Evelyn Reynolds

From the Archive: Maybe the world’s quickest ovoid. (Go look it up.) More

When we look back on the late era of the internal combustion engine, the new Rolls-Royce Ghost may well prove to be the last sedan powered by a V-12 without hybrid assistance. This is a distinction that might be celebrated noisily, but 220 pounds of expertly applied sound-deadening material has other ideas. This is a car that never shouts and rarely does much more than whisper. It seemingly requires wide-open throttle to produce any evidence of internal combustion, and even then the V-12 merely issues a distant but purposeful hum of the sort you’d hear on the bridge of a luxury yacht a few seconds after moving the engine order telegraph to full ahead. Many brands will struggle to maintain their identities in the age of electrification, but for Rolls-Royce it will be a liberation from the small amount of disruption its engines still cause.
Much about the new Ghost is familiar, for the simple reason that the first version became the brand’s best-selling model of all time over a decade-long run. The new car is slightly bigger and considerably cleverer but looks very similar from the outside. Exterior styling is cleaner and less fussy, Rolls reckoning it has identified what it terms a “post opulent” trend among the sharp-end one percenters who make up its clientele. But although more visually modest than the full-baller Phantom, the 218.3-inch, 5700-pound Ghost is never going to be short on presence, especially now that its rear-hinged second-row doors have gained power operation for opening as well as closing. It also gets the option of an illuminated radiator grille.

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Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce Goes All In for the Last Ghost Zenith

2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost Changed, Still Elegant

Beneath the surface, all has changed. The first Ghost sat on the same underpinnings as the F01 BMW 7-series, but this one is based on the modular Rolls-only Architecture of Luxury platform that underpins both Phantom and Cullinan. Like its SUV sibling, the new Ghost gets both all-wheel drive and rear-wheel steering, with its 6.7-liter twin-turbo V-12 making the same output of 563 horsepower.
Yes, it will hustle. Those Ghost buyers who will drive the car themselves—a clear majority in the United States—will be able to enjoy the surprising accelerative forces it is capable of generating. While never unseemly enough to chirp its tires, the Ghost will launch hard with the nose-up attitude common to the powerful but softly sprung. We didn’t confirm the claimed 4.6-second 60-mph time during our drive in the United Kingdom, but considering the nearly 400-pound-heavier Cullinan has beat that, we’re expecting the Ghost to be a bit quicker. It certainly seems quick enough. Steering is light and short on resistance, but front-end responses are accurate and grip levels are keen. An active anti-roll bar is fitted to the rear, but this is powered by a 12-volt motor (the Bentley Flying Spur has a 48-volt system), and the effect under harder cornering is limited. The brake pedal is weighted to make ultra-smooth stops easy and thus is also a little too soft for accurate modulation under hard braking.

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Rolls-Royce

The Ghost is much happier at a gentler pace, with the most important statistic being the supine 1600 rpm at which the mighty engine attains its peak torque of 627 pound-feet. There is no way to manually select gears for the eight-speed automatic transmission, nor is there any obvious need to with the system software working as unobtrusively as an attentive valet. Just as in Phantom and Cullinan, the transmission uses GPS assistance to help intelligently select the right gear for approaching corners and junctions. Rolls-Royce is now happy to publicly state power and performance figures—it used to just claim an “adequate sufficiency”—but it still refuses to fit anything as vulgar as a tachometer to the instrument panel. Yet even with the Power Reserve meter showing more than 80 percent of the engine’s output untapped, performance is still brisk.
At first, suspension settings feel too soft. The Ghost’s pillowy initial response to a bump feels as if it will be followed by the wallow of a ’60s land yacht, but the air springs and adaptive dampers arrest the seemingly inevitable counter heave. At higher speeds it turns into a true magic carpet, with a road-reading stereo camera system informing the dampers of upcoming undulations. There are also dampers fitted to the top control arms that are designed to counteract vibration. Even sizable compressions are digested without apparent effort, with snug sound insulation doing a similarly good job at stopping the too-real world from spoiling the tranquillity of the Ghost’s cabin. At 70 mph it is as quiet as most cars would be at 30 mph; conversations between front and rear seat can be conducted in a whisper. One strange omission is lane-keeping cruise control. The Ghost will keep distance from a car in front but doesn’t have active lane assist.

