Car and Driver March 2013

Sic your dogs on us at: editors@caranddriver.comor join the discussion at: backfires.caranddriver.com EYE OF THE BEHOLDER Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a more phallic car than the new SRT Viper. The Ambiguously Gay Duo called; it wants its car back. MICHAEL LAWRENCE WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA More Viper letters, page 12. FAST TIMES Glancing at the graphs in "The Ascent of 'Man!' " article [December 2012], I noticed that on the Top Speed graph, you indicate that the Lamborghini Diablo was the first road car to reach 200 mph. I recall hearing that the Ferrari F40 was the first car to hit 200. After a quick web search, I found that the F40 was first produced in 1987 while the Diablo was not available for another three years. Am I missing something here? KAIGAN VINER DAYTONA BEACH,…

THIS MONTH'S ISSUE IS AWASH IN VEHICLES powered by turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines. We have three such crossovers in the comparison test beginning on page 52; a Chevy Malibu with an engine of that configuration; and even a Jaguar XF with a 2.0-liter turbo under its hood. As Jeff Sabatini points out in his review of the Malibu on page 96, the "turbocharged" honorific no longer fires the adrenal glands the way it did in the age of Porsche 930s and Saab 900 Turbos. Nowadays, forced induction is how carmakers get an extra two cylinders' worth of power out of a downsized engine without failing their EPA tests. But why the 2.0-liter size, specifically? It turns out that this displacement represents a sort of sweet spot for global engine design. Of primary…

LEXUS IS CHRONOLOGY JUNE 2000 The 2001 IS300, essentially the Toyota Altezza, goes on sale in the U.S. AUGUST 2001 The SportCross wagon debuts FEBRUARY 2008 The 416-hp IS F comes online JUNE 2009 The IS C hardtop cabrios arrive SPINDLE GRILLE GETS DEEPER, SPINDLIER. REVEAL OF THE MONTH What's Akio Toyoda TO DO? He's the head of what is currently the world's largest automaker. Factories stamp his almost-name on millions of cars each year. And yet he's not all that crazy about most of them. Imagine the frustration. Messing with one of the most successful corporate recipes in any industry seems like a bad idea. Still, part-time racer Toyoda wants to make his company's cars sportier, and he's slowly getting his way. First came the nearly $400,000, 553-hp Lexus LFA, which Toyoda-san took to the…

AUTOMAKERS ARE BUSY DREAMING UP NEW-CAR TECH. HERE ARE THE PATENTS TO PROVE IT. TURBOCHARGER, 1905 DUAL-CLUTCH TRANSMISSION, 1935 AIRBAG, 1952 GASOLINE DIRECT INJECTION, 1953 CARBON FIBER, 1964 NAVIGATION SYSTEM, 1981 VARIABLE VALVE TIMING, 1981 While most of EUROPE was illiterate and still recovering from the Black Death in the late 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci was brainstorming helicopters and scuba gear on his sketch pad. Though automotive suppliers do a lot of today's in-car innovating, da Vinci's spirit lives on in car companies, where in-house engineers dream up the next generation of technologies and apply for patents to protect the most promising breakthroughs. We've sifted through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) records for a look at what might be the automotive future—or might turn out to be nothing more than entertainment for future historians. On-Board Driver's…

Cancer survivor Joe Bacal drove the entire 38 hours and 22 minutes to a Stock Full class victory in the 2012 Baja 1000, relying on these from sponsor Hammer Nutrition: IN-CAR REFUELING 20 ENERGY GEL PACKETS 25 ANTI-FATIGUE CAPSULES 80 oz. POWDERED ENERGY DRINK 190 NUTRIENT TABLETS REDUNDANT JACK MEN STAND AT THE READY TO SWOOP IN IF SOMETHING GOES AWRY. In Formula 1, fuel delivery used to dictate the length of pit stops. But since the FÉdÉration Internationale de l'Automobile banned in-race refueling in 2010, the cars now carry enough fuel for the duration of the race, meaning time in the pits is determined by how quickly a 14-plus-man crew can swap four wheels and tires. Today, sub-three-second stops are routine, and the astonishing choreography required to remain competitive on the slow side of the pit wall is nearly as impressive…

PART 2 INTRODUCING THE REST OF YOUR GREATEST ENEMIES. Personal transportation is at the vanguard of freedom. Cars aren't just practical tools, but manifestations of liberty, which, for lack of a better definition, is the ability to go wherever we want, whenever we want, in air-conditioned comfort, and while listening to Perry Como (if we feel like it). Last month, we listed five enemies of automotive culture. Here, we complete our rundown of C/D's Most Wanted with profiles of five more opponents. HAPPY 25TH! When non-federalized cars cross the quarter-century mark, you can legally import them to the United States. Consider the BMW Z1: Long before BMW began mixing and matching segments, the Z1 stood as a pillar of German weirdness. The roadster offers features unique in the automotive spectrum, including doors that…