Friday, 29 April 2016
2016 Chevrolet Cruze Manual – First Drive Review
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2017 Lexus IS: Refreshed to Toe the Design Line
Lexus's sports sedan comes in for an update.
2017 Porsche 718 Cayman / Cayman S: Turbo, Part II
Following the Boxster down the turbocharged path.
2018 Chevrolet Equinox Spied: New Platform, Less Bigness
A new season dawns for Chevy's Equinox.
2018 Audi TT RS: 400 Horses, No Manual Gearbox
Catapulted into the future.
The Best Cars, Trucks, SUVs, and More for 2016
Our editors' top choices for the best cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and more for 2016.
2016 10Best Cars: The Envelopes, Please . . .
These are the cars we love for 2016.
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ATLast: Porsche Announces New Car Delivery Experience in Atlanta
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There’s no such thing as a free lunch–unless you’re picking up your new Porsche at the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta.
As part of its New Car Delivery Experience, Porsche is providing customers the chance to pick up their new 911, Boxster, Cayman, Macan, or Cayenne at the brand’s $100 million facility that houses a 1.6-mile driver development track, a classic car gallery, a restaurant, and more.
Along with a tour of the Porsche Experience Center, Porsche also provides New Car Delivery Experience participants with an in-depth orientation to their new Porsche car or SUV, a 90-minute session on the driver development track, and lunch at the Center’s Restaurant 356.
Of course, “free” is a relative term. Although the New Car Delivery Experience is a no-cost option, it does require the purchase of a new Porsche, the least expensive of which–the Macan–will clear your bank account of $48,550. Customers who choose to participate in the New Car Delivery Experience also are responsible for getting themselves to the Porsche Experience Center, as well as covering any overnight accommodations that may or may not be required. Despite these associated costs, Porsche is projecting that 400 customers will take advantage of the program this year.
In addition to the recently introduced New Car Delivery Experience at the Porsche Experience Center, Porsche continues to offer a European delivery option at both its Leipzig and Zuffenhausen factories. The brand says it took approximately 400 European delivery orders in 2015, and it expects to take another 400 in 2016.
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Porsche Could Revive the 928 as a Panamera-based Coupe
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The Panamera certainly isn’t the best-looking car that Porsche makes today, but it definitely sells well. Last year, it actually sold in greater numbers than did the Boxster and the Cayman. We already know that a second-generation Panamera is under development and could break cover within the next year, but what if that project also generated a two-door version? And a convertible?
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The Panamera certainly isn’t the best-looking car that Porsche makes today, but it definitely sells well. Last year, it actually sold in greater numbers than did the Boxster and the Cayman. We already know that a second-generation Panamera is under development and could break cover within the next year, but what if that project also generated a two-door version? And a convertible?
If Porsche listens to its U.S. customers, that’s exactly what we’ll get. Speaking to Motor1, Porsche North America CEO Klaus Zellmer said not only that Americans have been asking for a Panamera coupe and convertible, but also that the demand for these variants is higher than it is for any new Porsche SUV.
A front-engine, rear-wheel-drive coupe based on the Panamera—and the convertible that would probably follow—sounds a lot like a Porsche 928 revival if you ask us. And while it probably wouldn’t end up being called the 928 (or ever exist at all), we have to say we like the idea of Porsche filling out its lineup with a grand tourer to take on the BMW 6 Series.
At this stage, Porsche building a coupe based on the next-generation Panamera is barely even worthy of being called a rumor. And, remember, there were similar rumors of a coupe variant prior to the introduction of the first-generation Panamera in 2010 and those amounted to nothing more than speculation. But now we have Zellmer pointing out that there’s demand among the big-spending customers in the U.S., a crucially important market for the company.
If there’s already enough demand there, we say why not give it a shot? It’s certainly a better idea than a drop-top Macan would be, though it’s worth mentioning that there’s also potential for a smaller, less expensive four-door that we’ve called the “baby Panamera” to join the Porsche range. You could speculate that a derivative 944- or 968-analog would be just as likely as a 928 revival. You could. We’re not. At least not yet.
