Innehållsförteckning för March 2005 från MotorTrend

“These days, it’s more meaningful to define domestics as vehicles designed, developed, and made in the U.S.” Domestic? Import? That used to be an easy call back in the days when almost anything that didn’t roll out of a GM, Ford, or Chrysler factory in Detroit basically rolled off a boat in California or New Jersey. Now, things are more complicated. A Dodge Ram is as American as hot dogs, blue jeans, and the Grand Ole Opry, right? Right, except the company that makes it calls Stuttgart, Germany, the head office. Okay, what about a Nissan Titan? It might carry a Japanese nameplate, but this full-size pickup was designed and engineered in America, is made in America, and is sold nowhere else but in America. Domestic? Or import? You see…

Just as GM switches Buick back to rear drive, crosstown-rival Ford is planning to move the Lincoln LS and venerable Lincoln Town Car to front-drive platforms used to underpin the Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego. The first rear-drive Buick will be a replacement for the Park Avenue based on the Zeta platform developed by GM’s Australian subsidiary Holden. A lower-cost platform than Sigma, but still with independent rear suspension, Zeta will underpin the next-generation Holden Commodore and the Pontiac Bonneville and GTO. The new Park Avenue replacement, due 2007, will be sized between the Sigma-based Cadillac CTS and STS. The new Lincoln LS, meanwhile, will move to Ford’s Volvo-derived D3 platform under a program codenamed D385. The car will appear as a 2008 model and be manufactured at Ford’s…

QUOTE OF THE MONTH “Full Metal Rockets,” December 2004 “One word for the 2005 BMW M5… GODLIKE!”Eric Lopez Whittier California HEAVY LOAD The comparison of the new BMW M5 versus the Mercedes E55 AMG (“Full Metal Rockets,” December) made me want to get three jobs, just to afford one of these cars. Chris MartinLongmont, Colorado FERRARI FANDANGO The only thing missing from the Ferrari F430 is that you can’t purchase one from a dealer. A local Ferrari/Maserati dealership said that to get on a waiting list for an F430 you have to purchase a 12-cylinder 575M—now. Robert FentonNewport Beach, California What happened? Usually, the photography in your magazine is gorgeous, but the opening shot of the Ferrari F430 on page 74 in the December issue stinks. Look at the nose…

0:2 The disguise doesn’t entirely do its job: Underneath is a lean and mean cat, the 2006 XK8—it’ll be lighter, faster, and quicker on its feet than the current edition. Jaguar sources say the car will outgun a Mercedes-Benz SL500 in standard guise and, in supercharged XKR form, is quicker than the savagely fast SL55 AMG. How? By keeping the pounds off. The shell is aluminum, as per the XJ8 sedan. The base car will weigh in around 3500 pounds, a good 500 pounds under the SL500. The shape of the shell is critical. It’s the first from-scratch Jaguar by design-director Jan Callum, who also did the current (and gorgeous) Aston Martins. Customers may be tiring of Jaguar’s retro look; Callum tells us new Jaguars will sport simple structured lines,…

0:5 “Oh. My. God. That is soooooooooo cool!” She was hanging half out the window of her Tahoe. Smile beaming, hair whipping in the wind. I thought she was going to jump in for a ride—which would’ve been fine. Such is life when you’re piloting a brilliant-red Mustang drop-top. Soon, you’ll be able to get The New Mustang in convertible form. Powertrains, equipment levels, and critical dimensions are shared with the 2005 Mustang coupe. Ford engineers further stiffened the coupe’s chassis to make up for the rigidity lost in an open-topped configuration. The result is a foundation with twice the torsional stiffness of the outgoing 1999-2004 Mustang convertibles—much needed, as that car would shake itself silly over a nasty railroad crossing. Bending rigidity is up 25 percent, too. The suspension…

