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A
32
ROAD TEST
2023 Kia EV6 GT
Packing 576 horsepower, this battery-powered Kia gleefully scrambles brand perceptions.
By Joe LorioTABLE of CONTENTS
38
COMPARISON TEST
Trending
The BMW iX M60 and the Rivian R1S Launch Edition are the latest in mega-powerful EV peacocking.
By Dave VanderWerp46
ROAD TEST
2023 Honda Civic Type R
The apex of the Civic lineup, Honda’s redesigned sport-compact icon shares our values. By Tony Quiroga
COMPARISON TEST
White Light, White Heat
Fully weaponized SUVs: 2023 Aston Martin DBX 707 vs. 2022 Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT. By Dan Edmunds
60
FEATURE
Scissor Sisters
The 2022 Lambor ghini Countach LPI 800-4 meets the 1990 Countach 25th Anniversary Edition. By Mike Duff
“UNDERWAY, THE ASTON DELIVERS THE CRUSHING PERFORMANCE ITS AGGRESSIVE LOOKS IMPLY.”
—Dan Edmunds, “White Light, White Heat”
JOIN ROAD & TRACK EDITORS FOR THE SECOND ANNUAL RALLY THROUGH WINE COUNTRY!
YOU’LL ENJOY...
+ Scenic group drives curated by editors winding through Northern California.
+ Track day at Sonoma Raceway for autocross and hot laps.
+ Stays at luxury resorts in Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley.
+ Unforgettable culinary and cocktail experiences.
+ Tastings at local vineyards and tours of private car collections.
+ Access to Road & Track editors and legendary special guests.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECEmBEr 2022
COLUMNISTS
12. Tony Quiroga Flock together.
28. Ezra Dyer
Impractical jokers.
30. Elana Scherr
Taking it to the streets.
UPFRONT
19. Beast Mode
The definitive hypercar spotter’s guide.
22. Quiz Time
Do you need winter tires?
24. Armchair CEO
Georg Kacher’s unsolicited advice to Audi.
26. Siren Song
Nearly all carmakers are giving in to SUV money.
THE RUNDOWN
67. Jeep Grand Wagoneer L
The world’s heaviest minivan.
70. Toyota GR Supra 3.0 6MT
Answered prayer.
71. MercedesMaybach S580 High-contrast luxury.
72. BMW M4 CSL The ultimate m is not for the faint of heart.
74. Hyundai Ioniq 6 Hyundai’s latest EV throws a curve.
75. Toyota Sequoia 4x4
A rough cut of wood.
76. Nissan Ariya Comfortably numb.
78. Toyota Crown Embracing controversy with a tall sedan.
ETC.
7. Backfires
Ed. reads more EV-hate mail and retorts some.
80. What to Buy
The 1999–2004 Ford SVT F-150 Lightning.
Backfires
The
joyful noise of the commentariat, rebutted sporadically by Ed.
OPENING SALVO
Gee-whiz, an electric-car issue [September 2022]. Opened the cover and— pow!—a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500-H rental. Must be the last hurrah.
—Roy Kimmel Leverett, MA
COUNTING IONS
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 might be the best battery-electric for the buck [“EV of the Year,” September 2022]. I doubt I could buy a car that requires close study every time I walk up to it to determine whether someone T-boned it and failed to leave a note.
—Hal Feinberg Camarillo, CA
I must confess, the Ioniq 5 has caught my attention, and I would consider replacing my manual ’86 Mazda 323. In the real world, I don’t think I could learn to drive it (screen phobia, etc.). Since I was born before the Great War, I even have trouble operating my phone.
—Joel Wood El Prado, NM I’m impressed that you emailed this letter—Ed.
READER CHARGE
I promise not to add to the hate mail you’ll receive regarding the September issue of EV and Driver
—Kevin Doran Galloway Township, NJ
I didn’t think a car magazine could make me feel like a kid again. When my September C/D arrived, I thumbed through the entire magazine, looked at the pictures like a kid, and then threw it out.
—Rick Sandelli Rehoboth Beach, DE
If you print one more letter complaining about the number of EV articles in your magazine, I will cancel my subscription.
—TJ Heiser Madison, WI
Please print future EV articles on flushable wipes.
—Ron Price Tucson, AZ
800-289-9464,
, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. Steven R. Swartz, President & Chief Executive Officer; William R. Hearst III, Chairman; Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Executive Vice Chairman. Hearst Autos, Inc.: Nick Matarazzo, President & Chief Revenue Officer; Debi Chirichella, President, Hearst Magazines; Regina Buckley, Chief Financial and Strategy Officer & Treasurer; Catherine A. Bostron, Secretary. © 2022 by Hearst Autos, Inc. All rights reserved. Trademarks: Car and Driver is a registered trademark of Hearst Autos, Inc. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Canada Post International Publications mail product (Canadian distribution) sales agreement no. 40012499. Editorial and Advertising Offices: 1585 Eisenhower Place, Ann Arbor, MI 48108. SUBSCRIPTION PRICES United States and possessions: $13.00 for one year; Canada, add $10.00; all other countries, add $24.00. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES Car and Driver will, upon receipt of a complete subscription order, undertake fulfillment of that order so as to provide the first copy for delivery by the U.S. Postal Service or alternate carrier within 4–6 weeks. MAILING LISTS From time to time, we make our subscriber list available to companies who sell goods and services by mail that we believe would interest our readers. If you would rather not receive such offers by postal mail, please send your current mailing label or an exact copy to Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 6000, Harlan, IA 51593. You can also visit preferences.hearstmags.com to manage your preferences and opt out of receiving marketing offers by email. Car and Driver assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. None will be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. Permissions: Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Back Issues: Back issues are available for purchase in digital format only from your app store of choice. POSTMASTER Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 507.1.5.2); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES Send address corrections to Car and Driver, P.O. Box 6000, Harlan, IA 51593. Printed in the U.S.A.
Backfires
A slightly lower price helped the Hyundai Ioniq 5 beat out the very similar Kia EV6 for EV of the Year
As a longtime reader, I expected C/D to be the voice of reason and the first to say, “We are not ready for this!” The grid cannot handle the recharging load of more than a few EVs at any one time. The worst part of this “green” nonsense is that engines are constantly getting better and more efficient. That tells me this whole scam is more about controlling who will get the needed juice to drive based on their social credit score. I suppose I can cancel any potential trips for the next decade.
plan to purchase an EV anytime soon, I see the writing on the wall. I expect that the next time I visit a dealer, I will be told, “You may have a vehicle in any color as long as it is green.” Thanks so much for what y’all do.
—Ted Anthony Austin, TX
—Adam
Roberts Montgomery, ALAre you suggesting that utility companies that can barely provide juice will now monitor consumers’ social credit scores (a metric that doesn’t exist)? Sounds plausible—Ed.
I really enjoyed your September issue, especially the EV of the Year feature. I confess, I never thought that last part of the statement would ever come out of my keyboard. Although I do not
I just canceled my subscription, which I have had for eons. What was once something I anticipated and looked forward to reading has become uninteresting, with the number of skipped articles steadily increasing. From your “woke” articles to your fixation on EVs to very average writers, I no longer care. The EV of the Year issue sits unopened and unread. I was going to say this decision was hard, but it really wasn’t.
—B. Stanton Breon Lawrenceville, GA
Thirty-year subscriber. The trend over the last 10 to 15 years has been disheartening. I was waiting for the day when C/D would become a bimonthly art exhibit with Reader’s Digest articles so
Letter of the month
The only relevant piece of information in the entire September 2022 issue was that the gold Acura MDX is not available with a red interior [“Battle of the Badges”].
Dennis Dotter, Dunedin, FL Let’s see what relevant information Dotter can find on these flash drives he’s won Ed.
I could finally cancel my subscription. Ironically, this all changed when I read the 2022 EV of the Year volume. Editor-in-chief Tony Quiroga appears to be the real deal. This issue shows complete self-awareness and an understanding of the average C/D reader. From the Editor’s Letter to the “Interview with an Electric Car,” this volume gives me hope that entertaining, interesting, and informative auto magazines can survive. Keep it up and I might even go back and read the section about EVs.
—Robby Collins Wilmington, NC
Oh, we want the frunk! Give up the frunk! Oh, we need the frunk! We gotta have that frunk!
—Dr. Frunkenstein The Mother ShipI’ve always enjoyed Backfires, but I find the “cancel my subscription” letters regarding EVs puzzling. They imply C/D is killing the muscle car by writing about EVs. Every car company on the planet is producing EVs with plans to produce more, and you are a magazine that covers every car company on the planet. It isn’t compli cated Also, do they under stand they can’t cancel their subscription via Backfires?
—B. Boyd Oakland, CA
Just between you and me, sometimes I send them a second subscription—Ed.
So how long will it be until you merge with Consumer Reports? How can you possibly call yourselves enthusiasts anymore while devoting an entire magazine to vehicles that don’t have a sweet-sounding engine or a manual transmission? I didn’t even open the latest issue—I set it on fire and pissed on the ashes! Did you all wear masks while testing those EVs? You couldn’t pay me enough to work at your magazine nowadays. Your issues keep getting smaller and smaller, and the content is piss-poor!
—Bob Chicago, IL
Watch the bathroom talk, Bob—Ed.
I’ve been reading all the car magazines I could afford for 40 years, and I’ve never contacted the editor. Your September issue is the best I’ve seen. Your EV coverage was in-depth, without “sorry, gas fans” alibi, and so, so good. I bet you’ll get a lot of hate mail about it, and I’m sorry for that. You’re doing it right. The highway-speed EV-range comparison is amazing and should be the standard! Bravo!
—Jason Young Collierville,TN
Last year the red Mach-E taillights on the cover of the EV issue caught my eye, and I promptly subscribed after reading it cover to cover. This year’s EV issue
ACURA WINS AGAIN.
After another successful season, Acura brought home its third IMSA DPi manufacturers’ championship. Meyer Shank Racing’s #60 ARX-05 claimed the 2022 IMSA DPi teams’ championship title, and Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis took the 2022 IMSA DPi drivers’ championship.
We toast our champagne to all the drivers and teams that helped us make this sustained success possible. Next year, watch Precision Crafted Performance take on a whole new form as our brand-new, electrified ARX-06 enters the track to write the next chapter.
Backfires
Battery capacity and towing range need to increase for our trailering readers to consider an EV pickup
didn’t disappoint. I like how you folks mixed in callouts for technical bits and conversational FAQs. All the EV goods covered, with a Porsche 911 GT3 RS up front too—we really have the best of both worlds today.
—Terrance W. Grand Rapids, MI
but not a single convertible, because as far as I can see, there are none. Until someone makes a nice electric convertible, I will continue to burn gas.
A John Mardinly Chandler, AZ
Hmm, when you say the Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum is an “electric pickup for the masses,” then show a base
price of $92,669 ($93,609 as tested), do you mean masses of millionaires? Masses of Dubai residents? My masses ain’t down wit it.
about the ID.4 this year, so we didn’t invite it back—Ed.
TUG BOATS
Twenty nice electric cars in your September issue, Can you elaborate on how the Porsche 911 GT3 RS’s drag-reduction system (DRS) “stalls the [rear] wing to reduce drag” [“Air Apparent,” September 2022]? My understanding of aerodynamics is that a stalled wing is not the same as a wing that produces zero lift and thus zero induced drag. I would think DRS is setting the rear wing so it produces as close to no lift as possible. In contrast, a stalled wing produces some lift and enormous drag. —Todd Fry, Beaufort, SC
EXPLAINED
Stalling generally refers to a wing getting to such a steep angle that the air passing over it becomes turbulent and detaches, causing a dramatic reduction in the amount of lift created (as with airplanes) or downforce (on cars). But a secondary aerodynamic device—a movable diffuser, a fan, anything that disrupts the airflow around a car—could stall a wing without changing its angle. You’re correct that the GT3 RS’s DRS position moves the wing to an angle of near zero to reduce drag, and in that flattened state, the airflow stays attached, so it’s technically not stalling. Our mistake. —Dave VanderWerp
This patent drawing of the GT3 RS’s DRS linkage really stalls your train of thought, eh?
—RJ Marks Milton, FL That’s the base price of the example we tested, a loaded Platinum, because going Platinum changes some specifications, namely the payload and towing. The price of the Platinum has since risen to $98,019. Currently, the least expensive F-150 Lightning, the Pro, opens at $53,769. Oh, and get those masses biopsied—you can never be too careful—Ed.
THE MISSING I’m finally ready for an EV. I’ve owned a few Volvos, so I’ve been taking a serious look at the Polestar 2. Boy, was I disappointed when it wasn’t evaluated in your EV of the Year article. What gives? —Thom Geronimo Troy, MI Check out last year’s competition—Ed.
Liked the EV of the Year article, but why no mention of the Volkswagen ID.4? We’ve had ours for eight months, and suddenly we’re no longer on the A-list. Feeling depressed.
—Jeff Mulliken Provincetown, MA There, there, Mulliken. It played in ’21, and there’s nothing significantly new
Rivian R1T, GMC Hummer EV pickup, Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum [“State of Tow,” September 2022]. For range, towing range, charge time, and price, the article should have been titled “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly, and the Depressing”!
—John Canton, MI
LEARNING LYRIQS
There is no mention of a warranty in your Cadillac Lyriq review [“Past, Present, Future,” September 2022]. There is no mention of a warranty on Cadillac’s website. If you preorder a Lyriq, you will not know whether it has a warranty. What gives?
—Dan Jakel Grand Rapids, MI The bumper-to-bumper warranty is four years or 50,000 miles. The battery and powertrain are covered by an eight-year or 100,000mile warranty—Ed.
Since when was “competence instead of fun” a negative? It’s a luxury SUV that weighs over 5000 pounds, not a sports car.
—J. Bednarz Middlesex County, NJ You must be new here—Ed.
DODGING READERS
I think you got the finishing order reversed concerning
Backfires
the Dodge Durango SRT 392 and Acura MDX Type S [“Battle of the Badges,” September 2022]. I don’t think hockey moms and dads will worry much about the Durango’s one-second advantage in the quarter while dropping off their kids for practice.
—Don Wood Montreal, QCBuy the Acura MDX Type S, invest in a $600 set of sticky summer tires, and you have a family hauler that rides and handles better, is more comfortable, has more practical stowage, gets better mileage, and still costs about $12,000 less than the Durango SRT 392? Sounds like a plan!
—Fred Baron San Diego, CAFLOCK TOGETHER
About a month into the editor-in-chief gig, the members of the Maumee Valley Region of the Porsche Club of America (PCA) invited me to speak at their 50th-anniversary dinner at the Toledo Zoo aquarium. They bestowed this honor despite my lapsed PCA membership.
PCA, which has chapters all over the U.S., is unaffiliated with Porsche Cars North America. That’s fine by me since Porsche’s publicrelations department is currently annoyed with us. Why? Well, here’s a little inside-baseball stuff: The 911 GT3 RS photos in the September issue appeared on the internet a few days before the car’s official debut. Kurz und bündig: Some arschlöch robbed us. Car and Driver’s new cybercrimes unit is hard at work finding the breach and plugging it for good. Walking away with someone’s head should make a nice peace offering for the Germans.
ROAD RULES
Re: your article “Colorado, Grand” [September 2022], thanks for not sharing any of the good roads.
While our relationship with the PR flacks might be a bit strained, Porsche’s devoted fans, the members of the PCA, welcomed me with a chicken dinner at a table facing a massive saltwater tank with dancing sharks and rays. Just as there’s a WeatherTech mat for every footwell, there’s a club for any vehicle you can imagine. I once joined the Oldsmobile Diesel Club because, well, I can’t recall why I did that. The common theme of all of them is that they’re filled with enthusiasts looking to connect with other car lovers. At C/D, we aim to have that relationship with our readers, but as Ed. reminds you in every issue, the relationship can be a little one-sided.
—Bob Fiesser Highlands Ranch,BIG-TRUCK DRIVER
CO
Seriously? “At long last, Cadillac has given the Escalade the V treatment” [“Money and Power,” September 2022]. Why the hell would anyone at C/D be excited about an 18-foot-long, 6700-pound wagon, no matter how fast it is in a straight line?
—Michael HanftwurcelNorthville, MI It’s hilarious—Ed.
