Posts By: Mark Stevenson

By on December 2, 2015

2016 Nissan Titan XD in Arizona

I’m currently putting the Nissan Titan XD through its paces in Arizona. This new truck from Nissan is infinitely interesting to me for a multitude of reasons: mostly its 5-liter ‘Triple Nickel” Cummins V-8 and its no-man’s-land placement in the truck marketplace. However, what might be important to me might not be important to you, and vice versa, so we are going to do a Q&A before our review.

Tomorrow morning we will have Nissan Titan product planning manager Brent Hagan here on TTAC to answer any questions you send our way.

Hit the comments below and submit your questions. We are going to try to do a live-blog-style solution tomorrow, but we might not have time to implement it. If we don’t get it sorted in time, we will use the questions you submit on this post to answer as many as we can starting at 9:30 a.m. ET tomorrow.

Note: We definitely won’t have live blogging. If you have questions, make sure to post them here before tomorrow morning. 

By on November 26, 2015

2015-Chevrolet-CorvetteZ06-016-sm

Editor’s note: Outside of our exclusive scoop of Volkswagen’s Goodwill Package, news that a Corvette Z06’s engine failed at the hands of a Fox News journalist was our top daily news piece of the last 12 months. It originally ran July 18th, 2015. The cause of the failure is explained here, though whether that is the true reason of the failure is open to discussion.

While track testing the latest Z06 Corvette, Gary Gastelu of Fox News experienced an issue that’s becoming a trend for Chevrolet’s supercharged sports car: engine failure.

“After a few lapping sessions, the engine in mine unceremoniously called it quits,” reports Gastelu in his review.

(Read More…)

By on November 26, 2015

As we roll ever closer toward Christmas, we yield in November to train our bellies to consume ever so great quantities of food.

Yes, it’s turkey day. It’s the day we give thanks for all the good things, all the lessons, and — sometimes — even the bad things that have happened in our lives over the past year. Therefore, I am taking a break from it all today, and I’m thankful for that as well.

Instead of the normal news and feature feed for today, I’ll be digging up the most read articles since last Thanksgiving for you all to enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

By on November 25, 2015

2017 Infiniti QX30 Reveal Los Angeles-5

* Assuming a “cut” is a unit of measurement equaling 3/4 of an inch.

The night before the opening of the 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show, Infiniti invited media to check out its new crossover darling: the 2017 QX30.

Calling it a crossover might be a stretch as the new model is but a mere 0.75-inches taller than the Q30 (which is 0.75-inches taller than the Q30 S) on which it’s based. Same with calling it an Infiniti, as anyone who’s spent time in a Mercedes-Benz GLA will attest. Daimler touches are everywhere.

“But,” said Roland Krüger, president of Nissan’s luxury marque, “once you drive it, you’ll immediately know it’s an Infiniti.”

What Krüger means by that is very much open to interpretation. However, differentiating the newest compact crossover from that of its frenemy is paramount to making it successful.

(Read More…)

By on November 23, 2015

2014 audi a6 tdi side

Audi, a brand within Volkswagen Group that markets the majority of 3-liter diesel engines sold by the group in the United States, released a statement Monday detailing how it plans to fix vehicles that use a defeat device. The automaker also stated that three separate Auxiliary Emissions Control Devices — not just one — are used in 2009 and later 3-liter diesels used by Audi, Volkswagen (Touareg) and Porsche (Cayenne).

AECDs for those engines will “be revised, documented and submitted for approval,” Audi said in the statement.

Of the three AECDs, the EPA questioned the legality of a temperature conditioning procedure of the exhaust-gas cleaning system.

“One of (the AECDs) is regarded as a defeat device according to applicable US law. Specifically, this is the software for the temperature conditioning of the exhaust-gas cleaning system,” Audi said in a statement.

(Read More…)

By on November 23, 2015

panel_gap

These photos are of a vehicle that recently visited my driveway for a week. I’m not going to tell you what that vehicle is — yet — but it does raise a very interesting question.

Are bad panel gaps an indicator of a poor quality product? And what “quality” are we talking about anyway?

(Read More…)

By on November 23, 2015

2017 Hyundai Elantra at 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show (2015 LAAS)

Shortly after the debut of its Avante brother in South Korea, the Elantra was revealed for the first time in North America last week at the 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show.

Going into its sixth generation, the Elantra looks offer even more in its class with the addition of new safety kit and technology that makes even class-above vehicles blush.

But, even though the new Elantra is much improved over the outgoing model in almost every conceivable way, it’s hard not to think it looks a bit, well, familiar.

(Read More…)

By on November 22, 2015

20 - 1980 Volkswagen Dasher Down On the Junkyard - Pictures courtesy of Murilee Martin

On Friday, Volkswagen of America detailed its plan to fix nearly 500,000 illegally polluting diesels in the United States to officials with the Environmental Protection Agency, the government body announced in a statement late Friday. The automaker was required to detail the fix no later than Friday.

The EPA, along with the California Air Resources Board, will review the proposal, said the statement. However, the EPA did not detail the proposal to the media or public and did not give a timeframe on when to expect the proposal to be detailed publicly.