A version of this story originally appeared on Road & Track.
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2016 Smart Fortwo Automatic – Instrumented Test
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2017 Lexus IS: Refreshed to Toe the Design Line
Lexus's sports sedan comes in for an update.
2017 Porsche 718 Cayman / Cayman S: Turbo, Part II
Following the Boxster down the turbocharged path.
2018 Chevrolet Equinox Spied: New Platform, Less Bigness
A new season dawns for Chevy's Equinox.
2018 Audi TT RS: 400 Horses, No Manual Gearbox
Catapulted into the future.
The Best Cars, Trucks, SUVs, and More for 2016
Our editors' top choices for the best cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and more for 2016.
2016 10Best Cars: The Envelopes, Please . . .
These are the cars we love for 2016.
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This Is BMW’s Carbon-Fiber Racing Wheelchair for Team USA
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Before the 2014 Olympics, German automaker BMW reimagined the bobsled, building for Team USA a sleeker, lighter ride. In 2016, it’s Paralympic athletes’ turn, as the Bavarians are making a faster, better wheelchair.
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Before the 2014 Olympics, German automaker BMW reimagined the bobsled, building for Team USA a sleeker, lighter ride. In 2016, it’s Paralympic athletes’ turn, as the Bavarians are making a faster, better wheelchair.
“The idea is the wheelchair disappears and it is just about the athletes,” says BMW Designworks project lead Brad Cracchiola. “These athletes are truly incredible and work very hard, they just don’t have a lot of publicity.”
Previous chairs were made of welded aluminum, which doesn’t scream high-tech. So ahead of the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro this summer, the BMW Designworks studio in California set out to upgrade the performance-limiting aluminum racing chair used by Paralympic athletes in nearly every distance event, including the 100 meters all the way up to the marathon. BMW had plenty of room to get creative, as the rules require only a completely hand-cranked chain (no gears means no mechanical advantage) and mechanically engaged braking (no electric or other devices allowed). Otherwise, the chair just has to fit within the lanes.
BMW started the process with a 3D scan of athletes in the current chair and then ran aerodynamic simulations of how the old setup performed. For the new chair, BMW quickly switched to carbon fiber to provide a greater strength-to-weight ratio than aluminum and to open up new shaping possibilities for aerodynamic needs, with the idea to keep the flow of air as smooth as possible and avoid drag-inducing turbulence.
“From a head-on view, we want to keep it all as compact as possible and lined up,” Cracchiola says. With the frontal profile minimized and as many components of the chair in line, BMW also created smooth surfaces, akin to the bullet-like shape and smoothness of a shark. “You want the air to hug the surface and move very smoothly.”
“The idea is the wheelchair disappears and it is just about the athletes.”
And it’s about more than the chair. Because of the Paralympic style of racing, with the athletes kneeling into the keel and essentially punching the wheel’s rims with specialized gloves, BMW also revamped the gloves and now custom 3D-prints them to fit each individual athlete. Because they race this way, the chairs take incredible abuse and also flex during the race. “Anytime the chassis is flexing you are losing energy,” Cracchiola says. What’s a wheelchair designer to do? “Ideally all of the energy translates to wheel speed and making them faster,” he says. “If the chassis is allowing the wheels to snowplow, you are scrubbing your own speed. A stiffer chassis keeps the wheels aligned. It is more about how you use materials. It is about finding the right balance between weight reduction, aerodynamic opportunity, chassis stiffness, and durability. You can buy a carbon-fiber bike that is extremely light, but one rock kicks the frame and you’re done.”
