Jetta TDI drives diesels back into U.S. mainstream
It finally happened, in the past week, the price of a gallon of regular gasoline completed its inevitable vault past the $2 hurdle throughout the Upper Midwest. Fortunately, I hardly noticed it, because I spent much of the week test-driving a 2004 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, which accelerated smoothly on and off freeways, and zipped down residential streets, right past all those service stations where the dreaded “$2†was the first digit listed on the big service-station signs.
I did have to stop at one of those stations one time during the week, but it wasn’t for the $2 regular or $2.50 premium gasoline. No, the “TDI†on the rear of the Jetta’s name and trunklid means it’s a diesel. Diesel fuel was $1.79 at the station where I stopped, although I subsequently saw it for less. It took 10.9 gallons to fill, but the car had 470 miles on the trip-meter, with over a quarter of a tank remaining. Doing the math, it delivered 43 miles per gallon.
Having driven hard enough to check the acceleration in city driving, and cruising freeways, not only at 70, but occasionally up to keep pace with faster passers at 80 mph – just in the interest of science, you understand – I still got 43 mpg. Had I been driving to squeeze the optimum mileage out of it, in a much more mellow manner, I thought (I often think in alliteration) I probably could have hit 50 miles per gallon. It was both a pleasant and timely thought.
The Jetta TDI makes you to forget everything U.S. consumers have known, and disliked, about diesels for decades. We knew diesels as big trucks and buses, along with the very few diesel cars weÂ’ve seen, and they share the tendency to be loud, crude, smoky, smelly and slow. Strangely enough, in Europe, where over 40 percent of all cars are diesel-powered, they arenÂ’t loud, crude, smoky, or smelly.
The Jetta TDI eliminates all those old stereotypes in the most subtle fashion. From the look of it, the 2004 Volkswagen Jetta TDI looks like any other Jetta, in the usual basic, mainstream manner. Unchanged in overall appearance from recent years, the Jetta looks strong and durable in a contemporary sort of way. Climb behind the wheel and it also looks pretty normal. No surprises in Volkswagen’s interiors, from comfortably supportive seats to easily operated ergonomic controls. The radio is in the middle of the center stack with the heat-air controls below, as a series of three rotating knobs – you want more heat, more fan, just turn the knob more.
Start the car, and the Jetta TDI still doesnÂ’t tip its hand. The engine whirs to life, quietly, and then put the 5-speed stick in first, let out the clutch, and off you go, swiftly and surely. The basic Jetta has always been an adequate performer, with higher-performing versions like the GLI adding potency and more fun. The 1.9-liter Jetta TDI doesnÂ’t have the verve of the GLI, but it does take off as quickly and forcefully as the optional 1.8-liter turbocharged gasoline-powered 4, and maybe with more punch than the basic 4-cylinder gas engine. Tests IÂ’ve read elsewhere say Jetta TDI performance is stodgy, but those were with the automatic transmission. The test car with its stick could never be called stodgy.
The key thing here is that thereÂ’s no smoke, no clatter, no foul smell, and swift acceleration. The TDI model of the Jetta costs about $1,200 more than the standard Jetta, coming in just over $20,000. The diesel engine not only provides hybrid-like fuel economy but durability that is off the scale, routinely operating trouble-free beyond 200,000 miles. For a gas engine, the power sounds unimposing at 100 horsepower at 4,000 RPMs, but the torque is what matters with a diesel. The 1.9-liter 4-cylinder turbodieselÂ’s 177 foot-pounds of torque hold at that peak from 1,800 to 2,400 RPMs.
The compression ratio is 19-to-1, which compares to 8-to-1 or 10-to-1 ratios of normal gas engines. That also recalls the difficulties some U.S. companies had when they tried diesel applications back in the 1970s. Taking an existing block and slapping diesel heads and systems on it caused them to explode like popcorn kernels from the pressure of such greatly increased compression. Volkswagen did it the other way, building the block solid enough to handle the 19-to-1 diesel force, which made the same block virtually bullet-proof as an overachieving gasoline engine.
In a diesel engine, there are the same four strokes as in any four-cycle engine (intake, compression, ignition and exhaust), but combustion is created by squeezing the air molecules to the point of heating them up, then precisely injecting fuel into the combustion chamber, which is imbedded into the top of the piston. The mixture explodes without need for a gas-engine’s spark plug, and the diesel fuel is capable of producing far more power than gasoline.
