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DROPTOPSPORTS CARS

CHEVY CORVETTEvs. JAG F-TYPE

AWD WAGONSAUDI ALLROAD vs.BMW 328i vs.

VOLVO V60

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NE 2014 INTELLIGENCE. INDEPENDENCE. IRREVERENCE.

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starting on page

T L AST,HREE EUROABES THATLLCT UAL LYPEAK TO YOU.

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DILLARDS

ChrisPine

Armanibea

uty.com

W o r l d M a g s . n e t W o r l d M a g s . n e t

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WE ARE FAST AND STEADY AND

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ONLY BRAKE WHEN WE HAVE TO.

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in this issue

FEATURES

0 6 . 2 0 1 4005

C A R A N D D R I V E R M A G A Z I N E vol. 59, no. 12

SPECIAL!

OUR ANNUALCOMPARISONSPECTACULAR

ROUNDUP AFTERMULTI-CARROUNDUP,ALL UNDERTAKENIN PURSUIT OFTHE TRUTH.

042EURO BABES

2015 Audi A3Quattro, BMW 228i,Mercedes-BenzCLA250.by Aaron Robinson

058SPRINGTIME

THAW

Honda Civic EX-L,Kia Forte EX,Mazda 3 i Touring,Toyota Corolla S,VolkswagenJetta SE.by Jared Gall

070THE VELVET

UNDERGROUND

Audi AllroadQuattro, BMW 328i

xDrive sportswagon, 2015 VolvoV60 T6 AWDR-Design.by Eric Tingwall

086DRAG QUEENS

Five slippery carsenter a wind tunnel;one slinks outa winner.by Don Sherman

099LONG-TERM TEST2013 RAM 1500

SLT CREW CAB

4X4

Rams lightestlight-duty pickupserves us and ourcrapheaps well for40,000 miles.by Mike Sutton

ON THE COVERA short pour of luxuryin the high desert.photography byMark Bramley

052COMPARO

HOT SEATS

Chevys Corvette StingrayConvertible and JaguarsF-type V-8 S, in theirwrong colors.by Tony Quiroga



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2014 JAGUAR LAND ROVER NORTH AMERICA, LLC. Vehicle Shown: 2015 Jaguar F-TYPE R Coupe. *Price shownis MSRP. Excludes destination/handling, tax, title, license,

and retailer fees, all due at signing, and optional equipment. Retailer price, terms and vehicle availability may vary. See your local authorized Jaguar Retailer for details.

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NOT ONE OF THE

USUAL SUSPECTS.

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Its a brilliant example of what a sports car can be: An unmatched achievement in design

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from Jaguar. Its the glorious return of the British super sports car. Visit jaguarusa.com.

The F-TYPE Coupe, starting from $65,000.*



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in this issue

caranddriver.com

.

06 .2014

008

132

C O L U M N S

01 4EDDIE ALTERMAN

Fortunate Son.

038JOHN PHILLIPS

Winter of discontent.

040AARON ROBINSON

Gambling, whiskey, andWillow Springs Raceway.

U P F R O N T

025REVEAL OF THE MONTH

UNHOLY TOLEDO

The Renegade is Jeepsimport fighter. Its alsoits first import.

028THE PHYSICS OF . . .

INJECTABLES

Shooting up a little extraperformance isnt justfor cyclists and baseballplayers, you know.

030STUFF WE DROVEIN THE OFFICE

DRIFT THEORY

Razors Crazy Cart is therich mans ipecac.

036INFOGRAPHIC

NAMING RITES

Bringing order (andclass and phylum) tocar names.

D R I V E L I N E S

10 62015 MERCEDES-

BENZ C-CLASS

Essence of S-class,distilled into a fun-sizepackage.

109TESTED 2015 CHEVY

TAHOE

A Big Mac in a worldgoing vegan.

11 2TESTED 2015

SUBARU WRX

If you prefer anautomatic in this car,you deserve the CVT.

11 4TESTED AMS RONIN

GT-R

The quickest road carweve ever tested.

R E A L D E A L S

11 7CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED

NISSAN 370Z

$25,000 worth of fast,with a warranty.

120THE SPY WHO

PAID ME

Pros and cons of theProgressive Snapshot.

122IL CONSIGNORE

Car consignment forfun and profit.

132ECONO EXOTICS

CHEVROLET

CORVETTE Z06

How has the C5 versionof the Z06 held up?

E T C .

01 1BACKFIRES

Trivia for all you FordFreestyle fans out there:It was going to be calledthe CrossTrainer. Also, a

man threatens to cancelhis subscription.

CAR AND DRIVER Volume 59, Issue 12, (ISSN 0008-6002) is published 12times a year byHearst Communications, Inc.,300 West 57th Street, New York,New York 10019 U.S.A. Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Executive Vice Chairman and ChiefExecutive Officer of the Board; Steven R. Swartz, President; Catherine A. Bostron,Secretary. Hearst Magazines Division: David Carey, President; John P. Loughlin,Executive Vice President and General Manager; John A. Rohan, Jr., Senior VicePresident, Finance. 2014 by Hearst Communications, Inc.All rights reserved.Car and Driver is a registered trademark of Hearst Communications, Inc. Periodicals postage paid at N.Y., N.Y., and additional entry post offices. Canada PostInternational Publications mail product (Canadian distribution) sales agreement40012499. Editorial and Advertising Offices: 300 West 57th Street, New York,New York 10019-5239 SUBSCRIPTION PRICES U.S. and possessions: $13.00 forone year. Canada and all other countries: $29.94 for one year. SUBSCRIPTIONSERVICES Car and Driver will, upon receipt of a complete subscription order,undertake fulfillment of that order so as to provide the first copy for delivery by thePostal Service or alternate carrier within 46 weeks.

From time to time, we make our subscriber list available to companies that sellgoods and services by mail that we believe would interest our readers. If you wouldrather not receive such offers via postal mail, please send your current mailing labelor exact copy to Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 37870, Boone, IA 50037. You canalso visit http://hearst.ed4.net/profile/login.cfm to manage your preferences andopt out of receiving marketing offers by email.

For customer service, changes of address, and subscription orders, log on toservice.caranddriver.com or write to Customer Service Dept.,Car and Driver,P.O.Box 37870, Boone, IA 50037. Car and Driver is not responsible for unsolicitedmanuscripts or art. None will be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressedstamped envelope. Authorized periodicals postage by the Post Office Department,Ottawa, Canada, and for payment in cash.POSTMASTER Send all UAA to CFS.(See DMM 707.4.12.5); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES send addresscorrections to Car and Driver,P.O. Box 37870, Boone, IA 50037.Printed in the U.S.A.

114

030


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Embrace the unexpected.

You wouldnt expect a powerful 285-hp EcoBoost engine* to come wrapped in an

elegant exterior and a supple Bridge of Weir Deepsoft leather-trimmed interior.* You

wouldnt expect active park assist** to guide you as easily out of a parking spot as it

guided you in. Perhaps you also wouldnt expect the name on the badge. But then,

great things often live beyond our expectat ions.

LINCOLN.COM/MKC

Preproduction model shown. *Available features. **Available. Includes park out assist.

THE FIRSTEVER LINCOLN MKCSUMMER 2014



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L I V E L I F E A T T H E S P E E D O F F 1

INTRODUCING THE

TURBOCHARGED HYBRID 2014 F1 GPX

MEMORIAL DAY SALES EVENT

126,000$ /mo.60 mos. sec.060 mph ERS Returns up to160bhpin accelerationEnergy Recovery System

YOUR EXCLUSIVE HOME FOR ALL

19 RACES FROM ABU DHABI TO AUSTIN

M O N A C O G R A N D P R I X

LIVE MAY 25

Of course this car isnt really for sale.

Cops will give you the ticket and ask the car for its autograph. The engines roar soothes crying babies.

Its burning rubber smells like a Cuban cigar. Buy this car. Drive it fast. Meet the girl of your dreams. Get married.

Get divorced. Keep everything. And then park next to your ex-wife in her minivan. Or you can just watch a race.



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Sic your dogs on us at:

[email protected] join the discussion at:

backfires.caranddriver.com

hosted byED.

06 .2014

011

RO BE RT S AS KE DTHAT WE RUN AN

IL LU ST RAT IO N OFHI S LAT E WI FE , WH OWOULDVE ENJOYED

SE EI NG HE RLI KE NE SS IN C/D.

ILLUSTRATIO

N

SBYBRETTAFFRUNTI

COVER CRITICS

Wow, a Corvette on the Marchcover! Jesus, that is sooooo original!Howd you guys ever think of thatone? All right, so here is the coverlineup for the rest of the year:

June: Porsche 911July: CorvetteAugust: Porsche 911September: CorvetteOctober: Porsche 911November: CorvetteDecember: Porsche 911

Next year: Repeat, starting with . . .What else? January: Corvette. Anyquestions?

ED REGIS

SABILLASVILLE, MARYLAND

You forgot about the MustangEd.

Given the picture of the newCorvette Z06 on the cover of yourMarch issue, the coupon inside forCialis seemed a bit unnecessary.

