Etc : Car News And Reviews

With the advent of ridesharing businesses like Uber and Lyft, we’re definitely in an era where the act of getting a ride in the big city is transforming. In this fascinating infographic put together by our friends at Ford, they look back at the history of the urban taxi, limo and chauffeur business, and how modern business models are dramatically shaking up the industry.

So you want to get your hands on one of Dodge’s 707-horsepower Challenger Hellcats? You could queue up at the dealership with everyone else who wants one, or you could win one for yourself if you’re willing to donate enough for charity.

Taking aim at track-day roadsters like the Ariel Atom, Polaris has just taken wraps off of its latest vehicle, the Slingshot. But instead of being a street-legal automobile, it’s actually classified as a motorcycle. This three-wheeled roadster is designed to let driver and passenger sit side by side, just inches from the ground.

BMW Classic recently put the 1957 BMW 507 Roadster owned by Elvis Presley on display in the BMW Museum in Munich. Unfortunately, the vehicle is in extremely poor condition with no engine, a lot of rusted bodywork, a dilapidated interior, torn seats, chipping paint, and a bunch of other problems.

The all-new 2015 WRX STI is a heck of a road car and has already proven its world-class capability in rally events by setting a new Isle of Man lap record twice. Now you can win a limited Launch Edition model of this 2015 all-wheel drive performer courtesy of eBay and the Subaru Rally Team USA.

To celebrate its upcoming line of Star Wars-themed Hot Wheels cars, Mattel commissioned the construction of a full-size version of the forthcoming Darth Vader car. The all black car looks like a flattened version of Vader’s iconic helmet, and features what could be the greatest grille of all time.

Ford Australia has finally revealed the first look at the reborn XR8 sedan although the car is mostly camouflaged throughout the teaser video. But some of the car’s new features are revealed before they are covered with Lycra masks.

The Silver Arrow motor racing era is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, but despite its racing heritage and legendary races, there is not a lot of photographic imagery from the era to capture the essence of the racing.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars worked with a team of students from the March CE Primary School — located adjacent to Rolls-Royce’s home in Goodwood — to design and build a special electric car to compete in the Greenpower IET Formula Goblin race at the Goodwood Motor Circuit.

A while back, Steve’s POV took us on a midnight run through Toyko with a gang of wealthy Lamborghini owners and their less than subtle vehicles. Steve once again ran into the LED light-up Lambos and rode along with the guys for another amazing evening in Japan.

In general, a Mercedes-Benz is already a pretty nice car, but unless you get into the modern S-Class or the Maybach line, they’re not quite as swanky as a Rolls-Royce. That’s why Kazakhstan mechanic Ruslan Mukanov did what he did, transforming a Mercedes-Benz into a quasi Rolls-Royce Phantom.

As we previously reported, computer security experts recently gathered at the 2014 SyScan security conference in Beijing and one of the events of this year’s conference was a contest to see if any team could hack into a high-tech Tesla Model S.

The Bugatti Veyron is an impressive supercar no matter how you look at it, but the heart of the Veyron is its 1,001 horsepower, 8.0-liter, quad turbocharged, 16 cylinder engine. This marvel of automotive engineering essentially consists of two V8 engines sharing a single driveshaft (the two “V”s thereby forming the “W”.

The Panther is an amphibious vehicle built by WaterCar of Fountain Valley, California, a fiberglass fabricator. Not surprisingly, the Panther is based on a custom designed fiberglass hull that has front-end styling cues that resemble a Jeep Wrangler.

Audi introduced its first TDI engine in 1989, when diesel engines were often thought of as the proper powertrain for big trucks or, perhaps, some large sedans where efficiency was more important than performance. They were rarely considered in discussions about sports cars or racing.