Indholdsfortegnelse for August 2016 i MotorTrend

With the production Volvo XC40 probably already in the pipeline toward an on-sale date in 2017, we expected this 40.1 crossover concept. But the 40.2 sedan—nobody knew about this one. Beneath the chiseled bodywork lies the much talked-about Compact Modular Architecture (CMA), a downsized version of the Scalable Product Architecture of the 60-and 90-series cars. There’s a lot of similarity between their suspensions, though the CMA’s is simplified, swapping a fiberglass leaf for the coils on the rear multilink suspension. But our focus here was on Volvo’s electrified drivetrains. The jewel-like plug-in T5 Twin Engine drivetrain is delightful to ponder: a 180-hp, turbocharged, 1.5-liter I-3, a seven-speed dual (wet) clutch, and a 67-hp electric motor strapped to one of the shafts (holding gears two, four, six, and reverse); Volvo claims…

Amedeo Felisa has retired as the CEO of Ferrari, but he will continue to serve on the board of directors as a technical adviser. The mechanical engineer worked for the company for 26 years. “I have known Amedeo for more than a decade, and I have had the opportunity to work with him closely for the last two years,” FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne said in a release. “He is beyond any doubt one of the best automotive engineers in the world. During the last 26 years, he has worked tirelessly to fuel and guide Ferrari’s technical development, producing an array of cars which have set the standard for both performance and styling.” Past projects include turning the Testarossa into the 512 TR, evolving the 348 into the F355, and developing…

It’s not the way the 5.2-liter, twin-turbo V-12 storms to its 7,000-rpm redline or the barrelchested boom from the exhaust on the way there. It’s not the remarkable stability under heavy braking, either, or the wonderful tactility of the steering through the turns. Nope, the first thing that impresses about the 2017 Aston Martin DB11 is the quality of its ride. Aston Martin vehicle attribute engineering chief Matt Becker says the prototype we’re driving at Bridgestone’s European Proving Ground just south of Rome, Italy, is about 80 to 85 percent of where he wants it to be, but even now the DB11 feels special: quick, composed, and amazingly comfortable. Thanks to its Daimler-sourced electronic architecture, the DB11 offers three selectable damping levels: GT, Sport, and Sport+. In the softest setting,…

The engine engineer’s dream of running an ultra-efficient diesel cycle on cheaper and easier-toclean-up gasoline is starting to feel like the football Lucy pulls away every time I go to kick out another column heralding its impending feasibility. My hopes have been raised before by Mercedes’ DiesOtto, GM’s HCCI, and Hyundai’s GDCI concepts, none of which we’re driving years later. But here’s why I’m taking one more run at this: GM and Mercedes were attempting to convert gas engines to dual-mode operation using the spark plug under full load and/or idle conditions and compression ignition during steady-state cruising. These new guys are proposing a dedicated all compressionignition approach. Nautilus Engineering of Wichita, Kansas, is an engineering R & D consultancy and rapid prototyping organization with close ties to Wichita State,…

We Don’t Need No Education While I appreciate a good metaphor or analogy more than most, the best only work if they make sense. It seems that Scott Evans forgot his high school physics class when he wrote that the 2015 Lamborghini Aventador SV accelerates like “falling out of a plane strapped to a piano.” Unlike the experience with supercars, acceleration due to gravity is a constant 9.81 meters per second per second (m/s^2). It does not matter what you’re strapped to, piano or soccer ball or M1 Abrams tank. You will fall at the same rate. The only thing that affects the rate at which you fall is drag, not weight. In fact, you would likely accelerate less quickly strapped to a piano since they are generally large and…

Special editions have popped up ever since the very beginning of the M3. With one exception, they’ve just never been available to Americans before. Let’s have a look at what passed us by. E30 M3 Sport Evolution The Sport Evolution was the final iteration of the E30 M3 homologation special. Preceded by the Evo 1 and Evo 2, the Sport Evo rode on 16-inch, DTM-sized wheels spun by 235 hp. E36 M3 GT There were five special-edition E36 M3s, but the GT is the only one I’ve ever sat in. I’m still dreaming about the Mexican Green leather interior. And those wheels! E46 M3 CSL In keeping with its name, several body parts on the Coupe Sport Leichtbau were made from carbon fiber, and the sound insulation, AC and radio…

