Ford Addresses One Fire-Related Recall Just as Another Flares Up

The RML Short Wheelbase (SWB) is not a Ferrari. It's inspired by the classic 250 GT SWB, but it's a new build powered by a modern-era 5.5-liter Ferrari V-12. Think of it as the best sort of homage—not a replica, not a restored, but something tweaked, improved, and usable. The images you're looking at are the first we've seen of the preproduction model, the one RML will use for durability testing. A lot of prepro mules are ugly, taped-together things with temporary lights and lots of warts. Not this RML—it's undeniably gorgeous.This isn't RML's first rodeo. The outfit has been doing kits to make the Aston Martin DB4 and DB5 continuation cars road legal, and even converted an Aston Martin Vulcan for road use. It's dabbled in stranger projects, too, like building a Nissan-GT-R-powered Juke-R crossover for that automaker's European operations. The SWB, though, is something different.And it's real. That's the important part. Whatever happens with the RML SWB at this point—and given where the market for things like this is right now, we doubt RML will lack for customers if they can bring the car to production—this prepro mule is a beautiful, physical testament to the enduring appeal of Golden Era Ferraris. RML says production will start soon, for whatever that's worth.This car will be put through its paces at the UTAC proving grounds (formerly Millbrook, built by GM and modeled after the Milford facility in the U.S. ), which will surely create some wear and tear. Rather than finish it to a lesser standard before it deteriorates, RML decided to make it look nice and grab a set of beautiful images beforehand. This, we greatly appreciate, because who doesn't love to gawk at a beautiful shape? That said, we hope RML isn't afraid to show the SWB doing its thing on the track, warts and all.

