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2023 Genesis GV60 launches as top luxury EV crossover

Six years after the carmaker’s launch as a standalone luxury brand, the 2023 Genesis GV60 debuts as the marque’s first dedicated electric vehicle. It delightfully further blurs the definition of automotive innovation and gadgetry. Available in Advanced and Performance trims, the GV60 is operated by two electric motors and a 77.4-kWh battery pack. Using a 120-volt (Level 1) household-style outlet, the GV60 takes about 68 hours to charge. A 240-volt (Level II) outlet will charge the GV60 in around seven hours. Using a DC Fast-Charging (Level III) station, the GV60 will advance from a 10 to 80 percent charge in around 18 minutes (250-kW/800 volts). The battery can also be used to power external equipment, including appliances. The relevance of

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#258, NASCAR at 75 detailed by four authors in new book

Jimmy Creed, born and raised in Talladega, Alabama, is a decades-long journalist whose interest in motorsports and specifically NASCAR racing began when he was a young boy. Creed knows the city’s famous racetrack as well as any journalist. He cultivated his knowledge in his long tenure as the sports editor of The Anniston Star in nearby Anniston, Alabama. As one of four writers who’ve collaborated to write NASCAR 75, a definitive volume of the legendary sport, Creed is our guest this week on The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-hosts Bruce Aldrich and James Raia speak with the veteran journalist about his lifetime involvement in motor racing and his participation in compiling the text and images of the coffee table-sized book. “You

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2023 Honda Civic Type R morphs into hot sports car

After 51 years, 11 generations and approaching 28 million in sales, the Honda Civic remains among the most enduring and dependable vehicles. It’s available as a coupe, sedan and hatchback and in Si and Type R high-performance options. It’s offered in Sport, Touring, LX, EX and Sport trims and it ideally defines its name’s origin. The Civic’s moniker means “a car created for citizens and cities.” Civics are everywhere, albeit with a caveat. What once defined the needs of citizens in cities is no more. And the vehicle, classified in its tenure as both a subcompact and compact and with the multiple personalities as a family sedan a zippy sports car, may have lost its way. Six years ago, the

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2024 Subaru Crosstrek: rugged, versatile, value-priced

Many of the country’s most popular vehicles had lousy sales numbers in recent years because of supply chain difficulties. The lingering issue didn’t affect Subaru as much as other carmakers’ double-digit drops. Subaru‘s sales were about four percent lower in 2022 than the year prior. But the Crosstrek, the carmaker’s subcompact sport utility vehicle, had its best year in 2022. It had more than 155,000 sales, about 35,000 more than in 2020. Introduced in 2012, the Crosstrek is now the manufacturer’s best-selling vehicle. It offers an appealing combination of versatility and value. Subaru‘s signature is its symmetrical all-wheel drive. Since its first heyday in the United States, individuals and national alpine skiing and cycling teams have formed sponsorship relationships with

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2022 Ford Bronco Everglades: Rock & Roll, Best Off-Road

Jesse Colin Young wrote the song “Ridgetop” 50 years ago. It’s a love story about nature and his home in Marin County located down a road with a steep hill and marked with granite, ruts, pine needles and chert. To celebrate the milestone, Ford should hire the co-founder of the 1960s rock band The Youngbloods as a spokesperson or at least use his music in commercials. In 2022, a year after the carmaker re-introduced the Ford Bronco following a long hiatus, several special editions debuted, including the Everglades trim. It’s available only as a four-door model equipped with the standard features of the Black Diamond trim. Its singularity are front fenders with depth meter measurement lines for fording water. Ford

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New Ferrari Roma Spider: 50 years in the making

