Latest news with #Chevy
Miami Herald
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Auto review: Massive Nissan Armada trades fire with Detroit mega-utes
FARMINGTON HILLS, Michigan - Where Titan failed, the Armada might break through. Nissan has sent big truck-based warriors with fierce names into battle against Detroit's formidable armies of full-size pickups and mega-utes. The Titan pickup finally waved the red flag after bashing its brains in against endless waves of Detroit 1500, 2500, 3500 and even bigger dually pickups with more technology than a NASA launch site and enough towing power to tow, well, a Titan ballistic missile. Doing battle against the Ford Expedition and Expedition XL looks more feasible. Based on the same truck chassis as the expired Titan, the 2025 Armada has been remade into a state-of-the-art mega-ute matching Ford, Chevy Tahoe and Jeep Wagoneer weapon-for-weapon. Heading onto I-696, I stomped the gas and the new twin-turbo V-6 awoke with a roar. WHAAAUUGGRH! I miss the V-8s Nanny State rules have suffocated, but turbo sixes like Titan, Toyota Sequoia and Wagoneer have character and make the ocean liners fun to drive. More compelling is the tech. Mega-ute land yachts must endure long hours on the road. Nissan has always prioritized comparable seating with its "zero-gravity seats," and Armada's no different with its plush thrones. But Nissan has also stepped up with state-of-the-art, hands-free autopilot like Chevy (Super Cruise) and Ford (Blue Cruse) peers. Nissan calls it Pro Pilot Assist 2.1. Self-driving tech is freaky at first - especially in such a big ocean liner - and Ford and Tesla, for example, smartly offer subscription packages for their systems so you can try 'em out. Try it, you'll like it. Unfortunately, Nissan (like Chevy) requires an expensive, $3,375 leap-of-faith purchase. I toggled the left steering button (nice, raised tabs like a Chevy) and I was hands-free, cruising I-75 with hands on my knees. Tug the left turn signal and Armada switched automatically into the left passing lane. Tug the right signal, and it moved back. Nissan calls such goo-gaws "super powers," and it will impress the kiddies sitting waaaay back in the third row. The roomy third row (I could sit behind myself sitting behind myself) benefits from independent rear suspension technology that allowed for more legroom than the traditional, truck-based solid rear axle that Toyota Sequoia employs and that proved cramped on a trip north a couple of summers back. Nothing makes a trip more tiresome than knees in your chest. Unfortunately, Nissan doesn't offer a panoramic roof - or split roof like the Expedition - to give third row travelers more light. Not does it attempt to compete with the Detroit utes with an extended-cab XL model like Ford and Jeep (or Suburban, in Chevy's case). Such long cabs make up 40% of Chevy's business and came in handy when, for example, I towed a sailboat with the Wagoneer L last summer and fit the entire boom through the middle of the cabin so it didn't rattle around in the boat. Extended cabs are also useful for lots of baggage on, say, ski trips. What Armada does offer is fold-flat seats so you can store big items (think TV screens or stacks of boxed books) when you aren't using all three seat rows. Nissan also keeps up with the Joneses - er, Detroiters - with big, hoodless digital displays that are choked with content and ergonomically sound. While you can outfit Armada with premium trims like the Detroiters, I would recommend starting with the SL model, which offers tech goodies like Pro Pilot and standard Google Built-in. Google Built-in is General Motors Co.'s new secret sauce - an operating system on par with your phone - and Nissan has embraced it as well. "Google, tell me a joke," I barked and Armada chose from a library of dumb one-liners to lighten the trip. More practical is the SL's standard surround-view that coordinates eight cameras so you can dock the big ship with precision. I turned into a cramped Walled Lake gas station and put the cameras to good use. Most impressive is the hood view, which allows you to look right through the hood to place the front wheels where you want them. It helped me miss tall curbs as well as potholes opened up by Michigan's' long winter. 7Pro Pilot Assist package with a head-up display offers further ease of use on the highway. Ring it all up and Armada comes in at 73 grand, a healthy $4,000 cheaper than a comparable Tahoe LT. And with 70 more horsepower on tap from Armada's 425-horse turbo-6, you may not miss the Chevy's throaty 355-horse V-8. But the Ford's flexible subscription price for Blue Cruise is much more affordable (especially if you only use it during, say, summer trips) and Ford's Activ model clocks in at a more affordable $71,900. Oh. Conservatively styled, the Nissan should age well, though it doesn't have the swagger of Motown's hunks - or even the nicely styled Toyota Sequioa. Nissan does offer a tough, armored off-road model called the Pro 4X. Armada has come with big guns blazing so it can trade blows with the Detroit armada. It's a better battleship than the Titan and offers a legitimate alternative to the Detroit Three. 