2014 Ram 2500 Slt on 2040-cars

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Ram 2500HD, 3500HD Kentucky Derby edition gives a leg up to horse owners

This year will be the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs, an event and a track Ram has sponsored for the past 10 years. To celebrate the milestones, Ram's unveiled a Kentucky Derby Limited Edition of the recently introduced 2500 HD and 3500 HD. The truck maker specced equipment meant to give breeders and their crews confidence when hauling multi-million-dollar, 3-year-old Thoroughbreds. That means trailering technology like the 360-degree surround-view camera with trailer-reverse guidance, fifth-wheel/gooseneck prep, and air suspension with bed lowering. There's also Forward Collision Warning-Plus with trailer braking, and a bed step. Starting with the Limited trim, those features come as part of the Limited Level 1 Equipment Group, Towing Technology Group, and 5th Wheel/Gooseneck Towing Group. That bundle throws in the Uconnect 12-inch touchscreen radio with Sirius XM 360L and navigation, power-retracting running boards and blind-spot monitoring, too. The combined price of those packages alone is $3,885. Ram has priced the Kentucky Derby trucks at $66,890 for the 2500 HD, $68,240 for the 3500, plus a $1,695 destination fee for both. That's $2,250 more than the base price of the 2500 Limited, and just $625 more than the entry-level 3500 Limited. The extra-cost equipment doesn't end there, though. A billet-appearance grille sets the tone up front, body-colored bumpers are fitted front and rear, and a DOT safety kit gets stashed in a cubby. The interior's been dressed in black and saddle brown leather with greystone stitching and piping. Ram has capped production at 1,000 units, available in almost every configuration possible on the 2500 and 3500: Cummins 6.7-liter Turbo Diesel I-6 in standard or 1,000 foot-pound trim, 6.4-liter Hemi V8, 4x2 or 4x4, Mega Cab or Crew Cab, single rear wheel or dual rear wheel, 6-foot-4 or 8-foot bed lengths. The only exclusion appears to be that you can't order the truck in Billet Silver Metallic, one hue in the eight-strong exterior palette. If you're OK with that, then giddy up.

CEO Sergio Marchionne curses FCA spokesman for emissions cheating denial

WASHINGTON — Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne reprimanded the company's top U.S. spokesman for issuing press releases about Fiat's vehicle emissions practices days after Volkswagen's disclosure in September 2015 that the German automaker had used illegal software to evade emissions tests, documents released Monday show. Lawyers suing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in a securities case filed excerpts of an email from Marchionne to Gualberto Ranieri, then the company's U.S. spokesman, in a filing in federal court in New York criticizing him for saying that the company does not use defeat devices. "Are you out of your goddam mind?" Marchionne wrote in an email on Sept. 22, 2015, adding that Ranieri should be fired and calling his actions "utterly stupid and unconscionable." The company said in a statement on Monday it was "understandable that our CEO would have a forceful response to any employee who would opine on such a significant and complex matter, without the matter having been fully reviewed through its appropriate channels." The statement added that Ranieri's comments came just days after VW's emissions issue became public "and before a comprehensive internal review and discussions with component suppliers was possible." Fiat Chrysler was sued in 2015 along with Marchionne and other executives over claims it defrauded shareholders by overstating its ability to comply with vehicle safety laws. An amended version of the complaint filed in 2017 added claims about its compliance with emissions laws. The shareholders accused the defendants of inflating Fiat Chrysler's share price by hundreds of millions of dollars from October 2014 to October 2015 by downplaying safety concerns. They said the shortcomings materialized in 2015 when the automaker was fined $175 million by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and took a roughly $670 million charge for recalls. Plaintiffs filed the excerpts seeking approval to take up to 40 additional depositions, including Marchionne's. The U.S. Justice Department sued Fiat Chrysler in May 2017, accusing it of illegally using software to bypass emission controls in 104,000 diesel vehicles sold since 2014. Fiat Chrysler has held numerous rounds of settlement talks with the Justice Department and California Air Resources Board to settle the civil suit, including talks as recently as earlier this month. It faces a separate criminal probe into the matter.

Best cars for snow and ice in 2023 and 2024

What's the best car for snow? The real answer is "the one with winter tires." What do we mean by that? You could have the finest, most advanced all-wheel-drive system or four-wheel drive in the world, but if you're running all-seasons (the spork of tires), your fancy four-wheeler won't matter much. The odds are, any vehicle on the road running good winter tires will probably perform adequately in slippery, slushy and/or snowy road conditions. (Here's a more complete explanation of why winter tires are totally worth it). In other words, you don't really need any of the cars on this list. With a set of winter tires, countless others will do the job, and even these will be at their best with proper rubber. You can find a variety of winter tires for your car here at Tire Rack. Keep in mind that you will need a full set of four snow tires for safety and performance, no matter what you're driving. The days of your dad putting just two snows on the family truckster to get it moving in a straight line are long gone. Don't get us wrong, getting a car that performs well in snow and ice is still a worthy criteria for car buyers. According to the U.S. Transportation Department, 70% of Americans live in places that get snow and ice. And much of the country has been blasted with arctic air for much of the new year. So let's look at the cars. First, we're highlighting choices for a variety of buyers and price points. Second, we're not just considering snow; we're considering general wintery conditions people will experience driving to work or school. As such, these are all choices with advanced all-wheel-drive systems, usually with "torque-vectoring" systems that not only automatically shunt power front and back, but side to side between the rear axles. Most have extra ground clearance for getting through deep snow, and we prefer those vehicles with more responsive steering, throttles and transmissions that provide a greater sense of vehicle control in slippery conditions.    Acura RDX Read our Acura RDX Review Acura's Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive system was one of the first to offer torque-vectoring, and besides often being touted for its ability to greatly enhanced dry-road handling, its benefits in the slick stuff can be profound. It's actually surprising that Acura hasn't leaned into this capability further by offering more rugged versions of its vehicles.