Innehållsförteckning för Mar-15 från Car and Driver

Sic your dogs on us at: editors@caranddriver.com or join the discussion at: backfires.caranddriver.com DOMESTICATED A Mustang has been on five covers of your magazine this year. Enough already! It's like you have a big wheel you spin to see which car to feature on the cover, and the only cars on that wheel are Mustang, Corvette, Mustang, Camaro, BMW, Mustang, Corvette, Porsche, BMW, Mustang, Corvette, Mustang. Please insert a letter below from another reader who wants to see more Mustangs on your covers and thinks Ezra Dyer is the funniest thing since Bob Saget was on Full House. RYAN OWENS GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA I was so surprised to see the new Mustang on the December 2014 issue; it's not often you feature a domestic on the cover! CALUM…

The 2015 Chevrolet CORVETTE Z06 posts some impressive performance numbers thanks to its 650-hp, 6.2-liter supercharged V-8. It also posts some impressive BTUs. A byproduct of that flame-breathing engine is heat, and lots of it, generated primarily by combustion, friction, and intake-air compression. These and other factors, such as the low hoodline and pinched frontal openings demanded by stylists and aero engineers, contribute to the complex thermal-management task faced by engineers working on nearly all of this car's varied subsystems. To assure that the Z06's maximum performance is attended by minimal risk of failure, GM p erformed heat-related stress analysis and modeling, as well as conventional hot-weather testing in Arizona. Here's a look at the maximum operating temperatures of Z06 components: IN GENERAL, THE CORVETTE Z06 IS DESIGNED TO BE…

Maybe it's just me, but the hustling, hurried valets at the 128-year-old Hotel del Coronado in San Diego seemed to straighten up and slow down when we rolled up in the Rolls-Royce Wraith. It's as if the arrival of a $361,875 Roller was exactly what they had trained for, what they had been drilled on by picayune instructors with flat-brimmed hats and clipboards, what affirms their decision to make a career in the valet-parking industry. Our Wraith, painted Salamanca Blue, which is as divinely hued as the Virgin Mary's cloak, was simply pulled forward a few feet. The valets dropped a couple of cones around it and let it sit there in the driveway, a static parade float, a one-vehicle car show, and yet another phone-camera op for those enjoying…

THE WAY OUT Angeles Crest Highway runs through the Angeles National Forest from the town of La Cañada to Wrightwood. Construction began in 1929 but was stopped during the war; the road opened in 1956. The highway rises to nearly 8000 feet, which can mean snow in the winter. BMW i8 vs. Angeles Crest Highway LOS ANGELES MIGHT HAVE THE WEATHER OF EDEN, but instead of being home to two naked people, there are nearly 4 million here, only some of whom are naked. Those 4 million individuals create traffic so dense and soul-crushing, it gets end-of-times nicknames such as Carmageddon. Traffic never sleeps in the City of Angels. Even the countless planes that are lined up to land at LAX are stuck in traffic. Elevated freeways crisscross the city…

KIA SEDONA SXL PRICE > $43,295 POWER > 276 hp TORQUE > 248 lb-ft WEIGHT > 4772 lb C/D OBSERVED MPG > 20 HONDA ODYSSEY ELITE PRICE > $45,480 POWER > 248 hp TORQUE > 250 lb-ft WEIGHT > 4615 lb C/D OBSERVED MPG > 22 TOYOTA SIENNA LIMITED PRICE > $48,035 POWER > 266 hp TORQUE > 245 lb-ft WEIGHT > 4719 lb C/D OBSERVED MPG > 19 /// It's possible that none of this matters. Billions of years from now, after all of humanity's great struggles and achievements, the universe will collapse back in on itself, and all that exists and all knowledge of all that was will be compressed into a singularity so inescapable that not even Katniss Everdeen will be able to shoot her way out.…

Before our very eyes a new car segment is being born: the wee SUV. It's defined as a tall box based on a small car and priced around $18,000 to $25,000, and automakers are certain that it will be big. No fewer than three new models were shown at the Los Angeles auto show in November, including the Honda HR-V, the Mazda CX-3, and the Fiat 500X. Add to that the new Jeep Renegade [see page 44] and some established players such as the Nissan Juke, and you've got a full-on street brawl of mini washing machines. GM has been delighted (and us, stunned) with sales of its first little ute, the Buick Encore, which has been selling at a rate of more than 4000 a month. This despite a…

If you're planning to order a new BMW and your passport is up to date, the most exciting option on the order form might be European delivery. Instead of just picking up the car at your local dealership, use European delivery to meet your BMW in its ancestral home. Think of it as a European vacation in your new car with BMW defraying some of the costs of the trip. I went there in October to pick up my 428i xDrive Gran Coupe, and I lived to tell the tale. Vehicle delivery occurs at the BMW Welt exhibition and delivery center, across the street from BMW's headquarters in Munich. Located next to the Munich Olympic Park, BMW Welt (German for "world") is a striking piece of cyclonic, space-station architecture that…

