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.
First major revision makes 2001 Aurora a better selection
2001 Oldsmobile Aurora
LIKES:
Entirely new for 2001, the Aurora is leaner and more compact but retains the look of the original model.
Smooth power for acceleration and cruising, even with the new and smaller 3.5-liter V6, which is the perfect alternative to the more powerful V8, and delivers excellent fuel economy.
Shorter by 6 inches than its predecessor, the Aurora is lighter and more agile, with suspension refinements giving it a sportier feel.
The standard 4.0-liter Aurora V8 and the newly-available 3.5 V6, both with dual-overhead-camshafts, makes Aurora the most-technically-advanced sedan in the General Motors stable.
Totally revised body structure improves rigidity and safety.
The leather interior is accented with walnut trim — REAL walnut, thank you.
Instrumentation and other interior amenities are well-designed and well-placed, and traces of class include understated chrome rings around the gauges.
DISLIKES:
The cost of making the heavy Aurora lighter and more compact is that rear seat headroom and legroom are best if you are under 6-feet tall, although shoulder and hip room are improved.
Steering feel seemed very light — perhaps too light at cruising speed — which may be a combination of the new size, the new suspension, and the V6 instead of the heavier V8.
With competition being fierce at the entry-luxury level, the Aurora is also a lot of money for the car at $31,240, even though breaking down the elements proves the Aurora offers a lot of car for the money.
Six years ago, Oldsmobile sales were sagging enough that factions in the General Motors hierarchy seriously considered eliminating the entire line. Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick and Cadillac could easily pick up the slack from the Olds brand, which had always been known as perhaps the highest of high-tech arms of GM.
Cooler heads prevailed, and GM went the other direction with Oldsmobile, going so far as to let Olds designers come up with an entirely new near-luxury sedan, called the Aurora. It was very high-tech for its day, in both design and engineering. The most advanced engine in the GM line was the Cadillac NorthStar V8, and Olds wanted it for the Aurora. Cadillac allowed Olds to use the engine, but only if it would reduce its displacement from 4.6 to 4.0 liters, assuring that Seville buyers wouldn’t find themselves blown off the road by Auroras.
No problem, as long as the new engine had the same dual-overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder, and it did. After six years, the evolution of the Aurora look affected new models from around GM. The new Seville, in fact, is built on the Aurora chassis, as is the new Pontiac Bonneville. At Olds, including the compact Alero, and the midsize Intrigue took on a strong family resemblance to the Aurora. In fact, the Intrigue, newly designed two years ago, looked like a replica of the Aurora, which should have been a tip.
For 2001, Olds has already introduced an all-new Aurora, and it is an impressive job of refreshing the old design and improving on it, without losing the family trademark design.
My biggest complaints with the original Aurora was that GM made it too heavy. In the days when bigger and heftier meant better to U.S. manufacturers, that might have been fine. But here was a new-wave sedan in styling, and in my opinion it could have better taken on the challenges from Lexus, Acura, BMW, Audi and Mercedes by being lighter, leaner and more agile — plus, that 4.0 V8 would have been an impressive sizzler in a sportier setting.
Wonder of wonders, the 2001 Aurora has been built on an entirely new platform and restyles, and it is lighter, leaner and more agile.
My eagerness to test-drive the new Aurora in May came from the realization that the Aurora is the basis for the Indy Racing League’s formulated engines in the Indianapolis 500, although that presumed lower-budget operation this year lowered the limits from 4.0 to 3.5 liters. That means engine builders have to use a downsized version of the 4.0 V8.
As luck would have it, the Aurora that was sent to me last week offers the newest wrinkle from Olds — the 3.5-liter V6. Now, this is no ordinary V6, but GM’s latest trick engine, building a V6 as a chip off the old block, with that block being the NorthStar V8 and the Aurora derivative. When GM allowed the 3.5 V6 to be built, it was intended to be the engine of the future, where the aging 3800 V6 and others, such as the 3.1 and 3.4, still dwelled. But when it was finished, it cost more to build and GM can continue to make the older engines inexpensively, so the 3.5 V6 was appropriated only to Oldsmobile, for use in the Intrigue.
Other GM sedans, such as the Grand Prix, Impala, and Century, got all new high-tech bodies along with the Intrigue, but only Olds got to use the new, trick engine. For 2001, the Aurora gets to use it, too.
Look, feel of luxury
There are different perceptions of luxury, and they’ve changed in recent years. When we in the U.S. thought luxury cars had to be big, soft, squishy, powerful and not economical barges, there were some who appreciated the European style of Mercedes, BMW and Audi, which was to say understated, without the heft, softness, chrome and inefficiency. Those European cars were so simple and blah, but it proved to be a lasting look and feel that grew on their owners. The garish look got old, the true class of less ostentatious cars made them look and feel better the longer you owned them.
