Cars – Page 4

Porsche adds digital keys, in-car gaming to 2026 Macan Electric

Cars, infotainment, porsche macan / DJ Henderson / August 28, 2025

There’s also a trained parking feature, which lets you record up to five parking routines. Once the car recognizes it’s in a parking environment that it knows, it will offer to take over the job of putting your car away for you, although only with the driver in the car—this does not appear to be a remote parking feature that you control by phone.

And there’s a new reversing assist. This can remember up to 160 feet (49 m) of a route that it has just traveled forward, so that it can automatically reverse back the way it came, which Porsche says should be “ideal for narrow access roads or winding parking garages.”

The AirConsole in-car gaming platform that we started seeing in other German luxury cars of late has been added to the infotainment. This lets you pair your phone as a controller or use Bluetooth game controllers, and the App Store contains a bunch of games, including a passable Mario Kart clone, last I checked. Porsche says it has also beefed up the in-car voice assistant with better AI, created a better charging planner app that lets you prioritize individual charging stations, and increased the towing capacity from 4,400 lbs to 5,500 lbs (1,995–2,495 kg).

Porsche adds digital keys, in-car gaming to 2026 Macan Electric Read More »

2025 VW Jetta GLI: Save the manuals, but not like this

car review, Cars, Volkswagen Jetta GLI / Beth Washington / August 27, 2025

the American sedan take on a GTI

Specs mean nothing if you get the feel and execution wrong.

Built in Mexico, the Volkswagen Jetta is a North American sedan take on the Golf hatchback. Credit: Jim Resnick

Manual transmissions have gone the way of the dodo, but you can still find a few out there. Bless Volkswagen for keeping the helical gears turning, both literally and figuratively. The 2025 Jetta GLI, Volkswagen’s sporty sedan, still offers a gear lever with actual gears attached at the other end, and a third pedal hanging down from under the dash. Meanwhile, Golf GTI fans are still sobbing in their beer because 2024 was the last model year you could row your own in the hot hatch—now it’s paddles only.

Volkswagen updated the 2025 Jetta GLI with a new grille, LED headlights, and light bars that connect across both the front grille and rear taillights. There’s a red accent stripe that runs across the lower front fascia and turns up at the front corners, somewhat like The Joker’s lipstick, but way less menacing. It’s less distinctive than the Golf GTI, though, and the design even reminds me of the 2017-era Honda Accord a bit. So, yes, in a face-off, the Golf GTI wins.

The test GLI’s wheels get black paint with the Black Package (blackened wheels and side mirror caps). The Monument Gray color option pairs with a black roof, which must seem like a good idea to people who don’t live in the Southwest, where cars overheat before they’re even started.

A black Jetta wheel — Our test car had the black package. Credit: Jim Resnick

Performance: Punch without poetry

VW’s long-running EA888 2.0 L engine, which debuted back in 2007 in the Audi A3, resides under the hood. Now in its fourth turbocharged generation, it develops a healthy 228 hp (170 kW) and 258 lb-ft (350 Nm) of torque, entirely respectable numbers from modest displacement and compact external dimensions.

Mated to this particular 6-speed manual, the engine has its work cut out for itself. On my very first drive, before examining the technical data on gearbox ratios, I could tell that the manual 6-speed had massive gaps between first, second, and third gears.

Diving further into the gearing matter, the ratio spread between first and third gears is vastly wider in the 6-speed manual transmission than in the 7-speed DSG semi-automatic gearbox. This means that as you upshift the manual, the engine is faced with a huge drop in engine revs when you let out the clutch, placing the engine well below the rev range it would prefer to operate within to provide maximum power.

VW Jetta engine bay — EA888 in the house. Credit: Jim Resnick

Let’s look at the ratios, and remember that a lower numerical value means a “taller” or “higher” ratio, just like on multi-speed bicycles. The manual’s first gear is 3.77:1, where the DSG’s is 3.40:1. Upshift to the 2.09:1 second gear in the manual, and you select a gear that’s a whopping 55 percent taller than first gear. Conversely, the same 1-2 shift in the DSG (from 3.40:1 up to 2.75:1) results in a 19 percent taller gear ratio—a far narrower gap.

Third gear tells a similar story. The 6-speed manual’s third ratio (1.47:1) is 17 percent higher than the 1.77:1 ratio in the DSG (again, this “taller” gear giving 17 percent less mechanical advantage). Advantage: automatic.

Closer ratios mean better, faster engine torque recovery and better continued acceleration, because the engine will be spinning in the happier part of its power band—engines being happiest when revving at their torque peak and beyond.

Now, you might well argue that the manual’s third gear gives a higher top speed in-gear than the DSG automatic’s. And that’s 100 percent true. But it’s also irrelevant when you have three (or four!) more gears left to go in the transmission.

And then there’s the action of the shifter itself, with very long throws from forward to aft gates.

A white VW Jetta in profile

It’s quite handsome from some angles. Credit: Jim Resnick

But wait. I began this diatribe by complimenting the Jetta GLI for still offering a choice of manual or automatic gearbox. Indeed, if the manual gearbox had the DSG automatic’s ratios, the paragraphs above would have a very different tenor. The lesson here is that not all manuals are created equal.

We can also look objectively at the stopwatch. Using others’ published figures (don’t take our word for it), 0–60 mph figures tell the tale, as well. Car and Driver cites a time of 6.0 seconds to 60 mph for the manual GLI, where they achieved 5.6 seconds for the dash in the DSG automatic, a big gap.

Regardless of which transmission is used, a limited-slip differential tries to put the power down evenly, and adaptive suspension with multiple driving modes serves up a responsive connectedness to, or relative isolation from, the road surface. Compared to the standard GTI (not the Golf R), the Jetta GLI still rides with a greater accent on ride comfort, and that’s not always a bad thing, especially given the Jetta’s greater rear seat accommodations, which offer 2.4 inches (61 mm) more rear legroom than the GTI. Real adults can live back there for hours at a time without fidgeting, whereas you likely tickle that threshold in a GTI after a little over an hour.

