Ford unveils 2009 F-150, Dodge shows new Ram
DETROIT, MI. — Trucks commanded a large presence at the Detroit International Auto Show, with virtually every manufacturer trying to spread out and conquer new territory in the crossover SUV realm. Ford and Dodge certainly play that game, too, but the big news from those two was the introduction of new models of their big pickup trucks.
The Ford F-150, the largest selling single vehicle in the country for 31 straight years, displayed its new redesigned half-ton pickup form, eschewing the rounded-off look of its last two generations for a bolder, more aggressive front end, similar to its heavier Super Duty F-250, F-350, and F-450 trucks. The new F-150 also takes the popular rear tailgate fold-down step and pop-up steadying grip pole from the larger trucks, and adds a new side step that folds down to allow easy loading and unloading from the bottom of the bed, just behind the cab.
Ford claims the best towing and hauling figures, with a stronger and lighter truck, and a 6-speed automatic transmission with trailer-sway control. Ford also played the political game so common among pickup manufacturers, by refusing to give out its tow/haul figures. Better than issuing arbitrary figures, then feeling compelled to increase them after a competitor lists slightly higher ones.
Ford also unveiled the Flex, a boxy concept wagon, and the Explorer concept vehicle, which looked good, but may be less likely to go into production than the Verve, a stunning compact with sleek lines and both a 2-door and 4-door design.
Dodge unveiled its new Ram half-ton, with an 1,850-pound hauling capacity and a 9,100-pound towing capacity. Maybe now we will get Ford’s numbers, with a side-bet that they’ll be 100 or so higher than Dodge’s. Who’s going to check?
The Ram’s 5.7-liter Hemi V8 runs on E85, will dash from 0-60 in 6.1 seconds and claims a 5 percent improvement in fuel economy. A big feature is a solid rear axle with coil springs, compared to the usual leaf springs of other full-size pickups.
Dodge herded the media outside into the freezing weather to watch a herd of longhorn steers being guided up Washington Ave. to the main entrance of Cobo for its Sunday morning introduction, then cowboys on horseback kept the cattle back a half-block while the new trucks came roaring by to confront the media. A Chrysler representative had told numerous media people to go to a seating area around the corner, from where, unfortunately, any photos of the cattle in the background of the new trucks was impossible. Call it — drum roll, please — a bum steer.
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The Ram half-ton has never been available in a full crew cab four door, but the new 2009 model adds that to its stable.
It also has several neat innovations, including wider sides to the bed, for a reason. Little doors open from the top of the sides to reveal deep and quite spacious storage bins. Just the latest in the plan to find ingenious ways to give truck owners places to store stuff so it won’t fly around in the bed.
General Motors introduced the Hummer HX concept, another Flex-Fuel vehicle, and claimed all Hummers will run on E85 by 2010. It also displayed the Silverado pickup in hybrid form.
But mostly, smaller crossover SUVs were the rule. There were new ones, some concepts and some ready to hit showrooms, including the BMW X6, Honda Pilot, Kia Borrego, Toyota Venza, Mercedes Vision GLK, and some outright concepts such as the Toyota Abat, and the Suzuki X-Head.
Most, if not all, of these crossovers are aimed at cutting fuel consumption, some by going to smaller engines, and others aiming at diesel technology.
Mercedes already is offering turbocharged-diesel engines in most of its SUVs already, and has new Bluetec powerplants ready to conform to emission rules in all 50 states. But more are following closely, particularly BMW and Audi, while Honda also is close to offering high-tech diesels.
While the crossovers can handle most of the normal people-hauling, the dropoff in sales of large SUVs and other truck-based SUVs continues.
Nevertheless, there will always be a solid place for full-sized pickup trucks, even if the segment finds a return to worker-needs, rather than consumer-wants when it comes to buying the half-tons.
Considering that the Nissan Titan came out all new, then was followed by the Chevrolet Silverado for 2007, the new and enlarged Toyota Tundra for this year (2008), and the new Ford F-150 and Dodge Ram among the first 2009 models to be shown. That means that the Silverado, and companion GMC Sierra, plus the Tundra, F-150, and Ram will all be entirely new within a two-year span.
And all of them are also investigating hybrid technology, and the advent of lighter but potent turbodiesels for use within the next year.