The proposal only addresses issues detailed by the EPA in its September 18 Notice of Violation that applies to Volkswagen’s 2-liter diesel engines and not the 3-liter diesels which may also be cheating emissions tests.

(Read More…)

By on November 21, 2015

IMG_3603

While we were hanging outside the Staples Center begging passersby for photos, information and leftover shrimp from the Los Angeles Auto Show to share with you all (well, maybe not the shrimp), there was still news happening that we didn’t get the chance to cover.

So, here it is in condensed form.

(Read More…)

By on November 21, 2015

3349519_1

If you were to buy a 2003 Cadillac Escalade ESV near North Caldwell, New Jersey, you’d expect to shell out nearly $10,000 for an exceptionally clean ride from a dealer, according to Edmunds. Yet, this particular example of GM’s brashly designed full-size SUV sold for nearly 12 times that amount: $119,780.

Why?

Well, this one was driven by a garbage man.

(Read More…)

By on November 20, 2015

2014 Audi A7 TDI (11 of 34)

During a meeting Thursday between the Environmental Protection Agency, Volkswagen and Audi, officials from the automakers told the regulator an emissions program for 3-liter turbodiesel engines is also used on 2009 through 2016 model year vehicles, the EPA said in a statement today.

An earlier statement from the EPA on November 2 pointed the finger at a limited number of models and model years equipped with the 3-liter diesels, even though other model years of those same vehicles are virtually identical with regards to their emissions systems.

In the latest statement, the EPA is still calling the emissions program a defeat device, though Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche have yet to recant their claim that the emissions program is legal and doesn’t violate emissions laws.

(Read More…)

By on November 19, 2015

2017 Mirage GT

Seriously, they did! Look at it! Instead of being some anonymous South Asian egg, the Mitsubishi Mirage now looks like an anonymous European egg.

Okay, okay. It isn’t going to set your heart alight with desire, but Mitsubishi has done a stellar job upgrading the Mirage with the few resources it has at its disposal. This little subcompact hatchback will be the first Mitsubishi ever to offer Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Its 1.2-liter MIVEC three-cylinder engine gets an ever-so slight bump to 78 horsepower (+4 over the current Mirage). The Japanese automaker even gave the exterior and interior a fairly thorough re-work considering this is a mid-cycle refresh. And considering this is Mitsubishi we’re talking about here.

Those of you who were totally sold on the Rockford Fosgate special edition, fear not! You can still get that in the new Mirage, too, though minus the badging that tells thieves which car to hit in the Kroger parking lot.

(Read More…)

By on November 18, 2015

Scion C-HR Concept (54 of 74)

Scion is on a little bit of a hot streak with the addition of the iA (based on the Mazda2) and iM (based on the Toyota Auris). That formula is working so well that Scion is ready to badge engineer another vehicle as its own. Specially, they are going to badge engineer a crossover that the brand so desperately needs in order to be relevant long term.

While only showed as a concept in Los Angeles, the C-HR (which is also a Toyota concept) is definitely heading to production and definitely going to keep the brand rolling for the next 10 years.

(Read More…)

By on November 18, 2015

IMG_5052

Finally, a Fiat in North America that isn’t a 500.

The all-new 2017 Fiat 124 Spider is what happens when you give a spectacular chassis to the Italians and let them fit it with a torque-happy turbocharged engine.

The new roadster, which is based on the Mazda MX-5 Miata, was revealed today at the 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show. It will be powered by what we all suspected — a 1.4-liter turbocharged engine with 160 horsepower and 184 lbs-ft of torque. A pair of six-speed transmissions, one manual and the other automatic, will send that turbo power to the rear wheels.

(Read More…)

By on November 18, 2015

2017_Lincoln_MKZ_02_HR

Lincoln will give its MKZ the Continental treatment for 2017, including a 400 horsepower, 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 engine and all-wheel drive.

According to the automaker, the engine will be exclusive to the brand. The 400 horsepower and 400 lbs-ft of torque will be kept in check with Dynamic Torque Vectoring available in the optional Driver’s Package.

Driver’s Package? Lincoln? I like the sound of this.

(Read More…)

Recent Comments

  • Lou_BC: @Carlson Fan – My ’68 has 2.75:1 rear end. It buries the speedo needle. It came stock with the...
  • theflyersfan: Inside the Chicago Loop and up Lakeshore Drive rivals any great city in the world. The beauty of the...
  • A Scientist: When I was a teenager in the mid 90’s you could have one of these rolling s-boxes for a case of...
  • Mike Beranek: You should expand your knowledge base, clearly it’s insufficient. The race isn’t in...
  • Mike Beranek: ^^THIS^^ Chicago is FOX’s whipping boy because it makes Illinois a progressive bastion in the...

New Car Research

Get a Free Dealer Quote

Who We Are

  • Adam Tonge
  • Bozi Tatarevic
  • Corey Lewis
  • Jo Borras
  • Mark Baruth
  • Ronnie Schreiber