A brand-new open-world racing game is aiming to shake up the genre, and it comes from some of the biggest names behind the Forza Horizon series. Maverick Games, the studio founded by former Forza Horizon 5 creative director Mike Brown, has officially revealed Clutch, a narrative-focused driving game that blends sanctioned motorsport, underground street racing, and organized crime.

Set against the backdrop of the French Riviera, Clutch looks like a major departure from the cleaner, festival-style atmosphere that has dominated modern racing games in recent years. The game mixes professional circuit racing with high-speed police chases, criminal underworld storylines, and heavily customized supercars.

Maverick Games says Clutch has been in development for more than three years, making it the studio’s most ambitious project yet. The game is currently targeting a spring 2027 release for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC.

From the first trailer alone, it’s clear the team wants to create something very different from both Forza Horizon and the increasingly dormant Need for Speed franchise.

Racing Championship Meets Criminal Underworld

At the center of Clutch is a fictional racing series known as the R1K, described as a century-old championship that serves as the proving ground for the world’s best drivers.

Players take control of sibling racing prodigies competing within the prestigious series, but things quickly spiral into something much darker. According to Maverick Games, the story eventually pulls players into the “Midnight Collective,” a secretive underground group focused less on fame and sponsorships and more on the raw thrill of driving.

That setup creates a dual-world structure where professional racing exists alongside illegal street racing and organized crime.

The reveal trailer hints at high-speed getaways, police pursuits, and gadget-assisted escapes involving nitrous systems and grappling hooks. It gives Clutch a tone that feels somewhere between Forza Horizon, Need for Speed Heat, and even classic heist films.

Maverick describes the game as “PvPvE,” meaning players won’t just compete against each other but may also need to cooperate during certain events while dealing with AI-controlled threats like law enforcement.

The Cars Look Incredibly Detailed

One of the biggest talking points surrounding Clutch so far is the visual quality of the cars themselves. Maverick Games says it built the game using a custom version of Unreal Engine 5, allowing the studio to push car modeling and environmental detail much further than previous racing games.

According to the developers, every scratch, paint flake, interior stitch, and tire groove has been recreated with extreme precision. Older cars even show visible wear and aging rather than appearing factory-fresh all the time.

The reveal trailer showcased a surprisingly diverse car roster that already includes icons like the Mazda RX-7 FD, Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, Porsche 930 Turbo, BMW M3 GTR, Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Aston Martin Valhalla, Alfa Romeo 4C, and Land Rover Defender.

Interior modeling appears especially impressive. Footage of the BMW 850 CSi showed fully detailed switchgear, labels, textures, and materials that rival some of the best automotive games currently available. The game also embraces a level of personalization rarely seen in the genre.

Customization Goes Beyond Just Body Kits

Vehicle customization appears to be one of Clutch’s biggest selling points. Players can modify traditional components like wheels, bumpers, spoilers, exhausts, racing seats, and steering wheels, but Maverick Games is also pushing into much more personal territory.

The studio wants cars to feel genuinely lived-in rather than sterile showroom pieces. That means players can clutter their cabins with coffee cups, hoodies, parking tickets, receipts, and various personal items scattered throughout the interior.

The developers even joked during the reveal presentation about players requesting fluffy dice for rearview mirrors, something the team now says it may actually add later.

It’s a small detail, but it highlights the game’s philosophy. Maverick wants Clutch to feel less like a car catalog simulator and more like a world where players build genuine emotional connections with their vehicles.

That approach could help the game stand out in a racing genre that has become increasingly focused on sterile progression systems and live-service mechanics.

Clutch Could Arrive At The Perfect Time

The timing for Clutch may work heavily in Maverick Games’ favor. Need for Speed has largely gone quiet following recent restructuring at EA and Criterion Games.

Meanwhile, Forza Horizon continues to dominate the arcade racing space but has gradually moved toward a more polished and less rebellious atmosphere over the years. Clutch appears ready to occupy the gap between those two franchises.

The combination of narrative storytelling, underground racing culture, realistic vehicle customization, and open-world exploration could appeal to players who miss the edgier style of racing games from the early 2000s while still wanting modern visuals and technology.

Maverick Games says additional information about the game’s world, cast, and gameplay systems will be revealed during Summer Game Fest on June 5. For now, though, Clutch already looks like one of the most intriguing new racing games currently in development.

Mitsubishi’s long-awaited Pajero and Montero revival is beginning to take shape, and early reactions suggest the legendary SUV may return larger and more upscale than ever before. After years of uncertainty surrounding the nameplate’s future, Mitsubishi is now actively teasing the next-generation off-roader ahead of its expected debut later this year.

The Pajero ended production globally roughly five years ago, leaving a major hole in Mitsubishi’s lineup and disappointing longtime fans across markets like Japan, Australia, and parts of Europe. Rumors about a replacement have circulated almost nonstop since then, but Mitsubishi repeatedly avoided fully committing to bringing the SUV back.

Now, however, the company appears ready to officially relaunch one of its most iconic vehicles. Early impressions from a private customer preview event in Japan are already fueling excitement, especially because several attendees described the new Pajero as significantly larger and more premium than expected.

If those impressions prove accurate, Mitsubishi could be preparing a much more ambitious SUV than many enthusiasts originally anticipated.

Mitsubishi Secretly Showed The SUV To Select Customers

The first public hints about the new Pajero came during Mitsubishi’s Star Camp event in Japan. During the gathering, a small group of attendees was reportedly selected through a lottery-style drawing to preview the new SUV in person.

No members of the media were allowed into the reveal, making the reactions from those customers especially interesting. Japanese outlet Kuruma News spoke with several attendees afterward, and their comments paint a picture of a very different kind of Pajero than some fans may expect.

Multiple people described the interior as “luxurious” and “premium,” while one person specifically said the SUV felt “more urban and stylish” than rugged or overtly outdoors-focused.

That could signal Mitsubishi is aiming for a more refined approach, potentially positioning the new Pajero closer to premium family SUVs rather than a stripped-down, rugged off-roader.

The comments also suggest Mitsubishi may be borrowing heavily from the latest Outlander’s interior design philosophy, though likely with significantly more space and upscale materials.

The New Pajero May Be Much Larger Than Before

The biggest surprise from the early preview, however, was the SUV’s size. According to attendees, the reborn Pajero appeared noticeably larger than the outgoing model. While exact dimensions remain unknown, the comments have sparked speculation that Mitsubishi’s new flagship SUV could move closer in size to vehicles like the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado (Land Cruiser 250).

For reference, the previous-generation Pajero measured roughly 193 inches long with a wheelbase just over 109 inches. That already placed it slightly above the older Toyota 4Runner in overall size.

If Mitsubishi has indeed grown the vehicle substantially, the new Pajero could become one of the largest SUVs the brand has ever sold globally.

That said, it likely still won’t compete directly with full-size SUVs like the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 Series, Lexus LX, Chevrolet Tahoe, or Nissan Patrol. The new model is still expected to ride on a platform related to Mitsubishi’s Triton midsize pickup truck.

Even so, a larger footprint would better align the Pajero with current market trends, especially as buyers increasingly gravitate toward spacious three-row SUVs with premium features.

Mitsubishi Appears To Be Changing Its Strategy

The Pajero’s return also reflects Mitsubishi’s effort to rebuild its image globally. In recent years, the brand has leaned heavily on smaller crossovers and rebadged alliance products, particularly in Europe.

While vehicles like the Outlander have remained successful, Mitsubishi’s enthusiast reputation faded considerably after the Pajero disappeared from production. Bringing the SUV back could help restore some of that identity.

The company has already hinted at expanding its off-road and adventure-focused lineup again, particularly in North America, where Mitsubishi has struggled to regain momentum. Reports have also suggested Mitsubishi is developing a midsize pickup for the U.S. market, which could potentially pave the way for the Montero’s return to American showrooms as well.

Whether that actually happens remains uncertain. Import costs, tariffs, and the company’s limited U.S. dealer footprint still create major challenges.

Still, the growing popularity of rugged SUVs like the Toyota Land Cruiser, Ford Bronco, and Lexus GX shows there is strong demand for capable off-road-focused vehicles with heritage appeal.

The Pajero Name Still Carries Serious Weight

For many enthusiasts, the Pajero and Montero names still represent some of Mitsubishi’s greatest achievements. The SUV built its reputation through decades of Dakar Rally success and earned a loyal following worldwide thanks to its durability, off-road capability, and distinctive personality.

Even years after production ended, used Pajeros continue to maintain strong enthusiast interest in many markets. That legacy creates enormous expectations for the next-generation model.

Mitsubishi has not yet revealed full specifications, powertrains, or final styling details, but anticipation is clearly building quickly. If the company successfully combines modern luxury, genuine capability, and the Pajero’s historic identity, the SUV could become one of Mitsubishi’s most important launches in years.

A full reveal is expected before the end of 2026, with the new model likely arriving as a 2027 vehicle.

Kia continues to build momentum in the United States, and May 2026 turned into one of the company’s strongest sales months ever.

The Korean automaker shattered multiple records at once, including new highs for monthly sales, retail sales, and year-to-date deliveries.

The company sold 80,502 vehicles in May alone, putting Kia within striking distance of Hyundai’s U.S. sales totals. Even more impressive, the brand achieved those results despite discontinuing the Soul crossover, which had long been one of Kia’s volume sellers in America.

Strong demand for SUVs, minivans, hybrids, and electric vehicles helped power the surge. Several models posted their best May sales performances ever, while electrified vehicles saw especially dramatic growth. Kia now appears firmly on pace for another record-breaking year.

Telluride And Sportage Continue To Dominate

Kia’s SUV lineup once again carried the brand’s sales success, led by the Sportage and Telluride. The Sportage remained Kia’s top-selling vehicle in May with 18,405 units sold, representing a 7.9% increase compared to the same month last year. Both hybrid and gasoline versions of the compact SUV contributed to the model’s best-ever May performance.

Close behind was the Telluride, which delivered another massive result with 13,665 sales. That marked an 18.2% increase year-over-year and continued a remarkable streak for Kia’s flagship SUV. The Telluride has now posted five consecutive months of record sales.

Kia’s Sorento and Seltos also performed strongly, climbing 11.4% and 11.2% respectively. Even the Carnival minivan continued gaining traction, posting an impressive 15.6% increase with more than 8,000 units sold during the month.

Electrified Models See Huge Gains

One of the biggest surprises in Kia’s latest sales report was the rapid growth of its electrified lineup. Hybrid sales jumped 179% year-over-year, while EV sales also posted notable gains.

Leading the charge (pun totally intended) was the three-row Kia EV9, which recorded 1,647 sales in May after essentially being absent from the market a year ago. That translated into an eye-catching 4,351% increase.

While the EV6 saw a slight decline, the EV9’s growth suggests larger electric SUVs may be gaining traction with buyers, particularly as fuel prices continue climbing across the United States.

Kia executives believe the company’s broad powertrain strategy is helping attract customers regardless of whether they want gasoline, hybrid, or fully electric vehicles.

“Even as consumer preferences continue to evolve, Kia continues to break retail, monthly and year-to-date sales records thanks to our wide range of ICE, hybrid and electrified models,” said Eric Watson, vice president of sales operations for Kia America. That flexibility may be paying off at exactly the right time as consumer demand remains somewhat unpredictable.

The Soul’s Exit Makes The Results More Impressive

Kia’s strong performance becomes even more notable when considering the disappearance of the Soul from the lineup. The quirky compact crossover was once one of Kia’s defining products in America and routinely generated strong sales numbers.

In May 2025 alone, Kia sold more than 5,000 Souls. This May, the company sold just seven remaining examples.

Despite losing one of its longtime volume leaders, Kia still managed to post record numbers across multiple categories. That suggests the rest of the lineup has matured enough to absorb the loss without slowing overall growth.

The newly introduced K4 sedan is also beginning to establish itself as a Forte replacement, although combined K4/Forte sales still slipped slightly year-over-year. Even so, Kia’s overall product portfolio appears healthier and more balanced than ever.

Kia’s Momentum Shows No Signs Of Slowing

Through the first five months of 2026, Kia has now sold 360,220 vehicles in the United States. That represents a 2% increase compared to the same period last year and sets another year-to-date record for the brand.

The company’s momentum also comes despite growing economic uncertainty, rising interest rates, and ongoing affordability concerns affecting much of the auto industry.

Kia’s diverse lineup may be helping shield it from some of those pressures. Buyers looking for affordable transportation still have smaller crossovers and sedans to choose from, while customers seeking larger family vehicles or electrified options also have multiple choices throughout the lineup.

The Telluride, in particular, continues to exceed expectations years after its original launch. Kia recently introduced the updated 2027 model, and demand appears stronger than ever.

“With five consecutive months of record-breaking sales, the flagship 2027 Telluride continues to shatter all initial expectations,” Watson said. If current trends continue, Kia could be headed toward the strongest sales year in company history.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe believes the automotive industry is far closer to fully autonomous driving than most people realize. According to the Rivian founder, Level 4 self-driving capability could arrive before the end of the decade, potentially transforming the way people use cars entirely.

Speaking with Top Gear during an early drive of the upcoming Rivian R2, Scaringe laid out an ambitious vision for Rivian’s future. While many industry observers remain skeptical about autonomous driving timelines, he argued that recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence have dramatically accelerated progress.

“The rate of change between 2026 and 2030, compared to what’s been happening in self-driving since 2010, is an order of magnitude faster,” Scaringe said during the interview.

For Rivian, autonomy is no longer some distant moonshot project. It is actually becoming central to the company’s long-term strategy.

Rivian Thinks AI Finally Solved The Biggest Problem

Scaringe explained that earlier self-driving systems struggled because they relied heavily on rigid rule-based programming. Engineers essentially tried to manually teach cars how to respond to every possible road situation.

That approach worked reasonably well in controlled conditions, but real-world driving is far too unpredictable for simple “if-then” coding to handle everything safely. Now, Rivian believes modern AI models have changed the game completely.

Instead of relying purely on hard-coded instructions, newer systems use neural networks and large driving models trained on enormous amounts of real-world data. According to Scaringe, Rivian vehicles continuously gather information that helps improve how the system interprets roads, traffic, and driver behavior.

“We’ve basically thrown away the rule-based environment,” he explained. Scaringe compared the technology’s evolution to the rapid rise of large language models like ChatGPT, arguing that AI systems are learning and adapting much more like humans than traditional software ever could.

Level 3 Could Arrive Soon

Rivian expects to make major progress in the near future. Scaringe claimed the company could move from today’s Level 2 driver-assistance systems to Level 3 autonomy within roughly 18 months.

That would allow drivers to take their eyes off the road in certain conditions while the vehicle handles driving duties itself. It remains a significant step beyond current hands-on systems offered by most automakers today.

Scaringe believes Level 4 autonomy, where the vehicle can operate entirely on its own without human intervention in specific environments, could follow by around 2028 to 2030. If that timeline proves accurate, it would represent one of the biggest technological transformations in automotive history.

“People will be very drawn to something that will give them time back when they’re in the car,” Scaringe said. That idea sits at the center of Rivian’s strategy. The company sees autonomy as something capable of fundamentally changing transportation, vehicle ownership, and even consumer expectations.

Rivian’s Software Strategy Gives It Confidence

Part of Rivian’s confidence comes from how the company built its vehicles from the beginning. Unlike many legacy automakers that still rely on dozens of separate electronic control modules supplied by different companies, Rivian designed its vehicles around a centralized software architecture.

Scaringe was blunt about the challenges traditional automakers face. “A modern car — one that’s not a Tesla or Rivian — is an absolute train wreck because you have 100-plus ECUs with 100 different islands of code,” he said.

That fragmented approach makes software updates and advanced autonomous systems far more difficult to implement. Rivian, meanwhile, developed its vehicles more like consumer electronics, with vertically integrated software and centralized computing systems.

That software expertise also helped Rivian secure its massive $5.8 billion joint venture partnership with Volkswagen Group. The upcoming R2 is expected to play a major role in Rivian’s autonomy ambitions as well. Scaringe described the vehicle as an “ultimate data acquisition machine,” continuously gathering information to help improve Rivian’s driving models.

The Technology May Arrive Before The Regulations Do

Even if Rivian achieves the technological side of autonomy, major challenges still remain. Fully self-driving vehicles raise enormous legal, regulatory, and cybersecurity concerns that governments worldwide are still struggling to address.

Questions surrounding liability remain particularly complicated. If a self-driving car crashes while operating autonomously, determining responsibility becomes far more difficult than with a traditional vehicle.

Cybersecurity is another major concern. Vehicles that rely heavily on connected software systems could potentially become targets for hacking or malicious attacks if safeguards fail.

Public trust also remains a hurdle. While autonomous technology has improved significantly, many drivers are still uncomfortable surrendering full control to a computer.

Still, Scaringe clearly believes the new era is coming faster than most people expect. For Rivian, the company’s future may depend not only on building electric trucks and SUVs, but on becoming one of the industry leaders in software-driven transportation as the automotive world enters its next major transformation.

The Mercedes CLK GTR is one of the rarest supercars ever produced. In total, just 26 road-going versions of the car were built, with the car based on the racing version that dominated FIA GT racing in the late 1990s. Yet within that rare collection, some were even more exclusive.

Recently showcased by the gentlemancarworld Instagram account, the rarest of all CLKs has broken cover again, as the only example of the car to be painted in a stunning dark blue. This isn't a repaint; it is exactly how this car left the Mercedes factory back in the 1990s.

This example of the CLK has all the features that made the original car so great. So the big V12 engine, the sparse cabin, the manual transmission, and the ludicrous speed. But it has that very special dark blue paint that just gives it that little bit extra over all other CLKs.

Mercedes created this as a race car first and a road car second. That is evident in the raw nature of the CLK, and this blue example shows that off to perfection. In terms of its value, this car could sell for well over $15 million.

This is why the CLK GTR was such a special Mercedes

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mercedes first built the CLK GTR for the 1997 FIA GT Championship, and this is where it would earn the most fame. During its GT racing career, the car entered 13 races in total. Of those, it won eight of them, took pole at eight, and the fastest lap at seven events. The car also won two teams' and drivers' championships in 1997 and 1998.

Power came from a Mercedes-Benz LS600 6.0-liter V12 engine, producing 591hp and 516lb-ft of torque. That allowed the racing version to reach a top speed of 205mph, with a 0- 62 mph time of just 3.8 seconds. To homologate the car for racing, however, Mercedes had to build at least 25 road-going examples. So, that is exactly what it did, producing 28 in total, including the two prototypes, just to get the car homologated.

The road-going version had an M297 E69/E73 V12 under the hood. In the coupe version, it made 622hp, dropping to 604hp in the Roadster. But in the SuperSport model, the V12 made a staggering 655hp and 580lb-ft of torque. Of the production run, six cars were roadsters, and 20 were coupes, with two of those being in the SuperSport specification.

How Much Are the CLK GTRs Worth?

At the time of their manufacture, the Guinness World Records named the road-going CLK as the world's most expensive production car. At the time, it would cost $1,547,620 to buy one of the CLKs, a record that stood until the Ferrari FXX-K was introduced in 2015. In November 2023, one of the six Roadster GTRs sold for $10.2 million, highlighting the value of the supercar.

Regarding the blue example, the figure could be even higher. While it is one of the 'standard' cars, the fact that it is the only one in this color makes it a proper one-off creation. A standard version is likely to cost between $8 million and $10 million, so you may be able to add another million or two to the price of this one. It might sound crazy, but that is exactly how much one-offs can cost.

General Motors knows it has a problem. While the company’s full-size trucks remain some of the best-selling vehicles in North America, ongoing concerns surrounding the 6.2-liter L87 V8 have created a cloud of skepticism among some loyal truck buyers.

Now, as GM prepares to launch the next-generation 2027 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, the automaker is reportedly taking major steps behind the scenes to improve engine quality, durability, and long-term reliability.

According to GM Authority, the company is tightening manufacturing standards and bringing more critical production processes in-house as it develops its new Gen 6 Small Block V8 engines.

The timing is important, as the next Silverado and Sierra are expected to be among GM’s biggest product launches of the decade, and the company simply cannot afford another wave of reliability controversies surrounding its flagship trucks. Especially not at a time when buyers are already questioning whether modern trucks have become too complicated for their own good.

GM’s Current V8 Problems Hurt Buyer Confidence

The current-generation 6.2-liter L87 V8 has faced increasing scrutiny over the past several years. While the engine delivers impressive power and strong towing capability, it has also been linked to recalls, valve lifter failures, customer complaints, and multiple lawsuits.

Some owners reported catastrophic engine failures, while others experienced issues tied to the cylinder deactivation system and valvetrain components. The problems became serious enough that many truck buyers started actively discussing reliability concerns online before purchasing new GM trucks.

That is a dangerous situation for any automaker, especially in the fiercely competitive full-size truck segment where reputation is enormously important.

Pickup buyers tend to keep vehicles for years, tow heavy loads, and rack up high mileage. Reliability problems can permanently damage trust, particularly when trucks routinely cost $70,000 or more. GM now appears determined to avoid repeating those mistakes with the next generation.

New Gen 6 V8 Engines Are Coming

The upcoming Silverado and Sierra are expected to debut entirely new Gen 6 Small Block V8 engines. According to reports, the current 5.3-liter L84 and 6.2-liter L87 engines will eventually be replaced by new 5.7-liter and 6.6-liter V8 variants.

While GM has not officially revealed detailed specifications yet, the company is reportedly making durability and manufacturing consistency a top priority during development.

Sources familiar with the project told GM Authority that the automaker is implementing stricter quality-control procedures for several key engine components. Certain manufacturing processes are also reportedly moving in-house rather than relying on outside suppliers.

That may sound minor, but it can make a major difference in production consistency. Bringing critical operations under direct company oversight allows GM to monitor tolerances, component quality, and assembly standards more closely throughout the manufacturing process. For buyers worried about long-term reliability, that is likely exactly what they want to hear.

GM Is Investing Billions Into Production

The new engines are also tied to massive manufacturing investments across North America. GM has already announced significant funding for facilities including Tonawanda Propulsion in New York, Flint Engine Operations in Michigan, Saginaw Metal Casting Operations, and the St. Catharines Propulsion Plant in Ontario.

Those investments are expected to support production of the next-generation small-block V8 family and related powertrain components.

Interestingly, GM continues to invest heavily in combustion engines even as it simultaneously pushes electric vehicles, which shows that demand for traditional gasoline-powered trucks remains extremely strong.

While EV adoption has slowed in some segments, full-size pickups with large engines continue generating enormous profits for manufacturers.

GM clearly understands it still needs to deliver dependable V8 trucks if it wants to maintain its position against Ford and Ram.

The Truck Wars Are Far From Over

The next-generation Silverado and Sierra are expected to arrive for the 2027 model year, with production reportedly beginning in late 2026. Design leaks suggest the trucks will adopt a more squared-off and upright appearance, potentially giving them an even more imposing presence on the road.

GM is also expected to continue offering updated versions of the 2.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder and 3.0-liter Duramax diesel alongside the new V8s.

Perhaps most importantly for GM, the timing could work in its favor. Reports suggest Ford’s next major F-Series redesign may not arrive until closer to 2029, potentially giving GM a valuable opportunity to strengthen its market position. Still, none of that will matter if reliability problems continue.

Modern trucks have become incredibly advanced machines loaded with technology, luxury features, and increasingly complex drivetrains. Yet for many buyers, the basics still matter most: strong engines, dependable performance, and the confidence that the truck will survive years of hard use.

GM appears to recognize that reality and now seems focused on making sure its next generation of V8 trucks earns back some of the trust that recent engine problems may have damaged.

American startup Slate Auto is about to find out how much of its early electric-truck buzz can turn into real customer commitment.

The company says preorders for its first vehicle will open on June 24. That is a major step for a startup that has attracted attention with a very different EV pitch: a small, simple, customizable electric pickup aimed at buyers who feel priced out of the modern new-vehicle market.

Slate is trying to move in the opposite direction from much of the EV industry. Instead of leading with giant screens, luxury trim, and expensive technology packages, the company is selling simplicity: basic transportation, a low starting price, manual window cranks, and options buyers can add later.

The idea is easy to understand. The test now is harder. Slate has to convince reservation holders to move from refundable curiosity to a non-refundable preorder before the full ownership picture is complete.

Buyers Must Commit Before The Full Picture Is Clear

Slate’s preorder process creates an unusual decision for potential buyers. The company says pricing will be announced when preorders open on June 24, but customers will still be committing before final configuration, accessories, financing, and purchase details are fully settled.

The deposit is also changing. Early reservation holders put down a refundable $50 fee to hold a spot. Slate now says a $300 non-refundable preorder deposit will lock in delivery timing. Existing reservation holders can apply their $50 reservation fee toward that amount, meaning they will owe another $250 to convert their reservation into a preorder.

That deposit will be applied toward the final purchase price, but it is not the same as casually joining an interest list. It asks buyers to put real money behind a truck that still has major details waiting to be finalized.

Slate has said its basic truck is expected to start in the mid-$20,000 range, with accessories and personalization available at extra cost. The exact pricing structure matters because Slate’s whole argument depends on staying meaningfully cheaper than the EVs and pickups buyers already know.

Slate Has Reservations, But Preorders Are The Real Test

Public interest has been strong. Slate has gathered more than 160,000 refundable reservations or bookings, giving the startup one of the more closely watched order books in the affordable-EV space.

That number is impressive, but reservations are not sales. EV startups have learned that a refundable deposit can show curiosity, while a non-refundable preorder shows a higher level of confidence. June 24 will help show how many people are ready to move from watching Slate to actually waiting for one.

The truck’s appeal is built around simplicity. Slate is promoting a small electric pickup with a minimalist cabin, no built-in infotainment screen, manual window cranks, and a focus on keeping production and ownership costs low.

That strategy gives Slate a clear identity. Many new EVs have become heavier, more expensive, and more complicated. Slate is betting that some buyers would rather have a cheaper electric truck they can personalize over time than a fully loaded vehicle they can barely afford.

Michigan Support, Indiana Production, And A Different Service Plan

Slate has also been building the business behind the truck. The company is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, and Michigan has approved up to $5 million in performance-based support for the company’s headquarters expansion.

Production, however, is planned for Warsaw, Indiana. Slate has raised major funding to support the launch, including a $650 million Series C round led by TWG Global. The company is also backed by high-profile investors, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

The service model is different from a traditional automaker’s approach. Slate does not plan to build a large network of company-owned service centers in the style of some other EV brands. Instead, it has pointed to service through independent repair networks, including RepairPal-certified shops.

That approach could lower costs and make service more flexible if it works well. It also creates an important question for buyers: how consistent will repairs, parts availability, warranty support, and customer help feel once real trucks are on the road?