0:11 Cadillac will expand the bandwidth of its “v” sub-brand when it appends that letter to the STS this fall. While the CTS-v packs the Corvette’s rip-snorting pushrod V-8 coupled to a six-speed manual transmission, in the BMW M3/Audi S4 vein, the STS-v will take on the Jag XJR and Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG. Its 4.4-liter, 440-horse, 430-pound-feet supercharged Northstar V-8 is the most powerful engine ever bolted into a production Caddy. The CTS-v should hit 60 mph in under five seconds, top out at over 165 mph, and circum-navigate the famous Nürburgring in less than eight minutes, but its mood and manners will be quieter, more comfortable, and genteel than the CTS-v’s. Will it be too mellow? The E55 AMG packs a 469-horse wallop, and BMW’s impending M5 will boast…

0:23 Mercedes-Benz’s 1998 M-Class ended it all—the grouping of sport/utilities with pickup trucks for Motor Trend’s Truck of the Year award. In doing so, it helped launch our sport/ute category. The 1998-2005 M-Class is a body-on-frame SUV that competed with car-based Acura MDXs, BMW X5s, and Volvo XC90s. The all-new 2006 M-Class has plenty of the old model’s design language, so you can instantly recognize what it is. But under the longer, lower, wider, and subtly modernized sheetmetal is an all-new unibody platform. Mercedes will continue to build the M-Class in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (sister city to Schorndorf, birthplace of Gottlieb Daimler), and it’ll share its new chassis architecture with the R-Class crossover and seven-passenger G-Class replacement of the venerable Gelandewagen. These models will share no body panels other than front…

0:34 In what was surely one of the great understatements of the auto-show preseason, Chrysler design honcho Trevor Creed pointed out that, between the $50,000 Crossfire SRT-6 and the several-hundred-and-plenty-thousand-dollar ME Four-Twelve undergoing feasibility studies, there “might be room” for another halo coupe. Thus was the inspiration behind the project codenamed Firepower, a svelte and voluptuous GT built on the chassis and structure of Dodge’s Viper SRT-10 Coupe. Too many companies claim ownership of the Firepower name for it to survive on the final show car. But, in contrast to Dodge’s Ram-in-a-china-shop Viper, the Chrysler is meant to be more civilized and sophisticated—a bargain-priced, domestic Aston Martin. Toward that end, the SRT-tuned, 6.1-liter Hemi V-8 supplants the rip-snorting V-10, and chassis settings are softened accordingly. Highlights of the Firepower’s sensual…

0:43 If the folks at Honda have it their way, every garage in America would contain two CR250R dirt bikes, an AquaTrax watercraft, a Honda generator, and a new Ridgeline to tote them around. It’s not a bad market strategy, especially considering the Ridgeline is a great truck for those who’ve been driving Accords to work and are looking to haul stuff and/or tone up their commuter-lane muscle. The Ridgeline is Honda’s first attempt in this segment. Although it sports a decidedly polarizing design, it’s a hoot to drive (for a truck) and has some clever packaging devices that’ll have Detroit wondering why it didn’t think of it first. Rest assured, this is a real truck. Okay, maybe not in the F-350 Super-Duty Crew-Cab Power Stroke 4x4 paradigm, but it…

Dig deeply into the DNA of the three variations of Mitsubishi’s Evolution before you—the RS, Evo VIII, and MR—and you’ll find nearly identical strands (and a weight difference of only about one percent). Begging the question: Why are we doing this? Besides such normally acceptable answers as “It’s fun,” there’s a raging debate within Evo circles as to which of the three represents the best value and is the best all-around car. Answering these questions certainly seemed good enough reason to pinball these road piranhas around Willow Spring Raceway’s snaking 1.56-mile Streets course on a blustery day in December. Before we press the play button and let the rubber marbles scatter on a three-way replay of their best flying laps, let’s freeze-frame our comparison right at the starting line to…

