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Our trip through the week’s stories, including major updates to the Model S and X and the continued forward march of the EV agenda. More

Only two versions of the 2021 Taycan family have had their EPA range numbers released—the 4S with two different battery packs—but Porsche’s high-performance EV gets substantially improved ratings this time around.
Last year, the 4S was rated at 203 miles, while the 2021 scores 227, a 24-mile increase.
These improved range figures are not a result of any significant hardware or software changes, but rather adjusting to reflect the fact that customers have been buying Taycans with the more efficient wheel-and-tire combinations.
Relative to its EV peers, the Porsche Taycan launched for 2020 with conservative EPA range figures. As proof, we just put a 2020 Taycan 4S through our 75-mph highway range test, and it came closer than any other EV we’ve tested to achieving its EPA combined range figure. For 2021, Porsche is dialing back on some of that conservatism and bumping up the range figures. So far, EPA figures are out for only two variants of the Taycan family, but for the one comparable model—the 4S with the larger battery pack—its range figure increased from 203 miles to 227.

Porsche Taycan Beats Model S in Max-Charging Test

Porsche Taycan vs. Tesla Model S: The Test

That’s for the 2021 Taycan 4S with Performance Battery Plus, the higher-capacity, 83.7-kWh battery pack. With the standard 71.0-kWh Performance battery, the Taycan 4S will officially go 199 miles (there was no equivalent 2020 4S to compare to). The other 2021 Taycan variants that we’re still waiting on official numbers for are the base Taycan (which will be available with either battery), the Taycan Turbo, and the Taycan Turbo S (both the Turbo and the Turbo S come only with the larger pack). The biggest difference between the entry-level Taycan and the 4S, Turbo, and Turbo S models is that the base model is rear-wheel drive powered by a single motor instead of the two-motor, all-wheel-drive setup found on the other models.
What changed to achieve these gains? The short answer: nothing. Porsche has simply adjusted the results to account for the fact that customers are gravitating toward the more efficient wheel and tire combinations.

2020 Taycan 4S Went 190 Miles in C/D Range Test

Although ratings on the Turbo and Turbo S models aren’t out yet, those, too, will increase for 2021 for the same reason. Documents that Porsche has submitted to the EPA suggest those figures could be as high as 221 miles for the Turbo and 211 for the Turbo S, both gains of roughly 10 percent. However, as it did in 2020, Porsche continues to voluntarily reduce the Taycan’s range figures for 2021. For example, for 2021 the 4S variants earned 235- and 212-mile ratings in the EPA tests, respectively, but Porsche chose to label them at the aforementioned 227 and 199 miles. (Automakers can always set fuel-economy or range figures as far below the test results as they’d like.)
As always, take the EPA-range numbers for EVs with a grain of salt when trying to predict out how far a fully charged EV will actually go, but we’re fairly confident that the Taycan’s new figures are more in line with those of its EV peers and also that a 2021 model won’t go any farther in our 75-mph highway range test.

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The Taycan 4S comes closest of all electric vehicles we’ve tested to its EPA-estimated range figure, just 6 percent away from the 2020 model’s 203-mile rating. More

Ford Performance via Instagram

The 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor will be revealed on Wednesday, February 3, at 11 a.m. ET live on Ford’s YouTube channel.
We spotted a couple of 2021 Raptors testing and saw a coil-spring rear suspension setup and heard one with a V-8 engine.
The standard truck should be powered by a twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 with an optional supercharged V-8 saved for the higher-performance Raptor R.
The wait for Ford’s answer to the 702-hp Hellcat-powered 2021 Ram 1500 TRX will be over soon. The 2021 F-150 Raptor baja-crushing off-road pickup will be unveiled on Wednesday, February 3 at 11:00 a.m. You’ll be able to see if the new Raptor will have a supercharged V-8 or not live on Ford’s YouTube channel.
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We’ve seen a few 2021 F-150 Raptors testing around Michigan and spotted a coil-spring rear suspension setup—the two previous-generation Raptors had leaf-spring setups. We’ve also spotted a higher-performance version, likely to be called the Raptor R, which had a V-8 rumble that we caught on video. Rumor has it that the standard Raptor will still have the twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6 under the hood. We’re not sure if the Raptor R, which could have a 700-plus-hp supercharged V-8, will be unveiled next week, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Tested: Ram 1500 TRX vs. Ford F-150 Raptor

Listen to the 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor R’s V-8

2021 Ram 1500 TRX Has the Most Savage Easter Egg

The 2021 Raptor should stick to the formula: blackout “Ford” script grille, which we see in the teaser image below, plus wide fenders, 35-inch BFGoodrich K02 all-terrain tires, optional beadlock-capable wheels, and Fox racing shocks. It could also have additional accessories available from Ford such as a spare tire carrier and rock rails, and we hope Ford adds some fun Easter eggs to fight back at the TRX’s savage Easter eggs.

Ford

We’ll know all the details next week, and they should make the Ram vs. Ford battle for off-road-pickup dominance all the more interesting.
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Cadillac is set to debut the 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing next Monday, February 1, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
You can watch their unveiling live on Cadillac’s website.
Shortly after the reveal, at 7:30 p.m., 250 of each Blackwing will be available for reservation.
For over a year now, we have been speculating on what the 2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing have in store for us—and on Monday, we’ll find out. Cadillac is set to debut the pair of Blackwings on February 1 at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time on the automaker’s website, and then at 7:30 p.m., orders will open.

Watch Live on Feb. 1

Cadillac

GM is making 250 of each Blackwing available to reserve with a $1000 deposit. Once those 500 are gone, any more interested buyers will be put on a wait list. Beyond the options of a manual transmission and a performance steering wheel, Cadillac hasn’t released much advance information on the CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing.

2022 V-Series Blackwing Reservations Open Feb. 1

2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing

2022 Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing

We speculate that the CT4-V Blackwing will get either the twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 in the current CT5-V or the twin-turbo 3.6-liter V-6 that was in the previous ATS-V. The larger CT5-V Blackwing could see a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 with 650 horsepower. What we know for sure is that these are two exciting new cars.
Both the CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing will be on sale late this summer in limited quantities.
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