1953 Ford F100 302 Auto on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Just in time for the holidays, Snowkhana 3 is here

The gift list for the 12 Days of Christmas is frightfully heavy on birds, so surely no one will mind if we sub out the three French hens for Snowkhana 3. Ford of Europe is back with another stop-motion video that – like versions one and two – throws a 1:64-scale Ford Fiesta in Ken Block livery around a fabulous world of action figures and make believe. This year's video "drives rings around some of the biggest YouTube hits," so those of you who've lost years of your lives to the greatest distraction since the human navel can put your knowledge to use. For anyone else just catching up, we'll help you get rolling: the opening Snowkhana scene channels Stalking Cat. You'll find the rest of your holiday homework in the video.

2015 Ford F-150 brings big aluminum to the Rust Belt [w/video]

Just when you thought you'd figured the fullsize truck market out, Ford goes and throws us a massive curve ball with the 2015 F-150. The big headline news aren't tow or payload ratings, though we're sure those figures will be fully competitive if not class leading, they haven't yet been announced. Instead, the big headline news Ford is highlighting are the truck's new aluminum-intensive structure and 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 engine.
And with good reason - all that aluminum means that Ford was able to cut a massive 700 pounds from the truck's curb weight. That is going to cause all sorts of great things to happen to the 2015 F-150's driving dynamics, performance and fuel efficiency, not to mention its ability to haul heavy loads. For those customers worried about the strength of aluminum versus the more conventional steel, Ford is quick to point out that many military vehicles, such as the HMMWV and Bradley Fighting Vehicle, use a very similar sort of aluminum alloy in their construction.
It's also worth mentioning that the backbone, a fully boxed ladder frame, is hewn from high-strength steel. Ford says "2015 Ford F-150 is the strongest and most durable F-150 ever," for what it's worth, claiming that "torture tested" in labs and in the real world for more than 10 million miles. What's more, the truck, in disguised form, completed all 883 miles of the Baja 1000.

Highlights and standouts from the 2015 LA Auto Show

This year's LA Auto Show has been packed with interesting debuts and fascinating industry trends. The Autoblog team is on the scene to examine all the new metal, and Senior Editor Greg Migliore has some show highlights for us in the video above. In particular, the new Fiat 124 Spider and Honda Civic Coupe stand out as important debuts. The Fiat is based on the excellent Mazda Miata, with a turbocharged 1.4-liter engine and revised styling. The Civic Coupe is a striking redesign of an extremely popular and important model for the company. And the restyled Ford Escape looks more like its bigger brother, the Explorer. There's this an much more in our video above. Watch it and let us know what you think – and look for more LA Auto Show coverage coming soon.