automobile - february 2010

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www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

–62–

The prowls theCalifornia coastline.

Features :: February 2010

422010 ALL-STARS

By Automobile Magazine staffWe came, we drove, we chose—and then we photographed our winners in the City by the Bay.

Audi S4BMW 335d

BMW Z4Chevrolet CamaroDodge Ram 1500

Ford FlexFord Fusion Hybrid

Jaguar XF/XFRMazda 3

Porsche Boxster/Cayman

62MERCEDES-BENZ SLS AMG

By Jason CammisaThe successor to the SLR

McLaren evokes the original 300SL Gullwing.

68FERRARI 458 ITALIA

By Joe DeMatioFerrari’s F430 replacement

takes the mid-engine exotic game to an even higher level.

76PORSCHE PANAMERA

TURBO, BMW 760Li, AND MERCEDES-BENZ S63 AMG

By Jason CammisaThe German sport-sedan trio

meet in a Wild West showdown.

84 EARL OF GOOD WOODS

By Ezra DyerTake a cast-off Fast and Furious

Subaru Impreza WRX STI, a slew of power equipment, and thirty acres

in Maine, and you’ve got the makings of a private rally

playground.

4 AUTOMOBILE | FEBRUARY 2010


Ignition10 NEWS Honda’s minicar concept, Pirelli’s racy

calendar, diesel’s decline in America, and Continental’s pursuit of speed.

20 BY DESIGN By Robert Cumberford The Nissan Leaf is a milestone

in a mediocre wrapper. 24 NOISE, VIBRATION & HARSHNESS By Jamie Kitman Opel is saved. But was it ever

really in jeopardy?26 DYER CONSEQUENCES By Ezra Dyer Some cars quicken your pulse;

others calm your nerves.30 LETTERS A debate on the Lexus LFA, and

a lesson in Yiddish. DRIVEN32 BMW ACTIVEHYBRID X6 Threatening the hybrid establishment.34 BMW ACTIVEHYBRID 7 Having your cake and eating it, too.39 LEXUS LS460 SPORT Delightfully immature.40 MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER GT Gunning for glory.

Upshift90 FOUR SEASONS WRAP A year with the Mazda 2 in France

piques our interest in the Asian subcompact prior to its U.S. arrival.

94 FOUR SEASONS LOGBOOK We introduce our newest fl eet member,

the Audi Q5, and share the latest on the BMW 750Li, the Honda Fit, and the Hyundai Genesis 4.6.

96 COLLECTIBLE CLASSIC The 1967–71 De Tomaso Mangusta

is an exotic from one of the lesser-known Italian masters.

100 AUCTIONS A 1969 Mercedes-Benz limo gets big

money at RM’s London auction.106 VILE GOSSIP By Jean Jennings Selecting our annual list of

All-Stars reveals more winners than you might think.

AUTOMOBILE (ISSN 0894-3583) (USPS 000-934) (GST 135274306) Vol 24 #11 is published monthly by Source Interlink Media, LLC., 261 Madison Avenue, Fifth Floor, New York, New York 10016. Periodicals postage is paid at New York, New York, and additional mailing offi ces. Subscription rates for one year: in U.S. and possessions, $19.94; in Canada, $27.94. Foreign rates on request. For subscriptions, address changes, and adjustments, write to AUTOMOBILE Magazine, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, Florida 32142–0235, or email [email protected] or call 800–289–2886 (U.S.), 386–447–6383 (international). Please include name, address, and telephone number on any inquiries. AUTOMOBILE is a trademark of Source Interlink Magazines, LLC. Copyright © 2010 by Source Interlink Magazines, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Manuscripts, photos, and other material submitted must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope; AUTOMOBILE Magazine assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Printed in U.S.A. Postmaster: Send address changes to AUTOMOBILE Magazine, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, Florida 32142–0235. Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40612608. Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2 Canada

Departments :: February 2010

–10–Could Honda’s P-NUT be the minicar that

Americans really fall for?

32 the bmw x6 goes green 94 audi q5 arrives

96 exotic animal 90 mazda 2 preview



Reserve and drive the

2010 Ford Fusion.

Hertz is proud to announce the Ford Fusion as the 2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year.® The Fusion

makes a bold statement, actually two. One, you’re smart. Two, you care about the environment. So

go ahead, reserve this incredibly fuel-ef⇒ cient car from our Green Collection. And as if all this

wasn’t enough, it comes equipped with Sirius XM Radio,® making the decision a veritable no-brainer.

® Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. © 2009 Hertz System, Inc. Hertz rents Fords and other fine cars.

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2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year.®


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Meet the from Honda, the latest entrant in the strangely effervescent arena of pint-size pod cars.

latest ent arena

■

Smart ForTwoFirst sold in Europe in 1998, the Smart car arrived here in 2008 as a coupe and a cabriolet. U.S. cars use a rear-mounted, 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine. Length: 106 inches

O THE COMELY BLONDE models, slowly spinning turntables, and acres of cheap carpet, we can add tiny bubble-car concepts as an auto-show fi xture. At the recent Los Angeles show, Honda presented the P-NUT. The too-cute name is an acronym for Personal-Neo

Urban Transport. More than two feet shorter than a Fit, the P-NUT seats three and has its (hypothetical) powertrain located at the rear; Honda says it could use a gasoline engine, battery power, or a hybrid of the two.

What’s perhaps most interesting about the P-NUT is that it was designed in the United States (by the company’s Advanced Design Studio, in Pasadena) and it debuted at a U.S. auto show. Typically, these tiny transportation units are the province of foreign auto shows.

Dave Marek, head of Honda’s U.S. design studio, argues that America is a legitimate venue for cars like this. “We need urban cars as much as anywhere else, given the economic climate today,” he says.

Unfortunately, the one city car that is sold here, the Smart ForTwo, saw its sales drop dramatically in 2009, its second year in our market. Despite Smart’s diffi culties, however, Toyota has indicated that it wants to bring the podlike iQ here, possibly as a Scion. The car is already on sale in Europe and Japan.

In addition to being an unproven business prospect, these vehicles also lack a consensus with regard to their ideal layout.

Most have their engines in the rear, but the iQ uses a more conventional front engine and front-wheel drive.

These cars also display surprising variety in their seating confi gurations: The P-NUT has a one-plus-two layout. The iQ is a two-plus-two, although Toyota says it seats three adults and one child. The Nissan Land Glider and Volkswagen’s L1 concept cars seat two in tandem. The Smart is a more conventional (side-by-side) two-seater.

As to their overall shape, “The Smart and the iQ have it right,” says our own design editor, Robert Cumberford. “A really small car has to be fairly tall to be seen among SUVs in heavy traffi c. Low, narrow fuselages, such as the VW L1 or the Nissan Land Glider, are entirely too scary to be successfully marketed for intense urban use.”

Despite all the uncertainty surrounding these miniature machines, it’s clear that the notion of minimalist motoring is one that has an outsized hold on the world’s carmakers. — joe lorio

Honda P-NUTThe California-designed P-NUT is shaped more like a wedge than a bubble, and its single front seat fl anked by two rear seats is reminiscent of the McLaren F1. Honda says it could accept a gasoline, hybrid, or electric powertrain. The navigation system and backup camera project images onto the windshield. Length: 134 inches


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THE HORSEPOWER OUTPUT OF THE SINGLE-CYLINDER ENGINE IN THE FIRST BUBBLE CAR TO BRAVE THE U.S. MARKET, THE BMW ISETTA. THE ISETTA OFFICIALLY ARRIVED IN 1957 AND STAYED UNTIL 1962.

■

Volkswagen L1Presented at the 2009 Frankfurt show, the L1 is the second iteration of VW’s effort to develop a car that uses one liter of fuel to go 100 km (equal to 235 mpg). With a diesel/hybrid powertrain, this concept doesn’t quite get there, but its 170 mpg isn’t bad. Length: 150 inches

■

Toyota iQThe iQ’s 1.0-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine and 1.4-liter diesel four-cylinder achieve combined fuel economy ratings of 55 mpg and 60 mpg, respectively, in European testing. Length: 118 inches

■

Nissan Land GliderFirst shown at last fall’s Tokyo show, the battery-powered Land Glider can lean into turns like a motorcycle. Length: 122 inches


GIVEN THE HYPERCOMPETITIVE, HYPERIMITATIVE dynamic among Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi, there was no way that a successful new niche model like the Mercedes CLS could remain unanswered. Indeed, Audi is readying its slope-roofed A7 Sportback to slot between the A6 and A8 sedans, just as the CLS sits between the E-class and the S-class. BMW at fi rst pursued a different strategy. Its CS, previewed by the well-received 2007 Shanghai auto show concept, was to be positioned above the 7-series and would be joined by a two-door roadster/coupe (fi lling the spot abdicated by the Z8). But the project fell victim to the recession.

Now, however, it’s been resurrected, albeit in less grandiose form. The new CS, as a four-door coupe only, will become part of the 6-series family, alongside the traditional two-door coupe and the cabrio. The change in plans means that the BMW won’t arrive before 2012. The Audi and a second-generation Mercedes, meanwhile, are both expected late this year. — georg kacher

. . . AND THE 6-SERIES WILL GAIN A FOUR-DOOR COUPE

YRIAD INTRIGUING TECHNOLOGICAL innovations and new engines and transmissions mark the sixth generation of BMW’s 5-series. Developed in parallel with the 7-series, it shares all suspension components, resulting in a switch from struts to a multilink layout in front. Most suspension components, the front fenders, the doors, and the hood are aluminum. The optional active steering uses electric—instead of hydraulic—assistance for

additional fuel economy benefi ts. Every 5-series model thus far has surpassed its immediate

predecessor in power output and reduced emissions. The 2011 550i uses a smaller direct-injection, 4.4-liter V-8 with twin turbochargers and catalytic converters nestled between the cylinder banks. It makes 400 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque, which is good for 0 to 60 mph in just fi ve seconds, according to BMW. The 535i has a 300-hp, 3.0-liter in-line six with a single dual-scroll turbo and Valvetronic. Both engines drive through a six-speed manual or a new eight-speed automatic transmission. Braking regeneration is just one of many new effi ciencies. An ActiveHybrid version is expected to debut at the Geneva auto show in March.

It’s good-looking, too, with classic proportions, clear fl owing lines, and elegant detailing. Despite the coupelike roofl ine, rear headroom is uncompromised, and the 3.2-inch-longer wheelbase increases legroom. Altogether, our initial fi rst-hand look at the design and engineering was highly promising, and we expect the driving experience to confi rm that promise. The new 550i and 535i arrive this spring, followed later by a 528i powered by a 240-hp, 3.0-liter in-line six. Look for a report on our fi rst drive of the new 5-series in the April issue. — robert cumberford

Fives and SixesA NEW 5-SERIES ARRIVES FOR 2011 . . .


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THE ALL-NEW 2010 SRX

CADILLAC.COM/2010SRX

THE CADILLAC OF CROSSOVERSAdjectives are well and good, but for those who know, the numbers speak for themselves. Choose the 265 hp 3.0L V6 with direct injection and variable valve timing, or opt for the 2.8L V6 Turbo that produces 300 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque,* both with a six-speed automatic transmission. And whatever your engine choice, there is a sophisticated chassis underneath to make the most of the powertrain. Plus, available ZF SACHS Continuous Damping Control suspension technology reads the road every 2 milliseconds for improved driving dynamics. Finally, when the weather turns bad, one of the most advanced All-Wheel Drive systems available manages torque to each wheel, and is augmented by a rear electronic limited slip differential, which provides enhanced control. Introducing the new standard for luxury crossovers. The all-new 2010 Cadillac SRX. Starting at $34,155.† As shown $49,640.†


How tires and top speeds are related.

LAST FALL, WE JOINED CONTINENTAL TIRES AT THE Nardo proving ground in Italy, where eighteen tuner cars were invited to show off their top speeds on the 7.8-mile circular track. With our archaic speed limits in the United States, we often forget that you need serious tires to survive serious speeds. And serious speeds were defi nitely part of this program—have a look.

DOES IT MATTER?You may never achieve speeds like this at home, but all new car and truck tires sold in the United States have speed ratings on them. A tire’s ability to deal with high speeds doesn’t necessarily increase its handling and braking performance, but generally there is a strong correlation—so if you’re looking for a higher-performance tire, look for a higher speed rating.

PEAK SPEEDS REACHED DURING NARDO EVENT

TUNER CAR BASIS VEHICLE CLAIMED OUTPUT TOP SPEED9ff TR 1000 Porsche 911 GT3 Mark 2 838 hp 233 mphHohenester HS650G Audi A4 641 hp 219 mphGeiger Z06 Bi-turbo Chevrolet Corvette Z06 779 hp 213 mphEdo Gallardo LP600-4 Lamborghini Gallardo 592 hp 211 mphABT RS6 Avant Audi RS6 Avant 690 hp 208 mphMKB SL65 / 12 TT Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG 805 hp 205 mphBrabus GLK V12 Mercedes-Benz GLK350 740 hp 200 mphTechArt Cayenne Turbo Porsche Cayenne Turbo 670 hp 200 mphManhart M3 5.0 V10 Touring BMW 3-series wagon 534 hp 197 mphABT Audi R8 Audi R8 4.2 552 hp 195 mphLorinser C LV8 Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG 493 hp 195 mphTH2 RS Volkswagen T5 Transporter 769 hp 193 mph9ff PT 55 Porsche Panamera Turbo 542 hp 191 mphEdo Panamera Turbo Porsche Panamera Turbo 532 hp 190 mphAC Schnitzer ACS4 3.5 Turbo BMW Z4 sDrive35i 375 hp 188 mphAC Schnitzer ACS3 3.5d BMW 335d coupe 306 hp 179 mph9ff Speed9 Porsche 911 Turbo cabriolet 641 hp 179 mphSteinmetz Insignia OPC Opel Insignia wagon 389 hp 179 mph



Come on. A talking dog? Named Enzo?

When I started writing the book, the dog’s name was Juan Pablo. We were about to have our third child. If it was a boy, I wanted to name him Enzo. And my wife said, “Absolutely not.” She told me, “You’ve got to name the dog Enzo.” Recently, I got an e-mail from somebody who named his kid Enzo after Enzo the dog.

Enzo even gets a thrill ride around

Thunderhill Raceway Park in a BMW.

I thought that scene pushed the boundaries of credibility. But I got a call from Bob Bondurant, and he said, “Oh, I loved it when you had Enzo in the car! I take my dog Rusty out all the time.”

Dogs and race cars . . .

People say, “Well, it’s so obvious. You’re so manipulative.” But when I wrote this book, I had to fi re an agent over it. My agent said, “Nobody reads racing books. You can’t narrate from a dog’s point of view.” Now it’s in twenty-fi ve languages, and we’re up to almost a million copies in print.

Are you a racer yourself?

I raced a Spec Miata with SCCA for about four years. I stopped racing when I put my car into a wall—in the rain, of course—in Seattle. Then I wrote this book and my wife said, “You know, I wondered why you were doing that racing thing. Clearly, it was just research.”

The book really captures the allure of

competition driving.

I think racers appreciate the book on an entirely different level from the general ction-reading audience or the dog crowd. I

had a guy who wrote me a long e-mail, and he said, “My wife and my family and my friends have no idea why I’ve been racing for twenty years. They don’t get it. They don’t understand why I bother doing it. It doesn’t make any sense to them at all. Now I have this book, and I gave it to them and I said, ‘Just read this. This will explain it to you.’ ”

Is racing a metaphor for life?

When you go to your fi rst racing school, they tell you, “If something happens to your car, it’s your problem.” It’s about personal responsibility and taking charge of your life. You don’t like your job? Change it. Don’t say, “It’s somebody else’s fault that I have this job.” — preston lerner

Using a wise and endearing dog as his narrator, The Art of Racing in the Rain author Garth Stein has put motorsports on national best-seller lists.

In earning the DOT’s approval for U.S. sale, a tire needs to be tested only to a top speed just shy of 100 mph. European regulations call for ratings to be verifi ed by running the tire up to the claimed speed in increments of 10 kph for ten to twenty minutes at each step. Although the highest current marking allows manufacturers to claim a tire that’s capable of speeds only “above 186 mph,” companies sometimes publish a more precise number for how fast their tires can safely go. Michelin, which makes original-equipment rubber for the Bugatti Veyron, certifi es those tires to the car’s 253-mph top speed. Continental makes an entire line of high-speed tires, called the Vmax, which have either 360-kph (224-mph) or 400-kph (249-mph) ratings.

Speed ratings are found on the sidewall of a tire, in what’s known as the service description. The letter following the two- or three-digit numerical load index indicates the highest speed at which a tire can safely be driven. The “Y” service description surrounded by parentheses indicates that the tire can be driven in excess of that speed rating. All speeds are converted from kilometers per hour, hence the seemingly odd break points. The old “Z” rating (more than 149 mph) has been largely replaced by the “W” and “Y” designations. Some common ratings include: S: 112 mphT: 118 mphH: 130 mph

V: 149 mphW: 168 mphY: 186 mph

FEBRUARY 2010 | AUTOMOBILEMAG.COM 15


16 AUTOMOBILE | FEBRUARY 2010 ILLUSTRATION BY TIM MARRS

Just when America fi nally gets some really good diesel engines, automakers start giving up on the technology.

NLY A FEW MONTHS ago, the diesel engine’s momentum in the States seemed as unstoppable as its mighty torque and all-day driving range. Now, its prospects here have suddenly dimmed: with American and Japanese automakers switching off the lights on announced programs, the Germans are virtually alone in tending the oil-burning fl ame.

Honda, Nissan, Ford, and General Motors have all canceled previously announced plans for U.S.-market diesel models. Subaru hasn’t offi cially nixed diesels but says it is now focusing resources on hybrids instead. The casualties include diesel versions of the Acura TSX, the Nissan Maxima, the Ford F-150, and the half-ton Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra.

The message is clearer than the ticking idle of a Volkswagen Jetta TDI—diesel defectors see little future for the technology in the United States. Executives say they’ve been spooked by volatile diesel prices and by the high costs to design and build diesel engines and their complex emissions controls.

GM indefi nitely delayed its 4.5-liter Duramax turbo-diesel program despite spending tens of millions of dollars to develop the new V-8 for its full-size pickups and SUVs. Executives say that whatever diesels can do to help GM meet CAFE standards can be done at a lower cost with gasoline engines by employing improved transmissions, turbocharging, and direct injection.

High technology costs, along with market studies showing that many Americans were still skeptical or unfamiliar with diesel, also led Honda to abandon its diesel program.

“Beyond the German-car fans, Americans didn’t seem to embrace the idea fully,” said Christina Ra, a Honda spokesperson.

GM and other automakers say that diesel makes sense for models in Europe, where its popularity has been driven by high gasoline taxes and other government incentives.

But here, diesel fuel is often more expensive, and that has made automakers leery. Combine a global shortage of diesel refi ning capacity and a troubling spike in demand for “middle distillates”—not just diesel but also jet fuel and kerosene—with at U.S. gasoline demand and a

glut of supply, and the diesel price crunch may be just beginning. In fact, everything that gives diesel an edge in Europe, from high gasoline taxes to the Continent’s refi ning infrastructure, is reversed in America to favor gasoline.

The defections leave only Mazda among major Asian and American brands. Robert Davis, Mazda’s North American product chief, said Mazda may offer a new 2.2-liter turbo-diesel in U.S. models, likely beginning with its CX-7 or CX-9. Among the diesel-loving Germans, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have green-lighted four-cylinder diesels for U.S. models that likely will include the BMW 3-series, X3, and X1 and the Mercedes C-class and GLK. And Volkswagen has been cheered by higher-than-expected sales of its diesel offerings. These makers

may be joined by Mahindra, the Indian manufacturer, which still intends to market a diesel pickup here sometime in 2010.

Diesel’s special allure to enthusiasts, of course, is its promise of megamileage with little sacrifi ce in performance. That technological promise isn’t broken. But it’s fair to wonder how many Americans will ultimately enjoy diesel’s gift if it most often comes wrapped in an exclusive German box. — lawrence ulrich

Honda, Nissan, Ford, and General Motors have all canceled previously announced plans for U.S.-market diesel models.


Just reading the article, are you? All right, we’ll play along. In the mid-1960s, Pirelli decided that a free calendar full of not-quite-half-dressed women was just what it needed to sell more tires. Thirty-seven editions later, the calendar has become a cult obsession whose extravagance even a global recession hasn’t diminished. This year, models were photographed in Brazil by Terry Richardson. Pirelli is giving away fewer copies than in the past—about 20,000 worldwide and only 700 for the United States. You won’t get one unless you’re willing to bid hundreds of dollars on eBay or make friends with Pirelli executives, who, we’re told, fi ght over their calendar quotas.



