Earlier this week, our Junkyard Find was a totally rad 1989 Chevrolet Camaro RS, complete with interesting personal touches applied by an owner who was quite familiar with taste and elegance.
In the comments, things quickly turned to the nature of the automobile during a dark and Malaisey period — 1979 to 1989. A question bubbled to the surface for me: Were there any lustworthy American cars made in that period? Let’s find out.
Many corners of the internet expected the roadster shown here to show up as an Alfa Romeo Spider, not a Fiat 124 Spider, when rumours surfaced all those years ago about the MX-5 donning a natty Italian suit. Perhaps Fiat Chrysler made its decision at the time based on Fiat’s larger dealer network or some sort of answer provided by Sergio’s Magic 8 Ball.
Whatever the reason, we now live in a world where a brace of affordable and fun two-place roadsters are on offer. While the fraternal twins share a great deal, their clothes are different, as are their hearts. We’ve already deemed the base Mazda MX-5 to be worthy of AoB mention; can its Italian brother turn the same trick?
Porsche appears to have it out for Tesla Motors. Having already shown its Mission E sedan as a potential rival for the Model S, the German automaker just spawned the Mission E Cross Turismo electric crossover concept for the Geneva Motor Show. Unveiled just a days after Jaguar’s I-Pace, it looks like Europe’s premium brands want a piece of the Model X’s reasonably small — but growing — hunk of the market.
In the United States, Tesla moved 18,028 Model X crossovers in 2016. That number climbed to 24,400 for 2017 and could be higher in 2018, thanks to increased output.
Unlike Jaguar’s I-Pace and Tesla’s Model X, the Mission E Cross Turismo is only a concept vehicle. However, Porsche has already made clear its intent to dive headfirst into the realm of battery-electric vehicles, claiming the crossover will eventually reach production. (Read More…)
Stop thinking about roadsters. To the best of our knowledge, General Motors has no plans to enter the burgeoning electric sports car market, and we pray it wouldn’t be a front-drive model if it did.
No, the two-seater Chevrolet Bolt we speak of remains pretty much unchanged when viewed from the outside. Inside, however, there’s plenty of space to stretch out behind the front seats, as those are the only seats you’ll find. (Read More…)
Despite being off the market for 16 years, the Toyota Supra remains relevant as the brand’s most famous performance machine. That’s partially because the automaker never built a worthy successor but, even if it had, the Supra had already cemented its identity as an absolute monster before ending production in 2002.
You’ll find countless hours of footage where the model embarrasses high-end exotics in straight-line speed, usually thanks to heavy modifications. Likewise, its appearances in film and video games saw it coveted by automotive enthusiasts well before they learned how to drive.
That puts a lot of pressure on the automaker to deliver something that can live up to the hype; as a result, Toyota’s been very cagey on the Supra’s progress. However, we now have something resembling a production vehicle. The Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept is a hypothetical track version of the roadgoing fifth-generation model we’ve yet to see. (Read More…)
We’ve criticized Tesla for its lack of access to crash data in the past, but it appears the company has now performed a complete U-turn. Tesla now admits all of its current vehicles have an Event Data Recorder (EDR) device, and it’s now offering an inexpensive tool to allow customers to access the logs.
Tesla previously stated it did not have an EDR device as defined by the 49 CFR 563 of the EDR rule, but new documents released by Tesla shows all of its current and previous vehicles — other than the first generation Roadster — actually do employ such a device. The company has released a helpful guide and free software to analyze the logs, along with a link to purchase compatible equipment. (Read More…)
Volkswagen’s Vizzion of the future — a fully autonomous concept car with an all-knowing hologram chauffeur and suicide doors — just came back down to Earth. The sedan will now start life as a normal car, albeit one with two electric motors and all-wheel drive.
Positioned as the flagship of Volkswagen’s upcoming line of I.D.-badged electric models, the Vizzion is on track to start production in 2022. With this car, VW gains a lower-priced alternative to vehicles like Tesla’s Model S and Porsche’s Mission E. (Read More…)
Subaru has been showcasing the Viziv Performance Concept in an effort to build hype for the next-generation WRX since last fall. The automaker even produced a hardcore STI variant to double down on the concept’s current role. However, a large subset of Subaru enthusiasts only care about one thing: finding out when the WRX wagon will return.
Officially, the WRX wagon died when Subaru made the switch to a stubbier hatchback in 2007. To the chagrin of the platform’s fans, the company eventually stopped offering the performance model as a hatchback, too. North America has been in a tizzy ever since, and enthusiasts seeking an AWD performance hatch have been forced to seek comfort elsewhere. Those days might be coming to a close.
