Audi ‘allroad’ equipped to rise to occasion in luxury SUV niche
Too nice…Too classy…Too expensive. Those thoughts of excesses continue to percolate in the back of your mind as you willingly drive the Audi allroad quattro over a roadway that is less than two trails on a hillside — in fact, it is two trails between which is something like an 8-inch crevasse, as they say in the mountain-climbing business.
We are confronting some obscure roads in the mountains near Vail, Colo., sharing the driver’s seat in one of a dozen or more vehicles, assembled by Audi to introduce what it hopes will be yet another major conquest in a string that includes the A4, A6, A8, Avant, S4, S6, S8 and TT coupe and roadster. That’s a pretty impressive string for the German automaker in the last six years.
The allroad quattro is pretty certain to be yet another.
When the driving conditions get tough, REALLY tough, just “turn it up.” And we’re not talking the stereo system, either. The allroad can be switched to rise up on pneumatic suspension to clear 8-inch obstacles. If you’re on the road, and someone says “turn it up,” you can tap your toe on the lgas and it will respond, with twin-turbocharged power that thrusts the allroad from 0-60 in 6.8 seconds with the 6-speed manual, or 7.3 with the 5-speed automatic.
The car itself is loaded to the ceiling with features, which makes it seem more ironic that the name “allroad” is spelled with all lower-case letters, same as “quattro,” Audi’s exceptional all-wheel-drive system, which has proven dependable for 20 years. But for all its technical refinement and class, the design of the new allroad quattro is distinctly understated, which makes the particular spelling trick seem rational. It is written that way to stress its understated style.
What it is, is a new idea in the burgeoning sport-utility vehicle market. Audi hasn’t had one, and may, in fact, have figured the whole SUV business was a marketing meteor headed for burnout. But there is a growing segment of buyers who, faced with 50-some choices, are going after luxury SUVs. When Lexus, then Mercedes, and then BMW came out with SUVs, it only became a matter of time until Audi would try to confront them. The question was, how to make a truly different SUV?
At a glance, the allroad looks a lot like a slightly bolder version of the A6 Avant, Audi’s slick, roomy station wagon. Imagine taking an Avant, then lifting it up off the chassis and changing everything under there — from suspension, to wheels and tires, to wheel clearance, to brakes, to floorpan, to protective plating.
Changing the suspension is the key. Audi didn’t just change shock pressure and spring rates. It brought out a truly unique new idea in suspensions, with its 4-link front and trapezoidal rear adapted from the A6, but with the track widened and the geometry altered. Then load sensors were mounted at all four corners, calibrated to monitor exactly where each wheel is at, and it’s all coordinated with pneumatically adjustable air shocks and springs.
GIVE IT A LIFT
A little switch on the dashboard lets you raise the car from its low-slung highway demeanor, which is just about an inch taller than the basic Audi Avant wagon. You have four choices for settings, and when you get up to the top one, you’ve extended the ground clearance from 5.6 inches to 8.2 inches. Now, you wouldn’t want to drive with the body up there at the top setting on the highway, but if you want to go off-road, you can confront some pretty risky terrain with over 8 inches of ground clearance.
Audi engineers developed the suspension with counterparts from Continental, and as the allroad is raised a notch, it becomes more compliant, and as it is lowered, it becomes firmer. That’s because on the road, you need firm control for cornering and driving swiftly, but off the road, you need more flexibility, in order to get over rugged terrain or boulders.
The only vehicle that truly is similar enough to be competition for the allroad is BMW’s X5, which is a lot like a BMW 540 with its suspension jacked up. Audi says it also is aiming at the Mercedes ML320, the Lexus RX300, and the Volvo V70 Cross Country. So it has figures all ready for comparison. When it comes to going off-road, the ML320 has 8.4 inches of ground clearance, the Volvo 8.2, the RX300 7.7 and the BMW X5 7.1. So the allroad challenges them with a suspension that ranges anywhere from 5.6 to 8.2.
While the choice of settings is quite the novelty, the allroad takes into account that drivers tend to forget what they’re doing. So the allroad is what might be called “idiot-proof,” protecting the dimmest of drivers from themselves. If you put it in automatic setting at the No. 4 or highest suspension level, when you accelerate past 22 miles per hour, it automatically lowers to the No. 3 position; at 50 mph it lowers to No. 2, and if you get to 75 mph, it lowers to No. 1. If the sensors analyze the bounciness of the terrain, and you try to lower it to No. 1, it might overrule you and stay in No. 2.
