Innehållsförteckning för July 2011 från MotorTrend

VW’s cutesy Star Wars-inspired Passat campaign continues to dominate Visible Measures' list of viral auto video ads. April alone recorded over 5 million views. But we’ve moved from mini-Vader to the No. 2 video, a slickly CGI’d short called “A Relentless Force” that depicts the $400,000, 217-mph Lamborghini Aventador supercar racing through several death-defying situations. * First appearance on chart Source: Visible Measures (www.visiblemeasures.com) The Motor Trend Top 10 Online Video Auto Ads Chart focuses on brand-driven viral video ads that appear on online video sharing destinations. Each campaign is measured on a True Reach basis, which includes viewership of brand-syndicated video clips and viewer-driven social video placements. MOTOR TREND…

IF FIAT Auto provides Chrysler Group with the technology to build a 40-mpg car in the U.S. by the end of this year, it gets another 5 percent of the Pentastar per the post-bankruptcy deal with the U.S. Treasury. That car is a compact codenamed PF. It will be built as a Dodge, using the Alfa Romeo Giulietta’s platform, drawn and quartered with a longer wheelbase and bigger overall width, Motor Trend has learned. We hear it will be a 2013 model built in Belvedere, Illinois. That means production apparently will begin before January 1, 2012, though the car won’t go on sale until early ’12. There will be some production overlap with the Dodge Caliber, while the PF will replace that slow-seller completely, probably by the traditional summer production…

AFTER WE went to press with the June issue, Chevrolet announced that its 2013 Malibu will get a new version of GM’s 2.4-liter four, stroked to 2.5 liters. It makes 190 horsepower and 180 pound-feet of torque, up 20 each, and will proliferate through the GM lineup, including the ’12 Buick Regal. Chevy also confirmed an ECO version of the ’13 Malibu, though this eAssist model retains the 2.4-liter configuration. It launches ahead of the 2.5-liter Malibus early next year, and will be rated 26/38 mpg. The ’12 Corvette Z06 with the Z07 performance package and the ZR1 will get new tires, bringing maximum lateral acceleration to a manufacturer’s claimed 1.10 g. The Michelin Pilot Sport Cup Zero Pressure tires are 285/30R19 front, 335/25R20 rear. At Cadillac, the 2012 SRX…

MERCEDES-BENZ’S A-Class has never made it to the United States, where we don’t want or expect small, relatively inexpensive cars to wear the three-pointed star. After all, the C-Class may be a taxicab in Stuttgart, but it’s an entry luxury car with leather interior here. Remember the C-Class sport coupe, which was actually a hatchback? Neither do we. With the A-Class Concept unveiled concurrently at the Shanghai and New York auto shows, Mercedes is putting Americans and the competition on notice that it finally has a viable small luxury-car design. If BMW can do it with the Mini and its upcoming line of front-drive BMW small cars, so can Mercedes. The A-Class Concept hints at a line of four new models, all of which may or may not get the…

IT HAS nothing to do with speed. The world’s most dangerous road is closed for part of the year because of the weather, according to Joel Alas, the BBC’s correspondent in Estonia. Europe’s longest ice road connects the island of Hiiumaa off Estonia’s Baltic Coast—when it’s cold enough. Juniper bushes mark the route between mainland Estonia and the island. You’re not likely to find“Ice Road Truckers” on this 26-kilometer, or 16-mile, road. Alas reports that cars over a certain weight are not allowed, though he doesn’t specify the limit. Alas does specify other rules, should you find yourself vacationing on Hiiumaa Island next winter, by car: • Wearing seatbelts is forbidden. Cars that fall through the ice tend to sink slowly, so without the seatbelt, you’ve got more time to…

LOTUS has dropped the idea of using modified Toyota engines in its next generation of sports cars, and will instead rush out an all-new engine family. The basis will be a lightweight, high-revving, naturally aspirated V-8 making at least 550 horsepower. Later, 90-degree V-6 and possibly inline-four modular derivatives will join the family, for the replacement for the Evora (called Elan) and the Elise. At last fall’s Paris and Los Angeles shows, the company said it would use a supercharged version of the Lexus IS-F’s V-8 for the Esprit supercar, Elite front-engined 2+2, and Eterne four-door. “People didn’t like the idea of us using other manufacturer’s engine,” CEO Dany Bahar said. The new engine is also more compact and lightweight, which allows the Esprit to be made a little smaller.…

