Varied compression makes QX50 constant
Filed under: Weekly test drives, Autos
In the ever-expanding Infiniti SUTV stable, the 2019 QX50 is something special — with variable compression power.
By John Gilbert
In the long list of Nissan and Infiniti cars, crossovers and SUVs, the new Infiniti QX50 is one of the neatest, best-designed and best-performing of all.
And that’s before even getting into the amazing technology deployed under the hood.As the driver, you do nothing to make it work except step on the gas. Moderately, please.
It is called “variable compression” and it actively alters the engine’s compression ratio into a mind-blowing range from the low 8-to-1 figure common to older car buyers who seek high gas mileage, to more than a 14-to-1 ratio that best exemplifies the most high-tech performers.
Automotive engineers always have been striving to improve efficiency of internal combustion engines, seeking ways to achieve the magic trio of increased power, increased fuel economy, and decreased emissions. Direct fuel injection and computerized engine operation have helped, and variable valve timing has been a brilliant breakthrough in the last decade, including such tricks as Atkinson Cycle and Miller Cycle to alter valve timing and coax the air-fuel mixture to spend more time combusting.
The engine shroud doesn’t tip off that the 2.0-liter turbo 4 has 268 horsepower and 280 foot-pounds of torque.
In the four cycles — intake, compression, combustion and exhaust — an engine’s ability to streamline the process and increase the ability to most-thoroughly burn the air-fuel mixture for maximum power and efficiency has included Honda’s stratified-charge engines and decades of refining it, and more recently is Mazda’s Skyactive concept combining all its technology into a clean-sheet, holistic new way to build modern engines.
All are worthy, as are any and all the other top world car-makers’ efforts, most of which are aimed at taking best advantage of whatever a car’s compression ratio might be.
Nissan, however, has a bunch of impatient perfectionist types wearing white smocks who probably would prefer to pass up the chance to take the family to the lake in favor of building their own lake in the back yard. These engineers started 20 years ago to seek a newer and better idea, and make it happen.
So many of Nissan’s newest cars and engines are impressive to drive, that I always look forward to trying another one. As for this technique, I knew it was coming, I just wasn’t sure when it would find its way to real-world applications. The better idea of varying valve-timing to help combustion instead becomes the best idea of building an engine capable of altering its own compression ratio to take optimum advantage of any valve operation. Read more
Kona gives Hyundai high-caffeine CUV
Filed under: Equinox, Autos
New Kona fills out subcompact, high tech end of SUV fleet.
By John Gilbert
DETROIT, Michigan
Driving in Northern Minnesota requires extra diligence because of the long winters and severe ice and snow circumstances, and while moving toward all-wheel-drive has led to enormous growth of Sport Utility Vehicles segment with AWD, the new preference seems to be for the smallest possible vehicle with the attributes of larger SUVs.
Actually, that’s where my wife, Joan, and I are at in considering a new vehicle for the wilds of the North Shore near Duluth, MN. It is difficult to make a decision, however, among the many exceptional small crossovers. And now, bursting upon the scene, is the Hyundai Kona, which meets just about every requirement we have on our list of “finalists.”
Not the least of Kona’s assets is that I attained 33.5 miles per gallon with the optional turbo engine while negotiating the all-terrain roads of suburban Detroit.
If you think you’re keeping up to date on the auto industry, you’re aware how rapidly SUVs are taking over, and how rapidly compact SUVs are going past midsize SUVs. However, while we weren’t paying close attention, something called “subcompact CUVs” were growing faster than even the compact SUVs in the marketplace.
While cars of all sizes suffered in the highly competitive market over the last year, midsize SUVs grew by 9.4 percent in sales. Compact SUVs — the popular gang that includes the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Mazda CX-5, Jeep Compass, Ford Escape and others — grew 1.7 percent. Meanwhile, Subcompact CUVs grew at a 4 percent clip, more than twice as fast as compacts.
That Subcompact CUV group, Hyundai, suggests, includes the Chevrolet Trax, Honda HR-V, Toyota C-HR, Mazda CX-3, Jeep Renegade, Subaru Crosstrek, Ford EcoSport, and Nissan Kicks, and is projected to grow another 16 percent this yearit is that segment that Hyundai has aimed the Kona.
Headlights are high, ruinning lights middle, and foglights low on the unique Kona front end.
Named after Hawaii’s elite coffee, the Kona drives similar to how a swig of Kona’s caffeine might give you a quick uplift. Its looks are, in a word, quirky but unobtrusive. Contemporary in its collection of accent lines, contours and grooves, the Kona comes in four varieties, which are the base SE, the SEL, the Limited, and the Ultimate, ranging in price from just a shade under $20,000 to loaded form right up there at $30,000. Read more
Platform, engine, design turn page on Jetta
Filed under: Weekly test drives, Autos
Luxury-look grille sets off all-new 2019 Jetta.
By John Gilbert
For decades, I’ve been a loyal fan of Volkswagen. It dates back to when I was a kid and my mom bought a 1960 Volkswagen Beetle, equipped to survive Northern Minnesota winters with an add-on gas heater, which was an amazing device that could transform 20-below winter nights — at the pull of a switch to activate the 747-like roar of the under-dash device — to 90 above tropical temperature in about minute, after which you could choose 20 below or 90 above, with no intermediary stops.
