2001 Volvo V70 Xc Awd Cross Country on 2040-cars

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Thanks for keeping us on our toes, Detroit Auto Show [w/poll]

Here at Autoblog, we love unexpected debuts at auto shows – and judging by our Detroit Auto Show comments and traffic, you do, too. Surprise reveals have been fewer and farther between in recent years with so many ways for vehicles to be teased or leak out, but this week's show has been a revelation. More to the point, it's been a series of revelations, with automakers from around the globe successfully delivering a brace of concept and production surprises. It's made our jobs a lot more exciting and challenging this week, and even though it's actually more work to react and run-and-gun when the sheet is pulled on a surprise reveal than it is to publish an already-written embargoed story, we've had more fun covering this show for you than any domestic show in memory. We hope you've enjoyed the surprises along with us. To that end, borrowing the words of an unnamed automaker PR flack, we'd like to thank the following automakers for enduring "mountain of antacids" and that "creeping sense of paranoia" necessary to keeping ones' wares totally under wraps until the sheets are pulled off the sheetmetal: Buick Avenir concept Chevrolet Bolt concept Ford GT concept Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R Ford F-150 SVT Raptor Hyundai HCD-15 Santa Cruz concept And while we're at it, we'd like to throw in an shout-out to Detroit's substantially revised and revitalized Cobo Center, and in particular, the redone Michelin media center, which is arguably the single best accommodations for writing show stories that we've encountered on the entire international circuit. Well done, everyone. Thank you, and keep the surprises coming. Auto News Detroit Auto Show Buick Chevrolet Ford Hyundai Volvo 2015 Detroit Auto Show

Volvo adds 48V hybrid system to a bunch of 2022 models

In 2019, Volvo announced an updated powertrain fitted with a 48-volt mild hybrid system. The integrated starter-generator and regenerative brake-by-wire refilling a small battery could increase fuel economy by up to 15% in real-world driving. There are three layouts, dubbed B4, B5, and B6 that the Swedish automaker's already been rolling out globally. Next year two of them, the B5 and B6, come to the U.S. for the first time under the 2022 Volvo S60, S90, V90 XC, and XC60. The EPA's fuel economy site shows all of those models making small fuel economy gains, too. The B4 and B5 powertrains contain both gas and diesel mild-hybrids, the B6 is gas-only. All of the gas options (Volvo doesn't offer diesels here) will start with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder, the B5 adding a turbocharger, the B6 adding a turbocharger and a supercharger.  Per the EPA, the front-wheel drive 2021 Volvo S60 returns 23 miles per gallon in the city, 34 on the highway, and 27 combined. The new 2022 Volvo S60 B5 betters that with 26 city, 35 highway, and 30 combined. The 2022 S60 B5 AWD bests the 2021 model with the both versions of the non-hybrid 2.0-liter engine by one to three miles per gallon in nearly every category. The only model that does better, for obvious reasons, is the 2021 S60 AWD PHEV, which has been renamed S60 T8 AWD Recharge. The 2022 Volvo XC60 comes in AWD B5 spec with the turbocharged 2.0-liter, and AWD B6 spec with the turbo- and supercharged 2.0-liter. Gains are smaller here, the EPA showing a one-mpg increase in the city when comparing the 2021 XC60 to the 2022 B5 model. With the B6 powertrain, the 2022 XC60 improves by one mpg in the city and combined compared to the 2021 model. The EPA site doesn't show a front-drive XC60 for next year, and the XC60 AWD PHEV is already referred to as the XC60 T8 AWD Recharge. It's possible horsepower ratings will change slightly for the mild-hybrid rigs next year, but not enough to change the driving experience. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

What's the deal with comedians and their cars?

'Round about the time in his life when it should happen for all of us, Jerry Seinfeld's ship came in with a force that almost split the dock. He'd been doing pretty well with his observational style ("There's a cereal now that's just cookies. Have you seen this? Cookies for breakfast. It's called Cookie Crisp. Cookies for breakfast! They oughta just call it 'To Hell With Everything!'"). But he showed no signs of setting the world on fire until he got cast in a show that was either about – depending on the level of comedy geek you ask – the average New Yorker, the very worst people in the world, or nothing. Suddenly Jerry Seinfeld was pretty much the center of the comedy universe. And while his comedy was at once both brilliantly innovative and rooted in the mundane, his next move was a predictable grab at something exotic – he went out and bought his dream car. A rather nice 911, actually. As almost everyone knows, it didn't stop there, and the man put together one of the most enviable collections of iconic Porsches we're likely to see. So what's the connection, if there is one, between cars and comedy? As far as Jerry Seinfeld (the man) is concerned, he's probably not the same guy as the Jerry on Seinfeld (the show) although it's hard to say for sure; his public persona is almost unnervingly well managed. But cars and comedy were the constants in his life then, and, well, just look at what the guy does now; Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is a cultural constant, and we're certainly seeing Seinfeld the man in that one, and cars are obviously still central to his life. And it's been that way with a lot of very, very good comedy guys. Cars seem to round out their lives, to become the yin to their comedy yang. Ernie Kovacs might not have invented visual gags or surreal humor, but he got them both to kill on television in the 1950s, so he's a comedy hero. He died behind the wheel of his beloved Corvair wagon, so he's absolutely some kind of car-guy hero as well. Bill Cosby, the hottest name in comedy for a good long while, had Ferraris, one of two fire-breathing supercharged big-block Cobras (pictured below), and a BMW 2002tii – none of which either contributed to or in any way make up for the profoundly sociopathic creature he turned out to be, but it's still a data point. The Smothers Brothers, who defied the networks and the norms by getting blatantly political before that sort of thing was cool, went sports car racing.