IT’S ABUNDANTLY CLEAR from the hard evidence presented in these pages over the past months that these are the best of times for car guys, if vehicle performance is your measure of such things. And yet, yank a geezer’s chain at a car show, and he’ll jabber on about how the new ponycars just can’t compare with those of the late 1960s and early ’70s. Is there anything to these lunatic ravings? To find out, we’ve gathered three modern high-spec ponycars and matched them with their glory days ancestors. We’re pitting a 2011 Camaro SS against the ’69 Camaro SS396 that inspired its design; a 2011 Challenger SRT8 meets the ’70 Challenger it so faithfully resembles (ours is an R/T SE 440 Six Pack); and a freshly minted Shelby Mustang…

ACCORDING TO Lamborghini, the all-new, 691-horsepower Aventador LP 700-4 can blast from 0 to 62 mph in a scant 2.9 seconds. How much time is that? About how long it takes to query, “How much time is that?” Still better is Lamborghini’s projected quarter-mile run of 10.5 seconds, a full tick ahead of the last 638-horse Corvette ZR1 we tested. Wow is right. Supercars from Sant’Agata have always been known for crazy speed, so in the interest of full disclosure, the Aventador’s top clip is an especially ludicrous 217 mph. Also ludicrous: a sticker price starting at $393,695, or more than thrice the price of said ZR1. That’s a lot of moola, but given the Aventador’s scintillating stats, it begins to look less rip-off 'Vette and more bargain Bugatti, a…

MEET THE 2012 Bentley Continental GT. What do you mean, “Where is it?” It’s orange–how can you miss it? Yes, really, that’s the new one. It seems the craftsmen of Crewe, England, believe wholeheartedly in the mantra of leaving well enough alone. There was little about the old Continental GT worth nitpicking, so rather than risk ruining a good thing, Bentley instead made small, careful changes calculated to improve where possible. The result, as you can plainly see, is a car that appears little different from the one it replaces. To let it go at that, though, would be to undersell it. While the Continental GT remains the same shape, a number of small cues will help you distinguish old from new the next time you roll through Beverly Hills.…

KIA’S ON a roll. A fleet of new vehicles clothed in the latest Peter Schreyer fashion leave no evidence of platform sharing with Hyundai. Savvy packaging, drivetrains, and soaring quality ratings have boosted Kia’s market share by 48 percent since 2008 and residual values by 38 percent. Now they're providing sporting cred to back up sporting looks. Henceforth, the SX models will get performance enhancements to go along with their sporting trim and topline equipment. Take the new Sportage SX. Its turbo direct-injected, 2.0-liter Theta II engine is rated at 260 horsepower (90 more than in lesser Sportages) and comes with FWD or AWD and shift paddles. Damping rates are stiffened to match the added scoot, and more aggressive Hankook Optimo H426 tires add some stick. Weighing 3459 pounds, our…

GETTING PAST old perceptions can be tough. That’s an especially big challenge when it comes to diesels—modern diesel cars and trucks don’t spit out black smoke, and don’t make a lot of rattling noise. So you can’t really tell when a quiet, clean diesel is next to you on the road. The only diesels that stand out on the highway are the ones from 30-something years ago—and they’re light years behind in technology. But owners of the new, clean diesels are the ones who benefit, and they can change perceptions. We have tested out several diesels in the Motor Trend long-term fleet and are looking forward to our latest: a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD. And yes, our 2011 Truck of the Year is powered by the 6.6-liter Duramax turbodiesel. Our…

AT A PRESS conference in early February, Honda CEO Takanobu Ito shocked the world’s media when he nonchalantly revealed plans to launch a detuned production version of the V-8-powered HSV-010 race car. Of course, he was referring to a roadgoing variant of the NSX successor project, which was shelved several years ago. As it turns out, the next NSX (expected to be powered by a 400-plus-horsepower V-8) features heavily in the company’s renewed plan to pump out as many as three sports cars over the next several years. Just over six weeks ago, the devastating earthquake and tsunami threatened to cancel Honda’s about-face. But a reliable source close to Honda tells us that while these plans have been postponed as the company sorts out its parts supply problems, they are…

CHINESE newcomer Hawtai will acquire up to 29.9 percent of Saab parent Spyker Cars NV for 120 million euros ($178 million U.S.), and has provided another 30 million euros ($44.5 million) in convertible loans. This news came a day after Gemini Investment Fund Limited granted Spyker 30 million euros in short-term, convertible financing worth the equivalent of $7.28 per share. The deals almost surely saved Saab from total collapse. Hawtai is an 11-year-old, privately held Beijing-based automaker with two factories that together can build 350,000 vehicles, 300,000 clean diesel engines, and 450,000 automatic transmissions annually. It plans to expand capacity to 1 million of each by 2015. Saab could use the local production to be saved, Buick-style, though at presstime, Spyker had no details of what the strategic alliance will…

