Charleston, West Virginia — Acura has finally completed its SUV menu with the entry-level ADX appetizer. It’s a tasty little morsel.

On a road trip to see family in West Virginia, I switched drive modes from NORMAL to SPORT and headed up Charleston’s famed Loudon Heights Road, a twisted two-lane carved into the rocky hill that overlooks the capital river city. The firm, rooted steering rack gave me immediate confidence as I dove into blind bends, narrow sweepers, tight hairpins.

I’ve been driving this road since I was 16 years old in Volkswagen Golf GTIs, Porsches and BMW M3s, and the Acura SUV showed impressive poise for a high-riding SUV. Credit Honda engineering, which has taken the solid Honda HR-V chassis and dialed it up to Acura standards.

Acura has thrown out the HR-V’s 158-horsepower gerbil wheel for the turbocharged, 1.5-liter 4-banger shared with Acura’s entry-level Integra sedan (and the Honda Civic Si hot hatch). Charging into a left-hander at the top of Louden Heights, the all-wheel driver gripped nicely before I flattened the throttle on exit and let loose the turbo-4 and its 190 ponies with a satisfying howl.

It’s a dramatic change from the HR-V with its droning 2.0-liter 4-cylinder, which struggles off corners with just 138 pound-feet of torque.

At rest in a parking lot, my $45,950 A-Spec Advanced tester looked sharp. Signature “chicane” LED running lights, black trim, Urban Gray wardrobe, scalloped shoulders, sharp-edged Diamond Pentagon grille. The wardrobe matches Acura’s performance mission and is as different from the soft, cute lines of the HR-V as a Doberman is from a beagle.

The 2025 Acura ADX is the brand’s entry-level vehicle. FWD standard and AWD optional in addition to a blacked-out A-Spec package (shown).

Acura

Together with Integra — a gateway drug to hotties like the Integra Type-S hatchback and TLX Type S sedan (not to mention the Acura team that races in the IMSA Weathertech SportsCar series), ADX is a proper introduction to the brand’s performance-oriented SUVs: RDX A-Spec and MDX Type S.

Performance, meet utility. ADX is no sports sedan, but neither is it your average family hauler, offering surprisingly fun-to-drive dynamics in a ute. For 10 grand extra, it’s a significant step up from HR-V — a signal you’ve entered a premium store in the car mall. Good thing, because there’s little to choose between premium and mainstream in digital features these days. Like Honda, ADX offers a generous suite of standard features such as wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, blind-spot assist, adaptive cruise control and a rear hot tub (kidding about that last one).

ADX’s sport ‘n’ style upgrades offer more separation from HR-V compared to, say, an Integra and Honda Civic Si — the latter a hot hatch as compelling as its luxury relative.

Mission accomplished, ADX. Welcome to Acura.

Ultimately, however, Acura must also justify itself relative to competitors. And subcompact luxe is a boiling shark tank. Ask $40K-plus for an SUV and you are playing in the same league as two of my favorite performers: the BMW X1 and Mazda CX-5.

Like ADX, these sport utes welcome you with distinctive styling, confident handling and a basket-full of standard features. And they expose ADX’s weaknesses.

Chief among them is the drivetrain. A comparable $47,725 Bimmer and $40,015 Mazda offer significantly more performance. The X1 and CX-5 pack a whopping 25-35% more giddyap — 241 and 256 horsepower, respectively — from their turbo-4s. The Mazda also brings, ahem, 320 pound-feet of torque.

Stomp CX-5 out of a corner and it translates that grunt to all four paws with one of the smoothest six-speed auto transmissions in the business. While ADX’s throaty four is a step up from HR-V’s power, it does not ditch the Honda’s CVT transmission, making for less invigorating acceleration. The result is a 5.5-second 0-60 mph sprint for the BMW (seven-speed dual-clutch tranny), 6.2 seconds in the Mazda — and (yawn) 8.7 seconds for the Acura.

The ADX’s Integra sibling is also equipped with a CVT transmission — but it options a six-speed manual that enthusiasts can row to their hearts’ content. ADX? You’re stuck with the CVT, though Acura adds shift-like “steps” to the experience to simulate gear changes.

The Acura’s cabin also isn’t as dramatic a wardrobe change from its Honda sibling as its exterior suggests.

My A-Spec tester’s interior offered lovely material touches like a two-toned stitched dash and blue suede door inserts, but the twin digital screens are right out of a Honda. No knock on Honda (which has elevated its game with a fine mainstream interior), but Acura has to compete against the BMW’s luxurious, hoodless two-screen layout that sprawls across the dash with graphics galore.

The Mazda can’t match the Bimmer either, but then it is the value play here (a role Acura usually plays). The CX-5 interior exudes class with its organic lines and horizontal layout.

For hours of interstate driving on our 800-mile round trip to Charleston, ADX was a serene companion. Mrs. Payne took over the wheel for a stint and I laid the driver’s seat (almost) flat and was snoozing comfortably in minutes.

Acura’s excellent ergonomics made for easy driving over a variety of roads. I engaged adaptive cruise control down I-75, across U.S. 35 in Ohio, and into Charleston on I-64. Speed and radio controls on the steering wheel are raised so I didn’t have to take my eyes off the road to find them with my fingers.

Happily, Acura has ditched the fussy remote True Touchpad Interface screen controller it introduced on the RDX SUV last decade. A nine-inch touchscreen does the job.

BMW, Mazda and Acura complement their controls with voice commands, and my ADX tester stands out with Google Built-in (a system familiar to owners of GM brands).

Hey Google, set driver temperature to 70 degrees.

Done.

Hey Google, navigate to Charleston, West Virginia.

Done.

Hey, Google, what is a good pizza restaurant in Charleston, West Virginia?

“Lola’s and Pies & Pints are often recommended.” Oh, Google you are good.

But Google Built-in is only offered on the top A-Spec model with the Advance Package, an oversight for this technically focused brand. Otherwise, the interior is spacious for a subcompact with 37.7 inches of rear legroom. Competitive with Bimmer, two inches shy of the Mazda value king.

Head-to-head comparisons aside, ADX sets the bar for Acura. And that’s what you want in an entry model (plus Acura reliability).

After having my fun up Loudon Heights Road, Mrs. Payne finally had enough.

“Can we slow down now?” she pleaded.

ADX SUV, take a bow. As we say in West Virginia: Almost heaven.

