Motor News

Hyundai has announced some updates for the Santa Cruz compact pickup for 2023.The base price is up $1010, but there are newly standard driver-assistance features.A Night model with black trim joins the lineup and starts at $37,105.Hyundai’s compact pickup truck, the Santa Cruz, is entering its second model year with a few updates and new, higher pricing. The base SE model rises $1010 and now starts at $26,745, but benefits from some newly standard driver-assistance features. And a Night trim level joins the lineup with a blacked-out appearance, starting at $37,105. Blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert are now included on the base SE; these features were previously available only on the SEL and above. The 2023 Santa Cruz SEL ($29,085) trim is up by just $150, while the SEL Premium ($37,425) is up by $1220 and the top Limited ($41,615) is up $150.

Hyundai

The Night trim level is new and, at $37,105, is now the cheapest version of the Santa Cruz with the optional 281-hp turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four. The SEL Premium and Limited models also have this engine, and all turbo models come standard with all-wheel drive. As we’ve come to expect from these sorts of blacked-out appearance packages, the Night trim also includes tweaks such as dark grille trim, black 20-inch wheels, black mirror caps and door handles, and side steps.

With its unibody platform shared with the Tucson crossover, the Santa Cruz entered into a new segment of compact pickups when it launched last year alongside its closest rival, the Ford Maverick. So far, the Ford is beating the Hyundai in the sales race, with the Maverick moving 38,753 units through the first half of 2022 and the Santa Cruz selling 18,203 units through the same time period. We’ll see how this rivalry continues to play out as both enter the 2023 model year; for its part, the Maverick also added a new trim for the new model year, the off-road-oriented Tremor.
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You probably already know this, but it takes longer to perform specific tasks in new cars with many menu screens. If you didn’t already know this, a Swedish auto magazine proved it with science.Vi Bilägare tested a dozen vehicles—primarily new but also one 2005 Volvo—to see how long it took to perform a series of four tasks. It took 10 seconds in the old car and up to 45 in one of the new models.By timing the tasks as the vehicles were in motion, we can see how a simple thing like turning on the radio to a specific station can mean a driver’s eyes and focus are on the screen much more than they used to be.Future drivers may look back at the current trend of replacing swaths of simple, physical buttons with touchscreens and wonder why we let this happen. The Volkswagen ID.4, for example, uses an almost entirely digital dashboard (pictured below) that makes using the infotainment system a headache. Eliminating or minimizing the number of physical buttons may look clean, but a new report from Sweden shows how touchscreens and endless pages of menus cause, in a sense, distracted driving.

Inside the 2023 Volkswagen ID.4.
Volkswagen

Swedish automotive magazine Vi Bilägare recently proved that physical buttons are safer than touchscreens by simply seeing how long it takes to do simple, everyday actions. The magazine had its reviewers perform four common tasks as they were driving:Turn on the heated seat, increase the temperature by two degrees, and start the defroster.Turn on the radio and tune it to a specific station (Sweden’s Program 1).Reset the trip computer.Turn the instrument lights to their lowest setting and turn off the center display.Before starting the stopwatches, the test drivers were given time to familiarize themselves with how to do these tasks in the various cars. The 12-car lineup included the touchscreen-heavy Tesla Model 3 and BMW iX as well as a Seat León and a Dacia Sandero. For comparison, Vi Bilägare also brought along a 17-year-old Volvo V70 with physical buttons for days. (Pictured at top: the similarly equipped 2007 Volvo S60.)

BMW iX.
BMW

Tesla Model 3.
Tesla

The magazine timed the drivers as they performed each task while driving the respective vehicle at 68 miles per hour. Interestingly, the 2005 Volvo V70 with its dedicated buttons took users the least time to run through the four tasks, at just 10 seconds. To accomplish the four tasks in the new BMW iX took three times as long: 30.4 seconds, but even that’s not as bad as the MG Marvel R, which required 44.9 seconds.

