National Electric Vehicle Sweden, which owns the main assets to Saab, is previewing its new 9-3 sedan and 9-3X SUV. The company’s electric vehicles will take part in a car-sharing and ride-sharing pilot program in Tianjin city in China.
On its Instagram account, NEVS posted a photo of the 9-3 sedan and SUV concepts. The company is expected to announce more at the CES Asia show in Shanghai next month, but from these renderings we can see some hints of Saab showing through. Beneath those updated fascias are the bodies of the 9-3 sedan and 9-3X crossover that ceased production in 2012, along with an electric drivetrain in place of the previous gas engines. Production at the Saab plant resumed earlier this year.
The 9-3 series goes on sale next year in China, and the company has already received more than 150,000 orders. NEVS estimates a range of more than 186 miles on a single charge. While borrowing the engineering know-how from Saab, the new vehicles add modern features such as WiFi hotspot, battery management via smartphone, and over-the-air software update capability.
NEVS rescued Saab from bankruptcy in 2012. While it lost the rights to use the Saab name on its vehicles, it acquired the main assets of the brand and its former Trollhattan production plant in Sweden. The company also has a plant in Fujian, China, and a new plant in Tianjin is still under construction but is expected to be operational by the end of the year.
Every time we compare a Mazda MX-5 Miata and one of the Toyobaru twins, we have a hard time naming a winner. The two purist sports cars both offer so much fun for the money that it’s difficult to choose one over the other. Now Mazda has a new retractable targa-top MX-5 RF and Toyota has a reincarnated and revised Scion FR-S called the 2017 Toyota 86, so we can once again endeavor to find out which is the better budget sports car on Head 2 Head.
On paper, the 86 has the power advantage at 205 hp and 156 lb-ft of torque. But the Miata RF is more than 300 pounds lighter than the Toyota, so its 155 hp and 148 lb-ft is enough to keep up. Hosts Jonny Lieberman and Jason Cammisa begin arguing about styling. They find flaws in each and ultimately can’t decide which one is the better design, so they head for the hills to compare the experience behind the wheel. That turns out to be too close to call as well, so they call on Motor Trend’s own Randy Pobst to decide a winner at the track. With nearly identical lap times, however, that again turns out to be a difficult task.
Just for kicks, Lieberman sees if he can beat either car around the track in MT’slong-term Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat – a car that has as much power as four and a half Miatas. Find out if brute force can beat balance and finesse, and learn the winner of this comparison, in the full episode below.
Uber has fired Anthony Levandowski, a star engineer who ran the company’s self-driving car division before being accused of stealing trade secrets from rival Waymo.
The notice was given on Friday, according to a termination letter obtained by the Washington Post. Uber says Levandowski violated his terms of employment by refusing to comply with a judge’s request to turn over documents he allegedly stole from Waymo and then uploaded onto his personal computer. The termination letter claims Levandowki’s refusal to comply with the request hurt Uber’s internal investigation and its ability to defend itself in the lawsuit.
Levandowksi was a senior engineer at Waymo before he left in 2016 to start an autonomous truck company called Otto, which was later bought by Uber. He then ran Uber’s self-driving car unit before stepping aside from those duties pending the Waymo litigation.
Recently, a federal judge ruled that Uber must return stolen confidential files to Waymo by the end of May. Waymo showed “compelling evidence” that Levandowski downloaded confidential documents from Waymo computers before leaving the company, the judge said. He also argued that Uber either knew, or should have known, that Levandowski took the potentially sensitive files and that some of the trade secrets trickled down to Uber’s own work.
Levandowski’s lawyers have cried foul over the firing. They argue he cannot be fired for exercising his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Uber has faced plenty of challenges recently, including controversy surrounding its former practice of greyballing as well as allegations of a widespread culture of sexual harassment. And Uber has another reason to worry now that Waymo has partnered with Lyft on the development of autonomous cars.
Driving the latest and greatest sports cars is fun, but hands down one of the best parts about writing for Motor Trend is having access to our 67-year-old achieve. I’m blown away every month when putting together the magazine’s “Rearview” section by the cars we’ve driven and stories we wrote well before my time. Rather than keep these stories for myself, we’ve decided to have a new monthly “Rearview” feature. Join me as we take a look at Motor Trend highlights from issues 50, 30, and 10 years ago. Let’s kick things off with a look at May 1967, May 1987, and May 2007.
