The Autopian

2 days ago | theautopian.com | Matt Hardigree

A reader showed up to one of our taxi meetups this week with a new-ish Audi (shoutout Tam), and I thought it looked good. I also had to pause for a second to remember which one it was. I presumed it was an A4, but for the first time in a long time, I needed to check. This is just one of the problems that Audi has as a luxury automaker. A big thanks to Thomas for covering The Morning Dump while I’ve been on the road. It looks like I missed a lot, so hopefully I don’t repeat things too much.

3 days ago | theautopian.com | Matt Hardigree

Yesterday was the day I was both looking forward to and dreading: The long leg from Denver to Las Vegas. On the one hand, we’d get to go over the Rockies and enjoy the beautiful, cool mountain air. On the other hand, we’d be both putting this $800 taxi with nearly 400k on the clock through multiple big climbs. The amazing crew we met the day before told us that if we made it through the first climb outside of the city, we’d probably fine. Maybe.

3 days ago | theautopian.com | Thomas Hundal

The rise of China as a global automotive superpower has been remarkably fast, but it seems perhaps too fast. A new report claims that the car market in China is in such a wild state of oversupply that not only are pre-registered cars a big deal domestically, they’re also being sold abroad as a way to export cars and pump sales figures at home.

4 days ago | theautopian.com | Thomas Hundal

It’s amazing how far cars have come for comfort. Thirty years ago, a base model economy car had a heater, a rear defroster, and that’s about it. Now though, even a base-model Ford Maverick has automatic climate control, power windows, power locks, the works. Speaking of comfort, in the Northern hemisphere, it’s officially air-con season, and a heatwave blanketing the Great Lakes has given me cause for really appreciating this miracle of engineering.

4 days ago | theautopian.com | Thomas Hundal

When cars from the 2000s end up being properly nostalgic, I have a feeling the original Infiniti FX will finally get its flowers. It was truly unlike other crossovers at the time, an incredibly hot sight on the street, and really a sort of halo car for Infiniti when it shocked the world by going hand-to-hand with BMW near the Bavarian brand’s peak era.