Innehållsförteckning för September 2021 från MotorTrend

Jonny Lieberman @MT_Loverman You’d best be geeked about our electric performance future Change is the only constant in life. So said Greek philosopher Heraclitus some 2,500 years ago. Boy, was he right. Especially, it seems, vis-à-vis the car industry these days. Cadillac has announced the CT5-V Blackwing will be the last car it ever launches with an internal combustion engine. This statement amazes me, but Caddy made the proclamation because its GM parent is going electric, as are Volvo, Volkswagen, Jaguar, and many other carmakers. Electric vehicles are here, and many more are coming quickly. Now, I love cars. Like, really, truly, weirdly, obsessively, wife-worryingly love them. Especially the extra-potent ones. Not to brag—well, maybe a little—but I spent a recent weekend driving a Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport, AMG SLS…

Ever since the Mustang ditched its live rear axle, it’s seemed as if the Blue Oval was only interested in providing ultimate handling prowess on Shelby versions. Various “performance packs” and special editions never got it done, and you had to slide into a GT350 or GT500 to go around a corner properly. With the GT350 retired, however, the curse is broken. The new Mach 1 is a GT350 replacement in everything but engine and carbon-fiber wheels. The Mach 1 amalgamates parts and ideas from various recent go-fast Mustangs. The Recaro seats are familiar, as is the gaping void where the rear seats would go in any other Mustang. (Removing them is a $250 option.) Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires are welcome, as is the rear “s’wing”—that’s spoiler plus…

This is the best Honda CR-Z we’ve ever driven. We’re pretty sure it’s the best CR-Z anyone has ever driven. Goose the gas, and the unmuffled exhaust’s ear-splitting buzz is pierced by the jet-engine scream of the giant turbocharger that practically bursts out of the comically bulged hood. The instrument panel is awash in yellow warning lights, the car’s ECU dimly aware something is amiss with the hybrid system. It doesn’t know exactly what’s wrong, but we do: It’s been fooled into force-feeding extra juice to the CR-Z’s electric motor. Downshift to second and drop the hammer—yeah, it’s a stick—and the “Hot Rod Hybrid” responds with a rush of air, fuel, electricity, noise, and acceleration, hunkering down on its lowered suspension and tearing through the corner. The CR-Z evokes village-idiot-sized…

Well, now Honda’s just showing off. Despite five model years packed under the 10th-gen Civic’s timing chain, there was little incentive for the company to revamp its perennial subcompact sedan superstar for the 2022 model year. The outgoing car, in its many permutations, remained on top of its hyper-competitive segment right to the end. Instead, Honda executed one of the greatest redesigns we didn’t know we wanted. At face value, the new Civic addresses one of the prior model’s few sore spots by rounding out and nip/tucking the Gundam Wing styling. Think of this glow-up as the new Civic taking after big-brother Accord, wearing its older sib’s more mature hand-me-down duds in place of its collection of anime graphic tees. The Accord’s sleek, tapered vibe slips snugly over the old…

Nearly 13 years after the Type S badge left the U.S. market, the 2021 Acura TLX Type S has arrived. The return of the Type S subbrand will continue with the MDX three-row crossover, and Acura says there’s more Type S news coming later this year. The popular RDX will also get the sporty badge. The TLX Type S is powered by a 355-hp, 354-lb-ft 3.0-liter V-6 with a twin-scroll turbo. It also employs a 10-speed automatic transmission that sends power to all four wheels via Acura’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive system. The engine is a significant step up from the 272-hp, 280-lb-ft 2.0-liter turbo-four that powers the standard TLX, and although the torque-vectoring AWD setup is the same one available across Acura’s lineup, here it can send up to…

Constructing green gasoline from scratch using renewable methane Shortly after our June “Green Issue” dropped, an enthusiast reader wrote to us to say we missed a key alternative fuel technology from Houston-based Nacero: green gasoline constructed from renewable natural gas using renewable energy. He’s counting on this miracle fuel to feed his beloved pony car well into the forecast EV future. Sure enough, Nacero’s “green gasoline” products appear quite promising. These fuels aren’t carbon-free, but their carbon footprint is allegedly at least half that of petroleum-refined gasoline. And they’re naturally free of sulfur, which degrades catalytic converter effectiveness and contributes to ground-level ozone. Nacero’s process builds the complex hydrocarbon chains that constitute its gasoline (typically comprising five to 12 carbon atoms) by assembling smaller CH4 methane molecules from natural gas.…

We’re all still on the wild ride that began in earnest 18 months ago, but if nothing else, a lot of things sure do feel different right now than they did at this time last year. We’ll save talk about challenges faced by new-car dealers and customers for our Buyer’s Guide issue next month; right now, it’s time to look toward what’s beyond the horizon. Whether you’re most interested in peering ahead to the near term or further down the road, we have you covered with all of our latest intel on cars of the future. And with info that breaks down more than 50 of the most noteworthy vehicles set to arrive within the next few years—from the continuation of some of the world’s most famous conventional gasoline-powered models…

As with the 10th-gen Civic, the new 11th-gen car will offer a hatchback variant alongside the sedan. Compared to the outgoing Civic hatch, the new model has a more rakish roofline and a cleaner profile, thanks largely to the elimination of the old car’s trunk spoilers. Cargo space with the rear seats in their upright position is less than in the old car, but Honda says it will still be best-in-class in this department. A more rakish nose and honeycomb-pattern grille further differentiate the 2022 hatchback from the sedan. The new Civic hatchback will once again offer a six-speed manual transmission, paired with the 2.0-liter engine in the Sport trim and the 1.5 turbo in the top-of-the-line Sport Touring. A continuously variable transmission is optional for these cars and standard…

It’s good that cars can’t have panic attacks. For a second, we wanted to throw a weighted car cover over the 2022 VW GTI and slip some sort of vehicular benzodiazepine into its gas tank. If it could, the shapely little hatch might incessantly blare its horn and idle at 4,000 rpm out of pure existential angst. Could you blame it? It’s a new gas-powered compact car from an automaker whose future is both electric and filled mostly with SUVs. It’s enough to make any car a bit nuts. But we’re probably overstating the issue: The MkVIII GTI is an absolute hoot to drive. It uses the augmented bones of the excellent outgoing model, but it’s spruced up significantly. The changes include new or reworked suspension bushings, springs, adjustable damper…

Not your Type? I still think the best, most honest thing I’ve ever read about the Honda Civic Type R is that the advantage of being in it is that you don’t have to look at it. Ron Humphrey Bellflower, California Only the BMW M3/4 takes better advantage of that.—Ed. Correcting an acronym In Angus MacKenzie’s July column, he refers to the Federal Highway Administration as the “FHA.” This is incorrect. “FHA” is the acronym for the Federal Housing Administration. The acronym for the Federal Highway Administration is FHWA. Although the article is correct for the federal gas tax at 18.4 cents and the federal diesel tax at 24.4 cents, the amount going for the Highway Account of the Highway Trust Fund is 15.44 cents for the gas tax and…

“Ford needs to be spending way more money on electric vehicles. The company that put the world on wheels with the Model T has missed the opportunity to lead the world again with an affordable, mass-market battery electric vehicle.” I wrote those words just four years ago. And at the time, it seemed a fair assessment. Forget Tesla, a company whose preposterous valuation then, as now, made no economic sense: Ford looked like it was being left behind by a swarm of legacy automakers planning to manufacture electric cars in the large numbers they knew how to produce, with build quality Elon Musk could only dream of. Volkswagen Group’s then e-mobility boss, Christian Senger, claimed his company would ultimately build more than 10 million electric vehicles on its new, highly…