Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2017 i Car and Driver

ANATOMY OF A ROUNDABOUT •Engineers will argue about its exact definition, but a roundabout, generally speaking, is a circular roadway at an intersection designed to improve traffic flow and reduce accidents. U.S. roundabouts flow counterclockwise. •Roundabouts differ from traditional traffic circles in that entering traffic yields rather than stops at either a sign or a light. •Roundabouts have a diameter small enough to cause traffic to slow but are larger than a neighNeighborhood borhood traffic circle. IN AND AROUND THE vicinity of C/D headquarters, roundabouts are proliferating. This follows a national trend from the past two decades, particularly between 2005 and 2010. It has also led to an alltoo- common phenomenon, in which those who understand the key benefit of these European-style circles—expediting the flow of cars through an intersection—…

One hundred fifteen. That’s the number of parts in an SRT Hellcat that Dodge changes to make a Demon. Some are made lighter, some are made stronger, and some are simply removed altogether. Compared with the total number of parts that it takes to make a running car, 115 is a small number. So is 9.65. That’s how few seconds Dodge claims the Demon needs to run a quartermile, blistering the trap at 140 mph. If we can match that figure—a sizable “if,” since our testing venue better approximates grip levels on the street than the drag strip where Dodge ran its numbers—that will make the Demon the quickest street car we’ve ever tested. Period. That includes million-dollar hypercars and 1000-hp aftermarket specials. It’s also quick enough that an NHRA-sanctioned…

Arrival: Nov/2016 Miles: 7832 Observed mpg: 20 HOW MANY AUTO BRANDS today field a top-tobottom lineup that makes us genuinely excited? Or maybe we should rephrase that: How few? Sure, there are your Ferraris and Lambos and McLarens. Porsche probably qualifies, too. But when it comes to purveyors of mainstream vehicles, there’s only one: Mazda. All three of its cars have earned 10Best slots, and each of its current products has won a C/D comparo; the new CX-9 crossover is patiently awaiting its opportunity. In the meantime, we ordered one for a long-term test. Just as with its other products, Mazda offers three CX-9 trim levels with minimal standalone options. The three-row crossover also gets a toplevel Signature spec, and befitting such a flagship, it has essentially everything offered including…

ONLY AMERICA’S MOST ardent pragmatists choose minivan function over crossover fashion. The country’s refusal to acknowledge the family van’s myriad virtues— unparalleled people-carrying comfort, unmatched interior volume, and unequaled interior flexibility—might be its greatest automotive sin. Stigma, then, is strong with the guardian of the sliding door. Yet Chrysler defiantly marches the minivan forward with the electrification of its Pacifica, possibly the most significant innovation since sliding doors appeared on both sides of its 1996 vans. Starting with the 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 found in the standard Pacifica, FCA engineers swapped the pistons, camshafts, and valves; bumped the compression ratio; and added Atkinson-cycle capability to maximize efficiency. Then they bolted the gas mill to a continuously variable planetarygear transmission that houses two electric motor/generators. Add-on electron propulsion never comes without compromise,…

IN THE 1990s, baby boomers deep into their earning years and nostalgic for their imagined youths built up a bull market in GTOs, Mustangs, and ’Cudas. But today, the next generation of collectors—not counting the Ferrari and Porsche folk, who’ve practically become automotive asset managers— is coalescing around a core of a dozen vehicles that will be the substance of the classiccar market for the next decade or more. Like muscle cars before them, these cars defined high performance, engendering passion and acquisitive lust in a generation of America’s young people. These are Gen X vehicles for Gen X collectors, and they’re starting up the same appreciation curve that Chevelles have been climbing since the ’90s. Beginning with the assumptions that speed still matters, that fourdoors aren’t proven collectibles, that…

This is a fantasy comparison test, but not our usual kind. There is no exotic sheetmetal on display here, no towering horsepower or physics-defying handling. Certainly nobody daydreams about driving 300 miles without leaving Los Angeles. But that’s exactly what we did to evaluate the Honda Clarity and Toyota Mirai, tracing a path between each of the area’s hydrogen stations to assess the reality of owning one of these fuel-cell-powered cars. Yes, you read that correctly. No longer does hitching your wagon to the periodic table require leasing a carmaker’s science project with a promise to return it, whether or not you’re done driving it, at least not if you spend $58,385 for the Mirai. A federal tax credit expired at the end of last year, but a $5000 rebate…

If there’s any doubt about the Bugatti Chiron’s raison d’être, it’s written right on the steering wheel, on a large blue button emblazoned with one word: “ENGINE.” We could wax poetic about the marriage of modern technology to the ancient human craving to express vanity and wealth. Or how the 1500-hp Chiron is metaphorically the 700-room Château de Versailles with a tailpipe, how the $3 million U.S. price means it is no crazier than hiring an artist to spend four years painting God and Adam and all the saints on your chapel ceiling. In other words, about how it is an exuberant, untethered overstatement in the service of generating delirious stupefaction, both in the nobles who luxuriate in it and the peasants who revel in its reflected glory. But the…

