Innehållsförteckning för May 2015 från MotorTrend

The Kia Soul has been an unmitigated hit for the company for two generations and has sparked a raft of concept cars, but this concept might just be the real deal. Called the Trail’ster, this off-road-focused hybrid concept could actually have a future. Under the hood is Kia’s 1.6-liter, turbocharged fourcylinder, good for 185 horsepower and 185 lb-ft, which is already a 21-hp and 34-lb-ft advantage over the top-shelf Soul. It features a hybrid starter/generator both to juice up the battery and provide idle stop/start capability, and the engine drives the front wheels through a six-speed automatic. The rear wheels are driven by another electric motor making 35 hp and 100 lb-ft. Total system power is a claimed 220 hp and 285 lb-ft. On top of that, Kia says this…

Along with more than 114 million Americans, I tuned in to watch Super Bowl XLIX. It marked my first game of the season, a coincidental overlap (I swear) with a business trip back to the U.S. My Thursday flight from Tokyo arrived early into San Diego, a sign, I hoped, of good things to come from the weekend ahead. Over the next two days, I learned about and drove the rambunctiously entertaining 292-horsepower, all-wheel-drive Volkswagen Golf R, the hottest Golf to ever come Stateside. Not a bad way to warm up for the Super Bowl. And then, Sunday—game day—the day I was most excited about. But not because of the Golf R. And not because of the big game. No, my favorite part of Super Bowl Sunday is the hour…

“I’ve been into cars literally as far back as I can remember.” Michael Bay has his gratuitous slo-mo, John Woo his doves, and J.J. Abrams his lens flare. Every director needs a trademark, and Neill Blomkamp may have the best one yet: the Nissan GT-R. He was nice enough to set a few minutes aside to chat with us while he wrapped up post-production on “Chappie,” his second movie to feature Japan’s premier sports car. MT Is there a proper chase scene with the GT-R in “Chappie,” or is it more of a tease? NB It’s a tease, unfortunately. I’ve never really done a proper car chase. When I was younger, I wanted to be a director so I could do car chases and action and visual effects. Then when…

With looks sculpted by the wind tunnel, the P1 only knows fast. You think the 911 Turbo is bonkers? The 918 would like a word … Cars like these appear once every decade or so. When they do, they spark fervor and spectacle with their radical designs and advanced technology. They both benchmark the car industry and show its future. They signify when everything changed. There was the time before the Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959, there was the time before the McLaren F1, and there was the time before the Bugatti Veyron. There was the time before today. The McLaren P1 and the Porsche 918 Spyder might as well be monoliths sitting in the paddock at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. We form loose circles around them, drawing our eyes…

WHEN EVERYDAY SUPERCAR PERFORMANCE JUST WON’T DO McLaren isn’t good at naming cars. Remember the MP4-12C? You know what the C stood for? Car. That became the 12C before being replaced by the 650S. The S stands for Sport, even though the 650S is part of the Super Series. That’s problematic because at the New York auto show McLaren announced its new Porsche 911 Turbo-competing Sport Series of cars. All of this leads us to the new 675LT, which is also part of the Super Series. Oh my. The LT stands for Long Tail, even though the tail isn’t any longer. The new car is 1.3 inches longer, but that’s mostly due to the revised front splitter. Does any of this matter? Not really, but I just wanted to illustrate…

Before heading to Barcelona to drive the new fourth-generation 2016 MX-5 Miata (coinciding with the car’s 25th anniversary), Mazda dropped off a current example for reference. The night before it was to be returned, I climbed in to drive home and then paused. Which way? And then I gazed down. The old adage to take the road less traveled might as well be embroidered on Miata steering wheels right at the factory. I wasn’t likely to encounter any diverging roads, but I was sure open to something less traveled than the snarled 405 freeway. I unlatched the convertible top’s header and shoved it back. I headed south, to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and in particular a stretch where old landslides have made its terra not so firma, resulting in some…

The original plan was brilliant and comprehensive. In addition to the existing five 2.0-liter crossovers in our Big Test, we’d have a sixth in the form of an Audi Q5. When it came time to execute said brilliancy, we hit a snag. Audi doesn’t stock Q5s with the standard 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder for media evaluations. But Audi did have a Q5 TDI powered by a 240-hp, 428-lb-ft, 3.0-liter turbodiesel V-6 for us. Excellent. We could then order up a BMW X3 xDrive28d and Mercedes-Benz GLK250 Bluetec for a little side comparison. Except BMW didn’t have any diesel X3s on hand and the GLK250 just plain disappeared from the delivery schedule a couple days before it was supposed to touch down at MT HQ. We brought the ineligible-for-victory Q5 TDI along…

