Taking a Nap with Natalie Portman: Breaking in our Long-Term Nissan GT-R

Should you be fortunate enough to be passed by a Lamborghini Aventador at speed, the exhaust note alone will practically shake the ground, though that may just be the shiver it sends down your spine. The Ferrari 458 was the only one of our 2011 Best Driver’s Car participants to send harmonic proof of its existence to the pits, regardless of what turn it was devouring at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Seeing an Audi R8 5.2 launch from a standstill defies all preconceived notions of what 3900 pounds of metal can look like when not moving, then moving very, very quickly. From behind the lens at Motor Trend, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to photograph some of the most magnificent machines in existence. But more often than not, our busy schedules and all-too-brief time with the cars usually only allows me time to admire them through my viewfinder whilst the writer-types reap the bulk of the seat time. Imagine my delight then when new boss man Ed(itor-in-Chief) Loh texted me on a lazy Super Bowl Sunday afternoon, “u want gtr?”
Ed was talking about our so-new-it’s-still-practically-hermetically-sealed long-term 2013 Nissan GT-R, and yes, I did want it. The timing could not have been better. I care as much about the Super Bowl as much as HBO cares about horses, and since I’m mostly alone in that sentiment, the roads would practically be empty. Just me, the road, and the car that reigns supreme in the eyes of the PlayStation Generation from which I hail. This all seemed a little too good to be true, and something called a break-in period proved that it was.
Our Pearl White GT-R Black Edition was still a long way from the 1200-mile odometer reading that dictates when it’s ready to be driven hard. The 368 miles on the clock were a digital stop sign that translated to: No rapid acceleration in gears 1-3, don’t go over 3500 RPM, no hard or unnecessary accelerating or cornering, and drive in Comfort mode for 900 more miles. So in the third-fastest-accelerating production car for sale to the general public, I couldn’t launch harder than I would in a Nissan Leaf. The old Nissan GT-R was capable of a Bugatti Veyron-besting, very God(zilla)-like 1.05 lateral g in our figure-eight testing, and I couldn’t take it past speeds that would conjure up more lateral g than falling out of a chair. In short, it would be like climbing into bed with Natalie Portman, only to find she is fast asleep and not to be disturbed. An awesome experience, sure, but so much for taking that ride I’ve really been longing for… in the car, I mean.

A Late Boomer and Friends Try Out the Acura ILX

I was born in the penultimate year of the baby-boom era, so I realize my impressions of the 2013 Acura ILX are not germane. This Acura is designed to appeal to hip faux-hawked and tattooed Gen Y-ers who have somehow managed to get themselves off the couch and out of the coffee shop long enough to amass the kind of wealth and income it takes to lay down roughly 30-large on a car. So when it came time to pair up for the ride-n-drive, I latched on to the youngest guy in the room — 22-year-old Joe Gustafson of Bullz-eye.com (full disclosure — Joe’s hair is normal, and no tattoos show, wearing normal clothes).
Right off the bat, Joe expressed reservations over the car’s pleasant but ho-hum exterior design. His generation likes to draw some attention with its wheels (and hairdos and body art, presumably), and this one didn’t seem to be drawing any. Not that it matters, but I’m right there with him on that assessment. The interior’s buttony center-stack and traditional forms didn’t move our gee-whiz meters much either — especially when rendered in monotone black. More manufacturers are taking risks with interior design, and cars aimed at youthful audiences are the canvasses on which to try such new things (see the 2013 Dodge Dart). This made us wonder if the youth-marketing target was baked in from the start or added on during the car’s roll-out.
We started out in the ILX Hybrid and were both disappointed in the way the Acura’s engine impersonated some far less happy mill, moaning under the whip. The only real hyper-miler coaching aid provided is a little green ball display between the gauges, whose diameter varies with pedal position — great big for good-boy coasting, a virtual pinpoint when at full moan. Even with the much-ballyhooed extra sound deadening and dual-rate amplitude-sensitive shocks, small inputs generated a loud report that may have tricked our ears into thinking the car rode rougher than it did. Our test car included the $5500 tech package (heated leather seats, a bunch of amenities, plus navigation and the ELS stereo), which brings the price to $35,295. That struck Joe as a total no-sale. Me too.

