2013 Infiniti S Sedan W/navi, Sport on 2040-cars

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2022 Infiniti QX50 starts at $40,025

Infiniti upped prices on the 2022 QX50, but at least some of the MSRP increase goes toward new features. Nissan's luxury arm made ProPilot Assist standard for all five trims, the driver assistance suite includes tech like steering assist, intelligent cruise control, speed limit assist, and distance control assist. Apple CarPlay is another included item for next year's model, as well as an auto-dimming rearview mirror, and more soft-touch luxuries for the rear quarters with keyless entry able to be activated by the rear doors now, LED welcome lights in the rear door handles, and a USB-C port for the aft chairs. The first four grades are front-drivers; adding all-wheel drive adds $2,000 to the tab. For 2022, top front-wheel drive Autograph bows out, making AWD the de facto standard. The trims and their pricing after the $1,025 destination fee, plus their differences from the 2021 model, are: Pure: $40,025 ($950) Luxe: $43,375 ($750) Essential: $47,825 ($2,000) Sensory: $52,525 ($1,400) Autograph AWD $57,975 (no change) On top of the other newly standard equipment, the Essential trim picks up a heated steering wheel, 16-speaker Bose Performance Series audio, climate-controlled front seats,  Luxe fits "leather-appointed seats," and offers an updated Appearance Package for $1,200. The bundle is composed of black mirror caps, body color rear diffuser, black mesh grille, black fender accents, a black liftgate finisher, and 20-inch black-painted, machine-finished wheels. A graphite headliner finishes the package inside.   Sensory snares some features formerly reserved for the Autobiography, like "leather-appointed" perforated seats, four-way passenger power-seat lumbar adjustment, heated outboard seats in the second row, ultrasuede interior trim, and a motion-activated liftgate.  The eight-strong color palette welcomes a new Slate Gray hue. Mechanicals don't change, every model powered by a 2.0-liter inline-four cylinder with 268 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque, routing its output through a continuously-variable transmission. The 2022 Infiniti QX50 should reach dealers later this month.

Recharge Wrap-up: Cruz defends ethanol stance, Bloomberg gets EV numbers wrong?

Republican presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz is defending his stance against ethanol subsidies in an opinion piece in The Des Moines Register. In the piece, Cruz says he doesn't oppose ethanol, but opposes mandates and subsidies, favoring a "free and fair energy marketplace," and an "'all of the above' policy." "We should embrace all of the energy resources with which God has blessed America: oil and gas, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, and biofuels and ethanol," says Cruz, "But Washington shouldn't be picking winners and losers." To farmers' benefit, Cruz says he would enforce antitrust laws against those who try to keep ethanol out of the marketplace, and fight the EPA's hard blend walls prohibiting higher amounts of ethanol in gasoline. Read Cruz's article at The Des Moines Register, and read more from The Washington Times.Hybrid Cars calls out Bloomberg Business in a post saying it used inaccurate data in a piece highlighting dim plug-in sales. While the Bloomberg article, titled "Plug-in Electric Autos Left Behind in Record Year," accurately points out a slower year for EVs, it claims sales slipped 17 percent in 2015. According to data from Hybrid Cars, that decline was just 2.88 percent. Hybrid Cars claims that Bloomberg lumped a number of PHEVs with regular hybrids when it calculated the faulty data. Read more about the discrepancy and the more realistic picture of EV sales at Hybrid Cars.The National Biodiesel Board has hired Sandra Franco as general counsel. The Georgetown University Law Center graduate gained experience in environmental litigation during her time as a partner at the Morgan Lewis Law Firm. "There isn't an attorney in the country who knows renewable fuels law better than Sandra Franco, and we are thrilled to have her join our team," says National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe. "Sandra is a tremendously skilled and seasoned attorney who will help us ensure that the US biodiesel industry has a strong voice and expert counsel in Washington as well as on legal and regulatory issues across the country." Read more at Crop Protection News.Nissan and Infiniti will use Microsoft Azure to power the Connect Telematics System (CTS) for the Nissan Leaf and Infiniti cars in Europe. CTS allows a remote connection to the car, enabling customers to perform a variety of functions from afar. This includes adjusting climate control and programming charging from a smartphone.

2018 Lincoln Navigator vs luxury SUV rivals: How it compares on paper

The all-new 2018 Lincoln Navigator is an impressive, luxury-lined beast. However, while its Black Label interior stood out most during our first drive of the new Navigator, it also seemed pretty clear that much of this full-size SUV was superior to the competition in a number of fundamental ways. Its Raptor-sourced 3.5-liter V6 had class-leading power for one, and its third-row seat seemed as spacious and comfortable as its rivals' are cramped and barely usable. To search for your next new vehicle, try Autoblog' s Car Finder. Yet, I wanted to take a closer look at how the Navigator fully compares on paper to its competitors - especially the Cadillac Escalade with which it most directly competes. The below spreadsheet should tell the whole story, but as you can see, there's an awful lot of class-leading green highlighter in the Navigator's column. The cargo volume and third-row legroom numbers are particularly telling, with the latter actually going up to 42.3 inches when you slide the second-row fully forward. Now, a few things to note about the above spreadsheet. The GLS-Class is also available as the GLS 550, which boasts a 4.7-liter V8 that just comes up short to the Navigator with 449 horsepower but has to deal with only 5,578 pounds. Its $94,950 price tag is comparable to the Navigator Black Label. Much of the LX 570's information is also applicable to the Toyota Land Cruiser, which, badge aside, could certainly be considered a member of this segment given its feature content and still-hefty price tag. It has better ground clearance and approach/departure angles than its Lexus sibling, along with an as-indicated lower price. Much of the Escalade's information also applies to the GMC Yukon Denali, while the Infiniti QX80 is applicable to the Nissan Armada. Related Video: Cadillac Infiniti Lexus Lincoln Mercedes-Benz SUV Luxury Off-Road Vehicles consumer lincoln navigator