Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2020 i MotorTrend

Download the app! For less than the cost of one venti coffee, you can subscribe to the MotorTrend app and watch the brand-new season of Top Gear America, the amazing new live-drama NASCAR show All In, and tons of newly launched shows about cars and the automotive lifestyle. Plus there’s an all-you-can-eat buffet of the past 20-plus seasons of the notorious Top Gear and all the best of shows like Roadkill. Yes, this is an unabashed sales pitch. But I wouldn’t pitch it if I didn’t believe in it. The MotorTrend app allows you to watch all these shows on your iPhone, Android device, or iPad, or you can link your laptop to your TV with an HDMI cable, or you can also stream to your big-screen television via Amazon…

Mazda doesn’t try with the CX-30—it simply does. The brand’s newest small crossover, slotting between the CX-3 and CX-5, is as light on pretense as it is in back-road-carving ability. If the CX-30 looks like a lifted Mazda3 Hatchback, that’s because it essentially is. Based on the same architecture, the CX-30 rides 1.4 inches higher and stands about 5 inches taller than its hatchback counterpart, but it’s 2.6 inches more compact in length. Cargo volume measures 20.2 cubic feet behind the second row, just 0.1 more than the Mazda3 hatch. Oddly, it has 1.9 fewer cubes with the second row folded. Like the Mazda3, style is a CX-30 selling point. However, outward visibility is a drawback to those looks. The CX-30’s high beltline and large D-pillars conspire to make some…

I grew up surrounded by minivans. Whether it was the Chrysler Voyager or the two Ford Windstars we had in Mexico City in the late ’90s or the two Honda Odysseys and the Toyota Sienna my mom drove when we moved to Texas, our family sought spacious and comfortable family haulers. And we made good use of them. We spent countless weekends and holidays driving from Mexico City to Acapulco and Cuernavaca. We’d drive from Houston to Mexico City during the summers, went to New Mexico for a ski trip, and visited all of Texas’ major cities several times. A big family like ours needed a vehicle with plenty of space for six and their gear, and back then, a minivan was the only option. Space, safety, and reliability were…

In 2004, Elon Musk—his pockets full of PayPal profits—walked into the offices of AC Propulsion in the L.A. suburb of San Dimas with some questions. Among them was whether they’d convert his Porsche 911 Turbo into an electric car. He was willing to pay a pretty penny (reportedly $250,000) for it. But Alan Cocconi, AC’s live-wire founder, said sorry, no thanks. So Tom Gage, Cocconi’s (likely bewildered) business partner, referred Musk to a promising EV startup they both knew of. And that, kids, is (approximately) where the Tesla saga began. Would Tesla exist today if Elon had simply gotten his damn electric 911 from Cocconi? Now Elon can finally drive an electric Porsche Turbo S, and at a billionaire’s-bargain price of $186,350. (Our tester rings up at $205,360.) But it…

It’s called the California Double: surf and snowboard in the same day. But what if we could make it the California Trifecta and throw in a great drive, too? Let’s make it a challenge, even, and do it in a California-approved electric sports car, the Porsche Taycan Turbo S. The Double is every Silicon Beach early retiree’s dream: Surf at dawn at El Porto then swing by the house in Manhattan Beach and exchange the surfboard and wetsuit for the snowboard and beanie. Dried and ready, zip up the interstate to the bottom of Angeles Crest Highway. From there, it’s 33 miles of glorious mountain road to the base of the lifts. Total distance from the beach: 66 miles. From beach house to surf break, it’s 5.5 miles, so by…

I believe I can be forgiven for my negative preconceived notions going into this drive. See, at our annual Car of the Year brouhaha, we drove the non-V version of the CT5. We did not like it. It was one of the first cars we culled, and one that led to almost every judge muttering a version of, “What is Cadillac thinking?” It’s not like we’re Cadillac haters, either. When the CTS—one of the cars the CT5 replaces—was new in 2014, we named it our Car of the Year. But when it came to the CT5, among the many things we dinged it for were its “overworked turbo-four engine” and “lackluster driving dynamics.” Surely the upcoming V version would be the CT5’s savior? We could be forgiven for thinking, “No.”…

