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Four years after its last facelift, Bentley decided it was time to refresh the Bentayga for 2024.The updates are feature-heavy, highlighted by rear-wheel steering being added as standard for the S and Azure trims and as an option for lower trims.Sticking to Bentley’s highly customizable reputation, there are new 21-inch wheels with three available finishes, as well as eight new paint options, bringing the total number of paint choices to 112.The Bentayga SUV is Bentley’s most popular vehicle—no surprise considering the seemingly endless demand for ultra-luxury SUVs. It’s been four years since Bentley last freshened up the Bentayga, and as it enters the 2024 model year the high-end SUV is getting revamped once again.Most of the changes center around newly standard and optional features, though the front grille ditches its vertical slats in favor of a new mesh grille that matches the front end on the recently updated Flying Spur. The rear-wheel-steering system from the extended-wheelbase model is ported over for the standard-length Bentayga. It will come standard on the Azure and S trim levels, and will be optional for the rest of the lineup.BentleyBentley has something of a reputation for customization, and to be fair, the company puts its money where its mouth is. The 2024 Bentayga adds new 21-inch wheels that are available in three finishes. There are also eight new paint colors, seven of which are satin paints. Those new paint options bring the total number of exterior paint choices up to 112. The cushy Airline Seats from the extended-wheelbase model also makes their way over to the rest of the lineup as an option. Those are the rear seats that offer 22 different planes of adjustment and a Relax mode that reclines at 40 degrees while shoving the front passenger seat out of the way and deploying a footrest. More Bentayga NewsThere are even more rear-seat focused comforts for the updated Bentayga. According to Bentley, after a rear-seat passenger chooses a temperature with the auto climate controls, the system measures the passenger’s temperature and surface humidity every 25 milliseconds and adjusts accordingly. The new posture adjustment system conforms to a passenger’s seating position and pressure points and can apply 177 individual pressure changes across six independent zones to keep the passenger’s body from fatiguing. This content is imported from poll. 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.Associate News EditorJack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf. More

With peak output of 512 horsepower, the Cayenne S E-Hybrid betters the lesser Cayenne E-Hybrid by 49 horses.The Cayenne S E-Hybrid comes in both SUV and coupe body styles.Look for deliveries to start in early 2024 and pricing starts at $100,750. Porsche is dusting off the S E-Hybrid moniker for the 2024 Porsche Cayenne after temporarily retiring it following the 2018 model year. The 512-hp Cayenne S E-Hybrid slots between the 463-hp Cayenne E-Hybrid and 729-hp Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid in the SUV’s lineup of gasoline-electric variants. Related StoriesAvailable in both wagon and fastback body styles (or SUV and coupe in Porsche parlance), the S E-Hybrid shares its 348-hp turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 engine with the base Cayenne, which it pairs with a 174-hp electric motor. The combination provides enough grunt to push the SUV to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds, per Porsche. Like the rest of the Cayenne E-Hybrid line, the S E-Hybrid includes a 25.9-kWh (gross capacity) battery pack. An 11.0-kW charger allows the SUV to fully charge that pack in two and a half hours when plugged into a 240-volt outlet. We wager that battery-only driving range ought to top 20 miles in the EPA’s hands. Porsche, however, is mum on range estimates at this point.PorschePorscheWith a starting sum of $100,750, the S E-Hybrid wagon stickers for $7400 more than the E-Hybrid. That sum includes niceties such as 20-inch wheels and tires, quad tailpipes, LED headlights with automatic high beams, the Sport Chrono package and its steering-wheel-mounted drive mode switch, and a proximity key with pushbutton start. Opting for the Cayenne S E-Hybrid Coupe, meanwhile, adds $4900 to the starting sum. Along with its swoopy shape, the fastback S E-Hybrid trades the wagon’s silver exterior decor for black trim pieces.Both 2024 Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid body styles are due to start deliveries in early 2024.This content is imported from poll. 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.Senior EditorDespite their shared last name, Greg Fink is not related to Ed “Big Daddy” Roth’s infamous Rat Fink. Both Finks, however, are known for their love of cars, car culture, and—strangely—monogrammed one-piece bathing suits. Greg’s career in the media industry goes back more than a decade. His previous experience includes stints as an editor at publications such as U.S. News & World Report, The Huffington Post, Motor1.com, and MotorTrend. More

