Innehållsförteckning för April 2006 från MotorTrend

THE FRONT half may be controversial, but Audi is going to build the Roadjet anyway, likely under the name A5, in 2008. It uses the next-gen A4 platform, a flexible component set that'll also serve the next A6 and the much-rumored BMW X3-fighting Q5. The Roadjet's H-point is 2.4 inches higher than the A4's and 2.4 inches lower than the Q7's. The Roadjet's mission is flexible space rather than off-roadability, hence its long wheelbase and glassy cabin. In Europe, car/minivan crossovers are ultra-hot, but as yet there's been no premium entry in a market dominated by General Motors, Volkswagen, and Renault. VW has two entries, the vanlike seven-seat Touran and the Golf Plus, which is an elevated, rebodied Golf equipped with sliding rear seats. The Roadjet was designed at Audi's…

VOLVO’S second-generation S80 will be available with the XC90's 315-horse Yamaha V-8. Standard engine for the new sedan, which is a major reworking based on the existing platform, is a new 3.2-liter inline-six, rated 238 horses and 221 pound-feet. It's hooked up to a six-speed auto. Volvo says the six-cylinder, six-speed combo takes up less space than the old five-banger, thanks to a new camshaft mechanism and partially integrating the ancillaries in the block. The V-8 version has all-wheel drive, Dynamic Stability and Traction Control, and the Four-C active chassis control included with the engine option. The S80, which Volvo will unveil at Geneva in March, is designed to go head-to-head with Mercedes E-Class, BMW 5 Series, and Audi A6 models.…

THIS IS the truck Detroit has been nervously anticipating for years; the big kahuna of the Chicago Auto Show, the big (finally) Toyota Tundra. It arrives with three engine options, topping out with a 5.7-liter i-Force V-8 and six-speed automatic. Toyota didn't release power and torque figures at presstime, but we anticipate more than 330 horses and about 375 pound-feet. OTHER FEATURES ■ It's 10-inches longer than the 2000-2006 Tundra, with a significantly longer wheelbase and increased height and width, making it one of the largest trucks in its segment. ■ Towing capacity is more than 10,000 pounds. ■ Will come in three grades, like the current truck; base, SR5, and Limited—but a total of more than 30 model variants, nearly double the current generation. ■ Wide-screen backup camera, Bluetooth…

THE AERO-X is the third Saab concept car in five years, but only the fourth in the company's history. Which says a lot about GM's uncertainty over the future direction of the Swedish brand. 1985: EV-1 wasn't an electric vehicle, but a Saab 900 Turbo-based concept. EV-1 stood for Experimental Vehicle 1 and represented Saab's first venture into the world of show cars. 2001: 9X was Michael Mauer's first Saab concept. It had a 300-horse V-6 and AWD. The long hood and rear-set two-door wagon type cabin made it look like a Swedish Chevy Nomad. 2003: 9-3X was a three-door hatchback crossover with a 280-horse turbo version of GM's 2.8-liter high-feature V-6 and all wheel drive. Some design detail filtered through to the 9-3 wagon.…

NOBODY NEEDS needs a hypexrpowerful two-seat sexmobile. As transportation, these cars fall miserably short of a Toyota Camry or Honda Odyssey in any objective category Consumer Reports would bother to measure. Buyers in this class base their purchase decisions on emotional, not rational grounds. They want their cars to make them look and feel rich, powerful, and gorgeous, and they'd like them to shout “look at me,” or more accurately, “envy me.” And it may be on this count—the car as the ultimate haute couture accessory—that the Porsche 911 is most vulnerable. Oh, it's plenty good looking, but it’s just so very, very familiar. Through 2005, 618,401 examples of this iconic shape have been minted in Zuffenhausen. 911s can be found everywhere, in big towns and small, across every populated…

SIXTY MPG I from the Toyota Prius during city driving? Sounds good, doesn't it—especially when you motor past a gas station and see the price of regular unleaded starting with a 3. Trouble is, Toyota's little eco-hellion hasn't quite been able to back up this braggery—a fact even the federal government now concurs with. We're not talking about the EPA here, but fueleconomy.gov, where 77 2005 Prius drivers have posted their personal gas use, the average being 47.6 (see below). So what's the EPA proposing to do to temper its hallucinatory mileage claims? What about those rumored changes coming to the federal tax credits available for 2006? We'll get to those questions. But first, let's greet the two newest players in the hybrid game, the 2006 Honda Civic and 2007…