And performance was the key, with great power coupled with handling ability that made such luxury sedans corner as well as our high-performance coupes. Better, maybe. So we’re catching up. The best U.S. luxury cars now have risen in stature to challenge those European and the top Japanese vehicles (which were first to copy the Europeans).
The 2001 Aurora will fit in very well with that appeal. One of the most impressive things about the Aurora is that it has the look of a refined luxury sedan, and the feel as you slip behind the wheel. While the exterior is six inches shorter than the original long, wedgy Aurora, the interior room seems about the same. If legroom in the rear is lessened, it is only slight, and hip and shoulder room is actually increased. Same with the trunk, which is a full cubic foot smaller, but has a low liftover design that makes it much more accessible.
Behind the wheel, though, is best. The bucket seats are supportive and comfortable, coated with leather. The steering wheel feels good in your hands, and you look at the gauges and you see they are tastefully circled by slim chrome rings, including the tachometer, which redlines at 6,500 RPMs. A readout panel on the top edge of the center dashboard is for the computer, which provides fuel economy, gallons used, oil pressure, remaining life span of the oil before the next change, and elapsed time for trip settings. By being at the top of the dash, it is quickly read with minimal glances away from the road.
In the middle of the center dash panel is the air-heat controls, which are neat. I’m not sure I like the tiny little icons for where the airflow should be directed, although I got used to turning the knob to light up the appropriate one after only a few tries. The audio controls are low on that center dash, and it is an impressive system, with CD player and cassette in addition to AM-FM radio. It is open to debate which sets of controls should be located where; those that put the radio above the heat-air say that drivers tune the audio system much more often than they change air-heat settings.
Among the most impressive touches to set the Aurora apart from the mundane is a lot of wood trim, on the doors, console and center dash area. It is, however, real walnut — very impressive in this era of phony plastic wood. I’m one of those purists who insists that if you’re going to put wood accents in my car, it had better be real wood, no matter how real the plastic looks.
Step on the gas
When I noticed on the delivery sheet that the test Aurora had the V6, I was disappointed, because I had planned to compare the street version 4.0 V8 with the Indy Car race engine. However, past experiences with the 3.5-liter V6 should have allayed my feeling. And if that didn’t, stepping on the gas and zipping through a tankful of fuel certainly did.
The 4.0 V8 has an impressive 250 horsepower at 5,600 RPMs, and 260 foot-pounds of torque at 4,400. The 3.5 V6, though, has an equally impressive 215 horsepower at 5,600 revs, and 234 foot-pounds of torque at 4,400. With coil-at-plug ignition and extended-life sparkplugs, the engines won’t need anything but oil and oil filter changes for 100,000 miles.
The engine uses a log of aluminum and magnesium to both lighten and strengthen vital parts, and the 4.0 V8 got the same treatment for 2001. In V8 form, the 2001 Aurora is 165 pounds lighter than the 2000 model; with the 3.5 V6, the Aurora is 285 pounds lighter than the previous, V8-only model.
The bottom line, after all the technical stuff is laid out about the better structural rigidity, lighter-but-stronger chassis, revised suspension, and lighter high-output engines, is that the Aurora will accelerate and handle with surprising agility. The V6 version’s advantage in weight makes it much sportier than the old model, although I think Olds should moderate the Magnasteer’s speed-sensitive steering feel to take away some of the light-as-a-feather twitchiness as speed increases.
Gas mileage was good, and I thought at first it might be exceptional, because the tank is big enough that I got over 385 miles. A nice feature is that it takes regular gas, and while the EPA fuel economy estimates are 19 city and 28 highway, I got 21 in town, 25.5 on the freeway and a conglomerate 24.8 for a tankful that was used in combination.
Front and side airbags protect front occupants, four-wheel disc brakes with antilock help more, and the four-wheel independent suspension has automatic load-leveling. The 16-inch wheels undoubtedly contribute to the good handling manners, and there is a tire inflation monitor that alerts you if any tire gets low.
The first Aurora was very good, and I think the 2001 represents an impressive first upgrade. It would be even better if a manual transmission were offered instead of the mandatory 4-speed automatic. But, hey, this is GM we’re talking about. We’ll settle for the 2001 Aurora as is, and hope that it leads the way for other GM sedans.
‘S4’ performance package turns Audi A4 into silken rocket
2000 AUDI S4
LIKES:
“S” stands for “screamer” with 2.7 twin-turbo V6 inserted into popular A4.
Audi’s trademark quattro all-wheel-drive system enhances performance with all-weather sizzle.
Subtlety is key, as the heart of a wolf roars without disfiguring the sheepskin coat.
Sudden power distributed by 6-speed manual or standard 5-speed Tiptronic.
Unique seats, instruments provide perfect finishing touch to S4 revisions.
Special wheels, tires, suspension set S4 apart from all other Audis — and competitors’ sedans.
Tiny little “S4” badges on grille and rear decklid, plus serious headlights and foglights are only external tip that this is something special.
Warranty covers all maintenance for first three years or 50,000 miles.
