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.EV regulations prompt Tesla to release fart noise featureU.S. authorities recently implemented regulations stating all electric vehicles travelling under 30 km/h must make some sort of noise to help pedestrians identify there’s a massive chunk of metal moving nearby. Now, over in Europe, that “noise” is by law supposed to sound basically like a traditional car. Boring! In America, however, automakers were allowed to get a little more creative, and Elon Musk seemed to take that as a challenge. He recently Tweet-announced that Teslas will soon come with the ability to emit all sorts of clever sounds, from a cute little goat’s bleat to the clip-clop of coconuts to one of the all-time greatest sound effects: the fart. Winter tire deadline change prompts CAA-Quebec’s Winter Tire Appointment Week pushAfter the legal deadline for winter tires was bumped up to December 1 this year, the Quebec division of CAA took it upon itself to remind residents what that means. You’ve got to, um, change your tires to winters. OK?Winter Tire Appointment Week is indeed a real thing, and probably a good thing, too, even if incredibly dull-sounding. Because with 5.2 million passenger vehicles on Quebec’s roads and less than two months to go before the big day, there’s no time like the present to call your tire shop. Besides, how else are you going to celebrate Winter Tire Appointment Week?Striking U.S. auto union calls for end to imports, including Canada’sThe United Automobile Workers has been on strike against General Motors for almost a month and are now calling for the company to put a stop to the import of all cars from foreign assembly plants, including those in Canada and Mexico. Union reps also apparently expressing qualms about the move toward automation and electric power. Negotiation talks are ongoing, but this recent argument isn’t great news for GM’s Oshawa plant, which was recently made the beneficiary of a $170-million injection from GM.2020 Subaru Crosstrek’s $100 price bump earns it a stack of perks The most capable crossover in its segment is getting an extra dose of convenience, with the 2020 Crosstrek offering new standard and available features at a competitive price. (CNW Group/Subaru Canada Inc.) Subaru It’ll cost a bit more to get into Subaru’s Crosstrek this year than it did last year, but if you’re someone who needs to pile a little bit of everything on their buffet plate – not the Jello, for the love of God, not the Jello – then you might want to consider it. The base 2020 Crosstrek starts at $23,795 and comes standard with a six-speed manual and all-wheel-drive, an Apple CarPlay/Android Auto-ready infotainment system, plus the brand’s EyeSight driver-assist system and X-Mode’s torque-splitting features in the CVT models. Now you can spend that $100 on something important, like that diet coach you obviously need. Canadian drivers sue Kia over alleged service schedule hoodwinkEveryone knows there’s no better way to care for a car than to follow exactly what it says in the owner’s manual. Right? Apparently not if you drive a Kia and live in Canada. A class-action suit alleges Canadian drivers are being misled by Kia in terms of how often they’re told to seek routine service. The book says 12,000 km, but if you live in Canada – most of it, anyway – the brand recommends a visit to the shop every 6,000 km. It’s just too bad you can’t sue
Origin: News Roundup: Tesla’s flatulent update, Quebec’s winter tire celebration and Kia’s alleged muck-up
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News Roundup: Schwarzenegger sets teenage activist up with Tesla, Chevy unveils C8 convertible 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.When Arnold met GretaWhen Arnold Schwarzenegger was introduced to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg at a European environmental summit earlier this year, he was thoroughly impressed. (Join the club, Arnold.) And then, when he learned she’d be making a North American tour, he offered to set his new friend up with one of the greenest ways to get around: a Tesla Model 3. Thunberg travelled to Montreal to participate in the climate strike along with approximately 500,000 others, and is continuing on to other events elsewhere in North America. 70-year-old B.C. driver given ticket for having cell phone in cup holderWhere do you keep your cell phone when you’re driving? Obviously, it’s illegal to hold it in your hand and use it – that’s distracted driving – but one senior citizen in B.C. was shocked to receive a ticket this week for having her smartphone charging in a cup holder. Randi Kramer, who’s had a clean driving record for the last 50 years or so, was issued a $368 ticket for distracted driving, despite not being distracted by her phone at all. Kramer plans to fight the ticket and her story has already got the attention of a local lawyer. The new C8 convertible arrives with folding hardtopThe 2020 Chevy Corvette Stingray was unveiled this week, and unlike the initial C8 launch that nearly broke the internet earlier this summer, there’s not so much to report on. The new model will be available with a folding hardtop only, and be powered by the same plant as the coupe: a 6.2-litre 490-horsepower V8. Chevy chose to reveal the convertible at the Kennedy