Honda Insight gas/electric power delivers quick response
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#1/ The Honda Insight breezes along the North Shore, easily reaching and maintaining speed with a tiny hybrid gasoloine/electric powerplant capable of 70-plus miles per hour and 70 miles per gallon.
#2/ The electronic instrument panel shows speed, revs, fuel and battery capacity, and whether the Insight is using electrical assist or recharging the battery pack.
#3/ Insight’s use of aluminum and composites makes it a 1,887-pound lightweight that is stronger than steel, with a wind-cheating drag coefficient of 0.25.
#4/ Surprising roominess for two occupants is complemented by the luggage area under Insight’s hatchback, including a deep storage bin.
#5/ The 1-liter gasoline engine runs the Insight at all times, with the electric motor providing instant boost under acceleration, then cutting out to be recharged while cruising or braking.
The whole concept of electric cars, or alternative-energy vehicles has always been sort of surreal — something futuristic, experimental, but not for real-world application.
Until now. Now there is the Honda Insight. It can get up to an estimated 61 miles per gallon in town, 70 miles per gallon on the highway. Perhaps you’ve heard about it, read about it or seen pictures of it. I’ve studied it for over two years, since it was first introduced as an auto show concept vehicle a couple of years ago. But now it’s here. You could order one from a Honda dealer for $20,000, although you’d have to be lucky to get your hands on one of only 6,500 being made available in the U.S. this model year.
The Insight looks a bit other-worldly, with its teardrop shape and closed-in rear wheelwells. It causes passers-by to do a double-take, and everybody asks about what it is. What it is, is better than anyone could have guessed.
We long ago grasped the idea that breathing fumes from internal combustion engines is not necessarily healthy, and virtually every company is working on building an electric car, although simple reality renders that plan ridiculous. Electrical motors do have tremendous power for their size. Quiet, clean power, at that. But consider that the basic electric car might go 100 or 150 miles then must be plugged into an electrical outlet for hours of recharging. If 100,000 Californians bought electric cars, the pollution from coal-burning power plants to supply the extra electricity would pollute so much more that it would render the whole idea absurd.
Fuel cells, or hybrid power derived by combining some form of battery power with supplemental internal-combustion motor. Toyota has the Prius, a competitive plan with an electric motor augmented by a small gasoline engine, on sale in Japan, but it won’t be able to give it enough power for the U.S. market until summertime. Other companies are talking, even boasting, about what they plan to offer within three years with things like turbo-diesel and electric hybrids.
Meanwhile, Honda hit the streets with the Insight for the 2000 model year, using typically advanced technology that is amazingly logical in theory, and just as impressivel in execution.
FREE POWER
Honda’s expertise in highly innovative internal combustion engines led to the Insight’s tiny, three–cylinder, measuring 1.0-liter in displacement. It has all the latest tricks — multiple valves, overhead camshafts, variable valve-timing — and it might be the lightest engine in the industry at a mere 124 pounds. Tiny or not, it pumps out 67 horsepower at 5,700 RPMs, and 66 foot-pounds of torque at 4,800 RPMs. That’s enough to move a lightweight vehicle adequately, and the Insight, a two-seat coupe, weighs only 1,887 pounds.
But that’s only half the story. Honda hooked up a high-tech, 10-kilowatt DC brushless motor, which measures a mere 2.3 inches in width, directly to the crankshaft of the 3-cylinder, hooked to the 5-speed manual transmission. The electric motor gets its power from a 144-volt nickel metal-hydride battery pack and an advanced electronic power control unit, which was adapted from the electric Honda EV-Plus vehicle that Honda had previously experimented with.
Because electric motors give off a lot of power, and it’s immediate power. Whenever the driver of the Insight steps on the gas, to take off, accelerate onto a freeway, or to pass someone, the 3-cylinder winds up and is given the electric motor’s boost so seamlessly that all you know is that the car takes off pretty good.
When you let off the gas, or settle in at a cruising speed, the electric motor cuts out, leaving the 3-cylinder gas engine to run things, and it also acts as a generator to recharge the battery pack. At the same time, the brakes have a regenerative effect that further goes toward recharging the batteries. The result is a hybrid powerplant that recharges itself — free power — while never needing to be plugged in.
The combination of the 3-cylinder and the electric power boosts total horsepower to 73, and total torque to 91 — modest figures, to be sure, but amazingly adequate to send the Insight on down the road. From a driver’s standpoint, that was my biggest surprise. I was extremely impressed by the whole idea, which is so much more workable than going the other way, with battery power supplemented by the gasoline engine, but I anticipated the car would be a real dog. Instead, it takes off with surprising quickness, and can easily accelerate ahead of traffic to reach freeway speed. True, it’s not a sports car or a race car, but the performance is perhaps the biggest surprise of the Insight.