Wall to Wall: It’s a Tough Job, but Somebody Has to Do It

From the front cover to the last page, our June 2012 issue of Motor Trend is stuffed with the kinds of cars whose pictures kids would tear out of magazines and pin to the wall, back when kids read magazines and pinned actual pictures onto real walls.
It wasn’t easy to capture all the exotic hardware you’ll find throughout this issue. We sent crews out of town, across the country, and around the world to gather photos, video, numbers, and driving impressions. We logged hundreds of hours in the air, on the set, and behind the wheel. Were all the early call times, 14-hour days, connecting flights, and time away from loved ones worth it?

Well, you could ask John Carey, who traveled all the way down to Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to be teased with a drive of the World’s Fastest Roadster. You could question Paul Horrell, who jetted to Nardo, Italy, to bear witness to the birth of Porsche’s next-generation supercar. Nate Martinez and Mike Shaffer have an answer as well. They dropped everything to sprint to across the country to catch five hours with a Motor Trend exclusive: BMW’s all-new Spyder concept.
You could ask every member of the crew involved with the hectic, epic week that brought the stunning new McLaren MP4-12C to our office, alongside a Porsche 911 Turbo S and Nissan GT-R. The most mind-bending part of that week wasn’t the incredible numbers all three put down at the test track, but how they looked standing stock still, in a rundown warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, next to the blood-red reptile that dominates this month’s cover.
Scott Evans can tell you all about it. He went on a 10-day sports car bender that started at the 2012 Geneva auto show, where he and I (along with Angus MacKenzie and Todd Lassa) witnessed the official reveals of the world’s fastest roadster and the most powerful Ferrari ever produced. After that, Evans jetted to the South of France to fling around the all-new Porsche Boxster. The day following his return, he and Jonny Lieberman met up to carve some canyons in the aforementioned 911 and GT-R. The very next day, he was back on a plane to the Motor City for details on the Viper. Yeah, whew!

Is Top-Down Motoring Enjoyable in the 4500-pound 2013 BMW M6?

Two of the great things about living in Southern California — as we often point out — are the plethora of easily accessible driving roads and weather almost always suitable for taking advantage of them. In a way, it almost takes some specialness out of the exercise of ‘going for a drive’ to the point that it takes a special car for me to get off my ass and spend part of my weekend up in the mountains. A car like the 560-horsepower BMW M6 Convertible.
The operative word here is convertible. Were it the M6 coupe, I probably would have stayed home or instead taken my motorcycle out for a quick run up Angeles Crest Highway. Why? Because the new M6 is fat. Yes, BMW shoved a twin-turbo V-8 good for the aforementioned 560 horses and 500 lb-ft of torque, but the laws of physics are what they are. Automakers may be able to bend them when it comes to performance test results — this M6 can run a proper-quick 3.9-second 0-60 mph sprint, dust off the quarter mile in just 12.3 seconds, hold an impressive 0.98 g on the skidpad — but when it comes to the driving experience, 4500 lbs is 4500 lbs. That said, open-top motoring is open-top motoring and it’s not something I get to do that often, so off I went.
My final destination was probably my favorite road in Southern California, Route 33 north of Ojai. My first, destination, however, was Malibu’s Decker Canyon Road. The autocross-tight road proved a challenge for the big BMW, and its often oddly-cambered pavement sent the Bimmer’s traction control haywire in many a turn (I wasn’t adventurous or foolish enough to turn it off), but it’s hard to focus on that when your view of the scenic mountains is only obstructed by the A pillars and the temperature is, well, absolutely perfect for driving around with your top off — especially since, unlike on a motorcycle, you’re not spending most of your energy concentrating on your continued survival and can actually take a moment here and there to enjoy said scenery.
Decker dumps you into the 101 in the suburban city of Thousand Oaks. From there, you have the choice of a direct or highly indirect route to get to Ojai. The direct route involves the 101, the indirect involves Highway 23 and some rural backroads. Given I had plenty of time, I went with Option B, though the main advantage of these is that they’re not the freeway. The fun started once I got past Ojai’s tourist district and to Highway 33 proper. Well, it would have been if the M6 were a fun car.