Space Center’s Rocket Garden in Orlando, Florida as a nod to all the astronauts who’ve driven ‘Vettes over the years. The 2020 Corvette convertible will start at $78,998 when it arrives in Canada next spring. Watch Tesla owners damage their cars using the new Smart Summon featureA new software update downloaded into Teslas around the world last weekend, teaching the electric vehicles a highly anticipated new trick. Smart Summon automatically pilots empty cars across parking lots or driveways to their drivers, who summon them with the press of a button on an app. But despite the word “Smart” being right there in the name, and Tesla officially reminding driver they “are still responsible for (their) car and must monitor it and its surroundings at all times,” the new feature has occasionally hit a few snags. Or, more accurately, other vehicles and garage doors. Check out some of the Smart Summon fails caught on camera and already making the rounds online. Russian YouTuber tests how many spokes your car wheel actually needsHow many spokes is enough spokes? Sure, all of them would be ideal, but when push came to shove, how many could you still drive with? Like, if you literally pushed and shoved (or cut) the spokes off the wheels, like this Russian YouTuber did, how far would you get? Turns out, pretty far! The Garage 54 YouTube channel, which is dedicated to these kind of automotive “torture tests,” fits an old car with a bunch of tires with a varying number of the alloy spokes removed, and basically drives around on them until they break. The language dubbing is bearable, but the video itself is highly
Origin: News Roundup: Schwarzenegger sets teenage activist up with Tesla, Chevy unveils C8 convertible and more
News Roundup: Tesla cop car fail, backwards-facing Chevy pickup and when turkeys attack
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.High-speed chase ends when Tesla police cruiser battery diesCalifornia police claim to be pleased with the performance of their fleet’s Tesla Model S cruiser, despite the fact that it recently outright quit on them in the middle of a high-speed chase. According to reports by The Mercury News, Fremont, California officer Jesse Hartman had to radio in during the pursuit of a “felony vehicle” to request another squad car join the chase as his Tesla was showing just 10 km of battery range. Gas-powered vehicles took over the pursuit only to give it up as the driver escalated their level of recklessness. The Tesla, which had to stop in San Jose to charge, had apparently been through two full shifts without a charge, prior to the chase. Video footage of this backwards-facing Chevy truck in action delights the worldBy installing its body onto its chassis in reverse and swapping interior features like the dash, wheels and pedals from the front to the rear of the cabin, a Massachusetts man has successfully created a very cool and very confusing vehicle. “There’s Ron in his backward-facing pickup truck,” says the man filming the unique build drive down the road in the above video. Ron’s full-size Chevrolet C/K 1500 is completely street-legal, with turn indicators where the headlights should be and front wheels that turn from under the bed of the truck. Watch Ron and his curiosity take a left at the end of the video. Ontario man reps himself in court and wins case over speeding ticket despite multiple errorsWhen you hear stories of people representing themselves in court, they don’t usually end like this. An Ontario man who decided against using a lawyer to help convince a judge that he shouldn’t have to pay a fine issued for allegedly driving 107 km/h in a 70 km/h zone has somehow come out on top despite having made multiple rather large missteps during the proceedings. The main issue: the man forgot to deny the allegations of speeding during the correct period of the trial. Luckily for him, his errors weren’t the only ones. The judge and justice of the peace also goofed the proceedings in several technical ways, ultimately resulting in the conviction being voided. There’s a lesson here, but it’s probably not one you want to learn. New Hyundai pickup to be built on ladder-frameIf executive rumours can be believed, Hyundai’s heavily anticipated new pickup truck will be built on a ladder-frame platform, and not on a unibody like the brand’s SUVs, as initially believed. Hyundai’s Australian CEO recently revealed the news, telling an Aussie publication that Kia may be sharing the ladder-frame development action for a pickup product of their own. “We’re going down that pathway and we’re working towards it,” the CEO told Which Car. “We just have to make sure that when it arrives, it’s a bloody ute.”Motorcyclist faces off against angry turkey at intersection in Toronto suburbIt’s nearly Thanksgiving and the birds are fighting back. A motorcyclist riding through the city of Whitby, Ontario, was confronted by a large male turkey who walked out into the middle of the intersection, circled the man and his bike several times, and then began to attack, leaping and kicking at his leg. The man defended himself in highly humane way, extending his leg to discourage the bird from attacking further. The hilarious incident was caught on camera by a fellow driver, giving us all something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.