DISLIKES:
Price is stiff, at $40,000, but that may be reasonable for absolute pinnacle of sports sedans.
Rear seat room is adequate, but not roomy for passengers 6-feet or taller.
High-performance tires stick to wet or dry pavement, but would be scary on ice, so you’ll need to have top winter tires as well.
My first exposure to the 2000 model year Audi S4 was out in California, at a close-off roadway on the grounds of Laguna Seca race track near Monterey. My driving partner and I were tipped off by an Audi guy to take the car down and back on this curvy road for the best test of this particular car.
After sitting in the passenger seat on the short burst outbound, I got behind the wheel for the brief return. I hit the gas and we launched, with exhilarating swiftness. I hit second and ran the S4 up to its redline. I snapped the 6-speed manual shifter into third, and glanced at the tach as it neared redline. When the needle got there, I also stole a glance at the speedometer. It said 130 miles per hour. And we were in third gear, with a 6-speed!
This tale requires one of those “don’t try this on the highway” disclaimers, which, of course, is valid. If you’re not on an autobahn or a race course, you don’t want to be running any car to those speeds. It does, however, make you wonder exactly how fast an S4 might go in German trim on an uncongested autobahn.
For the entire decade of the 1990s, Audi was in “comeback” mode, striving to recover its integrity, to say nothing of its profit-margin, after damaging — and eventually disproven — publicity on national network television about unintended acceleration.
Here we are in a new decade, to say nothing of a new century, and Audi, its comeback completed, is setting out to establish itself in “performance” mode with an assortment of healthy helpings of “intended” acceleration.
One of those examples is that this weekend, Audi has a couple of cars entered in the 24 Hours of LeMans, and it would not be surprising to see the German marque go the distance and win the overall title among the world’s most performance-oriented manufacturers.
Another of those examples is the recent booming success of the introduction of the TT Coupe and Roadster, Audi’s first serious attempt at building a world-class sports car.
But one of the most dazzling bits of evidence of Audi’s performance swing is the far more subtle, but most impressive, sports packages applied to its mainstream sedans.
I had the chance recently to test drive an Audi S4 for a week, and let’s just say a week was not enough. It was enough to realize the performance capabilities of the S4; heck, 15 minutes was enough to verify that. But driving an S4 for a week makes you desperate to keep on driving it.
At $40,000, the S4 climbs into some pretty select company among the world’s sports sedans. But in some ways it climbs right past them to occupy the top rung. Yes, if you were going to pick one car to best meet every possible requirement of a performance-oriented buyer — from scalding hot acceleration, lightning-quick handling, all-wheel-drive security, extremely safe construction, comfortably supportive seats, room for a family, and subtle beauty to the design — then the S4 may stand alone.
Len Hunt, the vice president of Audi of America, mentioned how the A4 sedan had turned Audi around when it was introduced in 1995. As an economical midsize car that sells for $26,000 to $30,000, depending on options, the A4 singlehandedly got Audi in the U.S. back on the affordable/high-tech fast track that it was on all over the rest of the world, and its success has caused Audi to go from the worst resale in the U.S. in 1991 to perhaps the best resale value right now.
“The A4 is our guiding star,” said Hunt. “And the S4 is our ‘silken rocket.’ ”
MEETING CHALLENGE
Auto magazine readers are well-aware that outfits such as “Car and Driver” ranked the Audi A4 as the No. 1 sedan under $30,000, beating the usual favorite, the BMW 3-series, and all the rest. In its May issue, Car and Driver ranked the best sedans under $40,000, and the Audi A6 with the 2.7-liter twin-turbo V6 was ranked No. 1, ahead of the BMW 528, the Lexus GS300, the Jaguar S-type, Lincoln LS V8, Oldsmobile Aurora V8, and the Saab 9.5 Aero and Volvo S80 turbo.
Pretty bold evidence of Audi’s emergence at the top of the mainstream sporty-sedan segments.
The S4, however, stands above and beyond. Auto magazines also like to do special features on aftermarket hot-rod treatment applied to standard cars, but the beauty of the S4 is that it proves nobody can tweak a factory car better than the factory that built it.
A discerning performance-car buyer wants certain things. Sure, it must accelerate well, but it also must stop and swerve either way with precision, and it must be comfortable enough for everyday driving, from mundane traffic congestion to freeway cruising, but it also must possess suspension firmness that allows the car to be hurled around tight corners and maintain a flat, stable attitude.
The A4 is the perfect platform to start with. Audi then stuffs the 2.7 V6 under the hood. Now the 2.7 is a slightly revised version of the standard 2.8-liter V6, which was a sturdy, durable powerplant made hotter when Audi put five valves above each cylinder (three intake, two exhaust). By tweaking it to 2.7 liters of displacement, the dual-overhead cams run those 30 valves into specially revised combustion chambers with adjustable intake valve timing. On top of that, Audi engineers hook up two small turbochargers, rather than one large one, so they spin faster, eliminating lag.
