Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2015 i MotorTrend

Every auto manufacturer that agreed to participate in this year’s Best Driver’s Car competition sent at least one spare set of wheels and tires, as we requested. Porsche also sent a factory-trained technician, additional sets of mounted tires, and the most badass rolling tool chest I have ever seen, the same collection of sockets, Allen wrenches, spare parts, and fluids assembled to support the U.S. launch of the 918 Spyder. This time Porsche Cars North America sent the 500-pound toolbox in support of the Cayman GT4 the company had specially shipped over from Germany just in time for our cover story. As backup for the Corvette Z06 and AMG GT, Chevrolet and Mercedes-Benz each sent two technicians and a van full of spare tires, tools, and parts. Both also had…

What does it mean to be the best? On the one hand, that’s a philosophical, if not rhetorical, question. On the other—and when we’re talking about what makes one car rise above its peers in terms of perceived great-to-driveness—we can actually call out some specifics. Before we get into the particulars and finer points, let me attach our standard Motor Trend “of the Year” clause. Simply put, we’re talking about the best new cars this year. We’re not saying that this year’s champ is better than last year’s. That might very well be true, but we’re not saying that. Not yet, anyway. Each year, we ask all the manufacturers for their hottest new sporty metal. And we don’t discriminate. Hot hatches, performance sedans, muscle cars, sports cars, supercars, hypercars—we don’t…

It didn’t work. The damn Z06 retarded spark by 8 degrees, and the 1.7-liter TVS supercharger refused to make boost. Chevrolet came up with a “bad gas” theory, but Big Nasty got filled at the same Chevron stations as everyone else and even swallowed 8 gallons of 101 octane to wake the supercharger. No luck. What we have here is a failure to compete. What a pity. Have a look at the specs: 650 hp; 650 lb-ft of torque; big, brawny Brembos; 15.5-inch carbon-ceramic rotors with six-piston monobloc calipers up front, 15.3-inch carbonceramic rotors with four-piston monobloc calipers on the rear; relatively light weight due to its stiff aluminum chassis; and in Stage III Aero guise, the Z07 package records lateral acceleration of 1.17 g, thanks in part to the…

We loved the Cadillac ATS-V enough to rank its four-door variant well ahead of the iconic BMW M3 in October’s “Four-Door Miracles” comparison test. Yes, the BMW has lost some of its driving ultimacy of late, and thankfully Cadillac has stepped in to give enthusiasts what Bavaria isn’t these days: a light and rigid body, an expertly balanced chassis, and the power and torque required to connect the corners on a challenging road or race circuit while delivering visceral thrills. For this exercise we opted for the sportier-looking and 34-pound lighter coupe variant. MacKenzie spoke for us all, noting that its “steering and chassis are a delight, way more communicative and composed than the currentgeneration of BMW M3/M4.” Loh described the ATS-V as “a modern update on the E46 [2001-2006]…

A funny thing happened after we voted: Everyone had a little trouble explaining why the Mercedes-AMG C63 S didn’t place higher. The general consensus went something like this: The C63 is great, and there’s nothing really wrong with it, but those three other cars were even better. A few small missteps kept the C63 off the podium. Garnering the most “yeah, buts” were the brakes. The “buts” were varied: Burgess and I thought they needed more bite, Lieberman felt some unappreciated movement from the rear end, and Cammisa got unexpected fade coming down the hill climb. Many judges hailed the steering as a top-tier electrically assisted system. Burgess and Markus, however, dissented and asked for more road feel and feedback. High praise came for the V-8, which kept the C63…

If this isn’t the definitive everyday supercar, then what is? “I need a cigarette, and I don’t even smoke. What a phenomenal car.” The 2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S in about 750 words? Let’s start with these: exclusive, luxurious, sensuous, quick, nimble, versatile, and in the right hands a track-ready supercar capable of lap times that don’t seem possible considering its versatility and secondplace road-test performance results. So what makes GT S, a car seemingly too stylish to be taken seriously, such a singularly special supercar or definitive driver’s car? The never-flinching Animal from Affalterbach fights above its class—and wins—consistently and decisively. First, that engine. We auto scribes never thought AMG could again conjure a powerplant with the personality, potency, and tractability of the naturally aspirated, 6.2-liter V-8 (M156/M159) we’ve…

