the 2022 jeep wagoneer and grand wagoneer had a big time as this week's must-see blockbuster reveals. here's our guide to telling jeep's three-row luxury siblings apart. with the former priced from $60k to $75k, the latter from $89k and cresting at $110k loaded, the wagoneer is already looking for an apartment in aspen; the grand wagoneer, a house in jackson hole. wondering how the wagoneer compares to the escalade, navigator, gls, and other luxury items? we've got you covered there, too. not to mention something for the nostalgia fans.
this week in sheetmetal
mercedes, planning a reset for its sl-class range, offered up teaser shots of the new 2022 mercedes-amg sl.
hyundai didn't exactly reveal the 275-hp kona n, but a preview counts. the single image it did reveal was shaded like a caravaggio painting, the brunt of the kona n's blunt bona fides found the spotlight. those tailpipes will fit, uh . . . a lot of bananas.
volvo designers glanced at the 2022 volvo xc60, decided they like what they saw—as do we—and made mere whispers of changes. the tech overhaul strikes the blow; the crossover gets better sensors, radar, and cameras as well as the android-based infotainment first seen in polestar products.
leaked shots of the 2022 honda civic whizzed across the pacific. the character lines on the current, 10th-generation civic have been accused of foisting too much character onto the revered nameplate. next year's 11th gen appears to refine its look outside and in.
audi teased the lightly camouflaged exterior of the coming a4 e-tron, an all-electric crossover about the size of the volkswagen id.4 that enjoys interior space that almost matches the larger audi q5. upper trims feature a decadently plush interior for the segment and an augmented-reality head-up dislplay, among plentiful tech treats.
sticking with size, the battery-electric pickup wars welcomed another combatant, this one from ev startup canoo. the renderings show a vintage jeep- or land rover-like cab-over truck with heaps of neat, practical functionality and the option of a hardhat-favorite eight-foot bed.
the non-battery-electric pickup wars also seem poised to welcome a new competitor. in ford's february sales report, it noted that 21 trucks labeled as "c-pick up" had been built at its factory in hermosillo, mexico. that's where they're making the bronco sport. everyone presumes the "c-pick up" is the maverick, a unibody pickup that'll share parts with the bronco sport. this week, spy photos of the maverick hit the internet.
sounds good, make that
the project cars 3 video game added nissan's z proto to its in-game garage. the neon-hued machine could be high on the lustworthy list, its specs being 444 horsepower to move a 3251-pound curb weight, a power-to-weight ratio that limbos under a lotus evora. the question is whether those gamer specs will translate into real life.
project trinity
volkswagen continues to amp up its electric plans, announcing what it says is a "high-range" ev due in 2026. project trinity, they're calling it. vw has also pushed back the euro-special supermini id.1 to focus on the id.buzz we'll get here in the u.s. that debuts next year. previously, vw announced its reincarnated electric vw bus had been delayed until 2023. expect more news monday (march 15) when vw hosts power day, its answer to tesla's battery day.
traffic safety
remember stories about street racers and cannonballers taking advantage of empty roads last year? accident counts dropped but fatalities rose because speeds went up, too. while we wait for the national highway traffic safety administration (nhtsa) to tally last year's road deaths, the national safety council (nsc) predicts 2020 will account for 42,060 of them. that would be an 8 percent increase on nhtsa's figure from 2019 and would mark the highest number since 2006. considering the nsc estimates road miles traveled to have declined from 3.26 billion in 2019 to 2.83 billion in 2020, the estimated 42,060 deaths represent a 24 percent increase in the death rate per mile.
further reading
if where you live is anything like where we live, you're suddenly seeing a lot of the bronco sport. they're hard to miss. and when we notice such things, we tend to want to learn more. as our own joey capparella writes in the april issue: "we needed to find out if the baby bronco is just a cheap way of capitalizing on the bronco mania that's currently sweeping the nation or if it's something worth lining up for on its own. that meant pitting it against other compact suvs, which, if you haven't heard, now make up the bestselling segment of the market." find out what happened when we put the bronco sport up against mazda's cx-5 and a jeep cherokee.
get to know minnesota's plows. after holding an open contest to name eight snow movers, the minnesota department of transportation has tallied the eight winners. we'll take f. salt fitzgerald, please, since we can't have scotland's "spready mercury" or "gritney spears."
we'll also take spring.