It's not unusual for high-powered executives like Carlos Ghosn to have a driver chauffeur them around town. This time, however, Ghosn was driven to Nissan's new Silicon Valley facility by the car itself.
A significant facelift and powertrain upgrade came to New York in the 2017 GT-R, Nissan's halo supercar. So did it's hot new body paint option.
Researchers at Durham University in the United Kingdom have developed an approach to breaking down rubber in materials at room temperature. The chemical process uses catalytic disassembly, eliminating the energy-intensive methods of currently-used tire recycling methods.
Numerous research efforts have already demonstrated the potential for graphene to improve the efficiency of solar cells. Now a team of researchers in China has leveraged the remarkable properties of the wonder material to develop a new all-weather solar cell design that is able to generate electricity when current solar cells can't – when it's raining.
Last year, Anki released Overdrive, a customizable, modular track on which to race its smartphone-controlled cars against AI opponents. Shanghai-based SmartX has taken that idea, swapped out the cars for tanks and the AI for human players, while adding some virtual firepower, to enable combat on a configurable battlefield in competitions ranging from survival to capture the flag. New Atlas rolled up to the front line to see if war is hell or if it can be a helluva fun time.
My Answer: Two reasons: the extra weight (mass) added with the components and power loss due to the added mechanics. A two-wheel drive vehicle normally churns power from the engine to the transmission, which then sends power to the drive wheels. The mechanical losses are minimized by keeping the transitions of power from the engine as simple as possible. This is one reason that front-wheel drive is more efficient than rear-wheel drive, as the tiny percentage of power lost to the drive shaft and differential to run to the rear wheels is not present on the FWD car.
Tesla unveiled a new Model Y compact crossover based on the Model 3 compact car. The Model Y is expected in the 2020 model year, will seat up to seven (in the 2021 model year), and has an expected starting price of $39,000. Tesla plans four variants of the Y, starting with the Standard Range base model, a Long Range option, a Dual-Motor All-Wheel Drive model, and a Performance variant.
The 2019 Honda Pilot has been refreshed, with an updated look and improved technology. Many advanced safety systems that were optional before are standard now, and transmission shifting is smoother in the 9-speed option. Infotainment is also more usable.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new regulatory changes to allow E15 (gasoline with up to 15 percent ethanol) to be sold year round. The proposal notes that E15 is approved for all 2001 and newer vehicles and that the 1-psi Reid Vapor Pressur (RVP) waiver for summer is already used with E10.
Fisker says it wants to #ReinventTheSUV with a new all-electric SUV model planned for a late 2021 release. It's targeting 300 miles of range, high-end luxury, and a price tag more commensurate with mainstream crossover-SUV models. The SUV will be the first of three planned models, Fisker promises.
As consumers, we purchase vehicles based on a lot of criterion. Surveys, in fact, show that most car buyers who are purchasing for personal use will choose cars for a variety of reasons, depending on the person. Some look for style, others for economy, and others for color. There are literally hundreds of things people will consider when purchasing a new car. Most of them are not related to expected returns, taxes, or long-term economics.
The Ford Mustang is, without a doubt, the most well-recognized of American automobiles. It’s the sports car that started the pony car segment and one of the most-produced vehicles of all time. The Mustang is often credited as the car that made Ford cool again.
Normally, a good-looking vehicle will not be a very practical one. There are old adages, now outdated, regarding this sort of thing in terms of relationships as well. With the 2019 Volvo XC40, though, the adage is what’s outdated. You can have your cake and eat it too, as it were, with this great-looking and very functional crossover.
We spent a week in the new 2019 Ford Edge crossover and we like its upgrades, but it's still hard to see past them. Ford added some refreshed styling, more features, and a new eight-speed automatic to the Edge for the 2019 model year, but didn't change its primary safety need.
Porsche has added a new Coupe model to the 2020 Cayenne crossover-SUV options. The Cayenne Coupe model features a redesigned profile for a more sedan-like look, an adaptive rear spoiler, and individual rear seating. Porsche is clearly taking on BMW and Mercedes here.
My Answer: It can be marginally compared to the base model of the Model 3, but only marginally. There are some things to remember here: the LEAF is a low-end, low-cost car and everything Tesla makes qualifies as a luxury or premium-level vehicle. So there’s no apples-to-apples comparison possible. Which is why one can purchase two LEAFs for the price of a base model 3.
In a rare opportunity, we had the chance to pit four unlikely family crossovers against one another on the snow and the ice. We did so in the same location, on the same day, under the same conditions. Which is best for Wyoming’s weather? This is our attempt to find out. The location was at high altitude in two separate places: one an empty, snow-covered parking lot with about five inches of the white stuff on a day whose temperature ranged from sub-20s in the morning to nearly 40F that afternoon. The second location was a frozen lake with nearly 20 inches of ice depth, blowing snow, and temperatures ranging from the mid-teens to about 30F. All four vehicles were driven at the same locations on those two days and all four were outfitted with brand new winter tires and all had all-wheel drive.
We might think of the Nissan Rogue Sport as the smaller sibling to the Rogue crossover, but the Rogue Sport is mechanically very different from the Rogue. Based on the European Qashqai, the Rogue Sport has most of the goodness of the Rogue model, but is more spry as well.
