Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2007 i MotorTrend

continued from page 4 watch Fast-John’s Record Attempt RIDE SHOTGUN at over 220 mph as Motor Trend’s John Kiewicz attempts to set a new Standing-Mile world record. We have lots of behind-the-scenes vids of the event. Recently shot at the annual Maxton Mile in North Carolina, the videos include an inside look at Kiewicz’s 1200-horse, twin-turbo Dodge Viper road rocket, plus a ride-along from 0 to 220 mph within a single mile’s distance. So put on your flameproof underwear, grab a helmet, and drift your mouse over to the Multimedia section of our Web site. Did MT break the world record? Visit motortrend.com to find out. drive Mercedes-Benz THE OCEAN DRIVE is a multimillion-dollar, one-of-a-kind, handbuilt beauty that wowed the crowds at the Detroit auto show. Motor Trend editor-in-chief Angus…

INFINITI calls it “part futuristic concept car, part near-production vehicle, part platform for highly innovative technology.” The future starts this fall, when the Infiniti EX 35 and EX 25, compact alternatives to the FX45 and 35, go on sale. The new Infiniti SUV will be offered with the 3.5-liter V-6 and 2.5-liter four. Infiniti says the EX Concept was inspired by coupe design. The concept has a liquid crystal glass roof that changes from transparent to translucent, likely its key modification as a show car. Two of the concept’s special technologies are headed for production, however. The awkwardly named Around View Monitor uses front-, side-, and rear-mounted cameras to help reduce blind spots while parking. Lane Departure Prevention combines Infiniti’s Lane Warning System with the Vehicle Dynamic Control system to…

NOW THAT the w204 c-classis launched in Europe, Mercedes engineers are finishing other versions. AWD 4Matic models will go on sale in time for winter, using a system similar to that in the new S-Class, with the center diff packaged alongside the engine. A C-Class wagon will be shown to the public at Frankfurt this September and go on sale in Europe shortly after. U.S. sales are unlikely, especially as there also will be a U.S.-friendly compact SUV based on the W204 4Matic platform, codenamed X204 and to be badged MLK. The MLK has already been spotted testing extensively, and its design places it as a BMW X3 competitor, or mini ML-Class. It won't be a full-on SUV, but a road-biased one, albeit with greater clearance and ruggedized suspension compared…

PERHAPS YOU CAN’T wait for the spring 2008 release of the Shelby GT500OKR. Or perhaps a 540-horse supercharged Mustang is “merely adequate.” What you need, then, is a Super Snake. An ultravenomous version of the GT500, the Super Snake is a pure Shelby special—a limited-edition, hyperpowered Mustang built with mostly Shelby parts in the company’s Vegas assembly facility. Deliver your GTS500 to Shelby, fork over the requisite cash (pricing had not been set at press time, but expect to pay around $10K for the upgrade), and in a few weeks you’ll have a Super Snake of your very own. The bodywork closely mirrors the KR’s—including a KR hood, hood pins, Shelby stripes, brake ducts, and the 20-inch forged Alcoa rims seen on the KR showcar. Inside, the Super Snake sports…

DID BENZ GO FAR ENOUGH? WE'RE NOT SO SURE GLANCING AT the squiggly blue line emerging on the slick, seven-inch navigation screen, a smile crosses our face. Yep, now we're going to have some fun. We've been rolling along a mountain highway south of Valencia, Spain, in our black C350 Avantgarde (that'll be Sport in the U.S.) test chariot, and as expected, the new C-Class is eating up the miles like a champ. As it’s Mercedes’s worldwide best-seller, the company has put a massive amount of work into sharpening up its fourth-generation model, and it shows. It had better. The new car breezes along on the freeway as you'd expect a well-engineered German sedan to do, its 3.5-liter V-6 (making 268 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque) and Mercedes’s now-ubiquitous…

AN EMPTY road-racing course designed with a good smattering of corners—fast and slow, increasing and decreasing radius, uphill and down, on-camber and off—is an ideal place to assess a car’s dynamic handling behavior, especially for a driver who’s logged countless hours lapping the track. Max Angelelli knows every braking point, FIA curbed apex, and blind corner of Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca, which frees up a lot more of his mental capacity to concentrate on assessing the car’s behavior than might be available to mere auto-scribes with vastly less experience on this track. To facilitate meaningful comparisons, we ran Angelelli through the cars in ascending order of anticipated performance, starting with the front-drivers and ending with the fire-breathers. OUR FANCY electronic equipment corroborated most of Angelelli’s seat-of-the-pants impressions, adding some…

