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Payne: Chevy Bolt has 238-mile range, lots of muscle
Posted by hpayne on September 13, 2016
The much-anticipated battery-powered 2017 Chevrolet Bolt isn’t just a green machine: This all-electric compact crossover can lay some serious black rubber, too.
Chevy claims a zero-60 time of 6.9 seconds. That’s comparable to Ford’s rabid Fiesta ST, but it feels quicker. Tesla calls its Model S P90D’s acceleration “Ludicrous” mode. Let’s just call the Bolt “Bananas” — and you might lose a few from the grocery bag by throwing around the nimble crossover on the way home.
Test-driving a Bolt outside its birthplace in GM’s Orion Assembly, I stomped the accelerator out of a stoplight and it, well … bolted. With 266 pound-feet of instant torque coursing through its front wheels, the Chevy’s Michelin tires left yards of scorched asphalt in my wake.
The five-door Bolt will have an EPA-estimated range of 238 miles on a full charge and beat the Tesla Model 3 to market as the first car under $40,000 to eclipse the 200-mile mark. The mileage figure is a significant 20 percent jump over the car’s anticipated 200-mile figure — and it beats the $66,000 base Tesla Model S luxury sedan by 20 miles.
From the Fiat 500e to the Nissan Leaf, there are more than a half-dozen “affordable” EVs in production. But none approach the potential of the Bolt and Model 3.
Promising similar range (the Model 3 is estimated at 215 miles on a full charge) and acceleration as the Bolt, the Silicon Valley-bred Tesla electrified the auto community with its plans to bring Model S-like range and performance to the masses. Pricing is even similar — the Bolt will start at around $37,500, minus a $7,500 federal tax rebate; the Model 3 should start at $35,000.
But the Bolt will hit showrooms by the end of the year, while the Tesla won’t be available for a year after that. And with such a huge jump in the marketplace, Bolt might steal some of Tesla’s thunder. Heck, tech god Steve Wozniak says he’s ready to trade in his Model S for the Chevy.
Riding shotgun with me with me on public roads north of The Palace of Auburn Hills was Bolt chief engineer Josh Tavel, a testament to the fact that Chevy’s Bolt ambitions go way beyond high mileage numbers.
An amateur race-driver who worked on GM’s Alpha platform — the athletic bones on which the Cadillac ATS and Camaro sit — the 37-year old knows a thing or two about performance. And he has brought it to the Bolt.
“This car is a noodle without the battery in the floor,” says Tavel, motioning to the car’s floor where a 60 kWh lithium-ion battery is fully integrated into the car’s steel chassis. For perspective, that’s the same size battery as in the much more expensive, base Tesla Model S luxury sedan.
Like Tesla, Tavel and his team want the high-tech Bolt to redefine the car experience. This isn’t a green vehicle. This is a high-tech vehicle that happens to be green. Tavel says 40 miles of the Bolt’s range is achieved through brake regeneration. It’s a concept is familiar to legions of Model S addicts.
Removing my lead foot from the accelerator acts like a brake, recharging the battery. Then Bolt takes the trick a step further: Move the mono-stable shifter from Drive to Low and the Chevy will coast to a complete stop without any brake at all. The Bolt also has a “regen paddle” on the steering wheel that allows the driver to slow the vehicle with a fingertip. It makes for an interesting game along your daily commute — a game with better range numbers as a reward.
“I always drive my Bolt home in Low mode,” Tavel says.
The battery in the basement does more than just give the Bolt a low 20.7-inch center of gravity on par with production sports cars: it transforms the interior space. With only an AC motor and control units like the AC/DC power-converter controller under the hood, there’s plenty of room to move the cabin forward, opening up acres of space in back. A leggy 6-foot-5 ex-basketball player, I could easily sit behind myself in the rear seat. The 102.4-inch wheelbase is midway between a Chevy Sonic and the Cruze, the B-segment subcompact. But its 94 square feet of interior room is decidedly C-segment.
Unlike its plug-in hybrid sister Chevy Volt, which has a battery splitting the cabin in two, the Bolt has plenty of interior elbow and legroom. Unencumbered by a drivetrain, the console opens for ample storage and a huge 10.2-inch screen on the dash.
Continuing Chevy’s embrace of digital devices, the Bolt won’t offer an in-car navigation system. It’s a nod to consumer preference for using their own Android or Apple smartphones’ navigation systems: With Android Auto and Apple CarPlay standard, drivers simply plug in their phones and ask Google (or Siri) to lead the way.
Even the Bolt’s tires are transformative. Run over a nail and Michelin’s compound will absorb the intruding shrapnel without going flat. “We are taking away every excuse not to buy this car,” says engineer Tavel.
Perhaps the biggest excuse Bolt overcomes is it’s not a sedan. The Chevy Volt suffered in a market that was rejecting sedans (it was ridiculed as a $40,000 Chevy Cruze). The Bolt’s elevated seating position, unique platform and compact-utility interior hit the sweet spot of the automotive market.
That sweet spot includes players like the 2015 North American Car of the Year VW Golf GTI which sports similar space and grunt — 210 horsepower, 258 pound-feet of torque — for $10,000 less. It’s a reminder of the steep hill the Bolt will face to grow its market beyond green customers.
The Chevy’s unique, raked crossover profile will stand out on the street despite its conservative Chevy styling cues. While the Bolt likely won’t beat the rear-wheel drive Tesla Model 3 sedan off the line in performance (the Bolt’s front-wheel drive architecture suggests its platform will be used for future GM vehicles — the next Sonic, perhaps?), its utility should be an advantage.
But can mainstream Chevy match Tesla luxury brand cache? After all, Tesla has hooked 373,000 customers (including your humble scribe) into committing $1,000 down payments on a product that doesn’t yet exist.
Chevy marketing chief Steve Majoros is unfazed by the Tesla’s head start in generating buzz. He prefers being first to market.
“We have a great, national dealer network,” he says. “And they already have customers lining up for this car. Having at least a year head start on the competition is fundamentally a great proposition.”
Tesla may be an EV rock star, but Majoros points out that Chevy has cred, too, given the Volt’s household name and record of bullet-proof reliability.
“Customers look at Chevy as a great people-hauling company,” says Majoros. “The Bolt fulfills that need and builds on the credibility that we have in the EV space. We may not be as publicly visible as Tesla, but we are going to come to market very aggressively with the Bolt.”
Behind the wheel in Rochester Hills, my aggressive driving gets plenty of encouragement from Tavel. I throw the road-hugging Bolt into a 90-degree right-hander, tires screaming, then flatten the throttle on exit. Try this in a 250-horse Ford Focus ST and the torque-steer will rip the steering wheel from your hands. Not the Bolt. Tavel’s team has dialed out torque-steer with careful programming.
The level of detail in the Bolt impresses: roomy enough for a soccer mom, yet enough pop to keep demon dad happy.
“To quote the Michigan Fab Five: We’re gonna shock the world,” says Majoros. Pun intended.
Payne review: Ford Fusion bulks up
Posted by hpayne on September 8, 2016
In 1989, basketball icon Michael Jordan shaved his thinning pate clean and males with receding hairlines wanted to Be Like Mike. They may have had potbellies out to there, but their HeadBlade domes looked as cool as the coolest athlete on earth.
Auto fashion is like that.
A pouty-mouth grille and fastback shape has made Aston Martin the coolest cat in autodom. So in 2013, Ford’s frumpy Fusion mid-size sedan modeled Aston’s grille and shape and — dude! — it was cool.
Four years later and Fusion is due for its mid-cycle refresh. There may be a million of ’em on the road, but the sleek sedan still turns my head, its upscale looks rivaled only by the Mazda 6. Meanwhile, Aston style has continued to define auto fashion.
Would Fusion evolve with the sexy Brit? Would it get rounder hips like the Rapide sedan? Or copy its full frontal grille? Or get a wrap-around fascia like the stunning DB11 and Bond-inspired DB10?
Um, well: No, no, no and no. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, so Fusion Part Two has played it safe. Rather than rocking out as a full Rapide wannabe, Fusion has just tweaked its Aston cues — headlights more angled here, lips more pointed there, corners edgier over there. A little bling goes a long way, so Fusion’s tookus gets a nice, horizontal chrome strip connecting the rear taillights. And “eyeliner” front LED running lights. Like the theme song that accompanies Broadway musical characters, cars these days must have their own light signature.
But if the Fusion Part One’s exterior wowed, the headliner for Fusion Part Two is what’s under the skin. Like the Michael Jordan wannabe who shaved his head and then adopted a basketball fitness regimen, the new Fusion has put some serious firepower behind that lovely Aston face.
For 2017 Fusion has added a “Sport” badge to its lineup.
But this is no Honda Accord Sport model tarted up with big wheels and a decklid spoiler. Fusion Sport is packed with the same blown, 325-horsepower V-6 found in the F150 and Ford Edge Sport. That would be the first mid-size sedan to pack more than 300 horses.
Whip the Sport out of a Woodward stoplight and it will hit 60 mph in just 5.3 seconds — two seconds quicker than Fusion’s peppy, turbocharged 2.0-liter and just a half-second off Aston’s Rapide sedan. Now we’re talkin’.
Ford is a decidedly bipolar brand these days — a fuel-sipping Ecoboost greenie one minute, a hungry twin-turbo drag racer the next. Nowhere is this split personality more evident than the Fusion lineup, which made headlines in 2013 by offering a hybrid version that went farther on a gallon of fuel (42 miles vs. 41) than King Camry. There’s a plug-in too.
That was then, this is now. For Act Two, the 20 mpg Sport is the least efficient Fusion — part of a Blue Oval performance offensive that has includes the Le Mans-wining Ford GT, asphalt-melting Shelby Mustang GT350, and musclebound Ford Focus ST and RS hot hatches.
“We decided not to do an ST version of the Fusion. This customer is not quite as hardcore,” says Todd Soderquist, chief program engineer for Fusion. But Soderquist didn’t hold back much. This is a motorhead who spends his leisure time wringing the neck of a GT350 at a two-mile racetrack he built in Nebraska.
The Fusion Sport would sound great on a racetrack, too. WAAUUUUUGHHHHHH!! I nail the throttle coming out of the twisties near Hell, Michigan, and for a moment wonder if it isn’t a masculine Ford V-8 under the hood. Put Sport in SPORT mode and the sound sharpens, the steering tightens and the tranny holds a higher gear to take full advantage of 380 pound-feet of torque.
That’s useful because the Fusion Sport is no lightweight. Exiting a Glenn Brook Road hairpin, the V-6 grunts with exertion to keep the sedan’s porky 3,982 pounds (551 more than the base Fusion) moving. Continuously variable dampers — a cousin of the magnetic dampers that make GM’s performance cars such a joy to drive these days — help keep the big fella nimble.
Some of those added calories come from the Sport’s extra two cylinders and all-wheel drive. Other poundage comes from hood insulation and double-laminated glass that contribute to the 2017 Fusion’s biggest advance: a quiet, sophisticated interior.
Beginning at the Fusion’s SE trim (standard on Sport), the much-improved SYNC 3 system is available. SYNC’s console screen is quick to the touch, connects to my smartphone via Android Auto (CarPlay for you Appleheads), and displays its info in the instrument panel for safer, heads-up driving.
Transforming Fusion’s center console is an electronic rotary shifter. Its beauty is in what it adds — the aggressive, aforementioned SPORT button — and subtracts.
Eliminating hydraulic cables, the e-shifter also opens up the once-cramped console. The console storage bin is so deep it reaches to China, and a cave of space has opened under the dash screen big enough for spelunking. Add two cupholders and a roomy slot for my monster smartphone and you can have everything and the kitchen sink at your disposal.
Otherwise, Fusion’s dimensions are unchanged. I could sit behind myself in a backseat that is no Honda Accord-sized living room but comfortably average for the class. The Sport (you’ll know it by its unique mesh grille) is also joined in 2017 by an upscale Platinum trim, meaning the Fusion model line now runs from $22,610 to north of $42,000 — a $20,000 trim spread that is typical of lux models like Audi’s A4, for example.
With a growly voice, AWD and similar horsepower to Audi’s S4 sport trim model, think of Fusion as a roomier version of Audi’s S4 sports sedan. Sport even sports a unique LED light signature (Audi started this trend), ditching the standard Fusion “eyeliner” for an eyebrow LED. I would even go so far as to cross-shop against the Audi — especially as you can have the athletic Fusion for (cough) $18,000 less.
Take a good look in your rearview mirror the next time you hear a growly engine. That grille could be an Aston Martin. That menacing headlamp? An Audi. But when it roars past, you’ll note the Ford badge and think: I can afford that.
