Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i MotorTrend

@markrechtin The 70.1% solution, or car love in the time of coronavirus It isn’t easy to find good news these days, but here’s something: Given the nature of the global pandemic and our government’s reaction to it, if you are reading this column, it means the U.S. Postal Service is still in business delivering magazines (a shout-out to Eric from the San Pedro post office). These are vexing days. As individuals, our No. 1 priority within a sprawling nation of 328 million is to stay safe. That’s the macro picture. On the micro side, here at MotorTrend it means delivering engaging and useful information to our readers while understanding that buying a new car is not necessarily atop your to-do list. To wit, as physical distancing continues to be the…

So long, spark plugs. Low-temperature plasma ignition may be the future. When you boil it down, improving average fuel economy is super simple: Burn less fuel in the cylinder when cruising. Toward that end, engine developers have toiled to make lean mixtures work since way before Chrysler’s Electronic Lean-Burn System of the mid-’70s. But getting such mixtures to ignite via the spark plug (as in engines since the Model T) has been problematic. Now Torrance, California, startup Transient Plasma Systems is proposing a low-temperature plasma ignition system that it claims can replace the spark plug. Here’s how traditional spark plugs work: Energy generated by a coil builds across the spark plug’s air gap until the energy potential ionizes gases in the gap. This causes the gases to become conductive, resulting…

Go ahead, splurge. Treat yourself to the best compact SUV in the showroom—just don’t let the hybrid badge surprise you. If that H word provokes associations of stodgy compromise-mobiles, consider this: The 2020 Honda CR-V and 2020 Toyota RAV4 hybrids offer engine upgrades that deliver more responsiveness and efficiency than almost any SUV under $40,000. Oh, and you’ll retain the interior space you expect while traveling more than 100 miles farther between fuel stops. The hybrid models of these segment-dominating rivals provide satisfying and guilt-free motoring. If you really are set on the best on the showroom floor, though, which of these two offers the best top-trim hybrid? The CR-V Touring or the RAV4 XSE? Most folks who buy hybrids prioritize gas mileage, so we’ll start there. The Toyota (along…

“So, whaddaya think?” senior features editor Jonny Lieberman asked with his arms folded, head tilted back and to the left, as Jonny does. He had just driven the 992-generation 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S to our photo location on Los Angeles’ favorite twisty bit, Angeles Crest Highway. He lives a few miles from the base of the hill, so he knows this stretch of road by heart. “Unreal! How did they do that? It’s a blend of what the 991.2 Turbo S was and a GT3 RS,” I said. “It’s sharp, delicate, precise, talkative, but fast, too. I wasn’t expecting this at all. This is a driver’s car.” “Yeah,” Jonny said. “This car should definitely be headed to our 2020 Best Driver’s Car.” What was I expecting? Before driving the…

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. It’s cold up here on the Raidillon, a biting wind whipping along the Kemmel Straight. The views back down the fearsome Eau Rouge, the most famous corner in modern Formula 1, are frosted with snow. My gaze drifts across to the 2020 McLaren GT—a long, low, luscious bullet designed to crush continents at warp speeds—and I wonder what Bruce would have thought of it. Bruce was right here 52 years ago, though he would have been too busy to be staring at cars, no matter how gorgeous. You see, on the afternoon of June 9, 1968, New Zealand–born Bruce Leslie McLaren was dancing his neat little orange McLaren M7A around the Spa-Francorchamps circuit en route to victory in the Belgian Grand Prix. Spa would be Bruce’s fourth grand…

THE RETURN OF THE VENZA TOYOTA’S KINDA-SORTA CROSSOVER MAKES A COMEBACK, AS A HYBRID Not quite a car, not quite an SUV, the Toyota Venza took its last test-drive in 2017, but it’s back for the 2021 model year with a much clearer mission statement. Think of it as the young-family hauler of Toyota’s crossovers, blurring the line between mainstream Toyota cars and Lexus luxury cars. With a wheelbase of 105.9 inches, an overall length of 186.6 inches, and a width of 73.0 inches, this five-seater (no third-row option, we hear) will dimensionally fit between a RAV4 and a Highlander in Toyota’s lineup. When we last drove the Venza, we wished Toyota would have pushed the envelope just a little bit more when it came to interior and exterior design,…