Driving along London Road in Duluth, I was stopped at the light at 21st Av. E. As the light changed, some bozo in an Explorer coming north on 21st pulled the usual stunt: slowing for the red light, looking at the cross traffic starting up, then running the red light right in front of us. I was first in line, and my instinct got the boost of a tiny burst of adrenaline (road-rage?), which caused me to stomp on the gas pedal, and I easily accelerated swiftly enough to swing into the left lane and zip past the klutz.
I got about 48 miles per gallon strictly in city driving, much of it trying out the car’s performance, and I got 59.2 on sustained freeway driving. With some practice, I’m sure the 60-70 range is attainable. One of the car magazines, I think it was Car and Driver, ran a “cheating” economy run by mounting huge air-dam wings on the back of a giant SUV, then drove at a sustained speed with the Insight tucked right up close behind it, and achieved something over 100 miles per gallon.
CREATURE FEATURES
While fuel economy is clearly an objective of the Insight, the greater objective is clean power. It ranks as an ultra-low emission vehicle (ULEV) which means it already beats California standards other manufacturers are whining about being impossible to meet. The Insight produces 84 percent fewer hydrocarbons and 50 percent less nitrous oxides than a similar-sized car with a conventional gasoline engine.
To lighten the weight of the car to 1,887 pounds, Honda built the Insight out of mostly aluminum, with the chassis a combination of extruded, stamped and die-cast aluminum, guaranteeing a stronger, more rigid structure that is 40 percent lighter than a steel body would be. Body panels also are aluminum, with front fenders and the rear fender skirts made of recyclable plastic. Those skirts go along with the basic teardrop shape, and an underside composite panel, to give the Insight a 0.25 coefficient of drag, which is about the best in the automotive industry.
Where a Honda Civic coupe has 175 inch overall length and 103 inch wheelbase, the Insight has 155.1-inch length and 94.5-inch wheelbase. But the Insight height of 53.3 is less than an inch lower than the Civic, and interior headroom and legroom is almost identical to the front seats of the Civic coupe. The rear area under the hatchback is useful for storage, and a deep bin under the rearmost part of that carpeted shelf will hold a lot more.
The bucket seats are comfortably supportive and adjustable, and the 5-speed shifter is smooth. An interesting trick is that when you’re at a stoplight, if you shift into neutral the 3-cylinder engine shuts down, further saving gas, and then it immediately fires up, and the electric motor puts it precisely at idle speed, as soon as you shift into first.
The gauges have a tachometer on the left, with a 6,000 redline, with a large, bold digital speedometer in the middle, and a circle of gauges on the right, which show fuel gauge on one side and the battery storage level on the other, while arcing across the top are little bars that indicate how much battery assist you’re using or how much recharging is taking place.
I experimented on the freeway between the Twin Cities and Duluth and found that I could push the Insight up to 70 with ease. It would easily go up past 85, and I found I could edge on up to 77 or 78 miles per hour, with a dainty toe on the gas, without activating the supplementary battery power. An electronic graph on the dash can be activated to tell you trip mileage and fuel economy, with another bar showing instant fuel economy.
Honda stresses lightness, with additions such as aluminum wheels, a magnesium oil pan, and plastic valve cover and intake manifold, but while the Insight weighs under 2,000 pounds, that doesn’t mean it is unsafe. For one thing, the aluminum body and frame is stronger than steel, and for another, the Insight is the first vehicle Honda has introduced in the U.S. that has its new G-Force Control technology, which is designed, probably with the aid of some of its high-speed motor racing development, to absorb impact forces and deflect them away from the passenger cabin, while maintaining the integrity of the cabin itself.
Antilock brakes, electric power steering, dual airbags, power windows, mirrors, door locks and antitheft immobilizer, plus a stereo system with cassette tape and air-conditioning all are included. About the only thing lacking is cruise control, which wasn’t a problem during my test because I was playing around with varying speeds to check fuel economy, but a good cruise control set to maintain speed without pushing into the boost might optimize fuel economy even more.
Regardless of whether the Insight would be your first choice as a long-distance cruiser, it is capable of doing the job. And it is the ideal commute-to-work vehicle. If clean-burning cars are the future for responsible driving, then the Insight allows us to meet the future right now.
Left-lane law vital, but Up North drivers already are ‘right’
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1/ The I35 rush-hour scene from the overpass near 23rd Av. E. in Duluth showed an amazing tendency of drivers to keep to the right except to pass,just as the controversial — and apparently redundant — new law calls for.
2/ The vast majority of Up North drivers in the Duluth area already seems to follow the logic of staying in the right lane as much as possible. ]]]]]]]]
One of the big controversies in the state legislature this year is the “left-lane law” issue, which passed with such flying colors that even a veto by Governor Jesse Ventura could be over-ridden and passed. While it is probably the most rage-inducing
If you drive a car, then you’ve probably driven in the Twin Cities, and if you’ve driven in the Twin Cities, you know what it’s like to be driving along on a freeway, perhaps about to pass slower-moving traffic, only to find some bozo in the left lane, essentially blocking traffic. Now, that person might be going the speed limit, or a little under, or even a littler over, but the simple point of driving etiquette and courtesy is to not be in the left lane if faster-moving cars are coming up from behind.