Diesel fuel has two distinct emission problems – oxides of nitrogen and that black, cruddy soot. High-tech catalysts and advanced intake technology allow the Jetta TDI to slip past the problem. The biggest difference between diesels in Europe and the U.S., however, is embarrassing to our country, which prides itself on being environmentally wise but has allowed the sulfur content of diesel fuel to be incredibly foul.
The sulfur in diesel fuel is what leads directly to all that soot from diesel exhausts. For comparison sake, diesel fuel in Europe is restricted to 10 parts per million of sulfur content; in the U.S., it averages around 340 parts per million! WeÂ’ve blamed diesels for the foul-running that is forced upon them by our poor-quality fuel, and therefore weÂ’ve made diesels foul-running and unacceptable in the U.S.
Help for all engine technology is coming, however, with laws calling for cleaner diesel fuel and gasoline by 2006, when fuel-refining companies also will have to restrict the sulfur content of U.S. diesel fuel to 15 parts per million as of 2006. Still not up to German and Swedish standards perhaps, but sufficient so that Volkswagen, Mercedes (and therefore Chrysler), Volvo (and therefore Ford), and Toyota are poised and ready to bring their high-tech diesels into the U.S. We can only hope the clean fuel allows clean enough diesels to meet ever-tightening standards on oxides of nitrogen.
Until then, the VW brigade of Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat have the diesel market alone in the U.S., where it almost seems to be under the radar scanners of the media and the populace. The media has been properly impressed with hybrids, and the people are only now realizing the benefits of doubling their fuel economy. Honda, Toyota and now Ford, with its Escape SUV, have made great strides with gas-electric hybrid technology, and it is expanding by the year.
Europe has been slower to pursue hybrids, only because European diesels parallel hybrids in fuel-efficiency. In the Environmental Protection Agency’s listing, the Honda Insight ranks first among all cars available in the U.S. at 51 overall miles per gallon, the Toyota Prius is second, with an overall combination of 44 mpg. But right behind those two hybrids is the Volkswagen Golf TDI, ranking third with 41 combined miles per gallon – just three less than the car-of-the-year Prius.
The Golf is the two-door hatchback version to the Jetta four-door sedan, and it came out even better in the highway portion – the closest the EPA gets to real-world performance. In the EPA tests, the Insight got 66 mpg, and the Golf TDI got 54, placing second ahead of the car-of-the-year Prius, which got 50. So diesel technology is a viable alternative to hybrids in a world where any alternative to lousy gas mileage and costly fuel is welcome.
Mary Ann Wright, chief engineer of FordÂ’s Escape Hybrid that will hit showrooms by late summer, said she is well aware of the benefits of diesel power and her mind is already concocting ways to combine a small turbodiesel with an electric motor in hybrid fashion, which could create enough power to improve the performance of even large trucks or SUVs. At the other end of the scale, Ford hasnÂ’t yet decided to expand its hybrid plans to the Focus, but is already planning to put a turbodiesel into that popular compact.
In Europe, Volkswagen builds other diesel engines, including a tiny turbodiesel for a subcompact called the Lupo, which, in competition, surpassed 100 miles per gallon. ThatÂ’s far beyond the Jetta TDI, or anything else currently moving four-wheeled vehicles anywhere. But right now, and right here, with fuel prices over $2 per gallon, and the U.S. urge for capable performance still in place, the Jetta or Golf TDI are real-world factors for 2004.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto reviews. He can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Toyota Tacoma gets new look, power , size for 2005
DETROIT, MI. – The pickup truck business continues to grow in size as well as popularity. Toyota and Nissan have joined thefull-size pickup competition with Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge, and the compacts seem to have grown restless. The Chevrolet/GMC Colorado/Canyon grew in size for 2004, and the Dodge Dakota has grown several inches for 2005.
Now Toyota, which has been building little pickup trucks for over 30 years, will come out with the eighth generation of its compact Tacoma, and it, too, moves right on up near the larger trucks. It is longer by six inches, wider by four inches, roomier inside, and more potent under the hood with an optional 245-horsepower, 4.0-liter V6 with 282 foot-pounds of torque.
ThatÂ’s an increase of 50 horsepower, which leads to a towing capacity increased by 1,500 pounds.
