Aurelia Butler

Bet you haven’t seen one of these in ages.It’s a wedge-shaped Corolla coupe with pop-up headlights.This unusually well-preserved Toyota has low mileage and boasts a five-speed manual for a bit more zip.If you’ve ever wondered, the Toyota Corolla takes its name from the Latin for “little crown,” as might be worn by some minor nobility during the Renaissance. It’s a bit of a hifalutin’ moniker for what’s basically the pleated khaki pants of cars, but sometimes a Corolla can be more special than you might expect. Take this 1989 Toyota Corolla SR5 in svelte two-door form, complete with sleek bodywork, gold paint, and pop-up headlights. It’s majestic. And it’s up for sale on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos).Bring a TrailerThe sixth-generation Corolla debuted in 1987, declaring war on the popular Honda Civic with all models now front-wheel drive (plus the capable little all-wheel-drive All-Trac wagon). The vast majority of them were dependable if boring sedans, but Toyota did leave the door open for a little excitement. Toyota fans could still get the revvy GT-S model, with its Yamaha-designed cylinder head and zippy handling, and if you just wanted a bit more style to go with your reliable and thrifty commuter, then was a Sport Coupe with a less frenetic four-cylinder.This example is an SR5 trim, denoting a 1.6-liter DOHC four-cylinder with fuel injection, good for around 113 horsepower when new. A five-speed manual transmission stands ready to make the most of that power, and with only 48,000 miles on the odometer, few ponies will have escaped the stable.Bring a TrailerYou could consider this model as Toyota’s version of the Honda Prelude, from a time when almost every manufacturer built coupes with relatively conventional underpinnings, designed to be sporty-looking yet affordable. This Corolla is not some steely-eyed midnight street racer’s drift machine, but a nicely equipped compact car with air conditioning, a cassette tape deck, and 13-inch alloy wheels. Even considering the low mileage, it presents as extremely well preserved. You can just imagine someone wearing enough hairspray to ward off hurricane-force winds driving this car home from work on a Friday, planning to stop off to pick up a VHS tape of Single White Female on the way.Bring a TrailerLike most golden-age Toyotas, you can probably expect this car to be running and driving until the heat death of the universe, assuming you keep up with the oil changes. It’s not likely to ask much of you, and its stripped-down, late-1980s driving experience will be totally unlike any modern car. It’s perfect for the “I haven’t seen one of those in years!” reaction at your local car show, and maybe you could even make a few bucks on the side if there’s a film company making a movie set during the Clinton administration.There are certainly fancier and faster Toyotas out there, but this little coupe has hung around long enough to become something pretty special. Truly, a survivor worthy of wearing a crown.The auction ends on March 5.Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. More

The Silverado EV comes equipped with a battery pack as large as 205.0 kilowatt-hours, which helped it become one of the first EVs we’ve tested to go 400 miles in our 75-mph range test. The base Work Truck lacks comfort features, but its huge battery and lightning-fast charging speeds are mighty impressive. It starts at $57,095, but that’s with the smallest battery; prices climb to $69,495 and $77,7995 with the Extended Range and Max Range packs, respectively. Meanwhile, the mid-level LT Extended Range starts at $75,195, and the top-spec RST starts at either $89,395 or $97,895, depending on if you choose the Extended or Max battery. The federal EV tax credit slashes $7500 from all those prices. More

The Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid is only offered with front-wheel drive. Its PHEV powertrain musters 260 horsepower from a gas-fed 3.6-liter V-6 and two electric motors, which are fed by a 16.0-kWh lithium-ion battery pack that allows the van to travel 33 miles on electrons alone. In typical minivan fashion, the Pacifica is full of practicality. The interior has seating for seven, it’s packed with cupholders and slide-out bins, and while the battery gets in the way of the folding rear seats, Chrysler added extra padding as a consolation. Pricing for the hybrid model starts at $52,750, and it’s the only PHEV on the list that’s eligible for the full $7500 tax credit. More

Jeep is leaning in to its off-roading roots with a new pair of patents it filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office earlier this year.The first patent is for a rooftop tent designed to attach directly to the top of the Jeep Wrangler. The second patent focuses on a Jeep-specific off-road-capable trailer that uses the same suspension as the Jeep pulling it. Stellantis has filed two new patents for the Jeep brand, both of which focus strongly on the brand’s off-roading personality. The first patent relates to a rooftop tent designed specifically for the Jeep Wrangler, while the second patent pertains to an off-road-capable trailer that uses production Jeep parts. USPTOWhile most third-party rooftop tents require additional hardware such as additional roof racks, the tent shown in Jeep’s new patent features a more elegant solution: Rather than bolting to the top of the roof, the tent replaces the Wrangler’s removable roof panels and reuses their mounting points. The slick design keeps the tent from adding excessive height and means campers can access the tent directly from the car without having to get out and clamber onto the roof. The compact design should also keep the tent from harming fuel economy too much as well. When it’s fully deployed, the tent features an optional awning to provide more cover from the weather outside the car. There’s also additional floor space that can be cantilevered over the edge of the car, extending the tent’s footprint.USPTOJeep’s second patent appears to be more focused on the Gladiator pickup, though the documents allow for other Jeep models. The patent focuses on an “Off-Road Capable Trailer” that includes components carried over directly from the production vehicle. USPTOPatent publication documents on the USPTO website explain that the trailer could include suspension and body components that correspond to a production Jeep. The patent documents also show that at least in some instances, the trailer would use the same axle and the same tires found on the production truck. Under the “Background” section, Jeep references how trailers typically have lower ground clearance and are designed for paved or smooth road surfaces. How soon would we potentially see these products? That is impossible to tell from the patents, but they’re intriguing.More on JeepJack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf. More