Evelyn Reynolds

From the February 1995 issue of Car and Driver.Could it be? The in-depth selec­tion of four-doors newly avail­able and popularly priced at 60 large has escaped your attention?Tsk, tsk.While you weren’t looking, automakers have been particularly energetic in this rarefied stratum­—three new entries within the last few months. Comparison test, anyone? For the record, placing the seats of our trou against this much leather for the better part of a thousand miles—through metro congestion, over interstates, and into the mountain twisties—is not a job we dread. Still, such exquisite choices have agonies of their own. Dom Perignon or Perrier-Jouet? That only begins to suggest the dueling delights of this 60-grand class. From Lexus, a brand that’s zoomed from skepticism (“Sure, the Japanese are great at little cars, but . . . “) to worldwide admi­ration in about two weeks, we have a reengineered LS400. Not, mind you, that the old one had grown tiresome in the five years since its debut. Also from Japan, and modestly reworked last year, is the Infiniti Q45. We always look forward to the 278-horsepower rush of the Q’s four-cam 4.5-liter V-8. From Jaguar of Coventry we have a refreshed XJ6, now look­ing very much like Jaguar’s previous classic, the XJ6 introduced in the late Sixties. Merely parking one of those aging beauties in a driveway has been known to lift property values for blocks around. Still warm from its Munich bakery is an all-new BMW 7-series, the V-8-powered 740i. BMW kneaded and stretched the sheetmetal into a muscular, wide-stance shape that looks the same as before, only better. If this company has any doubts about what BMWs should look like, they never show.Facing these newcomers is a car that’s constant as Gibraltar and just about as old: the Mercedes-Benz E420. Oh, sure, the model number has been uplifted—it was 400E when we last tested it as a 1993 model—and the price has been chopped nearly $4500. (Mercedes discovered that price sensitivity extends all the way up to the automotive stratosphere.) Are these minor tweaks enough to keep this veteran, with its new-in-1985 body, alive and vital against the best efforts of four other world-class makers?Comparison tests were invented to answer tougher questions than that. So let’s move into the ratings section, where answers abound.5th Place: Infiniti Q45 The Q45 that debuted in the 1990 model year was a heroic nonconformist. It hustled down the road with muscular grace that stood out in this comfort class, and it showed a smooth face to a world that expects luxury cars to present their cre­dentials in the form of a recognizable grille. It also refused to decorate the interior with wood. Although we were charmed by that car, affluent buyers contained their enthusiasm, and Nissan has been backing away from the original definition ever since. A chrome grille appeared in 1993, there’s wood now, and the suspension keeps getting softer.HIGHS: Silken V-8 sings to 6900, good visibility all around.LOWS: Indecisive steering, illogical small controls, slippery leather seats.VERDICT: A powerful player that’s a little unsure of its mission.This current Q finishes in fifth place largely because the muscle tone of its sus­pension doesn’t meet the needs of enthusi­astic driving. When spending this much, we expect a car to do it all. This one’s sus­pension reaches the end of its travel too eas­ily, a severe impairment to handling, and the steering is uncommunicative. As it’s turned off-center, the steering effort tapers up too gradually to give a sense of what the front wheels are doing. So hurrying into turns is less secure than it needs to be. Perhaps a footnote is in order here. On the fast California mountain roads where we conducted this test, the Q45 would likely have benefited from one of the two handling options lnfiniti offers: the Tour­ing Package ($3795) with a stiffer sus­pension and performance wheels and tires, or the Full-Active Suspension ($7645), which interacts with the road in a way that keeps the car within the suspension’s sweet spot. In past tests, both of these ver­sions behaved impressively. Unfortu­nately, neither option was available to us. Still, we need to be careful in extrapolat­ing the past, because the rear-steering fea­ture is deleted from the Touring option as of this model year. The Q’s muscle loss is clearly intentional. In this base version, the slippery leather on the seats always worked against our sense of control. The bucket’s contour is properly shaped for cruising, but even there the slick surface is off-putting. The Q45 is the big guy of this group, two inches longer than the second-longest (Jaguar) and a foot beyond the compact Mercedes. Trunk room and rear-seat room are about average for the class. Rear pas­sengers will find the bottoms of the front seats tight on their toes. The big V-8 remains as satisfy­ing as it always has been. While it didn’t top the charts in any tests other than street start, its sound and midrange thrust are partic­ularly fine, and the 146-mph top speed will keep you ahead of any carjacker that doesn’t catch you at a traffic light. This Q45’s small controls are not handy. The seats move with a series of door-mounted rocker switches that require full attention to operate. Controls for the front windows are neatly placed high on the door armrests, a long way from the rear-window controls on the center console. For now, this standard-suspension Q45 finds itself in an awkward position: no longer the intriguing nonconformist, yet not quite effortlessly mainstream either. For now we say, “Drive the optional sus­pensions and call us in the morning.”1995 Infiniti Q45278-hp V-8, 4-speed automatic, 4080 lbBase/as-tested price: $54,880/$57,025C/D TEST RESULTS60 mph: 7.8 sec1/4 mile: 16.1 sec @ 91 mph100 mph: 20.0 secBraking, 70­–0 mph: 187 ftRoadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.69 g C/D observed fuel economy: 16 mpg4th Place: Jaguar XJ6When you unroll 60 large for an auto­mobile, it ought to haul your temporal self down the road like precious cargo and lift your spirits above the moon. All of the candidates here score high marks on the former, but the way this Jaguar frames your view of the distance, then delivers it to you on a tray formed by its artfully sculptured hood, is an aesthetic treat the others can’t match. The shiny mascot leads, crouched beyond the sheetmetal horizon, so low and purposeful you see hardly more than its head and powerful shoulders. Off to the sides, the brows curv­ing over each headlight remind that a Jaguar is not another sterile exercise in aerodynamic efficiency. This is a motor­car, and its arrival should gladden hearts and vanquish gloom.HIGHS: High style, worth the price just for the driver’s-eye view out over the artfully sculptured hood.LOWS: Tight cockpit, limited rear-seat space, engine no match for the V-8s.VERDICT: There’ll always be an England.Jaguar’s newly reshaped XJ6 is, first and last, about style. And no one can deny its success. It’s not, however, about inte­rior space. Its roofline is 2.6 to 3.4 inches lower than the others, and it’s narrower than all but the Mercedes. The front is snugly compartmented—one person on each side of the prominent tun­nel. In back, knee and head room are ungenerous. The car’s taper­ing tail makes the trunk small, too. The luxury of this car is in the wood and leather appoint­ments, not in the available space. This four-door is not about performance either, although it does surprisingly well, given that its 3980 cc in-line six has the low­est output of the group (245 hp at 4700 rpm). Credit the happy part­nership with its four-speed auto­matic, which seems always ready with just-in-time downshifts whenever a burst of acceleration is needed. Working together, this power team kept the Jag ahead of the much more powerful BMW to 60 mph (8.1 seconds vs. 8.4) and pulled to a top speed of 139 mph—12 mph above the two German cars, which were held back by governors.Unlike the V-8s of the other cars, which seem to make no sound until called upon for full or nearly full power, the Jaguar’s six hums a low and soothing note on the interstate.Jaguar partisans watch anxiously these days, wondering if Ford, owner since 1990, will fumble away the Jaguarness that makes this brand so unlike all others. Not so far, we say. We do notice a Detroit-style sunglasses compartment overhead now, and in a compulsive quest to organize, the central-locking but­ton has been grouped with, and therefore lost in, an array of similarly shaped but­tons in the center of the dash. But the wood and leather are at least as fine as before. Some small controls, such as those for the power seats, are vastly more logical and convenient. Ford stepped up to the tooling bill necessary to restyle the exterior skin, to bring back the headlight brows that had been discontinued and to add a seductive curve to the trunk lid. The XJ6 has gained neatly crafted sub­tleties, too. To open the trunk from out­side, a press of the cat face above the license plate triggers an electric release. And as the lid rises, hidden gas struts slow its upward swing to a stately halt as it reaches the top of its travel. And we’re happy not to report any electrical problems of the sort that plagued last month’s proto­type XJR.Work remains to be done, however.This car has a nervousness as speeds approach 100 mph, in crosswinds or on uneven blacktops, that makes its path less straight than the others. It feels like deflec­tion steer, perhaps the unintended by­product of suspension-isolation rubber. Still, this is easily the best Jaguar ever, with stylistic refinements that can only draw more admirers to the fold.1995 Jaguar XJ6245-hp inline-6, 4-speed automatic, 4020 lbBase/as-tested price: $56,178/$61,788C/D TEST RESULTS60 mph: 8.1 sec1/4 mile: 16.3 sec @ 88 mph100 mph: 21.3 secBraking, 70­–0 mph: 189 ftRoadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.74 gC/D observed fuel economy: 17 mpg3rd Place: BMW 740iThis all-new sedan elicited wholly unexpected responses from the testing jury. The BMW partisans among us liked it less than they had expected—less, even, than the car it replaces in some respects (steering feel, for one), while those who take a show-me approach to BMWs became smiling converts by the second day of driving. The difference between these two polar­ized opinions has to do with what we expect of a $60,000 four-door and what we expect of a BMW. This car is overtly lux­urious in