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Mini’s Hardtop and Convertible lineups get a range of updates for 2022.
The new look includes revised front and rear ends, and there are new standard features.
Pricing starts at $23,750 and the updated Minis will be available this spring.
Mini’s Hardtop and Convertible models will look better and offer more goodies thanks to a freshening for 2022. With sharper styling and newly standard and optional features, the two- and four-door Cooper, Cooper S, JCW, and Electric models will go on sale this spring in the U.S. with slightly higher starting prices.

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The front end benefits from a body-color insert in the grille to replace the previous black insert, getting rid of the awkward open-mouth look. The rear fascia is also revised, with S and JCW models getting an aggressive-looking diffuser. As is befitting a Mini, there are plenty of new customization options including new colors and an option for a multicolor roof treatment. LED headlights are now standard across the board.

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Mini

Inside, a digital gauge cluster and 8.8-inch touchscreen infotainment system are newly standard, and the dashboard layout has been subtly revised with new air vents. Satellite radio is also standard, and Apple CarPlay is available if you select the option for navigation (Android Auto is still not offered). Lane-departure warning is a newly standard driver-assist feature, while others, including adaptive cruise control, remain optional.
Engines and transmissions remain the same, with the base Cooper coming with a 134-hp turbocharged 1.5-liter three-cylinder, the S coming with a 189-hp turbo 2.0-liter four, and the JCW having a more powerful 228-hp 2.0-liter turbo-four. The Mini Cooper SE has a 181-hp electric motor and an EPA-estimated 110 miles of range. A six-speed manual transmission is standard on most models, with either a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic or an eight-speed automatic transmission optional, depending on configuration.

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Mini

Base prices rise by $500, with the Cooper Hardtop starting at $23,750, the Cooper S at $27,750, and the JCW at $33,750. The Cooper Convertible starts at $28,750 and the electric Mini holds the line on price, starting at $30,750. The updated 2022 models start production in March and should arrive at U.S. dealerships shortly after that.
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The 2022 BMW M5 CS is a lighter and more powerful version of the sports sedan.
It has 627 horsepower and is claimed to weigh 230 pounds less than the M5 Competition.
The M5 CS will arrive in the U.S. later this year with a starting price of $142,995.
Do you want a BMW M5 or do you want a real collector’s item? BMW is launching a derivative that will whet enthusiasts’ appetites for decades to come. Meet the M5 CS, available for exactly one model year—2022—and mainly targeting a few select markets: North America, Russia, Germany, and the U.K. If you love fast BMWs, this one deserves a very close look.

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BMW managed to squeeze considerable heft out of the M5, as the CS is lighter than the M5 Competition by a claimed 230 pounds. The hood, front splitter, mirror housings, and rear diffuser and splitter are made from carbon fiber, there are carbon-fiber front seats, two rear bucket seats rather than three-person bench, and a center console without extra storage. Additionally, the amount of sound deadening material has been reduced to save valuable pounds. Forged 20-inch wheels are standard, as are the carbon-ceramic brakes. The chassis has been tweaked with spring and adaptive damper tuning and sticky Pirelli P Zero Corsa tires will be a no-cost option, sized 275/35 up front and 285/35 in the rear.

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The M5 CS also looks unique and, if you ask us, more beautiful. Outside, there is a specific color scheme: The kidney grilles and badges are executed in gold bronze (same for the wheels); new colors (frozen deep green and frozen Brands Hatch gray) are available; and the headlight surrounds emit yellow instead of white light, a nod to BMW’s race cars. The four exhaust pipes, designed to deliver a louder soundtrack, are made from stainless steel.
Further changes inside include carbon shift paddles, an Alcantara headliner, CS badges on the dashboard and between the rear seats, a Nürburgring silhouette on the headrests, and an Alcantara steering wheel with a mark at the top so you know the steering wheel position on the track.
There was a limit to the weight-saving approach: The M division has neither killed the all-wheel-drive system nor the eight-speed automatic, even though reverting to rear-wheel drive and a manual gearbox would have brought about very significant improvements. Sadly, the manual transmission seems to be gone for good in this segment.

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BMW

The twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8 in the M5 CS makes 10 more horsepower than the M5 Competition. The powerplant is now rated at 627 horsepower and this—in conjunction with the weight savings—leads to tangible benefits. The sprint to 60 mph takes a claimed 2.9 seconds, which is 0.2 seconds quicker than the company’s claim for the M5 Competition. Of course, we tested a 2019 M5 Competition that got to 60 mph in just 2.6 seconds, so we think the CS will be quicker still. Top speed is governed at an impressive 190 mph.
In the past, BMW’s CS models have become collector’s items. For customers in the market, the M5 CS is a tempting choice: More aggressive, lighter, exceedingly rare and more pure in many aspects. It will arrive in the U.S. later this year with a starting price of $142,995, nearly $30,000 more than an M5 with the Competition package.

