Innehållsförteckning för November 2022 från MotorTrend

Unless you’ve been living in a Cretaceous-era cave somewhere in the wilderness, you’ve probably noticed the automotive industry has reached a point where carmakers are delivering cars with long-range batteries and quick-charging capabilities. You don’t have to be a MotorTrend reader or even a hardcore car enthusiast to be aware of the sea change underway in one of the world’s most impactful industries. But because you are an MT reader, you may recall five years ago, when the Chevrolet Bolt EV became our 2017 Car of the Year. You might also remember we called out two numbers—238 and $29,995, to be precise. The first was the number of miles the Bolt EV could cover on one full battery charge; the second was its price after buyers collected their $7,500 federal…

The 2023 Escalade-V highlights the model’s transformation into the vehicle it always should have been. We just drove it in long-wheelbase ESV trim, and oh boy, it’s something special. Its eight-cylinder salute to excess, a 6.2-liter behemoth breathed upon by a 2.7-liter TVS supercharger that pours on 10 pounds of boost, creates a 682-hp inferno underhood—more than the already staggering figure provided by the CT5-V Blackwing’s related powertrain. There’s 653 lb-ft of torque, too, slightly less than in the CT5-V. These are barbarous stats, at the hairy edge of good sense and societal responsibility, and the vessel that contains them is a massive slab of steel and aluminum that strains the asphalt at 6,450 pounds. Its size, mass, and presence dwarf its V Series stablemates, and it also has a…

The 2023 Acura Integra isn’t a revival of the driver-focused, straightforward hatchback the commentariat yearns for. This may dismay Acura acolytes, and indeed we’d celebrate the arrival of such a car in our crossover-saturated market. But don’t forsake the new Integra because it doesn’t meet your expectations. Even though it feels similar—perhaps too similar—to the Honda Civic Si, Acura sufficiently elevated the Integra to the luxury realm. Automatics are prevalent among luxury subcompact cars, but choosing the Integra in A-Spec trim and adding the Technology package unlocks a no-cost six-speed manual gearbox. As in every Integra, it’s joined to a 1.5-liter turbocharged I-4 that sends 200 hp and 192 lb-ft to the front wheels. In manual Integras, the power is regulated by a limited-slip differential. Pauses introduced by clutch and…

Meet the Koenigsegg CC850, built to celebrate the Swedish hypercar maker’s 20th anniversary. Koenigs … who? That’s OK, because unless you’re an inveterate gearhead, spend inordinate amounts of time digesting hypercars on Instagram, or hang out with the sort of people who think nothing of splashing several million bucks on a Ferrari Daytona SP3 or a Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 or anything Horacio Pagani makes, there’s a good chance you might never have given much thought to Koenigsegg. After all, in two decades the Swedish firm has built just 250 cars. But oh, what cars. Koenigsegg’s greatest hits include the 806-hp CCR, which in 2005 beat the McLaren F1’s production car speed record; the 1,017-hp CCXR that in 2007 outpowered the Bugatti Veyron; and the 1,341-hp Agera One:1, so called…

If one thing’s been made clear in the two decades since the first production Koenigsegg hit the streets, it’s that the Swedish company thinks outside the box. Need proof? Just check out the hypercars in its history. CC Prototype (first driven in public in 1996) A Long Beginning The CC prototype demonstrated a few future Koenigsegg calling cards, such as dihedral doors and a unique greenhouse with a removable roof panel. The shape was a little awkward, but that would be rectified soon enough. At this point, Koenigsegg wasn’t building its own engine, instead using the well-regarded Audi 4.2-liter V-8. The car made its first public appearance in 1996 before premiering in final form at the 2000 Paris auto show. CC8S (2002) A Star Is Born Low, muscular, and looking…

“If you will it, Dude, it is no dream!” So said John Goodman’s character Walter Sobchak, quoting Theodor Herzl, in the Coen Brothers’ classic The Big Lebowski. The line echoed around my noggin as I drove Lamborghini Countach VIN ZA9C005A0KLA12085—the final one built—out of the Sant’Agata Bolognese factory gates. As a little boy I once saw an orange Countach parked on some gray cobblestones in Old Montreal. My father was kind enough to let me stand there, jaw on those same cobblestones, as gobsmacked as a 9-year-old human can be. Was it 10 minutes, 20, half an hour? I don’t know. I do know it was long enough that the memory helps guide my thinking, my career, my life to this day. How could such a shape, let alone on…

