2015 Ford Edge Sport 2.7L EcoBoost Tested: The New Edge Has a Lot to Recommend It

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2015 Ford Edge Sport 2.7L EcoBoost AWD – Instrumented Test

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Lexus RC200t Turbo Four Unveiled for Europe, Likely for U.S., Too

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Toyota of Europe has announced the addition of a turbocharged four-cylinder engine in the Lexus RC coupe lineup, in the new RC200t. Like its sibling, the IS200t, the smaller-engine RC coupe is expected to come to the U.S. market, as well.

In Europe, the 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo makes 241 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque in the RC coupe, the same figures for that engine in our upcoming IS200t. Lexus is claiming a 7.2-second sprint from zero to 62 mph for the RC200t, which features an eight-speed automatic. The car is also being offered as an F Sport, with a limited-slip differential and adaptive dampers, among other niceties.

In the IS sedan, the new 2.0-liter four is taking over for the previous 2.5-liter V-6 (in the IS250), with the 3.5-liter V-6 remaining in the IS350. The current RC coupe comes only with the larger, 306-hp V-6. We expect that engine to continue, with the turbo four slotting in as a new, entry-level model. That would put the Lexus coupe offerings more on a par with competitors such as the Cadillac ATS and the BMW 4-series.

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What’s the next RC variant we’d like to see? How about a production version of this concept convertible?

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Hey, “Mad Men” Fans: You Can Buy Don Draper’s ’65 Cadillac Coupe DeVille

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Don Draper’s 1965 Cadillac Coupe DeVille was a silent but crucially important character in the last few seasons of Mad Men. Now, the actual car used to shoot the critically acclaimed and wildly successful TV drama can be yours—but you better get your bid in soon.

As Mashable reports, more than 1000 vintage items used on the Mad Men set are going up for auction at Screenbid. Most of the items are set dressing—furniture, clothing, vintage radios, old magazines, and dozens of other items that helped make the authentic 1960s milieu that made the show so great to watch.

But scroll down a bit, and you’ll see what’s bound to be the biggest-ticket item of them all: Don Draper’s 1965 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.

Want to see Don Draper’s 1965 Cadillac Coupe DeVille in your driveway? Bid on it now: http://t.co/N4CI6FwYil http://pic.twitter.com/qK1Cs0BBX2

— Mad Men (@MadMen_AMC) July 31, 2015

Offered up with an opening bid of just $1500, we’re certain that the bidding on this item will push the final price way, way higher. The mere three photos offered in the auction listing are hardly clear enough to judge by, but from our repeated re-watching of the past few seasons of Mad Men the car always seemed to be relatively straight and clean, with a nice-looking red leather interior and power windows.

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Bidding opens at 3 p.m. on July 31st, and closes on August 7th. If you’re in the market for Don’s Caddy, why stop there? You could wear Don’s Ray-Ban sunglasses and turquoise polo shirt, toss his toolbox, pajamas, and raggedy t-shirt and jeans in the trunk (along with a bottle of Old Grand Dad in a brown paper bag), and start a whole new life. Which, frankly, is a fitting tribute to Dick Whitman, I mean, Don Draper.

This story originally appeared on roadandtrack.com.

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Amazon’s Top Gear Show Coming in Fall 2016, Episodes Won’t Be Released All at Once

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July 31, 2015 at 3:35 pm by Travis Okulski | Photography by Getty Images/Wayne Coetzee + Gallo Images

There is still a lot to process about the ​Top Gear​ team re-emerging on Amazon instant video. Questions like when will we see the show? Will it all be released at once? Why did they decide to go with Amazon?

We’re now starting to get the answers that we crave, as former ​Top Gear​ producer and new Amazon employee Andy Wilman has started to talk about the new project.

First, we’ll see the show in fall 2016, where it’ll start streaming on the online service. Amazon purchased three seasons of the show, 12 episodes per season, 60 minutes per show, just like old ​Top Gear.