I’m one of the few buff-book scribes you’ll read who never follows any form of mainstream motorsport. I love racing an old clunker on ice, and I relish a night out at the local quarter-mile bullring—especially if there’s a figure-eight train race or school-bus feature on the program. But I can’t manufacture any enthusiasm for watching buffed and polished squillionaires race cartoonish vehicles that bear no resemblance—visually or technologically—to any car on the road. They’re irrelevant. But that may soon change. Racing’s collective braintrust is making a bold play to rouse my interest. They recently gathered in Dearborn, Michigan, for the SAE Motorsports Engineering Conference and Exhibition. On the docket was a radical plan to help racing (A) attract a broader audience of viewers and sponsors and (B) better serve…

2005 CHRYSLER 300C HEMI Chrysler’s hot-selling 300 is a car that redefines what the American sedan can and should be, and its popularity is cutting a wide path in the marketplace. These were among the reasons we voted it our 2005 Car of the Year, which gets it an automatic invite into our one-year-test fleet—although we’d have probably wanted one anyway. As you’d expect, ours is a 300C Hemi, packing that all-important 340-horsepower, 5.7-liter, OHV V-8. Covered in Magnesium Pearl Coat (a rich color that looks dark green or charcoal gray, depending on the light), our newest tester is stately and stylish. The cabin is wrapped in luxurious Slate/Graystone leather. 300Cs are well-equipped, so our selection of options was minimal. We went for the Sound Group ($635), which includes an…

Computer-aided design and imaging has forever changed and improved the way new vehicles are developed. Yet most transportation designers still doodie ideas on sketchpads or cocktail napkins. And even though some cars begin life on a computer screen, most flow from the creator’s pencil prior to digitization, just as they did on this early 1950 rendering of what would become the Buick Wildcat III concept car (above). Another automotive-design institution that—fortunately—refuses to die is the clay model. Although much of the rough millwork needed to create them now is performed by computer-driven machines, the finishing process is still done by designers and technicians working the clay into shape over a wooden buck, just as this team of Ford modelers did in this 1953 PR photo. George Orwell was a great…

Think the 500-horse Z06 Corvette is tough? Well, the boys at Dearborn reportedly are aiming to go one better with a Mustang that packs as much as a 550-horsepower punch and wears one of the most famous names in the Ford performance pantheon: Shelby. Powered by the same supercharged 5.4-liter V-8 as in the GT supercar, the 2007 Shelby Mustang Cobra will replace the Mustang SVT Cobra as the ultimate ponycar. But unlike the old Cobra, the new Shelby won’t have an independent rear suspension (IRS), as promised long before the release of the all-new 2005 Mustang. Instead, the Shelby will run on a beefed-up version of the live rear axle used in mainstream Mustangs. It’s well known Ford originally had planned for new Mustangs to have IRS, but switched…

General Motors and DaimlerChrysler will share hybrid power technology with a new automatic transmission that contains all the hybrid mechanisms for gas- or diesel-electric powertrains. Combining forces will save the automakers millions of dollars in development money. GM and DaimlerChrysler believe hybrids, which take up around 0.2-percent market share in the U.S., will account for five to 15 percent of the market by 2020. The two automakers plan to make the transmission technology available to other automakers. While financial aspects of the joint venture were not disclosed, GM holds 60 patents registered or pending, while DaimlerChrysler has been working on similar technology separately. It features two electric motors integrated into the transmission; one replacing the torque converter, and the other placed at the end of the transmission case. It provides…

0:1 It shimmers in the studio like liquid mercury, the light flowing effortlessly across the highly polished aluminum panels. Long, long hood, hip-high roofline, cabin set hard back against the rear wheels, stubby Kamm tail—it hits all the right hot buttons with a collection of cues straight out of Sports Car Design 101. We’ve seen the shape before, in the form of a full-size silver-painted clay model unveiled at last year’s Pebble Beach Concours. But not like this. In gloriously naked metal, with a real interior and, soon, a real running engine, Ford’s Shelby GR-1 is, quite simply, drop-dead gorgeous. But is the GR-1 the real deal? Or just another Detroit show-pony? Well, it’s built on exactly the same chassis as the Cobra roadster unveiled at the 2004 Detroit show,…

