Car and Driver Feb 21

VOL. 66, NO.
8
TABLE of CONTENTS F E B R U A R Y/ M A R C H 2 0 2 1
28
F E AT U R E
Lightning Lap No.14
The year’s hottest
performance cars take
on America’s toughest
racetrack in our 14th
running of the ultimate
performance test.
By David Beard, K.C.
Colwell, Eric Tingwall,
and Dave VanderWerp
60
ROAD TEST
Bugatti Chiron
Sport
It costs $3.3 million
and makes 1479
horsepower. It is also
the quickest car we’ve
ever tested. We do our
best to make sense of
a car that is financially,
dynamically, and
cerebrally out of reach
for mere mortals.
By John Pearley
Huffman
66
ROAD TEST
2021 Ford Mustang
Mach-E 4
Ford’s new EV cross-
over tries to channel
the Mustang’s cool,
and it works. Mostly.
By Annie White
WATCH THAT MAN
72 Three years ago, Daniel King left a job selling private jets to follow a passion for painting
helmets. His first paying customer—a neighbor—delivered the referrals that allowed him
F E AT U R E
to launch the business, Veneratio Designs. For this annual Lightning Lap issue, King
The World’s
painted the helmet on the cover with inspiration from David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane. He
Strongest Truck
hand-mixed the pink to mimic Bowie’s painted face from the album art and applied it in a
Chevy, Ford, and Ram
dazzle-camouflage pattern based on a photo of the iconoclastic rocker wearing an outfit
pickups face off in a
in the same style. Dazzle camouflage was used on ships during World War I and has since
four-wheeled strong-
been used by automakers trying to mask secrets of their prototypes and race cars.
man competition.
“That was my connection between Bowie and cars,” King says.
By David Beard
CA R AND D RI VE R ~ COV E R P HOTOG RAP H BY JE NN Y RI SHE R 3

Backfires
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FEBRUARY/
MARCH 2021
COLUMNISTS
6. Sharon Silke Carty
A race against time.
24. Ezra Dyer
Clock doesn’t lie.
The joyful noise of the commentariat, 26. Elana Scherr
rebutted sporadically by Ed. Lobster out of water.
UPFRONT
13. Every Number
Tells a Story
How and why we test.
18. When Does an
$8000 Car Cost
$21,000?
DUNK TANK The bad math of buy-
Perhaps it shouldn’t be sur- here, pay-here lots.
prising that you found elec- 20. Evolution of the
trical gremlins in the Land Species
Rover Defender [“Defending EVs are changing
the Brand,” November performance norms.
2020]. The power-steering 22. These Vacuums
system gave a false alert, Suck
the camera system died, the Some literally, others
stop-start system failed to our land and water. But the matic version as almost all figuratively.
restart at a stoplight, and November cover! A Land Mustang buyers select it.
the satellite radio expired. Rover chewing up a delicate —Cliff Nimrod T H E R U N D OW N
It’s clear that Joseph Lucas, ecosystem as it churns Long Beach, CA 76. 2021 Hyundai
Prince of Darkness, is alive along the shore, generating Nah—Ed. Sonata N Line
and well in Britain. Wasn’t it silt! Why? More and more Gaining speed.
Lucas who was the patent we see vehicles touted for A true sports car should have 77. 2021 Hyundai
holder for the short circuit? their ability to drive in water. a manual transmission and Elantra
—Allan Robertson Let’s not forget that under good looks. I would give Ford Sharpen up.
Halifax, NS that water are some of our an extra five points for offer- 78. 2021 Toyota
most valuable places, the ing the Mustang with a stick Yaris GR
Sounds like the Land Rover birthing dens of a vast and and deduct five points from Hot pocket.
would be a fun, if expensive, intricate ecosystem. And silt the Toyota because it’s just 78. 2020 Honda e
adventure rig until the elec- kicked up by tires messes so fugly. Now it’s a dead heat. Face time.
tric gremlins creep in. I think with things. Can SUVs stay —Dave Querze 80. 2021 Dodge
I’d rather buy a Jeep Rubicon the hell out of our water? Pepperell, MA Charger SRT Hellcat
for weekend woods thrashing —Gordon Macdougall Redeye Widebody
plus a Toyota Supra. Loved Seattle, WA Your comparison of the Seeing red.
“the roof rack produces Point taken—Ed. displacement of the
more wind noise than a Mustang and Supra is ETC.
gas-station burrito” and “the FOUR BY FOUR incorrect. The Mustang’s 4. Backfires
truck shakes passengers like In your comparison test 2.3-liter is 15 percent larger Lucas jokes you’ve
bricks in a washing machine.” between the Ford Mustang than the Supra’s 2.0. definitely never heard
—Kevin B. Parsons 2.3L High Performance and —James Duffy before, creative uses for
Meridian, ID the Toyota Supra 2.0, you Landenberg, PA the last gallon of gas,
tested a six-speed manual Not quite, Duffy. Calculate and thoughts on the
I was taught early to “tread Mustang “because that’s using the Mustang’s actual coming EV flood.
lightly,” particularly off-road. the one we’d buy” [“F lling displacement of 2264 cc 82. Car and Driver
My master’s thesis studied in the Bl nk,” November and the Supra’s 1998 cc, 1982 Chevrolet K30 and
watershed education. I teach 2020]. You should have carry the one, and you get Rory Irish.
children about protecting tested a 10-speed auto- our correct percentage—Ed.
4 SIC YOUR DOGS ON US AT: ED ITORS@ CARA NDD R IV E R.CO M ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER
Why did Ford save the hot-
test version of its 2.3-liter for
the now discontinued Focus
RS? Putting the sportiest,
most powerful version of
the 2.3 in the hot hatch and
not the iconic legend makes
no sense to me at all. no business writing for an I’d use my last gallon of gas-
—Rob Gross enthusiast magazine [“The oline to immolate that stupid
Summerville, SC EDITORIAL OPERATIONS Last Gallon,” November feature story. V-8s forever!
MANAGER 2020]. That is the antithesis —John Gatliff
The Mustang and Supra of what C/D stands for. Mustang, OK
comparison shows how
With Gratitude —Rob Eckaus
useless your 5-to-60-mph This March, editorial Rocklin, CA R RATED
times are versus traditional operations manager Sounds like you missed In the long-term test of
zero-to-60 times. The Mus- Juli Burke celebrates the many columns that the 2019 Honda Civic Type
tang records 5.9 seconds 32 years with C/D. Indy 500 veteran and R [November 2020], the
in the former test versus a In that time, she has former editor Pat Bedard service timeline shows that
real-world 5.0 seconds. In guided more than 380 wrote about the joy of you replaced the left front
the Toyota, the real-world issues through our squeezing out every last tire at 17,731 miles and the
time is 4.5 seconds to the edit process, outlasted mile in hybrids—Ed. right front tire only two
5-to-60’s 5.7 seconds. four editors, given weeks and 1000 miles later.
—Eric Weitze countless office tours My vote goes to the Prius. As Why not replace them at
Jupiter, FL to curious readers, for me, I would save the last the same time? Later, you
You’ve misunderstood the and masterfully solved gallon for my snowblower. replaced the rear brake
purpose of the 5-to-60- every deadline night- —Mordechai Litzman pads on July 9 only to wait
mph test, Weitze. The roll- mare that crossed her Monsey, NY another 11 days to then also
ing start is the real-world desk. She can give you replace the front pads. Why
test that better re-creates three decades’ worth Dear David E. Davis: They not do these tasks at the
what happens at a stoplight of first-hand C/D dirt, are screwing up your mag- same time? Is the coffee at
where an aggressive launch too. For instance, azine! In November, the your dealership that good?
might not be possible—Ed. Burke recalls we kids took two sports cars—a —Roel Van De Velde
stopped smoking at Corvette and a Lexus—and Northville, MI
SAVE ON SPEED our desks in 1997 after drove them to a tunnel just We try to behave as an
Glad I’m not the only one our then managing to make loud noises! No owner would, although
who thinks black wheels editor tried to pin an review, no comparison test, you’ve spotted our need
are ugly [“Cheap. Quick. office fire on her. She and distorted photos—was to keep long-term cars
Good,” November 2020]. denies fault to this day the photographer drunk? on the road, necessitated
Gunmetal or anthracite is and is quick to point Please come down and by a desire to complete
nice, but black wheels remind out that the fire knock some journalistic 40,000 miles inside of
me of a ’70s rust-bucket started in said sense into these idiots! 12 months. In these two
missing its hubcaps and managing editor’s —Dennis Brandt instances, a tire puncture
that teenager who calls the garbage can. Burke’s Ann Arbor, MI and worn rear brakes
Plasti Dipped wheels on his never-ending behind- caused us to do half the job
base-model Integra a “mod.” the-scenes efforts got If it’s the last gallon, it’s going while waiting for the rest
—Hans Thoma us through deadline- in a Kawasaki ZX-10RR so I of the parts to arrive—Ed.
Walnut Creek, CA week power outages, can ride the Isle of Man TT
stories being killed in full out, danger be damned! ENERGIZE
RUNNING ON E the 11th hour, and the Not sure I want to be around Yes, people will buy EVs, but
The fact that Joey Cappa- ridiculousness that when there’s no more gas, for the most part, they won’t
rella not only chose a Prius perpetually derails so if I buy it just shy of the be the enthusiasts who value
but was purposely a road this place—Ed. tank running dry, well . . . automotive character and
boulder and called the expe- —Kevin Spatz performance [“The EVs Are
rience fun shows that he has Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ Coming!” November 2020].
5
Backfires Editor ’s Let ter
An apt analogy would be com-
A Race
paring the attention my father
got starting up his chainsaw
with the much more subdued
Against Time
impact his electric grinding
Y
wheel made when he plugged it
in. Both were powerful tools, but
the gut-level excitement each
generated was worlds apart.
—Larry Smith ou never forget where you were when a Very Bad Idea first
Tarpon Springs, FL popped into your head. For me, it was in Virginia during a
glowing October sunset as I was riding in the bed of a Jeep
“The EVs Are Coming!” was quite Gladiator. K.C. Colwell, our deputy director of testing, was
informative, but not one word giving a tour of Virginia International Raceway’s 4.1-mile
was spent on where all the elec- Grand Course. K.C. has been one of our Lightning Lap driv-
tricity is going to come from. With ers for the past 11 years and knows every bump, tar patch,
nukes being decommissioned and inch of curbing at VIR. His tour reminded me of a scene
and coal-fired plants shutting in Free Solo, where Alex Honnold is prepping for his ropes-
down, are we betting the farm on free climb up El Capitan by going over every handhold and
wind and solar? I sure hope not. foothold he’ll need to escape death. K.C. takes lapping just as seriously.
—Don Holle In that moment, and as someone who, since March, has taken up roller
Albuquerque, NM skating, guitar, baking, Among Us, German, Spanish, and Irish, I decided
I was going to learn enough about performance driving to keep up with
FINER THINGS our Lightning Lap testers next year. Then I said that out loud and tried to
In the November review of gauge if people thought it was a dumb idea or a smart idea. The consensus
the Acura TLX [“Approaching seemed to be that it was a dumb idea that could make a good story. Sold.
Enlightenment”], you mentioned Later, Eric Tingwall, our print director and another Lightning Lap
that the Accord trumps its driver, rode along as I set a baseline time around VIR in a Cadillac CT4-V.
upmarket cousin in acceleration I was calm, except for a couple of times when I wasn’t. Coincidentally,
and skidpad grip. So, could you those were also the times Eric thought I was going to kill him. The map
please explain to those of us who of the Grand Course on page 32 does not adequately convey how gnarly it
can bear the ignominy of not is. There are blind corners and drops and one place where you’re supposed
being seen in a “luxury marque” to fix your turn by sighting a tree that no longer exists.
why we should pay the upcharge Do I regret this challenge I invented for myself? Yes, especially since
that going from an Accord to it is now 2021 and I haven’t done
a TLX entails? If your answer a thing to get better. Is it too late
is “refinement,” please explain to turn back? Also yes, because I
what “refinement” is, and if yabbered on about it to people and
such a thing is possible, please then wrote these words. I bet this
S IC YO U R D O GS O N U S AT: E DI TOR S @ CA RA N DD R I V E R.CO M
provide that explanation without is how Diana felt when, days before
employing a British accent. the royal wedding, her sister told
—Mark M. Quinn her she couldn’t back out now; her
Naperville, IL face was already printed on the
“Refinement” is wot makes commemorative tea towels. That
a car quiet, solid, luxurious, marriage turned out okay, right?
and couth. Cheers, guv—Ed. For the record, Eric is fine, and
P HOTO G RA P H BY J E NN Y R I S H E R
my untrained lap was a 4:02.9. The

ZZ TOP work starts now. Wish me luck.
While I’m glad to see Nissan
isn’t abandoning the Z, I am
disappointed with the new SHARON SILKE CARTY
prototype’s styling [“Back to the E D I TO R - I N - C H I E F
Future,” November 2020]. By
trying to pull cues from so many
6 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

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Backfires EXPLAINED
Based largely on your online review of the Porsche

718 Cayman T, I placed an order and put my 2010
Boxster up for sale. I realize that you correct your
data to reflect performance at sea level, but I’m
previous generations, they wondering about how altitude—say, that of Denver— your clever reply, but this
have created a disjointed affects the acceleration of naturally aspirated and one found it hilarious!
design. The new Z looks like turbocharged cars. —Ed Tinsley
a collection of mixed parts —Steve Johnson, Edina, MN Austin, TX
instead of something created You, sir, are refined—Ed.
from a unified design team. To make this comparison as personal for you as
—Mike Dickbernd our archives allow, a naturally aspirated 2007 PARTING SHOTS
Indianapolis, IN Boxster S would run a quarter-mile roughly 5 per- I’m a year behind on my
cent slower on a 60-degree spring day at Denver’s issues and just got to the
As a prior owner of a 240Z, mile-high elevation than it would at the same tem- 2019 Lightning Lap. I saw
a car with really great lines, I perature at the 900-foot height of our Michigan that this year’s test takes
was always puzzled by Nissan test track. That equates to times of 14.2 seconds place soon. You bastards
bringing out the 350Z and in Denver versus 13.5 seconds in Michigan. After better run that Cadillac
370Z, which appear to be using our weather-correction algorithm to adjust with the truck motor. If not,
based more on bars of soap to sea level, both of those figures wind up at the expect a strongly worded
than classic Zs. This new Z 13.4-second time we published 14 years ago. By email about 12 months
pulls on heartstrings I’d for- comparison, a new Cayman T, which compensates after the issue comes out.
gotten about. Finally, a real Z. for Denver’s thinner air with its turbocharger, —John Robinson
—Frank Fellenz would be only about 2 percent slower under the Keizer, OR
Santa Cruz, CA same conditions. —Dave VanderWerp When you see this in a
Fellenz, Dickbernd. Dick- year, turn to page 34—Ed.
bernd, Fellenz—Ed.
What’s with your obses-
TRAVEL TRAVAILS sion with Derrick from
I can’t relate to the and visit familiar places, Gee whiz, I got only as far Colorado Springs’s letters?
new-motherhood aspect but the seat time and unin- as Carty’s editorial in the You do know there are
of Sharon Silke Carty’s terrupted introversion was November issue. I predicted others out there who’d like
column [“Going Nowhere,” the refresh my body and this a while back. Seriously. to get a letter published
November 2020], but I just mind were aching for. I said I wouldn’t cancel in Backfires every once
returned from a two-week, —William V. because I wanted to see in a while, don’t you?
5000-mile road trip, and Dunedin, FL how this would end. And —Matt Coombes
it was wonderful to get unfortunately, I have. Reno, NV
away in a 2019 Jetta GLI. I’ve been a C/D reader for —Greg Martin
—Dave B. decades. The November Cortland, OH Ezra Dyer said if my letter
Pittsburgh, PA issue really surprised me. gets printed and he gets to
Why would I want to read an LETTER MEN drive, he’ll buy me a Happy
One thing I haven’t gotten article about someone going The reply to John S. But- Meal at the golden arches.
used to is not having a on maternity leave, having ler’s letter in the November —Bruce Kent
commute. Those precious a baby, or toting diaper Backfires made me recall Dandridge, TN
S IC YO U R D O GS O N U S AT: E DI TOR S @ CA RA N DD R I V E R.CO M
minutes by yourself to bags in a car magazine? the original “road test” of Dyer has never had a Big
and from work can have a I don’t care about bodily the Denbeigh Super-Chau- Mac, and neither have I—Ed.
significant impact on one’s functions, be they male or vinist Mk VII. I seem to recall
mental health. That is why female. If maternity is on that it was written by Bruce Why won’t you guys
a 1600-mile journey to my your mind, you should be McCall, and heading the print my letters? Thanks
family home in the northern writing for Vogue or Red- masthead in those days was a lot for breaking a
woods of Wisconsin was book. Cancel, cancel, cancel! David E. Davis Jr. himself! 12-year-old’s heart.
exactly what I needed. I —Joe Eanes Not sure how many current —August Sayne
got to see some loved ones Burton, MI subscribers can relate to Crozet, VA
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NUMBER MUNCHERS
Every Number
Tells a Story
Since the beginning, Car and Driver has supported its storytelling with
objective testing. This is the story of how and why we do it.
There are only a couple of reasons why someone would piece of equipment that calculates our position and
push a Volkswagen Arteon to 120 mph. Either speed 100 times a second. Another wire ran from the
there is no better option for a getaway car or they’re VBox out the rear passenger’s door and up to an antenna
testing it. We were testing it. stuck to the Arteon’s roof. That antenna connected us
“That’ll give you an idea of the top-speed test,” said to seven satellites. Why do we need satellites to locate
testing director Dave VanderWerp, one hand casually the car we’re sitting in? Because using what’s in medium
on the wheel. I was riding shotgun and holding a laptop Earth orbit to verify our speed and distance is more
wired to a Racelogic VBox 3i data logger, a five-figure accurate than relying on what’s built into the dash. We
CAR AND DRIVER ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRETT AFFRUNTI 13

NUMBER MUNCHERS 210
Performance
TESTING
162 TALLY
even check the accuracy of the speedometer Highway —
Fuel This snapshot shows the number
and odometer as part of our testing. Economy of tests we conducted in 2019, which
This issue is packed with numbers, and was a more typical year than 2020,
all of them fit neatly into the six-and-a-half- when the pandemic reduced
decade-long narrative we’ve written about the numbers by about 25 percent.
how—and how well—vehicles work. We Total Tests Conducted: 72
674
put more than 200 cars, trucks, and SUVs Cargo
Space
through the wringer each year, and we test
every vehicle the same way, be it a McLaren 81
Infotainment
or a Mazda, a Volkswagen or a Bugatti [see System 73
“Money. Power. Respect,” page 60]. It’s what 76 Interior
Storage
makes our method scientific. Visibility
and H-Point
We test to keep manufacturers honest. Height
We test to deliver facts, not just feelings,
because an objective number is the best
way to determine if your subjective opin-
ion is wrong. And we test to uncover trends
over time and the details that might not be revealed We have stacks of carry-on-luggage-sized boxes we load into
by a drive around town. When Toyota claimed the the back of vehicles until no more fit. Or perhaps you care
2020 Supra’s center of gravity was lower than the more about fuel economy. We put that to the test by taking
86’s, we measured that. Toyota was wrong. We can each vehicle on a 200-mile highway loop at a constant 75
tell you for a fact that Tesla’s aero wheel covers for the mph, which is more representative of how Americans drive
Model 3 improve efficiency by 2.5 percent at 70 mph, long distances than the EPA’s laboratory testing.
which boosts the car’s range by up to seven miles. And Performance testing, though, is where it all began for Car
when Ford launched its 1999 SVT Mustang Cobra, we and Driver. Much of that work happens behind well-guarded
questioned the validity of its 320-hp claim because the gates in Chelsea, Michigan, at a 4000-acre facility owned by
car put up slower-than-expected acceleration times. Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler). We’ve been renters at the
Ford looked into it and, soon after our report came out, Chelsea Proving Grounds since the mag moved to Ann Arbor
recalled the Stangs and replaced some parts so that the in 1978. Come with us—past CPG’s check-in desk, where
engines made an honest 320 horses. we get our temperature taken and apply blue FCA-branded
Maybe you care about cargo volume in a family SUV stickers over the cameras on our phones—as we take a peek
because you have kids and kids come with a lot of stuff. behind the scenes and consider why it matters. —Ryan White
STOPS
The 1.5-mile straight where we do most
of our work feels a little lonely in the
fading light of a crisp winter’s day. The
trees are bare, the shadows long, and
that piece of pavement just keeps going.
After wiring up the Arteon like it
is visiting the doctor for a stress test,
VanderWerp runs us up to 70 mph and
then slams on the brakes. Does he do
this just once? Did Sideshow Bob step on
only one rake? No. We stop (a touch vio-
lently) again and again—five times fast in
one direction. Then we turn around, run
a length of the track to cool the brakes,
and smash the pedal one more time.
No fade here: The results are all within a
few feet of one another. The VW’s brakes
are good, which is good to know.

