The Best Luxury Cars of 2016
Good news for carmakers: Auto sales will end 2016 on a strong note. And car sales in 2018-19 are likely to rise thanks to tax cuts and infrastructure policies anticipated for 2017, IHS Markit analysts told reporters Tuesday on a yearend recap and forecasting call.
“We have seen that the overall global economic outlook has somewhat improved over what we had a few months ago,” said Guido Vildozo, a senior manager at IHS Automotive, an auto industry analysis rock hard. “We are most likely going to pick up steam over the next few years, primarily driven by the U.S. economy under President-elect Trump.”
In fact, U.S. car sales are on rhythm to hit 17.Trio million units for 2016, and that number could reach 17.Five million. If that happens, it will be a record sales year, Vildozo said. Which makes sense—automakers have given us slew to be grateful for in 2016, from fresh luxury SUVs and turbo-boosted supercars to bold convertibles and throwback racers. What’s more, as gas prices remain stable and even decline, it feeds directly into the thirst for light trucks like crossovers and SUVs.
“We expect a very strong finish for 2016,” Mark Fulthorpe, the director of IHS Automotive, said as he concluded the call.
As for me, I drove a different car every week in 2016, plus a few extras thrown in for good measure. Some I loved. Others I couldn’t wait to escape. But it’s more joy to concentrate on the most beautiful, thrilling, and intriguing ones than on the losers. So here are my twelve favorites.
This is the year Lamborghini turned a corner. Mark my words: Effects from the cars and executive decisions it made in two thousand sixteen will be felt for decades to come. The Huracán Spyder embodies the switch in mood. Some have criticized it as Lamborghini gone soft, both in styling and in driving character, but I see it as a accurately modern car (eventually) from the Bologna brand. (The guys who criticize its driving capabilities typically are dilettantes or those who haven’t actually driven it yet.)
The Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4 Spyder is the drop-top version of the excellent coupe we witnessed last year. Rather than making the car strenuous or burdensome around corners, a common problem of convertibles, the alteration comes only as an improvement. The suggested retail price starts at $262,350; delivery and fees bring the number to $267,545, harshly on par with competitors from Ferrari and Aston Martin, and a bump more than the $238,500 coupe version. The Huracán Spyder has the same V10 602-horsepower engine as the hardtop, plus all-wheel drive on a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. (There is no manual option.) You can choose among three drive modes, plus launch control.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
I drove the fresh Flying Spur V8 S for a long weekend in upstate Fresh York this fall, and I loved it. At the time, I wrote that it was a phenomenal driving sedan, plush inwards like a British club room, and on the outside a little less square than the Rolls-Royce equivalent, the Ghost. It comes in two varieties: the $244,600 Flying Spur W12 S (626 brake horsepower and six hundred five pound-feet of torque) or the $205,000 Flying Spur V8 S (521 hp and five hundred two pound-feet of torque). Both are slick, prompt, and massively powerful on the road, outfitted with quilted leather, elite technology, and all the accessories of wealth you would want in the interior. Driving this supreme machine is a true joy. The only thing it’s missing? A USB outlet. Look for Bentley to introduce one with the next generation.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
There’s a reason McLaren is having such an exceptional year. Sales during the very first half of 2016 were up eighty one percent from a year earlier, and the company had passed all of its two thousand fifteen sales numbers by July. It also recently sold its Ten,000th vehicle ever. “It took us forty two months to build our Five,000th car and just twenty two months to build the next Five,000,” McLaren Automotive Chief Executive Officer Mike Flewitt said in a statement about the accomplishment for the company, which began making production cars in 2011. “Much of that development is thanks to the introduction of the Sports Series family of cars.”
The Sports Series includes the exemplary 570GT I drove this summer in Big Sur. This is the car with the gorgeous glass hatch that opens up from windshield to taillight and is enough to make you want to lie back and count starlets, I wrote at the time. It’s basically flawless: McLaren’s 570GT comes with a 562-horsepower, Trio.8-liter twin-turbo V8 engine that will hit sixty two mph in Trio.Four seconds. The seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and rear-wheel drive act together with the synchronicity of a symphony.
