Motor Trend - December 2014 USA

MOTOR
OTOR TREND

2015 SPORT/UTILITY OF THE YEAR IS... PAGE 104

MOTORTREND

DECEMBER 2014 MOTORTREND.COM

PERFORMANCE PONYCAR SHOOTOUT Q MOTOR TREND 2015 SPORT/UTILITY OF THE YEAR

MUSTANG GT

VS DODGE
CHALLENGER
SCATPACK
VS CHEVROLET
CAMARO SS 1LE

DECEMBER 2014 VOL. 66, NO. 12

PONYUP!?
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December 2014
COVER PHOTOS EVAN KLEIN

EST. 1949 VOL. 66, NO. 12

THE CONTENDERS

TESTS & DRIVES
44 SVO REBORN Ford Mustang (EcoBoost)
Turbocharged power returns to Ford’s
venerable ponycar. Carlos Lago

The Winner
Page 104

RUNNING
THE GAMUT
One of our largest
SUV of the Year
tests ever.

8
80

Motor Trend editors

62 FORD IS BRINGING BACK THE GT
Mid-engine rumors continue to swirl in Detroit.
Jonny Lieberman

48 NOT THEIR FIRST RODEO

66 FRANKENCOUPE Lexus RC F How Lexus

Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE vs. Dodge Challenger R/T
Scatpack vs. Ford Mustang GT (Performance Package)
Once more into the ponycar breach.
Jonny Lieberman

BMW X4 BMW X5
Cadillac Escalade
Chevrolet Suburban
Chevrolet Tahoe Ford Expedition
GMC Yukon GMC Yukon XL
Jeep Cherokee Honda CR-V
Lexus NX Lincoln Navigator
Lincoln MKC Mercedes-Benz
GLA-Class Nissan Rogue
Porsche Macan Subaru Outback
Toyota Highlander Volvo XC60

made one track toy out of three cars. Jonny Lieberman

74 THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM Audi TT/TTS
We drive the sharper but familiar-looking 2016 TT.

COVER
STORY

Rory Jurnecka

7

MOTOR TREND (ISSN 0027-2094) December 2014, Vol. 66, No. 12. Published monthly by Source Interlink Media, LLC., 261 Madison Ave., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016-2303. Copyright© 2014 by Source Interlink Magazines, LLC. All rights
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Contents
MOTOR TREND MAGAZINE IS MOBILE ON DEMAND!
DOWNLOAD THE DIGITAL VERSION FOR YOUR IPHONE, IPAD,
ANDROID, WINDOWS, OR RIM DEVICE AT ZINIO.COM.

ASTERION LPI 910-4 That stands for
Longitudinale Posteriore Ibrido—Italian
for longitudinal, rear-mid-mounted,
hybridized—910 (metric hp) 4-wheel drive.

DEPARTMENTS
LOHDOWN Edward Loh
TREND
INTAKE This month’s hot metal.
WE SAY Words from our editors.
The Kiinote Ron Kiino
Technologue Frank Markus
DETOUR Gear, info.
THEY SAY INTERVIEW
Annette Winkler, CEO, Smart
38 YOUR SAY Our readers talk back.
134 THE BIG PICTURE
Angus
g MacKenzie

22

16
22
22
28
28
32
34
36

4

ARRIVALS BMW M3/Honda Accord Hybrid Touring
UPDATES GMC Sierra Denali 1500 4WD/Infiniti Q50S/
Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk/Nissan Rogue/Land Rover Range Rover
VERDICTS Mitsubishi Outlander/Lexus IS Line

118

What’s Your Passion?

Check Out the One-Stop Hub for Everything Enthusiast

Visit: tenappstore.com

Edward Loh @EdLoh

The Lohdown
A Safer Horizon
Safety acronyms such as NHTSA,
NCAP, IIHS, TSP, TSP+, FCW, LKA,
LDW, and ACC dominated much
of the discussion around the
conference table at this year’s Sport Utility of
the Year (SUOTY) competition. And for good
reason: one of the six criteria for all of our Of
The Year awards is safety.
Safety has always been a difficult criterion
to evaluate. Miles driven per gallon of fuel
and 0-to-60 times are relatively easy
figures to obtain and compare, but
there are no simple numbers that
express vehicle safety. We don’t crashtest vehicles for obvious reasons, and
must rely on government and private
organizations for safety data.
The advent of a five-star ratings
system for crash safety by the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) and the Top Safety Pick (TSP)
and Top Safety Pick Plus (TSP+) awards
by the Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety (IIHS) have facilitated a deeper,
more comprehensive discussion of
vehicle safety.
NHTSA has been crash testing
new vehicles as part of its New Car
Assessment Program (NCAP) since 1978.
In 1994, it started issuing star ratings,
with one star signaling the lowest performance and five stars the highest. In 1997,
NHTSA added side crash ratings, and in 2001,
began assessing rollover resistance. While
not part of its star-rating system, NHTSA also
promotes vehicles that have met its standards
for performance for electronic stability
control (ESC), lane departure warning (LDW)
and forward collision warning (FCW).
The IIHS created the TSP award in 2006 as a
way to call attention to vehicles that had done
particularly well in its standard battery of
crash testing. In 2013, it created the Top Safety

Pick Plus (TSP+) award to highlight vehicles
that received good or acceptable ratings on
the game-changing small overlap crash test it
introduced in 2012 to replicate what happens
when the front corner of a vehicle hits another
vehicle, a tree, or a pole.
For 2014, the IIHS folded small overlap crash
test results into the basic TSP award and made
TSP+ contingent on the availability and performance of front-crash prevention systems,
with trade names such as Intelligent
Brake Assist, Pre-Safe, Pre-Sense,
Pre-Collision, and Forward Collision
Warning with Crash Mitigation. These
high-tech collision avoidance and
mitigation systems employ radar and/or
cameras to scan the road ahead and warn
inattentive drivers of a possible collision,
and some can engage the brakes if a
collision is deemed imminent.
We can’t test the ultimate effectiveness of collision avoidance and mitigation systems without risking harm to
editors and vehicles, but we can get a taste
of their sensitivity and smoothness via
systems that incorporate and extend the
capabilities of forward-crash prevention
technology. Three of the most common
systems include LDW, which alerts the
driver when the vehicle drifts out of
lane; lane keep assist (LKA), which guides
said drifting vehicle back into its lane; and
adaptive cruise control (ACC), which adapts
the speed of the cruise control system to the
pace of the vehicle ahead. As manufacturers
strive to achieve the highest safety ratings and
awards, these systems have become increasingly prevalent in the vehicles we evaluate.
Hence the discussion over walkie-talkie and
the conference table about which vehicles had
which systems and how they performed.
Such discussions are a sign of the times in
the auto industry (expect more in our COTY
and TOTY deliberations), but hopefully just a
temporary waypoint in the evolution of our
OTY awards. Why? Because forward-crash
prevention systems and their extensions
simply make too much sense.
At future Of The Years, I hope we’re not still
talking about which vehicles have FCW, ACC,
LDW, or LKA, or which manufacturer’s system
is the best. I hope we’re taking the existence
and efficacy of these systems for granted, as
we do three-point seat belts, airbags, ABS, and
electronic stability control, and are instead
discussing the latest and greatest safety innovations sure to spread across the industry. Q

NHTSA
NCAP
IIHS
TSP
TSP+
FCW
LKA
LDW
ACC

Discussing our SUOTY
contenders as a DJI
Phantom 2 Vision R/C
helicopter looks on.
www.dji.com

16 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

Editorial
Editor-in-Chief Edward Loh @EdLoh
Executive Editor Ron Kiino @RonKiino
Editor at Large Angus MacKenzie @Angus_Mack
Detroit Editor Scott Burgess @AutoCritic
Senior Features Editor Jonny Lieberman @MT_Loverman
European Editor Paul Horrell
Japan Editor Peter Lyon
Associate Editor Scott Evans @MT_Evans
Associate Editor Christian Seabaugh @C_Seabaugh
Associate Editor Rory Jurnecka @RoryJurnecka
Manager, Visual Assets Brian Vance @BrianNVance
Photography Editor Julia LaPalme @monstergrrl
Photography Asset Editor William Walker @MT_dubdub
Copy Chief Emiliana Sandoval @Emiliana505
Senior Copy Editor Kathleen Clonts
Managing Editor Rusty Kurtz

Technical
Technical Director Frank Markus @MT_Markus
Testing Director Kim Reynolds @MT_Reynolds
Road Test Editor Scott Mortara
Associate Road Test Editor Carlos Lago @CarlosLago

Art
Creative Director Alan Muir
Managing Art Director Mike Royer @MT_Royer
Senior Art Director Andy Mock
Associate Art Director Tom Donchez

Manufacturing &
Production Operations
VP, Manufacturing & Ad Operations Greg Parnell
Senior Director, Ad Operations Pauline Atwood
Director, Publishing Technologies Dale Bryson
Archivist Thomas Voehringer

Contributors
Correspondents John Carey, Mike Connor,
Gavin Green, Jeremy Hart,
Ben Oliver, Gary Witzenburg
Photographers Wesley Allison, Mark Bramley,
Brian Brantley, Daniel Byrne, David Freers, Jim Frenak, Robert
Guio, Robert Kerian, Evan Klein, Robin Trajano, Jessica Walker
Artists Nigel Buchanan, Doug Fraser, Steve Hewett,
Kevin House, Paul Laguette, Glenn Lumsden,
Jason Raish, Mark Stehrenberger

Motor Trend Online
Digital Director Chris Clonts @CClonts
Senior Production Editor Zach Gale @ZachGale
Associate Online Editors Erick Ayapana @Erkayapana,
Benson Kong, Nate Martinez @Nate_Martinez, Carol Ngo,
Alex Nishimoto, Karla Sanchez, Jason Udy

Motor Trend Television
VP / Executive Producer Mike Suggett
Creative Director Jim Gleason
Director of Physical Production Brett Adkins
Post Production Supervisor /
Director of Special Programming Duane Sempson
Producer Brenda De Guzman
Writers / Hosts / Producers Mike Finnegan, Jessi Lang
Associate Producers Sophie Benhamou,
Chenelle Washington
Directors / Directors of Photography Corey Denomy,
Travis LaBella, Clint Stringfellow, Mike Wilson
Editors / Directors of Photography Bradford Alicea,
Cyrus Cambridge, Anthony Esposito, Seth Harden,
Ron James, Mark Lenardon, Levi Rugg,
Kenneth Thompson, Corey Ulrich, Sandon Voelker

Motor Trend Auto Shows
VP, General Manager Steve Freeman

Motor Trend Certified Vehicles
For more information, please contact us at,
Info@Motortrendcertified.com

MOTORTREND

YOU HAVEN’ T RESEARCHED A CAR
IF YOU HAVEN’ T RESEARCHED
THE FACTORY THAT BUILDS IT

Bronze - stitched leather seats, nine - speed transmission and a 295 - horsepower V6 engine.
These features of the All-New Chrysler 200 can all be seen in the showroom, but there’s a whole
world of features you’ve never heard of that can only be seen in the All-New factory that builds it.
T O U R T H E A L L- N E W FA C T O R Y B E H I N D T H E A L L- N E W 2 0 0 AT
C H R Y S L E R 2 0 0 F A C T O R Y. C O M

CHRYSLER IS A REGISTERED TR ADEMARK OF CHRYSLER GROUP LLC.

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN

Chrysler 200

The
IS the Best Mid-Sized Sedan!

OF PARTICIPANTS SAID
THE CHRYSLER 200 WAS
THE VEHICLE THEY LIKED BEST
Source: Motor Trend Drive and Decide Post-Event Survey

ADVERTISEMENT

WHICH VEHICLE HAS
THE BEST INTERIOR AND
FEATURES? 65% SAY IT’S
THE CHRYSLER 200.

T

he mid-sized sedan category is full of
comparable, well–matched vehicles that
offer good value. But a new player in the
game, the all–new 2015 Chrysler 200, makes
the segment even more competitive. So how
do we go about definitively deciding which
car is the best in its class? We created the
Motor Trend “Drive and Decide” test drive
event and asked automotive enthusiasts and
car shoppers to compare the top vehicles
against the Chrysler 200 and give us their
honest and unbiased opinions.

A two-day event offered multiple
opportunities for guests to familiarize
themselves with the Chrysler 200 and evaluate
it against the category sales leaders, the Chevy
Malibu, Ford Fusion, and Toyota Camry.
It started with a head-to-head comparison
of fit, finish and features. It was in these
evaluations that some of the Chrysler 200’s
features began standing out –like the car’s
massive 8.4–inch UConnect touchscreen
with 3D navigation capabilities; its 506–watt,
10-speaker sound system; and its precision
instrumentation clusters. Sophisticated
interior design and craftsmanship details like
open pore wood accents and French stitched
leather–features not normally found in this
segment–continued to impress these most
critical consumers.
That was followed by the roar of engines
and squealing tires when guests got an
opportunity to get behind the wheel. Once
again, the Chrysler 200 stood out, thanks
to its 3.6-liter Pentastar® V6, Sport Mode
with paddle shifters, and the All–Wheel
Drive system. And even though it delivers
an impressive 36 highway mpg, participants
didn’t have to sacrifice performance when they
tested the 184–horsepower 2.4L Tigershark®
MultiAir® II four–cylinder engine.

HI-TECH FEATURES
COMPELLED 65% OF
PARTICIPANTS TO
NAME THE CHRYSLER
200 AS HAVING THE
BEST CUTTING-EDGE
TECHNOLOGY.

THE ATHLETIC STANCE
AND PREMIUM STYLING
OF THE 200 WON OVER
61% OF PARTICIPANTS

The results from the Motor Trend Drive and
Decide are undeniable: 77% of participants
said the Chrysler 200 was the vehicle they liked
best and was the most likely to be considered
for their next new car purchase.

Learn about the inspired
luxury features, technology,
design and driving dynamics
of the all-new Chrysler 200
and decide for yourself at
MotorTrendDriveandDecide.com

60% OF PARTICIPANTS
SAID THE CHRYSLER
200 WAS THE BEST
PERFORMING VEHICLE
ON THE TRACK AND ON
THE STREET

MOTORTREND

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NEWS / OPINION / GOSSIP / STUFF

TREND12.14

INTAKE P22

THIS MONTH’S HOT METAL

WE SAY P28

DETOUR P34

WORDS FROM OUR EDITORS

GEAR, FACTS, INFO

GAME CHANGER
IS THE WORLD READY FOR A PLUG-IN HYBRID LAMBORGHINI?
Lamborghini is used
to attention. The
Asterion concept,
though, will be grabbing more attention than any
recent Lamborghini.
Yes, it has a 602-hp, 5.2L V-10
producing 413 lb-ft of torque, but
that’s just the beginning. Between
the V-10 and a seven-speed dualclutch transmission is an electric
motor that serves as power
booster, starter, and generator.
Instead of a driveshaft for the

front axle ahead of the engine,
as in a traditional Lamborghini,
there’s a lithium-ion battery
pack. That doesn’t mean the
front wheels are unpowered,
however. Up front are two
electric motors that each drive
a wheel. Together, Lamborghini
says the electric bits produce 295
hp. In total, the Italians say the

22 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

Asterion produces 897 hp and
will hit 62 mph from a stop in 3.0
seconds on its way to a 199-mph
top speed. Charge time for this
plug-in hybrid is unspecified.
Like the very similarly
designed Porsche 918 Spyder,
the Asterion uses powerful
computers to vector torque at

all four wheels through both the
front electric motors and rear
hybrid powertrain. On top of
that, it can drive up to 31 miles
on pure electric power and cruise
at up to 78 mph without using
the gasoline engine. In Zero
mode (EV), only the front electric
motors drive the car. Switch to I
(for Ibrido, hybrid in Italian) and
the V-10 roars to life and teams
up with the electric motors for
maximum performance. Termico
(thermal in Italian) mode runs
on straight, naturally aspirated,
10-cylinder power.

Everywhere you go, car
companies talk of urban mobility.”
THEY SAY P36 INTERVIEW

YOUR SAY P38

ANNETTE WINKLER CEO, SMART

READERS TALK BACK/MT SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS
Of course, those electric
motors and batteries add weight
to the tune of 551 pounds. That’s
offset, in part, by the use of a full
carbon-fiber monocoque for the
passenger cell to which front
and rear sub-frames attach, as
in the larger, more-expensive
Aventador. The Huracan, upon
which the Asterion is presumably based, uses a half-carbonfiber, half-aluminum cell.

Though the Asterion has the
makings of an incredible hybrid
supercar, that’s not quite how
Lamborghini is positioning it.
The company notes that the
upright windshield has raised the
roof and allowed the seats to be
installed higher than in its other
models to make the car more
comfortable for everyday driving
and long trips. Lamborghini calls
it a “hyper cruiser.” Scott Evans

’70S INSPIRED
The new shape has far
more in common with the
brand’s GT cars of the
1970s than anything it’s
done since. The upright
windshield, low hood,
and long, sloping
deck offer hints
of the Jarama,
Espada, Urraco,
and even Miura.

BORING DOORS
The Asterion’s doors open
out, not up as in typical
Lamborghinis. This is likely
to make the car easier to
enter and exit, befitting
its “cruiser” mission.

NEWS / OPINION / GOSSIP / STUFF

Intake

Nissan’s Next GT-R Is Going Hybrid
Nissan product
planners are under
pressure to make the
GT-R, out since 2007,
more desirable. 
Why? Because Nissan CEO
Carlos Ghosn, who took a lead
role in green-lighting the GT-R,
now says he has no interest in
cars that don’t sell in volume
and make money. Makes sense.
You see, the GT-R is only selling
an average of 110 cars in the
U.S. and 60 units in Japan each
month. To fix that, they're pulling
out all the stops. Translated: The
next-generation road-going GT-R

will get a hybrid powertrain.
To keep costs down, Nissan
will carry over several strategic
components from the R35 GT-R
to the new R36 model. The twinturbo 3.8-liter V-6, transaxle
layout, and AWD powertrain will
remain. The electric motor will
be just aft of the engine.
Our insider confirms also that
the car’s mammoth 481 lb-ft
is about as much torque as the
current six-speed DCT gearbox
can take. Adding an electric
motor will boost maximum
combined torque to the neighborhood of 737 lb-ft, requiring a

total redesign of the next-generation car’s transmission, which
will be an eight-speed. This will
give engineers a chance to attack
the current gearbox’s noise level
and clunkiness at low speeds. 
Our source says that the R36
GT-R’s V-6 will develop around
650 hp, with 134 hp coming
from its electric motor, elevating
total power output to well above
700 hp. However, one problem
that appears to be plaguing
engineers is the cooling of
the batteries used in the new
hybrid system. This is where
Nissan's plan to take a GT-Rbranded LMP1 hybrid racecar to
Le Mans next year will pay off
as engineers find ways to deal
with the huge amounts
of regenerative
electrical energy
created under
heavy braking,
and then the
sizable energy
expended under

hard acceleration. 
Just as critical as a powerful,
fuel-efficient powertrain,
however, is the car’s exterior
styling. A source close to the
company says the new streetspec car will not only employ full
LMP-spec carbon-fiber cowling,
but take on a form similar to
the Nissan Concept 2020 Vision
Gran Turismo (pictured). 
According to our source, “The
styling of the new GT-R will have
to be radically different. It’ll have
to be penned to enable much
more efficient cooling for the
hybrid system as well as gain
more efficient aerodynamics.” 
One hitch: With the departure of executive vice president
Andy Palmer, who resigned in
September to become CEO of
Aston Martin, the GT-R lost one
of its strongest proponents. If
the R36 GT-R does get the green
light, expect a concept at the
2015 Tokyo show and production
model in 2018. Peter Lyon

MIKE CONNOR

CONFIDENTIAL
MT
Wondering where Ferrari goes

WILD THING
The Concept 2020 Vision
Gran Turismo will lend
inspiration to the next GT-R.

Luca di Montezemolo
Resigns as Ferrari Chairman
Ferrari chairman Luca di
Montezemolo announced
his resignation on September
10, effective October 13,
after 23 years as head of
the storied company. Fiat
Chrysler Automobiles CEO
Sergio Marchionne replaced di
Montezemolo as head of Ferrari.
Luca di Montezemolo’s decision
apparently stems from disagreements over the future direction
of Ferrari and its parent company,
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. 
The date of di Montezemolo’s
official resignation coincided
with the day that Marchionne
planned to list Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles (FCA) publicly on
the New York stock exchange. In
a statement, di Montezemolo
said the decision to take FCA
public was a large factor in
his decision. 
“Ferrari will have an
important role to play
within the FCA Group in
the upcoming flotation on

Wall Street. This will open up a
new and different phase which I
feel should be spearheaded by the
CEO of the group,” he said.
Marchionne likewise said that
the two executives were butting
heads over the future of the
Italian exotic car company. The
spat went public after another
disappointing performance by
Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix.
“Luca and I have discussed the

LOVE LOST
Marchionne
(left) and di
Montezemolo

future of Ferrari at length. And
our mutual desire to see Ferrari
achieve its true potential on the
track has led to misunderstandings which became clearly visible
over the last weekend,” he said. 
The dispute is believed
to stem from conflicts over
whether Ferrari should remain
a low-volume, exclusive car
manufacturer—the company
now deliberately limits annual
sales to 7000 globally to maintain
exclusivity—or whether it would
grow as part of the FCA empire.
Reports from Italy quoted di
Montezemolo as complaining
that “Ferrari is now American…
the end of an era.” At the same
time, Marchionne told reporters
in response to the Ferrari
Formula 1 team’s disappointing
performance this year, “Nobody
is indispensable. Nobody should
ever get it through their head that
you could threaten or suggest that
the house should be in trouble [if
they leave].” 
Marchionne is already making
changes. He told reporters the
brand has the potential to sell
10,000 cars per year and sales are
expected to rise 5 percent in 2014.
His rationale for raising
production, at least in
part, is to reduce Ferrari’s
long waitlist.
Luca di
Montezemolo
became president of
Ferrari in 1991 and

next once all the LaFerraris are
gone? Remember the FXX,
the Enzo race car? Yep, Ferrari
is going back to the playbook.
It’ll still be a hybrid, but this time
the gasoline engine will make
just 675 hp while the total
system output is a mind-bending
1100 hp. Ready for the kicker?
It won’t be a V-12. Conflicting,
well-placed sources say it’ll be
either a 1.8-liter, turbocharged
four-cylinder or a turbocharged
V-6, which would allow Ferrari
to market it as a modern F1
car for the street. Why do this?
Aside from the marketing angle,
the LaFerrari’s carbon-fiber
construction means there aren’t
a lot of places to cut weight.
Replace that big, heavy V-12,
though, and you save a lot of
pounds. We hear the new
FXX will make up the second
half of the 499 total LaFerraris
to be sold, and cost in the
neighborhood of $3 million…Word
has it an updated 458 Italia
is on the way and it, too, sports
675 hp. Coincidence? Unlikely.
Whichever Ferrari comes first,
you’ll know what engine’s coming
in the next…We were crushed
when the beautiful, mid-engined
Jaguar C-X75 production
model was canceled before it
ever went on sale. That was the
middle of the recession, though,
and now that the economy has
picked up and Jaguar Land Rover
is flush with cash, we’re hearing
the C-X75 is back on the table…
New S-Class not big enough for
you? The Mercedes-Maybach
arrives at the LA show and adds
six inches to the wheelbase. The
six-door Mercedes-Benz Pullman
will bow at the Geneva show.

led both the road car and Formula
1 divisions to repeated successes.
He was also chairman of Fiat from
2004 to 2010, and has held several
other high-ranking positions in
Ferrari and Fiat. 
“Ferrari is the most wonderful
company in the world. It has
been a great privilege and honor
to have been its leader,” di
Montezemolo said. 
Jake Holmes and
Scott Evans

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 25

NEWS / OPINION / GOSSIP / STUFF F

Intake

From the Motor Trend Archive...

CLOSE, BUT... We've reported the El Miraj can't be built
as-is, but the styling will hopefully inspire the CT6.

Cadillac Has Big Plans for the Future
Straight-talking Cadillac boss
Johan de Nysschen has only been
at the company a few months,
but he’s already making his mark.
Many of his plans, though, you might recognize from his short time at the top of Infiniti.
One of his first moves is literal: He’s moving
Cadillac’s headquarters from Detroit to New
York City. “We are very proud of our Detroit
roots and heritage, and the majority of the
Cadillac workforce will remain in Michigan,”
he said. “But there is no city in the world
where the inhabitants are more immersed in a
premium lifestyle than in New York.”
As of this writing, only the management
and marketing teams are slated to move. The
rest of the company will stay in Michigan. As
his former employer did in moving Infiniti
from Japan to Hong Kong, de Nysschen
intends to set Cadillac up as a separate business unit, giving it more autonomy from the
GM mothership so it can focus exclusively on
becoming the "standard of the world" again.
De Nysschen is also shaking up Cadillac’s
naming convention. Going forward, all new
Cadillac cars will use the CT prefix followed by
a number. SUVS will use the prefix XT (except
Escalade). As such, the upcoming flagship
sedan will not be named LTS as rumored,
but instead CT6. Positioned above the XTS,
Cadillac claims the CT6 will be the lightest and
most agile car in the class thanks to its all-new
architecture, which has been designed with
lessons learned from the light and nimble ATS
and CTS. Styling is believed to be influenced
by the El Miraj concept (pictured). What will
be its class, though? De Nysschen says it will
be smaller than the S-Class and its ilk, but
will have better technology, dynamics, and
"similar" refinement. We also understand it
will be a plug-in hybrid that hits 60 mph in
26 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

fewer than six seconds.
It’s also likely to be the first car to feature
Cadillac’s new Super Cruise technology.
Announced by GM CEO Mary Barra at the
Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress,
the technology will allow hands-free driving
at both high speeds and in stop-and-go traffic,
presumably when cruise control is activated.
Details of the technology have not been
announced, but Barra said it would debut
on an all-new 2017-model Cadillac, and we
believe the CT6 will be that car. The CT6 will
debut in the first half of 2015 and go on sale in
2016 as a 2017 model.
Also coming in 2017 is an updated CTS
(CT4?) that will be the first GM car to feature
vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology. V2V
communication allows cars to “talk” to each
other about things such as speed, location,
and direction of travel, which should help
them avoid accidents.
GM is also working on vehicle-to-infrastructure technology that will allow traffic
signals such as stoplights to communicate
with vehicles, so the car and driver will know
when the light is about to change.
One thing that won’t be changing under
de Nysschen is Cadillac’s new premium price
structure, despite sales being down 5 percent
so far this year, as of the end of September.
“Either you have to bring your volume
aspirations into alignment with reality
and accept that you will sell fewer cars,” de
Nysschen told Automotive News, “or you have
to drop the price and continue to transact
at the prices where you were historically… I
think the logical conclusion is that it’s better
to build off a very solid base in terms of
[product] credibility, charge a fair price for
the car and realize you have to wait until the
volume comes." Scott Evans

REARVIEW

5
50

DECEMBER
1964
PRICE: $0.50
Finally, we had
first tests of three
1965 models: a
Chevrolet Impala,
Ford Galaxie 500,

and a Plymouth Fury
III. Quickest of the
bunch? The Ford,
with a 17.8-second
quarter-mile run at
77 mph, courtesy of
its 300-hp, 427-lb-ft,
390-cubic-inch V-8.
We also went to the
annual speed trials
at the Bonneville Salt
Flats, where 30-mph
winds ended the
event early.

30 1 0

DECEMBER
1984

PRICE: $2.00
Yes, the DeTomaso
Pantera was still
being produced in
’84—13 years after
its introduction. By
now, the GT5 version
had a massive wing
and fenders, but not
much more power.
With 350 horses,
0-60 mph came in
5.9 seconds.

DECEMBER
2004

PRICE: $4.99
Another SUOTY,
another winner. This
time, it was Land
Rover’s revolutionary
new LR3, which
we found equally
comfortable on- and
off-road. We were
also blown away by
Ferrari’s new F430
after a drive
in Europe.

BACK ISSUES TO ORDER, VISIT
www.simbackissues.com

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NEWS / OPINION / GOSSIP / STUFF

Ron Kiino
THE KIINOTE

Union of the Overtake Mazda and Duran
Duran Team Up for Debut of 2016 Miata
I wasn’t planning to attend the
reveal of the fourth-generation
ND Miata, which, for security
purposes, was set for an undisclosed location in Monterey, California. MT
associate editor Scott Evans was already
covering the event for us in person, and
Mazda planned to livestream the festivities, so
my computer desk could have easily doubled
as a front-row seat. But then I learned that
Duran Duran was going to help usher in the
new MX-5, and I started to waver. I’d never
seen Duran Duran—a band that shaped my
childhood as much as break dancing, the
Showtime Lakers, and “Ferris Bueller”—live.
And then I rationalized it even more: How
often does an all-new generation of the bestselling roadster of all time come around? And
I can see Duran Duran? I started packing.
I threw a one-night’s-worth duffel into my
red chariot, a 355-hp Mercedes CLA45 AMG,
and departed L.A. around 11 a.m. I needed to
be in Monterey by 4 p.m., so the CLA proved
most appropriate, perfect for the spirited
blast up Interstate 5 and all its tractor-trailer
chicanes. Despite a quick lunch stop at
In-N-Out Burger, I made it with time, not to
mention a sliver of a tank, to spare—the AMG

averaged an impressive 29 mpg.
Per Mazda’s instructions, I arrived at a
somewhat hidden golf course parking lot,
where another 100 or so vehicles, mostly
Miatas, were already stationed. From there
I would hop on a bus that would shuttle me
to the secret spot. Mazda had invited not
only media, but also current MX-5 owners
and various VIPs. Total number of attendees:
about 500. I signed in, received my wristband, and boarded the bus. After 15 minutes
of overhearing Miata-owning moms in their
40s reminisce about Duran Duran hits and
listening to said hits in their sprightly roadsters, we landed (an appropriate word, as our
bus set its tires down at the Marina Municipal
Airport). There we were greeted with snazzy
tents, vehicle displays, food courts, lounges,
and a huge, square bar. All of it looked upscale
and fancy, like attending a ritzy wedding in
the middle of nowhere. Looming next to the
libations and victuals and immaculate old
Miatas was an airplane hangar that had been
converted into an intimate concert stage.
I was at the tail end of the flow of people
that made its way into the hangar, forcing
me to maneuver and tiptoe to find room
with a view. Looking down at the stage

some 50 feet away, I couldn’t help but
chuckle when I saw that the bus moms
had parked themselves in the front row. I
could see the headline now: “Moms Mob
Simon Le Bon; Miata Reveal Goes Awry.”
Before Simon could make them scream,
it was Mazda director of design Derek
Jenkins’ shot. With some help from strobe
lights, smoke machines, and loud music,
Jenkins unleashed the lower and wider
Miata, a car that seems to blend cues from
the Honda S2000, Jag F-Type, and Maser
GranTurismo, to name a few. Still, the
resulting concoction is refreshing. Even
better news is that the revamped interior
boasts nav, and the entire package is said
to weigh about 200 pounds less, meaning
the likely 2.0-liter Skyactiv will feel at least
20 hp more lofty.
Aging gracefully isn’t always a graceful
endeavor, and it’s especially challenging for
once-glorious rock stars, or an iconic sports
car, or once-glorious rock stars making
headlines with an iconic sports car. For
1980s megaband Duran Duran, whose “Rio”
sounded just as I remembered 30 years ago,
teaming up with the transcendent Mazda
MX-5 Miata, albeit tenuously, seemed an
appropriate way to ride
off into the sunset. Q

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the moms parked in the front row.

PLEASE, PLEASE TELL ME NOW
Mazda divulged that the MX-5
is about 200 pounds lighter, but
mum’s the word on power output.

28 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

STICK ’EM WHERE THE
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NEWS / OPINION / GOSSIP / STUFF

Frank Markus
TECHNOLOGUE

With Liberty and Electronic Dampers for All
I’m a sucker for democratizing
technology. Especially during
this era of a diminishing middle
class and a widening income gap,
I love learning that engineers and scientists
have figured out a way to bring luxury-car
comforts to the economy class. This month’s
find: an affordable, magic-carpet adaptive-damping system.
Continuously variable dampers using
magnetorheological fluid or variable orifice
flow designs are the adaptive-damping gold
standard these days, but just as a nine- or
10-speed automatic transmission delivers
about 95 percent off the benefits of a continuously variable automatic,
utomatic, a simpler shock with
lots of different
ent settings—and lickety-split
switching between them—should be able to
do the same,
behind
ame, right? That’s the theory b
Tenneco’s
eco’s latest Digital Ride Control Valve
Valve
technology,
Tenneco,
chnology, trademarked as DRiV. Ten
nneco,
One
in case you’re not familiar, is a Tier On
ne
from
supplier of chassis systems ranging fr
rom
ProActive
Monroe aftermarket shocks to the Pro
oActive
Chassis Control system in the McLaren
n 650S,
and an active suspension rivaling that of the
Mercedes S-Class that’s likely to appear on a
competing flagship in 2017.
The enabling technology here is a tiny
hydraulically actuated two-position valve that
requires just a momentary blip of electronic
actuation to switch between modes, and then
holds itself in that position with the hydraulic
pressure. (By contrast, most continuously
variable systems constantly consume power
to maintain and vary their damping rate.)
This valve-switching tech was developed with

Monroe could
start selling
electronic ridecontrol retrofits for
your 1970 ’Cuda.
PLUG-N-DRiV The beauty of these
über-affordable future shocks is that
everything they need to function is
mounted to the shock—just add 12
volts and a communications link.