Origin: News Roundup: Tesla cop car fail, backwards-facing Chevy pickup and when turkeys attack
News Roundup: Foolish mall parker gets boxed in, jerk Jaywalker hits a pole 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.Mall customer parked in the wrong spot gets instant paybackA shopper at an Argentinian mall who thought they’d found the perfect oversized parking spot for their small Peugeot 208 hatchback was instead served up a lesson in properly reading signs. The car was parked in the shopping cart area of the mall, but that didn’t stop the employees responsible for returning the carts to their home. A photo taken by another shopper and posted to Facebook shows the car surrounded on all sides by row after row of carts, and judging by the 7,000+ shares, few people feel sorry for the bonehead Peugeot driver. Quebec moves up mandatory winter tire date by two weeksQuebec residents have fewer than 80 days to have snow tires installed on their vehicles if they plan to keep (legally) driving them on provincial roads this coming winter season. As of December 1, 2019 – a full two weeks earlier than last year’s date – all cars must be wearing the appropriate tires as outlined in a significant 80-point revision of the province’s Highway Safety Code. Those cars that don’t have winters from Dec 1 to March 15 not only run the heightened risk of an accident, but may also face fines of $200-$300. Study reveals top 10 cars kept the longest by original ownersA recent study conducted by online car search engine iSeeCars has rounded up the top 10 vehicles that owners keep the longest. On the list are five sports cars, three SUVs and one sedan. Toyota vehicles took four of the ten spots, with the Land Cruiser leading the list with an average ownership period of 11.4 years. The second longest-kept vehicle is the Chevrolet Corvette at 10.4 years, while the third spot goes to another sports car, the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class. Find out if your trusty ride made the list right here. Watch karma instantly and hilariously repay this stubborn jaywalkerIf you scrub to the 3:49 minute mark in the above video, you can clearly see the crosswalk a few metres up the road from where the man decides to cross in downtown Hamilton. When the car, which has a dashcam, honks but stops to allow the pedestrian to jaywalk across the street, the man stares down the driver HARD. But when he gets to the other side, eyes still locked on the driver, he walks right into a pole on the sidewalk. Is there anything more satisfying than watching a jerk get his comeuppance? Why a U.K. driver spent nearly $50k fighting a $165 speeding ticketA British man and former RAF electronics specialist has spent nearly $50,000 and three years disputing a $165 speeding ticket he received for allegedly doing 57 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. The man, who was sent the fine after being captured by a traffic camera, claims he’s been wrongly ticketed due to something called the “double Doppler effect,” which can cause cameras to incorrectly measure a vehicle’s speed when radio waves bounce off a second vehicle. Years and tens of thousands of dollars later and the man has given up and paid the fine. He still owes over $10,000 in legal fees, however, and is considering whether to go for another
Origin: News Roundup: Foolish mall parker gets boxed in, jerk Jaywalker hits a pole and more
News Roundup: Land Rover Defender arrives, Ford Ranger V6 turbo rumours swirl and more
The 2020 Land Rover DefenderLand Rover 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.The first look at the 2020 Defender suggests the hype was justified There’s been much ado about the 2020 Land Rover Defender, but it’s not been about nothing. According to the first look granted to our own David Booth, the iconic 4X4 should live up to the hype. Its square figure and terrain chewing capabilities keep it rooted to its off-roading history, but there’s plenty to justify the “all new” tag it’s been given, including the 3.0-litre six-cylinder Ingenium engine from Jaguar Land Rover. Read our full first impressions to learn more, including how much the 2020 Defender will cost in Canada. Ford Ranger could get V6 twin-turbo engine Australian outlet Which Car claims to have learned of the Blue Oval’s plans to gift certain Rangers with a V6 twin-turbo powerplant. According to the report, the Ranger is being tested with versions of the F-150’s 2.7-litre EcoBoost and 3.0-litre diesel V6s in Australia even as you read this. Excited? Temper it, because Ford doesn’t always send their Australian products