Car and Driver June 2018

FOUR-RING CIRCUS As the owner of a 2014 Porsche 981, I was surprised to see the comparison in the March issue pitting a six-speed manual Cayman S against a TT RS with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic [“Prima Donners”]. Even though you preferred the Porsche as tested, I believe Porsche’s PDK would have been a better choice and would have improved the Cayman’s score. At the test prices of both cars, the PDK’s cost is still in range and the dual-clutch produces better performance numbers. I’m sure I’m not the only letter writer to question the choice. —Stephen Gelman Moraga, CA I can’t help but wonder about the outcome if the TT RS didn’t have the Dynamic Plus package (which deletes Magnetic Ride) and if the Cayman S had the PDK. At any rate,…

THE 2019 CULLINAN BREAKS a lot of new ground for Rolls-Royce. It is the first Rolls to have all-wheel drive, the first with a hatchback, and—in a more modest step forward—the first to use touchscreens for its infotainment system. Yet all that fades into insignificance next to the most obvious difference between this and every other vehicle Rolls has made throughout its 112-year history: This is the company’s first SUV. The production version is keeping its development code name, Cullinan being the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found. With V-12 power and a price that we’re told will eclipse al its obvious rivals’, that model name seems appropriate. In what we can only assume is a knowing reference to Get Shorty, company CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös says it is the “Rolls-Royce of…

CARBON FIBER IS GLAMOROUS. It helps shed precious pounds from Ferraris and McLarens, and it’s increasingly applied as merit-badge splashes of décor for the sporty trims of myriad other vehicles. Its use is forecast to grow by 11 to 18 percent each year. But for all its potential, it also has a dark side: Producing carbon fiber is by no means an eco-friendly undertaking. Carbon fiber’s large ecological footprint is related to acrylonitrile, its base material [see “Clean Socks”]. Acrylonitrile is traditionally made from petroleum by way of an energy-intensive process that requires an expensive catalyst and yields hydrogen cyanide, a highly toxic byproduct. The acrylonitrile itself—two pounds of which are needed for each pound of finished product—accounts for more than half the production cost of carbon fiber, which then typically…

IT’S A COMMON-ENOUGH SCENARIO: owner wrecks vehicle, saves powertrain for transplant into something else. But in the trucking industry, such a simple concept has evolved into a controversy large enough that, in 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency moved to limit sales of trucks with transplant powertrains through a reinterpretation of the Clean Air Act. The rule took effect on the first of this year. Now the EPA’s current chief, Scott Pruitt, is already looking to undo it. The big semi brands—including Kenworth, Freightliner, and Peterbilt—sell new trucks sans drivetrain; these trucks are called gliders. Even after the donor drivetrain is installed, a glider can cost up to 25 percent less than a new truck while usually offering better safety and comfort features than the older truck from which its engine, transmission,…

AUTO INDUSTRY ADVOCATES warn that aluminum and steel tariffs imposed by the White House earlier this year could harm their bottom lines, affect workforce plans, and lead to higher prices for consumers. A federal rollback of fuel-economy standards, on the other hand, could ease the pressure OEMs have been under to spend billions on efficient vehicles that have thus far been duds with consumers, who overwhelmingly prefer trucks and SUVs. Those are just two of the recent story lines regarding the unpredictable interplay between the auto industry and the federal government. The Trump administration’s generally sour view of regulations is making for interesting times in the nation’s capital. Automakers sense both pitfalls and opportunity—and that uncertainty is prying open their wallets. The auto industry is spending more money on its lobbying efforts…

FOR US FLATLANDERS, surfing typically means slotting into the couch with a remote or wandering onto the internet. But Oregon-based GolfBoard offers a new way to surf—no pesky ocean required—with its electric all-terrain ResortBoard. The ResortBoard is a four-wheeled plank propelled by a pair of 0.5-hp electric motors, one mounted to each axle. As on a skateboard, the rider steers by leaning, his shifting weight causing the front and rear axles to pivot in opposite directions. The motors’ combined 24 pound-feet of torque sent through 18:1 gearing provides the strength to move up to 400 pounds, so long as the incline isn’t too steep. A rheostat thumb switch mounted to the handlebar modulates acceleration. A 1.3-kWh lithium-ion battery pack under the deck stores the electrons. With a full charge, our ResortBoard went 14…