Tag Archives: Cars

The 1999 Charger R/T Concept Was The One Dodge Should’ve Made

July 14, 2021 admin

Welcome to another installment of Cars Of Future Past, a series at Jalopnik where we flip through the pages of history to explore long-forgotten concepts and how they had a hand in shaping the cars we know today.

Off the heels of last week’s exploration into the 2004 Ford Shelby Cobra with Chris Theodore, today we’re discussing a different attempt at resurrecting an American icon. Much like Ford in the early 2000s, Chrysler’s concept game was strong throughout the ’90s. It also had a knack for bringing many of its experiments to market, though some of the cooler ideas — the Copperhead, Jeepster and Pronto Spyder, to name a few — sadly never left the show floor despite a fair degree of public interest.

Count today’s subject, the 1999 Dodge Charger R/T concept, among them. Long before Hellcats and the return of the Hemi came this vision of what a Dodge muscle car of the new millennium could be. And much like Dodge’s awkwardly-made promise to bring American muscle to the encroaching age of electric motoring, this Charger was intended to be friendlier to the environment than its predecessors.

What It Was

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The 1999 North American International Auto Show proved to be a very prescient one in hindsight. Mind you, that prescience didn’t produce uniformly desirable production cars.This was the Detroit event that introduced the world to the Pontiac Aztek, after all. It also gave us the Cadillac Evoq (that previewed the XLR), the Dodge Power Wagon (sort of a more extreme take on what would eventually morph into the 2002 Ram 1500), and the Charger R/T concept.

Born out of a time when the R/T badge represented the pinnacle of Chrysler’s performance offerings, this Charger had all the makings of the Viper’s cheaper, more practical sibling. It was shaped like a wedge but more down-to-earth than the Prowler, which Chrysler somehow managed to commercialize. It disguised its four doors with a coupe roofline, long before German brands popularized the practice. And it sounded like a trip to drive.

The Charger R/T was powered by a naturally-aspirated 4.7-liter V8 developing 325 horsepower, sending all that grunt to the rear wheels. The whole package was said to weigh about 3,000 pounds in total, albeit obviously without the kind of safety compliance necessary for a production car.

Still, there was a lot to like — even if the five-speed manual’s shifter design necessitated a questionable gripping technique (and maybe a mosaic filter, too).

We still haven’t even broached this Charger’s quirkiest trait — its fuel system. That V8 was fed with compressed natural gas. And Chrysler was all too proud to point it out in a pamphlet I swear my brother brought back home for me from the New York Auto Show when I was six years old. Here’s what it said, courtesy of Allpar:

New materials used to make this compressed natural gas (CNG) storage tank might enable passenger cars to get double the range (300 miles) and all the trunk space (nearly 13 cubic feet). Other CNG vehicles using current storage tanks have to stuff tanks in the trunk of the car and only achieve about 150 miles range. Natural gas produces 25 percent less carbon dioxide than gasoline and lessens the dependence on foreign oil. Emissions would be so low from this Charger that they meet the strictest of standards currently enforced by the sate of California.

The Charger’s CNG fiberglass pressure cells were fortified with gas-impermeable high-density polyurethane thermoplastic, wrapped in carbon and glass filaments wound together with an epoxy resin. They sat inside a foam crate to ensure durability, but were laid flat under the trunk floor so as to consume as little space as possible. They kept the gas pressurized at a nice and tight 3,600 psi.

It sounds nice in theory, but the time never seemed to be right for CNG passenger cars to become a thing. The storage tanks were expensive to build, distribution was a problem nobody seemed interested in solving, and then there was the whole dilemma of fracking. All that for a 25 percent reduction on CO2 emissions, and it’s little surprise why hybrids and electric cars emerged as more attractive.

Why It Matters

You can’t really talk about this Charger without mentioning that Charger, the eventual production car built on the LX platform that succeeded this LH-based ’99 concept.

The show car was clearly more reflective of Dodge’s design philosophy immediately before the millennium: cab-forward everything, with grimacing crossbar fascias and stylistic cues pulled from the Viper wherever applicable. A group of designers contributed to it, including Tom Gale and Joe Dehner. Dehner later called the ’99 Charger the car he’s proudest to have worked on in his career. I know I’m biased, but in this instance, I think his back-patting is entirely justified.

I’ll never understand how Chrysler could abandon this design in favor of greenlighting the banal, three-box LX Charger half a decade later. This concept was a tremendous feat of visual packaging — a sport sedan you’d easily mistake for a coupe in a passing glance — with functional side and hood vents cutting in just enough to accentuate the car’s classic Coke-bottle proportions, without making the whole affair look cartoonishly mean.