Vi Bilägare points out that it’s not just the lack of buttons that can be a problem. The way an infotainment system is designed plays a huge role, too. The system in the iX, for example, is one of the most complex and complicated user interfaces ever designed, the magazine said. The Seat Leon’s touch-sensitive climate control buttons don’t have backlights, which makes them difficult to use at night.By timing drivers to see how long it takes to change the settings, the publication was able to come up with a distance that these drivers are moving (at 68 mph, remember) while they’re fiddling with buttons. This ranged from over eight-tenths of a mile (1372 meters) for the MG Marvel R down to just over 1000 feet (306 m) in the 2005 Volvo. The other vehicles were clumped around 600 to 900 meters, with the Dacia Sandero and Volvo C40 both in the low 400 meters.
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Discovered on Craigslist and sympathetically restored, this 962 nose section is the ideal piece of garage art for any Porsche or endurance racing fan.The entire proceeds of the auction on the Bring a Trailer website go to the Brock Yates Memorial Fund, where they will be used to support care and research for Alzheimer’s disease.A complete 1988 962C, believed to have originally worn this nose at the 1989 12 Hours of Sebring, just sold at the Pebble Beach auctions for $1.3 million. Here’s a piece of racing history that’s within reach of the average enthusiast.Not everyone can afford a historic Porsche 962 racing car, and even if you could, what would you do with it? Vintage racing is nostalgic fantasy only for those with the deepest of pockets. Those of us with Löwenbräu-liveried dreams on Budweiser budgets aren’t likely to be raising any paddles at a Monterey Car Week auction. But for a fraction of the cost you can afford a part of the thrill, and for a good cause, too. Up for auction at Bring a Trailer—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos—is the nose section of a Porsche 962C that, it’s all but certain, campaigned at the 12 Hours of Sebring in its day. The section has been carefully restored, but still bears the patina and battle damage of endurance racing. With six days left in the auction, bidding sits at $6500.

Gooding & Co. auctioned this 1988 Porsche 962C for $1.3 million.
Gooding & Co.

Bring a Trailer

That figure is peanuts compared to the $1.3 million that chassis number 962-139 just fetched at the Gooding & Company auction in Monterey this week. Even better, the seller here will be donating the entire proceeds from the sale—including BaT’s fee—to the Brock Yates Memorial Fund, a charity that benefits Alzheimer’s research and support.

Brock Yates was a giant of American automotive enthusiasm, editor at large for Car and Driver for four decades, and the founder of the original Cannonball Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash and One Lap of America. That a fragment of American endurance racing memorabilia is being sold to support the charity that bears his name seems only too fitting.
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Besides, he’d likely appreciate the story. This nose section was found by the seller while idly trawling through local Craigslist listings. At first, it was thought to be a replica, but the original markings were still visible in the faded paint. After a little sleuthing on the part of the seller, aided by some unusual brake ducting, it’s now believed the nose did once belong to the Havoline-liveried 962C that finished third at the 1989 running of the 12 Hours of Sebring.Owned by the late Bruce Leven of Seattle and campaigned by his Bayside Disposal racing team, that car in its entirety is a typical Porsche racing icon of the era. At Sebring, it was driven by James Weaver and Dominic Dobson, and later in that ’89 season by Jochen Mass.The seller has polished the paint and reapplied the decals as they were in 1989. Decorative Hella headlights have been added, but the rest of the nose section has been left with the original marks and chips it picked up while in competition.It’s the perfect decoration to mount over the 1980s air-cooled 911 you’ve got in your garage—or maybe just in the office where you keep all your vintage racing books. Owning your own vintage racing 962 may not be within reach. But you can get a piece of the action. The auction ends on Friday, August 26. More

The current DeLorean brand has three concepts now, including two that made debuts during Monterey Car Week.Earlier in the year, the company previewed the 2024 Alpha5 2+2 coupe, the best view into the next production DeLorean. At Monterey, the company showed the Alpha5 Plasmatail, an extended, swoopy take on the Alpha5 that carries more cargo in its wagonlike rear end.The Omega, a futuristic concept, is a huge departure for the brand. Just envision off-roading a DeLorean in 2040.DeLorean Motors brought a handful of new vehicles to this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and Monterey Car Week. The Alpha5, which was revealed earlier this year, spent some time in the bright lights Thursday, while the new Plasmatail and Omega concepts were revealed at the DeLorean House on Saturday evening, August 20.

DeLorean Alpha5.
DeLorean

The company is not revealing many details about this mini-fleet of new vehicles. The Alpha5 is an electric luxury sedan complete with DeLorean-appropriate gullwing doors. The concept was designed in partnership with Italdesign, which also worked on the iconic DeLorean DMC-12. We’re trying to avoid any movie references you might be expecting, but DeLorean isn’t helping by claiming that the Alpha5 was designed by looking back to the past and was influenced by a design process that created fictional concepts from an alternate-timeline company history. The Alpha2 roadster was meant to represent what DeLorean would have made in 1996. The Alpha3 luxury sedan pretends to be from 2006, and the Alpha4 is a 2013-era SUV with a hydrogen powertrain. DeLorean Motors Reimagined brought the three concept cars to Pebble Beach as well.

