Lt 4dr Sedan Ethanol - Ffv 2-stage Unlocking - Remote Abs - 4-wheel Compass on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Hillary Clinton takes to campaign trail in a van called Scooby

It still seems way too early to even starting thinking about the 2016 presidential election, but candidates are already throwing their hats in the ring. Among the officially announced hopefuls so far is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. To kick off her run for office, she recently embarked on a long-distance road trip from her home in New York to the campaign battleground of Iowa. Rather than a limo, she was driven there in a conversion van (pictured above) that Clinton named Scooby after Hanna-Barbera's famous, mystery-solving dog. According to Yahoo Autos, the vehicle itself is a Chevrolet Express that has been customized by the Explorer Van Company, and Time says that it's also armored. Clinton isn't behind the wheel, though. All those years in public office mean that the Secret Service does the driving. Of course, the vehicle in Scooby Doo was named the Mystery Machine, and Scooby was mostly brown, not black. To explain the somewhat odd naming, Clinton traveled around in a brown van during her 2000 Senate campaign in New York, and it earned the nickname Scooby, according to Time. Apparently, the moniker has stuck for her latest ride. If the start of the Clinton campaign seems early, she isn't the first White House hopeful to arrive in Iowa this year. A bunch of possible Republican candidates already met at summits in the state at least twice to gain favor ahead of the caucus there. No word on what they were driving...

J.D. Power study identifies top seats for your tush

File under News your fanny can use: The seating systems in the Ford Escape and Edge, the Audi A3, Chevrolet Cruze, Kia Cadenza, Porsche Cayenne and Toyota Tundra received top marks in a new J.D. Power study on seating and seat belt quality and satisfaction. The J.D. Power 2017 Seat Quality and Satisfaction Study asked more than 77,000 new owners and lessees of 2017 model-year cars and light trucks to rate their vehicle's seats and seat belts within the first 90 days of taking ownership. The survey is broken up into seven vehicle segments and scored on total seat problems per 100 within each segment, with awards presented to the seating system supplier. Canadian auto supplier Magna won three of seven first-place awards for its seating systems in the A3, Escape and Edge. Ireland-based Adient got top marks for its seats in the Cadenza and Cayenne. Lear Corp. won for the Cruze, and Avanzar Interior Technologies scored highest for seats in the Tundra. J.D. Power says its study is intended for automakers and suppliers with quality and satisfaction information to be used in developing and marketing seating systems. "But the results are just as interesting to a consumer audience," the company says. "After all, some drivers spend a considerable amount of time behind the wheel, and it's helpful to know which vehicles offer the most comfortable seats for those long commutes." Ain't that the truth. Ford was the only automaker whose seat systems, both manufactured by Magna, received top honors in two segments: the Escape for mass-market compact SUV and the Edge for mass-market midsize/large SUV. J.D. Power says it used 22 attributes to measure seat quality, three measures of seat belt quality and 12 to measure satisfaction. Awards were presented to the seating suppliers. Related Video: Image Credit: Audi Auto News Design/Style Audi Chevrolet Ford Kia Porsche Toyota Safety JD Power seats

Chevrolet Captiva looks mildly refreshed and ready for family duty

We showed you Chevrolet's major debut yesterday, the 2014 Corvette Stingray Convertible, but General Motors is making a big push for Bowtie consideration in Europe, so it's also introducing the updated Captiva crossover here at the Geneva Motor Show.
While still based on the same platform as North America's fleet-only Captiva Sport (which is effectively a rebadged Saturn Vue), the Captiva is available in both five- and seven-seat iterations, and it looks far more modern. That's particularly the case with this updated model, which features revamped front- and rear ends that include restyled bumpers, grilles and LED taillamps, among other changes.
As before, the midsize Theta-platform CUV will be available in both front- and all-wheel drive, and is expected to carry a range of four- and six-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines. Important US programming note: Chevrolet sources tell us that America's Captiva Sport will not receive these updates.