Kirk Bell, Senior Editor
Articles
-
Like a fine wine, the Lamborghini Aventador only gets better with time. It is Italian after all. First, the coupe got the S treatment, and now it's the Roadster's turn.
At this week's 2017 Frankfurt...
-
2018 Porsche 911 GT3 with Touring Package mimics 911 R, may upset collectorsPorsche has been promising a purist sports car for the regular production 911, but on Tuesday at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, the German sport car maker showed a toned down version of the 911 GT3. It's not exactly the stripped down base 911 we've been hoping for, but it has more than a few cool...
Kirk Bell -
Audi R8 V10 RWS goes rear-drive for driving puristsAudi is known for few things. Unique style and German luxury are two of them, and a close third is all-wheel drive, which the marque brands as quattro. Sitting at the top of the lineup, and making excellent use of quattro to help it claw its way around a track or up a steep Beverly Hills driveway...
Kirk Bell -
2017 Lamborghini Aventador S first drive review: the wrong car for a traffic jamAnyone who has been to Monterey Car Week in general and The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, specifically, know that the whole affair creates a special kind of congestion caused by automotive exotica of all sorts. You might see a string of Rolls-Royces, or vintage Ferraris, or Koenigseggs, or VW...
Kirk Bell -
2017 Jaguar F-Type SVR Convertible first drive review: more growl than biteI'm headed to Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Illinois, and I'm a little nervous. Just yesterday I took delivery of a 2017 Jaguar F-Type SVR Convertible, and today I'm going to drive it for one 20-minute session on Autobahn's 1.5-mile North Track. Thing is, I'm not sure I can handle this thing...
Kirk Bell -
2019 Audi e-tron spy shots and videoAudi is bringing an electric SUV to market in the form of the e-tron, and it's due next year, most likely as a 2019 model. First introduced as a concept at the 2015 Frankfurt auto show, the SUV will be sized between the Q5 and Q7, which originally lead to speculation that it would use Q6 in its...
Kirk Bell -
Toyota Supra manual, VW I.D. Buzz for production, reborn Chevy Blazer: The Week In Reverse Kirk BellThe 2019 Toyota Supra might get a manual after all; VW announced it will build the I.D. Buzz; and Chevy is bringing back the Blazer. It's the Week in Reverse, right here at Motor Authority.
A prior...
-
What it's like to drive a concept carWhen an automaker says its concept vehicle is powered by unicorn farts, emits only cotton candy, and can accelerate from 0-60 mph in two shakes of a lamb's tail, don't believe them. What they are actually saying is, "If we ever develop the technology to build this thing, that's what it could do."...
Kirk Bell -
The wild and wonderful from the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d'EleganceImagine spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a complete, thoroughly researched, multi-year restoration of a historically significant car and not even placing in your class. That's the reality of the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Each year, the most prestigious car show in the...
Kirk Bell -
1929 Mercedes-Benz crowned Pebble Beach Concours championThe 1929 Mercedes-Benz S Barker Tourer that claimed the Best of Show honors at the 67th Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance almost didn't make it to the show. Owner Bruce R. McCaw of Bellevue, Washington, struggled with the idea of restoring it for several years. “The question was whether or not...
Kirk Bell -
Great Ferraris from The QuailThe Monterey Car Week is an orgiastic feast of the eyes for any car fan. It's an exclusive week-long celebration of the automobile, with events seemingly trying to upstage each other in terms of exclusivity and cachet. Aside from the actual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance itself, where the Best of...
Kirk Bell -
The advantages of the Mercedes-Benz 48-volt systemAs fuel economy and emissions standards continue to tighten around the world, automakers continue to seek ways to make power while using less fuel. Mercedes-Benz, never one to let its engines rot on the vine, is taking the next step to do just that with a 48-volt system for a new 3.0-liter...
Kirk Bell -
From the beginning of the reborn Ford GT program, the idea was to bring the car to market in time to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the Ford GT40's 1-2-3 finish at the 1966 24 Hours of Le...
-
Infiniti reveals 'what if' Prototype 9 1940s grand prix racer ahead of Pebble BeachRemember when Infiniti, that company that began operations in 1989, campaigned a 1940s open-wheel grand prix racer? Neither do we. And did you know that it was electric? Seems pretty far ahead of its time, doesn't it? Infiniti has revealed its "what if" Prototype 9 race car ahead of the festivities...
Kirk Bell -
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to be next year's NASCAR Cup carIn a break from the traditional sedan, Chevrolet today announced that the Camaro ZL1 coupe will be its car of choice for the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series starting next season. Seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson joined Mark Reuss, executive vice president of GM product development, to...
Kirk Bell -
2018 Acura RLX gets new look, but will it be enough to compete?The Acura RLX hasn't exactly been a sales blockbuster. Last year, Acura sold a grand total of 1,478 of them while BMW parted with 32,408 5-Series and Mercedes sold 46,740 E-Classes. Now, Acura is hoping a new look will boost sales. Ahead of its public debut during Monterey Car Week August 15-19...
Kirk Bell -
2017 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS: Living with a street and track starLife gets in the way, even when you're behind the wheel of a 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS. Instead of zipping around scenic Lake Tahoe or pushing things to the limit on a South African racetrack, as we've been fortunate to do before, I just spent a week behind the 911 GTS' wheel through rain and...
Kirk Bell -
Jeremy Clarkson hospitalized for pneumoniaIt's been a tough year of shooting for the trio of car crazies from "The Grand Tour." First, Richard Hammond crashed in a Rimac Concept_One and broke his leg, and now Jeremy Clarkson has wound up in the hospital with pneumonia. The brash British presenter, who says he doesn't do hospitals, wasn't...
Kirk Bell -
Audi Sport's slogan is "Born on the track. Built for the road." While most of us would love to test the limits of any Audi Sport model on a racetrack, we'd also be happy to merely have the...
-
Mercedes outlines 3-pronged approach to self-driving carsThe race for the autonomous car is on, and how it will shake out is anyone's guess. The future could see fleets of automated taxis, people could subscribe to car companies and use an app to call up their autonomous pods, or buyers could choose to drive on their own, then flip a switch and let the...
Kirk Bell -
2018 Ford Mustang GT adding quiet exhaust and quiet start modes to be neighborlyThe 5.0-liter V-8 in the 2018 Mustang GT is getting a power bump to make enthusiasts happy, and it's also adding a Quiet Exhaust mode to make the neighbors happy. It's part of a new active valve performance exhaust system, and owners will be able to activate the mode on the go or choose a...
Kirk Bell -
India chooses jobs over self-driving carsThe self-driving car is a hot topic in the automotive industry. Who will get there first? How will it change transportation and the new car market? How safe will autonomous cars be? All of these questions and more are on the minds of those in the auto industry, as well as governments around the...
Kirk Bell -
2018 Audi TT RS first drive review: overcoming imbalanceIf you were going to design a sports car, you wouldn’t start with the layout of the Audi TT. You wouldn’t choose a front-wheel-drive architecture. You wouldn’t turn the engine sideways, and you damn sure wouldn’t locate it ahead of the front axle. Instead, you’d start...
Kirk Bell -
2018 Audi RS 3 first drive review: Less money, but no less funAudi’s turbocharged 5-cylinder cars have a short but distinguished history. The Audi Quattro burst onto the scene in the early 1980s and won multiple driver's and manufacturer's titles in rally racing. In 1987, an Audi 5-cylinder was the first car to run up Pike’s Peak in less than 11...
Kirk Bell