Innehållsförteckning för May 2008 från MotorTrend

■ You Want To See a Part of It… New York—The first phase of the annual auto show season always ends in the Big Apple, and this year’s event was chock full of tasty auto treats. So check out our New York coverage, featuring more goods on the Acura TSX and the hot Hyundai Genesis Coupe in this issue. When you’re done there, check out the rest of the 2008 shows to date: Detroit, Chicago, and the annual European extravaganza in Geneva. We’ve got the shows covered from every angle through our exclusive photos, blogs, stories, and videos. Find it all here: www.motortrend.com/auto_shows/…

FORD AUSTRALIA’S new Pontiac G8-size Falcon sedan is fascinating fodder for Ford-watchers trying to determine what Dearborn might be planning for its forthcoming global rear-drive platform. Rumors have gathered strength that Ford Australia will win the lead role in development of Ford’s forthcoming global rear-drive architecture, in much the same way GM’s Holden subsidiary did a lot of the heavy lifting on Zeta. The production time frame for Ford models using the architecture is 2013. Such timing matches the product cadence of both the Mustang and the Falcon. The new Falcon is a big car—a little over 195 inches long, more than 73 inches wide—that must cover a broad spread of roles. The base XT model is Australia’s equivalent of the Crown Victoria, popular with taxi companies and police. Three…

DISGUISED prototypes of the all-new 2010 Rolls-Royce, codenamed RR4, have been seen testing near Munich. The car will be an addition to the Phantom line, and it’s somewhat smaller. The RR4 will be launched initially as a sedan, though two-door variants, both fixed-roof and convertible will inevitably follow. Rolls-Royce’s Goodwood plant in southern England will assemble the cars, and it’s getting a doubling of capacity to cope. That implies an output of 1000 RR4s per year, only one-eighth of Bentley’s output of Continentals. Rolls CEO Ian Robertson confirms this positioning: “It will be significantly more expensive than the Bentley.” Pricing is likely to be about $340,000 here in the U.S. As it’s being built in Britain, it can use all the skills there in hand-worked leather, wood, and paint. It’ll…

IT’S NOT JUST Camaro versus Mustang. This fall, Chevrolet and Ford launch their first full-size crossover sport/utilities, the unibody three-row vehicles designed to pick up buyers migrating away from Ford Explorers and Chevy TrailBlazers as well as minivans. They’re nowhere as sexy as the musclecars, true, but they’re designed to be big-volume vehicles, as predominant in New Millennium suburbs as the Kingswood Estate and Country Squire were in the late-1960s and early 1970s. What makes this one interesting is that Ford has gone for boxy in the 2009 Flex, while Chevy is all tight curves and a Coke-bottle shape with the 2009 Traverse. The Traverse looks much smaller, but they’re about the same size. And the Traverse is familiar. While we haven’t yet driven the Flex, we’ve driven forms of…

■ EVERYTHING FORWARD OF THE A-pillar cut line will be identical to the production CTS sedan. For the show car, designers pumped up the hood bulge and the air-extractors on the fenders and added big wheels with yellow brake calipers. ■ AS WITH MOST MODERN COUPES, everything aft of the A-pillar is exclusive to the CTS coupe. The windshield rake is more extreme than the sedan’s, closing in on GM’s official limit (hit by the Corvette). Overall height is about two inches lower than the CTS sedan, which sits 58.0 inches tall. “We don’t want to do a two-door sedan,” Manoogian says, “like some of our competitors.” ■ WHILE THE WHEELBASE IS THE same as the sedan’s, the overall length is 4.6 inches shorter, at 187.0 inches. ■ SIDES ARE…

AT FIRST glance, it’s hard to tell how big the Bentley Brooklands really is. It looms into view, like a battleship steaming over the horizon, and just keeps on looming the closer you get. It’s not until you’re standing right next to the Brooklands that you realize, with a shock, the damn thing is rolling on 20-inch wheels. They look like 18s. The Brooklands is a coupe of titanic proportions: a 213-inch two-door that’s almost as long as a Lincoln Town Car and, at 5853 pounds, weighs about as much as a Chevy Suburban. It has an engine that could power the Titanic, too. The ageless 6¾-literV-8 under the hood—it traces its origins to a 1950s Packard design—develops 530 horsepower and an axle-twisting 774 pound-feet of torque at 3250 rpm.…

