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Using small, gas-powered equipment like leaf blowers and generators ends up being much worse for the environment than driving a car for the same amount of time, which is why California’s Air Resources Board pushed state politicians to take action.The new law, AB 1346, will require the state to adopt regulations around these gas-powered tools by July 1, 2022, and ban their sale by the start of 2024, if the board determines it is feasible.Oh, and we should mention: the photo at top is not from California. It shows a member of Team Going Commando participating in a 12-hour lawn-mower endurance race in England in 2018. Try that with an electric leaf blower.How dirty is the bestselling gas-powered leaf blower? CARB says if you use it for an hour, it emits as much smog-forming pollution as a 2016 Toyota Camry does driving for 1100 miles. That explains why California has passed a new ban on highly polluting small engines, setting up for quieter and cleaner lawn work across the state starting in 2024. The new law takes aim at the small off-road engines (which the bill poetically calls SOREs) that can be found in residential and commercial lawn and garden equipment, federally regulated construction and farming equipment, and other machines such as generators. The new law was driven, in part, by the efforts of the powerful California Air Resources Board (CARB), which has worked for decades to clean up the state’s air. CARB says there are almost three million more small engines in California than light-duty passenger cars (16.5 million vs. 13.7 million). CARB makes a good case for the need to regulate these SOREs, given that the lack of pollution control devices on the machines that use SOREs emit way more pollution than a passenger car over the same time period.

CARB says that using the “bestselling commercial lawn mower” for an hour emits as much smog-forming pollution as you would by driving a 2016 Toyota Camry around 300 miles. Leaf blowers can be even worse, with the “bestselling commercial leaf blower” emitting the equivalent amount of smog-forming pollution that that same Camry would do over 1100 miles. SOREs emit high levels of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), reactive organic gases (ROG) and particulate matter (PM), the law’s sponsors say, all of which negatively impact human health.

California Air Resources Board

“Small gas engines are not only bad for our environment and contributing to our climate crisis, they can cause asthma and other health issues for workers who use them,” said one of the legislation’s co-sponsors, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, in a statement. “It’s time we phased out these super polluters, and help small landscaping businesses transition to cleaner alternatives.”The law, AB 1346, requires the state board to “adopt cost-effective and technologically feasible regulations to prohibit engine exhaust and evaporative emissions” from SOREs by July 1, 2022. The rules that will be written next year will then apply to any engines built on or after January 1, 2024 (or, if that deadline is deemed not feasible by the state board, some later date). The board will determine the technological feasibility of this rule by taking into consideration not just the emissions from the SOREs themselves, but also how easy it is to purchase zero-emission off-road equipment and any increased demand on the electric grid by shifting millions of outdoor devices to electric power. Similar to how CARB supported efforts to shift drivers to plug-in vehicles, the new law says that the state board shall, “to the extent feasible,” offer up commercial rebates or some similar sort of incentive program to people buying the new, zero-emission equipment. The bill provides for $30 million to be spent on incentives to help people and businesses purchase zero-emission machines.The new SORE law will not affect the sale of most gas-powered recreational vehicles like ATVs and dirt bikes. CARB’s official definition of SOREs says they are “spark-ignition engines rated at or below 19 kilowatts,” or 25 horsepower, and most off-road recreational equipment uses more powerful engines. CARB has also been regulating off-highway recreational vehicles since 1994 and currently groups machines that have 25-hp or greater engines, like specialty vehicles and go-karts, into a system of “large spark-ignition engine” regulations.
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The Si version of the 11th-generation Honda Civic will arrive later this year.Power once again comes from a 1.5-liter turbo, now with a broader powerband.Honda is helping to #SavetheManuals by only offering the 2022 Civic Si with a six-speed manual transmission. Honda’s 11th-generation Civic gains another version with the arrival of the performance-oriented Civic Si. Debuting solely in sedan form, the 2022 Civic Si once again features a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder mated exclusively to a six-speed manual transmission. It’s now wrapped in a handsome-looking package that’s slightly lower, longer, and wider than before.