This might sound strange to say, but this car had a great face, brimming with personality. It looked like a superhero’s mask, exuding strength and confidence but not in a macho way. At the rear, a flat, smoked-out lightbar lent a very futuristic graphic for the time. The production Charger may have looked brawnier than this rendition, but it was sure as hell clumsier, too.

What makes the ’99 Charger’s fate all the more crushing is that, studying the interior, there doesn’t appear to be much inside this car that would have been too ambitious for production. Even the door cards had safety reflectors — the kind of mundane detail hinting that, at some point, this Charger was pegged as more than a design exercise. Instead, it wound up just another casualty of the merger of equals era.

What Games You Can Drive It In

The ’99 Charger concept almost seems like a car made for a video game, and yet it didn’t wind up in many. In fact, you can only find it in one: Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition. Yes, that Dub. It was 2005, after all.

MC3 remains the high point of that series for many fans, with an extremely varied car roster, three open-world cities (or four, if you count Tokyo in the later released Remix edition) and a star-studded licensed soundtrack that included Pitbull and Lil Wayne at a time before they became too expensive to buy for a racing game. It was overflowing with content, and it even included the Charger SRT-8 for those who wanted to compare the production car against the concept.

Still, it shouldn’t have marked the Charger’s only game appearance. A preview of Gran Turismo 4 from 2004, courtesy of The Next Level, showed Polyphony Digital staff photographing the car in a Chrysler facility. There’s a cameo appearance from the 1993 Chrysler Thunderbolt concept in the same shot. In another image, the team is seen capturing a 1970 Challenger. That Challenger was drivable in Gran Turismo 5, but the Charger was never immortalized in the same way. This car deserved better.

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Here Are Your Nightmare Two-Car Garages

June 30, 2021 admin

Some cars are just plain, old not good cars. Whether they are unreliable, have terrible driving dynamics, baffling design or, worse, all three, some models really can be nightmare fuel.

The worst of the worst for me would be out-of-warranty German luxury cars. Specifically an F01 BMW 750i with the terrible N63 twin-turbo V8 and a VW Touareg V10 (Sorry Mercedes).

The F01 7 Series was just not good. If you want one you can try and save yourself some trouble by going with the I6 powered 740i, but then you still have to deal with the electronics. The 750i is worse. Not only do you have the unreliability of the engine (the hot vee setup with the turbos in the valley of the engine was not a good idea on this thing) but you have to deal with the electronic issues as well. The Touareg V10 and its problems are well documented.

We asked readers what was their nightmare two car garage. These were their answers.

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Mercedes-Benz Wants You To Look At The Skeleton Underneath Its Latest SL

May 19, 2021 admin

You know how your housecat will occasionally go catch a vole or something, then haul it back to your doorstep to present to you as a present? Well Mercedes-Benz has captured a wild R232-chassis SL-class and ripped it limb from limb. The bits that make it alive have been shredded and torn asunder. Its skin has been torn free from its skeleton, and only the visceral remains have been dropped lifeless and stiff with rigor on our collective doorstep. Here it is, the chassis upon which the next SL will be revived.

Unlike some other automotive blogs, I’m going to absolutely celebrate Mercedes for its decision to continue with the SL lineage. While some might question the motivation of Merc to build a new ultra-lux convertible grand tourer, despite declining sales numbers, and favor the company to build ever increasing numbers of GL-prefix SUV chassis. I will give a hearty thanks to the three-pointed star for continuing the lineage of big sporty SLs that reaches back to the 1950s.

At its peak back in 2002, the SL-class sold some 14,000 units here in the U.S. market, but in 2018 the silver arrows couldn’t sell more than 2,126 examples. There are a lot of reasons for that, but a big one is that the R231-generation of SL has been on sale since 2011. Ten years of the same car means it’s well past time to develop a new one. Add in a dealership network no longer interested in pitching convertible sales, and a market increasingly being pushed to more profitable and more expensive SUVs, and even the wealthy don’t want convertibles anymore, I guess.

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The SL is such an important part of Mercedes-Benz history, and I contend that without the original 300SL, the company wouldn’t be what it is today. I’m happy to see the de-skinned naked skeleton of the new SL-class, because it means there is a new SL-class. Here’s hoping it’s a good one.

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Subaru’s First Electric SUV Has A Real Name And A Design You’re Certain To Confuse

May 11, 2021 admin

If you haven’t heard, Toyota and Subaru are making an electric SUV together mainly for North America, though it’ll be sold in other places, too. We’ve already seen Toyota’s effort — it’s called the bZ4X — and today we’ve gotten a glimpse at Subaru’s take, though it’s clad in shadows. We also have a name: Solterra.

Subaru says the moniker is inspired by the Latin words for “sun” and “earth,” and that it represents the company’s commitment to “deliver traditional SUV capabilities in an environmentally responsible package.” It also sounds like an excellent name for a Coachella-like music festival. Subaru’s got some real branding opportunity here.