OPEN AIR motoring usually means compromise: Two seats. Scant trunk space. A frumpy-looking softtop that does little more than keep the interior mostly dry for periodic car washes. An unkempt look when the top is down. At best. People wanting a high-end hardtop convertible, a la Mercedes, Lexus, or Cadillac, have found those cars’ cool-but-complex folding systems financially out of reach. This is why it's so striking for Volkswagen to introduce the world's first four-seater with a folding hardtop containing a sliding glass moonroof in a car costing what VW says will be "under $30,000." Called the CSC (coupe/sunroof/convertible) roof, the structure consists of five sections and takes about 25 seconds to transform from coupe to convertible. While we’ve grown accustomed to witnessing the operation of such systems, the Eos's…

1966 WAS a magic year for Ford's now-legendary racing prototype. Henry Ford II, after watching the GT40 endure numerous early teething problems (aerodynamics, engine and transaxle reliability) confidently declared it would win Le Mans in 1966. Progress had already been made by the end of the 1965 season, so it seemed doable. Shelby American teammates Lloyd Ruby and Ken Miles drove a red. roadster-bodied GT in the Sebring 12-hour race in 1966 and won handily. It's not so difficult to envision that car as a forebear of Genaddi's GTX1. Miles and Ruby also took the 24-hour race in Daytona that year, and, of course Le Mans, was the site of Ford’s noted 1-2-3 photo-finish victory. Ford had pulled off a difficult endurance-racing hat trick, and Hank the Deuce’s ballsy prediction…

ALMOST unknown to American buyers, Bristol Cars is one of Britain's last independent manufacturers. Based in the city of Bristol, 100 miles west of London, it's also one of the smallest and most secretive car builders; nobody outside of the firm is ever allowed into the factory at Filton Airport. Bristol has been building much the same car for more than 50 years with occasional changes of body style, model name, and engines that, since 1961, have been supplied by Chrysler. Although the styling has become increasingly odd, customers are loyal and buy into the mystique of the current Blenheim and its undoubted appeal as a dignified, luxurious, well-crafted, yet practical four-seater coupe. The Fighter, however, is something new from Bristol, a two-seater gullwing-door coupe that's good, says the company,…

WHEN CHEVROLET introduced the current Corvette, now-retired Corvette vehicle line executive and chief engineer Dave Hill had his excuse prepared. We asked, “Dave, there's so much technology in this car—why no five-or six-speed automatic trans with shifter paddles or driver-selectable shift modes?" Hill replied, "Well, guys, our customers haven't expressed an interest in that technology/'Translation from corporate-speak to English: "Well, guys, our new trans isn't ready yet." So first-year C6 buyers got the same old—and we mean old—four-speed 4L65-E autobox. It worked well enough, and it did have driver-selectable shift modes. Unfortunately, they were limited to forward, reverse, and neutral. General Motors's new Hydra-Matic 6L80 six-speed automatic is a fresh piece of hardware and makes its production debut in this year's Corvette, plus the Cadillac STS-v and XLR-v. As in…

HYUNDAI HAS never before provided test vehicles to magazine geeks like us for longterm evaluation. That we've been offered one now speaks well to the company's confidence in its product line and how far the brand has come, from a quality standpoint, in a relatively short period of time. The Sonata is built on all-new chassis architecture and is aimed at cars like the Camry, Accord, Malibu, G6, and Fusion, offering slightly more interior space than all of them. Our Bright Silver EX stickered at $23,495, with no additional options. Standard items include front, front-seat side, and full side-curtain airbags, front active headrest restraints, anti-lock brakes, and electronic stability control with traction control on all trim-level Sonatas. Our long-termer has a 235-horsepower, 3.3-literVG aluminum engine with continuous variable-valve timing mated…

THREE AND a half decades ago, the Corvette crowd decided the Porsche 911 was nothing more than a chrome-plated Volkswagen, while Porschephiles made fun of Chevy's crude, plastic sports-car pretender. So what's changed? Fortunately, not much. The results of this 1970 matchup were just about what you'd expect: The Corvette was quicker in a straight line and had the lower sticker price, while the Porsche handled with greater precision and offered much higher build quality. The LT-1 Corvette packed 370 horsepower and cost $6330; the 911E offered 175 horsepower and ran $8360. Associate editor Chuck Koch summarized it well: "No matter what we say, though, there will always be Corvette and Porsche owners. Neither will acknowledge the other's presence. Both will think they have the better car. The rivalry will…