QUITE NICELY, thank you, due to several key innovations. First is the engine. Our LR3 TDV6 is powered a 2.7-liter high-pressure common-rail turbodiesel V-6 engine making 188 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque. Despite the incredible elevations, our diesel LR3 never fails to get us where we need to go. Near the 16,000-foot summit, throttle response suffers noticeably, but all it takes is a simple mental recalibration to take care of the delay. And at lower elevations, all that torque is more than enough to tackle the serious rock-crawling situations Land Rover has set up for us. The ease with which we skedaddle through tight crevasses and over steep inclines covered in loose rock is also due in part to Terrain Response, Land Rover’s patented traction-control system. We simply turn…

THIS IS NOT your father’s T-Type Buick, John Heinricy assures us. GM’s high-performance vehicle boss promises that Buick’s new “Super” sub-brand will add performance and refinement in equal measure, rather than simply bolting on fat tires, hard shocks, and black trim. Supers may share parts with their SS, GXP, or V-series brand-cousins, but they’ll feel different—smoother, quieter, more grown up. Indeed, the LaCrosse Super’s personality differs greatly from those of the Impala SS and Grand Prix GXP with which it shares most of its DNA. The 5.3-liter small-block V-8’s exhaust roar has been muted, at the expense of three horsepower (for an even 300). Less aggressive throttle mapping also makes it easier to launch smoothly, but softer Michelin all-season rubber squeals more easily if you floor it. Sad to say,…

THE SAAB 9-3 HAS never been a fierce player in its segment, lacking the killer instinct of some of its more formidable rivals, namely the Audi A4 and BMW 3 Series. Sure, it offers a pair of turbocharged powerplants, including a range-topping 255-horsepower V-6, but its Achilles’ heel lies up front, as in front drive—a feature that can diminish dynamics and degrade feel. So how’s a small Swedish brand to arm its best-seller for the future? By harking back to the past, of course. Say hello to the Turbo X, a limited-edition 9-3 (only 600 for the U.S., in either sedan or wagon body styles) that pays homage to the 1985 Saab 900 SPG, a classic coupe known for its trademark black exterior treatment, three-arm alloys, and turbo engine. Thus,…

EXACTLY one year ago, our May 2007 cover of the all-new Subaru Impreza WRX lit the Interwebs on fire. It also ignited a still-burning debate about the value of embargoed vehicle launches, but only in the backbiting, internecine world of hack auto journalists. Turns out John Q. Public is more concerned about the way the new Rex looks and drives, so we decided to investigate and requested that Subaru immediately send us over one of its very latest. Say what you want about the looks (we say they’re growing on us), but this is one well-equipped vehicle. Not only does it have the segment standard bells and whistles—such as automatic climate control, remote keyless entry, and an audio AUX-in jack—but Subaru also includes endearing features like optional heated front seats…

letter of the month alfa mail In 2000, I went to the Alfa Romeo Museum in Italy and wound up lost near the guard shack. The guard asked for my driver’s license and pointed in the general direction of the main entrance—but I still couldn’t find it. I wandered aimlessly around the grounds, where I saw a washing machine and a tractor on display. When I finally found the door to enter the museum, there wasn’t a soul in sight. I was alone. I gazed, stared, and ogled at the wide array of cars. No ropes to separate me from those beautiful pieces of Italian art—especially this gray coupe that caught my eye, one of the first cars made after WWII. It was such a stately design. Since no one…

MORE THAN 30 years of pent-up design energy has been released into the world with the Detroit show introduction of the Cadillac CTS coupe concept. It’s been that long since Bill Mitchell ran General Motors’ design studio, and it’s been more than 40 years since we’ve seen a rakish GM luxury coupe this good. Think 1963 Buick Riviera, 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, 1967 Cadillac Eldorado—all Mitchell cars. Faithful readers of Motor Trend are aware that Cadillac has been kicking around the idea of a new coupe since before the doddering 2002 Eldorado was sent to the great Cadillac Ranch in the sky. And you know this latest coup d’état, which was designed just two years ago, is set for a 2010 model year introduction alongside a Euro-centric CTS wagon. Cadillac director…

LIFE WAS HARD. Money was scarce. Competition was fierce, if not ruthless. Figure in a pinch of greed and an ounce of scandal. We’re talking about the birth of the oil business in California, circa 1920. And, strangely enough, the car business, circa 2008. Although the film that gave this story its name was nominated for Best Picture at the 80th Academy Awards, its literary inspiration was penned more than 90 years prior. Author (and later, California gubernatorial candidate) Upton Sinclair was born in Baltimore in 1878 and, at age 15, began writing dime novels to pay for his education. His breakthrough effort came in 1906, with the publication of “The Jungle,” which portrayed the miserable health and working conditions in the meat-packing industry. But it was Sinclair’s “Oil!” published…

