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Consumer Reports says infotainment systems 'growing first-year reliability plague'

The Consumer Reports Annual Auto Reliability Survey (right) is out, and the top two spots look much the same as last year's list with Lexus and Toyota in first and second place, respectively. However, there are some major shakeups for 2014, with Acura plunging eight spots from third in 2013 to 11th this year, and Mazda replaces it on the lowest step of the podium. Honda and Audi round out the top five. This year's list includes six Japanese brands in the top 10, two Europeans, one America and one Korean.
Acura isn't the only one taking a tumble, though. Infiniti is the biggest loser this year by dropping 14 spots to 20th place. Other big losses come from Mercedes-Benz with an 11-place fall to 24th, and GMC, which declines 10 positions to 19th.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's not traditional mechanical bugs hauling down these automaker's reliability scores. Instead, pesky problems with infotainment systems are taking a series toll on the rankings. According to Consumer Reports, complaints about "in-car electronics" were the most grumbled about element in new cars. Problem areas included things like unresponsive touchscreens, issues pairing phones and multi-use controllers that refused to work right.

Porsche 911 Turbo and Nissan GT-R Nismo star in World's Greatest Drag Race 4

We love Motor Trend's annual World's Greatest Drag Race video. Now back for its fourth appearance, the idea of lining some of the world's fastest cars up for a ten-wide, straight-line, full-throttle run is, well... it's pretty freaking badass.
The lineup this year boasts some impressively fast cars to be sure. The group of ten includes the following darlings: Alfa Romeo 4C, BMW i8, BMW M4, Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Ford Fiesta ST, Jaguar F-Type R Coupe, Nissan GT-R Nismo, Porsche 911 Turbo S, Subaru WRX STI and, last but not least, the Volkswagen GTI. Give us any one of those for the weekend, and we're happy to take the keys.
It must be said though, that for a publication that draws as much water as Motor Trend does, there are some big cars that we might expect to be here instead. The Lamborghini Huracán or Ferrari 458 Speciale would have added some exotic flare to the list, and the omissions of the Chevy Corvette Stingray (for the second year in a row) and the Dodge Challenger Hellcat are real head-scratchers.

See what the Chevy C7 ZR1 may be benchmarked against

One of the greatest things every Corvette has had going for it, and also one of the most re-used arguments against it, is its price-to-performance equation - long before the Nissan GT-R became the de facto Porsche 911 comparator the Corvette spent decades as Exhibit A. Depending on which side of the argument you stressed, supporters crowed about how much performance you got for how (comparatively) little, detractors carped on how little you got everywhere else in the bargain.
It appears Chevrolet is working as hard as ever to render the argument meaningless. Spy shooters at KGP captured a convocation of European birds of prey leaving the General Motors test center, and aimed at benchmarking the C7 Corvette ZR1. The road train comprised of two C7 Corvette Stingrays, a 2013 Corvette ZR1, McLaren MP4-12C, Ferrari 458 Italia, Audi R8 V10 Spyder and Porsche 911 Carrera S and it was last seen heading down the same kinked-up back roads used to hone the Corvette Stingray.
The C7-series ZR1 and its possible 700 horsepower are still a ways off. If it really is being positioned to compete with the celestial exotica in the testing group, could it be the first Corvette to regularly be the first answer to the question "Cost no object, which would would you rather have?"