Motor News

Dodge revealed its vision for “future muscle” on Wednesday night, giving us our first look at the Charger Daytona SRT. A radical concept with retro style and futuristic tech, there was one feature that stuck out: A simulated exhaust sound. The Daytona SRT is electric, you see, so Dodge added a fake internal-combustion exhaust note to quell EV doubters. And we’re not sure how we feel about it.During the car’s premiere, published above, Dodge started the car to let it run, even giving the crowd a few revs. The feature, called the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust, uses an amplifier near the rear of the car to produce a 126-decibel “exhaust” sound. Dodge says this sound is supposed to replicate a Hellcat’s supercharged 6.2-liter V-8. We’ll let you listen and decide whether it actually does or not. Stellantis head designer Ralph Gilles published a clip of the car’s sound to Instagram, in case you need a better video.
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The fake exhaust noise isn’t the only radical piece of tech onboard the Charger Daytona SRT concept. There’s also what Dodge calls the eRupt transmission. It’s a multi-speed unit that allows the driver to shift themselves via an “electro-mechanical” connection. Whether that means the driver is actually shifting gears in the transmission or gear shifting is simulated electronically, we don’t know yet.
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Hyundai is recalling 245,030 Palisades and Kia is recalling 36,417 Tellurides—all 2020–2022 models—due to a fire risk. Both automakers are also ordering a stop-sale on affected models, according to a NHTSA consumer alert.The fire risk stems from a possible electrical short circuit caused by debris or moisture accumulating inside the tow-hitch harness module. Hyundai and Kia are still finalizing repair plans, but until the issue is resolved, owners are asked to park outside and away from buildings.Over 280,000 Hyundai Palisades and Kia Tellurides from the 2020—2022 model years are being recalled due to potentially faulty tow-hitch harnesses that can cause a fire while the SUVs are parked or driving. Hyundai and Kia today also issued a stop-sale on affected models at dealers and processing centers that haven’t been sold, per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).According to separate filings yesterday with NHTSA, Hyundai reported that about 245,030 Palisades are affected, and Kia reported that about 36,417 Tellurides are affected. Both reports indicate the fire risk stems from an electrical short circuit that can happen when debris or moisture accumulates on the printed circuit board for the tow-hitch harness module. The harness may have been installed as original equipment or as an accessory through a dealer. Hyundai confirmed details of the recall to Car and Driver, but Kia hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment.

Kia

Hyundai and Kia are still currently finalizing plans for the fix. In the meantime, both automakers are advising owners of affected vehicles to park outside and away from buildings until the recall is addressed. In its NHTSA report, Hyundai states that owners can continue driving their Palisades and describes plans to remove the fuse for the tow-hitch module as an extra measure of protection.So far, Hyundai hasn’t reported any fires, crashes, or injuries in the U.S. related to the recall. However, it has confirmed eight cases where melting has occurred. Likewise, Kia hasn’t reported any crashes or injuries, but it did confirm five cases of melting and one fire.Hyundai plans to notify dealers and owners on October 17, 2022. Kia plans to notify dealers about the recall on October 10, 2022, and it plans to notify owners on October 14, 2022. More

Shelby American announced a limited production run of a 1300-horsepower variant of the Ford Mustang GT500, named the GT500 Code Red.Shelby will build 30 total examples of the Code Red, 10 for each of the 2020 through 2022 model years. The Code Red will not be street legal and is designed with straight-line speed in mind. Prices start at $209,995 before factoring in the required donor car. Shelby American unveiled the GT500 Code Red at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit this past weekend. The limited-production model is based on the current-generation Mustang GT500, but Sthelby pulled the supercharger off the 5.2-liter V8- and replaced it with a pair of turbochargers. The engine was re-engineered by Nelson’s Racing Engines and fitted with a dual-feed fuel system, allowing blends of racing fuel when needed. Engine cooling capacity was increased to handle the extra heat. When driving the Code Red using 93-octane gas from the pump, it will produce over 1000 horsepower and 780 pound-feet of torque. When using E85, the Code Red’s will make as much as 1300 horsepower with torque moving up over 1000 pound-feet.

Shelby American

Shelby American was up front about the performance of the Code Red, saying: “While not street legal, it’s very capable at moderate speeds in most any curve. But when the turbos spool up, the car is best enjoyed moving straight ahead.” Further modifications include a stronger transmission to hold the increased power, a one-piece driveshaft, Shelby/Baer brakes and rotors, and 20-inch wheels in front with Pirelli P Zero tires and Nitto NY555R drag radials in back.

