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2013 GMC Acadia Raises Saturn Outlook Parts From the Dead [Chicago Auto Show] Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 10:25 pm

GM is committed to recycling. Or is it heritage? Maybe both. We bring this up because the 2013 Acadia‘s new look might not be so, well, new. Take a gander at the picture below to see what we mean. Yes, that’s the same wraparound rear glass treatment on the now-defunct Saturn Outlook (Saturn’s version of the [...]

Car and Driver Blog | David Gluckman

Nissan Planning Crowd-Sourced 370Z Project Car via Facebook [Chicago Auto Show] Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 9:52 pm

To help kick off the launch of its ever-so-lightly refreshed 370Z sports car, Nissan is launching a social-media campaign by which the public can help design a tricked-out Z. The automaker is imaginatively calling the crowd-sourced Z “Project 370Z,” and will show the final product at this year’s annual ZDayZ gathering. Project 370Z will be [...]

Car and Driver Blog | Alexander Stoklosa

2013 Nissan NV200 Revealed: Some Competition for the Ford Transit Connect [Chicago Auto Show] Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 7:29 pm

Vans are cool. The A-Team had a van, rock bands drive them, and Shaggy and Scooby rode in the Mystery Machine. So it’s with a smile that we watch the sliding-door offerings in this country expand and improve from Bronze-age chariots of sadness to Euro-bred hyperhaulers. Ford was first to launch a compact van here, [...]

Car and Driver Blog | Justin Berkowitz

Name That Shifter, No. 62: 1987 Volvo 480ES Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 6:37 pm

On Monday, we presented this week’s shifter and asked you to identify the make and model of the vehicle from whence it came. A few commenters posited guesses that the shifter belonged to a 1980s Volvo 440. Those guesses were close, but the stick is actually from the 1987 Volvo 480ES. Mark M. submitted the [...]

Car and Driver Blog | Car and Driver

2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Convertible: Most Powerful ‘Stang Droptop Celeberates 20 Years of SVT [Chicago Auto Show] Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 6:29 pm

Ford dropped an automotive bomb when it introduced the 650-hp, 200-mph 2013 Mustang Shelby GT500 coupe late last year at the L.A. auto show. Seemingly overnight, the bar by which all muscle machines are measured was reset—tough luck, 580-hp Chevrolet Camaro ZL1—and no one outside of Ford has even driven the thing yet. The 2013 [...]

Car and Driver Blog | Alexander Stoklosa

Kia Reveals Range-Topping Limited Package for 2012 Optima SX [Chicago Auto Show] Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 4:44 pm

Kia unveiled the 2012 Optima SX Limited sedan today at the Chicago auto show; it’s a new, fully loaded trim that sits at the top of the mid-size Optima range. It’s true that family-sedan news hardly stokes the enthusiast fire, but the Limited is based on one of the nicest-driving mainstream four-doors on the market: [...]

Car and Driver Blog | Alexander Stoklosa

Kia Track’ster Concept: Soul-Based, Two-Door’d, Turbo’d [Chicago Auto Show] Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 4:16 pm

There must be something about the Soul hatchback that compels Kia to use bizarre punctuation. Take, for example, the Soul’s + and ! (Plus and Exclaim in our language) trim levels, and the topless Soul’ster concept from three years ago. This Track’ster is the company’s second apostrophe-laden Soul-based concept: It’s a 250-hp, all-wheel-drive hatchback that [...]

Car and Driver Blog | Alexander Stoklosa