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Rolls-Royce

The cabin is spacious, although slightly less roomy than you might expect given the car’s external dimensions. In regular form, the new Ghost is only barely shorter than the extended-wheelbase version of the outgoing car. Large adults can sit comfortably in the rear but without the ankle-twirling room that many associate with true luxury, a deficit that the inevitable stretched version will rectify. The combination of a high beltline and huge pillars also limits visibility, especially from the driver’s seat, where there are substantial blind spots to the front three-quarters and over the shoulder. We also noted that, at a regular seating height, only the top half of the Spirit of Ecstasy hood mascot can be seen, meaning the visible silhouette looks more like Dumbo than the Flying Lady.

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Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce continues to deliberately make its cabins feel closer to the 1920s than the 2020s, with archaic details like mechanical-style rotary heater controls in place of the omnipresent digital climate readouts of every upmarket rival. For the Ghost, it has added individual digital instruments that look and behave exactly like the conventional dials they replaced. But the overall effect still feels entirely special, thanks to details like the perfectly weighted metal air vents and the beautifully stitched leather dashboard. Even the starry headliner—which uses hundreds of fiber optics to mimic a clear night sky—doesn’t feel like a gimmick.
It is hard to criticize a car that betters a successful predecessor in every key regard, which is what the new Ghost manages. As ultra-luxury buyers follow the herd toward a preference for SUVs, it seems unlikely that this Ghost will be as popular as the outgoing version. But on every empirical and even subjective regard, it is the superior car.

Specifications

Specifications
2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost
VEHICLE TYPE front-engine, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
ESTIMATED BASE PRICE $320,000
ENGINE TYPE twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 48-valve V-12, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injectionDisplacement 412 in3, 6749 cm3Power 563 hp @ 5000 rpmTorque 627 lb-ft @ 1600 rpm
TRANSMISSION 8-speed automatic
DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 129.7 inLength: 218.3 inHeight: 61.9 inTrunk volume: 18 ft3Curb weight (C/D est): 5700 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST) 60 mph: 4.3 sec100 mph: 10.4 sec1/4 mile: 12.7 secTop speed: 155 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY Combined/city/highway: 14/12/19 mpg

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From the Archive: What a $109,000 luxury car looked like in 1981. More

Has the electric Porsche Taycan pushed the Panamera aside? Is the Panamera now redundant, archaic, and possibly even unnecessary? We’re here to say that the Panamera isn’t ready for its last rites.
Evidence of that is the 2021 Panamera 4S E-Hybrid Executive. Like all Panameras, it is undergoing a mid-cycle refresh for 2021. The long name reflects all of the best features of the car. The 4 is for all-wheel drive, S stands for high performance, E-Hybrid tells you that it’s a plug-in hybrid, and Executive denotes the wheelbase stretch. Think of it as a limousine that ate a 911 Turbo, had a Toyota Prius Prime for dessert, and then was itself covered in Hershey’s chocolate syrup. It’s freakishly good.

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Porsche

2021 Porsche Panamera Doubles Down on Power

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The internal combustion side of the hybrid system is familiar. Under the hood is the corporate twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V-6. It’s the same engine Porsche uses in versions of the Macan and Cayenne and that Audi bolts in, among other things, the S6 and S7 sports sedans. A 325-hp version of the 2.9-liter is now the standard powerplant in the base 2021 Panamera. In the new Panamera 4S E-Hybrid it has a more serious 443 horsepower and 405 pound-feet of torque.
Between the new engine and its eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, Porsche crams in the heart of the E-Hybrid system: a 134-hp electric motor. While 134 is a modest number of ponies, the motor also thumps along with 295 pound-feet of instant torque. The combination feeds the V-6 and the electric whizzer directly into the transmission. And it’s all good for 552 horsepower and a thumping 553 pound-feet of torque. If you’re checking our math, the motor and engine outputs don’t add up to 577 horsepower and 700 pound-feet of torque because the motor and engine don’t peak at the same rpm.