ISSAN’S LEAF IS highly important, a true milestone in automotive history. Essentially, it’s the fi rst electric car from an established manufacturer that is seriously intended for

imminent production. Yes, I know about General Motors’ EV1, which was our 1997 Design of the Year. But you couldn’t buy it. You could only lease it and, ultimately, had to give it back to be scrapped. Most of the electric cars I’ve seen in fi fty years in the automobile business were funny little Renaults stuffed full of lead-acid golf-cart batteries, which transformed nimble four-door sedans into heavy, slow two-seat city cars. A few electric conversions are available now—Peugeots and Minis—but they’re basically existing small cars that have been clumsily repurposed in half-hearted gestures toward being “green.”

Asked to characterize the Leaf in Tokyo last October, Nissan’s head of American operations, Carlos Tavares, thought for a moment, then said, “It’s a real car.” That’s a powerful statement—and one I’d like to believe. Driving a test mule with the Leaf’s systems for a brief moment, I thought it quite nice, but it was hardly a defi ning experience. What concerns me about the Leaf is its crushing visual banality. Many surface details are excellent, but others are just awkward. It’s often said that a camel is a horse designed by committee. The Leaf, alas, looks like it was done by a committee of committees. It’s not ugly, but neither is it striking nor exciting. Perhaps that’s

understandable. It wouldn’t be a good idea to give it the “this is a hybrid” Kamm profi le of the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight, however effi cient that is, nor should it have been an electrifi ed version of an existing model. But surely it didn’t have to look quite so . . . ordinary.

Nissan PR people say the electrical plug trapdoor on the Leaf’s nose is a highly distinguishing mark of electrifi cation. It is not. There’s the suggestion of a radiator grille, too, as unnecessary here as were the huge false radiators on air-cooled Franklins in the 1920s and ’30s. Volkswagen and Porsche at least eschewed air inlets in the fronts of early Beetles and 356s, as did Chevrolet for the Corvair, all three fi rms thereby making clear their differences from “regular” cars. I know Shiro Nakamura and his Nissan design team, and they are a lot better than this disappointing Leaf might lead one to believe.

Putting any car into production today is a gigantic gamble, often based on no more than some half-qualifi ed executive’s “gut feeling” and justifi ed only by putting too many badges on one vehicle. For Nissan, making the brave commitment that the Leaf represents must have caused many sleepless nights, hence, I suspect, the play-it-safe shape. I hope the Leaf succeeds so that the next-generation Leaf’s styling can become what this one could and ought to have been. ■

Mediocre milestone.

Bulging, transparent headlamp covers are visible even from far behind the car.

Another curiosity is this blackout triangle behind the door and side transparencies. The upper point draws the eye upward and makes the car seem even taller.

This awkward line is puzzling. It peaks a bit ahead of the wheel centerline, so high on the body that it makes the side panels seem enormous.

After its peak, the side crease line becomes three fl attened segments joined by disparate radii, for an odd and unpleasant effect.

The trunk sill isn’t too high, but it is very narrow.

These under-tail ribs recall diffusers on race cars and lead one to ask, “what were they thinking?”

Not exactly a head-up display, but the speedometer readout is close to the driver’s down-the-road sight line.

The information on current usage, on the other hand, requires a considerable shift of focus.

The central control panel is clean, simple, and legible.

Nissan claims that this hatch over

The electric Leaf isn’t ugly, but surely it didn’t have to look

quite so . . . ordinary.

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the recharging plugs clearly identifi es the Leaf as an electric car. It doesn’t.

The hood’s very rounded edge visually shortens the front of the car.

The base of the windshield is considerably less rounded than the hood, leaving a big black void.

The windshield is sloped back at an extreme angle, more like an Italian GT coupe than a typical economy car. If only the whole car were this dynamic.

The nearly fl at roof panel elegantly runs under the transverse spoiler/CHMSL at the rear.

This is not a radiator grille, but it has the outline and inset surface one would expect to see for one.

This rib that dips below the air intake beneath the grille shape in the lower front fascia is crisply executed and leads nicely into a surround for the foglamps.

Sculpting of the entire front end is quite elegant, with a soft radius

across the nose above the “grille” and the side crease turning back toward the wheel opening.

For all the visibility it provides, this leading quarter window might just as well be opaque.

The tall, featureless sides provide a good base for the Zero Emission graphics, but one hopes that not every Leaf will wear them.

Tall vertical taillights are well integrated to the upper structure, but less so on the lower body.

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ALL CARS BEGIN AS A

CONCEPT. ON RARE OCCASIONS,

THEY END AS ONE.

It began as an idea unburdened by limitations.

And in the end, despite the practicality of

manufacturing and the challenges of production,

it remained one. Introducing the first creation

from the Acura Design Studio – the ZDX four-door

coupe concept. Introducing Next.


T ISN’T OFTEN THAT a humble member of the Fourth Estate gets the chance to alter the course of industrial history. So I won’t take all [or even some—Ed.] of the credit, but I am certainly gratifi ed to learn that General Motors followed my advice and killed the sale of Opel.(I had nothing to do with Fritz Henderson.) GM’s future is instantly brighter, one of the worst strategic misadventures in the great American carmaker’s 101-year history has been averted, and one has to wonder—was GM ever serious about selling Opel in the fi rst place?

To recap, there were numerous reasons it made no sense to unload Opel, even as part of a strategy for a leaner, meaner future. So the

reasons cited by GM for canceling the sale now are as good today as they were eight months ago when I cataloged them in this space by way of castigating GM for dragging one of its crown jewels in the dirt.

Opel provides major engineering support for high-mileage, electric, and fuel-cell vehicles, the stuff GM will need in coming years. The best affordable passenger car that GM sells in the United States—the Chevy Malibu—is based on an Opel design. Many other Opel models can be more or less directly transferred to U.S. showrooms, as Buick plans to do with the 2011 Regal, a near-exact duplicate of the well-regarded Opel Insignia, just on sale in Europe. Ford is following a similar strategy with compact, Euro-designed cars and trucks already coming our way.

Opel has been gaining market share in recent years, which is more than you can say for the brands GM is off-loading, and even some of the ones it is keeping. Opel also provides a beachhead for GM in the European market—one of the world’s largest, along with the U.S. and China—as well as a vital presence in the burgeoning Russian automobile bazaar.

The case for keeping Opel was, in fact, so strong that some may conclude that GM was only ever pretending to sell it, knowing that the concept of U.S. taxpayer funds going to prop up a German company wouldn’t have played well when GM approached Congress seeking its $50 billion bailout, or when it hit the American bankruptcy courts, or, crucially, our idiot-led, cable-fed courts of public opinion.

Was it a case of doling out the facts parsimoniously while rolling out its real plans with lethargy

rooted in expedience? It’s a trend worth looking out for these days.

For GM wouldn’t be the only car giant holding its intentions close to its vest lately in the mad scramble for federal funds. Toyota recently announced, after agonizing months of public dithering, that it would shut the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc., plant in Fremont, California—its former joint venture with GM and its only plant staffed by UAW members. The announcement was quiet, but the timing was intriguing: Mere days had passed since the Cash for Clunkers program ended—a noteworthy detail, as the taxpayer-supported program had subsidized the sales of more Corollas (built at Fremont) than any other car. With the program expired, Toyota disclosed—to a Japanese news agency, for extra fact-defusing effect—that, like GM, it was bailing out of the NUMMI plant. All future Corollas destined for the American market will be imported from Canada or Japan. As Toyota’s ads once trilled: Oh, what a feeling.

Meanwhile comes word that Chrysler, which made a bold move into electric vehicles a central plank of its case for $12.5 billion of federal aid, suddenly plans to unplug its EV effort. Huh? Last January, Chrysler pledged that it would build half a million electric cars by 2013. But apparently this promise is no longer operative, with new owner Fiat’s recent decision to shutter Chrysler’s Envi division and merge electric efforts with general vehicle development, where Fiat chairman Sergio Marchionne says they’re still struggling with batteries. (Chrysler claims it’ll still build a test fl eet of 220 hybrid trucks and minivans, for which it received $70 million in Department of Energy loans.)

Of course Marchionne was on—or near—the case when all the promises were being made. He, too, chose to keep quiet about his real intentions. This proves that in addition to being a shrewd negotiator—Chrysler cost Fiat virtually nothing in auto-business terms—Fiat’s boss is molto in tune-o with what appears to be the industry’s new modus operandi: don’t fi ght the government like you used to—just tell it what it wants to hear and then do whatever you want anyway.

Like I said—oh, what a feeling. ■



HIS MAGAZINE WAS FOUNDED on the simple premise, “No boring cars.” Indeed, we all like to imagine ourselves as hard-core, take-no-prisoners speed junkies who readily sacrifi ce comfort in the name of performance. But after recently driving 7000 miles in the span of three weeks, I’ve gained a new appreciation for cars that occupy the less-exciting end of the performance spectrum. Because somewhere in Nebraska, fueled by whatever chemicals animate Jack Link’s beef jerky, I had this epiphany: if driving is so very often annoying, it becomes more

annoying in direct proportion to the performance of your car.A quick list of common driving-related frustrations: Traffi c circles

where people drive in the outside lane without exiting (which is to say, all traffi c circles). Construction zones where there’s no evident construction actually taking place. Construction zones where the arbiter of traffi c fl ow is a guy smoking a cigarette and wearing pajamas (I saw this in Canada). People who slow down while going through yellow lights. Unsynchronized strings of traffi c lights. People who cut you off and then drive 0.2 mph. Jaywalkers at rush hour. And speed bumps—there’s one obnoxious street in my neighborhood that’s going to see a new speed-bump speed record as soon as I get my hands on a Ford F-150 SVT Raptor.

All of these small moments of misery are even more infuriating if you’re driving a cool car. If you’re sitting in traffi c in a Ferrari, you feel like every turn of the crankshaft is a gross waste of performance, like entering Olympic track-and-fi eld gold medalist Usain Bolt in a potato-sack race. If you’re driving a Lotus Exige, you’ll be unable to see the parasites orbiting the outside of the traffi c circle, and you’ll be that much more fearful that one of them will punt you over the guardrail. And there are the matters of comfort and utility—although we all imagine ourselves as Ariel Atom–driving purists, fetching the groceries with bugs in our teeth, the soul-crushing chores of daily driving reward cars with more mundane priorities. Executive editor Joe DeMatio tells me that he recently had a Nissan GT-R and a Honda Fit in his driveway and found himself driving

the Fit for errands. And I can see where he’s coming from with that—sort of. I like to think that even if I had to take the Fit for an oil change, I’d tow it to Jiffy Lube behind the GT-R.

But the reality is that there’s probably more occasion for cars that lower your blood pressure rather than raise it. The base-engine Lexus IS C convertible is a case in point. I drove the IS C last summer and wasn’t expecting much, as this particular car was equipped with the dinky V-6, all 2.5 liters of it. Certainly, a hard-driving macho man like myself needs more than 204 hp to get out of bed in the morning.

Yet, in its bright blue paint and white leather interior, the IS C was a minor sensation. Ahead of me in a drive-through, a girl in an IS250 sedan leaned out the window and asked if I wanted to trade. In Boston, a grizzled townie called out, “Your cahh’s a piece of crap!” before adding, solemnly, “That thing’s beautiful.” At one red light, I fi elded questions from drivers in both adjacent lanes. I was honestly a little surprised by the stir caused by the IS C. And nobody asked how fast it goes. Everyone did ask how much it costs, which, thanks to the humble drivetrain, is an unexpectedly reasonable $40,000. So, the base IS C opts out of the horsepower war, but who cares? What, you were going to take it to the Friday Night Street Fights at your local quarter mile?

The Buick LaCrosse is another car that smooths out the rough edges of the world. It has taken a long time for



The Buick LaCrosse smooths out the rough edges of the world. Its interior is so quiet that you often fi nd it infested with monks.

Buick to decide what its brand stands for, but now we know that Buicks are quiet. The LaCrosse’s interior is so quiet that you often return to the car to fi nd it infested with monks. It’s so quiet, the Navy has code-named it Red October. It’s so quiet, it told some ninjas to pipe down. You don’t get mad in a library, and you don’t get mad in a LaCrosse, either. Driving the LaCrosse is like having an assistant who tells everyone you’re in a meeting.

But nothing lowers your blood pressure like a nice, big, politically incorrect, full-size SUV. The Land Rover LR4, for instance, is theoretically exciting if you take it off-road, but that’s irrelevant because nobody will take it off-road. Bad things happen off-road. Even if you don’t smash your rocker panels or get sand in a CV boot or leave your transfer case out in the woods, you’ll get home and wonder how you got mud on the headliner and why the dashboard contains raccoons. That’s fi ne in a Jeep Wrangler, where you can sanitize the

interior with a fl amethrower, but not in a $60,000 Land Rover.

So you stick to the pavement and deal with the inevitable congestion. However, there’s no better place to be stuck in traffi c than inside a big Land Rover. You’re perched high in the treetops in your overstuffed club chair, fl oating along on air suspension, surrounded by leather and wood and those inscrutable yet reassuring off-road knobs. Instead of feeling road rage, a Land Rover driver is instilled with a feeling of pity for fellow motorists, those landless peasants who aren’t enjoying a

heated steering wheel and a Jaguar V-8. The LR4 even has a nifty over-relaxation emergency feature: if you get so comfortable that you lose consciousness (or succumb to gout while driving), your passenger can stop the vehicle by pulling and holding the e-brake lever, which will activate the main braking system. In the LR4, even a dead guy in the driver’s seat isn’t cause for unseemly shouting or duress.

Boring cars, no. But if you take a candid look at the kind of driving you actually do, you might realize that a soothing car is what you actually need. ■

INK


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LETTER OF THE MONTH

In regard to December’s Vile Gossip: Our esteemed (?) government swindled stockholders out of two huge automobile companies—companies troubled because they overpaid the unions, built crap, and ignored their customers—then stupidly gave one of them to an Italian outfi t that years ago had to abandon our market because it was troubled, overpaid the unions, built crap, and ignored its customers. Somehow I don’t think this is going to do Chrysler alot of good. What does Fiat know today that it didn’t know twenty-fi ve years ago? Does it think that, fi nally, Americans will buy cars made from recycled orange juice cans with 40,000-rpm model airplane engines and the half-life of a fi recracker? Has it fi nally fi gured out how to apply rust inhibitor? Can it pick a dealer who’s more likely to be around tomorrow than a fl imfl am man on the run from Interpol? Just remember, folks—the Vega was supposedto be an answer to the Beetle, and the Yugo was originally a Fiat.Gary StevensenShakopee, Minnesota

Going blindI just read Georg Kacher’s polite but decidedly lukewarm article about the new Lexus LFA in the December 2009 issue. Kacher was uncharacteristically cautious with his praise as well as his criticism. It almost seemed as if he was worried that he might offend the proud parent of a new baby. My stepson noticed the real problem the second he retrieved the magazine from the mailbox with the exclamation, “It’s the new Nissan 370Z!” So, here we have a new Lexus with Fast and Furious Z-car styling and Nissan GT-R performance (not a bad thing) wrapped in a package that weighs more and costs ten times as much as the Z-car. Nice going, Lexus. No wonder the praise sounded a bit tepid.Eric MacleodBattle Creek, Michigan

If I had suddenly been struck temporarily blind and had to resort to having someone read me the article on the new Lexus LFA, I would have imagined a very beautiful car with aesthetics that match the high level of technical achievement. But once my

sight returned and I revisited the article to see the photos of this glorious machine, I would have no doubt been confused about what kind of joke they were playing. $350,000 to $400,000?!? Really? It’s just as ugly as (if not more ugly than) a Nissan GT-R, at several times the entry fee. Even Georg Kacher decided it would be best not to talk about such an unattractive baby. Put the camoufl age back on.Dave Vothvia Internet

I can’t think of an article on any car in recent memory that left me wishing for a design analysis from Robert Cumberford more than the one on the Lexus LFA. Not because I really wanted to know what the old curmudgeon thought, but because it would be interesting to know if he has really gone blind, as I occasionally think. There was not one photograph of this car that made me think it looked good. No angle, no feature, no element that made me believe that a stylist had any part in the making of this car. Honestly, in a $350,000 supercar, this is not a good thing. I can forgive less-than-stellar looks in the Nissan GT-R; its bargain price, relative to much of its competition, makes up for a lot. But this Lexus? I never liked the last couple of iterations of the SC series, but this sinks to a whole new level. Christian P. MaimoneFairfax, Virginia

Am I the only one to have noticed a cockeyed hood on the stunning Lexus LFA gracing the

cover of your December issue? The hood appears to have about a one-inch tolerance on the left (as we look at the picture) and a two-and-a-half-inch tolerance on the right. I used the word “tolerance.” Feel free to use the word “gap.” Perhaps this beautiful beast, while tooling down the backstretch at a mere 202 mph, sucked up a seagull through one of those air scoops, throwing off the tight fi t just a skosh. Since I have $800,000 sitting on my kitchen table doing nothing, I thought I might use the cash to pick up two of these babies; one for me and one for my wife. Hey! Maybe I’m being unreasonable. Perhaps it’s a camera-perspective thing. Still, I’m having second thoughts. Guess I’ll stick with the Toyota LFA’s little sister, my 2003 Prius.Marc SaegaertWest Hartford, Connecticut

Palmetto politicsJamie Kitman’s article on Bobby Hitt [ “BMW’s Fixer,” December] was exactly what I have been looking for—an article about a

Gary gets a special-edition silver-arrow streamliner model car from Schylling.



real person involved in the auto industry. Bobby Hitt is clearly on the management side, but he retains enough down-to-earth qualities to separate him from the masters of the universe and keep him relatable. Thank you for giving us a glimpse into the South Carolinian BMW experience. I found his recollections of the controversy surrounding BMW’s plant opening fascinating. While BMW certainly added a lot of jobs to the local economy, it also got a sweetheart deal on the land. It would have been interesting to see some statistics on the actual giveaways BMW received versus its overall contribution to the area, so that readers could decide who got the better end of that deal.Paul Russell LaverackLos Angeles, California

Living thirty miles from the BMW plant, I have to put up with the local media’s pro-BMW stance and the company’s endless PR. I do not want to read about it in a national magazine to which I subscribe. If BMW has been so great for South Carolina, why does this state still rank among the worst for education, college costs, per-capita income, health care, violent crime, unemployment, ad infi nitum? I know all about South Carolina legislators; it doesn’t take much to sucker them. Many of the employees at the BMW plant in Spartanburg are contract workers, with few benefi ts. BMW has laid off many workers in the past and is just beginning replacement hiring—reportedly contract employees only. Robert Tugwell Belton, South Carolina

Memory LaneRegarding Ezra Dyer’s comments about MapQuest [Dyer Consequences, December]: The fi rst and last time I used MapQuest, I was driving to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The directions had me exit the highway, take a left, go so many blocks down, and take another left, which led right back to the same highway. The name of that street? Memory Lane! I kid you not! Some programmer must have been laughing his ass off for adding that twist for anyone venturing through York. It happened to my daughter on her fi rst trip there, too. Scott RobbDale City, Virginia

Ezra Dyer’s column was truly one of the most enjoyable reads I’ve had in a long time. He whisked me away to my own past adventures (which I typically embarked on with no destinations in mind). I love that he blended themes of family time, the evolution of man, and the disconnect of the auto industry to current technology. (What do you expect when the life cycle of a car is so much greater than that of consumer electronics?) Thanks for the short trip down memory lane.Doug ShefskyWest Hartford, Connecticut

A capital statementI NORMALLY DON’T WASTE MY TIME WRITING TO MAGAZINES, BUT I’VE GOT A FEW MINUTES TO SPARE. YOU KIDS WHO WRITE THESE ARTICLES ARE A BUNCH OF SPOILED BRATS. YOU GET PAID TO DRIVE VEHICLES THAT MOST PEOPLE

NEVER GET TO SEE, LET ALONE DRIVE. MAYBE THAT CHEAPIE STRIPPED-DOWN CAR IS ALL SOMEONE CAN AFFORD. YOU GUYS (I’M BEING NICE, AS I HAVE SOME REALLY GOOD NAMES FOR YOUR KIND) SHOULD CONSIDER HOW YOU BERATE A PRODUCT BEFORE YOU PRINT WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP YOU THINK IT IS! I’VE BEEN IN THE CAR BUSINESS ALL MY LIFE AND HAVE DRIVEN ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT THE REGULAR PEOPLE CAN BUY. I HAVE YET TO DRIVE A JAPANESE OR GERMAN CAR THAT LIVED UP TO ITS PROPAGANDA. YOU DON’T PAINT A TRUE PICTURE OF A VEHICLE WHEN ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS THE IPOD CONNECTION AND HOW STIFF THE SUSPENSION IS OR HOW MANY G’S YOU CAN PULL! JUST STUPID KID NONSENSE! OH, AND YOU ALWAYS FORGET THE UGLY FACTOR! THE GERMANS AND JAPANESE HAVE YET TO DESIGN A NICE-LOOKING CAR. THAT’S WHY THE GERMANS BOUGHT BRITISH AND ITALIAN CAR COMPANIES. I’LL DRIVE MY AMERICAN CARS FOREVER! Bud Scamardovia Internet

Excuse our YiddishJamie Kitman [NVH, December] should be more careful. It is worse to trash a fi ne old language than it is to trash a fi ne old car. The word is mishpachah, not mishpuchah. John Cruse Des Moines, Washington

Write: Letters, Automobile Magazine,120 E. Liberty, Ann Arbor, MI 48104E-mail: [email protected]

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■

The gas/electric X6 uses hardware shared with GM, Chrysler, and Mercedes, but BMW’s integration sets the standard for an engaging hybrid vehicle.

