Indholdsfortegnelse for January 1998 i MotorTrend

Who says Germans don’t have a sense of humor? Although the decklids of the newest versions of BMW’s 3 Series coupe and convertible wear badges that say “323is” and “323i,” the actual displacement of the new DOHC inline six found in each is 2.5 liters. We recently spent a day with this pair on mountain backroads in upstate New York and were impressed with their accelerative capabilities and comer-carving prowess. While the 1.9-liter four (for the remainder of model year ’98, continuing on only in the 318i sedan and price-leader 318ti hatch models) provided adequate acceleration from its 138 horsepower and 133 poundfeet of torque, this new six ups the output ante by a heady 30 horses and 48 pound-feet of twist. BMW claims that extra grunt will sling the…

FIRST DRIVES: By the third lap in the new Mercury Grand Marquis, the guardrail in the high-banked turn at the far end of Ford’s Dearborn Proving Ground was wiggling by in a blue blur at 105 mph. Then we pulled into the pit. to switch into a ’98 Ford Crown Victoria with the thicker antiroll bars and higher-rate springs—and went faster still. Utter the names “Crown Vic” or “Grand Marquis” in a crowd of driving enthusiasts, and unless you’re offering them as stalwart V-8-engined tow vehicles, somebody’s likely to pop a fever thermometer between your lips. These traditional sedans, while recognized as paragons of rolling quiet and ride smoothness, have also been known for what could be politely described as vague steering, longish stopping distances, and imprecise handling. So how…

MOTOR TREND online www.motortrend.com The most complete automotive magazine Web site continues to expand and diversify exponentially. Our latest addition to Motor Trend Online is a user-friendly chat area, complete with several topic rooms to allow enthusiasts to trade information and quips in real-time. Editors occasionally get involved in the online electronic banter, so check in regularly. Assistant Managing Editor Brandy Schaffels offers a look at the new television show “Team Knight Rider” and its Ford-driving crime fighting team as this month’s Exclusive Editorial. In a few short weeks, we’ll be announcing the winner of Motor Trend’s ’98 Import Car of the Year award. Follow the countdown online to this momentous occasion, concluding with the story and pictures being posted. While at our site, click into Multimedia and grab a…

The first sentence from the initial press release reads, “With the all-new 1998 Volkswagen Passat hitting showrooms this fall, the tranquil midsized family car market in North America is about to get a loud wake-up call from Germany.” This should give you an idea of how serious VW is about making its presence felt in the far-from-”tranquil” midsize car market—the best-selling Honda Accord, the highly respected Toyota Camry, and the most recent challenger, the Chevrolet Malibu, are all under fire. It’s the market where sales volume not only wins the top-dog bragging rights and generates all-important brand visibility, but also pays the bills and keeps a company afloat. Volkswagen owners are among the most loyal in the community, but these aren’t the only people VW is targeting with the new-for-’98…

We often talk about the importance of protecting your vehicle’s finish from the slow, ravaging effects of such environmental elements as sunlight, smog, acid rain, bird droppings, insect splats, tree sap, accumulated dirt and dust, and windblown sand. While keeping a good wax or paint protectant on the finish is always recommended, the best protection of all, of course, is to shield it entirely from these conditions. Garaging your vehicle when it’s not being used is ideal, but not everyone has this luxury. The next best line of defense is a good car cover (which many enthusiasts use even when a vehicle is garaged, to keep the finish immaculate). A cover not only protects the finish from environmental elements, but also keeps UV radiation from deteriorating interior vinyl and upholstery,…

Every year the Neiman-Marcus department store puts out its legendary Christmas “Wish Book,” overstuffed with the sorts of extravagances only people with mountainous piles of currency can own. From diamond-encrusted foosball tables to solid-gold Scrabble boards, if it can be dreamed up, it’s likely to have appeared at Neiman-Marcus. Starring in the 1997 “Wish Book,” is the product of a conspiracy hatched between the department store, the electronics giant Sony, and GMC. It’s a conspiracy founded on 100 Sony Limited Edition GMC Suburbans, each dressed in a flurry of electronic wizardry, lavish interior trim, custom bodywork, and specially formulated Pewter Metallic paint. Based on a half-ton, 1500-series four-wheel-drive Suburban, the Sony Limited is powered by the familiar 5.7-liter/255-horsepower, Vortec V-8. To that, GMC adds heated highback leather seats with the…