Jost Capito Jost Capito has accomplished an admirable list of successes in his 36-year career. The head of Volkswagen’s R performance brand spent his younger years racing motorcycles before attending the Technical University of Munich. With his competitive racing background and engineering degree, Capito’s talents afforded him opportunities to develop legendary road-going performance vehicles at companies such as BMW, Ford, and Porsche. He also took leading roles at factory-backed race outfits, such as the Sauber Formula 1 team and Volkswagen Motorsport division. We spoke with Capito, who shared his thoughts on his past, present, and future work. How has your motorsports background helped you develop road-going performance cars? I had my first enduro race on my 16th birthday. I got the driving license at 3 a.m., and I started racing…

The Ford Escape Hybrid arrived in 2004 and was the pioneer in a market packed with internal combustion engines, and in the years since, hybrid crossovers have grown increasingly popular. As electrified vehicles gained attention and governments imposed harsher regulations to cut CO2 emissions, new hybrid SUVs arrived. In recent years, some automakers have taken further steps in the electrified scenario, developing plug-in hybrid (PHEV) SUVs. The 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime and the 2020 Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid are the two newest mainstream PHEV compact crossovers, each offering more power and range than their regular hybrid variants. Here’s a look at some of their specs, including fuel economy, range, and recharging times. Powertrain Crackdown Toyota extended the “Prime” name to its most popular crossover, but unlike the Prius Prime, which…

Although the third-generation Toyota Supra (A70) was the first to incorporate a turbocharged engine, it was an inline-six setup, which the model was known for, bringing 230 hp and 246 lb-ft of torque—a true sports car for the mid-1980s. And the A80 Supra of the ’90s, with its JZ inline-six (with and without turbo) became the stuff of legend. Clearly, the Supra and an inline-six are inseparable. After a 21-year hiatus in the United States, the Toyota Supra returned with its fifth generation, offering polarizing styling, sensational but quirky drive manners, and a powerful l-6 engine sourced from BMW. But things have changed for the 2021 year model. For the first time ever, Toyota is breaking the protocol by offering a Supra with a four-cylinder turbo engine. Shattering a tradition…

The Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ is the fastest road car in the world, boasting a top speed of more than 300 mph. Lotus claims its forthcoming all-electric Evija will have 1,972 horsepower, making it the most powerful road car ever built. And the Czinger 21C, said to be able to sprint from 60 mph in under 1.9 seconds, promises to be the quickest hybrid road car in history. One-upping your well-heeled buddies is getting tougher by the day. Spending $1.7 million on an 804-hp mid-engine roadster that doesn’t have a windshield? That’ll get them talking. Enter the 2021 McLaren Elva. I’m sitting in the passenger seat, on a blustery winter day in the south of England, taking in triple-digit speeds with McLaren test driver Kenny Bräck. We’ve already given…

Everything seems to be changing by the hour as the global health crisis completely upends the way the world works, but while automakers are making face masks and ventilators today, the core of the business—designing and engineering cars to (someday) sell—continues apace. It may be happening in home offices, but these machines are just too complicated and important to completely shut down research and development and restart it later. Plus, suppliers have been contracted to make everything from shock absorbers to stamping dies—and they need to get paid. The cars on sale today and coming to a dealer near you in the next year have been in development for the past five to 10 years. The ones you’ll be able to buy a few years from now are already deep…

The 2021 Toyota GR Supra 3.0 is the car Toyota ought to have launched last year. There, I said it. If you’re one of the well-heeled among us who paid an excessive dealer markup on a 2020 Toyota GR Supra Launch Edition, well, sorry. Patience is a virtue and all that. The 2021 Supra 3.0 is more powerful, yes, but more important, it’s more rewarding and just plain better to drive both around town and on a good winding road than the debut model. Before we get too far into what changes Toyota made to the 2021 Supra and why they make it so much better to drive than the 2020 Supra, it’d be a worthwhile endeavor to look at what was wrong with the first year of fifth-generation Supras.…

The law of averages: Sooner or later you’ll make a mistake behind the wheel It’s the law of averages. Spend enough time driving cars at or near the limit, and sooner or later something will break. Or, more likely, you’ll make a mistake. And if you don’t end up rolling the thing into a ball of crumpled metal and crushed glass, chances are you’ll have one of those wake-and-wonder moments that will have you staring at the ceiling in the quiet hours. Trust me, I know. Flashback to late 1990, to the Honda R&D Proving Ground at Tochigi, 80 miles north of Tokyo, and an early media drive of the Acura NSX. On the serpentine handling track Honda’s first-ever mid-engine supercar was a revelation, from the smoothly responsive 3.0-liter V-6…