Tabla de contenidos para June 2022 en Car and Driver

As the M4 has grown bigger, brawnier, and all ate up with grille, the fun-size M2 took the spot of favorite M car around the C/D office. The last generation of the little coupe exemplified the virtues that made BMW’s performance division famous: inline-six power, rear-wheel drive, a manual gearbox, and a nearly affordable price tag. The upcoming G42 version looks set to carry on those important traditions. The relationship with the regular 2-series coupe will remain close, and the M2 will share a fair percentage of its componentry with the existing M240i that sits below it in the range. The new M2 will have more power: We’re expecting its twin-turbo 3.0-liter six to at least match the 444 horsepower of the previous M2 CS. Based on conversations with BMW…

Engine downsizing usually means losing a cylinder or two, but the upcoming W206 generation of the Mercedes-AMG C63 makes a more radical reduction. Gone is the old car’s twin-turbocharged V-8 and in goes a hybridized and turbocharged four-cylinder. But, before we all get too upset about the demise of one of our favorite engines, let’s consider the reasons to be optimistic about the new one. The next C63 will use a longitudinally mounted version of the M139 turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four, which, in transverse form, powers AMG’s CLA45 and GLA45. Unlike the CLA and GLA version, the C63 will have a 400-volt electric turbocharger (or e-turbo), a bit of motorsport technology transfer from M-B’s Formula 1 powerplant. A small motor mounted directly onto the turbo’s shaft will be able to accelerate…

Chevrolet didn’t move the Corvette’s engine behind the cabin for the valets at Musso and Frank’s. The big move is more for the Z06 and its new 670-hp LT6 double-overhead-cam 5.5-liter flat-plane-crankshaft V-8. This tribute to piston speeds makes that power at 8400 rpm on its way to an 8600-rpm rev cut. Those numbers make it the most powerful naturally aspirated V-8 ever installed in a production car, which it turns out was an engineering goal. To get it to breathe at low and high revs there’s a three-valve, two-plenum intake atop the engine that’s optimized for low-end torque, high rpm, and everything between. An eight-speed dual-clutch transmission promises lightning-quick shifts, but like the regular Stingray, there’ll be no manual. We’ve heard the engine, and it’ll almost make you forgive…

Those shopping at the very top of the performance SUV pyramid—say, for a Lamborghini Urus or an Aston Martin DBX 707—might want to wait to see what Ferrari has wrought. So, too, will the legions of prancing-horse fans, whether or not they’re excited or ready to storm the factory gates at the prospect of a Ferrari SUV. The wait is nearly over: Ferrari has said the Purosangue (Italian for “thoroughbred”) will go into production later this year with deliveries set to start in 2023. Enzo Ferrari was always opposed to the idea of a four-door Ferrari, and former boss Sergio Marchionne famously said, “You have to shoot me first,” when asked about the prospect of a Ferrari SUV. Enzo has been gone for decades, and Marchionne died (of natural causes)…

Who put a Volkswagen engine in my Porsche? It’s a question as old as Porsche itself, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the brand equips the base Macan with a VW Group turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four. Now, what if the Macan had the 718’s 2.0-liter flat-four under the hood? That’d be amazing, of course, but playing these what-if games always ends with Bugatti’s quadturbo 8.0-liter W-16. We’ve long had some what-ifs about the base Macan, as Porsche has never lent us one. It’s the bestselling Macan, accounting for 60 percent of sales, and its engine is a ripper in things such as the GTI and the Audi A4. In the Macan, the 261-hp engine finds itself pushing against 4199 pounds. But equipping the car with the Sport Chrono option ($1220) adds…

In the Mercedes-Benz product constellation, the S and the E are a binary star system. Thus, shortly after the electric EQS sedan comes the new electric EQE. The former is the technological showcase, with the latter serving as its sporty smaller brother. The EQ trademarks of a black fascia panel, a solid light bar across the rear, and a “one-bow” greenhouse that arcs from cowl to tail build the visual connection. The EQE is about nine inches shorter, but its wheelbase shrinks by only 3.5 inches. The battery tucked within that wheelbase is good for 90.6 kilowatt-hours of usable energy and a promised range of 300-plus miles. As on the EQS, the maximum charging rate is 170 kilowatts. The condensed greenhouse constricts the rear-door aperture, requiring a duck of the…