Brilliant. You go faster and the allroad rides lower, for better aerodynamics and safer control with minimized under-body air turbulence.
ALLROAD OBJECTIVES
Audi marketing executives Len Hunt and Walter Hanek spelled out the targets for the allroad.
“Our mission is to capitalize on the emerging segment of crossover buyers interested in all-wheel-drive in a high utility vehicle, and to provide a viable alternative to SUVs, for SUV defectors,” said Hanek. “We wanted the versatility of an SUV, with the uncompromising on-road qualities of a German touring sedan. We think we have come up with a unique vehicle both on and off road, with our height-adjustable, multilink suspension, our 250-horsepower, 30-valve biturbo V6, a choice of Tiptronic or 6-speed manual transmission.”
Hunt is an Englishman who counts Jaguar among Audi competitors, and he pronounces it “Jag-you-are.” He can spew the figures of 28.9-percent growth for Audi in the U.S. last year, second only to Jaguar, while selling twice as many vehicles in the U.S. as Jaguar. He also is a performance nut, enjoying the companies current dedication to racing with such conquests as the 1-2-3 finish at LeMans, and winning the current American LeMans series. He says the racing fits Audi’s more aggressive image, as does the allroad.
“We have to meet four objectives with all our vehicles,” said Hunt. “They are, advanced technology, design, performance, and emotion.”
The allroad will meet those targets, Hunt says, just as well as the TT, or the race cars.
Product planner Marc Trahan put the company objectives into two other categories. “We want the best of both worlds,” he said. “We want the allroad to have both the capabilities of a high-performance German touring sedan on the road, and the Jeep Grand Cherokee off the road. We think this is the first time any manufacturer can make that statement.”
With 73 cubic feet of cargo space in the rear, which can be partitioned off with netting, the allroad has greater capacity than the Grand Cherokee, and it will seat six or seven, with the optional rear-facing rear bench. The engine is small, at only 2.7 liters, but twin turbochargers, each with intercoolers, and Audi’s 5-valve heads, with three intake and two exhaust valves on each cylinder, it also has variable valve timing, with a separate coil on each cylinder. The 250 horsepower is impressive, but more impressive is the 268 foot-pounds of torque, which are regulated to peak at only 1,800 RPMs and stay on a flat curve to 4,000 RPMs.
Along with a lot of on-road punch, the allroad has 3,300-pound towing capability.
When you get the Tiptronic feature on the 5-speed automatic, you get fingertip controls on the steering wheel, with a rocker switch operable by either thumb. Press up and you upshift, press down and you downshift. With the Torsen all-wheel-drive unit adjusting torque from front to rear, it also has ESP, which corrects the tendency to understeer or oversteer.
Remarkably, while the allroad doesn’t have a locking gearbox for low range, the Tiptronic in first gear held the vehicle in tight check, at a sustained 5 mph going down a steep, rutted road.
Stability is further enhanced by 17-inch alloy wheels, with specifically made tires by Goodyear and Pirelli, and inside those wheels are 4-wheel disc brakes, with 13-inch front discs with four pads. The car also has built-in safety, with front and side airbags, plus a sideguard safety air curtain that drops down to protect in side or rollover incidents. The new-design and specially bolstered seats are heated, front and rear, and you can get a heated steering wheel.
There also is a solar sunroof, with cells that can keep the interior cooler in hot weather, and once it reaches its thermostatic level, it transfers solar power to replenish the battery.
With all those features, the allroad’s sticker price of $41,900, with leather and the 6-speed manual, is not bad at all. Plus, you need to realize that Frank van Meel, a 34-year-old Dutchman who was the chief engineer in charge of the allroad suspension, has tested the car strenuously. When I met him, I made a smart-aleck remark to him that the allroad must be the perfect vehicle to drive at 140 mph either on road or off.
“I don’t know how to compute it exactly,” Frank said. “The fastest I’ve driven the allroad is 210 kilometers per hour off-roadÂ…” — (That is 135 mph.) — “Â…and 237 kilometers per hour on the road.”
Turns out that first impression of the allroad was right on. Too nice, too classy, too expensive — to be taken off the road for a pounding. But, if Audi wanted an SUV that was more than an SUV without really being an SUV, the allroad is right on.