32
3
2 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

Sturman Industries. Employ three or four of
these valves on a shock absorber, and voilà!
You get eight or 16 different damping rates
that can be selected in just 3 milliseconds.
To make the system even cheaper to
incorporate into a new car, the accelerometers
needed to sense wheel/body motion and the
electronic controller required to do all the
switching are integrated into the shocks.
All the car needs to provide is 12 volts to
each shock and wiring (or soon possibly a
wireless communication link) between the
shocks, so that they can coordinate among
themselves to control body motion and
smooth the ride. No CAN bus connection or
external computers are required, although
providing a connection to the vehicle’s
communication bus would allow for a driver-selectable damping option. How cheap?
Tier Ones never talk cost, except to note that
they’ll fit a B-class budget.
If all that isn’t cool enough, the company
is looking into incorporating energy-harvesting technology that taps the continuous
hydraulic fluid motion inside the twin-tube
shocks (or maybe the internal heat it creates)
to generate the small amount of electricity
needed to power the valves, electronics, and
wireless data link between the shocks, eliminating the need for any wiring at all. At that
point, Monroe could start selling electronic
ride control retrofits to smooth out the ride
and kill the dive, squat, and roll on your 1970
’Cuda. These shocks could, of course, also be
engineered to communicate with your smartp
phone, allowing you to order up a punishing
ride for long enough to impress your friends
before putting
p
it back to the automatic setting
that optimiz
optimizes ride and handling.
Look for DRiV damping to be incorporated
on some global B/C
B/C-class vehicle within the
next two years, with any
an potential aftermarket offering following that by another
few years. And who knows, if the engineers
w be
keep their pencils sharp, maybe we’ll
Fiesta and
driving active-suspension Fiestas
Sparks in a decade. Q

DESIGNED FOR THE PROFESSIONAL.
BUILT TO LAST. ™

REVEAL

NEWS / OPINION / GOSSIP / STUFF

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NEWS / OPINION / GOSSIP / STUFF

They Say
Annette Winkler

CEO, Smart

Five years ago, Mercedes
was on the verge of ordering
the shutdown of its Smart
microcar unit. The little Fortwo
two-seater had been in production and
accruing huge losses since 1998. But apart
from the costs of a shutdown there was
another factor in Smart’s favor: a feeling
among senior management, all the way up
to chairman Dieter Zetsche, that this tiny
urban car was an idea whose time would
come. Mercedes just needed a partner to help
finance the development of the next-generation car, and to get some scale economies.
“If we got no partner, it’s likely there would
have been no new Smart,” Zetsche told MT
in July. Fortunately, Daimler was talking to
the Renault-Nissan alliance, and in 2010
announced cooperation on a number of projects, including a car that would replace both
the Smart and Renault’s smallest vehicle.
The partnership will spawn three cars
at first: the two-seat Smart Fortwo, which
will go to the U.S.; a stretched version of the
same rear-engined platform, making a Smart
Forfour; and the Renault Twingo. Those fourdoor cars will not be exported here.
“Truly a cooperation is needed in this
segment,” Smart CEO Annette Winkler told
MT. “Renault was and is the right partner,
because we needed one who wanted the
rear engine. Without that, it’s not a
Smart. Also we wanted a four-seater
version, and Renault was going in
that direction. And we have been able
to cooperate well. Our culture is to be open,
and we’re French-minded—our factory is in
France; many leaders at Smart speak French.
Both we and Renault wanted to safeguard
our own brands, so we each use nearly all
specific see-and-touch parts.”
Winkler doesn’t dispute that Smart has
had an existential crisis. The first cars went
on sale in 1998, and sales held steady at
100,000 a year, with 1.6 million in 16 years.
That’s too little for a stand-alone car with a
low price tag. She acknowledges Smart lost
big money. “But we made a small positive
contribution in the past few years,” she adds.
“We made no lifecycle enhancements in the
past four years, yet sales kept stable. That’s
proof we’re not just another car. China now
has a big desire for high-spec Smarts, and
we won share in the [depressed] European
market. In 2010 it was decided to continue
with Smart. Daimler knew the market for
36 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

YES AND NO
The Smart Fortwo
(left) will be sold in the
U.S., but the Forfour
(right) will not.

Interview

Daimler knew the market for a metropolitan
car would grow. I loved the brand, and
wanted to make it work.”
a metropolitan car would grow. I loved the
brand, and wanted to make it work.”
Indeed, she’s known among Daimler
staffers for her unbridled passion for everything Smart.
I put it to Winkler that the fact that sales
are stuck at 100,000 means this might not yet

be an idea whose time has come. She quotes
utopian philosopher Ernst Bloch: “ ‘A big
leap needs a big run-up.’ No one doubts the
world needs this [sort of car] now. No one is
laughing anymore. Everywhere you go, car
companies talk of urban mobility.”
The only model to go on sale in the U.S.
will be the Fortwo with the new twin-clutch
automatic. “For the U.S. an auto is a must,”
she says. Why not sell the Forfour, too?
“The Fortwo and Forfour would in effect be
in the same segment in the U.S., so would
cannibalize each other. We haven’t actually
decided to not offer the Forfour there; just
not now.” Paul Horrell

THE REAL

WORLD

EVER WONDERED WHY the big, bold numbers on the
window sticker of the car you bought have yet to be achieved.
Sure, “your mileage may vary” is the mantra, but Motor Trend
went to work with Emission Analytics to help consumers. With
Sam Boyle (pictured) and Jesus Flores doing all of the hard
work, RealMPG has proven to be a component of Motor Trend
testing and evaluation that consumers can count on.

1. STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES:

Motor Trend has been testing cars since 1949
and as Frank Markus noted in his Technologue
column (bit.ly/MTTesting) of Motor Trend,
“…a big weakness of ours: measuring fuel
economy.” With Emission Analytics expertise,
Motor Trend has invested where no other
automotive media evaluation has gone.

2. BE COMFORTABLE.

Before and after each city/highway test, Sam
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The test includes multiple drive sessions as
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NEWS / OPINION / GOSSIP / STUFF

Your Say...

YOUR THOUGHTS ON PAST ISSUES
Subtraction by Subtraction
I was enjoying the September 2014 issue, and
when I looked through the New Car Buyer’s
Guide, I did not see Lotus listed. There are three
dealers within 100 miles of me that sell the
Lotus Evora. Why was this model and manufacturer dropped from the list?
CRAIG DIAL

Sacramento, California

In an effort to lighten the New Car Buyer’s Guide
(that is, get it to fit within its page count allotment) we had to strategically eliminate a few
cars. We haven’t received any inquiries on the
Honda FCX Clarity’s whereabouts.—Ed.

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I’m quite sure you’re as sick of people writing in
to complain about publishing too many reviews
of high-end cars as I am. Personally, I don’t
subscribe to your magazine to read about the
latest beige four-door appliance on wheels. But
I had to chuckle at the New Car Buyer’s Guide’s
characterization of the McLaren 650S (list price
$269,200-$283,925) as an “affordable” supercar.
If that’s affordable, what’s extravagant?
JOSH VAVRA

Derry, New Hampshire

A 650S with the $70 warning triangle and first aid
kit factory option. You can get a nice Chinook first
aid starter kit for less than $30.—Ed.

LETTER OF THE MONTH
Origin Identified
I just received the September 2014 issue of
Motor Trend. As I searched the index, I saw
the picture that led me to your article on
page 32 (“Technologue”). As a person who
has followed NASCAR since 1959, I was
compelled to read your article first thing.
(Actually, I first went to Daytona International Speedway when it was still under
construction in 1958.)
I had to read the article to see the
connection between the graphic and the
highlight: “Ford’s best and brightest…”
Roger Penske was the owner of the AMC
Matador driven by Mark Donohue. Penske
now runs Fords. Even though I don’t attend
the races like I did growing up, I still try to
get to Daytona during the February Speedweeks. There, I visit the vendor booths to
register for sweepstakes and update my
wardrobe with T-shirts and hats. AMC,
when it participated in NASCAR, is part of
a trivia question I continually ask people,
including vendors. Most people are not
even aware of AMC’s involvement. Thanks
for bringing this back to mind.
JOHN SINQUEFIELD

DeLand, Florida

Your New Car Buyer’s Guide selected the 1.8T
manual Volkswagen Passat Sport as the Driver’s
Choice for that model. Yet you chose the 1.8T
automatic for your long-term test (“Garage,”
September 2014). What do you have against
[Passat chaperone] Emiliana?
HAL HENDRICKS

Melbourne, Florida

The only individual to write in observing
the degree of separation wins it all this
month.—Ed.

SUPER

PRIZE

Since we force our copy chief to read this fabulous
magazine in its entirety multiple times, we
couldn’t let her have too much fun.—Ed.

Checking the Weather
With regards to the “Time Bandits” comparo
(September 2014) where the Volkswagen GTI
beats the Subaru WRX, I can’t help but wonder
if the result would be different if the test was
done up north. In February! Yes, the WRX costs
more (less than a grand—seriously?) than the
GTI, but it would leave all the others behind
climbing up to the ski hills. We don’t all live in
sunny California, you know.
GLEN FERLAND

Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada

We’re definitely aware. There’s sunny Arizona,
sunny Florida, sunny Hawaii, sunny Washington
(the eastern part, we hear). Plenty of sun to go
around.—Ed.

WITH THAT KIND OF KNOWLEDGE
You almost surely have a super-old car that
could benefit from Meguiar's Whole Car
Air Re-Fresher. Pop this in your AMC Pacer
(admit it—you have one) and it will transport
you back to 1977 when you drove the car off
the lot and headed for the disco.

Introducing nonstop round trips from DC to NYC.
The all-new Volkswagen Golf TDI Clean Diesel. Push the city to its
limits with the bigger, fuel-efficient Golf TDI® Clean Diesel, and get up
to 594 highway miles on a single tank of fuel.* That’s like going from DC
to NYC and back without ever filling up. Not to mention other standard
features like a touchscreen sound system and 52.7 cubic feet of cargo
space** to pack in plenty of mementos along the way. Ready. Set. Golf.
That’s the Power of German Engineering.

vw.com

*594-mile range based on 45 mpg hwy EPA estimates for a 2015 Golf TDI Clean Diesel, manual transmission with a 13.2-gallon fuel tank. Range for 2015 Golf TDI,
automatic transmission with a 13.2-gallon tank, is 567 miles based on 43 mpg hwy EPA estimates. Your mileage will vary and depends on several factors, including
your driving habits and vehicle condition. **With rear seats folded and adjustable cargo floor lowered. ©2014 Volkswagen of America, Inc.

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP
As required by Title 39, Section 3685 United States Code
below is the Statement of Ownership, Management,
and Circulation of Motor Trend
1. Publication Title: Motor Trend
2. Publication Number: ISSN 0027-2094
3. Filing Date: 10/01/14
4. Issue Frequency: Monthly
5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 12
6. Annual Subscription Price: $18.00
7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication:
261 Madison Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016.
Contact Person: Brian Laboe/212-915-4182
8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business
Office of Publisher: Source Interlink Media LLC, 831 S. Douglas St.,
El Segundo, CA 90245
9. Publisher, Eric Schwab, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245;
Editor, Ed Loh, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245; Managing
Editor, Rusty Kurtz, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245;
10. Owner: Source Interlink Media, Inc., 831 S. Douglas St.,
El Segundo, CA 90245
11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders
Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds,
Mortgages or Other Securities: None 
12. Tax Status: (For completion by nonprofit organizations authorized
to mail at nonprofit rate)
(Check one) The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this
organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes
 Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months
Has Changed During the Preceding 12 Months
13. Publication Title: Motor Trend
14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: September 2014
15. Extent and Nature of Circulation:
Average No.
Copies No. of Copies of
Each Issue
During
Single Issue Published
Preceding
12 Months
Nearest to
Filing Date
a. Total number of copies
1,208,301
1,199,528
b. Paid Circulation (by mail and outside the mail)
1. Mailed Outside-County Paid
Subscriptions Stated on
PS Form 3541
734,973
753,323
2. Mailed In-County Paid
Subscriptions Stated on
PS Form 3541
0
0
3. Paid Distribution Outside the Mails
Including Sales Through Dealers and
and Carriers, Street Vendors,
Counter Sales and Other Paid
Distribution Outside USPS
57,569
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792,541
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d. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution
(By Mail and Outside the Mail)
1. Free or Nominal Rate OutsideCounty Copies included on
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e. Total Free or Nominal Rate
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f. Total Distribution
1,043,558
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g. Copies not Distributed
164,742
145,056
h. Total,
1,208,301
1,199,528
i. Percent Paid
75.9%
77.5%
16. Extent and Nature of Circulation:
Average No. Copies No.
of Copies of Each Issue
During Single Issue
Published
Preceding
12 Months
Nearest to
Filing Date
a. Paid Electronic Copies………………………91,743 104,172
b. Total Paid Print Copies (Line 15C) + Paid
Electronic Copies (Line 16A)……………….884,285
921,386
c. Total Print Distribution (Line 15F)
+ Paid Electronic Copies (Line 16A)…...........1,135,302 1,158,644
d. Percent Paid (Both Print & Electronic Copies)
(16b divided by 16c X 100)
77.9%
79.5%
 I Certify that 50% of all my distributed Copies (Electronic & Print)
are paid above a nominal Price
17. Publication of Statement of Ownership will be printed in the:
December 2014 issue of this publication.
18. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner
Thomas Slater, SVP Consumer Marketing
10-1-2014
I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete.
I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information
on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form
may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment)
and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties).

WRITE US AT
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Email us online at motortrend.com
or send an email direct to
[email protected]

Re: September 2014 issue, Emiliana
Sandoval’s review of the 2014 Passat SE
Sport. A comment made as an aside (“I won’t
have much use for the heated side mirrors
and heated windshield washer nozzles in
sunny L.A.”) brings up a point that’s annoyed
me for years. Every company has a “cold
weather” package…but all of us living in
the Sun Belt are ignored! How about a hot
weather package? Start with solar glass, not
just colored privacy glass that does nothing
to block UVA/UVB rays. Here in Florida, you
buy a new car and either opt to have the
dealer bring it to a window tint place before
you pick it up, or drive from the dealer’s lot
straight to a tint shop. It’s a must!
Cooled front seats? Some cars have it
already, bundled with heated seats. A dashboard and steering wheel in a color other
than black? I’ve actually burned my hand
on the steering wheel after the car sat in the
mall parking lot for an hour or so. Electric
air conditioning…small four-cylinder cars
noticeably have less power when you turn
the air on. Since it’s always on here in Florida,
you might not notice a drop in power, but
it’s there! (I shut the air off when I have to
pass someone on a two-lane road.) Get really
inventive with a small solar panel on the roof
to power the vent fan when the inside temps
reach over 100 degrees. Come on, guys and
gals, not all of the Americas are cold.
LIONEL BEAULIEU

Stuart, Florida

What say you, readers? Who has it worse,
the snowmen (and women) freezing away or
the ones dealing with the more intense Mr.
Sun?—Ed.

No Ageism
I just had to mention an error in your New
Car Buyer’s Guide. On page 85 you list that
the 2015 Subaru Impreza/WRX comes in a
hatchback. I am pretty sure that it does not.
I am certain that there will be an awful lot
of folks unhappy with Subaru for discontinuing the hatchback, as I see so many on
the road.
By the way, I just bought a 2015 WRX
Limited. My husband wanted me to buy
a WRX for years but I didn’t want what I
considered to be a “young boy rally car.” I
decided to consider it based on the changes
for 2015; six speed as opposed to five (I will
only drive a manual!) and leather upholstery
being the most appealing changes to me. I
think my new WRX is BADASS! I love it! With
a couple minor exceptions...no sunglass
holder for one! The other two issues I have
are the textured rubber dash where dust
sticks like glue, and the biggest of all…I am a

READERS ON LOCATION
AND THE HEAVENS OPENED Proud Porsche
911 owner Karl Allred shares with us a view
from Colorado’s Strontia Springs Dam this past
summer. It hasn’t sprung a big leak behind him.
He explains: “This shows the water spilling
over the top of the dam at 800 cubic feet per
second. This ‘spill’ only happens when there
is a high snowpack up in the Front Range
Rockies and a warm spring to accelerate the
melting and runoff. This does not happen
every year. There is a loud, continuous roar
as the water lands in the river below.” That’s
the equivalent of more than 239,000 highefficiency faucets fully opening their taps all
at once. Why do we suddenly feel our bladder?

5-foot-4 female with a size 5 foot. My foot
is too small to heel/toe the clutch. When
my foot is on the clutch my shin tends to
hit the wiring cover plastic under the wheel
as it is curved quite low (I should note that
this is mostly an issue when I am wearing
5-inch platform shoes, which is often). I
have adapted quickly but it is annoying
enough that I want to call the design team.
(Maybe you guys have contact info?) I
suppose the solution would be a pair of
driving moccasins, but who wants to be
bothered with that?! I think Subaru would
be happy to know that their changes won
over a 47-year-old woman! I get a lot of
double takes. Guys check out the car, then

12.14 TREND
ROCK BAND OF THE MONTH

“…your company is owned by Foreigners...”
double take at the old chick in it! Fabulous!
All this talk makes me want to dash out and
drive, but alas I must get back to work.
ALLYSON CALDERON

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Our guide lumps the standard Impreza
and WRX/WRX STI together, even though
the latter pair are no longer formally called
Imprezas. The hatchback designation is correct
for the regular-strength Impreza. We apologize
for any confusion! The end of your letter is
simply outrageous—47 is hardly “old.”—Ed.
Regarding Frank Markus’ “Technologue”
article of September 2014, with the gist of the
article about Ford’s involvement in NASCAR,
I find it interesting that the car depicted at the
bottom of the page looked more like an AMC
vehicle than a Ford product. Are my old eyes
just playing tricks on me, or are you guys too
young to remember when NASCAR vehicles
were actually based on production models?
MARK GIBRICK

Las Vegas, Nevada

You mean “young at heart” and Mr.
Sinquefield’s letter details how the Matador fits
in.—Ed.

For the Record
As an owner of the previous-gen Mitsubishi
Outlander 2.4 SE S-AWC, I was shocked to
see the price in your long-term test (“Garage,”
September 2014) had nearly doubled from
what I paid for my 2010. You show a base of
$43,020 and an as-tested price of $45,860.
Curious, I jumped onto the Mitsubishi
website and priced out a 2014 model. The
site lists the base price as $25,795. Even after
checking every available box I still could not

even get the price to $40,000. What gives?
Did you guys get taken to the cleaners or did
someone slip a new Mirage onto the same
sales order?
BILL JONES

Mantua, New Jersey

Those are the prices for our long-term Cadillac
ATS 2.0T, which must have snuck themselves
onto the page around the same time our
Formula 1 buffs went to lunch.—Ed.
Does anyone fact-check your content? In
your September 2014 issue, on page 24 (“In
Memoriam, Sir Jack Brabham”), Nishimoto
states that Jack Brabham’s 1959 and 1960
Cooper-Climax Formula 1 cars were frontengined. The T51 was most certainly not
front-engined. In fact, it turned Formula 1
on its head and everyone went to rearengine cars.
BILL JACOBS

ULTIMATE CAR ENTHUSIAST’S

El Cajon, California

Indeed. It appears the fact-checking department swapped ends on itself here.—Ed.

Double Dilemma
Luca Cordero di Montezemolo says, “It’s
a sport, yes, but also a show,” (“The Big
Picture,” September 2014) and the collective
automotive community debates the true
meaning of “racing,” whereas Brian France
says the same thing and everyone laughs.
Double standard?
TOM STONE

South Pasadena, California

We can’t be sure that France ever uttered that
exact phrase about the family business, but
let’s be frank. Someone will always disagree
with NASCAR’s chairman.—Ed.

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Thanks to #MTBDC and Mustang Madness, we've seen tremendous
growth on social media over the past month. Just days before we
put this issue’s cover story together, we spotted this mean-looking
Mustang Boss 429 cruising the streets of Palo Alto–it seems like
even Silicon Valley appreciates a good ponycar from time to time.

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HORSEPOWER/TORQUE

FIRST TEST | 2015 Ford Mustang (EcoBoost)

350
300
250
200
150
100

50
0
RPM 3000

4000

5000

6000

POWER 279 HP @ 5300 RPM
TORQUE 291 LB-FT@ 4700 RPM

TURBOCHARGED POWER RETURNS TO FORD’S VENERABLE PONYCAR
The most amusing thing about
the new Mustang is evident
when you pop its hood. Here’s
the longest-running name in the
musclecar business, looking all mean and
modern and ready for the 21st century. And
what do you see in its engine bay? Space.
That space produces a consistent response
from people who’ve just said, “Hey, is that
the new Mustang?” Their next comment: “A
four-banger?” Perhaps the EcoBoost’s greatest
downfall is that it demands explanation every
44 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

time you pop the hood. If you’re buying one,
here’s a cheat sheet: lower weight, better fuel
economy, and 320 lb-ft of torque.
Weight? Our automatic-equipped EcoBoost
Premium weighed 146 pounds less than the
manual GT we tested, and 96 pounds of that
came off the nose. Unfortunately, Mustang
weight has crept up this generation, and this
EcoBoost model is up 128 pounds versus the
last V-6 Performance Package we tested.
Horsepower has increased by 5 versus
that same V-6 (though new V-6s are rated

another 5 hp lower), but torque has increased
substantially, up 40 lb-ft. Lean in over the
2.3-liter inline-four, peer over the passenger
side, and there, sitting underneath a bit of
heat shielding, is the twin-scroll turbo helping
supply that power with 18 psi peak boost—if
you believe the gauge.
In the case of our test car, a six-speed
automatic routes that power to a 3.55:1 final
drive and locking rear differential, then out
to two 9.0 x 19-inch wheels shod in 255/40
Pirelli P Zero tires. Those parts come with a

ECONOMIES OF SCALE Dropping the cylinder
count and adding a turbo helps improve
fuel economy and weight while keeping
respectable power figures. The problem
comes with constantly having to explain that.

Words Carlos Lago Photography William Walker

SVO
$1995 Performance Package that also adds
beefier braking hardware (13.9-inch rotors/
four-piston caliper front and 13.0-inch rotors/
single-piston caliper rear) and a larger diameter rear anti-roll bar.
Yes, we wished for a manual, but the auto
was the only option available, and it acquitted
itself nicely in our testing. With stability
control off and the car in Track mode, a
launch involved holding both pedals, waiting
for boost to surge, and releasing the brake. It’s
an amusing process, and produced a best 0-60

mph time of 5.6 seconds and a quarter-mile
pass of 14.1 seconds at 97.8 mph. The upsized
braking hardware and P Zero tires produced a
best 60-0 mph stop of 106 feet, with the other
three stops hovering in the 107-foot range.
Those acceleration results beat the GTI by 0.1
second, but fall short of the potential speed
from a WRX launched as if you’ve stolen it.
The Mustang posted a 25.5-second lap time
around the figure eight, tying the WRX but
trailing the GTI by 0.4 second. At an average
0.96 g laterally, the Mustang tied what we
DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 45

FIRST TEST | 2015 Ford Mustang (EcoBoost)

recorded from the GTI. Considering the lack
of weight on the nose, we expected a bit
more nimbleness than this Mustang offered.
It stops authoritatively and allows aggressive corner entry. Exits are fun, too; the car
digs out of corners with a nice amount of
stability. But mid-corner behavior is disappointing—the car’s attitude feels somewhat
soft and mushy, offering a mild understeer
that’s difficult to adjust. Where the GT
likes being adjusted with the throttle—the
instant-on V-8 torque allows you to counter
the chassis’ tendency to push—the turbo
doesn’t allow this option.
Our figure-eight exacerbates this
mid-corner behavior. In real-world driving,
where turn radii, elevation, and surfaces
change, the Mustang was more enjoyable.
Jump on a sweeping on-ramp, feed in boost
while you dial in that nicely weighted
steering, and it’s easy—and fun—to push
yourself and the car harder.
The turbo makes neat whooshes when the
hood is open, but unfortunately you don’t
hear them from inside the cabin. The noise
you do hear is somewhat mechanical, like
the Focus and Fiesta ST’s amplified induction
notes. It’s aggressive, if not sing-songy.

The interior design matches the sharp
exterior. You can sense the Mustang traces
in the layout, but controls and screens feel
modernized—amusingly, the speedometer
is labeled Ground Speed in a nod to the P-51
aircraft that inspired the name and gauge
graphics. The driver’s seat offers great forward
visibility, and you can use the hood’s visible
creases as reference markers. The shifter falls
easily under your hand, as do all the steering
wheel-mounted controls.
There are quite a few of those controls. Our
EcoBoost was fully loaded, with heated and
cooled seats, adaptive cruise control, dual
zone climate control, and so on. Though the
Premium trim started at $29,995 and totaled
$37,660 after options, dropping items such as
the adaptive cruise control ($1195), that automatic ($1195), and a few others makes sense
for enthusiasts. But if you’re going down that
route, the non-Premium EcoBoost starts at
$25,995, cutting out satellite radio and the
options mentioned above.
But let’s get back to that turbo-four, shall
we? The best way to picture how an engine
responds is through a power/torque graph
such as the one on page 44. If all you care
about are peak figures, we recorded 279 hp on

run three and 295 lb-ft of torque on run four.
During five runs, output remained consistent. Torque stayed above 290 lb-ft for four
out of the five runs, varying around 3 lb-ft.
We’re showing the chart with the best hp.
One thing of note: That dip in power
around 5700 rpm appeared on all dyno runs.
We’re curious to find out what it is.
During testing of this turbo-four we
noticed a strong mid-range but a mushy top
end. The dyno chart confirms this sensation.
Note that power builds immediately; torque
arrives solidly at 3200 rpm and hovers in
the high 280 lb-ft range until 5200 rpm. This
means the engine feels responsive and rather
powerful around the city, where it spends
most of its operating range in that sweet,
meaty torque range.
Stretch the tach upward, though, and once
peak horsepower arrives at 5300 rpm, it’s all
downhill after. The last thousand rpm feel
soft, and as a result, wringing it out during
limit-handling tests or straight-line acceleration can feel a little unsatisfying. Shortshifting is an entirely viable option.
Surprised by the lack of high rpm grunt?
You shouldn’t be. Look at power/torque
graphs of the Focus and Fiesta ST and you’ll
see a very similar shape, though at lower
numbers. Clearly, this engine was developed
with a similar mindset. And, well, look at
how much we love that Fiesta ST.
Overall, the EcoBoost makes a very pleasant
non-V-8 entrant in the Mustang lineup,
matching the performance of similarly priced
enthusiast cars if you option it reasonably.
It’s by no means a replacement for the V-8,
but nor is it the penalty box the V-6 used to
be. Its higher fuel economy rating and strong
low-rpm power delivery make it a compelling
choice as a fun, sporty daily driver. Q

2015 Ford Mustang (EcoBoost)
BASE PRICE
PRICE AS TESTED

$25,995
$37,660

VEHICLE LAYOUT

Front-engine, RWD,
4-pass, 2-door coupe

ENGINE

2.3L/310-hp/320-lb-
turbocharged DOHC
16-valve I-4
6-speed automatic
3658 lb (53/47%)
107.1 in

TRANSMISSION
CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)
WHEELBASE

LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT 188.3 x 75.4 x 54.4 in
0-60 MPH

5.6 sec

QUARTER MILE

14.1 sec @ 97.8 mph

BRAKING, 60-0 MPH

106 

LATERAL ACCELERATION

0.96 g (avg)
25.5 sec @ 0.80 g (avg)

MT FIGURE EIGHT
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB
FUEL ECON

46 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

21/32/25 mpg

ENERGY CONS., CITY/HWY

160/105 kW-hrs/100
miles

CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB

0.78 lb/mile

COVER STORY | Performance Ponycar Showdown

It is in fact like déjà vu all over
again. This comparison test
goes back decades—literally. The
world first saw the Ford Mustang
in 1964. Chevrolet followed up Ford’s
ponycar lead with the Camaro in 1966, and
Mopar mashed up A- and B-bodies to create
the Dodge Challenger in 1969. The Mustang
never went anywhere, but both the Camaro
and the Challenger exited the bullring at
some point, only to come roaring back in
recent times.
Defining what exactly makes a ponycar is
tricky, but you can boil it down to a few key
attributes. One is they’re blatantly American.
Another is long-hood, short-deck styling
48 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

suggesting a corral full of horsepower. Each
of the cars in this test kicks out well over 400
hp. The last bit is that they’re not pure sports
cars—they’re sedan-based. The Challenger
rides on Chrysler’s LX platform; the Camaro’s
a cut-down Holden Commodore; and the
all-new Mustang still contains traces of
Lincoln LS, most notably the floorpan, which
results in a high heel point.
These aren’t regular ponies—they’re
stallions. You can tell by the suffixes: 1LE,
Performance Pack, Scatpack. To properly test
such studs we ran them along one of our
favorite driving routes, an approximately
45-mile butt-kicking collection of roads

we call the Surfschleife. We start off with
a super-tight, extra tortuous section that
eventually turns into Mulholland Drive, a
road that needs little explanation. (It’s rad!)
Then we get about 10 miles of straight-up
cruising next to the Pacific Ocean through
Malibu along the Pacific Coast Highway. Next
up is a long, high-speed section that can best
be thought of as a hill climb. Finally, we get
a 5-mile section of the 101 freeway in which
we test things such as ride quality, cruise
control, and the radio. There are also about 3
miles of city streets and traffic lights thrown
in for good measure. After flogging all three
on the Surfschleife, here’s what we found.

RUNNING OF
THE PONIES
We doubt very much
that back in 1964
anybody could have
predicted this story.
Here’s to truth being
better than fiction.

NOT
THEIR
FIRST
RODEO
ONCE MORE INTO THE
PONYCAR BREACH

Words Jonny Lieberman
Photography Evan Klein
DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 49

3RD DODGE CHALLENGER R/T 6.4 SCATPACK

BIG MUSCLES, MEDIUM PRICE
If life consisted of nothing but
straight lines, the Challenger
Scatpack would be your winner. The
car nerd world is still catching its collective
breath from Dodge dropping the 707-horsepower Hellcat bomb. But by focusing all our
attention on that animal, we missed the fact
that the Dodge Boys are selling a car with 485
naturally aspirated ponies for less than $40K.
I hope you appreciate how amazing that
last sentence is. I’m not quite 40 years old,
but I well remember when the Lamborghini
Countach 5000S made—are you
sitting down?—449 hp, and
that seemed like the most
powerful car the world
would ever see. This here
Dodge smacks it.
The problem with
the Scatpack, like all

50 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

Challengers, is its heft and girth. The car is
massive. Says associate editor Rory Jurnecka,
“The Challenger feels like it smothers the
road. It’s big and wide and wants to wrap
every inch of tarmac in a giant bear hug.” The
Challenger is about 400 pounds heavier than
the others, and Chevy and Ford are on the just
barely acceptable side of big-boned. For you
numbers freaks: Challenger, 4235 pounds;

Camaro, 3886 pounds; Mustang, 3814 pounds.
For who knows what reason, our Scatpack
test car came with a single option: a $1400
guzzler-tax-killing eight-speed automatic.
Surely the manual version will weigh less and
be the better performance car (we’ll let you
know). It will sticker for $39,490.
Back to straight-line fury: You sure don’t
notice the extra lard when the light turns
green. Dodge holds tight to the adage that
there’s no replacement for displacement
(never mind the blown Hellcat). That’s

because it has a big power and torque advantage over the other two. To wit: Challenger,
485/475; Camaro, 426/420; Mustang,
435/400. The Scatpack hit 60 mph in 4.2
seconds and pummeled the quarter mile in
12.6 seconds at 112.3 mph. The Mustang GT
was barely in second place, hitting 60 mph
in 4.4 seconds and running the quarter mile
in 12.8 seconds at 112.2 mph. It is interesting
to note the trap speeds of these two. That
Mustang 5.0-liter engine revs high and
comes on strong near the finish line. The
Camaro also hit 60 mph in 4.4 seconds and
lost the quarter mile to the new ’Stang by a
tenth of a second, 12.9 seconds at 110.5 mph.
But the Surfschleife doesn’t have that
many places from which to launch a car.
Usually you’re turning left or right. Says
associate editor Christian Seabaugh, “Really
started to feel big on Mulholland. Lots of
rolls, lots of complaints from the tires, and
the brakes revealed themselves not to be
up to the task.” Unlike the SRT Challenger,
the Scatpack doesn’t get adjustable shocks.
Once things got rocking, this Challenger
was let down by subpar damping. My own
notes read, “Lots of secondary movements,
like a water bed.” The SRT also comes with
stouter brakes. Still, like all V-8 Challengers,
there’s something totally lovable about the
Scatpack. The three of us hated giving such
a uniquely American machine third place.
But, as the French say, such is life...

2ND FORD MUSTANG GT (PERFORMANCE PACK)

WHERE’S THE BOSS?
We’re not sure what to make of the
new Mustang’s looks. While I’m
happy it’s not slavishly retro, I think
the new metal represents a swing and a miss.
The headlights are wrong. Mustangs have
always—save for Vanilla Ice’s Fox-body—had
big, round eyes. This one doesn’t. The three
of us also observed more people checking out
the Camaro, and in particular the Challenger,
than the all-new Mustang. It’s somehow sort
of anonymous. Weird, right? Also, there’s way
too much front overhang. But that’s what
happens when your wheelbase is 5 inches
shorter than the Camaro’s, even though the
cars are only 2 inches apart in length.
Rory sums up why the brand-new Mustang
didn’t win this way: “I’m angry because
Ford didn’t benchmark the Boss for the new
Mustang the way Chevy benchmarked the
Z06 for the new Stingray.” I agree, and I’m

going to go a step further: I’m disappointed.
Specifically because the Mustang GT has
packed on 196 pounds of heft compared
to the last GT Track Pack we tested. That’s
considerable. Then there’s the fact that, here’s
Ford, about to turn carmaking as we know
it on its head with the 2015 aluminum F-150
pickup, yet it decides to let its sports car

ANGRY EYES While a solid design overall, we
like the way the back looks better than the front.
Sadly, we think that’s backwards.

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 51

COVER STORY | Ponycar Showdown
gobble Twinkies? How’d that happen? I just
don’t get it.
No doubt some of you are thinking, “Hey,
the new ’Stang’s 70 pounds lighter than the
Camaro. If it’s all about weight, shouldn’t the
GT win?” Turns out, it’s not all about weight.
We’re happy that after all these decades, Ford
finally switched the Mustang’s rearend away
from a solid, live axle to a fully independent
one, something we groused about back
in August 1964! Yes, yes, there are some
advantages to a live axle, but they are few and
far between. There’s a reason the Ferrari 458
Italia doesn’t have a solid rear axle. Having
IRS is one thing; having IRS make your car
handle better is another.
To be fair, the new ’Stang was quicker
around our figure eight than the car it
replaces, at 24.7 seconds compared to 25

flat. And 24.7 seconds is how long it took the
Hellcat to run the figure eight, as well as the
Alfa Romeo 4C. The old Boss 302, too. Trouble
for the Mustang GT is that the heavier, less
powerful Camaro 1LE ran it in 24.5 seconds.
Not a huge difference, mind you, but faster
is faster. Also, there’s a reason we don’t
just publish numbers and call it a day. For
instance, our figure-eight meister, Kim
Reynolds, called the 1LE “a wonderful car,”
while he unleashed a very un-Kim-like string
of colorful language at the Mustang. Under
throttle, the rear end wanted to step out, and
if you lifted, the Mustang would default to
understeer. There was no smooth way to run
the figure eight.
But that’s limit handling. What about
out on the Surfschleife? The Mustang most
impressed the three of us on the freeway.