Ford knows people will pay a lot for two extra inches. Add the 37 Performance package to the F-150 Raptor, and the price balloons from $70,370 to $80,375, or about $5000 an inch. Before you scoff at that, know that Ford’s kit offers more than just two-inch-bigger tires. In addition to the 37x12.5R-17 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2s for which it is named, the package includes 17-inch forged aluminum beadlock-capable wheels, front Fox dampers with a 1.0-inch rod diameter (an eighth-inch increase) to account for the extra mass, and a limited-slip front diff. Ford also modifies the back of the frame to fit a full-size spare tire. And owners can show off the bigger tire measurement with “37” decals on the bedside and tailgate. Compared with the F-150 Raptor riding on…

Ford’s first-gen Taurus was a radical departure from mainstream American sedans when it debuted in 1985. But it could have been even more outlandish. Reducing drag, increasing innovation, and improving quality were primary considerations in conceptualizing the Taurus, as was proving to consumers that Ford was breaking away from the cars of the Malaise Era. To achieve these goals, the project got a dedicated crew of designers, engineers, and marketers all working together. “The car was developed by one team, Team Taurus, from start to finish. This gave the product a cohesive look and feel from inside out,” says Jamie Myler, Ford’s senior research archivist. That this concept was novel should communicate something about Detroit’s failings during that period. The group journeyed into the windmills of their minds and came…

The maximum payload capacity for my 2008 Yukon XL is 1805 pounds, but the sticker in the doorjamb says 1520 pounds. Why is there this discrepancy? —Steve Wallerstein, Raymond, NH Payload figures are the weight of people and stuff that a vehicle is rated to carry. This important number is the difference between the curb weight and the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). Manufacturers set the GVWR for a model, so every pound that’s added in options—oversize sunroof, power seats, etc.—is a pound subtracted from payload. The best way to know your vehicle’s is to do what you did and check the required doorjamb placard.…

We started testing vehicles’ acceleration way back in the 1950s, but it took us a decade to stop. That is, to measure the distance needed to stop. We initially conducted brake tests at 80 mph, but in the early 1970s, we settled on 70 mph. Back then, braking distances averaged around 200 feet, serious fade occurred regularly, and automakers had yet to implement anti-lock technology to optimize the braking force at each contact patch. Today’s hardware makes fade rare in our standard six-stop routine. And last year the average stopping distance shrunk to 168 feet, even as tested curb weights have ballooned by nearly 50 percent in the past five decades to almost 4400 pounds. Performance-oriented vehicles do even better and often cluster around 150 feet from 70 mph. To…

IF YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF AN NFT, ALLOW US TO ENLIGHTEN YOU. THE TERM STANDS FOR NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN, AND IT’S A MEANS OF COMMODIFYING DIGITAL PROPERTY. Instead of buying, say, a Michael Jordan baseball card, you could buy a digital image of a Michael Jordan baseball card, or of a Princess Beanie Baby, or perhaps of your favorite Dutch tulip, and it would be all yours. Maybe you’d buy Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet for $2.9 million, or pick up a drawing of a cartoon ape for $2.3 million, or spend $69 million for a digital mosaic from an artist named Beeple. These are not hypothetical examples, in case you’re wondering. Rich people are evidently running out of things to spend money on. Luckily for them, we have some…

Acura pulls a page from Hollywood’s playbook and reboots an old classic. The 2023 Integra marks the nameplate’s return to the lineup after more than 20 years. Though the reborn Integra looks more like the ILX sedan it informally replaces than a modern take on its namesake, the new entry-level Acura cribs its ethos from the three generations of Integras before it. Like its predecessors, the new Integra shares its underpinnings with the Honda Civic in a bid to meld the Civic’s engaging dynamics with the feature content of a more upscale vehicle. Motivating the Integra is the Civic Si’s 200-hp turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four. Whereas the Honda is a stick-shift-only affair, the Acura offers the choice of either a six-speed manual (with limited-slip diff) or a continuously variable automatic. The…

