Innehållsförteckning för Feb-14 från Car and Driver

hosted by ED. Sic your dogs on us at: editors@caranddriver.com or join the discussion at: backfires.caranddriver.com PRICING GAMES Just so you know, the outcome in your comparison test ["The Old Masters," November 2013] did not affect my beliefs. The 911 is better than the Corvette. Always has been and always will be. Finally, who cares about price, anyway? KENT KOEHN MINERVA, OHIO Right! Everybody, thanks to Koehn, we're raising our cover price to $72—Ed. If you're going to test the great new Corvette against a $140,000-plus 911, how about the GT3 tested in the same issue? (It's actually cheaper.) I know I won't be the only one to call this out. But I guess it's Porsche's fault for its ridiculously priced options and optioning up a regular 911 to…

ONE STEP BACK Reports cite a range of about 25 miles for the CAN-AM COMMANDER ELECTRIC (pictured here), but range anxiety takes on a new meaning in the backwoods. It simply won't do to plug in to a deer carcass. LED headlights, variable-assist electric power steering, footwell lighting; this features list sounds like one you'd find when clicking the "Build and Price" box on Chrysler's website. But no, these are options available on side-by-side UTVs, or "utility task vehicles." To find out if this genre of barrel-of-monkeys mudslingers has held on to its soul as it has matured, we lined up two newcomers. Representing the four-seat, four-cup-holder, family-friendly division is the Kawasaki Teryx4 800LE. Representing the cage-fighting, "the Octagon isn't just an arena, it's a mindset" faction is the Polaris…

Uncle Jack appreciated the finer things. One day in the 1970s, he rolled up to our house in a randy red Cadillac Eldorado convertible with a white top and white leather seats, a vision of contemporary Jewish-American aspiration that caused my dad to snort just a bit too loudly. We kids bounced around inside it like excited Corgis after Jack swung open the seven miles of door. As we drove off, I remember corkscrewing around and around in the seat to watch the world passing over and around us. It was completely different from our family's Buick wagon, in which everything happening outside was behind glass, we passengers just watching it like a boring show played on blue-tinted TV screens. In the top-down Eldo, driving suddenly became three breezy, sun-dazzled…

THE BODY ELECTRIC CADILLAC IS BETTING THAT THE STUNNING SHAPE OF ITS ELR COUPE MAKES IT WORTH TWICE THE PRICE OF THE CHEVROLET VOLT ON WHICH IT'S BASED. IS CADDY ONTO SOMETHING, OR JUST SMOKING SOMETHING? THE CADILLAC ELR IS A FUTURE POD, A SHOW CAR MADE REAL. AND IT BETTER LOOK LIKE A MILLION BUCKS, BECAUSE EVERYBODY'S GOING AROUND CALLING IT THE $75,995 CHEVY VOLT. Yes, you read that correctly. The ELR's entry price is nearly double that of the Volt, the Caddy's mechanical starting point, and it's roughly 2.5 times that of the average new car. Hasn't the Volt proven itself salesproof enough? Or does the ELR make an elegantly tailored and subversively creased argument that the Volt is actually too cheap? Is the Chevy's primary failing that…

THE RACE OF THE CENTURIES Over 700 Miles Detroit, michigan to Shoreham, New York TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013 WE STAGE A MULTI-STATE ENDURO TO FIND OUT IF TODAY'S AUTOMOTIVE PIONEER, THE TESLA MODEL S, CAN OUTRUN ITS PREDECESSOR. IF THE TESLA MODEL S ELECTRIC CAR MARKS A MONUMENTAL EVENT IN THE WORLD OF AUTOMOBILES (AS IT SURELY DOES IN THE MINDS OF ITS MAKERS), WE REFUSE TO BE LEFT BEHIND AT THE DAWN OF THIS NEW EPOCH. A century from now, let no man or robot or digital personal companion embedded in the cerebellum at birth say that Car and Driver didn't look at this thing from every possible angle. Thus, we proceed with yet another trial of the Model S. This time we compare the electric car to…