Next week: 2026 Honda CR-V

2025 Acura ADX

Vehicle type: Front- and all-wheel-drive, four-door, five-passenger SUV

Price: $31,590, including $1,595 destination charge ($44,925 Badlands Sasquatch as tested)

Powerplant: 1.5-liter turbocharged, inline 4-cylinder

Power: 190 horsepower, 179 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: Continuously variable automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 8.7 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 125 mph (est.)

Weight: 3,611 pounds (as tested)

Fuel economy: EPA 25 mpg city/30 highway/27 combined (26 mpg observed)

Report card

Highs: Sharp styling to match handling; suite of standard features

Lows: Less power than competitors; Google Built-in only available on top trim

Overall: 3 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him athpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Farmington Hills — You don’t so much drive the Nissan Murano as wear it. It’s a fashion statement.

Even coated in salt from a days’ drive across Metro Detroit’s wintry tundra, my Aurora Blue Pearl Metallic Murano looked ready for the Detroit Auto Show Charity Preview. Bezeled silver roofline like a Saarinen arch, muscular hips, slim front light signature over a lit lower grille (a touch of Ferrari Purosangue there?).

The Nissan Murano is lovely. Always has been. Since it strutted down the runaway as the first midsized crossover in 2003, it has put the “sport” in sport utility vehicles. Elegant lines, lush grilles, high-tech interiors, albino seats you want to lick they’re so sweet.

Now in its fourth generation, the 2025 Murano is once again on the cutting edge of fashion, for good and ill.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

For good, it has lost its voluptuous Rubenesque figure from the 2010s and emerged from the gym with a more svelte, athletic torso for the ‘20s. Cars are fashion, and this is the era of sleek iPhones and Teslas. So, too, the interior, which ditches the ol’ vertical lines for lean, horizontal lines accented with high-tech screens and haptic touch controls.

For ill? Murano has conformed to the same common turbo-4 engine found in every other bot these days, from the Nissan Rogue SUV to the Hyundai Tucson to the Chevy Traverse. Sigh. Government emissions regulations force uniformity, and that works against elegant non-conformists like the Murano, which used to belt out healthy V-6 exhaust tunes.

As we danced across Huron River Parkway, I buried the throttle and … oh. like watching Beyonce leaning into a chorus and Rosanne Barr’s voice coming out.

The Ariya, Murano’s fetching electric sister, boasts smooth torque that better complements its similarly exotic wardrobe — right down to the same twin screens and haptic wood dash accents. But that comfort becomes discomfort on a cold Michigan day, where 305-mile range drops 30% and the 270-mile trip to Nub’s Nob suddenly looks challenging.

With 505 miles of gas range, the 27 mpg highway Murano is the safer date.

While I bemoan the absence of the optional 260-horse V-6, the 241-horse turbo-4 pairs with a smooth nine-speed transmission instead of the coarse, continuously-variable V-6 tranny of yore.

Speaking of yore, many Nissan shoppers will be empty nesters looking to downsize after years carting kiddies in a three-row Pathfinder or Armada. Murano is just the ticket. As is the subcompact Kicks, another stylish turbo-4 entry that is new for ’25. Proving style doesn’t sacrifice quality, both led their segments in J.D. Power’s 2025 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, which tracked reliability over three years of ownership.

Both SUVs boast big backseats for leggy friends, but the Murano bring more sophistication for its higher price. The interior is a great place to spend time.

Start with “Zero Gravity” seats, which you’ll want to rip out of the car and use in your living room they are so comfy. The leather-wrapped console is easy on the eyes — and my knobby knees that rested against the console for miles.

For ill? Ergonomics are a mixed bag. Steering wheel controls are superb, with raised buttons that you can adjust without your eyes leaving the road. However, Nissan chose a push-button console shift design that requires you to look away from the road to shift gears. Better that they had chosen a stalk shifter solution like Chevrolet if it was the console space-saver they were looking for. And that stylish haptic climate control? It also requires taking your eyes off the road.

For good, Murano is tech-tastic.

My list of safety must-haves — adaptive cruise control, blind spot-assist, rear-backup assist, are all standard. Google Built-in (standard on the SL trim and up) has good voice recognition abilities. So you change the temp by voice rather than haptic touch.

Hey, Google, turn the driver-side temperature to 70 degrees. 

Done. I like a car with a sense of humor, and Murano knows dumb jokes.

Hey, Google, tell me a joke.

What’s a pig’s favorite karate move? A pork chop.

Boom. Murano has a deep bench of convenience settings. My favorite: it locks automatically when you walk away with key in pocket — or unlocks automatically as you approach. Just like a Tesla.

Unlike a Tesla: Nissan brings 360-degree camera innovation. Not only will its eight cameras provide a bird’s-eye 360-degree view, but it offers multiple views, including the ability to see through your hood so you can perfectly place your tires in a parking spot or avoid parking-lot potholes. I’m not making this up.

To discover more tech goodies, Nissan thoughtfully provides video guides in the infotainment screen.

My Murano tester was a top drawer, $51,415 all-wheel-drive Platinum model. But I’d recommend the SL, which allows you to option all the features above. Make mine an SL with standard Google Built-in, wireless charging, panoramic roof, all-wheel drive, 360-degree camera, plus … Auria Blue Metallic paint ($425), spare tire ($180).

Boom. A state-of-the-art Murano for $47,950 that you’ll never get tired of wearing.

Next week: An Amercian in Paris, 2025 Cadillac Lyriq

2025 Nissan Murano

Vehicle type: Front-engine, front- and all-wheel-drive, five-passenger SUV

Price: $41,860 base, including $1,390 destination ($51,415 AWD Platinum model as tested)

Power plant: 2.0-liter turbocharged, inline 4-cylinder

Power: 241 horsepower, 260 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: Nine-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 8.0 seconds (Car and Driver est. AWD); towing, 1,500 pounds

Curb weight: 4,438 pounds (as tested)

Fuel economy: EPA est. 21 city/27 highway/23 combined (FWD and AWD); 505-mile range

Report card

Highs: Sculpted exterior; high-tech features

Lows: Uninspired turbo-4; distracting shifter, climate controls

Overall: 3 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Farmington Hills — Where Titan failed, the Armada might break through.

Nissan has sent big truck-based warriors with fierce names into battle against Detroit’s formidable armies of full-size pickups and mega-utes. The Titan pickup finally waved the red flag after bashing its brains in against endless waves of Detroit 1500, 2500, 3500 and even bigger dually pickups with more technology than a NASA launch site and enough towing power to tow, well, a Titan ballistic missile.

