Free Shipping Warranty Like New R Model 2 Owner All Wheel Drive Turbo Gas Saver on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Big rig gets blown over on Wyoming freeway, flattens police cruiser

A big rig navigating a stretch of windy Wyoming highway last week was blown over by high winds and landed on a Wyoming Highway Patrol cruiser. According to CBS News, three Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers responded to an accident along Interstate 80 near Elk Mountain on February 7. While the troopers were out of their cars assisting the crash victims, a white Volvo semi-truck lumbered up I-80 toward them. Wind gusts in that part of Wyoming were clocked in at up to 90 miles per hour on Tuesday, and one of them caught the semi as it neared the parked cruisers. Video from one of the cruiser's onboard cameras showed the big rig drift to the right as a big gust hit the trailer. Slowly, the whole rig tipped over and flattened one of the parked cruisers. The truck then slid a few feet on its side and came to a stop just aft of the cruiser. None of the troopers were injured in the incident, and two people in the truck came out of it unhurt as well. Patrol Lieutenant David Wagener told KGWN that that stretch of I-80 was closed on Tuesday to lightweight, high-profile vehicles. The truck driver was cited for the incident. High winds are no joke, and vehicles getting blown around or even clean off the road is a pretty common phenomenon. Way back in 2011, a truck got blown over in Utah. Then there was a train that got blown off a bridge in Louisiana in 2015. Related Video: News Source: CBS News, KGWN Auto News Dodge Volvo Driving Safety Truck Commercial Vehicles Police/Emergency Sedan semi truck rollover wyoming

Hyundai Sonata PHEV may be a game (and mind) changer

If you really, really want to consume volts instead of fuel on your way to work, school or shopping, you currently have just three options: pure EV, hydrogen fuel cell, or plug-in hybrid EV. Much as we love them, we all know the disadvantages of BEVs: high prices due to high battery cost (even though subsidized by their makers), limited range and long recharges. Yes, I know: six-figure (giant-battery) Teslas can deliver a couple hundred miles and Supercharge to ~80 percent in 10 minutes. But few of us can afford one of those, Tesla's high-voltage chargers are hardly as plentiful as gas stations, and even 10 minutes is a meaningful chunk out of a busy day. Also, good luck finding a Tesla dealership to fix whatever goes wrong (other than downloadable software updates) when it inevitably does. There still aren't any. Even more expensive, still rare as honest politicians, and much more challenging to refuel are FCEVs. You can lease one from Honda or Hyundai, and maybe soon Toyota, provided you live in Southern California and have ample disposable income. But you'd best limit your driving to within 100 miles or so of the small (but growing) number of hydrogen fueling stations in that state if you don't want to complete your trip on the back of a flatbed. That leaves PHEVs as the only reasonably affordable, practical choice. Yes, you can operate a conventional parallel hybrid in EV mode...for a mile or so at creep-along speeds. But if your mission is getting to work, school or the mall (and maybe back) most days without burning any fuel – while basking in the security of having a range-extender in reserve when you need it – your choices are extended-range EVs. That means the Chevrolet Volt, Cadillac ELR or a BMW i3 with the optional range-extender engine, and plug-in parallel hybrids. Regular readers know that, except for their high prices, I'm partial to EREVs. They are series hybrids whose small, fuel-efficient engines don't even start (except in certain rare, extreme conditions) until their batteries are spent. That means you can drive 30-40 (Volt, ELR) or 70-80 miles (i3) without consuming a drop of fuel. And until now, I've been fairly skeptical of plug-in versions of conventional parallel hybrids. Why?

2015 Volvo S60 T6 Drive-E

For those not paying attention, Volvo has updated its S60 sedan range for 2015 with a new range of engines under the Drive-E label. Wearing the same T5 and T6 badges to note the relative levels of power under the hood, both engines are 2.0-liter four-cylinders, with the lesser being turbocharged and the greater being both supercharged and turbocharged.
Both Drive-E variants are currently only available in front-wheel-drive flavor, though Volvo will still happily sell you an S60 T5 AWD with the older 2.5-liter turbo five-cylinder, or a top-of-the-line S60 T6 with a turbo'd 3.0-liter six-cylinder and all the wheels turning.
The car I drove for a week is perhaps the most balanced version of the S60 range, with that exotic sounding twin-charged 2.0-liter mill planted happily in the attractively sloping nose. Provided you're not hung up on front-drive dynamics, the T6 Drive-E might be a solid candidate for your next premium small sedan shopping list, as well.