The Drive

Dodge is going racing. Whether the win on Sunday and sell on Monday marketing plan will work out is yet to be seen, but the Brotherhood of Muscle is all about gasoline again, apparently. On Monday in Las Vegas as the SEMA show kicks off, Dodge announced its return to NASCAR Cup Series racing. The message for fans of the brand is said to be this, “Gasoline-powered performance is back at the center of the brand, and Dodge is heading back to NASCAR Cup Series racing,” Dodge said.

SEMA is off and running, and the first surprise just hit. The Jeep Scrambler SRT just showed its face. On Monday in Las Vegas, Tim Kuniskis, the Father of the Hellcats, unveiled the Jeep Wrangler Scrambler SRT Concept. You can drop the concept name, because this thing is coming to production, and it brings with it long travel suspension paired with independent front suspension, huge tires, rear-facing jump seats, and two doors. Sound familiar? In May, Kuniskis showed myself and a handful o

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation has turned to a somewhat strange but simple solution to combat theft of the copper wires that power streetlamps: Covering their access covers with almost-immovable chunks of concrete. Call it low-tech, but it appears to be working. RIDOT began placing these blocks on top of manhole covers over the last few months to protect wiring. RIDOT Interim Director Robert Rocchio told NBC 10 WJAR that the state has lost more than $1 million in stolen copper,

If you’ve spent any time around a late-model Hemi V8 with enough miles on it, you’ve probably heard it go “tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick.” Examples of the 5.7-liter and 6.4-liter engines built from 2009 on are notorious for it, and it affects Ram, Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler vehicles alike. The problem was long ago traced to the valvetrain lifters, but the exact cause has been tricky to pin down—until now, if you believe Dave Miller from Hemi Garage Hacks. Miller is a He

Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, our sweep of top headlines from the auto industry and car culture every day, curated by The Drive’s editorial team. Each story gets a short summary and a link to the original source if you want to dive deeper. Here’s the report for Monday, November 2, 2026: Days after General Motors agreed to settle a lawsuit over selling customers’ data without their consent, paying $220 million to 36 states (drivers won’t see a cent, by the way), Fo

The Polaris RZR Pro R Boost costs more than $50,000, yet it’s still a performance bargain. No car you can buy for the same money comes close to this turbocharged off-roader’s agility and outright ability. It’s so fast that I can almost guarantee you will be the limiting factor—not the rig. Want to know how I know? Stick around, and you’ll see me make an example of myself as I blast through the Southern Utah sand. A group of goofball reviewers, including myself, turned

The permutations going into the 2026 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix were clear: unless something catastrophic happened to Kimi Andrea Antonelli or the Mercedes W26 underneath him, the 20-year-old would become the sport’s youngest-ever world champion in one of the world’s most vibrant cities. And so he did, with the charismatic Italian being hoisted into the air at the podium by his predecessors, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, after finishing third place during Sunday’s race. Among th

If you’re a rock star, it’s pretty much obligatory to amass a collection of exotic cars, or maybe even a private jet. Metallica frontman James Hetfield went for something a little more practical. In need of equipment to maintain his California ranch, Hetfield commissioned a one-off Case TV450B skid-steer track loader adorned with Metallica motifs. Case then built a few replicas based on the original “Hetskid.” Now you can not only party like a rock star, you can sling sod

Pace cars are typically production models with nifty liveries, but in the 1980s and 1990s, PPG commissioned a series of wild one-offs to serve as pace cars for what was then known as the CART Indy Car World Series. At the time, CART was the pinnacle of American open-wheel racing, and PPG was the sponsor. Many were crushed or lost to obscurity, but one of the wildest PPG Pace Cars recently resurfaced. This Ferrari Mondial T-based pace car is now part of The Caretakers Collection, home to a num

Campers come in all shapes and sizes, from obviously DIY to meticulously finished. And like so many other things, Japan has a unique take on the concept. One of the country’s under-appreciated exports is cab-over commercial truck chassis, so it’s natural that some of them get converted into JDM campers. And thanks to the 25-year rule, they’re now legal to import to the U.S. Like many campers, this one has a lot of names. It’s a 2001 Toyota Camroad Global King, and it&#