JOHN SECHRIST

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

LETTER OF

THE MONTHIn the 1920s, player pianos becamepopular. Piano rolls, the softwareof the day, were recorded by manypiano greats: Fats Waller, Jelly RollMorton, James P. Johnson, andothers. Id like Sebastian Vettel toprogram my self-driving car.

DREW ROBERTS

CANYON, CALIFORNIA

CORVETTE SIMMER

I have held my tongue for some time

now because I could not really quantifymy opinion of the new Corvette and its

variants [The Name Game, March2014]. I had thought it was somethingalong the lines of: Just because youhave the technology to moldberglasspanels with tight creases at juxtaposedangles doesnt mean you should. Butthere was something more that

bothered me.I was on the throne with the

March issue, casually turning the pages,and got to page 40. WHAM! The full-on

frontal image smacked me between theeyes. Those snarky eyes, the little

V-nose, and the gaping maw. Straightout of the Pixar design studio. If it werea still on a video, you could push play andthe car would say, Howdy, partner.

GUY NEWSTED

BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON

The Corvette Z06 looks like somethingfrom a comic book or a video game. And

you, too, can drive this cartoon car for amere $100K. If this is a GM

marketing ploy to get us all to

love and drive a Chevy Volt, tell themthat its working. Oh, they forgot to

paint the side-view mirrors and doorhandles black.

TERRY MOORE

PLYMOUTH, CALIFORNIA

Surely you have another Corvettearticle coming next month. I canhardly wait!

MIKE MENOZZI

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Menozzi, the wait is over. Please turn

to page 52Ed.

THE WAITING ROOM

I justnished reading Getting a gripby John Phillips in your March issue.His comment about inaming yourcustomers by having Fox News on theTV as always in the Les Schwab

waiting room was itself inammatory.Fox News was most likely selected

because it has more viewers than thenext two nearest news channelscombined. If you want to make yourcustomers happy, wouldnt you select

what is clearly the most popular

news channel? I subscribe toyour magazine to read about

cars, not to see yet anotherliberal in the print media takea jab at conservatives. Please

leave politics out of yourotherwise excellent magazine

and focus on the C and the D.BRIAN BERTSCH

SUNRIVER, OREGON

We assume, Bertsch, that you mean after

we run your letterEd.

I was excited to get my veryrst issue ofC/D through the mail. I started readingthrough the magazine and came to thecolumn Phillips wrote about snow tires,



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backfires06 .2014

014 .

Sic your dogs on us at: [email protected] or join: backfires.caranddriver.com

Fortunate Son

E D D I E A L T E R M A N.

THE C AR BU S I NES S HAS MANY a tragic tale to tell, but the most tragic maybe that of Henry Fords son, Edsel. His enchromed name rides down the mea-tus of the grille of one of FoMoCos most lasting embarrassments, and thesymbolism of that name in that grille shape turned out to tell us everything weneeded to know about how Fordpresaw Ford In Henrys view, Edsels jazz-age lifestyle and love of the Continent made him a dandy, a fop, a, well, some-thing that looks very much like the Edsels front grille.

But Mr. Ford was wrong abouthis son. Though Henry demeanedand alienated him throughout hisadulthood, it was Edsel who kept

Ford relevant. When Henry obsti-nately held that the Model T wasthe only car Americans would everneed, Edsel pushed the company to

build what would become thewildly successful Model A, forwhich Henry promptly took credit.And with the help of designer E.T.

Bob Gregorie, Edsel not only gave Lincoln a place in the luxury market, healso created the Model 40 Special Speedster that was the missing link between30s Grand Prix cars such as the Bugatti Ty pe 35 and the postwar American hotrod. He had taste and vision and judgment, and he was a gentle man who sawhow violently the world around him was chang ing.

In A. J. Baimes remarkable new book, , Edsel getshis due. Baime recounts how the sons twin anities for Europe and aviationcombined to give his familys company a pivotal role in the outcome of World

War II. On the eve of that conict, American military power was nearlynonexistent. We thought our oceans could protect us, like some great moat.The U.S. Army was the worlds 16th largest (behind Romanias), with just200,000 enlisted men to Hitlers 7 million. The Army Air Corps could claimfewer than 1300 planes. We were in no position toght fascism with anythingmore than words.

This would be the rst war in which air power would be a decisive factor.President Roosevelt saw that, and so did Edsel. Despite his fathers resistance,Edsel asserted that Ford would build a factory that could crank out a plane anhour for the war eort. Using its assembly-line process, the enterprise did just

that, producing the far-reaching and hugely destructive B-24 Liberator atWillow Run. The rest, as they say, is history.

EDITORS LETTER

the one where he calls our fathers cheapbastards for only buying two. In the era Igrew up in, 99 percent of cars were rear-

wheel-drive vehicles. Thanks, but Illnever subscribe toagain! Not withthe likes of him writing for you.

ROBERT J. OLIVER

WEST LIBERTY, OHIO

Okay, now that Olivers out of here, Ill let

you guys in on a secret: Phillips once owned

a tire store in West Liberty, OhioEd.

DIFFERENT STROKES

How interesting to see, in your March2014 issue, that front-wheel driveaccounts for 54 percent of the nationalmotor pool when most car-magazine

writers consider it lowlife [DierentialDistribution]. Of course, the majorityof us do need the added control of rear-

wheel drive when operating at the limitof adhesion on racing circuits and

winding roads with no speed limits.J. LOUIS ARCAND

HALLANDALE, FLORIDA

Properly tuned, f ront-drive cars are

our 10Best listEd.

In We Have Ignition [March 2014],about the experimental Hyundai engine,Im led to ask how easily such an engine

would start in the extreme cold weatherthat recently has been hitting places likeMinnesota. The ar ticle mentions thatauto ignition is achieved byrst heatingthe intake airwont this thing be a real

bear to start when its cold?BRIAN UNDERDAHL

VIRGINIA CITY HIGHLANDS, NEVADA

One of the hurdles to clear before production

is the issue youve pointed outEd.

MUSEUM MUSINGS

I love you guys. But March had AaronRobinson blathering about how he hatesmuseums and how boring they are [The

best museums never stop moving]. Nodoubt some are, and every single subjectdoesnt necessarily deserve its own shrineto collect dust. Some are decidedly not

boringyou idiots are headquartered inMichigan, right? Ever hear of The HenryFord museum? Theres nothing else like itin the world. Even the building itself has

WH ER E TH E

PLANES WERE

As of presstime, the Ford

Willow Run plantis set to bedemolished.Read about it inA.J. Baimesgripping book,The Arsenal ofDemocracy,Houghton MifflinHarcourt.



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2014 E 250 BlueTECshown in Iridium Silver metallic paint. Optional equipment shown and described throughout. *2014 EPA estimated fuel economy. Based on road test by Road & Track, article referenced: Americasmost fuel-efficient new car isnt a Prius, February 24, 2014. 2014 Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC For more information, call 1-800-FOR-MERCEDES, or visit MBUSA.com.

With any E-Class, youd expect unparalleled safety technologies like a stereoscopic camera and Steering Assist.

Youd expect luxurious appointments like leather upholstery and heated front seats. You might even expect

dramatic new design with a distinctive new wheel, grille and bumpers. But to get all that and 45 mpg highway*?

Even Road & Trackwas surprised. The E 250 BlueTEC. Defying expectations.

Road & Track called it more fuel-efficient than a Prius.

And, may we add, a bit easier on the eyes.The 2014 E250 BlueTEC.



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Porsche says its slick and clever new 919 Hybrid endurance racing sports car is its fastest research

laboratory, a feat when you consider the 240-mph-plus top speeds at Le Mans, the most grueling of the eight-

race 2014 endurance championship. But the twist this year is the fastest machine will not win. The victor will

be the team who can push their car to maintain high speeds the longest, using mandated limited fuel delivery

while recapturing energy. Three years ago Porsche began designing, building and developing the 919 Hybrid,

which is a creative blend of a super high-output turbocharged four-cylinder engine, four-wheel drive, and two

hybrid energy systems. This unique technology offers a glimpse into how speed will be created in future cars,

some of it already headed for the road today.

FUNDAMENTALLY EFFICIENT POWER:

Designed from scratch and tested in special Cayman coupes, the

innovative 500-horsepower turbo V-4 2.0-liter engine is a structural part

of the chassis, to save weight and to best manage thermal loads, which

are reclaimed for propulsion energy with an inspired exhaust-driven

turbine generator.

PORSCHEUSA.COM/MISSION2014

INNOVATIVE AXLE TECHNOLOGY:

A unique front axle traction motor also captures energy. Optimizing front

and rear drive axles independently for traction and power regeneration

translates to the most speed and maneuverability for the energy used.

New Rules Spawn Creative SpeedMost advanced Porsche race car ever takes on Le Mans 24-hour

endurance race.

ULTIMATE ENERGY RECYCLING:

The ultra-slick Porsche 919 Hybrid will achieve efficient speed assisted by

more than 2,000 watt-hours of energy reclaimed by its two sophisticated

hybrid systems on each 8.47-mile lap of the famed Le Mans circuit.