its poshly appointed interior, silent and slinky ride, and Sharper Image presentation of electrickery. Some of us think those are the essential pleasures that separate 60-grand cars from 30-grand cars. The other opinion holds that BMWs are for blurring the fence posts, and any softening of that purpose is tanta­mount to decadence. HIGHS: Plush interior, lush freeway ride, and hushed V-8 add up to lavish transit.LOWS: Heavy on gimmicks, particularly in the electronic manipulation of the five-speed automatic.VERDICT: BMW veers off in the Lexus direction with mixed results.As a device for speed and g-forces, this 740i does not excel. It’s too heavy, weighing 190 pounds more than the Infiniti (second heaviest) and 510 pounds more than the similarly luxurious Lexus. That weight impairs performance. All of the other V-8s generally outrun this BMW (in top speed, the Mercedes’ governor holds to the same 127 mph). The BMW’s cornering grip tops the charts at 0.79 g, but the dynamic capabil­ity of the suspension loses that advantage to the degree that in the emergency lane­-change test, this car barely stays ahead of the last-place Jaguar. Our ratings scatter when it comes to the subjective details of steering response and high-speed confidence. The BMW partisans want more steering effort, more athletic feel. The lux­ury advocates think it’s just fine the way it is. (For those who expect unanimity on these ratings, let us remind that Olympic judges rarely agree either.) Comfort seekers will rank this car very close to the new Lexus. In rear-seat room and comfort, they are closely matched and clearly better than the others. For the driver, the BMW offers a seat with true have-it-your-way hospitality. It has all the normal adjustments plus a lumbar support that can be tailored for both firmness and height. The front seatback has power artic­ulation so that the angle of its upper por­tion can be set independently of its lower half, a nice trick that aids shoulder sup­port. When you get all of these shapes just right, your personal setting can be saved in one of three memory positions.This willingness to conform to your anatomy is just one aspect of a wonderfully hedonistic interior. The contrasting doeskin and fawn­-colored leathers, trimmed in furni­ture-grade wood-grain, suggest the opulence of a private train car. All of the contours on the dash and wheel are familiar BMW, but the execution is far warmer and more inviting than BMW (or Mercedes) have done in the past. Both the performance and the luxury partisans do agree about many aspects of this new 740i. For example, there’s too lit­tle automation in the climate-control sys­tem—the driver must manually turn on the compressor and regulate fan speed. And in the powertrain operation, where there should be simple mechanical har­monies, we get instead blatant electronic intervention. Microswitches in the accel­erator linkage trigger downshifts in the five-speed automatic—they feel unnatural. A quick dip of the accelerator cause the power to fade up like some fancy stereo. Automatic upshifts at full power are so heavily manipulated that the engine note sounds as if a real driver is lifting off the gas to shift a five-speed. All of this pro­cessing gets in the way of the real-car fla­vor that’s made BMW famous. Yet when we want intervention enough to tug the gear selector (which initiates the sporty shift program), the difference is hardly noticeable. For now, we think the hedonists will like this 740i better than the hot-blooded types will, and the hedonists will like it a lot.1995 BMW 740i282-hp V-8, 5-speed automatic, 4270 lbBase/as-tested price: $60,952/$66,837C/D TEST RESULTS60 mph: 8.4 sec1/4 mile: 16.6 sec @ 90 mph100 mph: 20.6 secBraking, 70­–0 mph: 181 ftRoadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.79 gC/D observed fuel economy: 17 mpg2nd Place: Mercedes-Benz E420Every quality our more aggressive drivers missed in the BMW they found in this car. It’s tremendously, extravagantly, lustily power­ful—0 to 60 mph in 7.3 sec­onds, 15.7 seconds and 93 mph in the quarter-mile. On the highway, a step on the pedal causes the automatic transmission to instantly bang down a gear, then the 4.2-liter V-8 engine takes it from there, heading for the horizon with an impatience that surely raises eyebrows among the cultured classes. Naturally, we all like this part a lot. HIGHS: Raw power, lots of raw power, and a sinewy chassis.LOWS: Five years behind the others in conveniences—to unlock the doors, you still need a key.VERDICT: Potent, but with all the luxury you’d expect of Nordic Track.Mercedes cars typically have a trusty feel in the twisties, and here it’s height­ened by compact dimensions and light weight—far less weight than all but the almost equally tight Lexus. The hedonists, though, were thor­oughly unimpressed. This is a little car, close to ten inches shorter than the aver­age of the others, more than two inches narrower than the Jaguar (second slimmest), and almost five inches narrower than the BMW. Except for power and price, it’s just not in the same class. The interior is solemn, with thin padding over its structural bones. Luxurious little details—locking and unlocking by key-fob magic, adjustable lumbar support, sunroof, auto-dimming mirror—are simply not included for $55,130. This is the only car in the group without cupholders. The interior space is narrow and tall. Headroom is plentiful. The seats are well shaped and rather upright, which yields adequate, though by no means luxurious, kneeroom in back. Three-across seating in back is marginally more comfortable than in the Jaguar but, again, not luxuri­ous. The trunk is large, thanks in part to the high tail. The no-frills starkness of this car has a certain charm if only because it lets the raw power and connected-to-the-road handling stand out. The brakes, too, are firm, like well-conditioned muscles. There’s a machine here, a well-oiled machine, though it’s not notably eager to please. In metro traffic, the steering is lethargic, and the dated transmission resists downshift­ing until you press deep into the power, at which time it bangs a down shift and gives a hearty lunge forward. There’s not a trace of flab in this definition of exclusive motoring, nothing but a sinewy stride over the road, surefooted on any surface. What we’re describing here is not the usual flavor of luxury, but driving is not the same as meekly easing down the high­way, either.1995 Mercedes-Benz E420275-hp V-8, 4-speed automatic, 3740 lbBase/as-tested price: $55,018/$55,130C/D TEST RESULTS60 mph: 7.3 sec1/4 mile: 15.7 sec @ 93 mph100 mph: 18.2 secBraking, 70­–0 mph: 185 ftRoadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.73 gC/D observed fuel economy: 19 mpg1st Place: Lexus LS400This newly redone Lexus earns respect more than affection, but the respect flows in such torrents that placing it anywhere but atop the heap is out of the question. The superb engineering that brought instant prestige to the original LS400 is completely surpassed here. Considering its fine accommodations, this car is very light—only 3760 pounds, a mere 20 pounds heavier than the ten-inches-shorter Mercedes. Yet the interior space is tremendous. Lengthening the wheelbase by 1.4 inches (with no change in overall length) has brought real stretch-out room to the rear seat. Headroom is generous, too. Five of almost any size will be happy passen­gers in this car. HIGHS: Amazing performance, amazing fuel economy, amazing back seat, amazing list of amazements.LOWS: Amazing lack of soul.VERDICT: Good, really amazingly good, but we keep reaching for the ketchup.Keeping the weight low has brought excellent performance. This car runs just a tick behind the Mercedes in every test but top speed, where it easily outruns all the others (156 mph). Again, the engi­neers’ attention to details—aerodynamics this time—tells the story: the Cd is just 0.28, best in the class. That attention results in performance and fuel economy. The LS400 tops the EPA ratings for this group, at 19 mpg city, 25 highway. In our driving, the Mercedes squeaked out 1 mpg more, 19 vs. 18 for the Lexus. We find driving this car to be unin­volving, but in a way that is a compliment. It means there are no idiosyncrasies or intrusions to be noticed. Steering response is quick and correct, the brakes take up intuitively, the throttle is not jumpy, the suspension is taut rather than floaty, and the path is maintained down the interstate with little tending required of the driver. There’s simply nothing to get in the way of untroubled motoring. The wind passes over the exterior shape with only a whis­per. The engine, even at full power, makes just a sweetly textured purr. Small-bump harshness is surprisingly apparent if you look for it, but the impacts are so silent you may not notice. Silence envelopes this car like a blanket. The small details inside the LS400 work beautifully too. There’s a center visor over the mirror, mounted so that it swivels in any direction you choose. The seat’s pneumatic lumbar support adjusts quickly—there’s none of the tedious wait­ing for undersize compressors and orifices to do their jobs. The remote-lock fob is powerful yet tiny in your pocket. The transmission pattern is perfect for gear changes on the fly, with solid stops at both ends of the 2-3 and 3-4 shifts. Still, we keep wondering, does perfec­tion have to be so antiseptic? The dash is so perfectly organized that it seems too simple. There are no intrusions into the driver’s space, which after a time makes the car seem standoffish and distant. The contours everywhere are so smoothly formed that they hardly catch the eye and are quickly forgotten once we leave the car. The same is true of the exterior: the impressively low Cd says it’s more pleas­ing to the wind, but to the eye it lacks the shapely flair of the old, less perfect model. Now you understand the testers’ agony, and why days in the seats of the very best four-doors that man has ever created never quite draw to a blissful conclusion. This new Lexus is a high-water mark of auto­motive engineering. But, doggone it, if they were doing it this well, why did they stop short of compelling? 1995 Lexus LS400260-hp V-8, 4-speed automatic, 3760 lbBase/as-tested price: $53,593/$57,828C/D TEST RESULTS60 mph: 7.8 sec1/4 mile: 15.8 sec @ 92 mph100 mph: 18.9 secBraking, 70–0 mph: 182 ftRoadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.74 gC/D observed fuel economy: 18 mpg More

