New 2001 vehicles overflow from every marketing niche
The 2001 car and truck models just out or just coming out will have a significant impact on the marketplace as the most technically and technologically advanced cars ever imagined. And some go well beyond imagination into future-world.
The future-is-now category starts off with Chrysler’s PT Cruiser, a fascinating compilation of current wants and needs with styling that is both heavily retrospective and futuristic. The enormous splash made by the PT Cruiser may obscure the extremely important introduction of new Stratus and Sebring midsize sedans and major revision of the highly successful minivan line of Caravan, Voyager and Town and Country.
General Motors is pretty much standing pat as far as its vast fleet of cars are concerned, but is going onward and upward to expand and improve its truck outlay, ranging from newly redone pickup trucks to all-new sport-utility vehicles and heavy-duty trucks, and to the bizarre and possibly outrageous Pontiac Aztek.
Ford, having achieved car-of-the-year status with the subcompact Focus in 2000, also is not in a major car-overhaul year, but is bringing out its revised Windstar minivan, and all-new Escape compact SUV, while readying an all-new Explorer for 2002 — right in the face of the current controversy over the Firestone tire/Explorer problems.
Creature-comforts and gadgets and gimmicks are proliferating. It wasn’t long ago that cupholders were gimmicks, and to consider how far that notion has advanced, you will now be able to buy a Ford Windstar minivan with a rear hatch that opens to reveal a microwave oven and a mini-washing machine, as well as a refrigerator.
In brief overview, trucks continue on their unbelievable upward surge of popularity with more proliferation; sports cars continue to show flashes of popularity; luxury sedans (and near-luxury) keep getting better; normal, everyday sedans have risen further in excellence; super-economy models are making a surprising comeback; and alternative-fuel vehicles are here and promise expanding popularity.
Occupant safety continues to be a major element of new cars, even as high-performance elements of bigger and more powerful engines proliferate.
As for the Asian influence, Honda comes out with an entirely new and well-kept secret Civic, even while Toyota is also coming out with a new, recently introduced Corolla. Nissan also has introduced its new Sentra; Mazda has redone the Protégé — a major player in the Civic/Corolla/Sentra battle; Subaru is branching its Outback into a separate line and installing a new 6-cylinder engine; and the upscale side also grows, with a new Lexus LS430 and sporty IS300, and new Acura 3.2CL coupe, and Infiniti’s new Q45 coming in the spring. Korean companies are striving to move up to the Japanese strata with Kia offering a Rio at under $10,000, and a new Optima coming in December; Hyundai goes large with the XG300.
Those Asian companies also are intensifying their bite into the SUV craze. Toyota leads the way there, with the smaller RAV4 completely redone, and an entirely new Highlander coming in between RAV4 and 4Runner, and an entirely new Sequoia coming out at the high end, built on the new Tundra pickup platform and larger and more luxurious than the Land Cruiser. Honda counters with an all-new MDX for its Acura line, a slick SUV that Honda hopes will prove coming in late to the SUV party is not too late. Mazda offers the Tribute, built in conjunction with the Escape for Ford, Nissan has already brought out its redesigned Pathfinder, with companion upgrades to its Infiniti QX4 models, and Mitsubishi has an all-new Montero. Hyundai, from Korea, enters the SUV field with the Santa Fe.
Going the other direction, to Europe, Mercedes has produced an all-new C-Class sedan that will be a worldwide success with excellent styling and advanced technology all starting at a bargain (for Mercedes) $30,000 price level; Audi, which brought out its TT sports car and follow-up roadster already for 2001, and made quantum advances in performance for 2000, goes part way to the SUV segment with the Allroad, a reinforced quattro station wagon that can rise up on its axles by command for off-road ground clearance; BMW reinforces its M3 sports coupe and sedan with an all-new version, and produces the Z8 roadster. Sweden continues to challenge those German strongholds with Saab offering its aero version on the 9-5 sedan and wagon models, while Volvo comes out with an all new S60 sedan and a revised XC model of the cross-country V70 station wagon.
CAR, TRUCK OF YEAR
The preliminary candidates for the 2001 International Car of the Year voting displays the wide variety of models available. Alphabetically, new cars include the Acura 3.2CL, Audi allroad quattro, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Sebring and Town and Country, Dodge Sebring and Caravan, Honda Civic and Insight, Hyundai XG300 and Elantra, Kia Rio and Spectra, Lexus IS300 and LS430, Mercedes C-Class and CL coupe, Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder, Nissan Sentra, Olds Aurora, Subaru Outback HD6, Toyota MR2 Spyder and Prius, Volvo V70 and XC and S60.
