Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2017 i Car and Driver

Eleven is an unavoidable number when it comes to the Ferrari 812 Superfast, so named because it makes 800 horsepower from 12 cylinders. That is, 800 metric horsepower, which is 1.4 percent weaker than our horsepower. On our shores, the 812 Superfast is actually rated at 11 fewer horsepower, or a mere 789. Never mind that the standard by which engine outputs are derived allows for a nearly equal 1 percent deviation from the standard measured in a lab. Or the fact that an engine’s output changes as a function of temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and fuel quality. Or that not even Lewis Hamilton could tell the difference between 789 and 800 horsepower in a 3900pound car. Still, our Ferrari is, technically, a 7.8912 Superfast. The real bitch of it…

“JENNY, ICH LIEBE DICH!” The giant scrawl of graffiti flashed past the straining Kia Stinger on a wall somewhere around the Metzgesfeld bit of the Nürburgring, part of the endless spaghetti of scribble that adorns every inch of this crazy track. Jenny, wherever you are, we sure hope you appreciate the trouble your homeboy went to. Like Jenny’s mensch, the Kia Stinger is a little ballsy, from the cartoon name to the swagger in its styling to the hatchback body to the rear-drive platform. So is the market mission, which seems such a stark disconnect from the cheap and chipper Kia defined by its runaway best seller, the Soul. The $33,000 to $48,000 Stinger (we’re extrapolating, based on hints dropped by the company) takes Kia into new realms dominated by…

You have likely seen the images on social media: iridescent playas, emerald forest canopies, frozen mountain peaks. Beaches and sunsets and other gorgeous scenery, the kinds of pictures that make you stop and say, “Wow, this could be my screensaver!” Except, that is, for the van parked in the shot, sometimes accompanied by its young neo-hippie owner doing Half Lord of the Fishes poses while dressed in as little clothing as the Instagram Terms of Use will allow. This is #vanlife, a social-media phenomenon in which classic automotive wanderlust gets whacked with a selfie stick These are not those vans. Those vans are vintage Volkswagens or commercial Ford Econolines, campers and conversions as colorful and full of character as their live-in owners. These are minivans, loaded with Blu-ray players and…

YOU’RE WATCHING TV, A SHOW IS ON WITH A NAME LIKE AMERICA’S MOST INBRED: HIGH-SPEED PURSUITS, and you notice a trend. Any time you see a police chase, the fugitive is driving a vehicle woefully inadequate for the task. There is a 100 percent certainty that if you see a Pontiac LeMans in a police chase, it’s the crappy Daewoo-sourced hatchback from the 1980s. You almost never see anything good making a desperate run for it. AH, BUT WHAT IF? AT WHAT POINT DO YOU HAVE A CAR THAT’S FAST ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY OUTRUN THE POLICE? To find out, we’d need a collection of variously capable civilian machines, plus a cop car, a cop-car driver, a track, Racelogic GPS-based data loggers, and handcuffs. Sure, we already had the handcuffs, but…

TENNESSEE’S CENTRAL BASIN resembles the Italian Alps the same way Kevin Bacon looks like actual bacon. But the Alfa Romeo Stelvio—named after the archetypal mountain pass in Italy— nevertheless transported us to a European motoring mecca during our drive through the Volunteer State. Running southwest out of Nashville, the 444-mile Natchez Trace Parkway cuts a narrow squiggle through a verdant forest and conjures a Dixie Nürburgring. The way the manicured easement meets old-growth oak, the way the asphalt never runs straight, and the way a blind corner feeds another blind corner; it all evokes the holy Green Hell. Drive around the Lycra-clad cyclists, the dawdling Toyotas, and the 40-mph speed limit of the Natchez Trace, and the Alfa Romeo Stelvio comes to life. It steers with a steady, linear effort.…

eneral Motors must have authorized overtime for its performance and badge-making departments over the past few years. Witness the sustained, affordable excellence of all those SS, 1LE, Z51, Z06, Z07, ZR1, ZL1, and Cadillac V-series models the corporation keeps cranking out. Now comes a car that combines two of those GM-speak codes, ZL1 and 1LE, but the sticker price doesn’t seem to cover the sum of the parts. G The ZL1 1LE enhancements stretch the Camaro’s performance envelope like a balloon ready to pop. Never mind the Corvette Z06–derived LT4 supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 that is good for 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. Or the functional carbon-fiber wing (a first for GM production cars) designed in a Formula 1 wind tunnel. The wing has the same effect as 300…

AWKWARD, TENTATIVE, AND WOBBLY, a baby takes its first step and experiences a taste of self-determination. The new 2018 G80 Sport is that first prodigy for Hyundai’s post-natal Genesis division. And at 4658 pounds, it’s a big baby, too. The G80 Sport is also the brand’s inaugural sports sedan. It’s based on the mid-size four-door Hyundai Genesis, which, when Genesis became its own thing, magically turned into the G80 for 2017. The Sport skips the G80’s 311- hp 3.8-liter V-6 and optional 420-hp 5.0-liter V-8 and exclusively adopts the twin-turbo 3.3-liter V-6 used in the larger G90 sedan. The engine is rated at 365 horsepower, but its aptitude is consistent torque production, churning out 376 pound-feet as low as 1300 rpm. Grunt is good, but this isn’t a crying infant.…

