The Porsche Taycan 4SPorsche Welcome to our weekly round-up of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam.Here’s what you missed while you were away.This lower-priced Porsche Taycan wants to take on Tesla’s Model SPorsche has introduced another, more affordable but just-as-attractive variant to the Taycan lineup. The Taycan 4S starts at $119,400, which is about the same as the Panamera 4S, over $50,000 cheaper than the base Taycan Turbo and nearly $100,000 less than the Turbo S. Yeah, it’s a tad more expensive than a Tesla Model S, but can we agree it’s got more style? With twin electric motors, the base all-wheel-drive Taycan 4S gets 407 km of range and manages the sprint from zero to 100 km/h in 4.0 seconds. Expect to see the Taycan 4S on Canadian roads summer 2020. Toyota may replace recalled Supras with new carsToyota is proposing a drastic solution to what seems on the surface to be a small issue. The problem? Faulty seat belt mount welds. The fix? An entirely new vehicle. That’s right, a BMW recall on certain Toyota Supras may see seven owners driving away with brand-new vehicles, all due to some spotty welding work. “If the driver’s safety belt guide loop mount was not welded to specifications, then in a crash of sufficient severity, the mount could become damaged and may not restrain the driver as designed which would increase the risk of injury to the driver,” the recall reads. Four of seven have already been replaced. Elon Musk forecasts Tesla truck arrival in NovemberAccording to the second-most-influential Twitter user in the world, Elon Musk, the wait for the electric truck is nearly over. The Tesla CEO laid out the schedule for the much-anticipated electric pickup’s arrival earlier this summer and recently Tweet-confirmed everything is still on pace. Styling remains a mystery (see photo above) with Musk touting a design that’s “really futuristic-like cyberpunk Blade Runner design,” but all shall be revealed in no more than a month and a half. U.S. government auctioning Trans Am owned by Burt Reynolds, plus 148 other classicsIn December 2018, U.S. Marshals brought the full might of the law down on a couple of ponzi schemers who had swindled Warren Buffet, among others, out of over US$800 million. Among the possessions seized from the pair was a collection of 149 classic cars, which included a low-mileage 1978 Pontiac Trans Am formerly owned by OG bandit Burt Reynolds. The lot will be auctioned off following the conclusion of the case and will be the single largest car collection ever sold by the U.S. Marshals. New Honda Fit not likely to come to CanadaHonda has confirmed there’s another Fit on the way, but it hasn’t said if it’ll find its way to North America. And, based on the general decline of the small car sector, the fact the Fit press release called it only by its European name “Jazz,” and in light of Fit sales being down both in Canada and the U.S. this season, there’s a good chance it won’t be. We asked Honda Canada how the next-gen tiny Honda fits into the Canadian market but it wouldn’t comment on future vehicles just now—Honda America is singing the same
Origin: News Roundup: A Tesla-rivalling Porsche, a Burt Reynolds Trans Am and a Honda unFit for Canada
Burt
The U.S. gov’t is auctioning off Burt Reynolds’ customized Trans Am
Some 149 classic cars will be auctioned by federal U.S. Marshals this month in the wake of a court case that saw them seized from the owners of an Eastern California solar panel company. And a few of the lots are real gems that shine brighter than others.DC Solar, run by Jeff and Pauline Carpoff, allegedly scammed billionaire Warren Buffet and others out of US$800 million in a Ponzi scheme, says the courts.The cars were seized in December by the FBI.The most interesting car in the auction is a 1978 Pontiac Trans Am. According to a press release from the U.S. Marshals Service, the vehicle was owned by Burt Reynolds himself as a memento of the car he drove in the movie Smokey and the Bandit. The vehicle only has 3,394 miles on the odometer.From the photos, we can tell the vehicle has been customized with larger aluminum wheels, which strongly suggests this was Burts personal Trans Am, the one modified with a 600-horsepower 8.2-litre V8.If it is indeed the same vehicle, that means when Jeff or Pauline Carpoff bought it at auction, they actually got to shake hands with the Bandit himself. The vehicle was last sold at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale, where it fetched US$275,000. This could be a chance to get yourself a real bargain!Its the largest single car collection weve ever sold, according to Marshals Services Lynzey Donahue. Proceeds from the auction will be held until the court case resolves, and the judge determines where they will
Origin: The U.S. gov’t is auctioning off Burt Reynolds’ customized Trans Am
Burt Reynolds’ personal Pontiac Trans Am sells for US$317,500
Burt Reynolds personal 1979 Pontiac Trans AmJuliens Another one of Burt Reynolds personal Pontiac Trans Am Smokey and the Bandit replicas sold at a Juliens auction over the weekend for US$317,500.According to Hagerty, the connection to the late actor has a serious effect on the value of Bandit replicas (even if theyre the wrong year, like this one).A 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with a 220-horsepower 400-cubic-inch V8 has an average value of US$61,400 in top-flight concours condition, while one in excellent condition is worth US$44,900.That means the star power of it being Burts own 79 Bird more than quadrupled anything resembling a reasonable price for the car. A more-accurate 78 Trans Am also owned by Reynolds sold for US$192,500 last October.Burt Reynolds passed away last September, leaving behind tons on memorabilia and cars from his glory days. In 2016, a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am that was used to promote the original Smokey and the Bandit film sold for US$550,000, and was even driven on stage by Reynolds himself. This particular car is a 1979 model, which isnt totally correct for the movie but is still cool. It was created by Bandit Movie Cars for Reynolds and his business partner, Gene Kennedy, to take on the Bandit Run, an event that gathers lovers of the original film together to drive their Trans Ams on the same journey Burt takes in the original film.The car has also been taken on several cross-country trips that celebrated the 40th anniversary of the film, but despite this, it still has only 70,000 original miles on the
Origin: Burt Reynolds’ personal Pontiac Trans Am sells for US$317,500
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