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How VW’s Manual Lineup Quietly Disappeared 2025 Volkswagen Jetta GLI front shotLyndon Conrad Bell | TopSpeed For years, Volkswagen maintained one of the more enthusiast-friendly transmission menus among mainstream brands in America. The Golf GTI, the car that defined the affordable performance segment when it arrived stateside for 1983 as the Rabbit, was long available with a six-speed manual. So was the all-wheel-drive Golf R, which gave buyers a rare combination of everyday usability and genuine driver engagement. The Jetta GLI — essentially a sedan version of the GTI — carried the manual torch even after its hatchback sibling dropped…

The biggest car news and reviews, no BS Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really matter directly to you, every weekday. Welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short, The Drive’s morning automotive news roundup bringing you the biggest headlines from around the globe. TDS summarizes stories with a sentence or two, along with links for those who wish to dive deeper. Here’s what’s cooking on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. 💡 The Ferrari Luce has drawn sharp criticism from just about everybody, but the most biting comes courtesy of the automaker’s former chairman, Luca di Montezemolo, who told reporters on Tuesday…

AI sees extensive use across many industries, but its reliability still leaves something to be desired.  In the year 2026, AI is everywhere. Schools, online journals, laboratories, and an ever-increasing number of private companies employ AI programs for a vast variety of tasks, typically in the name of speed and efficiency.  As anyone who has used an AI chatbot before can tell you, however, that speed can come at the cost of truthfulness.  AI’s Hallucination Problem  If you were to tell a chatbot that you would be “willing to pay a million bucks to have pizza right now,” the LLM powering…

Sadly, though, if you step out of the Luce and look back, you’ll see the Apple influence takes over almost entirely. The ‘squircle’ proportions are classic Ive, but aside from the F355-style rear lights, there’s very little ‘Ferrari’ to be found. The sports car firm has, admittedly, slowly evolved its visual language throughout the years, with the Daytona and 360 perhaps marking Maranello’s biggest leaps in terms of design. Nevertheless, a Ferrari has almost always been instantly recognisable as a Ferrari – something that if it weren’t for the badges, I’m not sure that the Luce would. In fact, it…

Seat will offer electric cars when production costs come down further but will not simply ‘de-content’ and rebadge Cupra EVs, because the sibling brands will have entirely separate line-ups going forward. Seat recently ended a long drought of new model launches with facelifts for the Ibiza supermini and Arona crossover, the first substantial investments in its line-up since the launch of the fourth-generation Leon in 2020, and will follow up with new mild-hybrid engines for the duo next year.  However, with the recent retirement of the Ateca and Tarraco SUVs, Seat is down to just three models, all petrol-powered, and has given little indication…

A file photo shows an Xpeng G9 equipped with RoboSense LiDAR. Credit: CnEVPost RoboSense’s robotics LiDAR sales reached 185,500 units in the first quarter, accounting for more than half of its total shipments for the first time. The company’s gross margin dropped to 21.7% in the first quarter, driven by a decline in average selling price due to a higher proportion of lower-priced products. Chinese LiDAR maker RoboSense (HKEX: 2498) reported a 1,458.8% surge in sensor shipments for robotics in the first quarter of 2026, surpassing its automotive business for the first time. The staggering growth propelled the company’s total…

If you want an iPad that’s more powerful than the entry-level model but less expensive than the iPad Pro, the latest iPad Air is the one to buy, and it’s down to one its best prices to date. The 11-inch Air with 128GB of storage and Wi-Fi connectivity is available at Amazon starting at $519.99 ($79 off). If you want a larger screen, the base 13-inch Air has dropped to a new low price of $699 ($100 off), also at Amazon.No matter which size you choose, the new iPad Air is noticeably faster than the base iPad thanks to its…

Restomod companies are seemingly a dime a dozen lately, with new ones popping up all the time (usually shilling some Porsche or Land Rover or Mustang). If the fatigue of yet another modernized classic is getting you down, may we suggest something far more unique, like the recently announced Brado Carbon Buggy concept? Debuting this week at the Motor Valley Fest in Italy, the Carbon Buggy very clearly channels the spirit of the original, Volkswagen-based Meyers Manx dune buggy, but look closer and you’ll see the entire body structure is hewn from stiff, robust carbon fiber. German Engineering, Italian Style,…

While all cars tend to be depreciating assets, luxury vehicles are among the worst offenders when it comes to resale value. Whether due to elevated maintenance costs, a propensity among high-dollar buyers to want something brand-new, or cutting-edge technology that suddenly seems out of date five years later, the most expensive cars on the market paradoxically tend to lose value the quickest. That includes the likes of the BMW X7 (including the pricey Alpina XB7 model) and the Mercedes-Benz GLS, whether you go for the mainstream version, the opulent Maybach, or the sporty AMG. One premium automaker tends to wreck…

Forget the $630,000 iFerrari, because there’s another all-new EV from a legendary Italian marque that’s just been released – and this one could have a much bigger impact on the North American market than Maranello’s. Meet the all new Lancia Gamma. For the uninitiated and any readers who’ve never heard of the Gran Turismo game series, Lancia is a legendary rally brand that’s won more races and championships than literally any other – but that whole, “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” thing hasn’t really worked out for them, and they currently make do selling a few hundred examples of the subcompact…