CONNOISSEURS MAY KNOCK Mercedes-AMG’s entry-level “43” franchise for diluting the subbrand’s signature cocktail, lacking the hand-built engines and berserker attitude of creations with bigger numbers in their badges. Yet despite tamer ingredients and more palatable starting prices, even Affalterbach’s modest mixology transforms the humble C-class. Formerly known as the C450 AMG, the 2017 C43 sedan (as well as coupe and cabriolet) sits between the four-cylinder Mercedes-Benz C300 and AMG’s 469-hp V-8 C63. This car’s twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 may be factory farmed, but it is plenty stout—362 horsepower and 384 poundfeet of torque—and pleasingly soulful in tone for a sixcylinder on a steady infusion of boost. The big change is AMG’s replacement of the previous seven-speed automatic with Mercedes’ nine-speed transmission now spreading across its lineup. It is an attentive deliverer…

IN ITS ATTEMPT TO COURT U.S. BUYERS, Volkswagen has tried on big—the spacious, made-for-America versions of the Jetta and Passat sedans—and tried on tall—the Tiguan and Touareg SUVs. Both approaches have found mixed success on our shores. Now VW has finally figured out that Americans like their cars both big and tall. An SUV push is underway at Volkswagen to try to make up for lost time, starting with the three-row Atlas and continuing with the second-generation Tiguan, which is considerably bigger than its Euro-centric, too-small predecessor. The new Tig’s 185.1- inch length exceeds the old Tiguan’s by a whopping 10.6 inches and makes it one of the largest entries in the compact-crossover segment, eclipsing key rivals such as the Honda CR-V, Nissan Rogue, and Toyota RAV4. We’re getting only…

A police chase is one of the best forms of live television—we all secretly root for the bad guy, hoping to see Bo and Luke Duke–level skills emerge as the perpetrator rides into the sunset unscathed. Rarely is that the case, though. Certainly, running from the police is a terrible idea and we do not condone it. It puts the lives of innocent civilians and underpaid officers at risk. That’s why the following pursuit-terminating tools exist. Let us examine: STINGER TROOPER PRICE: $499 Hand-deployed spike systems are the most common way of slowing a fleeing vehicle. The Stinger system from Federal Signal can be thrown across the road or pulled across by the attached 40-foot rope; the former technique requires training and practice. The Stinger is compact, roughly the size…

PLACE AN ASTON MARTIN DB11 amid the SUV pods and dull sedans of today’s traffic and it stands out like a Kandinsky painting at a yard sale. Sharply creased, with a low roof and tiny slits for windows, the DB11 is sinewy and taut through the midsection and bulging at the wheels. It’s a car that appears to have been driven straight off an auto-show turntable and onto the freeway. And yet, when it’s slicing past the dawdlers, the DB11 gives off a distinctly retro vibe. There’s a clear connection to the past in the DB11, and a lot of it has to do with the V-12 in front of the driver. Not that the 5.2-liter is old—actually, the engine is virtually all new. It’s the lavishness of the thing…

GENERAL MOTORS HAS BECOME surprisingly adept at developing rear-wheel-drive chassis that humiliate Europe’s legacy sports sedans and coupes. The Cadillac CTS, for example, makes the Audi A6 feel as if it has a sprained ankle, and it positively fatshames the BMW 5-series. And last year, when we found ourselves confronted with the choice of whether to loft the Mercedes-AMG C63 S or the Chevy Camaro to our 10Best list, it was Milford, not Affalterbach, that carried the day. Now GM is moving into the rapidly expanding suburb of Krossoverenberg, applying its dynamic aptitude to people movers. The all-new Chevy Equinox— and we can’t even believe we’re saying this, considering where the old Equinox left off—feels more connected, nimble, and dialed-in than some far costlier German competition. If you are having…

W e’ve already paid our respects to the dearly departed high-revving Honda we once knew—that bonkers, VTEC-kicked-in-yo, skinnylegged whippersnapper of yore. The fog of nostalgia tends to make you forget that, in truth, he wasn’t always easy to live with, alternately mopey and hopped up on Adderall as he was. We’ve begun to move on, in part because we have no choice. The Acura NSX is a hybrid now. The Civic Si is turbocharged. And we haven’t revved an S2000 to the stratosphere for too many years. This all brings us to the 2017 Civic Type R. The casual car enthusiast in America will remember only that there was once an Acura Integra with that suffix, a loud, berserk, frenetic, and spectacular thing that lasted only a short time many years…

EVER SINCE THE CAMRY ARRIVED as a 1983 model, it has been the very embodiment of the sane, sensible family sedan. Over six successive generations, that focus eventually made it America’s best-selling passenger car—and also one of its most boring. Then, Toyota boss Akio Toyoda set out to banish “boring” from the brand’s vocabulary. In response, Toyota gave the seventh-gen Camry a more-extensive-than-usual mid-cycle update for the 2015 model year, but the transformation reaches full flower in the allnew eighth-generation car. This Camry really wants to raise heck. To start, there’s the new styling, the Camry equivalent of a purple mohawk. Longer, lower, and (fractionally) wider than before, the new car wears an angry visage marked by a pinched upper grille and a gaping maw. The lower bodywork flares outward,…

VOLVO KICKED OFF ITS DESIGN-LED renaissance with the XC90 crossover, followed by the S90 sedan and V90 wagon. Now comes the first new 60-series model, the XC60. Like the 90-series, the XC60 uses Volvo’s Scalable Product Architecture platform. The wheelbase grows 3.6 inches over its predecessor’s, but with trimmer overhangs total length is up just 1.8 inches. The XC60 is also fractionally wider and 2.1 inches lower than before, giving it a more planted look. The longer wheelbase pays dividends in rear-seat space, a weakness of the outgoing model. The five-seat cabin’s dashboard design, available TFT instrument cluster, blade-like air vents, and vertical touchscreen mimic the swank XC90’s. The ignition knob and the drive-mode switch even boast the same faceted-metal finish. Volvo’s Sensus interface has been tweaked; it looks au…