This is where the IRS pays off bigtime. The
ride was much better than in the other two
ponycars. I know you commenter types
will say different, but if you’re honest with
yourself, cruising on the freeway is where
most of us spend the bulk of our time. Says
Rory, “Plenty of passing power. I’d road-trip
this car, no problem.” When we cruised next
to the beach, the Mustang more or less tied
the Challenger. The ’Stang’s ride is better, but
with the windows down there’s not much to
hear, whereas the Scatpack’s mega V-8 howls.
Once the road started twisting, we all liked
the Mustang GT, but we’re not in love with
it. Still, the new suspension has merit. From
Rory, “Good thing is that with IRS, the ’Stang
is no longer tossed into oncoming traffic by
mid-corner bumps. Huzzah!” Christian called
it a “sweetheart” on the twisty sections.

WHAT’S INSIDE One bright spot for the
Mustang is its high-end interior, which is
noticeably better than the Chevy’s.

We’re happy Ford finally switched the Mustang’s rearend away from a solid, live axle.
52 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

Fit for animal lovers

Fit for metalheads

Fit for stargazers

Fit for tailgaters

Fit for party people

Fit for tuners

Fit for hockey fans

Fit for you

Introducing the all-new, versatile 2015 Honda Fit.
EX- L model shown. Carrying too much cargo or improperly storing it can affect the handling, stability and operation of this vehicle. Follow applicable load limits and loading guidelines. Moonroof standard on EX and EX- L models. ©2014 American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

C 1.48 g
D 1.35 g
F 1.37 g

COVER STORY

C 0.79 g
D 0.71 g
F 0.89 g

Predictably, the Camaro
SS dominates the corners
and the Challenger rules
the straights. However, the
Ford’s new independent
rear suspension was a wild
card—surely it would hurry
the Mustang’s gallop.
But how much?

THE STREETS OF
WILLOW SPRINGS
RACEWAY

7

C 1.11 g
D 1.02 g
F 1.05 g

6

Cornering Braking

9

C 1.12 g
D 1.07 g
F 1.16 g

C 1.13 g
D 1.03 g
F 1.03 g

5

C 0.98 g
D 0.90 g
F 0.86 g

10
C 1.06 g
D 0.95 g
F 1.00 g

4

2

13

C 0.96 g
D 0.85 g
F 0.89 g

3

1

BEST
LAP
TIMES

14

CAMARO SS

1:22:81

100

MUSTANG GT

Challenger

1:25:77

C 114.3 mph
D 114.6 mph
F 113.4 mph

TOP
SPEEDS

C 82.9 mph
D 82.3 mph
F 83.0 mph

C 70.1 mph
D 67.8 mph
F 67.8 mph

80

Vehicle
positions at
8.28-second
intervals

CHALLENGER R/T

1:24:32

C 77.7 mph
D 77.1 mph
F 76.9 mph

90

Mustang

Camaro

C 103.3 mph
D 103.3 mph
F 101.7 mph

110

C 1.15 g
D 1.00 g
F 1.04 g

12

11

C 1.15 g
D 0.97 g
F 1.13 g

120

Track Length: 1.55 miles

C 0.89 g
D 0.94 g
F 0.91 g

C 1.28 g
D 1.16 g
F 1.22 g

C 1.20 g
D 1.09 g
F 1.16 g
C 1.22 g
D 1.06 g
F 1.13 g

8

C 72.5 mph
D 67.3 mph
F 69.5 mph

70
60
50
40
30

C 35.0 mph
D 35.2 mph
F 35.2 mph

C 45.6 mph
D 43.9 mph
F 43.2 mph

C 41.2 mph
D 42.3 mph
F 40.4 mph

LOW
SPEEDS

C 43.7 mph
D 40.6 mph
F 41.6 mph

C 38.2 mph
D 37.1 mph
F 37.3 mph

MPH

20

C 44.7 mph
D 43.6 mph
F 44.5 mph

TURNS

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9 10

11

12 13 14

PONYCAR Express Lane
Our trio’s speed traces through
Streets of Willow’s very first turn are
basically a performance synopsis
of each car. The Challenger’s
immense power deposits the big
red Dodge into the corner’s entry at
a substantially higher speed than
the others, but driver Randy Pobst

then has to drastically rein it all in to
transit the turn’s heart. The closely
matched Mustang and Camaro
approach it more slowly but go
deeper, with the Ford checking its
speed first though decelerating
far less drastically than the Dodge.
And while both the Challenger

54 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

and Mustang are feathering
their throles, the Camaro briefly
accelerates farther, needing only
a modest li before they all brake
together. There, in a nutshell, are
these three cars: one with tremendous power, another, amazing
grip, and the third, somewhere in

the middle. It’s a paern repeated
throughout their best laps. (Note
also their speeds negotiating
Turns 5 through 7.) Around the flat,
skidpad-like Turn 14, the Camaro’s
cornering grip is 15 percent higher
than the Challenger’s—that’s a
massive advantage.

BUILDING
PERFORMANCE
THE TOOL THAT FITS LIKE A GLOVE.
US: 800.222.4296

WWW.MECHANIX.COM
#mechanix

1ST CHEVROLET CAMARO SS 1LE

THE PONYCAR KING
Iron Mike Tyson once said,
“Everyone has a plan ’til they get
punched in the mouth.” That’s no
doubt how the good men and women at Ford
are feeling right now, especially because, as
tested, the winning car costs about $4500 less
than the optioned-up Triple Yellow Mustang.
Out of these three ponycars, the Camaro SS
1LE is better on both a canyon road and a racetrack. Sometimes these things are that easy.
(See track map, page 54.)
Perfect? No. The usual Camaro complaints
were heard loud and clear over lunch—cheap
interior built from materials (seemingly)
sourced from Happy Meal toys, and you can’t
see out of it. Rory felt the shifter is too notchy

56 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

and high-effort. Yeah, the interior’s not made
from the best stuff on Earth, but at least the
steering wheel and shift knob are swaddled in
Alcantara. As for not being able to see out of
the Camaro, that’s only when you’re turning
left. As such, it’s not a constant problem
(kidding). Also not so hot: The 1LE is way too
high-strung to transform into a beach cruiser,
and the ride is beat-you-up rough on the
freeway. Easily the worst of the three in terms
of day-to-day comfort. Of course, a Camry is
even more comfy.
The biggest difference between the Camaro
and the others on the fun-to-drive portions
of tarmac was confidence. The three of us
were all inspired to push the white and black

Chevy harder than we dared in the Mustang
or the Challenger. Says Seabaugh, “The 1LE is
unflappable. So. Much. Grip. It’s so planted to
the ground that it might as well be magnetically attracted to the road.” Rory adds quite
a bit more: “Wow, this thing feels small and
light—which, for a Camaro, is nuts! The car
is so well-balanced; it’s neutral most of the
time with easily provoked—and controlled—
oversteer. Brakes feel strong with no fade.
Zero body roll, well-controlled damping.
The 1LE filled me with confidence. The
Camaro SS is hands-down the best driver’s
car of the group.” My notes said things like,
“Superb steering. Could handle 100 more
horsepower, easy. So much grip, so much

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Rory showed up at the rodeo in the 1LE, got out of the
car smiling, and said, “I’m thinking about buying one.”
confidence—outstanding! How much per
month?” Rory showed up at the rodeo in the
1LE, got out of the car smiling, and said, “I’m
thinking about buying one.” Chevy and the
Camaro team have turned a massive corner.
Special props are due for the engine. Sure,
numbers-wise, it’s the weakest, both in
terms of power and straight-line bravado.
But there’s something magical about a Chevy
small-block. The 6.2-liter cam-in-block
V-8 in the Camaro reminds me of a scene
from the film “Ronin.” Sean Bean’s Spence
character is bugging De Niro’s Sam about
his favorite gun. After some hostile banter,
Sam says, “You know, I actually favor the old
1911.” Spence replies, “Forty-five. Old gun.” To
which Sam counters, “It’s served my country
well. For a long time.” Exactly. Jurnecka gets
a bit less metaphoric in his praise: “The most
road-racer-sounding engine in the group.
Tough to put into words, but it reminds me
of watching old Trans Am Series races. It

58 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

crackles and spits more than the others, and
generally sounds more raw.” Gotta love crackling spit. Christian was more economical
with his sentiments: “This engine is a beast.”
Disappointed, disheartened, and angry
Ford fans can take solace in the knowledge
that this is only the beginning of the new
Mustang story. Turn your minds back half a
decade and remember how bad the Camaro
was when it launched, or even years after
it launched. Here’s what I wrote about the
Camaro SS convertible versus the Mustang GT
convertible back in 2011: “While the Chevy is
much improved, it’s still not competitive with
the Ford. As a driver you feel more confident
in the Mustang. Not only that, but it’s more
fun and a better dance partner in the corners.”
HEART OF A CHAMPION While not the
most powerful engine here, there’s
something nostalgically wonderful
about the Camaro’s 6.2-liter V-8.

The more things change, they then change
right back. Rumors of a Mach 1 Mustang keep
pouring in every day, and we’re pretty sure
the upcoming Shelby GT350 will be a track
stud/thug.
As for the Challenger, we love it as-is.
Because of its plus-sized nature, it’s never
going to be the back road all-star the 1LE is,
or that the Mustang is sure to morph into.
The Challenger thinks different. For now.
Word is that a new Challenger is coming in
2017 on an all-new platform, and will be at
least 300 pounds lighter and 8 inches shorter,
with a smaller wheelbase. In other words, the
next Challenger will be the same size as the
current Camaro (the Alpha platform Camaro
is coming in 2016). The new aluminum-intensive Camaro will be significantly lighter
than the current car. The future is anyone’s to
win, as is a future ponycar comparison test.
Until then, we advise you to go grab a Camaro
SS 1LE. It rocks. Q

COVER STORY

POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS
DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT
ENGINE TYPE

2015 Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE

2015 Dodge Challenger R/T 6.4 Scatpack 2015 Ford Mustang GT (Perf Pack)

Front-engine, RWD
90-deg V-8, aluminum block/
heads
OHV, 2 valves/cyl
376.1 cu in/6162 cc
10.7:1
426 hp @ 5900 rpm*
420 lb- @ 4600 rpm*
6250 rpm
9.1 lb/hp
6-speed manual
3.91:1/1.96:1
Struts, coil springs, anti-roll bar;
multilink, coil springs, anti-roll bar

Front-engine, RWD
90-deg V-8, iron block/alum
heads
OHV, 2 valves/cyl
391.1 cu in/6410 cc
10.9:1
485 hp @ 6000 rpm
475 lb- @ 4200 rpm
6000 rpm
8.7 lb/hp
8-speed automatic
3.09:1/2.07:1
Control arms, coil springs, anti-roll bar;
multilink, coil springs, anti-roll bar

Front-engine, RWD
90-deg V-8, aluminum block/
heads
DOHC, 4 valves/cyl
302.1 cu in/4951 cc
11.0:1
435 hp @ 6500 rpm
400 lb- @ 4250 rpm
6500 rpm
8.8 lb/hp
6-speed manual
3.73:1/2.43:1
Struts, coil springs, anti-roll bar;
multilink, coil springs, anti-roll bar

STEERING RATIO
TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK
BRAKES, F;R

16.1:1
2.7
14.0-in vented, disc; 14.4-in vented
disc, ABS

12.3:1
2.4
14.2-in vented, grooved disc; 13.8-in
vented, grooved disc, ABS

16.0:1
2.6
15.0-in vented disc; 13.0-in vented
disc, ABS

WHEELS, F;R

10.0 x 20-in; 11.0 x 20-in, forged
aluminum

9.0 x 20-in, cast aluminum

9.0 x 19-in; 9.5 x 19-in, cast
aluminum

TIRES, F;R

285/35R20 100Y Goodyear Eagle
F1 Supercar

245/45R20 99Y Goodyear Eagle
F1 Supercar

255/40R19 96Y; 275/40R19 101Y
Pirelli P Zero

112.3 in
63.7/63.7 in
190.6 x 75.5 x 54.2 in
37.7 
3886 lb
53/47%
4
37.4/35.3 in
42.4/29.9 in
56.9/50.4 in
11.3 cu 

116.2 in
63.4/63.8 in
197.9 x 75.7 x 57.5 in
38.8 
4235 lb
55/45%
5
39.3/37.1 in
42.0/33.1 in
58.5/53.9 in
16.2 cu 

107.1 in
62.3/64.9 in
188.3 x 75.4 x 54.9 in
40.0 
3814 lb
54/46%
4
37.6/34.8 in
44.5/30.6 in
56.3/52.2 in
13.5 cu 

1.7 sec
2.4
3.4
4.4
5.6
7.1
8.7
10.6
2.1
12.9 sec @ 110.5 mph
99 
0.98 g (avg)
24.5 sec @ 0.87 g (avg)
82.81 sec
1450 rpm

1.6 sec
2.3
3.2
4.2
5.4
6.6
8.1
9.9
2.1
12.6 sec @ 112.3 mph
108 
0.89 g (avg)
25.5 sec @ 0.81 g (avg)
85.77 sec
1500 rpm

1.7 sec
2.4
3.4
4.4
5.7
7.0
8.7
10.5
2.2
12.8 sec @ 112.2 mph
107 
0.96 g (avg)
24.7 sec @ 0.84 g (avg)
84.32 sec
1800 rpm

$38,000

$39,490

$35,420

VALVETRAIN
DISPLACEMENT
COMPRESSION RATIO
POWER (SAE NET)
TORQUE (SAE NET)
REDLINE
WEIGHT TO POWER
TRANSMISSION
AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE RATIO
SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR

DIMENSIONS
WHEELBASE
TRACK, F/R
LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT
TURNING CIRCLE
CURB WEIGHT
WEIGHT DIST., F/R
SEATING CAPACITY
HEADROOM, F/R
LEGROOM, F/R
SHOULDER ROOM, F/R
CARGO VOLUME
TEST DATA
ACCELERATION TO MPH
0-30
0-40
0-50
0-60
0-70
0-80
0-90
0-100
PASSING, 45-65 MPH
QUARTER MILE
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH
LATERAL ACCELERATION
MT FIGURE EIGHT
1.55-MI ROAD COURSE LAP
TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH
CONSUMER INFO
BASE PRICE

$41,880
PRICE AS TESTED
STABILITY/TRACTION CONTROL Yes/yes
Dual front, front side, f/r curtain
AIRBAGS

$39,890

$46,380
Yes/yes
Dual front, front side, f/r curtain,
front knee
3 yrs/36,000 miles
5 yrs/60,000 miles

3 yrs/36,000 miles

Yes/yes
Dual front, front side, f/r curtain,
driver knee
3 yrs/36,000 miles

POWERTRAIN WARRANTY

5 yrs/100,000 miles

5 yrs/100,000 miles

ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE

5 yrs/100,000 miles

5 yrs/100,000 miles

5 yrs/60,000 miles

FUEL CAPACITY

19.0 gal

18.5 gal

16.0 gal
15/25/19 mpg

BASIC WARRANTY

EPA CITY/HWY/COMB ECON

16/24/19 mpg

15/25/18 mpg

ENERGY CONS., CITY/HWY

211/140 kW-hrs/100 miles

225/135 kW-hrs/100 miles

225/135 kW-hrs/100 miles

CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB

1.03 lb/mile

1.06 lb/mile

1.06 lb/mile

RECOMMENDED FUEL

Unleaded premium

Unleaded premium

Unleaded premium
DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 59

FIRST LOOK | Future Ford GT

Words Jonny Lieberman Illustration Camilo Pardo Photographs Patrick M. Hoey

FORD IS BRINGING
BACK THE GT
MID-ENGINE RUMORS CONTINUE TO SWIRL IN DETROIT
For Blue Oval fans, 2016 looms
large. That year marks the 50th
anniversary of Ford’s greatest
racing victory, the first of four
consecutive wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
To commemorate and celebrate this glorious
anniversary, several sources tell Motor Trend
that Ford is bringing back the GT for 2016,
though that might not be its name. Not just
for the street, either. Looks like the company
that Hank built is packing its bags and
heading across the pond to France. Whispers
62 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

in and around Dearborn indicate that Ford
has a skunkworks team working on a midengine supercar that will not only show up
on dealer lots, but also will return Ford to the
top of the endurance car podium.
What engine will power such a machine?
Every car person on the Internet knows the
old Ford GT can handle far more power than
the 550-hp, 500 lb-ft of torque the Lysholm
supercharger helped squeeze out of the
5.4-liter V-8 it shipped with back in 2005.
After all, 1000-plus-hp GTs are still frequently

used for events such the Texas Mile. As
a matter of fact (and example), in 2013 a
2000-hp M2K Motorsports Ford GT went 278.2
mph at the big Texas event. That’s nuts! Even
if Ford kept the GT’s chassis the same and
only updated the engine to the last GT500’s
specs—662 hp and 631 lb-ft of torque from a
blown 5.8-liter V-8—that would be a significant improvement. Add in modern materials, components, and current engineering
know-how and Ford could quickly be back on
top of the supercar pile.
There is one major roadblock to that powerplant scenario: The 5.8-liter supercharged V-8

HOME RUN
Retrofuturism hasn’t been the same since.

GENERATION NEXT
Artist and automotive
designer Camilo Pardo’s
vision of a new Ford GT.

went out of production in November 2013
and it’s never coming back. What engine
could possibly power a new GT, then—especially since the second-generation car simply
has to make more power than the previous
one? Look to the east, and then straight south.
Ford recently started supplying engines to
Daytona Prototype cars in the Tudor racing
series. In March, a Chip Ganassi Racing/
Felix Sabates Riley car powered by a Roush
Yates-prepped 3.5-liter, twin-turbo EcoBoost
engine making 600 hp won the 12 Hours of
Sebring. That’s the first time a Ford-powered
product has been on the podium in 45 years,
with 1969 being the year Ford left endurance
racing. I remember years ago at the launch
of the Taurus SHO—one of the first vehicles
to receive the 3.5-liter EcoBoost mill—an
engineer explained that while the SHO only
makes 365 hp, the engine can easily produce
600 hp and still be reliable. If and when Ford
returns to Le Mans, expect this engine to
power its entry.
There’s another engine possibility, and
you can file this one in the “Who wants a
mid-engine supercar with a V-6?” category.
The motor in the upcoming Mustang GT350—
the replacement for the GT500, for now—is
an uprated version of the 5.0-liter Coyote

V-8 rumored to be based on the Aluminator
crate engine (it is optimized for twin-screw
superchargers), though displacing 5.2 liters
with a flat-plane crankshaft and natural
aspiration. For you engineering geeks, this is
huge news, as no one’s been able to successfully create a flat-plane engine larger than 4.5
liters because the NVH is too severe. If Ford
can pull the big flat-plane V-8 off, it will really
move the needle.
FROM SCRATCH Supercomputers and
teraflops of data are nifty, but great
design still begins with a sharp pencil
and a white sheet of paper.

Power is expected to be significantly higher
than the 2015 Mustang GT’s 435 hp. How high?
Well, the Ferrari 458 Speciale has a 4.5-liter
V-8 with a flat-plane crank that spits out 597
hp. The Speciale’s torque output is 398 lb-ft.
Figure the larger Ford engine will have more
torque than that (500 lb-ft feels about right)
and a bit more power, too (625 hp sounds
about right). Remember, the whole reason
Ford went to Le Mans in the first place was
because Henry Ford II hated Enzo Ferrari’s
guts. A new mid-engine Ford GT beating the
best Ferrari street car would be the real way

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 63

FIRST LOOK | Future Ford GT
to commemorate a 50th anniversary. To sum
up, race-proven EcoBoost V-6 for the track;
high-revving natural V-8 for the street.
Ford not only beat Ferrari but everybody
else in 1966. Ford then won the big race three
more times, in 1967, 1968, and 1969. Surely
it wants to trumpet (and cash in) on all that
glorious history. It’s well-known that Ford
is itching to return to Le Mans in 2016. Ask
Jim Farley what he thinks. Forty-eight years
ago, Ford won the race in the top class, then
called simply P for prototype. However, these
days the top class is filled with zillion-dollar
hybrids such as the Audi R18 E-tron Quattro
Hybrid, the Porsche 919 Hybrid, and the
Toyota TS040 Hybrid. Assuming the new GT

is similar to the old one, any sort of racing
version would be similar to a street car. In
that case the new mid-engine Ford will be
competing in GTE-Pro alongside the Chevy
Corvette C7.R, Ferrari 458 GT2, Porsche 911
RSR, and Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2. That’s
totally sweet. Expect to see both the race car
and the production car at the Detroit show.
To you and me, building a new version of
the GT might seem like a no-brainer. Things
probably seem awfully different inside the
pressure cooker that is Ford product planning. However, one source told us that money
once set aside for the Ford GT 2.0 has instead
been funneled into Lincoln. That would be
sad if true. Most important, Ford would be
missing out on a massive goodwill opportunity by ignoring the GT40’s 50th anniversary.
Few cars have ever appreciated as quickly as
the first-generation GT, and original GT40s
are worth several million dollars apiece.
Ford already shocked the world a decade ago
with the reborn GT, and that was just for the
legendary car’s 40th birthday. Why not go
whole hog for the golden jubilee? Ford, the
ball’s in your court. Don’t choke the layup. Q

64 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

Perfecting Perfection
FORD GT DESIGNER LOOKS
TO THE NEXT FORD GT
When your name is attached to
such a famous vehicle as Camilo
Pardo’s is to the Ford GT, remaking
that vehicle comes with a lot of pressure.
“It has to be perfect,” said Pardo, the
designer and artist who penned the 2005
GT, of the new renderings he created for
Motor Trend. “If it doesn’t advance the GT far
enough, people will say, ‘Look at Camilo, he
can’t do anything else.’” But if the design is
too futuristic, too off the charts, Pardo adds,
people will say, “Oh, Camilo—he’s lost it.”
It’s not easy to improve a perfect vehicle.
But Pardo, who left Ford after a 25-year
career, has created a new name for himself
as a formidable artist, designer, painter, and
passionate gearhead worthy of the task.
“It makes it really hard when the previous
vehicle was successful,” he said from his
Detroit studio along Woodward Avenue.

Typically, when a carmaker wants to revive a
famous nameplate, it will spend thousands
of hours studying it and experimenting with
different themes, lines, and pieces.
“They would spend a year at least of tweaking
and tweaking and looking at a million different
things,” Pardo said. “From the top executives
to the product managers, engineers, and
designers, everyone is trying like crazy to create
a very special vehicle.”
Pardo would know, as not only did he design
the GT, but he also penned the GT90 concept
earlier in his career at Ford. We gave Pardo two
weeks to come up with his vision of a new GT.
“I took the design in a lot of different directions before I could decide where I wanted to
go,” he said as he clicked through different
variations of the futuristic GT on his computer.
“The body size and mid-engine platform won’t
change; it was done right the first time.”
The bigger challenge was to show the car’s
evolution without stealing its identity. The car
must look, sound, and act like the original GT,
which was based on the original Ford GT40 race
car that took four consecutive Le Mans wins.
“People need to know that this car is the GT
when you drive up,” Pardo said.
When designing, Pardo draws inspiration from
a myriad of places beyond just automobiles.
But when it comes to cars, he looks for form and
function. There should be nothing superfluous
in the execution. Every line must have a reason
for being, and if it doesn’t, it should be removed.
He points to the Ferrari LaFerrari, the McLaren
P1, and Chevrolet Corvette as the inspirational
vehicles for his newest rendering of the GT.
“It has to be as cool as those vehicles,” he said.
Indeed, Pardo created something as cool
as ice, as well as something that would cost
considerably less than the Ferrari and McLaren,
whose starting stickers are more than $1 million.
Pardo combined strong horizontal lines with
smooth, elegant curves and played with the
geometry of shapes such as the headlamps and
foglights. He extended the rear fender scoops
and broadened the rear shoulders to signify the
car’s power. Every form has a function. Every
function becomes sculpted art.
Even more important to Pardo: “It still looks
like a GT to me.”
Even Pardo doesn’t know if Ford will build a
new GT, but if another supercar should arrive
with a Blue Oval on it, we hope it looks something like this.
To check out Pardo’s art, visit his website,
camilopardo.com. Scott Burgess

How to Outsmart
a Millionaire
Only the “Robin Hood of Watchmakers” can steal
the spotlight from a luxury legend for under $200!
wasn’t looking for trouble. I sat in a café, sipping my espresso and
enjoying the quiet. Then it got noisy. Mr. Bigshot rolled up in a
roaring high-performance Italian sports car, dropping attitude like
his $14,000 watch made it okay for him to be rude. That’s when
I decided to roll up my sleeves and teach him a lesson.

I

“Nice watch,” I said, pointing to his and holding up mine. He nodded like we belonged to the same club. We did, but he
literally paid 100 times more for his membership. Bigshot bragged
about his five-figure purchase, a luxury heavyweight from the titan of
high-priced timepieces. I told him that mine was the Stauer Corso, a
27-jewel automatic classic now available for only $179. And just like
that, the man was at a loss for words.
Think of Stauer as the “Robin Hood of Watchmakers.” We believe
everyone deserves a watch of uncompromising precision, impressive performance and the most elegant styling. You deserve a watch that can hold its
own against the luxury classics for a fraction of the price. You’ll feel the
quality as soon as you put it on your wrist. This is an expertly-crafted time
machine... not a cry for attention.
Wear a mechanical masterpiece for only $179! Our customers have
outgrown the need to show off. They have nothing to prove; they have
already proved it. They want superb quality and astonishing value. And that’s
exactly what we deliver.
The Stauer Corso is proof that the worth of a watch doesn’t depend on the size of
its price tag. Our factory spent over $40 million on Swiss-made machinery to insure
the highest quality parts. Each timepiece takes six months and over 200 individual
precision parts to create the complex assembly. Peer through the exhibition back to
see the 27-jeweled automatic movement in action and you’ll understand why we can
only offer the Corso in a limited edition.

Limited
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Today!

Our specialty is vintage automatic movements. The Corso is driven by a selfwinding design, inspired by a 1923 patent. Your watch will never need batteries.
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it, send it back within 30 days and we’ll refund every dollar of your purchase price.
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FIRST TEST | 2015 Lexus RC F

Words Jonny Lieberman
Photographs Nate Hassler

THREE CARS
HOW LEXUS MADE ONE TRACK TOY OUT OF

FRANKEN
COUPE
Heavy metal. One of the great
music genres, sure, but it’s also
a challenge to overcome when
dealing with cars built mostly
from steel. Because steel vehicles, like bricks,
are heavy. Aluminum and composites such
as carbon fiber are the future. Just ask Ford.
But for now most cars are still built from
steel—the new Lexus RC F, for example. I’m
leading with this materials mini-lesson for a
reason. We weighed the RC F and it clocks in
at a lardy 4040 pounds. For some comparison, the similarly sized and totally targeted

66 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

BMW M4 weighs 3604 pounds, a 436-pound
difference. Before you mount an angry letterwriting campaign aimed (for once) not at us
but at Lexus, know that the AWD Audi RS 5
weighs just 13 pounds less than the RC F, at
4027 pounds. Still, why is a brand-new car
so dang heavy?
A very weird reason, it turns out. The RC
F is not simply a two-door version of the
IS four-door sport sedan. The new coupe
is, in the parlance of our times, a mashup.
The front section is from the wide-body GS;
the middle section hails from the previous
generation IS C (a convertible); and the rear
third is stolen from the current-gen IS. Crazy,
no? But why? Why not just make a new
platform? Well friends, I posed that exact
question to the RC F’s engineers and was told
that to achieve the rigidity they wanted the
car to have as well as keep costs down, the
Frankencoupe was the best solution, weight

LOVE AND HATE Lexus claims its new
design language has focus-grouped well,
and there are those out there who do
seem to love the look of the RC F. We can’t
stop seeing an Audi that dropped acid.

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 67

FIRST TEST | 2015 Lexus RC F

be damned. Furthermore, it was explained
that the GS section allowed them to fit wider
tires than the IS chassis would have, the IS
C chunk was already reinforced, and the IS
rear end allowed for a shorter overhang. The
real reason might just be that Lexus planned
to do a convertible RC and figured why not
get all the heavy lifting (pun intended) out of
the way up front? The droptop RC has been

shelved, according to our sources.
Under the bulging, wildly orange hood
of the RC F sits a hot-rodded version of the
Lexus 5.0-liter V-8. Hot-rodded is probably an
understatement, as Lexus claims that only
the aluminum block is carryover. The heads,
cams, titanium valves, forged connecting
rods, crank journals, intake manifold, and
even the larger throttle body are all new.
Power therefore is way up, from 416 hp in
the discontinued IS F to 467 hp in the RC F.
Torque also rises, from 371 lb-ft to 389 lb-ft.
Not only does the 5.0-liter avoid the gas
guzzler tax, but it converts from Otto cycle
to Atkinson cycle under light loads. Why not
just use cylinder deactivation like everyone
else? Lexus is worried that after 100,000 or
so miles, activated cylinders would have

LAST OF THE V-8s While every
competitor in the segment is switching
to forced induction, Lexus is boldly and
proudly sticking with natural aspiration.
To that we say “Hallelujah!” 467 times.

Under the bulging, wildly
orange hood sits a hot rodded version of the Lexus
5.0L V-8 making 467 hp.

68 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

much greater wear and tear than deactivated
ones. Makes sense, but it also shows how
Lexus/Toyota is able to leverage its hybrid
know-how in a non-hybrid vehicle. Note:
These are naturally aspirated ponies. BMW,
and soon the new AMG C63 and Cadillac
ATS-V and the eventual RS 5 successor, will all
be force-inducted. I give huge props to Lexus
for gutting it out with a big ol’ V-8 that does it
the old fashioned way. The resulting sound is
big, angry, and killer.

Buying Smart Starts Here
Reviews + Research + Pricing Tools & Much More...

FIRST TEST | 2015 Lexus RC F
Lexus claims the RC F will hit 60 mph in 4.4
seconds. Our testing revealed that the car did
it in 4.3 seconds. The M4 hits 60 mph in 4.0
seconds flat, while the RS 5 takes 3.9 seconds.
Just to toss it out there, the out-of-production
C63 AMG Edition 507 two-door needed only
3.8 seconds. The RC F is able to dispatch the
quarter-mile in 12.7 seconds at 112.2 mph.
Comparatively, the M4 does the deed in 12.2
seconds at 117.8 mph, the RS 5 takes 12.3 at
112.2 mph, and the AMG 507 coupe did 1320
feet in 12.2 seconds at 117.4 mph. Not so hot
so far for the new Lexus.
In terms of braking, the RC F stops from 60
mph in 107 feet. The M4 with optional $8000
carbon-ceramic brakes needs 98 feet, the
Audi RS 5 requires 104 feet, and the old AMG

507 needed just 103 feet. In terms of handling,
the Lexus RC F’s peak lateral grip was 0.92 g
and it completed our figure-eight test in 24.9
seconds. However, the direct competitor M4
can pull 0.98 g and run the figure eight in
24.2 seconds. The RS 5 pulls a max of 0.99 g

2015 Lexus RC F
BASE PRICE

$63,325

PRICE AS TESTED

$72,000 (est)

VEHICLE LAYOUT

Front-engine, RWD,
4-pass, 2-door coupe

ENGINE

5.0L/467-hp/389-lb-
DOHC 32-valve V-8

TRANSMISSION

8-speed automatic

CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)

4040 lb (53/47%)

WHEELBASE

107.5 in

LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT

185.2 x 72.6 x 54.7 in

0-60 MPH

4.3 sec

QUARTER MILE

12.7 sec @ 112.2 mph

BRAKING, 60-0 MPH

107 

LATERAL ACCELERATION

0.92 g (avg)

MT FIGURE EIGHT

24.9 sec @ 0.80 g (avg)

EPA CITY/HWY/COMB
FUEL ECON

16/25/19 mpg

ENERGY CONS., CITY/HWY

211/135 kW-hrs/100 miles

CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB

1.02 lb/mile

NO ODE TO JOY As in, no more lame
joystick. Lexus finally realized that luxury
customers aren’t in the mood to operate
what feels like a kids’ toy circa 1987.
Instead, it offers a trackpad that allows
for Asian character entry. Smart.

