Indholdsfortegnelse for June 1985 i MotorTrend

Honda Quint Integra Honda has big plans for the future, and one of them is a decidedly upscale sedan to be built in England in conjunction with Leyland and sold in the U.S. What you see here is not that sedan but a part of the upscale program. It’s Honda’s new fastback/hatch-back, called the Quint Integra and recently announced in Japan. It’s due here this fall and will, we think, be known simply as the Integra. The Integra is based on the Civic/Accord-style chassis instead of the Prelude layout. The engine is the really sweet part—a DOHC 16-valve four of 1590 cc with fuel injection, the same basic number now available in Japanese-market versions of the Civic and CRX. It will give its happy and smiling American owners in the…

“It’s the first of a new breed of Porsche,” declared Peter Schutz, who should know. The president of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche A.G. was speaking to the assembled American auto press in the south of France, where we had gathered for the introduction of the 944 Turbo. Mr. Schutz’ enthusiasm, which cynics might dismiss as self-serving, actually squared pretty well with reality. In fact, in much less specific terms, he had already told us of Porsche’s “new breed” some months earlier. Over lunch in Los Angeles, he had said there was no more leaded-fuel development work going on at Porsche; every new car henceforth would be weaned on unleaded, fitted with catalysts, and developed with full respect for anti-pollution regulations. Emissions laws, you see, are no longer just an…

If you’re looking for the best and safest bet on an easy and clean used-car deal, go see one of the major rental companies. You read that right—Hertz, Avis, Budget, National, Thrifty, or one of the others. Forget the jokes. We’re absolutely serious. Because, tales of horrors inflicted upon poor rentals notwith-standing, the hard, cold truth is that used rentals are good deals indeed. Every year, the major rental companies in this country buy and sell hundreds of thousands of cars. The rental fleets are in perpetual turnover; that is, the companies are continuously selling off the older cars and replacing them with newer ones. As the cars are turned over, they’re likely to head out in several directions. Those that show the worst wear or have been damaged are…

Ladies and gentlemen, please allow us to introduce one bronze ’85 Corvette, the Motor Trend long-termer. We often have Corvettes in our clutches for various magazine purposes, but most are here for relatively short periods and we never really get to spend any time with them. Driving a car around for a couple weeks is one thing, but living with one for 25,000 miles is entirely different. We field a lot of reader questions about the idiosyncracies of different cars, and long-term test cars like this Corvette allow us to build a data base from which to answer. One of the first things we found out about our Vette is that the dark metallic bronze is an excellent stealth color, making the car relatively unobtrusive for such a high-profile piece.…

Indy car racing has changed its image. It has shed its rented room over a garage on Gasoline Alley and taken a long-term lease for an executive suite on Madison Avenue. Seemingly overnight, it has become a respectable, marketable, high visibility, personality-conscious Big Time international sport. And we have the British to thank for it—or blame for it, depending on your point of view. Quite literally, British chassis and engine builders have shown us how Indy car hardware is supposed to be constructed, creating a formula so successful over the last few years that anyone with the requisite amount of cash can mount a legitimate Indy effort. The effect has been a standardization of highly competitive, latesttechnology racing that has elevated the Indy car to superstar status, while eliminating the…

In 1936, when he and his father were making model airplanes together, Walter C. Hill Jr. began to dream of becoming an airplane pilot and of flying the Ryan STA Special, a then current high-performance aerobatic monoplane. Thirty years later, after becoming a pilot, Hill actually purchased an antique example of his childhood dream aircraft. During the mid-’50s, Walter C. Hill Jr.–by then a pilot for Eastern Airlines—did some club racing with his XK140MC and found himself in close company with world-class racing cars at Nassau and Sebring. It was at such venues that, in his own words, he “suffered a lifetime ‘imprint’ of the Jaguar D-type.” Twenty years later, he indulged this fantasy with the acquisition of the D-type derivative, a rare and wonderful Jaguar XKSS. It’s not possible…