The humorous aside to all this midsize truck growth is that the Toyota Tundra seemed just right to a lot of people, although big pickup types criticized it for not being fully as large as the F150 Ford, Chev Silverado, Dodge Ram, or the Nissan Titan. When Dodge unveiled its new Dakota, it claimed it was the only compact truck with a V8, but it turns out it is actually longer than the Tundra, which may be larger than the compact segment, but certainly does have a V8.
Now, in its quest to establish superiority among less-than-full-size pickups, the new Tacoma grows right past the Tundra. The longest 2005 Tacoma is now longer, at 221.3 inches, than the shortest Tundra, which means we can assume that the next Tundra, which will be built in an all-new and huge plant in San Antonio, Texas, will grow substantially.
Meanwhile, back at the Tacoma, the all-new 4.0-liter V6’s 245 horsepower not only represents an increase of 55 horsepower over the old Tacoma’s smaller V6, butit also is more power than the Dakota V8. So the competition intensifies.
Three specific Tacoma models are going to come out of the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California, and they will be aimed at three specific segments of the compact-truck market. Market research gave Toyota the idea to focus on enthusiasts who’ll like the Access Cab to haul dirt bikes, ATVs and watercraft; maturing young guys who may go for the Double Cab as a combined SUV with a cargo bed; and the youthful “Gen-Y†guy who wants a tuner-type street hot-rod, and who will find the X-Runner most desirable.
All of them will begin arriving in dealerships in October from the NUMMI plant, and in December, more Tacomas will be built in a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to help Toyota achieve a projected annual output of 170,000 Tacoma trucks.
Toyota is aiming the Tacoma directly at younger men, although it will build three distinctive personalities into the trucks with the regular-cab, extended Access Cab with rear-door access, and Double Cab with a full four-door cab. Among its models will be a very sporty X-Runner.
“We expect 15 percent of those will come from sales of Regular Cabs, 40 percent from Access Cab, and 45 percent from Double Cab models,†said Bob Carter, vice president of sales for Toyota. “We expect 80 percent of Tacoma buyers will be male, with a median age of 42, which is six years younger than the segment average. Sixty percent will be married, 45 percent will be college graduates.
“Twenty-one percent of compact pickup buyers are under 35, and Tacoma gets one out of every four in that segment,†Carter added. “And among buyers who are under 20, 43 percent of them buy Tacomas.Ââ€
Toyota intends to keep the most basic model down to an attractive $12,400 base price, which should maintain the broad base Tacoma has always attracted, but Toyota also knows most buyers will move upscale, and the Double Cab V6 will start at $22,000.
American truck buyers recognized those first Toyota Stout and Hilux pickups – remember the Hilux? – as solid, substantial little trucks that worked tirelessly and with great durability. For many years, before and after being rechristened the Tacoma, the Toyota compact pickup waged a worthy battle with the likes of the Ford Ranger, Chevy S-10, Dodge Dakota, and small pickups from Mazda and Mitsubishi. The new Tacoma moves upscale.
“Every part has been revised,†said Paul Williamsen, project engineer for the new Tacoma. “It has all-new suspension front and rear, an all-new platform, and a new engine.Ââ€
The platform is a revised unit that also serves as the basic underpinning of the Lexus GX470 and the Toyota 4Runner SUVs. While significantly stronger and stiffer, the more powerful engines and roomier interiors also set the stage for a vast array of model configurations. No less than 18 models can be created out of the three cab types.
The Regular Cab and the Access Cab – which now will have dual-access-doors – have a 73.5-inch bed, while the Double Cab four-door offers a choice of either a 60.3-inch bed or a 73.5-inch bed. The are 4×2 and 4×4 models, and a PreRunner set-up which has the 4×2 two-wheel arrangement but with the raised riding stance and styling of the 4×4 models. Wheelbases vary according to model, too, with Regular Cab models on 109.4 or 110 inch length between the axles, while Access Cabs move up to a 127.8-inch wheelbase. The Double Cab has a 127.8 base, except for the long-bed model, which has a 140.9-inch wheelbase.
Four-wheel drive models are equipped with Torsen differentials, which do the job of limited-slip units in four-wheel-drive settings.
The new engines are a strong element in the stylish changeover of the Tacoma. The big news is the 4.0-liter V6, which has dual-overhead camshafts and variable valve-timing, with the 245 horsepower representing a large increase over the 190-horse 3.4 unit it replaces. The 4.0 V6 also will be the base engine in the 2005 Tundra, and continues to be the mainstay of the 4Runner.