Malibu best Chevy ever — despite promotional overflow
It has been impossible to avoid the hype. Billboards, television ads, newspaper and magazine spreads – everywhere you look, there are ads promoting the just-introduced Chevrolet Malibu. We’ve seen that before from General Motors, of course, so the question is: Can the new Malibu possibly live up to all the promotional hype?
The answer is: Yes. Or, to equivocate: Almost. It is, in my opinion, the best car Chevrolet has ever built, and that includes everything from the 1957s to the new Corvette.
The new Malibu looks good, drives well, is comfortable, extremely quiet, has high-tech engines, and is reasonably priced. There is no question that it is the strongest competitor Chevrolet has ever offered to compete with the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima, Mazda6, or Volkswagen Jetta.
For a couple of decades now, GM’s bark has been more impressive than its bite – of performance and market share. It seemed that the more the ads raved, the less substance there was from the vehicle. Not that they were bad, but they couldn’t match up competitively with the tightness, engine technology and maintenance-free best from Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Volkswagen, and others.
A year ago, the Saturn Aura won 2007 Car of the Year for being a breakthrough sedan for General Motors. It is, and it evolved from the German Opel Vectra sedan platform, as does the Pontiac G6, and the Saab 9-3. The Malibu is the fourth car on that same platform, and it takes the direction the Aura and G6 took, and refines it with a different look, much more sound-deadening, and a bit more versatility; where the Aura comes only with the corporate 3.6-liter V6, the Malibu offers that same V6 with 252 horsepower, and also a 2.4-liter Ecotec 4-cylinder, with 169 horsepower.
Tim Kozub, designer of the Malibu, walked us through a preview at a neat hall at the Gibson guitar factory in downtown Memphis. We got a tour of the facility, too, and then walked a couple blocks to Beale Street, where we ate at BB KingÂâ€s rib joint. Impressive as those were, Kozub’s presentation was the most impressive.
A distinct grille, tightly wrapped upper body, and clean lines all the way define the body, but my favorite touch is the artful way Kozub drew a graceful widening at the bottom of the front and rear roof pillars. Subtle, but beautiful. Underneath, 60 percent of the underbody is made of high-strength steel.
Kozub, who also designed the Aura, said a lot of discussion with Opel and various sketches were done in that process. But with the Malibu, Kozub said he had some pressure to make an immediate design that could make it through management. He did, and it did.
“To see it come out of your hand as a sketch, then to a clay model to full-size car, is quite a thrill,†said Kozub, who, at 34, has worked nine years in GM design. “We had to work to get the battery placement and a lot of things repositioned to get the hood and the fascia past engineering. We used to be handed things by engineering, and we had to work around their demands.Ââ€
The base model starts at $19,995, while the LTZ has a base price of $26,995, and the loaded model with the V6 starts at $28,500. A hybrid model is offered at $30,300. All three models drove well. My partner and I zeroed the trip computer throughout our drive in city, rural and freeway segments. With the hybrid (EPA estimates of 24 city and 30 highway miles per gallon) we got 31.5 miles per gallon in mostly urban driving and 29.5 on rural and freeways; with the 4-cylinder (22/30 EPA) we got 25 mpg in combined urban-rural driving with the 6-speed automatic that is coming soon, and 22.0 with the 4-speed automatic on the first production cars; and we were down to 21.2 in a freeway-only run with the V6 (17/26 EPA).
While comfortable, quiet, and good-looking, the Malibu competes with the Accord, Camry, Altima, Mazda6, Jetta and Ford Fusion – all of which offer stick shifts for optimal economy, and all of which can get near or surpass 30 miles per gallon in real-world driving without the hybrid.
I will soon be getting a Malibu of my own for a week, so I’ll be able to give it a more thorough fuel-economy test of my own, to see if it can come closer to its EPA projections.
Couple of preliminary things I noticed. First, no stick shift is available in any Malibu. Too bad, because the 4-cylinder performed well with the 6-speed auto, and would have been even livelier and more fun with a stick. Second, Chevrolet is strongly marketing its outstanding OnStar driver aid system, and boast of a “turn-by-turn†navigation system. But Chevy doesn’t provide a navigation screen in any car, so you have to go through OnStar and let their folks read the big GPS and inform you by voice-only when a turn is coming up. I’m surprised that a nav-system, screen included, isn’t at least offered.