MIAMI, FLORIDA

BMW has a problem: The swanky South Beach clientele who love the brand’s impractical $70,000 four-seat

trucks (you know, the ones with the 400-hp, twin-turbo V-8s) might one day start caring about fuel economy. They might put a diesel-powered X5 in their polished-marble driveways if practicality weren’t so gosh-darned unappealing.

Enter the ActiveHybrid X6, a big solution to the big dilemma of suddenly environmentally conscious nouveaux riches. We’re using the word “big” because the idea of a BMW hybrid has a big problem: all of the drawbacks of a

full-blown hybrid system (the oddly nonlinear brake feel, the artifi cial-feeling electric power steering, and the lack of fi xed gear ratios) are at perfect odds with the Ultimate Driving Machine virtues that have made BMW so successful.

But notice that we also used the word “solution.” The X6 proves that, with some creative engineering, hybrids don’t have to be less involving than their combustion-only peers.

To avoid common hybrid pitfalls, the ActiveHybrid X6 uses a few tricks. First, it employs the two-mode hybrid system that BMW jointly developed with General Motors, Chrysler, and Mercedes-Benz. Like the other vehicles that use this equipment, the X6 has four fi xed gear ratios and two continuously variable ranges achieved with planetary gears and two electric motors. While most two-mode applications switch back and forth between fi xed and continuously variable gear ratios, BMW has programmed the X6’s system to

Threatening the hybrid establishment.


emulate a conventional seven-speed automatic, with an additional eighth ratio engaged only during coasting. The fi xed gears provide the odd-numbered ratios while the even ratios come from the planetary gears regulated by electric motors. In combination with the twin-turbo V-8’s fl at torque curve, this arrangement delivers an excellent combination of acceleration and fuel economy.

BMW’s second trick is to eliminate the strange pedal feel that can occur when the hybrid’s braking system apportions deceleration duties among the electric motors and the brake pads. To this end, the X6 uses a by-wire system, meaning that the brake pedal is essentially just an electric switch. It had us completely fooled—it feels absolutely no different from any other BMW brake pedal and easily gives the X6 the best brake feel of any hybrid on the road.

The X6 can shut down its V-8 at speeds up to 37 mph and can travel up to 1.6 miles on electric power alone. The system is very willing to keep the gasoline engine switched off in city traffi c, aiding fuel economy. The EPA highway rating climbs 1 mpg to 19, but the city rating jumps from 13 mpg to 17, a 31 percent improvement.

There are a few drawbacks, of course: the electronics module on top of the V-8 gives the hood a schnoz that makes the X6 look in desperate need of a nose job. The hybrid system adds bulk to an already obese vehicle, pushing the ActiveHybrid X6’s weight to an

outrageous 5688 pounds. A negative side effect of the weight gain is a slightly harsh and bouncy ride.

The battery pack is located beneath the cargo load fl oor in a space usually reserved for an optional spare wheel and tire. Even with twenty-inch wheels (standard here), handling suffers a bit. Remember, though, that the X6 is one of the world’s best-handling SUVs to begin with.

The ActiveHybrid’s fuel-economy boost comes at almost no cost to the X6’s spectacular straight-line performance, as the incremental mass is offset by the additional thrust of the electric motors—the engine produces 400 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque, and total system power is 480 hp and 575 lb-ft. BMW says that the 0-to-60-mph time is one-tenth of a second behind that of the X6 xDrive50i, which we clocked at 5.1 seconds.

Of course, the diesel-powered X5 produces far greater EPA numbers both in the city and on the highway (19 and 26 mpg, respectively), but it certainly can’t catapult itself to 60 mph in fi ve seconds. Although the diesel engine might have been a much simpler and more economical solution for the X6, nothing says “I now care about the environment” like a hybrid badge. Especially when you’re beating sports cars at the stoplight drags. — jason cammisa

■

It’s a hybrid, but will your neighbors recognize it as such? Cosmetic differences between the ActiveHybrid and the gasoline-powered X6 are subtle.


The SpecsON SALE: NowPRICE: $89,725ENGINE: 4.4L twin-turbo V-8/electric hybrid, 480 hp (combined), 575 lb-ft (combined) BATTERY: Nickel-metal hydride, 2.4 kWhDRIVE: 4-wheel


BMW ActiveHybrid 7Having your cake and eating it, too.

MUNICH, GERMANY

Remember when most enthusiasts decried the imposition of regulations on emissions, saying that the

government was going to make our cars unsavory, pale shadows of what they had been? Who would then have predicted that we would arrive at today’s state of affairs, when a luxury limousine like the BMW ActiveHybrid 7—to use the offi cial nomenclature—can accelerate to 60 mph in fi ve seconds, run to 150 mph before being artifi cially restrained, and do it while being

both more economical and cleaner than its conventional sister?

The 7 Hybrid is a magnifi cent testament to the abilities of motivated engineers to attain whatever “impossible” standards we collectively demand. Using technologies developed

in concert with Mercedes-Benz, BMW has made its hybrid not only better environmentally but actually more pleasant to live with. Early stop-and-start systems were terribly disconcerting, but this one is totally transparent. When you come to a stop, the V-8 shuts off, leaving the cabin absolutely silent. Lifting off the brake pedal

quickly restarts the engine, and touching the throttle moves the car smartly, thanks to the 20-hp, 120-volt electric motor interposed between the crankshaft and the eight-speed automatic transmission.

The whole system, including the lithium-ion battery pack in the trunk, adds 250 pounds to the already-hefty 750i, but there’s a fi fteen percent reduction in fuel consumption and an increase in total power from 400 to 455 hp. Torque is up 66 lb-ft, and the heavier ActiveHybrid gets to 60 mph three-tenths of a second quicker, according to BMW. Obviously, there are substantial costs involved, but an owner can reasonably expect to gain that back at the pump—and in having a clear conscience. BMW expects 45 percent of hybrid 7s to be sold in the United States. — robert cumberford


■

The 7-series hybrid can’t move under electric power alone but still manages a fi fteen percent increase in fuel economy.

TechtonicsBMW is simultaneously launching two gasoline/

electric hybrid vehicles that use the same basic

twin-turbocharged V-8. The similarities end there:

The 7-series has a relatively simple system that is

referred to as integrated motor assist or as a “mild

hybrid.” The X6 uses a more advanced two-mode hybrid system.

In the 7-series, a 20-hp electric motor sandwiched between the engine and the

transmission provides assistance. It restarts the gas engine when the driver lifts his or her

foot from the brake, contributes supplemental power during acceleration, and charges the

battery during deceleration. The hybrid 7-series can’t run on electric power alone, and the

engine is always coupled to the transmission. A low-capacity lithium-ion battery stores

electricity and powers the motor.

The two-mode hybrid system of the X6, on the other hand, allows for electric-only driving

at city speeds. The complex transmission offers more ways to tap into the motors and the

engine, yielding better effi ciency. Although the X6’s battery uses less advanced nickel-metal-

hydride chemistry, the larger pack permits a usable range when driven under electric power.

The Specs ON SALE: MayPRICE: $100,000 (est.)ENGINE: 4.4L twin-turbo V-8/electric hybrid, 455 hp (combined), 516 lb-ft (combined)BATTERY: Lithium-ion, 0.8 kWh (est.)DRIVE: Rear-wheel

DRIVEN


Maliburises to the topHow Chevy raised the quality, satisfaction,and mid-size-sedan value standard.

Accord in the most recent J. D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Survey. The Chevy Malibu’s improved reliability has earned it the respect of used-car shoppers, even as the Accord and the Toyota Camry have lost ground in terms of value retention.

To beat the old guard, Chevy gave the Malibu the longest wheelbase in the mid-size sedan class for maximum interior and trunk space. Both of the engines offered—a 2.4-liter four-cylinder and a 3.6-liter V-6—have advanced technology for excellent power and performance with class-leading gas mileage. While the Honda Accord and the Hyundai Sonata skate by with fi ve-speed automatic transmissions, the Malibu LT and LTZ each have a six-speed automatic to enhance both acceleration and highway fuel effi ciency.

Creating the most attractive sedan in the mid-size segment was the easy part. The tougher job was challenging the core attributes—quality, reliability, durability, and value—achieved by the best Asian models. After two-plus years on the market, the answer is in. The Chevy Malibu has risen above its introductory acclaim to convince those who matter—real owners—that it is the new world-class standard for quality, all-around satisfaction, and long-lasting value.

Leading consumer authorities have showered the Malibu with praise, but owner survey results tell an even more convincing story. The Malibu excels in operating cost, occupant protection, and gas-mileage categories. It earned top marks from nationwide consumers in 12 out of 17 reliability areas and topped the Honda

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The Malibu’s contemporary dual-cockpit design sets an upscale cabin mood. Both metallic and wood-grain accents are offered. Displays for the instruments, entertainment system, and climate control are backlit with soothing blue illumination. Center-console and door-handle pockets are bathed in direct light for nighttime convenience.

Fastidious attention to detail and luxury-class craftsmanship are evident in every surface you see and touch. A large storage bin built into the top of the instrument panel is the perfect place to stash sunglasses, CDs, and parking tickets. The center armrest slides several inches fore and aft to accommodate drivers of every stature. The console and the door panels are cleverly confi gured for beverage containers, cell phones, and pocket change. Dual power outlets, a tilt-and-telescopic steering

column, and a split-folding rear backrest are all standard.To optimize poise and quietness, Chevy benchmarked

luxury sedans that cost twice as much as the Malibu. The Malibu’s interior was purged of noise and vibration by tightening the door gaps, adding laminated acoustic glass, lining the wheelhouses with molded composites, and coating underbody areas with a spray-on sound deadener.

Features such as a power adjustment for the front seats’ lumbar support and turn-by-turn navigation assist, previously unheard of in moderately priced sedans, are standard in the Malibu. LT and LTZ models are equipped with heated seats.

Anyone who thinks they deserve a treat will fi nd salvation in the Malibu LTZ’s two-tone leather trim with accent piping and double-stitched seams. Luxurious cloth and sheer suede seat trim are also offered.


While some makers endow their mid-size sedans with the dynamic personality of an elevator, Chevrolet invested extra engineering effort to perfect the Malibu’s driving enjoyment. A broad stance, four-wheel independent suspension with low unsprung weight, and direct-acting antiroll bars capably manage body motions during aggressive maneuvers. The variable-assist power rack-and-pinion steering is tuned for excellent road feel and direct response, and 50-series touring tires mounted to seventeen- or eighteen-inch steel or spun-cast aluminum wheels complete the link to the road. The Malibu’s four-wheel disc brake system is blessed with standard StabiliTrak stability and antilock controls. Traction control is also standard equipment.

The Malibu’s underhood zest comes from the high-compression-ratio, DOHC, 4-valves-per-cylinder, and sequential-port-fuel-injection technology built into both of its engines. The standard Ecotec 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine delivers strong acceleration and returns30 to 33 mpg on the highway. The optional 252-horsepower, 3.6-liter V-6 revs to 7000 rpm while hustling to the head of the pack and still delivers 20 mpg in combined driving.

Polishing Chevy’s star in the brutally competitive mid-size cosmos involved no magic. What it took was an unswerving dedication to world-class design, durability, creature comforts, and driving dynamics. With more than two years of enthralled customers to its credit, the Malibu is off and running as the new leader of the bow-tie brigade.To see videos of the new Malibu, visit www.automobilemag.com/showcase/chevrolet

Above: Two-tone leather graces a spacious rear seat that splits and folds. Below: A one-year subscription to OnStar is standard. The gauges are backlit in a soothing blue hue. The trunk holds a generous 15.1 cubic feet.

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION


Lexus LS460 Sport

SAN DIEGO

Two decades of impeccably mature behavior have earned the Lexus LS platinum status with the AARP. But with the LFA supercar arriving later this year and IS-Fs hassling BMW

3-series mavens, perhaps the moment is right for a Lexus fl agship that doesn’t act its age. Enter the LS460 Sport, a senior Lexus that drives like the Viagra just kicked in.

Ground-grazing skirts and paddle shifters seemed out of place on this sedate sedan until a quick blast through upscale San Diego neighborhoods convinced us that this personality adjustment was long overdue. Available only on the standard-wheelbase, rear-wheel-drive LS, the Sport package adds $6185 to the $65,555 base price (it also requires opting for the $2080 luxury value package, which includes navigation, a nineteen-speaker Mark Levinson sound system, and XM satellite radio).

All LS sedans were freshened for 2010 with subtle changes to their headlamps, grille, taillamps, bumper fascias, and wheels. The Sport model has its own aggressively textured grille, lower body kit, and nineteen-inch forged-aluminum wheels. Brembo opposed-piston brakes peer menacingly through the twenty-spoke rims. Thankfully, we’ve been spared the sport badge and rear spoiler clichés.

Inside, a new telematics system available on navigation-equipped LS’s provides routing assistance, automatic collision notifi cation, stolen vehicle recovery, and XM reception. All LS cabins are blessed with new metallic accents on the center stack, more neatly integrated audio controls, active front-seat headrests,

and an ECO lamp to encourage parsimonious driving.

We never saw the ECO light fl ash during our test run, because the eight-speed automatic with Sports Direct Shift Control, transplanted from the IS-F, is so adept at keeping the vitality bubbling. As usual, clicking the right paddle cues upshifts, and the left tab activates downshifts. The transmission waits patiently for the driver’s prompt even with the engine knocking on its 6600-rpm redline. Gear changes are quick and decisive, and the throttle is judiciously blipped to harmonize downshifts.

The hyperactive transmission allows the LS’s carryover 380-hp V-8 to sing melodies we never knew were in its repertoire. Locked in lower gears, this engine clears its

■

Attention seniors: paddle shifters have invaded your cockpit. The black and tan perforated leather and matte-fi nished ash burl trim are also exclusive to the sport package.

Delightfully immature.


DRIVEN


throat and belts out high notes like Roy Orbison at his rockabilly best.

The LS’s 4.6-liter engine uses both port and direct fuel injection, variable valve timing, and an 11.8:1 compression ratio to achieve 16 mpg in city driving and 24 mpg on the highway, thereby skirting the EPA’s gas-guzzler wrath. Appropriate clicking of the shifters delivers 60 mph in 5.4 seconds, according to Lexus, on the way to a governed 130-mph top speed.

To teach the LS a few contemporary dance steps, engineers recalibrated the air springs, tightened the dampers, and stiffened the antiroll bars. Give its leather steering wheel a smart yank and the LS Sport makes surprisingly athletic moves. The 45-series tires sink rubber teeth into the pavement, and both ends move as a coordinated whole, without a hint of tail wag. Body wallow and roll are gone, although the electric power steering remains mushy to the touch. The same gripe applies to the brake pedal, but at least there’s surplus stopping power now that the Brembos are on duty.

In contrast to the boy-racer exterior, the LS460 Sport’s interior shows exquisite taste and tailoring. The fi rmly bolstered front

buckets and the comfortable rear seats are trimmed with delicious black and tan perforated leather. In place of the glossy varnish coating the LS kin’s paneling, the Sport edition’s dark ash burl has a tasteful matte fi nish.

We’re hoping that this LS460 Sport is a

preview of coming attractions. The feature entertainment we’d love to see is a Lexus LS-F powered by a tuned version of the 600hL’s 5.0-liter V-8 and programmed to hound the haughty German sport sedans.

— don sherman


The SpecsON SALE: NowPRICE: $73,820 ENGINE: 4.6L V-8, 380 hp, 367 lb-ft DRIVE: Rear-wheel

Mitsubishi Outlander GTNo preconceptions.

PALM SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA

Sometimes it’s not a bad thing, if you’re an automaker, to have a vehicle in your lineup that’s nearly invisible. Since nobody has any preconceived notions about the car, you can try to reposition it. In the case of the slow-selling Outlander, Mitsubishi hopes to

stretch its appeal beyond the Honda CR-V/Toyota RAV4 class to mix with crossovers like the Subaru Outback. This is a reach, but what does Mitsubishi have to lose?

In actuality, although all four trim levels of the Outlander have been face-lifted for 2010, only the top-of-the-line GT is gunning for the Outback. It’s armed with a version of the Lancer Evolution’s Super-All-Wheel-Control system, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, a 710-watt Rockford Fosgate stereo, HID headlamps, and a sunroof, all as standard equipment. The new FUSE hands-free system, also standard, allows you to stream music from your phone via the in-dash touch screen.

The 3.0-liter V-6 in the GT and the XLS gets a slight bump in power, from 220 to 230 hp, thanks to an increased compression ratio. Acceleration with the standard six-speed automatic is smooth and refi ned, but the engine feels sluggish when you’re climbing a grade. The Outlander has a more controlled highway ride than the Outback, although the Mitsubishi’s steering feels a bit numb on center.

With a starting price of $29,990, the Outlander GT doesn’t make a strong case for itself against the similarly priced Outback. Then again, the Outlander is better looking and provides a third-row seat—albeit a tiny one—in V-6 models. If that’s all it takes to get customers into Mitsubishi showrooms, it’s no bad thing. — mike ofiara

The SpecsON SALE: NowPRICE: $29,990ENGINE: 3.0L V-6, 230 hp, 215 lb-ft DRIVE: 4-wheel

DRIVEN


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VOTE RECIPIENTS

AUDI A3

AUDI Q5

AUDI R8

AUDI S4

AUDI S5

BMW Z4

BMW 335d

BMW 7-SERIES

CADILLAC CTS

CHEVROLET CAMARO

CHEVROLET CORVETTE

CHEVROLET EQUINOX

CHEVROLET MALIBU

CHEVROLET SILVERADO

DODGE RAM 1500

FERRARI 599GTB FIORANO

FORD FLEX

FORD FUSION HYBRID

FORD MUSTANG GT

HONDA CIVIC

HYUNDAI GENESIS COUPE

JAGUAR XF/XFR

LINCOLN MKT

LOTUS EVORA

MAZDA MX-5 MIATA

MAZDA/MAZDASPEED 3

MERCEDES-BENZ C63 AMG

MERCEDES-BENZ G-CLASS

MERCEDES-BENZ S-CLASS

MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION

NISSAN CUBE

NISSAN GT-R

NISSAN 370Z

PORSCHE BOXSTER/CAYMAN

PORSCHE 911

SUBARU LEGACY/OUTBACK

SUZUKI KIZASHI

TESLA ROADSTER

VOLVO C30

The auto industry may be coming off

its worst year in recent memory, but

you’d never know it from driving a

crop of dozens of new cars, as we just

did during our annual All-Stars com-

petition. The level of excellence was

high, and the competition was keen—

so much so that thirty-nine cars [list

at right, winners in yellow] received

votes for the ten All-Star spots. In the

end, though, our balloting produced a

list of true standouts that span a wide

range of the automotive spectrum.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW YEADON



Jaguar XF/XFR



This cat has claws.■

As a brand-new car, the 2009 Jaguar XF earned an All-Star award for its balance of power, athleticism, and refi nement. So when the XF received signifi cant improvements for 2010,

we naturally had to reward Jaguar for making a good thing even bet-ter. Within fi fteen months of launching the car, Jaguar had three new V-8 engines for the XF lineup, all displacing 5.0 liters and inject-ing fuel directly into the cylinders. In the XF, the new engines make 385 and 470 hp, while the most signifi cant addition is a 510-hp, su-percharged version for the new XFR performance model.

Although no one ever complained about a lack of power in our 420-hp Four Seasons 2009 XF Supercharged, the blazing fast XFR is easily our favorite cat. Stiffer springs and active dampers conspire to fi rm up the handling without damaging the ride quality. With stabil-ity control disabled, the XFR is happy to slide its rear end around cor-ners in response to calculated throttle inputs. Even better, no matter

how juvenile the driver, the Jag always transitions to oversteer with a predictable, controlled grace. At the track, the XFR’s compliant chas-sis and quick, positive-feel steering mask the car’s heft and inspire you to drive the 4306-pound sedan like a small sport coupe.

