Innehållsförteckning för December 2010 från MotorTrend

DESIGNER Ken Okuyama’s love for cars is exceeded only by his love for wristwatches, especially those from TAG Heuer. He prizes these precision pieces so much that he’s created a sports car inspired by a Grand Carrera watch. His KO7 roadster might employ a Lotus Elise R platform and powertrain, but that’s where the similarity ends. Many may remember the 51-year-old Okuyama as Pininfarina’s design director. He was the man behind the Ferrari Enzo, Maserati Quattroporte, and Maserati Birdcage concept. Since leaving Pininfarina in 2006, he has expanded his design focus to encompass everything from teapots to eyewear, furniture to motorcycles, buildings to robots, and even the next-generation Shinkansen bullet train. “I’ve always loved collecting watches,” Okuyama says. “And I get a real buzz out of seeing the way they…

LAW-ENF ORCEMENT agencies will eagerly replace their Crown Victoria-based Ford Interceptors with Taurus- and Explorer-based Interceptors, Dearborn figures. While that jury is still out, the Blue Oval’s luxury division is planning something similar, using the same large front-drive platform, to replace the Lincoln Town Car in livery fleets. Lincoln’s new-age livery sedan is an MKT crossover with the third-row seat removed and the second row slid back about 3 inches for Town Car-like passenger legroom and really good cargo space. Lincoln also will offer a stretch MKT with a heavy-duty chassis that can accommodate a lengthening of up to 120 inches. Liveried sedans have been strong, steady business for the brand. Lincoln is expected to offer the MKT Town Car (MKT-L? MKT-EL?) early in ’12. The current Town Car, last…

THE BOAST AND WHAT IT MEANS: BOAST: The Volt’s main electric motor is more powerful: 149-hp/273-lb-ft vs. 92 hp/153-lb-ft MEANING: Between its big motor and better gearing, the Volt can provide the full range of performance, grade climbing, and top speed in electric mode. The Prius must fire its engine to try to keep up with the Volt, and will still be left behind. BOAST: The Prius’ gasoline engine is more powerful: 1.8L/98-hp/105-lb-ft vs. 1.4L/84-hp/92-lb-ft (est) MEANING: Because of the way the Prius’s planetary transmission works, the engine has to turn above 62 mph anyway, so Toyota depends on its gas engine to do more of the work. BOAST: The Volt’s battery pack is way bigger: 16kW-hr/435 pounds vs. 3 kW-hr/330 pounds MEANING: The Volt provides 25-50 miles of real-world…

AUDI CLAIMS one small strip (1.2 inches wide, 0.08 inch thick) of the high-strength, lightweight, hot-shaped steel used in much of the new A7 Sportback’s body is so strong that it could suspend five A7 s, each weighing roughly 4000 pounds. That’s one strong bookmark. Perhaps more noteworthy than the super steel is the fact that feathery aluminum makes up nearly 20 percent of the Sportback’s bod, including the hood, hatch, doors, and front fenders, resulting in a relatively light curb weight. A 535i xDrive GT in comparison, tips the scales about 700 pounds heftier. But what really makes Audi’s new blend of coupe, sedan, and wagon so special? Ah, that would be its elegant and sporty sheetmetal—a dead ringer for the elegant Sportback concept unveiled at the 2009 Detroit…

WE LIKE: Smooth Honda V-6, Accord underpinnings, fuel efficiency. WE DON’T LIKE: Weight, price, interior, styling. Five-speed automatic is a gear or two short. TWO AMERICAN social phenomena inspired Honda to create the Crosstour from the platform of its wildly popular Accord sedan. First, the Mini Cooper is successful beyond prediction, leading BMW’s competitors to erroneously conclude Americans will buy hatchbacks that cost more than $25,000. Second, the youngest baby boomers who made Honda the “it” brand of the 1980s are getting too old to step down easily into low-profile cars like the Accords of 25 years ago. Phenomenon number two made the Crosstour an ungainly car. The post-millennium sedan targets baby boomers by combining the flexibility of a minivan with the step-in height and AWD capability of a crossover…

