The Auto World

By now everyone’s aware of the impressive capabilities of Tesla ‘s vehicles for the price, but one German shop must not have been impressed enough with their Model 3, because they decided to give it tank tracks. To begin, they fabricated a frame out of square-section steel tubing. After that, they mounted drive sprockets to it using heavy duty pillow block bearings. The Tesla’s driveshafts spin those inputs, which go through a gear reduction that turns the tank tracks. Once all the assembly was done, a suspension system was installed, the tank tracks were fitted to the sprockets, and the vehicle was finished. See Also: Watch Tesla Model 3 Fly Into Columbus Convention Center At 70 MPH To get a better sense of just how massive the tracks are, the Model 3 had to be driven onto a 6-high stack of pallets just to be fitted with them. And on the topic of that installation, it did take six hours, but it also afforded the car with a 6-ton curb weight and 80 cm (31.5 in) of ground clearanc...

Rob Dahm and the folks at Top Gear have just dropped the latest episode of their American Tuned series and it features one wild Corvette. This 1,350 hp monster sports two turbochargers, methanol fuel, and a little bit of nitrous to back it up, along with a special control unit. Dahm is famous for his constant pursuit of adding more power and performance to the vehicles he owns. During that process, he’s learned quite a lot about tuning cars and how important precise software control of physical components can be. Now, he’s getting a one-on-one lesson with the head of Fueltech, Anderson Dick. His Vehicle Control Units, or VCUs, basically take over all of the vital functions of a regular street car’s computer. The VCU simplifies the tuning process and circumvents any sort of encryption or blockades that the OEM computer might have within. It’s what’s allowed the tuned C8 Corvette to leverage its performance parts and produce an 8.97-second quarter-mile time. Read Also:  Rob Da...

If General Motors were to build a sporty Denali crossover for the year 2030, this is how it could look. This eye-catching concept was created by GM exterior designer Zac Parkinson and is a very futuristic twist on the Denali nameplate. It is so futuristic that it shares essentially nothing in common with current Denali-badged pickups and SUVs from GMC. That’s no bad thing, however. Immediately making the front end of the truck stand out is a bold faux grille with an intricate pattern. Wrapping around either side of the grille are sharp LED headlights. The front of the Denali also has a large GMC badge and a striking bumper. First Drive: 2022 GMC Sierra Denali Ultimate Is The New King Of Luxury Mountain Elsewhere, Parkinson has designed the crossover with squared-off front wheel arches and a shapely hood with dramatic creases and curves. Given that this is a concept and doesn’t need to be practical, there is a very low-slung roof with a narrow windshield and rear-facing cameras ...

Hyundai’s New Ioniq 5 has an automatic parking feature that allows it to slot itself into a space without the need of a driver behind the wheel, but as with all self-driving technology, it hasn’t been totally perfected yet. Bridie Schmidt is an associate editor for The Driven , an Australia-based website that focuses mainly on electric vehicles. During a test of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 , she attempted to try out the auto-park feature in an almost-empty parking lot, but things almost turned ugly when the car tried to park itself next to a vintage muscle car. Trying out auto-park in the Ioniq 5. I would be scared of hitting the Monaro too pic.twitter.com/L1KTb5MnQz — Bridie Schmidt (@BridieEV) May 16, 2022 In order for the technology to work properly, it needs to “see” other vehicles using the sensors usually reserved for blind-spot monitoring and cross-traffic detection. In this case, the vehicle that is sensed is a vintage Holden Monaro muscle car , famed for winning the Bathu...

Canadians dealing with the high prices of used vehicles shouldn’t look forward to a value bubble bursting. The high prices will be around until 2026, according to the Canadian Black Book. The organization’s director of OEM strategy and analytics, James Hancock, spoke to Automotive News Canada recently and predicted that the new-inventory crunch that stems from the semiconductor shortage will continue until mid-2023 at the earliest. And that will have knock-on effects. With fewer vehicles sold until then, there will be fewer used vehicles, be they lease returns or trade-ins, coming onto the market in 2024 , 2025, and 2026. So dealers will have to continue to buy those cars at inflated values. Read Also: These Used Cars And SUVs Cost More Now Than When They Were New “To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Hancock said. “I’ve been in the automotive world for 15 years, and it’s an incredible time.” Fortunately, even though used vehicle prices have been on the rise in...

The Honda Civic Type R , VW Golf R, and BMW M240i are three very good performance cars but they deliver their thrills in very different ways. Which is the quickest, however? A look at the specs sheets of the three suggests that there should be a pretty clear pecking order with the BMW up front, the VW second, and the Honda in third. In terms of power, it is the M240i xDrive with a serious advantage over the others, pumping out 374 hp and 368 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque from its turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six engine. Watch Also: Chris Harris Pits New Honda Civic Type R Against Its Acclaimed EP3 Ancestor As for the Civic Type R , it delivers 316 hp and 295 lb-ft (400 Nm) of torque and while those are impressive figures, it is front-wheel drive and only sold with a six-speed manual, making it much harder to get off the line. Last but not least is the Mk8 Golf R with its 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder churning out 315 hp and 310 lb-ft (420 Nm). Like the BMW, it is all-wheel dr...

It should come as no surprise that designing a new car isn’t easy, which is why automotive designers go to great lengths to properly connect themes and ideas in a singular, cohesive package. Most of the times it’s not just one automotive designer that has complete control of the entire project, but a team of designers who all lend their expertise to create a beautiful product. However, sometimes it looks like the folks that designed the front of the car had never even spoken to those that designed the rear, leading to a disaster of a design that completely lacks a cohesive theme. One of the best examples of this lack of design cohesion is the 1981 Cadillac Seville “Bustleback” . The car was penned by one of GM’s greatest designers, Bill Mitchell. Mitchell was responsible for countless vehicles in the brand’s porfolio, including the 1963 Buick Riviera and the C2 Corvette race car . Read More:  So You Hate BMW’s Current Grilles, What’s The Best Looking One Ever? The Bustleba...