Items tagged with Cars
Audi has been teasing the world with little tidbits and glimpse of its e-tron electric SUV for a while now. The teasing is finally over with Audi making the e-tron official and giving up all the details on the green ride along with pricing information. The e-tron SUV will be available globally with $1,000 reservations underway now (as promised in July) for a mid-2019 delivery. The EV is a five-seat mid-size SUV that sitting firmly in the premium SUV market. E-tron is 193-inches long, 76.3-inches wide, and 65.5-inches high with a 115.1-inch wheelbase giving plenty of room for people and cargo. The total luggage capacity in the trunk of the e-tron is 28.5 cu ft with the seats up, and up to...
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One of the cool features of the Tesla Model 3 is that it supports a phone key that allows you to give access to a car to friends or family so they can unlock and start it without a key. The phone key feature is also used by a rental car company out of Minnesota called Trevls. The company has announced that a thief was able to walk up to one of its Model 3 fleet rental cars, unlock the EV, and then drive off in it. Trevls owner John Marino said that he believes this theft took a "next-level" of information to pull off. The first suspect that came to mind for the company after the EV was stolen was a regular customer. The 21-year-old thief had rented cars from Trevls frequently and had gone...
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If James Bond ever goes green, you can bet the EV that Aston Martin is teasing would be his ride of choice. The first time that Aston started to talk about building an EV was way back in 2015, when it converted a Rapide to an EV aiming for a 200-mile driving range. Fast forward a few years and Aston is now teasing a production version of the Rapide E and giving up some details on the powertrain ahead of production kicking off next year. We can’t glean any detail from the teaser image other than the blue "E" on the front fenders and snazzy wheels with blue brake calipers peeking out. Details on the powertrain confirmed include that the car will have a battery electrical architecture with...
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NVIDIA is into a lot more these days than than just gaming video cards and GPUs for professionals. The company announced that it has a new DRIVE AGX DevKit that will be launching on October 1. The kit includes software and hardware needed for complete self-driving auto development. NVIDIA says that DRIVE AGX is designed to allow companies to develop and test customized autonomous driving technology with a streamlined production process. The kit includes the DRIVE AGX Xavier car computer, the vehicle harness to connect the platform to the car, international power supply, camera sensor, and other accessories needed. DRIVE AGX is part of NVIDIA's AGX platform meant to power autonomous robots, medical...
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BMW has announced that it is putting a new proprietary AI assistant into its cars that it calls the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant. This AI is proprietary and aims to enhance the BMW driving experience. The AI is always on and will respond to the voice prompt "Hey BMW" and can perform a range of functions for the driver. Drivers can harness the AI to control vehicle settings, navigation, entertainment systems, explain vehicle functions, and conduct conversations. BMW plans to debut the AI in 2019 and promises that this will usher in a new era for drivers to operate their cars and functions via voice control. In the future, BMW claims that the AI will be ready to help drivers when they are...
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The gang over at Roush has been taking the already potent Mustang GT and hopping it up for more performance and style for a long time. Roush has offered Mustangs in what it calls "Stages" referring to if they are all show and no go (Stage 1) or if they pack lots of additional "go" in the form of a supercharger under the hood. Roush blowers don’t always make the most power out of all Mustang superchargers available on the market, but the big thing is when properly installed by a professional, they often allow you to keep your warranty intact. Roush has announced that the 2019 Roush Stage 3 (RS3) Mustang is up for pre-order. The RS3 can be pre-ordered starting September 1,...
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Each year at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance there are new supercars debuted during the high-end show in front of the well-heeled attendees. This year, Ferrari rolled out one of the best-looking convertible cars it has ever produced called the 2019 Ferrari 488 Pista Spider. This is the drop-top version of the 488 Pista coupe that Ferrari unveiled in February. Despite having a removable top, which is a hard top and not a soft canvas or fabric top as you might expect in a convertible car, this is a track-focused beast. Ferrari packed the most powerful eight-cylinder engine it has ever produced under the hood of the car. The 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 makes 720hp at 8,000 rpm and 567...