Many Details Are Still Missing

The truck’s basic idea is clear, but several buyer-level details still matter. Customers still need final pricing, accessory costs, personalization choices, financing terms, delivery windows, service details, and a clearer sense of how the final production vehicle will compare with the early pitch.

Slate says customers will later be able to personalize their trucks and complete the buying process. The company has also said it plans public vehicle showings before production begins, though timing and locations still need to be watched closely.

Delivery timing is another major question. Slate has targeted first deliveries around late 2026, but delivery windows can shift depending on production readiness, preorder timing, configuration, and how quickly the startup can scale manufacturing.

That makes the June 24 preorder push a calculated gamble for customers. Buyers who believe in the concept can secure an earlier delivery position. Buyers who want final pricing, financing, and real-world production certainty may prefer to wait, even if that means a later truck.

Slate Now Has To Prove The Idea Works

Slate continues to attract attention because the promise is simple: a battery-electric pickup without the high price and unnecessary complexity that now define much of the EV market.

The company has the ingredients for a strong story. It has a clear product idea, a large reservation count, serious investor backing, a planned Indiana production site, and a market full of buyers frustrated by expensive new vehicles.

The difficult part begins now. Slate must prove that a clever concept can survive final pricing, production costs, supplier pressure, service expectations, financing realities, and customer patience.

A low-cost electric pickup is exactly the kind of product many shoppers say they want. June 24 will show how many are ready to put non-refundable money behind it.

This article was originally published by Autorepublika.com and is republished with permission. It has been reviewed and edited by Guessing Headlights.

• 13 Muscle Cars So Overlooked Most People Forgot Them
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Ram’s decision to bring the Hemi V8 back already made plenty of truck enthusiasts happy. Now, the company is doubling down by doing something many buyers were hoping for: more future Ram trucks will ditch the controversial eTorque mild-hybrid system altogether.

The news comes directly from Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis, who confirmed during an interview with The Drive that the simpler non-hybrid 5.7-liter Hemi V8 will expand beyond the recently revealed 2027 Ram 1500 Rumble Bee lineup. According to Kuniskis, removing the 48-volt mild-hybrid hardware opens the door for cheaper, simpler, and more enthusiast-focused V8 trucks.

For years, Ram equipped many Hemi-powered trucks with the eTorque system, which added a belt-driven motor generator and small 48-volt battery pack designed to improve efficiency and smoothness.

While the setup offered minor fuel economy gains and slightly better stop-start behavior, it also became a point of frustration for some owners who viewed it as unnecessary complexity. Ram now appears ready to lean heavily into the exact opposite approach.

Ram Removed eTorque From The Rumble Bee

The first sign of the shift came with the launch of the 2027 Ram 1500 Rumble Bee models. While much of the attention focused on the return of aggressive street-truck styling and powerful Hemi engines, Ram also confirmed the trucks no longer use the eTorque mild-hybrid system. Kuniskis later explained that the decision was very intentional.

“When we launched the Rumble Bee, I made the joke because I didn’t want to overtly say, ‘Hey, we dropped the mild hybrid on the Hemi,’” Kuniskis told The Drive. He referenced joking that the truck “only has one battery,” which many enthusiasts immediately understood as a subtle shot at the outgoing hybrid-assisted setup.

The reaction from dedicated Ram fans appears to have validated the move almost instantly. According to Kuniskis, many buyers saw removing the hybrid hardware as a positive rather than a downgrade. That feedback now seems to be shaping Ram’s future product strategy.

Simpler V8 Trucks Could Also Become Cheaper

One of the biggest advantages of dropping eTorque is cost reduction. Without the additional hybrid hardware, Ram can simplify production and potentially offer V8-powered trucks at lower price points.

Kuniskis specifically mentioned the possibility of expanding the non-eTorque Hemi into lower-cost Express trims and Black Express models. He even floated the idea of a Hemi-powered Black Express truck landing around the $50,000 price range after incentives.

For buyers frustrated by rising truck prices, that could be a major selling point. Modern full-size pickups have become increasingly expensive, especially performance-oriented trims loaded with technology and luxury features. Ram’s strategy appears to focus on bringing back a more traditional formula: a straightforward V8-powered truck without unnecessary electrification systems driving up cost and complexity.

That approach also fits neatly with the growing enthusiasm surrounding the return of naturally aspirated V8s across the truck market.

What eTorque Actually Does

To be fair, the eTorque system is not entirely pointless. Ram designed the 48-volt setup to improve throttle response, smooth out stop-start operation, and provide small torque boosts during acceleration.

In day-to-day driving, many owners barely notice it working. The system replaces the traditional alternator with a motor-generator unit connected to a small battery pack that assists the engine during launches and low-speed driving situations.

Ram also uses eTorque to help improve fuel economy ratings, something increasingly important under tightening emissions and efficiency regulations.

Still, the system developed a mixed reputation among enthusiasts. Online forums are frequently filled with complaints about reliability concerns, electrical gremlins, and drivetrain issues tied to the mild-hybrid components.

Whether all of those concerns were widespread or simply amplified online, the perception obviously had an impact. For many traditional truck buyers, simpler often equals better.

Questions Still Remain

While Ram has confirmed the non-eTorque Hemi is expanding, several major questions remain unanswered. The company has not yet clarified whether the eTorque-equipped Hemi will disappear entirely or continue in certain trims.

Pricing also remains uncertain. While removing the mild-hybrid system should theoretically reduce costs, Ram has not announced final pricing adjustments for future Hemi-powered trucks.

Timing is another unknown. Aside from the Rumble Bee lineup, Ram has not confirmed exactly when additional non-hybrid Hemi models will begin arriving at dealerships.

Still, after years of downsizing, electrification, and turbocharged replacements dominating the industry conversation, Ram is leaning hard into what many truck enthusiasts still want most: affordable V8-powered pickups with fewer complications, and judging by the reaction online, plenty of buyers are ready to welcome them back.

Volkswagen is facing a new class action lawsuit tied to battery fire risks affecting thousands of ID.4 electric crossovers. The lawsuit comes after multiple recalls and safety warnings instructed owners not to fully charge their vehicles, avoid overnight charging, and stay away from DC fast chargers until repairs could be completed.

For many owners, those restrictions fundamentally changed how the vehicles could be used. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue the charging limitations effectively crippled the convenience and practicality Volkswagen originally advertised when selling the ID.4 as a modern long-range EV.

The legal action follows a series of recalls covering 2023 through 2025 model-year ID.4s. According to Volkswagen and federal safety documents, the issue stems from defects inside certain high-voltage battery modules that could potentially lead to thermal events or fires.

Now the growing controversy is turning into a larger legal and public relations problem for Volkswagen as the company continues struggling to gain traction in the increasingly competitive EV market.

Battery Fires Triggered Multiple Recalls

Volkswagen first became aware of the issue in January 2024 after an ID.4 reportedly caught fire while using a Level 3 DC fast charger. Investigators later discovered additional thermal incidents, including some vehicles that experienced problems while parked and not actively charging.

Battery supplier SK Battery America eventually traced the issue to misaligned battery electrodes inside certain cells. According to recall documents, engineers later identified a second production-related defect that could also contribute to dangerous battery failures.

Volkswagen ultimately issued several recalls, including one affecting nearly 44,000 ID.4 models in the United States. Dealers were instructed to inspect battery modules and replace defective components when necessary.

Until repairs could be performed, Volkswagen advised owners to take several precautions. Drivers were told not to charge the battery above 80%, avoid charging overnight, and stop using Level 3 DC fast chargers entirely. Those recommendations quickly became one of the biggest sticking points for owners.

Owners Say The Restrictions Ruined Daily Usability

The class action lawsuit was filed by California residents Timothy Y. Chen and Robert Warren, both of whom leased ID.4 models impacted by the recalls. Chen leased a 2025 ID.4, while Warren leased a 2023 model.

According to the lawsuit, the charging restrictions dramatically reduce the usability of the vehicles compared to how Volkswagen marketed them. The plaintiffs argue that preventing owners from using DC fast charging substantially increases charging times and limits the practicality of longer trips.

The complaint specifically points to the inconvenience of relying solely on Level 2 charging. According to the filing, charging a 2023 ID.4 using an 11-kW Level 2 charger can take more than six hours and potentially over seven hours for a full recharge.

The 80% charging cap also reduces driving range. Earlier versions of the ID.4 already struggled to match some competitors on range, with certain trims rated at just over 200 miles on a full charge. Limiting the battery to 80% means some owners may effectively lose dozens of miles of usable range every day.

The lawsuit claims Volkswagen’s real-world restrictions conflict with how the company originally advertised the vehicle to customers.

Volkswagen Believes Software Could Have Helped

Interestingly, Volkswagen has acknowledged that software may have prevented at least some of the incidents. According to recall documentation, the company stated that self-discharge detection software could potentially have warned drivers before several known battery failures occurred.

The automaker is now inspecting affected vehicles to determine whether they contain the proper detection software and whether any battery modules require replacement. Still, for owners already dealing with charging restrictions and fire-risk warnings, confidence in the vehicle has clearly taken a hit.

The lawsuit also arrives during a difficult period for the ID.4 in the United States. Sales of Volkswagen’s electric crossover reportedly fell sharply earlier this year as EV demand cooled and competition intensified across the market.

Another Headache For Volkswagen’s EV Push

The ID.4 was supposed to be one of Volkswagen’s most important global EV products. Built to compete directly with mainstream electric crossovers like the Tesla Model Y and Hyundai Ioniq 5, the ID.4 represented a major part of Volkswagen’s long-term electrification strategy.

Instead, repeated recalls and battery concerns are now raising questions about reliability and quality control. While battery-related recalls are not unique to Volkswagen, the charging restrictions tied to this situation are particularly disruptive because they directly impact how owners use their vehicles every day.

For many EV buyers, convenient charging and usable range are two of the biggest selling points. Losing access to overnight charging or DC fast charging undercuts a major part of the ownership experience.

Volkswagen has not yet publicly responded in detail to the lawsuit itself. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and could potentially grow if more affected owners decide to join the action.

For now, the controversy adds yet another challenge for an automaker already fighting to maintain momentum in an EV market that has become far more difficult than many companies expected.

A hotel abroad can look familiar on a booking site, then feel different once the door opens. A “double room” may not mean two beds. A four-star rating does not guarantee a large room. An elevator may be tiny or absent. Air-conditioning may be seasonal. A city tax may appear at checkout or at the front desk.

American travelers are often used to larger rooms, clearer bed categories, 24-hour desks, strong climate control, ice machines, big bathrooms, and predictable parking. Hotels abroad can still be comfortable, charming, and well run, but the listing details need close reading before payment.

1. Room Descriptions May Not Match American Assumptions

Hotel room wording can cause problems before the suitcase even opens. A double room often means one bed for two people. A twin room usually means two separate beds. A family room may still have strict occupancy limits, and a sofa bed may count as one of the sleeping spaces. Travelers who need two real beds should not rely on the word “double.”

Star ratings do not solve the room-size question. Hotelstars Union says its hotel classification system uses numerous criteria, including room facilities, services, and catering. Its criteria for hotels also cover services, room features, food and beverage, leisure and event facilities, gastronomy, and online or quality activities.

Check the square footage, bed wording, bathroom setup, lift or elevator notes, window details, and occupancy rules before booking. A listing that looks stylish in photos can still leave two suitcases blocking the walkway or two friends sharing a bed they did not want.

Families should confirm children in writing. Some hotels count every guest toward the legal room limit, even when the child is small. A quick message about exact occupancy, bedding, and crib availability can prevent a front-desk argument after arrival.

2. The Price May Not Include Every Local Charge

The nightly rate is not always the final hotel cost. City taxes, tourist taxes, resort-style fees, breakfast charges, parking, cleaning fees, and payment surcharges can change the total by the time the stay is confirmed.

Amsterdam is a clear example. The City of Amsterdam lists tourist tax at 12.5% of the overnight price, excluding VAT, for hotels, hostels, guesthouses, apartments, short-stay rentals, campsites, and similar stays.

Compare the full checkout total, not only the first nightly price shown in search results. Look for lines marked “due at property,” “city tax,” “tourist tax,” “local charge,” “destination fee,” “cleaning fee,” or “breakfast not included.”

A cheaper room can lose its advantage once parking, breakfast, and taxes are added. A slightly higher rate with breakfast, airport access, or included parking may cost less across the full stay.

3. Passport Checks at the Desk Are Often Normal

Hotel check-in abroad can involve more paperwork than a typical U.S. stay. The front desk may ask for passports, addresses, nationality, arrival details, or a signed registration form. Keep the passport in a carry-on or personal bag, not buried at the bottom of checked luggage.

The EU’s Your Europe portal says some countries require visitors to report their presence, and when guests stay in a hotel, a special form is usually enough because the hotel handles the rest.

A U.S. driver’s license may not satisfy identity rules abroad. Hotels may need to see the passport or record the details from it. If reception wants to keep the passport for longer than a quick check, ask when it will be returned.

Store a secure digital copy separately from the original. It will not replace the passport at check-in or a border, but it can help with consular or police steps if the original is lost.

4. Amenities Should Be Checked One by One

Some hotel comforts that feel automatic in the United States vary widely overseas. Air-conditioning, elevators, ice machines, large bathrooms, 24-hour reception, in-room coffee makers, washcloths, king beds, and strong showers are not guaranteed.

Older buildings can have steep stairs, small lifts, narrow corridors, compact showers, weak soundproofing, and rooms that stay warm in summer. In some hotels, air-conditioning may be seasonal, centrally controlled, or weaker than travelers expect. A listing may say “lift” instead of “elevator,” and the lift may not reach every floor.

Travelers with mobility or accessibility needs should contact the property directly before booking. The U.S. State Department advises that each destination has its own accessibility laws, and in some places there may be little or no legal requirement.

Ask clear questions: Is there step-free access from the street to the room? Does the elevator reach the booked floor? Are there stairs between reception and the elevator? Is the shower walk-in or inside a tub? Is air-conditioning available in the room during the travel month?

5. The Map Should Be Tested With Luggage

A hotel can look close to the center on a map and still be awkward on arrival. The walk may include cobblestones, stairs, steep lanes, bridges, underpasses, ferry steps, or a hill that feels much longer with luggage.

Check the real route from the airport train, main station, ferry port, parking garage, or bus stop. A ten-minute walk on flat pavement is different from a ten-minute climb through old streets with two suitcases.

Late arrival matters too. Look at the last metro, tram, train, or bus. Check whether taxis are easy to find near the station. Save the hotel address offline. Read recent reviews for noise, stairs, street safety after dark, reception hours, and how hard the hotel is to find at night.

A central hotel on a noisy bar street may be worse than a quieter room one stop away from the main sights. A hotel near the right train station, ferry stop, airport rail link, or museum area can save more effort than a prettier room in the wrong place.

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The U.S. auto market is still enormous, but it no longer looks like the market automakers once expected to get back after the pandemic.

For years, roughly 17 million new light-vehicle sales stood as the familiar benchmark for a strong American market. That number now feels much harder to reach. Cox Automotive has forecast 15.8 million U.S. new-vehicle sales for 2026, while recent monthly sales rates have hovered around the high-15-million to low-16-million range.

That gap has become one of the clearest signs of how much the business has changed. Recent industry reporting has framed the difference as roughly one million potential new-car buyers who are no longer showing up the way they did before 2020.

The reason is not complicated for households. New cars, trucks, and SUVs have become far more expensive to buy, finance, insure, and replace. For many Americans, a new vehicle is no longer a routine purchase. It is a major financial decision that can reshape a monthly budget for years.

The 17 Million Sales Era Has Not Returned

Many analysts expected the U.S. market to recover once factory shutdowns ended, inventories improved, and supply chains became more stable. Sales did recover from the worst pandemic disruption, but they did not simply snap back to the old peak.

That has forced automakers and dealers to plan around a smaller new-vehicle market. A sales year near 16 million vehicles is still huge by global standards, but it is a different business from the 17-million-unit years that shaped many pre-pandemic expectations.

The change affects everything from factory planning to dealer inventory to lender risk. Automakers can still make money in a smaller market, but they have less room to rely on volume alone. Dealers have to work harder to find qualified buyers. Households have to decide whether replacing a vehicle is worth taking on a much larger payment.

A quick return to 17 million annual sales now looks unlikely. The market is not collapsing, but it is operating with fewer buyers than the industry once counted on.

Affordability Is Now The Main Problem

Americans have not stopped needing vehicles. Millions of households still rely on cars, trucks, and SUVs for commuting, school runs, family life, work, errands, and daily mobility.

The problem is the price of entry. Kelley Blue Book reported that the average new-vehicle transaction price reached $49,461 in April 2026. That is not the average sticker price. It is what buyers were actually paying, before the longer-term cost of financing, insurance, taxes, and ownership.

Monthly payments show the pressure even more clearly. Edmunds reported that the average amount financed for a new vehicle reached a record $43,899 in the first quarter of 2026. The average monthly payment on financed new-vehicle purchases hit $773.

Those numbers change the buying decision. A shopper who could handle a new vehicle several years ago may now face a payment that competes with rent, mortgage costs, groceries, insurance, utilities, child care, and credit-card debt.

Some buyers wait. Some buy used. Some keep repairing the vehicle they already own. Others leave the showroom after realizing that the monthly payment no longer fits the household budget.

Automakers Are Making Money From A Pricier Mix

The strange part is that several automakers can still post strong results while fewer Americans buy new vehicles. The reason sits in the product mix.

Manufacturers have leaned heavily into pickups, SUVs, luxury trims, larger screens, advanced technology packages, and higher-margin models. Those vehicles bring in more profit per sale than basic compact cars or low-cost family sedans.

Reuters has reported that the industry’s move toward upscale trucks and SUVs has helped push new-car prices higher and narrowed the market for middle- and lower-income buyers. Buyers earning $100,000 or less now make up a much smaller share of the new-car market than they once did.

That strategy helps automakers protect profits even when volume stays below the old peak. It also explains why the showroom can feel more expensive than the broader economy suggests. Affordable models still exist, but many of the vehicles automakers most heavily promote are larger, better equipped, and much more expensive than the entry-level cars buyers remember.

The result is a new-car market that remains profitable for manufacturers while becoming harder for many households to enter.

Older Cars Are Becoming The New Normal

The effect is already visible on American roads. S&P Global Mobility reported that the average vehicle in the United States reached 12.8 years in 2025, the oldest level in its data.

More owners are keeping their current cars, trucks, and SUVs longer. Instead of replacing a vehicle after a few years, many are paying for tires, brakes, batteries, suspension work, engine repairs, and other maintenance to delay a much larger purchase.

For many households, that decision is easy to understand. Even a large repair bill can look smaller than several years of new-car payments, especially when the replacement vehicle may cost close to $50,000 before financing costs are added.

That shift also helps explain why repair shops, parts suppliers, tire stores, and aftermarket businesses remain so important. When new vehicles become harder to afford, keeping an older vehicle running becomes the realistic plan.

Used Cars Are Still Expensive, Even As Values Normalize

The used-car market no longer gives buyers the easy escape it once did. Prices have cooled by some measures since the worst pandemic-era spikes, but late-model used vehicles remain expensive in dollar terms.

Edmunds reported that three-year-old used vehicles averaged $31,548 in the first quarter of 2026, the second-highest first-quarter figure it has recorded. Those vehicles retained 66% of their original MSRP on average, down from the extreme 2022 level but still above the older pre-pandemic pattern.

That makes used-car shopping more complicated. A newer used vehicle can cost as much as a new car did only a few years ago. A cheaper older vehicle may bring higher mileage, limited warranty protection, more repair risk, and a tougher financing decision.

For many shoppers, the choice is no longer simply new or used. It is a decision between different financial risks: a high payment on something newer, or lower upfront cost with more uncertainty about repairs.

A Major Shift For American Buyers

The automobile still carries special meaning in the United States. It represents mobility, work, family independence, and the ability to move through daily life on personal terms. That meaning has not disappeared.

The cost of getting into a new vehicle has changed. A growing number of Americans still want a new car, truck, or SUV, but the math no longer works. Those missing buyers are not proof that people stopped caring about vehicles. They show how many households have been priced out of the new-vehicle market.

That creates a different future for automakers, dealers, lenders, repair shops, and families. Manufacturers can chase profit-rich models, but a market with fewer accessible vehicles leaves more buyers behind. Dealers can still sell expensive trucks and SUVs, but the pool of customers who can comfortably finance them is smaller. Repair shops and parts suppliers may gain business as vehicles stay on the road longer.

The U.S. auto market is not broken. It is becoming more divided. New vehicles increasingly serve buyers with stronger incomes, better credit, larger trade-ins, or more tolerance for long loan terms. Everyone else has to wait, buy used, repair what they own, or accept a much bigger financial stretch than new-car buyers faced in the past.

This article was originally published by Autorepublika.com and is republished with permission. It has been reviewed and edited by Guessing Headlights.

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Toyota may have just created the funniest electric vehicle gimmick yet. According to a newly discovered patent filing, the automaker is developing a simulated manual transmission system for EVs that can recreate nearly every part of driving a traditional stick shift, including one thing most beginners desperately try to avoid: stalling the car.

The idea sounds almost ridiculous at first. Electric vehicles do not need gears, clutches, or transmissions in the traditional sense because electric motors deliver instant torque across a wide powerband. Yet Toyota appears determined to recreate the entire manual driving experience anyway, right down to awkward hill starts and jerky failed launches.

Oddly enough, that might actually make EVs more appealing to enthusiasts. One of the biggest complaints many drivers still have about electric cars is that they can feel too smooth, too quiet, and too detached compared to combustion-powered sports cars.

Toyota’s patent suggests the company wants to inject some personality, challenge, and even imperfection back into the driving experience.

Toyota Wants EVs To Feel Like Old-School Manuals

The system described in the patent goes far beyond simple fake paddle shifts or synthesized engine sounds. Toyota’s setup includes a physical shift lever and a clutch pedal designed to mimic the behavior of a real manual transmission.

Behind the scenes, software handles the illusion. The patent references something called a “virtual torque transmitting capacity changing device,” which essentially acts as a digital clutch system controlling how power is delivered from the electric motor.

The EV would also calculate simulated engine speeds and virtual gear ratios to imitate the behavior of a gasoline-powered car. In practice, drivers would need to coordinate throttle input and clutch operation just like they would in a traditional stick-shift vehicle. That means if you dump the clutch improperly or try starting in the wrong gear, the car can actually “stall.”

Yes, The EV Can Really “Stall”

Since there is no actual engine to shut off, Toyota’s version of stalling works differently than a real manual car. According to the patent, the system would abruptly cut torque from the electric motor and apply braking force to create the same sudden jerking sensation drivers experience when stalling a gasoline engine.

The patent even describes simulated rollback behavior on hills. If a driver struggles with clutch control, the car may begin rolling backward before hill-hold assist automatically intervenes.

Toyota’s software can apparently judge driver skill levels as well. If the system determines somebody is inexperienced with manual driving, it can proactively enable hill-start assistance or other electronic aids to make the fake manual easier to operate. Ironically, that means the EV could quietly decide you are bad at driving stick shift.

For experienced drivers, though, Toyota appears to be leaning fully into the fantasy. The patent reportedly allows for aggressive launches, quick clutch dumps, and even behavior resembling clutch kicks for spirited driving situations.

Why Automakers Are Chasing “Fake” Driving Engagement

At first glance, all of this sounds completely unnecessary. EVs already accelerate faster than most gasoline performance cars without needing complicated shifting or clutch work.

Yet manufacturers increasingly realize that emotional engagement is just as important as outright speed. Hyundai already introduced simulated gear shifts, fake rev limits, and synthesized engine sounds in the Ioniq 5 N, and surprisingly, many enthusiasts ended up loving it.

Toyota’s approach takes that idea significantly further by recreating not only the exciting parts of driving a manual but also the frustrating parts. The company seems to understand that much of the enjoyment enthusiasts associate with stick shifts comes from mastering the skill itself.

Driving a manual transmission has always involved a learning curve. Smooth launches, perfect rev matching, and clean shifts feel rewarding precisely because they require coordination and practice.

Toyota appears to be asking a strange but fascinating question: if software can recreate all of those sensations convincingly enough, does it matter that the transmission itself is fake?

This Might Actually Work

As strange as the concept sounds, there is a good chance enthusiasts would embrace it if Toyota executes the system properly. Modern performance EVs are already outrageously fast, but many still struggle to deliver the mechanical involvement that drivers love about traditional sports cars.

A fake manual transmission may never fully replace the feel of a real gearbox connected to an internal combustion engine. Still, it could add enough interaction and personality to make electric sports cars feel less clinical. More importantly, the entire system is mostly software-driven. Unlike developing a completely new transmission, simulated shifting features can potentially be added without massive hardware costs.

That flexibility gives automakers room to experiment with increasingly creative ways to make EVs feel more emotional. Whether that means fake rev limiters, synthetic engine sounds, or now simulated stalling, manufacturers are clearly searching for ways to bridge the gap between old-school enthusiast culture and the electric future.

For now, Toyota’s fake manual remains just a patent filing, and patents do not guarantee production plans. Still, the fact that one of the world’s largest automakers is seriously exploring the idea says a lot about how important driver engagement remains, even in the EV era. Honestly, I have to admit that watching someone stall an electric car at a stoplight for the first time would probably be hilarious.

A modified 2003 Ford Mustang Mach 1 ended up destroyed after a mechanic allegedly took the car out for a drive and crashed it, according to a video posted on YouTube by Mustang-focused creator Regular Guy Garage. The case has drawn attention among enthusiasts because of the car’s condition, rarity, and the amount of money invested into the build.

The video, titled around the wrecked Mach 1, walks viewers through the remains of the car while detailing the parts and upgrades that had been installed before the crash. The creator states that the owner had entrusted the vehicle to a mechanic for work before the car was allegedly taken out and wrecked.

Footage from the video shows a Torch Red Mach 1 with severe front-end and interior damage. The steering wheel appears shifted from its normal position, while body panels, suspension components, and structural sections show the force of the impact.

According to the YouTube creator, the owner later bought the car back from the insurance company before attempting to sell it for about half of the money invested in the project. The creator also claims the Mustang eventually ended up with a parts business known for dismantling damaged New Edge Mustangs.

Built Mach 1 Had Thousands Invested Into Performance Upgrades

The YouTube video explains that the Mach 1 had undergone extensive modifications before the crash. The original 4.6-liter engine had reportedly been rebuilt with forged internal components and a rotating assembly, while additional upgrades pushed output to about 480 horsepower at the wheels.

The car also carried 3.73 rear gears, a C&L cold air intake, a BBK throttle body, and Kooks long-tube headers connected to a catless X-pipe and Borla Attack exhaust system. Suspension upgrades included adjustable Eibach coilovers, tubular K-member components, A-arms, sway bars, and an aluminum one-piece driveshaft.