Truck of the Year prospects are: Acura MDX, Cadillac Escalade, Chevy S10 Crew Cab, Ford Escape and Explorer SportTrac and F150 SuperCrew and Ranger, GMC Yukon Denali, XL, Sierra C3 and Sonoma Crew Cab, Hyundai Santa Fe, Infiniti QX4, Mazda Tribute and B-Series, Mitsubishi Montero, Nissan Pathfinder and Frontier, Pontiac’s Aztek, and Toyota’s RAV4, Sequoia and Tacoma Double Cab.
That’s a large batch of new-enough 2001 models, surely, and those lists will undergo a preliminary cutdown and then a further refinement to get to around 10, and then the final vote.
It appears that the PT Cruiser is a cinch to be car of the year, as much of a cinch as was the Volkswagen New Beetle. The Cruiser appeal crosses all age boundaries, with its stunning styling. True, some dislike it completely, but Chrysler stylists insist they intended to elicit emotional responses, and fully anticipated getting a love-it-or-hate-it reaction. So far, the Cruiser has been overwhelmingly loved.
If there is a complaint about the Cruiser, it is that it lacks the neck-snapping power its modern-hot-rod appearance might imply. But its 2.4-liter 4-cylinder is fully adequate, either with the 5-speed or automatic. The utility of the Cruiser actually approaches the assets of why the majority of SUV buyers choose bigger, bulkier vehicles. You sit high enough to have excellent visibility, and you have plenty of room for a couple of kids — or adults — in the back, plus a load of stowage room for all the worldlies you need on any trip under that squareback, which houses a platform that can turn into a tailgate-party table.
The Cruiser handles well, if not like a sports car. All in all, it is perfectly on target to be every-families’ vehicle. And that styling remains a major asset. No matter how much you like or dislike it, you find yourself spotting it and then being unable to look away.
Chrysler, now DaimlerChrysler, appears headed for a big year, because its minivans, long the standard of the industry, have been thoroughly overhauled for 2001, although the styling refinements are more subtle than the handling and internal revisions. Also, the Stratus and Sebring, both of which are available as sedans and coupes, are breakthrough vehicles that are impressive enough to take on such luminaries as the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry in the extremely competitive intermediate size class.
General Motors is continuing to stabilize its automobile models. The Pontiacs have their performance flair, the Buicks retain a similarity that stresses stability as a virtue, Oldsmobile, with the new Aurora tightened considerably, also has a family-trait similarity among the Aurora, Intrigue and Alero, Cadillac rides the revisions of a year ago, and Chevrolet also has subtle refinements from its recent changes.
With its new heavy trucks, and the 2002 introduction of impressive new lines of SUVs such as the Blazer and Bravada, two of the more interesting GM products for 2001 are the Corvette and Aztek. Corvette retains its recent changes, but now offers a mind-bending Z06 model, which comes with the rounded hardtop only, and is more for the all-out enthusiast than the boulevardier cruisers. With 385 horsepower and 385 foot-pounds of torque, the Z06 goes 0-60 in 4-seconds-flat, and is off the scale as far as power-to-weight ratio compared to any other Corvette.
The Aztek is also mind-blowing, but in a different way. In the love-it-or-hate-it world, the majority opinion of the Aztek seems to be that it isÂ…in a wordÂ…ugly. It resembles an old American Motors Hornet station wagon on steroids, with a tall, bulky demeanor and a sloped rear hatch. The front end is stretched upward, and the thing looks a lot like a weird concept vehicle that was brought to life. The Aztek’s controversial looks obscure a whole lot of very impressive features and gadgets that underscore “utility” in the sport-utility vehicle phrase.
Ford is planning to bring out an all-new Thunderbird for 2002, speaking of concept-cars brought to life. For 2001, though, it is one year past introductions for the Focus, and barely into the new run of Taurus and Sable. So Ford’s big news is SUVs, too. The top-selling Explorer is being brought out as a 2002 model, just after the first of the year, which gives time for Ford to properly promote the new Escape.
Designed by Mazda, originally, the Escape is smaller than the existing Explorer but has the same interior space. Plus, it rides on a front-wheel-drive platform that transfers torque to the rear axle whenever front-tire slippage is detected. The engines are Ford’s good Zetec 4-cylinder, and excellent Duratec V6, and the Escape not only will be worthy of battling the Toyota RAV4, the Honda CR-V and the Nissan Xterra, but it might also carve away some customers of midsize SUVs, including Explorer.
Safety moves to forefront in 2001 vehicle marketing
It used to be that styling was all that mattered in the automotive industry. Then buyers became more sophisticated, and substance moved up to rival style. That substance took the form of performance, handling, comfort and economy. In more recent years, safety has also become a primary concern for car-buyers.
Many of those who have followed the current trend to buy sport-utility vehicles will claim that safety is a main reason. Among Up North buyers, the utility of towing and hauling capacity makes such SUVs more obvious choices, but across the country, and here, a majority of buyers purchase large SUVs for security. That security is the logical thought process that says bigger, heftier vehicles will be safer in a crash.
