Indholdsfortegnelse for July 1995 i MotorTrend

Here’s the first official look at the ’96 Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan, which has just gone on sale in Europe and will arrive in U.S. dealerships this fall. While retaining a number of styling cues from its W124 predecessor, the more aerodynamic W210 inherits the round headlamps and highly sculpted nose first seen on a styling study unveiled at the ’93 Geneva Motor Show. The ’96 E-Class also sports softer rear-B quarter contours set off by distinctive new taillamps. Cleaner aerodynamics (Cd is reported to be 0.27) and a 100-pound weight loss should help both performance and fuel economy. The new E-Class’ overall length is about two inches greater than that of the current car, with most of that enhanced dimension going to increase rear legroom. It’s also slightly wider inside…

CAMARO Z28 AGAIN TOPS WITH COPS The highly respected Michigan State Police (MSP) program to instrument-test and-rank regular-production police vehicles has again found that the 5.7-liter Chevrolet Camaro equipped with a four-speed automatic transmission is the fastest police car in the nation. The second-fastest pursuit piece is the same Z28-based offering with a six-speed manual gearbox. The MSP testing produced 0-60-mph times of 6.45 seconds for the autoshifted car and 6.58 seconds for the stick. They reached respective top speeds of 155 and 152 mph, and both cars topped 110 mph on the 0.39-mile test run (one of the program’s measuring criteria). In descending order of top speeds (with 0-60-mph times in parentheses), here’s how the rest of the field stacked up: Chevy Caprice 5.7-liter sedan, 135 (8.21); Ford Crown…

Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe Cadillac Seville Touring Sedan Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Chevrolet Corvette Honda Prelude VTEC Lexus SC 400 Mazda Millenia S Mazda RX-7 R2 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 Nissan 300ZX Turbo Nissan Maxima SE Pontiac Trans Am Saab 900 Turbo Toyota MR2 Turbo Toyota Supra Turbo Volvo 850 T-5R wagon We drive like maniacs—so you won’t have to—in 16 of the best performance values in America You’ve seen these things, no doubt: There you are driving along minding your own business, and a police radar trailer pops up. These unmanned sentinels can’t inflict any damage on your driving record, but they reveal your vulnerability with cold effectiveness, sort of like getting gutshot in a paint-ball war game. Had it been a real cop squeezing off bursts of microwaves in your…

Kia who? Don’t worry—if you haven’t already heard much about Korea’s second-largest automaker, you will soon. Although the company has only been selling its compact Sephia sedan throughout the West since last spring, it will have dealerships serving the Southeast by the end of the year, and distributors scattered nationwide by 1997. However, it’s the new compact sport/utility vehicle, the Sportage, that will really put Kia on the map. The Sportage was developed for the U.S. market, and apparently the company did its homework well—170 of the first 200 units available here were sold in the first seven days. In both ride comfort and general driveability, the Sportage is one of the most carlike SUVs we’ve driven, which belies its commendable off-pavement abilities. The first time we drove the Sportage…

It may sound like a backhanded compliment, but the best thing about the Eibach/MOMO-modified BMW M3 is that the changes didn’t screw up the car. Few sport coupes come from the factory as close to perfection as the M3, so fiddling with it invites disaster. Working together, Eibach Springs and MOMO U.S.A, have retained most of the intrinsic goodness of the M3, while adding more attitude and ability to the car. The talents of Eibach and MOMO apparently are complementary; Eibach’s suspension experience meshes with MOMO’s expertise in exhaust systems, wheels, and cosmetic upgrades. They aimed to explore how the latest E36 M3 responds to conservative enhancements without trashing the M-division character. Eibach and MOMO added five components: Eibach Pro-Kit springs ($349), an aluminum Eibach strut tower brace ($229), MOMO’s…

A QUALITY PERFORMANCE When the Celica Supra under-went its mitosis in 1982, the Celica and Supra became separate entities, and have since moved farther apart with each passing model generation. The rear-drive Supra has situated itself at the highest level of GT 2+2 proficiency, while the front-drive Celica, no longer Toyota’s sporting image machine, has moved progressively more mainstream; it’s now a sporty-looking car, not a true sports car. This market, Toyota product planners feel, is where the core buyers are. Demand for a hard-edged sport coupe isn’t strong enough to justify full-on pursuit. That’s why there are no high-performance Celicas in the current inventory; if you’re looking for a budget fire-breather, Toyota can’t help you. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for a stylish, fun-to-drive coupe or convertible,…

CURING DISCUS INTERRUPTUS Going on a long trip? JVC wants to keep you in the driver’s seat with its model XL-MG1800, or Mr. Large, an 18-disc CD changer that could conceivably play uninterrupted for 22 hours and 12 minutes (based on the standard CD capacity of 74 minutes). Mr. Large accepts three of JVC’s standard six-disc magazines and can be mounted horizontally or vertically. Not enough uninterrupted play time for you? That’s okay, because with KS-U11K expansion kits you can connect and control up to six of these big boys. Do the math and you’re up to 132 hours and 72 minutes, or five days, 13 hours, and 12 minutes. Clarion also has jumped into the long-play fray with its just-released CDC 1805, an 18-disc changer that uses three of…