2025 Nissan Armada Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear- and-four-wheel-drive, six- to-seven passenger mega-ute Price: $59,530, including $2,010 destination fee ($81,900 Platinum Reserve as tested) Powerplant: 3.5-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 Power: 425 horsepower, 516 pound-feet of torque Transmission: Nine-speed automatic Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.1 seconds (Car and Driver); towing, 8,500 pounds Weight: 5,886 pounds (as tested) Fuel economy: EPA est., 16 mpg city/20 highway/18 combined (RWD); 16 mpg city/19 highway/17 combined (AWD); 472-mile range Report card Highs: Roomy in all three rows; tech-tastic features Lows: Meh styling; lacks extended wheelbase model Overall: 4 stars ____ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Motor Trend
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
Tested: The 2025 Cadillac Escalade Sport Platinum Dresses for the Job It Wants
Pros Posh and comfortable cabin Buttoned-down dynamics Last V-8 standing in the segment Cons Underwhelming sound system 24-inch wheels compromise ride Six-cylinder competitors are noticeably quicker Cadillac's cash cow is now a franchise. You want an Escalade? You've got choices. There's the electric Escalade IQ in regular and large sizes, the 'baby Escalade' Vistiq, the long-body Escalade ESV, and the original from which the others sprouted. This rapid brand expansion has redefined what an Escalade represents. No longer just a big box with a big engine and leather seats, Cadillac's large SUVs are establishing a new standard of American luxury. Size and power are part of that, of course, but the Escalade experience is now as much about a swanky cabin, trailblazing tech, and iconoclastic style. The 2025 Cadillac Escalade Sport Platinum revamps luxury with a stylish interior, advanced tech, and a 6.2L V-8 engine. It features a new 55-inch screen, Super Cruise, and auto-opening doors. Despite lacking a more powerful turbocharged six, it offers refined driving dynamics and opulent comfort. This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article Read Next That's on full display in the 2025 Cadillac Escalade Sport Platinum 4WD, the top-shelf gas guzzler. A midcycle refresh for 2025 lavishes attention on the interior like never before, and as a result you can no longer describe the big, bad Cad as a leather-lined Tahoe. Chevy who? The Escalade's redesigned cabin is so fresh that you might not even recognize it as a Cadillac's if it weren't for the badging. Cadillac's Inside Game While a new 55-inch screen dominates the cockpit, spend time in the updated Escalade, and it's the rich leather, real wood trim, aluminum-look accents, and upholstered lower dash that'll have you questioning if this is the same Cadillac that gave us the Catera. Many of these materials are recycled from the impressive 2021 redesign and now look even more premium thanks to the 2025 model's modern aesthetic. As with last year's Escalade, you'll have to hunt to find the few hard plastics hidden low in the cabin where the sun doesn't shine—and your hands rarely reach. That luxury carries through to the second and third rows even without the optional $7,500 Executive second-row seats. The standard Super Cruise hands-free system can turn the driver into a passenger on mapped roads so long as they keep their eyes looking forward. One of 2025's MotorTrend Best Tech winners, Super Cruise isn't just a lane centering system—it's the closest thing to a safe and useful autonomous vehicle that you can buy today. Run up on slower traffic, and it will change lanes, make a pass, and move back to the right with the natural grace of an attentive and courteous human. A recent mapping expansion has opened even more miles of select two-lane highways and back roads. The Sport Platinum's doors can drive themselves, too, opening and closing at the tug of a handle. That might sound gimmicky or superfluous, but our initial skepticism gave way to genuine appreciation with use. Cadillac nailed the execution, using sensors in the doors to stop them from bashing into people or neighboring cars, and as a result you can get a taste of Rolls-Royce opulence for the bargain price of $125,020 as tested. While Cadillac's gas vehicles still offer Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, the infotainment system is good enough not to need them. It features native Google Maps and the ability to download streaming apps such as Spotify directly to