2023 Dodge Challenger Srt Hellcat Redeye Widebody on 2040-cars

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Best and worst car brands of 2022 according to Consumer Reports

It's that time again, Consumer Reports this morning lifting the curtain on its 2022 Annual Car Brand rankings and its 10 Top Picks in the car, crossover, and truck category. Drumroll, please: This year, Subaru climbs two spots to claim the winner's circle, having come third the last two years. Last year, Mazda climbed three spots from 2020 to take the crown. This year, Mazda slipped to second, BMW taking the last spot on the podium, also a one-spot drop from 2021. Six automakers in the top 10 hailed from Japan, which is one more than last year, and five luxury makers occupied the top 10, which is two more than last year. And South Korean representation didn't crack the top this year, after Hyundai managed tenth last year. The seven makes after BMW are: Honda, Lexus, Audi, Porsche, Mini, Toyota, and Infiniti.  The magazine and testing concern says its Brand Report Card "[reveals] which automakers are producing the most well-performing, safe, and reliable vehicles based on CR’s independent testing and member surveys," and that "Brands that rise to the top tend to have the most consistent performance across their model lineups." The domestics also took steps back among the 32 OEMs ranked on the 2022 card. Chrysler and Buick were the domestic carmakers who made last year's top 10 in eighth and ninth, respectively. This year, Buick dropped to eleventh, Chrysler to thirteenth. Dodge went from fourteenth to sixteenth. CR continues to ding Tesla's yoke steerer, the not-exactly-natural handhold responsible for the electric carmaker going from sixteenth last year to twenty-third this year.

Mustang, Camaro, Challenger gallop onto USPS pony car postage stamp set

Some of America's most iconic cars are about to be immortalized on postage stamps. A new set by the U.S. Postal Service will celebrate the the golden era of pony cars, featuring five classic examples of Detroit iron. Each one is beautifully illustrated in oil-on-canvas style, with subjects in motion and sunlight glinting off the chrome, and would add a nice touch to any first-class letter. The pony car segment was all about (relatively) small, sporty alternatives to the full-size land yachts of the 1960s. They typically came equipped with 6-cylinder engines or small-block V8s. The category was named after the Ford Mustang, hence  the name. Some, though, argue that the Plymouth Barracuda, which was launched a couple of weeks before the Mustang, is the first. Luckily, the Falcon-based Mustang's distinct styling generated a sales sensation, or we might be calling them fish cars. Appropriately, one of the featured cars is a Mustang. But it's not just any Mustang. The 1969 Boss 302, seen here resplendent in Bright Yellow, was created for the hotly-contested SCCA Trans-Am racing series. One of its main rivals would have been the 1969 Chevy Camaro Z/28, also created specifically for the series, and is included in the set in Fathom Green. Representing Auburn Hills in the set is a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T in Plum Crazy, while Southfield's American Motors gets a nod with an AMC Javelin in Big Bad Orange. The Mustang's platform cousin, a 1967 Mercury Cougar XR-7, is portrayed in a gorgeous Burgundy Poly that almost looks incomplete without Neko Case on the hood. It's not the first time the USPS has honored America's rich car culture on its stamps. In 2013, it issues a series of muscle car stamps with the help of Richard Petty. That set featured a 1966 Pontiac GTO, 1967 Shelby GT-500, 1970 Chevelle SS, 1970 Plymouth Hemi ’Cuda and, of course, a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona. Another set in 2016 featured classic pickup trucks. Going further back, a 2008 release had chroed and finned automobiles of the 1950s and a 2005 release featured sporty American cars of the same era. The pony car stamps will debut on August 25 at the Great American Stamp Show in Sacramento, California in partnership with the American Philatelic Society. The public is free to attend the dedication ceremony, but you must RSVP first. After that, they will be available at local post offices and on line at the USPS store.

The Dodge Challenger 1320 is rarer than the vaunted Demon

Dodge stopped making the 840-horsepower Challenger Demon after the 2018 model year, and it filled the gap the coupe left in its range with a slightly tamer variant called 1320. While it wasn't a limited-edition model, production figures released recently cement its status as a future classic. 1320 references the length of a drag strip, which normally checks in at 1,320 feet, and the name speaks volumes: It was built to go flat-out for a quarter mile. It offered all of the go-fast goodies found in the Demon, including a transbrake, a line lock, an SRT-tuned suspension, plus bigger brakes provided by Brembo, and it swapped the supercharged V8 for a naturally-aspirated, 6.4-liter eight shared with the Challenger 392 and tuned to 485 horsepower. It wasn't quite as quick as the Demon, but it remained a race car barely street-legal enough to put plates on, so it occupied a shallow niche. Dodge made 1,054 examples of the 1320 during the 2019 model year, according to Mopar Insiders. Of those, 1,026 units were sold in the United States, and the remaining 28 stayed in their home country of Canada. As for colors, 232 enthusiasts chose Pitch Black, making it the most popular. At the other end of the spectrum, 13 buyers ordered Maximum Steel, which is the rarest color offered to the public. One 1320 was painted in Yellow Jacket, and another in Billet, but they were pre-production cars. To add context, the firm capped Demon production at 3,300 units, including 300 for the Canadian market. The 1320 is returning for the 2020 model year, so it might ultimately become more common than the Demon, but it remains a rare edition that will turn heads at high-profile classic car auctions in a few decades' time. If you've got one, race it, but pamper it off the track, and hang on to it. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.