Spanning the globe to bring you the very latest in bedliner innovation, Truck Trends has uncovered yet another variation in pickup cargo area coverage: Wise Industries’ BedRug Soft Bedliner. The BedRug is made of rugged marine-grade carpeting bonded to a waterproof foam that’s been molded to fit a particular truck’s bed ribs. According to the company, the BedRug won’t retain moisture nor will it, as a hardliner may, scratch paint. In addition, cargo is unlikely to slide on the BedRug’s carpet surface. It also makes a pretty good surface upon which to practice putting golf balls (though that’s not recommended while the truck is in motion). BedRug prices start at $359. BedRugs ship in four main pieces: a main rug, two side rugs, and a tailgate end cap. Zippers mate…

Contrary to rumors, the term “Speedweeks” didn’t evolve from the practice of Daytona Beach motels requiring multinight stays during action at Daytona International Speedway. The innkeepers’ policies, though, have certainly helped propagate the concept. By both choice and motel mandate, 100,000 or so fans will descend upon the beachside Florida town for an orgy of race action beginning with the Feb. 8 Bud Shootout, with many staying through to Feb. 15 for the 40th annual Daytona 500. If you don’t have tickets to this year’s Daytona 500—and you’re not willing to pay a scalper’s premium—you’re going to watch the race on CBS. However, 18,000 new backstraight seats mean there likely will be tickets available for support events like the Feb. 14 NAPA Auto Parts 300, and the Feb. 12 Gatorade…

If you’re still mourning the recent loss of the high-powered C36 and E50 luxo-sedans, take heart: Mercedes-Benz has just released their overachieving replacements, both packing high-output variations of the firm’s new modular V-8 engine and appropriately upgraded by performance partner AMG. First to make its appearance in the U.S. will be the C43 AMG, due in April. This ultimate C-Class is motivated by a properly tweaked version of the SOHC three-valve/twin-plug 4.3-liter, complete with special cams and freer-flowing intake plumbing. The changes boost output from the standard 275 horsepower to 301 and bounces maximum torque from 296 pound-feet to 303. Backing this is a five-speed automatic transmission that’s also been massaged for quicker, more positive response. Mercedes claims the matchup has sufficient punch to let the C43 zip 0-60 mph…

Captured while traveling incognito during hot-weather development testing, this next-generation Cadillac DeVille still manages to display several new styling cues. The entire roof and greenhouse are much less upright and formal than on the current car. And from certain angles, this new Caddy puts us in mind of the current Infiniti Q45 sedan. It would appear Cadillac designers sought a more youthfull profile with the upcoming DeVille (and its DeVille Con-cours comrade in sheetmetal). Both front and rear glass have a shallower rake while relatively wide tires on light-alloy wheels bespeak a younger, more aggressive flavor. Despite these more modem influences, the grille remains nearly vertical and quite traditionally Cadillac in appearance. Actually, the DeVille’s most impressive feature Ees behind that formal facade. It’s the Northstar 4.6-liter/300-horsepower DOHC V-8 that…

There’s another great lineup of tests, comparisons, and features heading your way this month on Motor Trend Television. So join us every weekend on TNN (The Nashville Network) for the hottest half-hour on the air today. Check your local listings for showtimes. December 6/7: Full coverage of MT’s ’98 Car of the Year December 13/14: Performance Raid ’98—We drive the hottest new runners in Jon Moss’ Chevy toy box • Chevrolet El Camino retrospective December 20/21: Sport/Cute Shootout—Subaru Forester/Honda CR-V/Toyota RAV4; Chevy Tahoe SS—Will the dream become reality? • Chevy Impala SS Retrospect • Chrysler’s spectacular 300-Series cars December 27/28: Road Test: Porsche Boxster • American Classic: Chevrolet El Camino…

EXCLUSIVE TEST “Understandin’ this car is very simple,” explains straight-talking John Coletti, manager of Special Vehicle Engineering (SVE) at Ford Motor Company. “This car is the ultimate-aspiration street Mustang. You couldn’t want it to have anything else; cause there’s really nothing else to want.” From its multihued carbon-fiber-encrusted body and high-rev 5.4-liter, supercharged, alcohol-burning DOHC V-8, to the fully independent, pushrod rear suspension and huge Indy-style disc brakes, this 175-mph rocket features the absolute best hardware begged, borrowed, or stolen from Ford’s internal advanced-engineering groups. The “Super Stallion” was carefully assembled by Ford’s elite SVE team, working in a small, secretive hideaway on the gritty outskirts of Dearborn, Michigan. These enthusiastic designers and engineers created the firebreather to start a tremor, and perhaps send a trickle of fear-scented sweat, down…

After 13 invigorating years, the previous generation Corvette had reached the end of the road. No amount of further suspension refinement was going to improve the ’84-vintage chassis’ ride and at-the-limit handling significantly. In the late ’90s, sports cars aren’t only supposed to be fast and agile, they’re also expected to offer reasonable ride quality and satisfying refinement. The old Vette was unable to live up to this ideal, and nobody was more aware of this than the Corvette engineering team. It comes as no surprise then, that when they were given the go-ahead to develop a new car, they went after the structural issue with religious fervor. One of the most useful chassis stiffness references is a vehicle’s natural frequency of vibration. Measured in Hertz (cycles per second), the…