the vehicle wrapped in an easy-to-learn interface—that is if you're willing to lean forward in your seat to use the touchscreen. A redundant click wheel lets you navigate the system from a natural driving position, but it can take a lot of scrolling and tapping to get to where you want to go. As cool as the panoramic screen looks, it's a shame that huge swathes of it serve as nothing more than digital wallpaper. In particular, the right third can only show a giant Escalade logo when the passenger isn't streaming a video (in which case the driver sees a blank black pane of glass). Another annoyance: Although you can download apps to the infotainment portion of the 55-inch display, the passenger and rear entertainment screens can only stream YouTube or Hulu and can't be customized. If your crew wants to watch Netflix or Amazon Prime, you'll have to plug in your own streaming device. The cabin's only major letdown is the AKG sound system, which in our test car lacked the dynamic range and surround-sound effect we expected based on our experience with pre-refresh Escalades. Cadillac sent a tech out to confirm everything was working as intended, but to our editors' ears it sounded like all 36 speakers were mounted either entirely in front of or entirely behind the driver depending on the settings. The Escalade's midcycle refresh drops the optional diesel engine but otherwise leaves the mechanicals unchanged. That's largely a good thing, as the full-size SUV with the heart of a Corvette wasn't lacking in personality. The small-block 6.2-liter V-8—the last V-8 in the full-size luxury SUV segment—cranks out 420 hp and 460 lb-ft of torque with a threatening rumble to match the new menacing front fascia. In MotorTrend testing, the Escalade hustled from 0 to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds, shifting its 10-speed transmission with quick yet smooth action. Negotiating the real world, the engine jumps into action at the lightest poke of the throttle, building torque and revs with an immediacy that turbocharged engines struggle to match. It's quick to respond, but that's not the same as plain, old quick. The naturally aspirated V-8 doesn't have the juice to match its turbocharged six-cylinder competition. The Lincoln Navigator and Jeep Grand Wagoneer can hit 60 mph more than a second ahead of the Cadillac. We'd hate to see the Escalade drop its V-8, which is such a crucial part of its identity, but Cadillac at the very least needs to unlock some more power during the next redesign or risk being left in the dust. When the road twists and turns, the Escalade feels sharp, connected, and even playful for a 6,182-pound brick. The Caddy steers with confident precision, and the brake pedal has the same firm feel and short action you'll find in a CT5 sport sedan. A 117-foot stop from 60 mph places the Escalade ahead of the competition, but its overly aggressive stability control puts the kibosh on hard cornering at 0.71 g before the tires start to sing. Air springs and Magnetic Ride Control dampers keep body motions on a short leash in corners and over moonscape roads. The ride is firm yet forgiving, especially for something on 24-inch wheels (a $1,800 option). The pickiest luxury buyers might quibble over the occasional secondary ride motions and the way hard hits can excite some structural shake, but softening the suspension would likely erode some of the Cadillac's charm. Putting All the Pieces Together Cadillac set itself up for success with the 2021 redesign that poured more attention and money into the Escalade's interior. Doubling down on that investment with the latest makeover has pushed the Escalade even further upscale. The 2025 Escalade is a big, opulent cruiser with innovative technology, refined driving dynamics, and an impeccable sense of style. The last time Cadillac put all the pieces together like this, 'the Standard of the World' was more than just a slogan.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
View Photos of the 2026 Chevy Corvette ZR1X
Read the Full Story After years of anticipation, the ultimate Corvette is finally here. Say hello to the 2026 Corvette ZR1X. It takes the best parts of the already atomic ZR1, namely the 1064-hp LT7 twin-turbo V-8, and pairs it with an upgraded version of the Corvette E-Ray's front-mounted electric motor. It has a combined 1250 horsepower and a stat sheet that'll have you seeking shelter. Oh, and it'll be available by the end of the year. The 2026 Corvette ZR1X is the epitome of the C8-generation Corvette. It pairs the LT7 twin-turbocharged V-8 from the ZR1 with an upgraded version of the E-Ray's electric motor. The pairing gives the ZR1X all-wheel drive and combines to produce 1250 horsepower. Chevy claims the power and all-wheel traction are enough to rocket the ZR1X to 60 mph in under 2.0 seconds. It will also do the standing quarter-mile in under 9.0 seconds at a trap speed of more than 150 mph. The ZR1X can simultaneously pull 1.0 g of latitudinal and longitudinal force, according to Chevy. The ZR1X's interior offers a dual-tone color scheme where the driver's seat is red and the passenger's is black. It's the same interior you'll find on the rest of the 2026 Corvette range, which means the ZR1X gets Chevy's upgraded screen layout Full pricing hasn't yet been announced, but we're confident the new model will come in above the regular ZR1's $178,195 starting price. Chevy plans to launch the ZR1X by the end of 2025. You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
