Innehållsförteckning för December 2002 från MotorTrend

Hyundai has readjusted horsepower figures for cars sold in North America since the early ’90s, following an investigation by Industry Canada, our northern neighbor’s version of the Federal Trade Commission. Industry Canada found that the “140-hp” Elantra’s engine actually makes about 135 hp. Hyundai retested other models and discovered a “widespread problem” brought about mainly by changes in the final specifications that didn’t make it into press materials. Also contributing were running changes, such as new emissions requirements that forced tuning tweaks. Hyundai is offering owners, whose model-year 2000 or later Hyundais have at least a four-percent deficit in horsepower, a choice of three warranty extensions. Owners of ’99 or earlier Hyundais will get free five-year roadside-assistance coverage. Hyundai found that one model, the ’01 Accent 1.6L, actually was under-represented…

GM’s experimental high-feature, high-tech “XV8” could be the ticket to the V-8-powered Grand Prix we told you about last month. The all-aluminum 4.3L V-8 has the width of a V-6 and the length of an I-4, GM says, so it’ll fit sideways in a midsize front-drive car. Featuring an air-assisted direct-injection gasoline system from Orbital Engine Corp, of Australia, the powerplant integrates three-valve cylinder heads and dual cams in the block. Other goodies in the 75° V-8 include displacement-on-demand with twin oil pumps, a balance shaft that doubles as an oil-pump shaft drive, and an integrated air compressor. GM claims 300 hp, 295 Ib-ft of torque, and the fuel mileage of a much smaller engine. “Although we have no current plans for production in its entirety,” says GM Powertrain Executive…

Every year, manufacturers brag about their sales successes. Having a vehicle among the top-10 best sellers is certainly something to get worked up over. Considering there are about 250 different models on the market, even a finish in the top 20 is worthy of congratulations. Next month, we’ll have the results for ’02-model-year cars and trucks, and we’ll find out which models finished in the Top 10. In the meantime, with one month to go, take a look at the vehicles running 11th to 20th in the sales chart. There’s a real battle brewing between the Jeep Liberty and the Chevrolet Suburban for 20th place, which is too close to call. Either one could finish in 20th and bump out the Chevrolet Malibu, which finished 20th in 2001. The Chevrolet…

The Ion is the reengineered replacement for the S-Series coupe and sedan that started it all for Saturn back in 1990. Available in four-door sedan and handsome quad-door coupe versions, the Ion is the first GM model to be built on the all-new Delta platform. The Ion is some 2.0 in. taller and 6.0 in. longer than the old S-Series sedan. Besides the stretch inside and out, the next best things about the new Saturn are its edgy-looking plastic skin and optional trim kits to personalize the car’s look. Our Ion sedan was powered by the standard 2.2L7 140-hp Ecotec four and backed by the optional five-speed automatic; a five-speed manual is standard. As such, the Ion offers relatively smooth and lively go in most driving modes. Balance shafts…

When Jaguar introduced the XKR in ’99, it deftly followed its forebear’s lineage: curvaceous body lines, supple leather interior, taut suspension, and a positive power-to-weight ratio. Powered by a supercharged 4.0L AJ V-8, the Jag ran 0-60 mph in 5.0 sec flat and the quarter-mile in 13.50 sec at 106.50 mph in our testing. For ’03, the XKR powerplant is enlarged to 4.2L, good for an additional 20 hp (to 390), and is now backed by a ZF six-ratio automatic, replete with a detent-rich J-gate shifter. Evidently, a weight gain of 106 lb for this year doesn’t help things, as test numbers show an increase in the 0-60 time to 5.21 and 13.63 sec at 102.97 mph in the quarter mile. The power band is still strong and linear…

Mini Cooper S vs. Pontiac Vibe GT vs/olkswagen New Beetle Turbo S Fun: lively, joyous play or playfulness, amusement, sport or recreation. Funky: unconventional, eccentric, offbeat. —Webster’s New World College Dictionary Driving is serious business, but who said it had to be seriously boring—or expensive? There’s a new generation of adventurously different niche performance cars—different from both the mainstream and each other—aimed at the magical $20K spot. They’re fleet of foot, short on girth, long on mirth. Funky, yet functional. Less expensive rather than more expensive, compared to the average midsize sedan. And the Mini Cooper S, Pontiac Vibe, and New Beetle Turbo S are somewhat selfish—by design. Each one has an edginess to it that refuses to follow convention and a certain liveliness that’s sure to plant a smile…

