Motor News

BMW has released details of the new 2022 2-series coupe, along with photos of a camouflaged prototype.It will be available in 230i and M240i forms, both with either rear- or all-wheel drive.The new model will start production this summer, with the RWD 230i and AWD M240i xDrive arriving first and the AWD 230i xDrive and RWD M240i to follow.One of our favorite BMW models is entering a new generation soon. Even as new front-wheel-drive sedan variants crop up around it, the new 2022 2-series will continue to offer a rear-wheel-drive coupe model with either an inline-four or an inline-six engine. BMW has confirmed that the M240i model will offer a more powerful turbo 3.0-liter inline-six with 382 horsepower, while we expect the 230i to continue with a turbo 2.0-liter inline-four with around 250 hp.

These photos of a camouflaged prototype don’t show much but do hint that the 230i and M240i will avoid the polarizing kidney grille treatment seen on the 4-series coupe. Earlier leaked photos showed the new model’s rear end, which has modern-looking taillights. We’ve heard that the convertible won’t return for this generation, but the even higher-performance M2 will.
So far BMW has only shared details about the M240i’s eight-speed automatic transmission, which has us worried that the more powerful 2er might drop its manual-transmission option. We sincerely hope that a six-speed manual will still be offered at least on the 230i. Both engine choices will be offered with either rear- or all-wheel drive.More information is coming in late July or early August and the 2-series should arrive at U.S. dealerships by this fall. The rear-drive 230i and M240i xDrive will go on sale first, with the 230i xDrive and rear-drive M240i arriving later, possibly for the 2023 model year.
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SWSD stands for shift work sleep disorder, a chronic condition related to the hours workers keep. People with this condition need to be extra careful when sleepy if they need to drive.Researchers at the University of Missouri looked through real-world data and discovered that people with SWSD are 300 percent more likely to be in a crash (or a “near crash”). Others with sleep troubles, like people with sleep apnea or insomnia, have a 30 percent greater risk.One of the study authors told Car and Driver that, if possible, it’s best to rest after work before getting behind the wheel or to rely on other drivers, like with public transportation or a taxi.For centuries, people have been working through the night. But in the 21st century, people who work the “graveyard” shift—or any overnight job—may have to contend with an impact that people in the long-ago past did not: a much, much higher chance of crashing their car. Much higher.Pretty much by definition, shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) commonly affects people who don’t work a traditional nine-to-five job and have to work through the night. According to the Cleveland Clinic, around 20 percent of the full-time workforce in the U.S. is required to do some sort of shift work, and of those people, 10 to 40 percent may suffer from the sleep disorder. On the low end, that means at least 2.5 million people are potentially affected with SWSD. The disorder “causes difficulties adjusting to a different sleep/wake schedule, which results in significant issues with falling asleep, staying asleep, and sleeping when desired,” the Clinic said on its website.Researchers at the University of Missouri wanted to understand what happens to people’s ability to drive when their internal body clocks get turned around by SWSD. U of M Civil and environmental engineering professors Praveen Edara and Carlos Sun looked at data collected in a real-world driving study that was part of the second Strategic Highway Research Program, which was established by Congress and ran from 2006 to 2015. Their findings, in short, are that people with SWSD are three times more likely to crash (or be in a near crash) than people without this condition. Other sleeping problems, specifically sleep apnea or insomnia, resulted in a 30 percent greater chance of crashing (or nearly crashing).”The magnitude of the crash risk increase for drowsy drivers is concerning, both to them and other motorists on the road,” Edara told Car and Driver. As the report noted, in 2017 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recorded 91,000 “police-reported crashes” involving drowsy drivers, involving 50,000 injuries and close to 800 deaths. It is still unclear exactly why SWSD was found to have a larger impact on safety than other sleep disruptions, he said, but there are some strategies night shift workers can take to minimize their risk of a crash. Unsurprisingly, these involve getting some rest or avoiding getting behind the wheel.

