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2021 L.A. Auto Show roundup | All the reveals, reviews, pictures

The L.A. Auto Show took place this week for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. It was a show packed with news and reveals, which hasn't really been the case with other shows we've seen this year, and Autoblog was on the floor covering every minute of it. Well, Riswick and Stocksdale were, anyway. The rest of us were sitting at home in our sweatpants, but hey, we'll take credit anyway. Let's get to it. Hyundai Seven Concept This is the Hyundai Seven Concept, and it’s meant to act as a preview for an incoming electric SUV for the Ioniq brand. It leans more toward the concept side of the spectrum than a production car, but expect the final SUV to take design cues from the Seven Concept. Kia Concept EV9 The Hyundai Seven counterpart isn't the only big, bold electric SUV at L.A. this year. Kia has its own take, and it's a modernized version of the traditional boxy utility vehicle called the Concept EV9. It also previews one of the next production electric cars for the brand, which should look right at home next to things like the Telluride. 2023 Kia Sportage HEV As promised, the 2023 Kia Sportage HEV has been revealed. The hybrid powertrain makes the compact SUV the most powerful version available, and it goes on sale next year. The engine is a turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder paired with a 44-kW electric motor. Total output is 226 horsepower. The company didn't give a torque number, but it should basically be the same as the Sorento HEV that has the same basic powertrain: 258 pound-feet. Those numbers are a healthy step up from the 187 horsepower of the base 2.5-liter engine. 2022 Range Rover If you noticed how extra smooth and suave the new Range Rover looked during its recent reveal, Autoblog's James Riswick got a design tour that revealed some of the technological secrets to its success. "Less is more" is harder to achieve than it looks. Fisker Ocean Fisker has brought the new Ocean EV to the L.A. Auto Show, with a public preview at Manhattan Beach and a presence at the show itself. You can watch the public show reveal above, and see more shots from the show floor below. Fisker says the Ocean will start at $37,499 before incentives. That entry model would be the Sport trim with a single, 275-horsepower motor driving the front wheels and 250 miles of estimated range. It also has a 0-60 time of 6.9 seconds. 2023 Toyota bZ4X This is the 2023 Toyota bZ4X, due to hit U.S.

Why Mazda did so well and Volvo so poorly in Consumer Reports survey

The poor performances of Tesla and all three domestic automakers got the headlines in Consumer Reports magazine's latest reliability survey, but there were other results that caught our interest. Tiny Mazda notched the biggest gain among the 29 brands included in this year's list, leap-frogging nine spots to No. 3. Buick, which was in the top 10 last year, fell 11 spots to No. 19, the biggest decline of any brand. And then there's Volvo, a brand often vaunted for its quality and reliability, dropping six spots to dead last. What gives? For starters, all three brands benefited or suffered in large part due to their relatively small portfolio of vehicles. So when raves or complaints rolled in for even one particular model, as was often the case, it weighed heavily on the entire brand. That's especially true when it involves a relatively high-volume, hot-selling model such as the Buick Enclave (more on that in a moment). Mazda fared as well as it did despite the CX-3 losing Consumer Reports' influential "recommended" status due to problems with its climate system, including leaks from the condenser and refrigerant unit that triggered a service bulletin from the automaker in late 2016. Deputy auto editor Jon Linkov said that scratch didn't hurt the overall brand, since the CX-9 crossover and MX-5 Miata both jumped up to replace it on CR's list of newly recommended vehicles, thanks to several back fixes Mazda made to both models. For Buick, the redesigned Enclave SUV earned a "Much Worse Than Average" rating after owners reported problems with the new nine-speed automatic transmission it shares with the Chevrolet Traverse as well as some issues with the climate system. There were issues with rough shifting, plus complaints about the torque converter that necessitated fixes to the computer or outright replacement. "Again, similar stuff that we saw with the Traverse: both first-year vehicles, similar powertrains," LInkov said. He said all-new vehicles or redesigns typically fare poorly in CR's reliability survey due to issues that are hard to suss out before vehicles go into everyday use by consumers. The top-selling Encore and Envision fared well, Linkov said, but were outdone by the Enclave's problematic transmission components. The Enclave was Buick's second best-selling model through September at 35,227 units. Then there is Volvo, about which there is one word to sum up its woes: infotainment.

Confirmed: Mazda Miata gets more power, higher redline, telescoping wheel

Our friend over at Road & Track, Bozi Tatarevic, has a keen nose for stuff just like today's Miata news, and he spotted an article by the Japanese car magazine Car Watch that details Mazda's upcoming updates. Car Watch actually got to drive the car, too. There's a lot to go through, but the highlight has to be confirmation of what we told you earlier this year about a significant power bump: The Miata will indeed get an increase of 26 horsepower, from 155 to 181. But the power's not the whole story. Mazda has increased the redline from 6,800 RPM to 7,500. It's not clear at this point where torque and power peaks are in the rev range, or how these changes affect low-speed drivability, but more revs are almost always a good thing and aren't likely to detract from the roadster's fundamental goodness. Car Watch reports that lighter pistons and connecting rods are fitted to help reduce rotational mass in the 2.0-liter inline-four. Some valvetrain changes were needed to support the higher redline, mainly stiffer valvesprings to prevent valve float. Mazda also changed the shape of the valves and optimized the intake ports to breathe better at higher RPM. The inner diameter of the exhaust ports were increased to flow better through a new muffler better tuned to the engine's new operating range. This confirms and gives a little more detail to what we reported earlier based on a leaked document from Mazda Canada. Car Watch also confirms that the revised Miata will get a low-inertia dual-mass flywheel, which should help absorb some vibration, noise and harshness from the higher-revving engine without losing too much of the directness that a single-mass flywheel provides. Mazda usually gets stuff like this right, so while we won't know until we get a chance to drive it whether the DMF feels "right," we're not too worried about it. There's also a telescopic steering wheel, a first in any Miata, which has a range of about 1.1 inches. That doesn't sound like much, but it should help folks with longer legs reach the wheel without having to crank the seat forward. Interestingly, Car Watch reports that the telescoping wheel was opposed by some in the company seeking to save every fraction of an ounce of weight, and to get it through, the company apparently had to change some of the material in the upper steering column from steel to aluminum to satisfy the weight-conscious. Little details like these are fantastic.