Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2016 i MotorTrend

Mille Mio Dio The Ultimate Car Guy Rite of Passage Blows My Little Mind “Was it fun?” More than any other, that’s been the question I’ve been asked most since returning from the 2016 running of the Mille Miglia. Was it fun? Well, I think sitting around with your friends drinking beer qualifies as fun. The Mille is something I’m still wrapping my head around. If you’re not familiar, the Mille Miglia is a rally that takes figure eights around Italy for four days and 1,000 miles. That’s what Mille Miglia means: 1,000 miles. The starting line is up north in Brescia—if Milan’s New York, Brescia is Philly—then runs down to Rome and back up again, finishing on the street where you started. Along the way, approximately 90 billion cheering,…

WRITE US AT 831 S. Douglas St. El Segundo, CA 90245 Email us online at motortrend.com or send an email direct to motortrend@motortrend.com Hard Science Prior to becoming a licensed architect, I spent two years in the ’70s as a marketing and engineering consultant with a construction equipment import company. They had an exclusive import agreement with a Swedish company called Tremix, which was the primary manufacturer of “vacuum dewatering equipment” commonly used throughout Scandinavia and much of Europe. This equipment was developed specifically to reduce the water-cement ratio primarily in concrete flatwork for agricultural, commercial, industrial, bridge, highway, and airport runway applications. The Swedes were at that time using the technique almost exclusively on their concrete flatwork. It was well understood that the key to achieving a super…

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Edward Loh @EdLoh International Bureau Chief Angus MacKenzie @Angus_Mack Senior Features Editor Jason Cammisa @jasoncammisa Senior Features Editor Jonny Lieberman @MT_Loverman Detroit Editor Alisa Priddle @alisapriddle European Editor Paul Horrell Associate Editor Scott Evans @MT_Evans Associate Editor Christian Seabaugh @C_Seabaugh Manager, Visual Assets Brian Vance @BrianNVance Photography Asset Editor William Walker @MT_dubdub Associate Photo Editor Robin Trajano Managing Editor Rusty Kurtz Senior Copy Editor Kathleen Clonts Copy Editor Jesse Bishop @thejessebishop Copy Editor Kara Snow Technical Technical Director Frank Markus @MT_Markus Testing Director Kim Reynolds @MT_Reynolds Road Test Editor Chris Walton Associate Road Test Editor Benson Kong Art Creative Director Alan Muir Managing Art Director Mike Royer @MT_Royer Senior Art Director Andy Mock Manufacturing Operations VP, Manufacturing Operations Greg Parnell Archivist Thomas Voehringer Contributors Correspondents John Carey, Mike…

Mercedes-AMG GT R Nicknamed the Beast of the Green Hell and developed on the Nürburgring, the Mercedes-AMG GT R packs a boatload more power from the familiar twinturbo, 4.0-liter V-8 used on standard GT models. It produces 577 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque, up from the 503 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque of our Best Driver’s Car in 2015. Backed by a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, the rear-wheel-drive car hits 60 mph in an estimated 3.5 seconds, although that number is conservative considering we’ve tested an AMG GT S at 3.2 seconds. The GT R uses aluminum alloys for the chassis and body, magnesium for the hood, and steel for the trunklid. Carbon fiber comprises the front fenders, roof, and torque tube between the engine and transmission. All in…

Humanizing Cars to make them ride and handle better Mazda always talks about developing vehicles with Jinba Ittai—“horse and rider as one.” Recently the company disclosed that it accomplishes this in part by studying the way humans move and engineering vehicles that mimic or facilitate such movements. Two terms that emerged from this research caught my ear: minimum jerk theory and equilibrioception. “Jerk” is the rate of change of acceleration, and apparently when we move objects or ourselves, we naturally minimize jerk. Equilibrioception is our ability to experience and maintain physical balance, which we endeavor to do while holding our heads upright. When we walk or run, our view of the world is smooth and level, meaning our brains steady cam out the sinusoidal up-anddown and side-to-side motions our heads…

