Indholdsfortegnelse for April 1983 i MotorTrend

German engineers at Volkswagen wanted to know what would happen if an ordinary mortal Teached for the shifter on an autobahn at 100 mph and hit the hood release. Or squirted the windshield instead of lighting the headlights. Or missed the brake pedal. Putting controls in the best possible place to fit the driver to the car is a science called ergonomics. And in a high performance car like the Rabbit GTI, it's vitally important. Sit inside, you'll see what we mean. Our engineers designed a tach and speedometer you can read instantly. The GTI's steering wheel and column—in fact every VW's steering wheel and column—are designed around the length of your finger. The wheel is thick, but easy to hold. The horn, turn signals, wipers, and high beams are…

BUICK QUESTOR Shown first at the Detroit Auto Show, the Buick Questor 2-seater is an all-electronic idea car for the future from GM's electronic research and development car division in Flint. Its on-board tricks include: a laser key entry system; automatic level, attitude, and spoiler control; on-board navigation system; voice-actuated radiotelephone; traction monitoring system; TV rearview mirror; touch controls for entertainment and atmosphere systems; two electroluminescent screens; and 14 onboard microcomputers. Most information for normal driving is projected onto a head-up display screen, and most of the Questor's controls are contained in its huge steering wheel hub. Buick touts the Questor as the most thoroughly electronic vehicle ever built anywhere. Unfortunately, it has no drivetrain at all and cannot move under its own power, but it's fun to sit in.…

And backed for 5 years, 50,000 miles. Advanced technology creates a new American sports car. The 1983 Turismo 2.2 combines advanced front-wheel drive and rack-and-pinion steering for tight, secure cornering. Firebird and Camaro have old technology rear-wheel drive. Turismo 2.2 does 0-50 in just 5.8 seconds and computer directed technology assures you it won't be temperamental. $7303;' Turismo 2.2’s standard equipment would cost you a lot more on Camaro. Turismo 2.2 is one of the best-equipped American sports cars at its price; 5 speed stick, sports suspension, steel-belted radials, and more. Over $1000 extra cost on Camaro. The 2 2 liter enqine is an OHC Trans-4. This great engine gives you an amazing 45 est. hwy 121 EPA est. MPG. 5 years/50,000 miles protection and 11.9% financing. Every Turismo 2.2…

This is Starion. You've always hoped that somebody would build a sportscar like this one. And now Mitsubishi Motors has done it. Starion has a 2.6 liter, FCI fuel-injected turbocharged power-plant under the hood. Mitsubishi designed and built Station's turbocharger to give you blast in performance at about 2000 rpm. On the outside, Starion is one handsome machine with its slant nose and concealed drip channels. Its flush-surface body design cuts through the wind with a minimal 0.35 drag coefficient. And, Starion was built for the person with a passion for driving. This is a drivers car, with five-speed overdrive transmission and four-wheel power-assisted ventilated disc brakes. It's fully independent suspension with MacPherson struts in front give it road-anchoring ability and responsive handling. Station's independent rear suspension helps those tires…

Sophistication and refinement carry the day A couple of things happened this year in the competition for Motor Trend's Import Car of the Year award. The heavens opened up with meteorological madness that nearly extinguished the proceedings. We found ourselves playing cat and mouse and What’s My Line with the enforcers of order out on our Mountain Circuit. We all got punch-tired enough to (fleetingly) think about getting regular jobs. And nobody crashed the motor home. Clearly a banner year. In all the excitement, it seemed almost incidental that we also had before us the most sophisticated and refined collection of foreign mechanica ever. We stand in serious danger of overworking those words, sophisticated and refined. But they have emerged as the industry’s watchwords for 1983 and beyond. No one…

A NASCAR nose and a new engine breathe new life into the Monte Carlo There is only one reason for the existence of this new edition of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The SS version’s real mission is to provide the diehard Chevrolet racers in NASCAR with something that’s at least 15% better, aerodynamically speaking, than the old, standard Monte Carlo body shell that stacked up so many victories for so many seasons. Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, and A.J. Foyt, among others, are using the new body shells for the ’83 season largely because the stock drag number has been reduced from .445 for the standard car down to .375 with the new nose, chin spoiler* and deck spoiler package. But there are other attractions to explore. One is…

