronavirus pandemic killed demand for car rentals, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The Ester…

2020 Honda CR-V Infotainment Driveway Test Video | The sore spot

The 2020 Honda CR-V is an all-star; a thoughtfully designed and well-rounded compact crossover that checks off virtually every box families might have. There are no shortage of reasons why Honda manages to sell so many every year, and it actually get…

Listen to the 2020 BMW X5 M Competition's savage 617-horsepower V8

The new 2020 BMW X5 M Competition takes BMW's X5 M crossover to a new level of madness with 617 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque. That comes thanks to its 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 that's even more potent than the non-Competition X5 M that makes…

2020 BMW X5 M Competition Interior Driveway Test | Maximum luxury and maximum M

BMW M crossovers bring legitimate on-track performance to the table, but we all know the racetrack isn't where the vast majority of these 'utes will be found. Instead, we'll see them in rush hour traffic, where a comfy seat and bejeweled, luxurious i…

Buy this KITT replica and relive your childhood fantasies

Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: This isn't a perfect KITT replica. The original KITT used in the Knight Rider TV series was based on a 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. The one you see above, which is currently for sale at auction site …

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for April 22, 2020

Apr 22, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

Earth Day 2020: Our favorite fun green cars in different, admittedly arbitrary categories

2020 Porsche Taycan 4S First Drive | Forget 203 miles. We easily got 300

SANTA ANA, Calif. – I must admit that I was a bit nervous when I began my EV test loop in the 2020 Porsche Taycan 4S, the ink barely dry on its EPA range rating of 203 miles . I'd run this very same test some two months ago in a 2020 Porsche Taycan Tu…

Earth Day 2020: Looking forward to a cleaner, happier post-commuting world

This was the view on a recent 8 a.m. westbound crossing of the 520 floating bridge on Lake Washington in Seattle. Typically at 8 a.m., 7,000 vehicles would be on this bridge at once, and it normally carries 78,000 cars a day. Also in the photo: Impro…

Range Rover Evoque P300e and Land Rover Discovery Sport P300e PHEVs debut

After launching 48-volt mild hybrid versions of the Land Rover Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque last year , the iconic English off-road automaker goes all-in with the Discovery Sport P300e PHEV and Evoque P300e PHEV. Both share the Premium Trans…

Earth Day 2020: The Autoblog electric car buyer's guide

This wild rendering is a Koenigsegg-supervised student's design thesis

Imagined renderings without paths toward production typically don't make the cut here at Autoblog, but a sharp-looking exception to that rule has arrived courtesy of RAW Design House . The digital concept car was created as part of a graduation thesis…

Tesla now claims a 2.3-second 0-60 for the Model S Performance

Enthusiasts have been modding their cars for more performance basically since the dawn of the automobile's inception. For most of the history of four-wheeled vehicles, the only ways to cut a few tenths of a second off a 0-60 time involved some time w…

Hyundai Kona N sheds baggy camo, shows off beefy exhaust tips

The high-performance Hyundai Kona N has been spied in the wild yet again, this time with more form-fitting camouflage that gives us a better hint at what to expect from the Korean automaker's latest N model. When we last saw "Kona the Destroyer ," i…

Refreshed Mercedes-AMG E63 caught on track in lighter camo

The revised Mercedes-AMG E63 sedan has been spotted wearing only minimal front-end camouflage as the unveiling of the high-performance variant inches ever closer. While this prototype isn't completely undisguised, the scant covering on the nose lea…

The tire industry pushes back against evidence of plastic pollution

SINGAPORE — A growing body of scientific research linking tire wear to microplastic pollution, as well as increasing scrutiny from lawmakers in the European Union (EU), has led the $180 billion-a-year tire industry to fight back. The companies have …

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for April 21, 2020

Apr 21, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

2020 BMW X7 M50i vs. 2020 BMW M760i Comparison Test | Bavaria's biggest and best

Sedans have long ruled the roost at the apex of luxury car lineups. BMW was no exception to this standard, as the 7 Series has historically been the biggest and most luxurious of all vehicles from Bavarian Motor Works. Perhaps you've heard, but thing…

Porsche Taycan with two-wheel drive, smaller battery, lower price on the way

When Car interviewed Dr. Michael Steiner , the Porsche board member in charge of research and development, the exec told the magazine there's a two-wheel-drive Taycan on the way. "There will be a rear-wheel-drive model with a smaller battery to make i…

Ford Mustang hybrid with V8, AWD, in 2022: Exploring the latest theory

Every year for the past three years, the Ford Mustang hybrid has dumped a new load of grist into the rumormill, and this week, Autocar is reporting that the Blue Oval's electrified coupe will arrive with the next-generation model in 2022. Ford has g…

[VIDEO] Hyundai Veloster N welcomes multi-mode eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox

The eight speed twin-clutch transmission Hyundai has spent years perfecting has bolted from the barn inside the Veloster N. Officially named the N eight-speed wet dual-clutch, or N DCT, the gearbox employs electronic actuators for cog-swapping and we…

Q&A: Oil prices go negative ... what does that mean, exactly?