Winning cars cover about 350 laps in 24 hours.

PROMOTION

DRIVERS BULLETIN

EXPERIENCE THE CREATION OF THE PORSCHE 919 HYBRID

AND FOLLOW ALONG WITH MISSION 2014:



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2014 Porsche Cars North America, Inc. Porsche recommends seat belt usage and observance of all traffic laws at all times.

We spend years designing cars to be timeless.

And give them 24 hours to prove it.

The Porsche 919 Hybrid at the 24h of Le Mans.

Mission 2014. Our Return.

As the most prestigious and grueling endurance race in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans

has often pushed us to our very limits. And in a few races, even beyond. Which is precisely

why were thrilled to be returning to the pinnacle of racing in 2014, where once again we

will face our toughest competitor us. Our legacy of winning at Le Mans is the standard

we always hold for ourselves. But all we learn in the process about durability, efficiency

and performance will find its way into the one thing more important than another win in a

famous race. The sports cars we put on the road. Porsche. There is no substitute.

porscheusa.com/mission2014Porsche recommends and



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backfires06 .2014

018 .


fascinating details and an interestingstory, to say nothing of the exhibits itfeatures. The car collection is reallyboring, too. Tell Robinson to stay away.

BRIAN J. BRENDZA

PARMA, OHIO

EYE PAIN

After seeing the new Subaru WRX[WRX in Eect, March 2014], Ivedecided to picket Subarus corporateheadquarters until it releases itsdesigners from solitary connement.

Theyve been in there for more than 20years, and its inhumane to keep anyoneseparated from the outside world forthat long.

MATT ABRAHAM

PARKLAND, FLORIDA

JUICED UP

Im not sure I understand yourmethodology for testing the electric cars[Field of Dreams, March 2014]. TheChevrolet Spark won bypoints, whichhappens to be the dierence in points

awarded between it and the runner-upFord Focus. The Spark got maximum

points (20) for its best quar ter-mile timeof the tested cars. The Focus received only12 points despite being only 1.6 secondsslower. Its not like 16.3 seconds is exactly a

blistering speed, nor do all electric buyersin this segment put quarter-mile timeshigh on their needs list.

Further, the as-tested pricecategory oddly favors the Spark (7 pointsmore than the Focus), even though itsmore than two feet shorter and nearlyeight inches narrower than the Focus.

If I were shopping this segment, I

think Id be inclined to spend a little moreand get a lot more usable car, like theFocus or Nissan Leaf. Of those two, atleast the Focus looks like something thatdoesnt need to be kept out of sight.

TIMOTHY HOOD

SOUTH JORDAN, UTAH

category scores correspond to the category

Enlightening, Engaging, Entertaining:The folks at C/Dnever seem to lose sightof what makes a good article great, andthats why your magazine is No. 1 of thetwo that I subscribe to. The other oneclaims to keep me up on the trends, butI keep re-upping it because I suer frominsomnia, and its bargain-basement

subscription rate is a hell of a lot cheaperthan Lunesta.

JEFF CLARK

CHURCHVILLE, NEW YORK

Okay, so the Tesla is priced out of themass market (for now). But come on: zero

to 60 in 4.6 seconds, a 265-mile range,luxurious seating forve, plus SUV-likecargo space in a stunningly beautifulpackage, compared to these econoboxes

with anemic range and performance andquestionable-at-best st yling. Maybe themanufacturers should stop whining andstart engineering.

SCOTT SEGAL

WEBLANDIA

THE FLEECING

Most of us love Porsches [The NewSuper, March 2014], but come on, guys

wouldnt you feel like an idiot driving thisridiculous 91in public? (The sameapplies for the Ferrari LaFerrari and theMcLaren P1.) The options list says it all.Six grand for a heater? And the interior is

butt-ugly. Those Porsche guys have gotballs, thats for sure. Id rather have a car

that you can actually drive from time totimeand not just at the track.

JOHN WILSON

SUDBURY, VERMONT

LIVING WITH MUSTANG

Judging from some of the comments inthe Rants and Raves sidebar of the 2013Mustang GT long-term test [March2014], I see that the C/Dsta nowincludes a fair number of eete wimps.Their collective whine is more irritatingthan the one noted from the Mustangs

ring and pinion. In particular, Kevin A.Wilson complains about the clutch pedal,which actually may be among the lightestever put behind a V-. I suggest Wilson be

BACKFIRES (11%)

ELECTRIC-CARCOMPARO (13%)

DRIVELINES (11%)

MISC. (12%)

SUBARU WRX (4%)

WIDD: JOHN FORCE(1%)

COLUMNS(17%)

CORVETTE Z06(13%)

LONG-TERMMUSTANG GT (6%)

PORSCHE 918(5%)

UPFRONT (7%)

M A I L T O W E R



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If you think youve got the talent,

then take some time to develop

the skills.

Enroll in the Skip Barber RacingSchool 2014 INDYCAR Academy

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to launch your racing career.

Call today for details.

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEFEddie Alterman

EXEC UTI VE ONL INE EDI TOR Erik Johnson

DES IGN DI RECT ORNathan Schroeder

SEN IOR ONL INE EDI TOR Ron SessionsONLINE NEWS EDITORAustin Lindberg

BUY ERS GU IDE EDI TOR Kirk Seaman

ASS OCI ATE MAN AGI NG EDI TOR Juli Burke

ASS OCI ATE ONL INE EDI TORS

Andrew Wendler, Alexander Stoklosa

ROA D-T EST EDI TOR Mike Sutton

ONLINE PRODUCTION DIRECTORScott Mosher

ASS OCI ATE DES IGN ERJennifer Choi

ONLINE COPY EDITORSusanne Kocsis

INT ERAC TIV E D ESI GN ERNicole Lazarus

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MANAGERJen Feeny

OFFICE AND INVOICE MANAGERSusan Mathews

ROA D W ARR IOR S Charley M. Ladd, Zeb Sadiq,

David Beard

ONLINE PRODUCTION DESIGNER Sarah Larson

ONLINE PRODUCTION MANAGER Brent Herrera-Durr

ASS ISTA NT ONL INE PRO DUC TIO N MAN AGER S

Luke Sellenraad, Nicholas Wallace

ONLINE PRODUCTION ASSOCIATES

Tucker Biallas, Michael Cooper, Kevin Kerber,Nicholas LaPlant, Alden Tischler

PRO DUC T D EVE LOPM ENT DIR ECTO R Matt Landish

PRO DUC T D IRE CTOR Mark Quint

PRO DUC T A SSI STAN TS John Bellopatrick,Vincent DOnofrio, Jon McHenry, Mark Sandusky

banned from driving and commentingon anything more exciting than a ToyotaCorolla CVT until he successfullycompletes Eddie Altermans Save theManuals! boot camp.

BRUCE BOSS KOPEC

POWDER SPRINGS, GEORGIA

Nice 40K review. My 2013 GT has beena ball, with no issues. Kids and luggage tgreat in the back seat and trunk,respectively. Heres the kicker: It cost$28,800 after rebates with zero-rate

nancing. My transaction price wasdrastically lower. The GT came with everyreasonable option for loaded-Focusmoney. Its a muscle car, perfected. My oldFirebird Formula and mid-1990s MustangGT pale in comparison. I kept the spoiler.

PATRICK HARVILL

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA

After reading your long-term test on the2013 Mustang with the Track package, Ind the changed engine-oil specicationto be strange. I checked all three Mustang

owners manuals on the web. The rst twoprintings call for a 5W-20 engine oil. Thethird printing is the one that calls for a5W-50 synthetic, which is the same oil the

supercharged Shelby requires. I wouldlike to see you contact Ford and clarify

which is the correct oil to use and why?P. BABYAK

INDEPENDENCE, OHIO

Use the 5W-50 synthetic because its

betterEd.

SOUND OFF

When do you write these articles in yourmagazine? The March issue (out inFebruary) shows a man driving theCorvette convertible along some scenic

road in Michigan (license plate reectsMichigan) with the top down. Last time Iknew of convertible weather like that inMichigan was more than six monthsago. A lot has been written about theCorvette in the last six months and almostmakes your story dated. Can we get anarticle written in somewhat real time?

BOB DEVOTO

FLEMINGTON, NEW JERSEY

DeVoto is apparently unaware that cars

can be driven anywhere regardless of their

license plates. Our introduction to the

Corvette convertible took place in Nevada inmid-December, or about six weeksnot six

monthsbefore the issue hit newsstands.

Soon enough for you?Ed.