The marketing onslaught, meanwhile, might be unprecedented. On a recent trip, a USA Today was left at my hotel door. Nice touch. I folded it up, stashed it in my computer case, and read it on the flight home. There were five full-page ads for the Malibu in that edition. Three of them ran independently, and the other two were on facing pages, making an almost-lifesize panorama of the new midsize car.
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Good as it is, the Malibu can’t match the hype, because the hype is so over-blown. For example, the car was only displayed at auto shows, and was not actually driveable even at the all-2008 GM drive session in Peoria, Ill., at the end of August. Nobody could drive a Malibu until the media introduction, the last days of October, in Memphis, where Cheryl Catton, the director of marketing, offered some interesting nuggets about the most extensive market research the company had ever conducted.
“Midsize is a choice, not a compromise,†Ms. Catton said. “The buyers have made a choice to not buy a larger or more expensive car. They also rely on the Internet, and don’t trust what the manufacturers say. So we have to reach them to let them know we have a car to challenge the Camry and Accord. We’re not saying it’s the best domestic midsize, but the best midsize.
“We’ve built great products over time, but the perception is not there. We haven’t gotten out there to say how good our cars are.Ââ€
She sidestepped the comparison that outmoded engines and transmissions afflicted the style-challenged Chevies of those past generations, and focused instead on a clever television ad campaign that kicked off the Malibu marketing strategy.
The next part, Catton said, is the “reveal,†which started in Mid-November with a flood of large ads that give “third-party endorsements.†On the large screen, we were shown some in which the third-party endorsements were in large, bold words of great praise, attributed to Motor Trend, or Automobile, and maybe other publications. If those objective journalists feel that strongly, it must be a great car, right?
As a cynic, I get annoyed when manufacturers give car magazines early test cars so they can beat regular media by predating a new issue by a month or two. In this case, the first drives of the Malibu were tightly guarded, I wondered about the magazine quotes and their two-month lead time. So I asked Ms. Catton when and how those magazines got Malibus to evaluate.
“Oh, they didn’t,†she said. “Those comments were given to us after they examined the cars on display.Ââ€
That seemed to be an unfair slap at the integrity of such esteemed magazines, so I followed up. “Are you saying that none of those comments attributed to those magazines came from anyone who drove the car?†I asked.
“That’s correct,†she said.
That was unfortunate, because the Malibu is more impressive after you drive it, even for those magazine types who “agreed†to submit a misleading comment or two. Look for the ads. You’ll spot them by the big, bold-faced comments attributed to those magazines. Responsibility for the near-fraudulant claims should be shared by Chevy’s marketing whizzes for being too zealous, and the magazine spokesmen who agreed to misleading statements that compromise their integrity.
I was more impressed with the clever ads from the first phase of the launch strategy. One shows a woman jogger turning to cross a residential street in midblock, and running smack into the side of a plain, nondescript Oldsmobile. Another shows hooded bank robbers running out and jumping into a plain car — possibly the same defunct Olds – where they are immediately surrounded by police cars arriving with flashing lights and sirens. The cops all run around the getaway car, apparently without noticing it, to rush into the bank, leaving the Olds and its puzzled robbers, free to drive away.
In both ads, GM is stressing that it’s cars have been so bland in recent years that they were practically invisible to mainstream folks. Very clever.
Marketeers are caught between rhetoric and hyperbole by trying to claim the preceding Malibus were great and lacked only proper perception, while also trying to prove why the new Malibu is such a landmark improvement over that predecessor (which it is). The only way the ad would have more effectively stressed how improved the new Malibu is would be to replace the hard-to-notice Olds with last year’s Malibu.
Maybe consumers still can’t quite trust manufacturers, but they shouldn’t dismiss the Malibu, which has more credibility than all the ad campaigns.
Enclave may now be the best car from Buick
The Buick LaCrosse is a high-tech midsize sedan, and the Lucerne is a medium-tech luxury sedan, but the highlight of a trip to any Buick dealership these days is not a sedan at all, but a truck — the Buick Enclave.
Not really a truck, either. The Buick Enclave is a crossover SUV, meaning it’s not built on a truck chassis but as a tightly coordinated unibody that handles and performs in a car-like fashion, smoother and better than any previous General Motors truck.