Interior & tech

Inside, the GLI features perforated leather heated and cooled seats, a leather-wrapped and flat-bottom steering wheel that is still saddled with capacitive multifunction controls, a digital instrument cluster that can be configured with traditional dials or a compartmentalized digital-looking display, plus an 8-inch infotainment screen. While the latter may seem small compared to other cars that sport TV-size tablets perched on the dash, it at least comes fully equipped with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There’s a slow creep elsewhere in the industry to make this functionality either optional or simply unavailable, which is unforgivable in an era where we can hardly survive without our smartphones.

While much of the controls sit within the infotainment touchscreen, major climate controls reside just below, using capacitive sliders. These sliders are not anywhere near as intuitive as switches and knobs, but at least you don’t need to hunt and peck through endless menus to find them while driving.

The Jetta isn’t as modern as the 8th-generation Golf inside, but it’s had a bit of a tech upgrade. Jim Resnick

The GLI comes standard with active driver assists, including blind-spot warning, forward collision warning, emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, and emergency assist.

Volkswagen managed to incorporate some pragmatic features and comforts. A 15 W wireless and cooled charging pad sits up front, and the trunk sports 14.1 cubic feet (400 L) of space with an actual spare tire under the trunk floor (although it’s a compact spare with limited mileage range).

The premium Beats Audio system in the Jetta GLI pumps 400 W through nine speakers, including a subwoofer. With all those speakers and electrons going for it, I expected way more than it delivered. It creates muddy bass frequencies that are simply inescapable, either by attenuating the bass or by lowering subwoofer gain.

Despite the preponderance of directionless bass, the system produces very little body to the music played, whether it’s jazz from Bill Evans or punk from Bad Religion. Midrange and high-end reproduction is no better. Shrill treble joins the errant bass, making everything sound muddy and indistinct. Delicate acoustic piano passages have little clarity, and Joni Mitchell hides behind a giant curtain of Saran Wrap. Poor Joni.

Driving the GLI is sometimes joyful, as the engine responds eagerly across all RPMs. The chassis and suspension prove willing, though a bit soft for a sports sedan. VW’s steering feels communicative, but not among the best of the modern electrically boosted lot.

VW equips this GLI with all-season Hankook Energy GT tires, sized 225/40R18. I specifically cite these tires because they underperform for the GLI. They don’t produce grip adequate for a sporty sedan, and they come up short underpinning the GLI. So, on a scale of 1 to 10, if the GLI’s engine is a 9, if the gearbox is a 5, and the interior is an 8.5, the GLI’s Hankook tires are a 6.

The GLI’s brakes are a version of the tire story. Despite borrowing front rotors and calipers from the lovely Golf R, they proved grabby, overboosted, and touchy in the GLI. Like the gearbox and tires, specs can tell you nothing in terms of feel and execution.

The GLI’s fuel economy lands at a decent 26/36/30 city/highway/combined mpg (9/6.5/7.8 L/100 km). In thoroughly mixed driving, I achieved an average of 29.1 mpg (8 L/100 km) over my approximately 400 miles (644 km).

The overall truth

The 2025 Jetta GLI certainly possesses sporty aspirations, but a few things hold it back from being the complete package that its Golf GTI stablemate is. Although the Golf GTI no longer offers a manual, the GLI’s 6-speed transmission disappoints both in feel and performance, with huge gaps between cogs. Of course, this malady could be overcome by ordering a DSG automatic GLI, but then any fun gleaned by rowing your gears is also lost.

This car could be better than it is. Credit: Jim Resnick

Closer to the road, mediocre tires generate modest grip. Compared to the Golf, the Jetta gains in rear seat legroom but loses in feel, performance, and tenacity. If it’s performance with practicality you’re after, the $35,045 price of this GLI as tested will get you what you need. But you’ll want something a bit spicier.

A veteran of journalism, product planning and communications in the automotive and music space, Jim reports, critiques and lectures on autos, music and culture.

2025 VW Jetta GLI: Save the manuals, but not like this Read More »

Americans’ junk-filled garages are hurting EV adoption, study says

Cars, charging, EV adoption / Kelly Newman / August 22, 2025

Creating garage space would increase the number of homes capable of EV charging from 31 million to more than 50 million. And when we include houses where the owner thinks it’s feasible to add wiring, that grows to more than 72 million homes. And that’s far more than Telemetry’s most optimistic estimate of US EV penetration for 2035, which ranges from 33 million to 57 million EVs on the road 10 years from now.

I thought an EV would save me money?

Just because 90 percent of houses could add a 240 V outlet near where they park, it doesn’t mean that 90 percent of homes have a 240 V outlet near where they park. According to that same NREL study, almost 34 million of those homes will require extensive electrical work to upgrade their wiring and panels to cope with the added demands of a level 2 charger (at least 30 A), and that can cost thousands and thousands of dollars.

All of a sudden, EV cost of ownership becomes much closer to, or possibly even exceeds, that of a vehicle with an internal combustion engine.

Multifamily remains an unsolved problem

Twenty-three percent of Americans live in multifamily dwellings, including apartments, condos, and townhomes. Here, the barriers to charging where you park are much greater. Individual drivers will rarely be able to decide for themselves to add a charger—the management company, landlord, co-op board, or whoever else is in charge of the development has to grant permission.

If the cost of new wiring for a single family home is enough to be a dealbreaker for some, adding EV charging capabilities to a parking lot or parking garage makes those costs pale in comparison. Using my 1960s-era co-op as an example, after getting board approval to add a pair of shared level 2 chargers in 2019, we were told by the power company that nothing could happen until the co-op upgraded its electrical panel—a capital improvement project that runs into seven figures, and work that is still not entirely complete as I type this.

Americans’ junk-filled garages are hurting EV adoption, study says Read More »

At the top of the market, EV hypercars are a disappearing breed

bugatti, Cars, Czinger, electric hypercar, Hypercar, lamborghini, Monterey Car Week, Pininfarina Battista / Shannon Garcia / August 21, 2025

Seven-figure EV hypercars are struggling to make an emotional connection with buyers.

