Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2013 i MotorTrend

Making its debut at Detroit 2013, the BMW Concept 4 Series is a preview of what we can expect with the latest BMW 3 Series-based coupe. The coming 4 Series coupe, convertible, and rumored Gran Coupe will enter the mid-2010s with a higher numerical designation to signify they’re that much more special than mechanically related 3 Series sedans. Whether BMW can pull off its name game remains to be seen, but Munich no doubt looked to the success Audi has had with the A4-based A5 when devising its 4 Series plan. At least in concept form, the BMW 4 Series looks to be a bit more than just a 3 Series sedan with two doors sliced off. Wider, lower, and longer, the Concept 4 Series sports a roofline that gently…

The most controversial headline will come from the proposed Bentley luxury SUV, known currently as EXP 9 F. The concept generated strong reactions among the industry and the customer base when it debuted at the 2012 Geneva motor show. Reactions from the press were generally negative, but Bentley says customer reaction was considerably better. Despite protestations from brand purists, Bentley says its customers are fine with the concept of a Bentley SUV, and the demand is there. In fact, Bentley officials say that when the prototype SUV was shown at a dealer in Abu Dhabi, the company received more than 100 orders for a vehicle that didn’t exist. Reaction in China was similar. Customers in the U.S. were mixed on it, and British customers felt it looked too much like…

SUV Shocker Re: Your 2013 SUV of the Year. Only 11 SUVs? This is a joke, right? No BMW, no Jeep, no Land Rover, no Porsche? How can you choose an SUV of the Year from this list? At least, state your contender selection criteria. Dave CrainColorado Springs, Colorado SUV of the Year, as is the case with the rest of our “of the Year” affairs, is open to any automaker’s new or substantially updated offerings. BMW, Jeep, Land Rover, and Porsche didn’t have any new or substantially updated sport/utility products to contribute to our 2013 test, but there’s always next year.—Ed. Compliments on your honesty in noting that nine of your 11 “SUVs” are on car-based platforms and over half [are based on] front drive [platforms]. But “SUV” of…

It might seem like we’ve compared every combination of Mustang versus Camaro that exists. We pitted V-6 against RS, GT against SS, and even ran the mighty Mustang Boss 302 and GT500 against the Camaro ZL1. Still, two models have gotten away from grille-to-grille competition thus far: the Camaro SS 1LE and the Mustang GT Track Pack. We hear you loud and clear—you’re wondering if maybe the Boss 302 might be a tougher opponent for the SS 1LE. Well, we asked Ford for a Boss and were politely refused. Ford’s reasoning was simple: See, the Boss 302 is a distinct and separate model, much like the Camaro ZL1 or the Shelby GT500. More than a hop-up package, the Boss goes so far as to have a unique engine relative to…

My idea of a good time? Hitting the open road, hunting for historic routes and taking in beautiful vistas. So off I went to attend the Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid’s press launch in historic Santa Fe, New Mexico. After climbing up and down the Santa Fe Mountains, where—as expected—the hybrid electric and turbocharged four-cylinder showed no hesitation at elevations exceeding 8500 feet, I pointed the car toward the setting sun. Home was a short 876-mile drive away. I left Santa Fe and hooked up with portions of old Route 66 in Albuquerque, before continuing on I-40 until it meets up with Arizona State Route 89 near Ash Fork. I passed through Prescott and stayed on the lesser-traveled Routes 71 and 60 before joining Interstate 10 and ending in Southern California. (My…

Five years after the American automobile industry nearly capsized, the business is staying afloat because of the North American market, Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The European Union, collectively a market about the size of ours, is the economic albatross of General Motors, Ford Motor, and Volkswagen Group. Toyota Motor Corporation is in a three-way race with GM and VW for the honor of World’s Largest Automaker, but gets no help from China, which is doing its best to purge Japanese brands from the market as penance for the ancient dispute over Diaoyu/Senkaku Island. Now that the politics of the 2009 GM and Chrysler bankruptcies are behind us, Sergio Marchionne’s Chrysler should be the owner of Sergio Marchionne’s Fiat, rather than the other way around. The U.S. market has purged…

“Steering-rack failure on the long-term 328 would’ve cost us $3500 if not for the 4-year/50,000-mile warranty. Thanks for that, BMW.”@MT_Evans Service life / 8 mo/14,957 mi Avg CO2 / 0.76 lb/mi Energy cons / 132 kW-hr/100 mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost / $0 (oil change) Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 23/34/27 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 25.6 MPG The 328 recently suffered a sudden and total power-steering failure. It worked when it was parked, and the next morning, it didn’t. It was nearly impossible to turn the wheel, so BMW Roadside Assistance was called, and onto the flatbed it went. Some 12 days later, it was finally fixed. The dealer’s diagnostic computer found an internal failure and, per BMW policy, the entire steering rack was…