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Porsche

Last year’s twin-turbocharged V-8-powered Panamera Turbo had a mere 550 horsepower. The 4S E-Hybrid replaces the discontinued Turbo in the 2021 Panamera line, though the monstrous new Turbo S with 620 horsepower and the even more insane Turbo S E-Hybrid stand at the top of the performance mountain.
The Executive model has a wheelbase that is 5.9 inches longer than ordinary Panameras and stretches out a full 204.7 inches long. But the dimensions that announce the Panamera Executive’s presence are its 78.2-inch width and sleek 56.2-inch overall height. This isn’t a car that’s trying to hide its bulk.
While the Taycan uses a floating gauge panel displaying the instrumentation, the Panamera’s centered tachometer and other gauges are still burrowed into the dash. The riot of control buttons that were a hallmark of the first Panamera’s cockpit were replaced by sleek touch-sensitive controls and a touchscreen in this generation, but even that seems like throwback tech compared to the Taycan.

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Porsche

Though the Panamera is a big sedan, it seems far smaller than its Volkswagen Group chassis-mate, the Bentley Flying Spur, or any big Mercedes sedan. It would be better if the front doors were a bit longer to make it easier to get in and out, some of the controls may as well be marked with hieroglyphics, and in a car as elegant as this, we could do without the E-Hybrid’s lime-green badging and painted brake calipers.
The E-Hybrid system’s battery pack has grown from 14.1-kilowatt hours to 17.9, and that 27-percent boost in capacity should be good for 18 miles of electric range. EPA ratings will be released closer to the on-sale date. That, however, misses what’s best about this hefty brawler. Put the 4S E-Hybrid Executive into Sport or Sport Plus, and all the resources go into the service of high-performance entertainment. Porsche claims it will, using launch control, slam to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds and thunder all the way to 185 mph. The short wheelbase version, says the company, will get to 60 mph a tenth quicker.
With the electric motor’s instant low-end torque combined with V-6’s revving character, this isn’t what you might expect of a hybrid. With all the power funneling into the transmission, it feels like a seamless, heavily muscled battleship. Using the paddle shifters to great effect, the 4S E-Hybrid accelerates and responds like a vehicle weighing about a ton less than it does.

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Porsche

Previous Panameras were always impressive at handling despite their mass but were remote in their feedback to the driver. This one, on the other hand, is nearly sports-car chatty. The revised damping and 21-inch wheels wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tires, sized 275/35 up front and 325/30 in the rear, transmit just enough of the car’s movement into the driver’s butt to feel the tail tucking in or the nose taking a bite into a corner. It’s best in Sport and Sport Plus modes, but it’s even good when trawling in electric cruise. Porsche has also revised the electronic power steering’s assist map to add more effort just off center when the car is at speed.
This particular example was equipped with adaptive sport suspension, 48-volt active anti-roll bars, and carbon-ceramic brake rotors. That the driver doesn’t notice all the computerized negotiation going on between the Panamera and the pavement doesn’t mean it isn’t going on. Porsche is effectively curating what sensations make it into the cockpit and which are filtered out.
The computers are doing such a good job that sometimes this massive machine can briefly act like a 911. There always seems to be traction available, thrust to order, and chassis reflexes that would send an NFL cornerback to All-Pro. The gigantic brakes could stop aging.

