Bengt Halvorson, Senior Editor
Articles
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Roadsters like the 2017 Mercedes-Benz SLC aren’t exactly in vogue right now.
The Honda S2000 faded away a few years ago. BMW Z4 sales have fizzled to levels far below those of the more...
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2017 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet first drive reviewTalk up the feel of the wind in your hair and the natural high of sunshine as you will; but in the world of convertibles, there are those that cruise the scene, and there are those that help make the scene. The 2017 S-Class Cabriolet lineup is without question in the latter group. It’s a true...
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Ahead of Tesla Model 3 reveal, pre-order frenzy begins for $35k electric carTesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA]—or just Tesla, as it might now prefer to be called—has very closely guarded nearly all the details about its third mass-production all-electric car, the smaller, more affordable Model 3. Tomorrow’s when the Silicon Valley automaker will at last reveal...
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2017 Honda Civic lineup embraces the manual transmissionIf you want to buy a new Honda Civic with the stronger 1.5-liter turbocharged engine and a manual gearbox, you’ll need to wait until the 2017 model year. That’s when every single trim level of the Civic with the smooth new turbo 4-cylinder—including the new Civic Hatchback shown...
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2016 Scion tC goes out with tuner flair: racy final edition for New York debutScion is on its way out with the 2016 model year. But to celebrate its 14-year run, at curtain call the brand is showing off some of its raciest JDM (Japanese domestic market) tuner potential yet—via a partnership with Kei Miura, in a special 2016 Scion tC Release Series 10.0. It's to be...
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2016 BMW X4 M40i first drive reviewBMW’s current model lineup is a quagmire. Sure, to the brand’s enthusiasts it’s a nice, ordered progression of models and choices; but to others it’s a muddle of models, body styles, trim versions, and powertrain variants that can seem difficult to parse. The 2016 BMW X4...
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What’s the best pick for a sun-drenched, cross-country luxury-car road trip for two—on a route that doesn’t shy away from challenging mountain two-laners? The set of contenders has...
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2016 BMW M2 first drive reviewThe 2016 BMW M2 is, at long last, the M car that doesn’t try to please everyone—and will, because of that, end up pleasing far more driving enthusiasts in ways that matter. Get a group of longtime BMW enthusiasts together to talk cars—the ins and outs of the uncompromised...
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Lamborghini: Manuals Are History, And Dual-Clutch Looks Like The FutureThere’s no future for manual transmissions in the Lamborghini lineup. For enthusiasts who might have been out of the loop for some time, it may come as a big disappointment to learn that the old three-pedal setups have already been quietly phased out, with the last of the Gallardo and...
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Will wake of VW diesel scandal help electrify Lamborghini?Could an electrified Lamborghini—or Bugatti, or Bentley—arrive any sooner as a result of the Volkswagen diesel scandal? It might be easy to rush to an answer and say that, no, neither of these models currently offer diesel powertrains, and even prior to the scandal, Lamborghini...
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Volkswagen Budd-e Concept At CES: Microbus Goes All-ElectricWith the world debut of a new concept vehicle at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Volkswagen is signaling that it’s seriously thinking about plugging a new generation of the legendary Microbus back into its lineup—but as an all-electric plug-in van. The...
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2016 Ferrari California T Recalled Over Fire RiskFerrari [NYSE:F] is recalling the 2016 California T because a manufacturing flaw in a fuel-system component could lead to an engine-compartment fire—and, potentially, one very unhappy Ferrari owner. The recall affects all 2016 Ferrari California T models made from September 8, 2015 to...
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Nimble, agile, and even tossable aren’t words that you’ll often find in driving impressions of a big three-row utility vehicle. Yet they most definitely apply to the 2017 Audi Q7.
The...
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2016 Infiniti Q50: Details on new 400-hp twin-turbo V-6The refreshed 2016 Infiniti Q50 sport sedan is the first product from the Nissan luxury brand to bear an entirely new-generation V-6. Infiniti has given plenty of hints that this engine is one the way—including putting it under the hood of its Q80 Inspiration Concept, a hint of the flagship...
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2016 Ferrari 488 Spider: 5 details that make it go faster, look sexierThe 2016 Ferrari [NYSE:RACE] 488 GTB is arriving just in time to one-up rivals like the McLaren 650S and Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4. Part of what makes the 488 GTB such a standout new product for Ferrari is that it packs a completely new 3.9-liter turbocharged V-8, making 660 horsepower...
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2017 Jaguar F-Pace: Design Chief On Why SUV Fits Right In With F-TypeThe 2017 Jaguar F-Pace fits right into the middle of one very important luxury-crossover battleground that now includes just-right mid-sizers like the Mercedes-Benz GLC, BMW X3, Cadillac XT5. and even the Lexus RX 350. Yet what makes this luxury vehicle quite different is that it neither starts as...
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2020 Ford Bronco Confirmed By UAW Deal, Ranger Pickup Timeline SetFord Motor Compacy [NYSE: F] has several new, more modestly sized trucks in the works—including a new Ranger pickup and Bronco SUV. The confirmation of the Ford Bronco comes ahead of a United Auto Workers (UAW) vote, as part of a tentative labor agreement reached this past week. The timeline...
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Autonomous Cars Will Need To Interact With Pedestrians: Here's HowThe technology that’s required to guide and pilot autonomous (self-driving) vehicles—keeping them on the road and on their route—is only one challenge. The even greater challenge is that on city streets, for the foreseeable future, autonomous vehicles will be mixing on the...
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Two virtual supercars tease the future; the 2017 F-150 Raptor takes to the dunes; and Karma gets a reboot. It’s the Week In Reverse for the week ending Friday, October 9, right here at Motor...
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Porsche Mission E: Gearing up to go faster than Tesla Model S?The Porsche Mission E concept, if it’s headed to production, could end up being quite the rival to Tesla Motors' [NSDQ:TSLA] Model S P90D. And just as in the Model S, if you’re looking for a transmission in the Porsche you won’t find it. Of course you won’t in any of...
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Lamborghini confirms plug-in hybrid, turbocharged engines for Urus SUVThe upcoming Lamborghini Urus won’t be the first SUV to come from the supercar maker, but it will have a lot of firsts for the brand. Slated to be released around 2018, the Urus is expected to debut with Lamborghini’s first turbocharged engine. And it’ll be followed some time...
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VW Diesel Scandal, 2017 Audi A4, Ford GT, Rezvani Beast: The Week In ReverseVolkswagen faces tough consequences over its diesels, Mercedes-Benz shuffles from SLK to SLC, and Ford is on track for Le Mans. It's the Week In Reverse, right here at Motor Authority. This week's top story, no doubt, is Volkswagen's admission that it cheated on U.S. emissions tests, pertaining to...
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VW T-Roc compact SUV bound for US, possibly tiny T-CrossVolkswagen is rejiggering its lineup of passenger vehicles, and focusing on rebuilding a completely refreshed lineup of mainstream cars and SUV models—with all except for Touareg and Phaeton built on VW’s flexible MQB platform. After some of those "core pillars" of the lineup are set...
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2016 Lexus RX first drive reviewIn a market in which luxury brands are seeming queuing up to change naming strategies for their vehicles—Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, and Cadillac, for example—the 2016 Lexus RX lineup carries forward with the same familiar RX 350 and RX 450h (hybrid) badges. Truth is, it’s changed so...
Bengt Halvorson