GRIFFITH PARK is 4310 acres of hiking trails, land-marks, and sweeping vistas of Los Angeles and Hollywood. Originally an ostrich farm used to entice people to visit Col. Griffth J. Griffth’s real estate developments, it was donated to the City of Los Angeles after Griffth was spooked by the previous owner’s ghost. Besides acting as the City of Angels’ defacto Central Park, Griffth Park is home to the Hollywood sign and the Griffth Observatory, and it was the location of this photo shoot. But we didn’t pick the park solely for its natural beauty. This vast wilderness became a vital piece of L.A. autodom by appearing in car-centric motion pictures. The most famous Hollywood casting of Griffth Park is in the James Dean opus “Rebel Without a Cause.” Jim Stark…

LAND ROVER’S crystal-ball department reckons the global lux-ute market is going to expand by 35 percent over the next five years, and it wants a big bite of this widening slice of profit pie. How best to get it? Expand the Range Rover brand while shrinking its footprint, both physically and environmentally. This could have been accomplished lickety-split and on the Tata Nano cheap by pounding the LR2’s sheetmetal into the shape of the similarly compact LRX concept vehicle, but that’s evidently not how the new Indian parent company rolls (praise Vishnu!). No, the LRX is being developed into the Range Rover Evoque the hard way—by reimagining every detail to perform in a manner that befits its bucks-up branding, while remaining faithful to the popular concept car’s initial design and…

“ALL WE KNOW for sure is that our customers love the 12-cylinder and hate diesel. Take that to the bank!” So declares Richard Carter, the head of global Rolls-Royce PR. See, Rolls-Royce has a problem. Every vehicle it manufactures has a twin-turbo 12-cylinder engine that’s about as green as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Hummer. (Not the biodiesel one.) And it’s not that Rolls-Royce cares about being green. It doesn’t. No, its problem is that its customers love their Rolls-Royces. They love them so much that 2010 was a record sales year, with 2711 cars sold, an increase of 171 percent compared with 2009. Why, then, am I seated in a conference room at the Rolls-Royce factory in Goodwood, Sussex, U.K., eagerly waiting to drive the new battery-powered Phantom? The stunning Atlantic Chrome…

IF THE Aston Martin V8 Vantage is Ulrich Bez' answer to the 911 Carrera, and the V12 Vantage is a 911 GTS rival, the new V8 Vantage S neatly splits the difference between the two—just like a 911 Carrera S. The Vantage S is powered by the same 4.7-liter Aston Martin V-8 used in the base car, but now it develops 430 horses at 7300 rpm, and 361 pound-feet at 5000—increases of 10 horses and 15 pound-feet, respectively. The most significant mechanical change is the new seven-speed Sportshift II transmission, a single-clutch automated manual designed and built by Graziano. The new tranny is 24 kilos lighter than the six-speed unit used in the Vantage until now, primarily because it is now air-cooled rather than oil-cooled, and switches ratios 20 percent…

IT’S BEEN suggested that Jaguar’s top-performing R models are just a smidge too tame-looking, that they’re wolves in sheep’s Wilton woolens. Design director Ian Callum has fixed that but good with the 2012 XKR-S, an XKR with the volume cranked to about 18, figuratively and literally. Subtlety is out, from the gigantic bottom-breather air inlet, splitter, and ram-air vents, to side-mounted vanes that keep air attached to the nose for a smoother flow past the front wheels. The fenders get a horizontal air extractor, the sills flare, and out back there’s a wing and a rear diffuser. The front splitter and rear wing reduce lift by 32 and 14 percent respectively, balancing total lift reduction at 26 percent. Notovertenough? Paint the whole thing electric French Racing Blue. Matching its snarl…

AT THE HYUNDAI Tucson’s price range, value is the factor that is most critical to a crossover’s success. There are so many crossovers with a price tag of $25,000-$30,000 that what differentiates one from the rest of the pack is the features. And the Hyundai Tucson has tons of ’em. Our topline Limited AWD comes with enough goodies that one staffer, having not driven the Tucson for a while, logged, “When it comes to the cabin, this Tucson has everything! Heated seats, Bluetooth audio, power everything, satellite radio, nav system, rearview camera, huge sunroof. I kept finding myself thinking, ‘Oh, yeah—it has that, too.’” The steering-wheel-mounted controls also received kudos; they’re well-placed on the wheel, and the layout is nicely uncluttered. As digital integration director Mike Floyd noted, “This is…

