Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i MotorTrend

At the start of the 2019 Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance, I found myself at the front of the pack of this year’s participants, a highly curated collection of some of the rarest (and most valuable) motorcars in the world—including a 1932 Mercedes-Benz SSKL, a girthy and raw metal reproduction of one of the company’s famed “Silver Arrow” race cars, nicknamed “Gurke,” German for cucumber. As the handler unfastened the clasps on the engine cover, my view of the polished and gleaming 7.0-liter straight-six engine was quickly obscured by the forward crush of the crowd that had gathered, phones in hand, camera and Instagram apps at the ready. As I watched the scene play out on the mobile screens in front of me, I thought ahead to the 2119 Pebble Beach…

There’s something extraordinary about Park City’s landscape during late spring. The snowcapped mountain peaks and deep blue skies provide a pleasant, peaceful atmosphere. This part of North Utah is the perfect place to launch the new GLS-Class, which was designed for Americans who might spend their weekends and holidays in such an environment. E-Active Body Control (EABC)—an optional suspension system that uses air springs and electrohydraulic dampers—was introduced in the smaller GLE, and Mercedes’ engineers made sure the fancy suspension setup could triumph in a three-row family crossover. The GLS can quickly free itself from being stuck in the sand thanks to Free Driving mode, which raises and lowers the suspension until the tires gain traction. It’s fun to engage this bouncing mode at a stoplight with the Burmester surround…

The RS 6 Avant superwagon is grabbing the headlines, but that’s not the only RS action on its way. Audi’s RS 7 Sportback returns with more power, more performance, and an edgier look. The RS 7 Sportback shares the Avant’s mild hybrid powertrain, the 591-hp 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 once again delivering a 40-hp bump over the previous model. That’s helped shave 0.3 second from the 0–60 time. And the Dynamic Plus package means a 190-mph top speed. The Sportback also gets the same chassis upgrades as its wagon brother, including the choice of two suspension systems, optional rear-wheel steering, and optional carbon-ceramic brakes. Audi Sport planners wanted to increase the RS 7 Sportback’s functionality, so a three-passenger rear seat is now available. Adding visual differentiation from the regular S7 meant…

Jim Hackett is not a prototypical car guy. Nor is he a straight-line thinker or talker. But after more than two years as CEO of Ford, amid some head-scratching and skepticism, his unorthodox methods and esoteric train of thought are making some sense and showing signs they might pay off. The former Steelcase CEO has a business history and affinity with Ford executive chairman Bill Ford, which first led to Hackett becoming a board member, then, after Mark Fields was let go, CEO. Hackett is fully aware of his outsider status and the controversy surrounding his tenure. But he’s convinced he is setting Ford on the right course with a mix of traditional Rust Belt ways—yet more cost cutting—and new ideas about what people want from a vehicle. Ford raised…

Is there anything better than a British beast of a grand tourer? Specifically, one that’s stuffed with a 12-cylinder powerplant, covered in fist-bitingly gorgeous sheetmetal, and lined with fine, sweet-smelling leather? Why, yes. Two of them. That Aston Martin and Bentley arrive simultaneously with Union Jack–waving coupes is the world’s good fortune. That they are both outstanding reimaginings of the grand touring genre is providential. Aston Martin comes to the table swinging the car I enjoy calling Big Sexy, the DBS Superleggera. Packing a 5.2-liter twin-turbo V-12 that rocks 715 hp and 664 lb-ft, this GT is the best design of the last 50 years and a veritable rocket ship. Of course, the Bentley Continental GT ain’t no shrinking violet. New from the ground up, the muscular Conti comes complete…

Overlanders need to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Vehicle extraction gear is a must, but so is readying yourself for the possibility that you might need to walk out of the desert or woods or call for help in places where your iPhone doesn’t work. Preparation Concierge founder Jason Harper helped us find the gear to keep us safe in the wilderness. Here’s the gear we took with us and why Harper likes it. Water “Water is by far the most important element to survival,” Harper says. WaterBrick’s durable 3.5-gallon containers ($35) stack and are easily lashed down inside a vehicle. But if you need to hike out, you can only carry so much water with you. A filter like the LifeStraw Flex ($35) will filter even mucky stream water.…

