Innehållsförteckning för June 2023 från Car and Driver

→ Bob Poole is an Emmy Award–winning film-maker. His sister, Joyce, is one of the world’s leading authorities on African pachyderm behavior. In the Pooles’ 2012 documentary, War Elephants, the siblings visit Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park—once home to a thriving wild-elephant population, now decimated by civil war and poaching. The elephants remaining in the park are often wary of and even violent toward humans. The Pooles recorded their interactions with the herds in hopes of helping the elephants while highlighting the importance of animal conservation. To do this, they needed a vehicle that could get them across the wild terrain and stand up to an aggressive elephant—just in case diplomacy failed. “We were always able to fix the Defender because it’s so simple to work on, and parts are easy…

REFILL AS NECESSARY. MANUFACTURED BY BMW GROUP DO YOU STRUGGLE TO MAKE SENSE OF TODAY’S INFLUX OF HEAVY, ABSURDLY POWERFUL EVS? Does trying to discern one SUV body shape from another induce anxiety and depression? Then you may suffer from transitional automotive disorder. Ask your BMW dealer if the new M2 coupe is right for you. (Side effects may include joyous laughter at extralegal speeds, increased tolerance for g-forces, and cravings for empty, curvy roads.) The second-generation M2’s formulation is simple in that it condenses the workings of the one-size-up M4, one of BMW M’s finest, into a more playful package. At $63,195 to start, it’s also $12,500 less expensive. Based on the redesigned 2-series coupe produced in Mexico, the M2 remains a compact rear-wheel-drive rush of a car with…

GIVEN BMW’S TRAJECTORY, it’s only logical that the brand’s latest flagship is a three-ton behemoth with a movie-theater screen and a hands-free driving mode. But we’re not wringing our hands over this couchification, because a 7-series doesn’t claim to be a sports sedan. Plus, if you want a sporty BMW, you can still get an M2 [see “Strong Medicine,” page 28]. The 7-series is the Bavarians’ Mercedes S-class fighter, and it has often struggled to find footing against its rival, which has come to define the term “flagship sedan.” Could battery propulsion offer the opportunity to turn the tide? The two automakers’ divergent approaches to EVs have already shifted traditional roles. Mercedes, typically sober and conservative, has gone all science fiction with its stand-alone EQ blob-shaped electric models. BMW, meanwhile,…

Lexus has long been a leader in hybrid powertrains. But its first U.S. EV, the RZ450e, suggests it’s an unenthusiastic conscript in the march to full battery propulsion. Borrowing the e-TNGA architecture of the Toyota bZ4X, the RZ has the same wheelbase but is about five inches longer. Two motors, one on each axle, drive all four wheels (a single-motor version may join later). A more muscular front motor than the Toyota’s pushes total output to 308 horse-power and 320 pound-feet. The RZ lifts its modest 63.4-kWh battery from the single-motor bZ4X, and EPA range is just 196 miles with 20-inch wheels and 220 miles on 18s. That’s in Normal drive mode; Eco and Range modes (the latter disables the HVAC system) can wring out a few more miles. Our…

Hybrids will remain a key part of Toyota’s portfolio for some time. Fortunately, the brand’s latest examples have been profoundly good. The new Prius certainly is, so it should come as no surprise that the plug-in Prius Prime is a fabulous little hatch too. The Prius Prime has been around since 2017, and recently it’s been feeling its age. While the PHEV’s fuel-economy benefits are substantial, it was hard to ignore the outgoing model’s time-it-with-a-sundial acceleration, middling electric-only range, and frustrating interior controls. With the 2023 version, Toyota sends all those annoyances to the Bad Place and gives the Prius Prime a massive mechanical and aesthetic glow-up. The Prius and Prius Prime are nearly indistinguishable, which is great because the Prius looks better than it ever has. But it’s the…

FLUSHED Mercedes once touted its door handles as a safety feature that allowed rescuers to pull open doors more easily. Apparently, it has decided first responders can manage with the modern version found on the S-class. The new handle tucks itself inside the door when locked and pops out for access. The G-class, on the other hand, uses essentially the same button-handle combo it’s had for more than three decades. → It’s time for another episode of They Can, but Should They? Today we’re pointing our questions at the entry point to the automobile, the door handle. That is if we can find it. These days drivers might use buttons, levers, pull tabs, touch-activated pads, proximity sensors, or even facial recognition to open a door. Aerodynamic and drag-reducing requirements have brought…

