2008 Ford Escape Xlt Sport Utility 4-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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Sunday Drive: Still thankful for supercars

The Thanksgiving holiday meant that last week was pretty short on stories, but apparently our readers are still thankful for supercars. The biggest news of the week was the new Aston Martin Vantage, which is clothed in a new look that Autoblog readers are still very much unsure of. It's a radical departure from past Aston Martin models, and while everyone seems to agree that the profile is lovely, the squinty headlamps are a particular source of contention. Its 503 horsepower and 512 pound-feet of torque cannot be argued with ... oh, and a V12 may be coming soon. Moving along is a nearly new 2006 Ford GT for sale that's expected to fetch around $300,000 at auction. It's so unused that it still has plastic wrap covering the leather interior. The Ango-American theme continues with the McLaren 720S, though not in road-going form. Still, renderings of the upcoming 720S GT3 racer round out this supercar-rich recap. As always, stay tuned to Autoblog for all the latest automotive news that's fit to print. All-new Aston Martin Vantage turns up the volume This 10.8-mile Ford GT could be yours McLaren 720S GT3 race car shown off in renderings Aston Martin Ford McLaren Coupe Luxury Racing Vehicles Performance Supercars aston martin vantage recap sunday drive

Toyota tops Consumer Reports best, worst used car values

We often mock Toyota for building boring, soulless cars, but a new study by Consumer Reports suggests that regardless of whether that's true, the company has some of the best used cars on the market. In its report on used cars from 2004-2013, the Japanese automaker had 11 vehicles among its brands on the list - more than any other automaker.
CR breaks the list down by cost and vehicle size, and Toyota has at least one entry at every price point and in nearly every segment. To score a recommendation, a vehicle had to perform well in the magazine's initial tests and score above-average reliability results. It also tried to only suggest cars with electronic stability control. Of the 28 recommended vehicles, Honda/Acura had the second most mentions at six, and Ford, Hyundai and Subaru managed two each.
The Detroit brands also made it to the list, but not in a positive way. Consumer Reports compiled a list of 22 vehicles it wouldn't recommend because "they have multiple years of much-worse-than-average overall reliability." General Motors had the most unrecommended models on the list at six, but Chrysler and Ford weren't far behind, with five cars each from their brands not making the grade. The full list of recommendations is available on CR's website.

Ford reports 58% drop in Q2 profits on European losses

Ford Motor Company announced Wednesday that it has posted a $1 billion profit for the second quarter of 2012. That sounds like good news for the Blue Oval, until you take into account that Ford posted a $2.4 billion profit for Q2 a year ago. That is a substantial 58 percent loss.
Ford also posted $465 million in international losses, with $404 million of those losses coming directly from Europe. The automaker also increased its European loss projections to $1 billion for 2012, due in large part to the economic crisis overseas, which has resulted in increased unemployment and decreased consumer confidence.