I’ve written about driving etiquette and this particular situation for something like 20 years, including back in the old days — way back before E-mail — when I worked at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I once took an informal poll of which driving transgressions readers considered most annoying, and people hogging the left lane was the overwhelming choice of the most irritated respondents.
My term for them was “left-lane vigilantes.” A lot of people figure those folks are just inconsiderate, but the most surprising thing about my unscientific survey was the vehement responses of those left-laners, who were eagerly and bitterly outspoken in stating a philosophy best summarized by: “If I’m going the speed limit, I’ll drive in whatever lane I choose, and if I’m in the left lane, and I hold up faster cars and make them adhere to the speed limit, so much the better.”
It was scary. The righteousness of some of those folks made me realize that while a few dawdlers might be daydreaming their cruise down the left lane, the majority was out there trying to enforce their own personal brand of regulation on anyone who might be so brazen as to go a few miles over the limit — which was an unrealistically slow limit of 55 in those days. That’s why I called them vigilantes. They aren’t so much stealing space in the left lane as they are trying to regulate others, which is always a dangerous practice. Driving a car is a full-focus thing, and concentrating on driving your car is important enough that you shouldn’t be thinking about how you can regulate other people’s driving.
At the time, I wrote about how I remembered road signs in past years which instructed drivers to “Keep right except to pass,” and that I thought it was a state law. Nowadays, I do over half my driving Up North, where I learned to drive on the frozen cliffs of Duluth, and where I’ve always admired the talent of drivers to negotiate the hills and maintain a distinct caution under the worst wintry conditions.
But just in case you don’t realize how serious a problem the left-laners have become, just try driving from anywhere Up North to the Twin Cities on Sunday afternoon or evening, when all the Twin Cities drivers are heading home from the weekend. You will encounter solid, bumper-to-bumper vehicles in the left lane, and only occasional cars in the right lane. It’s almost as if everybody in the left lane, speeders or not, don’t want to risk pulling into the more spacious right lane — where they should be, all along — for fear of not being able to break their way back into the left lane to pass.
NEW LEFT-LANE LAW
Surprise No. 2 was when a new law was brought before the legislature making it mandatory and punishable for drivers to stay in the left lane when they are not passing, to clear the left lane for passing vehicles. I thought it was great. Get the left-lane vigilantes out of the way, so they won’t be forcing faster cars — even dangerously faster-moving cars — to swerve to the right to pass, and then swerve back to the left for the next pass.
When Ventura vetoed the bill, which was surprise No. 3, he had some reasons. One is that Twin Cities freeway engineers must have missed the “logic” segment of their training because they designed numerous left-lane exits, which force slower cars to move left in order to go where they want. Another is that it would be unenforceable. However, where the veto breaks down is that the law as written states that drivers should move over where is can be done reasonably.
But, surprise No. 4 came later, with the disclosure that there already IS such a law on the books, the law that I recalled from decades ago when those highway signs advised. So the new law is redundant. It’s just that in congested circumstances, it is virtually impossible to enforce such a law. The best part of finding out that the law exists is that those self-righteous left-lane vigilantes can now back off with the realization that while they might want to impose their own personal standards on other drivers, they also are violating the law in the process.
Surprise No. 5 on this issue came Monday afternoon, when I took my trusty camera out to get a few pictures that would amplify the seriousness of the left-lane vigilante situation. I set the camera on auto-focus, placed it on the passenger seat next to me, and drove onto I35 at 21st Av. E. I cruised out to 40th Av. W., then exited and returned to 21st Av. E. Back and forth, and back and forth again, and again. With my camera ready for what I was certain would be a common scene where I could safely snap a one-handed photo for evidence, I found none.
So I got off the freeway and parked in the Perkins lot out on 23rd Av. E. and London Rd., and attacked the problem on foot. I walked out on the bride to the Lakewalk, and focused in. Incredibly, all I found were drivers in both directionsÂ…driving in the right lane!
I shot about 25 photos, and in one of them there were a half-dozen cars in the left lane and only a couple in the right, but because all the rest were cruising in the right lane, I assume the variation was because a group of cars all passed a slower car and hadn’t returned to the right lane yet.
Talk about a pleasant surprise. Maybe it’s proof that Minnesota Nice is alive and well Up North, or maybe it’s just the logical progression of that hillside learning-to-drive and its adherence to the rules of common sense and courtesy. Whatever, the difference between the traffic flow I witnessed for an hour in the heart of rush-hour in Duluth, and the freeway mess in the Twin Cities or on the weekend commute of Twin Cities drivers venturing Up North, was astonishing.
One of the problems in the Twin Cities is that the congestion on the freeways, and the strange resistance to the sort of rail mass-transit alternatives that a big-time, expanding metropolitan area needs, has led to something approaching gridlock. People who are experienced in driving in other states and who move to the Twin Cities insist that Minnesota drivers are the worst, anywhere. They might be right, but from now on let’s distinguish between self-centered, left-lane vigilante drivers and the Up North folks who keep to the right as much as possible.