The braking system featured Baer brakes with drilled and slotted rotors, while the Mustang rode on HRE wheels that the video says cost about $5,000 alone. A Stage 2 clutch had also been installed as part of the build.

Throughout the video, the creator repeatedly points out the condition the car had been in before the wreck. Images shown in the upload depict a complete Mach 1 with clean paint, intact trim, and a full interior before the collision left the car damaged beyond repair.

Rare Configuration Added to the Loss

Beyond the modifications, the Mustang also carried a level of rarity tied to its factory configuration. The creator states that Ford built 2,188 Torch Red Mach 1 models for the 2003 model year with the interior upgrade package.

This particular car reportedly did not include that package, making it one of 325 examples produced in that specification. Details mentioned in the video include the shorter headrests and other cabin components associated with the non-upgrade interior.

The rarity factor added another layer to the owner’s loss because replacement cars in identical configuration are difficult to locate. For Mustang collectors and New Edge enthusiasts, factory combinations often carry significance even when the cars have been modified.

The creator also notes that many owners dislike seeing complete Mach 1s dismantled for parts, especially when the cars remain repairable. In this case, however, he argues that the scale of the damage left little possibility for restoration.

Video Draws Reaction From Mustang Enthusiasts

The story has sparked reactions among car enthusiasts who view the situation as one of the risks tied to leaving performance vehicles in the hands of repair shops. The creator frames the crash as one of the fears many owners have when handing over cars that carry years of work and investment.

Although the Mustang itself may not return to the road, the video notes that many of the upgraded components could still find use in other builds. Parts from the suspension, drivetrain, braking system, and engine package may ultimately live on through other New Edge Mustangs.

The YouTube upload closes by asking viewers how they would react if their own vehicle had been wrecked under similar circumstances. The creator also encourages discussion in the comments section while continuing coverage focused on Mustang projects and news.

The original footage and details surrounding the wrecked Mach 1 were shared by YouTube creator Regular Guy Garage through a video documenting the damaged car and its history.

Traffic in Manhattan moved through Columbus Circle on Saturday afternoon when a dashcam captured a collision involving an NYPD patrol vehicle and a pedestrian near one of the city’s busiest intersections. The footage, shared on X by former NYPD officer and podcast host Sal Greco, has since spread across social media and fueled debate over fault and emergency driving in crowded areas.

The incident took place near Columbus Circle at the intersection linking Broadway, Central Park South, Eighth Avenue, and West 59th Street. The area was packed with yellow taxis, buses, cyclists, pedestrians, and vehicles moving through several crossing points at the same time.

The video timestamp shows the collision occurred at around 3:09 p.m. on May 30, 2026. The dashcam vehicle appeared to be stopped or crawling through traffic when the NYPD SUV entered the frame with lights and sirens activated.

The pedestrian involved in the crash appeared to get back up moments after impact. No reports of death or major injury surfaced after the footage circulated online, and no official NYPD statement or mainstream media report had emerged as of the time the clip gained traction.

Dashcam Captures Collision Near Crosswalk

The footage opens with traffic stacked around Columbus Circle as vehicles attempt to move through the intersection. Horns, sirens, buses, cabs, and foot traffic fill nearly every lane and crossing point visible in the recording.

An NYPD patrol SUV then appears moving through the intersection with emergency lights flashing. The police vehicle seems to maneuver against the normal flow of traffic while attempting to pass through congestion during an emergency response.

As the SUV turns through the roadway, a pedestrian enters the crossing area and collides with the side portion of the police vehicle. The impact knocks the person to the pavement while small objects scatter across the street.

The people inside the dashcam vehicle react immediately, shouting in shock as the collision unfolds in front of them. The camera angle captures the entire sequence without obstruction, giving viewers a clear look at both the NYPD vehicle and the pedestrian at the moment of impact.

Within seconds, the pedestrian appears to rise from the ground while traffic around the intersection slows. The police SUV also appears to stop following the collision as nearby vehicles remain backed up in the crowded roadway.

Debate Over Fault Follows Online Spread

The video began circulating widely after it was posted by X user @TheSalGreco, an NYPD veteran known for sharing police-related content and commentary online. While the footage itself appears to originate from a private dashcam, no earlier uploader has been publicly identified.

The clip spread across X, Instagram, TikTok, and repost accounts that focus on New York City incidents and street footage. Online reactions split into two camps, with many focusing on the conduct of the police driver while others blamed the pedestrian for entering the roadway during an active emergency response.

Some viewers argued the NYPD SUV should not have attempted that maneuver in an intersection filled with pedestrians and cyclists. Others pointed out that the pedestrian appeared to move into the side of the vehicle rather than being struck head-on.

Around 3pm today, a NYPD vehicle responding to an emergency near Columbus Circle was traveling against traffic with emergency lights and sirens activated. A pedestrian unexpectedly entered the roadway in front of the cruiser, resulting in a collision. pic.twitter.com/7v661rdEFD

— TheSalGreco (@TheSalGreco) May 31, 2026

Several comments also speculated that the pedestrian may not have heard the sirens because of headphones or surrounding street noise. The footage itself does not confirm those claims.

Emergency Driving in Dense Manhattan Traffic

Emergency vehicles in New York City are permitted to bypass normal traffic patterns while responding to calls, including driving through red lights or entering opposing lanes when necessary. Even so, intersections such as Columbus Circle present major challenges because of the constant movement of vehicles, bikes, tourists, and foot traffic.

The crash shown in the footage appears to have occurred at low speed, with no sign of a pursuit or aggressive acceleration. Still, the clip reignited discussion over how emergency responders navigate some of Manhattan’s busiest streets during daylight hours.

Columbus Circle remains one of the city’s most congested traffic hubs, especially during weekends and afternoon travel periods. The combination of crossing signals, turning lanes, bike traffic, buses, and crowds often leaves little room for emergency vehicles attempting to move through the area.

As the footage continued circulating online, many viewers focused less on damage and more on the narrow margin between a low-speed collision and a far worse outcome in one of New York City’s busiest intersections.

Most drivers are prepared for the occasional fender-bender or road debris situation. Very few are prepared for a forklift coming at them in the opposite lane. That is exactly what happened to one driver on Route 68 in Barrington Hills, Illinois, on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 3, 2026, and it is the kind of crash that serves as a sobering reminder of just how vulnerable any vehicle is when heavy industrial equipment enters the picture.

The incident unfolded around 4:14 p.m. near the intersection of Route 68, also known as Dundee Road, and Bateman Road. A 2006 Kenworth semi-tractor-trailer was heading eastbound, carrying a piggyback forklift secured to its rear. Somewhere along that stretch of road, the forklift disengaged from the trailer, was dragged briefly along the pavement, and then broke free entirely, crossing the center line into westbound traffic.

On the other side of that center line was a 2010 BMW X5, driven by a man who had no reasonable way to anticipate what was barreling toward him. The forklift struck the BMW with considerable force, leaving the driver trapped and the vehicle in heavy contact with a guardrail. Firefighters from the East Dundee Fire Protection District and Carpentersville Fire Department responded alongside the Barrington Hills Police Department, and rescue crews had to physically extricate the driver from the wreckage.

Paramedics transported the BMW driver, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle, to Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin. His injuries were described as non-life-threatening, which, given the mass of machinery involved, is genuinely fortunate. The semi driver was uninjured. Route 68 was closed for approximately three hours while investigators worked the scene, with Hanover Township Emergency Services assisting with the closure.

No citations or charges have been announced as of this writing, and the investigation remains ongoing with the Barrington Hills Police Department.

What Is a Piggyback Forklift and Why Is It on the Back of a Semi?

A piggyback forklift, also called a truck-mounted forklift, is a compact forklift that attaches to the rear of a delivery or freight truck specifically so drivers can unload cargo at locations that don't have loading docks or warehouse equipment on site. You see this setup on flatbed semis and box trucks all across the country, particularly in construction supply, building materials, and industrial equipment delivery. The forklift essentially rides along on a rear-mounted carrier and is secured with a combination of attachment brackets and locking mechanisms.

When the system works as intended, it is a genuinely practical solution. When it fails, as it did here, the consequences can be severe. A typical compact piggyback forklift weighs somewhere between 3,000 and 6,000 pounds, which is roughly the same as or heavier than many full-size pickup trucks. That weight crossing into oncoming traffic is not a situation any passenger vehicle is built to survive cleanly.

The BMW X5 and What It Takes to Walk Away From a Crash Like This

The vehicle on the receiving end of this incident was a 2010 BMW X5, a midsize luxury SUV that, while no longer in production in that generation, was built on a reasonably solid platform. The E70-generation X5 was constructed with a high-strength steel body structure and offered a standard suite of passive safety systems for its era, including front and side curtain airbags and reinforced door pillars.

That said, no amount of factory safety engineering is designed with a rogue forklift in mind. The fact that the driver survived with non-life-threatening injuries speaks to some combination of vehicle structural integrity, the angle of impact, and the response time of emergency crews. Extrication was required, meaning the doors were not operable after the crash, which gives a clear indication of how significantly the vehicle was deformed.

It is a reminder that the survivable space inside a vehicle is finite, and industrial equipment does not follow the same rules as conventional traffic.

Cargo Securement Rules and Where Things Can Go Wrong

Federal regulations under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration require that all cargo, including vehicle-mounted equipment like piggyback forklifts, be properly secured before a commercial truck moves on public roads. Specific rules govern the number and type of tie-downs required based on the weight of the cargo, and operators are expected to inspect those connections before and during trips.

Despite those requirements, cargo securement failures remain a persistent problem on American roads. The FMCSA estimates that road debris and lost cargo contribute to thousands of crashes and hundreds of fatalities per year across the country. A piggyback forklift that disengages at highway-adjacent speeds and enters oncoming traffic represents one of the more extreme versions of that failure. Whether a mechanical defect, improper attachment, or human error was involved in this particular incident has not yet been determined by investigators.

Investigation Still Open, No Charges Filed

As of June 3, 2026, the Barrington Hills Police Department has not issued any citations or filed charges in connection with the crash. Incidents involving commercial vehicles and cargo failures typically involve a more detailed investigative process, which can include review of the truck's maintenance records, inspection of the forklift's mounting hardware, and coordination with state and federal transportation agencies.

For the driver of the BMW X5, the more immediate concern is recovery. A crash of this nature, even one that does not produce life-threatening injuries on paper, can result in serious orthopedic, soft tissue, or traumatic injuries that take considerable time to address. The full picture of what happened on Route 68 that Tuesday afternoon will likely become clearer as the investigation progresses.

A classic American muscle car narrowly escaped destruction after bursting into flames at a petrol station in Oxfordshire, with quick-thinking bystanders helping to extinguish the blaze before emergency crews arrived.

The incident happened on Saturday at a Tesco petrol station in Abingdon, where the BBC reported a 1979 Pontiac Firebird suddenly caught fire shortly after being refuelled.

Among those who witnessed the dramatic event was Alan Mutton, from Kennington, who had been admiring the rare vehicle moments before flames erupted from underneath it.

Rare Classic Draws Attention

Mutton said he had noticed the distinctive Firebird when its owner arrived at the forecourt. The classic American car quickly attracted attention due to its rarity and striking appearance.

“As I was filling up my car, this chap arrives in this big American heavy Trans Am, so we got out, had a look at it and took some photographs,” Mutton recalled.

“It’s not something you see often and it was obviously this guy’s pride and joy, so he was pleased to show us.”

The Pontiac Firebird is an iconic American performance car that first entered production in the 1960s. It became particularly famous during the 1970s after actor Burt Reynolds drove a black and gold Firebird Trans Am in the hit film Smokey and the Bandit. The model was never officially sold in the UK, making examples on British roads relatively uncommon and highly prized by enthusiasts.

Flames Erupt Without Warning

However, the admiration for the vintage vehicle quickly turned into alarm.

Mutton explained that both he and the owner had completed refuelling when he suddenly noticed flames emerging from beneath the car.

“I looked across and the flames erupted,” he said.

The fire spread rapidly, generating intense heat that could be felt from several metres away. Recognising the danger, Mutton immediately moved his own vehicle away from the forecourt before rushing to retrieve a fire extinguisher.

“I could feel the blasts of the heat from the flames,” he said. “I drove my car away, up near the fire extinguishers, jumped out of the car, grabbed the fire extinguisher, and ran back and started to have a go at putting the flames out.”

Bystanders Help Save Vehicle

Mutton, the Firebird’s owner and other members of the public worked together to tackle the blaze. They used multiple fire extinguishers in an effort to stop the flames, which repeatedly reignited.

“We emptied every extinguisher that we had we could see and luckily, by the last one, the flames had thankfully gone out because they kept reigniting,” he said.

Their efforts proved successful, bringing the fire under control before firefighters from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service arrived at the scene.

No injuries were reported during the incident, and the swift response from those present is believed to have prevented the fire from causing more serious damage or spreading to nearby fuel pumps and vehicles.

While the cause of the blaze has not been confirmed, the incident serves as a reminder of the challenges associated with maintaining and operating older vehicles, particularly rare classics that remain cherished by collectors and motoring enthusiasts.

Thanks to the actions of several bystanders, one owner's prized piece of automotive history was saved from what could have been a devastating loss.

Forza Horizon 6 is finally here, and this time, the open-world automotive experience takes players to Japan, with Tokyo at the center of the game's activities. But of course, you can take in famous landmarks such as Mount Fuji and drive around in Japanese cars from the likes of Toyota and Honda.

It is the latter of those two that has recently taken the popularity of the game to its advantage. The Japanese company has launched the "Lost & Found: The Challenge" in the United States to create a real-world, immersive experience based around the ban find element of the video game.

The experience took place in Los Angeles from May 30th to 31st at the atrium plaza at Westfield Century City. Toyota wanted to help those attending celebrate not just gaming culture, but also the automotive world as a whole.

It is part of a wider strategy by it and other automotive manufacturers to make the game as visible as possible. The exposure is excellent for all parties involved, getting eyes on the automakers and helping sales of the new game. Judging by reviews and fan responses, it's been a success so far.

How Toyota Got Fans Involved With Forza Horizon 6

The company held its immersive experience in Los Angeles, and it was crafted in partnership with Intertrend Communications. The iconic 'Barn Finds' gameplay, where players can scour the map for various barn find cars, was alla bout celebrating gaming and the automotive world at the same time.

The experience itself was created in a locked, Japanese-themed barn, which was inspired by the discovery missions in Forza Horizon. In the game, players look for hidden clues to uncover the vehicles hiding away across the map. Toyota even had the same Land Cruiser featured on the game's cover art as part of the experience.

As well as this, an interactive puzzle was also available for players to have a go at. In this, you could peer through cracks, windows, and hidden openings to uncover clues about both the Land Cruiser and mysteries within the game. For those who complete the tasks, they can win all sorts of prizes such as custom-branded Xbox Series Xs, digital copies of the game, and extra little collectibles.

How Popular Has Forza Horizon 6 Been Since Launch?

Forza Horizon 6 follows on from Horizon 5, which was set in Mexico. So far, the game has had some pretty good reviews, with IGN giving it five stars as well as Stevivor. Car Magazine has given the game four out of five stars, and various aspects of the game have had high praise.

The choice of location being Japan was one of them, as the country is steeped in automotive culture. There is no denying the game looks stunning too, and it has some of the best visuals of any modern racing game. The game also has an adjusted campaign progression system, offering a nice balance between freedom and structure while not making the process feel too much of a grind.

But it is the location itself that is the biggest winner here. Tokyo has been shrunken down and is surrounded by gorgeous scenery such as rolling hills, farmland, forest, and rural race tracks. Geographically, it doesn't make much sense, but imagine it as a Japanese-themed amusement park for cars. That is what you get here, and Forza Horizon 6 does that brilliantly.

A black Toyota pickup with off-road lights and chunky tires will forever remind an entire generation of Marty McFly’s dream truck from Back to the Future, and one Arizona dealership decided to lean fully into that idea with a heavily modified 2026 Toyota Tacoma.

Berge Toyota in Mesa, Arizona recently revealed a custom fourth-generation Tacoma built specifically to channel serious Back to the Future vibes. The truck takes Toyota’s modern midsize pickup and transforms it into something that looks like it rolled straight out of an alternate 1985 timeline.

The formula is honestly pretty simple. Start with a black Tacoma, add a lift kit, bolt on a bed rack, throw some classic yellow KC Daylighters up front, and suddenly half the internet starts hearing Huey Lewis songs in their heads.

What makes the build work so well is that it never tries too hard. Instead of creating a direct movie replica, the dealership built something that captures the same spirit as Marty’s iconic black Toyota while still looking like a modern off-road truck.

The Tacoma Gets A Proper Retro Off-Road Makeover

@bergetoyota This doesn’t even feel like a Tacoma anymore 😭 Back to the Future inspired build by Berge Toyota featuring ICON Stage 4 suspension, 35” Mickey Thompsons, Method wheels, C4 bumper, custom yellow stitched interior and roof mounted yellow lighting 👀⚡️ And somehow… it’s actually for sale. #toyota #toyotatacoma #backtothefuture #truck #tacoma ♬ original sound - Berge Toyota

The KC lights are obviously the first thing most people notice. Mounted above the windshield on an ARB bed rack, the yellow-covered Daylighters instantly sell the retro aesthetic and make the truck feel like a modern interpretation of the original movie pickup.

The rest of the modifications back up the look with real off-road capability. The Tacoma receives a steel C4 front bumper for improved approach angles, while an Icon Stage 4 suspension setup gives the truck a noticeably more aggressive stance and additional trail performance.

Sitting underneath are 35-inch Mickey Thompson Baja Legend MTZ tires wrapped around Method wheels. Combined with the suspension lift, the Tacoma looks far more serious than a standard TRD Off-Road package truck straight from the factory.

Berge Toyota even carried the yellow accents into the cabin. The TRD logos and stitching match the KC light covers, which helps tie the entire build together instead of making it feel like a random collection of aftermarket parts.

No Hybrid Power Here

@bergetoyota🔥 This 2026 Tacoma TRD Off-Road build is NEXT LEVEL 👀💨 Icon Stage 4 suspension, KC lights, C4 bumper, Method wheels, Mickey Thompson tires, custom Katzkin interior, and so much more 🔥🚘 This truck is built to dominate both on and off the road. What would YOU add to this Tacoma build? #BergeToyota #TacomaBuild #ToyotaTacoma #TRDOffRoad #OffRoadLife #TruckGoals #OverlandTacoma #CustomTacoma #MethodWheels #BuiltNotBought

♬ original sound - Berge Toyota

Unlike the Tacoma TRD Pro, this truck skips Toyota’s i-Force Max hybrid setup. Instead, it sticks with the standard turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder that produces 278 horsepower and 317 lb-ft of torque.

The engine is paired with Toyota’s eight-speed automatic transmission rather than the available six-speed manual. That decision might disappoint some enthusiasts, especially considering how perfectly a manual gearbox would fit the whole retro off-road vibe.

Even without the hybrid system, the Tacoma still retains plenty of trail-focused hardware thanks to the TRD Off-Road package underneath. Features like Crawl Control, Multi-Terrain Select, and the disconnecting sway bar help give the truck genuine off-road credibility beyond just the nostalgic appearance.

The lack of the TRD Pro’s IsoDynamic seats and extra hybrid power probably will not matter much to buyers interested in this particular build anyway. This truck is more about personality and nostalgia than chasing maximum desert-running performance numbers.

The Price Is Pure Dealership Theater

Of course, nostalgia is not cheap. The base Tacoma originally carried an MSRP of $45,994 before the dealership added $21,894 worth of modifications and accessories. That pushes the final asking price to $67,888, a number that feels like an intentional nod to the movie.

The dealership clearly understood exactly what kind of audience this build would attract. Between the movie-inspired styling, the retro off-road touches, and the carefully chosen final price, the entire project feels designed specifically to make Back to the Future fans smile.

Honestly, it works. The fourth-generation Tacoma already has a chunky, squared-off design that lends itself surprisingly well to this kind of retro treatment. Add the black paint, oversized tires, and KC lights, and the truck immediately taps into decades of Toyota pickup nostalgia.

Why Builds Like This Are So Cool

One reason builds like this get so much attention is because modern trucks can sometimes feel overly serious. Many dealership custom projects focus entirely on extreme lifts, oversized wheels, or expensive luxury upgrades without much personality behind them.

This Tacoma feels different because it embraces automotive pop culture in a fun way. It reminds people why certain vehicles become icons in the first place.

The original Back to the Future Toyota pickup became legendary because it represented freedom, adventure, and teenage dream-car energy for an entire generation. Even decades later, enthusiasts still instantly recognize that look.

Berge Toyota’s Tacoma may not come with a hoverboard or a stainless steel time machine in the bed, but it absolutely captures that same spirit. And judging by the reaction online, plenty of people would happily park this thing in their driveway next to a DeLorean.

A rental car can help in remote countryside, but it is the wrong tool for some European routes. The problems start with parking garages, city traffic, narrow coastal roads, fuel stops, rental counters, and the person driving instead of watching the landscape.

These five trips are stronger by rail because the stations sit close to the places travelers actually want to reach. London to Edinburgh connects two capital-city centers. Oslo to Bergen crosses mountain plateaus without putting anyone behind the wheel. Porto to the Douro follows the river. Koblenz to Mainz runs beside castles and vineyards. Nice to Menton links Riviera towns without the parking fight.

1. London to Edinburgh, United Kingdom

London to Edinburgh is one of the easiest long-distance routes in Britain to do without a car. LNER says direct trains run between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh Waverley, with the journey usually taking just over four and a half hours and trains running every half hour at peak times during the week.

King’s Cross connects with the Underground, nearby hotels, buses, taxis, and other rail lines. Edinburgh Waverley sits below the Old Town, close to Princes Street, the Royal Mile, trams, buses, restaurants, and central hotels. A car adds motorway hours, fuel, parking, congestion, and a city-center arrival that still leaves travelers looking for somewhere to leave it.

On board, passengers have seats, luggage racks, power sockets, Wi-Fi, food, toilets, and several hours away from road signs and lane changes. The route leaves London, passes through changing English countryside, moves north through major towns, and reaches Scotland without an airport transfer or rental desk.

This route suits travelers focused on London and Edinburgh. Anyone continuing into the Highlands or small rural villages can rent a car later. For the capital-to-capital leg, the train avoids dragging a vehicle through two busy cities.

2. Oslo to Bergen, Norway

The Bergen Line gives every passenger the mountain route, not only the person in the passenger seat. Vy says the line crosses Hardangervidda National Park and the Hardangervidda plateau, Europe’s largest high mountain plateau.

Visit Bergen says the Bergensbanen between Oslo and Bergen takes about seven hours, with about 180 tunnels and 22 stops. The train moves from city platforms into valleys, mountain sections, high plateaus, lakes, snow patches in season, and the western approach toward Bergen.

Driving between Oslo and Bergen can be beautiful, but the road asks for tunnels, weather checks, fuel stops, speed limits, mountain stretches, and constant attention. On the train, the whole group can look out at the same landscape instead of dividing the day between driver and passengers.

Oslo and Bergen also work well without a car for many visitors. Oslo has trams, metro, buses, ferries, museums, waterfront areas, and rail links. Bergen has Bryggen, the harbor, the funicular, compact streets, and fjord connections close to the center.

3. Porto to the Douro Valley, Portugal

The Douro Valley can be done by car, but the river is easier to enjoy from the train. Regular Douro Line services connect Porto with river towns such as Régua and Pinhão, passing stations, bridges, vineyard terraces, stone walls, and bends in the Douro along the way.

CP’s Douro Historical Train is a separate seasonal service between Régua and Tua. CP says it runs between June and October, with historic carriages hauled by a diesel locomotive through the UNESCO-listed Douro Valley landscape.

A rail day from Porto can use regular trains to reach Régua or Pinhão. From there, travelers can add lunch, a river walk, a winery visit, a boat ride, or the historical train if the dates and schedule line up. The route keeps the focus on the river towns instead of on road bends and parking spaces.

The train is especially useful for wine-country travel. Nobody has to drive narrow valley roads after tastings, and no one has to skip the view to watch the next curve. A car can still help for remote quintas or multi-night countryside stays, but a focused Douro day from Porto does not need one.

4. Koblenz to Mainz Along the Rhine, Germany

The Rhine Valley train keeps travelers beside the river for long stretches between Koblenz and Mainz. Eurail describes the Rhine Valley Line as a ride through German wine country, with Koblenz and Mainz among the key towns and riverside vineyards along the route.

Visit Koblenz says around 40 castles, fortresses, and fortifications can be found between Koblenz and Bingen. From the train, the day can include river barges, vineyards above the water, castle ruins, church towers, steep hillsides, and towns such as Boppard, Bacharach, Oberwesel, and Rüdesheim.

A car can follow parts of the valley, but the driver has to watch bends, traffic, signs, cyclists, and parking zones. The train lets travelers step off for lunch, a river walk, a castle stop, or a wine town, then continue without returning to a garage or roadside lot.

This route also pairs easily with a boat segment. Travelers can ride one direction by rail, take a river cruise for part of the valley, then continue by train. The car adds less freedom than it seems when the best parts of the day sit along tracks, docks, and compact river towns.

5. Nice to Menton Along the French Riviera, France

The French Riviera looks like a dream road trip until the day turns into traffic, tight streets, paid garages, and slow searches for parking near the water. The TER train gives the coast a simpler shape: station, town, harbor, beach, platform, next stop.

Nice Côte d’Azur Tourism says TER regional trains provide a fast link between Cannes and Ventimiglia for the main towns along the Côte d’Azur coast. It also says TER tickets are valid for the selected route on all trains running that day, so travelers can take a different TER from the one shown on the ticket.

A rail-based day can start in Nice, continue to Villefranche-sur-Mer for the harbor, stop in Monaco, then finish in Menton with pastel streets, gardens, and the Italian border close by. Nobody has to circle near the beach or return to a garage after every stop.

The train also works well with beach bags, light luggage, and short hops. Several stations sit close to town centers or waterfront areas, and the route lets travelers choose between a swim, a garden, a harbor walk, a museum, or a late lunch before boarding again.

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The 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona remains one of the most outrageous cars ever built by the American auto industry.

It was not created to be subtle. Dodge developed the Daytona as a NASCAR weapon at a time when aerodynamic speed mattered more than showroom elegance. The regular Charger needed help against slippery rivals such as the Ford Torino Talladega and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler, so Dodge gave its muscle car a pointed nose cone and a towering rear wing that stood roughly two feet high.

The result looked strange on the street, but it worked on the track. On March 24, 1970, Buddy Baker drove a Charger Daytona to an officially recorded 200.447 mph lap at Talladega, breaking a barrier that had once seemed almost unreachable for a stock car.

