Second hand Audi passenger cars stand on display at an Audi dealership on May 8, 2018 in Berlin, Germany.Carsten Koall / Getty Images 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.Audi dealer sues dad after kid draws on new cars with rockThree-year-olds require constant attention. Don’t give it to them and they’ll find some other, less appropriate outlet for their frenetic energy. Like, for example, ten brand new Audis. A father visiting a Chinese Audi dealership was handed a hefty bill after his three-year-old used a rock to doodle on the paint of a bunch of new cars. The vehicles at that point could no longer be sold “new,” pressing the dealership to sue the father for $37,500. He was able to secure a settlement of $13,000. Next time, just bring the iPad, Dad. We hacked into a Chevy to find out everything it knew about usWhat does your car know about you? That’s the question the Washington Post was seeking answers to when it had a forensic engineer rip open a Chevy Volt’s dashboard and hack into its computers. The clever little car can gather up to 25 gigabytes of data per hour through its various sensors and satellite connections, storing much of it in the onboard drives. The Post’s hacker was able to recover a collection of previously visited locations, a log of phone calls from the previous week and an extensive list of contacts including names, addresses, emails and even photos. GM claims it only gathers data pertaining to vehicle location, performance and driver behaviour, all geared toward improving current and future designs and processes. So, in summation, your car knows quite a bit about you. Find out what you can do about it. Watch a Tesla Model X dominate a Ford Raptor in a tug-of-warIt’s the most anticipated tug-of-war of the decade: the Cybertruck vs the Ford F-150. Yes, it already happened during the Tesla truck’s debut, but that was hardly fair as the Ford chosen was a 2WD model. But, while we wait for the two major brands to get their acts together and give us the “apples to apples” rematch we deserve, there are other tug-based experiments to be observed. YouTubers The Zenigas hooked their Model X to a Ford Raptor to see which would pull which. And, well, the results speak for themselves (scrub to the 4:20 mark in the above video for the actual contest). The GM Oshawa plant completes its final truck after 66 yearsThe final vehicle to be built at GM’s long-running Oshawa assembly plant rolled off production lines this week. Restructuring within the brand led to the announcement of the plant’s closing last year. The factory, which has been in operation since 1953, will pivot from assembly to parts production (namely quarter panels, trunks, doors and hoods) and autonomous car research for the brand. Some 2,300 jobs have been cut from the area, with around 300 employees staying on to operate the new facility. Trucks with mismatched hoods serendipitously find each other on FacebookA perfect story 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/9delVKLIiq 𝐿𝒶𝓁𝑜✭ (@TXLalo214) December 10, 2019It was a match made in Facebook heaven. Two truck owners, each with a mismatched hood; one Facebook group dedicated to truck lovers near Denver, Colorado; and just a touch of luck. That’s all it took to complete Üziel Valles white Chevrolet Silverado. After building out a new front end and getting hung up on a yellow hood, Valles decided to go fishing for the right piece on Facebook. That’s how he found his truck’s inverse doppelganger, a yellow truck with a white hood, and completed the most perfect swap the Internet has seen in a while. The moral of the story is this: when seeking a soulmate, consider starting on
Origin: News Roundup: A toddler ruins 10 new Audis, and we hack a Chevy’s brain
Roundup:
News Roundup: the Cybertruck’s mean lean, the Suburban’s Hollywood Star and Shelby’s 770-hp F-150