Monterey Car Week is an annual celebration of automotive culture at the extremes: extreme performance, extreme rarity, and extreme value. Cars offering more than 1,000 hp (746 kW) are de rigueur, “unique” models are everywhere you look, and machines costing well into seven figures are entry-level.

A few years ago, many of the new cars debuting during Car Week focused on outright speed and performance above all else, relying on electric powertrains to deliver physics-defying acceleration and ballistic speed. Lately, there’s been a shift back toward the fundamentals of driver engagement, emotional design, and purity of feel.

Internal combustion is again at the fore. One of the main reasons is a renewed interest in what was old—so long as that old thing is actually new.

They’re called restomods, classic cars brought up to date with modern drivability but keeping the original feel. LA-based Singer Vehicle Design is the Porsche-based poster child for this movement, but San Marino-based Eccentrica earned plenty of attention in Monterey for its reimagining of one of the ultimate icons of the ’90s, the Lamborghini Diablo.

This is Eccentrica’s restomod of the Lamborghini Diablo. Tim Stevens

The company’s latest creation, Titano, promises “Raw ’90s soul meet[ing] purposeful modern craft.”

Maurizio Reggiani, former Lamborghini CTO and now advisor to Eccentrica, told me that feel is far more important than outright performance in this segment. “We want the people sitting in Eccentrica to really perceive the street, perceive the acceleration, perceive the braking, perceive the steering,” he said.

Commoditization

“The power to have 1,000 hp is easy. I don’t want to say it is a commodity, but more or less,” Reggiani continued.

Eccentrica’s Titano makes 550 hp (410 kW). The machine Bugatti unveiled, the new Brouillard, nearly tripled that number, offering 1,578 hp (1,177 kW) from an 8.3-liter W16 engine paired with a hybrid system. It’s a one-off, a completely bespoke design created at the request of one very lucky, very well-heeled buyer, part of the company’s new Programme Solitaire.

That’s an impressive figure, but Frank Heyl, Bugatti’s director of design, told me the real focus is on creating something timeless. Bugatti has been making cars for 101 years, and today’s astonishing power figures won’t matter in 2126. Instead, Heyl said to focus on the interior. “If you look at the Tourbillon instrument cluster, it’s a titanium housing with real sapphire glass. The bearings are made from ruby stones with aluminum needles,” he said. “People will have a fascination with that in 100 years’ time. I’m sure about that.”

This is the Bugatti Solitaire. Bugatti

For its part, modern Lamborghini seems much happier to focus on the best of the modern era, taking advantage of EV-derived technology paired with an internal combustion engine tasked with providing both power and adrenaline.

Lamborghini unveiled the Fenomeno, a “few-off” version of the Revuelto offered to just 29 buyers. Lamborghini’s current CTO, Rouven Mohr, told me this wasn’t just a reskinning. The company’s engineers re-did the car’s tech stack, including its battery pack, adopting lessons learned from the latest EVs. “Completely new battery hardware. New cell chemistry, new cell type,” he said. “So we double the energy content in the same space.”

It’s similar to what’s in the Temerario, which features a hybrid system paired with a high-strung V8. “This huge effort that we did to have a 10,000-rpm engine is, at the end of the day, engineering overkill,” he said. “It’s a pure investment in the emotional side.”

Lamborghini designer Mitja Borkert said this kind of hybrid tech can actually make the cars more likeable. “Our cars are polarizing; they are creating reactions,” he said, admitting those reactions are sometimes negative. “But if you drive a Revuelto in electric mode, the people can enjoy the design better because it’s unexpected that this spaceship is coming around the corner.”

When it comes to exterior design, Karma is one brand that has always stood out. But its cars, extended-range EVs with onboard generators, have historically struggled to perfect the needed mix of emotionality and electrification. A fix is on the way, CEO Marques McCammon told me. The company’s Amaris coupe, coming next year for roughly $200,000, generates 708 hp (528 kW) from a pair of electric motors, plus a new onboard engine designed to thrill, not just recharge a battery.

“I’ve got side exhaust. It’s real. There’s no synthetic sound. When you hit the throttle, you’re gonna hear a blow-off valve on the turbo, and you’re gonna hear exhaust coming out of the side pipes that we’ve tuned,” he said. “You can have it all.”

You need to hear it

For many, authentic sound is key to the experience. Eccentrica’s Reggiani told me that the synthesized noises emitted by cars like Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N are not a solution. Reggiani said an EV can never provide a truly emotional experience with sound “because you need to do something fake.”

But Iliya and Nikita Bridan, who run Oilstainlab, might have devised a solution with their $1.8-million-dollar HF-11: a cooling fan for the electric motor run through a ducted exhaust.

That fan exhaust is being tuned and tweaked to create an evocative sound, a process that Nikita Bridan says is no less authentic than tuning the exhaust of a car with an internal combustion engine. Indeed, with many modern sports cars featuring digitally generated pops and crackles in Sport mode, the HF-11’s acoustic affect might be even more authentic.

That’s just part of what Bridan says should be a compelling package, even for anti-EV zealots. “What we’re promising is basically a 2,000 pound, six-speed manual EV with an exhaust. I think that’s interesting enough for people to maybe abandon combustion,” he said.

And the HF-11 has another trick up its sleeve: an air-cooled, flat-six engine (àla classic Porsches), which owners can swap in if they’re feeling old-school. It’s a unique solution to the challenges of shifting consumer demand. So far, about 30 percent of the buyers of the HF-11 are exclusively interested in the electric powertrain. Thirty percent want only internal combustion, while the rest want both.

The Czinger 21C doesn’t have a swappable powertrain, but it mixes electric and internal combustion to deliver outright performance. Very extreme performance, as it were, with the 1,250-hp (932-kW), $2 million (and up) hybrid hypercar taking an extended, 1,000-mile road trip on the way to Monterey, setting five separate track records along the way.

That car’s hallmark is the intricate 3D-printed structure beneath the skin, but despite the space-age tech, CEO Lukas Czinger told me that emotionality is key.