But it doesn’t sound like an entire season will be released all at once. Wilman said “​We’re a one trick pony, I wouldn’t watch 12 episodes in a row​.” And unlike other shows on streaming services, a ​Top Gear-​ style show lends itself to a weekly release rather than an entire season at once. Studio segments, news, and other bits are better to have up to date than all at once.

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As for chatting with ITV, Wilman says they had talks, but they are prevented from broadcasting the show on a terrestrial station in the UK for two years.

And on that bombshell…

This story originally appeared on roadandtrack.com.

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This Ford GT Race Car “Secret Shakedown” Video Is Pure Car Porn

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Since we can’t get enough of the brilliant new Ford GT around here, especially in racing guise, we bring you Ford’s latest GT video, called “The Secret Shakedown,” which contains test footage of some of the racing development process, allegedly shot about three weeks before the racing car made its official debut at Le Mans last month.

The talking heads in the video, including Dave Pericak, director of Ford Performance, and Ford VP of product development Raj Nair, among others, don’t say much that will surprise anyone—they’ve been working on it for a long time, it goes real fast, Ford is sooooo innovative and amazing, yadda yadda yadda—but spliced in between the yammering is plenty of footage of the prototype race car pounding through corners, sounding incredible while hurtling down the straights, and looking awesome in slow motion or in panning shots in the pits.

At the time the video was shot, which would have been mid-May by our clocks, Ford Performance’s advanced-engineering manager Mark Rushbrook stated that the development team would continue working on the car for another four months. “Then we go racing.”

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Speaking of going racing, to our knowledge, the Ford GT is still slated to make its racing debut at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in January. You can kill one minute and 39 seconds of the time between now and then by watching this.

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Report Details Displacement, Horsepower for Porsche Boxster, Cayman Turbo Fours

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A report on the Car Magazine website reveals more details about the upcoming four-cylinder turbo engines that are set to replace the naturally aspirated flat-sixes in the Porsche Boxster and Cayman. And, unfortunately, the horsepower output is going down—at least for the base-model and S versions.

In the report, the often-prophetic Georg Kacher confirms the depressing news that the base, S, and GTS versions of the Boxster and Cayman will lose their naturally aspirated flat-six engines early next year. In their place will be turbocharged flat-fours of 2.0 and 2.5 liters.

The standard Boxster and Cayman get a turbocharged flat-four of 2.0 liters, said to be good for 240 horsepower. That’s against 265 horsepower for the 2.7-liter flat-six in today’s Boxster and 275 ponies for the same engine in the current Cayman.

The Boxster/Cayman S models will get a slightly larger, 2.5-liter flat-four turbo, making 300 horsepower. Again, that’s a ride down, as the current 3.4-liter six puts out 315 horsepower in the Boxster S and 325 in the Cayman S.

The same 2.5-liter engine also will appear in the GTS versions of the cars, tuned to deliver 370 horsepower. That, at last, beats the output of today’s models, currently 330/340 horsepower in the Boxster/Cayman GTS, respectively.

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Only the ultra-high-performance Boxster Spyder and Cayman GT4 are said to retain their naturally aspirated flat-six engine, a 3.8-liter unit. Which is sure to make them even more highly desired than they already are. Meanwhile, one has to wonder whether the base, S, and GTS versions of the current Boxster/Cayman are destined to become depreciation-proof used cars, in the same vein as the final air-cooled 911 models.

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GM Expands Cadillac ATS Recall for Sunroof Switches

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July 31, 2015 at 11:59 am by Clifford Atiyeh | Photography by Michael Simari

General Motors is expanding an earlier recall of Cadillac ATS sedans and coupes that let people close the sunroof too easily.

