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jaguar f-pace Full OverviewProsOne of the last supercharged V-8sGreat balance between sport and luxuryComfortable seats ConsThirsty engineBad sun-glare from center consoleEdition 1988 upgrades too subtle for someIt's a warm Saturday afternoon in Paris and I've just been handed the keys to a 2023 Jaguar F-Pace SVR Edition 1988. "We'll pick it up in London on Tuesday morning," say the folks from Jaguar Special Vehicle Operations before waving goodbye.Racing HistoryThe Edition 1988 version of the Jaguar F-Pace SVR SUV celebrates an epic Jaguar win in the 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, a victory that ended a 31-year drought in the world's greatest sports car race for the storied British marque. The Edition 1988's deep purple-black paint—Midnight Amethyst is the color—with gold detailing pays homage to the purple and yellow highlights on the livery of the Jaguar XJR-9 that crossed the finish line in first place shortly after 3 p.m. local time on Sunday, June 12, 1988.The race had been a close-run event. Dutchman Jan Lammers, who had shared the No. 2 Jaguar with fellow Formula 1 driver Johnny Dumfries and promising newcomer Andy Wallace, began the final lap just 100 seconds ahead of the menacing Porsche 962 driven by talented all-rounder Klaus Ludwig, whose teammates were five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell and the fast and versatile Hans Stuck. Lammers held on, though, and Jaguar finally ended Porsche's seven-year Le Mans domination.That year was the second-last without any chicanes on the famous Mulsanne Straight to slow the cars. During the race, the slippery WM-P88 Peugeot driven by French driver Roger Dorchy hit 252 mph just before the gentle right-hand kink—now the site of the second chicane—that led into Mulsanne Corner.The Jaguar XJR-9 topped out at 245 mph. "They tell me you can overtake slower cars at the kink without lifting," Wallace told the U.K. 's Motor Sport magazine at the time, "but I'll practice that when the track's clear." This is the same Wallace who 30 years later would drive more than 600 miles at more than 245 mph while testing for his record-breaking 304-mph run in the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+. It's an intimidating place, Le Mans. Always has been. Always will be.On a Different TrackPhotographer Charlie Magee and I are not bound for Le Mans, however, despite the French circuit's obvious connection with the 2023 Jaguar F-Pace SVR Edition 1988. Instead, we head to the site of another French racetrack, now long-forgotten. A track that was arguably even more intimidating than La Sarthe, and that for 30 years many regarded as a rival to Germany's legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife: the Circuit de Charade, near Clermont-Ferrand in central France.Completed in 1958, the Circuit de Charade swooped and swept around two of the extinct volcanoes that provide the dramatic backdrop to the city where the Michelin brothers founded their eponymous tire company in 1889. The last race held on it was in September 1988, just three months after the XJR-9's epic Le Mans triumph.Charade packed 50 corners and more than 500 feet of elevation-change into a single, mad five-mile lap. "I don't know a more wonderful track," said Stirling Moss after winning a Formula 2 race there in August 1959. Indeed, "The circuit of Charade ranks among the best and sorts out those who can drive from those who are just trying to kid us," as the doyen of F1 reporters, Denis Jenkinson, wrote in 1972.And Jenks, who had ridden along with Moss to win the 1955 Mille Miglia, one of the greatest drives in motorsports history, was right; just four F1 grands prix were held at the Circuit de Charade between 1965 and 1972, and each was won by a driver who would finish the year as world champion: Jim Clark (1965), Jochen Rindt (1970), and Jackie Stewart (1969 and 1972).Jaguar's Stonking SUVIt's more than 250 miles from Paris to Clermont-Ferrand, most of it on smooth and beautifully maintained autoroute. Once clear of the mercifully light Saturday afternoon Paris traffic, the big Jaguar settles down to a relaxed 86-mph cruise, the engine turning just 2,000 rpm in eighth gear. It could go much faster, of course—its top speed is 178 mph—but the gendarmerie tends to vigilantly police the 80-mph speed limit, so discretion is the better part of valor.The 2023 Jaguar F-Pace SVR Edition 1988 is based on the revamped F-Pace SVR that appeared in early 2021, a car we regarded as a thoughtful rework of the 2016 original. Its charms are still evident as the Edition 1988 rolls through the French countryside.The Pivi Pro infotainment system consigns the clunky, miserable user experience of the old setup to the dumpster. The heated and cooled SVR performance seats not only look the part but prove notably comfortable, and the 542-hp