Alex Kierstein
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Articles by Alex Kierstein
Ford's Flawed 1.0-Liter EcoBoost: NHTSA Nightmare
The rise and fall of Ford’s remarkably light and compact 1.0-liter EcoBoost turbocharged inline three-cylinder engine. A million years ago, when the pivot to video fiasco was just a twinkle in some YouTube executive’s eye, I tried to sell some colleagues on the idea of an engine autopsy video series. We just couldn’t visualize how to execute it. Luckily, someone else did, and that channel—I Do Cars on YouTube—disassembled one of my favorite engines a while back.
2027 Hyundai Tucson Preview: Dramatic Design is Just the Start
Hyundai's most popular model gets a bold redesign and a massive tech infusion for 2027. There's more to the Hyundai Tucson's redesign than just its stylish new look. Inside, an all-new infotainment system brings AI to the crossover. NEW YORK/JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The compact SUV class is the most popular and competitive segment in the U.S. market, led by the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4.
Does the Lucid Gravity Have the Gravitas to Win?
Does the Lucid Gravity have what it takes to succeed in a tough market for EVs? Alex spends a week with the electric SUV to find out. The Lucid Gravity is the sort of vehicle that makes me think about the economics of building a car.
Flock Camera Poles Are Dangerous for Drivers
Flock cameras themselves are problematic. A new report also examines the haphazard, and dangerous, infrastructure that supports them. Automated license plate readers (ALPR) of the type made infamous by Flock are problematic in a couple of ways. There’s the obvious one: when Flock cameras do what they’re intended to do, they cast a wide surveillance net on unwitting drivers, without a warrant, creating a massive database that can be accessed (and misused) by law enforcement.
Weird, Tiny, and French: The Voisin BiScooter Microcar
Voisin’s BiScooter attempted to improve on the postwar transportation situation with a funny little microcar built with aviation knowhow. Cute, weird, and French … I can’t resist any of these qualities, let alone all three. But the Voisin BiScooter also comes with a healthy dose of drama, including an Anti-BiScooter project launched by hostile elements within the parent company. There’s a happy ending, of sorts, courtesy of a Spanish savior.
EQ Quotient: The Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+, Reviewed
The Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+ is result of a new EV strategy—sharing a platform and styling with internal combustion models—and it works. I’m really fascinated by how automotive strategies seem to swing wildly from weirdly misbegotten to perfectly suited for the market depending on the timeframe.
The Lexus RX300's Time Has Come
It’s time to appreciate the first-generation Lexus RX, not as a horseman of the crossoverpocolypse, but as a compelling and handsome vehicle in its own right. I’m not sure when the first-generation Lexus RX300 went from being part of the blobular background noise to something I follow with my eyes as it drives by, but it happened. One day I looked at it and thought, “that has to be one of the best-looking crossovers from that era.” And it is.
The Chevy Silverado EV Trail Boss Is an Absolute Unit
The Silverado EV Trail Boss is an absolute unit, in every sense of the term. In its massive wake, some ambiguity. It’s impossible not to discuss the Chevrolet Silverado EV Trail Boss’ superlatives, so I won’t even attempt to avoid it. In order of importance, it is immensely, perversely heavy. It’s massive, a lane-filling block with huge blind spots. It has a truly ridiculous traction battery, giving almost 500 miles of range. Each of these aspects bring some very specific drawbacks.
Double Take - Alloy
Briggs Cunningham’s legendary No. 1 liveried Le Mans Corvette had a second life as a surprisingly cool custom. I’ve been a little judgemental in the past about the early American attempts at international endurance racing glory. Partly, I have some distaste for how non-sporty early American factory sports cars were. I like the early I-6 Corvettes as period pieces, but they ain’t Jaguars, which were conquering the European front with a broadly similar setup. That goes double for the Kaiser Darrin.
The LIP Mach 2000 Is a Wonderfully Weird Bargain
The LIP Mach 2000, a convention-defying watch in its day, is an affordable modern classic now. In what feels like another life, I had a nice little hobby that was kind of, inadvertently, a side hustle. I’d scour Japanese auction listings for underappreciated watches that were poorly photographed and described, import them by the box-full, and do the work of evaluating, fixing, and properly listing them.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse Sportback EV's Upside
News Coming Soon Electric Vehicles Two automakers facing challenges exchange technology and models. What’s the problem, other than the name? The Mitsubishi Eclipse hasn’t been a real sports car for a quarter of a century. It had four generations; only two of those arguably adhered to the brief. The others were cloud car coupes, basically. So set aside the name for a second.
