MotorTrend August 2004

NOTABLE QUOTEBLE Two 4 One, May 2004 “This reminded me of the classic GTO-versus-GTO story [Pontiac versus Ferrari] that other magazine did in the 1960s, except yours actually did me some good.”Rich HendersonSan Diego., California TWO 4 ONE Thanks for the best comparison I’ve ever read in any car magazine. The “Pontiac GTO vs. Mercedes CLK55 AMG” article (May) answered a question I’ve always had about cars out of my price range: Are they really that much better than the cars I can afford? Although you didn’t say it directly, my impression was that the answer was no. Hey, the CLK55 AMG is a great car, and I’m sure it’s a blast to drive. But it’s nice to know that, for around $30K, I can have just as much fun…

Let me start with some good news and then circle back to the issue of the moment. You might’ve seen us refer to the hugely capable new Racepak test gear we’ve acquired. It uses the Global Positioning System to let us instrument vehicles in a much more sophisticated and powerful way. An upcoming story will detail the operation and potential of the Racepak equipment, but, essentially, a GPS antenna and processor riding in the test car locks onto the incoming signals from several satellites and uses them to calculate its velocity, direction, and exact location on the earth, just like the NAV system in your car. By processing this information, the unit can calculate most any performance parameter you could think of: acceleration, braking, lateral g, and average speed through…

If you like thrill rides, hang on. The twin pincers of dwindling energy and worries about global warming are propelling a roller coaster of turbulent technical upheaval in the auto industry (see fuel-cells feature, page 98). Where this ride stops, nobody knows. I recently attended a symposium on battery, hybrid, and fuel-cell vehicles in Long Beach, California, where I was startled to learn that the world’s oil production will possibly peak—not run out, but peak—within the next quarter-century. When you consider India’s and China’s rising thirst for oil, it’s frighteningly easy to predict fuel prices jolting sky high. Indeed, according to Dr. Joseph Romm, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Center for Energy & Climate Solutions, by 2050 these two nations could be consuming as much oil as the…

> AUDI TO BUILD LE MANS/RSR FOR 2007 > CADDY GOES V-CRAZY > FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND ITALY MEET IN MARANELLO > LAMBO AND THE LAW W IS FOR TOUARGE Volkswagen has begun building a small number of Touaregs with the Phaeton’s 450-horsepower W-12 engine for select customers. The automaker’s CEO, Bernd Pischetsrieder, showed a prototype at the Bahrain Grand Prix. VW plans to sell about 100 examples in the Middle East. Another 333 copies are being considered for the USA and Europe. Every customer will have to order his W-12 Touareg through VW Individual, where the car will be built to customer specifications. Price is expected to be about $118,000, and the Porsche Cayenne Turbo-fighter will have a O-to-62-mph time of less than six seconds and a top speed of…

Italy’s Pininfarina is the designer, and the Quattroporte supplies the underpinnings for the next-generation Maserati Coupe Cabrio, which replaces both the current Coupe and the Spyder, set to bow as a 2006 model. Its unveiling is scheduled for the September 2005 Frankfurt International Auto Show. With Pininfarina replacing ItalDesign, which penned the first car, the new Maser reportedly will sport longer, lower, and wider lines, with less girth in the middle of the body. Today’s car is on an exclusive platform, so switching to a modified Quattroporte will help amortize costs. The Coupe Cabrio will have a folding metal hardtop, like those of Mercedes-Benz’s SL and SLK models. The excellent 385-horsepower, 4.2-liter V-8 could get more bore or stroke (to 4.3 or 4.4 liters), which should be good for…

Two weeks after Hyundai took the wraps off the Theta global inline-four-cylinder engine, DaimlerChrysler announced it would sell its 10-percent stake in the South Korean automaker for nearly $1 billion. DaimlerChrysler, Hyundai, and Mitsubishi will continue to share the engine program, however. The three will build a total of 1.5 to 2 million Thetas per year, worldwide, in 1.8-, 2.0-, and 2.4-liter variants. Hyundai says it was the lead developer of this all-aluminum engine, and its bragging on the issue may hint at the source of problems in its failed association with Daimler. Hyundai’s new, bigger 2005 Sonata, recently launched in its home market, is the first model to run with the Theta, but the automaker’s old 2.0-liter iron-block Sirius four marches on in the new Tucson and other small…