From there, designers could move into customizable fit. The old aluminum gave athletes a generic box structure, and they would add foam pads and straps to block themselves in, which translated to a lot of room for shifting out of position. BMW took measurements and a custom mold of the legs of each of their four BMW Performance Team athletes to size the chair to fit them using straps and moving parts. “All that is moving is their arms hitting the wheels,” Cracchiola says. By making the seat height, knee angle, width, and steering device adjustable, BMW can cater to its four athletes and potentially more from Team USA. All we have to say is that we’re excited to see these creations roll into Rio.
This story originally appeared on Popular Mechanics.
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2017 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Priced, Is a Grand Deal
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Maybe you dig Chevrolet’s Corvette Z06, but can’t swing its $80,395 base price? Can you live without its supercharger and extra 195 horsepower over a stock Corvette Stingray? Then the $66,445 2017 Corvette Grand Sport coupe is for you, at a $13,950 savings, at least relative to the 2016 Z06 coupe.
The Grand Sport, for those not in the know, is a Corvette with essentially all of the Z06 model’s suspension, braking, body, and tire upgrades, but with the regular Stingray’s naturally aspirated, 460-hp 6.2-liter V-8. Chevrolet claims that on its standard Michelin tires, the Grand Sport can pull over 1.0 g on a skidpad, while the optional Z07 package’s stickier rubber could strain your soft bits with 1.2 g. Oh, and if you’d like to probe the Grand Sport’s epic handling envelope while getting a tan, the middle-child Vette also comes in convertible form. For that, you’ll need to pony up $70,445, but we’d stick with the coupe. After all, the Grand Sport is bound to be a formidable track-day car, and the coupe offers maximum body stiffness.
Beyond picking between the coupe and the convertible, Chevrolet is offering customers a litany of choices when it comes to colors and graphics packages, as well as a seven-speed manual transmission or an eight-speed automatic. There are 10 paint colors, and an optional “Heritage package” brings classic Grand Sport fender hash marks (take your pick from six colors). Or perhaps full-length body stripes are more your thing? Chevy is offering those in five different colors. There are also five wheel designs, a carbon-fiber body kit, and the extra-high-performance Z07 package that adds Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, carbon-ceramic brakes, and functional carbon-fiber aero pieces.
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2017 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Priced, Is a Grand Deal
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2017 Lexus IS: Refreshed to Toe the Design Line
Lexus's sports sedan comes in for an update.
2017 Porsche 718 Cayman / Cayman S: Turbo, Part II
Following the Boxster down the turbocharged path.
2018 Chevrolet Equinox Spied: New Platform, Less Bigness
A new season dawns for Chevy's Equinox.
2018 Audi TT RS: 400 Horses, No Manual Gearbox
Catapulted into the future.
The Best Cars, Trucks, SUVs, and More for 2016
Our editors' top choices for the best cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and more for 2016.
2016 10Best Cars: The Envelopes, Please . . .
These are the cars we love for 2016.
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McLaren Selling Very Last F1 Produced—Bring Arms, Legs, Other Salable Appendages
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One of the more lasting quotes from the satirical movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby makes almost no sense whatsoever: “If you’re not first, you’re last.” The implication is that if you were to place second, third, or seventh in a race, you might as well be last. When it comes to a McLaren F1, however, maybe last isn’t so bad. Take this F1, chassis no. 69, the very last one produced, which McLaren Special Operations’ Heritage division is putting up for sale on behalf of a private owner.
This specific F1 was built in 1998 and outfitted with a mean Carbon Black paint job with dark, “stealth”-finished 17-inch magnesium wheels. The driver’s seat—which sits in the middle of the car, flanked by a passenger seat to the left and the right—is covered in black and red leather, while the passenger seats are upholstered in microsuede.
As if anyone would need deal-sweeteners for a car purchase of this awesometude, McLaren is throwing in fitted luggage, a Facom titanium tool set and box, “all books and literature,” and the McLaren F1 watch given to the original owner. So what will it take to bring the car and the swag bag home? McLaren tells us that the car is being sold with “a price on application.” That means you have to ask, and we’d add that you probably can’t afford it. That said, there’s little doubt that it is a highly desirable example of one of the most influential supercars of all time, and mostly because it’s the very last one!