ARRIVAL 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe LT Scott Mortara “It’s a big, comfortable, versatile vehicle, so I have no doubt that our new Tahoe will become a favorite of our entire staff.” EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 16/23/18 MPG BASE PRICE $51,950 PRICE AS TESTED $55,880 “Wow, that’s big.” Those were my first words when I saw my new long-term 2015 Chevrolet Tahoe LT pull up. My past three long-termers have been SUVs. The other two leaned more toward the S, but this Tahoe is more inclined toward the U. Now, I knew it was a bigger vehicle, as I had sampled a Tahoe LTZ during last year’s SUOTY competition, but it really didn’t sink in how much bigger it was until I had to park this in my parking space at…

Katherine Dean was at the wheel of her Chevy Malibu one Tuesday afernoon in February, out running errands in Morningside, Maryland. Her route took her along Suitland Road, not far from Andrews Air Force base, and under the busy I-95 freeway. Just as she approached the I-95 underpass, several large chunks of concrete suddenly pounded the Malibu’s hood, windshield, and roof. Washington’s Beltway had literally started to fall apart. Dean was shaken, but unharmed: None of the concrete chunks had penetrated the Malibu’s windshield. She was lucky, unlike the 13 people who were killed when a bridge over the Mississippi River on I-35 in Minneapolis collapsed without warning in 2007. The 47,840-mile Interstate Highway System pulses with the heartbeat of America. Trafc on the interstates accounts for a quarter of…

FIRST LOOK The long soughtafter Ford Focus RS is finally coming to America. Motivation for the all-wheeldrive Focus RS will come from a 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder “producing well in excess of 315 horsepower,” according to Ford. The Focus RS-specific 2.3-liter EcoBoost features a new low-inertia twin-scroll turbo with a larger compressor, a larger intercooler, and a less restrictive intake and exhaust. The six-speed manual features a short-throw shifter along with a stronger clutch and internals. Aerodynamic upgrades include a new, more aggressive front splitter, rear spoiler, underbody panels, and diffuser. Cosmetic updates include new rocker panels and fender flares. The new all-wheel-drive sytem, dubbed All-Wheel Drive with Dynamic Torque Vectoring Control, is a Ford first and uses twin electronically controlled clutch packs on each side of the rear drive unit…

At first I was repulsed by the jowly, unsettling appearance of Toyota’s Mirai fuel-cell car, and then I wondered, is that the desired effect? Was it strategically designed to limit the demand for a wildly unprofitable vehicle packing an untenable, ill-advised technology: the compressed-hydrogen fuel cell? The powertrain looks attractive on paper—emissions-free electric motoring with gas-like range and refueling convenience. But I’ve yet to learn of a breakthrough that promises to reduce the expense, energy, and challenge of producing, transporting, storing, and dispensing hydrogen, so I view the Mirai’s fuel system and bodywork with equal revulsion. I recently learned of a new liquid fuel-cell fuel that can be transported, stored, and dispensed using our existing infrastructure. One that’s naturally occurring (certain ants produce it) and boasts low flammability and low…

Land Rover sales are through the roof despite not having a decent volume model. The sexy little Evoque—our 2012 SUV of the Year—is a niche product, and no one has thought about the LR2 since it launched. The old (but still good) and about-to-bereplaced LR4/Discovery starts life at just above $51,000—hardly mainstream. As for the big Range Rovers, if you have to ask … However, there’s a new Land Rover on the horizon, a replacement for the moribund LR2/Freelander called the Discovery Sport, priced from $37,995. Land Rover invited yours truly to Iceland in late January to have a snowy, icy drive. Why Iceland? Aside from pure exoticism, what better place to show off what Land Rover is pitching as a true go-anywhere, small, premium crossover? The tiny volcanic country…

LUXE COMPACT CROSSOVERS BMW X3 xDrive28i .................... $50,200 LR Range Rover Evoque ............ $61,070 Lexus NX 200t F Sport ..............$45,970 Lincoln MKC 2.0 AWD ............... $48,080 Volvo XC60 T6 .............................$50,430 First off, we’d like to shake your hand if you’re looking to take the new-car dive into the luxury compact crossover pool. This vehicle segment is the modern-day stand-in for yesteryear’s look-everyone-I’ve-made-it luxury sedan. It appears you’ve done quite nicely for yourself, and automakers are taking notice. Luxe CUV popularity has spiked over the past couple years, and all the big brands are climbing over each other in order to gain your business. Flip the calendar back 10 years, and just one of our Big Test quintet would have been obtainable for your conspicuous consumption. The small luxe CUV world…