up our way. 2020 Audi RS 7 gets new engine and new look The 2020 Audi RS 7 Audi Audi brought the second-gen RS 7 to Frankfurt this week, revealing a grand tourer with more power and more personality. Larger front fenders, a fresh grille and air intakes give the 2020 Audi RS 7 a spicy look to go with the lively, 600-horsepower 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. Inside, it borrows much from the A7, including the MMI infotainment system. Expect it in Canada middle of next year. Another viral video of a Tesla napper begs the question, where is this headed? The novelty of a video capturing a driver asleep behind the wheel of a moving vehicle hasn’t worn off, nor has the danger. Another Tesla autopilot sleeper video, this one showing a pair of young men snoozing in the front seat of a Tesla has surfaced and gone viral. Who’s worse, the snoozer behind the wheel, or the video shooter who also appears to be driving a vehicle? BMW to release Canada-specific BMW M8 editions Canadian BMW fans will have a chance to get a piece of M8 history with the release of BMW’s Canadian-exclusive M8 Individual Manufaktur Edition. It won’t be a good chance, as the brand is only making 20 of the exclusive models – ten in red and ten in black, each with a twin-turbo V8 good for 617 horsepower and 553 lb.-ft. of torque – but it’s there. Try your luck for $198,000.
Origin: News Roundup: Land Rover Defender arrives, Ford Ranger V6 turbo rumours swirl and more
News Roundup: How to steal a Tesla in 30 seconds, what Lambo’s most powerful car looks like 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.Tesla thieves fool key fob system to make away with vehicleIt looks ridiculously simple. Two men walk into the yard of a home in a town near London, England, one holding a home-made wire antenna above his head, the other standing near the driver’s door of the Tesla. Less than 35 seconds later the two are off the property with the car. So what kind of top-secret hacker voodoo did these two employ to pull off this efficient heist? Actually, thanks to the fact Tesla and many other vehicles rely on key fob tech that actively transmits a signal that can be picked up by the right antenna in the right place, they probably didn’t use anything you couldn’t pick up at your local electronics store.Learn more about why you should always store your key fob in a safe space. Report suggests next-gen Subaru WRX STI will arrive fall 2020 with new 315-hp engineAccording to reports by a Japanese car site, Subaru plans to have the 2021 WRX on streets by next fall. The fifth-gen sedan will allegedly ride on a new platform – the same to be used on all Subaru vehicles moving forward, including the upcoming WRX STI, Japan’s WRX S4 and the Levorg wagon – and use a new direct-injected FA20 four-cylinder with 315 horsepower in place of the current turbo-four EJ25 in North America. A reveal has yet to be announced.Hennessey’s latest kit for the 2020 Mustang GT500 makes 1,200 horsepower The 2020 Ford Mustang isn’t even out yet and Hennessey Performance Engineering has already come up with three aftermarket kits to make the pony buck with a little extra spunk. The Hennessey GT500 Venomis the latest kit announced by the famous, horsepower-crazed tuning brand. It slaps twin turbos to the Mustang engine, bringing the total output up to 1,200 horsepower, some 200 more than Hennessey’s previous kits. It also get the appropriate “Hennessey” and “Venom 1200” badges, an improved intercooler system, upgraded transmission and other internal bits and bolts. New Lamborghini hybrid Sián is the brand’s most powerful piece to dateMeet the Lamborghini Sián, the famed Italian automaker’s juiciest vehicle ever, at least in terms of outright power. Using a combination of a V12 engine alongside a 48-volt e-motor tucked into the gearbox, the Sián promises 819 horsepower, which will push it to 96 km/h in 2.8 seconds.Lamborghini claims the car is the first to use a supercapacitor in a hybrid powertrain. Look for more of the Sián at the 2019 Frankfurt IAA Motor Show.Toyota Canada still won’t explain its sometimes months-long parts delayCanadian Toyota drivers who have been waiting for weeks or sometimes months for parts for their vehicles are getting fed up with the brand. The delay, which Toyota claims is the result of “Systems Transformation,” has meant that some Toyota owners have had their vehicles in the shop for far longer than they anticipated. In a report by the CBC, drivers from Nova Scotia to Ontario to B.C. sound off on the frustrations of being left in the lurch by one of the world’s largest automakers.