Doing battle against the Ford Expedition and Expedition XL looks more feasible. Based on the same truck chassis as the expired Titan, the 2025 Armada has been remade into a state-of-the-art mega-ute matching Ford, Chevy Tahoe and Jeep Wagoneer weapon-for-weapon.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Heading onto I-696, I stomped the gas and the new twin-turbo V-6 awoke with a roar. WHAAAUUGGRH! I miss the V-8s Nanny State rules have suffocated, but turbo sixes like Titan, Toyota Sequoia and Wagoneer have character and make the ocean liners fun to drive.

More compelling is the tech.

Mega-ute land yachts must endure long hours on the road. Nissan has always prioritized comparable seating with its “zero-gravity seats,” and Armada’s no different with its plush thrones. But Nissan has also stepped up with state-of-the-art, hands-free autopilot like Chevy (Super Cruise) and Ford (Blue Cruse) peers. Nissan calls it Pro Pilot Assist 2.1.

Self-driving tech is freaky at first — especially in such a big ocean liner — and Ford and Tesla, for example, smartly offer subscription packages for their systems so you can try ‘em out. Try it, you’ll like it. Unfortunately, Nissan (like Chevy) requires an expensive, $3,375 leap-of-faith purchase.

I toggled the left steering button (nice, raised tabs like a Chevy) and I was hands-free, cruising I-75 with hands on my knees. Tug the left turn signal and Armada switched automatically into the left passing lane. Tug the right signal, and it moved back. Nissan calls such goo-gaws “super powers,” and it will impress the kiddies sitting waaaay back in the third row.

The roomy third row (I could sit behind myself sitting behind myself) benefits from independent rear suspension technology that allowed for more legroom than the traditional, truck-based solid rear axle that Toyota Sequoia employs and that proved cramped on a trip north a couple of summers back. Nothing makes a trip more tiresome than knees in your chest.

Unfortunately, Nissan doesn’t offer a panoramic roof — or split roof like the Expedition — to give third row travelers more light. Not does it attempt to compete with the Detroit utes with an extended-cab XL model like Ford and Jeep (or Suburban, in Chevy’s case).

Such long cabs make up 40% of Chevy’s business and came in handy when, for example, I towed a sailboat with the Wagoneer L last summer and fit the entire boom through the middle of the cabin so it didn’t rattle around in the boat. Extended cabs are also useful for lots of baggage on, say, ski trips.

What Armada does offer is fold-flat seats so you can store big items (think TV screens or stacks of boxed books) when you aren’t using all three seat rows.

Nissan also keeps up with the Joneses — er, Detroiters — with big, hoodless digital displays that are choked with content and ergonomically sound. While you can outfit Armada with premium trims like the Detroiters, I would recommend starting with the SL model, which offers tech goodies like Pro Pilot and standard Google Built-in.

Google Built-in is General Motors Co.’s new secret sauce — an operating system on par with your phone — and Nissan has embraced it as well.

“Google, tell me a joke,” I barked and Armada chose from a library of dumb one-liners to lighten the trip.

More practical is the SL’s standard surround-view that coordinates eight cameras so you can dock the big ship with precision. I turned into a cramped Walled Lake gas station and put the cameras to good use. Most impressive is the hood view, which allows you to look right through the hood to place the front wheels where you want them.

It helped me miss tall curbs as well as potholes opened up by Michigan’s’ long winter.

7Pro Pilot Assist package with a head-up display offers further ease of use on the highway. Ring it all up and Armada comes in at 73 grand, a healthy $4,000 cheaper than a comparable Tahoe LT. And with 70 more horsepower on tap from Armada’s 425-horse turbo-6, you may not miss the Chevy’s throaty 355-horse V-8. But the Ford’s flexible subscription price for Blue Cruise is much more affordable (especially if you only use it during, say, summer trips) and Ford’s Activ model clocks in at a more affordable $71,900. Oh.

Conservatively styled, the Nissan should age well, though it doesn’t have the swagger of Motown’s hunks — or even the nicely styled Toyota Sequioa. Nissan does offer a tough, armored off-road model called the Pro 4X.

Armada has come with big guns blazing so it can trade blows with the Detroit armada. It’s a better battleship than the Titan and offers a legitimate alternative to the Detroit Three.

2025 Nissan Armada

Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear- and-four-wheel-drive, six- to-seven passenger mega-ute

Price: $59,530, including $2,010 destination fee ($81,900 Platinum Reserve as tested)

Powerplant: 3.5-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6

Power:  425 horsepower, 516 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: Nine-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.1 seconds (Car and Driver); towing, 8,500 pounds

Weight: 5,886 pounds (as tested)

Fuel economy: EPA est., 16 mpg city/20 highway/18 combined (RWD); 16 mpg city/19 highway/17 combined (AWD); 472-mile range

Report card 

Highs: Roomy in all three rows; tech-tastic features

Lows: Meh styling; lacks extended wheelbase model

Overall: 4 stars

 Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him athpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Austin, Texas — Corvette’s much-anticipated, 1,200-plus-horsepower, sub-two-second 0-60 mph, Ferrari-eating, all-wheel-drive Corvette hypercar is here.

All hail the ZR1X.

Long rumored as a new Corvette badge, Zora — in honor of Corvette’s influential 1960s engineer, Zora Argus-Duntov — the ZR1X instead will be a stablemate to the top-trim, 1,064-horsepower, track-focused ZR1 by adding all-wheel-drive grip and face-flattening electric torque. X as in X-treme.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

“Driving this car will change your life,” said General Motor Co. president and certified race driver Mark Reuss after climbing out of the ZR1X at a test around the formidable 14.1-mile Nürburgring track in Germany’s Eifel Mountains.

It will certainly change minds about Corvette. Once the “affordable,” front-engine American supercar, the mid-engine Corvette C8 now competes head-to-head with the world’s elite performance manufacturers on and off track. GM credits much of the eighth,-generation car’s performance to its integration with GT3 racing where the Corvette fights toe-to-toe with Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin at places like last weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans (‘Vette placed third) then feeds those learnings to its engineers.

“From day one, we designed the mid-engine Corvette architecture with ZR1X in mind,” said GM senior vice president Ken Morris. “This is the most revolutionary platform in Corvette history, supporting the widest range of American sports cars.”

The Detroit News first reported in 2020 that Corvette was developing performance models after the standard Stingray, including the Z06, all-wheel-drive E-Ray, ZR1 and Zora.

