Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2018 i MotorTrend

If you’ve visited MotorTrend.com lately, I hope you’ve noticed that we’ve redesigned the home page to focus on the things we do best: exciting automotive entertainment, informative new car reviews, and the latest car-shopping tools and research. This is the first of many changes coming to Motor Trend after joining forces with Discovery Inc. If you’re familiar with The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, and Velocity, you’ll know that Discovery is a global leader in real-life entertainment and a specialist in broadcast automotive content. With our new partnership, Velocity and Motor Trend become one—and the only place to get all the great original automotive programs you know and love, via our on-demand video service. How? If you’re a Hulu or Crackle subscriber, you know how this works. The new MotorTrend.com…

The fourth-gen Forester decisively won our SUV of the Year award when it arrived for the 2014 model year. But since then, this small crossover has started to feel a little older than competitors when it comes to technology and interior accoutrements. In a chance to retake the top spot, Subaru is soon coming out with a new generation of Forester, which receives thoughtful new features and rides on a new platform. We tested the outgoing Forester with the optional 2.0-liter turbocharged engine making 250 hp, and we were impressed with its exceptional acceleration. It hit 60 mph in just 6.8 seconds from a standstill. Sadly, Subaru drops this engine for the 2019 model year. Now the only remaining power source in the lineup is a 2.5-liter boxer-four. It delivers…

Automotive futurists and savvy engineers expect battery EVs to eventually handle all our light-duty personal transportation and most of our urban/short-distance hauling needs. But they also disagree with Elon Musk that BEVs can swing long-distance heavy hauling. Faster refueling is needed, so some—such as tech startup/disruptor Nikola One—are proposing fuel cell big rigs. I remain obstinately bearish on this idea. In the nearer-term, however, there’s the decade of work by engineering consultancy Ricardo that might be close to bearing fruit. Ricardo is developing a novel concept called CryoPower, which promises a quantum improvement in diesel-engine thermal efficiency to 60 percent—up from the typical mid-40s. (Yes, diesel, that technology you thought was dead. Not so fast.) In this case, the nomenclature refers to the engine’s use of liquid nitrogen, though obviously…

It’s human nature to place things into neat little categories. This has been true when it comes to cars. Mainstream brands knew their value-oriented price point, and luxury brands lorded their social standing, burled walnut, perforated leather, and thundering audio systems over their peers. But the lines that separate mainstream and luxury vehicles are increasingly blurred these days. Mainstream automakers are offering luxury-laden trim packages, and prestige car brands have moved downmarket to grab volume. One brand executive referred to such maneuvers as “democratizing luxury.” In looking at this changing environment, we organized four comparison tests to see who does posh better for a capped price of (roughly) $40,000. Why 40 grand? Because it’s just a hair above the average new-vehicle transaction price of about $36,000. It’s a “let’s splurge…

COVER STORY: IS LUXURY WORTH IT? The genesis of Motor Trend’s $40,000 challenge lies with the 2018 Mazda CX-5. We were impressed with the compact crossover from the moment we laid eyes on it. When the fully refined model turned up at our SUV of the Year competition last August, multiple editors (myself included) noted its potential to challenge luxury models rather than its mainstream competitors. Now we assess that potential. The defender of the compact luxury crossover genre in this competition is the 2018 Lexus NX 300, another vehicle that pleasantly surprised us during its participation in SUV of the Year four years ago—also earning a finalist nod. Just shy of $37,000 to start and $40,463 as tested, our NX lands just above the average new vehicle transaction price.…

You can read the market research data or just ask your friends who drive big trucks. Unless you hang out exclusively with people who work in construction or farming, they’ll admit most of the time the bed is empty. Some folks will take issue with that because full-size trucks were originally meant for work. But that’s not the way it is anymore. People today buy trucks for all kinds of reasons that have nothing to do with hauling stacks of Sheetrock, and folks don’t have to justify any of them. If you’re still wondering why automakers are putting heated and cooled leather seats and 1,500-watt stereos in trucks, it’s because customers are asking for them. No automaker has taken this modern market reality to heart more than Ram. Although it…

