Welcome to our roundup of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam.
Here’s what you missed while you were away.
The 2023 Escape will come with hybrid, PHEV, and ST-Line options
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Ford has unveiled the 2023 Escape in time for Halloween, and it’s definitely more treat than trick. This year around, the small SUV will be available with a number of powertrain options including a hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and the good old gasser in the form of a 1.5L EcoBoost engine or turbocharged 2.0L engine. Regardless of how it’s powered, Ford says all models will have a range of at least 644 kilometres per tank of fuel. Front-wheel-drive hybrid models will manage 885 km using a 2.5L four-cylinder engine.
There’s also the ST-Line and ST-Line Elite trims (both available as hybrids), which bring red stitching to a black interior, a sporty flat-bottomed steering wheel, a different grille, a single-wing rear spoiler, and 18- or 19-inch painted aluminum wheels. Horsepower figures across the board have been announced and can be seen in the full unveiling coverage here, but Ford hasn’t released the whole spec sheet yet. Sales for the 2023 Ford Escape should open early next year.
The 2024 GMC Sierra EV Denali Edition 1 will come to Canada, but not right away
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GMC is preparing to join the electric truck segment with the reveal of the 2024 GMC Sierra EV Denali Edition 1. The pickup allows GM to get yet another use out of the Ultium platform that also underpins the electric Hummer and Silverado EVs, only this time with a ‘GMC’ on the front. The Sierra EV shares other features with the Silverado, too, like its battery pack that provides an estimated 640-km range and the ability to quick-charge up to 160 km worth of driving in 10 minutes. And like the Hummer, it will also have four-wheel steering to match its four-wheel-drive, as well as having the CrabWalk feature to get out of tight parking spots, though with slightly less flexibility than the aforementioned SUV.
The interior is premium, but not cluttered, with a 16.8-inch vertical display screen in the centre and an 11-inch configurable display panel. However, Canadian buyers will have to wait longer than their American counterparts if they want one, as the electric pickup is not set to arrive north of the border until 2025, a year after it’ll be available in the U.S.
Four-door custom-built 1970 Barracuda heads to auction
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It’s far from a hack job, but some may still consider it a monstrosity. A four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda? But who? How? And why? Well, it was Dave Walden, a restoration expert with multiple Mopar builds under his belt, who did the deed, presumably because he could. He started with a 1972 Dodge Coronet sedan and changed it completely — including adjusting every body part in some way — that the state of Montana issued a completely new VIN for the car once it was complete, something that’s usually reserved for kit cars.
Doors were chopped and changed from an E-body Barracuda, some fenders and quarters were made from scratch, an H-code 340-cubic-inch V8 was dropped in, and then it was finished in a beautiful black-and-red two tone. Want to build one for yourself? Might be out of luck, because Walden has registered a patent for the design. Want to buy this one? Might be in luck, because it’s going for auction this January at Mecum’s Kissimmee, Florida event.
Strathroy police face $2.4M lawsuit for aborting a chase
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High-speed police chases are way more dangerous than they’re made out to be in the movies. That’s why Canadian police will often choose to not pursue individuals who are driving in ways that could endanger themselves or others if they see the red-and-blues in their rearview. But that very act of not chasing may in itself be risky, as a police force in Ontario is now learning.
The police board of Strathroy-Caradoc near London, Ontario, is facing a $2.4-million lawsuit after a woman, one Marisa Bucci, was injured in a crash at an intersection following a police chase that had allegedly been called off. The claim has yet to go to court but alleges that an officer in a cruiser was in pursuit of a speeding Audi when dispatch called them off, allowing the speeding vehicle to continue on to where it crashed into another vehicle at a rural intersection.
Police have yet to comment on this claim, but the Special Investigations Unit police watchdog has already investigated the incident and cleared the officer of wrongdoing.
Audi and Volkswagen recall nearly 75,000 SUVs over serious engine issues
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Heads up to any Q5, Atlas, or Atlas Cross Sport SUV owners: there has been a recall and it may impact your vehicle. Some 74,067 SUVs with those nameplates (including 9,257 in Canada) are being summoned to service centres for an inspection of the connecting rod bearings. If left unchecked and indeed damaged as some have proven to be, the connecting rod bearings can lead to engine failure, and in some circumstances, an oil leak that could potentially start a fire.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) website has listed the affected vehicles as the 2021, 2022, 2023 Audi Q5 and Q5 Sportback; 2022 and 2023 Volkswagen Atlas; and 2022 and 2023 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport. If notified by mail, owners should have their vehicles taken to a dealer and checked — if the problem exists, a new engine will be installed, free of charge.
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