Truck Trend

2022 Mercedes-Benz C-Class / C300 First Drive: Baby S-Class

By Michael J. Moody 5 days ago
mercedes-benz c-class Full Overview

Pros

  • Interior design and quality from the S-Class
  • Quiet ride
  • Smart safety technology

 

Cons

  • Soft steering
  • Reduced headroom
  • $44,600 starting price

The last time the Mercedes-Benz C-Class was all new, there was no Tesla Model 3, Genesis G70, or Alfa Romeo Giulia, three of its main competitors. (The latter two were named MotorTrend‘s Car of the Year.) Since 2014, when the fourth generation was launched, basically every luxury compact sedan has received a complete makeover except the C-Class (and the Lexus IS), leaving the Mercedes to face stiff competition amid a growing field of players. The result was lower sales, dropping from 86,000 annual units in 2015 to 30,000 last year. The popularity of crossovers is also to blame, but the fact Mercedes left one of its best-sellers unattended didn’t help.

Thankfully, that stops now.

Feeling Special Inside

Although the previous C-Class still managed to

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The 2023 Nissan Z’s Pricing Undercuts the Toyota GR Supra Big Time

By Michael J. Moody 6 days ago

The new 2023 Nissan Z has been a long time coming, and while the recently announced production delay is frustrating, we’re finally on the home stretch. First drives of the new sports car are finally out—including ours, read it here!—and pricing has been announced, with the Z starting at just over $40,000 once it hits dealer lots later this summer. Forty-ish grand? That price severely undercuts the new Toyota Supra, the Nissan’s primary competitor.

The 2023 Nissan Z Coupe Sport, the base model, will start at $41,015 after factoring in destination and handling fees, while the Z Coupe Performance model will start at $51,015 and the limited run of Z Proto Spec models will start at $54,015. Those asks represent quite the price bumps over the outgoing 370Z, which started at $30,985 including destination for the 2020 model year.

However, the new car produces 68

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Full Truck Alliance Shifts Up A Gear On Regulatory Easing Reports (NYSE:YMM)

By Michael J. Moody 1 week ago

CHUNYIP WONG/iStock via Getty Images

When are mass disruptions to your business cause for celebration?

The answer to that question should probably be “never,” as disruptions like the ones caused by the Omicron variant in China these last few months are always a reason for concern. But those woes, detailed in a business update last week from trucking app operator Full Truck Alliance (NYSE:YMM), don’t seem to have investors worried.

The company’s stock has surged 32% over the last two trading days and is up 60% from its all-time low reached in mid-March. That said, we should point out that even after the rally, the stock is still down by about two-thirds from its $19 IPO price last June.

In fact, the business update, which we’ll review shortly, is probably one of the last things on investors’ minds right now. Instead, they seem to be encouraged by a

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Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro First Ride: Next Level Performance

By Michael J. Moody 1 week ago

A preface to this first-ride review: I originally said, “Yes, Aston Martin, I will come down to the F1 Miami Grand Prix race, and I’ll be happy to drive the new multimillion-dollar Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro.” That’s right, yours truly was supposed to take the wheel of the of the 1,000-hp UFO—a car initially designed to run a 3-minute, 20-second lap around the 24 Hours of Le Mans’ 8.5-mile Circuit de la Sarthe—at Florida’s Homestead-Miami Speedway. I had recently eaten dinner with Aston CEO Tobias Moers on the launch event for his baby, the fantastic DBX707, and he assured me I would drive the Valkyrie. Trouble was, Moers officially “left” Aston Martin just ahead of the F1 weekend, and I didn’t get my time with the Valkyrie AMR Pro until two days later. I would no longer get to drive the car. Were the two situations related? Aston said

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