Innehållsförteckning för May-14 från Car and Driver

COVER CRITICS As I casually looked down at my ever-growing Car and Driver magazine collection and saw the latest "Killer Coupes" February issue, I could only think of one thing: Thank you. Thank you for not running the cover line: "Killer Koupes." ANDREW SELLS WEBLANDIA Nice cover photo of the new Mustang. That angle makes the headlights look more integrated with the grille design. But why is that ugly gold Grand Am in the background? I thought the Pontiac division had folded? STEVE ALEXANDER CENTRALIA, ILLINOIS HORSING AROUND I feel like celebrating because there is only American iron in my driveway for the first time. My wife says I'm being smug, but I see it as an automotive renaissance. Ram and Trailhawk cover all of my needs, but…

In 2006, we slapped a roll bar into a $455 Oldsmobile Aurora, buckled on open-faced helmets, formed a team out of office nitwits, and went racing. Well, it wasn't strictly racing—more like half racing, half demolition derby, half Ben-Hur chariot scene. When that first 24 Hours of LeMons was over, we left what little remained of the Aurora at the track for a junk collector. At the time, nobody, not even race organizer Jay Lamm, realized that there was a big future in races for $500 cars. For an activity that began, in Lamm's words, as a "parody of racing," it has undergone a profound evolution. From that first event on the 0.3-mile bullring at Altamont, California, the series has advanced to prestigious tracks such as Sonoma Raceway (the former…

Memory snapshots from Detroit auto shows of my youth: Datsuns parked on candy-red carpet, begging my dad to buy a Renault Alliance (wisely, he bought another Oldsmobile), a Bitter SC, panhandlers in the stairways at Cobo Hall, steam pluming from the manhole covers in a dark, frigid city that the sun seemed to have forgotten. The cymbal crash accompanying the transformation of Detroit's little January dealer show into the North American International Auto Show in 1989 was the debut of the Lexus and Infiniti luxury divisions of Toyota and Nissan, then doing a good job of plowing Detroit under. Along with Acura, Honda's upscale division that launched in 1986, this trio of hot rookie brands intended to turn the lights off in Germany next. That was 25 years ago, in…

If "A Brand-New Car!" represents the modern-day American Dream, what then is a well-cared-for, pre-owned vehicle? If it's something less than dreamy, certainly a used vehicle doesn't present quite the new car's depreciation nightmare. Which is what enabled us to put together this quintet of comparisons, new versus old vehicles similar in price and purpose, if not prestige. We sourced excellent examples of the old cars, market values aligned in price with the MSRPs of their new counterparts. We also collated info about warranties, repairs, and running expenses with help from Vincentric. What we found is simple: Driving anything costs money, but the former is always more important than the latter. Feature . MAY/TWENTY_FOURTEEN/CARandDRIVER.COM . 0 Corvette vs. Testarossa, p.050 Boxster vs. NSX-T, p.054 Grand Cherokee vs. Range Rover Sport,…

Six-figure pickup-truck volumes get all the headlines, but the car market's real heavy hauler is the mid-size sedan. This segment accounts for a greater percentage of new-car sales than any other, but it's not just its size that makes it so ferocious. It's overrun with great offerings that include two 10Besters—the Mazda 6 and Honda Accord—and three of the 10 bestselling vehicles in the U.S. Into this fray, Chrysler lobs its lawn dart, the new generation of which is, basically, a long Dart. Chrysler calls the new 200 a clean-sheet design, but it's more truthfully a clean sheet of Fiat letterhead. Like the Dodge Dart, Chrysler's mid-sizer is based on Fiat's "Compact U.S. Wide" architecture. Stretched just 1.6 inches in wheelbase but 8.4 inches overall compared with the Dart, the…

Age and maturity usually go hand in hand, though not always in divorce court. The Mini Cooper and Cooper S enter their third generation as slightly larger and somewhat less fitfully childish fashion accessories. The new Mini has more comforts, more features, more inches here and there, and more presence and security on the road, even on the chuck-holed goat paths of tropical Puerto Rico where Mini decided to launch the car. Why does the Mini grow when smallness is so directly evoked by the brand name? Some of the credit—or blame, depending on your perspective—goes to the new front-drive UKL platform that the new Mini will share with a full phylum of vehicles coming from Mini, BMW, and maybe even Rolls-Royce (no, not really). The Cooper and Cooper S…

