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A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

Next Nissan Titan will get turbocharged diesel V8 from Cummins

Toyota might be content to eke out an existence in the fullsize pickup market with its lightly refreshed Tundra, but Nissan looks like it'll be a bit more aggressive with its next-generation Titan. The next Titan will make use of a 5.0-liter, turbodiesel V8 from Cummins, the Japanese company announced at the start of its Nissan 360 industry showcase.
Nissan's commitment to a fullsize pickup isn't really open for debate - it made waves back in April when it lured Fred Diaz, CEO of Chrysler's Ram pickup division, down to its Franklin, Tennessee headquarters. But this news of a monster turbodiesel is big. As of this writing, only Ram is set to offer a diesel engine in a non-heavy-duty pickup. Its 3.0-liter, EcoDiesel V6 will arrive in the Ram 1500 in the not-so-distant future, but that engine will still be a far cry from what's promised with this Cummins mill.
The 5.0-liter V8 is expected to generate well over 500 pound-feet of torque - likely closer to 550, based on the language in the press release - along with over 300 horsepower. Those figures aren't just a shot across the bow of Ford, Chevy, GMC and Ram, they're an opening broadside, meant to demonstrate Nissan's willingness with its next light-duty truck. As Diaz said, "There is no question that the new Titan will turn heads, and with the available Cummins 5.0-liter V8 turbodiesel, we expect to win new fans and attract buyers looking for this unique configuration."

Jeremy Clarkson names 10 worst cars for 2015 and 2016

When Jeremy Clarkson, outspoken automotive journalist, ex- Top Gear host, and co-host on The Grand Tour, drives a car he doesn't like he doesn't pull his punches. As Jezza harshly puts it, cars shouldn't just be a form of transportation. These 10 cars made Clarkson's "the terrible 10" list on his column in The Sunday Times for lacking imagination and not giving the journalist "the Fizz," which his list of top 10 cars did. In typical Clarkson fashion, the list is controversial. Some of the cars on Clarkson's list have received praise from other outlets, which shouldn't really come as a surprise since he usually goes against the majority's opinion. Nonetheless, there's at least one car that will catch you off guard. To get a glimpse at Clarkson's reviews and the entire list of cars, head over to his column in The Sunday Times. Vauxhall Astra SRi Nav Infiniti Q30 Premium Tech Skoda Superb SE L Executive Zenos E10 S Renault Kadjar Signature Nav BMW X1 xDRIVE25d SEAT Leon X-Perience SE Technology Nissan GT-R Track Edition Volkswagen Scirocco 2.0 TDi Hyundai i800 Related Video: Featured Gallery Jeremy Clarkson's Terrible 10 For 2015 and 2016 View 11 Photos News Source: The Sunday TimesImage Credit: Clive Brunskill / Getty Images Celebrities BMW Hyundai Infiniti Nissan Toyota Performance bmw x1 infiniti q30