Motor Trend has been drag racing cars since we published our first issue in September 1949, but it wasn’t until the summer of 2011 that we arguably had our best idea yet: World’s Greatest Drag Race, a spectacle that brings some of the hottest high-performance cars together for one epic sprint. With 12 of the world’s fastest cars lined up and ready to launch when World’s Greatest Drag Race 8 premieres on Friday, September 21, Velocity decided to dive deep into the background of past World’s Greatest Drag Races in a new special dubbed, World’s Greatest Drag Race: A Legacy of Speed, set to air on Monday, September 17, at 8:00 PM EST and available on MotorTrend.com/bdc.
World’s Greatest Drag Race: A Legacy of Speed aims to take you behind the scenes with your favorite editors and drivers of Motor Trend. It promises to give you a look at how surprisingly challenging it is not [...]
General Motors is recalling roughly 1.2 million model-year 2015 trucks and SUVs globally for a problem with the electric power steering system. GM previously recalled nearly 700,000 model-year 2014 pickups for the same issue.
The Problem: The electric power steering system in certain 2015 Chevrolet Silverado, Tahoe, Suburban, GMC Sierra and Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade models can fail and then return suddenly. If this happens during a low-speed turn, the abrupt steering assistance could cause you to crash. The Associated Press reports that GM is aware of 30 crashes and two injuries related to the issue.
The Fix: Owners of affected vehicles will be notified and instructed to visit a dealership. There, technicians will update the electric power steering software at no cost to the owner. For more info, owners can contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at 1-888-327-4236, or the appropriate GM brand customer service hotline referencing recall number 18289. Chevrolet can be [...]
Lexus wants us to read “Urban eXplorer” into its new UX nomenclature, but the target audience of mostly younger, web-savvy folks sees User eXperience when they read those letters. UX in that context refers broadly to a customer’s overall interaction with a product or company, with the point of contact—or user interface (UI)—being an especially crucial element.
Unfortunately, one of the main elements of the Lexus UX’s UI, the infotainment touchpad, has a lousy user experience. Naming the vehicle thus is a little like if VW had called its last Jetta TDI the Black Cloud Edition. It’s a shame because otherwise this new entry-level crossover has a lot going for it.
Size-wise it’s interestingly positioned a half-step smaller than its NX sibling but a half-step larger inside and out than pint-sized entry-luxury utes like the Audi Q3, Infiniti QX30, and Mercedes GLA. At $33,025 to start in front-drive [...]
Yeah, yeah, the Mercedes-AMG E 63 S wagon is a hoot, a laugh-out-loud combination of supercar and load lugger. But after you’ve impressed your buddies with a couple of thundering full-throttle acceleration runs and strafed an unsuspecting Porsche 911 or two late at night on the freeway, then what? Mostly, all that Sturm und Drang has the kids complaining they can’t concentrate on Peppa Pig and leaves the golden retriever a quivering heap in the load space. So mostly, you end up driving it like just like any other wagon.
That’s 603 hp, wasted. And those 911 guys have the last laugh, because everyone knows a Porsche is fast.
All of this makes the Mercedes-Benz E 350d 4Matic All-Terrain an intriguing proposition. True, Stuttgart’s answer to the Volvo V90 Cross Country and the Audi A6 Allroad is late to the party and derivative in execution, with the de [...]
Last year, Kia brought the 2018 Stinger out to New York Fashion Week—an appropriate choice considering that car’s striking design. For this year’s big show, Kia is once again using the runway at New York Fashion Week to show off its latest vehicle—but this time it’s going one step further with a global debut. The 2020 Kia Telluride made a surprise first appearance today in New York, months ahead of its auto show debut in Detroit next January.
Because it’s Fashion Week, the Telluride has been dressed up a bit, wearing off-road gear that may or may not be functional to give it that oh-so-hot-right-now overlanding look. But beneath all that tacked-on equipment should be the final design of Kia’s upcoming three-row crossover. The styling has been toned down since we first saw it in concept form at the 2016 Detroit auto show, but many original elements have survived.
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