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Car and Driver
a day ago
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
Next Year You Can Get New Parts for Your Old NSX Straight from Honda
Honda is launching a new parts program for its heritage sports cars. The program will start with the NSX and is set to launch next spring. There will also be an in-house restoration option, but only in Japan. The first-generation Acura NSX is by now a well-established practical classic. If you wanted a bargain on one, we have bad news: you'll have to invent a short-range time machine. However, even though Honda's mid-engined masterpiece is more durable and requires less intense servicing than a contemporary mid-engined Ferrari, it is going to chew through parts if you drive it, particularly wear items. If you have one, you should totally drive it. Honda certainly thinks so. In a move that's been talked about for several years, Honda recently announced that it would be supplying new parts for the old NSX, beginning in spring of 2026. These are not new old-stock items, but brand-new replacement parts created through modern technologies such as remanufacturing and 3-D printing. Honda also intends to launch an in-house restoration operation, though that's only planned for customers in Japan so far. View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker | Car and Driver Toyota and Nissan have similar programs for their heritage cars, and it's no surprise that Honda is choosing the NSX for the rollout. There will also be supplies of new parts for other sporting models, probably the Integra Type R and S2000. Preserving company heritage is just good optics, and it's great news for fans of the brand. Those fans should call up Hiroshima and thank little Mazda for leading the charge here. Mazda was the first to initiate a program of new replacement parts for the first-generation Miata and is currently working on a program to supply new parts for the RX-7 twin-turbo. Both are eligible for in-house restoration, although the process is pretty slow-moving, with only a few cars per year. A global supply of new parts and high values for the NSX might combine to get some neglected cars back on the road. Maybe one of those might be the bargain you're looking for. And if you're lucky enough to already have an NSX in your garage, maybe plan to hit the road this weekend. Brendan McAleer Contributing Editor Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. Read full bio
Car and Driver
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
We Build A Lifted Subaru BRZ Wilderness
The Project Car: Sometimes We Just Can't Leave Well Enough Alone There resides in the human psyche an overwhelming urge to fiddle with a good thing. Which is our excuse for project cars. We once stuffed a Pontiac single-overhead-cam inline-six into a Jaguar XK-E. Who but Car and Driver would install two engines in a Honda CRX? On occasion, projects bore actual fruit: a 212-mph Corvette—427 cubes, 603 horsepower—that we built to celebrate the magazine's 40th. A 150-mph 1998 Ford Crown Victoria that almost won the Hooker's Choice Award in a Nevada race. And an otherwise matronly 1996 Mercedes-Benz E320 that achieved 198 mph with a V-12 in its proboscis. Now, a Subaru BRZ joins that glorious pantheon. Imagine you're driving a Toyota 4Runner. A huge one. Or a Jeep. Yeah, a lifted Jeep. With big tires, antennas for comms, and a Dometic cooler full of Klondike bars. Now imagine thumping along your favorite off-road trail, mixing it up in beautiful brown mud while giant tread blocks stomp over downed tree limbs and reveling in the belief that you won't meet traffic along your secret path. Then, you see it. No, you hear it first. It sounds like a swarm of bees fighting in a civil war. Your heart sinks as the noise moves closer. You can't believe what you're about to ask yourself. Is that . . . a Subaru? Marc Urbano | Car and Driver Driving through a limestone mine is slow going. There lies some rather treacherous sand beneath this cavern's standing water, and it's best to keep the lights on to avoid dropping into the three-acre lake. But on our endeavor, traffic would be of no concern. Just north of Pittsburgh is an off-road passage that leads 250 feet underground into a limestone mine that last had a pickaxe swung at it in 1914. The 0.8-mile loop is part of an off-road tour at Mines & Meadows ATV/RV Resort, which usually allows only side-by-sides and other all-terrain vehicles to pass through the mine's 84-inch-wide entrance. However, the resort made an exception for our project Subie. In the past year, we've made some dramatic changes to one of our favorite sports cars, the four-time 10Best-winning Subaru BRZ. Last year Subaru's public-relations department called and asked what we might want to do with a BRZ sentenced to the crusher after living a life of press-car abuse. We don't know what rev-limiter agony this BRZ experienced, but we thought we'd give it a nice final