The Enclave joins the GMC Acadia and the Saturn Outlook as the third sibling in the GM triplets. All are impressive, but the Buick version has a clear edge in luxury, and, depending upon taste, in styling. All three share the benefit of high-technology under the hood, something that couldn’t always be said about General Motors products. But the superb 3.6-liter corporate V6 changes all that. It is a dual-overhead-camshaft, variable-valve timed engine that gives more than adequate power to make the Enclave and its corporate siblings outrun their bigger brethren with their huge V8s.
The old racing phrase “There’s no substitute for cubic inches” may have begun at General Motors, and it wasn’t until recently that some engineer must have answered back: “Yes there is; it’s called technology.”
The 3.6 is steadfastly replacing the old-tech 3800 V6, which has served GM so well as an inexpensive and adequate pushrod engine for about 50 years. It can’t come close to the 3.6, especially this one, which starts out with the substance of six-bolt main bearing rigidity, a forged steel crankshaft, and a new intake manifold. It produces 275 horsepower at 6,600 RPMs and 251 foot-pounds of torque at 3,200 RPMs.
Todd Pawlik, the program engine manager on the project, said that the all-aluminum 3.6-liter engine is the most powerful normally-aspirated V6 ever built at GM. That begs the question, and if you recall the old Grand National hot rod with a turbocharged V6, you’ve answered it. That was the only V6 ever produced at GM with more power. Take away the turbo and it’s no contest.
I was very impressed after some spirited driving in the upgraded CXL models, both with standard front-wheel drive and the all-wheel-drive system, at the media introduction for the Enclave in St. Louis. The statistics say the front-driver will get 16 miles per gallon city and 24 highway, while the AWD model gets 16/22 — only 2 mpg different. Both FWD and AWD are available in either the basic CX or the flashier CXL, and I must admit that during the media introduction in the Missouri countryside outside St. Louis, I cheated a little and stayed in the CXL to try both.
Driving aggressively in drive, my co-driver recorded 18.5 mpg with the AWD version on some twisty and hilly highways. When I took over, hand-shifting the six-speed automatic in the front-drive alternative, I drove much more aggressively but saw the computer mileage figure dip to only 17.6. Impressive, for the way I was tossing it around.
Later, I got an Enclave to drive for a week around Minnesota, and I was able to creep closer to 20 mpg. It was, however, the CX model with front-wheel drive. Some other SUVs might get better fuel economy, but the high-output and potent 3.6 V6 runs on regular gas. If you don’t think that’s significant, compare the price difference between regular and premium next time you fill up.
I received an email from a fellow who had heard my radio bit on WCCO AM with Charlie Boone on a Saturday morning, and bought a Buick Enclave CXL. He later heard someone else criticize the CXT for being too firm in its ride, and he wondered if maybe he should have ordered the CX instead. I told him I didn’t think the CXL was anything near harsh, and I am now ready to tell him he made the right move, because I much prefer the CXL.
The engineers insist that both models have the same suspension, the same engine and transmission, and the same four-link rear suspension with firm stabilizer bars front and rear, but the CXL felt smoother and sportier and a bit more stable. I attribute that to the specially-tuned Michelin tires on the standard 19-inch alloy wheels of the CXL. The CX has 18-inch wheels with slightly more bulbous all-season tires, and the larger wheels with lower-profile tires made a positive difference in the stable feel of the CXL.
Price matters too, of course. The prices of the Enclave read up like this: CX with FWD $32,055; CX with AWD $34,790; CXL with FWD $34,990; CXL with AWD $36,990.
Not bad. The CXL with leather interior, 19-inch wheels, and front-drive is only a couple hundred more than the CX with all-wheel drive, and the loaded version of the CXL is still safely below $40,000. The test CX I drove for a week had a sticker that rose from $32,055 to $36,260 with the inclusion of the optional entertainment system that includes 10-speaker Bose audio, rear DVD, with separate seat audio controls, plus a brilliant pearlish white finish, and a driver confidence package that had remote start, ultrasonic rear park assist and heated windshield washer fluid.
After the week of driving, I didn’t feel the CX FWD was as solidly stable as the CXL, but it certainly approached it in luxury. The neatly styled interior features woodgrain on the doors, console and dashboard, running left to right. It is fake — plastic wood — but the wonderful wood steering wheel is genuine mahogany. I do prefer the CXL’s leather upholstery.
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What makes the Enclave so special is that it has three very impressive primary features: One is the powerful and responsive engine, another is the comfortable luxury of the amazingly quiet and sound-insulated interior, and third is the outstanding styling of the exterior.