A green Czinger C21 — The Czinger C21 features tandem seating. Credit: Czinger

Buyer motivation

“Why would you buy a $3 million car? Well, you’re buying it because you appreciate the brand and the engineering level, and there’s new technology in it, right?” Czinger said. “But the product ultimately needs to be thrilling to drive.”

Czinger said the combination of a hybrid system and an 11,000 RPM twin-turbo V8 offers “the best of both worlds” and that an eventual 21C successor will “definitely have a combustion engine.”

For Automobili Pininfarina, an all-electric powertrain was not a concern for its first car, the $2.5-million, 1,900-hp (1,417-kW) Battista. That’s despite some initial skepticism that, CEO Paolo Dellachà said, evaporates as soon as a potential buyer gets behind the wheel.

But most didn’t need convincing. “All our or our clients do have eight-cylinder, 12-cylinder, or even 16-cylinder engines,” he said. “This is just something additional to their collection. So it’s not one or the other to them. Eventually, it’s both.”

The Automobil Pininfarina Battista. — All-electric hypercars like the Battista are a hard sell in 2025. Credit: Automobil Pininfarina

Residuals matter

It’s easy to think that the buyers of these cars simply have bottomless discretionary funds, and many do. But unproven long-term value is a key reason why these battery-powered projectiles seem a little less common than they used to be.

“At the moment, no one has proven yet that the electric super sports car is holding the financial index,” Lamborghini CTO Mohr said. “And the people who are usually investing in this, buying this kind of car, usually they have the money because they are quite financially oriented. They don’t want to destroy their investment.”

In other words, it’s all fun and games until someone loses money. If electric hypercars can’t prove their value in the long run, they don’t have a chance.

This is something that Automobili Pininfarina CEO Dellachà is certainly watching, but he doesn’t seem concerned. “It’s very difficult to say right now because none of our clients yet have sold their car,” he said. “And this is something that, by the way, makes us very proud, because they love the car, they love driving it, or they love keeping in their collection.”

That said, he’s not yet committing to an EV drivetrain for an eventual Battista successor. “Maybe next time we might combine electrification with a combustion engine. We will see. It will be an interesting time to come.”

At the top of the market, EV hypercars are a disappearing breed Read More »

Humans intervened every 9 minutes in AAA test of driver assists

AAA, ADAS, Cars, road traffic / 9u50fv / August 21, 2025

As most people who have used adaptive cruise control in traffic can no doubt appreciate, the most common event that required intervention was a car ahead cutting into the driver’s lane. These occurred about once every 8.6 miles, or 24.4 minutes, with 90 percent requiring intervention by the driver.

Inadequate lane centering was the next most common event, occurring once every 11.3 miles or 32.2 minutes. Seventy-two percent of those events also required intervention. Not resuming after coming to a halt happened 71 times, each of which required the driver to act. On 57 occasions, the lane keeping or adaptive cruise control deactivated, and there were 43 instances of a test car failing to adequately slow down, of which 70 percent required the driver to hit the brakes.

Hands-on versus hands-off

AAA found that the less-advanced systems that required a driver to keep their hands on the steering wheel experienced notable events at three times the frequency of hands-free systems. Hands-off systems only required intervention every 7.2 miles or 20.1 minutes, whereas the less advanced systems required intervention on average every 2.3 miles or 6.7 minutes. AAA also noted that the hands-off systems told the driver to put their hands back on the wheel every 5.5 miles (or 15.3 minutes) on average.

AAA has some recommendations based on its findings, which could also be categorized under common sense. When you’re behind the wheel of a vehicle, you should always remain alert, and AAA cautions that ADAS is “never a substitute for an engaged driver.” Don’t be distracted, especially by your smartphone. Read the car’s user manual and understand how, when, and where its systems can be expected to work. And set an appropriate following distance to the car ahead, even if it means more cut-ins.

The organization says it will encourage automakers to improve ADAS performance, especially cut-in response and lane-centering.

Humans intervened every 9 minutes in AAA test of driver assists Read More »

Nissan announces 2026 Leaf pricing, starting at $29,990

Cars, nissan leaf / Beth Washington / August 19, 2025

The Leaf SV+ adds bigger wheels and a better infotainment system, and it can be fitted with an optional battery heater for those in cold climates. This trim will cost $34,230, which will make it almost $2,000 cheaper than the model-year 2025 Leaf SV+ despite the fact that the MY26 car has a range of 288 miles (463 km) versus just 212 miles (342 km) for the outgoing model.

The top trim is the Platinum+, which has an identical powertrain to the S+ and SV+, but with much more standard equipment. This version will start at $38,990.

Finally, there will be an even cheaper Leaf than the S+, called the S. We’re unlikely to see the Leaf S here until next year at the earliest, and it will use a smaller 52 kWh battery pack than the S+/SV+/Platinum+. In June, we wrote that “the closer the S trim starts to $30,000, the better,” despite the problems that tariffs will cause for this made-in-Japan EV. Now, it looks likely that the entry-level Leaf will undercut that target by some margin.

Nissan announces 2026 Leaf pricing, starting at $29,990 Read More »

Here’s Acura’s next all-electric RSX crossover

Acura RDX, Cars / 9u50fv / August 15, 2025

“The Acura RSX has a sporty coupe style that expresses the performance that comes from excellent aerodynamics,” said Yasutake Tsuchida, Acura creative director and vice president of American Honda R&D. “Starting from this all-new RSX, we will redefine the Acura brand around timeless beauty and a high-tech feel that is essential for a performance and unique brand.”

I have to admit, when I saw a teaser shot a week or two ago, my first thought was that it looked like someone had taken a McLaren Artura and given it the Urus treatment, at least based on the nose. But Acura has also been using an arrow-like prow for some time, too. I’m also getting some Lotus Eletre from the other views, but as ever, looks are subjective.

When the RSX hits the street in the second half of next year, it will do so running ASIMO OS, the new software-defined vehicle operating system that Honda announced at CES earlier this year. Among the things ASIMO OS can do is learn a driver’s preferences and driving style “to deliver an ultra-personal in-car experience,” Acura says.