Overlooked along the way has been the obvious factor that if crashes are inevitable, a larger, heftier vehicle should win out against a smaller, lighter one, but that there is always a compromise. Crashes needn’t be inevitable in most cases, and for every pound of heft or inch of height, a vehicle gives up some handling agility — call it accident-avoidance capability — in the exchange.
The recent controversy about Ford Explorer problems with Firestone tires has renewed the ongoing challenge to automakers to create vehicles that are fast, efficient, comfortable, and still safe and secure for occupants.
Car-makers have made amazing gains in safety. Crash-test sophistication has shown what happens when a vehicle hits something, and engineers with ever-increasing computer technology have been able to address it. Thirty years ago, Swedish car-makers Volvo and Saab, and very few others in the world, stressed safety, and it has been interesting to watch the progression.
Up through 1966, for example, Volvo made strong, sturdy sedans in Sweden that were big sellers Up North. The safety concept was to build the car like an impenetrable shell, and the 122 model Volvos would take a tremendous lick without yielding. Same with Saab 96, which simply wouldn’t bend on impact. Then in 1967, Volvo came out with a revolutionary new car, the 140-series, which had a rigid, crush-proof box surrounding the passenger compartment, but designed the squarish front and rear sections to collapse. It was revolutionary, but the concept was not to merely collapse, but to collapse at a controlled rate measured to absorb the energy of an impact.
That concept has advanced through the automotive industry and is now the standard. Seatbelts came in, then 3-point harnesses, and finally, in the last decade, airbags. Auto companies fought a lot of the advancements, and some are still open to dispute. In fact, there is a school of thought that a 4-point harness would be vastly better than a 3-point for holding occupants in place, because no matter how safely a car is structured, an occupant that can bounce around — or slide out even a little from the diagonal upper strap of a 3-point harness — is much more vulnerable to serious injury.
Airbags were first instituted to protect those who wouldn’t help themselves, those who refused to buckle their harnesses, and there is still some question about their value if better harnesses were in place. Besides, they go off in error sometimes, and have been fatal to smaller occupants and injurious to others by their mere deployment.
The biggest trends for 2001 are more useful applications of airbags — two-stage deployment and side-impact airbags. The original airbags exploded in the face of the driver and front passenger only on frontal impact. Side impacts and rollovers would not even cause the bags to go off. But in the past couple of years, manufacturers have improved airbags greatly, with two-stage front bags designed to go off at different intensities depending on the force of the impact and/or the weight of the passenger.
And manufacturers for 2001 are expanding their use of side airbags. These can consist of a narrow curtains in the headliner, just above the door, that drops down to help shield an occupant’s head from striking the side pillar or window in a side-impact. Others install the inflatable bag in the seat itself, and still others have found a way to incorporate it into the side harness strap itself.
Along with that, manufacturers are augmenting the crushable-zone front and rear body segments with strong beams in the doors and fenders to reinforce against side impacts.
Many different cars offer side airbags for 2001, and some SUVs, also. Ford, in fact, is incorporating several such safety devices including a side air curtain in the new-for-2002 Explorer. Ford also has built recent SUVs such as the Expedition with a bar designed to engage any other vehicle at a level that will allow the other vehicle’s safety devices to function, rather than riding up and over smaller vehicles.
It’s ironic that Ford seems to be at the forefront of SUV safety, given the current difficulty Ford is having because of the highly publicized rollover situation involving Firestone tires. There have been a lot of fatalities involving SUVs, which might be a shock to those who are convinced that they are safer because they’re bigger, and 85 percent of SUV fatalities have been because of rollovers.
Tires remain the major safety item on any vehicle, and there is probably less known about tires than cupholders on any given vehicle. For example, Firestone was bought out by Japan’s Bridgestone, just as B.F. Goodrich was bought out by Michelin. All of those companies make tires that range from expensive to inexpensive, and from exceptional to marginal in performance.
There are several problems at issue in the Explorer/Firestone mess. First, SUVs and other trucks are inherently less stable than cars, because they’re taller, with higher centers of gravity. Four-wheel-drive doesn’t help a vehicle stop shorter or swerve to avoid an accident while maintaining proper control. Like all manufacturers, Ford contracts with various tire-makers to build tires to certain specifications for specific vehicles, and Firestone was its choice for the Explorer and other truck applications.
Firestone’s plant in Decatur, Ill., had some serious labor problems in recent years. There has been no indication that that is related to the current problem, but a Ford official indicated off the record that there might be a connection, after it was disclosed that an inordinate number of Firestone tires built at that plant had a problem with tread separations, and the Explorers involved tended to roll over.
On such radial tires, there are two steel belts running around the circumference of the tire. Sometimes, because of impacts with curbs or misuse — or quality control — a tire might fail by having a separation between the belts and the tread. In such cases, the tire shreds and bad things can happen to the vehicle. In other cases, a vehicle might swerve out of control because of its instability, and the tire might shred from the abuse of being scraped severely in a skid.