Following along through the era of Rabbits, then Golfs, GTIs, Jettas, Passats, with side-trips to a Scirocco or Corrado here or there, our family, and particularly our two sons, got exceptional service from such VWs.
So it was with considerable distress that I followed along with the incredible world-wide scandal of the alteration of VW’s 40-plus miles-per-gallon turbo-diesels, which were configured to disable the emission-control stuff except when being tested by the EPA. It turns out, there have been various other companies caught in the same scandal — including virtually all turbo-diesel pickups from the U.S. — but because of the mountain of publicity, it is VW’s to own, and be fined for.
Most impressive, though, is that Volkswagen didn’t just pull out of the U.S., it made an enormous corporate changeover to rally and stay in the market as a solid performer. Adding SUVs, such as the Tiguan, and the Atlas, helped immeasurably. But with the 2019 Jetta compact sedan, we get to experience the best in German engineering, from a high-tech plant in the U.S., at an amazing bargain price.
Quick, agile Jetta is still roomy family bargain.
Volkswagen, which owns Audi, has worked with them to develop and perfect a couple of 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engines, with and without turbochargers, depending upon the application. VW also reduced the displacement of the 2.0 to 1.8 and got almost as much performance with even better fuel efficiency. In the process, Volkswagen created an all-new platform, called the MQB, which, after translation, stands for Modular Transverse Matrix.
An all-new platform can be significant, allowing a vehicle’s unerpinnings to be designed for stiffness from which high-tech suspension and steering geometry can be engineered to be firmed up, balanced, and safer.
SEL Premium Jetta has angled cockpit dash, excellent leather buckets.
With that MQB basis, the new Jetta adds a striking design. The sixth generation served VW well, outselling the popular Golf in the U.S., but its styling was unobtrusively boring, at best. It looked like a child’s soap-carving — and I liked the car! The new Jetta, hitting showrooms by the end of June, 2018 as a 2019 model, has a neater shape, and a very stylish front end and grille. Read more
MAMA Spring Rally springs best new vehicles
Filed under: Weekly test drives, Autos
Acura made an official debut of the 2019 RDX at the MAMA Spring Rally, raising technology and performance of the midsize SUV.
By John Gilbert
The opportunity to test drive a car or two every week adds unquestionable zest to the life of an auto journalist. And then there is the MAMA Spring Rally, which sets new standards every spring for members of the Midwest Auto Media Association. True, I’m prejudiced, but I believe the MAMA spring and fall rallies are the best functions any auto membership outfit offers.
This year’s Spring Rally was conducted on the week leading up to Memorial Day. Over the course of the two days, I drove 17 different vehicles, on the Road America race course, on surrounding rural roads, and on a very challenging autocross circuit. And I still left almost that many more I wanted to get into, but ran out of time. I will be reporting on almost all the new vehicles that were provided for the Rally when they get to the press fleet, but it was good to get a taste of some of the more enticing cars.
MAMA also has its members vote for Family Car of the Year, and to qualify a car must cost less than $50,000 and have four doors and be aimed at hauling a family. This year, they added a Luxury Family Car of the Year. It won’t be announced until next February at the Chicago Auto Show, but the candidates this year are many.
Starting in reverse order here, the top vote-getters for Family Car of the Year established the early top candidates: the Hyundai Kona compact SUV, the Ram 1500 full size pickup truck, the new-for-2019 Volkswagen Jetta, the renovated Mazda6 sedan, the Buick Regal Tour-X station wagon, and the Ford Expedition large SUV. In the companion Luxury Car of the Year category, the early favorites are the Volvo XC40 compact crossover SUV, the Acura RDX midsize SUV, the Kia Stinger large performance sedan, and the Range Rover Velar SUV. These are not in order of votes, but make a preliminary list of favorites for the two categories, awaiting final vote-offs at the MAMA fall rally.
My personal picks were the Kona, the Ram 1500 the Jetta and Mazda6. Among luxury vehicles, the Volvo XC40, the RDX, and the Jaguar E-Pace were my anticipated favorites, but the vehicle that stole the show for me was the new BMW X2, a low and flashy new compact SUV with a turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine. Maybe it’s too new, but it somehow escaped the scrutiny of most voters.
BMW showed up with its new M5 sedan, left, and newly created X2 compact crossover.
What we do is gather at the Osthoff Resort in the tiny southeastern Wisconsin town of Elkhart Lake, which includes the legendary 4-mile road-racing circuit in the rolling hillside just outside of town. Our esteemed group’s board of directors stays in running contact with all the auto manufacturers, and they work out agreements to bring their newest vehicles to the track, where close to a hundred media types get to take turns driving nearly a hundred vehicles for one-lap circuits around the track.
Cadillac’s ATS-4 is a coupe version of its hot new turbo-4 sedan.
Driving all these new cars on the nation’s most legendary road-racing track would be highlight enough for us, but we also get to make some real-world road tests around the winding roads outside the track, and, for good measure, some hot laps around a special autocross track located within the track’s borders. In addition, the folks from Range Rover have set up a special inside off-road track amid the hills and trees of the far side of the track property to test off-road vehicles. Read more
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
Click here for sports