Have you been seeing a lot of new Honda Civics around? If so, there’s a good reason why. They’re loaded with class-exclusive features, and they cost less than the competition at the same trim levels. What they don’t do, according to well-placed sources, is make money. In fact, Honda may even be losing money on every new Civic it sells. No doubt the strategy is to capture market share by undercutting the competition, but you have to wonder how long a company, even one as big as Honda, can afford to lose money on a high-volume car. The even more important question is what will happen when Honda finally jacks up the price. Less of a mystery is what will happen when the Lexus CT200h dies after the 2017 model…

The Porsche Boxster, like the late, great Rodney Dangerfield, can’t get no respect—especially from purists who favor the 911. With the rechristened 718 Boxster, it’s about time the roadster gets the respect it deserves. The new Boxster’s updates are so extensive that Porsche felt it deserved a new series name and a new prefix, reviving the 718 moniker that graced a ’50s mid-engine sports car. The only carryover body panels are the trunklids, the windshield, and the top. The larger side air intakes hint at the big changes. The naturally aspirated flat-sixes are gone, a new range of turbo flat-four engines in their place. Each offers a 35-hp gain from the engines they replace. The 718 Boxster is powered by a 2.0-liter mill making 300 hp and 280 lb-ft of…

@MT_TheGoods MOTOR TREND’S THE GOODS BB-8 – Smartphone-Controlled Droid Sphero BB-8 • $150 • sphero.com/starwars Fans of “Star Wars” will love the new app-enabled BB-8 droid from Sphero. The 11.4-cm-tall droid offers inductive charging, gyroscopic propulsion, an hour of battery life, and Bluetooth connectivity. BB-8’s top speed: 4.5 mph. BACK OF THE NAPKIN TOM PETERS, DIRECTOR, FULL-SIZE TRUCK AND PERFORMANCE CAR EXTERIOR DESIGN, GENERAL MOTORS Tom Peters has designed many stunning cars over his 30-plus-year career at GM, including the Cadillac Sixteen concept and the current Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. One of his favorites, though, is the 2017 Camaro ZL1. Peters penned this quick sketch of his new baby after having a couple beers with us at the secret media reveal ahead of the Camaro’s New York auto show public…

Problems with Autonomy In the past few years, two highly automated and properly functioning airliners crashed, the Air France plane in the Atlantic and the Colgan Air plane in Buffalo, New York. The most basic of hands-on pilot training involves the recovery of aircraft that have become upset due to weather or any other reason. When automation entered the cockpit, accident rates declined, as experienced pilots were aided by sensors, warnings, and eventually automated corrective features built into the controls. But today’s airline pilots transitioned from hand-flown planes to highly automated aircraft early in their flying careers. And as we see from time to time, they lack some basic flying skills as their roles changed from pilots to systems monitors, with resultant accidents that wouldn’t have occurred years ago to…

IT’S NO SECRET that the turbocharged four-cylinder Camaro RS isn’t intended to be a Performance (with a big “P”) car. Evidence? The best tire you can order for it is a Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric “highperformance, all-season” run-flat. That doesn’t mean you have to accept that. Heck, our company has built a publishing empire on the “make it better/faster” premise. Which is probably why an intrepid staffer noticed that the front tires (still run-flat) on our staggered-width summertired long-term 2016 Camaro SS (stay tuned for future updates) would fit on all four corners of the Camaro RS test car. We couldn’t just pop two off and leave our SS on the sidelines, so our friends at Tire Rack sent a set of four Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 (emphasis on…

The Jaguar SUV is finally here. And it’s not the end of automotive civilization as we know it. The 2017 Jaguar F-Pace is the emphatic resolution of an existential crisis that has been gnawing at the soul of the storied British brand for more than two decades now. Sporty and glamorous, the F-Pace is everything a modern Jaguar should be. It just happens to have all-wheel drive, 8.4 inches of ground clearance, and the largest cargo area of any Jaguar in history. The Jaguar SUV is finally here. And it’s not the end of automotive civilization as we know it. The F-Pace will be available in the U.S. with three powertrains and in five trim levels. The top of the range is the F-Pace S, powered by the 380-hp version…

Nissan Frontier Don’t give up on this fighter yet. Sales were up 29 percent in April to 7,500. Not bad for the old guy in the group. We’re eager to see what the next generation can do and when it will bow. With a new full-size Titan on the market, Frontier can’t be too far behind. Jeep Wrangler pickup Jeep brand chief Mike Manley has wanted a pickup back in the Jeep lineup for as long as we can remember. He is more than pleased that after Jeep introduces the next-generation Wrangler in late 2017, a pickup will follow. “It shows you can continue to revisit these opportunities and when the time is right you get the resources that you need,” he said. “I think we will get significant volume…