Inside, Jaguar brings a wholly modern style to the cabin yet doesn’t abandon elegance. The aluminum and dark wood accents in the XFR are softened by rich two-tone leather seats and contrasting stitching along the doors and the dash. Although the seats could use a bit more bolstering for hard driving, the cockpit is otherwise per-fectly matched to the XFR’s bipolar profi ciency of being both a sports

car and a luxury touring sedan. It’s that uncompromising practicality and re-freshed performance that establish the Jaguar XF, in all its permutations, as an All-Star. — eric tingwallBASE PRICE RANGE:

$52,000–$80,000ENGINES: 4.2L V-8, 300 hp, 303 lb-ft; 5.0L V-8, 385 hp, 380 lb-ft; 5.0L supercharged V-8, 470/510 hp, 424/461 lb-ft


Audi S4Less is so much more.

■

Having fi nally cemented its place in the top echelon of the world’s carmakers, Audi shows no signs of letting its guard down. Instead, it’s getting ready for the twenty-fi rst century’s

post-scarcity, carbon-averse market with a new-for-2010 S4 that ex-cises the last generation’s 4.2-liter V-8 in favor of a supercharged 3.0-liter V-6. Cheaper than the car it replaces ($46,725 versus $51,085), the sure-footed, all-wheel-drive S4 takes everything we like about the Audi A4 upon which it is based—comfort, safety, and solid build quality—and cranks it up. Although the extro-verted body kit is more minimal and it’s two cylinders shy of its antecedent, the losses are merely theoretical. The new S4 is down just 7 hp and coaxes an impressive 333 hp from its mod-est displacement, yet torque increases from 302 to 325 lb-ft. Shedding half a second in the 0-to-60-mph run (5.2 seconds with a six-speed manual), the S4 also manages to increase fuel economy. Audi’s new seven-speed dual-clutch S tronic gearbox, which offers greater smoothness at the price of some haste off the line, is an appealing option, as is the Sports Rear Differential, which shifts torque from side to side, reducing understeer. The spiffy diff option also buys you Drive Select, a feature that allows the driver to program settings for the suspension and the steer-ing. But our best memories are reserved for the fi ery V-6 that pulls to its 7000-rpm redline like there’s no tomorrow. Quicker, cleaner, thriftier, cheaper. We’ll take it. — jamie kitman

BASE PRICE: $46,725ENGINE: 3.0L supercharged V-6, 333 hp, 325 lb-ft



Chevrolet CamaroOld-school charm from the new GM.

■

Former General Motors president and CEO Fritz Henderson understated matters last fall when he admitted that “2009, in general . . . , has been a year that I’ll be very glad to have

behind us.” In fact, General Motors Company, as it’s now called, has never experienced a darker twelve-month period in its 101-year history. Amid all the turmoil, though, there have been glimmers of hope. Look no further than the Chevrolet Camaro—if you can fi nd one on dealer lots, that is—for proof that GM can build great cars. It’s a smashing sales success and, now, an Automobile Magazine All-Star.

Although the Camaro may appear to be a blast from the past, it actually embodies many of GM’s most promising changes. Australian engineers at Holden have rightly become the com-pany’s global go-to team for rear-wheel-drive cars, and the Ca-maro is more athletic and sophisticated for it. Another sign of smart thinking is the base Camaro’s direct-injected V-6. It’s nearly as powerful as the last generation’s V-8 but gets almost 30 mpg on the highway. Of course, we don’t mind the 6.2-liter V-8 in the Camaro SS (and neither do customers, most of whom

have opted for its extra grunt). “The SS had per-haps the best engine roar of any car we had at the track,” adds editor-in-chief Jean Jennings.

On a deeper level, the Camaro proves that a brash, beautiful American car can still hit an emotional chord with the general public. “It still gets plenty of stares,” notes road test coordinator Mike Ofi ara.

The Camaro isn’t perfect. Our wish list includes sharper handling, a smaller-diameter steering wheel, and a better-dressed interior (although we absolutely love the well-bolstered front seats). Given that the Ford Mustang is already striking back with more horsepower for 2011, Chevy can hardly afford to rest on its laurels. Nonetheless, we can gladly affi rm that the reborn and, yes, very bitchin’ Camaro is one of our favorite rides for 2010. — david zenlea

BASE PRICE RANGE: $23,530–$34,595ENGINES: 3.6L V-6, 304 hp, 273 lb-ft; 6.2L V-8, 400/426 hp, 410/420 lb-ft


BMW 335d

BASE PRICE: $44,725ENGINE: 3.0L twin-turbo diesel I-6,

265 hp, 425 lb-ft

Our kind of fuel sipper.■

Can we have a bit of fanfare, please? The BMW 335d is the most impor-tant car this year to get lost in the

crowd. While the 335i and the M3 always show up in comparison tests, the 335d is an outlier—because, really, what would you compare it with? There’s no other car that combines performance and fuel econ-omy at this level. Sure, there are many cars that do 0 to 60 mph in six seconds, but they don’t get 36 mpg on the highway. There are cars that match the 335d’s fuel econ-omy, but they don’t top out at 149 mph. From behind the wheel, the 335d feels even faster than its numbers suggest, because the diesel six cranks out more torque than a 6.2-liter Corvette—425 lb-ft. And despite the diesel’s weight penalty (220 pounds more than a 335i automatic), the car main-tains a 51/49 front/rear weight distribu-tion, which means that the 3-series’ sweet rear-wheel-drive handling survives intact.

Most diesels, even high-output modern ones, dispense their power in a sudden burst of thrust, followed by a pause for an upshift. Not this one. The 335d pulls hard all the way to its 4200-rpm power peak, and its standard automatic transmission grabs the next gear so quickly that an acceleration run is a relentless shove until you let off the gas (er, diesel). So the 335d is game for hard driving when you’re in the mood, but it can also return subcompactlike fuel economy. And, in one of the coolest tax laws ever, the U.S. government will give you a $900 tax credit to buy this twin-turbo BMW.

If BMW built a unique-bodied hybrid that returned the numbers that the 335d does, it would be a huge sensation. But be-cause the 335d looks like a normal 3-series (itself a perennial All-Star, by the way) and doesn’t wear a hybrid badge, we already tend to take its achievements for granted. We shouldn’t. — ezra dyer



Dodge Ram 1500

BASE PRICE RANGE: $21,510–$43,550ENGINES: 3.7L V-6, 215 hp, 235 lb-ft; 4.7L V-8, 310 hp, 330 lb-ft; 5.7L V-8, 390 hp, 407 lb-ft

From meathead to egghead.■

The pickup market is among the most stagnant and resistant to change of any segment in the automotive arena. So when a new pickup has the fortitude to question established prac-

tices, it deserves to be recognized. The new half-ton Dodge Ram is that truck.

Cutting against the unquestioned trend of ever-more-ludicrous towing fi gures, towering “in-your-face” grilles, and absurdly jacked-up ride heights, Dodge engineers stepped back from the mindless braggadocio to create a vehicle that actually works smarter. Throw-ing out years of accepted wisdom, they scrapped the antediluvian leaf springs in favor of a well-located coil-sprung rear axle, dramati-cally improving the pickup’s ride quality. They retreated from the cartoonish styling and instead shaped their truck in the wind tun-nel, and consequently it uses less fuel. They also at long last addressed the issue of covered, secure cargo storage—which other makers of full-size trucks had consigned their buyers to add themselves or do without—and created the hugely innovative RamBox in-bedside

storage compartments. Apparently also questioning the notion that a noisy truck is somehow acceptable where a noisy car is not, Dodge created a Ram that is astonishingly quiet to drive (although we are glad to still hear the Hemi V-8’s distinct bur-ble at start-up). In the suddenly competitive domain of interiors, the Ram sets the stan-dard by living up to the radical idea that the cabin of a $40,000 truck should be as nice as that of a $40,000 car.

In all these changes, the Ram often had to go not just against its competitors, but also its own history. It surely was not easy. The Dodge Ram has gone from meathead to egghead, adding brains to its brawn. As a result, it surges to the front of the pack as the most livable yet still highly capable big pickup in the land. — joe lorio



BASE PRICE RANGE: $29,325–$43,635ENGINES: 3.5L V-6, 262 hp, 248 lb-ft; 3.5L twin-turbocharged V-6, 355 hp, 350 lb-ft

Now with more muscle.■

In its debut year, we were so taken by the Ford Flex’s classically contemporary style and refi ned functionality that we named it a 2009 All-Star, calling it a “class act among people movers.” For

2010, Ford has equipped the Flex with its much-anticipated EcoBoost engine, thereby addressing the Flex’s only weakness—power—and effectively transforming it from a well-rounded family hauler into a large sport wagon. The 355-hp, 3.5-liter V-6 uses direct injection and two small turbochargers to provide effortless, V-8-like acceleration while matching the fuel economy of the all-wheel-drive, normally aspirated Flex. Unlike many turbos that are lazy down low, the pair in the Flex spool up quickly—all 350 lb-ft of torque is available at 1500 rpm—making the Flex an adept urban runabout as well as a ca-pable, medium-duty tow vehicle. And because the EcoBoost’s torque curve is fl at, a well-timed downshift using the steering-wheel-

mounted shift paddles makes quick sprints from 80 to 100 mph only a fi nger click away. To get the most out of all this muscle, Ford added all-wheel drive and then stiffened the springs, increased the damp-ing rates, and lowered the ride height, making the already-buttoned-down Flex one of the best-handling full-size crossovers on the mar-ket. Of course, the addition of the EcoBoost engine does nothing to diminish the Flex’s attractive mutation of modern and traditional styling cues or its knack for handily carrying cargo and trans-porting up to seven people in supreme com-fort. Instead, Ford’s EcoBoost serves only to elevate the Flex’s uniqueness in a market brimming with compromised, look-alike utility vehicles. — jennifer misaros

Ford Flex


BMW Z4

Come see the softer side of the Z4.■

BMW has fi nally acknowledged what Sears re-alized two decades ago: sometimes you need to embrace your softer side. Doing so allowed

BMW to perform a small miracle on the company’s droptop two-seater. You see, the previous Z4 was a little rough and gruff, a little unsophisticated, and undeniably masculine. The red beauty you see here was treated to a mild testosterone-reduction program after BMW took a good look at its customers’ needs. The Z4 is no longer gunning straight for the Porsche Boxster—and the Bimmer is better for it.

The BMW Z4 was designed by two very talented women, and when compared with the car’s predeces-sor, the fairer sex’s soft touch is palpable from every angle. Trading racetrack readiness for everyday ele-gance hasn’t hurt the Z4 one bit. In fact, it’s become a better car in every way. Just as you can still buy hulky power tools at the not-so-softer side of Sears, you can still get your power fi x in the Z4: 60 mph is yours in fi ve to six seconds, depending on what powertrain combination you choose. Normally aspirated or turbocharged; stick shift, automatic, or dual-clutch—they’re all smooth, sonorous, and seriously quick.

And they’re best savored with the top down. This time around, rather than offering both coupe and roadster models, the Z4 is available one way: with a retractable hard top. Sure, the racing junkies moaned—this longer, heavier Z4 won’t become a track-day favorite—but we, and we suspect roadster buyers, heaved a sigh of relief. The benefi ts are a less claustrophobic and more expensive-feeling cabin with a much improved view out, vastly more total trunk space, and better all-weather usability.

The interior design is a marvel of simplicity and elegance and carries with it the fi rst sign of warmth from BMW in quite some time. The sheetmetal is at once sexy, sultry, and supremely muscular—gor-geous enough, in fact, to make it a close contender for our Design of the Year award. The Z4 is expen-sive, but it fi nally looks as though it deserves to be. Just as much as it deserves to be a 2010 Automobile Magazine All-Star. — jason cammisa

BASE PRICE RANGE: $46,575–$52,475ENGINES: 3.0L I-6, 255 hp, 220 lb-ft; 3.0L twin-turbocharged I-6, 300 hp, 300 lb-ft



Ford Fusion Hybrid

Exceptionally ordinary.■

It’s just a car, an ordinary every-day family driver, nothing spe-cial. Except that it is special,

very special indeed. Quietly, Ford has put a car on the road that es-sentially enlists Toyota hybrid technology but uses it more clev-erly than the originating com-pany did, giving us a sedan that burns even less fuel than the Camry Hybrid over an identical route. And it does it without oblig-ing drivers, whether they want to or not, to make a statement with special aerodynamic styling like Toyota’s Prius or Honda’s Insight.

With its particularly well-pro-grammed continuously variable transmission, the Fusion steps off smartly. It is defi nitely not a per-formance machine, but neither does it feel hobbled or inadequate for daily driving, which is quite impressive when you consider its 3700-pound-plus weight. If you are gentle with your right foot, the car moves off silently, with-out engaging the 156-hp, 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. When the engine does start, the transition from all-electric to mixed drive is as smooth and unobtrusive as anyone could wish.

The Fusion’s party trick is LCD color screens on both sides of the speedometer. With four modes of data presentation selectable by the driver, these reveal all you want to know about how you’re driving and how much fuel you’re using as you go. If you are “good,” i.e., don’t waste fuel, a green vine graphic begins to grow at the ex-treme right side of the cluster.

Perhaps the best part of the Fusion Hybrid experience is that there isn’t much of anything, apart from those screens, to tell you that you’re in anything other than a nice, comfortable, regular car that anyone can drive with-out the least refl ection. Its very ordinariness is what makes it an Automobile Magazine All-Star. — robert cumberford

BASE PRICE: $28,350ENGINE: 2.5L I-4 electric/hybrid, 191 hp (combined)BATTERY: Nickel-metal hydride, 1.4 kWh



Mazda 3Entry-level excellence or raw raciness.

■

A few cars conceal their inner beauty be-neath unbecoming skin. Others are gor-geous on the outside and troubled on the

inside. The Mazda 3 and its feisty Mazdaspeed 3 alter ego are so tickled with themselves that they greet the world with a fender-to-fender grin. Slip behind the Joker mask, and you’ll struggle to sti-fl e your own smirk. With three engines and fi ve trim levels, the 3 accounts for nearly half of Maz-da’s U.S. sales. One of its most alluring charms is its handy size: the base four-door notchback is a large compact, while the hatchback that under-lies the more powerful and better outfi tted edi-tions is, according to the EPA, a small mid-size car.

Vitality is what sets all Mazda 3s apart from the entry-level herd. Building on past success, the new 2010 version brings a stiffer unibody, a fi rmer suspension, tauter steering, revised seats, and one larger engine to the party.

Our fave is the Mazdaspeed 3, which carries on the original’s rough and ready ways and is blessed with far more power and speed than any $24,000 car deserves. Rabid torque steer is this brand’s gift to enthusiasts who perpetually whine for more driver involvement. As the hottest pis-tol in Mazda’s arsenal, the Speed 3 handily out-guns the BMW 128i, the Hyundai Genesis coupe, and the Mini Cooper S. The psychedelic uphol-stery, red and blue cabin illumination, LCD boost gauge, and optional mini navigation screen con-spire to keep the entertainment level at a fever pitch. In a car world gone mad with obsessive levels of poise and refi nement, the Mazdaspeed 3 is a refreshing throwback to the days of half-baked fun. — don sherman

BASE PRICE RANGE: $15,795–$23,945ENGINES: 2.0L I-4, 148 hp, 135 lb-ft; 2.5L I-4, 167 hp, 168 lb-ft; 2.3L turbo I-4, 263 hp, 280 lb-ft


Porsche Boxster/Cayman

Twin peaks.■

The Porsche Boxster roadster and its hardtop sibling, the Cayman, are as close as you can come to the perfect

everyday sports car. Fits like a glove? Check. Drives like a dream? Check. Powerful enough to get you into trouble? Check. Agile enough to get you out of it? Check.

Approaching redline, the fl at-six engine howls like a race car screaming through the Fuchsröhre at the Nordschleife. The brakes produce stopping power that stretches your neck more effectively than a chiropractor. The fl awlessly weighted steering is so precise that it seems to be laser-guided. In addition to a satisfying six-speed manual, Porsche also of-fers a splendid seven-speed PDK dual-clutch automatic that swaps cogs seamlessly—a good thing because the counterintuitive steer-ing-wheel shift buttons guarantee that frus-trated newcomers will fi nd themselves search-ing for the correct gear. The lively mid-engine chassis is a marvel of modern engineering, so that droptop Boxsters feel as rigid as coupes and Caymans feel like they’re ready to roll onto pregrid. The power numbers—255 hp in the base Boxster to 320 ponies for the top-of-the-line Cayman S—don’t sound overwhelm-ing. But that’s the point. This isn’t a beast that’s been toned down for popular consump-tion or an econobox that’s been tarted up with performance parts. It’s a solid, grown-up, well-thought-out thoroughbred that dances rings around the bloated Cayenne and Panamera, and although this sounds like heresy, it em-bodies Porsche’s core verities even more au-thentically than the venerable 911. Prices start at about $50,000, with fully optioned models climbing to $70K and beyond. Cheap? No. A bargain? Well, they say a rich man has to pass through the eye of a needle to enter heaven. But all he’s got to do to achieve sports car nir-vana is buy a Cayman S. — preston lerner

BASE PRICE RANGE: $48,550–$62,450ENGINES: 2.9L fl at-6, 255/265 hp, 214/221 lb-ft; 3.4L fl at-6, 310/320 hp, 266/273 lb-ft



©2009 MacNeil Automotive Products Limited

What Matters to You?Today, America needs fresh leadership to lead usas a nation out of this economic crisis. Leadershipmust come not only from our political leaders butalso from the average citizen. The exporting ofAmerican jobs is a trend that must be stopped andreversed. When I walk into my local hardwarestore, I typically find 85% of the goods for saleare manufactured 7,000 miles away. RecognizableAmerican brands have been forced by shortsightedmanagement and buyers at large national chains tobuild factories overseas just to save a lousy $.50on a tape measure. To these ruthless buyers, it isall about the money. Rarely are product quality,the political system, human rights, animal rightsand environmental costs to the planet considered,not to mention the cost to our society of exportingnot only jobs, but an entire factory!

At MacNeil Automotive, we are doing our part for the American economy and for our 300 millionfellow citizens and neighbors. My philosophy isthat if my neighbor doesn’t have a job, sooner orlater I won’t have a job either. For example, weused to have our All-Weather Floor Mats manufactured in England by a company that usedantiquated, inefficient equipment. They made adecent floor mat for us, but we thought we couldbuild a better floor mat for our customers usingmodern American technology, American rawmaterials and skilled American workers. So in 2007 we transferred all of our floor mat manu-facturing back to the United States. Today, webuild the best fitting, highest quality automotivefloor mats in the world, right here in America.

Our machine shop is equipped with 17 CNC machining centers including four 4 axis mills and one 5 axis mill that produce between 30 to 50injection and thermoforming molds per month. We have one shift of highly skilled AmericanJourneymen toolmakers and apprentices, but ourmachines run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is not a more efficient tool and mold making operation in the world - and guess what,it’s right here in America.


Specialists in Original Equipment and Aftermarket Automotive Accessories

Furthermore, all of our CNC mills are manufac-tured in Oxnard, CA by Haas. Our 1,000 ton injection molding machines are made in Bolton,Ontario of American and Canadian components.Our thermoforming machinery is made in CarolStream, IL. The raw steel and aluminum billetswhich make up our tooling are sourced fromAmerican steel and aluminum mills such as VistaMetals in Fontana, CA. The raw materials thatmake up our All-Weather Floor Mats, FloorLiners,Cargo Liners and Mud Flaps are manufactured inBellevue OH, Arlington TX, Wichita KS andJasper TN. Our forklifts are made in Columbus INand Greene NY. Our warehouse racking is manufactured in Tatamy PA.

At MacNeil Automotive, we are also very aware of sustainability and our responsibility to the environment. We are proactive in controlling wasteand recycling all of the unused raw materials from the manufacture of our tooling and productsincluding: aluminum, steel, rubber, TPO, TPE, paper and cardboard.

As you can see, we are as dedicated to designing,developing and manufacturing the finest automo-tive accessories for our consumer and OEMclients as we are passionate about supporting theAmerican economy, preserving the Americanindustrial infrastructure, and keeping the “money”in our family, a family of 300 million people from all over America.

Life is simple; be good to your fellow man, bekind to animals and the environment, and placebuilding a quality product, supporting your country and your fellow American worker beforeprofit. And, one last thing - let’s all do our best to balance family time with work time as our children are the future of America.

