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Contents: Rivals! (Best buddies? Quite the opposite. If cars were grade-schoolers, the teacher would note that these “don’t play well with others,” as each has a wicked foe intent on making life miserable for its adversary); Full Test: Chevrolet Corvette Z06 vs. Dodge Viper SRT10 Coupe (The Viper, now with a fixed roof and ducktail spoiler, intimidates with sheer displacement and raw roadholding. But the Z06 counters with power, sophistication and value); Ferrari F430 vs Ford GT (The venue here is not a racetrack, but you can’t help thinking back to the epic Ford/Ferrari battles at Le Mans. Ferrari had its way often, Ford owned 1966. Which excels on the road today?); Dodge Charger SRT8 vs Pontiac GTO (When pushrod comes to shove, these resurrected 1960s muscle cars honor their forebears with at least 400 bhp apiece and the easy capability of turning tire rubber to smoke. Care to take odds?); Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX MR vs. Subaru Impreza WRX STI (Turbos, 4-wheel traction, technology and never a dull moment. Swords drawn, these Shogun warriors lunge at each other with a vengeance. Hail to the victor, hara-kiri to second place); Mazda MX-5 Miata vs Pontiac Solstice (Fun, responsive, $20k roadsters never go out of style, and the recently re-engineered Miata has some real competition in the form of the wide-track, Kappa-platform Pontiac Solstice) Road Tests – Honda Civic Si (With it’s rev-happy 197-bhp 2.0-liter, slick 6-speed and Krazy Glue turn-in, the new Si channels the S2000. But the jury’s still out on whether its performance can atone for that wacky dash) First Drives – Mercedes-Benz S500 (This much is certain: The new S-Class makes a bold design statement, reasserts its flagship status and will not be mistaken for a well-fed C-Class. And more powerful V-8s are nothing to snivel at, either); Jaguar Super V8 Portfolio (Dipping a claw into the pool of $100,000-plus luxury sedans, this feline makes a beehive toward competitors such as the Maserati Quattroporte and Audi A8 L 6.0 with lavish doses of luxury); Chevrolet Impala (The Clark Kent version can seat six and moves along respectably with V-6 power. But the SS…now we’re talking. With 303 bhhp from a 5.3-liter V-8, it’s able to leap tall stereotypes in a single bound); Kia Rio & Rios (A powerhouse it’s not, but this latest entry-level Korean has a fresh appearance, more refinement and tighter handling. Those marks it leaves on your bank account? They should polish right out) Features – Used Car Classic: Mazda RX-7, 1993-1995 (With twin turbos force-feeding its 2-rotor Wankel engine, the third-gen RX-7 was a fast, focused driver’s car. Here’s what to look for, and what to avoid, when searching for a secondhand example); Long-Term Test (New shoes (again) for the CTS-V; cruisin’ the Phaeton; oil’s well (but hard to top off) with the RX-8; and close encunters of the sheet-metal kind with our remarkably unremarkable Prius); The Monterey Weekend: Classics On Parade (The inaugural Pebble Beach Motoring Classic has 100-point concours cars driving long distances under their own power. And a slow orange Sprite is a moving tribute to a fallen friend); Formula SAE (On a clear day in Michigan, you can see a depth of engineering talent. And not just from the Big Three; check out what enterprising college students have wrought with their SAE open-wheelers) Technical – Road Test Reading, Self-Taught (Heel-and-toe is not a squaredance step, and understeer has little or nothing to do with position relative to our bovine friends. You knew that. Herein are the other road test terms, explained) Columns – On The Road: Handing Out The Hardware (For the owners of six inspirational vintage and racing cars, the trophy shelf just got little more crowded. Presenting the winners from Road America, Laguna Seca, Little Rock and The Quail); Ampersand: Bahn-Burner (At high speed – try 217.1 mph – with the Ruf Rt 12, the low-down on Infiniti’s GT-R; and the full complement of gleaming concepts and production cars from the Frankfurt Show); Side Glances: The American Driver (Stuck immobile again…behind a convoy of vehicles oozing along like cold molasses. But wait, this is Canada, seemingly the last bastion of the courteous driver, where the rearview mirror is used as designed); Tech Tidbits: A Neat Alfa, A Cool Studebaker, Etc. (The Monterey Weekend had a rich mixture of vintage tech and fascinating stories – an Alfa with a war tale, a cool Studey, a pewter V-12, selected tools and a starlet with endurance); Sport: Competition Or Show Business? (Tom Cotter’s take on the spectacle in racing, greatest or otherwise. Where is the line of demarcation between competition and entertainment? Plus, Zimmermann on the moveable feast of historic Formula 1); Pole Position: The Name Of The Game (Say it ain’t so…the Wal-Mart/Microsoft/Trump 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway? The Indy 500 has and always will have a better ring to it. Let’s not let corporate America rob our racetracks of their identity) Departments – People, Places & Things; Your Turn; Technical Correspondence; Road Test Summary; Reviews; Finish Line; Time & Place; PS
Issue: December 2005
Condition: Very Good