KEEP TALKING
I’m willing to bet that 90 percent of your readers, myself included, did not read the EV section. However, I’m willing to bet that 100 percent of the 90 percent thoroughly loved your “Interview with an Electric Car.” Instead of threatening to
Guest speaking conveys privileges. I not only had a great view of the rays, but my tablemates were Maumee Valley Region PCA royalty: the club president, a former club president, the owner of a local shop, and their better halves. All were charming and provided laughs and stories. Conversations bounced from blind dogs to how the Audi S4 is sort of like a backward 911.
Talking to an aquarium of people is new to me, so I overprepared. In other words, I plowed through a written speech about my experiences with Porsches. It went over well enough to keep me from being fed to the sharks, but the fun part happened during Q&A. The group’s curiosity mirrors yours: Who offers the most interesting EVs? BMW, Hyundai/Kia, and Rivian. What sub-$60,000 EV sedan should I buy? Get the BMW i4. Do print magazines have a future? Watch this space. Are young people into cars? Yes, check TikTok. Can you reveal the identity of Ed.? No more questions.
A night with new friends reminded me that I won the career lottery. I get to talk cars whenever I want. In the office we debate, challenge, even bet. In fact, I once lost a lot of money to executive editor K.C. Colwell because I wagered that the 1990 Ford Explorer existed. Colwell insisted ’91 was the Explorer’s first year. He has me on a payment plan. If I weren’t within walking distance of a crew of auto experts, all my car-club memberships would be current, even the Olds Diesel one.
QUIROGA e DITO r -IN- c HI e F
“
Meet ValentineOne® Generation 2
It’s about range superiority. I told my engineers, ‘We want the best radarseeking engine this side of the military.’
In fact, we adapted a concept from military CHIRP radars used to find fainter targets farther away with higher precision; it’s a SAW Dispersive Delay Line, . For civilian users, V1 Gen2 is a breakthrough on range.”
V1 Gen2 brings new detection tools
New LNA technology: The only way to extend range is to detect ever weaker signals Think of LNA as a signal magnifier.
LNA
LNA has another benefit—it acts as a one-way valve, trapping LO output before it escapes V1 Gen2’s magnesium case. That’s the key to stealth. V1 Gen2 is practically undetectable.
New, and patented, : Detecting more radars adds exponentially to data flow. jumps the processing rate more than a hundred times, enabling V1 Gen2 to quickly sort speed-trap radar signals from today’s glut of lane-change and crash-prevention radars.
Range superiority
LNA’s faint-signal acquisition feeding the high-rate analysis of adds up to a breakthrough in radar early warning. The range increase on Ka band is especially dramatic. Our new K-Verifier weeds out unwanted K alerts.
Future upgrades via smartphone
V1 Gen2 has
Mike ValentineBackfires
Editor-in-Chief Tony Quiroga
cancel my subscription if you don’t print this letter, I’ll threaten to cancel my prescription. My heart attack will be on your conscience, if you have one.
—Bruce Kent Dandridge, TN
I’ll fly out to Dandridge to see how this ends—Ed.
ALL THE CARS
I read lots of car magazines, but there’s none that I read cover to cover (including ads) like yours. I just finished the September 2022 issue, and Quiroga’s Editor’s Letter hits the nail on the head [“Call and Response”]. You guys tell it like it is, and I usually learn something technical in the meantime. Further, unlike other magazines that shall remain nameless that seem like they are on the payroll for the Electric Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association, you tell the good, the bad, and the ugly, no matter whose vehicle it is.
Executive Editor K.c colwell Digital Director Laura Sky brown • BUYER’S GUIDE Deputy Editor rich ceppos Senior Editor Drew Dorian Staff Editors Frankie cruz, Austin Irwin FEATURES Senior Editors Greg Fink, elana Scherr • NEWS Senior Editor Joey capparella Senior Associate Editor eric Stafford Staff Editors Jack Fitzgerald, caleb miller Social Media Editor michael Aaron • REVIEWS Deputy Editor Joe Lorio Senior Editor ezra Dyer TESTING Director Dave VanderWerp Senior Technical Editor David beard Technical Editors Dan edmunds, mike Sutton Road Test Editor rebecca Hackett Road Warriors Harry Granito, Katherine Keeler, Jacob Kurowicki, christi VanSyckle • CREATIVE Director Darin Johnson Deputy Design Director Nicole Lazarus Staff Photographers michael Simari, marc Urbano Photo Assistant charley m. Ladd • VIDEO Deputy Editor carlos Lago Producer/Editor Alex malburg • PRODUCTION Director of Editorial Operations Heather Albano Copy Chief Adrienne Girard Associate Managing Editor Jennifer misaros Production Manager Juli burke Associate Production Manager Nancy m. Pollock Senior Copy Editor chris Langrill Research Editor matthew Skwarczek Copy Editor meredith conrow Online Production Designer Sarah Larson Online Production Assistant Andrew berry Editorial Assistant carlie cooper CONTRIBUTORS European Editor mike Duff Contributing Editors clifford Atiyeh, brett berk, Sebastian blanco, csaba csere, malcolm Gladwell, John Pearley Huffman, Andrew Lawrence, bruce mccall, Jens meiners, John Phillips, Jonathon ramsey, James Tate, John Voelcker Editorial Office 1585 eisenhower Place, Ann Arbor, mI 48108
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—Rich Kish Aurora,IL
C/D has drunk the EV KoolAid. Quiroga’s Editor’s Letter and his feeble attempt to rationalize your extreme coverage of EVs is a smokescreen through which we the readers can see. EVs have been chosen not by the people but by the government. I would expect C/D to resist this overreach, but alas I expected too much. I will not be renewing. You are digging your own grave, and within a couple of years, C/D will no longer exist. I’m a lover of the internal-combustion engine and the freedom it gives me.
—David Maryville, TN
“Call and Response” was very well said and very thoughtful. I appreciate what you’re going for there. That said, I’m pretty dumb, so for you to validate my opinion as valued or legitimate really misses the mark.
—Brady G. Chandler, AZ
FINAL EXAMS
I will not be another d-bag who writes to you just so he can add at the end of his letter that he has a new Chevrolet C8 Corvette on order. Or that he is happy with his “meh” mobile.
Or my favorite, “I have had a turd, a stain, and a vomit, blah blah blah.” Hey, asshat, no one cares.
—SJ Anthony Yorba Linda, CA
One of the articles in your magazine pleased me by confirming my long-held beliefs about my favorite brand of automobiles. I am renewing my subscription.
—Mark Hollingshead Fruit Heights, UT
I got a subscription as a gift, and upon my first scan of the magazine, my initial impression is that it is not an easy or comfortable read. I find the layout really distracting, both with the articles and the photos, to the extent that I just breezed through the pages and didn’t even bother to stop to take in much of the content. It is that bothersome. Many photos are spread over two pages, creating a split view, which I find unnecessary,
unflattering, and ridiculous. Overall, the magazine seems like such a hodgepodge thrown together.
—Carl Stein Scottsdale, AZ
The jury for the American Society of Magazine Editors disagrees with your assessment—Ed.
Shingles doesn’t care.
—Jerry “Shingles” Harris Georgetown, TX
Good thing there’s a vaccine for that—Ed.
Please confirm that this is a valid email address for letters to the editor. This doesn’t appear anywhere in the magazine.
—Joe Bullmer Online
Nope, keep trying—Ed.
YOU ARE HERE
The first-ever GR Corolla. 300 HP. GR-FOUR AWD. Manual only. Get behind the wheel of this wild child.
Prototype shown. Professional driver on closed course. Do not attempt. Horsepower: Ratings achieved using the required premium unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of 91 or higher If premium fuel is not used, performance will decrease ©2022 Toyota Motor Sales, U S A , IncWhy
Imagine the scene: you’re on your way to a shopping mall to pick up a last-minute gift, for an event that you’re already running late for. When, out of the corner of your eye, a battery icon on your dash reminds you that you forgot to plug your electric vehicle (EV) in at home the previous night. Luckily, you spot an open charging point as you circle the parking lot, complete with a fast charger. Pulling up, you plug your vehicle in and run into the store. 30 minutes later, you return triumphant – gift in hand and battery three-quarters charged. Plus, charging only cost you $25.
A changing charging landscape
While the parking space you want may not always be free, this vision of the EV experience is no longer a pipedream but a growing reality for many drivers. The electric mobility transformation is well underway, and while driving an EV may seem like a distant goal for some drivers, branded charging networks are working hard to convince them otherwise.
By establishing effective and extensive charging networks, providers are offering drivers the opportunity to get the most from their EV experience. And while a reliable and fast EV charging infrastructure won’t come without challenges, branded charging networks are starting to demonstrate how this experience is becoming increasingly synonymous with quality, reliability and accessibility – whether that’s at home or on the go.
A quality driving experience
Whether it’s the technology under the hood or the features on the dash, there is much to enjoy about today’s EV driving experience. But while some would-be EV owners remain wary about range or infrastructure considerations, it’s up to branded charging networks to address these potential pain points by developing a convenient, reliable and all-round enjoyable EV experience.
Thankfully, when you step out of an EV today, you no longer need to feel like you’re stepping back in time. Digital charging apps and innovative charging hubs mean the quality experience you have inside your EV can now be matched by the station experience you have while charging –something that is well demonstrated by
Shell Recharge’s all-EV charging hub in central London.
Backedbyafast-chargingnetwork, a free charge card and the Shell Recharge app, Shell Recharge Fulham Road is a possible sign of things to come in the U.S. and beyond. Combining nine ultra-rapid chargers with ample facilities to relax allows both vehicle and driver to recharge their batteries in comfort.
Drivers can grab a specially crafted coffee and pick up a snack for now –or dinner for later – thanks to the small convenience retail partner, all while browsing on free Wi-Fi as their vehicle is plugged into its 175kW charge point. A charge point which delivers 100% certified renewable electricity1 up to three times faster than rapid 50kW chargers.2
Reliability meets accessibility
Of course, all of this must be underpinned by an EV charging network that drivers can rely on to support their day-to-day journeys. However, with one recent study showing 25% of charge points tested were not in fact functioning, it’s understandable that some concerns remain around range anxiety and charger availability.3
Thankfully, as electric car sales rise – doubling their market share in 2021 – the charging network is expanding in turn.4 In just six years, the U.S. has seen its number of publicly available chargers more than triple from 32,000 to 114,000.5 As this figure ticks up further, branded charging networks are working diligently to ensure these chargers stay online and, therefore, in use.
And with governments worldwide announcing more ambitious targets regarding zero-emissions vehicles, this growth is only expected to increase. In the U.S. specifically, an executive order passed in August 2021 set a new ambition for EVs to represent 50% of new light duty vehicle sales in 2030.6 This move is likely to encourage major automakers and EV service providers to accelerate their rollout of nationwide networks, made up of high-powered charge posts that provide both accessibility and convenience.
With an aim to become one of the largest EV charging solutions providers globally, Shell has set its own targets. Currently operating around 90,000 global charge points for electric cars at homes, businesses, Shell retail sites and destinations, the aim is to expand this to more than 500,000 by 2025 worldwide.
The current signs are bright for EVs
While there is still some work to be done, according to vehicle registration data from S&P Global Mobility, the majority of EV owners that purchased a new vehicle this year decided to stay electric.7 That’s a promising sign for the EV market, suggesting that drivers who make the switch tend to remain loyal in their support of EVs.
With more than 100 years of expertise in providing fueling infrastructure around the world, Shell aims to support this strong sector growth and customer sentiment – delivering an EV charging service that is not only fast, convenient and reliable, but one that contributes to the quality experience that EV drivers are seeking.
You’re proud of your cars. Now you finally have a way to stack and display them on a home lift made just for you. No side posts. No clutter. Autostacker’s low-profile entry ramp handles autos that other lifts wouldn’t dare. Keep your space looking sharp with the only home stacker that’s truly worthy of your pride.
Beast Mode
A spotter’s guide to the rare hypercars none of your friends will ever believe you saw.
Cryptozoology is the study of animals that don’t exist. Bigfoot, Nessie, Mothman—creatures just a little bigger and stranger than anything else on earth. Some people claim they do exist; it’s just that nobody has evidence beyond a fuzzy old camcorder clip and some photos or castings of footprints that probably belong to a bear.
Cryptohypercarology is something we made up, a study of the kinds of mythical automotive creations most of us will never see, except in shaky amateur videos. Are they super? Hyper? Über? Are they even street legal? Will they ever be more than one-offs on the Concept Car Lawn at Pebble Beach? We want to believe. Here’s a guide for spotting some real monsters.
OH-SO-LIMITED EDITIONS By Mark TakahashiOH-SO-LIMITED EDITIONS
Aston Martin touts the Valkyrie as a streetlegal Formula 1 car, but we’re struggling to remember the era of 6 5 liter V 12s What are F1 ish are the Cosworth designed engine, the push button hybrid boost function, and Red Bull Racing’s involvement in develop ment. With only 150 coupes and 85 Spiders, you likely won’t see it on public roads—especially with that low front splitter, which could take seal coat off a road.
MIGRATORY PATTERNS
Like all rare creatures, hypercars have native territories. Some you’d expect, like Italy and the lands surrounding Silverstone Circuit. Others are more surprising. Croatia? Denmark? If you want to see flocks in person, they tend to migrate to places like Monaco and Dubai. There’ll be plenty of YouTube videos proving their existence too.
Aston Martin Valkyrie
ORIGIN: United Kingdom PRICE: $3 0M POWER OUTPUT: 1140 hp 60 MPH ESTIMATE: 2 5 sec TOP SPEED CLAIM: 250 mph
Czinger 21C
Touted as the first human AI designed and 3 D printed hypercar, the 21C is a seedpod from an alien world Driver and passenger sit single file in front of a twin turbo 2 9 liter V 8 with a flat plane crank that turns it up to 11 (thousand rpm) Two electric motors power the front wheels, and mile a minute velocity comes in under two seconds With just 80 examples set to be produced, look for Czingers as they hatch behind a terrified newscaster and the invasion begins. Remember, Czinger, we’re friendlies.
ORIGIN: United States PRICE: $2.0M POWER OUTPUT: 1250 or 1350 hp 60-MPH CLAIM: 1.9 sec TOP-SPEED CLAIM: 253 mph
Hennessey Venom F5
The Venom F5 seems like something you’d carjack in Grand Theft Auto. Hennessey claims the roadster variant is the fastest, most powerful convertible in the world, and unlike many of the creatures on this list, it does without electric motor assistance Power comes from a twin-turbo 6.6-liter V-8 with an 8500-rpm redline. Given the goal of 311 mph, if you happen to see one of the 54 Venoms, it will be a blur.
ORIGIN: United States PRICE: $2 1M+ POWER OUTPUT: 1817 hp 60-MPH CLAIM: 2 6 sec TOP-SPEED CLAIM: 311+ mph
The Jesko’s V 8 isn’t your typical five oh With two turbos and 1280 horsepower (1600 when burning E85), it’s more like five O M G. Using Koenigsegg’s own nine speed Light Speed Transmission, the Jesko is capable of 300 mph The 125 produc tion versions should be reaching customers soon, and we hope to encounter one pulling g’s on Mulholland Highway With three in its name, it’s got some to spare.
ORIGIN: Sweden PRICE: $3 0M POWER OUTPUT: 1280 hp 60 MPH ESTIMATE: 2 5 sec TOP SPEED CLAIM: 300 mph
Lotus Evija
Remember the Lotus Elise? A cute little sports car with only 190 horsepower that weighed less than 2000 pounds? This isn’t that The Evija is an electric beast that weighs almost twice as much and churns out more than 10 times the power. Add lightness? Try madness. Those air tunnels should have afterburners, not taillights. With only 130 slated for production (its internal code is Type 130), you have a better chance of spotting a snow leopard playing Keepy Uppy with a coelacanth.
ORIGIN: United Kingdom PRICE: $2.3M POWER OUTPUT: 1973 hp 60-MPH ESTIMATE: 2.5 sec TOP-SPEED CLAIM: 200+ mph
Remember 2017? Of course not; everyone’s oldest memory is buying bulk sweatpants in 2020 Mercedes started the AMG One back when we wore real clothes You can ID the rare bird by the hybrid 1 6 liter V 6 pulled from the championship winning Mercedes-AMG F1 car. Lewis Hamilton ordered two, and other owners include David Coulthard and Nico Rosberg. Where to see one of the 275 examples? At the F1 drivers’ planned retirement community.