Subaru just unveiled the Viziv Tourer Concept at the Geneva Motor Show, giving us a taste of what might be in 2020. (Read More…)
My longtime readers know I suffer from a particular fascination with New Orleans, although it’s been six years since I rolled through the city’s streets in a Nissan Cube. You can’t have a NOLA obsession without having a NOLA-music obsession, and you can’t have that without being aware of John Boutte. His rendition of “A Change Is Gonna Come” isn’t better than Mr. Cooke’s — it’s just different, and heartfelt.
Change comes to all of us. When I wrote that Cube review, I was the absentee parent of a toddler, living with a stripper, and consuming a bottle of Ketel One pretty much every week. I had a lot of, ah, short-term romantic partners. It was not sustainable. There had to be a change.
That idea — of making changes because we need to, or just want to — is central to this week’s episode of Ask Jack.
In the first van edition of Buy/Drive/Burn, we inquired which luxurious minivan from 1994 you’d relegate to each category. Using typical One Simple Trick methodology, I lured everyone in with a picture of the Previa (above). Then, when the Previa was not a choice in the transportation trio, you all doused me in Haterade.
Well, here you go. Import vans — including the Toyota Previa. Douse me in clicks!
Electric vehicles. Yawn, right? It’s easy to be cynical about the high-flying production promises tossed about by practically every automaker, but if the real-life version of Honda’s Urban EV Concept looks half as quirky as the show car, the big H might have a bonafide green hit on its hands.
As the Geneva Motor Show opens to journalists, Honda has announced a production version of the retro-styled hatchback. It turns out CEO Takahiro Hachigo wasn’t lying when he said the Urban EV wasn’t just auto show eye candy. (Read More…)
Ram announced pricing today for its snazzy new 1500 pickup and, while the relentless upward march of MRSPs continues unabated, starting prices may not have risen as much as you may think.
Critically, Ram also saw fit to release the costs for upgrading to their intriguing eTorque Hemi, a power team that promises the trucker’s holy grail – extra low-end grunt for hauling and increased fuel economy on the highway.
Hewing to another law of retailing, while base prices for the 2019 model haven’t moved the needle significantly from last year’s sticker, 2018 models now enjoy large rebates in some markets.
At some point in our lives, usually a very early point, the number of coins we have to rub together couldn’t buy a half-decent meal, even on Whopper Wednesday. Strapped for cash, working a retail-type job, returning empties for cans of cheap swill, college or university sucking every last cent from your wallet — does this describe a certain period in your life?
It probably does. And it’s usually a pretty exciting period, too. Around this time, the urge for vehicular freedom grows so great, we’re pulled like a compass needle towards third-hand used car lots, those bastions of sagging suspensions and blossoming rust, in search of bargain basement wheels. Top of mind: finding something that doesn’t scream “dud!” to everyone within eyeshot. Runner up: finding something that won’t become a 3,000-pound paperweight in a month’s time.
Whether it came from a used car lot or a relative eager for an easy cash sale, this first (or second, or third) vehicle came equipped with a low, low price and, more often than not, a laundry list of unfulfilled maintenance work. Still, you paid a price that ensured your ride wasn’t a total beater, right? (Read More…)
You’ve just taken your vehicle to the dealership for servicing and find yourself in need of a loaner car. Fortunately, the vehicle is still under warranty and you should be able to get into something without too much trouble. This does not mean loaner vehicles aren’t a major stressor for the dealerships providing them, and it doesn’t guarantee you a car.
Small dealers likely won’t have a surplus of such vehicles and may attempt to bar you from access, especially if you didn’t originally purchase your automobile from that particular store. Luxury brands are more likely to fork over a loaner to keep customers happy. Of course, they want something representative of the brand, not some random hunk of junk sitting idle on the lot. Maintaining a loaner fleet is tedious and opens dealers to all manner of additional expenses they’d rather not have to deal with. It’s expensive and people tend to bring back the vehicles on their own time, not when the dealer needs it for someone else.
So what’s a high-end automaker to do when a customer needs a replacement vehicle while theirs is in the shop? Think laterally. It turns out there’s a multitude of loaner alternatives currently being vetted by dealers, some of which don’t involve providing a replacement vehicle at all. (Read More…)
Christmas get-togethers across North America were ruined when we reported, last December, that the manual transmission would soon leave the Chevrolet Cruze stable. That sad bit of information came by way of VIN decoder documents submitted to the NHTSA by General Motors for the 2019 model year.
For now, the stick shift lives, both in gasoline- and diesel-powered Cruzes. However, an update to the 2018 VIN document suggests an early arrival for the continuously variable transmission. (Read More…)
Recent Comments