Car and Driver的May/June 2026目录

“THE PITS” IS OLD-SCHOOL slang for something that’s terrible. Alternately, it’s the place a driver goes when exiting a racetrack. And when you’re angling toward pit lane on your final lap around Spain’s Circuito de Navarra in the Aston Martin Valhalla, both meanings apply. Because the Valhalla is not the coldhearted cyborg track dissector that you might expect based on its numbers—1064 horsepower, 217-mph electronically limited top speed, and 1345 pounds of downforce, to name a few. Yes, Aston clearly employs many people who are good at math, but the Valhalla retains a quality that can elude cars of this ilk: It’s fun. As a guiding philosophy, that’s a fine one to embrace and surprisingly uncommon when it comes to cars devoted to speed above all else. Valhallas will probably…

RIVIAN CEO RJ SCARINGE posits that the success of the Tesla Model Y represents a huge opportunity for the new Rivian R2. He argues that the current crop of electric compact SUVs follows the Model Y template, leaving space for a battery-powered SUV that has boxier, more rugged styling and real off-road capability. That should draw the attention of some owners of gas-powered SUVs such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Toyota 4Runner, as well as current electric-SUV drivers looking for more four-wheeling chops. After spending some time in an R2, we think Scaringe is right. Sure, Rivian offers the R1S, but that three-row SUV is a lot more expensive, starting at $78,885. Meanwhile, the company is asking $59,485 for the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive R2 Performance, the priciest in the…

“I love that you can drive the absolute snot out of the Maverick and still get 31 mpg.”—Austin Irwin, technical editor WE LIVE IN A WORLD where more begets more. We’re overtaxed by the man. Treats are sweet, so we overeat. And with the average transaction price for a new vehicle now around $50,000, it’s easy to overspend. Bucking the idea that more is better, larger is king, and consumption is necessary is the 10Best-winning Ford Maverick. When the Maverick launched for 2022, it was anything but over the top. With a base price of $21,490, a standard hybrid powertrain driving the front wheels, and eye-popping EPA fuel economy, it became an instant hit. Who would’ve thought a small, front-drive pickup would be so successful? Apparently not Ford, as demand…

2026 Volkswagen Golf R MILES: 2252 OBSERVED MPG: 23 The Volkswagen Golf R needs no introduction around these parts, though its transmission might. Even though a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic is now the only cog swapper on offer, we’re still excited to bring this hot hatch into our stable for 40,000 miles of all-wheel-drive shenanigans. The 2025 model added 13 horsepower, bringing the total to 328, and a larger, improved infotainment interface. The sole new option for 2026 is the $455 Graphite Gray Metallic paint job, and you betcha that’s the color we picked. We also optioned the $3795 Euro Style package, which replaces the Golf R’s standard (and drab) all-black leather power seats with a set featuring blue plaid cloth inserts and power recline only. It also deletes the sunroof…

WE WOULD HAVE HAD NO PROBLEM finding 10 contenders to compete for the crown of best small car 20 years ago. There surely would have been a Ford and a Chevy. Throw in a Dodge and a Mitsubishi. Maybe even a Saturn, a Scion, and a Suzuki. There are no more small cars here from any of those brands; Saturn and Scion no longer exist, and Suzuki fled the U.S. over a decade ago. So this comparison test is smaller than in the past, but it’s more relevant than ever, because the average new-car price starts at nearly $50,000. So what’s life like at $30,000? We gathered six small cars to find out. Kia’s K4 hatchback and the Nissan Sentra are the newest kids on the block. The K4 sedan went…

MY FIRST JOB IN PUBLISHING was at Car Weekly, a struggling Canadian car-racing tabloid that was less weekly and more whenever we felt like it. The editor, Donald “Tex” Swiston, was Texan insofar as he occasionally wore a cowboy hat outdoors. He drove an abused 1965 Ford Galaxie, a former taxi. It appeared to have been rolled, or at least entangled in a score of inattentive parking-lot calamities. The car was mostly navy blue but also primer gray and maroon. Its tires represented four brands. The Galaxie was so eaten by rust that one headlight illuminated only guardrails. Tex draped towels over the foam-and-vinyl seats, which were crumbling in sticky BB-sized balls that would cling to your pants. The car had a horn, but the chrome ring had snapped, its…

PUSH THE NEW 2026 Audi A6 into a corner, and it will rotate around the apex like a well-tuned sports sedan, its torque-vectoring rear differential and newly available rear-axle steering helping to redirect the car’s momentum. Grippy summer tires claw at the pavement, and the chassis feels hunkered down on a new sport-tuned suspension. There’s a caveat to its enhanced athleticism: You need to spring for the top Prestige trim level to unlock the optional driver-focused hardware. And that makes the new A6 a pricey proposition. This A6 is built on Audi’s latest Premium Plat-form Combustion architecture, which also under-pins A5 models, the Q5, and the SQ5. Prices start at a reasonable $65,395 for the Premium trim, with all versions gaining more standard luxuries and safety tech, plus additional sound…

FOR THE SAKE OF SAFETY and fun, adding speed to an SUV should be more than just throwing a big engine under the hood. Fortunately, the first Land Rover Defender built for speed receives a thorough makeover commensurate with its new motor. The speed part is handled with gusto by a BMW-sourced twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 making 626 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. Under the stewardship of Jamal Hameedi, whose highlights at Ford included both modern GTs and the F-150 Raptor, Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations also fitted a hydraulically linked ­suspension to combat pitch and roll, fender flares that increase the width by 2.7 inches, a quicker steering rack, longer suspension arms and links, front seats with beefier bolsters, and 33-inch tires (either all-­ terrain or all-season). It also…