Sport Trac fills new niche between Ford Explorer, Ranger
LIKES/
Great looking compromise between a compact SUV and a compact pickup truck — the styling works.
Longer wheelbase improves the ride over either the Explorer or the Ranger, and provides room for all the variable ideas.
Slick cargo box is made of plastic and can easily be extended by lowering the tailgate and flipping the included railing bars to the outer limits.
DISLIKES/
The plastic flooring is a good idea, but the floormats constantly slip-slide all over the stuff, even if you try to fasten them to their little hooks.
The rear seat is versatile, but it could have been made more comfortable for full-sized people.
Tossing stuff into the cargo box is handy, until it rains. Then you wish maybe the box was covered, and you might start giving back some of those envious looks from Explorer owners.
Maybe it all should have figured. Ford Motor Company makes the Ranger, which is the largest-selling compact pickup truck on the market, and it already makes the Explorer, which emerged from the Ranger platform to become the largest-selling sport-utility vehicle on the market.
So, with no sign that the U.S. populace has any intention of abating its ravenous appetite for trucks of all configurations, Ford has produced a new vehicle for 2001 — the Explorer Sport Trac.
Call it an SUV with a pickup box, or call it a pickup with a full 4-door cab, but whatever you call it, expect it to sell like popcorn. The sticker price is $25,270 for the model we tested, which had leather seats and enough options to run it up to $30,535.
I got a gleaming white model to test-drive, and if you think it’s just-another-truck, you weren’t with us as we ran around Duluth, Superior, on up the North Shore past Two Harbors, and back. Wherever we stopped, people paused in midstride to look at us intently, and more than one passing vehicle on the freeway caught our attention with a thumb’s-up wave of approval.
No question, the Sport Trac’s looks are more striking than either the Explorer itself or the Ranger, although both of them are appealing enough on their own. The Sport Trac has a stylish curve that bends forward as it traces the rear of the cab and frames the rear door, and then this little pickup box resting on the rear wheels, which have been moved aft over 14 inches, to 125.9 inches, on the extended-wheelbase chassis.
It also has more prominent outlines to the fenders and a redesigned front end, with color-keyed bumpers wrapping up high and containing clear-lens foglights, while underlining the clear-lens headlights. We can presume we’ll see those exterior revisions on the new Explorer this fall, when the rest of the 2001s come out, and maybe even on the Ranger.
The interior has new white-backed instruments, with oil, temperature, battery and fuel gauges flanking interlocked tachometer and speedometer. The audio system has an optional upgrade to include a 6-disc CD player in the dash, a device that obviously will soon sweep the industry to replace all those single-disc dash players and trunk or underseat-mounted multiple-disc players.
THE RIGHT MOTOR
An important element in the Explorer’s continued success, and more recently added to the Ranger, is the vastly improved 4.0-liter V6. Installed as an option on the Explorer three years ago, it is the old V6 that began life as a pushrod engine on Ford’s German branch.
While the old V6 was used on Rangers and Explorers for years, Ford also offered the venerable old 5.0-liter pushrod V8 to achieve adequate power at 210 horsepower. Ford engineers, meanwhile, revised the old 4.0 V6 by reinforcing the bottom end, and mounting single overhead camshafts above each bank of cylinders.
The overhead cams allow higher revving, and Ford also came out with a new, 5-speed automatic that would rev right on up to 6,100 RPMs if you stomp it hard enough. The redline is at 6,250, and the improved horsepower is 205, peaking at 5,250 RPMs. It also produces 240 foot-pounds of torque at a peak of 3,750 RPMs.
Important here is to make sure the 4.0 V6 you choose says “SOHC” — for single overhead cam — on the price sticker or engine, and then you get 205 horses compared to the 210 that you used to have to get the V8 to achieve.
With the 5-speed shifting smoothly, the Sport Trac had plenty of zip, even though it’s a bit heavier than the Explorer or Ranger. Fuel economy is 15 city and 19 highway by EPA estimate. I got 16.9 in combined driving, with plenty of freeway as well as scaling hills in Duluth and touring Superior and the North Shore.
The standard rear-wheel drive can be converted to 4-wheel drive by simply turning a switch on the dashboard, and includes getting into an extreme low range.
DOWN TO (X)TERRA
As the Sport Trac was being developed, Nissan came out with a new and inexpensive compact SUV called the Xterra, which is loaded with gadgets for true off-road and outdoorsy usage, and which won the 2000 International Truck of the Year award in January. We can’t say that Ford reacted to that, and maybe some of the Sport Trac features were coming anyway, but they are there, for sure.
The short pickup box, for example, is made of composite stuff, which we used to call plastic. It makes you think it has a form-fitting liner, but the liner is the box. The box itself is pretty tiny, only 51 inches in length. However, you will also notice a horizontal-bar deal inside the box. Fold down the tailgate and lock it in place, and flip over the bar thing, and it extends out to trace the tailgate’s outer edges and give you 2 feet more of cargo-box length.