Wayward Waymos Won't Get Out the Way
What do you call a driverless car that stops and won’t move? A big problem. Mostly by attrition, Waymo has assumed the lead position among the remaining robo-taxi aspirants. They’re limited to operating in certain areas and under specific circumstances, but that doesn’t mean they don’t ocasionally cause chaos, as one unit that–according to the police–blocked responders from a 5-alarm apartment fire in Austin, Texas recently.
Dirt Road Review: Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade
The Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride somewhat belie their size, and their downsized turbo motors outdo the old and outmoded V6. The Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride have together, carved out an esoteric and interesting niche in the big-body SUV category. Not near-luxury where Buick and Acura spar, but something like extra-stylish, content-rich normality. Suburban parent with a reality show makeover kind of stuff.
Rosmar H's Crawling Air Car Defies Belief, Seeks Funding
A dream finally realized: A car that can crawl, in a lurching, surreal sort of way. A dream finally realized. A car that can crawl. Crawl not in the cute baby sense, but in the stumbling-on-all-fours sense. In the army-crawl-away-from-supernatural-demon-danger sense. A stretch, pause, stretch, pause, sick syncopated cadence. This is no way for a car to move, and I’m a proponent of the biggest tent possible for automotive and automotive-esque transportation. Amphibious e-bike?
The Ferrari Luce EV SUV Is Bold, But Is It Smart?
The Ferrari brand is strong enough to allow it to occasionally upset the cognoscenti with a weird experiment. The Luce may test that bond. I had an inkling that the Ferrari Luce was going to be more controversial than your average new release from Maranello the moment those Jony Ive interior bits were released as part of a Luce tease. I did not imagine that the exterior design would diverge so far from the contemporary norm.
Big Oil’s Little Motor
A fuel-saving dedicated hybrid motor from a state-owned Saudi oil company? It may not come to market, but it’s real. It’s the stuff conspiracy theories are made of. Super-efficient engines developed (or suppressed) by the government or big oil. Miracle carburetors, thermal-insulated special engines, vaporized fuel. Whenever an oil company tells us its scientists are working on something that will help us save fuel, it’s natural to be suspicious.
The Other Oil Crisis?
Due for an oil change? Might want to get it done soon, as reports have emerged revealing a looming shortage for certain engine oils. It makes sense, on a level, which is how these things get started. The Iran War, the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, swinging crude prices, high pump prices. Why wouldn’t the geopolitical dumpster fire spawn a shortage of motor oil, too?
SwissAmericana - Alloy
May 20, 2026 Cole Pennington In Switzerland's Wild West, the American car scene captures almost all of the nuance of true Americana—with two major exceptions. I could barely make it out, peering through the blueish-white two-stroke exhaust haze from a gang of stunt riders that mingled with the smoke from beef patty fat hitting the coals and filling the air with that buttery sweet, sweet burger smell.
Uncharted Territory
Subaru now sells three EV SUVs. Can driving two of them help make sense of the company’s EV strategy? A while back, I was a little baffled about Subaru’s EV strategy. An updated Solterra shares a showroom with the longer and more powerful Trailseeker. There’s also the Uncharted, an SUV with a coupe-like roof. All three are based on the e-TNGA EV platform shared with Toyota models.
Lotus Reinvents Itself, Again, but Promises a 900+ HP V8
Ever-precarious Lotus rethinks its focus. This time, it might make sense. Few car-making businesses have so resembled the characteristics of the products they produce as Lotus. Brilliant, dodgy if not outright flawed, focused, impractical. Lots of historic reimaginings, like the wedgy Eclat/Elite following on from the Seven/Elan/Europa era. And more recently, fits and starts, like the unreasonably ambitious Dany Behar product onslaught that never happened.
The Unkillable Lada Niva's Next Replacement Appears
A patent image appears to show a new Lada Niva that may have trouble upstaging its ancient namesake. These Lada Niva patent images show a car. Well, a unibody 4×4. A crossover? That’s the complicated part, I guess. And it always has been. The original Lada Niva seems to have, almost accidentally, hit upon a formula for something extremely rugged and capable, but also carlike and even cute.