outing before it met a hydraulic press. Shortly after the automaker's offer, Subaru of New England posted an April Fools' joke on Instagram: a rendering of a BRZ Wilderness. That gag became our goal. Marc Urbano | Car and Driver You're reveling in the belief that you won't see another soul on the way to your secret spot. Then, you see it. No, you hear it first. A mere appearance package wouldn't do for our BRZ Wilderness. Instead, our modifications needed to send the BRZ beyond the Target parking lot filled with TrailSports, Rock Creeks, and Timberlines and into some actual mud. To get us deeper off-road than any BRZ has been, this car would need a higher ground clearance, tires with tough sidewalls to survive many jumps, more LED lighting than a construction site, and an exhaust that would make it as loud as a Ferrari 458 Italia at wide-open throttle. Marc Urbano | Car and Driver Marc Urbano | Car and Driver To build it, we started by raising the suspension two inches. Emboldened by the lifted silhouette, we tore apart the BRZ to reduce the stock car's 2840-pound weight as much as possible. This is arguably the most satisfying part of any project: the removal and wanton destruction of things destined for the trash. It's also the easiest. The BRZ shed 35 pounds after we removed the muffler. Its interior underwent a plastecotomy as we gutted it of unnecessary weight, tearing out carpet and 80 pounds of heated front seats. They'd be replaced by proper racing buckets with six-point safety harnesses that would require a quality roll bar (we'll do a safety cage if we take this car racing). Austin Irwin | Car and Driver To get the parts we needed, the folks at Competition Motorsport in West Des Moines, Iowa, invited us to their toy store. Their showroom looks like Fernando Alonso's walk-in closet, with every size, color, and brand of racing suit, helmet, and glove on display. We left with Sparco Evo seats (weighing a mere 15 pounds each) and a bolt-in roll bar made with Docol R8 high-strength steel. The fabricators here can customize tubing for just about any application, and they welded ours together in three hours before sending it to the paint shop. That's quicker than most Car and Driver staffers answer emails. Austin Irwin | Car and Driver With the installation of new bucket seats, six-point safety harnesses, and a roll bar, we were able to rip out more than 20 pounds of airbags and seatbelts. Austin Irwin | Car and Driver To aid in the BRZ's weight-loss journey, Competition Motorsport also sent us home with a lithium-ion 12-volt battery from Antigravity Batteries. It's 21 pounds lighter than the BRZ's original lead-acid unit and helped keep the finished car's weight below 3000 pounds. Subaru didn't have many directives or guidelines but did ask that we not change the engine. So the 228-hp 2.4-liter flat-four is completely stock, which is probably the primary reason the car remains operational today. Perhaps Subaru knew what so many of us know: Engine modifications have left countless projects permanently on jack stands, much to the chagrin of neighborhood associations the world over. Austin Irwin | Car and Driver Austin Irwin | Car and Driver Forced to leave the BRZ's flat-four alone, and our cherry-picker dreams dashed, we consoled ourselves by engaging in a little Sawzall therapy: We sliced the front bumper in half. Inspired by every press release we've read from Bentley and Pagani, we embraced the "bespoke" concept for the bumper's replacement. Making a new bumper is far outside our welding abilities, however, so we headed to Ishpeming, Michigan, to visit Sub-Zero Fabrication. The owner, Cory Dennis, put together a pre-runner-inspired steel bumper in just two days using 18 feet of 1.5-inch drawn-over-mandrel steel tubing. His custom, er, bespoke solution includes a wide removable skid plate with a gap at the bottom that allows small rocks to escape. That bumper isn't there just for looks. It moves the lowest point of the front end closer to the wheels, greatly improving the approach angle. This earned it a ramp-travel-index score of 231, putting it 231 points higher than the $223,450 Porsche 911 Dakar that couldn't even climb the ramp. Cory Dennis | Car and Driver Subaru typically dresses its Wilderness models with black wheels and Yokohama Geolander A/T tires. To optimize off-road traction, we hit up Yokohama for a set of Advan A053 gravel tires in their softest compound. This rally rubber forced us into a 15-inch wheel, so we went all in on the race-car look with Speedline Corse 2118s. KATHRYN GAMBLE | Car and Driver After author Irwin burned holes through steel tubing during a crash course in TIG welding, Competition Motorsport's top welder, Russ Gyles, told us we had a bright future in flute making. KATHRYN GAMBLE | Car and Driver The Advans are a middle finger to every pothole we've hit near our office that's ever bent a wheel or flattened a tire. Built for abuse, they were unfazed by landing 15 or more jumps. On