The 1.5-liter gains a lighter single-mass flywheel that’s 26 percent lighter than the dual-mass unit found in the previous-gen Civic Si. While power is down 5 horsepower to an even 200, it’s now more usable, reaching that figure at a heady 6000 rpm and dipping only slightly until the 6500-rpm redline. Peak torque now arrives at 1800 rpm—300 revs earlier than the old mill—and holds steady at 192 pound-feet until 5000 rpm. The front wheels convert the power into momentum, aided by a standard helical limited-slip differential. The six-speed features 10-percent-shorter throws and Honda promises improved shift feel, too. A standard rev-matching mode is pilfered from the current Civic Type R.
The engine now exhales through a new exhaust system, which we hope will rectify our complaints about the sound. The Si’s exhaust system flow is increased 27 percent over that of the 2022 Civic sedan, Honda says. Both tailpipes loop right before the tips, allowing the exhaust to bang around a little longer and louder before exiting into the atmosphere. The Civic Si’s drive mode now includes a programmable individual setting, enabling the driver to adjust things like throttle response, rev matching, and steering effort. With a wider track and longer wheelbase compared to the previous generation, the Civic Si promises greater stability at high speeds. Front and rear compliance bushings are also sourced from the Type R. Steering feel should be improved, facilitated by a stiffer torsion bar connected to the rack. Standard 18-inch wheels feature all-season rubber, with summer tires optional. The Civic Si also features larger brakes and thicker stabilizer bars compared to the standard Civic.
In terms of appearance, the Civic Si differentiates itself with a more aggressive front bumper, exposed exhaust tips, and a gloss-black trunk-mounted spoiler. Gloss black trim also covers the mirrors and window surrounds. The well-bolstered front seats offer additional thigh and shoulder support, along with a longer lower cushion and integrated headrests. Red contrasting trim is used everywhere, brightening up the door panels, steering wheel, and shift boot, and also accentuates the trick honeycomb panel across the dash.Pricing has yet to be announced, but given that Honda has mainly held the line on increases with the rest of the new Civic lineup, we’re hoping that the Civic Si follows suit. If anything, we expect it to cost only slightly more than the previous model, which stickered at $26,195. Look for the 2022 Honda Civic Si at dealerships later this fall.

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Throughout the period of peak Station Wagon, the Ford Country Squire reigned supreme, while competitors such as the AMC Ambassador wagon played second (or third) fiddle. Which means that, today, cars like this 1971 Ambassador Brougham wagon are an even rarer sighting. For sale right now on Bring a Trailer, this suburban schooner is nonetheless a superb time machine.

Bring a Trailer

Chiefly, that’s because we haven’t seen one in this condition since the Nixon Administration. According to the listing, the car has had some paintwork and benefits from some re-chroming. The work appears to be to a high standard, and the condition overall is remarkable. From the woodgrain, to the interior, to the wheels and (yes!) whitewall tires, there’s nothing here that betrays the fact that it was 50 years ago when this bad boy rolled off the line as the pride of Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Bring a Trailer

Bring a Trailer

Then there’s the spec. Granted, Golden Lime Metallic is dangerously close to the Wagon Queen Family Truckster’s Metallic Pea, but it is also perfectly period-correct. So, too, is the green vinyl interior, even if the contrast between the two greens seems awkward to our modern, all-grayscale sensibilities. The sweeping woodgrain is another essential, and we’re digging the rally wheels, too. This deluxe wagon also comes with factory air conditioning—note the Desert Only max setting. The lazy V-8 under the hood is AMC’s 360-cubic-inch unit, hooked to a three-speed automatic, just as God intended.This AMC provides the same Wonder Years flashback as the Fords and Chevys of the era. And, at long last, Ambassador finally got its due; it sold on October 18, after 27 bids on the Bring a Trailer site, for $27,000.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a probe into Ram trucks with diesel engines, following up on reports of a problem with the high-pressure fuel pump. The problem could cause stalling and loss of power while traveling at speeds above 25 mph.The reported problem could affect 604,651 2019–2020 Ram 2500, 3500, 4500, and 5500 trucks with the 6.7-liter Cummins turbo-diesel engine.So far, NHTSA has received 22 complaints about the issue and two field reports. The agency has not yet issued a recall.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced today that it’s opening an investigation into the high-pressure fuel pump failure on some heavy-duty Ram trucks. The problem, described in 22 consumer complaints so far, is that the trucks could stall and become immobile while traveling at speeds over 25 mph. The problem, NHTSA’s report says, could lead to “permanent disablement of the vehicle.”The problem could affect an estimated 604,651 2019–2020 model Ram 2500, 3500, 4500, and 5500 series heavy-duty trucks with the Cummins 6.7-liter diesel engine. NHTSA could issue a recall as a result of the investigation. According to NHTSA and a report today by the Detroit News, Stellantis (then Fiat Chrysler) was aware of the issue much earlier and put out a warranty bulletin in November 2019 about the problem, asking dealers to “collect, monitor, and correct quality issues” with the trucks’ high-pressure fuel pumps.NHTSA said it is opening the investigation to “further assess the scope, frequency, root cause, and potential safety-related consequences of the alleged defect leading to stall/loss of motive power.” If a recall follows later, truck owners can expect to be notified and asked to bring their vehicle to a dealer for a fix. In the meantime, owners of potentially affected Ram heavy-duty trucks can check the NHTSA recall site for updates on the investigation.