DeLorean Plasmatail concept.
DeLorean

DeLorean said the 2+2 seat electric Alpha5 will be able to go from zero to 60 mph in a specific 2.99 seconds and will have a projected top speed of 155 miles per hour. A 100.0-kWh battery should be good for around 300 miles in this all-wheel-drive vehicle with multi-mode adaptive suspension. DeLorean said the Alpha5 will hit the market in 2024, with details on how to reserve one coming “soon.”It was the other concept vehicles that DeLorean brought to Monterey that looked more towards, well, the future. The 2024 Alpha5 Plasmatail is an extended, wagonesque version of the Alpha5. The stretched variant can fit the same number of passengers but comes with more storage space.

DeLorean Omega concept.
DeLorean

If the DeLorean concepts are about a sometimes fictional past, the new Omega concept is all about the future. Attempting to predict what the DeLorean design language will be in 2040, the Omega concept vehicle blends the design freedom of an electric powertrain with an off-road-racing attitude, riding on large, chunky wheels with one giant windshield that seems to extend from grille to taillights. When seen from the top, the hourglass-shaped body looks athletic and aerodynamic. DeLorean said it represents a “complete departure from traditional automotive design,” but we think the correct phrase is: “Side windows? Where we’re going, we don’t need side windows.”
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Bentley’s limited-edition Batur will be limited to 18 coupes, based on the Continental GT but with all-new bodywork.The Batur gets a 729-hp version of Bentley’s long-lived W-12 engine. As is the norm these days among new-car reveals, this one is showing the future design direction of forthcoming EV models.It might seem odd to be looking at a car powered by a 729-hp W-12 engine and thinking about EVs, but that is what Bentley is ordering us to do with the Batur, a limited-run coupe that has just been unveiled at Monterey Car Week. Because, while the Batur is still powered by sweet, sweet hydrocarbons, we’re told that it showcases the design direction the British luxury brand is planning to take as it develops its first full EV, which is due to arrive in 2025.
Beneath its all-new bodywork, the Batur is based on the floorpan and mechanical package of the existing Continental GT. Just 18 will be built by Bentley’s bespoke Mulliner division, and all have already been reserved by clients, none of whom was apparently put off by the base price, which translates to nearly $2 million at current exchange rates. We’re told that at least some of those customers already own examples of Mulliner’s previous Conti-based limited run, the roof-free Bacalar from 2020. The speed at which the speedster sold out its even more restricted run of 12 cars encouraged Bentley to commission more of the Batur, and it seems likely that additional ultra-exclusive models will follow.

Resting Beast Face Like the Bacalar, the Batur is named after a body of natural water, in this case Lake Batur, a 290-foot-deep crater lake in Kintamani on the Indonesian island of Bali. Award yourself a geography point if you already knew that. The muscular aesthetic is the work of a small team led by Andreas Mindt, Bentley’s recently arrived director of design, with a reimagined style language that seeks to combine elegance and the projection of power. What the company refers to as a “resting beast stance: picture a lion or tiger laying low in attack position in long grass.”
While the Batur’s sizable radiator grille is a familiar detail from existing Bentleys, the new teardrop headlight units are a radical departure for a brand that has become associated with large circular lights, with the smaller apertures containing three powerful projector units. Behind this, the Batur’s long hood gives apparent proof that even fully electric Bentleys will keep the brand’s distinctive cab-rearward stance. The side profile is pleasingly reminiscent of a muscle car, and the Batur’s rounded rump is softer and more organic than the more angular lines of the Continental GT. The only carried-over parts are the door mirrors, these containing too many sensors to make it economically viable to create new ones for such a limited run.The cabin keeps the basic dashboard architecture of the Conti, since Bentley was unable to radically alter safety-critical systems like airbag placement for such a limited run. But, of course, it is finished with even plusher and rarer materials, with buyers able to specify a practically limitless range of colors and with trim options including a natural composite that is described as a more sustainable alternative to carbon fiber. The fascia includes a laser-etched sound wave that represents the sound of the W-12.