Ford Expedition Honda Element Honda Pilot Hummer H2 Isuzu Ascender Kia Sorento Lexus GX 470 Lincoln Aviator Lincoln Navigator Mitsubishi Outlander Subaru Baja Subaru Forester Toyota 4Runner Volvo XC90 The Sport/Utility Vehicle. What is it? What has it become? The questions have no simple answer. Starting a few decades ago as a four-wheel-drive pickup with seats and cab grafted to its bed, the now-ubiquitous SUV has evolved into not one, but a collection of specialized tools for the public’s ever-changing, increasingly specific needs. SU Vs are many things to many people, and these Sport/Utility of the Year contestants embody our diverse lifestyles with a vast array of sizes, shapes, drive trains, packages, and performance capabilities. Think of a common screwdriver as an analogy. At first, there was simply the flathead.…

Sport coupes compose the most mercurial segment in the automotive market. Usually, the latest model is fashionable for a year or two, then sales fall off faster than the recent NASDAQ prices. Two rare exceptions to this rule have been the Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class and the Honda Accord coupe, cars from manufacturers known for engineering and marketing savvy and for their ability to build reliable, long-lasting products. For ’03, the CLK and Accord have undergone major remodels, so the style clock is ticking awav fashionable minutes anew. Both cars have all-new sheetmetal and interiors on revised versions of their previous models’ platforms. Of course, you can buy two loaded Honda Accord EX V-6 coupes for about S3000 more than a comparably equipped Mercedes CLK320. A fair comparison? Or not? The first-generation…

If you’ve ever borrowed a Snap-On socket wrench and had to give it back to your buddy, you’ll know exactly how we felt when we handed the keys to our One-Year Test Silverado HD back to the folks at GM. We’ve been hard pressed to find another work tool that makes toil so effortless and our libidos feel “manly” in the process. Over the past 12 months and nearly 16,000 miles, we’ve thrown everything we could at our Duramax-diesel-motivated HD, and it never flinched: We’ve attached our tow-test trailer with 8000 lb of water in the tanks; a bed full of crushed rock; a month’s supply of hay; and a 25-ft sport boat. The ride may have been a bit bouncy when unladen, but add a couple hundred pounds of…

As the miles accrue on the One-Year X-Type, our staff has developed a love/hate relationship with Jag’s midsize four-door: Executing smooth upshifts is tricky, as you have to delay engagement of the next cog until the revs fall, whereas making smooth downshifts necessitate a blip of the throttle. As Senior Road Test Editor Chris Walton explains, “It’s as if there’s a giant flywheel on the upshifts and none on the downshifts.” A few editors are also unimpressed with the Leaper’s interior, which at first blush, looks posh and inviting, but after a few hundred miles, leaves them feeling as if they’re driving an overpriced Mondeo. No complaints outside; this a great-looking piece. Nearing the 10,000-mileservice mark, we brought the X-Type in for free routine service (consisting of an oil and…

briefs We like Paris in the springtime, we like Paris in the fall—but we like Paris full of new cars best of all. A cork in the new-products bottleneck was released at the Paris Motor Show, where the Porsche Cayenne, VW Touareg, Jaguar XJ, Bentley GT, Audi A8, and BMW Z4 debuted, among others. You’ve seen those here already, so how about the latest on a new Acura, a spunkier Mitsu, Mercedes mumblings, more details on the return of a Pontiac Grand Prix V-8, and the next Lamborghini? More Mercedes from McLaren—We can expect more Mercedes-Benz supercars built by McLaren, says Dr. Joachim Schmidt, senior vice president for sales and marketing. Mercedes, after all, owns 40 percent of McLaren, so the production wing of the Formula One team won’t be…

Slice a cylinder off General Motors’ Vortec 4200 inline-six, and you get a 3.5L I-5. Slice off another cylinder, and you get a 2.8L I-4. Simple math—and a driving force behind the rest of the engine family, the Vortec 3500 and Vortec 2800 debuting late next year in the ’04 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, which replace the S-10 and Sonoma. GM considers the uniformity among the four-, five-, and six-cylinder versions a major victory of cost efficiency and simplicity. The I-6 shares 76 percent of its components with the I-4 and I-5, including piston/rod assemblies, bore liners, bearings, valves, and valvetrain cogs. Like the I-6, the new engines use a lost-foam process to cast the cylinder heads and blocks. The I-4 and I-5 share 88 percent of their components…

