The annual SEMA Show is the one time of year when you can see outrageous builds, auto industry celebs, the newest parts and accessories, and more all under one very large roof. This year, Nissan tasked the hosts of your favorite Motor Trend Channel shows with finding the best SEMA had to offer. In the first episode of 2015 SEMA Week, Mike Finnegan and friends compete in four very different Datsun Z cars for ultimate bragging rights.
Finnegan starts by roaming the halls and parking lot of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Along the way, he finds an art car built for the Burning Man festival, a super-efficient fuel pump, and a Ford Econoline powered by four blown Hemi V-8s. After getting his fill at the show, Finnegan is joined by fellow hosts Jessi Lang, Fred Williams, and Mike Sabounchi at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for a game of automotive H.O.R.S.E.
The hosts are each given a modified Datsun 240Z, which they must pilot through a series of challenges. Each penalty results in a letter (or number, in this case), and the first host to spell “240” loses. The challenges include a reverse burnout contest, drift parallel parking, and an autocross against a nitro-fueled, remote-controlled car. Which host comes out on top? Check out the video below to find out and keep watching 2015 SEMA Week to see a four-way drag race between the hosts.
Thanks to the emissions scandal, Volkswagen’s future existence has been called into question as the company has had to set aside large amounts of cash to deal with the various recalls and fines. With sales numbers dropping, the automaker needed to find a way to tighten its belt.
The automaker identified a way to save around $2 billion, which will cut trim levels and variants in its lineup. “We from the works council have long flagged the huge range of model variants and different components. That brings enormous complexity and adds to costs, for example, for logistics. We can take out costs there on a large scale and don’t have to talk about job cuts,” said labor representative Bernd Osterloh in a briefing with journalists in Wolfsburg, Germany, last week.
So far, the emissions scandal has cost Volkswagen just over $9 billion. While the $2 billion that it will save by cutting trim levels will help, the automaker will also cut investments by $1.05 billion a year. VW Group is also scaling back its sports car racing programs to save money, with both Audi and Porsche running one less car in the WEC series. The scandal is currently being battled on three fronts now, with the nearly 85,000 3.0-liter diesel models in the U.S., 800,000 vehicles in Europe with irregular CO2 ratings, and the nearly 11 million vehicles globally that feature a 1.2-, 1.6-, and 2.0-liter diesel engine.
The upcoming Bugatti Chiron hypercar should have a menacing mug to go along with its menacing amounts of power. A photo of a Chiron prototype recently surfaced on the heels of Bugatti’s announcement that the Veyron’s successor will officially be named Chiron.
The lone photo reveals plenty about the Chiron’s looks. No one will mistake it for anything other than a Bugatti and it appears to be more of an evolution of the Veyron with tighter lines, a more aggressive front fascia, and super wide haunches. While not as wild as the Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo concept, the Chiron will still look like a proper hypercar and should turn plenty of heads.
Speculation suggests that the Chiron will feature an updated version of the Veyron’s 8.0-liter, quad-turbo W-16. The engine will feature direct injection along with electric turbochargers for near instantaneous boost. Completing the drivetrain will be a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic and all-wheel drive. Total output is rumored to be around 1,500 hp, which is 300 more horses than the Veyron. Top speed is expected to reach an insane 288 mph.
The price tag will undoubtedly top a million bucks, but that hasn’t stopped 100 customers from placing orders for the new hypercar. Bugatti says the Chiron will make its official debut at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, though the car probably won’t roll off the production line until 2017.
Automakers who want their vehicles to earn the coveted IIHS Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ awards will have to start making smart headlights a priority, as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is adding a standalone test for headlights to its existing battery of safety evaluations.
Next year, the IIHS will add a rating program for headlights. Adaptive headlights use cameras, sensors, and motors to help direct the headlight beams toward corners or dips in the road. The technology has been employed by some manufacturers like Porsche, Audi, Hyundai, and others, but IIHS hopes the feature will enter the mainstream.
“We’ve studied all of these different innovations to the extent we’re able, and the strongest signal we get back from the data is that the steerable headlights are associated with the largest reductions of crashes reported to insurers,” IIHS chief research officer David Zuby told Automotive News in an interview.
