Turbocharging, direct injection, and variable valve timing: the new holy grail of low emissions and high fuel economy, small displacement and big performance.
The turbocharger was once such an exotic piece of technology that entire coffee-table books featured the cars that boasted their boost with big "Turbo" badges smeared across every body panel. These were, however, very thin books. That's because turbos, for the bulk of their fifty-year existence in cars, were expensive, finicky devices that were capable of thrilling drivers but seemingly just as often failed, leaving those same drivers stranded on the side of the road. Boosted engines were volatile, barely controllable appendages that were hard to rouse, initially producing no power at all -- and then way more than the driver ever asked for. A turbo, as enthusiasts were promised way back with the first production applications in Corvairs and Oldsmobiles, could produce the power of a big engine with the fuel consumption of a little one. The latter remained an empty promise, and what extra power the turbo made was bad power. It came at the expense of reliability, fuel economy, and drivability, relegating turbocharged engines to the fringes of the market.
Photo Gallery: 2012 Technology of the Year: The Turbo Tech Trifecta
The Dodge Journey crossover with sporty driving dynamics and wagon-like design cues. And for the most part, it's lagged behind against competitors like the Ford Edge, Hyundai Santa Fe, Honda CR-V and Toyota Venza. The Journey sits in the heart of the mid-size crossover market, but may have a bit of a perception problem since it...
Mercedes believes it still faces a big task to get on top of its tyre problems even though Nico Rosberg won the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
“I think that was an unfortunate aspect of him being new to the team and us being new to him. So that didn’t quite run as planned.
While compact pickups have largely vanished from the U.S. market, the Toyota Tacoma soldiers forward. The Ford Ranger has exited the market, and the GMC Canyon and Chevy Colorado compact pickups are taking a transition year off--leaving the Tacoma as one of the few not-full-size trucks sticking it out. Toyota's even invested more in...
Swedish driver Timmy Hansen claimed his first rallycross victory in empathic style at round three of the European Rallycross Championship, held at Nyirad, Hungary.
The Audi A7 is a mid-size five-door luxury hatchback based on the A6, but with more sumptuous styling. It competes with other "four-door coupes" like the Mercedes-Benz CLS and BMW 6-Series Gran Sport. Plus, there are hotter versions of the A7–the S7 performance edition, and the even faster RS7 edition arrive in showrooms soon. See our 2013...
Aston Martin Racing will field a full factory car in next weekend’s British round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone.
