Innehållsförteckning för January 2020 från Car and Driver

COVERED WAGON I was wondering how much you pay for your usually great covers. Why in the hell would you slap a label with my name and address over it? Most of the time, you have at least three corners on the back to put it. —Bob Connolly Sturgeon Bay, WI Don’t sell yourself short, Connolly. You’re cover-worthy—Ed. FLIP THE SCRIPT I have subscribed to Car and Driver since about 1970, and the comparison test of sports cars in the October issue [“Deep Roots, Long Shadows”] is conclusive proof that hell has most certainly frozen over. A BMW finishing last while a Porsche is topped by a Toyota and, heaven forbid, a Ford finishing first? Next I suppose you’re going to tell me that the new Corvette is actually going…

I need to start this letter by admitting that I’m not a superstar when it comes to arithmetic. But it didn’t take me too long in the new job to determine that our 10Best contest was a bit of a lie. With one 10Best list for cars and another for trucks, SUVs, and vans, we actually have been coming up with 20 10Best vehicles. This is not one of those internet math tricks. It’s true. Pull out your trusty TI-86 calculators and check my math, if you must. Separating cars and trucks made our lives easier, but we couldn’t live with the lie any longer. So this year, we decided that we’d combine all vehicles and choose only 10. We invited back last year’s winners and all the new or…

One paradox of the human experience is that time seems to pass so quickly, and yet, by the end of the year, it’s nearly impossible to remember what you learned in January. So for your convenience, we present a look back at our instrumented tests that appeared in print to give you the best and worst performers of 2019. MORE DATA While we’re at it, some data from an outside source: U.K. license-plate supplier Click4Reg asked 2000 drivers whether they would date people who drove cars sold by various major manufacturers. Something to keep in mind when updating your Tinder profile. 93% Would date a Volkswagen owner 85% Would date a Toyota owner 45% Would date a Dodge owner…

We are programmed to believe that change is daunting. It doesn’t have to be, though. Consider just how often you adapt and adjust without pause or concern. When a restaurant carries only Pepsi products, you order water and move on with your life. If someone replaces your beloved Charmin with no-name single ply, you grab a bigger handful and just keep wiping. Yes, we’re warming you up. Our 10Best Cars and 10Best Trucks and SUVs awards are now simply the 10Best awards. On this list, cars and trucks and those irritatingly popular crossovers peacefully coexist, just as they do on streets and in parking lots. Don’t panic. Just keep wiping. Here’s what hasn’t changed: Our 10Best winners still represent the smartest, most entertaining vehicles you can buy today. They are…

1992 GMC Typhoon The first high-performance SUV was genespliced together not in Germany or Japan, but in Michigan. The Typhoon was so far ahead of its time that no manufacturer cashed in on the potential it represented for another eight years. Base ............................... $29,530 Engine ..................... turbo 4.3-liter V-6 Torque ............... 350 lb-ft @ 3600 rpm Braking, 70–0 mph ...................... 185 ft Curb Weight .............................. 3822 lb 2010 BMW X5 M Though hi-po SUVs were proliferating, it took another seven years after the Cayenne Turbo came out before one of these beasts could haul itself to 60 mph in under four seconds. It was the X5 M that did it, thanks to its ripped 555-hp twin-turbo V-8. Base .............................. $86,225 Engine ............ twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 Torque ................ 500 lb-ft @…

C/D: Where do you see the most potential to satisfy the enthusiast base that’s been a big part of Nissan? Ivan Espinosa: We have three iconic nameplates: GT-R, Z, and Patrol; that last name doesn’t exist in the U.S., but you know it’s a popular SUV. Those three really describe what Nissan is about. The fun and excitement of making fun cars that excite people. C/D: Do you think the GT-R and Z are important to younger buyers? IE: We have robust data showing that most of GT-R awareness for younger buyers came from the Gran Turismo series. A lot of the younger audience learned about the car through that. There’s excitement there, and I think it will remain. We will continue to work on keeping those cars relevant for…