WHICH IS THE BEST-HANDLING CAR IN THE LAND? We've instrumented and tested 10 great cars, microanalyzing the vehicle dynamics of each. We've spent hours at the wheel assessing the nuanced feedback each car transmits to its driver. The logbook notes, interview tapes, and 420 megabytes’ worth of objective test data agree: The clear winner is the Michelin-Porsche 911 GT3. We're augmenting the nomenclature here to acknowledge the immense contribution the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires make to the tail-heavy Porsche icon’s handling. They're the closest thing to a full-on racing tire that is DOT-legal for street use. They're fair game because GT3s come from the factory with these tires, and we doubt that fitting conventional summer rubber would lower the GT3’s performance to a second-place finish here. Conversely, a set…

OIL? GREASE? FORGET IT. RON DENNIS EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT BANNING FOOD AND DRINK FROM HIS DESIGNER FACTORY. WELCOME TO THE MCLAREN TECHNOLOGY CENTRE, HOME TO THE COMPANY’S F1 TEAM AND MERCEDES SLR ASSEMBLY LINE—AND ONE MAN’S OBSESSION. MY FIRST VISIT to McLarenwas in 1967, back when the premises was nothing more than an unsanitary lockup garage. I was a goggle-eyed schoolboy then, on a trip organized by a dutiful parent with industry connections and admiring the M6 Can-Am car, when from out back a cheery, chattery bloke emerged in grubby racing overalls, unpolished laceups, rubbing Swarfega around his bitten fingernails with a greasy rag, like he'd been draining a sump. That was Bruce McLaren. He may have said, “G'day.” I reflect on this ancient memory as the taxi whooshes me…

THE MOMENT the Sebring convertible first came on the market in late 1995, it seemed destined to be the archetypal sunny-climate rental car. It offered comfortable top-down room for four and wasn't hard on the eyes or the least bit offensive. But as time went on and the four-passenger convertible segment heated up, the old two-door lagged behind the competition. In response, the Sebring convertible took a break for a year and came back toned, sculpted, and stiffer, based on a new platform shared with the sedan. While it resembles the four-door, 3.1 inches more overall length and two fewer doors have certainly cleaned up the exterior. It also now offers a choice of three roofs: vinyl, cloth, and a retractable hard top. All three raise and lower at the…

2006 BMW 330i Total Mileage 18,774 THE debate continues on the feel of the car: Some say it’s still the ultimate driving machine, while others are wondering if BMW has lost its edge or if the competition has just finally caught up with it. Start Off Assist (aka hill hold, which keeps your vehicle from rolling back when you stop on an uphill) is loved by all, but several staffers think the engine leaves something to be desired, as it doesn’t seem as peppy as other generations of BMW's, not wanting to be wound out as much as our 330i’s predecessors did—or maybe we've been spoiled by the 335i’s terrific grunt. ◼ Average fuel econ 19.7 mpg ◼ Unresolved problem areas None ◼ Maintenance cost $0 (15K service included) ◼…

NEARLY EVERY one was custom built. They were designed and crafted by eight different coachbuilders—impressive for a model run of just 34 cars. Several are one-offs; this is to be expected with an automobile conceived for the rich and famous. The Maserati 5000 GT was a special machine, even from an Italian marque known for building and selling special machines. Most used a 5.0-liter V-8 derived from the 450S Le Mans race car, and several 5000 GTs had unique features, such as radiotelephones, record players, or gold trim. Allemano built the 22 "production” versions. The rest were crafted by Bertone, Frua, Ghia, Michelotti, Monterosa, Pininfarina, and Touring. Who owned them? The Shah of Iran, Giovanni Agnelli, the Aga Khan, and American millionaire sportsman/racer Briggs Cunningham, to name a few. Don't…

THE C6 CORVETTE is a phenomenon. Despite a substandard interior, its power, dynamics, and styling have given it international credibility the C5 struggled to achieve and the gold-chain-inspiring C3 and C4 could only dream of. Now it’s talked of as a competitor for Porsche 911, Aston Martin V-8 Vantage, various BMW Ms, and Mercedes AMGs. That 505-horsepower Z06 hasn't hurt. But just before it’s replaced by the all-new C7, the C6 will get one last shot at automotive immortality: 700 horsepower and a new name. Word in Detroit is the long-awaited iiber-Corvette, codenamed the Blue Devil after Rick Wagoner’s alma mater’s NCAA team, will now likely be called Z07. Purists at GM have balked at naming it the Corvette SS, after Zora Arkus-Duntov’s definitive Chevy sport-racer. Corvette Super Sport had…