Comparing the Solterra teaser above — which I’ve brightened and cropped in on to make a little easier to see — against the bZ4X, it seems Subaru’s design won’t stray very far from Toyota’s. Much like the BRZ/GR86 duo, these cars look to have the same basic shape, down to details like the way the side windows terminate, how the taillights arc around the rear quarter, and how the front bumper curves around the car. The headlight cluster appears a little different, mimicking the daytime LED pattern Subaru has used in its latest models.

Just as my colleague José said of the bZ4X when it first appeared, the Solterra looks to carry a very normal shape for a battery-electric crossover — from what we can see of it anyway. There’s no low-slung profile and sloping roofline like the Mustang Mach-E, or egg-shaped properties of the Tesla Model X and Y here. These Toyobaru twins could easily be confused for a RAV4, Highlander or Forester if you’re not paying close attention, and I suppose that’s the point.

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The Solterra will be the first application of the e-Subaru global EV platform in a production car, as the press release states. It’s a little funny in and of itself because Toyota’s calling the very same architecture e-TNGA. At least Toyota gave Subaru its due when it unveiled the bZ4X, attributing the concept’s “comfortable and engaging driving experience” to Subaru’s all-wheel drive knowhow.

Subaru says the Solterra will hit showrooms next year. There’s no word on the timetable for a full reveal, but if we’re already getting a name and teaser shots, that shouldn’t be too far off in the distant future.

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The Audi A6 E-Tron Concept Is A Long-Range EV With A Confusing Name

April 19, 2021 admin

Audi’s electric range is finally taking shape, now that the E-Tron GT and Q4 E-Tron have joined the existing E-Tron crossover. And in case you thought the E-Tron branding couldn’t possibly get more puzzling, Audi just revealed a concept of the A6 E-Tron it expects to hit showrooms sometime in the next two years.

It’s bothering my obsessive-compulsive tendencies that E-Tron now exists as a standalone nameplate and a version of existing Audi models, but I’ll try my best to keep that down to focus on the concept itself, which looks pretty good. The A6 E-Tron debuted at the Shanghai Auto Show today, and marks the first Audi we’ve seen based on the company’s Premium Platform Electric architecture.

Audi calls the A6 E-Tron a sportback, which followers of the brand may argue actually make it more of an A7 by nature. According to Audi, the A6 name was chosen to link this car to one of the brand’s most historically significant models, and dimensionally it’s equivalent to the existing A6. Here I am again talking about the car’s name — you just can’t get away from it with these new electric Audis.

The design you see here is reportedly 95 percent representative of the final model, which isn’t bad news considering that the A6 E-Tron cleans up for the most part. Sure, it’s derivative in places — the high beltline of the profile evokes the departed Ford Fusion in my mind’s eye, and the way the headlights meet the grille — I’m sorry, the inverted face, as Audi calls it — strikes me as remarkably similar to the Mustang Mach-E’s furrowed brow. Neither of these familiarities are necessarily bad though. Don’t hold your breath for images of the interior yet — Audi is saving those for later.

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Audi designers say the tautness of the roofline and width of the track on this concept will be scaled back slightly ahead of production, though the black trim near the floor that looks like a cutaway panel will be retained. It’s a neat visual trick that slims the car down somewhat, and I like the way it trails toward the rear bumper. There are projectors at the corners that beam light at the ground to greet passengers and signal turns that may or may not make it to the final iteration. There’s a precedent for similar tech in road cars already, though, so it wouldn’t be inconceivable if it did come to pass.

In terms of performance figures, Audi is mostly keeping those close to the chest for now. This concept packs a pair of electric motors combining for 469 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque. That’s projected to get the A6 E-Tron to 62 mph from a standstill in under four seconds.

Illustration for article titled The Audi A6 E-Tron Concept Is A Long-Range EV With A Confusing Name — Image: Audi

Turning to range, Audi claims the A6 E-Tron will return more than 700 km on a full charge (434 miles), though under the generous WLTP cycle. The E-Tron GT is rated for 298 miles by that same measure, so the A6 E-Tron is sure to bring a huge range improvement to the brand even if the actual, real-world distance falls short of the WLTP-based projection. For reference, the latest Tesla Model S starts at an EPA-estimated 412 miles of range.

The A6 E-Tron’s efficiency is helped by an ultralow drag coefficient of 0.22 — one of the lowest out there, matching Mercedes-Benz’s A-Class — though there’s no confirmation on whether those slight exterior changes to the production car will dent that somewhat. Like other new electric Audis, it supports 800-volt peak charging that aims to replenish 300 km of range in just 10 minutes.

As far as timing of the sedan’s arrival, for now Audi is saying only that its first PPE-based cars will emerge in the second half of next year. That will likely begin with the Q6 E-Tron, before this A6. In the meantime, I’m going to try and work out a flowchart to make sense of all these E-Trons.