The base engine in the Tacoma is a 2.7-liter four-cylinder, also with dual-overhead cams, now producing 164 horsepower and 183 foot-pounds of torque. That engine replaces both the 2.4 and 2.7 four-cylinder engines previously used. The V6 needs 91 octane premium, while the four-cylinder, which Toyota anticipates will account for 30 percent of Tacoma sales, makes its power on 87 octane regular.
In four-cylinder models, buyers can choose between a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission. The V6 versions have either a six-speed manual or a five-speed automatic. The V6 with the five-speed automatic can cover 0-60 in 7.5 seconds, a fact that undoubtedly will entice younger buyers, while more buyers will be impressed with the 6,500-pound towing capacity, compared to the 5,000-pound maximum of the 2004 Tacoma.
The raciest Tacoma is the X-Runner, which is a flashy model named after the “X-braced†reinforced frame for maximum torsional rigidity. The X-Runner has full ground effects, with lower fascias set off by integrated foglights in the front, and a large hood scoop, plus three monochromatic color schemes – red, black and “Speedway Blue.†The X-Runner comes lowered by an inch and on high-performance tires on 18-inch alloy wheels, and has firmer springs, with Bilstein gas shocks specially placed on the outboard side of the frame rails, and a firmer rear stabilizer bar and special steering quickness.
In X-Runner form, the Tacoma gets under seven seconds for 0-60 sprints, and its lateral acceleration measures 0.9-g., better than the Nissan 350Z sports car that was used as its benchmark.
That model is different from the normal Toyota Racing Development (TRD) models, which create special off-road packages, and a better-handling on-road package.
Inside, improved room and creature comforts also add storage spaces under the seats, and safety characteristics with door beams and airbags and air curtains that let the Tacoma meet all passenger car safety requirements, which means they are beyond standard truck requirements.
With special features such as bed tie-down cleats that can be moved to an infinite number of settings – very Nissan Titan-like – and high sightlines similar to big trucks, the Tacoma could well be declared big-enough by pickup buyers who want some room but also want some fuel-efficiency and maneuverability.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto reviews. He can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Altima gets sporty boost from 2005 SE-R model
BELLINGHAM, WASH. — About a decade ago, Nissan created a surprise high-performer with the Sentra SE-R, which looked like the basic entry-level subcompact, but, thanks to those initials after the name, came equipped with factory upgraded engine, suspension, wheels, tires, and, most importantly, fun quotient. So when I got the chance for a brief weekend with a 2005 Nissan Altima SE-R, I jumped at it.
We were in the midst of the introduction of the all-new Nissan Pathfinder in Seattle, and nearby Bainbridge Island, but everything we were experiencing about the Pathfinder would be embargoed until the end of August. ThatÂ’s a reasonable way to allow monthly magazines a fair chance to drive the same vehicles earlier and describe them at approximately the same time as daily or weekly publications. Of course, I got my September issue of one of those magazines in July, but the automakers overlook that sort of cheating with wink-wink/nudge-nudge acceptance.
My plan was to follow the Seattle trip with a weekend drive to scenic Bellingham, up close to the British Columbia border, where you can choose between ocean, harbor, or Mount Baker and its foothills for your scenery. My son, Jeff, is living in Bellingham, and when I was offered the chance to test a preproduction Altima SE-R, I was off. Nissan has reintroduced the Sentra SE-R, and plans to bring out a new Altima SE-R in mid-September, although it isnÂ’t planning a separate introduction. Chances for an exclusive road-test arenÂ’t often available.
A bright red and shiny black SE-R were both on display In Seattle, where Starbucks or “Seattle’s Best Coffee†stands are everywhere. I savor my gourmet coffee black and straight, and that was the same way I chose my Altima SE-R – black and with a straight, six-speed stick. A couple hours later, up Interstate 5 with the weekend wanderers, I felt united with the Altima SE-R’s capabilities, just as it felt fully responsive to my every urging to maneuver out of the way of SUV speeders and around cell-phone slowpokes.
The Altima itself was changed completely three years ago, growing onto the same platform as the larger Maxima and gaining Nissan’s strong 3.5-liter V6 in the process. For 2005, the front has been restyled to take on the “family†grille, and the SE-R gets a darkened treatment. It also gets unique front and rear fascias, a rear spoiler, high-intensity xenon headlights, tiny foglights set into the lower front, and large chrome tips on the dual exhausts. True to the SE-R heritage, the best stuff comes underneath.
