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Toyota announced a recall for the bZ4X electric vehicle in June, acknowledging that wheels might detach from the car because of malfunctioning hub bolts and asking customers to stop driving the vehicle.The automaker had been offering free loaners to affected bZ4X owners, but the deal has now been increased with more sweeteners as well as a new offer: Toyota will buy back the bZ4X outright.Only 258 bZ4X EVs were sold before the recall was announced, but the vehicle has an outsize role to play in Toyota’s slow embrace of all-electric vehicles.When Toyota first announced a recall for its new, electric bZ4X SUV, it said that the hub bolts used on the wheels might loosen “to the point where the wheel can detach from the vehicle.” That was a noticeable black eye for one of the world’s largest automakers launching a crucial new model.The bZ4X is Toyota’s first all-electric vehicle since the company worked with Tesla on the RAV4 EV around a decade ago. The RAV4 EV was discontinued in 2014, and Toyota has been on the outside looking in when it comes to EV sales ever since. The bZ4X is expected to change things.The recall was announced after Toyota sold 258 units. Toyota’s first offer for buyers was to have local dealers give them a loaner vehicle free of charge until a remedy could be found for keeping the hub bolts connected. “The cause of the issue and the driving patterns under which this issue could occur are still under investigation,” Toyota said in June. After a few months of research, Toyota has now sent a letter to bZ4X owners (and then posted it to Reddit) expanding the benefits it is offering, including a complete buyback. For starters, bZ4X owners can continue to drive a loaner vehicle while the dealer stores their EV at no cost to the driver. Toyota will pay for the fuel used in these loaner vehicles and will also offer buyers $5000 toward their lease payments or as a check if the EV was purchased outright. Toyota is also extending the time frame for bZ4X drivers to get complimentary charging at EVgo stations and is extending the warranty period.If all of that’s not enough for you, then Toyota will buy back your bZ4X, although the details might vary depending on the situation. Toyota has not said how it will handle any dealer markups originally applied to the purchase price, for example, but the fact that it’s offering to completely take back a brand-new EV over something as seemingly routine as hub bolts is notable. Toyota has also issued a recall for the 2022 Tundra because of a problem with the nuts on the rear axle assembly that can loosen over time.The bZ4X recall also includes 403 units of the 2023 Subaru Solterra, which shares the Toyota’s platform, although documents filled with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) state that none of those have gone out to dealers or customers yet.Problems with selling new units of the bZ4X could hit Toyota extra hard because any EVs purchased from the automaker after September 30 are not eligible for the full federal tax credits under current law. While the rules are likely to change under the Inflation Reduction Act, as it stands now, Toyota is running out of time to offer its buyers a $7500 credit if they can’t buy a new bZ4X any time soon.In the meantime, owners of this EV who want to keep abreast of the situation can check the NHTSA recalls website for updates.

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• This 1971 Fiat 500F Jolly clone on Bring a Trailer looks like an ideal vacation vehicle.• It has wicker furniture for seats, basically a big beach towel for a roof, and no doors, but also—sadly—no cupholders.• With six days left until the auction ends on Thursday, August 11, time is running out to move to a tropical locale by the time you buy it.If I had two tickets to paradise—hell, if I even had one—I’d want something cool to cruise around in. While cool might suggest something exotic like the red Ferrari 308GTS that Tom Selleck used to race around Hawaii in Magnum P.I., I’m actually thinking of something equally Italian, albeit infinitely more leisurely. Enter this 1971 Fiat 500F Jolly conversion that’s currently up for auction on Bring a Trailer—which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos.

If you’ve never heard of a Fiat 500 Jolly before, join the club. I’ve probably seen the quirky cruiser in some movie or another, but the first time I realized what I was looking at was today when I scrolled upon this example on the BaT website. I was instantly struck by its tan-tasseled canopy, tiny whitewall tires, and jolly orange paint that perfectly encapsulates its namesake. A quick Wikipedia read-through taught me that the original Jolly versions of the Fiat 500 were custom-built by the Ghia design house. History!