Clever. That allows you to haul more than just incidentals. A friend asked me if it would a sheet of plywood (4×8 feet), and the answer is yes, as long as you stack them on the intruding wheelwells. You will also notice tie-down straps all along the box, and roof-rails on the roof, which Ford stresses are for hauling bikes, skis, conoes, kayaks —all very Xterra-like. There also is a weatherproof socket for a 12-volt plug, and even a bottle opener.
The rear window also is power-openable.
The interior is very well appointed, and we spent a good part of a day with four aboard. Our two friends in the back seat never complained, although they’re such nice folks they wouldn’t. I climbed back there later, just to double check, and while I think the back seat is fine for two or even three for going to the cabin or on short jaunts, I don’t think I’d care to spend a long drive back there.
Again, though, Ford capitalized on versatility. You can fold the rear seat into a flat shelf, and you’ll even find a couple of storage bins when you fold them down.
Ford has carried off the imaginative mutation very well. The longer wheelbase, plus altered springs, shocks and stabilizer bars, gives the Sport Trac admirable road manners. You’re not going to be fooled into thinking you’re driving a sports car, or even a sedan of any fashion, but it rides like a smoothed-out Explorer and not a bouncy pickup. Combine the benefits of a small pickup, the comfort and convenience of an SUV, and mix in that insatiable demand for trucks of all sorts, and the Sport Trac looks and feels like a hit.
Consumers, and dealers, can’t get enough of the PT Cruiser
[[[[[cutlines: (I would suggest either the front view, or the low front view as a large, primary photo, with maybe the rear view on the road, the opened hatch, and the instruments as small accent shots, and the shot in the mirror as a large black and white inside if the column jumps).
1/ Chrysler’s 2001 PT Cruiser stops people in their tracks with its unique blend of futuristic and retro styling.
2/ As it fills your mirrors, the PT Cruiser makes you wonder if it’s an apparition or you’re headed toward a street-rod meet.
3/ Through the rear hatch, the PT Cruiser can be arranged by folding down or flipping forward the 40/60 split rear seats, which can also be removed, and the parcel shelf converts to a tailgate table.
4/ Stylish instrumentation and ergonomically sound controls set off the PT Cruiser’s occupant-friendly interior.
5/ The retro theme of a 1930’s-style hot-rod fulfills the image of a high-tech economy vehicle that can combine car-van-SUV attributes.
LIKES:
Styling knockout leaves you weary of discussing every detail with every person who is magnetically attracted to the PT Cruiser both on the road and wherever you park.
The price is fantastic, at $15,450 for the base PT Cruiser and $20,150 if you get a fully loaded Limited Edition with leather interior, sunroof, foglights, 16-inch alloy wheels, 4-wheel disc brakes with antilock, a roof-rack, traction control, and an audio upgrade that includes an in-dash CD player.
Amazingly efficient use of space to house five with comfort, headroom and legroom and still have good stowage space, considering that the PT Cruiser is 5 inches shorter than a Neon or Honda Civic.
Easily adequate power from the 2.4-liter 4-cylinder, which is not hot-rod fast but has strong pulling power with its dual-overhead-cam, 16-valve revision.
Foldable, tiltable, removable split rear seats — with 26 variations possible — adds tremendous flexibility for whatever hauling needs you might have.
Upright seats are comfortably supportive and provide excellent visibility in all directions.
Automatic 4-speed has some advantages over the 5-speed manual because of kickdown capability to extract the 150 horsepower and 162 foot-pounds of torque for passing and hill-climbing.
DISLIKES:
The power-window switches are high on the center of the dashboard, making them a challenge to ergonomic instincts to locate, and then they only operate the front windows. The rear windows also are power operated, but the switches are on the rear edge of the center console — not too bad for rear-seat occupants, but virtually unreachable from the front for those who want a wind-cooled interior.
The 5-speed manual and 4-speed automatic transmissions fit the versatility of the PT Cruiser, but Chrysler’s very impressive AutoStick would be perfect, except that it’s unavailable in this vehicle.
Other than nitpicks, the main complaint will be that there simply aren’t enough PT Cruisers available, right now or for the next few months. That consumer eagerness is not a problem, but an asset, for Chrysler, however.
People just can’t seem to get enough about Chrysler’s 2001 PT Cruiser — whether it’s information, pictures or the car itself. Ever since I wrote about the car’s California introduction six weeks ago, I have been asked about the unique car more than any other new vehicle in memory.
This past week, I got a Chrysler press-fleet Cruiser to live with for a week, and that voracious consumer appetite has been in evidence from other motorists, pedestrians and everyone who can get close enough to speak whenever we park.