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It’s a workplace comedy set in the executive suites of a U.S. carmaker.
The producer has solid credentials, so we’re looking forward to it.
A new TV comedy series about the Detroit auto industry will debut this fall when American Auto arrives on NBC.
A new comedy TV show called American Auto arrives this fall on NBC.
Hollywood has tried to depict the car industry before, with semi-disastrous results. Consider the 1986 movie Gung Ho about the relationship between American union auto workers and Japanese carmakers. That flick has a 33 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert called it “a disappointment” and gave it two stars. Consequently, Tim Allen set his highly successful TV show Home Improvement, which featured a hot rod, at least, in Detroit. Ed Asner’s Thunder Alley was peripherally about the car industry and lasted two whole seasons. Many a History Channel documentary has approached the topic of the U.S. car industry on a more serious, historical basis. And there are myriad shows depicting small hot rod shops with angry mechanics hitting each other over the head with wrenches.
But this new show promises to be a mainstream, prime-time, major-network comedy deal.
The official description from NBC says it’s “set at the headquarters of a major American automotive company in Detroit where a floundering group of executives try to rediscover the company identity amidst a rapidly changing industry.”

The show stars “Saturday Night Live” alum Ana Gasteyer, best known on SNL for her Martha Stewart sketches.
NBC

Does that mean they’re making the change from internal combustion to electric cars? To autonomous cars? Or, worse, to hydrogen fuel cells? We don’t know yet.
The show stars Saturday Night Live alum Ana Gasteyer, best known on SNL for her Martha Stewart impressions. On this new show she plays Katherine Hastings, the CEO of the troubled Payne Motors (is that a joke?). Harriet Dyer plays the head of PR, Humphrey Ker as head of sales, Michael B. Washington plays the designer, Tye White is an assembly worker, and comedian X Mayo is Gasteyer’s executive assistant.
The show is the brainchild of writer/producer Justin Spitzer, who was also a writer/producer on The Office, as well as writing episodes of Scrubs and Courting Alice. Most recently Spitzer brought us the popular NBC comedy Superstore, now in its sixth season. So that bodes well for the Spitzer-made “American Auto,” we can hope.

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The pilot for the new series was greenlit a year ago and shot soon after, but the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted production. Then the series itself got the go-ahead earlier this week. No specific dates have been released except that it will be part of the 2021-2022 season, which means we’ll see it in fall sometime.
And before you start drawing conclusions, the casting of a woman as the head of a major American automaker actually happened when the story was sold to NBC back in 2013, a year before Mary Barra took over as General Motors’ CEO. So there goes that line of thinking.
Here’s hoping it’s hilarious. We are trying to track down a viewing of the pilot, which has already been shot. We’ll let you know how we liked it when we see it.
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Rugged, off-road-capable vehicles are having a renaissance and Nissan dealers reportedly want to have their own adventurous offering. More

The 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E California Route 1 has an EPA-estimated 305 miles of driving range on a full charge.
The Mach-E California Route 1 is equipped with an 88.0-kWh battery pack and rear-wheel-drive.
It starts at $50,900 and is available to order now.
The 2021 Mustang Mach-E California Route 1 is Ford’s longest-range electric vehicle yet, and the EPA estimates that it will travel 305 miles on a single charge. That’s five more miles than rear-wheel-drive Mustang Mach-E models equipped with the 88.0-kWh extended-range battery. The $50,900 California Route 1 model does, however, fall 21 miles short of the Tesla Model Y Long Range electric crossover, which starts at $51,190.

Ford

Tesla’s Model Y Long Range has all-wheel drive, although a rear-wheel-drive Standard Range model is now available with an EPA-estimated 244 miles of range. The Mustang Mach-E California Route 1 is equipped with rear-wheel drive. All-wheel-drive Mach-Es are available, but offer less range because the secondary drive unit has “associated parasitic losses,” Ford told C/D at launch. The California Route 1 is equipped with an 88.0-kWh battery pack paired with a permanent-magnet synchronous electric motor on the rear axle. Total output is 290 horsepower and 317 lb-ft of torque, and Ford claims that that the California Route 1 gets to 60 mph in 6.1 seconds.

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Ford says that the Mustang Mach-E California Route 1 is lighter than the rear-wheel-drive Extended Range model, which has a 300-mile EPA-estimated range. It also has tweaks to improve aerodynamics including a set of 18-inch wheels with black aero covers wrapped in Michelin all-season rubber.
The 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E starts at $43,995 for the rear-wheel-drive Select model with an EPA-estimated 230 miles of range. The 305-mile California Route 1 starts at $50,900 and is available to order now.
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