Innehållsförteckning för December 1986 från MotorTrend

Big Lincoln Goes Fwd Shown here are crimes of opportunity, photographs of Mercury’s new Lincoln Continental quickly snatched by an alert Motor Trend reader in the desolation of Death Valley. The car is slickly styled in the Taurus/Sable tradition, a movement gaining momentum in Dearborn, and features front-wheel drive. It’s believed the Ford 3-liter, 3.8-liter, and possibly the pending 3.8-liter supercharged V-6 are being considered as the big cat’s powerplant, with 4-speed automatic transaxle. Its interior is as plush as the Lincoln’s corporate bigwigs have come to expect, but its suspension benefits from the handling lessons learned in the Taurus/Sable program. This 1988 redesign shows considerable attention to traditional Lincoln styling cues, yet moves into a cleaner look than the rear wheeldrive Lincoln it replaces. Ford’s large rwd cars (LTD…

It isn’t easy to impress some people. In parts of the country, it’s quite commonplace to see a Rolls-Royce, a Lamborghini, the garden-variety Ferrari roll past. Cadillacs are purchased by all manner of driver and, except for the unproven Allanté entity, lost most forms of exclusivity long ago. Corvettes and Porsches, of course, virtually litter the streets. Soon, though, will come comparatively few copies of a turbocharged V-6 French sports car estimated to cost as much as $32,000. This 2 + 2 silver sports bullet is from Renault, courtesy of the product planners at American Motors Corporation. It looks fast, it is fast, and is unquestionably the most exciting motor vehicle AMC has ever handled. AMC marketing planners wanted an image car, and they got it, in spades. The aura…

The Sentra has done an admirable job of maintaining its position as sales leader in the Nissan lineup since it took over that enviable mantle from the venerable 210 series back in mid-1982. At present, the nameplate accounts for almost one of every three corporate sales in the U.S. and for roughly 12% of the entire small sedan sales in this country. The biggest-selling import model in America, the Sentra has been completely repackaged for 1987. As a part of this program, Nissan imparted a more contemporary look to the line, hoping to keep the Sentra in its commanding No 1. spot while appealing to an even broader and more upscale section of the market. While the entire lineup has been given a higher visual profile as part of the…

It’s almost embarrassing. They point at you from the sidewalk, peer down at you from their minivans, approach you in parking lots, tap on your window at stoplights. Sure, there’s always plenty of pointing and staring going on here in Hollywood. But in this case, there’s no rock star or movie legend at the wheel, no Ferrari badge or Spirit of Ecstasy on the hood. It’s just our humble “Honda” that keeps attracting all the attention. A recent addition to the Motor Trend stable, the 3-door Honda—rather, Acura—Integra LS has generated quite remarkable interest. You need only see the exterior styling to understand why. This machine is, to our minds, an overwhelmingly successful blend of crisp, clean lines, flush-fitting glass and body panels, hideaway headlights. There might be “DOHC” daubed…

How strange that the Monterey Peninsula was once world famous as a golfing center. How unlike golf are the games over which organizer Steven Earle presides in August. How different the arid brown hills of Laguna Seca from the lush fairways and polished greens of Pebble Beach. How convenient that the world’s most prestigious concours d’élégance takes place on the lawn of the stuffy Lodge at Pebble Beach the same weekend Steven Earle’s rowdy racers lap their noisy way to victory (there’s no way to “lose” in a vintage car race … unless you’re Alan Bolte). And how different the 1986 Monterey Historic Automobile Races honoring Mercedes-Benz from the 1985 edition, which celebrated the 75th anniversary of Alfa Romeo. Traditional German insistence on obedience to rules kept the fenced Mercedes…

Cheating the wind has become the overriding goal of automobile manufacturers worldwide, as aerodynamics play a greater role in both the performance and economy of today’s cars. Engineers spend a great deal of time and development dollars in the search for “free” energy. Or, more accurately, trying to steal energy back from the wind. To date, the newly styled front ends, windshield rakes, roof lines, and tailend treatments of current production models are working with respect to getting a car through the air cleaner. Details like the removal of rain gutters, hidden wipers, flush headlamps, molded-in bumper facings, and surface-matched door handles are all the results of lessons learned in wind tunnels that serve as controlled laboratories for the study of wind on a car’s surface. Terms like airflow management…