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NUMBER MUNCHERS
TURNS
The skidpad isn’t a pad at all. It’s a circle painted on enough pavement to
handle parking for half a mall. The “skid” part is accurate. Those marks
are everywhere. At CPG, that circle is 300 feet in diameter, or the length
of a football field, goal line to goal line. It doesn’t look that big from the
car, though, and it doesn’t feel that big when you’re accelerating into the
one continuous turn, tires screaming. In fact, it doesn’t feel much larger
than the old playground merry-go-round. Remember that? You wanted to
STARTS stay on the ride, but physics (and that friend spinning you faster and
Acceleration is next. Timing the run to faster, laughing harder and harder) was working to pull you off. That’s the
60 mph from a rolling 5-mph start is a skidpad. What does the Arteon’s 0.90-g result mean? That it could exceed
a 600-foot-diameter highway cloverleaf’s recommended speed of 35 mph
C/D invention. Comparing the result with by about 30 mph before you’d end up in the weeds. The grippiest car we
the 60-mph time reveals the extent of turbo tested last year, a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R, circled the skidpad at
lag, the accessibility of the engine’s power, 1.11 g’s and could take that same cloverleaf turn 7 mph faster than the VW.
or suboptimal gearing. Also, while there
are different ways to juice the best 60-mph
time from a car (e.g., brake torquing, slip-
ping the clutch, a redline clutch dump), the
THE OVAL
We find a little traffic on Chelsea’s 4.7-mile oval, which has
5-to-60-mph test is closer to what most
banked curves at either end. This is where we ran our long-term
people can achieve in enthusiastic real-
Model 3 when we tested the aero wheel covers. VanderWerp steers
world driving. We measure the time it takes
the Arteon up to the top of the banking and we coast along at an
to go from 30 to 50 mph and from 50 to
effortless 100 mph in a car that’s just fine. A lot of cars are just fine,
70 mph, too, because we all need to pass
but one thing we’ve learned over time is that “fine” gets better.
people sometimes. Pretty straightforward
Most people who buy an Arteon won’t push it anywhere near
stuff—literally.
its limits. They won’t slam on the brakes five times in a mile and
a half, and if they do, they might want to reconsider, well, a lot of
things. But especially how they’re driving. And where.
But those spec panels we print—for good cars, bad cars, and
perfectly fine cars—tell you how these machines can perform
when you need a quick boost of power or have to take evasive
maneuvers. Not because the automaker told you what they can
do but because experts with no skin in the game put in the work.

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BAD MATH
37.5 %
When Does an $8000

Default rate
of BHPH
loans in 2019
Car Cost $21,000?
$11,694
For the roughly 2.6 million Americans who bought vehicles from them in 2019, buy-here,
pay-here (BHPH) dealerships are both a lifeline and a scourge. These used-car
lots act as both dealer and lender, catering to customers with credit scores below 620,
a history of making late payments, or a repossession or bankruptcy in their past. In
exchange for financing these risky customers, BHPH lots charge above-market prices
for their vehicles along with interest rates as high as 29.9 percent.
In 2019, BHPH customers defaulted on almost four out of every 10 loans. For the
dealers, who can repossess and resell the same vehicle over and over, this is merely a
part of doing business. For the hard-up people relying on those cars, though, it’s another
snare in the poverty trap. They are left poorer, without transportation, and with another
black mark on their credit report.
Kelley Blue Book says a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze with 105,000 miles should sell for
roughly $6400 to $8000 at a conventional dealership, yet a BHPH customer could pay
more than $20,000 over the life of the loan for the same car. Here’s how one used car
can cost two wildly different amounts depending on where it’s purchased. —Mark McDonald
Average amount
of a BHPH
ONE CAR, TWO PRICES
loan in 2019
2012 CHEVY CRUZE 1LT CONVENTIONAL BHPH
$91
WITH 105,000 MILES DEALER DEALER
(700 credit score) (580 credit score)
Sale Price $7995 $13 , 479
Taxes and Fees $1331 $1678 Average weekly
Subtotal $9326 $15,157 payment for
Down Payment $2400 $500 BHPH customers
Total Amount Financed $6926 $14 ,657 in 2019
Annual Percentage Rate 4 .90% 19.95%
Loan Length 48 months 42 months
Payment $159 (monthly) $224 (biweekly)
Total Interest Paid $715 $5762
Total $10,041 $20,919
18 ILLUSTRATION BY ANDY POTTS ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

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FIELD REPORT
Evolution of EVs are quieter

during max-attack
. . . as well as
while cruising.
the Species
acceleration . . .
INTERIOR SOUND INTERIOR SOUND
SINCE LEVEL, FULL THROTTLE LEVEL, 70-MPH CRUISE
1956 A by-the-numbers tale of how EVs are 80 78 dBA
changing the performance landscape.
75 70 dBA
70 dBA
When we meet a strange new creature, we do what humans have 70 68 dBA
done since the beginning of time: observe it, categorize
it, and maybe see what it tastes like, but not necessarily in that 65
order. In the kingdom of Automobilia, that means stomping the
don’t-call-it-a-throttle pedal and sliding past the limits to see what
electric vehicles are capable of and how that’s different from the
Electrics weigh less on average, even
combustion-powered vehicles we know and love. Here’s the tale though a typical EV is heavier than a
of the modern EV, as told through the data from 47 electrics and similar combustion model. Ford’s Mus-
more than 2200 gas, diesel, and hybrid vehicles we’ve tested since tang Mach-E weighs 500 pounds more
Tesla introduced the Model S in 2012. —Dave VanderWerp than an Edge, for example. But EVs have
yet to appear in the heaviest vehicle cat-
egories, such as pickups and large SUVs.
KEY: EV AVERAGE NON-EV AVERAGE
CURB
WEIGHT
On average, internal-combustion-powered vehicles are quicker.
3939 lb 4031 lb
60-MPH 6.4 sec
ACCELERATION 6.0 sec
1/4-MILE 14.6 sec EVs better balance their pounds, which

ACCELERATION 14.3 sec are concentrated in battery packs
mounted near the middle of the vehicle.
But the real-world swiftness of elec- That lack of gearing in most EVs WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION
tric motors and single-speed trans- hinders top speeds, though.
missions shows in our passing tests. REAR FRONT
47.9% 52.1%
30–50-MPH TOP SPEED
ACCELERATION 3.5 sec* 133 mph
2.5 sec 109 mph
REAR FRONT
44.9% 55.1%
*Automatic-transmission vehicles only.
No surprise: EVs are vastly more energy effi- But that weight-distribution advantage doesn’t offset the effects
cient. But you’ll have to plan for extra time if of efficiency-oriented tires running higher pressures (average
you’re pushing past their limited ranges. cold inflation of 40 psi for EVs versus 37 psi for all others).
C/D 75-MPH SKIDPAD 70–0-MPH
HIGHWAY GRIP BRAKING
DRIVING 0.83 g
92 MPGe
169 ft
29 mpg 0.87 g
174 ft
179 mi
RANGE 485 mi 100 125 150 175 200
20 INFOGRAPHIC BY NICOLAS RAPP ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

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BEST
OVERALL
3
BEST FOR
PET
OWNERS
1. 2. 3.
These Bissell Shark Bissell Pet
Vacuums
Multi Auto UltraCyclone Hair Eraser
$180 Pet Pro+ Lithium-Ion
Suck
Attachments: exten- $80 $70
sion hose nozzle, Attachments: Attachments:
motorized brush, motorized brush, motorized brush,
Some literally, others figuratively. dusting brush, scrubbing brush, upholstery tool,
We put seven cordless vacs to crevice tool crevice tool crevice tool
the test to find the best for cleaning The Multi Auto’s The Pet Pro+ The name says
up messes in cars. motorized brush could be called the it all. The Pet Hair
does a great job Pet Hair Terminator. Eraser’s motorized
The Tests picking up deep- This vac does a brush scrubs away
seated pet hair. fair job with snack all evidence of
Paw Patrol Our local Petco provided The extendible cleanup, but the canine fur from the
us with a trash bag of dog hair, which we hose nozzle gives narrow crevice tool floor mat.
rubbed into a carpeted floor mat. this Bissell an edge may struggle to An odd flap
Snack Attack We seasoned the in maneuvering suck up anything in the nozzle makes
floor mat with Cheerios and crushed under and around much larger than it difficult to suck up
Cheez-Its, just like kids do. seats to find a Cheez-It. large snack pieces,
Getting Dirty We spilled two runaway crumbs. The motorized and the vacuum
cups of potting soil on the mat. We used the brush roots out dirt leaves behind a trail
Mic Check We used our sound-level motorized brush to from the base of the of Cheerios.
meter to measure how loud each vacuum clean up dirt the carpet, and the The motorized
is from three feet away. other vacs left crevice tool makes brush doesn’t only
Weighing In We put each vacuum behind during our it a cinch to clean erase pet hair,
(without attachments) on a scale. tests. Enough said. tight spaces. it erases dirt, too.
—Connor Hoffman 80 decibels 77 decibels 74 decibels
3.2 pounds 2.2 pounds 2.5 pounds
22 PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNY RISHER ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

BEST
2
6
CLEAN CAR,
CLEAR MIND
—
Larry Kosilla is the founder
of AMMO NYC, which makes
car-care and detailing
products. He also runs a
YouTube channel of the
same name where he
demonstrates how to detail
vehicles—often disgusting
and neglected ones—for his
1.6 million subscribers. He
told us how he finds Zen
in other people’s filth.
5
There’s a thera-
peutic or curative
effect to detailing
a car. I know it
sounds hokey, but
4. 5. 6. 7. there is something
Black+Decker Dyson V7 Shark DeWalt 20V
to it where you’re
20V DustBuster $300 WandVac Max Lithium-Ion
present. It’s like
$90 Attachments: motor- $120 Portable Vac Kit
washing the
Attachments: none head, two-in-one Attachments: $219
dishes. I don’t
This DustBuster brush and wide-noz- duster crevice Attachments: none
mind washing the
is not for pet zle tool, crevice tool tool, pet-hair tool If we scaled
dishes. I like it
owners. Without a The included Fur gets stuck our test to cover
because I’m in
specialized attach- motorhead is too on the bottom the whole car,
outer space at that
ment, successfully cumbersome for car of the pet-hair tool the DeWalt would
point thinking
vacuuming hair use, but Dyson’s mini and doesn’t get leave behind a
about whatever.
requires a lot of motorhead—sold sucked up. Pomeranian’s worth
Detailing has that
scrubbing. separately for $50— Because the of dog hair.
same kind of ther-
The Dust- makes quick work of dustbin is so tiny The built-in
apeutic nature.
Buster’s slender, pet hair. and requires hose helps it get
That’s why inter-
telescoping nozzle Your kids frequent emptying, around surfaces in
est in detailing has
is good for cleaning better crush their the task of cleaning the car, but the
gone crazy in the
around the center snacks well because up large snack spills vac’s heft, lack of
last couple of
console and other the two-in-one tool’s can be a big incon- attachments, and
years, because
tight spaces, oddly shaped nozzle venience, but it’ll do awkward shape are
people are looking
although that makes picking up the job. major weaknesses.
for that escape.
P O RTRA IT BY P ET E R O U M A N S K I
nozzle retracts large debris difficult. See above, With strong

too easily. Scrubbing is but replace “snack” suction power, the
You’ll have to required—even in with “dirt.” Even DeWalt picks up The one thing that annoys
a detailer who’s seen it all?
scrub a bit to dig Boost mode, which Smart owners might surface dirt easily. Keeping a garbage bag in
out the dirt from drains the battery in find the dustbin However, it’s hard your car. “That makes my
the carpet. about six minutes. too small. to scrub deep. skin crawl,” Kosilla says.
“Really, you’re going to
78 decibels 76 decibels 79 decibels 84 decibels collect garbage and have it
2.7 pounds 3.1 pounds 1.3 pounds 5.3 pounds marinate in your car?” —CH
23
E Z R A DY E R
Clock Doesn’t Lie

How do you make a three-day event driving the newest performance
cars on America’s best track as stressful as it is fun? Start a timer.
Like me, you probably read the annual Light- own ever changing creature, and even the most consistent car
ning Lap stories and think, “Wow, life can’t is different from lap to lap. The Veloster was benign in corners,
get much more fun than that, can it? Just a bunch but I never fully trusted the brakes. Sometimes they’d grab fero-
of fast cars and a track all to yourself.” And indeed, ciously; other times the pedal would go halfway to the firewall
that’s the essential premise. There’s a McLaren before initiating any notable deceleration.
765LT in that garage bay over there, a Ford Mustang I had other problems to worry about, too, like the VBox. The
Shelby GT500 in the next one, and Virginia Interna- lap timer displays your pace in red (bad, you’re falling behind) or
tional Raceway’s 4.1-mile Grand Course beckoning green (even worse, because now the pressure is on). The VBox is
right outside. But it turns out there’s a little more to like an internet troll riding shotgun: “Wow, I thought you knew
it than that. And I can testify, now that I’ve driven what you were doing but you’re already 0.5 second off the pace.
at Lightning Lap. Sort of. Probably because you glanced in the rearview mirror and got
Since I live only two hours south of VIR, I usually distracted by how ugly you are.” Shut up, VBox! I hate you.
drive up to Lightning Lap then lurk around trying The unblinking eye of the VBox is but one layer of your Light-
not to be too annoying to the actual drivers. But this ning Lap stress onion. For instance, you might get only a few
year, thanks to a scheduling mix-up, we had an extra fast laps from an expensive set of sticky tires. Or there could be
Hyundai Veloster N on hand, so print director Eric a brief window of ideal weather—this year, morning fog quickly
Tingwall gave me the keys and told me to see what gave way to afternoon heat. There will likely be a posse of man-
I could do with it. “You’ll want to turn on rev match- ufacturer employees watching in judgment. Of course, your laps
ing and put it in N mode,” he said. As an attentive are being recorded on video and periodically dissected, corner
and detail-oriented road-course savant, I processed by corner, in the pits. And the cars that are fastest and leave the
and retained every bit of that advice except the sec- slimmest margin for error are also the most expensive, and VIR
ond part. Never did I run a lap in N mode, which is an old track with lots of tire walls. Are we having fun yet?
means the Veloster’s adaptive dampers were in the My times eventually improved until I was a couple of seconds
flabby street setting the whole time. For those of you off the car’s record, but by that point, the tires were missing
keeping track, that is excuse number one. chunks of tread, and I felt like it was a bad idea to go into the
As I started recording times, I realized that Climbing Esses on tires that looked like they’d been gnawed by
Lightning Lap presents a twofold challenge: You’ve capybaras. So I called it a week and ran laps in my 1993 Bronco.
got to master a car within a few days on a track that A month later, I was at Carolina Motorsports Park, goofing
you probably only visit once a year. The track is its around with Hellcat Durangos and Chargers. I told one of the
instructors how the Veloster sometimes
had a spooky brake pedal—but other I LLU ST RAT IO N BY BR E T T A F F RU NT I , P HOTO G RAP H BY M ARC U R BAN O
times didn’t. “That’s pad knock-back,” he

The easy-to-drive Veloster N becomes daunting with a lap timer running. said. “When you’re cornering or running
up on gator strips, on some cars, the pads
will move around relative to the rotors and
you get a squishy pedal.” Aha—so there
was a second shooter on the grassy knoll!
Why did I ever doubt myself? The problem
was that I was driving too fast, knocking
those pads all willy-nilly with my extreme
g-forces. I should’ve pitted, walked up to the
Hyundai race trailer (There was no Hyundai
race trailer—Ed.), and mumbled “pads ’r’
knockin’ ” while a panicked team of techni-
cians raced outside to fix the problem.
Anyway, I didn’t set a new best time for
the Veloster N. But I did for 1993 Ford Bron-
cos. And good luck beating that one.

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Lobster out of Water

Exploring the appeal of two similarly expensive but very different
ultraluxury cars through the eyes and callused hands of a hot-rodder.
I don’t understand luxury. How do you decide what Even with the windows down, the Ghost has the feel of
is luxurious enough and how much you should a fortress. This is a car to protect you from having to talk
pay for it? I understand performance. It’s easily trackable to anyone. It blocks out the bumps in the road, replaces
with numbers and math and records, and I can follow the harsh and disappointing sun with a sky of your own
the logic that would make huge performance worth huge imagining, and even hushes its twin-turbo V-12 using the
money. A bespoke sedan? A lifestyle of twinkling-star same tricks manufacturers usually employ to make their
headliners, embroidered butterflies, knurled turn-signal cars sound louder and sportier. Not so for the Continental.
switches, and open-pore wood? Do you value it by the The V-8 Bentley has a Sport mode that ups the growl and
butterfly? By the knurl? allows the exhaust to emit the most uncouth farts and bur-
It’s possible I just haven’t experienced enough high- bles when you let off the throttle. Given the choice, I’d pick
end living. So I made the sacrifice of spending time in a lifestyle that means getting to make rude noises whenever
two cars from the most famous luxury auto brands on you want. Both brands have electrification plans for the next
the planet, Rolls-Royce and Bentley, to see if I could gain decade, but only in the Bentley will you notice the change.
some understanding of what exactly a luxury lifestyle is. There’s an oft-repeated idea that a Bentley is for driving
To remain relatable, I started this new all-wealth-and- and a Rolls-Royce is for being driven in. Rolls says the Ghost
glamour experience with the more entry-level cars: is equally pleasant in any seat, but why would you subject
a $428,625 Rolls-Royce Ghost and a bargain-priced yourself to having to pay attention to the road when you
$298,455 Bentley Continental GT convertible. could be reclining in the back, seat massager on, rosé in the
The Ghost is as white as its namesake, with the icebox, and outrageously plush carpet beneath your feet?
imposing visage of an oncoming train. The Continen- It’s made of lambswool, that carpet, fluffier than a perfect
tal is the dark red of a roasted beet and curvy where baked potato, softer than forgiveness. From now on, when
the Ghost is right angled. You can see its hippy quarter- I see a Ghost, I’m going to assume the owner is in the back
panels in the side-view mirrors. In the Ghost’s rearview, rolling around naked on the carpet in a pile of $100 bills.
all you see are pedestrians wondering which celebrity In the Continental, on the other hand, the back seat is
just went past. The Bentley convertible is the friendlier of barely big enough for a baked potato, so it’s a good thing the
the two. An open car invites eye contact and interaction. car is such a delight to pilot. I set out for a local taco stand
“Aren’t you cold?” asked a grandmotherly type one lane and ended up visiting a food truck 200 miles from my house
over. “No, this has neck warmers,” I answered. “That because Sequoia National Park was only a little bit farther,
sounds lovely,” she said, and it is. and I felt as though the wood dash might enjoy visiting its
still-living cousins. I just wanted to keep driving.
After suffering through several days sur- ILLUSTRATION BY BRETT AFFRUNTI, PHOTOGRAPHY BY ELANA SCHERR
rounded by massaging interiors that smelled

Rolls or Bentley? If Scherr wins the lottery, she’s buying 200,000 $2 tacos. like a wealthy uncle, I do feel as if I’ve gained
some understanding of why people seek luxury.
It’s not only about showing off rare materials
and portable refrigerators; it’s also a method of
counteracting the outside world, which can be
unpredictable, uncomfortable, and unattractive.
Rolls and Bentley aim to solve this in different
ways. The Ghost provides an alternate universe
that is quieter, softer, and more sparkly than
reality, while the Continental allows the out-
side in but warms the cold air before it touches
you. One lets you pretend there’s nothing bad
out there, and the other lets you see it and drive
away. Is it worth the money to escape the real
world? Lemme spend a little more time on the
research. I’ll get back to you.

