Cars

Toyota joined the subcompact hot-hatchback segment in 2017 with the Yaris GRMN. Powered by a Lotus-sourced engine and developed by the company’s Gazoo Racing division, the Yaris GRMN enabled Toyota to compete with popular hot-hatches like the Volkswagen Polo and Ford Fiesta ST. Come 2020 and Toyota unveiled a new performance model, this time around based on the brand-new, fourth-generation Yaris. It’s called the GR Yaris and comes with 257 horsepower on tap. That’s mighty impressive, but a new video suggests that Toyota is testing an even more hardcore version of the hatchback.

Sometimes, the best drag races are those that have some form of handicap. Take this race hosted by YouTube channel Track Day, for example. It’s a three-car throw down involving an F80-generation BMW M3 Competition, a 992-generation Porsche 911 Carrera S, and a BMW M240i. The latter is the obvious underdog in this race, but this isn’t your stock M240i that comes into the race with significant modifications, none more important than an engine upgrade that helps the turbocharged inline-six-cylinder engine produce more output than both the M3 Competition and the 911 Carrera S. The scales tip differently now, do they? Does the modified M240i have what it takes to beat the M3 Competition and the 911 Carrera S? Let’s find out.

It’s been just about a month since BMW launched the new M3 and the M4. While the bucktooth grille became the talk of the town, there was one other piece of news around that time that didn’t receive as much attention as it should have. BMW Performance Division’s CEO, Markus Flasch, said that M’s first fully electric car will arrive next year and it will be based on the i4. When you have a confirmation from the automaker, it doesn’t take long for the car to be spotted doing test runs, and the same has happened here, too.

New spy shots have appeared that show the i4 M draped in black and white sheets to avoid people from guessing what it is, but hey, who are we kidding here?

Having set a new world speed record for production cars at 316.1 mph in October 2020, the SSC Tuatara is the supercar of the moment. It took SSC almost nine years to turn the concept car into a production model, but we can finally see why. Not only the fastest car on the planet, but the Tuatara is also among the most powerful thanks to a race-spec V-8 engine that cranks out 1,750 horsepower on E85 fuel. The issue with the Tuatara is that it’s extremely exclusive and expensive, but SSC wants to fix that with a "baby Tuatara."

Ford has entered the electric SUV realm with the Mustang Mach-E, a sporty hauler capable of up to 459 horsepower and up to 300 miles of range. But FoMoCo didn’t stop here and also created a monstrous race-spec Mach-E. Fitted with no fewer than seven electric motors that deliver a combined 1,400 horsepower, the Mustang Mach-E 1400 is downright spectacular when it comes to performance, but it also looks cool in its race-inspired suit. The SUV was recently showcased at Goodwood Speed Week, where master drifter Vaughn Gittin Jr. proved that you don’t need gasoline power to do donuts.

Post the big debut, the Ford Bronco and its urban-alter ego are busy with various other activities. The Bronco Sport recently won the 2020 Rebelle Rally in its category in stock condition, and now Ford has announced the Bronco will don the emergency vehicle outfit to support the National Forest Foundation.

Ford has teamed up with Filson, an outdoor outfitter, to develop the Bronco Wildland Fire Rig Concept. It is customized with firefighting equipment and Ford will donate two examples for the cause.

The Hyundai Veloster N is one of the most capable hot hatchbacks on the market, and it’s about to be even more capable. The 2021 Veloster N features a higher output, a new dual-clutch transmission, and a plethora of new standard equipment - a lot of which were classified as options in earlier models. Does this shift in standard equipment and improved output justify a significantly higher price tag, though?

Acura has introduced the PMC Edition of its best-selling SUV, the RDX. The RDX was introduced back in 2006 as a spiritual successor to the MDX, which went to take bigger roles in the portfolio, quite literally. The RDX debuted as a premium entry-level crossover and is an important product for Acura. Initially, it was built on the same platform that underpinned the Honda Civic and the CR-V, but the third-generation introduced in 2018 as a 2019 model year SUV and was based on a new platform. It has been the best-selling SUV for Acura in the last two years, so, keeping it fresh is imperative.

The company has introduced the PMC Edition of the SUV in Thermal Orange shade that is reminiscent of the NSX Hybrid supercar. And the price? $52,995 including destination charges. Is this a steal deal?

McLaren’s never-ending quest to outdo itself with all these new hybrid supercars isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. On the contrary, the British automaker is hard at work developing another “high-performance hybrid.” The Woking, England-based outfit isn’t letting the cat out of the bag yet, only referring to the model as “HPH,” or “High-Performance Hybrid.” Recent renderings and spy photos have shed some light on the mystic Mac that looks interestingly like a redesigned 570S. All shall be revealed when the new McLaren debuts in the first half of 2021.