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Porsche

Porsche has done such a good job tailoring the driving experience that you might not want to ever sit in back. Yes, there’s plenty of legroom because of the wheelbase stretch and the command controls in the rear center console will satisfy all of your Jean-Luc Picard “Make it so” fantasies. But do you love your chauffeur so much that you’d hand over one of the world’s best sports sedans? Why would anyone want to deny themselves the pleasure of piloting this starship themselves?
And that’s why the Panamera 4S E-Hybrid remains relevant despite the existence of the Taycan. While the Taycan delivers its own brilliant driving experience, it’s a different and quieter one than the Panamera’s. The Taycan simply can’t match the Panamera for the auditory and visceral joy that comes with its internal-combustion engine.
The 2021 Panameras won’t make it to North America until next year; this Truffle Brown example was an early European-spec example. Look for official pricing to be announced right before the car goes on sale. Judging by the current price of a 4S E-Hybrid Executive, we’d guess that the 2021 model will open at about $150,000. That’s a large outlay of cash, but it slots nicely between the prices of the 522-hp Taycan 4S and the 670-hp Taycan Turbo S.

Specifications

Specifications
2021 Porsche Panamera 4S E-Hybrid Executive
VEHICLE TYPE front-engine, all-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 4-door hatchback
BASE PRICE (C/D EST) $150,000
POWERTRAIN twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve 2.9-liter V-6, 443 hp, 405 lb-ft; permanent-magnet synchronous AC motor, 134 hp, 295 lb-ft; combined output, 552 hp, 553 lb-ft; 17.9-kWh lithium-ion
TRANSMISSION 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 122.0 inLength: 204.7 inWidth: 78.2 inHeight: 56.2 inPassenger volume: 96 ft3Cargo volume: 14 ft3Curb weight (C/D est): 5200 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST) 60 mph: 3.3 sec100 mph: 9.4 sec1/4 mile: 11.8 secTop speed: 185 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST) Combined/city/highway: 23/21/24 mpgCombined gasoline+electricity: 51 MPGeEV range: 18 miles

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More horsepower from an upgraded twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 is a great thing, but Porsche’s updated luxury sedan could still use a little more personality. More

In General Motors’s lineup of large SUVs, the GMC Yukon lives in the small bit of ground between the Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet Tahoe. Like those trucks, the Yukon has been thoroughly redone for 2021. The new platform is still body-on-frame construction, but GM has finally bolted in an independent rear suspension to replace the old live-axle setup. That new suspension pays dividends in ride and handling and allows for a lower floor, which increases third-row space and cargo capacity.

HIGHS: Modern suspension yields a spacious third row, strong engine choices, comfortable and improved interior, more space.

The Yukon now has 11 cubic feet more cargo space than in the previous generation and 10.1 extra inches of third-row legroom. The wayback of the new Yukon still looks cramped, but dropping the floor makes the third row far more comfortable, and it’s possible to imagine that an adult would voluntarily spend up to an hour back there without complaint, especially if the second-row seats are scooted forward.

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Andi Hedrick

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Ride and handling improvements born of the new suspension are subtler. The new Yukon steers, handles, and rides with more grace than before. But the front and rear suspension still clap annoyingly over impacts. The Yukon is easier to wield and responses are tighter, but we did note its obnoxiously low cornering grip—less than before—just matching the last Sierra HD pickup that we tested at 0.73 g.

LOWS: Denali’s price spirals upward very quickly, Chevy’s Tahoe is essentially the same thing, intrusive stability-control system.

Not everything about the Yukon is new, but not everything needed to change either. Unlike the Ford Expedition, which only comes with a twin-turbo 3.5-liter V-6, GMC continues to offer naturally aspirated V-8 engines. A 355-hp 5.3-liter V-8 is standard, and the upmarket Denali comes with a 420-hp 6.2-liter V-8. Both receive the advanced cylinder-deactivation system introduced by the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado. With the 6.2-liter V-8, our Denali hit 60 mph in 6.0 seconds, two-tenths of a second behind its predecessor. We saw 14 mpg during our time with the new Denali, which is in keeping with the EPA’s city fuel-economy estimate for a Yukon with this wheelbase and powertrain.