Scheduled for release later this year as a 2026 model — just six months after the ZR1’s first deliveries, ZR1X boasts eye-popping numbers. Pairing the ZR1’s so-called LT7, 5.5-liter, twin-turbo V-8 engine with the E-Ray’s (the first Corvette with both AWD and hybrid-electric power) front electric motor, ZR1X makes 1,250 horsepower, more than any Ferrari on the planet, including the 1,184-horsepower Ferrari F80.

That’s more horsepower than other hypercars like 1,049-horsepower Marcedes AMG One, 1,001-horse Lamborghini Revuelto and 1,160-horse Aston Martin Valkyrie. Only rare animals like the 1,600-horse Bugatti go beyond. The hypercar segment defines itself as supercars using electric motors to take them to the next — “hyper”— level of power and grip.

But the most eye-popping number is ZR1X’s price, which will likely be under $200,000 when it is announced closer to the on-sale date late this year — a fraction of the cost of its exotic European peers, including the 1,184-horsepower, $3,925,000 Ferrari F80 and 1,258, $2,100,00 McLaren W1. The rear-wheel-drive ZR1, with which the ZR1X shares everything — including bodywork, tires and a 233-mph top speed — retails for between $174,995 and $195,995.

More numbers to wait for? The sub-zero 0-60 mph time to be released later this year by Chevy (and perhaps a Nürburgring lap time as well).

As the top model, the RWD ZR1 bookends the lineup $105,000 north of the $70k, entry-level Stingray. ZR1 more than doubles the entry-level Corvette’s price as well as its horsepower. The 2026 ZR1X will increase that by another 17%, making it the most powerful production Corvette ever made.

The so-called LT7 turbocharged engine is based on the same 5.5-liter, normally-aspirated V-8 found in the Corvette Z06 GT3 race car that competes in the North American Weathertech Sportscar Series and the international World Endurance Championship that sanctions Le Mans.

That engine resides in the track-focused, rear-wheel-drive, $103,000 production Z06, which makes a howling 760 horsepower — the most of any normally-aspirated engine in production — at 8,600 RPM. The Z06 is one of two arms in Corvette’s new, eighth-generation Y strategy — the other being the hybrid, $103,000 E-Ray — which expands Corvette’s bandwidth by offering parallel, track-focused and luxury variants.

The strategy appears to have worked, with Corvette on course for selling 40,000 vehicles a year, far more than any other mid-engine sports car.

Though ZR1X shares the E-Ray’s hybrid, all-wheel-drive format, it remains firmly on the performance side of GM’s Y strategy. Rather than wait two years between models — as Corvette did with the 2020 Stingray, 2022 Z06/E-Ray and 2025 ZR1 models to maximize demand — ZR1X is being introduced on top of ZR1 as a 2026 model.

“They were always meant to to be twins,” said Corvette Marketing Manager Megan Dalley. “We didn’t want to place the ZR1X in the dark when it was ready to go.”

Where E-Ray marries Stingray’s 495-horse, pushrod V-8 LT2 with an electric motor up front, ZR1X thrills by combining the twin-turbo V-8 LT7 and electric motor to attain its stratospheric performance numbers.

Combine the engine’s 828 pound-feet of torque driving the rear wheels and the electric motor’s 186 pound-feet driving the fronts and combined torque is a house-pulling 1,014 (however, Chevy does not list that as an official number since the two drive units are not connected by a driveshaft).

“It’s important to have the ultimate traction in order to be stable,” said ZR1X lead development engineer Keith Badgley, noting the driver will experience 1.3 forward g-loads under the ZR1X’s torrid acceleration. “This is the most capable, most intelligent Corvette ever made.”

In order to harness all its gas and electric energy, the ZR1X introduces new performance features:

–  PUSH TO PASS unlocks all of the battery’s power for quick acceleration bursts in track — or in blowing past slower, two-lane traffic on-road.

– ENDURANCE MODE will apportion electric power so that it can be used throughout the course of, say, a track day.

– QUALIFYING MODE makes all of the battery available for a maximum lap.

With so much thrust on tap, ZR1X engineers also had to develop new brakes to slow it down. The ZR1 already had the biggest brakes developed by Corvette with 15.6-inch, six-piston, carbon ceramic front rotors. ZR1X moves those rotors to the rear of the hypercar and adds 16.5-inch, 10-piston, carbon ceramics rotors up front.

“With great power comes great responsibility,” smiled Badgley of the so-called J59 brake system.

Hard braking from 180-120 mph will generate 1.9 g-loads on the driver’s body. Dalley said the ZR1 will ultimately offer the same brake option as the ZR1X come the 2026 model year after a short 2025 model run. ZR1X is offered with the same options as the ZR1 including a hardtop convertible (the coupe gets the cool, rear split window) and ZTK downforce package.

ZR1 will also adopt ZL1X’s updated interior for the 2026 model year, including includes three screens, a central grab handle for terrified passengers and tidier console buttons. The twins share exterior body panels and interior options — including the return of Sebring Orange paint like the last-gen, 2019 C7 ZR1.

With its added hardware, the AWD ZR1X beefs up by about 250 pounds over the RWD ZR1’s 3,950-pound curb weight — pushing the Corvette north of 4,000 pounds.

“America’s supercar has arrived,” said Josh Holder, Corvette chief engineer. “This Corvette is more powerful than any Ferrari.”

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Le Mans, France — If the Indy 500 is a showcase for driver glory, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the premier race for manufacturer prowess. Win Indy, and its resulting fame will change a driver’s life forever. Win Le Mans, and an auto brand becomes legend.

Ferrari, Porsche, Audi and Ford have become international household performance names with their dominance of this 24-hour epic. No wonder, then, that the motorsports world was atwitter Thursday when General Motors Co.’s Cadillac swept the front row to claim pole position.

When the green flag drops at 4 p.m. Saturday local time (10 a.m. in Detroit), two Cadillacs — their Team JOTA liveries glistening in the French afternoon sun — will lead a packed international field of Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin to create an image seen around the globe.

“Cadillac locking out the front row is an important thing,” said English driving ace Alex Lynn after putting his Cadillac V-Series.R on pole. “Only the most iconic brands have done that. Cadillac is the first American brand to take the pole since the legendary Ford GT40. We are in the shadows of greats. If we can win this race on Sunday we can cement our car as one of the icons.”

No wonder multiple Detroit brands are competing this year against the world’s best racing manufacturers in rural France before over 330,00 spectators and another 118 million watching around the world. Motorsports has been a key marketing, engineering and sales tool, but the advent of social media and the popular “Drive to Survive” Netflix series covering Formula One has taken motorsports to a new level by broadening its demographic appeal to a younger, gender-diverse audience that auto brands crave.