At Large Michigan Buckles Up The Wolverine State has become the fourth to adopt a mandatory seat belt usage law, following in the footsteps of New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. The new law is rather anemic, with front-seat passengers caught unbuckled assessed only a $10 fine (that is, if the law is approved by the governor). In 1986 the fine would increase to $25. What about the folks in the back seat? Increased Congestion to Follow The number of cars and trucks registered to run in the U.S. increased again in 1984 for the 10th straight year. Over 1.5 million vehicles ply the nation’s roads, with 25% of those from the 1977-79 model years. Fast and Flashy The Museum of Transportation at Larz Anderson Park in Brookline, Massachusetts, has…

“When you buy a used car, you’re buying some-one else’s troubles.” That’s the conventional wisdom surrounding the used-car purchase, the litany that’s been passed down from lather to son through the automotive ages. And if you’re in the market for a used car, it’s not very comforting, is it? As a matter of fact, save for a visit to a dentist who doesn’t believe in Novocain, there are few things capable of producing more sweaty palms, nervous stomachs, or outright fear and loathing than the act of acquiring a used car. Within every human breast beats the fear of being taken to the cleaners, being stuck with a lemon. Nobody likes to be a chump. Nevertheless, in the used-car buy most of us lead with our chins, making us prime…

Look, nobody’s perfect. We all make mistakes in life. We’ve all done things we wish we hadn’t, and we haven’t done things we wish we had. It’s not because we’re bad people. It’s just because we’re, well, people. This probably isn’t news to you but automobile companies are run by people (really), and they build some marvelous machines, which is why we, as a magazine, love cars. Unfortunately, there are some cars that don’t do as much for us as others. These are the cars that didn’t quite live up to expectations, that didn’t catch the brass ring, that didn’t shine as brightly as the stars of the universe. Somewhere along the road to market something went wrong—a cotter pin fell out of the widget, the servos on the fleen…

Shopping for a used car can be as confusing as trying to figure out airline ticket prices. There are so many variations that the consumer is hard pressed to establish any relationship between value and price. Unlike new cars, which have an established value and model structure, used cars are a one-of-a-kind commodity with several factors affecting their value. These factors may include the desirability of that particular make, model, and year when new; the history of the car’s usage; current mechanical and cosmetic condition; and availability in the marketplace. Several used-car guide books provide average wholesale and retail prices for different geographical sections of the U.S. All automobile sales outlets in the country (plus banks and other lenders) have copies of several of these guides, and many make them…

No one ever accused the French of an overly zealous devotion to the conventional. The inventors of the word chauvinism like to ignore how the rest of the universe does things. But their sometimes odd ways can have an enduring appeal. In the 18th century, a Frenchman toying with a system of measurement chose for his utterly arcane base unit the ten-millionth part of one quarter of a line drawn around the globe through both poles. Seriously. Yet it stuck. You may have even heard of it. The unit was called a meter. And consider that wondrous culinary alchemy that transmutes butter into the weightless architecture of a croissant. Yes, the Gallic race has always had its own unique way with life. Don’t bother telling the French they do things…

Formula One Preview: Can Ferrari and Lotus Stop the Big Mac Attack? Team McLaren’s domination of F1 last season was unprecedented in the modern history of the sport. Reigning World Champion Niki Lauda and teammate and heir apparent Alain Prost won 12 of 16 races in the TAG-Porsche-powered MP4/2s, and they definitely rank as the pair to beat going into 1985. But the chase will be considerably less one-sided this year, as the reigning F1 superpower will be challenged by a cadre of drivers in some of the fastest, lightest, strongest, and most expensive race cars ever built. As we’ve come to expect, a number of significant changes have occurred in the schedule, the rules, and the roster of players since each was originally announced. Several new faces are present…