The Enclave has some sweeping contours that highlight the vehicle from its bold, waterfall grille on back to an upswept rear end, arching over both wheelwells in well-sculptured form.
It wasn’t always that way. Design director Jack Folden told the story of being frustrated at being unable to bring together all the elements he was seeking, with the chance to christen the new Buick entry with a design that could bring some emotional impact and flair to a vehicle that was built around space, room, and functionality.
“We were sketching things and drawing different designs, and we had some pretty good things going,” said Folden. “But it was nagging me a little. Do they have this super-strong emotional appeal, so it’s not just a car, not just transportation? It didn’t quite have it. One night, it was about 7 p.m., and I was staying late, doodling. I noticed a couple fellow-designers were still there too, and we got to talking.
“One of them said, ‘I see this as a fuselage.’ Another said something about the stance. A third said everything has to flow. As we talked, we seemed to have a spark. Things started coming together — emotion, lines flowing, growing, shrinking. Within two hours, we walked out. We had nailed it.”
Folden traced the line that runs from the grille through the headlights, over the fenders, flowing to the rear. Art, he called it, a living presence and personality. He added that the interior designers had accomplished the same thing, with tapered and undulating lines that go beyond a mere assembly of pieces. So the Enclave emerged as the benefit of some sort of karma, or timing, chemistry, or whatever it is that brings designers together on some vehicles, and might cause others to look like they were built by a committee whose members had never met.
Some high-strength steel in the frame and a half-dozen airbags and side curtains give the Enclave a five-star crash test rating, and all the latest rollover detection and stability control devices make it feel solid and secure in every maneuver.
Buick officials boldly asked us to compare the Enclave with the Lexus RX350 and the Acura MDX — two standards of the industry in midsize crossover SUVs with luxury tendencies. Buick ran sound tests to prove the Enclave was quieter than either, and I don’t disagree. But the RX350 is sleek and great looking, and I think the MDX is perhaps the best sporty-handling SUV on the planet, and even though Buick engineers disagreed with me, I’ve driven the MDX on a racetrack, and I’ve seen what it can do against huge snow drifts on the North Shore.
Buick officials boast that the Enclave has more room in the third-row seat than either, with easier access than either, and has significantly more storage room behind the third-row seat, as well as when the third row is folded down. They are undoubtedly correct in those measurements and boasts.The Enclave and its siblings are longer, and have more room behind the third-row seat, but the RX350 and the MDX are designed purposely to be more compact, and they have distinctly different personalities. Not everyone wants a third-row seat for adults, using it only for occasional use or small kids, and trade it off for handling agility.
But it is the highest of compliments that there is a Buick SUV now in showrooms that we are actively discussing as a viable alternative to the Lexus RX350 and the Acura MDX. High praise, indeed. We could go farther and proclaim the Buick Enclave as the best SUV ever built by GM.
Mercedes C-Class splits into Sport and Luxury for 2008
There is something completely natural about the combination of sport and luxury exhibited in the new fourth-generation Mercedes C-Class sedan — which comes in two distinct styles and personalities for the 2008 model year, appropriately and quite naturally named Sport and Luxury.
Every car-maker boast that their cars are either luxurious or sporty, or sometimes both, and nobody promotes having “just” a basic, mundane vehicle, although most make their profits off the stripped basic models, even while promoting their sporty and luxury versions. Maybe Mercedes saw the trend and wanted to cut through to the core, or maybe it was just typically pragmatic Germans performing normally, but with the new C-Class models, Sport and Luxury are all there is — when the cars reach showrooms in early August, there will be no such thing as a basic, mundane C-Class car.
On reputation alone, many consumers might be reluctant to consider a Mercedes C-Class, assuming it is priced out of reach in this era of escalating prices. But the C-Class should start out at just over $30,000 — a price that can be reached or topped by many rivals, including loaded-up midsize cars named Camry and Accord. So a truly fine Mercedes sedan is available at a price that no longer seems unreachable.
The natural feeling is that a C-Class car fits every driving requirement, and I must admit the feeling might have been influenced by the introductory road-tests when Mercedes summoned automotive journalists to the boutique-ish city of Portland, Ore. Our route guided us on an often spellbinding tour eastward along the Columbia River Gorge in the morning, when my co-driver and I drove a C350 Sport to the foot of Mount Hood, and in the afternoon, when we drove a C300 Luxury to within eruption distance of Mount St. Helen’s. Two fine cars, and the two most spectacular of Oregon’s several volcanic peaks.