2017 Ford Fusion
specifications
| VEHICLE TYPE | FRONT-ENGINE, FRONT OR ALL-WHEEL DRIVE,
FIVE-PASSENGER SEDAN |
||||||||||||||||
| Power plant | 2.7-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 (Sport model
as tested). Also available: 2.5-liter inline-4; 1.5-liter turbocharged inline-4; 2.0-liter, turbocharged inline-4; hybrid with 2.0-liter inline-4/battery assist; plug-in hybrid with 2.0-liter inline-4/7.6 kWh lithium-ion battery
|
Payne: Audi’s R8 is uncompromising in speed and comfort
Posted by hpayne on September 1, 2016
Car names are so homogeneous these days. Shopping for luxury sports sedans sounds like a trip down the microwave appliance aisle. Quick — what brands make the AMG CLA45, 3-Series M3, ATS-V and WM009? Answer: Mercedes, BMW, Cadillac, and that last one is a Westinghouse microwave. Even sports cars aren’t spared. Audi’s expensive goods department, for example, offers a choice of A7, S7, RS7, A8, S8 or R8. Which one’s the mid-engine coupe? You: I just bought an R8. Neighbor: Oh, yeah, I love the big back seat. You: No, that’s the A8. I have the two-seat sports car. Yeah, that one. The one that shares a chassis and engine with the Lamborghini Huracan. The one with 610 horsepower and dual-clutch S-tronic tranny that shifts in under 100 milliseconds. The one that goes 0-60 mph in 2.6 seconds, faster than any naturally aspirated car on the planet. At least Lamborghini names its rocketship after a bull. I mean, c’mon, Audi! If you had to go alphanumeric, you couldn’t have named it the XXX? Or PDQ? Or OMG? I particularly like that last one, because that’s what people kept shouting when I prowled the Dream Cruise last month. Even at 3 mph, the R8 looks like it’s doing a million. Heads snapped around like Beyonce had appeared in the middle of Woodward. Oh, my god, Dad! It’s an R8! Oh, my god! What is that? Oh, my god! Is that the new R8? OMG, this thing is intense. The Audi’s badge may be antiseptic, but it purposely echoes the brand’s legendary R8 race car that dominated LeMans at the turn of the century, proving Audi could compete on the world sports stage with Porsche and Mercedes. Like the racing prototype, R8 is the distillation of Audi’s best technology. Now in its second generation, the R8 is uncompromising in speed and comfort. Audi nixed the previous gen’s lower-priced V8 option, meaning your choice is a 540- or 610-horsepower V10. As such, the $164,000-$200,000 Audi occupies a competitive market space with other powerful cyborgs like the Porsche 911 Turbo, McLaren 570S, Acura NSX and Mercedes AMG GT S. With their conventional drivetrains (the battery-assisted NSX excepted) and sub-$200K stickers, these greyhounds put up similar performance numbers to gold-plated exotics like the $1.4 million Ferrari LaFerrari, $450,000 Ford GT, and aforementioned, $260,000 Huracan. Rare but hardly unicorns (by contrast, there are only three LaFerraris in all of Michigan) they are the face of GT racing, slugging it out in IMSA’s Weathertech series at venues like Detroit’s Belle Isle Grand Prix weekend where R8 won the GTD class ahead of a Huracan. They are the cars that the $100,000 Corvette Z06 use as a performance baseline (thus its rightful place as the “budget supercar”). Call them the Junior League of Supercars (taking a page from Marvel’s young superheroes). At $199,925, my Audi R8 V10 Plus may be the best of the breed. I say that having tested the class’s best athlete, the 2017 Porsche 911 Turbo, at California’s Thunderhill Raceway just days before delivery of my R8 (“Plus” designates the 610-horsepower option). Stuttgart’s superhero outduels the Audi in virtually every spec (according to comparisons by our friends at Car and Driver and Motor Trend). Zero-60 mph: Porsche, 2.5 seconds; Audi, 2.6. Braking, 70-0 mph: Porsche 139 feet; Audi, 153. Skid-pad cornering Gs: Porsche, 1.06, Audi, 1.00. And so on … Flogging the R8 around M1 Concourse’s 1.5-mile track in Pontiac, I found the stats backed up the user experience. Like the all-wheel-drive 3,527-pound 911 Turbo, the AWD 3,627-pound Audi was a blast to drive with neutral handling, maniacal acceleration and earth-clawing, ceramic-rotor braking. Compared to a first-gen R8 I drove at Autobahn Raceway outside Chicago a couple of years back, the 2017’s chassis is noticeably more rigid, its aluminum skeleton strengthened by a carbon-fiber bulkhead and undertray. Yet the Porsche’s more sophisticated AWD — dual-clutch torque vectoring assisted by rear-wheel steering — made for much better rotation through corners than the Audi and its more common Haldex system. Both cars were shod with Pirelli P-Zero summer tires, but the Turbo was more predictable on turn-in with less slip under high g-loads. Like the Acura NSX, the Audi’s inherent understeer impedes momentum through the tight stuff. Under stress, the R8’s brakes showed a tendency to fade (surprising for ceramics) and emitted a noticeable odor when I returned to the paddock. Porsche’s ceramic and steel rotors never blinked under more extreme flogging. Despite their transmission similarities, the R8 displayed eccentricities compared to the rock-solid Porsche — like a violent, surging downshift when floored at cruise speed. Audi makes up for these small track margins with big street pluses. Like design. Porsche’s familiar coupe lines won’t send Dream Cruisers running for their smartphone cameras like the slinky R8. Its fascia is no Lambo (Audi’s halo car conforms to brand design themes), but intimidating nevertheless. Eschewing the first gen’s awkward “sideburn” intake for a more conventional scoop, the Audi’s long, V-10-engorged rear deck is reminiscent of the dramatic Bugatti Veyron. In an age of whispery turbos, the howling, high-revving 10-pot is an aural masterpiece. Zero-60 stoplight launches are epic. My petrolhead pals were laughing as they put the throttle to the mat, the lightning-quick tranny and AWD grip propelling the car forward like Cedar Point’s Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster. On Woodward after hours, the R8 simply sucked the doors off all challengers like Maserati’s alpha dog GT MC. I could have set up a stand at the Dream Cruise and charged for rides. Before waking up the throaty V-10, the Audi’s interior, all-digital “Virtual Cockpit” wows. The 12.3-inch display integrates infotainment functions in the instrument panel. The 911’s classic gauge controls look soooo 15 minutes ago by comparison. And by eliminating the traditional dash screen and putting all controls including the START-STOP button on the steering wheel (shades of the racing R8 prototype), the Virtual Cockpit opens up the console for useful storage and cupholder space — a rarity in sports cars. The experience makes the R8 feel like I am driving a video game. Instant power. Ear-rattling audio. Digital special effects. With the R8, Audi has married raw Lamborghini performance with 21st-century drivability. Now if they could just come up with a more descriptive alphanumeric badge. How about “2.6 0-60”? 2017 Audi R8 V10 Plus specifications TWO-PASSENGER SPORTS CAR (V10); 610 horsepower, 413 pound-feet torque (V10 Plus) top speed: 205 mph report card Overall:★★★★ Posted by hpayne on August 29, 2016 Ginger or Mary Ann? Paper or plastic? Hillary or Trump? Life is full of vexing, self-defining choices. Here at The Detroit News, we take on the hard auto choices every year at the Woodward Dream Cruise, America’s greatest rolling car show. We schedule the coolest cars in the press fleet and put them through the ringer: Hours of grueling Woodward cruising, rubber-smoking stoplight burnouts, and constant Sirius/XM radio tuning. It’s a tough job but somebody has to do it. In years past we have addressed great existential questions like: Stingray or Hellcat? Mustang or Camaro? V-8 or inline-4? This year your intrepid auto critic took on the burning issue: Convertible or coupe? I was well equipped with cutting edge examples of both breeds: The soft-top 2017 Fiat 124 Spider and the fastback, 50th anniversary 2017 Chevy Camaro SS. The Fiat is everyone’s favorite Italian roadster. Nicknamed the Fiata because it is the dizygotic twin of the Mazda Miata, the 124 comes in convertible trim only. The Camaro SS, by contrast, is a coupe fortress, its windows narrower than a Normandy pillbox (and with more firepower under the hood, too). I last rowed the delightful Fiata over California mountain roads. Despite sharing everything but its skin and engine with the Mazda, Fiat has done a good job of separating the two brands. With retro-styling that updates the 124’s ’60s look for a new century, the Spider fits right into a Cruise culture that treasures nostalgic designs like Mustang, Challenger, and Camaro. The 124’s turbo four-banger is not as lively as the Miata’s 2.0-liter naturally-aspirated mill, but Woodward party accentuates the Fiat’s greatest virtues: Italian styling and topless cabin. Fiat is the tightest fit for my 6’5” frame of any auto. With ragtop in place, my head is stuffed into the roof, my knees one with the dashboard, and I have to dislocate my shoulder to operate the rotary screen-controller knob. But with the top down, the tiny Fiat is a delightful fishbowl with a 360-degree view of Woodward. Inching along in the Friday evening Cruise jam, I chatted with cars on the right and left of me while routinely taking smartphone “selfie” shots of cars streaming for miles behind me. Best of all, the Fiata soft top is a cinch to take up or down without ever leaving the driver’s seat. When a pattering of rain drops came Saturday afternoon, I simply popped the latch, reached back and pulled the cloth top over me as simply as I would yank on a blanket on a cold summer’s night. In the Camaro, you’re lucky to see in front of you. From the outside, the 2017 car is a knockout. Sculpted with muscular flanks and squashed greenhouse, Camaro might pass for a front-engine Lamborghini but for the bowtie Chevy logo on the grille. But inside, the angled windshield is so shallow that I had to lean forward just to watch stoplights change. The surrounding view? Fuhgettaboutit. The only way you know the guy in the tiny Fiat is at your elbow is the blind-spot monitor flashing in your rear-view mirror. The Fiata is for extroverts. If you want to show off your hot girl-/boyfriend, get the 124 — no one will see ’em in Camaro Cave. Chevy’s coupe is for a different kind of display: horsepower. With 455 horsepower on tap from the same small-block V-8 found under the hood of cousin Corvette, the SS is a master at the Woodward burnout. I tried a burnout with the 124 Spider’s 160 horsepower turbo-four and the tire squeak was louder than the engine. Spectators thought someone had stepped on a mouse. Cruising up Woodward on Thursday morning in Camaro’s 50th Anniversary Parade, I was followed by Kansan Logan Lawson — owner of the first Camaro ever made — attending his first Dream Cruise. Got to roll out the burnt-rubber welcome mat for these Kansans. Each stop signal on Woodward became a routine. Green light. Spike the revs to three-grand. Pop the clutch. Fill Logan’s cabin with tire smoke. With its 455-pound feet of torque and a limited-slip differential, the Camaro makes burnouts easy — and safe. Which reminds me of another advantage of coupes — when the air gets too thick with tire smoke and carbon monoxide, you can always roll up the windows and marinate in cool air conditioning. With 4G LTE WiFi and Android Auto connectivity, the Camaro is an easy refuge. Of course, readers looking for the perfect mix of topless roadster sociability and tire-smoking coupe macho may have already figured out the solution: The Camaro SS convertible. Happy cruisin’. 2017 Fiat 124 Spider Specifications TWO-PASSENGER SPORTS CAR top speed: 136 mph 2017 Chevy Camaro SS Coupe Specifications report card Overall:★★★★ FOUR-PASSENGER SPORTS COUPE (6.2-liter V-8 as tested) top speed: 155 mph report card Overall:★★★★ Posted by hpayne on August 25, 2016 When Jeep does a media test program they take us to places like Hollister Hills State Vehicular Recreation Area south of San Francisco, a sort of boot camp for cars. We tortured a Renegade there last year off sandy cliffs, over rocks and through a cement mixer of water and mud. The subcompact crossover is that tough, even if Joe Suburbia never takes it off asphalt. When Porsche wants to introduce a new 911 Turbo, they take us to remote locations like Thunderhill Raceway Park north of Sacramento. In August. In 103-degree heat. It’s the “Willows” ramp off Interstate 5, the exit right before “The Fires of Hades.” Over four hours, we flogged Stuttgart’s latest through four 20-minute sessions over one of the longest (4.6 miles), most punishing closed race courses in North America. This is production car abuse (by comparison, I do three, 20-minute sessions over seven hours in my purpose-built Porsche 906 race car on a typical race day). Why? So Joe Suburbia knows that his $200,000 Porsche is as fast and reliable as they say it is. Even if the only course it ever comes near is a golf course. As if 18 LeMans endurance victories weren’t enough proof, Porsche engineers the fastest, most durable sports cars on the planet. And everything they have ever learned is wrapped in a rocketship labeled internally as version 991.2. The world will know it as the 2017 911 Turbo and Turbo S. Since its debut in 1973, the Turbo has had the mostest: the most horsepower, most technology, most drivability of any 911. On Thunderhill it didn’t disappoint. Like the 911 Carrera on which it is based, Turbo feels smaller than its 3,527 pounds. Credit German engineering that brews this masterpiece with a tried-and-true recipe: fast-back shape, rear-mounted boxer 6-cylinder, and a rear track wider than a 747. Then add the latest spices, like a standard all-wheel drive system that rotates the car’s mass through corners with rear-wheel steering. The payoff comes at exit, when you floor — yes, floor — the 3.8-liter engine and all four paws channel its 540-horsepower (580 in the Turbo S) for launch to the next corner. At Thunderhill, I hit 140 mph on the short front straight. This AWD grip is surely part of what’s driving the mid-engine Corvette’s developmentbecause the horsepower arms race shows no sign of letting up. With 650 ponies at its disposal, Chevy needs to move its engine rearward so the front wheels can help manage all that grunt. In the rear-wheel-drive ’Vette, power application can be a hairy enterprise. In the Turbo it’s pure joy. Of course, bringing nearly two tons of fury to heel isn’t easy. The Turbo S options massive, 16-inch front carbon-ceramic rotors to do the job. You’ll know them by their yellow six-pot Brembo calipers. And $9,210 price tag. The Turbo’s standard steel rotors are just fine, thank you very much, showing no sign of fade under my 20-minute whippings. Frankly, if you’re going to put a Porsche through regular track torture, you’ll want a 911 GT-3 RS or the mid-engine Cayman GT4. These nimbler track rats weigh 400-500 pounds less than the Turbo. But even if the Turbo never sees a track, it packs plenty of thrills for the street. Begin with “SPORT Response,” an unassuming little button within the Driving Mode dial on the steering wheel. Pushing it unleashes the Hounds of Hell. Its purpose is akin to IndyCar Racing’s “push-to-pass” mode which boosts horsepower for 10-second passing bursts. In the 911 Turbo, SPORT Response primes the drivetrain for 20 seconds of maximum performance. Luffing along on the road to Thunderhill, I encountered a conga line of slow traffic. Pressed the button. The automatic tranny instantly dropped from seventh to third gear. Revs spiked to 5,000 rpm. I stomped the throttle and the car shot