Private security contractors patrol the U.S. Department of Energy's Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Bryan Mound, Texas. / Reuters NEW YORK — The world is awash in oil, there's little demand for it, and we're running out of places to put it. …

Trump to consider halting Saudi oil imports to help ease U.S. glut

A wellhead on a fracking site leased by Oasis Petroleum in the Permian Basin oil production area near Wink, Texas. / Reuters WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration was considering the possibility of stoppi…

Chief engineer of the Tesla Model S says his new Lucid Air sedan is better

Peter Rawlinson did stints as Principal Engineer at Jaguar and Chief Engineer of Advanced Engineering at Lotus, earning a reputation that led to a phone call from Elon Musk asking if Rawlinson would take over as chief engineer of Tesla's WhiteStar pr…

2020 Lexus GS F Review & Video | Looking past the numbers

You don't hear much about the 2020 Lexus GS F. It's been out for a while now, the model having debuted for 2016 and the base GS sedan stretching all the way back to 2012. That's an awful lot of time for the automotive world to whiz by, especially in …

2021 Audi A3 packs 48-volt mild hybrid system, supposedly coupe-like styling

Details of the larger, more powerful, more technologically advanced 2021 Audi A3 sedan have been revealed. The new model, slated to hit European showrooms this summer, is new from the ground up and packs all-new tech and powertrains in a sleeker, roo…

Kawasaki's first electric motorcycle will get a four-speed manual transmission

Kawasaki confirmed its upcoming entry into the blossoming electric motorcycle segment will offer a manual transmission. Called Endeavor, the model is being developed with track use in mind, so engagement is key. The Japanese company is in the proces…

Monday, April 20, 2020

What You Missed | Your Autoblog Daily Digest for April 20, 2020

Apr 20, 2020

Top Stories of the Day

2021 Ford Bronco Sport interior revealed in new spy photos

The delayed 2021 Ford Bronco Sport, aka the "Baby Bronco," was caught in the wild with its interior undisguised this week, giving us our first good look at what to expect from the interior of Ford's compact off-road variant. Two key details emerge …

2021 Audi RS 3 spied with big blistered fenders

The 2021 Audi RS 3 hot hatch has been caught by one of our spy photographers again . This time it's sporting less camouflage, but it also has what appears to be a fully production-ready body. That means there are some tantalizing new details to view. …

2020 Hyundai Sonatas with Remote Smart Parking feature to be recalled

Hyundai is recalling 2020 Sonatas with the Remote Smart Parking Assistant feature. You may know it as "Smaht Pahk" from the highly-publicized celebrity-filled Super Bowl ads . Hyundai says there's an error in the software, and it's recalling 11,870 ve…

World's only 1964 Pontiac XP-833 Banshee coupe for sale by Kia dealer

It seems like there has been a spate of especially odd car sales in the first part of this especially odd year, from the numerous barn finds and homebrew specials to the time capsule cars — like the BMW wrapped in a protective bubble for 23 years. Na…

Toyota Corolla hot hatch stand-in for GR Yaris to make 257 horsepower

The past few months have been full of lust and clamoring for a U.S. version of the Toyota GR Yaris that debuted at this year's Tokyo Auto Salon for markets including Japan and Europe. Platform differences between our Yaris and the overseas model prev…

Hyundai Veloster N getting 2.5-liter turbo with 300 horsepower?

Looks like the pieces from the rumormill continue to come together around the Hyundai Veloster N. In 2018, Korean outlet Motorgraph wrote that Hyundai was working on a Theta III engine for front- and rear-wheel drive, and mid-engine applications. The…

Ferrari Portofino spy shots show refreshed front end

One of our spy photographers shared photos of a Ferrari Portofino prototype that has reappeared being tested on the road. While the photographer first suspected it could have been a test mule for the Roma , we believe it's a prototype for a refreshed …

Restoring this long-lost 1951 Lancia Aurelia prototype race car took 4,000 hours

Introduced in 1950, the innovative Aurelia is one of the most sought-after Lancia models made after World War II. Collectors pay a premium for cars with a documented racing history, and one-offs built as in-house experiments are fascinating, so it's …

2020 BMW X7 Review and Buying Guide | Ultimate Opulence Machine

Top 10 brands with the lowest repair cost to fix a check engine light

A check engine light can be caused by a number of issues, some minor and inexpensive and others potentially catastrophic. See which brands have the lowest average repair costs here.