The Hako-Werke Multicar Survived to Keep Working
Culture Engineering Off-Road The long-running Hako Multicar is a modular powerhouse, and perhaps a useful case study for American commercial vehicle manufacturers. A tractor is not a truck, but one of the neat things about a tractor is the ability to fit powered and unpowered implements and tools forward and back, thanks to the three-point hitch and PTOs. Farm tools, front loaders for handling pallets, trailers of all sorts, snow plows and blowers.
This LEGO Renault 5 3E Model Deserves a Shot
This isn’t an official LEGO set—yet. But the world deserves a Renault 5 Turbo, brick by brick. My kids love building LEGO sets—the intricate models, LEGO Technic and so forth. It’s the build process, the puzzle-solving aspect. The assembled sets? They don’t get played with. Eventually they get broken down into their component pieces, thrown in a big bin, and then we build whatever we want together. That’s the part I like.
Gas Prices Are Up, Used EVs Are Hot, and We Should Take Notes
EVs were close to price parity last year, and used EV sales are exploding now. But price parity isn’t the whole question. It’s easy to empathize with EV skeptics. EVs are generally more expensive and less convenient—fast-charging is expensive and sometimes a hassle, but not everyone has a place to charge at home or work. There are persistent concerns (some valid, some less so) that also deter interest.
The Nissan Terrano PHEV Could Be a Game-Changing Pathfinder
The Nissan Terrano PHEV concept previews a tightly styled, compelling body-on-frame SUV that is hopefully the next Pathfinder. You can buy the same Nissan Pathfinder in China as you can here. Well, kind of. The Chinese model looks different—arguably more interesting than the 1.5x-scale Rogue look of the US model—and is powered by a turbo I-4 rather than the old VQ-series V6. Even though the same platform is underneath, the Chinese version is … better?
The Supernova Lunar Exploration Is Just What Bremont Needs
The watch crowd is a tough crowd, attuned to minute detail and harboring a long memory. For the most part, traditional mechanical watches hew to traditional mechanical watch categories. Things like a logo change—consider the still-controversial Seiko Prospex “X” logo—cause large downstream effects. But this also makes it difficult to stand out.
Adaptive Headlights: Legal But Sub-Par in America
Brighter headlights are not the problem, you're being blinded because of a rule that only exists in America. Few things can unite all Americans, a desire to not be blinded by the glare of oncoming traffic is one of them. Bright headlights that allow drivers to see more of the road at greater distance are safer. Of course, when those same bright headlights are directed in the eyes of other drivers, that’s unsafe.
The Shadow of Hormuz
Is a new fuel crisis the herald of a small EV resurgence, or a momentary blip on the way to our old, guzzling ways? It is difficult to pin down how carmakers are making decisions when the deluge of events that drastically change the automotive landscape is so intense. Is the Strait of Hormuz open, blockaded, or closed entirely? It seems to depend on the hour.
Tesla Sells Cybertrucks in Bulk to SpaceX
Cybertruck sales aren’t good, but they’d be worse if Tesla didn’t sell a bunch to SpaceX. You don’t even have to be a strident critic of Elon Musk—as a businessperson, and as a political figure—to recognize that Tesla Cybertruck sales have been sub-optimal. Feel free to be a strident, even an ardent critic, however. Musk’s refusal to invest in, then abandonment of Tesla’s core business; his customer-alienating, odious politics; and recent hits to profitability all are self-inflicted wounds.
Nissan Confirms Xterra SUV With Teaser Full of Easter Eggs
Long rumored, now confirmed: the Nissan Xterra is coming back, and it’s bringing a throwback styling element I love with it. It seems to me that there has been a steady trickle of rumor articles, maybe a couple a month, for years now. At least since 2017, if not earlier. The Xterra, rumored to return, perhaps as a real body-on-frame truck based on the Frontier. It makes sense for all the reasons the original Xterra (and the Pathfinder before it) made sense.
Too Good To Be True
The Mini x Vagabund concept should be turning on light bulbs over BMW product planners’ heads. I’m not going to tell you that Mini shouldn’t make crossovers. We still inhabit a moment in time where the crossover is the default form factor, Mini still makes a hatchback, and things being what they are, that’s about as good as we can expect. And at this moment, there are plenty of good crossovers and SUVs around. Is Mini any good at building them?