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.Watch the Tesla Cybertruck lean through a left (and crush a pylon)Whos driving @ElonMusk or the Auto-Pilot?$TSLA pic.twitter.com/xvmyHPG8Ol GuruLeaks (@Guruleaks1) December 8, 2019Elon Musk took the Cybertruck out for a drive in Los Angeles recently, grabbing a bite to eat at Nobu and a bunch of press coverage while he was at it.A TMZ video of the truck leaving the restaurant shows it accelerating out across the intersection and leaning pretty hard in the corner, despite the heavy battery packs lining the floor. Hopefully that gets ironed out before production. The truck also levels a plastic parking sign as it leaves the lot. Was that Elon showing off, teenager-style, or does he just not know how to drive his own truck? Chevy reveals 2021 Suburban and TahoeThe 2021 Suburban and Chevrolet Tahoe had their debut this week, revealing big changes inside and out, including new platforms. The solid rear axle and old chassis is gone, replaced by GM’s T1 platform, which has helped Chevy capitalize on the interior space the big families that own these things require. There’s more cargo space and improved access to the third row (the Tahoe expanded nearly seven inches in length, with three inches more legroom in the second row and 10 in the third). Check out our coverage of the debut, including photo galleries of both vehicles. The Hollywood Walk of Fame just gave the Chevy Suburban its own starThe more than 2,600 pink-terrazzo-stone-and-brass-stars that make up the Hollywood Walk of Fame have been honouring Tinseltown’s most-talented for decades. Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Bryan Adams and Harrison Ford (he’s got two) have all been immortalized in stone along the 2.1-km strip that runs east to west along Hollywood Boulevard. This week, a new star stone was unveiled: one for the Chevrolet Suburban. The SUV has appeared in at least one movie per year since 1960. There are other non-humans that have made the Walk, including the LAPD, the Dodgers, even Victoria’s Secret, but Chevy is the first-ever vehicle to make the cut. French man runs out of gas while evading policeIf you’re ever planning to ditch a police officer, make sure you’ve got enough gas for the chase. A French man tried to ditch the fuzz rather than face up to a speeding ticket, but instead of evading the law, he wound up losing his license for the next six months.The officer had clocked the driver, who was behind the wheel of a Mercedes-AMG C63, going 206 km/h in a 130-km/h zone, and as he was about to issue him a “red card,” the driver fled. The pursuit continued, but not for long: the Mercedes drained its fuel tank and the cops found the driver sitting in the back seat, claiming he’d been left behind by a different driver. Hm, ‘A’ for effort.Shelby F-150 Super Snake will make 770 horsepowerMost concepts don’t go beyond just that, the concept stage, remaining cool in theory, but not really made for real life. Earlier this year in Vegas at SEMA, the world laid eyes on the Shelby F-150 Super Snake Sport concept truck for the first time, and following the public’s overwhelming positive reaction, it’s been given the green light for production. Not only that, but the automaker announced 250 of the 2020 models (there are two powertrains — a 395-horsepower naturally aspirated V8 and a 770-horsepower supercharged V8) will be built for both the U.S. market as well as Canada. LISTEN: Harvey Soicher embarked on a two-month adventure that saw him drive his brand new Audi e-tron 55 quattro Technik across Canada and then back home through the States. The logistics were daunting, particularly with the northern route Harvey had chosen, where electric charging infrastructure is by no means established. But with the helpful assistance of plugshare.com, he mapped out a route that kept him charging forward. Plugged In is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.Is the player not working? Click
Origin: News Roundup: the Cybertruck’s mean lean, the Suburban’s Hollywood Star and Shelby’s 770-hp F-150
News Roundup: Key-fob-relay thieves hit Ontario, CR names the year’s best and worst, and more
Sometimes, a defective key fob can be the cause of glitches with your cars alarm system.Supplied / iStock.com 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.Look out Toyota and Lexus owners! Key fob relay thefts on the rise in CanadaCanadian thieves have been capitalizing on the key fob’s imperfect digital security to steal dozens of newer Lexus and Toyota vehicles from Ontario driveways. A report by the CBC explains how tech-savvy criminals are making hay by catching the key fob’s wireless signal near the front doors of a drivers’ homes, and tossing them to a second device which is then used to open and start the vehicles. Scary, but there’s good news: you can protect yourself with something called a Faraday pouch. Consumer Reports names 2019’s most (and least) reliable modelsConsumer Reports released a pair of insightful lists, naming the year’s most and least reliable vehicles, as identified through driver surveys. The research organization landed on a pretty typical