IN SALALAH, OMAN, where Audi flew us to drive the new RS3 sedan, we’re told that a good camel can cost $10,000. This part of the Gulf is famous for the breeding of dromedaries, and it draws Bedouin tribesmen from hundreds of miles away to barter and trade these desert schooners. Of course, there are plenty of bad camels, too, the worst of which will set you back less than $500 worth of Omani rial. But as our guide, Khush, assures us, you definitely don’t want one of the bad camels. Quality carries a premium, of course, and the lesson holds true in compact sedans as much as even-toed ungulates. In the unlikely event a Bedouin decides he wants to trade his way into an RS3, the smallest of the…

WHEN WE LAST SUBJECTED an Audi Q5 to our comparison-test gantlet in 2013, we described its appearance and driving demeanor as that of a dinner roll. How we knew what a dinner roll drives like, we can’t quite recall. We went on to point out that the Q5 was a vehicle that “will offend no one and excite just as many.” We maintain that we were right back then, and not just because the man who wrote those words is the one now tapping out these. Right we might have been, but 2013 was also the first year that the Q5 narrowly succeeded the A4 as the sales king of all the Audis in this land. By last year, the Q5 outsold the A4 by roughly 40 percent. And that…

ONCE UPON A RECENT TIME, Fiat Chrysler’s SRT division slapped a supercharger on a big V-8. The engineers huffed, the marketers puffed, and they blew the garage down with not one, but two production cars packing 707 horsepower and wearing Hellcat badges. Now there’s a third vehicle stuffed with the blown 6.2-liter, except it’s not a car but an all-wheel-drive Jeep that forgoes the Hellcat label. Even former Chrysler president Bob Lutz, fighter-jet pilot and father of the Viper, couldn’t have foreseen a drag-racing Grand Cherokee when he climbed one up a staircase during the model’s 1992 Detroit auto show debut. But things are different now. SUVs are more popular than they were in the ’90s, with some offering the acceleration of Porsches (and some, indeed, are actual Porsches). The…

WITH THE POPULATION DENSITY of the world’s largest cities trending upward, Pasadena, California–based URBAN626 is looking to ease the daily commute to the office or public-transportation connector with its URB-E. The electric scooter’s lightweight aluminum frame folds up with one pull, providing easy portability and storage when not in use. Since sales started in 2015, URBAN626 has sold about 2700 URB-Es, with the bulk of buyers in coastal cities: New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. We rode ours in Ann Arbor. Through the halls of our office, actually. Pricing for the base URB-E Sport starts at $899. Like cars, the URB-E is available in various trim levels. At the top is the performance- oriented Pro GT ($1999). The Pro ($1699) and the Pro GT feature pneumatic 10-inch tires, a…

A car’s suspension exists to isolate. Its springs, dampers, and bushings cushion the blows of road imperfections and separate wheel movements from body motions. Yet the best chassis engineers know that suspension tuning is as much about creating a feedback loop among driver, car, and road as it is dialing in the right amount of squish for a pothole strike. Finding that sweet spot in ride quality and handling balance isn’t easy, and so the difference between a good car and a great one often comes down to the very human craft of suspension tuning. Mastering this black art requires broad experience, deep knowledge, the right philosophy, and a finely calibrated inner ear (and backside). Here we reveal the processes, the technologies, and the tradecraft used by those who practice…

Newcomer 2017 BMW M2 Arrival: Jan/2017 Miles: 4108 Observed mpg: 23 WE’RE BOOKENDING the Bavarian branch of our long-term fleet— which already includes a BMW 740i—with an M2. Like our 7-series, the M2 is powered by a straight-six, but where the executive limo packs the all-new B58 engine, our little blue coupe is the last hurrah for the previous- generation N55. With 365 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque during limited-time overboost conditions (343 pound-feet normally), the M2 should hit 60 mph in about four seconds flat. We’ve been a little delayed in taking the M2 to the track for its initial testing, as our break-in period was doubled by a defective differential. It’s a known issue with the M2, requiring a checkup after the first 1200 miles. Good thing:…

EVERY SUPERLATIVE, COMPLIMENT, and rave you’ve heard about the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 collects inside your head before you drive it. A veritable Lake Mead of positivity builds up behind your mental Hoover Dam, which is just waiting to collapse under the weight of unfulfilled expectations. Except the 650-hp Camaro ZL1 not only lives up to the hype, it exceeds it, especially when equipped with a sixspeed manual. Let’s get one thing out of the way: The manual is three-tenths of a second slower to 60 mph than the car’s 10-speed automatic. That may sound like a deal breaker if acceleration numbers rule your sad life, but a 3.7-second run to 60 is still astonishing for a 3904-pound prop from a Michael Bay film. It also helps that the stick saves…

THE MX-5 MIATA RF, or “Retractable Fastback,” cuts a strikingly sexier profile than the third generation’s Power Retractable Hardtop model that it replaces. Where that old Miata’s hard roof resembled a helmet, the RF’s arcing sail panels and styled targa hoop, all made of composite plastic, make a case for the “fastback” label. In automotive terms, the RF mixes a little Porsche 911 Targa with our favorite affordable sports car.Prices start at $32,430 for the firmer-riding Club and $33,495 for the feature-rich Grand Touring. Those MSRPs are$2755 and$2555higher thantheir roadster equivalents, though the ragtop’s cheaper Sport trim isn’t available here. Although the RF’s flair is justification enough for the higher price, its four-season advantage over the loud, cold roadster doesn’t hurt. The aluminum and steel insulated panels overhead, which reduce…