In the spirit of public service for which this periodical has become famous, we bring to your attention a matter of terrible importance. We’ve ignored it for too long already. But frankly, we haven’t been strong enough to come face to face with the hideous truth: There is a disease spreading within our community. Its devastation reaches nearly every corner of every city and town in this and increasingly every other country on earth. Why, just today, I received fresh evidence of its impact in an email from a multinational conglomerate. Am I to ignore it yet again? Should I look away as I, and so many of us, have done, simply because it makes me retch? And when I say retch, I mean wave after wave of savage retroperistalsis…

Bill P., Phoenix, AZ Where’s the radar? An arrow lights up, pointing either Ahead, to the side, or Behind. And, amazingly, it’s never wrong. Arnie R., Atlanta, GA So easy to operate, a box with one knob. No need to poke around at full-arm’s reach for little buttons the size of rice grains. Glenna R., Dallas, TX Love the arrows! Where’s the radar? They tell me every time. A detector without the arrows is like a car without headlights. Chas S., Charlotte, NC Situation Awareness you can trust. With the Radar Locator arrowing toward threats, and the Bogey Counter telling how many threats you face, V1 makes defense easy. Cal L., Trenton, NJ I’ve owned my V1 since 2001, and I’ve had it upgraded twice. I trust the arrows to…

In your comparison-test scoring, there is an objective category called “flexibility” [“Deep Roots, Long Shadows,” October 2019]. What is flexibility in terms of vehicles and how is it measured? I can touch my toes. What score would I receive? Rob Gardiner, Madoc, ON In your case, you get a four because you’re bending your knees. We define flexibility as the difference between the time it takes to hit 60 mph—achieved by any means of aggressive launch necessary—and the 5-to-60-mph test. A small gap between those two times indicates that a vehicle’s acceleration performance is more accessible and attainable, which is what we reward in our scoring. Two things that sometimes lower flexibility scores: turbocharged engines that require extended brake torquing for a strong launch and low-torque engines where a redline…

WINNER: Gettin’ ’er Done NASCAR bad boy Jimmie Johnson proved there’s No One Badder when he kicked off 2019 by initiating a pileup that took out almost half the competitors in a pre–Daytona 500 exhibition race. Johnson emerged unscathed and, with only eight other cars still on the lead lap, came away with the win. Channeling that chutzpah to benevolent ends, a powerlifter in Ypsilanti, Michigan, lifted an overturned Jeep off an accident victim. LOSER: Sycophancy Jeweler-to-the-stars Ben Yang (a.k.a. Ben Baller) earned himself a private audience with Elon Musk after crafting a $37,000 diamond-and-ruby-encrusted ring featuring the Tesla logo as a token of appreciation for Musk’s impact on the American auto industry. The invitation was later revoked after Yang posted an anti-Tesla rant on Instagram while trapped inside his…

My first vehicle was an Arctic Cat minibike that I pestered my parents into buying when I was 10 years old. I didn’t yet know the term “whiskey throttle,” but I experienced it firsthand on my one and only ride, in which I rocketed across the lawn and into a septic leach field. When I was a little bit older, if not wiser, I had ATVs—a Kawasaki Mojave and then a Honda 250X—and a ratty 1977 Scorpion Range Whip Sting 440 snowmobile, which was basically an engine with handlebars. I just wanted to drive something, and when you’re a kid, power-sports machines are your best hope for hurtling yourself across the planet. Or off it, as I learned on the Mojave. Turns out that when you’re attempting to summit the…

The Chevrolet Corvette team may have moved on, but the engineers at Ford Performance still have unfinished business with the front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. The Blue Oval’s last mother of all Mustangs, the 662hp 2013 Shelby GT500, couldn’t outrun its live rear axle on a demanding road course or the best back roads, and the pursuit of a 200mph top speed made that car a one-straight-line-trick pony. The latest GT500 is redemption and then some. Packing 760 horsepower, 625 pound-feet of torque, a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, magnetorheological dampers, and optional Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 racetrack rubber, this GT500 is at its best when the pavement curves. The GT500’s supercharged 5.2liter V-8 is essentially a blown version of the GT350’s naturally aspirated mill, albeit featuring a cross-plane crankshaft [see “Crank…