The glory days of brightly colored Plum Crazy Challengers, Burnt Orange Camaros, and Grabber Green Mustangs burning down Detroit’s Woodward Avenue are unfortunately numbered. But they’re not done yet. While the Chevrolet and Dodge camps are showing signs of slowing down, there’s a rumble reverberating from Dearborn in the form of a redesigned 2024 Mustang. The 60th-anniversary Stang debuts next year, possibly on April 17, the day the original Mustang bowed at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Judging by the camouflaged mules we’ve seen roaming the streets of southeast Michigan, we don’t expect the exterior design to stray far from its current look. However, the interior will undergo a major makeover with a digital instrument cluster that wraps into a driver-focused infotainment touchscreen with added buttons for basic functions.…

WHAT THEY ARE: They’re mid-size crossovers [Don’t stop reading, it gets good—Ed.] that will be the first U.S.-bound Mazda models to use the company’s new longitudinal-engine platform and inline-six engine. The three-row CX-90 replaces the CX-9, while the CX-70 is a two-row variant. WHAT POWERS THEM: While Mazda promises gasoline, diesel, and Skyactiv-X compression-ignition variants of its new inline-six, diesel is unlikely for the U.S. And Mazda has yet to certify the Skyactiv-X technology here, so our market will likely get the gas 3.0-liter. Expect the engine to have a turbocharger and a 48-volt hybrid system with an output somewhere in the mid-300-hp range. A plug-in-hybrid powertrain using an inline-four and a single AC motor is also in the works. WHY THEY MATTER: The new platform and engine are Mazda’s…

You could set a watch by the familiar cadence of Porsche’s 911 product strategy. New, more powerful iterations follow each other in steady, predictable order. According to the timetable, the next one up is the new RS version of the naturally aspirated 992-generation 911 GT3. Porsche has long placed the letters RS on the best and most extreme 911s. The Rennsport name is for cars designed specifically for regular track use—one as close as possible to its motorsport siblings. Now approaching its 50th birthday, the first 911 to get the treatment, the 1973 Carrera RS, has become so sought after by collectors that good examples can sell for seven figures. More recently, the branding was applied to the raciest versions of the GT2, GT3, and GT4. We know that the…

IN HOPES OF GETTING HIM BACK IN THE FOLD, WE SENT JOHN PHILLIPS A TESLA CYBERTRUCK. A WEEK LATER, HE SENT THIS BACK. ROLL ME IN PETUNIAS, but didn’t Car and Driver ship me a Tesla Cybertruck via FedEx? Not tootin’ my own horn, but I’m a guy who notices the little things in life, such as things that sting or bite. Course, the C’truck is a darn big thing. Does it bite? Let’s find out! I usually hate to bust into math straight off, because me and numbers equals Confucius. But here goes: Tesla says right out loud that their truck will carry 3500 pounds, meaning it could haul my 1970 Mustang Boss 302 in the cargo bed if somebody slid her in there half-teeter wedgewise. The battery pack…

To inject more driving pleasure into the base Macan, Porsche now offers a T version that bundles the performance and handling options enthusiasts want. The 261-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter four remains, but standard equipment includes 20-inch wheels with summer tires and Sport Chrono with launch control. Combine the optional air springs with the T’s stiffer anti-roll bars and optional brake-based torque vectoring, and the Macan T acts more like a sports wagon than a compact SUV. We expect the T to start around $63,000 (as much as a base Macan with all the handling bits).…

Mazda has never been short on original ideas. This is the company that is still trying to make the Wankel engine work and that stubbornly insists on selling a tiny two-seat roadster even as most other affordable sports cars have gone the way of Triumph, MG, or, well, pretty much the British car industry. So maybe that’s why it seems unoriginal for Mazda to chase the exact same outdoorsy, rugged image that Jeep, Subaru, and many others have done to death. Marketing images of the new 2023 CX-50 show the SUV plowing through the forest festooned with all manner of off-road and camping accessories. For this model Mazda even came up with a new exterior color called Zircon Sand, which is meant to make adventuresome shoppers think they can conquer…