IF 2009 seems a long way off, and you really want your ultimate Corvette to be a convertible, the Callaway C16 Cabrio, a droptop version of its 560- or 616-horsepower C16 is probably for you. HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ■ 6.0-liter supercharged V-8 makes 560 horsepower, 529 pound-feet standard; 616-horsepower, 582 pound-feet in high-tune form. ■ Six-speed manual or paddle-shift automatic. ■ Claimed 3.5-second 0-to-60-mph time, quarter mile in the low 11-second range for high-output version with paddle shifter, plus 200-mph-plus top speed and 18/28 mpg. ■ Callaway-Eibach coilovers offer 10-position compression/rebound. Dymag wheels, 19-inch front, 20-inch rear, are about half the weight of factory wheels. ■ StopTech brakes have six-piston calipers front, four-pistons rear. ■ Upgraded door-sill panels, dash pad, steering wheel; optional “Deutschleder” interior adds German…

BIG AND THIRSTY as is the Toyota Land Cruiser on which it’s based, it has a good reputation worldwide. It’s a rugged, reliable, go-anywhere sport/utility known as the United Nations advisors’ ride of choice. In the U.S., however, it’s the Lexus version of the Land Cruiser—the LX 470—that’s more popular, outselling the Toyota 5595 units to 3376 last year, despite the fact you can buya Land Cruiser and a Yaris Liftback for the same money. Which may explain why the new Lexus LX 570 is still basically a Land Cruiser in fancy dress, even though Toyota has now strictly separated the Lexus and Toyota car development teams (the U.S. market’s Camry-based ES 350 is the exception). The LX 570 marches into the 21st century with a bigger V-8, the new…

MERCEDES-BENZ is celebrating AMG’s 40th birthday with a "Special anniversary version of its new CLO5 AMG. The “standard” CL65 comes with the 612-horse, 6.0-liter 738-pound-foot bi-turbo V-12, good for an estimated 4.4-second sprint to 62 mph. It also has 20-inch AMG forged Wheels, AMG interior and: sport Suspension, Active Body Gontrol Pre-Safe, Sat and AMG high-performance brakes. But if that isn’t quite exclusive enough, the special 40th-anniversary model adds AMG Alubeam paint, heretofore seen only on Mercedes show cars, that “gleams like ” liquid metal” The anniversary model adds two-tone “Exclusive Passion” all-NAPPA leather upholstery with a diamond Pattern, color-coordinated Alcantara roof lining, real carbon-fiber trim, and special Badging. Hurry! Mercedes will offer only 40 anniversary models worldwide.…

letter of the month clockwork orange The einborahte LP640 At-Home Experience (“Future Shock,’ March): You need an orange, a couch, and a friend (trust worthy, you'll see why later). Step 7. Sit at one end of the couch and have your friend sit at the opposite end, holding the orange. 2. Look straight ahead and have the friend throw the orange by your face (this is where the trustworthy friend comes into play). 3. Don’t blink. Now you've experienced an LP640 in the comfort of your living room. Of course, it’s not the same thing, but you'll see the same orange blur as the one made by the Lamborghini—though, in this case, you'll have to clean the orange off the wall. Neima ShahbaziLittle Elm, Texas high jump GM’s biggest hurdle…

AH, THE 12-CYLINDER. The epitome of automotive grandeur, it’s an engine that requires two hands to assemble, yet three to tally the piston chambers. By and large, a 12 has the potential to produce more horsepower and torque than its eight- and 10-cylinder counterparts, yet in a manner as smooth and rewarding as 50-year-old Glenlivet. Save for the outrageous 16-cylinder that rockets the $1.4 million Bugatti Veyron 16.4, the 12-cylinder is the engine that best symbolizes wealth and power. Scan the list of automakers offering one—Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, and Rolls-Royce—and it reads like a CEO caravan. Moreover, the average base price for a 12-cylinder automobile is nearly $250,000. No doubt, these vehicles are meant for affluent buyers who binge on beluga and down the…

MAGAZINE ROAD TESTERS are supposed to be able to tell you what a car does and doesn't do well on many fronts. But racing drivers approach things from a much more focused perspective: How well does it go, stop, turn, and handle? To inject the racer’s voice into this story, we tapped a qualified pro. Max Angelelli has been racing since he was 15. It’s no surprise, really: He was born in Bologna, Italy, just minutes from the Ferrari factory, to a father who also was a racer. Angelelli competed in various F3 series from 1987 through 1995, winning the Italian F3 championship in 1992 against guys like Giancarlo Fisichella and Max Papis. Realizing that he was too old for an entry into Formula 1, he joined the sports-car ranks…