Photographer: Hannah Elliot/Bloomberg
I’ll admit it. I wasn’t crazy about the (lack of) kinks on this expensive Dawn convertible for four when I very first spotted it last year as a preproduction prototype. But the reason Rolls-Royce is so good is that it compels adulation the moment you drive, feel, smell, put on the car. One hour in it tooling up Highway one made me convert: “At $339,850, it has space for four, a generous trunk, a silky-smooth transmission, and enough Canadel paneling to clothing a yacht,” I wrote. “Top speed is 155 miles per hour, and the 6.6-liter V12 engine will hit 62 mph in a respectable Four.9 seconds. With the roof up, the cabin is cocooned in quiet and security; the massive brakes are stiff like a vise. With the top down, you feel free. Leave behind slipping—you’re going to fly.” All this was true, and more.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
BMW and Ducati both unveiled joy, fresh, interesting fresh light bikes recently, but what I indeed liked railing was the 2017 Ural Sahara Gear Up. I railed that thing everywhere. This is the latest sidecar model from the Seattle-based motorcycle maker that bought the branding rights from the original Soviet-era company twelve years ago. It’s more expensive than its brethren ($17,999, compared with the $12,999 Ural cT or the $15,999 Ural M70), but it’s also more capable. With the Sahara you get a patrol light, a spare-wheel-and-storage rack, and two-wheel drive on request, which means the sidecar wheel can also be engaged when you’re in thick mud or snow. It has a 749-cubic-centimeter, two-cylinder, four-stroke boxer engine with forty one horsepower and forty two pound-feet of torque. It can carry more than 1,000 pounds and lightly cruise at seventy mph. (Anything swifter and you’ll feel too roughed-up.)
Everyone’s beloved thing about Urals, aside from the fact that you can rail them in any condition, year-round, is that there are so many ways to make it your own. The one I railed had a single seat (others come with a bench seat), a rounded LED headlight and LED sidecar fog lights, a sidecar nose rack, and the previously mentioned luggage rack with spare wheel. Handlebar guards, sidecar light guards, and the switch sides foot pedal are all worth choosing, too. But you can truly go in on the myriad hunting/fishing/adventuring accessories on tap with these bikes.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
I call this the best “all-around” coupe because I want to emphasize how affordable it is. The BMW M2 packs so much value into its $51,700 framework, you’ll be glad forking over that much to drive it. It serves as the ideal completion of the thought that runs from the $32,850 two Series coupe and the $44,150 M235i. The car comes with a seven-speed automatic transmission or a six-speed manual transmission on a Trio.0-liter, six-cylinder 365-horsepower engine, plus M-tuned harass, dynamic stability control, brake fade regulation, and active M differential. It does zero to sixty miles per hour in Four.Two seconds on the automatic. Top speed is one hundred fifty five mph. What’s more, most of its charms come standard: Xenon adaptive headlights, retractable headlight washers, “shadow-line” exterior trim, M badging, and that roaring front fascia are all included in the sticker price. Plus, I just love the look of that taut, compact bod. It’s unlikely to hammer.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
Ah, Ferrari. The company put out some nice fresh things this year, but what I spent the most time in—and had the most joy in, which is not necessarily the natural outcome of “most seat-time”—is the Ferrari California T. I took it north to the mountains, and I took the California T HS (shown in the photo) west to the Pacific Ocean. The $199,000 California T has a 553-horsepower V8 engine and a hardtop that drops in fourteen seconds at the touch of a button. It can hit sixty two mph in Trio.6 seconds and has a max speed of one hundred ninety six mph. And the stability control plus seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and carbon-ceramic brakes make the car as capable in inclement weather as it is on balmy days and hot, vapid asphalt. That said, it’s the provocative beauty of its curved nose, high fenders, and muscled shoulders that garner the most attention. Drive the California T for even just an afternoon and you’re likely to fall in love.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
Stick-driven manuals remain uncommon delights, so my delight compounded exponentially when I spotted that this sexy animal had a decent shifter instead of paddles on the wheel. I drove it earlier this year in Los Angeles. It’s the only V8 manual vehicle you can buy from Aston, period. And there are only one hundred of them. It comes with a 430-horsepower midmounted engine set on a six-speed rear-wheel drive. It’ll take you to sixty miles per hour in Four.6 seconds. As I said at the time, that’s not the fastest sprint time ever, but this is a clear case of qualitative excellence vs. on-paper specs. (The three hundred sixty one pound-feet of torque does help.) Top speed is one hundred ninety mph. Among its many offerings are a thick sport wheel and taut steering; the turning radius is something to love. The gearbox is convenient; the clutch is effortless. Hill-start assist comes standard. It’s also amazingly good-looking in the way that only Aston Martin can look. This is the car you buy to display off when you don’t want to look like you’re demonstrating off.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