supercharged V-8 under the hood growls agreeably when I punch the Jag away from the occasional toll booth.One gripe: The polished aluminum trim on the center console reflects eye-searing glare if the sun is in the wrong place.Smooth, and with power to spare, the F-Pace SVR Edition 1988 feels like a car that can cross continents in a single afternoon, a grand tourer made just that bit grander by the special paint and trim finishes that comprise the Edition 1988 package, and by its exclusivity.Jaguar will build just 394 examples. Why 394? That's the number of laps the Le Mans-winning XJR-9 covered in 1988, traveling the equivalent of 3,313.7 miles, roughly the distance from Miami to Seattle, in 24 hours. Also, the XJR-9's 245-mph top speed, expressed in the metric system, is … 394 kph.Playing With PowerThe original F-Pace SVR's engine made 502 lb-ft of torque, and the torque peak was trimmed in the lower gears to protect the transmission. As part of the 2021 SVR revamp, the eight-speed automatic was fitted with the more robust torque converter from the thuggish Jaguar XE SV Project 8, which allowed SVO engineers to bump peak torque to 516 lb-ft, available from 3,500 to 5,000 rpm.As such, there's just a fraction more immediacy in the way the F-Pace SVR Edition 1988 grunts out of corners, and crisper response from the transmission, even in the regular drive mode. Dynamic mode sharpens everything up nicely, and despite the forged aluminum 22-inch wheels and low-profile Pirelli P Zero tires—265/40 up front and 295/35 at the rear—the ride remains on the civilized side of firm.The small rotary controller to the right of the redesigned shifter makes switching between drive modes a simple, intuitive twirl of the fingertips, rather than the frustrating hunt-and-peck exercise on a screen that it was in the original SVR.On the RoadSunday morning dawns bright and sunny and we're on the road early, bound for Charade, the village after which the circuit was named. There's still a racetrack in the valley to the south of the village that uses part of the original layout. Now in private hands, it's closed today, but more than three miles of the legendary old Charade, still public road, is free to explore.Local enthusiasts had in 1954 proposed laying out a street circuit in Clermont-Ferrand itself. But the disaster at Le Mans in 1955, when barely two-and-a-half hours into the race Pierre Levegh's Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR careened into the crowd on the start-finish straight and killed 83 spectators, put paid to that idea. All racing in France was canceled.When racing resumed in 1956, 1950 Le Mans winner Louis Rosier was invited to work out the course for a potential circuit using public roads in the nearby volcanic mountains. At one point the proposed track ran six miles, but to avoid taking the race cars through the villages of Thèdes and Manson, the decision was made to build a new road from a corner near Thèdes, along a valley and up a hill to Charade.Most of that road is now part of the permanent circuit, but we find a concrete wall that was part of the original construction on the outside of an uphill right-hand curve on the public road across from the circuit entrance. Faded remnants of 1960s-style BP logos are still visible; ghosts in the sunshine.The road leads through the sleepy little village of Charade before plunging down the northern flank of the Puy de Charade, the larger of the two extinct volcanoes around which the old circuit looped. The corners just keep coming, sweeps and loops and kinks and hairpins, one after another, all the way down to the banked right-hander at Gravenois, the circuit's lowest point.It's here where, despite its fearsome reputation, the Circuit de Charade claimed its only life in a car race—and there's a Jaguar and Le Mans link.In the 1959 Formula 2 race won by Stirling Moss, British driver Ivor Bueb's BRP Cooper-Borgward ran wide on the exit of the banked turn, left the track, and hit the banking just beyond it. Bueb, who'd shared the winning Jaguar D-Type with Mike Hawthorn in the tragic 1955 Le Mans race, was thrown out of the car. He died of his injuries six days laterSuch was the constant onslaught wrought by Charade's topography that, during practice for the 1969 French Grand Prix, several drivers complained of motion sickness and opted to wear open-face helmets. The latter course of action was so they could throw up, claimed 1967 world champion Denny Hulme (who would qualify his McLaren-Ford on the front row here for the 1972 French Grand Prix at an average speed of more than 103 mph).Still a Blast TodayIt's easy to see why. Even at (sort of) road-legal speeds, Charade is relentless. In Dynamic mode and with 90 percent of the torque sent to the rear wheels, the Jaguar F-Pace SVR Edition 1988 punches hard out of the corners, its supercharged V-8 snarling like an angry lion. With