The engine turns out 250 horsepower at 5,800 RPMs and 258 foot-pounds of torque in a constant from 1,850-3,600 RPMs. The bottom line to all that is 0-60 times of 5.9 seconds, which would be exceptional for a lightweight 2-seater sports car, but it’s well beyond that for a 3,593-pound sedan. That is heavy for a midsize sedan, but not for one with all-wheel drive.
The 6-speed is a no-cost option on the S4, while the standard transmission is the Porsche-designed Tiptronic, which allows you to drive in “Drive” or can be shifted manually, without a clutch. Audi’s incredible quattro system of all-wheel drive, which seamlessly can adjust torque feed to one axle if it detects the tendency to slip at the other.
Cornering is accomplished with revised four-link front suspension and double-wishbone rear, with many of the key components and all ball joints all made of aluminum on the S4. There also are twin-tube, gas-filled shocks and coil springs in front, and stabilizer bars both front and rear. The result is the feeling of absolute precision, and that without harshness the S4 wants to stay level no matter how you fling it around a turn.
NICE TOUCHES
At a base price of $37,900, the S4 is about $10,000 more than the standard A4, but it would be difficult to prove the enhancements aren’t worthwhile. There is a sport-package seat system with nappa leather that has a suede insert where some occupants wearing shorts might otherwise complain about sticking to leather in hot weather. A 10-way power unit adjusts the driver and passenger seats.
A stained bird’s-eye maple wood trim sets off the interior, which features backlighted red gauges, and specific direct and indirect lighting allows you to see other controls and where your feet are going on entry or exit. An 8-speaker, 80-watt sound system can be upgraded to a 150-watt Bose system, with a 6-disc player. Heated seats, a glass sunroof, automatic dimming interior and exterior mirrors, a HomeLink computer system augmenting a six-function trip computer also shows pictograms of doors, windows, temperature, radio frequency and other vital functions.
Safety features include the cage construction plus front and side airbags and special sideguard curtain airbags for further protection against side impacts.
Outside, the S4 has Xenon gas-discharge headlights that have a fantastic pattern of focused light, and an auto-leveling system to keep the low beams low enough to not bother oncoming drivers. Projection-lens foglights also do a great job of lighting up the low and wide areas. As usual, Audi has a rear foglight, too, which intensifies on one side to help following traffic see you sooner in fog or snowstorms.
The antilock brake system has front and rear differential locks and rear brake pressure regulation. Audi also took the larger brakes off the luxury A8 sedan, which gives ventilated twin-piston calipers on 12.6-inch discs in front, and 10.1-inch discs at the rear. So the S4 goes like a scalded cat, turns on the proverbial dime, and stops with smooth and surprising suddenness.
What more could you want? This is a car that promises everything — and then delivers.
[[[CUTLINES:
1/ The Audi S4 looks remarkably like the standard A4 sedan, except for the special wheels.
2/ Xenon gas-discharge headlights have self-leveling feature and are complemented by projector-beam foglights.
3/ The special headlights, and the tiny “S4” badge on the grille indicate that this is the S4.
4/ From the rear, the S4 maintains the A4 look, with only the S4 badge and the dual exhausts distinguishing the upgrade.
5/ As it rests, the S4 doesn’t betray its twin-turbocharged engine and sub-6-second 0-60 capabilities.
Chrysler’s 300M powers its way toward top-sedan echelon
2000 Chrysler 300M
LIKES:
Dramatic, racy styling has sleek lines, from a chopped-down nose to a bobtailed rear.
Interior has a classy appeal, with chrome-ringed white instruments that have a stark but classic look.
Lots of power (253 horsepower, 255 foot-pounds of torque) from the 3.5-liter V6.
Optional “performance” suspension and steering with larger chromed aluminum wheels enhance handling.
Heated leather seats are standard equipment.
AutoStick 4-speed automatic transmission lets you shift for yourself to match the performance image of the car.
Lots of room, front and rear.
Traction-control can be shut off when you want to spin your way out of a snowdrift.
Neat little ergonomic touches include tiny finger indents on the inside door pull grips and on the directional stalk tip.
Optional audio system has a 4-CD in-dash player and 320 watts blowing through 11 speakers.
DISLIKES:
The interior leather is wonderful, but please — PLEASE — spare us the high-gloss fake wood stuff. Think how many plastic trees have to be needlessly cut down to harvest so much phony woodgrain.
As good as the power and handling of the 300M are, it could be that much better if it wasn’t so needlessly hefty — 3,560 pounds.
The 3.5 V6 is strong, because its sheer displacement size overcomes its single-overhead-cam engine; the 300M will be sold in Europe with a hot version of the 2.7 four-cam V6.
The weight and luxury touches help push the 300M over the $30,000 mark; making it lighter and leaner might reduce the heavyweight price — and also improve the performance. But, who knows? Maybe we’ll get a downsized 300 model of the new Sebring.