WE LIKE: Bigger engine, better transmission, MyLincoln Touch. WE DON’T LIKE: Questionable styling, high pricetag. FOR MOST vehicle manufacturers, a midlife update consists of a slight styling change or a new trim level, but Lincoln’s second-generation MKX got a complete redesign for 2011. A significant change is the addition of Ford’s DuratecV-6 engine and new manually shiftable six-speed automatic transmission. Displacement has been increased to 3.7 liters, which in turn increases output to 305 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. Even with the big bumps in power, the MKX still gets a class-leading 25 mpg highway with front drive. Lincoln also made major changes in the cabin, starting with the all-new MyLincoln Touch technology. The system provides a new interface for the climate, navigation, radio, and Sync systems. Lincoln has…

WE LIKE: Powerful engines, upgraded interior quality, Sync system. WE DON’T LIKE: Edge Sport’s weight, price, heavy 22-inch wheels, and especially the brakes. CAN FORD repeat its Fusion magic with the 2011 Edge? They share a platform, and the Edge benefits from the same level of improvement as the ’10 Fusion. Problem is, we never thought as much of the original 2007 Edge as we did of the 2006 Fusion. For 2011, the base engine remains Ford’s 3.5-liter V-6 coupled to a six-speed automatic. Ford includes manumatic shifting, though it’s a cumbersome gearshift toggle button. The Edge Sport’s six-speed comes with paddle shifters, and its standard engine is a Mustang-based 3.7-liter. A 2.0-liter EcoBoost option will be added in 2011. The lighter, front-drive 3.5-liter Edge SEL is 0.5 second quicker…

WE LIKE: Fantastic interior, off-road prowess. WE DON’T LIKE: Five-speed automatic; suspension needs fine-tuning. FOR 2011, Jeep’s topline trail crawler is built on an all-new platform, a version of the one beneath the Mercedes-Benz M-Class. (The Grand Cherokee version is designed for more extreme off-road use than the Mercedes.) This, plus new Fiat ownership, may give some Jeep fans reason for pause. Fear not—the new SUV has the most polish of any Jeep to date, and retains its off-road chops. The Grand Cherokee comes with either a new 3.6-liter V-6 or a 5.7-liter V-8, both with a five-speed automatic and three 4WD systems. Selec-Terrain, which competes with Land Rover’s Terrain Response, makes off-roading very easy. Push the appropriate button, and you’re ready for the dirt. Add the myriad lux options…

THE FORD Fusion Hybrid has proved a highly capable commuter, but it doesn’t visually stand out in a crowd like the Prius. For those who want to make a statement with their car, this isn’t the one to buy. What the Fusion does do, though, is provide a great compromise between ride and handling, with a roomy cabin and large trunk. As assistant Web producer Scott Evans explains, “The ride is surprisingly soft and comfortable, but not at the expense of handling. No, the handling isn’t quite as sharp as the Sport model’s, but the Hybrid is no penalty box. And, let’s be honest, it’s made for Main Street, not Mulholland Drive. Around Los Angeles, the Fusion Hybrid is a fantastic commuter. It’s quiet and smooth and glides easily along…

GM’S EV1 got a raw deal. In the aftermath of filmmaker Chris Paine’s disingenuous documentary, Who Killed The Electric Car, it’s easy to forget the EV1 was—and in many ways, still is—the most technically advanced electric vehicle ever built. The problem with the EV1 was the battery. “Scientifically [battery] storage is all right,” wrote Thomas Edison in 1883, “but commercially, as absolute a failure as one can imagine.” More than a century later, nothing had changed. The 2970-pound EV1 needed 1175 pounds of lead-acid battery to go just 90 miles on the highway and 70 miles in the city, and it could only manage those distances because the rest of the car had been carefully (and expensively) engineered for light weight and high efficiency. It had a BMW 3 Series…