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Andi Hedrick

As much as we love the V-8s, judged by how it well it works in the Sierra pickup, we might be tempted by the new turbocharged 277-hp 3.0-liter inline-six diesel engine with 460 pound-feet of torque. GMC hasn’t released fuel-economy estimates for the diesel, but based on the Sierra’s numbers with that engine we’d expect it will score roughly 23 mpg city and as high as 30 mpg highway. All three engines share a 10-speed automatic transmission and available with rear- or four-wheel drive.
If you’re more into off-roading than drag racing, there’s the new AT4 trim, which adds off-road tires, skid plates, standard magnetorheological dampers, red front-tow hooks, and a variety of other cosmetic enhancements. When GMC began planning an AT4 trim for the Yukon, it expected the model to account for about 10 percent of sales, but the success of the Sierra and Acadia AT4 bumped expectations to about 20 percent.

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Andi Hedrick

A new interior helps the Yukon satisfy its upscale pretensions, and Denalis go a step further with special leather, real wood trim, and a number of exclusive interior-color options. There’s an available 15-inch head-up display and optional tablet-style infotainment displays for the second row that can display media from a variety of bring-your-own video sources and—this may turn out to be a mistake—send navigation suggestions to the driver for approval.
More practical and luxurious than before, the Yukon is a subtle choice compared to the overt ostentatiousness of the Cadillac Escalade and Lincoln Navigator. Buyers would be smart to consider Mercedes’s GLS-class full-sizer, but the Yukon’s design strikes us the sweet spot in GM’s lineup of large SUVs.

Specifications

Specifications
2021 GMC Yukon Denali 4WD
VEHICLE TYPE front-engine, rear-/4-wheel-drive, 7-passenger, 4-door wagon
PRICE AS TESTED $83,795 (base price: $72,695)
ENGINE TYPE pushrod 16-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injectionDisplacement 376 in3, 6162 cm3Power 420 hp @ 5600 rpmTorque 460 lb-ft @ 4100 rpm
TRANSMISSION 10-speed automatic
CHASSIS Suspension (F/R): control arms/trailing armsBrakes (F/R): vented disc/vented discTires: Bridgestone Alenza A/S 02, 275/50R-22 111H M+S TPC SPEC 3156MS
DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 120.9 inLength: 210.0 inWidth: 81.0 inHeight: 76.5 inPassenger volume: 178 ft3Cargo volume: 26 ft3Curb weight: 6007 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS 60 mph: 6.0 sec100 mph: 15.4 secRolling start, 5–60 mph: 6.4 secTop gear, 30–50 mph: 3.3 secTop gear, 50–70 mph: 4.1 sec1/4 mile: 14.5 sec @ 97 mphTop speed (governor limited): 112 mphBraking, 70–0 mph: 183 ftRoadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.73 gStanding-start accel times omit 1-ft rollout of 0.4 sec.
C/D FUEL ECONOMY Observed: 14 mpg75-mph highway driving: 20 mpgHighway range: 480 miles
EPA FUEL ECONOMY Combined/city/highway: 16/14/19 mpg
C/D TESTING EXPLAINED

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What Is It?
For 2011, BMW’s sublime 335i coupe receives badly needed iDrive enhancements and a minor-league exterior refresh with new lights front and rear, plus a modified trunklid, grille, and front bumper. More significant, the car is now powered by the new N55 inline six-cylinder engine that has been deployed across the BMW lineup.
How Does It Drive?
Just like the old N54 engine, the N55 is as smooth as single malt, makes a sweet sound, and is plenty powerful. Also like the N54, it seems to make more than the advertised horsepower. Back in 2007, a twin-turbo coupe managed 0 to 60 in 4.9 seconds. This one did the deed in five flat. Through the quarter-mile, the earlier car managed 13.6 seconds at 105 mph versus 13.7 at 106 for this 2011 model. The 2011 pulls away beyond 100 mph, hitting that speed in 12.0 seconds (the 2007 needed 12.1), with a 1.8-second advantage to the hugely important-for-your-commute 140-mph mark (26.2 seconds versus 28.0).