When I was a kid, Eddie Rickenbacker was a boy’s perfect hero: prewar auto racing hero, World War I fighter pilot (America’s Ace of Aces), and postwar owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. However, the moment of his life that still lingers with me was November 11, 1918. At exactly 11 a.m. on that date, the first world war ended. Against orders, Rickenbacker flew his French-made SPAD above the Western Front to watch as exhausted and bloodied German and Allied soldiers slowly climbed from their battered trenches, hesitantly intermingled, and finally embraced. He was the only aerial witness to the end of the war to end all wars. I have been fascinated by people who had a rare view of the world ever since. So when a certain middle-aged gentleman…

“Given the Velar’s popularity and relative reliability, it appears Land Rover has a winner here.”Mark Rechtin Base price $70,595 As tested $76,041 Service life: 12 mo/23,845 mi Avg Econ/CO2 19.4 mpg/1.0 lb/mi There have been three memorable moments involving Land Rovers in my life. The first time I saw one, an original Range Rover, all black and tinted, was in 1985, on I-94 near the Illinois–Wisconsin border. Back then, SUVs weren’t really a thing. Sure, I had seen a couple Jeep Grand Wagoneers, an International Scout, and a Suburban or two out on the road, but they were for ranchers, fishermen, and hunters. This was a statement. I thought I knew about cars, but I had never even heard of a Range Rover. It was stately. It was glamorous. It…

Foot on brake. Foot on accelerator. Wait three seconds, and launch control is ready. I sidestep the brake pedal, and it’s like being fired from a railgun, my head slamming against the headrest as the low-slung four-door leaps off the line. The front tires momentarily scrabble for grip, and there’s what feels like a gearshift at about 50 mph. Then it’s one long, weapons-grade surge of thrust that continues unabated even as the speedo flicks past 150 mph. Oh yes, the Porsche Taycan is a seriously fast car. It’s difficult to overestimate the significance of the Taycan, the first electric car from one of the world’s most accomplished performance vehicle manufacturers. It’s also the first electric car that will sorely test the loyalties of the Teslarati. This much is clear…

It’s been a long time coming. But the 2020 Land Rover Defender appears to be worth the wait. The new Defender combines a 21st century take on iconic Land Rover design cues with state-of-the-art body, powertrain, suspension, and electronics. And it promises to deliver benchmark off-road capability along with unprecedented on-road refinement. The Defender is built on an aluminum-intensive monocoque platform dubbed D7x. It’s based on the D7u platform that underpins the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, and Land Rover Discovery, but it’s 95 percent new, Nick Rogers, JLR head of engineering, says. Rogers says the Defender is 10 times stiffer than the average body-on-frame off-roader and three times stiffer than the best, and it can tow more than 8,000 pounds. Another advantage is the smooth underbody, good for off-roading,…

REFERENCE MARK @markrechtin Typically, when a vehicle comes to the end of its five- to seven-year production cycle, folks are relieved to see it go. With dated styling and obsolete technology, it is almost archaic in its form and function. There’s rarely celebration for the last car off the line. That counts double for most sports cars, whose actual lifespan typically lasts a mere 18 months before competitors shave its lap time record and designers create something even more outlandish upon which well-heeled buyers may feast their eyes. Not so with the Porsche 911, generation 991.2. Yes, we’ve been graced with the new 992-era Carrera S (with an estimated as-tested price of $143,350), and it is indeed awesome. We dynoed it at 487 hp and 478 lb-ft at the crank.…

