Innehållsförteckning för January 2016 från Car and Driver

Sic your dogs on us at: editors@caranddriver.com or join the discussion at: backfires.caranddriver.com LAPLANDERS I just finished reading the Lightning Lap issue [October 2015] and was surprised that there was no Dodge SRT Hellcat present. This has got to be one of the most hyped cars in recent memory. The preface says the car was a dropout but doesn’t explain why. Having just taken delivery of a Challenger Hellcat after a 10-month wait, I’m curious what dropout means. So why no Hellcat? JIM VANN KANAB, UTAH Dodge chickened out at the last minute and pulled the Challenger Hellcat that we’d scheduled. The official line sounded something like this, “We want all track media to concentrate on the Viper ACR”—Ed. Over the years, all the car magazines have made icons of the…

LAST YEAR WAS THE END of the line for the Mercedes-Benz M-class. There’s no more GLK, either. Soon, the GL and the SLK will likewise disappear. Oh, the vehicles will still be around, but the badges are changing as Mercedes overhauls its naming convention. G-wagen aside, its SUVs are now GLs, keyed by size to the core C-, E-, and S-classes: The GLK is the GLC, the M is the GLE, and the GL will soon be the GLS. The SLK will become the SLC. Cadillac is about to make a similar change, and many in our office still use Infiniti’s old names. “QX70? That’s the FX, right?” But automakers risk forfeiting individual models’ brand equity in such scorched-earth renaming schemes. We tallied the age of every model on the…

When I converted my ’93 Bronco to a 7.3-liter Power Stroke diesel, one of my goals was to eventually run it on biofuel. Of course, that wasn’t my main objective. Higher on the list were items like “get 500 pound-feet of torque” and “make loud turbo noises at all times.” But yes, also: sneer down contemptuously at Prius drivers and their dirty war fuel. I’d probably need a bumper sticker so everyone would know how morally superior I am. Something to the effect of, “This looks like a 12-mpg Bronco, but it’s actually got a diesel and furthermore it’s running 100-percent biodiesel (B100), which the California Air Resources Board recently determined can reduce carbon emissions as much as 81 percent compared with petroleum.” Unfortunately, I am physically incapable of applying…

You may not be surprised to hear that cars do not spring all shiny and dew-studded from beneath lily pads, ready to hit the road. In fact, the car-creation odyssey makes NASA’s Journey to Mars program seem like a Caribbean luxury cruise. While we frequently address elements of the design and development process in these pages, this is the first time we’ve presented the entire start-to-finish plan; this year’s 10Best celebration seemed like the perfect time and place to do so. One domestic and one import manufacturer—both requesting anonymity for competitive reasons—helped compile this guide to how cars are made. We gathered related tasks under five headings. The “Sharing Is Caring” graphic depicts some of the back-and-forth negotiation and, ideally, cooperation linking various phases of the process. The time required…

If you were to stroll through the Mazda 3 assembly plant in Hofu, Japan, it wouldn’t be unusual to find a bambooand-paper shoji door in an engineer’s locker. “It opens and slides without much effort,” explains Hirotaka Takaya, doors development engineer. Nor should you be surprised to find a drawing of the anatomy of a human arm. “We determined which muscles are used to operate [the shift lever],” explains Takao Kijima, former MX-5 Miata program manager, “to balance the amount of strength needed.” Kijima further suggests, “When the car and driver are in harmony, driving is fun.” “Harmony,” as it happens, is not a bad descriptor for the Mazda 3. In this car, no single element overwhelms its essential character. It feels substantial, yet quick-witted. Its subassemblies all shake each…

HOW WE’D BUILD IT: The GTI delivers the best value of the Golf range. The S trim is the only one that includes the Clark Plaid seats, so that’s the obvious starting point. We’d gladly spend an extra $600 for a pair of rear doors, but we’ll skip the automatic transmission in favor of the six-speed manual. Adding $1495 to the bill for the Performance package would get us the electronically controlled differential and 10 more horsepower, and that’s where we’d stand pat, at $27,910. SPECIFICATIONS VOLKSWAGEN G OLF VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front- or 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 2- or 4-door hatchback BASE PRICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .…

Every year we pick our 10Best cars, and every year we leave four to five times that many off the list. Usually, there is a vast gulf between the winners and the losers. But not this time. There was a thick boundary layer of excellence at this year’s base camp. Scores on my 10Best ballot only went as low as 72 out of 100. There were a lot of 90- and 92-point cars that didn’t win, cars that didn’t quite meet our guiding criteria, which is: Can we name another vehicle on the market that does what this one does but better and cheaper? If so, it’s not getting invited to the big photo shoot. What we wind up with are cars that combine astonishing dynamics with compelling value and…

A fun thing about identity theft is that identity can’t be stolen if it’s not there to begin with. You could say that about a bunch of current automobiles, too, many evolving toward a kind of mute, amnesic homogeneity. I was thus delighted to find a silver Alfa Romeo 4C Spider at this year’s 10Best test. A red coupe had vied for similar honors the year prior. I can’t recall any car in 10Best history that has sparked more angst, joy, and raised voices. Last year, perhaps two-thirds of our editors slagged the Alfa for being so noisy, cramped, and nervous that it serves only as a one-hour Sunday-afternoon cruiser, where—among other denied pleasures—you won’t be hearing the cheesy stereo or your passenger’s pleas or oncoming BNSF locomotives. To be…

