Innehållsförteckning för February 2017 från MotorTrend

What’s On Demand This Month? JAN. 2 Motorsport Mundial JAN. 4 HEAD 2 HEAD Ep. 85 JAN. 9 Indian National Supercross Championship (Bangalore) JAN. 9 Motorsport Mundial JAN. 12 24H Endurance Series (Dubai) JAN. 12 ROADKILL GARAGE Ep. 13 JAN. 16 Motorsport Mundial JAN. 16 Indian National Supercross Championship (Pune) JAN. 17 DIRT EVERY DAY Ep. 60 JAN. 21 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (India) JAN. 23 Asian Le Mans Series (Thailand) JAN. 23 Motorsport Mundial JAN. 26 House of Muscle JAN. 30 Motorsport Mundial…

Toyota C-HR Born from the C-HR Concept, the production Toyota C-HR (which stands for Coupe High-Rider) brings some visual spice to Toyota. Remember when the RAV4 was tiny? It isn’t anymore, so the subcompact C-HR will slot below it. Ten inches shorter in length and 11 inches shorter in height, the C-HR is trying hard to look small and sporty, almost more like a tall hatchback (think Nissan Juke) than a proper SUV. Having its wheels pushed out to the corners for a 1-inch shorter wheelbase than the RAV will probably buy a fair amount of interior space. So although it may be small, it shouldn’t be a penalty box. Being smaller than the RAV should make it lighter, too, which will make its 144-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder and its 139…

Donald Trump may shift his rhetoric and policies on a seemingly daily basis, but you can be certain that his administration will have an effect on how the auto industry operates and, in turn, affect the cars you can buy and drive. Many of Trump’s statements to date raise more questions than answers: Manufacturing A key Trump campaign refrain was bringing manufacturing jobs back to America. The auto industry has added nearly 350,000 jobs in U.S. facilities since 2009 (granted, compensating for huge layoffs early in the 2008 recession). But many of these new jobs at auto factories— even unionized ones—don’t pay what they used to. Manufacturing workers once earned a wage significantly higher than the U.S. average, but by 2013, the average factory worker made 8 percent below the…

Cringe. The idea had been for Ed Loh to deplete the Chevrolet Bolt EV’s battery on his return from Tehachapi, 130 miles away. Then I’d arrive in the dead Tesla Model S to document their refills at our chargers (where we’d added EKM meters to measure things like this.) Our plan was perfect. Except. Our route to El Segundo is seashoretilted, and I’d been worrying that the 3,900-foot decent would make burning off kW-hrs tougher than Ed reckoned. I climbed into the dark interior and pressed the start button. The display blinked on—glaring, because it’s 10 p.m.. And there, in menacing digits, was my worst nightmare—80 miles left. I said it was 10 p.m., right? Eighty miles of range needed to be worn off before plugging it in. Hesitantly, I…

There’s an inherent risk when bringing a vehicle primarily designed for a foreign market to the United States. For all this talk about globalism, there’s no accounting for regional tastes. The reborn Pontiac GTO—a rebadged Aussie-spec Holden Monaro—didn’t work, whereas the Volkswagen Type I Beetle—designed for pre–World War II Germany—was an unlikely success story. Although sales will ultimately measure the success of the new 2017 Buick Envision in the eyes of GM, the madein-China Buick will have an uphill battle among consumers in an entrenched compact luxury crossover segment. On sale in the People’s Republic of China since 2014 and available in limited quantities to the U.S. last year, the new Envision represents a product development effort focused on the Chinese market, where Buick is tremendously successful. Buick will tell…

If the E-Class sedan is the heart of Mercedes-Benz, the E-Class wagon is its soul. One in three E-Class models sold in Europe is a wagon, and it’s one in two in Germany. So Mercedes’ board can’t just say, “Oh, let’s do a wagon while we’re at it.” This is serious business, literally. The new E400 wagon is quietly comfortable and elegantly functional, its serenity of purpose underpinned by deep knowledge and engineering. The result: Mercedes continues to create the world’s best wagon. Making the 4Matic all-wheel-drive system standard was a no-brainer. Many of the E-Class wagon’s most loyal American customers live in Snow Belt states. Standard air suspension with adjustable damping modes was a no-brainer, too. We sampled loaded E400 4Matic wagons in Germany, heading northeast out of…