In brief review, the PT Cruiser is Chrysler’s latest attempt to bring to life a concept car that met with overwhelming response over the past two years. It is a bit retro, if you’re old enough to remember the days when backyard mechanics would by a 1937 vintage square-back sedan and turn it into a hot rod, and it’s a lot futuristic if you’re too young to be tuned into the street-rod trend. It is a bit of a minivan, a station wagon or even an on-road sport-utility vehicle to those who need the storage space and the capacity to haul five in roomy comfort. It is an economy car to those who can appreciate the possibility of 26 miles per gallon these days. It is a responsible contemporary vehicle for negotiating traffic congestion because of its size, which is remarkably compact considering all the room inside.
But mostly, it’s an emotion-grabbing, eye-stopping styling exercise that, indeed, seems capable of being all things to all consumers.
Chrysler has packed a whole lot of living room as well as passion inside a comparatively tiny exterior — 5 inches shorter than a Neon or Civic — by housing occupants in upright fashion, which probably aids visibility as well as alertness for the drivers.
There was never any doubt the Cruiser would be a hot item, just as Mercedes was buying out Chrysler and turning it into DaimlerChrysler. My last shred of doubt came two years ago, when I first saw it, and last year, when a German executive from Mercedes said the Cruiser, which was still a year away from production, would be one of the primary cars the merger would allow Mercedes to market in Europe. As it turns out, the PT Cruiser will be built in Chrysler’s Toluca, Mexico, plant for distribution to 40 countries, including right-hand drive for Japan, where it is sure to be a hit.
As neat as the Cruiser is, the price remains a stunning attribute: $16,000 for the base Cruiser, and $21,500 if you load it up with every imaginable option, such as leather interior, alloy wheels, automatic transmission, 4-wheel disc brakes, traction control, foglights, sunroof and an upgraded stereo.
A woman friend of ours sat in the car and, amid the flurry of questions, she asked: “How much is it?” I said $16,000, and she immediately said: “I thought so.” Later in the conversation we realized that she was so involved with examining other features that she hadn’t comprehended the price I told her. When I repeated it, she said: “I thought it would cost about $40,000!”
Now the only question that remains is how long will it take Chrysler to produce enough Cruisers to fill the overwhelming demand generated by the style and function of the car? My guess is about two years, which should pretty well coincide with the timing when it might also be predicted that DaimlerChrysler could be expected to put out a “GT Cruiser” with turbocharged power, sports-car handling and maybe even all-wheel drive.
My favorite story about what a hit the PT Cruiser is involves the proprietor of a photo shop in the Twin Cities where I’ve done a lot of business. We often talk sports and cars, and he’s asked me about the Cruiser since he first saw pictures of it. Three months ago, I suggested to him that if he liked the Cruiser that much, he should go to a Chrysler dealer right away and order one, before the car comes out and before the obvious scarcity of it might tempt some dealers to mark up the price, just because they could. He did exactly that, ordering a fully-loaded black Cruiser.
By the time I drove the Cruiser at its introduction six weeks ago, I told the same fellow he made the right move. He responded that when the dealership got its first Cruiser for display, and his wife saw it, she wanted one too, so he ordered a second PT Cruiser for her in aquamarine and with fewer options. They both had SUVs, and they traded in both on a pair of Cruisers. The difference was that he got his already, and by ordering her’s a month later, she might not get it until December.
“I’ve never seen a vehicle with the impact of the PT Cruiser in 20 years of selling cars,” said Bob Hanson, a salesman at Miller Hill Chrysler-Plymouth in Duluth. “We’ve got 55 of them on order, and we’ve only delivered two so far, and we’ve got one on display. It’s quite a statement for Chrysler to build a car like this and sell it so inexpensively. I know some Twin Cities dealers are charging way over sticker price, but we won’t do that. We won’t play the price game, because it hurts you with customers in the long run.”
The report is the same elsewhere. Call Kapus-Erickson in Superior and ask for “the PT Cruiser department,” and the receptionist will laugh and say that the whole sales department might qualify for that title. Salesman Tim Anderson said, “We’ve taken about 25 orders but we haven’t gotten any cars yet to deliver.” He said Kapus-Erickson won’t be charging over-sticker markups either.
After I got to drive the car at its introduction, I was further impressed. But there is nothing like taking the Cruiser on the road. Its power is good, but not neck-snapping fast. Its handling is firm and precise, but not razor-sharp like a sports car might be. True, there could be more power, but this is everyperson’s car, not a specialty street-racer. The stability also is a benefit of the strongly reinforced crossmembers in the safety design of the vehicle.
It is tall enough for excellent headroom, and the upright seating allowed Chrysler to make room for five in a short length. The wheelbase is quite long (103 inches) considering the overall length (168.8 inches), which means very little overhang. That helps create more interior space and helps the ride stability of the Cruiser, which is fairly heavy (3,187 pounds) because of the 63-inch height.
The front-wheel-drive Cruiser performs well with the 4-cylinder, which is a dual-overhead-camshaft version of the 2.4 engine designed to pull minivans around. I found the automatic to be well-suited to the car, because the 5-speed’s gear ratios are spaced enough so that you might have to downshift from fifth to third to have enough “oomph” to pass a slower car, and the automatic kicks right down to the right range. As I reported earlier, the AutoStick, Chrysler’s slick manually shiftable automatic, might be the perfect choice, but Chrysler engineers say they don’t offer the AutoStick in vehicles that have 5-speed manuals available. However, since then I’ve noticed that the new Chrysler Sebring will offer both the AutoStick and a 5-speed manual, so that may be coming.
