Car and Driver January 2020

COVERED WAGON I was wondering how much you pay for your usually great covers. Why in the hell would you slap a label with my name and address over it? Most of the time, you have at least three corners on the back to put it. —Bob Connolly Sturgeon Bay, WI Don’t sell yourself short, Connolly. You’re cover-worthy—Ed. FLIP THE SCRIPT I have subscribed to Car and Driver since about 1970, and the comparison test of sports cars in the October issue [“Deep Roots, Long Shadows”] is conclusive proof that hell has most certainly frozen over. A BMW finishing last while a Porsche is topped by a Toyota and, heaven forbid, a Ford finishing first? Next I suppose you’re going to tell me that the new Corvette is actually going to be a mid-engine…

C/D: Where do you see the most potential to satisfy the enthusiast base that’s been a big part of Nissan? Ivan Espinosa: We have three iconic nameplates: GT-R, Z, and Patrol; that last name doesn’t exist in the U.S., but you know it’s a popular SUV. Those three really describe what Nissan is about. The fun and excitement of making fun cars that excite people. C/D: Do you think the GT-R and Z are important to younger buyers? IE: We have robust data showing that most of GT-R awareness for younger buyers came from the Gran Turismo series. A lot of the younger audience learned about the car through that. There’s excitement there, and I think it will remain. We will continue to work on keeping those cars relevant for the future. C/D: Is…

In your comparison-test scoring, there is an objective category called “flexibility” [“Deep Roots, Long Shadows,” October 2019]. What is flexibility in terms of vehicles and how is it measured? I can touch my toes. What score would I receive? Rob Gardiner, Madoc, ON In your case, you get a four because you’re bending your knees. We define flexibility as the difference between the time it takes to hit 60 mph—achieved by any means of aggressive launch necessary—and the 5-to-60-mph test. A small gap between those two times indicates that a vehicle’s acceleration performance is more accessible and attainable, which is what we reward in our scoring. Two things that sometimes lower flexibility scores: turbocharged engines that require extended brake torquing for a strong launch and low-torque engines where a redline clutch drop…

I need to start this letter by admitting that I’m not a superstar when it comes to arithmetic. But it didn’t take me too long in the new job to determine that our 10Best contest was a bit of a lie. With one 10Best list for cars and another for trucks, SUVs, and vans, we actually have been coming up with 20 10Best vehicles. This is not one of those internet math tricks. It’s true. Pull out your trusty TI-86 calculators and check my math, if you must. Separating cars and trucks made our lives easier, but we couldn’t live with the lie any longer. So this year, we decided that we’d combine all vehicles and choose only 10. We invited back last year’s winners and all the new or significantly…

Behind its badge, Aston Martin’s first SUV is not a particularly original piece of thinking, but it is a necessary one. The Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus, and Rolls-Royce Cullinan have successively eroded the novelty of the ultraluxe SUV. But with Aston’s fortunes fading as buyers turn away from traditional sports cars, it’s no exaggeration to say that the DBX could be the company’s salvation. Like the entire Aston lineup, it scores on design. The muscular styling looks handsome from all angles. Aston’s familiar grille works well on the tall body of the DBX—much better than the grafted-on styling treatments of the Bentayga or Cullinan. “We wanted to make the most beautiful SUV in this space, not necessarily the quickest,” Aston CEO Andy Palmer says. “Although it is extraordinarily quick.” Palmer says he…

WINNER: Gettin’ ’er Done NASCAR bad boy Jimmie Johnson proved there’s No One Badder when he kicked off 2019 by initiating a pileup that took out almost half the competitors in a pre–Daytona 500 exhibition race. Johnson emerged unscathed and, with only eight other cars still on the lead lap, came away with the win. Channeling that chutzpah to benevolent ends, a powerlifter in Ypsilanti, Michigan, lifted an overturned Jeep off an accident victim. LOSER: Sycophancy Jeweler-to-the-stars Ben Yang (a.k.a. Ben Baller) earned himself a private audience with Elon Musk after crafting a $37,000 diamond-and-ruby-encrusted ring featuring the Tesla logo as a token of appreciation for Musk’s impact on the American auto industry. The invitation was later revoked after Yang posted an anti-Tesla rant on Instagram while trapped inside his powered-down Model X. WINNER:…