We’re well past the point of handwringing when brands historically known for sports cars and sports sedans build SUVs. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to impart brand character into these vehicles; layer on electrification, and it’s even more difficult. Alfa Romeo, though, did pretty well with its first effort, the high-strung Stelvio. Now comes the Tonale—smaller, cheaper, and built on a shared platform using a partially electric powertrain. It’s no wonder the Tonale’s persona seems somewhat watered down next to its more flavorful showroom siblings.HIGHS: Gas and electric powertrains play nice together, solid EV range, credible handling.With its triple-LED headlights, triangular center grille, and phone-dial wheel design, the Tonale’s design details say “Alfa Romeo” even if the utilitarian compact-crossover shape does not. The Tonale’s 103.8-inch wheelbase and 178.3-inch length exactly match that of its platform-mate, the Dodge Hornet, both of which are built in Italy. The Alfa comes in three trim levels: the entry-level Sprint ($44,590), the mid-tier Ti for $2500 more, and the top-spec Veloce at $49,590. With a full load of options, our Veloce tester rang in at $57,950.Plug-in-hybrid powertrainNo matter the trim, in the U.S. market the Tonale comes exclusively as a plug-in hybrid. The powertrain includes a 180-hp turbocharged 1.3-liter four driving the front wheels through a six-speed automatic and a 121-hp electric motor sending juice to the rears. Net output is a robust 285 horses and 347 pound-feet of torque. The Hornet R/T uses a version of this same powertrain, for which it claims 288 horsepower and 383 pound-feet—although that max output is only available for 15-second bursts, via the PowerShot feature. Strangely, Alfa skips that. Not that it matters. In our testing, the Alfa got to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds, same as the Dodge. Its quarter-mile result was also identical: 14.2 seconds at 96 mph. And the Tonale’s passing performance—30 to 50 mph and 50 to 70 mph—bettered that of the Hornet by 0.4 second in each test. (Almost makes you think PowerShot is a gimmick . . .)With 44 more horsepower than the BMW X1 and an additional 52 pound-feet of torque, you might expect the Alfa to beat the Bimmer to 60 mph, but no. Blame the Tonale’s 4291-pound curb weight. The X1, with no EV powertrain to cart around, is more than 500 pounds lighter. The e-motor’s instant torque, however, does effectively mask any lag from the Alfa’s tiny turbo four, as seen in the Italian’s 0.5-second advantage over its German rival in the 5-to-60-mph sprint. And the Alfa’s acceleration also outshines the Mercedes-Benz GLA250 and the gas-powered Volvo XC40.Alfa’s three drive modes are D (Dynamic), N (Natural), and A (Advanced efficiency or EV mode). The modes also alter the steering, the adaptive dampers (Veloce only), and the brake regeneration. In the default N setting, the powertrain relies quite a bit on electric propulsion, and the motor is robust enough that it’s possible to stay in EV mode at highway speeds or during gentle acceleration. Dynamic keeps the engine running, but it still doesn’t have much vocal presence (and its voice is gravelly anyway); you’re more likely to notice the whine of the e-motor or the regenerative brakes.EV range and brake regenSpeaking of regen, those supersized paddles that block the column stalks are only for manual shifting—they don’t alter brake regen. A higher-than-standard level of brake regen comes only with the Dynamic mode; otherwise, the base level is modest. Either way, the brakes are not hard to modulate. The Veloce gets rotors by Brembo, and they hauled the Tonale down from 70 mph in 165 feet, within a foot of the Hornet with the same equipment.LOWS: Lackluster steering, uninspired soundtrack, firm seats.The Tonale comes with a substantial 12.0-kWh battery that provides an EPA-estimated 33 miles of electric range, and we got 32 miles in our 75-mph highway range test. The EPA also pegs combined, city, and highway gasoline fuel economy at 29 mpg across the board, and that’s exactly what we measured in our 75-mph highway test after the electricity was used up. Pressing the e-Save button on the console can maintain battery charge or have the engine recharge the battery up to a selected preset level. Tonale driving and handlingWith its adaptive dampers and Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires, our Veloce’s 0.86-g skidpad result was just 0.01 g behind the similarly outfitted Hornet’s and exactly matched the X1’s. The dampers have two settings, Comfort and Sport. Sport is stiff, with high-frequency, but not uncomfortably harsh, body motions. The base setting is more relaxed. In either mode, the handling is solid if not engaging. For blame, we look mostly to the steering. The helm heavies up some in the sportier setting but lacks sharpness and has little sense of straight-ahead. Hoping that Alfa might create a junior Porsche Macan? Keep dreaming.More Alfa BitsThe Tonale comes standard with a full panoply of driver assists, to which our test car added the Active Assist Advanced package ($2000), which brings a surround-view camera system and automated parking, among other items. That’s all well and good, although we noticed the blind-spot monitoring system lit up a warning whenever guardrails were present. Alfa Romeo Tonale interiorItalian cars aren’t always known for their up-to-date in-cabin tech, but that’s not an issue here. All models have a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster housed under a twin-hump hood (shades of the classic Alfa Spider). It offers a choice of layouts—we were partial to the one featuring fonts from ’60s and ’70s Alfa gauges. The 10.3-inch center touchscreen offers a high degree of customization and can show one, two, or three tiles on the home screen, although the touch points are small. Wireless phone mirroring and wireless device charging are standard.The interior shares its architecture with the Hornet and to its credit includes a real shift lever and physical buttons—the biggest difference is that Alfa puts the starter button on the steering wheel and the drive-mode dial on the console, a reverse of the setup in the Dodge. The seats are very firm, and the Veloce features red-accented Alcantara upholstery or optional leather. There’s textured silver trim—and the stuff on the dash glows red at night. VERDICT: Alfa’s small SUV needs to get further outta Dodge.There are flashes of personality here, but the Tonale ends up feeling more subcompact-crossover than it does Alfa Romeo. Admittedly, this is a tough segment in which to create a scintillating driver’s car. But the Stelvio proves that an SUV shape doesn’t preclude a vivacious feel. Alfa just needs to figure out how to get more of that character into a smaller box.SpecificationsSpecifications
2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Veloce eAWDVehicle Type: front-engine, rear-motor, rear/all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door wagon

PRICE
Base/As Tested: $49,590/$57,950 Options: Premium Interior and Sound package (perforated leather seating, ventilated front seats w/driver-seat memory, Harman/Kardon premium audio), $2500; 20-inch all-season tires and five-hole Grigio wheels, $2000; Active Assist Advanced package (surround-view camera, parallel and perpendicular park assist, front/rear/side parking sensors), $2000; power moonroof, $1200; Grigio Ascari metallic paint, $660
POWERTRAIN
Turbocharged and intercooled SOHC 16-valve 1.3-liter inline-4, 180 hp, 199 lb-ft + AC motor, 121 hp, 184 lb-ft (combined output: 285 hp, 347 lb-ft; 12.0-kWh lithium-ion battery pack; 7.4-kW onboard charger)Transmissions, F/R: 6-speed automatic/direct-drive
CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: struts/strutsBrakes, F/R: 13.5-in vented disc/12.1-in discTires: Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4235/40ZR-20 96Y M+S Extra Load
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 103.8 inLength: 178.3 inWidth: 74.0 inHeight: 63.2 inPassenger Volume, F/R: 52/46 ft3Cargo Volume, Behind F/R: 51/23 ft3Curb Weight: 4291 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 5.5 sec1/4-Mile: 14.2 sec @ 96 mph100 mph: 15.8 secResults above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec.Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 6.1 secTop Gear, 30–50 mph: 3.0 secTop Gear, 50–70 mph: 4.2 secTop Speed (mfr’s claim): 125 mphBraking, 70–0 mph: 165 ftBraking, 100–0 mph: 337 ftRoadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.86 g
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed: 28 MPGe75-mph Highway Driving, EV/Hybrid Mode: 77 MPGe/29 mpg75-mph Highway Range, EV/Hybrid mode: 32/320 mi
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
Combined/City/Highway: 29/29/29 mpgCombined Gasoline + Electricity: 77 MPGeEV Range: 33 mi
C/D TESTING EXPLAINEDDeputy Editor, Reviews and FeaturesJoe Lorio has been obsessed with cars since his Matchbox days, and he got his first subscription to Car and Driver at age 11. Joe started his career at Automobile Magazine under David E. Davis Jr., and his work has also appeared on websites including Amazon Autos, Autoblog, AutoTrader, Hagerty, Hemmings, KBB, and TrueCar. More

