U.S. Postal Service Ignores EPA Critique Of New Mail Trucks, Buys Them Anyway

Ever since the current-generation Ford Ranger landed on these shores—finally—a few years back, we've been looking abroad with some envy at the Ranger Raptor offered globally with swollen fenders, big ground clearance, and a twin-turbocharged Diesel engine with a stinking 369 lb-ft of torque. Anyone holding out hope for that particular Ranger Raptor, we're sorry—it's not coming, and it never will. But there's great news for you: the next one is. The 2023 Ford Ranger Raptor isn't only better than that old truck, it's also coming to America. And wait until you get a load of its specs.For one, that 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4 diesel is gone, and in its place is a 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V-6 worked over by Ford Performance and producing 284 horsepower and 362 lb-ft of twist. That's down a few lb-ft, but ups whopping 74 horsepower over the old truck. This performance engine features an anti-lag system similar to what is fitted to the Euro-market Focus ST. Power is channeled through Ford's familiar 10-speed automatic and a full-time four-wheel-drive system that features a two-speed transfer case. The off-road hardware is impressive. Requisite front and rear diff lockers are present, and there is a full complement of selectable terrain modes, including Baja mode for high-speed desert rips. Speaking of, the chassis has been reinforced in all the expected ways to cope with the severe stresses on the suspension of, say, hitting a medium-sized rock at 60 mph on the playa. That means that the suspension mounts are all beefed up, and some parts of the frame around the bed and spare tire well. You can see all the reinforcements in the image below, and they're not dissimilar from those in the 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor, which utilizes a similar frame.The suspension itself consists of beefy aluminum control arms up front, and a live axle with a Watt's linkage out back. Ford returned to Fox to swipe 2.5-inch Live Valve internal bypass shock absorbers to deal with wheel oscillation punishment. (Interestingly, these units are of a smaller diameter than the 3.1-inch units in the Bronco Raptor.) Ford claims that the Teflon-infused oil inside these revised shocks reduces friction—and performance-robbing heat—by 50 percent. Ford also promises better on-road comfort than the previous model. A Bottom-Out Control feature provides more damping force in the last quarter of the shock's travel, to prevent spine-rearranging slaps on the bump stops. There is some serious armor under this truck. 2.3mm steel plates protect vulnerable points underneath the front of the truck, and also protrude out from the bumper giving the truck a stylish underbite. The radiator, steering, engine sump, and differential are all protected. Most importantly, the new Ranger Raptor manages to keep the handsome, Maverick-influenced look of the "regular" next-gen Ranger intact while adding a serious dose of adrenaline. Remember, the current-gen Ranger wasn't initially designed for the American market—it was adapted after the fact from a global-market truck. And it shows. The new Ranger is a true global product, one designed with the U.S. in mind from the get-go, and we think the new Ranger Raptor shows that there was some serious forethought that went into ensuring it'd appeal to buyers on both sides of the pond—buyers that have very different conceptions of what a pickup should be. The elements you'd expect are all present—big fenders with black arch extensions, a grille with a "FORD" logo you could see from space, hood and fender blisters, and a rugged rear end with tucked up twin-exit exhausts. The loop and side rails on the bed look to us to be more of a Euro-market styling element, but perhaps that will come to us, too.The interior is much more modern than our Ranger, and obviously is very similar to the global Ranger we saw last year, with the expected Raptor touches—bright Code Orange accents, a sporty steering wheel, and bolstered sport seats.This is a good time to mention that you're looking at the ROW version, specifically the U.K. market version. Don't be surprised if there are minor variations in the American-market truck—head- and tail lamps and bumpers are often different in different markets. But it's a very close preview of what we will get, that has been loudly confirmed to the world by Ford—an American-market Ford Ranger Raptor, designed from the ground up with us in mind. That's something worth getting very excited about.

With Acura's NSX supercar being sunsetted this year after the final run of Type S variants is built, the Performance Manufacturing Center (PMC) where it is assembled by hand is going to need purpose. Well, a different purpose, at least—and Acura's been trying to give it some over the past few years with its normal-looking-on-the-outside, secretly hand-built batches of PMC Editions of its mainstream models. These mostly ordinary Acura models are usually gifted some special paint—a lustrous red on the 2020 TLX PMC Edition, a blazing orange on the 2021 RDX PMC Edition, etc.—and carry the distinction of being hand-built in the same factory as the NSX supercar, by the same technicians, even. The newest addition to this PMC family? The latest-generation TLX sedan.As mentioned, there has been a TLX PMC Edition previously, but that was based on the previous-generation TLX. This 2023 Acura TLX PMC Edition blends not only the newest TLX with the PMC treatment, but also the TLX in its spicier 355-hp Type S form, which also gets Acura's torque-vectoring Super Handling All-Wheel Drive. This sport sedan with a name of many characters will, ironically, be limited in number, though Acura hasn't outlined yet what that number will be. (Past PMCs were built in numbered runs, with each model wearing a plaque inside with its unique figure; there is a similar plaque pictured on the new '23 TLX, but it only shows "001," not how many that number is out of.) It is, of course, built by hand at Acura's PMC in Ohio, and for an added dash of fancy, each car will be delivered in a covered, single-car transporter to its delivery dealership in order to keep the paint free from blemishes.In no small part because this TLX PMC Edition is based on the already saucy looking Type S version of Acura's midsize sedan, it is an altogether more serious-looking machine than the old one. Acura steps up the visuals with copper-colored 21-inch wheels, carbon-fiber rear spoiler and diffuser pieces, and Berlina Black (a classic Honda color) roof and door mirrors. Three colors will be available, and (go, America!), they're Curva Red (with a black interior), 130R White (red interior), and Long Beach Blue (with a white interior)—perfectly timed for a certain celebratory weekend in the U.S.A. All three colors are borrowed from the NSX, too.Other enhancements on the PMC include Pirelli P-Zero summer tires, carbon fiber interior trim, backlit "Type S" door sill plates, and blacked-out badges. The result is a TLX Type S that is subtly different, but in a hard-to-place way if you just saw one on the street.Of course, the delicious, even subtler aspect of these PMC cars has long been their hand assembly, which is just plain unusual for cars not priced in the stratosphere. Like with past PMC Editions, we anticipate the TLX Type S version won't break the bank, costing a few thousand bucks more than a regular one. Again, imagine someone paying just a little more for, say, a hand-built Ford F-150 or Honda Civic. It's both weird and kind of, secretly, maybe cool. We'll know final pricing and, likely, how limited production will be when the order books open for the TLX Type S PMC Edition later this year.