Firestone indicated the Explorer tires should be inflated to 32 pounds of air pressure. Ford, in testing the vehicles, noted that they were more stable in slalom agility runs for crashworthy tests if the tires had 26 pounds instead of 32. So the tire manufacturer specified 32 and Ford specified 26. Now the government is involved in investigating whether Firestone or Firestone and Ford are guilty of not preventing serious problems.
In this case, both might be guilty. Ford might have taken steps to stabilize the Explorer with the tires at 32 pounds, but when was the last time you checked the air-pressure in your tires? It’s very possible to have a tire go down from 32 to 26 without the driver even noticing it, and we’d like to presume such an oversight wouldn’t necessarily mean the tires’ treads will separate.
In light of all this, all vehicles are getting safer and are improving their accident-avoidance capability by stiffer suspensions and various technical advancements. Plus, the newer and smaller SUVs may provide a preferred compromise. Vehicles such as the Honda CR-V, Lexus RX300, and the new Ford Escape and Mazda Tribute are front-wheel-drive that transfer power to the rear wheels only when wheelspin is anticipated by the computerized engine management system.
As with cars, a lot of people are steadfast in wanting rear-drive, which is better for heavy towing, but creates a tendency of lighter steering with rear wheels that want to power past the front in abrupt swerves and can tend to tilt a tall vehicle out of control. With front-wheel drive, vehicles are steered by the same wheels that supply the power to the road, so a sudden swerve or other emergency action prompts the vehicle’s front to turn, while the rear merely tends to follow along.
The good news is that manufacturers were well along the route toward making all vehicles safer and more secure, long before the current problem specific to Ford and Firestone arose.
Grand Marais offers food, artsy shops, and one particular harbor
If Jimmy Buffet could stand the cold and moved to Minnesota, he’d live in Grand Marais.
It would be easier to name 20 “best” road songs of the ageless master of self-styled Caribbean Soul than to pick one or two, but among the best is “One Particular Harbor.” Whenever I hear that song, or someone says the word “harbor,” I think of Grand Marais. It is the prototype small-town harbor, with its long, spindly breakwater circling out to sea to protect the large, pleasure-boat harbor and the town itself from Lake Superior’s legendary gales of November — whatever month they happen to occur.
The harbor itself is a safe haven for day-trippers, campers, sail-boaters, fishermen, or simply for those who enjoy walking out on the rocks, past the Coast Guard station to the lighthouse.
As is often the case, getting to Grand Marais is half the fun. It is nestled up the North Shore about two hours northeast from Duluth, as sort of a last stopping point beyond Two Harbors and Lutsen and before Grand Portage and Canada. But, of course, it takes more than two hours to drive there, simply because every time you revisit Highway 61, you won’t be able to resist stopping on the way to marvel at the many wonders of North Shore geological rock formations, waterfalls, hiking trails, river mouths, picnic areas, restaurants and scenic waysides.
You arrive at Grand Marais by cresting a hill and having the scenic little town spread open ahead. A couple motels and restaurants tip you off that you are about to find something more than the rugged rocky cliffs and hardwood and fir trees that have provided such a scenic trip.
Cruising down the hill into town, a large campground and RV compound is positioned on the right, and it stretches out to the lake and along the west side of that beautiful little harbor, with plenty of boat-launching facilities.
If you stay on Hwy. 61, you zip past a couple of stores and fuel stations, and you’re out of town — much too soon. Instead, “downtown” Grand Marais is reached by staying right, angling off along the harbor as Hwy. 61 bends left.
First thing, you’ll want to pause to just drink in — you should pardon the expression — the sight of that perfect, circular harbor. It is small by the industrial standard of Duluth, but it is large and secure for pleasure-boaters. There will be fishing boats and motorized craft coming in or going out, and sailboats drifting past, or moored out there, and gulls yapping and circling, looking amazingly white in the sunlight.
It’s naturally better in sunlight, although, like any location along the North Shore, the mood swings of the big lake and the fog or roiling cloud formations can be just as spectacular as those days with cloudless blue skies.
Fragments of “One Particular Harbor” fit Grand Marais perfectly. “There’s this one particular harbor, so far but yet so nearÂ…” Or, “Â…sheltered from the windÂ…” Or, “Â…where the children play, on the shore each dayÂ…” But the most fitting phrase is: “I know I don’t get there often enoughÂ…”
When we drive to Grand Marais — not often enough — we may stop at a restaurant on the way up, but mainly we might hit Kendall’s in Knife River for a chunk of maple-sugar-cured smoked salmon and crackers, because we just want a snack, so we can be hungry when we get to Grand Marais.
But first, we have a routine. We drive into the middle of town and park. Walk down by the harbor, and make sure to take a tour of the Lake Superior Trading Post. There are a lot of other souvenir-type shops, and you can circle around the block to Beth’s Fudge and Gift shop to browse. Browsing in a shop that also has fudge is dangerous, but there are a lot of things to peruse.