HOW WE’D BUILD IT: As much as we like the new Camaro V-6, we’d still opt for the base-level V-8 car, the 1SS with the manual transmission. We’d add: Magnetic Ride Control ($1695), dual-mode exhaust ($895), 20-inch aluminum wheels ($800), Heavy-Duty Cooling and Brake package ($485). Total: $41,170. ASSEMBLY PLANT: LANSING, MICHIGAN OTHER MODELS: CADILLAC ATS, CTS Proving grounds are the ultimate automotive amusement parks, with circles and ovals for high-speed testing and vast black lakes—huge parking lots without light poles or concrete logs—for testing at-the-limit and way-beyond-the-limit roadholding. Proving grounds also contain lessexciting stuff such as salt baths, heat-soak sheds, and miles of intentionally crappy pavement for tuning suspensions and exposing weaknesses. This is where auto makers hone their wares and, more important, find their voices and define their…

It had been a few years since I last visited Tesla Motors, that enormous white sheet cake of a factory down at the muddy bottom end of the San Francisco Bay. The Fremont plant used to spit out half a million vehicles a year when it was a GM-Toyota joint venture, when it was a humming hive of American manufacturing vitality. Then it turned into an empty husk, and then Tesla acquired the deed in 2010 for a relative pittance. When I went to see the first Model S in 2012, there were a couple dozen cars in the employee lot. Tumbleweeds would not have looked out of place. Inside, a few robots practiced their tai chi moves with empty pincers, as there were as yet no panels to shuffle.…

HOW WE’D BUILD IT: We’d keep our M235i trim by opting for BMW’s no-cost synthetic SensaTec upholstery, adding the dealer-installed limited-slip differential ($3240), and saving 200 bucks over the Cold Weather package by opting for just the heated seats ($500). The rest of our choices are no-cost decisions: summer tires to best exploit the car’s handling prowess and, naturally, a manual transmission. Total damage: $48,885. To sort out the “how” of the BMW M235i’s construction, one must start roughly 30 million years ago, when the African continental plate started its eonslong rumble with the Eurasian plate, squeezing the Alps up out of the earth. Fortuitously, a century ago, an aero-engine factory set up shop in Munich, at the foot of the Bavarian swath of these mountains, whereupon it started building…

HOW WE’D BUILD IT: Start with the GT350R and add the Electronics package. Yes, that’s expensive ($66,495) but still a bargain. With the Electronics package, Ford installs air conditioning and a stereo, but the car still weighs 86 pounds less than a GT350 Track Pack, partly because the R has carbon-fiber wheels and no back seats. SPECIFICATIONS FORD MUSTANG SHELBY GT 350 / GT350R VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2- or 4-passenger, 2-door coupe BASE PRICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $49,995–$63,495 ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 32-valve 5.2-liter V-8, 526 hp, 429 lb-ft TRANSMISSION . . . . .…

HOW WE’D BUILD IT: The Miata is a simple and sporty car, so ours would follow suit. We would start with the MX-5 Club version ($29,420), which brings a sport-tuned suspension, limitedslip differential, and bigger wheels. We would of course specify the standard manual transmission. The only option we’d bother adding is Advanced Keyless Entry ($130) because we don’t want to have to reach into our pocket for the key. Grand total would be a steal at $29,550. ASSEMBLY PLANT: HIROSHIMA, JAPAN OTHER MODELS: CX-5, CX-9 SPECIFICATIONS MAZDA MX - 5 MIATA VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door convertible BASE PRICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .…

HOW WE’D BUILD IT: We would choose the four-wheel-drive Model S 70D. To this we would add Autopilot semiautonomous capability ($2500) because our commutes are long and boring. We’d opt for the Smart Air Suspension ($2500) for ride-height adjustability. We’d replace the flat standard seats with tan next-generation seats ($2500). And they would be heated, too, thanks to the Subzero Weather package ($1000). Slap on some Midnight Silver Metallic paint ($1000) and we arrive at a total of $85,700. SPECIFICATIONS TESLA MODELS 70/70 D VEHICLE TYPE: rear- or front-and-rear-motor, rear- or 4-wheel-drive, 5- or 7-passenger, 4- or 5-door hatchback BASE PRICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .…

Cut the kids’ allowances and halt the 401(k) contributions. Meat and alcohol are out; your new diet consists of rice, beans, and ketchup packets from the office cafeteria. Who needs cable or an iPhone when you’re living in the moment? You’re going to own a supercar! Don’t get caught up on the baby McLaren’s $187,400 base price. Like most 570S customers, you only need concern yourself with 36 monthly lease payments of roughly $2200 each. That’s not exactly Accord money, but it makes us wonder: Wouldn’t we be happier if all of life’s little luxuries were traded for one big and fast luxury? McLaren says that the 570S will primarily be sold or leased to folks who own two or three cars, rather than to 650S and P1 owners who…

JUDY STROPUS Since the ’60s, Judy Stropus, 72, had been the nonpareil timer/scorer in American racing. She was a no-bull observer of racing’s most glorious era, as she demonstrates here. C/D: How did you discover your talent as a timer/scorer? JS: I was 18, living in Queens, New York, working as a legal secretary, and my boyfriend at the time was racing his Jaguar XK120. The two of us had joined the Queens Sports Car Club, and one weekend I was asked to help with lap charts at Bridgehampton, where the SCCA people were amazed at how easy it was for me. But I’d won prizes for my Pitman shorthand in secretarial school, and it turned out there was a real connection—I have this ability to move my eyes very…