Ed Iskenderian, 92, is one of the original So-Cal hot rodders. His camshafts are in winning race cars around the world. And "Isky" stickers and T-shirts are all over. C/D: When did you start playing with cars? EI: When I was about 13 or 14 years old, my uncle gave me a Model T truck and we'd go driving around the block. Then we got a roadster after that—more or less a junky little lightweight car. What was your first modification to a car? George Riley built a two-spark-plug head [for the Model T] and a slot-port manifold that let you bore out the ports really big. Winfield updraft carburetor down below. Most of the experienced guys were into the B-Fords or the flathead V-8s, but we were sticking with…

It is a CERTAINTY, DEATH. And certainly, the automobile ranks among our favorite ways to court the Grim Reaper. Motor-vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for people younger than 35 years old in the United States, and they continue to rank high throughout adulthood, ahead of gun violence and most diseases. But cars are not the most dangerous method of transportation. Both commuter airlines and mass transit pose a greater risk of fatality per mile traveled. Much less shocking is that motorcycles are the single most dangerous method of getting from point A to B. And if you're looking for the lowest chance of meeting an untimely demise, a seat behind the wheel of a big rig—protected by all that mass and metal—is the place to be. We…

At this year's Detroit auto show, Ford's F-150 nabbed headlines with its courageous move from steel to aluminum for the entire cab and bed, potentially saving hundreds of pounds. Equally courageous, but less reported, is Ford's choice of materials for the 2015 F-150's 2.7-liter twin-turbocharged "Nano" V-6 engine: It has a cast-iron cylinder block. Conventional wisdom says that iron is too heavy for modern cars and trucks. Ford's first manufacturing genius, Charles "Cast-Iron Charlie" Sorensen, earned his nickname by integrating the Model T's major engine and transmission components into just a few castings. But during the past two decades, engineers have systematically switched blocks and heads from iron to aluminum to save weight. So why the seemingly retrograde move to an iron block for the F-150's 2.7-liter V-6, especially when…

EVEN AS MODERN SPORTS CARS REACH NEW PERFORMANCE HEIGHTS, CARMAKERS ARE SELLING A NEW KIND OF FAST WITH SINGLE-MINDED TRACK-DAY SPECIALS. THIS IS AMERICA'S TRACK STAR. "I TOLD 'EM ON THE RADIO THAT I WAS PULLING OVER A Z/28, AND THEY SAID THEY DON'T MAKE THEM NO MORE," THE COP SAYS WITH A DRAWL STRAIGHT OFF THE PAGES OF FAULKNER. "I TOLD 'EM, 'WHATEVER IT IS, THIS IS A BAD-ASS CAR.' " This member of Alabama's finest claims that Dick Knoll, Camaro lead integration engineer and driver of the Z/28 I'm riding in, put a wheel over the yellow line a mile back on Interstate 20. Knoll doesn't dispute it because it's already evident that no tickets will be written today. This is a fan-boy…

Endurance ace David Jahn is setting a smart pace at Porsche's private Leipzig racetrack. His 911 Carrera's spoiler deploys when speeds near 75 mph, then retracts under braking. Three journalists nip at the 911's rump around the 2.3-mile collection of corners copied from the world's most revered circuits. This is SOP for these media launches; what's unusual about this session is that Jahn is hustling his 911 at nine-tenths to stay ahead of a pack of SUVs. Porsche's Macan isn't the first ute armed with 911-caliber horsepower, but it is the first wholly successful attempt (not counting the much-too-heavy Cayenne) at jamming five conflicting skills—speed, agility, comfort, utility, and off-road nerve—into one handy package. "Macan" is an Indonesian word for tiger, which seems fitting. Tigers have been known to attack…

Climate changer. BMW's definitive statement on the issue of global warming is not the tree-hugging i3. It is this, the 4-series convertible, a true four-season car that embraces climate change by thriving in any weather. Yes, the 4 is fun in the sun, but like the 3-series convertible it succeeds, its real triumph is that it's still entertaining and cozy when the sun is hiding. As with the open 3er, BMW uses a three-piece retractable hardtop here, but this polar vortex–proofing is just the tip of the melting iceberg. For the first time, BMW will offer its compact convertible with four-wheel drive. Both xDrive models go on sale later in the year, carrying a $2000 premium over the $49,675 and $55,825 base prices BMW is asking for the rear-drive 428i…

Have you ever peeked through the window of a sports car to see what transmission it has? Did you scoff and silently judge the owner for saddling his or her sports car with an automatic? We've done that, too. But if you spot a new 911 Turbo on the street, don't bother peering through the glass; this one only comes with a dual-clutch automatic. Before you get indignant and throw this magazine at the kid who keeps snapping his gum in the waiting room, you should know that the automatic in the Turbo S is a bright spot in an extraordinary car. Its launch-control function is what puts the Turbo S in the company of the quickest production cars ever built. Launch control isn't new, but in the Turbo S…