Saab adds a little fear and loathing to its tour testing program We hadn’t gone more than 10 kilometers from the center of the city when my Worst Fears seemed to be coalescing into chill reality. A guy in a baggy, ill-fitting olive drab uniform stepped out into the street idly waving a little sign that said, “Hold it right there, you imperialist Yankee fatcat, we have got you now, you bet’’—or words to that effect: The translation from Czechoslovakian, amplified by my adrenal glands, was my own. The sign bearer was thickset, with bloodshot eyes and a pouchy face highlighted by substantial networks of tiny red veins, like an aerial map of some alien world. He seemed to have filled all the time he saved not exercising with long…

What existing oil filter could be selected for automobiles of such valuable technological stature? Incredibly, many million-dollar experiments are guarded by a Motorcraft FL-1A filter-right off the shelf. Not that the individuals responsible for engineering these priceless motor cars aren’t absolute zealots when it comes to protecting them. Oil flow reaching up to nine gallons per minute and pressure surges twice that experienced during normal operation certainly require a filter engineered with optimum performance in mind. But the fact is, this Motorcraft filter is a technological wonder in its own right. Witness the FL-1A’s unique six-slot base, designed to better accommodate the increased oil flow rates of modern engines. Plus an exclusive filter design incorporating a pleated filter element blended with tough man-made fiber. A superior material which resists higher…

If you’re familiar with seeing Eagle NCT Radials on the world’s most expensive automobiles, it’s not because it’s the most expensive tire. Hardly. It’s because the Eagle NCT Radial offers a level of performance most other radials simply can’t touch. In major showroom stock races, where the competition pits street radial against street radial, Eagle NCT* has won the biggest race of all — the Nelson Ledges 24-Hour race — the past two seasons. And it’s been winning other major events on an almost weekly basis. Such success comes naturally to Eagle NCT because it’s a product of the same winning technology that’s made Goodyear a winner the world over. Eagle NCT’s tread pattern, for example, is derived from the same Goodyear racing rain tire that helped win the 1982…

With a suggested retail price of $4,899,* the new Honda Civic 1300 Hatchback is one of the lowest priced cars in America. But you’d never know it to look at it. The Civic 1300 looks beautiful inside and out. It has the quality features you’ve come to expect from a Honda. But one of the nicest things about this Honda is the kind of features you wouldn’t expect from a car in its price range. Like quality cut-pile carpeting throughout the passenger compartment and spacious cargo area. A remote-controlled mirror on the driver’s door. Rear quarter windows that actually open. Door window defrosters. And power-assisted brakes, which are self-adjusting, too. Of course, the Civic 1300 is more than just good-looking. It’s also beautiful to drive. It has Honda’s proven front-wheel…

Good mileage, even great mileage, is a given among economy cars today. Now it takes more than prowess in passing gas pumps. You have to be able to pass a few cars, too. And equally important, you have to look like a lot more than a ho-hum econobox while doing it. Enter Colt GTS, imported only for Dodge and Plymouth. With black matte accents all around, rakish spoiler, side-glass louvres, wide tires, GTS badges and racing stripes, this Colt looks the part of the F.U.N. machine it is. And under its hood, that lively MCA-Jet engine, with an extra air-intake valve in each cylinder, is rarin’ to go, teamed up with Colt’s exclusive Twin-Stick power train to give you extra driving guts in every gear, while still holding on to…

Every GM car and truck is designed with your safety in mind. Safety is a goal from the first sketches of a new car, through design models and prototypes, up to final production—and even beyond. Hundreds of our best engineers, test drivers, and mechanics are working full-time to help protect the driver and passengers. Leadership in safety testing. The GM safety team has developed most of the technology for crash testing and research in the industry. That includes an advanced anthropomorphic dummy, called Hybrid III, which helps increase our understanding of how much force a human body might be subjected to during a crash. For the design process, we developed a variety of computer modeling techniques to describe a car’s structure. Many of these techniques are as sophisticated as those…

