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This content is imported from youTube. 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.EA Sports WRC, from the developers at Codemasters, is the latest installment of video games based on the legendary World Rally Championship racing series.The new game features 200 different rally stages across 11 different locations and over 75 rally cars, new and old.EA Sports WRC will be available on Xbox Series S and Series X, PlayStation 5, and PC November 3.The World Rally Championship is about to embark on its 17th digital appropriation with EA Sports WRC, coming this fall. Using a different software engine created by Codemasters, a developer that’s built some incredibly fun rally video games in the past such as Colin McRae Rally, DiRT 4, and most recently DiRT Rally 2.0, EA Sports promises to deliver rally fans the most comprehensive digital rally experience ever, since the series started in 2001 on PlayStation 2.Oh the Games People PlayEA Sports WRC follows the 2023 WRC season, putting the most aggressive Rally1 cars such as the hybrid-powered Ford Puma, Hyundai i20, and Toyota GR Yaris, in the spotlight. Along with the less powerful offerings in WRC2 from Citroen, Skoda, and Volkswagen, EA Sports WRC gives players a chance to pilot over 75 cars, from as far back as the Alpine A110 1600S of the 1970s. Of course, favorites from rally’s storied Group B era, such as the Ford RS200, Lancia 037 Evo2, and Lancia Delta S4, are available too. A full list of the cars in EA Sports WRC can be found here, which features the very best from 60 years of rally. EA SportsEvery pixel of dirt, tarmac, snow, and gravel is recreated from real WRC events. 18 miles of Rally Mexico’s El Chocolate and the insane Fafe jump from Rally Portugal are in this game, to name a few of the some 372 miles of rally sector. An 18th location featuring the Central Europe Rally, a first in the series, is coming later as part of an update. Sadly, there hasn’t been a WRC event in the United States since 1988, but rumors suggest that could change.According to EA, its switch to the Unreal Engine development software has wrought better environments for rally’s toughest challenges. The stages also see changes in season, which are claimed to create their own unique obstacles to make rally cars react differently to the same sector on a hot summer than they would between the snowy ditches of winter.EA SportsPlayers who enjoyed the physics from Codemaster’s DiRT Rally 2.0 from 2019 might feel a familiar sensation in EA Sports WRC, as the devs used that previous rally game as a baseline to tune its physics model. We’re excited to sample this updated system, especially to experiment with strategy used in the hybrid powertrain found in the real WRC Rally1, which features regenerative braking and an extra electric boost. While we don’t have the full details about online play, EA Sports WRC will offer 32-player cross-platform multiplayer, with challenges and tournaments throughout the year. Another game mode, Moments, will be updated daily and give players a shot at recreating special events from the 2023 season and many of rally’s great moments from the past. A Builder game mode allows players to build, manage, and create their own rally car, with the freedom to create a wild livery of their own.WRC Standard EditionWRC Standard EditionEA Sports WRC launches on November 3, 2023, but as part of a preorder bonus, buying it before then means getting to play it three days early as a perk. Additional liveries and in-game equipment are also included with the preorder bonus. While EA Sports WRC is offered on Xbox Series S and Series X, PlayStation 5, and PC, it’s not available on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, or part of the Xbox Game Pass subscription. Instead, it will be included as part of the EA Play Pro subscription. PC players can purchase it from Steam or Epic Games Store.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 EditorYes, he’s still working on the 1986 Nissan 300ZX Turbo project car he started in high school, and no, it’s not for sale yet. Austin Irwin was born and raised in Michigan, and, despite getting shelled by hockey pucks during a not-so-successful goaltending career through high school and college, still has all of his teeth. He loves cars from the 1980s and Bleu, his Great Pyrenees, and is an active member of the Buffalo Wild Wings community. When Austin isn’t working on his own cars, he’s likely on the side of the highway helping someone else fix theirs. More

Honda has built a new V-8 outboard engine for boats called the BF350.It’s a 5.0-liter V-8 that makes 350 horsepower at 5500 rpm.It’s intended for boats 25 feet and longer; pricing isn’t yet available but the BF350 will go on sale next year.Well, it finally happened: Honda built a V-8. Unfortunately, it won’t be showing up in a Ridgeline or a Pilot or an exceptionally boisterous Civic. No, the BF350 is an outboard engine, so if you want to rock Honda V-8 power, you’ll need a boat—and not a small one. Intended for boats 25 feet and longer, the BF350 makes an easy 350 horsepower at 5500 rpm. We’d guess that’s the least amount of power it’ll ever make, since that rating is on bunker-fuel 86 octane and the full throttle range extends to 6000 rpm. (Outboard manufacturers are allowed a 10 percent fudge factor on rated horsepower to account for production variances, which leads to some hilariously underrated motors like the Mercury 200 ProXS—a 4.6-liter