Sincerely,

David MacNeil, Founder/[email protected]


hronologically and alphabetically, the

2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is a direct follow-up to the SLR, the

supercar that was the offspring of a seven-year fl ing between Mercedes and

McLaren. In reality, however, the SLS is the Mercedes that’s supposed to make you forget

about the SLR and hark back fi ve decades to the magical 300SL Gullwing. One look—from any an-

gle—at an SLS with the doors ajar is akin to being slipped a dose of Rohypnol. Memories of the SLR simply fade away.Given that the Gullwing is such a prominent icon in the annals

of automotive history, Mercedes wasn’t going to trust just anyone—including, or perhaps especially, McLaren—with the development of its

new fl agship. So AMG, formerly an independent aftermarket tuner and more recently Mercedes-Benz’s in-house skunk works, was tapped to do the job.

Let a performance division develop a front-engine car, and the handling-obsessed engineers will shove the engine as far back as possible. The resulting SLS has its V-8 mounted so far rearward under the pornographically long hood that it looks as though you could fi t another V-8 ahead of it. A carbon-fi ber

driveshaft weighing only 10.3 pounds connects the engine to a rear-mounted transaxle. And that’s the only carbon fi ber you’ll fi nd—whereas the SLR McLaren unibody was made of the stuff, AMG chose to construct the SLS out of aluminum,

a fi rst for a modern Mercedes. Not only is the SLS some 200 pounds lighter than the SLR, the material choice no doubt helped keep expenses down: the SLS costs half what the SLR did. And, of course, the SLS does the one parlor trick that no SLR could ever do: open its doors straight up. (That thud you just heard was the SLR’s resale value hitting the ground.)

However, the SLS has a slight problem right out of the box: it isn’t pretty. Its face looks like that of a wide-mouth bass. The rear window is reminiscent of the Buick Reatta, and the truncated rear recalls the Acura CL. Luckily, people over fi ve feet tall will smack their heads on the bottom of the gull-wing door getting into or out of the SLS, and perhaps the optical-nerve degeneration from repeated head trauma will help SLS owners grow to love the way their Gullwings look. Actually, all it should take is for them to fi re up the 6.2-liter V-8.

One look, and you’ll forget the SLR.

By Jason Cammisa

Mercedes —Benz SLS AMG



The aluminum-bodied SLS is not only lighter than the carbon-fi ber SLR McLaren, it will also cost less than half as much. Oh, and did you see the doors?

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMGBASE PRICE $200,000 (est.)

PowertrainENGINE 32-valve DOHC V-8DISPLACEMENT 6.2 liters (379 cu in)HORSEPOWER 563 hp @ 6800 rpmTORQUE 479 lb-ft @ 4750 rpmTRANSMISSION TYPE 7-speed dual-clutch automaticDRIVE Rear-wheel

ChassisSTEERING Power rack-and-pinionSUSPENSION, FRONT Control arms, coil springsSUSPENSION, REAR Control arms, coil springsBRAKES Vented discs, ABSTIRES Continental ContiSportContact 5PTIRE SIZE F, R 265/35YR-19, 295/30YR-20

MeasurementsL x W x H 182.6 x 76.3 x 49.7 inWHEELBASE 105.5 inTRACK F/R 66.2/65.0 inWEIGHT 3573 lbFUEL MILEAGE 13/20 mpg (est.)


The now-familiar engine has been reworked to pro-duce 563 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque, a bit more than it de-livers in other Mercedes AMG models. Impressively, the V-8, which has been modifi ed enough to earn its own code-name (M159, in place of the regular 6.2’s M156 des-ignation), achieves this output without direct injection. As the successor to the 300SL Gullwing, the world’s fi rst direct-injected production car, this would have been a convenient time to fi t the technology to AMG’s V-8. But instead, AMG relied on more conventional tuner tactics to coax more power from its engine: a revised intake (with eight 11.4-inch by 2.0-inch velocity stacks), equal-length exhaust headers, and forged rather than cast pis-tons shave more than a pound off the reciprocating mass. The horsepower bump winds up being big enough to earn the M159 the crown of the world’s most powerful normally aspirated production V-8.

And in fact, it’s enough grunt to cause some prob-lems at the other end of the driveshaft: for transmission durability reasons, the engine isn’t permitted to produce full power in the fi rst two gears. It seems that the Getrag-sourced dual-clutch transaxle—the same seven-speed

unit found in the Ferrari California—isn’t quite robust enough to deal with it all. The M159, like other 6.2s, is relatively soft below 4000 rpm, and coupled with the no-ticeable torque restriction in fi rst gear, the SLS doesn’t exactly explode off the line.

Mercedes claims that the SLS will race to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds (and continue to 197 mph), so you can imag-ine how brutally fast it is once the engine is allowed to run free. As in every other application, AMG’s V-8 is the Tasmanian Devil of the automotive industry: snarling, popping, and barking while spinning up dust clouds and terrorizing anyone within earshot. The old-school, big-block mechanical cacophony coming through the fi re-wall is no match for the guttural basso profundo explod-ing from the exhaust pipes—more satanic than melodic, it’s impressive more by virtue of volume than pitch. It’s completely insane.

It’s also rather insane how small the cockpit is. Get-ting into the SLS isn’t as diffi cult as you might expect—assuming you shook off the head injury and remem-bered to reach up and pull down the door before belting up—but once inside, space is at a premium. Legroom is

“Low weightand high power: this combination is one of the ten

commandments of super-sports-car

engineering.”— Volker Mornhinweg,

chairman of Mercedes-AMG



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a lower center of gravity for unmatched balance. Add 31 mpg,* and you get one unique

sense of satisfaction. Feel the love. Love. It’s what makes a Subaru, a Subaru.


granted by the power seats, but the seatback cants for-ward as the seat moves back, so tall drivers have to lean forward with their heads against the roof in order to have enough legroom to drive comfortably.

The switchgear is familiar Mercedes, although the silver-backed gauges look a little boy-racerish for a car in this price league. The materials are fi rst-rate, of course, but the interior isn’t any more special than, say, a regular Mercedes-Benz SL. A substantial support member hang-ing from the center of the roof exacerbates feelings of claustrophobia. We’re told that the trunk will hold two golf bags, but the SLS isn’t exactly a cargo hauler. Cabin storage is limited to a small center-console binnacle and a tiny glove box whose door is so fl imsy it belongs in a Tata Nano.

Not that you’ll care about the glove-box door once you put your foot to the fl oor, because dynamically, the SLS is a masterpiece. The suspension, with unequal-length control arms at all four corners, provides a com-fortable ride without the assistance of air springs, active dampers, or other trickery. At the same time, it allows almost zero body motion, even on the track. Turn-in is immediate, and balance is brilliant—ask for any amount of oversteer, and this two-seater will happily oblige. The steering is quick and accurate, and the brakes (whose op-tional carbon-composite front rotors are bigger than the wheels on the original Gullwing) are instantly respon-sive and eternally fade-resistant. The SLS doesn’t feel like a lightweight—perhaps due to that enormous hood in front of you—but as a driver, you get the sense that all of its mass is low to the ground and concentrated well be-tween the axles.

Unfortunately, it is also clear that the transmission is the weak point of the driving experience. AMG engineers warned that our pre-production prototypes were running transmission soft-ware a full release generation behind that of the cars that will make their way to Mercedes showrooms in May. The gearbox’s numerous issues—slow response, reluc-tance to downshift, and occasional harsh shifts—will be resolved, offi cials promise.

None of this will be an issue when the all-electric SLS debuts in 2013. AMG is proud of the fact that the chassis was developed from the get-go to accommodate batteries in the center tunnel. Lithium-ion batteries with an en-ergy capacity of 48 kWh are slated to power four electric motors that will produce a combined 392 kW (526 hp) and 649 lb-ft of torque.

We also expect roadster and Black Series variants of the SLS, the latter possibly with a twin-turbocharged V-8 with monumental horsepower. To be honest, though, AMG has already done a phenomenal job of making a very fast, very capable supercar, and the SLS doesn’t need more power or better handling. What it needs is a little injection of special—a glamoured-up interior and a face-lift would go a long way.

Then again, the SLS’s gull-wing doors do perform a parlor trick that no other new car can pull off. For that reason alone, the SLS AMG receives a permanent entry in automotive history books right next to the 300SL Gullwing. And for half the price of the SLR McLaren, that’s pretty cool. Wait, SLR? What SLR? ■

1954–1957Mercedes-Benz300SL GullwingPRODUCTION: 1400 (including 29 aluminum-

bodied vehicles)

PRICE WHEN NEW: $7463 (in 1955)

VALUE TODAY: $500,000–$650,000 (about

three times as much for aluminum-bodied cars)

FAMOUS ORIGINAL OWNERS: Luigi Chinetti,

Tony Curtis, Clark Gable, King Hussein of Jordan,

Richard Teague, Rob Walker, Frank Lloyd Wright

FAMOUS CURRENT OWNERS: Ralph Lauren,

Jay Leno, Claude Picasso, Peter Sachs,

S. Robson Walton

“Not only is the 300SL Gullwing legendary today, it was also

very special when it was new. Consider the car in the

perspective of its time, in light of its contemporaries in 1954.

The 300SL coupe had dry-sump lubrication, direct fuel

injection, a tubular spaceframe chassis, independent

suspension, impeccable build quality, a very comfortable

interior, and, of course, a beautiful and dynamic design,

which clearly has stood the test of time.”

— Paul Russell, Paul Russell and Company

@Find yourself wanting more? Go to

automobilemag.com for more photos.



THERE DIDN’T SEEM TO

be a lot more that Ferrari

could do with its V-8 berli-

netta lineup. Over the past decade, the

cars got better and better, further ce-

menting Ferrari’s role as the producer

of the world’s most desirable sports

cars. The startlingly good 360 Modena began it all back in 1999, and

each successive iteration of the mid-engine masterpiece from Ma-

ranello raised the bar: The 360 Challenge Stradale. The F430. The 430

Scuderia. And, most recently, the hyperfocused Scuderia Spider 16M.

These cars became the backbone of Ferrari’s resurgence by translating

the automaker’s hard-fought Formula 1 racing expertise into products

that tantalized auto enthusiasts everywhere, rewarded the lucky few

who owned them, and strengthened the ethereal aura around the

brand. Ferrari created the gold standard in sports cars, a lineup that

competitors as varied as the Ford GT, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, the

Lamborghini Gallardo, the Porsche 911 GT3, and the Aston Martin V8

Vantage sought to assail. But in the tussle for sports car supremacy,

Ferrari always managed to end up at the top of the heap.

With itsall-new 458 ITALIA, Ferrari takes the mid-engine exotic game to an even higher level.

By Joe DeMatioPhotography by Mark Bramley



The Italia won’t be offered with a manual gearbox. Instead, it gets a seven-speed dual-clutch auto. Purists can howl all they want, but the people who actually buy Ferraris have voted.

With leadership comes responsibility, but it also can bring vulnerability. When it came time to replace the F430, would Ferrari succumb to success, throw up its collective hands, and de-cide that a mild refresh would do? After all, if any automaker today were to unveil a car that is as good as the F430 was fi ve years ago, the car would be declared a champion. Ferrari could easily have simply tweaked the F430, slapped on a new skin and a new nameplate, and still fi lled its order books for a fi ve-year run. This plan of action must have been tempting for a small car-maker that was already busy developing a class-leading V-12 GT fl agship, the 599GTB Fiorano; an all-new convertible, the California; and a mid-cycle repositioning of its two-plus-two, the 612 Scaglietti, not to men-tion running a Formula 1 racing team and supplying engines to Alfa Romeo and Maserati.

To be sure, with the 458 Italia, which goes on sale here this sum-mer, Ferrari has not reinvented the automobile. At about 3300 pounds, the 458 is light but not particularly so. The wheelbase is a couple of inches longer than the F430’s, but the overhangs are slightly shorter and the cabin is marginally longer. The car still, of course, uses an in-ternal-combustion engine that burns gasoline at a prodigious rate, al-though Ferrari says that emissions rival the California’s for the com-pany’s lowest ever. Yet what an engine it is. The 4.5-liter fl at-crank, direct-injected V-8 (Techtonics sidebar, page 74) produces an aston-

ishing 562 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque and redlines at a lofty 9000 rpm. By comparison, Lamborghini gets 552 hp out of its 5.2-liter V-10. The 458 Ital-ia’s V-8 is a further derivation of the F136 family of Ferrari V-8s from the F430 and the California, all of which have 104-mm bore centers and 92- or 94-mm bores. Ferrari primarily varies displace-ments by changing the length of the stroke.

In a nod toward market reality, the 458 Italia will not be offered with a manual transmission. Instead, it gets a seven-speed dual-clutch auto-matic supplied by Getrag and confi gured for this application. Purists can howl all they want, but the people who actually buy Ferraris have voted: the take rate for traditional manuals has been

just this side of zero. The 458 also gets a new, faster-responding ver-sion of the electronic limited-slip differential that debuted on the F430. And in what we can only conclude is an offensive maneuver against burgeoning competitors, Ferrari made the 458 Italia’s carbon-ceramic brake system standard—as with all of its U.S. models—rather than charging the price of a bathroom remodel for them. Fer-rari also uses a technique it calls Pre-Fill to activate the pistons in the brake calipers whenever electronic sensors detect that the driver is decelerating. The F430 had a similar system, but it was mechanically controlled, and the pads actually came into light contact with the discs, which added drag.

In the eternal quest to shed pounds wherever possible, Ferrari’s



SUSPENSION DECOUPLING Divorces the dampers from any electronic controls selected via the manettino, offering improved “fi ltering” of the road surface, should the driver choose. HEADLAMPS This little switch not only turns on the headlamps but also operates the high/low-beam function. TURN SIGNALS This is the most unusual part of the steering wheel. Most owners will likely take some time getting accustomed to it.

MANETTINO Ferrari’s signature “little hand” directs the complex

electronics that control vehicle dynamics. The 458 Italia’s predecessor, the F430,

had an “ice” setting that’s now gone. The CT-off setting deactivates traction

control but maintains a degree of stability control. The various manettino

parameters can be displayed on the screen to the left of the yellow tachometer.

WINDSHIELD WIPER/WASHER Self-explanatory.

structural engineers borrowed techniques from the aeronautical in-dustry for the 458’s aluminum-spaceframe construction and alumi-num bodywork. A new alloy allowed them to make the roof, doors, and hood panels a wispy 1.0-mm (0.04-inch) thick, and a new die-casting process was employed for the door frames.

Ferrari’s own developments from racing informed the aerody-namic design of the 458, starting with the front winglets in the lower air dams, which defl ect nearly an inch at speeds above 125 mph to generate downforce and channel air to the front-mounted radiators. The small vents just inboard from the headlight clusters admit air, which then exits through vents near the front wheels to create downforce. The large apertures aft of the side windows are the source of air for the engine, while the ducts ahead of the rear wheels direct air into the glass-covered engine compartment. Intakes at the top rear of the car serve to cool the clutch and gearbox heat exchangers near the left and right taillights, respectively. The horsepower rating is actually a bit misleading: at extremely high speeds, Ferrari ac-knowledges that the ram-air effect contributes about 5 hp to the en-gine’s 562-hp total output.

The 458 Italia’s cabin is a mixture of old and new. The caramel-

colored leather on the seats, the upper dash, and the door panels in our test car was classic Ferrari, taut and beautifully stitched yet sup-ple and rich to the hand; the seats themselves are fi rm and support-ive. Hides also stretch across the engine-compartment wall’s padded panel and the adjoining parcel shelf behind the seats, which is big enough for a couple of briefcases. (The front trunk is surprisingly ca-pacious, at 8.1 cubic feet.)

The driver faces the usual huge central tachometer, with the 9000-rpm redline clearly labeled. It’s fl anked by two digital display screens. When you enter the car, the left screen says “458 Italia” and the right one says “Ferrari.” Very cool. Once you’re underway, the right screen defaults to an analog-style image of a speedometer but also is used for the navigation system and the radio, while the left screen’s role is to provide details of the dynamic parameters con-trolled by the manettino, to show a lap timer, or to display tempera-ture gauges and the like. There’s no center stack but instead an oddly shaped protrusion from the upper dash, canted toward the driver, with a volume knob and a control knob for the right-hand screen. If it sounds confusing, it is, but Ferrari claims that it’s all part of mak-ing the 458’s cabin intensely driver-focused. “In the 458,” says chief

THE STALKLESS STEERING COLUMNFerrari’s latest steering wheel looks even more like the ones in its Formula 1 racing cars than any of those in the past. No stalks means that it’s easier for the driver to grasp the shift paddles, which are fi xed to the steering column behind the wheel.



test driver Raffaele De Simone, in explaining the layout, “the driver takes the main role, whereas the California is to share with an-other person.” Indeed. About all a passenger could possibly operate are the climate con-trols, which are accessible and logical.

The big, easy-to-grab steering-column-mounted paddles fl ank a racing-style, fl at-bot-tomed steering wheel with a dizzying array of controls mounted on it. In addition to the red starter button, you’ve got the manettino switch, the high/low-beam switch for the headlights, the windshield-wiper controls, and, believe it or not, push buttons for the turn signals. Those defi nitely take some get-ting used to. There are no steering-column stalks whatsoever.

The starting process is familiar: turn the key, hit the red starter button, and the V-8 springs to life with a metallic rasp. It’s in-stantly identifi able as a Ferrari eight-cylinder. As was the case with all recent Ferraris with the F1 automated-manual transmission, you put your foot on the brake and pull back on both paddles to select neutral. To choose the automatic mode, push the large button la-beled Auto in the console astride the center tunnel (next to it is R for reverse, and to the left of that is the button for the standard launch control). Or simply pull back on the right paddle to select fi rst gear; the left paddle is solely for downshifting.

Such light and delicate actions, these fl icks of your fi ngers, but they produce such potent and violent reactions. In fi rst gear, the 458 leaps forward with the frenetic energy of a Ducati MotoGP bike as the engine races to-ward its redline. Will it be your pinky or your index fi nger that, in the blink of an eye, makes contact again with the paddle? It doesn’t mat-ter: now you’re in second gear, and the greens and browns of the Emilia-Romagna autumn are blurring the side windows. Another digit relaxes its grip; another fl ick; another gear, in-stantly obtained; and the ripping and shatter-ing of the V-8 resumes as the tach needle swings upward again.

The manettino is in Sport, the default mode. You enter a very tight left-hander a bit too fast, and the front wheels crab a bit. Let’s try the next position, Race mode, which widens the stability control net to allow more oversteer. All of the manettino settings have been reen-gineered, and the “little hand” now controls an even more complex array of dynamic parameters than in the F430, including the F1-Trac traction control; stability control; ABS; and the E-Diff3. All you really need worry about is which of the fi ve available settings to twist the little red knob to: the low-traction one in slippery conditions; Sport for everyday driving; and Race when you’re feeling a bit randy. The fi nal two manettino positions, CT-off and CST-off, are best reserved for track use. CT-off, according to Ferrari, “allows oversteer right to the edge of the car’s limits,” while CST-off deactivates both traction and stability control for hero drivers.

Truth is, it’s easy to feel like a hero in the 458 Italia no matter where the manettino is pointing. On the climb through the Apennine foothills south of Maranello, the 458 Italia re-veals a level of performance and driving plea-sure that is extraordinary. First, the steering is exceedingly well-tuned: Light effort but per-fectly weighted. Perfectly precise. Perfectly communicative. Pivoting the 458 through a hairpin corner will make you grin, shout, or do both. You know exactly where you’re plac-ing the car at all times. It takes only the most minute steering input to produce a corre-sponding movement in the front wheels. It’s hard to overstate the level of driver confi -dence that the 458’s supercommunicative steering provides.

The 458 Italia’s structural rigidity, bril-liantly tuned suspension (control arms in front, multilink setup at the rear), and fantas-tic brakes also play a part in allowing a compe-tent driver to storm along narrow, undulating two-lane mountain roads with a nonchalance that borders on insane. The engine and the gearbox work together so intuitively that it’s very diffi cult to fi nd yourself without exactly the right amount of power on tap, no matter your speed, your gear, or your steering angle. Even in automatic mode, the transmission holds the gears to redline. Approach a corner, and the gearbox seems to know that you are going to decelerate before you even lift your foot from the gas pedal, seamlessly slamming down a gear or two before you even start steer-ing into the curve. The responsiveness from the engine at all points in the rev band, and the way the exhaust cycles from one tonal quality to another, are major touch points in the Ferrari experience. Under normal driving conditions (is there such a thing in a Ferrari?), bypass valves in the muffl ers close, but when you dip into the throttle, the engine’s ECU opens the valves and switches the exhaust gases to the two outer tailpipes, for a rich, big, boomy bass beat. Delicious.

The 458’s competence unsurprisingly ex-tends to the racetrack. At Ferrari’s Fiorano cir-cuit, test driver De Simone is a supreme mas-ter. In his hands, the 458 has the grace of a ballerina and the power of an Olympic

sprinter, even as De Simone describes each corner to his passenger, adding the endearing “-ah” suffi x to each English noun. But even a hapless journalist whose previous Fiorano forays have been ego bruisers fi nds the 458 to, once again, make him feel like a hero.