Bring a Trailer

The one that’s up for auction in these photos isn’t a real Jolly, though, it’s a clone based on what was once an ordinary ’71 500F. While collectors will obviously care about that, I couldn’t care less. I just want to buy it and have the seller ship it from its current home in Italy to someplace warm and tropical where I can immediately retire and spend the rest of my days putzing around paradise.Sure, this Jolly won’t get me anywhere in a hurry, not with its half-liter two-pot engine that likely has fewer horses than most farm stables, but that’s fine because I’d have nothing but time. I could also keep my left leg in shape by exercising its third pedal, but I can’t imagine going so fast that I’d ever need to reach top gear with its four-speed. Although it’d be interesting to see what would happen if it did go 120 km/h (about 75 mph), the peak indicated by its speedo. With its super light curb weight and big cloth top, could this Jolly Fiat turn into a flying Fiat? It’s probably best if no one finds out.

Bring a Trailer

My biggest complaint is that I don’t see any beverage holders inside the buggy. Where am I supposed to secure my piña colada (non-alcoholic, obviously)? I guess I’ll just have to hold the glass between my legs while I sit on the Jolly’s wicker furniture that replaces traditional seats. I won’t lie, they’re my favorite feature. However, I’d be fibbing if I said they look comfortable. Chalk up another reason to keep this thing at a golf-cart-safe pace. With six days left to go before the auction ends on Thursday, August 11, this jolly-looking Fiat 500F currently has a high bid of $15,000. I would love one for myself, but that love is mostly dependent on the location I get to drive it in. A wonderful vacation vehicle? Definitely. As primary transportation in southeastern Michigan? Not so much.
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One month before the royal couple married in the summer of 1981, Prince Charles gave Lady Diana Spencer a silver engagement present. No, not jewelry; it was a Ford Escort Ghia sedan, with the 1.6-liter engine. The car had four doors and 79 horsepower and was in all respects quite ordinary and even deeply boring. In an era of austerity for many British commoners, Charles’s gift broadcast a message of respectability: the newest addition to the royal household would upset no teacups. But as we now know, a coming tempest was brewing, and just four years later, Princess Di was coming on boost.

Silverstone Auctions

Specifically, Her Royal Highness was spooling up the boost on this little rocket, her 1985 Ford Escort RS Turbo, which coming up for sale at auction this month. It was never sold on this side of the pond, but any fan of performance-oriented Fords will have clocked the RS designation and correctly deduced that the princess’s tastes extended to a pretty serious hot hatch. Perhaps even to some royal hoonery?

Silverstone Auctions

Diana’s Escorts were third -eneration cars, and she had three of them. After the rear-wheel-drive Mark I and Mark II Escorts—both still popular with collectors and vintage rally racers—Ford’s European small family car now came with front-wheel drive. It was a modern choice for a modern British family. It took the Escort just two years to be crowned the bestselling car in Britain.

Seeking to stir up a little excitement to fend off the likes of the Volkswagen GTI, Ford developed a tuned version of the two-door Escort hatchback called the XR3 (later XR3i, as fuel injection arrived). The XR3 was scrappy enough for its day, but the relatively new technology of turbocharging promised performance dividends.The Escort RS Turbo was the fastest the third-generation Escort got. Thanks to an aluminum head, an uprated camshaft, and factory turbocharging, output was 132 horsepower at 6000 rpm, with a boot of 133 pound-feet of torque at 3000 rpm. Not huge figures by today’s standards, but pitted against a curb weight that was barely over 2000 pounds, the RS Turbo was plenty quick.Initially, Diana replaced her meekly humdrum Ghia with a bright-red convertible Escort, but the move upset her security detail. The droptop was simply too high-profile. Messages passed back and forth between the Royalty Protection Command and Ford’s PR division, and a compromise was reached. Diana would get the Escort RS Turbo she wanted, painted black on the production line, the better to fly below the radar.While almost all other Escort RS Turbos were white, the three black cars were built for Diana and her protection detail. She drove hers often between 1985 and 1988 and was often spotted driving around London, usually with the young princes William and Harry in the back seat. A plainclothes detective rode shotgun.One of the three, the car Diana herself drove, crosses the block at Silverstone Auctions on August 27. The car is offered at no reserve and is expected to fetch at least six figures, owing to its connection to a still beloved public figure.In a time when fractures were appearing in her fairy-tale marriage, this unlikely hot hatch represented one more facet of Princess Diana’s independence. The expectation was that she would be modern but dutiful, a four-doored People’s Princess. What emerged was a freer spirit, one determined to keep her own hands firmly on the wheel.In her hot little turbocharged Escort, out running around town, Diana did just that. Revs climbing, turbo spooling torque, bodyguard nervously reaching for the grab-handle on the roof as the next sharp corner approaches. She lived her life like a cambelt in the wind.

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