Innehållsförteckning för May 2018 från Car and Driver

2018 McLaren 720S vs. California State Route 243 California State Route 243 is a bad road. So many great roads are. Eighty-five miles east of Los Angeles, the northern end of this 29-mile asphalt patchwork offers incredible views of the confluence of the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults. Some 3000 feet higher, near the road’s southern terminus, a typical winter dumps 32 inches of snow. The pavement here takes its beatings from above and below, and it shows. But mostly SR 243 is cracked and buckled from years of neglect. It connects an industrial city of 30,000 with a town of less than 100, and you could drive it in both directions and still you’ll be convinced that it goes nowhere. No surprise, then, that it’s been either forgotten…

[+] Overachieving powertrain, Wagnerian exhaust note, racetrack ready. [–] Low-rpm lowing, touchy brakes. IS IT JUST US, or has the automotive world gone crazy? Well, okay, crazier. As evidence, consider that manufacturers now not only routinely drag their high-performance cars to the fabled Nürburgring Nordschleife to break lap records, they’re also doing the same thing with their hyperactive SUVs. Two outfits currently vying for’Ring lap-time supremacy and the brand cred that comes with it are Porsche—no surprise there—and Alfa Romeo. It’s a David-and-Goliath moment, and as in the parable, the little guy is winning: The new 505-hp Stelvio Quadrifoglio, with Alfa factory driver Fabio Francia at the wheel, recently seared the writhing 12.9-mile python in 7 minutes, 51.7 seconds. It was the fastest-ever lap for a production SUV, beating the…

[+] Attractive inside and out, nails the fun-to-drive quotient. [-] Stiff ride, road and suspension noise, high as-tested price. THERE’S A BMW roundel stuck to the C-pillar of the new X2. It’s an impossible-to-miss detail on a crossover-hatchback thing that is in itself impossible to miss, especially in Galvanic Gold Metallic. It looks great stuck back there, behind the X2’s version of the Hofmeister kink. Does it matter that only the most devout of the BMW faithful will know that this badge is a tribute to the CS coupes of the ’60s and ’70s? Probably not. This is the kind of vehicle the luxury market is clamoring for now, and this nugget of intrabrand appropriation seems unlikely to impact sales projections. But despite the X2’s transversely mounted engine, its standard…

NEARLY SIX YEARS AFTER Tesla’s Model S became the first volume-produced pure-electric luxury vehicle with a range rivaling that of internal-combustionengined cars, it still has no direct competition. Indeed, the $3.5 trillion auto industry has inexplicably sat by while this upstart built a $56 billion market capitalization. At least until now. Jaguar’s production 2019 I-Pace looks almost exactly like the electric crossover concept that stunned Los Angeles showgoers in 2016. When it arrives in dealerships later this year, priced from $70,495 before tax credits, it will give the well-heeled something to cross-shop. And Elon Musk headaches. CHASSIS The I-Pace is a four-door hatch with a small frunk and a generous rear cargo hold. Formwise, it sort of splits the difference between the Tesla Model S and X. Its cabin promises…

Can we predict the future? Sure thing. We just schedule a few dozen Blanton’s-fueled meetings with our editors from around the world, ply various product-planning deep throats with promises of cover stories, and sit down to a lengthy consultation with a Ouija board that David E. Davis Jr. bought at a Christie’s auction in 1969. After that, a vision of the future emerges—well, at least the one concerning cars. And after it, a list, ordered by our level of excitement, of the 25 most interesting new vehicles that will arrive in the next four years or so. Here is that list, and almost none of what’s in it is made up. 25 2019 ROLLS-ROYCE CULLINAN WHAT IT IS • Rolls-Royce’s answer to the Bentley Bentayga, set to arrive at the…

