Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2023 i MotorTrend

Most experts agree EVs are more environmentally friendly than internal combustion vehicles, yet the quest for greening transportation goes beyond what’s under the hood. For Goodyear, it literally starts where the rubber meets the road. Tires are obviously an important component of any vehicle, but let’s face it, they contain materials and rely on production processes toxic to the environment. Considering there are at least two tires for every roadgoing vehicle in the world today, making those round rubber things more sustainable could go a long way toward cleaning up this blue marble we all live on. Goodyear’s contribution looks like it might be promisingly close to reality. At CES, the company revealed a tire with 90 percent of its component materials from sustainable sources. Goodyear says there are 17…

Volkswagen has long teased more vehicles based on the same MEB platform architecture that already underpins the plucky and humble ID4 electric SUV. Last year, we got details about the upcoming U.S.-market ID Buzz van, and now we’re finally learning about the second teased VW EV, a sedan based on the ID Aero concept car that will be called the ID7. VW’s commitment to the sedan segment over the years—with the Phaeton, CC, and Arteon—is to be admired, and it continues now with the ID7, which sits on a spacious 116.9-inch wheelbase. That long stretch between the wheels also lets VW cram in a long-range battery pack it says will be good for roughly 435 miles on the European WLTP efficiency measurement. VW says the new ID7 will be sold…

BMW has two distinct EV strategies, one that leverages flexible platforms to deliver electrified versions of otherwise conventionally powered gas models and another that churns out dedicated electrics such as the new iX SUV. Even if we hadn’t told you that, we bet you would have sniffed out some differences between the iX and the other electrified BMWs on sale today; the i4 and i7 look mostly like their 4 Series Gran Coupe and 7 Series sedan counterparts. The iX? We caught you staring, didn’t we? Odd though the iX might appear, its lineup follows familiar BMW practice, delivering saucy performance in its standard iX xDrive50 format and even more in the M Performance version, dubbed the iX M60. A reworked rear motor with a longer stator and rotor (and…

The Prius isn’t what it used to be—and thank goodness for that. For 2023, the automaker that popularized the hybrid has reinvented its pioneering gas-electric hatchback, nearly two decades after the second-generation model became our Car of the Year. In the interim, the Prius has gradually faded into the background as Toyota added a hybrid version of just about every model in its lineup. But thanks in large part to its fabulous new looks and delivery of far more power than you’d expect from a 50-mpg car, the Prius is back at center stage. And for the most part, it deserves its latest star turn. Go ahead, take a minute to sweep your eyes over the photos. The new car’s styling is far cleaner and more striking from stem to…

In offering select media outlets a first ride opportunity in the new Corvette E-Ray, General Motors’ mission was to ward off anticipated misconceptions regarding the heaviest car ever to carry the ’Vette name. So before we ever strapped in, the Chevy team hammered home three major talking points in support of its goal: The E-Ray is not about fuel economy, or it wouldn’t have the Z06’s wide bodywork, wheels, and tires. The E-Ray is not about snowbelt all-weather traction, or the ride height would be higher. Every gram of added weight had to pay its way with a commensurate performance benefit. Did our ride convince us the E-Ray’s front-driving electrons will ultimately do more good than harm to the Corvette brand? It began in the car’s new Stealth mode, which…

Some people at first glance might expect the 911 Dakar to be nothing but an easily created limited edition amalgamation of stickers and knobby tires. After all, Porsche plans to produce just 2,500 examples of the model for 2023 before ending its run, which all but assures it’s simply a quick money grab, correct? Nope—the Dakar is a thoroughly engineered off-roader. Most of the work happened at the corners. The sand-ready 911 rides on custom-designed Pirelli Scorpion all-terrain tires with reinforced sidewalls. They wrap around downsized 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels that make space for fatter sidewalls than you’ve seen on a 911 in 30 years. Behind the vaguely Fuchs-inspired wheels are longer struts all around to increase wheel travel. The suspension’s springs and dampers are 50 percent softer,…