FIRST OFF, your humble servant is not James Bond. That’s no Jaeger-Le Coultre Reverso (the watch from which the V8 Vantage Roadster draws its design inspiration) on the left wrist. There’s no defibrillator in the glovebox. The drive isn't along the scorched-earth landscape of Iceland or to Casino Royale (though Provence’s twisty roads to Mount Ventoux are no slouch). The Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster most certainly isn't any manner of Ford Motor Company product nor a jazzed-up Jag or Porsche 911. You slice the iconic top off a 911, even if you're Porsche, and the car looks like an aftermarket conversion. When Aston slices the lid off the V8 Vantage, you get something that looks like its own piece of art. It’s as masculine looking as the Coupe (though…

FAMILIES TODAY have big appetites and big wants. Thoughts of: shopping at Costco or transporting half the team are more than enough to rationalize a vehicle that can swallow seven, be they vats of canola oil or soccer players. And while the minivan, wagon, and SUV often meet those needs, they suffer from social stigmas. Automakers, ever so keen, have been establishing and touting a relatively new breed of sport/utility known as ‘crossovers,’ a segment that’s outpacing the staggering growth of SUVs in the 1990s. In fact, in 2006 more crossovers were sold than SUVs, for the first time ever. These CUVs ditch truck underpinnings for car platforms and cross over the boundaries of minivan, wagon, and SUV, imparting a bit of each while carrying few if any of the…

THE C6 ZOG clubs nearly everything in its path. With 505 horsepower produced from a hand-assembled 7.0-liter LS7 V-8, the Z06 easily outpaces the mighty 8.3-liter Viper SRT-10 Coupe—which has made the Dodge boys quite angry. In response, SRT will soon release its super-strength 2008 Viper shod with a new 8.4-liter V-10 that cranks out 600 hellspawned horses. The gloves are off and the fight is on. Rather than being outgunned by Mopar, Z06 owners can now gear up with more power thanks to a booster shot of bolt-on performance from Vortech Engineering. Known for making big top-end power, Vortech produces a variety of centrifugal superchargers that cram heaping helpings of added oxygen into an engine for impressive power gains. In the case of the new Z06, Vortech has just…

THE SPORTY-coupe market is fickle and suffers from what we call the 1-2-Out Syndrome: A new two-door 2+2 shows up, sells well for two years, then fades fast. Mitsubishi has had better than average luck with its Eclipse. It’s enjoyed relatively solid sales over more than a decade and a half and a starring role with the “Fast and Furious” crowd. A new Eclipse is important to the brand, a notion that helped earn this fourth-gen model a year in the MT garage. Praise was near universal for the look of our Sunset Pearlescent example, although one staffer didn’t care for it, labeling it “too organic and bulbous-looking.” The design blends cues from the second- and third-generation Eclipses, plus the Mitsu’s current face and modern proportions. The freestanding “monocle” lens…

ROUGHLY halfway toa major update of the Z-car expected about 2009, Nissan has refreshed the 350Z with a 306-horsepower, 268-pound-foot version of the VQ35HR 3.5-liter V-6, and a NISMO package, the fifth variant in the sports-car’s lineup. NISMO is Nissan’s answer to Toyota TRD, Honda Mugen, even BMW M and Mercedes AMG. The NISMO 350Z features an aerodynamics package with an aggressive front fascia and chin spoiler, side skirts, and a larger rear fascia with a functional air diffuser and rear wing. It also comes with special mass dampers between the right and left side frame members, a specially tuned suspension, Brembo brakes, NISMO-tuned exhaust, and gunmetal-gray super-lightweight five-spoke forged alloy wheels. The wheels are 18x9.0-inch front, 19x10-inch rear, with Bridgestone Potenza REOSOA tires. Inside are black cloth seats with…

BMW’S M3 has been king of the compact super-sport sedan world for more than two decades. For 2008, the E92 M3 gets its first firing a warning shot witha new AMG version of its CLK-Class compact V-8, rated about 420 horses, as revealed in the Geneva show car. But this super-select segmentis heating up, with newcomers from Audi and Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz turning up the heat. Benz could trump everybody when it introduces a 63 AMG version of its new C-Class, probably in late 2008 or early 2009. Meanwhile, Mercedes is coupe. It’s the CLK 63 Black Series, with the 6.2-liter AMG engine stuffed under its hood. Sporting an uprated near-go-kart suspension and a removed rear seat, the CLK 63 is rated 500 horses and should give a clue as…