The only Volkswagen Golfs you can buy new in the U.S. these days are the sporty ones: the snappy 241-hp Golf GTI (the eighth-generation successor to the original hot hatch) and the 315-hp AWD Golf R. The latter is my favorite stealth supercar, a compact hatchback capable of—at least in Europe when fitted with the optional Performance package—terrorizing sleepy 911 drivers on the autobahn with its 167-mph top speed. In America, the closely related Jetta sedan now handles the mainstream motoring needs of those who simply want transportation. I thought about the Jetta as I climbed into my Golf rental at Stuttgart Airport. “Sure, the Jetta is fairly big and spacious for its class,” features editor Christian Seabaugh summed up in his road test story of the 2022 Jetta SEL,…

Rejoice: The all-new Civic Type R has been revealed. Based on the 11th-gen Civic, the new Type R sits above the Si and Sport, and it emphatically caps the Civic performance lineup as the most powerful Honda car for sale in America. Honda says it will be as rewarding to drive as ever—what else is it gonna say?—with a direct and engaging feel. We’ll have to wait until this fall to confirm for ourselves, but with more power, a lighter chassis, increased rigidity, and improved high-speed stability, it sounds like the Type R has everything to deliver the same thrilling experience we’ve come to expect. Subaru’s STI has exited (perhaps not to return), but the new Type R will face more direct competition than its predecessor. A redesigned VW Golf…

Age has not wearied it, nor the years condemned. The 5.2-liter V-10 that powers the 2023 Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica may trace its origins back to a time when the iPhone was an idea and Amazon a work in progress, but one full-throttle acceleration run, one hot lap of a racetrack, one flat-out blast along a challenging back road is enough to convince you: It’s one of the all-time greats. An engine for the supercar gods. It roars and bellows and shrieks and snarls, this engine, performing a heroic horsepower opera that’s neither muffled by turbos nor synthesized by electric motors, and it punches harder than Tyson Fury in a bad mood. It’s one reason the Tecnica will be remembered wistfully when we’re all whooshing around in mega-horsepower EVs. But it’s…

Comparing the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T makes little sense. Sure, both are electric pickups (the third and first to hit the market), but beyond that, they have about as much in common as we do with American Journal of Botany. The Rivian R1T, our 2022 Truck of the Year, is an immensely capable pickup with a lifestyle-oriented bent. It’s great to drive on-road and damn near unstoppable off-road, and it can tow and haul far more than a vehicle barely bigger than a Toyota Tacoma has any right to. That’s why it vanquished the GMC Hummer EV pickup—a similarly lifestyle- and off-road-oriented EV—in our first-ever electric pickup truck comparison (August). The Lighting is, well, different. If the R1T aims to “electrify the outdoors,” the Ford aims to electrify…

THE LYRIQ IS AS PRAGMATIC AS IT IS GROUNDBREAKING. On the eve of Cadillac’s pivot to electrification, we note how the marque came to be defined by the vehicles at its lineup’s margins: the now ubiquitous Escalade SUV and a bunch of V-series supersedans. Stuff like the XT4, XT5, CT6, STS, CTS, and XTS came and largely went, instantly forgotten seemingly even by Cadillac. Those that still hang around today do so as uncompetitive placeholders that wait to be supplanted by an EV. But where might Cadillac be today had it not poured resources into chasing the ghost of ’90s BMW “ultimate driving machine” glory? What if it had passed on building thrilling sport sedans that luxury customers were already shunning, instead leveraging the Escalade’s cachet on an excellent supporting…

Why do car companies build the cars they do? Understanding a brand’s motivation helps to shed at least a small amount of light on its products. What is the philosophy behind a car? For mass-market, mass-produced A-to-B transportation devices, the rationale can be dismissed easily as being “for the money.” And sure, you can take the cynical view that all corporations only get out of bed in the morning for the money. But let’s reject that notion for the moment. Certain cars are built for reasons other than fat and happy shareholders. Especially, perhaps, sports cars. The people who design and engineer a truly great driver’s car do so for reasons that are not necessarily so obvious. To get to the bottom of this—to figure out why a car company…