The Soul of American Luxury I just reread the July 2019 issue for the third time; it’s like candy for me. Congratulations on another well-conceived, well-executed, and enjoyable issue. I wanted to thank you folks specifically for the “Battle for the Soul of American Luxury” piece. I’ve held different marketing management positions and worked as a consultant in my career, and I eat up articles that outline the thinking behind the decisions that companies make to create their product. If you could do an article such as this for others in the industry, it would be great. Jonathan Avins Womissing, Pennsylvania Although the dichotomy is not as clear-cut in these seemingly post-sedan days, the comeback strategies of Lincoln and Cadillac are still rather easy to distinguish. Lincoln is aiming to…

Ferocious winds ripped across the undulating plains of the Mojave Desert, battering our brave little overland convoy. We had been battling scorching heat, freezing mountain air, and 60-mph gusts for the past 150 miles—all of which we’d attacked off-road. With my 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon assaulted by this insistent blast for hours on end, I had long since passed the point of exhaustion. Ahead of us, a sea of greens, blues, and yellows emerged from the bland desert scrub, welcoming our weary eyes. The Mojave River, fed by record winter rains, flowed mightily. On the other side, the end. Pavement. A warm hotel bed. I pulled up to the water’s lapping edge, said a prayer, and started inching my trusty Jeep forward. Forward into the Past About 30 hours prior,…

This story almost didn’t happen. Well, that’s not strictly true; it’s not so much that we almost didn’t traverse the Mojave Road but more like we almost weren’t allowed to tell you about it. The MotorTrend masthead might seem big, but truth is the core editorial and photography teams that put these words and pictures on the page (or screen) is rather small—think Army Delta Force rather than the 101st Airborne. As a result, sometimes things—like obtaining photography permits for lands under the aegis of the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service—fall through the cracks. We’d overlanded more than 150 brutal miles in 29 hours and felt a kinship with the Chevy, Jeep, and Toyota, as battered and bruised as they were. Lucky for us, the BLM’s Barstow…

Feasting at Mercedes’ quasquicentennial fête, at a table behind me sits five-time DTM champion Bernd Schneider. Two days before and 600 miles to the east, it was Schneider’s eyes that were watching me through the rearview mirror of Mercedes’ latest, screwballiest incarnation, the AMG GT R Pro, in its native Hockenheimring habitat. In the wet. At one point around the ’ring, Schneider keyed his walkie-talkie with one hand while steering with the other—and watching, of course, in that mirror. “I’m taking an unusual line to avoid the puddles. Try to follow me.” How about if I just see you? I was half-blind in his plume of mist. My car’s stability control was on, but the car was wagging its tail anyway on the exit’s glistening wet curbs. You literally couldn’t…

Morning: The last time I walked through these doors, this was a functioning car factory. Now I feel like a tomb raider. An early ’90s keyboard and computer sit on a deserted desk, the plastic yellowed with age. Off to the left is the dramatic circular space that once housed a showroom, engineering office, and design studio over three levels. To the right is the dusty emptiness of the shop floor where skilled technicians once painstakingly hand-assembled the Bugatti EB110. I came to Campogalliano, near Modena, Italy, in 1992 to see Romano Artioli’s dream made real. Five years earlier the Italian businessman had secured the rights to the Bugatti name, and shortly after announced plans to build a modern mid-engine Bugatti supercar. But only 128 EB110s were ever produced, the…

My day began with an Uber ride to LAX in a pre-bailout Chrysler PT Cruiser that smelled like cigarettes and felt like its suspension consisted of cold hockey pucks. When I got off the plane in Washington, D.C., Cadillac shuttled me and three other journalists in the only Caddy suitable for the job: the Escalade. The big, black ballermobile had no trouble swallowing our luggage. I left the second row vacant and headed straight for the way back. Knee room was tight but acceptable, but it was hard to ignore that we were riding in a truck. The Escalade’s ride was somehow both stiff and wallowy, and the column-mounted shifter stalk is straight out of a Silverado. But it’s the only three-row in the Cadillac fleet. Or it was. The…