Five new cars are in the works LOTUS REVEALED a staggering five new sports cars at the Paris auto show, to be launched globally over the next four years. First up is the 2012 Esprit, a mid-engine supercar with power from Lotus’ supercharged version of the Lexus IS-F 5.0-liter V-8, coupled to a seven-speed twin-clutch transmission. It makes 550 horsepower in standard form, up to 620 in R trim, and redlines at 8500 rpm. Performance is claimed to match its key rivals, the Ferrari 458 and Porsche 911 Turbo. Lotus says it weighs 3300 pounds. The body structure is Lotus’ patented aluminum frame, for the first time without fiberglass body panels. Instead, the Esprit uses carbon-fiber side panels and aluminum front and rear ends, doors, and roof. The company will…

A RECENT quickie test drive outside Munich has put at least some of the speculation about the littlest M to rest. Name: 1 Series M Coupe (reserving M1 for something more special). Engine: N54 twin-turbo 3.0-liter six closely related to the Z4 sDrive35is engine, producing roughly 340 horsepower and 370 pound-feet. Suspension: Almost entirely M3 bits (tweaked to carry the 1’s nearly 200-pound-lighter load), including the competition package’s 19-inch Y-spoke wheels. Body: Fender flares widen the car 3.1 inches to cover the huge Michelin PS2 tires and new fascias accommodate the increased cooling needs and quad exhaust pipes, but no carbon-fiber body panels are anticipated. This helps lower the Price: Under $45,000. So how does it run? Matching the last-gen M3 Competition coupe’s weight-to-power ratio with more torque than today’s…

BUILDING A SUPERCAR is easy. Even if you’ve got zero experience in car-building, you can have your family name festooned across the back of a mid-engined track monster in a few easy steps. Step one is cash, and lots of it. You’ll need this to license an engine from Audi or Mercedes. Step two is to hire an engineer, preferably one with several decades of experience at a major automaker. Sure, he’ll cost more than a recent graduate (remember step one), but he’ll know which hoops to jump through and which to set ablaze. Optional step: You might want to change your name to one that ends with a vowel. Pagani and Ascari sound good. Gumpert, not so much. Building a minivan, on the other hand, especially for us American…

WE LIKE: Mechanical upgrades highlighted by its new engine and transmission and SH-AWD system’s razor handling. WE DON’T LIKE: Mechanical complexity, ergonomic confusion, and menacing styling. THE ACURA MDX must have been baffled by its experience at this year’s SUV of the Year festivities. Here’s a vehicle that loudly answers what’s perhaps the automotive press’ single biggest gripe about SUVs—that they drive like oatmeal on the road—with a brilliant technological reply, and it doesn’t even make the cut to Round Two. What’s up with that? As Lassa put it, “You really don’t use the MDX’s SH-AWD system unless you get into the throttle in a turn. And I really don’t care to get into the throttle much while turning in a high-profile vehicle like this. SH-AWD is more useful in…

WE LIKE: New engines and transmissions offer better mileage; tweaked styling. WE DON’T LIKE: Underpinnings showing their age; styling overshadowed by cousin Kia’s smart new looks. IF YOU happen to be the oldest among a large brood of siblings, you might understand the Santa Fe’s current predicament. Not too many years ago, it was the company’s SUV Only Child, the recipient of Hyundai’s undivided attention. Well, it’s alone no more. Today, it finds itself squeezed between the smaller Tucson and the bigger Veracruz, as well as having to contend with that Kia clan of half-brothers, including the Sorento and Sportage. Many of which are quite good, too. For 2010, it’s been updated enough to qualify for our SUV of the Year melee, but unfortunately not enough to evade our critics.…

