Innehållsförteckning för December 2003 från MotorTrend

Ahead by a Nose The 2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (“First,” September) looks very much like a gizmofied Dodge Viper GTS. The starter button on the gearshift is cool, but I fear the rear-wing air brake looks too much like an unlatched decklid. Chris McKenzieOverland Park, Kansas The profile of the new Mercedes SLR is horrific. Are you sure it doesn’t have a straight-12? Harry VienerBurke, Virginia Lessons in Evolution I read the letters from readers (September) who were annoyed by the presence of the Lancer Evolution in your high-speed competition (June) and complaining about boxy little cars with big wings. I felt the same way before I educated myself on the large variety of cars that are legends in foreign lands. They have a rich history and have come to…

Cool Stuff This Month • Frankfurt’s really big show• Aston Martin’s new digs and cars• Audi and Maserati go four-wheeling• Hirings, firings, and assorted gossip Porsche’s Touareg-Fighter Porsche will fight VW with VW…power. The new Cayenne—not Cayenne S nor Turbo, just Cayenne—is scheduled for U.S. showrooms in the first half of 2004 with the 3.2-liter 15-degree VR-6 from the high-performance Golf R32. Porsche wants to offer a more affordable version of its high-concept sport/utility, which shared development with the VW Touareg. The R32 engine is rated at 247 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 229 pound-feet of torque at 2500 to 5500 rpm in the Cayenne. Porsche estimates a top speed of 133 mph and a 0-to-62-mph time of 9.1 seconds. Expect the sticker to dip below $50,000, addressing some price…

General Motors is the first automaker to offer an original-equipment passenger seat in the U.S. that helps people with disabilities enter and exit a minivan. It’s actually a seat base that fits the middle-row right captain’s chair on a 2004 Chevrolet Venture, Pontiac Montana, and Oldsmobile Silhouette. A dealer removes the seat base through its four bolts and replaces it with the Sit-N-Lift base, which pivots the seat and powers it down to the curb level at the touch of a remote. The seat won’t pivot unless the minivan is in park and the passenger-side sliding door is completely open. The original seat fits back on the base, so it matches the interior. The advantage of the Sit-N-Lift base is that the standard seat base can be reinstalled to avoid…

Aston Martin is in the midst of transforming itself from a boutique constructor into a much larger company. James Bond would raise his martini in appreciation. Case in point: In the past two years, the company’s engineering staff has quietly grown from 20 to 200. Ford Motor has built them a breathtaking factory in Gaydon (in Warwickshire, central England) from scratch. Why expand? The 2005 production version of the AMV8 Vantage show car (codenamed Project 305) will produce a Bentley-like jump in annual production to about 5000 per year (from 1500 this year). Aston’s fabled factory at Newport Pagnell only makes the Vanquish, while the Bloxham plant is building the last of the DB7s (the Zagatos). Neither factory could handle the volume or provide the efficiency to hit the numbers…

Sports-car aficionados love the Lotus Elise. Introduced in Europe in 1998, it’s a light, edgy machine that harks back to the glory days of Lotus’s past, helping to restore the company’s stature as a maker of great sports cars. The Elise is no poseur: It’s a genuine, fast, agile, light sports car. The Lotus is difficult to climb into (there’s little room in the cockpit), it has few luxuries, and the elements of its bare aluminum chassis are visible. But, dude, does it perform! Stomp on the gas, and the rorty 1.8-liter four-cylinder MG engine, located just aft of your head, shoots the car forward despite producing under 160 horsepower. Why? Because the car weighs less than 2000 pounds. The steering is go-kart quick, as are most of the…