I WOULD WALK 1000 MILES Based on the experiences of current Volt owners, many of whom charge often enough to average more than 900 miles between fill-ups, Chevrolet estimates that buyers of the new Volt will go 1000 miles or more between stops at the gas station. THE ENGINE WILL NOW RUN ON REGULAR GAS, WHEREAS THE OUTGOING VOLT REQUIRED PREMIUM. THE VOLT SHEDS NEARLY 250 POUNDS IN THIS REDESIGN. in the eight YEARS since it was announced, the Chevrolet Volt has been a few different things. First, it was a concept at Detroit's 2007 North American International Auto Show, presented as Old GM's technological Great Leap Forward. Then it became a political tool to get New GM through its 2009 bankruptcy. And it has always been a sop to…

To engineers, electric power steering (EPS) is a godsend. For starters, EPS only uses energy when it's needed, unlike hydraulic systems, which require engine-driven pumps that run continuously. And electric motors are more efficient than hydraulic pumps. The typical benefit to fuel efficiency is 3 to 4 percent, or almost 1 mpg for mid-size vehicles. Plus, because EPS is controlled by a computer, its behavior can be tailored much more extensively than a hydraulic system's. And though EPS components are generally more expensive than hydraulic parts, the systems recoup much of their extra costs during assembly, as wiring harnesses are easier to connect than hydraulic lines. But steering feel is hard to achieve with EPS. Those who, like us, are sensitive to steering feel, particularly the feedback that signals how…

In the realm of concept cars, we have two general categories. First, there are the total flights of fancy, the machines that have an odd number of wheels or nuclear power or the steering wheel that is also a fish tank. Sometimes journalists dare the car companies to actually build these things, and that's how we ended up with the Plymouth Prowler. On the other hand, there are concept cars that are barely disguised production cars, just a year or two ahead of their showroom debuts. The Audi Prologue, unveiled at the Los Angeles auto show, would appear to fall into the latter category. It doesn't fly, go invisible, or run on narwhal burps. It just looks like a really bodacious big coupe, of the sort that Audi might build—wink,…

Jeep Renegade Limited 4x4 This little Jeep Toontown trucklet is a veritable bouillon cube of cuteness. From the Jeep Renegade's big, innocent peepers (bearing a little Jeep grille and headlights logo) to its saccharine-sweet taillights molded with an "X" in the middle to look like the side of a jerrycan, the Renegade is 166.6 inches of concentrated adorableness. Naturally, the taillights also have little Jeep grille-and-headlights logos embedded within them. Open the rear doors and you'll see NO STEP! molded into the flared, black-plastic rocker panel. For chrissakes, the speaker grilles in all four of its doors have little seven-slot Jeep grilles and headlights molded into them. That's right, the Renegade's grilles have grilles. We eventually stopped trying to find all of these whimsical Easter eggs that have turned this…

Imagine driving a concept car, one that appears to have been plucked from a turntable at the Detroit auto show. Imagine also that this machine, for which the designers claim to have drawn inspiration from "the futuristic allure of hypersonic travel," can be affordably purchased at a dealership. Nissan offers just such a proposition in the new Murano, last year's middling mid-size crossover now recast with the look of the 2013 Resonance show car. Since the Murano rolls off an assembly line in Canton, Mississippi, rather than out the doors of a design studio, it can be yours for as little as $30,445. Going all-in can send the price above $45,000, but the Resonance look is all there at any price: shiny chrome, concave body-side surfaces, boomerang-shaped LED taillights, and…

PRESENTED BY CHEVROLET NEW FINDS Modern life requires versatility, which explains the continued rise of crossovers in the marketplace. But it's not just the crossover's up-for-anything attitude and flexible cargo hold that confer this versatility. In vehicles such as the Chevrolet Equinox, you can also count on available features like 4G LTE* connectivity, forward-collision alert, and MyLink†. It all adds up to the very definition of the modern crossover. *Requires compatible device, active OnStar service, and data plan. See onstar.com for system details and limitations. †MyLink functionality varies by model. Full functionality requires comparable Bluetooth and smartphone, and USB connectivity for some devices. Four bike-toting solutions, tight pants not included. WITH THE FOOT-POWERED CAR entombed in the Flintstones' garage, we turn instead to bicycles as our exercise tool of choice.…

EDITOR QUOTE: "Doing a private lease is like sitting down to a casino table at Las Vegas. The odds favor the house." — C/D, JUNE 2003 GROSS CAPITALIZED COST This is the full sticker price of the car. Leases, like purchases, are based on vehicle prices that are negotiable. The lower the vehicle's price, the less the lease will cost you. CAPITALIZED COST REDUCTION This is how much you've managed to reduce the price of the car. This may be due to your negotiation skills, rebates and incentives, or a down payment. ACQUISITION FEE Some leasing companies charge this fee, sometimes also called a document fee, to take delivery of the leased vehicle. Occasionally, this is rolled into the capitalized cost and is therefore hidden. SALES AND USE TAXES A…

