Innehållsförteckning för May/June 2024 från Car and Driver

YOU NO LONGER NEED an expensive digital single-lens reflex or mirrorless camera to capture beauty shots of your car—all you need is a phone. Given Apple’s sales dominance in the U.S. market and the shared user experience of most iPhones running the latest iteration of iOS, we’re taking a look at how the iPhone camera can best work for gearheads. A basic understanding of photography jargon will help, but the iPhone keeps the nomenclature to a minimum: Users can adjust the exposure. Too much exposure and the image will look blown out and overly bright. Too little and no one will notice the details of your freshly buffed car. THE BASICS: In the last few iPhone generations, you can set your camera to the highest resolution of 48 megapixels by…

IF YOU’RE EVER contemplating a 1500-mile family driving vacation on I-95 during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, I have some advice: Go step on a rake and hope that when you regain your senses, your first thought is “I should just fly.” But if you still entertain the notion that an end-of-the-year holiday road trip won’t be so bad, try to get your hands on a vehicle that can help shoulder the burden. In my case, that meant a plug-in-hybrid Lincoln Corsair with the optional hands-free highway-driving assist system, a.k.a. Ford’s BlueCruise. My plan was to drive about 750 miles from North Carolina to Miami. On the way down, we’d break up the trip with a stop in Orlando, but the return drive would be a…

SICK OF MEGABUCK EXOTICS? FEAST ON THIS REGULAR FARE: COMPACT SUVS FROM DODGE, FORD, HONDA, KIA, MAZDA, NISSAN, TOYOTA, AND VOLKSWAGEN. TO ALL OUR BELOVED READERS WHO’VE WRITTEN TO KVETCH THAT WE DON’T COVER AFFORDABLE CARS OR VEHICLES THAT REAL PEOPLE BUY, THIS ONE’S FOR YOU. It doesn’t get any more mainstream than this group right here. The word “automobile” once conjured images of bestselling mid-size sedans such as the Toyota Camry, the Honda Accord, and the Ford Taurus, but now this is what we see on the road. The Toyota RAV4 overtook the Camry as the bestselling Toyota in 2017, one year after the Honda CR-V passed the Accord, and the Taurus quit the U.S. market in 2019. Today, Americans buy more compact SUVs than any other type of…

SERIES: As the name implies, this is a one-then-the-other setup. A gas engine turns a generator, which then feeds a battery or a drive motor. There’s no physical connection between the internal-combustion engine and the wheels. See: Fisker Karma. PARALLEL: This is the setup most hybrids use today. A clutch and an electric motor replace a transmission’s torque converter. The motor doesn’t have to be integrated with a transmission, but that is by far the most common arrangement. See: Mercedes-Benz S580e, Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid, Kia Sportage Hybrid, and many others. POWER-SPLIT: A gas engine pairs with a transmission consisting of two motors and at least one planetary gearset. The car can drive the wheels with one of those electric motors, the gas engine, or both. The second electric motor is…

Those looking for a purely financial reason to choose a PHEV will be disappointed. But cost comparisons among hybrids, PHEVs, and EVs are complicated by the fact that almost no automaker offers all three powertrain types in the same model line. So, we crunched the numbers on the Kia Niro, one of the few models available all three ways. Assuming a 60 percent mix of electric miles, the Niro PHEV costs 5.7 cents per mile based on national average prices for gas and electricity and EPA combined mileage figures. While that’s nearly 10 percent less expensive than the hybrid, saving a fraction of a penny per mile means it would take more than a million miles to make back the $7450 price difference. But the PHEV starts at the EX…

ARE ANY INITIALS MORE MISUSED than the G and T of a purported grand tourer? Most GTs are either sports cars with a smidge more seat cushion or luxury coaches with a string of extra ponies to pull the weight. Those variations have their charms, but a true grand tourer should combine comfort, performance, and practicality in a way that makes the driver—and passenger—want to extend every road trip. The 2024 Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo takes its moniker seriously, with a long and lean profile, an interior plush enough to spend days in, and 542 well-muscled horses to make short work of the long way. We’ll quickly pour out a tribute to the departed V-8 powerplants, because the GranTurismo’s curved hood covers a toned-down version of the Nettuno twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6…

THE NEWEST-GENERATION Mini Countryman is mini in name only. Aligning with the size and style of the latest BMW X1 (its sibling on the UKL platform), the Countryman is 5.4 inches longer, 0.9 inch wider, and almost four inches taller than before. Despite the Countryman’s badging and iconic round instrument cluster, calling a 175.1-inch vehicle “Mini” seems disingenuous. And yet, despite its newfound bulk, the 312-hp John Cooper Works is still a fun time. The turbocharged 2.0-liter four features a redesigned head with reworked intake ports and combustion chambers. It serves up 11 more horsepower than before, and that peak arrives 750 rpm later than in the outgoing unit while holding to the 6500-rpm redline. Torque, which drops from 331 to 295 pound-feet, is transmitted to all four wheels by…