It was a stunning backdrop, and the cars were up to the task of any and all highway challenges. I appreciate luxury car features, but I most prefer performance car responsiveness and handling. In the C-Class’s pair of unidentical twins, both cars can satisfy either preference. Using the same Sport and Luxury approaches that worked well with the recently renovated larger E-Class Mercedes, the C-Class models cross into each other’s territory while retaining their distinct personalities. The Sport is sportier, but it has plenty of luxury going for it; the Luxury is more luxuriously softened, but it has plenty of sportiness in its soul.
Both models are stretched over the current model — 3.9 inches in length, 1.8 inches in wheelbase, 1.4 inches in height, and 1.7 inches in width. Increased interior roominess is the benefit of the expansion, as is the new platform, which is 13 percent improved in torsional rigidity with 70 percent of the frame buillt of ultra-high-strength steel. It is proper sophistication and technical advancement for the fourth generation of a car that began life 25 years ago, when German car-maker Mercedes-Benz decided that it was time for its Stuttgart manufacturing plant to drop down from its costlier luxury chariots and build an “entry level” sedan.
That was in 1983, when the 190 model was first introduced, a quite-compact sedan with Mercedes class and numerous innovations, such as antilock brakes and seat-belt tensioners. The car built a following over the next 10 years, when the second generation came along and outsold the original 190 by 45 percent. In 2000, the third C-Class generation made a giant leap to a more contemporary and luxurious style, and it outsold its predecessor by 65 percent. By the end of 2007, the first three generations will have sold over 700,000 units, which means the C-Class, which accounts for 25 percent of all luxury car sales, remains the top-selling Mercedes model since 2001.
“At $30,000, the C-Class is the gateway into Mercedes for many customers,” said Bernie Glaser, the production manager for Mercedes in the U.S. “From there, they can step up to the E-Class, or the CLS, or the S-Class. By offering both Sport and Luxury models, we’ve lowered our demographic from a median age of 52 to 50 since 2005.”
Glaser anticipates that 70 percent of new C-Class customers will choose the Sport model, which has a dashing new grille with a huge three-pointed star right in the middle, much like the flashier Mercedes sports-coupes, while the Luxury model has the more stately horizontal blades on the grille. The luxury model also has sleek sides, while the Sport gets lower sills and spoiler edging designed by the AMG performance group, and sport suspension, which lowers the stance 15 millimeters and includes wider wheels at the rear. It also has special brakes and dual exhausts, with rubber-studded aluminum pedals. The Luxury version has a more sedate black-backed instruments and softer colors, like cashmere beige in the interior. A small touch is that the Sport has birdseye maple or brushed aluminum for dashboard trim; the Luxury has burl walnut.
At that point, however, the two start crossing over. Both have all-season tires and 17-inch wheels, with the Sport getting an 18-inch option. Both vehicles have the same choice of engines — a 3.0-liter V6 with 228 horsepower and 221 foot-pounds of torque, upgrading the current model’s 201 horsepower in the C230. The upgrade engine is a 3.5-liter V6 with 268 horsepower and 258 foot-pounds of torque. The real-world difference is one full second in a 0-60 burst, with the larger engine getting there in about 6.1 seconds and the smaller 3.0 in 7.1.
Both engines are available in both cars, but the 3.0 in the C300 offers the choice of a 6-speed manual transmission in the Sport, or the 7-speed automatic in the Luxury. Choosing the larger 3.5-liter V6 in the C350 is accompanied only by the 7-speed automatic. Mercedes officials anticipate that 15-20 percent of buyers will choose the stick shift — which is very interesting, because decision-makers at a company like Honda might rationalize not offering a manual transmission in a car like the new Accord V6 sedan by insisting only 5 percent of that segment’s buyers want a manual transmission. While it seems outrageous that more Mercedes buyers than Honda buyers would go manual, we can only applaud Mercedes for making it available.
Buyers of the 3.0 engine will be able to choose the 4-Matic all-wheel-drive system — a new version, with permanent all-wheel drive set-up that sends 45 percent of engine power to the front wheels in normal driving.