70 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

and takes 24.6 seconds, whereas the AMG 507
pulled only 0.91 g and needed 25.2 seconds.
The 0.7-second difference between the F and
the M is quite stark on a 1600-foot handling
course. Again, weight is the enemy, though
the 450-hp Audi mitigates its porkiness with
AWD grip out of corners.
It’s difficult to outright say that Car X is
better than Car Y—in this case the RC F and
the M4—without driving them back to back
on the same day on the same road. Frankly,
the more than 400-pound weight difference
between the RC F and the M4 is enough to
tip things in favor of the BMW. But the RC F,
at the very least, is a compelling alternative.
Exactly how compelling we’ll have to find
out at a later date when we compare them
directly. Until then, I want you to understand
that I enjoyed the new Lexus Frankencoupe
much more than the numbers would lead
you to believe. You probably will, too. Q

THIRD
TIME’S THE CHARM
It would be easy to whine about
how Audi’s TT, a bastion of
eye-catching Bauhaus design at
its 1998 introduction, has gone
mainstream and become somewhat less
interesting. While it’s true that the TT is no
longer a bold proposition—in terms of design
or otherwise—it continues to be a solid,
handsome 2+2 coupe for those who want a
sporty car, but not a sports car.
That’s not to say the TT isn’t a capable
performer. Quite the contrary: The new 2016
TT is roughly 100 pounds lighter, 25 percent

74 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

stiffer, and significantly more powerful than
the current model. Most of the TT’s exterior
panels are crafted from aluminum and the
entire body-in-white (the basic shell of the
car) is said to weigh just 608 pounds. When
the 2016 version arrives in the U.S. in fall 2015,
it will be underpinned by the VW Group’s
new MQB scalable front-drive platform. The
wheelbase is longer than the current TT’s by
1.4 inches, though overall body length shrinks
by fractions of an inch with shorter overhangs.
Two different spec versions of VW
Group’s new EA888 2.0-liter turbocharged

I-4 engine sit underhood and are the only
engines offered for the U.S. market. The early
production European versions we sampled
boasted 227 hp and 273 lb-ft of torque in the
standard TT and a huge 306 hp and 280 lb-ft
in sportier TTS trim. Though both share the
same basic engine design, the more potent
TTS mill gains its extra ponies from a larger
turbocharger and unique pistons, valvetrain,
and exhaust. The optional manual transmission is also forbidden fruit in the U.S., but it’s
tough to complain when both engines are
paired to the fantastic six-speed dual-clutch

2016 Audi TT/ TTS | FIRST DRIVE

WE DRIVE THE SHARPER BUT FAMILIAR-LOOKING 2016 TT
S tronic gearbox, with seriously quick shifts
just a paddle tug away. All U.S.-bound cars
will also have Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive
system, now revised to bias up to 100 percent
of the power to either the front or rear wheels
should the system’s microcomputer determine it necessary. Inside, Audi designers have
made considerable changes to the TT’s cabin.
The “airplane wing” dashboard (so called for
its shape when viewed from overhead) has
been stripped of all clutter, with the climate
and heated seat controls relocated to the air
vents themselves—a slick move. Meanwhile,

Words Rory Jurnecka

all traces of infotainment have been removed
from the center stack and deposited in the
12.3-inch fully digital instrument cluster.
Audi’s “virtual cockpit” is a multifunction
digital display that toggles between the
default mode and two other modes that give
greater real estate to either nav or the tachometer. Overall the new interior looks clean and
elegant, almost like that of a concept car, but
there’s little to break up the broad expanse
of black dashboard. The coupe (technically a
hatchback) version continues to offer a fairly
practical cabin with small rear seats that in
DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 75

TOUR OR TRACK Audi has attempted to make the TT a sharper, better-balanced tool at places such as Spain’s Ascari racetrack.

typical sports coupe fashion aren’t much
good for people, but work well for stashing
gear. The rear seats fold perfectly flat, maximizing the usable cargo space.
Driving the base model TT around the foothills north of Marbella, Spain, revealed that
the new car is significantly improved over
the current model. There’s a small amount
of initial lag in the turbo-four, but with
around 16 additional hp, 15 additional lb-ft
of torque, and less weight, the new TT feels
strong and willing. Full-throttle shifts are
dispatched with a “brappp” as the DCT swaps
cogs in a near instant, and mid-range torque
is impressive. Typically, the steering is a little
too light until Dynamic mode is selected,

76 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

and then it becomes a little too firm. Turns
of the flat-bottomed wheel result in precise
positioning, though road feel isn’t terrific.
A TTS was offered up for both road and
track driving, and it certainly felt more at
home on the former than the latter. Power is
significantly greater, and when the exhaust
baffles open at full chat, the sound is pretty
special. The car also sits 10mm lower than
the base TT, and with standard magnetic ride
shocks, the ride is firm but in line with the
little coupe’s character. Body roll is minimal.
Around the wonderful Ascari race circuit,
we were looking forward to safely experiencing the tail-out cornering attitude that
engineers told us they worked hard to allow.
The new TT features poor
man’s (ESC-controlled) torque
vectoring that brakes the inside
wheels to mitigate understeer.
Unfortunately, our track testers
were only allowed to engage
the ESC’s Sport setting rather
than shut off completely,
leaving us with a neutral-handling car rather than one that
was happy to engage in any
hooligan antics. Would-be track
junkies will want to wait for the

2016 Audi TT/TTS
BASE PRICE

$42,000-$50,000 (est)

VEHICLE LAYOUT

Front-engine, AWD,
4-pass, 2-door hatchback

ENGINES

2.0L/227-hp (est)/273lb- (est) turbocharged
DOHC 16-valve I-4;
2.0L/306-hp (est)/280lb- (est) turbocharged
DOHC 16-valve I-4

TRANSMISSION

6-speed twin-clutch auto

CURB WEIGHT

2950-3050 lb (mfr)

WHEELBASE

98.6 in

LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT

165.0 x 72.1 x 52.9-53.3 in

4.5-5.2 sec (MT est)
0-60 MPH
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 28/34-36/30-31 mpg (est)
120/94-99 kW-hrs/
ENERGY CONSUMPTION,
100 miles (est)
CITY/HWY
CO2 EMISSIONS

0.62-0.64 lb/mile (est)

ON SALE IN U.S.

Fall 2015

RS version, which we hear will boast more
than 400 horsepower from Audi’s rally-bred
five-cylinder engine.
There’s little doubt that the third-generation TT is the best-driving version yet. It’s
a shame that prospective buyers will have
to wait nearly a year before finding out for
themselves at U.S. dealers. Q

2016 Audi TT/ TTS | FIRST DRIVE

Shifts are dispatched with a “brappp” as the dual-clutch gearbox swaps cogs in a near instant.

PILOTS WANTED
The new Virtual Cockpit display
moves infotainment functions to
the instrument panel for a very
driver-centric experience.

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LOT NO.
68784
69387
62270

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7 FUNCTION
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98025/69096
Item 90899
shown

9

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VALUE

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900 PEAK/
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• 2633 lb. Capacity • Super High
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Item
68784
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80

369

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RECIPROCATING SAW
WITH ROTATING HANDLE

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LOT NO. 66619
69381/60338
62472

69381
shown

$9999$12999

Item 65570
shown

$

LOT NO. 65570
61884/62370

21

99

REG. PRICE $179.99 REG. PRICE $54.99

LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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$

Item
92655
shown

t
be used with other discoun
s last. LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
or HarborFreight.com or bypurchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplie
er per day. or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
l
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores
Limit one coupon per custom
ses after 30 days from origina
or coupon or prior purcha coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/1/15.
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l
Origina
le.
Non-transferab

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MEDIUM
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Item 93640
shown

$59

SAVE
REG.
$ 89 PRICE
61%
$9.99
99

99

3

79

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LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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LOT NO.
62399/93888
60497/61899

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O
• 1000 lb. Capacity C

MOVER'S DOLLY

7

$ 99
SAVE
46%

Item 93888
shown

REG. PRICE
$14.99

10 FT. x 17 FT.
PORTABLE
GARAGE

SAVE
$120

$
Item 69039 shown

$

– Street Trucks Magazine

2.5 HP, 21 GALLON
125 PSI VERTICAL
AIR COMPRESSOR

14999

Item 67847
shown

– Car Craft Magazine

1/4" DRIVE

$9

99

179

99

REG. PRICE $299.99

LOT NO. 69039
68217/60727/62286
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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$

TORQUE
WRENCHES
LOT NO. 2696/61277

YOUR CHOICE!

21

99

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3/8" DRIVE

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• Accuracy
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$

60

• 3-1/2 Pumps
Lifts Most
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• Weighs 27 lbs.

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SAVE
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LOT NO. 67847
61454/61693

"Impressive Accuracy,
Amazing Value"

SAVE
Item
68053
shown

LOT NO. 67979/61839/62359

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or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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"The Perfect Compressor with Powerful,
Quiet and Consistent Airflow...
Plus we Love the Low Price"

SAVE
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89

LOT NO.
68053/69252
60569/62160

t
be used with other discoun
s last.
calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
or HarborFreight.com or bypurchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplie
per day.
l
LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores
one coupon per customer
ses after 30 days from origina
or coupon or prior purcha coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/1/15. Limit
l
Non-transferable. Origina

REG. PRICE
$219.99

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or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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Garage"

– Four Wheeler Magazine

®
RAPID PUMP
MI
1.5 TON ALU NUM
RACING JACK
99
$

LOT NO.
LOT NO.
LOT NO.
61235/62434/62426 93640/60447 93641/60448
62433/62428 62432/62429

YOUR CHOICE!

"The Undisputed King of the

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LOT NO. 807/61276

1/2" DRIVE

LOT NO.
239/62431
Item 239
shown

t
be used with other discoun
s last.
calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
or HarborFreight.com or bypurchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplie
er per day.
LIMIT 8 - Good at our stores
after 30 days from original
Limit one coupon per custom
3/1/15.
through
Valid
or coupon or prior purchases
ted.
coupon must be presen
Non-transferable. Original

Item 67979
shown

$

Requires four AA
batteries (included).

6999

REG.
PRICE
$149.99

LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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3-IN-1 PORTABLE POWER PACK
WITH JUMP STARTER

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$

• 900 Peak Amps
LOT NO.
38391/60657
62306/62376
Item 60657 shown

4499

REG.
PRICE
$59.99

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or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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$200

MECHANIC'S SHOP TOWELS
Item 46163 PACK OF 50
LOT NO. 46163
61878/69649
61837

shown

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50%

"Voted the Best Deal in Winching"

– Off-Road Magazine

12,000 LB. ELECTRIC WINCH
WITH REMOTE CONTROL AND
AUTOMATIC BRAKE

$

9

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Covers your
"Impressed with the Quality,
ble Low Price"
Entire Garage at an Unbelieva
– Street Trucks Magazine

SE REEL
RETRACTABLE AIR HOFT.
HOSE
WITH 3/8" x 50
Item
93897
shown

SAVE
$

65

LOT NO. 95578
69645/60625

$64
$

SAVE
50%

8999

9

CAN AND OBD II
PROFESSIONAL
SCAN TOOL

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Item 60694
shown

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60%

LOT NO. 90984/60405
61524/62322

99

LIMIT 7 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
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LOT NO. 94141
69874
61320
61913
61914

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66%

Item 94141
shown

$

18 VOLT CORDLESS
3/8" DRILL/DRIVER AND
FLASHLIGHT KIT

Includes one
18V NiCd battery
and charger.

SAVE
55%

19

REG.
99 $59PRICE
.99

LIMIT 6 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/1/15. Limit one coupon per customer per day.

90

$
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12 TON
SHOP PRESS

$10999

LOT NO.
68272/61380

Item 68272
shown

134

99

3

REG.
$ 99 $10PRICE
.99

SAVE
63%

REG. PRICE $199.99

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1/2" ELECTRIC
IMPACT WRENCH
LOT NO.
68099/45252
69606/61173

SAVE
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MECHANICAL
WHEEL DOLLY

SAVE
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• 1250 lb. Capacity
LOT NO.
67287/61917/62234
Item 67287
shown

AUTO-DARKENING
WELDING HELMET
WITH BLUE FLAME
DESIGN

37

99

LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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350 LB. CAPACITY
SERVICE CART WITH
LOCKING DRAWER

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LOT NO.
90428
61161
SAVE
$

95

$5499
$

Item 90428 shown

7999

REG. PRICE
$149.99

t
be used with other discoun
s last.
calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
or HarborFreight.com or by
receipt. Offer good while supplie
LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores after 30 days from original purchase with original one coupon per customer per day.
Limit
3/1/15.
through
Valid
or coupon or prior purchases
ted.
coupon must be presen
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SOLID STEEL DIGITAL
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SAVE
$70
Item 91006
shown

LOT NO.
91006/61565

$

9999

REG. PRICE $169.99

LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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440 LB. CAPACITY
ELECTRIC HOIST
LOT NO. 60346/60385

LOT NO. 91214/61610

REG.
PRICE
$69.99

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or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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5999

• With Remote Control

Item 68099
shown

$

$

REG. PRICE $109.99

19

t
be used with other discoun
s last. LIMIT 9 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
or HarborFreight.com or by
receipt. Offer good while supplie
LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores after 30 days from original purchase with original one coupon per customer per day. or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
Valid through 3/1/15. Limit
or coupon or prior purchases
ted.
presen
be
must
coupon
Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/1/15. Limit one coupon per customer per day.
Non-transferable. Original

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P
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CO

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99

DUAL CHUCK
TIRE INFLATOR

LOT NO. 33497/60604

$

LIMIT 8 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/1/15. Limit one coupon per customer per day.

Item 68287
shown

LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/1/15. Limit one coupon per customer per day.

uded
• Pair of Arbor Plates Incl
Item 60604 shown

Item 47257
shown

$29.99

LOT NO.
68287/69652

REG. PRICE $44.99

$

SAVE
66%

REG. PRICE $19.99

TRIPLE BALL
TRAILER HITCH

SAVE

Includes two 1.5V SR44
button cell batteries.

7

LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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LOT NO. 47257/61585
61230/62387

$ 99

REG.
99 $149PRICE
.99

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6" DIGITAL CALIPER

Item 90984
shown

LOT NO. 98614
60694/62120

$

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9

4 PIECE 1" x 15 FT.
RATCHETING TIE DOWNS

19999

t
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s last.
calling 800-423-2567. Cannot
or HarborFreight.com or by
receipt. Offer good while supplie
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores after 30 days from original purchase with original one coupon per customer per day.
Limit
or coupon or prior purchases
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presen
be
must
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Non-transferable. Origina

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be used with other discoun
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receipt. Offer good while supplie
LIMIT 5 - Good at our stores after 30 days from original purchase with original one coupon per customer per day. or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
Limit
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must
coupon
l
Origina
Non-transferable.

$

REG. PRICE
$299.99

Item 60625
shown

REG. PRICE
$129.99

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Item
68751
shown

299

4-1/2" ANGLE GRINDER

99

LOT NO.93897
62344/69265

$14999

REG.
99$499PRICE
.99

LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/1/15. Limit one coupon per customer per day.

LOT NO.
68751/62443

150

Item 60813 shown

REG. PRICE $19.99

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SAVE

$

LOT NO. 68142/61256/60813/61889

$ 99
LIMIT 8 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
Non-transferable. Original coupon must be presented. Valid through 3/1/15. Limit one coupon per customer per day.

45 WATT SOLAR
PANEL KIT

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SAVE
50%

Item
91214
shown

$

44

REG.
99 $89PRICE
.99
SAVE

LIMIT 4 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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• 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Over 25 Million Satisfied Customers

• No Hassle Return Policy
• Lifetime Warranty On All Hand Tools

$50

Item
60346
shown

$

7999

REG. PRICE $129.99

LIMIT 3 - Good at our stores or HarborFreight.com or by calling 800-423-2567. Cannot be used with other discount
or coupon or prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
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• 500 Stores Nationwide
• HarborFreight.com 800-423-2567

SUV OF THE YEAR | 2015

Chevrolet
BMW X4 BMW X5 Cadillac Escalade Suburban
Chevrolet Tahoe Ford Expedition GMC
GMC
Yukon
kon XL
Yu
us
Honda CR-V Jeep Cherokee Lex
NX
Mercedes Volvo
Rogue
Lincoln MKC Nissan
XC60
GLA
r Toyota Highlander
to
ga
vi
Na
n
ol
nc
Li

Subaru Outba

ck Porsche Maca

n

Words
Motor Trend Editors
Photographs
Motor Trend Staff

RUNNING
THE GAMUT
80 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

THE JUDGES

ward Loh
Editor in Chief Ed
r Ron Kiino
ito
Ed
ive
ut
ec
Ex
gus MacKenzie
Editor at Large An
berman
Editor Jonny Lie
es
ur
at
Fe
Senior
Markus
nk
Fra
or
ct
re
Di
Technical
r Scott Evans
Associate Edito
gh
r Christian Seabau
ito
Associate Ed
ka
ec
rn
Ju
ry
Ro
r
Associate Edito
s Lago
Test Editor Carlo
Associate Road

ONE OF OUR LARGEST SUV OF THE YEAR TESTS
EVER IS ALSO OUR MOST REPRESENTATIVE

THE
CRITERIA

SUV OF THE YEAR | 2015
Design Advancement
The judges are looking for
well-executed exterior and
interior styling, innovative
vehicle packaging, and
good selection and use
of materials.

Engineering Excellence
Total vehicle concept
and execution; clever
solutions to packaging,
manufacturing, and
dynamics; and cost-effective
technology that benefits
consumers.

It may not be as large in scale
or as steeped in tradition as our
Car of the Year contest, but more
than a few of our editors would
argue that Sport/Utility of the Year is the most
interesting. In neither Car nor Truck of the
Year will you find such a variety of vehicles
and technologies all attempting to achieve
the same fundamental goal.
Take this year’s crop. The term “running
the gamut” is derived from music and can be
explained as the entire series of recognized
musical notes. Though we don’t have every
SUV currently on the market in this contest
82 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

Performance of
Intended Function
How well the vehicle
does the job its planners,
designers, and engineers
intended it to do.
Efficiency
The judges consider fuel
efficiency and carbon
footprint size relative to the
vehicle’s competitive set.

Safety
The judges take into
account each vehicle’s
ability to help the driver
avoid a crash, as well as the
secondary safety measures
that protect its occupants
during an accident.

(all our Of The Year competitions are limited
to all-new or significantly revised vehicles),
we have just about every type and interpretation represented here. SUVs, crossovers, even
“Sport Activity Vehicles.” Body-on-frame
and unibody construction. Transverse and
longitudinal drivetrains. Front-, rear-, all-,
and four-wheel drive. Gasoline, diesel, and
hybrid. Solid axles and fully independent
suspensions. Coil springs, leaf springs, and
air springs. Mass-market, luxury, and niche.
Compact, midsize, full-size, and everything
in between. This was our second-largest

Value
Each vehicle’s price and
equipment levels are
compared with those of
vehicles in the same
market segment.

Sport/Utility of the Year competition ever.
Nineteen individual contenders and 30
total vehicles were invited to Los Alamos,
California, and the Tres Hermanas winery to
compete this year. The additional 11 vehicles
included available variants of the contenders,
primarily to showcase the model’s range and
optional powertrains. We do this because
Of The Year contests take into consideration
and reward the entire model range, not just
one really good variant. More often than
not, having the complete model range at our
disposal reveals strong and weak points and
has altered the outcome of more than one
contest. This year was no exception.
As in previous years, the competition
began with a road loop to weed out the
weaker contenders. Each judge drove all
30 vehicles before sitting down to debate
and then vote on the finalists—vehicles we
thought had a shot at taking the title. The
nine finalists were then driven on longer
road loops as well as a 5-mile light off-road
course featuring loose, chalky dirt; tight
turns; a steep descent; and two challenging
hill climbs. At the end, the judges argued for
hours over which model best met our six key
criteria in its class. The final vote was, as it
often is, as close as can be.
Whose cargo space will carry home the
coveted calipers? Read on. Sco Evans

CONTENDERS

BMW X4

BMW X5

We Like Sporty handling.

We Like All the luxury features and the diesel engine.

We Don’t Like
Rough ride, compromised utility and practicality, big price tag.
“Why am I here?” is
perhaps the oldest
and most universal
philosophical question.
For what reason do I exist? While
humans have no choice but to
continue existing without an answer
to this question, that’s not normally
the case in business. A product that
can’t rationalize its existence generally doesn’t fare well in the market.
Lucky for BMW, “because I want it” is
all the reason a product needs to be
successful, which incidentally is the
only reason anyone will buy an X4.
MacKenzie explains: “The tortured
logic behind the X4 probably goes
something like this: If you think a 3
Series wagon is too carlike, an X3 too
much like a boring SUV, a 3 Series
Gran Turismo practical but not sporty
enough, a 4 Series Gran Turismo
sporty but not practical enough, and
you definitely don’t want to drive a 3
Series sedan like everyone else, then
the X4 is the perfect vehicle for you.”
With such an ambiguous mission
statement, it’s no surprise the X4
struggled against our criteria. It’s
certainly no value proposition, not
when every other vehicle MacKenzie
identified starts for several thousand
dollars less. Advancement in Design
is subjective, but just about everyone
in our cadre thought the X6 wore it

beer, and neither is especially prey.
The X4 struggled the most in the
Engineering Excellence category. The
rear seat is uncomfortably low (intentionally, in order to create headroom)
and ingress and egress are difficult.
Cargo space is heavily compromised
in the name of style. Efforts to make
the X4 more sporty than the already
sporty X3 have resulted mostly in a
stiffer ride.
In its favor, the X4 excels in
Performance of Intended function,
so long as you concede that the
base function of any product is to sell
in large enough numbers to justify
the expense of creating it. While
customers who buy style over all else
might make a suitable business case,
catering to that narrow market does
not make the case for a Sport/Utility of
the Year. Sco Evans

We Don’t Like
Trucklike ride and handling, useless third row.
The X5 finds itself in a tough position.
BMW’s original SUV is stuck between
segments, struggling to define
itself and trying to be all things to all
people. It’s a jack-of-all-trades and a
master of none.
On the one hand, it’s too large
for the sport wagon it’s trying to be.
Many editors found it too heavy for
the six-cylinder gasoline engine to
handle appropriately, and the ride
quality and driving experience are
too much like a truck-based SUV
rather than the car-based “Sport
Activity Vehicle” it claims to be. This is
especially evident in the V-8-powered
truck, which is a riot in a straight line
but nowhere near as competent in
the corners as its competitors.
On the other hand, it’s too small to
be the family-hauling, luxury minivan
replacement most customers want
it to be. To quote Lago: “Third row
is prey tragic. Takes up cargo area,
and isn’t fit for people with legs.”
Worse, raising or lowering the classuncompetitive third row requires
removing the shockingly heavy cargo
cover, which barely has enough
clearance to be removed in the first
place. The second row also garnered
grumblings for being too tight for an
SUV of this size.
In its favor, most judges found the
X5 to be well-equipped with all the

xDrive28i

xDrive35i

2014 BMW X5

xDrive35d

xDrive50i

Base Price / As Tested

$45,650 / $54,550

$48,950 / $64,525

Base Price / As Tested $56,450/ $67,550

$58,550/ $70,950

$70,050/ $86,400

6.2 sec

4.3 sec

2015 BMW X4

xDrive35i

baubles and features you’d expect
from a luxury vehicle, and the materials are appropriately high-quality.
The seats, though, le some cold,
with the fronts lacking support and
the rears siing too low.
Most editors found the diesel
model, equipped with the M Sport
package in our case, to be the best
option. Editors lauded its powerband,
smooth operation, and superior
mileage, though one dissenting voice
found it less refined and less powerful
than the competition. It was also the
best-handling X5 on offer.
In total, the X5 is a nice update on
the existing truck, but it’s still faced
with an unresolved mission. As MacKenzie put it, “Part truck, part sport
wagon, all confused.” Sco Evans

0-60 mph

6.3 sec

5.2 sec

0-60 mph

5.9 sec

Quarter Mile

15.0 sec @ 89.7 mph

13.9 sec @ 98.8 mph

Quarter Mile

14.5 sec @ 95.1 mph 14.8 sec @ 89.4 mph 12.8 sec @ 106.9 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

128 ft

113 ft

Braking, 60-0 mph

116 ft

110 ft

129 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.85 g (avg)

0.85 g (avg)

Lateral Acceleration

0.81 g (avg)

0.82 g (avg)

0.81 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

27.0 sec @ 0.65 g (avg)

26.2 sec @ 0.71 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

26.8 sec @ 0.69 g

26.8 sec @ 0.65 g

26.3 sec @ 0.72 g (avg)

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

20/28/23 mpg

19/27/22 mpg

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

18/27/21 mpg

23/31/26 mpg

14/22/17 mpg

Energy Cons., City/Hwy 169/120 kW-hrs/100 miles

177/125 kW-hrs/100 miles

Energy Cons., City/Hwy 187/125

164/122

241/153 kW-hrs/100 miles

C02 Emissions, Comb.

0.88 lb/mile

C02 Emissions, Comb.

0.85 lb/mile

1.16 lb/mile

0.85 lb/mile

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV
Engine 28i 2.0L/240-hp/258-lb- turbo DOHC 16-valve I-4 35i 3.0L/300hp/300-lb- turbo DOHC 24-valve I-6 Transmission 8-speed automatic
Curb Weight (F/R Dist) 28i 4145 lb (49/51%) 35i 4240 lb (51/49%)
Wheelbase 110.6 in L x W x H 184.3 x 74.1 x 63.9 in
84 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

0.92 lb/mile

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 5-7-pass, 4-door SUV
Engine 35i 3.0L/300-hp/300-lb- turbo DOHC 24-valve I-6 35d 3.0L/255hp/413-lb- twin-turbo diesel DOHC 24-valve I-6 50i 4.4L/445-hp/480-lb-
twin-turbo DOHC 32-valve V-8 Transmission 8-speed automatic
Curb Weight (F/R Dist) 35i 4830 lb (49/51%) 35d 4982 lb (50/50%)
50i 5277 lb (49/51%) Wheelbase 115.5 in L x W x H 193.2 x 76.3 x 69.4 in

2015 | SUV OF THE YEAR

Cadillac Escalade

Chevrolet Tahoe

We Like The handsome, park-me-up-front looks. The engine’s pretty sweet.

We Like Interior styling, four USB ports.

We Don't Like
The ride, CUE.

MacKenzie says the Escalade is “the
most controversial vehicle Cadillac
makes.” His reasoning is that while
the rest of Caddy’s lineup shares
nothing you can see or touch with the
rest of GM’s lineup, the ’Slade is quite
obviously a Tahoe/Yukon all dressed
up for the ball. Why would Caddy
violate its own best practices? Profits,
and massive amounts of them. The
Escalade is the most profitable vehicle
the General makes, full stop.
But is it any good? Well, according
to Loh, “It looks amazing. Love the giant
shield up front and floor-to-ceiling
taillights.” All of the new big ’uns from
GM are handsome. Figuring out which
one is best-looking really depends on
the angle. I think the Chevy’s best from
the side and the GMC is best head-on,
but the Caddy looks most wowza from
the rear. And with that robust 6.2-liter
V-8 heart pumping under the massive
hood, the back might be the most
important angle. Zero to 60 mph in 6.2
seconds from a three-ton vehicle would

be laughable if it weren’t so much fun.
Too bad the big boy’s not dynamically more sorted. Loh points out that
it shimmies, thanks in no small part to
the solid rear axle. Granted we had the
“short” wheelbase model.
As Kiino says, “The ride’s prey
rough—give me the ESV!” Even with
GM’s normally excellent magnetic
dampers, the ride simply wasn’t what
we expected from such a luxurious
beast. Nor was the handling, but again,
it weighs three tons!
Back to luxury for a moment: What
an interior. If you’ve been paying
aention, you’re aware that since the
introduction of the XTS, Cadillac has
stepped its interior game way up. The
Escalade is now tied with the lile
ELR as the finest quality American
interior, period. You’d have to step up
to vehicles such as the Range Rover
and the G63 AMG to find SUV interiors
more opulent. Perhaps I should say as
opulent. Pity about CUE, which many
editors deem lousy. Jonny Lieberman

We Don't Like
Cramped third row, lethargic transmission.
Essentially a shorter-wheelbase
Suburban, the Chevy Tahoe earned
comparable praise but a bit more
criticism than its bigger sibling. With
similarly improved styling inside and
out to the ’Burban, the Tahoe found
love from judges as one of the most
handsome vehicles in its segment.
Also like the Suburban’s, the Tahoe’s
interior impressed. “Trim for trim, interior in this Tahoe is a whole generation
or two nicer than the Expedition,”
said Loh. “Feels more luxurious and
expensive, even if it isn’t.”
Unfortunately, the Tahoe also
shared with its sibling a key letdown:
a lethargic gearbox. The outdated
six-speed auto seems unable or
unwilling to optimize the 5.3-liter
EcoTec V-8’s 355 hp and 383 lb- of
torque. Again, we’re expecting GM’s

new eight-speed to find a home here
in the not too distant future—we just
wish it had arrived sooner. It is to the
smaller Tahoe’s advantage that with
less weight to move around, it felt a
lile peppier than the Suburban did
on the road.
Our magnetic-ride-equipped
Tahoe suffered from a lile more
body movement over rougher
patches of road than the LTZ
Suburban did, though both wind
and road noise control were still
strong. As expected, interior room
in the Tahoe is limited compared to
the larger Suburban, with the shorter
wheelbase affecting the third row
and cargo areas the most. Not only
is entry and exit to the third row
tighter, but legroom is dramatically
smaller, limiting the row’s usefulness
in carrying adult passengers. There
was also significantly less cargo
space apparent to judges’ eyes.
The advantages to the shorter
Tahoe are maneuverability and price,
but neither is much of a compelling
argument. During our road loops
both Tahoe and Suburban felt equally
nimble (for their size, of course), with
neither noticeably easier to drive.
With a price gap of just less than
$3000 between the two models, we’d
take the additional capacity of the
Suburban every time. Rory Jurnecka

2015 Cadillac Escalade (AWD Premium)

2015 Chevrolet Tahoe 4WD LTZ

Base Price / As Tested

$83,790/ $87,985

Base Price / As Tested

$62,995 / $70,580

0-60 mph

6.2 sec

0-60 mph

7.0 sec

Quarter Mile

14.6 sec @ 97.0 mph

Quarter Mile

15.4 sec @ 90.6 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

129 ft

Braking, 60-0 mph

121 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.74 g (avg)

Lateral Acceleration

0.75 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

28.1 sec @ 0.63 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

28.3 sec @ 0.62 g (avg)

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

14/21/16 mpg

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

16/22/18 mpg

Energy Cons., City/Hwy

241/160 kW-hrs/100 miles

Energy Cons., City/Hwy

211/153 kW-hrs/100 miles

C02 Emissions, Comb.

1.18 lb/mile

C02 Emissions, Comb.

1.06 lb/mile

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 7-pass, 4-door SUV
Engine 6.2L/420-hp/460-lb-* OHV 16-valve V-8
Transmission 6-speed automatic Curb Weight (F/R Dist) 5870 lb (51/49%)
Wheelbase 116.0 in L x W x H 203.9 x 80.5 x 74.4 in

*SAE Certified

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, 4WD, 7-pass, 4-door SUV
Engine 5.3L/355-hp/383-lb-* OHV 16-valve V-8 Transmission 6-speed
automatic Curb Weight (F/R Dist) 5744 lb (51/49%)
Wheelbase 116.0 in L x W x H 204.0 x 80.5 x 74.4 in

*SAE certified gasoline ratings,
380 hp/416 lb- on E85

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 85

CONTENDERS

Ford Expedition

GMC Yukon

We Like Torquey turbo V-6, second- and third-row room, good value.

We Like Classy exterior, upscale interior, quiet cabin.

We Don’t Like
Warmed-over styling, lack of cutting-edge safety features.
In a field this large and
stacked with brand-new,
segment-busting SUVs,
including four all-new
direct competitors, the opening jabs
came hard and fast.
“The Expedition just looks so
dopey. No real advancement in
design—arguably a regression,” said
Seabaugh. “Next to GM’s new full-size
SUVs the Expedition looks like a relic
from another age,” said MacKenzie.
Compared to GM’s all-new
Tahoe/Suburban and Yukon/Denali
quadruplets, Ford’s 2015 Expedition
seems barely warmed-over. Bits of
the exterior and interior are new, but
nothing advances the ball down the
field. Chunky surfaces and agrarian
ergonomics constantly recall the
Expedition’s F-150 roots. But Ford’s
big ol’ dog surprised with a few new
tricks, namely an eager EcoBoost V-6
and six-speed automatic transmission that many preferred over the
GM powertrains. A new suspension
system features continually variable
dampers—a first for Ford (carried
over from Lincoln). The three-mode
system (Comfort, Normal, Sport)
reads 46 different inputs from
sensors throughout the vehicle and
adjusts compression and rebound
accordingly. The result? Ride quality
that a few judges preferred over

GM’s full-size SUVs and their fancy
magnetorheological dampers. Like its
platform-mate Lincoln Navigator, the
Expedition uses its independent rear
suspension to great advantage.
Ford claims best-in-class
maximum cargo space for the
Expedition EL, along with a low load
height and spacious third-row seat.
Our judges concurred. “Seats fold flat
prey easily, and I’m amazed that the
third row is actually usable for adults.
More livable than the Suburban’s for
sure!” said Seabaugh.
The problem is that in nearly every
other category—and criteria—the
GMs were superior. The Expedition
lacks integrated collision mitigation
systems including adaptive cruise
control and lane departure warning.
Markus summed it up best: “I am
more impressed with this truck than I
was expecting to be, but I still feel that
its old bones and lack of top-safetypick hardware mean it has no chance
of winning the calipers.” Edward Loh

2015 Ford Expedition EL EcoBoost King Ranch

We Don’t Like
Sluggish powertrain, poor third-row package.
GMC is proof that marketing works.
GM’s truck brand once built real
trucks, but GMCs today are basically
re-badged Chevy pickups and SUVs.
Yet the powerful “Professional Grade”
advertising tagline has probably
convinced more than a few GMC
owners they’ve purchased a superior
product. As with the new Tahoe, the
2015 Yukon makes a great first impression. The move away from clamshell
doors allowed Ed Welburn’s design
team to cra a clean, rectilinear profile
dominated by a strong shoulder line
running from front fender to taillight.
This new Yukon looks suitably modern
and reassuringly imposing.
Inside, the new interior exudes a
contemporary, upscale ambiance,
with nicely sculpted forms and wellchosen materials. Fake wood is still
there, but it’s used with commendable
restraint. GMC IntelliLink’s 8-inch
touchscreen and the new 4G LTE
OnStar system—both standard across
the range—ensure near-hipster levels
of connectivity. It’s handsome, packed
with goodies, and relatively quiet on
the road. But it’s not our Sport/Utility
of the Year.
For a vehicle of its size, the Yukon’s
third row seating is a joke. The rear
floor is raised to clear the live axle
suspension, and the third row squabs
are located at floor level to ensure

adequate headroom. As a result,
occupants larger than small children
sit with their knees around their ears.
Though it has 355 hp and 383 lb-
of torque, the 5.3-liter L83 V-8 is disappointingly languid in the 5426-pound
Yukon. We recorded a 15.3-second
quarter mile during testing but it felt
red-faced and out of breath geing
there. The calibration of the 6L80
six-speed auto doesn’t help—both
upshis and kickdowns are sluggish.
Per Seabaugh, “I can’t help but walk
away from the Yukon wondering how
much the upcoming eight-speed
automatic would improve it.”
The 2015 GMC Yukon is lile more
than a front clip, four wheels, color
and trim, and a couple of badges
away from a 2015 Chevy Tahoe. The
visual changes are well-executed,
but whether they are worth the 3 to 6
percent price premium (depending
on the trim level) over an equivalent
Tahoe is debatable.
Angus MacKenzie

2015 GMC Yukon SLT

Base Price / As Tested

$63,755 / $69,780

Base Price / As Tested

$55,730 / $61,320

0-60 mph

6.5 sec

0-60 mph

6.8 sec

Quarter Mile

15.1 sec @ 90.3 mph

Quarter Mile

15.3 sec @ 90.7 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

121 ft

Braking, 60-0 mph

130 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.79 g (avg)

Lateral Acceleration

0.75 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

28.1 sec @ 0.62 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

28.0 sec @ 0.62 g (avg)

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

14/20/16 mpg

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

16/23/18 mpg

Energy Cons., City/Hwy

241/169 kW-hrs/100 miles

Energy Cons., City/Hwy

211/147 kW-hrs/100 miles

C02 Emissions, Comb.