acura nsx Full OverviewProsThe most satisfying modern NSX, Engine pulls hard, Strong lateral grip.  ConsIt's dying just as it gets good, Needs a price-appropriate interior, Lacks ultimate steering feel. For decades, General Motors was notorious among its own loyalists for underfunding and underdeveloping a promising new car, expressing shock when initial sales excitement evaporated, reluctantly spending the money it should have in the first place to make the car as good as it should have been from the start, wondering why sales didn't rebound despite the tarnished reputation, then canceling the car once that it was finally good (see: Pontiac Fiero). Acura's parent company, Honda, has collaborated with GM in the past and continues to collaborate with GM today, and this is one tradition it shouldn't adopt. Case in point: the 2022 Acura NSX Type S. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Type S is what the NSX should've been from day one. The reborn NSX held such promise, and Acura engineers benchmarked the right cars. Their insistence in thinking like Honda engineers, though, and worrying about how practical their mid-engine supercar was and how it drove in Ohio winters, compromised its final form. They studied the Ferrari 458 Italia but built a car that didn't drive anywhere near as well or as viscerally.The limited-edition Type S makes great strides toward righting that wrong. It's far more engaging to drive than any NSX before it. Much of the feel and feedback missing from the standard car has finally broken through in the Type S.Test Numbers Trail Regular NSX'sUnfortunately, it seems to have come at the cost of some performance. Despite driving better than any other NSX we've tested, the Type S is also the slowest NSX we've ever tested. At 3.4 seconds to 60 mph, it's 0.4 second behind the quickest we've evaluated, and it doesn't get any better by the quarter-mile mark. To get there, the Type S needs 11.6 seconds, and it's traveling at 120.7 mph by the finish line, 0.4 second and 3.3 mph slower than the quickest one. It's not down to a bad launch, either, because the Type S is 0.2 second slower accelerating from 45 mph to 65 mph than the quickest NSX we've tested. This despite the Type S being the most powerful NSX ever at 600 hp and 492 lb-ft, 27 hp and 16 lb-ft more than any other.It's worth saying, though, that the NSX Type S experience is delightful. The engine revs very quickly and has a broad powerband thanks to the pancake electric motor mounted between the engine and transmission. It pulls hard all the way to redline, and the transmission, in Track mode, won't upshift until you've actually reached the redline, so you get every last pony. It's also happy to not upshift and let the engine wind back down if you lift off the throttle, helpful on a twisty road with short straights between tight corners. And despite all the electrification, the powertrain even manages to sound pretty good for a V-6. The engine noise is surprisingly melodious, and the turbo flutter is icing on the cake.Back to the instrumented testing results, it wasn't any better going the other way. Stopping the Type S from 60 mph required 103 feet, a massive 8 feet longer than the best one we've tested. On a mountain road, that translated to several instances of standing on the brakes and not getting the stopping power a 600-hp car ought to have. Making the experience somehow worse, the squishy, spongy brake pedal response provides no feedback. Better brakes would let this car go down the road considerably faster.There is a bright spot in the Type S' numbers, and it's shining on the handling results. Pulling 1.03 average lateral g on the skidpad ties it with the stickiest NSX, as does its 23.2-second figure-eight lap time, though the 0.89 average g it pulled on in the figure eight was 0.03 g off the leader.And you know what? We're OK with all of that. We're willing to give up a tenth here and two tenths there for a car that drives better. Still, this should've been the starting point six years ago, not the swan song.You do still have to drive it like an NSX, though. To get the most out of this powertrain, you need to treat it the way your high-performance driving instructor told you not to. Brake early, point it at the apex, and then get back on the power as soon as possible. Before the apex if you can. Normally, this delivers guaranteed understeer, but in the NSX, the front motors go to work, the nose bites, and it pulls you through the corner while accelerating hard. You can actually correct understeer by going to the power. Once you figure this out, the car becomes far more impressive than it is when driving it like a typical all-wheel-drive car.Tips For the Next One (Which Isn't Coming)Were this car to get the next generation it deserves, there are a few other components that could be further improved, as well. Body control, for one. The Type S is stiff, which is fine, but it lacks compliance. It's bouncing around way too much on bumpy pavement, making you constantly chase it with the steering or back out of throttle. It's especially bad in big brake zones where the car starts shimmying around in its lane. It's all manageable, but it shouldn't have to be managed. Tie it down, and, again, the car could go down the road noticeably faster.The steering is better than before, but it could be even better still. In this case, it's not so much holding the car back as it isn't making it better. It's very precise, but it lacks feel. Other companies have figured out how to get steering feel out of a car with electric motors powering the front axle, and Acura could, too.Then, of course, there's the interior. It was never up to snuff, and it still isn't because it hasn't changed. It looks like an Acura interior, and Acura doesn't make $200,000 interiors. A next-generation car would need a complete interior redo with much less plastic, a much more expressive design, and for the love of all that's holy, a modern infotainment system with a volume knob. You can't put Civic parts or even TLX parts in a car priced nearly on par with an entry-level Ferrari.Hopefully, Acura will get all those details right when the NSX returns as an EV in the future—as it's promised to, after a hiatus—but this still feels like a missed opportunity for the high-performance hybrid iteration of the car. The Type S proves the current NSX formula wasn't fundamentally flawed—it was just unfinished. It's a shame this car missed the mark so widely that its sales can't support a second generation of this model to finish the job. If the NSX Type S is any indication, it could've been great. Instead, Acura is pulling a GM and canceling it just as it started to get right. Everyone loses.Looks good! More details?2022 Acura NSX Type S Specifications BASE PRICE $171,495 PRICE AS TESTED $185,995 VEHICLE LAYOUT Mid-engine, 2 front and 1 rear motors, AWD, 2-pass, 2-door hatchback ENGINE, MOTOR Twin-turbo port- and direct-injected DOHC 24-valve 60-degree V-6, plus 3 permanent-magnet electric motors POWER (SAE NET) 520 hp @ 6,500 rpm (gas), 72 hp (comb front elec), 47 hp (rear elec); 600 hp (comb) TORQUE (SAE NET) 443 lb-ft @ 2,300 rpm (gas), 108 lb-ft (comb front elec), 109 lb-ft (rear elec); 492 lb-ft (comb) TRANSMISSIONS 1-speed auto (fr), 9-speed twin-clutch auto (rr) CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 3,903 lb (42/58%) WHEELBASE 103.5 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 178.5 x 76.3 x 47.8 in 0-60 MPH 3.4 sec QUARTER MILE 11.6 sec @ 120.7 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 103 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 1.03 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 23.2 sec @ 0.89 g (avg) EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 21/22/21 mpg EPA RANGE, COMB 328 miles ON SALE Now Show All

It's time to present the finalists for the inaugural MotorTrend Performance Vehicle of the Year. Yes, after running through our contenders—those rides that missed the cut for the final round of voting the PVOTY honors, we're introducing those that did make the finalist cut. One of these vehicles earned our Golden Calipers, having excelled in all six of our criteria (safety, value, advancement in design, engineering excellence, efficiency, and performance of intended function). The weighting of some of those criteria may differ slightly from our Car, Truck, and SUV of the Year competitions—after all, when outright performance is our focus, efficiency is perhaps graded on a curve—but every single one is considered when choosing our winner.Read on to meet the first four members of our finalist field—the rest will be unveiled tomorrow—to represent the cars that made it out of our initial round of voting following evaluations at Hyundai's Proving Ground outside of Los Angeles. The finalists then went on to road drives on Angeles Crest Highway and, later, grueling track tests at Willow Springs Raceway. Come back on Monday, February 14 to see which one emerged with the title!