Everyone loves a good underdog story—e.g., every “Star Wars” epic—but that’s not the feeling you get whatsoever with the hot-selling Tacoma. It’s not 1957 (Toyota’s first year in the U.S.); the Tacoma has developed a loyal and very interactive following. And we’re not in Hollywood, California, where Toyota originally set up shop in ’57. No, today our boots have landed in Seattle, Washington, a stone’s throw from the city of Tacoma. Toyota has provided precisely six hours of access to drive, learn about, and photograph the 2016 Tacoma. Hour 1 First impression: Sensations new and familiar envelop me upon sliding into the driver’s seat of a Barcelona Red Tacoma TRD Off-Road Double Cab. The 2016 model has been unified on one common chassis, whereas before the standard rear-drive truck sat…

Sharp-eyed readers will note that in BDC 2014, the VW Golf GTI came in dead last. One year, 72 more horsepower, two more driven wheels, and an R badge later, and big brother Golf R finishes only one step up (over a DNFing ’Vette)? How does that work? Well, a hot hatch of any stripe is going to face fierce competition in a field stacked with single-purpose sports cars and hot-rodded super sedans. There is only so much you can squeeze from an economy car platform built for practicality and efficiency. Much of what we loved about the Golf, the features that made it our 2015 Car of the Year—its smart package, excellent ride, and handling balance—put it at a disadvantage in our quest to find the car that delivers…

To exactly no one’s surprise, the CTS-V is both a destroyer of DMV driving records and a trigger of conversations. “Six-hunnid-n-forty horsepower,” drivers will say to an awestruck co-pilot (or an inquisitive law officer), usually finishing with, “It has the same engine as a Corvette, too!” What its 6.2-liter heart unleashes is simply dumbfounding. It not only pushes you beyond legal speed limits and has you screaming hallelujah! for its six-piston Brembos, but it also meticulously threads every corner in between with genuine track-bred balance. Runs to 60 mph take 3.8 seconds. A quarter mile flashes by in 11.9 seconds at 122 mph. It jinks with an ice skater’s speed and precision, and all this from 4,108-pound, rear-wheel-drive, eight-speed automatic sedan. The CTS-V pushes you beyond legal speed limits and…

By the numbers, the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata should not have even been in the same county with most of the Best Driver’s Car contenders. Its 155-hp, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine is 137 ponies behind the Golf R, the second weakest engine in our pack. Four MX-5 engines combined fail to add up to the power of one supercharged Corvette Z06. The MX-5 had the worst braking numbers, taking 111 feet to go from 60 mph to 0. It had the worst acceleration, quarter-mile, and figure-eight times in the bunch. But every editor loved driving it, in part because of one criterion where the MX-5 crushed all comers: It weighs 2,296 pounds, more than 700 pounds less than the next lightest vehicle. Two Mazda roadsters weigh 327 pounds less than one…

There is no carpet or headliner. It has no stereo. Sound deadening? Surely you jest. The cabin is filled with little more than the stench of gasoline and fear. The auto industry is so convinced of its own progress that it only ever looks backward to point out how much better something is than whatever it replaced. Better torsional rigidity! Better flame propagation under low-load conditions! Better thermal efficiency from the door-lock actuators! Better my left foot. But finally some car companies are starting to use their rearview mirrors for good, and Jaguar has rocketed straight past Throwback Thursday child’s play and is brave enough to produce a whole Throwback Car. The story of the Jaguar Lightweight E-type begins in February 1963, when Jaguar announced it would build 18 E-types…

There’s a gap in the trees on the right-hand side of the trail, beyond it a sheet of rock falling steeply away from us, stepped and creased and made slick by the light rain. We tiptoe gently over the edge, and point the nose down the hill. It’s so slippery we’re advised to disengage the hill descent control and inch down on the brake, toes feeling for grip all the way. Every so often there’s a sickening lurch as gravity overcomes the tenacious traction of the big Pirelli Scorpion tires, and the occasional crunch of metal on rock as topography triumphs over technology. But we make it down. That’s the good news. The bad news is they now want us to go back up. One of the test drivers shows…

ARRIVAL 2015 Mercedes-Benz CLA250 4Matic Chris Clonts “The 2015 M-B CLA250 is beautiful, polarizing, and menacing, depending on where the camera is.” @CClonts EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 24/33/27 MPG BASE PRICE $34,425 PRICE AS TESTED $46,140 Before the Mercedes-Benz CLA250 was introduced, it would have been an understatement to say that auto writers were skeptical of the compact sedan with polarizing styling and “wrong-wheel drive.” But consumers, to put it mildly, were not skeptical. Two years after it went on sale in the U.S., the CLA-Class has been a rousing success, with sales eventually settling at 2,500 to 3,000 cars a month. In the no-longer-skeptical column is MT technical director Frank Markus, who said the CLA was more playful than expected. “GTI-like,” he said. This is the first time…