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LIGHTNING LAP
No.14
Virginia International Raceway’s 4.1-mile Grand Course is America’s toughest
racetrack, a thrilling mix of challenging corners and high-speed straights. Going
fast here requires power and grip and resilience, plus a whole lot of confidence.
If a performance car is hiding any weaknesses, we’ll find them. That’s why we
return every year with a new crop of vehicles to run the fastest possible lap in the
ultimate test of performance that we call Lightning Lap.
By David Beard, K.C. Colwell, Eric Tingwall, and Dave VanderWerp
28 PHOTOGRAPH BY JENNY RISHER ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

29
This year’s heavy
hitters include a
Porsche that runs
on electricity,
a Corvette with
the engine in the
middle, and a
760-hp Mustang.
30 LIGHTNING LAP No.14 TRACK PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARC URBANO ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER
Had we made it as rock stars, this is how we’d
spend our days off: We’d rent Virginia
International Raceway, order up a fleet
of the most interesting performance cars
available, and then go as fast as we could
until security asked us to leave. That fan-
tasy meets reality once a year when we
travel to VIR to lap the hottest cars of the
moment for our Lightning Lap track test.
These laps reveal a vehicle’s strengths
and weaknesses and also the stories
beyond the numbers. Still wondering
why Chevrolet moved the Corvette’s
engine from the front to the middle? The
C8’s lap should clear things up. The rowdy
Mini John Cooper Works GP claimed the
Lightning Lap record for front-wheel-
drive vehicles while the four-cylinder
Mercedes-AMG CLA45 pulled out a sur-
prise performance and vanquished the
times set by eight V-8-powered AMG
bruisers. The Porsche Taycan Turbo S
made a real breakthrough for electric
vehicles when it set a blazing lap in line
with the fastest gas-powered sedans.
And the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
shrugged off its hefty weight to circle the
track quicker than a mid-engine supercar.
We run unmodified production cars,
just like the ones you can buy from a
dealer. They’re rolling on factory rubber
and burning pump gas. If you’re won-
dering why a particular car is missing
from our competition—say, every Aston
Martin ever, the Ferrari F8 Tributo, or
the Tesla Model 3 Performance—it’s not
because we didn’t ask. Carmakers can’t
always provide what we need; sometimes
they just have stage fright.
Back in 2006, we chose VIR because
its 4.1-mile Grand Course configuration
is the closest thing we have in the U.S.
to Germany’s brutal Nürburgring Nord-
schleife. This 24-turn asphalt crucible
tests a car’s ability to brake, accelerate,
handle, and deal with the abuse that
comes from limit driving. Each lap time
represents the distillation of a vehicle’s
complete performance and character.
Does the car’s balance and communica-
tion help drivers push harder, or does its
numb steering and sketchy behavior at
the limit keep us from realizing its full
potential? The answer is baked into each
time, but you’ll also find it spelled out in
our tales from the track.
31
SPOTTER This year at Lightning Lap, our 14th, we added 18 records to the regis-
try, which now consists of 277 production-car laps. As always, the base
GUIDE
prices here include all the go-fast goodies. Head to CarandDriver.com/
LightningLap for videos of our runs and the complete list of times.
0:00.0 Lap Time
LL2 3:03.2 DB LL2 3:06.2 DB
2020 BMW M340i 2020 Cadillac CT4-V

Base/As Tested: $57,195/$64,545 382 hp 3792 lb 9.9 lb/hp Base/As Tested: $45,490/$52,165 325 hp 3633 lb 11.2 lb/hp
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, F: 225/40R-19 93Y R: 255/35R-19 96Y Tires: Continental SportContact 6 SSR, 235/40R-18 95Y TPC
LL2 3:03.8 DV LL2 3:03.4 DV
2021 Mini John Cooper Works GP 2019 Subaru STI S209

Tires: Hankook Ventus S1 Evo Z, 225/35R-18 87Y Tires: Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT 600 A, 265/35R-19 94Y
LL3 2:49.0 KC LL3 2:44.6 DB
2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z51 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport 4S ZP, F: 245/35ZR-19 (89Y) TPC R: 305/30ZR-20 (99Y) TPC Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2, F: 305/30ZR-20 (103Y) FP R: 315/30ZR-20 (104Y) FP
THE CLASS BOUNDARIES Start/Finish

Sector 1
Front
Straight
LL1 LL2 LL3 LL4 LL5 NASCAR Horse

Bend Shoe
up to $35,000– $65,000– $125,000– $250,000
$34,999 $64,999 $124,999 $249,999 and above Hog Pen
Sector 2
Snake
THE TRACK Roller

Coaster
Virginia International Raceway • Grand Course • 4.1 Miles

Infield
Sector 5
Oscar winner, salad-dressing tycoon, and racer Paul Newman once said, “If
there is a heaven on earth, it is VIR.” We have to agree. Officially, the Grand Bitch
Course has 24 turns, but completing a 4.1-mile lap requires more than 30 saws
at the wheel. The best corners are named, and as you can see below, little of the
track is flat. It only takes a lap to see why we chose it as our own testing heaven. Climbing
Esses
500 Elevation Sector 4
Back
Straight
Spiral North
FT
Sector 1 2 3 4 5 Sector 3
300
Start Finish
Oak Tree
32 LIGHTNING LAP No.14 ILLUSTRATIONS BY CLINT FORD ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER
THE DRIVERS DB KC ET DV
David Beard K.C. Colwell Eric Tingwall Dave VanderWerp

Technical Editor Deputy Director of Testing Print Director Director of Testing
Years: 3 Laps Set: 12 Years: 11 Laps Set: 49 Years: 7 Laps Set: 26 Years: 3 Laps Set: 12
Uses Turbo Blue for cologne. Look at that COVID flow! Changes his own tires. A.k.a. the Flying Dutchman.
LL2 3:04.1 DB LL2 3:04.4 ET
2020 Cadillac CT5-V 2020 Ford Mustang 2.3L High Performance

Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport 4S ZP, 245/40ZR-19 94Y TPC Tires: Pirelli P Zero Corsa PZC4, 265/40ZR-19 98Y
LL2 3:09.0 ET LL2 2:59.3 ET
2021 Toyota Supra 2.0 2021 Toyota Supra 3.0

Tires: Michelin Pilot Super Sport, F: 255/40ZR-18 (95Y) R: 275/40ZR-18 (99Y) Tires: Michelin Pilot Super Sport, F: 255/35ZR-19 (96Y) R: 275/35ZR-19 (100Y)
LL3 2:59.5 ET LL3 2:58.2 DV
2021 Jaguar F-Type R 2020 Mercedes-AMG CLA45

Tires: Pirelli P Zero PZ4, F: 265/35ZR-20 (99Y) J R: 305/30ZR-20 (99Y) J Tires: Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R, 255/35ZR-19 (96Y) MO1
LL3 2:50.3 KC LL4 2:55.5 ET
2020 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 2020 BMW M8 Competition

Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2, F: 245/35ZR-20 (95Y) N1 R: 295/30ZR-20 (101Y) N1 Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, F: 275/35ZR-20 (102Y) R: 285/35ZR-20 (104Y)
LL5 2:45.0 KC LL4 2:55.2 DV
2020 Lamborghini Huracán Evo 2020 Porsche Taycan Turbo S

Tires: Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R, F: 245/30ZR-20 (90Y) L R: 305/30ZR-20 (103Y) L Tires: Pirelli P Zero PZ4 Elect, F: 265/35ZR-21 101Y NF0 R: 305/30ZR-21 104Y NF0
LL4 2:42.5 DB LL5 2:38.4 KC
2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S 2021 McLaren 765LT

Tires: Pirelli P Zero PZ4, F: 255/35ZR-20 (93Y) NA1 R: 315/30ZR-21 (105Y) NA1 Tires: Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R, F: 245/35ZR-19 (93Y) MC1 R: 305/30ZR-20 (103Y) MC1
33
as hard and moves with the same
2021 Toyota Supra 2.0 agility as the big-engine car, with 2020 Cadillac CT4-V
cornering speeds right on top of the
The slower Supra can’t handle Supra 3.0’s in the Grand Course’s 24 Cadillac’s performance
the stress of VIR. turns. The 255-hp inline-four gives brand builds on a winning
up 14.6 mph on the front straight to formula.
Riddle: What goes faster the 382-hp inline-six, but it never
3:09.0 than the Supra 2.0 but has feels slow or underpowered. You’ll have to look closely
the same 3:09.0 lap time? With such righteous handling, it’s 3:06.2 to find similarities between
Answer: The Supra’s brakes. easy to fall under the Supra’s spell, Cadillac’s CT4-V and its IMSA proto-
The four-cylinder Toyota just isn’t particularly when you’re feeling type race car, the DPi-V.R, but push
up to our VIR torture test. As the lap fast and focused. After posting the a CT4-V hard on a racetrack and you
progresses, the pedal squishes ever 3:09.0 time, instead of cooling the car might start thinking that the two
closer to the floor, the deceleration down, we tried to carry our enthu- share more than just their headlight
weakens, the braking zones lengthen, siasm into the next lap. That notion and taillight signatures.
and the tire walls loom larger. The ended before Turn 1 when the Supra The CT4-V, like its predecessor,
starter Supra’s single-piston front couldn’t slow down enough to make the ATS-V, rides on General Motors’
calipers chew on smaller brake rotors the turn-in point despite the driver superstar Alpha platform. Cadillac
than the 3.0’s four-piston Brembos, stabbing at the brake pedal and fill- softened the bushings for a better
and the system’s lack of resilience is ing the cabin with expletives. Instead ride on the street, but the magneto-
the biggest difference between the of trimming time, we took a casual, rheological dampers counter any
four- and six-cylinder models. Yes, low-speed cut of the grass beyond squish when it’s time to work. The
bigger than the 127 horsepower sep- Turn 1 before heading to the pits. On chassis is unperturbed by intimate
arating the two. the slow drive back, we made up this encounters with curbing. Don’t be
We’re used to minding the brakes adage: It’s always better to park a car shaken by the spooky high-speed
during Lightning Lap, particularly in in the pits than in a wall. oversteer when exiting the off-cam-
affordable performance cars. But for ber Turn 10; push hard to Oak Tree
$43,985, a two-seat sports car really From the Record Book and you’ll find confidence in the out-
ought to have baked-in track capabil- 3:07.7 2019 Hyundai Veloster N Performance standing brakes. Lean on the Conti-
ity. The Supra certainly feels up to the 3:08.0 2017 BMW M240i nental tires and they’ll provide two
task in every other regard. It corners 3:10.5 2015 Subaru WRX STI weeks’ notice before quitting, and
34 LIGHTNING LAP No.14 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

nothing is more informative than the
Caddy’s precise, responsive steering.
Look beyond the magical chassis
and it’s easy to undervalue the CT4
for not being a full-blown V-Series. Its
325-hp turbocharged 2.7-liter inline-
four is hardly comparable to the 464-
hp twin-turbo V-6 that bestowed
the ATS-V sedan with an 11.7-mph
advantage on the front straight. At
the top end of the tach, the big-bore
four labors like an overworked pack
mule and groans just as much. From
apex to apex, the 10-speed auto-
matic hustles through gears to keep
the engine in a plateau of midrange
grunt. Tugging on the paddle shifters
provides a more engaging experience,
but doing so doesn’t shave any tenths,
and it’s best to let this smart gearbox
think for itself.
A 3:06.2 lap from Cadillac’s junior
V is a solid showing, but a chassis of
this pedigree begs for more muscle.
We can only hope the forthcoming
CT4-V Blackwing will bring the heat.
From the Record Book

2:59.8 2016 Cadillac ATS-V
3:05.9 2016 Lexus GS F
3:07.3 2019 Genesis G70 3.3T Dynamic
2020 Ford Mustang

2.3L High Performance
Sticky tires help fuel a Mus-
tang redemption story. favorite party trick: the one-tire fire. a 10.2-mph-higher peak speed on the
But for the Mustang with half a heart, long front straight.
The EcoBoost Mustang’s the replacement for displacement This four-cylinder track special
3:04.4 lap shows what’s possible comes down to the Pirelli P Zero isn’t exactly a giant-killer. Ford has
when a manufacturer fits a moder- Corsa PZC4 track tires included in built faster GTs since 2015 that can
ately powerful car with tires that the Handling kit. turn sub-three-minute laps. This
are stickier than an IHOP syrup dis- After leaving the back straight 1.1 redemption story—the standard
penser. When Ford’s sixth-generation seconds behind the 2015 GT, the Eco- EcoBoost Mustang ran a disappoint-
pony debuted for 2015, the 435-hp Boost Mustang mounts a dramatic ing 3:15.6 in 2015—reveals that the
V-8-powered GT ran a 3:05.2 at VIR. comeback. It claws back the lead best go-fast parts are trickling down
Even down 105 horses, this four- through the infield, where the steer- through the Mustang lineup. The
cylinder car laps quicker. ing wheel is always turning and the 20-horse upgrade is overpriced, but
Equipped with the $4995 2.3L accelerator doesn’t stay flat for long. the Handling package is an incredible
High Performance engine upgrade Magnetorheological dampers keep value for anyone who finds more joy
and the $1995 Handling package, the tires planted, and those Pirellis in the corners than in the straights.
this colt makes 330 horsepower, 20 stick the front and rear ends with
more than the base model. An active tremendous stability. The break- From the Record Book
exhaust announces the car, upgraded neck cornering carries through Roller 3:04.0 2017 Chevrolet Camaro 1LE
brakes rein it in, and a limited-slip Coaster and Hog Pen, opening a gap 3:05.2 2015 Ford Mustang GT
differential prevents the base Stang’s the old GT can’t close despite hitting 3:05.6 2019 Chevrolet Camaro 2.0T 1LE
35
all the grip. Going through this sec- for max acceleration on corner exit.
2020 Cadillac CT5-V tion in the CT5-V, we feel a deep sense For $3200 more than the CT4-V,
of connection and joy that’s absent in the CT5-V strikes us as a bargain.
Cadillac’s big sedan is track a lot of other sports sedans. In addition to having more interior
ready and joyful. Your moves become the CT5- space than the 4, you get a 360-hp
V’s moves. It follows your lead and 3.0-liter V-6, larger front brakes, an
The high-speed left-right- dances up a storm, making you electronically controlled limited-slip
3:04.1 left-right sequence before look and feel like a hero. And as rear differential (versus the CT4’s
Roller Coaster will keep a car on the Chevy does in the Corvette and hot mechanical unit), the aforementioned
edge of adhesion. While we’re sawing Camaros, Cadillac fits the CT5-V PTM software, and a set of Miche-
at the wheel like a giddy toddler in a with Performance Traction Manage- lin Pilot Sport 4S ZP summer tires.
Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, we’re noting ment (PTM), which lets you adjust Those Michelins impart confidence as
a car’s tendency toward understeer or the breadth of the stability-control you drop the CT5-V into Hog Pen at
oversteer, how sensitive it is to load safety net. Its Race mode serves up 83.9 mph. The car carries more speed
transfer, and how easy it is to exploit intervention thresholds that allow through that corner than the CT4-V
and maintains it onto the straight,
where the bigger Caddy outruns its
Come to Grips McLAREN 765LT 1.18 sibling by 5.0 mph despite having a
with a Lap FORD MUSTANG SHELBY GT500 1.16 similar power-to-weight ratio. Over-
Turn 1, or Horse LAMBORGHINI HURACÁN EVO 1.11
all, the CT5-V bests the smaller V-Se-
Shoe if you prefer CHEVROLET CORVETTE STINGRAY Z51 1.11
your corners PORSCHE 911 TURBO S 1.09 ries by 2.1 seconds and beats the old
named, sets up a MERCEDES-AMG CLA45 1.08 420-hp CTS Vsport by 2.7 seconds.
car for lap-time PORSCHE 718 CAYMAN GT4 1.07
It’s easy to think that this new
glory or failure. It PORSCHE TAYCAN TURBO S 1.04
is flat, and the TOYOTA SUPRA 3.0 1.03 generation of sedans weakened the V
lateral-accelera- BMW M8 COMPETITION 1.01 brand, but the CT5-V and the CT4-V
tion average here SUBARU STI S209 1.01
are both track-ready grin makers.
is remarkably FORD MUSTANG 2.3L HIGH PERFORMANCE 1.00
analogous to a JAGUAR F-TYPE R 0.97
300-foot-skidpad CADILLAC CT5-V 0.97 From the Record Book
test result. This MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS GP 0.97
2:56.8 2016 Cadillac CTS-V
is how this year’s TOYOTA SUPRA 2.0 0.96
crop of lappers CADILLAC CT4-V 0.94 3:04.0 2009 Cadillac CTS-V
performed. BMW M340i 0.92 3:06.8 2014 Cadillac CTS Vsport
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The Stolen Record
2021
MINI JOHN
COOPER
WORKS GP
The 301-hp Mini darts
to a narrow front-drive
Lightning Lap record.
With its front tires furiously trying to hook

3:03.8 up, the angriest Mini pulls onto the front
straight 0.9 second behind Lightning Lap’s front-drive
champ, the Honda Civic Type R. But a mere 14.3 sec-
onds later, the GP closes the gap and noses ahead of the
Type R by a tenth, thus snatching the front-drive title.
We knew that the GP’s 301 horsepower—32 per-
cent more than the standard JCW model offers—was
going to be a big part of the Mini’s lap, but it turned
out to be the deciding factor in its success. Without its
ability to dramatically reel in the Honda on the Grand
Course’s two long straights, the GP wouldn’t have had
a chance against the 306-hp Type R.
Lower and stiffer than the JCW, the 3000-unit GP
has personality, but it isn’t one that’s inviting or forgiv-
ing on track. Push ever so slightly too hard on the accel-
erator and the surge of boost vaults the Mini off track
in a mob of locked-diff wheelspin and understeer. The
The Principality of Mini JCW GP Honda Civic Type R Chevrolet Cobalt SS

Front-Driveness 140
Of the 277 production
cars we have lapped, just
30 are front-wheel drive.
The 2008 Chevrolet
Cobalt SS reigned as the
front-drive king of Light-
ning Lap for a decade
SPEED, MPH
until the 2018 Honda