Ultimately, we know we’ll wind up walking out past the Coast Guard station, over the rocks of Artist Point, and on out atop the breakwater. You can have casual conversations with folks casting out into the lake from the ledge below, or simply nod a greeting to others who are just out for a stroll. Out at the end of the breakwater, you can look one way to see the post-card setting of the town itself, across the harbor, or turn the other way and be astounded by the constantly changing attitude of Lake Superior.
Because of the blend of an artsy community with souvenir shops and natural beauty of the big lake on one side and the high ridge of the tree line on the other, Grand Marais is a great place for such low-key wandering, but you will have to make a decision whether to do your wandering either before or after you take care of lunch or dinner.
When it comes to eating, you can find a wide variety in Grand Marais, over and above the fudge shop.
Among our favorites, when first cruising down the hill to enter Grand Marais from the west, there is the Angry Trout. It’s a quaint, trendy little spot right on the water, with a surprisingly sophisticated menu. Good stuff, tending toward more healthy, contemporary concepts.
The impressively off-beat character of the Angry Trout complements the town’s more mainstream establishments, such as the Harbor Light, up on the hill, or the Birch Terrace, in a century-old lodge, or the Harbor Inn and hometown atmosphere of the Blue Water Café.
It should be mandatory, however, for every visitor to stop in at Sven & Ole’s. Not only is it a great name for an Up North pizza joint, but the food is good and the atmosphere is, well, jammed. You walk in, stand in line to order your pizza or whatever, then you keep watch for an empty table in the huge, adjacent room. You also can go upstairs, where there is a little bar, and you can eat up there. To get there, you have to walk past the sign insisting that nobody under legal age is allowed up there, then notice all the kids at the tables.
If you just want a quick burger, and maybe a game of 8-ball, you can also go up the hill to Howling Wolf, a favorite spot of some good friends of ours.
If you’re looking for a way to spend the weekend, Grand Marais has a lot of motels, lodges and bed-and-breakfast places, which can give you a good springboard to going any direction — farther up the Shore, up the Gunflint Trail, onward to the Boundary Waters, or wherever — the next day.
But for us, the convenience and the allure of Grand Marais is that you can comfortably get there and back with enjoyable ease from most anywhere Up North.
One of our preferred routines is to walk around town first, then hit Sven & Ole’s (don’t forget the free bumper sticker), and then head for the more serious stroll out to the breakwater. That way, you can stop next to the trading post for a mocha or cappucino to accompany you on the walk. That shot of caffeine is good, especially if it’s getting later in the day and the lake is cooling the temperature down. Plus, you’ll be bolstered for that drive back home.
But it’s guaranteed, after you return from a drive to Grand Marais, the next time you hear Jimmy Buffett, you’ll recall one particular harbor, and you’ll realize you don’t get there often enough.
(Viper’s uncompromising power…adjacent piece to corvette)
DODGE VIPER VR/10
If the Corvette and its 30,000 annual sales is decidedly mainstream, the Dodge Viper is decidedly NOT mainstream. With only about 1,500 vehicles sold each year, the Viper is right where it was aimed by Chrysler, and now DaimlerChrysler — as the only U.S. exotic sports car.
True exotics are not mainstream. Cars such as Ferraris and Porsche Turbos are built to all-out performance standards, and then refined from that extreme to be manageable by a real-world driver, but they should never be considered normal, routine modes of transportation. That’s what the Viper is. The basic young executive who wants a car as a social status piece to prove he or she has made it, should NOT buy a Viper.
First of all, it is costly. The Viper VR/10 comes in at about $65,000. That’s a lot.
For that you get uncompromising looks — the Viper is a threat, with the lean, mean, hungry look of a dangerous snake, with that menacing front end, slanty headlight covers, large foglights, and all those enormously gouged vents in the sides and on the wide expanse of hood. You also get uncompromising power and performance from an 8-liter V10 engine. Yes, it is a pushrod engine, but, as Corvette has proven repeatedly, you can compensate for a lack of sophisticated design technology with massive amounts of displacement. Eight liters and 10 cylinders are massive.
That motor churns out 450 horsepower at a 5,200-RPM peak. Massive displacement also means you needn’t rev very high. Also, the 490 foot-pounds of torque peak at 3,700 RPMs.
While parked up near the UMD athletic facility, new Bulldog assistant hockey coach Mark Strobel stopped to examine the low-slung beauty, and remarked how it looked swift, all right, but it probably wouldn’t be much good at pulling a trailer. He was joking, because the Viper hardly resembles a tow vehicle. But with all that torque, and horsepower, the Viper would tow just about anything, and at a dangerously high rate of speed.