Motor Trend
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
Battle of the Big Blocks! 440 Barracuda vs. 396 Camaro vs. 428 Mustang
[This story first appeared in the premier issue of MotorTrend Classic in 2005] If H.G. Wells Enterprises Inc. advertised time-machine test-drives tomorrow, it'd be tempting to hop in and twist the dial back 35 years to the end of the golden age of horsepower. In 1970, the trend lines charting engine power, torque, and cubic-inch displacement were reaching their zenith. Gas prices were still down in the 30¢ range, and the first Earth Day wouldn't be held until April 22 of that year. Government regulators had yet to turn their magnifying glasses on the automobile, so mandatory smog and safety gear accounted for less than one percent of the $3800 spent on the average new car. And most of the cars Americans bought were designed and engineered in the industrial heartland around Detroit. Carefree twenty-somethings composed the widest slice of the driving-age population (over 20 percent) in 1970, and a long hood stuffed full of go-fast engine, a short deck with weekend-for-two trunk space, and a back seat used primarily to reduce insurance rates appealed to them most. Ford pioneered this formula with the Mustang, and by 1970 every competitor offered a variation on that popular pony theme. The idea of putting full-size engines in midsize cars in the early 1960s had long since led to the even better notion of jamming jumbo motors into even smaller ponycars, which resulted in a dizzying array of powertrain options. In 1970, each of the leading contenders-Ford's Mustang, Chevy's Camaro, and Plymouth's Barracuda-offered at least nine regular production engines. A price-leading straight-six or two headed a long list of V-8s sized and carbureted to fit any budget or racing formula. While the Big Three sent their intermediate-size musclecars out to battle one another in NASCAR, the ponies faced off in the Trans-Am road-racing series. SCCA's displacement ceiling for the series was 5.0 liters, and each pony offered such an engine: Ford had the Boss 302, Chevy the Z/28, and Plymouth the AAR (a triple-carbureted 340 for the street, but a racing crank de-stroked it to 303.8 cubes). All three were conservatively-and perhaps conspiratorially-rated at 290 horses. These lighter small-blocks powered the best-handling ponies, but cornering prowess and braking balance didn't concern most customers. Many simply wanted to vaporize their rear tire treads at every stoplight and thunder down a quarter-mile dragstrip on the weekends. For that duty cycle, only a big-block will do. An ultra-exotic headline-grabber topped each company's engine range. Rated at 425 horses, Chevy's all-aluminum 427-cubic-inch ZL-1 could only be special ordered by certain dealers supporting drag-racing teams. The option price? An eye-watering $4160! An iron L72 427, good for 400 horsepower and priced at $489, also had to be special-ordered. Plymouth offered its awesome 425-horse Street Hemi 426 to anyone willing to lay out $871 for it. Ford's Boss 429 was a NASCAR homologation engine rated at 'only' 375 horsepower. The option cost $1208, but Ford reportedly lost money on every car. The big-block ponies gathered for this time-warp cruise-in stand one rung down on the power and affordability ladder. Our Camaro SS396, tuned for 375 horses and 415 pound-feet and priced at an affordable $316, runs the L78 engine option. (An aluminum-head version of this engine with the same output rating was available for a whopping $711.) The 1970 Mustang Mach I packs a reliable and under stressed 428 Cobra Jet engine, complete with shaker ram-air hood scoop. Rated at 335 horses and 440 pound-feet, it added $376 to the original sticker. And this bad-in-black 'Cuda boasts a 440-cubic-inch wedge motor topped with three two-barrel Holley carbs, good for 390 horses and 490 pound feet-a steal at just $250 in the day. The flashing lights and smoke have subsided; let's open the time-machine and step out into 1970. Six years after Ford started the ponycar craze, the segment had burgeoned to more than a half-million cars per year, and the Mustang was still the best seller. While