That wing-car history is suddenly relevant again. Recent reporting says Dodge has shown journalists a more aggressive Charger SRT behind closed doors, complete with a huge rear wing, darker front lighting, a hood intake, and gasoline-engine cues. Dodge has not confirmed the final powertrain, but the message was hard to miss: the new Charger may not be done chasing old-school muscle fans.

The Original Daytona Was Built For NASCAR

Dodge had to build road-going Charger Daytonas for NASCAR homologation before the car could compete. In 1969, the company produced 503 examples, giving buyers one of the strangest and most focused muscle cars ever offered through a dealership.

The Daytona’s long nose and high rear wing were not styling gimmicks. They were answers to a racing problem. Dodge needed better air penetration at high speed and more stability on superspeedways, where small aerodynamic advantages could decide races.

Plymouth followed with the related Superbird for 1970, using a similar wing-car formula. Both models looked extreme in period and even more memorable decades later. Their low production numbers, NASCAR connection, and cartoonish aerodynamic hardware turned them into collector icons.

Dodge still uses the Charger name today, but the formula has changed dramatically. The current generation arrived first as the electric Charger Daytona, while gasoline versions now use turbocharged 3.0L SIXPACK inline-six power instead of the old Hemi V8 lineup.

Dodge Is Already Preparing A Wilder Charger

Reaction to the new Charger has been divided from the beginning. Dodge gave the electric Daytona serious power, and the gas-powered SIXPACK models brought internal combustion back with strong numbers. The Charger R/T is rated at 420 horsepower and 468 lb-ft of torque, while the Charger Scat Pack gets a high-output version rated at 550 horsepower and 531 lb-ft.

Those figures are not weak. The problem is emotional. Many longtime Dodge buyers still connect the Charger name with V8 noise, tire smoke, SRT attitude, and Hellcat-era excess. A powerful EV or turbocharged six-cylinder can be quick, but it does not automatically replace that identity for traditional muscle-car fans.

According to The Drive, Dodge recently showed journalists an updated Charger and a more aggressive Charger SRT during a closed-door event in Detroit. Phones and cameras were not allowed, so the car has not received a normal public reveal yet.

The preview still gave reporters enough to work with. The SRT appeared to push the current Charger design in a much more aggressive direction, with sharper lighting details, a larger front splitter, a hood intake, wide wheels, fender vents, and a rear wing that immediately recalled Dodge and Plymouth’s wing-car era.

The New SRT Looks Meaner Than The Current Charger

Two cars were reportedly shown. One wore a striking green finish, while the other used a blue shade that called back to classic Dodge color history. The green car appeared to preview the SRT version.

The front end showed some of the biggest changes. Instead of the current Charger’s full-width LED light bar, the SRT preview reportedly used darker, more recessed lighting with orange daytime running lights along the lower edges of the headlight area.

That gave the car a more hostile expression than the standard Charger. A large front splitter filled out the lower bumper, while a hood intake suggested the car was not designed around a purely battery-electric powertrain.

Dodge has not released technical details, so the styling should not be treated as a confirmed engine announcement. Still, the visual cues point toward a gasoline performance model meant to look and feel more like the SRT Dodges that built the brand’s modern muscle reputation.

A Rear Wing With Wing-Car Attitude

The real surprise was at the back.

The reported Charger SRT preview used a huge rear wing mounted high above the decklid, with supports placed near the outer edges of the rear body. That layout naturally points back to the Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird era, when Chrysler’s wing cars used extreme aero hardware to dominate high-speed NASCAR tracks.

The new car is not a copy of the 1969 Daytona. It does not need a long nose cone or a period-correct NASCAR body. The idea is different: take the current Charger shape and give it enough visual force to remind buyers that Dodge still knows how to build something dramatic.

Vertical black fender vents and wide diamond-cut wheels reportedly added to the more serious look. The interior was not available for viewing, but the exterior already suggested a clear mission. Dodge appears to be trying to make the new Charger feel less like a cautious reinvention and more like a muscle car with a pulse.

The Engine Remains The Biggest Question

The styling may be loud, but the powertrain is still the real mystery.

The safest assumption is that the SRT preview points toward gasoline power. The hood intake, SRT positioning, and closed-door reaction all suggest Dodge is preparing something beyond the current Charger lineup. What Dodge has not confirmed is whether that means a more extreme version of the Hurricane-based SIXPACK inline-six, a hybridized performance setup, or a true V8 comeback.

Speculation around a Hellcat-level Charger has grown because Stellantis executives have acknowledged that some buyers still want a V8 before they will consider certain vehicles. At the same time, Dodge has also made clear that its engineers are not finished pushing the turbocharged inline-six.

That leaves two very different possibilities. Dodge could deliver a harder-edged SRT with a more powerful version of the Hurricane/SIXPACK family, or it could find a way to bring back V8 attitude at the top of the Charger range. A basic return of the old formula is not guaranteed.

For now, that uncertainty may actually help the story. The reported SRT preview gives Dodge fans something to argue about again, and that has always been part of the brand’s energy.

The new Charger already has speed. What many fans still want is theater. A Daytona-style wing, SRT bodywork, and a gasoline performance model could help Dodge move closer to that old feeling. The engine will decide whether buyers see it as a true comeback or just another tease.

This article was originally published by Autorepublika.com and is republished with permission. It has been reviewed and edited by Guessing Headlights.

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Automakers using AI-generated images in marketing has quickly become one of the internet’s favorite ways to spot corporate laziness. Unfortunately for Ram, the brand has now managed to turn what should have been a simple piece of patriotic merchandise into another example of AI slop gone wrong.

The problem is not subtle, either. Ram’s now-deleted “2026 Ram Patriotic Unisex T-Shirt” appeared to feature a truck that was very obviously not a Ram at all, along with an American flag that somehow ended up with the wrong number of stars.

The shirt appeared on Ram’s official online merchandise store for $29.95 before screenshots started circulating online. Shortly after people began pointing out the issues, the product listing disappeared entirely and now leads to a dead page.

That removal may have stopped additional sales, but it did not stop the internet from saving receipts. Screenshots of the shirt have continued spreading online, with many people questioning how a major automaker allowed something this sloppy to make it through approval and onto an official storefront.

That “Ram” Is Clearly A Toyota Tacoma

The centerpiece of the shirt is supposed to be a Ram pickup sitting in front of a waving American flag. The issue is that the truck illustration looks unmistakably like a Toyota Tacoma with “RAM” awkwardly slapped across the grille.

The body proportions, headlight shape, front bumper, and overall silhouette do not resemble any current Ram truck. Instead, the design closely matches Toyota’s midsize pickup, making the branding mistake impossible to ignore once spotted.

Whether the image was fully AI-generated or simply created using generic stock artwork remains unclear. Either way, it gives the impression that almost no effort went into making the truck actually resemble something Ram sells.

That is what makes the entire situation feel especially strange. This is not a random social media meme or a quickly assembled placeholder graphic. It was official merchandise that customers could purchase directly from Ram’s own online store.

The American Flag Was Wrong Too

As if the Tacoma issue was not enough, the background flag created another layer of embarrassment. The shirt attempted to feature a stylized American flag but ended up displaying proportions and details that do not match the real thing.

Most notably, observers pointed out that the flag appeared to contain only 38 stars instead of 50. That mistake instantly fueled more accusations that the artwork had been generated using AI rather than designed by an actual artist familiar with basic American iconography.

AI-generated imagery has become notorious for producing distorted hands, strange text, incorrect logos, and inaccurate details like this. The technology often creates images that look convincing at first glance before completely falling apart under closer inspection.

For a “patriotic” shirt specifically themed around American branding, the irony was difficult to miss. Ram somehow ended up selling merchandise featuring both the wrong truck and a broken version of the American flag at the same time.

Ram Has Already Been Criticized For AI Content

This is not the first time Stellantis brands have been criticized for using questionable AI-generated imagery. Less than two months ago, Dodge and Ram were mocked online after posting bizarre promotional graphics on social media that featured distorted vehicles and strange design inconsistencies.

At the time, many enthusiasts brushed it off as low-effort social media content. Merchandise, however, feels different because it involves a product customers are expected to spend real money on.

That distinction is part of why the backlash escalated so quickly. People expect mistakes on random AI-generated posts floating around Facebook, but official branded apparel typically goes through multiple rounds of review before reaching production.

The bigger concern for many enthusiasts is what this says about brand identity and quality control. Truck buyers tend to be deeply loyal to specific brands, and accidentally selling a Tacoma disguised as a Ram is exactly the kind of mistake that guarantees ridicule online.

AI Keeps Creating Problems For Automakers

Automakers have increasingly experimented with AI-generated marketing material in an effort to speed up content creation and lower costs. The problem is that audiences are becoming very good at spotting when something looks fake, rushed, or poorly reviewed.

In many cases, the backlash ends up outweighing whatever time or money was saved. Instead of promoting the product, companies often find themselves apologizing for obvious mistakes that could have been caught immediately by a designer or enthusiast paying attention.

Ram removing the shirt suggests the company realized the problem fairly quickly once screenshots began circulating. Still, it was too late, as the damage was already done by then.

At this point, the only real mystery left is whether anyone actually managed to buy one before the listing disappeared. If they did, that accidental Tacoma-themed Ram shirt may end up becoming one of the strangest pieces of modern automotive merchandise.

Maserati has celebrated 100 years since the iconic Trident logo was first used, when it was first seen on the Tipo 26 race car back in 1926. To mark the occasion, the Trident has created a series of special liveries that have all been inspired by the 250F Formula 1 car used in the 1950s.

The company took the covers off the liveries publicly at the 2026 GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli, which kickstarted its 2026 season at the famous Monza circuit. The new liveries appeared on the Maserati GT2 Stradale, marking 100 years of the Trident and of the brand's first appearance in motorsport.

Maserati placed the road-going versions of the race cars next to the GT2 racers to showcase the liveries as fully as possible. The Trident had five cars lined up on the grid for the opening race of the GT2 season.

The liveries themselves will be available on both a one-off Maserati GT2 and the road-legal GT2 Stradale. And thankfully for us, the company gave us plenty of stunning images to look at as they showcased the new colors.

The Liveries Were Inspired by the Maserati 250F

The liveries have been developed in partnership with the Maserati Fuoriserie personalization program. This program was recently expanded, and it gives customers the chance to add their own bespoke touches to cars such as the MC20. Each of these special liveries drew inspiration from the 250FT Formula 1 car.

The 250F won two world titles with Juan-Manuel Fangio in 1954 and 1957, and is regarded as one of the greatest F1 cars of that era. Drivers such as Sir Stirling Moss and Maria Teresa de Filippis also drove the 250F. In terms of its colors, the 250F was finished in a classic shade of red, with yellow banding around the nose of the car. This is the look replicated by modern-day Maserati.

The liveries differ slightly on each of the GT2s. On the GT2 Stradale, the Trident on the front grille is also finished in yellow, which is not the case on the car version. On the front right wheel arch of the Stradale, a white number one has been placed, replicating the one on the real 250F, used to identify the reigning F1 world champion. It is a small detail, but one that adds a little bit of extra something to the overall design.

The Liveries Also Celebrate Maserati's First-Ever Motor Race

While they are replicas of the 250F's livery, the new paint schemes also celebrate Maserati's motorsport legacy as a whole. In particular, they celebrate the first races the company took part in back in 1926. Back then, it was the Maserati Tipo 26 doing the honors, and it won its class at the Targa Florio that year with Alfieri Maserati behind the wheel. This was the first-ever car to wear the iconic Trident symbol on its hood.

Maserati produced 11 Tipo 26 race cars from 1926 to 1932, and under the hood was a supercharged 1.5-liter inline-eight engine. It had a three-speed manual transmission, and the car also competed in races such as the Mille Miglia. It led to the Tipo 26B, with more versions following, and cemented the Trident's place as one of the leading manufacturers in the motorsport world. It is a legacy that few other manufacturers can come close to claiming.

Typically, railway lines and roadways are adequately signposted to keep drivers from mistaking one for the other. However, one woman in Seattle managed to drive her car around a quarter mile up the track before arriving at a station, bringing the whole line to a standstill. 

On Tuesday evening, around 6 pm, a train ground to a sudden halt. An SUV had been reported just up the line, parked on line 1 of the Sound Transit light rail in Seattle. Emergency services had been called, and the culprit was being escorted out of her car and into the confused arms of emergency services.

According to the transit company, the car had become stuck on the elevated lines at the Mount Baker station, stopping all trains for a number of hours. Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the incident, but the 70-year-old woman responsible has been taken into care to assess her health and fitness to drive.

Power was turned off across the lines, and the car was towed to a suitable location. By 9 pm, the line was reopened, and trains were able to move through the station again.

How Did An SUV End Up On Seattle's Light Rail Tracks?

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The unusual scene raised an obvious question: how did a driver manage to get that far onto an active light rail line?

Took A Very Wrong Turn

Mt Baker light rail station
by
u/Groundbreaking_Net_3 in
SeattleWA

According to the elderly woman responsible for driving her car a quarter mile up the railroad tracks, she was simply following directions. KIRO News Radio reported that witnesses said she told emergency services that she was following the directions given to her by her GPS.

However, the fact that she was unable to notice the multiple signs, change in roadway, and clear indications that she was on a rail track does give some cause for concern. As Redditors noted, from where she accessed the track to where she ended up is not a short distance, and should have been clear. 

It may seem like a very difficult mistake to make, with the difference in surface from rail tracks and ballast to good old asphalt, but this happens more than more people realise. In fact, since the introduction of GPS, it has been happening across the US more than ever before. 

The Long Island Rail Road reported a total of 21 instances of people driving up railway lines in 2018, claiming that their GPS had taken them on the route. It should be a stark warning to anyone too reliant on their digital navigation systems. Sometimes it's better to use a little common sense and take a look out of the front window now and again.

Some cities are remembered through ordinary movement: a ferry horn, a market basket, a boat landing, a workshop doorway, a river step, a hot wall after sunset. Istanbul, Mexico City, Luang Prabang, Fez, and Cartagena all have famous sights, but this article is not about checking them off. It is about the daily scenes around them.

These places reward travelers who pay attention to how the city works: where people cross the water, buy lunch, sit for coffee, carry goods, open shops, serve tea, repair metal, paint ceramics, gather in plazas, and walk home after dark.

1. Istanbul, Türkiye

Istanbul is a city of piers as much as palaces. At Eminönü, Karaköy, Beşiktaş, Üsküdar, and Kadıköy, people move between ferry gates, tea stands, simit sellers, ticket machines, and benches facing the Bosphorus. The water is not a scenic extra; it is part of the commute, the meal, the errand, and the evening.

Şehir Hatları, Istanbul’s public ferry operator, lists domestic trips, Bosphorus tours, piers, and timetables. The long Bosphorus tour includes stops such as Eminönü, Beşiktaş, Üsküdar, Kanlıca, Sarıyer, Rumeli Kavağı, and Anadolu Kavağı. A traveler who uses the boats sees the city through engines, gulls, gangways, tea glasses, apartment blocks, mosque domes, bridges, and ships pushing through the strait.

Kadıköy works well after the crossing. Fish counters, bakeries, produce stalls, bookstores, coffee shops, casual restaurants, and evening crowds give the Asian side its own pace. A strong Istanbul day can hold a mosque courtyard, a ferry deck, a market street, grilled fish, and tea without forcing the whole trip into one old-city route.

2. Mexico City, Mexico

Mexico City runs through markets, parks, taco stands, plazas, canals, and long neighborhood walks. The historic center brings stone, museums, churches, government buildings, and heavy foot traffic, but the capital keeps changing once the day moves into Coyoacán, Roma, Condesa, or Xochimilco.

The official city guide describes the Centro Histórico as having the largest concentration of museums, cultural sites, and points of interest in Mexico City. The same official guide points visitors toward Xochimilco’s trajinera launches, historic center, and 17 original barrios.

Xochimilco has boat landings, painted trajineras, food vendors, music, and canals. Coyoacán has benches, markets, churros, tostadas, coffee, and green spaces in the south. Roma and Condesa bring tree-lined avenues, old houses, bakeries, parks, restaurants, and café tables that stay busy after lunch. The city works best when the day includes both central stone and everyday neighborhood movement.

3. Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang asks visitors to slow down around riverbanks, temple courtyards, market tables, wooden shutters, low roofs, small restaurants, and boat landings. The town is not large, but the day fills through repeated details: sandals on pavement, saffron robes, fruit baskets, coffee cups, river steps, tiled roofs, and motorbikes passing guesthouses.

UNESCO describes Luang Prabang as sitting on a peninsula delimited by the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, surrounded by mountains and greenery, with Mount Phousi at the center of the town. That geography keeps the rivers close to ordinary movement: boats tying up near steps, tables set near the water, and lanes that keep turning back toward the banks.

Temple visits should sit beside respectful distance from religious routines. Monks’ routes, offerings, courtyards, bells, and morning movement are not props. A good day can include Wat Xieng Thong, the morning market, Lao coffee, a walk along the Mekong, a boat landing, and an evening market table without rushing from one named stop to another.

4. Fez, Morocco

Fez is built around narrow movement. The medina has covered passages, carved doors, old fountains, shopfronts, tiled thresholds, donkeys, school doors, mosque walls, riad entrances, and workshops hidden behind plain openings.

UNESCO describes the Medina of Fez as one of the most extensive and best-conserved historic towns of the Arab-Muslim world, with many original functions still preserved. Visit Morocco describes the medina as an open-air museum where craftsmen gather, including tanners, weavers, metalworkers, and potters.

The craft streets are physical and loud. Leather hides dry near tannery terraces. Brass and copper ring from workshop doors. Loom threads, ceramic dust, carved wood, dyed wool, leather slippers, tile fragments, and mint tea trays fill the lanes with objects being made, carried, repaired, sold, wrapped, and loaded onto carts.

A guide can help with the maze, but the medina should still be given enough time for spice stalls, dye vats, bakery smoke, mule traffic, metal hammering, doorway shadows, and courtyards that appear only after a plain door opens.

5. Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena works through heat, stone, balconies, plazas, music, fruit carts, sea wind, painted walls, and streets that stay alive after sunset. The old city has gates, churches, walls, and shaded corners, while Getsemaní brings murals, drums, casual restaurants, open doors, and tables spilling into the street.

UNESCO describes Cartagena as a bay city on the Caribbean Sea with the most extensive fortifications in South America, historically divided into areas including San Pedro, San Diego, and Getsemaní. Colombia Travel says the historic center is surrounded by stone walls, with fortifications and bastions facing the Caribbean coast.

The walls give the city cannons, ramps, sea wind, and wide corners facing the water. Getsemaní gives it painted façades, balcony plants, fried snacks, fruit sellers, plaza benches, corner bars, music from several directions, and warm stone underfoot at night.

A full day can move from bastions and church squares to seafood, murals, drums, balconies, and a late walk through streets where the evening keeps gathering around doors, tables, and open windows.

• 7 Places Where Canals, Boats, and Bridges Are the Main Attraction
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For months, speculation suggested Audi could use its largest SUV to move into a more exclusive luxury tier.

The upcoming Q9 is expected to become Audi’s biggest and most luxurious SUV, giving the brand a long-awaited rival for models such as the Mercedes-Benz GLS and BMW X7. Some reports and observers went further, suggesting Audi could use the historic Horch name to create a richer version aimed closer to Mercedes-Maybach territory.

Audi leadership has now cooled that idea.

Gernot Döllner, Audi’s CEO, has signaled that the company wants to raise the perception of Audi itself rather than relaunch Horch as a separate Maybach-style luxury label. That leaves the Q9 on track to become a new flagship for the four-ring brand, but not a Horch-badged ultra-luxury offshoot.

Audi Is Not Turning The Q9 Into A Maybach Rival

Audi still wants to strengthen its image at the top end of the luxury market. The difference is in how the company appears to be approaching that goal.

Instead of creating a Horch version of the Q9 to chase Mercedes-Maybach directly, Audi appears focused on making the standard Audi brand feel more premium. That is a different strategy from Mercedes-Benz, which uses Maybach to sit above regular Mercedes luxury models.

The speculation was understandable. Audi has the engineering resources, luxury-car history, and Volkswagen Group scale to move further upmarket. It also already uses the Horch name in China on the A8 L Horch, a more prestigious version of its flagship sedan.

For now, though, the Q9 appears set to remain an Audi. It may become the brand’s most important luxury SUV, but Audi is not currently presenting it as the start of a new Horch product line.

The Horch Name Has Deep Audi History

The Horch name is not a random badge from Audi’s past. It is tied directly to the company’s origin story.

August Horch founded the original Horch company in the early 20th century. After leaving that business, he could no longer use his own surname for a new car company. The solution became one of the most important names in German automotive history.

In German, “horch” means “listen.” The Latin equivalent is “audi.” That translation gave the new company its name.

Horch later became one of the four brands that formed Auto Union, whose legacy is still represented by Audi’s four-ring logo. Before World War II, Horch was known for large luxury cars that competed with some of Europe’s most prestigious manufacturers.

That history explains why the badge still attracts attention. If Audi ever wanted a name to sit above its normal luxury models, Horch would be the obvious candidate.

China Already Gets An A8 L Horch

Audi revived the Horch name in 2021 with the A8 L Horch, a China-market version of its flagship sedan.

That model was created for buyers who wanted more rear-seat luxury than the standard A8 L. It brought a longer wheelbase, a more exclusive rear cabin, unique exterior details, special wheels, richer trim, and Horch branding inside and outside.

Its role was clear. In China, the A8 L Horch gave Audi a more prestigious sedan to place against cars such as the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class, while bringing a historic German luxury name back into a modern showroom.

That is why the Q9 rumors gained traction. If Audi already used Horch on a China-market A8, it was easy to imagine the name appearing on a huge flagship SUV.

Döllner’s comments now point in another direction. Audi may still want more luxury credibility, but the company does not appear ready to spread Horch across its global SUV lineup.

The Q9 Still Matters For Audi’s Future

The lack of a Horch badge does not make the Q9 less important. Audi has needed a larger three-row luxury SUV for years, especially in markets where big premium utility vehicles sell strongly.

The Q9 will sit above the Q7 and become the flagship of Audi’s SUV range. Audi has already previewed the cabin, describing the new model as its first large full-size SUV and showing an interior designed around family use, business travel, and long-distance comfort.

The interior preview points to six- and seven-seat layouts, easier third-row access, electrically powered doors, a large panoramic glass roof with switchable transparency, and a more lounge-like rear cabin than Audi’s smaller SUVs can offer.

That positioning makes the Q9 especially important for North America, where large luxury SUVs remain central to the premium market. It also gives Audi a more direct answer to the Mercedes-Benz GLS, BMW X7, Cadillac Escalade, Lincoln Navigator, and Range Rover.

Powertrain details have not been fully released. Current reporting points to gasoline and plug-in hybrid drivetrains rather than a fully electric Q9. That would allow Audi to keep the model close to traditional luxury SUV expectations while still meeting stricter emissions demands.

Audi Wants Luxury Without The Horch Badge

The Q9 is expected to be built in Bratislava, Slovakia, where the Volkswagen Group already has deep experience producing large premium vehicles. That gives Audi a proven production base, although it also means the SUV could face tariff pressure when imported into the United States.

The model’s main job is not to become a Bentley Bentayga or Mercedes-Maybach GLS rival. It is to give Audi a proper full-size luxury SUV that can compete by space, technology, comfort, and brand strength against the GLS and X7.

That may be the smarter move for now. Audi does not need a separate Horch identity to improve its position if the Q9 can make the regular Audi badge feel richer, more comfortable, and more convincing at the top of the SUV market.

The risk is that Audi has less room for theatrical luxury than Mercedes-Maybach or Bentley. The opportunity is that a strong Q9 could lift the whole brand without forcing Audi into a subbrand strategy it is not ready to support globally.

For now, the message is clear. The Audi Q9 is moving toward flagship status, but the Horch name is staying on the sidelines.

This article was originally published by Autorepublika.com and is republished with permission. It has been reviewed and edited by Guessing Headlights.

• 13 Muscle Cars So Overlooked Most People Forgot Them
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Some cities are remembered through ordinary movement: a ferry horn, a market basket, a boat landing, a workshop doorway, a river step, a hot wall after sunset. Istanbul, Mexico City, Luang Prabang, Fez, and Cartagena all have famous sights, but this article is not about checking them off. It is about the daily scenes around them.

These places reward travelers who pay attention to how the city works: where people cross the water, buy lunch, sit for coffee, carry goods, open shops, serve tea, repair metal, paint ceramics, gather in plazas, and walk home after dark.

1. Istanbul, Türkiye

Istanbul is a city of piers as much as palaces. At Eminönü, Karaköy, Beşiktaş, Üsküdar, and Kadıköy, people move between ferry gates, tea stands, simit sellers, ticket machines, and benches facing the Bosphorus. The water is not a scenic extra; it is part of the commute, the meal, the errand, and the evening.

Şehir Hatları, Istanbul’s public ferry operator, lists domestic trips, Bosphorus tours, piers, and timetables. The long Bosphorus tour includes stops such as Eminönü, Beşiktaş, Üsküdar, Kanlıca, Sarıyer, Rumeli Kavağı, and Anadolu Kavağı. A traveler who uses the boats sees the city through engines, gulls, gangways, tea glasses, apartment blocks, mosque domes, bridges, and ships pushing through the strait.

Kadıköy works well after the crossing. Fish counters, bakeries, produce stalls, bookstores, coffee shops, casual restaurants, and evening crowds give the Asian side its own pace. A strong Istanbul day can hold a mosque courtyard, a ferry deck, a market street, grilled fish, and tea without forcing the whole trip into one old-city route.

2. Mexico City, Mexico

Mexico City runs through markets, parks, taco stands, plazas, canals, and long neighborhood walks. The historic center brings stone, museums, churches, government buildings, and heavy foot traffic, but the capital keeps changing once the day moves into Coyoacán, Roma, Condesa, or Xochimilco.

The official city guide describes the Centro Histórico as having the largest concentration of museums, cultural sites, and points of interest in Mexico City. The same official guide points visitors toward Xochimilco’s trajinera launches, historic center, and 17 original barrios.

Xochimilco has boat landings, painted trajineras, food vendors, music, and canals. Coyoacán has benches, markets, churros, tostadas, coffee, and green spaces in the south. Roma and Condesa bring tree-lined avenues, old houses, bakeries, parks, restaurants, and café tables that stay busy after lunch. The city works best when the day includes both central stone and everyday neighborhood movement.

3. Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang asks visitors to slow down around riverbanks, temple courtyards, market tables, wooden shutters, low roofs, small restaurants, and boat landings. The town is not large, but the day fills through repeated details: sandals on pavement, saffron robes, fruit baskets, coffee cups, river steps, tiled roofs, and motorbikes passing guesthouses.