BUICK MUST have been tired of watching Lexus build its reputation on cars that dominate the comfortable luxury sedan segment the American brand once ruled. The ES sedan was Lexus’ top-selling vehicle for seven of the first 10 years the brand existed. After more than 20,000 miles with a 2010 LaCrosse, it’s clear to us that Buick has crafted a car capable of challenging the popular ES 350. As a bonus, the LaCrosse looks damn good—and not just for a Buick. “Stop the presses!” said senior editor Jonny Lieberman. “We parked [the LaCrosse] at a lot on the corner of Hollywood and Vine, catty-corner from the Capital Records building. As I handed the car over to the valet—a guy who, night after night, week after week, parks Benzes and Porsches…

JEEP is preparing a new subcompact SUV crossover for the middle of calendar year 2013 to be built in Europe on a Fiat platform. “It will be a true Jeep,” brand CEO Mike Manley told Motor Trend. “It has to be, for us. There will be an all-wheel-drive version and a Trail Rated version.” The new Jeep will be sold in the U.S., Manley confirmed. As a genuine off-roader, it won’t have direct competition, while the Nissan Juke and Mini Countryman come closest in size and market placement. “There is a small-car sector opening up in America,” he said. Will any of its design cues come from the green Jeep Treo or Varsity concepts from the last decade? Manley says no. “It will be unmistakably a Jeep,” is all he’ll…

FERRARI originally planned to face-lift the 599 in 2012. But the FF has turned out so well, the company will now do an all-new car to replace the 599. It’s derived from the FF, but will have substantially more performance. Target date remains late 2012. The screaming V-12 will make about 700 horsepower. It’s another, stronger version of the power unit—based on the 599 GTO’s—that we see in the FF. Displacing 6.3 liters, with natural aspiration, its redline is about 8500. It has direct fuel injection, which suggests it will beat the present 599’s performance while offering fuel-economy gains. Performance also improves because weight drops. It will have an aluminum frame, made of 20 different alloys to get ideal local qualities of weight, energy absorption, stiffness, panel finish, and joint…

ON SEPTEMBER 9, 2009, Motor Trend and EasyCare, the leading independent provider of automotive buying and ownership benefits, launched the Motor Trend Certified Advantage program. During 2010, Motor Trend Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) dealers delivered 10,010 certified pre-owned vehicles under the program. That means Motor Trend CPO vehicles outsold Porsche and Kia CPO vehicles for the year. Designed to complement existing manufacturer certified pre-owned vehicle programs, Motor Trend Certified Vehicles focuses on other brand-used vehicles on dealers’ lots. The program is available only through a select group of dealers thoroughly vetted and trained by EasyCare to national specifications set by Motor Trend. “It’s a challenge in any market to provide additional value that consumers understand and are happy to pay for,” says Larry Dorfman, chairman and CEO of EasyCare. “Obviously, consumers…

PLANS TO DROP the Lexus LFA’s 552-horsepower, 4.8-liter V-10 into the engine bay of the new Lexus GS-F are off, though the F variant is not. The LFA’s engine, we hear, would have cost“far more than half the price” of the GS-F, which we expect to launch about a year after the ’12 GS line’s late 2011 introduction. The most likely scenario is that the GS-F will get the IS-F’s thoroughly competent 416-horsepower, 5.0-liter V-8, instead, and provide an extra slab of meat to Lexus’ F performance lineup, which now consists only of the IS-F. Like BMW with its 3, 5 and 7 Series, the GS is on a longer version of a rear-drive platform that’s shared with the IS. Lexus chose not to preview the ’12 GS with a…

WHAT A BUMMER. New York has just chosen a single new taxi design to replace the current mishmash of vans, cramped hybrid sedans and SUVs (RIP Crown Vic, which was also uncomfortable). The Taxi and License Commission could have chosen a bespoke design that would be unique in the world and instantly recognizable as a New York Cab, just like the London Cab. It could have been roomy, airy, equipped with infotainment, USB jacks, climate controls, and a panoramic sunroof. It could have been ADA compliant, with a ramp that could be deployed to either curb allowing someone in a wheelchair to enter without assistance and secure him or herself facing forward, leaving room for four more passengers (currently only 300 of 13,000 New York cabs are wheelchair accessible). It…