We used to call them the Big Three because, well, they were the three biggest automakers in the world. For much of the 20th century, GM, Ford, and Chrysler each made more cars—and more money—than anyone else in the auto biz. They made Detroit the automotive capital of the world by the 1920s and one of the wealthiest cities in America by the 1950s. Back then, the masters of the universe cruised Woodward Avenue, not Wall Street. A lot has changed. For a start, the Big Three aren’t so big anymore. According to global sales figures from industry analyst JATO, GM now languishes in fourth spot, behind Volkswagen, Toyota, and Hyundai, fifth if you factor in the new Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. Ford, for decades the world’s No. 2 automaker, is now…

April 27 Auto Mundial; Motorsport Mundial April 28 LIVE! Formula Drift (Orlando) April 30 DIRT EVERY DAY Ep. 76 May 1 Ferrari Challenge Europe (Silverstone) May 2 Mobil 1 The Grid Program 6 May 2 IGNITION Ep. 191 May 3 FIA World Rallycross (Portugal) May 4 Auto Mundial; Motorsport Mundial May 5 LIVE! DTM Championship (Hockenheim) May 5 LIVE! GT4 European Series (Brands Hatch) May 5 LIVE! TCR Europe Series (Le Castellet) May 5 LIVE! Virgin Australia Supercars (Perth) May 6 LIVE! GT4 European Series (Brands Hatch) May 6 LIVE! TCR Europe Series (Le Castellet) May 6 LIVE! Virgin Australia Supercars (Perth) May 7 HOT ROD GARAGE Ep. 62 May 9 China GT Championship (Bejing) May 9 HEAD 2 HEAD Ep. 102 May 10 FIA World Rallycross (Belgium) May 11…

Lexus UX Meet the new smallest crossover from Lexus, the UX. At 5.3 inches shorter than an NX, the UX is the first Lexus on the new Global Architecture-Compact, the luxury version of the Toyota Next Generation Architecture. The base UX 200 will feature a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 168 hp and a unique continuously variable transmission with an independent first gear. A 176-hp UX 350h all-wheel-drive hybrid will also be available, as will F Sport models with improved handling and racy trim. The advanced Lexus Safety System+ suite of driver aids will be standard. Expect the UX to start well below the $37,000 NX. Hyundai Le Fil Rouge Concept Roughly translated as “the common thread,” this concept previews the styling direction for the Hyundai brand. The design language is…

COVER STORY: IS LUXURY WORTH IT? Details matter, especially when it comes to luxury. When you can get leather in a Ford Fiesta, those hoping to compete in the luxury space need to sweat the small stuff to succeed. Volvo and VW both have gotten the message. Long viewed in this country as alternatives for luxury and mainstream buyers avoiding a “traditional” choice, both brands have been making major efforts toward increasing market shares. For Volkswagen, this has meant more premium trim levels and a new compact crossover promising German design and performance at a value price. For Volvo, it’s new CUVs that stand for the ideals of Scandinavian luxury. The 2018 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL TSI 4Motion and the 2018 Volvo XC60 T5 AWD represent this shift, and although one…

COVER STORY: IS LUXURY WORTH IT? We ask our vehicles to be good for multiple uses, but few are asked to do such disparate duties as luxury sports cars. They need to ride nicely but handle well. They need to have quiet interiors but aggressive exhaust notes. They need to be light and nimble but come with fancy materials and loads of features that add weight. Everything ends up being some kind of trade-off. The more money you can throw at the problem, the fewer compromises you need to make. But this test is specifically about not throwing money at the problem. With a $40,000 price cap, we find ourselves with the keys to a 2018 Cadillac ATS 2.0T coupe and a 2018 Ford Mustang EcoBoost, both just squeaking in…

With X1, X3, X4, X5, and X6 in showrooms, that conspicuous blank space in BMW’s X Series lineup has now been filled (rather obviously) with the X2, a vehicle BMW describes as a Sport Activity Coupe. We regret to inform the automotive marketing cabal, but in our book, vehicles with four doors aren’t coupes, regardless of their rooflines. The EPA calls the 2018 BMW X2 a midsize car, and NHTSA calls it an SUV. The high seating position indeed feels like a premium compact SUV. But the way it drives certainly reminds us of a hatchback—and a rather good one. Our fully kitted all-wheel-drive X2 xDrive28i (starting at $39,395; front-drive versions start at $37,395) totaled $50,920 as tested. Before you spit your kombucha and say, “Not a chance I’d pay…

