After years of focusing on sedans over SUVs, Hyundai and Kia are working to fill in gaps in their utility vehicle lineups. One big gap has been the large SUV segment. The 2020 Hyundai Palisade and 2020 Kia Telluride arrive in dealerships this year to do battle with the Honda Pilot, Subaru Ascent, Ford Explorer, Toyota Highlander, and other players. Although the two corporate cousins share the same basic architecture, each has its own style. So how do they compare? Let’s take a look below.
Up front, the Palisade flaunts an oversized grille with a thick frame to match. Like the Hyundai Kona, the Palisade gets a split front lighting setup. The upper light housings are mere slivers, while the lower lamps are stacked vertically. Daytime running lights run in a vertical fashion through the upper and lower housings. The Telluride’s front end is just as quirky. It has block-shaped headlights, and a longer, stretched [...]
It will probably be a while before Ford officially reveals the EcoSport‘s successor, but according to our spy photographer, the car you see here is exactly that. It’s so heavily camouflaged, you can barely tell what it is. We have it on good authority, though, that this particular prototype is built on the Fiesta platform and will eventually become Ford’s replacement for the EcoSport.
Despite the heavy camouflage, the prototype gives us a pretty good idea of the next EcoSport’s overall shape. We see a lot of the new Focus in the fenders and roofline, even if the design has been stretched into a more crossover-like shape. Up front, the headlights look almost insect-like, but we highly doubt they’ll make it to production without changes. If you look closely, you can get a decent idea of how the headlight housing will be shaped. Around back, you can also [...]
Subaru has teased its next-generation Legacy again, and this time it’s showing off the exterior. Based on this shadowy image, we can tell the midsize sedan will stick to a conservative appearance.
The headlamps have changed slightly, and the daytime running lights now take on a “D” shape. The side mirrors have been moved from the door skins to the A-pillar, and the taillights have been updated. Subaru doesn’t take big design risks, so we’re not surprised the new Legacy looks business as usual. We’ll have to leave the emotional appeal to the Mazda6 and Toyota Camry.
Subaru recently previewed the Legacy’s new vertical-oriented touchscreen. Although many controls can be found on the touchscreen, buyers will appreciate that there are still physical knobs to control the volume, tune through radio stations, and adjust the temperature.
Expect the 2020 Legacy to sit on the new Subaru Global Platform. Subaru [...]
The mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette has been spotted dozens of times over the past two years, but it’s almost always caught testing near GM’s Milford Proving Grounds in Michigan. It appears the C8 is now starting to venture farther from home, as this prototype caught by our own senior features editor Christian Seabaugh shows. What’s perhaps most interesting about this chance encounter is where the mid-engine Corvette was caught: running the same test loop MotorTrend uses for our Car of the Year program.
The upcoming Chevy sports car was captured on our Tehachapi road test loop, not far from the Hyundai-Kia Proving Ground in California City, California, where we conduct the bulk of our Car of the Year testing. Automakers routinely test in California’s Mojave Desert for its reliably dry, warm climate (though it happened to rain today), but we can’t help but wonder if the Corvette team is here practicing for one specific test. Namely, [...]
Check out what we caught! The literal first-ever run of the Chevrolet eCOPO Camaro, an all-electric drag racer, and it’s popping its wheels up! To reiterate: The photo you are looking at from January 26, 2019, is the first time this all-electric dragster has ever been on a drag strip. Our resident photographer Brandon Lim just happened to be at Arizona’s Wild Horse Pass drag strip because yours truly and my cohost Jethro Bovingdon were filming a new episode of Head 2 Head. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Back to the run, the eCOPO ran a 10.14 on its first launch, before eventually dropping the time down to 10.03 at 138 mph. Does this bode well for the future, or what?
A little background: The SEMA darling eCOPO is a joint venture between McCue & Lane Electric Race Cars and General Motors. [...]