IN 2010, TO THE DISMAY OF HIS FAMILY, Renault hybrid expert Nicolas Fremau spent his holiday break assembling a small-scale transmission out of Lego Technic parts. Fremau didn’t know it at the time, but the prototype he pieced together in his living room would kick-start the development of Renault’s E-Tech hybrid system. The integral piece in Renault’s hybrid powertrain is the transmission Fremau invented and christened the LocoDiscoBox. It’s a name as colorful as the blue fasteners, yellow crossbraces, and red, gray, and black cogs in the plastic plaything Fremau built to test his loco concept, which ditches the typical friction clutches of a traditional automatic transmission for very efficient dog clutches. The canine name is derived from how opposing teeth of the clutch interlock like a dog’s jaw. This…

Weirdly, the Tesla Cybertruck has more aero than you might imagine. The front end was always going to be a challenge, but Tesla changed the prototype’s flat nose to a subtly curved front panel that helps air bend around the forward flanks. Carefully shaped front flares create a small, deliberate vortex that encourages the flow to bend smoothly around the corners. The prominent wiper acts like a fence that directs air over the top instead of allowing it to swirl down onto the driver’s window, cutting down on wind noise. Underneath, the belly is much smoother than any ladder-framed truck could ever hope to be. The most surprising aspect may well be how naturally well suited the angular-looking aft end is. The rearmost flanks taper gently like some kind of…

Although the descriptor is a mouthful, plug-in-hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are a relatively recent power-train creation, brought to the mass market by the pioneering 2011 Chevrolet Volt. They promise zero-emission electric motoring for shorter trips, with the ability to charge at home and bypass the gas station. They also thrive during long-distance travel, needing only to replenish the gas tank, free of the constraints of EV range, the spotty public charging infrastructure, and long stops for juicing up. It’s kind of like a starter EV with gas-engine training wheels. PHEVs have considerably larger battery packs than hybrids and more powerful electric motors, enabling greater electric range but adding considerable mass. When you’re operating a PHEV in electric mode, the gas engine is very expensive dead weight. Partially due to the…

FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE Highs: Beauty that’s both seen and heard, comfy seats for the streets, brakes that will get you out of trouble. Lows: Defeated by most gas stations and their entrances, it’s not good when the late-’80s gauge cluster is the clearest one, a few infotainment-related problems. Verdict: The last—and best—of its kind. BMW M2 Highs: As quick as techno, performance that’s more accessible, easier to live with on a daily basis. Lows: Can’t hear it over the Mustang’s V-8, optional seats are hard and difficult to get out of, shifter lacks the crisp engagement of the Stang. Verdict: A practical, powerful, and fun sports coupe—the kind BMW used to make. ELSEWHERE IN THIS MAGAZINE is a comparison test of eight rational compact SUVs that carry families, haul groceries,…

ENGINE DOWNSIZING IN THE name of fuel efficiency has been the order of the day for some time, and the Porsche Cayenne S has not been immune to this trend. The burly 4.8-liter V-8 it once offered was displaced by a twin-turbo 3.6-liter V-6 partway through the second generation, and the shrinkage continued with a twin-turbo 2.9-liter V-6 when the third-gen 2019 Cayenne S debuted. Power nevertheless ratcheted up during this progression (as did combined fuel economy), but the S moniker steadily lost mojo and meaning along the way. The 2024 Cayenne S brings all of that to a halt with the return of a V-8. This time it’s a twin-turbo 4.0-liter, a less powerful version of the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid and GT’s V-8, yet it makes a still-hefty 468…

HONDA WANTS TO SELL AN EV, for real this time. But because its own EV plans weren’t ready yet, it turned to General Motors to help create the 2024 Prologue, which borrows the Chevrolet Blazer EV’s platform. The Prologue sure looks like a Honda. Its friendly face will be at home in a Honda showroom next to the two-row Passport and three row Pilot. It also fits neatly between those two in terms of length, although it is significantly lower. The Honda vibes are less apparent inside. The company says it adjusted some of the dashboard’s hard points to improve sightlines, but GM switchgear abounds. While the materials look and feel appropriate, longtime Honda owners might balk at the unfamiliar layout. You operate the wipers, for instance, via the left…