cadillac ct5 Full OverviewCadillac's story in the two decades since the year 2000 has been one of chasing dreams. It went on a search for Art and Science. It traveled east to New York to find brand cachet and score modeling gigs. Like every carmaker, it pivoted wildly to crossovers and SUVs. Then along came EVs and the pledge that every Cadillac would soon be all-electric, all the time.Then there was V, the attempt to out-German the Germans at sport sedans. Like many of Cadillac's efforts in the past 20 years, it didn't quite pan out. But man, did the company ever get close, and the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is the proverbial going-out-with-a-bang car that should reverberate as one of the greatest American sport sedans of all time 20 years from now.The powertrain numbers are the pinnacle of Cadillac's gas-only power and performance: 668 hp and 659 lb-ft of torque from a 6.2-liter supercharged, direct-injected V-8. The engine itself is one of the last of the venerable LTs from GM's murderer's row of V-8s—the LT4. You get your choice of transmissions to pair with this aluminum-cast monster: an available 10-speed automatic or the standard Tremec six-speed manual.How Well Does the CT5-V Perform?For our instrumented test runs, we scored a manual-equipped version of the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing. It also came with one significant performance upgrade, Cadillac's optional carbon-ceramic front and rear brake package ($9,000). Though our test team experienced some issues launching the car from a stop, the CT5-V (eventually) performed about as expected.In fact, our number from 0-60 mph mirrored what Cadillac called out in its own estimates, a 3.6-second run. But it didn't exactly come easy. We found it incredibly tricky to get the CT5-V to hook up, despite following Cadillac's extensive launch instructions, including bleeding the tires down to 35 psi, which helped.Our most experienced tester, road test editor Chris Walton, also had his hands full with getting the CT5-V to launch correctly and channeling the car's prodigious power to the pavement. It ultimately thundered its way to a best quarter-mile time of 11.5 seconds at 127.5 mph."I, too, struggled with the launch on this car," Walton said. "It's one of those 'you can't go to wide-open throttle until the very top of first gear or you roast the rear tires.' I tried automatic launch control first, then started tweaking the launch rpm and tire-slip knobs. After failures and some successes, I found one that worked on our testing surface: 4,000 rpm with 10 percent slip, which goes against logic, but it worked."The brakes were also a bone of contention with the test team. We recorded 102 feet to stop from 60 mph—a more than respectable number, especially considering the CT5-V Blackwing's 4,067-pound curb weight—but Walton wasn't exactly enamored with what he found when he pressed the slow pedal. "The brakes are OK," he said. "The pedal feels unnecessarily firm, making it difficult to modulate on the release into the skidpad." That said, the team reported that the carbon units held up well after repeated whoa downs from triple-digit speeds.Dynamic Numbers Are DynamicWe also had some trouble getting things totally sorted on the skidpad, but the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing still put up some super numbers in the lateral-g and figure-eight departments, helped in part by a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. Its 1.04-g average number is up there with the best sedans we've tested in recent years, and it matches that of the 2022 BMW M5 CS (interestingly, its CT4-V Blackwing stablemate performed a smidge better at 1.05 g).Out on our MotorTrend figure eight, the CT5-V Blackwing posted a 23.4-second lap at 0.89 g (average), with the M5 edging it at 23.2 seconds at 0.92 g. No, it didn't quite out-German the M5 dynamically, but for a front-engine, rear-drive sedan with a manual transmission (the M5 is all-wheel drive with an eight-speed automatic), the Cadillac is right there with it. That's duly impressive for a car that is in essence in its first and last generation. Yes, it's an evolution of the CTS-V, but the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is its own car, a Blackwing that can really fly.SPECIFICATIONS 2022 Cadillac CT5 V Blackwing BASE PRICE $84,990 PRICE AS TESTED $112,545 VEHICLE LAYOUT Front-engine, RWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan ENGINE 6.2L Supercharged direct-injected OHV 16-valve 90-degree V-8 POWER (SAE NET) 668 hp @ 6,500 rpm TORQUE (SAE NET) 659 lb-ft @ 3,600 rpm TRANSMISSION 6-speed manual CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 4,067 lb (54/46%) WHEELBASE 116.0 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 194.9 x 74.1 x 56.5 in 0-60 MPH 3.6 sec QUARTER MILE 11.5 sec @ 127.5 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 102 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 1.04 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 23.4 sec @ 0.89 g (avg) EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 13/21/15 mpg ON SALE Now Show All Looks good! More details?