Volvo sits astride the borderline inbetween luxury and nonluxury, but the S90 will make you leave behind labels altogether. It’s just a good car. Volvo has worked hard on this $46,950 sedan, providing it standard-issue, well-thought-out conveniences that make a newcomer to arguably the most boring segment—sedans—fresh and titillating. The S90 T5 trim level that I drove came with a Two.0-liter, inline-four turbocharged 250-horsepower engine (a T6 turbo and supercharged 316-hp version is available with AWD) that also achieves thirty four miles per gallon at highway speeds. It has an eight-speed automatic transmission with automatic stop/commence and a shifting system that adjusts to your drive style. Pilot Assist, a semiautomatic driving aid that guides the car via lane lines and works up to eighty mph, comes standard. Premium rear air suspension costs $1,200 extra—and is worth it. The interior is even better. It’s a light-drenched space with a large vertical touchscreen, brushed matte wood that encircles everyone in a warm embrace. It’s sleek and soft and suited to match the ash-blonde convenience leather and general minimalism of the cabin. Sitting in the S90 is like loosening in a blond-wood, dry-heat sauna cabin: unspoiled Swedish delight.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
Porsche ultimately did a bottom-up refresh on its flagship sedan, and the results are very good. Most notable are two fresh all-wheel-drive variants: the Panamera 4S and Panamera Turbo, each of which have more power and better fuel efficiency than previous models. The design switches are subtle—longer wheelbase, a fresh roofline—but effective. The $99,900 Panamera 4S has a Two.9-liter V6 gasoline engine that gets four hundred forty horsepower. It will hit sixty miles per hour in Four.0 seconds. The $146,900 Panamera Turbo has a Four.0-liter V8 gasoline engine that gets five hundred fifty hp and will hit sixty mph in Three.Four seconds. Both come with a fresh Porsche dual-clutch transmission that has eight speeds and all-wheel drive. A fresh, $99,600 hybrid version—462 hp, zero to sixty mph in Four.Four seconds, 31-mile unspoiled electrified range—will make its debut in late 2017. It will get seventy percent better fuel efficiency than the Panamera 4S. So there’s lots to choose from here. (I drove the Turbo around Manhattan and loved it.)
Earlier this fall, I drove a $109,900 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe by Superformance. I had driven other cars from the California brand, so I was antsy to get into this Ford icon. It didn’t disappoint. (Actually, the one I drove cost $180,000 with all the options I had on it, but if you buy one, that price tag is up to you.) The original versions were intended to hit the Ferrari two hundred fifty GTO that had been predominant stamina racecourses across Europe in the 1960s. They now cost more than $1 million. The fresh models, on the other mitt, come with a Ford 525-horsepower V8 engine and other modern components that make them drivable on a daily basis. Plus, they’re prompt: sixty miles per hour in Trio.Five seconds. Like I wrote in the fall, the car is a treat to drive, like going back in time in the best way possible. The power steering is precise; the clutch has some weight to it but doesn’t require gargantuan strength to operate. This is the rawest driving practice—even with the power steering—that I’ve had all year. And I’d expect no less from a car built fifty years ago to hit Ferrari.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
Luxury crossovers are the segment of the year. As I’ve said before, trucks and SUVs supply better profit margins than sedans because of their size and prestige, which request a price premium; the sheer magnitude of SUVs also permits more opportunities for upgrades and bespoke treatments. In fact, SUV sales rose 88.Five percent from two thousand eight through 2013, according to IHS, and were up fifteen percent year-over-year from two thousand fourteen to 2015. So far this year, they’re on track to hit last year’s sales by almost 7 percent.
One in every five vehicles sold worldwide is an SUV, according to IHS. And the most significant growing market in the world, China, largely eschews sports cars in favor of large vehicles: SUV sales there rose from five percent of the market ten years ago to almost 16 percent in 2015. So the Macan is significant to Porsche in a way that belies its smaller size.
Fortunate for Porsche, the company produced a winner. The one I drove cost $68,245, which included upgrades such as 20-inch sport wheels ($1,260), a heated sport steering wheel in dark walnut ($615), and park assist ($850). The base Macan S starts at $52,600. It comes with a 340-horsepower, Trio.0-liter twin-turbo V6 engine that gets three hundred thirty nine pound-feet of torque on a seven-speed dual-clutch and AWD transmission. Zero to sixty mph is Five.0 seconds; top speed is one hundred fifty six mph. If you don’t need a big, bad SUV but do want something higher than a sedan, with more space and more power, this is the one for you.