collection of worst and best, with mostly Japanese-made cars on the top and mostly American-made on the bottom.Beating out Lexus for the number-one spot was the Mazda MX-5 Miata (that’s right, a sports car!) while the Chevrolet Colorado brought up the rear at the very bottom. Reports suggest GM will take a loss on base CorvettesThe new Chevrolet Corvette is a predator, and not just because it looks like the kind of creature that, if it had a chance under the cover of darkness, would totally eat your baby. It’s also priced like a predator. According to a GM source quoted by Motor Trend, the $69,998 tag on the C8 ‘Vette “would have to go through the roof in order to cover GM’s cost” in the coming years. So brace, if you want a base, or buy now. Jaguar F-Type 2021 hits 450 km/h (on Hot Wheels track)Jaguar took to the toy chest to hype up a mid-model refresh of its F-Type. With a video of a camouflaged toy car ripping down a 232-metre Hot Wheels track, the British brand teased and then revealed (in pieces) the new two-seater. You can watch the stunt, which includes multiple loop-the-loops, “gravity-defying” jumps and peaks at the bits of the actual F-Type including its grille, head rest and wheels before its full reveal at the end, right here. 2020 Nissan Qashqai gets priced just over $20,000As Nissan’s second-best-selling model in Canada, the Qashqai is worthy of any SUV shopper’s attention. With a recently announced starting price of $21,498 for the base S MT FWD model, the Qashqai is $1,300 more than its predecessor, but comes with a bunch of added comfort features like rear-seat heating and cooling, and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, plus a suite of intelligent safety systems including high-beam assist, rear sonar, traffic sign recognition and driver attention
Origin: News Roundup: Key-fob-relay thieves hit Ontario, CR names the year’s best and worst, and more
News Roundup: A pickup tug-of-war war, a 1,000-hp Mustang, plus an actual pony car
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.Ford wants a rematch of the F-150 vs. Cybertruck tug-of-war, sort ofThe Blue Oval wasn’t pleased with its brief inclusion in Tesla’s Cybertruck reveal. During the live event, Elon Musk played a clip of the Cybertruck running away (uphill!) with Ford’s popular pickup hitched to its back bumper in a tug of war, the F-150 struggling to gain any sort of traction. In response, a VP at Ford called the contest unfair and demanded a rematch, saying Tesla cherry-picked a two-wheel-drive F-150. But when Musk said “Bring it on,” other talking heads at Ford seemed to walk the challenge back, telling Fox News it had been intended as a “tongue in cheek” comment. LISTEN: In this week’s episode, we talk about all the electrifying news coming out of the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show with Postmedia Driving senior writer David Booth, including Ford’s bold Mustang Mach-e SUV. And, of course, we get Booth’s take on Tesla’s Cybertruck. Plugged In is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.Is the player not working? Click here.The 4,000-horsepower Thor24 fetches US$12M at auctionAfter going under the hammer in Saudi Arabia, this 24-cylinder 12-supercharger 3,974-horsepower semi found its new owner — for a truckload of money. The custom big rig dubbed “Thor24” lines up two 12-cylinder Detroit diesel engines that, along with a nitrous boost pack, can get its 32,000-pound frame up to 200 km/h. Four 12-foot chutes help to bring it back down. US$12M seems like a deal, because that flaming paint job is priceless. This Ohio dealership is selling 1,000-horsepower Mustangs for US$55,000It’s called “Project M,” and it’s one wild pony. At the base: a Mustang GT (300a) with a modest interior and a Level 1 Performance Pack with automatic transmission. But Lebanon Ford in Ohio was able to saddle the pony with 1,000 horsepower from a Whipple supercharger or D1X Procharger, an upgraded fuel pump, a larger heat exchanger. The wildest part is the price of just CDN$73,000, which undercuts the 797-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye by $20,000. The Internet’s most hilarious reactions to the Tesla Cybertruck revealIt was big news. Partly because it’s an electric pickup finally here, partly because it looks like a couple of stacked triangles, and partly because, in the process of revealing it live, Tesla unintentionally broke not one but two windows while attempting to display their durability. Twitter almost