The Jaguar wouldn’t start again. Our fellow racer in the Austin-Healey who’d graciously given us a jump hadn’t even finished packing up his booster box and cables before its engine died, and a second jump failed to coax it to life at all. Our 1000 Miglia experience at that moment became truly authentic, except we were standing in a gas station parking lot in the middle of the Emirati desert, not the hills of Tuscany. Welcome to the 1000 Miglia Experience UAE. If you know anything about the 1000 Miglia, you’re understandably confused. The Mille, as it’s often shortened (based on the Italian pronunciation “mee-lay mee-leh-uh”), is a time-and-distance classic-car road rally based on the original road race that ran up and down the Italian peninsula from 1927 to 1957.…

We recently heard a rather tasty morsel: Chevrolet is planning a more extreme version of the Silverado ZR2 to properly take on the Ram 1500 TRX and Ford F-150 Raptor. The project is apparently called “Meteor” because “that’s what killed off the dinosaurs.” Of course, the name isn’t quite right: Meteors technically burn up in Earth’s atmosphere, while those that make it to the ground are called meteorites, and a rock big enough to cause a global extinction event would be considered an asteroid. GM has been in the space business for more than 50 years, so you’d think it’d know this. Anyway, we digress. Whatever it’s called, we love the idea of a Raptor-baitin’ ZR2 Meteor; the regular truck is already way more capable than even its strapping looks…

“With a roof rack out of the question, we opted for the next best thing.”Frank Markus Service Life 3 months/8,503 miles Average Fuel Econ 23.3 mpg Unresolved problems None Maintenance cost $0 Normal wear $0 Base price $39,055 As tested $39,940 EPA City/Hwy/Comb fuel econ 19/26/22 mpg Kia really wants minivan buyers to spring for a top-shelf Carnival SX model, so it reserves some of the most enticing standard equipment for that grade—including pedestrian fare like the roof rails needed to carry luggage or bikes. The $3,500 separating the EX and SX grades (this difference shrinks to $3,200 for 2023 models) buys a lot of fluff many families can easily do without. But try to cram in seven passengers and their gear for a vacation, and you may find the…

“After spending a year with the E-Class, do we still think it’s a worthy COTY winner?”Zach Gale Base Price $63,050 As Tested $72,770 Service Life 14 months/15,913 miles Average Fuel Econ 23.1 mpg Options Premium pkg ($2,300: parking sensors, surround view, Burmester sound system); Driver Assist pkg ($1,950: adaptive cruise control, lane assist, blind-spot assist); Acoustic Comfort pkg ($1,100: cabin insulation, windshield/window w/sound-absorbing membrane); air suspension ($1,900); AMG 19-in wheels ($1,000); metallic paint ($720); augmented video for nav ($350); dashcam ($200); wireless charging ($200) Problem Areas Intermittent backup camera failures; intermittent startup issues Total Fuel Cost $3,654 Maintenance $216.13 (oil change, inspection) Normal Wear $0 3-Year Residual Value* $55,900 (77%) Recalls Reinforcement for 12-volt battery *IntelliChoice data; assumes 42,000 miles at the end of three years. As long as “getting…

Allocating resources is always tricky. We see automakers present cool concepts and want to know if they will put them into production—not a given because development dollars are stretched across a large portfolio. Sports cars, coupes, and convertibles often lose out to mainstream vehicles. Sedans for quite some time have faced an uphill battle against more popular SUVs. But a new divide has emerged: Is today’s vehicle-development money earmarked for a new or next-generation model with an internal combustion engine (ICE), or will it be spent on an electric vehicle? Headlines center around new EVs and the billions automakers are spending to create them. Electrics are consuming larger portions of capital budgets because, like it or not, that is where the industry is headed. By 2035 many cities, states, countries,…