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Both versions also benefit by steering that is 6 percent quicker in response, which aids both safety and sporty handling. Other safety equipment includes six airbags, plus adaptive braking that deploys antilock, traction control and stability control. Occupants will also appreciate 8-way power seats, plus dual climate control with a charcoal filter that won’t allow any particle larger than 10 microns to enter, and Bluetooth hands-free communication.
As we swept around some rolling, undulating curves in the foothills of the mountains, both cars exhibited comfortable firmness in holding a flat attitude, which is the benefit of another unique new feature called the Agility Control System. Similar in response to the electromagnetic shock dampening system on some top Cadillac, Corvette and Audi vehicles, the Mercedes C-Class cars have a different form of selective damping from their shock absorbers. In the C-Class twins, it is not magnetic or electronic, but a purely mechanical system. When the road surface and driving style causes flexing of less than 10 millimeters, the car remains in comfort setting, but in harder driving, when the shocks flex more than 10 mm., the shocks stiffen by themselves, in a system described as strictly “amplitude dependent.”
That satisfies those of us who anticipate such real-world technical innovations from Mercedes, not to diminish the slightly more gimmicky creature features that are also greatly appreciated. For example, you can choose a normal sunroof or a panoramic roof that opens nearly full-width, with the front panel sliding up and over the rear. Or you can select an optional 30-gig disc-driven navigation system, with a 7-inch screen. Or an audio system that can be upgraded to a 12-speaker, 450-watt Harmon-Kardon unit, which allows you to rip CDs onto its hard drive, and features a 4-gig music register that has a plug-in to allow you to play personal music storage devices.
All the options are secondary, though, because stripping them all away still leaves a fine car under either the Sport or Luxury trim in the C-Class. Without a doubt, the C-350 Sport showed more zip and less effort than the C300 Luxury, while bounding up and over some curvy and mountainous hills, but I found manually downshifting and stepping harder on the C300 produced very satisfying performance. Meanwhile, we didn’t get a chance to compare the C350 Luxury with the C300 Sport, but that’s good reason for some subsequent test drives. And regardless, if Mercedes can keep the price in the same ballpark as the current C230’s base $29,650, the new C-Class could go well beyond living up to its reputation but prove to be the best seller of them all.
Even tiny Scion xB grows larger, gains power
You’ve got to love the Toyota Scion website: www.want2Bsquare.com. Now, what other auto manufacturer would dare to hint that it was going to be square? Toyota’s Scion xB has made being square into an art form.
The new information is about the new Scion xB — the cubic one — and the all-new xD, which, if you haven’t followed the trail of initials, replaces the current xA. The first xA and xB, and the later sleek tC sports coupe, seemed like a bold and curious move in 2003. But over half a million Scion buyers later, Toyota was proven right, as usual.
Now Toyota has unveiled an all new xB — the boxy Scion — and, instead of a new xA, the companion car is now the xD. It is the squarish xB that is the focal point for Scion, which is Toyota’s youth-seeking arm.
The first xB was tiny, and it was a striking vehicle appearance-wise, because it was a box on wheels. It had a tiny engine, and while it didn’t have much zip, it delivered strong fuel economy and became a popular urban commuter. It also was the most popular of the three. The new xB is a tribute to Toyota’s declared focus on market research– for better or for worse.
The new xB looks much better, to me, than the original, with neat headlights that wrap around the front corners. If the rear corners of the box seem farther aft than before, it’s because the new xB is fully a foot longer. Now, stretching a little car into a less-little car means it is bigger and heavier. The bigger xB now weighs in at just over 3,000 pounds, and since a stronger engine was right at hand, Toyota reached into the bin for the 2.4-liter four-cylinder — used in the Camry and the sporty tC coupe. It fits under the square hood of the square and previously small xB.
The 2.4 delivers 158 horsepower at 6,000 RPMs — an increase of 55 over the old xB — and 162 foot-pounds of torque — an increase of 61. A four-speed automatic or a five-speed manual transmission are available. Four-wheel disc brakes, tire pressure monitor, Toyota’s five-star safety system with airbags everywhere, and the inclusion of electronic brake distribution, brake assist, stability control and traction control, all make the xB a better vehicle.
Without a doubt, the new xB goes like heck. It is peppy and swift, which should bring positive reactions from every owner who said more power would be a benefit. The foot longer size, with a 4-inch stretch in wheelbase, plays out to 102.5 cubic feet of interior room — a whopping 32.4 cubic feet more than its predecessor — so score one for the group that asked for more room.