ORIGIN: Germany PRICE: $2.7M POWER OUTPUT: 1049 hp 60-MPH CLAIM: 2.9 sec TOP-SPEED CLAIM: 219 mph
Pininfarina Battista
With an electric motor (sourced from Rimac) at every wheel producing a combined 1877 horsepower, the fun to pronounce Pininfarina Battista nearly has the equivalent of a Ferrari F40 at each corner It’s one of the most elegant machines on this list We expect to see the 150 examples cruising low-emission zones in high-rent neighborhoods or outside the Monte Carlo Casino as the owner tosses away a GDP-sized fortune at the baccarat table.
ORIGIN: Italy PRICE: $2.2M POWER OUTPUT: 1877 hp 60-MPH CLAIM: 1.8 sec TOP-SPEED CLAIM: 217 mph
Rimac Nevera
At age 34, Mate Rimac has vaulted to the top of the list of hypercar builders and taken control of Bugatti His four motor EV can break every state’s speed limit by the time you finish reading this sentence Its alleged top speed is higher than an AH-64 Apache’s. Where do we ever expect to see one of the 150 Neveras slated for production? Hopefully, on unrestricted sections of the autobahn as the passenger maps a route to the nearest DC fast-charger.
ORIGIN: Croatia PRICE: $2.0M POWER OUTPUT: 1813 hp 60-MPH CLAIM: 1.9 sec TOP-SPEED CLAIM: 258 mph
Think you’ve spotted a Zenvo? The TSR S has a distinctive mating dance, part peacock spider and part high wire balancing act We’re getting used to active aero, but when the Zenvo takes a corner, the wing doesn’t just change its angle of attack, it tilts dramatically side to side, like a playground teeter-totter. Out of 10 planned TSR-series cars, eight are sold, but there’s still time to claim the last two. Maybe you’ll get lucky and snag a breeding pair.
ORIGIN: Denmark PRICE: $1.7M POWER OUTPUT: 1177 hp 60-MPH CLAIM: 2.8 sec TOP-SPEED CLAIM: 202 mph
Winter Wonderland
We come from the land of the ice and snow, where the Fords out and wreckers this board game to determine whether you should your (vehicle’s) shoes this winter.START HERE
Do you know 12 or more words for snow? YES
Do you even have ?
YES YES Do you spell “tires” with a “y”? YES
You should get some loafers. Also . . . Do you live in the mountains? Do your loafers have salt stains?
NO NO NO NO
Do you see snow accumulation? YES Do you ski?
NO NO NO NO
NO NO
Go for it. Only . . .
Have you considered moving to the mountains? Do you have all-season tires? How did you get this far?
Do you already own winter tires?
Do you have all- or four-wheel drive? YES
You should, but . . . YES
YOU NEED WINTER TIRES
22 INFOGRAPHIC BY NICOLAS RAPP ~ DeCemBeR 2022 ~ CAR AND DRIVeR
Unsolicited Advice to Audi
Our friendly know-it-all directs his pointed suggestions to Audi’s chairman of the board of management, Markus Duesmann.
GEORG KACHER has covered the auto industry for more than 40 years. He has a keen eye for where brands are going and what they need to succeed, and his futureproduct knowledge is unrivaled thanks to his network of industry contacts.
Dear Mr. Duesmann:
Not too long ago, Audi was the undisputed aerodynamics champ (dating to the Audi 5000), the all-wheel-drive king (ever since the debut of Quattro), the aluminum-construction innovator (since the first A8), and an exterior- and interior-design leader (from the ’90s onward). But what exactly does the brand stand for at the end of 2022?
In my analysis, Audi’s distinguishing traits are now down to the singleframe grille, Quattro-referencing fender blisters, interiors that overreach with smartphone-inspired ergonomics, and capable but somewhat indifferent dynamics, all in an increasingly SUV-heavy model range.
So, here’s what the doctor suggests to make Audi stand out and succeed:
• Cancel plans to turn the A8 into a Maybach competitor by dredging up the long-dead Horch brand. It doesn’t cut it, and customers won’t want it.
• Instead of reaching for super-luxury, consider a high-performance EV subbrand for enthusiasts that taps into Audi’s motorsports past.
• Accept Volkswagen Group partner Porsche’s offer to use the upcoming electric Boxster/Cayman platform to create a striking TT successor.
• Evolve the R8 into an irresistible high-performance halo product.
• Unfetter designers. Let them break out of the current straitjacket with cutting-edge exterior design and class-leading interiors.
• Reinvent the Qs to take on the Mercedes-Benz GLS and the BMW X7. Add a rugged Dakar-style four-by-four, a two-door RS coupe, and an electric Q2 city cruiser.
• City cars are a multibillion-dollar global market. Tap Audi subsidiary Ducati for an alternative urban vehicle, like an e-scooter or a slim tandem-seater.
• Become a leader in high-voltage EV architecture. Make Audi EVs the fastest-charging in the industry.
See? Easy.
Cheers, Georg
ARMCHAIR CEO ~ By Georg KacherWe ’ re going to let you in on a secret. Billionaires have billions because they know value is not increased by an inflated price. ey avoid big name markups, and aren ’ t swayed by flashy advertising hen you look on their wrist you’ll find a classic timepiece, not a cry for attention because they know true value comes from keeping more money in their pocket.
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The Great Capitulation
Even the sportiest and snootiest of carmakers are giving in to that sweet SUV money. Here’s how and when the mighty fell.
It was only 20 years ago that the Porsche Cayenne shocked the automotive world. An SUV from the preeminent sports-car maker seemed wildly incongruous in 2002. Today it’s easier to list the few automakers that don’t offer one for sale than those that do.
Sure, there are exotic dream weavers, such as Pagani and Koenigsegg, that ignore the sales siren of the ute. But of brands that produce more than 500 cars a year globally, the only ones without a sport-utility either on sale or on the way are Chrysler (though it has made SUVs in the past; remember the Durango-based Aspen?) and fellow Stellantis subsidiaries Abarth and Lancia; Alpine (Renault’s sports-car division); and McLaren and Morgan in the U.K.
PORSCHE
First SUV: 2003 Cayenne
Second SUV: 2015 Macan
Bestselling model: Macan
BENTLEY
First SUV: 2017 Bentayga
Second SUV: None Bestselling model: Bentayga
MASERATI
First SUV: 2017 Levante
Second SUV: 2023 Grecale
Bestselling model: Levante
JAGUAR
First SUV: 2017 F-Pace
Second and Third SUVs: 2018 E-Pace, 2019 I-Pace Bestselling model: F-Pace
ALFA ROMEO
First SUV: 2018 Stelvio
Second SUV: 2023 Tonale Bestselling model: Stelvio
LAMBORGHINI
First SUV: 1986 LM002
Second SUV: 2019 Urus Bestselling model: Urus
ROLLS-ROYCE
First SUV: 2019 Cullinan
Second SUV: None Bestselling model: Ghost
ASTON MARTIN
First SUV: 2021 DBX
Second SUV: None Bestselling model: DBX
FERRARI
While some automakers tried to hold back the tide, cold, green logic has driven the industry’s transformation. Buyers clearly like a higher driving position more than they appreciate the dynamic benefits of a lower center of gravity, and that’s as true for free spenders as misers. No marque has been spared, no matter how steeped in racing the brand’s history.
First SUV: 2023 Purosangue
Second SUV: None Bestselling model: F8
LOTUS
First SUV: 2024 Eletre
Second SUV: None Bestselling model: Emira
Just this year, one of the longest holdouts caved to the pressure. As recently as 2016, then–Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne said regarding an SUV from Maranello, “You have to shoot me first.” A year later, he was walking it back. RIP, Sergio.
Marchionne wasn’t the only one to leave hostages to fortune. McLaren’s Mike Flewitt declared his company would never build a ute back in 2018. His 2021 ouster means the supercar maker is no longer bound by that promise. Rumors say McLaren is already looking for a partner with an SUV platform.
Impractical Jokers
Devotion to a regular-cab pickup takes its toll when the narrowly focused vehicle is forced into a role as everyday family transportation.
There I was with the wind rushing past, the starlit sky above, the air alive with the soft thrum of a V-8 on a warm autumn night. Was I driving a Mustang convertible? Something fancier, like a Mercedes SL? Nope. I was in the bed of my 2003 Dodge pickup, wondering where it all went wrong. There’s a difference between riding in the bed of a truck for fun and riding there because you must. I was in the latter camp thanks to my own decisions—namely, my foolish devotion to the regular-cab pickup. Ours is a fam ily of four, and the Ram seats three. When those unforgiving facts collide, the guy who bought the truck gets to experience the great outdoors while listening to his wife slipping the clutch a little too much (but not being able to say anything about it on account of being, technically, cargo).
When I bought the Ram, it didn’t occur to me that its three-seat, regular-cab layout was anything other than awesome. Everyone is driving a four-door truck, but not me. I’m an iconoclast with my bench seat and manual transmission.
A purist. And if that leads to occasional inconvenience, that’s the price of art. The art, in this case, being a third-gen Ram with clear-coat that looks like it was applied at Chernobyl reactor 4.
Time and again I’ve prioritized my nebulous sense of automotive greatness over practicality, or affordability, or reliability, or safety, or fuel economy, or comfort, or refinement, or resale value, or having the interior switches labeled in English. I’m certainly well acquainted with the view from the top of the petard, so many times have I been hoisted. In the mid-’90s, I was the only person I knew with a cellphone. And I needed it because of my dumb cars.
Headaches pertaining to vehicle choices typically stem from one of two situations: Either your car is practical but unreliable, or it’s reliable but impractical. Of my prior cars, Saabs largely populate the first class, and our E36 M3 convertible epitomizes the second. I remember telling my wife, “If we need to carry a lot of stuff, this car has infinite vertical cargo room when the top’s down.”
Our Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid is ultra-practical and reliable. But a recent fender bender sent it into a weekslong parts-sourcing purgatory at a body shop. We borrowed my sister-in-law’s identical Pacifica until she was rude enough to ask for it back, at which point the Ram assumed an outsize role in our lives. On a typical day, I’d drive my younger kid to school, return to take the older kid and a classmate to school, then pick up my wife and drive her to work. Ha, who needs a back seat? You have to live that regular-cab life to understand the thrill of effective passenger-management logistics. But sooner or later, you need to drive somewhere with four people. Or five. Or seven. Then you’re ruing your life choices as the plastic Ram bed liner logo imprints on your spine. During this time of travail, my father-in-law offered to loan us his Saturn Sky Red Line, which has two seats and trunk space for one set of golf clubs, assuming the course features windmills and fiberglass volcanoes. Whoever recommended he get such a thing? Oh, right.
Naturally, I suggested we buy another car, but my wife disagreed that a 2003 Chevy Blazer ZR2 with 238,000 miles was the solution to anybody’s problems. Instead, I ordered a Pacifica headlight on eBay to expedite the repair so we could return the Ram to its rightful role as specialized fringe player. Which, as I write this, has yet to happen. I think back to when I bought the truck. Standing in the owner’s driveway, I asked why he was selling such a delicious machine. He gestured at an extendedcab Tundra by his garage and said, “I needed a back seat.” I wonder when he realized that. I bet he remembers what the weather was like that day
It was a perfect late autumn day in the northern Rockies. Not a cloud in the sky, and just enough cool in the air to stir up nostalgic memories of my trip into the backwoods. This year, though, was different. I was going it solo. My two buddies, pleading work responsibilities, backed out at the last minute. So, armed with my trusty knife, I set out for adventure.
Well, what I found was a whole lot of trouble. As in 8 feet and 800-pounds of trouble in the form of a grizzly bear. Seems this grumpy fella was out looking for some adventure too. Mr. Grizzly saw me, stood up to his entire 8 feet of ferocity and let out a roar that made my blood turn to ice and my hair stand up. Unsnapping my leather sheath, I felt for my hefty, trusty knife and felt emboldened. I then showed the massive grizzly over 6 inches of 420 surgical grade stainless steel, raised my hands and yelled, “Whoa bear! Whoa bear!” I must have made my point, as he gave me an almost admiring grunt before turning tail and heading back into the woods.
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I was pretty shaken, but otherwise fine. Once the adrenaline high subsided, I decided I had some work to do back home too. That was more than enough adventure for one day.
Our Grizzly Hunting Knife pays tribute to the call of the wild. Featuring stick-tang construction, you can feel confident in the strength and durability of this knife. And the hand carved, natural bone handle ensures you won’t lose your grip even in the most dire of circumstances. I also made certain to give it a great price. After all, you should be able to get your point across without getting stuck with a high price.
matchups. The news stories came fast and furious in the aughts and continue to the present day.
Which leaves me wondering: Why, with more than 100 years of the street-racing “scourge” (as the Vancouver Sun declared it in 2003), do we have so few places to race and do donuts? Newspapers listing arrests and police figures have also published stories suggesting that more racetracks make for fewer street shenanigans.
“A lot of these kids who attend the takeovers are just looking for something to do,” says Donald Galaz, an active member of the Brotherhood of Street Racers, started by the famed “Big Willie” Robinson in the 1960s to stem racial violence and automotive chaos in Los Angeles through legal and organized racing. Galaz points out that racers are educated in automotive work. “They’re modifying and building their own cars,” he says, and he thinks those are useful skills for the community. He’s worried that no one is giving them a place to work and race. “Instead, the city just beats them from one town to another.”
Skateboarding is not a crime, but sliding a car is. Maybe the key to reducing arrests is giving hot-rodders a place to play.
A Taking It to the Streets
utomotive hooliganism is in the news. A spectator died during a street takeover in Kansas City, Missouri. Folks keep crashing Challengers into the newly opened Sixth Street Bridge in Los Angeles. Someone wrecked on a popular canyon road—which happens every weekend, but not always with media coverage.
Just because it’s in the news doesn’t mean it’s new. A paper in Reading, Pennsylvania, reported that Harry Laird and Joseph Wells were disciplined for street racing on January 22. In 1879. The men were told to keep their horses to a walk. In a 1966 police sting in Los Angeles, the cops arrested 66 racers and impounded 29 cars, many of which were “unmistakably modified for racing.” Brock Yates famously covered Detroit’s street-racing scene for Car and Driver in the 1970s, and while the kids in the ’80s and ’90s had to work harder to spin the tires on their Malaise Era hand-me-downs, there was no shortage of concerned think pieces about the dangers of unsanctioned
Local tracks have a record of success. Both police and politicians admit that during the heyday of the brotherhood and its Terminal Island drag strip, there was a measurable decline in street mayhem. “They told us it went down by 70, 75 percent back then,” Galaz says. He’s hoping to revive Brotherhood Raceway, either on Terminal Island or elsewhere in the San Pedro and Long Beach area, but is having trouble getting city councils to consider his proposals. “They say, ‘L.A. has a track,’ in Irwindale.” Which is true, but Irwindale is a good twohour drive from Long Beach, and what’s more, it’s just been sold, so there’s a high likelihood it will join the growing list of defunct tracks nationwide.
“If I wanted to play basketball after work or after school, I could easily find a place to do that,” says Bay Area stunt driver Mathew Jensen. “Drifters and racers don’t really have that.” These days Jensen has access to private properties and racetracks, but most people don’t. “It doesn’t even need to be a track, just an empty parking lot with some safety barriers where we won’t get in trouble,” he says.
Elyse Morales, who runs a professional timing and scoring company, would love to get folks from the L.A. area to go to the monthly drag events and open drift days at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, but she acknowledges how expensive and time consuming it can be to travel the roughly 90 miles to the high desert. “We need more tracks,” Morales says. “There’s enough interest to support it.” More tracks? Providing a place to race isn’t a new idea. But if local governments would make it happen, then that would be newsworthy.
STAR GIFTS OF THE SEASON
ou can’t go rong ith eatherTech this holida season — gi e the gift of high-qualit products for an car fanatic on our list. Chances are, the ’ e been e eing the legendar protection of FloorLiner, or meaning to add CupCo ee’s eas to use mug adapter to their cart for a hile. Find the perfect gift toda at eathertech.com.
THE CHAOS OF UPHEAVAL CAN CREATE OPPORTUNITY.
Take the dawning EV revolution, which has already seen a startup car company rocket past century-old competitors to become the most valuable automaker on earth. In the latest upset, a Korean brand best known for low prices, long warranties, and liberal financing has created a machine with performance that rivals the most revered Germans.
In nomenclature, the difference between the Kia EV6 GT and the lesser EV6 GT-Line models is slight. That Kia denotes the top-performing version of its mid-size EV by reducing rather than adding to the nameplate is something of an undersell, but the GT’s hardware shows the intensity of this effort.