UNESCO describes Luang Prabang as sitting on a peninsula delimited by the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, surrounded by mountains and greenery, with Mount Phousi at the center of the town. That geography keeps the rivers close to ordinary movement: boats tying up near steps, tables set near the water, and lanes that keep turning back toward the banks.

Temple visits should sit beside respectful distance from religious routines. Monks’ routes, offerings, courtyards, bells, and morning movement are not props. A good day can include Wat Xieng Thong, the morning market, Lao coffee, a walk along the Mekong, a boat landing, and an evening market table without rushing from one named stop to another.

4. Fez, Morocco

Fez is built around narrow movement. The medina has covered passages, carved doors, old fountains, shopfronts, tiled thresholds, donkeys, school doors, mosque walls, riad entrances, and workshops hidden behind plain openings.

UNESCO describes the Medina of Fez as one of the most extensive and best-conserved historic towns of the Arab-Muslim world, with many original functions still preserved. Visit Morocco describes the medina as an open-air museum where craftsmen gather, including tanners, weavers, metalworkers, and potters.

The craft streets are physical and loud. Leather hides dry near tannery terraces. Brass and copper ring from workshop doors. Loom threads, ceramic dust, carved wood, dyed wool, leather slippers, tile fragments, and mint tea trays fill the lanes with objects being made, carried, repaired, sold, wrapped, and loaded onto carts.

A guide can help with the maze, but the medina should still be given enough time for spice stalls, dye vats, bakery smoke, mule traffic, metal hammering, doorway shadows, and courtyards that appear only after a plain door opens.

5. Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena works through heat, stone, balconies, plazas, music, fruit carts, sea wind, painted walls, and streets that stay alive after sunset. The old city has gates, churches, walls, and shaded corners, while Getsemaní brings murals, drums, casual restaurants, open doors, and tables spilling into the street.

UNESCO describes Cartagena as a bay city on the Caribbean Sea with the most extensive fortifications in South America, historically divided into areas including San Pedro, San Diego, and Getsemaní. Colombia Travel says the historic center is surrounded by stone walls, with fortifications and bastions facing the Caribbean coast.

The walls give the city cannons, ramps, sea wind, and wide corners facing the water. Getsemaní gives it painted façades, balcony plants, fried snacks, fruit sellers, plaza benches, corner bars, music from several directions, and warm stone underfoot at night.

A full day can move from bastions and church squares to seafood, murals, drums, balconies, and a late walk through streets where the evening keeps gathering around doors, tables, and open windows.

• 7 Places Where Canals, Boats, and Bridges Are the Main Attraction
• 6 Coastal Towns Where You Don’t Need a Plan To Have a Perfect Afternoon

Mitsubishi is preparing to return to one of America’s toughest vehicle segments: midsize pickups.

The Japanese automaker has confirmed a joint pickup project with Nissan for North America, giving Mitsubishi a path back into a market it left after the Raider disappeared from the U.S. lineup in 2009.

The partnership makes sense. Nissan remains Mitsubishi’s alliance partner and a major shareholder, even after Mitsubishi moved in 2024 to reduce Nissan’s stake. Nissan also has the truck hardware, manufacturing base, and U.S. pickup experience Mitsubishi currently lacks.

Final details have not been fully confirmed, including the truck’s name, powertrain, timing, price, and how different it will feel from Nissan’s own midsize pickup. Current reporting points to a Nissan-developed body-on-frame platform rather than a simple return of the old Mitsubishi Raider formula.

Nissan Will Help Bring Mitsubishi Back To Pickups

Mitsubishi has confirmed the North American pickup project with Nissan, but several key details remain unsettled. Reporting points to Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi plant as the likely production site, which would give Mitsubishi a locally built truck without creating its own U.S. factory network.

That matters because U.S. pickup buyers care about more than the badge on the grille. Local production can help with tariffs, availability, dealer confidence, parts support, and the perception that the truck was built with American buyers in mind.

The truck is also expected to arrive during a major Nissan body-on-frame product cycle. Nissan has been preparing a new generation of rugged vehicles, including a next-generation Frontier and revived Xterra, and Mitsubishi’s pickup is expected to benefit from that work.

That gives Mitsubishi a better starting point than it had with the Raider. A modern midsize pickup tied to new Nissan hardware would enter the market with stronger bones, but Mitsubishi still has to make the truck feel like more than another badge swap.

The Midsize Pickup Segment Is Getting Crowded

Mitsubishi will not be returning to an easy market. The Toyota Tacoma remains the name many buyers think of first, while the Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, Ford Ranger, Jeep Gladiator, Honda Ridgeline, and Nissan Frontier all give shoppers different reasons to stay away from a new entry.

The segment has also become more specialized. Buyers can choose serious off-road trims, turbocharged engines, hybrid possibilities, premium interiors, advanced towing technology, and factory adventure packages that did not define midsize pickups the same way during the Raider’s era.

Kia has also signaled interest in a separate pickup aimed at the U.S. market, though final timing, production details, and specifications remain unsettled. That means Mitsubishi may face even more competition by the time its new truck reaches showrooms.

For Mitsubishi, the history is personal. The brand’s last U.S. pickup was the Raider, a Dodge Dakota-based truck sold for the 2006 through 2009 model years. It used traditional body-on-frame construction and offered 3.7L V6 and 4.7L V8 power, with towing capacity that reached about 6,500 pounds depending on configuration.

The Raider was not a bad idea on paper. It gave Mitsubishi dealers a truck in a segment Americans understood. The problem was that it never gave enough buyers a strong reason to choose it over the Dodge version or more established midsize rivals.

Mitsubishi Wants To Avoid Another Raider Story

The biggest challenge for Mitsubishi is not simply building a truck. It is building one with enough Mitsubishi identity to matter.

The company’s broader plan gives the pickup more context. Mitsubishi’s new mid- to long-term vision calls for 13 new models from fiscal 2026 through fiscal 2031, including hybrid, plug-in hybrid, gasoline, and battery-electric products. The plan also includes a pickup, SUVs, a minivan, and the return of the Pajero or Montero name.

That matters because the new pickup is not supposed to be a one-off experiment. It is part of a larger attempt to rebuild Mitsubishi’s visibility and product strength in important markets.

The revived Pajero or Montero also points to Mitsubishi’s renewed interest in rugged vehicles, though its U.S. future has not been fully confirmed. If Mitsubishi can reconnect the pickup with the brand’s off-road history instead of making it feel like a Nissan with a different grille, the truck has a much better chance of avoiding the Raider’s fate.

Electrification Will Be Part Of The Bigger Plan

Mitsubishi is not walking away from gasoline power, but it is not ignoring electrification either.

The company’s product plan includes five hybrid models and five plug-in hybrid models among the 13 vehicles planned from fiscal 2026 through fiscal 2031. Mitsubishi has also confirmed a Nissan-sourced battery-electric vehicle for North America, based on the next-generation Nissan Leaf, beginning in summer 2026.

The pickup itself has not been confirmed as electric. That is important in the U.S. truck market, where many buyers still want familiar capability, predictable range, and proven truck behavior before they commit to a fully electric work vehicle.

A gasoline or hybrid-assisted midsize pickup could make more sense for Mitsubishi’s comeback than a full EV. It would allow the brand to control cost, lean on Nissan’s truck development, and offer buyers something easier to understand than an expensive electric truck from a company still rebuilding its U.S. image.

Mitsubishi is also trying to shorten development time. Its planning materials show a goal of reducing vehicle development lead time from 45 months to 36 months, which would help the brand respond faster as markets, regulations, and buyer expectations change.

A Big Chance For A Brand That Needs Momentum

If Mitsubishi gets this pickup right, it could give the brand its most meaningful U.S. product story in years.

The formula is promising: Nissan truck engineering, likely U.S. production, a body-on-frame platform, and a segment where buyers are willing to pay for capability when the product feels credible. The risk is just as clear. If the truck feels too much like a rebadged Nissan, buyers may remember the Raider for the wrong reasons.

Mitsubishi does not need to beat the Tacoma, Ranger, Colorado, and Frontier at everything. It needs a clear reason to exist. That could come from pricing, warranty value, off-road tuning, hybrid strategy, styling, dealer support, or a sharper connection to Mitsubishi’s own rugged history.

The pickup will enter a crowded market full of loyal buyers and well-established rivals. Still, a locally built midsize truck with Nissan engineering underneath could give Mitsubishi something it badly needs in the United States: a reason for shoppers to look again.

This article was originally published by Autorepublika.com and is republished with permission. It has been reviewed and edited by Guessing Headlights.

• 13 Muscle Cars So Overlooked Most People Forgot Them
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In 1927, the demand for rubber was at an all-time high. The new material was being used by the boatload by car manufacturers to equip their vehicles with tires.

Henry Ford made the decision to move operations to the Amazon in Brazil, building a city of considerable size in the region. He hoped to plant and grow a rubber plantation. Here, managers, workers, and exporters could live in relative comfort, surrounded by a city that was built to mirror those of the US.

The Amazon is notoriously hard to build in, and yet the city was the third largest in the region. However, when disease ravaged the trees in 1945, the whole area was abandoned and left to be reclaimed by the endless miles of jungle. It was purchased by the Brazilian government shortly afterward and mostly forgotten about.

However, the city of Fordlandia, a US city replica commissioned by Henry Ford, might see a new breath of life as the court of Pará rules that it must be restored and preserved. Car enthusiasts and history buffs alike may soon be able to visit the historical rainforest city.

Cool explainer on Fordlandia. 👇 Please allow a moment for it to load.

Forging a Path for Ford

Even today, making tracks through the Amazon rainforest is no easy feat. The dense jungle, full of thick vegetation, unpredictable terrain, and wild animals, is inhospitable to say the least. To build a city there in the 1920's was a marvel.

Henry Ford was determined to challenge the British monopoly on rubber, so he turned his sights to creating a hub in the uncharted wilds. Fordlandia was born, but its history was fraught with setbacks, disappointment, and even rebellion. The project was an uphill struggle from the start.

Clearing the jungle was already an incredibly hard task, and for the first few years, workers were left with dwindling resources, rotting food, and a broken supply line. Ford's insistence on an alcohol-free city did little to quell the rising discord. However, by the end of 1930, the landmark water tower was built, and the city was able to start focusing on planting rubber trees.

The city brought infrastructure to the Amazon, boasting a hospital, running water, electricity, and a movie theater. However, the one thing it failed to produce was rubber. Despite calling in experts, the land that had been so difficult to clear of rainforest failed to yield any rubber trees.

A Failed Project

Eventually, the Second World War rolled around, and Fordlandia was still failing to produce enough rubber. The focus of Ford's factories had been turned to military production, and Fordlandia was used as a military outpost housing soldiers during the war.

Post-war, Ford's son took over management of the company, and to save costs for the company, had to make cutbacks. Fordlandia was the first to go, and was sold to the government of Brazil. Since then, it has been more or less forgotten.

However, there is still a population living deep in the Amazon rainforest city, with a current population of around 3,000. Now, with the new cultural mandate, they will see Fordlandia revitalized once the government implements a recovery project. For the adventurous among car enthusiasts, the forgotten rubber city will be a must-see.

A day in Istanbul can start in a mosque courtyard and end on a ferry deck with tea and gulls. Mexico City can move from stone ruins to trajinera docks, taco stands, parks, and market streets. Luang Prabang has temple courtyards, river steps, wooden boats, coffee tables, and morning baskets. Fez surrounds visitors with workshops, leather, brass, dye vats, narrow lanes, and mint tea. Cartagena moves from old walls to balconies, fruit carts, murals, music, and humid streets after dark.

These cities all have major sights worth seeing, but the best days do not stay in one monument zone. They move through piers, markets, alleys, riverbanks, workshops, plazas, food stalls, and neighborhoods where the city keeps working after the main stop is finished.

1. Istanbul, Türkiye

Istanbul’s old monuments can fill several days. UNESCO’s Historic Areas of Istanbul page points to places such as Topkapı Palace and the Süleymaniye Mosque complex, along with religious, civic, and imperial buildings tied to the city’s Byzantine and Ottoman history.

The old city belongs with the ferries. Şehir Hatları, Istanbul’s public ferry operator, lists domestic trips, Bosphorus tours, piers, and timetables, and its long Bosphorus tour includes stops such as Eminönü, Beşiktaş, Üsküdar, Kanlıca, Sarıyer, Rumeli Kavağı, and Anadolu Kavağı.

On the ferry, the city comes with engine noise, gulls, tea glasses, simit sellers, pier crowds, apartment blocks, mosque domes, bridges, and ships moving through the Bosphorus. Eminönü, Karaköy, Üsküdar, and Kadıköy all feel different from the water than they do from a sidewalk.

Kadıköy adds fish counters, bakeries, produce stalls, coffee shops, bookstores, casual restaurants, and evening crowds on the Asian side. A full Istanbul day can hold mosque courtyards, palace walls, ferry horns, grilled fish, tea, and market streets without treating the city like a single historic district.

2. Mexico City, Mexico

Mexico City’s historic center gives a first visit stone, scale, and noise: the Zócalo, Templo Mayor, Palacio de Bellas Artes, old streets, churches, government buildings, and museum doors close together. The official city guide describes the Centro Histórico as having the largest concentration of museums, cultural sites, and points of interest in the city.

Xochimilco takes the day south to water, boat landings, trajineras, food vendors, mariachi groups, canals, and neighborhoods with their own older histories. The official Mexico City guide points visitors toward Xochimilco’s trajinera launches, historic center, and 17 original barrios.

Coyoacán brings plazas, benches, market stalls, churros, tostadas, coffee, green spaces, and slower streets in the south. Roma and Condesa add tree-lined avenues, restaurants, old houses, bakeries, cafés, parks, and long lunches away from the densest historic-center crowds.

A Mexico City day can start with archaeological stone and cathedral shadows, continue to trajinera docks or market fruit, and end with tacos, park paths, old houses, café tables, and neighborhood streets that stay busy long after the museums close.

3. Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang is small enough for slow walking, with temple courtyards, old houses, riverbanks, wooden shutters, low roofs, market tables, and narrow lanes close together. UNESCO describes the town as sitting on a peninsula delimited by the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, surrounded by mountains and greenery, with Mount Phousi at the center of the town.

The riverbanks are part of the daily route. Wooden boats tie up near steps. Small restaurants set tables near the water. Motorbikes pass low walls and guesthouses. Coffee appears early, and market baskets move through the streets before the heat settles in.

Temple visits sit beside ordinary town life: drums, saffron robes, tiled roofs, low walls, sandals on pavement, small offerings, and doors opening onto courtyards. Visitors should keep distance around religious routines and avoid turning monks or prayer into a photo assignment.

A day here can include Wat Xieng Thong, the morning market, Lao coffee, a walk along the Mekong, a boat landing, a temple courtyard, and an evening market table. Luang Prabang needs quiet behavior, not a packed checklist.

4. Fez, Morocco

Fez is not a city to treat as a row of monument entrances. The medina itself is the main route, with narrow lanes, covered passages, carved doors, old fountains, shopfronts, donkeys, tiled thresholds, and sudden openings into courtyards or workshops.

UNESCO describes the Medina of Fez as one of the most extensive and best conserved historic towns of the Arab-Muslim world, with much of its original function still preserved. The medina still carries religious buildings, houses, markets, workshops, fountains, and dense pedestrian lanes.

The craft streets are physical and noisy. Leather hides dry near tannery terraces. Brass and copper ring from workshop doors. Loom threads, ceramic dust, carved wood, dyed wool, leather slippers, tile fragments, and mint tea trays fill the lanes with objects being made, sold, carried, repaired, and wrapped.

A guide can help with the maze, but the medina still needs time: spice stalls, dye vats, bakery smoke, mule traffic, school doors, mosque walls, metal hammering, and riad courtyards hidden behind plain entrances. Fez is alley, market, workshop, smell, sound, and doorway all at once.

5. Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena’s walled city gives the first walk its stone, gates, plazas, churches, balconies, and Caribbean heat. UNESCO describes Cartagena as a bay city with the most extensive fortifications in South America, divided historically into areas including San Pedro, San Diego, and Getsemaní.

Colombia Travel says the historic center is surrounded by 11 kilometers of stone walls, with fortifications and bastions facing the Caribbean coast. The walls bring cannons, sea wind, stone ramps, bastions, and wide corners where the city opens toward the water.

Getsemaní keeps the evening busy with murals, music from open doors, tables outside casual restaurants, balconies over narrow streets, fried snacks, fruit carts, plaza benches, drums, painted façades, and heat still rising from the stone after sunset.

A day in Cartagena can move from bastions and church squares to street art, seafood, corner bars, plant-filled balconies, and a late walk through streets where music comes from several directions at once.

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The Federal Trade Commission warned 97 auto dealerships in March about deceptive pricing, calling for complete cost transparency so consumers know how much they have to pay.

The FTC's letter reminded dealers to always reveal the total cost of a vehicle purchase, including any mandatory fees that customers will have to pay.

At a minimum, the FTC has asked auto dealers to ensure their advertised prices match the actual price charged to customers.

The body also listed several illegal practices dealers must avoid in the auto industry, and mentioned several pending actions it demanded from select dealers to address deceptive pricing.

FTC Reveals Dealership Names After Nearly Three Months

According to a report by The Drive, the FTC declined to reveal the names of the dealerships it had warned in March. However, last week, it posted the names of the auto dealers.

The publication lists 86 different dealerships. Some large dealer groups operate in multiple regions under different company names, so they received more than one warning, one for each entity. In reality, only about 86 unique dealers were affected. The names are as follows:

1. Aaron Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
2. Adzam Inc. dba Doug’s Lynnwood Mazda
3. AutoNation, Inc
4. Autopia Motorcars
5. Benson’s Ingram Park Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram
6. Berkshire Hathaway Automotive
7. Best Price Dealer
8. Bud Clary Auto Group
9. California Beemers Inc
10. California Motors Direct
11. Capital Auto Mall Premier
12. Cardinal Buick GMC
13. Cardinale Automotive Group
14. CarHub
15. Cincy Automall
16. City Kia of Greater Orlando
17. Clay Cooley Auto Group-Clay Cooley Enterprises
18. Encore Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
19. Fayetteville Dodge Ram
20. Findlay Automotive Group
21. Fontana Motors Direct
22. Ford of Elizabethton
23. Frisco Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
24. Gettel Automotive
25. Gilroy Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
26. Greenway Auto Group
27. Group 1 Automotive Inc.
28. Hanna Imports
29. Hardin Buick Pontiac GMC
30. Hayes Chrysler Dodge Jeep of Gainesville
31. Headquarter Hyundai
32. Hendrick Automotive Group
33. Hiley Automotive Group
34. Holman
35. Honda of Downtown Chicago
36. Honda of Manhasset
37. Houston Direct Auto
38. Huntley Ford
39. Hyundai of El Cajon
40. Hyundai Stockton
41. Integrity Automotive/MCS Integrity Co. Inc.
42. Jack Phelan Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM
43. Jeff Wyler Automotive
44. Jim Keras Automotive
45. John Sisson Mercedes Benz
46. John Sisson Motors
47. John Sisson Nissan
48. Ken Ganley Automotive Group
49. Ken Garff Automotive Group
50. Killeen Hyundai
51. King of Jamaica Auto Inc.
52. Lancaster Mitsubishi
53. Legend Auto Sales
54. Liberty Nissan
55. Lithia Motors, Inc.
56. Lokey Automotive Group
57. Mac Haik Auto Group
58. McGrath Acura of Downtown Chicago
59. Old Orchard Nissan
60. Orr Auto Group
61. Ourisman Automotive Group
62. Page Honda of Bloomfield
63. Page Toyota
64. Prestige Imports Lamborghini Miami
65. Rairdon’s Honda of Burien
66. Red McCombs Motors Ltd
67. Route 23 Nissan
68. Route 46 Auto Group
69. Safford Automotive Group
70. Sanford Imports
71. Serra Chevrolet Buick GMC of Nashville
72. Serra Honda
73. Serra Kia of Trussville
74. Serra Toyota
75. Serramonte Subaru
76. Seth Wadley Auto Group
77. Sonic Automotive
78. South Shore Nissan
79. Superior Ford, Inc.
80. Supreme Motors LLC
81. Titanium Motors Inc.
82. Universal Nissan Orlando
83. Vancouver Toyota
84. Victory Mitsubishi
85. Visalia Hyundai
86. Wagner Kia of Shrewsbury

What Could the Dealerships Have Done?

The dealerships mentioned above could have engaged in one or more practices identified by the FTC. They are as follows:

• Advertising a price that does not reflect all required fees,
• Advertising a price that reflects rebates or discounts not available to all consumers,
• Advertising a price that fails to take into account the amount of an additional required down payment,
• Conditioning the advertised price on consumers using dealer financing,
• Requiring consumers to buy additional items not reflected in the advertised price, and
• Advertising unavailable or non-existent vehicles.

The FTC stated that the letters to the dealers are part of an ongoing exercise to ensure transparency across different sectors, including rental housing, ticketing and hotels, grocery and delivery services, and auto sales and leasing.

It will continue to monitor auto dealerships and will take necessary action when required to ensure compliance with the FTC Act and other regulations. Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, Christopher Mufarrige, said:

“The Trump-Vance FTC is committed to preventing auto dealers from misleading consumers with low advertised prices and then adding on mandatory fees at the end of the purchasing process.

“The FTC will remain focused on monitoring auto dealerships to ensure that the market functions efficiently and competitors are transparently competing on price.”

Few commercial vehicles become beloved after their working life ends. The Citroën Type H did exactly that.

Created for a Europe still rebuilding after World War II, the Type H was designed around practical needs rather than glamour. It had to carry goods, serve small businesses, work for public services, and survive hard daily use without expensive complexity.

Its corrugated body, front-wheel-drive layout, low loading floor, tall cargo space, and simple mechanical package made it one of the most recognizable work vehicles in Europe. Bakers, butchers, farmers, tradespeople, postal services, municipal fleets, market sellers, and delivery operators all found a use for it.

Light commercial vehicles rarely get the same attention as sports cars or luxury models, but the Type H earned its place in automotive history. Presented in 1947 and produced into 1981, it became more than a van. It became a symbol of postwar French practicality, clever packaging, and everyday work done without fuss.

A Van Born From Postwar Necessity

After World War II, France needed vehicles that could help ordinary life and commerce restart. Materials were limited, businesses needed affordable transport, and public services needed practical machines that could carry goods through towns, villages, markets, and rural roads.

Citroën approached the problem with the same kind of engineering logic that had already shaped some of its most important cars. Instead of creating a complicated new commercial vehicle from scratch, the company used proven ideas and mechanical knowledge from existing Citroën models, then packaged them inside a body designed almost entirely around usefulness.

The Type H made its public debut at the 1947 Paris Motor Show. From the first look, it was clear this was not a normal van. The ribbed body panels, blunt nose, upright sides, and tall cargo box gave it a shape that looked industrial, practical, and instantly memorable.

That appearance was not decoration. The Type H looked the way it did because Citroën was trying to make a strong, usable, easy-to-load van with the resources and technology available in the postwar years.

Front-Wheel Drive Gave It A Smarter Cargo Area

The Type H’s layout was unusually clever for a commercial vehicle of its era. Its front-wheel-drive arrangement allowed Citroën to keep the loading floor low and the cargo area tall, which made the van easier to use for deliveries, market work, and mobile trades.

The design also used independent front suspension and a compact engine-and-gearbox layout. That gave the Type H a packaging advantage over many traditional rear-wheel-drive vans that had higher floors, more intrusive driveline layouts, or less convenient cargo access.

Early versions used a 1,911 cc gasoline engine derived from the Citroën Traction Avant. In commercial tune, that engine was modest, with output commonly cited at around 35 horsepower. The goal was not speed. The goal was a low floor, strong cargo space, predictable mechanical behavior, and enough power for local work.

Later gasoline versions improved the van’s performance gradually. A 1,628 cc engine arrived in the 1960s, and Citroën later returned to a stronger 1,911 cc unit. By the late 1960s, the higher-output gasoline version gave the Type H more usable power while keeping the same basic work-focused personality.

Even with those updates, the Type H remained a slow vehicle by modern standards. That was acceptable for a van built around town deliveries, market routes, rural service work, and short commercial trips rather than highway speed.

Gasoline And Diesel Engines Kept It Useful

Citroën kept updating the Type H over its long career without changing the basic idea that made it useful. Gasoline engines served early buyers, while diesel power later became important for operators who cared about fuel cost, torque, and daily commercial use.

Diesel power arrived in the early 1960s with a Perkins unit. Citroën later replaced it with an Indenor diesel, and later updates brought more power for heavier work. Those changes mattered because many Type H buyers were not private motorists. They were businesses and public services counting operating costs every day.

The Type H’s transmission remained simple. Citroën Origins lists the van with a three-speed gearbox through the end of production, and that fit the vehicle’s job. This was not a van built for relaxed motorway cruising. It was built to carry loads at modest speeds with as little complication as possible.

The front-wheel-drive layout remained one of its greatest strengths throughout production. By keeping the floor low and the interior tall, Citroën gave operators a van that was easier to load, easier to adapt, and more useful in tight commercial spaces.

A Simple Body With Clever Strength

The Type H’s corrugated steel body became its visual signature, but the ribs were not there just to make the van memorable. The corrugations helped strengthen the panels, allowing Citroën to use thinner steel while giving the body the stiffness it needed for hard daily work.

That was the brilliance of the design. The same feature that made the van look distinctive also helped make it practical. It saved weight, supported durability, and created a shape that owners could recognize from the far side of a street or market square.

Citroën Origins lists the Type H at 4.28 meters long, 2.00 meters wide, and 2.34 meters tall, with a kerb weight of about 1,400 kilograms. Those dimensions gave it a compact footprint by commercial standards while still leaving useful standing room and load space inside.

The rear opening also helped. The Type H used three-part rear doors, and many versions had a sliding side door, which made loading and unloading easier in narrow streets or busy work areas.

Citroën adapted the van into multiple versions over time. Early H models carried roughly 1,200 kilograms, while HZ versions traded payload for different gearing and lower capacity. The HY became the better-known higher-payload version, and later naming changes reflected payload updates and engine choices. Chassis-cab versions also allowed coachbuilders to create specialist bodies for trades, livestock transport, market stalls, and other commercial jobs.

A 34-Year Career Across Europe

Citroën Origins lists Type H production from 1948 to 1981, and the van is widely associated with a 34-year career after its 1947 debut. About 473,000 examples were built, which shows how well the design matched the needs of commercial users.

The Type H was never about luxury, speed, or status. It was about access, space, loading height, mechanical familiarity, and body adaptability. Those are the details that matter when a vehicle works every day instead of appearing in showrooms as a lifestyle accessory.