Civic Type R dethroned
it by 9.1 seconds. The
Mini JCW GP topped out
9 mph faster than the
Type R to steal the crown
by 0.1 second.
Sector 1 2 3 4 5
0
Start Finish

dartiness extends elsewhere, too, such as the yanks But it doesn’t matter that it can’t cor- You can identify
through the steering wheel that accompany wide- ner as well as the Type R or that the seats this front-drive
freak by its
open-throttle upshifts. While those shenanigans lack side bolstering or that those goofy ostentatious
might be amusing on the street, they’re not what squared-off wheel-arch extensions are wing and strange
you want when you’re trying to position the GP made of carbon-fiber scraps from the carbon-fiber
fenders or its
for the delicate weave through the uphill esses at BMW i3 and i8 or that the Type R is more blistering pace.
speeds greater than 125 mph. Go easy on the curbs, satisfying and refined on track. The story
too, as the suspension becomes unsettled enough here is about thrust. The GP has just
to awaken stability control even in its “off” setting. enough to put it right at the top of the
The conventional eight-speed automatic is a all-time front-drive leaderboard.
letdown that can occasionally find itself in the
wrong gear on track. Shifting for ourselves isn’t From the Record Book
much better and doesn’t improve times. A manual 3:01.9 2016 BMW M2
would make the GP more involving, and a good 3:03.9 2016 Ford Focus RS
dual-clutch would make it quicker. 3:03.9 2018 Honda Civic Type R
39
up fourth slowest overall despite our
2019 Subaru STI S209 most violent, no-lift upshifts and 2020 BMW M340i
tapping the steering-wheel paddles
Laying down the right lap to spritz the intercooler with water. A wannabe M car inches
in the STI S209 means doing In tight sections, however, the special closer to the real thing.
things wrong. Dunlops and fortified chassis put on
a clinic. The S209 carries more speed Years of testing BMW’s
Maybe it’s the influence of (averaging 118.2 mph) through the 3:03.2 3- and 4-series allow us
3:03.4 Subaru’s lengthy rallying Climbing Esses than any other LL2 to measure the pace of evolution
history, but getting the S209 to turn contender this year. If it had more through generational comparison.
a hot lap requires approaching cor- power, its chassis wouldn’t get in the For example, the M340i arrives at the
ners with way too much speed and way of its going quicker. Diving into Turn 1 braking zone traveling 142.3
just chucking it in. These are not the the downhill transitions of Spiral, the mph, a mere 2.4 mph shy of the 425-
tidy lines or slow-in-fast-out lessons S209 puts up the highest minimum hp 2015 BMW M4’s speed. And the
racing-school instructors draw on speed of the entire field—Corvette, M340i’s 3:03.2 lap is 10.0 seconds
whiteboards. 911 Turbo S, and 765LT included. quicker than that of the last-gen 2012
The S209 is the first special- But the S209’s 70 percent price BMW 335i Sport Line and just 2.5 sec-
edition S model available in the U.S. premium over the regular STI cre- onds off the M4’s time.
and the fifth STI we’ve run at VIR. It’s ates big expectations. For one, it’d The M4’s 43-hp advantage over
also the quickest one, but not by as be nice to have track-ready seats. We the M340i helps it pull away on VIR’s
much as Subaru hoped. The company also experienced a fuel-starvation foot-to-the-floor sections, but the
target for the S209 was the Cadillac issue that left the S209 sputtering lesser Bimmer’s 382-hp turbocharged
ATS-V’s 2:59.8 time. We tried, strap- with a half-tank of go-go juice. This inline-six charges relentlessly to red-
ping into the S209 more than any STI generation has similarly run out line and never exhibits a bad vibe or
other car on our final day of lapping. of momentum, and we hold out hope any performance degradation during
While we couldn’t match the Caddy’s for more power in the next go-round. hot laps. Its sidekick, the ZF-sourced
time, the S209 did finish 1.5 seconds eight-speed automatic, upshifts and
ahead of the 2018 WRX STI Type RA. From the Record Book downshifts as if it had the VIR track
A lap in this Subie is really a mixed 3:03.0 2014 Audi RS7 map programmed into its brain.
bag. On the front straight, the 341- 3:04.9 2018 Subaru WRX STI Type RA In the slower sections, the M340i’s
hp S209 underperformed, winding 3:05.6 2017 Audi RS3 grip and handling allow it to keep

up with the full-blooded M car,
but its steering feels disconnected.
Responses to inputs are often nonlin-
ear—with the car steering too much
or too little—and that unpredictabil-
ity makes turning in and holding the
line trickier than it should be.
The chassis takes aggression in
stride. Pound over the curbing and
the adaptive dampers forgive your
transgressions. The rear tires squeal
with excitement during corner exits,
but with some help from the electron-
ically controlled limited-slip differ-
ential, the car’s torque is masterfully
orchestrated into acceleration. VIR’s
many big slowdown events trans-
form a once firm brake pedal into
mush and leave the wheels looking
like they were just pulled from a
campfire. Despite the long pedal,
the brakes still haul down the M340i
from speed with unerring reliability.
Progress has the M340i closing
in on the old M4’s lap time. The new
M3 and M4 should widen the gap,
but we’re hoping BMW does a better
job with the steering in its upcoming
M cars than it did in the M340i.

3:00.7 2015 BMW M4
3:06.6 2011 BMW 1-series M
3:07.6 2017 BMW M760i xDrive
2021 Toyota Supra 3.0

The updated Supra is better, 382 ponies are good for 144.3 mph, pucker-inducing, does-this-qualify-
faster, and stronger. 5.1 mph higher than the peak speed as-an-at-work-accident left-hander
achieved by last year’s car. that follows the Climbing Esses, the
We like to imagine Toyota The better and stronger bits new Supra picks up an extra 6.9 mph.
2:59.3 engineers, product plan- include a chassis that’s been tweaked That one corner helps shave about a
ners, and marketers were clinking to increase stability with a front end quarter-second from last year’s lap.
Sapporos at a karaoke bar celebrat- stiffened by additional bracing. While the updates dialed out some
ing the completion of the 2020 Supra While the handling remains play- body roll, we’re glad that enough
when inspiration struck for the 2021 ful enough to allow you to rotate was left in to allow the Toyota to bob
model. Was it someone’s stirring ren- the car by trail braking or by impa- over surface imperfections and lean
dition of Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, tiently stabbing at the throttle on through curves. While not trendy,
Faster, Stronger” that inspired them corner exit, the better part comes that bit of body motion delivers seat-
to make a better, faster, and stronger in when you turn into a corner. The of-the pants feedback that makes this
Supra just one year after the sports redone Supra hunkers down, tracks car more fun and more alive than
car debuted? It had to have been. true, and won’t surprise you with many other sports cars.
The changes for 2021 lop 2.1 sec- gratuitous oversteer like last year’s
onds off the Supra 3.0’s time. Credit car. That stability helps you build From the Record Book
the additional 47 horsepower from the confidence to work the Supra 2:55.1 2012 Lexus LFA
the turbocharged 3.0-liter inline- harder, at least in one critical spot. 3:01.4 2020 Toyota Supra Premium
six. On the front straight, the car’s At the blind, off-camber, downhill, 3:02.6 2020 Lexus RC F Track Edition
41
wheel-drive Brits treated every turn F-type carries the same 7.1 pounds
2021 Jaguar F-Type R as an opportunity for opposite lock. per horsepower as the rear-drive 2015
This newest F-type is much bet- F-type R coupe that ran a 3:01.0.
Now easier to wrangle ter at keeping its nose pointed down With less energy spent keeping
around a track, the F-type is the track. That’s largely the result of the Jag’s tail in check, we stuck to
still way off the pace. splitting the engine’s 516 pound-feet our intended line more faithfully and
among all four wheels. Jag made all- trimmed 1.5 seconds off the F-type’s
The Jaguar F-types of years wheel drive standard on the V-8 R lap. The side effect of an easier-to-
2:59.5 past—a 2015 R coupe and model back in 2016, but we’re only drive F-type is that it’s starting to
the $175,995 special-edition Project getting around to lapping the F-type feel less like a live-wire sports car and
7 in 2016—were more interested again with this year’s facelift, which more like a grand tourer. The carbon-
in putting on a Formula Drift–style also sees engine output climb from ceramic brakes offered in 2015 are
smoke show than laying down fast 550 horses to 575. That extra power, no longer an option, and while the
laps. Despite our best efforts to judi- however, is perfectly offset by the iron rotors held up to the abuse, they
ciously use the throttle, the rear- 2021 model’s extra 185 pounds; this almost certainly had a date with a
dumpster shortly after we were done
with them. It’s a similar story for the
Pirelli P Zero PZ4 tires, which coped
with track work, but the Jag’s 4103
pounds kept them from excelling.
The F-type is not as athletic as
its numbers suggest. Notice that the
Corvette, with a worse power-to-
weight ratio, beats the F-type around
the Grand by more than 10 seconds.
The Jaguar is at its best when you’re
enjoying the drama it creates—the
thundering V-8, the beautiful styling,
the sense of occasion it adds to any
drive—without a stopwatch running.
If going quicker means giving up the
theater of the F-type, we’re fine if it
never turns a faster lap.

2:59.1 2014 Jaguar XKR-S GT
3:01.0 2015 Jaguar F-type R coupe
3:02.2 2016 Jaguar F-type Project 7
Get Your Track Life on Track
The idea of driving event, you’ll still get ARRIVE-AND-DRIVE outfit books a track and getting your yuks,
on track shouldn’t be to push the limits of PROGRAMS lets a certain number dropping four figures
daunting. There are braking and cornering This is where you show of drivers buy in for on a driving school
plenty of ways to learn without too much risk up at a track and the lapping. Events can go can involve anything
high-performance to your car or ego. car is provided. As a for multiple days, and from open-wheel cars
driving while minimiz- bonus, this could be run groups are arranged on pavement (Florida’s
ing the risk, and not KARTING your chance to sample by vehicle type and Lucas Oil School of
all of them cost a ton Karts, as you may know, a machine you’ve never driver experience, with Racing) to rally cars on
of money. —Ezra Dyer are actually small race driven. For instance, novices often receiving snow and gravel (Team
cars. Indoor tracks are Exotics Racing in Las basic instruction. If O’Neil Rally School in
AUTOCROSS AND popular, but outdoor Vegas will give you you want to drive your New Hampshire). Or you
RALLYCROSS ones provide a broader five laps of a 1.2-mile personal car on a leg- can buy a car that comes
The cheapest way to palette to indulge your road course in a endary track like VIR, with track time. The BMW
experience the thrill of F1 fantasies. At GoPro Ferrari F430, with an this is the way to do it M Driver’s package on
competition will likely Motorplex in North instructor, for $269. for around $400 per day M cars raises the top-
be a local autocross or Carolina, the 13-hp rental (other tracks cost less). speed limiter and gets
its dirt cousin, rally- karts have room to hit HPDE TRACK DAYS you a one-day class at
cross. The speeds are 55 mph in the 11-turn With high-performance DRIVING SCHOOLS BMW’s South Carolina
usually modest, but road course, and each driving events, a car If you want to learn the track or the Thermal
for just $25 to $50 per race costs only $25. club or track-driving fundamentals while Club in California.

The Surprise Performance
2020
MERCEDES-
AMG
CLA45
Grippy tires and sublime
handling pull the junior AMG
to a sub-three-minute lap.
Turning a lap in under three minutes

2:58.2 on the Grand Course with less than
400 horsepower is an exclusive club, one popu-
lated solely with Porsche sports cars and a pair
of open-cockpit track toys until the new Supra
3.0 and this top-rung AMG from the junior CLA
line joined this year. How is the CLA such a road-
course overachiever? Exquisite handling, for one
thing, but mostly it comes down to tires and grip.
Grip comes courtesy of Pirelli’s most aggres-
sive street rubber: the P Zero Trofeo R. These tires
are especially notable because their astronomical
price—Mercedes charges $2900 for the set—is
sure to make them one of the rarest options to
spot in the wild. We can’t help but think AMG
created this port-installed option—code D44 on
the window sticker—specifically for Lightning
Lap. We’re flattered. The 382-hp AMG happy until the tires warm up. Unlike the
They proved their worth, or at least most of it, CLA45 punches STI, the CLA resists understeer. Benz’s
way above its
by clinging to the pavement with 1.08 g’s in Turn weight when all-wheel drive is revelatory in the way it
1, by nearly matching the Cayman GT4’s pace equipped with holds the line through corners, allowing
through the esses, and by just edging out this Pirelli P Zero you to get on the power early.
Trofeo R tires.
year’s M8 Competition in the infield. This CLA45 With a lap that’s 7.4 seconds quicker
laps VIR a heroic 7.7 seconds quicker than the pre- than the Audi RS3’s and 1.5 seconds bet-
vious-gen model that rode on Dunlop Sport Maxx ter than the BMW M2 Competition’s, the
RTs, a max-performance summer tire, and it does CLA45 blows away its natural competi-
so with an almost identical power-to-weight ratio. tors. Perhaps more remarkable is that it’s
Grip counts for a lot, but the CLA’s handling is quicker than eight different V-8-powered
amazingly neutral for a transverse-front-engine AMGs of various body styles, including
architecture. In fact, this Merc is downright tail- all but two models—the 2011 SLS AMG

and the 2012 C63 AMG Black Series— Climbing Curbs McLaren 765LT Mercedes-AMG CLA45
from the spectacular naturally aspirated Making big time gains 150
in the Climbing Esses
6.2-liter M156 era. And it beat those V-8 requires immense
AMGs despite having a worse power-to- speed. The McLaren
weight ratio and a lower peak speed on 765LT set the fastest
climb we have on
the front straight than nearly all of them. record, averaging 135.1
SPEED, MPH
With that in mind, those tires don’t seem mph over 7.2 seconds,
so extravagant after all. but the Mercedes-AMG
CLA45’s 121.3-mph
average puts it just
From the Record Book 0.8 second behind
2:53.4 2018 Porsche 911 Carrera T through this section.
2:54.0 2016 Porsche Cayman GT4 0
2:56.7 2018 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS
45
and delivers massive performance thrust makes it easy to come off VIR’s
2020 BMW M8 Competition for a vehicle that’s as much a luxury straights at heady speeds. Of all the
cruiser as it is a sports car. It is 121 cars at this year’s running, only the
BMW’s big coupe feels large pounds heavier and more than a foot McLaren, 911 Turbo S, and Shelby
and in charge on the track. longer than the Jaguar F-type R, but GT500 carry a higher speed into the
it doesn’t feel any more unwieldy. The uphill esses than the M8’s 140.1 mph.
Social media rarely gets 4224-pound marauder laps with the Porsche’s Taycan—a car that lit-
2:55.5 anything this right. Back stoicism of an Easter Island Moai. It erally weighs half a ton more—nips
in 2018, the snarkier corners of the cuts into corners quickly and then the BMW by 0.3 second. We attribute
internet began calling BMW’s new Le sticks to its path with unflappable that to the EV’s low center of grav-
Mans racer Big M8 when they noticed poise. The M8 has so much midcorner ity and handling magic. The Taycan
the M8 GTE dwarfed the Ford GT on stability that it borders on inert. overtakes the Bimmer in the Climb-
track. That turns out to be a fitting The 617-hp V-8 can’t be caught ing Esses, exiting 5.4 mph faster, and
nickname for the road car, too. The in a lull because it makes power then squeezes ahead on the squiggly
M8 Competition both drives large everywhere in the rev range. All that back half of the circuit.
We are also obligated to point out
that last year’s BMW M5 Competi-
Feel the McLAREN 765LT 84.0 tion ran 1.5 seconds quicker than the
Rhythm! Feel LAMBORGHINI HURACÁN EVO 82.9 M8 despite having a nearly identical
the Rhyme! CHEVROLET CORVETTE STINGRAY Z51 82.7
spec sheet. Blame the weather or the
Apart from the PORSCHE 911 TURBO S 82.3
Climbing Esses, PORSCHE 718 CAYMAN GT4 81.7 car or the driver or the spicy chicken
the four-corner FORD MUSTANG SHELBY GT500 80.8 wings that driver ate the night before
sequence dubbed SUBARU STI S209 79.5
day three. Or just consider this the
the infield contains MERCEDES-AMG CLA45 78.2
the fastest corners PORSCHE TAYCAN TURBO S 77.8 margin of variability between two
on the Grand TOYOTA SUPRA 3.0 77.5 different vehicles driven by two dif-
Course. The BMW M8 COMPETITION 77.3
ferent drivers a year apart.
g-loading in the FORD MUSTANG 2.3L HIGH PERFORMANCE 76.7
infield is more JAGUAR F-TYPE R 76.6
sustained than it is MINI JOHN COOPER WORKS GP 75.8 From the Record Book
in the esses, allow- CADILLAC CT5-V 75.4
2:49.3 2019 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S
ing the driver to TOYOTA SUPRA 2.0 74.8
finesse the car BMW M340i 73.8 2:54.0 2019 BMW M5 Competition
with subtle inputs. CADILLAC CT4-V 73.5 2:59.2 2017 Porsche Panamera Turbo
50 AVERAGE SPEED, MPH 85

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The Breakthrough
2020 PORSCHE
TAYCAN TURBO S
The Taycan marks a watershed
moment as the first EV to survive
our Lightning Lap treatment.
In a straight-line race, the variant of Pirelli’s P Zero PZ4, keep their

2:55.2 Porsche Taycan and the Tesla grip lap after lap. Thrusting out of cor-
Model S are reasonably close. But intro- ners, or in those moments that call for
duce VIR’s two dozen corners and the a brief squeeze of power, the Taycan
difference between this year’s Taycan delivers an instant punch that’s other-
Turbo S and the P85D we ran back in 2016 worldly. And though Porsche claims the
stretches to a 22.2-second gulf, a gap as Taycan reserves its full 750-horse fleet
cataclysmic as the one between a Miata for launch-control starts only, we kind of
and a Ferrari 430 Scuderia or a Camry doubt it. The Taycan’s big speed at the end
and a Charger SRT Hellcat. The Tesla of the front straight—not typically an EV
couldn’t survive a quarter-lap before strength—makes us believe there’s more
overheating and cutting power, which than 616 horsepower at play. Really, the
makes any more detailed comparisons— only spot where the Taycan’s poundage
such as speed through the esses, where seems to have a negative impact is in the
the Taycan averages 14.8 mph faster than
the Model S—irrelevant.
Even better than being fast, the Tay- Time Is a Flat Circle On our second day, the Taycan spent about 50 minutes on track
can Turbo S is like the company’s other and nearly 4.5 hours plugged in between the two sessions. Twenty-one miles of lapping
consumed electricity roughly equal to 110 percent of the Taycan’s battery capacity. Unless
cars in that it is easy to find and probe there’s a DC fast charger nearby, tracking an EV is an exercise in patience.
the performance capabilities. At Light-
ning Lap, drivers typically uncover many 23
24 1
100% Battery
seconds over the three days of lapping 22 2
Fully Charged
as they solve the puzzle of extracting a at 2:30
21
car’s potential. Not so with the Taycan.

14:55 to 2:30 2:30 to 9:45
20
The difference between our quickest lap

Charging Plugged In
from our first session and our overall
19
quickest was just 1.2 seconds, the smallest

improvement of any car this year.
18
Zooming in on the details only

makes the results more astounding. For
17
20%
instance: At 5222 pounds, the Taycan is 100%
the fourth-heaviest Lightning Lapper
16
ever and the porkiest non-SUV, yet it’s 72% 9:45 to 10:10
41%
15
14:30 to 14:55 On Track

the quickest member of the over-5000- 14 10
On Track
pound club. The carbon-ceramic brakes 13
12
11
never fade, and the tires, an EV-specific 10:10 to 14:30

Charging

esses, where we find ourselves backing flying laps once, which put enough heat It won’t manage a
off just slightly—still averaging a heady in the battery to reduce power. We didn’t full day of lapping,
but the Taycan
120.2 mph—to keep the car settled and have to alter our routine for charging, Turbo S weathers
on the track as we crash over the curbing. though, as there was ample time—about the demands
Hot-lapping EVs is an unfamiliar exer- four and a half hours—to top up the bat- and abuse of a
single all-out lap.
cise, so Porsche brought along two identi- tery while this driver rotated through That’s progress.
cal cars, just in case. But the spare proved his other cars. A 50-amp RV outlet in the
unnecessary, as the Taycan is the first EV paddock, a common find at racetracks,
that didn’t crumble against the Lightning supplied the electricity.
Lap grindstone. It endured, without issue, More significant than being far and
our typical lapping schedule: a brisk out away the quickest EV, the Taycan places
lap, a fast-as-you-dare hot lap followed by between the BMW M5 Competition and
a cool-down, another hot lap, and then the Mercedes-AMG E63 S in the category
a cool-down before heading back to the of deliriously quick four-doors, regardless
pits. Starting with a full battery from an of power source.
overnight charge, the Taycan landed at
about 40 percent capacity after this rou- From the Record Book
tine, which, interestingly, is a burn rate on 2:55.4 2018 Mercedes-AMG E63 S
par with the Shelby GT500’s. To find the 2:55.9 2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
battery’s limits, we did two consecutive 3:17.4 2015 Tesla Model S P85D
49
of use, in this model’s reactions to
inputs that no number—not even
an 8100-rpm redline—can come
close to quantifying. This Cayman
is familiar. It’s trusty. It’s stable. It’s
comfortable. Perhaps most telling is
that every car that has turned a faster
lap has enjoyed a better power-to-
weight ratio than the GT4.
Specialized shoes are undeniably
great, but if you’re not comfortable in
them, you won’t want to keep them
on. The GT4’s comfort ensures you’ll
go as fast as you and the car can go.