BY NOW, MOST OF US are quite familiar with the godfather of hot hatches. Always engaging and entertaining yet practical and rational, Volkswagen’s Golf GTI has won us over time and again with the formula it introduced to the world nearly 50 years ago. Or maybe it’s the GTI’s nonjuvenile hot‑hatch persona—sans gaudy wing and shouty exhaust—that keeps us coming back for more. Either way, when the eighth-generation GTI came out, we knew we needed one for a 40,000‑mile shakedown. In a rare show of restraint, we chose the $30,540 base model and added only one option: the humble Moonstone Gray paint for $395. More than $30,000 for a base GTI, you say? In a world where you can spend six figures on a Jeep Wrangler or a Ford F‑150,…

The Cybertruck’s steer-by-wire system lacks a connection between the wheels and the steering wheel, or the cutely named “squircle.” While this will surely trigger the foil-hat community, Cybertrucks are safe. Triple redundancy and a diversity of information ensure any fault in the system will not result in a 737 Max situation where the car will not do the driver’s bidding. The front steering rack has two 48-volt motors. Each of those motors reports to two different circuits and is tied to two different controllers. Three feedback sensors (one for each motor and a third for the squircle’s motor) report to different controllers. Should one motor fail, there is still enough torque in reserve to steer through a parking lot (where steering forces are greatest). If one sensor disagrees with the…

While PHEVs’ battery packs are, in some ways, a scaled-down version of what powers electric vehicles, there’s more to it. For example, while an EV’s pack might need to endure 1000 or so charge-and-discharge cycles, a PHEV’s battery cycles far more frequently. That means it needs to survive around 5000 or more cycles. To cope with these demands and maintain battery life, PHEVs use a smaller fraction of the battery’s gross capacity for propulsion than EVs do. Currently, the average EV has a battery pack with around 100 kilowatt-hours of energy, and the usable capacity is approximately 90 percent of that total. PHEV battery packs average about 16 kilowatt-hours but use a smaller fraction of that energy, closer to 80 percent. Non-plug-in hybrids, with battery packs averaging just over 1…

FOR MOST OF US, scoring a good deal means snagging a two-for-one coupon on Cinnamon Toast Crunch at the grocery store or receiving a random check for $2.84 from a class-action law-suit you forgot you joined. But for other people, a good deal looks like the Mercedes-Maybach S680 4Matic—a quarter-million-dollar V-12 limo that offers silver champagne flutes and a backseat fridge. Step away from the guillotine for a moment, and we’ll explain. In the world of ultraluxury automobiles, as with mainstream vehicles, SUVs are the chic thing and command premium prices. The last V-8 Bentley Bentayga S we tested cost $302,910, and a V-12 Rolls-Royce Cullinan can easily cross the half-million-dollar mark. Against those yardsticks, the Maybach we drove looks like a steal. Consider what $245,650 gets you: a 621-hp…

One of the more notable aspects of the Porsche Cayenne’s 2024 refresh is its powertrain shuffle. The Cayenne S swapped out its 434-hp twin-turbo 2.9-liter V-6 for a 468-hp twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8, and it puts down some impressive performance figures [see “Reversed Course,” page 86]. But don’t count out the sixes just yet. The base engine, a turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6, makes 348 horsepower, 13 more than before. Weighing in at 4922 pounds, the entry-level Cayenne hustles to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds, 0.2 second ahead of the 2019 model that weighed 214 pounds less. The quarter-mile gets dispatched in 13.4 seconds at 102 mph, 0.1 second ahead of the lighter 2019 version. The new Cayenne also improves in the braking department, stopping from 70 mph in 152 feet, which is…

OUR EIGHTH-GENERATION VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTI long-term test car remained true to form, showcasing an awesome mix of driver enjoyment and everyday practicality for an entirely reasonable buy-in—attributes that have made the GTI one of our favorite cars for decades. But VW’s hot hatch hardly exists in a vacuum, with numerous manufacturers having dabbled in the sport-compact scene in recent years. Below are some noteworthy entries—sedans and hatchbacks—that also deserve praise for focusing on (relatively) affordable speed, plus a few additional Volkswagen models for comparison. *MANUFACTURER CLAIM †C/D ESTIMATE ‡TIMES ADHERE TO OUR OLD ROLLOUT RULE OF 3 MPH…

ALFAHOLISM FIRST AFFLICTED me in 1976. The infecting vector was an Alfetta GT, whose road test became the first cover story I’d ever write. Near London, Ontario, the Alfetta’s heater core peed a pink pint of lukewarm coolant on my girlfriend’s sneakers. I was less committed to her than to the Alfa. The point being, a pattern was set. Flash-forward 12 years, and I’m standing in David E. Davis Jr.’s kitchen, where six of us are casting votes for a sports-sedan comparison test. “Boyo, watch this,” Davis muttered while pointing at his ballot. He’d awarded the Alfa Romeo Milano’s ergonomics a big fat zero, in consequence of his big fat ass not conforming to the Recaro seats. With a stroke of his green-ink pen, DED had relegated the Alfa to…