The headline achievement is the powertrain. Other dual-motor, all-wheel-drive EV6 models serve up 320 total horsepower; the GT, presumably after downing a can of spinach, is bursting with 576 horses. A new GT mode affords access to the entire thundering herd. Normal and Sport modes limit output to 460 horsepower, and Eco cuts it to 288. The full hit of torque, which has climbed from 446 pound-feet in the all-wheel-drive GT-Line to 545, is always available.
In our testing, the 320-hp EV6 GT-Line hit 60 mph in 4.5 seconds, but the GT made the leap in 3.2. Let that sink in: 3.2 seconds to 60. In a Kia. It also dispatched the quarter-mile in 11.6 seconds at 119 mph. Top speed is a claimed 161 mph. Clearly, this isn’t your cheapskate uncle’s Spectra.
You know what else laid down a 3.2-second 60-mph time? The Audi RS Q8. As for other EVs, the Kia vaults past the Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance (60 mph in 3.7 seconds, quarter-mile in 12.7 at 101 mph) to sit at the head of the table with the Porsche Taycan 4S (60 mph in 3.4 seconds, quarter-mile in 11.7 at 120 mph) and the BMW i4 M50 (60 mph in 3.3 seconds, quarter-mile in 11.7 at 120 mph).
When you dial up full powertrain strength, mashing the right pedal brings a blurring of the scenery that feels like it should come with streaks of light and Chewbacca’s roar. Instead of hearing “Take us to light, Chewie,”
Change Agent
The Kia EV6 GT scrambles brand perceptions.
BY JOE LORIO PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARC URBANOSinister lighting helps the GT look tough, but the exterior is little changed from lesser models. Inside, the key difference is the neon-green GT button on the steering wheel.
you’ll notice a vaguely futuristic electric-motor sound— turns out the noise is yet another configurable element. Three audio themes offer customization for volume and quickness of rising pitch. Stylish might be more aptly described as spacey, Cyber is a shriller version of Stylish, and Dynamic is like the ominous rumble when the spaceship heads toward the evil planet.
To help put the power of the steroidenhanced motors to the pavement, the GT gets an electronically controlled limited-slip rear differential (eLSD). Kia also fortifies the EV6’s chassis with quicker steering and a firmer suspension tune, abetted by adaptive dampers. Here again there are more modes, which adjust the accelerator response, steering effort, damper tuning, and eLSD.
With the dampers in their normal mode, the ride is acceptable, but it becomes quite stiff in the firmer settings. The payoff is that this car eats up corners, guided by steering that never gets too heavy, even in Sport+ mode. Wearing Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 SUV sneakers, the GT clung to the skidpad with 0.92 g of stick, versus 0.86 g from the GT-Line on all-season rubber. The eLSD can overdrive the outside rear wheel in corners, and you can feel this car’s tail-happiness in the Sport and GT drive modes, which loosen the stability control’s oversight. In either one, you’ll be fishtailing out of the Dairy Queen just like them Duke boys. For even more TikTok-worthy antics, there’s a Drift mode. (To activate it, start in
Sport or GT mode with your foot on the brake pedal, hold the stability-control button until the system is fully disabled, and pull back on both paddles for three seconds.) The setting optimizes the front-to-rear torque split and the eLSD, making it possible to drift—or, as we discovered on wet pavement, spin. This thing is the Firebird Trans Am of crossover EVs.
PLUS: SCALDING ACCELERATION, LIVELY HANDLING, SPEEDY CHARGING. MINUS: CONSTRAINED RANGE, STIFF-LEGGED CHASSIS, SO MANY MODES. EQUALS: A NEW-AGE PERFORMANCE CAR FROM AN UNLIKELY SOURCE.
How to Win at Love
classic tennis bracelet serves up over 10 carats of sparkle for a guaranteed win
It was the jewelry piece that made the world stop and take notice.
In the middle of a long volley during the big American tennis tournament, the chic blonde athlete had to stop play because her delicate diamond bracelet had broken and she had to find it. The tennis star recovered her beloved bracelet, but the world would never be the same
From that moment on, the tennis bracelet has been on the lips and on the wrists of women in the know. Once called eternity bracelets, these bands of diamonds were known from then on as tennis bracelets, and remain the hot ticket item with jewelers
ant to look like a million bucks without stressing over losing or damaging something that cost you a fortune? The Love ins ennis Bracelet is a simple strand of glittering gems in precious sterling that epitomizes elegance.
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The driver’s chair is a scooped-out bucket that has beefed-up side bolsters but only basic manual adjustments. The dial shifter and start/stop button are on the console.
Good thing the GT also has more substantial brakes: 15.0-inch front discs (squeezed by four-piston calipers) and 14.2-inch rears, as opposed to the 12.8-inch front and rear rotors in lesser models. They stop the EV6 from 70 mph in 159 feet and are easy to modulate in either of their two settings. Drivers can choose how much to interact with the brakes, as the GT offers the gamut of regen, from none to true one-pedal driving with three steps in between.
The battery pack is one element that hasn’t been upgraded, and therein lies this car’s weak-
ness. The 77.4-kWh battery, good for an EPA-rated 274 to 282 miles in the regular dual-motor EV6 and 310 miles in the single-motor version, delivers an estimated 206 miles. In our 75-mph highway range test, the GT managed 190 miles. The battery drains fast but also quickly refills thanks to an 800-volt architecture that gulps electrons at a rate of up to 240 kilowatts; the GT’s battery went from 10 to 90 percent in 26 minutes on a DC fast-charger.
For all its perception-shattering performance, the GT is visually demure. It’s true that the EV6 is stylishly sleek and futuristic, but the GT is barely discernible from lesser models (the telltales: lime-green brake calipers, 21-inch wheels, a subtle rear spoiler, reworked fascias). It lacks the plumage of max-attack Porsches, M cars, and AMGs. With the EV6 GT, Kia shows it can make a muscle machine, but it doesn’t yet have the confidence to brag about it. Maybe its next one will be loud and proud: Wild wings. A dive-plane splitter. Blistered fenders. Canards and vortex generators. A screaming chicken on the hood. In chaotic times, expect the unexpected.
REVVED UP
Suspension
F: ind; strut located by a lateral and a diagonal link per side; coil springs; 3-position electronically controlled dampers; anti-roll bar R: ind; 2 diagonal, 2 lateral, and a toe-control link per side; coil springs; 3-position electronically controlled dampers; anti-roll bar
Brakes
F: 15 0 x 1 3-in vented disc, 4-piston fixed caliper R: 14 2 x 0 8-in vented disc, 1-piston sliding caliper
Stability Control: fully defeatable, traction off, competition mode
Wheels and Tires
Wheels: cast aluminum, 8 5 x 21 in Tires: Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 SUV 255/40R-21 102Y
Dimensions
T r e n d
i n g
you want to broadcast your forward-thinking ways with a luxuriously aspirational electric vehicle in today’s preferred SUV body style, the options are scarce. Neither Rolls-Royce nor Bentley makes one, and the Mercedes EQS SUV isn’t on sale just yet. Everything else, including the Genesis GV60, the Cadillac Lyriq, and the Audi e-tron, falls well short of the pricing and performance bar set by the BMW iX and Rivian R1S, the two vehicles we’ve gathered here. Our requirement for conventionally hinged doors meant the aging Tesla Model X got left out. Shucks.
At $109,895, the top M60 version of BMW’s futuristic iX features an upgraded rear motor with a 0.8-inch-longer rotor and a stator stuffed with more copper windings. A second inverter feeds sufficient current to increase peak output from 335 to 483 horsepower. Total max power from both motors is 610 horses and 811 pound-feet of torque. That’s a lot, except in comparison with Rivian’s quadmotor powertrain (still the sole offering, although a less expensive, two-motor setup is in the works). It makes 835 horsepower and 908 pound-feet. From the B-pillar forward, the $91,500 R1S is all but identical to the R1T pickup, but the S packages three rows of seats in its upright-SUV body and rides on a 14.7-inchshorter wheelbase than the truck.
Let’s see which is the more enlightened choice.
2nd Place: Rivian R1S
“My 30-year-old ski boat gets on plane faster,” quips executive editor K.C. Colwell about the length and severity with which the R1S sends its snout skyward after you stand on its accelerator. If the lunacy of a three-and-a-half-ton SUV hurtling itself to 60 mph in just over three seconds isn’t readily apparent, the R1S makes it clear. While the BMW has hints of torque steer, the Rivian’s wheel feels like it just snagged a wahoo, which is also a possible verbal response to the fight required to keep the R1S pointed straight. Even more absurd, the Rivian can go no faster than 111 mph, a speed it can achieve about 200 feet shy of the quarter-mile. That lack of acceleration during the last 15 percent of the run allows the BMW to beat it just slightly.
Visually, it’s a different story. The R1S is proudly and attractively boxy, evincing a Range Rover–esque presence, plus maybe a little Volvo 850 wagon in its rear liftgate. “Why doesn’t the Jeep Wagoneer look this good?” we ask ourselves repeatedly. Sure, the iX’s looks also get it noticed, but in a weirder, offbeat way, with an oddness that extends to details such as its self-healing grille plastic.
Rivian puts the R1S’s slab-sidedness to good use, as it offers vastly more cargo space and a kid-friendly third row of seats in nearly six inches more length than the BMW. There’s also an 11-cubic-foot frunk, whereas the iX has no front storage.
Fresh thinking is the implicit promise of a startup automaker, and the R1S is flush with new and unusual features,
such as self-leveling Camp mode (so you don’t roll out of your rooftop tent), a removable Bluetooth speaker, a video security system, and a built-in air compressor. However, the R1S loses the nifty storage compartment that is just ahead of the rear wheels in the R1T pickup.
The interior is finished in spectacular materials with beautiful detailing, although the BMW’s is more tightly assembled. Once you get used to Rivian’s Tesla-like approach of just getting in and shifting, having to hit the BMW’s start button before
Rivian R1S Launch Edition Plus Fresh thinking abounds, gorgeous interior, boxy good looks. Minus A plethora of ride and handling sins, far less efficient than the iX. Equals The one to be seen in, but not the one to drive.
2023 BMW iX M60
and after each drive seems antiquated. And Rivian’s seamless phone-as-key functionality makes you wonder why cars still need fobs at all.
Rivian eradicated the infotainment issues we experienced in an early R1T pickup, and we saw no such glitches this time. Our early-build R1S had a different problem, though: A run through a carwash sent water dribbling through a visor mounting point in the headliner and onto the passenger’s seat.
Building cars is complex, and the Rivian is still monumentally impressive. Until you get to the driving, that is. On a challenging road, the R1S is a buffet of ride and handling undesirables: float, front-torear porpoising, head toss, plus a lot of tire-impact noise. Of the two, you’d never guess the Rivian is the one with more sidewall on its 22-inch tires. But perhaps most distracting is a quickness to the steering that’s out of step with the chassis. Turn the wheel and the body responds a beat later, as if Rivian set it up to be flicked sideways into corners. The fact that the R1T pickup’s chassis is so well sorted makes the R1S’s dynamic flubs even more surprising. And that’s not based on memory; we drove them back to back. Perhaps Rivian dialed everything in for the pickup, and the R1S, with its shorter wheelbase, didn’t get the tuning adjustments it should have.
Discerning drivers will like the R1S better in photos than when experiencing its subpar dynamics. The interior, though, is among our favorite designs at any cost.
We can never switch off the part of our brain evaluating driving dynamics while behind the wheel, and we couldn’t get past the R1S’s dynamic deficiencies.
Base/As Tested Dimensions Wheelbase Length/Width/Height Track, F/R Passenger Volume, F/M/R Cargo Volume, F/M/R Towing Max/As Tested Powertrain Motors
Combined Power Combined Torque lb per hp Battery Manufacturer Chemistry Cell Construction Capacity Onboard Charger Peak DC Fast-Charge Rate Driveline Transmissions Driven Wheels Chassis Suspension Brakes Stability Control Tires
2022 Rivian R1S Launch Edition
TEST RESULTS Acceleration 30 mph 60 mph 100 mph 150 mph 1/4-Mile @ mph
Rolling Start, 5–60 mph Top Gear, 30–50 mph Top Gear, 50–70 mph Top Speed Chassis Braking, 70–0 mph Braking, 100–0 mph Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad Weight Curb Distribution, F/R Fuel EPA Comb/City/Hwy C/D 200-mi Trip EPA Range 75-mph Hwy Range
Practical Stowage No. of 9 x 14 x 22-in Boxes Behind F/M/R Length of Pipe Largest Flat Panel, L x W Sound Level Idle/Full Throttle 70-mph Cruise
$109,895/$119,795 118.1 in 195.0/77.4/66.8 in 66.0/67.2 in 60/52/— ft3 78/36/— ft3 0/0 lb AC current-excited synchronous 610 hp 811 lb-ft 9.5 Samsung SDI lithium-ion pouch 106.3 kWh 11.0 kW 195 kW direct-drive all F: multilink, air springs, anti-roll bar R: multilink, air springs, anti-roll bar F: 13.7-in vented disc R: 13.6-in vented disc partially defeatable, launch control Bridgestone Alenza 001 B-Silent 275/40R-22 107Y 1.3 sec 3.2 sec 7.6 sec 26.4 sec 11.5 sec @ 120 Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.2 sec. 3.7 sec 1.5 sec 2.2 sec 154 mph (gov ltd) 160 ft 330 ft 0.87 g 5778 lb 47.8/52.2 78/77/80 MPGe 81 MPGe 274 mi 290 mi 22/8/— 132.0 in 76.2 x 43.6 in 29/67 dBA 65 dBA
$91,500/$98,750
121.1 in 200.8/79.3/73.0 in 68.1/68.1 in 59/49/36 ft3 88/47/18 ft3
7700/7700 lb AC permanent-magnet synchronous 835 hp 908 lb-ft 8.4 Samsung SDI lithium-ion cylindrical 128.9 kWh 11.5 kW 220 kW direct-drive all F: control arms, air springs R: multilink, air springs
F: 13.5-in vented disc R: 12.9-in vented disc partially and fully defeatable Pirelli Scorpion Zero All Season Elect HL275/50R-22 116H M+S RIV
1.3 sec 3.1 sec 8.1 sec — 11.6 sec @ 111 Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec. 3.3 sec 1.5 sec 2.0 sec 111 mph (gov ltd) 173 ft 340 ft 0.85 g 6986 lb 48.6/51.4
69/73/65 MPGe 59 MPGe 316 mi 230 mi 34/14/5 145.0 in 84.9 x 42.3 in 32/70 dBA 68 dBA
1st Place: BMW iX
When experiencing the iX’s astonishing refinement, we immediately thought this would make an excellent starting point for a Rolls-Royce, which isn’t out of the question since BMW owns Rolls. The iX is incredibly hushed, despite its frameless glass; 65 decibels while cruising at 70 mph shames the R1S’s wind-noise-laden 68-decibel result. Anyone who says all EVs are silent is just plain wrong. Plus, the iX glides over the road so smoothly, with enough body roll to lull a driver into believing this M is more about luxury. Which makes its tenacity when the road turns twisty that much more unexpected. Many sports-car drivers would struggle mightily to shake a well-driven iX from their rearview mirrors. The steering-effort buildup and overall feel are better than many of BMW’s current cars, and it’s saying something that the steering won us over because
the wheel’s irregular-hexagon shape is a turnoff. A firm brake pedal puts the R1S’s softness to shame too. Sport mode dials up damping firmness but in a restrained way that keeps the ride plenty livable. We continue to suspect BMW’s best and brightest chassis engineers are now developing the company’s EVs.
It’s not just dynamics, as the iX’s soft blue interior makes a great first impression, with seat quilting that spills over seamlessly onto the sides of the cushions. Yes, it is real leather, unlike the vegan fake stuff in the Rivian, but there are embossed leaves on the passenger’s side of the dash, perhaps to make you feel better about it. The BMW’s secondrow seat is more spacious and comfortable, with softer seatbacks and wraparound support on the outboard periphery. Less impressive is the new-generation infotainment structure that switches from relatively few deep menus to many shallower ones. We found Rivian’s first attempt at infotainment easier to acclimate to.
We’re still skeptical of the trend to put glass roofs on EVs, but at least the BMW’s is electro chromic and becomes opaque at the touch of a button. The Rivian’s cabin was routinely above 100 degrees when parked, even on a modest 60-degree day.
Unlike Rivian, BMW adds theater to the electric powertrain, with a launch-control feature that pulses the driveline in anticipation of
The iX’s real leather isn’t as lovely as the R1S’s fake stuff. BMW is really bucking the EV frunk phenomenon; it says only a service tech should open the iX’s hood.