2:47.0 2018 Porsche 911 GT3
2:50.2 2017 Acura NSX
2:50.9 2015 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
2020 Chevrolet Corvette

Stingray Z51
Still confused why a mid-
engine Corvette exists? Here’s
the ultimate explanation.
Years ago, Ferrari engineers
2:49.0 described VIR as tricky—
very tricky. No other track in the
country has as many different kinds
of corners. Uphill? Check. Down-
hill? Got that. On- and off-camber
in the same corner? Yup. How about
off-camber, downhill, and blind all in
one? We’ve got a bingo. VIR is a trial
2020 Porsche 718 supremely important. Lace up the
Cayman and you’ll hit the ground
for cars and drivers, which is why
Chevy engineers subjected the C8 to
Cayman GT4 running. In our first session, the countless development laps here.
new GT4 proved quicker than the An obsession with lap times is
Few cars feel as natural old 385-horse GT4, and the seconds why the Corvette’s 495-hp 6.2-liter
and comfortable on track steadily fell from there. Some of that V-8 is now behind the front seats.
as the Cayman GT4. newfound speed is due to its 4.0-liter Sure, the mid-engine placement helps
flat-six heart, an engine based on the acceleration, improves handling, and
Do you have that one pair latest 911’s minus the turbochargers. spices up the look, but lap times are
2:50.3 of sneakers that fits so well With a quickest lap of 2:50.3, this the main reason why. The move paid
it can only be replaced by a store- Porsche is a big 3.7 seconds quicker off, with the C8 lapping VIR 4.8 sec-
fresh example of the same shoe? If than the 2016 Cayman GT4. onds quicker than its direct predeces-
you’re a father in the 50-to-70-year- In many places, the Michelin Pilot sor, the 2014 C7 Stingray, a car with
old range on your 12th pair of New Sport Cup 2 tires gripped the pave- an identical power-to-weight ratio.
Balance 624s, you know what we’re ment better than those worn by the The time comes from the tough-
talking about. The Cayman GT4 feels previous GT4. But neither the extra est corners of the track. In the con-
like that—a perfect fit that we could stick nor the new car’s 29-hp advan- fidence-testing high-speed Climbing
happily wear forever. tage is enough to explain the quicker Esses, the C8 averages 126.0 mph, a
Comfort, in shoes and in mid- time through every sector. There’s 5.6-mph improvement over the C7. In
engine cars with 414 horsepower, is an intangible greatness, call it ease the infield squiggles, there’s a point

where the new Vette is going 15.0
mph faster than the old. Credit the
2020 Lamborghini the confidence to carry more speed
through the off-camber left (Turn 10)
C8’s trustier feel and balanced han- Huracán Evo and into Oak Tree. Navigating Turns
dling, along with gains in tire grip. 9 to 12, the Evo loses more than a sec-
Previous C8 track tests left us Lamborghini’s newest ond to the Performante.
wishing for more front-end traction. Huracán is a throwback In slower corners, it turns in with-
But around VIR, the Vette turns in to the glory days. out hesitation and sticks. Cars that
beautifully and maintains its pur- excel at low-speed direction changes,
chase. Slipping into understeer seems The Huracán Evo is an such as this one, can benefit from a
more the fault of the driver than the 2:45.0 ultrasonic orange slice double-apex approach through the
chassis. Lap after lap, the brakes bearing down on VIR’s Turn 1 at tight hairpin at the end of the back
feel inexhaustible. The annoyances more than 160 mph. The scream of its straight, instead of the more common
that distract you on the street—the 631-hp V-10 reminds us of a bygone single-apex line. Using the double-
square steering wheel, the poor rear era of race cars in tobacco livery. Its apex method, the Evo gains four-
visibility—melt away on track. We do steering also recalls the past, com- tenths on the Performante.
wish that Chevy would let you pair municating the differences between We never warmed up to the Evo’s
the lightest steering effort with the VIR’s 1999 tarmac, the 2013 repave, hard-to-modulate brake pedal, but
raciest Performance Traction Man- and the bits repaired in 2016. that shortcoming seems so minor
agement mode, but the heavy helm Around the Grand Course, the when the V-10 is making your spine
isn’t a big deal; the C8 obeys on first Evo is a second slower than the Hura- tingle at 8500 rpm. Lamborghini
command and never puts up a fight. cán Performante we lapped two years knows how to make things that hit
Skip the luxuries. A $69,480 ago. That gap is made more notice- people right in the feels, from its
Stingray Z51 with magnetorheolog- able by the different flavors of the supercars to its Urus SUV. Probably
ical dampers and Competition Sport two cars. Without the Performan- even its tractors, too. Like every Lam-
seats is the best value to navigate the te’s aero package, the Evo lacks the borghini, the Huracán Evo gets you
trickery of VIR or any racetrack. downforce to glue it to the ground at right where it counts.
takeoff velocities. At the top of the
From the Record Book Climbing Esses, where the new Hura- From the Record Book
2:39.5 2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 cán is going over 125 mph, understeer 2:44.0 2018 Lamborghini Huracán Performante
2:47.1 2017 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport threatens to send us into the grass. 2:47.5 2015 Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4
2:53.8 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z51 The lack of grip keeps us from having 2:55.8 2019 Lamborghini Urus
51
The Five-Figure Supercar den hoses, empty the tank like André
the Giant draining a beer keg. The car
guzzles more than two gallons per
2020 FORD
4.1-mile lap. The gas might run out
before the giant 16.5-inch iron rotors
up front start fading. Lap after lap,
MUSTANG
the brake pedal remains firm.
In Bitch, an off-camber right-
SHELBY GT500
hander, the GT500 demands more
patience than normal. Go to the loud
pedal too early and the Michelins will
leave streaks on the asphalt to match
the one in your briefs.
Throughout the slower infield, the
Ford’s 760-hp monster 4067-pound Stang shuffles in left-
is wild enough to leave right transitions with the ease and
skid marks but fluidity of a car that’s a quarter-ton
lighter. Steering feel is crisp and clear
obedient enough that and Porsche-like. The seven-speed
it tends not to. dual-clutch automatic downshifts
under braking so it is always in the
correct gear. Throw in perfect redline
shifts and we never found ourselves
For more than a decade, all the throttle.” Yeah, sure thing, needing to reach for the paddles.
2:44.6 deputy editor Tony Quiroga crazy. But we try it and somehow The GT500’s 2:44.6 shares top
has strapped on his chaps and wran- the GT500 allows us to floor it earlier honors in LL3 with the 2015 Chevro-
gled Ford’s hottest Mustangs at VIR, than we ever would’ve thought pos- let Corvette Z06. Ford believes there
but with the pandemic keeping him sible. The engine’s rage churns into are a few seconds left in it, which we
in California this year, Quiroga could the rear tires, the GT500 hooks up, will not contest, but the résumé of
only offer advice: “Bring underwear,” and then it explodes out of the turn. Ford’s test driver boasts hundreds
he said. “Lots and lots of underwear.” Between the corners, the Predator of development laps with the GT500
And then he hung up laughing. V-8 lives up to its name by devour- and a couple of stints at the 24 Hours
Sphincter-clenching moments ing every straight with supercar- of Le Mans; we had three days. We’ll
are part of the deal with the 760-hp grade acceleration. The speedo flips happily take a lap time that splits the
GT500, the most powerful produc- through digits quicker than the two times we set with the $500,000
tion car Ford has ever made. The National Debt Clock. The GT500 2017 Ford GT and that gets us home
supercharged 5.2-liter V-8 outmus- torpedoes down the front straight, in a clean pair of Hanes.
cles a rogues’ gallery of exotica, reaching a peak velocity of 161.9 mph.
including the Lamborghini Huracán We arrive at the uphill esses at a pal- From the Record Book
Evo, the Porsche 911 Turbo S, and pitation-inducing 142.7 mph. 3:00.6 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
even the McLaren 765LT. But those The GT500’s eight cylinders of 3:04.0 2011 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
exotics have a couple of distinct fury, fed by fuel lines the size of gar- 3:05.9 2007 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
advantages over Ford’s relatively
affordable badass. They’re lighter,
and they mount their engines behind
the cabin, giving the rear tires more The 700 Club 165.0 mph
175 McLaren 765LT
bite. And the Lambo and Porsche Hog Pen, or Turn 24 on Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
transmit torque to all four wheels. the Grand Course,
closes out a lap and sets
Like a race car, the GT500 takes up the next one. The 115.0 mph
time to learn. Brake hard off the GT500 hooks up in the 154.7 mph
straight and dive into Turn 1 and on-camber corner at
more than 1.30 g’s and 113.9 mph
the gooey Michelin Pilot Sport Cup
SPEED, MPH
rockets onto the

Sect
2 rubber wrapped around carbon- straight at 113.9 mph Front
Straight
fiber wheels holds the pavement at before reaching a max
speed of 161.9 mph. The
1.16 g’s. Exiting that long, flat cor- other 700-plus-hp car NASCAR
Bend
ner is tricky in rear-drive cars with a at this year’s running,
ton of horsepower. The Ford rep on the 960-pound-lighter Hog Pen
McLaren 765LT, benefits S
hand suggests, “If it’ll take a quarter- even more, gaining 50.0 0
throttle [on corner exit], it’ll take mph on the straight.

We’ve entered an
era when muscle
cars feel as natural
on road courses
as they do at drag
strips. You won’t
hear us complain.
53
route more torque to the front than
2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S before, permitting reckless throttle 2021 McLaren 765LT
application on corner exits. Even if
This just in: 911 Turbos the rear end steps out, it will fall back Mandatory reading.
are fast. in line so long as the front tires are
pointed in the right direction. The One hundred and seventy-
With one exception, the Turbo S fires off Turn 1 at 82.2 mph, 2:38.4 four-point-six miles per
2:42.5 quickest 20 cars at Light- the fastest we’ve ever recorded. hour. That’s how fast the 765LT goes
ning Lap have one thing in common: Life behind the 2:42.5 lap is on the front straight, the highest
track-focused rubber that grabs like remarkably easy. Rear-axle steering speed we’ve recorded at Lightning
rat traps. But this 911 Turbo S cracked blends with brake-based torque vec- Lap. This year’s best time is also the
the top 10 with Pirelli P Zero PZ4s, toring to keep the Turbo clinging to third-fastest lap in LL history. Only
relatively ordinary summer rubber. the fast line while active anti-roll bars the alien-tech McLaren Senna and
The last Turbo S we tested at VIR keep the body stable in quick transi- the hooked-up Porsche 911 GT2 RS
rode on P Zero Corsa PZC4 track tions. Instant steering reactions and Weissach beat it. But we may have
tires, but track rubber isn’t being carbon-ceramic rotors boost confi- left some time on the track because
offered yet for the new Turbo, and dence. Left to shift on its own, the we didn’t read the manual.
we run cars the way they’re sold. eight-speed dual-clutch automatic You see, McLaren fits the 765LT
The 640-hp twin-turbo 3.7-liter calls up the correct gear every time. with Variable Drift Control (VDC),
flat-six brings 60 more horses than Under the stress of VIR’s 24 cor- which we figured was for people
the last gen’s 3.8-liter. But even know- ners, the Pirellis shriek more than an who want to go sideways for Insta-
ing this, we weren’t prepared for this emo band. Based on experience, we’d gram fame because a drift-angle
level of improvement. The new Turbo guess that track rubber could shave setting pops up when it’s activated.
smashes expectations by lapping VIR two or three seconds, potentially put- Had we read the manual, though, we
4.3 seconds faster than the previous ting the Turbo S in striking distance would’ve learned that VDC is actually
Turbo S. The added power equates to of the top five. a stability-control program designed
higher speeds on the front straight to minimize lost tenths when the
(163.4 mph) and entering the Climb- From the Record Book tail steps out due to inevitable power
ing Esses (143.4 mph), gains of 2.1 and 2:41.6 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 RS oversteer. McLaren launched VDC on
3.2 mph, respectively, over the last 2:42.6 2020 McLaren 600LT Spider the 720S, and even the Senna had it,
gen. The all-wheel-drive system can 2:43.1 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder but this is the first time we needed it.

VIRgin Experience It’s not really a question of if the
tail will wag but when. Pretty much
What’s it like to take a lap of VIR at race every corner—save the Climbing
pace for the first time? Research editor Esses—has the potential to end
Beth Nichols reports from the passen- in a lurid and time-robbing drift.
ger’s seat of the McLaren 765LT with The 765LT’s power delivery is more
K.C. Colwell at the wheel. abrupt and prone to provoking over-
steer than the Senna’s or the 720S’s.
As I buckle my seatbelt, K.C. tells me he has And yet, the challenge of eking out
earplugs in: “So if you want me to slow more thrust without overcooking it
down, just punch me.” I grasp the sides of the seat bottom with no plans to makes the 765LT more fun, too.
let go. Entering the track, K.C. guns it, and my stomach does that flipping The 765LT provides wonder-
thing I’ve only ever experienced on amusement-park rides and when I read fully weighted steering that’s light
Harry Potter for the first time. I’m confident K.C. knows what he’s doing, but when it needs to be and increasingly
as we round NASCAR Bend at what I later learn is 1.15 g’s, I’m positive he’s heavy as cornering loads build in the
overdone it and we’re about to careen into the barn in the distance. When Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires. While
that doesn’t happen, I’m even more unnerved. How is he doing this? the engine creates drama and speed
On the back straight, I’m watching the speed tick higher on the lap timer in equal measure, the steering and
when K.C. yells something that gets lost between our helmets and the blare inexhaustible brakes ease matters
of the 765LT’s engine. I get the message moments later when he slams—and I and allow you to focus on more
mean slams—on the brakes. The belt catches my torso a few inches off the important things, like averaging
seatback, but my head keeps going. The weight of the helmet works against 135.1 mph through the esses, another
me as I try to straighten my spine, but then K.C.’s back on the gas and I’m all-time LL record. If we’d read the
thrown back in the seat. So that’s why they call that corner Bitch. manual, this McLaren would have
The seat bolsters do nothing to keep my small frame in place. As K.C. surely found a few miles per hour in
saws through Spiral and the infield, I’m smacked from side to side like the ball corner exits, and it might have caught
in Pong. It continues this way—stomach whooshes, neck checks, and body the GT2 RS. Maybe.
tosses—for another (faster, harder) lap. Back in the pits, my adrenaline keeps
the nausea at bay while we look over the data: a 2:42.3 lap, 169.5 mph on the From the Record Book
straight. I’m ecstatic until K.C. tells me, “I was giving it about 85 percent.” Is 2:34.9 2019 McLaren Senna
the offer to punch him still on the table? 2:37.8 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS Weissach
2:39.7 2019 McLaren 720S
I LLU ST RAT IO N BY C LI N T FO RD
55
3:40.0
Checkered Flag
THE PACE
OF PROGRESS 3:30.0
What we’ve learned

after 14 trips
to the same track.
3:20.0
When the overall Lightning Lap record doesn’t fall in a given

year, it can be hard to see the big picture. But even if a
track-slaying beast like the McLaren Senna—the current
3:10.0
champion of our leaderboard as well as VIR’s, with a 2:34.9
lap in 2019—materializes only every few years, cars as
LAP TIME, MIN:SEC
a whole get faster with each running of Lightning Lap.

Plotting a trend line over our 277 production-vehicle lap
times reveals that, on average, cars are circling the Grand
Course 1.2 seconds quicker every year.
The average lap time in 14 years of this competition is
3:04.0. Just four of this year’s 18 entrants landed on the
slow side of that. Technology progresses and trickles down 3:00.0
into cheaper machines, and as a result, cars corner faster,
accelerate quicker, and brake harder. But there are other
influences at play, too. As the chart shows, it’s becoming
more difficult to find track-worthy vehicles to compete in
the below-$35,000 LL1 category. (We adjusted the class
boundaries in 2014 to account for inflation. Maybe it’s
time to do that again.) At the opposite end of the field,
vehicles in the six-figure LL4 and LL5 categories have 2:50.0
become a larger part of the competition.
Unsurprisingly, the pace of progress moves quickest
among the priciest cars, as shown by the steeper LL4 and
LL5 trend lines compared with those of the less expen-
sive classes. Vehicles in the top brackets act as test beds
for new materials and technologies. The most advanced
of the lot wear carbon-fiber bodies, active aerodynamics,
and specially engineered tires. They squeeze more horse- 2:40.0
power from every liter of displacement than contenders
from other classes and meter engine output with the help
of race-car-inspired traction control.
The pace of progress could be slowing, though. Back
in 2016, this same exercise showed cars getting faster at a
rate of 1.5 seconds per year. Today’s cars are struggling to
break through the 2.0-second barrier in 60-mph sprints.
Are we approaching similar physical limitations for pro- 2:30.0
duction vehicles going around a track? We’re going to keep
lapping until we know exactly where the limit is. No.1 No.2 No.3 No.4

FROM THE RECORD BOOK
LL1 LL2 LL3 LL4 LL5

up to $35,000– $65,000– $125,000– $250,000
$34,999 $64,999 $124,999 $249,999 and above
Class Trend Overall Trend
No.5 No.6 No.7 No.8 No.9 No.10 No.11 No.12 No.13 No.14
LIGHTNING LAP EVENT
57
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MONEY.
60
POWER.
Respect.
The Bugat ti Chiron Sport costs $3.3 million And makes