Origin: News Roundup: How to steal a Tesla in 30 seconds, what Lambo’s most powerful car looks like and more
News Roundup: Honda’s life-saving new airbag, VW’s sexist ad and more
Hondas next-generation airbagHonda 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.Honda’s reinvention of the passenger side airbag will save lives Honda’s next-generation passenger front airbag design Honda Honda has partnered with auto safety supplier Autoliv to develop a new kind of passenger side airbag that has the potential to reduce the number and severity of injuries and save lives. Over the last four years, the collaboration piece conceived an airbag with three separate chambers instead of one, and a piece of fabric that bridges them in front like a sail, adding “uninflated volume” and helping to reduce blunt force of impact. Honda says it will debut the next-gen airbags in select models by 2020. U.K. bans VW ad for promoting gender stereotypesIn yet another ‘c’mon VW, you’re better than that’ moment, the German automaker has received a slap on the wrist from advertising authorities in the U.K. for airing an ad that harmfully portrayed gender stereotypes. And, yeah, it’s pretty bad. The men are doing things like floating in a spaceship, leaping across a long jump pit with a prosthetic leg, while the female characters make sandwiches, do laundry and take the baby to the park. Ouch. We’ve said it before and will probably say it again: do better, VW. VW recalls 117,000 cars in Canada over rollaway riskCloser to home, Volkswagen is recalling over a hundred thousand cars in Canada that may be at risk of rolling away unexpectedly. The brand explained that the issue is caused by silicate that builds up on a shift lever switch which then allows the key to be slid out even if the car isn’t in park. So, you park your Jetta on a slight incline up the street from the farmer’s market, get out with your reusable shopping bags and then watch as the car rolls backwards into the organic corn stall. The recall, which also hits some 670,000 vehicles in the U.S., includes a number of Jettas, Golfs, GTIs and Beetles. Dealers can simply add a switch and circuit board to solve the issue, but you’ll still be eating corn for weeks. 15-year-old vanity plate with ‘pee joke’ causes ruckus at the DMVHow do you make the New Hampshire motor vehicle department laugh in 2019? Tell them a joke in 2004. A Rochester woman had her vanity plates pulled by the issuing authorities earlier this year, even though she’d already been using them for 15 years. The seven-character message in question: PB4WEG0. It’s clever, family-friendly and just solid travel advice, but somebody at the DMV didn’t think so. Luckily, the New Hampshire governor read about her pee-pun plight and intervened on her behalf, so the DMV reissued the plates. Next-gen VW Golf nears production The new Golf – still camouflaged The eighth-generation Golf is entering its final phases of testing, says Volkswagen. The brand teased the hot hatch with an image of a test mule draped in camo. Close inspection reveals modified headlights, a more tapered profile and a few other hints at the sort of tech that’ll be packed into it. VW promises it’ll be a “genuine eye catcher” as well as a “digital, intelligent and connected” creature, but we’ll have to wait until fall to determine how right or wrong they
Origin: News Roundup: Honda’s life-saving new airbag, VW’s sexist ad and more
News Roundup: The heaviest GT500, a US$20M auction mistake and Trump’s latest auto tirade
The all-new Shelby GT500–the pinnacle of any pony car ever engineered by Ford Performance–delivers on its heritage with more than 700 horsepower for the quickest street-legal acceleration and most high-performance technology to date ever offered in a Ford Mustang.Ford 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.The new Shelby Mustang GT500 is going to be heavy in all senses of the wordThe 2020 Mustang Shelby GT500 is the heaviest Mustang of all time. According to Ford’s dealership guide eSourceBook, the 760-horsepower GT500 will have a curb weight of 4,225 lbs (1,916 kg). Pushing that chunky coupe is a 5.2-litre V8 that pumps power through to the rear wheels via a brand-new Tremec seven-speed dual-clutch auto. There are some ways to lighten it up a bit, like by adding the Carbon-Fiber Track Pack, which cuts out the rear seat. Trump freaks out over automakers siding with California on fuel-efficiency regulationsThe Commander-in-Chief in charge of the the most powerful nation on earth