DESOLATION ROW I thoroughly enjoyed “Destination Desolation” (May ’95), your comparison of the BMW 540i, Mercedes-Benz C36, Jaguar XJR, and Volvo 850 T-5R wagon. Wow! Zero-to-60 times in the low-to mid-sixes, top speeds of over 150 mph, and Z-rated tires on all but one. With “family sedans” like these, who needs sports cars? Dustin Nichols Boone, N.C. I enjoyed the comparison test of the 540i, C36, and XJR, but how could you include the Volvo 850 T-5R wagon and not the all-wheel-drive Audi S6? Audi will have a U.S.- market S6 wagon by this summer. One of the best reasons for selecting an Audi over a Volvo is that the Volvo looks like the box that the Audi came in. Keith Dolan Brooklyn, N.Y. The Audi S6 is a worthy…

GRAND AM GETS AGGRESSIVE Pontiac plans to add more impetus to its hot-selling Grand Am for ’96. Functional Ram Air hoodscoops will sprout forth on the GT edition. Side appliques are much more restrained, and the new taillamps are a stylish tricolor design. An under-over decklid spoiler provides a nice family tie-in trait. The base 2.3-liter Quad Four and optional 3.1-liter V-6 engines also are due for significant improvements in ’96. ’97 FORD F-SERIES TRUCKS SPIED Here’s the clearest look yet at Ford’s new F-150 pickup, set to debut in January 1996 as a ’97 model. Showing styling cues clearly reminiscent of the Explorer and the Ranger, the best-selling vehicle in Ford’s lineup sports rounder contours throughout with a generous greenhouse and dropaway front fenders to provide a better view…

Summer’s here! The final spring mud slide has dried up, flowers are blooming, lawn mowers are being tuned and sharpened, newspapers are carrying swimsuit ads, and on drugstore shelves from California to Maine, suntan lotion has replaced cold remedies. Yep, summer’s here. And with it, we once again turn our automotive thoughts to convertibles. A notion that seemed unthinkable just a few months ago is now starting to burn with a heating passion—we want to put the top down and drive! The good news is, modern convertibles are so civilized (with many using headliners, power tops, and electronically defrosted glass rear windows) that you really can consider them year-round cars. Better engineering means they’re more structurally sound than those old rattle-traps of our youth. Finally, there’s a huge range of…

ROAD TEST Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed; but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love and 500 years of democracy and peace. What did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” —Orson Welles as Harry Lime in “The Third Man” (1949) Italy at the tail end of the 20th century isn’t quite as corrupt as it was in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, but it still must be mightily screwed up. How else to explain the excellence of Ferrari’s F355 Berlinetta? Judging by Harry Lime’s observations, the F355 is the classic Italian car; it could have been sketched by Michelangelo and engineered by da Vinci—it represents Ferrari’s renaissance. If the F355 and its big…

Taurus SHO Engine Close Up Ford offered the first close look at the all-new ’96 Taurus SHO 3.4-liter DOHC 32-valve V-8 when the engine was shown on a stand at the New York Auto Show. As reported in our May issue, the SHO V-8 is a close relative of the 2.5-liter Duratec V-6 found in the Contour/Mystique. The all-aluminum block for the SHO engine will be cast using a Cosworth process at Ford’s Windsor, Ontario, casting plant, and then will be shipped to Yamaha in Japan for final machining and assembly. The completed engines will then be shipped to Ford’s Atlanta assembly plant for installation into the Taurus. This continues Ford’s SHO-production partnership with Yamaha, dating back to the debut of the current V-6-powered SHO in 1988. Sharing its 82.4-millimeter…

Base price …… $16,613 Price as tested …… $20,878 Body style …… Extended-cab pickup Engine size/type …… 4.3-liter V-6 Transmission/driveline configuration …… 4-speed auto./front engine, four-wheel drive 0-60 mph, sec 10.0 EPA mpg, city/highway …… 17/22 Total mileage …… 15,218 Test mileage …… 14,910 Fuel consumed, gal …… 899.1 Fuel cost …… $1174.58 Average mpg …… 16.6 Additional oil/cost …… None Routine maint …… $82.76 Additional maint …… None Previous maint …… $121.22 Problem areas …… None Total operating cost …… $1378.56 Operating cost/mile …… 9.3¢ Test mileage …… 14.910 ’94 GMC SONOMA SLS Driving the streets and highways of California in this GMC 4x4 attracts plenty of attention. Maybe it’s because of the raspberry exterior and gray, pink, and blue polka-dotted interior. Since its last update, our Sonoma has…