1479 horsepower. It is Al so the quickest car we ’ve ever tested.
~ By John Pearle y Huffman ~ Photography by Anton Wat ts
61
62
he Bugatti Chiron swims in molten torque. at when they see a Chiron at a car show. Four elegant
T There’s so much pure, concentrated grunt that
even at idle, the quad-turbo 16-cylinder feels like
metallic dials flow down the narrow center console and
control the cabin climate. The quilted seating surfaces
it’s trying to break free. It would rather crack are covered in leather that’s more buttery than butter.
the engine mounts and vaporize the calipers than stay still. The steering wheel has polished spokes that glisten more
This is physical force evolved into mechanical will. brilliantly than sterling silver, and the rearview mirror
That’s 1180 pound-feet of peak torque amid a mind- is a delicate oval and seemingly meant only for decora-
boggling 1479 horsepower—numbers so otherworldly tion as there’s no way to really see out the back window.
that they are topped in insanity only by this car’s The Gumball Rally rule applies here: What’s behind you
$3.3 million base and $3.7 million as-tested prices. With doesn’t matter.
that much power and at that cost, this Bugatti ought to The engine whirs to life and then seismically rumbles.
damn well be the quickest and fastest car that Car and From the outside, it sounds like the approach of an armored
Driver has ever tested. And it is. More or less. Sort of. column; from the inside, as if you’re in a finely tuned rock
Because not even Bugatti can afford to always have the polisher. After momentarily considering if your Nikes are
latest Bugatti, the car we tested was a 2018 model that good enough to touch the polished pedals and then pulling
started life as a run-of-the-mill Chiron and was later mod- the somewhat indistinct shifter into drive, the Bug moves
ified to Sport-model spec. That $275,000 upsell consists out authoritatively. It can’t defy the laws of physics, but it
of stiffer springs and anti-roll bars, lighter wheels, four does impart a feeling of immortality.
exhaust tips, and carbon-fiber windshield-wiper arms. Speed is a talent even the most half-baked home-
This car is not normal in any way. From afar, it’s a garage lunatic can achieve. Tuning for wide-open throttle
rocket-propelled marmoset. Hunched in profile, it’s about is a straightforward pursuit. What’s amazing about this
to spring and snag its prey. Up close, this one is gloriously Bugatti is that it imitates a regular car so well. At part
finished in color-impregnated carbon fiber that looks like throttle, it putters along like, say, a Hyundai Sonata or
herringbone blueberry candy. Every stitch in the weave is Ford F-150. The Ricardo-made seven-speed dual-clutch
perfectly aligned with its neighbors. It’s not a sports car transmission is programmed to keep engine speeds down
exactly, and it sure doesn’t look like a luxury car. It’s a two- when it’s not doing hero work, as if Bugatti engineers were
seat suborbital capsule with beyond-space-age aesthetics reaching for that elusive double-digit city fuel-economy
and nth-degree detailing. And it’s built to standards to rating. So even galumphing along at 40 mph, the trans
which all automakers aspire. ratchets up to seventh gear and stays there, which is
Unlike virtually all other new cars, the Chiron doesn’t strange but not irritating like it is in your Hyundai. After
have soft-plastic bumper covers. Instead, the carbon-fiber all, with an 8.0-liter W-16 engine aboard, there’s always
fenders extend to and around the nose—a single sweep of plenty of torque to keep the beast moving before calling
seamless awesomeness. The exotic headlights contain four on the four turbos or downshifting. There is never any
elements, each firing out photons the size of volleyballs. barking or hesitancy from the powertrain, either; this isn’t
Smack a Mercedes-Maybach S-class with this prow and it a highly stressed race machine. And it’s not a normal pro-
may cost as much to fix the Bugatti as it would to buy that duction engine that’s been tasked with overperforming.
tanklike limo. In the U.S. market, the tail is protected by It’s purebred and mission appropriate. When it’s asked to
two rubber protrusions acting as loaf, it will loaf like artisanal sourdough.
bumpers. So Chiron owners are That in mind, it’s impossible to disguise the humon-
After leaving slightly better off backing, rather gous potential here. The transmission’s shifts aren’t brutal,
the factory in than nosing, into things. but they’re also not smooth. We’d call them semi-harsh, as
France, every Apple CarPlay capability is might be expected of any device designed to withstand so
Chiron makes a
stop at a Things neither standard nor an option, much power. The Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires are mas-
Remembered there’s no oversize screen inside, sive: 285/30ZR-20 in front and 355/25ZR-21 in back. That
store to receive and the 300-mph speedo remains giant footprint and the rugged construction required for
comprehensive
Ettore Bugatti analog, which will give kids of the the tires to maintain their shape at the Bugatti’s claimed
monogramming. future something to ooh and aah 261-mph top speed mean unavoidable tire noise. That it is
Plus Rocket- grade thrust, a cabin fit for royalty, knows when
to rel ax. Minus The action doesn’t start until 60 mph,
can’t hide its weight in corners, fender benders cost more than
a Ferrari. Equals A car that’s financially, dynamically,
and cerebrally out of reach for mere mortals.
CAR AND DRIVER ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 63

Hitting 200 mph gains you
entry into a club that
never meets, has no dues,
and doesn’t even have a
secret handshake.
The 200-mph club used

to be hard to join before
hypercar horsepower
eclipsed four digits. In
the 1479-hp Bugatti Chiron Sport,
admission takes only 15.7 seconds
and requires just 3100 feet of road.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that the
The Chiron has subdued in the Chiron, particularly in light of the Chiron’s 2.4-second 60-mph time
the visual heft to car’s carbon-fiber structure, is an achievement. lags the Porsche 918 Spyder’s (2.1)
match its physical
weight, looking When other supercars are running out of breath, and 911 Turbo S’s (2.2) and is no
larger, more the Chiron is only starting to try. Based on quarter- quicker than the Veyron’s was
imposing, and less mile clocking, this is the quickest car C/D has tested. more than a decade ago. The
nimble than most
mid-engine cars Using launch control, we slammed through 1320 Chiron has to move 4544 pounds
that it might be feet in 9.4 seconds at an astonishing 158 mph, and from rest—jet planes take their
compared with. the car pulled hard beyond 200 mph. The Chiron’s time, too. Activating launch control
4544-pound curb weight is a drag from a dead stop, raises revs to a relatively lazy
so the 60-mph run takes a rather languid (relatively speaking) 2.4 sec- 2500 rpm before clutch slaps
onds. The Porsche 918 Spyder and even something as common as a 911 against flywheel, but at that rpm,
Turbo S can beat that. But the Bug needs only 4.4 seconds to reach 100 the 8.0-liter W-16 is already
mph and 15.7 seconds to reach 200. We didn’t have the runway to test making up to 562 horses. Despite
the 261-mph governor, but the Chiron feels fully capable of that. having all-wheel drive, the Bugatti
With its incredibly stiff structure and perfectly poised suspension, lights up its tires and requires a
the Chiron is confident at speed to the point of overwhelming arrogance. minor move of the steering wheel
It’s impossible to test this car’s limits on anything except a long track, to stay in its lane before those
so on the street, it always has more to give. And give. And then it asks giant Michelins settle in. Your
for more fuel. When it’s humping, the Chiron practically needs to burp body, however, is continuously
after drinking so much so quickly. And while it will run California’s unsettled as the power strapped to
91 octane, it makes only about 1200 horsepower on the stuff. On 93 or your back—the Chiron averages
better, it makes the full 1479. more than 1.00 g longitudinally
Eventually, all things must stop. Stupendously large carbon-ceramic through 70 mph—is unleashed.
brake rotors at each corner haul the big Bugatti down from 70 mph in The acceleration becomes more
160 feet. Proper sports cars do the same thing in 140 feet or less, but they staggering the faster you go.
also weigh 1000 fewer pounds. Dialing up big numbers on the
Handling? Sure, it goes around corners. And it orbits the skidpad at 300-mph analog speedo is what
1.06 g’s with a neutral balance that will turn to power oversteer with a the Chiron is about. Going from 100
sneeze of the turbos. But even with the Sport’s extra starch, the Chi- to 160 takes 5.2 seconds, the same
ron’s character is more about traveling fast in a straight line. Each turn amount of time a BMW 330i xDrive
seems like an interruption to the real joy of this car, which is ingesting needs to reach 60 from a stand-
continents with the imperious disdain available only to those who have still. And the Bugatti’s 11.3-second
$3.7 million to spend on a single car. It does that spectacularly well. run from 100 to 200 is two-tenths
If you’re insecure enough to need ego fortification through vehicular quicker than the time it takes for a
acquisition, there are a lot of conspicuous-consumption machines that Honda Civic Type R to hit 100 mph.
cost a lot less than this one. Many of them even have silly doors that fly I’ve tested the McLaren Senna
into the air when opened. The Chiron buyer needs to appreciate it for and the Ferrari LaFerrari, and when
the integrity of its design, the quality of its construction, and how it it comes to big-speed acceleration,
confidently achieves speed unlike any other vehicle on earth—and not they aren’t in the same league as
worry that its doors open like an Accord’s. the Chiron. It’s so easy that one
The Chiron has been around since 2016, and only now have we had a hand on the wheel is probably
proper run with it. It’s both quick and fast, indeed. But here at C/D, we’d enough in the Bugatti, but we’re in
save up a few more dollars and hold out for one of the 30 Chiron Super no rush to try it. We doubt the one-
Sport 300+ models with an additional 99 horsepower and a 300-mph- handed 200-mph club has a lot of
or-so top speed. Because, really, why compromise? living members. —Tony Quiroga

BUGATTI CHIRON TEST RESULTS
SPORT Acceleration
Price
$3,710,850
As Tested ............
Base ............................................................ $3,273,000
200
15.7 18.3
14.0
12.4
Vehicle Type: mid-engine, all-wheel-drive,
2-passenger, 2-door coupe 10.9
Options: Turquoise Blue carbon-fiber body, 158 1/4-MILE 8.6 9.6
$315,000; leather and carbon-fiber interior, 150 9.4
$62,000; comfort seats, $31,000; carbon-fiber 7.6
engine cover, $18,600; painted grille, $7500; 6.5
Light Blue Sport brake calipers, $3750
MPH
5.8
Audio System: satellite radio, USB and
Bluetooth-audio inputs, 7 speakers 4.4 5.1
100
Engine 3.8
quad-turbocharged and intercooled W-16, 3.3
aluminum block and heads 2.4 2.8 Results in graph
Bore x Stroke ...... 3.39 x 3.39 in, 86.0 x 86.0 mm 60 omit 1-ft rollout
Displacement ............................. 488 in3, 7993 cm3 of 0.2 sec.
2.0
Fuel Delivery: port injection
Valve Gear: double overhead cams, 4 valves 1.1 1.5
per cylinder, variable intake-valve timing 30
Fuel Cutoff .................................................... 6700 rpm 0 20
SEC
Power .......................................... 1479 hp @ 6700 rpm
Torque ..................................... 1180 lb-ft @ 2000 rpm Rolling Start, 5–60 mph .................. 3.1 sec Fuel
Top Gear, 30–50 mph ..................... 2.4 sec Capacity ............................................ 26.4 gal
Drivetrain Top Gear, 50–70 mph ..................... 2.2 sec Octane ......................................................... 93
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch automatic Top Speed (mfr’s claim) .............. 261 mph
All-Wheel-Drive System: full time with an EPA Fuel Economy
electronically controlled clutch-pack coupling Roadholding, Comb/City/Hwy ........................ 11/9/14 mpg
1.06
and an electronically controlled limited-slip rear 300-ft Skidpad
differential Interior Sound Level
Understeer: minimal g
Chassis 100
Braking 85
carbon-fiber-reinforced-plastic center section
70–0 mph ............................................. 160 ft
75
with substructures of carbon-fiber-reinforced 61
plastic and aluminum Fade Rating: none
dBA
Body Material: carbon-fiber-reinforced

plastic Weight
Curb ...................................................... 4544 lb
Suspension Per Horsepower ................................... 3.1 lb
F: ind, unequal-length control arms, coil Distribution, F/R ...................... 43.0/57.0% 0
springs, electronically controlled dampers, Idle Full 70-mph
anti-roll bar Throttle Cruising
R: ind, unequal-length control arms and a
toe-control link, coil springs, electronically
controlled dampers, anti-roll bar
Brakes
F: 16.5-in vented, cross-drilled carbon-ceramic COMPETITORS
disc; 8-piston fixed caliper All that mass weighs on the BASE,
$ x 100,000*
R: 15.7-in vented, cross-drilled carbon-ceramic Chiron’s chassis performance.
CU
RB
disc; 6-piston fixed caliper All that power makes light

8.5
WE
IG LB
Stability Control: fully defeatable, work of the quarter-mile.

HT
,
competition mode, launch control

TIO PH
17.0
2.0
SE N,
RA - M
C
LE 60
Wheel Size ............. F: 10.0 x 20 in R: 13.5 x 21 in Bugatti Chiron

CE 5–
00
Sport
2.4
30
25.5
EPA COMBINED FUEL
Wheel Construction: forged aluminum

AC
1479-hp 8.0-L W-16,

0
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2

0
2.8
36
ECONOMY, MPG
F: 285/30ZR-20 (99Y) BG 7-sp auto

34.0
00
Bugatti Veyron
42
3.2
R: 355/25ZR-21 (107Y) BG
16.4
00
Exterior Dimensions
48
1001-hp 8.0-L W-16, 9.0 9.5 10.0 10.5

Wheelbase ......................................................... 106.7 in 7-sp auto
SEC
ACCELERATION,
1/4-MILE
10 14 18 22
Length .................................................................. 178.9 in McLaren Senna
3.2
Width ...................................................................... 80.2 in 789-hp 4.0-L V-8,

165
1.0
Height ..................................................................... 47.7 in 7-sp auto

2. 8
Front Track ........................................................ 68.9 in Porsche 918

1.0
2.4
ID G,
155
Rear Track .......................................................... 65.4 in Spyder

G SK DIN
-
D, FT OL
1.1
Ground Clearance ............................................ 4.5 in 887-hp 4.6-L V-8 +

0
2.0
PA 00- DH
3 OA
motors, 7-sp auto

145
Interior Dimensions
1.1
5
60 CCE
A EC
-M LE
Passenger Volume ........................................... 54 ft3

S
P H RA
135
Trunk Volume ......................................................... 2 ft3

T IO
*Includes performance-
N,
70–0-MPH
enhancing options. BRAKING, FT
TESTED BY TO N Y QU I RO GA I N CA L I FOR NI A C IT Y, CA 65
A Very
FORD’S NEW EV TRIES TO
CHANNEL THE MUSTANG’S COOL ,
AND IT WORKS. MOSTLY.
~
By Annie White
Photography by Marc Urbano
T he Mustang Mach-E wasn’t always going
to be a Mustang. It started life as an elec-
trified and lifted Focus. Somewhere
along the way, Ford execs realized that
if the company wanted to sell its new EV
in meaningful quantities, it would have
to build something people could get
excited about. So Jim Farley, then Ford’s
president of global markets, ordered the
design team to go back to the drawing
board two years before the car’s slated
unveiling, a schedule not normally conducive to delivering a functioning
product. His instruction: Think Mustang. The resulting vehicle certainly
looks the part of a pony car inflated into a crossover. But for the year
between the Mach-E’s unveiling and our first drive, we’ve been wonder-
ing if it could deliver on the promise of that long hood. Now we know.
The answer is yes. And no. Whether you end up thinking the Mach-E
is worthy of the Mustang name will depend a lot on why you like Ford’s
pony car. If you like Mustangs because they’re attractive and quick, the
Mach-E should pass your personal litmus test. If you are looking for a
roaring engine and an athletic chassis capable of carving up back roads,
you will be disappointed.
The Mach-E is the best-looking vehicle in Ford’s current lineup apart
from the actual Stang, and it’s also more attractive than the majority
of crossovers. The $56,200 extended-range all-wheel-drive model that
we tested made it to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds. That’s quick for something
with 30 cubic feet of storage space in the back (plus another five cubic
feet in the frunk), but that’s still way off the Tesla Model Y’s pace. Ford
says the forthcoming 480-hp GT Performance Edi-
tion should do the deed in a blistering 3.5 seconds,
matching Tesla’s claim for the Y Performance. Base
rear-wheel-drive models with 266 horsepower and
the smaller (and lighter) battery should come in
around 6.0 seconds—still respectable for the genre.
The big-battery all-wheel-drive model has 346
horsepower and 428 pound-feet of torque, and the
instant availability of all that torque gives the Mach-E
that characteristic off-the-line swiftness that we’ve
come to expect from electric vehicles. This heaviest
Mustang ever was perfectly competent at tack-
ling the autocross course that Ford set up for us,
although the ute’s prodigious weight was evident,
particularly in the slalom section. Still, the Mach-E’s
skinny all-season tires aren’t canyon carvers, and
they manage just 0.85 g on the skidpad, which is less
stick than you’ll see from a Ford Edge ST (0.89 g) or
a Tesla Model Y (0.88 g).
So the Mach-E is quick enough to carry the
Mustang name. But we’ve driven a lot of Mustangs,
and we don’t like them just because they’re quick.
The Mustang lineup includes some of our favorite
engines, with intoxicating exhaust notes and more
The Mach-E’s materials and build quality represent a significant
character than any electric motor. They are also improvement in interior execution compared with the cabins of
thrilling to drive. The Shelby models, in particular, other recent Fords, such as the Escape and Explorer.

deliver direct chassis responses and steering
that’s hyper-communicative, and the risk of Dialogue
getting bucked off the pavement due to your
own inattention or lack of skill is quite real. Plus: Elon Musk’s influence is all over the Mach-E.
those exhaust notes. Mustangs aren’t for every- It has the great Tesla traits: Its instant torque
one, which is exactly why the idea of aiming the corrupts instantly, it is quiet on the road,
Mach-E at the masses is so controversial. the structure has premium-brand solidity,
Unlike Ford’s V-8-powered coupes, the Mus- and the steering is sports-car now, now, now. While the
tang Mach-E doesn’t traffic in barely sublimated Mach-E’s blending of regen and friction brakes isn’t great,
danger. It’s quiet inside, and there’s not so much the one-pedal function works brilliantly, and the car’s
as a jostle or bump through the steering col- ride is smooth, if a bit underdamped. It’s not a Mustang,
umn no matter how bad the road is. The ride of course. A better name for a Ford EV with a 300-mile
is smooth, too, the isolation almost complete. range would have been the Galaxie 300. —Tony Quiroga
This is its own kind of triumph in an EV, where
the lack of an engine soundtrack can magnify Notice what isn’t being said about the Mach-E’s
perceptions of wind and road noise. Plenty of 11th-hour Mustang-themed redesign. Ford hasn’t
drivers—especially crossover drivers—are per- claimed that the engineering team made the
fectly happy to be isolated from the road. But same pivot as the designers. The Mach-E experi-
when we think Mustang, hushed serenity isn’t ence feels mostly like the original plan for an electrified Ford
what comes to mind. Focus with one major exception: The Mach-E is uncharac-
Then there are all the other features that teristically neutral at the limit. Around the skidpad, toeing
don’t jibe with our past Mustang experiences into the accelerator caused the big horsey to rotate. And
simply because they’re new. The button- my giggle following a four-wheel drift through an S-bend
actuated doors feel novel and seem less likely to was definitely the stuff of pony cars. —Dave VanderWerp
69
that support the Plug & Charge protocol,
Mach-Es start charging within seconds
of plugging in as long as payment infor-
mation is on file. That simplicity makes
the charging experience as seamless as
Tesla’s, although not as fast.
Charging at a maximum of 150 kilo-
watts on a DC fast charger, a Mustang
Mach-E equipped like our test car can,
according to Ford, add 52 miles of range
in 10 minutes or charge its battery from
10 to 80 percent in 45 minutes. EPA
range figures for models with the stand-
ard 68.0-kWh pack are 230 miles for
rear-drivers and 211 miles for all-wheel-
For those keeping
score, that 15.5- drive Mach-Es. The extended-range ver-
inch touchscreen sion has an 88.0-kWh battery good for
measures half an 300 miles in the rear-drive variant and
inch larger than
the Tesla Model 270 miles in the all-wheel-drive model.
Y’s. Ford also That should cover most drivers’ daily
includes a volume needs, but the Model Y manages 326
knob cleverly
mounted directly miles despite packing a smaller battery.
on the screen. That means the Ford is woefully less
efficient than the Tesla—28 percent less
so, according to the EPA combined fig-
ures. To validate real-world efficiency,
we measured the Mach-E’s parasitic
drag with coastdown tests on the same
malfunction than the perpetually frustrating Plus Reasonably surface where we ran a Model Y. The
pop-out handles employed by other automakers, quick off the results show the Ford requires 31 per-
but when the doors are locked, there’s a mad- line, quiet and cent more power to maintain 75 mph.
dening delay between triggering the button and refined interior, We were unable to run our highway
the door opening. At least the massive 15.5-inch appropriately range test during our short loan, but
vertically oriented infotainment touchscreen is priced. based on the coastdown tests, we expect
intuitive to operate. Minus No V-8, no more than 190 miles.
It’s nice enough inside that prices around far behind The Mach-E is just one of four very
$50,000 feel appropriate. None of the materials Tesla in range important vehicles that Ford is in the
in our Premium test car feel luxurious, exactly, and speed, midst of launching. The F-150 is the
but everything fits together well, and certain design doesn’t brand’s cash cow, and it’s important to
touches—such as the fabric-trimmed sound bar match driving get it right, but it would take a big blun-
running across the dash—feel modern and con- character. der to dissuade the throngs of truck
sidered. Other things seem less thought out, like Equals If they buyers who would never consider own-
having an “L” position on the gearshift despite hadn’t told us ing anything else. The Bronco’s sales
the fact that the Mach-E employs single-ratio to expect a success—at least initially—is almost a
transmissions. Ford says this activates a special Mustang, we’d foregone conclusion. And the Bronco
deceleration mode for descending steep hills. have far less to Sport—another crossover borrowing a
Just remember: “L” is for “sLower on the hills.” complain about. hallowed name—is enjoying a favorable
The Mach-E will be a test bed for Ford’s response thus far, indicating that buyers
connected-vehicle technologies. Your phone is might not reflexively hate a crossover
the car’s key, though there’s a keypad on the offshoot as long as it’s worthy.
B-pillar and a fob just in case. The associated app Based on that success, the Mustang
shows you the Mach-E’s charge status, helps you Mach-E could pique enough interest
plan trips by evaluating your battery level and among the masses to make it worth
available charging stations on your route, and upsetting a few traditionalists. Amer-
allows you to initiate certain vehicle functions, icans have yet to embrace any electric
such as opening the windows or liftgate. The vehicle not named Tesla, but calling this
Mach-E is capable of receiving over-the-air soft- one a Mustang at least has them talking
ware updates and providing real-time data on about it. It doesn’t feel like a Mustang to
the availability of more than 13,500 third-party us, but the Mach-E is one of the best EVs
stations in Ford’s charging network. At stations on sale right now.

