New issue auto motor und sport 18/2018

D it's ann really summer again ...

Editor-in-chief Ralph Alex on the special feeling of freedom we feel in the car - especially now, during the holiday season at 36 degrees.

I don't know, why I'm telling you this now, and if you want, call me sentimental and turn straight to the table of contents. I won't be angry with you for this, because today is one of those days when I couldn't be angry with anyone anyway.

The good mood sprouted as if by itself early in the morning when I saw the red from high up on the balcony Saw the Fiesta ST test car in front of our house, took the key from the table and allowed myself two or three seconds of anticipation before I pressed the start button. Wrmmmmmmmm (the eight “m” are no exaggeration, it actually sounds like that).

I like what Ford does with three cylinders, just 1.5 liters and a serious sports chassis: 200 hp, six-five from zero to one hundred, and then this directness in driving and in the fundamental connection between man and machine. The ST feels gritty in the right way. You feel it, always. At the same time, he feels what you want. And does it, almost always. But you can also take him slowly past a Mercedes SL from the early 80s on the main road and think: This driver is doing just as well as I am.

Because he wears brittle leather gloves with his T-shirt and leaves as much wind and sun as possible in the car. He's in no hurry, enjoys the time in the car. I suspect he's hearing something from Eric Clapton.

It's already 28.5 degrees in the morning. Another twelve kilometers to the editorial office; actually I should have been stuck in a traffic jam in front of the tunnel long ago, but there is no traffic jam today. No accident. No tempo control. No wrecked truck. Nothing.

Today is the third day after the start of the holiday, and for the first time this particularly relaxing time can be felt for those who stayed at home. And how much fun driving around in the car is suddenly again - not even the new construction sites manage to annoy.

It will be 36 degrees at noon, and even in the evening it will be 30 when the ST and I sprint through tight country road curves (limited-slip differential!) past vineyards to that forest lake, where the nice pensioner, whom everyone calls 'Mattes', protects the gray geese, strictly sends escaping nudists back to the far end of the lakeSometimes even plucking a tick from the back of a bathing guest.

Why am I telling you this? Because everything can be so beautiful. With the car - not against it.

Do you know this feeling? Write to me: ralex@motorpresse.de

Here you can order the current digital edition of auto-motor-und sport

Cover story

• Mercedes: The brand's technology offensive and what it really brings to customers. Big report

• Tests & driving reports

• BMW 3 Series: First driving impressions from the Sporty new edition of the mid-range sedan
• Audi e-tron: With the brand's first electric SUV on a recuperation tour on Pikes Peak in Colorado
• Porsche 911 GT3 RS: Puristic lightweight sports car with naturally aspirated engine and 520 hp in the test
• Audi A4 Avant 2.0 TDI, BMW 320d Touring, Mercedes C 220 d T: mid-range station wagons with two-liter diesel engines around 190 hp in the comparison test
• Opel Insignia Sports Tourer GSi: Sporty version of the large station wagon with biturbodiesel and all-wheel drive. Test
• Mitsubishi Space Star: Inexpensive small car in the test
• Volvo V90 T8: Takeover of the endurance test car in the factory and first impressions of the noble hybrid station wagon
• McLaren Senna: Limited super sports car with four-liter V8 biturbo and 800 PS in the driving report
• Honda Civic, Hyundai Kona, Toyota C-HR: three inexpensive designer pieces on wheels. Impression

Service

• Minor accidents: What to do with minor sheet metal damage?
• Accessories and tuning: New for car fans
• Events: Attractive reader trips

Report

• Saxony Classic: With a VW 1302 on the route of the Old - and youngtimer rally

Used cars

• Renault Twingo: purchase advice
• BMW Vierer: purchase advice

Moove - the new mobility

• Autonomous driving: options for retrofitting

Sport

• 'Super Racer': Report from the first four races
• DTM: Sixth run at Brands Hatch
• Formula 1: Interim balance at the half-way point

Dossier: China

• The rapid development in the Middle Kingdom
• How foreigners in China get their driver's license
• Digitalization to the networked state

• Figures and facts from the automotive industry

Here you can order the current digital edition of auto-motor-und sport

Cars in the magazine

• Audi A4 Avant 2.0 TDI
• Audi e-tron
• BMW 320d Touring
• BMW 3 Series (new)
• BMW 4 Series
• Ferrari250 GTO
• Honda Civic
• Hyundai Kona
• McLaren Senna
• Mercedes C 220 d T
• Mercedes C -Class (new)
• Mercedes GLA Coupé
• Mercedes GLE
• Mercedes-AMG C 63 S
• Mercedes-AMG GTC
• Mercedes-Maybach Vision
• Mitsubishi Space Star
• Opel Insignia Sports Tourer GSi
• Porsche 911 GT3 RS
• Renault Twingo
• Toyota C-HR