WE LIKE: Styling, interior ergonomics, and powertrain. WE DON’T LIKE: Disconcerting road noise, artificial steering. THE 2011 Kia Sorento has undergone a dramatic change for its second generation. This decidedly all-new SUV—the first Kia to be built in the U.S.—has abandoned the full-size, body-on-frame pretense for an updated version of the Santa Fe’s unitbody construction. The styling, which is the work of former Audi designer Peter Schreyer, is just as striking in its departure from the Lexus RX lookalike of previous generations. Behind that corporate “tiger nose” grille is sheetmetal that is handsome, modern, and welcomingly subdued. Like the smaller Sportage, the Sorento at first appears to deliver more than its Hyundai counterpart. So it’s a surprise that it doesn’t make the first cut. Road noise is the primary offense.…

WE LIKE: Well-executed cabin, great value, middle and top ranges. WE DON’T LIKE: Artificial steering feel, unrefined ride. HYUNDAI’S Fluidic Sculpture design theme, which debuted on the second-gen 2010 Tucson, has paid big dividends thus far. As this issue went to press, year-to-year sales from September 2009 to September 2010 for the South Korean crossover had jumped a colossal 131 percent. Safe to say, Americans like ’em some Tucson. We like it, too. Not only did we rank the Hyundai second in a comparison test, but we also voted it to round two of this year’s competition, something we can’t say for the Acura MDX, BMW X5, and Lexus GX. So what did we appreciate? Its value, for one. A base Tucson GL, with a 2.0-liter, 165-horsepower I-4 mated to…

WE LIKE: Edgy styling, upscale interior. WE DON’T LIKE: Vague steering feel and suspension tuning. OVER THE past few years, Kia has made gigantic strides in building not just competitive but potentially segment-leading vehicles. The new 2011 Kia Sportage is no exception with its all-new exterior, interior, and drivetrain upgrades. The latest Sportage sits on a unibody platform that is 3.5 inches longer than its predecessor’s. Kia has done away with the V-6, replacing it with two new I-4s (one is turbocharged, but that won’t be available until next year). Most testers felt the new I-4 was only adequate, but did provide decent fuel economy. “I wish Kia had launched the Sportage with the 200-horse direct-injection 2.4-liter. That would have put it at the top of its class in another…

IT MIGHT seem a no-brainer for Infiniti to have started offering a more modest engine in the G sedan a long time ago, but in actuality, the process took years. Until the Infiniti G25 hit showrooms last month, Nissan’s luxury brand was unique in that it didn’t offer multiple powerplant options on its entry-level sedan. Now, that oversight has been rectified. The new entry-level engine isn’t really new at all—it’s the longstanding 2.5-liter variant of the Nissan family VQ series DOHC V-6. Producing 218 horsepower and 187 pound-feet of torque to the G37’s 328 ponies and 269 pound-feet, the G25 is clearly a notch down on the performance scale from its larger-displacement sibling. On the plus side, the G25 offers slightly improved fuel economy, turning in 20 city/29 highway mpg…

Lord Almighty,I feel my temperature risingHigher, higherIt’s burning through to my soul Girl, girl, girlYou gonna set me on fireMy brain is flamingI don’t know which way to go Your kisses lift me higherLike the sweet song of a choirYou light my morning skyWith (oil) burning love WITH ALL DUE respect to Elvis and songwriter Dennis Linde, we find the King’s 1972 hit more appropriately crooned in honor of our dearly departed BMW 335d. But this wasn’t always the case. When she arrived at our door more than two years ago, we weren’t quite sure what to think. Sure, we absolutely adored her sportier sister, the all-singing, all-dancing, dual-clutching M3, despite the gas-guzzling problem. But what to make of this teetotaling twin turbodiesel? Would she be loud? Would she be…

going, going…gone As a little kid in the early ’50s, I got my first “car crush” while riding in a 1949 Mercury convertible. I became an instant car lover. Now, six decades later, reading about cars and attending old-car shows is still a joyous pastime for me. I watched The Ed Sullivan Show mainly for the Big M commercials. I walked around in awe when I first saw a 1957Mercury parked on the street. One of my all-time personal favorite cars was the 1968 Merc Cyclone GT fastback. The Montclairs, Turnpike Cruisers, XR7s, Cyclone Spoilers, Sun Valleys, 49/50/51 lead sleds, the “rolled and pleated” look of the mid-’50s interiors, the Cruiser fender skirts, and the Cale Yarborough days are now history. Reading the new-car previews and finding Mercury MIA is…