“’Drive to Survive’ changed everything. It’s making racing globally cool again, and the trickle-down effect we see from F1 is really big,” said Lynn. “We are riding that wave, and showcasing to young people that Cadillac is cool.”

The same electronics revolution that has transformed Hypercars into hybrid rocketships has also exposed youth to racing via simulators and online games where they can act out their fantasy to be, well, Alex Lynn.

“The consumer who is following racing these days is much younger,” said Vice President for Global Cadillac John Roth in an interview here. “They are EV-oriented, they are technologically curious and we put a lot of technology into our vehicles like the Lyriq-V that is the quickest Cadillac we’ve ever built in the marketplace. So there’s a lot of correlation between the V-Series race car and V-Series production car — customers may not attend a race, (but) it’s a great platform to elevate the brand.”

Le Mans also attracts the world’s best drivers, like Lynn, who is not just a fast pilot, but a global brand ambassador in an industry that craves brand awareness and looks for ways to burnish it.

Dearborn-based Ford Motor Co. has been a global icon for some time. In the 1960s, the Ford GT40 dominated Le Mans for four years — two of them as a factory-backed team, two entered by a private team.

That put the Blue Oval badge on par with Ferrari (which it tried to buy at the time) and Porsche as legends of motorsport. Ford also partnered with England’s Cosworth to produce one of the Formula One series’ premier engines, the Ford-Cosworth, in the 1960s.

Ford’s decision to return to Le Mans prototype racing in 2027 (it announced its chassis partner, Italy’s Oreca, at Le Mans Friday) and Formula One in 2026 (again as an engine partner, this time with Red Bull) reaffirms that it belongs with the world’s best.

“Ford has a special history here. It’s the moment that Ford went global in 1966,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in an interview here. “This is a big commitment to us. There is no better advertisement for the capability of the company than winning a Le Mans, or it just says your company knows what they’re doing in the car business.”

For both Ford and General Motors, the international World Endurance Championship and North American IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series have provided a proper platform to justify the enormous dollar investment that motor racing requires. By agreeing to the same set of sports car rules across continents (and across races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Daytona in Florida), IMSA/EC has opened a global stage for GM and Ford to sell GT race cars as rivals Porsche and Ferrari have done.

“We want to sell race cars to customers worldwide. I have made my career making bad decisions in motorsports,” said a smiling Farley as he overlooked the Ford Chicane on the Le Mans course. “And most of it was a marketing program to get someone interested in a brand. We needed to make motorsports a sustainable part of the company.”

Ford introduced the Mustang GT3 race car for the first time at Le Mans last year — just as it entered the same car in IMSA’s North American series. It made a big splash, placing third and fourth, and the factory team — run by Proton Racing — is back this year. Just like its Ford F-150 Raptor off-road entries in the Baja 1000 and King of the Hammers, the Mustangs are here to sell to customers.

“Racing is an indigenous sport for our industry — we don’t make shampoo,” said Farley. “There are a few events like Le Mans that really put you on the map. We want to sell more (F-150) Raptors and Tremors and Broncos, so we race the King of the Hammers, too.”

Chevy pioneered the GT3 effort back in 2000 with its Corvette entries, racking up nine Le Mans class wins over the last 25 years. It has now pivoted to a customer-based race model, and its three cars here this weekend are entered by customer teams TF Sport and AWA Racing.

As the racing and production programs became more integrated over that time, Chevrolet attracted more engineering talent. Roth points to Tony Roma, who has worked on both the Corvette and Cadillac production performance programs.

“Tony is a race car driver and a great example of translating that feel of what it is like to be behind the wheel of a high-performance Cadillac,” said Roth. Then he “translates that back to the vehicles that will sell to a new generation of buyers.”

That integration has carried over to Cadillac’s European expansion. Keely Busn is program manager for the Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar and regularly advises, for example, Caddy’s Paris showroom.

“We introduced the livery for our Team JOTA race car in the Paris showroom, for example,” she said in Cadillac’s Le Mans pit. “We coordinated the motorsports display in the showroom that drives home the brand’s performance and precision. If you want to translate what it means to be at the pinnacle of motorsports, it’s good to have a dealership in Paris.”

The V-Series.R that took pole here has a distinctly American V-8 sound. But Roth said racing informs more than just powertrains.

“Not only do we go out every day to compete with global luxury brands that we compete with in the retail space, we also get accelerated learnings on how vehicles perform. What’s the aero like? What’s the brake feel like?”

He continued: “That translates back to our EV vehicles that we sell in our retail environment. Aero gives an EV better range. Tires in an EV give better range. Racing is a great platform (that brings) learning back to what consumers enjoy in a vehicle.”

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Belle Isle — Happy 100^th birthday, Chrysler, you’ve given us the gift of many memorable automobiles over the years.

Over a century not much — and yet everything — has changed.

As in 1925 with its Six (and sister Four) models, Chrysler today offers two 2025 vehicles for the U.S. market: the Pacifica and Voyager minivans. Following in the footsteps of its Six, Pacifica is an innovative family vehicle, bears a winged logo, rides on four air-tube tires and burns gasoline. Those fundamentals aside, a test drive of the two Chrysler icons reveals just how much autos have evolved after a century of innovation.

Speed

I tested the 2025 Pacifica plug-in Hybrid and the 1924 Six B-70 (the prototype for the ’25 production car) at the brand’s 100^th birthday bash at the Detroit Yacht Club last week. I rode both at 35 mph around Belle Isle’s perimeter road (behind the wheel of the Pacifica; riding shotgun in the Six with an expert driver, Neal).

That’s slow by Pacifica standards, and just about right for the Six.

“You wouldn’t have wanted to go much faster than that on the roads they had back in the day,” laughed Chrysler historian Brandt Rosenbusch. No wonder the Six had a big, Jeep-like spare hanging out the back (the Pacifica comes standard with a tire repair kit). The Six wasn’t slow for its day. Indeed, its smooth, 3.3-liter inline-6 (thus the Six moniker. The Four was powered, natch, by a four-cylinder engine) was prized for its pace — so much so that Chrysler advertised its impressive-for-the-time 70 mph top speed with the B-70 badge.

Had that tradition continued, Chrysler’s fire-breathing, 173-mph, 435-horsepower, V8-powered 2005 sedan would have been called the B-173 instead of the 300C SRT8.