1.20 lb/mile

C02 Emissions, Comb.

1.05 lb/mile

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, 4WD, 7-pass, 4-door SUV
Engine 3.5L/365-hp/420-lb- twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6
Transmission 6-speed automatic Curb Weight (F/R Dist) 6319 lb (50/50%)
Wheelbase 131.0 in L x W x H 220.8 x 78.8 x 77.7 in

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, RWD, 7-pass, 4-door SUV
Engine 5.3L/355-hp/383-lb-* OHV 16-valve V-8
Transmission 6-speed automatic Curb Weight (F/R Dist) 5426 lb (50/50%)
Wheelbase 116.0 in L x W x H 203.9 x 80.5 x 74.4 in

86 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

*SAE certified gasoline ratings, 380 hp/416 lb- on E85

Everyday traction
or track day action.

ExtremeContact
DW

Continental Tire.
For what you do.
LEARN MORE

CONTINENTALTIRE.COM

TM

CONTENDERS

GMC Yukon XL

Lincoln Navigator

We Like Effortless people-mover and luggage-hauler, Denali trim package.

We Like The potent, fun-to-drive engine.

We Don’t Like
The Suburban gives you the same functionality for less money.
The 2015 GMC Yukon
XL is exactly what it says
on the tin: the Yukon
writ Extra Large. A
14-inch stretch in the wheelbase and
20.4-inch increase in overall length
address the fundamental flaw of the
regular Yukon: cramped third-row
seating. The rear floor is still raised
to accommodate the live rear axle,
but the wheelbase stretch means
GM engineers have been able to
sculpt footwells a of the second row,
allowing adults to sit comfortably.
As with the regular Yukon, the XL
starts with the base 2WD SLE and
stretches to the fully loaded 4WD
Denali, a trim level that accounts for
more than 60 percent of all Yukon
sales. Consumers clearly see it as the
bridge between the quotidian Chevy
Tahoe/Suburban and the ultra-lux
Cadillac Escalade.
The Denali gets a gliery grille
and unique 20-inch alloy wheels (22s
are available as an option). Inside
is upscale leather and (restrained)
wood treatments, plus a configurable
8-inch color screen that showcases
the connectivity and content streams
available via the standard GMC IntelliLink and OnStar 4G LTE systems.
The Denali also gets the Escalade’s
420-hp, 460-lb- 6.2-liter V-8. Although
that buys you almost a second over

the quarter mile compared with
regular Yukon’s 5.3-liter engine, it still
feels oddly sluggish, especially when
compared with the punchy EcoBoost
V-6 in Ford’s Expedition. The lazy
calibration of the six-speed 6L80 auto
is a contributing factor.
Despite GM’s sophisticated
Magnetic Ride Control shocks, the
Denali XL’s ride is surprisingly edgy.
The optional 22-inch wheels and tires
amplified the impacts, but we found
the same problem in other full-size
GMs with MRC and regular 20-inch
boots. The standard shocks feel beer.
The Yukon XL is an undeniably
compelling vehicle concept. But
Cadillac’s Escalade ESV offers more
overt luxury, while Chevy’s Suburban
is the beer value. As Evans noted,
“Maybe the Denali package should
be the starting point for GMCs to
differentiate themselves from Chevys.”
Angus MacKenzie

2015 GMC Yukon Denali XL 4WD

We Don’t Like
The looks and the decade-old packaging.
The Navigator, like the Lincoln brand,
is a frustrating mix of good and bad.
Let’s start with good. Why isn’t this
engine in more Ford, I mean Lincoln,
products? The 380-hp, 460 lb-,
3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 is a modern
marvel. You simply don’t need a V-8
in 2015. The Navigator’s engine is
the proof/pudding. Says Seabaugh,
“I actually prefer the EcoBoost V-6
to the 6.2 V-8 in the Escalade. It’s
powerful, refined, and torquey.” We
also collectively loved the transmission calibration, which, unlike in the
GM triplets, felt performance-oriented,
something we think luxury buyers will
appreciate.
And now the bad. Says MacKenzie,
“No amount of lipstick, no maer how
dely applied, can disguise the age of
the Navigator’s architecture. The body
sides, the doors, the greenhouse, the
narrow cabin—from certain angles

it’s very clear this is an old truck.”
I’d like to specifically focus on the
narrow cabin, as I got my knee
wedged between the door and the
steering wheel. That’s certainly not
luxurious in my book. It’s a particularly egregious offense for such a
massive vehicle. Let’s not forget that
the wiring harness on the Navigator
is so old, it can’t support radar cruise
control. Not cool.
You can call this part the ugly,
because we also don’t like the way
it looks. Lago asks, “Why does this
truck look so sad?”
The comparatively diminutive
MKC shows that Lincoln’s mustachioed design language can work,
but—back to MacKenzie—the front
of the ’Gator is simply lipstick on
an F-150. Even with independent
rear suspension there’s something
definitely trucklike about the way the
big SUV rides.
Says Jurnecka, “The ride is prey
busy, with a lot of choppy movements.” We loaded the big Linc up
with six male adults and that didn’t
smooth things out. There is plenty of
room in the way back for two grown
men, although the same can’t be said
for the middle seats.
Overall, the Navigator will serve a
family of six well, but it doesn’t move
the needle. Jonny Lieberman

2015 Lincoln Navigator EcoBoost

Base Price / As Tested

$69,375 / $77,965

Base Price / As Tested

$62,475 / $73,895

0-60 mph

6.2 sec

0-60 mph

6.5 sec

Quarter Mile

14.7 sec @ 94.4 mph

Quarter Mile

15.1 sec @ 90.1 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

124 ft

Braking, 60-0 mph

125 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.76 g (avg)

Lateral Acceleration

0.77 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

28.4 sec @ 0.64 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

28.1 sec @ 0.60 g (avg)

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

14/20/16 mpg

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

15/20/17 mpg

Energy Cons., City/Hwy

241/169 kW-hrs/100 miles

Energy Cons., City/Hwy

225/169 kW-hrs/100 miles

C02 Emissions, Comb.

1.20 lb/mile

C02 Emissions, Comb.

1.15 lb/mile

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, 4WD, 7-pass, 4-door SUV
Engine 6.2L/420-hp/460-lb-* OHV 16-valve V-8 Transmission 6-speed
automatic Curb Weight (F/R Dist) 6033 lb (51/49%) Wheelbase 130.0 in
L x W x H 224.3 x 80.5 x 74.4 in

88 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

*SAE Certified

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, 4WD, 7-pass, 4-door SUV
Engine 3.5L/380-hp/460-lb- twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6
Transmission 6-speed automatic Curb Weight (F/R Dist) 6146 lb (50/50%)
Wheelbase 119.0 in L x W x H 207.4 x 78.8 x 78.1 in

2015 | SUV OF THE YEAR

Toyota Highlander

Volvo XC60

We Like Nifty center console storage area.

We Like Next-level interior design, punchy powertrains, bionic lane-departure.

We Don’t Like
Uninspired, by-the-numbers SUV design.
The Highlander was the first vehicle
cut during SUOTY deliberations. That
might come as a surprise if you read
our August 2014 three-row crossover
SUV Big Test, where it placed second
primarily because of its competency
and low 5-year cost of ownership estimates. What happened? Well, to win
the calipers, a vehicle must do more
than be competent. It must innovate.
The Highlander’s only lauded
feature—a large and niy storage area
in the center console for electronics—
was overshadowed by a number of
ergonomic challenges. Things such as
a slow-opening automatic ligate or
the distance the driver has to reach to
adjust the stereo’s tuning knob might
seem minor in isolation, but when
taken together they make you wonder
whether they’re the result of oversight
or indifference. “The 40-percent
folding side of the middle-row seat
(the one easiest for entry to the third
row) is on the Japanese curb side.
Thanks!” said Markus.
We tested three examples of the
Highlander: the hybrid, and front- and
all-wheel-drive versions of the V-6.
Judges expressed disappointment
with the perceived cheapness of the
front-drive model. Loh used the door
as an example: “The black plastic
interior door handles has a visible
seam, the interior panel flexes against

your knee during cornering, and the
door slam is very tinny and hollow.” In
the all-wheel-drive model, judges were
disappointed with the ride quality and
interior squeaks.
While the hybrid offers fuel economy
improvements, Markus wondered if
it was upsized for this application.
“The engine never switches off,
except on big coast downs. There is
an EV mode, but just about any level
of acceleration perceivable as such
is deemed ‘excessive,’ and defeats
the EV mode,” said Markus. “The
dash needle goes into Power zone
whenever the vehicle is adding speed
on the flat, and Eco seems to be a
coasting or downhill realm.”
“The new Highlander breaks no
new ground, anywhere. No innovation,
no leap forward, no excitement. It’s a
simple SUV for undiscerning buyers,
thousands of whom will probably be
happy with it,” said MacKenzie.
Carlos Lago

We Don’t Like
Gluey steering, rough ride, tight rear seat.
Probably the purest, most polarizing
vehicle in this year’s competition, the
Volvo XC60 le no judge waffling in
praise or criticism.
“The exterior design is interesting
and expressive—sporty in the current
Volvo idiom. The interior design is
outstanding, with original combinations of forms, materials, and finishes.
It looks light, contemporary, and
elegant, like a furniture exhibit you’d
see in a modern art museum,” said
MacKenzie. Lieberman concurred.
“Talk about moving needles—look at
this interior! Simply, uerly gorgeous.
Yes, please! All automakers should
take a long, hard look at what Volvo’s
done here.”
But it’s not perfect. As with many
designer goods, function oen takes
a backseat to form, though rarely
so literally. “The only problem with
the interior is the rear seat is virtually
useless for anyone other than small

children. The Volvo has the worst
packaging of any of the C-segment
SUVs in this year’s field,” said MacKenzie, though he and others noted
that the support and comfort of the
seats, front and rear, are among the
best in the business.
Our XC60 came equipped with
Volvo’s new top step twin-charged
Drive-E engine. Designed in-house,
this 2.0-liter inline-four employs a
turbo and supercharger to crank out
a very believable 302 hp and 295 lb-
of torque and 30 mpg highway fuel
economy. These numbers mean the
XC60 is a solid performer against
its competitive set. It also feels very
quick, but at a cost. “The engine
surges hard at throle tip-in—too
aggressive,” noted Evans. Other
editors commented on more than a bit
of torque steer.
Things got worse once underway.
Steering feel is unnatural at best,
becoming downright gluey under
spirited driving. “The steering has a
strong self-centering effect and there
are noticeable variations in weighting
as you turn through on-center and
back,” explains MacKenzie. And the
ride? “Appalling.”
Volvo put a lot of effort into
designing the XC60. It just didn’t
seem particularly well-designed for
America. Edward Loh

2014 Toyota Highlander

LE

Hybrid Limited

2015 Volvo XC60 T6 Drive-E

Base Price / As Tested

$31,405 / $33,625

$48,185 / $51,625

Base Price / As Tested

0-60 mph

7.1 sec

7.4 sec

0-60 mph

6.3 sec

Quarter Mile

15.4 sec @ 91.7 mph

15.6 sec @ 90.3 mph

Quarter Mile

14.8 sec @ 95.4 mph

$41,825 / $50,075

Braking, 60-0 mph

131 ft

124 ft

Braking, 60-0 mph

117 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.76 g (avg)

0.75 g (avg)

Lateral Acceleration

0.81 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

28.3 sec @ 0.64 g (avg)

28.2 sec @ 0.62 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

27.3 sec @ 0.64 g (avg)

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

19/25/21 mpg

27/28/28 mpg

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

22/30/25 mpg

Energy Cons., City/Hwy

177/135 kW-hrs/100 miles

125/120 kW-hrs/100 miles

Energy Cons., City/Hwy

153/112 kW-hrs/100 miles

C02 Emissions, Comb.

0.91 lb/mile

0.71 lb/mile

C02 Emissions, Comb.

0.78 lb/mile

Vehicle Layout LE Front-engine, FWD, 8-pass, 4-door SUV Hybrid Ltd.
Front-engine, AWD, 7-pass, 4-door SUV Engine LE 3.5L/270-hp/248-lb-
DOHC 24-valve V-6 Hybrid Ltd. 3.5L/231-hp/215-lb- DOHC 24-valve V-6 plus
167-hp/247-lb- front and 68-hp/103-lb- rear electric motors, 280 hp comb
Transmission LE 6-speed automatic Hybrid Ltd. Cont. variable auto
Curb Weight (F/R Dist) LE 4307 lb (54/46%) Hybrid Ltd. 4862 lb (54/46%)
Wheelbase 109.8 in L x W x H LE 191.1 x 75.8 x 68.1 in
Hybrid Ltd. 191.1 x 75.8 x 70.1 in

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, FWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV Engine 2.0L/302hp/295-lb- turbo- and supercharged DOHC 16-valve I-4
Transmission 8-speed automatic Curb Weight (F/R Dist) 4078 lb (59/41%)
Wheelbase 109.2 in L x W x H 182.8 x 74.4 x 67.4 in

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 89

FINALISTS

Chevrolet Suburban
We Like Large, well-trimmed cabin; handsome exterior styling. We Don’t Like Lazy six-speed automatic transmission.

As sport/utility buying
trends continue to shi
toward smaller vehicles,
the Suburban at times
feels like Billy the Kid in a town full of
Stormtroopers. In fact, the Suburban
is the longest-running continually
manufactured model name in the
U.S., having been in production
since 1933. The simple truth is, there
just aren’t that many vehicles like
the Suburban le. If you need space
for hauling up to nine people—yes,
nine with the available front and
second-row bench seats—in relative
comfort, there simply aren’t many

other options.
For 2015 the Suburban gets a
makeover that includes sleek new
styling (several judges called it the
best-looking vehicle in our group),
a stylish and high-quality interior,
and improvements to the chassis
and powertrain. Just one engine/
transmission pairing is available: the
new EcoTec 5.3-liter V-8 (355 hp, 383
lb-) mated to GM’s Hydra-Matic
6L80 six-speed auto. While the new
engine was smooth and powerful
enough for most of our drivers (and
the near-10 percent gain in highway
fuel economy is welcome), we were

less impressed with the antiquated
six-speed, which was sluggish
and strongly favored high gears,
hampering acceleration. We’re
looking forward to Chevy bringing its
new eight-speed to the Suburban as
soon as possible.
Still, our LTZ-trim model was an
impressive package, with a quieter
ride than before and enough space
and amenities to keep seven adults
content during the drive to and from
the hotel to the testing loop. With a
whopping four USB ports up front,
power-folding second and third

rows, and ample third-row legroom
for even 6-footers, the Suburban was
a top pick as a SUOTY judge shule.
Redesigned doors that don’t cut into
the roofline keep wind noise down,
and the LTZ spec meant we got GM’s
third-gen Magnetic Ride Control
system, which was met with mixed
reactions from our judges.
While the Suburban impressed
us enough to make the leap to our
finalist round, it ultimately lacked the
refinement and advancement that we
expect from an SUOTY winner.
Rory Jurnecka

2015 Chevrolet Suburban LTZ
Base Price / As Tested

$62,695 / $68,885

Power (SAE net)

355 hp* @ 5600 rpm

Torque (SAE net)

383 lb-ft* @ 4100 rpm

Accel, 0-60 mph

7.0 sec

Quarter Mile

15.5 sec @ 90.8 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

130 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.77 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

27.8 sec @ 0.62 g (avg)

EPA Econ City/Hwy/Comb.

16/23/18 mpg

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, RWD, 7-pass, 4-door SUV
Suburban

74.4”

REAL MPG
14/22/17

130.0”
224.4”

Engine/Transmission 5.3L/355-hp/383-lb- OHV 16-valve V-8,
6-speed automatic
90 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

68.7”
80.5”

Curb Weight (F/R Dist.)
5716 lb (50/50%)

Energy Consumption, City/Hwy
211/147 kW-hrs/100 miles

*SAE certified gasoline ratings; 380 hp/416 lb- on E85

68.7”

C02 Emissions
1.05 lb/mile

FINALISTS

Jeep Cherokee
We Like Trailhawk styling and off-road prowess, user-friendly interior, supple ride. We Don’t Like Unintuitive 9A, middling fuel economy, non-Trailhawk garb.

Limited

This year marks the
second in a row that
a Jeep has finished
the runner-up on our
SUOTY ballots—for 2014, it was
the Grand Cherokee; for 2015, the
GC’s lile brother, the Cherokee.
While medaling silver in back-toback SUOTY competitions is surely
biersweet for Jeep, it’s also a sign
that Chrysler-Fiat’s SUV brand is on
the right track.
To nip at the heels of our winner,
the Cherokee indeed proved an
accomplished SUV. Our judges
2014 Jeep Cherokee

were most impressed with the
Trailhawk’s rugged, brawny design,
not to mention its legitimate Trail
Rated abilities and cushy Raptor-like
dynamics. Per Jurnecka, “Styling is
fantastic in Trailhawk guise. Made it
up the off-road hill like there was no
hill—a champ in the dirt.” In terms
of ride, the front-drive 2.4 Limited
was deemed the most supple and
luxurious of all the contenders,
including the BMW X5 and Lexus
NX, with Markus noting, “I’m not sure
I’ve driven a beer-riding SUV this
year.” Further, every editor found the

Limited

Trailhawk

Base Price / As Tested

$29,190 / $32,670

$30,490 / $37,265

Power (SAE net)

184 hp @ 6400 rpm

271 hp @ 6500 rpm

Torque (SAE net)

171 lb-ft @ 4600 rpm

239 lb-ft @ 4400 rpm

Accel, 0-60 mph

9.5 sec

7.6 sec

Quarter Mile

17.2 sec @ 80.5 mph

15.9 sec @ 87.8 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

121 ft

128 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.79 g (avg)

0.72 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

28.2 sec @ 0.59 g (avg)

28.6 sec @ 0.57 g (avg)

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

22/31/25 mpg

0 mpg
18/25/20

Cherokee's UConnect infotainment
system to be best in class. “Puts the
rest of the infotainment systems to
shame. It’s quick to boot and easy to
control,” observed Lago.
Though the “bandwidth of the
Cherokee range is second to none
in the entry-level CUV segment,” per
Jurnecka, a few demerits kept it from
the top pedestal. The first-in-class
nine-speed auto, while impressive
on paper, didn’t excite on the road.
As Loh observed, “Spirited driving
highlights the nine-speed’s deficiencies. It bogs even in Sport mode,
and Manual mode oen leaves you

waiting for an up- or downshi.”
One of the benefits of nine speeds
should be improved fuel economy,
but even the front-drive 2.4’s EPA
ratings of 22/31 mpg city/highway
couldn’t match that of the all-wheeldrive Outback, at 25/33. Finally, in
light of the rock-star Trailhawk, most
judges deemed the Limited’s looks
frumpy and uninspiring. And no SUV
should ever wear chrome wheels.
Following two silver medals,
perhaps in 2016 Jeep will bring
home the gold when the compact
Renegade competes. Until next
year... Ron Kiino

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV
Cherokee
Trailhawk

67.8”

REAL MPG
17/23/19

107.0 ”
182.0”

Engine/Transmission Limited 2.4L/184-hp/171-lb- SOHC
16-valve I-4, 9-speed automatic Trailhawk 3.2L/271-hp/239-lb-
DOHC 24-valve V-6, 9-speed automatic

63.5”
74.9”

Curb Weight (F/R Dist.)
Limited 3754 lb (58/42%)
Trailhawk 4367 lb (57/43%)

63.5”

Energy Consumption, City/Hwy
Limited 153/109 kW-hrs/100 miles
Trailhawk 187/135 kW-hrs/100 miles

C02 emissions
Limited 0.77 lb/mile
Trailhawk 0.94 lb/mile

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 91

FINALISTS

Lexus NX
We Like Turbo engine, snappy transmission, sexy cabin. We Don’t Like Handling could be sportier, and the looks upset every other judge.

REAL MPG
22/28/24

200t F Sport

The big NX news is of
course the turbocharged engine, a Lexus
first that will be showing
up in other Lexus products (the IS
and the RC) soon. Says Kiino, “Nice
new turbo engine. Very lile lag,
smooth, feels gutsy.”
He and others also praised the
tuning of the six-speed automatic
transmission, though we wonder
why they didn’t bother with more
gears, as the heavily targeted Audi
Q5 has eight and the Range Rover
Evoque has nine. Lexus says that
more ratios add weight and cost.
2015 Lexus NX

Sure, but there must be some
reason (higher MPGs) that the main
players in the segment ship with
more gears. Also, Lexus pioneered
the eight-speed automatic transmission with the IS F, and that was
sporty. The six-speed decision
reeks of cost cuing.
The looks were obviously polarizing, and that’s exactly the point.
You don’t make your mini-ute
look like a mashup of a Cylon and
Predator because you want a
wallflower. MacKenzie was the NX’s
biggest aesthetic detractor. I wish
we had room to publish everything

200t F Sport

300h

Base Price / As Tested

$38,000 / $46,000 (est)

$43,000 / $45,000 (est)

Power (SAE net)

235 hp @ 4800 rpm

194 hp comb.

Torque (SAE net)

258 lb-ft @ 1650 rpm

152 lb-ft @ 4400 rpm*

Accel, 0-60 mph

7.0 sec

8.3 sec

Quarter Mile

15.3 sec @ 90.7 mph

16.3 sec @ 84.5 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

116 ft

115 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.79 g (avg)

0.80 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

27.2 sec @ 0.65 g (avg)

27.8 sec @ 0.63 g (avg)

EPA City/Hwy/Comb.

21/28/24 mpg

33/30/32 mpg

he wrote, but this is the highlight,
“Here’s a direct appeal to Akio
Toyoda: Tell the guys enough with
the spindle grille, already. It just
doesn’t work, no maer how much
your designers tweak it.” Ouch. I’ll be
the nice guy and state that this is by
far the best-looking spindle grille on
the market. The interior is the latest
interpretation of the LFA’s fighter jet
cockpit. We dig it.
As for ride and handling, Lago
had an awful lot to say. “Rides
rougher than it should, and to
no benefit as far as handling is

concerned. This isn’t ‘sporty.’ The
NX leaves a lot on the vehicle
dynamics table. Terminal understeer
and woeful ESC intervention. The
2.3-liter Lincoln schools this thing
in handling and stability control
tuning.” Pity we didn’t get to sample
the non-F-Sport 200t, because
it rides much beer and doesn’t
pretend to be sporty. Despite the
dynamic shortcomings and, uh,
unique looks, Lexus is bringing the
right product at the right time into
the fastest growing part of the luxury
market. Jonny Lieberman

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV

64.8”

300h

104.7”
182.3”

Engine/Transmission 200t F Sport 2.0L/235-hp/258-lb-
turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4, 6-speed automatic
300h 2.5L/154-hp/152-lb- Atkinson cycle DOHC 16-valve I-4 plus 141-hp
front and 67-hp rear electric motors, 194 hp comb., cont. variable auto

62.2”
73.6”

Curb Weight (F/R Dist.)
200t F Sport 4175 lb (56/44%)
300h 4123 lb (56/44%)

62.2”

Energy Consumption, City/Hwy
200t F Sport 160/120 kW-hrs/100 mi.
300h 102/112 kW-hrs/100 mi.
*Engine only

C02 Emissions
200t F Sport 0.82 lb/mi
300h 0.61 lb/mile

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FINALISTS

Lincoln MKC
We Like 2.3 oomph, AWD handling, handsome and high-tech cabin. We Don’t Like Tight backseat, some cheap interior bits, only a 6A.

REAL MPG
18/26/21

2.0 EcoBoost

Entering a fast-growing,
ultra-competitive
segment such as the
small luxury-crossover
set isn’t easy—it’s akin to merging
into the fast lane from a dead stop.
But that’s exactly what the “Lincoln
Motor Company” is aiming to do
with the all-new Ford Escapebased MKC. And lucky for MKC,
the LiMoCo fit it with the new 2.3L
EcoBoost I-4 found in the Mustang.
Armed with the 2.3’s 285 horses
and 305 lb-, the all-wheel-drive
MKC sprinted from 0-60 in 6.5
seconds, through the quarter in 15.0
2015 Lincoln MKC

at 91.1 mph, and around the skidpad
at 0.84 g. As Seabaugh noted, “This
2.3 motor is potent as hell.” Just
imagine if it were paired with an
eight-speed auto, à la the BMW X4.
Per Lieberman: “The 2.3-liter with a
great transmission could be a very
compelling product.” Our 240-hp,
270-lb- 2.0 EB front-driver returned
respectable but less impressive runs
of 7.6 and 15.9 at 87.4, respectively.
The MKC’s exterior design, a
blend of Lincoln heritage, Audi
Q5, and Escape, received mostly
rave reviews. MacKenzie, “Exterior
styling is mature and pleasant. The

2.0 EcoBoost

wing grille stays the right side of
parody, and the Audi Q5-style rear
hatch (same style of cutlines to the
side) gives the rear end graphic
a broad, expansive stance.” Loh
added: “Exterior is stunning. Best
modern Lincoln styling to date.” Still,
in profile, the MKC’s A-pillar, wheelbase, and proportions suggest the
downmarket Escape. To that end,
the radically penned Lexus NX does
a beer job concealing its fundamental roots (RAV4).
From behind the wheel, the
MKC proved a legitimate luxury

player. Judges were impressed with
the quality of the wood, leather,
and plastics as well as the clean,
appealing, and uncluered design.
Still, some said the knobs felt cheap
and found the infotainment screen
too similar to that in a Fiesta, while all
deemed the backseat too cramped
for a four-door Lincoln.
MacKenzie summed up the MKC
as “a meaningful aempt at a small
luxury SUV.” Alas, for Lincoln, to be
Sport/Utility of the Year, the MKC
needed to be much more than an
aempt. Ron Kiino

2.3 AWD EcoBoost

Base Price / As Tested

$33,995 / $45,785

$36,490 / $49,265

Power (SAE net)

240 hp @ 5500 rpm

285 hp @ 5500 rpm

Torque (SAE net)

270 lb-ft @ 3000 rpm

305 lb-ft @ 2750 rpm

Accel, 0-60 mph

7.6 sec

6.5 sec

Quarter Mile

15.9 sec @ 87.4 mph

15.0 sec @ 91.1 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

123 ft

118 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.80 g (avg)

0.84 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

27.9 sec @ 0.61 g (avg)

26.7 sec @ 0.68 g (avg)

EPA Econ City/Hwy/Comb.

20/29/23 mpg

/ mpg
pg
18/26/21

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV
2.3 AWD
EcoBoost

65.2”

REAL MPG
15/24/18

105.9”
179.2”

Engine/Transmission 2.0 2.0L/240-hp/270-lb- turbocharged
DOHC 16-valve I-4, 6-speed automatic 2.3 2.3L/285-hp/305-lb-
turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4, 6-speed automatic
94 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

62.4”
73.4”

Curb Weight (F/R Dist.)
2.0 3866 lb (58/42%)
2.3 4045 lb (57/43%)

Energy Consumption, City/Hwy
2.0 169/116 kW-hrs/100 miles
2.3 187/130 kW-hrs/100 miles

62.5”

C02 Emissions
2.0 0.83 lb/mile
2.3 0.93 lb/mile

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FINALISTS

Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class
We Like Ridiculously fun to drive; great-looking package. We Don’t Like Flinty ride and loud cabin.

REAL MPG
19/25/21

GLA45 AMG

“The GLA is proof
the best way to get
Americans to buy a
hatchback is to jack it
up and call it an SUV.” That sentence
from MacKenzie perfectly sums up
the Mercedes-Benz GLA. It’s lile
more than an A-Class hatchback
with more ground clearance and
some pseudo body cladding, and
yet it all works, with the GLA making
a very strong case for itself at Sport/
Utility of the Year.
With its big rear wing, bright red
paint, and giggle-inducing exhaust
note, it was hard for some of us not
2015 Mercedes-Benz

to fall in love with the GLA45 AMG.
“As good as anything I’ve ever
driven down Palmer Road,” said
Lieberman, “and I’ve driven an SLS
Black Series, a Corvee ZR1, and
an SRT Viper down Palmer.” “Holy
crap, this should have been at Best
Driver’s Car,” said Loh.
Others weren’t so easy to let the
GLA45 into their hearts: “What am
I driving?” questioned Evans, “This
isn’t an SUV; it’s a hot hatch on stilts.”
Jurnecka was less kind: “To think of
this as an SUV is a bit of a joke … I
see this thing as an expensive WRX
STI.” And aer liberating a front tire

GLA250 4Matic

GLA45 AMG

Base Price / As Tested

$34,225 / $48,705

$49,225 / $65,985

Power (SAE net)

208 hp @ 5500 rpm

355 hp @ 6000 rpm

Torque (SAE net)

258 lb-ft @ 1250 rpm

332 lb-ft @ 2250 rpm

Accel, 0-60 mph

6.9 sec

4.3 sec

Quarter Mile

15.3 sec @ 89.8 mph

12.8 sec @ 107.9 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

110 ft

103 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.84 g (avg)

0.93 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

27.0 sec @ 0.66 g (avg)

25.0 sec @ 0.78 g (avg)

EPA Econ City/Hwy/Comb.

24/32/27 mpg

29/25 mpg
23/29/25

from its rim on its first finalist loop on
gravel, the GLA45 proved itself more
sports car than sport/utility vehicle.
The GLA250 was a different story
off-road. With off-road mode’s loose
restrictions on stability control, the
GLA250 felt like a rally car on our
loops. “Very happily hangs the tail
out even at low speeds on gravel,”
noted Markus. “Responds to the
Finnish Flick well.”
The GLA250 was no slouch
on-road either. “A driver’s CUV,” said
Jurnecka. The GLA250 was fun to
push, ripping down our road loops

at velocities no SUV has the right to.
While there was lile doubt
among judges about the GLA’s good
looks and sports car credentials, it
didn’t live up to the SUOTY criteria as
well as other contenders, with laggy
throle response in the default Eco
drive mode, a loud cabin, rough ride,
and tight accommodations.
Ultimately, the GLA looks like a
car and drives like a car, so it must be
a car, and while it’s more entertaining
than the CLA, the GLA is no Sport/
Utility of the Year.
Christian Seabaugh

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV
GLA250
4Matic

60.0”

REAL MPG
21/29/24

106.3”
173.9”

Engine/Transmission GLA250 2.0L/208-hp/258-lb- turbocharged
DOHC 16-valve I-4, 7-speed twin-clutch auto GLA45 2.0L/355-hp/332lb- turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4, 7-speed twin-clutch auto
96 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

61.4”
71.0”

Curb Weight (F/R Dist.)
GLA250 3550 lb (60/40%)
GLA45 3646 lb (60/40%)

Energy Consumption, City/Hwy
GLA250 140/105 kW-hrs/100 miles
GLA45 147/116 kW-hrs/100 miles

61.4”

C02 Emissions
GLA250 0.72 lb/mile
GLA45 0.76 lb/mile

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FINALISTS

Nissan Rogue
We Like Excellent packaging and content for a value price. We Don’t Like Underpowered powertrain is coarse relative to the competition.

Based on its name,
you’d be forgiven for
expecting the Nissan
Rogue to rival the
Cherokee Trailhawk in excitement or
off-road prowess. Though “exciting”
isn’t a word we’d use to describe
driving the Rogue, the Nissan
cute-ute does offer quite a lot to get
excited about.
Nissan kills it when it comes to
packaging. Starting in the trunk,
Nissan offers its Divide-N-Hide
cargo system on the Rogue (not
available with the third row). It
includes two useful reconfigurable

shelves that allow the Rogue’s cargo
area to expand and contract as
needed, with 18 different configurations. “Very cool cargo area—best
aspect of the car,” said Markus.
Evans agreed with his assessment: “Multi-level reconfigurable
cargo floor is prey clever; very
solid lile SUV.” There are 45/10/45
split-folding rear seats with a passthrough in the middle for long items.
Two other players in the Rogue’s
segment in this competition, the
Cherokee and the CR-V, don’t have a
pass-through. Those adult-friendly
rear seats also slide fore and a,

boosting legroom and allowing
access to the available third row.
While it’s apparent that Nissan
engineers spent much of their time
on the Rogue’s interior, we wish they
focused a bit more on its powertrain.
The Rogue’s 170-hp, 2.5-liter I-4 and
CVT carry over to the new model
effectively unchanged, giving the
now-larger Rogue a pokey 0-60
mph time of 9.1 seconds. “Powertrain
seems fine until you hit a short
on-ramp, then it feels underpowered,” said Evans. “Great everywhere
else.” Middling performance

numbers would be a fair trade-off
for miserly fuel economy figures, but
according to our Real MPG team,
the Rogue doesn’t exactly impress
there either, with its combined rating
of 23.1 RMPG falling well below the
EPA’s 28 mpg combined figure.
Despite its lack of grunt (and eco
cred), the Rogue otherwise moves
down the road rather well, with
confident handling, solid off-road
chops, and good ride quality. It just
doesn’t move the needle enough
to come away with the calipers.
Christian Seabaugh

2014 Nissan Rogue SL AWD
Base Price / As Tested

$30,490 / $32,795

Power (SAE net)

170 hp @ 6000 rpm

Torque (SAE net)

175 lb-ft @ 4400 rpm

Accel, 0-60 mph

9.1 sec

Quarter Mile

17.0 sec @ 83.2 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

18 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.77 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

28.9 sec @ 0.58 g (avg)

EPA Econ City/Hwy/Comb.

25/32/28 mpg

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV
Rogue SL
AWD

66.3”

REAL MPG
20/28/23

106.5”
182.3”

Engine/Transmission 2.5L/170-hp/175-lb- DOHC 16-valve I-4,
Cont. variable auto
98 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

62.8”
72.4”

Curb Weight (F/R Dist.)
3633 lb (57/43%)

Energy Consumption, City/Hwy
135/105 kW-hrs/100 miles

62.8”

C02 Emissions
0.70 lb/mile

FINALISTS

Porsche Macan
We Like The Porsche driving experience. We Don’t Like The Porsche prices.

