OnStar Disables Tahoe In High-Speed Chase

The exciting OnStar stolen vehicle disabling system has been used to disable a stolen Chevy Tahoe in California overnight. The alleged carjacker bailed out of the car only to fall into a pool. More »

Chevy, GMC Reveal XFE Versions Of Silverado, Sierra, Tahoe And Yukon For 2009

GM's just revealed a whole messload of details on their newest members of the GMT-900-based full-size SUV and truck lineup — the 2009 Chevy Silverado XFE, 2009 Chevy Tahoe XFE, 2009 GMC Sierra XFE and lastly, the 2009 GMC Yukon XFE. What's XFE? It stands for Xtra Fuel Economy and the four relative fuel-sippers join the already class-leading Chevy Cobalt XFE as vehicles GMs achieved added wallet-padding using a combination of mechanical, aerodynamic and mass-reducing enhancements. The tweaks help to deliver a 5% increase in EPA-estimated highway fuel economy and more than 7% improved mileage in city driving. They achieve 15 city and 21 highway mileage ratings versus comparable non-XFE models' 14/20 ratings. The XFE designation is only available on 2WD vehicles equipped with the 5.3-liter V8 mated to a six-speed transmission. But we're told they're able to accomplish the fuel economy bump without a knock to towing ratings. The Tahoe and Yukon are unchanged, while the Silverado and Sierra increase from 6,600 pounds to 7,000 pounds due to the new, six-speed transmission and high-capacity cooling package. Still with us? Good. Hit the jump for our take. More »

2008 Smart Fortwo: First U.S. Drive

The 2008 Smart Fortwo is burdened with preconceived notions like no car before it. It's not safe. You can't drive it on the highway. It's too small for super sized Americans. It's Green. It's gay. The car was launched in Europe in 1998, so Americans have had a decade to develop these assumptions. Until now, few have driven it, and never on American soil. Yesterday, we did. More »

This Is Our Country, This Is Our Chrysler?

According to The New York Times, those "talks" we reported on yesterday? Yeah, they're occurring, but apparently they're not what manager-magazin.de thought they were. According to Detroit bureau chief "Hey!" Micki Maynard's sources, it's actually all about the platforms. Namely, the platform that GM has and that the Chrysler Group wants. That's right, according to the NYT, the General's all about pimping out their GMT-900 platform to the king priest of the religion of platform prostitution, the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid. This makes some sense, because not only does Chrysler not have a Huge-UV, we've also heard the Chrysler Group's planning on killing the biggest one they've got, the Durango Big-UV platform, in their quest to cull the Chrysler-chaff from the...whatever. I guess it'd make sense for Chrysler to sell something a wee bit bigger that they could get a wee bit more money for — and all while not building anything themselves. Sounds like a plan to us. Anyone know what'd be in it for the General? Oh wait, they get to not shut down a plant and face the wrath of the UAW. Hmm...interesting. – Ray Wert More »