The very first Porsche was an open car: the famed Ground No.1 car. Built by hand in the Carinthian village of Gmund. in southern Austria, and tested on the steep, grueling Katschberg Pass (5,382-ft elevation, 18% grade), it made its debut on June 8,1948. It was the prototype for the 356 series—including the Cabriolet, Speedster, Roadster, and Convertible models, which provided the pure optical and acoustical pleasures of open-air driving. The second Porsche was, and still is, the 911. Introduced in 1964, the 911 is forever young. (See Technical Paper No. 18.) It was first produced as a Coupe. And in 1967, the Coupe was joined by the Targa: an all new body design with a tightly-sealed, easily-detachable roof panel. Now both the 911SC Coupe and Targa are joined by…

“Uncannily quiet,” observes Road & Track magazine. “The ride is marvelous… and you eventually do reach the point where you almost ignore potholes, ruts, and dips of whatever size. “The [leather] seats, in historic Peugeot style, are virtual armchairs… and were acclaimed exuberantly by all who sat upon them.” The credit for such a high degree of comfort must go to the Peugeot shock absorbers, which contain four times as many valves as normal shock absorbers. And to seats which contain not one single jouncy, bouncy spring. The Peugeot brochure is crammed with 350 facts like these. Call l-800-447'2882 toll free anywhere in the continental U.S. for a free copy (and name of your nearest Peugeot dealer). And read why many observers think the Peugeot may well be undervalued in…

Car audio performance moves much furtherdown the road, with the new JensenR RE530 electronically tuned stereo cassette receiver. By continuously self-adjusting for signal quality, our Automatic Program Control makesexcellent reception oiboth local and distant signals passible. And coupled with our 4-element tuner and double balanced mixer, the RE530deliversthe best FM performance on the road. The RE530 is packed with other great features, too. Like auto reverse and tape search, Dolby" and Dynamic Noise Reduction" systems, and Jensen’s exclusive Flex-Fader™ circuitry that lets you use an external amp while still utilizing the RE530 internal amplifier. It’s simply the most complete package of top sound performance in car audio today. And maybe tomorrow. JENSEN CAR AUDIO When it’s the sound that moves you.…

5-SPEED, OVERHEAD CAM, FUEL INJECTION Here's a combination that could only mean one thing: pure driving fun! Check out the way the front-wheel drive takes you through the turns. The way the reclining front bucket seats hold you close. And the way the new standard 5-speed manual transmission with overdrive takes you from first to fantastic…in a hurry. To get you there with even more excitement, our sleek and sporty Pontiac 2000 is equipped with an overhead cam 4-cylinder engine with electronic fuel injection. And for responsive road handling, you get rack and pinion steering, MacPherson strut front suspension and semiindependent rear suspension. Some Pontiacs are equipped with engines produced by other GM divisions, subsidiaries, or affiliated companies worldwide. See your Pontiac dealer for details. PONTIAC WE BUILD EXCITEMENT…

What Could Be Better Than Unbelievable Range? By now, you’ve probably heard some tall sounding stories about how far away the ESCORT® radar warning receiver picks up radar traps. You know, the ones where they talk in miles instead of car lengths. The stories go on to say that ESCORT’S super heterodyne receiving circuits provide as much X and K-band warning as you can possibly use, and then some. If you’ve never used an ESCORT, they may seem pretty far fetched, but most of them are true. Over hills, around corners, and from behind. Car 54 Where Are You? Maximum detection range is wonderful, but it’s far from the whole story. In some ways, radar detectors are like smoke alarms; you want to make sure that you don’t miss anything,…

In an era when just about everyone seems to be touting front wheel drive as the greatest thing ever to come down the pike, there’s one thing you should know Virtually every car in the world today that’s famous for performance and handling uses rear wheel drive. Of course, a Ferrari or Formula I car may not exactly fit your family’s driving needs. So why not consider a Volvo Turbo? When it comes to handling and performance, you’ll find it leaves a lot of front wheel drive cars bringing up the rear. VOLVO A car you can believe in.…

In this case the G stands for Gonzo While few of us see ourselves as raging wackos, not many want to be thought of as faceless blobs, either. In each of us there is a need for individuality. It keeps the garment business going, it makes for variety in beer, and it most certainly supports the automotive aftermarket industry. From the tires a car rolls on, to more beans for more speed, to tape stripes for the sides and a sunroof for the top—if you want it the aftermarket has it. But be careful here. All this is wonderful for individuality; just make sure of what you want. The particular case in this particular point is this Mazda GLC Sport. It has been seriously, thoroughly massaged by Quickor, a firm…