Cast your mind back to 2020, when Sony surprised us with an electric car concept, the Vision-S. After an SUV variant appeared and a couple of quiet years passed, Sony announced a partnership with Honda, called Sony Honda Mobility, which would build cars (ostensibly electric ones) in the United States. At CES 2023, Sony showed a prototype and announced a new brand name for the whole enterprise: Afeela. Yes, we’re a little disappointed by the moniker. We hoped it might be called TriniTransportation, perhaps with an inaugural model called the PlayStationWagon. (Had Sony partnered with Nissan, the car could have been called the BetaMaxima or the PlayFinder.) Still, although we’re not Afeela’n the brand name, we’re excited about the unnamed car—and not just because we have a production timeline (preorders…

Seventy-five years ago, Ferdinand “Ferry” Porsche—son of the man who designed many Daimler-Benz cars of the 1920s, Auto Union Grand Prix cars, and Volkswagen’s first car—developed a vehicle with his family’s name on it. He called it the 356, and it looked spectacular for a car of its time. Like its VW cousin, it used a rear-mounted, air-cooled four-cylinder engine that drove the rear wheels and used a unitized pan chassis—but unlike the Volkswagen, this was a pure sports car. To celebrate its first production model, Porsche wondered what Ferry would have built in 2023. The Vision 357 concept, based on the 718 Cayman GT4 RS, is the answer. The sculpted body instantly recalls the 356’s beautiful curves, but there’s no rear-mounted engine in the modern version. Unlike the 356’s…

We’ve called the Mazda 3 Turbo AWD hatchback a compelling rival to the Audi A3s and BMW 2 Series Gran Coupes of the world. But what about non-turbo variants like the Carbon Edition tested here? Well, it’s still compelling. Its 2.5-liter engine is down on output versus the 3 Turbo, but it’s also more affordable and, at least as equipped here, just as nice inside. Plus, with all-wheel drive, it offers a combination of all-weather peace of mind and a premium interior that’s basically unobtanium among mainstream compact cars. Primary competitors are the Subaru Impreza and the Honda Civic, though neither lines up perfectly. The former has standard AWD but a subpar interior; the latter is FWD-only but has a premium-feeling cabin. In terms of acceleration, the Mazda 3 Carbon…

One of the gems we discovered during CES 2023 is the eLeapPower integrated inverter—an endearingly simple concept that’s tough to fully explain, but the gist is this: Because an electric car’s onboard charger is a big, heavy, expensive lump that limits the battery’s charging rate, why not eliminate it? Slash cost and weight while boosting charge rates? Brilliant. What Happens in an Onboard Charger? Its primary task is to convert alternating current (AC) grid power so it can be stored as direct current (DC) battery energy, perhaps stepping up the voltage in the process. Diodes, which allow electricity to flow in only one direction, and transistors capable of switching on and off rapidly do much of the work here, but the electrical current coming out of them is way too…

It’s not easy being the Corvette. Seventy years of history says each new model needs not only to be worthy of the name but also offer greater performance. But even an iconic sports car can reach its physical limits and need to change things up to lay down more power. In the words of Montgomery “Scotty” Scott: “I canna change the laws of physics!” Put those words in the mouth of Tadge Juechter, Corvette executive chief engineer. He was the man who had to tell his General Motors bosses the front-engine C7 had realized its full potential and the only way to go quicker was to switch to a mid-engine layout. Hence the C8 Corvette, which we named the 2020 MotorTrend Car of the Year. But when we’re talking Corvette,…

The ideal burnout machine has a powerful front-mounted engine sending a wallop of torque to the rear wheels, just like the C7 Corvette, built from 2014 to 2019. The E-Ray hybrid, on the other hand, is engineered specifically to extinguish burnouts before they ever begin. Its mid-mounted V-8 and front-mounted motor team up through a hybrid AWD system designed to reduce wheelspin and turn all 655 hp into blistering acceleration. But Chevrolet hasn’t completely abandoned those of us who appreciate the finer things in life, such as a thundering small-block V-8 blaring the soundtrack for a star-spangled smoke show. If you push the buttons, pull the levers, and stand on the pedals in the right order, the E-Ray disables all-wheel drive and roasts its rear rubber. The burnout mode isn’t…

