2006 Cadillac Sts V8 All Wheel Drive on 2040-cars

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Ghostbusters director tweets first photos of new Ecto-1

Ghostbusters is heading back to theaters next year with a new look. Rather than bringing back the original's aging comedic actors, four actresses are taking over the starring roles, including Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. Although, one of the movie's major highlights is missing from that list – the Ecto-1. Originally based on a 1959 Cadillac ambulance, we're now getting the first glimpses of the decked-out, ghost-hunting wagon from the new version thanks to director Paul Feig on Twitter. Purists might like that the Ghostbusters are sticking with a Caddy, but the producers are going for a slightly newer, more macabre approach, as well. Rather than an ambulance conversion, the latest one starts as a hearse. Feig also has his Twitter profile picture of a ghost taking over as the hood ornament, and he even tweeted a shot of the rear. @szewcik_james Okay. pic.twitter.com/sHkx1Soj6p — Paul Feig (@paulfeig) July 8, 2015 Being the Internet, Feig is being deluged both with hyperbolic vitriol for changing things, and praise for the switch. He has politely tweeted about the situation. Not blocking or deleting. I hear you all and appreciate all your input, good or bad. Thanks. https://t.co/pxZsWGeNyL — Paul Feig (@paulfeig) July 8, 2015 Keep in mind this Caddy hearse is about as old today as the original Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters' release in 1984. Having the ladies driving a '50s Caddy might stretch the imagination too far even in a movie about fighting the undead. This approach seems like a perfect compromise between old and new.

Buy a Mosler Twinstar, the V16 Cadillac you almost wanted [w/video]

Cadillac was once famous for opulent, V16 luxury vehicles, but this bizarre 16-cylinder 1999 Eldorado that's for auction on eBay Motors isn't much like its ancestors. Dubbed the TwinStar, this beast features a Northstar V8 with 275 horsepower to drive the front wheels and a second Northstar with 300 hp is in the trunk to spin the rear axle. Each mill has its own four-speed automatic gearbox, and the result is a total of 575 hp of all-wheel drive fury in an incredibly weird package. The TwinStar's interior and exterior certainly don't hide the odd powertrain setup. To fit the engine in the trunk, the builders pushed the rear wheels further back and lengthened the wheelbase. There are also scoops low on each side to funnel air to the V8. Inside, there's a second ignition on the side of the center stack, and a digital instrument cluster replaces the glove box. It's sure to confuse any passenger you can convince to take a ride in this thing. Mosler, the supercar company known for models like the MT900, built five TwinStars, according to the auction. The seller links to the original review by Car and Driver, and the magazine noted that the sensation of the two engines working in tandem was rather odd. However, the TwinStar was a capable performer and ran to 60 in 5 seconds in its test. If you want to start your new year with the oddest vehicle possible, the TwinStar's auction sits at $5,600 with the reserve not met as of this writing, and it ends January 2, 2016, at 8:00 PM ET. If you can't wait that long, the dealer lists the car online for $39,900. There's also a spirited conversation on Bring a Trailer about this automotive oddity.

Teaching autonomous vehicles to drive like (some) humans

While I love driving, I can't wait for fully autonomous vehicles. I have no doubt they'll reduce car accidents, 94 percent of which are caused by human error, leading to more than 37,000 road deaths in the U.S. last year. And if it means I can fly home at night in winter and get safely shuttled to my house an hour-plus away — and not have to endure a typical white-knuckle drive in the dark with torrential rain and blinding spray from 18-wheelers on Interstate 84 — sign me up. Autonomous technology will also take some of the stress, tedium and fatigue out of long highway drives, as I recently discovered while testing Cadillac Super Cruise. AVs are also supposed to eventually help increase traffic flow and reduce gridlock. But according to a recent Automotive News article, as the first wave of AVs are being tested on public roads, they're having the opposite effect. Part of the problem is they drive too cautiously and are programmed to strictly follow the written rules of the road rather than going with the flow of traffic. "Humans violate the rules in a safe and principled way, and the reality is that autonomous vehicles in the future may have to do the same thing if they don't want to be the source of bottlenecks," Karl Iagnemma, CEO of self-driving technology developer NuTonomy, told Automotive News. "You put a car on the road which may be driving by the letter of the law, but compared to the surrounding road users, it's acting very conservatively." I get it that, like teen drivers, AVs need a ramp up period to learn the unwritten rules of the road and that a skeptical public has to be convinced of the technology's safety. But this is where I become less of a champion on AVs, since where I live in the Pacific Northwest we already have more than our share of overly cautious human drivers. Since moving here 12 years ago, I've found it's an interesting paradox that a region famous for its strong coffee, where you'd think most drivers would be jacked up on caffeine, is also the home to annoyingly measured motorists. As an auto-journo colleague living in Seattle so aptly put it: "People in the Pacific Northwest drive as if they have nowhere to go." If you drive like me and always have somewhere to go — and usually are in a hurry to get there — it's absolutely maddening.