Features

NEW YORK -- One of the things I love about New York City -- and other big cities, like Chicago or LA -- is the constant motion. Yes, sometimes it can overwhelm. But sometimes, it feels like all the motion isn't just the routine beats of daily life -- it feels like some sort of progress.

The 2026 New York International Auto Show gave off that vibe.

Paul Jacobson, executive vice president and chief financial officer of General Motors, made a telling observation about GM’s current approach to electric vehicles at last week’s  Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s 32nd Annual Automotive Insights Symposium in Detroit.

If you’ve ever spent any time around South American car culture, you’ll know that it’s built on an intoxicating mix of necessity and lunacy.

The 1st generation Ford Fusion. This was a mid size Sedan that was slotted between the Ford Focus and the Ford 500. Ford built this car to compete against the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.

After their purchase of Jeep in 1970, American Motors began diversification of the newly acquired brand’s product line. The company saw the potential in Jeep for a much broader offering of passenger utility vehicles: Utility wagons, recreational utility vehicles, and trucks. The former two would gradually converge together in nomenclature to be called SUVs, a term Jeep created in 1974 when it marketed the new Cherokee (an SJ Wagoneer derivative). Part of the product diversification was refinement of the Wagoneer platform and experimentation with luxury trims after the Super Wagoneer failed to see much success. In 1978 AMC launched a new luxurious Wagoneer trim, and this time it worked.

There’s of course, a lot of great journalism out there, but if you look at your newsfeed, there’s a lot of crap too.

Coming this summer as a 2027 model, Volvo released yet another battery electric vehicle, the EX60.

The EGO Power+ MB1005-2 electric mini bike brings something familiar and practical to electric riding by using the same 56V batteries found in EGO’s popular power tools.

In our last Wagoneer installment of Rare Rides Icons, we began the journey through the frequent and sometimes confusing updates Jeep made to its flagship utility wagon. Edits to the SJ Wagoneer began in 1964 and continued through the end of its life at the 1991 model year. However, the most important change to the Wagoneer occurred as a side-effect of Jeep’s ownership. We pick up in early 1970.

The Mercury Bobcat. It was Mercury's first subcompact car sold in North America and yes, it was a rebadged Pinto but it gave Mercury an inexpensive model that had good gas mileage numbers.

We're modifying a 2024 Toyota Prius Prime in an attempt to improve the handling and appearance and turn it into a hot hatch.

Late last year consultancy  EY released the results of its “decoding the digital home study,” which is based on surveys of 20,500 consumers in 14 countries (Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US) about their attitudes regarding “TMT”: technology, media and telecoms.

Joby Aviation is bringing its vision of fast, clean city travel to life through a new partnership with Virgin Atlantic, marking a significant step forward for electric urban aviation.

Bill Ford has been spending time in Australia to hype the family business and he’s been saying all the right things. Among his more recent statements was a proclamation that Ford would continue prioritizing V8s until regulations made that impossible.

Fuel prices continue to climb globally due to the situation in the Middle East. But it’s hardly the only issue impacting the cost of owning and operating a motor vehicle. Insurance rates have ballooned over the last several years, as have manufacturing costs. Automakers are blaming tariffs, citing billions in increased costs for 2025. But they were also raising prices on vehicles rather dramatically prior to those tariffs coming into play.

The Jeep Wagoneer had an unusually long run for a passenger automobile, and successfully spanned across four decades. Though it was in production from the Sixties into the Nineties, the SJ Wagoneer had but one generation. As mentioned in the last entry where we covered the original interior details, there were many changes inside, outside, and underneath through the decades. Oh, and Wagoneer invented the luxury SUV in 1966.

What makes your head turn when a car roars past? History matters as much as a well-preserved machine, as each vehicle presents a compelling story.

Not too long ago, Audi unveiled its exciting new Concept C. A fresh-faced design study, this sleek two-door not only hints (or perhaps, shouts) at a possible future sports car but also previews a whole new design philosophy for the four-ring luxury brand.

The Abiloader from Abiliquip is a practical vehicle-mounted wheelchair loader designed to make daily mobility easier and more independent.

Fuel prices are on the rise in America, with the conflict in Iran presumed to be the primary culprit. The per barrel price of crude nearly doubled at the start of the month in a moment of panic. While prices have come down since, they remain at their highest point in the last twelve months and fuel prices have begun reflecting this.

In this episode, Jan and Wes dive deep into one of the most visually striking modifications for the Volkswagen ID.4: the GTX Signature Lights.

We take our cheap & high mileage Tesla Model 3 from boring commuter appliance to rally-inspired snow demon thanks to a host of upgrades.

It's another behind-the-scenes podcast!

In the long and occasionally bewildering history of Porsche, there are cars that defined the brand—the 356, the 911, the 917.

Tyler Reddick won the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway with his No. 45 Toyota Camry NASCAR Cup Car.

The 2nd generation Mercury Marauder. The Marauder name was 1st used on an engine in the late 50s and it was 1st used as a nameplate for a car in 1963 only to be retired in 1965.

In a  Cox Automotive analysis released a couple weeks ago about electric vehicle sales in the US, there is this:

“While the Q4 collapse will command headlines, total EV sales in calendar year 2025 tell a different story: Thanks in part to record volume in Q3, total EV sales last year came in just shy of 2024’s 1.30 million. In fact, 2025 was the second-best year on record for EV sales in the U.S., and the EV share of total market sales was a strong 7.8%, down from 8.1% a year earlier, according to Kelley Blue Book estimates.”

The ”Q4 collapse” was a decline in EV sales to 5.8 percent of the total US new vehicle market.

