Automotive News, Car Reviews, and Podcast
The supercharged Ford Mustang Dark Horse SC packs well over 700 hp from a 5.2L V8 starting at $108,485. Plus the 550-unit Troy Lee Designs Edition.
Read morePodcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:50 — 46.5MB)Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | MoreMike Mueller is an automotive expert among automotive experts. A journalist for more than 30 years, he has written and provided accompanying photography for more than 30 books on the Ford Mustang. He’s contributed images to many additional books and he’s written for many prestigious industry publications. Mueller is my guest this week on episode No. 218 of The Weekly Driver Podcast. Co-host Bruce Aldrich is on vacation, so Mueller and I discuss his latest and just-released updated and revised book, The Complete Book of Ford Mustang. Ford Mustang: A nearly 60-year icon It’s a coffee table-sized volume with more than 550 color photographs
Read moreA guy in a gas station parking lot with a stern look that quickly turned to a big smile asked if we could switch cars. Another onlooker boasted he had the best BMW ever made but that mine looked pretty good. Unsolicited commenters hated the matted exterior color and split “kidney grilles.” Other onlookers couldn’t offer superlatives fast enough. Key Takeaways Sixth-generation M3 debuts with 503 hp and 479 lb-ft: A turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six paired with an eight-speed automatic and rear-wheel drive delivers a 3.5-second 0-60 mph run. Price escalates from $73,795 base to $104,245 as-tested: Carbon ceramic brakes alone add $8,150, with the M Carbon Exterior Package another $4,700 and the M Driver’s top-speed increase $2,500. Polarizing design draws
Read morePlaymates of the Year get a lot of attention. Playboy, the magazine selecting the honored women since 1964, promotes the models and, among other accolades, gives each winner a new car. For the first 12 years of the award, all of the new cars awarded were pink. But once the odd color selection ended, another more curious occurrence happened — the sometimes bizarre choices of the cars selected. In some instances, the Playmate of the Year received what has become an iconic car, including several Jaguar and Porsche models. In other years, the cars awarded are now nearly worthless. The Playmates of the Year through the years have also on occasion been rewarded with a motorcycle or boat. The women are
Read moreBarn finds in the automotive world are still out there. The latest discovery is a varied collection of cars and trucks from an estate in Pennsylvania that includes a 1969 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Cobra Jet. The car, owned Larry A. Brown, a now-deceased car and truck collector, is the expected highlight of more than a dozen vehicles set for auction April 25 at Ron Gilligan Auctioneering in Spruce Creek, Pa. The Mustang features a 428-cubic-inch Cobra Jet engine mated to a four-speed manual transmission, which has only 8,500 miles in total. The spark plugs, belts, fan and hoses are all original. The tires are the only equipment not from 1968. According to a report on Yahoo News, the car
Read moreThe 2014 Ford Mustang GT convertible is the last of the fast retro-classic Mustangs. It will be replaced with a significantly new Mustang next year. “This latest Mustang design is very respectful of its heritage while continuing to look forward with a more powerful and modern look,” said Darrell Behmer, Mustang chief designer. The original Mustang debuted on April 17, 1964, although Ford called it an ”early 1965” model. (Many call it a “1964 ½” model.) When the redesigned Mustang comes out next year as a 2015 model, Ford will officially celebrate the car’s 50th anniversary—although the 2014 Mustang is actually the 50th anniversary model because of its early 1964 introduction. Buyers could get the first Mustang with a hot
Read moreCarroll Shelby, the sole member of a rare automotive fraternity who rose to prominence as a driver, builder and owner, has died at age 89 in Dallas, Texas. Shelby won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Aston Martin in 1959 with co-driver Roy Salvadori. He also won U.S. sports-car championship titles with Ferrari and Maserati and raced in Formula 1 for two seasons. In the 1960s, Shelby created the iconic Shelby Cobra. It dominated the racetracks of the era and defeated Ferrari for the world manufacturer's title. Shelby lent his name and tuning expertise to existing models, most notably the Ford Mustang with the Shelby GT350 Mustang. As a modern version, the 650-horsepower V8-powered Shelby GT500 Mustang, is still
Read moreTop-10 convertibles. Top-10 Green Cars. Top-10 sedans, coupes and luxury cars. They're all worthwhile lists and fun to agree with or make fun of as worthless. But for a car list to be pertinent it has to include passion, and thus Edmunds.com, site InsideLine took on the task of creating the most important list of cars — in movies. Cars old and new are in most movies, sometimes witth subtle but important roles like the gangster cars in The Godfather trilogy. And cars are importnat in small films, too, like in the art house film of a few years ago, Frozen River. In reverse order, and subjectively chosen, a 1969 Dodge Charger wins out over a 1963 Aston Martin DB5
Read moreLegendary champion racer/performance car builder Carroll Shelby first built affordable “Shelby GT350 Mustang” models, based on the then-new production Mustang, in 1965. The car was so fast, it even beat Corvettes on tracks. And now a good GT350 is a prized collector’s item that costs at least several hundred thousand dollars. Shelby is still with us as of this writing, feisty as ever at nearly 90, and must be very proud of the muscular-looking 2011 Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang. It’s the latest in a series of Ford Shelby GT500 models built in the last few years, and is by far the best. Some feel that it’s the greatest Mustang ever. An honorable mention is the Mustang GT500 Shelby 1967, a
Read morePerformance: Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Design: Chevrolet Camaro Value: Kia Soul Fuel Efficiency: Toyota Prius Versatility: Subaru Outback Fun to Drive: Hyundai Genesis Coupe Off-Road Ability: Ford F-150 Raptor Technical Innovation: Lexus Remote Touch Luxury: BMW 335d Workhorse: Ford Transit Connect Each year, to determine the winners of the Popular Mechanics Automotive Excellence Awards, PM’s editors drive more than 100 of the newest cars, trucks and sport-utility vehicles, amassing more than 100,000 miles in the process. Through their experiences on extended test drives around the world, instrumented comparison tests and longer-term evaluations, the auto team nominates a list of vehicles in each category. Those selections are put to a vote and the top vote-getters in each category win an Automotive
Read moreWith no responsibilities on a recent sun-drenched Saturday afternoon, the candy-apple red sports car seemingly recognized my surprising block of free time and the 2008 Mustang Convertible and was beckoning for some action. Given my week with this vintage version of this 1960s dream car was coming to an end, I decided it would be a shame not to enjoy a carefree drive. So the top came down for the first time and off I went in search of some adventure, choosing bucolic Highway 193 as my stretch of pavement to explore. Despite living in and around Placer County for nearly 20 years, I had never ventured very far along Highway 193. It extends from Lincoln to Auburn and involves
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