The Pacifica is a rocket ship compared to the Six B-70 with a top speed of 106 mph and a 0-60 mph dash of 7.3 seconds. Zero-to-60 mph in the Six?

“I don’t think anyone has ever asked that,” laughed Rosenbusch. “Probably a minute.”

Operation

It takes a minute and several steps to start the Chrysler Six:

1) Depress the clutch pedal with your left foot.

2) Turn on the ignition to activate the six-volt battery.

3) Pull out the choke (if the engine is cold) to add fuel to the carburetor.

4) Push the starter button on the floor with your right foot.

5) If the Six struggles to fire, maintain pressure on the starter button with your right toes and goose the accelerator pedal (actually a button on the floor next to the starter button) with your right heel.

VROOM! You’re ready to go. The 2025 Pacifica is as simple as pushing a dash button — its 12-volt battery turning over the starter motor.

Ah, how spoiled we’ve become. Remember clutch pedals?

Manual transmissions have largely been relegated (performance cars aside) to the ash heap of history. Since it first appeared as a three-row SUV from 2004-08 (evolving into a minivan in 2017), Pacifica has never been operated by a stick.

But a three-speed manual is all you got in the ‘25 Six. Its steering wheel looks oddly modern with its center-mounted horn and what appear to be a pair of shift paddles hanging off the sides. They aren’t shift paddles, though. The right paddle acts as a sort of cruise control (“20 mph was a good speed,” smiled Rosenbusch). The left paddle? It was used to advance the spark plug timing if the engine ran rough.

As if mastering a stick wasn’t enough, drivers also had to adjust ignition timing.

Driver Neal expertly negotiated the H-pattern gearbox (REVERSE in the northwest corner) on our drive, but Pacifica’s nine-speed automatic was magical by comparison. And quiet. In fact, the hybrid could have made the trip around Belle Isle on electrons alone thanks to a 17-kWh battery (separate from the 12-volt) and electric motor that complements the 220-horsepower, 3.6-liter V-6.

Combine the battery, a 16.5-gallon gas tank and impressive 30 mpg fuel economy for the 5,000 pound minivan, and the e-minivan can go 520 miles. The lightweight 3,000-pound Six is no slouch in the gas tank department. With a healthy 20-gallon tank under the rear seat, it gets about 200 miles of range with 10 mpg fuel economy.

It would have been an exhausting 200 miles, though.

Comfort

While Pacifica sails along on a modern, unibody chassis connected to the road via coil-over springs, shocks and multi-link suspension, the Six rode on a ladder-frame (truck) chassis with leaf springs.

Worse, every coupe and sedan model was a convertible (Chrysler preferred the fashionable term “Phaeton”) thanks to stamping technology limitations that made hard tops a challenge. A convertible was swell on my 80-degree June test day, but Michigan winters were a challenge with open sides.

Owners could option canvas cockpit curtains — complete with glass portholes — anchored to the doors. But the fit was imprecise, said Rosenbusch, and cold air rushed in. “For long trips, some owners would heat up bricks and bring them into the cabin to stay warm,” he said.

The Pacifica’s stamping, by contrast, is state-of-the-art with a panoramic roof overhead. Chrysler would gradually solve the stamping issue, beginning with the 1934 Airflow sedan.

Wind noise and climate control aside, the Six cabin is a lot like your average modern SUV: command-view leather seats (ground clearance an SUV-like nine inches) and lots of front and rear legroom. No seat belts, though. That safety innovation wouldn’t come standard until the late 20^th century.

Not that Six was oblivious to safety in the early years of the personal transportation revolution. The Chrysler was equipped with innovative hydraulic (not mechanical) drum brakes. Pacifica, of course, is a fortress with hydraulic disc brakes, auto emergency braking, air bags, seat belts and much more.

The minivan is a Swiss Army knife on wheels with second- and third-row seats that can stow in the floor, fold flat or be removed altogether. And Pacifica has 32-square-feet of cargo room behind the third-row seats.

The Six has … none.

Passengers 100 years ago would lash their luggage to the huge side running boards — or store it in the cabin with them for long trips (leaving room for the heated bricks, of course).

Jetsons car

What really separates Pacifica from its forefather — and even Chryslers 20 years ago — is its electronics. A Six owner would stare in wonder at the minivan’s futuristic digital tricks.

– Twin seven-inch instrument and 10-inch infotainment displays

– Sirius XM radio

– Amazon Fire TV integrated into the rear-seat Uconnect Theater System so passengers can stream their favorite shows

–  360-degree surround view camera

– Automatic, hands-free park assist

– Adaptive cruise control

– Side mirrors with blind-spot assist

Yes, side mirrors — absent on the 1925 Six. We’ve come along way, baby.

1925 Chrysler Six

Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, five-passenger SUV

Price: $1,595-$3,725 ($29,288-$68,400 in 2025 dollars; 1924 Chrysler Six prototype as tested)

Power plant: 3.3-liter inline-6 cylinder

Power: 68 horsepower

Transmission: Three-speed manual

Performance: 0-60 mph, 1 minute (estimate) top speed, 70 mph

Curb weight: 3,000 pounds (est.)

Fuel economy: 10 mpg; 200-mile range

Report card

Highs: Roomy interior; speedy for its time

Lows: Poor cabin insulation from the elements; busy starting procedure

2025 Chrysler Pacifica Plug-in Hybrid

Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive, seven-passenger minivan

Price: $44,445 base, including $1,995 destination ($64,300 AWD Select model as tested)

Power plant: 3.6-liter V-6

Power: 287 horsepower

Transmission: Nine-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 7.8 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 106 mph

Curb weight: 5,010 pounds (as tested)

Fuel economy: EPA 82 MPGe; 500-mile range

Report card

Highs: Swiss Army knife interior; electronic controls/features

Lows: Minivan in an SUV world

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Bloomfield Hills-based Roger Penske will take delivery this summer on a street-focused version of the Daytona 24 Hour-winning Porsche 963, the race car that Team Penske and Porsche campaign in international Hypercar prototype racing, the fastest sportscar class in the world.

Modified at Porsche’s North American headquarters in Atlanta from a carbon-fiber chassis made at Porsche’s Zuffenhausen, Germany, racing production facility, the 200-mph-plus, hybrid Hypercar is a one-off — its powertrain and aerodynamics matching the race car, but upgraded with a luxurious leather and Alcantara interior complete with turn signals and a cupholder.

