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.
(cutlines for corvette-viper columns…)
Photos by John Gilbert, Up North Newspaper Network
[corvette z06Â…]
1/ A German cruise ship might swiftly cruise Lake Superior, but not as swiftly as the 2001 Corvette Z06 cruises on land.
2/ One of over 100 ceremonial Snoopy statues in St. Paul seemed elated to see the new Corvette Z06.
3/ The Z06 engine produces 385 horsepower and 385 foot-pounds of torque to the new Corvette model.
4/ Only a small badge, rear-brake air scoop and special alloy wheels differentiate the Z06 from other Corvettes.
[viper rt/10Â…]
1/ Every contour of Dodge’s Viper RT/10 indicates it is an exotic and powerful way to sail the freeways.
2/ A Viper meets with open-armed approval of the Minnesota Wild’s Snoopy, part of St. Paul’s tribute to the late Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz.
3/ The monstrous 8-liter V10 in the Viper produces 450 horsepower and 495 foot-pounds of torque for the industry’s best powre-to-weight ratio.
4/ As the sun sets, the Viper’s lights add an almost eerie quality to the powerful roadster.
Civic Si is a budget sporty coupe bargain, but not for 2001
The annual new-model changeover is always an interesting time in the auto world, but the changes aren’t always for the best for everybody. Honda is going to bring out a totally redesigned Civic for 2001, and it undoubtedly will be improved in many ways. But one of the changes is that there will no longer be a Civic Si for 2001.
Honda may be unexcelled when it comes to tacking advanced technology on its vehicles, but the last time they changed Civic models was in 1995, and one of the “improvements” was to make the hood less streamlined, and to eliminate four-wheel disc brakes on the top EX model. To me, that was a way of cost-cutting that was unbecoming a technology leader.
During the model run just ended, Honda became aware that a whole bunch of youthful hot-rodders, starting on the West Coast, were taking Civics and fiddling with high-performance computer chips, modifying the suspension, and adding neat wheels and ultra-low-profile tires and building hod-rod versions for street use. Finally, Honda responded and brought out the “Si” model, which, of course, means “Yes!” in Spanish.
The “Yes!” is appropriate, whether you’re responding to the speed, the cornering, the stopping or the price tag of the Si — which is $17,545, fully equipped.
When I had a chance to test-drive the 2000 Si model, it was as impressive as anticipated, and it was natural to assume it would be better, somehow, in 2001. I never anticipated that it would be eliminated.
For 2000, the Si model takes the basic Honda 1.6-liter 4-cylinder engine and turns it into a screamer with engineering borrowed from Formula 1 and CART racing success. The all-aluminum engine adds dual-overhead camshafts instead of single overhead cam, plus revised VTEC (variable valve-timing) to allow more intake and thus more power-making potential. The basic Civic engine has 106 horsepower, and is upgraded to 127 in standard Civic VTEC form, while the Si version is boosted to a whopping 160-horsepower, with 111-foot-pounds of torque.
The horsepower peaks at 7,600 RPMs, and the torque peaks at 7,000 revs — meaning both peak levels are attained at a tachometer reading higher than the 6,500 redline of the 2001 Corvette Z06. But fear not, because the Si tachometer redline is at 8,000 RPMs.
The 5-speed manual shifter holds onto those revs and applies the power properly to the street through front-wheel drive, and the handling and brakes also are suitable for boasting.
The handling comes from independent, double-wishbone suspension has coil springs that are 25 percent stiffer than the EX, with a larger front stabilizer bar. Gas-charged struts all around with Honda’s progressive valve damping rates keep the Si flatter and more stable no matter how enthusiastically you want to hurl it around corners. A support bar across the strut towers further aids rigidity.
The Si is set off by its front spoiler, side sills and subtle graphics, and the special wheels are 15 inches in diameter, and they conceal four-wheel disc brakes that are both larger and more proficient at stopping the little coupe.
Inside, the Si has the usual air-conditioning, plus a moonroof with a tilt feature, and power windows, door locks and outside mirrors, with keyless remote, cruise control and intermittent wipers. It is set apart from its siblings by a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, amber instrument lights and special graphics, plus two-tone seat fabric. An AM-FM-CD player also is standard.
Like all Civics, the Si earned a four-star rating in government crash tests, and while the Si is a small portion of overall Civic sales, the line is the top-selling marquee in the compact segment.
Driving the Si is a lot of fun, but it is just enough distance from perfect for us to anticipate the next version. The five-speed does its job very well, but it needs either better ratios or a sixth gear. The problem is the close-ratio transmission extracts maximum power all the way up through the gears, but when you go to cruise on a freeway trip, you find yourself running at 4,000 RPMs at cruising speed.