AS WE REVEALED in our March 2008 issue, Hyundai opens a new chapter in automotive history this summer when it begins selling its first V-8-powered, rear-drive sedan—the appropriately named Genesis. Naturally, a rear-drive Genesis sedan begets a rear-drive Genesis coupe—and from the appearance of things, this two-door could be just as much of a revelation as its four-door forebear. Why? Just take a look at who it’s targeting. According to Hyundai, the short list of Genesis coupe competitors includes the Infiniti G37, BMW 335i coupe, Ford Mustang GT, Mazda RX-8, and Mitsubishi Eclipse GT, though a comparison of specs reveals the G37 matters most. Dimensionally, Hyundai apes Infiniti in all key external measurements. At 182.3 inches long with a 111.0-inch wheelbase, the Genesis coupe is shorter by 1.2 inches between…

MOST AUTOMAKERS like to tell you how quickly they can build a car. At Crewe, where Bentleys have been built since 1946, they like to tell you how long it takes. It takes two hours for one man just to braze the two pieces that form a Brooklands front fender together and then smooth the join to a seamless finish. Piecing together the whole body-in-white takes 130 hours. Each set of wood veneers for the car means a month of work. Trimming the interior takes 125 hours. Every engine is hand-assembled by one man. Each Brooklands that rolls off the end of the assembly line at Crewe represents 660 hours of labor, which is why there will only be 550 built over the next three years. By contrast, Toyota needs…

ASSOCIATING the word “economy” with air travel is akin to lumping “non-fat” with ice cream. Chances are good the byproduct won’t be delectable. After all, there are reasons why the economy section of an airplane is often referred to as a cattle car, what with its long lines, tight quarters, and general unpleasantness. To make things worse, economy rarely applies to economy-class ticket prices. And what’s that? Another $5 for a slice of Velveeta, a Slim Jim, a pair of Wheat Thins, and some of Sun-Maid’s sweetest? Thanks but no thanks. Happy to say, when traveling by land, economy class paints a much sunnier picture. Take the four sedans here. With base prices around $20,000, each delivers, at a minimum, 140 horsepower, four-wheel disc brakes, ABS, A/C, six airbags, cruise…

APART FROM those in 911s and Caymans, Porsche doesn’t have a stellar reputation for manual transmissions. Many years ago, a senior Porsche distributor confided that only a dope would order a 928 coupe with its clunky, slow-shifting manual. He’d probably say the same thing about a Cayenne V-6. For much the same reason. Electing to shift it yourself will shave $3000 off the price of a Cayenne V-6 auto. Surprisingly, roughly four to five percent of Cayenne buyers elect to do just that, even though it’s barely a six-percent savings on an SUV that takes a mere handful of options to nudge $50,000. It’s more to do with their perception of the Porsche image, we suspect, than any real cost-saving strategy. Those contemplating the manual to inject more driver appeal…

MOST PEOPLE have a sensory knowledge of diesels based on old memories—the smell, the sound, and the sight of smoke. But when it comes to Subaru’s new boxer turbodiesel, it’s surprisingly subtle: There’s no odor, little noise at speed, and no black tailpipe emissions. You’d have to look at the badge to know it’s a diesel. The horizontally opposed common-rail turbodiesel solves several problems at once: It gives Subaru a real presence in Europe, provides terrific fuel economy (a CAFE-friendly estimated 50 mpg on the highway), and sticking with the same layout makes it practical to fit it into already existing Subaru engine bays. In addition, the boxer layout offers excellent balance, reduced vibration, and lighter weight. The 2.0-liter DOHC horizontally opposed flat-four common-rail diesel, which we sampled in Euro-spec…

“QUIRKY RAISED to a new art form.” That’s how technical editor Kim Reynolds praised the new, second-generation xB during our 2008 Car of the Year competition—in which the xB reached the finals (January 2008). But quirky is tricky. Would the Scion’s playfulness wear thin as the miles rolled on? Can a car be quirky and reliable? Is the youthful Scion division still as edgy as it claims to be? Many devout fans of the original xB—a cheeky, chiseled chunk of modern art—hate the new edition, which has grown into a softened and, they say, forgettable blob stretching a foot longer and weighing 600 pounds more. For sure, the new xB is less outré than its predecessor, but that’s relative—like calling one of the Baldwin brothers “the normal one.” The 2008…