Has it been 50 years? In 1973, Ferrari debuted the soft-topped 365 GTB/4 Daytona Spider. Five decades after the last of those convertibles left the Maranello, Italy factory, Ferrari recently announced the Prancing Horse will gain be worn on a soft-top, front-engined grand tourer. The automaker took the veil off the roofless Roma with “Spider” at the end of its name. The Roma Spider will replace the Portofino M as the new entry-level Ferrari. A company spokesperson confirmed the news to Road and Track. The new Roma Spider is complete with a retractable, woven fabric soft-top and a powerful, turbocharged V8. Ferrari reworked several mechanical elements to make the Roma Spider as road-worthy as its coupe counterpart. The soft-top, available

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2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE 500 challenges rivals

With the addition of the 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE lineup, the German manufacturer approaching its centenary now offers more than 30 vehicles. They’re all named with numbers and letters and acronyms requiring code-breaking expertise. The EQE series arriving this year, one year after the debut of the EQS, the carmaker’s first all-electric sedan available in the United States. The EQE 500 4Matic is the mid-level of three available trims. It has two motors, a 90.6-kWh lithium-ion battery, 402 horsepower and all-wheel-drive. Like its siblings, it’s a smaller version of the EQS. Smaller by definition doesn’t mean small. The EQE 500 is a spacious luxury sedan, handsomely styled inside and outside. It’s marketed with seating for five, but like many mid-size sedans,

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#167, Honoring Steve Casagrande and the family’s Bel Air

A REMEMBRANCE Stephen Casagrande was my dentist for about 35 years. His office was in midtown Sacramento, a few blocks from my office and a restaurant we both often visited called Cornerstone. Like he was with many patients, Dr. Casagrande became a friend. He called me Jimmy. Several years ago, I noticed Steve and his son Michael, who is now my dentist, preparing to leave on a father-son trip. They were packing up a family car, a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Beauville, at Mike’s house. He lives with his wife and children across the street from a close friend in East Sacramento. We talked about the car some, and I remembered to ask Steve about it more on my next

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2023 BMW 330i: a bargain BMW? Really?

Sixteen years ago, the BMW 3 Series reached its yearly sales peak as an entry-level luxury compact sedan. It was stylish, featured top-line technology and combined keen driving characteristics with prestige. The vehicle’s lineup was three years old and was purchased 142,488 times in 2007. It has surpassed 140,000 in yearly sales only twice since and the figure has drastically stumbled in recent years. The 3 Series tally was only slightly more than 30,000 last year. And while no longer BMW‘s top-seller, the BMW 3 Series, notably the 2023 330i, remains vital among the ever-increasing competition. Acura, Audi, Cadillac, Kia Genesis, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Volvo all offer formidable rivals, with some brands featuring more than one choice in the

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Adam Levine singing Fake Maserati Blues, sues dealer

Adam Levine, lead vocalist for pop music group Maroon 5, purchased a $1 Million, one-of-25 Maserati Ghibli 4.9 Spyder in exchange for two Ferraris from classic car dealer Rick Cole in late 2020. Levine filed a lawsuit last Friday against Cole two years after the deal, claiming the ultra-rare Maserati isn’t authentic. The lawsuit accuses the classic car dealer of negligent misrepresentation, intentional misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, and breach of contract and is asking for at least $850,000 in damages or to undo the $950,000 exchange. Documents obtained by the New York Post claim Cole or those affiliated with his business intentionally faked the documentation, chassis, and engine authentication. Markings on the build plate, VIN, and stampings on various parts of the chassis were shown

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Radical Ferrari LaFerrari successor spied upon

Ferrari’s top-of-the-line hypercars are unveiled once a decade, and the newest addition to the bloodline won’t be hard to miss. Automotive YouTuber “Varryx” uploaded initial footage of a Ferrari test mule wearing full digital camouflage. No amount of camouflage, however, can cover the prototype’s colossal rear wing and other potential styling cues. The public testing comes eight months after Ferrari announced the successor to the decade-old LaFerrari will “arrive soon.” Varryx’s first look is only 40 seconds in duration but provides critical information regarding design and aerodynamics, and the powertrain configuration possibilities. Additional clues can be found in leaked documents published by Motor1 pointing to a LaFerrari successor. The documents state the new vehicle is internally known as the F250

