Description
Contents: Cadillac: Back In The Game (No one ever set Cimarron to music like Coupe de Ville or Eldorado. Yet in 2005, Cadillac is intent on putting a song in the hearts of real car guys with the supercharged STS-V and XLR-V) Road Tests -Scion tC (After the poor man’s Mini, the xA and the lunchbox-on-wheels xB, what for an encore? Try the Scion tC, a coupe that brings a healthy shot of class and performance to Toyota’s youth brand); Infiniti M45 Sport (As kids, most of us wanted to be astronauts or firefighters, but this 335-bhp V-8 Infiniti is what the G35 wants to be when it grows up…how about a 5.3-sec, 0-60 and 0.90 on the skidpad?) First Drives – Mazdaspeed6 (Remember the turbo 626 GT of the mid-1960s? Well, it’s baaaack, this time with the 6’s aero-enhanced body, a full 274 bhg, a 6-speed manual, all-wheel drive and not a trace of torque steer); Chrysler 300C SRT-8 (If Capone were alive today, he might fancy this 6.1-liter, 425-bhp Hemi hot rod that corners and stops nearly as well as it accelerates. They’d probably get him for gas-guzzler tax evasion); Chevrolet Cobalt (A little word association: Cavalier? Cost-cutter. Cobalt? Class challenger. Chevy has done a complete melt-and-repour of its entry-level sedan, and we like the result (especially the SS version) Features – R & T Readers Choice Winner: The Best Car 2005 (Drum roll, please…of course, we won’t tell you here: you’ll have to turn to page 70 to find out whether the Chevrolet Corvette, Chrysler 300C or Ford Mustang GT took home the top honors); Sino-Car-Crazy (Cars, they are a-comin’ to China, by the millions. A brief history of the automobile in this sprawling Far East country, plus thoughts on its future and a nail-biting drive in a Cadillac CTS); Long-Term Test: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution (Our Evo’s stay is over, and some of us are taking it much harder than others. Aside from a huge appetite for tires (and snowbanks, Kott and Bomhop!), it’s been the model of reliability) Competition – Profiles In Speed: A.J. Foyt (Things are big in Texas, and Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. is larger than life. The four-time Indy winner on his transition from dirt to asphalt, the art of the endurance race, and knowing when to quit) Technical – Michelin Challenge Bibendum, Shanghai (Sampling the very latest crop of advanced vehicles…diesel, bio-diesel fuel cell, pure electric and hybrid…around an equally cutting-edge venue – the Shanghai International Circuit) Columns – On The Road: Cadillacs On The Cover? (What, no Lamborghini, Porsche or Ferrari beneath the R & Tvery trick glass targa top, Chrysler’s Corvette (?) and the totally cosmic Saturn Sky); Sport: Red Bull Driver Search (The story of how a certain Austrian energy-drink maker may put the first American since Michael Andretti in the seat of a Formula 1 car. It may give you wings, but it gives you wheels as well); Pole Position: Car Or Driver? (Our intrepid Editor-at-Large puts Michael Schumacher – and all race-car champions; for that matter – under his microscope. Is it the driver who ensures success? The car: The team? The Fates?); Tech Tidbits: Are You Ready For Aerodriving (Although attempting a Lomcevak in a drift car might prove problematical, there’s a movement afoot to categorize car maneuvers much acrobatic ones. Plus, the juice on Jowett in a great book) Departments – People, Places & Things; Your Turn; Technical Correspondence; Road Test Summary; Time & Place; Finish Line; PS
Issue: February 2005
Condition: Very Good