CarBuzz

Belinda has written about cars for more than a decade and has various post-graduate degrees majoring in creative writing, research, and literature. She has served as Senior Editor and Section Lead at CarBuzz since 2019, and was appointed Deputy Editor in 2024. Born to a family of Ford people, motoring enthusiasts, and mechanics, Belinda wouldn’t find her calling in the motor industry until after completing her postgraduate studies in the behavioral sciences.

There's something about a convertible that just says American Dream. A car with a solid roof is practical, it makes sense. You can actually hear the radio and hold a conversation, you don't have to worry about getting bugs in your teeth or smelling the exhaust of passing trucks. But an enclosed cabin just doesn't offer the same sense of freedom you'll get with the wind in your hair.

Over the years, Ford has built some amazing concept cars and near-production prototypes. Which one is the coolest? The guy who runs Ford's Heritage Fleet thinks it is a blue Ford Lightning, and it's tough to disagree. This Lightning is the SVT Ranger Lightning Bolt, and it has a hopped-up version of the F-150 Lightning's supercharged V8 under the hood. Ford SVT Ran Rampant In The Early 2000s 2002 Ford Ranger SVT Lightning Bolt Ford Ford SVT built this very special Ranger during its heyday.

Kyle has written professionally across the motorsport and motoring world since graduating from Plymouth University in 2018, and has acted as the MotoGP editor for Motorsport Week and as a Features Writer for HotCars early in his career. He joined CarBuzz as a Features Correspondent in 2023. His future in the automotive world has been guaranteed since he was a kid, as he remembers rattling off the names of car brands as one of his earliest memories.

Nissan and its performance division Nismo recently revealed their latest creation. It's a high-performance version of the latest Leaf, putting the machine among the small group of electric hot hatchbacks. Considering the Leaf's history as a budget EV without any real sporting pretense, it might seem bizarre that Nismo would bother with the model. The thing is, this isn't the first time Nismo is giving the Leaf a leg up in the performance department. It's not even the second time.

Lotus in recent years has pursued Porsche's formula, selling SUVs and sedans alongside its sports cars in a bid to attract more mainstream buyers and drive growth. But in the US, that strategy has run into a wall. A mix of challenges over the past few years, mainly due to its links to Chinese auto giant Geely, has forced Lotus to rethink its ambitions, leading to a series of U-turns that has led to the brand selling only one model here, a sports car.

Abt Sportsline, the German tuner best known for its enhanced Volkswagen and Audi products, is celebrating a big anniversary this year. All the way back in 1896, Johann Baptist Abt took over a local blacksmith shop, crafting horseshoes and developing novel enhancements like ski-skids for carriages to improve stability in deep snow. Now, 130 years later, the "Sportsline" company that bears his name has gone through many different changes, but that doesn't make the anniversary any less special.

The BMW M5's S85 V10 was the result of a series of brave decisions made feasible by a specific moment in time. In the mid-2000s, naturally-aspirated power-per-liter was a major engineering flex for high-performance engines on the world stage. By this point, automakers around the globe were pushing their combustion engines to higher speeds to deliver the sort of drama and excitement big-dollar shoppers expected.

Subaru may well be one of Japan's most important car manufacturers, but when it comes to its sales, overseas consumption is paramount. After all, the US is by far Subaru's most important market, accounting for seven in 10 of the company's sales. It's little wonder, then, that Subaru chose its US manufacturing facility to build one of its top stateside models.

For years, the three letters "CVT" – that's continuously variable transmissions – were an instant deal-breaker on the used market, synonymous with rubber-band throttle response, slipping belts, metal debris contamination, and four-figure replacement bills if your unit happened to kick the bucket outside its warranty period.