12 of the Coolest Cadillacs of the Past 120 Years

California electric luxury vehicle manufacturer Lucid is launching a new performance subbrand called Sapphire. This might seem like an odd, even unnecessary move from a company that currently sells the Air Grand Touring Performance, a 1,050-hp sedan that runs the quarter mile in 10 seconds flat. But here we are. The first vehicle to fall under the Sapphire umbrella has three motors and will be known as—big surprise—the Air Sapphire.Lucid is being tight-lipped about the actual numbers, and things will undoubtedly change before the first Sapphire is delivered about 10 months from now, but here's what's being claimed: more than 1,200 horsepower, 0-60 mph in less than 2 seconds, 0-100 mph in less than 4 seconds, a sub-9-second quarter mile, and a top speed in excess of 200 mph. You read all that right. Gulp.How much above 1,200 horsepower are we talking? Seeing as how Lucid's already sold customers the 1,111-hp Air Dream Edition P, and the Sapphire has an extra motor, we're thinking much more than 1,200 horsepower. As stated, Lucid wouldn't give an exact figure; when pressed, chief engineer Eric Bach said the limiting factor in terms of output is the battery. After all, we know a single Lucid motor can produce up to 670 hp, and 670 times 3 is 2,010. However, even though the Air Sapphire has an "evolved" version of the brand's battery management software, it still cannot supply that much peak power. Bach also pointed out it's likely the number will continue to rise before the Air Sapphire is locked for production. If we had to guess the final number, 1,350 has a nice ring to it and makes some sense in the context of the performance claims. Alas, it's just a guess. Time will tell.Big Power—With Big RangeTime will also reveal what the Air Sapphire's range is. Lucid says it will still be "more than 400 miles" but less than the 446-mile range delivered by the Air Grand Touring Performance. Knowing the Tesla Model S Long Range is rated for 405 miles on a single charge, and knowing Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson the way we do, we can all but guarantee the Air Sapphire will beat the best Tesla has to offer. If Lucid's Sapphire claims are true, this thing would beat the Plaid in a straight line, too. In this case, 425 miles feels like a safe bet for range.Also, and although they're probably not to everyone's liking, the Air Sapphire comes with easy-to-install aero discs. These are wheel coverings—quite like what you see on the front wheels of the McLaren Speedtail—and vice president of design Derek Jenkins says they "add tens of miles of range." The idea is that you install them at your home, drive to the track, remove them, and then go tear up some pavement. We don't know whether the aero discs will be factored into the EPA's range rating.Adding a third motor obviously increases weight, although not as much as it could seeing as how a single motor weighs 163 pounds. However, the sapphire-blue-colored Megawatt Drive Unit (as Lucid is calling the dual-motor assembly that fits between the rear half shafts) weighs less than two motors on their own. The car's larger tires also add weight, as does the girthier body—the Air Sapphire's track grows by nearly an inch up front and almost 2 inches at the rear. That said, the wheels and carbon-ceramic brake calipers do shed a little. We'd guess, all in, the Air Sapphire will be 200 pounds heavier than a standard Air.  (The Grand Touring Performance weighed 5,256 pounds on our scales.)Stopping PowerIf your head is still spinning from the claimed acceleration and top speed numbers, know that the brakes on the Air Sapphire are pretty special. Up front you'll find massive, 16.5-inch Lucid-branded and Akebono-developed carbon-ceramic rotors gripped by 10-piston calipers. The rears measure 15.4 inches in diameter and utilize four-piston calipers. Also, the brake rotors "use a woven continuous carbon fiber rather than the discontinuous [chopped] carbon fiber" featured on most carbon braked road cars. The major benefit of a continuous carbon-fiber weave is three times more heat conductivity. Which, for a 2.5-plus-ton car capable of cresting 200 mph, is critical.Lucid maintains that the Air Sapphire, as well as future Sapphire products, will be more than just  a straight-line juggernaut. Rather, Sapphire vehicles will be fully developed performance cars. First and foremost, as the two motors that make up the Megawatt Drive aren't mechanically linked, the car has the capability to spin one motor (on the outside wheel) forward, while the other (inside wheel) begins regenerative braking. That latter part means the wheel effectively tries to spin backward, i.e., torque vectoring. Also, this next part is a little tricky, but let's say each