The New Nissan Juke Is Bold, but Is It Beautiful?
Nissan has been doing badly for a while, but you wouldn’t know it from the bold, experimental-looking Juke EV it just released. One of the most essential, and most difficult, parts of being a car writer and reviewer is contextualizing your own preconceptions, quirks, and preferences, figuring out why you like a certain thing and not another. When you take on something as an interest and start seeing an awful lot of it, you start to see weirdness as a virtue.
A 2026 Kia Sportage Fascinated My Son
The Kia Sportage left a big impression on my son, and not for reasons you’d expect. My oldest son wouldn’t get out of the Kia Sportage. Not for any reason related to the Sportage’s competence as a compact crossover. It’s fine, although in my opinion its major controls trail behind the company’s E-GMP offerings by a wide margin and its transmission calibration is truly weird. But he was enthralled by something in the front row.
Life and Death in the Time of EVs
Depending on the brand, EVs are either a future worth building on or an unpredictable morass of complications. Hence, some die, and some are born. Volkswagen just announced that it’s shutting down the ID4 line at its plant in Chattanooga. Toyota—which has previously joined other automakers in lobbying against fuel economy standards —has a herd of new EVs heading to market in the US.
Honda Should Lean Into the N Super-One EV Idea
The Honda N Super-One EV is just about everything I want in an electric Honda. Could it have built an EV identity here around something similar? Honda just announced UK pricing for the widebody version of its N-One EV, and—somehow—it seems entirely reasonable. The MSRP is right around the equivalent of $26,000. Which is maddening, because it’d be easier to ignore it if it carried a price tag that its very small size and modest range couldn’t justify.
Do We Want Machines to Replace Mechanics?
Service departments bring in the majority of most dealerships’ income. With a service tech shortage, the easy button is labeled AI. The pitch is compelling. With twice as many service techs retiring as are coming into the workforce, lucrative dealership service departments are already understaffed. And the trend lines don’t look great moving forward. Those techs that do hit the job market are green, and it takes experience to diagnose issues.
For $300k, Make Your McLaren F1 Uglier!
For the price of a supercar you could make a McLaren F1—one of the cleanest-looking of its kind—into a lumpy disaster. It was a cheeky sort of end-run around US safety requirements. Ameritech of Connecticut imported several McLaren F1s, gave them Ameritech VINs, and applied all sorts of ghastly modifications to meet the letter of FMVSS. Massive bumper warts. Horrible sealed beam headlights. Apparently all designed to be removed and trashed once whatever song-and-dance Ameritech needed to do was done.
Art of the Steel
What the Hyundai Boulder Concept says about the Art of Steel design language. I’m not entirely objective when it comes to Hyundai design; I’m a fan. And I appreciate the company’s recent retro designs for two reasons. The first, to be perfectly honest, is that I’m the right age for the design cues to hit. Giugiaro angularity is very much my jam. A buddy of mine learned how to drive in an Isuzu Impulse, for example, and I’ve always loved those.
Code Breaker: Meet the Man Who Cracked the C8 Corvette's Encrypted Brain Original
Ian Allen A budding interest in tuning his own car meshed perfectly with Geglia’s background in computer programming. Vince Geglia II’s break came via the Chevrolet Cobalt. Not the Cobalt SS, but the base Ecotec 2.2-liter inline-four engine, the L61. Tuners were not interested in working on it. “Not like they couldn’t have done what we did,” says Geglia, who muses that they probably had a bias for their established V-8 customers. “It wasn’t a priority.
GPS Speed Limiters Coming to Reckless Drivers Near You
States are adopting laws to give repeat speeding offenders an alternative to losing their licenses. Is that a good idea? In Virginia, Washington State, and Georgia—as well as Washington D.C.— lawmakers have passed laws that will require certain types of offenders (speeders, reckless drivers, et cetera) to install speed limiting equipment. Other states are considering it and are likely to follow suit.