However, fuel economy seemed such a minor thing two years ago, but it is back in the forefront as fuel prices zoom over $3, with gusts to over $3.50 a gallon. EPA estimates for the xB were divulged as being 22 miles per gallon city and 28 mpg highway, which didn’t slip by during the introduction hoopla in Royal Oak, Mich.
“Our owners wanted more power and performance,” said corporate Scion manager Steve Haag, when I brought up the question. “We feel we still have the best compromise.”
Market research rules all, these days in automotives. But it takes a couple years, minimum, to take a good idea to completion and hit the streets with it. So when buyers of the first xB said they loved the surprising room inside the boxy little beast, but would like more room, and that they liked the fuel economy, but would appreciate more power, Toyota reacted.
My question of the new xB is that with the marketplace adopting hybrids and the new small-car range that includes the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa and other fuel-sipping but well-built minicars, do buyers really want to see a neat and iconic economical small box become a somewhat less economical and somewhat larger box?
Base price is $15,650 for the xB (B as in Box), and $16,600 with the automatic. So the price is right, considering the improvements and features. Interior amenities have been smoothed out and refined at every touch. Use of more high-strength steel and noise deadening aid the feeling of solidity in both models, and among the available after-market pieces are a supercharger kit, body-panel aero kit, special alloy wheels, etc.
As it comes from the dealership, the xB has a new instrument panel, with center-mounted instruments separated from the shifter panel by the audio system. That audio, incidentally, is highly sophisticated, and it includes a handy iPod jack for playing your own music through the powerful ear-splitting system.
At the introduction of the first Scions, the target was the youth market, but a lot of older people seemed to like them too. Basically, they were small, economical vehicles, with the xA being a nice little subcompact, and the xB being an odd, square thing, sort of like a minivan or a cubic SUV that got squashed down to subcompact size. Toyota stressed that the plan was to revise the vehicles whenever the company thought it was a good idea, and that the new replacement models might be completely different and with different names, even. The constant linking all the Scions together was the capacity to allow buyers to customize, fiddle, alter, and otherwise modify their Scions.
“The business model was to allow buyers to personalize through accessories,” said Haag. “Consumers want to customize, and more than half of our Scion buyers have customized their cars. ”
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One of the brilliant behind-the-scenes tactics Toyota used was to make it easy and profitable for Toyota to help its customers modify their Scions. Toyota checked out the after-market companies and approached certain ones of them to partner with. That way Toyota could freely encourage their Scion buyers to alter the cars, and could be sure enough of the quality of the after-market devices to warranty them. So more of the same this time, with over 40 new accessories available at launch.
This is a marketing masterstroke. Most companies try to figure out what the consumers want, and then make that product. The younger buyers, however, don’t care how the car comes stock, they want to alter and personalize the cars. So making vehicles that are ready and willing to be modified — with those customizing tidbits available at dealerships — adds to the attraction of the Scions.
After a very brief and preliminary few spins around the suburban Detroit area in both cars, the facts would indicate the new xB and xD are certain winners.
The xD, meanwhile, bears a stronger resemblance to the xB than to the old xA it replaces. It almost appears to be an xB with a steeply angled front end. The xD won’t be available until August, and its prices haven’t been introduced yet, but it will strive to stay in the higher-mileage region.
A 1.8-liter four, with 128 horsepower and 125 foot-pounds of torque, represent a 23-percent increase in power from the xA. Fuel economy estimates by the EPA suggest 27 city and 33 mpg highway for the five-speed stick, and 26/32 for the four-speed automatic.
Inside the xD, the instruments are conventionally laid out straight ahead of the steering wheel, rather than on the top center of the dash. It also has a squared-back roof, nicely angled, and with similar interior features, like fold down rear seat, and the audio thing.
Use of more high-strength steel and noise deadening aid the feeling of solidity in both models, and among the available after-market pieces are a super, charger kit, body-panel aero kit, special alloy wheels, etc. And while it will be fun to try out both cars more extensively, and we can disagree or share doubts about more power/less fuel economy, we will concede that Toyota’s rise to worldwide automotive prominence deserves patience.
And while it will be fun to try out both cars more extensively, and we can disagree or share doubts about more power/less fuel economy, we also must concede that Toyota hasn’t missed the mark very often in recent years. And we also concede that Toyota’s rise to worldwide automotive prominence deserves patience.
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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