If the designers botched anything, it’s the power window switches. I groped every time I wanted to lower the windows before remembering they are on the center of the dashboard, up high above the audio and air controls. It took longer to find the switches for the rear windows, which, of course, should be controllable from the driver’s seat. The switches are on the rear-facing end of the center console, meaning you have to be a contortionist to adjust them while driving.
Versatility is the key to the Cruiser, after the styling. So the seats can be manipulated every which way, to increase cargo capacity from the 19 cubic feet with all the seats up to 64 cubic feet with the rear seats removed. A big hit is the rear parcel shelf, which can be put at two levels to conceal whatever you might have stashed back there. It also can be pulled out with the rear fastener connected to the outward receptacles, then a fold-down strut braces it to make a tailgate party table that will hold 100 pounds of whatever it is you want to serve.
It is a novelty to drive the PT Cruiser too, just because of the attention it commands. The Volkswagen New Beetle attracted the same sort of attention. So did the Chrysler Prowler. But this goes beyond those, in riveting the attention of passers-by, to the point of being almost dangerous. On the freeway, I found myself speeding up to get away from clusters of traffic that formed from other motorists who would pull alongside and pace us, until they could either yell their approval or give us the thumbs-up signal.
Ford unveils its Escape plan from big, ‘irresponsible’ SUVs
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1-2-3/ The 2001 Ford Escape handled well on the road, in light off-road trials, and even splashing through the Pacific Ocean surf on a beach north of San Francisco.
4/ Four doors and upright seating make the Escape roomy, and the tailgate has the convenience of separate window and tailgate operation.
5/ The unibody frame of the Escape is a first for any Ford truck, and displays the heavy reinforcement for safety.
William Clay Ford, the chairman of the board of Ford Motor Co., recently admitted in a press conference that his company’s sport-utility vehicles were not good global citizens — they used too much fuel, they emitted too many pollutants and they made roadways unsafe for occupants of smaller vehicles whenever there was a collision. “Irresponsible,” was the word Ford chose to use, but he added that Ford would continue producing them because they are incredibly profitable.
Rational people everywhere know, deep down, that big SUVs and oversized trucks may provide personal feelings of security but they are not environmentally friendly or good neighbors to car-folks sharing the road. Corporate executives know that too, but they also know that the largest SUVs earn $15,000 or more in profit per vehicle. William Clay Ford, by coming out with his statement, was challenging his own company to work on those shortcomings.
About a week later, Ford unveiled its 2001 Escape, a smaller, more fuel-efficient, cleaner-burning SUV, at a. media introduction in the hilly country just north of San Francisco, where a herd of Escapes could be driven along the Pacific Ocean coast, along the glorious Coast Highway, and inland through mountainous terrain as well as through woods and off-road. Whether by coincidence or not, the timing was perfect as a follow-up to the boss’ confession.
With the Explorer the top seller among normal-sized SUVs, and the Expedition challenging the larger ones, Ford went after General Motors’ huge Suburban/Tahoe segment with the Excursion. Meanwhile, at the other end of the scale, the Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CR-V opened a whole new segment, of small, compact light-duty SUVs. Nissan challenged them this year with the new Xterra, aimed at being a tougher, more Jeep Wrangler-like worker, but with amenities to make it a recreation-worker for campers and active lifestyles.
Ford looked at that segment and learned that Mazda, now a Ford subsidiary, was working on the same concept in Japan. It was almost too logical to happen, but they agreed to join forces, with Mazda designers leading the way, and produced the Escape. Mazda will get its own version, called the Tribute, which will be slightly sportier, less of a hauler, with only the roof and windshield shared as identical panels with the Escape.
The Escape, said Ford’s platform manager Keith Takusawa, is the first Ford truck of any kind to have a unibody design, rather than a body-on-frame, and it’s the first Ford truck to have 4-wheel independent suspension. The result is such sufficient packaging that it is compact outside but spacious inside, while also having excellent rigidity for safety and improved handling. With a normal truck set up, all sorts of suspension tricks must be executed just to make the vehicle accommodate real-world occupants on real roads; with the unibody and independent suspension, such road manners were a given, and the suspension’s focus could be on making the Escape handle with great agility.
“We expect 70 percent of Escape buyers to come from cars,” said Takusawa. “Maybe a lot of them would like an SUV for the flexibility, but high purchase price, poor fuel economy, cost of ownership, and difficult maneuvering in town kept them from buying an SUV. With the Escape, we’ve removed all those barriers.
“The Escape has the capability of light trucks and passes all the tests of our 250 SuperDuty pickups, but it also has NVH [noise, vibration, harshness] figures of a car, with basically the same interior size as the Explorer.
