Popular Mechanics Cars

What you need to know about electric vehicles, self-driving cars, motorcycles, and the best in automotive technology.

By Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics
Autos
How to Jumpstart a Car
Popular Mechanics - By Timothy Dahl
When your car doesn't start, you most likely have a dead battery and the fastest way to get back on the road is a quick jumpstart. This simple trick takes less than five minutes and only requires a set
Jun 13, 2018
Popular Mechanics
Los Angeles Museums
Petersen Automotive Museum’s Virtual Tour Drives Boredom Away
Popular Mechanics - By Mihir Maddireddy
We’re all physically sitting at home, but this tour takes us straight into one of the great car collections anywhere. By now, everyone's got a list of things they're doing to keep busy and boredom at during
2 days ago
Popular Mechanics
Autos
Ford Is Using Seat Ventilation Fans to Build Respirators
Popular Mechanics - By Bozi Tatarevic
An ingenious solution to provide needed aid to frontline emergency workers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ford announced today that it is partnering with 3M in order to manufacture powered air-purifying
4 days ago
Popular Mechanics
Autos
How to Pump Gas During a Pandemic
Popular Mechanics - By Sebastian Blanco
The etiquette of doing something you do regularly while staying safe and clean. We might need new gas-pumping etiquette rules for the 21st century, both for selfish and altruistic reasons.• We've known
4 days ago
Popular Mechanics
Autos
Drone Flies Over an Astonishing Car Collection
Popular Mechanics - By Sebastian Blanco
There are too many classic vehicles to count in this three-minute drone video filmed in a former auto mall. Combine one part showplace and one part high-tech filming capabilities, and you end up with lot
5 days ago
Popular Mechanics
Autos
VW Microbus EV Conversion Merges Powertrain Tech With Old-School Cool
Popular Mechanics - By Roberto Baldwin
The electric version of the classic VW Microbus has been on the horizon, but not one quite like this. Last summer at its Innovation and Engineering Center, Volkswagen unveiled a Type 2 Microbus that was
6 days ago
Popular Mechanics
Autos
The Model Y Proves That Tesla Has Learned a Lot
Popular Mechanics - By Mack Hogan
It's a lifted Model 3 with more room—exactly what it's supposed to be. In its early years of mass production, Tesla faced a significant amount of setbacks. Fundamental to its ambitious nature was a go-its-own-way
March 19
Popular Mechanics
Electric Vehicles
Future VW Electric Vehicles Will Send Power Back to the Grid
Popular Mechanics - By Roberto Baldwin
VW says EV owners will be able to charge when production exceeds demand and sell power back to the grid during peak electricity usage. Volkswagen's transition to electrification continues to yield business
March 16
Popular Mechanics
Autos
Samsung Says Its Solid-State EV Battery Has a 500-Mile Range
Popular Mechanics - By Roberto Baldwin
Researchers perfect a battery that will let electric vehicles charge faster and drive farther while lasting a lot longer, but don't expect to see it anytime soon. For years, solid-state batteries have
March 13
Popular Mechanics
Campers
The Coolest Campers in Every Size and for Most Budgets
Popular Mechanics - By Chris Dixon
Looking at getting into #vanlife or splurging on a tow-behind trailer? Consider one of these best RVs on the market. When we decided to take stock of the state of campers of 2020, we faced a daunting Over
March 12
Popular Mechanics
Tesla
Tesla Builds Its One Millionth EV, and It's a Model Y
Popular Mechanics - By Roberto Baldwin
The once small startup that made EVs cool has reached a huge milestone. In 2003 Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning started a little car company. Investor and chairman of the board Elon Musk showed up
March 11
Popular Mechanics
Autos
Just a Porsche 911 Turbo S Doing 0-60 in 1.9 Seconds
Popular Mechanics - By Brian Silvestro
Watch it push the upper limits of traction at the drag strip. The Porsche 911 Turbo might be angled as a corner-capable grand-tourer, but don't be fooled—it's insanely quick in a straight line. From the
March 10
Popular Mechanics
Autos
All the Best Motorcycle Gear You Need to Start Riding
Popular Mechanics - By Alexander George
With the right stuff, you’ll be safer and have more fun. First, the bad news if you’re planning on updating your motorcycle gear: You can bet on spending at least $1,000, probably more. Yes, it’s expensive.
March 5
Popular Mechanics
Autos
F1 Will Not Race if Coronavirus Prevents Any Team From Competing
Popular Mechanics - By Mack Hogan
Considering one of the sport's biggest teams is based in Italy, it seems like cancellations are inevitable. The Formula One Chinese Grand Prix was originally scheduled for April, but coronavirus concerns
March 4
Popular Mechanics
Autos
Do You Want This 1960s-Era Fiat 500 Lego Creator Kit?