Bentley

Twilight SentinelWhile much of the Batur is forward-looking, the 6.0-liter W-12 is definitely part of Bentley’s past. Even the official release acknowledges it is entering its “twilight years” but also describes this version as being its ultimate development. A new intake system, upgraded turbochargers, and recalibration have boosted output to 729 horsepower, a 79-hp increase over the output of the W-12–powered Continental GT Speed. The Batur’s chassis uses the W-12 GT’s combination of air springs, adjustable dampers, and a 48-volt electromechanical anti-roll system. It also has an electrically operated torque-biasing rear differential, carbon-ceramic brakes, and bespoke 22-inch wheels as standard.Several Batur buyers have apparently traveled to Monterey to watch the unveiling and to complete the specification of their cars, with deliveries due to start in the middle of next year. If you’re kicking yourself for having missed out, you may want to head over to your local Bentley dealer and beg to get on the list for the next limited run.
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It’s amazing to contemplate, but scammers are responsible for making at least a billion phone calls per month—and maybe far more. One study says it is more like 100 billion so far this year. That’s billion with a B.The most common scam type attempted to get people to purchase fake vehicle warranties. Health care and Social Security were the second- and third-most common topics.After the FCC sent cease-and-desist letters last month, the number of vehicle warranty scam calls dropped by 60 percent. But don’t expect this relief to last.Last month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) told phone companies in the U.S. to knock it off with the auto warranty scam calls. In a related action, the state of Ohio has filed suit against a small group of people, as first reported by Fortune, claiming they are the force behind a massive operation making robocalls about vehicle warranties. Despite this kind of government action, scammers aren’t going to quietly stop now, as a new report covering the most common types of scam calls and emerging scam trends showed.

The National Consumer Law Center says “more than a billion” scam calls go out every month to U.S. consumers and that there were more than 50 billion in 2021. But a company called First Orion, which provides scam protection solutions, thinks the number could be far higher. First Orion recently issued its “2022 Mid-Year Phone Scam Report,” which estimates that U.S. consumers were on the receiving end of 101 billion scam calls during just the first half of 2022. First Orion projects that this resulted in over 80 million successful scam attempts and cumulative financial losses of up to $40 billion. According to a customer survey done together with the report, First Orion found that 53 percent of people said they received more scam calls in 2022 than they did in 2021. Young people were hit hardest, First Orion said, with two-thirds of 18-to-34-year-olds surveyed reporting some sort of financial loss because of a scam call. The most popular type of scam call was about vehicle warranties, followed by health-care and Social Security issues. According to Kent Welch, chief data officer at First Orion, this lines up with historical trends.”Vehicle warranty scams traditionally rank at the top, especially in 2022,” Welch told Car and Driver. “However, in July, the FCC sent cease-and-desist letters to eight voice service providers to warn them to stop carrying this suspicious traffic. In July, vehicle warranty scam calls dropped by 60 percent compared to June.”Don’t Tell Them AnythingThat welcome decrease isn’t likely to last long. Warranty calls can be effective for bad actors and, since around 66 percent of Americans purchase legitimate warranties, it would not be surprising for the drop only to be temporary, Welch said.Scammers have made investments in learning more about you in order to trick you. Just because the person on the other end of the call knows some accurate information about you—like the year, make, and model of the car you’re driving—doesn’t mean they got those details for legitimate purposes.”Bad actors will use whatever information they can get in advance to make their interaction with the victim seem as legitimate as possible,” Welch said. “Accessing public records is definitely one avenue for that information. However, scammers can also purchase people’s information through a third party.”Even if the scammers don’t get your money this time around, they might be just as happy to build up your profile for a future call. “It’s safe to assume that bad actors want to pull whatever information out of their victims that will result in a financial loss for the victim,” Welch said. “If they can’t manage to make that happen, they will use whatever information they can get from you to attempt to scam you in the future.”First Orion also calculated a list of the top-10 cities for scam calls and found they were clustered in Texas, Oklahoma, and Ohio. Welch said it is difficult to pinpoint the exact reason for the high scam call volume in these areas and that bad actors are likely using different tactics in different states. “However, with health care and health insurance ranking near the top of all scam types nationwide, it’s a possibility that scammers target Texas with those scams due to the state’s high rate of uninsured adults,” he said.
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Aston Martin has shown a V-12–powered, open-topped Vantage at Pebble Beach.The V12 Vantage roadster has 690 horsepower and a claimed 200 mph top speed.It will be limited to 249 examples worldwide, and all have already been sold.Aston Martin seems to have taken the advice of its most famous fictional brand ambassador—Britain’s leading not-very-secret agent, James Bond—and decided to never say never again. Although we were told when the V12 Vantage coupe was released that there were no plans to build a roadster version, this is very much a roadster version of the same car—one that has just been unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California.