Street-rod fans rejoice: The Plymouth Prowler is a go program. Suppliers have signed on, tooling contracts have been drawn up, and development is well under way. (As the above spy photo reveals, test mules wore Jeep Wrangler overcoats last winter to keep their drivers cozy.) The throw-back two-seat convertible coupes should be on the road within two years. The Prowler is for all intents a Viper Jr.—born as a show car and brought to life by popular demand. It will be manufactured in moderate volumes at Chrysler’s New Mack mini-assembly plant in Detroit alongside Dodge’s V-machines. The Prowler’s mission is to help resuscitate a tired brand name by convincing buyers that Plymouth is a prime source of frugal fun. With a window sticker in the low-$30,000 range (before the inevitable…

The all-wheel-drive package that Volvo showed on an 850 Turbo Sportswagon concept vehicle at the ’95 Geneva Motor Show has been approved for production in Europe and is likely to find its way to U.S. models for ’97. Volvo has dubbed this new system “thinking” all-wheel drive, because it’s totally transparent in operation and can vary torque automatically—from a 95/5-percent to a 5/95-percent front/rear split—as needed. The new full-time all-wheeldrive package consists of the 850’s standard front-drive mechanicals—including Volvo’s TRACS traction-control system, a multilink rear axle derived from the 960 that features a locking differential, and a transfer case fitted with a “Viscodrive” viscous clutch assembly. The traction-control portion of the system is activated anytime wheelspin occurs at speeds under 25 mph. The package also incorporates a “freewheel” element that…

THE FIGHT TO DISCONNECT ELECTRIC VEHICLES This is a time of apparent schizophrenia in the electric-vehicle arena: Automakers tout their electric-vehicle advancements and display their latest developmental EVs, then in the same breath remind us that electrics are expensive, don’t perform to consumer expectations, and are generally an unwise idea. GM’s CEO, John Smith, recently said that Saturn would be the likely division to sell the company’s EVs. But when asked for clarification, GM sources back-pedaled, saying a decision to actually sell an electric vehicle hadn’t been made. Chrysler recently named Electrosource as the supplier of advanced lead-acid batteries for the NS-Electric minivan that it says will be sold in 1998. At the same time, company sources were quick to point out the van’s limitations. And Ford, outspoken in its…

CHEVROLET CORVETTE base price: $44,225 price as tested: $48,729 2-door, 2-passenger front engine, rear drive 5737cc OHV V-8 300 hp @ 5000 rpm 340 Ib-ft @ 4000 rpm 4-sp. auto. 96.2-in. wheelbase 3360-lb curb weight 5.7 sec, 0-60 mph 14.2 sec/98.4 mph, quarter mile 114 ft, 60-0, braking 0.92 g, skidpad 65.1-mph, 600-ft slalom 17 city/24 hwy, EPA If the Corvette roadster were any more macho, it would spit excess Y chromo-somes out its tailpipes and need a shave every morning. Make no mistake; this car announces its driver’s sexual availability better than an open 55-gallon drum of Aramis. That the Corvette remains desirable after 12 years in production (10 as a convertible) is a testament to its design. But its design is archaic in significant ways: It’s 178.5 inches…

ROAD TEST Okay, so you’ve finally arrived; midlife crisis is a thing of the past and a six-figure annual income is a thing of the present. You’re shopping for a new car that befits your station in life—preferably one marked “Made in the U.S.A.”—but you shudder at the thought of what the term “traditional luxury” implies when it comes to handling and performance. Well, here’s a pair of state-of-the-art American heavy cruisers that will help allay those fears. The Cadillac DeVille Concours, introduced for the ’94 model year, and the new-for-’95 Lincoln Continental have all the features one associates with the luxo genre, but also offer uncommon levels of dynamic competence. Spanning 209.7 inches bumper to bumper, with a 113.8-inch wheelbase, the 3985-pound Cadillac holds a slight edge in size…

ROAD TEST Here’s the bottom line: The recently released ’95% Toyota Tacoma V6—with a DOHC 24-valve engine, rack-and-pinion steering, and a double-wishbone, coil-spring front suspension—is arguably the most technologically sophisticated 4 pickup on the market. But what does that mean in the real world? That’s what we wanted to find: out, so we pitted it against the overall best-selling compact pickup in the U.S., the Ford Ranger. Toyota’s pickup is no slouch on the sales charts, either. In fact, it’s the top-selling import pickup, as well as the country’s overall best-selling compact 4x4 for the past 15 years straight. The Tacoma represents the first major redesign to Toyota’s compact pickup line since ’89 and is the first Toyota pickup in 19 years to carry a proper noun since the venerable…

In Europe, Hot Hatches get a lot of respect, and so do their drivers, but the real reward comes in the driving. Muscle-car performance is made possible in these cars by the technology tucked under the boxy sheetmetal, specifically developed for berserk European Group A World Championship Rally competition. Thus was born the Ford Cosworth RS: a production street car with the heart of a racer. Amazingly, the Ford Cosworth RS is for sale in America—street-legal in all 50 states. Imported and federalized by Sun International Racing in Manhattan Beach, California, the Cosworth RS you can buy is fresh from the Ford of Europe assembly line. Developed by Ford Motorsport and the Special Vehicle Engineering Department, the Cosworth RS is assembled to Ford’s normal durability standards and carries a limited…