grunt and grip to spare, the SVR Edition 1988 is happy to play when the mood takes you.Among the engineering changes in the 2021 SVR upgrade was the addition of an electric brake-booster. The shortened pedal travel and improved feel are invaluable on the long downhill stretches, especially into the decreasing-radius corners, as are the recalibrated steering and revised suspension bushings, all of which endow the big Jag with the agility and composure needed to cope with the constant directional changes.The last F1 race on a track without Armco safety railing was held at the Circuit de Charade in 1970. Armco was installed for the 1972 race, and sections of it still survive near the junction of the D5 and the D767 roads on the southern flank of the volcano. The D767 was cut along the shoulder of the Puy de Charade to join the road to Charade village near the old concrete wall, allowing the development of the shorter, safer, permanent Charade circuit.A section of the old track, now abandoned and overgrown, runs from the junction to the fence at the eastern end of the permanent circuit. And there, among the brambles, is 1972's Armco.My heroes raced within inches of it—Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Hulme, Jochen Rindt, Chris Amon, Jacky Ickx, Emerson Fittipaldi, Graham Hill, and Bell. I can almost hear the bark of the Ford Cosworth DFV V-8s that powered most of the field, as well as the howl of the Ferrari and Matra and BRM V-12s, and see the flashes of green and red and blue and white paint.That 1972 race also ended the career of a promising Austrian driver, blinded in the left eye on lap six by a hard chip of volcanic gravel that pierced his visor after it was kicked up by the car ahead.Helmut Marko is today better known as Red Bull Racing's Chief Advisor and Head of Driver Development, but back then he was himself no small talent behind the wheel. A few weeks earlier, he'd set the lap record on the 45-mile-long Targa Florio circuit in an Alfa Romeo T33 sports car—the day before he qualified his BRM F1 car here in sixth.In the EndRosier never got to see the Circuit de Charade in action; he was killed in a race at Montlhéry in 1956. But on Monday, after we'd been given access to the permanent circuit—sadly only to look at, not drive on—we visit his memorial at Rosier corner.The modern Circuit de Charade channels the original's spirit. That's hardly surprising given the fact the 1.7 miles between the Epingle de Champeaux and Virage du Manson corners is the original. Overall, the track today has 18 corners on a 2.5-mile lap, and elevation change of 170 feet.The modern Charade has Lamborghini Huracán Tecnica, Ferrari 296 GTB, and Porsche 911 GT3 written all over it. Sadly, its location, tucked away in central France—and the fact there's not a lot of margin for error if you make a mistake—means it's unlikely any automaker will be brave enough to host a press launch here. Pity.It's now 1 p.m. and we have a Eurotunnel booking for tonight. Calais is more than 450 miles away. Time to point the 2023 Jaguar F-Pace SVR Edition 1988 north and head for the coast. Time for some more grand touring.Looks good! More details?2023 Jaguar F-Pace SVR Edition 1988 PRICE $111,150 LAYOUT Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV ENGINE 5.0L/542-hp/516-lb-ft DOHC 32-valve supercharged V-8 TRANSMISSION 8-speed auto CURB WEIGHT 4700lb (mfr) WHEELBASE 113.1 in L x W x H 187.5 x 77.1 x 65.7 in 0-60 MPH 3.8 sec (mfr) EPA FUEL ECON, CITY/HWY/COMB 15/22/18 ENERGY CONSUMPTION, CITY/HWY 225/153kW-hrs/100 miles CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB 1.11 lb/mile ON SALE Now Show All

ford bronco Full OverviewProsDune-bashing, mud-splashing, rock-crawling funShockingly good road mannersUnfazed by potholes and frost heaves ConsHalf-ton weight gainCould have had a V-8Slow steering makes for busy handsFrom the driver's seat of the 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor, a pond looks like a puddle, a boulder field looks like a gravel road, and a Mitsubishi Mirage looks like a speed bump. This $70,095 off-road colossus—it's 85.7 inches wide and has 37-inch-tall tires—bounds across the gnarliest terrain and towers over traffic with an air of invincibility that shrinks everything in its path. Objects in the windshield are larger than they appear when you're riding this high, literally and metaphorically.It doesn't take long for this Raptor's immense capability to go to your head. In the same way that the best Porsches make drivers into heroes, the Bronco Raptor turns the person behind the wheel into a villain—reckless, all powerful, above the law. Driving a Bronco Raptor means fighting an incessant urge to straight-line every roundabout. You'll fantasize about blasting by gridlock traffic on the shoulder and turning every open space you pass into an off-road park.Roads? Where We're Going, We Don't Need