is at it again. This week, Trump lashed out at automakers – via Twitter, of course – over fuel-efficiency requirements. “My proposal to the politically correct Automobile Companies would lower the average price of a car to consumers by more than $3000, while at the same time making the cars substantially safer,” he wrote. The outburst was allegedly caused by news that auto giants including BMW, Ford, VW and Honda had come to an agreement to better the efficiency of their cars through 2026, using Obama-era mandated-in-California rules as their template. Auctioneers blew it with the sale of Ferdinand’s Porsche’s Nazi car The 1939 Porsche Type 64, the only remaining example of one of the ancestors of the marque, was supposed to go up for auction at the recent RM Sotheby’s Monterey sale, and expected to fetch around US$20 million. But, when the auctioneer accidentally started bidding at US$30 million, it drew cheers and laughs from the crowd, especially as bidding quickly rose to US$70 million. That’s when the auctioneer clarified he’d apparently been saying thirteen, not thirty – as in US$13 million – and fourteen, not forty, etc., which caused some auction-goers to walk out and the sale to stall right there on the docket. Something tells us that may have been that auctioneer’s final event.Here’s what the Ram EcoDiesel will costAvailable on all trims in Ram’s 1500 series is the new EcoDiesel option, currently the best-in-class for torque, with 480 lb.-ft. What would you pay for that grunt? Now we know what Ram thinks it’s worth. The EcoDiesel V6 costs $5,800 above the standard Pentastar V6 eTorque in Big Horn and Tradesman, and $3,900 over the Sport, Rebel, Longhorn, Laramie and Limited’s 5.7-litre HEMI V8. Watch for the EcoDiesel badge to start appearing on roads this fall. Toronto drivers play soccer in gridlock trafficWhen all lanes closed on the busy 401 highway near Toronto this week, vehicles came to a complete standstill — but not all drivers did. Two men, one in a suit and the other in jeans and a t-shirt, got out of their cars to take advantage of a bit of open ashphalt in front of a city bus and kick around a soccer ball. A video of the friendly game was posted to a 401 trucker Twitter account. Watch it
Origin: News Roundup: The heaviest GT500, a US$20M auction mistake and Trump’s latest auto tirade
News Roundup: Ford’s 7.3-litre V8, a drop-top Challenger and Canada’s EV uptick
2018 Ford F-250 Super DutyDerek McNaughton / Driving 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’s 7.3-litre V8 looks like a beaut’ of a bruteWhile Ford continues to move toward smaller, turbocharged solutions like its EcoBoost engine, it must also keep in mind the needs of those for whom economy comes second to pure brute force and durability in tough conditions: the Super Duty drivers. It’s with them in mind that the Blue Oval put together a new 7.3-litre V8 that this week we learned is good for 435 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 475 lb.-ft. of torque at 4,000 rpm. Is this a return to form for Ford, or just another gas-guzzling beast? There’s a conversation happening in the comments on this story. Join in. Ontario driver shot in face for giving the middle fingerInvestigators in London, Ontario are offering $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of a suspect of a shooting that took place in broad daylight following what they believe to be an incident of road rage. A 21-year-old local man who’d just left work for the afternoon was shot in the face in his Volkswagen after giving the finger to an aggressive driver in a Chevrolet Cruze. The incident involving the two strangers took place in the vicinity of Royal Crescent and Wexford Avenue around 4 p.m. on May 11. It works — sort of? Canada’s $5,000 EV rebate program is seeing resultsCanadian buyers are starting to come round to the electric vehicle market thanks to the $5,000 national rebate program initiated by the federal government, according to sales numbers analyzed by an expert at the website Canada EV Sales. The numbers may be coming mostly from two provinces – B.C. and Quebec – and they may be small – EVs accounted for four per cent of all vehicle sales in May and June – but they’re growing nonetheless. Transport Canada confirms that some 14,000 EVs have been purchased in Canada since May 1. Chevy is taking chrome wheels off the menu for the Corvette C8Decades from now, when we look back on the elements of automotive style and design that defined the era that was the early 21st