“The JX is certainly sexier than a minivan, but at the cost of some practical features, like cargo capacity. Still swallows a bunch of gear.” Service life / 4 mo/9033 mi Avg CO2 / 1.07 lb/mi Energy cons / 185 kW-hr/100 mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost / $128.78 (oil change, rotate tires, inspection) Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON:18/23/20 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 18.2 MPG Being in the photography department, I am usually given one of the largest vehicles in our long-term fleet by default. A photo shoot support vehicle needs to haul a fair amount of equipment, so the bigger the better. Frequent MT Garage readers will remember my last long-termer was the 2011 Honda Odyssey minivan. So how does our 2013 Infiniti JX…

“It isn’t super-exciting, but it’ll reliably carry your friends and gear from Point A to Point B. Good-looking inside and out, too.”@TruckTrendAH SERVICE LIFE / 12 mo / 20,430 mi BASE PRICE / $34,890 OPTIONS / Panoramic sunroof ($1200), cross bars ($195), cargo cover ($125), cargo net ($50), wheel locks ($50) PRICE AS TESTED / $36,510 AVG ECON/CO2 / 19.6 mpg/0.99 lb/mi PROBLEM AREAS / None MAINTENANCE COST / $382.15 (2-oil change, inspection; 1-air filter, rotate tires, throttle body service) NORMAL-WEAR COST / $0 3-YEAR RESIDUAL VALUE* / $16,064 RECALLS / None EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 18/24/20 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 19.6 MPG *Automotive Lease Guide It isn’t flashy, and it wasn’t going to set any records at the track, but for a year, our long-term Kia Sorento served…

Starting with the 2014 E63, the majority of AMG products sold in the U.S. will be AWD. There are two exceptions and one unknown. The exceptions are the V-12 S65 AMG (the upcoming S63 will be AWD) and the SLS AMG GT Gullwing and all its variants, as well as the upcoming, 911-fighting “Small SLS,” both of which will be RWD. If AMG wants a true competitor to the 911, the baby Gullwing must have AWD variants to go up against Porsche’s AWD offerings. That’s about all we know of the new model. The unknown is the next C-Class, specifically the C63 AMG. It will most likely be AWD in the U.S., as Mercedes already shares axles among the C, E, and S-Class. AMG confirmed the upcoming S63 will be…

After rolling out a substantial under-the-skin update on the heavy-duty Silverado and Sierra two years ago, General Motors’ Chevrolet and GMC divisions are bringing a host of improvements to their light-duty trucks. While the restyling is conservative and the frame architecture reuses past mounting points, increased use of high-strength and hydroformed steel helps lighten the frame and increase cab rigidity. There’s also an additional wheelbase to underpin a crew cab/6.5-foot bed, and all three available engines are new. Those engines have familiar displacements—4.3 liters for the V-6, 5.3 and 6.2 for the V-8s—but feature aluminum block and head architecture, variable valve timing, direct injection, and Active Fuel Management for V-4 operation at lighter loads. The V-6 runs as a V-4, and will claim best-in-class fuel torque of any base V-6.…

You won’t be able to buy the 552-hp Audi RS6 Avant here, but you can get the RS7, which bowed in Detroit. The new 4.0-liter, twin-turbo eight-cylinder makes 516 lb-ft of torque and is already in the S6, S7, and S8. Like the S8, the RS6 Avant has an eight-speed auto, and that drivetrain combination is estimated by Audi to propel the wagon to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds. If that’s accurate (or underrated), the new V-8 RS6 should be faster than the previous model fitted with the twin-turbo V-10, which took more than 4 seconds to go 0-62 mph. Standard features include an adaptive air suspension, and items like the carbon-ceramic brakes, dynamic steering, Dynamic Ride Control, and sport differential for the rear axle are available as options.…

MT: There seems to be a trend that car sales are dropping in younger consumer markets, which is a segment that Honda was particularly strong in, especially through the peak of the tuner craze of the ‘90s and early 2000s. Whether it’s that young people are distracted (Internet, smartphones, etc.) or lack the funds (student loans, rising gas prices, etc.), what are Honda’s plans to recapture the youth market? TI: There are two factors behind what’s been happening. The first and most important thing is, for young people to buy cars, they need to find automobiles in general interesting, and they must be motivated to want to buy it or drive it. Then a common factor is we have become a little bit complacent in our efforts to really build…

