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Thursday, December 31, 2015

This Is How Volkswagen’s Diesel Emissions Cheat Works, According to ECU Hacker (Video)

Volkswagen's emissions cheating program closely follows a set of parameters that are very similar to those defined by the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), an engineer said this week. The cheat exists in the ECU's "main mode," said Felix Domke, and triggers a normal dosage of urea and other exhaust controls to bring NOx emissions to […]

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Aging Punx! Re-Live Your Fumbling Youth with this 1960 Valiant!

The mighty Road Toad! In the 1990s, Mopar A-bodies were a staple mode of transport in the Bay Area punk scene. Cheap-as-free, largely unrusted under the California sun, simple to work on, and boasting oodles of cred owing to a mention in the Circle Jerks' cover of "Wild in the Streets": "Got a '64 Valiant, a handful of Valium, a couple of beers really do me right." And really, what more did a misanthropic Gen-X'er need at that stage of his or her life?

The Valiant was the first unibody Chrysler product of the modern era. It made extensive use of aluminum, including the case for the TorqueFlite A904 automatic transmission. In 1961, 1962, and into '63, its Slant Six engine was even available with an aluminum block. In fact, standing as the first application of that storied engine might be the Valiant's most important contribution to Chrysler history. The Leaning Tower of Power was originally designed to be cast of the lightweight, nonferrous material, leaving it somewhat overbuilt when cast in iron.

This one, however, isn't exactly cheap, carrying an eBay Buy It Now price of $11,500. It's a '60 Valiant V200, from the sole year that Valiant existed as a standalone brand before being absorbed into the Plymouth lineup. For 1962, the Valiant abandoned its cateye taillights for round units mounted below the tailfins. In 1963, it, along with the newly-downsized Dart, saw a restyle that put it more in line with the slab-sided look of its mid-Sixties competition, the Chevy II and Ford Falcon.

As a V200, this example is the fanciest Valiant sold in its debut year. According to the seller, it's equipped with an automatic transmission, power brakes, and air conditioning, and comes will all the parts to convert the little A-body to power steering. His reason for selling? His old bones are making it troublesome to get into the old girl. Perhaps some enterprising punker who made a few bucks in tech might buy it and motor down to Oakland's Ruby Room for a beverage, and mutter about Neurosis. And neuroses. That's the way nostalgia works, right?

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Here Are Free Rides For New Year’s Eve

It's New Year's Eve, which means I'm terrified of getting on the roads past 6 p.m. and many law enforcement agencies will be on the streets en masse to bust motorists who've had a tee many martoonies. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, fatal traffic crashes involving alcohol spike in December around the […]

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Car and Driver’s Auto Executives of the Year

It can be oversimplifying things to blame an automaker's top executives when a company flounders—or to lavish praise on them when the good times roll. The five executives recognized here, however, all stood out on individual merit for their leadership and poise in 2015. They work for companies large and small, independent and subordinate, but they all share the ability to foster innovation and change, and to recognize when taking calculated risks can be healthy—and necessary—for a company's growth. These individuals will be the first to tell you that their accomplishments couldn't happen without the support of the hundreds and even thousands of men and women who work beneath them, but there's no denying that these industry leaders were highly effective at steering their companies in the right direction and—perhaps most important—creating great, soul-stirring cars that we love. These are our auto executives of the year for 2015. READ MORE ››

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Sketchy: Mercedes-Benz Teases the New 2017 E-class

"Emotional design and intelligent high-tech perfectly embody the Mercedes-Benz design philosophy of Sensual Purity," Mercedes gushes on various social media channels today, with the release of this sketch. The car to which they are referring is, of course, the next-generation E-class, which will be fully unveiled at the Detroit auto show in less than two weeks.

The highly accurate teaser sketch by exterior design chief Robert Lesnik depicts the new E-class with its "sports grille" and large five-spoke wheels. Daimler also will offer a version of the E-class with the traditional "luxury grille," which gets an upright three-pointed star on the hood. The new E-class mirrors the styling of the C-class and the S-class, and the proportions work especially well on this executive sedan. The horizontal lower front air intakes add a sporty touch, the upper character line—referred to as the "catwalk line"—is supposed to underscore the vehicle's elegance.