RoadsTo keep those anti-social and imprisonable impulses at bay, it's important to regularly exercise the baddest Bronco in its natural habitat, which happens to be wherever civilization isn't. Ford has built the Raptor brand around high-speed desert-running antics, and the Bronco abides with big-barrel Fox Racing dampers calming the suspension as it strokes through up to 13 inches of travel in the front and 14 in the rear. Electronically adjustable valving adapts to whatever happens to be pummeling the suspension at any given moment, while internal bypasses cushion the biggest hits.Translation: The harder and faster you drive, the less the Bronco Raptor is fazed by the terrain. In its signature Baja mode, this SUV combines sports-car reflexes with the compliance of a bounce house. The 10-speed automatic cracks off up- and downshifts with perfect timing and the BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 tires find traction where there is none, all while bombing over terrain that would fold a Honda in half.This Bronco isn't a one-trick pony, though. It will just as eagerly and expertly pick its way through a boulder-strewn ravine with the 360-degree camera system putting your spotter out of a job. It can wade into a waist-deep swamp and negotiate a mud-slicked trail (as long as those washtub fenders fit between the trees). There's a dizzying amount of adjustability in the Raptor's four exhaust modes, three steering settings, four damper calibrations, locking front and rear differentials, front anti-roll-bar disconnect, and the transfer case that offers rear-wheel drive, high-range four-wheel drive, or low-range four-wheel drive. Trying to tune all that via buttons on the steering wheel, atop the dash, and on the center console proves tedious, but Ford has smartly included shortcuts to several useful combinations via the preset GOAT modes (Normal, Off-Road, Rock Crawl, Baja, Sport, Tow/Haul, Slippery) and a customizable MyMode.Those Road Manners Aren't Shabby, EitherThe Bronco Raptor's 0.67 g of lateral grip and 160-foot 60-mph stopping distance are atrocious by any objective measure of on-road performance, but those numbers bury the subjective excellence of how this truck steers, handles, and rides when it returns to the civilized, asphalt world. Thanks to the impossibly wide stance, the body doesn't roll in corners so much as it squats over the outside wheels, creating a surprising sense of stability.The heavy hiking boots pound the pavement and send tremors into the body at city speeds, but just as it does off road, the Raptor becomes supple—even graceful—the faster you go. On the highway, it floats over expansion joints and potholes, making it the perfect vehicle for traversing our pre-apocalyptic infrastructure in comfort and without fear of damaging a tire.At 3.2 turns lock-to-lock, the steering feels slow when you're sliding the Raptor sideways on dirt or hustling down a tight two-lane. Nevertheless, the steering wheel would be at home in a Mazda Miata, both for the way its sculpted rim fits your hands and its exacting precision.How Quick Is the Ford Bronco Raptor?If there's a weak spot in the Raptor's game, it's the engine. The twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 raises output by 103 horsepower and 30 lb-ft of torque compared to the 2.7-liter unit available on lesser Broncos. Yet you wouldn't guess it's packing 418 horsepower from the driver's seat or looking at the numbers. That's because this leviathan weighs 5,778 pounds, or nearly 1,000 more than the V-6-powered Bronco Outer Banks we tested last year. The Raptor hides that weight well in cornering, but it's palpable under acceleration.The Raptor covered 0-60 mph in 6.3 seconds and cleared the quarter mile in 14.9 seconds in MotorTrend testing, both just 0.3 second quicker than the Outer Banks model. That's significantly slower than we originally predicted and worse than what the Raptor's weight-to-power ratio suggests it should be capable of. That also places it two whole seconds behind its chief rival, the 470-hp Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392. Yet no matter what we tried at the track, the Raptor returned consistently sluggish runs.The engine also fails to deliver on this truck's nickname, "Braptor." It never so much as blips, blats, rips, snorts, burbles, chortles, barks, or braps. The adjustable exhaust is performative theater, merely amplifying the engine's thrum at part-throttle and low rpm. At full throttle in any mode, the V-6 sounds too flat, too muffled, and too high-pitched for a truck this rowdy.The SUV That Conquers AllIn a motoring world overrun with Wranglers and 4Runners, the Bronco Raptor still stands out as one of a kind. With its appetite for high-speed hooning, its composure on paved roads, and its ability to tackle any type of terrain, it's as close as you'll come to finding a truck that will