Here’s Acura’s next all-electric RSX crossover Read More »

Porsche’s best daily driver 911? The 2025 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid review.

car review, Cars, Features, Porsche 911 Carrera GTS, Porsche 911 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid / Beth Washington / August 15, 2025

An electric turbocharger means almost instant throttle response from the T-Hybrid.

Porsche developed a new T-Hybrid system for the 911, and it did a heck of a job. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Porsche 911 enthusiasts tend to be obsessive about their engines. Some won’t touch anything that isn’t air-cooled, convinced that everything went wrong when emissions and efficiency finally forced radiators into the car. Others love the “Mezger” engines; designed by engineer Hans Mezger, they trace their roots to the 1998 Le Mans-winning car, and no Porschephile can resist the added shine of a motorsports halo.

I’m quite sure none of them will feel the same way about the powertrain in the new 911 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid (MSRP: $175,900), and I think that’s a crying shame. Because not only is the car’s technology rather cutting-edge—you won’t find this stuff outside an F1 car—but having spent several days behind the wheel, I can report it might just be one of the best-driving, too.

T-Hybrid

This is not just one of Porsche’s existing flat-six engines with an electric motor bolted on; it’s an all-new 3.6 L engine designed to comply with new European legislation that no longer lets automakers rich out a fuel mixture under high load to improve engine cooling. Instead, the engine has to maintain the same 14.7:1 stoichiometric air-to-fuel ratio (also known as lambda = 1) across the entire operating range, thus allowing the car’s catalytic converters to work most efficiently.

The 911 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid at dawn patrol. Jonathan Gitlin

Because the car uses a hybrid powertrain, Porsche moved some of the ancillaries. There’s no belt drive; the 400 V hybrid system powers the air conditioning electrically now via its 1.9 kWh lithium-ion battery, and the water pump is integrated into the engine block. That rearrangement means the horizontally opposed engine is now 4.3 inches (110 mm) lower than it was before, which meant Porsche could use that extra space in the engine bay to fit the power electronics, like the car’s pulse inverters and DC-DC converters.

And instead of tappets, Porsche has switched to using roller cam followers to control the engine’s valves, as in motorsport. These solid cam followers don’t need manual adjustment at service time, and they reduce friction losses compared to bucket tappets.

The added displacement—0.6 L larger than the engine you’ll find in the regular 911—is to compensate for not being able to alter the fuel ratio. And for the first time in several decades, there’s now only a single turbocharger. Normally, a larger-capacity engine and a single big turbo should be a recipe for plenty of lag, versus a smaller displacement and a turbocharger for each cylinder bank, as the former has larger components with more mass that needs to be moved.

The GTS engine grows in capacity by 20 percent. Porsche

That’s where one of the two electric motors comes in. This one is found between the compressor and the turbine wheel, and it’s only capable of 15 hp (11 kW), but it uses that to spin the turbine up to 120,000 rpm, hitting peak boost in 0.8 seconds. For comparison, the twin turbos you find in the current 3.0 L 911s take three times as long. Since the turbine is electrically controlled and the electric motor can regulate boost pressure, there’s no need for a wastegate.

The electrically powered turbocharger is essentially the same as the MGU-H used in Formula 1, as it can drive the turbine and also regenerate energy to the car’s traction battery. (The mighty 919 Hybrid race car, which took Porsche to three Le Mans wins last decade, was able to capture waste energy from its turbocharger, but unlike the 911 GTS or an F1 car, it didn’t use that same motor to spin the turbo up to speed.)

On its own, the turbocharged engine generates 478 hp (357 kW) and 420 lb-ft (570 Nm). However, there’s another electric motor, this one a permanent synchronous motor built into the eight-speed dual-clutch (PDK) transmission casing. This traction motor provides up to 53 hp (40 kW) and 110 lb-ft (150 Nm) of torque to the wheels, supplementing the internal combustion engine when needed. The total power and torque output are 532 hp (397 kW) and 449 lb-ft (609 Nm).

A grey Porsche 911 parked in a campsite — No Porsches were harmed during the making of this review, but one did get a little dusty. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Now that’s what I call throttle response

Conceptually, the T-Hybrid in the 911 GTS is quite different from the E-Hybrid system we’ve tested in various plug-in Porsches. Those allow for purely electric driving thanks to a clutch between transmission and electric traction motor—that’s not present in the T-Hybrid, where weight saving, performance, and emissions compliance were the goal rather than an increase in fuel efficiency.

Regardless of the intent, Porsche’s engineers have created a 911 with the best throttle response of any of them. Yes, even better than the naturally aspirated GT3, with its engine packed full of motorsports mods.

I realize this is a bold claim. But I’ve been saying for a while now that I prefer driving the all-electric Taycan to the 911 because the immediacy of an electric motor beats even the silkiest internal combustion engine in terms of that first few millimeters of throttle travel. The 3.0 L twin-turbo flat-six in most 911s doesn’t suffer from throttle lag like it might have in the 1980s, but there’s still an appreciable delay between initial tip-in and everything coming on song.

Initially, I suspected that the electric motor in the PDK case was responsible for the instantaneous way the GTS responds from idle, but according to Porsche’s engineers, all credit for that belongs to the electric turbocharger. However the engineers did it, this is a car that still provides 911 drivers the things they like about internal combustion engines—the sound, the fast refueling, using gears—but with the snappiness of a fast Taycan or Macan.

Centerlock wheels are rather special. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Porsche currently makes about 10 different 911 coupe variants, from the base 911 Carrera to the 911 GT3 RS. The GTS (also available with all-wheel drive as a Carrera 4 GTS for an extra $8,100) is marginally less powerful and slightly slower than the current 911 Turbo, and it’s heavier but more powerful than the 911 GT3.

In the past, I’ve thought of GTS-badged Porsches as that company’s take on the ultimate daily driver as opposed to a track day special, and it’s telling that you can also order the GTS with added sunshine, either as a cabriolet (in rear- or all-wheel drive) or as a Targa (with all-wheel drive). You have to remember to tick the box for rear seats now, though—these are a no-cost option rather than being fitted as standard.

