Martin Padgett, Editorial Director
Articles
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Construction workers working to the left, Ferrari dealer to the right. Real, actual bustle. Barcelona does not act like the rest of Spain, which is probably why it has two cell phones and is maybe...
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2013 Aston Martin DB9 Volante: First Drive and Video Road TestWinter down south feels like a dental check-up, weeks of built-up dread punctuated just briefly by a cold finger and some mild effluvia. We chatter about it more than we chatter from it. We rail against the seldom-seen sleet. We pre-game the fleeting, fully formed flake that dares drift through the...
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2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA: 2013 Detroit Auto ShowMercedes-Benz hasn't sold a compact sedan in the U.S. since the instant-collectible 190E 2.3-16 started accruing its legendary status in the 1980s. Now, there's a new small Benz coming, and soon--but will the driving wheels make all the difference with the 2014 CLA 250? With the CLA, Mercedes-Benz...
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Motor Authority's New iPhone and iPad App--Auto Shows, First Drives, Spy Shots, And MoreWe know you're hardcore--you're on Motor Authority, soaking up all the latest car news, 24/7. But you're doing it everywhere now, not just when you're "being productive" at a desk. Right? Right. Here's what you need to keep in touch with the best, most comprehensive coverage of performance and...
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2014 Jaguar XFR-S Bows At 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show: VideoThe most powerful Jaguar sedan ever is ready for a world debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show, and the first photos have hit the Web just before its official reveal. The Jaguar XFR-S sedan counters the efficient new V-6s added to the luxury four-door's lineup with a blistering 550-horsepower...
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Motor Authority To Name Best Car To Buy 2013Every year, dozens of new cars light up their tires in our hands. Just one does it in our heads, weeks after we've turned the keys back in. That's the car we call Motor Authority's Best Car To Buy, and it's time again to kick off the teasing and waiting before we name our 2013 winner on December...
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Forty years ago, the plan was beautiful: take the first Range Rover to Morocco to show off its dune-stalking, terrain-conquering prowess and bedazzle the world's press. A popular uprising has a way...
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Jaguar F-Type Coupe? Logical, Says JaguarThe 2014 Jaguar F-Type is still on the show floor at Paris' Mondial de l'Automobile, but the British automaker could be planning a follow-up for the near future. A coupe version of the F-Type Is a logical addition to the Jaguar lineup, officials noted during the worldwide debut of the F-Type...
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2013 Subaru BRZ: The Road To GoodwoodThe problem with driving a left-hand-drive car on the left side of the road--not the right--is that it becomes second nature too quickly, too easily. Five miles out of the Manchester airport, only a couple of U-turns and traffic circles missed, the 2013 Subaru BRZ I'm about to flog up and down the...
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Goodwood Revival 2012 Photo Gallery And VideoWhen RAF bombers screech overhead in pairs while an Elvis Presley cover band rocks out a serviceable "Suspicious Minds" and five-year-olds spin around stage in pedal cars, it dawns on you that you're not at the fusty old Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. You're at the Goodwood Revival, the...
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Meet Fidget, The Robot Made From Chrysler And Fiat PartsMeet Fidget. According to his nametag, he's "one of NASA’s best kept secrets, a key player in nearly all of the Apollo missions and the bot behind the lens of the moon landing pics." He's also the incredibly clever creation of Tom Simpson, a metal artist who came to this weekend's Goodwood...
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Goodwood Revival 2012: Subaru BRZ Tackles The Harewood Hillclimb
What's the most fun you can have in a 2013 Subaru BRZ in Great Britain's Yorkshire Dales? Once you tap the stability control into sport mode, and wait for the always imminent rain to back off its threats, the answer's easy: the Harewood Hillclimb. A hill climb's just what it sounds like, only with...
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Organizers call it a "step back in time." We're calling it a great excuse to spend more time in the driver's seat of the 2013 Subaru BRZ. Whatever the case, we're on the ground this week in England...
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Audi RS 5, Dodge Challenger SRT8, Wrecked Tesla Roadster: Top Photos Of The WeekLabor Day's over, and now the real work begins. With the 2012 Paris Auto Show starting to loom large here at Motor Authority, we're seeing a fresh stream of enticing photos of new vehicles meant to entice us into the Mondiale de l'Expo--and its relatively un-air-conditioned halls. But Paris isn't...
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2012 Pebble Beach Concours d'EleganceBest In Show: 1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Sauotchik Torpedo Known as the Model S before the earliest inkling of Tesla Motors, this Mercedes-Benz was the 1920s version of the supercar: elegant, fast, and eminently equipped. A potent 6.8-liter engine powered racing versions of the car to victory...
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2012 Pebble Beach: The Quail 2012The Land Rover school's still plugging away, and the golf course still swings. But the Quail Lodge itself is closed for business--a victim of a decade of losses that don't seem to have had any effect on the jewelry-rattlers that gather annually at The Quail, the eponymous classic-car concours that...
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Lamborghini Urus Concept Makes Its First Pass At AmericaStill fresh from its world debut at the 2012 Beijing Auto Show this spring, Lamborghini’s Urus SUV concept made a first pass at a slew of likely American buyers this weekend at its first U.S. showing, at The Quail 2012. The Urus is the brand's first SUV concept since the LM002 of the late...
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2013 Audi RS 5 first drive reviewThat recurring dream, the one that scares the whee out of even 50-year-olds, unfurls from my brain and falls right into my lap as soon as I plug in Audi's jaunty little USB jump drive into the black box. Is there a test this morning? 'Cause I forgot to study last night, and there's no way I'm...
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The 2013 Cadillac ATS is off its media embargo, and not a minute too soon. Since late June, we've been waiting to spill all we know about the new compact sport sedan, and frankly, we've been...
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2013 Hyundai Veloster Turbo first drive reviewHow does a $23,000, 201-horsepower Hyundai Veloster grab you? Great, right? You'd be surprised how challenging it is to other front-drive fans. It sounds silly, even ridiculous, to those who bow to the old school of hot hatchbacks. But it has to worry them, too. Sign up: Get our best headlines...
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Land Rover Experience at Eastnor Castle: First DriveThe vehicles may change, and as the saying goes, the off-roading is never the same twice. The overlords at HQ even get hot-swapped every decade or so. Still, the quintessential Land Rover experience remains the same. Clamber into a plushly lined, regally poised off-road specialist, and proceed to...
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Are Car Seats For Kids Or Gas Cans? Colorado Mommy Finds Out The Expensive, Humiliating WaySome things are worth protecting from harm in a car accident. Yourself, obviously. Your cigarettes. Your warm bottle of Mountain Dew? Mos def. How about a week's worth of gas? The Cable News Network, via affiliate KUSA, reports a Colorado mother (their definition) decided that answer would be yes...
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2013 Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG first drive reviewNo respectable dictionary would define a neologism like "ridonkulous" just yet. And even if they did, they probably wouldn't do it with a picture of a Mercedes SUV blowing through a water trap like it had lost all common sense and all ability to tread lightly on anything, whether it be terra firma...
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2013 Lexus ES 350 and ES 300h: Walkaround VideoBack in 1989, Lexus went from theory to reality with the utter perfection that was the LS 400. It's easy to forget there was also another four-door offered at launch: the ES 250, a rebadged version of the Camry with a nicer interior, something less expensive than the $36,000 LS to tide over luxury...
Martin Padgett