MAN AGI NG EDI TOR Mike Fazioli

FEAT URE S E DIT OR Jeff Sabatini

SEN IOR EDI TORS Tony Quiroga, Jared GallEDI TOR, MON TAN A D ESKJohn Phillips

TECHNICAL EDITORSK.C. Colwell, Eric Tingwall

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CONTRIBUTING ARTISTSMark Bramley, Bryan Christie Design, Jim Fets,

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SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE For fast and convenient subscription service, visitservice.caranddriver.comto order a print subscription, pay your bill, renew your subscription, give a gift subscription,update your mailing and email addresses, and more! Or write to Customer Service Department,Car and Driver, PERMISSIONS REPRINTSFor information on reprints and e-prints, please contact Brian Kolb at Wrights Reprints,877-652-5295 BACK ISSUESTo order back issues dated within the past two years, please go to backissues.caranddriver.com. For digital back issues, please go to Car and Driver

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EXEC UTI VEVICE CHAIRMAN

Bennack, Jr.

backfires06 .2014

022 .


BUGGING OUT

Great article on the newest Meyers Manx[Drivelines, March 2014]. I remember

your original piece from a long time ago,where Bruce Meyers hopped a trampsteamer and spent six months in theTahitian jungle drinking coconut wineand then came home and invented thedune buggy. Locally, Baldwin Motion(yes, that Baldwin Motion) became adealership and had a lighted MeyersManx sign on the roof: an olde Englishlion with a sword. When the business was

sold, the sign came down, but I would betthat its just lying up there on the roof.Excuse me while I get my ladder before

American Pickersgets to it!KEITH ANDOOS

I was 14 when you guys put out the issueback in 67 with thatrst incredibleMeyers Manx. A Porsche motor! Formula1 tires. I fell hopelessly in love. Only twomore years before I could legally drive, soI started planning the moment when I

earned my license driving the Manx.The Manx was just so original

compared to everything else, and it madeeverythin g obsolete overnight. Whoneeds doors? Whats wrong with plastic

windows you can snap on? After all,didnt every British ragtop have the sameissues? This car was Steve McQueen cool

before Steve McQueen owned one.Nice to see ol man Meyers still

kicking out the jams. He looks happy. Heshould be. He created a real classic, andlike all true classics, his Meyers Manx

still looks fantastic. Its a car that lookslike it has always been with us and will be

with us forever.JOHN G. HILL

FIRING SQUAD

In response to your snarky comment toMr. Hedger [Backres, March 2014]

wherein you denigrate his vehicleof choice (Ford Freestyle), I would like topoint out that I have been a C/Dsubscriber for more years than I can

remember, and I drive an 07 Freestyle,which I like. The car has plenty of haulingcapacity, seats seven people, and has good

visibility, and I run Michelin X-Ice tires inthe winter, which turns it into a mountaingoat on the icy and/or snow-coveredroads in our Colorado mountains. Itsgiven us 98K miles of comfortable,carefree driving. Also, I believe therehas to be at least a couple dozen of usFreestyle-owning C/Dreaders out here.

STEVE BARNHILL

Hey, no insult intended. We were justsurprised, thats allEd.

Though I am not a longtime subscriber,the Backres letter from ScottFineshriber in Utah sums up my feelingsperfectly. The Corvette is made in mytown, but I dont want to read about itover and over, or about the other ultra-luxury vehicles that are not in the budgetof most people, and certainly those not

within reach of a senior on SocialSecurity like me. I subscribed to the

magazine to learn about small SUVs so Icould make a wise and practical selectionin the coming year. Your comment to Mr.Fineshribers caring letter is toooensive to be funny. I, for one, wouldlove to talk to him at a cocktail part yabout aordable cars, practical vehicles,and family vehicles.

JEAN GROUT

Okay, okay. I might have been a little

unkind to Fineshriber. Our make-good is

on page 58Ed.

PUBLISHER ANDCHIEF REVENUE OFFICER

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PUB LIS HIN G C ONS ULTAN TS Mark F. Miller

Would you installan insurance trackerlike the ProgressiveSnapshot (page 120)in your car?

B. C. Maybe

Let us know at:backfires.caranddriver.com/poll



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C A M P I N G I S F O R W E E N I E S

pho tog rap hy by ROY RITCHIE

Unholy ToledoHOMEGROWN NO MORE, JEEP HAS ITS FIRST IMPORT IN

THE IMPORT-FIGHTING RENEGADE. by Jeff Sabatini

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF Fiat Chryslers decision to unveil the2015 Renegade in Geneva in March is plain: It will be the rstU.S.-market Jeep to be built abroad. Sharing a platform with theFiat 500L and built in Fiats Mel, Italy, assembly plant, the Ren-egade also has a simple mission: to give Jeep an entry-level modelthats not a Compass or Patriot. Whilethere certainly will be howls from themost reverent Jeep enthusiasts about theRenegades immigrant status, the newB-segment crossover should work harderat putting a smile on your spare-tirecover than those two small leftovers

from the DaimlerChrysler era. The o-cial line is that the Renegade is not areplacement for those fraternal C-seg-ment twins. But we imagine thats just

corporate misdirection to keep the retailfaucetowing until Renegades hit dealershowrooms early next year with a baseprice below $20,000.

DESIGN

According to design boss Ralph Gilles,current and future Jeep models will

crawl down one of two styling paths:boxy, like Wranglersor swoopy, like the Cherokees regular andGrand. The more rectilinear the Jeep, the thinking goes, themore it implies a sense of utility and o-road capability. So,

while the Renegade may resemble a Wrangler UnlimitedShrinky Dink, Jeep designers made sure it didnt come out too

R E V E A L O F T H E M O N T H.

INTERIORPH

OTOGRAPHYCOURTESYOFJEEP

upfront

edited byJ A R E D G A L L

06 .2014

025SCRUTINEERING

RED BULL-ONEY Extreme lifestyles trumpthe merely active The Renegades designers were

inspired by skiing paintball sand surfing andBASE jumping

TOW-HOOK

AF ICI ON AD O?

TURN TH E PAGE

TO SEE THE

TRAIL-RATED

TRAILHAWK.



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06 .2014

026 upfront

caranddriver.com

.. R E V E A L O F

T H E M O N T H

PR IOR TO TH E RE NEG AD E , JE EPWAS THE LARGEST DO MESTIC

BR AN D, IN REC ENT TI MES, TOBU ILD AL L OF IT S U. S. MAR KE T

VEHICLES HERE.

DET RO IT , MIGRAND CHEROKEE

TOLEDO, OHCHEROKEE & WRANGLER

BE LVIDER E, ILCOMPASS & PATRIOT

AL ON G WI TH GRO UND CL EAR AN CE , TH ES EAN GL ES DET ERM IN E WH ET HER YO U AR EOFF-ROADING OR JUST STUCK.

Cherokee Trailhawk

Renegade Trailhawk

TRAILHAWK

THOUGH HARDLY AS COO LAS TH E SI GNATU RES OF TH EORIGINAL MACINTOSH TEAMCAST ONTO THE INSIDE OF

IT S CO MPU TE R CA SES , TH ERE NE GA DE IS FU LL OFEAS TE R EG GS , SU CH ASTHIS MAP OF MOAB, UTAH,

MOL DED IN TO TH E RU BB ERST ORA GE- BI N LI NE R.

a back seat large enough to accommodate a pairof six-footers and even a third adult, providingthat both the adult and the trip are short.

The Chrysler parts bin was sifted for theswitchgear and infotainment system, but Jeepdesigners used an anodized-look paint to maketrim pieces resemble aluminum outdoor gear.The Renegades signature feature is an optionalpair of removable composite roof panels calledMy Sky, which is sort of like a T-top rotated 90degrees. The panels, available in manual or powertilt-and-slide congurations, stow under theoor in the cargo hold when removed.

cartoonish. The black grille and trim give theRenegade a bit of menace, and the taillightsrectangular, with big, inset Xsresemble army

jerrycans. Ten exterior colors will be available ina palette similar to the Wranglers.

At 166.6 inches long and 71.0 inches wide, thelittle Jeep is actually big for its class. The rstthing you notice about it when seeing it in themetal is that its more substantial than it looks inphotos. Its 101.2-inch wheelbase matches the KiaSouls, but the Renegade out-measures the Soulin other dimensions and its also bigger than theMini Countryman and Nissan Juke. The Ren-

egade is also roomier than expected inside, wherethe boxy styling makes for a spacious cabin with

IF YO U WA NT TH OS E RE D TO W HOOK S TH AT DEN OT E TR AI L-RA TE DN ES S, EX PEC T TO RU N TH E SUB -$ 20 ,0 00 BA SE PRI CEDE EP INT O CHER OKE E TE RR IT ORY. TH E TR AI LH AW K AL SO GE TSA 0. 8- INC H LI FT , DIS TI NC T FA SC IA S, SK ID PL ATES, AN D A 20 :1CRAWL RATIO FOR ITS FOUR-WH EEL-DRIVE SYSTEM.

T R Y A N G L E S

Approach29.9

Departure32.2

Breakover22.9

Approach30.5

Departure34.3

Breakover25.7



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027

ILLUSTRATIO

N

SBYPETESUCHESKI

with a manual transmissionsomething we heartilyapplaud. But it also means that everybody else mustpay extra for the bigger engine just to delete the thirdpedal. At least theyll also be getting reasonable fuel

economy. Fiat Chrysler promises EPA numbers forboth powertrain combinations of more than 30 mpg onthe highway, though were betting thats just for thefront-drive versions. Four-by-fours may land under 30,

but they at least get Jeeps Selec-Terrain system withsettings for snow, sand, and mud, and an extra rockmode for Trailhawks.