instantly had a roundup of hilarious memes reacting to the Cybertruck, while Wall Street showed its uncertainty with a 6-per-cent drop in Tesla stock price, and more than a few people pointed out its proximity in looks to a certain time-travelling coupe. Horseplay a la highway—French police spot pony in passenger seatA woman piloting a microcar near Marseille in Southern France was stopped by police watching for distracted drivers after they saw a curious passenger riding shotgun. When they realized that, oui, c’est un cheval, the authorities snapped a pic and arrested the woman, who excused the fact she had a horse in the small car because she didn’t have the license to drive a more appropriately sized van. Are we sure this wasn’t Florida? Feels like
Origin: News Roundup: A pickup tug-of-war war, a 1,000-hp Mustang, plus an actual pony car
News Roundup: Tesla Cybertruck and Ford Mustang Mach-E vie for biggest EV reveal of the year
Welcome to our weekly roundup 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:Tesla reveals Cybertruck, breaks two windows in the processThe Cybertruck is here and it’s getting ALL the media attention. Price starts US$39,900, there are three range options (250 miles+, 300+ and 500+), and it’ll supposedly sprint to 96 km/h in just 2.9 seconds. But that’s not what people are talking about. Why? Because, well, just look at it! The polarizing design of the Cybertruck was actually eclipsed when a member of the reveal team, in an attempt to demonstrate the shatterproof-ness of the windows, accidentally shattered the two left-side windows with an iron ball. “Room for improvement,” said Elon. The Mach-E stole the LA Auto Show before the show had even started Ford Mustang Mach-E Nadine Filion In other major EV news this week, Ford pulled the sheets off its Mustang Mach-E SUV. David Booth rounded up the most important facts about the controversial “Mustang.” Did you know that it was originally supposed to be called just “Mach-e”? True story. But when designers wanted to spring on a new battery-powered platform, those with their fingers on the purse strings said they’d release the funds only if the Mustang label was involved. Find out what other secrets the new E-SUV holds right here. The Internet’s best reactions to the Mach-E arrival Ford Mustang Mach-E Nadine Filion As it is wont to do, the Internet voiced some strong opinions about the Ford Mach-E. One of the most controversial parts is right there in the name—and according to Driving.ca’s own poll, a full 72 per cent of readers believe that, now having seen it, the Mach-E is not worthy of the Mustang name. The public wasn’t the only source of concern over the name, either: Ford admitted at the launch that plenty of former Mustang designers refused to work on the project. One Twitter user got in on the joke by Photoshopping an image of the Carrol Shelby standing next to a black-and-white Mach-E. Ha! Not likely…The RAV4 Prime arrives with a whopping 302 horsepowerThe 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid has arrived with the winning combo of more power and better fuel economy. The first plug-in-hybrid version of the popular Yota SUV will get 60 km of pure electric motoring per charge of its 17.8-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery, and enough power combined with the 2.5-litre Atkinson-cycle four to push it to 96 km/h in 5.8 seconds. Based on the 62,000 RAV4 units Toyota expects to sell to Canadians this year, the electrified 2021 RAV4 should absolutely crush sales when it’s released in the summer of 2020. ALG report names best car brands for resale valueWe’ve all heard the maxim about new cars losing a bunch of their value the moment they’re driven off the dealership lot, but it’s also true that the exact amount of money lost varies depending on the brand of car. The annual ALG Residual Awards is designed to recognize those carmakers whose products tend to guard their value better than the competition. At the top of the mainstream list is Honda, which stole the title from Subaru, which had held it the last four years. Land Rover took top mention for premium brands, followed by Audi, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. Find out if/where your vehicle landed on the
Origin: News Roundup: Tesla Cybertruck and Ford Mustang Mach-E vie for biggest EV reveal of the year
News Roundup: Consumer Reports’ most and least reliable, Honda’s many CR-V options and police pull over the weirdest cars