Large luxury cars used to be powered by throaty, grumbling eight-cylinder engines. Cadillac had its old Northstar V-8s, Mercedes-Benz a 4.3-liter V-8, and Volvo a 4.4-liter V-8 in their respective midpriced offerings. But downsizing is all the rage these days, and all three of those manufacturers’ new sedans are powered by diminutive 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines. Our testing suggests that you might not miss those extra cylinders. The segment stalwarts are the ones leading the downsizing charge. The 2017 Mercedes-Benz E300 Sport is the German automaker’s bread-and-butter mid-priced midsize sedan. Starting at around $50K and selling well-equipped for nearly 70 large, the E-Class targets the heart of the luxury sedan market with semiautonomous driving technology, baby S-Class luxury, and a four-cylinder engine cranking out a respectable 241 hp. Cadillac has…

Jeep Compass The company that invented the SUV is uniquely poised to cash in on the exploding popularity of small crossovers with its new Jeep Compass. Replacing the old Compass and Patriot, the redesigned Compass rides on the subcompact Renegade’s platform. To fit halfway between the Renegade and Cherokee, it’s been stretched 8.0 inches with a wheelbase 2.4 inches longer. It’ll split the difference under the hood, too, where the Compass’ sole engine option will be the well-known 2.4-liter Tigershark good for 180 hp and 174 lb-ft. Frontdrivers get a six-speed automatic or six-speed manual. All-wheel-drive models get the six-speed manual or that ZF nine-speed auto that has attracted unkind headlines in other Jeeps. There are two all-wheeldrive options, one with a 20:1 crawl ratio and one without. You’ll get…

Geely has taken the wraps off an all-new brand it’s taking global. The unusually named Lynk & Co will combine Chinese financial and manufacturing muscle with an international team of designers and engineers based in Sweden to produce a range of lavishly equipped vehicles aimed to compete with mainstream products from GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai in the U.S., Europe, and China. The first Lynk & Co vehicle, an SUV called the 01, will make its debut in China in the fourth quarter of 2017 and launch in the U.S. and Europe in 2018. By 2021 the Lynk & Co range will total four vehicles, including a three-box four-door sedan, a five-door hatchback, and a crossover. There are whispers that a fifth model, a high-performance, all-wheel-drive Subaru WRX fighter,…

Everyone from Nostradamus to the Department of Energy predicts that internal combustion engines will provide primary propulsion for the majority of the vehicle fleet for a few more decades. But it’s looking like the auto industry may fall short of the forthcoming fuel economy/CO2 standards landing in 2025. Rather than tweaking the standards, maybe it’s time to look at CO2 reduction from a more holistic standpoint—by designing the next generation of engines to work with higher-performing, higher-octane fuels and examining CO2’s impact on a well-towheels basis. How could higher-octane fuels help? “The real key is the ability to design the engine with a higher geometric compression ratio,” Chris Cowland, FCA’s director of advanced and SRT powertrains, says. “We’d like to be running between 14:1 and 15:1 from a thermodynamic perspective…

The Chevrolet Bolt EV and Tesla Model S are the only battery-electric cars in existence that can carry five occupants more than 200 miles on a charge. Both the Bolt EV and Model S 60 have 60-kW-hr batteries, and have the patriotic bonus of being assembled in the U.S.A. So, which one is better, given that you could have two Bolts (after federal tax credits) for the price of one Model S 60? Is the Tesla actually worth the extra 30 large? A quick side note: This Bolt versus Model S 60 comparison is the exhibition before a more appropriate title fight—Bolt versus Elon Musk’s Tesla Model 3. Set to arrive in late 2017 with a sticker much closer to the Bolt’s $37,495 base price, the compact Model 3 currently…