On a twisting Italian alpine road seemingly no wider than your finger, I had just executed a U-turn in the new Ferrari Purosangue SUV, pulling onto the shoulder to grab my camera, when a police officer parked on the same shoulder exited his car and held up a stern hand. My heart sank despite having just watched him perform the exact same maneuver. I assumed doing so was fine. But we know what happens when you assume. He approached, and I rolled down the window, ready to show him my passport and whip out the only Italian sentence I’d bothered to teach myself ahead of this trip. (“Il vino rosso, per favore.”) “Posso fare una foto?” he asked, holding up his phone. “Oh!” I said. “Uh, yeah, of course.” He…

The first 1000 Miglia Experience UAE is in the books, and the event attracted an impressive array of cars from 26 countries. The rally saw 93 of the 100 registered cars begin and 72 finish. Many were the popular classics you might expect to see at a gathering like this, but also among them were 11 cars that were either unusual in their own right or arrived with interesting stories to tell. 1964 Lincoln Continental Popemobile Vintage European sports cars are by far the most common vehicles you see at an international road rally—a suicide-door 1964 Lincoln Continental Convertible is about as far from that as you can get. As if a Continental in Dubai isn’t unusual enough, this one has an incredible story, to boot: It’s a former Popemobile.…

“Is the Corolla-badged SUV big enough to be a one-car solution?”Billy Rehbock Base Price $26,010 As Tested $26,957 EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 31/33/32 mpg VEHICLE LAYOUT Front-engine, FWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV ENGINE 2.0L direct-injected DOHC 16-valve I-4 POWER (SAE NET) 169 hp @ 6,600 rpm TORQUE (SAE NET) 150 lb-ft @ 4,400 rpm TRANSMISSION Cont variable auto CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 3,101 lb (61/39%) 0-60 MPH 8.4 sec QUARTER MILE 16.5 sec @ 84.8 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 125 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.80 g (avg) MT FIGURE EIGHT 28.6 sec @ 0.56 g (avg) EPA RANGE, COMB 397 miles As the smallest and most affordable vehicles in a manufacturer’s lineup, today’s subcompact SUVs have to satisfy many demands. In some cases, these small crossovers will be the first new car some folks purchase, thanks to their relatively affordable starting prices, sensible packaging, and solid…

“After a few months behind the wheel, here’s a quick look at what we love and hate about the ID4.”Ed Loh Service Life 3 months/6,100 miles Average Fuel Econ 3.36 mi/kWh Unresolved problems None Maintenance cost $0 Normal wear $0 Base price $42,525 As tested $42,525 EPA City/Hwy/Comb fuel econ 116/98/107 mpg-e For this first update on our ID4, ostensibly VW’s first software-defined vehicle, I’d like to give some context on the lens through which I’m viewing this SUV. I love driving EVs. This is my bias I’ll admit up front. Any time I get behind the wheel of a new EV, I find myself reveling in the serenity. Little noise. Just a bit of vibration and thrumming, maybe road imperfections coming up through the tires. I get that other…

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” This well-known catchphrase has powered motorsports since the beginning of the automotive age. Even Henry Ford, a man who was as unsentimental about the idea of the automobile as a farmer was about a horse, understood the romance provided by the racetrack. In 1901, at the Detroit Driving Club’s 1-mile oval in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Ford famously raced and beat Alexander Winton, the Scottish-born engineer whose cars were highly respected at the time. “Henry had barely gotten out of the car when he announced his retirement, saying, ‘Once is enough,’” wrote former Mercedes-Benz PR man, journalist, racer, and auto historian Leo Levine in his book, Ford: The Dust and the Glory. “He had proven himself right in two respects: His vehicle was fast, and…

