Category: Modify

Kids are generally not fans of school, and Torsus just made it less likely that bad weather will keep them away from it. Meet the new Praetorian School Bus, the latest iteration of the brand’s four-wheel drive bus that offers the off-road chops necessary to tackle just about any obstacle that crosses its path. No longer will snow, sleet, fallen trees, or most other natural disasters prevent children from getting to school (given this thing’s slab sides, though, we’d probably refrain from taking it out during a hurricane). Sorry kids.

Credit the vehicle’s more than 13 inches of ground clearance, ability to wade through more than 35 inches of water, knobby Michelin tires, and standard four-wheel-drive system. With up to 290 hp and nearly 850 lb-ft of torque produced from its diesel-drinking 6.9-liter engine, the hefty Praetorian makes up for its limited top speed of 62

LOS ANGELES—Sorry, friends and neighbors, but this review of the 2020 Mercedes-Benz Metris cargo van isn’t really about how the Metris works as a cargo van. I tried to write the review that way. Well, maybe “tried” is maybe overstating it a bit. I did think about it, though. Like, for minutes.

In my defense, after my experience reviewing the Ford Transit van last month, can you blame me for avoiding any real work with the Metris? For the week it was here, I hauled nothing that wouldn’t fit into the back of our long-term Hyundai Veloster N. (The largest load was 120 orange pylons for another story I’m working on, if you must know.) I feel very guilty about this lack of journalistic effort. On the plus side, I learned that guilt is much, much easier on your back.

Still, this was not a fruitless week

SAN DIEGO—The 2020 Audi SQ8 hit showrooms earlier this year, and it quickly became known as the discount Lamborghini Urus. There is no shame in that sentiment, as the 2020 Audi SQ8 belongs to the same corporate family and its automotive attack plan that also includes Porsche and Bentley. In fact, since everything we do now requires calculated planning, this test drive of the 2020 Audi SQ8 motivated me to hunt for outdoor dining in San Diego’s delightful climate.

A new member of the performance SUV “coupe” segment, the 2020 Audi SQ8 is powered by a 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V-8 producing 500 horsepower and 568 lb-ft of torque. The twin-turbo V-8 sends power to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission, and Audi says the SQ8 has an electronically limited top speed of 155 mph,

Developed as a direct replacement for the popular and effortlessly stylish BMW E9 coupe that ran from 1968 through 1975, and essentially offered as a coupe variant of the contemporary BMW 5 Series, the first-generation BMW 6 Series hit the factory floor in early 1976, carrying the E24 chassis code/generation tag, a suite of inline-sixes, and a handsome shark-nosed profile from Paul Bracq. The U.S. got its first crack at the new 6 Series in 1977, available as the 630CSi with a 3.0-liter inline-six packing 176 horsepower and 185 lb-ft of torque.

Just a few months later in September of that same year, the 633CSi replaced the 630CSi, powered by an updated version of the same M30 six-cylinder family from the prior car, now punched out to 3.2-liters. The power rating with the new engine briefly rose to 181

CHATSWORTH, California—Don’t make the same mistake that I did—assuming that this 1949 Hudson Commodore, latest in ICON’s Derelict series of one-off builds, is just a beautiful old car with a massive modern motor.

I mean, the ICON Hudson is a beautiful old car with a massive modern motor—a supercharged LS9 Corvette engine, if you must know—and it does everything you’d expect, i.e. melt its own tires like they were made of butter, accelerate like a proper muscle car, and leave any and all comers in its V-8-bellowy wake. It’ll also stop and turn like a modern car. No, that’s not right—it doesn’t turn exactly like a modern car, and there’s a very good reason for that.

The ICON Hudson’s steering has some on-center play, just as I imagine it had in 1949 when it was new. Its straight-line ride is a dignified