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Jaguar has certainly made some very cool cars over the years and its most iconic and recognizable design is definitely the E-Type. Jaguar Classic has announced that it will be building zero-emissions versions of the E-Type replacing the classic car's gas engine with an electric drivetrain. The concept car officially made an appearance in the U.S. at Monterey Car Week in California after a world debut at the Jaguar Land Rover Tech Fest in September of last year. The electric E-Type wraps Jag's classic sports car up with technology from the modern I-PACE electric crossover SUV to create a car that will be sold directly via Jaguar Classic. The EV construction will take place alongside E-Type...
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Ford has announced that it has hit a milestone for the first Pony car, the Mustang. The 10 millionth Ford Mustang rolled off the assembly line this week at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan. The Mustang is hailed as the best-selling sports car in the last 50 years in America, and has been the world's best-selling sports car for three years in a row. The special 10 millionth car was as close to the very first Mustang that rolled off the assembly line as possible. That means the record-setting ride is a 2019 Wimbledon White GT V8 6-speed manual convertible. The 2019 Mustang is powered by a 460hp 5.0L V8 and Ford says that it was fitted with all the latest driver assist technology. The...
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The guys over at Hennessey Performance have kicked off the celebration of their 10,000th vehicle being produced. That 10,000 number includes the awesome Venom GT supercar we showed you not long ago, but this new commemorative vehicle comes in the form of a very slick 2019 Hennessey Heritage Edition Mustang. The car sports a very cool livery that was inspired by the 2018 Ford GT Heritage Edition that is red and white, with some cool striping and a number badge on the doors. The heart of this car is a Ford 5.0L V8 engine that can be backed by a choice of factory Ford transmission, including the 10-speed automatic or a 6-speed manual. The engine gets a giant 3.0L supercharger...
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Anyone with a little brother knows that while you might mercilessly pick on your bro, anyone else who tries it gets a mouthful of fist. Apparently the same goes for Lamborghini. The Aventador SVJ was just sitting back and biding its time to go out and thrash the Porsche 911 GT2 RS after said vehicle put a beatdown on little brother Lambo Huracan Performante at the Nürburgring. Lambo hasn’t always had a reputation for handling and has typically been known more for straight-line speed and outright style. It's changing that reputation with the Huracan Performante first and now the Aventador SVJ. The impressive part about Lamborghini's Aventador SVJ is that it beat the 911 GT2 RS by 2.33...
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Dodge is more than doing its part to keep the traditional American muscle car alive. Its 2019 line of Challengers includes that beastly not-quite-a-Demon SRT Hellcat Redeye packing 797hp and selling for around $70,000. While that price tag might be a bargain for what you get for the money, it's still well out of reach for lots of muscle car and drag racing fans out there. Dodge has now unveiled a much more affordable car with drag racers in mind called the 2019 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320. The car uses a 392 HEMI V-8 engine that makes 485 hp and 475 lb-ft of torque with an 8-speed TorqueFlite transmission. It is packed with drag tech from the no defunct SRT Demon. Standard features for...
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We can thank Tesla for being the primary motivator behind high-performance EVs. The company has been making smoking fast Model S variants for a while now that are able to embarrass gas-powered cars. Fans of exotic machinery might recognize the name Pininfarina. This is the design house that has been behind some of the most attractive Ferraris ever made. Pininfarina has decided to launch its own line of cars and one of the first rides in that new line will be an epic hypercar. This won’t use a snarling V12 engine like so many Ferrari's the design firm had a hand in. The Pininfarina hypercar will be an EV and is codenamed PF0. The company says that it will be a "substantially-developed" zero...
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Siemens really thought that when it brought its sweet looking classic 1965 Mustang to the Goodwood Hill Climb that it would fly up the hill and do autonomous cars proud. It ended up driving up the hill in spectacularly poor fashion. At least the Mustang looked good sitting on the starting line. The autonomous Mustang had very little in the way of autonomous tech compared to the cars we are used to seeing in testing with giant masses of cameras and sensors on the roof and other locations. The Mustang uses GPS and what appears to be a single camera to determine where it was on the road. Whoever thought this was going to be a good demonstration probably got a stern talking to after the event. You...
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Of all the hypercars out there for the ultra-wealthy to enjoy, the Koenigsegg Agera RS is among the fastest. Koenigsegg set a record for top speed from a production car using an Agera RS on a closed-off section of Nevada highway back in November of 2017 when the car hit 277.9 mph (Koenigsegg took that land speed record from the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport). The Koenigsegg Final Edition is an Agera RS with every option in the book thrown in for good measure. Koenigsegg has completed the last two Final Edition cars that will be built before its next great hypercar debuts at the Geneva Motor Show next year. Both cars have been given names with one called Thor and the other called Väder. Both...