WHEN MERCEDES-BENZ announced a new, three-row-seat sport/utility would be built on the second-gen M-Class chassis architecture and that it would replace the mil-spec G-Wagen, one of our editors wrote, “There goes the neighborhood. Mercedes is wimping out by killing off an icon and replacing it with an overwrought station wagon. How could they?” That editor was me. But I’m pleased to advise you that it all came out fine. Continued customer demand garnered the brick-shaped G500 and G55 AMG a reprieve from the axe, and the new GL-Class came out so well it earned our 2007 Sport/Utility of the Year award. The latter draws it an automatic berth in our long-term-test fleet. The bad news is the party’s over, because our Barolo Red over Macadamia beige tester was one of…

FORD will keep the 32-year-old Fiesta name for its B-car subcompact, shown in concept form at Frankfurt and Detroit as the “Verve” when it goes on sale in Europe later this year and in North America by 2010. Production Fiestas made their debut at the Geneva auto show last month. The Fiesta name should even raise happy memories for American enthusiasts, who found the 1979-1980 models sold here to be reasonably well-built, fun-to-drive small cars in the post-OPEC years. Ford better hope Mr. Average Consumer doesn’t confuse it with the Festiva. Styled with European design chief Martin Smith’s “kinetic” design language and built on the B2E platform shared with the Mazda2, the Fiesta looks to be a worthy competitor for the Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, and Toyota Yaris. The new…

IT’S LIKELY to have an all-steel body instead of carbon-fiber bits, and this drawing is simply illustrative—the car won’t look like this. However, a senior Nissan source has confirmed the automaker is looking at a four-door sport/luxury sedan based on the 480-horsepower Nissan GT-R. This would do two things for Nissan: help amortize component costs for the GT-R across a larger volume and provide a much-needed halo vehicle for the Infiniti luxury division, which is trying to gain traction in markets outside North America. Producing a four-door GT-R is feasible, but not cheap. While the GT-R coupe is based on Nissan’s flexible FM (front-midship) platform, it’s what one analyst calls a “major deviation” from that architecture. Internally, it’s known as the PM (premium midship) platform. It can be stretched to…

CHRYSLER LLC chief executive Bob Nardelli has made it official: Project Genesis, the move to eliminate some U.S. dealerships and combine the remainder into a single, Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep channel, means the automaker will cut redundant and slow-selling models, such as the unloved Chrysler Sebring sedan. In fact, Project Genesis moves Chrysler closer to its roots, with the Chrysler division likely to be only full-size cars and the Sebring convertible. We predicted much of this in January 2008 “Trend” (“Bye-Bye, Magnum”) and at motortrend.com. The one thing we didn’t predict is that Chrysler intends to reach its goal by cutting models and then using that to get dealerships to combine or give up the business, rather than the other way around. Are the Dodge Viper’s days numbered? Not necessarily, although the latest…

1949 CADILLAC SEDANET FASTBACK COUPE Harley Earl put extreme rake on the 1948/’49 fastback coupe body. For ’49, he designed the world’s first two-door hardtop, a Cadillac. 1963 BUICK RIVIERA Cadillac turned down Bill Mitchell’s offer to make this a new LaSalle. This Buick was designed to mix Ferrari sportiness with Rolls-Royce stateliness, and it worked very well. 1966 OLDSMOBILE TORONADO As consolation for not getting the Riviera, Olds got to build this front-drive personal-luxury car. Vinyl tops and facelifts in subsequent years make the 1966 the only one to have. 1967 CADILLAC ELDORADO Caddy’s first “personal luxury” car was more formal than the Riviera and Toronado. This FWD car’s styling influenced the rear-drive Evoq concept (XLR) and CTS coupe.…

AT AROUND 5000 rpm the world as you’ve always known it explodes, your innards tumble as if you’ve just stepped out of an airplane, your eyeballs churn into marmalade. Five quick manual shifts, and you’re catching the horizon at more than 200 miles per hour, the audio system playing a Bartok string quartet, your cerebrum struggling to believe it’s all real. You’ve just been GT2’d. Take a moment, catch your breath, maybe grab hold of your security blanket. What follows is the very first U.S. instrumented test of Porsche’s newest, wickedest-ever 911, the 2008 GT2. The numbers will astonish you. They astonished us, and we’ve driven a few fast cars before. This is your last chance to call for Mommy. Imagine a Porsche that combines the blown thrust of the…

CIRCUIT PAUL RICARD is reckoned to be the safest test track in the world, an ideal place to flog a new car within an inch of its life. It also has the padlocked gates and vigilant corps d’sécurité to keep spying eyes at bay. Mercedes-Benz has used Paul Ricard for these reasons in the past and has invited us once again to the south of France, this time for an early drive of the 2009 SL63 AMG, weeks before it made its debut at the Geneva show. Hold on! We’re not beginning our test on the reclusive track, but in full public view, in the heart of morning rush hour, on a busy boulevard along the waterfront in Nice. Secrecy? Sure, the SL63 wears black camouflage and is shorn of…