dirt, you can drive to the limits of personal bravery, and their tread will hold grip or slide the car as much as you choose. On the highway, they emit a lovely whine, a sort of tire-noise equivalent of a GT3 racer's straight-cut gears. With most of its sound deadening in a dumpster, the BRZ is as loud at 70 mph as a Jeep Wrangler 392 at wide-open throttle. The soft compound didn't enjoy going around the paved skidpad, which after just two laps grated the outside tread like it was a block of Parmesan. Though to the tires' credit, they still managed 0.85 g on their way out. More ground clearance came courtesy of a 2.0-inch lift using parts from Anderson Design & Fabrication: steel spacers that we attached above the stock struts, 1.5-inch-tall aluminum pucks that we installed between the chassis and the rear subframe. We later replaced the original struts and steel spacers with a set of Yellow Speed Racing (YSR) Dynamic Pro Gravel Rally coil-overs that promised to be more robust than the stock setup. The YSR coil-overs are giant assemblies that use 55-mm damper bodies, have relatively soft spring rates, and come out of the box as tall as the original front suspension with the spacers attached. The fronts were wonderful. They had the BRZ gliding over speed bumps, potholes, and off-road trails with supreme softness. But the rears gave a back-pulverizing ride and sent the rear end of the car airborne over our parking lot's speed bumps when we were traveling as slow as 13 mph. We're hoping a replacement set cures the harshness, but that didn't stop us from taking the BRZ where no sports car has gone before. Marc Urbano | Car and Driver We chased this April Fools' joke into the depths of that limestone mine, pursuing our goal of going beyond the wilderness and deep into the Earth's crust. The mine maintains an average temperature of 56 degrees Fahrenheit, making it a superb place for cultivating Snow Cap mushrooms; it also seems like a horrifying place to be on mushrooms. Holding up the stone ceiling are damp columns of multimillion-year-old rock that were once illuminated by the tiny headlamps atop the helmets of the men working here. Even with the BRZ's approximately 24,170 lumens of aftermarket front lighting flooding the walls (the Alien Lasers spotlights shouldn't be activated within two miles of an airport), this is still an absolutely forbidding and spooky place to off-road. Just wait until overlanders hear about underlanding. Marc Urbano | Car and Driver We replaced the seat-heater switches with a control for the front 42-inch LED light bar and rear roof- mounted SXSUSA Alien Lasers spotlights. Marc Urbano | Car and Driver A mine shaft is one of the strangest places to drive. It's a lot like parking a car in your parents' garage—a tight fit, overcrowded with stacks of materials that predate your birth. The only vista is darkness, and whatever's living in here will find you before you ever see it. It's fun, but we're still suckers for a good sunset. We put plenty of sweat equity into this build, but the parts alone add up to nearly $15,000. Lamborghini charged more than twice that to turn a base Huracán into a Sterrato, which forgoes a bedroom atop its roof. Our Subie's $46,302 as-tested price is under the starting point of a Honda Civic Type R, which, despite its giant rear wing, isn't getting as many frequent-flyer miles as this BRZ. Austin Irwin | Car and Driver Roof-rack tabs get welded to the roof. We do have regrets. Rear-wheel drive is obviously a significant limiting factor to how far off the pavement you can go. Just getting back to the staging lot of a Michigan off-road park required a running start. Our tent and rally-focused tires cost us in straight-line performance. A 2022 BRZ we tested reached 60 mph in 5.3 seconds and had a trap speed of 100 mph at the quarter-mile mark. With all the stuff attached, our BRZ slowed to 6.1 seconds to 60, and we crossed the quarter-mile 9 mph slower. Racing bucket seats look cool and save weight, but climbing in and out of the cockpit more than twice in a day is a blatant reminder of how much weight we should personally try to lose. We probably also had room for at least eight additional feet of LED lights. Oh well. Marc Urbano | Car and Driver The idea to jump the car with the tent fully open was received with disdain by other tent makers. However, the folks at C6 Outdoor told us to send it. Taking a stock car and making it into exactly what you hope for is never a straight path. It takes hours and hours, which in this case were put in mostly by this author and photo assistant Charley Ladd, whose personal cars languished during the build. Project BRZ continues our tradition of building what manufacturers have yet to make. Here's hoping Subaru's sense of humor is wild enough to sell something like a BRZ Wilderness. Austin Irwin Technical Editor Austin Irwin has worked for Car and Driver for over 10 years in various roles. He's steadily worked his way from an entry-level data entry position into driving vehicles for photography and video, and is now reviewing and testing cars. What will he do next? Who knows, but he better be fast.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
