2003 Ford Explorer V8 4x4 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Everything new at the 2019 New York International Auto Show

Transcript: Welcome to the 2019 New York Auto Show. It's the last auto show, and so far it's my favorite of the year. We have a new buggy, compact pickup and trail ready SUV from Volkswagen. Ford brought the new Escape and a new Mustang performance variant, and we have a brand new Toyota Highlander and Subaru Outback. Let's go take a look around. We're here at the New York Auto Show with the Subaru stand. Normally the Subaru stand is just some white carpet and some show lighting. This year it's like we're in a national park. It's ... Frankly, I'm from Oregon. You're from Colorado. Yeah. It's making us feel at home. And in that way what better place and what better people to introduce this Subaru Outback which is pretty much the official car of Colorado and Oregon. Yeah. You actually have to buy a Subaru before they let you move to Colorado. Now instead of climbing up there and taking a look because we've been told we can't do that we're gonna go over there and check out another one. So the exterior, not that different. No. Looks exactly like an Outback. There's actually oddly a little more black plastic trim on the outside. A little too much for me. Right. It's interesting because it kind of slowly went away from that from the beginning because in the beginning the black plastic trim kind of made it an Outback, and now they're kind of bringing it back. I guess they needed to make it more macho. Right. Right. Now we're inside. Inside it looks pretty different. Swank. It's kind of swank for an Outback which has been pretty plain. Now this is the newly available vertically gigantic touch screen here. 11.6 inches. That is massive. This is how big it is when it's turned on ... just for the viewers. Now this is the onyx trim. So with that you get the black mirrors, the black wheels. This upholstery is special to the onyx, so it's gray and black and you also have this green stitching. Yeah, I like this accent stitching. It's kind of neat. Oh there's also a little tray there. Well this is a deep bin here. You can probably fit a phone. There we go. Almost. Yeah there are two USB ports. There's an additional two in the backseat. So this thing here you pop in the cup holder and it gives you a little more space or less space. These are really big, so if you have one of those Nalgene bottles I'm guessing it's going to fit in there. One of my complaints about my Subaru that I own now which is a naturally aspirated Crosstrek is that up in the mountains. It's slow?

2015 Ford Mustang Convertible makes inappropriate appearance in Detroit [w/video]

With the polar vortex fresh in the minds of Autoblog's Detroit-based staff, we're finding it funny that any manufacturer would choose January in the Motor City to show off a new and highly anticipated convertible to the general media and public for the first time. But Ford has done just that, giving us our first real peek at the new Mustang Convertible in the flesh.
The new Mustang Convertible is more or less unchanged from the standard coupe, with some subtle styling tweaks to accommodate the retractable soft top. Engine and transmission choices are identical to the hardtop, although we should expect slightly lower performance due to the hardware for the roof. Like the coupe, neither prices nor performance metrics have been published yet for the convertible.
Hop up top for our live gallery of images from the floor of the Detroit Auto Show.

Car Stories: Owning the SHO station wagon that could've been

A little over a year ago, I bought what could be the most interesting car I will ever own. It was a 1987 Mercury Sable LS station wagon. Don't worry – there's much more to this story. I've always had a soft spot for wagons, and I still remember just how revolutionary the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable were back in the mid-1980s. As a teenager, I fell especially hard for the 220-horsepower 1989 Ford Taurus SHO – so much so that I'd go on to own a dozen over the next 20 years. And like many other quirky enthusiasts, I always wondered what a SHO station wagon would be like. That changed last year when I bought the aforementioned Sable LS wagon, festooned with the high-revving DOHC 3.0-liter V6 engine and five-speed manual transmission from a 1989 Taurus SHO. In addition, the wagon had SHO front seats, a SHO center console, and the 140-mph instrument cluster with mileage that matched the engine. When I bought it, that number was just under 60,000 – barely broken in for the overachieving Yamaha-sourced mill. The engine and transmission weren't the only upgrades. It wore dual-piston PBR brakes with the choice Eibach/Tokico suspension combo in front. The rear featured SHO disc brakes with MOOG cargo coils and Tokico shocks, resulting in a wagon that handled ridiculously well while still retaining a decent level of comfort and five-door functionality. I could attack the local switchbacks while rowing gears to a 7,000-rpm soundtrack just as easily as loading up on lumber at the hardware store. Over time I added a front tower brace to stiffen things a bit as well as a bigger, 73-mm mass airflow sensor for better breathing, and I sourced some inexpensive 2004 Taurus 16-inch five-spoke wheels, refinished in gunmetal to match the two-tone white/gunmetal finish on the car. That, along with some minor paint and body work, had me winning trophies at every car show in town. And yet, what I loved most about the car wasn't its looks or performance, but rather its history. And here's where things also get a little philosophical, because I absolutely, positively love old used cars. Don't get me wrong – new cars are great. Designers can sculpt a timeless automotive shape, and engineers can construct systems and subsystems to create an exquisite chassis with superb handling and plenty of horsepower. But it's the age and mileage that turn machines into something more than the sum of their parts.