The AMG GLC Coupe siblings enter a new generation, with the GLC43 Coupe arriving for 2024 and the more powerful GLC63 S E Performance Coupe joining the party a year later for the 2025 model year.Both the eight- and six-cylinder engine options are gone, with a set of turbocharged four-cylinders taking their places.The GLC43 produces 416 horsepower, and the plug-in-hybrid GLC63 cranks that figure to 671 hp. Mercedes-AMG is here to answer the call for those who require a little less utility and a lot more sport from their sport-utility vehicles. The AMG GLC Coupe enters a new generation, with the GLC43 arriving for 2024, and the more powerful GLC63 S E Performance entering the market for the 2025 model year. Last year’s AMG GLC43 Coupe was powered by a raucous turbocharged V-6, while the AMG GLC63 that departed after 2021 was powered by a wild twin-turbocharged V-8. The beating heart of the new generation drops a few cylinders in favor of the same four-cylinder powertrains found in the latest AMG C-class sedans, as well as the new generation of AMG GLC-class SUVs. 2.0-Liter Turbo Four PowerThe turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder referenced internally as the M139 produces 416 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque in the GLC43, and pairs with the same 48-volt hybrid system found in the more mainstream Mercedes models. The turbocharger features an electric motor on the shaft that links the compressor and turbine wheels, and can spool up the turbo before the exhaust gases arrive, essentially eliminating turbo lag. The higher-octane GLC63 S is powered by the same engine, though the engineers over in Affalterbach fit a larger turbocharger to the 63, meaning the engine is good for an additional 53 ponies. It also pairs with a rear-mounted 201-hp electric motor operating through a two-speed transmission and an electronically controlled limited-slip differential. Combined, the system makes 671 horsepower, more than making up for the lost cylinders—at least on a spec sheet. Both the GLC43 and GLC63 S pair their powertrains with AMG’s 9-speed automatic with a clutch pack in place of the torque converter. According to Mercedes, the lesser GLC43 is capable of a sprint to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, while the mighty GLC63 S manages to complete the run in just 3.4 seconds. Like the square-backed GLC63 S, the coupe version features unequal-length control arms at each corner, and steel springs that are paired with adaptive dampers. It also features active roll stabilization help reduce body roll. Plus, the brakes have been upgraded, with 14.7-inch discs up front and 14.2-inch rotors in the rear.Like the other AMG-ified cars, the new AMG GLC Coupe differentiates itself from the standard Mercedes examples through an AMG-specific grille and special bumper. A roof-mounted spoiler, aggressive exhaust tips, and diffuser mark changes to the rear. More on the AMG GLC ClassThe inside of the AMG cars features an AMG steering wheel finished in Nappa leather and seats wrapped in Mercedes’ MB-Tex faux leather. Sport seats and Nappa leather front seats with an embossed AMG logo in the headrests are both optional. And floor mats, door sills, and display numerous AMG logos, lest you forget what you’re in. Associate News EditorJack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf. More

With electric vehicle sales continuing to rise in North America, the reliability of public charging networks has become a crucial issue—and a differentiator between Tesla and every other carmaker selling EVs.Tesla has undoubtedly sold many EVs due to the near-bulletproof reliability and ease of use of its Supercharger network. Buyers of most other EVs must figure out their car’s less-than-seamless experience among multiple networks, requiring various forms of authentication, with variable pricing, and different user interfaces at each station. The EVs Are Fine; It’s the Charging“Mass consumers who have a lot of charging anxiety,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley. “They don’t have range anxiety; they have charging anxiety.” It only takes one or two friends, coworkers, or neighbors who arrive at a public charging station with an EV battery running low to find the station isn’t working—or won’t connect to their car—before new-car shoppers decide EVs are too risky.Most public chargers work most of the time—but to get broad public adoption, EV charging has to be at least as reliable and pleasant as, say, gas stations. Not a very high bar, right? Today, electric vehicles are largely fine; it’s the charging networks that will make or break them.A J.D. Power report this past May quantified the problem: “Through the end of Q1 2023, 20.8 percent of EV drivers using public charging stations