Those findings led IIHS to take a closer look at the technology with a standalone test. While adaptive headlights have the ability to adjust to the road ahead, other innovations include the ability to dim automatically when an oncoming vehicle is sensed. Zuby went on to say, “It makes sense that if drivers can see better at night, they’ll be involved in fewer crashes at night.”
If all goes well with the new test, a good headlight score could be a requirement for TSP+ consideration as early as 2017.
The Volkswagen Group is pinching pennies to deal with its diesel emissions scandal, and the financial cutbacks are affecting the entire company, including its motorsports division. Audi recently unveiled the newest version of its R18 e-tron Quattro race car, but also announced that it, along with sister company Porsche, will have fewer entrants for the upcoming 2016 World Endurance Championship season.
“In the interest of maximum cost efficiency, Audi and its Group sister brand Porsche, have both agreed to each compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the WEC season’s pinnacle event, with only two instead of the most recent three cars,” Audi said in a statement.
That said, the updated R18 e-tron Quattro LMP1 racer moves up from the four-megajoule to the six-megajoule hybrid sub-class, according to a report by Autocar. Contributing to the move is the R18’s new energy storage system featuring a front-axle, lithium-ion battery system, which replaces the flywheel setup used in previous cars. A six-cylinder TDI diesel engine remains. Audi has yet to release figures on the revised powertrain. Visually, the new R18 features redesigned, L-shaped headlights, along with a red-accented black paint job.
Porsche will unveil its race car at a later date. Autocar reports that one Audi car will be piloted by Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer, and Marcel Fassler, while the other will have a team consisting of Loic Duval, Lucas de Grassi, and Oliver Jarvis. Audi drivers from last year’s number-three team (Filipe Albuquerque, Marco Bonanomi, and Rene Rast) remain on the team as works drivers.
Meanwhile, Porsche’s teams will include Mark Webber, Brendon Hartly, and Timo Bernhard in one car, and Romain Dumas, Neel Jani, and Marc Lieb in another car. The Porsche team that won it all in last year’s Le Mans race (Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber, and Nico Hulkenberg) look unlikely to return.
Rumors about the successor to the mighty Bugatti Veyron have persisted, and now at least one of them has proven to be true. Bugatti confirmed today that its next hyper car will be named Chiron, after Bugatti works driver and successful racer Louis Chiron.
“We want to make the best significantly better,” said Bugatti president Wolfgang Dürheimer, in a release. “The Chiron will set new standards in every respect. We will continue to produce the world’s most powerful, fastest, most luxurious, and most exclusive production super sports car.”
That’s a tall order considering the Veyron produced as much as 1,200 hp and had a top speed in excess of 250 mph. But the Chiron is expected to use a version of the Veyron’s heavy-hitting 8.0-liter quad-turbo W-16 engine aided by electric turbochargers and direct injection. The improvements are said to boost output to a staggering 1,500 hp. The engine is likely to be mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, and power will be routed to all four wheels through a torque-vectoring all-wheel drive system. As for how the new hypercar will look, you can get an idea by studying the Vision Gran Turismo concept that debuted earlier this year in Frankfurt. According to our sources, once you strip away the concept’s ground effects and central fin you have the production Chiron.
Bugatti says it has already received more than 100 orders for the Chiron, which will make its debut at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. The car is undergoing final testing, with prototypes currently conducting on-road trials. Stay tuned for more on Bugatti’s upcoming hypercar.
At the end of its tenure in the Motor Trend garage, our long-term 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Outdoorsman Crew Cab 4×4 had traveled just over 32,000 miles. During that time the turbodiesel half-ton pickup was popular among the staff. It served several roles, including making daily commutes to the office and extended road trips, and acted as a support vehicle for various comparisons, a moving truck for employees and friends, a transporter for recreational vehicles, and a car hauler.
On more than one occasion, our Ram 1500 EcoDiesel was used to haul scooters and motorcycles, and it also towed a go-kart trailer, but its most challenging job may have been when I bought a project car: a 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham. Based on GM’s G-body chassis, the 1980s-era midsize coupe measures 200 inches stem to stern—about as long as a current full-size Dodge Charger. (The body-on-frame Cutlass Supreme coupe’s approximate 3,600-pound curb weight does make it significantly lighter than a Charger sedan.)