On Fourth of July week, it is altogether fitting and proper to discuss a candidate to be the top U.S. high-performance/luxury sedan.
Since Mercedes has taken over Chrysler Corporation, DaimlerChrysler has continued to roll out its luxurious vehicles from Germany, and Chrysler has moved boldly forward with products such as the PT Cruiser and other flights of fancy. One of the vehicles that Mercedes officials seem to most appreciate in the Chrysler line is the 300M — a sportier luxury sedan that not only challenges as the top U.S. performance sedan, but might be successful as a product in Europe as well.
Back when Chrysler Corporation made a bold new step ahead in styling and turned out a stylish trio that included the Dodge Intrepid, Chrysler Concorde and Eagle Vision, things were looking good. When economics led to curtailment of some models, Chrysler did away with the Eagle brand, and has since dropped the Plymouth nameplate. Curtailing the Eagle was too bad, but the wheels were already turning, you should pardon the phrase, for the 1998 upgrade of the Intrepid-Concorde-Vision.
So Chrysler came out with a much-improved Concorde for ’98, and Dodge’s Intrepid got the same tighter treatment. The plan for the Vision had been to shorten it, separating it from its siblings to make it more of a Eurolpean sporty sedan. Call it visionary or delusional, but Chrysler almost seemed to see what was coming. A year later, Chrysler brought out the slightly stubbier would-be Vision, and called it by the 300 designation of its legendary old hot-performers of the 1960s.
The 300M worked, and captured the fancy of buyers who liked the styling and the performance, particularly when combined with the luxurious attempts to make it classy. Meanwhile, Daimler Benz was to take over Chrysler in what was loosely called a “merger.” But there was no chance of killing the 300M. Mercedes officials singled it out along with the minivans and the coming PT Cruiser as Chrysler vehicles that could be successfully marketed in Europe.
The Intrepid and Concorde continue to do well, but the shorter 300M seems to be everywhere. It also has gained acclaim from the more cynical among car magazine types. In two years on the market, Car and Driver has named the 300M among its top 10 cars, and AutoWeek just came out with a limited poll among some of its subscribers, and while it was far from scientific, and it was topped, predictably, by the Corvette as the repeat No. 1 vehicle folks would like to own, the Chrysler 300M was a startling second — ahead of the Ford F150 pickup, Cadillac Seville, Lincoln LS, Dodge Viper, Mustang, PT Cruiser, Taurus and Focus.
When I spent a week test-driving a gleaming silver 300M, it seemed like I saw 300Ms all over the place. And with good reason, based on the rave reviews, although the car resides in the lofty $30,000 price neighborhood.
That neighborhood puts the 300M into a highly competitive segment in the market, up there with cars that are loaded with luxury but still are willing to be hurled aggressively around a corner with predictable steering and handling. That segment used to includ the Ford Taurus SHO and the Pontiac Bonneville, as the top U.S. performance sedans. The SHO has vanished, however, so the hottest Bonneville is the remaining barrier for the 300M to achieve top-U.S. status. Of course, a lot more competition from all directions is out there — performance-oriented luxury cars from Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Saab, Acura, Lexus, Infiniti and Mazda.
But against all of them, the 300M has the right blend of power, performance, luxury and pizzazz to compete. Only trouble is, it is built in Brampton, Ontario, and I don’t think Canadians are as fired-up about our Fourth of July as those of us on this side of the border.
POWER AND HANDLING
Primary, among performance sedans, is the capability of being responsive, both to the touch of your toe on either the gas or the brakes, and to your hands, at the touch of the steering wheel or shift lever.
The 300M doesn’t come with a big V8, and you can’t order one with a stick shift. However, the same can be said of the Bonneville, which still is selling its top SSE model with a supercharged 3800 V6 engine that began life about 40 years ago. The 300M does have a leg up on most automatic-shifted sports sedans by coming with Chrysler’s slick AutoStick, which is a 4-speed automatic transmission with a side gate for the shift lever that allows the driver to bump it to the right for upshifts or to the left for downshifts.
A lot of folks may not use the clutchless shift in that mode, but that’s fine, because you can just leave it in “D” for drive. I found that I used it almost always when coming off a freeway, dropping it out of “D” so that I could then downshift a gear, or even two, to slow down and/or to be in the best gear range for whatever city driving I had coming.
Upshifting is fun, more than terribly benificial. The 3.5-liter V6 is basically the 3.2 that has been bored a bit for more power. More power is the word, too, because the 300M packs 253 horsepower at 6,400 RPMs and 255 foot-pounds of torque at 3,950 under that stylish hood. So if you put the shifter in “D,” you could drive 150,000 miles and unless you hammered the gas pedal all the way to the floor and held it there, the automatic might never allow you to get near the power peak revs. Hand-holding the shifter in AutoStick, you can let it run up to 6,700 RPMs every shift, and you can feel the exhilaration whenever you get up there to the peak.