The T-Hybrid powertrain adds 103 lbs compared to the previous GTS, so it’s not a lightweight track-day model, even if the non-hybrid GTS was almost nine seconds slower around the Nürburgring. On track, driven back to back with some of the others, you might be able to notice the extra weight, but I doubt it. I didn’t take the GTS on track, but I drove it to one; a trip to Germany to see the Nürburgring 24 race with some friends presented an opportunity to test this and another Porsche that hadn’t made their way to the East Coast press fleet yet.

I’d probably pick that Panamera if most of my driving was on the autobahn. With a top speed of 194 mph (312 km/h) the 911 GTS is capable of holding its own on the derestricted stretches even if its Vmax is a few miles per hour slower than the four-door sedan. But the 911 is a smaller, lighter, and more nimble car that moves around a bit more, and you sit a lot lower to the ground, amplifying the sensation of speed. The combined effect was that the car felt happier with a slightly lower cruising speed of 180 km/h rather than 200 km/h or more in the Panamera. Zero-62 mph (100 km/h) times don’t mean much outside the tollbooth but should take 2.9 seconds with launch control.

A Porsche 911 seen from the top — Despite the nondescript gray paint, the GTS T-Hybrid still turned plenty of heads. Credit: Jonathan Gitlin

Keep going

For the rest of the time, the 911 GTS evoked far more driving pleasure. Rear-wheel steering aids agility at lower speeds, and there are stiffer springs, newly tuned dampers, and electrohydraulic anti-roll bars (powered by the hybrid’s high-voltage system). Our test car was fitted with the gigantic (420 mm front, 410 mm rear) carbon ceramic brakes, and at the rear, the center lock wheels are 11.5 inches in width.

In the dry, I never got close to finding the front tires’ grip limit. The rear-wheel steering is noticeable, particularly when turning out of junctions, but never to the degree where you start thinking about correcting a slide unless you provoke the tires into breaking traction with the throttle. Even on the smooth tarmac preferred by German municipalities, the steering communicated road conditions from the tires, and the Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel is wonderful to grip in your palms.

So it’s predictably great to drive on mountain roads in Sport or Sport+. However, the instant throttle response means it’s also a better drive in Normal at 30 km/h as you amble your way through a village than the old GTS or any of the 3.0 L cars. That proved handy after Apple Maps sent me down a long dirt road on the way to my rental house, as well as for navigating the Nürburgring campsite, although I think I now appreciate why Porsche made the 911 Dakar (and regret declining that first drive a few years ago).

Happily, my time with the 911 GTS didn’t reveal any software bugs, and I prefer the new, entirely digital main instrument display to the old car’s analog tachometer sandwiched between two multifunction displays. Apple CarPlay worked well enough, and the compact cabin means that ergonomics are good even for those of us with shorter arms. There is a standard suite of advanced driver assistance systems, including traffic sign detection (which handily alerts you when the speed limit changes) and collision warning. Our test car included the optional InnoDrive system that adds adaptive cruise control, as well as a night vision system. On the whole, the ADAS was helpful, although if you don’t remember to disable the lane keep assist at the start of each journey, you might find it intruding mid-corner, should the car think you picked a bad line.

My only real gripe with the 911 GTS T-Hybrid is the fact that, with some options, you’re unlikely to get much change from $200,000. Yes, I know inflation is a thing, and yes, I know that’s still 15 percent less than the starting price of a 911 GT3 Touring, which isn’t really much of a step up from this car in terms of the driving experience on the road. However, a 911 Carrera T costs over $40,000 less than the T-Hybrid, and while it’s slower and less powerful, it’s still available with a six-speed manual. That any of those three would make an excellent daily driver 911 is a credit to Porsche, but I think if I had the means, the sophistication of the T-Hybrid system and its scalpel-sharp responsiveness might just win the day.

Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica’s automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.

Porsche’s best daily driver 911? The 2025 Carrera GTS T-Hybrid review. Read More »

Polestar sets production car record for longest drive on a single charge

Cars, Guinness World Record / 9u50fv / August 15, 2025

Wait, are you sure that’s a record?

Booker, Clarke, and Parker drove an impressive distance on a single charge, but “longest EV drive on a single charge” is a slightly more nebulous thing. In this case, the Polestar 3 was entirely standard, on stock tires. But if you’re prepared to start tweaking stuff around, longer drives are possible.

Last week, Chevrolet revealed that it took one of its Silverado WT trucks—with a gargantuan 205 kWh battery—and then fitted it with worn-down, massively over-inflated tires and drove it around the Detroit area for 1,059 miles (1,704 km). That required a team of 40 drivers, and like the Polestar 3, the average speed was below 25 mph (40 km/h).

Squeezing 4.9 miles/kWh (12.7 kWh/100 km) out of something the size and shape of a full-size pickup is probably more impressive than getting slightly more out of an SUV, but we should note that the Silverado drivers kept the air conditioning turned off until the final 59 miles.

And in July, Lucid announced that it, too, had set a new world record for the longest drive on a single charge. In its case, it took a Lucid Air Grand Touring from St. Moritz in Switzerland to Munich in Germany, covering 749 miles (1,205 km) on a single charge. That’s significantly farther than the Polestar, and the Lucid drivers achieved more than 6 miles/kWh (10.4 kWh/100 km), but the route also involved going mostly downhill.

Polestar sets production car record for longest drive on a single charge Read More »

Mercedes-Benz Vision V Concept: Is this the solution or a sideshow?

Cars, concept car, Mercedes-Benz / DJ Henderson / August 13, 2025

An orange tint of smoke in the air always contributes to dramatic lighting for sunrise photos in Los Angeles. But this early in the fire season, the coloring serves as an inescapable reminder of greenhouse gas emissions and the mobility solutions that might reduce or at least slightly mitigate the future of radical weather crises. It’s fitting, then, that a massive 75,000-acre fire burns in Santa Maria, in addition to a small brush fire on the 110 freeway less than a mile away as I visit the Elysian Park Helipad overlooking Dodger Stadium to check out Mercedes-Benz’s new Vision V concept van ahead of its American debut at Monterey Car Week.