Where do you read Motor Trend? E-mail digital photo(s) of yourself and Motor Trend to: motortrend@gmail.com or mail them to: Motor Trend, c/o Mail, Readers on Location, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245. WAY SOUTH OF THE BORDER Reader Richard Sandaas is seen here in Ushuaia, Argentina, on a cold, spring day in November. Ushuaia is one of several South American cities claiming to be the southernmost in the world; precise classification depends on which asterisks are attached. All we know is Ushuaia is thousands of miles from the ol’ MT home base. Sandaas writes: “Cars here face a lot of severe weather, but maybe there are some driver’s cars hidden away awaiting summer. I left the magazine behind, which may provide an incentive to uncover them.” And,…

Read any review of the Corvette and you’ll see the same list of compliments and complaints: great performance, terrible interior, or some variation thereof. The Corvette team has an answer to that, and it’s called Stingray. It starts at the core of the car. Every Corvette now features an aluminum frame, not just the higher-performance models. Instead of two uniformly thick, hydroformed rails, the chassis is now made up of five sections using hydroformed aluminum, cast aluminum, and extruded aluminum, with each section tailored to its purpose in strength and stiffness. The result is a 99-pound weight reduction with a 57 percent increase in stiffness. That’s 60 percent stiffer than today’s Z06 with the C7’s removable roof in place, and 20 percent stiffer with the roof out. Curb weight should…

In our July 2012 issue, we compared two-door performance cars that can be had for under $28,000 to find out which one returns the best driving bang for the buck. In the end, the Subaru BRZ came out on top, beating such greats as the Mustang V-6, the prototypical hot hatch VW GTI, and even the king of the budget sports cars, the Mazda Miata. At the time of the comparison, the Focus ST was still just a blip on the radar, and, because of the two extra doors, would have been a sidebar at best. Now that it’s here, and since the BRZ has conquered the two-door competitors, we wanted to see how these two stack up. First, the obvious differences between Focus and BRZ: front drive versus rear,…

Half a century ago, in 1963, Maserati concocted its most enduring model by stuffing a racebred engine under the hood of a four-door luxury sedan. The deliciously decadent Quattroporte, at the time the fastest car of its kind, was born. Through five generations, this flying wedge of la dolce vita grew to become one of our favorite sport sedans. (In our December 2007 issue, the Q’Porte spanked the bigs from Jaguar, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz to win a hard-fought comparo.) Now, as a 2014 model, comes a radically new, sixth-generation Quattroporte—a considerably bigger machine brewed with hardware from sources as far-ranging as Chrysler and Ferrari. On our way to Nice, France, to drive it, we couldn’t help but wonder: Has the illustrious Quattroporte lost its mojo? As noted, the new Q…

“I talked my friend into a Volvo S60. I get a weekly Facebook update from her: ‘I Love My Car!’”@MTLoverman Service life / 4 mo/7887 mi Avg CO2 / 0.91 lb/mi Energy cons / 157 kW-hr/100mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost / $0 Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 20/29/23 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 21.4 MPG I would like to propose a new test for automakers, called the Elantra Test. It goes like this: Does your purported luxury vehicle come with less standard equipment than a $17,000 Hyundai Elantra? If yes, go back to the drawing board. At $38,170, the Volvo S60 T5 AWD is actually a pretty square deal, especially considering you can’t get a 3 Series off a BMW lot for less than $50K…

“The BRZ’s combination of small sports car driving dynamics and big trunk capacity is huge for the car’s ability to be enjoyed daily.”@roryjurnecka Service life / 5 mo/7911 mi Avg CO2 / 0.71 lb/mi Energy cons / 123 kW-hr/100 mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost / $0 (oil change) Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 22/30/25 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 27.3 MPG Thanksgiving week happened to coincide with a 7500-mile scheduled service on my long-term BRZ. (That’s pronounced “burrz” around the Jurnecka household.) Despite the dealer, Pacific Subaru of Torrance, California, having just relocated, the BRZ had its oil changed and tire pressures set. All this at no cost, too, thanks to two free years of scheduled maintenance. I still can’t believe the amount of stuff…