THOSE NICE PEOPLE at Land Rover tell white, puffy lies. They gave their exotic Argentina trip the jaunty and adventurous “Road to the Clouds” moniker, but from the moment we step out of the plane, there are few clouds to speak of—plenty wide open, impossibly blue skies, horizon-bending vistas, and the promise of an unforgettable 4x4 expedition to the highest driveable pass in North and South America, sure, but few feathery cirrus or pillowy cumulus clouds. Truth be told, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of roads, either. The trip starts with a 33-pound luggage restriction, given the cigar-tube turbo prop we must take out of Buenos Aires. No bathroom on the plane means a fluid-intake restriction, too. When we hit the tarmac just outside of Cafayate,…

SURPRISE! Another familiar nameplate has gone under the knife for an extreme makeover and emerged having lost the battle of the bulge. Yes, the 2009 Acura TSX swells by a parking space filling three inches in width and 2.4 inches in length. It’s now wider, taller, heavier and way roomier than the original Acura Legend. At least by building half the body structure out of high-strength steels, the curb weight balloons only by about 150 pounds. This happens with almost every model redesign, but this time I’m taking it personally because we just added a present-generation TSX to the family fleet precisely due to its smallness. Why can’t a small luxury car stay small? The company line is that similar supersizing of key competitors like the Audi A4 and BMW…

NEW FOR 2008, GXP replaces the GTP trim level for the G range and offers a host of improvements, including a 252-horse, 3.6-liter V-6, six-speed automatic transmission, sport suspension, and exclusive exterior and interior treatments. Ignore the bucktooth cowcatcher front end and optional A380 aileron-size rear wing (part of the “Street Edition” package), and you’ll find a decently sporty freeway cruiser. In D mode, there’s power on demand with smooth and responsive downshifting. The cabin is quiet in sixth gear at mph, with only a bit of noticeable wind buffeting. The ride is smooth and well controlled; surface irregularities register only faintly. Headroom is tight, but there is good visibility—even out and over that rear wing, which leaves the windshield and roof of most trailing cars viewable. Problem is, on…

THE BUILDUP of this machine actually started in Germany where it was painted custom Lamborghini Gallardo orange before being shipped overseas to HPA Motorsports where the tuner completely rebuilt the 2008 Audi TT from the ground up. Underhood, the stock 3.2-liter V-6 was transformed with HPA’s FT-550 twin-turbo modification. The compression ratio was dropped from 11.3:1 to 8.3:1 so the engine wouldn’t grenade itself when on full boost (17.4 psi). Force-feeding the engine are two Garrett/HGP R25 ball-bearing turbos, along with Race Grade connecting-rod bearings, a cast-aluminum short-runner intake manifold, dual air-to-air side-mount intercoolers, proprietary silicone boost plumbing, and a high-flow fuel-supply system. Twin 66mm downpipes have been added along with 100-cell-count low-restriction catalysts and stainless 88mm exhaust with bypass valves. Getting this 565-horsepower beast to hook up was no…

2008 TOYOTA TUNDRA WITH THE $92,37 5000-mile service in its rearview, our Truck of the Year continues to soldier on, delivering the type of hauling capability we’ve come to expect from an award winner. “I drove the Tundra to Las Vegas back in October,” says photographer Julia LaPalme, “and I absolutely loved having two motorcycles in the bed.” With a rear suspension composed of leaf springs, heavy-duty shocks, and a live axle, the Tundra, like most trucks, provides a predominantly bouncy ride. But, as LaPalme notes: “Since we were hauling a couple bikes in the bed, the ride was nice and smooth, a feature that is aided by the comfortable leather interior.” Speaking of which, not only does the interior’s luxury border on Lexus-like, but, as LaPalme further observes, “the…

TURBOCHARGED flat-six? Check. Bulging fender flares and big rear wing? Present and accounted for. That unmistakable 911 profile? Of course. While these attributes describe the new GT2 tested in this issue, they also cover virtually every Porsche Turbo ever built. The original Turbo Carrera of 1976 packed 234 horsepower. While that doesn’t sound like much in today’s parlance, remember that a 1976 Corvette was rated at 180 horsepower and the Mustang II V-8 a laughable 134; and even the mighty 455-cubic-inch Pontiac Trans Am wheezed out but 200 smog-choked ponies. Porsche continued to upgrade the Turbo’s performance, although it came and went from the company’s lineup a couple times over the years. The model sprouted all-wheel drive and another turbocharger in 1996, but it’s the original, air-cooled, two-wheel-drive classic of…