Motor News

Canoo, an EV startup that is aiming to sell a pod-shaped van to the public in 2023, has modified one of its upcoming pickup trucks for the United States Army.The U.S. Army awarded Canoo a contract to test one of its vehicles in July, and now the division will use the Light Tactical Vehicle prototype for “analysis and demonstration.”The LTV features all-wheel drive and a 600-hp powertrain as well as air springs, a raised suspension, and 32-inch all-terrain tires.EV startup Canoo has yet to start full-scale production of its pod-shaped Lifestyle Vehicle, but in July the fledgling automaker signed two major contracts. The first was an agreement to supply Walmart with 4500 delivery vans, planning to deliver the fleet after production begins at its plant in Oklahoma for 2023. The second contract was with the United States Army to provide an EV for analysis and demonstration, and now Canoo has announced that it has delivered its Light Tactical Vehicle (LTV) to the U.S. Army. The LTV appears to be a modified version of Canoo’s pickup truck variant that shares its front end with the Lifestyle Vehicle. Canoo says that the LTV uses carbon Kevlar to increase the strength of the vehicle while reducing weight, and Canoo also touts the LTV’s adaptability, explaining that it can be converted from a pickup to a flatbed truck, a cargo vehicle, or other configurations. More on CanooThe LTV is all-wheel drive, and Canon says it produces up to 600 horsepower. The LTV also rides on a raised suspension, air springs, and 32-inch all-terrain tires to help it travel over more challenging terrain. Canoo also says the LTV has a modular attachment setup that also for the easy installment of accessories like racks, storage boxes, ramps, and tactical systems and also claims the LTV can use its flatbed to easily carry plywood and other construction materials. Now the army will begin its testing of the LTV as it considers whether an electric pickup can properly serve the military.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

Toyota confirmed the existence of the new Grand Highlander SUV, which it plans to fully reveal at the Chicago Auto Show on February 8.The three-row SUV will likely fill the gap between the mid-size three-row Highlander and the larger, body-on-frame full-size Sequoia.Notably, the Grand Highlander is wearing the same Hybrid Max badge as the top-spec Crown sedan, which suggests a 340-horsepower setup. It looks like Toyota wants to join in on the excitement surrounding enlarged versions of SUVs like the Grand Cherokee L and Grand Wagoneer L by making its own super-sized version of the Highlander called . . . you guessed it, the Grand Highlander. While the current Highlander boasts impressive fuel economy in hybrid form, it can’t compete with the third-row space of competitors including the Kia Telluride, Volkswagen Atlas, and Chevy Traverse. Toyota describes the Grand Highlander as “the ultimate road-trip vehicle,” implying increased legroom and cargo space. The first teaser shot of the new three-row SUV gives us a glimpse at what the rear will look like. We’re particularly excited about the Hybrid Max badge, which indicates the Grand Highlander Platinum will receive the same potent powertrain as the top-spec Crown sedan. In that car, the hybrid setup with a turbocharged 2.4-liter inline-four gas engine produces a combined 340 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. Toyota didn’t give any information about the Grand Highlander’s available powertrains, but it’s likely the standard 265-horsepower turbo-four from the base Highlander will carry over to this new model as well. More On The Highlander FamilyWe managed to pull back some of the shadows layered over the photo to expose a bit more of the car. The increased visibility shows similar squared-off styling to the current Highlander, but also includes a pair of round exhaust tips not found on the standard version. The taillights take on a “C” shape, and a new light bar spans the spoiler. We don’t have any other info on pricing or when we’ll actually start seeing the Grand Highlander on the road, but we do know that Toyota is planning to do a full reveal of the SUV at the Chicago Auto Show on February 8. This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

Chevy and GMC have announced pricing for the new 2023 Colorado and Canyon pickup trucks.The Colorado starts at $30,695 and the Canyon starts at $38,095.There’s a special AT4X Edition 1 version of the Canyon that costs a ridiculous $66,290.Although Chevy and GMC have both simplified their mid-size pickup lineups along with the Colorado and Canyon’s redesigns for 2023, there’s still a wide pricing spread ranging from $30,695 all the way up to over $66,000. Both trucks now come only as a crew cab and with a turbocharged 2.7-liter inline-four as the sole engine choice—the old 3.6-liter V-6 and 2.8-liter turbo-diesel are gone—but many trim levels remain, including off-road variants such as the Chevy’s ZR2 and the Canyon’s new AT4X.The 2023 Colorado is the cheaper of the two, as it offers a Work Truck trim level starting at $30,695. This model comes with rear-wheel drive and the lower-output, 237-hp version of the turbo-four engine. The 2023 Canyon, meanwhile, starts at $38,095 for the Elevation trim level and comes standard with the high-output, 310-hp version of the 2.7L engine. The Colorado’s lower trim levels offer the high-output engine upgrade as a standalone option.More on Colorado and CanyonOff-roaders will want to check out the Colorado’s Trail Boss trim level, starting at $38,495, or the more extreme Colorado ZR2 ($48,295) and Canyon AT4X ($56,995) models. The most absurdly priced of all these trucks is the Canyon AT4X with the Edition 1 package that costs $66,290. Its extra equipment includes a light bar, beadlock-capable wheels, skid plates, a winch, different bumpers, and special badges.Chevy and GMC say these new trucks will go on sale in early 2023, and dealerships are currently taking reservations for the AT4X Edition 1.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