PLENTY OF POWER
Ford’s Escape plan, so to speak, was to discontinue the midsize Contour sedans and to build the Escape in the former Contour plant in Kansas City. It’s no coincidence that while Escape has a unique platform, but it will use the very good Contour engines, both the Zetec 4-cylinder and the Duratec V6.
Both engines have dual overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder. The 2.0-liter 4 produces 130 horsepower, while the V6 is the 3.0-liter version used in the Taurus sedan, and turns out 200 horses and 201 foot-pounds of torque. The Escape weighs 3,100 pounds (150 pounds more for all-wheel drive) — light for an SUV. To put the power in proper perspective, consider that the heavier Explorer only puts out 10 more horsepower with a 4.0-liter V6, or the V8 — an interesting problem Ford will rectify for 2001 by putting the 4.6-liter overhead-cam V8 in the Explorer.
Escapes will have front-wheel drive, a huge asset for Up North drivers who have real reason to need SUVs for wintertime as well as light towing and hauling. In most cases, 4-wheel drive is mandatory, because 2-wheel drive would mean front-engine/rear-drive, an undeniable handful in some icy conditions. But the Escape is front-wheel drive, with all-wheel drive an option. While Ford naturally says that the Escape is not expected to steal customers from the Explorer, it seems likely that it will, especially Up North.
The Control Trac II all-wheel drive unit works nicely, too. Controlled by a dashboard switch, you can be in full-time all-wheel drive, which adjusts torque delivery to the rear axle by proportion, depending on front-wheel slippage, or you can change to lock into 4×4 mode, which delivers equal power to both front and rear axles. That makes the Escape work in snow or mud, while the full-time adjustable system works seamlessly on the roadways.
When I first drove the Escape on some twisty, mountainous roads, I was unaware it was front-drive, so I approached the turns gingerly, realizing after each one that I could have gone through them much faster. Stepping up the pace, I also realized that the Escape seems to handle best when driven harder around curves. The handling was very stable, thanks to a 103.1-inch wheelbase, long for such a compact vehicle, and a track that is 2.5 inches wider than Explorer.
The fuel economy question is answered by EPA estimates of 24 miles per gallon for the V6 and 28 for the 4-cylinder on the highway, and the Escape meets low-emission vehicle (LEV) requirements. The XLS is pretty well equipped, while the XLT adds a large center console, antilock brakes, alloy wheels, the upgraded stereo, and a 60-40 split rear seat as standard equipment. With a base price of $18,160 for the XLS and $21,335 for the loaded XLT with all-wheel drive, the Escape is budget-friendly as well as environmentally friendly, as it goes on sale this summer as a 2001 model.
USER FRIENDLY
The Escape interior is ergonomically sound. The unibody allows for a low step-in height, and the seat positions are all designed with comfort and visibility foremost. A step bar, which used to be called a running board, is located for optimum use by all occupants.
Women and men of all sizes were used in Ford’s market research. In tests, Ford found that while men used the step bar for easy access to the roof rack, 70 percent of women used the step bar for getting in and out, which is twice the level of other, style-oriented SUV step bars.
The largest sunroof of any Ford SUV lends a more open feeling to the interior of the Escape, and attention to detail means that Ford positioned the audio controls above the heat-vent switchgear, because they are used more. Especially when the optional 6-disc MACH optional upgrade, with 300 watts, is installed. The rear differential, driveshaft and suspension links are painted black to match the tires and assure a more harmonious appearance from those behind the Escape, and even the door latches were modified to produce a more solid sound when closing.
The roof rack and the interior can be configured in various ways. For example, two mountain bikes fit nicely on the roof, or can be stowed upright inside the Escape, where there is 133.9 cubic feet of cargo room. The rear tailgate features a glass window that can be opened independently for stowing parcels.
Safety touches that start with the unibody design go on to include energy-channeling design to spread out any impact over a larger area, front fender reinforcements to contain the energy-load of any crash, knee bolsters to reduce the risk of occupant injury, high-tensile steel door beams to protect against side-impact intrusion, advanced airbags that sense the force of the impact, with optional side airbags in front, rear-seat mounts for child safety seats combined with ceiling-mounted tether anchors for proper intallation of the best safety seats.
Ford also installs its SecuriLock engine immobilizer system as standard, using a key that has an electronically encrypted transponder that must be accepted by a transceiver unit in the ignition key cylinder. The good part of that is only the proper key can be used to start an Escape. The bad news is, how much do you suppose it might cost to buy a replacement key?
While the Escape will certainly fall short of heavy-duty off-road expectations, it will excel in any performance and handling tests against competitors. The 4-cylinder version will tow 1,000 pounds, while the V6 will tow 2,000 pounds in base form, and 3,500 pounds with the towing package.
It came in right on target, in the view of Don Ufford, the engineer in charge of the Escape’s handling, who spent a couple years in Japan with the design team. “The Escape is aimed at being good on the road, with some off-road capabilities,” Ufford said.
And, whether intentionally or not, the Escape should give William Clay Ford something to boast about.
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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