Anybody who bought a V12 Vantage coupe on the grounds of the exclusivity guaranteed by its 333-unit production run likely won’t be pleased by the arrival of the ragtop. But the rest of us should be able to forgive Aston Martin for having introduced something so good-looking. The regular V8 Vantage roadster is already an exceptionally handsome beast, and the V12 has turned up the muscularity of the design without losing any of the grace of the basic car.

Aston Martin

As with the coupe, fitting the sizable 12-cylinder engine has been a challenge. Aston insiders say it has been necessary to combine much of the underbody structure of the larger DBS with the Vantage bodyshell. The body of the V12 Roadster has been widened and incorporates heat vents in the fenders behind the front wheel arches, plus a reworked hood necessary to find packaging space for the motor. The hood, fenders, and sill extensions are all made from carbon fiber.Mechanically, the roadster is pretty much identical to the coupe. It uses a 690-hp version of Aston’s twin-turbocharged 5.2-liter V-12 engine, the same motor that powers the larger DB11 and DBS. This is accompanied by 555 pound-feet of torque, and sent to the rear axle through an eight-speed automatic gearbox and a mechanical limited-slip differential. A dual exhaust sits beneath the rear diffuser and is made from lightweight stainless steel. The full exhaust system weighs a claimed 16 pounds less than the exhaust of the V8 Vantage Roadster. We are hoping it sounds better without a roof than the disappointingly muted coupe did when we drove it earlier this year.Per Aston’s claims, the V12 roadster will be one of the fastest front-engine roadsters in the world, capable of both a 3.5 second 60 mph time and a top speed of 200 mph. Those figures are slightly better than the ones the company claimed for the much more expensive windshield-less V12 Speedster that sat on the Vantage’s chassis and used the same engine.

Aston Martin

Although it doesn’t strike us as a natural track car, carbon-ceramic brakes will be standard on the V12 roadster, and it will also be offered with the option of the raised wing from the coupe. While the official images suggest that the roadster looks better without the high-level spoiler, choosing it will also allow the car to produce a claimed peak of 475 pounds of downforce. Production of the V12 roadster will be limited to just 249 examples, making it even more exclusive than the coupe, with deliveries due to start before the end of the year. There is no official word on pricing, but Aston says it has sold out the full run already, with buyers unlikely to be seeing much change from $350,000. That’s a huge amount to pay for the smallest Aston Martin, even in ultra-exclusive form, but we are promised that this really is the last time the V-12 engine will be combined with the Vantage bodyshell.
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Ford announced details of its large-scale publicity effort as it prepares to reveal the new S650-generation Mustang in Detroit on September 14.The automaker will hold an outdoor party in Hart Plaza that evening, during press days for the Detroit auto show, and is inviting “Mustang fans around the world” to attend in person and via social media channels.Ford says interested Mustang owners and fans can register online to take part. Ford announced today that it will hold an outdoor event in Detroit that it’s calling, predictably, “The Stampede,” celebrating the launch of the new S650-generation Mustang. This event will take place on the evening of September 14 in Hart Plaza, near the venue of the Detroit auto show, which will be holding press days at the same time. Ford is inviting the public to attend and will also broadcast the party on social media.

Preceding the debut, Ford is originating a cross-country tour in Tacoma, Washington, on September 6, and “all Mustang owners and enthusiasts” are invited to participate in some or all of it. The tour will make around 12 stops on the way back to Detroit. Then a parade from Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, to the Detroit event will take place on September 14.We don’t yet have full details on the 2024 Mustang, which has so far been seen only in camouflaged form, but it’s expected to keep the same EcoBoost four-cylinder and V-8–powered GT versions, to continue to have the choice of a manual transmission, and to retail in the $30,000-and-up range. The illustration above predicts a very familiar-looking Mustang exterior, but we expect the interior to be modernized in a major way.Ford is asking Mustang owners to register if they plan to participate in some or all of the publicity bonanza it’s planning. Those who prefer to spectate online will be able to find full details, specs, and photos here once the seventh-generation pony car launches next month.
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