BMW iX M60 Plus Throwback-BMW dynamic goodness, EPA-range-beating efficiency, superb second-row comfort. Minus Funky futuristic looks, far less interior and cargo space. Equals BMW’s best efforts of late are EVs.
running a mid-11-second quarter-mile, and an urgent electronica soundtrack cranked up a little too loud in Sport mode. Annoyingly, neither vehicle has a coast mode for its powertrain, and it’s often difficult to avoid erratic regenerative dithering, particularly at highway speeds.
If there’s a knock on the M60 variant, it’s that, other than the rear-motor upgrade, this is pretty much a loaded iX xDrive50, which is available with the rear steer and air springs that come standard on the M60. It doesn’t get bigger brakes or grippier summer tires. And while the more potent rear motor seems like a power-oversteer dream, the only partially defeatable stability control awakens you to a less fun reality.
With its dramatically lower roofline and 1200-poundlighter weight (not to mention, style points for the exposed carbon-fiber structure on display when you open the doors), the iX is far more efficient too. In our 75-mph highway range test, the BMW went 290 miles, impressively exceeding its 274-mile EPA figure, while the Rivian did 230 miles, far short of its 316-mile window-sticker number. After equalizing for the R1S’s larger battery pack, the iX goes almost a mile farther per kilowatt-hour—that’s roughly 53 percent better—than the R1S. In 210 miles of mixed driving, the iX averaged 81 MPGe to the R1S’s 59.
Although the iX is less original, its nailing of the dynamic fundamentals, combined with stellar refinement and efficiency, makes it the ultimate expression of the cuttingedge electric SUV.
ARE YOU A TRUE BELIEVER?
Do you understand what summer tires can do for you, why a sunroof hurts performance, and that speed limits are just a starting point for negotiations? Do you feel persecuted by law enforcement for your beliefs? Well, Honda just built a car for you in the new Civic Type R. Go forth, spread the gospel of compact performance, and live by the Type R’s code of conduct.
I. THOU SHALT NOT UNDERSTEER.
This commandment is impossible for a front-wheeldrive car to follow, or so we thought. And yet, this 11thgeneration Civic follows the directive from on high despite its 315-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four
hanging ahead of the front axle and 61.4 percent of its weight on its nose. On the street, front-end grip seems inexhaustible as the Type R ducks left and right, forcing you into the seat bolsters at its 1.02-g limit.
Dive into an apex and you’ll do some diving, because the steering is a mere 2.1 turns lock to lock and the Type R slips in without any drama. Corner exits, which usually require the patience of Job in a front-wheeldrive car, are masterfully orchestrated by the Type R’s limited-slip differential. That unit, coupled with a very crafty anti-torque-steer front strut, puts the engine’s power to the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires and allows you to empty the 2.0-liter’s magazine without widening the cornering line. Next corner. Try again. No understeer, just more exit speed. As if some invisible string is holding the car, keeping it from leaving the road. It makes no sense that a front-driver can do this, so let’s just add it to the list of things that don’t make sense in 2022.
II. THOU SHALT NOT HOOK UP.
Not in the carnal sense; go crazy there. Here, it’s hooking up as in launching hard from a stop. Boost arrives after a beat or two, but the torque surge at about 3000 rpm— 310 pound-feet, available from 2600 to 4000 rpm—will have you on the phone to Tire Rack. Turn the wheel slightly while hitting the gas in first and the front end eagerly hunts for the ditch or the oncoming lane as the differential tries to make the most of available grip. The solution is to keep the wheels pointed straight in first. Get it right and you’ll move all 3183 pounds of Civic to 60 in 4.9 seconds, with the quarter falling in 13.5 seconds at 106 mph.
III. THOU SHALT NOT MISS A SHIFT.
Honda’s manual gearboxes are special. Light, direct, precise, and a joy to operate, the Type R’s mostly carries over from its predecessor and has the same tight throws and positive action. In more than 500 miles of abusively fast shifts, we never heard a crunch from the synchros as we upshifted just shy of the 7000-rpm redline. Nor did we flub any downshifts. A lighter flywheel makes the throttle slightly more alert than before, and a mere tap of the right pedal spins up the engine to match revs on downshifts. For those who want Honda to do it, there’s a retuned automatic rev-matching program. It technically works but could be quicker to respond, something more noticeable on the track than on the street.
IV. THOU SHALT NOT MAKE FAKE VENTS.
Gone are the old Type R’s fake vents and bodywork creases to nowhere. Function wins out over form in this round. Vents in the front bumper direct more cooling to the 13.8-inch front rotors, which are unchanged from the previous Type R. Revisions to the brake booster reportedly improve feel, but the pedal doesn’t seem any different. Hit the brakes hard at 70 mph and you’ll be able to get out and walk 153 feet later;
You know it’s a hot Honda because of the red H badge and the bordelloinspired interior.
PLUS: CORNERING AT 1.02 G’S, EVERY SHIFT, CIVIC PRACTICALITY WITH 315 HORSEPOWER. MINUS: FIRST-GEAR BURNOUTS ARE A LITTLE IMMATURE, NOISY AT FREEWAY SPEEDS, EMPTYING THE TANK IN 250 MILES OR LESS.
EQUALS: HONDA BUILDS ONE FOR OUR BELIEF SYSTEM.
stopping from 100 mph takes just 308 feet. Real vents work. The only fade you’ll find in a Type R is in the driver’s hairstyle.
V. REMEMBER THE COMMUTE AND KEEP IT HOLY.
Beneath the fender flares, 3.5-inchwider front and 1.9-inch-wider rear tracks, 9.5-inch-wide wheels, real hood vents, three exhaust tips, and 0.3-inch-lower body lies a Civic Sport hatchback. Interior design and quality take a huge leap in this generation. Uncluttered and functional, the instrument panel looks expensive. The driver can select from two gauge clusters. The R gauges have a
nonlinear tachometer that reminded a few of us of the legendary S2000’s. Above the HVAC controls is a 9.0inch touchscreen that works quickly and intuitively and has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
A big part of respecting the drive to work is in the ride quality. Left in Comfort, the adaptive dampers are docile. Sharp impacts reverberate through the cabin, but the Type R sops up smaller hits. Switch to Sport or R mode to ruin the ride with no real handling benefit. Freeway commuters will find 73 decibels of wind, engine, and road noise. If you’ve spent more than 50 percent of your life in the last century, cabin ambience will begin to annoy you in
Fender flares, a tri-tip exhaust, and a large wing distinguish the Type R from lesser Civics.
VII. THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR’S TOYOTA GR COROLLA.
Eyes are unlikely to wander since the new Type R looks great on its 19-inch wheels and lowered stance. We aren’t sure what happened with the previous Type R, but one of our theories is that an art student’s mixed-media sculpture got switched for the 10th-gen Civic design proposal and the student’s project went into production. The real Civic design? It received an A–in Applied Mixed Media 401.
VIII. THOU SHALT NOT OVERHEAT.
Counterpoints
It’s called a spoiler because it spoils the look of the car—only, on the Type R, it looks great: a fun surprise, an embroidered tiger on the back of a jean jacket. I liked the previous model’s raucous design, but some people prefer to drive a car that doesn’t look like a 12-year-old doodled it on a math notebook. More important, while the sporty Civic has put on some work-appropriate attire, it’s still an absolute party animal underneath. —Elana Scherr
Speaking in Honda tongue feels like coughing up alphabet soup. Ya see, you’ve got your EP3s and your DC5s, but the B18C never came in those—they got the lowly K20A3 here in the U.S. Riding on an FL5 chassis, the newest CTR is far wilder than the sedan-only FE1 Civic Si. That said, it won’t take more than a spoonful of the improved 315-hp K20C1 to get your HR to spike. —Austin Irwin
about 20 minutes. At least rear-seat passengers can hear conversations happening in the front, something that wasn’t true at 70 mph in the last Type R.
VI. HONOR THY FAMILY.
Commonality with the regular Civic gives the Type R excellent packaging and practicality. Civic Sport hatchbacks now have 99 cubic feet of passenger space and 25 cubic feet of cargo room, and so does the Type R. In the eyes of the EPA, this is a large car. Head to Costco and don’t be afraid to buy a second 30-roll pack. For even more hauling ability, fold the rear seats and take
home that eight-drawer dresser you spotted on Facebook Marketplace. None of the Civic’s practicality is affected here. Sure, it has a bloodred carpet and front seats with big lateral bolsters that might lead to a little groaning when you climb out, but it’s a Civic nonetheless.
In back, the Civic’s 107.7-inch wheelbase helps add 1.4 inches of legroom and makes the 60/40 split bench as Uber-friendly here as in the 158-hp base version. One drawback of sharing so much with a half-as-powerful sibling is that Honda didn’t enlarge the fuel tank for the Type R, so drive it as intended and you’ll be lucky to get more than 250 miles from the 12.4-gallon tank.
Lapping the last-gen Type R on the track multiple times led to heatrelated issues that sent the power train into limp mode. To solve that problem, the Type R now has a 48 percent larger grille opening that directs air into a larger radiator and a 10-row intercooler (up from nine). You’ll have to wait a bit for its Lightning Lap results, but we experienced zero thermal issues with the Type R.
IX. THOU SHALT NOT OVERPAY.
What dealers will overcharge for the Type R remains to be seen, but Honda is setting the price at $43,990, and the only factory extras are paint colors and forged alloy wheels. Of course, dealers will push a seemingly endless selection of accessories. Skip them all except maybe the $1780 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 track tires.
X. THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE ENTHUSIASM.
Shoppers looking to pose as carloving enthusiasts won’t want to own this one. It comes only with a manual transmission, you can’t get leather seats, and Honda won’t sell you a sunroof. The Type R does have all the collision-avoidance nannies the unskilled and NHTSA crave, but its buyers aren’t the type who cause accidents by texting in traffic. This is a car designed, tuned, and built for the true believers.
2023
As Tested $44,385 Base $43,990
Vehicle Type: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 4-door hatchback
Options: Championship White paint, $395 Infotainment: 9.0-inch touchscreen; wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay; satellite radio (3 months included); 2 USB and Bluetooth inputs; Bose stereo, 12 speakers
Engine
turbocharged and intercooled inline-4, aluminum block and head Bore x Stroke 3.39 x 3.38 in, 86.0 x 85.9 mm
Displacement 122 in3, 1996 cm3 Compression Ratio 9.8:1
Fuel Delivery: direct injection
Turbocharger: Mitsubishi TD04 Maximum Boost Pressure 25.2 psi
Valve Gear: double overhead cams, 4 valves per cylinder, variable intake- and exhaust-valve timing
Redline/Fuel Cutoff 7000/7000 rpm
Power 315 hp @ 6500 rpm Torque 310 lb-ft @ 2600 rpm
Drivetrain Transmission: 6-speed manual Final-Drive Ratio 3.84:1, helical-gear limited-slip differential
GEAR RATIO MPH PER MAX SPEED 1000 RPM IN GEAR (rpm)
1 ......... 3.63 ......... 5.2 ............... 36 mph (7000)
2 ......... 2.12 .......... 9.0 ............... 63 mph (7000)
3 ......... 1.53 .......... 12.4 .............. 87 mph (7000)
4 ......... 1.13 ........... 16.9 .............. 118 mph (7000)
5 ......... 0.91 .......... 20.9 ............. 146 mph (7000)
6 ......... 0.73 ......... 25.9 ............. 169 mph (6525)
Chassis
unit construction
Body Material: aluminum and steel stampings
Steering rack-and-pinion with variable ratio and variable electric power assist
Ratio
11.6–14.9:1
Turns Lock-to-Lock 2.1
Turning Circle Curb-to-Curb 39.9 ft
Suspension
F: ind; strut located by a control arm; coil springs; 3-position electronically controlled dampers; anti-roll bar
R: ind; 1 trailing arm, 2 lateral links, and a toe-control link per side; coil springs; 3-position electronically controlled dampers; anti-roll bar
Brakes
F: 13.8 x 1.1-in vented disc, 4-piston fixed caliper
R: 12.0 x 0.4-in disc, 1-piston sliding caliper Stability Control: fully defeatable, competition mode
Wheels and Tires
Wheels: cast aluminum, 9.5 x 19 in Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport 4S 265/30ZR-19 (93Y) DT1
Dimensions
Wheelbase ......................................................... 107.7 in Length 180.9 in Width 74.4 in Height 55.4 in Front Track 64.0 in Rear Track 63.5 in Ground Clearance 4.8 in Passenger Volume, F/R 55/44 ft3 Cargo Volume 25 ft3
NOT A HAND-ME-DOWN, K?
To get nine more horsepower from the K20C1 engine, Honda made a number of improvements, including swapping from a nine- to a 10-channel air-to-air intercooler and reducing the turbocharger inertia by 14 percent while increasing the intake flow rate by 10 percent and the exhaust flow by 13 percent.
Fully weaponized SUVs are no longer an underground fringe. The Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT and the Aston Martin DBX 707 face off to see which is king of the high-riding wagons.
ByWhite Light, White Heat
Once it was established that high-performance SUVs were not an oxymoron, there was only one direction to go: up. More speed, quicker acceleration, greater grip, more tenacious braking, and—most of all—higher prices. At Porsche, the progression of high-test versions with more horsepower and compound badge extensions has led to the 2022 Cayenne Turbo GT, a veritable sport-utility weapon capable of amazing things on the track, up to and including the vaunted Nürburgring.
Other high-end carmakers have joined in— even Ferrari with its upcoming Purosangue. Aston Martin entered the fray a couple of years ago with its DBX. We’d surmise, however, that the beastly 2023 DBX 707 was in the model plan from the outset.
Base/As Tested
Dimensions
Wheelbase Length/Width/Height Track, F/R Passenger Volume, F/R Cargo Volume, behind, F/R Towing Max Powertrain Engine
Power, hp @ rpm Torque, lb-ft @ rpm Redline/Fuel Cutoff lb per hp
Driveline Transmission Driven Wheels Final-Drive Ratio:1 Chassis Suspension Brakes Stability Control Tires TEST RESULTS Acceleration 30 mph 60 mph 100 mph 150 mph 1/4-Mile @ mph Rolling Start, 5–60 mph Top Gear, 30–50 mph Top Gear, 50–70 mph Top Speed Chassis Braking, 70–0 mph Braking, 100–0 mph Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad Weight Curb Distribution, F/R Fuel Capacity/Octane EPA Comb/City/Hwy C/D 600-mi Trip Sound Level Idle/Full Throttle 70-mph Cruise
2023 Aston Martin DBX 707 $239,086/$290,086
120.5 in 198.4/78.7/66.1 in 66.9/65.5 in 58/52 ft3 54/23 ft3 5940 lb twin-turbocharged DOHC 32-valve V-8 243 in3 (3982 cm3) 697 @ 6000 663 @ 2750 7000/6900 rpm 7.4
9-speed automatic all 3.27
F: multilink, air springs, active anti-roll bar R: multilink, air springs, active anti-roll bar F: 16.5-in vented, crossdrilled ceramic disc R: 15.4-in vented, crossdrilled ceramic disc partially and fully defeatable, traction off, launch control Pirelli P Zero PZ4 F: 285/35ZR-23 (107Y) A8A R: 325/30ZR-23 (109Y) A8A 1.1 sec 3.1 sec 7.6 sec 19.7 sec 11.4 sec @ 121 Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec. 4.5 sec 2.6 sec 3.0 sec 193 mph (mfr’s claim) 155 ft 315 ft 0.97 g 5138 lb 52.7/47.3% 22.5 gal/93 17/15/20 mpg 13 mpg 45/82 dBA 66 dBA
2022 Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT $182,150/$189,090 114.0 in 194.6/78.5/64.4 in 66.5/66.4 in 54/50 ft3 52/19 ft3 0 lb
twin-turbocharged DOHC 32-valve V-8 244 in3 (3996 cm3) 631 @ 6000 626 @ 2300 6800/6800 rpm 7.9
8-speed automatic all 2.95
F: multilink, air springs, active anti-roll bar R: multilink, air springs, active anti-roll bar F: 17.3-in vented, crossdrilled ceramic disc R: 16.1-in vented, crossdrilled ceramic disc fully defeatable, traction off, competition mode, launch control Pirelli P Zero Corsa PZC4 F: 285/35ZR-22 (106Y) N0 R: 315/30ZR-22 (107Y) N0 1.0 sec 2.9 sec 7.4 sec 19.8 sec 11.2 sec @ 120 Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec. 4.5 sec 2.7 sec 3.2 sec 186 mph (mfr’s claim) 154 ft 312 ft 1.03 g 4972 lb 56.8/43.2% 23.7 gal/93 16/14/19 mpg 14 mpg 43/83 dBA 65 dBA
These Cayenne and DBX models make an excellent pairing, and not just because our samples were painted focus-group white to prevent color bias from creeping in. Ferocious twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 engines vigorously propel both, with the Porsche’s 3996-cubic-centimeter powerplant generating 631 horsepower and the Aston wringing 697 horsepower from a mere 3982 cubic centimeters. Beyond that, both vehicles have all-wheel drive and ride on air springs augmented with electronically controlled dampers and active anti-roll bars. Both feature high-stance terrain modes of dubious relevance, and they also command sky-high prices. The lightly optioned Porsche in our test goes for $189,090, while the glitzier Aston Martin commands $290,086.