rear motor makes on the order of 400 horsepower (to be clear, that's just a random figure, not an actual specification). When one motor goes into regen, the energy it was using is now free to flow into the forward-spinning motor, creating as much as 670 hp. Nuts, huh? Lucid claims this sort of two-motor torque vectoring is both quicker and more effective than rear-wheel steering.Special Rubber, Special SuspensionThe Air Sapphire comes on special Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires stamped with LM1 to signify Lucid Motors. Bach claims the unique compound is a special mix of low-rolling-resistance rubber and Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber. Sounds too good to be true, but here we are. The tires grow in width compared to those found on the GTP: 265/35-ZR20 front, and 295/30-ZR21 rear.The Air Sapphire's suspension is completely reworked, as well. Stiffer springs, stiffer bushings, new dampers, recalibrated anti-roll bars, reprogrammed stability and traction control, new power steering control, and new ABS logic are all part of the program. Sprint mode has been replaced with Sapphire mode, Lucid's equivalent of, say, Porsche's Sport Plus. Within Sapphire mode, there will be additional features such as a launch mode, a track mode, and maybe a time attack mode. The submodes are similar to how Rivian has different options within its Off-Road menu: All-Terrain, Rock Crawl, Drift, etc.Why Sapphire? Lucid explains that first and foremost it's a luxury brand. Sapphires are precious. Second, per international racing tradition, American cars are blue. (Think the Cobra Daytona Coupes at Le Mans in 1964.) Third, Lucid is a California car company, and the official state gem of California is … benitoite! Which would be a terrible name for anything. As it happens, people initially thought benitoite gems were sapphires because they are visually almost identical. So, Sapphire it is.As it happens, the Air Sapphire will only be available in Sapphire Blue. For now. We think. The car features a few more aerodynamic tricks than the standard Air, but it's hard to tell what they are from looking, especially as the Sapphire comes complete with Lucid's new Stealth treatment. The interior is basically the same, with added Sapphire Blue contrast stitching, as well as Alcantara-wrapped seats and steering wheel.How Much Is the Lucid Air Sapphire?How much is one of these? $249,000, says Lucid, about $70K more than an Air Grand Touring Performance. A small price to pay for the most powerful sedan in the world, no? Consider perhaps that a Bentley Flying Spur Mulliner W12 stickers for $309,000 and only makes a paltry 626 horsepower. When will you be able to purchase an Air Sapphire? Lucid says within days of reading this story and adds that deliveries are slated to start during the first half of 2023. When is MotorTrend going to test one? A little bit before that. Stay tuned. 

No filter. That's the best way to describe what it's like to drive the Morgan Super 3. In most modern vehicles, from a Porsche 911 GT3 to a Tesla Model 3 to a Ford F-150, you're protected by an invisible electronic army, digital shape shifters that seem to warp the laws of physics, changing not just your perception of the road, but also of your talent behind the wheel.Not in the Morgan Super 3. Driving the Super 3 is, essentially, driving the way it used to be, before stability control and lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control established their guardrails of ones and zeros, when the wind streamed through your hair and your elbows stuck out over the bodywork as you wrestled with the steering wheel through turns. It's raw, and it's real.Make the perfect heel-and-toe downshift in the Morgan Super 3, carve the perfect corner, and you know it's all down to you. Make a mistake, and you own it. No filter. And that's what makes the Morgan Super 3 such an irresistible little sports car.The three-wheeled Super 3 takes Morgan back to its roots. The first car this eccentric English automaker built 113 years ago was a three-wheeler, a single driven wheel at the back, and two up front for better steering and stability. Indeed, Morgan built nothing but three-wheelers until 1936 and didn't end full-time production of three-wheeled cars until 1952.The three-wheeler concept was revived in 2012 with the determinedly retro Three-Wheeler, which was powered by an air-cooled, American-made S&S V-twin motorcycle engine mounted transversely across the nose of the car, echoing the powertrain format and layout of Morgan three-wheelers built until 1939.The Super 3 might channel Morgan's origins, but it's anything but a retro car. Look past the number of wheels and lack of electronic frippery, and the rest of it is a thoroughly modern machine.The