"You got a billion dollars and you can't get a custom car?" - Cuttino Mobley says Yao drives a Range Rover he barely fits in
"You got a billion dollars and you can't get a custom car?" - Cuttino Mobley says Yao drives a Range Rover he barely fits in originally appeared on Basketball Network. Cuttino Mobley and Yao Ming played together for two seasons with the Houston Rockets from 2002-2004, during which time they developed a friendship that would continue long after their NBA careers were over. Advertisement During his recent appearance on Paul George's Podcast P, Mobley revealed that he often goes to Shanghai to spend time with Ming, either on business or pleasure. Cuttno recalled one time when he spent his birthday with his good buddy, and Yao picked him up in a car he didn't look comfortable in. "I would hang with Yao for a few days in Shanghai. He comes and gets me in a Range Rover. This boy's knees… I'm like, 'You got a billion dollars and you can't get a custom car?' Both his knees up his ears. And all I'm thinking about is the crash. I'm nervous as a** in that car. I sweat for goodness, dog," Cuttino explained. Maybe Yao was fine in a Range Rover Mobley did not say when this incident happened, but in 2013, Ming talked about driving a Range Rover in China because he wouldn't fit in cars. During that period, Land Rover produced a new Range Rover model with bigger legroom. Advertisement "The first, and arguably the most welcome addition to the Range lineup, is the long-wheelbase version, which tugs the rear wheels aft nearly eight inches to increase rear-seat legroom by 5.5 inches. Those who opt for this option will have the choice of a bench seat for a trio of passengers or a pair of bucket seats split by a center console. Take the latter layout, and the seats can recline up to 17 degrees, which is eight degrees more lying back than is available in the standard-wheelbase Range Rover," per Car and Driver. Based on this, Yao's Range Rover likely had just enough space for him, but not comfortable enough for Mobley to see. Still, it would not have hurt the Chinese legend to build a customized car, just as the late Wilt Chamberlain did when he satisfied his dream to drive a sports car by making his own — The Searcher One. Wilt's supercar cost $750,000 in 1986, which would translate to around $2.1 million today. That's a hefty price to pay, but although Yao isn't the billionaire that Cuttino claimed, his reported net worth of $160 to $180 million, depending on which website you're looking at, would be more than enough to pay for it, if he wanted to own one. Related: "I don't think I should defend myself anymore, I'm done with that in my life" - Allen Iverson on why he's had enough trying to defend his public image Yao once owned a customized BMW Ming had customized a car before when he was still playing in the NBA. During a stopover in Hong Kong in 2007, he fell in love with a BMW 7-series sedan and ended up buying one from a Houston car dealer. And because Yao would not fit in the driver's seat, he had it customized by Long Island car shop Unique AutoSport. Advertisement The project included lowering the car's body by four inches and moving the front seat by 18 inches. It also included extending the steering column and re-wiring the vehicle, which, according to shop owner Will Castro, were the complex parts of the job. "Doing all this wasn't too easy since we couldn't chalk up anything like a tailor," said Castro. "It was particularly difficult to put in all the new wiring and to machine the steering column. That meant getting in and out of the car a thousand times and putting in special wiring because of the fiber optics. But it now works beautifully," he added. After two and a half weeks and a cost of $30,000, Castro personally delivered the car to Yao's Houston home. When he gave the 7'5'' center an after-sales call a couple of months later, all Ming told him was, "Great job" and "It works." Advertisement Aside from fitting in the driver's seat, Yao's issue with driving was that he couldn't see the traffic lights. But that issue was solved after Castro's crew lowered the car floor. "Before, he couldn't see the traffic lights through the windshield because he was looking above the glass. But now, sitting four inches lower, he saw everything perfectly," he concluded. Related: Cuttino Mobley breaks down why Yao is by far the most influential international player in NBA history: "He didn't come as a bust" This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 17, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
8 Hybrid Vehicles That Last Longer Than You Think and Are Worth the Money