May 1967
Price: 0.50¢
May 1967’s cover was generic for a Motor Trend cover from the ‘60s—we can probably thank the “Win the $4,500 Sporty Car of Your Choice!” contest on the cover for that—but there’s some good stuff in this issue.
The highlight by far would be our lengthy buyer’s guide feature on “Those Sporty, Swinging Specialty Cars: Mustang, Camaro & Barracuda; Cougar & Firebird; Marlin and Charger; Sting Ray & Shelby GT.”
It’s easy to forget nowadays given our country’s penchant for high-riding crossovers and SUVs, but back in the late ‘60s auto sales were booming and buyers were snatching up so-called sports and personal cars as fast as the Detroit Three could make them. “[The segment] was created in a grand manner by the Mustang, which, from early 1967 returns, still looks like it will outsell all the competition combined,” we wrote.
“Since April of 1967, when the Mustang first made its bow, the field has proliferated to a total of nearly 40 models, if you count basic body and engine options as one each.
“The businessman or school teacher can commute stylishly but economically behind six cylinders in all but four of the nine basic makes if he so chooses. No one knows what’s under the hood, but the sporty image is still there. Or he can take the same basic car and put up to 375 horses ahead of him (up to 425 in the Shelby GT) and have a boss machine that doesn’t threaten to boss him.”
The story wasn’t a traditional Motor Trend comparison test with a winner and a loser as we now understand them, but it was instead a buyer-focused feature weighing the pros and cons of cars in each ‘segment’ of the sports car marketplace. It looked at powertrains, comfort, features, and the like.
Other Highlights: A special feature on the dangers of driving while on drugs (consensus? Not recommended), and a look at why auto insurance rates were so high.
May 1987
Price: $2.50
We were such teases: our cover proclaimed this issue was all about “Topless Models” in big bold type. Those “models” were actually America’s most affordable convertibles priced under $20,000.
After consumer protection threats made by the federal government nearly put the convertible as we knew it out of production in the mid ‘70s (where do you think T-Tops came from?), cloth tops were back in full force in the ‘80s. To celebrate, we invited seven different manufacturers (and three models) to send us their ragtops for two days of testing in sunny Southern California. The seven convertibles fit every niche possible, from outright sports car to compact car to luxury cars; the invitees were the Alfa Romeo Spider, Chevrolet Cavalier RS, Ford Mustang, Pontiac Sunbird, Renault Alliance, Toyota Celica, and Volkswagen Cabriolet. Because the cars were all representing various different segments, this wasn’t an outright comparison test—rather. it was a snapshot at what it was like living with each convertible. The highlight? The Toyota Celica’s boot cover went on “easier than a nymphomaniac.”
We also dedicated a page on the yet-to-be-released Chrysler LeBaron. It’s easy to forget now, but the LeBaron was somewhat revolutionary in the late ‘80s because it was designed from the ground up to be a convertible. Thanks to its K-Car underpinnings, cash-strapped Chrysler was able to pinch pennies on the chassis and spend it on its “shapely skin” and a “top and boot system [that’s] among the best in the industry.”
Other Highlights: A road trip from Jacksonville, Florida, to Los Angeles in the very-first Merkur Scorpio to hit U.S. shores, and a long-term update on our Peugeot 505 Turbo Wagon.
May 2007
Price: $4.99
Our May 2007 cover featured an exclusive First Look of the 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX ahead of the car’s official debut at that year’s New York International Auto Show.
If our ensuing First Drive is any indication, readers didn’t react too kindly to the third-generation WRX. Some of the gems: “Somebody find the Subaru designer and shoot him.” “Seriously, I want to throw up.” “I see the Camry, where’s the Impreza.”
Those comments mirrored the letters we got from you guys seven years later when the fourth-gen Subaru WRX went into production. I guess we can expect the same in a few years when the WRX merges to Subaru’s new modular global architecture.
Although the then-new Impreza WRX drove as well as expected, buyers were ultimately disappointed by its carryover 224-horse 2.5-liter turbocharged flat-four and softer handling. A year later, in 2009, Subaru gave the WRX a proper power boost to 265 hp, and sharpened up its suspension, ultimately recementing its legacy among millennial gearheads.
Other Highlights: Our Asia-focused issue also featured the V-8-powered Hyundai Genesis and the 330-hp Infiniti G37.