The Best Luxury Cars of two thousand sixteen
The Best Luxury Cars of 2016
Good news for carmakers: Auto sales will end 2016 on a strong note. And car sales in 2018-19 are likely to rise thanks to tax cuts and infrastructure policies anticipated for 2017, IHS Markit analysts told reporters Tuesday on a yearend recap and forecasting call.
“We have seen that the overall global economic outlook has somewhat improved over what we had a few months ago,” said Guido Vildozo, a senior manager at IHS Automotive, an auto industry analysis stiff. “We are very likely going to pick up steam over the next few years, primarily driven by the U.S. economy under President-elect Trump.”
In fact, U.S. car sales are on rhythm to hit 17.Trio million units for 2016, and that number could reach 17.Five million. If that happens, it will be a record sales year, Vildozo said. Which makes sense—automakers have given us slew to be grateful for in 2016, from fresh luxury SUVs and turbo-boosted supercars to bold convertibles and throwback racers. What’s more, as gas prices remain stable and even decline, it feeds directly into the thirst for light trucks like crossovers and SUVs.
“We expect a very strong finish for 2016,” Mark Fulthorpe, the director of IHS Automotive, said as he concluded the call.
As for me, I drove a different car every week in 2016, plus a few extras thrown in for good measure. Some I loved. Others I couldn’t wait to escape. But it’s more joy to concentrate on the most beautiful, thrilling, and intriguing ones than on the losers. So here are my twelve favorites.
This is the year Lamborghini turned a corner. Mark my words: Effects from the cars and executive decisions it made in two thousand sixteen will be felt for decades to come. The Huracán Spyder embodies the switch in mood. Some have criticized it as Lamborghini gone soft, both in styling and in driving character, but I see it as a accurately modern car (eventually) from the Bologna brand. (The guys who criticize its driving capabilities typically are dilettantes or those who haven’t actually driven it yet.)
The Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4 Spyder is the drop-top version of the excellent coupe we witnessed last year. Rather than making the car strong or burdensome around corners, a common problem of convertibles, the alteration comes only as an improvement. The suggested retail price starts at $262,350; delivery and fees bring the number to $267,545, toughly on par with competitors from Ferrari and Aston Martin, and a bump more than the $238,500 coupe version. The Huracán Spyder has the same V10 602-horsepower engine as the hardtop, plus all-wheel drive on a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. (There is no manual option.) You can choose among three drive modes, plus launch control.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
I drove the fresh Flying Spur V8 S for a long weekend in upstate Fresh York this fall, and I loved it. At the time, I wrote that it was a phenomenal driving sedan, plush inwards like a British club room, and on the outside a little less square than the Rolls-Royce equivalent, the Ghost. It comes in two varieties: the $244,600 Flying Spur W12 S (626 brake horsepower and six hundred five pound-feet of torque) or the $205,000 Flying Spur V8 S (521 hp and five hundred two pound-feet of torque). Both are sleek, rapid, and massively powerful on the road, outfitted with quilted leather, elite technology, and all the accessories of wealth you would want in the interior. Driving this supreme machine is a true joy. The only thing it’s missing? A USB outlet. Look for Bentley to introduce one with the next generation.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
There’s a reason McLaren is having such an exceptional year. Sales during the very first half of 2016 were up eighty one percent from a year earlier, and the company had passed all of its two thousand fifteen sales numbers by July. It also recently sold its Ten,000th vehicle ever. “It took us forty two months to build our Five,000th car and just twenty two months to build the next Five,000,” McLaren Automotive Chief Executive Officer Mike Flewitt said in a statement about the accomplishment for the company, which began making production cars in 2011. “Much of that development is thanks to the introduction of the Sports Series family of cars.”
The Sports Series includes the exemplary 570GT I drove this summer in Big Sur. This is the car with the gorgeous glass hatch that opens up from windshield to taillight and is enough to make you want to lie back and count starlets, I wrote at the time. It’s basically ideal: McLaren’s 570GT comes with a 562-horsepower, Trio.8-liter twin-turbo V8 engine that will hit sixty two mph in Trio.Four seconds. The seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and rear-wheel drive act together with the synchronicity of a symphony.