Ian Callum has been Jaguar's design director for 16 years, but he has never owned one of the company's products until now. Recently, Classic Motor Cars, a Jag shop in the U.K., finished this customized 1963 MK2 sedan for him. The modifications are to Callum's own spec, including composite bumpers designed on the same CAD software he uses at work. The result is a highly personalized interpretation of the car the Scotsman admits helped inspire him to be a designer. C/D: So, why not an E-type? IC: From an early age, I always wanted to own a MK2. It was a very, very influential car on me. It's one of those nostalgic things. I love the shape of it; I love the size of it. It was very much the…

A New Jersey dealership has agreed to pay a $3 million punitive damage award for failing to warn the owner of a 2004 Chevrolet TrailBlazer involved in a rollover accident that a tire was going bald. —Automotive News, May 26, 2014 Prosecutors in Arkansas obtained a $2 million judgment against a Little Rock Honda dealership whose service department failed to warn a little-leaguer, traveling in a just-serviced Odyssey minivan, to "always wear an athletic cup." Jury members were influenced by Timmy Jenkins's testimony, in which the tousled-hair nine-year-old recalled his encounter with a line drive that he caught with his thighs. Orlando, Florida, councilman Joel Bellowing was awarded $320,000 in District Court when he proved to the jury's satisfaction that a Speedy Muffler he purchased in March did not, in…

FORD'S FIRST F-150 RAPTOR HIT LIKE A METEORITE WHEN IT MADE ITS DEBUT FOR 2010—sudden, spectacular, and surprising. It was the first true high-perform ance off-road pickup with a factory warranty, a proud totem of badassery. Developed by Ford's Special Vehicle Team, it somehow survived both the Baja 1000 desert race and the worst economic faceplant in recent history to become a certified critical and commercial success, even if many a Raptor never set a wheel off-road. We predict more of the same now that a new, lighter F-150 platform will underpin Ford's exurban pre-runner. While many details are still guarded, the second-gen truck will launch sometime next year as a 2017 model under the new Ford Performance banner. So it's just called the F-150 Raptor now. It's also more…

Highly regulated, painstakingly designed, often cleverly packaged, and increasingly stuffed with technology, a modern car's interior is equal parts engineering feat and artistic expression. Sweating the details is critical, because the cabin is the filter through which we experience the machine and the road. At its highest level, though, the interior itself is a sensory event. It can be a visually stunning tableau in aluminum, a 20-speaker companion, a tactile encounter with open-grain ash trim, and a rolling humidor redolent of vegetable-tanned leather. The following pages are a celebration of those who do interiors best. But we've also tried to provide insight into the technology of the modern cockpit, which is as complex and considered as the sheetmetal that surrounds it. For as the old maxim goes, the bodywork might…

The Polaris Slingshot SL you see here is red, but base versions come in only one color: titanium metallic. One might call it gray, as in the gray area between cars and motorcycles, a regulatory DMZ where few dare to tread. Yes, the Slingshot is a three-wheeler, a reverse trike, the ol' tripod. Three points make a plane, but it's not plain whether Polaris will be able to convince state bureaucrats that this contraption belongs to the motorcycle family. Freedom-loving Texas, for instance, will happily let you park your helmetless carcass on a Hayabusa, but it blocked sales of the Slingshot on the logic that it has bucket seats and is thus not a motorcycle. Go back to the drawing board and come back when it's more dangerous. Indeed, the…

"A new car is alluring because (a) like marrying a virgin, its particular charms and secrets have presumably been known to no other and (b) its problems, if any, will be corrected at no cost to you." — BEST CARS FOR $20K, OCTOBER 2009 Play it safe, get ambitious, or go for the risk. We all choose a path we're comfortable with when shopping for a used car. Make the safe play and you're in for reliable transportation that even your most car-ignorant neighbor will think is a smart buy. There is, after all, much to be said for not overheating your Visa's magnetic strip getting something—the same thing—fixed again and again. An ambitious choice can take many forms. It can be an edgy, old, or determinedly antisocial vehicle, and…

1995-1999 After the arrival of the sublime, daily-drivable Acura NSX in 1990, Ferrari thoroughly reworked the underwhelming 348 to create the modern and excellent F355. In March 1995, we called the F355 "easily the best eight-cylinder Ferrari [we've] ever driven" and advised drivers to "just zing this little V-8 to eight grand or so and listen to the music." The F355 remains a great driver's car, and depreciation has put it within the grasp of mere mortals. — james tate In addition to the hardtop Berlinetta, Ferrari also built the targa-top F355 GTS and a convertible Spider. SUSPENSION: Actuators at the top of each of the F355's shock absorbers that regulate damping force occasionally fail. Replacement is cheap as far as Ferrari fixes go, about $1000 each. ENGINE: The F355's…