Innehållsförteckning för December 2019 från Car and Driver

Here’s how our change affects the C8 Corvette on page 26. The C8 accelerates to 3 mph in 0.1 second, but the one-foot time is 0.2 second, at which point the Corvette is going 6 mph. In general, acceleration times for most cars will improve by about 0.1 second with the new procedure. In the interest of full disclosure, we’ll be publishing the onefoot-rollout time of every tested vehicle so you can add it to the acceleration times to arrive at true zero-to-X measurements. We also will be recalculating times for past vehicles, so that any comparisons we make today are apples to apples. Unfortunately, it is impossible to recrunch pre-VBox test results. We will generate estimates in those rare instances.…

WE’RE ALL FAMILIAR WITH THE CONCEPT: Your favorite restaurant revamps the menu, removing everything delicious and replacing it all with more expensive, less satisfying fare. “Come on in. You’ll love our new menu!” Turns out this model isn’t exclusive to eateries. It’s also something automakers have glommed onto in recent months, most notably Ford. The company has largely gutted its U.S. lineup of affordable and enjoyable sedans and hatchbacks and packed it with crossovers. New look, same great taste! If only. Ford’s Fiesta and Focus, which are still sold in other parts of the world, are fun to drive, practical, and affordable [see “ReFocused,” page 90]. But without them in the U.S. fleet, Ford is hoping that first-time buyers will instead step into an EcoSport or Escape. Part of the…

Honeymoon Phase 2020 KIA TELLURIDE ARRIVAL: AUGUST 2019 MILES: 7126 OBSERVED MPG: 20 We were smitten with the Telluride at first glance. It has presence, an upscale visage, and a competitor-shaming interior. And our goodwill toward it was not blunted a bit after we drove it, tested it, and compared it. The only thing we haven’t yet confirmed about the Telluride is its long-haul reliability. So we ordered one to run the gauntlet of our 40,000-mile long-term test. We specified a top-of-the-line SX model, which comes with a big load of options. Getting all-wheel drive, which adds $2000 to the cost of any Telluride, was a no-brainer. We also added the $795 towing package as well as the $2000 SX Prestige package, which includes a head-up display, heated and ventilated…

Even in the inner sanctum of the Church of Wealth and Privilege that is Casino Square in Monte Carlo, the 2020 Bentley Flying Spur gets its due adoration. That’s no small feat considering the nonstop procession of idols from Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Rolls-Royce also vying for worship in the Square. So it’s clear that the Flying Spur has passed its first trial on the trail to deification: It looks like money. Its massive grille telegraphs grand English luxury in a way the earlier versions did not. The nose now gets that other archaic signifier of class, the gleaming hood ornament. You’d be hard-pressed to tell that the upright and blockish Spur is based on the same basic platform as the sleek and curvy Porsche Panamera. The new version has a…

For much of the past four decades, the business of Volkswagen has been the Golf. In that time, more than 35 million of them have been produced—the air-cooled Beetle managed a mere 21.5 million. The Golf and its spinoffs have been responsible for a disproportionate number of our favorite Vee-Dubs—GTIs, GLIs, Sciroccos, Corrados, Cabriolets. Now VW is showing off the eighth gen, set to launch in Europe by year’s end. A few versions, but not all, are headed to the U.S. shortly thereafter. Like the Porsche 911, the Golf has steadily evolved, so it’s not surprising that the latest one isn’t a radically different design. It’s still built on the Swiss Army knife of automotive architecture, VW’s highly adaptable MQB platform. Exterior dimensions are largely unchanged, with a modest 1.1-inch…

I finally went to a Formula E race. The series, if you’re not hip to the international openwheel electric racing scene, is like Formula 1 only slower. Yet every year, the cars improve and the races get more interesting. For the 2019–20 season, the cars max out at 335 horsepower in qualifying trim, but don’t let that Camaro V-6 number fool you. The cars weigh less than a ton, run zero to 60 in a claimed 2.8 seconds, and top out at more than 170 mph. Formula E isn’t in the performance realm of F1, but the cars are quick enough to put on a good show on the streets of Brooklyn. The New York race, like all the races on Formula E’s international schedule, is overseen by the FIA.…

Engineering theory states that, all things being equal, a mid-engine car’s rear-biased weight distribution should enable it to lap a racetrack quicker than a front-engine car. To find out if Chevrolet has turned theory into reality, we pitted the C8 against the front-engine C7 at Michigan’s Grattan Raceway. Both cars were equipped with Z51 packages, adaptive dampers, and eight-speed automatics. Both had additional wheel camber dialed in as recommended for track use. Both wore Chevrolet-developed Michelin summer tires, though the C8 had the latest Pilot Sport 4S rubber, whereas the C7 wore the older Pilot Super Sports. We turned off stability control so that we could detect even the most minute chassis differences, and we turned on the Racelogic VBox LapTimer. After about a dozen laps battling Grattan’s 2.2 miles…

With drinks flowing and music blaring, Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared at the press unveiling of the new Mercedes-Benz G-class in Detroit in January 2018. Miked and amped up, surrounded by a dense crush of expectant journalists, and tailed by fawning Benz CEO Dieter Zetsche, Schwarzenegger was in full Terminator mode, cracking flat-affect asides, drawing in and revving up the crowd, and downing shots of schnapps onstage with the Mercedes exec. The gathered writers delighted in the celebrity and spectacle, connecting the rugged Austria-built truck with the rugged Austria-built bodybuilder/actor/governor. It was a memorable event in a sea of press unveilings, and the coverage was commensurate. But though the press was gathered in Detroit for the flagship North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), this event didn’t take place in Cobo Center downtown,…