As Senior Road Test Editor Walton’s prose and testing results tell us, the Crossfire’s extra-wide and slim-sidewalled footwear give it a significant edge in cornering and braking ability compared with the Mercedes-Benz SLK. But at what cost, when you’re not Michael Schumachering through your neighborhood version of Monaco’s Casino Square? To find out, we instrumented these multinational cousins to sensitively monitor their interior noise and ride quality at different speeds and over different road surfaces. Results? A few surprises: The Chrysler was fractionally quieter at 60 mph (absent the squeak and rumble factor we’ll get to), delivering a trivial two-direction advantage of 0.2 dBA (67.8 to 68.0). This makes sense, given the Crossfire’s acousticsfriendly fixed roof and flowing greenhouse profile. Yet overriding this is the Crossfire’s propensity to pepper your…

Auto enthusiasts are pretty much all the same when you set right down to it. They all share a passion for high-performance machines that press you into your seat as you apply throttle. They live for the sound or high-revving engines and throaty exhaust notes. They’re addicted to a high that’s gauged by a speedometer needle and tire smoke. Today, car fanatics are once again budding like Hydras, recharging an auto industry that’s been on the mend since the dreaded 1970s era of nonperformance factory product. This current wave of enthusiasm has resulted in a greater variety of high-performance-capable vehicles on the market than ever before. And although the powerplants have changed a good deal from those that resided in the speed machines of decades ago, their performance is still…

The sport-compact market has become a crowded place for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the ever-changing definition of the class. “Sport compact” often carries the additional modifier “performance,” which defines the category of car that goes beyond a simple fun-to-drive compact car to one that turns up the volume on acceleration, handling, and braking. Following is a listing of sport compacts whose mission is to deliver enthusiast levels of driving performance. This isn’t to say there aren’t other significant sport compacts, but speed is a big factor for buyers in this market, and these cars are selling as fast as they click off quarter-mile times. Many of the cars featured here are performance-enhanced by factory-backed tuner component packages. We like packages such as these because…

Sonic kids want to be ball players when they grow up, others firemen, cowboys, rock stars, or race-car drivers. More than a few want to drive 18-wheelers. That was my dream, too—and I decided to give form to fantasy by driving one across the country. But first I needed to become familiar with the long-haul sciences at the local Big Rig U. George Plimpton called this notion “participatory journalism.” CLASS IS IN SESSION The differences between a truck-driving and a racing school are apparent from the start: Roadmaster Truck Driving School students don’t enroll for the thrill of being race-car drivers for three or four days. They bring $6000 in tuition to earn a CDL (commercial driver license) before becoming professional truck drivers. Class demographics reflect these aspirations. Median age…

What happens when you pull into a dealership for service and the service writer’s recommended-maintenance regimen is different from what’s outlined in the owner’s manual? It’s a little known reality that many (though not all) dealerships create their own “recommended” maintenance schedules, most often reaching beyond the scope of the carmaker’s prescription. There are two motives here: (1) to help you maintain your car to better-than-aver-age standards, and (2) to increase dealer profits. The relative importance of the two varies from dealer to dealer. The dealer-recommended schedule is likely to be more comprehensive and hence more expensive than the manufacturer’s requirements. How much of this extra stuff should you have done—or not? Your usage patterns and intended ownership cycle play a role here. For example, some owners lease their vehicle…

Dodge catapulted itself from a back-row player to first chair with the 1994 redesigr of its Ram pickup. While its long-lived predecessor was the styling equivalent of a catering truck, the new Ram so faithfully aped Kenworth cues, you could almost envision Claude Akins at the wheel cussing at smokeys through his CB radio. It was a shrewd move, too; Dodge tripled Ram sales in that first year. In its rookie season, the Ram came in standard-cab guise only with two bed lengths—6.5 and 8 feet—but the cabin squeeze was remedied for 1995 with a Club Cab version riding on a wheelbase stretched 20 inches and offering the same beds. In 1998, Dodge fitted a pair of rear-hinged doors and called it a Quad Cab, dramatically improving access to the…