SVT is said to be preparing a hotter Focus for the ’04 model year. In place of the current car’s 170-hp Ford-built I-4 is a turbocharged Mazda four-banger, capable of 225 hp. That’s enough to take on the 215-hp turbo Dodge SRT-4, as well as the Subaru WRX. The Mazda power hints at the upcoming, all-new ’05 Focus, which will have substantially different sheetmetal from its European sibling. That Focus gets 2.0L Mazda power to replace the 2.0L split-port induction Focus engine. A 2.3L Mazda four replaces the 2.0L Zetec. Both will find their way into the next-generation Protege and the new Focus-based Volvo S40.…

In the world of largish SUVs, the Montero goes its own way—confidently and independently. And for ’03, the big Mitsubishi struts its stuff with more gusto, thanks to a larger, more powerful engine. Mitsubishi bored and stroked last year’s 3.5L V-6 to 3.8L, slipped in a more aggressive cam profile, increased airflow into and out of the engine, and upped compression from 9.0:1 to 10.0:1. Horsepower rises 7.5 percent, from 200 to 215, and torque climbs from 235 to 248 Ib-ft. On the road, the larger V-6 feels richer at launch and has more staying power at the top end. Mid-range, part-throttle response is more satisfying too because peak torque is developed at lower engine speed. The good news is this V-8-like performance has no fuel penalty. In fact, the…

Just because the all-new ’03 GX 470 (based off the new Toyota 4Runner platform, both of which competed in our ’03 Sport Utility of the Year) appeared this year, Lexus was not about to simply toss its top-of-the-line model, the LX 470, a few mid-generation improvements. Although much of the LX is unchanged (it remains one of the quietest and most capable 4x4 SUVs sold in the U.S.), power output for the DOHC 4.7L V-8 is up to 235 hp due to a new ignition system and drive-by-wire setup. However, it’s the new, close-ratio five-speed automatic transmission that makes the vehicle seem quicker than its 9.5-sec 0-60 would indicate (practically identical to that of the ’02). New technology for this year includes a unique, near-infrared driving aid called “Night…

It goes without saying that today’s sport compacts aren’t the first machines to plant grins on their driver’s faces. Take a look at the family album of the Mini Cooper S, Pontiac Vibe, or Volkswagen New Beetle Turbo S, and you’ll find some slightly dog-eared, but none-too-faded snapshots of fun-loving forebears. The original Mini Cooper S was an Austin, or Morris, not a BMW, and in 1963 the tiny, 10-ft-long commuter sedan rocked the sports-car world with a 70-hp (SAE gross) 1071cc four-banger that would do 0-60 mph in 12 sec. With rubber-cone springs, go-kart-like 10-in. wheels, and featherlite 1400-lb curb weight, the Cooper S defied convention, then as now. The Tempest-based V-8-powered GTO of show and song helped launch Pontiac as a performance brand, but a more international flavor…

ICELAND-007’s Aston Martin Vanquish howls out from behind the Ice Castle, attempting to avoid a hailstorm of machine-gunfire. The assaulting marksman is on the move, too, at the wheel of the XK8 roadster upon which said machine gun is mounted. Where can theVanquish’s pilot hope to hide? Nowhere. Because both intended victim and menacing assailant are skittering around on a polar ice cap—just miles and miles of frozen lakebed. Both the Aston Martin and the Jaguar are traveling far too fast to maintain traction. They slide, spin, and pin-wheel like two hyperactive puppies chasing each other across a freshly waxed wood floor. The Vanquish crashes through an exterior wall of the Ice Castle, and the Gatling-gun-wielding Jaguar follows suit. ’Round and ’round inside the elegant igloo they go, only to…

By now, everyone knows that General Motors turned to its Australian brand—Holden—in search of a new Pontiac GTO. It found a good one in the Holden Monaro. The Monaro will require and will receive considerable remodeling to make the transformation from Holden to Goat. Fortunately, this morphing process will go beyond just moving the steering wheel to the left side of the car and the application of new badges. It’s interesting that Holden reached out to Detroit for the 5.7L LSI V-8 engine needed to create the muscled - up Monaro coupe in the first place. The message here is “global platform and powertrain sharing.” The fun question becomes “So, what else they got?” In fact, they’ve got plenty. Holden makes smart use of GM’s midsize, rear drive E28OO platform,…