“Due to the heightened safety risk experienced by drivers with SWSD, late-shift workers are encouraged to use non-driving transportation modes, such as taxi, transportation network companies, and public transit, when available,” Edara said. “Resting before driving back to home after completing their shift is another option to mitigate the risk. This is consistent with the Hours of Service guidelines established for long-haul commercial drivers by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that include rest periods to increase driver alertness.”The National Transportation Safety Board releases a list of its top 10 most wanted safety improvements each year. While the 2020–2021 list doesn’t include any mention of drowsy drivers, their 2019–2020 list includes “screening and treating obstructive sleep apnea” as well as “reduce fatigue-related accidents.”Now that a link has been established between SWSD and an increased chance of crashing, Edara said in a statement that the next move should be to work with medical professionals to figure out exactly why the risk is higher in people with SWSD. Seems like there is an obvious answer here, but Edara said a better understand will help them “develop and test to improve the overall safety of these drivers and the other motorists around them.”The study’s name is “Sleep Disorders and Risk of Traffic Crashes: A Naturalistic Driving Study Analysis,” and it was published in Safety Science.
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When Aston Martin revealed the manual Vantage AMR back in 2019, the company promised it would be the last manufacturer to sell manual sports cars. That commitment to the purist market has gone out the window, however, courtesy of newly appointed CEO Tobias Moers.

Moers confirmed to Road & Track during a recent interview that Aston Martin plans to abandon the manual transmission altogether. The CEO, who previously headed Mercedes-AMG, also told Australian media the gearbox will be phased out of the Vantage lineup for the model’s 2022 refresh. This contradicts the manufacturer’s previous plans, which called for the manual to be a stand-alone option for the Vantage going forward. “We did a few assessments about [the manual car]—you don’t need it anymore,” Moers said to Australian press during a roundtable event, as reported by Motoring.com.au. “And you have to maintain it with the new regulations, year by year with the emissions because it’s a bespoke powertrain. It makes no sense.”While we were overjoyed to see Aston Martin offering a manual in the new Vantage, Road & Track reported they weren’t especially enamored with the AMR’s price during a review. They recommended buyers wait until the standard manual Vantage reached U.S. shores to get the most bang for their buck. Aston Martin confirmed the 2021 Vantage will still have the manual option, thankfully. While we’re sad to see yet another manual die, we aren’t exactly surprised. Moers says that Aston buyers “overwhelmingly” prefer automatics, so spending the money to keep the manual around isn’t exactly logical, especially considering the company’s current financial situation.It’s a sad day for the manual transmission. Chris Perkins contributed to this report.

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A study conducted in the last week of April found that most car shoppers have heard about the semiconductor chip shortage and are aware that it is affecting vehicle production, supply, and thus prices.Forty percent say they’re willing to pay 12 percent over MSRP for a new car. Given average new-car prices, that means $5000.Over a third of shoppers looking now say they’d wait to buy, given the high prices, and a quarter of those people say they’ll buy used instead.You already know this, but we’ll say it again: car prices are climbing. A report in April showed prices were around 4 percent higher than a year before, and we’ve beat that news drum repeatedly in the past month. It turns out that people seem to understand that there’s no way around it if you want to buy a new car today.Cox Automotive released a study this week showing just how receptive buyers are to higher prices. Forty percent, Cox found, would not shy away from being charged a 12 percent premium. Given that the average new-car MSRP in the U.S. is almost $42,000, that means four in 10 people would accept a price that’s $5000 more than what the sticker says.Despite the higher expected prices, only 37 percent said they’d wait to buy a vehicle, with 70 percent of those saying they’ll wait at least three months to purchase and 23 percent saying they’ll look at used vehicles, instead.