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Tom Gidden ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Ferrari LaFerrari is a strange one. The defining Ferrai of the 2010s was a deserving halo car that ushered in the company’s hybrid era with an unforgettable look. It also failed to break away from its contemporaries, the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918, to stand alone as an immortal in the way the F40 did when this Ferrari halo line started in the late ’80s. It leaves something between an instant classic and just another collectible sports car, a car that belongs in a museum but not quite on the museum’s brochure. While that doesn’t necessarily leave the LaFerrari as an untouchable unicorn, it still makes just about every private sale newsworthy.

Tom Gidden ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

This particular LaFerrari is headed to auction in November. Every 1-of-499 LaFerrari is special, but this one adds the distinction of being the only car ordered in a shade of wine-like purple called Vinaccia. That shade and the complimenting Pelle Chiodi di Garofano (brown) interior both come from historic Ferraris in the original owner’s collection.

Like every LaFerrari, the whole thing is highlighted by a V-12 and an F1-derived hybrid system that combined to produce just under 950 horsepower. That helps the car to reach 60 mph in 2.4 seconds and a quarter-mile in under 10 seconds, both high watermarks for Ferrari’s stable at the time. That complicated hybrid system is expensive, though; CarBibles reports that the LaFerrari’s KERS energy recovery unit costs about $200,000. And that number is before what would be a very difficult installation.

Tom Gidden ©2021 Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

LaFerraris were available new only to select high-level Ferrari buyers, so a car like this with under 1000 miles represents an incredibly rare chance for the open market to get their shot at an example. The few cars that have gone to auction already have sold in the $5 million to $10 million range, highlighted by the record-setting sale of the last LaFerrari Aptera in 2017. In the time since, the collector-car market has exploded at all levels. While this car could just as easily come in at the more modest $5 million, conditions are right for this like-new car with a one-of-one color and a story to break the LaFerrari’s own record for highest-ever sale at auction for a 21st-century car.The 2016 LaFerrari will sell at next month’s RM Sotheby’s auction in London. If you have seven to eight figures to spend on a collectible car, you may not find a better investment anytime soon.

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Honda released another teaser for the 2022 Civic Si and shared its reveal date: October 19.The sedan, seen here in orange, will likely have more power and a stiffer suspension setup than the standard Civic.Honda has already confirmed that it will have a manual transmission.After showing the upcoming Civic Si in race-car form recently, Honda has released yet another teaser for the sporty sedan ahead of its official unveiling on October 19. The latest photo shows the rear end of the Civic Si sedan in a vivid orange color. Its rear decklid spoiler is more subtle than the race car’s giant wing, but it does look to be a bit more aggressive than the standard Civic sedan.

Like the previous-generation Si, we’re expecting the Civic Si to offer more power than the standard Civic Si’s upgrade engine, a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four with 180 hp. The last Si made 205 hp from this engine and paired it with a six-speed manual transmission, and we’d expect similar specs for the new model. It’ll also have an upgraded suspension and brakes for improved handling and sharper responses.We’ll get all the info tomorrow, but we know that the Si will be available only as a sedan. The Civic coupe was discontinued for this generation, while the upcoming Civic Type R will serve as the hatchback body style’s performance model.
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Stellantis and battery maker LG Energy Solution are teaming up to build a lithium-ion-battery manufacturing plant in North America that will start operations in early 2024, the automaker announced this morning. Separately, Toyota announced today that it will spend $3.4 billion to develop battery production and build hybrid and electric vehicles in the U.S. Toyota will be pairing with Toyota Tsusho on a lithium-ion-battery plant to open by 2025.Both moves are another sign of how seriously mainstream automakers are taking the move toward electric vehicles, following recent announcements from Ford and GM about similar investment plans.Stellantis, parent company of Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, announced this morning that it’s teaming with battery maker LG to produce lithium-ion battery cells and modules in a North American plant. The location was not announced, but the target start date is early 2024, according to the automaker’s statement. The batteries will be used in hybrid and electric vehicles built in North America. Stellantis has previously stated it intends to have 40 percent of its U.S. sales come from EVs by 2030 and has earmarked a total of $35 billion toward meeting that goal. In July, Jeep revealed its 2022 Grand Cherokee 4xe plug-in hybrid and vowed to have a zero-emission vehicle in every SUV segment by 2025.