TESTED We're drunk on diesel. The big torque and inflated efficiency of a good turbo-diesel clouds (only figuratively) our ability to render rational verdicts. And the latest diesels from German luxury brands are more potent than ever. How else to explain that the Audi A7's diesel V-6 left us woozy over a car that is slower, more expensive, and noisier than the base A7 with its supercharged gas V-6? In this case, the inebriating engine is a single-turbo 3.0-liter good for 240 horsepower and 428 pound-feet of torque. In Europe, where diesels rule, this V-6 is just one of three oil burners offered in the A7 and A6. Audi has fit the U.S. diesel engine with a slightly smaller turbocharger, tweaking the output curves to improve low-end responsiveness at the…

TESTED + High style, V-6 thrust, superb chassis. - Coarse turbo four, fussy interior, pricey as-tested. We've fallen for the turbocharged and naturally aspirated V-6 models of Cadillac's third-gen CTS sedan. But the redesigned 5-series fighter and 10Best winner also comes with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that helps hold down the new Cad's starting price, which is high enough to fall over. The 272-hp 2.0T is standard on the bottom-rung CTS. At $46,025, this CTS is still $6035 higher than last year's base car, which included a 270-hp 3.0-liter V-6. But the blown four is all ate up with torque. Also found in the smaller ATS sedan, the 2.0T knocks out 295 pound-feet at just 1700 rpm—75 more than the old starter V-6 with a single exhaust, and 20 more…

SAVE YOURSELF: So you really want fabric protection? We found a 10-ounce can of Scotchgard for $10.38. The first rule in getting a great price on a new car is this: Always be ready to bail. The moment you're not comfortable with a deal for any reason, the only power you have is to walk away, especially if you've found yourself abandoned by the salesman and in the office of the F&I (finance and insurance) guy. They're called different things at different dealerships—managers, closers, senior associates—but the F&I person is the one who shops your deal to lenders if you haven't already arranged credit and who processes the title transfer and loan paperwork that obligates you to an eternity of payments. And, by the way, the F&I office is…

TRIVIA NIGHT To give BMW nerds more codes to memorize, the M3 and M4 will use different ones from the F30 and F32 of the current 3- and 4-series. The M3 will be F80; the M4 coupe, F82; and the M4 convertible, F83. If M builds a wagon, it'll be F81. NO JUNK BACK HERE. THE M4'S TRUNKLID LAYS A FIBERGLASS SKIN OVER A CARBON-FIBER INNER PANEL. BMW's M3 began as a four-cylinder homologation special and evolved profoundly over nearly three decades, punctuated by a series of powertrain changes. Throughout, the M3's street spirit, track skills, and everyday versatility were never in question; the debate mostly centered around which generation was best. Also never in question was the car's name, until now. The sedans remain M3s, and the coupes and…

In the future, your car may rat you out to the taxman. And for some Oregon drivers, the future is already here. As long as there are public roads, taxes will pay for them. Currently, the federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents per gallon, and states levy additional taxes that range up to California's 59.9 cents per gallon, not including sales tax. But the system isn't fair: If you drive, say, a 1985 Oldsmobile Delta 88, you're paying for the roads you drive on with every gallon your beater slurps. If, however, you drive a $100,000 Tesla Model S, you're not paying for the roads you use. And, as our nationwide vehicle fleet gets more efficient, the revenue from fuel taxes is dropping. U.S. gasoline consumption peaked in 2007 and…

WE KNOW WHAT THEY THINK OF US IN EUROPE: Americans are large and loud, exporters of crap culture and arrogance; a garish, gluttonous people with no couth, no class, and crude sports cars. It's really only that last point that gnaws at us. What are you supposed to say to an obnoxious German waiting in line at Disney World, condemning not just Detroit but an entire nation because the Mustang still has a solid rear axle? Tell him: It ends now. The 2015 Mustang, available this fall, has an independent rear suspension and a new, 305-plus-hp, 2.3-liter turbocharged and direct-injected four that will look familiar to any Visigoth. And the new Mustang will be the first of its bloodline to be marketed overseas, bringing the fight to Germany and the…

FOLD OUT TO BEGIN STORY … AND POSSIBLY SET A NEW RECORD AT THE 'RING. If you have to cede the wheel and ride shotgun, you might as well do so in a track-package-equipped 2015 NISSAN GT-R NISMO prototype at the Nürburgring. At 188 mph, the aero package creates a claimed 4000 pounds of rear downforce and a half-ton on the front axle. Despite this, we get airborne three times. Krumm, who ran the 7:08. He's a pro, so I don't find it odd when he straps into a six-point belt in racing garb and a full-face helmet. "Hang on to this, maybe?" he says, pointing to the center console. "And try not to touch me." Krumm turns left out of the pits, opposite the usual track-entry direction. He sashays…