CHASSIS

This is therst four-wheel-drive variant of Fiat Chrys-lers small-wide platform, modied to endow theRenegade with real o-road capabilities that are sorely

lacking in this segment. Jeep engineers trimmed mass, they say, by

using an aluminum hood and high-strength steel for 70 percent ofthe unibody. The 3025-pound base model undercuts its 500L plat-form-mate by about 175 pounds. The Trailhawks extra equipment,however, pushes the curb weight to 3490 pounds. The Renegadehas struts at all four corners providing a maximum 6.7 inches of

wheel articulation in front and 8.1 inches inback. Ground clearance is only 6.7 inchesfor front-drivers, but 7.9 inches for four-

wheel-drive models. The Trailhawkpushes that to 8.7 inches and oers

better approach, breakover, anddeparture angles than its trail-rated Cherokee sibling, not to men-

tion the rest of the soft-roader class.

A ST EEL RO OFIS ST AN DA RD .

CONTRASTING BL ACKTRIM AND RE MOVABLE MY

SKY PA NE LS (S HO WNHER E) AR E OPT IO NS .

OTHER MARKETS GET ACONVENTIONAL GLASS

SU NR OO F.

POWERTRAIN

Of the two four-cylinder engines, both borrowed from the DodgeDart, the base unit is a turbocharged 1.4-liter that makes 160 horse-power and 184 pound-feet of torque. Its available only with a six-speed manual. An optional 2.4 rated at 184 horsepower and 177pound-feet includes the nine-speed automatic from the Cherokee.

This setup comes standard on theo-road-ready Trailhawk, whichalso includes an upgraded versionof the Renegades optional four-

wheel-drive system. Four-wheeldrive is available on all Renegadecongurations, making it the onlyB-segment crossover besides the

Countryman to oer the feature



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upfront

caranddriver.com

06 .2014

028 .. T H EP H Y S I C SOF . . .I N JECTABLES

Hypodermic HorsepowerINJECTING PERFORMANCE ISNT ONLY FOR CYCLISTSAND BASEBALL PLAYERS. by Csaba Csere

illustration by CHRIS PHILPOT

OXYGEN ENHANCERS

The power output of any engine is limited

by the amount of oxygen it can ingest. Thats why

most go-faster solutionslarger displacement,

higher rpm, forced inductionfocus on pumping

more air. But you can achieve the same result by

adding a substance that contains oxygen. The

most common of these is nitrous oxide, or N2O,

which is 33 percent oxygen (atmospheric air is

about 21 percent). Injecting it into an intake

manifold increases the oxygen that ends up in

the cylinders. The nitrous itself doesnt make

more power; it helps the engine make more by

allowing it to burn more fuel, which you must

make sure it gets. Nitrouss benefits to power

output compound because it is stored as a liquid

in a pressurized tank. As it evaporates, it also

cools the intake charge, increasing charge

density, further boosting the oxygen intake.

GAIN: A typical 10-pound bottle can

provide a 100-hp boost for about

two minutes, but that go-fast

time drops as the power

jolt increases.

E N G I N E S A R E D E S I G N E D T O R U N on commonly availablefuels, but as every street racer knows, injecting a little something

extra can help performance. (Certain athletes seem to have picked up on thisconcept, too.) Auxiliary injection systems provide tremendous power gains ina relatively easy-to-install package. What is injected generally falls into one ofthree categories: coolants, oxy-

gen enhancers, or additionalfuel. Heres how they work.

M A Y B E T R YT H I S A T H O M E

Your engine is designed tohandle the amount of power

it makes when stock Allshortterm power boosters

put additional stress oninternal components If

youre thinking of injecting

anything extra into yourengine you may need to beefup your twirly bits

COOLANTS

When you spray water into an engines

intake manifold, the water vaporizes, lowering the

temperature of the intake charge and making it

denser. A denser charge means more air and more

fuel reach the cylinders, which translates to more

power. The lower charge temperature also greatly

reduces the likelihood of knock or detonation,

allowing either a higher compression ratio or more

boost pressure. While theres little benefit to water

injection in naturally aspirated engines at normaltemperatures, in a turbocharged or supercharged

engine where boost turns up the heat, the

temperature reduction can be dramaticpossibly

more than 100 degrees. This is particularly

beneficial if the engine lacks an intercooler. In

these systems, injected water is typically mixed

with alcohol to prevent freezing, which is why they

are also commonly known as alcohol or methanol

injection. Regardless of the name, water injection

is a useful safeguard for those either boosting or

increasing the existing boost on an otherwise

stock engine.

GAIN: Depending on how aggressive one wantsto be with the boost increase and how much

water one chooses to inject, the power increase

can range anywhere from 10 to 25 percent.

ADDITIONAL FUEL

Because diesel fuel starts to burn

shortly after its injected, theres littleopportunity for the fuel and air to mix

thoroughly. Diesels leave about one-fifth of

the air in their cylinders unused, which is

one reason they make less horsepower than

gasoline engines. This problem can be

addressed by injecting another fuel, such as

propane, into a diesels intake manifold,

giving it plenty of mixing time. The

combustion process still starts when the

diesel fuel is injected, but the leaner mixture

of propane helps consume the otherwise

wasted air. The propane and air mixture also

increases the speed of combustion, whichimproves efficiency. Injecting alcohol into a

diesel nets a similar result.

GAIN:A claimed 25 percent.



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upfront

caranddriver.com

06 .2014

030 .. S T U F F W E D R O V EI N T H E O F F I C E

Drift Theory

KI DS AREN T I N TO CARS, Y OU SAY ?Look at the sales of the latest Gran Tur-ismo or Forza video games, or the numberof hits on any Ken Block gymkha na video.Theyre into cars, all right; theyre justgetting their kicks from the couch. Buthow to instill an appreciation for the vis-ceral world over the virtual one?

Maybe by teaching them to orbit thecouch in a drift that would make Blockpuke. The $400 Razor Crazy Cart lookslike a cafeteria tray with a steering wheel,and is to the Power Wheels Disney Prin-cess Tot Rod what the SRT Viper is to a golfcart. The Crazy Cart has a sturdy steelchassis and an oddball drive arrangementthat gives it unsurpassed spinning andsliding capabilities. Its electrically drivenpneumatic front tire steers 180 degreesleft or right. Two freely rotating casterssupport the tail, and a nother pair up front

prevents tip-overs. Controls are limited tothe steering wheel, an accelerator pedal,and a drift bar that eectively erases allrear grip and allows you to spin in place,pull o sweeping drifts, and drive back-

ward. Yanking the drift bar shifts the rearcasters swivel angle from tilted to vertical,ceding all directional control to the drive

wheel. There is no brake.Smoothly executing tricks takes prac-

tice. After grazing our cubical walls forseveral laps, we learned to plan stops min-utes in advance and use a simple lift-throt-tle oversteer technique, leaving the drift

bar for stomach-churning, 360-degreetwirls. Once you get the process down, itsa blast. Its perfect for kids and otherdizziness fetishists who weigh less than(or, as in our case, slightly more than) the140-pound limit. It might even make KenBlock go on a crash diet.

PRICE: $400

MOTOR: 250 watt (0.3 horsepower) DCRUN TIME: 4080 minutes

CHARGE TIME: 12 hoursTRANSMISSION: chain drive

CURB WEIGHT: 54 poundsZERO TO 11 MPH: 8.7 seconds*

TOP SPEED:11 mph**With 150-pound driver.

RAZORS CRAZY CART IS THE BEST $400EMETIC AROUND. by Alexander Stoklosa

N O , I M D O N K E Y K O N G

ph oto gr aph y b y MARC URBANO

VIRTUAL BECOMES

REALITY

Most people younger than40 have played some version ofMario Kart. Now, Anki Drive brings

the game to life as a form ofsmartphone-enabled slot-car racing.Ankis cars run on a rollout mat andforgo slots for infrared emitters,locating themselves by reading codeimprinted on the racing surface.Players tap the screen of theiriWhatever (iPhone, iPad, or iPodtouch) to work the throttle, and tiltthe device to change lanes. As inMario Kart, the goal is toexchange blows withother cars using a

virtual weaponscache. The carsinfrared sensorsregister the hits.You also can playsolo against an AI(artificial intelligence)car, but be warned:Its smart and probably will beat you.Players can use points they scoreto upgrade their cars and weapons.Its addicting fun. More gamemodes, weapons, and capabilities

are just an app update away,and Anki Drive is also planning morephysical track mats. AS

PRICE: $200

IN THE BOX:1 racing mat, 2 cars,2 charging pods

EXTRA CAR: $70PLAYERS: 14

RUN TIME: 20 minutesCHARGE TIME:

8 minutes

WARNING:

DRYWALL-REPAIR

LE SS ON S

NO T INC LU DE D.

SP EC I F I C AT I O N S

SPECIFICATIONS


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The award-winning design, quality

craftsmanship and unprecedented

performance of a Big Ass Fan are

always in style.