Nissan has confirmed that it will take a 34 percent equity stake in Mitsubishi Motors (valued at 237 billion yen, or $2.2 billion) after the two automakers signed an agreement to form a new strategic alliance. Both companies have been collaborating to some extent for the past five years and are thereby lengthening their existing partnership under this new agreement. The alliance will directly affect purchasing, common platforms, joint manufacturing, and technology development. As part of the deal, Nissan will purchase 506.6 million new shares of Mitsubishi Motors priced at 468.52 yen, or $4.31, making the automaker the biggest shareholder of Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ are expected to maintain a significant collective ownership stake of Mitsubishi Motors and support its alliance with…

Meet the new Polestars. Same basic recipe as before, but a few of the ingredients are new. The headline grabber is the engine. Good-bye, sideways straight-six; hello, Drive-E motor. For those not updated on Volvo lingo, Drive-E refers to Volvo’s supercharged and turbocharged, 2.0-liter inline-four, the same engine found in our 2016 SUV of the Year winner, the Volvo XC90 T6. For Polestar duty it’s been souped up a touch with a new turbo, connecting rods, camshaft, fuel pump, and fuel filter, plus a larger air intake along with 3-inch “full-flow” exhaust systems that raise power from 316 to 362 hp and torque from 295 to 347 lb-ft. The old Polestar six made 345 hp and 369 lb-ft, but the cars are now 44 pounds lighter, so you won’t miss…

A quirky and crotchety former colleague used to describe cargo-challenged sports cars as having enough room for “a swimsuit and a toothbrush.” If he were still reviewing cars, I’m sure he would have relegated the McLaren 570S and its 5.3-cubic-foot cubbyhole of a frunk to that status. But what about the new 570GT—the cushier, more practical grand touring version of the S—whose fastback design makes room for an additional 7.8 cubic feet of goods? He probably would have thrown a beach towel and flip-flops into the mix. Heck, maybe even deodorant. Or, had he come to Tenerife, Spain, for the official media drive, he would know that the 570GT’s leather-lined “Touring Deck” aft of the front seats, where those 7.8 cubes worth of space are on display under a glass…

READERS ON LOCATION MATT EIDEN says he’s been reading MT “as far back as I can remember my car obsession taking shape (circa early 1990s).” So naturally, he read the May issue while his wife, Rachel, took in Keone’o’io Bay in Hawaii. Different strokes, we suppose. Compliments After years of ogling your photos and studying your words, the May issue was the most remarkable presentation I’ve seen yet. From the “Big Bad Bug” intimidating and gorgeous cover all the way to the closing statement on #Dieselgate (“The Big Picture”), I found beauty and precision in not just the cars discussed but also the photography, content, layout, and flow of the magazine. If ever there was an issue of Motor Trend that deserved to be offered in hard-back, glossy, collector’s edition…

My career started at Chrysler engineering, where I worked on the NS (’96-’00) minivan. So any new minivan excites me, as it does my former boss, her boss, and his boss. We’re all still pals, and we all eagerly convened to examine the new Pacifica. Perennial guest COTY judge Chris Theodore served as minivan platform general manager circa 1990-1991, Herm Greif was executive engineer, and Camille White was my manager in advance vehicle packaging. Camille and I worked to drastically lower the instrument panel and improve visibility versus the early S and AS vans. Relative to her current-gen (’08-’16 RT) van, she found the Pacifica’s visibility superior, but Herm found the low A-pillars awkward to climb in under. We deemed the seats roomier and more comfortable, but Herm found the…

When is a truck a truck? If you ask a “real truck guy,” it takes more than a box in the back that’ll haul gravel and flowers. These attributes disqualify the Ridgeline as a truck, according to “real truck guy.” Unibody construction Every truck needs to have three segregated components: a frame, a box, and a cab, preferably with a single row of seats. Low-range absence/front-wheel drive How’s this for blasphemy? The Ridgeline features full-time all-wheel drive without a driver-selectable low range, and it’s also sold as a front-wheel-drive truck. Independent rear suspension Speaking of the non-separated bed, peek underneath it and there’s nothing. No thick differential on a live axle that’s ready to take a beating off-road. The front struts are out of place, too. Can’t tow a million…