Shortly after Chrysler’s initial minivan success, now almost 15 years ago, virtually every manufacturer rushed in with their own interpretation of the genre. There were aggressively styled minivans, minivans with car-like swing-out side doors, huge truck-based minivans, svelte compact minivans, and mini-minivans. None significantly diverted buyers away from today’s Dodge Caravan. It seems the American public has a rigid minivan dress code: car-based platform, front-engine, front-drive, center aisle, room for seven adults, dual sliding doors. This left the radically styled, mid-engine, rear-drive Toyota Previa, which was also underpowered (or, horrors, supercharged!) and overly expensive, as an also-ran. For the past several years, competing manufacturers have been dropping their diverse interpretations of what a minivan could be in favor of ever-more-Caravan-like designs. The latest attempt to duplicate the class master is…

The Plymouth Prowler’s styling may be stunning, but to many the modem factory-built hot rod lacks the muscle to back it up. The ’97 Prowlers ship with the 3.5-liter/214-horsepower V-6 from the last-generation Chrysler LH sedans, and while the subsequent ’99s (technically, there are no ’98 Prowlers) will likely have a new all-aluminum 3.5-liter bulging with more than 250 horsepower, there’s still a lot of room for more power. Considering what they’ve done for Vipers, it’s not surprising to see Hennessey Motorsports (HMS) step in to fill that power void. Work is underway at HMS to develop a package that will wake up the Prowler and give it more of the performance it deserves. With a target of 300 horsepower, HMS will rebuild the ’97 engines with ported-and-polished intakes, bigger…

What do you get if you cross a wine critic with a race driver? Answer: A tire tester. Tire company engineers must wring the last ounce of performance from car and tire, and then accurately describe the tire’s behavior at the edge of the envelope. However, a more significant and more difficult portion of their job is determining subtle differences in noise levels, ride quality and steering feel. Using a single vehicle, a tire tester samples a half-dozen experimental versions of a single tire model in a rapid-fire sequence and records the differences. Just as wine critics have their own language to describe the fruit of the vine, and Eskimos have a dozen or so words for the different types of snow, tire testers have an array of terms that…

Just released in Europe and heading our way in the fall, Audi’s new S4 Quattro promises to be the hottest offering ever to carry the firm’s vaunted “Sport” appellation. Lurking under the hood of this formidable all-wheel-drive four-door is a twin-turbocharged and intercooled 30-valve 2.7-liter V-6 that churns out 261 horsepower and 296 pound-feet of torque. While the former peaks at 5800 rpm, the latter maxes out at a mere 1800 revs and stays flat to 3600. Backed with the requisite close-ratio, six-speed manual transmission, it gives the S4 Q-ship a claimed 0-60-mph time of 5.6 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph. In addition to the firm’s well-proven Quattro drivetrain, Audi fitted the new S4 with a full sport suspension. Ride height has been lowered 20 mm below…

All around the industrialized world, motorists are stuck in what is approaching a worldwide traffic jam. German commuters, for example, spend at least 65 hours a year sitting on congested streets and the rest of Europe slows to a crawl during rush hours. Lawmakers the world over are wading into the problem of loosening congestion and lowering emissions. To the alarm of many, most of their solutions are aimed at removing commuters from their cars. Galvanized by predictions of an extra 10 million vehicles on British highways by 2025, Tony Blair’s government is preparing a new transport policy that could include charging for the use of roads, increasing the cost of parking, or giving certain types of transport priority of scarce road space. Dubbed “road pricing,” the idea is unpopular…

Driving range is considered the most crucial issue faced by electric vehicles today, eclipsing even those astronomical pricetags we hear about at the showroom. While today’s EVs may command a window sticker greater than many luxury cars, their favorable lease terms and available incentives place them at least a bit closer to reason. And price will certainly come down once electric vehicles are built in significantly larger quantities. Contrast this with the battery issue. Even though some pretty impressive advanced battery technologies are coming to the fore, the automakers tell us that in the foreseeable future pure electric vehicles won’t do much better than a realistic 125 miles on a single charge. The current crop of EVs now available at selected showrooms, and ones that will be introduced shortly, seem…