We, admittedly, did not expect the 458 Italia to raise the bar sig-nifi cantly, but after our fi rst drive, we can confi dently tell you that Ferrari did not succumb, or compromise, or ride on past glories. In-stead, it innovated, it rethought, and it continued to adapt lessons from the racetrack to the street. In so doing, Ferrari has positioned the 458 very effectively against an onslaught of new competitors try-ing to dethrone it, specifi cally the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and the upcoming McLaren MP4-12C. Yes, the latest Ferrari is that good. ■

Ferrari 458 ItaliaBASE PRICE $225,000 (est.)

PowertrainENGINE 32-valve DOHC V-8DISPLACEMENT 4.5 liters (275 cu in)HORSEPOWER 562 hp @ 9000 rpmTORQUE 398 lb-ft @ 6000 rpmTRANSMISSION TYPE 7-speed dual-clutch automaticDRIVE Rear-wheel

ChassisSTEERING Power rack-and-pinionSUSPENSION, FRONT Control arms, coil springsSUSPENSION, REAR Multilink, coil springsBRAKES Vented carbon-ceramic discs, ABSTIRES Michelin Pilot Sport K1TIRE SIZE F, R 235/35YR-20, 295/35YR-20

MeasurementsL x W x H 178.2 x 76.3 x 47.8 inWHEELBASE 104.3 inTRACK F/R 65.8/63.2 inWEIGHT 3274 lbFUEL MILEAGE 13/18 mpg (est.)0–62 MPH 3.4 sec (per manufacturer)TOP SPEED 202 mph (per manufacturer)



Ferrari 458 Italia DESIGN ANALYSIS

Every Ferrari is special, but not every one is a visual delight. In the early years, when all Ferraris were one-offs, there were some real clunkers, including a round-grille model so ugly that Enzo himself refused to let it back into the factory. As Fiat expanded production to thousands exactly alike, there was a tendency to play it safe, re-iterating cues and clues that had worked before, viz the California GT. With the Italia, the wheel has turned, and

once again originality, beauty, and excitement are synonymous with the hallowed name, to the delight both of Ferrari buyers and those who can only dream of owning one. — robert cumberford

1 This horse on a

stick is a

curiosity, but it

puts the

prancing-horse

insignia nicely

front and center.

2 This subtle

crease is elegant

and adds

defi nition to

the quite short

front end.

3 This small air

outlet is new and

reminiscent

of prototype

racing cars.

4 Also new is this

look from

Pininfarina, with

LED turn signals

and running

lights.

5 These crisp

joggles on the

roof (top and

bottom photos)

are also elegant

and add

defi nition.

6 The taillights

are visible even

from far in front,

a positive safety

factor.

7 This “running board”

protects the undercut body

sides from debris thrown by

the front wheels.

8 Placing the characteristic

“Enzo” lamps well outboard

emphasizes the width of

the lower body and the

tightness of the bubble upper

structure.

9 There are plenty of outlets

for the heat generated by the

high-output V-8, very nicely

composed on the rear face of

the body.

10 The badge is nice but

completely unnecessary; this

shape couldn’t be anything

but a Ferrari.

11 Hard edges give taut

defi nition to all the body

surfaces, making the car look

muscular and purposeful.

1

56

4

3

9

10

7

8

11

2

5 5



While most high-performance carmakers seem hell-bent

for boosting—supercharged or turbocharged engines—

Ferrari has so far remained true to the traditional high-rpm

path to maximum power. The 458 Italia’s new 4.5-liter V-8 delivers

562 hp at its sky-high 9000-rpm redline. The resulting 125 hp/liter

specifi c output is a record for normally aspirated production engines.

Advanced features previously implemented by the 430 Scuderia

include variable intake and exhaust valve timing, dual-mode muffl ing,

and spark-gap ionization-current detonation control. The 2900-psi

direct fuel injection introduced on the California’s 4.3-liter V-8

continues here with two squirts of fuel per combustion cycle to

maximize low-rpm torque.

The importance of breathing to this new V-8’s vitality is evident in

the amount of space devoted to air induction—roughly twice the

height needed to accommodate core rotating and reciprocating

components. Between the two large plenum chambers feeding the

eight intake trumpets are three butterfl y valves that open on cue,

providing fi ve different interconnection modes to maximize

volumetric effi ciency and torque throughout the rpm range.

To minimize friction, piston skirts have a graphite coating, the

hydraulic tappets are clad with a diamondlike carbon material, and

cam lobes are ground to an ultrasmooth surface fi nish.

The dry-sump lubrication system has fi ve pumps engineered for

minimal parasitic losses. Two pumps return oil from the heads and

the cam-drive chambers, two scavenge the crankcase, and one

variable-output pump maintains a steady 87-psi lubrication

pressure. The twin scavenge pumps create a vacuum that reduces

crankshaft windage losses from more than 3 hp in the F430 to less

than 1 hp here.

Further to its credit, this new 4.5-liter V-8 is not only more fl exible

and powerful than the 4.3-liter engine it replaces, it also consumes

13 percent less fuel, according to Ferrari. — Don Sherman

TECHTONICSPrancing horsepower.

@Find yourself wanting more? Go to

automobilemag.com for more photos.


Three $135,000 German renegades attack the formerly Wild West with 500 horses apiece. One is saintlike in its goodness, one is bad to the bone, and one isn’t pretty but is blindingly fast.

By Jason Cammisa // Photography by Andrew Yeadon

THE HISTORY BOOKS WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE that the West was once a wild place. But if you’re braving the sweltering California desert and happen upon a little town called Palm Springs, you’d never know it. The dusty

bandits, merciless bounty hunters, and untamed renegades are long gone, replaced by air-conditioned cafés, opulent galleries, and swanky day spas. The only weapons in use are those rumbling under the hoods of the many exotic and classic cars cruising the boulevard. The desert people clearly favor Cadillacs over Caterhams, though—luxury rules the West now.

The BMW 760Li, the Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG, and the Porsche Panamera Turbo each enter the saloon with at least 500 horses of fi repower tucked away beneath a façade of formality. They look be-nign enough, but when the dust starts fl ying, there are few steeds that can match their speed. They may all hail from Germany, but there’s something distinctly Wild West about these three sedans. And so we took them to Palm Springs, their natural habitat, for a gunslinging showdown.

The idea that a luxury sedan should be able to dice with a sports car is a relatively new one. Acceleration is relatively easy to achieve—just add more engine—but getting a big, cushy, heavy car to dance



LOCATION COURTESY OF ANDY LINSKY, WINDERMERE REAL ESTATE


through the corners like a light sports car isn’t. And the very essence of a sports car—the lovely sounds, the tight body control, the connected steering—is exactly the op-posite of a luxury sedan. Or so you’d think.

Thanks to computer-controlled suspen-sions, brilliant engineering, and colossal powertrains, these three Germans break all the rules. They’re do-everything ma-chines—large, gilded cruisers with fi rst-class interiors and all the latest techno-gizmos, and yet they can pull off sports car moves with almost no penalty to comfort. On the surface, the BMW, the Mercedes, and the Porsche are very similar: They cost the same. They’re all similarly powerful—and have so much brute force at their dis-posal that they start out in second gear un-less you request otherwise. And yet, in the details, they couldn’t be more different.

THE GOOD You could describe the BMW 760Li as angelic. If ever there was a divine luxury sedan, this would be it.

It may not be the most visually stunning car in the world, but nothing about the 7-series’ design will offend you, either. In fact, the 7-series seems as though it were designed to be the least offensive car on the planet. That’s really no surprise: BMW certainly knew where it stood as far as the last 7-series was concerned—its design and user interface generated almost ceaseless commentary. And although its creators denied any and all wrongdoing, they obviously listened very closely, because they addressed every complaint. In stark contrast to its predecessor, the new 7-series is subtle and understated in every way. Except, of course, for its exceptional performance.

With a curb weight of more than 5000 pounds, the 760Li is no lightweight, but a number of factors conspire to hide that mass. First among them is the absolutely ludicrous thrust provided by the 6.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-12 under the hood. At peak, 535 horses trample the pavement, but far more impressive than what this en-gine does at its pinnacle is what it can sustain: 550 lb-ft of torque available from 1500 rpm all the way to 5000 rpm. That means warp-speed acceleration is easily available with a twitch of a right toe; no big downshifts needed, no big revs required. And no notice given—

the V-12 is barely audible from either inside or outside the car. The 7 also does a good job masking its length. The V-12-powered

7-series is available in long-wheelbase form only—there’s enough room between its front and rear wheels for a Smart ForTwo, with twenty inches to spare. Back-seat passengers are so far away that they seem as if they’re in a different zip code—even the tallest pas-sengers can’t reach the front seatbacks. To keep the 7 maneuverable, it comes standard with Integral Active Steering, which both varies the steering ratio and angles the rear wheels. Turn-in is sharp, and the computers keep the effective steering ratio quick, so the 7 drives smaller than it is. Unfortunately, experience with other 7-series models without active steering has shown us that the system is re-sponsible for numbing much of the feedback coming through the BMW’s steering wheel.

And to be honest, there’s not much feedback to the driver coming from the rest of the car, either. Despite unmatched handling balance (in this test or against just about any other sedan on the road), perfect brake action, and a telepathic eight-speed automatic transmission, the 7-series is more of a high-speed limo than a back-road stormer. Admittedly, there is no “M” badge on this 7, and BMW makes no claim that the 760Li is the sports car of the 7-series lineup, but it does say “The Ultimate Driving Machine” right on the window sticker. And the car certainly delivers the goods—just in a much quieter, more restrained manner than, say, the Mercedes.

760Li



THE BADWith a howling V-8, a great chassis, and a fabulous cabin, the S63 AMG is the S-class you don’t mess with.

The S63 AMG isn’t the quickest S-class in a straight line. That honor goes to the S65 AMG, which, like the BMW, has a 6.0-liter twin-turbo V-12. But that S-class costs another $70,000, and its aging SOHC engine suffers from lots of turbo lag, an embarrassingly low redline, and is paired with a timid fi ve-speed automatic. For every point the V-12 S65 gains in speed over the S63, it loses three in involvement.

The S63 is all about the 7200-rpm V-8 under its hood—6.2 liters of normally aspirated brute force bolted to a seven-speed automatic that shifts so fast that it squeals the fan belt. And the trump card is the noise this V-8 makes—wearing no turbochargers to muffl e the exhaust, it needs to be revved, and it rewards with a demonic wail that bellows across the desert fl oor. The 760Li can’t be heard from the next lane, but you can hear the S63 from a mile away.

And if you do, chances are that it’ll be catching up to you soon. The S63 might be the slowest of this trio according to the stopwatch, but when you charge up and down mountain roads, the S63’s active suspension shows off with minimal body roll, pitch, or dive. Super-cars wish they had body control like this. Midcorner bumps? Who cares?! Midcorner speed bumps wouldn’t even faze this Mercedes.

Nor, you might surmise, would a midcorner tree. If you had to pick

a car in which to suffer a big crash, it’d be this Benz. The S63 weighs about the same as the BMW but feels a ton heavier from behind the wheel. Not because of any lack of cornering ability—no, no, this crazed steed beats the Bimmer in the twisties—but because of how solid and massive it feels. From the way the slow steering refuses to self-center at low speeds to the way the turn signals sound (a loud, crisp click of a relay, not some computer-generated chime), everything fools you into thinking the S-class is as heavy as a tank.

The dashboard has precious few buttons, but those it does have look and feel rich. The cabin creates a feeling of elegance and occa-sion that the BMW’s can’t match. Active Body Control gives a supple ride that the BMW can’t equal, either. And when asked to perform luxo-limo duty, the Merc is the back-seat champion. The BMW wins on paper with more head- and legroom, but in the real world, the S63’s bench is more comfortable, and it affords a better view out.

The S-class is getting on in years—it was updated for 2010, but the basic car dates to 2007, and some of its electronic systems lag be-hind the BMW’s. Both cars are rolling electronics showcases with adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, automatic high beams, and night-vision aids, but the BMW’s systems work slightly better. BMW’s iDrive controller is also a bit easier to use than Mercedes-Benz’s aging Comand interface. Meanwhile, the Porsche, which is the newest of the three, has about a gazillion buttons on the dash, just like Mercedes and BMW used to.

S63 AMG



THE UGLYThe Porsche Panamera Turbo wasn’t designed to be pretty. It was designed to be the performance superstar of luxury sedans.

Porsche lists a bunch of objectives in the press materials for the Panamera but doesn’t once mention elegance, style, or grace. No, the Panamera isn’t supposed to be comely—it’s meant to be fast as hell, surprisingly effi cient, and very, very practical.

And it is all of those things. First, look at the data panel on page 82 for some unbelievable test results. The Porsche reaches 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and pulls almost 1 g on the skid pad. Its top speed is 188 mph. These are among the most impressive fi gures we’ve ever printed—and certainly the best numbers from any car with four doors, a huge trunk, and a spacious, well-appointed cabin. Where the other two cars post sports car numbers, the Panamera posts supercar numbers.

In that precious data panel, the Turbo wins every single category, including the best results in EPA fuel economy testing. These are es-pecially laudable achievements given that the Panamera is Porsche’s fi rst-ever sedan.

The Panamera is a very different machine from the two other sharpshooters in this gunfi ght. First of all, it wasn’t initially designed as a luxury tourer and then retrofi tted with serious power, suspen-sion, and brakes. As such, it’s much shorter and lighter than the other cars, but it still offers a back seat large enough for a long trip. And un-like in the other two cars, that back seat can fold down and play dead. The Panamera’s hunchback hatchback may not be beautiful, but it’ll swallow cargo that would need to be strapped onto the roof of the BMW and the Mercedes. (And hauling your wares home from the

general store on your roof is never pretty.) The Panamera Turbo’s four-wheel-drive system means it’ll go places, in bad weather condi-tions, when the remaining two would be relegated to the stable.

Because it wasn’t conceived as a luxury sedan fi rst, the Panamera falls short of the other two Germans in cushy creature comfort. The seats are, relatively speaking, hard and narrow. The interior is dressed in high-quality materials but lacks the glamour of the Mercedes or the plushness of the BMW. The instrument cluster houses concen-tric round gauges, and one pod is a circular LCD screen that can dis-play any number of things, including a full-color map. It’s très cool—and enough to make up for any other interior shortcoming.

In normal driving conditions, the Panamera isn’t quite as supple as the other luxury sedans. Despite Porsche’s adaptive suspension, the ride is a bit busy—although body control is outstanding—and road noise creeps in where it’s absent from the BMW and the Merc. Of course, unlike those heavy beasts, the Porsche doesn’t have dou-ble-glazed windows, and surely some of that weight savings comes from less sound-deadening material. The optional Burmester sound system, however, is among the best we’ve ever heard in an automo-bile—it turns ordinary music into what sounds like a live perfor-mance in a recording studio. Road noise? Who cares?

Around town, the dual-clutch transmission can be slightly clumsy off the line, slipping the clutch a bit more than we’d like. It can occasionally become confused, too, but never more so than the driver, who’s forced to cope with steering-wheel-mounted shift pad-dles apparently designed by someone who wasn’t born with normal hands. On the highway, the Panamera loafs along in seventh gear, whose ratio is longer than any Mexican standoff. At 70 mph, there’s zero engine noise—the twin-turbo V-8 is practically asleep, turning just 1600 rpm. And, as you can imagine, fuel economy is suitably im-



Panamera

pressive—the EPA rates the Panamera at 23 mpg on the highway, far better than its rivals in this test.

Of course, that kind of mileage is achievable only if you’re well-behaved. And why would you ever act in such a way in a turbo-charged Porsche? Let’s get back to that 3.5-second 0-to-60-mph run—this feat is accomplished thanks to the combination of several factors, not the least of which is the traction afforded by all-wheel drive. The BMW and the Benz light up their rear tires and will lay yards and yards of rubber—even on those rare occasions when you’re not trying to. Second, the Panamera’s transmission has a very short fi rst gear (which yields 29 mph in fi rst gear at redline, compared with 39 and 43 mph in the BMW and the Mercedes, respectively), and it will, at your request, perform a 4800-rpm clutch dump.

At full throttle, the Panamera is almost Nissan GT-R–ish in its lack of drama. The engine’s noise isn’t particularly pleasant, since the turbo whoosh easily overwhelms the V-8 music, upshifts are co-pious and practically impalpable, and the four-wheel-drive system is tuned for traction, not tail-out antics.

From behind the Panamera’s wheel, the experience is decidedly not Boxster, Cayman, or 911—it’s about capability, not communica-tion. The steering is quick and perfectly accurate, although it’s not particularly talkative; the brakes are powerful but with no better feel than the other cars. Cornering grip, though, is unbelievable, and the Panamera feels light on its feet but unrelentingly buttoned-down, even as it transitions into moderate understeer as you cross its lim-its—limits so high that we doubt most drivers will ever reach them on the street.

A point which brings us back to the gunfi ght at hand. Even though the Porsche unquestionably dominates in the numbers de-partment, we wonder what purpose those numbers serve other than

as bragging rights. Numbers can be misleading, anyway—sure, the Panamera is the fastest to 60 mph, but some of that advantage is due to the way it launches from a stop. In real-world driving, the BMW is effectively as fast. Case in point, the 30-to-70-mph passing number: The Porsche’s scorching 3.6-second result was achieved in Sport Plus mode, which keeps the engine revs up high, ready to pounce at any moment (undermining any fuel-economy advantage, by the way). Put the Panamera in “D” and fl oor it, and the result is identical to the BMW’s—something we verifi ed by lining up the two cars at 30 mph, racing them side-by-side, and watching them both cross the 100-mph mark together.

But it’s not as if the owners of these cars will be drag racing on the way home from their Palm Springs boutiques. Betcha you’ll never see a Panamera Turbo doing launch-control hole-shots at the quar-ter-mile track, an S63 exercising its way around a road course, or a 760Li doing burnouts behind the neighborhood high school. Num-bers are but one piece of this pie—these cars are about so much more than that.

Someone who is laying out $135,000—or about $150,000, as our test cars were equipped—for this type of vehicle wants a grand sedan that gives the feeling of being in a sports car. Titillating sounds, bru-tal acceleration, and the feel of quick responses are far more impor-tant than quarter-mile times and peak lateral g’s. These buyers aren’t willing to sacrifi ce any comfort for that performance, and if that’s the game we’re playing, it’s the bad guy who wins this time. The Mer-cedes-Benz S63 AMG is the most versatile actor in this fi lm—it plays the most comfortable cross-continent cruiser, dresses up as the most glamorous luxury sedan, and does the best impression of a sports car, replete with a sound track to scare off even the toughest gunslingers in the West. ■



BMW 760LiPrice (base/as tested) $139,125/$154,925

ENGINE 48-valve DOHC twin-turbo V-12DISPLACEMENT 6.0 liters (364 cu in)HORSEPOWER 535 hp @ 5250 rpmTORQUE 550 lb-ft @ 1500 rpmTRANSMISSION 8-speed automaticDRIVE Rear-wheel

STEERING Power-assisted rack-and-pinionSUSPENSION, FRONT Control arms, coil springsSUSPENSION, REAR Multilink, coil springsBRAKES Vented discs, ABSTIRES Goodyear ExcellenceTIRE SIZE F, R 245/40YR-20, 275/35YR-20

L x W x H 205.3 x 74.9 x 58.3 inWHEELBASE 126.4 inTRACK F/R 63.4/65.0 inWEIGHT 5150 lbEPA MILEAGE 13/19 mpg

0–60 MPH 4.8 sec0–100 MPH 10.3 sec0–120 MPH 14.7 sec1/4–MILE 13.1 sec @ 113 mph30–70 MPH PASSING 4.6 secSPEED IN GEARS 39/59/88/110/142/

147/140/140 mphCORNERING L/R 0.89/0.86 g70–0 MPH BRAKING 161 ft

MERCEDES-BENZ S63 AMGPrice (base/as tested) $137,425/$148,575

ENGINE 32-valve DOHC V-8DISPLACEMENT 6.2 liters (379 cu in)HORSEPOWER 518 hp @ 6800 rpmTORQUE 465 lb-ft @ 5200 rpmTRANSMISSION 7-speed automaticDRIVE Rear-wheel

STEERING Power-assisted rack-and-pinionSUSPENSION, FRONT Multilink, coil springs and

hydraulic cylindersSUSPENSION, REAR Multilink, coil springs and

hydraulic cylindersBRAKES Vented discs, ABSTIRES Continental Sport Contact 2TIRE SIZE F, R 255/35YR-20, 275/35YR-20



156/150 mphCORNERING L/R 0.90/0.91 g70–0 MPH BRAKING 160 ft

PORSCHE PANAMERA TURBOPrice (base/as tested) $133,575/$146,720

ENGINE 32-valve DOHC twin-turbo V-8DISPLACEMENT 4.8 liters (293 cu in)HORSEPOWER 500 hp @ 6000 rpmTORQUE 516 lb-ft @ 2250 rpmTRANSMISSION 7-speed dual-clutch automaticDRIVE 4-wheel

STEERING Power-assisted rack-and-pinionSUSPENSION, FRONT Control arms, coil springsSUSPENSION, REAR Multilink, coil springsBRAKES Vented discs, ABSTIRES Michelin Pilot Sport PS2TIRE SIZE F, R 255/45YR-19, 285/40YR-19



188/170 mphCORNERING L/R 0.99/0.97 g 70–0 MPH BRAKING 157 ft

PO

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@For video of hotcar-on-car action, go to automobilemag.com



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With your own track, you could round up some buddies and hold your own time trials. Design your own corners. Tinker with your car and see if you can make it quicker—all on your own terms, on your own schedule. But that fantasy is beyond the means of just about everybody, because it takes a rare wealthy lunatic to embark on construction of a race circuit. Unless, that is, the circuit in ques-tion is a rally stage.

