Hd Cab & Chassis Dually Flat Bed Vinyl Tow Hooks Hitch Mp3 Tool Box Steel Rims on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Consumer Reports no longer recommends Honda Civic

Consumer Reports annual Car Reliability Survey is out, and yes, there are some big surprises. First and foremost? The venerable publication no longer recommends the Honda Civic. In fact, aside from the walking-dead CR-Z and limited-release Clarity fuel-cell car, the Civic is the only Honda to miss out on CR's prestigious nod. At the opposite end there's a surprise as well – Toyota and Lexus remain the most reliable brands on the market, but Buick cracked the top three. That's up from seventh last year, and the first time for an American brand to stand on the Consumer Reports podium. Mazda's entire lineup earned Recommended checks as well. Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58. The Civic isn't the only surprise drop from CR's Recommended ranks. The Audi A3, Ford F-150, Subaru WRX/STI, and Volkswagen Jetta, GTI, and Passat all lost the Consumer Reports' checkmark. On the flipside, a number of popular vehicles graduated to the Recommended ranks, including the BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, and Cruze, Hyundai Santa Fe, Porsche Macan, and Tesla Model S. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the hilariously recall-prone Ford Escape getting a Recommended check – considering the popularity of Ford's small crossover, this is likely a coup for the brand, as it puts the Escape on a level playing field with the Recommended Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue. While Ford is probably happy to see CR promote the Escape, the list wasn't as kind for every brand. For example, of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles catalog, the ancient Chrysler 300 was the only car to score a check – there wasn't a single Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram on the list. That hurts. FCA isn't alone at the low end, either. GMC, Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, and Mitsubishi don't have a vehicle on CR's list between them, while brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Cadillac only have a few models each. You can check out Consumer Reports entire reliability roundup, even without a subscription, here.

2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat has 707 glorious horsepower [w/video]

Hold onto your butts. "600-plus horsepower" is what we were told to expect from the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT with its 6.2-liter supercharged Hellcat V8 engine. But as we've just learned, those were incredibly conservative numbers. Dodge has officially announced that the range-topping Challenger will hit the asphalt with 707 - seven hundred and seven - horsepower, making it the "most powerful muscle car ever."
Of course, 707 hp is only part of the story, as the Hellcat has also been confirmed to produce 650 pound-feet of torque. All that power will run exclusively to the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission that differs from other Challengers. The new gearbox, 8HP90 (rather than the 8HP70) is "upgraded to handle the extra power and torque," says Dan Reid, SRT's manager of product design and motorsports.
We certainly hope you're prepared to spend a ton of money replacing tires.

Daily driving a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

I took delivery of my 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat at Ron Carter Dodge in League City. Bobby Pate and the entire Ron Carter team made the buying experience painless. Thanks, guys! It was worth the nine-month wait to get a new Challenger Hellcat at sticker price. My Hellcat is Phantom Black Tri-coat Pearl with a black interior. The car has the six-speed manual transmission and UConnect. Yes, I know the eight-speed automatic is faster, but the manual transmission provides a level of enjoyment that must be experienced to be appreciated. My original intention was to write daily about my experiences with the Hellcat, but I have been having too much fun with the car. The first 100 miles required incredible self-control to keep the car under 55 mph and engine speed under 3500 rpm. The difference in the driving experience after 500 miles was – and I am only exaggerating a little – life altering!The Red Key To paraphrase Morpheus in The Matrix, "You take the black key, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red key, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." The black key is in a place where it will stay until the red key is snatched from my cold, dead hand. The red key is the only key. The red key is "The Key." All 707 horsepower are available with the red key. You can lower the horsepower to only 500 using the SRT pages, I have heard, but why? I have driven the Hellcat in bumper-to-bumper Houston traffic in red-key mode. I have driven the Hellcat in the pouring rain in red-key mode. I have driven the Hellcat to the mall, to the grocery store, to the movies, and to Killen's Steakhouse in Pearland for a 100% Japanese Wagyu steak from the Kagoshima Prefecture. (It was a birthday present from my son. My money goes into the gas tank of my Hellcat.) Just for fun, I used the SRT Pages to put the car in valet mode. For those of you who do not know, valet mode limits the horsepower to: oh, hell! Who cares? The car felt like the parking brake had not been disengaged. I have heard rumors that the Tremec six-speed transmission has a 1-4 skip-shift feature. My Hellcat has never been subjected to this travesty.Questions, questions, and more questions Q: How much over sticker did you have to pay? A: Zero Q: What kind of gas mileage do you get? A: ROTFL Q: How did you ever talk your significant other into letting you buy the Hellcat? A: I didn't ask.