Now, 4,000 revs isn’t bad when you have a limit of 8,000, but different gearing or sixth gear could leave you at 2,500 revs or so, and mean that the jewel of an engine would be loafing instead of working even halfway to the limit. As it is, you can get up to the EPA estimate of 31 miles per gallon on the highway (26 city) if you can avoid the temptation to redline it in first and second, but altered gearing could put you closer to 40.
Preliminary word on the new 2001 model Civic is that the platform has been stiffened considerably, but that the double-wishbone suspension is gone, as is the Si model. Perhaps the stiffer chassis negates the need for the race-bred double-wishbones, but, once again, it doesn’t seem progressive for a technology leader.
Undoubtedly the 2001 will be a big seller, and full of worthy features, but if you want as much fun as $17,000 can buy, you’ll need the Si model. And for that, you’ll have to chase down a 2000 model.
[[[[[CUTLINES:
(Â…aztekÂ…)
1/ The “unusual” look of the Pontiac Aztek can be overcome by clever interior features and a moderate $25,000 sticker price.
2/ A tall, multi-decked grille makes the Aztek seem taller than it is, and soft suspension makes it comfortable but less stable in cornering.
3/ Inside, the seat upholstery has a dizzying pattern, but Pontiac-style instruments, an advanced heads-up display and a removable console/cooler are welcome features.
4/ Available in a camping package, the Aztek can be purchased with a tent appendage that turns the vehicle into a hybrid mini-motorhome.
(Â…Honda Civic SiÂ…)
1/ The Si model will disappear from the revised Civic line for 2001, at least temporarily.
2/ Special wheels, suspension, and a high-revving VTEC 4-cylinder makes the Civic Si a budget sports-coupe.
For a ‘batty’ education on vacation, head for Austin’s city limits
There are pleasure trips and there are business trips, but the best business trips can end up being extremely pleasurable, if you stay alert to capitalize on opportunities. It happened to me, on an auto introduction trip to Austin, Texas.
Austin is the Texas state capitol, home of the University of Texas, and it’s a musical mecca with “Austin City Limits” and an endless stream of bars and nightclubs with live music spilling out from open doors that attract full houses nightly, plus lots of museums, a dazzling state capitol building made of native pink granite, and the Lyndon Baines Johnson library and museum. Austin also is known as the entry point to the famous Texas Hill Country, where you can find the LBJ ranch amid other enormous ranches and stereotypical small towns a short drive away, over wonderfully twisting roadways.
All of those are tourist attractions, but all compete for only support status on my list of reasons to fly to Texas for a trip. The top attraction was revealed to me by surprise, when I was one of a hundred or so automotive journalists had been assembled at the Four Seasons Hotel downtown, right on the bank of the Colorado River, which meanders through Austin. A Chrysler public relations type mentioned that one of the most astonishing things he had ever witnessed would be occurring at sundown, which happened to be shortly after a press conference/dinner would have started in a ballroom just inside.
“Bats,” he said. “Thousands of bats will fly down the river at sunset.”
Right. I was about to suggest something about this fellow’s belfry, whatever that is, but he was serious. Now, bats have never been high on my list of favorite things, although that was mainly because I knew nothing about them, except what I had seen in some silly attempts at scary movies. Nevertheless, I told him that regardless of what would be served for dinner, and the seriousness of the information being divulged, to come and get me when it happened, and I brought my camera.
Sure enough, right about the time I was finishing my salad, I got a tap on the shoulder. I grabbed the camera and ran out on the hotel balcony. Looking southward, across the river, it looked as though there must be several grass fires upstream, because three or four long, horizontal columns of smoke were wafting from right to left, above the river. The columns of smoke were undulating and flowing smoothly, and then I realized why.
It was not smoke, but bats. Hundreds of thousands of bats. I shot hastily, firing off a couple frames at the wrong exposure, before my guide told me to relax, that it would continue for 5 or 10 minutes. So I shot some at various stops on the zoom lens, up to 200 mm.
It was incredible. These are Mexican Free-Tailed bats, one of 42 known species of bats in North America, 32 of which can be found in Texas. There as many as 1.5 million of them that live under a bridge, just upstream from our hotel, and every night at sunset they all fly out from their nesting areas, zooming off in the kind of orderly procession traffic-control engineers probably were hoping for when they established that single-file roadblock out to 40th Avenue East on London Road. They fly off in formation, and then apparently scatter. Every morning, by sunrise, they mysteriously wind up back home — just like George Hamilton.
Still, bats are creepy, right? Wrong, my once-mosquito-bitten northern transplant explained. Bats eat insects, and, the fellow said, you will notice that you are never bothered by mosquitoes or other nuisance insects in Austin, or in any other areas where a lot of bats reside. Bats consume crop pests. Such as cutworm and cornborer moths, potato beetles, and grasshoppers, but mosquitoes are a favorite. At its peak in annual number, the Austin bats can consume 25,000 tons of insects in a single night. It makes you wonder how an increase in our bat population might affect our Up North mosquitoes, black flies, gnats and chiggers.
