Car and Driver Mar-14

Sic your dogs on us at: editors@caranddriver.comor join the discussion at: backfires.caranddriver.com RIDE THAT PONY As the proud owner of a supercharged '96 Mustang GT and someone who has inappropriate feelings for the 2010–13 Mustang, I viewed your "leak" ["Gentlemen, Place Your Orders!" December 2013] with alarm. I sure hope the rendering has it wrong—as shown, that new front end is a fail. JIM COLTON COUPEVILLE, WASHINGTON The illustration on the cover of the December issue would be a coupe version of a Fusion if you took the pony off the car's grille. SAL VASSALLO GENEVA, ILLINOIS …and that's why I picked up my new 2014 GT a month ago today. PAUL CREECH WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT Oh, I hope your rendering is in error. Look at the car. The entire roofline and the upper rear fender are straight from a '94…

Every year, Kia's design team in Irvine, California, puts together a number of concept proposals leading up to auto-show season. Without fail, the proposals include a sports car. And without fail, Kia brass passes over the sports car, instructing the team instead to design a harbinger of an approved production car. But this year, sitting on the Kia stand at the Detroit auto show was the GT4 Stinger sports-car concept, its stacked headlights aimed, metaphorically speaking, at the landmark Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ sports cars. CHASSIS Kia hasn't approved production of the GT4 Stinger or anything like it, and what platform might underpin a production version is still unknown. Logic would seem to dictate that the Kia will ride on a version of the Hyundai Genesis Coupe's rear-drive architecture, but Kia…

Everybody knows that PEOPLE IN THE NORTHERN STATES buy way more four-wheel-drive vehicles than do the people in the South. But by how much? And is it even true? We wondered, as is our wont, if it is indeed the case that Northerners buy more driven wheels than Southerners. We wanted to see the facts, so we contacted the number crunchers at IHS Automotive, an industry data clearinghouse that provided us with a state-by-state breakdown of front-, rear-, and four-wheel-drive sales over the last year, as well as the take rate for each drivetrain layout in every vehicle class for the same period. The truth may not totally surprise you. Help Yourself If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, then nobody will be around…

In January, Coloradans could finally, in the words of their Democratic governor, John Hickenlooper, "break out the Cheetos and Goldfish." Fourteen months after voters approved a referendum legalizing marijuana, the first pot stores opened their doors. The rules mostly mirror those for alcohol: Shops need licenses, buyers need to be 21, and the state needs its cut by way of taxes. But not every aspect of legalization is so straightforward. Stoned drivers are a serious safety concern, but there's no clear-cut way to gauge the risk as there is with drunk drivers. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in pot, works differently than booze. Research has shown that the amount of THC in the bloodstream is not a consistent indicator of cognitive or psychomotor impairment. Users' bodies are prone to building…

Combustion engineers mounting a last stand against electric propulsion harbor bizarre fantasies. The gasoline guys dream of the diesel's potent torque curves and exemplary thermal efficiency. Diesel devotees yearn for cheaper fuel and relief from expensive injection systems and complex emissions controls. But what if both camps collaborated on one super engine combining the best of both technologies? You'd get what Hyundai and Delphi call Gasoline Direct-Injection Compression Ignition (GDCI): a gas engine needing no spark plugs. Engineers have been studying this alternative for more than a decade. GM and Honda both demonstrated cars powered by homogeneous-charge compression-ignition engines running on gasoline. More recently, Hyundai and Delphi advanced the cause by switching to stratified charge (a rich mixture in part of the cylinder) in a 180-hp 1.8-liter four-cylinder using auto ignition from…

Now that I live at the end of a 1.75-mile gravel driveway cut rudely into the side of a mountain, I've gladly installed winter tires—don't even think of calling them "snow tires"—on five different SUVs in the last 13 months. Four sets were attached to C/D's long-termers, and one set of Toyo Observe GSi-5s now adorns my wife's Toyota RAV4. The Toyos look like the raised hackles on a hyena. I once got up from dinner just to go out and stare at them. But to own that rubber, I had to throw myself on the mercy of Les Schwab's salesmen in Hamilton, Montana. I donned my macho Carhartt vest and said, "I want the 3PMSF rating and big fatso tread blocks made from library paste." That's all I knew…