According to a report in Automotive News, the 2016 ATS is now included and adds 4967 more cars to the original February recall for a total of 63,665 within the U.S. The 2013-2016 ATS models have sunroof switches that are flush with the roof panel and can automatically close the sunroof with too light a touch (federal law mandates the operation of such buttons to avoid trapped fingers). The previous recall, which installed surrounding trim to recess the buttons, didn’t work as designed and so all of those cars must get fixed for a second time. The recall was not yet posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Cadillac dealers are holding about 7000 cars and are not supposed to sell them until they make repairs.

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Previous ATS recalls have included faulty seatbelt locks, front seats that could come off their brackets in a crash, broken shifter cables that could cause rollaways, and intermittently flashing brake lights.

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Report: Upcoming BMW Diesel Engine Will Have FOUR Turbos

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Turbos are hot right now. Seemingly every segment of the car industry has at least one turbo engine on offer; twin turbos, once the realm of exotic supercars, are now available on pickup trucks and family haulers. In 2012, BMW upped the ante with a triple-turbo inline-six diesel engine for the European market. But too much is never enough, apparently. Rumor has it, BMW’s readying a new diesel inline six with four turbochargers.

This bit of unverified speculation comes to us from Autocar, and we’re taking it with a grain of turbo-salt, but this is the kind of rumor we can’t help but love. The British car magazine quotes “sources close to the German carmaker” saying that the alleged quadruple-boosted oil-burner will be a 3.0-liter inline-six packing “well over 400 hp and 590 lb-ft.” Which, damn.

As for those turbos themselves, theories vary. Autocar speculates that the new engine could be an evolution of the current tri-turbo 3.0-liter diesel, with “a small electrically-driven turbocharger to increase low-end boost pressure and provide added punch.” Or, it could just be four conventional exhaust-driven turbos.

If this four-times-blown diesel engine does become a reality, rumor has it it’ll be destined for a new 7-series variant, the M750d, as well as all-wheel-drive M Performance diesel versions of the X5, X6, and X7. If the current triple-turbo diesel-powered M550d and X5 xDrive50d are any indication, this four-turbo mill probably isn’t destined for U.S. shores.

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Still, the thought of a quad-turbo engine that’s not made by Bugatti has our inner engineers all giddy. If BMW builds this four-turbo, 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine, it will catapult to the forefront on cylinders-per-turbo ratio (3:2), turbos-per-liter ratio (4:3), and pretty much every other turbo-related ratio we can think of.

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2016 Cadillac CTS-V – Instrumented Test

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2015 Chrysler 300S V-8 Tested: Three Additional Gears, Same Big Sedan Goodness

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2015 Chrysler 300 V-8 – Instrumented Test

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OwnStar’d! Enterprising Wiz Hacks OnStar to Enable Remote Functions, GM Working on Fix

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’Tis the season, apparently, to get hacky. In the wake of the Wired story that saw a Jeep Cherokee in a ditch after pair of hackers took control of the ute remotely via a UConnect vulnerability comes the announcement of OwnStar, a little black box that, when attached surreptitiously to a GM OnStar-equipped vehicle, executes a man-in-the-middle attack between that vehicle and the OnStar RemoteLink app. It allows a hacker to enjoy the full suite of RemoteLink capabilities, including unlocking doors, tracking the car’s whereabouts, and starting the vehicle remotely, as illustrated in the video below.

According to Samy Kamkar, the creator of OwnStar, the vulnerability doesn’t lie in the vehicles; rather, it’s an exploitable flaw in the RemoteLink app’s code that allows him to take control of the cars. While he’s only experimented on one vehicle—a friend’s Chevrolet Volt—there’s no real reason to suspect that it won’t work with other GM vehicles, given that the problem is on the mobile-device side.

Kamkar plans to release full details of the exploit during next month’s annual DefCon security conference in Las Vegas. While GM told Wired that it has relocked the door that Kamkar used to enter, the security analyst tweeted today that he’s still able to take control of OnStar.