With the demise of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X pending this year, the Subaru WRX STI will have one less rival to fret about filling its rearview. Not that the STI needed more assurances, what with it winning a June 2014 comparison test against the 320-horse BMW M235i and 355-horse Mercedes-Benz CLA45 AMG. Talk about taking down the heavyweights. Like any reigning champ, the STI wouldn’t go untested for long. Enter the 2015 Volkswagen Golf R, the most powerful production Golf ever to come to the U.S. Not only is the R armed with a rip-roaring 292-horse version of VW’s EA888 turbo inline-four, but it also boasts a checklist of requisite go-fast bits: a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox (a six-speed manual will be available this summer as a 2016 model), a…

HONDA IS FINALLY getting serious about the Pilot, and it’s much more than a supersized CR-V. Built with copious high-strength metals, the new Pilot is both stronger and lighter than the SUV it replaces. Its body structure is designed to ace every crash test on the books, and overall length has increased by 3.5 inches, yet the vehicle is still some 300 pounds lighter than before Powering the slimmer Pilot is a revamped 3.5-liter V-6 with cylinder deactivation and automatic start/stop technology. Power figures were not available at press time, but we’re guessing around 290 hp and 265 lb-ft. That flows to either a new six-speed or a nine-speed automatic transmission, then to either the front or all four wheels through an all-new all-wheel-drive system. For most buyers, the real…

Aston Martin’s factory is built on the site of an old Royal Air Force base, RAF Gaydon. At the height of the Cold War, Gaydon was home to one of Britain’s nuclear-capable first strike squadrons, known as the V-force because of the three bombers they flew: the Vickers Valiant, the Handley Page Victor, and the Avro Vulcan. The thundering, deltawing Vulcan played a starring role in the opening scenes of the 1965 James Bond film, “Thunderball,” a film that also marked the second appearance of Bond’s gadget-laden Aston Martin DB5, the most famous movie car of all time. Now Vulcan is the name of the loudest, fastest, most extreme Aston sports car in history. Oh, and Aston’s new CEO, Andy Palmer, went to school in a small village barely a…

The Jaguar XE represents a crucial milestone and test for the fabled, much-loved, muchmaligned British marque. Jag has tried playing in this space—the volume and profit-laden BMW 3 Series segment—before, and the results were terrible. Remember the X-Type? Lots of folks don’t, and those who do who happen to be Jaguar employees wish you’d forget. But that was back in the bad old Ford days when the notion of using a platform initially developed for the Mercury Mystique didn’t send Jaguar product planners scrambling toward the lifeboats. Everything has changed under Ratan Tata’s stewardship of William Lyons’ baby. So much so that the new XE sits upon an all-new aluminum-intensive platform shared (for the time being) with no other car on Earth. The XE’s body-in-white is said to possess 20…

FOR THOSE FOLKS yearning for an American nameplate in the turbocharged all-wheel-drive econorocket segment, Ford has answered your calls. When the Focus RS arrives in early 2016, it’ll storm U.S. streets with a more potent iteration of the Mustang’s 2.3-liter EcoBoost I-4. Our insiders suggest the official rating will come in around 350. Whoa. The sole transmission will be a sixspeed manual. The extra horses should more than compensate for time spent shifting, allowing the RS to sprint to 60 in around 4.5 seconds. The standard “Ford Performance All-Wheel-Drive” system touts Dynamic Torque Vectoring, which not only routes torque fore and aft (up to 70 percent to the rear) but also side to side between the rear wheels (up to 100 percent of available torque to one wheel). The RS…

With its later braking into Turn 2, the Golf R quickly grabs a small but early lead from the WRX and determinedly hangs on for the next 94 seconds to greet the checkered flag with a 156-foot advantage. Sounds like the Volkswagen made quick work of the Subaru— but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the two repeatedly dive-bombed each other, with the Golf R repeating its late-braking trick into Turns 4 and 6 and the WRX apexing Turn 4 at a higher speed and accelerating faster toward Turns 5 and out of the corkscrew. But ultimately, the Volkswagen sealed the deal with a better rounding of Turn 6 and a more determined climb toward the iconic left-drop-then-right corner. Exiting the last, tight left-hander, the Subaru fractionally…