The Viper weighs 3,300 pounds, which means all that power equates to a ratio of 7.5 pounds for each horsepower. You just don’t get better than that. The Ferrari Modena has an 8.2 ratio, the Porsche Turbo is 8.19, and the new Corvette Z06 has a very impressive 8.13 ratio, but you can’t find another production car under 8. Running all that power through a 6-speed manual transmission also proves the Viper’s aim at performance: While it has enough torque to pull large trees out of the ground, the big V10 is loafing at freeway speeds. For example, if you were to cruise at a mere 2,000 RPMs in sixth gear, the Viper would be doing 95 miles per hour.
“Refined” is not necessarily a word you associate with the Viper, but in a way, that’s fine. This car is an example of what you see being what you get. It rides on 18-inch alloy wheels all around, with the front tires measuring 275/40 and rears that are an amazing 335-35. That goes beyond the normal boundaries of “low profile” and more resembles a large rubber band wrapped around those stylish alloys. These tires are unbelievable for traction wet or dry, although when the first flake of snow falls to within 1,000 feet of earth, park it for the winter.
Viper suspension is extreme enough to allow you to throw the car around the tightest of corners without a hint of body lean. Car and Driver magazine runs a statistical digest of all the cars it has tested recently. It shows that the Viper has a skidpad roadholding number of 0.95 — almost at the magical 1.0 G-force. The Z06 beats it by an eyelash, at 0.98, while the Ferrari Modeno — which costs over $150,000 — also edges the Viper, at 0.96.
The same Car and Driver ledger shows the Viper at 4.0 in 0-60 runs and 12.2 seconds in the standing quarter-mile, with a top speed of 186 miles per hour. It lists the Z06 at 4.3 in 0-60 and 12.7 in the quarter, while the Ferrari Modena has 4.5 and 13.0. The point is simple, however, that the Viper is burly, powerful and runs with the most exotic cars in the world.
As far as looking exotic, few other cars in the world elicit the same response as the Viper, which stops curious and casual passersby in their tracks. And all that power doesn’t inhibit the onlookers, because the Viper, like the Corvette, rumbles with a note of low power, and sends wonderful burbles of sound through those twin rear pipes when you decelerate.
The test car was the, uh, convertible. Dodge also now makes the Viper in GTS form, with a sleek, fastback roofline. The original, however, was an open-top car. The top itself indicates what a nuisance such after-thoughts are to such a car. The original had a little cover for the opening between the windshield and that raised rear structure. Evolution has not been kind to the Viper roof.
When it’s in place, it makes the Viper look like a guy with a bad hairpiece. Instead of VR/10, it should be nicknamed “toupee.” But pulling it off is a project. First, it’s only a canvas top, for crying out loud, but it is held together with an outer frame on both sides, and cross-members front and rear, as well as little metal struts running crosswise that make the most complex tent poles look like child’s play. These cross struts all have wide, hooked ends, with Velcro backing.
So when you unfasten the inside clips and lift the top clear of the body, you have created a beautiful roadster out of the car, and several minutes of work for yourself just to unhook things and fold the other arms, finally folding the whole thing up into a clumsy package. Sure, you can stow it in the trunk, but then you won’t have room for more than a couple of tiny overnight bags. Removing it is nowhere as challenging as putting it back up. You unfold it on the ground, working hard to fasten the hooks into tiny slots on the outer frame. Get one side done and when you start on the other, the first side tends to come unhooked. Finally get it together, then lift it — preferably with a partner — and set it ever-so-gingerly on the top.
You will note that the front clips fit in pretty well and can be fastened with the inside clip. But at the rear, there are these two, two-pronged metal spears sticking down. Yes, they fit into receptacles and can be pressed down to be secured, but it is obvious from the scratches on the top of the rollbar paint that several previous test-drivers had a difficult time putting it together.
Ridiculous. Surely somebody at Dodge could take somebody from Mazda or Honda out to lunch and have them sketch out a better top on a napkin.
As for creature comforts, the Viper remains uncompromising. Tiny trunk, no glove compartment, just a vertical cubicle on the rear wall between the bucket seats. Forget power seats. And while there is an AM-FM-CD-player mounted, audiophiles should plan on appreciating the exhaust sound more than to try to decipher the words to the newest songs from Emmylou Harris or Tracy Chapman. Come to think of it, heavy metal would be most appropriate.
Any refinement shortcomings are made up for by the sheer thrill of driving the Viper, indeed, they almost enhance it. Simple, round gauges with white backing aim speedomter and tach at the driver, and the rest are located along the upper edge of the dash. You’ll want to pay special attention to the fuel gauge, which is third of the four, and therefore easy to overlook. The Viper drinks its premium fuel in large gulps, and the gas gauge isn’t oversize.
Still, I got 13 miles per gallon in mostly city driving and 16 on a combined trip with city and freeway combined. Not bad for such an all-out performer.