ONLY ONCE A YEAR DOES A SINGLE SPORT/UTILITY TAKE home our Golden Calipers, and for ’01, it was the all-new Acura MDX. Honda’s upscale nameplate’s first homebuilt SUV combines a stylish mix of clean lines, quality materials, luxury presence, and better than expected off-road prowess. Featuring a unibody platform with a cleverly disappearing third-row seat, the MDX impressed the MT staff with its intelligent approach to solving a multitude of issues, including packaging, structural rigidity, and safety. We took delivery of a new MDX, with 12 miles on the odometer, in preparation for 12 months of evaluation in our long-term fleet. Our fully equipped Nighthawk Black Touring model (with Navigation system) cost $39,450 out the door, a good value at less than $40 grand, and it’s covered by a 4-year/50,000-mile…

IMAGINE THE LOOK ON YOUR FRIENDS’ FACES IF YOU DRIVE UP IN THE FORD MUSTAN MACH 1. IT COMES FULLY LOADED AND GUARANTEED TO EXCITE. AND SOMEBODY IS GOING TO WIN IT. SO GRAB YOUR PEN, FILL OUT THE ATTACHED CARD AND DROP IT IN THE MAIL. DO IT TODAY. SUBSCRIBE TO MOTOR TREND TODAY AND SAVE 79% OFF THE COVER PRICE. GET 1 YEAR FOR $10. You’ll get so much - like pulse-quickening rides in the fastest street-legal machines… sneak previews of the hottest concept cars… rigorous head to-head tests of hot cars, trucks, and SUVs. Plus you’ll get a front row seat for MOTOR TREND’S coveted Car- and Truck-of-the-Year Awards. Mail the attached card today. Or send payment with your order to: MOTOR TREND, P.O. Box 51195, Boulder,…

Hot on the heels of Bentley’s shapely new Continental GT (“First Look,” September), Volkswagen AG’s new luxury marque is looking at more variants. Though a long-wheelbase sedan version will be first up, a more intriguing spinoff may be the Shooting Brake (the British nickname fora sport wagon). If given the green light, expect the GT’s 500-plus-hp twin-turbocharged 6.0L W-12 — to propel all four wheels. The transmission would be a paddle-operated six-speed automatic. The GT’s suspension is a multilink rear with a double-wishbone front and electronic damping, so expect that in the Shooting Brake, as well.…

Lamborghini is putting the finishing touches on the “Baby Lambo” seen testing at the Nurburgring. The Lambo was first developed by Giugiaro, but then-Volkswagen AG chief Ferdinand Piech ordered a tear-up after VW bought the Italian exotic automaker. Audi designer Luc Donckerwolcke is responsible for the reskin. The mid-engine two-seater will have a 500-hp V-10, all-wheel drive, six-speed manual, and electronic stability control. The body is by the Audi Aluminum center in Neckarsulm. It will be launched as a coupe at the Geneva show next March. Lambo also has cabrio and targa versions planned.…

Long gestation periods took the punch out of the official Paris debuts of the Ferrari Enzo, Aston Martin DB7 Zagato, Porsche Cayenne, VW Touareg, Bentley Continental GT, Jaguar XJ, and Maybach. Fear not: We’ve waded through the shiniest sheetmetal to find the truly new stuff, including a few French cars and concepts that’ll never see North American daylight, as well as some German, Swedish, Japanese, and American products that will. Citroen C-Airdream—This 2+2 fastback has a long nose and short rear overhang and resembles a Bertone exercise (the Camargue) seen on a Citroen platform 30 years ago. Powered by a 3.0L/210-hp V-6, the C-Airdream showcases Citroen’s drive-by-wire technology that puts all the controls in the hub of the steering wheel. Renault Ellypse—Also experimenting with the “by wire” theme is Renault’s…

LOOKS DRIVES TESTS That Pagani’s $350,000, 200-plus-mph Zonda C12S is built just a stone’s throw from Modena comes as no surprise. The car’s pure audacity could be born only in central Italy’s “Silicon Valley of Speed,” the region that produces most of the world’s great supercars. But unlike countless others who’ve dreamed of making their automotive statement in Modena—only to disappear shortly thereafter—the maker of this throwback to the region’s golden era of the ’60s is well on his way to success. Who’s the man behind the effort, and what makes his car so special? Horacio Pagani was born in Argentina and constantly sketched sports cars during his early teens. He designed and built his first F3 racer at age 20. As his reputation grew, Pagani befriended…