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As the chassis remains unchanged, dynamic performance is identical to that of the previous car. Both stopped from 70 mph to 0 in 160 feet, and they recorded skidpad performances within 0.01 g of each other: 0.88 for the new, 0.87 for the old. The real difference came in mileage. The 2007 car had EPA city and highway mileage ratings of 17 and 26 mpg, respectively. The 2011 version improves to 19 and 28. Our observed figure improved even further, from 18 mpg overall in the 2007 model to 21 in the 2011.
How Does It Stack Up?
The 3-series coupe drives beautifully, with faithful steering, stout brakes, and fluid control feel. The six-speed manual has short, positive throws, and the chassis balance is terrific, with lots of power oversteer available in the lower gears. The new engine sounds slightly fuller than the old one, and the power delivery is even more linear: One can stick the car in sixth gear at ridiculously low revs, and it will pull from 30 mph on up without hesitation. The Audi A5 and the Infiniti G37 offer similar performance and style, but neither car has the fluidity and refinement of the BMW over twisting pavement.

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What’s the Cost?
The rub, of course, is the price. BMW charges $43,525 for a base 335i coupe, although our tester was packed with just about every available option. Add in nav, the Sport package with 19-inch wheels and tires, the Premium package, and parking sensors—among other items—and the sticker swells to $53,525. That price will plant a person into a lot of cars, from a sexy Audi S5 to a boisterous Chevy Corvette, but there’s nothing that matches the blend of refinement and performance provided by a 335i—two turbos or one.

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Specifications

SPECIFICATIONS
2011 BMW 335i Coupe
VEHICLE TYPE Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door coupe
PRICE AS TESTED $53,525 (base price: $43,525)
ENGINE TYPE Turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve inline-6, aluminum block and head, direct fuel injectionDisplacement: 182 in3, 2979 cm3Power: 300 bhp @ 5800 rpmTorque: 300 lb-ft @ 1200 rpm

TRANSMISSION 6-speed manual
DIMENSIONSWheelbase: 108.7 inLength: 181.9 inWidth: 70.2 inHeight: 54.1 inCurb weight: 3506 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS Zero to 60 mph: 5.0 secZero to 100 mph: 12.0 secZero to 130 mph: 21.3 secZero to 150 mph: 32.7 secStreet start, 5-60 mph: 5.5 secStanding ¼-mile: 13.7 sec @ 106 mphTop speed (governor limited): 156 mphBraking, 70-0 mph: 160 ftRoadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.88 g
FUEL ECONOMYEPA city/highway driving: 19/28 mpgC/D observed: 21 mpg

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From the February 1986 issue of Car and Driver.
The editorial “we” has shuttled between enchantment and annoyance so many times on the Corvette since its 1984 re­design that our tests read like soap-opera scripts. Is this the most advanced produc­tion car on the planet, as we once asserted, or an aluminum-and-fiberglass reincarna­tion of Judas Iscariot, as we later intimat­ed? Stay tuned for the next thrilling epi­sode as “we” neatly dodge the issue by saying, “Boy, it’s sure a lot better than it was last year.”

Corvette Chronology 1980s

1989 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible Road Test

There should be no arguing over this latest assessment, for two reasons. For 1986, after a ten-year absence, a convert­ible version will once again be available. If you like convertibles, hallelujah! If you don’t, the coupe continues as before.
The second reason to rejoice is the Bosch-derived anti-lock brake system, which is now standard on both body styles. The stopping distance from 70 mph is only 164 feet, the second shortest we’ve ever measured for a production car.
We’ll come back to this headline stuff af­ter a rundown of the news. Starting in Feb­ruary or March, both the convertible and the coupe will have aluminum cylinder heads as standard equipment. Although this change was originally intended for the start of the 1986 model run, a few design details had to be revised at the last mo­ment, resulting in a delay. The heads do more than just save 40 pounds per car, though this is no small thing in itself. They also contribute to engine efficiency, thanks to the spark plugs’ being more centrally lo­cated in the combustion chambers and to larger intake ports. And the compression ratio has been raised half a point, to 9.5:1—a typical change in the transition from iron to aluminum heads because of the faster heat transfer of aluminum.