Here Are 28 Interesting Things About The 2022 Mercedes EQS

April 16, 2021 admin

Mercedes premiered its new all-electric version of the S-Class, called the EQS, on Thursday. It is a big deal for them, which is why the EQS’s press release is dozens and dozens of pages. Here are 28 interesting things I found after devouring it all.

Fact one: Mercedes says that the EQS is the “world’s most aerodynamic production car,” with a drag coefficient of 0.20. How does that help in terms of range?

Compared to an aerodynamically good electric car (cd value 0.23), this delivers a range advantage of four (WLTP cycle) to five percent (Mercedes long-distance measurement).

Fact two: There is a port on the left side of the car for windshield wiper fluid. This is that port:

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Fact three: I can only assume a team of people were well-paid for this:

Light design: the headlights have a striking daytime running light signet with three light dots and are connected to each other via a light band. This is just as defining for the EQ family as the lights at the rear: the rear lights are also connected by a light band, with inner workings in the form of a curved 3D helix.

Fact four: Mercedes says that “over 100 million rods and cones are located in the retina of the human eye,” which is why the EQS must be visually appealing.

Fact five: You can play music from streaming services in the EQS, of course, but Mercedes isn’t sure why you would want to because it put a lot of thought into the interior sound design.

The EQS comes from the factory with two soundscapes: Silver Waves and Vivid Flux. They can be selected or switched off as sound experiences on the central display. The driver and passengers are greeted with a welcome sound when approaching the vehicle and when getting in. A corresponding aura sound also accompanies exiting and locking the EQS. The driving sound is produced by the speakers of the sound system in the interior. The new ENERGIZING NATURE programs of ENERGIZING COMFORT also offer an impressively realistic listening experience. The soothing sounds called Forest Glade, Sounds of the Sea and Summer Rain were created in cooperation with nature acoustician Gordon Hempton. As with the other ENERGIZING COMFORT programs, other senses are addressed with ambient lighting and images. Streaming services are another alternative to the new type of silence…

Fact six: There is a fragrance for the top-of-the-line EQS. It is called No. 6 MOOD Linen — “carried by the green note of a fig and linen.”.

Fact seven: The heated massage seats aren’t just any heated massage seats.

Finally, there are up to ten different massage programs in the EQS that can be felt with the whole body. The seat features inflatable air chambers that can be enhanced with heating for a “Hot Stone” massage. The vibration motors in the seats also enhance the effect of a relaxing massage.

Fact eight: The wheels have been optimized for better aerodynamics, and so has the rear spoiler and the underbody and a lot of other things to get that 0.20 drag coefficient. And the ICE A-Class and current S-Class actually aren’t far behind.

For more than three decades, the aerodynamicists at Mercedes-Benz have been achieving top results. Currently, the A-Class Sedan (V 177) and the S-Class (V 223) are the worldwide record holders with a cd value of 0.22. The special simulation tools and the Mercedes-Benz aero-acoustics wind tunnel commissioned in 2013 make a decisive contribution to this.

Fact nine: The EQS has optional chauffeur-like auto door opening.

If desired, the EQS can even open and close the driver’s door like a chauffeur. If the driver approaches the EQS from the side, the door handle first extends at a distance of approximately 20 feet. If the distance is only about 5 feet, the car unlocks and automatically opens the driver’s door. This special welcome function can be activated or deactivated via MBUX.

And if you’re afraid of the door opening at an inopportune time — say a car is approaching from behind — the EQS has many, many sensors for protection.

Fact ten: The variable distribution of power on the all-wheel drive EQS 4MATIC is somewhat sophisticated.

The required drive torque at the wheels is checked 10,000 times per minute and set if necessary: The reaction is thus much faster than would ever be possible with a mechanical all-wheel drive.

Fact eleven: There is an app that goes with the EQS, of course, called the Mercedes me connect app. Among other things, it has the following function:

These include a filter option that allows the charging points to be sorted according to criteria such as availability or charging capacity. The likelihood over the course of the day of a particular charging point being busy is also determined and displayed on the basis of a probability calculation.

Fact twelve: The navigation system features the following probably useful function, intended to alleviate range anxiety:

If there is a risk of not reaching the destination or the charging station with the set settings, Active Range Monitoring issues the prompt to activate ECO driving functions. In addition, the driving speed for reaching the next charging station or the destination is calculated and displayed in the speedometer. Under the menu item “Range”, the EQS driver can switch off various energy consumers to increase the range and activate the ECO driving functions to support a more efficient driving style.

Fact thirteen: Not sure where they got this idea:

There will also be small entertaining games such as a number puzzle or a Mercedes-Benz quiz. You can even play games with each other on the front passenger display and the tablet in the rear in multi-player mode.