0:3 To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, “There goes General Motors again.” The automotive monolith is dancing with the branding devil by releasing a badge-engineered Saturn version of the Pontiac Solstice sports car. The steel-bodied Sky does two things for GM: It helps reposition Saturn upmarket, past Pontiac, and closer to the import-fighting position that most recently was Oldsmobile’s charge; and it helps absorb the production of the plant for the small, rear-drive Kappa, a new platform that’ll be launched late this summer and serve as basis for both. Recognizing that the Sky stems from the Solstice isn’t hard. Some classify the look as more subtle and elegant, with a more upscale interior. A horizontal open dash replaces the Solstice cockpit, which is designed to close off the driver from the passenger…

0:6 Any racing fool worth his die-cast-model collection remembers the Grabber Orange, Bud Moore-built Mustang Boss 302s that Parnelli Jones and George Follmer used to crash and bash their way to the SCCA Trans-Am championship in 1970. Ford celebrates these cars—and the Mustang’s 40th anniversary—with the Mustang GT-R, a “what if?” club-racer concept that has the look and the moves. The GT-R began life as a 2005 GT body-in-white, receiving a serious but straightforward conversion to race-car spec. Power comes from a 5.0-liter, 440-horse, aluminum DOHC V-8 crate motor from the Ford Racing catalog. Suspension, rollcage, brakes, and rolling stock are all legit track hardware. The paint—now called Valencia Orange—body mods, carbon-fiber trim, and tinwork are Concours quality; the GT-R was developed at the Saleen Special Vehicles facility where the…

0:9 You’re looking at one of the most controversial cars under development at Toyota. The Lexus LF-A is a sneak peek at a car codenamed P280, Toyota’s answer to all those pesky 200-mph supercoupes coming out of Europe–and, with the imminent launch of the 500-horse Corvette Z06, the USA. The LF-A is intended to showcase some of the extreme performance capabilities Toyota has developed from its Formula 1 racing program. Cash-rich Toyota is the only Fl team apart from Ferrari that builds its own engines and chassis. Toyota isn’t saying much about the LF-A, other than it gives an indication as to what an ultra-high-performance coupe from the company might look like. It admits the LF-A is two inches shorter overall than a Porsche 911 Turbo S and rolls on…

2006 DODGE MAGNUM SRT8 Draggin’ wagon 0:12 Wagons are cool again, thanks to the I mm buff and edgy Magnum. The SRT gang has just made it faster with the installation of a 6.1-liter, 425-horsepower Hemi. It also gets suspension, rolling stock, appearance, and interior upgrades virtually identical to those of the Chrysler 300C SRT8 (February 2004). Here come the “Dude, it hauls!” bumper stickers. On sale: Summer 2005 MERCURY META ONE Fuel-efficient nanny 0:13 This conceptual peek at Mercury’s forthcoming Freestyle twin is loaded with safety gear, including cameras and radar, which provide lane-departure warning and collision mitigation (when sensors detect an impending crash, the brakes apply to lower the impact speed). An allegedly PZEV-compliant twin-turbodiesel V-6 hybrid generates 427 pound-feet of torque and impressive (though undisclosed) fuel economy.…

0:21 The Zephyr is one of five new Lincolns that’ll arrive in the next five years in hopes of driving Lincoln-Mercury sales from 300,000 to the half-million mark. It’s good to see the parent company feeding the languishing Mercury brand, but one wonders whether sufficient luxury can be applied to a small, mechanically unaltered midsize Ford to drive the Lincoln brand in the direction it’s trying to head. The decision to apply an ancient Lincoln moniker to a new car with no retro flourishes is another curiosity. The original 1939 Zephyr was a knockout trendsetter, an article of automotive couture. This one isn’t. Exterior styling is clean and convincingly differentiated from the Fusion’s, incorporating Lincoln’s angled waterfall grille and projector-beam headlamps, but it’ll generate no car-guy watercooler buzz. Inside, the…