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DICK KELLEY

Professional car thieves should have special interest in VATS, the new Vehicle Anti-Theft System, which is also standard equipment. Everyone will notice that the new ignition key has a black pellet inserted in the top of the blade just after the grooves and notches fade out. Anyone who tries to start a new Corvette without the right pellet in his key will notice a lot of cranking but not much starting. This pellet is the resistance module—Chevrolet has fifteen to choose from—and the ignition switch reads it along with the normal grooves and notches. If the key reader doesn’t like the proffered pellet, it tells the electronic control module to deactivate certain parts of the fuel system (thieves read this magazine too, so the less said about which parts, the better) for about two minutes. Therefore, a thief deter­mined to use a key instead of a tow truck might have to shuffle little black pellets for as much as a half-hour before finding the right one. And the ordinary thief, Chevro­let says, thinks anything longer than ten minutes is working overtime. So there’s a reasonable chance he’ll ignore your Cor­vette, go on down the street, and pick out a nice Porsche instead.
Said thief will be missing out on a few other 1986-model changes. An upshift id­iot light sits in the upper left corner of the tachometer. The whole instrument cluster has been slightly reangled to reduce glare. And a center-mounted brake light has been incorporated—at the top of the rear window on the coupe, at the top of the tail­light panel on the convertible.
So much for details. Now back to the headlines. The convertible, clearly a nice piece of work, is a joint venture between Chevrolet and ASC, and it entailed far more than just peeling the top off of the coupe. The car’s frame is considerably re­vised, in part by adding stiffness (including an X-brace under the cockpit floor), in part by reengineering sections of the original structure. The result is a convertible uncommonly free of creeks and groans, particularly when you consider its stiff suspension. The few aftershocks you feel in the structure when you’ve passed over a bump are of high frequency–by itself, a good indication of stiffness–and they damp out quickly. Certain trim pieces quiver and rustle for a longer time, but they do that in the coupe, too.

