2014 Chevrolet Traverse 1lt on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Forza Motorsport 6's new drivable Hot Wheels cars are the best

Each month, Turn 10 Studios releases a new car pack for the latest installment of its Forza Motorsport video game. Sometimes that means less-than-exciting stuff coming to our Xbox Ones – BMW X6M, bleh – but this time our inner seven-year-old is beyond ecstatic. Two of the seven cars are based on actual Hot Wheels models. And. They're. Awesome. First we have the 2011 Hot Wheels Bone Shaker. Yes, there are flames on the side. And yes, there's a giant skull where the grille should be. This one came from the imagination of "Mr. Hot Wheels" Larry Wood, whose design was so popular it inspired an actual real-world creation. Like all good things in this world, it's powered by a small-block Chevy V8. Oh, and it has no roof. This will be a popular one among gamers. The other digitized Hot Wheels creation is a 2005 Ford Mustang. A modest vehicle, sure, but the toy designers have festooned this pony car with a wild paint scheme and the body mods to emphasize it. Originally developed to celebrate the 'Stang's 50th birthday, this Hot Wheels car trades Americana for wild Japanese style. There's just one functioning life-size version of this car in existence as well, but if you look hard, you might be able to find one of the 1:64 scale models that inspired it. Other highlights from this month's car pack include the latest Ford Focus RS – finally time to replace that NASCAR-V8-powered, all-wheel-drive 2009 Focus RS – the 2015 McLaren P1 GTR, the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS, the aforementioned X6M, and Alain Prost's 1990 Ferrari 641 F1 car. The Hot Wheels Car Pack is available for download today. Related Video: Featured Gallery Forza Motorsport 6: Hot Wheels Car Pack News Source: Turn 10 Studios via YouTube Toys/Games BMW Chevrolet Ferrari Ford McLaren Racing Vehicles Performance video games Hot Wheels forza motorsport chevy camaro ss forza motorsport 6

Porsche, Jaguar continue dominance in 2015 JD Power APEAL study

The top of JD Power's 2015 APEAL Study has not changed much in the last year. Porsche remains No. 1 with Jaguar nipping at its heels, although both premium brands saw their overall score fall compared to 2014. For those that need a refresher, the APEAL Study looks at how "gratifying" a vehicle is to own and drive, rating cars and brands on a 1,000-point scale. The industry average for 2015 has increased from 794 to 798, while the total number of automakers that finished above the curve increased from 16 to 20. While Porsche and Jaguar finished at the top, their scores dropped eight and seven points, respectively, to 874 and 855. The top "non-premium" brand was Mini, which scored an impressive 825, up from 795. If the BMW-owned British marque is still a bit too premium for your tastes, last year's non-premium winner, Hyundai, did climb five points and is this year's runner up. At the opposite end of the scale, Smart sits at the very bottom of the rankings, with a score of 683 (it didn't appear on the 2014 rankings). Fiat also dropped, from fourth worst in 2014 to second worst in 2015, despite the 500 being named most appealing city car. Subaru made an impressive climb, from third worst to seventh, falling just 10 points shy of the industry average and two points south of the non-premium average. In the individual vehicle segments, eight brands earned multiple awards, with Ford, Chevrolet, and Porsche earning three apiece. Surprise segment victories included the new Ford Expedition, which beat out Chevy's popular Suburban. The Infiniti QX80 bested the likes of the Cadillac Escalade and Range Rover for best large luxury SUV, and the Dodge Challenger beat its muscle car rivals from Ford and Chevy. Most of the victories, though, were quite predictable. The Mazda6 and CX-5 took wins for the midsize sedan and compact SUV categories respectively, while the Volkswagen Golf captured the compact car win. The Ford F-150 won the large pickup category, while the Porsche Cayman was named most appealing compact premium sporty car. Check out the official release on the 2015 APEAL Study, available below, from JD Power. 2015 U.S. APEAL Study Results The latest safety-related technologies are among the drivers of customer satisfaction with new vehicles, according to the J.D. Power 2015 U.S.

General Motors CEO Provides Few Details In Appearance Before Congress

It was only two months ago that Mary Barra, freshly crowned as the new General Motors chief executive officer, visited Washington DC as an esteemed guest of First Lady Michelle Obama for the State of the Union address. On Tuesday, Barra returned to the Capitol under more strained circumstances. For more than two contentious hours, she took questions from members of a House of Representatives subcommittee investigating General Motors years-long delay in initiating a recall of millions of vehicles that contained a defect that has killed at least 13 people. Why did GM accept faulty ignition switches that were below the company's set specfications? Why did GM learn about the problem in 2001 yet take no action until 2014? Will GM compensate victims' families even though the company's bankruptcy may limit its liability? Those were a few of the questions members of the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee asked. Few concrete answers were forthcoming. For her part, Barra sidestepped most of the questions, saying she wouldn't have information needed to answer them until an internal review is completed. David Friedman, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, testified after Barra. The biggest news that emerged from the hearing was that General Motors has retained attorney Kenneth Feinberg to advise the company on its civil and legal responsibilities. He has made a career of resolving disputes and serving in a 'fixer' role, serving as the chief of the federal government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, as an administrator of compensation fund for victims of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and a similar fund for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Barra, who has been GM's CEO since January but been with the company since 1980, expects to meet with Feinberg on Friday, and have a concrete plan within the next 30-60 days. Yet Barra would not say for certain Tuesday that GM would compensate the victims at all. Despite repeated questions from Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Barra did not outline the company's intentions. "I assume GM is hiring (Feinberg) to help identify the size of claims and then compensate the victims? Is that right," DeGette asked. "Is GM willing to put together some kind of a compensation fund for these victims that Mr. Feinberg will then administer?" "We've hired him to help assess the situation," Barra replied. "So really, there's no money involved at this point," DeGette asked.