The 3.5 V6 is increased from 250 to 260 horsepower, and from 249 to 251 foot-pounds of torque for the SE-R, and while thatÂ’s not a big improvement, the difference is readily apparent from the husky exhaust note. A modular cylinder-head design with lightweight pistons is topped off by continuously-variable valve timing and a variable fuel-air induction system. The SE-RÂ’s six-speed manual gets slightly revised gear ratios from second gear upward when compared to the five-speed sticks of other Altima models. The five-speed automatic that was on the red display car is also available on the SE-R.
The SE-R sticks to the road with larger18-inch forged alloy wheels that are 8 inches wide, compared to the standard 16-by-6.5 on base, four-cylinder Altimas and 17-by-7 on SL or SE models. The altered aspect ratio means more alloy and less rubber, and the 225/45R18 low-profile tires help provilde superior grip. Just as significant to the handling of the SE-R is an increase in thickness of the stabilizer bars, by 2 millimeters in front and by 4.3mm. in the rear.
It was no surprise that the SE-R Altima held its position with ease on the freeway, but it more eagerly accepted the twisty two-lane roads from Bellingham to Mount Baker, where I my son, Jeff, was tour-guide and co-driver. He was as impressed as I was at the carÂ’s behavior. While it accelerated swiftly, the most fun was putting the right front corner on the outer line and having it hold that line with precision around the tightest turns.
Disc brakes on all four wheels are larger and thicker in front on the SE-R, and antilock brakes are standard, while brake-assist and electronic brake force distribution help assure that when you step on the brake pedal hard, you will get full potential out of those enlarged discs.
Inside, the SE-R package starts out with a unique dash treatment, with sportier textures and a center array of voltage, oil pressure and fuel consumption atop the stack that houses the audio and heat-air controls. That means you canÂ’t get a navigation system in the SE-R. You do get the upgraded Bose audio system with six disc changer in the dash and eight speakers. Power, heated, leather front bucket seats and a 60-40 fold-down rear seat are standard in the SE-R.
At 3,279 pounds, the SE-R is no lightweight, but it carries its nose-heavy distribution well on the front-wheel-drive platform, and torque steer was never a problem during my drive time. Fuel economy is estimated at 20 city and 28 highway for the stick-shift SE-R.
The Altima’s main challenge always has been the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, and it does well in that comparison. Last year, a new challenger emerged with the revised Mazda6 setting new standards for sporty handling among midsize sedans. Maybe that was the inspiration for Nissan to develop the SE-R, which gives the Altima a boost in sporty performance and handling in a potent package that is tastefully styled to be subtle – until you put your foot down.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto reviews and can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Nissan’s worldwide introduction looks beyond 2005
SAN FRANCISCO, CA. — As new-car introductions go, Nissan put on a mind-boggling display, gathering all of its worldwide vehicles for 2005 in San Francisco, then bringing in 12 waves of journalists from North America, Europe, South America, Central America, Australia, Asia, and the Middle East, for an event called Nissan 360.
In a way, it made sense. Nissan sells more than three million vehicles in 190 countries, and has 27 plants in 18 countries. So instead of holding separate introductory sessions in all corners of the world, Nissan brought everything and everybody to one site for a three week extravaganza of test drives and displays.
About 70 different vehicles were available to be driven by more than 500 journalists in all. There were so many vehicles that the full day of trying to drive as many cars and trucks as possible required some astute note-taking to keep things sorted out as we drove short and long courses from two different base sites north of San Francisco, just across the Golden Gate Bridge.
But any negatives were overcome by the realization that some of the unusual and previously unseen vehicles would be coming to the U.S., and the intriguing question of exactly which ones, and when. There were powerful gasoline engines, economical gasoline engines, hybrid vehicles, fuel-cell vehicles, diesel engine cars, and they ranged in size from subcompact to compact, to midsize, to extremely long and slinky cars, sports cars, small trucks, large trucks, SUVs, and an array of vans from mini to maxi.
Most mind-blowing were a couple of cars altered by Nissan’s “Nismo†high-performance arm, including a flashy, laser-striped 350Z and a Sentra SE-R, which just happened to be the first two vehicles I leaped into. I also enjoyed an X-Trail, which isn’t sold in the U.S., but is the Xterra equivalent sold in Europe, Canada and Japan.