chassis is a superformed aluminum monocoque, Morgan's first ever. Bolted to the front of it is a large cast aluminum structure that cradles the engine and provides all the pickup points for the multilink front suspension. The single rear wheel is located by a twin-beam swingarm with coil-over shocks on either side, and the beetle-backed bodywork enveloping it is, yes, also superformed aluminum.The floorpan is a non-structural aluminium piece that allows for future powertrain upgrades, including full electric drive.Speaking of drive, the Super 3 rekindles a relationship with Ford Motor Company and Morgan three-wheelers dating back to the F-Series Three-Wheeler built between 1933 and 1952 that was powered by Ford side-valve engines. Under the stubby hood of the Super 3 is a naturally aspirated version of Ford's light and compact 1.5-liter, three-cylinder Dragon engine, used in turbocharged form in the Ford Bronco Sport, as well as the European-spec Ford Focus and Fiesta hatchbacks.The Ford engine drives the Super 3's single rear wheel through a Mazda Miata five-speed manual transmission connected to a bevel box and carbon-fiber-reinforced drive belt. The engine produces 118 hp at 6,500 rpm and 110 lb-ft of torque at 4,500 rpm, which makes the Morgan Super 3 the second-least-powerful car we've driven since the 89-hp Smart ForTwo. (The other car? The 2020 Toyota Yaris XLE, which pumps out 106 hp.) None holds a feeble candle in the wind to Mitsubishi's Mirage, the least powerful new car for sale in America today, which is equipped with a 78-hp 1.2-liter triple.But the headline output numbers don't tell the full story. Because the Morgan weighs little more than 1,400 pounds, those modest outputs deliver spritely performance. The company claims the Super 3 will scoot to 60 mph in about 7.0 seconds and hit a top speed of 130 mph.It feels much faster. That's because the Morgan Super 3 delivers such an elemental, visceral, almost heroic driving experience. It rides so low, you can simply reach over the side and touch the tarmac with your fingertips. It has no roof, no doors, and only vestigial aero screens to keep the bugs out of your teeth.You see the front wheels shimmy and shake and swivel and feel the feedback through the non-assisted steering. You sense millimetric lateral motions through your butt as the single rear tire rides the bumps and cambers the front wheels straddle.The little Ford triple pulls smoothly from low revs, but it really starts percolating from about 3,000 rpm and spins happily to 6,900 rpm, emitting a throaty bark from the optional sport exhaust that exits just past your right ear. The Mazda five-speed transmission is as snickety-snick quick and crisp through the ratios as ever, and the bottom-hinged pedals are beautifully weighted and aligned, perfect dancing partners for your feet.There's a lovely economy about the Morgan Super 3's controls, from the quick throw of the shifter and the short arc of the clutch pedal to the meaty feel of the brake pedal and the lively throttle response. The expressive steering initially feels low geared even though it's only 2.5 turns lock-to-lock. It's then you realize the Super 3 doesn't have a particularly tight turning circle—no bad thing when there are only three wheels on your wagon.It feels a little odd to drive quickly at first, the Morgan Super 3. But you quickly learn that's all part of the three-wheeler experience. The default handling mode is mild understeer, the bespoke, vintage-profile 130/90 Avon Speedmaster tires on the modernist 20-inch alloy wheels hardly offering the footprint to promote instant turn-in responsenor overcome the thrust from the rear wheel.That said, the Super 3 is unlike any four-wheel car when you do get on the power. You don't get the same sensations of roll and squat across the rear axle as you do in a four-wheel car because, obviously, there isn't one. Also, there's no differential, so the drive you do get is instant and unfettered. Get aggressive with the throttle, and you can easily spin up the rear wheel in slower corners—the 15-inch rim is shod with a 195/65 all-season tire—and the Super 3's tail will swing wide, but it all happens progressively.What's so bewitching about the Morgan Super 3 is that from 40 mph to 70 mph on any winding two-lane, you're totally engaged with the art and science of driving. It's a sports car, in the truest sense of the term.Yes, it's minimalist, but cleverly so. You learn to step over the side of the cockpit and brace your feet on an aluminum crossbar in front of the seat before sliding down behind the reach and rake steering wheel. The fixed seats are surprisingly comfortable, and the adjustable pedal box means even those over 6 feet can get comfortable behind the wheel.The interior has been designed to