ROUTE 66 AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE. The Mother Road has long been bypassed by the Interstate Highway System, and most of its once-numerous roadside motels, gas stations, and eateries have vanished beneath the blades of bulldozers. Those that remain generally fall into one of two categories: graffiti-slathered skeletons of their former selves that live on in Instagram infamy or Route 66 memorabilia outfits selling tchotchkes and supplies to infrequent passersby. But the road still has a lot of appeal, especially the more desolate stretches that wander far from the interstate through lonely yet beautiful lands that convey a sense of time travel. These are places where you can see the weather advancing across the countryside as you drive down into the valley to meet it. There are few…

WHEN HONDA BIRTHED THE TRAILSPORT MONIKER on the previous-generation Pilot and Passport, it was an inauspicious moment. With the trim offering almost no functional upgrades, the automaker appeared to be cynically chasing the emerging popularity of rugged model-line extensions. That changes with the all-new 2023 Pilot. The TrailSport truly distinguishes itself from the rest of the lineup, with all-terrain tires (and a matching full-size spare), an inch more ground clearance (for 8.3 inches total), beefy skid plates, a slightly softer front anti-roll bar, and a torque-vectoring rear diff with 20 percent more torque capacity. The off-road variant is now fully realized. Speaking of that rear diff, it’s a vectoring madman, rotating the rear end around with slide-happy shenanigans on- or off-road. Three-row large SUVs are never this neutral, but the…

We’ve long regarded the 3-series as the core of the BMW brand, although it hasn’t been the U.S. sales leader since 2018. Still, it’s gratifying to see BMW making a strong effort to keep it up to date—even if we don’t love all the 2023 changes. Outside, BMW tweaked the headlights, lower fascia, and tailpipes and, on the M340i, added a subtle rear spoiler. Mercifully, the 3-series avoids the oversize grille nostrils. Inside, BMW’s Curved Display arrives, comprising a 12.3-inch instrument cluster screen and a 14.9-inch touch-screen. Gone are the 13 climate-control buttons, as are the audio controls and radio presets. Just two audio and two defroster buttons remain, along with a volume knob. Turning on the seat heater requires navigating to the right sub-menu or giving a voice command—both…

Should EVs make a statement? With its EQS and EQE sedans, Mercedes-Benz sure pushed the envelope. The EQE SUV, though, doesn’t court controversy. The single-motor EQE350+ and dual-motor EQE350 and EQE500 4Matics mirror the sedan’s lineup. Both EQE350s have 288 horsepower—less than most rivals. Torque outputs are more competitive: 417 and 564 pound-feet (rear-drive and 4Matic). The EQE500 has 402 horses and 633 pound-feet. The EQE350+ is perky in town but rather languid at highway speeds; the EQE350 4Matic’s extra torque wakes up response when passing on two-lanes or merging onto the freeway. The EQE500 can blur the scenery like a high-performance EV, but it still likely lacks the sprinting ability of the top Genesis GV60 (60 mph in 3.7 seconds) or the base BMW iX (4.0 seconds to 60).…

Like a shape-shifter, Mitsubishi has been many things. First known to Americans as the maker of gasstingy little Dodges and Plymouths, Mitsubishi has also produced its own econoboxes, sporty coupes, high-strung sport compacts, and off-road-ready SUVs. Repeatedly, though, changing markets or a wave of competitors washed out the ground beneath Mitsu’s feet. The brand’s latest niche is the plugin-hybrid compact crossover. Its Outlander PHEV, sold here since 2018, enters its second generation for 2023—but the floodwaters of competition are already rising. A corporate tie-up with Nissan means the latest Outlander is based on the Nissan Rogue, but the two look nothing alike. Under the hood is Mitsubishi’s engine: a 131-hp Atkinson-cycle 2.4-liter inline-four aided by three electric motors, one of which drives the rear wheels. The powertrain makes a combined…