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Muscle car fans were giddy last week when Dodge announced the 2019 Challenger lineup as there are several high-performance models in the mix. The loss of the Demon for the 2019 model year will make some fans sad, but the new SRT Hellcat Redeye almost makes up for it. Dodge gave us specs on that Redeye and the other Challenger models save pricing and when they would be available. Dodge has now offered base pricing on the entire 2019 Challenger line. The Challenger R/T will start at $34,100 for 2019. The more muscular Challenger R/T Scat Pack will start at $38,995 plus a $1,000 gas guzzler tax on the manual transmission model. The brutish Challenger SRT Hellcat will start at $58,650 plus a...
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The Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC) has announced that it has published the Digital Key Release 1.0 specification. That specification is a standardized solution that is designed to eliminate the keys and fobs we all carry for our cars today and replace them with a digital version that lives on your smartphone. The CCC counts among it some major tech firms and automakers, and the critical mass certainly appears to be there to make digital keys a reality in the future. Participating members of the CCC include charter members Audi, BMW, General Motors, HYUNDAI, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Samsung, and Volkswagen. The CCC also has core members that include major hardware manufacturers in the smartphone...
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If 007 ever decided to settle down with a nice young lady and have some kids out in the countryside, the Aston Martin Rapide AMR would be his car of choice. This beast is all sports car, but just so happens to have enough doors to haul the kids whilst hauling all the arse you want. AMR stands for Aston Martin Racing and is meant to be a brand within the brand that draws on direct engineering and style from the Aston racing cars and road cars. Aston says that the Rapide AMR is its most extreme four-door sports car and has improved performance, dynamics, and style compared to the standard Rapide. This is the production version of a car that Aston showed at the Geneva Motor Show last year and the...
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Most people who are shopping for a Ford Mustang, an RWD sports/muscle car, aren’t likely to be cross shopping that car with a Kia. However, with the new Kia Stinger GT on the market, the Korean sedan might be something that Mustang shoppers are considering in today's market. The guys from Throttle House took a Kia Stinger GT packing the twin-turbo V6 and all-wheel drive to the drag strip and pitted it against a Mustang GT automatic that does have aftermarket tires, different springs, and factory Magneride suspension. Anyone who's ever tried to launch an RWD Mustang on an unprepared surface with over 450hp on tap knows that it's not easy to do. The Stinger GT, on the other hand, has...
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Lego has rolled out the only way the 99% will ever get to own the Bugatti Chiron hypercar in the form of a sweet new Lego Technic kit #42083. This is a beast of a Lego kit with 3,599 pieces that will set you back $349.99. That is most certainly not cheap, but considering the real car costs about $2.5 million, this miniature Bugatti is a true bargain. The Lego Chiron is a large kit at 1:8 scale and was developed in partnership with Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. That means it has all those little touches that make the real Chiron so special. Builders get a Technic 8-speed gearbox to match to the detailed W16 engine that has actual moving pistons inside. Even the "flappy paddles" behind the steering...
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It hasn't been that long since Fiat-Chrysler first announced the sweet Challenger SRT Demon was coming to sit atop the Dodge muscle car line. The beast packs in 840hp and a bunch of other features to make it a true monster at the strip capable of 9.65-second runs in the quarter mile. Dodge was always clear that the Demon was a limited-edition car with only 3,300 units slated to be built. The very last Demon, number 3,300, has rolled off the FCA Canadian assembly line and it won’t go into some museum somewhere never to be seen again. Dodge is taking that special car and putting it up for auction with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. The last Demon is being combined with the last...
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk is famous for sharing details of coming vehicles on Twitter, and he has been doing just that this weekend with some bean-spilling on the company's forthcoming dual motor AWD Model 3 EV. Musk said that Tesla is hard at work on the Model 3 dual motor all-wheel drive and performance versions of the vehicle. He claims that the car's "driving feel is amazing" and offered up some release info and configuration details. Musk did directly answer one poster who wanted more details on specifics of the front and rear motors, Musk wrote, "AC induction front & switched reluctance, partial permanent magnet rear. Silicon Carbide inverters in both. Performance drive units are lot sorted...
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