Author: kirklandc008@gmail.com

Automotive Most people don’t spend much time thinking about accident claims, and that’s probably because they’re busy thinking about everything else instead. After all, when you’re driving to work, heading out for the day, or running errands, the last thing on your mind is usually what might happen if something goes wrong. The problem is that accidents can become expensive very quickly, and it’s not always the obvious costs people struggle with – there can be paperwork, insurance issues, unexpected delays, and all sorts of other complications that no one really wants to deal with. The good news…

Specialized is taking the increasingly popular concept of bikepacking and giving it a serious electric boost with the launch of the new Turbo Levo 4 X. The company describes the model with a simple tagline: “Electric Overlanding.” Basically, this is the bike to take you and all your gear beyond where the trail stops, blazing your own path and your own adventure. In practical terms, the Levo 4 X is essentially a Turbo Levo 4 outfitted for adventure travel, adding integrated front and rear cargo racks to Specialized’s flagship full-suspension electric mountain bike platform. The idea is to create an…

In 2021, I wrote about Fire Emblem for our 20th anniversary GBA story. Over the past five years, I’ve played it from start to finish two times, and can once again confirm that it is my favorite Game Boy Advance game. I hadn’t even heard about Fire Emblem as a series until I got into Advance Wars, another Intelligent Systems game. From there, I discovered that a whole series of fantasy-inspired games with similar gameplay existed, but had never been translated into English. Thirsty for more, but with a distinct lack of Japanese language skills, I spent a year getting…

The list of high-profile owners is extensive, and included Elvis Presley, Lucille Ball, and Elton John. The car has faded from public consciousness because of its niche market and the obscurity of the Stutz brand in the larger automotive landscape. Chevrolet Chevelle Laguna The Laguna made up a very small number of the total third generation Chevelles, making them quite rare and forgotten today. One of the key innovations of the Laguna was its urethane front end, allowing it to meet safety regulations without a massive blocky bumper, which most 70s cars were forced to adopt and ruined many a…

When Volkswagen takes credit for pioneering the hot hatchback, it overlooks the Autobianchi A112 Abarth. Admittedly, the A112 was easy to miss due to its small dimensions. It was introduced in September of 1971 (before anyone knew what a Golf was) as a hotter version of Autobianchi’s successful small car. Early models used a 58hp four-cylinder engine, though power climbed to 70bhp later in the production run. So what happened to Autobianchi? The company was a joint venture between bicycle-maker Bianchi, Pirelli, and Fiat. Fiat took full control in 1968, and then folded the operation into Lancia. The badge disappeared…

Ford has officially pulled the wraps off the 2027 Explorer ST Sinister package, a factory-built, blacked-out variant designed as a direct nod to the modification culture that has grown up around the ST badge. The package is available to order now, with dealer deliveries expected later this year. Built on the Explorer ST’s proven 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 — still rated at 385 horsepower — the Sinister package doesn’t touch the powertrain. Instead, it goes after the aesthetics hard, wrapping the SUV in a head-to-toe blacked-out treatment that looks closer to a tuner build than a factory order sheet. What the…

Ford created a tidy little niche for itself when it introduced an ST version of the Explorer family SUV. Higher performance, courtesy of a trim-exclusive twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6, has proven to be quite a draw for Blue Oval customers; just last year, the ST represented more than one in five Explorer sales, with customers drawn in by the SUV’s rear-drive dynamic balance and 400 boosted horses. Keen to capitalize on that momentum is a new special edition for 2027, called the Sinister Package. As you might guess, it’s a styling pack that subs in some black accents, making it a…

A CATL Naxtra battery pack on display at the Beijing Auto Show in April 2026. Credit: CnEVPost CATL led a seed funding round worth hundreds of millions of yuan in Beta Fusion, marking the power battery giant’s first investment in a nuclear fusion company. Beta Fusion, founded in 2025, aims to achieve 50-100 MW of grid-connected power generation within 6 to 8 years. CATL (HKEX: 3750), the world’s largest power battery maker, has led a seed funding round in nuclear fusion startup Beta Fusion, marking the battery giant’s first foray into the nuclear fusion field. Chinese media outlet China Star…

Inside, material quality is largely OK for this class of car, although the plastic clothing the upper surface of the dash and the top of the doors is notably cheap in feel. In our car, there were also some deep, unsightly scratches already visible on the driver’s door. Otherwise, though, no other materials are particularly nasty and, despite running everything through the 12.8-inch touchscreen at the exclusion of almost all physical buttons, the tech and systems seem to work well. There are some annoying ADAS functions you’ll want to switch off, however, and some of the menu layouts in the…

After being the first on the scene with a V10-powered pickup truck in 1994, the Dodge Ram 2500’s 8-liter Magnum V10 engine was ultimately discontinued after 2003. If you’re wondering, that’s the same year the Hemi V8 engine arrived on the Mopar pickup truck scene, and also, the first year that Lamborghini put a V10 engine in their entry supercar, the Gallardo. The V10 heyday has come and gone, leaving Dodge’s daring V-10 pickup truck engine as one of the most affordable ways to access V-10 power in the second-hand market today. For the purposes of the feature below, we’re…