The De Tomaso P900 packs a 900-horsepower 6.2-liter naturally aspirated V-12 and weighs around 2000 pounds.The company claims that the V-12 is being developed to run on carbon-neutral synthetic fuels, and a Judd-built V-10 will be available for those who don’t want to wait for the V-12.Just 18 P900s will be built, and the wild-looking hypercar will cost $3 million.The storied De Tomaso name—most well-known for the wedge-shaped Pantera supercar powered by Ford V-8s and famously owned by Elvis Presley—was revived in 2019 with the curvaceous, retro-inspired P72. Now the Italian automaker has revealed a more extreme, track-only hypercar, the P900, that builds on the P72’s design but brings a new powertrain and chassis.The P900—named for its dry weight of 900 kilograms (1984 pounds)—trades the P72’s supercharged 5.0-liter Ford Coyote V-8 for a 6.2-liter V-12 that pumps out 900 horsepower and revs to a 12,300 rpm redline. While De Tomaso calls the engine bespoke, it also says that it comes from Germany, making us wonder if it’s related to the 6.3-liter LaFerrari-derived V-12 developed by German race team HWA and used in the Apollo Intensa Emozione, which shares its underpinnings and designer with the P72.De Tomaso says that its “focus remains solely on creating longevity for the naturally aspirated, soulful, internal combustion engines,” so it is designing the P900’s V-12 to run on carbon-neutral synthetic fuels, a strategy also being explored by Porsche and Formula 1. De Tomaso also claims that this engine will be the lightest and shortest V-12 ever. However, the V-12 won’t be fully ready until late 2024, so for the restless billionaires who need their P900 now, De Tomato will also offer a V-10 built by Judd Power, which is apparently a descendent of the engine from the Benetton B197 that competed in the 1997 F1 season. De Tomaso is remaining tight-lipped about the P900’s performance figures, but the massive amount of power is sent exclusively to the rear wheels through an Xtrac sequential gearbox. Despite bearing a familial resemblance to the P72, De Tomaso says that the P900 is built around a unique carbon chassis, and it features far more extreme bodywork than the V-8-powered model. An enormous rear wing wraps around the circular taillights and muscular rear fenders and incorporates active aerodynamics. A ultra-wide diffuser also contributes downforce, as does a protruding front splitter. The sultry, voluptuous bodywork has gaping air intakes and brake-cooling vents carved into it and wraps around a spaceship-like cockpit, although De Tomaso has yet to show off the interior design. More Wild HypercarsDe Tomaso plans to build just 18 P900s, each customized to the owner’s liking with a starting price of $3 million. De Tomaso will also run a racing series for the P900, called De Tomaso Competizione, which will include motorsports tutoring and the chance for owners to race their P900s on tracks around the world with support from a team of mechanics and engineers. De Tomaso is also offering to provide storage and maintenance at its facilities at the Nürburgring in Germany. The first P900s will arrive in the second quarter of 2023, presumably with the Judd V-10, with the V-12 variant arriving the following year. This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