With the 2017 Continental, Lincoln is taking luxury seriously again. At the Ford Motor Company, three legendary nameplates are treated with a hallowed reverence and respect: Ford F-150, Ford Mustang, and Lincoln Continental. The two Fords have been carrying the Blue Oval banner continuously since 1948 and 1965, respectively. But the Lincoln has seen better days, going from a mid-century modern luxury icon in the swinging ’60s to a mistreated rental-lot special by the time it went out of production in 2002. Lincoln went cold turkey on Continental—and on any true flagship—for the subsequent 15 years. With the new 2017 Continental, though, Lincoln is taking the luxury game seriously once again. Truth is, Lincolns have been passionless for nearly a half-century—lazy in styling and execution, little more than gussied-up Fords.…

2017 Audi A4 Allroad MATCHING RUGGEDNESS WITH REFINEMENT Normally, we’d take the time to lament the failure of wagons to gain acceptance in the U.S., but with several new ones coming to the market, mainstays such as the Audi A4 Allroad suddenly have more company. Good: more conversation about wagons. Bad: more work for Audi to do to keep its place. We were fond of our long-term 2013 Audi Allroad, so we expected good things for its successor. The redesigned Allroad borrows the 2.0-liter TFSI engine from the revamped A4 sedan to gain 32 hp from the last Allroad. It’s also the first Audi to receive Quattro with Ultra technology, an electronic multiplate clutch and a decoupling rear-axle differential that help the drivetrain attain fully variable torque distribution. Each time…

By just looking at the brochure, we see that the new Volkswagen Golf Alltrack is basically a Golf SportWagen with allwheel drive and an itty-bitty lift kit. It should be nothing for its primary target, the Subaru Outback, to worry about. The reality, though, is a bit different. On a simple gravel road, the tires, stability control, and fifth-gen 4Motion all-wheel drive demonstrated impressive grip. Driving quickly, the Alltrack would understeer but regain grip reasonably soon. It was rare for the back end to come around, even with stability control off. Out on the trails, the Alltrack felt confident and composed. Confession: We deviated from VW’s prescribed route onto a side trail full of unvetted obstacles. Scrambling over loose rocks and up steep, loose, and pockmarked hills, the Alltrack was…

Iceland is a rough place. A snow- and glacier-covered volcanic rock located in the middle of the roiling North Atlantic, it was settled by Vikings so good at raiding, killing, and conquering that the king of Norway exiled them. The early Icelanders, like their modern-day counterparts, were tough folk. They took no nonsense; respect was everything Egil Skallagrímsson, a 10th-century warrior-poet, once drove an axe through the skull of a teenager after Egil felt disrespected during a game. Egil was 7 years old. Early Icelanders endured the unforgiving terrain, occasional volcanic eruption, and harsh weather and made it their home, using the island as a staging ground for the European discovery of North America by Leif Eriksson (sorry, Columbus). The history lesson tells us a lot about modern Iceland. Largely…

Ford is looking to get in on the subcompact crossover action by bringing its Fiesta-based EcoSport stateside. The 2018 Ford EcoSport looks mostly the same as it did when the second-gen model arrived for the 2012 model year in overseas markets. The front end adopts the new corporate hexagonal grille along with new headlights and foglights. The interior has also been brought up to date with a freestanding infotainment screen and a simplified dash design. The EcoSport will be offered in four trim levels: S, SE, SES, and Titanium. Buyers will have a choice between two powertrains: the 1.0-liter turbocharged EcoBoost I-3 or a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated I-4. Ford doesn’t reveal specs for those engines, but the 1.0-liter EcoBoost makes 123 hp and 148 lb-ft of torque in the Fiesta…