cope with the elements. The seats can be trimmed in water-resistant leather or a vegan technical fabric that's 100 percent waterproof and can be cleaned with bleach. The digital instruments, housed in cast aluminum pods at the center of the dash, along with all the switchgear, will withstand a quick blast from a jet wash.The rectangular "barge boards" along the side of the car that manage the airflow through the cooling radiators on either side of the engine can be fitted with a patented clip system—Morgan's first ever patent—that allows specially designed hard cases, waterproofed soft bags, or racks to be attached to them. The clips, and the hardware that attaches to them, will carry up to 44 pounds. A CNC-machined luggage rack that sits atop the Super 3's bug-tail is also available as an option.We can't buy any of the current four-wheeled Morgans in the U.S. The Super 3, however, is being homologated for sale here, and the first cars are scheduled to arrive stateside in January 2023, priced from $54,000 plus destination and taxes.That sounds pricey when you consider you can buy a well-specified Mazda Miata or one of the Toyota GR86/Subaru BRZ twins for under $40,000, cars that are more practical, sensible daily drivers. But the Morgan Super 3 doesn't play in that territory; it's a sports car that can steal the limelight from noisy, mega-horsepower supercars that are only marginally more practical, can't legally be driven any faster, and cost a whole lot more money.Ferraris and Lambos and Porsches are dime a dozen in places like Beverly Hills and South Beach and Houston and Long Island. But a Morgan Super 3? Now that'll turn heads.2023 Morgan Super 3 Specifications PRICE $55,500 (MT est) LAYOUT Front-engine, RWD, 2-pass, 0-door roadster ENGINE 1.5L/118-hp/110-lb-ft DOHC 12-valve I-3 TRANSMISSION 5-speed manual CURB WEIGHT 1430lb (MT est) WHEELBASE 99.7in L x W x H 141.0 x 72.8 x 44.6 in 0-60 MPH 7.0 sec (mfr) EPA FUEL ECON, CITY/HWY/COMB Not yet rated EPA RANGE (COMB) N/A ON SALE Now Show All

There's a very human instinct that, when faced with a problem, one must do something. Take action, lest we possibly lose control over the outcome. Toyota isn't human, it's a car company. But humans work there, and those people seemed concerned enough about customers' wholesale abandonment of full-size sedans in favor of SUVs, they decided to do something about it. The 2023 Toyota Crown is that something.Programmatically, at least, it makes sense: Full-size cars like the Avalon—which Toyota recently discontinued—might as well be invisible to most buyers because, well, they're low to the ground and conspicuously not SUVs. So, why not make a sedan taller, creating a swoopy four-door that is neither SUV nor car—with a trunk, no less? It's a curious choice that'd be bold if not for the ample historical evidence that such a vehicle isn't the genius white-space opportunity Toyota thinks it is. Remember AMC's Eagle Sedan, or Subaru's Legacy SUS (that's Sport Utility Sedan), or more recently, Volvo's S60 Cross Country? We didn't think so.Toyota insists we haven't quite been here before. Those other lifted, SUV-ish sedans (sedan-UVs?) were smaller midsizers, and weren't offered in the same fevered, SUV-crazed market crucible we're living through today. Oh, and this one's sporty! And a hybrid! Okay, maybe?The Crown nameplate is not new. In fact, it adorned the first Toyotas sold here in America back in the 1950s, before fading from this market in the early '70s. All in all, it's been through 15 generations overseas, where it has long been attached to premium Toyota sedans. (More recently, Toyota added an SUV version based on what we know as the Highlander, and it's expected that the Crown family in Japan will grow to include more body styles soon.) Consider the Crown name appropriate, then, for this up-market four-door, which, yes, essentially fills in for the now-dead Avalon in Toyota's U.S. lineup.To further differentiate the Crown from mere cars—or similarly sized offerings such as Nissan's Maxima or Dodge's Charger—all-wheel drive is standard. So is hybrid power. On the entry-level Crown XLE and midlevel Crown Limited, that hybrid power is delivered by the latest version of Toyota's 2.5-liter-four-cylinder-based gas-electric combination, similar to what you'd find in the RAV4 Hybrid crossover. Final power figures are forthcoming, but look for something in the neighborhood of 236 hp between the dual front electric motors and gas engine and the separate (third) electric motor that independently powers the rear axle. Toyota expects this combination will deliver up to 38 mpg combined.Step up to the range-topping Crown Platinum, and Toyota swaps in a hybrid powertrain geared toward sportiness over efficiency. In goes a new 2.4-liter turbo four-cylinder