experienced charging failures or equipment malfunctions that left them unable to charge their vehicles.” The numbers were worse in a study of EV chargers in the San Francisco Bay Area last year that found almost one-quarter of them didn’t work due to “unresponsive or unavailable screens, payment system failures, charge initiation failures, network failures, or broken connectors.”Now a new study offers national data pinpointing the specific reasons for public charging station failures. It’s part of a broader white paper released today, Electrification 2030, that assesses pivotal issues affecting both EV adoption and home electrification by 2030. The study was produced by the Electrification Institute, recently established by Qmerit, a company that installs EV charging stations, solar panels, heat pumps, and storage batteries for consumers.Based on network data monitored across the United States this year, the most common reasons for failed EV charging sessions are problems with:station connectivity: 55 percentinternal station faults or errors: 38 percentcharging connector or cable: 4 percentcredit-card reader: 1 percentdisplay screen: 1 percentCONNECTIVITY: The data suggests that more than half all charging failures come from a station not being able to connect to its network for authentication. Because most EV charging networks use cellular links in their stations, they’re subject to the cell-service vagaries we’ve all suffered.There are two fixes for this. First, the best practice is for any public station to default to free charging if it loses connectivity and can’t validate a customer or a payment method. Electrify America says its stations do just that. Second, stations can be connected using hard-wired communications cables—which are considerably more expensive to install, which is why they mostly haven’t done so. Electrify AmericaSTATION INTERNALS: The next failure category, “internal faults or errors,” covers software and perhaps some hardware failures. Many EV drivers have posted photos of non-working charging stations that have seemingly frozen in the middle of rebooting, including what looks suspiciously like Windows code on their screens. This is likely a host of different issues, each of which has to be addressed separately, for different stations from different makers. It’s complicated.THE REST: All other causes are minor—including the credit-card readers much pilloried by Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO has turned down public funding to expand the Supercharger network over state and federal requirements that chargers offer payment methods other than phone apps.Show Us the DataMeanwhile, EV networks decline to provide details on their reliability metrics, sometimes claiming network uptime of 97 percent or better. If uptime is defined as a station responding to a ping from a central computer, that may well be true. That response, however, has very little to do with whether that station can actually collect payment and then provide a charge at an acceptable rate to an EV that drives up to it. toyotaAs is often the case with EVs, the solution may come from California regulators. Last year, state legislators passed a bill [AB 2061 of 2022] that requires all charging operators who receive state money to comply with new and more detailed standards for record-keeping and reporting. The specifics are due next year from the California Energy Commission—and what California pioneers, the states that have adopted its emissions rules are likely to adopt as well.The level of frustration and anger among automakers is high enough that in May Ford announced its EV customers would be able to charge at Supercharger stations—and that it would adopt Tesla’s connector standard. GM followed with an identical announcement weeks later, and many others have followed—see the full list HERE. Then, in July, seven automakers announced they would form a joint venture to set up their own new network of more than 30,000 fast-charging stations, with amenities to make recharging more pleasant. Meanwhile, knowing various reasons a charging station may not be working doesn’t help anxious EV drivers. Only the networks can do that, by prioritizing maintenance, oversight, and response times. Y’know, just like Tesla does for its Supercharger network. More on EV ChargingContributing EditorJohn Voelcker edited Green Car Reports for nine years, publishing more than 12,000 articles on hybrids, electric cars, and other low- and zero-emission vehicles and the energy ecosystem around them. He now covers advanced auto technologies and energy policy as a reporter and analyst. His work has appeared in print, online, and radio outlets that include Wired, Popular Science, Tech Review, IEEE Spectrum, and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” He splits his time between the Catskill Mountains and New York City and still has hopes of one day becoming an international man of mystery. More