The engine is a free-revving unit that is an expanded version of the 3.2 that any Dodge/Chrysler dealer will hustle you into in the Intrepid/Concorde. As I’ve written before, those single-overhead-cam engines are very good and develop a lot of power, but I prefer the higher-tech 2.7-liter base V6, which has dual-overhead-cams on its 24 valves and also has its excitement obscured by an automatic.
Still, the 300M needs power because it is surprisingly heavy at 3,560 pounds. During my week, I had fun with the AutoStick and I ran the revs up, particularly in second gear, often. Despite that, I averaged 21.5 miles per gallon in combined city-freeway driving. The EPA estimates are 18 city and 26 strictly highway.
The heft may aid the feeling of stability in the 300M, but this front-wheel-drive machine has plenty of stability and might benefit in agility as well as fuel economy if it were leaner and lighter.
Otherwise, performance is aided by the optional handling group that includes performance steering, suspension, oversized tires on bright chromed spoke wheels, and 4-wheel antilock disc brakes.
LOOK AND FEEL
The power and handling are all-important in such a sedan, but the look and feel of those attributes are almost as vital as the facts themselves. The 300M looks and feels the part very well.
When you settle into the driver’s seat, you are impressed with the quality of the leather bucket, and its 8-way power adjustable controls. A glance at the instruments displays more class. They are white-backed with bold, black numerals, stark in their roundness, but with a neat chrome ring encircling each one. It is not a gaudy silver outline, but a tastefully subtle rim on what Chrysler calls its electroluminescent gauges, which is a fancy way of saying that at night the lightness of the gauge darkens and light comes through the numerals to illuminate the instrument.
It is very stylish and classy, and the small, round clock at the top of the center dash is also encircled by a thin silver ring. That is reminiscent of the costly Infiniti Q45’s trademark, but whether that served as a guide or not, the little clock exudes class, as well as the time of day.
There are some things that I’m a purist about when it comes to cars. One is that I don’t want a fake convertible top on my car, because convertibles mostly only look good with the top down, so it would make more sense to saw off the roof and leave it a convertible all the time than to put vinyl on the nice smooth roof in hopes that somebody might mistake your 4-door sedan for an ugly convertible with the top up. The other is wood trim inside a car. I love fine woodgrain, just as I love real leather, so if you want to lavish me with leather and wood trim on the console, dash and doors, go ahead. But don’t put artificial seat covers and pretend they’re leather, and don’t put any fake wood stuff in there and expect me to be impressed. The 300M has great leather, but it has a lot of fake wood made even more plastic-looking by being extremely glossy.
On the flip side, somebody at Chrysler has done plenty of homework on ergonomics, that science of having controls and switches be where you instinctively reach. On the directional-signal stalk, little contours are carved into the knob which just happens to fit your fingertip perfectly. Often when you change lanes or exit a freeway, you just want to blink the signal two or three times, and it is a neat feeling when your finger is encouraged to push the switch in the right direction by fitting that contour perfectly.
Same with the hand-grip that you reach for to close the door once inside. That seems like no big deal. There’s a little handle, and you reach your four fingertips into it and pull. But you’ll notice on the 300M, tiny little contours are molded into the inside edge of the hand-grip, and your four fingertips fit into them just right. Neat.
The climate control and audio system also have gotten extra notice and work very well. The standard audio system is pretty potent, with AM-FM-cassette and CD, and nine speakers. The upgraded optional system has the same thing, but it has a four-CD holder in the dash, and the amplifier is improved to a b ooming 360 watts, feeding through 11 speakers in nine locations.
One of the most annoying things in modern society are the weirdos with costly, bass-booming stereo systems who insist on cruising with the system on so loud that the ground trembles for 50 feet in all directions. I mean, I love good music, and loud good music, but I would find it unspeakably rude to blast music I enjoy at bystanders who are angered to the point of rage. This 300M system could be used to confront such boors, or at least you could turn it up loudly enough so that their intrusive sound doesn’t intrude.
Come to think of it, the perfect rule for such loud audio zealots is that they can turn their systems up as high as they want — but they must keep their windows closed tight or be subject to a disturbing the peace ticket. Those types who want to blast their music to everyone would blow their own brains out if they had to do it with their windows closed.
Ah, but back to the 300M’s style. It appears that the shortening done to the 300M to differentiate it from the Intrepid and Concorde must have mostly been done on the front, because the rear seat has a lot of room, even with the front seat all the way back, and rear headroom is good and legroom is fine, and of course goes well beyond “fine” if the front seat is farther forward. The trunk, too, is very large. Meanwhile, visibility to the front is exceptional, because that nose slopes steeply away.
That helps the driver and front passenger see. But everyone can see that the 300M is a large-scale hit for Chrysler, for DaimlerChrysler, and mainly for customers seeking a true, U.S. sports sedan.
