One of the crazier, hard-to-swallow truths of the automotive industry: A whole lot of cars are fed to The Crusher. What’s The Crusher, you ask? It’s a dramatized catch-all phrase to gin up emotions when cars are seemingly needlessly destroyed. The cops pop you and your buddies for what they allege is street racing? Off to The Crusher your whips go. Dodge decides to destroy a whole bunch of, what most people would call, perfectly good Vipers? Off to The Crusher! The federal government attempts to pull the nation out of the 2008 recession by jumpstarting the auto industry and filling roads with newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles by way of the Cash for Clunkers program? The Crusher it is.
But seriously, why crush cars? Well, in the case of those Vipers, they were pre-production models that can never be sold. Why not? Because if they ever somehow “get loose” and are involved in a road [...]
Cast your mind back to 2002. Covid-19 wasn’t anything to anyone, Elon Musk was only known for creating PayPal (and, after selling it, buying a McLaren F1), and Porsche, Ferrari, and Pagani were setting the automotive world alight with the Carrera GT, Enzo, and Zonda. It was one heck of a time to love cars, not least of which because the Chrysler PT Cruiser was MotorTrend’s reigning car of the year. But there’s another, oft-forgotten member of the early 2000s supercar aristocracy: the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.
Born out of a partnership between Mercedes-Benz and McLaren that started with their joint Formula 1 program, the SLR was both an homage to the old and an exploration of the new. The McLaren F1 had been out of production for several years, and the new McLaren Automotive outfit that would eventually produce the MP4-12C road car wasn’t yet a glimmer in [...]
In nearly every single parameter, the new Land Rover Defender improves over the old warhorse Defender it replaced. While Land Rover’s O.G. Defender’s capability as an expeditionary lance and an agrarian implement is undeniable, the British brand worked extraordinarily hard to develop a new Defender that drives and performs like something from the 21st century, and not the 19th. However, with unibody construction and a suite of tech aimed at improving on-road manners, the new Defender isn’t quite the boulder-basher it used to be—especially if your needs include bombing through the Dakar dunes on a rally raid.
For that, you turn to the mad minds at Bowler. The U.K.-based manufacturing workshop established itself as the premier name in making Defenders rally-raid-ready in the 1980s and 1990s, quickly developing a series of proprietary rally-trucks of its own design. The company soon gained a reputation for building tremendously over-engineered race trucks and roadgoing Defenders that racked up [...]
We’re less than a week out from the debut of the next-gen 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor, and the anticipation is killing us. Happily, Ford continues to chum the waters with this briefest of sneak-peeks, which Ford CEO Jim Farley posted to his Twitter account.
Enter Sandman! The all-new Raptor debuts Feb. 3! #F150Raptor pic.twitter.com/u1Gd0ZFeCw
— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) January 29, 2021
We’ve previously shown you leaked photos and sketches of the F-150 Raptor’s front end, which clearly show the unique grille with massive F-O-R-D lettering, bulging fenders, and bespoke lower fascia. The short preview video shows us what the lighting will look like. The 2021 F-150’s white inquisitive-eyebrow DRLs are redone in yellow, and the three clearance-style lights at the leading edge of the hood are bracketed by two more on the fender extensions. We like the new pattern—it’s reminiscent of both the new F-150 and the outgoing Raptor, but it’s also distinctive.
Of course, [...]
The Nissan Pathfinder skips the 2021 model year as the Japanese brand prepares to release an all-new iteration of its mid-size three-row SUV for 2022. Details about the next-gen Pathfinder are scarce at the moment. That changes come February 4, 2021, when Nissan officially unveils the latest generation of Pathfinder.
Nissan officially announced the news in a teaser video it uploaded to the web. The six-second long clip shows very little of the new SUV as it motors through mud and dirt. Still, we are able to see the basic details of its front and rear ends, the former of which appears to sport a set of 2021 Nissan Rogue-like LED daytime-running lights. Meanwhile, the back end appears to feature an upright and boxy tailgate with Pathfinder script running its width, as well as a pair of thin, high-mounted taillights.
We look forward to knowing more about the 2022 Nissan Pathfinder on February 4.
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