forward like a greased torpedo. FOOOOMP! I was past the line doing a million miles an hour — and well before my 20 seconds was used up. Try this in normal driving mode and you’ll feel a moment’s hesitation as the tranny downshifts. In SPORT Response there is no delay, no drivetrain interruption at all. A Porsche engineer explained how this is possible. I didn’t understand a word. Let’s just say it’s Black Magic. And very addictive. Did I mention the Turbo no longer offers a manual gearshift option? You won’t miss it. Computer-driven tech like SPORT Response is only possible with modern, lightning-quick, dual-clutch PDK (PDQ would be more appropriate) trannies like that in the Turbo. Sub-100 millisecond gear changes propel the lag-less Turbo from 0-60 mph in a breathtaking 2.6 seconds. That’s Tesla Ludicrous Mode-like acceleration — but with 430-mile range. On track I love to row a manual box. But Porsche’s computer is smarter — never missing a shift, never selecting a wrong gear. PDK allows you to concentrate on your line. Off-track, the Turbo is a pussycat — a whisper-quiet, roomy, all-wheel daily driver that will even cut through Michigan snow drifts. No wonder Porsche race star Hurley Haywood, who led us around Thunderhill at a smart clip, says the 2017 Turbo is the best 911 he’s ever driven. “And I thought the last generation, 991.1, couldn’t get any better,” the Daytona- and LeMans-winning driver says. “But on the last gen you could feel the rear-drive steering jerk you into a corner, while in the new car it’s seamless.” You sense some relief in the 68-year old’s voice after driving — and surviving — Porsche race cars for the last 50 years. Including the legendary, 1,100-horsepower, 1973 Porsche 917. “That car was scary,” he concedes. With all this engineering bravado in the 911 Turbo, I scratch my head at what’s missing in this $200,000 jewel: No voice recognition, no proper cup holders (they still flop out from the dash). Manual transmission aside, these are Porsche’s stubborn nods to tradition. No buttons on the steering column (SPORT Response button is at the end of a stalk). No storage on the console (performance buttons only). No starter button (left key required). In the $200,000 supercar toy department — McLaren 570, Audi R8 V10, Acura NSX — 911’s tradition is its reputation. The others may look and sound more exotic, but Porsche is betting that after 20 minutes the old lion will still be King of Thunderhill. FOUR-PASSENGER SPORTS CAR (Turbo); 580 horsepower, 516 pound-feet torque (Turbo S) top speed: 205 mph report card RIDICULOUS ACCELERATION; PUSH-TO-PASS SPORT RESPONSE MODE No place to put your phone; I wouldn’t trust those flimsy cupholders at 1-plus G-loads Overall:★★★★ Posted by hpayne on August 20, 2016 The Woodward Dream Cruise may be the most populist major car show in America. Everyone is welcome – from One Percenters in supercars to Joe Lunchbucket in his antique carbureted geezer. So when D-MAN Foundation – which supports kids and adults with significant disabilities – was looking for an event where its clients could share the joys of motoring, it found a welcoming home at the Cruise. For the fifth year, D-MAN’s “Dreams Come True on Woodward” brought dozens of its clients to the Kingsley Inn in Bloomfield Hills where they were treated to games, music – and most significantly, open-air rides in some of Motor City’s favorite convertibles. D-MAN is the brainchild of Ziad Kassab, 32, whose younger brother, Danny, was tragically paralyzed from the neck down at the age of 5. When his brother succumbed to his disability at 23, Kassab dedicated his life to helping similarly disable individuals enjoy a fuller life through music and social events. Thus his organization’s name: Danny’s Miracle Angels Network (D-MAN). “Dreams Come True” depends on volunteers – like your Fiat 124 Spider-driving scribe – to give rides to their clients. My passenger was Randy Newton, 31, a cerebral palsy victim from Mt. Morris. Randy cannot speak and has only limited mobility, but his dedicated, loving parents – Mary and Ralph – helped him into the Fiat’s passenger seat from his wheel chair. We took a quick spin up Woodward – the topless 124 Spider surrounded by loud V-8s, gorgeous sports cars, and the odd ice cream truck. Randy took it all in, particularly thrilled by the roars from the big block engines. His parents told me he is a huge Kid Rock fan – and judging by the ear-to-ear grin on his face when we got back to the Kingsley, he’s now a Fiat fanatic as well. Other D-MAN participants could not ride along in my two-seater convertible. Charlie Starlight, for example. A 29-year old quadriplegic, Charlie took a ride in a Camaro convertible after being lowered into the front seat from his wheel chair with a harness that D-MAN brought for the occasion. Then a family member rode in the Chevy’s rear seat in order to monitor his ventilator. “I like the noise the Camaro makes,” said Charlie when asked the best part of GM’s iconic pony car – which is celebrating its 50th anniversary at this year’s Cruise. Starlight makes some beautiful music of his won, having just cut his first album, “The Beginning of Charlie Starlight” with D-MAN’s Music Therapy Productions. D-MAN uses music as therapy for its patients – including developing software that compliments their musical abilities. “It’s vocational therapy. It’s breathing therapy. It makes me use my musical skills to their full ability,” says quadriplegic Al Floyd, 46, who can activate virtual keyboards and percussion with head and eye movements in order to create accompaniment with his vocals. He recently recorded a single, “My Home Detroit.” With more than articipants, D-MAN Foundation enjoyed another successful Dream Cruise this year. For more information, go to www.mydman.org on the web or look for #BeTheMiracle on Twitter. And bring a convertible cruiser to the Kingsley Inn in August, 2017. Posted by hpayne on August 19, 2016 Move over, Corvette. This year Camaro is Chevy’s King of the Cruise. Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the iconic pony car lit up its tires and lit the torch to open the 22nd Annual Woodward Dream Cruise on Friday morning. “Camaro owners, start your engines!” roared General Motors product development chief Mark Reuss. His call unleashed bedlam on Detroit’s waterfront as 250 Camaros roared to life in the Joe Louis Arena parking lot. Reuss then jumped into a 455-horsepower 2016 Camaro SS — the same car Roger Penske used to pace the field at this year’s 100th Indianapolis 500 — and led the noisy parade up Interstate 75, through mid-morning traffic, and onto Woodward. Final destination: the Iroquois Club north of Square Lake Road. While Penske hit 140 mph on Indy’s back straight, Reuss was much more civilized, following a police escort at a tame 50 mph. “This is the Camaro’s cruise. You only turn 50 once,” grinned Reuss, whose first car was an original red 1967 Camaro that he found for $1,500 in Missouri. GM’s motorhead-in-chief was followed by Camaro faithful who answered the call for this year’s parade from 16 states, Ontario — and one guy from Norway. All six generations of the car were represented. Among the field was Mark Stielow of Milford, Michigan. GM engineer by day, Camaro hobbyist by night, Stielow has updated 15 original Camaros to modern spec — including the stunning yellow ’69 SS he stuffed with a 6-liter V-8 from the current ZL1 Camaro, six-speed manual transmission (replacing the old “three-on-a-tree”) and coil-over shocks. You could hear him fire it up from Pontiac. Walt Stiles, 73, came all the way from Syracuse, New York, for the morning “Camaros and coffee” rally in his pristine red 2016 Camaro SS. This is Stiles’ fourth Camaro — the first was a 1994 Z28 — and it is his favorite. No wonder — the sixth-generation cars are light-years advanced from that fourth-generation. Today’s car is not only built on a stiff platform shared with the nimble Cadillac ATS, but it has 4G LTE WiFi, Apple CarPlay and state-of-the-art suspension. The original car rode on leaf springs still found in pickup trucks today. Polished to perfection, Stiles’ coupe won “Best 2016 Camaro” at Lansing’s Assembly plant Thursday where the Camaro faithful took a plant tour. Then the whole Camaro development team — Reuss, chief engineer Al Oppenheiser and designer Tom Peters among them — signed its engine bay. I followed Peters up Woodward in his own classic red 1969 Camaro. I was behind the wheel of a brand-new 2017 50th anniversary-edition SS festooned with Detroit News decals. Chevy is offering the 50th anniversary edition with all three powertrains — turbocharged 4-cylinder, V-6 and V-8. You’ll know it by its “Nightfall Gray metallic” color, orange accents — Brembo brake calipers, hood stripes, leather seat-stitching — and unique 20-inch wheels. With “FIFTY” tattooed on the front fenders, Chevy expects to sell 5,000 of them. I tried to provoke Peters into some burnouts up Woodward with the modern 560-horsepower, 427-cubic inch V-8 that he stuffed into his car. But he behaved himself. As did Reuss who was clearly tickled to be in the same car Penske had driven at Indy. It was Reuss who asked the 79-year-old Indy legend to pace the field at Indy in his 50th year racing at the brickyard. “He was over the moon about it,” recalls Reuss, “No one had ever approached him about doing it before.” The parade even included a classic 1991 Camaro cop car the Michigan State Police still owns. Underneath its blue exterior is an IROC-Z — the performance version of the ’91 Camaro Z28. “We used them for traffic enforcement only,” said officer and driver Mike Shaw, 52, referring to the muscle car’s specialty of running down high-speed scofflaws. “We could chase down anything.” At Friday’s parade, everyone stayed in line. Posted by hpayne on August 18, 2016 Forged in the hot oven of Big Three competition, Camaro was Chevy’s response to Ford’s wildly popular sports coupe, the Mustang. Affordably priced but bearing the sexy lines of a more expensive European sports car, Ford’s rear-wheel-drive “pony car” took the world by storm in 1965, selling a staggering 680,995 copies in its first model year. Reports of a long-hooded, two-door Chevy competitor to the Mustang surfaced in April 1965. Codename: Panther. Legend has it that the name Camaro was loosely based on the French word “camarade” from which the English term “comrade” is derived. The Camaro was unveiled in September 1966 for the 1967 model year. Its base price, $2,466, undercut the cheapest Mustang, which cost $2,510. An epic, five-decade, cross-town rivalry with Ford was on. Here’s a drive down memory lane, looking back at the notable years of Camaro for its 50th anniversary. Forged in the hot oven of Big Three competition, the Camaro was Chevy’s response to Ford’s wildly popular sports coupe, the Mustang, which took the world by storm in 1965. Legend has it that the name Camaro was loosely based on the French word “camarade,” from which the English term “comrade” is derived. Fifty years ago, in 1967, an epic, cross-town rivalry with Ford was on. Here’s a look at how the Camaro has evolved. 1970: The base engine was upgraded to a 4.1-liter while the SS was stuffed with a fire-breathing, 350-horse, 6.5-liter enginel. Produced for over a decade, the second-generation Camaro would not feature a convertible (what were they thinking?). 1971: A move to unleaded gasoline brought lower compression ratios and less horsepower. The 6.5-liter SS engine, for example, saw power decline from 350 horses to 300. The Camaro’s mug changed with a full, chrome bumper — compliments of government regulation. 1972: Due to a strike, Camaro would only produce 68,651 units in 1972 — half of 1970 totals. For the first time, GM thought of discontinuing the Camaro as a flood of emissions and safety regulations made pony cars difficult to produce. Horsepower ratings continued to drop — to 240 horsepower for the SS’s big block, 6.5-liter V-8 in what would be its last production year. 1973: Camaro sales rebounded somewhat to nearly 100,000 units even as Camaro dropped its SS trim. A more posh LT model was offered in addition to the RS and Z28. The LT boasted a lush interior, hidden windshield wipers, full instrumentation, and sport mirrors. 1974: Camaro grew by seven inches — and so did sales. The former was due to more stringent federal bumper mandates, the latter courtesy of Mustang, which downsized to the Pinto platform with a base, 4-cylinder engine), and Dodge Challenger, Plymouth Barracuda, and AMC Javelin all exiting the pony car market. As a consequence, Camaro –and related Pontiac Firebird — were the only true muscle cars in the market. Despite the oil crisis, Camaro sales soared to over 150,000. 1975: Tightening emissions regs doomed the Z28 and its 5.7-liter V-8. Sales remained stable, however, thanks to the Camaro/Firebird pony-car market monopoly. Mild cosmetic changes distinguished the new model, including a wrap-around rear window for better visibility, new Camaro badge, and the migration of the logo from grille to hood. 1976: Sales for the Camaro climbed over 182,000 — a trend that would continue to the car’s 282,571 record in 1979. Under the hood, Camaro’s base V-6 stayed the same. Two V-8s were available – a new, 5.0-liter and the old, 5.7-liter, its output down to just 165 ponies. 1977: The Z28 was back as Camaro (and Firebird) sales soared. The 5.7-liter V-8 gained 20 horsepower and its quarter-mile performance nearly replicated the heyday of the big block, 1960s Camaros. Other notable changes? Intermittent windshield wipers debuted. 1978: Camaro designers embraced new bumper aesthetics, covering the aluminum eyesores with a more attractive, body-colored, polyurethane coating. A T-Top also appeared on the Camaro for the first time. 1979: The posh LT trim was replaced by the even more luxurious “Berlinetta” option. Camaro also gained modern conveniences like an electrically-heated rear windshield defroster. The Z28 (pictured) rocked on with a fresh front-air dam and side badging. 1980: Sales fell off a cliff as the economy and engines downsized. The base V-6 shrank from 4.1 liters to 3.8. Yet another federal rule mandated that speedometers could only read up to 85 mph — which didn’t deter Z28 owners from exploring the limits of their 185 horses. In 1981 Computer Command Control modules were introduced, bringing with them more federal emissions controls — but also the ability to aid engine diagnostics. 1982: A major chassis redesign put the next, third-gen Camaro on a diet. It lost 500 pounds while gaining a sippier four-cylinder engine option. A V-6 and V-8 were available as well. Scalloped front headlights dominated the front fascia and the rear got a hatchback. Camaro was named Motor Trend’s 1982 Car of the Year. 1984: Transmissions were upgraded to a 5-speed manual and 4-speed auto. Digital Age controls transformed the 1984 car’s interior, including an instrument cluster with electronic readouts like a bar-graph tachometer and digital speedometer. 1987: Inspired by the International Race of Champions series with Camaros driven by pro drivers from every corner of motorsports, Camaro introduced an IROC-Z version from 1985-1990. The Z got performance tweaks like lowered ride height, special shocks, and more horsepower. In 1986 Camaro said goodbye to its 4-banger, restoring the V-6 as Camaro’s base engine. And in 1987 a convertible returned to the lineup for the first time since 1970. 