It turns out bats are not the disease-ridden rodents many of us believe, and while a minute number of diseased bats might be found, the percentage is no worse than other wild mammals. Bats are very clean, not at all related to the mice their bodies resemble, and they groom themselves constantly during the day, when they’re hanging out — literally — in their bat-caves, so to speak. Not only are bats not blind, they see very well, and also have a sonar system called “echo-location” that helps them navigate in the dark and aids their quick, darting flight capabilities in finding and catching tiny, flying insects. Bats also are credited with a large percentage of pollination and seed dispersal for forests and fruit plants.
There are larger colonies of bats than Austin. San Antonio, which is a perfect day-trip south of Austin by car, has a colony of 20 million Mexican Free-Tailed bats, which contributes to the story behind the Austin bats. Back around 1900, Dr. Charles A. Campbell, a San Antonoio physician, was alarmed about a malaria outbreak, transmitted by mosquitoes, and he was convinced bats could control the bugs. So he designed and built some towers that attracted 250,000 bats as residents. The mosquitoes were wiped out, as was the malaria, and the good doctor ended up nominated for a Nobel Prize, and the Texas state legislature passed a law making it a misdemeanor to kill bats.
Austin, the state capitol, caught on and is now the center for bat research. In 1980, the Congress Avenue Bridge over the Colorado River was renovated, and the bridge was purposely built with slots an inch wide and 16 inches deep, calculated to provide optimum temperature and humidity for bats. Female Mexican Free-Tailed bats migrate to the bridge in March, they give birth to a single pup each in June. The males form in smaller colonies elsewhere, in caves, mines or other buildings.
The babies pack together in a cluster of 500 per square foot to stay warm at night while their moms are out hunting insects. The moms return to nurse the young, which grow rapidly and can fly in about five weeks. As summer ends, about this time of year, the males and other area bats join the colony under the Congress Bridge, swelling the number of residents from 750,000 to 1.5 million, and in November they migrate south to Mexico.
One other fascinating fact is that the fellow who tipped me off about the bats said that when he was first informed of them, he went out on the riverbank pathway, which is lined with signs filled with information about bats, and waited. The sun set, and there were no bats. He was perturbed, then laughed at himself for being the victim of a version of the legendary “snipe hunt” prank. The next night, at a nearby restaurant, he happened to look out the window and saw the bats. It turns out, the bats fly every night at sunset, except one night each month, when they don’t fly.
So if you’re looking for a vacation trip, Austin is a great spot, for all the museums, wandering along music row, or attending Austin City Limits. But reserve your time at sunset, and find a good vantage point along the river, downstream from the Congress Avenue Bridge. It’s worth the trip.
[[[[[CUTLINES:
Photos by John Gilbert
1/ At sunset every night — ALMOST every night — hundreds of thousands of bats fill the downtown sky at Austin, Texas, making sure visitors never need to swat mosquitoes.
2/ Austin’s bat population is so valuable, a downtown bridge was built with special grooves to house up to 1.5 million of the world’s most misunderstood mammal. ]]]]]]
Fortunately for Pontiac Aztek, ugly might only be skin-deep
The Pontiac Aztek, by contemporary standards of society overall, is definitely not “just another pretty face.”
It is, in fact, “unusual” if you wanted to be charitable in your description, and, as they say, “butt-ugly” if you didn’t.
When I first saw the Aztek at the International Auto Show, it was a concept vehicle, amid a stream of General Motors concept vehicles. Now, every manufacturer turns out concept cars for auto shows, hoping to attract attention and get a few oohs and ahhs from onlookers in order to get you close enough to consider buying the much more boring real-world vehicle parked next to it.
But a few years ago, Chrysler started bringing its more successful car-show concept vehicles to life. The Dodge Viper was one, the Plymouth Prowler another, and now the PT Cruiser. Ford has countered by planning to bring out a new Thunderbird, based on the concept vehicle shown last January at the Detroit International Auto Show.
General Motors, on the other hand, continued to build concept cars with no seeming intention of ever building a real one. Until this year. It would be understandable if we were to learn that the Aztek was just another one of those, and that somebody at GM finally said, “OK, we gotta build one of these,” and chose this year to do it.
When I saw GM was truly going to build the Aztek, I thought it was some sort of bad joke. A GM type asked me what I thought of the Aztek at GM’s new-product introduction, and I had to be honest. I said “If they make another Frankenstein movie, the monster will drive one of these.”
Sorry, but that was my first impression. The Aztek has a weird front end, quite tall, with what seems to be two tiers of grille. Sort of resembles a Grand Am beak that was overinflated. From the side, the lines aren’t bad, but from the rear, that downward sloping tailgate makes the Aztek resemble one of those late and unlamented American Motors Hornet station wagons — on steroids.