A FRIENDLIER ’MOG Sure, the all-conquering Mercedes-Benz Unimog has herculean capabilities, but market research (probably) revealed that some shoppers found its cabin environs wanting. Enter the rather boringly named “luxury Unimog show car.” This thing is an exercise in extremes, retaining every inch of the Unimog’s unparalleled capability while making the mighty ’Mog a little more comfortable. All the good bits are here, including portal axles and locking differentials, but the four-seat cabin has been given some love, with loads of leather and contrast stitching. Mercedes ditched the Unimog’s standard inline-four in favor of a 295-hp turbocharged 7.7-liter diesel inline-six that promises better drivability and performance. For now, this remains a concept. Should it go into production, expect a wave of influencers stampeding to the DMV to get their commercial…

TEAM ASSOCIATED’S RC10 launched in 1984 and helped usher in the golden age of radio-controlled (RC) cars. The lull between Atari’s fall and Nintendo’s rise was a sweet spot for catering to consumers’ hunger for hands-on fun and desire to spend their disposable income. The RC10’s roots date back to 1964, when two actual rocket scientists, Roger Curtis and Lee Yurada, founded a slot-car company. By the next decade, they were building 1:8-scale, nitromethane-powered RC cars that dominated racing. Yurada left the company, and former full-size-race-car builder Gene Husting joined it. As the ’70s rolled into the ’80s, nitro RC cars began playing second fiddle to electric ones. For Team Associated, electric power started on asphalt with the 1:12-scale RC12E. Rival company Tamiya, however, unleashed a boom in 1:10-scale electric…

THINK YOU DROVE THROUGH some wet paint,” said photographer Greg Pajo. “The tires are making a sticky sound.” No, Greg, that tuack, tuack is just the song of hot Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber sticking to the smooth pavement of California State Route 58. Think of it as the ballad of the 2026 BMW M2 CS with a backing band of lonely two-lane highway. And turn it up. There are a lot of songs about roads. Nat King Cole extolled the virtues of Route 66; Bob Dylan got surreal on Highway 61. Neko Case drove down the West Coast’s Interstate 5, while AC/DC took the highway to hell—which, on a holiday weekend in Los Angeles, could also be the 5. If you’re ever on I-5 in Central California, listening to…

Highs: A 1250-hp puppy, NHRA rule–breaking trap speed, as easy to drive as a Stingray. Lows: The sound commands more respect than affection, the damage this car can inflict on a driving record, it weighs how much? Verdict: Has no business being this livable at this power level, this fast at this price, or this agile at this weight. IT USED TO BE THAT YOU COULD walk into an In-N-Out Burger and order a 10 by 10, and they’d build it. They’d stack 10 patties with 10 slices of cheese and hand it to you with a straight face. Then someone ordered a 100 by 100, because of course they did. A blog post went viral, and at some point, In-N-Out drew a line, in effect deciding that anything more…

IT’S GETTING HARDER TO GET LOST. Civilization creeps like lake ice, encasing the land in smooth ribbons of easily traversed tarmac. It’s rare to be out of cell service. If you try to color outside the lines, your car beeps and nudges you back into the lane. You can’t even take a wrong turn without a map flashing across three screens. It’s not bad, exactly. Most people appreciate security and a paved commute, but some long to discover an unfamiliar road—the rougher and dustier, the better. If we can travel it in a vehicle that cushions some of the bumps without blocking out the sage-scented breeze, that seems ideal. Mexico’s Baja California peninsula is the destination for those looking to get lost in order to find themselves. Off-roading was born here…

IF YOUR NICKNAME IS GODZILLA, you’d better be a monster. In recent times, the moniker has been applied to former MLB slugger Hideki Matsui, the Nissan GT-R, and, most recently, Ford’s 7.3-liter V-8 engine. After testing a 2026 F-250 Super Duty Lariat with the big pushrod brute, we’d say Ford’s gasoline-gulping creature is worthy of the handle. It’s big, it roars, and it’s out of place in cities. Oh, no, there goes Orlando—go, go, Godzilla. The 430-hp 7.3-liter is a $1500 option over the base 405-hp 6.8-liter V-8. Making 485 pound-feet of torque, the 7.3 turns the F-250 into something like a very tall Fox-body Mustang. The run to 60 mph requires just 6.2 seconds, and the quarter-mile is dispatched in 14.7 seconds at 93 mph. The F-250’s skidpad grip,…

BACK IN 2023, the Chevrolet Bolt and the slightly larger Bolt EUV were the two least expensive battery-electric vehicles. Both were selling well, and then one day—poof—they were gone, a victim of progress. General Motors needed to phase out the Bolt’s older electrical architecture in favor of newer, Ultium platform–based EVs. But there was more to the story. Little did we know, Chevy had already begun work on the 2027 Bolt. If the new Bolt looks a lot like the former EUV, that’s because it’s identical. Underneath that familiar shape—now bookended by new fascias and lighting elements—lie new electrical systems and a new electric motor, both of which give the Bolt a new lease on life, though Chevy says not for long. Previously, the Bolt nailed the range part of…

IF LIFE RESEMBLES a three-act play—I’m not insisting it does—Nissan’s 240SX at least resembled my own life: A wobbly toddlerhood, in which you wet your pants while groveling for Fudgsicles. A fecund adulthood, in which you’re never late for work and begin cheating on your taxes. And a hoary senescence, in which you scream at the neighbors’ kids and wet your pants again. And so: Act One: Introduced in 1988, the first Nissan 240SX was short on oomph and long on thrash. Cute but undercooked. Act Two: For 1991 came double over-head cams (instead of a single) and four valves per cylinder (rather than three). With the engine making 155 horsepower, escape velocity still wasn’t bank-robber worthy, but the cylinder head certainly sharpened throttle response. Act Three: By 1995, U.S.…