1992: As sales waned, Camaro celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1992 with a heritage badge on all cars. 1994: Resisting the industry trend toward front-wheel drive models, the fourth generation Camaro debuted on the familiar, solid-rear axle F-body platform. The push-rod V-8 was now shared with Corvette Ð the 5.7-liter, 275-horse LT1 Ð propelling the Z28 model from 0-60 mph in just 5.7 seconds. Visual cues carried over from Gen 3 with the Camaro getting a more streamlined body shape. Production moved out of the U.S. to Quebec. 1995: The base V-6 engine made 200 horsepower for the 1996 model year while the SS badge returned after a long hiatus. Two manual trannies were available — 5- and 6-speed — as well as a 4-gear auto. Options included 16-inch tires. 1997: A 30th anniversary model with orange stripes on a white body was offered in SS and Z28 trims. The LT4 V-8 pumped out 330 horses. A loaded SS with 17-inch wheels cost $38 grand — or $57,068 in today’s dollars. 1998: A new front fascia with flush, rounded headlights replaced the inset, square headlights of previous Gen-4 models. Sales had tailed off to just 54,032 a year. 2010: After teasing Camaro coupe and convertible concepts at the 2006 and 2007 Detroit auto shows, Chevy brought back its iconic muscle car as a 2010 production model. Once again Mustang was the catalyst, Ford having jump-started pony car interest with its gorgeous, retro-styled Gen-5 model in 2005. 2010: The fifth-generation Camaro was a stunner with a Gen 1-inspired design from menacing front cowl to “coke bottle” hips. Built on the all-new Zeta platform, the Camaro featured a modern, independent rear suspension to counter the Mustang’s antiquated, solid rear axle. Camaro outsold Mustang with a buffet of trims from LS to LT to SS. 2011: Camaro’s star turn in “Transformers” made it an international movie star. Chevy built on the car’s popularity by rolling out a convertible version (seen here as the Indy 500 pace car). A V-6 engine pumped out 312 horsepower while the SS’s 6.2-liter V-8 monster generated 425. 2012: The arms race for pony-car hegemony was on against Mustang and Dodge’s Challenger. Camaro introduced a 3.6-liter V-6 producing 323 horsepower. The SS coupe got a new suspension package, 20-inch wheels, and revised instruments. And for the first time, Camaro launched the ZL1 — a Mustang GT500 fighter with a 580-horsepower, 6.2 liter engine. It was the most powerful Camaro ever. 2013: This model would showcase Chevy’s new MyLink console navigation system, leather seats, and electric power steering, making the Camaro a comfortable cruiser as well as a Woodward drag racer. 2014: Camaro received significant cosmetic changes, including a slit cowl, bigger lower air intake, narrower greenhouse, and a wider stance. The Z28 nameplate retuned with a serious, track-focused car boasting a 427-cubic inch motor, Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes, and stiffened suspension tuning. A rocket for the race-minded, the Z28 eschewed AC and could explode from 0-60 in just 4 ticks. 2015: With the much-anticipated, sixth-generation Camaro looming for 2016, the ’15 car got nary an update. Blue Velvet Metallic was added to the color palette. 2016: With its 2015 Extreme Makeover, Ford’s Mustang had set a high bar with its first independent rear suspension, stunning styling, and three engine options — including a 305-horse, turbo four. Camaro rose to the challenge, matching the three engine choices — and much more. Chevy based the new Camaro on GM’s Alpha platform — a sophisticated, lightweight luxury platform developed for the Cadillac ATS. 2016: Powered by a Corvette-shared, 455-horse V-8, the SS shredded the Mustang GT in a Car & Driver performance compassion test. Interior design was efficient while still packing in Chevy’s digital toolbox of 4G WiFi and Apple Car Play. Critics were less enthused by interior visibility – the greenhouse even narrower than Gen 5. 2017: Chevy will roll out the 50th Anniversary Special Edition Camaro, above, on Aug. 19, 2016, at the Woodward Dream Cruise. For the 2017 model year, every Camaro built will feature a special 50th Anniversary badge on the steering wheel. 2017: Camaro also will introduce two performance trims: 1LE and ZL1. The 1LE, available with both V-6 and V-8 engines, comes with signature black hood and upgraded suspension and bodywork. The fearsome-but-luxurious ZR1, above, will get the same, redonculous 650-horse engine as the supercar Corvette Z06 — plus an all-new, 10-speed transmission. That’s one fit 50-year old. Posted by hpayne on August 17, 2016 It’s time to head back to Woodward for our annual Dream Cruise reunion. This year’s featured class is 1990 which, after 26 years, is eligible for historic plate status under Michigan law. Most states celebrate the quarter-century mark, but we Michiganians are different (or just can’t count). When I celebrated my 30th college reunion a couple of years back, time had taken its toll: Some classmates were notable for their loss of hair. Still others hadn’t changed a bit, their youthful figures still turning heads. Some names I didn’t recognize. (We went to school together?) Some had kids who already had graduated from college. So it is with our 26th-reunion class. Some names we’ve forgotten. Geo? Who made you again? The Miata family is in its fourth generation. And Corvette ZR-1, dude, you’re as hot as ever. Ladies and gentlemen, the Class of 1990. Chevy Corvette ZR-1 This was the class’ star athlete. It made the girls swoon. If cars were barred for performance-enhancing drugs, the ZR-1 never would have made it. With bigger glutes to accommodate huge rear rubber, a performance suspension and a 375-horsepower engine supplied by Lotus, the ZR-1 was all-everything. And at $58,995 is cost double a base ‘Vette. Lincoln Town Car The Academy Award-nominated “Driving Miss Daisy” was a cultural phenomenon in 1990, so it’s only appropriate that Lincoln’s best-selling chauffeur-mobile got a major redesign. With sleeker styling, the 181/2-foot-long, V-8 powered land yacht was Motor Trend’s 1990 Car of the Year. Two bench seats! Six-passenger seating! Four-speaker AM/FM stereo with cassette player! Ah, the days when full-size sedans were king. Town Car sold a staggering 120,000 units in 1990 — five times more than today’s lux class-leading Mercedes S-Class. Mazda MX-5 Miata Here we jump from 221-inch ocean liner to 155-inch skiff. The Miata was made in Japan but made for America. The pet project of American journalist-turned-product-planner Bob Hall, the MX-5 was a throwback to the British roadsters of the 1960s. Nimble and topless, the Miata was an instant hit. Unlike the rest of us oldsters, the Miata hasn’t gained weight over two-and-a-half decades. The fourth-gen car — just 2,332 pounds — weighs nearly the same as the original. Buick Reatta convertible A year after the slinky Reatta was introduced, Buick dropped its top. The limited-edition, V-6 powered Reatta was always destined to be a Dream Cruiser classic. The convertible was even rarer with just 2,437 copies sold (65 of them were “Select Sixty” models with white skin and flaming red interiors). It would be the last Buick convertible until this year’s striking, Opel-based Buick Cascada. Lexus LS400 Toyota’s luxury brand debuted in 1990 with the full-sized LS. This big, juicy, premium steak was prepared just as luxury customers wanted — lush interior, big-cube V-8, air suspension — but for a fraction of the cost of comparable European dishes. It looked a Mercedes, but its customer service was second to none. Attentive service spawned urban legends of dealer agents walking 500 miles over hot coals for their customers. The flagship sedan has since lost its mojo, as the Lexus RX SUV has become the brand’s dominant seller – and signature vehicle. nfiniti Q45 Like Toyota, Nissan dove into the luxury pool with its own brand. But unlike Lexus’s swan dive, Infiniti did a belly flop. The Q45 was much more daring than Lexus, less derivative in design. Infiniti chose to debut the car with ads never showing the actual automobile. Its antiseptic interior was clean of coveted design elements like wood trim. It’s a pity, because the car was a technical tour de force: It came with a class-leading, 278-horse, 4.5-liter V-6 and innovative details like rear-wheel steering and an active suspension that read the contours of the road for a smoother ride. Plymouth Laser/Eagle Talon Remember those 1990 class lovebirds, Chrysler and Mitsubishi? Well, the pair got hitched and birthed a Diamond-Star family of identical triplets: Eagle Talon, Mitsubishi Eclipse and Plymouth Laser. Only the Mitsubishi would survive the decade, but the Eagle was the athlete of the litter, winning the SCCA Touring Car championship in 1990 and 1991. Priced affordably (the equivalent of $25K-$35K today), the top-trim, turbocharged Talon/Laser/Eclipse was a rocketship with 195 ponies and all-wheel drive handling. Nissan 300 ZX Nissan designers penned one of the sexiest, most revered shapes in the market when they updated the 300ZX for the 1990 model year. The arched rocker panels alone caused grown men’s knees to buckle with desire. Sporting two engine options — 220-horse V-6 or 300-horse twin-turbo — the low-slung coupe was as quick as it was good-looking. Car and Driver gave it high honors with a place on the annual Top 10 list. VW Corrado The successor to the sporty Scirocco, the wedge-shaped Corrado coupe was a stunner. Its muscular physique, unique rear spoiler (which deployed at speeds over 50 mph) and peppy, 138-horse supercharged engine made it one spicy heisse wurst. But customers balked at the V-dub’s high price. For the 1992 model year, it was stuffed with a 187-horse V-6, causing Car magazine to call the Corrado of “25 Cars You Must Drive Before You Die.” Geo Prizm This wee sardine can is hardly a classic cruiser, but there’s a neat twist if you’ll bear with me. Under pressure to sell small cars profitably in the U.S. market, GM teamed with Toyota in 1990 to produce the Prizm in their joint-venture NUMMI plant in Fremont, California. A quarter-century later, the fuel-sipping Geo badge is gone as Americans still resist small cars. And the NUMMI plant? It’s been converted by Tesla to produce its future-classic Model S electric car. TVR Griffith While American cars become eligible for historic plates after 26 years, U.S. law also grants status to American-illegal cars when they turn 25. Cars like the TVR Griffith — which never satisfied America’s onerous federal regulations — are now legal to be driven on U.S. roads. A classic English badge, the lightweight, fiberglass-bodied, 240-horse TVR was a rocket in a straight line, and a handful in the twisties. Look for this outsider crashing the Woodward class party. Posted by hpayne on August 13, 2016 Cars mark milestones in our lives: The car you got your license in as a teen. Your first family carrier when you had kids. Your mid-life crisis Camaro ZL1 that got you a fat ticket on Woodward (remember that one?). For many, August means finding the right car to go back to college. After the emotional family trip your freshman year — the tears, the hugs, the goodbyes — sophomore year begins an annual routine. You’re on your own. Time to have your own car and make the trip back yourself. The car represents freedom, but also expense. You imagine rolling up to campus in a brand new, yellow Mustang convertible — V-6 purring, shades on. But will all your stuff fit in the trunk? Will your three pals fit in the back seat? And what was that sticker price again? Thirty-three grand? (Cough.) Not on top of what the parents are paying in tuition, you’re not. Welcome to Econ 101. College wheels are a lesson in cost management and utility. Shopping starts in the USED section. Save the new car for later. The truth is new vehicles on average depreciate by 20 percent their first year off the lot according to Carfax.com — and 60 percent over four years. Talk about a lousy investment. So buy used. But be reasonable about it. My college roommate bought his first car in August 1985 with $100 he had saved from his summer job. It was an old Fiat with more miles on it that the Space Shuttle. He drove it 200 miles to Princeton University from Virginia that August, unloaded his stuff in our room, then coaxed it — wheezing and wobbling — to a nearby garage to get it serviced. The grizzled mechanic took one look at the Italian lemon, turned to my 19-year old roomie and said: “Son, you’re lucky to be alive.” Happily, 200,000 miles is the new 100,000. So if you can find a 5-year-old-plus car with less than 100,000 miles on the odometer, chances are you’ll get a good buy for under $10,000. There’s a school of thought among parents that their kids should drive around in tanks for safety in the case of an accident (likely with another kid in a tank). But I come from a different school: If you’re a competent, defensive driver, a smaller car allows you to avoid contact in the first place. Case in point — at the busy Tel-Twelve interchange on the Lodge Freeway a few years back, a hulking SUV cut across three lanes (seized by a sudden Big Mac attack, perhaps?) to exit onto Telegraph Road — and right across my bow. Driving a nimble Ford Focus ZX3 hatch (ultimately the college car for both my boys), I took violent avoidance action and emerged unscathed. If I had been in a large SUV, I would have been on my roof. Or worse. Compact hatches are also affordable. A Ford Focus or Mazda 3 hatchback, Honda Fit, Toyota Prius or VW Golf all meet my under-100,000 miles/$10,000 ticker criteria. They are also thrifty daily drivers for tight student budgets — and will sound attractive to tuition-shocked parents when you go to them on bended knees for one more college expense. A 2011 Honda Fit, for example, will get over 30 mpg and require minimal maintenance. Look for a used, mid-sized, 30-mpg-sipping Honda Pilot SUV for under $10K and you’d have a better chance finding a unicorn. Yeah, I know, millennials dig SUVs just like everyone else. And, says Chevy marketing guru Steve Majoros, crossovers are no longer just for soccer moms now that a new generation of subcompact utes is peppering vehicles lots: Chevy Trax, Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade. But good luck finding those newbies for less than $10K. Five-door compacts offer the same utility at less cost. All you give up is a few inches off the ground. That’s right, the days of the underpowered compact are over. I didn’t have a car in college (a West Virginia native, I was lucky to have shoes), but the future Mrs. Payne did. Her used, loaded-with-college-stuff BMW 318 sedan and its paltry 98 horses barely made it over Pennsylvania’s mountains on her way to school. That five-door, four-year-old Honda Fit/Focus/Golf beats the Bimmer by 20-60 horsepower and will climb interstate mountains like a billy goat. It’ll also fit your belongings. And your three college pals. And go from Ann Arbor to home and back on a couple of gallons of gas. Posted by hpayne on August 11, 2016 The heck with big sport utilities. Those breadboxes on wheels have taken over our automotive kingdom. Boxy and brawny, they have become Americans’ vehicle of choice. Don’t get me wrong, I get it. Their utility is undeniable. They efficiently swallow families and their stuff. They give soccer moms visual command of the landscape. They assist senior citizens with an easy step up rather than a back-breaking stoop down. And they provide NBA-friendly room for sharp elbows and tall knees. Utility? You bet. But sport? I mean, even Porsche can’t make a car jacked a foot in the air feel like a Porsche. There’s no denying physics. And stick a fifth door on anything and it’s going to look like a box. There are some lovely beaks out there, from the Maserati Lavante’s trident grill to the Mazda CX’9’s sunny smile. But you’ll never hear anyone talk about a ute’s gorgeous