[[[[[CUTLINES:
1/ Audi’s new allroad quattro — lower-case letters, please — found no troubles in the snowy upper reaches of Colorado’s mountains.
2/ The allroad is equally at home off the road as well as climbing mountain roads or on the freeways.
3/ Hidden beneath the Audi allroad sheet metal is a powerful engine, all-wheel drive, and suspension that can be raised by push-button.
Alma, Wis., provides unique meeting with Tundra Swan migration
Driving south from the Twin Ports on Hwy. 35 generally means taking the freeway — Interstate 35 — south out of Duluth to the Twin Cities, or to Des Moines, or even Texas, if you feel the urge. But there’s another Hwy. 35, with a rich and unique reward for anyone looking for a day or weekend advanture — Wisconsin State Hwy. 35 out of Superior.
Actually, you can take any route you choose to get as far south as the Twin Cities or Interstate 94 as it crosses Wisconsin, and many of them are faster. The important part is to take Wisconsin 35 south of I94, where it runs along the westernmost border of Wisconsin along the shore of the Mississippi River. It takes about 4-5 hours, one way, from the Twin Ports to reach Alma, a tiny town on the Wisconsin border that is just a bit south of Wabasha on the Minnesota side.
The purpose for singling out Alma as your destination has to do with Tundra Swans. Maybe you’ve never seen, or heard of, Tundra Swans. They are enormous birds, with bodies over 4 feet long, and wingspan of about 7 or 8 feet, and they weigh about 15 pounds. They are stunning white, enhanced if you happen to choose a bright, sunny day for the trip, with black beaks.
Tundra Swans reside on the tundra or marshland of northern Canada, near the Arctic Circle, or Alaska. They also live in eastern areas, near Chesapeake Bay. When they migrate south, they can get from the northern reaches of Saskatchewan or Alberta to the marshland of North Carolina in about two days. They fly high, at elevations of 6,000-8,000 feet, and they sail along at 100 miles per hour, if the wind is right.
They also stop at only a couple of choice locations on their annual flight south, and one of those is Rieck’s Lake, a marshy lake at Alma, Wis. The lake has a lot of weeds and vegetation growing out of its area, and it is separated from the Mississippi River by Wisconsin State Hwy. 35. The Tundra Swans apparently like to reach those long necks down through the shallow lake to reach all sorts of roots to eat.
The Tundra Swans return in the spring, but in irregular patterns from March through May. But the more regular stopover, and therefore the most appealing time for viewing, is right now. They start assembling in mid-October, then they continue to arrive until mid-November, arriving in surrealistic form of gigantic “V” flight patterns, then circling, descending and joining the already-gathered birds, although they retain their small family seclusion within the group. They remain at Rieck’s Lake as their number increases, waiting until the end of November, or when hard-freezing provides them with incentive to head south.
Watching the Tundra Swans coming in for a landing is remarkable itself, sort of like a whole platoon of 747s dropping out of the sky. You lose perspective of how large these birds are until getting up close, then you notice how much larger they are than the Candian Geese nearby, while the mallards and other ducks that mingle with the Turndra Swans look about the size of sparrows.
A well-structured viewing stand is located by the lake, with helpful informants to give you all the information you might want, beyond the informative signboards. There also is a small campground at the south end of the parking lot, and various little towns along the way have motels or bed-and-breakfasts.
Ideally, you’d want to get an early start, so that you can be driving down that stretch of 35 and appreciate the jagged plateaus of the Wisconsin shoreline to your inland side. You also should plan to cross over to the Minnesota side, and drive north of Wabasha and Reads Landing for another remarkable glimpse of nature. The big river stays open because of the power plant nearby, so eagles gather near Reads Landing and stay there throughout the winter.
Last week, when we were driving to Winona, for what turned out to be a sensational UMD football game, my wife and I went down Hwy. 61 — yes, THAT Hwy. 61 — along the Minnesota side. We stopped at a roadside rest stop perched on the cliff just north of Reads Landing, and we saw over a dozen eagles within five minutes, then crossed over at Nelson, Wis., and headed south to Alma, then beyond, crossing back at Winona. That makes an interesting and attractive circle route, taking the Wisconsin shore one way and the Minnesota shore the other.