With the 3.0-liter EcoDiesel V-6 (rated 240 hp, 420 lb-ft), eight-speed automatic, and 3.92 rear-end gear ratio, our four-wheel-drive Ram with 5-foot-7-inch bed has a max tow rating of 8,650 pounds, well under the weight of the classic Oldsmobile and the tandem axle trailer. My new car was located in Lancaster, California, approximately 100 miles from my home in Los Angeles. First I stopped in Inglewood to pick up the appropriate car hauler. The Ram 1500 EcoDiesel’s optional air suspension made hooking the trailer up to the hitch easy. With the air suspension set at the lowest height, we were able to position the hitch ball directly under the trailer tongue before raising it straight up for an simple connection. After the trailer was safely installed, I took the unladen trailer up to Lancaster. With the car loaded onto the trailer, I began the return trip back to Los Angeles.
As we pulled out with the Cutlass in tow, there was a moment of hesitation when I was aware of the mass of the car and trailer. It’s a lot like the turbo lag I experienced when accelerating below half throttle. But once we were moving, the torque from the EcoDiesel effortlessly pulled the Cutty without drama. The Ram rode smoothly and felt planted as we got up to 55 mph.
Early on in our time with the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel, the half-ton pickup suffered a few mechanical issues, first a faulty air-conditioning compressor clutch relay, then an erratic oil pressure sensor, and later an issue with catalytic converter. The clutch relay was stuck in the run position, causing two issues: It wouldn’t allow the compressor to cycle on and off, which made the evaporator ice over, reducing the effectiveness of the air-conditioning system, and the compressor was held in the run position, even with the engine off, draining the battery if parked for the weekend.
Additionally, the oil pressure light turned on when driving on steep inclines. After a manual check of the oil level and oil pressure tested within parameters, Chrysler advised the dealer to replace the oil pressure sensor. The issue didn’t return. Around 15,000 miles, the check engine light came on due to an issue with a NOx sensor being “below threshold.” The dealer replaced a catalytic converter.
The Ram required $775.04 in maintenance, which included four DEF refills (8 gallons every 7,500 miles) three oil changes (including 11 quarts of synthetic oil every 10,000 miles), one fuel filter, a rear differential service, and tire rotations. The EcoDiesel returned a 23.2 mpg average. In comparison, our Hemi-powered 2013 Ram 1500 Laramie Crew Cab 4×4 required $120.94 in maintenance costs, which included two oil changes and tire rotations over 14 months and 32,170 miles. The Ram Hemi averaged 15.6 mpg. Our 2012 Ford F-150 Lariat 4×4 EcoBoost cost $208.35 in maintenance costs over 28,000 miles. Those costs include three oil changes, tire rotations, and an engine air filter. The F-150 EcoBoost achieved 14.4 mpg overall.
The EcoDiesel engine achieves significantly better fuel economy than the Hemi engine without giving up much of its towing capability. And yes, DEF fluid and diesel engine maintenance is pricey, but using October 2015’s national average pricing for regular unleaded ($2.32) and diesel ($2.49), our EcoDiesel would still have cost $670 less than our Hemi to fuel and maintain for 32,000 miles. On November 23, the national average price for regular unleaded was $2.09, compared to the average price of diesel of $2.45.
Because of its practicality and functionality, the 2014 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Outdoorsman Crew Cab 4×4 might have been the most borrowed vehicle in the Motor Trend garage. It proved popular for work-related tasks and personal use by many staff members. It traveled to the Rocky Mountains five times, up to the Reno/Lake Tahoe area at least once, and over to Kingman, Arizona. It also spent several days in the Mojave Desert and another day in Indio in nearly 120-degree temps as a support vehicle. The Ram 1500 EcoDiesel easily tackled any job we threw at it.