Like the Corvette, I would prefer to see the Viper take on a refined overhead-camshaft engine. But, also like the Corvette, the Viper makes a stand for American performance cars — big displacement, pushrods, lots of low-end power and noise.
In the final comparison, the Corvette Z06 is offered at a bargain price, comparatively. But if all-out performance and that exotic look is worth it, the Viper will guarantee you a record number of looks from impressed bystanders. My advice, however, would be to stash the top in your garage. And if it rains? Wear a raincoat.
Corvette’s new Z06 counters challenge of Dodge Viper
Auto racing fans can come in a variety of ages, shapes, sizes and genders. They can be the kind of Formula 1 purists who have their dream come true with the return of that exotic series to the U.S. with this weekend’s U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, or they can prefer the alphabet-soup of CART, IRL, NASCAR, NHRA, or dirt-track modifieds or motorcycles. But all automotive enthusiasts have one thing in common: the love of fast cars.
When it comes to the absolutes of fast cars for street and highway use, the U.S. does right well, with the standard Corvette dominating the scene, but a more recent challenger in the Dodge Viper for heavy-duty high-performance. Sure, there are exotics in the hot-car field, too, such as any Porsche, or such over-the-top, six-figure machines such as Ferrari or Lamborghini. But the Corvette has long been the dominant performance-sports car sold in the U.S., although there is no question that Chevrolet and General Motors have felt the venom of the Viper, which has dominated world-class endurance races at places like LeMans and Sebring for the past three years.
Dominating on the race tracks of the world is one thing, bolstering corporate pride and all, but dominating the bragging rights on the street is even more important, as it translates to sales and ultimate corporate profitability. While the Corvette remains the overwhelming street-racer-of-choice for U.S. buyers, the Viper, armed with a huge, 8-liter V10 engine and incredible gobs of horsepower and torque, runs away and hides from the Corvette in all-out performance.
For 2001, Chevrolet has counter-attacked. Taking the very good and very refined Corvette, which comes in coupe, convertible and hardtop styles, Chevrolet picked off the hardtop, which is the lightest of the three, and scoured out every bit of weight possible, then stuffed a more potent V8 under that plastic hood. The engine upgrades are matched with specific suspension and steering refinements, and the result is the Z06.
The introduction of the Z06 corresponds with the return of a factory Corvette racing program for LeMans and other endurance races, and while extremely competitive, they haven’t yet beaten the Vipers.
So what could be better timing than U.S. Grand Prix weekend to examine the top two U.S. street screamers — the Dodge Viper RT/10, and the new-for-2001 Chevrolet Corvette Z06?
CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06
It was back in 1963 that Corvette’s first chief engineer, Zora Arkus-Duntov, decided to add an ultimate model to the mainstream Corvette line, and he called it the Z06 racing package. That, incidentally, was my favorite Corvette ever. Otherwise, Corvettes didn’t vary too far from the mainstream of being fast, strong and sporty, but with an eye toward being manageable for the masses. It became THE sports car for Americans, although it got fatter and heftier with the years.
In 1990, Chevrolet decided to silence the critics of its outmoded pushrod engine by building the ZR-1 model — an all-out high-performer with a special, dual-overhead-camshaft V8 with incredible power. It was the most potent Corvette ever, but because Chevrolet wasn’t into overhead-cam motors, it had to go to Lotus for design expertise, and have GM’s Mercury Marine subsidiary build the engines. Needless to say, it was costly. Twice as expensive as the normal Corvette. And it went away because it was unaffordable.
Chevrolet has done remarkable things to the Corvette and to its aging 5.7-liter pushrod V8 in the last few years, however. The C5 is the fifth-generation Corvette, with stunning looks and the most accommodating interior, plus an all-aluminum revision to the engine that extracted more power and revs. It was enough to allow Corvette to maintain its U.S. hold, in the face of a flock of new sports cars from Porsche, Mercedes, Audi and Honda. But there was that darn Viper, finishing 1-2-3 at LeMans.
So now it’s 2001, and Chevrolet has done Corvette’s tradition proud with the new Z06 — picking off the name of its first corporate hot-rod ‘Vette. In my opinion, it’s the best Corvette ever, or, to a stubborn type, at least since the ’63 coupe.
A whole batch of subtle refinements, including better cylinder heads, improved combustion properties through intake and exhaust alterations, plus stronger camshaft settings to improve valve lift and overlap, which required stronger pistons and valve springs, and even a new, lightweight titanium exhaust system. Altogether, the engine gains its own notation, LS6, and deservedly so. The basic 5.7 aluminum Corvette V8 turned out 345 horsepower last year; the Z06 engine spews out 385 horses and 385 foot-pounds of torque, which are increases of 40 horsepower and 35 foot-pounds of torque over last year.
All Corvettes have been fun to drive, but not until the Z06 have I realized the shortcomings of others. For example, I always thought Corvettes steered pretty well, but the new heavier steering in the Z06 was perfectly matched to my instincts, and made me realize that all others had been too light and twitchy. The heavier input required to turn the Z06 means less oversteer and less twitchiness.
