John Voelcker, Contributing Editor
Articles
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2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class To Expand Safety, Self-Driving, Self-Parking Capabilities: Video John Voelcker
The 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan will be officially unveiled next January at the Detroit Auto Show, but from the number of spy shots already published, it's pretty obvious that it'll have a...
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2017 Jaguar F-Pace Teaser, As Tour De France Support Car--Photo Update
Its introduction at the 2015 Frankfurt Auto Show is still more than three months away, but the Jaguar F-Pace SUV has appeared in public wearing only light camouflage at the Tour de France. Jaguar's first-ever utility vehicle served as a support vehicle for Team Sky rider Chris Froome and his...
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Kia Soul-Based Trail'ster Concept Features Electric AWD: Live Photos From Chicago Auto Show
The Kia Trail'ster e-AWD Concept kicked off this morning's Chicago Auto Show to demonstrate a hybrid all-wheel-drive version of Kia's popular Soul tall wagon--and most likely preview a future production model. Tom Kearns, who's the chief designer at Kia's Design Center of America in Irvine...
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2015 Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG first drive review
Let's get one thing straight right up front: Despite its model name, the 2015 Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG--soon to be a Mercedes-AMG GLA45--is no GL-like utility vehicle. It may have all-wheel drive, but the high-performance sibling of the far more common 2015 GLA250 model sits far closer to the...
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2016 Mercedes-Benz S550e Plug-In Hybrid first drive review
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class has long been an automotive icon, one of the best cars in the world--and for more than 50 years, the vehicle of choice for prosperous German businessmen. Against it, the BMW 7-Series and the Audi A8 still seem like pretenders. In Manhattan or Tokyo or Rio or Dubai, the...
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Why Your Electric Car May Talk To Your Utility Behind Your Back: It'll Save You Money
Cars are remarkably dumb and uncommunicative objects. They only started having any situational awareness of what's around them--other vehicles in the blind spot, for instance--a few years ago. And they still don't talk to each other. Electric cars--which usually pioneer a whole lot of...
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Introducing any new car these days is a long, slow process of dribbling out information to tease eager followers.
Cars don't just arrive in dealerships; there's a huge buildup campaign beforehand.
In...
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World Cup Legend Pele Took Driving Test In Audi Predecessor
With the World Cup opening ceremony today, it seemed only fitting that we look back at a small piece of automotive trivia connected to perhaps the greatest football legend of the 20th century: the Brazilian soccer player known as Pelé. Turns out that, way back when (in 1959, to be precise)...
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2015 BMW i8 first drive review
The 2015 BMW i8 plug-in hybrid sports coupe is a striking design that draws attention wherever it goes. Park it on the street, and you'll be swarmed by pedestrians with cellphones, taking pictures in reverent silence. MUST WATCH: Big Block Smart Car Defies All Stereotypes: Video Tell them that it's...
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Even Cadillac Marketing Chief Worried About 'Provocative' ELR Ad
Turns out that even the marketing chief at Cadillac was "troubled" by the ad it ran during the recent Oscars and Sochi Olympics broadcasts. The goal, according to Cadillac's advertising director Craig Bierley, had been to air a "provocative" ad that would break through the clutter and draw...
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Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II Unveiled In Geneva: Live Photos And Video
Rolls-Royce cars tend to operate on a different clock than lesser automotive brands, with the basic design of a model lasting a decade or more. But with the Ghost having launched back in 2009, the British luxury marque felt it was time for a few nips and tucks--so now we have the Ghost Series II...
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Manual Gearbox Thwarts Car Thieves In Massachusetts; Suspects Flee
If you're going to steal a car, don't be stupid. Not that we recommend stealing cars, naturally. But it might be a good idea to make sure you know how to drive the the car you're planning to steal. That's the lesson presumably learned on Tuesday night by three men, one of them said to be carrying a...
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The 2015 Subaru WRX STI is the ultimate high-performance version of the latest WRX all-wheel-drive compact sedan. It boosts the power, refines the standard all-wheel-drive system, and adds new...
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Kia GT4 Stinger concept debuts at 2014 Detroit Auto Show
Kia took the wraps off its previously announced 2+2 coupe concept at today's 2014 Detroit Auto Show, a bold new design for a brand that's never offered a sports car. The Kia GT4 Stinger concept is a rear-wheel-drive coupe powered by a 315-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and a...
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Forbidden Fruit: We Drive The Volkswagen Scirocco R
Some cars just draw looks, and the Volkswagen Scirocco R is one of them. From two utility workers stuck in traffic in their work van to a guy in an old compact crossover on the highway, we got stares, smiles, thumbs-ups, and questions. Everyone wanted to know what the sleek, stylish coupe was. It's...
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Mitsubishi concepts at Tokyo Motor Show: GC-PHEV, XR-PHEV, AR
It may be struggling in the U.S. market, but Mitsubishi is still a big global automaker. For the Tokyo Motor Show, it rolled out three separate concepts. Two of them pointed toward future designs for vehicles that may be sold in North America--a full-size sport utility vehicle and a replacement for...
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Honda Vezel Unveiled At Tokyo Motor Show: Photo Gallery
At the Tokyo Motor Show today, Honda unveiled a new model that it calls the Vezel, which will go on sale in Japan before the end of the year. That name may well not be the one it carries in North America, however, where it will give Honda a new and smaller crossover that sits below the compact...
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Honda: New Turbo Engines, 8-Speed DCT With Torque Converter
Honda announced three new direct-injected and turbocharged engines, plus an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission with the interesting addition of a torque converter, during a two-day media event before the Tokyo Motor Show that opens Wednesday. Each of the engines, along with the new transmission...
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It looks roughly like a black Honda CR-Z with a mesh grille--at least until you get up close. Then you notice that the doors seem much shallower, and that it has strange little glass panels in the...
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Honda Civic Type R 2.0-Liter VTEC Turbo Prototype: Driven
We only had two laps on the high-speed oval at Honda's main R&D center in Japan. We didn't get performance figures for the prototype Honda Civic Type R fitted with the company's new 2.0-liter direct-injected and turbocharged four-cylinder engine. But they were two very memorable laps. DON'T...
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Is The Tesla Model S Electric Car The Perfect Police Cruiser?
The city manager of tony Atherton, California, thinks he'd like some new police cruisers. In fact, George Rodericks suggested to the San Jose Mercury News, "I'd love to see the [Tesla] Model S be used for Atherton's police cars." There are hundreds, if not thousands, of millionaires living in the...
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Tesla Model S Maintenance: Almost None Required, Actually
The Tesla Model S battery-electric luxury sedan is a remarkable car, and it's elevated the public perception of electric cars to a new level. It's won awards, thrilled thousands of buyers, and demolished a lot of stereotypes. But among the things you may not know about Tesla is this: The Model S...
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BMW Concept X5 eDrive Live Photos: 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show
Crossovers and sport utilities are now an established part of luxury-car lineups--even Jaguar showed a crossover concept--and hybrids are all the range these days. So why not blend the two? Range Rover now has two hybrids, Lexus showed a concept for its second hybrid utility vehicle, and BMW has...
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2015 BMW i8 Revealed, Priced From $135,925
Power output of 362 horsepower and torque of 420 pound-feet is reasonable for a 3,300-pound sports coupe with a low drag coefficient of 0.26, but it's nowhere near the top of the power charts. But suppose you combine those specs with advanced carbon fiber construction, the ability to run...
John Voelcker