Hidden behind a seamless fit and finish,

Haikus revolutionary motor features Whoosh,

a proprietary algorithm that simulates a natural

breeze to keep you feeling up to 40% cooler*.

This Big Ass Fan is recognized by Popular

Scienceas the worlds quietest ceiling fan and

rated by ENERGY STAR as the worlds most

energy efficient. With 16 unique brightness

settings and a digital dimmer, Haikus

patent-pending LED module delivers 80%

greater efficiency than traditional bulbs over

a lifespan of 50,000 hours.

HAIKUFAN.COM/OFFER 855-527-1475

You like the way it looks.

Youll love the way it feels.

Visit haikufan.com/OFFERand usepromo code CAR614 to receive a free

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*Human thermal sensation to air movement frequency, Yizai Xia, Rongyi Zhao and Weiquan Xu (2000)


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036

H MEANSITS A HYBRID

.upfront T A X O N O M Y

BOLDLYGOING

Naming RitesBRINGING ORDER (AND CLASS AND PHYLUM) TO CAR NAMES. by Jared Gall

W I T H I TS ES C A PE , EX PL OR ER , A ND EX PE DI T IO N, Ford has created clear imagery for itsSUV lineup: People are going places, escaping, exploring, etc. (And once upon a time, for a really

big trip, youd take an Excursion.) But Fords big E isnt the only nomenclatural device out there: Similarthreads of commonality also run through other automakers naming conventions, and not just within indi-

vidual companies but among them as well. Even cars labeled with letters and numbers rather than wordsconform to certain patterns. Here, weve created as comprehensive a taxonomyor, for those who smokeddope through high-school biology, a scientic classicationof vehicle names as youllnd anywhere.

Odyssey

LIESABOUT THE

CAR

SEUSSIANGOBBLEDYGOOK

Pathfinder

Explorer

Quest

Expedition

Compass

Navigator

Allroad

Forester

335i GranTurismo

550i xDriveGran Turismo640i Gran Coupe

Express

Challenger

GrandCaravan

Regal

Sprinter

Avenger

Rogue

TOUGHNESS

XV Crosstrek

i-MiEV

CLS63 AMGS-Model 4MATIC

RAV4

500L

Navigator L

Expedition EL

Yukon XL

760Li

A8L

Maxima

Altima

Impreza

ProMasterEVOKING

HYPERBOLE

M235i

328d

428i

535i

650i

LS600hL

E400 hybrid

S63, SL65 AMG

FASTLETTERS

GX460EDGY

LETTERSX1, X3, X4,X5, X6

LX570SRX, XTS

XF, XJ, XK

RX450h

ILX, RDX, RLX, MDX, TLX

xB, xD

WRX

XC60, XC70, XC90

MKX

ACTUALLYCORRESPONDS TODISPLACEMENT,

PART 2

FRUMPYLETTERS

TELLS YOUSOMETHING

ABOUT THE CAR INA ROUNDABOUT

WAY

A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8

M3, M4, M5, M6

ML350 BlueTec

C300

i3, i8

CR-V, CR-Z

CLA45 AMG

CX-5, CX-9

CT200h

CEREBRALLETTERS

YOU KNOW

ITS THE NEWONE BECAUSETHE NUMBER

IS HIGHER

458 Italia

320i

370Z

WE ADDEDAN L

BECAUSE ITSBIGGER

FF

4C

INTRIGUINGLETTERS

918

500

911

200, 300

2, 3, 5, 6

Q70h

Q5, SQ5, Q7

Q50, Q60, Q70,QX50, QX60, QX70, QX80

BRZ

Z4 35is

LR4

LR2

MKZ

SS

LETTERSEVERYONEKNOWS ARE

ABBREVIATIONSFOR REAL

WORDS

DB9

S60, S80

S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, RS5, RS7, R8

ES300h

IS250, GS350

MKSS600

SLS AMG

SLK55 AMG

FR-S

Model S

GT-R

REFERENCESTO FORMS

OF RACING FORWHICH THE CARIS INELIGIBLE

ESV STANDSFOR EXPENSIVE

SUBURBANVARIANT

APROPOS OFNOTHING

12C, P1

650S

TT

EscaladeESV

tC

GLK350

G550, GL450, GLA250

F-type

F-series

MKT

Letters

Alphanumerics

V60

MISLEADINGNUMERICAL

DESIGNATIONS

JUST PLAINNUMBERS

NUMBERSDENOTING THE

CARS START OFPRODUCTION

ACTUALLYCORRESPONDS TODISPLACEMENT,

PART 1

Numbers

caranddriver.com

06 .2014

036

Page

Disclaimer: For companies such asMercedes-Benz and BMW, for which the drivetrain details relate to the model names and are shared across multiplemodel lines (S550, S550 4MATIC,S63 AMG; 335i, 435i, 535i, etc.), we included just one representative from each model line and powertrain.


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OTHERTRANSPORT

THENATURALWORLD

PLACES/TRAVEL

COMBATIVEWORDS

MILITARYTERMINOLOGY

ANIMALKINGDOM

DOMESTICTRAVEL

GEOGRAPHYFOREIGNTRAVEL

RAPIDDEPARTURES

NON-UNGULATES

THE WILDWEST

Vanquish

Ram Escalade

Patriot Armada

LancerEvolution

Lancer

Viper

Highlander

Corvette Stingray

iQ

Cayman

K900

Beetle

Vantage

Charger

Flex

Clubman

Equus

Taurus

Impala

Mustang

UNGULATES

Passat

Pilot

Malibu

Sierra

Acadia

California

Tribeca

Tacoma

Silverado

Range Rover

DurangoWrangler

Flying Spur

Colorado

Tahoe

Santa Fe

Tucson

GrandCherokee

Cherokee

Sedona

FrontierOutback

WORDSRELATING TOCAPABILITY

LABORATORYTERMINOLOGY

HOMAGESTO THE GLORY

DAYS

RELATING TOILLICIT

ENCOUNTERS

THE RAINSDOWN

IN AFRICA

Escape

Yukon

Journey

Accent

Rio

Sorento

Evora

Murano

Sequoia

Macan

Page

EquinoxLeafCorolla

Sienna Cayenne

Tundra

TouaregSavana

Ghibli

Mirage

Town & Country

Edge

Enclave

Canyon

Terrain

Ridgeline

Countryman

Outlander

MUSICALTERMINOLOGY

RESPONSESTHE CAR IS

UNLIKELY TOELICIT

JAPANESE(ANGLICIZED)

ITALIAN

INDONESIAN

LATIN

F12berlinettaOutlander

Sport

GranTurismo

AINT ITGRAND?

SLANG FORSMOKES

Traverse

Versa Note

ATHLETICISM

SPEED

LaCrosse

Crosstour

Fit

Sportage

Juke

Golf

Veloster

SPORT/GTMEANS

ITS FAST

Land Cruiser

VeyronFJ Cruiser

Cruze

Mulsanne

Panamera Azera

Sentra

Xterra

Elantra

Boxster

Camaro

Venza

Yaris

Range RoverEvoque

Tiguan

Miata

Sonic

Sonata

Cadenza

Forte

Soul

Genesis TitanWraith

Ghost

Phantom

Avalon

EosSUPERNATURAL

WORLD

PHILLIPPHILLIPS

Optima

Quattroporte

Cube

Transit

Transit Connect

Cooper Roadster,Hardtop, Convertible,Coupe

City Express

FACTUALSTATEMENTS

FortwoED

ActiveHybrid 3

STARTLINGHONESTY

Encore

Continental GT

NV2500

NV200

Legacy

LaFerrari

Accord

CivicCOMPLETELYUNINSPIRING

WORDS

WRXSTI

Spark

Volt

Fusion

Dart

Rapide 4Runner

Focus

Range RoverSport

Verano

Fiesta

Huracn

Aventador

Camry

Prius

SPANISH

037

EnglishWords

ForeignWords

NonsenseWords

Words

SATURDAY-MORNING

CARTOONS

C-Max

TV & MOVIES

CC

Suburban

WANTINGWHAT

YOU CANTHAVE


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T H E C O L U M N I S T Supfront

caranddriver.com

06 .2014

038 ..

byJohn Phillips

PHOTOGRAPH

BY

JULIE

GOTHRUP

At dawn on February 8,I climbed intoC/Ds long-

term BMW X1 and set out for Carmel, California,where I was to drive the new Subaru WRX STI.When I headed out, we had 36 inches of snow onthe ground, and the stuwas still pelting downlike twelve mad bastards, as Hunter S. Thomp-son would say. After four hours of blindly aiming

the BMW through shadowless rutsmany of which felt like driving over concrete curbsand dead cowsId covered 90 miles. Given the proper chemicals, Lance Armstrong couldhave done better. The BMWs rear wiper clogged and stalled, then the relentless snowglacialized the grille. Bingo: an overheated engine in an ambient temp of 12 degrees F. Iused a ballpoint pen and a 99-cent plastic scraper to gouge out maybe ve pounds of crys-talized crud. It had the consistency of aged white gum from the underside of a school desk.

