Innehållsförteckning för August 2017 från Car and Driver

FLAPPERS At last, a cover that spoke without inane text [May 2017]. More of this please. —Johnny Michnay North Olmsted, OH I want to congratulate the C/D be-a-cover-ho marketing department on its ability to get the USPS to sneak the Alfa Romeo door hanger into the privacy of my home. Next time could it at least perforate the page so I can enjoy the cover without trashing the magazine? —Bob Wood York, PA IF 6 WERE 8 Okay, I knew the Ford GT [“Pretty Sick,” May 2017] wouldn’t be cheap, but $450,000?! Who would pay that money for a Ford? You could buy two Astons with that money, or a Rolls, or something like that. Why spend it on a Ford? And I’m not saying Ford is bad—I’m a huge…

WHEN THE E24 BMW 6-SERIES expired with the ’80s, the company decided it was time to take its big coupe upmarket, replacing the 6 with an 8 based on the 7-series sedan. Built to impress, the 8-series was originally offered only with a V-12. It was also priced so high that many 6-series customers couldn’t or wouldn’t make the leap. BMW’s 8-series output totaled less than a third of 6-series production, and the company pulled the plug in 1999, eventually relaunching the 6 in 2003. But now BMW is nudging its big two-door upmarket again. STYLING The look of BMW’s sedans may have become somewhat stale, but the 8-series concept BMW unveiled at the Concorso d’Eleganza on the shores of Italy’s Lake Como this year might portend an awakening in…

WHEN IT COMES TO THE MANY variables of combustion inside an engine, engineers measure the timing of key events in degrees of crankshaft rotation, a relative frame of reference that remains constant without needing to compensate for the engine’s changing rpm. Absent a familiar, conventional time scale, it’s easy to underestimate just how quickly everything moves in an internalcombustion engine. Add in the capabilities of modern electronics and controls that optimize valve events, fuel injection, and spark ignition for power or efficiency, and firing on all cylinders depends on millisecond precision. As just one example, BMW’s N55 turbocharged inline-six engine combines adjustable phasing of both the intake and exhaust cams with variable intake-valve lift. At the engine’s 725-rpm idle, the intake, compression, power, and exhaust strokes, together, happen in just…

Here’s how our other long-term vehicles are faring in their 40,000-mile trials: Newcomer 2017 FORD F-150 RAPTOR SUPERCREW Arrival: Apr/2017 Miles: 2576 Observed mpg: 14 WHEN IT COMES to traversing Michigan potholes, there are two strategies. Most folks employ the balanced-human approach: Plod through the minefield slowly and easily so things don’t get bent. The second tactic requires more, let’s say, commitment. Every vehicle has a safe speed at which it will fly right over the craters, occasionally skimming their edges but never dropping a wheel below the surface. It’s the automotive equivalent of a supercross racer in the whoops. When perfectly executed, both are effective means to get home. Strategy two comes with the reward of getting there sooner and the risk of, say, removing an axle. Until now,…

ACROSS AMERICA, thousands of Volkswagen diesel owners are relinquishing their keys to dealers in exchange for generous buyback checks. Where will they spend their dirty money? If the whole ordeal hasn’t turned them off diesel entirely—a big “if”—General Motors is hoping to divert some of that cash toward its new, 100-percent-certified, completely legal turbo-diesel engine. The 137-hp turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four available now in the compact Chevrolet Cruze sedan—and soon in the Cruze hatchback and Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain crossovers— powers this second-gen Cruze diesel and is one of only six lightduty oil burners certified by the EPA for the 2017 model year. The Clean Air Act won’t be fooled twice. And with those Golf, Jetta, and Passat TDIs now banished from the market and having little chance of returning…

IN THE GAME OF AUTOMOTIVE MASQUERADE that is the butchwagon segment, dark-gray textured plastic is the equivalent of a kid’s cowboy hat. It’s the matte-plastic wheel-arch trim (and sometimes bumper-cover decoration) that says to buyers: “I’ve now become something else. Let’s play.” And, though they must surely see the plain old station wagon underneath, buyers want to oblige. The dress-up wagons sell so much better than their donor versions that Subaru and Audi don’t even bother offering the non-butch versions anymore. But if dark-gray plastic is the key to success in this game, consider the following weird fact: If you pay enough for your V90 Cross Country, Volvo paints those bits the color of the body, making the Cross Country look nearly identical to the standard V90 wagon that the…

THE FIRST DESIGN STUDIES for the Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen were made in 1973, appropriately, out of wood. Clay was far too amorphous a material for the domineering angularity of this proto-SUV. Its styling suited the G-wagen’s intent when it was released globally (but not in the U.S.) in 1979. “It was meant to be an off-road vehicle for civilian and non-civilian use,” says Marcus Maurer, the model’s current technical director. “So the vehicle was developed very form-follows-function.” This meant meeting military demands (one of the first large orders came from the Shah of Iran, though it was canceled when the Islamic Revolution deposed him). Features included a narrow track, locking differentials, and, on convertibles, a folding windshield for easy shipping. But the G’s actual use immediately went off the rails— or,…

