Tag: jalopnik.com

In Toyota legend, the creation of the LS 400 was gestated by a crew of 1,400 engineers, 2,300 technicians, and 60 designers (more engineers designers than with Slate’s new Truck). They ran through 450 prototypes, and took half a decade to get the first Lexus to market, and all of that burned through $1 billion.…

The torque converter is an integral part of a vehicle’s automatic transmission. Manual cars have no torque converters, and instead use a flywheel and a clutch to transfer the engine’s power to the transmission. In an automatic car, the torque converter replaces the flywheel, which is why automatic cars have flex plates that bolt directly…

Sometimes you can’t believe how we got here. And by here, we mean to a moment in time, when the entire informational ecosystem lies at your fingertips, and we even have artificial intelligence — and a law from 1958 is somehow still telling us how much a new car is supposed to cost. See, the reason…

The Jeep Gladiator returned for the 2020 model year, reviving a truck nameplate Jeep hadn’t used in decades and finally giving the Wrangler platform a proper pickup bed. It kept the removable doors, fold-down windshield, and soft or hard-top options that make the Wrangler a favorite among off-roaders, then added a 7,650-pound tow rating and an…

The 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 5.9 — designed and produced during the brand’s Chrysler years — rewrote the rulebook for SUV performance. By plunking a potent 5.9-liter V8 under the Jeep flagship’s hood, Chrysler created what was at the time the quickest SUV ever tested by MotorTrend, with a 0-60 mark of 6.8 seconds. …

The next time you see someone driving a car with an Illinois license plate, you might want to be extra cautious. As of July 1, the Illinois Road Safety and Fairness Act has officially gone into effect, removing the previous requirements that elderly drivers pass a driving test before they could renew their licenses. The vote to…

Auto racing is an inherently glamorous undertaking. It takes money and engineering prowess to build the cars, and it takes almost insane bravado to drive them. Even with the roll cages, fireproof suits, and real-time safety tech in the digital age of scrutineering, a mistake can easily turn fatal. Racing offers higher stakes than almost…

It’s no secret that diesel engines are some of the most reliable out there, with countless examples of reliable old diesel engines that just won’t quit. Exceptional examples include the units that motivate old Toyota and Cummins-powered Dodge and Ram trucks, which have been able to exceed 500,000 miles or even eclipse the mythical million-mile…

This is becoming a bit of a theme. The online car community freaks out about something, and then I come on here and tell you that it actually isn’t all that bad. Just a few days ago, we talked about the six-speed manual transmission in the new Ferrari 12Cilindri Manuale, and now I’m turning my…

The term “Sport Utility Vehicle” is a contentious one. To a purist, a vehicle needs to feature a ladder frame, a transfer case, and all-wheel drive to qualify as an SUV. But to many members of the general public, being tall and having a rear liftgate is all that it takes to be classified as one.…