Fact fourteen: There is a “beginner driver” mode, for all the teens who are going to learn to drive in a six-figure EV.

In beginner driver mode, the driving characteristics are deliberately gentler. Nevertheless, sufficient power reserves are available for overtaking. Driving mode C is automatically activated, while driving mode Sport is disabled. The top speed is limited to approx. 75 mph, ESP-OFF cannot be activated.

Fact fifteen: Here is how the base EQS without the fancy Hyperscreen will be set up. You get an armrest.

The base model without MBUX Hyperscreen has a slightly different center console. There is a soft armrest in the rear section. It is first visually interrupted before being transitioned into the floating central display.

Fact sixteen: The MBUX infotainment system is willing to get kind of creepy.

If someone always calls one particular friend on the way home on Tuesday evenings, in future they will always receive a suggestion regarding this particular call on this day of the week and at this time. A business card appears with their contact information and – if this is stored – their photo.

Fact seventeen: The Hyperscreen is molded at a temperature of 1,202 degrees.

This hot forming of glass at process temperatures of approx. 1202°F places the highest demands on mold making and process control and is used in the production of optical glass for camera lenses and smartphone cover glasses. With the MBUX Hyperscreen, this process enables a distortion-free view of the displays across the entire width of the vehicle, regardless of the radius of the cover glass.

Fact eighteen: And, yes, Mercedes is worried about all that glass hitting your body during a crash, too.

The MBUX Hyperscreen is bolted directly to the cockpit cross-member for stability: The connection to a stabilizing magnesium support as the structural component of the MBUX Hyperscreen is made via aluminum brackets. Their honeycomb structure allows them to deform in a controlled manner in a crash. For side impact protection, the cover glass also does not extend all the way to the doors. In the event of a severe side impact, there are also predetermined breaking points behind the side air vents.

Fact nineteen: The cabin air filtration system is extremely impressive. I do not at all feel jealous.

Thanks to its purpose design, the EQS accommodates a large filter system under the front hood. The HEPA Filter’s dimensions are 23”/16”/1.6” and its volume is almost three gallons. Filtration takes place in three stages. A coarse pre-filter retains leaves, snow and sand and traps larger particles. At the same time, it protects the HEPA filter from a high concentration of coarse particles. The separation in this HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter uses a mechanical process by means of a synthetic membrane: The microfiber layer traps fine dust of the class PM 2.5 to PM 0.3 – these particles are therefore smaller than 2.5 μm. Over 99.65 percent of particles of all sizes are removed according to the filter’s efficiency certified pursuant to DIN EN 1822. The reduction of pollutants achieved at the filter is comparable to that in clean rooms and operating rooms.

In the third and final step, further fine particles as well as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and unpleasant odors are filtered out. The filtration of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides is carried out by special activated charcoals in the HEPA filter and the interior air filter. Due to their pore structure, they have a very large inner surface area. Around 600 grams of activated charcoal are used in the HEPA filter of the EQS. The adsorption area is equivalent to about 150 football fields. Activated charcoal is produced from coconut shells, which are a by-product of the cosmetics industry.

Fact twenty: Is there a power nap mode for the driver? You bet your ass there is.

During a break in a road trip, i.e. at a service area or charging station, the Power Nap program can be selected. The program has three phases – falling asleep, sleeping, and waking up – which can increase the driver’s performance and give them new energy. A new feature of the short sleep program during a break is the expanded conditioning of the interior: the EQS ensures a sleep-promoting atmosphere by moving the driver’s seat into a rest position, closing the side windows and panorama roof sunshade, activating air ionization, and adjusting the ambient lighting accordingly. Soothing sounds and the depiction of a starry sky on the central display support falling asleep – if Power Nap has been started for the front passenger seat, this also appears on the front passenger display.

Waking up is accompanied by a pleasantly activating soundscape, appropriate fragrance as well as a briefly active subtle massage and seat ventilation. Finally, the seat is raised again and the sunshade in the roof liner is opened. This ends the program and returns the driver to the task of driving.

Fact twenty-one: The Burmester(R) sound system has 15 speakers.

The Burmester® surround sound system in the EQS comprises 15 speakers with a total output of 710 watts and produces an unusually expressive, natural sound – the Burmester “feel-good sound”.

Fact twenty-two: The EQS has a literal red alert.

As an additional contribution to accident prevention, Active Ambient Lighting integrates driver assistance systems and supports them with an animation. Active Brake Assist, for example, warns drivers of the risk of a collision by illuminating the instrument panel in red. With Active Blind Spot Assist, a red light in the door also signals a hazardous situation.

Fact twenty-three: The ride height changes for ride comfort, depending on mode and speed.