Luc Donckerwolke has held a wide range of design positions within the VW-Audi family. He joined Audi in 1992 and was chief designer at Lamborghini by 2003. In 2011, he became boss of the Volkswagen Group's advanced design and since late 2012 has been chief stylist for Bentley. And his personal car collection, including a Lamborghini Miura, is even more impressive than his résumé. C/D: We hear you have a fantastic car collection. LD: Actually, I am quite frustrated and ashamed not to drive them. My new professional challenges plus a shoulder surgery forced many into hibernation. Let's talk about the cars I managed to drive in the past few months: A white BMW 3.0 CSi that was a childhood dream—the Batmobiles at Spa-Francorchamps left me desiring this…

I learn a lot from the trade publication Automotive News. For instance: Saab's new owner has restarted production of the Saab 9-3 Aero sedan in Trollhättan, Sweden. Sales will be "initially focused" in China and will be "very modest" with an output of 10 cars per week. The car resembles the last 9-3 built two years ago. That's the plan? The plan for the return of a twice-baked Swedish meatball that now costs about $43,000 and relies on a senescent GM drivetrain? Of course, producing only 10 cars weekly, Saab will save hugely on shipping. Just hire Swedish college kids to drive the cars directly to Qingdao, where a lone Midas muffler shop will accommodate the entire inventory. The whole thing reminds me of writer Paulo Coelho, as facetiously channeled…

ANYBODY WHO HAS EVER BEEN SERVED a gourmet meal prepared in a hurry will understand the new Maserati Ghibli. The meat hasn't soaked in the marinade long enough. The sauce hasn't fully opened up. The soufflé collapsed. And for this feast, which is nearly but not quite finished, the kind of people who can hear a dollar bill landing on shag carpet will be asked to pay the bulk of a hundred grand. There may be resistance. Rushing sausages to market before they're fully cured has long been standard operating procedure at the Italian salumerie. Your humble author continues to serve on the testing and development team (otherwise known as the owner body) for the Lamborghini Espada—36 years after the car went out of production. And for decades, Maserati has…

BEE KEEPING THE SUBARU BRZ, ALONG WITH ITS SCION FR-S TWIN, is a car of enormous significance to enthusiasts. Not since Mazda's Miata two-seater made its debut 25 years ago has a new rear-drive sports car been so attainable yet so dedicated to the art of driving. But while we are able to concede some refinements in the name of the Subieyota's appealing base price and handling prowess, its overall polish remains a bit, shall we say, rough. Given the BRZ's specs—rear-drive, 200 horsepower, manual gearbox, less than 30 grand—we began our 40,000 miles of study long before it and the Scion formally secured 10Best trophies for 2013. The Subaru was always our first choice, as the company handled the bulk of the engineering, including the fitment of one of…

Direct object. Before the sheets were yanked off the 2015 Subaru WRX STI in Carmel, California, bloggers had discovered that the car's 2.5-liter engine would produce 305 horsepower at 6000 rpm—same as the outgoing STI's. Armed with that nugget alone, they let fly with invective that recollected, oh, let's say Silvio Berlusconi under cross-examination by Charlie Sheen. So, upon alighting in Eastwood Central, we cornered Masuo Takatsu, Subaru's program manager for STI. Said he: "I felt the STI's weaker area was the handling side. If we didn't have the chassis, why add more power to overwhelm it? Also, this EJ engine has proved itself in competition. It's an engine we confidently bring to the track, [whereas] the new FA series in the WRX has not been proven in motorsports. Plus,…

Peel back the skin of Mercedes-Benz's new GLA, a sort of four-door coupe of a crossover, and you'll find a set of bones virtually identical to those of the CLA low-roof sedan. Both are based on Mercedes' front-/four-wheel-drive compact-car architecture, which provides a communal platform not only for this pair of bantam Benzes but also for the carmaker's even smaller A- and B-classes. The powertrains, too, are clones. The transverse-mounted 208-hp 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder from the CLA250 sedan and the CLA45 AMG's robust, highly massaged 355-hp version of that same engine dive under the hood of this crossover virtually unchanged. Like the CLA, the GLA250 will come in both two- and four-wheel drive, but the hot-rod GLA45 AMG only sends power to all four wheels. If you're curious about just…