glutes. Or curvy hips. SUVs are from Mars, sedans are from Venus. For those who want beauty and athleticism in a large vehicle, there will always be sedans. Sedans may be down and out on dealer lots, but their inherent grace and feminine lines are still the benchmark for automotive style. Speaking of down and out, two rejuvenated old brands are turning heads this year with stunning full-size sedans that bookend the luxury segment: The entry-lux 2017 Buick LaCrosse and top-of-the-line 2016 Jaguar XJL. With its stunning, much-copied lines, the XJL has helped re-establish Jaguar as luxury’s premier beauty. At the cheaper end of the lux menu, the LaCrosse manages to rekindle the spirit of the era when Buick wowed the world with designs like the 1954 Wildcat. Few will lament the passing of the old LaCrosse. Heavy, arthritic and bulbous, it did little to shake the brand’s reputation as a purveyor of land yachts. Happily, however, Buick caught the SUV wave at just the right time, riding the fresh Enclave and Encore to sales glory. Buick has dominated the small-ute class with the perky and innovative Encore. That’s right — I just used innovative, dominated and perky in the same sentence as Buick. SUV success has given the sedans a chance to get their act together and the all-new LaCrosse doesn’t disappoint. It’s the first GM product built on the Epsilon II platform — E2 for short — and like other new GM platforms from Chevy and Caddy, it’s been hitting the gym. E2 lost 150 pounds from its predecessor, part of a 300-pound diet that has made LaCrosse a fit 3,650 pounds. Leaner and meaner, the lower-by-1.3 inches, more athletic-looking LaCrosse gained 2.7 inches in wheelbase, 1.3 inches in width. Combined with a new five-link rear suspension (usually found in more upscale lux athletes like BMW) and a torque-vectoring, GKN-developed, dual-clutch all-wheel drive system (usually found in track-tuners like the Ford Focus RS), the LaCrosse delivers superb handling for a big car. It’s startling, really. Like those Snickers commercials starring Betty White, it’s as if your granny’s Buick ate a candy bar and transformed into a 200-pound football player. Or, more appropriately in this case, a 200-pound lacrosse middie. Compared to class competitors like Lexus ES350 or Nissan Maxima, the Buick is more aligned with Maxima’s athletic DNA. Over curvy Route 47 northwest of Portland, Oregon, I found the Buick fun through the twisties (fun and Buick — in the same sentence!), rotating with minimal body roll before putting the 305-horse, 3.6-liter V6’s hammer down. Try that in the boaty Lexus and you’ll get seasick. But the real achievement of the LaCrosse is that’s it’s turned the clock back and made Buick pretty again. Buick actually rented out space in Portland’s artsy Pearl District to show off her curves. Dash lines are sleek — check out the chrome bezel under the console that runs uninterrupted from instrument panel to passenger door. Out front, Buick’s winged grill — first seen at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show on the Avenir concept — accentuates the car’s lower, more horizontal lines. Those signature, old-school, boat-worthy Buick portholes? They have mercifully been demoted from the hood to aft of the front fender wells. The new Buick is all about wings. The Buick even has Jaguar-esque lines. The LaCrosse’s coupe-like roof line, cat-eye headlights and full-mouthed grille echo the English cat. Initial design sketches even contained similar rocker panel chrome to the XJL (scrubbed in the final version, perhaps for cost). To get the full Jaguar effect, it’ll cost you. About double the LaCrosse, actually. The elegant $89,820 (as tested) XJL is the biggest, sleekest cat in the Jaguar litter. It’s the stretched version of the lovely, full-size XJ sedan introduced in 2012. Like Margot Robbie in heels, the XJL’s long proportions make it looked even sexier, tapered roof flowing into sleek haunches. The Jaguar gets the expected royal-lux touches for 2016 — “double-J” daytime running lights, doors that suck close, rotary dial rising out of the dash at ignition. In practice, the Jaguar’s simpler dial blows away the LaCrosse’s finicky monostable doo-hickey. Yet Buick holds its own, even providing clever sub-console space that the Jag lacks, though to be honest I was so transfixed by the Jaguar’s front and rear camera system (giving you a bumper’s eye view of the road fore and aft while driving) that I didn’t mind its lack of Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. That popular feature comes standard (ahem) not only in the LaCrosse, but in entry-level compacts like the Chevy Cruze. Beauty has its drawbacks, and the Jaguar’s rear visibility is dreadful compared to the Buick. Interestingly, in China, where big sedans routinely come with a driver, LaCrosse’s rear seats get Jag-like touches with heating, cooling and a shoe shine (and I’m making that last one up). Stateside, though, the Jaguar XJL’s back seats are a world unto themselves. Lounging in diamond-quilted soft leather, passengers get their own window-blind controls and their own moon-roof controls. Dah-ling — let me know when we have arrived at the club. I’ll be sunbathing on the back deck. Yet the driver’s seat, like the LaCrosse, is a place to get your heart racing. The Jag is a 340-horse-drawn AWD locomotive. Jaguar has lately gotten into the SUV game with the F-Pace, a fat cat that will ring up profits like a cash register on wheels. But no matter how successful Jag and Buick SUVs, their flagship cars will turn your head. Long live the sedan. 2017 Buick LaCrosse Specifications Vehicle type: Front-engine, front- or all-wheel drive, five-passenger sedan Price: $32,990 ($48,575 AWD Premium as tested) Power plant: 3.6-liter V-6 Power: 305 horsepower, 268 pound-feet torque Transmission: Eight-speed automatic Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.0 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed: 145 mph Weight: 3,840 pounds (AWD as tested) Fuel economy: EPA 21 mpg city/31 mpg highway/23 mpg combined (AWD as tested) Report card Highs: Sleek Buicks are back; road-hugging, AWD handling (that’s not a misprint) Lows: Clunky monostable shifter; how about a sport version? Overall:★★★ 2016 Jaguar XJL Specifications Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear- or all-wheel drive, five-passenger sedan Price: $74,400 base XJ ($89,820 XJL as tested) Power plant: 3.0-liter, supercharged, dual-overhead cam V-6 Power: 340 horsepower, 332 pound-feet torque Transmission: Eight-speed automatic Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.1 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed: 124 mph (governed) Weight: 4,397 pounds (AWD as tested) Fuel economy: EPA 17 mpg city/25 mpg highway/20 combined Report card Highs: Timeless beauty; posh rear seat Lows: Infotainment average; blind spots the size of Wyoming Overall:★★★ Posted by hpayne on August 4, 2016 General Motors Co. intends to start selling a mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette in early 2019, according to multiple sources familiar with the company’s planning. While America’s iconic sports car has gone through seven generations of upgrades since it debuted in 1953, a mid-engine architecture would be the most radical change in Corvette history. The sources, who asked not to be identified because company plans have not been made public, said production of the mid-engine rocket would eventually be the only Corvette produced. One of those people said the current, front-engine C7’s Z06 and Grand Sport models would continue through 2021. The eighth-generation Corvette C8 – codenamed “Emperor” — is targeted for an unveiling in early 2018, sources said. “We do not comment on future product plans,” a Chevy spokesperson said. One former GM employee with knowledge of the project said, “It’s happening. Mark Reuss wants it,” referring to the automaker’s global product development chief. “It’s the worst-kept secret in town.” Chevy has long been concerned by Corvette’s aging demographic, and a mid-engine performance car could appeal to younger buyers. “The median age of the Corvette buyer got three years older while I was there, which scared the hell out of us,” says Tom Wallace, who was Corvette’s chief engineer from 2006 until 2008. Some sources say a mid-engine Corvette could be the basis for a Cadillac sports car. When Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen was asked by Motor Trend last fall if a Cadillac “halo” car based on a mid-engine Corvette might be in the cards, he replied: “It has to be one of the options that we consider. In the future there are going to be some architectures inside the corporation that will remain purely Cadillac, but then there are others where it just isn’t economically feasible to enter segments by trying to do a unique Cadillac. Then you look at what’s available in terms of corporate assets. And I’m sure you’d agree that a new, very advanced Corvette platform wouldn’t be a bad place to start.” C8 characteristics With the engine located behind the driver and in front of the rear wheels, mid-engine sports cars are prized by performance-car fans for their balanced handling characteristics. The mid-engine format would make it more current with Corvette race-program competitors like the much-pricier Ferrari 488 and Ford GT. The C8 is expected to be equipped with performance innovations like an active-aerodynamic system to enhance downforce, according to Car & Driver’s Don Sherman, who has been following the car’s development since 2014. The magazine says the next-generation Corvette will be powered by the tried-and-true small-block pushrod V-8 to keep costs down. The mid-engine format would allow GM more flexibility to make performance variants — perhaps an all-wheel drive, plug-in hybrid model with electric motors driving the front wheels. That would put it head-to-head — at a more modest price — with cutting-edge, mid-engine hybrid supercars such as the Acura NSX and Porsche 918. GM and Chevrolet last year trademarked the names Corvette E-Ray and Manta Ray. The names, some analysts believe, indicate the company is considering multiple vehicle variants. Bob Lutz, GM’s former head of product development, speculates that the program’s long lead time — the C8 wouldn’t go into production until late 2018 — foreshadows an electric version “with 10- to 15-mile plug-in electric capability.” “That would only require a 5-kWh battery, or $1,300 at today’s lithium-ion prices (plus motors and control hardware),” he said in an email. “It would be enough to give it a 50 mpg city label, and the electric motors at the front would enable limited AWD capability.” The company recently announced investments totaling nearly $800 million in its Bowling Green Assembly Plant in Kentucky, where Corvettes are built. That includes $153 million for improving vehicle assembly line processes, on top of $137 million in previously committed capital. Last year, GM said it would invest $439 million for a new paint shop and $44 million to expand its Performance Build Center. The plant is expected to be shut down for three months in mid- to late-2017 for retooling. Lutz and Wallace say that they and then-Corvette Assistant Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter got the mid-engine Corvette approved in 2007, only to see the project shelved while GM went through bankruptcy reorganization in 2009. Lutz says the $800 million Bowling Green investment figure is in line with what was asked for nine years ago. “The program I got approved in ’07 was $900 million,” Lutz says, “and included a Cadillac XLR with a supercharged Northstar engine. If the current program is $800 million, I’d bet it includes a different-bodied Cadillac again as well.” From ‘what-if’ to project Corvette faithful have already begun putting down deposits on the car. Les Stanford Chevrolet in Dearborn, one of the top three Corvette sellers in the United States, confirms about two dozen customers have put down $2,000 on the C8 to be first in line. “The potential for a mid-engine Corvette is in the future,” says General Sales Manager Scott Montgomery. “We have a lot of attention from members of the enthusiast community who have never been wrong.” In addition to publishing spy shots of a camouflaged, mid-engine car undergoing testing, Car & Driver created computer renderings of the C8 featuring a muscular stance and low, menacing nose. The renderings are based on descriptions of the production prototype by people who have seen the car’s design. Stephanie Brinley, a senior analyst with forecasting firm IHS Markit, said there have been rumors of a mid-engine Corvette for a decade. “It seems to be maturing from a ‘what-if’ to a project,” she said. Pricing a new Corvette in line with Chevrolet and its value-brand philosophy will be important, Brinley said. It can’t have a $450,000 sticker price like the Ford GT. But Brinley said there is some space for a price increase over today’s $55,445 base C7. GM has flirted with mid-engine Corvettes in the past, particularly in the 1960s when Chief Engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov argued it was a superior architecture. Arkus-Duntov produced four mid-engine concepts from 1960-70, including the 1968 “Astro II.” The Astro was a reaction to the mid-engine 1966 Ford GT-40 and its stunning success at the 24 Hours of LeMans. Fifty years later, another Ford GT has won LeMans — and this time GM’s response appears to be a full-blown, mid-engine production C8. Posted by hpayne on August 4, 2016 Conveniently located off Old Telegraph Road in Clarkston, Waterford Hills Raceway is one of Metro Detroit’s hidden gems. Bordered by woods, its 11 turns spilling over grassy knolls offer some of the best road racing in Michigan. For 58 years Detroiters have enjoyed this great American racetrack next door. Buyers of the ferocious, 2017 Ford Focus RS will want to get to know it. And Grattan Raceway in Grand Rapids. And South Haven’s Gingerman Raceway. And M1 Concourse’s Champion Motor Speedway in Pontiac. Because the RS is as track-focused a production car you’ll find this side of a Camaro Z28 or Porsche 911 GT3. Yet for just $36,775 it’s within reach of the average motorhead. In this Second Golden Age of motoring the RS joins the formidable Volkswagen Golf R and Subaru STI as all-wheel-drive, $35K-something hot rods with back seats. The STI is a legend with its Sopwith Camel rear-wing and nice-Subie-gone-bad swagger, while the classy V-dub boasts divine German engineering and hatchback utility. Previous performance versions of the Focus haven’t been in the class of the Golf, the undisputed hatch benchmark for four decades. Compared to VW’s 210-horse Golf GTI, for example, the front-wheel drive, 250-horsepower 2016 Focus ST that I recently drove is a dinosaur, its torque steer so violent when under the whip it wants to rip the wheel out of my hands. Like ST, the RS’s power dwarfs the Golf R on paper — but this time Ford harnesses it with appropriate engineering. Engineered in Germany and assembled in Spain alongside other Focuses on Ford’s global C-platform, the RS (Rally Sport) initials are revered in Europe. The badge has graced off-road rally contenders — from Escort to Sierra to Focus — for years. Its appearance on these shores is a long-overdue first. Golf R is the ultimate stealth hatch, its conservative lines not betraying my predatory intentions until I’m on top of you. Focus RS, on the other hand, looks like I bought it from Darth Vader Automotive. Check out those gaping, shark-like jaws. RS alters three body panels from its brother Focus: front fascia, roof winglet and rear diffuser. The facial Extreme