Bimmer und Benz Beater? Spied while on parade at a secret dealer presentation in Karlsruhe, West Germany, this is the new Audi 4000. The European middleweight is expected to reach U.S. showrooms in time for the 1988 model year. With numerous improvements over its nine-year-old predecessor, the Audi threatens serious competition to Mercedes’ popular 190 range and BMW’s aged 3-series. Already spacious In its class, the new Audi promises even more cabin room, thanks to an extended wheelbase. The car’s exterior dimensions, though, remain the same. Its rounder, more modern lines include a prominent, bubble-back rear window, a la Renault 25 or Porsche 924. Bumpers are cleanly integrated at both ends, and the taillights are expected to be body colored. The German designers are believed to have moved away from…

Luxury. A difficult term. It’s what the other guy has been living in the lap of. It illuminates the lives of those notorious few on that rich and famous television show. Luxury is the pre-iceberg Titanic, and it’s about as attainable to most of us as the hulk that lies rusting on the floor of the Atlantic. A look into the Oxford English Dictionary may help the poor unknowing get closer to the meaning of the word. Do we interpret it as do Latin and the Romance languages, with its connotation of “vicious indulgence”? Or should we take it in the obsolete sense of “lasciviousness, lust”? No? Further down the column then: “Something which conduces to enjoyment or comfort in addition to what are accounted the necessaries of life ……

Master switch—on. Ignition switch—hot. Fuel pumps—on. Depress starter button — whinne, stop. Crack throttle half open, try again. Depress starter button— whinnne—rappa, rappa! The 305-cu-in. Ford small-block lights off with a bark, all 550 hp on tap. A quick glance at the gauges. Oil pressure—65 psi indicated. Fuel pressure-steady and holding at 6 psi. Crack the throttle, an instant 3500 rpm quickly returns to a 1200-rpm idle. Flick on the differential and transmission oil cooler fans. Turn on the water-cooled disc brake pumps and crack the throttle one last time, then push the small machined aluminum gear selector lever toward 1st. You’ve just cocked the trigger on a 2600-lb 185-mph Trans-Am weapon, and you’re about to go for the ride of your life. The weapon in question is Tom Gloy’s…

Honda has managed to run up a fairly amazing string of success stories during the 1980s. One of its most shining achievements to date has been the Prelude. Despite being categorized as cute but quirky, the original coupe developed a staunchly loyal owner body from the day it was introduced in mid-1979. But it wasn’t until Honda debuted the present generation as a 1983½ model that the line really came into its own. Buyers in our earlier CRX survey (Dec.’85) had expressed exceptionally positive feelings about their cars. In light of that fact, we were most interested in finding out how the experiences gained with the more upscale Prelude would stack up against what we’d learned then. The Preludes in this sampling were drawn from vehicles first registered in mid-1984.…

The motorcycle fiddle doesn’t work here, as the friendly and hospitable inmates of the beautiful Del Monte Forest have exorcised them altogether. Your options, absent some sort of landing craft, are reduced to plunging into Del Monte Forest at a bleary-eyed 0730, or breakfasting elegantly in whatever situation you find yourself on Sunday morning, taking your chances on reaching your goal sometime during the Christian Era. Meandering rustic country lanes, following the license plate of the car in front of yours, you will encounter young persons stationed along the way, who haven’t a clue which is the way to anywhere, having themselves been imported from someplace like Guadalupe or Visalia at the last minute. Assuming you actually arrive at the Lodge at Pebble Beach, you may not be able to…

Santa would love to deliver this APS Neuspeed Golf GTI to your door. It comes complete with most everything you see here: Momo rims, steering wheel, and shift knob; Flofit seat (also available separately); Koni shocks; Neuspeed anti-roll system. (Santa’s helpers not included.) Also pictured: Simpson Sport helmet; Reliable Motoring Accessories pedal car. Whoever said it is better to give than to receive must not have been an automotive enthusiast. The abundance of booty, ranging from a full-blown race car to a selection of state-of-the-art sound systems, gets better each year. In the next few pages, you will be able to find something for everybody on your Christmas list. And if you still can’t decide, remember, a subscription to Motor Trend always fits. Using the gift guide is easier than…

