No Fake Speaker Noises, Only VR6 Magic - The VW Golf R32 Hatchback Sounds Brilliant At $15,000

Over the weekend, Mercedes introduced a new member to its AMG GT lineup—an SUV. Following a path that hasn’t worked out well for BMW’s M division, this boxier AMG GT isn’t based on any existing Merc SUV; it’s fully electric and fully its own thing. Like other hi-po EVs, it has fake sounds, too, though it turns out that you only get the simulated V8 soundtrack if you pay extra. Ridiculous though it seems, yes: Mercedes decided to restrict the V8 noises, should you choose to hear them, to the more expensive and powerful GT SUV variants, the GT 55 and GT 63. Instead, the entry-level GT 53’s fake sounds mirror those of an AMG six-cylinder mill. The GT 63 has a peak output of 1,153 horsepower, while the GT 55 tops out at 805 hp, and the GT 53, at 536 hp.

Just as televison’s Alf came back in Pog form, beloved badges often return to manufacturer lineups in the 2020s as SUVs. Even coupes, like the Mitsubishi Eclipse and Ford Puma, have not proven not immune from the treatment. Alfa Romeo CEO Santo Filici reportedly says that the brand is bucking that trend, although it is doing so by returning to a standby of the last decade: A hatchback with the name of a historic sedan. The returning car is the Giulietta, a badge first sold for two generations in the 1950s through ‘80s as a sporty, rear-wheel drive sedan before being shelved for decades. It came back in 2010 as a compact hatchback that shared an FCA architecture with the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart, and it is that version set to be revived soon. In a roundtable interview, Car magazine quotes Filici as saying that the brand will build the revived Giulietta on the new STLA One architecture. That should make it a close relative of the Dodge GLH, a hot hatch that should effectively serve as the American equivalent to the Alfa.

It’s science: Why noises travel farther and sound louder during the winterEver wonder why a train horn or barking dog sounds louder on a crisp winter morning? Turns out, it's not just your imagination — there's real science behind it. The weather culpritIn the winter, we often see warmer air set up above a pocket of cooler air near the surface, as shown in the image below. This is called a temperature inversion. This is the opposite of what we typically see in the summer where the sun heats up the ground, creating a layer of warmer air near the surface with cooler air above. And it makes all the difference in what your ears can hear.(MORE: Here's when fall's first freeze arrives in your town)A visual representation of a temperature inversion, which is common during the winter.(Madie Homan)Now, add in the sound wavesThe key is that sound waves travel faster in warmer air than in cooler air. Get More of Our News on GoogleSet The Weather Company as a 'Preferred Source' to get quicker access to the news you value. When warmer air sets up above cooler air, the contrast between the two causes the sound waves to bend down toward the ground, closer to your ears.

A dream deferred wouldn’t turn out to be one denied, at least for Giorgio Amoretti and his children.

Subaru's new WRX debuts in November, but US availability remains up in the air.

Vik is the Co-Founder and former Editor at MotorAuthority, a leading U. S. website covering performance and luxury cars. Since 2025, he has contributed to CarBuzz, blending his engineering background and almost 20 years of automotive journalism experience to deliver cutting-edge news and analysis. Mercedes-Benz helped start the trend of calling almost anything with a curved roof a coupe when it launched the original CLS in 2004. Today, it offers one of the industry's widest ranges of coupe-like models, most of which are SUVs. According to Mercedes, the popularity of these models, particularly coupe-like SUVs like the GLC Coupe and GLE Coupe, means the body style is here to stay. The bad news is that their success appears to be coming at the expense of traditional two-door coupes.