Innehållsförteckning för May 2019 från Car and Driver

YOU MIGHT THINK a company that makes steering wheels would view automated vehicles the way an ex-Blockbuster exec looks at streaming video. But Joyson Safety Systems, a supplier of steering wheels to many automakers, is looking to make its products an integral part of an automated future. Only cars at the tiptop of the automated-driving pyramid, known as Level 5, will come remotely close to the driverless, steering-wheel-less transit pods of our night mares. And mainstream consumer cars may never get there. The steering wheel, then, isn’t going anywhere—in fact, it’s a crucial element of lower-level automated-driving technologies. Joyson supplies steering wheels for vehicles equipped with Cadillac’s Super Cruise and BMW’s Extended Traffic Jam Assistant, the only systems currently on sale in the U.S. that will accelerate, brake, and steer…

WHEN YOU’RE IN a parking structure, trying to squeeze into a spot between a misaligned Escalade and a rust-eaten Escort, it’s hard to appreciate the level of consideration that goes into these seemingly crude edifices. But parking decks are veritable Vulcan 3-D chess matches rendered in concrete. Building codes and traffic-engineering norms govern every detail—from ramp slopes to how the spaces are arranged—and are frequently in conflict with budgets and the desire to maximize vehicle capacity, traffic flow, safety, and aesthetics. Here’s what designers face: RULES There are reasons you don’t see many highly stylized parking structures around. Local zoning laws, building codes, and traffic-engineering guidelines all inform and restrict the designer’s imagination. SHAPES Helixes are in most garages’ DNA, as the shape readily allows for rotational circulation, taking the…

You had to feel for Cadillac. Its display at this year’s Detroit auto show was situated directly across the aisle from Lincoln’s. Caddy had switched gears, unveiling a gussied-up version of the GMC Acadia called the XT6 instead of the new sedan it had earlier planned to premiere. Having devoted its engineering resources to sales-resistant, if dynamically excellent, sedans, the brand is hustling to fill the SUV-sized holes in its lineup. Its haste is evident. Over at the stand of once-moribund Lincoln sat a new three-row SUV that looked less like a cynical exercise in badge engineering and more like, well, a genuinely attractive thing in its own right. Now, we won’t get out of hand here; this new Aviator, which is to appear in showrooms this summer, does share…

2022 Volvo V40 WHAT IT IS Volvo’s next entry-level model. Designed for a global audience, it will be a somewhat high-riding hatchback that takes its design cues from the 2016 Volvo 40.2 concept car. • WHY IT MATTERS Under Volvo chairman Håkan Samuelsson, the brand has been reinventing itself with a renewed focus on safety and what Samuelsson calls “sustainability.” And it will bring the small Volvo car back to the U.S. • PLATFORM The V40 will stand on Volvo’s Compact Modular Architecture (CMA). Under the XC40 and current models from Geely and Lynk & Co, CMA carries a transverse engine, but it was engineered to accommodate electric powertrains, too, as it does beneath the upcoming Polestar 2. • POWERTRAIN We expect an entry-level gas-powered model and plug-in hybrids to…

What looks like a classic Porsche 911 but is actually an entirely different car and a lot faster, too? That would be the Ruf CTR Anniversary, an homage to the “Yellowbird,” the original CTR of 1987. With a top speed of 212 mph, it was the fastest sports car in the world at the time. And if you haven’t seen the video that made it famous, do yourself a favor and Google “Faszination on the Nürburgring” right now. Ruf first showed the new CTR in concept form at the Geneva auto show two years ago; it delivered the first production unit to its lucky owner at this year’s show. It looks like a 911, but the CTR Anniversary shares not a single panel with an actual 911 of any generation.…

Correction: The BMW 3-series known as the F30, sold from 2012 to 2018, lacked the steering feel and driving dynamics of its predecessor. BMW regrets these errors and, to rectify these mistakes, the company will reissue a new 3-series. Wouldn’t that be nice to hear? The mea culpa is never quite that explicit, but every once in a while, a company will step up and quietly return things that were lost. Porsche’s apology for the first water-cooled 911 (the 996) arrived in the form of the 2005 911 (the 997), a car that brought styling, hips, and interior quality back to the model after a six-year hiatus. Enter the new 3-series—a chance at redemption, a chance to make some corrections Part of the problem is that when the outgoing 3-series…

The pickup is as central to the American Dream as the white picket fence. It’s not just the house and the 2.5 kids that we want, it’s all the projects around that house, the Home Depot runs, the toys we can hitch up, and somewhere to play with them. And just because we’re in a new era of global awareness and responsibility doesn’t mean that dream has to die. But it could be downsized to a more sustainable scale. Luckily, American truckmakers have you covered. Some people call them mid-size pickups; others point out that a middle implies a point between two extremes and therefore refer to these obviously-not-small things as compact trucks. Whatever you call them, after flirting with stagnation in the early part of the decade, the less-than-full-size-pickup…