By the 1970s, the original concept was aging. Commercial vehicles were becoming more powerful, more comfortable, safer, and easier to drive at higher speeds. Buyers also expected better gearboxes, stronger engines, and more modern cabins than a design born in the 1940s could easily provide.

Citroën finally ended Type H production in 1981, closing one of the longest-running chapters in European light commercial vehicle history. The replacement era brought more modern vans, but few had the same visual personality.

A Working Van That Became A Cultural Symbol

The Type H is no longer a normal working sight on European roads, but its reputation has grown stronger with age. What once looked like a purely practical van now feels like one of the clearest visual symbols of postwar France.

Surviving examples still appear as food trucks, coffee vans, promotional vehicles, market displays, camper conversions, and restored classics. The same tall box, low floor, sliding door, and wide serving-friendly body that helped small businesses decades ago still makes the van useful in its second life.

That modern affection did not come from speed or rarity alone. It came from design honesty. The Type H looked unusual because Citroën was solving practical problems with limited resources and smart packaging.

The van was created as a tool, but time made it warmer and more memorable. Its legacy comes from the way it turned ordinary work into something recognizable, useful, and strangely charming. Few commercial vehicles manage that. The Citroën Type H did it for more than three decades, then kept doing it long after production ended.

This article was originally published by Autorepublika.com and is republished with permission. It has been reviewed and edited by Guessing Headlights.

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Residents of a luxury condominium in Miami's Brickell neighborhood are once again calling for action after a dramatic crash was caught on surveillance cameras, highlighting what many say is a longstanding safety problem at a busy intersection.

Video recorded outside the Echo Brickell condominium shows a vehicle speeding along Brickell Avenue before veering off the roadway and slamming into a tree just feet away from pedestrians walking on a nearby sidewalk. While no injuries were reported in the latest incident, residents say the footage illustrates how close the area has come to tragedy.

The crash occurred early Saturday morning near the intersection of Southeast 15th Road and Brickell Avenue. According to Miami police, no one was hurt, but the shocking video quickly circulated among residents and local media, reigniting concerns about traffic safety in one of Miami's most densely populated urban neighborhoods.

Residents Say Dangerous Crashes Are Becoming Routine

For many who live in the area, the latest crash was not an isolated event but part of a troubling pattern.

Residents and building management at Echo Brickell say they have witnessed numerous accidents at the same corner over the years. Some describe the intersection as particularly hazardous due to vehicle speeds and the layout of the roadway.

Andrew Gilman, the condominium's general manager, said the latest incident was especially alarming because of how close the vehicle came to striking pedestrians. He noted that residents have collected footage of several previous crashes, including incidents that caused serious injuries and even fatalities.

Echo Brickell resident Darryl Randall said he often worries about safety while walking through the area, particularly when taking his dog outside. Other residents have reported seeing damaged bicycles, vehicle debris and evidence of previous collisions scattered around the intersection after crashes.

According to residents interviewed by local media, the area remains heavily used by pedestrians, including families with children, dog walkers and patrons visiting nearby businesses. They argue that the risk extends beyond drivers and affects everyone who uses the neighborhood's sidewalks.

Community Pushes for Protective Barriers

Frustrated by repeated incidents, residents and condominium representatives are urging city leaders to take preventative measures before someone is seriously injured or killed.

Among the proposed solutions are the installation of protective bollards or posts along sidewalks, additional warning signs and other traffic calming measures designed to keep vehicles from leaving the roadway.

Representatives for the condominium association say they have raised concerns with city officials in the past and have repeatedly sought improvements. According to residents, several proposals aimed at enhancing pedestrian safety have not moved forward despite years of complaints.

Attorney Darrin Gursky, who represents the condominium association, said residents have even offered to contribute toward safety infrastructure such as bollards. Supporters believe physical barriers could prevent vehicles from mounting sidewalks or entering pedestrian areas if drivers lose control.

Residents say the issue has become increasingly urgent because of the neighborhood's growth. Brickell has evolved into one of Miami's busiest residential and commercial districts, attracting thousands of residents, workers and visitors each day.

City Officials Pledge To Review Concerns

In response to the latest crash, city officials say they are taking residents' concerns seriously.

Miami Commissioner Damian Pardo's office released a statement indicating that city representatives are working to coordinate a meeting with concerned residents to discuss potential safety improvements.

Officials said public safety remains a top priority and that they intend to evaluate conditions at the intersection in collaboration with city departments, law enforcement agencies and community stakeholders.

Residents hope the renewed attention generated by the surveillance video will finally lead to meaningful action. Many argue that the latest crash should serve as a warning rather than a precursor to a more serious tragedy.

For now, the tree that stopped the speeding vehicle may have prevented a far worse outcome. But for those who live and walk in the area every day, the incident has reinforced a growing belief that luck alone is not enough to keep pedestrians safe.

As city leaders prepare to meet with residents, the future of the intersection and the safety of those who use it will remain a closely watched issue in the heart of Miami's Brickell district.

A black pickup truck became a deadly weapon on a Monday afternoon in Volusia County, Florida, when a 35-year-old woman behind the wheel ran through a toll booth at a beach access ramp, killing the attendant inside, and then kept right on driving until the truck bogged down in the sand at the ocean's edge. It was all caught on surveillance camera, and the footage is as damning as it gets.

The victim was Tammy Jo Baker, a toll booth attendant who had stepped into her booth at 12:38 and 5 seconds. By 12:40, she was dead. That's less than two minutes. Sheriff Mike Chitwood of the Volusia County Sheriff's Office laid out that timeline with blunt precision at a press conference, and it leaves very little room for interpretation. Baker was doing her job. She never had a chance.

The driver, identified as Deanna Harrell, had reportedly been drinking at a bar in Daytona Beach Shores earlier that same afternoon. Before she ever reached the toll booth, calls were already coming in about a black pickup being driven erratically in the area. Surveillance footage shows the truck coming down the Dunlton Beach ramp at speed and taking out the booth without any apparent braking. After the collision, Harrell didn't stop. She continued onto the beach until the truck got stuck in the sand.

Deputies and lifeguards arrived on scene quickly. Body camera footage shows lifeguards attempting to render aid to Baker, while deputies made contact with Harrell, who reportedly smelled strongly of alcohol. Harrell was subsequently placed on a Baker Act psychiatric hold due to threats of self-harm. As of the latest reporting, she remains in that hold. But Sheriff Chitwood made one thing very clear: a psychiatric hold does not mean this case is going away.

What the Surveillance Video Shows

The surveillance footage obtained by the sheriff's office captures the truck accelerating down the beach access ramp and striking the toll booth at full speed. There is no visible attempt to slow down or stop. The booth, a small structure with no protection against a full-size pickup, was no match for the impact. Sheriff Chitwood said that at 12:39, just one minute after Baker entered the booth, paramedics were already on location. By 12:40, she was gone.

The speed of the whole sequence is what stands out. Thirty-five seconds from the time Baker entered that booth to the moment of impact. That's not a reaction time problem. That's a truck moving fast enough that nothing short of a concrete barrier would have made a difference.

Building the Vehicular Homicide Case

Sheriff Chitwood was direct about where the investigation stands. Authorities are currently working to obtain a search warrant for surveillance video from the bar where Harrell was drinking prior to the crash. That footage, combined with the existing surveillance video, witness accounts, and toxicology results, will be packaged and presented to the state attorney's office with a request for vehicular homicide charges and no-bond status for Harrell.

The state attorney's office has asked for additional evidence before moving forward, which is standard procedure in cases like this. Chitwood acknowledged that this process could take anywhere from 12 hours to a full year, but stressed that the timeline doesn't change the destination. The goal is a case strong enough to hold up in court.

What Is the Baker Act and Why Does It Matter Here

Florida's Baker Act allows law enforcement to involuntarily commit an individual for psychiatric evaluation if that person poses a threat to themselves or others. In this case, Harrell's threats of self-harm at the scene triggered the hold. It is a 72-hour evaluation process at minimum.

Critically, being under a Baker Act hold does not shield someone from criminal charges. It is a medical and safety measure, not a legal defense. Chitwood was explicit that his office views the two tracks as entirely separate, and that the psychiatric hold will not slow down or derail the criminal investigation. Once Harrell is released from the hold, the expectation is that charges will be waiting.

What Comes Next for the Case

This investigation is still in its early stages relative to the charging process, but the evidentiary foundation appears solid. Video from the toll ramp, body camera footage from deputies, eyewitness accounts, and the pending bar surveillance footage all point toward a thorough and well-documented case for the prosecution.

Vehicular homicide in Florida is a second-degree felony when DUI is involved, carrying significant prison time. If prosecutors can demonstrate that Harrell was impaired and operating the vehicle in a reckless manner that directly caused Baker's death, the charge is well-supported by the facts already on record.

Sheriff Chitwood closed his remarks by making clear that Tammy Jo Baker and her family will have their day in court. For a woman who clocked in for her shift and was gone 35 seconds later, it's the least the system can deliver.

Some European cities are at their sharpest before breakfast. The shop shutters are still half-closed, delivery carts move across stone streets, café chairs are being set outside, and the first bells or tram sounds carry farther than they will later in the day. By lunch, those same lanes may be full of tour groups, heat, restaurant callers, and camera stops.

Dubrovnik, Florence, Seville, Tallinn, Lisbon, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and Kraków all reward an early start because their old centers are built from details that are easier to notice before the day gets loud: limestone steps, river reflections, orange trees, medieval walls, tiled lanes, timbered houses, flower stalls, and empty squares.

1. Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dubrovnik’s Old Town is best entered before the stone streets fill. The Stradun is still being swept, shutters lift from shopfronts, café tables appear one by one, and the limestone underfoot has not yet picked up the full heat of the day.

The official heritage site says today’s Dubrovnik city walls were shaped from the 13th century onward and stretch about 1,940 meters, with towers and fortresses built into the system. Early on the walls, visitors can stop at the steps, look over roof tiles, hear bells from inside the city, and move without being pushed along by the midday line of people.

The first route should stay simple: enter the gates early, walk the Stradun while the shopfronts are still opening, then go up to the walls before the limestone and exposed stairs become hard work. By late morning in summer, the narrow lanes hold more bodies and the wall walk gives back every bit of sun it catches.

Morning Dubrovnik has salt air, pale stone, rope barriers still loose at entrances, and workers crossing the main street before the tour groups arrive. That hour gives the Old Town room to breathe.

2. Florence, Italy

Florence’s center is compact enough that one early walk can cross several of the city’s strongest scenes before the streets tighten. The Duomo marble looks cleaner before the square fills, Piazza della Signoria has more space around the statues, and the Arno carries the old bridges in flatter morning light.

The Uffizi Galleries are open Tuesday to Sunday from 8:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with the ticket office closing at 5:30 p.m. A first-entry museum visit works well for travelers who want the Botticelli rooms and long corridors before the day’s museum fatigue sets in.

Before the larger groups arrive, Florence gives visitors door knockers, chapel façades, empty stone corners, bakery smells, market setup, and quieter steps across Ponte Vecchio. The city’s famous names are close together, but the small surfaces carry much of the pleasure.

Start with the Duomo exterior, walk toward Piazza della Signoria, cross near the Arno, then choose the Uffizi or a slow breakfast nearby. Florence does not need a long morning route; it needs enough space to see the marble, river, shutters, and old stone before the center turns into a moving crowd.

3. Seville, Spain

Seville’s old center is easier to take in before the heat rises from the paving stones. Orange trees, tiled walls, shaded lanes, café con leche, cathedral bells, and the first movement around Santa Cruz give the morning a different shape from the crowded middle of the day.

The official Real Alcázar site identifies itself as the official site for the monument and describes the Alcázar as Europe’s oldest royal palace still in use. A first-slot visit gives the palace rooms, courtyards, tilework, gardens, and shaded passages more space before the heat and tour traffic build.

A good morning can stay around the Alcázar, the cathedral exterior, and Santa Cruz. The lanes near the palace are narrow enough that they become harder later, especially in summer, when shade matters as much as beauty.

Seville is famous for late dinners and warm nights, but the morning belongs to orange trees, tiled courtyards, iron balconies, delivery vans, church bells, and the quick walk to coffee before the sun takes over the old center.

4. Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn’s Old Town works beautifully in the morning because the medieval lanes have space around them. Town Hall Square is easier to cross, the climb toward Toompea is cooler, and the city walls, church spires, gates, and pastel façades stand out before terraces and tour groups fill the old center.

Visit Tallinn notes that the Old Town is on the UNESCO World Heritage List while remaining lively rather than frozen in place. UNESCO says Tallinn preserves its medieval street layout, building plots, squares, and large sections of town defenses.

Start near Town Hall Square, take the lanes uphill toward Toompea, then pause near the viewing platforms before the main foot traffic arrives. The route brings cobbles, walls, towers, church fronts, iron signs, and old merchant houses into one short morning climb.

The current image shows Tallinn’s Seaplane Harbour area rather than the Old Town. Before publishing, replace it with an image of Town Hall Square, Toompea, city walls, towers, or medieval lanes so the picture matches the section.

5. Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon asks more from the legs than many first-time visitors expect. In the morning, Alfama’s climbs are cooler, the tiled walls catch softer light, and the miradouros are easier to enjoy before the lanes fill with people looking for the same turns and tram stops.

Visit Lisboa describes Alfama as the oldest and most traditional neighborhood in the capital, with cobbled lanes, alleys, and steep inclines. Those streets are better taken slowly, with stops for tiled façades, laundry lines, tiny staircases, church corners, and openings toward the river.

Tram 28 belongs to the same early start. Visit Lisboa calls the No. 28 tram a little treasure on rails and says it passes through historic and residential quarters, past azulejo-covered buildings, hills, miradouros, and squares.

Later in the day, the tram can become more crowd than ride. In the morning, Lisbon still has the sound of metal on rails, bakery counters opening, café cups on small tables, and steep streets before the heat settles into the stones.

6. Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is small enough that its streets can change quickly once day visitors arrive. Before the buses and shop crowds, the timbered houses, towers, gates, cobbles, and wall passages look less like a stage set and more like a town waking up.

The town’s official tourism site describes Rothenburg ob der Tauber as a living testimony to medieval history, with a well-preserved old town above the Tauber valley and characteristic half-timbered houses. The same site highlights the completely preserved city wall as one of the ways visitors can step into the town’s past.

The wall walk is the cleanest first move. Go before breakfast or soon after, when the covered sections, towers, tiled roofs, gardens, and narrow streets below still have space around them. Afterward, return to the center as bakeries, cafés, and small shops open.

Rothenburg’s morning has empty wall passages, timbered façades, shop signs, quiet gates, and the sound of footsteps on stone. By midday, the same lanes can carry a very different weight of visitors.

7. Kraków, Poland

Kraków’s Main Market Square has enough scale for crowds, carriages, café terraces, and tour groups, but early morning gives its edges more definition. The Cloth Hall arcades, St. Mary’s Basilica, flower stalls, pigeons, empty chairs, and surrounding façades are easier to see before the square turns busy.

Kraków’s official tourism site calls Main Market Square the city’s most important public space and one of medieval Europe’s most expansive market squares. UNESCO also describes Kraków’s historic center as a 13th-century merchants’ town with Europe’s largest market square and numerous historic houses, palaces, and churches.

Start at Rynek Główny, cross the square while the café rows are still setting up, then continue through quieter Old Town streets toward Wawel or Kazimierz. The first hour brings church bells, delivery vans, flower sellers, pigeons, and more room around the Cloth Hall.

Kraków has strong evening life, but morning gives the historic center its cleanest street-level details: stone arcades, basilica towers, market stalls, old façades, and the sound of the square before the day fills it.

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Most frequent fliers will have come into far too close contact with someone who makes a long-haul flight a nightmare. It could be a screaming child, a nervous talker neighbor, or, in this case, a passenger determined to open the door of the flight.

The Frontier Airlines Flight 3345 from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to O'Hare International was thrown into turmoil as 51-year-old Juan Reyes went on a rampage through the cabin of the plane. Drunk and clearly unhappy with the in-seat service, he was seen trying to open the cabin door mid-flight, urinating on the floor of the toilet cubicle, attempting to get into the pilot's cabin, and finally choking out an attendant.

Reyes had already been making a nuisance of himself for some time before the staff was able to make him take his seat. He was being guarded by an off-duty flight attendant when he became violent, choking the volunteer in the aisle. Former MMA fighter John Longood, from Chicago, took the initiative.

Long Haul Leg Lock

#BREAKING : Frontier Flight Diverted After Passenger Allegedly Tries to Open Exit Door

A Frontier Airlines flight traveling from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Chicago was diverted to Miami after a passenger allegedly tried to open an emergency exit door during the flight.

Fellow… pic.twitter.com/ln8NHvkLBi

— upuknews (@upuknews1) June 2, 2026

Using his experience as a professional mixed martial arts fighter and Brazilian jujitsu black belt, he slipped behind the hooligan and put him in a restraint made for the octagon. As a professional, he knew how to hold the man without hurting him, while ensuring he had little chance of escape.

Speaking to CBS, he said, "I just grabbed him, restrained him as safely as possible, kind of just really put him in his row, and laid him down, kind of framed against him, controlled his hands and his feet."

Despite being incapacitated, the unruly passenger didn't give up the fight. He made his frustrations known, making more of a fool of himself than before. However, now, the flight attendants could focus on restoring the peace while the pilots made an emergency landing in Miami.

"It was like holding a kid down throwing a tantrum," Longwood stated. "I was joking with him. I was like, 'We are going to be best friends after this, bro." His quick thinking and professionalism safely and quickly ended a scene that could have become a lot messier, had the drunk man been allowed to become more violent.

As a result of his disorderly on-board actions, Reyes could be slapped with a hefty fine of up to $40,000 from the FAA. Police have also charged him with misdemeanor battery. It will be a long time before he's making too much of the in-flight miniatures.

A Massachusetts man shelled out nearly $1,900 to fix a brake issue on his Ford Edge that the automaker had already flagged as a safety defect, and Ford's response was essentially: hang on to that receipt. The situation highlights a rarely discussed gap in how auto recalls work in practice, and it's the kind of thing that turns loyal customers into former customers.

Paul Lonergan discovered brake fluid pooling in his driveway this spring, traced it to a ruptured rear brake hose on his 2017 Ford Edge, and had the repair done to the tune of $1,854. The problem wasn't some mystery failure. It was the exact defect Ford had already disclosed to federal regulators in a recall filing the previous August, covering roughly 499,000 Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX vehicles from the 2015 to 2018 model years. Lonergan reasonably assumed the recall would mean Ford would cover the bill. That assumption turned out to be premature.

When he brought the issue to his dealership, the response was blunt: the recall was on file, but the remedy had not yet been finalized, so Ford was not authorizing payment. Parts weren't available, the fix wasn't ready, and until it was, Lonergan was on his own. His options were either to pay out of pocket and drive the car, or leave it sitting unusable in his driveway for an indefinite stretch of time while Ford sorted out its supply chain.

"I don't have $1,800 to loan to a billion-dollar corporation," Lonergan told WCVB. Ford's position is that he can submit his receipts for reimbursement consideration once the official remedy is finally launched, which is now expected sometime in the fall, more than a year after the recall was first announced. Whether that reimbursement will actually materialize, and exactly when, remains an open question.

What the Recall Actually Covers

Ford filed recall 25V544 with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in August 2025, identifying a potential failure in the rear brake jounce hoses on 2015 to 2018 Ford Edge and 2016 to 2018 Lincoln MKX vehicles. The hoses, which were supplied by a Mexican manufacturer and phased out of production in December 2017, can rupture prematurely and trigger a progressive brake fluid leak.

Drivers may notice increased pedal travel and longer stopping distances before the red brake warning light kicks on, if it kicks on at all before braking performance degrades.

Ford told the NHTSA it expected the repair remedy to be available by April 2026, but that timeline has now slipped to September 2026. In the meantime, owners received interim notification letters last fall alerting them to the issue, with a follow-up letter containing actual repair instructions promised once parts are in hand.

Ford estimates that roughly 1% of the nearly 500,000 affected vehicles will actually experience the defect, though the company acknowledges 64 warranty claims and 16 customer complaints tied to the issue as of mid-2025.

Ford Took Years to Get Here

The paper trail on this recall goes back further than most owners realize. NHTSA first contacted Ford about rear brake hose failures on Edge vehicles in March 2021. At that point, Ford looked at a relatively low occurrence rate and decided the situation did not represent an unreasonable safety risk, closing its internal investigation.

NHTSA came back again in July 2024 with a larger batch of complaints, prompting Ford to reopen the review. Ford closed it again in September 2024, again concluding the risk was manageable given that the dual-circuit braking system would still allow the vehicle to stop using two of its four brakes even in the event of fluid loss.

NHTSA wasn't satisfied. It opened a formal Preliminary Evaluation in October 2024 and spent the following months pressing Ford with additional technical analysis. By July 2025, after another face-to-face meeting with federal investigators, Ford's internal review committee reopened the investigation and, within weeks, approved the recall.

In other words, Ford spent roughly four years and multiple rounds of prodding from federal regulators before reaching the conclusion that half a million vehicles needed a safety fix. Lonergan's car was leaking brake fluid in the middle of that process.

What Owners Should Know About Recall Reimbursement

Federal law does require automakers to reimburse owners who paid to fix a defect that was later made the subject of a safety recall, provided the repair was done before the owner notification letter was mailed. Ford's general reimbursement plan, on file with the NHTSA, covers exactly this scenario.

The practical wrinkle in Lonergan's case is timing: he paid for the repair after the recall was announced but before the remedy was finalized, which puts his situation in a gray area that neither Ford nor NHTSA has cleanly addressed on the record.

Ford Edge and MKX owners who believe their vehicles may be affected can check their VIN at NHTSA's recall database or call Ford directly at 1-866-436-7332. Those who have already paid for rear brake hose repairs should hold onto every receipt and document every conversation with the dealership.

Ford's own website acknowledges that reimbursement eligibility exists for owner-paid repairs tied to a recall, and directs owners to bring documentation to any authorized Ford dealer. Whether that process will move smoothly for Lonergan and others in similar circumstances remains to be seen.

He has already made his own verdict clear: "This will be the last one I drive."

There are plenty of ways to lose money on a luxury vehicle. Depreciation, insurance premiums, the occasional unfortunate parking lot encounter. But Myron Sonkin of Carol Stream, Illinois, found a new one: squirrels. Not one incident, not even two, but three separate rodent rampages in the span of roughly ten days, each one targeting a different BMW, each one leaving behind a repair bill that would make even a seasoned service advisor wince.

By the time the dust settled and the acorns were cleared away, the damage tally had climbed to nearly $30,000.

Sonkin had been parking cars in the same outdoor lot for his business for over two decades without incident. Then he picked up a nearly-new BMW 430i with just 1,700 miles on the clock and everything changed. The first sign of trouble came when a warning light flashed across the dash reading "do not drive, call for roadside assistance."

That kind of message tends to kill the mood after a regular workday. The dealership investigated and found claw marks, chew marks, shredded insulation, and what appeared to be the early construction of a cozy rodent condo under the hood. Hood release cable, coolant reservoir sensor, transmission area, the works. The opening bill: $10,000.

With his car in the shop, Sonkin drove a loaner BMW to the same lot. That one got hit next. Another $14,000. A second loaner followed, and the squirrels came back a third time for a $6,000 encore. The BMW dealership told reporters they service roughly 2,000 cars a month and had never seen a customer face repeated attacks like this. Sonkin's experience was in a category of its own.

The story is equal parts absurd and genuinely alarming, because it sits at the intersection of two things that should concern any car owner: the growing problem of rodent damage in modern vehicles, and the very real possibility that the materials automakers are using to build greener cars may be attracting wildlife to your engine bay in the first place.

The Soy Wiring Controversy That Won't Go Away

Automakers have been transitioning to soy-based insulation on wiring harnesses as a way to reduce petroleum use and lower manufacturing costs. The environmental intentions are reasonable. The unintended side effect, however, is that the resulting material may be considerably more appealing to small animals with nothing better to do than chew things.

Several class action lawsuits have been filed against manufacturers including Toyota and Honda, alleging that soy-based wiring attracts rodents and leads to repeated, expensive repair cycles. While these cases have seen mixed results in court, the complaints keep piling up.

The Toyota case, which attracted significant attention, was ultimately dismissed after courts found it difficult to definitively prove that soy coating was the root cause of rodent attraction rather than the rodents simply behaving like rodents. The honest take from repair professionals is that it is hard to prove soy wiring is the reason rodents chew, and plenty of vehicles without soy-based coatings still get hit.

That said, the volume of complaints has been consistent enough that the issue continues to draw scrutiny from consumer advocates and automotive media alike. 

Why Modern Cars Are Especially Vulnerable

The financial stakes of rodent damage have grown considerably as vehicles have become more electronically complex. Modern vehicles rely on tightly integrated systems, and when rodents chew through a single wire, the repair is not as simple as splicing and moving on. Many models require replacing an entire harness, and labor often involves hours of disassembly.

The repair professional quoted in the original CBS Chicago report put it plainly: your whole car is essentially a computer at this point, and any chewed wire can deactivate driving capabilities. Mechanics have also noted that rodents can move beyond wiring to fuel lines and rubber brake lines, essentially chewing through anything if given enough time.

One mechanic in California reported seeing cars with rodent-related damage four to five times per week and described a noticeable increase in the problem over the past five years. Newer models tend to be more vulnerable due to heavier reliance on soy-based wiring, and hybrids and EVs carry even higher repair costs due to the sheer number of electronic components involved.

What Does Insurance Actually Cover?

This is the part many drivers find out too late. Comprehensive auto insurance covers rodent damage to wiring, but liability insurance will not. That distinction matters enormously when you are staring down a five-figure repair estimate. Drivers carrying only the minimum required coverage have no recourse through their insurer and will be paying entirely out of pocket.

Even with comprehensive coverage, the situation is not always clean. In other reported cases, insurance eventually covered the bill, but drivers still had to absorb a deductible. For someone like Sonkin, facing three separate incidents in under two weeks, that math gets painful quickly regardless of what the policy says.

It is also worth noting that repeated claims of the same type within a short window can attract the attention of an insurer in ways that are not always favorable at renewal time.

How to Actually Protect Your Vehicle

The good news is that Sonkin eventually found something that worked. After the third attack, he started using ultrasonic sensor devices that emit sound and light to drive rodents away from the area, placing one directly under the hood of his BMW. By the time reporters followed up, six weeks had passed without a single critter sighting.

Bill DeMayo from River North Collision Repair, who was consulted for the original story, recommended deterrent sprays and protective tape as a first line of defense, though he was clear that those measures only work before the chewing starts.

A layered prevention approach tends to work best: removing attractants like food, birdseed, and trash from the surrounding area, using repellent products, and adding a physical or electronic barrier solution. Some repair professionals have even suggested predator urine as a deterrent, arguing that the scent of a natural enemy is among the more reliable ways to keep rodents from treating an engine bay like a buffet.