REAL MPG
17/23/19

Macan S

axle, but, man, this is good to drive.”
“Such poise, sure-footedness and
locked-down body motion control
in Sport +,” Markus said of the base
Macan S. The Macan’s performance
figures were impressive, with the
340-hp S hiing 60 mph in 4.9
seconds, its V-6 singing sweetly
along the way. It lapped our figure
eight in an impressive 26.2 seconds
at 0.71 g average. The 400-hp Turbo
was faster still, hiing 60 mph in
a competition-best 4.2 seconds
and lapping the figure eight in 25.0
seconds at 0.78 g average—a tie for
first with the Mercedes GLA45 AMG.

Were this a competition
to determine which
crossover would make
the best factory rally
car, the Porsche Macan would’ve
likely walked away with the win. “I’d
like to have one of these in the 959
Rothmans rally livery—complete
with knobby tires,” exclaimed Loh
aer a stint in the Macan S around
our off-road loop.
It was even more impressive on
the tarmac. “I shouldn’t like this. I
don’t want to like this. But I like this.
A lot,” said Lago. “It’s too tall, the
engine’s too far forward of the front
2015 Porsche Macan

S

Not only does the Macan drive
like a Porsche, but it looks and feels
like one, too. The exterior is a mix of
918, 911, and Cayenne design cues,
and the superb interior manages to
bring both luxury and sportiness to
an even cheaper (for Porsche) price
point. “I love the 918-derived details:
the four LEDs on the headlamps and
the steering wheel,” said a very obviously smien Lago. “The rear-three
quarter looks great too, especially
those taillamps.”
The Macan is exactly what you’d
expect from Porsche: quick, luxu-

rious, capable on and off-road, and
truly a sport SUV, not just a sporty
one. That would ultimately prove to
be the Macan’s undoing. “I guess
the issue is that it doesn’t really move
the needle forward,” said Lieberman.
“It’s sort of exactly what you’d expect
from a small Porsche SUV.” That,
a tight backseat, and questionable value in the face of the closely
related (5 grand cheaper) Audi SQ5
kept the Macan from taking home
the calipers this year like its Cayenne
big brother did a few years ago.
Christian Seabaugh

Turbo

Base Price / As Tested

$50,895 / $66,805

$73,295 / $98,390

Power (SAE net)

340 hp @ 5500 rpm

400 hp @ 6000 rpm

Torque (SAE net)

339 lb-ft @ 1450 rpm

406 lb-ft @ 1350 rpm

Accel, 0-60 mph

4.9 sec

4.2 sec

Quarter Mile

13.5 sec @ 102.1 mph

12.9 sec @ 106.2 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

119 ft

102 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.83 g (avg)

0.90 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

26.2 sec @ 0.71 g (avg)

25.0 sec @ 0.78 g (avg)

EPA Econ City/Hwy/Comb.

17/23/19 mpg

17/23/19 mpg

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV

63.4”

Macan
Turbo

110.5”
185.0”

Engine/Transmission S 3.0L/340-hp/339-lb- twin-turbo DOHC
24-valve V-6, 7-speed twin-clutch auto Turbo 3.6L/400-hp/406lb- twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6, 7-speed twin-clutch auto
100 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

65.2”
76.1”

Curb Weight (F/R Dist.)
S 4395 lb (56/44%)
Turbo 4544 lb (55/45%)

Energy Consumption, City/Hwy
S 198/147 kW-hrs/100 miles
Turbo 198/147 kW-hrs/100 miles

65.0”

C02 Emissions
S 1.01 lb/mile
Turbo 1.01 lb/mile

FINALISTS

Subaru Outback
We Like Infotainment system, fuel economy, practicality. We Don’t Like The CVT's fake gears.

A fresh interior design, coupled
with increased passenger and
cargo volume, gives the Outback
a more upscale appearance. “The
wood in here is more believable
than the stuff in the King Ranch,”
said Markus of the 3.6R model. A
new infotainment system with clear
graphics and easy-to-use controls
makes a dramatic improvement over
last year’s version, though it’s still no
Chrysler Uconnect.
In terms of driving, the Outback
packages good ride quality,
handling, and steering with 8.7

The casual observer
might not realize
that there’s anything
new with the 2015
Subaru Outback. New yet subtle
bodywork hides the fact that its
new platform means it’s bigger in
every dimension. The few design
warts of last year’s car, such as the
needlessly angry headlights, have
been calmed. The Outback looks
normal, inoffensive. “Nothing about
the car stands out, but sometimes
it’s best not to shout. Just do,” said
MacKenzie.
(2.5i) PZEV

3.6R

Base Price / As Tested

2015 Subaru Outback

$26,045 / $34,135

$33,845 / $36,835

Power (SAE net)

175 hp @ 5800 rpm

256 hp @ 6000 rpm

Torque (SAE net)

174 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm

247 lb-ft @ 4400 rpm

Accel, 0-60 mph

9.2 sec

7.3 sec

Quarter Mile

17.1 sec @ 82.9 mph

15.7 sec @ 91.2 mph

Braking, 60-0 mph

120 ft

129 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.78 g (avg)

0.76 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

26.3 sec @ 0.63 g (avg)

28.0 sec @ 0.61 g (avg)

EPA Econ City/Hwy/Comb.

25/33/28 mpg

20/27/22 mpg

inches of ground clearance that
rivals other, more serious SUVs. Of
the two models we tested, our welloptioned 2.5i was most appealing.
Though noticeably more powerful,
we found it difficult to justify a 3.6R
when considering fuel economy and
the features available with the 2.5i.
Subaru must agree, as it anticipates
the 2.5i will be the most popular.
Another thing to be happy about:
25/33 mpg city/highway from an
all-wheel-drive SUV.
A CVT-only lineup brings many
benefits to acceleration in our
testing and fuel economy, but we

question Subaru’s choice to have
the transmission simulate stepped
gear ratios. The resulting fake shis
and surges feel odd, and pale in
comparison to the CVT in Honda’s
CR-V. A minor blemish, surely, but
enough to dock points off the
Engineering Excellence score.
The Outback remains the easyto-recommend, highly capable
vehicle that won SUOTY in 2010.
This mild refresh adds welcome
features, but the Outback doesn’t
exceed in Engineering Excellence or
Performance of Intended Function
more than the last one. Carlos Lago

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV
Outback
3.6R

66.1”

REAL MPG
19/26/22

108.1”
189.6”

Engine/Transmission (2.5i) PZEV 2.5L/175-hp/174-lb- DOHC
16-valve flat-4, cont. variable auto 3.6R 3.6L/256-hp/247-lb-
DOHC 24-valve flat-6, cont. variable auto

61.8”
72.4”

Curb Weight (F/R Dist.)
(2.5i) PZEV 3702 lb (56/44%)
3.6R 3866 lb (57/43%)

62.2”

Energy Consumption, City/Hwy
(2.5i) PZEV 135/102 kW-hrs/100 miles
3.6R 169/125 kW-hrs/100 miles

C02 Emissions
(2.5i) PZEV 0.69 lb/mile
3.6R 0.86 lb/mile

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM

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H O RA C E D O D G E

THE NEW 2015 DODGE

J OH N D O D G E

DYNAMIC
DO-OVER
HONDA TAKES ANOTHER SWING AT ITS
FOURTH-GEN CR-V, AND CONNECTS
WINNER | 2015 SUV OF THE YEAR

104 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

Honda has had to take a couple
of mulligans lately. When the
ninth-gen 2012 Civic launch
fizzled, the car got a do-over
for ’14, bringing much-needed styling and
powertrain upgrades. Similarly, the fourthgen 2012 CR-V missed the small-overlap
crash-test boat, earning a “marginal” rating
that nixed its chances at the coveted Top
Safety Pick ranking. It also drew criticism for
being less fun to drive than its rivals, due in
part to its quaint old five-speed automatic.
The fix: a 2015 reboot, and a second chance.

We’re open-minded about second chances—
mid-cycle fixes earned the 2010 Fusion our
Car of the Year calipers—so let’s see how
Honda’s redemption-edition CR-V stacks up
against the criteria.

Advancement in Design
In nine pages of compiled notes from nine
judges, the few references to the CR-V’s
exterior design ranged from MacKenzie’s
“Not the most beautiful or innovative C-segment SUV design, but not
the worst, either,” to Evans’ “Not a

Words Frank Markus
Photographs Brian Brantley

HONDA
CR-V

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 105

of “an old T-Mobile Sidekick and an iPhone
6.” It does boast a segment-first HDMI input,
but none of us can imagine wanting to sit in
a parked CR-V and watch a movie on a dash
screen that’s smaller than an iPad.

Engineering Excellence

big fan of the latest styling updates.” Then
again, design was low on the priority list this
time around for a vehicle that continually
outsells its rivals to rank as the best-selling
entry CUV ever. And at least nobody reviled
it, as some did the chrome-beaked Cherokee.
The interior design is equally staid, but its
ergonomics generally drew praise, except
for the infotainment system, which
was universally reviled for its lack
of knobs, unintuitive function,
and graphics that don’t match
those on the other various
screens. Our youngest judge,
Seabaugh, reckoned that his
peers would liken the difference between the CR-V
and Jeep systems to that

OPEN WIDE The roomy 70.9-cubic-foot cargo
hold drew raves; the goiter-like power-hatch
mechanism on the left D-pillar, not so much. If
Honda revisits the Gen 4 CR-V again, we'd like
some power outlets somewhere in the back.

Ah, now here’s a criterion Honda can sink
its teeth into. Powertrain revisions tasked
with improving the fun quotient include
a new “Earth Dreams” 2.4-liter engine that
gets direct injection and a commensurate
compression bump from 10.0:1 to 11.1:1, along
with a new, lighter die-cast aluminum block
(with the same bore and stroke) and myriad
friction reductions. Horsepower still peaks
at 185, but does so 600 rpm earlier (at 6400),
with torque jumping from 163 lb-ft at 4400
rpm to 181 lb-ft at 3900 rpm.
That engine is hooked to a continuously
variable automatic much like the Civic’s,
about which we’ve sung nothing but hosannas. This unit employs a torque converter and
a “G-design Shift Logic” strategy that combine
to feel completely “normal” in gentle everyday driving—no rubber-bandiness. But nail
the gas to pass and the trans delivers a snappy
downshift to a ratio near the power peak.
“CVT is very good, especially in Sport mode—
keeps revs in the sweet spot and doesn’t
fake shift like Outback and Rogue,” noted

KNOB-LESS OBLIGE
The new infotainment
system looks slick and
upscale, but lacks the
simple volume and tuning
knobs that staffers (and
we're willing to bet
customers) of all ages
clearly prefer.

106 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

2015 SUV OF THE YEAR | WINNER

Nail the gas to pass and the trans delivers a snappy downshift to the power peak.
2015 Honda CR-V AWD Touring
Base Price / As Tested

$33,600 / $33,600

Power (SAE net)

185 hp @ 6400 rpm

Torque (SAE net)

181 lb-ft @ 3900 rpm

0-60 mph

8.5 sec

Quarter Mile

16.7 sec @ 86.0 mph

Braking, 60-0 Mph

121 ft

Lateral Acceleration

0.78 g (avg)

MT Figure Eight

28.3 sec @ 0.59 g (avg)

EPA City/Hwy/Comb

26/33/28 mpg

Real MPG

21/29/24 mpg

65.1”

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV

103.1”
179.4”

Engine/transmission 2.4L/185-hp/181 lb- DOHC 16-valve I-4,
cont. variable auto

62.2”
71.6”

Curb weight (f/r dist)
3591 lb (58/42%)

62.2”

Energy consumption, city/hwy
130/102 kW-hrs/100 miles

C02 emissions
0.67 lb/mi

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 107

GOING AWAY This is the
metaphorical view all other
SUVs will have of the bestselling CR-V in the sales race.

Kiino. This new setup shaves 0.6 second off
our last AWD automatic CR-V’s 0-60 time,
at 8.5 seconds. That’s still mid-pack in the
class, but accompanied by that trademark
Honda engine wail, it feels downright sporty.
Lieberman welcomed Honda’s “return to
form as a company known for making some
of the best engines in the business.”
The chassis also underwent a thorough
rethink with a new front subframe and
lower control arms, revised spring and
damper rates all around, and new bushings,
anti-roll bars, and geometry (a half-degree
less camber and 0.6-inch wider track front
and rear). The steering ratio tightens from
16.7:1 to 15.6:1. Seabaugh, frustrated with the
last CR-V, enthused, “This feels like a Honda
should, with light steering, great feedback,
and competent handling chops. It’s way
more fun than any compact crossover ought
to be.” Evans concurred: “You can kind of
fling it around like a Fiesta ST. It’s fun in

108 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

that way.” And Kiino complimented the
ride/handling trade-off, noting that “it feels
planted but never harsh.”

Performance of Intended Function
The entry CUV’s job is easily defined: help
a small family haul its gear anywhere with
ease and confidence in any weather. Nobody
expects these CUVs to scale the Rubicon,
and our CR-V’s aggressive tire treads and
on-demand AWD handled our steep, silty
gravel hill with minimal fuss. Like its little
brother, the Fit, the CR-V boasts savvy packaging. “The second-row legroom and load space
are excellent in relation to the vehicle’s footprint,” MacKenzie noted. Indeed, the CR-V’s
ratio of interior to exterior space tops those of
the RAV4, Forester, Escape, Rogue, and CX-5.
But more important than sheer size is the ease
with which that space is utilized. Expanding
the cargo hold from 35.3 to 70.9 cubic feet

is as easy as pulling two levers in the cargo
hold, setting in motion a purely mechanical
series of flips and folds of the rear seatbacks
to render a nearly flat (and low) load floor.
There are bag hooks, tie-downs, and a small
net in back, and the side doors open nearly 90
degrees for easy access. On the negative side,
there are no power outlets of any type in the
rear seat or cargo areas; the optional power
tailgate is driven by a motor that occupies a
giant goiter on the driver’s side D-pillar (the
strut mounted screw jacks are state-of-theart); and as Evans noted, “There’s a lot of wind
and road noise on the freeway—louder than
most of the other vehicles here.”

Efficiency
The switch to direct injection and a continuously variable transmission with a 33 percent
broader ratio range than the old five-speed
should boost fuel efficiency pretty notably,
and indeed the combined 26/33 mpg EPA city/
hwy figures represent an improvement of

POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS

DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT

Front-engine, AWD

ENGINE TYPE

I-4, alum block/head

VALVETRAIN
DISPLACEMENT

DOHC, 4 valves/cyl
143.8 cu in/2356cc

COMPRESSION RATIO

11.1:1

POWER (SAE NET)

185 hp @ 6400 rpm
181 lb- @ 3900 rpm
6750 rpm
19.4 lb/hp
Cont. variable auto
5.05:1/2.04:1
Struts, coil springs, anti-roll
bar; multi-link, coil springs,
anti-roll bar

TORQUE (SAE NET)
REDLINE
WEIGHT TO POWER

about 12 percent. But our Real MPG results
are disappointingly similar to those of our
last CR-V automatic with AWD: 20.6 city/28.7
highway/23.6 combined mpg, compared
with last year’s 20.5/28.9/23.6 (its EPA ratings
were 22/30/25), so it’s unclear whether you’ll
realize all that improvement. We eagerly
await a chance to test out another notso-early-build example.

Safety
Here again, there’s been no official IIHS
testing to report, but we’re told the engineers reinforced the CR-V’s occupant
compartment with additional hot-stamped
high-strength steel, and modified the engine
compartment crash structure to better
absorb the energy in small-offset crashes.
Presuming their computer simulations have
accurately predicted what IIHS will measure
soon, the Top Safety Pick hurdle should be
cleared. The available Honda Sense suite of
camera/radar-based safety gear, including
Collision Mitigating Braking Support, Lane
Departure Warning, Lane-Keeping Assist
System, and adaptive cruise control, are the
“plus” cherry on top. LKAS had every editor
raving. “An amazing piece of technology for
the segment,” said Seabaugh. “The steering
straightens you out; it doesn’t send you pingponging down the road,” concurred Loh. The
LaneWatch camera we’ve seen on Odyssey,
Accord, and Civic arrives here too, displaying
a blind-spot view of the right side of the car
whenever that turn signal is on. LaneWatch

comes with the EX trim level, but you have
to pop for the new top-level Touring trim
($32,350-$33,600) to get Honda Sense goodies.

2015 Honda CR-V
AWD Touring

TRANSMISSION
AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE RATIO
SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR

Value

STEERING RATIO

Whatever you spend on a CR-V, IntelliChoice
reckons you’re getting a pretty good deal. It
rates the current car Excellent in terms of cost
of ownership, with five-year total operating
costs averaging $32K-$35K—$4300-$4500
less than the class average. Honda’s legendary
resale value is largely responsible. Comparing
the current CR-V’s costs with the averages
in our August 2013 Big Test of a similarly
equipped Ford Escape, Mazda CX-5, Subaru
Forester, and Toyota RAV4, the Honda depreciates 13 percent less, with maintenance, repair,
and insurance costs averaging 10 percent less.

TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK
BRAKES, F;R
WHEELS
TIRES
DIMENSIONS
WHEELBASE
TRACK, F/R

LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT
GROUND CLEARANCE
APPRCH/DEPART ANGLE
TURNING CIRCLE
CURB WEIGHT
WEIGHT DIST., F/R

Conclusion

TOWING CAPACITY

Some years, a vehicle wins our calipers almost
unanimously. This year our jury entered the
final discussion split almost down the middle.
After two hours of contentious debate, the
CR-V’s stellar value, engineering, and safety
features combined with the cheerful way it
performs its intended functions earned Honda
the win. Arguments such as these tipped the
balance: “The CR-V shows you don’t have to
lose the fun factor when buying something
economical,” said Lago. “A careful rework of
a best-seller, executed with typical Honda
thoughtfulness,” echoed MacKenzie. Score
another win for redemption. Q

SEATING CAPACITY
HEADROOM, F/R
LEGROOM, F/R
SHOULDER ROOM, F/R
CARGO VOL, BEH F/R
TEST DATA
ACCELERATION TO MPH
0-30
0-40
0-50
0-60
0-70
0-80
0-90
PASSING, 45-65 MPH
QUARTER MILE
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH
LATERAL ACCELERATION
MT FIGURE EIGHT
TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH
CONSUMER INFO
BASE PRICE
PRICE AS TESTED
STABILITY/TRACTION
CONTROL

15.6:1
2.9
11.8-in vented disc; 12.0-in
disc, ABS
7.0 x 18-in, cast aluminum
225/60R18 99H M+S Dunlop
Grandtrek AT20
103.1 in
62.2/62.2 in
179.4 x 71.6 x 65.1 in
6.7 in
28.1/20.8 deg
36.9 
3591 lb
58/42%
1500 lb
5
38.0/38.6 in
41.3/38.3 in
58.6/56.4 in
70.9/35.3 cu 

3.4 sec
4.8
6.5
8.5
11.1
14.4
18.3
4.1
16.7 sec @ 86.0 mph
121 
0.78 g (avg)
28.3 sec @ 0.59 g (avg)
1600 rpm
$33,600
$33,600
Yes/yes

AIRBAGS

Dual front, front side,
f/r curtain

BASIC WARRANTY

3 yrs/36,000 miles
5 yrs/60,000 miles
3 yrs/36,000 miles
15.3 gal
26/33/28 mpg
130/102 kW-hrs/100 miles
0.67 lb/mi
21/29/24 mpg
Unleaded regular

POWERTRAIN WARRANTY
ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE
FUEL CAPACITY
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB ECON
ENERGY CONS., CITY/HWY
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB
REAL MPG, CITY/HWY/COMB
RECOMMENDED FUEL

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 109

Tire Rebates and Special Offers
Now is the time to buy! Below are just a few of the special offers available this month.
See them all at tirerack.com/specials

ONCE YOU HAVE BLIZZAKS, BE PREPARED
TO HELP OTHERS THAT DON’T!

GET A

WINTER

UTILITY KIT

BY MAIL WITH THE PURCHASE
OF 4 BLIZZAK ™ WINTER TIRES

GET REBATES UP TO

80

$

With the
purchase of a
set of four select
Goodyear® tires.

Offer Valid 9-23-14 to 12-31-14

TRAVEL CONFIDENTLY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
WITH A SET OF NEW MICHELIN® BRAND TIRES.

Get

70

$

when you buy any set
of 4 new MICHELIN®
passenger or light
truck tires.

Offer valid
11/10/14 – 12/8/14

Offer Valid OCT. 15–NOV. 30, 2014

To find out about special offers in the future, sign up for our emails at tirerack.com/email

Tire Rack Testing – We Try Before You Buy

On the track, on the road, in the snow, or at the rink — our test results help you find
the tire that’s right for you! Access complete test reports or watch the videos to see
the results for yourself! tirerack.com/videos
©2014
Tire Rack

Hours M-F 8am-8pm
EST: SAT 9am-4pm

1-888-372-8473

www.tirerack.com

Winter Sottozero Serie II
Performance Winter / Snow

Winter Sottozero 3
Performance Winter / Snow
For premium and prestigious high-performance vehicles that will
face challenging wintertime road conditions. Developed with the
philosophy that winter / snow tires must perform in a variety of
unpredictable weather conditions, Winter Sottozero 3 tires are
designed not just as snow tires, but as seasonal tires suitable for
the wintertime’s cold weather and freezing road conditions.
29 sizes available from 16"-21"

Available for sport cars, coupes and sedans to deliver winter
performance for drivers whose enthusiasm doesn’t cool off when
temperatures drop. Designed to be effective in freezing and near
freezing temperatures by offering significantly more traction than
summer tires when driven in cold, dry, wet
or snowy conditions.
Interactive Brickwork Siping
increases both lateral and
longitudinal stability while
providing more biting edges
to increase snow traction.
58 sizes available from 16"-20"

Over 40 Different Pirelli Winter Runflat Sizes In Stock!

Winter Carving Edge
Studdable Winter / Snow
For sport cars, coupes, sedans, minivans, CUVs and SUVs. A directional
tread design with rounded shoulders increases hydroplaning resistance
on wet and slush-covered roads while enhancing dry road handling.
High density sipes across the face of the tire enhance snow starting and
stopping traction while optional metal studs in the shoulder and intermediate tread blocks increase traction on packed snow and icy roads.
45 sizes available from 14"-21"

For best selection call now or visit www.tirerack.com/pirelli
All tires listed meet the severe snow service performance standards of The Rubber Manufacturers
Association (RMA) and the Rubber Association of Canada (RAC) for snow traction, and are branded
with the mountain/snowflake symbol.

©2014
Tire Rack

Hours M-F 8am-8pm
EST: SAT 9am-4pm

1-888-372-8473

Scorpion Winter
Light Truck / SUV Performance Winter / Snow
Developed for powerful luxury crossover and SUVs, the Scorpion
Winter features a tread compound with a polymer blend and a
higher silica content for added wintertime grip. The directional
tread design helps maintain traction on wet and slush-covered
roads while snow boosters ridges located in the bottom of the
grooves and multi-directional sipes help bite into snow and ice.
39 sizes available from 16"-22"

www.tirerack.com

Studdable Winter / Snow
General’s family of AltiMAX Arctic tires was developed for drivers of
coupes, sedans, minivans and crossovers, as well as passenger-oriented
light duty trucks and SUVs that desire to use traditional methods of
enhancing wintertime traction.
AltiMAX Arctic radials combine a modern tread compound molded
into a directional tread design featuring unique grooves and sipes
to offer high levels of traction at low temperatures.

All-WeatherDual Tread Compound
Enhances cold weather flexibility and wet traction

Directional Tread Design
Resists hydroplaning on wet and slush-covered roads

Center Stability Rib
Promotes straight-line tracking
on dry roads

270º of High Density Siping
Enhances snow traction when
accelerating, cornering or brakin

Voids for Optional Meta

ud

Increase traction on hard packe
and icy roads

For sizes and pricing visit www.tirerack.com/general
AltiMAX Arctic meets the severe snow service performance standards of The Rubber Manufacturers
Association (RMA) and the Rubber Association of Canada (RAC) for snow traction.

©2014
Tire Rack

Hours M-F 8am-8pm
EST: SAT 9am-4pm

1-888-372-8473

www.tirerack.com

CS1

F11

14 15 16 17

STARTING AT $84 ea.

16 17 18

STARTING AT $89 ea.

A9

A8

15 16 17 18

F12

16 17 18

STARTING AT $59 ea.

14 15 16 17

STARTING AT $92ea.

STARTING AT $ 69 ea.

A HUGE SELECTION OF OVER 1,000 DIFFERENT WHEELS

MONTE TITANO MT1 PIANA MONTE TITANO MT2 PARI MONTE TITANO MT4 CESTA MONTE TITANO MT21 ROCCA
16 17 18

16 17 18

STARTING AT $123 ea.

ANDROS N1
16 17 18

STARTING AT $114 ea.

STARTING AT $123 ea.

ANDROS N2
16 17

STARTING AT $114 ea.

17 18 19

17 18

STARTING AT $138 ea.

ANDROS N3
14 15 16 17

STARTING AT $ 96 ea.

STARTING AT $138 ea.

ASA AR1
16 17 18

MSW TYPE 85

MSW TYPE 22

STARTING AT $ 85 ea.

STARTING AT $ 85 ea.

14 15 16 17

AVARUS AV11
20 21

STARTING AT $120 ea.

STARTING AT $232 ea.

14 15 16 17

SPARCO ASSETTO GARA
14 15 16 17 18
STARTING AT $105 ea.

SPARCO PRO CORSA
17 18
STARTING AT $148 ea.

See Them On
Your Vehicle!
Enter your vehicle at
www.tirerack.com to
experience one-click
access to everything
that fits it, and create a
list of saved products.
O.Z. ALLEGGERITA HLT
16 17 18

O.Z. CORTINA
19 20

STARTING AT $259 ea.

STARTING AT $299 ea.

ENKEI TUNING RAIJIN
18

ENKEI PERF. M52
15 16 17 18

O.Z. LEGGERA HLT
17 18 19 20
STARTING AT $299 ea.

O.Z. OMNIA
17 18

STARTING AT $210 ea.

O.Z. SUPERTURISMO DAKAR
20 21
STARTING AT $382 ea.

What About TPMS?
If your vehicle came equipped with a
direct tire pressure monitoring system,
we can assist you in selecting wheels that
are compatible with its sensors.
We also offer an extra set of
sensors for all TPMS systems, so your tire and wheel
package can arrive with
sensors already installed.

Want More Info?
STARTING AT $215 ea.

STARTING AT $113 ea.

ENKEI PERF. RSF5
15 16 17 18
STARTING AT $120 ea.

BRAKES

©2014
Tire Rack

RIAL P10
17 18

STARTING AT $125 ea.

RIAL W10X
18 20

Call and talk to our
highly trained experts.

STARTING AT $189 ea.

SUSPENSION

Hours M-F 8am-8pm
EST: SAT 9am-4pm

1-888-372-8473

Prices Subject to Change
Prices Vary by Application

www.tirerack.com

DUNLOP
WINTER MAXX

GENERAL
ALTIMAX
ARCTIC

FIRESTONE
WINTERFORCE

GOODYEAR
ULTRA GRIP
ICE WRT

BRIDGESTONE
BLIZZAK DM-V1

BRIDGESTONE
BLIZZAK LM-32

BRIDGESTONE
BLIZZAK WS80

CONTINENTAL
EXTREMEWINTER
CONTACT

DUNLOP
SP WINTER
SPORT 4D

MICHELIN
PILOT ALPIN PA4

MICHELIN
PRIMACY
ALPIN PA3

MICHELIN
X-ICE Xi3

PIRELLI
WINTER
SOTTOZERO 3

PIRELLI
SCORPION
WINTER

Many winter tires have limited availability. Order now for best selection!
ExtremeWinterContact

Blizzak WS80
175/65
185/55
185/60
185/65
195/65
205/65
215/70
185/55
195/55
195/60
205/55
205/60
205/65
215/55
215/60
215/65

Blizzak DM-V1

R- 15 $86
R- 15 94
R- 15 91
R- 15 89
R- 15 94
R- 15 99
R- 15 94
R- 16XL 119
R- 16 125
R- 16 100
R- 16 123
R- 16 105
R- 16 106
R- 16XL 128
R- 16 110
R- 16 108

225/60
225/65
235/65
205/40
205/50
215/45
215/50
215/55
215/60
215/65
225/45
225/50
225/55
225/60
225/65
235/45

R- 16 $117
R- 16 113
R- 16 122
R- 17XL 135
R- 17XL 140
R- 17XL 147
R- 17XL 160
R- 17 132
R- 17 122
R- 17 121
R- 17 159
R- 17 163
R- 17 136
R- 17 124
R- 17 127
R- 17 175

235/55
235/60
235/65
245/45
P215/55
225/40
225/45
225/50
225/55
225/60
235/40
235/50
245/40
245/50
255/35

R- 17 $150
R- 17 132
R- 17 129
R- 17XL 179
R- 18 170
R- 18XL 180
R- 18XL 164
R- 18 170
R- 18 177
R- 18 153
R- 18XL 193
R- 18XL 178
R- 18XL 194
R- 18XL 185
R- 18 201

185/55
205/55
205/60
215/60
215/65
225/60

R- 16XL $94
R- 16 99
R- 16 83
R- 16 90
R- 16 88
R- 16 92

225/65
235/65
225/50
245/45

R- 16 $90
R- 16 95
R- 17 132
R- 17 142

255/45
275/35
225/40
225/45
245/40
245/45
255/35
255/40
265/35
275/35

R- 18X $233
R- 18 264
R- 19XL 243
R- 19 231
R- 19XL 263
R- 19XL 255
R- 19XL 286
R- 19XL 274
R- 19XL 311
R- 19 321

275/40 R- 19 $305
245/40 R- 20 349
245/45 R- 20 292
255/35 R- 20XL 317
295/35 R- 20XL 435
RFT (Runflat)
205/55 R- 16 $165
225/50 R- 17 203
225/55 R- 17 194

245/50 R- 17 $240
245/45 R- 18 297

255/40 R- 20 $405
285/35 R- 20 460

Blizzak WS70
185/60
185/65
195/60
195/65
205/65
215/70

R- 15 $71
R- 15 70
R- 15 89
R- 15 77
R- 15 80
R- 15 79

215/70
235/75
215/70
225/70
P225/75
235/60
235/70
P235/75
245/70
P245/75
265/70
275/70
215/70
225/65
235/65
P235/70
P235/75
245/65
P245/70
245/75

R- 15 $106
R- 15XL 115
R- 16 121
R- 16 122
R- 16 115
R- 16 129
R- 16 132
R- 16XL 128
R- 16 132
R- 16 126
R- 16 142
R- 16 146
R- 17 127
R- 17 125
R- 17XL 130
R- 17XL 129
R- 17 136
R- 17 144
R- 17 132
R- 17 141

255/60
P255/65
P255/70
P255/75
265/65
265/70
P285/70
235/55
235/60
235/65
245/60
255/55
255/60
P255/65
P255/70
265/60
265/65
P265/70
275/60
P275/65

R- 17 $159
R- 17 152
R- 17 137
R- 17 147
R- 17 157
R- 17 153
R- 17 168
R- 18 154
R- 18XL 157
R- 18 161
R- 18 162
R- 18XL 169
R- 18XL 174
R- 18 174
R- 18 152
R- 18 176
R- 18 181
R- 18 160
R- 18 183
R- 18 184

285/60
225/55
P235/55
P245/55
255/55
P255/60
265/50
275/45
P245/50
P245/60
255/45
P255/55
P265/50
275/40
275/45
P275/55
P275/60
285/50
275/50
P285/45

R- 18 $191
R- 19 151
R- 19 167
R- 19 164
R- 19XL 169
R- 19 192
R- 19XL 183
R- 19XL 207
R- 20 188
R- 20 197
R- 20 202
R- 20 176
R- 20 199
R- 20XL 229
R- 20XL 218
R- 20 197
R- 20 207
R- 20XL 215
R- 22 253
R- 22 254

Blizzak W965
LT215/85 R- 16E $155
LT225/75 R- 16E 155
LT235/85 R- 16E 175

LT245/75 R- 16E $167
LT265/75 R- 16E 172
LT235/80 R- 17E 182

LT245/70 R- 17E $182

Blizzak LM-32
205/55
215/45
225/45
225/50
215/45
225/40
225/50
235/40
245/45
255/40

R- 16X $131
R- 17XL 162
R- 17XL 168
R- 17XL 175
R- 18XL 203
R- 18XL 193
R- 18 210
R- 18XL 200
R- 18XL 226
R- 18XL 217

Blizzak LM-25 RFT (Runflat)
205/50 R- 17 $187
225/45 R- 17XL 214

Blizzak LM-500

Blizzak LM-50 RFT (Runflat)

155/70 R- 19 $129

Blizzak LM-60

225/60 R- 17 $139

Blizzak WS60

245/40 R- 17 $191
265/35 R- 18XL 159
225/40 R- 19 179
265/35 R- 19 224
275/45 R- 19XL 225
255/50 R- 20XL 281
RFT (Runflat)
195/55 R- 16 $157
205/45 R- 17 180
225/40 R- 18 240
235/55 R- 18 257
255/55 R- 18XL 287

175/65
185/65
145/65
205/60
185/55
225/55
235/60

Blizzak LM-80

R- 14XL $89
R- 14 84
R- 15 76
R- 15 91
R- 16XL 93
R- 16 124
R- 16 120

Blizzak LM-32s
235/45 R- 17 $183

R- 15 $70
R- 15XL 72
R- 15XL 73
R- 15XL 74
R- 15 75
R- 15 80
R- 16XL 97
R- 16XL 86
R- 16XL 102
R- 16XL 94
R- 16XL 93

215/70
225/55
225/60
225/65
235/65
205/50
215/45
215/50
215/55
215/60
215/65

R- 16 $94
R- 16XL 104
R- 16 96
R- 16 95
R- 16 103
R- 17XL 115
R- 17 128
R- 17 130
R- 17XL 116
R- 17 106
R- 17 104

ContiWinterContact TS800
155/60 R- 15 $88

175/55 R- 15 $109

215/65
225/45
225/55
225/60
225/65
235/45
235/65
245/65
265/70

R- 17 $100
R- 17XL 123
R- 17XL 120
R- 17 110
R- 17 112
R- 17 129
R- 17XL 118
R- 17 133
R- 17 134

ContiCross
Contact Winter
295/35 R- 21X$360
275/40 R- 22XL 383

ContiWinterContact TS830 P
235/60
255/55
235/40
265/40

R- 18
R- 18
R- 19
R- 19

$215
219
281
306

295/35 R- 19 $325
255/40 R- 20XL 316
285/35 R- 20XL 375

ContiWinterContact
TS830 P ContiSeal
205/55 R- 16 $128

Eagle Ultra
Grip GW-3

Ultra Grip
Performance 2

265/60 R- 17 $149
P225/60 R- 18 146
245/55 R- 18 170
ROF (RunOnFlat)
195/55 R- 16 $134
205/50 R- 17 155