From the November 2023 issue of Car and Driver.To paraphrase Charles Darwin, evolve or die. That imperative applies to cars as well as animals and plants. Take the automotive species known as Corvette: In a bid to stay relevant, it branched off of its evolutionary tree for 2020 when the C8 generation sprouted an engine behind the seats and turned into something not unlike an Italian supercar. The C8 deepened its Ferrari-ness with the Z06 and its naturally aspirated flat-plane-crank V-8, an engine that yawps like it escaped from a Maranello dyno cell. Now comes the next evolution of the C8, the 2024 E-Ray, with a hybrid powertrain, all-wheel drive, and standard all-season tires that bring it ever closer to being a four-season supercar. And don’t worry about it trading away performance in the name of saving fuel; it’s fast. Very, very fast. HIGHS: Massive and instant thrust, all-weather traction, sure doesn’t drive like a hybrid.Unlike the growing population of hybrid supercars, such as the Ferrari 296GTB and the McLaren Artura, the E-Ray can’t be plugged in, and its motor is purely a power adder rather than an efficiency enhancer. The E-Ray’s genetic makeup comes courtesy of both the base Stingray and the Z06. The Stingray donates its 495-hp pushrod 6.2-liter V-8, performance exhaust, and eight-speed dual-clutch automatic. The Z06 lends its wider body, optional carbon-ceramic brakes, and steamroller-size tires—275/30ZR-20 fronts and 345/25ZR-21 rears. The hybrid system consists of a compact electric motor driving the front wheels that lives in a small space in front of the passenger cell, a 1.1-kWh battery stuffed into the tunnel that runs between the passengers, additional coolers to control battery temperature, and the software to make it all work. The hybrid system fattens the power curve by 160 horsepower for a system total of 655 horses—just 15 shy of the Z06’s output—and spins up 125 pound-feet of torque on its own. Hybrid propulsion isn’t the only first for a Corvette, though. The E-Ray is also the first Vette with all-wheel drive, as well as the first that combines carbon-ceramic brakes with all-season tires. The E-Ray comes standard wearing specially developed high-performance Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 rubber. While you may think, “Those are the widest all-seasons ever,” we’re here to remind you that the Lamborghini LM002’s tires are as wide as the E-Ray’s rears. When the temperature heads south, the all-seasons promise more grip than the E-Ray’s optional Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer running shoes. After spending time with the E-Ray, we understand not wanting to park it when cold weather hits. With bags of instant low-end torque supplied by the electric motor, big V-8 horsepower, and the traction of all-wheel drive, the E-Ray delivers mega performance that’s effortlessly accessible. Our gorgeous Cacti Green test car arrived fitted with the summer Michelins (a $500 option) and track alignment settings dialed into its suspension. Thusly set up, it used its adjustable launch-control system to best advantage, ripping off a 2.5-second 60-mph time—the quickest we’ve ever recorded for a Corvette and 0.1 second better than the fleetest Z06 we’ve tested. The E-Ray’s 10.6-second, 128-mph quarter-mile dash is 0.1 second and 3 mph behind the quickest Z06s over that distance; beyond that point, the Z06 gradually stretches its lead. The E-Ray’s 1.08-g skidpad fling and 152-foot stop from 70 mph are behind the best the Z06 (with the Z07 track package) mustered, no doubt owing to the E-Ray’s lesser tires and 3965-pound curb weight—roughly 300 pounds of additional mass compared with the Z06. Both cars, according to Chevy, pull to similar top speeds: 183 mph for the E-Ray and 189 for the Z06 with the most aggressive aero add-ons. The E-Ray, however, has inherited more than just Z06-like performance from its talented parents; its Stingray genes are obvious as well. Unlike the shrieking, feral Z06, the E-Ray is a domesticated beast, manifesting much of the over-the-road sophistication and refinement that we’ve marveled at in the base C8 with the Z51 package. LOWS: Engine note lacks low-rpm drama, cabin could use more sound deadening.The E-Ray rides almost as well as the Z51 Vette—thanks, magnetorheological dampers—though the hybrid’s huge tires thwack tar strips more loudly and also transmit more of the road’s graininess into the cabin. On twisty roads and off-ramps, the E-Ray answers the helm with virtually the same authority as a standard Stingray, going where you point it with a similarly settled, imperturbable feeling and far more grip than you can sanely exploit. Braking is powerful and fade-free with a slight softness at the top of the pedal travel where regen initiates. We also sampled an E-Ray on all-season tires at the car’s official launch in Colorado and found its steering response and handling only a touch less crisp. According to the Corvette engineers, the all-seasons give up 0.1 g in maximum grip to the summer Michelins, a difference that was impossible to feel while pushing hard on the winding roads around Colorado Springs.To prove its claim that the E-Ray is trackable, Chevy let us log some laps on Pikes Peak International’s roval. Wearing its summer tires on optional carbon-fiber wheels, the E-Ray enjoys high limits. Its stable handling, ample grip, and faultless brakes make it easy to channel your inner Max Verstappen. Press the Charge+ button, and the system keeps the battery feeding juice to the electric motor no matter how many laps you run. Shut off Charge+ when the battery is at 100 percent, and you have roughly two laps of full hybrid power—enough extra boost to add about 10 mph at the end of the curving back straight. And should you feel the need to hoon, know that the E-Ray can perform lurid, extended drifts—something we pulled off within the confines of the track’s skidpad area. On the street, Charge+ tops up the battery from 70 percent—we almost never saw less than that—to full in a minute or so. Hybrid assist dials back as speed increases, decoupling completely at 150 mph. The hybrid system’s Stealth mode also enables you to sidestep the V-8’s startup bark, which is loud enough to wake all the dogs in the neighborhood. You can slink away in dead silence on electric power and continue making like an EV for about five miles as long as you don’t exceed 45 mph. Tickle the accelerator a bit too much, and the engine fires up. Among the other firsts, EV mode puts you behind the wheel of the first front-wheel-drive Corvette.In normal driving, the V-8’s engine note is as muted in Tour mode as it is in a Z51 equipped with the performance exhaust, which is standard here. The e-motor assist is so well integrated that without watching the readouts in the display, you’d never know when it’s contributing power. The system also seems to pay dividends in fuel efficiency. The EPA fuel-economy estimates for the E-Ray match those of the Stingray at 16 mpg city, 24 mpg highway, and 19 mpg combined which means that, unlike the Z06, there won’t be a gas-guzzler tax. In our 75-mph highway fuel-economy test, the E-Ray managed 23 mpg, and it averaged 16 mpg overall. More on the Corvette E-RayProvisioned with the 2LZ trim package, our test car bordered on luxurious. Of course, its domesticated nature goes full beast at any speed with a flex of your right foot. That, along with its newfound ability to accelerate hard in any sort of weather, makes the E-Ray both intriguing and compelling. VERDICT: A highly evolved, thoroughly refined supercar that goes from sweet to beastly at the push of the throttle.One thing we’d add to the E-Ray? More sound insulation. At 70 mph, 76 decibels of road noise reverberates through the cabin, marring an otherwise comfortable long-distance cruiser. Beyond that, all’s right, including the price: $106,595, or $113,985 as tested—not cheap, but a shocking amount of supercar for the money. Even with a six-figure price, the value trait carries on in this latest evolution of the Corvette species.CounterpointsE-Ray? When Sting-E was right there? Besides being more fun to say, putting the electric emphasis at the back is more representative of how the electric motor integrates into the Corvette’s primarily gas-powered drivetrain. It’s a power add-on, not the headlining act. If you don’t call it out, your friends will never know it’s there until you beat them in a drag race. The E-Ray’s performance runs parallel to the Z06’s. It’s just more stealthy around town. Think of this as a baby step on the road toward future tech. —Elana ScherrTo appreciate the $106,595 Corvette E-Ray, you must overlook the $114,395 Corvette Z06 and the siren song of its 670-hp flat-plane-crankshaft V-8. Ignore that, and the 655-hp E-Ray delights. Its 495-hp V-8 and 160-hp electric motor complement each other like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in their prime. As impressive as the E-Ray is, the Z06’s $7800 upcharge strikes me as a small price to pay for such a big-time baller. —Greg FinkSpecificationsSpecifications
2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-RayVehicle Type: mid-engine, front-motor, front/all-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2 door targa
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $106,595/$113,985Options: 2LE Equipment package, $5500; Carbon Flash forged aluminum wheels, $995; Performance package, $500; Black exhaust tips, $395 
POWERTRAINpushrod V-8, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection, 495 hp, 470 lb-ft + 1 AC  motor, 160 hp, 125 lb-ft (combined output: 655 hp; 1.1-kWh liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack)Transmission, F/R: direct-drive/8-speed dual-clutch automatic. 
CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: control arms/control armsBrakes, F/R: 15.7-in vented, cross-drilled, carbon-ceramic disc/15.4-in vented, cross-drilled, carbon-ceramic discTires: Michelin Pilot Sport 4S ZPF: 275/30ZR-20 (97Y) TPCR: 345/25ZR-21 (104Y) TPC
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 107.2 inLength: 184.6 inWidth: 79.7 inHeight: 48.6 inPassenger Volume: 51 ft3Cargo Volume: 13 ft3Curb Weight: 3965 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 2.5 sec100 mph: 6.0 sec1/4-Mile: 10.6 sec @ 128 mph130 mph: 11.0 sec150 mph: 16.2 secResults above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.2 sec.Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 3.1 secTop Gear, 30–50 mph: 1.7 secTop Gear, 50–70 mph: 2.0 secTop Speed (mfr’s claim): 183 mphBraking, 70–0 mph: 152 ftBraking, 100–0 mph: 300 ftRoadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 1.08 g 
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed: 16 mpg75-mph Highway Driving: 23 mpg75-mph Highway Range: 420 mi 
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
Combined/City/Highway: 19/16/24 mpg 
C/D TESTING EXPLAINEDDirector, Buyer’s GuideRich Ceppos has evaluated automobiles and automotive technology during a career that has encompassed 10 years at General Motors, two stints at Car and Driver totaling 19 years, and thousands of miles logged in racing cars. He was in music school when he realized what he really wanted to do in life and, somehow, it’s worked out. In between his two C/D postings he served as executive editor of Automobile Magazine; was an executive vice president at Campbell Marketing & Communications; worked in GM’s product-development area; and became publisher of Autoweek. He has raced continuously since college, held SCCA and IMSA pro racing licenses, and has competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona. He currently ministers to a 1999 Miata and a 1965 Corvette convertible and appreciates that none of his younger colleagues have yet uttered “Okay, Boomer” when he tells one of his stories about the crazy old days at C/D. More