With NASCAR All In: Battle for Daytona now streaming exclusively on the MotorTrend app, there’s no better way to get behind the scenes with Cup Series drivers and teams as they prepared for the biggest race of the year, the season-opening Daytona 500. Right out of the gate, All In jumps into the lives of three Cup drivers, their teams, and their families. Narrated by Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons, the first episode’s opening scene occurs just 30 days prior to Daytona. You’ll meet Richard Childress Racing scion Austin Dillon, who explains the heavy expectations on his shoulders as he seeks to push the team founded by his grandfather, Richard Childress, back to the front of the Cup Series field. Despite his victory in the 2018 Daytona 500, Dillon also acknowledges the…

The 2021 Seltos represents the fifth member of Kia’s SUV family and will slot between the Soul and Sportage. It offers a more conventional crossover design than the Soul, but it stays on the larger end of the subcompact SUV range. Familiar engines are employed: a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 146 hp and 132 lb-ft of torque and a 1.6-liter turbo that’s good for 175 hp and 195 lb-ft. The naturally aspirated engine is coupled to a CVT; the turbo gets a seven-speed dual-clutch. What’s odd is the structure of the trims, as there are two base models—one with less equipment and standard all-wheel drive and another with more features and front-drive, but both can be upgraded. The first thing I noticed is how well the steering was weighted on the…

Many things have changed for the F-Type R, chief among them rear suspension components. You can think of it as a mashup of things gleaned from the previous SVR version and Jag’s skunkworksy Project 8. The engine in the new R is the SVR version of Jag’s thunderous V-8: 575 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. The transmission is the same ZF eight-speed automatic, now using the same shift logic as the Project 8. The obvious squinty headlights, slightly revamped sills, a new side vent, and a reshaped rear bumper are about the extent of the exterior changes. Inside, the big news is a 12.3-inch TFT screen that replaces the lovely, deeply binnacled analog gauges from the old car. Another big change for 2021 is the “more rounded, more mature”…

In 2019, it was the Chevrolet Corvette that we were desperate to see, and the wait seemed interminable. This year it’s the opposite end of the vehicular spectrum that had us transfixed: The big daddy of bling, the 2021 Cadillac Escalade, had us waiting, wondering, worrying it might not live up to the hype. The fifth-generation Escalade, on sale this summer, has the future of the franchise riding on its upsized 22-inch wheels. It’s not easy styling a massive SUV, but Cadillac has continued its “Y” branding strategy, where it offers both a luxury and a sport variant for each nameplate. The Luxury models have the expected chrome and other bright bits, but the bling factor has actually been dialed back, and the result is a more sophisticated look for…

Porsche encounters bad press about as often as the Dalai Lama does. About the roughest things ever get is looking too lucky after winning Le Mans (for the 19th time) in 2017. So when the EPA released battery range numbers for the 2020 Taycan—201 miles for the Turbo and 192 for the Turbo S—it was Porsche’s engineering equivalent of the Titanic hitting the iceberg. Naturally, the Tesla community gloated. The Taycan appears to be Europe’s EV strike three after Jaguar and Audi swung and missed with the I-Pace’s (optimistic) 234 miles and the E-Tron’s 204. Meanwhile, the Model S Long Range Plus carries a claimed 390-mile range—nearly double the miles. So what happens when a third party—say, MotorTrend—goes outside the EPA’s test cycle and performs its own instrumented range test…

As a child in Mexico City, I grew up surrounded by VW Beetles and Nissan Tsurus blaring a brunette Shakira’s early work. Whether iconic green-painted taxis or privately owned cars, those two models played a big role in the lives of Mexican families. And like with the budding Latin pop star, few in the U.S. even knew they existed. Back then, the Mexican car market wasn’t known for cool cars. But over the past two decades, as new automakers have entered the country and participated in its vibrant economy by building assembly plants, youthful and distinct vehicles have begun to populate the streets. I’m not talking about cheap, small cars, either, but fun, inspiring, thrilling enthusiast models. Today, the Mexican market is full of surprises. From the 290-hp Seat León…

2021 Jeep Gladiator Mojave Wearing a new “Desert Rated” badge, the Gladiator Mojave trades “Trail Rated” rock crawling chops for Ford Raptor–like desert running skills. The 2.5-inch Fox remote reservoir shocks and exclusive hydraulic jounce bumpers cushion whoops and bumps, and 33-inch Falken Wildpeak all-terrain tires provide grip in sand. Dana 44 axles (with an electronic rear locker) get 4.10 gears, which, along with the new transfer case’s 2.72 low range, allow it to hit 50 mph in four low. 2021 Mercedes-Benz Weekender The factory-built camper van returns, this time as a Mercedes-Benz Metris upfitted by Driverge Vehicle Innovations to create a pop-up camper for up to four people. The rear bench seat folds flat for sleeping, the front seats swivel 180 degrees for hanging out, there’s a pop-up table,…