Honda is adding a slew of new features to its driver-assistance system known as Sensing 360 as part of a goal to eliminate fatal traffic collisions involving Honda by 2050. According to Honda, nearly 7 million vehicles on the road today are equipped with Honda Sensing 360 and its twin AcuraWatch. Honda’s new plan would make the technology standard on all models by 2030.The next generation of Honda Sensing will begin appearing in China in 2024 and the U.S. a year or more later.;Honda is preparing for a major overhaul to its driver-assist technology known as Sensing 360. It first introduced the Sensing 360 technology to the U.S. in 2014 by adding it to the 2015 CR-V and by giving the 2015 Acura TLX its own version called AcuraWatch. Honda today announced a plan to expand the technology throughout the Honda ecosystem. The next generation of Sensing 360 will begin appearing in China in 2024 and in the U.S. sometime in the second half of the decade, before becoming standard on all models by 2030. HondaWatching for “Abnormal Conditions”In April 2021, Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe announced a goal for Honda to achieve zero traffic collision fatalities involving Honda vehicles by 2050. The new Sensing 360 technology increases the sensor range surrounding the vehicle. It will also feature new tech which will detect abnormal conditions occurring to the driver or the vehicle’s surroundings, kicking in when necessary to avoid a collision. The system will also be able to bring the vehicle to a stop if a driver is unresponsive to a takeover request when the car is in hands-free driving mode. Much like other automated systems, if the driver does not respond to repeated warnings, the vehicle will flash its lights and honk while bringing itself to a halt in its lane. HondaThe company is also coming out with next-generation Sensing Elite technology, which will use artificial intelligence (AI) for hands-free driving and such tasks as automatic parking or getting the car out of a home garage. Honda has not given any details on the release of the upgraded Sensing Elite but has said that the AI grows and learns from experiences to improve over time. This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

The Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat will once again be available with a six-speed manual transmission for 2023.Dodge quietly (and temporarily) dropped the manual option at some point last year.The 2023 model year will be the last for the Challenger and Charger.Just about a year ago, Dodge ruined everyone’s holidays by announcing that the Tremec six-speed manual transmission was no longer available on the Challenger SRT Hellcat. The six-speed remained the default transmission for the naturally aspirated 5.7-liter R/T and 6.4-liter R/T Scat Pack models, but drivers looking to dump the clutch on 717 supercharged horsepower were cruelly abandoned. It was, in the immortal words of Counting Crows, a long December.However, thanks to our diligent investigative reporting (screwing around on the Dodge media site to see what kind of ludicrous retina-melting colors are available on the 2023 Challenger) we discovered that the manual Hellcat is back. And Dodge confirmed as much, telling us to pass the word that everyone and their favorite grandma should order a 2023 Challenger with a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 and a six-speed stick. It’ll catch rubber in second gear. And third. And possibly the rest of the gears too. More on the Challenger HellcatDodge always maintained that the manual’s absence was temporary and had something to do with powertrain calibrations, but we’ve heard that sort of thing before. Temporary cancellations have a way of becoming indefinite, but true to its word, Dodge brought back the third pedal for the Hellcat. Which makes sense, since Dodge told us in 2018 that 35 percent of Challenger Hellcat buyers opt for the stick.The sad state of the 2022 Challenger Hellcat configurator, soon to be rectified.DodgeIn our most recent test of a manual Challenger Hellcat, it hit 60 mph in 4.0 seconds and cleared the quarter-mile in 12.4 seconds at 120 mph. Those numbers are well in arrears of the automatic car, but who cares? For 2022, the eight-speed automatic was a mandatory $2995 option, so presumably the manual 2023 model will save you some money to put toward premium unleaded and a few racks of rear tires. Oh, and about those colors: Plum Crazy is back for 2023 too. It would look great on a manual Challenger Hellcat. Truly, this is a December to remember. This content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