2017 Mercedes-Benz E-class

Mercedes has already shown the interior of the new E-class (seen above), which features touchpad controls on the steering wheel and an available ultra-widescreen display composed of two 12.3-inch diagonal screens. We've also have driven a prototype of the E-class, during Benz engineers' testing in the Southwest.

2017 Mercedes-Benz E-class prototype

We expect that at launch the new E-class sedan will be offered as an E300, a E450 AMG Sport, and a Mercedes-AMG E63 S. A diesel and a plug-in hybrid will come later. The main competitors of the E-class include the Audi A6 and the BMW 5-series, both of which are due for replacement in the 2017 calendar year. But before that, Mercedes will roll out a new E-class station wagon, as well as a coupe and a convertible.

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Were You on the Original Cannonball Run?

A group of documentarians calling themselves RaceReporters/MotorReporters are attempting to piece together what happened during the Cannonball Runs between 1971 and 1979. Started by Brock Yates, who temporarily found himself at TTAC for a few short weeks, and Steve Baker of Car & Driver, the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash was born in secrecy and kept […]

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Stump-Puller to Tree-Hugger: My Power Stroke Diesel Bronco Now Runs on Biofuel

When I converted my '93 Bronco to a 7.3-liter Power Stroke diesel, one of my goals was to eventually run it on biofuel. Of course, that wasn't my main objective. Higher on the list were items like "get 500 pound-feet of torque" and "make loud turbo noises at all times." But yes, also: sneer down contemptuously at Prius drivers and their dirty war fuel. I'd probably need a bumper sticker so everyone would know how morally superior I am. Something to the effect of, "This looks like a 12-mpg Bronco, but it's actually got a diesel and furthermore it's running 100-percent biodiesel (B100), which the California Air Resources Board recently determined can reduce carbon emissions as much as 81 percent compared with petroleum." Unfortunately, I am physically incapable of applying a bumper sticker to my vehicle, on the grounds that bumper stickers correlate with mental frailty, megalomania, and probably poor personal hygiene. Perhaps sustainability and emissions weren't my priorities at the outset, but running a 7.3 in an open-top vehicle makes you intimately familiar with that engine's major shortcoming: It's a foul thing, a 444-cubic-inch industrial zone. One day, sitting at red light in a Mazda, my three-year-old in the back seat declares, "I smell a Bronco!" Sure enough, there's a '90s Power Stroke pickup on the opposite side of the intersection. Time to find some carbon-cutting, sweet-smelling biodiesel. READ MORE ››

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TTAC News Round-up: Pumped About Porsche; GM’s Going To Trial; And Diesel’s Dead, Baby

Man, people are really pumped about the cool, expensive cars they just bought. That nugget of wisdom, Russia's perpetual Cash for Clunkers program, VW's appeal to Colorado and Washington buyers and GM's knows what way the wind is blowing now … after the break! Consumer Reports insight: People love fun cars! Consumer Reports compiled its […]

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Jerry Seinfeld Puts President Obama Behind the Wheel of a ’63 Corvette Sting Ray [video]

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-We've already shown you the teaser for President Obama's appearance on Jerry Seinfeld's web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, but now the full episode is out. And yes, the Commander in Chief slides behind the wheel of that gorgeous '63 Corvette Sting Ray.

The full episode, which you can watch here, breaks with some of the traditions of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. First off, there isn't really much driving at all: Seinfeld and the President never leave the driveway of the White House, for obvious security reasons. And unlike other episodes, where Jerry and his guest visit some sort of quirky, offbeat, or otherwise trendy coffee shop, the former sitcom star and the leader of the free world go for their caffeine fix in the basement of the White House. You've never seen so many glamour shots of a Mr. Coffee drip brewer.

But the interview is engaging, and the topics of conversation are mostly humorous—though Mr. Obama does manage to cram a promotional message for Obamacare into the chat. And no matter your political views, there's something undeniably patriotic about the sight of a split-window Corvette posed regally in front of the White House.

Watch the full episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee right here.

This story originally appeared on Road & Track.

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