When I got one to road-test, I was prepared for the worst. Automotive columnists get criticized for constantly praising vehicles these days, although normally you know you’re writing about a car mainly for someone interested in buying it, so you want to point out the positives, while adding the criticisms somewhat more tactfully. With the Aztek, I figured this would be the time to pull out all the sarcastic cheapshots and dump them on this beast. You could say things such as the only good thing about the ancient Aztec culture being extinct is they won’t be able to sue Pontiac for defamation of character for naming the Aztek.
The sarcastic feeling didn’t go away in traffic or parked, when you notice that almost everybody gives you a long look in the Aztek, then they smile. From our observation, about 85 percent of the smiles mean the passersby are laughing at you, while the other 15 percent really like the look of the Aztek, and some even come up and stop you in mid-apology (“Â…Honest, it’s not mine, and I know it’s uglyÂ…”) to say how neat it is.
While being critical of the exterior design for being weird, bulbous and almost antisocial, and for GM for putting the same 3.4-liter pushrod engine in instead of giving us the new in-line 6 that the new Bravada will have for 2002, you have one problem: Once you get in the blasted thing, there is a lot to like about the Aztek.
At first, I thought the design of the seat upholstery was somewhere between weird to dizzying, but under the bizarre design, the seats are comfortable and supportive. The rear seat has the usual split, fold-down capability, and you can also pop those seats out, to reach 93.5 cubic feet of cargo space, in which you can haul 4-by-8 plywood sheets, if need be. The tailgate glass raises, and the tailgate itself folds down, and was purposely made strong enough to be sat upon, with two molded-in seats and cupholders.
Inside that rear cargo area, there is a crosshatch of netting, arranging two long storage areas crosswise, each with 100-pound capacity, and two more narrow ones running front to rear on either side of the center ones, or which can be reconfigured 22 different ways. Very handy for stowing grocery bags, or other things you don’t necessarily want tipping over or flying around back there. There also are two power outlets in that back area, making four altogether in the Aztek.
Also, the six-speaker Pioneer audio system has a 190-watt amplifier with two six-inch subwoofers, with a pair of four-inch, extended-range speakers aimed rearward. An option in the GT version of the Aztek is yet another set of audio controls for the rear seat occupants to listen through either of two sets of headphones to different stuff than the front seat folks. The audio system also can be operated by auxiliary controls located back in the cargo area, allowing tailgate or picnic types to annoy nearby folks with game broadcasts or music.
Taking the tailgate party on an actual camping endeavor is possible with an available tent structure that clamps onto the opened tailgate and turns the whole Aztek into a mini-motorhome.
So far, we’re pretty impressed and we haven’t even started the motor yet. Before we do, check out that large console between the front buckets. It’s big enough to house virtually anything, including two six-packs of pop, for which it also is insulated. Not only that, but you can fold up a handle from the side, and pull the thing right out, using it for a cooler.
Starting up the engine, you find plenty of power, with 185 horsepower at a 5,200-RPM peak and 210 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 RPMs. The four-speed automatic transmission has adaptive calibration logic to adjust shift-points to the type of driving you force on it. The whole unit works well, and delivers over 20 miles per gallon, which is very good, by SUV standards. I got over 23 on one tank.
Pontiac, incidentally, is calling the Aztek an “SRV” for sport-recreation vehicle, rather than settling for SUV. The idea is obviously to give GM a weapon in the newest facet of the SUV market, which is the lighter-weight, sport-oriented bracket started by Jeep Wrangler and recently enhanced by the Nissan Xterra, and now the Ford Escape and Mazda Tribute. So there are assorted bike-carrying accessories and the camping version.
Pontiac has long been the top manufacturer for offering heads-up display, with information projected onto the windshield, which can be adjusted for brightness or eliminated. It’s neat for keeping an eye on remaining fuel and speed, either consciously, or, in George Bush’s case, subliminably. In the Aztek, that system is taken to a new level, with enough brightness and flexibility to show everything from speed to all gauges, radio frequency or CD number and track.
But a major key to the Aztek’s strongpoints is the Versatrak all-wheel-drive system. An especially compact unit, it fits under the flat rear floor and still leaves room for a compact spare tire. The beauty of the system is that the Aztek runs on front-wheel-drive all the time, until sensors detect slippage of the drive wheels. When the module senses a difference between the rotation of the front and rear wheels, but before actual slippage occurs, two pumps engage multi-plate clutches that shift torque from front to rear, automatically.
I’ve watched demonstrations of the Aztek climbing inclines in situations where one, two or even three wheels have no traction. Pretty impressive. Also, you can get an optional 3,500-pound trailer-towing option with heavy-duty cooling and alternator, plus load-leveling rear suspension. Not a bad idea, because it’s one tow-vehicle that can make any trailer look more attractive. Oops, there I go again.
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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