Honda’s CR-V is a rare repeat winner of our SUV of the Year award, so it’s fair to wonder if the sixth-generation version will claim another victory. Its bolder design riffs on familiar cues: The upright grille expands on the previous hexagonal shape, and the accent strip that runs across the top is straighter and finished in chrome or black. A subtle kink accents the slim LED headlights. In profile, a creased shoulder line and angular window surround add some edginess. From behind, the L-shaped taillights recall the prior CR-V’s, but they contain additional LED details. Inside, if you’ve seen the Civic’s or HR-V’s dashboards, the CR-V’s looks familiar with a honeycomb-mesh air vent treatment, but it’s uniquely accented by textured trim below. A new internal frame gives the front…

There’s trail running, and then there’s overlanding. The former portends day trips or weekend jaunts, possibly primitive tent camping. The latter conjures extended off-grid adventuring where you may need to be self-sufficient for days while exploring the wilderness. American Expedition Vehicles seeks to cover the trail-runners with its Jeep Wrangler/Gladiator and Chevy Colorado offerings while offering overlanders the Ram Heavy Duty–based Prospector and Prospector XL. Both get toughened AEV bumpers, a 3.0-inch suspension lift, and AEV wheels. Tires are the main difference between the two packages. Base Prospectors get 37-inch tires that fit under stock fenders with Mopar flares. XLs get 40-inch tires that require the fender and rear quarter openings to be expanded by about 3.0 inches. (XL is 40 in roman numerals.) Choose the XL if you’re looking…

Brakes haven’t evolved much since four-wheel electronic antilock became mainstream, but I think I just experienced the next leap in braking tech: Brembo Sensify. The Problem With today’s ABS, when you step on the pedal, pressure is distributed evenly to all four wheels, either directly or by wire via an external pressure source and often with a front/rear proportioning valve. Then, if traction is lost at one or more of the tires, a valve on a central hydraulic controller relieves some pressure to the slipping wheel(s) to regain traction. But today’s best hydraulic valves can only open and close in roughly 20-millisecond increments, relieving about 5 bar (73 psi) of brake pressure each time. Drivers feel pulsations, as does the chassis. Both are happier without them, and Sensify eliminates them.…

As my wrists and ankles were being bound with duct tape in the Utah desert, I resolved to read my emails more carefully. I was standing next to a Chevrolet Malibu’s trunk, open and awaiting my imminent installation within, as part of the Escape & Evasion Driving Experience created and taught by former CIA agent Jason Hanson. I’d been so enthralled by the invitation to participate and its promises of ramming through roadblocks and doing high-speed reverse 180-degree turns, I somehow missed the paragraph about being restrained and thrown into the back of a car. No doubt the opportunity to master such escape techniques appeals to many, but as a short, fat, out-of-shape journalist whose idea of exercise is lifting a Philly cheese-steak to my mouth, I’m not one of…

Twenty years on, Koenigsegg CC8S chassis No. 2—the first Koenigsegg ever delivered to a customer, in 2002—still feels awfully impressive. The CC8S name? The CC bit means “coupe convertible,” a nod to the original Koenigsegg’s removable roof, which could be stored in the frunk and looked like an integral part of the car when in place. But it also references Christian von Koenigsegg’s nickname as a kid, CC. The eight stands for the number of cylinders in the 4.7-liter engine, which was based on Ford’s modular V-8. And the S signifies it’s supercharged. Sure, the CC8S feels a little old school today, but in a good way. The engine growls lustily; it’s also bolted to the chassis, so you feel it as well as hear it. The six-speed manual transmission…

Dear Jonny, I was terribly distressed to learn of your recent bout of COVID-19 and your unfortunate but necessary withdrawal from our long-anticipated rendezvous with the BMW M5 CS, Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, and Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S. Equally disappointed was your dear friend Reggie Watts, the delightful band leader of The Late Late Show with James Corden and quite the car enthusiast. Much to our relief, our mutual friend Ed Loh was able to make time in his busy schedule to take your place as our third. Still, I recognize what a great letdown this must be for you, so you have my word I’ll write often of our experience so that you may find some small comfort in your time of recuperation. Sincerely, Scott 2022 BMW M5 CS Dear…