Porsche, Porsche

Badged the 963 RSP (in honor of Penske’s initials, Roger Searle Penske), it is effectively the fastest car ever made for the street. The 963 race car costs $2.9 million and Penske’s unique street cruiser is likely valued at much more.

In an interview, Penske said he had seen his new wheels being made at Porsche Classic, the brand’s Atlanta restoration facility: “It certainly looks and feels like a true Porsche sportscar. I am so honored that Porsche produced this special 963 RSP — I think I will always have a special connection to this vehicle, and certainly to everyone at Porsche.”

He said he looks forward to bringing the car to the Motor City as part of his family’s private car collection.

“I’m not sure I would drive the 963 RSP as a daily commuter, though that certainly would be a fun drive to the office,” he smiled.

 Penske is scheduled to take delivery stateside this summer at the Monterey Historics in California. Following its unveiling Friday, the 963 RSP will be on public display at Le Mans’ Circuit de la Sarthe during the 24 Hours of Le Mans before it returns to Stuttgart to be shown at the Porsche Museum. In July, the car will appear alongside the 917 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England, before crossing the pond.

The Hypercar marks the second time Porsche has created a road version of its ultimate race car. The first was in 1975 when the German performance maker produced a street-legal Porsche 917 (which dominated international racing of that era) that was bought by Count Rossi, heir of the Martini & Rossi liquor fortune.

The eccentric Count then hit the road, driving from Zuffenhausen to Paris in the 580-horsepower, 12-cylinder 917.

In a brief street drive Friday near Le Mans, France, the 963 RSP debuted alongside that legendary 917 — just as the endurance racing world gathers for the week-long lead-up to the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, June 14-15.

Notably, the 963 race car competed on the downtown streets of Detroit May 31 as part of the Detroit Grand Prix. Hitting speeds of over 180-mph on Jefferson Avenue, the Porsche threw up sparks as it bottomed repeatedly down the bumpy, ¾-mile-long straightaway.

“It’s banging the skid plate through there at nearly 200 mph,” said British race driver Nick Tandy, who co-piloted the #7 963 with Brazilian Felipe Nasr to fourth place in a thrilling race. “You can feel it coming up through the cabin. It’s rough.”

Together with Porsche, Team Penske is seeking to bring “The Captain” (as employees fondly refer to their chairman) his first Le Mans win, one of the few baubles that has eluded him in an illustrious racing career that includes 20 Indy 500 wins (Porsche has won almost as many Le Mans races — 19). It is the third Le Mans attempt by Porsche Penske — an event won by Ferrari the last two years.

“We have enjoyed a terrific relationship with Porsche dating back to 1972,” said Penske, recalling the dynamic duo’s first collaboration on the legendary 917/30 Can Am championship car. “With such a remarkable partnership continuing to this day, we felt it was time to create the most exciting car we could imagine.”

The Porsche 963 RSP is a street version of the 963 race car (shown) that competed in the May 31 Detroit GP. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

The 963 RSP will be on public display at Le Mans’ Circuit de la Sarthe during the 24 Hours of Le Mans before it returns to Stuttgart to be shown at the Porsche Museum. In July, the car will appear alongside the 917 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England, before heading stateside.

Penske is scheduled to take delivery stateside this summer at the Monterey Historics in California and add the 963 RSP to his private collection of over 100 cars.

Managing director of Porsche Penske Motorsport, Jonathan Diuguid, has overseen the 963 racing program that competes in both North America’s IMSA Weathertech SportsCar Series here and the World Endurance Championship overseas. He said Penske his boss has been a big supporter of the 963 program from the start.

“He also got an opportunity to drive the Spyder (the Porsche RS Spyder, the last championship-winning sportscar on which Porsche-Penske collaborated from 2006-2008) at Goodwood a few years back,” said Diuguid. “So when the team planted the seed that there might be an opportunity for him to drive a 963, I think the flower started to grow.”

The 963 won the IMSA series last year and has dominated so far in 2025, winning five of the first six races — including Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Porsche Penske is bringing three 963s to compete in next week’s Le Mans.

“Just like the 917, I wanted this car to be authentic to its origin and have as few changes to it as possible,” continued Penske. “When we got into the project, the differences in the two generations of race cars provided a great challenge. What emerged is a car that has lost none of its edge and is exciting whether on the track or on the road.”

While retaining most of the mid-engine race car’s dynamics – including the ferocious, 670-horspower, 4.6-liter, twin-turbo V-8 hybrid powertrain – the street car boasts significant changes to make it more comfortable.

The 963 RSP will not be started by a key to to the left of the steering wheel like Porsche production cars such as the 911 supercar and Macan SUV. That tradition started with left-hand-drive, 1960s Porsche race cars, which strategically located the key on the left so drivers could more quickly fire up the car upon entering the cabin in the pits.

Not only is the modern 963 RSP not started by a left-hand key, it is started from a laptop — just like the race car.

While 963 racers are wrapped in red-and-white trim, the 963 RSP is painted the same Martini Silver as its 917 forebear — a tricky process given the car’s thin, lightweight carbon fiber shell. The car has been lifted slightly — and its Multimatic spool-valve shocks softened — for a more compliant street drive. Tires? The same Michelin rain tires as the race car. Also missing from the 963 RSP are the race car’s fender cutouts — necessary on track to mitigate high-speed flips — but which take away from its aesthetic appearance on the road.

In a nod to tradition, an enamel Porsche badge is added to the nose, a detailed shared with the 1975 917.

Complete with headlight and taillight modifications to suit public roads — as well as turn signals, a horn, and front/rear license plates — the 963 RSP met permissions criteria from French authorities to ply public roads for its reveal today.

“An experience that will stay with me for a lifetime,” said Le Mans winner and Porsche racer Timo Bernhard, who was at the wheel of the 963 RSP for its first road miles. “Driving down a public road with a 917 beside me — it felt unreal. The car behaved perfectly — it felt a little friendlier and more forgiving than the normal 963 — and felt super special and a lot more comfortable, especially as I was not needing all my safety gear.”

The comfortable cockpit is a mix of luxurious appointments and raw race features.

Like the race car the 963 RSP features a single piece, air-conditioned carbon seat — but it is trimmed in leather with a fixed headrest mounted on the bulkhead behind the seat. The steering wheel — bristling with operating functions — is true to the racer but has been finished in leather. The aforementioned cupholder is 3D-printed and capable of holding a Porsche travel mug.

