Car and Driver October 2020

LIVESTOCK DEBATE As a continuous subscriber since before the days of Warren Weith, I would like to suggest one more GOAT: the July 2020 issue. Selections well documented with logic, no quantification of qualitative opinions, no spider graphs, and a reminder of what a writer David E. Davis Jr. was. —Robin Graybeal Cary, NC I received your mag and at first I thought it was a National Lampoon comeback issue. No, it was just the most disgusting insult you can possibly make to a fervent car lover. It took for granted the Ferrari badge—the most sacred symbol of our church. By making a parody of it, you showed your blatant ignorance and total incompetence. Cancel my subscription immediately. —Gus Castaneda Internetville Irreverence, Castaneda. It’s right there on the cover, too—Ed. The prancing-goat logos were brilliant. I…

Sometimes something happens in the world that you hope is just a fad, but then it keeps happening and happening until you have to admit it’s a trend. And then, when it still won’t go away, you realize you’re in the middle of an era. We citizens of the car-loving world are in the early stages of a new one. Let’s call it the Motorbovine era. It’s marked by automakers and car buyers running away from sedans and small cars as quickly as they can in favor of bigger, floatier SUVs. I empathize with the automakers that are killing off cars. It doesn’t make much business sense to keep pouring development dollars into products that you have to work harder and harder to convince people to buy. It’s similar to the current…

We added up your numerous responses and suggestions to our GOAT list and present the 10Best Cars that readers accused us of missing. If you’re wondering: The Lexus LS400 didn’t make it because we made ourselves choose only one car per model year, and we opted for the Miata for 1990. As for the Datsun 240Z and Acura Integra Type R omissions: To be sure that we weren’t looking at these cars through rose-colored lenses, we went back and read the magazine’s initial responses to the cars and found that while the reviews were positive, they stopped short of deeming these machines great achievements. Here are the 10Best Cars we omitted, as chosen by you (well, 11Best Cars because of a four-way tie for eighth place)—Ed.…

How much quicker can cars get? In 1990, the quickest production vehicle we tested was a 285-hp GMC Syclone that tagged 60 mph in 4.3 seconds. The quickest car we have tested since is the 887-hp Porsche 918 Spyder. It can hit 60 mph in 2.1 seconds. A 1.0-second 60-mph time would have to average 2.74 g’s, and the initial launch spike—from standstill to roughly 15 mph—would be much greater and could cause people to gray out, as you might on a high-g roller coaster. A 1.5-second 60-mph dash equates to a much more manageable 1.82 g’s but would still require tires with roughly 50 percent more grip than today’s best. You’ll know we’ve run out of things to say about superquick acceleration when we start reporting 60-mph times to the…

Readers are always telling me that the cars we review are too expensive. “Enough with the Bugattis!” they say. “Write about something I can afford.” People, I hear you. I, too, am growing weary of reading about $3 million cars. So today I’ll take a break from exotics and tell you about an everyday family car. It’s called the Rolls-Royce Cullinan Black Badge, and it doesn’t cost a million dollars. In fact, it’s only a little more than a half-million. At 210.3 inches long, the Cullinan just about matches the length of your bodyguard’s Ford Expedition. That’s too bad if you’re courting attention, because the general public sees the Cullinan and registers “normal big SUV” rather than “chariot of the gods slash Kardashians.” However, like your bunker in that missile silo in…

Many people eagerly await the self-driving car. I am not one of them. “But you can check emails, watch TV, be alone with your thoughts,” they say, as if I don’t go out driving for the sole purpose of not checking emails or being alone with my thoughts. Though, that’s not totally true. I do enjoy the particular kind of thinking that happens while driving, but it happens because the part of my brain that would normally be rehashing the many ways I have humiliated myself over the years is busy scanning for obstacles and controlling limbs, which allows the tiny remainder not dedicated to self-loathing to—hopefully—come up with some good ideas. Different cars prompt different kinds of thinking. Supercars, and really all performance cars, take almost all your processing power…