2014 Ford Taurus Limited on 2040-cars

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Popular Science magazine's Best Of What's New 2012 all ate up with cars

Popular Science has named the winners in its Best of What's New awards, the victors coming in the categories of aerospace, automotive, engineering, entertainment, gadgets, green, hardware, health, home, recreation, security and software. The automotive category did not go wanting for lauded advancements:
Tesla Model S: the Grand Award winner for being "the standard by which all future electric vehicles will be measured."
BMW 328i: it's 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gets called out for being more powerful and frugal than the six-cylinder it replaces.

2016 Ford Focus RS may yet be AWD, US sales likely

When it comes to forbidden fruit, few vehicles are spoken of in as hushed a tone as the Ford Focus RS. The turbocharged, five-cylinder hot hatch could only be seen from afar by American customers as it tore up the roads of Europe. And while it's safe to say that Ford's Yankee fans are quite happy to now be on equal footing with drivers in the old country thanks to the Focus ST, we doubt there'd be much protestation over a successor to the RS arriving stateside.
Of course, we've seen images of the new RS undergoing testing, but a new story by Road and Track aims to fill in some very large blanks in our knowledge of that car, thanks to a pair of mysterious insiders at the Ford. Chief among those is this - the RS will almost certainly make its way to the US, albeit in limited quantities. It gets better, though.
Under hood, the new RS is unsurprisingly expected to borrow the 2.3-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder from the 2015 Ford Mustang and 2015 Lincoln MKC. While that twin-scroll turbo produces 310 horsepower in the Mustang and 285 ponies in the MKC, R&T expects the RS to deliver quite a bit more firepower - 325 to 350 hp, with preference going to the higher output due to the limited-edition nature of the RS. This roughly fits with previous reports.

Forza Horizon G-Shock Car Pack brings Nissan IDx, Subaru Brat [w/video]

With winter's icy grip around much of the nation, now may be the perfect time to sit inside at night and enjoy some video games. The latest six-car G-Shock pack for Forza Horizon 2 on the Xbox One is now here, and it gives players a very eclectic group of vehicles to race around the game's open world. This month's group of vehicles spans the decades ranging from 2015 back to 1953. The newest and only concept of the group is the 2015 Nissan IDX Nismo. Since the production chances for this retro coupe look increasingly slim, this game might be your only chance to get behind the concept's wheel. However, if you prefer driving something a bit more classic and Italian, the 1953 Ferrari 500 Mondial is available. To add one more flavor of performance, there is the 2010 Mazda Mazdasped 3 hot hatch, which is also this month's free car for download. In addition to three takes on the sports car, Turn 10 is also offering a trio of off-roaders. The quirkiest among them is the 1980 Subaru Brat GL, which features two jump seats in the back to avoid the dreaded chicken tax. If you prefer something more boxy and American, then the 1975 Ford Bronco is sure to please. Finally, for some real power to get through the mud, there's the 2013 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor as tuned by Shelby with a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 making 575 horsepower. As usual, the whole pack costs players $5 to download, or it's free as part of the season pass. Scroll down for a brief video showing all of these virtual rides off and read the press release about them from Turn 10 Studios. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. "Forza Horizon 2" G-Shock Car Pack Now Available Welcome to the New Year! Are you ready to hit the roads of "Forza Horizon 2" for Xbox One in some new rides? You better be because the G-Shock Car Pack is lighting up the new year with some amazing vehicles. Leading off the pack is a "Forza" First: the 2015 Nissan IDx NISMO is making its videogame debut in "Forza Horizon 2." The IDx prototype harkens back to Nissan's storied automotive history, with its compact size and aggressive appearance, and looks to the future with some serious under-the-hood performance. Take a spin in this gem, and you will be startled by its performance and charmed by its presence. The remaining cars of the pack also have "Horizon Festival" written all over them.