MITSUBISHI RAIDER Dodge Dakota with Mitsu ’tude 0:24 Mitsubishi has been out of the truck market for a while, but it leaps back in with this Dakota-based midsizer. A bold new face and a revised (and nicer) interior embody the transformation. Choose between V-6 and V-8, extended or crew cab, and two- or four-wheel drive. On sale: Fall 2005 2006 KIA RIO Hyundai clone dreams Scion 0:25 The all-new Kia Rio’s fashionable soap-bar body sits on the same platform as the latest Hyundai Accent. Its 110-horsepower, twin-cam aluminum 1.6-liter four also is new and couples to a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic. A longer wheelbase, bigger trunk, and expected best-in-class interior space aim to convince young Scion xA buyers they have a new alternative. On sale: Summer 2005 SPIED! VOLVO…

0:32 Galants aren’t supposed to slalom at 69 mph. They don’t run the quarter mile in 14.4 seconds at 98.5 mph and can’t do Motor Trends figure-eight in 25.7 seconds. And no Galant behaves like an Evo. But this one does. Built in-house at Mitsubishi Research and Design America, the Galant Ralliart Concept was still just a sketch six months before making its debut at the SEMA aftermarket trade show in Las Vegas. This is no turntable toy, however; it’s a true factory tuner. Under its Ralliart Orange skin lies a high-output 3.8-liter, 260-horsepower MIVEC.V-6, backed by a six-speed manual—the same engine and trans that’ll power the new Eclipse. MIVEC, techno/marketing speak for Mitsubishi’s variable valve timing, is the only main difference between this 3.8 and the stock Galant V-6.…

0:36 If the new Pontiac G6 sedan is designed to compete with the Mazda6 and Honda Accord, then the coupe is aimed at the Acura RSX. Though a larger V-6-only model with a big 112.3-inch wheelbase, the G6’s ultrafast fastback is like the Acura’s, resulting in RSX-like headroom for rear-seat passengers. But the G6 is a two-door with a trunk, not a hatchback, and it’ll come only with V-6s: 3.5- and 3.9-liter overhead-valve engines. The four-cylinder Ecotec engine added to the G6 sedan this year won’t be available in either the coupe or the convertible, though the coupe’s pricing will be competitive with midsize four-cylinder Japanese models. The convertible doesn’t look like anything else sold in the U.S., until you lower the Karmann-supplied steel vario roof. With its protruding rear…

Two opposing automotive truths have emerged in the past decade. One: The sport/utility craze won’t go away. Two: As long as SUVs are around, the most strident, politically correct tree huggers will complain that SUVs are wasteful of most things automotive, responsible for shaky oil reserves, global warming, and probably warts, too. Ford Motor Company chairman and scion William Clay Ford Jr. tried to bridge this dichotomy back in 2000, when he announced his company would improve its corporate-average fuel economy for SUVs 25 percent by 2005, a goal he later conceded Ford wouldn’t meet. Even though Ford fell short on this claim, its 2005 Escape Hybrid is a major piece of the plan to improve the automaker’s truck-corporate-average fuel economy, and—of equal importance—its image. Ford has won the race…

Like you, we frequently encounter disconnects between perception and reality when it comes to the driving experience. More often than not, images of a single car moving briskly down an invigorating stretch of road through breathtaking scenery contrast with what’s beyond the windshield—an unrelenting SUV going 10 mph slower than the flow of traffic in the fast lane, driver with cellphone planted firmly in ear, blocking the forward view. Urges to clip apexes and wind out the engine through each gear are supplanted by slogs through exurbia, where clipping cellphone text messages and winding out the surround-sound stereo seem like more productive and satisfying activities. We feel your pain. Today’s mid-luxury sport sedans attempt to have it both ways by attending to our desire for an invigorating driving experience and…

