The Drive

Cars are getting more advanced, complex, and therefore more expensive every day. Software, sensors, and processors rule the road in modern cars, making them smarter, more comfortable, and safer. However, that also often makes them more prone to failures caused by quality control issues. Automakers like Honda and Toyota strive to maintain their reputation for reliability year after year, model after model, but as we’ve seen recently with the latter’s faulty V6 truck engines, problems still arise.

What’s 16 seconds? In racing terms, it’s an eternity. So when Porsche took its Carrera GT back to the Nürburgring in 2024 and went 16 seconds faster than it did in 2004 with no changes except for the tires, it was a big enough bump to make headlines—or, at least we thought so—and Porsche gave all of the credit to the car’s reengineered rubber. The ‘ring is a massive track, to be sure.

Even Cummins and Duramax drivers concede that the 7.3-liter Ford Power Stroke is a darn good diesel. It’s not fast—at least, not in stock form—but it’ll pull the house down without breaking a sweat. That being said, the automatic transmissions leave a lot to be desired. (I own a ’95 with an E4OD. I can say that.) To address those shortcomings with a modern solution, the crew at US Shift has swapped a 10R140 from a 2023 Super Duty into a 2003 truck.

The 2027 Honda Passport TrailSport is getting a slew of significant upgrades, including more ride height, more aggressive fender flares, and some cute amber running lights above the grille. Honda‘s really looking to eat the Toyota 4Runner‘s lunch with this thing—and now it’s basically as high off the ground as a base Wrangler. The new Passport TrailSport is claiming 9.65 inches of clearance while a base-model Wrangler has 9.7, but it rounds out.

Good morning and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short, The Drive’s automotive news roundup bringing you the biggest headlines from around the globe. The Downshift summarizes stories with a sentence or two, along with links for those who wish to dive deeper. Here’s what’s cooking on Wednesday, September 9, 2026. 🔊 A new episode of The Drivecast, The Drive’s weekly podcast, will go live later today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Jeep Recon: Trail Rated EV. First ‘ordinary’ electric Jeep with 670 hp, priced at $66,995. Delayed launch and platform issues. Announced in 2022, finally going on sale in 2026. Off-road capabilities highlighted. Features include armored underbody, waterproofing, and electronic locking differential. Mixed on-road performance. Quick acceleration but lacks stability and refinement.

It seems like just yesterday that The Drive video producer Tom Gorelik embarked on a quest to affordably revive his Porsche 944 by swapping in one of the tuning community’s favorite engines: a Honda K-series. A year may seem like an eternity in social media terms, but in terms of shadetree engine swaps (which can sometimes rival geological time scales), it’s nothing. And that’s how long it took to get the K-swapped 944 running.

Which came first: The Ford Model T or the turbocharger? You might be surprised—just like I was when I googled it—to learn that the turbo is actually a bit older. Swiss engineer Alfred Buchi may have patented a design for exhaust-driven whirlers back in 1905, but such a newfangled contraption was the furthest thing from Henry Ford’s mind when he created the Model T in 1908. Now, more than 100 years later, those two influential innovations have been married together in some guy’s shop.

The new Horse B20 is a 2.0-liter gas-powered turbo—one of the most common types of car engines these days—with a twist: It’s waterproof. The engine can run fully submerged in almost four feet of water. Horse Powertrain supplies various types of engines to OEMs and is mainly known for making motors that support hybrid powertrains (the gas part of the equation in PHEVs and EREVs).

These days, gamers who are also car enthusiasts are pretty spoiled in terms of licensed vehicles. Two decades ago, you couldn’t necessarily count on, say, an E30 BMW M3 being featured in a game’s car roster, not to mention countless classic Ferrari and Porsche models, which were often locked to certain publishers due to exclusivity deals. But today, there’s certain enthusiast royalty you just expect in everything.