Makeover satisfies the little beasty’s ravenous appetite for air. Engines, a wag once said, are simply air machines. Apropos the RS with every front crevice devoted to ramming more oxygen down its 2.3-liter turbo’s neck. It bumper is thinned for more air through the grille. An enlarged lower opening feeds a turbo intercooler the size of Manhattan. What, no hood scoop? We’ve seen this turbo 4-banger before in the current Mustang. Despite making a healthy 310 ponies, the four seems out of place in the muscle car but not the hot hatch. Not only does the RS mill produce a staggering 40 more horsepower than the Mustang, but it gains 58 horses on the Golf R. Mercy. The wing adds downforce — and a big “ticket me” billboard — on top of the car. It’s not as outrageous as the STI’s aerofoil, which looks like it came off a World War I fighter plane. But it will make anyone over 30 wince. The Golf R laughs at such bling, preferring more modest duds. That civility translates to the ride as well. Take RS on the Michigan roads and you’ll want a mouth guard. Toggle the shock-stiffener button on the left stalk and the thing becomes positively violent. Roaring across Michigan’s concrete roads, the RS bobbed and pitched like a rodeo bull. And if a bull needs a ring, the RS needs a track. On Waterford’s smooth asphalt, I eased down the pit lane, selected Track mode (which automatically stiffens the shocks 40 percent), turned off traction control and the washboard-stiff RS was in its element. Like any small-displacement turbo, the meat of the rev band is over 3,000 rpms — but then it keeps pulling to its 6,500 redline. Acceleration (0-60 mph in a retina-flattening 4.7 seconds) is so quick I repeatedly hit the rev-limiter in second gear. Grabbing fourth gear on the short back straight, I briefly touched 100 mph before stomping the big Brembo brakes. If the Focus body mods look aggressive, the chassis upgrades lash the car to the ground. RS gets a front sub-frame cross brace, rear cross brace, sway-bar bushing braces, “lion’s foot” suspension-tower braces, rear toe-link reinforcement, rocker foam and anabolic steroids injected into the hydraulics (just kidding about that last one). Then Ford really got serious. Where Subie and VW use traditional all-wheel drive torque-vectoring systems that brake the inside wheels to help the rear rotate through corners, RS is equipped with twin rear-clutches that can accelerate the outside tires. As a result the RS is a rocket through the twisties, its chassis rotating on a dime. I threw the hatch around like a rag doll, its Michelin Super Sports sticking like taffy. To show off its bonkers AWD, engineers gave the RS “drift mode” so you can easily induce four-wheel oversteer. This was especially fun in Michigan turns on Woodward — spinning the car like a top with a quick dab of gas — but on track the quick way around is Track mode. Only in the fast, Turn 5 “Big Bend” did I feel the RS’s porky 3,459 pounds — 120 more than Golf R. For all of the stiffening and bigger turbos, the RS gets no body panel light-weighting over the base, steel Focus. That base Focus design is apparent inside as well, contrasting with the Golf’s more-premium Audi-like look. But I’m a sucker for Ford’s’ clever console buttons and dials. RS temperature gauges and bear-hugging, blue-stitched Recaro seats give it character. Stash your phone in the shallow console cubby and it’ll fly out on the floor in hard turns. Those bolstered seats are there so you don’t get chucked on the floor too. If you want a daily driver, buy the Golf R. Buy the RS if you want junior version of the Nissan GT-R, a race car in production clothing. After my Waterford Hills jaunt, I trolled Woodward for victims. I drag-raced two 420-horsepower M3s from a stoplight, the RS’s superior AWD traction hanging tough despite giving up 70 horses. Our thirst for blood slaked, RS and I headed home. On the way, I came up on a GT-R. The driver recognized the beast in his mirrors and threw me an enthusiastic thumbs up as if to say: “Welcome stateside, RS. See you at the track!” 2016 Ford Focus RS Specifications Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel drive, five-passenger, five-door hatchback Price: $36,775 base ($39,560 as tested) Power plant: 2.3-liter, turbocharged, inline 4-cylinder Power: 350 horsepower, 350 pound-feet torque Transmission: Six-speed manual Performance: 0-60 mph, 4.7 seconds (manufacturer); top speed: 165 mph Weight: 3,459 lbs. Fuel economy: EPA 19 mpg city/29 mpg highway/25 mpg combined Report card Highs: Hatchback utility; AWD OMG Lows: Boy-toy styling; bucking bronco daily-driver Overall:★★★★ Posted by hpayne on July 30, 2016 Andy Pilgrim is the American Dream. Right down to his surname. Pilgrim crossed the Atlantic in 1981 to seek a better life. Arriving in New York City as an IT contractor under the watchful gaze of Lady Liberty with just $100 in his pocket, the 25-year old computer programmer was placed in Pontiac with General Motors. An avid motorbike racer in his native England, he also hoped to race a bit. Give me your huddled masses yearning to breathe free … and do some hot laps. Now 59, Pilgrim has realized his dreams. He has his own tech business. And by the way, he is one of the most highly regarded sports car drivers in the business after a career racing everything from Corvettes to NASCAR. Today he pilots Porsches for Black Swan Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. “I came to the U.S. for opportunity,” said Pilgrim in Atlanta last week where he was testing Chevy’s new Corvette Grand Sport for Automobile magazine. “Racing was a dream. Car racing in England takes huge money.” Pilgrim’s rags-to-riches rise in racing is a rare journey in an expensive sport dominated by wealthy families with names like Andretti, Earnhardt and Rosberg where money and sponsorship often talk louder than talent. Humbled by his success, Pilgrim is determined to give back to his adopted homeland. Alarmed by the lax driving standards in the U.S. (compared to say, England and Germany), Pilgrim is a missionary for safer driving habits through his non-profit Traffic Safety Education Foundation. After spending his first year in Pontiac, Pilgrim’s next contractor gig took him to El Paso, Texas. “Pontiac at the time had 68 percent unemployment, I was told. The room I got was $100 a month,” he says. “It was a rough neighborhood. (My complex’s) guard dog got beaten up.” In Texas he bought his first ride, a used Renault Alliance Cup Car. “I called it a Renault ‘Appliance’ – and that’s how I got into serious racing,” says Pilgrim. “I funded myself. I never went to a racing school – I couldn’t afford it.” It was a big step up from his motorbike in England. “I didn’t have car,” he remembers of that first bike. “I would pay a buddy (gas money) to drop me at the track. And if I wasn’t dead, he’d pick me up in the evening to take me home.” He started his own company, Electronic Computer Services, in Dallas in 1989. The successful small business kept the revenue stream coming to feed his racing habit. Pilgrim’s talents were getting noticed. His habit would soon become all-consuming. In 1999 his career took off as Corvette Racing tapped him to race their first C5 race car. Co-driving the car with the father-son duo of Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2002, he finished second-in-class. In 2004 he moved over to GM’s Cadillac race team where he would win the 2005 World Challenge GT Series championship. He has driven for numerous teams since, including a bid in NASCAR. What’s a race driver’s life like? On the Thursday I spent with Pilgrim at Atlanta Motorsports Park testing the Grand Sport, the race jockey had opened the week in Portland to talk at an auto conference, then flown to Pontiac to school a Corvette driver’s club on the M1 Concourse’s new Championship Motor Speedway. “Fantastic,” he says. It is just blocks from his first Pontiac apartment. From Atlanta he flew to Lime Rock, Connecticut, where he would qualify his Porsche for Saturday’s Weathertech race. That’s a lot of frequent-flier miles. “I’m getting paid to race cars in my late 50s,” says Pilgrim. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be doing it. It’s been phenomenal.” When he’s not in airports, at race tracks or overseeing his tech company (“My insurance policy if the racing dries up”), he is passionate about teaching driver safety. “We’re killing 20,000 more people on our roads than we should be,” laments Pilgrim, who is now a U.S. citizen. “Relative to other industrialized countries, we should be killing about 12,000 people if we were doing things as well as Germany and U.K. But we’re killing 32,000 to 40,000.” “The driving test is a joke. They might as well hand it out with Kellogg’s Corn Flakes package tops,” he says. “We’ve got to change the culture. It starts with parents and with helping … kids understand what distracted driving is. Legislation isn’t going to fix it. They’re not going to make the driving test as hard as it should be because kids won’t pass the driving test until they’re 20 – and that is unacceptable to voters.” So he travels the country handing out DVDs and instruction manuals, and giving speeches. “You gotta give back,” says Pilgrim who now resides in Boca Raton, Florida. “My mother taught me that.” And how did he like the Corvette Grand Sport? “This car will not disappoint,” he grins. No, it won’t. Pilgrim set an unofficial production car track record at Atlanta Motorsports Park at a blistering 1:23.6. Posted by hpayne on July 28, 2016 Imagine if Superman and Wonder Woman had a love child. The offspring would be beautiful, powerful, regal. Come to think of it, he would probably be Chris Hemsworth. Superkid would knock the Trumps, Kardashians, and Jenners right off the tabloid front pages. But in lieu of this comic book fantasy, let me introduce you to the very-real spawn of a torrid Corvette Stingray and Z06 fling. His name is the 2017 Corvette Grand Sport. The young Grand Sport is an impressive supercar to behold. You’ll know it by its birthmarks: twin “hashmark” stripes on either bicep — er, front fender — just aft of the ginormous, 19-inch tires. Actually, this sci-fi child from Planet Bowling Green should come with a cape. Grand Sport has all the best attributes of its famous parents. From Momma Stingray it gets thrifty sensibility and a growly, normally aspirated, push-rod 460-horsepower V-8. From Papa Z06 comes the wicked athletic prowess: ground-hugging aero package, mega-brakes, wider track and massive, gummy tires. The result is a $65,445 C7 Corvette that won’t break the bank, yet offers the 1.2-G cornering performance that helped the Z06 vanquish six-figure cyborgs like the McLaren 650S at Car & Driver’s epic Lightning Lap face-off. I am familiar with the Corvette family, having spent weeks with both around Metro Detroit since the Stingray was introduced in 2013. I have driven the Stingray in anger at Illinois’ Autobahn Raceway and the Z06 at full flight around the Mid-Ohio and Spring Mountain tracks. So I was thrilled to hook up with Junior for a day around Atlanta’s glorious neck-bending 3-D Atlanta Motorsport Park last week. The kid didn’t disappoint. With the Z06’s wide body, he looks like dad, save the hood blister for the supercharger. Stingray’s popular Z51 package is standard including rear-differential cooler and dry-sump oil system essential for hot laps. And since GS is all about track days, go on and option the Z07 package (what’s $8K?) to get the Herculean, 151/2-inch ceramic brakes so you’ll never have to worry about stopping. Merging on the track out of AMP’s pits and putting the throttle to the mat in third gear, I thought I was going to the moon – only to have the giant Brembos haul me back to earth like I had thrown Titanic’s anchor out the back window. Under the Grand Sport’s composite skin is Corvette’s familiar, 3,400-pound, aluminum chassis. There’s no ultra-light carbon fiber tub like a McLaren. No magic, rear-steer-active-suspension engineering like the $90,000 Porsche 911. Over AMP’s non-stop roller coaster of blind turns, the ’Vette’s chassis twists and turns like a mechanical bull. Bellowing out of AMP’s high-g ESS turns onto the Nurburgring-inspired pit straight at 130 mph, I feel the beast’s weight moving underneath me. No matter. The Z07 downforce package of rear wickers and side-and-front spoilers sucks GS to the asphalt (and makes it look awesome, too). Standard magnetic shocks constantly balance the beast’s four paws. And on those paws are fitted the Z06’s massive 10-inch front and 12-inch rear Michelin Super Cup 2 tires — the rear glutes stretched 3.5-inches to cover their width. They grip. Like. Glue. The beast roars past the start-finish line rattling every window in the timing tower. The GS is a tantalizing mix of raw and digital, a wild beast civilized by modern tech. Happily, GM doesn’t let the tech tame the monster, allowing drivers to dance as close to the edge as desired. I dialed the Drive Mode selector to TRACK SPORT 1, which gave me control while never completely turning off the electronic nannies. There is no substitute for horsepower, and the Grand Sport will never rival the speed of Superdad Z06. But 460 horsepower is plenty for the weekend racer, thank you very much (and doesn’t have the Z06’s, um, annoying heat-soaking issues). Note pro Andy Pilgrim shattering AMP’s production car lap record the day I was there. The Grand Sport is actually the raciest of Corvette’s three trims; its specs are closest to the normally-aspirated 491-horse, LeMans-legal C7-R race car. That was the intent of the original Grand Sport — raced by Roger Penske, among others — way back in 1963. But where only five original Grand Sports were made, the 2017 GS will come from a big litter of convertibles and coupes. As with the last-gen C6 Grand Sport, Chevy expects sales to be on par with the Stingray (40 percent Stingray, 40 percent GS, 20 percent Z06). But the Grand Sport is much more than a track car. Like its bunkmates, it transitions easily to the street. Outside AMP, I drove an automatic Grand Sport for miles through the rolling hills and small burgs of suburban Atlanta. The Grand Sport comes in a dizzying array of colors and interior choices, but my favorite is the (new for ’17) Watkins Glen Gray Metallic paint, accented with red Grand Sport hashmarks. It’s subtle – unlike, say, the Admiral Blue Metallic with white hood stripes and red hashmarks that will set off every police radar detector within 50 miles. Save the “wow” factor for the black and lipstick-red leather-trimmed interior. The automatic solves one of my two gripes about the Corvette: the mushy manual transmission. With its quick, barking upshifts, the eight-speed auto is both fun and quicker to drive. The manual seven-speed, by contrast, has one too many gates and is prone to mis-shifts. My other gripe is the oily interior smell. You’ll get used to it. Your speed-addled scribe kept the TRACK mode setting on the street; I like the heavier steering and wake-the-dead exhaust yowl. But the Corvette always aims to please and you can dive into the console settings and adjust ENGINE SOUND MANAGEMENT to anything you want — including STEALTH mode for gliding around town like you were in a 460-horsepower Prius. Those console settings are part of Chevy’s MyLink touchscreen that includes passenger-friendly features like Apple Car Play and Android Auto so that your smartphone can take over the screen. Creature comforts abound, making it the most passenger-friendly sports car on the market. Riding shotgun means getting your own cocoon — plenty of legroom, a cubby behind the headrest that will fit a small camera bag or purse, and separate climate controls at your right knee. There are also two enormous “Oh, crap!” handles for when your driver asks if you’d like to take a hot lap around the local race track. Like Lois Lane rocketing into the clouds on Superman’s back, you’ll want to hold on tight. 