V-8 that’s rated at 200 horsepower.)HondaHonda’s new V-8 will please Fox-body Mustang fans with its 302 cubic-inch displacement and rowdy Civic stans with its VTEC variable valve timing and lift (there’s a single cam running those 32 valves). The engine also includes the extremely cool-sounding BLAST system, which stands for Boosted Low Speed Torque and advances ignition timing when the throttle is rapidly opened. That throttle-by-wire system enables cruise control that holds speed regardless of load or sea conditions, and the BF350 is compatible with joystick controls that allow multi-engine boats to basically sidle up to a dock sideways. Honda says the BF350’s 30-degree offset crankshaft is built to the same specifications as the crank in the Acura NSX. HondaThe BF350 is a little bit chunky, weighing in at 765 pounds in its lightest guise. Mercury’s 350 Verado weighs in at 695 pounds, and that’s a 5.7-liter V-10. As for pricing, well . . . Honda says it won’t release pricing until next year, but an inadvertent leak indicated that around $46,000 might be a relevant base price. Outboard pricing is notoriously opaque, but that would make it about the same price as a pair of four-cylinder Yamaha 200s. Thus, as with most engines this size, it’s more likely that the BF350 will end up on big, multi-engine boats rather than on single-engine boats designed for 350 to 400 horsepower. If you dream of driving a V-8 Honda on terra firma, there is a precedent for Honda debuting street-bound technology on the water. In 2002, Honda was all-in on naturally aspirated engines for its cars, but its AquaTrax F12X personal watercraft was powered by a dry-sump, turbocharged 1.2-liter four-cylinder that cranked out 163 horsepower. Did the AquaTrax lead directly to today’s Civic Type R? We’d argue that it certainly didn’t hurt. But even if Honda never gives us a factory V-8 for the street, sooner or later a BF350 will undergo a dunking that results in an insurance write-off. And then, just imagine the Copart possibilities. There aren’t any Honda V-8s on the highway just yet, but if some day in the distant future you see an Insight wearing 5.0 badges, there’ll be an outside chance it’s not a joke.More on Boat EnginesSenior EditorEzra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. He’s now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph. Those facts are mutually exclusive. More

The 2023 Mercedes-Benz S580e has the longest electric range of any plug-in hybrid we’ve tested on our 75-mph real-world route.The $120,000-plus sedan went 58 miles in EV mode, exceeding its estimated EPA range by 12 miles and beating the next-closest PHEV by 14 miles.The plug-in S-class’s sizable 22.7-kWh battery is primarily responsible for its notable test result.Welcome to Car and Driver’s Testing Hub, where we zoom in on the test numbers. We’ve been pushing vehicles to their limits since 1956 to provide objective data to bolster our subjective impressions (you can see how we test here).Plug-in hybrids have an advantage over electric vehicles: When their batteries run dry, their internal-combustion engines can complete the rest of the journey. However, for folks who want a PHEV with more than 40 miles of electric-only range, there are just a handful to choose from, and the new-for-2023 Mercedes-Benz S580e is one of them. It also recorded the longest real-world electric range of any plug-in hybrid we’ve ever tested on our 75-mph highway route.Going the DistanceThe EPA estimates the plug-in S-class can go 46 miles on electricity alone. In our testing, the six-figure sedan beat that bogey by 12 miles, traveling 58 miles in EV mode. That’s 14 miles more than any other PHEV we’ve tested. Second place goes to the 2024 Volvo V60 Polestar Engineered, which made it 44 miles (three more than advertised). The only other plug-in we’ve seen crack the 40-mile mark was a 2018 Honda Clarity that went 41 miles—and we’ve now evaluated over 45 PHEVs since this test first began back in 2016.Michael Simari|Car and DriverFor context about how we achieved these results, allow us to explain our procedure. All tests are run at a GPS-verified 75 mph on the same 200-mile out-and-back loop on our Ann Arbor, Michigan–area highways. We’re meticulous about this process, which includes using cruise control and setting the automatic climate control to 72 degrees. Plug-in hybrids require extra steps where we make sure the battery is fully charged before beginning the route and then recording the kilowatt-hours (kWh) needed to fill the battery after completing the loop. The PHEV’s highway EV range is recorded when the battery is depleted and the gas engine takes over.A Big Battery HelpsSo, what’s the magic behind the S580e’s record-setting real-world range? Sure, its long and low body has a slippery 0.22 drag coefficient according to Mercedes, but our test car’s Hankook Ventus S1 Noble 2 all-season tires are decently grippy (0.85 g on the skidpad), and we wonder if a set of low-rolling-resistance rubber might aid efficiency even further. The key enabler to the big sedan’s notable range is its big battery.Michael Simari|Car and DriverHolding 22.7 kWh of energy, the Mercedes’s battery is 52 percent larger than the Volvo V60’s 14.9-kWh pack. Obviously, the plug-in S-class didn’t travel 52 percent farther in our test; its efficiency was further compromised by its hefty 5606-pound curb weight (1112 pounds more than the V60). Still, the S580e is the first PHEV to surpass the 50-mile milestone—let alone almost reach 