When it comes to greener ways to power our cars, two main avenues are emerging: battery electric vehicles and hydrogen-powered EVs. Although battery-powered EVs are the major focus of most manufacturers, hydrogen is less polluting than gasoline. But there are many ways of producing hydrogen, and not all of them are as green as we’d like. New production methods are the subject of a recent University of Michigan study, and the researchers say they have found a way to make hydrogen production not only greener but also cheaper. Hydrogen is an excellent replacement for petroleum in internal combustion engines. It’s a very green fuel at the tailpipe, falling short of zero emissions because of combustion of trace lubricating oils. The problem is how we source that element in the quantities…

“Shooting brake” is an old coachbuilding term, from the days when the English upper classes would don their tweeds, pick up their 12-gauge Purdey shotguns, climb aboard a horse-drawn wagon, and head out onto the moors to spend the day blazing away at grouse, partridge, or pheasant. In the early 20th century, the internal combustion engine took over the horse’s work, but the cars with boxy, long-roofed bodies that transported hunters and their equipment out to the moors were still called shooting brakes. The Genesis G70 Shooting Brake has a long roof. But it’s not boxy, and you’ll never see one anywhere near the gun room of a manor home during game season. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad car. On the contrary. The G70 Shooting Brake is perhaps the…

The fourth-generation Honda Pilot certainly looks the part of a rugged SUV, marking a return of sorts to the boxy, go-anywhere style of the first Pilots to reach our shores. Not that the outgoing model was ugly, mind you, but when the Kia Telluride hit the scene, the three-row SUV market was effectively turned upside down. Families suddenly wanted something hipper, cooler, edgier. The latest Pilot also has some increased capability to go along with its new-look duds, thanks in part to a TrailSport model fitted with enough hardware to get after it a bit when the going gets dirty. In an effort to find out how much it lives up to the hype, we headed to the valleys of Sedona, Arizona, where we were among the first to drive…

Automakers are mining the adventurous American spirit and hitting paydirt. Channeling the raw awesomeness of pickups with names like TRX, Raptor, and ZR2, a secondary class of Rebels, Tremors, and Trail Bosses has made the great outdoors more accessible—sort of. The price tags of even mid-tier mud bashers has required you to be if not filthy rich, at least not dirt poor. The Ford Maverick Tremor changes that. The big upgrades are a 0.8-inch suspension lift and a unique AWD system that replaces the rear differential with a pair of clutch packs. As those clutches open and close, they vary how torque is distributed between the left and right rear wheels. Punching a button behind the gear selector forces them shut, locking both the AWD system and the rear axle.…

The Big Picture, Indeed Angus MacKenzie’s March “The Big Picture” column speaks about the introduction of electric vehicles to mainstream automotive transportation. We are in the infancy of a historic global change not yet recognized by the public. The impact on transportation and all associated ancillary infrastructure, including the imposed changes affecting corner gas stations, auto parts suppliers, and on up to the big oil corporations, will be massive. They face a forced evolution to transform into an EV charge-and-support player. They will have to offer something beyond what will be ubiquitous charging stations at homes and shopping destinations. There will always be a huge market for products derived from oil, but the demand for gas will be a small percentage of current consumption. Major manufacturers in the automotive and…

Chevy’s new 655-hp all-wheel-drive Corvette E-Ray hybrid is tons of fun, figuratively and literally. We say that because we’ve already taken a thrilling ride in the passenger seat and because the E-Ray convertible earns the inglorious distinction of being the first Corvette to crest the two-ton threshold. The E-Ray drop-top version will weigh 4,056 pounds, while the coupe will cross the scales at 3,890 pounds, according to Chevy. Engineers tell us an E-Ray weighs about 230 pounds more than a comparable Corvette Z06, with most of the additional poundage stemming from the hybrid system’s 160-hp electric motor, 1.9-kWh lithium-ion battery, and the accompanying power electronics. Compared to a Corvette Stingray, the E-Ray also picks up weight by adopting the Z06’s wider body along with wider wheels and tires. The lightest…

