Exploding Dodge engines, old-fashioned Toyota keys and more

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Welcome to our roundup of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from the past week. Get swept up and ready to head into the weekend because it’s hard to keep up with a digital jam.

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This is what you missed while you were away.

Dodge pushes ‘Last Call’ reveal due to engines exploding, Ram’s delayed truck reveal

Dodge had plans to unveil the final farewell ‘Last Call’ Challenger or Charger model this week at SEMA 2022 in Las Vegas, but those plans literally blew up with the engine. According to Tim Kuniskis, Dodge’s CEO, the brand “was running into some problems. To be more precise, the modified V8 exploded pushed to the limit in the Dodge test lab. We’re not talking about a minor glitch. Apparently the engines really blew up.” With a rumored 909 horsepower engine under the hood, it’s no wonder it has sunk itself into obscurity.

That wasn’t the only delayed Stellantis product to get attention this week. Ram was initially set to be unveiled in the fall, but has now officially announced that it will introduce its electrified truck concept. the Ram 1500 Revolution conceptat the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on January 5, 2023. A teaser image of the truck’s side profile accompanied the announcement, with a production model expected to follow in 2024. The 1500 Revolution is Ram’s next stop on its journey to a fully electrified lineup by 2030.

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Honda wants more than $50,000 for its 2023 Civic Type R in Canada, but even more in the US

Canadian pricing for the 2023 Honda Civic Type R starts at $50,050 ($51,830 in Quebec), making it the most expensive Civic you can get. Honda announced pricing this week, along with confirmation that no SE model would follow. As a quick refresher, the “race” special uses the brand’s K20C1 2.0-liter Turbo four with 315 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque, which helped the R break the all-time lap record for front-wheel drive production cars. the Suzuka Formula 1 circuit in Japan.

It sounds that “R” more than deserved, but if the news leaves you reeling with sticker shock, be glad you’re not in America where the car is even more expensive at about $58,000 at the current exchange rate.

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Toyota revives the old-school key due to chip shortage

The ongoing shortage of microchips has resulted in Toyota is pulling a game out of its 1990s strategy and bringing back the manual key. Some Japanese buyers will receive their new Toyota vehicles with one ‘smart’ fob key and one mechanical key, in an effort to keep up with estimated delivery times. “As the semiconductor shortage continues, this is an interim measure to deliver cars to customers as soon as possible,” Toyota said in a statement, adding that the second smart key would be shipped “as soon as it is ready”.

But the move may still not be enough to keep the Japanese maker on track. Last week, the brand announced that it probably won’t be able to build the 9.7 million cars it originally planned to produce this year.

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The most notable cars at SEMA 2022

It’s been a good week to be a gearhead in Las Vegas, with SEMA 2022 filling the city with customizers and the enthusiasts coveting their work. We hopped on a flight to Sin City to check out the best custom builds of the year and were not disappointed. One of the highlights was a 1948 Chevrolet Super Truck built by Ringbrothers in over 10,000 hours, featuring a Goodwin 1,000 horsepower tall-deck racing engine and a sculpted body filled with carbon fiber elements.

Other favorites included a gold-and-chrome truck from Florida-based Lifted Rippers Ford Super Duty and a 1966 Toyota Stout Drift Truck with a four-cylinder built by PSI Racing. Here’s what all these custom vehicles have in common: they all prove that anything is possible, while also disproving that anything is practical.

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Check out our full list of SEMA 2022’s 8 most daring, brash and beautifully insane cars – including Kevin Hart’s 1987 Buick “Dark Knight” Grand National – here.

Maine issues recalls on obscene vanity plates

In 2015, Maine tweaked the way it distributed personalized license plates, essentially overturning the rating process and giving anyone with a dirty mind and a driver’s license the ability to express themselves as lewd as they wanted on their government-issued state plates. . Now you may be thinking, but how bad can it be? See if you can fill in these blanks of this real vanity plate: “F – You.”

The state is now bringing its rules up to speed with much of the rest of the nation, banning derogatory comments about gender identity, race, age, nationality, ethnicity, religion and more. Free speech advocate and Secretary of State Shanna Bellows has advice for those who are angry that they can no longer express their more vulgar opinions on the back of their vehicles: “What I would say to those who want to make offensive or questionable speech: Get a bumper sticker.”

The joke’s over, Maine. You all went too far!