Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2014 i MotorTrend

It’s official: Holden will no longer be manufacturing its own cars. GM announced Holden will discontinue vehicle and engine manufacturing, as well as reduce its engineering operations, by 2017. Holden will transition from a full-fledged automaker to a national sales company, similar to the way Vauxhall functions in the United Kingdom. GM will continue to sell Holdenbadged versions of GM products, but Australian-developed models such as the Caprice, the Commodore, and the Ute will be no longer. The decision was based on economics, says outgoing GM chief Dan Akerson. According to GM, manufacturing things in Australia is 65 percent more expensive than compared with just a decade ago. Since 2001, the Australian dollar has risen from $0.50 to as high as $1.10 U.S. GM says it’ll still maintain a major…

The enthusiast’s takeaway of the Acura RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD is that it’s a fat version of the future NSX, except with too many doors (two too many), too many seats (three too many—or four, depending on the audience), and too much trunk space (12.0 cubic feet, over 3 feet less than the front-drive RLX because of a 1.3-kilowatt/hour lithium-ion battery). Plus, the engine and electric motors are positioned in the wrong places. Of course, the comfortable and quiet-running RLX is not the NSX. It’s not even an AWD vehicle in the traditional sense. The Sport Hybrid Super Handling All-Wheel Drive system—the full, formal name for Honda’s new three-motor gas-electric hybrid setup—uses totally separate power sources for the front and rear axles. A 3.5-liter V-6 and an e-motor integrated into…

The veil has been lifted, and the questions about the 2015 Ford F-150 that made its debut at the 2014 Detroit auto show have been answered: Yes, the next F-150’s cab and pickup box will be almost entirely made of various grades of aluminum. Yes, magnets will still stick to the steel chassis frame. So, yes, towing and hauling capacities (not yet announced) can be expected to increase by roughly the body-mass savings, which are only quantified as “up to 700 pounds.” Let’s start right there. Because the switch from steel to aluminum in the body accounts for 70 percent of the weight savings, the bigger the bodywork, the bigger the savings. Hence: short cab/short box, probably 500 or fewer pounds saved. SuperCrew long box, maybe a bit more than…

If you’re a keen reader of this magazine, you might have noticed two Easter eggs we placed in the November 2013 issue, “hidden” on a one-page addendum to our annual Best Driver’s Car feature. There, nestled among a long list of 70 lap times we’d recorded at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, were two that, for all intents and purposes, had no business being there (partly because we printed incorrect times for both). We hadn’t covered the cars prior—at least not together—so you probably thought, “I don’t recall a track test on the Audi RS 5 and Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG 507.” Well, no need to recall a thing, as voila! the wait and confusion are over. We meant to run this comparison a while back, but we took the Audi on,…

“Just chased my LT GL350 up the front straight at Streets of Willow. The ‘sports car’ I’m driving struggled to keep up.” @MT_MikeFebbo Service life / 13 mo / 28,441 mi Avg CO2 / 1.05 lb/mi Energy cons / 160 kW-hrs/100 mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost / $899.72 (2-oil change, AdBlue top-off; 1-change brake fluid) Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 19/26/22 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 21.1 MPG I’ve recently experienced the proverbial thorn in the giant GL’s paw. Everything is going swimmingly except for the small button that closes the electrically operated tailgate. The car is on its second replacement, meaning the third unit if you count the one installed at the factory. It seems like such a simple thing, a button, but once…

“The longer I drive this Mini, the more I’m impressed by its functionality. Not something I expected with the two-seat, chop-top Coupe.” @carloslago Service life / 11 mo/16,507 mi Avg CO2 / 0.70 lb/mi Energy cons / 122 kW-hrs/100 mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost / $0 (2-oil change, inspection; 1-rotate tires) Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 26/35/29 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 27.7 MPG The Mini’s interior packaging and surprising functionality can make you forget its diminutive size. For a recent weeklong trip, I was able to bring two bags of luggage and two guitars, which fit nicely in the trunk with their necks pointing through the ski pass. The bags occupied the passenger seat and footwell. The interior packaging—if not the styling—is rather smart,…