2021 FORD MUSTANG MACH-E 4
Rear Track: Width: 74.1 in Front Track: Rear Track: Width: 75.4 in Front Track:
63.4 in 63.5 in 65.1 in 62.4 in
64.0 in
54.3 in
117.5 in 107.1 in
185.6 in 5.8 in 188.5 in 5.7 in
Price
As Tested ......................... $56,200
Base .................................................................. $46,695
DIMENSIONS COMPARED The Mustang Mach-E and Mustang Mach 1 cast
similarly sized shadows on the ground, with the biggest differences being the cross-
over’s height and longer wheelbase—the better to accommodate five passengers.
Vehicle Type: front- and mid-motor,
all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door wagon
Options: extended-range battery, $5000;
Premium package, $4105; Rapid Red metallic Steering
paint, $400 TEST RESULTS
rack-and-pinion with variable electric power
Audio System: satellite radio, USB and assist
Bluetooth-audio inputs, Android Auto and Ratio ....................................................................... 14.6:1 Acceleration
Apple CarPlay interfaces, 10 speakers Turns Lock-to-Lock ............................................ 2.6 18.3
Turning Circle Curb-to-Curb ................... 38.1 ft 13.8
Motors 101
Suspension 1/4-MILE
2 permanent-magnet synchronous AC 100
Combined Power ............................................. 346 hp F: ind, struts located by a control arm, coil 13.5
Combined Torque ....................................... 428 lb-ft springs, anti-roll bar
R: ind; 2 diagonal links, 2 lateral links, and a
Battery Pack toe-control link per side; coil springs;
lithium-ion, liquid-cooled anti-roll bar
MPH
Cell Count/Construction ........ 376/pouch-type 5.1
Usable Capacity ........................................ 88.0 kWh Brakes
60
Cell Manufacturer: LG Chem F: 14.3 x 1.1-in vented disc, 4-piston fixed
caliper
Drivetrain R: 12.4 x 0.4-in disc, 1-piston sliding caliper
Transmissions: 2 direct-drives Stability Control: traction off
Final-Drive Ratio, F/R ....................... 10.0:1/9.05:1 Wheel Size .................................................. 7.0 x 19 in 2.1
All-Wheel-Drive System: full time Wheel Construction: cast aluminum 30
0 20
Tires: Michelin Primacy A/S, 225/55R-19 103H
Chassis Results in graph omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec.
unit construction with a rubber-isolated rear Interior Dimensions Rolling Start, 5–60 mph ................. 5.2 sec
subframe Passenger Volume, F/R .......................... 56/48 ft3 Top Gear, 30–50 mph ..................... 2.0 sec
Body Material: steel and aluminum Front Trunk Volume ........................................... 5 ft3 Top Gear, 50–70 mph ..................... 2.8 sec
stampings, sheet-molded composite Cargo Volume behind F/R ..................... 60/30 ft3 Top Speed (gov ltd) ....................... 114 mph
Handling
Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad ......... 0.85 g
COMPETITORS Understeer: minimal
Would it surprise you to know BASE, Braking
$ x 1000*
that Tesla is still the auto- 70–0 mph ................................................ 165 ft
EP
maker to beat when it comes

A
40
Fade Rating: none

RA
NG MI
to building an EV?
E,
Weight
TIO ILE
51
12
SE N,
RA -M
.5
C
LE 1/4
Audi e-tron Curb ...................................................... 4856 lb

0
35
13
Per Horsepower ................................ 14.0 lb

.5
Sportback
CE
62
AC
Distribution, F/R ....................... 48.7/51.3%

0
402 hp, 2 AC motors,

30
14
.5
direct-drive Towing Capacity ..................................... 0 lb

VOLUME, FT3
PASSENGER
73
0
25
15
Ford Mustang
.5
Mach-E 4 C/D Fuel Economy

0
20
4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 Observed ......................................... 60 MPGe

346 hp, 2 AC motors,
ACCELERATION, SEC
60-MPH
direct-drive
I LLU ST RAT IO N S BY P E T E S U CH ES K I
92 98 104 110 EPA Fuel Economy

Kia Niro EV
4
18
Comb/City/Hwy ................ 90/96/84 MPGe

5900
201 hp, AC motor,

68
Range ..................................................... 270 mi

176
direct-drive
Tesla Model Y
66
L, E
8
5100
Interior Sound Level

VE IS
16
L E RU
Long Range
A D C
64
Idle ......................................................... 38 dBA

dB OUN MPH
0
384 hp, 2 AC motors

16
4300
Full Throttle ....................................... 69 dBA

S 0-
direct-drive
7
62
70-mph Cruising .............................. 67 dBA

70 RAK
B
–0 IN
3500
*Includes performance-
-M G,
PH FT
enhancing options.
CURB WEIGHT, LB
TESTED BY DAV E VA ND E R WE RP IN C HE L SEA , MI 71

THE WORLD’S
STRONGEST
TRUCK *
* AMONG STOCK CHEVY, FORD,
AND RAM THREE-QUARTER-TON
PICKUPS, AS DETERMINED BY
ONE FOUR-WHEELED STRONGMAN
COMPETITION WITH LIMITED
REAL-WORLD RELEVANCE BUT
HUGE BRAGGING RIGHTS,
WHICH ARE ALL THAT REALLY
MATTER ANYWAY.
BY DAVID BEARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDI HEDRICK
J
eff Storey says the Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD, the Ford
F-250, and the Ram 2500 are the wimpiest tow rigs his
16-ton drag sled has ever seen. In the hairy-chested
world of heavy-duty pickup trucks, those are fightin’
words. We came here—to the fairground in rural Blanchard, Michi-
gan—to meet Storey and his tractor-pull sled in order to prove which
American brand makes the most macho three-quarter-ton truck, but
he just raised the stakes. Each truck is now vying to prove it’s not the
weakest tow rig ever to be hitched to the beast known as the Pioneer.
We’re used to measuring a vehicle’s fitness with quarter-mile
times, but heavy-duty trucks are built for powerlifting, not sprint-
ing. So for this round of the never-ending pickup battle, we decided
to stage a tractor pull. Storey normally runs his sled behind tractors
making as much as 10,000 horsepower. To slow those monsters
down, he can load the Pioneer’s weight-transfer box with up to a
dozen 1800-pound lead bricks. We used just one lead slug for our
test, and yet, when we hooked Storey’s rig to the trucks, the weight
behind the hitch was more than twice what the Ford and Ram are
rated for and close to double the Chevy’s rating. On the streets, this
would be reckless. But on our closed course, the dirt surface acts as
a fuse. The tires will break traction before the driveline is damaged.
73
Then we hitched them to Storey’s sled and stood on the
accelerator pedals. We’re going to settle this Calvin and
Hobbes pissing match once and for all—or at least until
the next generation of heavy-duty pickups arrives.
A tractor pull is a simple test, but there’s more to
it than meets the eye. The rate at which the weight-
transfer box moves is dictated by a five-speed gearbox
that’s driven off the drag’s wheels. As each truck pulls
the sled, the heavy box slides forward, shifting the
weight from the sled’s wheels to its belly pan, which
digs into the dirt. If that’s not enough to stop a tractor
in its tracks, a set of hydraulic arms can lift the sled’s
wheels off the ground, dumping the entire weight of the
machine onto the pan. The farther you go, the deeper it
digs. That’s the complex part. Here’s the simple bit: The
longest pull wins. The drag sled doubles as a really long
ruler, measuring the distance of each run.
The strategy of tractor pulling is straightforward:
Shift into 4Lo, wait for the all-clear, then shove the right
pedal through the firewall and, as Storey says, “Drive it
to the kitchen!” That metaphorical cookhouse is 300 feet
away. Make it that far and you’ve found the tractor-pull
end zone, achieving what’s known as a full pull. Before we
started, Storey dialed in how quickly the weight-trans-
fer box would move and determined when the Pioneer’s
hydraulic arms would engage to keep the full pull within
reach. We made three runs with each truck and used the
best pulls to determine the finishing order.
On paper, the Ford has what it takes to be a champion-
grade puller. It’s the most powerful truck here, with the
sharpest claws to tear into the soil and a lockable rear
differential and limited-slip front diff. This $82,245
brodozer is lifted from the factory and rolls on meaty
35-inch Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac tires thanks to the
$3975 Tremor package. The Power Stroke turbocharged
6.7-liter V-8 makes 475 horsepower and 1050 pound-feet
of torque, and a 10-speed automatic handles the shifting
duties. Setting expectations high, this F-250 is among
the quickest heavy-duty trucks we’ve tested, with a
6.1-second sprint to 60 mph and a quarter-mile run of
14.6 seconds at 94 mph—1 mph shy of its top speed.
A tractor pull is But those blistering acceleration times occur with
kind of like a dyno the transfer case in 4Hi and using a big brake torque to
run in the dirt. In pile on the boost from the start. Moving the drag sled
addition to
Commercials for these trucks torque, gearing requires 4Lo, and Ford doesn’t allow brake torquing
often look like they were directed and traction in 4Lo, presumably to save the 8120-pound behemoth
by Hulk Hogan on a creatine bender. affect whether or from turning its axle shafts into rotini pasta. Without
not a truck makes
The truck does a lap around a steel the full pull. that preload, the F-250 is already 1.7 mph off the Silver-
forge with a freaking yacht in tow ado’s pace at the 50-foot mark. It never catches up. The
before a stack of girders is dropped Ford runs out of steam about three and a half feet short
in the bed, all while outrageous payload, towing, and of the coveted full pull having yanked hard enough to
torque figures flash on the screen. Until recently, Ford was bend the pin in the trailer hitch. There’s no doubt in our
the reigning braggart, with its Power Stroke diesel making minds that with a little more oomph at the start, the
1050 pound-feet of torque. But then Ram topped it with a F-250 would have made it to the finish line.
2021 powertrain update that boosted its Cummins diesel to Ram may be the current torque king among heavy-
1075 pound-feet. Hey, Bugatti, are you seeing this? duty trucks, but the high-output Cummins (420 horse-
To find the best heavy-duty tugger, we procured three- power, 1075 pound-feet of torque) is available only in
quarter-ton trucks equipped with diesel engines and the the 3500. We also had to pass on the dirt-hungry 2500
most aggressive off-road rubber available from the factory. Power Wagon because it comes exclusively with the gas

6.4-liter V-8. To get our hands on the standard-output that had us reaching for a nonexistent air horn. With four
diesel, we had to make do with a $79,850 Ram 2500 fewer gears than the Chevy and the Ford, the Ram spends
Laramie that was dressed for a hoedown rather than a less time shifting and more time in the boost. It is quicker
tractor pull. With a luxurious interior blanketed in rich than the competition to the 200-foot marker by nearly two
leather, the Night Edition’s painted bumpers, and black seconds. But as the belly pan weights up and digs into the
20-inch wheels wrapped in Firestone Transforce AT earth, the lightest-in-test Ram loses momentum quickly. Its
tires, this isn’t your average work truck. run ends 15 feet shy of the Ford’s, at 281.4 feet.
Even though it’s the least powerful engine here, Our third contestant, a $76,885 Silverado 2500HD High
there’s a lot to love about the Ram’s 370-hp turbocharged Country, came armed with the Z71 off-road kit, which
6.7-liter inline-six. The old adage “Six in a row, ready to includes Goodyear Wrangler TrailRunner AT tires. Chevy
tow” still rings true. When deadlifting 14 Mazda Miatas’ makes more aggressive off-road trucks than this, but they
worth of weight, the Ram flexes its muscle. The peak are half-ton (1500 LT Trail Boss) or smaller (Colorado ZR2
torque of 850 pound-feet occurs just off idle, at 1700 Bison) and aren’t suited for this task. Chevrolet’s Duramax
rpm, and the Cummins pulls with a semi-truck clatter diesel, a turbocharged 6.6-liter V-8, produces 445 horses
and 910 pound-feet of torque and
supports the highest tow rating in
the test. Chevy brands its 10-speed
as an Allison, but the world’s largest
manufacturer of automatic trans-
2020 2020 2020 missions for heavy-duty commercial
Chevrolet Ford Ram 2500
Silverado F-250 Cummins equipment merely tested and vali-
2500HD Tremor 4x4 dated the gearbox. It didn’t design or
Z71 Dura- Power build it. There are more similarities
max 4x4 Stroke 4x4
between this trans and the Ford’s
Powertrain 445-hp, 910-lb-ft 475-hp, 1050-lb-ft 370-hp, 850-lb-ft than Chevy marketing would like
turbo 6.6-liter turbo 6.7-liter turbo 6.7-liter
diesel V-8; diesel V-8; diesel inline-6; you to know.
10-speed automatic 10-speed automatic 6-speed automatic But whether it’s a matter of hard-
Base/As Tested $53,885/$76,885 $62,830/$82,245 $51,345/$79,850 ware difference or blind faith, Chevy
TEST RESULTS engineers must believe in their
60 mph 6.5 sec 6.1 sec 7.6 sec driveline more than Ford’s number
1/4-Mile 15.0 sec @ 92 mph 14.6 sec @ 94 mph 15.9 sec @ 87 mph crunchers trust their rotating bits,
Results above omit Results above omit Results above omit
1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec. 1-ft rollout of 0.4 sec. 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec. as there’s a big difference in how
Top Speed 98 mph (gov ltd) 95 mph (gov ltd) 102 mph (gov ltd) the Silverado converts its potential
Curb Weight 8210 lb 8120 lb 8060 lb energy into kinetic energy. Where
Braking, 70–0 mph 203 ft 229 ft 194 ft
Roadholding, the F-250 limits torque in 4Lo, the
300-ft Skidpad 0.74 g 0.70 g 0.72 g Silverado is champing at the bit to be
Max Payload 3043 lb 3320 lb 2190 lb unleashed. The Duramax is making
Max Towing,
Bumper/Gooseneck 18,500/18,500 lb 15,000/18,100 lb 15,980/17,170 lb enough torque when we release the
brake that all four tires threaten to
spin. The tractor-pull regulars who
GOING THE DISTANCE
have gathered to watch our little
20.9 mph
20
19.3 mph contest are so impressed by the Sil-
17.6 mph verado’s dig from a standstill that the
crowd spits out a string of expletives.
SPEED, MPH
The Chevy’s shifts are more

assertive than the Ford’s, and the
rev-happy diesel never comes off boil
as it makes forward progress. The
Silverado reaches 150 feet 1.7 sec-
DISTANCE, FT onds quicker than the Ford, hustling
0 1.6 mph faster at that mark. While
that might not seem like much,
303.7 ft when your top speed is 20.9 mph,
296.4 ft it’s enough to get the job done. The
TIME, SEC
heaviest-in-test Chevy makes a tri-

281.4 ft umphant run, grinding to a stop 3.7
feet past a full pull. As we always say,
CHEVROLET it’s not the size of the torque output
15 FORD 15.9 sec 15.3 sec that matters; it’s how you use it.
RAM 17.1 sec
75
THE RUNDOWN
An expert look at the newest and most important vehicles this month.
Robot car salesman: (Slaps Honda e, page 78.)

This bad boy fits . . . er, looks like me.
2 02 1 H Y U N DA I S O N ATA N L I N E ~ BY S C O T T O L D H A M Tugs in the steering wheel under full