2nd Place: Aston Martin DBX
If we determined a champion based on onlookers’ attention, the Aston would take this win, hands down. People stopped us at gas stations, wanted to know what it was, took photos. When you view the vehicles side by side, this makes sense. The 707 has presence. Its fresh, modern styling is festooned with intriguing details, although the diffuser’s fiddly spoiler is one we could do without.
The same is true inside, where the DBX comes across as interesting and layered. The seats and dashboard look as if some design capital was spent on them, and the carbon-fiber center console is far more intricate and deliberate than the perfunctory stuff tacked onto the Porsche’s door panels. But, as on the outside, the design would come off better if it were reeled in about 5 percent.
Underway, the Aston delivers the crushing performance its aggressive looks imply. It rushes to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds, reaches 100 mph in 7.6 seconds, and runs an 11.4-second quarter-mile at 121 mph. Its willing nine-speed automatic helps it rip 30-to-50-mph passing maneuvers in 2.6 seconds and 50-to-70 ones in three seconds flat.
The Aston is an adept hustler in the twisties too. Precise steering response and strong brakes allow you to push as hard as you dare, with the V-8’s kick, glorious wail, and upshift crackle available when you boot it upon corner exit. Despite some 5138 pounds of British engineering, the chassis feels lithe and balanced, and the active anti-roll control ensures that body lean is held to a minimum as you flow into the next corner. The brake engagement point is a bit lower than the Porsche’s, and slightly more turn-in lock is necessary because the Aston’s steering ratio feels a tad slower, but you’d never pick those nits without aggressively driving these two back to back. At the track, massive 23-inch Pirelli P Zero PZ4s help the Aston record 70-mph stops of 155 feet and a healthy 0.97 g of orbital stick.
The Aston is an adept hustler in the twisties too. Precise steering response and strong brakes allow you to push as hard as you dare, with the V-8’s kick, glorious wail, and upshift crackle available when you boot it upon corner exit.
gest thing holding the Aston back is its near-$300,000 price tag. If you’re able to scoff at that sentence, well, don’t let us stop you from making a purchase.
1st Place: Porsche Cayenne
Compared with the Aston, our white Porsche’s rounded-off styling suggests a used bar of soap, with a grille opening that looks like a hockey player’s wide grin with dentures out. Tellingly, an influencer snapping pictures of our DBX framed the Cayenne out of his shots.
The Aston is a steady and calm interstate cruiser, with a smooth ride and a steering system that imparts a clairvoyant sense of straight ahead through its nicely contoured wheel. But we did miss a head-up display in this driving scenario, and over time the attractive seats proved to be less comfortable than they appear, with obtuse side-bolster and lumbar controls we never came to grips with. But the biggest gaffe has to be the infuriating infotainment system, which is controlled only by a touchpad or a half-hidden knob that is utterly inaccessible if you actually use the cupholders. Perhaps Aston should move them ahead of the controller and add a bona fide touchscreen to give the driver choices. What’s more, phone mirroring requires a cable, even though the center console’s handy open basement contains a wireless charging pad.
Meanwhile, those seated in the rear will be happy as clams back there. Space is abundant, and climate-control vents are mounted in the center console as well as attractively set into the door pillars. At the end of the day, the big-
Aston’s front stoppers measure 16.5 inches in diameter. “Cool,” says the Porsche, which packs 17.3-inchers. The Benz-sourced touchpad on the console is the only hint there’s a Merc V-8 under the hood.
But the Turbo GT has got it where it counts, making it a superior sleeper. Despite having 66 horsepower less, the Porsche bolts out of the gate harder, reaching 60 mph in a mere 2.9 seconds and maintaining that 0.2-second advantage through 100 mph and across the line at the quarter-mile in 11.2 seconds at 120 mph. The more powerful Aston starts to outrun it after that, but it’s a close-run thing in a speed realm that has zero daily relevance. Back on earth, the Porsche’s 30-to-50- and 50-to-70mph passing times trail the Aston by a tenth and two-tenths, respectively. That’s probably due to the fewer ratios of its eight-speed automatic, but the GT still delivers heady passing performance and benefits from a smooth-shifting gearbox.
In the mountains, the Turbo GT’s standard rear-wheel steering and active roll control team up to make quick work of tight hairpins, flowing esses, and long sweepers alike. Steering
Plus Undeniably fast, rorty soundtrack, stunning design. Minus Insufferable infotainment, eye-watering price. Equals If money were no object, we wouldn’t object.
5th Generation Nitric Oxide Breakthrough Proven in Clinical Trials to Restore Maximum Blood Flow
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BETTER BLOOD FLOW, STRONGER RESULTS
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Plus Immediate control response, grip for days, lower price leaves room for options. Minus Forgettable styling, flintier ride, seats only four.
Equals The Porsche of haul-ass SUVs.
response is laser sharp, and the brake pedal feels immediate and intuitive. You just think about doing things and they get done. It’s a oneness the Aston can’t match. There’s also grip for days, and that’s not just in our head; a monster 1.03 g’s around the skidpad proved it.
But there’s a catch—one that likely accounts for the launch advantage, the immediate turn-in response, and certainly the lateral grip, but curiously no significant stopping-distance superiority. The Turbo GT’s Pirelli P Zero Corsa PZC4 tires have a scant 80 treadwear rating (the Aston’s are 280). That’s so extreme, they wouldn’t be legal at an SCCA autocross. Tire Rack classifies them as Streetable Track & Competition tires, and we doubt they’ll last 10,000 miles. Still, perhaps from the perspective of the happy side of a $100,000 price gap, chucking a lot of them at the Porsche feels affordable.
That “yes, but” theme continues on the open road, where the Turbo GT’s
This comparo is brought to you by the letter P and the number Zero. The slightly more aggressive Corsa PZC4s on the Cayenne help it sweep the chassisperformance tests.
standard Alcantara steering wheel feels like, as senior editor Elana Scherr put it, “an elderly cat, all bones and fur.” Rest assured, there’s a more comfortable (and heated) wheel on the typically extensive Porsche options list. The same can be said of the dual-zone climate control, which can be upgraded to four zones with a comparatively modest spend (the DBX has a standard three-zone setup), and our
Porsche’s lack of adaptive cruise control. The standard eight-way sport seats are comfortable over the long haul, though, and they do much to take the edge off rougher roads. That said, you could also upgrade to 18-way chairs.
What you can’t option away is the slightly less compliant ride, the four-place seating, and the 1-mpg-worse EPA combined fuel-economy rating, which relates back to the gummy tires and the cog-deficient eight-speed automatic. But there are 100,000 reasons why this doesn’t matter, and there’s no denying that the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT is the more potent and rewarding sport-utility weapon. Plus, if that interested influencer is any indication, the local constabulary will likely direct their attention to the Aston instead.
SISTERS
BY MIKE DUFFWIDE, WEDGY, AND OUTRAGEOUS,
the Countach wasn’t the first Lamborghini, but Marcello Gandini’s jaw-dropping design created the archetype the company has followed ever since. No new Countach could ever match the original in terms of the awestruck reaction that greeted the vehicle, named for a Piedmontese expletive uttered at the concept car. Which is why
Lamborghini’s decision to produce a new Countach, the LPI 800-4, seemed dangerously close to heresy. The question is: Can the LPI 800-4 compare as an experience?
To answer it, we drove the LPI 800-4 alongside a historic Countach from Lamborghini’s own collection. This 1990 25th Anniversary Edition is the final original Countach built, and it’s normally exhibited in the factory museum. With just 6000 miles, it’s practically box fresh. As the last version of the first Countach, it’s the most appropriate example to match with the new car.
Park them next to each other, and the differences are at least as obvious as the similarities. The LPI 800-4 Countach sits on the Aventador’s platform and shares its carbon-fiber tub. Years of evolution make it bigger in every plane [see “Even the NACA Duct Grew,” page 64]. Yet there is also a visual kinship across the decades, with the LPI 800-4 clearly an homage rather than an attempted replica.
Mitja Borkert, Lamborghini’s design director, was able to riff on themes from throughout the Countach’s long life. There’s an LP5000S-like front end (despite the absence of pop-up headlights), hexagonal wheel arches, and raised air intakes reminiscent of the mid-’80s Quattrovalvole. According to the principles of modern car design, the new Countach features better
proportions and more harmonious details than the clad-and-straked 25th Anniversary. But the older car is the one you can’t stop looking at.
In performance, it isn’t even close to being close. The LPI 800-4 gets the brawniest version of the Aventador’s magnificent 6.5-liter V-12, along with the supercapacitor hybrid system used in the Sián hypercar. The car drives like a turned-up Aventador, as the all-wheel-drive system delivers massive thrust with assurance. The closer the engine gets to its 8700-rpm limit, the angrier and more savage it becomes. While the electric motor’s modest 34-hp contribution is indiscernible from the V-12’s 769 horsepower, its torque does smooth the single-clutch automated manual’s gearchanges, which are far less brutal than in the Aventador. Like every other modern Lambo, the LPI 800-4 has selectable drive modes, with the punchiest Corsa setting making it feel impressively wieldy on the small, tight 1.3-mile Autodromo di Modena we used for photography.
By comparison, the original Countach is woeful. The cramped cockpit is uncomfortable, and all but the shortest pilots will find their head grazing the roof, even with the seat in its lowest and most reclined position. It hails from a period before ergonomic considerations in supercars, and the driving position is heavily offset toward the center of the car due to the intrusion of the
The OG Countach features a frunk, but you rarely see one in use because it carries the spare tire.
front wheel well. The footwell is so packed with its three pedals that there’s nowhere to put a resting clutch foot. The dogleg gearshift features a foldable tab to prevent a first-to-reverse flubbed shift; in a good indication of the cabin designers’ priorities, it sits ahead of a huge ashtray.
Rated at 449 hp, the old car’s V-12 is quieter at startup than the LPI 800-4’s and idles with a carbureted wuffle. U.S. Countaches as early as ’83 models got Bosch fuel injection to meet emission regs, but European models stuck with six Webers until the end. The throttle pedal is light, and response is immediate and keen. The engine pulls cleanly from low down and with impressive vigor as revs rise. It sounds great too—much softer than the newer car, with valvetrain clatter audible over the exhaust.
Yet everything else is just so much hard work. The clutch is a leg-press machine set to Lou Ferrigno. The unassisted steering is so heavy at maneuvering speeds
that turning the wheel is painful. Even once the car is moving, tight corners bring it back to full Hulk weighting, and in Auto dromo’s tight corners, few of the apexes are even grazed, let alone clipped. Between-corner speeds are limited by stopping rather than going, and the brake pedal’s mushy responses impart none of the confidence you’d want when pushing a valuable supercar on a tight track. Does it have ABS? Our chaperone, Mario Fasanetto, who started at Lamborghini in 1985 building Countach engines and today is the company’s chief test driver, just laughs.
The team in Sant’Agata never designed the Countach for the track, and it shows. The car is vastly better on roads, especially fast highways from the days when European limits were either nonexistent or largely discretionary for supercar owners. The 25th Anniversary’s claimed 183-mph top speed was likely just Ferrari baiting—the top speed we observed in a 1983 Countach 5000S was 160 mph. But even traveling at the lower velocities of the tamer 21st century, the Countach has the solid, planted feel you want for serious cruising pace.
Width: 82.6 in
106.3 in
44.8 in 191.7 in
Width: 78.7 in
98.4 in 166.9 in
Reaching a mountain road gives the modern car another chance to prove its dynamic superiority. The Strada Provinciale 26 near the Modenese village of Samone is a quiet road that combines hairpins and scenic views. It’s a backdrop that draws all the local supercar makers (we’ve previously been here with Ferrari and Pagani, as well as Lamborghini). But the Countaches have it to themselves today. After the vein-popping workout of the 25th Anniversary model, the new car feels lighter and more agile than a V-12 Lamborghini has any right to.
42.1 in
EVEN THE NACA DUCT GREW While the reimagined 2022 Countach (top) is about 15 percent longer than the 25th Anniversary model from 1990, the rear-tire section width has grown by only 10 millimeters, from 345 to 355.
The original Countach is one of those cars that is awesome both despite and because of its flaws. Justifying its divinity requires the sort of tortuous logic that corrupt medieval priests would employ to render the unholy holy, and even one of the less loved versions of this unarguable icon still offers an unforgettable experience. By contrast, the LPI 800-4 feels too good—too well engineered and slick to be a true successor to such a flawed gem, regardless of the new car’s handsome design. It’s a Countach, but it will never be the Countach.
THE RUNDOWN
An expert look at the newest and most important vehicles this month.
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 attracts a swarm of new fans, page 74.
The World’s Heaviest Minivan (Also, Its Fanciest)
Highs: Eats interstate miles like a Greyhound, luxury appointments of the new king’s polo closet, will carry two caskets simultaneously. Lows: Gas mileage that’s difficult to countenance, cockpit electronics require a seven-day tutorial in Dallas, roughly as Jeepish as a Bentley.
To suggest that Jeep’s seven- or eight-passenger Wagoneer L/ Grand Wagoneer L twins are elephantine is to libel pachyderms. Both vehicles boast seven newfound inches of wheelbase and 12.0 bonus inches overall, compared with what
we now quite inadvisably call their short-wheelbase kinsfolk. We are here to make you smile.
Ladies and gentlemen, behold an SUV that, in latest limo guise, requires a 19-foot parking space. Somewhere beneath the Grand L’s 6428-pound heft, you can hear the pitiful whimpering of a Ram 1500 chassis, now absent its live axle in favor of an independent rear suspension.
It would require eccentric judgment to consider an L if you don’t deploy it daily for ferrying the Denver Broncos’ defensive line or transporting the occasional DOT-approved bridge. Jeep gathered us in a coffeehouse parking lot, where we collectively set a Guinness record for glacial
back-and-fill turns, using caffeinated civilians as billiard cushions. Of course, if your kids act up, stash ’em in the third row and tell them to write if they get work. Their contributions might help defray the top-spec Grand L’s $113,990 sticker.
If you flatten the second- and third-row seats, the proverbial four-by-eight sheet of plywood slides in like a piece of dry toast. A nine-foot Orvis fly rod rests flat when inserted diagonally. You could carry Delaware in this SUV, and, all kidding aside, the center console swallows a fullface Bell helmet.
The facts:
• 44 cubic feet behind the third-row seats (16 more than the “stubby” Grand Wagoneer).
• 42.7 inches of second-row legroom.
• Up to 131 cubic feet of cargo volume behind the first row.
Who needs a Ram pickup?
There’s a genuine car-enthusiast angle to all of this. (Cars were produced in America in the mid- to late 20th century, but you weren’t born then.) It’s Stellantis’s all-new Hurricane twinturbocharged inline-six—not bent but straight; yes, you’ve read that correctly—belting out 420 horsepower in the Wagoneer L and 510 horsepower in the fancier Grand Wagoneer L. This costly jewellike revelation is a rev-happy 3.0-liter whirling dervish that would stand us on our ears if it ever powered something as minuscule as, say, an automobile.