This is what we’ve waited for. From the moment Ford announced the Raptor R—its 700-hp hypertruck and direct competitor to the 702-hp Ram 1500 TRX—our inner ear bristled with excitement to see how the two would stack up. The Ford’s 3.6-second romp to 60 mph makes it the quickest gasoline-fueled truck we’ve strapped our test gear on. So is the 12.0-second trip through the quarter-mile trap at 112 mph, which bests the quickest TRX we’ve seen and takes back the title of the quickest F-150 from the electric Lightning. (The Rivian R1T remains the quickest-accelerating pickup ever, with a 60-mph dash in 3.0 seconds and an 11.5-second quarter-mile.) But the Raptor R’s record-setting run doesn’t quite tell the entire story. Related StoriesTypically, when launching these high-powered behemoths, a big brake torque to build up boost and revs is the quickest way off the line. Unlike the TRX, the Raptor R isn’t equipped with an adjustable launch-control system or any launch assistance for that matter. If there’s any amount of brake pressure detected, the computers tell the engine to stand down and reduce the amount of torque delivered through the driveline. Ford says this is to prevent the engine from overwhelming the brakes. If and when you take delivery of a Raptor R, follow these two easy steps to achieve maximum acceleration: Select Sport mode (this automatically puts the transfer case into 4Auto) and turn on the Auto-Hold function for the brake system. Stand on the throttle and you’re off. Simply flat-footing it from rest without using Auto Hold is a tenth slower. But that’s right, the Raptor R runs to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds from idle at the line. Car and DriverGiven its massive 700-pound weight advantage, we expected the 6077-pound Raptor R’s advantage to surpass the 0.2-second gap it puts on the TRX in the quarter-mile. The blame lies with the 37-inch BFGoodrich All-Terrain KO2s and their 112-mph speed rating, which don’t allow Ford to unleash the supercharged 5.2-liter V-8’s true potential. From 100 to 110 mph, each mile per hour clicks by in roughly 0.2 second. The Raptor R reaches 110 mph in 11.1 seconds and then power is pulled as the truck approaches the 114-mph speed limiter. It takes another 0.9 second to reach 112 mph and the quarter-mile, when it should take half as much time. If the Raptor R rolled on the 35-inch tires and had the same 120-mph speed limiter as the twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter version, it would deliver to the TRX the biggest beatdown Detroit has seen since the 2012 World Series. Still, the Raptor takes the quarter-mile win by 0.3 second, and the F-150’s svelteness shows up in the rolling-start 5-to-60 mph acceleration test, where it betters the Ram by 0.5 second.Braking, as expected, isn’t a strong point for desert-ready trucks running their tires with big, squishy tread blocks. The Raptor R stopped from 70 mph in 205 feet and stretched that distance to 430 feet from 100 mph, trailing the best TRX numbers we’ve seen by 16 and 12 feet, respectively. The Raptor R circled the skidpad at 0.71 g, a hardly impressive number, but slightly better than the TRX. Seven hundred horses tend to be thirsty. On our 75-mph highway fuel-economy loop, the Raptor R returned 14 mpg, missing the EPA’s highway estimate by 1 mpg. It is, however, better than the 13 mpg we observed in our long-term Ram 1500 TRX. But is anyone buying a $100,000 truck concerned about fuel economy? Our guess is no. Of course, there’s an inevitable head-to-head comparison test brewing to get these factory-built monster trucks out in their natural habitat to sort out who’s who. But for now, Ford’s Raptor R is the performance king. SpecificationsSpecifications
2023 Ford F-150 Raptor RVehicle Type: front-engine, rear/4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door pickup
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $109,145/$111,935Options: moonroof and power tailgate, $2195; spray-in bedliner, $595; graphics delete, $0
ENGINE
supercharged and intercooled DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injectionDisplacement: 315 in3, 5163 cm3Power: 700 hp @ 6650 rpmTorque: 640 lb-ft @ 4250 rpm
TRANSMISSION
10-speed automatic
CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: control arms/live axleBrakes, F/R: 13.8-in vented disc/13.2-in vented discTires: BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO237x12.5R-17LT 116S M+S 3PMSF FP
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 145.4 inLength: 232.6 inWidth: 87.0 inHeight: 80.6 inPassenger Volume: 136 ft3Curb Weight: 6077 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 3.6 sec100 mph: 9.1 sec1/4-Mile: 12.0 sec @ 112 mphResults above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec.Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 4.1 secTop Gear, 30–50 mph: 2.2 secTop Gear, 50–70 mph: 2.7 secTop Speed (gov ltd): 114 mphBraking, 70–0 mph: 205 ftBraking, 100–0 mph: 430 ftRoadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.71 g
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed: 10 mpg75-mph Highway Driving: 14 mpg75-mph Highway Range: 500 mi
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
Combined/City/Highway: 12/10/15 mpg
C/D TESTING EXPLAINEDThis content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More

Audi is recalling 50,883 A6 and A7 cars because a gateway control module could shut down and cut engine power unexpectedly.The problem appears to be caused by liquid spilled in the car’s rear seating area.Audi plans to install a protective cover over the area affected and will notify owners in January to bring their vehicles in for the fix. Audi has announced the recall of more than 50,000 vehicles over a risk that liquid spilled in the rear seat area could cause a gateway control module to shut off, reducing engine power unexpectedly. The automaker’s report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that the affected vehicles were produced without a protective cover over this module.The recall includes the 2019–2022 A6 and A7; the 2020–2022 A6 Allroad, S6, and S7; and the 2021–2022 RS6 and RS7 (pictured above). The A6 makes up most (32,585) of the affected vehicles. According to the report, the module is located under the rear middle seat, and if water or other liquids get into that area, a short circuit could cause the gateway to switch off, putting the vehicle into limp-home mode. In this situation, there will be warning messages. The vehicle will still be steerable and the brakes will operate but power will be reduced, the report explains. There were 46 reported cases in the U.S. by October, but no injuries or crashes as a result, Audi said.Back seat of 2021 Audi RS7.Michael Simari|Car and DriverOwners will be notified by January 20, 2023, to bring in their Audi for a protective cover to be installed. In the meantime, they can check the NHTSA recalls site for information about the recall and to see if their vehicle is affected. This content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. More