century, we will see chrome. Lots and lots of shiny chrome. But that era is over as of right now, according to Chevrolet, which has deliberately neglected to include an option for chrome wheels on its upcoming mid-engined Corvette C8. Apparently the brand doesn’t think the next generation of Corvette drivers wants to wear the same pair of shoes as the last. There’s still a “polished” rim option, but no outright shiny chrome. Sorry, Vin, you had a good run. This dealership built an open-top Challenger The car world is tipping its hat this week to a North Carolina dealer that took the initiative to build the Challenger that Dodge didn’t have the guts to. It commissioned a Florida shop to take a little off the top of three Challenger models, now each listed for sale from US$56,300 to $US64,000 with their retractable soft tops. Both of the automaker’s main U.S. competitors already had convertible versions of their ponies, but Dodge never got around to making the chop. Well, Dodge, don’t bother now, because Keffer Dodge, Chrysler, Ram and Jeep in Charlotte, N.C. has us
Origin: News Roundup: Ford’s 7.3-litre V8, a drop-top Challenger and Canada’s EV uptick
News Roundup: A power-pirating Tesla, an exploding Kona EV and a Viper-on-Viper collision
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.Tesla driver parks on stranger’s lawn overnight to steal powerHow would you react if you woke up to find a stranger had parked their car on your front lawn? What if it was a Tesla and it was plugged into your house? Would you be angry? Or feel violated? Well, lucky for the knob who chose to use a stranger’s home as an overnight charging station for his out-of-juice Model 3, that stranger was super-nice-guy Phil Fraumeni. Maybe too nice. When the young driver showed up the next day, Phil didn’t press charges or ask for compensation for the power he’d siphoned, but just had the police tell him this kind of behaviour wasn’t okay. Geez, Phil, invite him in for cookies and milk, why don’t ya?Exploding Kona EV literally blows the doors off of garageA Kona EV that was allegedly sitting unplugged in a residential garage in Montreal caught fire and exploded last week, launching a garage door across the street and blowing a hole in the ceiling. “If we were in front of the garage door, we could have been in the hospital,” the homeowner told CBC. Transport Canada is looking into the situation, as is Hyundai Canada. In the meantime the homeowner will probably be parking on the street.Dad buys the exact Bronco he owned as a teenager using daughter’s college fund: discussA redditor who asked other users about the morality of a decision he’d already made is getting a piece of the Internet’s mind. The man describes how he just purchased the exact 1972 Ford Bronco he’d driven as a teenager and worked on with his father, which sounds cute—until you learn he did it using his six-month-old daughter’s college fund and without consulting his wife. And his wife’s parents had contributed half of the US$23,000 fund. Aaand then when his mother gave him the money to cover it, he lied again and said he’d sold the Bronco. At this point he’s waded so deep into his own lies that not even his trusty 4X4 Bronco will be able to pull him out. Toronto area police bust $100-million car theft ringWorking together with authorities from neighbouring areas and the Canada Border Service Agency, the Peel Regional Police have brought the hammer down on five individuals allegedly behind a luxury car theft ring that took from the driveways of Toronto drivers and sold to markets in Europe and China. “Project Baijin” has resulted in the arrest of the five alleged ring leaders and the seizure of 28 vehicles valued around $2.2 million, a bunch of car starters and a pile of cash. It’s quite the case, and it all started with a simple tip from a local. Watch two B.C. Viper drivers fail hard at street racingIt’s like a scene out of a movie. Two Dodge Vipers line up side-by-side at an intersection. The lights turn green and the cars roar to life. But here’s where the plot that is reality deviates from the Hollywood classic, the silver screen story where at least one racer makes it the quarter-mile to come out victorious, winning the slips, the street cred, the one-one-one brunch with Vin Diesel. No, in real life, this happens. Police are looking into the YouTube footage, which features some naughty language from those filming, so be
Origin: News Roundup: A power-pirating Tesla, an exploding Kona EV and a Viper-on-Viper collision