Until now, the Venn diagram circles representing ultra-luxurious four-door grand-touring machines and sports cars with sub-10-second acceleration through the quarter-mile have never touched. Add a third circle representing EVs with over 400 miles of range and you’re in deeply unfathomable territory. Want to make it even more difficult? Let’s up the ante and lower the quarter-mile acceleration bogey to nine seconds flat. That’s ridiculous, right? Nope. Meet the Lucid Air Sapphire.Best Acceleration Ever?Lucid’s claimed performance would make the Sapphire quicker than any car we’ve tested. To see for myself, I ease one through the water box at California’s Sonoma Raceway and line up with the slightly uphill drag strip. With the traction control off and the powertrain set to Track mode’s Dragstrip setting, which unlocks the full 1234 horsepower, I briefly mash the accelerator to spin all four tires to build heat, then back up and do it again. Back in Drive, I creep up to the staging lights that trigger the Christmas tree. With the brake fully depressed, I then floor the accelerator, wait for the lights to approach green, then sidestep the brake.Incredibly, the tires vaguely spin for a few dozen yards, then fully hook up as the car lunges up the track. The sensation of uninterrupted acceleration is ungodly, and when I rip past the finish and climb onto the binders, the in-car GPS readout displays some staggering numbers: 2.2 seconds to 60 mph and a quarter-mile of 9.28 seconds at 153 mph. It’s hard to be disappointed by such epic performance, especially since the shockingly quick Ferrari 296GTB plug-in hybrid we recently tested needed 2.4 seconds to reach 60 mph and finished the quarter in 9.7 seconds at 150 mph. But then I realized the wheelspin signaled a mistake. I had been advised to reengage traction control after the water-box burnouts, but I hadn’t. Back in line for a second run, I repeat the burnout procedure but make sure to reengage traction control before creeping up to the tree. Bam! No hint of wheelspin this time, and the feeling of being shot out of a cannon is even more acute. The timer backs this up with even more outrageous numbers: 60 mph in 1.9 seconds, then 9.05 seconds and 154 mph at the stripe. Later on, as conditions improve, someone else manages 8.95 seconds. We’ll stop short of giving the Sapphire a Major Award just yet because these unofficial numbers were not generated using our usual procedure. We don’t test on a slightly uphill drag strip from a tacky start box on preheated tires fresh from water-box burnouts, and we do publish a two-way average to account for wind.Still. There’s no denying the Sapphire is badass.Setting Sapphire to the Road CourseOn the Sonoma Raceway road-race circuit, a Lucid Air Grand Touring ahead of me slews sideways out of the tighter corners as it puts the power down in clouds of smoke. At the helm is David Lickfold, the chassis and vehicle dynamics director I met when I drove an Air Sapphire prototype some months ago. He’s pushing hard to make sure he’s not holding me up in the more track-worthy Sapphire. It’s not working, as I’m barely fogging the inside of my visor while he’s all arms and elbows dealing with tires beginning to shed slender strips of rubber. He soon waves me past, putting the lead-follow pretext to an end.I’m unsurprised to learn that the Sapphire has a lot more to give, even though the 1234-hp Dragstrip power setting has been dialed back to 767 horsepower in the Endurance track mode that enables consecutive lapping. In between, there’s a 1003-hp Hot Lap setting for a single-lap time attack. The fortified Air devours this technical circuit, which is reminiscent of Virginia International Raceway—where I sampled the prototype—in that it has numerous elevation changes, blind corners, and uncertain crests that can upset a car at the apex. Here, on the very eve of the first customer deliveries, the Sapphire’s three-motor powertrain feels fully dialed in, with none of the traction-management teething issues we experienced on the prototype.In fact, Sonoma’s plunging Carousel is eerily similar to VIR’s Hog Pen final turn, and I’m able to confidently plant my right foot without hesitation as the long corner opens onto a blisteringly fast straight. A few seconds later it’s time to stand on the brakes—massive 10-piston front calipers and carbon-ceramic rotors—to haul the approximately 5400-pound Sapphire down to turn-in speed, then smoothly feed on the power through the hairpin and storm through the esses, tickling the curbing on the way past. Meanwhile, Back in the Real WorldNone of the above would seem remotely possible if you first drove a Sapphire on the street, as it feels utterly at home on the nearby wine country byways, cruising in quiet comfort with the same grace as other Air sedans. There’s nothing hard-edged about how it rides, and the only thing notable about the steering is the ultrasuede covering that connects the driver’s hands to a very appropriate level of feel and effort. The Sapphire’s performance seats that held fast on the circuit are suitably comfortable, and their more aggressive bolstering isn’t anything like a nuisance in more relaxed driving. The 1234-hp Dragstrip and 767-hp Endurance settings used on the track seem like they belong to another world, as the Sapphire also purrs serenely and can deliver a fantastic 427 miles of EPA combined range on the same staggered 20-inch front and 21-inch rear Michelin Pilot Sport 4S performance rubber (custom-tailored with the Cup 2 shoulder compound) that glued it to strip and track alike. Should you need to get past a gawking tourist, however, the Sapphire will oblige with more authority than you can imagine.How It Came to BeThe existence of the tri-motor Sapphire was planned from the start. The Air’s basic chassis stiffness and five-link front, integral-link multilink rear suspension geometry were designed accordingly. The space for three motors was allocated from the get-go, so the Sapphire’s rear trunk volume doesn’t shrink by a single cubic foot. Also, the dual rear-motor upgrade is a ridiculously modular one, with a second unit merely flipped around and mounted nose to nose with the first, with the mechanical differential removed because it’s no longer necessary.Lucid also made the decision to forgo a blended brake pedal, going instead for a divide-and-conquer strategy that uses accelerator lift alone to trigger regeneration. That left the brake engineers free to optimize the hydraulic brakes of all Airs for feel and response, which in turn made implementing the Sapphire’s massively powerful and communicative carbon-ceramic brake system a much more straightforward engineering task. Furthermore, the adaptive Bilstein dampers were initially specified to have the tuning bandwidth to accommodate Sapphire performance, and so the necessary internal shock valving tuning tweaks and adaptive-control software adjustments didn’t force a move to different hardware.Related StoriesBut the same is not true of the stability- and traction-control systems, it seems. The supplier-provided software wasn’t up to the Jekyll-and-Hyde challenge that the Sapphire presented. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but Lucid was toying with the idea of scrapping the supplier option for the Sapphire in favor of in-house stability- and traction-control software while I was with them at VIR. They had the brainpower to write code for other vehicle systems, so why not this?After this drive, it’s easy to see that that move has paid off mightily. But there’s more to it than that. This illustrates how Lucid’s willingness and confidence to go its own way and leverage its in-house expertise can do great things. We first got this impression when we understood the brilliance of their compact electric motors, batteries, and charge-management systems. Those first Airs offered Chevy Bolt levels of efficiency in a long-wheelbase BMW 7-series-sized luxury EV that delivered unheard-of range and comfort. With the Lucid Air Sapphire, Lucid has brought in that third Venn diagram circle, the one that has Ferrari 296GTB levels of performance (and then some). Damn.SpecificationsSpecifications
2024 Lucid Air SapphireVehicle Type: front- and rear-motor, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
PRICE

Base: $250,500
POWERTRAIN

Front Motor: permanent-magnet synchronous ACRear Motors: 2 permanent-magnet synchronous ACCombined Power: 1234 hpCombined Torque: 1430 lb-ftBattery Pack: liquid-cooled lithium-ion, 118.0 kWhOnboard Charger: 19.2 kWPeak DC Fast-Charge Rate: 300 kWTransmissions, F/R: direct-drive
DIMENSIONS

Wheelbase: 116.5 inLength: 197.5 inWidth: 78.5 inHeight: 55.4 inPassenger Volume, F/R: 61/44 ft3Trunk Volume, F/R: 10/22 ft3Curb Weight (C/D est): 5400 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST)

60 mph: 2.0 sec100 mph: 4.0 sec1/4-Mile: 9.1 secTop Speed: 205 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY

Combined/City/Highway: 105/108/101 MPGeRange: 427 miTechnical EditorDan Edmunds was born into the world of automobiles, but not how you might think. His father was a retired racing driver who opened Autoresearch, a race-car-building shop, where Dan cut his teeth as a metal fabricator. Engineering school followed, then SCCA Showroom Stock racing, and that combination landed him suspension development jobs at two different automakers. His writing career began when he was picked up by Edmunds.com (no relation) to build a testing department. More