You can hit the Cheese Factory for a great sandwich in the town of Nelson, or stop at any of the small-town restaurants along the way. If you cross over to Wabasha, where they filmed the movie “Grumpy Old Men,” you will find several exceptional restaurants, and more await you in Lake City or Red Wing, on the way north.
Of course, if you don’t want to spend an exhaustively long day driving down and back, you could find many places to stay overnight. Then you could double your time enjoying two days of unique and spectacular scenery and wildlife nestled in that easily-reachable region.
[[[[[CUTLINES:
1/ Viewers assemble on the platform at Rieck’s Lake in Alma, Wis., to observe the arriving Tundra Swans on their annual stopover from Canada to warmer winter homes.
2/ Tundra Swans are 4 feet long, with 7-foot wingspans, and their size can best be noticed by comparing wildfowl such as ducks mingling with them.
3/ Alma remains the annual migratory stopover spot for Tundra Swans, which fly at airplane altitude and at 100 miles per hour.
4/ An eagle flew down from the bluffs of Read’s Landing to do a little fishing on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi River.
Toyota racing influence clearly reflected in new Lexus IS300
Imagine the daily drive taken to the max in pure pleasure. You’d climb in, start the engine, appreciate the sound of power, then you’d take off. Both hands on the steering wheel as you step on the gas and the car surges forward, smoothly and evenly, but with a kick of power as the revs build. You’re nearing the redline on the tachomter now, so you squeeze your finger — either right or left index finger — without leaving your grip on the steering wheel, and the car willingly upshifts with another surge of power.
Do that five times, and you’re at full sail. Time to slow down, so you press down with your thumb, and the 5-speed gearbox downshifts. Do it again, it downshifts again. Just like driving a Formula 1 car on the morning commute. But it’s not a Formula 1 car, it’s the new Lexus IS300, which is making a bid at being the next best thing.
You don’t drive a race car on the street, and you wouldn’t want to, because race cars are harsh and uncompromising and lack all the amenities we’ve come to expect from regular streetable vehicles. However, Toyota has come out with a rash of new sporty vehicles in the last couple of years, and for the 2001 model year, it has provided its upscale Lexus brand with a new IS300, which pretty well lives up to the Lexus reputation for luxury, but fires well beyond any preconceived ideas of Toyota/Lexus stodginess.
If Germany’s BMW 3-Series or Audi A4 rank as the top sporty sedans in the world, then the new IS300 is the Japanese equivalent. It is almost a Japanese version of the BMW M3, which is high praise, indeed.
In the always-competitive world of auto racing, there is no compromise on performance and durability. A race car must be swift and strong to win, and it must finish the distance to have a chance to win. In the real world of automotives, everything seems to be a compromise — fast cars also try to be comfortable, luxury cars also seek performance, economy cars try to be sporty, and all of them either pretend or profess to have durability.
Similar to the path Honda followed several years ago, Toyota adapted some of the brilliant technical concepts from racing for its consumer autos, such as double-wishbone suspensions and variable valve-timing methods that adjusted engine operation to cope with varying driver input. The result is that Toyota has updated its always-dependable street engines with a solid dose of high-performance fun, with the Lexus GS300 and GS400, the new Celica, or the hot, new MR2 as prime examples. Now add the IS300, and Toyota has successfully tilted its own playing field away from its reputation of building steady, dependable vehicles with all the panache of appliances..
Being lighter and more compact in exterior dimensions, the IS300 became a workable tool for quick response to every influence of horsepower, steering and handling that Toyota engineers chose. And they chose well. The more compact size also allows the IS300 to be kept to a reasonable cost, which is just over $30,000.
POWER AND PERFORMANCE
If the BMW 3-Series was Toyota’s target, the most obvious element of the Lexus IS300 is the front-engine/rear-drive layout of BMW. That allowed chassis engineers to set up the balance as they chose, although the trade-out for those of us Up North who face five months of snow and ice may find that is too much of a compromise. Having made that decision, nonetheless, Toyota chose the same in-line 6-cylinder engine from more the expensiv GS300/400 models. That was interesting, because Toyota makes 3-liter engines in both V6 and in-line 6 designs. BMW, incidentally, also uses an in-line six of similar dimensions.