Launched back in 1994, the all-wheel-drive Audi RS 2 Avant could out-accelerate a contemporary Corvette or 911 and run to 163 mph on the autobahn. On the numbers alone, the new 2020 Audi RS 6 Avant—with 591 hp, a claimed 0–60 time of less than 3.6 seconds, and (if you order the Dynamic Plus package) a top speed of 190 mph—looks to be a worthy successor. The muscular 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 packs 40 more horses than the previous powerplant, along with 590 lb-ft of torque, an increase of 74 lb-ft. Audi says it will hit 124 mph in just 12 seconds. The 2020 RS 6 Avant is powerful and fast … and also a mild hybrid. A 48-volt belt alternator starter system harvests and stores up to 12 kW of…

The Type S Concept shown at Monterey Car Week solidifies Acura’s image as a performance brand. The Type S version of the second-generation TLX sedan gives us an idea of what we can expect from future Type S models: actual performance. The front end is styled with a sculpted hood that forms the top edge of the grille and a new interpretation of the Jewel Eye headlight setup, which is recessed slightly. In front and back you’ll see Acura’s new “Chicane” light signature. The four large round exhaust tips are a nod to the 2007 TL Type S. The Type S features a relatively long dash-to-axle ratio, which gives the appearance of rear-drive architecture. Acura didn’t give us any details on the drivetrain, but the production car won’t be rear-drive-based,…

TECHNOLOGUE Are you easily mesmerized by reruns of World’s Scariest Police Chases or compelled to click on YouTube chase videos? One such all-night binge session, ending with a video of a serious T-bone crash with a civilian, left Leonard Stock unable to sleep. Restless, he germinated the idea for a tool to help law enforcement officers end such chases more safely. His idea was a vehicular lasso to grab a perp’s vehicle by the tire. A roofing contractor by trade, Stock was naturally handy and a proficient welder, so he began prototyping the concept on his own vehicle. He quickly confirmed his theory that a moving vehicle’s spinning tire would indeed pull a loop of tow-strap material around itself if said strap could be forced into firm contact with it.…

My face hurts from smiling. My ears are ringing. My shoulders ache. Behind me, four Skittle-colored SUVs tick-tick-tick in the mountain air. Go ahead, hurl insults. Grocery getter. Mall crawler. Chelsea tractor. Family hauler. Too big. Too heavy. Too clumsy. Yet these stupidly powerful brutes—the 2020 Bentley Bentayga Speed, 2019 Jaguar F-Pace SVR, 2019 Lamborghini Urus, and 2019 Porsche Cayenne Turbo, boasting 2,358 horses and 2,360 lb-ft of torque combined—are the best-driving SUVs on the road. Heck, they are among the most fun vehicles I’ve driven this year, period. And one of them is going to earn its way into the crucible that is Best Driver’s Car. Each of these SUVs puts its power down through an eight-speed automatic and a grippy all-wheel-drive system. All offer levels of performance that…

I don’t know about you guys, but as one of the 80 percent of Americans who live in an urban area, I don’t want to see any of you when I go on vacation. Going from one crowded megacity to another to relax sounds pretty miserable. That’s probably why I like overlanding, essentially long-distance off-road travel. Unlike traditional off-roading, where you drive to a local trail or off-road park, clamber around on rocks or frolic in the mud for a few hours, and then head home, overlanding is as much about the journey as roaming off-pavement. It’s off-road adventure travel where you get to see areas of the world that are rarely if ever visited by humans, all while behind the wheel of capable four-wheel-drive vehicles. To quote Overland Journal,…

It was one of those bone-cold, muddy-sky, northern European days as a steady drizzle dampened Formula 1 qualifying, rooster tails blossoming behind all the cars. The 1984 European Grand Prix was being held at the just-opened “New Nürburgring,” and while the mechanics’ air guns sounded their dentist-drill shrieks, readying the cars for the next day’s race, Michelin gathered its drivers into a room for a meet and greet with the press. We slowly made our way clockwise around the room, chit-chatting and shaking hands. Eventually, I paused and looked down at a slim, young driver in an unzipped Toleman racing suit. He was so beat that he was slumped on the floor against a wall, staring across the room in either a daze or maybe a trance. I extended my…