Leno's Secret Porsche, Retro Wrangler, Waymo Calls Cops
PLUS: Tesla Roadster Date, 1,000-HP Lotus, DeLorean's Fall
Releases & Reviews
2027 Jeep Wrangler JL-2A First Look: A Charming Retro Tribute
The JL-2A honors the 1945 Willys CJ-2A, the first civilian Jeep, and is built on the Wrangler Rubicon with 33-inch all-terrain tires. It is the first Wrangler with a full-color interior, in beige and brown. The limited-edition package costs about $5,000, putting the two-door at $53,400.
2026 Honda Prelude Long-Term Test Begins: Living With Honda’s Most Controversial Car
The Prelude will serve as a daily driver until next summer. The hybrid coupe makes 200 horsepower and 232 lb-ft, shares the Civic Type R's chassis, and costs about $44,000 without ventilated or power seats. Jerry Perez says strangers praise its looks while enthusiasts criticize its drivetrain and price.
Technology, Market Data & Analysis
Volkswagen’s slippery new EV breaks a bunch of efficiency records
Volkswagen claims the Mission Efficiency prototype's 0.158 drag coefficient is the lowest of any road-legal car. It covered nearly 800 miles from Wolfsburg to Vienna on one charge of its 55-kWh battery, at an average of about 42 mph. It uses the motor and battery from the ID. Polo.
Survey: These Vehicles Will Most Likely Hit the 250,000-Mile Mark
An iSeeCars.com analysis of 400 million vehicles ranks the Toyota Sequoia first, with a nearly 40% chance of reaching the mark. Toyota and Lexus hold nine of the top 10 spots, and the Ford F-150 misses the top 25. Car and Driver notes the data favors high-mileage drivers.
Car Culture
This Weird Brazilian Company Used To Build American Pickup Trucks So Huge They Towered Over Ford F-350s
Tropical Cabines began in 1985 by doubling the cabs of Brazilian Ford F-1000 pickups. It later built an F-250 sedan wearing the rear end of a Ford Focus and the medium-duty F-Maxx, priced around $300,000. The company claimed over 9,000 conversions before closing in 2021.
Jay Leno Drives the 920HP Secret Le Mans Porsche Hypercar: RML P39! | Jay Leno's Garage
On Jay Leno's Garage, RML's CEO explains how the British engineering firm raised a Porsche 911 Turbo S from about 650 to 920 horsepower. Its carbon-fiber body and hydraulic wing, splitter, and ride height target GT3 RS track pace with Turbo S road comfort. Leno calls it beautifully done.
Miscellaneous
Waymo pulls over, calls cops on riders with a ghost gun
San Francisco police arrested two juveniles carrying a loaded AR-style ghost gun after their Waymo stopped and alerted authorities. Waymo told the Los Angeles Times it detected a terms-of-service violation involving a firearm. A Waymo faked a breakdown earlier this year when juvenile riders fired a toy gun.
Ford Patents a Pickup You Can Move by Pushing on It
The system inches a stationary pickup forward or backward when an operator pushes the pop-up grab handle on Ford's optional tailgate step. It targets unloading materials like mulch, with an optional dead-man switch confirming the input. Car and Driver calls the idea genuinely wacky.
Quick Links
2027 Ram 1500 SRT TRX First Test: More Power and Off-Road Punch Equals More Fun
The supercharged V-8 now makes 777 horsepower, and MotorTrend's test truck reached 60 mph in 3.8 seconds.
Elon Musk Says the New Tesla Roadster Will Be Revealed Very Soon
Musk posted that the second-generation Roadster debuts October 1, after Tesla missed an April 1 reveal and several earlier dates since showing the concept in 2017.
Lotus Update: Details About the 1,000-HP Type 135 Esprit and More
Lotus CEO Qingfeng Feng says the Type 135 will offer hybrid V-8 and V-6 powertrains and slot between the Emira and the Evija hypercar.
Bovensiepen Spider Unveiled as a Meaner-Looking and More Powerful Z4
Bovensiepen, launched by the family that started Alpina, limits the Frank Stephenson-designed roadster to 99 units and raises the Z4's turbocharged straight-six to 435 horsepower.
Back To The Future Made DeLorean Famous. So Why Did The Company Fail?
The Northern Ireland factory built about 7,500 DMC-12s but sold only about 3,000 before the company entered receivership in 1982, the year John DeLorean was arrested in an FBI sting and later acquitted.
LIQUID HOT! 2027 Genesis GV60 MAGMA Review
TheStraightPipes finds the 640-horsepower GV60 Magma rides more comfortably than the related Ioniq 5 N, with a 222-mile range and a US price of about $70,000.
Late-Night McLaren Crash Kills Well-Known Cars and Coffee Founder
Authorities found South OC Cars and Coffee co-founder James Wehr, 27, and a second person dead after a McLaren 720S hit a tree in Irvine, California, early Sunday and split in two.