The most intriguing real-world vehicle in the whole batch was something called the Micra. It is a small car, subcompact in exterior dimensions, but fully capable of housing four full-sized people with trunk-room. It appears perfectly placed to capitalize on the current trend back to smaller commuter vehicles with maximum fuel efficiency, in order to cope with fuel prices that keep escalating above and beyond $2 per gallon.
Nissan showed off three varieties of a car called the Cube, which are starkly styled, square-back vehicles that also are pretty square-front, looking a lot like the Scion xB, and I enjoyed heckling some Nissan executives from Japan about the whole purpose of the display being to show off that Nissan has a square little vehicle before Toyota created the Scion.
But the Micra was my favorite. It is sold in Europe, and also in Japan as the March, which blends the ongoing relationship Nissan of Japan has enjoyed with Renault of France. Their connection is referred to as “the Alliance†by everyone connected with Nissan, and it is an arrangement by which Renault now owns 44 percent of Nissan, while Nissan also owns 15 percent of Renault.
The complex arrangement started out with Renault investing some much-needed money to bail out Nissan from some major financial difficulties in 1999. The two companies have remained on their own, with completely separate boards of directors, even though Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn adds to the confusion by being CEO of both companies. Obviously, the two companies are sharing basic vehicle platforms, manufacturing facilities, and powertrains, to say nothing of ideas.
Since the Alliance came into effect, consider the all-new products from Nissan, such as the 350Z, the renewed Altima and Maxima, and entirely new Quest minivan, Titan pickup truck and Armada SUV, to say nothing of all the new Infiniti models. Japanese officials steadfastly insist that there is no French input on the styling of those vehicles, but nobody can say they don’t all have a stylish flair – as do the cars Renault is now building for its European customers.
The 360 obviously stood for the number of degrees in going all the way around the world. “But 360 also indicates Nissan has come full circle as a company,†said Tadao Takahashi, NissanÂ’s executive vice president of manufacturing. “WeÂ’re back as one of the worldÂ’s leading automakers. WeÂ’ve eliminated our debt, which has significantly improved our flexibility.Ââ€
Nissan produced its first vehicle in 1914 with a car called the DAT. Then it built a Datsun Type 14 in 1935 as the first mass-produced car in Japan. Despite more recent successes as the Z, which became the best-selling sports car in the world, NissanÂ’s fortunes dipped greatly a decade ago, but with RenaultÂ’s cash infusion, the comeback has been remarkable. Nissan now has plants in places like Egypt, Malaysia, Thailand and Brazil, in addition to the better-known facilities in Japan, North America and Europe.
Nissan just completed a $40-million, 100,000 square foot expansion of its North American technical center in Michigan, employing 200 additional engineers, out of a worldwide total of 16,300 engineers. It builds full-size Titan pickups and the Armada in a new plant in Canton, Miss., and builds the V8 engines for them up the highway in Georgia.
In addition, Nissan is poised to capitalize on the sudden growth of the car market in Japan, something every manufacturer is focused on. Nissan has invested $1-billion in a 50-percent partnership with Dongfeng, the leading Chinese auto manufacturer, in addition to a $190-million investment in Thailand.
Those things may seem distant to U.S. consumers, because they are. But they tell about the worldly nature of automotives these days. Nissan sold 3,057,000 cars a year ago, including 856,000 in U.S. sales, and 837,000 in Japan, and 542,000 in Europe. In the U.S., Nissan just had the best May sales in its history, selling 87,000 vehicles for a 28 percent increase over May of 2003. But while expanding, it also is streamlining its production, introducing 28 new models from 2005 to 2007 while also cutting down from 24 different platforms of five years ago to 15 by the end of this year.
We can anticipate that the Cube will come to the U.S., and we can only hope the Micra makes it, too. IÂ’ve always enjoyed the agility of driving smaller cars, to say nothing of the economy, but I also have always wondered why most economy cars are made of such chintzy pieces. I mean, why canÂ’t small-car buyers get some of the great features of larger cars? Just because you want economy, efficiency and ease of maneuvering and parking doesnÂ’t mean you donÂ’t want a fancy audio system and great seats.