The second model from Gordon Murray’s eponymous car company (that’s the GM in GMA), the GMA T.33 is a follow-up to the T.50 supercar, and it looks slightly anticlimactic. The T.33 trades the T.50’s central driving position for a conventional one and ditches the T.50’s fan-powered suction to generate downforce. By any other standard, though, the T.33 marks a radical departure from other modern supercars. The powertrain, for instance, combines a naturally aspirated V-12 and a manual gearbox. The V-12 is the same Cosworth-built unit as in the T.50, although retuned to improve drivability. Gear-driven camshafts allow the 4.0-liter engine to rev to 11,100 rpm and make 607 horsepower. Peak torque is a more modest 332 pound-feet, delivered at 9000 rpm, although 75 percent is available from 2500 rpm. A…

WHAT IT IS: The most powerful and driver-focused version of the 11th-generation Civic. WHAT POWERS IT: The prior Civic Type R’s turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four returns for duty. That said, expect Honda to increase output beyond the outgoing Type R’s 306 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. Despite the extra ponies, this hottest Civic ought to remain a front-driver. A six-speed manual transmission is a given—however, we hear rumors that Honda may offer an auto-matic gearbox as an option, possibly a quick-shifting dual-clutch unit. WHY IT MATTERS: If you’re reading this, you probably like performance cars, right? Well, the last Type R was one of the best, and we expect the new one to continue to combine practicality and performance in a reasonably affordable package. Fearless prediction: This latest iteration of…

Are we in the midst of a hot-hatch revival? Let’s say yes, because we want to manifest that. Apparently Toyota has seen our vision board, as the eagerly awaited GR Corolla looks like it’s going to reinvigorate the segment by giving us everything we liked about the forbidden-fruit GR Yaris and more. The GR Corolla is flared fendered and RC-car silly in the best way, with a chunky, vented body and a modified version of the Corolla’s big frown of a grille that makes the GR look like it’s laughing. It certainly has a lot to be happy about. Under the hood is a version of the turbocharged 1.6-liter DOHC inline-three from the Yaris GR. In the Corolla, the G16E-GTS engine makes 300 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque, up…

There’s a simple elegance to the new Range Rover’s design that stands in direct opposition to some of the more gimmicky new vehicles we’ve seen of late. Its proportions and roofline are unmistakably Range Rover, but precise execution makes the vehicle appear to be a design study brought to life. Smooth lines flow along the flanks with barely an interruption from gentle curves and subtle creases. It’s as pleasing to the air as it is to the eye, with a remarkable (for an SUV) 0.30 coefficient of drag. Wheelbases have been stretched 3.0 inches on both standard- and long-wheelbase versions, from 115.0 to 118.0 inches in the case of the former and from 122.9 to 125.9 inches for the latter. Their overall lengths increase by a similar amount, as the…

Toyota has a deep roster of hybrids, but with EVs it has mostly been content to watch from the stands (except for the RAV4 EV sold in California in 1997 and again in 2011). Now, Toyota steps up to the plate with a nationally available EV, the bZ4X, and it’s a largely cautious effort that doesn’t swing for the fences. Although the name seems like a bad pull from the Scrabble letter bag, Toyota says bZ stands for “beyond Zero” emissions, while X indicates SUV. The 4 denotes the size, which is slightly longer and lower than a RAV4. The bZ4X was co-developed with the Subaru Solterra, which is almost identical inside and out. One major difference: Subaru went exclusively dual-motor, all-wheel drive, while Toyota also offers a single-motor, front-wheel-drive…

BMW should have picked a name and stuck with it. After our David E. Davis Jr. sang the praises of the 1968 2002, BMW might have said, “Our overachieving compact sports coupe will be called 2002 forevermore.” But no. BMW kept building cars in the 2002 idiom, joyful rear-drive coupes, but the names were inconsistent: 3-series, 1-series, 2-series, 4-series. If BMW hadn’t stopped building the 2002—and it basically didn’t—the redesigned 2022 230i would be the latest model, and we’d all know what to expect, which is to say a practical everyday car with a secret rambunctious side. Though BMW rates the 230i’s turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four at just 255 horsepower, these are Bavarian horses, meaning a good number of them escaped the count. As such, the 3554-pound 230i rips to 60…