More on our long-term Ram 1500 EcoDiesel Outdoorsman Crew Cab 4×4 here:
Air suspension ($1,695), 20-in black alloy wheels ($1,400), RamBox ($1,295), side steps ($600), Rear Camera and Park Assist Group ($595), Uconnect 8.4-in touchscreen with navigation ($500), spray-in bedliner ($475), Comfort Group ($395: heated front seats and steering wheel), 9-speaker sound system ($300), trailer-brake controller ($230), 3.92:1 axle ratio ($50)
I wasn’t particularly fond of the last-generation Malibu. Compared to the competition, it was loud, unrefined, dynamically flawed, and remarkably cramped inside. The “emergency refresh”—GM for “Oh, drat, we forgot we had competition”—was but a small improvement. The new 2016 Chevrolet Malibu is the first clean-sheet redesign since that frankly quite awful car, and thankfully it appears that Chevy has taken a lot of the constructive criticism it received regarding the last-generation car to heart.
Lighter and longer than the version that came before it, the new 2016 Malibu is a much needed reimagining of what’s long been an also-ran in the midsize family-sedan segment. On our base Malibu 1LT tester, the buzzy, old base 2.5-liter I-4 that used to be found under the hood is long gone. In its place is a new 1.5-liter, turbocharged I-4 that makes 160 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque. Although that’s a 37-hp and 7-lb-ft deficit versus the old engine, the Malibu’s weight loss means the 1.5-liter mill doesn’t give up much to the old 2.5-liter four-banger in terms of performance. The 1.5 is only available with a six-speed automatic, though an eight-speed automatic is available on the 2016 Malibu’s optional 250-hp, 2.0-liter, turbocharged engine.
At the track, the 2016 Malibu 1.5T accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 8.5 seconds, only a tenth of a second slower than the last 2.5-equipped Malibu we tested. The Malibu is also a touch slower than the equivalent Ford Fusion—the last Fusion we tested, a 2013 SE equipped with a 1.6-liter turbo-four and six-speed auto, needed 8.2 seconds to hit 60 mph from a standstill. At the dragstrip, the 2016 Malibu takes 16.5 seconds to go through the quarter mile, hitting 84.6 mph in the process. That class-competitive performance ties the old Malibu’s time but is seven-tenths of a second slower than the old model.
Thanks to low-rolling-resistance eco-tires, the Chevy’s 60-0-mph braking performance leaves a bit to be desired, as it needs 127 feet to come to a stop. Those tires hurt a bit when it comes to limit handling performance, too. The Malibu lapped our figure-eight course in 27.4 seconds averaging 0.63 g through the process and managed 0.84 g average during lateral acceleration tests. The old Malibu lapped the figure eight in 27.8 seconds at 0.57 g average.
On the street, the new Malibu 1.5T is a pleasant surprise. Based on my experiences with the base engine in the last Malibu, I expected this one to be a dog. I’m quite happy to report that’s no longer the case. Although the last Malibu had lots of trouble dealing with freeway travel, whether it was merging, staying in one gear, or just not being a noisy box of bees, the new one has plenty of power to quickly and quietly merge on to the freeway or pass traffic, and it doesn’t have trouble picking and choosing a gear. From a ride and handling perspective, the 2016 Malibu is a major improvement over the old car. The suspension is compliant and happily soaks up bumps, and steering feel is pretty good considering the Chevy isn’t designed with sporty driving in mind.
Inside, I’m not fully sold on this base-level interior. Higher-spec Malibus have quite nice interiors, but our Malibu 1LT leaves much to be desired from a materials standpoint. My main complaint is with the cloth trim on the dash that wraps around the center stack. Other Malibus are finished with nice leather trim here. Our Malibu 1LT’s cloth trim, though, screams 1995 Lumina. The high-res MyLink infotainment system is quite good and makes the surrounding cloth and plastics look even more dated. Choice of trim notwithstanding, the rest of the interior is a big improvement over the outgoing Malibu, especially in the back seat. Back-seat passengers now have much more leg- and kneeroom than before, and headroom is fine for a 6-foot-tall adult. Back-seat passengers will also benefit from USB plugs and, more important, their own air-conditioning vents. The new Malibu’s trunk is shallow but long and otherwise spacious.
Ultimately, the new 2016 Chevrolet Malibu 1LT equipped with the new 1.5-liter turbo-four is a drastic improvement over the unloved (by us) car it replaces. As for how the improvement fairs against steep competition from Toyota, Honda, Ford, and others, only time (and a Big Test) will tell.