I’ve never had children, but two years ago we adopted a rescue beagle/schnauzer mix that quickly became the center of our universe. She goes with us everywhere we can take her, and on car journeys she’s always either in a tethered safety harness or (for longer trips) in the wire cage she sleeps in. Well, according to crash tests recently conducted by the Center for Pet Safety (with Subaru sponsorship), we’re being as reckless transporting Snickers as my parents were when they allowed me to free-roam the station wagon interior. Our restraints only prevent her from distracting us. Just as there wasn’t much child-restraint safety research available to inform my parents, the CPS only began pioneering pet crash-safety testing in 2011. That first pet-harness test was designed using the Federal…

In a day and age when turbocharging and downsizing are the names of the high-performance (and more fuel-efficient) game—look, Bentley dropped all the way down to a twinturbo, 4.0-liter V-8—the naturally aspirated motor is fast becoming the California condor of Best Driver’s Car. In fact, in this year’s field, only the Mazda MX-5, Porsche GT4, and Lexus RC F came unboosted, and of those only the Lexus offered eight cylinders. And yes, we adored all eight of ’em. “I LOVE this engine note!” Markus said. “There’s nothing like a naturally aspirated V-8 to stand your neck hairs on end.” During our road evaluation up and down Route 198, we also found much to love with the RC F’s eight-speed automatic, from its quick, seamless shifts and intuitive programming to its…

This is not what we expected. Even with no rear seat, a titanium exhaust system, and lashings of carbon fiber everywhere, the Bentley Continental GT3-R would surely still be too big, too heavy, too ponderous to be a serious Best Driver’s Car contender. The charms of Bentley’s stylish and effortlessly fast Conti coupes are many, but the laws of physics suggest that pinballing from apex to apex through the twisties with your hair on fire and a broad grin planted on your face ain’t one of them. Nobody told the GT3-R, though. “This thing is 2.5 tons of fun! Shockingly brilliant balance on power and huge grip everywhere,” enthused Cammisa after a storming run up and back 198. It might weigh 213 pounds less than a Continental GT V8 S,…

It’s been two decades since the debut of Porsche’s modern mid-engine sports car, and Porsche conspiracy theorists have maintained that Porsche would never build one with 911 horsepower because it would prove, once and for all, that the 911’s rear-engine layout was wrong all along. It’s reckoning time. The GT4 isn’t just a Cayman with the 7,800-rpm, 3.8-liter flat-six from the 911 Carrera S. It also inherits its complete front end from the 911 GT3, replete with that track monster’s (optional) carbon-ceramic brakes. These front rotors are larger than the wheels on the original Boxster. You hear glorious mechanical noises coming from the flat-six that sits inches behind you—whirring, spinning, and rattling loud enough that at least one editor thought something was wrong. Yet it’s all completely drowned out at…

In the music industry, the only achievement more daunting than your first hit record is your second. Think on it a moment: How many times have you asked yourself, “Whatever happened to that band that had the huge hit a year or two ago?” The industry is rife with bands that hit it big only to slip quietly into the night when the follow-up failed to live up to the breakout debut. It even has a name: the “sophomore slump.” The problem is less common in the automotive industry, but it still exists. The potential for the sophomore slump to strike is never higher than when building the second generation of an iconic car. Audi’s designers and engineers must’ve been acutely aware of this as they brought the all-new R8…

Mercedes-Benz has a reputation for overengineering its vehicles. For example, the E63 AMG S Wagon is capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds and reaching 186 mph, yet most drivers will spend their days tooling around Beverly Hills at 2 mph; the G-Wagen was designed for military use, yet most civilians will never leave peaceful tarmac. As I found out in Switzerland, Germany, and France, the brand-new 2016 Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class crossover is the latest in a long line of overengineered Mercedes vehicles. Based on the C-Class sedan, the GLC is bigger than the GLK-Class that it replaces. Although the GLC is larger, Mercedes says it’s more than 100 pounds lighter than the GLK. It’s more efficient, too, thanks to a more aerodynamic design, a nine-speed automatic…