It wasnt until the 150-mile mark that I saw my rst sliver of black roadwaythis after

passing three moose who viewed the highway as if it were Paradise Beach. I let out acelebratory whoop, and thats when the snow turned to rain, falling at the same velocityand pressure youd pay $500 to have in your bathroom shower.

outdid themselves in a kind of thousand-car Joie Chitwood stunt-driving pageant,in which speeds were increased to traversepuddles that had recently qualied asponds. Which is whenwith all of us furi-ously tailgatinga California Highway

Patrol ocer in a strobe-pulsing Chargershot out ahead and began weaving backand forth in front of all three lanes, as ifherding wet cattle. The cop halted every100 feet or so to retrieve a mound of

vehicular debris. And so, in this 5-mphprocessional, all of us eventually arrivedupon a stretch of Interstate 5 that resem-

bled downtown Kiev after the bars let out.In the t hree southbound lanes, there weremaybe six cars in varying stages of unin-tentional recyclingbackward, on theirsides, nosed into each otherand maybe

seven in the northbound lanes, including aNational Guard 18-wheeler that had jack-knifed into a desert-camo Slinky. The

water was deep enough that I couldnt seeall the shrapnel, so, as before, I ran over it,later nding a shard of fan shroud in theBMWs icy wheel well.

By the time I got to Montereymarking1250 consecutive miles of the BMWs

wipers operating at top speedthe densityof trac quadrupled, thanks to the PebbleBeach National Pro-Am. Its running late

because wind and rain caused the golfers

balls to y backward and blind PGA o-cials, said that nights amusing bartender.

I test-drove the WRX STI, then ner-vously headed home, a journey thatput the nishing touches on mynew duodenal ulcer. I dont want totalk about it, except to recollect a100-mile stretch of near-whiteoutconditions along the Salmon R iverScenic Byway (U.S. Route 93 inIdaho), where I began hallucinatingall-white objectsTom Wolfe, theDonner Partys cook, the ice-cream

truck I drove when I was 17. Alongthat strip, by the way, dont expectanyone to sell you fuel.

Nearing home, I started havingtrouble closing one eye, and thats whenthe BMW surrendered to a snowdrift 10feet from my garage, as if the car had beenrelieved of its duties and had permissionto die. Certainly, it must have been morti-ed to be the lthiest man-made objectsince Bigfoot crash-landed on the Sno-Cone stand. Diggi ng out involved a Cater-pillar grader with six sets of chains. Talk

about fun.So, between now and July 4th, you

might think you see me driving throughtown, but youd be wrong.

West of Wells, Nevada, therewas a temporary sign that said:Standing Water on Road, Next200 miles. Has there ever beenstanding water for 200 miles? Ithink there are some Great Lakesthat dont stand for 200 miles. Andthis was, you know, Nevada, a placeId been told was home to super-heated rocks and sand and prosti-

tutes but not water.On Day Two, on the Donner

Pass, I passed overhead signsimploring: Serious Drought, HelpSave Water! A cynical fellow might havesmirked, given the heavenly tidal bore ofliquid right then nearly obscuring the mes-sage. California, in fact, claims a 14-yeardrought, which must be true, because a

whole generation of the states so-calleddrivers has no experience with any slickconditions beyond runaway lawn sprin-klers. Near the top of the pass, a black Ram

pickup shot past and disappeared in a wallof mist. Minutes later, I spied the lid of anIgloo cooler, a piece of tarp, then a paper

bag, all three of which I ran over. I crested

a blind rise and there, pancaked againstthe guardrailventing steam like a Bronxmanhole coverwas the Ram, minus itsright-front corner and sporting a Darling-ton stripe that would have scared the

boiled peanuts out of Cale Yarborough. Idrove near enough to splash slush on thetruck and hoped its driver had suereda triing but painful injury that would

forever remind him of the perils of precipi-tation. But the cosmos rarely metes out

justice on the spot.Then, in Sacramento, the Californians

W I N T E R O F D I S C O N T E N T

Phillips always wanted to become a big, strapping man.



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T H E C O L U M N I S T Supfront

caranddriver.com

06 .2014

040 ..

byAaron Robinson

Bill Huths face is litby a volcanic desert sunset

streaming through the windows of his apartment,which is above a garage down in Turn Nine of hisWillow Springs International Raceway, the so-called fastest road in the west and the scene ofsome umpteen million magazine tests and carcommercials. At 90, Huth is at the age where mem-

ories skid into each other like cars on an icy street. He says, Youre going to have a helluvatime writing this story, it jumps all around.

In a Burbank, California, that was just a farm village surrounded by fruit orchards,Huths father died when Huth wasve, which left me kind of wild. The boy got into themuer business at 14, but I got tired of it. When youre in the muer business, its a jobtaking a shower, washing that stuo. Then he hauled whiskey, owned some gambling

joints, and ran a speed shop. Or maybe it was gambling, then whiskey, then an outtter

business, then being excused from World War II service with a bad knee, then working therodeo with his boyhood pal Slim Pickens. I worked in the gambling business in Cuba forMeyer Lansky anduh, Jesus Christ . . . Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Siegel. They owned the

oered to pay $1000 a weekend if Huthpaved it. His rst paving estimate was$50,000, but he worked it down to$16,000. T he Monday morning that theystarted paving I was standing at the god-damn tower, that little old tower, and I

thought, Ive gotten into a lot of jackpotsbefore, but not like this. I had $14 in thebank and in my pocket, Jesus Christ! Thatnumber has stuck with me all this time.

As you can imagine, Huth knew prettymuch everybody. Shelby was running adriving school. One day he said, Bill, do

you care if I tell people that I own this race-track? I said, Carroll, I dont give a shit,

you can tell them whatever you want to. Movie stars? James Garner wouldntt inthe car when they made Grand Prix. They

brought the car up, and he couldnt get in

the son of a bitch. They said, Youre goingto have to lose some fucking weight. And,Oh, Steve McQueen, one time the trans-axle in his Porsche broke, and he orderedsix of them. Theyew them in, six fuckingaxles! I says, You must have a lot of trouble

with them. Willow Springs never hosted a major

series, though at one point NASCAR triedto buy the track. They said, Bill, you got toget involved with these people. And I said,Every time I get involved with them peo-ple, I hear of all this money but I see every-

body going broke. I said, Who is makingany money? Ive been oered millions forthe goddamn thing, and I only paid $115,000

for it, so Im making money.Indeed, millions. Japanese inves-

tors once oered him $30 million,and recently, Korean buyers saidthey would pay $50 million. Fiftymillion is a lot of goddamn money,

but when you think about it, whatcould I do thats like this? I madetwo $45,000 scores otwo dier-ent deals once. Ive had a lot of

money, but the money never meantmuch, really. And when youreolder, what are you going to do,spend it? On what?

Nowadays, Huth mostly watches overhis desert kingdom from the windows ofhis apartment. Hes also developing thelow-buck Formula Pacic, a sort of superkart with a motorcycle engine that heshoping will break Willows current laprecord: 1 minute, 6.05 seconds, set in 1987

by Michael Andretti in a Kraco MarchCosworth Indy car.

As another desert sunset fades to twi-light, Huth says: I want to see somebodyget around this son of a bitch in under aminute. Thats really what Id like.

joint. Oh man, I made a lot ofmoney in Cuba, Jesus Christ!Huth watched the birth of the dry-lake racing scene. In fact, I wasthere in 38 and 39. You had to hideout; they would arrest you on the

way. They were bombing it whileyou were out there racing.

By 1960, Huth was back in themuer business in nearby Lan-

caster, then a dusty backwaterof ypaper shacks and gamblingdens. He was looking for a place tostage drag races. Up in Rosamond,four partners had run into problems tryingto operate a 2.5-mile dirt track, a sort ofsquashed-up oval that they had cutthrough the sagebrush out on 600 acres atthe foot of some desert tufts.

They had these 4-by-6 posts in theground, says Huth, the things they useon boxcars to keep stufrom rolling o,and theyd run cables through it. They had

two cables on the straightaway and onlyone in the turn. So this guys Porsche wentthrough the goddamn cable, and it caughthim in the throat. Luckily, his helmet was

on and the helmet stopped it, but it tore uphis throat. It raised hell, and naturally hesued them. They had to quit trying to haveraces; they didnt have any insurance any-

way. Huth leased the place for $100 aweekend, then eventually bought it for$115,000 using a loan against his muershop. When I got this racetrack, I had apretty thorough education, you know what

I mean? I knew how to hustle.With nothing on it but a dirt strip and

an old air-base tower, the track squeakedby.Cal Club, then a local rival to the SCCA,

G A M B L I N G , W H I S K E Y ,A N D W I L L OW S P R I N G S R AC E WA Y.

W HEN I GOT THISRACETR ACK,

I HAD A PR ETTYTHOROUGH

EDUCATION, YOUKNOW WHAT

I MEAN? I KNEWHOW TO HUSTLE.



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comparo042 .