Building a road course is hard. You need all sorts of permits and engineers and heavy equipment and pavement. To build a rally track, you need only a forest and a naive belief that you can build a dirt road simply by removing a few trees. As luck would have it, I have access to some woods—thirty acres of them, up in Maine. When my parents moved there in 1979, the place was idyllic. Now, there’s a giant gravel pit across the street.

My parents don’t live there anymore; they’ve had the property on and off the market for years. I get the idea that they don’t really want to sell it, because inevitably the next owner will follow the example of the neighbors and promptly despoil the terrain with excavators and dump trucks. I have a better idea: repurpose the land for a noble cause, use it as raw material to sculpt a stirring piece of artwork—a

rally track. When life gives you gravel pits, make rally track–ade.I arrive at the property armed with the following equipment: a

chain saw; a 13-hp, Honda-powered brush cutter; a diesel Bobcat skid-steer loader; and a pair of hedge clippers. Of these items, I have experi-ence using the hedge clippers. But I just assume that I’ll be able to mas-ter the array of dangerous power equipment on hand. I mean, what is a chain saw except a two-stroke gas motor connected to a blur of whir-ring knives? And a Bobcat is simply a two-ton, four-wheel-drive steel exoskeleton with an articulating hydraulic bucket, no steering wheel, and a penchant for pulling wheelies. I’m sure I’ll fi gure it out.

My brother, Graham, agreed to help, and we walk out onto the trails to see what we’re up against. We learned how to drive out here in a 1982 Subaru GL 4WD, when I was eleven years old and Graham was nine. We didn’t know it at the time, but we were pint-size rally drivers back then. As our comfort level increased, we started going faster, until our parents strolled through the woods one day and no-ticed that all the trails’ corners were getting torn up. It’s a statement of what annoying children we must’ve been that our parents handed us the keys to an actual car just to get us out of their hair.

The old GL didn’t last long in our hands—in protest of its fate, it

You might live next door to the Nürburgring, but that doesn’t mean you can take a lap whenever the fancy strikes. But what if you built your own track where you could drive as much as you want, whenever you want, in your own automotive Disney World? That’s the dream, right there.



gradually lost power until it would start but refused to move—so it’s been about twenty years since anyone drove a car out here. In the meantime, nature’s been busy. Two decades of persistent photosyn-thesis have obliterated the trails I used to drive. And my goal isn’t simply to hack out a rutted four-by-four trail. I want a smooth road with fun corners. And a jump. We defi nitely need a jump.

First, I walk the path that I intend to use for the course, which I dub Forest Stage 3. (Why stage three? Because it sounds cool and im-plies that there are two other, undoubtedly less dangerous, stages.) It’s all a mess, with felled trees crisscrossing the trail and thick un-derbrush crowding in from both directions. I reach out to shove a rotten tree out of the way, and a sapling snaps back and whips me across the eyeball. My contact lens is sliced in half. Great. I’ve nearly lacerated my cornea, and I haven’t even fi red up the chain saw yet. Mother nature, it seems, is not happy to see me.

Graham and I decide that he’ll run the brush cutter while I clear the larger trees with the chain saw. I’m terrifi ed of the chain saw. The owners’ manual cautions that there’s a part of the chain called the “kickback zone,” and if you touch that part to a tree, the chain saw will probably plow halfway through your femoral artery before the motor hydrolocks on your gushing blood. So I grip the chain saw like it’s a rabid raccoon, keeping it as far away from my body as possible.

And yet, it’s an awesome tool. Trail-obstructing trees are obliter-ated in a cloud of sawdust and noise. Branches that crowd the path are surgically removed. I even get low and fl atten out a few stumps that look like they could imperil a rally-car tire. It turns out that I needn’t have worried about those. Because tree stumps, I soon learn, are no match for an angry Bobcat.

The Bobcat is like a Tonka toy scaled up for adults. It’s an incred-ible machine—a grader, an earthmover, a stump-digger that’s able to turn on its own axis and crush anything in its path. There’s some-

thing fundamentally appealing about rearranging the landscape with a bucket loader. But there’s a bit of a learning curve. My initial stint in the driver’s seat is a neck-snapping procession of jerky move-ments as I learn to manipulate the controls. My fi rst project is to cover a narrow rock that juts up out of the trail in the perfect posi-tion to decimate a suspension arm. The rock is adjacent to a steep banking, so I use the Bobcat to scoop earth from the hill and cover the rock. When I’m done, the rock is covered, the trail is widened, and we have our fi rst piece of terrain that actually looks like a road.

Now all we need is a rally car. Luckily, I’ve coerced Subaru into loaning me a set of wheels. A fellow named Aaron from Vermont SportsCar arrives with a trailer containing a piece of cargo that is about to elevate our level of silliness by nine or ten notches. He low-


Above: The center diff is locked in safe understeer mode, but that doesn’t stop the dirt from fl ying. Opposite, from left: The chain saw thankfully was used only on tree limbs. Building the jump with the Bobcat.


ers the door and backs out a silver and black Subaru Impreza WRX STI fi tted with high-profi le dirt tires and, as required by Subaru In-sane Rally Car tradition, gold wheels. The interior is gutted. There’s a red roll cage and a spare wheel and tire mounted where the back seats should be. Aaron explains that the roll cage shouldn’t be trusted, since it’s just a cosmetic piece installed for this car’s former role as a star in Fast & Furious. The fi lm connection is also why this particular STI wears a deep, ground-hugging, aftermarket chin spoiler. That could be trouble out on Forest Stage 3.

Inside the car, every idiot light is blazing. The STI’s SI-Drive sys-tem isn’t working, and the center differential is locked in a “safe” mode instead of offering its usual adjustability. The exhaust periodi-cally coughs blue smoke. The emergency brake has all the grip of Larry King on a Tefl on chin-up bar. If cars could talk, this one would probably say, “Please fi ll my crankcase with sodium silicate and stop the madness.” Sorry, STI. No rest for the weary, I suppose, because tomorrow you’ll begin your new career as a rally car.

The next morning, we arrive early, excited to groom our creation into a mini World Rally Championship proving ground. My fi rst priority, naturally, is to build a jump. Since I’ve never built a jump, I’m not sure how steep or tall to make it, so I just keep adding buck-ets of dirt with the Bobcat until it seems about right. I want to get air, but I don’t want to punch the front struts up through the hood when I land. That said, my jump looks weak. But better to build it up grad-

ually than make it too Red Bull X Games Xtreme right away. Rally-ing is only fun when your car’s not broken in half.

With the most important part of the track in place, I apply driver and navigator ID decals to the Subaru. And with the heroic Scandi-navian team of E. Dyerssson and G. Dyerhämäläinen occupying the front seats, you know this car will surely be sideways in those rare moments when the wheels are touching the ground. Graham and I don bright blue Subaru fi resuits and open-face rally helmets, and I feel almost ready to give postrace interviews laced with Norwegian profanity and punctuated by straight pulls off a bottle of Svedka.

I fi re up the STI to take a practice lap. “This seems kind of famil-iar, huh?” Graham says. Indeed, we’ve been buckled into a Subaru hatchback out here before. This one just has, oh, more than four times the horsepower. The Subaru boxer four-cylinder has enjoyed severe horsepower infl ation since the ’80s.

The course layout is basically a sprawling fi gure eight, with plenty of elevation change and a nice straightaway connecting to an uphill right-hander that leads into a tunnel of foliage. At the end of that tunnel: the jump.

The jump looked modest when I was standing atop it, but from inside the car, heading up the hill, it looks like a horizon-blotting ramp to outer space. Surely, though, that must be an optical illusion, so I grab second gear and hit it at about 35 mph.

The Subaru explodes out of the forest, all four wheels clear of

Full race suit and intercom helmet: check. Ludicrous Scandinavian rally names: check. STI with fake Hollywood roof scoop: check.

THE JUMP LOOKED MODESTWHEN I WAS STANDINGATOP IT, BUT FROM INSIDETHE CAR, HEADING UP THEHILL, IT LOOKS LIKE AHORIZON-BLOTTING RAMPTO OUTER SPACE.



mother earth, and touches down about twenty feet beyond the launch point. That was a little bigger than I’d anticipated. And actu-ally, just about right—big enough for excitement, small enough that it won’t break the car. Hopefully.

I park the Subaru and get back in the Bobcat to refi ne the track. A couple laps later, I’ve removed the crown from the road, eliminating the ruts and dispensing with the shorn-off saplings that were grab-bing the bottom of the car. While I’m at it, I widen a few corners, bulldozing stumps into oblivion and dragging the bucket in reverse to smooth my handiwork. I get so lost in my Bobcat projects that Mike, the photographer, wanders down to the far reaches of the course—where I’m digging stumps and making “Vroom, broom!” noises with my mouth—to remind me that I might want to get back to driving, you know, the car.

Good point. It’s time to go hot. Some parts of the track are too narrow and need more tinkering, but others are exactly as I’d envi-sioned. For example, after landing the jump, there’s a gravel right-hander that’s wide enough to get some serious sideways action, fol-lowed by another right-hander and a downhill left. With a little more excavation, there could be some speedier sections, but as it stands, it’s all fi rst and second gear. Then again, when you’re doing 45 or 50 mph with trees whizzing past your ears, you don’t feel like you’re going slow. In fact, when I stop to take a break, my hands are shaking from the adrenaline. This is usually the point where, at every other track I’ve been on, someone tells me to get out of the car. Here, there’s nobody to stop me.

It turns out that sometimes I need somebody to stop me. After launching off the jump, I spin the car around and try to stop to talk to Mike. Instead, I sail right past him, grinding to a halt against an em-bankment. The brakes are AWOL. Inside the car, it feels like the ABS is having an argument with itself, with the calipers and rotors paralyzed by indecision. Maybe rocks got into the brakes, or maybe the smaller rotors on this car (to allow the fi fteen-inch gravel wheels) confused the ABS sensors somehow. At any rate, I write off the incident as a one-time aberration, because immediately afterward, the brakes return to normal. And they stay that way right until my fi nal lap.

Coming down the straightaway, I hit the brakes to set up the car for the right-hander. But the phantom ABS gremlin is back. The pedal pulses, but I don’t slow down. I switch to Plan B—try to steer around the corner—but the car is going too fast, and I understeer wide. Right into a tree. The passenger-side headlight caves in, and the fender wrinkles with a sick-ening crunch. Crap. Hack drivers al-ways blame the car for their mistakes, but I really did lose the brakes! Really. Honest. No, seriously.

The resilient Subaru still drives, al-beit with a plaintive new whine from the power-steering pump. I pry the fender back into an approximation of its regular shape and consider taking a few more laps, but my better judgment belatedly kicks in. Brakes are impor-tant. I shouldn’t drive without them. And yet, I’m having so much fun that I ponder ideas like, “What if I just went slow and used the emergency brake? That sort of works.” It’s clearly time to park the car and hang up the Nomex.

Usually when you get déjà vu, you

THE TRACK ALLOWS ONLY FIRST- AND SECOND-GEAR SPEEDS, BUT WHEN YOU’RE DOING 50 MPH WITH TREES WHIZZING PAST YOUR EARS, YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE YOU’RE GOING SLOW.

can’t fi gure out why. But it so happens that, back in 1988, Graham drifted off the trail and hit a tree with our Subaru GL, taking out the passenger-side headlight and folding the fender back onto the tire. Then, as now, I got a pry bar, pulled the sheetmetal off the rubber, and called it a day. Listen, Simba, while I tell you of the Circle of Fender Benders.

All told, I spent $530 to rent the Bobcat and the brush cutter. Gra-ham was compensated with beer and cheeseburgers. I don’t know the value of the land, but when my parents bought it in 1979, it cost less than the Subaru that I restyled today. So if you, like me, will never have a factory ride or a super-platinum membership at the Monticello Motor Club, despair not. With some cheap land, a little elbow grease, and a basic familiarity with chain saws, you could have a track of your very own. It’s no Goodwood, but these are pretty good woods. ■

Top: Rubbin’ trees is racin’. Bottom: The hard-used STI throws dirt and bluish exhaust on its way up a hill.



90 AUTOMOBILE | FEBRUARY 2010 PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM ANDREW

Mazda 2

We liked the new Mazda 2 from the moment it was announced. The idea of sharply reducing weight and

aerodynamic drag while increasing power synced perfectly with our automotive philosophy. In our November 2008 “Cars We Need Now” issue, we called the smallest Mazda “a car that ought to be available for our market.” We backed up our belief in its virtues by putting an example in our Four Seasons fl eet. Since it wasn’t yet available in the United States (it’s coming this summer), we asked Mazda Europe to loan us a 1.5-liter four-door hatchback with the sport package in France. The twin-cam four-cylinder pumps out 102 hp and, over our test period, managed a respectable 32 mpg despite most of our use being in low-speed urban traffi c.

France’s 81-mph motorway speed limit, which is severely enforced these days, presented absolutely no challenge to the car. Accelerate as quickly as possible—it’s not impressive, with 0 to 60 mph taking ten seconds or so—set the precise electronic cruise control, sit back knowing that the car will maintain that velocity whatever the terrain, and enjoy the ride. The Mazda 2 was completely free of wind noise, the engine sound was certainly present but not at all unpleasant in its harmonies, and there was a reassuring sense of solidity to the ensemble that deteriorated not a whit in our year with the poisonous yellow hatch.

We made quite a few motorway trips with the 2. It went back and forth from Paris to the Dordogne in southwest France numerous times, trekked east across the

Piquing our interest before its U.S. arrival.


.... Nimble, short, and lively, the Mazda 2 was a perfect European city car.

Four Seasons Wrap-up

FEBRUARY 2010 | AUTOMOBILEMAG.COM 91www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

Mazda hasn’t offered a subcompact in the United States since the mid-1990s, when it discontinued the 82-hp 323, but the company has developed a strong global presence with the Mazda 2. The fi rst generation, known variously as the 121 or the Demio (which it’s still

called in Japan), debuted in 1996 as a high-roof hatchback. Despite the car’s success—more than a million were built in two generations through 2006—Mazda took a different route with the current 2, downsizing the car by more than an inch and some 200 pounds.

Production for the sleek,

nimble new 2—the 2008 World Car of the Year—commenced in mid-2007 and surpassed 100,000 units within eight months. After two years of denying any plans for U.S. sales, Mazda announced at last December’s Los Angeles auto show that it would indeed start importing the 2, although only in four-door-hatchback form with the larger 1.5-liter gasoline four-cylinder, as in our Four Seasons car. When it goes on sale late this

summer, the 2 will face off against several new entrants in the subcompact market, including the Ford Fiesta (its platform mate) and the Volkswagen Polo.

Massif Central to Geneva—once with two couples and their luggage for a three-day stay—and easily tackled an all-day run to Turin, Italy, to visit legendary car designer Marcello Gandini. Despite the 2’s low weight, it didn’t bounce around unpleasantly on the rough roads that abound in rural France, and on smooth ones, it was as comfortable as many much bigger and more cosseting machines. Martin Swig, organizer of the California Mille and a dedicated small-car afi cionado, remarked on that after a back-road drive, saying the car “is quick-witted, stable, quiet enough (and the noises you do hear sound good), and it invites spirited driving.”

With the sport package, we got a leather-covered wheel for the electric power steering, but that was about the only luxurious aspect to the interior, which was mostly fi nished in hard plastic. The cloth-covered seats were comfortable enough, but the driver’s seat presented the single most annoying aspect of the vehicle. It could be manually regulated in height by just one inch, during which it translated fore and aft by an inch and three-quarters. That’s fi ne, but to make the change—which was absolutely necessary when the two principal drivers varied in height by eleven inches—took thirty-two strokes of the not-particularly-light manual lever on the outboard side of the cushion. This was especially aggravating because in typical small French cars, it takes just one move of a similar lever for the seat to spring up to its top position.

Luggage room is limited, but the trunk accepts a full-size hard suitcase and a regulation carry-on bag easily enough. Lift-over height is excessive,

.... Controls on the steering wheel are practical and evocative of more expensive cars, but the cabin’s excessive gray plastic looked ultracheap. Also, the weird glove-box lid was hard to live with.

Genealogy


+ Ideal in the city+ Very good on highways+ Cheap to run, maintain– Hard plastics in the cabin– Fiddly seat-height adjuster– Limited luggage space

Pros & Cons


presumably to allow adequate structure in the transverse panel below the sill, but for ordinary grocery runs it was fi ne. In general, body quality is well above the class average, with tight fi ts and doors that close with a quiet click, no slamming needed. The service history was simple: there was nothing to do during 16,576 miles. Everything worked every time; nothing broke.

Up to now, there’s been no alternative to the slick-shifting fi ve-speed manual gearbox for European-market 2s, but a four-speed automatic will be offered to suit American preferences. In that case, a bit more displacement would be welcome, but for normal commuting and travel, the specifi cation of our Four Seasons car was highly satisfactory. Web producer Evan McCausland used the Mazda 2 during the 2009 Geneva motor show, and he concluded, “I’ve not seen a small car so refi ned both about town and on the expressway,” which confi rms our original appreciation. The 2’s very modern design is likely to create new enthusiasm for capable small cars, much like the far more expensive Mini has done. With its lively responsiveness, high fun-to-drive quotient, and low running costs, the Mazda 2 is a great car for tough times.

— robert cumberford

.... Aerodynamics are exceptional for so short a car, aided by an add-on spoiler to lengthen the roof profi le. Side treatment is a cliché, but the high taillights are a safety plus.

PRICES & EQUIPMENT Base price$18,800*

Price as tested$20,450*

Standard equipmentABS; air-conditioning; keyless entry; power front windows, mirrors, and door locks; front, side, and side curtain air bags

Our optionsMetallic paint, $500*; sport package (automatic climate control, automatic headlights, rain-sensing windshield wipers, trip computer, power rear windows, cruise control, sixteen-inch aluminum wheels, foglights, leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, front and rear spoilers), $1150*

*Rounded prices converted from euros, before 19.6% French sales tax

Four Seasons Wrap-up


4-door hatchback5 passengers Steel unibody

16-valve DOHC I-41.5 liters (91 cu in)102 hp @ 6000 rpm101 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm5-speed manualFront-wheel

Power rack-and-pinion2.7 turns32.2 ftStrut-type, coil springsTorsion beam, coil springsVented discs/drums, ABSToyo Proxes R31195/45VR-16

39.5/37.8 in42.0/34.8 in52.8/50.2 in153.3 x 66.7 x 58.1 in98.0 in57.7/57.3 in2117 lb8.8/16.6 cu ft(rear seats up/down)11.3 gal375 miles91 octane

OverviewBODY STYLE

ACCOMMODATION CONSTRUCTION

PowertrainENGINE

DISPLACEMENT HORSEPOWER

TORQUETRANSMISSION TYPE

DRIVE

ChassisSTEERING

LOCK-TO-LOCK TURNING CIRCLE

SUSPENSION, FRONTSUSPENSION, REAR

BRAKES F/RTIRES

TIRE SIZE

MeasurementsHEADROOM F/R

LEGROOM F/R SHOULDER ROOM F/R

L X W X H WHEELBASE

TRACK F/RWEIGHT

CARGO CAPACITY

FUEL CAPACITYEST. FUEL RANGE

FUEL GRADE

2008 Mazda 2


This small ute is a big deal for Audi.