The Toyota RAV4 is what the industry calls a category killer. Which means Toyota sells a ton of them, and the competition (even if it feels it has a better vehicle) can’t seem to topple the king. The outgoing fourth-generation RAV4 lacked the pizzazz of several other small crossovers. Despite 11 trim levels to choose from, they all looked fairly alike. Despite this anonymity, the old RAV4 was the best-selling passenger vehicle (not counting pickups) in America last year. Bad news for the competition: The fifth-generation RAV4 has upped its game. For starters, it does look different, as evidenced by the three trim levels making their world debut at the 2018 New York auto show; there will be nine in total: five with a gasoline engine and four hybrids. For…

A carbon-fiber pickup bed, a slick tailgate that does all but make you breakfast, apps to monitor your trailer—welcome to the 2019 GMC Sierra. It’s way more than a Silverado with better seats. The Sierra shares the Chevy's updated 5.3-liter and 6.2-liter V-8 engines and its new 3.0-liter I-6 turbodiesel. The V-8 engines have stop/start technology and cylinder deactivation technology. The available 6.2-liter and the diesel engines are paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission, and the 5.3-liter is mated to GM’s eight-speed. No V-6 has been announced. For an improved ride, the Sierra Denali has an exclusive Adaptive Ride Control suspension system with sensors to monitor the road. The system is able to make adjustments in real time. The party trick is the six-position MultiPro Tailgate, standard on Denali, SLT,…

In the past decade, there’s been a wrinkle in the luxury continuum, and the Accord and A4 are closer mechanically than you’d think. COVER STORY: IS LUXURY WORTH IT? Luxury, like pornography, can be hard to define. In the case of automobiles, luxury is not as much about demographics or data as it is about the holistic feeling a premium vehicle gives you. Superior driving dynamics might be a major ingredient in the luxury experience, but design, build quality, and interior materials also are significant factors. Technology—chiefly infotainment and driver-assist hardware—is increasingly important, as well. But in the past decade, there’s been a wrinkle in the luxury continuum. Mainstream marques have added high-zoot trim packages to their volume models to earn more profit and amortize costs across broad volumes; meanwhile,…

COVER STORY: IS LUXURY WORTH IT? When we were assembling the field for this four-test shootout, a representative of a luxury automaker expressed concern that we were creating a straw man scenario—in other words, we were making a testing paradigm that would set up the luxury brands to fail. With cross-our-heart promises that no such agenda was in play, we set out to see if mainstream automakers could play in the luxury sandbox or whether luxury brands could move downmarket and conquest folks with Maserati tastes but Mazda budgets. As you can see from the previous pages, mainstream vehicles won the overall battle, 3–1. But two of those mainstream-brand victories were by the narrowest of margins—and, depending on one’s list of wants and needs, could have swung the other way.…

Sunny Spain, with its winding roads up the serrated Montserrat mountains surrounding Barcelona, was a perfect place to gauge the latest Mercedes-Benz CLS. It’s a chance to sample the four-door coupe’s performance and handling, appreciate the exhaust notes from the new inline-six, and welcome an expanded lineup that now includes the first Mercedes-AMG CLS 53. A short rain shower seemed cued up to showcase the all-wheel-drive system, as well. It was an opportunity to see if the third-generation CLS can hold serve in the segment it created when it showed the first concept at the Frankfurt auto show back in 2003. Despite the apparent contradiction of a “four-door coupe,” the world has become enamored with the idea of coupelike lines overlaid on a sedan structure. The body style has resonated…

ARRIVAL 2018 Subaru Crosstrek Michael Cantu “Ample tech, off-road capability, and appealing styling should make our year with the Subaru Crosstrek enjoyable.” EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 27/33/29 MPG BASE PRICE $23,510 PRICE AS TESTED $26,899 I’ve owned seven Subarus over my years of driving. That might sound like a lot, but I used to go through cars fast. Even though it’s been about three years since my last Subie, it felt natural that my first long-term tester would be one, too. And although this is my first Crosstrek, I have owned first-, second-, and third-generation Imprezas—and the Crosstrek is basically a raised Impreza hatchback. This gives me a first-hand opportunity to see how Subaru has advanced its latest compact offering. Already, the Crosstreks we’ve tested on a short-term basis have…