An expert look at the newest and most important vehicles this month. Lows: Hood flutter, costs twice as much as a Ford Escape. Some luxury cars are so thoroughly relaxing that they seem to melt away as you drive them. The Lincoln Corsair began its vanishing act at a steady 80 mph on an early morning drive to the office. A faint rush of wind around the windshield, the turbocharged 2.3-liter four peacefully ticking over in eighth gear, and the distant clop of the tires over pavement breaks. The optional 24-way leather seats, which took several minutes to dial in the night before, coddling, supporting, and heating. And then, while approaching Zen, we noticed the hood flutter. Back to reality. Once you’ve seen that, it’s hard to unsee. We know…

Aston Martin is charging into the future. The Vantage and the DB were redesigned in just the last few years, and the DBX SUV’s unveiling is imminent. But the 106-year-old company is also glancing back at the past with the Vantage AMR, the central feature of which is a manual transmission. The Graziano seven-speed is the same unit that Aston fitted to the V12 Vantage S in 2017, even packing the same ratios and the dogleg first gear in the lower-left corner of the shift pattern. It’s significantly lighter than the ZF eight-speed automatic that usually sits aft of the Vantage’s 4.0-liter V-8. The manual and a limited-slip differential (no electronically controlled diff like the one paired with the automatic) account for a claimed 154-pound weight savings. Forged wheels, carbon-ceramic…

1. Brian Nielander Chief Designer, Performance, Passenger Cars and Utility Vehicles; FCA North America “Drawing inspiration from the clean lines and forms of the Aero X and 9-X concepts, I imagined a halo car for Saab in the form of an electric 2+2 coupe. The overall theme incorporates signature Saab design cues, such as a unique roof and glass treatment as well as clean and subtly sculpted body sides. The detailing is understated and refined, and it of course wouldn’t be a Saab without a turbine-inspired wheel design.” 2. Anthony Colard Exterior Designer, Ford Motor Company “I tried to capture the recent design language from Saab and progress it, keep the design clean in contrast with the very busy and overcomplicated automotive landscape of today. I think that a coupe-wagon…

In the September issue, you had an enlightening article about new Porsche brakes titled “Dust Busters.” In it, you stated that the brake dust that accumulates on wheels comes from the rotors, not the pads. If that were true, then that dust would be iron particles and thus would stick to a magnet. Well, it doesn’t, which means it’s pad dust. Care to explain? —George Knab, Buffalo, NY We should have said the brake dust that accumulates on the wheels comes primarily from the rotors. Dust from the pads is certainly a part of the mix, but only a small portion. With impressive specificity, EBC Brakes says that 92 percent of the brake dust on a wheel is ferrous metal material. That comes mostly from iron rotors, with a smaller…

If you ever find yourself shoulder to shoulder in a car with a disheveled bum who’s belching the ABCs while clipping their toenails and swilling salsa straight out of the jar, chances are you know the person. It’s possible you’re even married to them. Until we can say the same about a ride in San Francisco’s BART, we will continue to favor the four-wheeled version of mass transit, where at least the freaks are our loved ones. In mid-size-sedan form, this mass transit is affordable and efficient, with ample personal space for five, and—when you’re the driver—always running on your schedule under your rules. With American automakers turning their attention to higher-margin crossovers, all five competitors in this test come from Asian manufacturers, although we feel compelled to point out…

A weird sort of identity crisis has been afflicting the big three German luxury manufacturers. Audi, BMW, and Mercedes have been busy blending elements of one another’s identity into their own, and the latest example is BMW purloining “absurd horsepower” from Mercedes-AMG’s personality profile. The M5 Competition makes 617 horsepower. You can get a 503-hp inline-six in the X3 M and X4 M, and even this not-quite-full-Mtreatment 3.0-liter six makes 382 horsepower in the M340i tested here. Soft words like “peppy” no longer accurately describe the six-cylinder 3-series. It’s frenetic now, even brutal. The rear-drive version (all-wheel drive is optional) hits 60 mph from a standstill in 3.8 seconds and its 30-to-50-mph passing time of 2.4 seconds is in league with vastly more powerful cars. It feels like by the…

The Hyundai Venue isn’t sporty or much fun to drive, but it’s straightforward, charming, utilitarian, and exactly what the market wants right now. And starting at about $18,500, it’s a highvalue proposition. It immediately makes sense at first sight. In Hyundai’s 2020 lineup, the Venue slides in beneath the Kona as the smallest and least expensive of five SUVs. It’s got a handsome boxy design, an available contrastingcolor roof, and a grille big enough to barbecue a side of beef. There’s some Nissan Kicks in it, some Toyota Land Cruiser, and some of Hyundai’s own Palisade, too. The one we drove had the steering wheel on the right (meaning wrong) side. That’s because we were in Australia, and the Venues to be sold there are slightly different from the ones…

The Focus has left the U.S. as part of Ford’s general retreat from the unfashionable part of the market that some of us still refer to as “cars.” But in Europe, the Focus is thriving, with both a new generation and now the sport-oriented ST model to make us properly jealous. The old ST’s turbo 2.0-liter four is replaced by the brawnier, but detuned, 2.3-liter from the Focus RS. It makes 276 horsepower and drives the front axle through a torque-vectoring differential. A sixspeed manual is standard, but there will also be a seven-speed automatic. Although it’s more muscular, this ST is less aggressive than the last one. The engine delivers strong torque low in the rev range with little lag. Despite having a quick rack, the steering feels slower…