“In the strange new world of electric cars, the motor is just another swappable component—as if it were pesky computer hard drive.” @MT_Reynolds Service life / 5 mo/13,452 mi Avg CO2 / N/A Energy cons / 39 kW-hrs/100 mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost / $0 Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 88/90/89 MPG-E AVERAGE FUEL ECON 86.5 MPG-E Our Tesla’s sunroof has been periodically creaking. The local Tesla Service Center made an attempt at curing it, but it quickly returned, so back it went. Later in the day I received an email asking, “Is there anything odd about the car’s steering?” I typed back “Maybe a little clunk at full lock, but no biggie.” Then another question: “Does the car shimmy when you stop?” “Not…

“Auf wiedersehen, my good friend. I enjoyed my time, but now it’s over. I am truly going to miss my long-term GLI.” @MT_DubDub Service Life / 13 mo / 27,512 mi Base Price / $24,740 Options / Autobahn Package ($2250: Fender sound system, sunroof, 18-in alloys), Navigation Package ($2005: navigation, backup camera, bi-xenon headlights), DSG ($1100) Price as Tested / $30,095 Avg CO2 / 0.80 lb/mi Problem Areas / None Maintenance Cost / $0 (2-oil change, inspection; 1-rotate rires; 1-pollen filter) Normal-Wear Cost / $0 3-Year Residual Value* / $15,649 Recalls / None *Automotive Lease Guide EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 24/32/27 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 24.3 MPG Our long-term Volkswagen Jetta GLI came to us all the way back in October 2012. In the 14 months we had it,…

Per the guys at Jaguar, the new F-Type R Coupe is “the fastest, sportiest Jaguar road car in history,” besting even the iconic XJ220 supercar. Turns out, they’re not kidding. The R is the top cat in an F-Type Coupe lineup that will hit the United States later this year, joining the F-Type Convertible models that helped make Jaguar the fastest-growing premium brand in the country in 2013. Like the Convertible, the F-Type Coupe will be available with three powertrain options: two V-6s and a V-8. The V-6s are identical to those in the Convertibles, delivering 340 hp in the base car and 380 in the S Coupe, enough to push each to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds and 4.8 seconds, respectively. With the F-Type R Coupe, Jaguar is back…

General Motors has announced that the Chevrolet brand will no longer exist in Europe beginning in 2016, leaving Opel and Vauxhall as the company’s mainstream offerings in the region. The existence of both Opel and Chevrolet in Europe has long been a difficult and complex situation for GM that was further exacerbated by the region’s ongoing economic woes. GM hopes the move will strengthen its strategy and bottom line in Europe. However, GM said its European portfolio will still include “select iconic vehicles” from Chevrolet, namely the Corvette. GM also said Cadillac will expand, serving as the company’s premium offering for the region. The automaker said it will maintain Chevrolet’s “broad presence” in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Opel has been losing money for the past 13 years,…

Since Edward Snowden’s revelation of the sweeping surveillance being done by the National Security Agency, privacy has taken center stage in the public dialogue, and a report from the Government Accountability Office is sure to add fuel to the fire. The Detroit News reports that the GAO report reviewed practices by General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan in regard to retention and use of data related to customers’ behaviors and locations. Internal policies by the automakers varied wildly, with some retaining it for up to seven years, to another saying it only keeps identifiable location data for “no more than 24 hours.” Some of the data collection is necessary in order to provide users with location-based services, however, the time and use of the data retention has raised…

“RoboCop” may not be a car movie per se, but cars are an important part of the original and the reboot. We talked to the man responsible for designing the cars seen in the new “RoboCop,” which opened February 12. MT For those of us who don’t work in the film industry, what does a production designer do? MW I like to say that if the actors were to drop their props and walk out of the frame, everything left would be the production designer’s job. I’m responsible for the look of the movie. How did you decide how futuristic the vehicles should be in “RoboCop”? We’re not very far into the future, so we didn’t want to have flying cars. Of course, the tricky thing with vehicles on any…

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The Subaru leads the Focus throughout their individual best laps, but the WRX builds its lead via a relentless series of small (and large) advantages. Although it’s a pretty close drag race into Turn 1, as they near Turn 2’s braking point, Randy really feathers the Focus’ speed while the Subaru barrels right up to the brink, suggesting a lot more confidence. Approaching Turn 3, the WRX accelerates harder, although it loses some of that edge with a gearshift between the corners. It scoots through Turns 3 and 4 faster, too. Where the men are really separated from the boys at Streets of Willow is through Turns 9 and 10, a destabilizing wiggle that’s tackled at well above 100 mph. Here, the Subaru is in another league as grip and…