IT WAS WITH some trepidation that every Motor Trend editor strapped into and glided silently away in Chevrolet’s new Volt. This, after all, supposedly represents the future of personal mobility—not a flying Jetsonsmobile, not GM’s winged turbine Firebirds, nor Ford’s two-wheeled Gyron, but a 3729-pound, four-wheeled, four-seat electric hatchback with a tiny gas helper engine. Do we car people have any reason to look forward to the 60-mpg CAFE future, or should we jump in our ’66 T-Birds now and roar off a butte? Hang onto that T-Bird just in case, but the Volt shows a lot of promise. You might already know that electricity always turns the Volt’s wheels, and we can confirm that its 149-horse electric motor accelerates fairly smartly right up to its 101-mph top speed—with or…

ALL YOU NEED IS ONE GLANCE AT THE NEW OPTIMA’S IMPRESSIVE BODY TO SEE WHY KIA FEELS BULLISH ABOUT ITS FUTURE. EVERY YEAR—in good times and bad—hundreds of thousands of American families decide to purchase a new midsize sedan. But the Kia Optima always languishes in sales behind the brilliant dominance of the Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords. Well, here comes the 2011 Optima. Kia chief design officer Peter Schreyer spearheaded its artistic renaissance, and now the Optima is at the mercy of the consumer public. Sure, the midsize four-door has worn the familial “tiger nose” front grille since the 2009 model year. The newest embodiment, however, is Kia’s most important vehicle yet. Purposeful sheetmetal, modern powerplants, and the customary Korean marque price points give the new sedan the honed…

DAY 1: TOKYO TO KYOTO We’re still on the fringes of Tokyo’s sprawl when we hit 120 mph for the first time. I glance up from my magazine and notice the houses rushing by; our rate of acceleration has been so smooth and silent, it’s taken me by surprise. Now, the snack lady is wheeling her trolley past, offering coffee, cold drinks, and other goodies, all within arm’s reach. Yessir, Japan’s Bullet Trains sure are a neat way to travel. But if you really want to see the world, there’s still no better way to do it than by car. You can go where you want, at the pace you want. Road trips rule. And while seat 4B on the Kodama Bullet Train to Nagoya might seem a strange place…

WE LIKE: Straight-line speed, sporty handling, great navigation screen, pleasant interior. WE DON’T LIKE: Still funny-looking, still very heavy, still strictly an on-roader, silly shifter. THE BMW X5 is new for 2011, but is it new enough? We chewed on that problem while figuring out which SUV is best. The new X5 is quite a brilliant machine, one of the fastest, most sporting SUVs we’ve ever tested. However, at the end of the day, we decided that, while new, it wasn’t enough of a departure from the 2010 X5 to really compete for our OTY honors. Let’s look at what is new. Under the hood sits BMW’s new-for-last year, 3.0-liter twin scroll turbo inline-six. Like the twin-turbo 3.0-liter straight-six this engine replaces, the single-turbo’d mill produces 300 horsepower and 300…

WE LIKE: Comfortable ride, excellent new engine. WE DON’T LIKE: Intrusive ESC, awkward third row. WHEN LEXUS announced there would be a new GX coming, we wondered what that would mean. Would it get the company’s new 4.6-liter V-8? Would it become a crossover? Yes, and no. The GX 460 returns with new LX 570-like styling on a highly revised version of the previous GX’s body-on-frame architecture. As most of the sport/utility market has turned toward car-based models, the Lexus is one of the remaining few that promises off-road capability and backs it up with genuine trail cred. This SUV has a solid rear axle, adjustable-height suspension, full-time four-wheel drive with low range and lockable Torsen center differential, hill-start assist, and downhill assist, plus available crawl control. And, unlike crossovers,…