2019 Lexus LS 500Handout 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.2019’s most and least reliable brands according to Consumer Reports 2019 Mazda CX-5 Signature Al Charest / Postmedia Breaking news! Dodge has landed itself on the top ten list of Consumer Reports’ most reliable brands! That’s a first. Otherwise, the list was not so surprising, with Japan sweeping the top three (Lexus, Mazda and Toyota in that order) and Jeep, VW and Acura elbowing each other for position down at the bottom of the pile. Where does your brand land on the list this year?Anyone want to buy a $90k Corvette for $145,500 on eBay?A selfish Corvette buyer is fishing for suckers online with an ad for a build slot for a 2020 C8 Corvette. The listing is asking for $145,500 for what is, if you were to purchase it directly from the brand, a $90,000 car. Listed as ““BRAND NEW C-8 2020 CORVETTE FOR SALE ALLOCATED PAID FOR 1ST WAVE EARLY RELEASE,” the car is basically just a standard 1LT trim C8 with the free white paint, free silver wheels, $100 mirrors, US$5,000 Z51 package and less than $10,000 worth of other options. Do the math. Don’t buy the car. Honda’s CR-V gets lots of new options for 2020Honda has freshened up its popular SUV for 2020, giving shoppers even more options for trims and some new options like Remote Engine Start and heated front seats at the base level of the CR-V. The exterior gets a bit of a facelift, too, with some Civic-esque tweaks, two new colour options and 19-inch wheels. All models will run with a 1.5-litre turbo four. Pricing starts at $28,690 for the base model, which is exactly $1,000 more than last year’s. These are the strangest vehicles to ever be pulled over by policeAn electric three-wheeler homemade from balsa wood and duct tape. A couch on wheels capable of travelling over 140 km/h. A bumper car with another bumper car being pulled beside it, armstrong-style. These are a few of the most surprising vehicles to get pulled over by police. The couch got a ticket, but balsa-wood trike did not. Check out the full list here. Gone in 60 Seconds ‘Eleanor’ Mustang likely to fetch over US$1 million at auctionThe “Dream Car,” or the main ride of the 11 Mustangs used in the 2000 Nicolas Cage film Gone in 60 Seconds, is scheduled to head to auction in January 2020. And based on the sale of the last, less-of-a-star ‘Eleanor’ Mustang, which sold for US$1 million, this Shelby-inspired 1967 Ford will likely fetch more than the sum of the entire film budget of the original 1974 cut of the film. The movie car will go under the hammer at the Mecum auction in Kissimmee, Florida in January 2020. LISTEN: Toyota has led the hybrid charge for two decades, and as Toyota Canada’s Stephen Beatty tells Plugged In host Andrew McCredie, is now all-in on EVs, particularly fuel cell vehicles. The company’s vice president also has some interesting things to say about some provinces’ push to create electric vehicle sales quotas for 2030, and tells us about Toyota’s fascinating, and potentially game-changing, work with Quebec to produce green hydrogen. Plugged In is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.Is the player not working? Click
Origin: News Roundup: Consumer Reports’ most and least reliable, Honda’s many CR-V options and police pull over the weirdest cars
News Roundup: A sidewalk scooter scandal, BMW’s Halloween Tweet gone wrong and the Bronco R
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.Alberta gov’t spokesperson gets hell for Tweet of grandfather using enclosed scooter on sidewalkSamantha Peck, Press Secretary to Alberta’s Associate Minister of Natural Gas, figured she was sharing a message the public could get behind when she Twitter-posted a video of her grandfather, who’d lost his license following a car accident two years ago, driving an enclosed scooter on a snowy sidewalk. But it turns out Twitterers were less happy about one man’s reclaimed freedom of mobility and much more concerned about the fact i) someone deemed unfit to drive a car on the roads was now basically driving one on the sidewalks; and ii) the video looked like it was shot by someone driving in a car. The Tweet has since been removed, but the question stands: do scooters that look like small cars belong on sidewalks? Take our poll here. BMW’s Halloween prank Tweet to Mercedes kinda backfiredNice one, @BMWUSA. That’s a really scary costume! Especially that radiator grille Daimler AG (@Daimler) October 31, 2019Feeling frisky on Halloween, BMW USA Tweeted out an image of a Mercedes-Benz wearing a ‘costume’ to make it look like a BMW, captioning the post “Now every car can dress up as its favourite superhero.” But M-B parent Daimler clapped back quickly, quipping “That’s a really scary costume! Especially that radiator grille…” Now, we say the Tweet only “kinda” backfired, because it only kinda fired to begin with. Partially because this is a heavy dad joke cloaked in some fancy Photoshop, and also because Pepsi did basically the exact same thing back in 2013. Dum-dum drivers close down Toronto highway to display sloppy drifting skills View this post on Instagram This is not only dangerous and illegal, it is disapointing when a mob mentality of hijacking a highway to make a scene like this is conducted. We are better than thisaren’t we? A post shared by Sgt Kerry Schmidt (@sgtkerryschmidt) on Nov 3, 2019 at 6:24pm PSTToronto police have shared a video of a group of young – let’s call it like it is, shall we? – idiots blocking a major highway in order to perform a bunch of sloppy donuts. The video shows a lineup of vehicles stopped by a crowd and waiting on Highway 409 as a few cars spin around on the road. The video’s caption reads “You car meetup mans are savages for closing down the highway like this…” The police re-captioned it: “We’re better than this…aren’t we?” The Bronco R prototype gives us a taste of truck to comeFord has revealed a Baja racing prototype of its upcoming Bronco SUV, providing the most in-depth look at what (might) be so far. The Bronco R is heading off to the Baja Peninsula to test its mettle and metals on the demanding off-road terrain. The prototype features a lightweight composite body with a clamshell hood and roof and body panels that throw back to the first-gen off-roader. Will the old-school design elements make it through to production? We’ll find out when the Bronco arrives next spring. Canada to get VW Mk. 8 Golf and ID.4 in 2021When the latest Golf debuted last month, it was unclear whether Canada and the U.S. would receive any trims other than the high-end GTI and R spec. But Volkswagen Canada recently confirmed that Canada will definitely be getting the base model Mk.8 Golf as well as the fully electric ID.4. Delivery of these products to the U.S. market on the other hand, is still TBD. The cars are expected to arrive in Canadian dealerships in 2021 as 2022
Origin: News Roundup: A sidewalk scooter scandal, BMW’s Halloween Tweet gone wrong and the Bronco R
News Roundup: A murdered Dodge Charger, a resurrected Hellcat and a Raptor-rivaling Chevy
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.Owner crushes classic Charger, blames no-show buyersA man who ran out of patience with people saying they wanted to buy his 1970 Dodge Charger 500 but then not showing up to a make serious offer has gone to the extreme to put it to a stop. He had the classic car crushed and filmed it. The video, now trending on various Mopar and classic car Facebook pages, shows the forks of a large machine coming down repeatedly on the Charger while the owner looks on in apparent ecstasy, shouting “that’s what you guys f***ing get…everybody wants to be a car guy until it’s time to do car guy shit!” Nice work, man — you sure showed them! We guess?Texas tuner turns Chevy truck into Ford Raptor rivalChevrolet people tired of Ford people rubbing the off-road prowess of the F-150 Raptor in their faces now have a little something to rub back with. The Jackal is Texas-based truck tuner PaxPower’s take on the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, with more power, more lift, more flare, more shock absorption and more more. The tuning kits come in three trims (read about them here) and start at US$15,000, plus the Chevy. YouTubers rebuild burnt-to-crisp Hellcat for US$39,000, but is it safe?The family of volunteers at YouTube’s D.I.Y. Gang managed to spend less than US$40,000 in parts (not to mention the many, many man-hours of labour) rebuilding a totally burnt-out Dodge Challenger Hellcat. You can and should watch the whole thing come together in 14 minutes in this time-lapse video, which includes a test drive with two gleeful screaming children in the back, but you maybe shouldn’t try it at home. Why? Because, despite the car looking and sounding great and moving well, there’s no telling how badly the metals were damaged by the extreme heat of the fire. The value of older classic cars is dipping, while some newer classics soarWhat do older classic cars and real estate in large Canadian cities have in common? This isn’t