2017 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Specifications Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-passenger sports car Price: $66,445 coupe, $70,445 for convertible Power plant: 6.2-liter, aluminum V-8 with direct injection and dry sump Power: 460 horsepower, 460 pound-feet torque Transmission: Seven-speed manual or eight-speed automatic Performance: 0-60 mph, 3.6 seconds (manufacturer); top speed: 175 mph Weight: 3,428 lbs. (coupe as tested) Fuel economy: EPA 17 mpg city/29 mpg highway/21 mpg combined (manual); EPA 16 mpg city/29 mpg highway/20 mpg combined (automatic) Report card Highs: Glue-like stick; awesome power Lows: Mushy manual box; oily interior smell Overall:★★★★ Posted by hpayne on July 24, 2016 Dawsonville, Georgia The much-anticipated 2017 Corvette Grand Sport debuted to the media at Atlanta Motorsports Park here this week with a bang, challenging the production car track record in the hands of pro racer Andy Pilgrim. Forecast to be the marque’s best-selling trim (Stingray and Z06 are the others), the Grand Sport started production this month at a time when Corvette’s Bowling Green factory is already straining to meet near-record demand at over 35,000 units for the 2016 model year. So rich are Corvette’s coffers that its profits are being plowed back into major production and heritage museum upgrades. And if that wasn’t enough, the C7-R race car is leading its IMSA Championship sports-car class from a formidable field of Ford GTs, Ferraris, and Porsches. Not bad for a car that was on the chopping block just eight years ago. “As we were headed toward bankruptcy, an all-new Corvette program would have been difficult to justify,” says Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter, sitting trackside in Atlanta as he recalled the dark days of 2008. “We were just going to keep building the old car.” At the time, the sixth-generation C6 Corvette was already long in the tooth — a five-year program being stretched into a ninth model year. So Juechter and his team prepared to put off the C7 for years more as the U.S. government reorganized General Motors. After billions in U.S. bailout dollars and a complete revamping of the General’s brands, the seventh-gen C7 was given a green light. From the ashes of old GM rose a new Corvette in 2013 — a V-8-powered Phoenix unlike any ’Vette that had come before. Gone were the iconic round taillights. Gone were the sexy, smooth lines. In its place was still a front-engine, push-rod powered sports car — but one that looked more European: cut, Lamborghini-like edges, sharp headlights like shards of broken glass, and … horrors! Rectangular taillights. “I got hate mail,” Juechter says. “But our demographics were getting older each year. We had to figure out (how) to get more young people into the car. That made us consciously walk away from the traditional bill of design.” The risk paid off. The C7 was hailed for its sci-fi looks and staggering performance, due in part to its co-development with GM’s New Hudson-based race partner Pratt & Miller. The ultra-high performance Z06 — powered by a gravity-bending, 650-horsepower, supercharged V-8 — outperforms McLaren and Lamborghinis costing twice as much. Stingray and Z06 have sold as fast as they can be built. “It is working,” says Juechter, a soft-spoken, youthful 58-year-old. “In the first year, 30 percent of our customers — 30 percent — had never bought a Corvette before. And that’s in spite of our traditional customers who were lining up at the dealership to be the first (buyers). Ten years younger, much more educated, more ethnic, more urban, more coastal — all the things we want Corvette to appeal to.” Now comes the $66,445 Grand Sport. You’ll know it by the twin stripes over each front fender. Featuring the Z06’s ground-sucking performance package and powered by the Stingray’s normally aspirated, 460-horse 8-holer, Juechter says it occupies “the sweet spot” between the Stingray ($56,445) and Z06 ($80,445). “It’s incredible,” says Pilgrim who, as a Porsche pilot in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, knows a thing or two about iconic sports cars. “And (the Grand Sport) is as comfortable on the road as it is fast on the track.” Corvette anticipates the Grand Sport will make up 40 percent of Corvette sales. That’s quite a change from a specialty badge that only graced five race cars when it debuted in 1963. More importantly, Grand Sport and Corvette are now solid, profitable contributors to a GM product juggernaut that grew by a full point of market share in the first quarter of this year. GM product development chief Mark Reuss has said Corvette “makes as much money as any of the top-profit models in our company.” Motley Fool financial services estimates GM pockets more than $10,000 for each Corvette sold. “Corvette is now a bread-and-butter part of the lineup,” says Juechter. “We don’t do it for intangibles — like driving showroom traffic, halo effect, or technology development. It is all about the business case.” That bread and butter is now being fed back into the National Corvette Museum and production facility. The museum’s $20 million, 80-acre upgrade was completed in 2014 and has a test track to enhance the new buyer’s experience. And the future that was once so uncertain? GM has committed $729 million to upgrading Corvette’s production plant — $439 million of that a paint shop nearly the size of the entire assembly facility. “It’s a big commitment,” says Juechter. “It demonstrates that we will be in the Corvette business for the foreseeable future.” More Grand Sport track records won’t be far behind. Posted by hpayne on July 22, 2016 At 12,000 feet over the Continental Divide — the “top of the Rockies” — a gas-powered engine loses 30 percent of its horsepower in the thinning air. That still leaves my supercharged, 340-horsepower Jaguar XE 238 ponies to play with. I spur the roaring beast from turn to turn down the mountain’s face, the sedan’s torque-vectoring all-wheel drive distributing power to all four paws. Ahhh, it’s good to have the big cat back in the wild. When I came to Detroit 15 years ago, Jaguar seemed caged in the Ford zoo. The Detroit automaker had saved the storied English brand from certain extinction in 1990, but it seemed out of place among its mainstream brethren – fed the same diet, built on the same skeleton, sharing the same engines. It was a domesticated cat, reduced to chauffeuring Ford executives around as Ford’s pet luxury brand. Jaguar’s last effort in the entry-luxe market was the 2001 X-Type. Based on the Ford Mondeo, it was ridiculed by Jaguar designer Ian Callum as “designed in Detroit and presented as close as a fait accompli to reluctant (Jaguar) designers and engineers. The X-Type went over like Barack Obama at a coal miner’s convention. It limped out of the segment after less than a decade. Eight years, a new owner and an aluminum chassis later, Jaguar is back on a Rocky Mountain high. And, no, I don’t mean it runs on Colorado-legal hemp. But you can get one with a 2-liter turbocharged diesel. Because a tank of petrol in Europe costs about the same as a monthly car payment here, Europeans have long preferred sippier diesels. With diesels running daily drivers — not just dump trucks — customers demanded they clean up their black soot act and muzzle the annoying wocka-wocka piston thrum. The result? Direct-injection turbo-diesels like that offered in the XE that are quieter than the school library and drink less than a camel across the Sahara. On Jaguar’s Rockies program I caned an XE diesel that returned a remarkable 31.9 miles per gallon. So do I prefer the diesel to the 340-horsepower supercharged gasoline V-6? Are you high? It’s not that the 180-horsepower diesel — the first of Jaguar’s much-ballyhooed Ingenium family — was reduced to just 126 horsepower at altitude. Or that four turbocharged cylinders aren’t enough to get the job done (a capable, base turbo-4, left over from the Mondeo days, is also an option). No, it’s that you can’t full appreciate this extraordinary animal’s athleticism unless mated to the car’s most capable engine. Reborn under Tata, Jaguar has returned to its roots — which is to say, raw performance. The company announced this rebirth with the F-Type sports car. You couldn’t have missed it. When I started up its 495-horsepower V-8 in Detroit last year, it broke every window within a 10-mile radius. The Porsche-fighting F-Type was a statement that the brand was polishing the heritage built by its LeMans-winning 1950s D-Types and the legendary, howling, hood-out-to-there E-Type (which is stilling taking no prisoners on today’s vintage racing circuit). Sure, Jaguars still wear a three-piece suit, but you’ll see their biceps bulging underneath. Like the F-Type, XE was born with an all-aluminum chassis and double-wishbone front suspension. Over undulating Rocky Mountain switchbacks, ess-turns, and straightaways, the compact sedan was stitched to the road. It’s the most intuitive compact sedan I have flogged in the segment since the Cadillac ATS. Like the Caddy, the XE sports an all-new lightweight rear-wheel-drive-biased skeleton. One other nice feature it shares with the ATS: It’s priced at $3,000-$5,000 under comparably equipped BMW 3s and Audi A4s. It offers the royal bloodline without the premium price. With the V-6’s torquey supercharger on call, I blew past lines of traffic on the breathtaking mountain roads, the eight-speed shifter as smooth as silk. Hard on the binders, the all-wheel drive chassis rotated effortlessly into turns. I could feel little difference between a rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive cat (whereas the front-wheel-biased Audi is much more balanced with all-wheel drive), but I would surely option the all-wheel system if I lived in these mountains or our frozen Detroit tundra. Jaguar’s renaissance has been helped by Tesla, which slavishly aped designer Callum’s mid-size XF sedan lines for its hot-selling Model S. So iconic is Jaguar that it has luxury groupies. From its signature nose and predator’s eyes (menacing at night with J-stick LED signature), the hood sweeps backward to a coupe-like cabin pulled over rear wheel arches like — well, a Jaguar ready to spring. Surprisingly, the interior is a mixed bag. The dashboard is bordered by a sweeping, half-moon arc running from A-pillar to A-pillar, yet the console is undistinguished but for the rotary gear shifter that rises to your hand at ignition. Happily, Jaguar’s long-lamented infotainment system is in the rear-view mirror. With a 10-inch screen and Intel chip, the new, responsive InControl Touch Pro system is available in Prestige and R-Sport trims. Thanks to touch screen and rotary shifter, the center console is pleasantly uncluttered compared to its German peers. Athleticism seems to require a cramped back seat as XE suffers from the same small quarters as the ATS. Six-footers will be tapping you on the shoulder to move up the front seat lest their legs and bowed necks convulse in cramps on long drives. Drivers, on the other hand, will be looking to take the long way as the nimble cat begs to be exercised. A run through the car’s electronic features reveals an unusual, “speed limiter” button, a product of Europe’s Big Brother cameras that sniff out speeders. The complement to Adaptive cruise control will cleverly keep you under the speed limit when you blow into a small Michigan (or Ohio or Colorado) town after a 100-mph, supercharged sprint. The XE is that much fun. And when you buy it off a Metro Detroit dealer’s lot, you’ll be at 650 feet above sea level. Which means you’ll have all 340 horses at your service. 2017 Jaguar XE Specifications Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear- and all-wheel drive, five-passenger luxury sedan Price: $35,895 base ($38,495 XE Premium and $61,385 XE R-Sport as tested) Power plant: 2.0-liter turbocharged, inline 4-cylinder; 2.0-liter turbo-diesel inline 4-cylinder; 3.0-liter supercharged V-6 Power: 240 horsepower, 251 pound-feet torque (gas 4-cyl); 180 horsepower, 318 pound-feet torque (turbo-diesel 4-cyl); 340 horsepower, 332 pound-feet torque (V-6) Transmission: Eight-speed automatic Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.1 seconds (V-6 AWD R-Sport as tested, manufacturer); top speed: 120 mph (governed) Weight: 3,320 base (3,795 pounds, V-6 AWD R-Sport as tested) Fuel economy: EPA 21 mpg city/30 mpg highway/24 mpg combined (gas-turbo 4-cyl); TBA (turbo-diesel 4-cyl); EPA 20 mpg city/29 mpg highway/23 mpg combined (V-6 AWD R-Sport as tested) Report card Highs: Cat-like handling; premium looks, affordable price Lows: Uninspired interior; small back seat Overall:★★★ Posted by hpayne on July 20, 2016 Environmental Protection Agency regulations remaking the U.S. economy to fight global warming have taken a lickin’, but keep on tickin’. Despite automakers’ concerns that consumers aren’t buying battery-powered cars, the EPA will require that vehicles average over 50 mpg by 2025. And lawsuits by 24 states (including Michigan) backed by the coal industry have not deterred rules that have contributed to dozens of mining company bankruptcies. One industry, however, has turned back the tide. The $30 billion auto modification business this spring successfully forced EPA to withdraw language that would have banned the conversion of production cars to race cars, potentially putting jobs in jeopardy. Now these companies are on the cusp of engraving that success in law. Members of the Specialty Equipment Market Association were in Michigan last week rallying support for the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports (so-called RPM) Act which would “exclude vehicles used solely for competition from certain provisions of the Clean Air Act.” Their efforts bore fruit Tuesday when Democratic Sen. Gary Peters pledged his support, joining six Republican House members from Michigan. “This bill will provide certainty to the motorsport and racing industries on the EPA’s regulatory role regarding motor vehicles that are used exclusively for racing,” said the outspoken green senator who counts auto parts suppliers among his state constituents. The bipartisan legislation, first reported by The Detroit News, has 125 co-sponsors in the U.S. House and 23 in the Senate. Since the 1970 Clean Air Act, the competition exemption was widely understood until the EPA inserted obscure new language that said “certified motor vehicles and motor vehicle engines and their emission control devices must remain in their certified configuration even if they are used solely for competition.” When SEMA discovered the change, a grassroots firestorm ensued. The trade group confronted EPA regulators in a meeting. “We asked: ‘Is this what you really meant to do, because the world of motorsports is going to come unglued,’” recalls SEMA President Chris Kersting. An online petition gained 168,000 signatures. “If that regulation had gone through, you would not have been able to convert a street vehicle for use in racing,” explains Kersting. “This was a real left-hand turn.” The EPA said the Clean Air Act had always given it the authority to regulate racing. Not until House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman and Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy did the agency reconsider. “Although they withdrew the regulation, they continue to hold the position that their