Car and Driver August 2018

CHEVY CHASE C’mon. If the mid-engine Corvette were truly a car worth waiting for [“25 Cars Worth Waiting For,” May 2018], I’d have to be immortal. I’ll believe it when I see it. —Dave Prince Lake Elmo, MN Hey, can you guys put a Corvette on your next cover? It’s been so long since you have done that. —Gary L. Eichner Greensburg, PA Consider it done, Eichner—Ed. Your masthead still lists Bruce McCall as a contributing editor. Since Bruce was the person who came up with the idea for Is This the New Corvette Magazine, maybe you should have let him write and illustrate the preview. —David Karshnerf Los Angeles, CA I finally got around to perusing the latest issue of Car and Driver in my personal library from atop my porcelain throne. Before I even got to the end of…

So what is your take on stop-start systems? Is it worth all the extra equipment to make it work? I read that a four-cylinder car burns 0.16 gallon in an hour of idling. How much can the system save? I actually like it. It is great for long stoplights and trains. I know from forums that many hate it. Is it a good idea, and when will all cars have it? Soon, whether it is seamless or not, it must be added to your reviews. —George Hovany, Lincolnshire, IL We’re not sure where you got your number, but in government testing, vehicles achieved a 4 percent fuel-economy improvement with a stop-start system activated. That’s a savings of 1.5 gallons over 1000 miles for a vehicle that averages 25 mpg without the system.…

These drivers are all piloting late-model cars built long after the industry-wide adoption of Bluetooth. The phones they’re talking into are of the smart variety, designed to pair seamlessly with the vehicle they are driving. It would be one thing if the phones were StarTACs and the carswere Fairmonts. But, nope, modern technology all around, all engineered to relieve motorists of the burden of holding the phone while talking. The hand-held apparatuses in these scenarios are positioned as if they were slices of pizza, but instead of eating the pizza, the drivers are talking into the pizza. Those holding the phones seem to be saying, “I’m so good at driving, I need diversions and horseplay to keep myself challenged.” Or, “I’m not a big fan of safety.” Or, perhaps more likely, “I…

ASTON MARTIN’S PAST, PRESENT, and future hit the Blendtec with the 2019 DBS Superleggera. Both the DBS and Superleggera names hark back to what Aston was. But the new car is an extension of the current DB11, and its V-12–supplied 715 horsepower is here to illuminate a brighter tomorrow for David Brown’s venerable firm. On an interconnected automotive ocean, tiny Aston sails alone, save for its various hardware partnerships with AMG. Its greatest asset remains its own heritage. This is the third Aston Martin to carry the DBS name—George Lazenby as James Bond beached his in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Daniel Craig violently rolled his in 2006’s Casino Royale—and the first to combine it with the Superleggera modifier. But while Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera designed DBs 4,…

NOW THAT 300 HORSEPOWER is just a conversation starter, automakers have concluded that you lack a very particular set of skills, skills you have not acquired over a very long career. How then, as a speed junkie buying the fastest car you can afford, do you admit to being a driver in need of training? The answer: You buy a car that offers a track-time program, and tell your friends you’re attending only to show the instructors “how it’s done.” Many automakers now host full-day track sessions that can include drifting, drag-racing, and autocrossing instruction, sometimes at no additional charge to their customers. “If you’re buying a $100,000 drag car, you’re probably not a rookie,” says SRT marketing chief Mark Malmstead. But, he says, even experienced owners of an 840-hp…

IN RECENT YEARS, automakers have mastered the craft of extracting greater mileage from their engines, and we’re not just talking about mpg ratings. An increasinglypopular powertrain strategy, widely practiced by German luxury brands and their in-house speed shops, reduces the number of engine configurations and displacements in a company’s portfolio while increasing the number of variations of those basic engines. The goal is to accommodate a range of applications, from sedans to crossovers to sports cars to factory hot rods, without starting from scratch. Think of 2.0-liter four-cylinders that stretch from 200 to 400 horsepower and V-8s that cover a similar spread in the 400-to-600-hp arena. This approach reins in the costs and complexity of both engine development and manufacturing. BUILDING BLOCKS The engines’ linerless aluminum-silicon-alloy blocks have the same cylinder dimensions…