2020 in Review: Testing Winners and Losers – Car and Driver

Winner: Porsche 911 Turbo S

Simply once we thought manufacturing vehicles had reached a plateau in straight-line efficiency, we examined a automobile that almost nipped the 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder for the quickest 60-mph time we have ever measured. We guess we should not be stunned that the 640-hp missile that (virtually) did it was additionally from Porsche. The 992-generation 911 Turbo S missed tying the 918’s 2.1-second dash to 60 mph by only a tenth of a second. We’re guessing that file will fall quickly, although automakers should work on extra than simply rising launch traction in the event that they plan to supplant the 918’s quarter-mile file of 9.7 seconds. The Turbo S is 0.Four second behind in that metric.

Losers: GM Full-Measurement SUVs

Nobody would ever name the Yukon, Tahoe, Suburban, or Escalade a dealing with icon, however we had some hope that body-on-frame dynamics would attain new heights this 12 months with GM’s adoption of an unbiased rear suspension for its full-size SUVs. However that optimism rapidly turned to confusion once we initially could not surpass 0.40 g on the skidpad in any of them. To beat that poor exhibiting, we engaged low vary, a mode the place most 4x4s fully disable stability management. Whereas that labored to get us into the 0.70s on the skidpad, participating the quick gears within the switch case on paved roads will not do the half-shafts any favors. After we requested GM why the steadiness management is so intrusive, we bought a really diplomatic response: “The soundness controls on GM’s full-size SUVs are developed to make sure protected car operation for a variety of driving situations and driver inputs. The dynamic efficiency of those SUVs meets or exceeds necessities related to relevant authorities rules.” We suspect it is to guard an engine-oiling weak point, as an enormous cloud of smoke trailed each one in every of these brutes after every lap of the skidpad.

Winner: Porsche Taycan Turbo S

The Teslarati had been confronted with indeniable proof that an electrical automobile exists that does one thing higher than the X, 3, Y, and S fashions from their beloved Silicon Valley automaker. You see, as an EV’s battery depletes, the automobile’s efficiency inevitably suffers. However Porsche’s Taycan Turbo S minimizes that efficiency degradation higher than any Tesla we have examined. After 15 consecutive acceleration runs, the Taycan Turbo S’s 10.5-second quarter-mile time slipped simply 0.9 second whereas the Mannequin S Carry out­ance tacked 4.5 seconds onto its time. Did Porsche work out make negatively charged ions lighter, like gasoline burning off in a gasoline tank?

Loser: Tesla Mannequin S Efficiency

To not pile on, however throughout these acceleration runs we simply talked about, the Mannequin S Efficiency’s 60-mph time greater than doubled, reaching 7.Zero seconds on the sixth run. Just a few months later, Tesla addressed this challenge with the Cheetah software program replace, which not solely shaved a tenth off the Mannequin S’s 60-mph time, to a Taycan Turbo S–matching 2.Four seconds, but additionally made it so the Tesla may run 15 back-to-back runs with each go beneath 4.Zero seconds.

Winners: Hyundai Sonata Hybrid and Ioniq Electrical

Of the 83 hydrocarbon-burning vehicles we subjected to our 75-mph freeway fuel-economy check this 12 months, the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid traveled farthest on one gallon of gasoline. Its 51-mpg rating is spectacular, however virtually practically as spectacular is the sporty Honda Civic Si sedan’s 41-mpg end in the identical check. Hyundai additionally took prime honors within the gallon-of-gas-equivalent class, with the Ioniq Electrical netting 127 MPGe throughout its run.

Winner: Nissan Frontier

In probably the most unlikely of upsets, the 120-mph Nissan Frontier will outrun a Ram 1500 TRX, given the street is flat and the race is lengthy sufficient that the Nissan can exploit the Ram’s 2-mph top-speed deficit. It is an SAT query within the making, however by our calculation, the 310-hp Frontier wants six minutes, 28 seconds to make up the 1000-foot lead the 702-hp Ram positive factors throughout acceleration. That is a couple of 12.5-mile drag race. It may occur, though Nissan says it will not, because the Frontier we examined was a preproduction mannequin, and the automaker tells us buyer Frontiers will likely be restricted to 112 mph. Bummer. There goes Nissan’s bid on the 2021 Dakar Rally.

Loser: BMW M440i xDrive

BMW continues to amaze in methods we want it did not. The corporate used to make a few of the world’s finest sports activities sedans and coupes. Used to. However once we rolled the most recent, nostriliest M440i xDrive onto the scales, we did a double take: The readout confirmed 53.eight % of this automobile’s practically two-ton mass was positioned over the entrance axle. This definitely contributed to the M440i’s poor 0.91-g skidpad consequence, the worst we have ever achieved in a Michelin Pilot Sport 4S–shod automobile. What occurred to all that 50/50-weight- distribution discuss, BMW?

Greatest Loser: SSC

In October, American supercar maker SSC claimed a brand new production-car top-speed file of 316 mph with its 1750-hp Tuatara. The video documenting this feat rapidly drew web fireplace as a result of the elapsed time between recognized factors on the chosen street did not align with the claimed speeds. We requested SSC why it did not use a longtime participant in GPS knowledge logging, corresponding to Racelogic, to confirm the outcomes, and it instructed us, “We had been going at speeds that are not stand­ard car speeds, and [we] had wished extra of an aerospace-level validation system.” That is bizarre, as a result of our VBox 3i knowledge loggers are licensed to 1000 mph, and we peddle an $eight journal, not seven-figure vehicles. Julian Thomas, Racelogic’s founder, scraped SSC’s video body by body and, evaluating the elapsed time with visible landmarks, computed a peak of 224 mph. That is virtually a Ram TRX’s prime pace away from the 331-mph max proven on display screen. SSC vows to make one other try with third-party witnesses. If the file stands, we are able to transfer on to debating whether or not SSC is a production-car producer. (It is not.)

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