If you’re a fan of the early days of Formula One racing and have around $2 million to spare, we have news for you: Vanwall is building six continuation cars of its championship-winning VW5. If you’re not familiar with the name, Vanwall built and raced Formula One cars from 1954 to 1960, winning nine races and the world championship in 1958. Vanwall was run by Tony Vandervell and his team included famed engineers Colin Chapman and Frank Costin. Vanwall Group, the successor to the British racing team, will build six new continuation cars.

Chelsea Truck Company has returned with another Jeep Wrangler rendition called the Protest Edition. Although the name could be considered slightly controversial, the changes made to the SUV are pretty neat. Nothing under the hood has been changed and it is stock, which means all the changes are cosmetic only. This Wrangler is a right-hand-drive model and is brand-new, unlike some of the examples from Chelsea lately that have had previous owners.

Back in September 2020, Genesis announced a facelift for the first-generation G70. We’ve seen photos and learned a bit about the updated technology, but engine options remained a mystery. Come October and the Korean brand finally unveiled some specs. Not surprisingly, the G70 carries over with the same gasoline and diesel engines. But are they more powerful than before?

The car world is a vast place, which offers something for everyone. And since the car is one of the inventions that captivated man’s imagination the most, almost everyone lusts after a nice set of wheels. Some people want the badge, as nothing speaks of success in the eyes of others like a luxury or exotic car parked in front of your house. Other, more sensible individuals, look for quality/price ratio. Another one is after the best “bang for the buck” option. Although nice cheap cars sound ideal, such propositions are hard to find, but the list below might just point you in the right way.

The latest 992-generation Porsche 911 is in production since 2019, and it’s already available in Carrera and Turbo trim, as well as coupe, cabriolet, and targa body styles. Porsche is also developing new GT3 and GT2 models, but it seems that the German firm may also introduce a high-riding model inspired by the rally-spec 911 SC Safari from the late 1970s. At least that’s what these new spy shots suggest.

2019 was a big year for the Chevrolet Corvette. After almost 70 years on the market with a front-engined layout, the iconic nameplate became a mid-engined vehicle, just like Zora-Arkus Duntov wanted back in the 1960s. The C8-gen Corvette went into production for the 2020 model year, but the coronavirus pandemic forced Chevy to reduce factory output for a few months. Now, the Corvette C8 is available in the 2021 model year with small visual updates. You can now configure the 2021 Corvette Stingray online, and here’s how our ideal C8 would look like.

The Ferrari Monza SP1 is a rare breed, even for Ferrari’s standards. It’s limited to just 500 units with the equally audacious Monza SP2, the Monza SP1 is a proper Ferrari speedster that carries 799 horsepower from its 6.5-liter V-12 engine. It’s properly powerful as all speedsters should be, but there really is no such thing as too much power, is there? German tuning firm Novitec swears by that motto, and the Monza SP1 benefits from it. What kind of aftermarket program did Novitec create for the fanciful Monza SP1? Let’s find out.

The Audi e-tron GT is all but ready to make its global debut, but the German company is still teasing us with a prototype. Audi’s latest stunt shows the e-tron GT alongside a pack of race-spec R8 LMS models at the infamous Spa Francorchamps track. The gathering took place a couple of days before the 2020 24 Hours of Spa kicked off, so this is more than just a regular teaser. But what is Audi trying to say?

Automakers, in general, often make decisions that change the course of their respective histories. We don’t often see these decisions in public, but every so often, concept cars play the role of avatars, giving us a peek at what could’ve been had a specific automaker decided to greenlight some of these concepts. There’s a laundry list of concept cars that never made it to production — and probably altered the history of some brands — but we’re here to shine the spotlight on one particular concept that could’ve altered the trajectory of the automaker that developed it. This is the Nissan Mid4, an experimental sports car that Nissan developed in the mid-1980s to compete against the Ferraris and Porsches of that era. Two concepts were introduced, but neither made it to production, leaving everyone with a big bowl of “what if” on their hands. What if Nissan launched the Mid4 as intended? What would the automaker look like now? We’ll never know the answers to these questions, but, rest assured, Nissan wouldn’t be the Nissan that we known now if the Mid4 came to life.

The G05-generation X5 and G06-gen X6 are the first of their kind to be offered in M Competition trim. The midsize SUVs joined nameplates like the X3, X4, 3 Series, and 4 Series in the summer of 2020, and BMW just added First Edition models to the lineup. Fitted with exclusive and extra features, these are limited to only 250 units each, making them the rarest X5 and X6 models from this ongoing generation.

The Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series, the most extreme variant of the German sports car, might have set a new lap record on the Nurburgring Nordschleife. The benchmark is not yet official though, but just an estimate by youtuber Misha Charoudin. The man who "lives at the world-famous Nurburgring" spotted the AMG GT Black Series lapping the German track and claims, based on calculations which he explains in a video, that the coupe needed only 6:43 minutes to complete the Nordschleife loop. If this is true, the AMG GT Black Series is the quickest production and street-legal car on the ’Ring.