Cox Automotive spokesman Mark Schirmer told Car and Driver: “The current auto market, with low inventory and high demand, is anything but normal. And we know it’s driving people away.”Cox’s research shows that 87 percent of consumers recognize the issue is impacting both domestic and import nameplates. As the issue is industry-wide, 73 percent of consumers are expecting to face higher prices at the dealerships, and nearly 60 percent believe they will find lower incentives. One main reason for this non-sticker shock is the limited supply times that we’re all living in. Cox’s survey was conducts in the last week of April, and found that 75 percent of car shoppers knew about the global semiconductor chip shortage and that it was wrecking havoc on new car production. Almost as many, 73 percent, said they expected to see higher prices at the dealership, and almost 60 percent said they expected that any incentives they might find would be lower than before.Cox’s Schirmer also says, however, that “Our recent research shows nearly 40 percent of buyers who were considered ‘in market’ for a vehicle are now dropping out or deciding to delay their purchase. High prices and limited selection are likely the cause.” And does this sound like anyone you know? “For the most part, car buying in America continues to be driven by the deal,” he said, noting that even under current conditions, “Older shoppers—and specifically older male shoppers—[are] less willing to pay over sticker. These older buyers are a cohort we call ‘Straight Shooters,’ and they are experienced vehicle buyers, with plenty of good deals in their past. Paying above sticker is an unnatural act for this group.”

2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe.
Stellantis

Just over a million and a half vehicles were sold in the U.S. in April. According to iSeeCars, the fastest-selling cars in the U.S. last month were the Chevrolet Corvette (average price $87,390), the Jeep Wrangler 4xe ($57,161), and the Kia Telluride ($44,723). Fastest-selling means these vehicles spent the shortest time waiting on dealer lots for someone to take them home. In total, 16 models were sold in an average of under 20 days, while the overall average for the entire market was 48.3 days.At the end of April, there were less than 2 million new vehicles on dealership lots in the U.S., which was 42 percent lower than April 2020. Cox said it believes supply will continue to be low until at least the end of the year.
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The Golden Ray, the ill-fated cargo ship that capsized in September 2019 with 4200 vehicles on board, caught fire on Friday afternoon, May 14.The ship’s remains are in the water of Saint Simons Sound, off the coast of Georgia, and it has been the subject of a complex salvage effort for more than 18 months.Only about 1000 of the thousands of ruined cars, trucks, and SUVs on board have been removed from the wreck to date.Thick black smoke billowed out from the Golden Ray shipwreck on Friday afternoon as it sat half-salvaged off the coast of St. Simons Island, Georgia. The Golden Ray is the ship that capsized in September 2019 with more than 4000 new vehicles inside.Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Himes, a spokesperson for the St. Simons Incident Command, says the fire started as crews were testing fire suppression systems while preparing to cut into the third of the ship’s eight sections; four sections have already been removed. This is the first time that a major fire has broken out since the salvage operation began, and it dwarfs the fires that broke out during the ship’s capsizing.

The exact source of the fire is unknown, though Section 3 does comprise the ship’s engine room. What’s more, unified command officials reckoned during an April 26 briefing that there could be as much as 44,000 gallons of fuel while gaming out worst-case scenarios; more than 320,000 gallons had been siphoned out before cutting operations began. Also: only 1000 cars aboard the Golden Ray have been removed from the wreck site in total.
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All nonessential responders have been safely evacuated from the VB-10000 “crane-saw” catamaran, which is just upwind from the heaviest smoke and the most essential instrument in the salvage operation—as it lifts and cuts the ship. No injuries have been observed. Crews continue to fight the fire with seawater from a flotilla of tugboats against winds that had been forecasted at 20 mph.

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Friend and former C/D contributor Jason Cammisa returns to Window Shop this week to help us look for sleepers that cost less than $20,000. Not to be confused with the 1973 Woody Allen movie, in the car world, a sleeper (a.k.a. a Q-ship or Q-car) is a vehicle that doesn’t look fast but is. Think, wolf in sheep’s clothing. First up is Santa Barbara’s favorite son and Road & Track’s newest staffer, John Pearley Huffman. Now that Huffman no longer has to worry about his freelance career, he has even more time to devote to Toyota Tundras. So it should surprise no one that his pick is a 2007 Tundra with the 381-hp 5.7-liter V-8. While some might not suspect a pickup can produce a sub-six-second time to 60, Cammisa points out that many modern trucks with the right engines can be very quick.No one denies deputy testing director K.C. Colwell’s Q-ship. Following in the footsteps of Jason Statham in Transporter 2, Colwell selects a 2005 Audi A8L W-12. We bring up the potential headaches of the 450-hp engine and wonder why and how and why the seller got verified on a car-listing site. Cammisa tells us the real problem isn’t the 6.0-liter W-12 under the hood, it’s the car’s air suspension. We take his word for it. Contributor Jonathon Ramsey finds a very similar car to Colwell’s: an Audi S8. Known for its 5.2-liter version of the Lamborghini V-10, this car brings back memories of several accidents and expensive fixes we had with an S8 long-termer. By the end of Ramsey’s presentation, we wonder if it’s in fact the very same car. (It’s not.)Cammisa shows off three interesting sleepers but asks us to judge his 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8. A mean-looking SUV, we debate how a monochromatic Jeep with 20-inch wheels can be a sleeper. As usual, we don’t settle anything and just bicker a lot. Last to go is deputy editor Tony Quiroga, who created the challenge after watching Cammisa’s video on the Mercedes 500E/E500. Quiroga blows the budget by nearly $5000 but finds what might be the ultimate Q-ship. Tune in to see if his choice can pull off the win despite breaking the rules.