“OK, we’re going to do it,” I insisted. “We’re going to drive into the Tesla Design Studio next to SpaceX, park the two Bolts at Supercharger stations, and see what happens.” Provocative. The Bolt is the upcoming Model 3’s prime nemesis, and the Model 3’s design is being polished right inside that building. “No, no. It won’t work!” I answered myself. “The Tesla guards will chase us away. Waving light sabers—or something even worse that Elon dreamed up. ” Pause. “OK, we’ll go—but we’ll be ready to run away very quickly. ” Our destination in Hawthorne, California, might as well be billed Muskland. Walk 500 feet, and you could tour one billionaire’s vision of future-tech human travel: the electric cars in the Tesla Design building we’re approaching, SpaceX’s rocket complex…

In 2016, we sorted out our getaway vehicles for the coming apocalypse by driving a Toyota Land Cruiser, Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, and Mercedes-Benz G550 to Moab (June). These overland vehicles are proper four-wheel-drive SUVs designed to take you to remote reaches of the globe and back in one piece. For many, the escape pod of choice is the Land Cruiser because it’s big, comfortable, and incredibly capable off-road. Unfortunately, the Toyota’s $85,420 sticker price means only the 1 Percent will avoid the zombie invasion. As it happens, most vehicles you’d want to take on a long-distance overland expedition are pricey due to the expensive nature of their go-anywhere underpinnings or are downright uncomfortable off-road. Well, they were, at least. For well less than 50 grand, Jeep will sell you…

It’s not merely that Volvo has a habit of doing wagons well. Ever since the launch of the Duett in 1953, versatile Volvo wagons have consistently been cooler, more interesting vehicles than their sedan counterparts. And with the 2018 V90, which goes on sale in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2017, Volvo has created one of the best-looking wagons ever. The V90 rides on the same platform as the S90 sedan. Sporting the same wheelbase and width, the V90 is 1.3 inches taller than the sedan. Intriguingly, the V90 is 1.1 inches shorter in overall length, the difference due to a more compact rear overhang. The visual differences between the two are all aft of the B-pillar: new quarter-panels, dramatically angled D-pillars, and an artfully executed greenhouse. With…

Porsche’s all-new Panamera looks like the dictionary illustration of a four-door sports car. Drives like one, too, once you twirl the steering wheel– mounted Sport Chrono controller, which sharpens the powertrain and suspension responses. But the real genius of the new Panamera is that when you need it to be, it’s as smooth and quiet and comfortable as a four-door limousine. If you like an S-Class but hanker after a sports car, the 2017 Porsche Panamera elegantly blends the luxury-or-performance dichotomy. Yes, it is possible to have both. Introduced in 2009, the original Panamera was—even if we are being kind—an oddly hunchbacked thing, a consequence of former Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking’s demand that his 6-foot-6 frame fit in the rear seat. The switch to VW Group’s MSB platform gave Michael…

“Excited to see how the new boosted @Honda Civic touring compares to my former 8,000-rpm Civic Si!” @MT_JasonUdy EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 32/42/36 MPG BASE PRICE $27,161 PRICE AS TESTED $27,996 After more than four decades and 10 generations of existence, the Honda Civic has become a default purchase for many young people or those who are young at heart. It carries a legacy of inexpensive transportation that doesn’t feel cheap, and of flattering its owner with elegant driving manners and interior fitments. The Civic has spent most of its existence near the top of the compact segment, but there have been missteps. The eighth-gen car won our 2006 Car of the Year award, but Honda lost its way with the decontented ninth-gen Civic, requiring a refresh just one…

SACRE BLEU! THE FRENCH ARE COMING. EVENTUALLY Carlos Tavares, chairman of French automaker PSA Group, was president of Nissan North America from 2009 to 2011. He knows how difficult and expensive it is to build and maintain a dealer network in a country with 50 different sets of franchise laws, and he knows how fickle and unforgiving American consumers can be. Yet Tavares wants PSA, maker of Peugeot, Citroën, and now the premium-wannabe DS Automobiles, to return to North America. Ego? Hubris? Nope. Necessity. Using skills honed working alongside the hard-charging, take-no-prisoners Carlos Ghosn at Nissan, Tavares has briskly knocked PSA Group into shape—claiming it now has no debt and that it was the fourth most profitable automaker in the world for the first half of 2016. But he knows…