OwnStar update: GM told WIRED that OnStar bug was fixed, however it's not actually resolved yet. I spoke with GM & they're working on it now

— Samy Kamkar (@samykamkar) July 30, 2015

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The hacker says GM has been receptive to his work; we imagine a patch for the exploit will be available by the time Kamkar gives his talk during the conference, which runs August 6 through 9. In the interim, the only sure-fire defense against OwnStar is to give up using the app for the moment. Still, given that we doubt there are a flood of dudes armed with knockoffs of Kamkar’s box named things like “PwnStar”, “Pr0nStar”, and “SausageCastleStar,” you’re still probably all right.

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IIHS: 2015 Ford F-150 Crash Tests Reveal Disparate Results Between Crew Cab and Extended Cab

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The Ford F-150 aced a suite of crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and earned the nonprofit group’s “Top Safety Pick” rating. Of note, however, is that the honor was bestowed only to the SuperCrew body style, the bestselling version of the truck.

The four-door SuperCrew passed all five tests with the highest-possible “good” rating. The reason? Ford installs steel members fore and aft of the front wheel wells (in yellow, below) to prevent those wheels from intruding into the cabin space, but the company doesn’t fit them to SuperCab or regular-cab bodies.

Ford installed steel reinforcements (above, in yellow) only in its 2015 F-150 SuperCrew trucks—and not the other body styles.

During the IIHS frontal-small-overlap test, which simulates hitting a pole or a car head-on by contacting 25 percent of a vehicle’s frontal area at 40 mph, the SuperCrew’s body cage remained “largely intact” with a “low risk of injuries,” the group said. The smaller F-150 SuperCab pickup (pictured at top) scored “marginal” due to “significant intrusion” of the passenger cabin, as the dashboard and steering wheel came “dangerously close” to the dummy’s chest. Since the A-pillars buckled and other body components “seriously compromised the driver’s survival space,” the IIHS rated this F-150’s structure as “poor,” which is below “marginal” and the group’s worst rating. Vehicles have to earn “good” or “acceptable” ratings in all tests to qualify as a Top Safety Pick.

“That shortchanges buyers who might pick the extended cab thinking it offers the same protection in this type of crash as the crew cab,” said David Zuby, the Institute’s chief research officer. “It doesn’t.”

An Automotive News report on the differing structures published in June prompted the IIHS to test two F-150 body styles instead of the single most popular variant, as it does for every other car it tests. While it’s not unusual to see cars with varying crash structures in the U.S. versus overseas—the U.S. has its own roof-crush standards, as well as other more stringent rules including those for side-curtain airbags—it’s the first time the IIHS has witnessed such divergent results for one U.S.-specified car model. As a result, the IIHS says it’s planning to crash-test several body styles of other full-size pickups this year, and it is investigating whether other manufacturers also are reinforcing vehicle trims it knows the IIHS will test.

Compare the performance of this 2015 Ford F-150 SuperCrew with that of the 2015 Ford F-150 SuperCab pictured at top.

Ford responded to Automotive News by saying that it will add “countermeasures” to 2016 regular-cab and extended SuperCab F-150s, telling the publication that “the type of countermeasure and structure will vary by cab type.” In a statement to Car and Driver, Ford says, “We addressed the IIHS small overlap front crash in our high-volume SuperCrew first, which accounts for 83 percent of 2015 F-150 retail sales. We are adding countermeasures in the SuperCab and the regular cab in the 2016 model year. Based on the IIHS data, both vehicles offer similar occupant protection levels [as the SuperCrew]. The F-150 program was well under way when this test was introduced in 2012. We are evaluating which specific changes we will make to the SuperCab and regular cab. It is important that any changes do not compromise performance on other crash tests.”

In AN’s June story, Ford said, “We optimize each cab structure based on many factors including cab style, mass, wheelbase, powertrain, and driveline to meet regulatory requirements and achieve public-domain ratings.” Those “public-domain ratings” were clarified by Ford in this week’s AN report to be “crash testing.”