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McLaren Selling Very Last F1 Produced—Bring Arms, Legs, Other Salable Appendages
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2017 Lexus IS: Refreshed to Toe the Design Line
Lexus's sports sedan comes in for an update.
2017 Porsche 718 Cayman / Cayman S: Turbo, Part II
Following the Boxster down the turbocharged path.
2018 Chevrolet Equinox Spied: New Platform, Less Bigness
A new season dawns for Chevy's Equinox.
2018 Audi TT RS: 400 Horses, No Manual Gearbox
Catapulted into the future.
The Best Cars, Trucks, SUVs, and More for 2016
Our editors' top choices for the best cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and more for 2016.
2016 10Best Cars: The Envelopes, Please . . .
These are the cars we love for 2016.
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Quanto Costa? Fiat 124 Spider Starts $255 Higher Than the Mazda Miata
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Mazda’s MX-5 Miata has been holding down the affordable-roadster fort for some time now, but the iconic Japanese droptop has now lent its guts to give life to a new rival: the 2017 Fiat 124 Spider. This new Italianite shares its chassis with the Mazda, and we now know that its turbocharged engine and supposed European character will cost extra. But not much extra: Starting at $25,990 for the base Classica model, the 124 is just $255 more than the cheapest MX-5 Miata Sport.
For that coin, you do get slightly more power and torque than the MX-5, thanks to the Fiat’s 1.4-liter turbo-four that puts out 160 horsepower and 184 lb-ft of torque. A six-speed manual is standard, with a six-speed automatic offered as a $1350 option. The Classica is also decently equipped, coming standard with Bluetooth, a USB port, 16-inch wheels, pushbutton start, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob.
If you want more leather adorning the interior of your 124 Spider, you’ll have to step up to the Lusso trim level, which starts at $28,490. In addition to leather heated seats and more leather trim for the dashboard, the Lusso also gains automatic climate control, chrome exhaust tips, 17-inch wheels, automatic headlights, fog lights, rain-sensing windshield wipers, and a 7.0-inch infotainment screen with a backup camera. The manual transmission is still standard, with the automatic again available as an option.
Things start to get more interesting with the performance-oriented Fiat 124 Spider Abarth, which starts at $29,190. That’s a slight discount compared to the Miata’s roughly equivalent Club trim level, which is $29,490. Like the MX-5 Club, the Abarth comes standard with Bilstein dampers, a limited-slip differential, and front strut-tower bar. But the Abarth does have a few special talents of its own: a tuned exhaust for a better sound and—contrary to what we heard before—a bit of extra power, as the 1.4-liter is up 5 hp for a total of 165. What we don’t know is how much the Abarth’s optional upgrades, which include Brembo brakes and Recaro seats, will cost. We assume that the majority of Abarth buyers will opt for the six-speed manual, but the $1350 automatic will be offered here as well.
For the Italian roadster enthusiast who wants a bit of exclusivity, the first 124 Fiat Spiders will be a limited run of Prima Edizione Lusso models that come specially equipped with an exclusive Azzurro Italia blue exterior hue and a Saddle leather interior. The lucky few willing to shell out a heady $35,995 for these rare Fiats will also get commemorative badging and goodies like a blue leather bag, a journal, a pen, and a poster. Fiat hasn’t yet detailed how the ordering process for the Prima Edizione cars will work, but expect to hear more soon when the 124 goes on sale this summer.
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New Options, New Pricing for 2017 Land Rover Discovery Sport
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The littlest Land Rover emerges for 2017 with new paint and fancier electronics, its first significant upgrade since launching as a late 2015 model.