There are a million good reasons for taking your automotive higher learning off the public roads, but the point is to get into an appropriate environment. Public roads, filled as they are with, well, the public, are not the right place to run hard and concentrate on technique. There are just too many hazards to pay attention to. And getting busted for speeding and losing your license defeats the whole purpose, which is to drive well and enjoy driving better. So check out the Web and ads in magazines, talk to friends, ask around sports-car-friendly shops, and see what you find. Your options will range from a lighthearted afternoon of cone-dancing in a parking lot to a week of intense schooling on a major race course. In some programs, you…

Audi Le Mans Quattro Inspired by Audi’s three-time Le Mans-winning R8, this stunning two-seat concept features a midmounted, 40-valve, 5.0-liter twin-turbo V-10 rated at 610 horsepower. Claimed 0-to-62 mph is 3.7 seconds (0.1 second quicker than the new Mercedes-Benz SLR). Potential top speed is well north of 210 mph, but the car is electronically limited to 155. The car uses a sequential manual gearbox connected to quattro all-wheel drive. The LMQ’s stunning body is aluminum and carbon fiber. VW Chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder hints production is possible—with a sticker well above $200,000. Mercedes-Benz Vision CLS You’ve seen spy shots of this concept, which appears as a production car at Geneva early next year. It’s a sporty four-door coupe that is to the E-Class what the CLK is to the C-Class,…

Pop-music charts change weekly, but there’s been amazingly little movement in the Top-20 chart for vehicles sold in the U.S. All but six of the 1993 Top 20 are still among the 2003 Top 20. Three models have roared into the charts during the decade: the Dodge Ram pickup, Chevrolet Tahoe (formerly the Blazer), and Ford Expedition (replaced the Bronco). As we saw last month, compact pickups have dropped in popularity more than any segment, reflected in the fall of the Ford Ranger from fourth to 15th. That’s more than we can say for the Pontiac Grand Am, Chevrolet Malibu (replaced the Corsica and Beretta), and Saturn Ion (replaced the S-Series), which were in the charts in 1993. At least they’re still on the market: The Ford Tempo, Plymouth Voyager,…

Tuned subcompacts are supposed to be edgy. And, yet, if one lacks touchy handling, a harsh ride, a raucous exhaust, and an over-the-top look, does it still measure up? It can, but it still must stop hard, grip well, steer precisely, and deliver the goods on both road course and dragstrip. Saturn is new to the go-fast biz. So it relied on tuning from GM Performance Division director and champion Vette jockey John Heinricy to help develop its Ion Red Line (this same group recently cooked up the 400-horsepower Cadillac CTS-V). Not surprisingly, our drive revealed a coupe similar in refinement to Ford’s sophisticated SVT Focus. At the core of Saturn’s approach is a 200-horsepower, supercharged and intercooled, 2.0-liter DOHC Ecotec four. Tuner types will tell you the Ecotec is…

Without taking your eyes off the road, you’d swear Eric Clapton was laying down a string of licks on his electric guitar from the Acura’s rear seat. Oh, that must be the new TL’s standard Panasonic DVD audio system with eight-speaker surround sound. Attention, mobile audiophiles: This is the next level. Developed by Grammy-winning music producer Elliot Scheiner, the new system is said to deliver sound resolution 500 times more detailed than a CD. And, by the way, the beefy looking, 270-horsepower, six-speed manual, Brembo brake-equipped midluxury front-drive sport sedan it’s attached to is full of crisp highs, too. Acura bumped the output of the 3.2-liter V-6 up 20 percent, making it more powerful than last year’s Type S engine. Torque got boosted, too, from 216 to 232 pound-feet.…

You can’t miss the irony: The company whose beloved Beetle became the basis for many of the first off-road vehicles is one of the last to bring a modem sport/utility to market. But it’s been worth the wait. The all-new 2004 Volkswagen Touareg is no Bug-based dune buggy. Stylishly designed, masterfully executed, and supremely capable, the Touareg topped a competitive field to be named the 2004 Motor Trend Sport/Utility of the Year In creating its new sport/ute, VW had a specific driving mission in mind: anything. The Touareg deftly blends such carlike virtues as luxury amenities, a smooth ride, and precise handling with more traditional SUV qualities such as ample cargo space, exceptional ground clearance, serious four-wheel-drive off-road ability, and major towing. The result is a handsome SUV as adept…