Vacation trips shortened by Venture, Town & Country videos
Every family that has ever taken a summer vacation trip knows the feeling. The parents are weary and irritable, the kids are bored and irritating, which is the perfect blend for vacation trips that can be memorable for the wrong reasons — unless, of course, you can sell the rights to Hollywood for a new Chevy Chase movie.
The perfect alternative to the Family Truckster of Chevy Chase’s original Vacation movie is the minivan. Chevy could even find a Chevy nowadays — the Venture Warner Bros. Edition — to relieve his hilarious stress. Or, he could spend the extra money for a Chrysler Town & Country, where his kids also could sit back, relax, and watch such a movie during the trip.
Yes, the time has come when the parents might have to be begging the kids to look away from the video screen to see the scenery. Get through the headphones to the rear of the minivan, or they might miss Mount Rushmore, or the buffalo roaming, or the Grand Canyon, or the ocean — pick one. But having the availability of watching videos or playing video games is about the best way to eliminate family-trip stress that I’ve ever imagined.
With all the publicity and hype about sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks — which are unquestionably popular all over the country and especially Up North — I was surprised to learn that in Minnesota, we still rank even higher in minivans. That shouldn’t be a surprise, however, because minivans continue to be about the most logical way to haul a family, anywhere. In recent years, one of the more humorous explanations for the trend in automotive buying was to hear SUV buyers say they didn’t want to buy a minivan because it was too trendy. Apparently overlooked in that explanation was that buying an SUV is the trendiest thing to ever happen in the car biz.
When it comes to minivans, there are well over a dozen to choose from these days. Chrysler Corporation wrote the book, 16 years ago, and has dominated the segment, selling over 8 million Caravans, Voyagers and, more recently, Town & Country vans. Over the years, other challengers have come and some have persisted. It’s to the point now where virtually every minivan has some impressive assets. The mini-video screen deal in the minivans is something special, however.
So, with vacation-trip-time bearing down on us in midsummer, let’s look at a couple minivans with some strikingly similar assets — the Chevrolet Venture and the Chrysler Town & Country.
VENTURE IN A VENTURE
General Motors in general and Chevrolet in particular tried several methods to take on Chrysler’s dominance when the minivan urge first hit. They shortened a full-sized van into a tall, ill-balanced vehicle, then they came out with the Dustbuster-shaped plastic versions, before finally throwing it all away and coming out with what is virtually a copy of the Chrysler template. The Chevy Venture van has been successful in this newest form, and the 2000 Venture adds features to make it a viable competitor.
Powered by a 3.4-liter pushrod V6, the Venture has 185 horsepower at 5,200 RPMs and 210 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 revs, although the RPMs matter less with the 4-speed automatic transmission. The Venture, in fact, doesn’t even have a tachometer adjoining the huge fuel and temperature gauges. It has a lot of low-end pulling power, and a towing capacity of 3,500 pounds with the optional package — which the test vehicle didn’t have, incidentally.
With a base price of $28,995, the Warner Brothers version comes quite loaded to begin with, and a firmer, touring suspension and traction control push the sticker to $30,305.
The prominent feature of the Warner Brothers edition is the little Bugs Bunny logo on the outside, and the flip-down video screen on the ceiling, just behind the front seat backrests. You wouldn’t want to be watching Daffy Duck while waiting for a traffic light, or while freeway-cruising across Nebraska, if you’re driving. But if you’re in one of the three seats in the middle row, or in the two rear-most seats, Daffy Duck is a definite upgrade over the fourth hour of cornfields outside the tinted-glass windows.
In the Venture, you flip down the screen, and you have a low-mounted video player at the base of the center dash area — perfect to retain parent-control over what the kids get to see.
As usual, GM has done an excellent job with interior appointments. The seats are edged in grey leather, with cloth inserts for the seating surfaces. The AM-FM-CD-cassette audio system is mounted on the center dash, and controlled by big, round knobs for power/volume and tune/display. The air/heat controls are located on that same center-dash panel, and also are simple to control with three large, round, ribbed knobs. A smaller panel below that controls the rear auxiliary air/heat controls.
There is a net between the front buckets, which is another neat touch, and a place where all sorts of stuff can be tossed and contained without rolling free under the seats. There are various other small cubicles for stowing other stuff, and a small flat platform with a knobby rubber mat on top of the dash.
Chevy has done its homework on the cupholder issue, too, which can’t be overlooked in such a people-hauler. You can fold and switch seats to form various configurations, and when all of them are upright, you can seat seven — with six cupholders in handy reach. Fold down the center seats, and you find more cupholders carved into the now-flat backrests. Same with the rear double seat. So with all the seats up, seven occupants have six cupholders, but with all the seats folded down, you are up to 13 cupholders (by my count), but, of course, you could only house two occupants that way.
The front-wheel-drive Venture has good power, good pulling strength, comfortable accommodations, and the added feature of two full side sliding doors for easy access for rearward occupants on either side. An integral child seat inside, aluminum wheels outside, and keyless entry when going from outside to inside add to the attractiveness, although I would prefer 4-wheel disc brakes to the disc/drum set-up. Also, while the Venture is the Warner Bros. Edition, you have to supply your own Daffy Duck video.