The forced move to electrification has shaken up the decades-old hierarchy of brands in the automotive business. Many leaders were caught out by the trend and faced internal resistance that made them slow to adapt. It was and is, however, a golden opportunity for new brands and for established players looking to get ahead. In the latter camp is the Hyundai Motor Group, which has turned out a plethora of stellar EVs, including the first-generation Kona Electric. Now Hyundai has comprehensively redesigned its entry-level EV. Although the new Kona Electric is not yet on sale in the U.S., we had a chance to spend a day with it near the Nošovice plant in the Czech Republic, where models destined for European markets will be built.Hyundai makes much ado about the fact that the new Kona was designed as an “electric first.” That may well be, but we find it surprising that you can so easily stuff a conventional powertrain into a vehicle designed to be an EV. In fact, a glance at the new Kona—and the Kona Electric—reveals that the car has not deviated far from its predecessor. Like the previous model, it’s stylish in a playful way. The convoluted lines of the new Kona won’t please Bauhaus-worshipping purists, but the horizontal light bars and the “parametric pixels” that adorn the car set it apart pleasantly from many a dull competitor. Beyond that, the Kona Electric remains a compact, easy-to-park, yet surprisingly spacious crossover.It has become slightly bigger in its second generation—5.7 inches longer and with a 2.3-inch greater wheelbase—which can be a negative in European traffic. But it doesn’t really matter in the U.S., where the new Kona is still on the smaller end of the spectrum. The growth was a specific request of Asian markets, where the Kona often serves as a family’s only vehicle.This time there are two battery options, a standard battery (in the SE) with a capacity of 48.6 kWh and an extended-range battery of 64.8 kWh (in the SEL and Limited). With the larger battery, the Kona Electric is estimated to achieve 260 miles of range (EPA figures aren’t out yet), while the smaller battery is said to be good for just under 200 miles. Whereas the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 models feature an 800-volt architecture, the Kona uses a 400-volt system. Hyundai says that a 100-kW connection can take either battery from 10 to 80 percent in 43 minutes. The onboard charger has been upgraded from a 7.2-kW unit previously to a 10.8-kW one, cutting by a third the time it takes to go from 10 to 100 percent charge on an appropriately powerful 240-volt (Level 2) source.The smaller battery limits output of the same electric motor to 133 hp but delivers an identical 188 pound-feet of torque to the front wheels. Europe gets slightly higher power ratings for both setups. We drove the top-of-the-line model that’s rated at 215 horsepower—for the U.S., SEL and Limited models get 201 horses. The power comes on with a satisfying rush, but as you’d expect, there is no head-snapping acceleration as in the high-powered Ioniq models. We appreciate the fact that brake regen can be adjusted, both manually or automatically, and the Kona Electric comes with a one-pedal driving option that Hyundai calls “i-Pedal.” Whether or not one-pedal driving is your preference, it’s great that the Kona offers it for those who prefer to forget about the brake pedal.As before, the Kona Electric is only available with front-wheel drive. While the previous model struggled with wheelspin during acceleration, traction and stability control now intervene much more effectively. The electric motor operates so quietly that the Kona Electric moves in remarkable silence, aided by a well-isolated body. The suspension—struts up front, a multilink setup in the rear—clearly veers toward the comfortable; there is some body roll and some predictable understeer at the limits. Brake feel is a bit detached but better than a lot of its segment competitors.The interior will make Hyundai drivers feel at ease: The controls are logical and straightforward, even though the navigation system would probably benefit from an update of the graphics. There is plenty of storage, four occupants sit in comfort, and visibility is decent if not great. There is a token “frunk” as well, although at barely 1 cubic foot, it’s a good place to stash charging cables if not much else. The rear luggage compartment is far more generous, at 26 cubic feet (more than six cubic feet larger than before), expandable to 64 cubic feet with the rear seats folded down (an increase of nearly 18 cubic feet).More On the Kona ElectricThe Kona’s bidirectional charging lets you operate your gadgets while on the go. Hyundai can provide over-the-air updates, and the Kona Electric comes with a full suite of assistance systems that now includes a surround-view monitor and Hyundai’s blind-spot view monitor. Even remote parking can be specified, as well as smartphone-as-key functionality.In Europe, all that fun doesn’t come cheap; there, the Kona Electric commands a hefty markup over the very reasonably priced gasoline versions, and it is priced uncomfortably close to the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6. (U.S. prices have not yet been released, but we estimate they’ll start around $35,000.) That said, the Kona Electric holds its own among compact EVs. It’s poised to please previous owners—and win over a lot of new ones.SpecificationsSpecifications
2024 Hyundai Kona ElectricVehicle Type: front-motor, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door wagon
PRICE (C/D EST)
Base: $35,000
POWERTRAIN
Motor: permanent-magnet synchronous AC, 133 or 201 hp, 188 lb-ft Battery Pack: liquid-cooled lithium-ion, 48.6 or 64.8 kWhOnboard Charger: 10.8 kWPeak DC Fast-Charge Rate: 100 kWTransmission: direct-drive
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 104.7 inLength: 171.5 inWidth: 71.9 inHeight: 62.0 inPassenger Volume, F/R: 52–55/45 ft3Cargo Volume, Behind F/R: 64/26 ft3Curb Weight (C/D est): 3500–3700 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST)
60 mph: 6.7–8.6 sec100 mph: 17.6–19.5 sec1/4-Mile: 15.2–17.1 secTop Speed: 101–107 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST)
Combined/City/Highway: 113–122/126–136/101–108 MPGeRange: 197–260 miContributing EditorJens Meiners has covered the auto industry since 1996 and written for Car and Driver for much of that time. He is a juror on the World Car of the Year and International Engine of the Year and founder of German Car of the Year. Jens splits his time between New York and Nuremberg, where he keeps a growing collection of historic cars. More