The 2018 Toyota Camry will feature an infotainment system that runs on an open-source platform developed by hundreds of engineers across the auto industry. It is among the many vehicles, and the first Toyota vehicle, that will adopt the common infotainment platform that many companies hope will become the industry standard for connected cars.
Creating a Linux-based tech platform eliminates the need for automakers to build their own infotainment systems from scratch, thus reducing development costs across the industry. Toyota, Mazda, Suzuki, and Daimler are among the 10 automakers working with suppliers and tech companies to develop the platform that will help users operate features such as music and navigation.
The platform simply provides a basic starting point, allowing automakers to individualize the infotainment platform for their own purposes. About 70 percent of the platform on the 2018 Camry consists of mostly generic coding, while the remaining 30 percent is unique to the vehicle, reports Reuters, speaking with Kenichi Murata, Toyota group manager of Connected Strategy and Planning.
Automakers currently make it a priority to design their vehicles around Apple CarPlay and Android Auto that allow drivers to connect their phones to their cars. But the new collaboration gives automakers back the flexibility they need to customize their own platforms to their liking.
The infotainment platform will arrive on the 2018 Toyota Camry in the U.S. late this summer. Completely redesigned, the Camry sits on Toyota’s new TNGA vehicle architecture that also underpins the Prius and C-HR. Along with updated powertrains, the Camry offers an updated Entune multimedia system with an 8-inch touchscreen, a 10-inch head-up display, a 7-inch LCD display in between the gauges, a JBL premium sound system, and other technology upgrades.
I occasionally buy large, bulky items on impulse, and the most common thing I hear once the seller sees what I’m driving is, “You sure that’ll fit?” So far, the Mini Clubman has been able to handle everything I’ve tossed in it. The cargo space has also proven useful to other staffers, who’ve been able to fit some things you wouldn’t expect.
The Clubman offers 17.5 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats, which is fine for a trip to the grocery store. With the seats folded down, that space expands to 47.9 cubic feet. That’s still not much compared to the current crop of small crossovers, but anyone expecting the Mini’s cargo area to live up to the name on the badge should be pleasantly surprised. The seats fold relatively flat, which makes sliding in longer items easier. A rug about as tall as me (5’7”) had to be turned diagonally but fit between the front seat and the cargo threshold. A pair of vintage speakers and a waist-high tool chest also fit with no problem.
If you want to get something longer inside the Mini, you could always do as associate editor Scott Evans did and leave one of the barn doors open. “I had to move some 8-foot poles for an event this weekend and being able to leave a door open and hang them out the back was a lifesaver,” Evans said. “I especially appreciated that the car only dinged once and just left up a visual warning. More importantly, the struts on the doors themselves are very strong, so they don’t swing around or try to close while you’re driving.”
Stiff struts means those doors require some force to shut fully. Every so often I have to reopen and close the passenger-side door because I didn’t shut it hard enough the first time. The struts also make the doors spring out one at a time when you press the cargo door button on the key fob. They won’t knock you over if you’re standing behind then, but don’t try it if you’re backed in close to a wall. Having barn doors also impedes rear visibility slightly because there’s always a vertical bar down the middle of your back window. You get used to it, though, and soon enough you hardly notice it at all.
The Clubman also has a large storage area under the floor. Our tester came with the optional cargo cover, but for extra peace of mind I’ll hide valuables beneath the cargo floor for total concealment. Purses and thin backpacks can be hidden out of sight or just out of the way to make room for bulkier things up top.
The Clubman might not be the most utilitarian option out there, but it offers decent storage room as a bonus to being a fun-to-drive runabout.
Awaiting me at the airport on my return flight from driving the new XC60 in Barcelona was its slightly lower-slung long-roof stablemate, the V60 Cross Country. That wagon-ute soldiers on for another year on the older Ford-shared platform underpinnings before graduating to the XC60’s hot new SPA architecture. But its 2.0-liter turbocharged engine lineup, eight-speed automatic transmission, and all-wheel-drive system are pretty darned similar to the ones in the new XC60. So if your lease is up now and you’re antsy about waiting for XC60s to arrive later this year, might a V60 or V60 Cross Country serve you just as well?
For many, a decision like this will come down to how high you need to ride and how important it is for you to be seen wearing the latest automotive fashion. On the height/ground-clearance front, the XC stands 65.3 inches tall with 8.5 inches of ground clearance, and the tallest V60 Cross Country stands 60.8 inches tall with 7.9 inches of clearance. (The around-town V60 wagons are down at 58.4 and 5.4.)