and six-speed automatic transmission combo with an electric motor standing in for the torque converter, plus a larger rear-axle motor. This layout mimics that on the new-generation Lexus RX's 500h F Sport trim, though instead of 367 hp it delivers 340, along with some 400-lb-ft of torque. The Platinum also has a Sport+ drive mode (XLE and Limited models top out at "Sport") and paddle shifters for its automatic transmission. (The XLE and Limited, like other Toyota hybrids, have a planetary-type continuously variable automatic transmission tuned for smoothness.) Fuel economy drops to a combined 28 mpg, perhaps a worthy tradeoff for the huge power.Toyota says the Crown generally and the Platinum specifically are tuned for sportiness, though both also prioritize quiet operation and comfort, with standard acoustic front glass and a thick noise-absorbing mat lining the firewall. If those sound like disparate and conflicting goals, well, consider them on-brand: You're talking about a vehicle that can't figure out if it's an SUV or a car. Internal strife seems to be its thing.The Crown itself is big. Think Avalon big. It is 194 inches long, 72.4 inches wide, 60.6 inches tall, and its wheelbase stretches 112.2 inches. Those dimensions are all just a hair smaller than those of the Avalon, save for the height, which is taller. (Toyota says the Crown sits 4 inches higher off the deck than a regular sedan, which we take to mean the Avalon.) The rear seat area is commodious, and even the Crown XLE rides on 19-inch wheels. In a Toyota first, the Platinum wears standard 21-inch rollers. Toyota also will offer a two-tone paint option on the Platinum only, which slathers the hood, roof, and decklid in black paint, in case the whole lifted-giant-sedan look weren't bold enough for you. Underneath, its platform isn't shared with other Toyotas; instead, its TNGA-K bones are closer to those of the new Lexus RX crossover.Without poking further fun at the Crown's oddball format, it has some presence in person. The shape is very sleek for a Toyota sedan—er, thing—and while the detailing is a bit strange, it's not an incohesive design. There is a full-width, thin taillight, along with slim headlights. A contrasting color panel on the lower door area breaks up the otherwise slab sides, and the mouthy grille is distinctive. Of course, nearly 100 percent of that mouth is not actually open; only a thin section below and nostrils on either side of a central front crash sensor are perforated to allow air into the nose.Every Crown is loaded with glamorous tech, including a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and 12.3-inch touchscreen running Toyota's latest Audio Multimedia software. This easier-to-use, snappier-looking interface first appeared on the 2022 Tundra pickup and is rapidly proliferating throughout Toyota's lineup. A thin row of climate control buttons live beneath this screen, as does a central volume knob. While XLE versions get a six-speaker audio system, Limited and Platinum models upgrade to an 11-speaker JBL setup.Other niceties include standard heated front seats (ventilated and heated up front and heated in back on Limited and up); Toyota's SofTex faux leather (Limited and up get real leather); and Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 (TSS) active safety features including blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and lane-keep assist. Limited and up also get full-LED headlights, parking sensors, and rain-sensing wipers. For the Platinum, Toyota also fits an electronically adaptive suspension, which can firm up or soften depending on which drive mode is selected.We poked around the interior of the new Crown and felt it was premium, but not quite Lexus level. There are some mainstream-feeling plastics on the door panels and center console, but the overall look is definitely more up-market than you'll find on any other Toyota. One glaring issue we found has nothing to do with quality, but practicality. For as large as the cabin is, the trunk—yes, there's a trunk, not a hatch like the fastback roof suggests—feels Corolla-sized at best, and with an odd opening and only a small pass-through to the cabin with the rear seats folded.Whether this combination of supposedly sporty (or at least powerful) hybrid-ness and tall sedan-ness is something buyers are looking for remains to be seen.  What we can say is that Toyota's will to do something for full-size sedans is as admirably human as it is abnormal. The logical thing for an automaker watching shoppers abandon one vehicle segment it no longer serves for another it has more than covered would be to step out of their way. Do nothing but hold up a big sign for the RAV4, Highlander, or Sequoia. Instead, this fall, the Crown will arrive in dealerships.