Photographer: Hannah Elliot/Bloomberg
I’ll admit it. I wasn’t crazy about the (lack of) kinks on this expensive Dawn convertible for four when I very first witnessed it last year as a preproduction prototype. But the reason Rolls-Royce is so good is that it compels adulation the moment you drive, feel, smell, put on the car. One hour in it tooling up Highway one made me convert: “At $339,850, it has space for four, a generous trunk, a silky-smooth transmission, and enough Canadel paneling to garment a yacht,” I wrote. “Top speed is 155 miles per hour, and the 6.6-liter V12 engine will hit 62 mph in a respectable Four.9 seconds. With the roof up, the cabin is cocooned in quiet and security; the massive brakes are rock hard like a vise. With the top down, you feel free. Leave behind sliding—you’re going to fly.” All this was true, and more.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
BMW and Ducati both unveiled joy, fresh, interesting fresh light bikes recently, but what I indeed liked railing was the 2017 Ural Sahara Gear Up. I railed that thing everywhere. This is the latest sidecar model from the Seattle-based motorcycle maker that bought the branding rights from the original Soviet-era company twelve years ago. It’s more expensive than its brethren ($17,999, compared with the $12,999 Ural cT or the $15,999 Ural M70), but it’s also more capable. With the Sahara you get a patrol light, a spare-wheel-and-storage rack, and two-wheel drive on request, which means the sidecar wheel can also be engaged when you’re in thick mud or snow. It has a 749-cubic-centimeter, two-cylinder, four-stroke boxer engine with forty one horsepower and forty two pound-feet of torque. It can carry more than 1,000 pounds and lightly cruise at seventy mph. (Anything swifter and you’ll feel too roughed-up.)
Everyone’s beloved thing about Urals, aside from the fact that you can rail them in any condition, year-round, is that there are so many ways to make it your own. The one I railed had a single seat (others come with a bench seat), a rounded LED headlight and LED sidecar fog lights, a sidecar nose rack, and the previously mentioned luggage rack with spare wheel. Handlebar guards, sidecar light guards, and the switch roles foot pedal are all worth choosing, too. But you can truly go in on the myriad hunting/fishing/adventuring accessories on tap with these bikes.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
I call this the best “all-around” coupe because I want to emphasize how affordable it is. The BMW M2 packs so much value into its $51,700 framework, you’ll be blessed forking over that much to drive it. It serves as the flawless completion of the thought that runs from the $32,850 two Series coupe and the $44,150 M235i. The car comes with a seven-speed automatic transmission or a six-speed manual transmission on a Three.0-liter, six-cylinder 365-horsepower engine, plus M-tuned harass, dynamic stability control, brake fade regulation, and active M differential. It does zero to sixty miles per hour in Four.Two seconds on the automatic. Top speed is one hundred fifty five mph. What’s more, most of its charms come standard: Xenon adaptive headlights, retractable headlight washers, “shadow-line” exterior trim, M badging, and that roaring front fascia are all included in the sticker price. Plus, I just love the look of that taut, compact figure. It’s unlikely to hammer.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
Ah, Ferrari. The company put out some nice fresh things this year, but what I spent the most time in—and had the most joy in, which is not necessarily the natural outcome of “most seat-time”—is the Ferrari California T. I took it north to the mountains, and I took the California T HS (shown in the photo) west to the Pacific Ocean. The $199,000 California T has a 553-horsepower V8 engine and a hardtop that drops in fourteen seconds at the touch of a button. It can hit sixty two mph in Trio.6 seconds and has a max speed of one hundred ninety six mph. And the stability control plus seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and carbon-ceramic brakes make the car as capable in inclement weather as it is on balmy days and hot, vapid asphalt. That said, it’s the provocative beauty of its curved nose, high fenders, and muscled shoulders that garner the most attention. Drive the California T for even just an afternoon and you’re likely to fall in love.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
Stick-driven manuals remain uncommon delights, so my delight compounded exponentially when I spotted that this sexy animal had a decent shifter instead of paddles on the wheel. I drove it earlier this year in Los Angeles. It’s the only V8 manual vehicle you can buy from Aston, period. And there are only one hundred of them. It comes with a 430-horsepower midmounted engine set on a six-speed rear-wheel drive. It’ll take you to sixty miles per hour in Four.6 seconds. As I said at the time, that’s not the fastest sprint time ever, but this is a clear case of qualitative excellence vs. on-paper specs. (The three hundred sixty one pound-feet of torque does help.) Top speed is one hundred ninety mph. Among its many offerings are a thick sport wheel and taut steering; the turning radius is something to love. The gearbox is convenient; the clutch is effortless. Hill-start assist comes standard. It’s also amazingly good-looking in the way that only Aston Martin can look. This is the car you buy to showcase off when you don’t want to look like you’re demonstrating off.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