This level control is part of AIRMATIC. It keeps the ground clearance constant irrespective of the vehicle load, but also makes changes. By way of example, in COMFORT mode, the vehicle body is lowered by 0.4 inches at high speeds above 75 mph and another 0.4 inches at over 100 mph to reduce aerodynamic drag and increase handling stability. If the vehicle drops below 50 mph, the body level returns to the initial position. Up to 25 mph the body can be raised by 1 inch at the touch of a button, above 31 mph it is automatically lowered back to normal level.

Fact twenty-four: The rear wheels can turn in by ten degrees, making the turning circle as small as 37.5 feet.

The operating principle of rear-axle steering in detail: An electric motor drives a spindle at the rear axle via a drive belt. This makes axial adjustments to the spindle. Depending on the speed and the steering angle, the rear wheels turn in the same or the opposite direction as the front wheels (same direction or counter- direction). In simplified terms, this produces more agility and a smaller turning circle by counter-steering and more stability with same-direction steering. The environmental data of the vehicle sensors (radar, camera, ultrasonic) are used to adapt the maximum angle to the relevant situation. The system switches from counter- direction to same-direction steering at speeds over 37 mph.

Fact twenty-five: Up to 12 moves.

Active Parking Assist also uses the rear-axle steering and thus enters the parking space with ease. The calculation of the lanes (trajectories) is adjusted to this. And when things get really tight, it can make up to 12 moves. Acceleration, steering, braking, gear changes and turn indicators are controlled automatically.

Fact twenty-six: The powertrain can irreversibly shut itself down as a protective measure.

Only in the case of very severe accidents, where the vehicle is usually incapable of being driven anyway, is the high-voltage system shut down irreversibly and unable to be activated without repair. When shutting down, there is a provision to ensure that within a few seconds there is no residual voltage in the high-voltage system outside the battery that could cause injury.

Fact twenty-seven: The EQS makes a sound at low speeds to warn pedestrians of its presence.

The electric-car-specific innovations also include an Acoustic Vehicle Alert System (standard). This makes it easier for pedestrians to notice the EQS at low speeds. One sound generator sits weatherproof in the front right wheel arch and in the rear underbody respectively. An EQ-specific sound is generated up to a vehicle speed of approx. 19 mph. It becomes louder and higher with increasing speed. This change allows conclusions to be drawn about the driving status (braking/acceleration).

Above 12 mph, the sound is gradually faded out, since above this threshold the vehicle can be perceived via the then dominant rolling and wind noises. If the speed drops back to 18 mph, the sound is faded in again.

Fact twenty-eight: The seat belt buckles light up.

In conjunction with the MANUFAKTUR Nappa leather Package, the EQS has illuminated seat belt buckles at the front and rear. They support buckling up, and make it easy to find the latch at night, because the lights of the belt buckle pulsate at that time. When stationary and at low speed, the lights are solid.

There are more than 28 interesting facts about the 2022 Mercedes EQS, but these are the ones that caught my eye. The one thing you can never say about Mercedes is that it doesn’t pay attention to the details.

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I’m Not Sure If I Think Volkswagen is Really Changing Its Name To Voltswagen, But Let’s Talk About The Original

March 30, 2021 admin

As I suspect you’ve heard, Volkswagen of America is claiming that they’ll be changing their name to Voltswagen of America, as a way to highlight their new focus on electric vehicles. You may also have heard that we at Jalopnik are pretty skeptical this is really happening, to the point that our bossman Rory said he’ll get a VW tattoo if they do it. It’s April Fool’s day the day after tomorrow, people. More significantly, though, is that “Voltswagen” for an electron-powered VW is by no means a new name. In fact, it goes back to at least 1968.

Sure, VW is playing it up, with the Voltswagen name used on their website showcasing the ID.4, and they did tweet this:

Okay, okay, we get it. Maybe VW will use the Voltswagen name in specific EV branding, but I’m not sold they’re changing the name of the whole company in the U.S. to “Voltswagen of America.”

We’ll see how it plays out on April first. Until then, I’d like to talk about where I think the Voltswagen name first came from, and I’m happy to say it’s a pretty fun story.

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It’s from the Great Electric Car Race of 1968.

That first Voltswagen (well, until we find out about an earlier one) was a 1958 VW Type 2 bus, owned by Caltech student Wally Rippel, who converted it to electric power around 1966 or so, and drove it around town to, as Caltech’s magazine Engineering and Science reported back in 1968,

“…to demonstrate an alternative to smog.”

Rippel then became part of an electric car team at Caltech that challenged an MIT team to a cross-country electric car race: the Caltech team would drive from Pasadena, California to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the MIT team, in a 1968 Chevy Corvair donated by GM and converted to electric power at MIT, would travel in the opposite direction.

As you might have guessed, attempting this sort of cross-country EV race back in 1968 was borderline bonkers. It wouldn’t even be easy to do today; back then, it was almost Sisyphean.