THIS MONTH FERRARI 458 SPECIALE / AUDI A7 TDI / BMW 428i / NISSAN ROGUE / CADILLAC CTS 2.0T / SUBARU XV CROSSTREK HYBRID Audi's smallest car in Ameri ca is about to go from a zero to a hero. The company has ambitious plans to build a five-vehicle family out of the diminutive A3, which until now was sold strictly as an expensive hatchback appealing only to informed and cashed-up connoisseurs of smallness. In April, Audi drops the line's anchor with the A3 sedan , starting at just under $31,000 . There will also be the two-door A3 cabriolet , the five-door A3 Sportback hybrid , the Q3 small SUV , and this hot S3 sports sedan (Audi estimates 290 horses), due in August or…

TESTED + Competence and comfort in a beautiful package. - Coupe impracticalities; come ready to spend. There's no denying that it's easy to be a jerk in this car. Even a person of steady temperament, with a 30-year fixed note and a seat on the school board, will race the odd semi to the end of a merge lane. Or make a few banzai dives up the right to pick up another three places in the freeway conga line. This BMW firmly reinforces stereotypes. But if the definition of a jerk driver is somebody who regularly exhibits absolute confidence in and scrupulous control of his or her machine, then we're happy to be labeled thus. For the 428i—such a pretty number, just 30 short of a Ferrari—gives you as much…

Here is a thing you should not do with your Subaru XV Crosstrek hybrid, the company's first gas/electric car: Drive across the freaky Mars-scape of Iceland with its sulfur-stinky hot springs, hard-packed volcanic dust liberally strewn with black rock shards, river crossings roughly the depth of one Subaru hood, and tracks bordered by snow walls tall enough to allow the braver/more idiotic among us to go glancing, like life-size Hot Wheels cars, off walls and occasionally each other in a vain attempt at not getting stuck. But this is precisely what Subaru planned for the launch of this car, and so it is that the company now finds itself with several of these niche-within-a-niche-within-a-niche four-wheel-drive runabouts with mangled front fascias, bashed panels, and various other ailments not immediately apparent. Turns…

2:00.0 eBay sells a passenger vehicle every two minutes. 7:00.0 Every seven minutes, a motorcycle is sold. 47:00.0 A Ford Mustang is sold every 47 minutes. We are programmed by nature to acquire, which is one reason selling is so much less fun than buying. But almost all automotive love affairs end, and selling a car online painlessly and for the highest price takes some planning and effort. Look at it this way: The extra hour you spend taking good pictures and writing a thorough description for a sales site may net you another $1000 or more. Not bad for an hour's labor. STEP 1: Pick the right sales venue. You'd no more list a '96 Mustang on Hemmings than you would a Bugatti Veyron on Craigslist—unless you wanted to…

It used to BE that caring about your car meant you had to care for it. Engines, in particular, were viewed as semi-fragile. They needed to be warmed up, shielded from thermal shocks, and allowed to cool down before being turned off, particularly if they were turbocharged. But such quaint notions of mechanical sympathy are long gone, which is why modern engine tests venture well beyond what even the most insensitive driver would do. Resist the urge to blame appliance-minded Americans for the added engineering workload. Mike Herr, Ford's engine-durability specialist, says that as engine portfolios become globalized, companies want to avoid the time and expense of separate testing for each market. "This 'commonization' has often resulted in simply incorporating the most-extreme tests from each operation," he says. For Ford's…

Twenty-some years ago, C/D's editor-in-chief, William Jeanes, recruited a new managing editor whose job it was to improve our writing. "He is, to some of you, an instrument of torture," William said of Steve Spence. "You should know, however, that he is my instrument of torture." In fact, our writing did improve, but one of the M.E.'s pet peeves was insider jargon that he felt scared off novice enthusiasts. The two of us argued endlessly over the acronym "DOHC," which he insisted be spelled out in its entirety, and we further tussled over "unibody," which he said had to be followed by the phrase "versus body-on-frame." If you dared utter shopworn euphemisms like "slushbox" or "mill," he'd make you read a chapter of The Elements of Style, and he once…