225/40 R- 18X $188
ROF (RunOnFlat)
205/55 R- 16 $150
255/50 R- 21 288

Ultra Grip SUV
RunOnFlat
255/55 R- 18X$238

Ultra Grip Ice+
205/65 R- 15X$101

Ultra Grip Ice WRT
AltiMAX Arctic (studdable $15/tire)
175/70
175/65
185/60
185/65
185/70
185/60
185/65
195/55
195/60
195/65
205/60
205/65
205/70
215/60
215/65
215/70
225/70

R- 13 $49
R- 14 56
R- 14 60
R- 14 65
R- 14 57
R- 15 61
R- 15 62
R- 15 80
R- 15 64
R- 15 64
R- 15 69
R- 15 70
R- 15 61
R- 15 74
R- 15 72
R- 15 64
R- 15 75

205/55
205/60
215/55
215/60
215/65
215/70
225/55
225/60
225/70
235/60
235/70
235/75
245/70
245/75
255/70
265/70
265/75

R- 16 $85
R- 16 76
R- 16 95
R- 16 79
R- 16 87
R- 16 79
R- 16 102
R- 16 85
R- 16 86
R- 16 101
R- 16 89
R- 16 93
R- 16 95
R- 16 95
R- 16 95
R- 16 98
R- 16 99

235/55 R- 17 $179
235/50 R- 18 228
255/50 R- 19XL 263
RFT (Runflat)
225/65 RF- 17 $171

AltiMAX Arctic LT (studdable $15/tire)

Blizzak DM-Z3

Winter Slalom KSI

265/45 R- 21 $299

185/55
185/65
195/60
195/65
205/60
205/65
205/55
205/60
215/55
215/60
215/65

LT225/75 R- 16E$128
LT235/85 R- 16E 134
LT245/75 R- 16E 140

205/50
215/45
215/50
215/55
215/60
215/65
225/45
225/55
225/60
225/65
235/45
235/55
235/65
245/65
245/70
265/70

R- 17X $100
R- 17 112
R- 17 110
R- 17 105
R- 17 106
R- 17 102
R- 17 118
R- 17 104
R- 17 103
R- 17 108
R- 17 116
R- 17 115
R- 17XL 110
R- 17 118
R- 17 110
R- 17 110

195/65
205/55
205/60
215/55
215/60
215/65
225/60
235/60
235/65
215/45
215/50

R- 15 $80
R- 16XL 101
R- 16 91
R- 16XL 113
R- 16 96
R- 16 95
R- 16 100
R- 16 105
R- 16 110
R- 17 143
R- 17XL 135

215/55
215/65
225/45
225/50
225/55
225/60
225/65
235/55
235/60
225/45
225/55

R- 17 $118
R- 17 108
R- 17XL 151
R- 17 153
R- 17XL 128
R- 17 114
R- 17 107
R- 17 129
R- 17 113
R- 18 147
R- 18 152

235/45
235/50
235/55
235/60
235/65
245/60
235/55
245/55
245/50

R- 18 $165
R- 18 166
R- 18 145
R- 18XL 146
R- 18 139
R- 18 141
R- 19 142
R- 19 156
R- 20 167

Ultra Grip Ice WRT SUV (studdable $15/tire)
235/65 R- 17 $118
245/65 R- 17 120
265/65 R- 17 137

265/70 R- 17 $130
P255/70 R- 18 133
P265/60 R- 18 152

P275/65 R- 18 $161
P275/55 R- 20 175

Ultra Grip Ice WRT LT (studdable $15/tire)

Ultra Grip Ice

LT265/75 R- 16E$155
LT245/75 R- 17E 160

P255/65 R- 18 $146

LT265/70 R- 17E $179

Ultra Grip Winter (studdable $15/tire)

LT265/75 R- 16E $137
LT235/80 R- 17E 148
LT245/70 R- 17E 152

LT265/70 R- 17E $156
LT285/70 R- 17D 174

225/70 R- 16 $68

175/65
175/70
185/60
185/65
185/70
195/70
185/60
185/65
195/55
195/60
195/65
205/60

R- 14 $60
R- 14 55
R- 14 62
R- 14 61
R- 14 55
R- 14 57
R- 15 66
R- 15 65
R- 15 75
R- 15 67
R- 15 67
R- 15 70

205/65
205/70
215/70
235/75
205/55
205/60
215/60
215/65
225/60
225/65
235/60
235/65

R- 15 $70
R- 15 67
R- 15 69
R- 15 82
R- 16 84
R- 16 79
R- 16 83
R- 16 84
R- 16 84
R- 16 87
R- 16 91
R- 16 97

215/55
215/65
225/50
225/55
225/60
225/65
235/65
235/55
235/60
245/55

R- 17 $103
R- 17 94
R- 17 115
R- 17 107
R- 17 106
R- 17 106
R- 17 114
R- 18 132
R- 18XL 133
R- 19 155

READY-TO-BOLT-ON
Tire Rack’s Winter Tire & Wheel Packages make changing to winter tires easy and efficient.
With winter tires mounted on their own wheels, you can install a seasonal package yourself at your convenience.
These high quality, vehicle-specific, exact fitments arrive ready to bolt on your vehicle.

Sample
Tire & Wheel
Packages
Build your own package at

tirerack.com/snow

©2014
Tire Rack

Hours M-F 8am-8pm
EST: SAT 9am-4pm

’15 Volkwagen GTI

’15 Chevrolet Camaro LT 1LT

’15 Cadillac Escalade

215/55R-16 Dunlop Winter Maxx XL
16x7 Sport Edition CS1
Total Package Price: $796

225/65R-17 Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice WRT
17x7.5 Sport Edition F11
Total Package Price: $912
Optional Set of TPMS Sensors: $196

265/70R-17 Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V1
17x8 Sport Edition TK6
Total Package Price: $1,184
Optional Set of TPMS Sensors: $196

1-888-372-8473

Pricing Effective November 1-30, 2014
Prices Subject to Change

www.tirerack.com

Winter Maxx
175/70
175/65
175/70
185/60
185/65
185/70
175/65
185/55
185/60
185/65
195/55
195/60
195/65
205/65
205/70

X-Ice Xi3

R- 13 $59
R- 14 69
R- 14 62
R- 14 73
R- 14 74
R- 14 66
R- 15 72
R- 15 82
R- 15 76
R- 15 77
R- 15 86
R- 15 82
R- 15 76
R- 15 80
R- 15 76

215/70
185/55
195/55
205/55
205/60
205/65
215/55
215/60
215/65
225/55
225/60
205/50
215/45
215/50
215/55

R- 15 $78
R- 16 92
R- 16XL 95
R- 16XL 94
R- 16XL 89
R- 16 88
R- 16XL 99
R- 16XL 92
R- 16 96
R- 16XL 111
R- 16XL 95
R- 17XL 118
R- 17XL 130
R- 17XL 129
R- 17 119

215/60
225/45
225/50
225/55
235/45
245/45
215/45
225/40
225/45
225/55
235/50
245/40
245/45
255/45
245/45

R- 17 $107
R- 17XL 133
R- 17XL 138
R- 17XL 125
R- 17XL 140
R- 17XL 143
R- 18XL 141
R- 18XL 149
R- 18XL 147
R- 18 147
R- 18XL 155
R- 18XL 166
R- 18XL 160
R- 18XL 160
R- 19 170

Graspic DS-3
175/60 R- 15 $99
185/60 R- 15 71

175/60 R- 16 $86
235/40 R- 19XL 164

245/45 R- 19 $166

SP Winter Sport 4D
195/65
195/55
205/55
215/60
225/45
225/50
225/55

R- 15 $91
R- 16 109
R- 16 112
R- 16XL 120
R- 17XL 162
R- 17 166
R- 17XL 159

R- 17X $166
R- 17 164
R- 17XL 145
R- 18XL 186
R- 18XL 180
R- 18XL 197
R- 18 215

245/40 R- 18X $221
235/55 R- 19 207
255/50 R- 19 266
DSST (RunOnFlat)
205/45 R- 17X $182

255/40 R- 18 $230
255/55 R- 18 215
265/35 R- 18XL 258
265/45 R- 18 239
285/35 ZR- 18XL 223
285/35 R- 18XL 286
235/35 R- 19XL 243
235/45 R- 19XL 200
235/50 R- 19 199
235/50 R- 19XL 215
245/45 R- 19XL 227
255/35 R- 19XL 285
255/50 R- 19XL 218
265/50 R- 19XL 223
295/30 ZR- 19XL 296

255/35 R- 20X $332
255/35 R- 20XL 309
255/45 R- 20 279
265/35 R- 20XL 296
265/40 R- 20XL 245
275/30 R- 20XL 312
275/45 R- 20XL 239
275/35 R- 21XL 368
DSST (RunOnFlat)
195/55 R- 16 $142
225/45 R- 17 176
225/55 R- 17XL 185
245/45 R- 18XL 266
245/45 R- 19XL 263

235/45
235/55
235/65
225/40
225/45
235/45
235/50

SP Winter Sport 3D
215/65
225/55
225/60
215/50
215/55
225/45
225/55
235/45
235/55
235/65
245/40
245/45
255/45
235/40
235/45

R- 16 $109
R- 16 130
R- 16 128
R- 17XL 148
R- 17XL 144
R- 17 154
R- 17 143
R- 17 158
R- 17XL 165
R- 17XL 141
R- 17XL 169
R- 17XL 169
R- 17 174
R- 18XL 216
R- 18 203

SP Winter
Sport M3 ROF
205/55 R- 16 $144
225/50 R- 17 182

SP Winter
Response

Grandtrek SJ6

165/65 R- 14 $76

205/70 R- 16 $82

175/65
175/70
185/60
185/65
185/70
175/65
185/55
185/60
185/65
195/55
195/60
195/65
205/60
205/65
205/70
215/70
185/55
195/55
195/60
205/50

Winter Sottozero 3

R- 14XL $90
R- 14XL 107
R- 14XL 96
R- 14XL 96
R- 14XL 112
R- 15XL 84
R- 15XL 124
R- 15XL 89
R- 15XL 88
R- 15XL 98
R- 15XL 91
R- 15XL 91
R- 15XL 113
R- 15XL 96
R- 15 112
R- 15 116
R- 16XL 124
R- 16XL 120
R- 16 119
R- 16XL 124

205/55
205/60
205/65
215/55
215/60
215/65
225/55
225/60
225/65
235/60
205/50
215/45
215/50
215/55
215/60
215/65
225/45
225/50
225/55
225/60

Pilot Alpin PA3

Pilot Alpin PA4

245/45 R- 17X$235
235/40 R- 18XL 219
235/45 R- 18XL 219

225/40
245/40
245/45
245/50
255/35
245/35
245/40
255/35
255/40
285/35
285/30

Pilot Alpin PA2
235/40
255/40
265/40
295/35

R- 16X $122
R- 16XL 103
R- 16XL 106
R- 16XL 126
R- 16XL 109
R- 16XL 108
R- 16XL 129
R- 16XL 112
R- 16 110
R- 16 118
R- 17 152
R- 17XL 167
R- 17XL 145
R- 17XL 132
R- 17 119
R- 17 116
R- 17XL 172
R- 17XL 167
R- 17XL 143
R- 17 122

R- 18 $225
R- 18 265
R- 18XL 258
R- 18 141

Pilot Alpin
PA2 ZP (Runflat)

R- 18X $220
R- 18XL 221
R- 18XL 227
R- 18XL 259
R- 18XL 285
R- 19XL 321
R- 19XL 289
R- 19XL 325
R- 19XL 311
R- 19XL 375
R- 20XL 425

Primacy Alpin
PA3 ZP (Runflat)

225/50 R- 17 $186
245/50 R- 18 238

195/55 R- 16 $153
225/45 R- 17 194

P235/75
265/70
215/70
225/70
235/65
235/70
245/70
265/70
225/65
235/60
235/65
245/65

R- 15X $117
R- 15 126
R- 16 123
R- 16 123
R- 16 149
R- 16 135
R- 16 134
R- 16 147
R- 17 127
R- 17 146
R- 17XL 127
R- 17 139

R- 17 $135
R- 17 169
R- 17 149
R- 17 157
R- 17 163
R- 18 152
R- 18XL 169
R- 18 165
R- 18 169
R- 18XL 187
R- 18XL 179
R- 18 175

235/50 R- 18 $221
265/55 R- 19 307

Latitude Alpin
R- 14 $67
R- 14 70
R- 14 62
R- 14 69
R- 14 70
R- 15 76
R- 15 73
R- 15 72
R- 15 74
R- 15 78
R- 15 77
R- 15 81
R- 15 84

205/50
205/55
205/60
205/65
215/55
215/60
225/55
225/60
225/65
235/65
205/50
215/45
215/50

R- 16 $105
R- 16 101
R- 16 87
R- 16 88
R- 16 105
R- 16 91
R- 16 112
R- 16 94
R- 16 94
R- 16 98
R- 17XL 114
R- 17 121
R- 17XL 129

215/55
215/65
225/45
225/50
225/55
235/45
235/55
245/40
245/45
225/40
225/45
245/40
245/45

R- 17 $109
R- 17 97
R- 17 131
R- 17 134
R- 17 112
R- 17 142
R- 17 121
R- 17 145
R- 17 145
R- 18XL 148
R- 18 135
R- 18 160
R- 18XL 157

245/70
255/60
265/65
265/70
225/55
225/60
235/55
235/60
235/65
245/60
255/55

R- 17 $117
R- 17 141
R- 17 139
R- 17 136
R- 18 154
R- 18 152
R- 18 136
R- 18XL 140
R- 18 143
R- 18 144
R- 18XL 150

265/60
285/60
235/55
255/50
255/55
245/50
255/50
265/50
275/40
275/45
285/50

R- 18 $156
R- 18 169
R- 19 139
R- 19XL 161
R- 19XL 164
R- 20 167
R- 20XL 169
R- 20XL 171
R- 20XL 202
R- 20XL 194
R- 20 186

iceGUARD iG51v
205/70
215/70
265/70
215/65
215/70
215/60
225/60
225/65
235/60
235/65
245/65

R- 15 $77
R- 15 83
R- 15 108
R- 16 96
R- 16 108
R- 17 107
R- 17 110
R- 17 111
R- 17 114
R- 17XL 115
R- 17 122

iceGUARD iG20
185/55 R- 15 $68
195/55 R- 15 92
185/55 R- 16 105

195/50 R- 16 $107
195/55 R- 16 100
235/45 R- 18 151

235/50 R- 18 $136
225/45 R- 19 183
255/45 R- 19 185

245/55 R- 19 $154
P255/60 R- 19 164
P235/55 R- 20 167

P245/60 R- 20 $162
275/55 R- 20RF 168

Geolandar I/T G072
255/70 R- 18 $122
P265/65 R- 18 151
275/65 R- 18 149

Package
Includes

215/55 R- 16X $132
215/55 R- 16 129
215/65 R- 16 124
205/45 R- 17XL 152
205/50 R- 17XL 155
215/50 HR- 17XL 167
215/50 VR- 17XL 159
225/45 R- 17XL 163
225/50 R- 17 177
225/55 R- 17XL 182
225/55 R- 17 168

R- 19 $277
R- 19 279
R- 19 335
R- 19 360
R- 20 356
R- 20XL 410
R- 20XL 475
R- 20 404

Primacy Alpin PA3
205/55
205/45
205/55
225/45

R- 16 $133
R- 17XL 176
R- 17XL 167
R- 17 168

265/60
265/65
235/55
255/50
255/50
255/55
P255/60
245/50
275/40
275/45
275/55

R- 18 $184
R- 18 181
R- 19 188
R- 19XL 259
R- 19XL 340
R- 19XL 243
R- 19 200
R- 20 188
R- 20XL 238
R- 20XL 235
R- 20 204

Latitude Alpin LA2

225/55 R- 18 $184
255/55 R- 18XL 183

265/45 R- 20 $296
295/40 R- 20 365

R- 13 $48
R- 14 61
R- 14 62
R- 14 64
R- 14 52
R- 14 71
R- 14 55
R- 14 55
R- 14 85
R- 14 56
R- 14 60
R- 15 65

185/65
195/60
195/65
205/60
205/65
205/70
P205/75
215/60
215/65
215/70
P205/50
205/55

R- 15 $72
R- 15 76
R- 15 75
R- 15 83
R- 15 79
R- 15XL 85
R- 15 89
R- 16 93

Latitude Alpin
HP ZP
255/55 R- 18X$260

P215/70
P225/70
P225/75
P235/65
P235/70
P245/70
P245/75
P255/70
LT285/75
LT225/75
LT235/80
LT245/70
LT245/75

R- 16E $125
R- 16E 125
R- 16E 136
R- 16E 134
R- 16E 138

R- 15 $68
R- 15 67
R- 15 70
R- 15 70
R- 15 72
R- 15 58
R- 15 57
R- 15 75
R- 15 74
R- 15 61
R- 16 95
R- 16 88
R- 16 $81
R- 16 87
R- 16XL 87
R- 16 102
R- 16XL 96
R- 16 98
R- 16 99
R- 16 98
R- 16E $150
R- 17E 135
R- 17E 145
R- 17E 146
R- 17E 146

R- 16 $109
R- 16 105
R- 16XL 132
R- 17XL 150
R- 17 129
R- 18XL 219
R- 18XL 230

255/45
285/40
295/35
245/35
245/40
255/40
285/35

285/40 R- 19 $326
255/35 R- 20XL 385
285/30 R- 20XL 427
305/35 R- 20 498
RFT (Runflat)
275/35 R- 19X $346

R- 18 $227
R- 18 338
R- 18 199
R- 19XL 287
R- 19XL 274
R- 19XL 275
R- 19XL 322

Winter Snowcontrol

195/45 R- 16X$101
195/50 R- 16XL 117

RFT (Runflat)
195/55 R- 16 $127

Winter Snowsport

Winter Icecontrol

225/40 R- 18X $188
265/35 R- 18XL 258

175/65 R- 14 $39

LTX Winter
LT225/75
LT245/75
LT265/75
LT265/70
LT275/65

R- 16E $161
R- 16E 167
R- 16E 166
R- 17E 192
R- 18E 238

205/60
215/55
215/60
P225/50
225/60
215/55
P215/65
225/50
225/55
225/60
235/55
225/60

R- 16
R- 16
R- 16
R- 16
R- 16
R- 17
R- 17
R- 17
R- 17
R- 17
R- 17
R- 18

$74
95
78
97
86
95
91
122
98
95
102
104

P265/70
P265/75
P235/65
245/65
P245/70
P265/70

R- 16
R- 16
R- 17
R- 17
R- 17
R- 17

$103
96
117
122
101
111

LT255/75
LT265/70
LT275/65
LT275/70
LT275/65

R- 17C $152
R- 17E 155
R- 18E 185
R- 18E 174
R- 20E 202

175/70
185/60
185/65
185/60
195/55
195/60
195/65
205/55
205/60
215/60
215/65
225/55
235/60
225/45
225/50
225/65

R- 14 $70
R- 14 85
R- 14 74
R- 15XL 80
R- 15 76
R- 15 81
R- 15 69
R- 16XL 114
R- 16XL 90
R- 16XL 109
R- 16 119
R- 16XL 124
R- 16 114
R- 17XL 147
R- 17XL 155
R- 17 123

R- 17X $149
R- 17XL 145
R- 17 149
R- 17XL 142
R- 17XL 127
R- 17XL 159
R- 18XL 159
R- 18XL 163
R- 18XL 169
R- 18XL 180
R- 18 184
R- 18XL 180
R- 19XL 199
R- 19XL 223
R- 19XL 254
R- 19XL 214

275/45 R- 19X $229
265/50 R- 20XL 245
275/40 R- 20XL 241
275/45 R- 20XL 268
295/40 R- 21XL 329
RFT (Runflat)
225/50 R- 17X $179
245/50 R- 18XL 225
245/45 R- 19XL 248
275/40 R- 19XL 278
245/40 R- 20XL 263
275/35 R- 20XL 298
275/40 R- 20XL 306
315/35 R- 20XL 342

235/60
275/55
235/60
235/65
245/60
255/55
255/55

R- 17 $158
R- 17 204
R- 18XL 178
R- 18XL 174
R- 18 175
R- 18XL 187
R- 18XL 200

265/60
255/50
265/50
265/55
275/40
275/45
275/50

R- 18 $205
R- 19XL 243
R- 19XL 275
R- 19 284
R- 20XL 254
R- 20XL 309
R- 20 359

295/40 R- 20X $316
295/45 R- 20XL 325
RFT (Runflat)
275/40 R- 20X $336
315/35 R- 20XL 417
285/35 R- 21XL 399
325/30 R- 21XL 421

255/55
225/55
235/55
235/55
235/65
255/50
255/50
245/45
255/45
255/50
255/55
265/45
275/40

R- 18 $199
R- 19 162
R- 19 223
R- 19XL 209
R- 19 211
R- 19 247
R- 19XL 247
R- 20XL 248
R- 20XL 282
R- 20XL 306
R- 20XL 279
R- 20XL 301
R- 20XL 259

275/45 R- 20X $265
255/40 R- 21 331
265/40 R- 21XL 341
275/45 R- 21XL 319
295/35 R- 21XL 359
295/35 R- 21XL 331
295/40 R- 21XL 353
275/40 R- 22XL 289
RFT (Runflat)
255/55 R- 18 $238
255/50 R- 19XL 278
285/45 R- 19XL 319

Scorpion Winter
215/70
225/70
245/70
215/60
225/65
235/55
235/65
245/65
235/50
235/55
235/60
235/60
255/55

R- 16X$115
R- 16XL 109
R- 16XL 119
R- 17XL 138
R- 17 149
R- 17XL 149
R- 17XL 148
R- 17XL 135
R- 18XL 185
R- 18XL 175
R- 18XL 185
R- 18 202
R- 18XL 179

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’14 Ford F-150 2WD SuperCrew

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Optional Set of TPMS Sensors: $128

1-888-372-8473

Pricing Effective November 1-30, 2014
Prices Subject to Change

185/70 R- 14 $81
195/60 R- 15 80
225/55 R- 17XL 137

Scorpion Ice & Snow

’14 Toyota Camry V6 SE

Hours M-F 8am-8pm
EST: SAT 9am-4pm

175/65 R- 15 $81

Winter Carving

235/45
235/55
235/55
235/60
235/65
245/45
225/55
235/55
235/60
245/40
245/50
255/55
235/55
255/40
255/50
265/50


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What About
TPMS?

©2014
Tire Rack

295/30 R- 20 $373
295/30 ZR- 20XL 424
RFT (Runflat)
205/55 R- 16 $119
205/55 R- 16 98
205/55 R- 17 186
225/50 R- 17 191
215/40 R- 18XL 240
225/40 R- 18XL 244
225/45 R- 18 223
225/45 R- 18XL 238
245/35 R- 18XL 317
245/40 R- 18 249
245/45 R- 18XL 271
255/35 R- 18XL 319
255/40 R- 18 261
275/40 R- 18XL 348
225/40 R- 19 280
245/40 R- 19XL 382
245/45 R- 19XL 308
255/35 R- 19 345
275/40 R- 19XL 352
245/40 R- 20XL 449
275/30 R- 20 487
275/35 R- 20XL 546

Winter Carving Edge (studdable $15/tire)

Winterforce LT (studdable $15/tire)
LT215/85
LT225/75
LT235/85
LT245/75
LT265/75

245/45 R- 19X $247
255/35 VR- 19XL 280
255/35 ZR- 19XL 329
255/40 R- 19XL 262
255/45 R- 19 259
255/45 R- 19XL 273
265/35 R- 19XL 388
275/35 R- 19XL 390
275/40 R- 19XL 359
285/30 R- 19XL 356
285/35 R- 19 313
285/40 R- 19XL 336
295/30 R- 19XL 340
295/35 R- 19 345
235/35 R- 20XL 410
235/45 R- 20XL 276
245/35 R- 20 340
245/35 ZR- 20XL 404
245/40 R- 20XL 359
255/40 R- 20XL 364
265/45 R- 20XL 431
275/35 ZR- 20XL 464
275/40 R- 20XL 455
285/35 VR- 20XL 407
285/35WR- 20XL 448

Winter Snowcontrol Serie 3

Winterforce UV (studdable $15/tire)
P215/75
225/70
P225/75
P235/70
P235/75
P235/75
P265/75
215/65

205/55 R- 16 $121
205/55 R- 16XL 149
225/50 R- 16XL 174
205/55 R- 17 168
215/45 HR- 17XL 170
215/45 VR- 17XL 183
215/50 R- 17 151
225/45 R- 17XL 180
235/45 R- 17XL 199
235/50 R- 17 206
245/45 R- 17XL 192
245/55 R- 17 211
215/45 R- 18XL 187
235/40 R- 18 218
235/45 R- 18 205
245/50 R- 18 229
265/40 R- 18 255
265/45 R- 18 288
275/45 R- 18 320
235/35 R- 19 272
235/40 R- 19 269
235/40 R- 19XL 292
235/45 R- 19XL 240
235/50 R- 19 260
245/35 R- 19XL 316
195/55
195/60
205/45
205/40
215/60
235/50
245/40

Winterforce (studdable $15/tire)
175/70
175/65
185/60
185/65
185/70
P185/75
195/70
P195/75
205/70
P205/75
215/70
185/60

245/45 R- 19 $275
275/40 R- 19 375
245/40 R- 20XL 334
285/35 R- 20 366
305/30 R- 20XL 446
245/35 R- 21XL 398
285/30 R- 21XL 405
RFT (Runflat)
225/45 R- 17 $193
225/45 R- 17XL 206

Winter Sottozero Serie II

Pilot Alpin PA4
N-Spec for Porsche
235/40
255/45
265/40
285/40
245/35
255/40
285/35
295/30

235/45 VR- 17X $166
235/45 HR- 17XL 175
245/45 R- 17XL 195
205/40 R- 18XL 164
225/45 R- 18XL 180
235/50 R- 18XL 233
245/40 R- 18XL 218
245/45 R- 18XL 229
275/45 R- 18XL 324
235/35 R- 19 298
245/45 R- 19XL 259

Winter Sottozero
245/70
255/60
255/70
265/65
265/70
235/55
235/60
235/65
245/60
255/55
255/55
255/65

255/55 R- 18X $256

175/65
175/70
185/60
185/65
195/60
175/65
185/60
185/65
195/60
195/65
205/60
205/65
215/65

R- 17X $188
R- 17 145
R- 17XL 185
R- 18XL 178
R- 18XL 184
R- 18XL 182
R- 18XL 185
R- 18XL 192
R- 18 192
R- 18 142
R- 18XL 182
R- 18XL 201
R- 18XL 204
R- 18XL 204
R- 18XL 209
R- 18XL 189
R- 18XL 239
R- 19XL 239
R- 19XL 259

Latitude X-Ice Xi2

Latitude X-Ice Xi2 ZP Latitude Alpin HP

iceGUARD iG52c

235/45
235/55
245/45
215/45
215/55
225/40
225/45
225/50
225/55
225/60
235/40
235/45
235/50
245/40
245/45
245/50
255/45
245/40
245/45

www.tirerack.com

ACURA MDX

BMW 328d
XDRIVE WAGON

Words Motor Trend Editors

“So you say your
car has a titanium,
three-point strut tower
brace? Oh really? How
quaint. Tell me more…”
@edloh
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON
17/24/19 MPG BASE PRICE $62,925
PRICE AS TESTED $78,125
Let’s get one thing perfectly clear: The bar could
not be higher for the 2015 BMW M3 as it enters our
long-term fleet. BMW defined the sports sedan
segment, first with the 2002 and then the 3 Series.
The M3 has been the ultimate expression of the
four-door sports car since the arrival of the E36
M3 saloon in 1997. Now in its fifth iteration, the F80
M3 makes something of a return to its roots. After
a generational foray into V-8 territory, an inline-six
is back, now boosted by direct injection and twin
turbochargers.
Associate road test editor Carlos Lago picked up
our long-term M3 immediately after the BMW’s U.S.
launch program at Road America, Wisconsin, and
road-tripped it 2000 miles back to our office in Los
116 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

Angeles. What’s up with the color? It’s an optional
paint job BMW calls Austin Yellow Metallic, and if
you like turning heads and hearing wolf whistles, it’s
worth every bit of the $500 charge, especially when
paired with the standard glossy black carbon-fiber
roof and murdered-out, double-spoke, 19-inch alloy
wheels ($1200).
As the paint would indicate, somebody in
the BMW press office had fun speccing out this
particular M3; along with shocking paint and fancy
wheels, the boxes for a seven-speed double-clutch
transmission ($2900) and carbon-ceramic brakes
($8150) were checked. The only performance-oriented feature not selected was the $1000 adaptive
M suspension.
For a base price of $62,925, you get standard
features including 10-way power adjustable and
heated front seats, carbon-fiber interior trim,

JULIA LAPALME

ARRIVAL 2015 BMW M3 Edward Loh

power-folding carbon-fiber mirrors, and a navigation system controlled by BMW’s touchpad iDrive
controller. Adaptive LED headlights with automatic
high beams added $1900, and enhanced USB/
Bluetooth/smartphone connectivity was another
$500. Smartkey access and any kind of backup
camera or parking radar is strangely absent from
this vehicle—the former is available in the $4300
Executive Package, the latter in the $1900 Driver
Assistance Plus bundle or separately for $750.
Our M3 totals $78,125. Is that too much to pay for
the ultimate Ultimate Driving Machine? Are the
light-up M badges on the driver’s seat a sign that
the bloodline has been besmirched? What has
been lost or gained in the move to a twin-turbo
inline-six? And most important: Will it surf?
I look forward to answering these questions in
the coming months. Hang on.

ARRIVAL
BMW M3

CADILLAC
ATS 2.0T

CADILLAC
CTS VSPORT

UPDATE
GMC SIERRA
DENALI 1500

UPDATE
INFINITI Q50S

JAGUAR
F-TYPE V6 S

UPDATE
JEEP CHEROKEE
TRAILHAWK

KIA
K900 V8

LAND ROVER
RANGE ROVER
UPDATE

HONDA ACCORD
HYBRID TOURING
ARRIVAL

MAZDA3 S
GRAND TOURING

NISSAN ROGUE
UPDATE

SUBARU
WRX STI

TESLA
MODEL S

VOLKSWAGEN
PASSAT SPORT

VOLVO
V60

RIDE ALONG FOR UPDATES ON OUR LONG -TERM FLEET
SPECS 2015 BMW M3

2014 GMC Sierra Denali 1500 4WD Frank Markus
Service life / 8 mo/13,902 mi
Avg CO2 / 1.24 lb/mi
Energy cons / 216 kW-hrs/100 mi
Unresolved problems / None
Maintenance cost / $0 (change oil,
tire rotation, inspection)
Normal-wear cost / $0
Base price / $51,355 As tested / $54,585

@MT_Markus
110.7”

73.9”

184.5”

CO2 emissions 0.99 lb/mi

MT figure eight
24.0 sec @ 0.85 g (avg)

3.9 sec 12.2 sec

99 ft

0-60 mph Quarter mile 117.3 mph Braking distance, 60-0 mph
Vehicle Layout Front-engine, RWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan
Engine 3.0L/425-hp/406-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve I-6
Transmission 7-speed twin-clutch auto
Curb Weight (F/R Dist) 3571 lb (52/48%)
Lateral Acceleration 0.99 g (avg)
Energy Cons., City/Hwy 198/140 kW-hrs/100 miles

AVERAGE FUEL ECON
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB
FUEL ECON: 16/22/18 (GAS) 15.6 MPG
12/16/13 (E85) MPG

Have you priced Detroit-NYC
airfare? It’s crazy high. So when four of
us needed a late June Broadway fix, we
piled in the Sierra and drove the 10 hours
each way, spending $308 in gas, another
$20-$30 in tolls, and $120 for parking. The
airfare savings easily covered our downfront seats for “A Gentleman’s Guide to
Love and Murder,” and we were way more
comfortable than in a commuter coach seat.
With some 6400 pounds of loaded truck to
crush any road imperfections, the ride was
commuter-jet smooth, and we could use
phones and Wi-Fi modems to our heart’s
content the whole way.
There were complaints, however. The rear
headrests adjust up, but rest your head on
them and they collapse. We love all the USB
and 12-volt outlets, but while the 110-volt
plug in back will run a full-size laptop, it can’t
simultaneously charge the battery.
My last update noted that the infotainment system wouldn’t connect to my new
iPhone 5S via wire, but a recent stop at the
dealer solved that problem and (hopefully)
cured the intermittent screen blanking issue.
Sadly, there’s no way to upgrade the hardware in a 2014 GM vehicle to the new-for2015 4G LTE connectivity with Wi-Fi. The
dealer also performed campaign 14192 to
prevent “unwanted transfer-case shifts to
neutral.” There was no charge, of course.

Three laptops, two AirCards, and plenty
of space means no lost productivity on the
20-hour commute to NYC.
Big Jim has shouldered plenty of loads
lately, helping move whole households,
oversized couches, and rummage-sale
items. He’s accumulating quite a collection
of come-along straps, nylon ropes, and the
like as various users endeavor to lash things
to the array of well-placed tie-down hooks.
And finally, it now seems safe to declare
that our Extang eMAX Tonno is saving
us fuel. Our average over the 2000 miles
of warm weather immediately before the
installation was 15.7 mpg, and the 7100 miles
since have averaged 16.6—a 6 percent
improvement. The Detroit office recently
acquired a tailgate-party barbecue/TV
trailer, so watch this space for trailer-towing
comments next time.

DECEMBER 2014 / MOTORTREND.COM 117

STEPHEN PHAM

PAUL LAGUETTE

56.1”

“The Denali is
definitely the
boss-man’s Sierra,
so I’m making
plenty of use of it
as a rolling office.”

