We’ve waited a long time for the CT5, the newest kid in Cadillac’s sedan class, and the one that has to choose whether to sit in the seat left vacant by the ATS or the larger CTS.
When the 2020 CT5 arrives this fall, it will take an empty chair and pull it up to a vacant desk. The sleek compact sedan is shorter than the CTS but has a longer wheelbase. Cadillac is repositioning its sedan lineup, which was notorious for “tweeners” fitting between normal segment sizes. Going forward, Cadillacs will line up more directly against the competition.
CT5 is a new nameplate. The compact sedan rides on the next generation of GM’s Alpha rear-drive platform, updated for a smoother, quieter, and more enjoyable ride. All-wheel drive will be available on all trims. The sedan still has a front multilink strut and five-link rear suspension, but these [...]
When you hear that a new vehicle is called the “Mercedes-Benz Concept GLB,” you may groan as you wonder whether the world really needs yet another thin slice of the crossover pie. Of course it doesn’t. But if someone is going to keep slicing the pie anyway, the result really ought to be just like the GLB: funky, functional, and as Mercedes as it gets.
Making its debut at the 2019 Shanghai auto show, the GLB is the go-anywhere, sporty middle brother to the smaller GLA crossover and the more mature GLC. “We asked ourselves whether there is still space between the GLA and GLC in our successful SUV range. The concept GLB is the answer to this question. With it we are demonstrating the creative ideas we have for this segment, too,” says Britta Seeger, member of the board of management of Daimler AG. “The GLB is a durable and practical SUV with nonetheless [...]
We’ve had the 2018 Nissan Kicks for a few months now, and it’s proving to be quite adept at commuting in Los Angeles’ gridlocked streets. Thanks to its small footprint, you can easily squeeze through small gaps and alleys, making it a breeze to navigate the city. Now that I’ve gotten to know the small car better, I was surprised to find that it has a Sport mode.
The button is on the gear selector stalk, and it’s conspicuously marked only with a horizontal line instead of “Sport.” It’s as if Nissan purposely hid it to keep anyone from figuring out that such a button exists in the Kicks. Once you push it, the only indication that you activated Sport mode is an “S” right next to the “D” on the gauge cluster display. Otherwise there’s no indication that you’re in another [...]
It’s official, the Corvette will be leading this year’s Indy 500 for the 16th time; it’s the 30th time a Chevy will serve as the official pace car at the big 500-mile race. But perhaps more poignantly, this is likely the last time we’ll see a C7 as the race’s official pace car. The final C7 Chevrolet Corvette will head to auction in June, which could mean we’ll see a C8 mid-engine Corvette pacing next year’s Indy 500.
A third-gen Corvette driven by car driver Jim Rathmann in 1978 was the first example of America’s Sports Car to pace the race, while a 1948 Fleetmaster Six convertible led the field in 1948. Chevrolet and the inaugural race were founded the very same year in 1911. Since then, the Bow-Tie has won eight races, including the checkered flag given to Verizon Team Penske.
For this year’s Indy 500, a [...]
There’s a little-known codicil in the lore of home renovation: Don’t tear up anything unless you want to create new problems.
Perhaps that’s why I shouldn’t have been so heart-set in my desire to have Apple CarPlay retrofit into the Velar’s infotainment system. But the native Land Rover InControl apps are so bad, I basically had abandoned them (check out the hundreds of furious one-star reviews at the AppStore for some entertaining reading).
One $184.99 Smart Phone Pack software reflash at the dealership later, and CarPlay worked great—seamlessly alternating between satellite radio and phone calls and text messages despite the different operating systems.
Unfortunately, the reflash triggered a software cascade elsewhere in the touch-screen display, somehow making it impossible to manually raise or lower the vehicle via the touchscreen controls.
The unresponsive icons were only for ride height. Climate control, radio, and other vehicle controls all worked fine. [...]