What’s your idea of the perfect car for a cross-country road trip? Is it a comfortable cruiser that will make all those miles seem less arduous, or is to something fast that will make things more exciting, particularly in the middle of the country where speed limits are often higher? Whatever your priorities, I’m guessing a 1992 Geo Metro convertible isn’t what immediately comes to mind. Mitchell Kohrmann was fascinated by the Cannonball record runs between New York City and

The phrase “Made in China” used to be synonymous with cheap garbage, and while that isn’t even mostly the case anymore (just ask the electronics industry) one company continues to uphold the stereotype. Online retailer Temu sells lower-cost, and usually lower-quality, versions of pretty much everything—including General Motors Vortec cylinder heads. But while the price may be tempting, there’s a reason it’s so low. Eric Weingartner, whose eponymous company Weinga

If you’re building a fast car, chances are your engine swap of choice will come from another car. But if you’re building a tough truck for work or off-roading, the wider vehicular world offers a lot of options. There are plenty of stout diesel engines designed for construction equipment or marine applications that will fit under the hood of a pickup truck or SUV and, as this build demonstrates, improve performance. The 80-Series Toyota Land Cruiser has many fine qualities, but spe

The Tesla Roadster and Nissan Leaf were the first chapter of the modern EV age, but the preface was written in the 1990s when California introduced its first zero-emission vehicle mandate. This forced the largest automakers (by sales volume) to sell small batches of electric cars (and trucks), most of which have been largely forgotten. That doesn’t mean they’re gone. Recently posted on the Obscure Cars For Sale Facebook Group, this 2002 Toyota RAV4 EV proves those early-modern EVs

Not every watch needs to be an heirloom. Sometimes you just want something cool-looking, from an established brand, that you can grab quickly for short money. And you know what? Sometimes those watches end up accompanying you on the best adventures, and they turn into story-starters after all. Here are my picks of the best stuff in Amazon’s discount bin—stuff priced under $500, all the way down to $20. Timex Expedition Scout 40mm (40% off): $40

There are sporty side-by-sides, and then there are all-out race cars. The Polaris RZR Pro R Factory Boost fits squarely in the latter category as a turnkey competitor, built to tackle Baja, Dakar, and whatever else you’re crazy enough to try on four wheels. It builds on the “normal” Pro R Boost—if you can call it that—by cranking up the 2.0-liter turbo to 400 horsepower and totally reworking the chassis, the bodywork, the fuel system, and… well, there’s a lot. P

Car design is really just fashion, and fashion doesn’t follow logic. Ask most car designers—particularly those that have penned vehicles that scores of people hate—and they’ll tell you that making a car that most people agree looks good on first impression only fast-tracks the road to irrelevance. So we get cars like the new Kia Seltos I was just driving last week: Rigid, blocky, techy, and busy, because surprise is better than approval. After the surprise fades, though, what are you

Throughout 2026, The Drive has partnered with Blipshift for enthusiast-themed merch drops. Today, we’re busting another batch of five designs out of Blipshift’s vault, and they’ll be on sale for the next two weeks. Get ’em as graphic tees, long-sleeves, hoodies, or tank tops—the choice is yours. This wave will consist of Carb-onated, Dat Sun, Enable 2FA, Save the Whales, and Unicorn. As usual, The Drive retro logo tee remains available, too. They’re all for sale

The 2027 Dakar Rally will race from Portugal to Morocco, somewhat recalling the race’s original route from Paris, Europe, to Dakar, Africa. Not quite the same in most ways, but at least the right geographic locations are there. However, the new route isn’t happening because of the race’s roots or for nostalgia, but because the Middle East is too unsafe right now to welcome the traveling circus and everything that comes with it. Racers will set off from Algarve Stadium in the

Twenty-year-old Kimi Antonelli is on the verge of becoming the youngest-ever Formula 1 World Champion in just his second season in the sport. It’s an unprecedented feat that, even for someone who’s watched F1 for over three decades, is still hard to grasp. From being confirmed as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement at just 17 and crashing at Monza’s Parabolica corner during his official confirmation, to a rollercoaster of a maiden season that left many—likely including Merce