The Mazda6 delivers a lot of sporty car for the money, especially when compared with Japanese rivals that usually cost more when equally equipped. Mazda developed the 6, identified by the brand-new numeric designation, as a front-drive replacement for the brand’s aging 626 and Millenia. Indeed, Mazda intended the 6 to compete with some of the best of Germany—and it does. Almost. Two engine choices were available when the car came to market for the 2003 model year: an all-new, Mazda-developed 160-horse power, 2.3-liter four or a 220-horsepower, 3.0-liter V-6. Transmission choices included a four- or five-speed automatic (depending on engine choice) or a five-speed manual. We picked the sportiest version, the V-6, with five-speed stick, for our one-year evaluation. This stunning Lapis Blue Metallic 6 was equipped with black-leather…

BMW AG and Peugeot-Citroen PSA have revealed their new joint-venture engine family, which includes a motor that’ll make its debut in the 2007 Mini, launching in late summer of 2006. The car will be all-new, but instantly recognizable as a Mini. Great handling and roadholding remain a priority, but the current multilink rear axle will be simplified for cost-saving and extra rear-seat room. Increased wheel travel is designed to allow better ride quality. The two-door hatchback is the first of an expanded range of body styles, with a four-door arriving in a later model year. It may or may not be separate from a slightly longer station wagon; Mini heritage includes woody “Traveler” versions, and BMW has been threatening to revive the style. A new convertible will arrive a couple…

Our colleagues at Auto Club-Motor Trend in China have announced their 2005 Car of the Year winners: the Chang’an Ford Mondeo 2.5V6 and the Dongfeng-Honda CR-V. Based on Motor Trend’s groundbreaking Car of the Year award, the Chinese COTY recognizes achievement and excellence among Chinese-made vehicles. So while some of the cars and SUVs on the list of this year’s contenders might look familiar, the names take some getting used to. In addition to the Mondeo and CR-V, the 2005 contenders included: Beijing-Hyundai Elantra BMW-Brilliance 530i Shanghai-GM Cadillac CTS Dongfeng-Nissan Teana FAW-Toyota Corolla Dongfeng-Peugeot 307 Guangzhou-Honda Fit Saloon BJC Outlander Huatai-Hyundai Terracan FAW Toyota Dario Terios While Chinese cars might be expensive—the Mondeo retails in China for the equivalent of more than $31,000, while the CR-V lists at more than…

0:4 This is your daughter’s Oldsmobile. GM’s pricing hierarchy of a division for each purse and purpose is long gone, but with the Aura sedan concept and Sky roadster, Saturn is taking Oldsmobile’s place in the Chevy, Pontiac, Olds, et al. lineup. Designed to show Saturn’s new direction, the Aura (it even sounds like “Aurora”) rides on the same 112.3-inch-wheelbase version of the Epsilon platform that underpins the Malibu Maxx and Pontiac G6. It’ll be the only Epsilon offered at launch with the 3.6-liter twin-cam high-feature V-6 also available in the Buick LaCrosse. The Aura will come with a 170-horse, 2.4-liter four, but just a six-speed automotic will be offered with the six. GM sees the Acura TL as the Aura’s main competitor, while the Pontiac targets the Honda Accord…

0:7 Today’s Mitsubishi is a tale of two companies, one with a lineup suffering plummeting sales of also-ran cars and SUVs at fire-sale prices, and another that proudly offers the highly sought rally-cultish Lancer Evolution. Problem is, the Evo is a niche car, selling in relatively small numbers. The new Eclipse, due out this spring, is meant to rekindle some of the old Mitsubishi cool factor and help regain the standing the brand once had in the sport-compact market. As recently as a year or two ago, according to J.D. Power and Associates, Mitsubishi owned the market with the youngest buyers among all car companies. Then Toyota’s youth division, Scion, came along, offering Toyota durability and value, with hipper-than-Mitsubishi design and Kia prices. In November 2004, fledgling Scion outsold Mitsubishi…