Shelby Back in the Big Time? Carroll Shelby, creator of the legendary Shelby Cobra and Mustang musclecars of the ’60s, seems set to burst back into the limelight. A multi-million dollar project is under serious consideration right now which could see Shelby Automobiles produce its own state-of-the-art 2-seater sports car. According to John Fernandez, operations manager of Shelby Automobiles, “We’re trying to get permission from Carroll to build three prototypes to prove our concept. That will cost a little under $2 million. It would require many millions more to tool up afterwards.” Dyed-in-the-wool sports car enthusiasts will salivate at the prospect of a latter-day Cobra, but with such high setup costs, the car would need to sell in fairly large numbers. “If you do somethin’ today,” says Shelby, “you’ve gotta…

It may seem to Chrysler watchers that the corporation will pick up any Mitsubishi vehicle that plugs a niche in the pentastar product lineup. That may or may not be the case, but the ’87 Dodge Raider fits just such a gap. Highland Park truck planners are known to be working on a V-6 sport/utility vehicle based on the new Dodge Dakota, which would fit neatly between the full-sized V-8 Ramcharger and this naturalized Japanese-American, the L-4-powered Raider. As an entry-level all-wheel driver, the Raider is an interesting candidate on any off-roader’s shopping list. The Dodge is dimensionally identical to the Mitsubishi Montero, also sold here at those dealerships. In fact, our particular Raider went far to illustrate the contemporary concept of “badge engineering.” The left- and right-side nameplates on…

Find a car that blends the upper levels of highway performance with a capability for race-track ferocity and it’s almost magic. Take it on roads with magic of their own, like those in the high mountains of Washington, and you’ll bring out the scientist, the artist, maybe even catch the twinkle in the eye that glimmers from any true sports car enthusiast. Mazda engineers mixed that blend and named it RX-7 Turbo. It’s for those with a certain glimmer in their eyes. Under its purposefully sleek exterior is the RX-7’s fully-independent suspension: MacPherson struts in front, the exclusive Dynamic Tracking Suspension System (DTSS) in the rear. The RX-7 Turbo’s springs, shocks and anti-roll bars are tuned for high-demand drivers. Brakes feature four-piston, aluminum calipers on the ventilated front discs. Unidirectional…

We wanted an evolution, not a revolution,” said Jaguar’s Sir John Egan, introducing the new XJ-6, referred to as the XJ40 by the motoring press. Pursuing the tried and trusted policies of Mercedes, BMW, and VW, to name but three, the new XJ-6 is instantly recognized as a successor of the Series 3 model, though wider, sleeker, and more aerodynamic. Even the name remains the same. “XJ40 was the project number,” Egan told us. “It didn’t mean anything really. The Series 3 XJ-6 is still selling in record numbers and has done such a good job in turning the company ‘round that we decided to keep the name alive. Sir William Lyons approved that in his lifetime.” The legendary Lyons, who died last year, also approved of every last detail…

EUROPE SCHLUCHSEE, WEST GERMANY—The small sign by the side of the winding Black Forest road shows two blue lines—the stylized lanes of a highway—an arrow underneath pointing ahead. The sign is common in Germany, and to the native driver, it is barely noticed. To the American journalist I driving a new Porsche 928S 4, however, the sign is more than just direction to the nearest autobahn. It’s a I vivid beacon denoting that just over I the next hill awaits the thrill of unhampered high-speed driving. Even then, on the rain-drenched, two-lane mountain road, (and during a photo session at Lake Tahoe), the newest 928’s road manners were exhibiting world-class predictability and grip, at speeds far greater than the ease of the driver’s task would indicate. The passenger’s quiet exclamations…

The world knew that World Champion Niki Lauda couldn’t possibly survive. We’d heard the gruesome news on the radio, we’d witnessed the blazing inferno on our TV screens. One instant, Lauda’s Formula One Ferrari had been a work of art, a living, growling animal, hopping and skipping across the high-speed bumps of the Nurburgring, a helmet tilting from side to side in the cockpit, bright orange driving gloves flashing at the steering wheel, engine note rising and falling in a glorious symphony. Next instant, the car was a firebomb. Just a trail of torn and tattered bodywork and twisted suspension components and bloody colored puddles of gasoline, leading to a ball of flame and an inky black spiral of smoke. Somewhere in there, his helmet wrenched off on impact, was…