Alfonso Albaisa, the fellow who was chief designer of the Quest and is now design director for Nissan, read my mind. “Nissan is a sporty company,†Albaisa said. “When it came to planning the new Altima, we thought, ‘Why does a sedan have to be boring?Â’ When we built the Quest, minivans were utility boxes, but we wanted to make it sexy, because women didnÂ’t want to drive vans anymore. Now look at the Micra, which has keyless entry, and rain-sensing wipers – itÂ’s a small car, but it has great features.Ââ€
I drove two Micras, one of which had a gasoline engine, and was peppy and fun to drive. The other one, a sort of lima-bean green – a color almost as unappetizing as the descriptive vegetable, I must say – was powered by a 1.5-liter turbodiesel with a five-speed stick shift. It was quick, agile and thoroughly enjoyable to drive in all circumstances.
It also was clean, didnÂ’t smell foul and didnÂ’t smoke or clatter the way we remember a lot of diesels. I found out later that Nissan had imported European diesel fuel, which is far cleaner than the stuff we are forced to buy. Ah, but as of 2006, our diesel fuel will have to drop to 15 parts per million of sulfur content, from about 340 parts per million now. So the Micra has a chance to be NissanÂ’s rounded Mini Cooper.
Nissan, it turns out, built three different diesel engines for its global outlets, while Renault had five or six. Since their alliance, Nissan has quit making diesels, yielding to RenaultÂ’s expertise, and while Nissans now use Renault diesels, Renault buys NissanÂ’s fantastic 3.5-liter V6.
Among other impressive drives, I had brief tours in three different X-Trail models, with gasoline, diesel and fuel-cell power. I also drove an Altima hybrid, which will be out in about a year using the technology licensed from Toyota, with a Nissan engine, until Nissan can complete its own hybrid technology. There also was a long, sleek sedan called the Teana, which is sold in Japan and had a continuously-variable transmission that could manually be shifted through eight gear-stops. That was one of several right-hand steering vehicles I drove, which was an adventure on two-lane California roads in the mountains.
But the Micra remained the vehicle that most impressed me, as it sailed up the hill from Sausalito, to the upper reaches of the Headlands, where the carÂ’s smooth, turbo-power was interrupted only when I stopped to enjoy the panoramic view of San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge. From the looks of things, NissanÂ’s outlook is just as impressive.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto columns and can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Subaru creates a new, mainstream Legacy for 2005
Subaru has an unusual problem. The Japanese company has carved a definite niche in the U.S. automotive market by making cars known to be utilitarian and quirky, in about equal doses. As useful and flexible as its all-wheel-drive sedans and wagons have been for families concerned about durability and foul-weather performance, they also have been a little weird. Call them stylishly challenged.
For 2005, Subaru’s “problem†is that the new Legacy GT is decidedly NOT weird, quirky or eccentric. Its lines flow smoothly from front to rear, and while driving the cars at the media introduction in the Las Vegas desert region, or during a recent week-long road test, I found the Legacy GT attracted a common reaction. People frequently asked what it was, and when told it was the new Subaru Legacy GT, they expressed surprise. Some said they thought at first it might be a BMW.
Nobody, until now, has ever mentioned Subaru and BMW in the same statement. So having achieved what might be called the automotive mainstream, Subaru must now take its unique assets and prove it can swim in that more-congested mainstream.
Subaru is a subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries, and the first Subaru compact and subcompact cars were built road-grader tough, with a primitive ruggedness. The first Legacy came along in 1989, and Subaru attempted to make it more stylish. It evolved, and evolved, but it always was readily identifiable by its corporate quirks.
By stubbornly clinging to a couple of ideas – a flat-opposed “boxer†engine and all-wheel drive – Subaru was out there ahead of the pack in foul-weather performance. Audi also has two decades established in all-wheel drive with its quattro system, but Subaru always provided it at bargain, economy-car prices. The new one does its best to hold that line, and the manufacturer hopes it will rise beyond 90,000 in annual sales.
The current Subaru Legacy continued to do everything a Subaru should, and looked close to mainstream. For 2005, the Legacy GT has shed its cocoon and is downright handsome. Strikingly attractive, its new body has been stretched by nearly two inches in overall length, over a wheelbase that is about an inch longer, at 105.1 inches. The low front grille tapers neatly to the passenger compartment, and while it still has a large hood scoop, it is integrated stylishly into the hood now. The silhouette has a sweeping roofline contour, and the rear has a well-fashioned look that does give it a BMW-ish appearance.