0:10 Don’t guffaw, but Subaru thinks it can build a better X5. Really. Your eyes are rolling, but the engineers of this Indiana-built crossover were so sure we’d agree that they let us drive the new B9 Tribeca back-to-back with an X5 3.0i priced about $15,000 higher. Subaru’s six cylinders are arranged horizontally for a lower center of gravity. This 3.0-liter flat-six comes directly out of an Outback and sounds even sweeter than the X5’s inline-six. Relative to that sterling mill, it produces an extra 25 horsepower and five-pound-feet of torque. Weighing in at a claimed 4250 pounds, the Scooby’s six has 450 fewer pounds to lug around that the Bimmer, giving it a 19 percent advantage in weight-to-power. Drop the hammer, and the B9 steps off briskly enough to…

0:19 Volkswagen’s most American car, the Jetta, may be suffering a typical American malady—middle-age spread. Like the active college athlete who graduates to a sedentary desk job, the Jetta enters its 25th year carrying extra mass—340 pounds’ worth. Of course, there’s no hiding that kind of weight gain; the once light, lithe sedan with the cramped back seat gains about an inch in width and height, 2.6 inches in wheelbase, and a stunning seven inches in overall length. Naturally, adding that much avoirdupois necessitates a whole new wardrobe, so the Jetta set off to visit the fat-cat Phaeton’s tailor. The college-kid Jetta’s athletic-cut suit with its chiseled features and burly wheel arches has given way to a much more grownup look, with a formal C-pillar, classy circles-in-a-square tail-lights, and a…

0:22 One of the most hotly contested segments in the dwindling passenger-car market is that of the midsize family sedan. About 2.2 million are sold each year, and Honda, Toyota, and Nissan cash in on nearly half the profits with their Accord, Camry, and Altima. Ford Divisions antediluvian Taurus hasn’t been a serious retail player for years. And Ford’s freshly minted Five Hundred is too large; its former Contour too small. This fall, Ford finally will join the fray with the square-shouldered Fusion. Inspired by the show-stopping V-10-powered 427 concept car of 2003, the Fusion’s look is described by designer Peter Horbury as “bold but not brash or noisy.” Its overall countenance is confidently American, though we wish that more of the perhaps brash and noisy details of the show…

0:31 We can’t believe our eyes. The wheelbarrow man came out of nowhere, his hunched-over form wobbling and wavering in the thick and oily heat haze that can only be found in deserts of the Middle East. Chris Porritt and I crane forward in our seats at the unbelievable sight. Flying along the Dubai highway at 177 mph in Aston Martins new AMV8, the last thing we expect—or need—to see is a half-dazed man pushing a straw-laden wheelbarrow across the four-laner. Chris doesn’t back off for a second. A slight jink, the Aston’s nose moves cleanly left, then right, carving a neat arc around the jaywalker, and we bullet safely past him leaving nothing but scattered sand and the AMV8’s howling exhaust note in our wake. Porritt, Aston Martin’s vehicle…

0:33 Any vehicle dubbed Ralliart has to have performance improvements—engine and suspension—plus unique styling. The Endeavor Ralliart concept is more than just another look-at-me SUV with a custom paint job and 20-inch wheels: Like the Galant concept, it’s powered by a 3.8-liter MIVEC V-6, which, in this case, ups horses from 225 to 260. It’s backed by the 2006 Eclipse’s new five-speed automatic, possibly the transmission the next-generation Endeavor would receive. This SEMA-machine also gained custom front and rear fascias, Brembo brakes, Road Race coilover suspension, cold-air intake, Recaro seats, and a full custom interior, including TV and PS2. The MIVEC V-6 is terrific in the Galant Ralliart, but this entertainment-system-heavy Endeavor is considerably meatier. Still, 35 extra horsepower makes its presence known. With little throttle input, the Ralliart gets…