throttle are easily controlled and
don’t amount to much more than
Gaining Speed a reminder that 311 pound-feet are
running through the front tires.
Highs: Big power with minimal turbo lag, balanced ride and That torque is apparent on a tight
handling. Lows: Struggles to put the power down, priced at the mountain road. Despite wearing
top of the segment. meaty Continental PremiumContact
6 summer rubber sized 245/40R-19
(Pirelli P Zero All Seasons are stand-
ard), the Hyundai easily overwhelms
Hyundai says its N performance division is named for its Namyang its front-end grip. On the skidpad, it grabs the pavement
proving ground in South Korea and Germany’s Nürburg- with 0.93 g of tenacity, but our tester noted that even
ring, but the team involved would probably say it stands for a toe’s worth of throttle will send the front tires wide.
“nonstop.” Since the Veloster N arrived in 2018, Hyundai Engineers retuned the Sonata’s chassis, giving the
engineers have developed six more products, including two N Line significantly stiffer powertrain mounts, firmer
performance versions of the new Elantra, three SUVs that dampers, and thicker anti-roll bars than the regular
are coming soon, and the brand’s most powerful front-drive car. The ride quality is sporty but comfortable, and the
sedan ever, the Sonata N Line. N Line is capable of real pace in the hills, but it’s happiest
That last one is the performance version of the compa- in fast open sections of road, where it can stretch its legs.
ny’s mid-size sedan, and it’s positioned to appeal to family- Upgraded brakes—13.6-inchers up front and 12.8-
minded enthusiasts shopping the Honda Accord 2.0T, Mazda inch rotors in back—are also part of the deal and stop
6, and Toyota Camry TRD. Behind its big blacked-out grille the Sonata from 70 mph in a short 152 feet. The pedal
is a new turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four shared with the is reassuringly firm, and the brakes are strong right up
Sonata’s platform-mate, the Kia K5 GT, as well as the Genesis to the point when they begin to overheat. The N Line
G80 and GV80. In the N Line, it pumps out 290 horsepower weighs 3541 pounds and pulls big numbers on the
at 5800 rpm and a burly 311 pound-feet of torque at just 1650 straights—it’ll do the quarter-mile in 13.6 seconds at
rpm. Hyundai also fits this Sonata with a new eight-speed 105 mph—so the brakes get a workout trying to erase
dual-clutch automatic transmis-
sion that’s properly responsive
and shifts quickly with grace.
Theoretically, launch control
optimizes acceleration, but this
car’s programming returned
inconsistent results and a drop
in turbo boost. While our abso-
lute quickest run was computer
aided, it was the skill of our
driver that resulted in the two-
way 60-mph average of 5.0 sec-
onds. Even without the help of
an aggressive launch, though,
the Sonata posts an impressive
5-to-60-mph time of 5.2 sec-
onds, illustrating the engine’s
quick response and lack of lag.
76
the numbers
Vehicle Type: front-engine, front-wheel-
drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
Base/As Tested ....... $34,195/$34,564
Engine: turbocharged and intercooled
DOHC 16-valve inline-4, aluminum block
and head, port and direct fuel injection
Displacement ................ 152 in3, 2497 cm3
Power ........................... 290 hp @ 5800 rpm
Torque ......................... 311 lb-ft @ 1650 rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch
automatic
Dimensions
• Wheelbase ....................................... 111.8 in
• L/W/H .......................... 192.9/73.2/56.9 in
• Curb Weight .................................... 3541 lb
2 02 1 H Y U N DA I E L A N T R A ~ BY S C O T T O L D H A M
test RESULTS
60 mph ................................................ 5.0 sec
100 mph .............................................. 12.1 sec
1/4-Mile ....................... 13.6 sec @ 105 mph
130 mph ............................................ 22.2 sec
SHARPEN UP
Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.4 sec. Davis Lee, Hyundai’s North American senior designer, runs his hand along the
Rolling Start, 5–60 mph ............. 5.2 sec three prominent creases that intersect on the 2021 Elantra’s front doors. “It can
Braking, 70–0 mph ............................ 152 ft look out of place at first,” he says, “but we wanted the car to stand out.” The
Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad ..... 0.93 g
C/D Fuel Economy styling may turn off some buyers, but Hyundai had to do something to make an
• Observed ........................................ 23 mpg impression, as the Elantra’s roughly 10 percent share of the compact-sedan mar-
EPA Fuel Economy ket is far smaller than the Honda Civic’s and Toyota Corolla’s pieces of the action.
• Comb/City/Hwy .............. 27/23/33 mpg
So Hyundai went big, both visually and literally.
At 184.1 inches from nose to tail, the Elantra gains 2.2 inches in length, and its
wheelbase is stretched by 0.8 inch, giving this compact one of the longest wheel-
triple-digit speeds. If you’re really on it, bases in its class, at 107.1 inches, plus a substantial amount of rear legroom. A low
you can cook them in just a few miles. dash and thin A-pillars open the view out. Comfortable, spacious, and attractive,
Unlike the Camry TRD, which the new cabin features a standard 8.0-inch touchscreen with wireless Android
merely looks fast and furious, the Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity.
N Line follows a more adult path while We sampled a top-of-the-line Limited model with 17-inch wheels wrapped in
still following the sports-sedan dress all-season tires. Thus equipped, the Elantra impresses with ample front-end bite,
code. Compared with the regular and its torsion-beam rear end isn’t easily upset by bumps. Body control in corners
Sonata, the performance variant has is excellent, and there’s surprisingly good feel from the steering. The ride is pleas-
a few small N Line badges scattered antly firm, and the car is relaxed
about, a new front fascia with three around town yet still direct enough to
large air intakes, and larger wheels. Its be engaging.
the numbers
tail wears four exhaust pipes, a black Hyundai has a 201-hp Elantra
Vehicle Type: front-engine,
lower bumper, and, of course, a diffuser. N Line and a hybrid good for up to front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger,
Inside, the N Line bits are limited to 54 mpg combined, but we’re focusing 4-door sedan
a set of bolstered front seats wrapped solely on the base powertrain here: a Base ............................ $20,645
Engine: DOHC 16-valve Atkinson-
in leather and pseudosuede. Standard 147-hp 2.0-liter inline-four paired to a cycle inline-4, aluminum block
features include a digital gauge cluster, CVT. Though the combo is sluggish off and head, port fuel injection
a 10.3-inch infotainment touchscreen, a the line, the engine is responsive and Displacement ... 122 in3, 1999 cm3
Power .............. 147 hp @ 6200 rpm
strong Bose audio system, a panoramic livens up beyond 4000 rpm. According Torque ......... 132 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm
sunroof, and the ability to use your to the EPA, SEL and Limited models will Transmission: continuously
smartphone as a key. average 31 mpg in the city and 41 on variable automatic
Dimensions
At $34,195, it’s one of the pricier cars the highway. Base SE versions enjoy a • Wheelbase ......................... 107.1 in
in its segment, but the powertrain’s 2-mpg bump in both environs. • L/W/H .............. 184.1/71.9/55.7 in
performance is class leading and the We’d opt for the $21,895 SEL, which • Curb Weight .................... 2800 lb
Performance (C/D est)
handling is entertaining—for a front- nets 16-inch wheels, push-button • 60 mph .............................. 8.3 sec
driver. Which brings us to the N Line’s start, and a proximity key. Blending an • 1/4-Mile ............................ 16.4 sec
biggest problem: A similar outlay of cash eye-catching wrapper with an impres- • 100 mph .......................... 22.8 sec
• Top Speed ....................... 120 mph
buys a rear-drive 255-hp Kia Stinger or sive feature count, satisfying driving EPA Fuel Economy
292-hp Dodge Charger, both of which dynamics, and strong value is a formula • Comb/City/Hwy ... 35–37/31–33/
offer a level of sophistication the Hyun- for small-car success, and the Elantra 41–43 mpg
dai can’t match, but the N Line is a clear brews those elements skillfully.
winner in the stoplight drags.
CAR AND DRIVER ~ FEBRUA RY/MARCH 2021 ~ SONATA PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDI HEDRICK 77
2 02 0 H O N DA e ~ BY M I K E D U F F
FACE TIME
Look at the Honda e’s front end and tell us you
don’t see a face. Those circular headlights and
the panel that connects them evoke Holly-
wood’s cute robots, like WALL-E, 7723, and
Baymax. Behind those bright eyes is a rear-
drive four-seater packing a lithium-ion battery
that provides just 100 miles or so of range.
Honda has prioritized fun, giving the e sum-
mer tires instead of the low-grip rubber usually
2 02 1 T OYO TA YA R I S G R ~ BY M I K E D U F F fitted to junior EVs. The car’s steering is crisp,
and grip levels are high. There’s noticeable
body roll under hard cornering, but the ride is
Hot Pocket pliant, and the e feels agile.
Two motor outputs are offered. The base
Toyota builds a rally-inspired hot hatch and then model makes 134 horsepower, and the e
doesn’t share it with the U.S. Advance has 152 horses on tap. The latter pro-
vides instant and satisfying acceleration below
60 mph. The e will cruise at 75 mph or even
faster, but that’ll cause the range to plummet.
The noble, dirty sport of rallying has been responsible for many roadgoing Once the low-charge light comes on, it’ll take
performance heroes. Cars like the Audi Sport Quattro, Lancia Delta Inte- you about four hours to charge the e using a
grale, and Subaru Impreza WRX all had race-car alter egos. Toyota’s 240-volt connection.
Yaris GR was supposed to have one as well—the brand’s entrant into The cabin’s design is best described as
the 2021 World Rally Championship—but COVID-19 shuttered those retrofuturistic, with the instrument panel
plans, and the team will continue to use the older Yaris WRC for another featuring a full-width wood shelf beneath a row
season. So while the Yaris GR doesn’t have a WRC analogue, the folks of five digital displays. Rear-seat space is tight
at Gazoo Racing, Toyota’s in-house motorsport arm and creator of the for adults but usable.
latest Supra, have made it feel like a rally car. Honda has no plans to bring its cute new EV
Sadly, there are no plans to bring this tiny all-wheel-drive hot hatch stateside, and we can understand why. In the
stateside. And apart from its name, the two-door GR has little in com- U.K., the Advance model costs about $36,700
mon with the Europe-market Yaris or the Mazda 2–based car Toyota at current exchange rates (without tax), and in
used to sell here. The multilink rear end has a radically widened track, the U.S., the Chevy Bolt—which costs about the
and there’s an underfloor tunnel to package the rear axle’s driveshaft. same as the e but boasts more than twice its
The turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-three is closely related to the one range—isn’t exactly flying off lots. At least this
used in the WRC 2 support series and makes 257 horses. It has old-school EV proves that Honda hasn’t forgotten how to
turbocharged character, which means it’s hesitant and laggy at low revs. combine pioneering technology with fun.
It actually sounds great and pulls keenly to a 7000-rpm redline.
As for the all-wheel-drive system, a hypoid gear diverts torque rear-
ward to an electronically controlled clutch pack attached to the rear diff. the numbers Powertrain: 134- or
152-hp AC motor, direct-drive
It’s similar in principle to other clutch-pack systems, but the GR is all- Base (U.K.): $33,900–$36,700
wheel drive all the time. Normal mode sets a front-biased 60/40 torque Performance (C/D est), 60 mph: 7.6–8.2
sec • 1/4-Mile: 16.1–16.7 sec • Top Speed:
split, whereas Sport goes 30/70, leading to back-end playfulness without 90 mph • EPA Fuel Economy (C/D est),
any unruliness. The Yaris’s Track setting divides torque evenly between Comb/City/Hwy: 111/118/113 MPGe
the axles and actually feels best suited to use on slippery asphalt, com-
bining huge grip with the ability
to balance between understeer
the numbers and oversteer.
Powertrain: 257-hp turbo- It’s good to know that Toyota
charged 1.6-liter inline-3, still wants to build fun cars like
6-speed manual • Base (U.K.):
$33,350 • Performance (C/D this, and it’s possible that the all-
est), 60 mph: 5.3 sec • 1/4- wheel-drive system will find its
Mile: 13.9 sec • Top Speed: way into a GR-tuned Corolla or
143 mph • EPA Fuel Economy
(C/D est), Comb/City/Hwy: C-HR for our market. Let’s hope
30/27/34 mpg that whatever it is has this Yaris’s
competitive spirit.
78 THE RUNDOWN FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

OCW SAVE 81% SUPER COUPON
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every effort to assure that our prices and products are advertised as accurately as possible, we are only human and in the event an error is made, we reserve the right to correct it.
2021 DODGE CHARGER SRT HELLCAT REDEYE WIDEBODY ~ BY MAXWELL B. MORTIMER Patience and a delicate right foot are
required to avoid turning the Redeye’s
Seeing Red Pirellis into fusilli. This is the quickest

rear-wheel-drive Hellcat variant we’ve
ever tested (though it is worth noting
Highs: Intoxicating power, the comfort of a sedan with the powertrain
that Dodge never lent us the keys to a
of a supercar, stout brakes. Lows: Uncomfortably close to six figures,
Demon). It hammers to 60 mph in 3.5
awkward seating position, can Dodge survive on Hellcats alone?
seconds, one-tenth quicker than the
best we’ve seen from a two-door Chal-
lenger Hellcat Redeye and only one-
tenth behind the 760-hp Ford Mustang
Once you’ve experienced 700 horse- Shelby GT500. Reaching triple digits
power, anything less feels utterly the numbers takes just 7.5 seconds; that’s an aston-
ordinary. A 500-hp V-8? Cute. Seven Vehicle Type: front-engine, rear- ishing feat, considering this sedan
hundred horsepower corrupts you, wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door weighs 4654 pounds. Keep the accel-
sedan
and as the rush wears off, you start erator pinned and the Redeye hits the
Base ................................... $82,190
to wonder how you can get your As Tested ........................... $90,060 quarter-mile in 11.5 seconds at 126 mph.
hands on even more. If 700 feels this Engine: supercharged and Braking from 70 mph, the Charger posts
intoxicating, 800 horsepower must intercooled pushrod 16-valve V-8, iron a near sports-car-like stop of 155 feet.
block and aluminum heads, port fuel
be that much better. injection This is still very much a straight-line
That’s what it’s like to drive a Displacement ........... 376 in3, 6166 cm3 car. The suspension’s Street setting is
Hellcat-powered vehicle, but it also Power ...................... 797 hp @ 6300 rpm relaxed enough for commuting, but
Torque ................. 707 lb-ft @ 4500 rpm
might explain why product devel- Transmission: 8-speed automatic switching to more aggressive modes
opment at Dodge has been reduced Dimensions makes the ride bouncy and harsh. The
to fitting increasingly wild variants • Wheelbase ................................ 120.0 in 305-section-width summer tires provide
• L/W/H ..................... 201.0/78.3/57.6 in
of the supercharged V-8 into the • Curb Weight ............................. 4654 lb an unremarkable 0.93 g of grip on the
brand’s three remaining models. skidpad. The BarcaLounger-like seats
The regular Charger Hellcat makes test RESULTS are comfortable over long distances but
717 horsepower now, and the Red- 60 mph ........................................... 3.5 sec perhaps mounted too high.
eye raises the ante on insanity with 100 mph .......................................... 7.5 sec There’s a lot of joy to be had in a car
1/4-Mile ................... 11.5 sec @ 126 mph
another 80 ponies. To make the 130 mph ........................................ 12.4 sec that turns every stoplight into a drag-
extra power, the 6.2-liter V-8 wears 150 mph ........................................ 17.2 sec strip Christmas tree. Driving to work is
a 2.7-liter screw-type supercharger 170 mph ....................................... 26.7 sec exciting and fun—even silly. But while
Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec.
and produces 14.5 psi of boost. Top Speed (mfr’s claim) ....... 203 mph this 797-hp entertainer doesn’t take itself
Regular Hellcats get by with a 2.4- Braking, 70–0 mph ....................... 155 ft too seriously and will make you laugh
liter blower and 11.6 psi of boost. Braking, 100–0 mph ................... 309 ft with its absurd excesses, its price is no
Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad ... 0.93 g
To properly feed the beast, Dodge C/D Fuel Economy joke. Our test car cost $90,060. Base ver-
gave the Redeye a second fuel pump, • Observed .................................... 13 mpg sions run $82,190, or $8600 more than
which we put to good use by averag- EPA Fuel Economy the 717-hp Charger. We’d guess that most
• Comb/City/Hwy ........... 15/12/21 mpg
ing 13 mpg. shoppers will go for the extra power.
80 THE RUNDOWN PH OTO GRA PH Y BY M ARC U R BAN O ~ FE B RUARY/ MA RC H 2021 ~ CAR AN D DRIVER
CUSTOMER SERVICE Call 800-289-9464, email cdbCustServ@CDSFulfillment.com, visit service.caranddriver.com, or write to Customer Service Dept., Car and Driver, P.O. Box 37870,
Boone, IA 50037 for inquiries/requests, changes of mailing or email addresses, subscription orders, payments, etc.
CAR AND DRIVER® (ISSN 0008-6002), VOL. 66, NO. 8, February/March 2021, is published monthly, 10 times per year, with combined issues in February/March and July/August, by Hearst, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A. Steven
R. Swartz, President & Chief Executive Officer; William R. Hearst III, Chairman; Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Executive Vice Chairman; Debi Chirichella, President, Hearst Magazines Group. Hearst Autos, Inc.: Matt Sanchez, Chief Executive Officer;
Nick Matarazzo, President & Chief Revenue Officer; Debi Chirichella, Treasurer; Catherine A. Bostron, Secretary. © 2021 by Hearst Autos, Inc. All rights reserved. Trademarks: Car and Driver is a registered trademark of Hearst Autos, Inc.
Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Canada Post International Publications mail product (Canadian distribution) sales agreement no. 40012499. Editorial and Advertising Offices: 1585 Eisenhower Place,
Ann Arbor, MI 48108. SUBSCRIPTION PRICES United States and possessions: $13.00 for one year; Canada, add $10.00; all other countries, add $24.00. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES Car and Driver will, upon receipt of a complete subscription
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Boone, IA 50037. You can also visit preferences.hearstmags.com to manage your preferences and opt out of receiving marketing offers by email. Car and Driver assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. None will be returned unless
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CAR There was that time a vehicle got stuck
in the mud of a post-flood-stage Utah
riverbed. Another sat marooned in
a stream after sucking water into its
1982 engine. Once, there was even a propane
CHEVROLET
truck that slid off the road and was
hanging over a creek. In each instance
K30 of off-road calamity, a call went out to
AND
Rory Irish, of Moab Motorsports, who
arrived in Trail Mater to help.
Trail Mater began life as a 1982
Chevy pickup that Irish built into a
DRIVER
rock crawler for a friend before buying it back and modifying it into an off-road
wrecker. “Most places, they’ll take an on-road wrecker and modify it for off-road,”
Irish says. “But those are so heavy that when you get back into the trails, you’re
struggling just trying to pull yourself around, let alone pull out another vehicle.”
RORY His wrecker features a fuel-injected big-block V-8, a rear end from a Dodge dually,
and six winches. Irish also carries a welder, an air compressor, fluids, spare pumps,
IRISH bolts, and steel plates for remote repairs because, as he says, “It’s always easier to
drive a vehicle out than it is to carry one out.”
Irish prides himself on having never turned down a call and completing every
job without causing further damage. He has a few basic tricks. Letting air out
of tires helps a vehicle “float” over a soft surface. A pole can break the suction
between a car and the mud or sand in which it’s mired. He also hooks the tow
strap low around his axle so it doesn’t damage a stranded vehicle’s plastic bumper.
Irish’s services are specialized, so his fees vary. “I charge $150 an hour if I’ve got
to go out and fix them or pull them out,” he says. “But if I have to carry them out,
it’s $200 an hour, and I’m the cheapest in town.” A difficult tow can run nearly
$2000, but Irish is always willing to bargain. “I’ve been there, and I’ve dealt with
these issues personally,” he says. “I’m not going to prey on that.” —Brett Berk
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BLAKE GORDON ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER
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VOL. 66, NO.

CA R AND D RI VE R ~ COV E R P HOTOG RAP H BY JE NN Y RI SHE R 3

rebutted sporadically by Ed. Lobster out of water.

An apt analogy would be com-

my untrained lap was a 4:02.9. The

6 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

Outback. Well-equipped at $26,795.†

Based largely on your online review of the Porsche

8 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

When you need auto accessories that are up to snuff, only

Made in USA Auto. Home. Pet. Find Your Fit.

Day trips, cars & coffees, test drives, rallies, retreats,

+MORE WAYS TO LIVE THE DRIVE

Become a member of The Track Club for all-access

CAR AND DRIVER ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ ILLUSTRATIONS BY BRETT AFFRUNTI 13

14 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

+ Wind through Wine Country

+ Pair ﬁne California blends with

+ Downshift and explore NorCal

Please note: Dates and itinerary are subject to change.

APPLY AND LEARN MORE AT EXPERIENCES.ROADANDTRACK.COM. LIVE THE DRIVE.

16 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

When your vehicle is outﬁtted with WeatherTech,

When Does an $8000

Car Cost $21,000?

Total $10,041 $20,919

18 ILLUSTRATION BY ANDY POTTS ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

1. Roll It 2. Work It 3. Stow It

Evolution of EVs are quieter

1/4-MILE 14.6 sec EVs better balance their pounds, which

2.5 sec 109 mph

20 INFOGRAPHIC BY NICOLAS RAPP ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

Because proven quality sleep is life-changing sleep.

NEW Temperature balancing

REQUEST SPECIAL OFFERS | 1-877-790-5439 | sleepnumber.com/car

These Bissell Shark Bissell Pet

22 PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNY RISHER ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

nozzle retracts large debris difficult. See above, With strong

Clock Doesn’t Lie

times didn’t. “That’s pad knock-back,” he

24 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

Stauer ® 14101 Southcross Drive W., Ste 155, Dept. HUK-01

Lobster out of Water

rounded by massaging interiors that smelled

26 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

28 PHOTOGRAPH BY JENNY RISHER ~ FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

0:00.0 Lap Time

LL2 3:03.2 DB LL2 3:06.2 DB

2020 BMW M340i 2020 Cadillac CT4-V

LL2 3:03.8 DV LL2 3:03.4 DV

2021 Mini John Cooper Works GP 2019 Subaru STI S209

LL3 2:49.0 KC LL3 2:44.6 DB

THE CLASS BOUNDARIES Start/Finish

LL1 LL2 LL3 LL4 LL5 NASCAR Horse

THE TRACK Roller

Virginia International Raceway • Grand Course • 4.1 Miles

David Beard K.C. Colwell Eric Tingwall Dave VanderWerp

LL2 3:04.1 DB LL2 3:04.4 ET

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