Shelby American

On top of the numerous performance upgrades, the Code Red will have a widebody kit for bigger tires, a new interior, new badging, and a carbon-fiber hood. Shelby will take up to 10 GT500s from 2020, 2021, and 2022, with production capped at 30 total. If you are interested in owning one of the 30, be prepared to spend. The package starts at $209,995 which does not include the over $80,000 price tag of the donor car.
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GMA showed its T.50 and T.33 supercars for the first time in the U.S. at The Quail during Monterey Car Week, where the T.50 also took a few laps around Laguna Seca with Dario Franchitti at the center helm.While the T.50 won’t be street legal in the U.S., GMA’s second car, the T.33, will be, meeting all emissions and crash standards.Although both cars are sold out, there are two more cars in the pipeline with additional models to follow.According to founder and supercar visionary Gordon Murray, it took a deep breath plus a $33 million investment to make his company’s T.33 supercar meet all requirements to be street legal in the U.S. Its first car, the 641-hp T.50 that revs to a stratospheric 12,100 rpm, isn’t, and it will instead be brought in under the show-or-display provision, just like Murray’s landmark first supercar, the McLaren F1. GMA T.50 at The Quail.Rolex/Tom O’NealThe sizable extra investment means Gordon Murray Automotive’s second car, the marginally less extreme 592-hp T.33, meets all of the lengthy Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), including all crash requirements. Creativity and novel solutions are not rewarded, and the T.50’s center driving position is a no-go, which is why the T.33 has a standard two-seat arrangement. Both versions of the 4.0-liter Cosworth V-12 that power the two cars meet U.S. emissions standards, but drive-by noise and crash requirements are two key areas where the cars differ from a certification perspective, according to CEO Phillip Lee. We talked to Murray and Lee at The Quail, an event during Monterey Car Week where many a supercar purveyor was in attendance to capture the attention of the notoriously wealthy attendees, who might just decide to buy one on a whim. This was the first time the T.50 and T.33 were shown in the U.S., and GMA also announced it is opening a U.S. headquarters in an unspecified location in eastern Florida that will be up and running in 2024.Dave VanderWerp|Car and DriverDave VanderWerp|Car and DriverThat coincides with T.33 deliveries, which will also start in 2024, following a switch to a new production facility that will take place in 2023 after T.50 production has ended. Yes, the company is literally picking up and moving all its equipment from its Dunsfold, U.K., plant just down the road to a new facility in Windlesham, which will be roughly a three-month process.Murray says that the company will limit production on each of its cars to no more than 100, and both the $2.5 million T.50 and $1.9 million T.33 sold out almost immediately. But there will be more opportunity to buy one of Gordon Murray’s wonderfully obsessive supercar creations, as he says they have another two cars in the pipeline, and a product cadence mapped out well into the next decade. How obsessive? In addition to the incredibly light weight, mega revs, and supreme focus on the driving experience, they didn’t stop there. Murray says “every single thing on the motor car of the car is a piece of engineering art, even stuff owners will never see” and then citing an example of spending more than 12 months and £1.3 million ($1.5 million) optimizing the feel of the analog knobs and eradicating slop.Even supercars need to spread out the cost burden, with Murray suggesting that if they had done only the 100 T.50s that the price would need to be £10 million apiece, or nearly five times more expensive.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

BMW M announced it is testing an all-electric high-performance prototype based on the i4.The vehicle has a new all-wheel-drive setup with four electric motors.Virtual testing and bench testing have already taken place, and this new testing will put the prototype through more realistic scenarios on the road.BMW’s M high-performance division is moving further down the path toward electrification, if this i4-based prototype with a new quad-motor drivetrain is any indication. The prototype’s all-wheel-drive setup with four electric motors suggests that future M EVs could be significantly more powerful than the current M-badged electric offerings, the 536-hp i4 M50 and the 610-hp iX M60. Both of these have dual-motor setups.

BMW has not yet said exactly which form a future M EV could take, but the test mule is based on the i4 M50, with widened wheel arches to fit different front and rear axles. It also uses structural components from the M3 and M4 to improve torsional rigidity. Testing began in virtual models and on test benches before being put on the road.Beyond providing more power, BMW says that having a motor at each wheel will also open the door for more precise tuning, with the ability to instantly send power to individual wheels. The four motors are connected to one central control unit which determines where to send power based on factors like pedal position, steering angle, longitudinal and lateral acceleration, and wheel speeds. We don’t know yet exactly when this new powertrain will go into production, but EVs have already begun to disrupt BMW’s performance hierarchy. Although the i4 M50 is not meant to be a full-bore M model on the same level as the M3 and M4, it is already nipping on the heels of its gas-powered siblings in our acceleration testing. The electric i4 M50’s 3.3-second sprint to 60 mph beat the rear-wheel-drive M3 Competition and was only a half a second behind the all-wheel-drive M4 Competition xDrive’s result. So it goes without saying that we’re looking forward to finding out what a quad-motor BMW M EV could be capable.
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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