The engine in the IS300 has dual-overhead-camshafts with four valves per cylinder, and an advanced variable-timing system to keep those valves open longer for maximum performance. It is tuned to deliver 215 horsepower at 5,800 RPMs and 218 foot-pounds of torque at 3,800 revs, with a redline of 6,400 RPMs. The variable valve-timing gives the engine the flexibility to meet anyone’s demands for low-end power, as the 7.1-second 0-60 times indicate, and also carries that punch through the midrange and on up to the high-revving power near redline.
The in-line engine is mounted just behind the center-point of the front axle, by 2.2 inches, which reduces the amount of weight ahead of the axle and thus allows for better balance. Double wishbone suspension geometry, which simply is the best and most precise, keeps the car’s stance stable while delivering that power to the road.
The 5-speed automatic transmission is an exceptional addition to the whole picture. You can use the shift lever with its big, steel ball, to simply go into “D” for drive, or manhandle it as a clutchless manual. But why bother? Go with the buttons on the steering wheel. Upshifts are snappy, sure, and feel good. When you downshift, you can only go to “2” to prevent you from hitting the super-steep first gear.
I am a manual-shift zealot, although the hills of Duluth are a good argument for an automatic. But with the “E-shift” feature, you genuinely get the best of both worlds. Once you get used to it, it is as much fun as any manual shift, but it takes awhile. It’s easy to get coordinated with the downshifting, because the little oval switches on the steering wheel facing you say “down” right on them. But the buttons for upshifting are on the backside of the steering wheel, where you can’t see them or read them, and you must make a mechanical effort to use them and then spend the time to make their use instinctive.
Porsche was first with this sort of shift, with the Tiptronic, now also used by Audi. Chrysler put in its AutoStick, which lacks the steering-wheel buttons, and most other companies now offer some form of manually shiftable automatics. But of all of them, the Toyota/Lexus concept is unexcelled in some ways.
First of all, when you start up and upshift a couple times, then slow down and stop for a red light without downshifting, the E-shift starts you out in low gear anyway. When you upshift to, say, third, the car’s computer assigns the best choice of first, second or third to your driving. In fourth, it’s the best of 1-4, etc., and upshifting to fifth is a lot like being in “D.” When you’re driving along, if you fail to glance at the instruments to see the large number designating what gear you’re in, you might easily lose track. So, if you’re in fifth and you hit the button to upshift, a little beep tells you you’re already there. Same with trying to downshift under first when you’re waiting at a red light.
All of those ideas, along with the surety that if you neglect to downshift it starts you out in starting range anyhow, the whole thing becomes, as they say, idiot-proof even for the most forgetful drivers. Taken alone, the car’s great power and slick shifter would be outstanding. But when added to the quicker, more precise steering and the wonderfully firm suspension that seems to anticipate your turning whims, it is a truly impressive package.
CREATURE FEATURES
The IS300 is shorter and stubbier on the outside, because designers wanted to make it compact, and they did it by reducing the overhang. The front wheels are extremely close to the front end of the car, which both aids the stability by stretching the wheelbase to the maximum, and helped leave room to position the engine rearward of the front axle. It also means the shorter exterior doesn’t wipe out rear seat room or trunk space.
Inside, sportiness takes precedence over luxury, but luxury is certainly not overlooked. The black leather seats have suede inserts, although it’s actually fake suede, but classy nonetheless.
The instrument cluster is evidence that no matter how many models of cars have been built, there’s always room for somethng new and different. At first glance, the gauges look like they must have been designed by Rolex. There is a definite sports-watch look, with a round speedometer, flanked by a smaller tachometer on the left and fuel gauge on the right, but located inside the speedometer circle are three smaller dials, one that calculates your miles per gallon, one for battery and one for coolant temperature.
It would be interesting to see a study on how much an imaginative cockpit can influence the feeling of satisfaction a driver has with his/her car. I mean, the exterior looks are important, as are other characteristics of adequate room. But once in the car and underway, a driver is totally consumed by what is necessary to drive the vehicle — visibility, performance, comfort, switchgear, the “feel” of control, and certainly the instrumentation.
Safety is another important characteristic, and the IS300 has the structural build, plus side-airbags mounted in the seats to augment the frontal airbags. Other nice features are the audio system, a 240-watt monster with eight speakers and in-dash cassette and CD players.