Popular Mechanics - By Drew Dorian
Lego is launching the next automotive icon in its Creator Expert series of kits, drawing inspiration from the Fiat 500F of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Italian minicar's vintage appeal is bolstered
March 2
Popular Mechanics
Autos
Learning to Drive in the a Jag
Popular Mechanics - By Ezra Dyer
A day of strategic fishtailing at Jaguar's cold-weather test facility. Every now and then a car company will invite a few journalists to some frigid northern test facility to drive some new model that’s
March 1
Popular Mechanics
Lotus Cars
The Best James Bond Car Is This Aston Martin DB5 Drift Machine
Popular Mechanics - By Chris Perkins
This isn't a DB5 at all. It's a replica built by Aston Martin, and likely powered by a BMW straight-six. No Time to Die will feature Daniel Craig's James Bond behind the wheel of an Aston Martin DB5 unlike
February 28
Popular Mechanics
Pedestrian Deaths in 2019 Were Highest in 30 Years
Popular Mechanics - By Colin Beresford
The Governors Highway Safety Association calculates that there were 6,590 pedestrian deaths in 2019, a 5 percent increase from 2018. Rising numbers of pedestrian deaths have garnered increasing attention
February 27
Popular Mechanics
This Is How a 1500-HP Monster Truck Handles a Drag Race
Popular Mechanics - By Mack Hogan
It may have 43-inch wide tires and four-wheel drive, but Son Uva Digger still spins its wheels off the line. As a world champion Monster Jam driver, Ryan Anderson is more used to crushing cars than shredding
February 27
Popular Mechanics
Watch a Drag Race Between a McLaren 720S and Shelby GT500, Because You Deserve It
Popular Mechanics - By Brian Silvestro
The Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 has shown time and time again it can dominate at the drag strip. It's defeated everything from new NSXs, to BMW M8s, to Challenger Hellcats. But it seems that not even a power
February 24
Popular Mechanics
Fulfill Your Cybertruck Fantasies With This Hot Wheels RC Car
Popular Mechanics - By Brian Silvestro
Can't afford a Cybertruck? This is the next best thing. Hot Wheels announced today it will sell two remote-controlled scale-model versions of Tesla's highly anticipated Cybertruck. Buyers will be able
February 21
Popular Mechanics
Watch This Ferrari F40 Burn to the Ground in Monaco
Popular Mechanics - By Brian Silvestro
There's now one less F40 on the roads. A sad day. It's always a sad day when a vintage collector car catches fire, but the fiery loss of a Ferrari F40 is an absolute tragedy. This video, originally captured
February 20
Popular Mechanics
Should NASCAR Go Hybrid?
Popular Mechanics - By Bozi Tatarevic
The head of Toyota Racing Development tells us what's on the horizon for NASCAR's Next Gen car and powertrain package. Teams in NASCAR's Cup series currently use 358-cubic-inch pushrod V-8s. Toyota Racing
February 19
Popular Mechanics
Porsche Taycan EV Goes Up in Flames in Florida Garage
Popular Mechanics - By Roberto Baldwin
It was spectacular and scary, but here's a friendly reminder that gasoline-powered cars also catch fire. We don't know a lot, but we do know that one of the first Porsche Taycan EVs to make its way into
February 19
Popular Mechanics
On a Supercar, the Cameras Are There To Make You Go Faster
Popular Mechanics - By Alexander George
2020 McLaren 600LT / Base Price: $256,500 / Engine: Twin Turbo V8 / Horsepower: 592 / Weight (Dry): 2,749 lbs. / Zero-to-60: 2.9 sec. / Warranty: 3 year unlimited milage Among the selling points for six-figure
February 17
Popular Mechanics
Man Brake-Checks Waymo Self-Driving Van, Gets Arrested
Popular Mechanics - By Roberto Baldwin
The Waymo autonomous van had a driver at the wheel who was injured in the collision, but one thing's for sure: road rage is no longer a strictly human-vs.-human scenario. Building a self-driving-vehicle
February 17
Popular Mechanics
How to Spot an Undercover Supercar
Popular Mechanics - By Alexander George
It’s a cruel reality of liking cars. The few who will ever own something as fast as a Lamborghini or McLaren probably won’t be able to afford one until they’re older. But with age, the desire for swing-up
February 16
Popular Mechanics
Some of the Best Self-Driving Safety Tech Is in… a Subaru?
Popular Mechanics - By Alexander George
“Self-driving,” and even worse “Autopilot,” is pretty misleading term. Right now, in 2020, the most advanced systems are only capable of a handful of functions, none of which mean that you can check your
February 15
Popular Mechanics
Ford Technicians Will Learn to Fix Mustang Mach-E With a VR Game
Popular Mechanics - By Colin Beresford
When the electric Mustang Mach-E reaches Ford repair shops, they won't have seen anything like it, so Bosch has made them a virtual-reality training program. Ford, in collaboration with Bosch, is using
February 14