Audi Q5

THE SPECSPRICE: $45,225ENGINE: 3.2L V-6POWER: 270 hpTORQUE: 243 lb-ft 189 miles “The Q5 is perfectly

comfortable in town and absolutely confi dent when working hard,” pens associate editor Eric Tingwall.854 “I’m a bit tired of carmakers fi lling every perceived gap in their lineups,” gripes copy editor Rusty Blackwell. “But in a downsizing-happy world, the Q5 makes more sense than the larger Q7.”

Notes

■ For more Four Seasons fl eet updates, go to Automobilemag.com

The luxury compact crossover market was elbow-bumpingly crowded long before Audi brought us the Q5 in 2009, but perhaps that

was a good thing. As a late arrival, Audi was well aware of its rivals. Against the Mercedes-Benz GLK350 and the Volvo XC60 in a comparison test last April, we gave the gold to the Audi. Buyers have also taken to the Q5, making it Audi’s second-best-selling vehicle in America.

The Q5 comes in only one fl avor, with a 270-hp, direct-injected V-6; a six-speed automatic; and all-wheel drive for a base price of $38,175. Audi does, however, offer plenty of additional equipment across its three trim levels. Our ibis white Premium Plus Q5 includes a panoramic sunroof, heated front seats, a power liftgate, xenon headlamps, Bluetooth, and an iPod connection. An extra $3000 adds a 40-gig hard drive, navigation, and a backup camera. We did without a blind-spot warning system, keyless ignition, and

Audi Drive Select, which allows for adjustments to steering, engine,

transmission, and suspension settings.Although the fl eet at Automobile

Magazine often contains several hot cars, it’s the practical vehicles that typically accumulate the most miles. Reasonable space for four, a well-appointed cabin, a manageable size, and capable performance make the compact Audi a prime candidate to be a popular ride. We’ll see if the Q5 lives up to its potential.

Four Seasons Logbook


A.

J. M

UE

LL

ER

BMW 750Li

25,762 miles Rather than driving, executive editor Joe DeMatio chose to ride in style to a wedding in Kentucky. “Rear-seat comfort is, predictably, splendid,” he reports. Unfortunately for him, his chauffeur was West Coast editor Jason Cammisa, who couldn’t resist drifting the big sedan around an exit ramp. “Chassis balance is spot-on, and the information coming through the steering wheel is astounding,” he gushes.

Honda Fit

19,235 miles “The built-in navi is a nice idea, but it prices the Fit into a tougher segment. Plus, it isn’t nearly as good as some of the more affordable aftermarket systems I’ve used,” grouses assistant editor David Zenlea.21,281 “I love getting into the Fit after a late night at work,” says Blackwell. “You can drive it hard enough to keep yourself alert and entertained without blatantly disobeying traffi c laws.”

Hyundai Genesis 4.6

24,044 miles “I’ll bet the Genesis has done more good for Hyundai’s image than any amount of advertising,” opines senior Web editor Phil Floraday, who drove it to Chicago. “It’s easy to look at the car, touch its interior materials, and see how much the brand has improved.” 25,568 “I hadn’t driven the Genesis in a while but had no problem remembering how to use its intuitive nav system,” notes senior editor Joe Lorio.

Fleet Updates


De Tomaso Mangusta is not the fi rst answer most people give when asked to name a late-1960s Italian GT. But in terms of street presence and raw sex appeal, this lesser-known exotic gives away nothing to its more widely recognized contemporaries from Ferrari, Lamborghini, and

Maserati. Seen today, this Giorgetto Giugiaro masterpiece looks like a long-forgotten Hot Wheels car sprung to life. Upon its debut at the Turin auto show in 1966, its impact was even more dramatic.

“I remember the fi rst time I saw one,” says Bob Tucker, a now-retired professor of architecture who owned a Mangusta back in the day. “I thought it was the biggest point of departure for automobile design up to that time.” Tucker had a keen eye for cars—he owned Alfa Romeos and Ferraris as well. As it turned out, though, the Mangusta, with its mid-mounted Ford V-8 and tricky handling, was too much of a personal departure for Tucker, and he didn’t hang onto it for very long before returning to Alfas.

Still, the Mangusta stayed around long enough to make a searing impression on the consciousness of Tucker’s elementary-school-aged son, Roman. “I never forgot the looks of that thing,” he says. Like his father, the younger Tucker today is deeply into Alfas (he vintage races and restores them) and also likes Ferraris (he has a 512BB and a Testarossa)—but unlike his dad, Roman has kept his Mangusta, a stunning gray example that he purchased in 1996.

As I stand next to it, the car seems impossibly low—it’s a scant forty-three inches tall—and the purity of the design is uncompromised. And, in fact, the cars weren’t modifi ed to meet U.S. federal safety standards of the day, and a sticker inside the front trunk warns of that fact. Despite the low roof and the severe tumblehome—because of which the door glass can retract only halfway—getting in

1967–71 An exotic from one of the lesser-known Italian masters.De Tomaso Mangusta

is fairly easy, mostly because of the narrow doorsills. The Mangusta uses a backbone frame, so, in the cockpit area, its structure is concentrated at the center of the car, where the frame rails reside under the massive console. The longitudinally mounted V-8 engine sits ahead of the rear axle, which means the passenger compartment is located far forward. Driver and passenger must angle their legs toward the center of the car, due to the substantial intrusion of the front wheel wells. And the steeply raked windshield comes all the way up to your forehead, or so it seems. The wide, low cockpit is decked out in padded leather, and the fl at dashboard is littered with businesslike, round gauges and a long row of toggle switches.

When Tucker keys the engine to life, however, the sound isn’t one of Italian exotica but the rumble of an American muscle car. That’s because a humble Ford V-8 powers the Mangusta; the

Collectible Classic

96 AUTOMOBILE | FEBRUARY 2010 PHOTOGRAPHY BY A. J. MUELLER


THE SPECSENGINE: 5.0L OHV V-8, 230 hp, 310 lb-ftTRANSMISSION: 5-speed manualDRIVE: Rear-wheelSUSPENSION, FRONT: Control arms, coil springsSUSPENSION, REAR: Multilink, coil springsBRAKES: DiscsWEIGHT: 3000 lb (est.)

THE INFOYears produced1967–1971

Number produced401

Value today$65,000–$95,000

Why buy?Knockout looks from the pen of the master, Giorgetto Giugiaro, at the height of his design powers. For someone who wants a late-’60s Italian GT, the Mangusta is an out-of-the-mainstream choice. It’s a mid-engine exotic without the sky-high tune-up bills or the need of an old-world mechanic to keep it running, thanks to its dead-simple American V-8. That said, however, much of this car is mechanically fragile, chiefl y the transaxle. Prices had been a veritable bargain compared with the Mangusta’s contemporaries but recently have become less so.

302-cubic-inch engine, topped with a four-barrel carburetor, may not have a European pedigree, but it’s certainly simple and reliable. It’s also easy to work on, unless the task is changing the accessory-drive belt—the engine is snug up against the fi rewall, so it’s best to remove the seats and the console to perform that operation.

The Ford V-8’s 310 lb-ft of torque, however, effortlessly moves this fl yweight two-seater (which tips the scales at 3000 pounds, give or take). Tucker happily demonstrates on the quiet country roads around his Michigan home, running the Mangusta up to an indicated 100 mph or better several times, as our photographer and his assistant struggle to catch up.

Then it’s my turn. The driver’s seat offers little adjustment, so either you fi t or you don’t. Luckily, I do. The turning circle is wide, and there’s essentially no visibility out the back. I roll onto the throttle and the car powers ahead, quickly blurring the trees, barns, and mailboxes. The clutch is stiff, but the shifter moves easily through its chromed gate—but the fact is, you hardly need to use it, given the V-8’s torque and the close spacing of the gearbox’s fi ve ratios.

Tucker warns me that the car’s handling is tricky: it pushes at fi rst, then the back can snap out suddenly and is somewhat hard to catch because of the slow-geared steering. I don’t have a chance to confi rm his assessment, since the roads are mostly arrow-straight. But I certainly can hear the suspension working—the control-arm

layout uses no rubber parts—and the ride is fairly decent. The spotty autumn sunshine begins to bake us under the huge, nearly horizontal windshield, so Tucker switches on the air-conditioning (which was standard equipment). This really is a comfortable highway cruiser, and Tucker has driven it to racetracks as far as Watkins Glen in New York and Road America in Wisconsin.

“People go crazy when they see it,” he says, which is understandable, given the car’s style and its rarity. Only 401 were built, and it’s estimated that about half survive. U.S. importation ended in 1971, when De Tomaso’s federal-standards exemption expired. De Tomaso followed with the Pantera, which was sold by Lincoln-Mercury dealers, but that car doesn’t have quite the design purity of the Mangusta. It’s true that De Tomaso was a small operation and the cars were not the most thoroughly engineered. But the Ford V-8 is certainly robust, and Tucker claims that his Mangusta has been reliable. Really, though, if you want reliable, get a Toyota Camry. The Mangusta is something else entirely. It’s a macho vision of the future from an era when designers were still unconstrained, and it’s every bit as striking today as when it was introduced. — joe lorio

.... Impossibly low headlights, nonexistent bumpers, and a rakishly sloped greenhouse—the Mangusta’s design made little concession to practicality. Cabin details include a wood-and-leather steering wheel, a gated shifter, and toggle switches. Butterfl y doors access the engine bay and a small luggage compartment.

FEBRUARY 2010 | AUTOMOBILEMAG.COM 97www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

1. 1969 Morris Minor 1000 TravellerSOLD AT $12,151SN MAWSD1247082Green with ash wood framing over green vinyl. 48-hp, 1098-cc four-cylinder; four-speed manual transmission. Good older paint. Joint separation and what could be fi ller in the wood trim. Good brightwork. Correct but ill-fi tting seat covers, decent dash.

Interestingly, this Morris appeared to sell at a price that would be appropriate on both sides of the Atlantic. Lots of fun, plus a distinctive style and shape for not too much cash.

2. 1983 Bentley Mulsanne TurboSOLD AT $20,564SN SCBZSOTOXDCH07064Blue over cream leather. 328-hp, 6.7-liter turbocharged V-8; three-speed automatic.

RM AuctionsBattersea Park, London, England, October 28, 2009by Dave Kinney

21

Customized with shark gills, plexiglass roof panels, and lots of chrome. Good paint, excellent brightwork. Brushed-metal dash, worn seats.Nicknamed “Mentley Insanne.” To say that this is a specialty vehicle with a limited market would be an understatement, but it looked kind of cool in its own outrageous way. The sale price seems fair, since some recommissioning is needed.

3. 1956 AC Aceca BristolSOLD AT $121,514SN BE571Black over gray leather. 120-hp, 1971-cc in-line six; four-speed manual. Very nice paint over well-prepared body panels. Very good chrome. Clean under the hood. Interior appears original and has plenty of patina. The AC Aceca is the coupe version of the AC Ace. Bristol refers to the engine, which is based on the


SPOTLIGHT

1969 Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman LandauletSOLD AT $523,446

SN WDB100.015.12.001129. Black over red

leather. 6.3-liter V-8; four-speed automatic.

One of fi fty-nine Pullman Landaulets (rear-

opening roof section). A daunting restoration

project, with lots of dented panels and many

missing pieces. Windows stuck in various

positions do not bode well. The weathered

interior is no better, with an odor that can

charitably be described as musky and musty.

THE STORY BEHIND THE SALEFrom 1963 to 1981, the 600 was the top

Mercedes, much like today’s Maybach. It

came in long-wheelbase (Pullman) and short-

wheelbase versions. Also known as the GrosserMercedes, the 5800-pound, seven-passenger

Pullman limo cost $25,582 in 1968, nearly four

times as much as a 280SL convertible.

The 600 was also famously and fabulously

complicated, with fuel injection, vacuum

central locking for the doors and the trunk,

and two separate HVAC systems. The cars

were also infamous for their hydraulics, which

powered many of the features that would have

been electrically operated in other vehicles.

The Landaulet’s presale estimate was

$65,000 to $100,000, and many in attendance

thought that to be overly ambitious. The

astounding sale price was more than fi ve times

the upper estimate. And the restoration will

likely cost much more. Time will tell whether

this portends a commensurate rise in the

value of fi ve-passenger models and

non-Landaulet Pullmans.


3

prewar BMW 328’s powerplant; it ended up in British hands as part of reparations after World War II. This car was the fi rst Aceca equipped with a Bristol engine, which is more of an interesting fact than a value-adding feature. The selling price was right where expected.

4. 1991 Ferrari TestarossaSOLD AT $51,410SN ZFFAA17C 000091236Red over cream leather. 380-hp, 4.9-liter fl at-12; fi ve-speed manual. All paint is very good. Minor scuffi ng on the windshield. Mismatched tires. Light wear on the driver’s seat only; all else is excellent.Conventional wisdom says the values of Testarossas will stay low because of pressure from other, more modern Ferrari V-12 models. The wedge-shaped, cheese-slicer styling is evocative of the 1980s, but don’t forget—the 1980s is now offi cially a long time ago.

BEST BUY5. 1931 Cadillac Series 452A V-16 roadsterSOLD AT $420,626SN 703165

Silver and brown over brown leather. 180-hp (est.), 452-cubic-inch V-16; three-speed manual. A very high-quality restoration. Paint has aged but is still very good. Excellent chrome. The trunk and the canvas spare-tire covers are discolored and worn.The V-16 Cadillac debuted in December 1929, just as the Great Depression started to take hold. Production soldiered on, however, all the way through 1940. A total of 4386 were built—just a handful in this open body style. This car suffers from only one major negative: its color scheme is outdated. Even so, this Cadillac could bring an additional $100,000 after some light reconditioning.

6. 1963 ATS 2500 GT coupeSOLD AT $523,446SN 2004Red over black Connolly leather. 300-hp, 3.0-liter V-8; fi ve-speed manual. Excellent paint, chrome, and trim. Overall a very nice and pleasing restoration. With a design by Franco Scaglione and coachwork by Allemano, the

4

6

8

5

7

9

ATS (Automobili Turismo Sport, SpA) made its debut at the 1963 Geneva motor show. With its exotic styling, the mid-engine sports car caused quite a sensation. Unfortunately, only eight cars were completed; as with many start-ups, the dreams were bigger than the bank account. Had you been looking to buy an ATS, this might have been your only chance for quite some time. This price was well below the estimate and might just be market correct.

7. 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL GullwingSOLD AT $785,169SN 1980404500066

Silver over black leather. 380-hp, 6.0-liter V-8; four-speed automatic. A steel-bodied full custom by Mercedes-Benz’s in-house tuner, AMG. Excellent paint and chrome. The interior is custom as well. Very much upgraded to a modern-car look.One of eleven built, including fi ve for the royal family of Brunei. Said to have cost nearly €1 million in 2006. All mechanicals are updated; under the skin, this car has little in common with the original Gullwing. The intense bidding on this car should be interpreted as interest from a number of places. Expensive, but worth it.

8. 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE coupeSOLD AT $46,736SN JH29N0B213080Sublime green with black vinyl top over black vinyl interior. 335-hp, 383-cubic-inch V-8; three-speed automatic transmission. A well-done older restoration that’s now starting to age. This Dodge is far from practical in the United Kingdom, where gasoline costs nearly $7 per gallon and roads are substantially narrower than those in North America. But you’re not likely to pass another sublime-green Challenger driving through the streets of London. The price seems fair.

9. 1929 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport roadsterSOLD AT $887,989SN 0312940Red over tan leather. 85-hp, 1752-cc in-line six; four-speed manual transmission. Flawless paint, excellent chrome and trim. The seat leather shows a light patina. Alfa Romeo has an outstanding history of building great automobiles, and that history is epitomized by this 6C 1750 GS roadster with coachwork by Carrozzeria Sport in Milan. The catalog picture doesn’t do this car justice. Even at almost $900,000, this Alfa was appropriately priced.

Auctions



INK


EN YEARS AGO, WE strode confi dently into the new millennium, naming the Ford Focus our Automobile of the Year, the CEO of Ford our Man of the Year, and the Audi TT our Design of the Year. The Honda Insight’s new hybrid powertrain—remember, they beat Toyota to America?—won our technology trophy. It’s pretty cool that, as we told you last month, we again found our Man of the Year running the Ford Motor Company, while the 2010 Technology of the Year honors lithium-ion batteries, the power source of choice for hybrid and electric vehicles.

We recently drove our All-Star candidates during a rainy fall week on Michigan roads and a racetrack to save dough, just like we did ten years ago. But unlike in 2000, the rest of our little world is pretty much upside down.

In 2000, we chose thirteen All-Stars in specifi c categories, and if one of them hadn’t been Best Pickup, there wouldn’t have been a single winner from Detroit. As it was, the Japanese took Best Minivan, Small and Large SUV, and only one car category. Germany blitzkrieged the rest. We also let readers vote and, while their choices varied from ours, they also gave out eight All-Star trophies to European vehicles (seven Germans and one Ferrari), one to an American pickup, and four to the Japanese.

The worm has turned. We dumped the categories a few years ago. No more endless nitpicking. At the end of all the driving and fussing and fulminating, we pick ten vehicles we’d like to own. The Germans have not so much lost their edge as they’ve been swarmed by fi erce, hungry global competition, including the newly focused, postapocalyptic domestic car industry, which is hell-bent on winning—or to die trying.

The seventeen editors who cast All-Star votes did so for some thirty-nine different vehicles, and the results were no longer so lopsided: seventeen European models got votes, including two Brits and one Swede, while Detroit beat out the Asians (including one Korean vehicle) twelve to ten. In a blaze of glory, only Chevrolet equaled Audi with fi ve vote-getting models. Ford came in third with four models (including the Lincoln MKT) receiving votes. Then came BMW, Mercedes, and Nissan tying with three each.

But the list of All-Stars winners is the real eye-opener. On it: fi ve European cars, four American models, and one lone Japanese winner, the Mazda 3/Mazdaspeed 3. Ford and BMW won two All-Stars each.

There was no unanimous winner among the ten, but the Ford Fusion Hybrid blew away all comers except for the combined Porsche Cayman/Boxster vote. The Ford Flex won a sophomore All-Star award (thanks in great part to its newly available twin-turbo EcoBoost engine), and the Chevy Camaro made a strong showing after losing the 2010 Automobile of the Year award to the Volkswagen GTI in our January issue. The Dodge Ram, the best vehicle currently available from the revamped Chrysler, also vaulted into the top ten. Beating out two of the best-selling vehicles in America—the Ford F-150 and the Chevy Silverado—must feel especially sweet to newly minted Ram brand president and CEO Fred Diaz.

Of course, we included our fair share of rubber-burners among the winners, but I’m proud to say that we resisted the temptation to select only vehicles that produce a testosterone rush. Instead, our All-Stars were awarded to a diverse selection of cars, completing our perfect stable of All-Star rides for 2010.

I encourage you to study the list of All-Star vote-getters on page 43. All of them received at least one vote from an editor who felt they belonged on our list of the best cars you can buy in America. You shouldn’t discount the left-behinds, especially the fi ve on my own ballot that didn’t win. (Yes, only half of my 2010 dream garage made the cut. No, I am not bitter that executive editor Joe DeMatio had nine All-Star winners on his ballot.)

The cars I voted for that didn’t make the fi nal cut include the utterly stunning Audi R8 supercar, our 2008 Automobile (and Design) of the Year. My favorite luxury sedan, the exquisite BMW 7-series. The handsome, spacious, and economical Chevy Malibu. The Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, a heart-stopping work of staggering audaciousness. And the Audi S5 coupe, a spirited beauty with a drop-dead interior.

There, I feel better. ■

■

They might not have made ourlist of 2010 All-Stars, but the BMW 7-series, the Audi S5, and the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG have won the editor-in-chief’s heart—and her votes.



*EPA-estimated mpg (FWD) 22 city/32 hwy. ©2010 General Motors. All rights reserved. GMC® GMC logo® MultiFlex® StabiliTrak® TerrainTM WE ARE PROFESSIONAL GRADE®

It’s equipped with the StabiliTrak stability enhancement system and has a four-wheel independent suspension. It has a refined interior and seating for five adults. And it has an efficient 2.4L direct-injection engine.* In fact, it does everything bigger SUVs can do, and one thing they can’t: offer an EPA-estimated 32 hwy mpg. We gave it more ideas per square inch. Because more is what we do. INTRODUCING THE ALL-NEW TERRAIN. THE SMALLER SUV, FROM GMC. WE ARE PROFESSIONAL GRADE.

WE GAVE IT MORE IDEAS PER SQUARE INCH. BECAUSE MORE IS WHAT WE DO.

Standard Rear- Vision Camera System displays what’s behind your vehicle.

MultiFlex seat creates more rear leg room or cargo space.

Availablechrome accents and many bold GMC design highlights.

Available power liftgate programmable to stop at selected height.

EPA-estimated32 hwy mpg, better than any hybrid SUV or crossover.


automobile - february 2010

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