Innehållsförteckning för November 2018 från Car and Driver

ASTON MARTIN VANTAGE Price: $186,806 Power: 503 hp Torque: 505 lb-ft Weight: 3726 lb 0–60 mph: 3.4 sec PORSCHE 911 GT3 Price: $151,200 Power: 500 hp Torque: 339 lb-ft Weight: 3303 lb 0–60 mph: 3.6 sec MERCEDES-AMG GT C Price: $167,765 Power: 550 hp Torque: 502 lb-ft Weight: 3743 lb 0–60 mph: 3.4 sec Like all good mountain roads, the byways squirming through the Appalachian foothills southeast of Richmond, Kentucky, look as if they were laid out by someone trying to scribble over something else. They barrel helter-skelter across the region’s topography, following meandering rivers and tap-dancing along ridgelines. They thread their way past the occasional derelict car, the sort a goat would be proud to stand atop, but otherwise blissfully few domiciles. They are, in other words, the perfect…

A sideas go, this one might not make automotive history, but it’s the kind of thing we think about between rounds of office Plinko. Nissan could have executed the most accurate and brilliant car-branding plot in history when it named its sedans. Consider this: After the introduction of its big car, the Maxima, in 1981, a natural next step would have been to call its new small sedan for 1982 the Minima. Without consulting us, Nissan named it the Sentra. Ten years later, when the company trotted out its revised mid-size sedan, it could have completed the trifecta by calling it the Media. Minima, Media, and Maxima are names so easy to remember that even Motor Trend could do it. But it was not to be. Nissan’s mid-size car is…

Living easy, living free. Key: - Repair - Damage - Maintenance - Normal Wear - Oil Additions January 23, 2017 94 miles: The BMW M2 begins its long-term test. We install Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 winter tires ($1101). February 1, 2017 1159 miles: Dealer performs a four-wheel alignment and the 1200-mile oil change. During the inspection, dealer discovers a leaking differential and replaces it under warranty, $0 February 7, 2017 1368 miles: The right-rear tire is punctured, temporarily revived with sealant, and repaired the following day at the local tire shop, $20 February 21, 2017 2911 miles: Dealer completes the “1200-mile” service on the replaced differential, swapping the fluid, $0 April 21, 2017 6087 miles: We reinstall the Michelin Pilot Super Sport summer tires. June 20, 2017 10,757 miles: Dealer…

IT’S EASY TO GET LOST in the spectacular views of northern Italy’s Alpine region. The jagged peaks of the Dolomites jutting up from the earth, the crystal-clear lakes filling the valleys, and the lush green hillsides are overwhelming. It should be easy, ascending and descending the never-ending switchbacks, to erase memories of the uninspiring first-generation Audi Q3. But it’s not. Introduced in 2011 for other markets, the Q3 made its way to the U.S. for the 2015 model year to establish Audi’s presence in the booming luxury-subcompact market. But it was underpinned by a prehistoric platform, its interior could have been dated by radiocarbon, and its styling was as bland as Kansas Thai food. The second-generation Q3 starts with a clean sheet. Crack open the Audi Q8, split the Q7’s…

McLAREN PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT moves with the efficiency of a fast-food chain stacking beef patties, buns, and cheese into a dozen different menu items. Working from a stock of carbon-fiber tubs, twin-turbo V-8s, and seven-speed dual-clutch gearboxes, the Brits churn out new supercars as if they’re seasonal fare. And despite the architectural similarity, each model has just enough tweaked ingredients to make it stand apart from the others. The new $242,500 600LT gives drivers a taste of the range-topping Senna’s intensity in a smaller serving at a quarter of the price. Derived from McLaren’s entry offering, this so-called Longtail adds 1.9 inches to the rump and 1.1 inches to the nose of the 570S coupe. The geometry is secondary to the philosophy, though. The LT recipe modifies the 570S for less…