interpretation of the law is that converting cars for race use is illegal,” says Kersting. “Until that cloud of illegality is eliminated, everybody involved is operating with some trepidation.” An EPA spokesperson said it doesn’t comment on pending legislation. David Ziozios, CEO of Motovicity Distribution in Madison Heights, is a parts wholesaler representing 180 brands. “This would be a complete job killer,” says Ziozios, who traveled to Washington to meet with Michigan’s delegation on the subject. Ziozios says that if the EPA reinstated its language, “it would be completely detrimental to entire racing circuits in Michigan from GingerMan Raceway toWaterford Hills to Milan Dragway where most of the cars are converted production vehicles with VIN numbers.” Posted by hpayne on July 15, 2016 Want to melt your ear drums? Rolling onto I-696’s Orchard Lake on-ramp, I put the Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” on full volume. Then I unleash the supercharged Acura NSX’s 340 supercharged horses. With Jagger screaming and the twin pipes roaring, I enter the freeway with the throttle wide open at 8000 RPM. Eat your heart out Beyonce. The 1991 “Clarion Builds” Acura NSX is the hottest musical act in Detroit this summer. By updating vintage cars with cutting-edge audio systems, Clarion Audio’s Clarion Builds is giving classics new life. Leaders in automotive audio systems for 82 years, Clarion launched its annual Builds program last year with a 1972 BMW 2002 that fetched $125,000 at Barrett-Jackson Auctions. “Builds Part Two: The NSX” is now on national tour — its ultimate concert date set for Barrett-Jackson sometime later this year. The NSX stop in Detroit in June was also a timely opportunity to sample the classic NSX just as Acura’s own sequel — the 2017 Acura NSX — is hitting dealer lots. I say sequel loosely, because the two generations of NSX share a badge and almost nothing else. The 2001 BMW M3 and 2016 BMW M2 I reviewed recently may be 15 years apart, but their shared DNA is instantly familiar: inline-6 engines, taut 3,500-pound chassis, aggressive kidney grilles. The two NSX are supercars for different times. The first generation, born in 1989 in Japan, was the first aluminum supercar made — and for much less than luxurious brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche. Jump forward a quarter century and NSX II once again does supercar on the cheap — but this time it’s Made in America (Marysville, Ohio) in the e-Age with a hybrid powertrain. True to its Clarion Builds mission, the “Caelum Blu” ’91 NSX — rebuilt from the ground up by Autowave in California — is significantly updated. Lower, wider, with 18-inch-front/19-rear wheels and front spoiler and rear wing off the track-tuned, 1992 NSX-R, it looks hungrier, more modern even with its oh-so-20th century pop-up headlamps. Inside, I sit in a cocoon of luxury, cradled by leather seats and surrounded by Clarion’s five-speaker, all-digital audio system. Coming soon to a galaxy near you. But turn the key and roll out of Clarion’s Farmington Hills garage, and I’m transformed back to the early ’90s when Macaulay Culkin was adorable, Joe Montana dominated the NFL, and the Clintons were sleazing American politics. Well, some things never change. This car feels more like my ol’ 1979 BMW M1 supercar than the 21st century NSX cyborg. No head room. No power steering, No squared-off steering wheel. Clarion head unit aside, the NSX’s console is pedestrian compared to the ’17 car’s sci-fi layout. No sport-mode dial. No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Only a slanted, multi-media display that is blinded by sunlight. Clarion yanked the tired, 230,000-mile (!), 207-horse 3.0-liter V6 and stuffed in the 3.2-liter V6 found in 2004 NSX models. Add supercharger and output is now a beefy 344-horsepower. But the engine’s character is still that of the high-revving, normal aspirated engine of old. Row the classic NSX’s tight manual box (kids, ask grandpa to explain a manual shifter to you), and the car accelerates to a glorious 8-grand crescendo. Floor the new NSX and instant torque flattens your face. Zero-to-60 for the oldster: 4.8 seconds. For the new, second-gen hybrid NSX? Three-point-oh. The new, “jewel-eyed” car is better in every measure, including its road-hugging, torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system. How spoiled I felt in the new NSX with its grip-fitted, electronic steering compared to the old car’s heavy, hydraulic steering. NSX II’s style is cleaner and more sculpted, though the new car does pay homage to its forebear with horizontal rear lights and a view into the mid-mounted engine. The ’91 car is more cab-forward in its design — illustrative of an era of cab-forward Chrysler LH cars and Formula One racers of the day — yet with Clarion’s subtle visual tweaks (and barking exhaust courtesy of AEM Induction Systems) it turned heads wherever I went in Metro Detroit. I parked next to a new, Porsche Panamera GTS in Bloomfield Hills. German sports sedan meets Japanese sports coupe. A nice pair in the garage. A new, hybrid 2017 NSX doesn’t come cheap. It may be well south of the $900,000 you’ll shell out for a hybrid Porsche 918, but — at $160,000 base — it is a $60,000 dearer than the (inflation-adjusted) cost of a ’91 NSX today. Of course, the Clarion Builds version should go for well north of that at Barrett-Jackson. But isn’t digital Jagger at 8,000 rpm worth the premium? 1991 Clarion Builds Acura NSX Specifications Vehicle type: Mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-passenger sports car Price: TBD at auction Power plant: 3.2-liter supercharged V-6 Power: 344 horsepower, 247 pound-feet torque Transmission: Six-speed manual Performance: 0-60 mph, 4.8 seconds (Clarion) Weight: 3,200 pounds Fuel economy: NA Report card Highs: Wicked, updated styling; one-of-a-kind Lows: Sure you don’t want the new, superquick 2017 NSX? Overall:★★★★ Posted by hpayne on July 15, 2016 Fifty years after racing success made Shelby and Porsche household names, the performance icons still produce some of the world’s most recognizable sports coupes. This year the snake’s blue stripes tattoo the hood of the snarling Mustang GT350. Porsche’s crest punctuates the latest, road-carving 911. But Porsche has extended its good name far beyond sports cars. Which is why, at the Shelby National Convention at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this June, I found myself chasing a parade of GT350s in a Porsche SUV. Wait. What? With its introduction of sport utes (the Macan, Cayenne) and four-door coupes (the Panamera), Porsche is now richer than God. Analysts estimate the profit margins on Macans alone at a gazillion dollars (I’m rounding here). When Stuttgart introduced the Cayenne in 2002, purists denounced the move as heresy. My Porsche friends threw holy water on the demon beasts. Clothing was rent. Then they saw the bottom line. Over a decade on, all is forgiven. The utes have tripled Porsche sales. They are cash registers on wheels. More important to the faithful, the profits are plowed back into Porsche’s racing program which continues to polish the famous crest. This year a Porsche (the 919 hybrid) crossed the line at the 24 Hours of LeMans for a record 18th time. Why didn’t I think of that?!! cries every manufacturer. What if Ford had made a Shelby Mustang SUV? Or if GM had greenlighted a Corvette Crossover? Sounds weird? So did “Porsche SUV” not long ago. Now everyone’s doing it: Jaguar F-Pace, Lamborghini Urus, Maserati Levante. C’mon Ferrari, what are you waiting for? At Mid-Ohio the steward signals the track is open for track touring. I slide into the Macan S and turn the key left of the steering wheel (just like the race cars!).VRRROOOM! growl the four pipes out back, each as big around as a drain pipe. The signature console sleeve of buttons offers multiple performance options. I tick each one off like a jet pilot before takeoff. SPORT MODE. Check. SHOCKS. Stiffened. BODY. Lowered. TRACTION CONTROL. Off I floor the S’s 340-horse V-6, its turbo boost nailing me to the seat as I chase a Shelby out of the paddock. Up the front straight, into the famous, 180-degree Keyhole turn, and … WHOAAA, BESSY! The 4,112-pound boat wallows through the turn, my arms working the steering like a skipper in a tempest — it felt so sports-car firm just a moment ago! — to get over to the corner apex which seems to be floating ever further from my grasp. With throttle I eventually bring the stern around and get the vessel straightened out for the long, back straight where the pipes can sing again. Alas, not even the engineering wizards at Porsche can transform the physics of the SUV. Flog a 911, Cayman or Boxster and you know instantly it’s a Porsche. Razor-sharp handling. Stiff chassis. Flat-six exhaust note. Sure, my all-wheel-drive twin-turbo Macan might eat for lunch the classic 306-horsepower, solid-rear-axle ’65 GT350 in front of me over the course of a lap. But it wouldn’t be pretty. Such is the nature of hatchbacks that are jacked a foot into the air. And no amount of tuned-shock, double-wishbone suspension German engineering can change it. Probably not even a 6-cylinder boxer engine would help — that’s the famous engine architecture that brought a low center of gravity to Porsche sports cars, yet is curiously missing in the Porsche SUVs most in need of it. Why no boxer? Maybe because the SUV-four-door coupe customer ain’t a sports car customer. But SUVs are where the money is made. At a Bloomfield parking lot outside Trader Joe’s, a fashionable couple emerges from their Panamera — a sort of stretch 911 limousine. I ask the driver if it has the V-6 or V-8 under the hood. “You know, I don’t know — and I don’t know what’s in my wife’s Panamera, either,” he says. Blasphemy! Any sports car owner would know what was under the hood, but the larger luxe demographic doesn’t care. Heck, they won’t bat an eye that Macan shares a platform with Audi’s Q5, either. It’s good enough that the Macan is the best-handling SUV. The Jag, Maserati and Lambo will have something to say about that, of course. Indeed, the double-wishbone F-Pace I recently rowed over the Rockies is one nice-handling stagecoach. We’ll await the full-spec track comparo from our pals at Car & Driver to know for sure, but the Macan’s smaller size and multitude of buttons likely make it King of the Hill. But in truth it’s still a handling-challenged SUV. Which brings me back to the VW Golf GTI which, as you’ve heard me say a thousand times, is the best hatch on the planet. Better yet, give me the GTI’s steroid-fed twin, the Golf R-AWD like the Macan. Similar cargo room. 292-horsepower pushing 800 fewer pounds. Zero-60 in 4.5 seconds vs. Macan S’s 5.2. More intuitive console controls. Cheaper by $30,000. And with a much lower center of gravity, it will run rings around the Macan S in the twisties. Just sayin’. But of course the badge matters. You want a Porsche in the garage next to your classic ’65 Shelby. The Macan’s truer competitor is obviously the Q5. And here I have some quibbles. The next-gen Q5 (like the three-row Q7 I reviewed this April) will come equipped with the sensational Virtual Cockpit — the Nvidia-chip driven, sci-fi instrument display that is today’s gotta-have-it dash tech. Porsche’s three-ring instrument display and buttons may be iconic, but its slow, hopelessly complicated console pales next to the Audi. Vhat, Brother Porsche, you don’t have ze Nvidia chip? Ha! Oktoberfest around the VW family table must be chilly. Macan makes up for its interior shortcoming with a well-apportioned exterior. Big Brother Cayenne has always looked awkward to me — a fat 911 on stilts. The smaller Macan makes more visual sense — especially in back where broad hips give it an aggressive stance. And since Cayenne doesn’t offer three rows (like Audi’s Q7), the Macan is a more sensible budget choice. For $10,000 less, the Macan S offers two more seats than a convertible Boxster S sports car, a full-length moonroof to give it an open feel, and similar horsepower. Just don’t compare it to the Boxster through Mid-Ohio’s Keyhole. You’ll start to question this whole Porsche SUV thing. 2016 Porsche Macan Specifications Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive, five-passenger SUV Price: $48,550 base ($73,320 Macan S as tested) Power plant: 2.0-liter turbocharged, inline 4-cylinder; 3.6-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 (Macan S and GTS); 3.6-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 (Macan Turbo) Power: 252 horsepower, 273 pound-feet torque (4-cyl); 340-380 horsepower, 339-369 pound-feet torque (twin-turbo V6, Macan S and GTS); 400 horsepower, 408 pound-feet torque (twin-turbo V-6, Macan Turbo) Transmission: Seven-speed, dual-clutch automatic PDK Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.2 seconds (Macan S as tested, manufacturer); top speed: 156 mph Weight: 4,112 pounds (Macan S as tested) Fuel economy: EPA 17 mpg city/23 mpg highway/19 mpg combined (Macan S as tested) Report card Highs: Porsche style; smooth, dual-clutch tranny Lows: Looks like a Porsche, handles like an SUV; boxer engine, please? Overall:★★★
VEHICLE TYPE
MID-ENGINE, ALL-WHEEL DRIVE,
Power plant
5.2-liter V-10
Transmission
Seven-speed, dual-clutch “S-tronic” automatic
Weight
3,627 pounds
Price
$164,150 base ($199,925 V10 Plus as tested)
Power 540 horsepower, 398 pound-feet torque
Performance
0-60 mph, 2.6 seconds (Motor Trend);
Fuel economy
EPA 15 mpg city/22 mpg highway/17 mpg combined
HIGHS
VIRTUAL COCKPIT DISPLAY; VIDEO GAME-LIKE ACCELERATION
Lows
Odd, sudden tranny downshifts; cop magnet
Payne: Cruise convertible or coupe?
VEHICLE TYPE
FRONT-ENGINE, REAR-WHEEL DRIVE,
Power plant
1.4-liter, turbocharged inline 4-cylinder
Transmission
Six-speed manual (as tested)
Weight
2,428 pounds
Price
$25,990 ($27,285 as tested)
Power
160 horsepower, 184 pound-feet torque
Performance
0-60 mph, 6.8 seconds (manufacturer);
Fuel economy
EPA 26 mpg city/35 mpg highway/30 mpg combined (manual)
HIGHS
HASSLE-FREE DROP TOP; CLASSIC RETRO LOOKS FOR DREAM CRUISE
Lows
Tight interior quarters for six-footers; Turbo lag
VEHICLE TYPE
REAR-ENGINE, REAR-WHEEL DRIVE,
Power plant
6.2-liter push-rod V-8
Transmission
Six-speed manual (as tested)
Weight
3,685 pounds (SS as tested)
Price
$44,695 (50th anniversary editon base price, as tested)
Power
455 horsepower, 455 pound-feet torque
Performance
0-60 mph, 3.9 seconds (Car and Driver);
Fuel economy
HIGHS
COOL CONSOLE ERGONOMICS; WOODWARD BURNOUT ADDICT
Lows
The visibility of a Normandy pillbox; gotta take your legs off to fit in backseat
EPA 16 mpg city/25 mpg highway/19 mpg combined
Payne review: Porsche dials up the 911 Turbo
VEHICLE TYPE
REAR-ENGINE, ALL-WHEEL DRIVE,
Power plant
3.8-liter, twin-turbo flat 6-cylinder
Transmission
Seven-speed, dual-clutch PDK automatic
Weight
3,527 pounds (Turbo S as tested)
Price
$160,250 ($192,310 Turbo S as tested)
Power
540 horsepower, 486 pound-feet torque
Performance
0-60 mph, 2.6 seconds (Car and Driver);
Fuel economy
EPA 19 mpg city/21 mpg highway/24 mpg combined
HIGHS
Lows
Fulfilling dreams of less-fortunate cruisers
Camaros light the torch to open Woodward Dream Cruise
Looking back at 50 years of Camaro
New classics for the Woodward Dream Cruise
Payne: Best college car
Payne: Sedan sirens, Buick LaCrosse and Jaguar XJL
Sources: Mid-engine Corvette due in 2019
138 5 Payne: Focus RS is Ford’s Golf R-killer
Payne Q&Auto: Pilgrim’s progress
Payne: Corvette Grand Sport grand slam
Corvette: A V-8 powered Phoenix rises
Payne: Jaguar’s cat-like XE sedan
Mod-shops push for protection from EPA
Payne: Clarion NSX, a classic remixed
Payne: Porsche Macan’s sport(ier) utility