2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe.
Jeep

Separately, Toyota Motor North America announced it will spend $1.3 billion, part of a larger $3.4 billion, nine-year investment plan, to set up a U.S. lithium-ion-battery plant to supply U.S.-market hybrid and electric vehicles. That plant is set to start production in 2025, Toyota said. The automaker had previously announced it will spend $13.5 billion worldwide to produce its own batteries and to develop a solid-state battery by 2025 as well. In September, a Toyota executive told Automotive News that the company is already testing a “working prototype.” Although Toyota has been slower than some companies to express enthusiasm for EVs, focusing more attention on hybrids, its announcement today was titled “Toyota charges into electrified future in the U.S.” The automaker says it will build “about 70” hybrid or electric models by 2025, of which 15 will be fully electric.The news from Stellantis and Toyota follows closely on Ford and General Motors’ statements that they are investing in new U.S. facilities for EV production. Ford’s Blue Oval City will produce batteries and electric vehicles in Tennessee, with a separate facility in Kentucky, and its Ion Park will develop batteries in Michigan. GM has two joint-venture battery plants, also with LG, in Ohio and Tennessee. The first of these should start producing battery cells in the second half of 2022.
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Numbers released by the National Insurance Crime Bureau show there was an 11 percent increase in the number of vehicles stolen in the U.S. last year, with the two most popular targets being Ford and Chevrolet half-ton pickups.The Honda Civic and Accord were the next most popular cars to steal, in part because late-1990s versions of these vehicles still on the road are unlikely to have anti-theft devices built in.The FBI, which uses different methods to calculate crime statistics, found that motor vehicle thefts in the U.S. jumped 16.6 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. The year 2020 was tough for most everyone on the planet, but the hundreds of thousands of people who had their vehicle stolen last year got to deal with an extra helping of “Seriously, this too?” amid the pandemic. Thanks to numbers released by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), drivers of Ford and Chevy full-size pickups were most likely to have to deal with having their vehicle disappear unexpectedly than anyone else.

In its annual “hot wheels” list (get it?), the NICB found that, overall, vehicle thefts were up 11 percent in 2020 compared to 2019. The top ten most stolen makes and models add up to just over 231,000 vehicles, led by full-size Ford pickups with 44,014 units stolen and full-size Chevy trucks in second place at 40,968. Coming in third and fourth places last year, respectively, were the Honda Civic and Accord. Late-1990s versions of these vehicles are popular targets for thieves because they were some of the last models built without anti-theft technology, NCIB said.

NICB

For the most part, thieves tend to pick older vehicles, the NICB found. For the Ford trucks, for example, the most common model year stolen was 2006, while the 2004 was the most common Chevy truck stolen. There are some surprises in the bottom half of the Top 10 most stolen vehicle list, though, with the Toyota Camry (fifth place overall), Nissan Altima (sixth), and Toyota Corolla (eighth) having their most common model year stolen being either 2020 or 2019. Rounding out the top 10 are the GMC full-size pickups at number seven, the Honda CR-V in ninth place, and the full-size Dodge pick-ups in tenth.”Auto thefts saw a dramatic increase in 2020 versus 2019 in part due to the pandemic, an economic downturn, law enforcement realignment, depleted social and schooling programs, and, in still too many cases, owner complacency,” said David Glawe, NICB president and CEO, in a statement. The FBI, which uses different data collection methods than the NICB, found that, overall, there were around 407,000 motor-vehicle-theft incidents in 2020, a 16.6 percent increase over the 315,000 such incidents in 2019 and the 270,000 incidents that were reported in 2018. The real numbers of vehicles stolen in the U.S. are higher, as the FBI collects its data through the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which relies on numbers submitted by local law enforcement, and not all local agencies share their information with the Bureau. In 2020, for example, the FBI estimated national crime statistics based on data received from 15,875 of 18,623 law enforcement agencies that year.However many vehicle thefts actually happened last year, the NICB offers some common-sense tips on how not to add to the statistics next year. The super-easy ones: always lock your car, park in well-lit areas, and don’t leave your keys in the car. Installing a warning device or something that will immobilize or track your car will take a bit more effort, but it is worth considering if you think your vehicle is at risk.

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