“We lost our way,†said product planner Toshio Masuda, explaining the motive behind the new car. “We asked ourselves, ‘Who are we?Â’ In 1995 we were credited with the worldÂ’s first sport-utility wagon, and weÂ’ve always kept our commitment to symmetric all-wheel drive engineering and value for our customers. For 2005, this model has sensuous performance, intelligent value, and design and quality built in, without making any sacrifice or compromise.Ââ€
The other thing that happened in recent years was the popularity in the U.S. of sport-utility vehicles of all sizes. The huge ones stand alone, but midsize and compact SUVs stress useful roominess and the great attribute of all-wheel drive for foul weather driving. Their popularity has proven that the market came back to where Subaru always has been. All that remained for Subaru to become fully capable of capitalizing was a complete overhaul in the styling department.
With both the sleek four-door sedan and the companion station wagon – which Subaru prefers to call a sport-utility wagon – the fourth-generation Legacy has the all-wheel-drive segment covered, with various levels of power and all-wheel-drive systems available. The revised shape has extremely low coefficient of drag figures, with the sedan 0.28 and the wagon 0.31, thanks to a lowered center of gravity, and optional 17-inch wheels with low-profile tires enhance the GT model’s handling.
Subarus always have been tough, but the new Legacy improves its safety with the stronger body and a design that deflects impacts to the perimeter, with 39 percent of the structure using high-tensile steel protecting the occupants. Resistance to bending is improved 14 percent, torsional rigidity is 5 percent better.
The base 2.5-liter four-cylinder has 168 horsepower and 166 foot-pounds of torque – fully adequate for most everyday family purposes. The Legacy GT adds dual overhead camshafts instead of the single overhead-cam of the base engine, and an intercooled turbocharger boosts horsepower to 250 at 5,600 RPMs, and 250 foot-pounds of torque at 3,600 RPMs.
To get 250 horses out of 2.5 liters, Subaru has deployed all the high-tech tricks, with lighter yet stronger components and variable valve-timing. The stiffer body structure is lightened with selected aluminum body components, such as the hood, and aluminum parts to the refined suspension to help it stick to the road. The Legacy GT stays flat and performs very well, whether on normal roadways, or on the road course at Las Vegas Speedway – where even a rude and overbearing driving instructor’s constant barking failed to inhibit appreciation of the car’s high-speed performance.
The Legacy GT offers both a five-speed manual – a six-speed stick would be even better – or a five-speed automatic transmission. The automatic has a manual control gate for the shift lever, or can be controlled by buttons designed into the custom Momo steering wheel. It is pretty foolproof, too, because if you use the button on the steering wheel to downshift, for example, the system will take over to upshift automatically when you get back to normal cruising, effectively excusing you for being distracted by the volume of the 120-watt audio system.
Engage the sport setting on the automatic and shift points are held to higher RPMs. It is an adaptive system, which detects aggressive driving, downshifting more promptly when you lift off the throttle in hard cornering, where a conventional automatic might upshift and then need to hunt for a better gear when you get back on the gas.
The three all-wheel drive systems have distinctly different features. The base Legacy with a four-speed automatic has an electronically varied transfer clutch that actively controls power distribution to where traction is best for driving conditions.
The Legacy GT has two different systems. With manual transmission, a viscous-coupling method locks the center differential and distributes power 50-50 to front and rear, with slippage at any wheel redistributing the dosage of power to the wheels with better traction. The Legacy GT with automatic has variable torque distribution, a system with a planetary center differential and electronically variable hydraulic clutch to send 55 percent of the power to the rear wheels in normal use, but also with the ability to shift power when traction varies.
Naturally, adding power and performance, as well as all sorts of interior refinements, costs something, but Subaru hasnÂ’t forgotten its roots. The base Legacy 2.5 is a substantial bargain, priced at $20,995 for the sedan and $21,995 for the wagon. Add $1,000 for the automatic transmission, and moving upscale to the more-refined, but still-normally-aspirated 2.5 Limited hikes the price to $24,445 sedan or $25,645 wagon. The sportier and more potent Legacy 2.5 GT with the turbo engineÂ’s power and other refinements boosts the price to $28,495 for the sedan and $29,695 for the wagon.
Both the GT and basic Legacy deserve scrutiny, just donÂ’t walk into a Subaru showroom and expect to identify the new Legacy GT by some odd or quirky design. Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, thatÂ’s one part of SubaruÂ’s tradition that the company wonÂ’t mind discarding.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto reviews. He can be reached at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
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.
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