To accomplish the feat, 54 charging stations were established along the 3,311 mile route, placed between 21 and 95 miles apart. Some of these charging stations were extremely improvised, like this one in Winslow, Arizona that looks to be tapping right off a small roadside power transformer:

The race was, by all accounts, something of a shitshow: long charge times for both cars (45 minutes to an hour), the MIT Corvair caught on fire, one of the Caltech drivers got the mumps, both teams ended up burning out critical components (motors, transformers, etc), and both teams made significant use of ice to cool the batteries.

The Caltech team only used 50 pounds of ice, and only when recharging their lead-cobalt (a variant of lead-acid) batteries. The MIT team’s more advanced nickel-cadmium batteries constantly struggled with overheating, and had to be packed full of ice pretty much all the time, with the team using 350 pounds of ice during the trip.

The race was a great underdog vs. rich kid sort of story, like most movies made in the 1980s. Where Caltech’s Voltswagen was just a student’s personal project car, built using pretty basic and mainstream electrical tech, MIT’s donated brand-new Corvair was cutting-edge in every respect at the time, and as a result was faster (it could do about 60 MPH instead of 55) and was supposed to have a longer range, and recharge faster, as well. It even had a special aerodynamically optimized front facia. It did look pretty cool.

The advanced NiCad batteries used by the MIT team were worth $20,000 in 1968 dollars—that’s about $151,000 today! MIT was not playing around, here.

In practice, though, the technical advantages really didn’t come to matter at all. The MIT car was plagued by technical snags and, while it technically finished the race before the Caltech bus, penalties assessed for all the time it had to be towed en route (the Corvair had to be towed 250 of the race’s first 500 miles at a penalty of 5 min per mile!) eventually gave the win to Caltech, with a time of 210 hours—30 minutes less than MIT.

They won by just 30 minutes! That’s amazing!

The Voltswagen wasn’t all that primitive, though—it did have the ability to do some regenerative braking, using the motor driven by the wheels to generate electricity to recharge the batteries, which was used on a long downhill grade into Needles, California.

Caltech’s Voltswagen proved a few crucial things: sometimes proven reliability beats bleeding-edge tech, and if you’re doing a cross-country drive, it’s great to have a vehicle you can easily sleep in.

You really should read through the whole Caltech article; it’s a fascinating look at how far we’ve come and a great insight into how clever and bold these early EV pioneers were.

Wally Rippel, the owner of the Voltswagen, later went on to work for JPL and then later Tesla, helping to develop the motor for the original Tesla Roadster around 2006.

Maybe Volkswagen will really become Voltswagen. Maybe not. Either way, it’s worth taking a moment to commemorate that original 1958 Voltswagen, the winner of the first ever Great Transcontinental Electric Car race.

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2022 Porsche 911 GT3 Keeps Everything You Love And Still Manages To Be Quicker

February 16, 2021 admin

The new 911 GT3 isn’t really that new at all, at least in concept — and that’s what makes it brilliant. Oh, sure, the body is clearly wider, there’s that new swan-neck rear wing you could land a small aircraft on and the front suspension loses the struts for a double-wishbone scheme, similar to the one inside the 911 RSR. The new GT3 is definitely a better car on paper, but it’s also a familiar one in all the right ways.

Porsche pulled the cover off the 992-generation GT3 today, and there are two key components among the raft of updates that are mercifully constant. First, the engine is still a naturally-aspirated, 4.0-liter flat-six that revs all the way up to 9,000 rpm, now producing 502 horsepower — roughly 10 HP more than the 991 GT3’s engine did by the end of its lifespan. Second, it can still be had with an optional six-speed manual transmission. You have to hand it to Porsche; for all the buzz around the Taycan and its SUVs, it’s still giving the purist GT crowd what it clamors for.

The new 911 GT3 is a bigger car than the one it’s replacing, but Porsche found clever ways to nip and tuck and keep the car’s overall curb weight on a par with its predecessor. The seven-speed PDK-equipped GT3 tips the scales at 3,162 pounds, which is between 50 and 10 pounds heavier, depending on the gearbox inside the 991 you’re comparing it to. A carbon-fiber reinforced plastic hood, decklid and wing, along with windows, brake discs and forged-alloy wheels all optimized for lightness help the GT3 dance when you command it to.

And boy, can it dance. Porsche took the new GT3 around the Nürburgring Nordschleife as you’d expect, though the lap time it churned out is nothing short of extraordinary. At the hands of Lars Kern, the 992 GT3 circled the ’Ring in 6:55.2, if we’re going by the older, slightly shorter route for calculating Nordschleife laps. This scheme offers a better point of comparison because it allows us to see how the 992 GT3 stacks up against older Porsche models.