the basic proportions and design language remained familiar, the original pony gained inches and pounds with each restyle. Nevertheless, reviewers in the day praised the small-block Mustangs for their nimble handling and strong, assured brakes. The big-blocks drew criticism for packing almost 60 percent of their weight over the front axle-far from ideal in a rear-drive car, even if its pilot only wants to blast straight down a dragstrip. Most tests of the high-output models noted the impossibility of applying full throttle at all in first gear without smoking the rear tires. Our bright yellow Mach I arrived with only a couple hundred miles on a fresh mechanical restoration, and its drivetrain felt solid and tight. Shifts were executed quickly and with authority, though the C6 automatic seemed loath to kick down-not that an engine with 440 pound-feet of torque on tap needs to change ratios all that often. A deep and vocal basso rumbles from the exhaust the instant the 428 fires and the hood scoop starts quivering. It's borderline unpleasant at idle, but as revs build it sounds as mellow as Paul Robeson singing "Old Man River." It's the most relaxed engine of the three, never straining at the leash as the other cars do. The competition suspension feels a tad stiff-legged, with a bit more front roll control than might be ideal. Overboosted power steering squelches every last scintilla of data coming from the road, but then the news probably wasn't all that good anyway-especially as transmitted by the original bias-ply tires (radials have mercifully been retrofitted). Ford's power brakes, by contrast, offer great pedal feel and straight, reassuring stops. This fully loaded Mach I's two-tone interior with white woven-vinyl seats, black dash, and faux-teak wood accents is by far the dressiest and most comfortable of the three. For owners like Mary Treat, who want vintage cool in a strong, easygoing driver, the Mach I 428 Cobra Jet delivers. GM stood smugly by in 1964, expecting Ford's Mustang to fall flat on its face. When it didn't, the General scrambled to build a competitor. Chevrolet introduced the Camaro in 1967 and gave it a makeover for 1969-a model year that lasted for 18 months while awaiting the delayed launch of the all-new 1970 Camaro. Chevy rolled out a broad array of engines, each of which trumped its closest Ford counterpart-especially the state-of-the-art 396 (see sidebar). The press expected great things from the lithe Camaro, but many reviewers came away disappointed. We decried the handling as unpredictable, with understeer that transitioned to snap oversteer with minimal warning. The similarly overboosted power steering required constant correction in turns, and on one test car the optional front-disk power brakes pulled to the right. Even the shapeless bucket seats were criticized. An SS350 tied for dead last in a five-way MotorTrend test in March 1969 and another magazine ranked a 1968 SS396 fifth out of six, citing an out-of-tune test sample. Maybe the press fleet cars were poorly prepped. We borrowed this freshly restored Olympic Gold SS396 from Corvette Mike's of Anaheim, California. Slipping behind the delicate, thin-rimmed steering wheel, we had to agree with our predecessor-the bucket seat's backrest angle is not adjustable and is set too far reclined. But one twist of the ignition, and the L78 bursts to life with a lumpy idle that suggests big cam overlap. Drop it into "Drive," and it lunges forward, ready to rumble. Stick your foot deep in it, and you might be surprised to find that for such a big engine, it's a breather that needs to rev. The stated power peak is at 5600 rpm, but if left in °D,° the TurboHydramatic shifts up well before that, meaning that for serious dragstrip work the tranny must be shifted manually at the 5700-rpm yellow line. Working the funky basket-handle shifter requires patience, practice-or both. Still, just tooling around with the windows open in this brute is a treat for all the senses-a whiff of hot oil and incomplete combustion for the olfactory, the baritone wail of an open four-barrel for the ears, and the look and feel of a padded and plastiwood-paneled GM interior hark to that simpler pre-Watergate, pre-Beatles-breakup era. Plymouth knew the Mustang was coming and beat it to market by a couple weeks with the Barracuda, a two-door Valiant with a fastback greenhouse grafted on. The fact that we call these cars 'ponies' not 'fish,' speaks to the splash that the 'Cuda made with the public. Plymouth's second try in 1967 looked the part, but its biggest engine option was an outclassed 383 that couldn't be had with power steering until 1969. The third restyle was the charm in 1970, bringing an aggressive, muscular interpretation of the cab-rear look using the wider firewall and front frame-rails of the B-cars (Belvedere/Road