From the February 1995 issue of Car and Driver.Question: What do a practical hatch­back and a discotheque have in common? Answer: Most Ameri­cans won’t go near them. Now, this riddle would not apply in Europe, where neither disco nor hatch­back became dirty words. Nor does it apply to stateside hipsters, who were never afraid to be seen pulsating to Patrick Hernandez or KC and the Sunshine Band, or driving a CRX, Golf, or GTV6. For those on the A-list, in fact, the hatchback seems to be enjoying a bit of a resurgence, with the recent success of the trendy Saab 900 and Acura Integra. Soon, even swanky heavyweight BMW will be joining the hatchback huddle with one of its own: the 318ti. HIGHS: Bug-in-a-rug cuteness, 3-series stoutness, handling, and quality, gaping cargo hold.If you’re falling off your Recaro over the news of a BMW hatchback, perhaps you suffer from long-term memory loss or you haven’t been to Europe, where more than 50,000 BMW 316i Compacts—Europe’s version of this car—are already on the roads. The Compact was introduced only last spring. Its success is due in large part to its price—which is about $2500 less than the next-cheapest Euro BMW, the 316i sedan. When the 318ti arrives here next spring, its base price should be $20,370, undercutting our previous bot­tom-feeder BMW, the 318i sedan, by a whopping $5070. This will be the first time a BMW has been available for 20 big ones since 1985. Its price is low, but there’s flesh on these bones. BMW’s 1.8-liter DOHC four­-cylinder and a five-speed are standard, as are dual airbags, anti-lock-equipped disc brakes, air conditioning, and power steering, mirrors, windows, and locks. For another $2400, BMW will offer either of two upgrade packages—the semi­-loaded “Active” (BMW says that it couldn’t come up with a better name), or the athletically inclined “Sports.” The Active package includes cruise control, larger alloy wheels and tires, remote key­less entry, leather seats and door inserts, a trip computer, and a power sunroof. The Sports package includes firmer shocks and springs (which lower ride height by 0.4 inch), the Active’s wheels and tires, fog lights, and leather that covers more aggres­sively bolstered sports seats. Other options can be added individually, such as an auto­matic transmission and a CD player. The initial investment in this car wasn’t cheap either. The new rear sheetmetal, which lops 8.8 inches off the length of the coupe, necessitated a new, more compact rear suspension based on previous 3-series’ semi-trailing arms. Instead of shar­ing the notchback coupe’s doors, with their frameless window design, BMW designed yet another set of doors for the hatch­back, with framed win­dows, mated to the four­-door’s front fenders. Inside, there’s a new dashboard that will appeal to a younger crowd, says BMW. The rear seat that cor­dons off the 11-cubic-foot trunk is split 50-50 and folds forward (but not flat) to increase cargo space.Changes like these don’t come cheaply. Vic Doolan, president of BMW North America, figured this version of the car cost the company in the neighborhood of $500 million.Car companies don’t employ magi­cians. To keep the sticker down, BMW pruned costs in other areas. The simpler rear suspension saves BMW a few deutsche marks, as does the glovebox, which is no longer lined with mouse fur. Its little self-charging flashlight has disappeared, too. The air conditioning now has manual controls, without separate settings for driver and passenger. The headlight and wiper switches on the dash­board are pull-type units, instead of the rotary and steering-column-mounted switches from the rest of the line. And, for the first time in a BMW, there’s a compact spare instead of a full-sized spare tire, which is removed from under the trunk. LOWS: Merely adequate underhood motivation.Doolan insists that, despite this scrimp­ing, a 318ti is still true to the “driving machine” profile that BMW ads often boast. Based on a drive through the Bavar­ian countryside in a 318ti Active, it’s clear that BMW met most of those goals.From the moment you size up its mirror-smooth paint, you can see that BMW hasn’t lowered its quality standards for its little base car. Open the door and there’s the familiar BMW business-like interior. The other 3-series cars would be lucky to share the new dash, which looks lighter and seems to reduce the console “wall” that separates the driver and passenger in the other 3-series cars. (It will remain exclusive to the hatchback.) Aside from two new cupholders in the console, nearly everything else—from the seats and their controls to the carpeting, from the door panels to the shifter and pedals—is car­ried over from the 3-series. The 3-series car with three doors drives just like the other 3-series cars, too. The engine-speed-sensitive power steering maintains the sensitivity and progres­sion of the more expensive models. At the rear, the 318ti’s new lightweight suspension (it saves about 18 pounds) is eager to oversteer, although with a bit more nervousness than the sedan and coupe. The hatchback is about 130 pounds lighter than the sedan and coupe, and it offers the same excellent ride/handling compromise of its pricier relatives. Those sloughed-off pounds mean the 318ti responds more eagerly to the brakes and throttle than the coupe and sedan. Despite having slightly smaller rear discs than the 318is coupe we tested in August 1992, the hatchback can stop three feet shorter from 70 mph, at 175 feet. (We were unable to test for cornering grip, but it should be at least as good as the 0.84 g of the coupe.) Sprints to 60 miles per hour take 7.8 seconds, nearly a second quicker than the 318is. That sounds faster than it feels. BMW’s 1.8-liter four as installed in the 318ti is even-tempered from idle to its 6300-rpm redline, and it looks substantial in the neatly tailored engine bay. But it must be flogged before the torque (129 pound-feet at 4500 rpm) becomes noticeable, and it offers far less excitement than the simi­larly sized four-cylinder in the similarly priced Acura Integra GS-R. That engine, with its wild lunges to its 8200-rpm redline, makes the 318ti’s four-cylinder seem merely adequate by sporty-car standards. If that’s a problem, a fix is not on the way. Doolan says the company has no plans to fit either of the two muscular inline sixes that it offers in the 3-series. More BMW 3-series Reviews From the ArchiveIn many ways, though, the 318ti makes sense just the way it is. Its price allows BMW a foot in the door of a market chock­full of nameplates like Integra, Golf, Probe, and Celica—a market good for at least two million sales a year, by BMW’s estimate. Furthermore, BMW already offers no fewer than seven iterations of the 3-series. If your motive is speed, and you can’t find satisfaction in the 3-series, you’d best switch brands, or clear the fog from your forehead. VERDICT: BMW cooks up a morsel for the masses.The 318ti has another purpose: increasing the company’s bottom line. BMW’s assembly plant in Munich can easily turn out an additional 6000 or 7000 cars for American buyers. For those who question the notion of a high-volume BMW, Doolan has a quick reply. He says the income from this little BMW makes possible less-profitable performance cars like the recently introduced 540i six­-speed. We’ve driven that sweetheart. Enough said. SpecificationsSpecifications
1995 BMW 318tiVehicle Type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 3-door hatchback
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $20,370/$22,770Options: Active package (power sunroof, leather seats, cruise control, alloy wheels with 205/60HR-15 tires, keyless entry with alarm, and trip computer), $2400
ENGINEDOHC 16-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head, port fuel injectionDisplacement: 110 in3, 1796 cm3Power: 138 hp @ 6000 rpmTorque: 129 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm 
TRANSMISSION5-speed manual
CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: control arms/multilinkBrakes, F/R: 11.3-in vented disc/10.7-in discTires: Michelin Pilot HX205/60VR-15
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 106.3 inLength: 165.7 inWidth: 66.9 inHeight: 54.8 inPassenger Volume, F/R: 48/36 ft3Cargo Volume: 11 ft3Curb Weight: 2778 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 7.8 sec1/4-Mile: 16.1 sec @ 84 mph100 mph: 24.9 secRolling Start, 5–60 mph: 8.8 secTop Gear, 30–50 mph: 11.5 secTop Gear, 50–70 mph: 11.4 secTop Speed (gov ltd): 116 mphBraking, 70–0 mph: 175 ft  
EPA FUEL ECONOMYCity/Highway: 22/32 mpg 
C/D TESTING EXPLAINED More

It’s a testament to the success of the RX that Lexus was able to dominate the luxury-crossover space for so long without a legitimate three-row option. The cobbled-together previous-generation RX L didn’t really count, and neither did the body-on-frame GX and full-size LX, but the new 2024 Lexus TX finally aims straight for the heart of the three-row luxury crossover market—and largely hits its target.Built on the same platform as the Toyota Grand Highlander, the TX is significantly bigger than the latest RX, with a nearly four-inch longer wheelbase, almost three inches of extra width, and just over a 203-inch overall length. There’s no swoopy roofline to be found here, as the squared-off rear end makes it clear the TX is a people hauler that places function over form.Spacious InteriorSpace for passengers and cargo is important in this segment, and that’s what the TX delivers. No matter whether you choose the seven-passenger configuration with a second-row bench or the six-passenger setup with captain’s chairs, all three rows are habitable for adults. The only real flaw in the rearmost seat is the low bottom cushion, but that’s true of most of the TX’s rivals, and at least Lexus offers a recline function along with armrests and USB ports.The environs up front will be familiar to anyone who has driven the new RX, with a large 14.0-inch touchscreen dominating the dash and a muted design without many flashy touches. Many premium vehicles have interiors that look better than they feel, but the latest Lexus cabins are the opposite, with lots of plush touch points and high-quality materials but little visual flair or panache. We found the touchscreen to be relatively clear and easy to use, but certain functions—such as the drive mode selector—are buried deeper in settings menus than we’d like. The touch-sensitive control pads on the steering wheel that display their selections on the head-up display are also not the most intuitive.Wide Range of PowertrainsWhile many competitors offer merely a turbo four or a V-6 engine, Lexus is offering a wide range of powertrain choices in the TX, including two hybrids. The base TX350 has a 275-hp turbocharged 2.4-liter inline-four that provides merely adequate grunt for a big vehicle like this. We expect a 60-mph time in the 7.0-second neighborhood, slightly quicker with the optional all-wheel drive, but both of which are not standout times for this class. The turbo four is relatively well isolated from the cabin, but its occasionally grumbly tone makes us miss the smoothness of Lexus’s naturally aspirated 3.5-liter V-6—though it was also a bit sluggish and didn’t provide great fuel economy.Things get more interesting with the 366-hp TX500h, a hybrid that comes exclusively with the F Sport Performance treatment. Its combination of the turbo four with front and rear electric motors is nearly identical to the Hybrid Max system available in the Grand Highlander, and it’s similarly impressive here. We enjoyed hustling the TX500h through corners, as the powertrain is quick and responsive and the F Sport’s standard adaptive dampers tighten up the body motions, making the TX a surprisingly eager handler for its size. The tradeoff is ride quality, as the F Sport model is a bit too firm for this vehicle’s mission.The final setup, which isn’t likely to make up a big portion of TX sales, is the plug-in-hybrid TX550h+ model that uses a naturally aspirated 3.5-liter V-6 gasoline engine (just like the old days) and is the most powerful choice in the lineup. It makes 404 horsepower in total but is also significantly heavier than the TX350 and TX500h due to its battery pack that enables a claimed electric driving range of 33 miles. We were impressed with the smoothness of this powertrain, and the TX550h+ also rides well due to its softer suspension tune compared with the F Sport. It’s likely to be expensive (Lexus hasn’t yet released pricing for the plug-in; we’re estimating $77,500) but is a solid option for those who are able to charge at home and make full use of the electric range in daily commuting.Worth the Money?Price could be somewhat of a hangup for the standard models too. The TX, which starts at $55,050 and rises to over $76,000 for a loaded TX500h, is a few thousand dollars more expensive than luxury SUV rivals including the Acura MDX, Cadillac XT6, and Infiniti QX60. (It’s worth mentioning, too, that the Grand Highlander offers a similar package for thousands less, though admittedly without the prestigious badge.)Other Lexus SUVsBut the Lexus has plenty of tricks up its sleeve to increase its appeal. Compared with those familiar three-row models, the TX has a generous list of standard and optional equipment, lots of interior space, and myriad powertrain choices to sweeten the deal. We don’t think it will have any problem establishing itself as a major player in this important segment, just as the RX did decades ago.SpecificationsSpecifications
2024 Lexus TXVehicle Type: front-engine, front- and rear-motor, front- or all-wheel-drive, 6–7-passenger, 4-door wagon
PRICE
Base: TX350, $55,050; TX350 AWD, $56,650; TX500h, $69,350; TX550h+, $77,500 (C/D est)
POWERTRAINS
turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve 2.4-liter inline-4, 275 hp, 317 lb-ft; turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve 2.4-liter inline-4, 271 hp, 339 lb-ft + 2 AC motors, 85 and 101 hp, 215 and 124 lb-ft (combined output: 366 hp, 406 lb-ft; 1.4-kWh nickel-metal hydride battery pack); DOHC 24-valve 3.5-liter V-6, 259 hp, 247 lb-ft + 3 AC motors, 179 and 101 hp, 199 and 124 lb-ft (combined output: 404 hp; 18.1-kWh lithium-ion battery pack; 7.0-kW onboard charger)Transmissions: 8-speed automatic, 6-speed automatic/direct drive, continuously variable automatic/direct-drive

DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 116.1 inLength: 203.2–203.5 inWidth: 78.4 inHeight: 70.1 inPassenger Volume, F/M/R: 60/52–54/39 ft3Cargo Volume, Behind F/M/R: 97/57/20 ft3Curb Weight (C/D est): 4450–5400 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST)
60 mph: 5.5–7.2 sec1/4-Mile: 14.3–15.5 secTop Speed: 112 mph
EPA FUEL ECONOMY (MFR’s EST, TX350/TX500h)
Combined/City/Highway: 23–27/20–27/26–28 mpg
EPA FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST, TX550h+)
Combined/City/Highway: 29/28/29 mpgCombined Gasoline + Electricity: 60 MPGeEV Range: 33 miSenior EditorDespite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.   More

From the August 1989 issue of Car and Driver.Neither the United States nor the Unit­ed Kingdom has on its books a statute stipulating that only the wealthy are per­mitted to own Jaguars. Despite this omis­sion, Jaguars and the rich seek each other out as surely as the sun seeks high noon, and we must admit that the combination earns high marks for both proper appearance and the generation of envy. Like strawberries and cream or Moët and beluga, Jaguars and the well-to-do just seem to go together. The 1989 Vanden Plas continues this tradition. Jaguar, for that matter, takes enormous pride in its devotion to tradi­tion, and this latest offering suggests that the Coventry cavaliers have not lost their touch. The big sedan remains elegant, eccentric, evolutionary, and every inch a Jaguar motorcar. Being every inch a Jaguar is, in many ways, like being every inch a Rolls-Royce, but a Jaguar differs from a Roller in its availability to persons with incomes of somewhat less magnitude than Califor­nia’s sales-tax revenue. At just under $50,000 for the Vanden Plas version and just under $45,000 for the garden-vari­ety XJ6, this Jaguar confers more perceived status per penny than just about any car on the market. The Jaguar Vanden Plas also dis­tinguishes itself as a car that all enthusi­asts can appreciate—even if they can’t af­ford it. For a car with a 113-inch wheelbase and an interior that smacks more of a London club than of modern ergonomic design, the Vanden Plas is a marvelous combination of ride quality and handling competence. Jaguar, in fact, has enjoyed a close, mutually re­warding relationship with those who drive its cars for as long as any luxury-car maker you can name. Jaguar’s big news for 1989 can be summed up in two words: better perfor­mance. The inline six-cylinder engine has been spiffed up by an increase in the compression ratio from 8.2 to 9.6:1. This move raises the horsepower of the fine twin-cam, 24-valve engine from 181 to 195 and increases the torque from 221 pound-feet to 232. This, coupled with a rear-axle-ratio change (the economy-­minded 2.88:1 is replaced by the zoomy 3.58:1 Jaguar uses in Europe), results in a 0-to-60-mph time of 8.8 seconds, down a full two seconds from the XJ6 we tested two years ago (C/D, June 1987).Ever aware that the rich, however per­formance-minded they may be, are not loath to pinch the odd penny, Jaguar en­gineers saw to it that the sedan’s perfor­mance improvement came without an onerous mpg penalty, though the car now requires super unleaded instead of regular unleaded. The new sedan gets a 17/23-mpg EPA city/highway fuel-econ­omy rating, while the old version got 17/24. Your actual mileage may vary, of course, but our observed mileage during the time we spent as Jaguar drivers was a respectable 18 mpg. These figures are the same whether you select the superluxurious Vanden Plas model­—which brings such niceties to the rear­-seat occupants as veneered picnic tables and reading lamps—at $48,000 or the “standard” XJ6, at $44,000.The engine retains the smoothness and silence of Jacques Cousteau film footage and moves the big cat at a grace­ful, sure-footed lope. The four-speed automatic transmission, complete with lockup torque converter, contributes rather than detracts from the comforting atmosphere of smoothness and precision created by the engine. After the passage of a mere nineteen years, Jaguar totally redesigned the XJ6 for the 1987 model year. The new car’s skin didn’t generate raves from automo­tive critics, and it is unchanged for 1989. We remain less than awed by the car’s profile, but it’s undeniably a Jaguar. At rest, the Vanden Plas manages to look both refined and important—a pleasing blend of personality traits. The exterior has benefited from a pair of minor but useful tweaks. The outside mirrors have undergone aerodynamic surgery, and a new “finisher plate” spans the space between the hood and the windshield. These two fine-tunings are designed to reduce the level of wind noise discernible to the car’s occupants, making the car even more hospitable when it’s moving at freeway speeds. Entering a Jaguar is much like walking into some of the better-preserved public rooms at the Royal Geographic Society. You have the feeling that any number of important personages have been there before you and that none of them raised his voice or otherwise behaved badly. With the exception of a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley, a Jaguar is the only car that might get away with selling memberships to well-heeled harrumphers. There are some problems with the 1989 interior, however. Pushing past the shade of Joseph Lucas and into the elec­tronic age, Jaguar has fabricated an in­strument layout that is truly peculiar. Gone are the wonderful clock-sized in­struments, replaced by two dials about the diameter of a crumpet staring blankly back at you. A full complement of elec­tronic displays flanks the dials. Grafted onto the steering column are some more controls, looking every inch the add-ons they are. These are not terminally off­-putting, mind you, but they are anything but harmonious with the Jaguar’s overall aura of tasteful luxury. Our other objection to the interior is one we found ourselves sitting on. The seats, never overbolstered to begin with, were at least snugly comfortable before. The new editions are as flat as a park bench and just about as yielding—both beneath you and behind you. The seats are not uncomfortable, not at all, but they are discomfiting in that one never feels quite one with the car when sitting on them. That, in fact, sums up the situa­tion: one tends to sit on the seats rather than in them. Probably an owner would quickly get used to the seats, and if such an owner were not prone to unseemly hard cornering they would present no problems. But we were, to coin a phrase, more comfortable with the old ones. Otherwise, the quality of the materials inside remains as top­-notch as ever. The generous use of wood, fine hides, and cut-pile wool car­peting results in an environment that’s as rewarding to occupy as a $1500 custom­-built Harris Tweed jacket. Driving the Vanden Plas, with its new­found low-range punch, no longer sub­jects you to traffic-light embarrassment. And the Jaguar blend of luxurious ride and surprisingly competent handling continues to be among the better driving experiences the luxury-car world offers to the fiscally fortunate. The fully independent suspension maintains its composure under duress, while under nor­mal driving conditions it provides a ride that’s smooth without being overly soft. As noted, the Vanden Plas now gets out of its own way with considerable aplomb, and it will cruise effortlessly at speeds that have “ticket” written all over them. The brakes, four discs, are confidence-­inspiring to use. They will bring the Vanden Plas to a stop from 70 mph in a smart 182 feet and, in our experience, are fade-free. The Teves anti-lock brak­ing system also serves to make emergen­cy braking less stressful. More Jaguar Reviews From the ArchiveFor a luxury car—or any car, for that matter—the Vanden Plas communicates the same spirit of driver involvement that we suspect William Lyons had in mind when he introduced the Jaguar SS 2.7 sa­loon in 1935. Though the Jaguar Vanden Plas may not be at the cutting edge of sedan tech­nology—being light-years behind the BMW 750iL, to cite one bit of evidence—it nonetheless delivers traditional Jaguar luxury, more than adequate perfor­mance, and an indefinable aura of respectability. And it does so at what those for whom it is intended would consider a fair-enough price. SpecificationsSpecifications
1989 Jaguar Vanden PlasVehicle Type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $48,500/$48,500
ENGINEDOHC 24-valve inline-6, aluminum block and head, port fuel injectionDisplacement: 219 in3, 3590 cm3Power: 195 hp @ 5000 rpmTorque: 232 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm 
TRANSMISSION4-speed automatic
CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: control arms/multilinkBrakes, F/R: 11.6-in vented disc/10.9-in discTires: Pirelli P5 Cinturato205/70VR-15
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 113.0 inLength: 196.4 inWidth: 78.9 inHeight: 54.3 inPassenger Volume, F/R: 51/40 ft3Trunk Volume: 15 ft3Curb Weight: 3965 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 8.8 sec1/4-Mile: 16.6 sec @ 85 mph100 mph: 26.1 sec120 mph: 55.3 secTop Gear, 30–50 mph: 3.9 secTop Gear, 50–70 mph: 5.5 secTop Speed: 130 mphBraking, 70–0 mph: 182 ftRoadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.76 g 
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed: 18 mpg 
EPA FUEL ECONOMYCity/Highway: 17/23 mpg 
C/D TESTING EXPLAINEDContributing EditorWilliam Jeanes is a former editor-in-chief and publisher of Car and Driver. He and his wife, Susan, a former art director at Car and Driver, are now living in Madison, Mississippi. More