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2022 Mercedes-Maybach S580 defines uber-luxury sedan

For car buyers not interested in value, practicality, economy or environmental concerns, consider the 2022 Mercedes-Maybach S580 It’s an ultra-luxury sedan purchased because the buyer can. It’s plush and modern and pretentious. It has champagne flutes and an energizing warning notification that results in soft music and a multi-position driver’s massage. Available in the S580 and S680 trims, the former and reviewed model features a twin-turbocharged V8 with 496 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. The S680 is equipped with a twin-turbo V12 with 621 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torqueBoth versions are all-wheel-drive and are propelled by a nine-speed automatic transmission. Gas mileage averages are 15 miles per gallon in city driving, 24 mpg on the highway. Acceleration from

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2023 BMW iX M60 joins electric vehicle SUV elite

A year after BMW debuted its iX electric sport utility vehicle, it one-upped itself. For 2023, BMW iX M60 joins the two-car stable. It has the same interior beauty, superior performance and a peculiar front grille resembling the two halves of a rear-end or a set of flared nostrils. Competition at the high end of the electric SUV segment includes the Tesla Model X, Mercedes EQS, Audi e-Tron, Cadillac Lyriq and the Rivian R1S. The Polestar 3 is scheduled for a 2024 debut. The BMW is the only vehicle in the group without third-row seating. But the distinction is overridden as a minor inconvenience considering the M60’s upside. The new IX features 610 horsepower and 811 lb-ft of torque. Zero-to-60

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Porsche updates Ferry’s dream car 75 years later

Somewhere Ferry Porsche is smiling. Seventy-five years after Ferry’s dream car — the iconic Porsche 356 No. 1 — was unveiled, the German sports car brand revealed a modern version of the classic dubbed the Vision 357. Porsche revealed the concept car in Berlin at Volkswagen Group’s “DRIVE” Forum. The Style Porsche Team worked to formulate what the automaker’s founder’s “perfect” sports car might look like today. The Vision 357 commemorates the automaker’s first production vehicle, the 356 and uses the 718 Cayman GT4 RS’ platform while echoing a number of the original 356 No. 1 Roadster’s timeless design cues.  Porsche didn’t quite keep the inverted-bathtub shape of the original 356, but the uninterrupted, swooping lines from the headlights to

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2022 Lexus LX 600 goes big, luxurious, expensive

New for 2022, the Lexus LX 600 replaces its lackluster LX 570 stablemate and beams anew as the manufacturer’s latest, biggest and most luxurious sport utility vehicle. Debuting the vehicle’s fourth generation, The LX 600 is equipped with a 3.4-liter, turbocharged V6 with 409 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque. It’s an impressive leap. Last year’s turbocharged V8 with 382 horsepower. The new Lexus advances on a new chassis the carmakers said is 20 percent more rigid and with lower overall weight. The combination substantially changes the SUV‘s dynamics. It hasn’t transitioned into a sports car, but it is more sporty. The LX 600 is available in five trims, ranging from the five-passenger, two-row LX to three mid-level offerings —

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Aston Martin bids farewell to DBS with limited 770 Ultimate

Aston Martin unveiled the DBS 770 Ultimate this week and it marked the end of the grand tourer’s production. The 770 Ultimate is the final iteration of the current-generation DBS and the most powerful production vehicle Aston Martin has produced. It’s limited to 499 units between the coupe and Volante convertible and if you want one, it’s too late. The full production has been reserved. The “770” nameplate has been given to this DBS for the 770-ps (759 horsepower), 5.2 liter, twin-turbocharged V12 found under the hood. Torque figures are equally exciting at 664 lbs/ft, and are sent with all 759 horsepower to the rear wheels through a ZF-built eight-speed automatic transmission and a standard mechanical limited-slip differential. Aston Martin

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