The Vision V certainly looks like a concept car, with futuristic and swooping lines that somehow manage to make an otherwise utilitarian van shape at least somewhat stylish. Over 800 tiny light louvers spread across the grille and headlight bar at the front and the taillights at the rear, where a microscopic spoiler matches a chrome lower diffuser.

As usual with these design exercises, the Vision V sports huge wheels and low-profile tires, but a Benz rep on hand claimed that the final production design will strongly resemble this concept form. On a wheelbase of 139 inches (3,530 mm), the van measures 18 feet long by 82.7 inches wide and 74.5 inches tall (5,486×2,100×1,892 mm). Most of those dimensions will change by only fractions of inches, other than the height, which will grow about 3–4 inches taller (76–101 mm).

Expect the production Mercedes van to look quite a lot like this. Michael Teo Van Runkle

Still, expect short overhangs and big wheels, even if not quite the size of these absurdly chrome 24-inchers. Mercedes also confirmed vague powertrain details, including front-wheel drive and 4Matic variants—presumably single and dual-motor, though my question about a tri- or quad-motor à la the electric G-Wagen received a firm “no comment” in response. Similarly, no word on battery capacity other than a range target of 300 miles.

Mercedes-Benz Vision V Concept: Is this the solution or a sideshow? Read More »

Rad Power’s Radster: A very non-radical commuter bike

bikes, Cars, cycling, e-bikes, Electric vehicles, Features, personal mobility / Beth Washington / August 12, 2025

The Radster is great as a Class 2 e-bike, but not quite as strong as a Class 3.

With e-bike manufacturing in China having expanded considerably, the number of companies offering affordable e-bikes over the last five years has exploded. But the market for cycles with an electric assist has existed for considerably longer, and a number of companies predate the recent surge. One of them, Rad Power, has been around long enough that it was already an established presence when we first reviewed its hardware four years ago.

The company offers a mix of cargo, folding, and commuter bikes, all with electric assists. Having looked at a cargo version last time around, we decided to try out one of the commuter bikes this time. The Radster comes in road and trail versions (we tried the road). It’s an incredibly solidly made bike with equally solid components, and it has very good implementations of a few things that other manufacturers haven’t handled all that well. It also can switch among the three classes of e-bikes using a menu option; unfortunately, nothing else about the bike’s performance seems to change with the switch.

The Radster is priced a bit higher than a lot of its budget competitors. So, if you’re shopping, you’ll have to think a bit about whether some of these features matter to you.

A solid option

One thing that is very clear early: The Radster is a very solid bike with a robust frame. While the frame is step-through, it has some added bracing just above the cranks. These two bars, one on each side of the frame, link the down tube to the seat tube and extend to form part of the rear triangle. While this means you’ll have to step a bit higher to get in a position to mount the bike, they contribute to the sense that this is a frame that will withstand years of daily use.

Another nice feature: The battery is mounted on top of the frame, so if you release it for charging elsewhere, you don’t have to do anything special to keep it from dropping onto the floor. A chain guard and fenders also come standard, something that’s a big plus for commuters. And the fork has adjustable cushioning to smooth out some of the bumps.

The front fork comes with a bump-smoothing suspension. John Timmer

The one complaint I have is a common one for me: sizing. I’m just short of 190 cm tall (about 6 feet, 2 inches), and a lot of my height is in my legs (I typically go for 35/36-inch inseams). I’ve found that most of the frames rated as “large” still feel a bit short for me. The Radster was no exception, despite being rated for people up to 5 centimeters (2 inches) taller than I am. It was very close to being comfortable but still forced me to raise my thighs above horizontal while pedaling, even with the seat at its maximum height. The geometry of the seat-to-handlebar distance was fine, though.

Also in the “solidly built” category: the rack and kickstand. The rack is rated for 25 kg (55 lbs), so it should be capable of handling a fair amount of errand running. Rad Power will sell you a large cage-style basket to fit there, and there’s everything you need to attach a front basket as well. So, while the Radster is not designated as a cargo bike, it’s flexible enough and well constructed that I wouldn’t hesitate to use it as one.

The Radster doesn’t have internal cable routing, but placing the battery on top of the down tube gave its designers an unusual option. There’s a channel that runs down the bottom of the down tube that the cables sit in, held in place by a plastic cover that’s screwed onto the frame. Should you ever need to do maintenance that involves replacing one of the cables or the hydraulic tubes, it should be a simple matter of removing the cover.

Nice electronics

The basics of the drive system are pretty typical for bikes like this. There’s a Shimano Altus derailleur controlled by a dual-trigger shifter, with a decent spread of eight gears in back. Tektro hydraulic brakes bring things to a stop effectively.

The basic electronics are similarly what you’d expect to see. It’s powered with a 720-watt-hour battery, which Rad Power estimates will get you to over 100 km (65 miles) of range at low assist settings. It’s paired with a rear hub motor rated for 750 watts and 100 Nm of torque, which is more than enough to get even a heavy bike moving quickly. It also features a throttle that will take you to 32 km/hr (20 mph). The electric motor is delightfully quiet most of the time, so you can ride free of any whine unless you’re pushing the speed.

All of the electric components are UL-certified, so you can charge it with minimal worries about the sorts of battery fires that have plagued some no-name e-bike brands.

The electronics are also where you’ll find some of Rad Power’s better features. One of these is the rear light, which also acts as a brake light and includes directionals for signaling turns. The brake light is a nice touch on a commuter bike like this, and Rad Power’s directionals actually work effectively. On the bikes we’ve tried in the past, the directionals were triggered by a small three-way toggle switch, which made it impossible to tell if you left them on, or even which direction you might have left them signaling. And that’s a major problem for anyone who’s not used to having turn signals on their bike (meaning almost everyone).