Runner) to ensure that any and all Mopar engines would fit comfortably. In May 1970, we sampled three 'Cudas (as the high-performance variants were then officially badged) a 340, a 440-6, and a Street Hemi. Our reviewer fell for the lighter 340, was mildly bemused by the mighty Hemi, and had nothing but vitriol for the heavy-handed 440-6's manual steering and four-speed stick. He might've been driving this very car, but what a difference 35 years makes. Today, those are the car's two most endearing features. You have to work the steering wheel (5.3 turns lock-to-lock), but the effort isn't excessive, and the 'Cuda's helm suffered way less freeplay on center than the others. Similarly, the pistol-grip shifter moved with an unexpected level of precision. Reverse is tricky to find, but a lamp on the dash illuminates when you get there. If the Ford and Chevy engines felt strong and brutish, this one's a chariot hitched to 390 Clydesdales. The sound and thrust unleashed when the fore and aft Holley carbs open up will get you laughing. Without tubbing the rear wheel wells and fitting gigantic drag slicks, the 440-6 and Hemi are traction-limited at launch (especially on their original F70-14 bias-ply tires), so they run neck-and-neck to about 70 mph. By the quarter mile, the Hemi opens up a two-mph, 0.4-second lead-thin bragging rights to justify what is now a huge price difference. The 1970 'Cuda was arguably Plymouth's best pony ever, and yet the Mustang and Camaro each outsold it four to one. So, today, 'Cudas are far more rare at cruise nights and car shows. Maybe that's why this car feels extra special. If the time machine broke, forcing a choice of one of these three ponies to drive back to 2005 in, the 'Cuda would be the knee-jerk first choice as the fastest and (to these eyes) best-looking of the bunch. Then again, it's a long drive, which would tend to suggest the more comfortable and better-appointed Cobra Jet Mustang. Of course, none of this matters-for 35 years, anyone with enough interest in ponycars to pick up a magazine covering the subject probably arrived at paragraph one harboring a fierce allegiance to one of the brands. 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Cobra Jet 428 Our Take Then: We think [the 428CJ] engine is too big and heavy for these cars to handle as well as they should. For sheer power, yes. For handling, no. -Bill Sanders, MT, March 1969 Now: The Cobra Jet 428 is a kinder, gentler, less-extreme big-block that delivers its wallop of torque without all the rumble and vibration of its more high-strung competitors. Ask the Woman Who Owns One Mary Treat and her husband Jay bought this rare steed in pieces while finishing their graduate bio-chem degrees at Texas A&M. They restored the interior and repainted the body in yellow, Mary's favorite color. It's just reemerged from a 14-month professional mechanical restoration. Why I Like It: 'The first time I saw a Mustang, I was a Camp Fire Girl. I rode in our leader's light-yellow 1966 convertible, and I just thought that was such a cool car. I love this one because it's so unique-big, fast, and a real head-turner.' Why It's Collectible: 1970 was the end of the line for the early-style Mustangs and for Ford's factory Trans-Am racing effort, making it a popular year. Just under 3500 428s were sold, and few were as fully optioned as this one. Restoring/Maintaining: Mustang parts are widely available from multiple sources, and many rare items are being remanufactured. Rare option parts are not cheap, but can be found. Beware of oiling problems with the 428 on engines that haven't been rebuilt or had their oil-pump orifice enlarged. Expect To Pay: Concours ready: $39,600; solid driver: $22,000; tired runner: $9000 Join The Club: Mustang Club of America ( Mustang 428 Cobra Jet Registry ( 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS 396 Our Take Then: We thought for sure the Camaro was going to chew up all those mean corners on the road course, but it bit off more than it could response was quite unpredictable. -Bill Sanders, MT March, 1969 Now: We know better than to expect Trans-Am race-car handling from any ponycar today, and in any straight-line dash long enough to redline this deep breather in three gears, the SS396 satisfies. Ask the Man Who Owns One Mike Vietro has spent 23 years building an empire, Corvette Mike's ( 800/327-VETT), selling and servicing new and used Corvettes, hot rods, classics, and musclecars and marketing a line of performance parts. Why It's Collectible: 1969 stands as the year with the broadest array of high-performance engine options, of which the L78 396 is perhaps the most accessible and livable. Restoring/Maintaining: Camaros sold well in the extended 1969 model year, and almost 5000 L78s were built, so parts are available. Solid-lifter engines tend to require frequent