“This really started out as a ‘what if?’ — a passion project by a small team of enthusiasts at Penske and at Porsche who together imagined a version of the 963 that really resembled as closely as possible the spirit and appearance of the Count Rossi 917,” said Porsche Cars North America President and CEO Timo Resch, who conceived of the 963 RSP. “The 917 was every inch a race car — albeit one driven on the road — and we took the same approach with the 963 RSP.”

No word on whether Penske intends to cruise on Woodward this August.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Oakland County — The last Chevy SS (Super Sport) I drove in 2016 was a stealthy muscle car. Modest looks, sedan shape, growling V-8 under the hood waiting to be unleashed on unsuspecting Bimmers. SS for Sneaky Sport.

The 2025 Chevy Blazer EV SS is not that car.

Wrapped in Habanero Orange with a black roof and sinister black fascia bracketed by orange wasp-like mandibles, you can see my Blazer SS from space. Big 22-inch wheels, big teardrop taillights, big black greenhouse, big 615 horsepower. But you can’t hear it.

Henry Payne, The Detroit News

At a Telegraph Road stoplight, I flattened the accelerator pedal with my Size 15 shoes and the SS’s twin electric motors silently sucked the doors off a BMW M340i. FOOOOM! My eyes flattened, the landscape blurred, and 60 mph went by in less than four seconds. That would leave the ’16, 465-horse SS (0-60 mph in 4.6 seconds) in the dust as well, though it wouldn’t keep up with a Tesal Model S Plaid at 1.99 seconds.

My Blazer SS is, however, less than half the price of the $134,490 Tesla.

Chevy’s latest iteration of its Super Sport badge is a welcome addition to its diverse history. SS has adorned everything from the OG 1961, 408-cubic-inch, V8-powered Impala SS coupe to the 1969, double-dome-hooded El Camino SS to the lowered, fire-breathing 2003 Silverado SS pickup. With its super-sized straight-line speed (an SS badge record 3.4-second 0-60 mph), girth (a whopping 5,730 pounds thanks to a 102-kWh battery) and flamboyant wardrobe (hey, Chevy, how about a dual-stripe option?), this SS takes its place alongside other SS Dream Cruise rocket ships. This is an Impala SS for the electric age.

But addictive acceleration aside, what I like best about this SS is its interior integration of state-of-the-art GM technology with retro-Camaro SS design. SS for Super Styled.

Oh, how I miss the Camaro muscle car.

The porky, all-wheel-drive Blazer SS won’t remind you of the rear-wheel-drive Camaro’s deft handling, planted chassis and rib-rattling V-8. But it (along with the standard Blazer) honors the ‘Maro with one of the coolest interiors in this business.

Yuge grapefruit-shaped, aviator-style climate controls bracket the dash with three more anchoring the base of the console. They not only look awesome, but are easy to use (in keeping with GM’s best-in-biz cabin ergonomics). I climbed into the cabin with key in pocket, pressed the brake pedal and the SS came to life. I nudged the grapefruits back-and-forth to adjust air position, then adjusted the rim to turn it on or off.

Chevy marries this retro style with modern Google Built-in controlled digital screens. A head-up display complements the 11.0-inch instrument and 17.7-inch dash displays.

“Adjust driver temperature to 70 degrees,” I barked on a chilly, rainy May evening, and the cabin temperature instantly adjusted.

A blizzard of other vocal and physical controls are at your fingertips. I’m particularly fond of the volume and radio station buttons located on the backside of the steering wheel so I could easily cycle through my Sirius XM radio favorites.

Even in the wet, Blazer SS was fun to drive thanks to its upgraded, stiffened suspension and sophisticated electronics. Combined with all-wheel drive, they kept the beast’s 650 pound-feet of torque (nearly 100 more than the last, 2024 Camaro SS V-8) in line as I barreled around the county.

Those electronics also enable non-performance features. Like when you don’t want to steer at all.

On I-94, I set the speed to 75 mph, engaged Super Cruise and went hands-free to the airport, the Blazer SS navigating traffic beautifully — even moving automatically into the left-hand lane when slower traffic deterred my progress. SS is for Super Smooth.

I kept my hands on my knees, sipped my Grape Snapple and set Sirius XM stations using Chevy’s superb infotainment interface on the big (there’s that word again) infotainment display.

When I exited the freeway, Blazer SS handed the controls back to me and I eased into a stoplight without touching the brake — regenerative braking using the electric motors to bring the sled to a halt.

Afraid that you’ll miss the sound of an internal combustion engine? MY MODE allows you to select a growl (NORMAL or SPORT) to accompany its beastly acceleration. I preferred OFF, content with the silent hammer of the electric motors.

Those motors — and their battery fuel — come at a price. My Blazer SS tester tipped the scales at the same price as a Cadillac Lyriq EV I recently piloted that sits on the same Ultium platform. The Chevy plays in the same space as other mainstream electric hellions like the 601-horsepower Hyundai Ioniq 5 N and 576-horse Kia EV6 GT — but paying Caddy money for a Chevy could be a hard sell.

Blazer SS is also harder to refuel on trips north than, say, a BMW M340i.

Even if you manage to avoid tempting 0-60 launch control dashes, a 75-mph jaunt up I-75 will suck 25% of charger from the battery resulting in a real-world range of 225 miles instead of the EPA-approved 303. And that’s in modest, 70-degree weather. Chevy’s Google-based navigation system is good at navigating to chargers on the route (though the complicated, sliding charging door gives me the reliability willies), but expect a 250-mile trip to, say, Charlevoix to add two stops and a half hour to your travel. SS for Slow Stops.

The SS’s cargo and seating room, however, is easy on the legs — and luggage space — for extended trips. If most of your travel is local (say, over to the Woodward Dream Cruise and back this summer), then there are few cars that stand out — and explode out of stoplights — like the Chevy.

Super Sport. Give it an orange cape.

Next week: 2025 Nissan Murano and Titan

2025 Chevrolet Blazer EV SS

Vehicle type: Battery-powered, rear- and all-wheel-drive, five-passenger hatchback

Price: $61,995, including $1,395 destination fee ($64,180 as tested)

Powerplant: 102 kWh lithium-ion battery with dual-electric-motor drive

Power: 615 horsepower, 650 pound-feet of torque

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph, 3.4 seconds (mfr.); top speed, 120 mph

Weight: 5,730  pounds

Fuel economy: EPA range: 303 miles

Report card

Highs: Sporty, ergonomically superior interior; good ol’ SS acceleration

Lows: Pricey; your trip-mileage may vary

Overall: 3  stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.