Godzilla Has Been Revised Again

Nissan adds civilization to its rocket science.

How does the saying go? Another year, another GT-R update? Nissan has tweaked its formidable twin-turbocharged, all-wheel-drive street monsterpretty much every year since the car was introduced for 2009. This year is no different, and hot on the heels of the upgraded 2014 GT-R comes the 2015 iteration, which makes its debut at the 2013 Tokyo auto show. There are no power upgrades, as there have been in the past, but Nissan has put some effort toward making the GT-R more livable day-to-day.

In the past, Nissan’s GT-R has drawn flak from some top-drawer hot shoes for being too robotic, its computers a bit too eager in anticipating and even pre-empting driver inputs at sub-light-speeds. But that lament is relevant only to the very few capable of taking this car to its absolute (and very high) limits. Most of us operate well below the threshold of absolutes, particularly in daily driving. And from that point of view there has been persistent murmuring about the GT-R’s rather unforgiving suspension tuning. It’s great on a smooth road circuit, but it also is often punishing on public paving subjected to weather and neglect, where stiff springs and granitic bushings communicate every surface irregularity thicker than a dime directly to the occupants’ buttocks. Mix in the GT-R’s mechanical cacophony of engine and driveline sounds, and the Nissan can give the impression that it doesn’t deserve the “GT” portion of its name.

Think Dr. Scholl’s Inserts—For Your GT-R

The 2015 GT-R addresses those unfavorable murmurs with revised valving in the electronically controlled shocks, updated spring rates, tweaked bushings, and a new rear anti-roll bar. It all adds up to what Nissan claims is a little more suspension compliance. Of course, more compliance doesn’t necessarily mean diminished cornering. On patchwork-quilt pavement ultra-stiff suspension tuning can cause the tires to lose contact with the road, an unsettling phenomenon when transitions are coming fast on a winding road.

Nissan might have gone for a softer suspension tune, but it isn’t going totally soft on the GT-R; there’s a new tire package consisting of 20-inch Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT tires measuring 255/40 up front and 265/35 at the rear that have stiffer sidewalls than before. This reduces flex during hard cornering, and overall, the company says the tire and suspension changes add up to a “more sophisticated ride and better road holding.” And let’s not forget the other Godzilla in the room, the 2015 GT-R NISMO, whose ridiculous performance allows for the civilizing of the base model without sacrificing the car’s hard-core image.

Back on the regular model, engineering adjustments also extend to the brake system, which has been recalibrated for more linear response in everyday driving, and the steering, which is retuned for reduced effort at low speeds.

Cosmetic updates are modest, the most visible being a new headlight package with high-intensity LEDs, augmented by smaller LED accents. The headlights are adaptive, adjusting for angle during cornering, and also for speed, throwing light farther down the road as the GT-R’s forward progress intensifies. Otherwise, there’s a new option package consisting of a carbon-fiber rear wing and decklid, and Nissan has added a new color dubbed “Gold Flake Red Pearl.” This color, as you’d expect, does not occur in nature, and Nissan’s description for the hue makes it sound like red paint mixed with Goldslick vodka. The paint won’t get you drunk, but it sounds like it dazzles in sunlight. Inside, there are only minor trim changes.

The more civilized GT-R goes on sale in Japan December 2, but won’t arrive in the U.S. until early next year. Although we’ll hold off on final judgment until we drive one, it would seem Nissan’s fiddling has produced a better GT-R. With a more compliant suspension, real-world back-road drivability should improve, and who can argue with increased comfort without a major sacrifice in performance? After all, most of its previous year-to-year tweaks have successfully addressed shortcomings. For those who want to have their 545-hp supercar cake and drive it every day, this is good news. View Photo Gallery

CarandDriver

The New 2015 Ford Mustang is Out.

After 49 years, you would think Ford would have figured out the formula for designing a newMustang. Yet every fresh generation of the car since the '70s has drawn great concern from the fan base — and occasionally, those fears came true. This time around, Ford's corporate rule of building models for global consumption led to the most worry; would the new 'Stang lose some of its essential character while chasing new buyers?

Here's the answer: Yes, there will be right-hand-drive Mustangs, although they'll be a small portion of total output from the Flat Rock, Mich., factory. Yes, there's a new turbo four-cylinder engine option that will hearken back to the SVO days of the '80s. And the rear suspension finally joins the 21st century, dropping the cheap solid rear axle setup as pioneered by the Model T.

But Ford engineers and designers say their overarching goal with the 2015 Mustang was to preserve all the traits that have made the name a mainstay of American roads and drag strips for five decades — not remake the formula for audiences abroad.

"We designed this Mustang to be a Mustang, to be the next generation update of everything important, and then take it global," Dave Pericak, Ford Mustang chief engineer, told Yahoo. "We didn't decide to do a global Mustang, because that would be a different product."

Under development since 2009, the biggest change comes from the outside, where the new styling reflects the arrival of an all-new chassis. Despite selling 9 million copies, the Mustang has always been something of a corporate beggar within Ford, relying on parts from other models in a bid to stay affordable. For the first time, Ford gave the Mustang its own unique chassis, although rumors around Dearborn suggest it could eventually spawn a Lincoln sedan to shoulder some overhead costs.

The new Mustang rides lower to the ground, and takes a few cues from other Fords, but the thick grille, long roof slope to a short trunklid and sequential taillights all maintain the Mustang look. Inside, the changes seem less dramatic — a touch more brightwork, a standard push-button start, and better materials, but still a 2+2 seater with a fighter-like cockpit.

"We were trying to get that right mix of Mustang-ness versus modernity," said Moray Callum, Ford's chief of design. "People that know it as a Mustang will recognize it instantly, and those that don't will still see it as a modern sports car."

Under the hood will rest one of three engines, starting with a revised version of the Coyote 5-liter V-8 which Ford says will produce more than the current model's 420 hp. and 396 lb.-ft. of torque. The base 305-hp, 3.7-liter V-6 also gets a minor tweak, but is mostly unchanged. The real news: an optional 2.3-liter EcoBoost turbo four-cylinder, which will be a mid-level engine in the United States and the base engine overseas, offering at least 305 hp and 300 lb.-ft. of torque, with the best fuel economy of any setup.

While Ford left the choice of six-speed automatic or manual transmission unchanged, it altered everything else about how that power reaches the road. The solid rear axle that Mustang loyalists so staunchly defended over the years that paid dividends at the drag strip while turning every neighborhood speed bump into a launching pad has finally given way to a modern, integral-link independent rear suspension. That allows bigger stock tires, up to a 9.5-inch wide rear wheel on the top GT. Brake discs grow as well, with up to 15-inch discs on the front.

Most of those changes would improve everyday performance, but as expected the Mustang gets better software as well. Launch control trickles down from the GT500 into the regular GT, which also gets a multi-mode driving system with settings for bad weather, normal driving and track days. All of this tech will haul less weight — although Pericak would not confirm that the 'Stang had lost as much as 200 lbs. in the new form, saying Ford was still making final adjustments before production begins.

And while Pericak wouldn't disclose any hard performance data, he did say the engineers not only used the Mustang Boss 302 as a handling benchmark for the new car, but also a few models typically not compared with a Mustang, like the Porsche 911. "We set some pretty high targets," he said.

Those targets may help the Mustang with buyers in China and Europe, where Ford will market the car for the first time. But it's in the United States, and against a revived Chevy Camaro, where the new Mustang will be judged most when it arrives in dealers sometime next autumn — and based on everything shown so far, the race between pony cars will be as close as ever.

Yahoo