“The stylish little Fiat brought a smile to the face of everyone who saw it.”@Emiliana505 SERVICE LIFE / 12 mo / 20,159 mi BASE PRICE / $18,000 OPTIONS / Customer Preferred Package 21D ($400: Nero/Grigio seats, TomTom navigation) PRICE AS TESTED / $18,400 AVG ECON/CO2 / 33.0 mpg / 0.59 lb/mi PROBLEM AREAS / None MAINTENANCE COST / $0 (3-oil change, inspection; 1-tire rotation) NORMAL-WEAR COST / $0 3-YEAR RESIDUAL VALUE* / $7544 RECALLS / 11-104 (door strap bolts) *Automotive Lease Guide EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 30/38/33 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 33.0 MPG Chrysler’s spiffy subcompact Cinquecento came to the U.S. with high hopes, snub-nosing its way into a small-car segment chock full of stylish rides (Juke, Mini, Fiesta, Smart Fortwo). And our long-term 500 was greeted by cautious…

An AMG engineer tells us the market is changing to smaller vehicles with smaller powertrains, and AMG is prepared. Switching to smaller engines will be very different, but achieving power output goals won’t be a problem, especially with turbos attached. In the near future, all AMG engines will be turbocharged. The CLA45, based on the new FWD CLA, will make it to the U.S. and will also be AWD, though based on front-drive architecture. AMG promises the CLA45 will offer “the highest horsepower per liter of displacement in the industry.” Currently, the 3.8-liter twin-turbo in the McLaren 12C is the top regular production car with 162 hp/liter. Figure on at least 340 hp, if not more, from the CLA45’s 2.0-liter four-cylinder. He wouldn’t budge on a torque figure. AMG had…

The Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid and the record-setting Jetta Hybrid Land Speed Record race car (see pages 72-75 for more details) look similar and ultimately share the same goal of improving aerodynamics. The production vehicle achieves its lofty economy figures (EPA rated 42/48 mpg city/highway) in part by cutting its coefficient of aerodynamic drag from 0.30 to 0.28. The racing version trims its drag even farther by reducing its frontal area as much as the Production Supercharged class allows (from 20.7 square feet to 19.6). It also does away with windshield wipers and runs smooth wheel covers, but the decrease in drag count likely isn’t drastic enough to alter the Cd. To illustrate what’s happening to the two similar vehicles in their natural habitats and speeds, here are several interesting callouts.…

“I would like to do a supersports car, above the R8.” Audi’s new head of product development and R&D, Wolfgang Dürheimer, told us. “In June, I saw Audi win Le Mans for the 11th time, using a diesel hybrid Quattro. This is absolutely a high-tech solution. On the way home, I asked myself how to leverage this to the road. This could be a hot seller in the supersports segment.” The R18 e-tron Quattro race car uses a diesel engine, an electric hybrid system with a flywheel accumulator to store energy, and electric drive to the front wheels for a boost on the straights (using it for traction out of slow corners is disallowed by the rules). Dürheimer previously told us he believes batteries are more suitable for the road…

Around the time you’re reading this, Chevrolet will be pulling the sheet off its new SS rear-drive performance sedan at Daytona SpeedWeeks just as the new NASCAR version hits the track for the first time. Ahead of the reveal, we sat down with Mark Reuss, GM vice president and president for North America, and Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, to talk about the new halo sedan. MT: Does the SS road car start where the G8 GXP left off? MR: I think so. The performance piece of it all will all be fun. The chassis of the VE and Commodore is phenomenal. But the refinement and user interface things will be quite different. And this will be a very special car for Chevrolet. The Pontiac had…

“NOT SINCE THE RECENTLY CONCLUDED 2012 SHOW COULD I REMEMBER AN L.A. LINEUP THAT RIVALED THOSE OF MY CHILDHOOD YEARS. ” Growing up in SoCal, I went to the L.A. Auto Show every year. It was an annual father-son outing filled with anticipation, excitement, and pure automotive overload. The minute we entered the bright-lights spread of dazzling sheetmetal, I’d grab one of the handout plastic tote bags and begin filing it with as many brochures as my adolescent arms could carry. After I walked the halls, my tote must have weighed 20 pounds. For the rest of the year—that is, until the next L.A. show rolled around—I’d peruse those brochures incessantly, dreaming about the cars I hoped to own someday. Not since the recently concluded 2012 show could I remember…

