2001 Mercedes-benz M-class Ml 320 Sunroof Heated Seats Woodgrain Trim on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2016 Singapore Grand Prix Race Recap | Setting the stage for the final rounds

The Singapore Grand Prix always features a safety car. This year the nation-state got caution out of the way early: seconds after the lights went out, Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz collided with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, sending Hulk into the wall minus a wheel and some bodywork. The safety car led the field for three laps, then ducked into the pits so abruptly that a track marshal was still retrieving debris as race leader Nico Rosberg hit the throttle down the front straight. Rosberg avoided the pedestrian on his way to a two-second lead over Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes-AMG Petronas, and Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen. On Lap 8 of the 61-lap race Mercedes engineers warned Rosberg and Hamilton about brake management. Rosberg had no trouble until the waning laps of the race, his teammate inadvertently the cause. Raikkonen got ahead of Hamilton on Lap 33 while Hamilton nursed his car. Trying to get Hamilton back in front of the Ferrari, Mercedes pitted Hamilton on Lap 46 and also ordered him to turn his engine up. Ferrari debated for a lap about whether to bring Raikkonen in, finally issuing a last-second order to pit. The Finn emerged behind Hamilton, but executing the trick to get Hamilton back into third gave Ricciardo breathing room in second place. Red Bull brought Ricciardo in on Lap 48 for a set of super soft Pirellis. Returning to the track 25 seconds behind Rosberg, Ricciardo cut from one to four seconds out of that gap on every lap. By Lap 59 the Aussie was little more than a second behind the German. Had the race gone three more laps, Ricciardo might have pulled off the upset. This time Rosberg stayed in front to win his third race in a row and his first victory in Singapore, all in his 200th grand prix. Ricciardo and Hamilton completed the podium; Raikkonen claimed fourth. Sebastian Vettel wrangled an incredible fifth place after starting last; the German set the worst time on the grid when his suspension broke in Q1. Max Verstappen, having lost places at the start due to wheelspin again, recovered for sixth. Fernando Alonso made the most of his McLaren with seventh, ahead of Sergio Perez in the lone remaining Force India, a resurgent Daniil Kvyat in the Toro Rosso, and Kevin Magnussen scoring Renault's second points finish of the season. Hamilton has not had a good time of it since the end of the summer break – engine troubles in Belgium, a botched start in Italy, and zero rhythm in Singapore.

Edmunds ranks the best used cars for 2013

When people ask us what car we would recommend for them, it's usually not easy to answer. To make a useful recommendation we must consider which of the numerous vehicle segments fits their needs best, and then choose one of the many vehicles offered in each segment. For some people, new cars don't meet their expectations of value, because they lose so much of it the moment they are purchased and driven off the dealer lot. For them, there's always the used-car market, where great deals can be found, but cars' histories of reliability and maintenance records - and perhaps that Certified Pre-Owned warranty - become ever-important factors playing into purchase choice.
To help out, Edmunds has done us the favor of assembling a list of the best used vehicles money can buy, covering model years 2006-2011, according to what it considers the most important criteria when shopping for used autos: reliability, safety, value and availability. That means unreliable, unsafe, super-expensive or limited-edition models don't appear on the list, but instead cars from each segment that are more likely to satisfy the general population.
There are some real goodies on the list, including but not limited to vehicles such as the capable Honda Fit, the cultish Honda Accord coupe (which can be had with a 240-horsepower V6 and a six-speed manual transmission some years), and the powerful Chevrolet Corvette. While Edmunds' choice of the Volvo C70 for best used convertible baffled us at first (not that it's a bad car), it redeemed itself by stating that the Mazda MX-5 still is an unofficial top choice if you don't require more than two seats.

F1 title fight gets closer | 2016 US Grand Prix recap

We ran into an old friend at the US Grand Prix: an on-form Lewis Hamilton. Reliability and proper clutch actuation helped the Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver resurrect the kind of performance we haven't seen since July at the German Grand Prix. After demolishing the previous qualifying record around the Circuit of the Americas, he put the field in his mirrors as soon as the lights went out, was never bothered by anyone behind, and crossed the finish line 4.5 seconds ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. The drive was exactly what Hamilton needed to keep his molecule-thin Championship hopes alive. Rosberg, however, did exactly what he needed to do as well by finishing second. The German had a sketchier path to the checkered flag than Hamilton, getting pushed back to the third at the start by Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. Worse, Ricciardo appeared to have the pace to keep Hamilton honest ahead and hold Rosberg behind. Red Bull and Mercedes matched one another's pit stops, and it was clear the German would need more help to pass the Aussie. Rosberg didn't have to make his own luck, Ricciardo's teammate Max Verstappen made the luck for him. Ricciardo pitted on Lap 26, ceding second position on track to Rosberg. On Lap 30, Verstappen's gearbox failed while headed down the back straight. The Dutch teenager said the team told him to try to get the car back to the pits, so he dawdled through a few corners before following more team orders to pull over and park. Verstappen's parking spot and bad gearbox meant marshals couldn't push the car off the track, they needed to use a crane. That brought out a Virtual Safety Car, slowing the whole race down and allowing Rosberg to run a longer stint while losing less time on old tires. When the German came in for new tires on Lap 31 he emerged ahead of Ricciardo, and they ran that way to the end of the race, much to Ricciardo's disappointment. Sebastian Vettel claimed fourth for Ferrari, a placing perhaps due only to Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen retiring from the race. An otherwise anonymous weekend for the scuderia called attention to itself on race day when Raikkonen had to call it a day after a botched pit stop, and Vettel couldn't make any impression on the teams ahead. Fernando Alonso rode home to a brilliant fifth for McLaren. During the first stint while rummaging around outside the top ten, the Spaniard complained about his lack of pace. By Lap 15 Alonso was tenth, on Lap 34 he was eighth.