Saturn Ion Red Line Okay, Saturn, it’s your turn. While other brands have been enjoying the performance sport-compact playground for some time now, Saturn has been sitting quietly playing jacks in the hot sun, taking its tidy profits as big brother GM has struggled to make things right at home. But come the spring of 2004, all that’s going to change. Initially targeted to sell approximately 5000 vehicles each, the Ion Red Line and the Vue Red Line SUV will hit Saturn dealerships amid a flurry of excitement over the arrival of the brand’s first true performance vehicles. The Ion Red Line will feature a 200-horsepower, supercharged four-cylinder engine along with suspension and braking upgrades; Recaro seats; six-spoke wheels; big, sticky Continental tires; and a signature rear wing. The result…

With each new type of vehicle introduced in the U.S., a subculture of enthusiasts develops to take advantage of the specific properties of that vehicle. In the postwar era, the emergence of the European sports car in America spawned local road-racing circuits. In the 1960s, public enthusiasm for the high-horsepower musclecars built by Detroit automakers pushed the sport of drag racing to its zenith. And in the ‘70s, vans became the craze as dramatic increases in the price of fuel made parking and hanging out the decade’s dominant automotive sport. Today, performance sport-compact enthusiasts have created their own signature sport, and the growing fervor surrounding it closely resembles that of early road- and drag-racing events of previous generations. Born of the Japanese road kings who slide their way to victory…

With only 500 horsepower and 525 pound-feet of torque on tap, a stock 2003 Dodge Viper SRT-10 just isn’t fast enough for some people. To put added bite in the already ridiculously fast snake, aftermarket venom is now available, including from longtime Viper tuners Hennessey Performance. Two years ago, some customers raised concerns about Hennessey’s business practices (we heard from a few), and the jury is still out on the validity of those claims. But the distractions haven’t stopped Hennessey from developing a cache of new speed parts including two turnkey engine packages, the Venom 600 and Venom 650R, one of which notched the quickest quarter-mile time we’ve recorded on stock tires. The Venom 600 package I incorporates a host of traditional go-fast upgrades that focus primarily on moving air…

It’s been a long time coming for our 2003 Sport/Utility of the Year winner. Our original One-Year Test Volvo XC90 could’ve used a set of water wings when the ocean freighter Tricolor sank in the English Channel on December 14, taking the first run of U.S.-bound XCs down with it. This created a further supply problem for an already hot seller. Finally, our replacement T5 arrived for its tour of duty. The Crystal Green XC came with a $450 metallic-paint upcharge, the $595 Climate Package (interior-airquality system, rain sensor, heated front seats, and headlamp washers), and a $1675 Versatility Package (third-row seats, third-row air-conditioning, rear headphone jacks, self-leveling rear suspension, and movable second-row center cushion). We also added all-wheel drive for $1750 and $2575 for the Premium Package (leather seats,…

The story of how John Z. DeLorean, Pontiac ad-agency wiz Jim Wangers, and a rubber-burning band of GM engineers created the GTO has been told often and in great detail. What people tend to forget is that this musclecar genesis took place 40 years ago; moreover, the car has been out of Pontiac’s lineup for the last 30 of them. But it sure was a hit. In search of new product and looking to make the most of GM’s corporate heritage, Bob Lutz, Mark Reuss, and today’s rubber-burning band of company engineers saw fit to bring the GTO back in modern guise. That guise has changed somewhat, as, for the first nine years of its life, the GTO was offered in both coupe and convertible forms, while the new car…