As for the looks, even in its sixth model year the lower-slung station wagon body looks pretty sleek to these eyes—especially sprayed as this one is with $560 worth of optional Twilight Bronze Metallic paint. But then again, I learned to drive in a station wagon and am a car-scribbler, so wagon-philia comes naturally—especially if said wagon is brown. (If it also offered a manual and a diesel, its powers of attraction to my tribe would be utterly irresistible.) I could take or leave the ute-drag costume’s faux front and rear skidplates and black wheel arches (which add 1.4 inch to the width), but the 7.9 inches of ground clearance proved sufficient to tackle the long rutted driveway in to our construction-site summer cottage. (Normal cars all scrape their underbodies.)
The Haldex all-wheel-drive system proved well matched to the task of a tricky three-point turnaround at the far end of the driveway in a soupy slurry of nowhere near enough gravel on way too much wet, mucky clay after what seems like a stretch of Old Testament–grade rain. Systems that rely on wheelspin from the dominant axle to engage the helper axle have formed ruts in here, but the Volvo’s system is proactive, so it gently managed the pirouette without a single degree of rut-digging wheelspin. The XC60 would surely have fared equally well, thanks to SPA weight loss that erases what has been roughly a 175-pound weight difference between the XC60 and the V60 Cross Country.
Inside, the advantage goes to the XC60 big time in terms of aesthetics and the second-gen Sensus touchscreen, both of which are big improvements over the old architecture’s increasingly quaint array of buttons and a small central screen. My back also prefers the new architecture seat shape to the old, but after sampling both, my Automobile mag colleague and driving partner in Barcelona felt this V60’s older seats fit his frame more comfortably. So your results might vary. The XC’s 3.6-inch-longer wheelbase also affords way more stretch-out room for leggy riders in the rear seat.
Of course achieving that roomy back seat meant moving the seat back into the cargo area, which means the wagon now offers way more cargo room than the ute—43.8 cubic feet to 29.7. When you’re schlepping materiel to the work site, 14.1 cubes is like a whole other sedan trunk’s worth of space. The V60’s 40/20/40 folding rear seat back is another bonus the new ute misses out on. That feature allowed me to carry five 10-foot PVC sewer pipes while preserving four seating positions. The new XC60 only provides a ski pass-through in the center position (good for maybe one or two of my pipes). One more advantage for the wagon: the availability of child booster seats in the second row (part of the $1,550 Climate package with Child Booster Seats group). This feature is not available at launch on the XC60. Naturally, both cargo holds are outfitted with four cargo tie-down points, each can accept Volvo accessory pet/cargo retention nets with the rear seat up or down, and both feature roof rails that will accept Volvo accessory crossbars.
Driving pleasure ranks pretty evenly. The T5 engine is rated 10 hp less in the V60, but that’ll be tough to notice for most folks. Steering feel isn’t wonderful on either, but both vehicles corner reasonably flatly—the new XC60 thanks to its transition to control arms in front, and the V60 thanks to its lower center of gravity. Safetyniks will want to wait for the XC60’s emergency steering assist and run-off-road spine-compression prevention gizmos. The V60 lacks these things, but it is otherwise pretty well equipped on the protection front.
Faced with choosing right this minute, I’d probably grab the wagon. With a bit longer time horizon, I’d probably wait for the SPA-grade V60—and hope its cargo area doesn’t shrink as much as the XC60’s did.
2018 Volvo XC60
2017 Volvo V60/Cross Country
BASE PRICE
$42,495-$57,695
$36,675-$62,595
VEHICLE LAYOUT
Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV
Front-engine, FWD/AWD, 5-pass, 4-door wagon
ENGINES
2.0L/250-hp/258-lb-ft turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4; 2.0L/316-hp/295-lb-ft supercharged and turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4; 2.0L/313-hp/295-lb-ft supercharged and turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4 plus 46-hp/111-lb-ft front and 87-hp/177-lb-ft rear electric motors; 400 hp/472 lb-ft comb
2.0L/240-hp/258-lb-ft turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4; 2.0L/302-hp/295-lb-ft supercharged and turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4; 2.0L/362-hp/347-lb-ft supercharged and turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4