WHEN IT COMES TO SEDANS, German auto executives love to talk about sportiness. Although they never specify what sport they are referring to—racquetball? buzkashi? quoits?—we know what they mean: that a car feels athletic, as a sports sedan should. It’s a concept that BMW did much to create and popularize with the 3-series (and its progenitor, the 02-series), but it’s an area in which the current 3 feels notably deficient. So although the new 3-series is bigger, lighter, and more technology-laden than its predecessor, BMW is crowing loudest about how much better it will be to drive. CHASSIS Known internally as G20, this 3-series is based on the same Cluster Architecture (a.k.a. CLAR) that underpins BMW’s larger longitudinal-engine models, with a structure that uses more aluminum and high-strength steel than…

The kick-drum thump of a harmless 30-mph shunt into an inflatable faux car rouses the same visceral remorse as a real car crash. The stomach knots with nausea. Mortification burns deep in every muscle. Within seconds, the brain catalogs the near trauma under Things That Should Not Be Repeated, right next to beer pong played with Captain Morgan. Against our instincts, we keep taking runs at the balloon car. We nudge, punch, and plow into the generic air-filled Volkswagen again and again and again, not unlike American drivers, who, in 2016, drove into the back ends of other vehicles 2.4 million times. The rear-end collision is America’s favorite way to bend sheet-metal, accounting for nearly one-third of all crashes. But for every hit in our testing, there are several more…

Since Tesla produced its first car in 2008, dozens of new companies have announced intentions to enter the vehicle market. Some have appeared at auto shows with convincing prototypes. Others were conjured into existence by those seemingly more fluent in HTML than horsepower. We imagine the dawn of the mass-produced automobile a hundred years ago was something like this past decade, although Volkswagen, General Motors, and Toyota will likely prove to be more entrenched than the horse-and-buggy trade. Many of these would-be automakers seem to regard Elon Musk as their patron saint and are thus fueled by a cocktail of electrification, automation, and ride-sharing stirred with a dash of megalomaniacal executive demagoguery. But when “white space” in the existing market means tiny mobility pods more suited to a golf course…

Newcomer 2019 INFINITI QX50 AWD Arrival: Jul/2018 Miles: 4293 • Observed mpg: 21 NOT SINCE THE DAWN OF THE AUTOMOBILE has anyone messed with anything this fundamental to the internal-combustion engine. The addition of computer-controlled linkages between the crankshaft and the connecting rods makes the Infiniti QX50’s four-cylinder the first mass-production engine capable of varying its compression ratio. We plan to find out if this hugely complex device can deliver a meaningful fuel-economy boost—see page 020 for more on that—but also to determine if the electronically controlled linkages can survive our leaden hooves. Our QX50 AWD wears the top-of-the-line Essential trim, which comes with leather seats, navigation, and the bird’s-eye Around View Monitor for $46,145. The $7500 Sensory package includes 20-inch wheels, a power-tilting and-telescoping steering wheel, a motion-activated hatch,…

THE CHEVY CAVALIER–BASED Cadillac Cimarron has been the butt of jokes for decades, but now even Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz are not above slapping their badges on front-wheel-drive compacts. Lexus tried and failed once at the entry-level-luxury game because no one wanted the mildly luxed-up Prius that was the CT200h hatchback. But now it seems everyone wants crossovers, so that’s what Lexus’s new starter model is. The UX is still a Toyota underneath, largely using the same underpinnings as the C-HR and the same base powertrain as the Corolla hatchback, but it wears the bejeweled crossover mask with conviction. The UX slots in below the NX, being some five inches shorter, four inches lower, and one inch narrower. That means it’s about the same size as the Audi Q3, the…