A 2017 Discovery Sport SE starts at $38,690, or $240 more than for 2016. For that extra outlay, buyers get a new windshield that reflects infrared rays, a cabin air-quality sensor, and Land Rover’s All Terrain Progress Control, a low-speed cruise control (combining hill descent control) meant for off-road use. As before, standard equipment includes partial-leather eight-way power front seats, push-button start, ambient lighting, 18-inch alloy wheels, rain-sensing wipers, power-folding heated mirrors, a backup camera, rear parking sensors, dual-zone climate control, Bluetooth, a 10-speaker 190-watt stereo, and an eight-inch touchscreen. A 240-hp 2.0-liter four-cylinder and a nine-speed automatic is the only powertrain combo, with all-wheel drive, of course.
The HSE ($43,190, also up $240 from 2016) adds front parking sensors and a power liftgate with a foot-operated gesture control as standard. In addition to minor body trim differences versus the SE, the HSE brings 10-way power front seats with memory and full leather, an enormous panoramic sunroof, fog lamps, xenon headlights with LED DRLs, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, Homelink garage door opener, and keyless entry.
HSE Lux models ($47,590, up $640 from 2016) are carryover save for a new diamond-turned finish on the 19-inch wheels and an 11-speaker 380-watt Meridian stereo that replaces the previous 250-watt unit. Navigation, SiriusXM, HD radio, illuminated aluminum sill plates, nicer floor mats, several ambient lighting colors, and softer “Windsor” leather come standard.
Those are all minor changes, but boy, has the options list grown. There are four new colors (silver, black, gray, tan; all $1295). The base SE can also be ordered with several new standalone options, such as a head-up display ($1000) and auto high beams ($250).
The HSE and HSE Lux trim levels offer lots of expensive chips and sensors. Jaguar Land Rover’s ultra-wide 10.2-inch infotainment system, called InControl Touch Pro, is now available to replace the 8.0-inch display. It’s part of a $3000 Entertainment Pack, which also bumps the Meridian stereo to 17 speakers and 825 watts. A new InControl app called Tile will track various physical objects you’ve pasted with Bluetooth tags, so that you won’t forget your wallet or child before you drive off. Similar technology using radio frequency identification (RFID) has been available in the commercial sector for years (and offered by Ford, among others) to track tools and other cargo.
Lane-keeping assist, which can apply steering torque to keep the vehicle in between visual lane markings, is new and bundled with a driver-attention monitor (similar to that in Mercedes, Lexus, and Nissan vehicles, it sounds chimes and flashes alerts if it thinks you’re too tired to drive) for $375. A separate Driver Assist Plus Package includes automatic emergency braking, forward collision alert, lane-departure warning, and traffic sign recognition ($1100 on HSE, $400 on HSE Lux). A new feature called Intelligent Speed Limiter, which builds off the Automatic Speed Limiter the company has offered for years, works with traffic sign recognition and restricts the Disco to whatever the sign said. That sounds dreadful.
An Intelligent Dynamics Pack ($1700) borrowed from the Range Rover Evoque includes adaptive magnetic dampers and sport-tuned steering and throttle response when the terrain switch is set to Dynamic Mode. This pairs well with the Dynamic Design Package, which blacks out roughly a dozen exterior trim pieces beyond the existing Black Design Package (that’s the vehicle in all these photos; read more here). With certain paint colors, the Dynamic Disco also includes red-colored trim on the dash and contrasting stitching on the seats and shift knob. It’s $5000 on the HSE and $3800 on the HSE Lux.
The first 2017 models go on sale this August.
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Thursday, 28 April 2016
2016 Ford Focus Electric – Instrumented Test
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2017 Lexus IS: Refreshed to Toe the Design Line
Lexus's sports sedan comes in for an update.
2017 Porsche 718 Cayman / Cayman S
Following the Boxster down the turbocharged path.
2018 Audi TT RS: 400 Horses, No Manual Gearbox
Catapulted into the future.
2017 Mercedes-AMG GLS63
Physics defied, no waiting.
The Best Cars, Trucks, SUVs, and More for 2016
Our editors' top choices for the best cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, and more for 2016.
2016 10Best Cars: The Envelopes, Please . . .
These are the cars we love for 2016.
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