Active anti-roll bars are nothing new. The second- and third-gen BMW X5s relied on hydraulically actuated bars to rein in body roll. More recently, manufacturers have moved to 48-volt electrical systems to provide the power needed to drive electrically actuated anti-roll bars. The X7’s Active Comfort Drive feature, part of the optional Dynamic Handling package, uses 12-volt active anti-roll bars, which eliminate the parasitic loss of a hydraulic system and the additional weight of a mild-hybrid system or supercapacitors to generate 48 volts. The bars use a three-stage planetary gearbox to generate the torque required to keep the body flat when lateral forces are below 0.60 g. Above that, they allow for natural body roll. When the X7 is traveling straight, the bars are also capable of decoupling to allow…

John Phillips // My friend Tony King, 59, is a short guy with red cheeks, a pug nose, and brown tangled hair that looks like he forgot to comb after a shower. His neck is thick and muscled, attached to a mountain-goat chest that you’d notice in a bar, just before the fight begins. Tony amassed his fortune via his own drilling enterprise—not oil but water and mineral samples. He still occasionally works for gold miners in Lima, Peru. Gold, as it often does, paid off. Tony’s daily drivers are a 2003 Corvette Z06, a 2006 Ford GT, and a ’34 Ford hot rod. The GT is Speed Yellow with bug splats on the nose, the consequence of a track day at Hallett in Oklahoma. He paid $166,195 for the…

THE GOLDEN RULE OF DRIVING: STAY TO THE RIGHT EXCEPT TO PASS. COROLLARY: NEVER MAKE THE CAR BEHIND YOU SLOW DOWN. 2022 Mercedes-Benz SL-class WHAT IT IS An attempt to restore the once-legendary Benz roadster to its former luster by way of a fabric top and small but usable rear seats. • WHY IT MATTERS The SL is far enough from its past glories that it’s about to start appearing in daytime TV commercials opposite generic cartoon characters. But as the descendant of the 300SL Gullwing, it wears one of the brand’s, if not the automotive world’s, greatest nameplates. In other words, it only matters as love does, or as do sunny days with the sound of children at play. • PLATFORM Fully developed by AMG in Affalterbach, the next-gen…

The seventh-generation 3-series (G20) is here [see “This Is Not Your Father’s BMW,” page 064], which means the next M3 and M4 will arrive soon. Slated for simultaneous unveilings in mid-2020 followed by a market launch for the 2021 model year, both the G20’s M3 and M4 derivatives should benefit from more reengineering that may bring the magic back to the 3-series. In keeping with tradition, BMW will thoroughly retune and stiffen the M3/M4 chassis, meaning that the steering may get even more engaging. But that will be just the start. Details are scant at this point, but we know that the next M3 and M4 will be differentiated from the base 3- and 4-series at least as much as the current M cars are. Expect to see spoilers, diffusers,…

YES, THE NEW-FOR-2019 McLaren 720S Spider is simply the droptop version of the familiar 720S coupe. Its introduction is in no way significant in the grand scheme of things. But in three very specific ways, the Spider is meaningful: 1. If you happen to be a person who gets to drive one of these magnificent things. 2. With its top down, the slinky 720S finally looks like the stupid-expensive Italian loafer it’s clearly always wanted to be. 3. McLaren claims there are no real perform ance trade-offs for going topless. It’s been the long-standing conviction of performance-minded car enthusiasts that the convertible version of a sporty vehicle is the poseur’s choice. An M3 convertible? That’s an abomination! A Porsche 911 Turbo cabriolet? Say hello to Justin Bieber for us. But…

FOR A CAR THAT’S DESIGNED TO EXPOSE its passengers to the elements, the 2020 Porsche 911 cabriolet sure swallows you deep inside its cabin. No one will hook an elbow over the door of this high-waisted droptop. A tall driver’s head pokes over the beltline as if he were a Lego minifigure at the wheel of a Technic Porsche. In combination with the $3470 18-way sport seats, which cradle like bathwater, the body sides create the sensation that you’re driving a soaking tub. The bathtub Porsche returns. Don’t get us wrong. Between the billet-like solidity of the chassis and the sheer magnitude of the cabrio’s capabilities, there is a lot to like here. On a mountain road, the 911 is a cast-iron claw-foot hurtling down a bobsled run. We’d pay…