As the technology behind electric vehicles (EVs) continues to evolve, the mileage range of EVs is growing too, with the electric rides able to go farther than ever before between charging sessions. For the most part, though, no battery-powered vehicle matches the range of a hybrid ride, which combines an internal combustion engine with an electric motor for more efficient fuel economy, fewer emissions, added power and greater affordability to fit your budget better. Read Next: For You: Perhaps most importantly, hybrid vehicles can quite simply go much, much farther than EVs before needing to refuel or recharge. To that end, GOBankingRates compiled a listing of some of the farthest-reaching hybrids on the market, cars with long-enough range to justify their occasionally steep prices. Range: 704 miles The Ford F-150 is currently the longest-range hybrid on the American market, per Kelley Blue Book, making it to just over 700 miles. The hybrid truck — which also comes in standard internal combustion models, as well as a full EV model — also gets 22 miles per gallon (mpg) in the city, 24 mpg on the highway and 23 mpg combined with its 30-gallon full tank alone. Discover More: Range: 688 miles Car and Driver wrote that, while not cheap, this hybrid Benz not only comes with a big batter and incredible fuel economy, but with amazing speed as well — hitting 60 mph in 4.2 seconds. Range: 686 miles Kelley Blue Book clocked the 2024 Toyota Camry as both the longest-range hybrid sedan on sale in America and the top-ranking Toyota. Range: 670 miles The Elantra comes in just under the Camry in both range and price, per Kelley Blue Book. Range: 655 miles Kelly Blue Book reported that the Sorento's 2025 interior has received a massive tech upgrade compared to prior models, but warned consumers to stick with the front-wheel drive model (FWD), as the All-Wheel Drive (AWD) model only has a 602-mile range, while the FWD manages 655 miles total. Range: 648 In addition to comfortable interior space and style, Kelly Blue Book touted the Sienna as the longest-range hybrid minivan available in America. Range: 644 There's a reason you always see a Prius on the road — they're reliable and have an incredible range. Kelly Blue Book offered one small caveat: while the FWD Prius has a range of 644 miles, the AWD model only reaches 567 miles. Range: 644 While the LC 500h is extremely pricey — starting in the six-figure range — it more than makes up for it with a sleek body design, very high-technology interiors and a range of 644 miles, making it the longest-range luxury coupe in America, according to Kelley Blue Book. More From GOBankingRates Mark Cuban Warns of 'Red Rural Recession' -- 4 States That Could Get Hit Hard 6 Popular SUVs That Aren't Worth the Cost -- and 6 Affordable Alternatives 7 Luxury SUVs That Will Become Affordable in 2025 This article originally appeared on 8 Hybrid Vehicles That Last Longer Than You Think and Are Worth the Money
Car and Driver
11-06-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
2025 Ford Mustang GTD Officially Starts at $327,960
A window sticker posted online shows that the 2025 Ford Mustang GTD officially starts at $327,960 after destination and gas guzzler fees. With a $10,000 carbon-fiber roof and $1500 red brake calipers, the GTD in question comes out to $339,460 out the door. A representative for Ford confirmed the authenticity of the window sticker to Car and Driver. When it first broke cover in August 2023, the Ford Mustang GTD was anticipated to carry a roughly $300,000 starting price. Sometime after that, the rumored starting price edged closer to $325,000. Well, we can now confirm that the 2025 Mustang GTD officially starts at $327,960 before any options. One lucky owner's window sticker began floating between forums this week, giving us our first official look at the GTD's price breakdown. The sheet shows a base price of $318,760, but that doesn't include the $5500 delivery fee and $3700 gas-guzzler tax. A Ford spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the window sticker to Car and Driver. Ford Since the anonymous owner kept the options list to a minimum, we don't know how much some of the other options cost. Still, the Monroney for this specific car includes the $10,000 carbon-fiber roof and $1500 red brake calipers. The car isn't equipped with the optional aero package, so we're in the dark about the price of the drag-reduction system. Instead, this GTD will be outfitted with the huge static wing that a Multimatic spokesperson told us produces more downforce at 150 mph than a Porsche 911 GT3 RS at the same speed. Still, even without a laundry list of options, every GTD comes with a thundering supercharged 5.2-liter V-8 that generates 815 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. It also comes with a standard Akrapovič titanium exhaust, which you can listen to in this video of Dirk Müller piloting the GTD around the Nürburgring. Jack Fitzgerald Associate News Editor Jack Fitzgerald's love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn't afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf.
