Kirk Bell, Senior Editor
Articles
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I awaken at the Dorint Hotel on a cool, dewy May morning. The surface of the famed Nürburgring-Nordschleife rests just a few feet outside my window, and it, as well as the plentiful surrounding...
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2018 McLaren 720S first drive reviewIt launches to 60 mph quicker and weighs less than a Ferrari 488 GTB. It slays the quarter mile faster than a Bugatti Veyron. It'll take on all comers on a road course. And it’s from an automaker that got its start in earnest in 2010. We took the 2018 McLaren 720S to California’s Ortega...
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2019 Bentley Continental GT first drive review: The stuff of dreamsThe day begins in a Sequin Blue 2019 Bentley Continental GT at the exclusive Kitzbuhel Country Club in the Tyrolean region of Austria. Set against verdant rolling hills and tooling through storybook villages, it would be easy to think one is lost in a fairy tale. This car’s cabin is outfitted...
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2018 Aston Martin DB11 Volante video road testThe 2018 Aston DB11 Volante just may be the grandest of today’s grand touring cars. A 2+2 convertible with a sensuous shape and 503 German horses under its clamshell bonnet, it’s a beautiful means of getting you wherever you want to go. We drove the DB11 Volante on the California coast...
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Bart Starr's Super Bowl I MVP 1967 Corvette up for auctionOn January 15, 1967, Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr completed 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception as the Packers rolled over the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL World Championship game (which would later become known as Super Bowl I). For...
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Report: Former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn facing US charges in dieselgate scandalA Michigan federal court has charged former Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn with defrauding the U.S. for his role in the VW diesel emissions scandal, according to a report from Reuters. Winterkorn resigned in September 2015, shortly after the company admitted that its 2.0-liter turbodiesel...
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BMW revealed the 2019 M2 Competition; Lexus showed a picture of the 2019 ES before its debut in Beijing; we spied the 2020 Volkswagen Golf testing. It's the Week in Reverse, right here at 'Motor...
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2019 BMW M2 Competition coming to delight purists, slay tracksPurists should be delighted with the 2019 BMW M2 Competition. The hotter version of the M2 will boast 405 horsepower from its twin-turbo inline-6, as well as 406 pound-feet of torque, increases of 40 and 63, respectively. That's enough to launch the car from 0-60 mph in 4.0 seconds with the 7-speed...
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VW Group ousts CEO, names Diess as replacement, announces restructuringVolkswagen Group has ousted CEO Matthias Müller and replaced him with Herbert Diess, previously CEO of the Volkswagen brand within the larger 12-brand corporation. The move is part of an effort to reorganize the company to do business more efficiently, the company said Thursday. VW Group will...
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Pretend your 2018 Dodge Durango is fast with the SRT-inspired Rallye Appearance packageThe Dodge Durango GT exists for rational consumers who want a family vehicle with a touch of sportiness. Now, Dodge is giving those buyers an appearance package that lets owners o V-6-powered Durango GTs make their SUVs look like high-horsepower R/T and SRT models The new Rallye Appearance package...
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Living and working with the 2019 Ram 1500My mom's moving saga never ends. It's the gift that keeps on giving for a son who wants to help and has occasional access to pickup trucks. Recently, a 2019 Ram 1500 was available to me and that meant I became delivery boy once again. This time she needed an oven moved, along with a few bikes, and...
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Lincoln's next act: this time it's a marathon“I think we had a series of sprints, then we got a bit winded and we stepped off the track,” said Robert Parker, Lincoln’s global director of marketing, sales, and service in an interview with Motor Authority at the New York auto show. After a series of fits and starts early this...
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The hits just keep coming from the New York auto show. Check out our video previews of the Genesis G70, Genesis Essentia Concept, and Lincoln Aviator. The Genesis G70 shares much of its engineering...
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2019 Acura RDX video previewAcura has never risen to the lofty heights of its European rivals. Judging by the looks of the 2019 RDX, Acura might soon be considered with the best. The 2019 RDX marks some important changes versus the last model and for the Acura brand. Like its German rivals, power comes from a 2.0-liter...
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Lincoln Aviator video previewLincoln has been Ford's wayward son for decades. But suddenly the brand that didn't seem to have a direction has one. The future at Lincoln involves more SUVs and more electrification, and both are embodied in the reborn Lincoln Aviator. We last saw the Aviator in 2006, when it was a gussied up...
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2019 Acura RDX adds to brand's SUV momentumAcura hasn't had success with its sedans in recent years, but the SUVs have carried the brand. Judging by the looks of the 2019 Acura RDX, that trend will continue. We saw the RDX prototype in January in Detroit, and the production model unveiled at the 2018 New York auto show on Wednesday is...
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More for less: 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 RS Weissach package adds dollars, cuts weightWeissach is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany that is the home to Porsche's research and development headquarters. It's where much of the engineering that makes Porsches so magical is done, and it also boasts a test track. Porsche is so proud of the work done in Weissach that it has begun...
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Living and working with the 2017 Ford F-250 Super DutyDear truck makers, Enough already! Your trucks are big. I get it. Can we stop with the bigger is better mentality? City boy I spent last week with a 2017 Ford F-250, a mega truck not exactly suited to the urban confines I call home. Ford updated its Heavy Duty pickups for the 2017 model year...
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Fluff, buff, and safety stuff: 2019 Ford Fusion gets new face and tail, Co-Pilot360, and longer range Kirk BellThe redesigned 2019 Ford Fusion was unveiled Tuesday with mildly updated styling front and rear, the new Co-Pilot360 suite of active safety features, and a longer electric range for the Energi...
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Breaking: Uber self-driving car kills pedestrian in Tempe, ArizonaA woman was killed Sunday night in Tempe, Arizona, after she was hit by a self-driving car operated by Uber. It is the first known pedestrian death caused by a self-driving car. The woman was crossing the street but was not in the crosswalk, according to reports. According to a statement issued by...
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700-plus-horsepower 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 teasedFord Motor Company [NYSE: F] held a press conference to discuss its electrified future today, and during the show the company dropped some news that will prove electric for fans of performance cars. Ford teased the most powerful street legal production model to ever come from the Blue Oval, the...
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Look out, Jeep: new Ford Bronco teased alongside smaller off-road SUVFord Motor Company [NYSE: F] revealed it is betting big on SUVs in the future Thursday, and two of those SUVs will be of the off-road variety. We've known about the reborn Bronco, but Ford is also promising a smaller, unnamed off-roader that we hadn't heard about until now. With the moves, Ford...
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5G technology could unlock vehicle-to-infrastructure communicationModems are becoming commonplace in cars. Drivers like to use them to stream music and create wi-fi hotspots. Automakers like them for the data they can report and the updates they can push to their cars. Dealers like them because they tell drivers when to come in for service. Today's modems run on...
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2018 BMW M5 video road (and track) testFeel. It's what makes us fall in love. It's what drives our passions. And it's what made auto enthusiasts revere BMW's M cars for years. But even as it got faster around a racetrack, the BMW M5 lost some of its magical feel in its last two generations. The M5 is redesigned once again for 2018, and...
Kirk Bell