Cadillac is fast at work bringing new-car models to market in an attempt to compete with the best from Germany and Japan. The CTS is already on sale, the XLR roadster will follow next year, and a new rear-drive STS is in the final stages of development. Even then, the Wreath and Crest crew is hardly sitting still on the truck/SUV/crossover side of the equation, areas where GM has a wide portfolio of products and platforms around which Cadillac can build a product plan. We first saw the SRX luxury/utility crossover last year, in the form of the Vizon concept. The trip from design study to dealer showroom will be a fast one, as the SRX goes on sale late next summer as an ’04 model. It shares much of…

Who needs a Maybach when you can have a Mercedes with the same engine? Who wants neighbors snickering, “There go the Carnegies, showing off again.” While the Maybach is designed to be an earthbound, downsized Lear Jet, the new S600 and CL600 are more like upsized SL55 AMGs. The 600s’ new twin-turbo 5.5L V-12 is rated just 7 hp more than the SL55’s 5.5L supercharged V-8, but torque is a meaty 585 Ib-ft at 1800-3500 rpm versus 516 at 2650 for the SL55, enough to offset the extra weight. The Maybach is of course bigger and heavier, but its version of the twin-turbo V-12 makes 550 hp and 663 Ib-ft, due to extra underhood space that allows for a freer-breathing exhaust. This new engine makes the S and CL,…

One of those benchmark numbers, 100 hp/L is a threshold beyond which only the most pedigreed of high-performance engines reside. Notably, our trio that power the Mini Cooper S, Pontiac Vibe GT, and Volkswagen New Beetle Turbo S make the cut and by three completely different means: supercharging, complex valve timing, and turbocharging, respectively. Notice anything? Yep, performance per liter boils down to moving maximum air through an engine, while burning as many molecules as you can. To visualize these engines’ diverse means of hyperventilated power, we romped on the throttles in second gear and put their acceleration under a microscope as they pulled from 1000 rpm to redline. In Cooper S guise, the Mini’s 1598cc engine’s Roots-type blower and hood-scoop-fed intercooler tweak its output from an unboosted 113 hp…

More than any other vehicle in the running this year, the Volvo XC90 moves the standard in its market segment. This innovative machine drives comfortably like a sedan, tows like a pickup, off-roads like sport/ute, and moves bulky cargo or as many as seven people like a minivan And it does it all with the mechanical polish premium exterior style, and attention to interior detail associated with top-drawer luxury vehicles. In addition, this Volvo addresses the safety, emissions, and, to a lesser degree, fuel-use issues associated with SUVs. The XC90 is a critical model for Volvo, with stretch-goal sales targets. First, it has to stem the tide of customers leaving the Volvo family for Mercedes-Benz MLs, Lexus RX 300s, and Acura MDXs. Second, it has to convert new buyers in…

Since its introduction in ’86, the Ford Taurus has enjoyed healthy sales in the ultra-competitive midsize five-passenger sedan segment. While the “aero” styling was considered mildly radical at its debut, the Taurus quickly became the mainstream benchmark and received a minor redo in ’92. Ford took a risk with that original aero look and did so again with a major redesign for ’96. Hoping to blunt critics and strike out in a new direction, the third-generation ’96 Taurus was bold, unique—and panned for its obsession with ovals. Underneath the new look was a refined version of the prior generation. The 96-99 Taurus came in four trim levels: G, GL, LX, and topline SE. Available in four-door sedan and four-door wagon configurations, it offered two V-6 engines when first launched. Standard…

James Bond at the wheel of an Aston Martin (oil spraying, gadgets beeping, ejector seat, well, ejecting) is as natural a match of man and machine as there ever was. The formula worked from the beginning, when Q built up this DB5 for the third Bond film, “Goldfinger,” released in 1964. It still works today, as 007 staves off a seriously bad guy with his mortar-launching Vanquish in “Die Another Day.” Some curious choices appeared in other Bond films, with varying degrees of appropriateness. Bond drove a Sunbeam Alpine in the first 007 film, “Dr. No.” The three most recent James Bond thrillers have had him driving and destroying all manner of BMWs—even a BMW motorcycle. The amphibious Lotus in “The Spy Who Loved Me’ and more Aston Martins in…