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A new generation of the Kia Sportage will arrive for the 2023 model year.These spy photos show that it will have a new design with an interesting headlight treatment.The U.S. market will likely get a long-wheelbase model, while these photos show the smaller Europe-market version.A new version of the Kia Sportage is in the works, and according to these spy photos it may feature a polarizing front-end design. The headlights are mounted low, the grille features an interesting texture, and the hood has an unusual cutline. We suspect Kia is going for a split-headlight look similar to older Jeep Cherokee and Nissan Juke models, and we’re curious to see how it turns out when the production Sportage is revealed, likely later this year.

KGP Photography

The car pictured here is a Europe-market version of the Sportage, which means it is smaller than the longer-wheelbase version we’ll likely get in the U.S. This is similar to the related 2022 Hyundai Tucson, with which the Sportage should share a platform. The Kia is also likely to get the same engines as the Tucson, which include a base 2.5-liter inline-four, a hybrid with a turbo 1.6-liter inline-four, and a plug-in hybrid with a larger battery pack. Front-wheel drive will be standard with all-wheel drive optional.In keeping with the current Sportage lineup, Kia may offer a more powerful turbocharged engine as an optional upgrade. The turbo 2.5-liter inline-four found in the K5 and Sorento seems like a likely choice, and it could produce somewhere between 280 and 300 horsepower for a possible Sportage SX or GT model.

KGP Photography

We should find out more about the Sportage later this year as it is revealed for global markets. The U.S. version likely won’t arrive until 2022 for the 2023 model year, as Kia has already released information about the carryover 2022 Sportage for our market.
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Outfitting a new (or used) Airstream trailer just got easier with a new collection of decor items from home-goods retailer Pottery Barn.The collection includes custom-fitted bedding, matching tableware, travel-friendly games, and other accessories.This collection is the second one to come from a partnership between the two luxury brands and it’s available for purchase now through both the Pottery Barn website and will launch on the Airstream accessory website in June.A record number of Americans are venturing into the recreational-vehicle world these days,—the RV Industry Association expects deliveries to be up nearly 20 percent in 2021 over last year. With demand for travel trailers, motorhomes, and campers at a fever pitch and many people wanting to take all the luxury of home with them on the road, Airstream has partnered with the home-decor specialists at Pottery Barn for a collection of accessories that are custom-fitted for the brand’s travel trailers.
The collection of goods includes custom-fitted organic-cotton bedding, dinnerware, kitchen linens, barware, indoor/outdoor pillows, and even small accessories such as wine-bottle stoppers and travel games. A picnic set includes service for four in a hike-friendly canvas backpack. Many of the items sport a graphic of the iconic Airstream “silver bullet” trailer, and items such as coffee mugs and door mats are emblazoned with the phrase “Always Home.”

Airstream and Pottery Barn have partnered on accessories before, but this large collection of over 40 items gives shoppers more choice. Everything here is available now through the Pottery Barn website and in June will appear on the Airstream Supply Company’s website alongside other Airstream-approved parts and accessories. Prices range from $12 to $899.
We can’t help but think that these items would look nice at any campsite, even those not occupied by an Airstream. So if you’re one of the thousands of Americans who is new to camping and want to customize your travel experience with some high-end decor this seems as good a place to start as any.
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