Complete History of the Chevy Corvette

Chevy Corvette: A Brief History in Zero-to-60-MPH

Our subjective conclusions about chas­sis stiffness are confirmed by Corvette en­gineers, who say that the convertible is not as rigid as the coupe when the latter’s roof panel is in place, but it’s better than the coupe with the panel removed. (This con­clusion may soon have to be revised, though, because the engineers are consid­ering adding the convertible’s reinforce­ment package to the coupe.)
The convertible’s roof, and its system of stowing, continue very much in the Corvette tradition. Two toggles release the folding top from the windshield header. Unlatching two tapered pins below the rear window releases the rear attachment. Then you lift the rear of the roof to allow the rear-hinged deck panel to swing open. In effect, the trunk then swallows the top, leaving no trace of it once the deck panel is returned to its place and latched. (There is still room in the trunk for a good-sized suitcase under the folded top.)
Except for four electric latches at the rear (two to release the top and two to al­low the deck panel to open), all of the fold­ing and swinging are accomplished man­ually, but the efforts are hardly worth mentioning. Getting out of the cockpit is the hardest part.
Back on the road, you’ll find a top-down Corvette to be a mighty hospitable car­riage. When there’s no crosswind, air flows smoothly around the occupants’ heads, with no buffeting of their ears and with only modest tousling of their coiffures. New for 1986, on both the convertible and the coupe, are plastic fairings between the windshield pillars and the side mirrors; they do much to smooth out the airflow across the window openings. They are hardly things of beauty when viewed from the cockpit—you see inside them, which is rather like looking under a fender-but at least they are functionally elegant.
The swept-back form of the windshield provides a pocket of still air just behind the glass, but the gradient of air speed rises quickly as you measure back from the vi­sors. By the time you reach the headrests there is a stiff breeze, but the flow is smooth rather than turbulent and there­fore is not unpleasant.
The convertible’s only serious annoy­ance exists only when the top is up: the rear quarters are so wide that they block the view to the corners. Visibility is so bad that you have to approach crossroads per­pendicularly, no matter what angle the in­tersection, just so you can get a decent view of oncoming traffic.
Corvette engineers say there is no weight difference between the coupe and the convertible. Maybe that shouldn’t be a surprise, because the huge glass terrarium on the back of the coupe could have been traded for a lot of steel reinforcements. It could also have been traded for a small glass window in the back of the convertible top, but Chevrolet took the easy way out by using plastic film-the kind that gets foggy in a few years. Our test car weighed 3266 pounds, within a few pounds of previous coupes with similar options. In any case, we see no reason to disagree with the engi­neers: with all the additions and deletions taken together, the ’86 model, coupe or convertible, weighs virtually the same as the ’85.
Radical surgery of the type that pro­duces a convertible usually has a negative effect on ride quality. The engineers went to work to avoid any such deterioration, and the result is that the convertible has its own package of springs, bars, and shocks. The convertible’s front spring rate is 3 I 0 pounds per inch, compared with 295 for the coupe. Both have 228-pound-per-inch springs in back and 26mm tubular front anti-roll bars. The convertible’s 19mm rear bar, however, is smaller than the coupe’s, which is 20mm. (In comparison, the coupe’s Z5 l handling option has 380-pound-per-inch springs in front, 330 in back, a 30mm solid front anti-roll bar and a 22mm solid rear bar.) Shock-absorber cali­bration is different for each model.
The convertible also departs from GM’s usual 35-psi recommendation for tire pressure: its placard calls for 30 psi. This is purely a ride consideration. Corvette engineers admit that nothing bad will happen to the coupe owner with ride complaints if he deflates accordingly, though they can’t officially advise around the official recom­mendation, if you follow the logic here.
Interestingly enough, the convertible has the wide, 9.5-inch wheels of the Z5 l as standard equipment, which suggests that they have a beneficial effect on ride. Obvi­ously, they don’t hurt skidpad adhesion: at 0.85 g, this car’s performance is not signifi­cantly different from past Corvettes’.
In fact, except for the folding roof, this new Corvette continues much as before. Acceleration is about the same; top speed is down a few mph, to 144, probably be­cause of greater aerodynamic drag over the convertible top. Braking is noticeably better for one or two moderate-speed stops now that the anti-lock system is in place, but the Corvette still shows some fading tendency when the brakes are used aggressively at high speeds. We don’t think this will be particularly noticeable in typical American driving-most buyers will probably instead be enthralled by the new anti-lock system-but Chevrolet has some work to do if it expects to match the best brakes available from Porsche and other European makers.
Keen observers will notice that a new logic is operating the manual transmis­sion’s electric overdrive. Previously, one flick of the switch would lock out the over­drive forever. Now, if the engine has been off for more than ten seconds or so, the overdrive will automatically be engaged when the engine is started again. If the driver wants it out, he has to lock it out each time he starts the engine. Corvette engineers were afraid the old system would be considered a “defeat device” by the EPA; with overdrive engaged, fuel economy is improved by 2.5 mpg in the combined test, enough to escape the gas­guzzler tax.
Escaping the tax takes on new impor­tance with the convertible. Its price has not been announced at press time, but Chev­rolet spokesmen estimate a $4000-to-­$5000 increment over the coupe’s price, which means a window sticker solidly in the $30,000 range when the usual options are figured in. That’s serious bucks.
And it brings up a serious question. Could a couple of drifters with no visible means of support afford to cruise Route 66 in a Corvette convertible today, the way they did on TV two dozen years ago? May­be the question is moot, because Route 66 doesn’t exist anymore. The federal gov­ernment, figuring that Interstates handle the traffic now—and, who knows, maybe figuring there would never be another convertible Corvette—decommissioned that famous old highway a few months back, replacing the “66” signs with local route numbers.
So the Corvette convertible is returning to a changed world. The TV networks wouldn’t go with Tod and Buz anymore, either. Today’s adventurers would be Chip and Buffy, and they’d probably drive an automatic.

Specifications

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