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Car and Driver
17-06-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
Ezra Dyer: Thoughts on the State of Cars from the Year 2095
From the July/August 2025 issue of Car and Driver. Here at Car und Driver, we prize our powers of prognostication even more than we adore our aptitude for alliteration. But even the most clairvoyant cyborgs among us couldn't have predicted how much cars would change over the past 140 years. Let alone that magazines would still exist. Today, most younger people hold fractional ownership of a car, splitting the cost with as many as six other drivers. These vroommates, as they're called, make up an increasing share of the market. Flarers, the generation born after the solar storms of 2071, often can't afford a whole car and don't require one anyway, given the ubiquity of drone delivery services and the unexpected popularity of roller skates as a "last mile" transportation solution. Some companies are attempting to drive down prices with no-frills designs—extruded cars, inflatable cars, the IKEA En Skitbil flat-pack wagon—and a few of those cost less than $1,000,000, making them a viable option for budget shoppers with a high tolerance for petrochemical off-gassing. As we near the next century, Saab has become the most prosperous car company on this planet since discovering trollennium on the site of its old headquarters. Ezra Dyer Senior Editor Ezra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. He's now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph. Those facts are mutually exclusive.
Car and Driver
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
A McLaren Artura Spider Is Its Own Spring Break Plan
My kids' spring break is timed to coincide with Easter. This means that the dates vary wildly from year to year, because so does Easter (it's the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, if you need a refresher on your moon-based holidays). This year, Easter was late—mid-April—which is about the time you might expect some decent weather in North Carolina, where we live. And so I made a bold decision for our spring break plans, which is that there would be no spring break plans. Well, except for one: drive the McLaren Artura Spider. Get your hands on an Artura, and the plans make themselves. A school pickup becomes an event that's Snapchatted across the county. A trip to the grocery store is an epic journey. And a drive to the beach might lead to sublime sensory immersion the likes of which prompted Coleridge to write Kubla Khan, but this time without the opium. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver The Artura is McLaren's hybrid V-6 model, and it spits out a total of 690 horsepower via a turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 and an electric motor. Cleverness abounds: The eight-speed dual-clutch transmission has no reverse gear, with that job handled by the electric motor spinning backward. The engine is mounted so low, it sits beneath the tops of the wheels. You can get it with Pirelli Cyber tires that report their temperatures and take note when you're driving faster than 167 mph, so you can adjust pressures accordingly. The Artura is also arguably the most beautiful contemporary McLaren, with its graceful buttresses and one-piece rear clamshell, and that's saying something. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver That's a pretty car. With the weather forecast looking decent, we decided to head for the coast, which means a slog across the flatlands of Route 74. Typically that's a boring stretch of road, but not long into the drive, a battle erupted in the skies above, sunshine and thunderstorms fighting for the upper hand and spraying rainbows down across the farmland. The view ahead, swept clear by the McLaren's single wiper blade, was like the world turned into a Lucky Charms box. Through the rearview mirror, I watched geysers of spray hang in the sunshine and burst into yet more rainbows. The Ventura Orange of the car played its own part in this explosion of color, and a normally dreary drive turned into, dare I say, a profound experience. Beach Days Beach towns can be automotively haughty. A car like an Artura would blend with the scenery in Malibu, and Cape Cod is the land of the six-figure old-school Jeep Wagoneer. Holden Beach, North Carolina, isn't like that. The general store sells bait, the best restaurants are open to the elements, and a street-legal side-by-side is the preferred vehicular flex. It's apparent that the people who might have Artura money—this car wore a window sticker of $325,258—choose to deploy their financial resources on boats. You don't see cars like this. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver So it wasn't a huge surprise when I got a knock on the door and it was about the Artura. A high-school freshman named Oliver had a camera in hand and wanted to know if it was okay to take photos of the car. I told him to go for it, of course, because that's exactly what I would have done at his age if I stumbled across a McLaren in my neighborhood. After he got his shots I gave him a ride home, which was only two blocks away down a 35-mph road, but at least now he can say he rode in a McLaren. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver Over the next few days, I made excuses to drive the Artura—I felt it was my responsibility to the general public. Grocery runs, bait procurement, and pizza pickup were all dispatched in style. One day I was big-upped at the hardware store by a V-12 Lincoln Zephyr wearing a hand-written For Sale sign taped to the window: respect. I should note that all of these errands were accomplished with the Artura in Sport mode, not because I was doing anything particularly sporty, but because Sport mode forces the 120-degree V-6 to fire up, and your audience demands to hear it. This car had the $5100 sports exhaust system, which issues a properly exotic caterwaul that harmonizes with the rush of the turbos as you approach the 7500-rpm horsepower peak. The Artura will keep the engine running if you want to charge the battery (it's EPA rated at 11 miles of electric range), with one exception: the "engine conditioning" wait period immediately after you start the car. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver Upstaged by a V-12 at the hardware store. You can climb into the Artura and start driving immediately, but the engine won't fire up until it's done pre-warming the catalysts, which only takes about seven seconds but can sometimes seem like an eternity. Like, for instance, when I was leaving the driveway and a mom and two little boys stopped in their tracks on the sidewalk to watch the McLaren depart, and I whirred away with a 94-hp electric hum. Hopefully they kept looking long enough to hear the V-6 bark to life—this car makes sounds, I promise. Now, as much as I wanted to use the Artura for every chore possible, we're a family of four, and not every task is McLaren-appropriate. Like, for instance, buying some outdoor furniture. That's a truck trip, so the McLaren stayed parked—out of sight but not, evidently, out of mind, because when we got home we realized that the furniture that struck our fancy was almost the same shade of orange as the Artura. It probably doesn't require much psychoanalysis to deduce what happened there. Someday, when the kids ask why we have orange rocking chairs, I'll say, "Remember that Artura Spider?" Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver No idea why the orange furniture seemed appealing. The morning the Artura was to be picked up, I felt a keen sense of impending loss, so I went for a two-hour morning drive with my younger son, Finn. We did a few launch-control starts out in the boonies, visited a gas station on the far end of a fun, curvy road, and stopped by a place called Fort Apache that really deserves its own story. Fort Apache's proprietor, Dale, wasn't around, but we grabbed a few photos in front of the Crackhead Express, a city bus that used to have a huge crack pipe on the roof. At some point, Dale replaced that with a shark eating a water-skier, as one does, and added rows of toilets all around the vicinity. This is why you stop by Fort Apache now and then—you've got to keep up with the happenings. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver Once the Artura was cruelly wrenched from my clutches, I was forced to contemplate my return to life without 690 horsepower and flying buttresses. And in ginning up a pep talk for myself, I think I actually stumbled upon a truth that should have been obvious: All of these pointless little fun trips that I took in the McLaren would also have been fun in my Daihatsu Rocky, or our Gladiator. Maybe not so much in the Pacifica, but you get the idea. You don't need a $325,000 McLaren convertible to enjoy an aimless drive. But it sure helps. Ezra Dyer Senior Editor Ezra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. He's now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph. Those facts are mutually exclusive.
Car and Driver
17-05-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
Ezra Dyer: Subarus Are in My Blood Since Way Back
From the May/June 2025 issue of Car and Driver. Subarus and I go way back. I learned how to drive at age 11 on a GL wagon in the woods in Maine. Later, I built my own rally course out there and borrowed a cast-off Fast & Furious WRX STI to relive my childhood (but better). I've ridden with rally god Petter Solberg in Spain and driven the current WRX TR on the Targa Florio roads in Sicily. So, perhaps the 2024 WRX Premium that's now in my driveway was preordained. When I signed the papers at the dealership, I told my wife, "I guess this is my midlife-crisis car." She replied, "Oh, I wouldn't say that. You're probably past midlife." Honey, put down the actuarial tables and help me bolt on this cold-air intake. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver The WRX has always been a flaming bag of poop on the doorstep of civilized automotive society, and the current one, introduced for 2022, continues in that tradition. Slamming the door no longer sounds like a steel-drum concert, but the WRX still doesn't take itself too seriously. It's got a hood scoop, bulging fenders, and a manual hand brake. And nearly every WRX we saw on the dealer's lot had a manual transmission. On cold starts, it sounds like the mufflers fell off (yes, there are two, leading to quad tips). Granted, the redline is lower than it used to be, and there's no STI model, but the WRX still knows how to have fun. Instead of viewing it as a lesser STI, think of it as a Volkswagen GTI with a parole officer. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver On new cars, I am normally loath to mess with OEM hardware—my Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid's interior looks like Eddie Murphy's suit from Delirious, but it came that way from the factory. Nonetheless, about two days into WRX ownership, I was elbow-deep in the Subaru's engine bay, installing the aftermarket intake, which makes every upshift sound like Optimus Prime snoring into a floor fan. I can feel the brim of my hat getting flatter with each fluttery whoosh of the wastegate. Next, I bought a set of winter wheels and tires. Then, when I'd mounted only the fronts, I took a photo to troll a WRX Facebook group: "I figured I'd be smart before the snow gets here and get some Bridgestone Blizzaks. Gonna see how these work on the front, and then maybe I'll get two more for the back." Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver I don't know what's wrong with me—I crave acceptance, yet I'm compelled to act in ways that invite furious scorn. Which means the WRX is the perfect car for me, simultaneously responsible and immature. If the WRX had a frontal lobe, it would be about 85 percent developed. On the grown-up side of the ledger, the WRX has a four-cylinder engine that gets decent fuel economy. It's a good value, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety named it a Top Safety Pick. Sure-footed all-wheel drive is standard. The trunk is plenty big. The general public sees a practical little sedan, and that assessment is not inaccurate. But WRX owners look at the VB, as they call it, and see a blank canvas for automotive debauchery. Go watch the first six minutes of Baby Driver ( just look up "red WRX car chase"), and you'll understand the mentality. Not every WRX gets used as a getaway car, but any of them could be on any given day. The first time I took mine to a snowy parking lot, I found you can rip donuts with the stability control on—I'd yet to learn the two-step process for turning it off. But at some point, the car seems to say, "Okay, guess we're doing this," and pivots around the inside front tire like it's auditioning for the next Gymkhana video. I can't wait to find out what happens when I actually turn the system fully off. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver The WRX's dirty little secret is that it's not that quick in a straight line, with a 2022 model we tested requiring a brutal redline clutch dump to hit 60 mph in just 5.5 seconds. It's all chassis, this one—0.95 g on the skidpad and better braking performance than a BMW M3—but it's no threat to the Honda Civic Type R or the Toyota GR Corolla under the hood. But here again, Subaru made a shrewd call: You can drive your WRX and enjoy it until the warranty expires, at which point you can throw a tune on it and have an easy 350 horsepower. Or you can just void the warranty—YOLO, LOL. This is a surprisingly popular move in a community that views the Nitro Circus crew as life coaches. Personally, I'm going to wait awhile to do that. Hey, nobody ever said a midlife crisis had to be quick. Ezra Dyer Senior Editor Ezra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. He's now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph. Those facts are mutually exclusive.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Desert Power Wagons Builds a Mega Retro Truck on Top of a New Ram
Desert Power Wagons builds modern reproductions of the original Dodge Power Wagon with everything new but the styling. A recently finished truck uses a as a basis and even borrows its contemporary interior. Ram-based models such as this one from DPW start at $425,000. Desert Power Wagons will build you an old-look, new-tech take on the 1940s Dodge original in one of two ways: with a custom body on a custom chassis or using that same body atop modern Ram bits. Car and Driver senior editor Ezra Dyer came away impressed after some time with the all-custom option, which garnered more attention than some supercars and cost an exotic-rivaling $385,000. We're now getting a closer look at the other type of build, and it looks just as nicely finished. DPW recently completed an example in a very Power Wagon-appropriate red with black trim. It looks every bit the part on the outside, with the Method Racing wheels being the real giveaway that this truck isn't simply over-restored army surplus. Inside, however, the builder has neatly placed the guts of a modern heavy-duty Ram 2500—a Limited model, judging by the center-console lid. Everything looks like it was designed to fit, including the giant center touchscreen. The seats have been recovered in red-accented black leather with diamond quilting and crocodile-look embellishments, and the doors are trimmed to match. As Dyer explained in his piece, plopping the retro body on a new Ram necessitates a shallow bed. The latest creation is just as cleanly outfitted as the one he hauled kayaks in, with its oak floor stained black to match the rest of the truck's motif. A set of 40-inch tires fill the giant fenders, and there's a Carli suspension holding everything up and providing 9.5 inches of travel front and rear. This truck is powered by a Cummins diesel 6.7-liter inline-six making 385 horsepower and 930 pound-feet of torque, backed by a six-speed automatic. It's the same powerplant as in the one Dyer drove, the difference being it hasn't been wrested from its natural home in a Ram frame. Desert Power Wagons will also build you a truck with a Hemi V-8, and it offers two-door Power Wagons as well as a more wagon-like facsimile of the WC-53 Carryall. Like other modern reproductions, the Ram-based Desert Power Wagon carries a high price. The $425,000 ask is put into perspective somewhat when you consider that this giant took over 5000 hours to create. transparent size and mass don't come cheap, and neither does meticulous attention to detail. 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!