0:42 Ford’s original sport/utility truck, introduced four years ago, has not gone away—it just got lost in the shuffle. The Sport Trac launched one of the fastest growing segments in the industry, according to its maker, but the six-cylinder-only Sport Trac quickly got left behind in the Avalanche. The current Sport Trac is based on the crude, aging Ranger platform, itself a pickup truck that has suffered several delays in getting a replacement. Ford’s solution, as hinted with this Detroit auto-show concept, is the obvious answer: base the next Sport Trac on the current Explorer. Not quite a chopped-off roof like the Hummer H2 SUT, the 2007 Sport Trac should be more memorable as a truck smartly derived from Ford’s top-selling SUV. The concept is in custom street-rod form with…

People often defend their decision to purchase a sport/utility vehicle on the grounds of its potential utility. “I may need to (carry, haul, tow) lots of (people, stuff) some day.” So we took a look at the fuel cost of lugging around this potential for a year. We started with the EPA’s database of projected annual fuel cost* as printed on window stickers and parsed that with manufacturer data on max passenger, cargo, and trailer-towing capacities. Just for fun, we also checked the sport potential, measuring vehicle efficiency against Motor Trend acceleration data. To avoid crossover-categorization issues, the utility envelope was broadened to include vehicles classified by the EPA as station wagons and vans. Where available, vehicles equipped with extra-seating options and towing packages were considered. The five most- and…

MOTOR TREND RADIO Us and Howard Stern Motor Trend Radio brings you the best automotive talk on the air and has recently landed more new markets. Every Saturday and Sunday, it can be found on hundreds of stations across the country and on Sirius Satellite Radio. New Stations WIND AM 560 Chicago, Illinois WGEA AM 1150 Geneva, Alabama KZNU AM 1450 St. George, Utah WMRD AM 1150 Hartford, Connecticut WLXO FM 96.1 Lexington, Kentucky New Times and Channels on Sinus Saturday: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. ET Talk Central 148 Sunday: 11 a.m.-1 p.m. ET Sirius Play By Play 125 TRUCK TREND Detroit fires up This is the time of year when new-truck rumors fly fast and furious. At the Detroit auto show, Ford unveiled a new SportTrac, the Explorer-based SUT. Also,…

The latest reports from Detroit indicate that there won’t be an SVT Lightning version of the latest Ford F-series. That’s too bad because the F-150’s optional 5.4-liter, 300-horsepower Triton V-8 gives it just-adequate punch for such a large and heavy ride. Enter famed Ford race-shop, engineering concern, and tuner-accessory producer Roush Performance, whose Stage 2 F-150 package boosts power to 405 horses (a gain of 105) and ups torque by 155 pound-feet. Roush’s Roots-style supercharger delivers six psi boost and delivers a sweet blower whine to match. Roush’s fresh-air inlet shuttles cool air to the supercharger while a free-breathing side dual-exhaust system (with polished twin tips) opens up the flow. A recalibrated computer manages the air/fuel mix more aggressively than stock. At the test track, the engine hardware cut 0-to-60-mph…

Cadiliac intended the reworked 1998 Seville to be a world-class sport/luxury sedan, as evidenced by its being the first Cadillac since WWII built in left- and right-hand-drive versions. What it lacked in rear-drive European-hand ling acumen and Japanese refinement, it countered with computer-controlled suspension, drivetrain wizardry, and electronic conveniences. Most of the high-tech stuff delivered tangible results, but the last Seville still failed to win over driving purists. SLS (Luxury) and STS (Touring) designations continued from the 1992 to 1997 Sevilles. The 1998’s exterior was a subtle evolution of the previous design: softer and more refined, yet with a wider stance (a look that remained virtually unchanged for the final six model years). Underpinning the new skin was a stiffened chassis and refined steering/suspension, which gave this two-ton Caddy a…