Blog Posts by Justin Hyde

Doctor, gangster, developer or third-world dictator — the Mercedes-Benz S-Class has been a perennial marker of success in any career, legal or otherwise. And for the all-new 2014 edition, the world's oldest carmaker added every gadget it could think of — and a few that have never been seen on the road before.

Appropriately, Mercedes’ top executives unveiled the 2014 S-Class in the Airbus Operations center in Hamburg, where another jumbo flagship – the Airbus A380 – sees its fuselage and interior come together in a cathedral-sized assembly hall.

The Benz may not match the 262-foot

Can a 50th birthday spawn a midlife crisis in an automaker? At its own 50th anniversary party in Italy on Saturday, Lamborghini unveiled this surprise, a one-off car from designer Walter De Silva. Inspired by the look of Apache attack helicopters, powered by a 600-hp V-10, Lamborghini gave the one-seater the inspiring name "Egoista," and what better way to recapture lost youth than by crafting a supercar with the unchecked passion of a teen-ager.

I don't think there's a way to understand what in the name of Saint Agatha Lamborghini was aiming for without these quotes from chief designer Walter De Silva:

I am very attached to this Italian brand, being an Italian myself. I wanted to pay homage to and think up a vehicle to underline the fact that Lamborghinis have always been made with passion, and with the heart more than the head...

This is a car made for one person only, to allow them to have fun and express their personality to the maximum. It is designed purely for hyper-sophisticated people who want

The life-size stunts division of Hot Wheels has kept itself busy over the past couple of years, between launching the longest automotive jump in the world at the 2011 Indy 500 and pulling off a record corkscrew jump last year. For an encore, Hot Wheels shot a 22-minute action video featuring a truckload of stunts from several of its custom rides — and a few new ones, including the first Chevy Camaro that glows in the dark.

The 22-minute short video, "World's Best Driver," features motocross and off-road drivers along with cameos from Mario Andretti, Tanner Foust and others over every type of surface — snowy hills, desert trails, factories and even water. Shot by director Mike "Mouse" McCoy over eight days after many months of preparation, the video features more than a dozen jumps, at least one hard wreck and ends with an impressive high-speed backflip.

No such film would be complete without the Hot Wheels edition of the Camaro, the $8,995 optional package for Camaros

It's not easy putting into context the ever-increasing performance of the world's fastest sports cars, like the Porsche 911 Turbo S revealed today. But let me offer a few examples:

By the time your eyes reach the comma in this sentence, the new Porsche 911 Turbo S can hit 60 mph. At top speed of 198 mph, the 911 Turbo could outrace a Boeing 747 on takeoff. And the 2013 edition of the 911 Turbo S with 560 hp has double the motive energy of the original 1974 model.

The 911 Turbo always promises the meanest and maddest version of the 911, but this version arrives with every technological trick Stuttgart could muster. Start with the engine: the 3.2-liter flat-six gets mated to two variable-turbine turbochargers, with power set at 520 hp in the non-S edition. That power leaves the engine via a seven-speed PDK automatic; of all the available options, a manual transmission isn't one of them, as Porsche has found even its customers prefer to let computers shift faster than they

The genus of truck-framed sport utility vehicles has sharply declined in recent years, as consumers favor the soft-riding, more efficient car-based models rather than ones which still provide a modicum of off-road and towing prowess. So when an automaker like Toyota updates an older model like the 4Runner for 2014 with all new bodywork and interior, it should be taken as a vote of confidence for those who like their trucks to have a little toughness.

But then you see it, and much like the controversial new Jeep Cherokee, you can't unsee it.

Toyota tweaked the mechanical pieces of the 4Runner, but didn't dilute them; there's still a 5-speed automatic mated to either a pure rear-wheel-drive setup or an optional four-by-four (not all-wheel-drive) with locking center differential. All of which is still powered by the 270-hp V-6, strong enough to score a maximum towing capacity of 5,000 lbs. That lack of changes also means only a one mile-per-gallon increase in highway fuel economy for the 4Runner to 22 or 23 mpg depending on drivetrain; the city ratings remain at 17 mpg for all versions.

Inside, passengers get up-to-date seat materials, a more pleasant cabin with softer surfaces and a

Daimler, the parent of Mercedes-Benz and Smart, traces its heritage to the very invention of the gasoline-powered car and an empire built over a century around engineering excellence and designs of beauty. On the other hand, Smart will now build you a tiny two-seat car with fake wings, for about $43,000.

The last time Jaguar shipped a British sports car to America, its customers could sing along with Terry Jacks' "Seasons of the Sun" over the sonorous hiss of the in-dash eight track. That the E-Type had been dubbed "the most beautiful car ever made" by Enzo Ferrari was old news at that point; marred by smog and bumper rules, combined with a rising sense among owners that maybe British cars weren't of the best quality, Jaguar shuffled the E-Type out of production in 1974.

Nearly four decades later — after spells in government-sponsored torpor, Thatcher-era privatization, ill-suited servitude under Ford and finally a period of grace this century thanks to the ownership of an Indian industrial magnate — Jaguar returns to the sports-car business with the 2014 F-Type. And as epic as the E-Type remains, the successor leaves the shadow of its forebear with a quickness.

We have entered an Era Of Electrification, the guys from Nissan were saying. The world is moving toward zero emissions. They quoted Wayne Gretsky, something about moving “to where the puck is going to be, not where it’s been.”

Nissan intends to be a leader in electric cars, they trumpeted. Fair enough, given the innovations of the Nissan Leaf. But they said the company also intends to be out in front of hybrid cars, which seemed a little more spurious, given that the first Toyota Prius appeared more than a decade ago. Still, they said, “we face shifting paradigms that have held for more than 100 years of automotive history.”