WE LIKE: Quality interior and good looks. WE DON’T LIKE: Gutless engine, body roll. SHORTER THAN a Honda CR-V or Nissan Rogue, the compact Outlander Sport rides on the same wheelbase as its larger sibling, the 183.7-inch-long Outlander. The Sport’s shorter overhangs reduce overall length by 14.6 inches over its seven-passenger big brother. Its smaller size—and lighter weight—also mean the Sport can be powered by a lower-horsepower engine, which improves fuel economy. The only engine choice is a 2.0-liter, 148-horse inline-four with variable valve timing, backed by either a five-speed manual or continuously variable trans. Our topline SE had AWD (the only model available with it) and the CVT. At 3362 pounds, it was one of the lightest vehicles at this year’s SUOTY. Despite that, it also felt like one…

WE LIKE: Surprisingly fast, and able to haul six adults around in total comfort. WE DON’T LIKE: Ugly nose, sucks gas pumps dry. FOR SUV of the Year giggles, I decided to bring along a copy of Keith Bradsher’s High and Mighty, the hard-hitting, near-hysterical screed detailing just how totally terrible the SUV is. Interesting, only two vehicles in our test meet Bradsher’s five-point definition of what makes an SUV an SUV: It must have available all- or four-wheel drive, an enclosed rear cargo area, high ground clearance, and a truck-based ladder frame, and be marketed toward urbanites and suburbanites. The qualifying vehicles are the Lexus GX 460 and Infiniti QX56, and it’s fair to say we loved the new QX, in spite of Bradsher’s warnings. We don’t give an…

WE LIKE: Criminally fun-to-drive dynamics, impressive interior electronics. WE DON’T LIKE: Limited cargo room, limited backseat, limited off-road capability, limited styling appeal. EVEN WHEN cast against the increasingly avant-garde crossover segment, the Nissan Juke looks downright alien. This is unfortunate, because the controversial styling, which aims to evoke the irrepressible machismo of rally cars and motorcycles, blocks the Juke’s best attribute: It’s a blast. This is the most fun small car Nissan makes. Editors were uniform in their joy from behind the steering wheel. (“I love driving this car”, the notes read. “It’s a ton of fun.”) The turbo 1.6-liter is enjoyably aggressive, even when paired with a continuously variable transmission (a six-speed manual is available with FWD). The AWD model delivers torque vectoring and a more sophisticated multilink rear…

I WAS recently told, “The Germans build the best British luxury cars,” by our editor-in-chief, Angus MacKenzie, who’s Australian. It’s hard to argue with him. Just check out BMW’s take on Rolls-Royce: the awe-inspiring Phantom. Or this particular palace of sumptuous hedonism, VW Group’s brand-new Bentley Mulsanne. The first proper Bentley since the 1930 8-Liter, the Mulsanne is rolling decadence, an automotive homage to “Rule Britannia!” The car’s level of opulence and intemperance is borderline obscene. We love it. Still, try as they might, the Germans are still, well, German. Meaning they’re anal-retentively compelled to build machines with monumental metrics. Would a Bismarck crack be crossing the line? What about Big Bertha? Back in the day, high-end British cars were never about numbers. Since nearly forever, Rolls-Royce/Bentley (remember, they were…

IT’S NOT OFTEN that we welcome a long-term tester so popular with staffers that it never remains parked overnight at our office. It’s even more rare for said tester to be a bona fide supercar, tried and proven as a legitimate Ferrari-Porsche-Lamborghini annihilator. Such was the case with our Super Silver Nissan GT-R Premium, which we enjoyed, flaunted, and admired every day of its yearlong test. The GT-R’s popularity is understandable. Its storied lineage dates back more than four decades and includes all-wheel-drive monsters that ate up the competition—hence, the Godzilla nickname. Further, our long-termer’s combination of futuristic, controversial sheetmetal and spellbinding, Nürburgring-bred performance for well under $100,000 is indeed exceptional. The GT-R’s body drips with Japanese functionality, while paying homage to the natural world and famous ancestors. Most staffers…