Revolutions per minute are suffering a low birth rate. Granted, they’re still something that we generally encounter by the thousands, but their populations are slipping. The Civic Si is the latest to have its revs edged out by the auto industry’s most invasive of species, the turbocharged psi. The naturally aspirated 2.4-liter inline-four in this car’s predecessor wound to 7400 rpm, but the turbocharged 1.5-liter unit in the gen-10 model waves the white flag at 6600. For decades, the Civic Si has been defined by its engine, by the joy of the car rooted in the challenge and satisfaction of shuffling screaming rpm with a nice, tight manual transmission. Now, not long after the spot in the old Si where the high-rpm cam lobes would engage and your spine started…

You’ve likely heard the timeless wisdom that tires are the most important component on your car. It’s true. Assuming your car is equipped with functioning braking and steering systems, plus seatbelts and a powertrain to propel it, that is. Indeed, assuming your car is in fact a car and not a cardboard box with a paper-plate steering wheel, tires are critical. To help inform this most important purchase, we assembled five grippy sets of rubber from the max-performance class of summer tires, ranging from $153 to $198 per tire in our 245/40R-18 test size. It’s possible to buy stickier stuff , but the tires collected here exist in the sweet spot for street-performance tires, with excellent dry grip, impressive wet-weather performance, and expected tread life of 20,000 to 30,000 miles.…

ANY REMAINING NOTION that Lamborghini builds look-at-me rolling billboards for prepubescent rock stars or ’roided-up cage fighters will be well and truly laid to rest by this new Huracán Performante. Think of the Performante as the GT3 version of the Huracán, a status that Lamborghini R&D chief Maurizio Reggiani has bestowed by pursuing four areas of improvement. First came a roughly 90-pound weight loss, thanks to increased use of Lamborghini’s patented Forged Composite carbon-fiber material in the front splitter, engine cover, rear bumper, and rear diffuser. There’s also a 22-pound lighter exhaust system with simpler plumbing and a central outlet. The V-10 engine gets feathery titanium intake valves, which pop open farther and longer to improve breathing, and a less restrictive air filter. The result is 631 horsepower, 29 more…

A PORSCHE SEDAN used to seem like a strange idea, and the first one, the Panamera, did indeed look strange. Mixing two incongruent design briefs—911 styling cues and a need for rear-seat headand legroom—resulted in a four-door hunchback that appeared as if it had been elongated uncomfortably in traction. Each first-generation Panamera we tested drove brilliantly, with enough 911 in the controls to set it apart from its big-sedan competition, but let’s be honest: That thing was hideous. Cut to the second go-round, wherein the Panamera has a gently sloping roofline that complements the 911-like greenhouse and taillights. The long nose’s headlights are reminiscent of the Boxster/Cayman side of the showroom. Quasimodo is now Prince Charming. [+] Porsche’s sedan now looks as good as it goes. [-] Aside from the…

TODAY’S CURMUDGEONS LIKE TO remember the racing of yesteryear as if it were all smiles, a bright Norman Rockwell painting. In reality, it was a brutal and deadly time. But to old eyes starry with nostalgia, the safety of modern racing cars doesn’t compensate for the thrills of the old days. In most racing leagues, safer means slower. At least initially; it almost always takes a few years for engineers to gain back the speed that sturdier, heavier crash structures and aerodynamic changes often subtract. Organizers also slow down the tracks with chicanes and modified corners. Sometimes, those changes require decades of engineering development before the average speed reaches what it once was. So even if the progress isn’t strictly linear, we know that a modern race car is capable…

IT’S A WEEK AFTER the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon’s debut and it is still blowing up the internet. Its specs have already been tattooed on the faces of more than a few of the Mopar faithful. But Dirk Häcker, vice president of engineering at BMW’s M division, hasn’t heard of America’s newest and most powerful muscle car. “How much power?” he asks. “840 horsepower.” He nods. “Does it have a manual transmission?” “Automatic only,” we say. “All-wheel drive?” “Nope, rear-wheel drive.” He takes another sip from his drink. “Maybe my son has heard of it,” he says with more than a hint of derision. “He likes American performance cars.” Häcker’s questions aren’t surprising considering the drivetrain in his team’s latest creation, the 2018 BMW M5, known internally as the F90.…

IT’S BEEN A WHILE since Audi did anything that surprised us. So perhaps we should have known that the new, secondgeneration Audi SQ5 would be much like the old SQ5. It’s yet another new Audi that’s more of a refinement of a familiar formula than a true redesign. Still, it’s better than the old one in just about every way. There is a new engine, with the old SQ5’s supercharged 3.0-liter V-6 giving way to a turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 (meaning the “T” in Audi’s V6T badge finally stands for turbo). It makes the same 354 horsepower as before, but torque rises by 23 pound-feet, and it comes on sooner in the rev range, making it a very usable lump that needn’t be wound out to be exploited. The powertrain impresses…

KILAUEA, THE MOST ACTIVE of the five volcanoes that make up Hawaii’s Big Island and continue to make the land mass bigger, has had nine major eruptions since 1790. As recently as 1974, it blew its top sufficiently to destroy the surrounding roads in the southeast corner of the island. But most days it just percolates along, venting a perpetual plume of sulfur dioxide while searing red magma gurgles for the tourists who funnel by for a glimpse. While piloting Honda’s new family hauler in this geologically intense location, thoughts turned to the minivan’s somewhat more predictable cadence of four melt-and-repour overhauls since its model-year 1995 debut. But even these eruptions have spared much; both the SOHC V-6’s 3.5-liter displacement and the 118.1-inch wheelbase haven’t budged since the 1999 second…