tuning to run properly. Beware of authenticity-the value is in the engine, so check for matching numbers, and verify engine condition with a compression check. Expect To Pay: Concours ready: $51,000; solid driver: $29,150; tired runner: $8625 Join The Club: American Camaro Club ( Worldwide Camaro Club ( 1970 Plymouth Barracuda Our Take Then: Ah, the 440-6. One trip around the block is better than a week at Vic Tanny's. Giving the steering a close race, however is the "Excalibur sword-in-stone shift linkage (only King Arthur can get it into second). -A.B. Shuman, MT, May 1970 Now: Yesterday's high effort is today's road feel. Too few people took advantage of the 'Cuda 440-6, a musclecar bargain in 1970. The 'Cudas are expensive now and appreciating fast. Ask the Man Who Owns One John Laforme owned a rusty 340 Barracuda when he was 19, and he always wanted a decent one. He found this numbers-matching car in the background of a photo advertising a 440-6 clone and talked the owner into selling it. Why I Like It: "Because of the style of the body, the aggressive look of the grille, I just love the car for that. The horsepower is great, but you can always add horsepower." Why It's Collectible: The Barracuda 440-6 was the meanest of the mainstream big-block musclecars, and yet Barracuda sales totaled less than 20,000. Restoring/Maintaining: Most of the parts are readily available, including six-pack carburetor setups, though they're not necessarily cheap-an unused inflate-a-spare runs over $500. Beware of sticking carburetor floats in cars that sit for too long. Rattles, squeaks, and loose trim items also are common. Expect To Pay: Concours ready: $104,500; solid driver: $55,000; tired runner: $17,000 Join The Club: Walter P. Chrysler Club (
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
The Corvette ZR1X's Quarter-Mile Sprint Is So Quick, Chevy Had to Reprogram Its Front Motor
When the Corvette team went about adding the front motor from the Corvette E-Ray to the ZR1 to create the ZR1X, it was no simple feat. First, they turned up the output to 186 horsepower and 145 pound-feet of torque, increases of 26 hp and 20 lb-ft. Then, they went through all the calibration to make it work seamlessly with the LT7 V-8. And that's where things got interesting. The twin-turbo 5.5-liter in the ZR1 makes 1064 horsepower, more than twice that of the 495-hp LT2 in the E-Ray. 'We knew we were going to have to push all the boundaries,' said lead development engineer Keith Badgley. 'Looking at the fact that we're taking this 5.5-liter turbo V-8 with all kinds of power, and then combining it with a separate drivetrain on the front, meant that this had to be the most sophisticated software that GM had developed. Especially to make it approachable and intuitive.' It's so powerful that it revealed a limitation in the standard programming of the electric front axle motor. On the drag strip, 'We saw that we were disconnecting the front axle at 150 miles an hour from the E-Ray, and that that was not enough for us to complete the run in the quarter mile,' said Badgely. 'So we expanded and raised that to a 160-mph disconnect to bring that performance all the way through.' That's with the standard ZR1 body, not the Carbon Fiber Aero kit that's best paired with the ZTK suspension package. Chevy didn't say how much slower that version would be in the quarter than the sub-9-second, greater than 150-mph time stated in the ZR1X's press release. But it's a non-zero difference, says Josh Holder, the Corvette's chief engineer. 'It's pretty incredible that these cars are going so fast at the end of the quarter mile that our aero was starting to influence the times.' As for the intuitive and approachable part, that too required a more-than-expected amount of adjustment. 'The journey of the software, we originally thought we would port over or learn from the E-Ray, and we did learn but immediately saw that the Gemini engine has so much power that even minor errors in our torque architecture were causing issues with traction and an intervention that was unnecessary,' said Badgley. That's not unexpected when you're starting from a baseline of 828 pound-feet of torque, with more than 800 of that available from 3000 rpm. What's wild, though, is the speeds at which the ZR1X was breaking the tires loose. 'We saw that at 160 miles per hour we were having so much power we were deflecting the rear wheels, causing these errors.' As stated, the Corvette engineers smoothed things out so that the ZR1X presumably won't trip the traction control at that speed. It's yet another example of the performance era we live in. Not only is there a Corvette with 1250 horsepower, it's strong enough to spin the tires at 160 — and modern software can tame those bad habits, and make such a wild beast Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