KIA SOUL! • PRICE > $26,195 • POWER > 164 hp • TORQUE > 151 lb-ft • WEIGHT > 3112 lb • C/D OBSERVED MPG > 23 FIAT 500L LOUNGE • PRICE > $28,245 • POWER > 160 hp • TORQUE > 184 lb-ft • WEIGHT > 3391 lb • C/D OBSERVED MPG > 21 Lately, the car market's bottom end has been growing faster than a pregnant Kardashian's. In the past decade, cars sized tiny and tinier have increased their share of the market by some 50 percent. Fierce competition in the cheap seats has fostered a boom in innovation and variety, including a new subset that we think of as the IKEA class: rectilinear compacts offering budget-minded buyers distinctive, modern style and practicality. The Scion xB kicked off…

RALLY-CAR NAVIGATORS know that when the inevitable crash happens, the driver will make sure it takes place on the navigator's side of the car. If you're along for the ride, all you can do is prepare for impact and try to avoid any large metal objects coming through the window. Passengers are part of the crumple zone; I get it. Waivers signed and insurance renewed, I board a plane to Germany for what I'm told is a ride in Nissan's 2015 GT-R NISMO. There's something wrong with the math when you fly 5500 miles to go 12.9, but when the car is a white-hot GT-R, just call us Car and Rider. NISMO, Nissan's motorsports and performance division, cut its teeth on the Z and the Juke before messing with Godzilla.…

We're of the mind that the last part of this car's name is redundant—all Ferraris are speciale. Yes, even the California. But spend any time in the industrial burg of Maranello and you'll come to the disturbing realization that its denizens are cool toward the home team. Pedestrians stare straight ahead as a barely disguised LaFerrari slinks past. At the Fiorano test track, an illuminated "Gas Off" sign orders us to lift on the straight because a Ferrari at full bore is, apparently, too noisy for the neighbors to bear. Those who regularly breathe the same air as flat-plane V-8s and fall asleep to the song of V-12s must be desensitized. To the locals, Ferrari's new 458 Speciale is merely a louder and quicker take on the 458 Italia that…

The Rogue moniker may conjure up images of lone wolves, reprobate political figures, or the state of undergarments, but the badge has been no barrier to sales success for the decidedly un-roguish Nissan Rogue. In the U.S., the compact kiddie hauler is Nissan's second-best seller, slugging it out in showrooms with sales champs such as the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, and Toyota RAV4. For 2014, Nissan introduces the second generation of the vehicle with this name, redone in part to use the new Common Module Family architecture, which is shared with Renault. Nissan will continue to sell the old Rogue (some 650,000 have been produced since the 2008 model year), so you'll be able to compare the new and old versions side by side. The old one, to be dubbed…

WHAT WE SAID: "We've heard a few pundits suggest the XF 'doesn't look like a Jaguar.' To which we say: Right, and none too soon." —C/D, JANUARY 2009 CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED CARS LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAPER. 2009–13 For thin-walleted drivers enamored of new Britannia, may we suggest a lightly used Jaguar XF? In 2009 the XF made our 10Best list, though just for the one year. Never cheap when new, the XF nonetheless makes an intriguing used proposition, as a depreciated example sold through the company's Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) program, dubbed Jaguar Select, can be quite the deal. The XF was the first modern Jag to fully depart from the brand's oppressive retro vernacular, but today it looks like a le giti mate member of the family. A 2009 XF (the…

1972–89 The archetypal Mercedes-Benz SL has got to be the granite-sided and chamfered R107, a classically styled Benz roadster that came to embody filthy richness during its seemingly endless and unchallenged U.S. sales streak (1972 through 1989 model years). The R107 evolved in many ways over the course of its long life span, generating a list of both must-have features and better-avoid issues for the prospective owner to ponder. Though well-preserved and -fettled versions still fetch big dollars, some homework can land you a reasonably priced example that will keep your maintenance-induced headaches to a minimum. — james tate BODY: The things to look for in R107s are rust and any signs of damage that may otherwise go unmentioned or of which a seller may be unaware. The SL is…