drive anywhere and over anything. Try to resist the urge.Looks good! More details?2022 Ford Bronco Raptor Specifications BASE PRICE $70,095 PRICE AS TESTED $78,750 VEHICLE LAYOUT Front-engine, 4WD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV ENGINE 3.0L Twin-turbo direct-injected DOHC 24-valve 60-degree V-6 POWER (SAE NET) 418 hp @ 5,750 rpm TORQUE (SAE NET) 440 lb-ft @ 2,750 rpm TRANSMISSION 10-speed automatic CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST) 5,778 lb (55/45%) WHEELBASE 116.5 in LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT 191.0 x 85.7 x 77.8 in 0-60 MPH 6.3 sec QUARTER MILE 14.9 sec @ 91.0 mph BRAKING, 60-0 MPH 160 ft LATERAL ACCELERATION 0.67 g (avg) EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON 15/16/15 mpg EPA RANGE, COMB 318 miles ON SALE Now Show All

ford f-150-lightning Full OverviewProsBig, clear screenNavigation with charging stations180-degree lie-flat seat backs ConsBorrows F-150's cabinNot as nice as a Rivian's interiorThe Ford F-150 has been the bestselling truck in America for decades, but its interior hasn't stood out much. And when the latest Ram 1500 made its debut, it became the new benchmark not only because of the way it drove, but also because of the cabin's attention to detail. Although pickup trucks are generally known for being work vehicles, Ram took its truck to the next level. And even though a new F-150 generation arrived for 2021, Ford kept most of its interior the same. However, with the introduction of the F-150 Lightning, Ford has finally upgraded its cabin experience.Similar but BetterThe 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning was made for existing F-150 customers interested in going electric. So there are many similarities between the two models, and just like its exterior design, the Lightning's interior comes straight from the regular F-150. There's no learning curve; everything is exactly where it's supposed to be, and you can still fold down the shifter and open the center console to set up your workstation.What's better, though, is the massive 15.5-inch screen that's straight out of the Ford Mustang Mach-E. Although we aren't usually fans of "soft" virtual buttons, Ford's screen makes it easy to adjust the temperature or fan speed and hop between menus. Everything is displayed via cool graphics, and the computing processor works quickly. What's more, the navigation shows all the electric charging stations nearby and will tell you where to stop and for how long, depending on your state of charge. It's not as useful as Tesla's supercharger map, which lets you know how many superchargers are available in real time, but it displays each station's brand and kilowatt-hour rating.The vertical display will also wow your friends; it takes up the entire center dashboard, upping the technology and in-cabin experience.Our 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat example came with a denim-like trim on certain parts of its door panels and dashboard, and it looked premium and different from the regular F-150. Other textured plastics around the cabin don't feel as nice as the materials inside the Rivian R1T, but it's not a huge drawback, as the rest of the truck feels fancy.Time to RelaxFord made some changes to the driver's and front passenger's seats, allowing them to recline 180 degrees so you can nap while the truck charges. This is a clever feature, but it's not the most comfortable position—your knees still have to be bent, and you have to lift the rear seats to get the full 180-degree experience. Still, it's nice to have and something we're sure some folks will use. (And, hey, why not take a nap when waiting at a public charger?) Overall, the seats are comfortable, supportive, and wide, should you want to turn on your side when catching some Zs.Just like the regular F-150, there's plenty of space in the back with lots of headroom and legroom for rear passengers. Heck, there's even more space than in a Mercedes-Benz S-Class.Should I Buy a 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning? We've already compared a 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning with a 2022 Rivian R1T, and although the competition was incredibly close, the F-150 Lightning claimed the win. Although these pickup trucks live in different segments, we found more value in the F-150. But it's worth noting that as software and over-the-air updates play a more important role in the EV market and in the vehicles' performance in the future, our comparison result could flip.All in all, the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning's in-cabin experience is superior when compared to the regular F-150, and we appreciate the upgrades Ford's designers delivered. So if you're thinking of purchasing an F-150 soon, the Lightning is your best option and certainly worth taking a long look at.Looks good! More details?