An epitaph for Chapman I wish it were possible to start this by saying, “Look at this car, this paragon, this quintessence, this marvel of the race car builder’s art.” I can’t. It’s not. It wasn’t even a good car. In fact, by any objective standard by which race cars are judged, the Lotus 15 was a real turkey. It showed enormous promise, never delivered. I can find no record of the 15 ever winning a major race. Major races in those days were heroic events. They began with the 12 Hours of Sebring, went through the 24 Hours of Le Mans, The Mille Miglia, Targa Fldrio, Tourist Trophy, 1000 km of the Nurburgring. I might be tempted to add, “and races like that,” but there really weren’t any other…

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I regard my business as running Lotus Cars—that's what I live off, as it were. I don't have to do other things to continue racing, but if that was all I did then I wouldn't get enough satisfaction. In that case, my hobby would become my business and I'd need to get another hobby. The passing of a genius is always hard to accept. But when Colin Chapman died suddenly from an apparent heart attack last December 15, the motoring world lost one of its major creative forces. The dapper 54-year-old Englishman had guite literally reshaped the face of modern road and racing cars several times during his 30-year reign as the head of Lotus Cars. Chapman began his design career as an apprentice at DeHavilland aircraft, where he worked…

It can if it’s properly designed. For example, aerodynamics can help keep your engine cool, provide a quietness inside the cabin of the car and, more importantly, help make your car handle better. The tunnel can’t lie There are pretty cars, and aerodynamic cars. Cars that combine both qualities come out of the wind tunnel. There are some visual hints that will help you decide which cars combine both good looks and good aerodynamics. A few hints Are the side view mirrors tucked away out of the slip stream? Does the air dam extend well below the front bumper? Are the windshield, hood and front fenders raked back at a steep angle? When the engineers get it right, you have a car that slips down the highway quietly going about…

HELLO UNO, ARRIVEDERCI FIAT A funny thing happened as Fiat Auto was introducing its snappy new micro-mini hatchback to some 700 of the world's motoring journalists in Florida last January. While Italians, French, Brits, Japanese, Aussies, Brazilians, etc. considered the virtues of the all new Uno and listened to Fiat brass talk about the company's comeback plans, word leaked out that Fiat was getting set to further reduce its already anemic North American marketing effort. Although Fiat retrenchments have been coming around almost as regularly as the seasons since the U.S. failure of the Strada, this one appeared to be substantially different, since it will mean that henceforward there will be no new cars bearing Fiat badges sold in this country. The company's sports oars, the Spider 2000 and the…

We congratulate all the car makers who finally noticed that front wheel drive improves traction. We, however, introduced our front wheel drive cars over 13 years ago. And we just don^t think there's any substitute for experience. We use this experience to balance the factors — drive train, steering, weight distribution, suspension — which create superb road holding. Even around curves, in rain or snow. NUMBER ONE WHERE TRACTION IS CONCERN NUMBER ONE. The people of Maine, Idaho, Alaska, Vermont and West Virginia sure think a lot of our front wheel drive. Subaru is the #1 imported passenger car in those states States where good traction is essential. But if you want an extra measure of safety and traction, we suggest our wagon with "On Demand Four Wheel Drive." It…

Objective: Create the ultimate V-speed rated high-performance street radial. Solution: The Comp T/A The Comp T/A radial is the only street radial ever to beat pure racing tires at LeMans This achievement is a result of the Comp T/A radial's innovative design, which was refined on the track, where the Comp T/A is renowned for its exceptional performance. BF Goodrich The design of the Comp T/A includes this unique combination of advanced materials and technology: A. Computer-optimized tread offers outstanding handling and cornering. B. High-modulus bead fillers help give quick steering response and highspeed handling. C. Lightweight folded fiberglass belts and rayon carcass optimize high-speed performance. D. Dual compound tread provides excellent dry traction and durability. E. Transverse lateral grooves provide excellent wet traction. The Comp T/A radial is available…

On paper, it's a world-class sport sedan. On the Mother Lode Highway it’s a driving discovery. According to myth, the sport sedan is a European exclusive. Only in the shadow of the Alps, it goes, can metal be magically molded into that mysterious combination of world-class road manners. And even if a car meets all the measurable standards, the myth continues: that most important quality—the mystical Feel—is strictly a European secret. Well, humbug. There are no secrets, no myths, no magic. A sport sedan is engineering commitment, not mystery. Proof is the new Mazda 626. In it, engineers cut metallic excess with a vengeance. An advanced, overhead camshaft engine delivers smoothness, response and efficiency in its front-drive configuration. The exterior was carved by air blowing hard through a wind tunnel.…