It may not be glamorous, but neither is a $14,000 repair bill on a car you bought two months ago.

For anyone parking in areas with known wildlife activity, especially outdoors and near greenery or wooded surroundings, the investment in prevention is considerably cheaper than the alternative. Sonkin learned that the very hard way.

The Chevrolet Silverado remains one of America’s most important pickups for a reason. Chevrolet lists the 2026 Silverado 1500 with a minimum tow rating of 8,700 pounds and an available maximum of 13,300 pounds when properly equipped, which keeps it firmly in the serious half-ton conversation.

That strength does not make the Silverado the right truck for every buyer. A shopper comparing pickups today may care as much about cabin comfort, fuel economy, parking ease, hybrid utility, off-road hardware, bed access, technology, warranty value, or monthly payment as the biggest number on a towing chart.

The Silverado still has a strong case, especially for drivers who want V8 availability, Duramax diesel towing, broad trim choice, familiar controls, and Chevrolet’s deep dealer network. The smarter question is whether a different truck fits the buyer’s actual use better.

Some of these pickups are direct full-size rivals. Others are smaller alternatives for buyers who rarely use a Silverado’s full capability. Each one gives Chevrolet a different kind of problem.

Ford F-150

The Ford F-150 is the Silverado’s most direct rival because it fights Chevrolet across nearly every part of the half-ton market. Ford offers work-focused trims, luxury trims, off-road models, multiple engines, advanced towing technology, and a long list of configurations for buyers who want their truck built around a specific job.

The PowerBoost hybrid is one of Ford’s clearest advantages. Ford lists the 3.5L PowerBoost full-hybrid V6 at 430 horsepower and 578 lb-ft of torque, with maximum towing of up to 11,600 pounds when properly equipped. It also includes Pro Power Onboard capability, which lets the truck run tools, devices, camping gear, or home essentials away from a normal outlet.

That generator-style utility gives the F-150 a practical edge for contractors, campers, tailgaters, and homeowners. Buyers who only care about maximum towing can also look beyond the hybrid, since properly equipped 3.5L EcoBoost F-150 models can tow more than the PowerBoost setup.

The Silverado still fights hard with strong towing numbers, V8 availability, diesel torque, and a familiar Chevrolet ownership network. The F-150’s advantage is breadth. Ford gives buyers more ways to build a truck around work, family use, technology, hybrid power, or mobile electricity.

Ram 1500

The Ram 1500 is the Silverado alternative for buyers who use their truck every day and care deeply about ride quality. Ram has spent years turning its half-ton pickup into one of the most comfortable trucks in the segment, with supportive seats, quiet cabins, upscale trims, large screens, and highway manners that make long drives easier.

Capability is still part of the case. Ram lists the 2026 Ram 1500 with maximum payload of up to 2,360 pounds and maximum towing of up to 11,610 pounds, depending on configuration. The lineup includes the 3.6L Pentastar V6 with eTorque, 3.0L Hurricane engines, and premium trims that push the truck deep into luxury territory.

The Silverado has a higher available maximum tow rating, and buyers who tow near the top of the half-ton range may still prefer Chevrolet or Ford. Ram’s strength is the daily experience between towing jobs. The ride, cabin layout, seating comfort, interior storage, and highway refinement can make it feel less like a work truck and more like a family vehicle with a bed.

For families, commuters, and road-trip drivers who want a pickup but do not want to feel every mile like they are driving jobsite equipment, the Ram 1500 makes one of the strongest comfort arguments in the class.

GMC Sierra 1500

The GMC Sierra 1500 is the closest Silverado alternative because it shares General Motors truck roots. It is not the choice for buyers who want to leave the GM formula completely. It is the choice for buyers who like Silverado capability but want a more premium badge, different styling, and a richer trim structure.

GMC lists the 2026 Sierra 1500 with available diesel towing of up to 13,200 pounds when properly equipped, along with available premium materials, a spacious crew cab, and the available six-function MultiPro Tailgate. That keeps it close to Silverado capability while giving GMC a more upscale presentation.

Denali and Denali Ultimate trims give the Sierra a luxury-truck identity, while AT4 and AT4X trims give buyers a more rugged premium off-road path. Chevrolet has its own premium and off-road versions, but GMC packages the experience with a different image and more emphasis on upscale details.

For some buyers, that is enough. The Silverado may be the familiar workhorse, but the Sierra often feels like the same broad GM truck foundation dressed for shoppers who want more polish without leaving the General Motors family.

Toyota Tundra

The Toyota Tundra attracts buyers who want a full-size pickup with Toyota branding, bold styling, and a modern twin-turbo powertrain lineup. Toyota lists the 2026 Tundra with maximum towing of up to 12,000 pounds when properly equipped.

The i-FORCE MAX hybrid gives the Tundra one of its clearest identities. Toyota lists that powertrain at 437 net combined horsepower and 583 lb-ft of torque. It is tuned for strong response and low-end pull rather than Prius-style fuel savings, which gives it a different feel from the Silverado’s more traditional gas and diesel choices.

Toyota also gives the Tundra clear personality trims. TRD Off-Road, TRD Pro, 1794 Edition, Platinum, and Capstone models speak to different buyers, from trail-focused shoppers to drivers who want a more premium full-size truck.

The Silverado still offers broader engine variety and a higher available maximum tow rating in certain configurations. The Tundra’s appeal is different. It draws buyers who value Toyota loyalty, hybrid torque, distinctive styling, and a cabin that does not feel like another Detroit half-ton.

Ford Maverick

The Ford Maverick is not a Silverado rival by size. It belongs here because it answers the question many truck shoppers eventually ask themselves: how much truck do they actually need?

Ford lists the 2026 Maverick with maximum available towing of 4,000 pounds, maximum available payload of 1,500 pounds, and an EPA-estimated 42 mpg city rating for the hybrid. Those numbers will not touch a full-size Silverado, but they cover plenty of everyday jobs.

A buyer who needs a bed for mulch, bicycles, camping gear, small furniture, tools, or weekend hardware-store runs may find the Maverick easier to justify. It costs less to buy than most full-size pickups, takes up less space, uses less fuel in hybrid form, and feels more like a compact crossover in daily traffic.

The Maverick does not pretend to replace a serious tow rig. Its strength is light-duty honesty. For shoppers who were considering a Silverado out of habit instead of actual need, Ford’s compact pickup can be the more realistic answer.

Toyota Tacoma

The Toyota Tacoma pulls a different kind of buyer away from the Silverado. It targets drivers who want truck durability, off-road trims, strong resale appeal, and a more manageable size than a full-size pickup.

Toyota lists the 2026 Tacoma with a 2.4L turbocharged i-FORCE engine, an available six-speed manual transmission, an available i-FORCE MAX hybrid powertrain, and multiple TRD trims aimed at buyers who want factory off-road hardware. Properly equipped Tacoma models can tow up to about 6,500 pounds, depending on configuration.

That maximum does not match the Silverado, but many midsize truck buyers are not shopping for 13,000-pound trailers. They want something that fits trails, garages, campsites, city streets, and daily errands without the width and weight of a full-size half-ton.

TRD Off-Road, Trailhunter, and TRD Pro trims give Toyota a strong adventure image, while lower trims keep the Tacoma useful for buyers who want long-term truck ownership without moving into full-size dimensions. The Tacoma wins attention by feeling purposeful, easier to size, and deeply supported by the aftermarket.

Ford Ranger

The Ford Ranger gives buyers a midsize truck with serious capability and a smaller footprint than the Silverado. Ford lists the 2026 Ranger with maximum available towing of 7,500 pounds when properly equipped and maximum available payload of 1,767 pounds.

Those numbers cover plenty of small campers, boats, utility trailers, motorcycles, and weekend work needs. The Ranger also sits in a useful middle ground: tougher and more capable than a Maverick, but easier to live with in tight parking spaces than an F-150 or Silverado.

The standard turbocharged four-cylinder gives it useful torque, while the available 2.7L EcoBoost V6 adds more power on select trims. The Ranger Raptor takes the truck in a different direction with factory performance off-road hardware, though buyers should remember that off-road performance trims are not usually the best choice for maximum towing or payload.

The Ranger’s appeal is practical. It can work during the week, handle recreational towing, and fit more comfortably into daily life than a full-size truck. Silverado shoppers who rarely use full-size capacity may find the Ranger’s balance more realistic.

Nissan Frontier

The Nissan Frontier is one of the clearest midsize truck alternatives for buyers who want straightforward power. Nissan lists the 2026 Frontier with a standard V6 engine, 310 horsepower, 281 lb-ft of torque, available 4x4 capability, towing of up to 7,150 pounds, and payload capacity of up to 1,620 pounds.

That standard V6 gives the Frontier a simple sales pitch. Buyers do not need to climb through several powertrain choices to get useful output. They get a truck with traditional midsize proportions, a fully boxed ladder frame, and available PRO-4X hardware for trail use.

The Frontier does not chase the Silverado on cabin size, luxury breadth, or maximum towing. It appeals to buyers who want a smaller truck with honest mechanical character, strong standard horsepower, and enough capability for normal truck life.

For shoppers who find full-size pickups too expensive, too wide, or too loaded with features they do not need, the Frontier remains a direct and useful option.

Why Silverado Buyers Are Looking Around

The Silverado still deserves its place among America’s key pickups. It brings high towing capability, several engine choices, familiar controls, broad dealer support, and a trim range that covers work trucks, family trucks, off-road models, and premium versions.

The pressure comes from how specific the competition has become. The F-150 offers hybrid power and mobile generator capability. The Ram 1500 brings exceptional cabin comfort. The Sierra gives GM loyalists a more premium path. The Tundra adds Toyota branding and hybrid torque. The Maverick makes truck ownership cheaper and easier for light-duty buyers. The Tacoma, Ranger, and Frontier give midsize shoppers real capability without full-size bulk.

The smartest pickup is the one matched to the work, roads, parking spaces, trailer weight, family needs, and budget in front of the buyer. A Silverado may still be the right answer for many people.

It is no longer the automatic answer. Today’s truck market gives buyers too many strong alternatives to ignore, and each of these pickups gives Chevrolet a different kind of problem.

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A routine stop for gas at a North Carolina Sheetz turned into a viral moment when a woman pulled up to the pump and found the previous customer's receipt still displayed on the screen. The total? A jaw-dropping $489.66 for 84.4 gallons of fuel. She did what any reasonable person would do and posted it to social media, asking whoever filled up before her if they were doing alright.

The clip spread quickly, and the comment section became an impromptu guessing game. People who spend any real time around trucks, towing, or long-haul driving had a pretty good idea what could account for that kind of fill-up. For everyone else, it was a genuine mystery -- and an eye-opening reminder of just how expensive fuel has gotten across the board.

It also raises a question worth answering properly: what kind of vehicle actually holds that much fuel? The answer is not as exotic as you might think. It ranges from the obvious to the surprisingly practical, and it says a lot about how working drivers and serious off-roaders think about range.

And while the viral curiosity angle is fun, there is a harder truth underneath it. Diesel prices have climbed significantly in 2026, and the people absorbing those costs are not corporations with fuel hedges -- they are independent truckers, small fleet operators, and tradespeople who burn through fuel just doing their jobs.

What Kind of Vehicle Takes 84 Gallons?

@emilychristineee1 @Sheetz I didn’t think the numbers went that high #creatorsearchinsights #northcarolina #gas #foryoupage #gasstation ♬ Chopin Nocturne No. 2 Piano Mono - moshimo sound design

The most straightforward answer is a semi-truck. According to the Used Truck Association, a single-tank semi setup typically holds between 100 and 150 gallons of diesel. Many rigs run dual-tank configurations that can push that capacity even higher. So 84 gallons could represent a partial fill on a long-haul truck that was already running low but not completely empty -- not unusual on a cross-state run.

For passenger vehicles, the math is different. Most light-duty pickup trucks carry somewhere between 26 and 36 gallons from the factory. Even a thirsty diesel Super Duty or a Ram 3500 would not come close to 84 gallons on its stock tank alone. That is where auxiliary tanks enter the picture.

What Is an Auxiliary Fuel Tank?

An auxiliary tank is a secondary fuel reservoir installed in addition to a vehicle's factory tank. They are common among overlanders, fleet operators, rural drivers who cover long distances between stations, and anyone who regularly tows heavy loads. A typical aftermarket auxiliary tank adds 20 to 50 gallons of capacity, and some setups go higher depending on the application.

Transfer-flow and similar manufacturers produce bolt-in systems designed to fit in truck beds or under-body locations. Depending on the configuration, an auxiliary tank can be set up to feed directly into the main tank or draw from independently. For a pickup already running a 36-gallon main tank, adding a 50-gallon auxiliary gets you into the 84-gallon range without much trouble.

These are not fringe modifications. Working ranchers, pipeline crews, and serious overlanding builds routinely run extended-range fuel setups because stopping every 200 miles is simply not practical for what they do.

Fuel Prices in 2026 Are No Joke

The bill that caught everyone's attention was calculated at roughly $5.80 per gallon, which lines up with current diesel pricing in the region. The national average for diesel has hovered around $5.11, with some markets running higher. Regular unleaded nationally has averaged around $4.32, with North Carolina coming in a bit lower than that.

For the average commuter filling a 15-gallon car tank, those prices sting. For a trucker or contractor filling 80-plus gallons multiple times a week, it is a serious operating cost problem. Independent truckers in particular have taken a hard hit in 2026, with rising diesel prices squeezing margins on hauls that were already running thin. Some operators have responded by swapping to more fuel-efficient cab configurations, though many report that even with better mileage, their weekly fuel spend is still higher than it was a year ago.

The Comment Section Got It Right

The internet crowd that speculated it was a diesel truck or an auxiliary-equipped pickup was largely on target. One commenter's quip about filling up Optimus Prime got laughs, but the underlying logic was sound -- only a commercial truck or a heavily modified work rig lands in that gallonage. The person who quietly noted their spouse drives a big rig probably had the most accurate take of anyone in the thread.

What makes the story stick, beyond the sticker shock, is how neatly it captures where fuel costs are in 2026. A nearly $500 fill-up used to be a punchline. Now it is just a Tuesday for anyone running a real working truck.

Trusting a transport company with a brand-new Corvette is already a leap of faith for any serious car person. You hand over the keys to a stranger, hope for the best, and try not to think too hard about what happens between the dealership and your driveway.

For one Corvette buyer who goes by StingerStung on TikTok, that anxiety turned out to be completely justified — and he has the footage to prove it.

The dealership, apparently keeping an eye on things the way any good shop should, caught the transport driver on camera doing a cold-start rev bomb on the freshly purchased Corvette. Not a gentle warm-up. Not a brief blip of the throttle to pull it onto the trailer. A full, sustained redline pull on a cold engine. The kind of thing that makes any gearhead's stomach drop.

What makes the situation particularly aggravating is that this wasn't just any Corvette sitting at stock. According to StingerStung's TikTok post, the car had already been modified with an upgraded camshaft — which means it came with a specific break-in requirement that the driver either didn't know about, didn't care about, or both. The video, which has racked up over 2.3 million views, prompted StingerStung to warn other buyers away from the carriers involved: H&T Transportation and Nexus Auto Transport, the company he says dispatched the driver.

The internet, predictably, had plenty to say. Comments ranged from outrage to dark humor, but one observation cut through the noise: the fact that whoever filmed the incident had enough time to pull out a phone and capture an extended clip suggests this wasn't a momentary lapse. It was a decision. And for a car enthusiast who just signed a check for a modified Corvette, that decision could have lasting consequences on an engine that had barely turned over for the first time.

What "Cammed" Actually Means

@stingerzstungDON’T USE”H&T Transportation Inc” (DOT# 4415927) — Carrier dispatched by Nexus Auto Transport (DOT# 2801954)♬ original sound - StingerStung

For readers who haven't spent time under a hood, a camshaft controls the timing of the intake and exhaust valves in an internal combustion engine. A stock camshaft is tuned for everyday driving: smooth idle, good fuel economy, reliable power delivery across a broad range. An aftermarket or performance camshaft changes that profile to allow more aggressive valve timing, which can dramatically increase high-RPM power at the cost of some low-end behavior. That characteristic lope you hear from a muscle car at idle is almost always a cam.

When you install a new camshaft — or any significant internal engine component — there is a break-in process. New parts need time and proper operating conditions to seat correctly against each other. Pushing a freshly cammed engine to redline on a cold start is the mechanical equivalent of sprinting a marathon before you've stretched. The oil hasn't fully circulated, the metal components haven't expanded to operating temperature, and the new cam lobes haven't had any opportunity to mate with the lifters at controlled stress levels. It's a recipe for accelerated wear, and in a worst case, outright failure.

What a Cold Start Rev Bomb Actually Does to an Engine

Cold start behavior matters even on completely stock vehicles. Engine oil is thicker when cold, meaning it takes a few seconds after startup for full pressure to build and reach all the critical contact points inside the engine. This is why virtually every automaker, and every experienced mechanic, recommends allowing a car to idle briefly before driving aggressively — especially in colder ambient temperatures.

For a modified engine, the stakes are higher. Performance camshafts are often paired with upgraded valvetrain components, stiffer valve springs, and other parts that have even tighter tolerances than stock. The proper break-in procedure for most cam installations involves several heat cycles at controlled RPM ranges, often with a specific break-in oil, before the engine is ever pushed hard. Whoever was behind the wheel of that Corvette was not following any of that protocol.

Auto Transport Damage: What Are Your Options?

This story raises a practical question that any car buyer shipping a vehicle should think through carefully. Auto transport companies are legally required to carry a minimum level of liability insurance, which is overseen at the federal level by the Department of Transportation. However, the gap between minimum required coverage and the actual cost of repairing or replacing a modified performance engine can be significant, especially when the damage is mechanical rather than cosmetic.

If a vehicle is damaged in transport, owners have the option of filing a claim through the transport company's insurance or, in some cases, through their own auto insurance policy depending on the terms of their coverage. The challenge with something like a rev bomb is documentation. Cosmetic damage — a scratch, a dent — is straightforward to photograph and quantify. Internal engine wear is harder to prove without a teardown, which itself costs money and time. That's exactly why the dealership footage is so valuable to StingerStung's case.

What This Story Gets Right About Enthusiast Culture

There's a reason this video hit 2.3 million views and kept climbing. It taps directly into something any serious car person has felt: the discomfort of handing your vehicle off to someone who doesn't understand — or respect — what it represents. A Corvette with an aftermarket cam isn't just transportation. It's a project. It reflects decisions made by someone who knows what they want from a car and pursued it deliberately.

The broader takeaway for anyone planning to ship a performance vehicle is worth spelling out. Research the carrier thoroughly, ask specifically about their handling procedures for modified or performance cars, document the vehicle's condition comprehensively before handoff, and if possible, choose a shipper that uses enclosed transport with professional handlers who have verifiable experience with enthusiast vehicles.

A few extra dollars at the point of booking is a much better outcome than a disputed insurance claim and an engine that needs to come apart before you've even driven it home.

If you have spent any real time on a golf course, you already know the game has a way of humbling you in the most creative ways imaginable. Bad lies, unplayable bounces, penalty strokes that feel deeply personal. But what happened to amateur golfer Mark Knecht during a U.S. Senior Open qualifying round at Miami Valley Country Club in Dayton, Ohio recently is something else entirely. This is the kind of story that gets told at the 19th hole until someone calls it an outright lie.

To set the scene: Knecht was working through a qualifier, the type of pressure-cooker round that separates the guys who play good golf from the guys who can play good golf when something is actually on the line. These one-day stroke play qualifiers for USGA events are serious business. Every shot counts, every ruling matters, and the margins are thin. There is very little room for the kind of chaos that was about to unfold.

On the par-4 12th hole, Knecht hit a tee shot that went significantly offline. That happens. He did the responsible thing and immediately hit a provisional ball, as the rules require when there is a reasonable chance the first shot either left the course or is simply gone. His group searched the allotted three minutes, found nothing, and moved on toward the green with the provisional in play. Standard procedure so far.

Then a red pickup truck came rolling down the middle of the fairway with a freshly cracked windshield and a driver who had a pretty good idea who was responsible. That is when this round stopped being a golf story and started being something you would not believe if a buddy told it to you at a cookout.

A Pickup Truck on the Fairway Is Not Covered in Most Rules of Golf Discussions

According to reporting by Ryan French at MondayQ, a site that does excellent work covering the side of golf most people never see, including amateur tournaments, qualifying events, and the grind of Monday Q tour hopefuls, the truck pulled up and stopped roughly 10 to 15 yards short of the group. The driver was understandably not pleased about a shattered windshield on what was presumably a perfectly normal Tuesday morning until a golf ball introduced itself to the glass at high velocity.

Here is where the story gets genuinely interesting from a golf etiquette and rules standpoint. Not one person in the group, not Knecht's playing partners, not the caddies, and not the rules officials who were present on the hole, gave up Knecht's identity during the confrontation. In competitive golf, that kind of quiet solidarity among a group is notable. The situation eventually resolved itself when the truck driver headed back up toward the clubhouse to pursue whatever comes next after a golf ball destroys your windshield. Knecht, meanwhile, was left to finish out the hole.

He carded a triple bogey. Given the circumstances, that almost seems understandable. A cracked windshield and a face-off in the middle of a fairway is not exactly the mental environment that produces clean iron play into a green.

What Exactly Is a Golfer Liable For When a Shot Damages a Vehicle?

This is a question any golfer with any distance at all should think about seriously. Under long-standing golf tradition and, in many cases, actual legal precedent, golfers are generally not liable for errant shots when they have given adequate warning such as shouting "fore" and are playing within the normal conduct of the game.

Course liability signage and local rules often address this, and many courses post notices informing visitors that they assume some risk from errant shots. That said, every situation is different, local laws vary, and anyone who has ever put a ball through a windshield or a window knows that "not legally liable" and "this situation being over" are two very different things.

The practical reality is that most golfers in that position do the right thing and work it out with the affected party. What became of Knecht's windshield situation after the round, the reporting does not say.

One Hole Later, the Golf Gods Apparently Felt They Owed Him One

After wrapping up the 12th hole with a scorecard that now had a 7 on it, Knecht's group moved to the 13th tee. It was a 143-yard par-3. Knecht, the last to hit in the group, struck a shot that tracked directly at the flagstick, took a single hop, and disappeared into the cup. A hole-in-one. On the hole immediately following a triple bogey, a windshield confrontation, and what had to be an emotionally disorienting few minutes on a golf course.

Holes-in-one are genuinely rare. Estimates suggest that for the average amateur golfer, the odds of making an ace on any given par-3 are somewhere in the range of 12,500 to 1. For skilled amateurs competing in USGA qualifiers, those odds improve considerably, but it is still an uncommon event in anyone's career, let alone one that happens to land on the hole right after one of the stranger scenes in recent amateur golf memory.

Knecht finished the round at five over par, a 76 total, which was not enough to advance to the U.S. Senior Open. The scorecard, however, contained both a 1 and a 7 on consecutive holes, which is a combination most golfers will never see in any context, let alone back to back during a USGA qualifying event. He did not make it to the tournament, but he walked away with a story that will outlast any result a qualifying round could have produced.

Unfortunately, local authorities have not released any images of the culprit. When agencies provide limited details, we supplement reporting with local news coverage, public records, and direct outreach whenever possible. In this case, no additional information was available at the time of publication.

Most homeowners worry about things like a leaky roof or an overgrown lawn. Krista Cantafio has a different problem entirely: her front yard has become an unscheduled parking lot for out-of-control vehicles. Eight times in two years, cars have left Kenwood Avenue and ended up on her property near the intersection with Wilkens Avenue in Catonsville, Maryland. That is not a typo.

The culprit, according to Cantafio, is a sharp curve on Kenwood Avenue that drivers consistently misjudge, particularly at speed. The results have been costly in more ways than one. She has lost mailboxes, watched her flowers and bushes get destroyed, and seen trees knocked over by vehicles that had no business being in her yard. The financial damage runs into the thousands of dollars, covered piecemeal through claims filed against drivers' insurance policies.

Beyond the property damage, there is a very real personal safety dimension to this story. Cantafio says she no longer lets her 11-year-old daughter go out to get the mail alone. She does it herself, and she stays alert while doing it. A parent having to treat her own front walkway like a pedestrian crossing on a busy highway is, frankly, not how residential life is supposed to work.

She has been anything but passive. Cantafio has contacted the Baltimore County Executive's Office, the county's Engineering Department, and even reached out to U.S. Congressman Kweisi Mfume seeking intervention. The efforts have produced some results, though not yet enough to fully solve the problem. What her case illustrates is a frustrating and familiar dynamic: a resident with a documented, recurring hazard fighting through layers of government bureaucracy to get something fixed before someone gets seriously hurt.

What the County Has Done So Far

Baltimore County is not entirely without a response record here. Following earlier outreach, the Department of Public Works and Transportation conducted a traffic safety evaluation of Kenwood Avenue. In June 2025, the county installed new pavement markings and refreshed rumble strips roughly 150 feet south of Oglethorpe Road. Workers also added what are called "puppy tracks," short dashed pavement markings designed to guide drivers through intersections more intuitively.

Congressman Mfume's office was credited with helping get those rumble strips installed. However, the most recent crash on Cantafio's property happened on May 12, 2026, nearly a year after those measures went in. That single fact speaks volumes about how much work remains.

What Cantafio Is Asking For Now

She is not making outlandish demands. Cantafio has asked for speed bumps, a raised curb, or possibly a guardrail. She acknowledges she is not a traffic engineer and does not know the ideal technical solution. What she is asking for, quite reasonably, is for someone with actual expertise to take the situation seriously and come up with something that works.

"I think we need some speed bumps. I think maybe my curb needs to be built up, something that's going to stop, maybe a guard rail. I don't know what the solution is, but I want someone to really seriously look into it," she said.

She has also been called to court twice as a witness in crash-related legal proceedings, with a third summons already on the way. At this point, dealing with the aftermath of other people's driving mistakes has become a part-time obligation.

Baltimore County's Next Steps

To its credit, Baltimore County has not gone silent. Following media inquiries, Ron Snyder, spokesperson for the Department of Public Works and Transportation, confirmed that the county will now conduct a new, more thorough traffic safety assessment of the area. That evaluation is expected to take four to six weeks and will include a full review of crash history, traffic volumes, and speed data along Kenwood Avenue. Once complete, the county has committed to following up directly with Cantafio to discuss potential next steps.

It is worth noting that Baltimore County does have a formal Traffic Calming Program through which residents can request measures such as speed humps or traffic circles. The process involves an eight to twelve week data collection period, followed by a community petition before any devices are approved and installed. Funding availability then determines the timeline. For a homeowner who has already been dealing with this for two full years, that process likely sounds like a long road. But having the county commit to a new assessment is at least a concrete development.

