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2022 Ford Bronco Raptor: Beauty of an Off-Road Beast

It’s not for everyone, but there’s something appealing about conquering muddy, boulder-laden lake beds, climbing awkwardly formed rock clusters or boldly going where only a few have gone before. It’s why the 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor exists. It’s for those who viewed the 2021 return of the standard Bronco after a 24-year absence as a pedestrian effort. The debuting Raptor is the real deal. It’s huge, a monster off-roader equipped with a 418-horsepower, twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6. It produces 440 pound-feet of torque. It’s propelled with a 10-speed automatic transmission and a four-wheel-drive system that features selectable G.O.A.T. (Goes Over Any Type of Terrain) mode and 37-inch BFGoodrich K02 all-terrain tires. It will tow 4,500 pounds and the maximum payload is

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2022 Ford Lightning bolts quickly into fame

Not quite with the quickness of its name, the 2022 Ford Lightning arrived a year after it was announced. There was much fanfare, an avalanche of deposits and now there’s an estimated three-year backlog for delivery. First teased at the 2019 Detroit Auto Show, Ford beat all the others — Tesla to GMC, Chevrolet to Rivian — to the streets to further add to manufacturer’s truck legacy. The industry’s best-seller for decades, hadn’t Ford already offered every conceivable truck necessary to maintain its sales advantage? The Lightning boldly adds to the mix. It’s a luxury-oriented, full-size electric pickup truck with top-level performance and a 300-plus mile range. Available in Pro, XLT, Lariat and Platinum trims, the F-150 Lightning splits its

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2022 Toyota Tundra improved but glory days long gone

The Toyota Tundra debuted in its third generation this year as among the most varied available pickup trucks but with a diminishing legacy. The Japanese manufacturer assembles the truck in San Antonio, Texas, a hub for ranchers and RVers and their utilitarian vehicles. Despite the substantial niche market, the Tundra is struggling. Nearly 197,000 sold in 2007, the full-size truck’s best year. Just under 82,000 were purchased in 2021. Serious competition from an omnipresent truck foursome remains, and the Tundra’s smaller, thriving pickup, the Tacoma, has thwarted the big truck’s sales. The Ford F-Series, Ram, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC are perennially among the country’s top-selling vehicles. The half-ton Toyota Tacoma had sales of more than 252,000 in 2021, about a

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Electric vehicles aren’t new, just new again after 200 years

Approaching 200 years ago, a few smart, innovators with big dreams began experimenting with vehicles propelled by electricity, the original Electric Vehicles. Two Scotsmen respectively introduced an electric carriage and locomotive with galvanic cells with limited lives. The contraptions quickly gained notoriety. They were revolutionary for the early 1830s, but are best remembered as pre-historic precursors to the current electric vehicle surge. All major and niche car manufacturers — Chevrolet to Ford, Tesla to Lucid —have electric cars and trucks or are preparing an alternative fuel or electric vehicle. The automotive future is now, accelerated in California by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order announced in September 2020. The state will require by 2035 that all new car and passenger trucks

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2022 Lexus NX 350h: Improved SUV drives well, looks ugly

The 2022 Lexus NX 350h is an automotive dichotomy. Now in its second generation and eight years removed from its debut, the futuristic-looking sport utility vehicle is categorized as a subcompact luxury crossover. The description is contradictory and inaccurate. Luxury in vehicles was once determined by spaciousness, top-end construction, top-line materials and a handsome, confident and powerful presence powering along the highway. The NX 350 is none of that. Lexus remains the luxury brand of Toyota. Its upscale offerings were vaulted to the top of the J.D Power & Associates in 1991, the car maker’s third model year. More than 30 years later, the brand’s SUV lineup gets similar industry ratings. But as represented to an extreme by the NX

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Ford recall numbers skyrocket, another 3 million affected

For the fifth time in five years, Ford is recalling vehicles. The culprit this time is the possibility of nearly three million cars rolling away after being shifted into park mode because of degrading transmission components. The recall covers certain 2013 to 2019 Escape, 2013 to 2018 C-Max, 2013 to 2016 Fusion, 2013 to 2021 Transit Connect, and 2015 to 2018 Edge vehicles. Ford Recall: Latest Defect Cause Unknown According to a Ford recall report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a damaged bushing that attaches the shifter cable to the transmission could degrade or detach in the affected vehicles. Ford said the cause of the defect is unknown. A damaged or detached bushing could prevent the

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2022 Genesis G80 defines the best of luxury sedans

The guy standing next to his parked Mercedes-Benz sedan was three spots away from my ride in the far reaches of a Home Depot parking lot. He stared at the 2022 Genesis G80 and said, “Nice lines. What kind of car is it?” The entire Genesis lineup gets plenty of similar reactions. Praised by critics and inundated with awards, the South Korean carmaker debuted as a stand-alone luxury brand from Hyundai in 2016. But it remains unheralded. Further confusing, Hyundai offered a Genesis as its top-line sedan beginning in 2009. Now Genesis manufacturers the G70 sports sedan, G80 mid-size sedan, G90 full-size sedan, GV80 mid-size SUV, and for 2023, the GV60 electric SUV. 2022 Genesis G80: Only One Dealership The

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2022 Hyundai Tucson: new, bold, worthy

The 2022 Hyundai Tucson, the debut of the small sport utility’s fourth generation, is the South Korean manufacturer’s finest effort to compete against the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. It’s a worthy challenger. Unheralded and 13th in small SUV sales in 2021, this year’s Tucson has been redesigned with a sculptor’s bold ideas. It has squared wheel arches, sharp bodywork creases, a radical headlight design and a snarky-looking front grille. More important, the Tucson for the first time is available in three powertrains, a gasoline engine, a standard hybrid and a plug-in hybrid. The latter has a maximum 28-mile electric-only range; the standard hybrid is rated at 37 miles per gallon in city driving, 36 mpg on the highway. Seven