THERE ARE SO MANY. Hyundai just gave us another. Good-enough two-row crossovers, that is. For 2019, Hyundai’s Santa Fe Sport becomes just plain Santa Fe, while the longer, three-row Santa Fe adds the suffx XL. To go with its shorter name, the standard-size model gets a redesign (the XL gets its turn next year), with squinty daytime running lamps and a grille that might have been fashioned from egg cartons. The Santa Fe grows 2.6 inches in wheelbase and 2.8 inches in length, yet Hyundai claims that the base model is lighter than the Sport it replaces. Plus, what this ute lacks in dynamic fireworks, it makes up in space, practical operation, and newfound good looks. And let’s not forget that 10-year/100,000mile powertrain warranty. This is the safe choice if…

AN IMPENDING WAVE OF EVS from established luxury brands is about to crash ashore, and whether the vehicles are bringing Ludicrous-level performance, long driving ranges, and/or ultrafast charging capabilities, the irony isn’t lost on us that the traits that will help give them broad appeal may involve ethically suspect supply chains. The majority of EV models use permanent-magnet motors, which are smaller and more efficient than induction motors, the common alternative. But meaningful increases in motor performance will demand stronger magnets, which in turn will require more of one controversial category of ingredient: rare-earth elements. These elements—including the neodymium that’s essential for modern permanent-magnet motors—are abundant in the Earth but difficult to produce, as they must be extracted from other minerals via labor-intensive refinement processes. More than 90 percent of…

REMEMBER THE DAYS when you could scoop up a used Ferrari 330GT 2+2 for 30 grand? Neither do we. Today, even a low-end vintage Ferrari sells for hundreds of thousands. And the truly collectible cars—Ferrari 250GTs, prewar Alfas, Aston DB4 GT Zagatos—fetch millions. The average Joe, it seems, has no hope of getting into the higher levels of the game. That’s where Chris Bruno, one of the founders of Rally Rd., disagrees. Rally Rd. is a platform that gives aficionados who can’t afford high-end cars the chance to own a stake in one. The business is regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and FINRA-registered brokers oversee all transactions and vet the vehicles Rally Rd. purchases. Here’s how it works: The Rally Rd. team acquires a blue-chip (or not-so-blue-chip)…

The Test: Trail a lead car with the test vehicle at two car lengths and a set speed. Thirty feet from the balloon-car target, the lead car makes an abrupt lane change while the test car continues straight. Repeat the test, increasing the set speed until the test vehicle’s AEB system is unable to avoid a crash. The Takeaway: All four cars hit the target from initial speeds below those observed in the simpler first test. The Subaru and the Tesla struck the balloon without any braking. When the lead car moves over to reveal a stationary obstacle, the systems simply don’t have time to process the threat, let alone react to it.…

THERE’S NO DISPUTING the full-size pickup truck’s place at the top of the vehicle-sales food chain. Together, Ford, General Motors, and Ram sold about 2.2 million of the things in the U.S. last year. Also-rans Nissan and Toyota added just shy of 170,000 more to that count, making it so that full-size trucks now account for almost 14 percent of the U.S. vehicle market. What is in dispute—and it’s a hot dispute, one waged almost incessantly in TV commercials and on discourteous bumper stickers—is which truck is the best truck, King of Kings, Lord of the Contractor, Protector of the Suburban Man with Something to Prove. With some 897,000 examples sold here in 2017, the Ford F-series holds the title for now. The Silverado’s 586,000 sales may not look like…

UNLIKE BMW’S SPORTS sedans, its SUVs have no revered progenitors, no E39 or E46 to engender nostalgia and unfair comparisons. The X5 has always been competent and commercially successful, but it’s never really been exalted. So BMW doesn’t have to launch the fourth generation of its mid-size SUV with the promise that the company is getting back on track, as it’s doing with the impending 3-series [see “The Third Degree,” page 015]. Instead, the Bavarians are perfectly content to prove that this X5 is simply a better, more capable, and more advanced version of the last X5. And that’s exactly what it is. Slightly larger than before in terms of wheelbase, width, and length, the new X5’s proportions are eminently familiar, even if its kidney grille has grown to near-comical…