Awesome Rides

Ford’s perfectly-sized Ranger pickup gets a redesign for 2024, with updates for its XL, XLT and Lariat trims, and for the first time in the US, a Ranger Raptor. It’s available with a 2.3L I4 EcoBoost engine with 270 hp and 310 lb-ft. of torque, a 2.7L V6 with 315 hp and 400 lb-ft. of torque, or the Raptor’s 3.0L V6 with 405 hp and 430 lb-ft. of torque.

The cars in The Flintstones rolled on wheels carved from boulders. Chris Rollins took a different approach to making stone tires for his go-kart by casting them from concrete. How fast and far can he drive on these punishing solid tires before something breaks? Watch part two here.

Builder Thor Drake of See See Motorcycles wanted the freedom to cook his own meals while traveling on his bike. So he teamed up with Indian Motorcycles and Traeger Grills to create a custom sidecar with a fully-operational Ironwood 885 pellet grill for campsite cookouts wherever his Springfield Dark Horse takes him.

Tiny homes are all the rage these days. YouTuber President Chay and his brother purchased a beat-up old school bus with the goal of turning it into a luxurious small home on wheels. After a full cleanup and roof repair, they installed studs, insulation, and drywall and built a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom.

Maker The Q has a thing for modifying bicycles. For this unusual bike mod, he took an ordinary 2-wheeler and chopped its frame into a series of links with cables that hold them together. The idea is that its segments can be loosened and wrapped around a pole like a cable lock, then tightened to form a stiff frame for riding.

Americans like their trucks big, but in most countries, pickup trucks aren’t as common or as large. Just for fun, WhistlinDiesel ordered the smallest truck he could find and tested its hauling, off-road capability, and durability. The truck costs around $2500 in China, but shipping and importing brings the cost to over $11,000.

Crash.enabled uses the vehicle physics simulator BeamNG.drive to see how cars and trucks might behave in various collisions. In this brief clip, they test rear-ending a small hatchback into a semi-trailer at progressively less plausible speeds. Things get really bad over 60 mph, but we suppose it could be worse.

GMC bestows its Sierra HD pickup with a AT4X off-road trim. Built for extreme overlanding, it has a 1.5″ lift, Multimatic DSSV dampers, an e-locking rear diff, skid plates, and 35″ Goodyear Territory tires. The AT4X AEV Edition adds upgraded steel bumpers with recovery points, a front winch, 18″ Salta wheels and more.

Subaru is known for making everyday cars that can handle rough driving conditions. The 2024 Subaru Crosstrek deftly blends daily driver utility with rugged looks and all-terrain capabilities. This perfectly-sized crossover is packed with safety technology, a smooth all-wheel drivetrain, and above-average cargo handling capability.

James from Project Air likes to make things that go fast. Recently, he produced a series of experimental builds to see which method of propulsion would make the fastest possible LEGO vehicle. Which will hit the top speed? Multiple LEGO motors, rocket engines, or a brushless motor from an R/C sports car?

McLaren takes its super sports car to the next level with the new 750S. Building on the astounding 720S, the 750S is lighter, more powerful, and more aerodynamic. Its 4.0L twin-turbo V8 makes 740 hp, launching the carbon fiber beast from 0 to 60 mph in 2.7 sec. or 0 to 124 mph in 7.2 sec. It’s available as a coupe or drop-top.

Zooming down a drag strip inside of a plastic trash can seems like a terrible idea. Regardless, that’s what speed freak Chris Rollins did. In his quest to set a new world record, he built a motorized tricycle that fits inside the can and outfitted it with a 12 hp Honda clone engine. We can only imagine how terrifying it is to drive.

The physics of Star Wars aren’t the same as our reality, so you have to take this video from RED SIDE with a grain of salt. But they did their best to convert science fiction to reality and calculate the relative speeds of various vehicles and spacecraft. Place your bets now on the fastest way to travel in a galaxy far, far away.

Vehicles that roll on tracks are generally built for their terrain-handling capabilities and not their speed. But rctestflight managed to achieve both with this machine, a direct-drive snowcat driven by electric skateboard motors. With its skinny tracks installed, the custom-built R/C vehicle can hit speeds up to 50 mph.

It’s not nearly as large as their record-setting ice carousel, but this spinning race track from the Beyond the Press channel looks like a fun wintertime activity. We did get a little dizzy watching the video at times, though. In case you’re interested, those three-wheeled, all-season scooters come from Skick.

We previously enjoyed a few snowy days driving the Ram 1500 TRX. After another week of living with this bonkers truck in warmer and drier surroundings, we’re convinced no production pickup’s more fun-to-drive or off-road capable. This one looks incredible, bathed in pearl-coat Hydro Blue paint with black accents.

This factory video from All Process of World takes us inside Hyundai Sungwoo Casting for a look at the machinery used to produce wheels. The process starts by melting aluminum bars, pouring the molten metal into molds, then quenching the wheels for strength before grinding away excess metal and finishing them.

After making a homebrew hovercraft with a leaf blower, Hideyasu Ito created his own unique take on the air-cushioned ride, a single-person hovercraft that floats on four plastic bubbles. Tom Scott had the rare privilege to meet the inventor and take his amazing creation for a ride.

There’s no mistaking the red-trimmed kidney grille on this hybrid SUV as anything but a bonker’s BMW. The automaker’s most potent M car uses a twin-turbo V8 and electric drivetrain to crank out 738 hp and 735 lb-ft. of torque. The performance-tuned XM Label Red zooms from 0-60 mph in 3.7 sec, with a top speed of 175 mph.

There’s a good reason that wheels are round: friction. But basic physics are never going to stand in the way of mad builder The Q. His latest creation is a standard bike frame with one major modification – it rolls on custom-made square wheels. It rides pretty smoothly, but it also doesn’t work how we assumed it would.

Most gas-powered cars use a large, 12-volt battery to start their engines. The guys from Garage 54 previously figured out it was possible to start a car with 1000 AA batteries, but this time they conducted a little experiment to see how few of the 1.5-volt batteries you could get away with. They should try it again with rechargeables.

The Nissan Armada has been the Japanese automaker’s largest SUV for 20 years. We hadn’t spent time in one in a while and recently had the opportunity to live with the 2023 Armada for a week. Does the upscale Platinum model have what it takes to keep up in today’s crowded 3-row SUV market?

In 2011, Vagabond Works created a skateboard like no other. The Land Crawler eXXtreme is a robotic skateboard that walks using a mechanism based on Theo Janssen’s Strandbeests. It uses two motors and 24 legs to scurry along and has a load capacity of 300 kg or about 661 lb. We imagine its battery doesn’t last long.