[+] Looks inspire lust, a coupe when necessary, it’s a Ferrari. [-] Back seats still useless. A STARTER FERRARI? To those of us whose 401(k)s contain some pocket lint and an unclaimed McDonald’s Monopoly Big Mac, there is no such animal. The $214,533 Portofino replaces the best-selling California T, marketed as the mortal’s passageway to Rossoland. Unlike its forebear, though, the Portofino’s aspirations lie beyond the whole “entry-level Ferrari” thing, which, as we’ve just established, is not a coherent ontology. With its power-folding hardtop raised, the Portofino appears longer and more squat than the Cali—almost a mini–812 Superfast. It is actually just 0.1 inch lower, 1.1 inches wider, and 0.7 inch longer than the car it replaces. Stowing the roof reveals the biggest transformation. Where the California hid its bulky…

GEORGE POTEET’S Mississippi accent often slides off into a chuckle at the end of a sentence, as if he finds his own automotive life surprisingly entertaining. He grew up in the tiny town of Mantachie, Mississippi, in a house that lacked indoor plumbing and electricity, and took to cars early. Poteet went to work for National Safety Associates in 1969 collecting past-due accounts, rose to senior management, and eventually became the company’s second-largest shareholder. Now that he’s made it, his passion and pocketbook are helping make others in the hot-rod business. His 1000-acre compound just south of Memphis houses more than 120 cars, many of them among the best hot rods ever built. Projects commissioned by Poteet are always finished to the highest standard. They take a lot of time…

AUTOMAKING BEHEMOTH VOLKSWAGEN leverages economies of scale with unparalleled success. It uses similar architectures to underpin Phaetons and six-figure Continental GTs, Polos and Passats. That strategy is hardly unique to the Volkswagen Group. What is unique is the way each VW brand maintains its distinctive character. That’s largely due to the Group’s engine lineup, the most diverse in the industry. In a market where it feels as if every brand’s engine menu lists four-, six-, and eight-cylinders, novel mills such as Audi’s inline-five and Bentley’s W-12 imbue the Group’s closely related cars with personalities all their own and the sort of cachet that attracts enthusiasts and the well-heeled alike—even if it’s the four-cylinders that thrill the Wolfsburg accountants. Here’s the full rundown of the under-the-hood oddities Volkswagen offers in the…

A PREDICTION: WHEN THE ROBOCAR REVOLUTION ULTIMATELY PROVES TO BE LESS THAN REVOLUTIONARY, WE WILL BLAME ITS LEVEL 5 ENDGAME. After all, you can get only so excited about napping or working, and there’s just not that much worth watching on Netflix. Doing mundane stuff in a moving car will be amazing once, maybe twice, and then the novelty will wear off. People will start looking around for a steering wheel. Because driving is exciting. Cars are machines that allow people to do inconceivable things. With the mastery of just a few simple controls, we can travel at impossible speeds and feel sensations otherwise unavailable in our terrestrial existence. Cars don’t need to become robots; they already are robots. Only after an intense study of the literature—vintage science-fiction novels, Bronze…

Key: - Repairs - Damage - Maintenance - Normal Wear - Oil Additions September 2, 2016 316 miles: Jaguar XE begins its long-term test. September 27, 2016 3073 miles: We replace the right-front tire, which had developed a sidewall bulge, $305 November 9, 2016 6912 miles: Right-front tire bubbles again and we replace it, $305 November 17, 2016 8279 miles: Dealer diagnoses the clattering under acceleration as a cracked idler pulley and orders a replacement. Also replaces a cracked hose in the evaporative-emissions system, reprograms the powertrain control module, and tops up low coolant—all covered under warranty, $0 November 22, 2016 8413 miles: We install Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 tires ($1088). November 28, 2016 8871 miles: Cracked idler pulley identified at previous service is replaced by dealer, $0 December 14,…

[+] Massive towing ability, plush cabin, sublime ride. [-] Does the world want a luxury truck? THERE’S A WAR RAGING on the home front. A divide in our nation. A fight between deeply entrenched opponents. Social media is up in arms. But it’s not what you think. This thing has been going on for decades. This is the truck war, the clash between the best-selling vehicles in the U.S. In 2017, combined truck sales for the Detroit Three amounted to more than 2.3 million rigs. That’s a new pickup for every man, woman, and child in Idaho and Wyoming—the sorts of places where even an eight-year-old might need one. For 2019, Ram rearms itself with the all-new 1500-series pickup. The first move in redesigning a 21st-century truck is to shed…