The Hurricane offers internal bits to make engineers weep: a water-to-air intercooler, twin oil pickups in the sump, and a compression ratio as high as 10.4:1. The turbos aren’t sequential, instead serving three holes per, but the low-end torque is plentiful. In fact, how does this sound? You get 468 pound-feet from the base version, which ought to suffice for your 10,000-pound horse trailer, provided you can live with rear-wheel drive. Four-wheel-drive models will tug up to 9850 pounds. Moreover, the glistening alloy block is at most 29.0 inches long and has been dyno-tortured almost flat on its side, meaning it will fit in almost any vehicle Stellantis sells in the United States. Except which? A grumpy old Charger? Nevertheless, for the second time in its storied career, the iron-block Hemi should be dropped at the curb. In our testing, the Grand Wagoneer L saw 60 mph in 4.7 seconds. Not impressed? That’s only 0.4 second behind the 682-hp Cadillac Escalade V. If that’s too leisurely, maybe lash the
Baby got back: The L tacks on another five inches of rear overhang. And it adds seven inches between the axles.
McIntosh stereo’s 1375-watt amp to the eight-speed automatic. Voilà, a new kind of hybrid.
We should note that there isn’t a dusty scintilla of Jeepishness in either of these luxo-leviathans. No Jeep this upscale has ever scuffed tread in Toledo, although it occurs to us that Mayor Kapszukiewicz might want to name a suburb after it.
Let’s agree to characterize the design as “long.” You don’t need a stylist for this sort of work—you need an architect. Likely no one will complain, but Jeep’s nemesis in this class, the Escalade, offers at least a trace of sleekness. Killer-whale sleekness.
But enough of the big-and-tall jokes, because both new Ls steer and handle better than they should, even with a ride quality north of plush. Yeah, the steering is artificial, and the braking distance is a bit worrisome (190 feet from 70 mph), but the tracking is flawless, the turn-in is predictable, and the dampers suddenly stand tall if you overcook a turn. The rubber, as you would expect, is biased toward suburban Phoenix.
Kids in the third-row bench don’t have it so bad And as a bonus, they’re a long way away from their parents in the front
And, holy hedge fund, the luxury. Check out the exquisite panel gaps. Note the marked absence of noise, vibration, and harshness. Caress the unexpectedly sensuous surfaces: available suede-lined A-pillars, double-stitched cowskins encasing the grab handles, and genuine American walnut trim. Is Leona Helmsley still dead?
At the introduction of the Ls, Jeep trailered out an original Grand Wag, vinyl wood siding and all. Wearing bell-bottom pants, the Wagoneer debuted in 1962 as a ’63 model. Back then, that grandpa of American SUVs was among the largest in our experience. Yet these latest Ls are 43 inches longer and roughly 2700 pounds heavier. You can’t travel back in time, but apparently, you can stretch it.
Answered Prayer
As soon as the current Supra arrived for the 2020 model year, calls for a manualtransmission version flooded Toyota’s PR desk. Such a legendary nameplate—at the top of the brand’s Gazoo Racing–developed lineup—made available only with an automatic didn’t sit right for many enthusiasts. Fortunately, Toyota heeded the call to save the manuals and introduced a stick-shift Supra for 2023. It’s as good as we’d hoped.
Available as a no-cost option paired exclusively with the Supra’s 382-hp turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six, the manual setup carries a starting price of $53,595. In packaging the six-speed stick, Toyota widened the center console and moved the infotainment controller to the right, allowing the shift lever to sit within easy reach, though it’s precariously close to the dash’s center stack. Get too aggressive upshifting into third and you’ll accidentally adjust the fan speed with your knuckles. Similarly, your elbow might knock into the 32-ounce Slurpee sticking out of the center armrest’s cupholders.
Automatic rev matching is on by default, but you’ll want to turn it off when configuring the Individual drive
mode, since the closely spaced pedals are ideal for effortless heel-and-toe downshifts. The shifter’s small-diameter knob and narrow gates make its action equally precise. Gears engage with satisfying resistance, like a greased ball joint popping into a socket. Most important, all of this brings greater integration to the Supra’s driving experience— timing shifts, managing wheelspin, and manipulating the car’s balance. Rip through the ratios and you’re more aware of the turbo six’s surge of low-end torque (368 pound-feet
Some might say the rear is the Supra’s best angle, but we prefer the view from behind the wheel, with the stick shift to your right.
at 1800 rpm) and the strong pull to its 7000-rpm redline. Coordinate a perfect three-two downshift while the car squirms under braking, and the smiles come easily.
Toyota optimized an existing ZF six-speed unit for the Supra by removing sound-deadening elements and fitting a larger, reinforced clutch assembly. At 3343 pounds, our example weighed 39 pounds less than the automatic 3.0 model we last tested. Manual-equipped cars also get a shorter final-drive ratio, 3.46:1 versus the eight-speed auto’s 3.15:1. But the manual’s individual gear ratios and overall gearing are considerably taller than the automatic’s. The clutch pedal’s long, linear travel makes setting
off easy, and its weight helps meter takeup, yet it’s light enough not to induce leg cramps. Get the launch right and the manual Supra sprints to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds—a mere 0.2 second slower than the automatic. And even with the mechanics of DIY shifting stretching the quarter-mile pass to 12.4 seconds at 115 mph, this Supra trips the lights only 0.2 second behind its less-fun sibling.
Unsurprisingly, the manual’s EPA combined fueleconomy rating of 21 mpg is a significant 5 mpg less than the six-cylinder automatic’s. But after finally experiencing the latest Supra as the sports-car gods intended, we wouldn’t have ours any other way.
Two-tone cars are the bookends of this automotive journey we call life. Your first might have been rusty brown on the bottom or bleached white on the top. And if you grind hard enough, you too can one day purchase a $185,950 Mercedes-Maybach S580. Of course, if you really want to make a statement, add $14,500 for the livery shown here, seemingly inspired by the Glaser’s Bake Shop black and white cookie.
In the transformation from fish-egg Benz S580 to caviar Maybach S580, Mercedes stretches the wheelbase by 7.1 inches, benefiting backseat space, though the 496-hp V-8 and all-wheel drive remain. The huge rear doors feel so heavy, you’d swear they’re lined with bullion. That the doors can open and close at the push of a button or with the wave of a hand is a blessing but also a curse, because family members acclimate a little too quickly to doors opening for them. While everyone loves a cold beverage, just know that the $1100 trunk fridge (accessible from the back seat) eats into luggage space. We understand why, at $3200 per pair, the optional champagne flutes were removed from our test car.
A monster cruiser doesn’t often capture our attention the way this land yacht riding on 20-inch forged monoblocks does. The quietness on
the highway won’t hide a silent fart, the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 spins to life without so much as the click of a solenoid, and the second-row recliners ($6000) do a darnfine impression of a Lufthansa first-class cabin. That the Maybach drives as rich as its back seat feels only increases the allure.
The steering and brakes are categorically overboosted, with minimal feedback coming through. Isolation (we measured 64 decibels at 70 mph) takes precedence for the sake of the passengers. Request full power and the car will deliver 60 mph in 4.1 seconds. But it’s better to take your time in this one. You’ve earned it.
High M-tensity
BMW’s M4 CSL is the ultimate M car, and it’s not for the faint of heart.
At an indicated 170 mph in the 2023 BMW M4 CSL, on the autobahn between Munich and Passau, we muster the last crumbs of courage and stretch out the right foot all the way. Guess what happens? The thing downshifts into seventh at a ludicrous 5800 rpm, a token 1400 rpm below the redline, ignoring the danger to our ancient heart. At 186 mph sharp, it upshifts back into eighth, still accelerating, but now with the digital speed readout increasing by 1-mph increments. Theoretically, BMW caps this ultimate M car at 191 mph. But what looks at first like a barely noticeable kink up ahead in the freeway suddenly feels like a very serious corner. “Never Lift”? T-shirts rarely tell the true story, but the rearview mirror always does. And it showed us grinning from ear to ear.
Like the most hardcore sports cars, this BMW is strictly rear-wheel drive, and it shows, especially in the wet on cold Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires. Next to this beast, every other M4 is a kitten. For a start, the CSL is a claimed 240 pounds lighter than the base M4. You can feel and also hear the weight savings. Stripped of its seats, the rear compartment has mutated into a giant boombox. Some 33 pounds’ worth of removed or lightened sound-deadening material exacerbates the acoustic assault, with the carbon-fiber roof capping the resonance chamber and the titanium exhaust designed to raise goose bumps. Replacing the standard seats with carbon-fiber screw clamps billed as sport buckets saves a
Strap in and hang on. The grille is lighter than other M4s’ but no smaller. Red highlights the body’s strakes, flares, and ducts, and the daytime running lights glow yellow.
whopping 53 pounds. The lowered and stiffened suspension further increases the seats’ pain coefficient.
The first 20 miles of familiarization are unpleasant. The 275/35ZR19 and 285/30ZR-20 tires wriggle along like a quartet of eels. The dampers in their Sport Plus setting are devoted wholly to shock, not absorption. The steering is initially too light to be trusted. And every blip of the throttle strikes your nervous system like lightning. You never relax in the M4 CSL, but the initial angst eventually recedes as curiosity replaces it, followed by the first bouts of what we’ll call confidence. In Sport, with tire temperatures at last where they should be, we finally dare to dive into the car’s deep talent pool and snorkel to see all the revelations it harbors—like more cornering grip than a gallon of Loctite and more poise than such a zero-tolerance setup should be allowed to muster.
The CSL engine is the ultimate evolution of the M division’s twinturbo 3.0-liter inline-six. Output is boosted from the base model’s 473 horsepower and 406 pound-
Under the hood are 543 caged horses� The roof, hood, trunklid, and rear diffuser are carbon fiber, and the roundel commemorates 50 years of BMW M
feet to 543 and 479, respectively. Those are the good numbers. The bad number is the starting price of $140,895. For that money, one could nearly buy two entry-level M4s. And BMW closed the order books even before the first of the 1000 limited-edition models was delivered to a customer.
Scarcity alone should make the striped and winged lightweight special an instant blue-chip investment—but is it? Although the CSL is exceptionally involving and outright faster than its siblings by some margin, our estimated 60-mph time of 3.2 seconds is eclipsed by the comparatively inconspicuous M4 Competition xDrive, which may be down 40 horsepower but has the same torque and hits 60 in 2.8 seconds, all for about $57,000 less.
Finally, it stopped raining, and twisties free of radar traps dotted the winding route back to Munich. Time to forget the tame preset configuration of the steering wheel’s M1 button and dial in the devil’s own M2 composition instead. The preferred algorithm looked like this: engine in Sport Plus, gearbox in the S3 quick-shift setting, chassis in Comfort (compliance is control), stability control in M Dynamic mode, steering and brakes in Sport. Despite some conspicuous noise, vibration, and harshness, the CSL
the numbers
Vehicle Type: front-engine, rearwheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door coupe
Base ����������������������������� $140,895
Engine: twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve inline-6, aluminum block and head, direct fuel injection
Displacement ����� 183 in3, 2993 cm3 Power ���������������� 543 hp @ 6250 rpm Torque ������������ 479 lb-ft @ 2750 rpm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic Dimensions
• Wheelbase ����������������������������� 112 5 in
• L/W/H ���������������� 188 7/75 6/54 6 in
• Curb Weight ������������������������ 3600 lb Performance (C/Dest)
• 60 mph ���������������������������������� 3�2 sec
• 100 mph ��������������������������������� 7 2 sec
• 1/4-Mile ���������������������������������� 11 1 sec
• Top Speed ���������������������������� 191 mph EPA Fuel Economy
• Comb/City/Hwy ����� 18/16/23 mpg
drivetrain epitomizes absolute seamlessness. Accompanied by a barely filtered howling and growling soundtrack, hard-acceleration brutality beams you through time and space. The forward thrust— initially explosive, then increasingly progressive—has its antidote in the simply stupefying carbon-ceramic brakes. There’s no doubt about it: This car makes your eyes pop out in one take, only to flatten the earlobes in the next. It quite simply redefines the Ultimate Driving Machine.
Shaping Up
Hyundai’s latest EV throws a curve.
The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is a tall car but doesn’t look it. As smooth as a river rock, this EV is a roadgoing cueball with a spoiler.
On the standard 18-inch wheels, with the active air flaps closed and camera side mirrors, the Ioniq 6 has a claimed drag coefficient of 0.21. Underneath, you’ll find a structure similar to the Ioniq 5’s, with a two-inch-shorter wheelbase.
As with the 5, Hyundai will offer two batteries for the Ioniq 6, a long-range 77.4-kWh pack and a standard 53.0-kWh unit, matched with either a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive setup or dual motors and all-wheel drive. We drove the long-range, dual-motor variant with the larger battery and 320 horsepower.
Hyundai says the all-wheel-drive Ioniq 6 gets to 62 mph in 5.1 seconds, but we expect better in our testing (the Ioniq 5 with the same powertrain hit 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds).
On the road, the Ioniq 6 moves forward with typical electric enthusiasm, goosed by an even more eager accelerator when set in Sport mode, but the only thing quicker than EV acceleration is the speed with which we’re jaded by it. The Ioniq 6 is plenty fast enough for any passing or emergency maneuvers sane driving may require, but it doesn’t scramble your internal organs.
We want handling, but also a ride that doesn’t make meringue of our insides, and Hyundai worked hard to make sure a harsh ride or a clanking undercarriage does not disturb the quiet of the Ioniq 6’s electrons. Layers of sound-deadening material between the floor and carpet, foam-filled tires, and acoustic windshield glass muffle the outside world, and the ride is equally cocooning.
With a low center of gravity, the Ioniq 6 is friendly around the turns and planted in the straights. Use the steering-wheel paddles to select three levels of regenerative braking or none at all. This car will not set any racetrack records, but driving it is as unrippled an experience as its exterior promises.
Sleek bodywork gives the Ioniq 6 a lower drag coefficient than a Tesla Model 3. The interior is equally minimalist and modern.
The Ioniq 6 does impress with a different set of numbers—those dealing with range and charging. The big-battery sedan should offer about 310 miles of range, according to EPA standards, and all trim levels enable
the numbers
Vehicle Type: rear- or front- and rear-motor, rear- or all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan Base (C/D est) ������ $44,000–$52,000
Motors: permanent-magnet synchronous AC, 148 or 225 hp, 258 lb-ft; 2 permanent-magnet synchronous AC, 320 hp, 446 lb-ft
Battery Pack: liquid-cooled lithium-ion, 53.0 or 77.4 kWh
Onboard Charger: 10.9 kW
Transmissions: direct-drive Dimensions
• Wheelbase 116.1 in
• L/W/H 191.1/74.0/58.9 in
• Curb Weight 4000–4700 lb
Performance (C/Dest)
• 60 mph .................................... 4.5–6.9 sec
• 100 mph 12.8–18.2 sec
• 1/4-Mile 13.3–15.4 sec
• Top Speed 120 mph
EPA Fuel Economy (C/Dest)
• Comb/City/Hwy 105–120/115–135/ 95–100 MPGe
• Range 230–310 mi
both 400- and 800-volt charging. A 350-kW connection can charge an Ioniq 6 from 10 percent to 80 percent in less than 20 minutes, a feat we’ve confirmed in the Ioniq 5.
While there is no official word yet on pricing, we expect this car to be slightly more expensive than the Ioniq 5, which starts at $42,745. For buyers focused on performance numbers, the Ioniq 6 may fall short. But it has plenty of driveway appeal, a usable and interesting interior, and a much better ride than the Tesla Model 3. For EV commuters, this curve ball looks to be a hit.
ROUGH-CUT WOOD
Highs:
Perky hybrid powertrain, hushed cabin, it’s finally new� Lows: Unwieldy handling, lengthy braking distance, poorly packaged third row�
In forests of giant sequoias, time almost stands still. One could say the same for Toyota’s Sequoia, which just received its first redesign in 15 model years. Unfortunately, it isn’t the massive improvement we expected after such a wait.
the numbers
Vehicle Type: front-engine, front-motor, rear/4-wheel-drive, 7-passenger, 4-door wagon Base/As Tested ������ $62,895/$80,095
Powertrain: twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve 3.4-liter V-6, 389 hp, 479 lb-ft + AC motor, 48 hp, 184 lb-ft (combined output: 437 hp, 583 lb-ft; nickel-metal hydride battery pack)
The Sequoia adopts the hybridized twin-turbo 3.4-liter V-6 from the alsofresh Tundra pickup. The powertrain makes a hearty 437 horsepower and 583 pound-feet of torque, launching the 6179-pound top-spec Sequoia Capstone 4x4 to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 14.3 seconds at 94 mph. But the rest of the Sequoia’s dynamic behavior makes it feel every bit like the shipping-container-sized SUV it is. The width means it’s hard to place in a lane, a struggle the overly light steering effort exacerbates. The brake pedal initially feels squishy, and the Sequoia needs a lengthy 194 feet to stop from 70 mph. Rivals from GM are the current benchmark for large-SUV dynamics, with their firm brake pedals, relatively communicative steering, and greater sense of what passes for agility in this segment.