Toronado Turns 20 The 20th anniversary of Oldsmobile’s Toronado coupe is in 1986, and to commemorate the event, Olds will introduce an all-new Toro around the middle of this coming November. The ’86 iteration of the rocket division’s flagship will be close to 24 in. shorter than the current offering. Unlike the ’85 Toronado, the ’86 will be offered with only one powerplant, a port-injected 3.8-liter 90° V-6 said to spin out something in the 145 to 155-hp range. The transversely mounted engine drives the front wheels through a 4-speed THM 440-C4 automatic slushbucket. Next year’s version of our 1966 Car of the Year will be stopped by a set of internally ventilated 4-wheel disc brakes, with an optional anti-lock ABS system a possibility for midyear installation. Front suspension is…

Right here at the beginning, we want to tell you the official line from Chevy about the pearlescent chrome-yellow Camaro on these pages. The Camaro GTZ is a one-off show car, designed to highlight the performance potential of the division’s 90° V-6 powerplant. True. But not, however, the entire story. The GTZ won’t be seeing the light of day as a production car. And our moles deep within the infrastructure of The General tell us the next Camaro, or GM-80, will be based on a shorter, but possibly wider, front-wheel-drive platform. So as it has been presented, the GTZ is, at least from a production point of view, a dead player. But this pearlescent yellow bullet was designed in the same studio as the GM-80. And while we can’t give…

“I went to my doctor complaining of feeling listless, and he told me the first thing I should do is make out a list.”—Anonymous nightclub comic, circa 1975. The nameless comedian who uttered those words didn’t make it big in show business, but his one-liner does make a point: It’s easy to put together a list if you don’t care what’s on it. So be forewarned about such lists as appear in other publications and heed them at your own risk. We at Motor Trend, however, do care what goes on our lists. Hardly a day goes by when we are not bombarded with the question, “What car should I buy?” It seems simple, but by the time you consider all the parameters, answering this little chestnut can be a…

Ahead to head comparison between the (sort of) new fuel-injected Honda Accord SE-i and the (completely) new re-designed Jetta GLI offers an interesting insight into the evolution of the family/performance sedan class. This fast expanding, image conscious specialty car category blends fuel efficiency, crisp handling, responsive acceleration and roomy, well-appointed interior environs in stylish, under-$15,000 packages. With genetic roots running deeply into the 2002 Tii/3-series BMW phenomena of the late ’60s and early ’70s, the first 4-door Accords were affectionately dubbed baby Bimmers for their high level of all-around performance, fit and finish, and passenger ergonomics—all at a price that proved an in-your-face affront to the stoutly tagged Bavarians. A year later, in the 1980 model year, VW introduced the Jetta to the U.S., taking a similar marketing tack, with…

The official results sheet shows a, 93-sec margin of victory. And to hear winner Bill Elliott talk about it, one might even get the feeling that the 27th Daytona 500 was a bit of a cliffhanger. While fate, with a slight assist from NASCAR officials, did prolong the suspense to the final lap, the contest is destined to go down as the most lopsided seven-car-length victory in the history of Grand National racing. Elliott’s virtuoso performance made it clear that, barring any mid-season rule changes, the Ford Thunderbird would indeed reign as the new king of the super-speedways. With all due respect to some valiant efforts on the part of the 39 other competitors, Elliott and his Coors/Melling T-Bird came, saw, and conquered in no uncertain terms. The affable 29-year-old…

Differentiation—a Difficult Task Back when automobile wheels still had wooden spokes, the engine was hooked to the rear (or driven) wheels by some fairly ingenious means. Chains and belts gradually emerged as the leading technology, until designers recognized the need for a system that was less susceptible to contamination, wasn’t so noisy (in the case of chains), and elevated the “horseless carriage” image above that of the lowly motorized cycles. Belts, of course, had the additional problem of slippage, which could render the car virtually helpless at the most inopportune moment—there were plenty on the unpaved roads of the era. The solution that evolved was what is almost universally referred to today as the “differential,” and it remained unchanged underneath every car rolling off Detroit’s assembly lines until the recent…