I’M SITTING in a pale gray showroom overlooking even paler gray buildings. A soundtrack of jazz and German techno fades into down-home country music. The featureless monoliths of industry houseVolkswagen’s newest assembly line; the music hints at their purpose. Two giant video screens light up with images so American I nearly stand up hand over heart. Scenes roll by of children playing baseball, soldiers in fatigues barbecueing hot dogs, and grandmothers dishing out second helpings of warm apple pie. The German contingent of Volkswagen’s Engineering team seems particularly proud of this moment. The U.S. team seems pensive. The journalists are optimistic that they’ll be served pie later. The green hills surrounding the big gray boxes aren't part of the German countryside. The product that rolls out the door isn’t another…

At 11 a.m., Nick Twork, Cadillac’s towering PR director, has received the email. It’s from General Motors CEO Dan Akerson. The subject: Because of supply shortages due to the tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, all unnecessary and frivolous spending is to be curtailed. Here’s the thing: Nick and I are sitting on a slow-moving ski lift at the Emirates Mall, headed up for our first run down Ski Dubai’s indoor slope. All 1200 feet of it. Twork and I look at each other, shrug, and then laugh. Over the years, I’ve learned that, when faced with what looks like looming disaster, the best way out is to just keep your foot in it—at least then you have a chance of making it to the other side. Sort of the…

COROLLA, CIVIC, FOCUS…you know the names, but do you know the numbers? Last year, these three sold nearly 700,000 compact cars combined in the U.S., a staggering sum for a slowly recovering economy. This year, analysts expect sales for the entire segment to reach approximately 1.7 million, making it one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds, and the ideal subject of our latest comparison test. Since Japanese automakers defined this segment, we took their top-three-selling models (Toyota Corolla, the all-new ninth-generation Honda Civic, and Mazda3) and put them up against the top two from America (Ford Focus and Chevy Cruze) and Korea (Hyundai Elantra and Kia Forte). We also included Germany’s best-selling C-segment model, the Volkswagen Jetta. Just what does it take to appeal to the masses in America? Well,…

IT SOUNDS like a good moniker for one of those “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” necklaces that are popular with Buick’s repeat customers, but eAssist is intended for buyers concerned about longer-term fuel pricing. The “e” connotes the electrons that assist a 2.4-liter engine to accelerate this 3850-pound luxury sedan at a pace folks will tolerate in a $29,500 car. Consider eAssist the wildest mild hybrid on the road. Like the mybrid system in the 2009 Chevrolet Malibu, it employs a belt/alternator/starter (BAS) and a small battery pack to catch and release modest doses of braking energy. Chevy’s system boosted mpg by 16 percent, but Buick’s more holistic approach gains a 28-percent bump (EPA estimates 25/37 mpg), and it’s a no-cost option. Well, it will cost 2.6 seconds…

THE 2011 Grand Cherokee is easily the most important vehicle Jeep has launched in the past few years in terms of finances and image. It had to not only be capable enough off-road to silence the purists who balked at its unibody construction and lack of solid axles, but also refined and luxurious enough to appeal to the broad range of demanding customers in its cutthroat midsize SUV segment. Given the shortage of angry Internet posts about its TrailRated badge and 68-percent year-on-year sales increase in 2010, Jeep seems to have hit the mark. While we’ve had some experience with the latest and greatest Jeep—we gave it the trial-by-fire treatment against a Land Rover LR4 and a Toyota 4Runner (October 2010) and tortured it at Sport/Utility of the Year (December…

WITH MOST cars that come into our fleet, several features receive attention. With others, one particular element becomes the focus of just about everyone on staff. The Mitsubishi Outlander GT falls firmly into the latter category, with most of our year’s worth of notes on the crossover focused on the shortcomings of the Rockford Fosgate-sourced infotainment system. A sampling: “The Outlander’s iPod integration leaves much to be desired.” “iPod integration is shameful. USB connection is erratic and unreliable.” “No rotary knobs at all. Does Mitsu really expect the user to push the Up/Down toggle, oh, 147 times to browse sat-radio channels?” “The dial works, everyone knows it, and because you can grip it makes it easier to deal with while driving (oh, yeah, driving…oops). Ditch the buttons.” “The touchscreen nav/audio…

THE SCCA Trans-Am racing series: It was the best of times, and there was no worst of times. Ford narrowly missed winning the season title in 1969, and would not be denied for ‘70. Big Bud Moore ran a team of Boss 302s driven by George Follmer and Parnelli Jones with the goal of putting the spurs to ‘69 champ Mark Donohue and his Penske Camaro. Looking here at Parnelli’s car in the pit at Laguna Seca, you can see how much of it was a real car, not a tube-framed silhouette racer. That chrome front bumper is a production-spec piece, as are the plastic grille and the Mustang badge. Most of the original chassis also remained, bolstered by a serious rollcage, of course. The SCCA required that the roof…