TOWN & COUNTRY
Chrysler had such a huge hit with the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager that it gave itself a little gift in adding the luxury Town & Country under the Chrysler nameplate. Now, with Plymouth being phased out, the Voyager also will become a Chrysler, which will give Chrysler a basic minivan and a luxury minivan on the same showfloor.
We’re dealing with the most-upscale version possible here, the Town & Country Limited AWD, just to see how far Chrysler has come in its ongoing attempt to fend off challengers to stay in firm command of the minivan market segment. With SUVs and pickup trucks now priced well over the $30,000 mark, it was logical that you could build minivans worth that sort of stratospheric price structure. The “base” Town & Country comes so loaded that it is priced at $36,805; the test version adds a trailer-towing package with heavy duty radiator, transmission oil-cooler and special wiring harness, plus 7-passenger quad seating, and was $36,695.
The test T&C came with full-time all-wheel drive, which obviously is an upgrade beyond the standard front-wheel-drive, and while it enhances the overall feel of handling and cornering, it is never intrusive the way the more brutish 4WD trucks or SUVs can feel. Adding the all-wheel-drive version closes the gap between minivans and SUVs even further, and it should provide a big benefit in towing capability.
The Town & Country is powered by a 3.8-liter V6, a pushrod truck engine that runs smoothly through the AWD unit and 4-speed automatic transmission. For overhead-camshaft zealots, the 3.5-liter V6 will be coming out in the 2001 redesign. As it is, the 3.8 has 180 horsepower at 5,000 RPMs and 240 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000. That’s slightly less horsepower and quite a lot more torque than the Venture, and the all-wheel-drive gets that power down securely.
With the Chrysler, you don’t get a little Bugs Bunny icon glued to the outside, but you do get a similarly impressive flip-down video screen, with the video player mounted vertically in the console between the front buckets. And you also get some of the softest, most luxurious leather on all the seats that you’re likely to encounter in any vehicle. Like the Venture, the Town & Country was silver on the outside. The supple leather of the seats almost makes you forgive Chrysler for the high-gloss fake woodgrain on the center dash.
White-backed instruments add a classy and sporty touch, with the light-emitting feature making the effect of reversing to light-on-dark at night.
The rear seating configuration is different from the Venture, with two buckets in the middle row and three in the rearmost bench. You can move the seats around, of course, and, as with the Venture, you could fold down the middle seats and use them as tables and sit in the rear to watch your videos or play video games. I didn’t have Chevy Chase’s Vacation, but I did have some old video tapes I made 17 years ago of Canadian SCTV broadcasts, back when John Candy was not only alive, but young, barely known, and outrageously funny. A few dozen of those shows would be the perfect way to shorten a long trip, although I’d probably be pulling into wayside rests so I could move back from the driver’s seat to watch.
Bright chromed spoke alloy wheels add a further classy touch, and inside them there are 4-wheel disc brakes with antilock, and the foglights were a welcome addition to the powerful but weirdly-aimed headlights.
For the extra money, along with AWD and the fancy interior, the Town & Country has a load-leveling height control, power quarter-vent windows, 8-way power driver seat (the Venture was 6-way), heated front buckets, steering-wheel audio controls for the 10-speaker, 200-watt system, keyless entry, heated outside mirrors, front and rear air/heat controls, and power outlets in both front and rear.
Like the Venture, the Town & Country has two full-sliding side doors for easy access. And I was also able to try out the removable rear seat. Open the rear hatch, flip the switches and you can rock the rear bench up on rollers. It’s easy to roll the whole thing back through the rear door. It is somewhat less easy for one person to lift and carry the removed bench seat for stowage in the garage. But that opened a huge rear storage area, and we stashed two full-sized bicycles in there, isolating them from touching the ceiling or either wall with elastic cords fastened to the upper hand grips. Putting bikes on an exterior carrying rack is simple, although the bikes are still vulnerable. Parking them inside was easier and more secure, and the highly-tinted one-way glass prevented even sidewalk passers-by, 2 feet away, from even seeing them.
Of course, with room for bicycles and luggage back there, it opens up more possibilities for more trips. But it also reduces the number of potential video viewers.
(CUTLINES:
1/ Selling 8 million minivans in 16 years of domination allows Chrysler to evolve upscale to the 2000 Town & Country Limited.
2/ Even two-decade-old SCTV videotapes spring to life on the Town & Country’s video screen.
3/ Removing the rear seat leaves room for four and a stable of bicycles inside the Town & Country.
4/ The 2000 Chevrolet Venture has taken more direct styling aim in going after the dominant Chrysler minivan market.
5/ Fold-down seats, dual-sliding doors and other amenities make the Venture competitive in the minivan market.
6/ The Warner Bros. Edition has a fold-down screen for videos and video games that can be a long-trip asset.
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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