Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo gets a stretched version starting at about $60,000

Back before we had gargantuan three-row SUVs to haul stuff around in, station wagons were often configured as utility vehicles. Prime example: the Ecto-1. Before it was re-tasked as an otherworldly urban assault vehicle, it served New York City as an ambulance. And while the Ghostbusters’ ride was effectively coach-built by Miller-Meteor using GM engines and underpinnings, other niche models, like this Volvo 245 Transfer, came that way straight from the factory. You’ll need to break out your browser’s translator (or speak Swedish) if you want to dive deep under the hood of this oddball long-roof model. The brochure showcases it as a taxi cab, but it was also marketed as a solution for rural ambulance and school bus services. According to Teknikens Värld, the added length made it both difficult to maneuver and more expensive to fill up if you drove it around town a lot, but that’s what you get for stretching out what was already a pretty long car in 1977.

Chris joined CarBuzz in June 2025. He's held positions at Ford and Motor1, and contributed to Autoblog, Car Throttle, Auto Trader, and many other motoring outlets during his 28-year career. Chris holds a BA in English from Western Michigan University and an AA in Journalism. Growing up in the 1980s in the shadow of Detroit, Chris didn't realize he was witnessing a turning point in automotive history. He just thought digital dashes and pop-up headlights were cool, and no car could ever be as awesome as KITT from Knight Rider. He also came from a car-crazy family, so when he graduated from college with English and Journalism degrees, he applied his communication talents to the wild world of cars.

Motorcycles are awesome. We all know it. Even your protective parents who cautioned you against a life on two wheels likely understand why motorcyclists trade safety for satisfaction. Sometimes, for safety reasons, financial reasons, or other such rationale, we don't take our moto-ambitions on the road. However, that doesn't mean you have to live a life devoid of motorcycle fun. If you're okay with keeping your rides off-road and full of childlike whimsy, there might be a solution for you at your local Tractor Supply. You can get all sorts of stuff at this massive retail store, but you may not have expected the agricultural and rural retailer to sell you a pocket-sized motorcycle. We're talking about the Massimo MB 200, a one-cylinder trail-going mini bike — though it's practically hulking compared to what may very well be the smallest Ducati ever made. While you can't slap a license plate on the thing, it looks as though it would be right at home conquering grassy fields and muddy trails. Right now, the MB 200 is on sale in five different colors and ships to most U. S. states. It's light, cartoonish, and takes a no-frills, back-to-the-basics approach to off-road riding.

Is it ok to remove the leads right after the car starts or should you wait? A flat battery is downright annoying, seriously stressful, and hard to fix without the right help or equipment. Older, lighter, manual-transmission cars can be bump- or push-started by dropping the clutch to force the engine to spin, once you've built up enough speed with the help of a hill, or a friend to push you along. Reviving a heavier car on flat ground, or an automatic, though, will require jumper cables. But how long should you leave the engine running once you've brought it back from the dead?

In contrast with the federal government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is restricted by limited budgets and standards determined by the legislative process, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety puts the money and data of insurance companies to work designing more thorough crash tests that can be implemented without an act of Congress. The moving target presented by the IIHS means automakers are often caught out by updated tests. But automakers can also use the results of those tests to make improvements, as the latest round of IIHS safety ratings shows. The insurance-industry-backed nonprofit recently tested a handful of crossovers, including the Audi Q3, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Nissan Kicks, and Toyota RAV4 (in both hybrid and plug-in hybrid forms). The Kicks earned a 2026 Top Safety Pick award (one run below the highest Top Safety Pick+) despite failing to do so when the current generation debuted for the 2025 model year. The others got nothing. And it was all down to the IIHS’s recently-updated moderate overlap front crash test.

Zack Norman has been writing about cars for well over a decade now, with way more than a thousand automotive stories written, and thousands more edited and published. Prior to joining CarBuzz, he was an author, senior editor, SEO specialist, and content strategist at Motor Verso, a leading UK-based automotive publication, in addition to being a regular contributor for a dozen other smaller motoring blogs. Zack is hopelessly obsessed with all things JDM, so if he’s not window shopping for 80s and 90s JDM sports cars and Kei campervans, he’s probably off daydreaming about cruising down the Shuto Expressway, or perhaps even thinking about how he’d want to personalize and tune some of his favorite Japanese tuner cars. Either that, or he’s off to re-watch Wangan Midnight and Initial D for the millionth time, or he might be curled up around a dimly-lit desk at 3:00 AM trying to finish building his model cars.