Rejoice, the golden age of performance is upon us. Even sport/utilities have risen in accelerative prowess to undreamed-of heights, well surpassing the family station wagons they have come to replace. For several years, domestic sales-champs Jeep Grand Cherokee and GMC Yukon have offered raw V-8 brute strength, but for ’98, these high-volume mainstream players have undergone a workout regimen akin to those of rising action-film stars, honing the heavy-metal machines into landbound executive jets boasting invigorating straightline acceleration and lavish accommodations. The “sport” end of the equation has become so good, this pair of four-wheel drives could threaten the street prowess of many of today’s premium sedans and classic sport coupes, while offering outstanding off-road abilities as a bonus. But could a couple of two-ton-plus sport/utilities loaded with every creature…

General Motors Powertrain group was challenged to develop an engine for the 05 that would exceed the performance of the 5.7-liter/330-horsepower LT4 and deliver the thrifty fuel economy and squeaky-clean emissions needed to carry the V-8 into the next century. Engineers contemplated, should this V-8 be a modern dual-overhead-cam multi-valve engine, or should it have the “antiquated” pushrod valve gear that’s been a Corvette constant? For this Vette, the powerplant would need to be shorter and preferably lighter than its predecessor to complement the new chassis—hard to achieve with DOHC cylinder heads. Then there was the type of power the engine needed to produce. Tire-churning, instantaneous thrust is a Corvette hallmark; that meant a powerplant tuned for accessible torque first, and top-end power second. Project Manager John Juriga says ultimately…

The phrase “cars and the movies” has almost as much of a show-business ring as “lights, camera, action.” From Laurel and Hardy and the Keystone Kops, to “Goldfinger,” “Goldeneye,” and “The Solid Gold Cadillac,” automobiles have served as major plot elements since the beginning of filmmaking. And if an automobile just happened to be the right car at the right time, like Herbie the Love Bug or Steven King’s Christine, it just might score a leading role. The cars-on-screen theme has taken many shapes throughout the history of film, from the serious to the sublime, and sometimes the sensational. But a unique genre of spectacularly marginal filmmaking sprouted up just after World War II. These low-budget barnstormers centered around hot cars, cool music, and a rebellious American youth with a…

Any auto-aware enthusiast knows small cars have caught on with young people as platforms for personalization and modification. And that most of those cars are Hondas. However, a vocal and growing horde of youngsters has its sights on small domestic cars, including the Chevrolet Cavalier, that GM division’s least expensive and best-selling car. RKSport has built its business supplying components and parts for both the usual Chevys (Camaro and Corvette) and the overlooked Monte Carlo and Cavalier coupes. Considering the ferocity with which Cavalier enthusiasts contact Motor Trend whenever any product for their vehicles is mentioned, RKSport has found a good niche for itself. Because the Cavalier Z24 has its own body cladding, RKSport started with a base ’95 Cavalier coupe to show off its products. With power from a…

Be careful what you pray for, you just might get it. Often I’ve pleaded—usually while going backward at a rapid pace—for divine installation of a thousand feet of runoff room to slow my errant race car. The good news: My prayers were answered. The bad news: It came at Pikes Peak. There, I found unlimited runoff room, but it was mostly straight down. I discovered my supplications had been garbled while charging up a fourth-gear, 90-rnph straightaway, accelerating like a bat out of, uh, the bad place. The newly risen sun popped over the road edge and sauteed my retinas. I couldn’t see a thing. After blocking the rays with a fireproof-gloved hand, I came to a heart-stopping conclusion: There wasn’t anything to see. Just sky. Have you ever tried…

As the embodiment to the classic Jeep legend, the Wrangler must carry forward the essence of “Jeepness,” while also competing against contemporary four-wheelers. Specialty Vehicles International (SVI) engineers supercharger systems around the Vortech centrifugal supercharger, and their latest project is a ’97 Wrangler with a Vortech “S-Trim” blower exhaling into its 4.0-liter inline six. Plumbing the Jeep’s supercharger involves a long powder-coated pipe from the blower to the right (passenger’s) side of the engine bay across the big six to the intake manifold. Completing the installation are a Bell Engineering adjustable fuel management system and Walbro inline fuel pump. Since MTs test, SVI has added to the kit a Crane HI6-TR ignition module (the need for which will become obvious). Prices start at around $3000 for a supercharger system producing…

’97 HONDA CR-V The reigning sport/cute champ, Honda’s CR-V, has been enlisted into our long-term fleet. Ordering the Civic-based SUV was extremely easy, given that there’s only one major option: an ABS package. Of course, we had to have the anti-lock brake system and the 15-inch aluminum wheels that come with it, setting us back a reasonable $20,400. In Honda-speak, the CR-V is essentially an LX model with power windows/door locks/mirrors, cruise control, rear wiper/washer, and air conditioning as standard equipment. All other options are considered dealer installed. We added a few items, such as keyless entry, CD player, and roof rack for a grand total of $21,966. We’ve been impressed thus far with the versatility of our so-called Comfortable Runabout Vehicle, with flat-folding rear seats and a surprising amount…