Month: October 2020

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  At $76,695 fully loaded, the Genesis G90 seriously undercuts similarly sized luxury sedans from Germany. [credit: Jonathan Gitlin ]

When Genesis was spun out as its own brand, the G90 luxury sedan was chosen to lead the way. A flagship sedan makes sense when the point was to show that Korea could mix it alongside the Germans. And the G90 did that, feeling solid and over-engineered. Now the big car has had its midlife makeover, gaining a whopping new grille and some other distinctive styling details that better align the G90 with Genesis' design language. It has also received a bit of a tech upgrade, with some new advanced driver assistance systems.

And yet, despite the car's competence it felt out of step, like it belongs to a reality close to ours but subtly different. In this alternate universe, there's no climate change, and so the naturally aspirated V8 in the $76,695 G90 5.0L Ultimate still makes plenty of sense. Its 420hp (313kW) and 383lb-ft (519Nm) is more than enough to move the big rear-wheel drive sedan via an in-house eight-speed automatic transmission. And it's only 1 mile per gallon more thirsty than the twin-turbo V6 version we tested last time, at 24mpg (9.8l/100km) on the highway and 17mpg (13.8l/100km) in the city.

Just as importantly, in this alternate timeline, the SUV never reached ascendancy. Instead, executives still flock to the sedan as their preferred form of conveyance, and the G90's newly sharpened jawline offers a more classic look alongside the power bulges of a BMW 7 Series or the crisp folds and creases of an Audi A8. The high points are the intricately detailed headlights, a new family look for the Genesis range, and the 19-inch alloy wheels that go from flat disc to G-Matrix crisscross pattern to tire, seemingly skipping the rim altogether.

Enlarge / Super Cruise will be available on the 2021 Cadillac CT4-V. (credit: Cadillac)

Cadillac Super Cruise has retained its title as the best driver assistance system on the market, Consumer Reports declared in a new ranking. Super Cruise also won CR's last ranking in 2018. While Super Cruise started out as a Cadillac-only feature, GM is planning to bring it to 22 vehicles by 2023.

Tesla's Autopilot came in second place—a "distant second" according to Consumer Reports. The group says it saw "minor improvements in lane keeping performance" from Tesla's offering since the system was last evaluated in 2018.

Those minor improvements were enough for Autopilot to get the top spot in the "lane keeping and performance" category of CR's report. CR ranked Autopilot 9/10 for performance, while Super Cruise scored 8/10. Tesla also got top marks for Autopilot's ease of use.

Enlarge / The iPhone XR led iPhone sales, but iPhone revenue was down 15 percent year over year. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Apple is stepping up efforts to develop its own search technology as US antitrust authorities threaten multibillion-dollar payments that Google makes to secure prime placement of its engine on the iPhone.

In a little-noticed change to the latest version of the iPhone operating system, iOS 14, Apple has begun to show its own search results and link directly to websites when users type queries from its home screen.

That web search capability marks an important advance in Apple’s in-house development and could form the foundation of a fuller attack on Google, according to several people in the industry.

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  A series of Xbox Series boxes. [credit: Sam Machkovech ]

You may have noticed a faint trickle of unboxings and painfully limited previews of new consoles at Ars Technica as of late, and today, I have more of the same to offer. This time, I can finally confirm receipt of Microsoft's $299 Xbox Series S, now in addition to the $499 Xbox Series X I've been testing for over a month.

When we went down this road with Series X earlier this month and Sony's $499 PlayStation 5 one day ago, here's how things began: we announced that we'd gotten the device in question and offered a mild tease while ensuring you, Ars readers, that we were merely diving in with tests and impressions ahead of a more formal review. Today's gallery revolves specifically around the final, retail hardware Microsoft sent us for both flavors of its Xbox Series line; the Series X I've previously shown off has been a "near-final" prototype (likely one meant for use at events like E3, before those went kaput).

Hence, I finally get to yank them out of their boxes (above), then present them in a mild comparison gallery (below). Unlike prior generations, neither new Xbox comes with a physical coupon for subscription services like Xbox Game Pass or Xbox Live Gold, arguably because Microsoft has shifted toward offering those directly to brand-new customers once said customers connect consoles to the Internet. (Apologies in advance to longtime Xbox subscribers hoping for a fun 14-day re-up in the box.)