→ Break out your American-flag shirt and grab your passport, because NASCAR is headed to France for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The crossover isn’t as strange as it might seem. American sports-car teams have long been vying for glory on the Mulsanne Straight at the famed endurance race, but NASCAR has only been to Le Mans once before. Each year, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) welcomes a team to Le Mans to participate in the Garage 56 program, an exhibition class created in 2012 to encourage technical innovation. Past G56 racers have run on alternative fuels or featured cockpits equipped for disabled drivers, with two teams from the latter category being the only G56 entries to have ever finished the race. For 2023, the ACO invited NASCAR…

WE HUMANS AREN’T KEEN ON BEING TOLD how to live our lives. We like to do what we want when we want. And that’s what the automobile has provided since its early days: the ability to travel freely. Like so many car buyers, though, we feel the pressure to at least consider the purchase of a tailpipe-free automobile. Within the next decade, shoppers looking to buy a new or secondhand car will face quite possibly the toughest automotive choice of their lives: whether to go internal combustion or electric. Electric vehicles have become what peas and carrots are to infants: forced upon us and, for some, worthy of regurgitation. Many automakers have committed to going fully electric by 2030, even as the current charging infrastructure isn’t ready. To determine whether…

EVERY CITY HAS ITS SECRETS. Washington, D.C., may have more than most, but I wasn’t there to dig up bodies, corporeal or political. My interest in visiting our nation’s capital was to find out more about a covert society, an organization of carpoolers who use codes and word of mouth to work around D.C.’s notorious traffic jams and exorbitant tolls. Under cherry blossoms light as dreams and in the long shadow of the Washington Monument, I set out in search of slugs. The origins of slugging are murky, buried somewhere in the smoggy ’70s, when the Shirley Highway (I-395) from Virginia to D.C. became the first U.S. freeway to implement a high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane. Those early carpool lanes were strict, initially requiring four occupants (now three), so commuting drivers…

At Genesis, electrification is starting to mean athleticism. Take the Electrified GV70, for instance. From a driver’s perspective, the battery-powered GV70 is as capable as its internal-combustion counterparts, and it’s even capable of giving us the giggles. In the change from an engine to a two-motor electric powertrain, this GV70 gains a floor-mounted battery pack that lowers the center of gravity, adding a measure of buttoned-down security to an already sporty chassis. The brake pedal isn’t always reassuring, though, a byproduct of poor tuning of the blended friction and regenerative braking system, and torque steer tugs at the wheel during hard launches. To bring out the fun, drive with Boost mode activated (it bumps horse-power from 429 to 483 for up to 10 seconds), but also plan on recharging before…

Nobody brings Clif Bars to a potluck. While they’re not a culinary achievement, energy bars have enough nutrients to tide you over. They call to mind the new Subaru Impreza. It’s not as tasty as the Honda Civic or Mazda 3, but Subaru’s smallest all-wheel-drive car packs the essentials into a handy size at an affordable price. The sixth-gen Impreza’s zestiest updates are its more powerful engine option, larger touchscreen (11.6 inches in upper trims), and increased standard features. Some things, though, have been lost. Subaru dropped the four-door sedan and manual transmission in favor of what 73 percent of Impreza customers prefer: hatchbacks with CVTs. A sturdier structure and additional sound deadening make the Impreza heavier but easier on the ears. Even at highway speed, the Subaru is pleasantly…

Launched on the heels of the CTS sedan in 2003, the 2004 Cadillac CTS-V was General Motors’ blunt-force response to the BMW M5s and Audi S4s of the world. Our first impressions were largely positive: A pre-production model exhibited both power and poise, remaining a Cadillac on the road even with the Corvette engine under the hood. As we said in that March 2004 test, the CTS-V showed that “GM’s being bad is really quite good.” With a switch to the LS2 6.0-liter V-8, a stronger rear differential, and additional features such as a standard sunroof, the 2006 and ’07 models are largely a more attractive prospect than the earlier Vs. ENGINE The 2004 and ’05 CTS-V used the LS6 5.7-liter V-8 from the C5 Corvette Z06, producing 400 horse-power…