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Cover Story - R & T Readers' Choice Awards: The Best Car 2005 (Twenty-seven gleaming new cars, everything from the Ford Mustang GT to the sixth-generation Chevrolet Corvette, but only one vote that counts - yours. Read, ponder and cast your ballot) Road Tests - Dodge Magnum RT (With the hubris of a Hemi V-8, a nose of an aging heavyweight, the hot-rod attitude and the utility of a sporting wagon roofline, the Magnum RT is difficult to classify. But it sure is fun); Mercedes-Benz SLK350 (What was once the girlie-man of premium 2-seat roadsters now boasts a stronger heart (try 268 bhp), impressive pecs (a look that's more Mini SL than Minnie Deiver) and can lift heavy stuff); Audi S4 vs. Mercedes-Benz C55 AMG (Like a dozen circus clowns piling into a tiny car, the wizards from Ingolstadt and Sindelfingen have rammed suitable V-8's into puny engine bays. The result: Two freakishly fast 4-doors) First Drives - Pontiac G6 (Newly aerodynamic and thankfully devoid of ribbed body panels, the G6 is the 4-door Lutz-ordained replacement for the Grand Am. Starting at $21,300 it's priced right, but is that enough?); Buick LaCrosse ("Quietly handsome style" is a fair summation of this Regal / Century replacement that impresses with detail refinement, a smooth ride and a choice of two V-6s, with or without pushrods); Ford Mustang GT (It's back to the future with Ford's new Mustang whose styling recalls the '68 Fastback, and whose 300-bhp sohc 24-valve V-8 harks back to the muscle car's glory days, all for about $25,000); Acura RSX Type-S (Have its looks changed? Yes, look close. Die-hard Acura fans will care more about the increased chassis rigidty, 10 extra horsepower and suspension with additional negative camber) Features - Salon: Lamborghini Countach LP 400 (The world hadn't seen anything like it before, and hasn't since. The mid-engine razor-edge Countach literally defined the exotic-car genre, thanks to Messrs Stanzani, Gandini and Wallace); Porsche Rennsport Reunion II (They were all there, legends llike Icxx, Gurney, Haywood and Bell, at Daytona International Speedway, celebrating one of the most successful marques in motorsports); Long-Term Test (The Prius, that beeper!, the Mini, a keeper, the Mazda, a puncture; the Z-car, no worries at this juncture. The G35x, hard steering, the Evo, endearing, the Jag? On tip-in it's truly a leaper); Ford GT At Le Mans (Reunited and it feels so good. Please excuse the reference to the cheesy 1970s song, but this is all about the Ford GT returning to Le Mans where its predecessors stayed the Ferraris in 1966) Competition - Fast Times At Formula SAE (Most of us doodled cars in our study-hall notebooks, but here's a competition where college students actually design, build and race them. Then we entered the top five to R & T's own events) Technical - Keep 'Em Running - And Winning ("Plug 'n Play" is a bit of a catchphrase for computer accessories, but who would have imagined a 6-minute transmission swap at Le Mans in 2000? A look at making race cars quick to fix) Columns - On The Road: Road & Track Wants You! (Just who is Chad, and why is he hanging? It's one of the great unsolved mysteries of the democratic process. But we guarantee no recount or foul play in the Road & Track Readers Choice vote); Side Glances: Gullwings And The Ghosts Of Sindlefingen (Tales of automotive and artistic greatness coming together - a famous Life magazine photographer, Pablo Picasso and a black 300SL Gullwing. Turns out that Claude, Pablo's son, is a card-carrying car guy); Ampersand (A fascinating array of alphanumerics: MR Four-Twelve (Chrysler's car show at Laguna Seca), F430 (new Ferrari at Paris show), LR3 (new Land Rover in Scotland) and R6 (New inline-six of BMW); Sport: Famous Sons (Little Al and Michael played together as kids, raced together, and have stood atop the summit of open-wheel competition. They've also had to step out of the long shadows cast by their famous fathers); Pole Position (What defines real racing? The question sends out Editor-at-Large to the dictionary, causes slight domestic discord and prompts some serious soul-searching. The answer is as complicated as the F1 rule book); Tech Tidbits (How a paint job nearly prevented a Mercedes Grand Prix car from competing, the gold standard in weight (actually a cylinder of platinum/iridium alloy), and it's just plain fun to say "Chickulub") Departments - People, Places & Things; Your Turn; Years Ago; Road Test Summary; Reviews; Technical Correspondence; Finish Line; Time & Place; PS
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