The “record volume in Q3” was a market share of 10.5 percent.

DOCYKE is making engineering fun and hands-on with modular ride-on kits that let kids build and customize their own vehicles.

Start your engines (or motors)—physical buttons are finally back!

As we reviewed in our last installment, the exterior design of the Jeep Wagoneer was a notable thing at its debut in 1963. The design emphasized its wagon nature rather than its truck underpinnings, which set it apart from the competition. Like the exterior, the interior was designed with daily livability in mind and was less basic and utilitarian than contemporary utility wagons.

It’s not easy vying for the top spot when you’re the new kid in town, debuting three teams in the newly revamped Dakar Rally Stock class in Saudi Arabia.

Stellantis has confirmed that it will have news about the fate of Maserati during an investor call scheduled for May 21st. Despite being the automaker’s flagship luxury marquee, Maserati has endured several years of profitability issues. While this has led many to assume that Stellantis would simply sell the brand, leadership has suggested that won’t be the case.

Fox 45 Baltimore investigative reporter Chris Papst spent years looking into questionable practices at the Baltimore public school system, discovering shocking practices such as falsifying student grades to boost graduation rates tied to funding.

Friend of the site Connie Peters has a review of the 2026 Toyota Prius for you.

The Tinger Track 2 is a rugged all-terrain amphibious vehicle built to conquer snow, mud, swamps, and open water.

Dilip is back to show us how to master the climate control system in his VW ID.Buzz (works for ID.4 & ID.7 too!).

In this episode of Spanners, we meet Dan Cole and his rebuilt 1973 BMW Bavaria, a car born from the wreckage of his first Bavaria after a devastating crash.

Scattered amongst all the commerce posts you’ve read on this and other sites about ZOMG PRIME DAY DEALS featuring a wide array of products are lists like this one, focused on a single type of car part that you’re not likely to think about until its actually needed.

Our friends at Speed Academy have another build for you to check out.

It's another behind-the-scenes podcast!

The early 1970s were a bizarre period for car design.

The Jeep Wagoneer debuted in 1963 as a new kind of utility wagon, designed with everyday ease of use and practicality in mind ( Part I). As a midsize truck, it was smaller and had better handling than its competition. Wagoneer even featured an automatic transmission on four-wheel drive models, a novelty at the time ( Part II). But perhaps most important for its success was the clean-sheet design of its wagon body.

A colleague forwarded a story to me about the ignominious sales performance of the Tesla Cybertruck. As you may recall—or probably don’t recall since there are so many claims and promises that go unfulfilled he makes that they become a blur—Elon Musk had said the company would be selling 250,000 Cybertrucks per year by 2025.

BeBot is an all-electric beach-cleaning robot engineered to keep coastlines free of debris while minimizing environmental impact.

We return to the Jeep Wagoneer (here’s Part I) this week for a dive into its chassis, running gear, and other particulars. From the get-go the Wagoneer was designed with families in mind: It was slightly smaller than competition from Suburban and Travelall, lower to the ground, easier to get in and out of, and better equipped as standard. Jeep built the Wagoneer as an advancement of its Station Wagon product from the Forties, but was a clean sheet design with some very innovative thinking behind it.

The right-to-repair movement has been going on for years, but a bill introduced by the United States Congress in early 2025 suggests advocates might achieve victory sooner rather than later.

BMW has been no stranger to controversy over the last 20 years.

It's another behind-the-scenes podcast!

The TELO Truck is a fully electric mini pickup designed for urban driving without sacrificing utility or performance.

In this episode of the VWD Talk Podcast, we sit down with Chris from @batterylife to discuss the full spectrum of Volkswagen's electric future. Chris shares his honest long-term review of the ID.7 after two years of ownership—is it really the "pinnacle" of the MEB platform?

In this episode of Spanners, we dive into the life and garage of Tom Sturdy, a passionate car enthusiast with a unique taste for the uncommon.

What does straight piping a Enzo based V12 Ferrari 599 Sound like and how much power does it actually make? We find out!

The original Jeep Wagoneer persisted over two decades, and was produced by three different owners of Jeep as it became an SUV icon known around the world. As the largest SUV of the Jeep brand, it began with simple utilitarian roots like all off-road vehicles of the time. Eventually it was edited, updated, and glossed into the first true luxury SUV the world had ever seen. Unlike most of our Rare Rides Icons the Wagoneer persists today, but as a very different kind of vehicle than it originated. We begin in the Forties, with a station wagon.

The first generation SVT Lightning. It was built by hot rodders for hot rodders.

Aptera is a fully electric, solar-powered vehicle engineered for maximum efficiency and range. Its lightweight, ultra-aerodynamic design dramatically reduces energy consumption, allowing it to travel farther than traditional EVs. Built-in solar panels can add up to 40 miles of charge per day from sunlight alone, reducing the need to plug in.

If you followed our advice about socket sets and garage door openers, you’re well on your way to dabbling in a bit of automotive DIY. A good place to start? The simple oil change. Since oil is the lifeblood of your car, it’s an excellent idea to understand why it’s important to change it regularly.

Chris Russo, SmartCharge Clean Energy Program Manager at Con Edison wants to give you money as SmartCharge incentivizes off-peak charging to balance grid demand and make everybody a winner.

Join us for another episode of VW ID Talk! In this episode, Jeremy and Jan do a deep dive into their personal builds: a customized 2025 VW ID. Buzz and a highly modified VW ID.4.

The logistics industry has been plagued by narrow margins and a growing number of bankruptcies. But trucking tech company  Hwy Haul, on Monday, officially launched an AI-based platform, it says, boosts efficiencies and profits while reducing costs.