Volvo sits astride the borderline inbetween luxury and nonluxury, but the S90 will make you leave behind labels altogether. It’s just a good car. Volvo has worked hard on this $46,950 sedan, providing it standard-issue, well-thought-out conveniences that make a newcomer to arguably the most boring segment—sedans—fresh and arousing. The S90 T5 trim level that I drove came with a Two.0-liter, inline-four turbocharged 250-horsepower engine (a T6 turbo and supercharged 316-hp version is available with AWD) that also achieves thirty four miles per gallon at highway speeds. It has an eight-speed automatic transmission with automatic stop/embark and a shifting system that adjusts to your drive style. Pilot Assist, a semiautomatic driving aid that guides the car via lane lines and works up to eighty mph, comes standard. Premium rear air suspension costs $1,200 extra—and is worth it. The interior is even better. It’s a light-drenched space with a large vertical touchscreen, brushed matte wood that encircles everyone in a warm embrace. It’s sleek and soft and suited to match the blondie convenience leather and general minimalism of the cabin. Sitting in the S90 is like loosening in a blond-wood, dry-heat sauna cabin: unspoiled Swedish delight.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
Porsche ultimately did a bottom-up refresh on its flagship sedan, and the results are very good. Most notable are two fresh all-wheel-drive variants: the Panamera 4S and Panamera Turbo, each of which have more power and better fuel efficiency than previous models. The design switches are subtle—longer wheelbase, a fresh roofline—but effective. The $99,900 Panamera 4S has a Two.9-liter V6 gasoline engine that gets four hundred forty horsepower. It will hit sixty miles per hour in Four.0 seconds. The $146,900 Panamera Turbo has a Four.0-liter V8 gasoline engine that gets five hundred fifty hp and will hit sixty mph in Three.Four seconds. Both come with a fresh Porsche dual-clutch transmission that has eight speeds and all-wheel drive. A fresh, $99,600 hybrid version—462 hp, zero to sixty mph in Four.Four seconds, 31-mile unspoiled electrified range—will make its debut in late 2017. It will get seventy percent better fuel efficiency than the Panamera 4S. So there’s lots to choose from here. (I drove the Turbo around Manhattan and loved it.)
Earlier this fall, I drove a $109,900 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe by Superformance. I had driven other cars from the California brand, so I was antsy to get into this Ford icon. It didn’t disappoint. (Actually, the one I drove cost $180,000 with all the options I had on it, but if you buy one, that price tag is up to you.) The original versions were intended to hammer the Ferrari two hundred fifty GTO that had been predominant stamina racecourses across Europe in the 1960s. They now cost more than $1 million. The fresh models, on the other arm, come with a Ford 525-horsepower V8 engine and other modern components that make them drivable on a daily basis. Plus, they’re rapid: sixty miles per hour in Three.Five seconds. Like I wrote in the fall, the car is a treat to drive, like going back in time in the best way possible. The power steering is precise; the clutch has some weight to it but doesn’t require gargantuan strength to operate. This is the rawest driving practice—even with the power steering—that I’ve had all year. And I’d expect no less from a car built fifty years ago to hit Ferrari.
Photographer: Hannah Elliott/Bloomberg
Luxury crossovers are the segment of the year. As I’ve said before, trucks and SUVs supply better profit margins than sedans because of their size and prestige, which request a price premium; the sheer magnitude of SUVs also permits more opportunities for upgrades and bespoke treatments. In fact, SUV sales rose 88.Five percent from two thousand eight through 2013, according to IHS, and were up fifteen percent year-over-year from two thousand fourteen to 2015. So far this year, they’re on track to hammer last year’s sales by almost 7 percent.
One in every five vehicles sold worldwide is an SUV, according to IHS. And the most significant growing market in the world, China, largely eschews sports cars in favor of large vehicles: SUV sales there rose from five percent of the market ten years ago to almost 16 percent in 2015. So the Macan is significant to Porsche in a way that belies its smaller size.
Fortunate for Porsche, the company produced a winner. The one I drove cost $68,245, which included upgrades such as 20-inch sport wheels ($1,260), a heated sport steering wheel in dark walnut ($615), and park assist ($850). The base Macan S starts at $52,600. It comes with a 340-horsepower, Trio.0-liter twin-turbo V6 engine that gets three hundred thirty nine pound-feet of torque on a seven-speed dual-clutch and AWD transmission. Zero to sixty mph is Five.0 seconds; top speed is one hundred fifty six mph. If you don’t need a big, bad SUV but do want something higher than a sedan, with more space and more power, this is the one for you.
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