Does a BMW 3-ser ies need to be the size of the old 5? Well, yes,now that the 5 is the new 7 and the 7 is the new battleship Bismarck. If you didnt buy an

Audi or a BMW or a Mercedes last year, it may not be a case of you leaving them, butof them leaving you and the rest of the just-doing-okay middle class.

Alas, some relief is on the way as the German luxury brands furiously backll their cata-logs to stay in the all-important $35,000 to $45,000 segment, where monthly payments canstill be swallowed by average Jills and Johns. Theres already some commonality to the for-

mula: turbocharged four-cylinder engines mounted transversely, dual-clutch automatictransmissions, and optional four-wheel drive. Mercedes leaptrst with the swoopy CLA,and a new family of Audis will be launched around the core A3 sedan. Both the Benz and the

Audi are on sale now, and we secured a pair of comparably priced four-wheel-drive versions.

Seems like only yesterday that we were giving last rites to the compact-sports-sedan segment as its

standard-bearers ballooned in dimensions,features, and price.

MERCE DE S BENZ CL A MATI C

BMW i PRICE > $38,225POWER > 240 hpTORQUE > 255 lb-ftWEIGHT > 3353 lbC/DOBSERVED MPG > 21

PRICE > $37,455POWER > 208 hp

TORQUE > 258 lb-ftWEIGHT > 3437 lbC/DOBSERVED MPG > 21



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043

PRICE > $39,845POWER > 220 hpTORQUE > 258 lb-ftWEIGHT > 3369 lbC/DOBSERVED MPG > 21

AUDI A QUATTRO

byAARON ROBINSON / photography by MARK BRAMLEY

THEY'RE SWEET, PETITE& SURPRISINGLY FLEET.



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044 comparo.

By cleverly moving parts-bin components around its vast chess-board, VW-Audi oers you what is essentially a GTI rendered as afour-door sedan. In fact, the Audi A3 1.8T starts at $30,795, right

where VW Jetta pricing gets silly. See what you can get away withby having a luxury badge to throw on? Okay, theres a bit more to itthan that, with upgrades to the equipment and styling. If you wantan A3 Quattro, add a 2.0-liter engine with 220 horsepower and$3000 to your bill. We had a few more extras, including the 18-inch

wheels, power seats, and auto climate control of the $2900 Pre-

mium Plus package, plus the full MMI gear for $2600, for a totalof $39,845.

While V W has been turning front-drive commuters into pre-mium goods for years, Mercedes-Benz is a rookie. It could havesimply issued a B-class w ith a trunk, but instead the CLA250 looksthe part of a much larger and more expen-sive Benz, relying on the same coupelike

visual themes that recently have proved sosuccessful for Team Stuttgart. The CLAstarts right next to the A3, at $30,825. Add-ing 4MATIC is only a $2000 hit, but the208-hp 2.0-liter engine remains the sameeither way. Mercedes doesnt do packages;

its options are a la carte. Included in our$37,455 example was a $1480 sunroof, navi-gation equipment for $800, 18-inch wheelsand tires for $500, and, amusingly, an illu-minated grille star for $550.

But what about that other Germanbrandyou know, the one from Munich?Doesnt it have a front-driver coming, evenif no one at the company will conrm it? Indeed it does, in the 136-hp 2-series Active Tourer, which is based on the UKL platform thatunderlies the new Mini Cooper. But that 2-series is a quasi-mini-

van, a sort of German Pontiac Vibe, and we werent about to waitaround for that.

Still, BMW does oer the 320i, a stripped-down 3-series pricedto be an enticing distraction from all this front-drive madness. But

because this test is aimed at those rooting around in the travel-sizebins, we took the smaller, freshly redesigned 228i coupe as BMWs

representative. This is basically the old1-series, that stubby bulldog of a two-doorthat excited purists but not aesthetes. Its

been updated for 2014 on the newer, com-pact rear-drive platform of the current3-series, and agreeably restyled. The base

price of $33,025 gives you a no-cost choice of a six-speed manual oran eight-speed automatic. To keep things level, we went automatic,though $5200 in options later, we had the M Sport package with18-inch wheels and run-at tires and a few other items to inate thesticker to $38,225.

We hoped to learn through this chipmunk Olympics whetherthese venerable German brands have kept their core values intactdespite the downsizing and price-cutting. And if the answer weresimple, we could stop this right here.

MERCEDESBENZ

CLA MATIC

+ Handles like a Mazda,attention-grabbing styling,comfy seats._ Some sub-Mazda bitsinside, pinched back seat,stiride, unexciting engine.= Benzs baby is notenough of a Benz.

The CLAs body, thick in the center andtapered on the ends, makes it appear as if

its been extruded out of a hole in the factory

wall. Right: That is a generous amount of frame.


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045

MERCEDESBENZ CLA MATIC

The Mercedes doesnt make a great rst impression. You cant helpbut notice that its not a traditional Benz, despite the gratuitousapplication of silver stars. The slippery lines meant to invoke

luxury coupe-ness work well in the wind tunnel [see DragQueens, page 86] but get all bunched up in the nose, where thesize-12 grille and blocky overhang push too much car ahead of thefront wheels. Some companies, notably Honda, can shape theirfront-drivers to better hide the inelegance of a transverse layout.Not Benz; not yet, any way.

Indoors, plastic abounds and Benz conventions are smashed bythe dominant styling feature: a wavy panel of seashell or laminatedivory or space-station insulationwere not sure whichacrossthe dash. Its not necessarily unattractive, but it is risky. Unlike

Audi, which made the A3 look steadfastly Audi-esque inside, Mer-cedes cut a dierent path for the CLA, excluding it from the familyand serving it up as a daily reminder that youre in that other Benz.

It doesnt help that the 5.8-inch nav screen is tacked onto thedash like a wall-mounted TV hangin g in a nail salon, its broad andgarish black-plastic-frame insert showing you how big the screenmight have been had you only spent more. Being relatively slow anddevoid of map detail, the Becker-sourced nav unit has the feel of anolder aftermarket cheapie, especially compared with the Audisthin seven-incher that motors up out of the dash when needed toshine out its detailed, high-res multicolor displays.

No, you have to get the CLA moving to experience its ner qual-



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comparo046 .

ities. The car with the least horsepower andthe heaviest curb weight here (3437pounds) naturally turned in the slowestacceleration times, issuing a monotonehum that could be from any car westof Warsaw and east of Beijing. Yet the CLAseems quicker than it is when springing othe on-ramp on a surge of turbo torque, theseven-speed dual-clutch transmissionalways seeming to know which gear is needed when. The CLAdoesnt have a lot of power, but it has enough.

Mercedes gives the stiand well-insulated CLA quick steeringand excellent body control, which make for fast cornering speeds.On the skidpad, where it posted a healthy 0.93 g, it tucks in when

you lift in a playful way that reminds us of Mazdas weve adored.The only dynamicaw is a lack of wheel travel that produces a brit-tle ride. Where the Audi and BMW are sopping up the roadssures,the Benz driver is suering.

Youll suer for the styling, too. The longest wheelbase in thistest somehow does not equal the best back-seat comfort, and get-ting in there requires a duck under the low roof. Also, the frontseats arene but not as coddling or supportive as the BMWs, ourtest favorites.

Benz could have made the CLA more practical with less of the

needless ash. But we might have critiqued a mini E-class as dulland predictable. At least it would have supplied the orthodoxypracticed by the Benz family. Instead, this amboyant CLA playsfor newcomers, but against some very tough competition.

BMW

In this group, the 228i is the sportiestchoice for people who dont use back seatsmuch and never carry more than four peo-ple. Just a few minutes of driving reveals acar that is denitely cut from BMW cloth,

with connected and reactive steering andan engine that sings joyfully all the way toits 7000-rpm redline. You get strong

brakes, an isolated cabin, and a structure that doesnt shudderunless youre T-boned by Amtrak.

Compared with the old 1-series, though, BMW s new anchovyhews very closely to the companys current thinking, which is totamp down the overt sportiness in favor of greater luxury that willappeal to a wider audience. The suspension is suppler, and thesteering is relatively light and a little less organic. Altogether,theyre small changes that many will not notice but some willequate with disaster.

We wouldnt go that far. This is an outstanding small automo-bile, a mini 4-series that delivers long-haul comfort while promis-ing at least 21 mpg. The 2.0-liter clatters a bit at idle, but once it getsinto a heated conversation with the eight-speed auto, things move.

When it falters, its in ways that may not matter to many of you.For example, at this lofty price you get Bluetooth phone con-

nectivity, but you cant stream music. For those few extra lines ofsoftware code you have to buy the $2150 Technology package,

which throws in navigation and a few minor odds and ends. In ourview, this is proteering at its rankest. But if you dont stream music

BMW

+ Lyrical all the way to 7000rpm, perfect seats, looks andmoves like a BMW._ Not as fun as the only rear-driver here should be, stingyfeatures at this price.= The sportiest but not the

best in every situation.

Hobbled by weak-sauce tires, the 228iposted the tests worst skidpad, slalom, and

braking figures. Want a manual in your smallEuropean sedan? The 228i is your only option.


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