One other sporty touch is the use of aluminum, perforated pedals, and, combining style with substance, when you step on the perforated aluminum brake pedal, the IS300 stops! Immediately! Huge 11.65-inch front and 12.09-inch rear disc brakes are perfectly tuned to the touch of your toe on the brake pedal.
An interesting facet of the IS300’s marketing is that Lexus already has an ES300, which also has a 3-liter 6-cylinder engine. The difference is that the ES300 is a slick, sporty base luxury sedan with a V6 instead of the in-line 6, and front-wheel-drive, which is better for the masses. Typical of Toyota, the ES300 is sufficiently sporty, just as the IS300 is sufficiently luxurious.
The difference is that Toyota, perhaps because of its increasing role in auto racing, wanted to build a no-compromise, inexpensive sports sedan. And it hit that target, directly.
[[[[CUTLINES:
1/ The IS300 is a new, stylishly sporty sedan from Toyota’s Lexus division, and it is set off by fresh design and refreshingly potent performance. Call it a Japanese BMW M3.
2/ Plush leather seats with suede-like inserts are firmly supportive, and the IS300 interior — from instruments to steering wheel to drilled pedals, to sporty shift knob — makes it a pleasant place to be.
3/ The rear has an upraised lilt to it that resembles the costlier Lexus GS 300/400 models, and sets off the large, businesslike tailpipe.
4/ The gauge package resembles a sports wristwatch, with dials-within-dials, with a readout indicating the gear you’re in.
Mechanical marvel device creates perfect top for BMW 323Ci
The best thing about BMW coming out with an all new 3-Series of sedans is that there’s always more to it than just one car. First there’s the basic 3-Series sedan, then there’s a coupe, then maybe a convertible, and then an M3 sporty version.
We are, right about now, at the phase of test-driving the convertible, called the 323Ci. Just in time, too. Driving the 323Ci last week meant being able to actually put the top down and brave chilly but not life-threatening temperatures and still take a few photos that looked “convertible-ish.” One week later, that wouldn’t have worked.
The 3-Series BMW is the world’s standard for sports sedans, and the coupe is even built to house back-seat folks. It is refined and fine, conveying occupants with style and dash, and with the driver-oriented characteristics that make it absolutely the measurement by which any other sporty sedan must strive to reach.
Why should I have been surprised that the convertible top mechanism lives up to, or beyond, the lofty expectations of BMW?
At just over $30,000, the 3-Series is a bargain, with its only drawback being front-engine/rear-drive. At just over $35,000, the 323Ci is still surprisingly cost-effective.
For those who appreciate mechanical marvels in cars, the 3-Series is a lucrative buy. For those who marvel at mechanical devices but don’t give a fig about cars, the 323Ci is STILL a compelling attraction.
Recently I test-drove several convertibles, including the Dodge Viper, which had an erector-set device covering the comparatively small roof, and which took two people 15 minutes of wrestling time to install. So when it comes to being interested in a convertible, the top matters. Some are easy, like the Toyota MR2, the Honda S2000, or the Mazda Miata, with their manual flip-down tops. Others are complex beyond reason, like the Viper.
But when you watch the BMW 323Ci top go down, you feel privileged, as if maybe you should pay admission, or at least a surcharge, to watch it in action.
First off, the 323Ci with its black fabric roof up and in place atop the rich, silver car, looks sleeker and better than almost any convertible with its top up. Normally, you dream of a convertible showing off with the top up, and you try to slink around comparatively unnoticed when the top is up.
So now it’s time to put the top down. You park the car, and you push the button on the lower center dash panel. Immediately you hear some whirring of tiny motors as the side windows, front and rear, drop enough to assure clearance. Then there’s a bit of a clunk as the top unlatches where it meets the top of the windshield. Simultaneously, a smooth, flush-fitting panel on the rear of the body just behind the rear seats and just ahead of the trunk tilts up, hinged at the rear.
Immediately the top starts to retract, smoothly and resolutely, while the rear window part of the top kinks up forward, in a sort of dance with the rear panel, which moves forward and back in coordination with the back part of the top so that they will clear each other. Without hesitation, the top folds itself up and lowers itself into the cubicle behind the rear seat, and as soon as it nestles down there, the rear hatch closes, smoothly and with a certain “click” that indicates it’s locked in place.
Look ma, no hands! Except for one tap on the button. The result is a perfectly smooth body, seamlessly covering the top with no concern about ungainly tonneau covers or fold-ups for rear stowage.