Technology is amazing. I’m standing in the middle of the Moroccan Sahara Desert on the phone with my boss in Los Angeles. He wants to make sure I put the screws to the engineers I’m about to see: Make sure the new Porsche 911 Dakar “isn’t a bunch of marketing bullshit,” in his words. Good news: It’s not. I don’t have to ask the engineers (I do anyway) because I just spent the day tearing down desert two-tracks and surfing dunes … in a factory Porsche 911. It’s so preposterous, all we could do was laugh like kids the entire way. It’s an actual dream come true, something you’ve always thought could be fun but never dared try. What if an off-roader drove like a 911? Wouldn’t that be cool…

The Purosangue is Ferrari’s first SUV, and it certainly looks the part. With a fastback design, four doors, increased ride height, and big wheels, there’s no mistaking it for—scoff—a car. It even has wheel arches outlined in black like all other SUVs, but don’t let that turn you off. This isn’t the black plastic cladding everyone loves to hate. Examine the Purosangue closely, and you’ll immediately notice its wheel arches are actually set slightly away from the body to form a “floating” look. Additionally, they’re made from carbon fiber, not plastic, and are fully functional, reducing drag and lift by sending air out along the car’s sides. The arches do this in a couple of ways. First, they have front-facing louvers that work in conjunction with the outside edges of…

No matter which side you root for in the great 700-hp pickup throwdown of 2023, you have to hand it to the other team. If Ford and Ram hadn’t goaded each other into building increasingly ludicrous trucks, there wouldn’t be any 700-hp, dune-jumping pickups at all. The way we see it, without the original 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor there is no Ram 1500 TRX, and without the TRX there is no Ford F-150 Raptor R. It’s a classic case of competition improving the breed. After 13 years of escalating stakes as Ford and Ram antagonized each other (with Chevy seemingly prepared to drop its own wild concoction into the fray soon), the humble pickup has evolved into a street-legal sandrail with sport sedan acceleration. Such a specific and unique…

“This little pickup offers a reality check for lazy drivers.”Alisa Priddle Service Life 4 months/3,800 miles Average Fuel Econ 23.4 mpg Unresolved problems None Maintenance cost $0 Normal wear $0 Base price $37,425 As tested $38,020 EPA City/Hwy/Comb fuel econ 19/27/22 mpg There are optics, and there’s reality. First the optics: Pickup trucks have a working man/woman persona. Trucks have beds designed to work hard and get dirty. Their drivers are portrayed as tougher than the rest, no strangers to manual labor, and able to put more effort into the actual driving of the truck. Then there’s reality. Despite their rough-and-ready image, most pickups are daily drivers for a lot of folks whose workday is in an office and whose only heavy lifting involves the coffee cup beside the keyboard.…

“The loan kicked off with a literal bang, but things went smoothly from there.”Erick Ayapana Base Price $41,945 As Tested $44,890 Service Life 15 months/20,314 miles Average Fuel Econ 23.8 mpg Options Advanced package ($1,300: headlight cleaning, Pilot Assist with adaptive cruise control, surround view camera, 12V outlet in cargo area, wireless cell phone charge pad); Harman-Kardon premium audio system ($800); Metallic paint ($645); Park Assist Pilot ($200) Problem Areas None Total Fuel Cost $4,021 Maintenance Cost $0 (oil change, inspection) Normal Wear $0 3-Year Residual Value $41,200 (92%)* Recalls None *IntelliChoice data; assumes 42,000 miles at the end of three years. The incident with the deer and our Volvo XC40 could’ve been a bad omen. It all began just a few days after we took delivery of our sparkly…