That said, I have to tell you: I just bought a car. But this isn’t one of those stories. Because the story here isn’t about the car itself. It’s about the trip home. I’m in Los Angeles. My prize (okay, a 1989 Porsche Carrera coupe) was in Albuquerque, it would’ve been no hassle, and only moderate expense, to put the thing on a loader and have it shipped to my door. A high-quality carrier would’ve ensconced it in an enclosed truck, and it would’ve arrived wearing no more bug guts or miles than when it left New Mex. How romantic is that? Instead, I asked the owner to pick me up at ABQ airport on a Friday afternoon. The prepurchase inspection, test drive, and keys-for-cashier’s check processes were dispensed with…

Audi and Maserati have announced a deal to share technology over the next several years. If Maserati greenlights the Giugiaro-designed Kubang (“It’s All Show Biz,” April 2003) crossover for production, it’ll use Audi’s quattro allwheel-drive system and a turbodiesel engine option, says Luca di Montezemolo. In return, Audi gets the new Quattroporte’s platform and 4.2-liter V-8 for future cars. Maserati will decide on the Kubang’s fate by the end of 2003, di Montezemolo says. The deal also provides Maserati with Audi financial services, whether or not the Kubang is built. And Maserati might provide quattro as an option in the Quattroporte (would that be a “Quattroquattro”?), although it won’t get a turbodiesel or a long wheelbase, di Montezemolo notes. “We’re thinking about a sport package and an executive version,” he…

Ferrari’s single-marque spec-racing series—the Ferrari Challenge—has become a considerable success since its inception a decade ago. Among its most important roles is to support sales of the 348/355/360 street cars upon which it’s based. Gruppo Ferrari Maserati is now looking to a new rent-a-racer program—Trofeo—to do the same for the ongoing rebirth of Maserati. The Trofeo Maserati Europa series, launched this year with seven races throughout Italy, Germany, England, and France, has been well received. Ferrari Maserati North America is planning to bring the show here no later than the 2005 season. Trofeo is a true “arrive and drive” deal: Maserati supplies cars, crews, spare parts, tires, vehicle transportation, accommodations, meals, hospitality, insurance, PR.—even the gas and cheering crowds. The factory schleps and maintains hardware and…

The great, near-great, and merely wealthy convened in Monaco the week after that principality’s Formula One race to admire the new Bugatti EB 16.4 Veyron at its official launch. This was the world’s first chance to see and hear the compact black-and-blue coupe, which impressed with its exhaust’s suave rumble. A different, but no less enthusiastic, crowd saw a Veyron in action at the Monterey Historic Races in August. A lurid on-track spin that nearly cost the company one of its prototypes really got everyone’s attention. No extrovert hot rod this: Instead, the Veyron declared its presence at the apex of the world’s car hierarchy as a silken glove encasing a mighty mailed fist. Some fist: The mid-engine Veyron’s original power unit was an 18-cylinder in three banks, but…

The fastest production Honda on four wheels gets more street smarts for 2004. Thanks mainly to a slightly larger engine with a longer stroke and a few cam-timing changes, the 2004 S2000 develops five percent more torque than the previous model. More important, it reaches peak torque 1000 rpm sooner—at a lofty 6500 rpm rather than a stratospheric 7500 as on last year’s screamer. This, and the fact that peak horsepower (240, same as last year) also comes 500 rpm sooner, means a quicker serving of rice and beans. Aside from 160cc more displacement, Honda also gave the 2004 model’s gearbox a wider ratio spread, shorter cogs on first through fourth, and improved carbon-fiber synchros. The result is more lively response in real-world driving. Instead of needing to keep the…

The first deliberately publicized offspring of the DaimlerChrysler marriage has begun to appear on U.S. roads. You’ve probably seen it. The Chrysler Crossfire is flaring up across this country and receiving guardedly positive reviews in Europe as well. But those European reviewers are caught in a dilemma: They like how the car looks and drives, yet they see a Chrysler badge and question its quality and value. Should they? The 2004 Crossfire and the 2003 Mercedes-Benz SLK320 share 39 percent of their equipment: an engine, transmission, partial suspension, steering, brakes, dashboard, and more. While that M-B technology might include items from countries other than Germany (such as its Yazaki wiring harness), we were surprised to learn that 80 percent of the car’s overall content is, in fact, German. According to…

