MotorTrend September 2022

One year has passed since I sat down to pen a column for our previous annual Future Cars issue. So much has happened since then. The biggest news was we awarded not one but two of our Golden Caliper trophies to electric vehicles. The Rivian R1T captured our 2022 Truck of the Year honors, and the Lucid Air won our 2022 Car of the Year award. Our 2022 SUV of the Year, the Genesis GV70, will be available as an EV soon, as well. The Hyundai Ioniq 5—a real stunner—has taken over Los Angeles. At one point we considered creating an EV of the Year award, but we resisted by arguing (correctly) with ourselves that the entire industry is going electric. It’s InEVitable. The future is plugged in, and sooner…

MotorTrend contributor Jethro Bovingdon has lived out some epic car-enthusiast dreams in his 20-plus-year career as an automotive journalist, but his role as a co-host of Top Gear America beats them all. OK, maybe not every single moment—his description of driving the MTM Bimoto Audi TT at full speed on an autobahn makes your neck hair stand up—but as we chatted recently about the new Top Gear America Season 2 on MotorTrend+, we asked him: Is this the best job you’ve ever had? “Yeah, it is,” he said. “And you know what? The funny thing is, I wouldn’t have thought it would be before I started.” He made this observation near the end of our conversation, after we had asked what it’s like to work with fellow hosts Dax Shepard and…

For the first time ever, Porsche is offering a dedicated Lightweight package for its 911 Turbo S, a kit that the company says saves about 65 pounds—for $10,340. But does the added lightness substantially improve the already mind-boggling performance? The package includes thinner glass, one-piece carbon-fiber seats, a sport exhaust, and a PASM adaptive suspension that lowers the car by 0.4 inch. Porsche also deletes the rear seats, some insulation and sound-deadening material, and even the quilted seat and door panel inserts. (Also, you can’t get heated seats. Sorry if you have a cold tuchus.) This boils down to $156.66 per pound of weight reduction. Our example also featured the $3,890 carbon-fiber roof that saves 2 more pounds, and it weighed a relatively svelte 3,550 pounds overall. We previously tested a 992-generation…

The car you see here—the RML Short Wheelbase—is a strange concoction of Ferrari 550 Maranello and the stunning 1959 250 GT Berlinetta Short Wheelbase, or 250 SWB as it’s commonly known. It’s built by RML, a company based in Northamptonshire, England, and costs $1.6 million. RML will create just 30 examples, and you might think this is a pastiche designed to separate millions of dollars from the rich and stupid. However, RML’s history and reputation give its SWB instant credibility. The story began with Arthur Mallock, a prolific hill-climb driver and racer in the 1940s and ’50s who introduced the Mallock U2 special in 1958. A strong, stiff, lightweight spaceframe chassis, it was affordable for any enthusiast. The story continued with Arthur’s son, Ray Mallock, father of Michael—RML’s boss today—and a…

Yes, you read that right. Hertz is going to rent a 900-plus-hp Mustang GT500 to just about anyone who can swing the rental fee. We took the first Hertz Ford Shelby Mustang GT500-H for a quick drive to find out whether that’s a good idea. There’s at least precedent for this. Hertz and Shelby first teamed up in 1966 with the GT350-H, which was tuned up to 306 hp instead of 271 hp, a 13 percent increase. When you think about it that way, the 18-ish percent increase in power between a stock 2022 GT500 and a Hertz Shelby GT500-H seems fairly reasonable … until you remember we’re talking about more than 900 horsepower. If we’re honest, the GT500 didn’t need more power, but that’s kind of Shelby’s thing. A massive 3.8-liter…

50 SEPTEMBER 1972 PRICE: $0.75 Our 1973 New Cars issue focused on the Pontiac Grand Am, a car that showed significant signs of influence from BMW, Mercedes, and other European manufacturers—a rare capitulation from General Motors. We interpreted the Grand Am as a ray of hope for Detroit. Our coverage of AMC, Ford, Chevy, and Lincoln-Mercury’s 1973 models was dominated by the newly mandated 5-mph bumpers occupying their front ends. In a sporty coupe comparison test, newcomer Subaru’s 1300 GL proved an equal match for the Fiat 128 SL. 30 SEPTEMBER 1992 PRICE: $2.95 In our 16-car bang-for-the-buck shootout, the $15,000 Plymouth Laser RS Turbo proved the best performance value, though Mazda’s RX-7 was the best performer overall. New-for-1993 reviews included the Honda Del Sol, reshaped Pontiac Grand Am and Geo Prizm, and the Plymouth Duster, a…