Description
Contents: Road Tests – Saturn Sky (Is the Solstice too elemental? Then perhaps the Sky’s edgier body, smoother ride and slicker interior are for you); BMW M Roadster (M works its magic on the bite-sized Bimmer. Shazam! Wimpyness vanishes, a 330-bhp six and on-rails handling appear); Mercedes-Benz S550 (So you think your Razi V3 and iPod Nano have a lot of cool features? The new Benz S-Class has them beat. Easily); Update: Cadillac XLR-V (A supercharged Cadillac with more than 100 bhp per liter (and a six-digit price to match), the XLR-V breaks new ground); Update: Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GT (The bad news: The Eclipse’s styling suffers a bit in the convertibleization process. The good news: it’s a convertible now); Update: Mercedes-Benz C35D Sport (The aging C-Class drinks from the fountain of youth with Mercedes’ sweet 268-bhp V-6. To which we say, “AMC who?”); Update: Saab 9-3 Convertible “20 Years” (In 1986, Saab gave us the 900 Convertible; today, a commemorative 9-3 drop-top with smooth turbocharged v-6 power) First Drives – Mercedes-Benz SL550 (Granite trim (!) is optional, but you can hunt bigger quarry now with a more powerful V-8 and a 7-speed gearbox); Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT (It’s the old boy-meets-gearbox, boy-dislikes-gearbox, Maserati-improves-gearbox story with this Italian 4-door); Honda Fit Sport (With the Civic inching up in size with each generation, the deceivingly roomy Fit is perfect to fill the low-end void); Mazda CX-7 (Crossovers needn’t be dull. As proof, the CX-7 offers 244 bhp, awd and an RX-8 influenced body style for under $26K) Features – Porsche 911 Turbo: Tech Analysis & Impressions (Less weight, more power, quicker response. Just when you thought Weissach’s engineers couldn’t improve the 911); Tail Of The Dragon (There are 318 good reasons to drive Highway 129, which straddles the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee); The Blue Train Bentley 75th Anniversary (Re-creating the duel between France’s Blue Train and a Mulliner-bodied Bentley Speed Six, from Cannes to Calais); Cars, The Movie (Pixar is at it again, and this time the subject is near and dear to R&T‘s heart. Plus, five questions with the Executive VP); Salon: Brabham BT44 (A ride with Bobby Rahal down memory (pit) lane with the Gordon Murray-designed Formula 1 car that fired his imagination); Long-Term Wrap-Up: Toyota Prius (It won’t set any records at Willow Springs (except maybe in the Prius Spec class). Yet ours has proved thrifty and reliable); Long-Term Test: Cadillac CTS-V, Chrysler SRT8, Audi A3 2.0T (The Caddy? Sloppy, quick and fun. The Chrysler? No new nose is good news. The Audi? A quick trans and surprising room) Columns – On The Road: AIGP Comes To America (The AIGP circus comes to town, specifically an unseasonably cold Laguna Seca, with a less-than-perfect advance man); Ampersand: Carrera-Crushing Cayman GTR (A tuner-built Cayman snaps its jaws big. News from the New York show, and points north/south/east/west); Side Glances: Collectible Sleepers Of The Lowest Rank (Are $100,000 muscle cars out of your league? Then get in on the ground floor with gems from AMC, Rover and others); Sports: A Breed Apart (Adam Cooper on the Right Stuff of rally drivers, and Tim Tuttle touches on what drivers do away from the racetrack); Pole Position: Never Too Young (From battery-powered kiddy Jeep straight to Formula 1? Not exactly, but the earlier the young’uns start the better); Tech Tidbits: Pedal To The Metal (The final word on no-lift shifts, grain alcohol at Indy, and a lighter topic: magnesium and its unusual properties Departments – People, Places & Things; Your Turn; Road Test Summary; Tech Correspondence; Finish Line; Time & Place; PS
Issue: June 2006
Condition: Very Good