THIS spectacular shot show the nextTT coupe (AU355) and convertible (AU354). The good news is that they don't have the oversize grille from the Shooting Brake concept car (which looks likely for production as a third TT model). But features from the concept including its 250-horse, 3.2-liter V-6 with DSG and quattro, plus a new touch-screen nav (use your finger to "write" in the destination), sport-mode suspension with tips on how to best take a fast corner, magnetic ride control and LED headlamps could make it to production. The TT is longer and wider, with an aluminum body and will spawn a 280-horse TTS and 300-plus horsepower turbo V-6 TTRS for 2008. The 2007 convertible goes on sale up to six months after the coupe.…

letter of the month beautiful beast Never before has a car so utterly hideous attracted my attention like the Pagani Zonda F (“Space/Craft”). The proportions are brutal, and the nose and rear Iook like unfinished pieces put on as camouflage.! love this car! Finally, someone has created a machine exclusively for drivers, not just for hip-hop artists. The luxurious interior and reasonable ride prove this car isn’t just for show, nor is it a track-only onetrick pony. Congratulations to Horacio Pagani for creating a true supercar, one that’s a pleasure to drive, whether out for a cruise or tearing Ferraris anew one—not enjoying a car like this is a mortal sin in the automotive world. Michael S.Springfield, Illinois write us at 6420 WilshireiBlvd:, Los Angeles, CA 90048) e-mail us from…

WHAT IS IT ABOUT PORSCHE’S 9T1? Any wet-behind-the-ears automotive engineer can fill a blackboard with figures and equations proving the venerable Porsche is, by design, an inferior sports car. Just look where the engine is, ferpetesake. It's hanging way out behind the rear axle, which makes for a disadvantageous polar-moment of inertia. That's geekspeak meaning the car inherently wants to handle like a lopsided barbell, swinging all pendulum-like in corners. Furthermore, the engine's mass actually teeter-totters weight off the front wheels, and any C-average enginerd can remember that the maximum grip a tire can deliver is the product of its coefficient of friction and the weight pushing down on it. Less weight equals less grip—another critical strike against the 911’s cornering capability. Slavish devotion to a 43-year-old profile leaves no…

THERE’S BEEN a rear-engine Porsche sports car for as long as most of us have been alive. Will there always be one? Should there always be one? No Porsche in our lifetime has asked that question as convincingly as this new Cayman S (below right) does. No 914/914-6, no 924-968, not even the big bruising 928 ever contended to replace the venerable 911. The new Boxster-derived Cayman S does. For starters, while the previous lower-priced Porsches were designed in joint-ventures with VW and Audi, this mid-engine coupe is all Porsche. It shares some 30 percent of its parts with the 911, including the front suspension, front chassis structure, the cooling system, the doors, seats, and more. The body is essentially a hard-topped Boxster. Adding the lid doubles the roadster’s bending…

EVEN THE MOST hardened GM lifer will admit it's now only a question of time, and Bill Ford has already waved the white flag: Toyota vail be the world's number-one automaker. The mechanics of Toyota's inexorable rise to the top are well understood in corporate America: The highly efficient Toyota Production System was based in part on the work of Iowa-born statistician W. Edwards Deming; and the brilliant analysis on the differences among American. European, and Japanese auto manufacturing, “The Machine That Changed the World," written by James Womack, Daniel Jones, and Daniel Roos, has been in the nation's bookshops since 1990. But the real reason for Toyota’s success runs deeper than mere mechanics. Just ask the man who probably knows more about what makes this company tick than any…

FACE IT: American brands haven't been competitive in the compact-car segment. The Ford Focus raised the bar when it was new in 2000, but has stagnated since. Chevrolet's Cobalt is a better car than the prehistoric Cavalier it replaced, but sets no particular standards. And the previous Neon had become little more than a rental-car favonte. In the meantime, the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla have captured buyers by the tankerload. Dealers are whining they can’t get enough Mazda3s. And how about those Korean carmakers, at whom no one is laughing any more? Something had to be done. So Dodge threw out the Neon with the bathwater and replaced it with the Caliber. Its platform architecture is new from scratch, as are its three power trains; the same underpinnings form…

sign below reads "safe road" THIS IS NOT a good start. Night has fallen in Kashi and our old Volkswagen taxi has broken down. We stand by the roadside and watch our driver stare at the engine in a fit of desperation. I can’t remember the Chinese words for “alternator broken,” so we hail another cab as he waits for a tow. Kashi lies on the western tip of China, about 2000 miles due west of Beijing and less than 200 miles from the border with Afghanistan. Officially, this area is called the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and it’s a world away from my perceived image of China. Islam, not communism, is the dominant belief system here, and you're more likely to be served a mutton kebab than Beijing Duck.…