A Broader Problem That Transcends One Yard

Cantafio's situation is a specific and dramatic example of a problem that plays out in neighborhoods across the country. Tight residential curves without adequate traffic control infrastructure regularly produce crashes, particularly as vehicle speeds have trended upward over the past decade.

Studies from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have consistently shown that road geometry plays a significant role in crash frequency, and that relatively low-cost interventions like raised medians, rumble strips, and curve warning signage can meaningfully reduce incidents when properly implemented.

The challenge is that local governments are often slow to act until the data accumulates or a serious injury occurs. Cantafio's yard has now generated eight documented incidents and the attention of local media, a congressional office, and the county engineering department. If that level of evidence is not enough to produce a durable fix, the system has a problem that goes beyond one street in Catonsville.

She says she loves her house and her neighborhood. She is not looking to move. She just wants to be able to walk to her own mailbox without checking her six first.

Getting a car stolen once is a nightmare. Getting it stolen twice in less than a week, with the second theft happening right off a dealership's property in broad daylight, is the kind of story that makes even seasoned gearheads stop and shake their heads. That is exactly what happened to the Arnett family of Maryland, and the whole ordeal has a few uncomfortable layers worth unpacking.

Mimi Arnett purchased a 2023 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 as a graduation gift for her son, who had just completed his third graduate degree at the University of Maryland. It was not just any car, either. The ZL1 sits at the top of the Camaro lineup, carrying a supercharged 6.2-liter LT4 V8 engine good for 650 horsepower. With a sticker price in the neighborhood of $80,000, it is a serious piece of American muscle that represents real sacrifice and real sentiment. The fact that this car had personal meaning beyond the dollar amount makes what followed that much harder to stomach.

On Memorial Day, the Camaro was stolen from the family's neighborhood in Beltsville, Maryland. NBC Washington ran the story, and in what felt like a rare win, the car turned up abandoned on a street in Adelphi the very next day. It was processed for evidence at a police lot, and by May 27, it was towed over to the AutoNation dealership in Laurel, where Arnett had originally bought it, for a routine inspection. Most people would have exhaled at this point and called it a close call.

They would have been wrong to relax. Just two days after the Camaro arrived at the dealership, Arnett received a call from an AutoNation employee asking where the car was. It was gone again, this time taken directly off the lot while staff apparently watched, assuming it was a technician pulling the vehicle into the garage. Nobody stopped it. Nobody questioned it. The car simply drove away.

The ZL1 Is a High-Value Target, and Thieves Know It

The Camaro ZL1 is not a car that blends into the background. With its aggressive hood vents, wide-body stance, and unmistakable exhaust note, it draws attention everywhere it goes. That visibility cuts both ways. For enthusiasts, it is part of the appeal. For organized theft rings, it is a beacon.

High-performance American muscle cars have seen a notable uptick in targeted theft over the past several years. The combination of powerful engines, broad aftermarket demand for parts, and key relay vulnerabilities in modern keyless entry systems has made vehicles like the ZL1 increasingly attractive to professional thieves. The fact that this particular car was stolen twice, and that the second theft appeared coordinated and deliberate, strongly suggests this was not a crime of opportunity.

A Dealership Lot Offered Zero Protection

This is where the story gets genuinely frustrating for anyone who has ever trusted a service department with their vehicle. Arnett said that an employee at AutoNation told her a man walked onto the lot, got into the Camaro, and drove it away. A staff member reportedly saw it happen and assumed it was a technician. No one intervened.

Dealership lots are not fortresses, and nobody is pretending they should be. But a car that arrived under documented circumstances, connected to an active theft investigation, simply vanishing after an employee watched someone drive it off raises real questions about protocol. AutoNation was not available to comment when NBC Washington came looking for answers, which is not a great look.

For car owners, this is a sobering reminder that handing your vehicle over for service does not automatically mean it is protected. Asking about lot security, requesting written documentation of where your vehicle will be parked, and confirming your car is covered under the dealer's garage liability policy are not paranoid steps. They are reasonable ones.

The Family Is Done With the Car, Even If It Comes Back

Arnett was candid about where things stand now. Even if the Camaro is recovered a second time, she does not want her son driving it anymore. Her reasoning is straightforward: whoever is targeting this car has shown they will go to considerable lengths to get it, including walking onto a commercial dealership property in the middle of the day. That kind of persistence makes the car a liability, not a gift.

It is a genuinely sad conclusion to what was supposed to be a celebratory moment. Three graduate degrees from a major university is not a small accomplishment, and the Camaro ZL1 was clearly chosen with that achievement in mind. Instead of celebrating, the family is now dealing with police reports, insurance claims, and the emotional weight of feeling singled out.

Arnett filed a report with Laurel police, and the case remains open.

What This Says About Car Theft in 2026

The Arnett case is not an isolated incident. Vehicle theft in the United States has remained stubbornly elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels, and high-value performance cars are disproportionately represented in those numbers. Thieves have also grown more sophisticated, using signal amplifiers to clone key fob signals, accessing OBD ports to reprogram immobilizers, and in some cases simply towing vehicles outright.

For owners of desirable cars, the old advice still applies: steering wheel locks remain a cheap and effective visual deterrent, GPS trackers provide recovery options after the fact, and keeping a low profile on social media about a new vehicle purchase is worth considering. The Camaro ZL1 is among the final model year examples of a nameplate that ended production in 2024, which means its collector appeal will only grow over time. That is one more reason to take its security seriously from day one.

The Arnett family is hoping law enforcement can track down the car and the people responsible. After everything they have been through in a single week, that seems like the very least that could happen.

With the advent of artificial intelligence and robotics, robot dogs are being increasingly used worldwide for security purposes. Now, they are set to be deployed at FIFA World Cup venues in cities such as Dallas.

Hyundai-backed company Boston Dynamics has developed the robot dog that will play a key role in hazardous materials investigations.

However, rumors recently spread on social media that the four-legged robots would be used for facial scanning of fans attending the matches.

News spread that 'face-scanning robots' were being used in Dallas to verify the identities of World Cup ticket holders.

As a result, privacy concerns were raised by many on various platforms, prompting Boston Dynamics to clarify the role these robots would perform during the World Cup.

Boston Dynamics Responds to Social Media Rumor

According to Dallas Express, the robot dogs, known as Spot robots, have been introduced as part of the security preparations for the FIFA World Cup events in North Texas.

They were featured in a video on social media that raises privacy concerns surrounding their alleged facial recognition capabilities. However, Boston Dynamics specified the roles the Spot robots will be performing at World Cup venues. It told WFAA:

“Boston Dynamics’ Spot robots are being deployed at designated World Cup venues to perform perimeter security inspections and will be used to assist security personnel with investigating things like suspicious packages or other potentially hazardous materials. The robots do not have facial recognition capabilities."

FIFA also released a similar statement. It reads:

"FIFA is proud of its official robotics partner Hyundai and their collaboration with Boston Dynamics for the deployment of advanced technology to enhance safety and security during the World Cup.

"Specifically, robotic patrol dogs are being used for asset protection at the IBC and NYNJ Stadium to identify and report physical security threats and risks for further human intervention."

This is not the first time robots are being deployed for sporting events. They have been used during professional football games in Atlanta and cricket matches in England.

Agencies in Mexico are using robotic canines for the World Cup events. Their role is to relay live video feeds from potentially dangerous areas to security officials.

Dallas Police Received a $51.5 Million Grant for World Cup Security Operations

Preparations for the World Cup are in full swing around important venues, such as the AT&T Stadium in Arlington and the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, which is the World Cup's International Broadcast Center.

To ramp up security for the World Cup, the Dallas Police Department received a $51.5 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in March.

The department spent $22 million on security personnel costs, which include "salaries and overtime for officers assigned to critical operations."

Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux confirmed that the department received $10 million for drone mitigation technology and $1.3 million for equipment, which includes $880,000 for additional cameras, $258,000 for portable anti-ramming barricades, $67,000 for two Polaris Ranger vehicles, and $72,000 for police vehicles to be used during the tournament.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott acknowledged that large-scale sporting events such as the World Cup often demand more resources. He said:

“Whenever we have these large events like the FIFA Cup, as well as we did this when Super Bowls took place at the Dallas Cowboy Football Stadium, we have a surge of resources at all levels."

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Ferrari Enzo is one of the most coveted and valuable supercars that the Italian automaker has ever produced. With fewer than 400 made in total, it is also one of the rarest, and it's no surprise to see that they can fetch big money on the second-hand market.

In fact, a quick glance at the classifieds shows us that none have sold in recent times for less than $7.7 million. That gives you an idea of just how sought-after these supercars are. In May 2026, another example of the Ferrari icon made the headlines.

A stunning 2003 Ferrari Enzo, in a one-off color combination, sold for over $10 million, further highlighting the car's desirability. This particular car was the only one ever made to carry this exterior color with a specific interior color, hence the huge asking price for the Enzo.

The car sold at the recent Mecum Auctions event in Indianapolis, and with just over 3,000 miles on the clock, this Ferrari was virtually brand new. But it wasn't just the color that made this particular Maranello monster such a tempting purchase.

Why the Ferrari Enzo Sold for Over $10 Million

The main selling point for this particular Enzo was the paint. More specifically, the exterior paint plus the interior color. It is one of just six Enzos painted in Grigio Titanio, code 3238 140. However, of those six, it is the only one to have a Pelle Rosso code 112806 interior as well.

This truly is a one-off, and while that term is perhaps overused, it is perfectly valid for this particular Ferrari. This car also featured in Winston Goodfellow's Ferrari Hypercars: The Inside Story of Maranello's Fastest, Rarest Road Cars on pages 207-209, showcasing its rarity and unique color combination.

The Mecum Auctions listing states the car has done just 3,027 miles in total, meaning it is basically a brand-new Enzo. With a 6.0-liter DOHC V12 engine under the hood producing 651hp, the Enzo has the speed to match its looks. Mechanically, it is perfect, and it comes with a fully documented history as well. It even comes with a Ferrari Classiche Red Book, a sign of authenticity and its desirability.

Why This Ferrari Was Ordered in This Color

According to Mecum, the car was ordered by Ferrari 250 GTO owner and Ferrari S.p.A. VIP client, Chip Connor. Connor wanted something truly unique, and he certainly got it with the Grigio Titanio and Pelle Rosso combination. The car was built on April 30th, 2004, assembly number 52895 with serial number 135872. Connor took delivery of the car at the Maranello factory, with the car on Italian Touring plates.

Connor ensured the car was well protected, with PPF on the front bumper as well as the wheel well arches. It has the same six-speed automatic transmission as every other Enzo, and the supercar has a fearsome top speed of 218mph. Mecum expected it to sell for a high price, and it certainly did that, with the highest bidder claiming the car for $10.2 million. Yet amazingly, with some Enzos reaching nearly $20 million, that is a comparative bargain for this particular supercar.

A Colorado woman's ordinary morning commute became anything but after a fast-moving hail storm and flash flooding turned city streets into something resembling a river, and the officers who waded in to get her out are now getting well-deserved attention for it.

It happened near 6th Avenue and Sable Boulevard in Aurora, Colorado, where the driver made a mistake that thousands of motorists make every single year: she didn't realize how deep the water on the road ahead actually was, and she drove into it. What looked like a passable stretch of flooded street was enough to swallow her vehicle and strand her inside. Fortunately, Aurora Police Department officers were already in the area responding to storm-related emergencies when the situation unfolded.

Photos shared by the Aurora PD on Facebook show officers wading through the murky, fast-moving water to physically carry the woman out of her car. She was unharmed. Officers then went a step further and gave her a ride home, a small but decent touch after what had already been a rough morning. The department posted the images with a straightforward message about floodwater safety, and the story quickly gained traction online.

It's an easy moment to scroll past, but there's a real and important lesson buried in the photos: floodwaters are one of the most consistently underestimated hazards on the road. The National Weather Service has long pushed its "Turn Around, Don't Drown" campaign for a reason. Drivers who misjudge water depth on roadways account for a significant number of flood-related fatalities every year across the country, and the problem tends to spike precisely in areas where sudden, severe storms are common, like Colorado's Front Range.

Why Flooded Roads Are So Deceptive

The core problem isn't recklessness. Most drivers who end up in flooded roadways weren't being careless on purpose. The issue is that standing or moving water on pavement is genuinely hard to judge from behind the windshield. A road that appears to have a few inches of water covering it can easily have a foot or more in the lowest point of a dip, and just 12 inches of moving water is enough to carry away a small car. Two feet can float most full-size trucks and SUVs. Even experienced drivers frequently misjudge this because there's almost no visible reference point from a driver's seat.

Add in the conditions Aurora dealt with that day, including hail and rapidly changing weather, and it gets harder still. Hail can obscure visibility, gutters overflow faster than drivers expect, and in urban environments water tends to pool and funnel in ways that aren't intuitive unless you know the area extremely well. The intersection at 6th and Sable is no backwoods two-track. It's a regular city street that became hazardous in a matter of minutes.

"Turn Around, Don't Drown" Is Worth Taking Seriously

The advice has been around long enough that it almost starts to sound like background noise, but the numbers behind it are not trivial. According to the National Weather Service, more than half of all flood-related drowning deaths in the United States involve vehicles. The campaign exists specifically because the human instinct to push through rather than backtrack has repeatedly proven fatal.

The rule of thumb is straightforward: if water is covering a road and you cannot clearly see the pavement surface beneath it, find another route. It doesn't matter if the car in front of you made it through. Road surfaces in flood conditions can be washed out entirely without any visible sign from above the water. Bridges and low-water crossings fail. Drainage covers get swept away. The road you're about to drive onto may not be structurally what it was twenty minutes ago.

Aurora PD's Response Reflects Well on the Department

It's worth noting that beyond the rescue itself, the Aurora Police Department's handling of this moment, both in real time and in how they communicated about it publicly, was measured and professional. The post wasn't self-congratulatory. It didn't oversell what happened. Officers got a woman out of a dangerous situation, made sure she was okay, drove her home, and then used the moment to pass along a practical safety reminder to the community they serve. That's exactly how public safety communication should work.

The image of uniformed officers knee-deep in floodwater carrying someone to safety is also a useful corrective to the kind of cynicism that tends to dominate online conversations about law enforcement. Whatever anyone's broader opinions are on that subject, this is what good, basic police work looks like.

What Drivers Should Know Before Storm Season Peaks

Summer storm season on the Front Range is far from over. Colorado's Front Range sits in a geography that makes it prone to fast-moving afternoon and evening thunderstorms, some of which can drop substantial rain in a very short window. Urban and suburban streets in the Denver metro area, including Aurora, can flood quickly because of how drainage infrastructure handles those rapid surges.

If you're driving during or after a significant storm, slow down around underpasses, low-lying intersections, and any area near drainage channels or retention infrastructure. Water can reach those areas well before it becomes visible from a distance. Keep an eye on local alerts, and if a road is closed due to flooding, it's closed for a reason. The detour adds minutes. Driving into floodwater can cost significantly more than that.

Shopping for new tires for our cars isn't cheap, and it can sometimes be a nightmare because of the sheer number of tire brands available. Sometimes buying used tires can actually save you money, but as one man found out, that can sometimes lead to tire shaking, in a story recounted by a tire salesperson on TikTok.

TikTok user Tire Princess (@tireprincess) explained she recently sold a customer 'four run-flat tires' at a size of 20 inches, costing $600, for the customer's BMW. The tires in question were an even mix of Pirelli and Michelin rubber, and it seemed like a very good deal.

But just a few days after the tires had been installed on the car, the man called up the shop to say his car was shaking badly and it was horrible to drive. Clearly, something wasn't right. So the tire shop owner invited the customer back to find out what was going on.

As it turned out, the saga went on for longer than the Tire Princess could ever have expected. Thankfully, her TikTok video does a great job of breaking down everything that happened.

This Is What Happened With the 'Run-Flat' Tires

@tireprincess Everybody wants cheap used tires until you’re the one standing behind your work 👏🏼 Tires ended up bad, so instead of excuses I put brand new ones on for the same price. That’s the difference between just making a sale and actually caring about your customers. 💯 #UsedTires #customerservice #tireshop #mechanictok #smallbusinessowner ♬ original sound - Tire Princess

According to the Tire Princess, the customer came in and bought two Pirelli and two Michelin tires for his BMW, each one in the size of 20 inches. Not long after they had been installed, the tire shop owner had a call from the customer, telling her that his car would not stop shaking. So the Tire Princess called him back in to see what was wrong.

This is when the story got interesting. “When he gets here, I said, ‘Balance the front two and don't leave until I check inside your car, because BMWs need to, like, calibrate everything, and I changed the size,’” she said. However, despite this, the BMW's owner simply got in his car and left.

So it perhaps wasn't a surprise to then receive another call from the customer saying that the car was still shaking. It came back in again, and as it turned out, two of the tires had separated. With that problem now evident, the Tire Princess offered two Lexani tires to the customer, free of charge, to replace the ones that had been destroyed. "They're a harder rubber than Continental. So, the Lexani run-flat will take a whole lot longer to run than the Pirellis," said the Tire Princess.

This Is What a Run-Flat Tire Is

The term 'run-flat' tire might not be something that everyone has come across before. A run-flat tire is one that has reinforced sidewalls, and these support a car for a short period of time after the tire has lost pressure. If you have a run-flat, you can usually drive around 50 miles, at around 50mph, before you need to change the tire. So if this happens not far from home, you can still get back without needing to stop.

Based on what the TikTok video showed us, it appeared these tires had come apart internally. The layers within the tire had simply come apart, perhaps due to the fact that these particular tires were not brand new. Mixing tire brands isn't always advisable either; however, to save money, sometimes it's the only thing you can do, as we saw with this BMW owner.

Buying Used Tires Does Come With Risks

Buying used tires, however, comes with more risks than if you just bought a mixed set of new tires. Some used tires are excellent, and you can get plenty of years out of some of them. But you have to really trust the description of them, and it is highly unlikely that these tires will come with a warranty of any kind. So, perhaps the best thing to do is simply save a bit more money from work and go out and get new tires.

A silver Tesla Cybertruck ended up on the back of a tow truck after being parked in a disabled parking space outside a Walgreens shopping plaza. The circumstances of the incident sparked backlash across X and reignited debate over handicapped parking enforcement in the United States.

The story surfaced through an X post published by user @Kinza1278 on May 31, 2026. The account claimed the driver had stepped into the store for less than 10 minutes to pick up a prescription before returning to find the Cybertruck already being hauled away.

Photos attached to the post showed the stainless-steel pickup positioned on a flatbed tow truck beside a blue handicapped parking space. Walgreens signage and storefronts were visible in the background, placing the scene in what appeared to be a strip mall parking lot somewhere in the U.S.

The post claimed the tow resulted in a bill of around $750. While the exact location and date of the incident remain unverified, the upload itself began circulating widely on May 31 and generated thousands of reactions from users debating whether the punishment fit the violation.

Cybertruck Towed From Disabled Parking Space

The image shared online showed the Tesla Cybertruck partially loaded onto a flatbed while parked beside painted wheelchair markings on the pavement. No disabled permit or handicapped license plate could be seen in the photo.

According to the X post, the driver believed the stop would only last a few minutes because they were picking up medication from the pharmacy. The account acknowledged that disabled parking spaces exist for accessibility needs but argued the response from the towing company was excessive given the short amount of time involved.

Many replies disagreed with that position. Users pointed out that handicapped parking laws in most American jurisdictions do not include exceptions for short visits, even when drivers claim they will only be inside for a moment.

Several commenters argued that towing companies and property owners often treat disabled parking violations more aggressively than ordinary parking infractions because of liability concerns and accessibility requirements tied to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Debate Over How the Tow Happened

One detail that drew attention online was the speed of the alleged tow. The original post suggested the Cybertruck was already being loaded onto the truck less than 10 minutes after the driver entered the store.

That timeline led many users to question whether the story was genuine. Some speculated that store employees, parking enforcement contractors, or another customer may have reported the vehicle immediately after noticing it parked in the marked space.

Others questioned whether the event may have been staged for engagement. Critics noted that the account posting the story appeared to focus heavily on viral content and internet riddles rather than personal experiences.

There was also skepticism surrounding the account’s apparent location. Multiple users pointed out that the profile appeared linked to Pakistan, despite the incident allegedly taking place in the United States.

To the person who reported my car and got it towed while I was inside the store for less than ten minutes… was that really necessary? I ran in to pick up a prescription, came back out, and my vehicle was literally already being hauled onto a tow truck. Less than ten minutes.… pic.twitter.com/Vwdu9eXW0e

— Kinza (@Kinza1278) May 31, 2026

No independent police report, ticket documentation, or local news coverage connected to the tow had surfaced as of June 1, 2026. That left much of the story dependent on the original social media claims and the attached images.

Online Reaction Turns Into Parking Debate

Despite uncertainty surrounding the details, the post triggered discussion about parking enforcement and public attitudes toward disabled parking spaces. Many commenters argued that the driver deserved the consequences regardless of how long the vehicle remained there.

Others said the towing fee seemed disproportionate, especially if the vehicle had only been left unattended for a few minutes. The Cybertruck itself also became part of the conversation.

Some users mocked the vehicle’s design while others used the situation to criticize Tesla owners and what they described as entitlement associated with expensive vehicles. The post eventually evolved into one of the internet’s familiar parking morality tales.

Whether authentic or staged, the image of a Cybertruck being removed from a handicapped parking space proved enough to ignite arguments over accessibility, towing practices, and driver behavior across social media.

Canadian police have recovered 40 stolen vehicles worth more than $3 million CAD after an investigation that traced shipments from Ontario to ports across several countries, including Ghana. The case has drawn attention to the scale of vehicle theft operations linked to shipping networks and overseas markets.

According to reporting from Road & Track, the operation was carried out under an initiative known as Project Starter. The investigation was led by the Barrie Police Service and South Simcoe Police Service in Ontario.

Police said the investigation lasted three months and focused on vehicles reported stolen across Ontario. Officers tracked several of the vehicles to shipping containers located in the Greater Toronto Area and in Montreal before uncovering additional shipments that had already reached ports overseas.

Authorities said the recovered vehicles carried an estimated value of more than $2.17 million USD. Images released by police showed rows of recovered SUVs, pickup trucks, and luxury vehicles packed inside containers and storage facilities.

Police Trace Stolen Vehicles Across Multiple Countries

Investigators said 19 stolen vehicles were located inside shipping containers in Canada. Those containers were found in Montreal and in the Toronto region before they could leave the country.

Police later discovered that another 21 vehicles had already been shipped overseas. Authorities tracked those vehicles to ports in countries including the Bahamas, Spain, and Ghana.

The international scope of the investigation highlighted the role of shipping ports in vehicle theft cases involving organized networks. Police said the stolen vehicles had been moved through transport channels that connected local theft operations in Ontario to buyers and receivers in foreign markets.

The investigation led officers to several vehicle types that are commonly targeted in theft cases across Canada. Police recovered Honda CR-V crossovers, Ford F-150 pickup trucks, Toyota Tundras, Lexus RX SUVs, Acura SUVs, and Ram trucks.

One Lamborghini was also recovered during the operation. Images shared by police showed the luxury vehicle parked alongside several SUVs and trucks inside a warehouse.

Arrest Made After Three-Month Investigation

Authorities said a 31-year-old man was arrested on April 24 in connection with the investigation. Police did not release the suspect’s identity at the time of the announcement.

The suspect faces charges including trafficking property obtained by crime and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000. Police have not announced whether additional arrests are expected as the investigation continues.

Barrie Police said all of the recovered vehicles had originally been reported stolen from different parts of Ontario. Investigators worked with shipping and border agencies during the operation to identify and locate the missing vehicles before and after export.

Law enforcement agencies in Canada have spent the past several years dealing with increases in vehicle theft cases involving SUVs and pickup trucks. Many of those vehicles are shipped overseas through ports in Eastern Canada before authorities can intercept them.

Canadian officials have previously stated that organized theft groups target vehicles with high resale demand in international markets. Pickup trucks, SUVs, and luxury vehicles are often among the most sought-after models.

Insurance Companies To Handle Vehicle Returns

Police said the recovered vehicles will now be transferred to insurance companies. Those companies will oversee the process of returning the vehicles to Canada and reconnecting them with owners.

Authorities also said vehicle owners are being notified that their vehicles have been located. Some of the recovered vehicles were found before leaving Canada, while others traveled thousands of miles before being intercepted overseas.

The case has drawn attention because of the number of vehicles recovered and the range of countries connected to the shipments. It also exposed how theft operations can move stolen vehicles across borders through shipping containers before owners realize where the vehicles have gone.

The original report was published by Road & Track using information and images released by the Barrie Police Service and South Simcoe Police Service in Ontario.

A South Carolina driver has been charged with a DUI causing great bodily injury after his SUV crossed multiple lanes of the Gervais Street bridge in Columbia on Sunday night and struck a pedestrian on the sidewalk. The impact did not end with the strike. The pedestrian was carried along the bridge railing and went over the side.

According to the Columbia Police Department, the SUV had been heading west across the bridge when it struck a curb. The vehicle crossed multiple lanes of traffic before mounting the sidewalk area. That is where it met the pedestrian.

The pedestrian sustained serious injuries from the impact and the fall. Though they were not identified to the public, they were given medical treatment at the scene before being taken to a hospital. As of Monday, they still remain in the hospital being cared for.

The driver, identified by police as William Joseph Livingston, 30, was arrested after officers reported signs of impairment. He's now been charged with driving under the influence resulting in great bodily injury. As a result, he's been held on a $1 million bond, which you'll recognize is a high amount for what is typically a DUI case.

What Happened According to the Police

According to the Columbia Police Department, the crash occurred at about 7:45 p.m. on Sunday, May 31, on the Gervais Street bridge, which carries traffic across the Congaree River. A preliminary investigation found that an SUV driven by William Joseph Livingston, 30, had been traveling west across the bridge when it struck a curb, crossed multiple lanes of traffic, and went into a sidewalk area on the bridge. A pedestrian was on the sidewalk when the SUV reached it.

The SUV struck the pedestrian on the sidewalk, according to the agency. The impact caused the pedestrian to be carried along the bridge railing before being thrown over the side, the department said. The victim landed on the riverbank under the bridge.

They were given medical treatment at the scene and then transported to a hospital, where they remained under medical care as of Monday, police said. The pedestrian has not been publicly identified.

The Arrest

Officers at the scene reported observing signs of impairment in Livingston after the crash, according to the Columbia Police Department. He was arrested and has been charged with driving under the influence resulting in great bodily injury.

Typically, these high bond amounts are set when DUIs or other crashes ultimately end in a death or other bodily injury. That was the case with this driver and their actions. Should he need to be bailed out, he's going to have to put up that massive fine.