60—in our real-world electric-range test. And it didn’t do so bad after its battery was depleted, either, averaging 36 mpg when running primarily on its 362-hp turbocharged inline-six for the rest of the loop, again beating its EPA label value of 29-mpg highway by a sizable amount. That the plug-in S-class is still plenty posh and, with its 510 combined horsepower, keeps pace with the V-8-powered S580, leaping to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 12.6 seconds, makes these efficiency results especially worthy of recognition.Latest Test-Hub StoriesThis 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 EditorEric Stafford’s automobile addiction began before he could walk, and it has fueled his passion to write news, reviews, and more for Car and Driver since 2016. His aspiration growing up was to become a millionaire with a Jay Leno–like car collection. Apparently, getting rich is harder than social-media influencers make it seem, so he avoided financial success entirely to become an automotive journalist and drive new cars for a living. After earning a journalism degree at Central Michigan University and working at a daily newspaper, the years of basically burning money on failed project cars and lemon-flavored jalopies finally paid off when Car and Driver hired him. His garage currently includes a 2010 Acura RDX, a manual ’97 Chevy Camaro Z/28, and a ’90 Honda CRX Si. More

Audi is upgrading its Q4 e-tron electric crossover with a new rear electric motor that delivers increased horsepower and better efficiency.The base Q4 40 e-tron model will now produce 282 horsepower, up by 81 horsepower, while the Q4 50 e-tron will have 335 ponies, up from 295 horsepower.Audi revealed these changes for the European market, but we expect the U.S.-spec Q4 e-tron to adopt the same updates for the 2025 model year.Audi is preparing a wave of new electric cars starting with the 2025 Q6 e-tron, but the German automaker is also ensuring that its existing EVs don’t stagnate, announcing a host of upgrades for the Q4 e-tron crossover that has been on sale in the U.S. since 2022. The revisions reach European customers this fall, but we expect the new Q4 e-tron to hit the U.S. market for the 2025 model year, with the changes affecting both the standard Q4 SUV and the sleek Sportback models.AudiWhile the Q4’s styling remains the same, under the skin the crossover is fitted with a new permanently excited synchronous motor on the rear axle, unlocking more power and range. The new motor takes the base Q4 40 e-tron from a meager 201 horsepower all the way up to 282 ponies. Audi estimates a 6.7-second sprint to 62 mph, a significant improvement over the current 7.9-second run to 60 mph, while the top speed increases from 99 mph to 112 mph to match the all-wheel-drive models. The 40 model is currently rated at 265 miles of range by the EPA, which should improve to close to 300 miles when EPA range figures are announced. The all-wheel-drive Q4 50 e-tron, meanwhile, now produces 335 horsepower, up from 295 horsepower. While Audi quotes a 5.4-second dash to 62 mph, we recorded a 5.6-second run in the outgoing model, suggesting the new motor will make the Q4 50 e-tron even quicker than Audi predicts. The 50 model is currently rated at 236 miles of range, or 242 miles for the Sportback, with noticeable range increases expected for 2025. AudiThe Q4’s motors continue to draw from a 77.0-kWh battery, but Audi says revised cell chemistry has shortened charging times, with the Q4 going from 10 to 80 percent charge in 28 minutes. Audi says all-wheel-drive Q4 e-trons will now max out at 175 kW when hooked up to a DC fast charger, versus 150 kW before. In Europe, rear-wheel-drive models are limited to 135 kW, but in the U.S. all models have been capable of 150 kW. Audi is also introducing a function that limits the charge level to 80 percent to extend the battery’s lifespan. The Q4 will now have a post-conditioning feature for the battery, cooling the battery if it exceeds a certain temperature after driving or charging. Audi also claims it retuned the Q4 e-tron’s suspension for a better balance between sporty handling and comfortable cruising, and the steering is said to be more responsive. After Audi added adaptive cruise control with lane-centering for 2024, the Q4 will now be capable of assisted lane changes when using the system at over 56 mph on highways. The system checks to ensure that it is safe to change lanes and when the driver activates the turn signal the vehicle helps the driver steer into the new lane. More New AudisThe Q4 also gains a new optional “character sound” that will be pumped out by two external speakers at the back of the car and two internal speakers in the rear doors. The sound changes based on speed and can be turned off at any time, although the legally required low-speed sound for pedestrian safety will always remain active.While European customers will be be able to purchase the upgraded Q4 e-tron within the next month, the new model will likely reach American buyers sometime next year as a 2025 model. Although it’s unclear just how many of these changes will be shared with the U.S.-spec Q4 e-tron, we expect the new motor to make an appearance, with Volkswagen applying the same upgrade to the related ID.4 crossover for 2024. Prices for the Q4 should increase slightly, and U.S.-specific information should arrive soon.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 EditorCaleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan. More