Push the button adjacent to the top-down button, and the whole process is reversed, swiftly, smoothly and with perfect precision.
The 323Ci has the usual 3-Series assets, revised when the new model was introduced earlier this year. The power from the 2.5-liter, in-line 6-cylinder engine, with its dual-overhead camshafts and stepless, variable valve timing, is just as anticipated, quickly relayed to the road by the 5-speed manual shifter. With 170 horsepower at 5,500 RPMs and 181 foot-pounds of torque at 3,500 RPMs, the 3,560-pound 323Ci shoots from 0-to-60 in under eight seconds, and fuel-economy estimates are 19 city, 25 highway.
BMW insists that its highly sophisticated traction-control system means the car can function well in wintertime, although living Up North is conclusive evidence that some winter driving is different from others. My theory remains that even the best traction-control system needs some traction to be effective. We can all name situations where there is no traction, and front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive is the only way to get anywhere. Still, we could get by if there was only front-engine/rear-drive, and past experience has shown me that BMW’s system might well be the best on any rear-drive cars.
Naturally, the car is loaded with the usual BMW features. Four-wheel disc brakes, stabilizer bars on the flawlessly-tuned sports suspension front and rear, dual front airbags with door-mounted side airbags, halogen headlights and foglights, 8-way power seats, keyless entry and a trip computer.
With a base price of $35,065, the test car added leather interior for $1,450, and Myrtle wood trim (Myrtle wood?) for $1,400. A 10-speaker audio system with CD player built in added another $200 to the option list. Altogether, the test car came in at $39,085.
If that seems like a lot, you could always consider parking it out front and charging the neighbors admission to watch the top go up and down. Preferably in summertime.
[[[[[CUTLINES:
1/ The BMW 323Ci has the seductive, sporty flair of the new 3-Series, with its hooded headlights, plus adds the attraction of top-down pleasure.
(2-3-4-5 sequenceÂ…)/
The slick-operating top operates at the touch of a dash button to unlatch itself, raise the rear hatch, drop back and disappear completely out of sight, and close up tight to transform to a convertible. The process reverses itself at the touch of another button.
Large and luxurious XG300 boosts Hyundai’s auto stature
Never having been able to speak or understand Korean, my contact with automotive products made me assume “refinement” was a word in our language that didn’t necessarily translate.
My first experiences with Korean cars led to a pretty major stereotype, which was that Japanese companies built copies of the best vehicles in the world, and while selling them they were hard at work on designs and technology that went beyond the originals. Korean cars, on the other hand, seemed to be pretty good copies of Japanese carsÂ…butÂ…
The ability to refine those copies seemed to be a stretch for cars like the first Hyundai subcompacts and compacts, and it seemed that as the copies got better, there was no indication of any technical advancements that didn’t originate in Japan or some other country.
Korean cars have gotten better, there is no question about that, and Hyundai, Daewoo and Kia have come a long way.
The best way to describe how good the all-new Hyundai XG300 is that after a week-long test of one, my wife, Joan, said, “You know, I didn’t HATE that car.”
True, our family tends to appreciate and enjoy the technology of the best cars, and we can even like ordinary, normal cars, but we tend to dislike your basic boring, unimaginative vehicles. And that comment indicates the XG300 represents a real breakthrough for Hyundai. Incidentally, speaking of translations, we are still told that Hyundai should be pronounced “HUN-day,” a lot like “Sunday,” which is for the ease of Americans; we know the real pronunciation should be more like “HYUN-die,” but the U.S. marketing arm of the company wanted to simplify it.
Hyundai still makes the tiny Accent, the subcompact Elantra, and the midsize Sonata, plus the sporty coupe Tiburon. They have gotten less dislikable, in recent years. But even while the Sonata is greatly improved and impressed me, I was unprepared for the XG300, which stands alone, bigger and better than all other tenants in Hyundai’s stable.
First off, let’s say that it’s possible that maybe no single item on the Hyundai XG300 originated at a Hyundai think tank. I’ve experienced every single element on various other cars from various other countries. But when Hyundai wanted to come out with a larger car, approaching the near-luxury segment, it pretty well got everything.