IT’S GETTING HARD TO KEEP UP with progress at Aston Martin. The English sports-car maker used to operate at such a leisurely pace that it took more than 70 years from its 1913 founding to produce its 10,000th car. Now, with the impending launch of the DBX crossover, it could soon be producing that number of vehicles every two years. But the biggest surprise in Aston’s five-year plan is a new family of mid-engined models. You already know about the Valkyrie, the Adrian Newey fever dream that looks set to become the most capable track car ever to wear a license plate. The next fruit of that collaboration with the Red Bull Formula 1 team, the upcoming AM-RB 003, will be less extreme than the Valkyrie but more extreme than…

2020 Chevrolet Tahoe WHAT IT IS The Silverado’s uptown relative and, along with the GMC Yukon, the gold standard of large American SUVs. • WHY IT MATTERS This Tahoe will make the long-awaited switch to an independent rear suspension. Without the solid axle bouncing around under the feet of third-row occupants, the ride and handling should improve. We also expect increases in passenger and cargo volumes as a result of the new rear end. • PLATFORM The underpinnings are known within GM as the T1 truck platform, which the Tahoe will share with the next-generation Suburban, Cadillac Escalades, and GMC Yukons. These rigs will also employ GM’s all-new Global B electrical architecture, which provides added computing power, over-the-air updates, and advanced network security for highly automated vehicles. • POWERTRAIN The…

Electric-vehicle startups are as common as curios in Grandma’s cabinets, but this one seems as if it’ll not only stick around but thrive. Rivian—named for Florida’s Indian River, on which CEO R.J. Scaringe grew up—will be coming to market in late 2020 with the R1T pickup seen here and its fraternal twin, the R1S three-row seven-passenger SUV. At 215.6 inches long, the pickup is similar in size to today’s compact trucks [see four internal-combustion examples face off on page 082], but it’s other wise completely unlike them. Built on a skateboard architecture that puts the battery pack in the floor, the R1T has an inboard-mounted motor at each corner driving its dedicated wheel through a one-speed gear reduction. There’s a control-arm front suspension, a multilink rear, and adaptive dampers and…

Our long-term Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio has suffered a series of well-documented breakdowns, meltdowns, and false alarms. And yet, in spite of the havoc it wreaks on our trust, we still love it—and not just because it’s a bella figura. There’s magic in the way Alfa Romeos drive. We suspect that we might feel even more irrationally passionate about the GTV coupe. Set to sit on the same Giorgio platform that underpins both the Giulia and Stelvio, the GTV—Gran Tur-ismo Veloce—resurrects a name that Alfa has used intermittently since 1965, most recently on the Type 916 that retired in 2005. That one was a compact front-driver that was far more desirable than it was practical, offering minimal space for back-seat occupants. The new GTV will be more accommodating and even…

For all the modern conveniences and active-safety tech packed into today’s vehicles, there’s one fundamental flaw holding them back from true modernity: A new-car purchase shouldn’t lock you into today’s technology forever. Automakers are just now warming to the idea of updatable in-car tech, but a motivated owner doesn’t have to wait. Aftermarket add-ons ranging from less than $100 to more than $1000 offer similar connectivity, safety, and convenience features as found in new vehicles. Considering the long gestation of any new car and the rapid-fire iteration of consumer electronics, these upgrades could be more advanced than what rolls out of the factory. We wondered: Is any of it useful enough to be worth our own money? Armed with enough 3M double-sided tape to assemble a Yugo, we answered that question…

TWELVE YEARS IS A LONG TIME. Long enough for Mötley Crüe to go on several farewell tours, for your hairline to disappear, and for your kids to go from diapers to Snapchat. It is also the spell that has elapsed since Mercedes introduced its full-size three-row GL (now GLS) SUV. So why has it taken BMW 12 years to enter the segment with this all-new X7? “We had to be sure we could design a vehicle this large and still deliver the same BMW driving experience,” explains driving dynamics engineer Daniel Nowicki. That’s a whole lot of making sure. [+] Excellent powertrains, hushed cabin, plush interior. [-] Massive grille, same new BMW steering, stingy cargo area. The X7’s styling is unsurprisingly similar to its smaller X5 sibling’s, despite an increase…

THERE’S NO SHORTAGE OF CROSSOVERS, but evidently there aren’t nearly enough crossover names. Hence the return of the Blazer, which earlier this year Chevy slipped between the Equinox and Traverse in its phalanx of utes. Of course, we’ve already been down that road, having compared the V-6-powered torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive Blazer RS with its most obvious rivals [“Meat in the Middle,” April 2019]. That truck skirted the pointy end of the middleweight class thanks to a near-$51,000 asking price. It was great to drive and well kitted out, but its cost and packaging had the Blazer RS finishing third in a field of five. This month, the volume-selling Blazer finds itself wired up with our test gear. This LT-trim front-drive four-cylinder model is the counter to our comparo car, complete with…