2015 Ford F-150 SuperCab (left) and 2015 Ford F-150 SuperCrew (right).

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The small-overlap crash test, first introduced in 2012, forced automakers to quickly adopt changes after the IIHS revealed that most new cars—including luxury sedans—weren’t strong enough to prevent significant injuries in this common accident type. Toyota, for example, launched a 2014.5 model-year Camry that specifically addressed the body structure in relation to the test, and other manufacturers made similar improvements as quickly as the following model year.

This story was updated to include Ford’s statement to C/D regarding actions it plans to take to update the SuperCab and regular cab F-150 models for 2016.

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This 1936 Film Explains Exactly How a Manual Transmission Works

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Along with the actual wheels, the manual transmission is among the least-evolved components of a modern car. A brand-new 2015 model’s stick shift has a whole lot in common with the three-speed gearbox you’d find in a car built 70 years ago. While the technology may be abidingly familiar to us enthusiasts, it can never hurt to take a refresher course in the basics. That’s why we love this vintage educational film from 1936, which nicely details how our beloved human-shifted gearboxes work.

This is just another gem from the treasure trove of Jam Handy films, created to explain the high-tech mechanical concepts of the day in a way that just about anybody could understand. It has all the trademark features of a Jam Handy production: brilliant visual aids, excellent mechanical analysis, and charming old-timey voice-over work.

Henry Jamison “Jam” Handy was a real character, a rambunctiously productive former Olympic swimmer who made a career out of producing short informational films for soldiers, salesmen, mechanics, and the average layperson. This film, “Spinning Levers,” was commissioned by Chevrolet in 1936 to explain how a manual transmission works—and, as a side benefit, to highlight the then-new synchromesh technology that was a highlight of the ’36 Chevy lineup. It’s basically one of the first advertorials.

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Anyway, take a 10-minute educational break and learn once and for the basics of what’s going on inside most stick-shift transmissions. Even if you understand the concept implicitly, we’re certain you’ll learn something from the irrepressible Jam Handy.

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IIHS: 2015 Ford F-150 Crash Tests Reveal Wildly Disparate Results

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The Ford F-150 aced a suite of crash tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and earned the nonprofit group’s “Top Safety Pick” rating. Except that’s not entirely true.

Only the bestselling body style, the four-door SuperCrew, passed all five tests with the highest-possible “good” rating. The reason? Ford installs steel members fore and aft of the front wheel wells (in yellow, below) to prevent those wheels from intruding into the cabin space, but the company doesn’t fit them to SuperCab or regular-cab bodies.

Ford installed steel reinforcements above, in yellow) only in its 2015 F-150 SuperCrew trucks, and not the other body styles.

During the IIHS small frontal overlap test, which simulates hitting a pole or a car head-on by contacting 25 percent of a vehicle’s frontal area at 40 mph, the SuperCrew’s body cage remained “largely intact” with a “low risk of injuries,” the group said. The smaller F-150 SuperCab pickup (pictured at top) scored “marginal” due to “significant intrusion” of the passenger cabin, as the dashboard and steering wheel came “dangerously close” to the dummy’s chest. Since the A-pillars buckled and other body components “seriously compromised the driver’s survival space,” the IIHS rated this F-150’s structure as “poor,” which is below “marginal” and the group’s worst rating. Vehicles have to earn “good” or “acceptable” ratings in all tests to qualify as a Top Safety Pick.

“That shortchanges buyers who might pick the extended cab thinking it offers the same protection in this type of crash as the crew cab,” said David Zuby, the Institute’s chief research officer. “It doesn’t.”

An Automotive News report on the differing structures published in June prompted the IIHS to test two F-150 body styles instead of the single most popular variant, as it does for every other car it tests. While it’s not unusual to see cars with varying crash structures in the U.S. versus overseas—the U.S. has its own roof-crush standards, as well as other more stringent rules including those for side-curtain airbags—it’s the first time the IIHS has witnessed such divergent results for one U.S.-specified car model. As a result, the IIHS says it’s planning to crash-test several body styles of other full-size pickups this year, and it is investigating whether other manufacturers also are reinforcing vehicle trims it knows the IIHS will test.

