In conjunction with the 2021 Easter Jeep Safari, Jeep is announcing a Jeep-branded EV charging network for its new 2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid. The Jeep 4xe Charging Network, operated by Electrify America, will provide Level 2 (240-volt) charging that’ll fully recharge the 4xe’s 17 kilowatt-hour battery pack in about two hours. The chargers will be connected directly to the power grid or use solar power. A full charge allows for 21 miles of electric range, and with 49 MPGe Wrangler 4xe adventurers should be able to tackle more miles on the trail using electrons rather than dino juice.
Jeep 4xe Charging Network stations won’t be in the middle of the city. Rather, they’ll be installed at or near trailheads, ideal for a quick top-off before hitting the trail. Charging at home or en route to the trailhead zaps EV range before the real adventure has even [...]
Times change. And fast. Just seven years ago—the last time we published a midsize sedan Big Test comparison—four-door family cars were booming. Back then, four midsize sedans were on the list of the 10 bestselling models. In 2020? Only the Toyota Camry made the list. Expand that to the top 20, and the Honda Accord squeezes in at 17th place. Americans bought more RAV4s than Altimas, Optimas/K5s, Sonatas, Legacies, and Mazda 6s combined. The once-popular midsize sedan is having an existential crisis.
The combination of reduced space and a lower ride height (relative to SUVs), and cheap gas is killing sedans. As you may have noticed, there are no American nameplates in this Big Test. Ford discontinued the Fusion, the Chrysler 200 was unceremoniously dumped before it could even complete its model cycle, and Chevrolet is reportedly letting the Malibu die after the 2023 model year—just like Volkswagen is doing with the Passat.
But the [...]
Remember the good old days? You know, the time when putting your automatic car into gear meant positioning a lever so that it lined up with the letters D or R?
Oh, the automakers tried to complicate our lives by using D for “drive” instead of F for “forward” (after all, “forward” is the opposite of “reverse”, right?), and putting R toward the top of the lever’s options and D toward the back. Still, though this seemingly foolproof design has led to the demise of many, many garage doors over the decades, generally even the most dim-witted or mildly inebriated among us could generally figure out how to get their cars going in the desired direction.