Rad Power’s system uses large, orange arrows on the display to tell you when the directionals are on, and which direction is being signaled. It takes a little while to get used to shutting them off, since you do so by hitting the same switch that activated them—hitting the opposite switch simply activates the opposite turn light. But the display at least makes it easy to tell when you’ve done something wrong.

In general, the display is also bright, easy to read, and displays everything you’d expect it to. It also comes paired with enough buttons to make navigating among settings simple, but not so many that you’re unsure of what button to use in any given context.

One last positive about the electronics: there is a torque sensor, which helps set the assist based on how much force you’re exerting on the cranks, rather than simply determining whether the cranks are turning. While these tend to be a bit more expensive, they provide an assist that’s much better integrated into the cycling you’re doing, which helps with getting started on hills where it might be difficult to get the pedals turning enough to register with a cadence sensor.

On the road

All the stats in the world can’t tell you what it’s going to be like to ride an e-bike, because software plays a critical role. The software can be set up to sacrifice range and battery life to give you effortless pedaling, or it can integrate in a way that simply makes it feel like your leg muscles are more effective than they have any right to be.

The Radster’s software allows it to be switched between a Class 2 and Class 3 assist. Class 2 is intended to have the assist cut out once the bike hits 32 km/hr (20 mph). With a Class 3, that limit rises to 45 km/hour (28 mph). Different states allow different classes, and Rad Power lets you switch between them using on-screen controls, which quite sensibly avoids having to make different models for different states.

As a Class 2, the Radster feels like a very well-rounded e-bike. At the low-assist settings, it’ll make you work to get it up to speed; you’ll bike faster but will still be getting a fair bit of exercise, especially on the hills. And at these settings, it would require a fair amount of effort to get to the point where the speed limit would cause the motor to cut out. Boost the settings to the maximum of the five levels of assist, and you only have to put in minimal effort to get to that limit. You’ll end up going a bit slower than suburban traffic, which can be less than ideal for some commutes, but you’ll get a lot of range in return.

Things are a bit different when the Radster is switched into Class 3 mode. Here, while pedaling with a roughly equal amount of force on flat ground, each level of assist would bring you to a different maximum speed. On setting one, that speed would end up being a bit above 20 km/hour (13 mph)—it was possible to go faster, but it took some work given the heavy frame. By the middle of the assist range, the same amount of effort would get the bike in the neighborhood of 30 kilometers an hour (20 mph). But even with the assist maxed out, it was very difficult to reach the legal 45 km/hour limit (28 mph) for a Class 3 on flat ground—the assist and gearing couldn’t overcome the weight of the bike, even for a regular cyclist like myself.

In the end, I felt the Radster’s electronics and drivetrain provided a more seamless cycling experience in Class 2 mode.

That may be perfectly fine for the sort of biking you’re looking to do. At the same time, if your point in buying a Class 3-capable bike is to be riding it at its maximum assist speed without it feeling like an exercise challenge, then the Rad Power might not be the bike for you. (You may interpret that desire as “I want to be lazy,” but there are a lot of commutes where being able to match the prevailing speed of car traffic would be considerably safer and getting sweaty during the commute is non-ideal.)

The other notable thing about the Radster is its price, which is in the neighborhood of $2,000 ($1,999, to be precise). That places it above city bikes from a variety of competitors, including big-name brands like Trek. And it’s far above the price of some of the recent budget entries in this segment. The case for the Radster is that it has a number of things those others may lack—brake lights and directions, a heavy-duty rack, Class 3 capabilities—and some of those features are also very well implemented. Furthermore, not one component on it made me think: “They went with cheap hardware to meet a price point.” But, given the resulting price, you’ll have to do some careful comparison shopping to determine whether these are things that make a difference for you.

The good

Solidly built frame with a top-mounted battery.
Easy switching between Class 2 and Class 3 lets you match local laws anywhere in the US.
Great info screen and intuitive controls, including the first useful turn signals I’ve tried.
Didn’t cheap out on any components.

The bad

It’s hard to take full advantage of its Class 3 abilities.
Even the large frame won’t be great for taller riders.
Price means you’ll want to do some comparison shopping.

The ugly

Even the worst aspects fall more under “disappointing” than “ugly.”

John is Ars Technica’s science editor. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. When physically separated from his keyboard, he tends to seek out a bicycle, or a scenic location for communing with his hiking boots.

Rad Power’s Radster: A very non-radical commuter bike Read More »

$30k Ford EV truck due in 2027 with much-simpler production process

Cars, Ford, software defined vehicle / Kelly Newman / August 11, 2025

Ford will debut a new midsize pickup truck in 2027 with a targeted price of $30,000, the automaker announced today. The as-yet unnamed pickup will be the first of a series of more affordable EVs from Ford, built using a newly designed flexible vehicle platform and US-made prismatic lithium iron phosphate batteries.

For the past few years, a team of Ford employees have been hard at work on the far side of the country from the Blue Oval’s base in Dearborn, Michigan. Sequestered in Long Beach and taking inspiration from Lockheed’s legendary “skunkworks,” the Electric Vehicle Development Center approached designing and building Ford’s next family of EVs as a clean-sheet problem, presumably taking inspiration from the Chinese EVs that have so impressed Ford’s CEO.

It starts with a pickup

Designing an EV from the ground up, free of decades of legacy cruft, is a good idea, but not one unique to Ford. In recent months we’ve reviewed quite a few so-called software-defined vehicles, which replace dozens or even hundreds of discrete single-function electronic control units with a handful of powerful modern computers (usually known as domain controllers) on a high-speed network.

“This isn’t a stripped‑down, old‑school vehicle,” said Doug Field, Ford’s chief EV, digital, and design officer, pointedly comparing the future Ford to the recently revealed barebones EV from Slate Motors.

An animation of Ford’s new vehicle architecture.

Starting from scratch like this is allowing vehicle dynamics engineers to get creative with the way EVs handle. Field said that the company “applied first‑principles engineering, pushing to the limits of physics to make it fun to drive and compete on affordability. Our new zonal electric architecture unlocks capabilities the industry has never seen.”

$30k Ford EV truck due in 2027 with much-simpler production process Read More »