Compare the performance of this 2015 Ford F-150 SuperCrew with that of the 2015 Ford F-150 SuperCab pictured at top.

Ford responded to Automotive News by saying that it will add “countermeasures” to 2016 regular-cab and extended SuperCab F-150s, but stopped short of confirming it would install the same steel bars across the full lineup, telling the publication that “the type of countermeasure and structure will vary by cab type.”

In AN‘s June story, Ford said, “We optimize each cab structure based on many factors including cab style, mass, wheelbase, powertrain, and driveline to meet regulatory requirements and achieve public-domain ratings.” Those “public-domain ratings” were clarified by Ford in this week’s AN report to be “crash testing.”

2015 Ford F-150 SuperCab (left) and 2015 Ford F-150 SuperCrew (right).

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The small overlap crash test, first introduced in 2012, forced automakers to quickly adopt changes after the IIHS revealed that most new cars—including luxury sedans—weren’t strong enough to prevent significant injuries in this common accident type. Toyota, for example, launched a 2014.5 model-year Camry that specifically addressed the body structure in relation to the test, and other manufacturers made similar improvements as quickly as the following model year.

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2016 Honda Pilot AWD Tested: It’s Schleptastic!

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2016 Honda Pilot AWD – Instrumented Test

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2016 Honda Pilot AWD Tested: It’s Schleptastic!

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The arrival of a second child in a couple’s life often means many things: the demise of romance, the start of sibling rivalry, and the purchase of a three-row SUV. As the latter has all but usurped the minivan as the most popular kid-schlepper, the Honda Pilot has become a go-to choice for frazzled parents. […]

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2016 Honda Pilot Elite AWD – Instrumented Test

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Why Didn’t Q Order James Bond a Shooting Brake, Like This One?

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The most popular James Bond car ever, a silver DB5, was equipped with a number of gadgets including an ejection seat, smoke screens, and machine guns. As a man who plays as hard as he works however, we wonder if Bond would have been better served by a car with a little more cargo room for, you know, lady friends and stuff.

This 1967 Aston Martin DB6 Shooting Brake sounds like it could’ve done the trick, were it not a few years too young for James’s DB5’s on-screen debut in 1964.

Shortly after the DB5s launch, David Brown, chairman of Aston Martin, wanted a vehicle he could use to transport his dogs around the countryside. The resulting DB5 Shooting Brake was well received by Brown’s friends and a limited number were put into production. The first 12 examples were built on DB5 platforms, and the last six using DB6s. The custom body’s manufacturing was outsourced, with most being built by London coachbuilder Harold Radford and the remaining few by FLM Panelcraft.

According to RM Auctions, this DB6 was originally ordered in 1966 by the current owner’s father, William Weiss Jr., shortly after meeting David Brown at the New York Auto Show. It spent most of its life on Long Island until Weiss’s death at which point the car was relocated to Wyoming. In the early 1990s, it received an in-depth refresh that included a new coat of paint and a motor overhaul, and it currently sits with just under 35K on the clock.

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The car will make its auction debut this August at RM’s annual Monterey auction in California during the world-famous Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. RM expects bidding to push into the $500K range.

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It’s Official: Clarkson, May, and Hammond Sign Deal for Show on Amazon Instant Video

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After months of speculation, it’s finally official: The Top Gear trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond have signed a deal with Amazon to have a new car show on its streaming Instant Video service. Seems like the “fracas” that ended Top Gear turned out to be a rather positive thing, didn’t it?

The show, which is nameless so far (House of Cars was suggested), will appear starting next year. As usual, the trio made some rather humorous comments about the change in their career (via ​​The Guardian):

Clarkson said: “I feel like I’ve climbed out of a biplane and into a spaceship.”