Acceleration is spectacular. Taller gearing allows 0-60 times of 4.0-seconds, and I have read tests that have run the Z06 up to nearly 170 miles per hour. Not advisable on real-world freeways, of course.
All that performance leads to two amazing facts. First, because you can’t get all the creature-comforts of the standard Corvette, the Z06 base price is $46,855, with an as-tested sticker of $47,675 — cheaper than some Corvette models loaded with options but without the Z06 package. Second, the EPA fuel estimates are 19 city, 28 highway, which seemed far-fetched until I registered 21 miles per gallon on combined city-freeway driving, and a computer-calculated 26 miles per gallon on 100 miles of sustained freeway travel. Not slow freeway travel, I should add.
When you buy the Z06, you get unique alloy wheels that house larger tires (265/40 17-inch in front, 295/35 18-inch rear), and suspension camber settings for improved cornering stability, along with thicker stabilizer bars front and rear, stiffer rear springs and altered shock settings all around. The brakes live up to the rest of the upgrades, and the Z06 stops with amazing suddenness, same as the way it goes and turns.
Everything on the Z06 has been compromised for weight-saving. Personally, when I rank the three Corvette body styles, I like the coupe and convertible 1-2, with the hardtop a distant No. 3. The rounded, more bubble-shape hardtop seems to not fit in as well with the pleasing flow of the soft-wedge lines of the Corvette. But that’s just personal opinion. The fact is, the hardtop is the lightest version. For 2001, you can’t get the hardtop on any model except the Z06, and you can’t get the Z06 in any style except the hardtop.
Driver’s power-seat movement is limited to fore and aft, with other adjustments manual, to save weight. There is no spare tire in the Z06, replaced by an aerosol can of stuff to stop leaks and a reinflation device. And you can only get the 6-speed manual, no automatic, both for all-out performance and to save weight. The 6-speed still has that annoying skip-shift feature that goes from first to fourth at certain revs, but you can learn to get from first to second without ever engaging it with a little concentration. At 3,126 pounds, the Z06 is over 100 pounds less than other Corvette models, and it pays benefits in acceleration and handling.
The exterior changes are subtle. The thin-spoke alloy wheels are unique to the car. The usual vent just behind the rear wheel-well is still there, but another small vent has been added, just ahead of the rear wheel-well, to cool the rear brakes. Other than that, there is a small, silver emblem on the flanks emblazoned with “Z06.” Subtle or not, Corvette types can spot it from 100 feet. I was sitting at a stoplight and a fellow walked across in the crosswalk. He gave me a smile and a thumbs-up, then he turned again as he reached the far curb. “That one of those new ones?” he yelled. I nodded, and he gave us another thumbs-up.
The seats are comfortable and supportive, and the gauges are neatly laid out in a cluster of 3D overlays, including a tachometer that redlines at 6,500 — higher by 500 revs than the normal Corvette, and about as high as any pushrod engine can scream. That engine sound is rich, and when you decelerate, the exhaust sound burbling back through those titanium mufflers and out the four exhaust tubes is melodious enough to make all but the hardest of hard-core Harley riders appreciate the difference between “exhaust note” and “noise.”
On the freeway, you are the king. On past road-tests, I’ve noticed the tendency of many drivers, mostly in trucks and SUVs, tend to try to run with you or crowd you or otherwise show disdain when you’re in a BMW or Honda sports car. But everybody respects a Corvette, especially a bright red one. When you do have to make a move, however, you do it with slick precision, thanks to the always-abundant power, the steering precision and the compliant but firm suspension.
Not all of the Corvette’s mainstream refinements have been excluded, naturally. A superb Bose audio system brought out sounds from instruments I hadn’t realized were on some familiar CDs. And the lack of a spare made for decent trunk space, and you can reach back from the two seats to stash or reach stuff stored back there.
Corvette’s active handling feature, which coordinates computerized power with braking to help stabilize the car if a driver goes into a turn too aggressively. You can hold the switch down for five seconds to deactivate the device and go into “Competition Mode,” as in the case of an experienced driver who might want to induce a bit of wheelspin for autocross competition.
Criticism? With all the expertise and effort to make the pushrod engine so strong and responsive, it would still make more sense to me for Chevrolet to give in and build an overhead-cam engine for the ‘Vette. Engineers say overhead cams would make the engine taller, and it wouldn’t fit under that sweetly sloped hood. Hmmm. Seems that the old ZR-1 hood also was sleek, and it fit. Still, pushrods and all, Chevrolet was able to summon up all the tradition from its 40-something smallblock V8 to create a futuristic package, at an out-of-this-world price. They sold almost 30,000 Corvettes last model year, and the Z06 should take Chevrolet up and over that mark in the next year.
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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