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#228, Newport Auto Museum artist David Lloyd Glover

David Lloyd Glover, a former newspaper illustrator who has worked as a full-time artist since 1969, created the auto museum artwork in the showrooms of vehicles and architecture in the Newport Car Museum. A week after Gunther Buerman, visionary and founder of the museum was our guest on The Weekly Driver Podcast, Lloyd Glover joined the podcast to discuss his collaborations with the auto museum. A long-time vintage car collector, Lloyd Glover works often with translucent watercolors using the classic British technique. His work has been featured in numerous galleries in the United States and internationally. He works in a studio in Pacific Palisades in Southern California overlooking Malibu Beach. With the museum’s specialty of mixing automobiles with architecture and

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#227, Journalist Mark Glover set for 58th Indy 500

Mark Glover, the long-time Sacramento-based journalist, will continue his passion for motorsports this week. He will attend the Indy 500 for the 58th time. It will be a family affair. Glover’s son will accompany his father for the 30th time. Glover is our guest on this episode of The Weekly Driver podcast. Co-host Bruce Aldrich and I talk with the Indy 500 historian about his legacy at the race, the event he first attended with his father when he was a young boy. Glover was also our guest on Episode #39 in 2018. We also talk with Glover in Episode #227 about iconic drivers. From four-time winner A.J. Foyt to Hélio Castroneves and his chances of breaking the career-win record

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2022 Toyota Supra matches sports car rivals, costs less

More than two dozen cars debuted in 1979. They varied from long-gone oddities like the Datsun Bluebird and Ford Durango to icons with legions of followers, the Volkswagen Jetta and Toyota Supra. As a compact two-seater, four-seater and wagon, the Jetta is an all-time top seller as a durable, reliable and affordable family car. The Supra was a near-instant hit as a high-performing, handsome sports car eventually gaining starring movie roles. It had nearly a 20-year hiatus beginning in 1998, but it’s been back for a few years. And it’s much to the joy of long-time enthusiasts who thrive on the coupe’s adept turning, quick acceleration and overall fun. Toyota Supra: Fast & Furious For 2022, not much is different

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2022 Honda Civic: Still reigns as top compact sedan at age 50

Technology overload and extraneous warning lights and sounds. Mood lighting and champagne flutes in mini back-seat refrigerators. Paddle shifters standard in family sedans with continuously variable transmissions? Where will it all end? How about with a 2022 Honda Civic? It’s not a return to automotive simplicity with roll-up windows and cigarette lighters. Rather, it’s an iconic car, now in its 11th generation. It’s 50 years old, with 12 million sold. It cost less than $31,000 for the top-line model, about two-thirds of the average price of a new car in the United States. With its new mature appearance inside and outside, the 2022 Honda Civic moves higher on the list, maybe to the top of the list, of the industry’s

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New cars are fine, but vintage wheels always better

Not too far into the future, 300 million cars will be registered in the United States. More than 30 current manufacturers have new cars currently available; plenty of other carmakers are defunct and either revered or best forgotten but with models still driven. The staggering number of vehicles on the road and hoarded in garages further dilutes an often-asked question” “If money were no object, what car would you buy?” There’s no right answer, but vintage simplicity is far more appealing than impress-the-neighbors bling. A 1954 Kaiser-Darrin, 1967 Mercedes Benz 250 SL Convertible or a 1991 Nissan Figaro? Yes. Any new Tesla, Hummer or tanked-sized family SUV? No. A $15,000 Chevy Spark and its 40 miles per gallon have plenty

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2022 BMW 240i drives big as small luxury coupe

Just when every niche in the automotive industry appears filled, another arises. The 2022 BMW 2 Series coupe 240i is a leader in the small luxury car fraternity. It’s a small group, which includes country rivals from Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Following the discontinuation of the convertible offering, the redesigned 2022 BMW 2 Series coupe is available in two trims, 230i and the reviewed M240i xDrive. The base 230i features a turbocharged four-cylinder engine with 255 horsepower. The M240i xDrive more defines many BMW drivers’ common enjoyment — performance rules. It includes a 3-liter, 24-valve, 6-cylinder, 382 horsepower engine matched with an eight-speed transmission. A manual transmission is not available. The all-wheel-drive engine also has a stability control system. It provides

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Stuck in a rut? How about driving a Walmart truck for $110,000

No one has ever said making a living as a truck driver was easy. But starting pay of $110,000 a year might be the enough incentive to attract more workers to a long-hauler career. Walmart hopes so. The country’s largest retailer is trying to alleviate the country’s truck driver shortage by increasing the starting salary to $110,000 for those interesting in long-distance hauling the company’s vehicles. Driver with previous work experience working for with Walmart can earn more based on their tenure and location. Walmart, which currently has about 12,000 workers who drive its company-owned trucks, said the average company driver’s pay was $87,500. It hired 4,500 new drivers in 2021, the most in Walmart’s history. The median pay for

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Mystery icons on your dashboard? Pictures tell the stories

Flashing rectangles on the navigation system? Vibrating steering wheels? Abrupt warning sounds? It’s enough to drive a driver into making a mistake or it can save their life. And then there are those icons. Less invasive and also simultaneously helpful and confusing, warning icons can also abruptly appear on your car or truck‘s dashboard without, well . . . warning. Some of the icons are commonplace, others are more difficult to decipher. MotorTrend.com, the online version of automobile magazine dating to 1949, has accepted the task in long form of explaining in alphabetical order 10 icons that can appear on your vehicle. What they mean? How serious are their arrival? Here are abbreviate explanations. ABS Sensor Warning Light The ABS

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