LONG-TERM TEST | Arrival

ARRIVAL 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring Benson Kong
“Soon, the Accord Hybrid
and I will figure out
exactly how much more
gas my colleagues are
wasting, err…using for
educational purposes.”
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON
50/45/47 MPG BASE PRICE $35,695
PRICE AS TESTED $35,695
Everybody (e.g., NASCAR) is always on the
lookout for the Car of Tomorrow. This enlightened
car (with a tube-frame chassis and driver safety
cell in NASCAR) is supposed to further “tomorrow’s” technology and (hopefully) coolness into
all that follow it. Unless you immersed yourself in
alternative propulsion well before the “70 mpg”
Honda Insight or General Motors’ Impact concept,
I’d totally understand if you think the new Honda

Accord Hybrid was some futurist’s fanciful doing.
But don’t, because apart from the blue tinge on
the front grille and head- and taillights, it’s a pretty
normal car. Exhibit A: The Accord has more seats
(five) than the original Insight and EV1 (which
evolved from the Impact) put together (2+2).
Everyday folk like you and I are snatching up more
and more hybrid vehicles—thank you, greater
model availability, and Toyota Prius—with 2013
seeing nearly half a million sold (495,685 total and
up 14.1 percent over 2012, as tallied by HybridCars.
com). The whittling away of communal trepidation
about hybrids continues.
Our Car of Today is a $35,695 Touring, a full
$5750 or $3000 more than the base and EX-L
trims. Big bucks bring LED headlights that match
the standard LED daytime runners, navigation, a
16-gigabyte hard drive, and adaptive cruise control
on top of helpful items such as keyless entry and a
multi-angle backup camera. Honda proudly plugs
the Accord Hybrid’s 2014 Top Safety Pick+ rating,

having passed the Insurance Institute for Highway
Safety’s front small overlap, front moderate
overlap, side, roof strength, and head restraints/
seats evaluation with flying “Good” colors. The
+ is earned by virtue of the car’s not-subtle-at-all
Forward Collision Warning.
The Accord’s two-motor hybrid system leans
on an alliance forged by a 2.0-liter Atkinson-cycle
I-4, 1.3-kW-hr lithium-ion battery, and what the
company engineers call an electric-coupled CVT
(featuring the two e-motors). EPA numbers of
50/45/47 mpg city/highway/combined command
headlines for this size of vehicle, and I’ve already
dreamed up several experiments to help me learn
more about the car’s fuel-consuming character
with assistance from Emissions Analytics.
Our Accord follows in the long-term tire tracks
of two highly regarded gas-electric family sedans,
the 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid and 2010 Ford
Fusion Hybrid, both Car of the Year delegates. No
pressure come tomorrow, of course.

PAUL LAGUETTE

57.5”

SPECS 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid Touring

192.2

”

CO2 emissions 0.41 lb/mi

MT figure eight
28.0 sec @ 0.61 g (avg)

7.0 sec

117 ft

15.7 sec

0-60 mph Quarter mile 85.9 mph Braking distance, 60-0 mph
118 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

ROBIN TRAJANO

109.3”
72.8”

Vehicle Layout Front-engine, FWD, 5-pass, 4-door sedan Engine 2.0L/141-hp/122lb-ft Atkinson-cycle DOHC 16-valve I-4 plus 166-hp/226-lb-ft electric motor; 196 hp
comb Transmission Cont. variable auto Curb Weight (F/R Dist) 3569 lb (60/40%)
Lateral Acceleration 0.80 g (avg) Energy Cons., City/Hwy 67/75 kW-hrs/100 mi

Every MOTOR TREND Certified vehicle has been thoroughly
INSPECTED according to MOTOR TREND national standards.

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THE PRINCE ON
YOUR USED
CAR LOT.

BRIAN BRANTLEY

REVEAL

2014 Infiniti Q50S Chris Clonts
“Hey Infiniti, we’re
saving a space for
the Eau Rouge in the MT
Garage... Cousins Q50
and Godzilla await.”
@CClonts
I’m enjoying the Q50S’s luxury touches and
performance, but the car’s Eco mode is silly.
It’s hardly fun being frugal. My plan was to drive
an entire week, or gas tank, in Eco, one of five
drive modes on the Q50S. Not gonna happen. My
patience eroded quickly. Eco mode aggressively
retards throttle response to encourage economical
driving. Additionally, a small green Eco indicator
illuminates when you are judged to be appropriately frugal. It flashes, then turns off completely if
you’re not saving anything.

Service life / 7 mo/9356 mi
Avg CO2 / 1.01 lb/mi
Energy cons / 175 kW-hrs/100 mi
Unresolved problems / None
Maintenance cost / $0
Normal-wear cost / $0
Base price / $44,455 As tested / $53,020

EPA CITY/HWY/COMB
AVERAGE FUEL ECON
FUEL ECON: 20/29/23 MPG 19.3 MPG
The throttle response is painful. Even in
stop-and-go traffic, there’s a minimum standard of “go.” Eco mode prevents it, unless you
really hammer the accelerator. The setting can
save between 5 and 10 percent in mpg. For
me, that would be between $150 and $200
per year. I doubt anyone who forks over $50Kplus for a car is going to sweat $200.

The small Eco light
in the speedometer is out. Why?
I needed to get
somewhere.

Eco mode.
Green. Get it?

BRIAN BRANTLEY

Learn how to
certify your
Other Makes
& Models.
2014 Nissan Rogue Christian Seabaugh
“Time to hit
the road for a
#RogueTrip in the MT
Garage Nissan Rogue
#Sorry #BadPuns.”
@C_Seabaugh

motortrendcertified.com/prince
888.965.2924

MOTOR TREND® is a registered trademark of
SOURCE INTERLINK, LLC. ©2014. All Rights
Reserved. ©2014 Automobile Protection
Corporation - APCO. EasyCare® is a registered
trademark of APCO. All Rights Reserved.

In my mind, there’s no better way to get to
know the quirks and characteristics of a new car
than packing the family up and hitting the road. So
I packed up my new Nissan with the girl and our
pups, and headed out to get to know the Rogue.
We had two suitcases, two dog beds, a dog
crate, big bags of dog food, some dog toys, backpacks, and more. And yet everything fit remarkably.
Our bags, the dog beds, and other miscellaneous
junk fit in the trunk, while our dogs got comfy in the
backseat. We hit the road right in time for Fourth

Brooklyn and
Rex get comfy
in back of the
loaded Rogue.

Service life / 6 mo/12,706 mi
Avg CO2 / 0.82 lb/mi
Energy cons / 142 kW-hrs/100 mi
Unresolved problems / None
Maintenance cost / $0
Normal-wear cost / $0
Base price / $30,280 As tested / $32,580

EPA CITY/HWY/COMB
AVERAGE FUEL ECON
FUEL ECON: 25/32/28 MPG 23.8 MPG
of July traffic, which gave me a chance to feel
out the Rogue’s braking performance and
throttle response. The brakes offered up a
reassuring feel, but without too much bite.
Throttle response was good, too, with the
Nissan’s CVT and four-pot combo avoiding
the over-aggressive throttle tip-in that throws
man and canine heads back into their seats.

With 1500 fresh
miles on the clock,
it was time for a
post-trip bath.

At Beek’s Place, an old,
dilapidated stone cabin and
the day’s turnaround point.

RORY JURNECKA

MAXIMIZE
YOUR
POTENTIAL

2014 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk Rory Jurnecka
“The Cherokee’s
first foray into
the mountains was a
success, even in the
midst of a heat wave.”

Service life / 3 mo/6157 mi
Avg CO2 / 0.92 lb/mi
Energy cons / 160 kW-hrs/100mi
Unresolved problems / None
Maintenance cost / $0 Normal-wear cost / $0
Base price / $30,490 As tested / $37,265

@RoryJurnecka
A few weekends ago I decided to treat the
Trailhawk to its first off-road excursion and
headed toward Orange County’s Silverado Canyon
Road. The trail started off easy enough as it climbs
back into the hills, with mostly loose dirt and small
rocks and no real obstacles. But the going got
tougher, and I was in low gear, crawling along over
larger rocks and other seriously uneven terrain. The
Trailhawk ate it up, never getting remotely close
to stuck and providing enough ground clearance
so that only the very largest rocks brushed the

EPA CITY/HWY/COMB
FUEL ECON: 18/25/20 MPG

AVERAGE FUEL ECON
19.5 MPG

factory skidplates. We quickly climbed from
just a few hundred feet above the level of
the Pacific Ocean to more than 3000 feet.
It was a broken, rocky stretch and we were
well beyond the point that would leave lesser
crossovers spinning their wheels, but through
it all the little Cherokee Trailhawk never missed
a beat. Is the Trailhawk a true off-roader? After
six hours in the dirt, I’m prepared to say yes.

The Firehawk
Destination A/T
tires felt right
at home.

The 3.2-liter
Pentastar V-6
provides plenty
of grunt.

Available for purchase with coupon in
fine stores everywhere or online at:
BRIAN BRANTLEY

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Enter Coupon Code: 011619

2014 Land Rover Range Rover Angus MacKenzie
“There is no other SUV
in the world with the
same combination of serene
ride and sublime body control
as this Range Rover.”
@Angus_MacK
The laws of physics are immutable. The
Range Rover is a 5170-pound SUV with a
relatively high center of gravity and—on my
base-spec model—relatively modest 235/65 Pirelli
Scorpion Verde tires on 19-inch rims. So you feel
the mass through the turns, and the tires let go
early when you start to push. Default handling is
mild understeer. Brisk progress on a mountain
road is best achieved using the old slow in, fast
out technique. Fortunately, the steering, though
light, is accurate and delivers good feedback,

Service life / 10 mo/17,162 mi
Avg CO2 / 1.18 lb/mi
Energy cons / 205 kW-hrs/100 mi
Unresolved problems / None
Maintenance cost / $290.36 (oil change,
inspection) Normal-wear cost / $0
Base price / $83,850 As tested / $89,850

EPA CITY/HWY/COMB
FUEL ECON: 17/23/19 MPG

AVERAGE FUEL ECON
16.7 MPG

telegraphing clearly when the front tires are
about to lose their bite.
But the most impressive thing about
hustling the Range Rover through the hills
is its sublime body control. Rapid direction
changes in old, softly sprung Range Rovers
were an adventure; in today’s car, softly
sprung by modern SUV standards, there’s
still body roll, but it’s beautifully modulated.
A quick left-right-left won’t leave you fighting
a tank-slapper, heart in mouth, as it used to.
The 2014 Range Rover is no sports car. But
it’s not tedious through the twisties, either.



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MORGAN SEGAL

LONG-TERM TEST | Verdict

2014 Mitsubishi Outlander S-AWC Mike Royer
“If I’m consistently
drifting out of lanes
while driving, I might need
to stop driving—NOT get
a lane departure warning
system.” @MT_Royer
This Mitsubishi was not nearly as polarizing as our
former long-term 2012 Outlander Sport, but the 2014
Outlander had to deal with much of the sentiment
left over from the junior’s lackluster time in the MT
garage. While the 2014 model didn’t wow most of
the staff, it did make some headway repairing the
Outlander’s reputation through its dependability,
redesign, and value.
Our $32,720 Outlander came with a base MSRP
of $26,620 but we added the $6100 SE Touring
package with navigation, power sunroof, heated
leather seats, a premium sound system, and
additional safety features including lane departure
warning, adaptive cruise control, and a forward
collision mitigation system.

122 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

Service Life / 13 mo/24,052 mi
Base Price / $26,620
Options / SE Touring Package ($6100: adaptive
cruise control, lane-departure warning,
navigation, leather, powered liftgate)
Price As Tested / $32,720
Avg Econ/CO2 / 24.0 mpg / 0.81 lb/mi
Energy Cons / 140 kW-hrs/100 mi
Problem Areas / None
Maintenance Cost / $371.15 (3-change oil,
inspection; 1-cabin air filter)
Normal-Wear Cost / $0
3-Year Residual Value* / $15,706 Recalls /
None
*Automotive Lease Guide

EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 24/29/26
AVERAGE FUEL ECON 24.0 MPG
I could have done without the lane departure
warning. I was never once glad to have it and I
always turned it off after the first beep. Forward collision mitigation gave me a feeling of security during
my numerous hypnotic stop-and-go commutes to
work, and more than once its alerts popped me out
of my driving daze. I thankfully never triggered the
automatic braking.

I asked our Motor Trend archivist, Thomas
Voehringer, to hit the road in the Outlander for a
family vacay and he appreciated the adaptive cruise
control. “You could set the cruising speed and
following distance, then electronically latch onto
the driver in front of you,” Voehringer said. But he
warned, “Choose wisely because their ability to drive
consistently is immediately reflected in your ride. If
they slow, you slow. If they speed up, you will speed
up (until the max speed is reached).” He added:
“Over thousands of miles the ACC was a better
way of accelerating than using the throttle. It was
smoother, and more efficient.”
So two out of three for added safety isn’t bad.
You can’t disable the lane departure warning
system permanently—you have to do it every time
you restart the vehicle. A small annoyance that
compounds over time.
The exterior redesign was a positive change.
Kudos to the all-new front. Replacing the previous
large, snub-nosed rectangular grille with a less
severe horizontal intake and adding handsome
swooshes to the traditional diamond logo on the
front gave it an air of futurism. While the Outlander
didn’t turn many heads, it also didn’t elicit negative
reactions. If the goal was to reach a kind of
72-degrees-and-sunny design sweet spot, this
might be it—not radical and not boring, a classic,
rounded design that vaguely resembles some Land
Rover styling. For sure, a step in the right direction.
Driving solo I never had any problems with speed
and acceleration. The four-cylinder Outlander won’t
blast off the line to win any drag races (opt for the
V-6 GT if that’s your thing), but unlike some vehicles
it can get up to highway speed and maintain it
without much whining. Voehringer, who had five

2014 Mitsubishi Outlander S-AWC
POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS

passengers with him, agreed, and suspects any
complaints stem from the transmission. “Reports of
it being less than sporting may be unfair. It seems to
be more a result of the CVT than the engine. Once
at cruising speed the Mitsu shuttled us at 75-80
mph without sounding or feeling overworked, and
even allowed for effortless passing when needed,”
Voehringer said.
Average fuel economy was 24.0 mpg, yielding
320-350 miles per tank. That meant I was filling up
every seven to 10 days—an acceptable frequency for
a commute of 50 miles per day.
The interior is comfortable and easy to settle into.
The driver’s seat had enough bounce, cushion, and
legroom to keep me comfortable after long hours
in the cockpit. Most everything I needed was easily
accessible and well-laid-out. After some time, I
completely relied upon the steering wheel controls to
adjust the volume, radio tuning, and track selection. On the entertainment display the buttons for
changing the volume on the previous Outlander were
replaced with a trusty volume knob. Hallelujah.
For passengers other than the co-pilot, the
backseat can easily handle three across, provided
you’re not transporting a football team. For regular
and slightly larger than regular-size humans it’s a
comfortable ride. The third row, however, is probably
best used for kids or your contortionist friends. It can
seat two adults, but they need to sit at an angle. Not
recommended for trips longer than 20 minutes.
Some of the technology let me down quite a bit.
Using an iPod via USB cable just did not work; the
on-screen display for Bluetooth streaming generally
froze after a song or two—the music played, but the
interface was frozen. Occasionally the guidelines for
the backup camera did not appear. Minor problems,
sure, but as a consumer I want the little things to
operate correctly. Aside from the glitchy tech, nothing
broke and nothing wore out.
About midway through the loan we swapped
the OE Toyo A24 tires for a set of Nexen N’PRIZ RH7
to see if the larger Outlander was missing out on
anything. Our assessment: The two tires are evenly
matched, delivering comparable levels of ride comfort
and surefooted handling. That said, per TireRack.
com, the Nexen ($124) is not only a bargain compared
with the Toyo ($247), but also boasts a higher treadwear rating (440 versus 300).
I took the Outlander into the shop for three routine
service checkups, which cost a total of $371.15.
So after a year and more than 24,000 miles, I’m
ready for a new vehicle—and that’s easily the best
judge of whether a vehicle wowed me or not. The
small technology annoyances would have really
made my blood boil if I purchased this Outlander new,
and, while its power was enough for me, I’d be leery
of suggesting a friend drop $32,720 on the Mitsubishi.
Still, this Outlander did a lot to clean up its name, and
for that it was a productive loan.

DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT

Front-engine, AWD

ENGINE TYPE
VALVETRAIN

I-4, aluminum block/
head
SOHC, 4 valves/cyl

DISPLACEMENT

144.0 cu in/2360 cc

COMPRESSION RATIO

10.5:1

POWER (SAE NET)

166 hp @ 6000 rpm

TORQUE (SAE NET)

162 lb- @ 4200 rpm

REDLINE

6500 rpm

WEIGHT TO POWER

21.3 lb/hp

TRANSMISSION

Cont. variable auto

AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE RATIO

6.47:1/2.55:1

SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR

Struts, coil springs,
anti-roll bar; multilink,
coil springs, anti-roll
bar
16.7:1

STEERING RATIO
TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK

3.3

BRAKES, F;R

11.6-in vented disc;
11.9-in disc, ABS
7.0 x 18-in, cast
aluminum
225/55R18 97H M+S
Toyo A24

WHEELS
TIRES

BUY FOUR TIRES

GETA 70
$

*

REWARD CARD

DIMENSIONS
WHEELBASE

105.1 in

TRACK, F/R

60.6/60.6 in

LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT

183.3 x 70.9 x 66.1 in

GROUND CLEARANCE

8.5 in

APPRCH/DEPART ANGLE

22.0/21.0 deg

TURNING CIRCLE

34.8 

CURB WEIGHT

3538 lb

WEIGHT DIST., F/R

55/45%

TOWING CAPACITY

1500 lb

SEATING CAPACITY

7

HEADROOM, F/M/R

39.9/37.2/35.7 in

LEGROOM, F/M/R

40.9/37.3/28.2 in

SHOULDER ROOM, F/M/R

56.4/56.1/50.6 in

CARGO VOLUME BEH F/M/R

63.3/34.2/10.3 cu 

TEST DATA
ACCELERATION TO MPH
0-30

3.2 sec

0-40

4.8

0-50

6.7

0-60

9.1

0-70

12.0

0-80

15.8

0-90

20.5

PASSING, 45-65 MPH

4.7

QUARTER MILE

17.0 sec @ 82.6 mph

BRAKING, 60-0 MPH

116 

LATERAL ACCELERATION

0.80 g (avg)

MT FIGURE EIGHT

28.0 sec @ 0.61 g
(avg)
2000 rpm

TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH

CONSUMER INFO
BASE PRICE
PRICE AS TESTED
STABILITY/TRACTION CONTROL
AIRBAGS

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POWERTRAIN WARRANTY

10 yrs/100,000 miles

ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE

5 yrs/unlimited

FUEL CAPACITY

15.8 gal

EPA CITY/HWY/COMB ECON

24/29/26 mpg

ENERGY CONS., CITY/HWY

140/116 kW-hrs/100
miles

CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB

0.75 lb/mile
24/27/25 mpg
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IS 350 F SPORT

2014 Lexus IS Line Scott Evans
2014 Lexus IS 250

2014 Lexus IS
350 AWD

2014 Lexus IS 350
F Sport

Service Life

4 mo / 5441 mi

4 mo / 5810 mi

4 mo / 6788 mi

Base Price

$36,845

$42,610

$43,995

Options

Navigation Package
($2085: nav, backup
camera, Lexus
Enform), Intuitive
Parking Assist ($500),
cargo net ($64)

Luxury and Technology
Package ($3675: LED
headlights, heated
and cooled front seats,
lane-departure warning
system), Navigation/
Mark Levinson Premium
Audio Package ($3225:
15-speaker sound
system, backup camera),
Intuitive Parking Assist
($500), power rear
sunshade ($210)

Navigation/Mark
Levinson Premium
Audio Package ($3225:
15-speaker sound
system, backup
camera), blind-spot
monitoring system
($600), Variable Gear
Ratio Steering ($400),
trunk mat ($105), cargo
net ($64)

Price As Tested

$39,494

$50,220

$48,389

Avg Econ/C02

22.2 mpg / 0.87 lb/mi

22.1 mpg / 0.88 lb/mi

21.8 mpg / 0.89 lb/mi

Problem Areas

None

None

None

Maintenance Cost

$0 (inspection)

$0 (rotate tires,
inspection)

$0 (inspection)

Normal-Wear Cost

$0

$0

$0

3-Year Residual Value*

$19,747

$25,110

$24,678

Recalls

None

None

None

“Twelve months and
three cars later,
the IS line appeals to my
brain but not my heart.”

Specs

@MT_Evans

What do people expect when they buy a Lexus?
For a long time, the answer was a luxury car on par
with the Germans, but without the repair bill. As
of late, you can add to that a dose of sportiness. I
discovered when living with the complete IS lineup
for the past 12 months that Lexus delivers on both.
The complete lineup? Yes, indeed. Lexus
suggested that, rather than loan us one car for 12
months, it would instead loan us one of each IS
model for four months at a time so we could experience the full lineup. We agreed, and I took delivery
first of a silver IS 250. That car was replaced by a
dark blue IS 350 AWD, which was replaced with a
white IS 350 F Sport.
In total, I put 18,039 miles on the three cars: 5441
on the 250, 5810 on the 350 AWD, and 6788 on
the 350 F Sport. Per Lexus, all three should have
seen average fuel economy within a few miles per
gallon of each other, and my driving, as well as
our Real MPG testing, confirmed that. The 250 is
rated at 21/30/24 mpg (city/highway/combined)
and I observed 22.2 mpg. (It was not tested by our
Real MPG team.) The 350 AWD is rated at 19/26/21
mpg and returned Real MPG results of 20/29/23
mpg. I observed 22.1 mpg. The 350 F Sport is rated
at 19/28/22 and saw 21/28/24 mpg results in Real
MPG testing. I drove the sporty model harder than
the other cars and saw 21.8 mpg. The consistency
across differing engines and drivetrains is impressive, though the combined and observed MPG are
both low for the class in all three cases.
124 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

*Automotive Lease Guide

IS 250

Equally consistent was the cost of maintenance: zero. Each car went in for one service
during its stay, all prompted by a message
displayed on the information screen in the
gauge cluster. The 250 and 350 F Sport both
received an inspection, while the 350 AWD also
had its tires rotated. Each was free, as the first
two scheduled service visits are complimentary
for all Lexus vehicles. Unlike my previous longterm vehicle, a BMW 328i Sport, none of the
Lexi suffered a breakdown or a malfunctioning
*Automotive Lease Guide data

BRIAN BRANTLEY

LONG-TERM TEST | Verdict

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LONG-TERM TEST | Verdict

2014 Lexus IS Line
POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS

IS 250

component during its stay—granted, they stayed
for a third the length of time and mileage each. The
only trouble I experienced was a dead battery in the
350 F Sport after parking it for a long weekend. No
lights were left on and the dealer found no battery
or charging issue. The problem never returned.
The cars delivered on reliability, then. On luxury,
they also performed well. All three were cryptquiet inside and rode nicely despite their sporting
pretenses. The engines and powertrains were
smooth; the stereos produced rich, clear sound;
the interior materials were top quality; and the
seats were among the most comfortable in the
class. There were a few small issues, though. Both
350s had dash panels that slightly misaligned just
below the engine start/stop button, and loose
transmission selector knobs. Lexus’ Remote Touch
entertainment system controller was less intuitive
than it ought to be and didn’t work as well as the
German competition’s. On the other hand, Lexus’
temperature controls are easily the best touch-sensitive controls on the market. Rear seat legroom
was small for the class. The fact that seat position
memory is not a standard feature is inexcusable.
What about that sportiness? The chassis is
one of the most noticeable upgrades to this new
generation of IS. The car is much more responsive than previous models, with sharper turn-in,
better handling, and better chassis control. Grip is
generally unimpeachable, mid-corner bumps are
handled with authority, and the brakes are resilient
in the face of prolonged performance driving. All
of this comes with the caveat, though, that you do
not do anything to trigger the stability control—if
you do, you shall be severely punished. Even the F
Sport will grab the brakes hard and cut all throttle
should a wheel begin to slip, and it will not return
control of the throttle for what feels like an eternity.
The sleeping dragon that is stability control is difficult to wake, but if you do, you will feel its wrath.
There’s also the matter of actual performance.
Compared to the competition, all three models are
down on power and subsequently slow in a straight
line. The 350s feel quick enough that I can’t grouse
much, but the 250 is downright lethargic for the
class. In the corners, though, all three cars put up
respectable numbers on par with the competition.
These are momentum cars—they’re better when
you can keep the speed up and the rpms high,
where their naturally aspirated power lies.
A year with the Lexus IS line, then, confirms
expectations. They’re comfortable, reliable cars
that are also sporty in a corner. They’re not the most
fun or emotional cars in the class, but they won’t
sock you with horrendous repair bills, and that’s
a pretty good trade for most people. As long as
you’re one of the ones who likes the way they look.
I still haven’t warmed up to the predator face. Q

DRIVETRAIN LAYOUT

Front-engine, RWD

Front-engine, AWD

Front engine, RWD

ENGINE TYPE
VALVETRAIN

60-deg V-6, aluminum
block/heads
DOHC, 4 valves/cyl

60-deg V-6, aluminum
block/heads
DOHC, 4 valves/cyl

60-deg V-6, aluminum
block/heads
DOHC, 4 valves/cyl

DISPLACEMENT

152.5 cu in/2499 cc

210.9 cu in/3456 cc

210.9 cu in/3456 cc

COMPRESSION RATIO

12.0:1

11.8:1

11.8:1

126 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

IS 350 F Sport

POWER (SAE NET)

204 hp @ 6400 rpm

306 hp @ 6400 rpm

306 hp @ 6400 rpm

TORQUE (SAE NET)

185 lb- @ 4800 rpm

277 lb- @ 4800 rpm

277 lb- @ 4800 rpm

REDLINE

6500 rpm

6600 rpm

6600 rpm

WEIGHT TO POWER

17.4 lb/hp

12.5 lb/hp

12.1 lb/hp

TRANSMISSION

6-speed automatic

6-speed automatic

8-speed automatic

AXLE/FINAL-DRIVE RATIO

3.73:1/2.17:1

3.77:1/2.19:1

3.13:1/2.15:1 (F Sport)

SUSPENSION, FRONT; REAR

Control arms, coil
springs, anti-roll bar;
multilink, coil springs,
anti-roll bar

Control arms, coil
springs, anti-roll bar;
multilink, coil springs,
anti-roll bar
13.3:1

Control arms, coil
springs, adj shocks,
anti-roll bar; multilink,
coil springs, adj shocks,
anti-roll bar
13.2:1

STEERING RATIO

13.2:1

TURNS LOCK-TO-LOCK

2.8

2.8

2.8

BRAKES, F;R

11.7-in vented disc; 11.5in disc, ABS
7.5 x 17-in, cast aluminum

13.2-in vented disc; 12.2in vented disc, ABS
7.5 x 17-in, cast aluminum

225/45R17 91V M+S
Bridgestone Potenza
RE92

225/45R17 91V M+ S
Dunlop SP Sport 5000 M

13.2-in vented disc; 12.2in vented disc, ABS
8.0 x 18-in (fr), 8.5 x 18-in
(rr), cast aluminum
225/40R18 88Y (fr),
255/35R18 90Y (rr)
Bridgestone Turanza ER33

WHEELBASE

110.2 in

110.2 in

TRACK, F/R

60.4/61.0 in

60.4/61.0 in

60.4/60.6 in

LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT

183.7 x 71.3 x 56.3 in

183.7 x 71.3 x 56.3 in

183.7 x 71.3 x 56.3 in

TURNING CIRCLE

34.2 

CURB WEIGHT

3541 lb

35.4 
3822 lb

34.2 
3704 lb

WEIGHT DIST., F/R

53/47%

54/46%

53/47%

SEATING CAPACITY

5

5

5

WHEELS
TIRES

DIMENSIONS
110.2 in

HEADROOM, F/R

38.2/36.9 in

38.2/36.9 in

38.2/36.9 in

LEGROOM, F/R

44.8/32.2 in

44.8/32.2 in

44.8/32.2 in

SHOULDER ROOM, F/R

55.9/53.4 in

55.9/53.4 in

55.9/53.4 in

CARGO VOLUME

13.8 cu 

13.8 cu 

13.8 cu 

1.9 sec

TEST DATA
ACCELERATION TO MPH
0-30
0-40
0-50
0-60
0-70
0-80
0-90
0-100
PASSING, 45-65 MPH
QUARTER MILE
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH
LATERAL ACCELERATION
MT FIGURE EIGHT
TOP-GEAR REVS @ 60 MPH
CONSUMER INFO
BASE PRICE
PRICE AS TESTED
STABILITY/TRACTION CONTROL
AIRBAGS
BASIC WARRANTY

IS 350
AWD

IS 350 AWD

2.5 sec

1.9 sec

3.8

2.8

2.9

5.4

4.0

4.1

7.2

5.3

5.6

9.6

7.1

7.2

12.3

9.0

9.1

15.3

11.2

11.4

19.4

14.1

14.1

3.8

2.8

2.9

15.5 sec @ 90.4 mph

13.9 sec @ 99.4 mph

14.0 sec @ 99.8 mph

116 

117 

111 

0.87 g (avg)

0.85 g (avg)

0.86 g (avg)

26.6 sec @ 0.66 g (avg)

26.4 sec @ 0.69 g (avg)

26.1 sec @ 0.72 g (avg)

1900 rpm

1950 rpm

1800 rpm

$36,845

$42,610

$43,995

$39,494

$50,220

$48,389

Yes/yes

Yes/yes

Yes/yes

Dual front, f/r side,
f/r curtain, front knee
4 yrs/50,000 miles

Dual front, f/r side,
f/r curtain, front knee
4 yrs/50,000 miles

Dual front, f/r side,
f/r curtain, front knee
4 yrs/50,000 miles

POWERTRAIN WARRANTY

6 yrs/70,000 miles

6 yrs/70,000 miles

6 yrs/70,000 miles

ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE

4 yrs/unlimited

4 yrs/unlimited

4 yrs/unlimited

FUEL CAPACITY

17.4 gal

17.4 gal

17.4 gal

EPA CITY/HWY/COMB ECON

21/30/24 mpg

19/26/21 mpg

19/28/22 mpg

ENERGY CONS., CITY/HWY

160/112 kW-hrs/100
miles

177/130 kW-hrs/100 miles

177/120 kW-hrs/100 miles

CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB
REAL MPG, CITY/HWY/COMB

0.80 lb/mile
N/A

0.90 lb/mile
20/29/23 mpg

0.87 lb/mile
21/28/24 mpg

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128 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

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Angus MacKenzie

The Big Picture

JEEP THRILLS
We’re at 13,000 feet and the air is
thin and hard and crystal clear. The
cerulean dome above us touches
down on an impossibly wrinkled
horizon everywhere we look. It’s a week or so
aer Labor Day and patches of last winter’s snow
still snuggle in the quiet, shadowy corners of the
mountains. There are no trees, and very lile soil.
Tires crunch over shaered rock.
This is the top of the Great Divide. To the west,
the rivers ultimately empty into the Pacific Ocean;
to the east, the mighty Mississippi. There’s gold
up here. Silver, too. The trails we’re following were
scratched through the epic landscape almost
150 years ago to get the precious metals out
from the mines perched precariously among the
mountains, and bring supplies in to the miners
who sweated and cursed and drank and died on
the roof of America.
You can read the rest of the story about Land
Rover’s 25th anniversary re-run of the Great
Divide Expedition at www.motortrend.com. But
it did occur to me as the stone-cold standard,
straight-off-the-showroom-floor Range Rover
Supercharged effortlessly climbed Imogene Pass,
en route to Telluride, Colorado, that a $100,000
leather-lined luxury car with shiny 21-inch alloy
wheels and low-profile tires should not be able to
go places that would stop a Jeep. Any Jeep.
Jeep truly is an iconic brand. Yeah, it
sounds clichéd, but 70 years ago the Jeep’s go
anywhere, do anything capability helped win
a world war and, in the decades since, it has
introduced generations to the unique pleasures
of off-road motoring. If a Jeep couldn’t get you
where you wanted to go, you probably needed a
horse. Or you walked.
That was before SUVs became suburban
fashion accessories, however. Your mom drove
a station wagon when you were a kid, and your
milquetoast neighbor was the minivan guy. But
behind the wheel of something that looked
like it could take you anywhere you damn well
pleased anytime you damn well wanted, you were
drinking buddies with General Paon and the
Marlboro Man. And you could still carry home
groceries from the supermarket. Or pick up the
kids from soccer practice.
Ride’s a lile rough. Those chunky tires are
noisy. Gas mileage could be beer. Low-range?
Uh, dunno. Never touch that lever… The SUV as
suburban fashion accessory quickly became
more about form than function. Just check this
year’s SUOTY contenders: If you aempted
anything more challenging than a smooth gravel

134 MOTORTREND.COM / DECEMBER 2014

But only with 4WD

TOUGH STUFF A vintage
Jeep ad highlights power.

If a Jeep couldn’t get you
where you wanted to go, you
probably needed a horse.
track or a snow-covered driveway, most would
struggle. Some don’t even get all-wheel drive on
their base models. Including, sad to say, Jeep.
I know, I know—there have been two-wheeldrive Jeeps for decades, dating back to the DJ-3A
first used by U.S. mailmen the mid-’50s, and
the Surrey Galas built for resort use from 1959
to 1964. But these commercial versions never
masqueraded as anything other than ultra-cheap
bijou trucks or glorified golf buggies. Today’s
Jeeps, by contrast, all shamelessly trade on the
go anywhere, do anything iconography of the
brand, even if some of them have barely more

off-road ability than a Toyota Prius.
I thought about this as the front-drive, chromewheeled Jeep Cherokee cried uncle on a siltcovered hill during SUOTY testing, a hill the fourcylinder Subaru Outback had waltzed up without
breaking a sweat earlier that day. And I thought
about it again as I got out of the big Range Rover
at the top of Imogene Pass and looked out across
the Rockies, a crumpled quilt of grays and reds
and greens and blues in every direction.
Very few Range Rovers are ever taken off-road.
That’s not the point. The point is that everyone
knows a Range Rover is engineered so it can go
off-road, just like everyone knows a Porsche 911
is engineered so it can go 180 mph. Not all Jeeps
need to be Trail Rated. But every Jeep should
have four-wheel drive, even the most basic kind,
because a two-wheel-drive Jeep is just another
suburban fashion accessory. Not an icon. Q

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2015 C 300 4MATIC® sedan shown in Iridium Silver metallic paint with optional equipment.

©2014 Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC

For more information, call 1-800-FOR-MERCEDES, or visit MBUSA.com.