the setup to a dad joke, but a real question posed by our writer Alyn Edwards, and one it turns out may have kind of a sad answer. Because the commonality between the two “assets” is that, today, some are experiencing a downturn in demand and therefore value. Much like that house on your block that’s been for sale for over a year now, many classic cars are sitting idle with sticker prices nobody is willing to pay. For proof, look no further than the Charger crushed by its owner at the top of this list! Ford to offer full over-the-air updates with Sync upgrade“Have you downloaded the latest update?” That’s the new familiar refrain replacing the classic “have you tried turning it on and off again?” at IT departments around the world, thanks to over-the-air updates that keep software on devices like computers and smartphones running smoothly. Now, Ford is capitalizing on the tech evolution with its Sync system that will update everything from infotainment to the comfort systems to the brakes and engine, fixing issues as your vehicle sits idle. The move will position Ford at the forefront of the legacy automakers in terms of automatic updates — but still a ways behind
Origin: News Roundup: A murdered Dodge Charger, a resurrected Hellcat and a Raptor-rivaling Chevy
News Roundup: An EV crate engine, brands skipping Montreal’s auto show, a luxury car tax and more
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.Upcoming electric crate engines promise plug-and-play installationIt’s been some time coming, but it seems automotive DIY-ers may finally be getting some viable options for electric crate engines. The V8-shaped single- and dual-motor EV conversion kits on the way from the California-based startup Electric GT (EGT) will make 140 horsepower and 240 lb.-ft., and 240 horsepower and 340 lb.-ft., respectively. Swindon Powertrain in the U.K., meanwhile, is putting out another electric crate option that makes 110 horsepower and is small enough to fit in a Mini. You just have to find someplace to put the batteries. Volvo, Audi and Mercedes-Benz won’t be attending the Montreal auto showEven with the Detroit auto show officially moving its time slot from January to June, Montreal’s appeal is not strong enough for some European automakers to justify the winter journey to the City of Saints.Following the lead of Mercedes-Benz – which is abstaining from all North American auto shows this year – Volvo and Audi are also pulling out of appearances at 2020’s LeSalon International de Montréal. Volvo is also allegedly pulling the chute for Toronto’s CIAS 2020. Tesla’s hideaway handles blamed in fiery fatal crash“Inaccessible door handles” and “no other ways to open the doors” are what’s being blamed in the death of a Florida resident and Tesla Model S owner. The 48-year-old man allegedly died of smoke inhalation when his vehicle caught fire following an accident, leaving him trapped inside. According to Consumer Reports, door handles are among the most commonly reported issues from Model S owners. Liberal’s proposed luxury car tax stresses B.C. dealersThe recently re-elected Liberal government is proposing a new 10-per-cent luxury tax on vehicles, boats and aircraft priced over $100,000. The little-on-the-top will add yet another line to the price tag of luxury vehicles in British Columbia, which are already subject to a 15-per-cent provincial sales tax on vehicles from $125,000 to $149,999; and a 20-per-cent tax on those over $150,000. Blair Qualey, head of the New Car Dealers Association of B.C., told Automotive News Canada the luxury tax is “very concerning” and the burden on buyers getting “pretty difficult.” Mazda’s first EV gets a touch of RX-8 throwbackThe first electric mass-production Mazda, the MX-30, has arrived, with a smaller battery than most (likely good for about 200 km of range) and a gasoline-powered rotary range-extender – similar to that last found in the RX-8 – for trips beyond city limits. Inside, it’s some of Mazda’s best work yet, with a clean dash and touchscreens for everything that could possibly use one. Look for the Mazda MX-30 in the second half of 2020, and look for the other hot debuts from this year’s Tokyo auto show right
Origin: News Roundup: An EV crate engine, brands skipping Montreal’s auto show, a luxury car tax and more
News Roundup: A Tesla-rivalling Porsche, a Burt Reynolds Trans Am and a Honda unFit for Canada
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
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