THE NEW-GEN Eclipse was conceived with coupe and convertible versions in mind from the get-go. Reinforced front and rear subframes and floorpan, along with strategically placed support members, return much of the structural rigidity lost with the removal of its hardtop. The Spyder's power three-layer cloth top folds flat under a flush-fitting power tonneau cover in about 19 seconds. With a manual header release, the top is easy to use and doesn't inhibit visibility too seriously when up. The full-length headliner helps quiet the cabin and adds the more finished feel of a coupe when raised. Available in black or gray, both tops have a glass rear windshield with defroster. Two trim levels are available. The GS is powered by a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine, producing 162 horsepower and 162 pound-feet…

SOME VEHICLES are so revered by their customers that replacing them presents a daunting task. Mazda's Miata, the original Chrysler minivans, and Ford's F-150 spring to mind—the Kia Sedona does not. Korea's first minivan was a lackluster, inexpensive small van designed to compete abroad, and converting it for U.S. duty left it grossly overweight. Some 50,000 customers per year have been lured by its low price, not its innovation nor excellence. Improving that van would've been child's play, but Kia assigned the job to savvy adults, just the same. While it took Toyota four swings at the minivan market before connecting with the current Sienna (its first real success), this second-generation Sedona arrives with the form, function, and mechanical aptitude to go toe-to-toe with the big sellers from Chrysler, Honda,…

2006 MITSUBISHI ECLIPSE GT Total mileage 4954 MITSUBISHI’S advertising/marketing and exterior style stirred little personal interest for some, but the V-6 has plenty of useable torque between 2000 and 3000 rpm that allows spirited urban driving without having to drive it like you stole it. You need to be a bit careful with the throttle tip-in, or it'll squeal its all-season tires at launch. Come on, guys, all-season tires on a 270-horsepower front-drive car? How can we put the power down when all the tires do is break free? Either give us grippier tires or AWD as options. The windshield also tried to eat a rock—and lost. We'll look into a replacement at the first service interval, which is coming up soon. ■ Average fuel econ 17.9 mpg ■ Unresolved…

FERRARI claims it had no intention of announcing its 575 Maranello replacement, the 599GTB, at the Detroit auto show. The car was meant to be secret for a few more weeks, prior to a public debut at Geneva. But someone hacked into the company's servers, got the official photos of the 599GTB, and posted them on a Web site. So Ferrari had to go public. Though Ferrari gave only tidbits on the 599, we got a bit more from Ferrari chief Amadeo Felisa. The name refers to the 5.99-liter capacity of the V-12 engine, which is not, as everyone assumed, an update of the 575 Maranello’s, but a reworked version of the storming Enzo's engine that develops 620 horsepower. Like the 612 Scaglietti, the 599GTB's body is largely aluminum. Weight…

FORD’S overreliance on trucks and SUVs (in the five years to 2003, the company launched just one new car in the U.S., the Focus, which was designed in Europe anyway) has backfired badly; sales of the Explorer have almost halved since 2000. The Blue Oval badly needs a new hero vehicle. After a slowish start, Fusion sales are steadily picking up, and the good-looking Edge (above) crossover has hit written all over it. There's a lot of talk about a new B-segment (smaller than Focus) subcompact in 2008. But might be better off upgrading the current Focus to the higher-quality European version, built on the same platform as the Volvo S40 and available with fuel-efficient powertrains, as the market for B-segment cars in North America is unproven. Ford will depend…

SAAB'S Swedish jet aircraft heritage is the theme of the Aero-X, a concept that bows at the Geneva show in March. The two-seat sport coupe features a cockpit canopy in place of conventional doors. A 400-horse-power twin-turbo V-6 powers all four wheels and operates on 100-percent ethanol biofuel. GM has been struggling to keep its Swedish automaker distinctive, despite increased platform sharing. Saab says the Aero-X is inspired by aviation (Saab has built aircraft using Volvo engines) and Scandinavian brand heritage. TALKING POINTS ■ INTERIOR FEATURES GLASS-LIKE“CLEAR ZONES ” ■ BETTER THAN SPORTS-CAR CARGO SPACE WITH “TWIN-FLOOR” REAR STOWAGE. ■ FIRST PROJECT FROM THE NEW SAAB BRAND CENTER IN SWEDEN.…

THIS CONTEST probably happens a lot more in American car magazines than it ever does in the hearts and minds of sports-car shoppers. And despite whatever hype and hyperbole magazine scribblers expend building suspense in the opening paragraphs of their stories, the wrap-up generally comes down to this: Corvette—amazing straight-line punch, exceptional value; 91 1—stupendous handling and exquisite refinement. Every editor weighs the virtues differently, but the balance most often tips in Porsche's favor. But this time is different, right? This time the Chevy folks are through messing around. They've pushed The Button. Gone Nukyaler. This year's SuperVette smites the top Carrera with 42 percent more power and 59 percent more torque, producing an almost funny-carlike 505 horses and 470 poundfeet. And for a change the good news isn't all…