Nothing is evolving faster than the sport/utility vehicle segment. A decade ago, 10 percent of new-car and truck buyers chose SUVs; by mid-2003, that market share was 24.5 percent. Credit all the new models cast as sport/utilities because nobody knows what else to call them. Defining “sport/utility” is like trying to hit several fast-moving targets. A sport/utility used to be a shortened pickup truck with a wagon body built over the bed. Trucky engines roared, transfer-case gears whined, willowy frames shuddered, and knobby treads howled all the way to distant fishing spots. No internal organ was safe front a road’s unfiltered rudeness. Things have changed.► Only four of these 13 competitors for 2004 Sport/Utility of the Year are truck-based. Two, the Buick Rainier and the GMC Envoy XUV, share a…

When “The Fast and the Furious” hit movie theaters two years ago, it caught plenty of folks by surprise. Here was a film about cars and speed and youth and danger whose appeal was much broader than just a core audience of auto enthusiasts. More realistic and plot driven than most car movies, “The Fast and the Furious” seemed to have something for just about everyone. And it ignited interest in the performance sport-compact market. From the outset, aftermarket and mainstream retailers alike clamored for a piece of the movie’s marketing machine, which was aimed squarely at today’s funloving, free-spending youth. The sequel (you knew there had to be a sequel), “2 Fast 2 Furious,” recently opened with lots of fanfare and plenty of automotive product placement in tow. And…

Like Juan Fangio and Don Garlits who came before them, a group of Japanese drifting champions recently descended on a Southern California raceway, looking to teach the locals a lesson or two. At Irwindale Speedway, eight of the world’s best drifters and their high-tech drift-prepared race cars conducted the biggest drifting shootout in America to date, giving this country a jaw-dropping look at the sport from the country that invented it. The arrival of these champions here signals two things: enough public interest in the U.S. to warrant shipping these drivers and their cars across the Pacific, and recognition by Japanese automotive aftermarket retailers of the U.S. as a tremendous new market. Several previously Japan-only retailers are building huge new superstores in Southern California, which will only help to further…

Most Excellent Reading If you enjoy, are passionate about, or simply I crave sports cars built in Stuttgart, the revised “Porsche: Excellence Was Expected” should help fill ’the bill. As one of today’s most respected automotive historians, author (and Motor Trend contributor) Karl Ludvigsen first published this massive, multibook collection in 1977, but he’s just released a fully updated version with 742 new black-and-white photos, 50 new color images, and 29 more chapters that cover Porsche’s development through 2002. History, production statistics, secret testing information, racing, prototype vehicles, and hard-core data are contained within the three-volume, 1574 pages of sheer Porsche delight. An MT favorite and a requirement for serious Porsche enthusiasts and collectors. $239.95; 800/423-4595; www.bentleypublishers.com Going Under Cover Bird droppings. Smog. Depleted ozone layer. Three items that conspire…

While the all-weather competition may have long since signed partnerships with brand-name outfitters like Eddie Bauer, L.L.Bean, and Orvis, this GMC needs no third-party tie-ins to offer a solid interpretation of an ideal outdoor enthusiast’s ride. More than a mere lifestyle accessory, the Envoy proved to have the goods over its year-long evaluation, whatever the chore or journey. This comes as no surprise because the Envoy took the Motor Trend 2002 Sport/Utility of the Year honors, despite strong entries from Cadillac, Ford, Jeep, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and others. After logging thousands of miles on the track, urban roads, and sprawling highways and creeping through Death Valley, the winning Envoy earned an automatic entry into our One-Year Test fleet. Ushering in GM’s all-new midsize SUV platform, the Envoy and Chevrolet Trail-Blazer fared…