For years, the Chrysler 300 SRT has gone essentially unchallenged in the luxo-muscle category. Yes, you could say cars with AMG, RS, or M badges play with the same formula, but the European competitors are far more James Bond than John McClane in price and presence. GM Holden had been building a competitor in Australia, but ironically, the Commodore had trouble finding its way across the ocean. It finally landed in the U.S. as the Pontiac G8, and then GM killed Pontiac. Now the car is the Chevrolet SS. Starting with the very basics, both cars here are big sedans, but the smaller Chevy still stretches 195.5 inches from stem to stern. The Chrysler is roughly 5 inches longer, and at 4387 pounds, it’s 474 pounds more portly than the…

Now here’s a really interesting matchup. If you take a quick glance at the speed-versus-distance plot above, you’d assume the Mercedes-Benz was the walkaway winner. Just look at how much more steeply it accelerates on the longer straights and its frequently higher speeds between the corners. How could it lose? Look more closely. Into Turn 2, the Audi brakes later and much harder. In Turns 3, 4, and 11, it corners slightly faster and is substantially quicker through Turn 6, a corner that’s a real test of confidence in a car. (An important point here is that a corner’s lower speed means more time is spent in it, exaggerating its importance.) And looking even more closely, the Audi gets its power down fractionally better out of Turns 2 and 9…

Within 15 seconds on January 27, 1967, the U.S. space program changed forever. An exposed wire sparked in the pure-oxygen environment of the Apollo 1 command module, at the time undergoing a routine “plugs out” test on the launchpad. In seconds, fire swept through the cabin. The crew tried desperately to open the complicated hatch—which in the best of conditions required 90 seconds to unlock, including assistance from the outside. Seconds later, all three—commander Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee—were asphyxiated. With them nearly died the entire Apollo moon shot. Yet the deaths of the Apollo 1 crew may have saved the program, and certainly contributed to NASA successfully meeting President John F. Kennedy’s pledge of “landing a man on the moon before this decade is out.” NASA aggressively…

“You’ll cry ‘Mommy!’ when the service bill comes in, but the pain will fade fast. The Allroad is just that sweet.” @ArthurStAntoine Service life / 10 mo/19,066 mi Avg CO2 / 0.81 lb/mi Energy cons / 140 kW-hrs/100 mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost /$0 (oil change, tire rotation, inspection) Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 20/27/23 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 23.3 MPG Recently, on a holiday vacation, staffer William Walker and wife Jessica (an MT contributing photographer) bolted on a set of Pirelli Sottozero 3 snow tires and gunned the Allroad from Los Angeles up to Oregon, down through Napa Valley, into the Redwood National Forest, and up Mount Hood. Along the way, the Audi shrugged off deep snow, ice, and the occasional rutted dirt…

Fiat has full control of Chrysler following an agreement to purchase the remaining 41.5-percent stake from VEBA, the retiree healthcare trust affiliated with the United Auto Workers. With this $4.35 billion deal, spearheaded by Fiat-Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne, Fiat will pay the VEBA trust $1.75 billion and Chrysler will contribute $1.9 billion up front, plus an additional $700 million paid in four annual installments. The price of Fiat stock increased by as much as 16 percent following news of the agreement. And with Fiat in full control, Marchionne can move forward with his plan to bolster Fiat’s struggling European arm, encourage more collaborative efforts between the Italian and American nameplates, and increase his company’s global market share. Following the deal, Marchionne told media at the North American International Auto Show…

GONE RETRO Here sits subscriber Larry Spencer in front of a Dodge Challenger R/T. His location: possibly a dirt field someplace in Virginia. But what’s this in his hands? “I kept my original January 1964 copy because the car on the cover [a Plymouth Sport Fury] was my first new car,” Spencer tells us. “It was a convertible with ‘only’ a 383 engine, but still managed to consistently outrun the two other cars listed on the cover, which two of my friends owned. As you can see, I still drive Chrysler products. Keep up the good work.” The 50-year-old issue also featured the Chevrolet Chevelle, Pontiac Tempest GTO, Mercedes-Benz 300SE, and a Motor Trend stylist/designer competition. BLUSTER OF THE MONTH “I thought the 2014 Chevy Impala was Car of the…