IT’S HARD to look fabulous, let alone dignified, wrestling with hooks, levers, and Velcro while lowering or raising a tricky soft-top. Not only can dealing with roof issues ruin your day; in many cases, convertibles just don't look right with the top up. The body’s curves don't translate—you just can't make a flat piece of canvas look rounded. Enter the retractable roof. Once too expensive and too unreliable to be a mainstream element of the automotive market place, costs have gone down and reliability way up. And the all-new C70, which dons one for 2006, is among the first four-seaters sold in America to have one; another is the VW Eos (covered elsewhere in this issue). Less than 30 seconds after pushing a small black button below the shift lever…

EVERYONE KNOWS the original Ford GT40 is one of the prettiest race cars ever built—but most have forgotten about the just-as-pretty roadster version, which was a cool car 40 years ago. So why not now? Thkmg on the task of chopping the GT40's top was Mark Gerisch of Genaddi Design Group (www.vgdauto.com), a veteran coachbuilder known for scalping expensive exoticars without so much as batting an eye. The unique roof of the GTX1 Roadster consists of four interlocking pieces, which are stowed inside the car when not in use. Two form the top panel, while the other pair replaces the somewhat guillotine-like door intrusions of the standard GT. With all four pieces in place, the left and right panels pop up at the rear to serve as vents. There's no…

THE OFF-ROAD-BENT SUV DOESN’T BEAT UP ITS BUYER WITH A HEFTY PRICE TAG OR LACK OF AMENITIES IF A DOG is man's best friend, then its conceivable the sport/utility vehicle is man's best tool. And when we say “sport/utility vehicle," we're talking a truck-based, ladder-frame SUV here, not a carbased crossover that's as soft and common as UGG boots. In its proper guise—equipped with four-wheel drive, low-range gearing, a live rear axle, plentiful ground clearance, and suitable tires—the basic, midsize SUV can take man to destinations otherwise unattainable if left to the wimpy car-based 'ute. And what about hauling all of a man's gear, food, and friends? The good old best tool once again rises to the occasion, pulling double-duty as a five-passenger transporter and a 30-cubic-foot locker. And. as…

WHILE TOYOTA hybrids are all about gas mileage, Lexus hybrids are all about performance, although it’s a warm, responsible kind of performance rather than the head-banging AMG variety. Lexus claims it has the first reardrive hybrid (note the designation "h" in GS 450h for the company's growing line of hybrids), combining the port-and direct-fuel-injected 2GR FSE 3.5-liter V-6 with two motor generators and a hybrid battery pack for a combined 339 peak horsepower. It runs 0-to-60 mph in 5.2 seconds. Okay, that's not quite CLS55 territory, but it's V-8 power at 28 mpg, plus SULEV/Tier 2/Bin 3 tailpipe emissions. The GS 450h features a two-speed torque-reduction system and a longitudinal hybrid transmission, a 291-pound techno-wonder as compact as the Prius's transmission. Motor Generator 1, rated at 180 horsepower, is the…

THE 2006 Honda Civic ran away with this year's Motor Trend Car of the Year award, due in large measure to the fun-driving Si edition. Sporting Honda's i-VTEC system and an 8000-rpm redline, the Si's 2.0-liter inline-four churns out a stout 197 horsepower, copious tire spin, and plenty of grins. If you crave even wider smiles, though, consider an upgrade by Hasport Performance. Although Phoenix-based Hasport, renowned for its custom engine conversions, has loads of horsepower hardware to fortify the new Si's 2.0-liter four, we opted to test one of its more popular conversions: the clever underhood shoehorning of the Acura TSX's DOHC, 2.4-Hter four-banger. This is no ordinary TSX engine. Included is a Jackson Racing Roots-type supercharger, an AEM cold-air intake system, a DC Sports exhaust header, and special…

FROM THE beginning, inviting the Silverado Hybrid into our long-term-test fleet was a roll of the dice. In 2003, the word "hybrid" was just beginning to take shape—it was simply understood as the blending of two technologies or designs. Three short years later, hybrid has come to mean something more specific: a combination of electric and gasoline motors working in tandem to offer significantly better fuel economy, lower emissions, and an environmentally friendly persona, all with relatively invisible (to the driver) technology. This particular definition left our long-term Silverado Hybrid somewhat misnamed, as many of our drivers noted when the vehicle didn't deliver on the expected hybrid promise. To begin, some tech explanation is necessary. The Silverado Hybrid system uses a 14-kilo-watt integrated flywheel starter-generator, replacing the alternator and traditional…