My first big story at Motor Trend pitted the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 against a Porsche 911 Turbo. Much to most peoples’ surprise, the Porsche was faster in a straight line, yet the mighty American absolutely wiped the track with that German missile. We stuck Justin Bell behind the wheel of both, and he made the Corvette go 3.6 seconds per lap faster around the Willow Springs Raceway than the Porsche Turbo. A year later, during the 2011 Best Driver’s Car competition at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, a Corvette Z06 with sticky, semi-slick Cup tires ran away from the rest of the field, posting a freaky fast 1:34.4 lap time with Randy Pobst behind the wheel. Not only was that time almost 2 seconds per lap faster than the second-fastest car…

Should you prefer a hot hatch with a little cheek, look no further than the Mini John Cooper Works GP. Like the last-generation GP, the newest version is the most focused Mini money can buy. This is most evident in the suspension, where new inverted dampers (with the body on top and rod on the bottom) are used to increase front-end stiffness. Other changes—including revised suspension settings, adjustable coil-over spring perches, a front strut-tower brace, unique 17-inch wheels, and six-piston front brake calipers with 13-inch discs—all are aimed at lowering lap times. Additionally, the turbocharged 1.6-liter I-4 is boosted to 211 hp at 6000 rpm and a maximum of 207 lb-ft of torque (the same as the standard JCW Works car) with the overboost function. Mini claims top speed is…

“So, is it fun to drive?” asked head engineer Junichi Furuyama. His smile stretched from ear to ear as he stood on the rain-soaked pavement, eager to hear my impression of his two latest creations, the IS 250 and 350. The F Sport prototypes had been shipped to L.A. just a week earlier. Two hours prior, Furuyama had given a quick engineering briefing. One goal superseded all others when it came to evolving the new IS: He said it had to be “fun to drive,” even more so than its primary competitors, the 3 Series, C-Class, and ATS. For the rear-drive-only F Sport variants, the sportiest of them all (save for the IS F), the performance bar needed to be raised even higher. Furuyama had to ensure the entire IS…

The face of war has changed. The fight no longer takes place on open ground over great expanses of land. Combat in the 21st century is fought in confined spaces, building to building. The only reasons to leave the security of the home compound are excursions to the tight constraints of strip malls, or, worse, urban combined-use properties, for artisanal cupcakes and organic frozen yogurt. Three-ton war machines don’t intimidate combatants; the winners of conflicts must be fast and agile. A three-row SUV is not so much a luxury as it is a burden. The answer is the smaller, more efficient and carlike CUV, and we invited three of the best to battle it out. The oldest of these is Motor Trend’s 2012 Sport Utility Vehicle of the Year, the…

Buick has been steadily lowering the age of its consumers with stylish models it calls “invigorating.” The Encore, a button-nosed, blunt-buttocked, highly sculpted CUV riding on GM’s global gamma platform, carries on this mission. Even so, Buick admits that aside from the 30-something professionals it’s targeting, another audience exists: empty-nesters looking to downsize, not downgrade. The task of building the Encore was left to Korean and American engineers and designers (it’s built at GM’s Bupyeong, South Korea plant). They gave it front or “Active On-Demand” all-wheel drive and a familiar 138-horsepower, 1.4-liter turbo Ecotec four-cylinder. GM’s small-car-specific HydraMatic six-speed auto mixes a short first gear with a long overdrive to improve initial acceleration and highway fuel economy. The Encore’s smallish exterior dimensions belie a spacious interior that veers little from…

“The ILX is hitting its marks in the mpg department. In mixed city/highway and all highway stints, the numbers are in line with the EPA ratings.”@MT_Floyd Service life / 5 mo/9910 mi Avg CO2 / 0.72 lb/mi Energy cons / 126 kW-hr/100 mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost / $105.84 (oil change, inspection) Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 22/31/25 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 26.8 MPG The wrench lit my way—straight to the Acura dealership. The ILX is equipped with Maintenance Minder (the name is trademarked, so don’t go trying to steal it), a feature designed to remind you to do what you should be doing with your car, like, changing the oil and stuff. So when the wrench icon went on, the ILX went for…

“Amazing how much the F-150 has changed, which is really obvious when I park it next to MT’s 1997 F-150.”@TruckTrendAH Service life / 8 mo/21,476 mi Avg CO2 / 1.37 lb/mi Energy cons//237 kW-hr/100 mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost / $107.58 (2-oil change, tire rotation, inspection) Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 15/21/17 AVERAGE FUEL ECON 14.2 MPG The Ford continues to be busy at work. Testing director Kim Reynolds went to Northern California on two different occasions to move large objects back to Southern California. On the first trip, it was a washing machine, which took a bit of finagling (it was heavy, and he was working alone). There was plenty of room in the truck’s bed, and had he known he’d also be…