MG Motors Is Putting a Cutting-Edge Battery in a Low-End Car
The latest Chinese EV innovation involves cutting-edge battery tech going into a low-end vehicle, a strategy that is worth examining. Solid-state EV batteries are supposed to be the near-term end goal for battery development, offering significantly more energy density and faster charging speeds. But there are also some serious issues with the tech, mainly dendrites—formations within the solid electrodes that cause the battery to short-circuit. Solutions are being developed, but they’re a ways off.
CERN Takes Antimatter on a Joyride in a Volvo Truck
An unimaginably small amount of the most expensive and exotic material on earth takes a spin in a Volvo truck—thankfully without annihilating anything. Antimatter exists, but in quantities so tiny it is almost incomprehensible. It is extremely difficult to store, as it will annihilate itself when it comes into contact with matter.
In a Seemingly Absurd Ferrari Patent Are Clever Ideas
Two-engine, multi-motor series hybrid? Beyond the superficial absurdity is some fascinating thinking. The line drawing looks bizarre, like someone in a confused state of mind superimposed the Bugatti 100P’s wild dual-engine layout onto a car. And then, for good measure, splayed out the two completely separate internal combustion engines. It seems absurd, something performative or theoretical. Patents don’t have to represent a workable idea—only a patentable one.
Toyota's Little Land Cruiser Debuts With Compelling Customs
The Land Cruiser FJ is hitting the Thai market. This IMV-based SUV’s appeal is tempered by its unavailability here. I’ve written about Toyota’s awesome IMV-based vehicles—the Hilux Travo-e, the incredible IMV Origin concept, the Hilux Champ and its impossibly compelling RV upfit—and so, here I am again, talking about an IMV-based vehicle. Either I have a strange complex or the platform produces cool vehicles that have appeal beyond their “grass-is-greener” aspect; no IMV product is sold here.
Fangio's Unassuming Omega Watch Has a Controversial Side
He wore this Omega regularly until his death. But it’s part of a group of controversial items that Fangio’s heirs and foundation wishes wouldn’t be sold. The watch is unassuming, as was the man, if taken out of context. Juan Manuel Fangio was a Grand Prix legend, but also a middle-aged, balding guy at the height of his career, older than his competitors in an era in which the physical demands of racing were staggering. The danger, too.
Mass Is a Massive Concern
The most insidious trend in auto design is bloat. Immutable natural laws mean it’s a short-sighted move. Von Kármán, I have to think, would be confused by the 2027 Audi RS5, a vehicle whose mass has become the storyline rather than its exceptional power output and advanced driveline. The Autopian was laser focused on the 1,000-plus-pound weight increase over what was already a weighty predecessor. A 5,100-pound curb weight for a compact sport wagon?
This 1954 WD Denzel 1300 Is Not a Porsche
It’s charming. It’s VW-derived. It’s sporty. And like early Porsches, it’s from Austria. But it’s not a Porsche. With an impending oil crisis, international conflict, and a worsening economic situation domestically, I veer between distraction (browsing car listings) and a vague revulsion at the seven-figure exotics. “A Ferrari, in this economy?” I mutter at my screen. Not that the ultra-wealthy are as affected (or troubled) by the sort of headwinds that send most of us into hoard-every-dollar mode.
It’s Euro Van Time
Ram reboots the Promaster City and Mercedes-Benz conjures up an electric luxury van it doesn’t want to call a van. I happen to think that the trend of selling the European-style large and small vans in America is a fantastic one. It just makes sense: they’re space-efficient, with relatively compact exterior dimensions, cavernous interiors for their footprint, and comparatively small engines.
Pumped Up: Part III
The weird (seriously) history of gasoline octane ratings. Variable compression test rigs, crazy blending pumps, and more. What got me interested in doing this little series is actually the bit I’m going to cover in this chapter: how gas is marketed. “Premium” or “Super” sounds like it may be better in some way than “Regular” gas, but of course you can’t market “More Detonation Resistant” and “Slightly Less Detonation Resistant” grades in any meaningful way. Thus, octane ratings.
Peter Arcadipane's Work After Mad Max
Connecting some nerd dots between a Mad Max obsession and Peter Arcadipane’s other work. A grim, dusty, unrelentingly violent vision of the future, set far away amidst a societal collapse. Cultish, deranged motorcycle gangs with (to contemporary reviewers) a distinctly Manson Family flavor. Cops who differed from the gangs mainly by having a marginally more coherent philosophy, but outnumbered and dwindling.
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