The bizarre decision to replace the Sequoia’s independent rear suspension with a live axle deteriorates ride quality. The passenger compartment suffers too. Third-row space is snug, and those seats don’t fold flat into the floor, resulting in a chest-high lift-over height. Rear air springs and adaptive dampers, optional on Platinum and Capstone models, mainly serve a load-leveling function.
We might overlook such shortcomings if it were 2012. But given the strength of today’s full-size SUVs, Toyota’s giant doesn’t quite stand tall in this company.
Transmission: 10-speed automatic Dimensions
• Wheelbase 122.0 in
• L/W/H 208.1/79.6/74.5 in
• Curb Weight .................................... 6179 lb
test RESULTS
60 mph 5.6 sec
1/4-Mile 14.3 sec @ 94 mph
100 mph 16.4 sec
Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec
Rolling Start, 5–60 mph 6.3 sec
Top Speed (gov ltd) 107 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph 194 ft Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad 0.76 g C/DFuel Economy
• Observed 16 mpg EPA Fuel Economy
• Comb/City/Hwy .............. 20/19/22 mpg
2023 TOYOTA SEQUOIA 4X4 ~ BY DREW DORIANComfortably Numb
Highs: Roomy interior, comfortable and quiet around town. Lows: Lazy acceleration, polarizing looks, pales next to more exciting competition.
We get it. Your letters say it all. The rise of EVs doesn’t sit well, but the industry’s push toward an exhaust-free future has us pinned under an influx of electric utility vehicles. We’ll admit that we love reporting the euphoric effect of a 5000-rpm launch-control start and the internalorgan-displacing sensation of 1.20 cornering g’s. But Nissan’s all-new Ariya doesn’t inspire any such words, at least not yet.
Since the launch of the 2011 Leaf, Nissan has sold nearly 600,000 EVs globally—Nissan hopes the Ariya will build on that success. It comes with a single-motor front-wheel-drive or dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup. The base Engage models use a 63.0-kWh battery, while others get an 87.0-kWh unit. With the larger pack, horsepower increases from 214 to 238 in the front-wheel-drive car. The strongest all-wheel-drive variant delivers 389 ponies.
Mash the 238-hp Ariya’s accelerator, and the power meter in the instrument display leisurely swings to 100 percent as 60 mph arrives in a sluggish 7.5 seconds. The quarter-mile reveals itself in 15.9 seconds at 92 mph. After a few standing starts, the Ariya’s thermal protection shuts down any meaningful thrust and pushes the mile-a-minute time into the mid-20s.
Rivals such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E, the Kia EV6, and the Volkswagen ID.4 place their single-motor setup on the rear axle, incrementally increasing their base powertrains’ fun factor. Still, Nissan’s front-drive Ariya puts up a respectable 0.85-g lateral performance and stops from 70 mph in a commendable 168 feet.
Though abrupt acceleration and powerslides aren’t in this Ariya’s playbook, it shines as an urban commuter. Around town, the spacious minimalist interior is elegant relative to the humdrum exterior, and supremely hushed. Only the sharpest road imperfections jar occupants.
The front seats are comfortable, and while the rear isn’t as roomy, it’s fit for adults.
Nissan’s hands-free ProPilot 2.0 easily navigates well-marked roads, though lane changes require interaction with that round thing in front of the driver. At 75 mph, we traveled 240 miles, falling short of the EPA’s 289-mile range estimate. Unlike the Leaf, the Ariya is capable of fast-charging at 130 kilowatts fed through the more common CCS connection, but we saw a peak rate of only 112 kW on the way to a so-so 40-minute charge from 10 to 90 percent.
The Ariya’s center console moves fore and aft on a motorized track. We’d rather see that driving force go to the wheels. Vehicle Type: front-motor, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door wagon Base/As Tested .............. $54,985/$57,850 Motor: current-excited synchronous AC Power ������������������������������������������������������������� 238 hp Torque ���������������������������������������������������������� 221 lb-ft Battery Pack: liquid-cooled lithium-ion, 87 0 kWh Onboard Charger: 7 2 kW Transmission: direct-drive Dimensions • Wheelbase ������������������������������������������������ 109 3 in • L/W/H ������������������������������������� 182 9/74 8/65 4 in • Curb Weight ��������������������������������������������� 4726 lb 60 mph ����������������������������������������������������������� 7 5 sec 1/4-Mile ����������������������������������� 15 9 sec @ 92 mph 100 mph ������������������������������������������������������� 19 0 sec Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.4 sec Rolling Start, 5–60 mph ������������������������ 7�5 sec Top Speed (gov ltd) ������������������������������� 103 mph Braking, 70–0 mph �������������������������������������� 168 ft Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad ��������������� 0 85 g C/DFuel Economy • Observed ����������������������������������������������� 84 MPGe • 75-mph Hwy Range ������������������������������� 240 mi EPA Fuel Economy • Comb/City/Hwy �������������������� 98/105/91 MPGe • Range ���������������������������������������������������������� 289 mi 76 PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL SIMARI ~ DECEMBER 2022 ~ CAR AND DRIVER
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Powered by 27 jewels, the a ni cat I is wound by the movement of your body. n exhibition back reveals the genius of the engineering and lets you witness the automatic rotor that enables you to wind the watch with a simple flick of your wrist.
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Try the Magnificat II for 30 days and if you are not receiving compliments, please return the watch for a full refund of the item price The precision built movement carries a 2 ear warranty against defect If ou trust your own good taste, the a ni icat is built for ou.
contact: Celia.Mollica@hearst.comRoyal Highness
Toyota embraces controversy with the Avalon’s tall four-door successor, the 2023 Crown.
the numbers
Vehicle Type: front-engine, frontand rear-motor, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan Base
........................ $41,045–$53,445
Powertrains: DOHC 16-valve 2.5-liter Atkinson-cycle inline-4, 184 hp, 163 lb-ft + 3 AC motors, 118 and 54 hp, 149 and 89 lb-ft (combined output: 236 hp; nickel-metal hydride battery pack); turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve 2.4-liter inline-4, 264 hp, 331 lb-ft + 2 AC motors, 82 and 79 hp, 215 and 124 lb-ft (combined output: 340 hp, 400 lb-ft; nickel-metal hydride battery pack) Transmissions, F/R: 6-speed automatic/ direct-drive, continuously variable automatic/direct-drive Dimensions
STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, AND CIRCULATION
1. Publication Title: Car and Driver
2. Publication Number: 0504-7900
3. Filing Date: October 1, 2022
4. Issue Frequency: Monthly, except combined Feb/Mar and Jul/Aug
5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 10
6. Annual Subscription Price: $13.00
7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor:
Publisher: Felix DiFilippo, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019; Editor: Tony Quiroga, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019; Managing Editor: Heather Albano, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
10. Owner: Hearst Autos, Inc., 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
• Wheelbase 112.2 in
• L/W/H 196.1 /72.4/60.6 in
• Curb Weight 4250–4350 lb Performance (C/Dest)
• 60 mph 5.4–7.2 sec
• 1/4-Mile 14.0–15.4 sec
• Top Speed 120 mph EPA Fuel Economy
• Comb/City/Hwy ............... 30–41/29–42/ 32–41 mpg
Nobody ever argued over the Toyota Avalon, which was universally described as perfectly nice. But Toyota, in case you haven’t noticed, is no longer content with inoffensive competence. So it has replaced the Avalon with the Crown, a jacked-up four-door coupe-roof sedan that looks like a 1999 Subaru Legacy SUS and a Local Motors Rally Fighter had a baby. The fact that this thing succeeds the Avalon reveals a lot about Toyota corporate culture right now, which we imagine as Rumspringa in Japan. What will Toyota build next, and will it be the result of a dare?
The Crown, whose name dates to 1955 in Japan, is 3.7 inches taller than an Avalon and twice as extroverted. Available 21-inch wheels look conceptcar enormous on a vehicle this size, and the Platinum model’s optional twotone paint brings Maybach attitude. All-wheel drive is standard, with the lower trims using a 236-hp hybrid powertrain consisting of a 2.5-liter inlinefour and a two-motor CVT up front with a third motor driving the rear axle.
The top-dog Platinum’s Hybrid Max powertrain more closely aligns the Crown’s performance with its bold sheetmetal. A turbocharged 2.4-liter four teams up with two electric motors to offer 340 horsepower and 400 poundfeet of torque. Stacking the gains, Toyota bolts the turbo four to a six-speed automatic that uses a clutch pack instead of a torque converter. Hello, silky rev-matched downshifts. That transmission will eventually allow a high-rpm launch-control mode (Toyota says it’s in the works), which would likely drop the claimed 5.7-second 60-mph time even lower.
That’s right, we’re talking launch control on a Toyota hybrid. The Platinum is $53,445, plus $550 for the two-tone paint—we’d say that’s mandatory. But we’d be happy to argue about it.
Stockholders of Hearst Communications, Inc., are: Veranda Publications, Inc., 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages, or Other Securities: None
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13. Publication Title: Car and Driver
14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: September 2022
15. Extent and Nature of Circulation
Average No. Copies No. Copies of Single Each Issue Issue During Published Preceding Nearest to 12 Months Filing Date
a. Total Number of Copies (Net press run) 701,696 581,700
b. [1] Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 (Include paid distribution above nominal rate, advertiser’s proof copies, and exchange copies) 604,501 507,148
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c. Total Paid Distribution (Sum of 15b [1], [2], [3], and [4]) 620,089 519,148
d. [1] Free or Nominal Rate OutsideCounty Copies Included on PS Form 3541 41,061 38,553
[2] Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies Included on PS Form 3541 n/a n/a
[3] Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes through the USPS (e.g., First-Class Mail) n/a n/a
[4] Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or other means) 11,733 5,381
e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (Sum of 15d [1], [2], [3], and [4]) 52,794 43,934
f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and 15e) 672,883 563,082
g. Copies Not Distributed 28,813 18,618 h. Total (Sum of 15f and 15g) 701,696 581,700
i. Percent Paid [(15c divided by 15f) times 100] 92.15% 92.20%
16a. Requested and Paid Electronic Copies 76,095 71,800
b. Total Requested and Paid Print Copies and Requested/Paid Electronic Copies (Line 15c) 696,184 590,948
c. Total Requested Copy Distribution (Line 15f) and Requested/Paid Electronic Copies 748,978 634,882
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17. Publication of Statement of Ownership: If the publication is a general publication, publication of this statement is required. Will be printed in the December 2022 issue of this publication.
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I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties).
2023 TOYOTA CROWN ~ BY EZRA DYERThe U.S. Mint Just Struck Morgan Silver Dollars for the First
Time in 100 Years!
It’s been more than 100 years since the last Morgan Silver Dollar was struck for circulation. With a well-earned reputation as the coin that helped build the Wild West, preferred by cowboys, ranchers, outlaws as the “hard currency” they wanted in their saddle bags, the Morgan is one of the most revered, mostcollected vintage U.S. Silver Dollars ever.
Struck in 90% silver from 1878 to 1904, then again in 1921, these silver dollars came to be known by the name of their designer, George T. Morgan. They were also nicknamed “cartwheels” because of their large weight and size.
Celebrating the 100th Anniversary with Legal Tender Morgans
Honoring the 100th anniversary of the last year the Morgan Silver Dollar was minted, the U.S. Mint struck five different versions in 2021, paying tribute to each of the mints that struck the coin. The coins here honor the historic New Orleans Mint, a U.S. Mint branch from 1838–1861 and again from 1879–1909. These coins, featuring an “O” privy mark, a small differentiating mark, were struck in Philadelphia since the New Orleans Mint no longer exists. These beautiful coins are different than the originals for two reasons. First, they’re struck in 99.9% fine silver instead of the
90% silver/10% copper of the originals. And second, these Morgans were struck using modern technology, serving to highlight the details of the iconic design even more than the originals.
Very Limited. Sold Out at the Mint!
The U.S. Mint limited the production of these gorgeous coins to just 175,000, a ridiculously low number. Not surprisingly, they sold out almost instantly! That means you need to hurry to add these bright, shiny, new legal-tender Morgan Silver Dollars with the New Orleans privy mark, struck in 99.9% PURE Silver, to your collection. Call 1-888-395-3219 to secure yours now. PLUS, you’ll receive a BONUS American Collectors Pack, valued at $25 FREE with your order. Call now. These won’t last!
SHIPPING! Limited time only. Standard domestic shipping only. Not valid on previous purchases.
contact: Celia.Mollica@hearst.com Actual size is 38.1 mm Struck in 99.9% Fine Silver for the First Time EVER!WHAT TO BUY: FORD SVT F-150 LIGHTNING
Ford’s performance-focused Special Vehicle Team (SVT) made its debut with two 1993 models: the SVT Mustang Cobra and the SVT F-150 Lightning, a souped-up pickup that immediately divided the Car and Driver staff into “Why?” and “Because!” camps. Enough buyers fell into the latter for the F-150 Lightning to get a sequel with a big bump in power for the 1999 model year.
From 1999 to 2004, Ford produced just over 28,000 second-gen SVT F-150 Lightnings clad in the love-it-or-hate-it aero body (and Flareside bed) that arrived with the ’97 truck. Not enough to make them common, but enough to build a cult following such that, even today, owner forums thrive and enthusiast meetups occur around the country.
PROBLEM AREAS
A common issue with 10th-gen F-150s is the V-8’s tendency to eject spark plugs, and the Lightning is no exception. The 2003 and ’04 models got more threads in the cylinder heads to help resolve the problem, but it’s worth checking the plugs. Just be careful when removing them as their two-piece design is prone to breaking off in the head.
VALUE
2001 FORD SVT
F-150 LIGHTNING 380-HP SUPERCHARGED 5.4-LITER V-8, 4702 LB
Test Results
• 60 mph ���������������������������������������������� 5 2 sec
• 100 mph ������������������������������������������ 12�8 sec
• 1/4-Mile ��������������������� 13 8 sec @ 104 mph
• Top Speed (drag ltd) 142 mph
• Braking, 70–0 mph 185 ft
From C/D, April 2001. Acceleration times adhere to our old rollout rule of 3 mph.
Models from 2001 forward got a revised Triton 5.4-liter V-8 with more power, a shorter rear-axle ratio, and Bilstein monotube dampers. The best examples are 2003–04s, which benefit from factory updates that resolve common issues. The abundance of mods calls for careful parsing of potential purchases. Ensure work was done correctly and consider replacing any substandard parts. —James Tate
The arrival of the new electric F-150 Lightning has spurred a renewed interest in yesteryear’s supertruck, with prices jumping dramatically in the past two years. The days of sub-$20K second-gen Lightnings are largely gone, though the occasional 1999 or 2000 example may stray close to that range. Low mileage and originality are prized above all else and drive most highdollar sales, with the upper end of 2001–04 models ranging from $40,000 to just under $50,000.
ENGINE
F-150 Lightnings for the 1999 model year had an Eaton supercharger strapped to a 5.4-liter V-8 that produced 360 horsepower and 440 pound-feet of torque. The 2001 model got a revised air-intake opening and mass airflow meter, plus a higher-flow intake, upping output to 380 horsepower and 450 pound-feet. Some final tweaks for 2003 included heavier rear leaf springs that increased payload capacity from 800 to 1350 pounds, in case you intend to use your Lightning to haul more than ass.
—LARRY WEBSTER, C/D , APRIL 2001“The Lightning has broken our staff into those who think a high-performance pickup is dumber than bottled water and those who think it’s cool.”
Adventure has no street address.
Outback Wilderness. Well-equipped at $38,445. *
his is the Subaru built to take you higher and higher Its elevated 9 5 inches of ground clearance is paired with sure footed Symmetrical ll heel Drive, standard he turbocharged SUB RU BO ER ® engine is ready for climbing Disco er the 2023 Subaru Outback ilderness. d enture, ele ated. Subaru, Wilderness, and SUBARU BOXER are registered trademarks of Subaru Corporation. Outback is a registered trademark of Subaru of America, Inc. *MSRP excludes destination and delivery charges, tax, title, and registration fees. Retailer sets actual price. Certain equipment may be required in specific states, which can modify your MSRP. See your retailer for details. 2023 Subaru Outback Wilderness with available equipment shown has an MSRP of $40,290. Vehicle shown with accessory equipment.