Like GTS versions of other Porsche models, the Cayman GTS is a cleverly concocted mix of performance-enhancing hardware and value-added standard equipment wrapped in signature black-themed visuals. But what has everyone talking is one thing only—the engine. It displaces 4.0 liters. It has six cylinders. And there’s not a turbo to be found. Hallelujah! The Cayman GTS is powered by what is essentially a bored and stroked 992-series engine, minus the turbochargers. Peak power is 394 hp at 7,000 rpm, with peak torque of 309 lb-ft available between 5,000 and 6,500 rpm. There’s more to the Cayman GTS than the spec sheet suggests. The 4.0-liter naturally aspirated engine gives the GTS a deliciously nuanced top-end fluency the turbo-powered Caymans simply can’t match. Redlined at 7,800 rpm, it doesn’t have the…

Responses of the Year Whoa! The January issue just arrived, and it’s a keeper. Lots of info, photos, and opinions to pore over, again and again. For a guy who prefers the traditional print magazine format, the staff at MT has produced, in my opinion, one of the finest issues available to a fan of, shall we say, spirited driving. Dave Holmes South Hill, Washington Congratulations to Mr. Loh and the entire COTY team on what is perhaps the best issue of MotorTrend that I have ever read. I actually read the entire issue cover to cover because I could not put it down. Keep up the great work, Mr. Loh. You deserve an attaboy. Stephen Shechtel via email In his profile of the sixth-generation 2020 Subaru Outback as a…

It’s Really Three Screens The Escalade’s 38 inches of display space gives you a lot to work with. Starting from the far left, there’s a 7.2-inch driver control touchscreen. Centered behind the steering wheel is a 14.2-inch cluster display screen. Then to the right of that is a 16.9-inch infotainment touchscreen (also manipulated by a rotary controller). High and Wide The broad horizontal format and high placement of the three screens on the dash keeps the driver’s attention up closer to the windshield, and the bright, high-contrast OLED technology means no sunshades are needed. The thin-film technology allows a leather-wrapped binnacle with a backlit Cadillac crest on the back that’s visible through the windshield. Four Cluster Display Modes The bottom left edge of the screen is permanently devoted to a…

It isn’t often we set records at the dragstrip, but we did when we tested the all-electric all-wheel-drive 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo S. By a mere 0.04 second, it became the quickest (in time) and fastest (in speed) battery-powered electric vehicle in MotorTrend’s history of testing. In the process, it became the third-quickest Porsche and 12th-quickest of any vehicle from MotorTrend’s decades of quarter-mile instrumented testing of production cars. It even bumped a (991.2) 911 Turbo S down a notch. How quick and how fast? Setting Up the Taycan The Taycan’s 94-kW-hr lithium-ion battery pack must be at least 75 percent charged, and its temperature should read at least 80 degrees F in the instrument panel. Selecting the Sport Plus drive mode ensures launch mode is available, which ups the…

As much as we hope the average consumer, upon stepping into a rear-drive car for the first time, will experience an epiphany regarding the thrill of properly tuned vehicle dynamics, it’s a fantasy. A decade ago, then-BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer told us 80 percent of 1 Series owners believed their cars were front-wheel drive. He pitched it as a good thing, seeing an easy path to introducing front-drive products in the future. Well, here we are: the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe. Specifically, the 2020 BMW M235i xDrive Gran Coupe. The xDrive component of that long name is critical, as every 2 Series Gran Coupe shipped to the U.S., be it an entry 228i or this sporty M-improved car, will be all-wheel drive. Primarily, though, the transversely mounted engine will…

Daimler may have invented the automobile, and Ford may have invented the automobile factory, but General Motors invented the modern automobile company. When GM was founded in 1908, there were 253 automakers in the United States, all with entrepreneurs and engineers, dollar-men and dreamers, vying to make their fortunes with a technology that was going to change the world. Henry Ford was the Bill Gates of the era, quick to grasp the potential of democratizing automobility. But GM’s Alfred Sloan was in many ways the era’s Steve Jobs, intuitively understanding that adding form to function made the automobile more than mere transport, that it could transform need into desire. GM didn’t just pioneer the automotive design studio. It also pioneered the electric self-starter and automatic transmission, two innovations that helped…