At the intersection of Moore Lane and Victory Road in Derby, England, sprawls the brick-walled engineering headquarters of the Rolls-Royce jet engine operation. Standing before it is a dapper country gentleman who never moves. And hasn’t since 1921. The famous bronze statue of Sir Frederick Henry Royce seems to have caught the great man at a pause during a casual walk. His hands are tucked in his long coat pockets; his head—thin hair and neatly trimmed beard—tilted down and canted to the left. His intense eyes are trained in the far distance as if musing about something. Sir Henry has had much to contemplate over the decades. During the Battle of Britain, he probably smiled at his own clairvoyance in commencing the development of the Merlin V-12 aircraft engine when…

The tourists have no idea who’s walking among them. As the crowds gape at the towering missiles and wedgy capsules on display at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, about an hour east of Orlando, a trim elder statesman in jeans and a polo shirt gazes unnoticed at a gargantuan, 223-foot-long Saturn 1B booster laid out on its side, its tubular white skin blinding in the morning sunshine, huge exposed rocket nozzles silent but seemingly poised to spew flames at any moment. Suddenly, no doubt intrigued by the trio of video and still cameras focusing on the older man, a 20-something tourist in shorts and flip-flops steps forward with a pen and paper. “Uh, can I have your autograph?” he asks politely. “Well, sure,” says man in the polo. “What’s your name?”…

“The preferred ride of British royalty, this is the only true luxury SUV. The others are merely expensive.” @Angus_MacK EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 13/19/15 MPG BASE PRICE $89,750 PRICE AS TESTED $89,850 JEEP MIGHT have invented the upscale off-roader with the Grand Wagoneer, but Land Rover turned it into an art form. Literally. An example of the original Range Rover was once exhibited in the famous Musée de Louvre in Paris. Range Rover remains the benchmark vehicle in the luxury SUV segment, offering a combination of on-road comfort and off-road capability Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Porsche luxury SUVs can’t match. Our new long-term Range Rover is the entry-level car in a six-model lineup that starts at $83,545 and stretches to $142,995. Like the $88,545 HSE that will likely be…

“The Mazda6 is a great-handling road car, but it ain’t no track car. Needs more tire. (And power.)” @edloh Service life / 7 mo / 13,853 mi Avg CO2 / 0.72 lb/mi Energy cons / 125 kW-hrs/100 mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost / $0 Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY / HWY / COMB FUEL ECON: 25 / 37 / 29 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 26.9 MPG Within the first 3500 miles of our Mazda6 loan, I managed to get it to the track more often than in the entire year I had the Nissan GT-R: once at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and again at the Streets of Willow. But while the Mazda6 is many things, it ain’t no race car. It’s a fine-handling road car, precisely…

“I’ve become so enamored of the Optima’s rearview camera that I can’t imagine not having one.” @Emiliana505 Service life / 12 mo/19,453 mi Avg CO2 / 0.85 lb/mi Energy cons / 148 kW-hrs/100 mi Unresolved problems / None Maintenance cost / $228.90 (2-oil change, inspection; 1-tire rotation, cabin-air filter, engine-air filter, tire rotation) Normal-wear cost / $0 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 22/34/26 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 22.7 MPG As the Optima topped 16,000 miles, it was time for its second service. There’s no Kia dealership near my apartment, so I made an online appointment for the dealership closest to work for the requisite oil and filter change, tire rotation, and inspection. I had shopping to do while I waited, so I requested a loaner car, but when I got…

Consider the Nissan Altima if efficiency and acceleration are more important to you than bold styling. “So the Altima groans a little at wide-open throttle—it’s quick for a midsize sedan, and I actually fit inside.” @zachgale Service Life / 2 mo / 21,774 mi Base Price / $28,830 Options / Technology Package ($1090: navigation, blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning), carpeted floor and trunk mats ($185) Price as Tested / $30,105 Avg C02 / 0.71 lb/mi Problem Areas / O2 sensors, TPMS sensor Maintenance Cost / $204.92 (2-oil change, inspection, rotate tires; 1-cabin-air filter, engine-air filter) Normal-Wear Cost / $0 3-Year Residual Value* $15,354 Recalls / Transmission control module reprogramming *Automotive Lease Guide EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 27/38/31 MPG AVERAGE FUEL ECON 27.2 MPG In a quest to maximize midsize sedan…

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