SAYING GOODBYE TO THE ECONOBOX, EMBRACING THE NEW MIDSIZE COMPACTS Sixteen years ago, when I wrote “Commuter Combat,” comparing the Civic, Corolla, and Sentra, these were considered economy cars that people bought mostly for budgetary concerns. The consolation cars, as some called them, were low-cost, low-feature, and high-fuel-economy A-to-B transportation and little else. Passenger-side front airbags were optional. Cassette players were standard Surely, what shoppers pay at the dealership and at the pump are still valid concerns, but heated leather seats, rearview cameras, rear cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitors, lane keeping assist, forward collision alert (with automatic braking), adaptive cruise control, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB jacks, and Apple CarPlay are becoming common, and many of the newer compacts here have many of these newer features despite our $25,000 target price ceiling. Safety…

ARRIVAL 2016 Volvo XC90 T6 AWD Alisa Priddle “There’s no denying the simple beauty within. Pretty Zen; relaxing, like a cleansing burst of steam from hot rocks in a wood-fired sauna.” @alisapriddle EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 20/25/22 MPG BASE PRICE $56,395 PRICE AS TESTED $69,625 I am one of the last automotive journalists on the planet to spend time in the Volvo XC90, which has a cargo hold full of awards, including Motor Trend SUV of the Year. So I was thrilled to welcome the 2016 Volvo XC90 T6 AWD Inscription to Detroit’s #MTGarage, where everyone in the Royal Oak office wants time behind the wheel as it spends the next year under my care. Needless to say, my expectations were high. Add to that a bit of personal…

Lamborghini Centenario When Lamborghini’s head of R & D—the always-smiling Maurizio Reggiani— personally invites you to drive his new $2.4 million supercar, you jump on the next airplane bound for Italy. That’s how I found myself behind the wheel of the “0 di 20” Centenario LP 770-4 development car. Lamborghini is building 40 production Centenarios total—20 coupes and 20 convertibles. The hard tops sticker for about $2.2 million, whereas the roadsters are a bit dearer at $2.4 million. Isn’t this car here the “cheaper” coupe? Indeed, but to get the Centenario in unpainted carbon fiber will cost you an extra $200,000. Don’t think that’s a good use of your hard-earned money? Don’t worry about it. All 40 have been sold. Sold before anyone had driven them. Remarkably, Lamborghini sold 30…

Newcomers 2017 Mercedes-Benz GLC300 Coupe The new Mercedes-Benz GLC300 Coupe, despite being 3.0 inches longer and 1.4 inches lower overall, shares the same 113.1-inch wheelbase and the same front and rear track as the regular GLC300. It’s powered by the same 2.0-liter I-4 turbo with 241 hp at 5,500 rpm and 273 lb-ft of torque from 1,300 rpm to 4,000 rpm driving through the same ninespeed automatic transmission. Minor tweaks to suspension and steering calibrations give the Coupe a slightly sportier demeanor on the road. It’s more nimble and buttoned-down, competent but no sports car. And most GLC300 Coupe buyers won’t care. This car is all about image, not practicality or performance, and it will do its best work not on the Nürburgring but at valet parking stands in Los…

JAGUAR F-PACE PAGE 96 The Market Is Bursting With Options. Words Stefan Ogbac, Zach Gale, and Austin Lott KEY 5M five-speed manual 6A/8A six/eight-speed auto 6-sp auto-cl man six-speed auto-clutch manual 7-sp twin-cl auto seven-speed twinclutch automatic FWD front-wheel drive AWD On-road-oriented all-wheel drive / RWD rearwheel drive / 4WD Off-roadoriented four-wheel drive NHTSA and IIHS safety data derived from 2015 or 2016 model ratings 2017 EPA ratings are more stringent than before, so a car with no mechanical changes from 2016 may still get a slightly different rating for 2017. IntelliChoice five-year retained value data may apply to common vehicle variants, not an average of all model variants. ALL-NEW New inside and out, possible powertrain changes MAJOR Mid-cycle change updates, minor powertrain changes MINOR Special editions, significant new features…

Roland Krüger has skied to the South Pole. Twice. The second time, solo. Spending 55 days on skis, tackling an unrelenting uphill slog from sea level to more than 9,000 feet across the vast, white, empty underbelly of the planet, is something that requires gritty determination, stoic self-reliance, and unwavering self-belief. Which probably makes Roland Krüger well-suited to being the man now running Infiniti. Infiniti started life in 1985 as Project Horizon, a task force set up inside Nissan to create a new luxury performance brand for the U.S. market. The Infiniti brand was announced in 1987, and its first car, the Q45 sedan, was launched in 1989. The Q45 was equally as sophisticated and well-built as the Lexus LS 400 that was launched the same year, and it was…