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The post-facelift 991 GT3 did a 7:12.7 in 2017, and a year later the 991 GT3 RS turned in a 6:56.4. How about the 918 Spyder? Even Porsche’s flagship hypercar, for its $845,000 price when new, could muster but only a 6:57 flat. Listen, I’m not one to gawk over Nürburgring records where cars manage to shave a tenth of a second off, but beating the previous generation car by 17 seconds is a praiseworthy feat.

How, you might ask, is the GT3 managing this when it weighs about the same, if not a little more, and cranks out similar power? Well, that new suspension probably helps navigate the Nürburgring’s infamous bumps and judders, but most of the credit likely goes to the new car’s aero kit, which is capable of generating up to 150 percent more downforce than the 991 GT3’s when tweaked to its most aggressive setting. Say what you will about the aesthetics of the “hung” wing at the back — personally, I think it’s one of the most attractive renditions of that design — but the vast uninterrupted surface area where the pylons would normally connect does wonders for high-speed cornering.

In a straight line, Porsche says the new GT3 will hit 60 mph in 3.2 seconds with the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission equipped and top out at 197 mph. If you’re less bothered by turning laps on track days, you’ll be happy to know a wing-less Touring version of the new GT3 is in the works — and that’s a model we’ve had nice things to say about in the past.

The regular GT3 will start making deliveries in the fall for a price Porsche hasn’t disclosed yet. History suggests about $150,000 is a reasonable prediction.

Changli Mini Truck, Nissan 240SX LS Swap, Italjet Dragster: The Dopest Vehicles I Found For Sale Online

February 2, 2021 admin

To round out this list we have a hot little small car. Before the Smart Fortwo became the smallest new highway-capable car on U.S. roads, there was the Mini Cooper. And above that already fun hatch came the hotter supercharged Cooper S. This car is a ball of fun and thankfully older models aren’t worth a whole lot.

This one has high mileage at 196,000, but it appears to be in pretty good shape. It’s $2,500 on Facebook Marketplace in Salisbury, Missouri.

That’s it for this week! Have you purchased a car based from one of these posts? If so, I want to know.

Since this series began, I’ve watched how the pandemic has been changing nationwide car prices. Vehicles that were an easy $1,000 before are becoming $2,000 or even $3,000 cars.

It’s becoming harder to find what I’d say are insane deals without getting behind the wheel of something that’s one harsh pothole away from the scrapyard. Some gems are still out there, but they end up selling before I can even finish writing these.

Know of a weird car for sale on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist? Drop it down in the comments or in my email! If the car’s still for sale, I may feature it on a future post.

Dealing With Total Wrecked Cars

August 27, 2020 admin

August 27, 2020Contributor

Dealing with a totaled or wrecked car can be tough for you. You may need to say goodbye to your vehicle and you have to find a new vehicle for yourself in the next few months. However, you also need to know how to take good care of your totaled car. You cannot leave your wrecked car in your garage without doing anything.

There are several things that you need to do for taking care of your damaged car. The car can be classified as a “totaled” car when the repair cost is greater than 70% of the car’s value. This is a common term in the insurance industry. Here are some important things to do with your totaled car.

a. Get money from the insurance

Most car owners want to choose to take the money from the insurance company when they have a totaled car. You need to report to the insurance company as soon as possible after your car has an accident. The claim process will take a few days to a few weeks to be done completely.

Once the insurance company decides that the vehicle is completely totaled, it will decide the total dollar amount for the car’s worth. Then, the company will send you a check for that money amount minus any deductible fees.

It is a good idea for you to do your research about the total car’s value of your car, so you can make sure that you can get fair compensation. You can use the Instant Car Market Value calculator that is available on any sites on the Internet.

If you feel that the insurance company doesn’t offer a fair price for your totaled car, you can go to the third-party appraiser for settling the difference. You need to be confident that the difference is significant enough because you will be responsible for paying the appraiser a small amount of fee.

b. Fix your car

Although this is not a common option for many car owners, you can still consider this option. When you want to choose this option, you need to consider some important factors, such as the amount of your deductible, the value of your car, the total cost of repair, etc. This option is suitable for you who have an old car.

For example, if your car is worth about $6,000 and the deductible is $1,000, you may need to avoid the insurance payout. The deductible will chew a big chunk of the payment, so you only receive about $5,000 for your totaled car. If the total repair cost can be minimized to somewhere around $2,000, this option can be a good idea for you.

If you want to choose this option, you need to do deep research about how you can find the best workshop for repairing your totaled car. The service should be able to offer high-quality service at a very affordable and reasonable rate. It is a good idea for you to compare some services, so you can find the best one for repairing your totaled car.

d. Get cash from a scrapyard

Once you accept an offer from a junk car buyer, you can get paid in cash right away. They will come to your place to pick up your vehicle for free without additional pickup costs. This fast process is very common among many people who want to get cash for their junk or totaled cars quickly.

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