SIX MONTHS after Ford put Aston Martin up for sale, the specialty English sports-car maker has new owners. But we're assured it’s business as usual, since the management, factory, and model strategy will continue on their present trajectory. Ulrich Bez has committed to remain CEO for the next five years. Sale price was $925 million, not far short of Ford’s initial $1 billion price tag for Aston. Not enough to bail Ford out of its present troubles, but it’ll be a small help. Ford retains a $77 million stake, so if Aston profits long term, Ford gets a return. The new owners area consortium consisting of David Richards, founder of Prodrive, the British company that has run Subaru’s World Rally Championship team since the early 1990s and will have its…

where do you read motor trend? E-mail digital photo(s) of you Sid Motor Trend to; motortrend@gmail.com or mail them to: Motor Trend, c/o Mail, Readers on Location, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048.…

WHETHER you want to bag 18 holes in the world’s safest and grandest golf cart or just want to sneak out of the house without getting nabbed, the LS 600h L offers an electric-vehicle drive mode for when discreet, engine-free moments arise. What you need to know to go full electric: ■ THE TEMPERATURE of the hybrid system cannot be too hot or too cold. In other words, if the car is left parked in Death Valley on a summer day or in Anchorage in the dead of winter, EV mode will not work. Same result if the car has sat for a long period of time or traveled long distances at high speeds. ■ THE ENGINE has warmed up (coolant temp is at least 158 degrees F). ■ THE…

WHIP A CAR into a sweetly banked turn, zigzag through a necklace of S-bends, clip an apex, and cock the tail out a few degrees with the throttle. It’s a good day, you muse, grinning. Feel-good endorphins fire-hosing your brain will tend to do that. There are few better sources of mood-enhancing chemicals than a great chassis performing the elaborate dance of vehicle dynamics. What differentiates the automotive equivalent of Balanchine’s choreography from Billy Ray Cyrus doing the cha-cha on “Dancing with the Stars" are subtle behaviors that aren't easy to discern subjectively. They need to be considered by objective instruments able to detect events scant hundredths of a second apart and sense minute accelerations and movements. And it takes time and patience, which is why we decamped for two…

SO ENOUGH of the "professional driver, closed course, kids: don't try this at home" stuff. What are these 10 MVPs like to drive on public roads paved with imperfect asphalt and populated by unpredictable cars, children, and animals lurking around unfamiliar corners? Clearly the parameters are way different when we're forced to share the road. The intensity of the driving experience is necessarily dialed back from what it is on a racetrack, but the sounds, smells, tingles, and twitches generated by a great car can bring abundant joy on a Sunday drive. It was our editors’ task to quantify that joy. When we reached our top-secret 15-mile driving loop, we distributed voting ballots that focused each driver’s attention on seven areas of specific interest, with each rated on a scale…

DRESSED IN boldly sculpted couture curves that shame a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, built on a shorter-wheelbase (by five inches) version of the Quattroporte’s acclaimed front-mid-engine, rear-drive chassis, and powered by the familiar 4.2-liter V-8—with power increased from 394 horses to 399—the new Maserati Gran Turismo is exotic, glamorous, inspiringly original, and deliciously unconventional. It’s the second all-new Maser in less than five years, and America is its Number One sales target. Concealing four full seats behind two gracefully swooping doors, the Gran Turismo combines the opulent accommodation of a Bentley Continental GT with the price of a well-optioned BMW M5, while promising a carefully honed poise, balance, and definess either German might envy. It may lack their huge firepower, but as Quattroporte owners already appreciate, deft dynamism reaps the richest…

WHEN Hyundai announced pricing of its all-new seven-passenger Veracruz—starting at just $26,995—Toyota no doubt breathed an irritated sigh of discomfort, especially considering its seven-seat V-6 Highlander, which offers less horsepower and standard equipment, costs nearly $500 more. And Honda? Probably feeling a bit squirmy, too—its Pilot, equipped with fewer horses and goodies, runs almost $700 extra. More for less is a persuasive formula that’s proved of great value, so to speak, for Hyundai. Yet it hasn't garnered the brand-copious comparison-test victories in this magazine. Hyundais often come close, but while high on value and warranty, they've tended to register a notch lower in such categories as handling and refinement. That said, with each new model the gap shrinks. While we're not ready to declare the Veracruz as the Hyundai that…

A LOT of hype surrounded the introduction of the all-new 2007 Chevrolet Silverado, and it was with some impatience that we finally got behind the wheel. Once we cut through the marketing spiel and the omnipresent ad campaign, we were left with one hell of an impressive truck, with a smooth ride, powerful engine, and immense capability. No surprise then that it ran away with this year’s Truck of the Year honors. As the victor for 2007, the Silverado was welcomed for an extended stay in our garage to determine how the pickup would perform in the long run. We ordered our GMT900 Chevy with all the tow, haul, and work goodies, focusing more on checking the boxes that pertained to labor than those for a cushy commuter. The 1500…