The jury has returned and the votes have been tallied. Now the moment of reckoning is at hand When we announced our intentions of holding a reader poll to determine the ugliest cars produced during the postwar period, we really weren’t sure what kinds of responses it would draw. By our cutoff date, over 2000 ballots had been received. After sifting through the replies, we found that among the crop that emerged as front runners in the Bottom 10 competition, specific model year was far less significant an issue than the basic aesthetics involved. Of the votes cast for each of the top-five placing vehicles, the overwhelming majority of reader ballots cited “all years’’ as their only marginal comments. Besides stimulating the individual thought processes, we were gratified to learn…

This Toyota is a single purpose weapon. Built by a talented group of professionals at Dave Kent Racing, and now under development by Dan Gurney, it represents the absolute leading edge of the present technology, and is aimed squarely at being the dominant car in IMSA GTU racing for 1983. Outstanding pure race cars such as this one (and it’s as pure a racer as is possible within a production-based class) are works of art. They are sculptures in metal and fiberglass, and invoke varying degrees of admiration and slack-jawed silence whenever racers congregate. Inordinate amounts of energy and time are lavished on them during their embryonic stages and when the time comes for the first test, it is a solemn occasion. Today is such a time for this car.…

The Volkswagen flagship gets one more cylinder and a lot more push The recent fortunes of Volkswagen of America are pretty well known by now in both financial and automotive communities. For a variety of reasons, the small, inexpensive end of its product line simply isn’t doing well in the face of Japanese and domestic competition. So, for the last year and a half, the company has been concentrating a huge amount of effort in launching a whole new line of cars on the opposite end of the price/size scale, the Quantum series, known in European markets as the Santana. With a 100-in. wheelbase, base weight of 2500 lb, and sticker prices starting at just over $10,000, the Dasher-replacement Quantum series represents the largest, most luxurious, and most expensive cars…

The Baja. A strip of land below the California-Mexico border. It can go from an elevation of 6,000 feet all the way down to sea level at the drop of a sombrero. Its terrain is made up of jagged rocks, sand washes, a dry lake bed, tide pools, mud, silt beds, you name it. If you’re a snake or a lizard, it’s paradise. If you’re an automobile or truck, it’s hell. Yet it was on this God-forsaken strip of land that this year’s most newsworthy accomplishment in the world of trucking took place. The scene the annual Pernod/Score Baja 1000. The accomplishment the third place finish in the mini pick-up class of the absolutely unheralded entry of the Isuzu 4×4 pick-up. The only diesel entry in the entire race, and…

THE STOCK TRUCK WITH GUT5 EIIOUGH TO iini5H THE 15 nuniLKBLE THROUGH VOUR CHEUV DEULER NOW. On November 3,1982, a Chevy S-10 Pickup-right off the assembly line—challenged the famous Baja 1000. It’s the longest off-road event on the continent, running the length of the Mexican Baja peninsula. Over 985 miles of rocks, sand, dust and heat. A course so tough that even many specially equipped trucks did not finish. But the new-size S-10 4X4, with optional V6 engine, the revolutionary new Insta-Trac 4-wheel drive, and optional Off-Road Chassis Package, entered with no special equipment except for safety items required by the sponsor. In fact, it was the only totally stock truck to enter. And for 37 hours, the S-10 took everything the Baja could dish out. Like all entries, the…

Al Unser Jr.—Bound for Glory Back in the mid-1970s, a new generation of drivers began filtering into Indy Car and road racing circles. During the past seven years, two young North Americans have emerged as the dominant players among their respective peers: Rick Mears and the late Gilles Villeneuve. Today another young lion stands ready to fill their shoes. His name is A1 Unser Jr. And if his performances to date are any indication of his true potential, this 21-year-old second-generation racer could become the best of them all. Not surprisingly, young Unser started his career early. He began driving go-karts at the tender age of nine. By the ripe old age of 16, he’d moved into the powerful sprint car ranks and campaigned on dirt tracks through the 1980…