May added: “We have become part of the new age of smart TV. Ironic, isn’t it?”

Hammond said: “Amazon? Oh yes. I have already been there. I got bitten by a bullet ant.”

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Good news! I've got a job with @AmazonVideoUK. Bad news! So have the other two. #AmazonPrime #ItSaysHere

— James May (@MrJamesMay) July 30, 2015

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Mitsu Metamorphosis: The History of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution

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We Ride Shotgun for Hot Laps in the 526-hp 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R!

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2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R: Riding Shotgun in One of the Year’s Most Anticipated Cars – First Ride

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If Six Were Twelve: This Ferrari Enzo–Aping Pontiac Fiero Can Be Yours For Just $6000!

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When General Motors launched the Pontiac Fiero, with its mid-engined architecture and easily replaceable plastic body panels, it had know know that some enterprising homebrew artists would quickly adapt Ferrari-esque coachwork to their new sports car.

What they couldn’t have imagined when the car went on sale toward the end of 1983 is the mighty Enzo Ferrari, a car almost two decades in the future. Not as pretty as the 288GTO or as ’90s outré as the F50, the LaFerrari’s dad remains a hugely impressive machine, even if it’s not as aesthetically glorious as many vehicles of the Maranello concern’s past.

But when the unimaginable meets the probable, you get something like this: a V-6–powered 1986 Fiero with Enzo-reminiscent bodywork. While the Fiero made for a decent-ish 308 and an okay Lamborghini Countach, the Pontiac’s compact dimensions simply don’t square with the Enzo’s length, resulting in a compressed-accordion effect. We’re also big fans of the prominent “V12” badging, because wishful thinking has a curious way of doubling one’s cylinder count.

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On the bright side, the seller’s only asking $6K for this one-of-a-kind Fienzo. It is, however, a bit of a ran-when-parked situation. According to the Craigslist ad, it “needs a tune up after sitting for eight years.” As a bonus, you can tune up a whole Fiero for the price of an Enzo’s lugnut. Buy it now and have it ready for Pebble Beach!

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Passel of Safety Features, New Infotainment Coming to Affordable VW Golf, GTI, Beetle, Jetta for 2016

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Volkswagen is expanding the availability of many of the latest high-tech safety systems to models throughout its lineup. Many were formerly the exclusive province of the Touareg, but now will be offered on the Golf, GTI, Beetle, Jetta, and CC.

Volkswagen’s Lane Assist provides a measure of active steering at speeds above 40 mph, provided it can see the lane markings. It’s available on the Golf, GTI, Golf SportWagen, and CC. (In the Touareg, there is no active steering; instead the system vibrates the steering wheel and flashes a warning in the instrument cluster to warn of lane departure.)

Park Assist is VW’s automated parking feature, which makes its debut for 2016. It can automatically steer into a parallel parking space or back into a perpendicular space. The driver doesn’t need to steer, but must operate the pedals. Park assist will be available on the Golf, GTI, and Golf SportWagen only. Additionally, those same models now also offer front and rear parking sensors.

Blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert already were available on the Touareg and Jetta, but now can be had on the CC, the Beetle, the Golf, the GTI, and the SportWagen.

Adaptive cruise control and forward-collision warning with automatic emergency braking migrates to the CC, the Golf, the GTI, and the SportWagen. The Touareg and Jetta continue to offer it as well.

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Separately, VW announced an upgrade to its infotainment units for 2016, with the rollout of its MIB II interface. MIB II actually consists of four different head units, with touch screens ranging in size from five to eight inches. Depending on the version, some feature pinch-and-swipe functionality, as well as proximity sensors that change the screen as your hand approaches. More important is support for Apple CarPlay (seen above), Android Auto (below), and MirrorLink phone-mirroring. MIB II will be available across the Volkswagen lineup, except for the short-timer Eos convertible and the Touareg.

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