Hyundai set the price of the XG300 at $23,500, which is pretty high for a car from an economy-based company. But it also loaded the XG300 up with items that are mostly exclusive on the high-end of other companies’ option lists, and made them all standard equipment. The only option you can find is a CD player as part of an audio upgrade to a six-speaker system from the standard AM-FM-cassette four-speaker device.
The standard features I found most impressive are both mechanical and interior.
On the mechanical side, you have front-wheel drive powered by a transverse-mounted 3.0-liter V6 that has — check them off — dual overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, variable timing of the valvetrain to provide more flexible distribution of power in varying circumstances, multiport fuel injection with four-jet injectors, an in-tank fuel pump (pushing is more efficient than pulling for the pump), a vibration-canceling counter-balance shaft, electronic (distributorless) ignition with dual knock sensors, and three-way catalysts.
That about takes care of the engine, except to explain that it puts out 192 horsepower at 6,000 RPMs and 178 foot-pounds of torque at 4,800 RPMs. But there are more high-tech mechanical things. Such as the standard automatic transmission, which is a five-speed (not four), and which is shiftable through a stylish floor lever through an aluminum plate and with a side channel for manually shifting, which Hyundai calls Shiftronic.
The suspension also is advanced, with double-wishbone design up front, complete with coil springs, gas-filled hydraulic shocks and a stabilizer bar, while the rear hs independent multi-links, coil springs, gas shocks and a stabilizer bar. Large, four-wheel disc brakes with a dual-diagonal arrangement and four-channel, four-sensor antilock.
Yes, you can find various cars with some of those features, and even with all of those features, but they generally cost $30,000 or more.
Inside, the seats are supportive, and luxury touches abound. The seats are leather, for example, and the woodgrain stuff on the dash is abundant, carrying over to the console. The gauges themselves, including a tachometer, have a background of little wavy lines that are neat, not obtrusive or annoying, another plus. I like the feel of the thick, leather-wrapped steering wheel, although I think the speed-sensitive steering might be a little over-boosted.
The center dash area has, stacked from top to bottom, heat/air vents, then a trip-computer readout window with such things as distance to out-of-fuel, time, etc., then the audio system with easy to operate controls, and below that the heat/air switches, which also have easily adjusted round knobs. Under that there are a couple of trap doors for mini-storage bins and cupholders.
There is plenty of room in the front, rear and trunk, which has a cargo capacity is 14.5 cubic feet, because the XG300 is a few inches longer than the adequately-sized Sonata. The overall length is 191.5 inches and wheelbase is 108.3. The XG300 has fuel-economy estimates of 19 city and a lofty 27 highway, but that’s possible, thanks to all the technology on the engine and that five-speed transmission.
As to the exterior, which makes its first impression in any car, we’re back to the grossly subjective. I like the look of the front and front corner, because the grille is different enough, and the standard projector-beam headlights and foglights add to the look of contemporary sportiness and class. It’s OK from the side, too, but when you get around to the rear, I think it loses its flavor a bit. I mean, there are contours and indentations here and there, intended to make it distinctive, but it almost looks like the designers thought, “OK, we’re at the back fender, so let’s put a little hump here.”
An acquaintance of mine suggested it looked like Hyundai hired a Buick designer to do the silhouette and the rear corner, and you can read what you like into that.
From the standpoint of a total package, you’d have to look long and hard to find any vehicle with so much high-tech features at such a modest price. As for refinement, there could still be some tweaking.
For example, the manual override transmission allows you to have some fun, and if you want to start off hard, you can do that. But when you want to just start off moderately, you STILL start hard. So it lurches a bit off the line, and a little when it upshifts, but that’s still small criticism, and the sort of thing a little refinement can take care of.
Also, the name. I’ve had to look up the name “XG300” about a half-dozen times, because with so many alpha-numeric vehicle designations nowadays, my memory bank is on overload. Still, when you consider names like Elantra, Tiburon and Sonata, you might think of a series of medications and/or musical movements. So maybe XG300 isn’t so bad.
[[[[CUTLINES:
1/ Hyundai has ventured into the larger, “near-luxury” segment with its new XG300, which is loaded with standard high-tech features for $23,500.
2/ The interior is a stylish blend of real leather and less-real woodgrain, but with an undeniable aura remindful of German luxury sedans.
3/ Maybe Hyundai designers ran out of styling ideas by the time they got to the rear of the XG300, which is less distinctive.
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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